static pages on wordpress

Question: How do I build static pages on wordpress?
I use wordpress, and it keeps looking like a blog, with a navigation bar on the side which I don't like.  I want a "static website" like look.  with articles, not blog posts.
Answer: You have to create a theme for that. In your theme you can make it look like anything you want. If you're blog is on wordpress.com just pick a theme from the gallery.
or if you host your own blog, you can download any of the free themes or make your own! It's pretty easy.
These links should help
http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development
Answer: This is a pretty huge question.  Very open-ended.
The layout of your site (looking like a blog vs. a static site) is entirely dependent on your theme.
An easy way to get started is to use the default twentyten theme, and add widgets to your sidebar (WP admin > Appearance > Widgets).  This will stop the default sidebar from displaying.
Next, you can create a static page in WP Admin > Pages and then use that page as your default page, WP Admin > Settings > Reading > Front page displays...
From there on out, it's really a matter of making your theme look like you want it to.  f there's something that WordPress can't do out of the box, search Google or the WordPress Plugin Repository for what you want to do.

static pages on wordpress


What are diversity partitioning and clustering analysis, applied to hominids & race?

Question: Can anyone EMLI5 (or an undergrad) the terms diversity partitioning and clustering analysis please?
From Winther paper over my head "The genetic reification of race"
re: Lewontin-Edwards debate
Thanks
Comment: Seems like a paleoanthropology/anthropology science question. What was the module or context you got this paper in? What is the philosophical context for you of this? Because currently the question risks closure for being off-topic.
Comment: Please be aware that questions and answers are subject to editing and closure, and that reflects the site's policies on acceptable questions and NOT a personal attack. [What to avoid in questions](http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask). Anything closed can be edited to bring it within guidelines. [Keeping questions on-topic](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). Additional clarification at [MetaPhil](https://philosophy.meta.stackexchange.com/).
Comment: Vote for closure - [Species diversity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_diversity) looks to mathematical biology.
Answer: Looking at the paper it seems to be talking about diversity partitioning as beginning with pre-identified groups & looking at gene variations. And clustering analysis as finding groups from the data.
Diversity partitioning is a technique used in community ecology, to simplify & make sense of trait diversity, by grouping variations that go together, so you don't have to talk about every single variation separately, & because variations very often do become grouped together. See another paper introducing the term, also. And this about resource partitioning is interesting, how specialising in certain strategies leads to divergence.
Cluster analysis is part of the area of finding patterns in data. In community ecology it can for instance be used to examine relative speciation between individuals. Have a look at the hominid branch of this diagram of human speciation as example. What are considered separate species, neanderthals & denisovans, are now understood to have merged with homosapiens, even though their differences would have made reproductive success much less frequent between species than within them. The point of no return in speciation is when chromosome numbers change, a merging of two chromosomes marked the divergence of hominids from other apes, & like the difference between horses & donkeys would prevent species merging permanently. But below that scale of variation, speciation occurs by degree.
We only have small numbers of gene sequences for hominids. We do have geographical information. But we have to infer the separation of groups from this kind of clustering analysis. There have been attempts to infer whether other unknown diverged-then-merged hominid groups existed, & there are indications of one in Southern Africa (probably climate variation isolated for some amount of time).
Humans are always going to be the most contentious species to apply tools like this to. The term race in biology has changed & sharpened, as DNA has helped us understand life. But culturally, it is still largely an atavism, that hugely over-prioritises skin colour, and largely ignores mixing between preconceived groups. You might like to have a look at some discussions in this forum about these issues:
Is biological ancestry distinct from race?
Are there philosophically serious moral arguments against eugenics?
Do IQ tests measure intelligence?
Human variation is unusually small, there is less total variation, than within just some individual breeds of dog. This is because of long bottleneck about 70,000 years ago that reduced hominid population numbers probably to below 1,000,maybe less. But, seems to have been linked with the emergence of more complex religious practices, & longer distance trading. Despite this small variation, there have been groups determined to emphasise difference over similarity, basically through all of human history - reification of folk intuitions about race, often going with beliefs that groups shouldn't mix. It does seem Europeans have a regionally important but low amount of neanderthal DNA that Afrucans don't, & that Asiatic peoples have this and denisovan traits, while Australia seems to have been reached directly from Africa along island chains around the equator & stayed isolated while some humans returned to Africa. So we can make sense of broad varuatiins of for instance facial features. But things like the rapid spread of lactose and alcohol tolerance, point to how traits are not isolated to racial groups. This is critically important in the most controversial area, intelligence, because it has to be understood that genes for greater intelligence have always been the most mobile of all, & environmental factors are gigantically more important than race in predicting intelligence. That's another way of saying, intelligence is not partitioned with race, they aren't correlated with each other in a statistically significant way (but, culture is partitioned with race).
This is a good & interesting paper, examining how preconceptions about groups can impact the use of these mathematical methods in ways that will match our intuitions, rather than be derived from the data. As it concludes, the functional roles of specific genes associated with different groups are largely poorly understood. But I would note, using AI to understand protein folding & a host of other technologies are going to answer many questions in the bear future. Our understanding of hominids has been transformed beyond recognition over the last decade, so we should take care to remain humble about what we have evidence for, & optimistic about we will understand soon.
Comment: Thankyou.
What is this variation variation of?
Roughly, how is it measured? re: "most human genetic variation is found within populations, not between them".

I learnt about alleles at highschool but they are qualitative. How is their variation in a population made quantitative?
Are these relevant?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allele_frequency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genetic_clustering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixation_index


When to Delete for Low-Quality?

Question: When working through the Low Quality Post queue, I will come across answers to questions that strike me as simply "not good" - they're too short, don't support the point, or something like that, but they are answers to the question. What criteria distinguishes posts that deserve a down-vote an answer as opposed to when one should be deleted entirely?
Comment: I think it would be great to get some clarity on this in order to bring up the quality of the site. This may relate to the use of sources and some other things. (It's challenging as a moderator because we have dictatorial power to delete things).
Comment: Good question. You can't make it general, but as a guideline I often use: "If it fits in a comment, it probably should be a comment". See for example [this answer](http://philosophy.stackexchange.com/a/24318/2953). Although it's strictly an answer to the question as stated in the title, it is not an answer to the body of the question; and it doesn't add anything to the discussion but that which anyone could add after thinking for half a minute.
Answer: This is a good question and it is important to clear up what everything means with regard to low-quality/deletion/voting.
I can't say how things are supposed to be or even how things ought to be, but I can say how I have been operating as a moderator on this site for several years:

If an answer is useful/helpful in some way, upvote it.
If an answer is not useful or helpful in that it would appear grossly unintelligble to the lay philosophy student, downvote it and prompt the author to revise it. If it is not revised, after a time it will be a candidate for deletion.
If an answer is neither clearly helpful nor unhelpful in that it makes otherwise deductively valid but unsupported claims which cannot be verified, or, is simply too short of an explanation where more is sorely needed, or, is about a rapidly changing event, I would (if I were not a moderator) flag it as low quality. Moderators see this flag and can add the appropriate post notice.

In other words, I only delete answers which:

are obviously spam
are rude/abusive and the author does not appear to be willing to remove the violating sections
are not actually answers to the question (if still useful, I will usually convert to a comment instead)

The low-quality flag in my mind is thus the flag used for everything that does not fit in the above categories but still warrants moderator attention. I.E.:

for answers which make claims that are not readily known to anyone with bachelor-level philosophy knowledge or are not supported through results returned from web searches
for answers which may be technically correct but have overly short explanations
Answer: Answers should help the asker.
If someone asks "blah blah ... I would say x y z, am I right?", an answer "Yes" would technically answer the question, but it doesn't really help the asker. You want to teach him in such a way that he does not have to check everything here, and can be independent.
If an answer is too thin to really help someone, but potentially useful, I would leave a comment with a request for elaboration and come back in a day. If nothing changed, flag it for turning it into a comment or removing it. If people are not willing to improve their posts, we can't do much with them.
If an answer makes unsupported claims that cannot be considered generally accepted, I would do the same. It would make a useful answer if it would be improved - but if the poster refuses to improve his post, it's nevertheless useless.
If a user continues to post low quality posts and repeatedly refuses to improve the quality of his posts, he should be banned from posting.
If an answer is incorrect, but would be fine if it were correct, just downvote it. Flags are not meant to be used for technical inaccuracies.

Note: this is the main usage guide for Low Quality flagging.

A flag for low quality means this post, and possibly this user, are totally stinking up the joint and need to be ejected from the premises ASAP.

Since 2011 it may have changed a bit though. Personally I think that when an answer is 'regularly bad' and the asker is not willing to improve, the post is 'totally stinking up the joint'. But there is always room for interpretation. That's why flag review is a privilege, only available for users fairly familiar with the system.
Comment: I understand this to state "incorrect" => downvote; "unsupported claims that are not fixed" => remove.  I don't understand why "unsupported claims" (assume that they would address the question -- spurious comments/discussion are a separate matter) are treated more harshly than "incorrect claims".
Comment: @Dave that's a good point. As you quoted in your answer, for incorrect answers these are the guidelines. I don't think these are very good guidelines, I think answers that are clearly incorrect *should* be removed. This is just to not deviate too much from the standards. In any case, it doesn't matter much if a post is heavily downvoted and grayed out, or removed.
Comment: Right, this response would be more self-consistent (imho) if you advocated for flagging/removal of answers with substantive errors in them.
Comment: Yes, well, I would, but it's just not going to happen.
Answer: From overall SE Meta:

What are the criteria for deletion?
For questions, a post that no longer adds anything to the site should be
  deleted. Basically, this includes most closed questions that cannot be
  improved and reopened. However, it may be beneficial to keep duplicates to aid
  future users in finding the canonical question.
For answers, any post that is not an answer (should be a comment, doesn't
  answer the question, etc.) should be deleted. Answers that are wrong or that
  dispense poor advice should be downvoted, not deleted.

I interpret this as: if it is an answer keep it, and (optionally) downvote or comment for further elaboration, and only delete "non-answers".
Comment: But it's important to also note that if it is a *question*, then by these criteria, we should delete ones that "no longer add anything to the site". For instance, questions that are too parochial to have repeated value.

When to Delete for Low-Quality?


Excommunicated Nazis?

Question: Have any members of the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler (including Hitler) ever been excommunicated from the Catholic Church? I suspect the answer is negative. Hitler was raised Catholic. The Church has from time to time carried out posthumous excommunications, so the idea that it wasn't politically feasible to excommunicate Hitler while he was alive is neither here nor there.
Comment: Never heard of Catholic posthumous excommunications. Do you have a source for that information? To my knowledge the Catholic Church has **never** excommunicated a dead person.
Comment: @KenGraham the closest thing I can think of is the Cadaver Synod, where Pope Stephen VI put Pope Formusus on trial.
Comment: Still no citation, no source is provided, no link to anything, the allegations that "In 1931, the bishop of Mainz excommunicated all Nazis in his diocese. Shortly thereafter, the German bishops met together and applied the excommunication across the country to leaders and active members of the party, ..." are fiction.
Comment: It's interesting to compare the Roman Catholic approach to the Lutheran approach. Articles, a book & talks can be found of Rev. Henry Gerecke who served as an Chaplain during World War II. He was assigned to the war trials of Nuremberg along with a Roman Catholic chaplain. Of particular note is that Goering was never refused communion by a pastor, though he did not believe. But when he was given the conditions for a simple saving faith in Jesus, he refused to take communion from the chaplain. (Self excommunication) See 2 minutes into http://stjohnchester.fatcow.com/Gerecke/08Goering.mp3
Comment: @KenGraham I've read that John Wycliffe was posthumously excommunicated at the Council of Constance by Pope Gregory XII. I've heard of other posthumous excommunications.
Comment: @whitewings Do you have a source?
Comment: There's a difference between "please provide some sources for your great answer" and "this answer is false". John is correct that the other two answers have a very loose relationship to history
Answer: Have any members of the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler (including Hitler) ever been excommunicated from the Catholic Church?
Hitler may not have been named, but yes he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, for he was an active member of the Nazi Party.
February 1931, the German bishops meeting in conferences in Fulda and Freising supported the action of the bishop of Mainz, but limited the excommunications to Nazi leaders and activists.
In early 1931, the German bishops excommunicated the Nazi leadership and banned Catholics from the party. Although the ban was modified in the spring of 1933 due to a law requiring all civil servants and union members to be party members, the condemnation of core Nazi ideology continued. See: The Churches and the Third Reich. 2 vols. Fortress Press, 1988 pp. 150–162.

In February 1931, the German bishops excommunicated all active Nazi party members. This included Hitler. This penalty was not imposed on those who merely voted Nazi. It was hoped to persuade them by argument. The same policy was in operation against the Communists. - The Catholic Response to Nazism

This excommunication was well before World War II broke out or the Nazi's final solution was underway.
Let us set the stage shall we:

From the very beginning the Nazis had mixed attitudes toward the Catholic Church. Adolf Hitler, a nominal Catholic, was tolerant of Catholicism. Many other Nazis were practising Catholics. A staunch Catholic and early Nazi patron who will appear later in this study was General Franz Ritter von Epp. He commanded one of the military groups which liberated Munich from Soviet rule in May, 1919. Immediately afterward he ordered a Mass of thanksgiving, for which act of piety he was dubbed by the impious as the "Virgin Mary General" (Muttergottesgeneral).
Besides being opposed to what they called the red international of socialism and the golden international of Judaism, many Nazis were also opposed to the black international of Catholicism. Anti-Catholics among the early Nazis included the leading Nazi philosopher and writer, Alfred Rosenberg, and Hermann Esser, who before he was of age became one of Hitler's most effective speakers. Heinrich Himmler, who joined the National Socialist Party in 1925, was another anti-Catholic who was to become a leading Nazi.
Because of this anti-Catholic aspect of National Socialism, because it made race a kind of religion, because it stressed German nationalism while Catholics were often separatists, and because Nazis attacked the specifically Catholic political parties, there were important religious and political differences between Nazism and Catholicism in the 1920's. After the spectacular success of the National Socialist Party in the elections to the Reichstag in the summer of 1930, Catholic bishops in Germany began forbidding Catholics to be members of the National Socialist Party. By March of 1931 all the German bishops had condemned National Socialism, and some bishops instructed Catholics not to vote for the National Socialist Party in the crucial elections during 1932 and on March 5, 1933. The eight bishops of Bavaria issued on February 12, 1931, a declaration which listed five false doctrines of Nazism : 1) it puts race before religion, 2) it rejects Old Testament revelation, 3) it denies the primacy of the Pope because he represents an authority outside Germany, 4) it plans an undogmatic National German Church, and 5) it sets up the moral feeling of the German race as the criterion of Christian morality, which, however, is essentially universal. Priests were forbidden to belong to the National Socialist Party and were instructed to refuse the sacraments to active members. - The Formulation of Nazi Policy
towards the Catholic Church in Bavaria
from 1933 to 1936

For further details please feel free to parse the following article(s):

The response of the German bishops to the
Reichskonkordat
Answer: In 1931, the bishop of Mainz excommunicated all Nazis in his diocese. Shortly thereafter, the German bishops met together and applied the excommunication across the country to leaders and active members of the party, and those displaying Nazi symbols or actively promoting them. When the Nazi leadership appealed to the Vatican, their appeal was rejected.
Hitler was raised by a Catholic mother and an atheist father. His mother had him baptized as an infant, but even as a young teen he expressed disgust for the Church and only went to church when his mother forced him. He embraced his father's atheism and rejected the Church as an apostate before he was even 18.
So, either we respect his own religious identity, and he apostatized (rejected Christianity altogether) sometime around 1904-07, or we ignore it and consider him excommunicated with the rest in 1931. Even before that there were repeated declarations that the Nazis were incompatible with Catholic teaching and morality, and were eventually described by the Church as pantheist and pagan, in addition to being racist and immoral.
NB: there's no such thing as a posthumous excommunication. Someone's teaching can be condemned, or actions they took condemned, posthumously, but not excommunication. Hitler died having been out of the Church for forty years, his entire adult life.
Comment: Very nice and well-written answer - and welcome to the site - could you add a few citations? Even just pasting links for more information at the bottom of the answer would be preferable.
Comment: FYI some Jews have appealed to the Vatican to posthumously excommunicate Hitler. https://www.jta.org/archive/interfaith-leaders-urge-vatican-to-recognize-israel
Comment: I've read that John Wycliffe was posthumously excommunicated at the Council of Constance by Pope Gregory XII. I've heard of other posthumous excommunications.
Comment: There's no posthumous excommunication; there's no point. Excommunication restricts one's access to the sacraments, as a last-ditch effort to bring them back to the fold, which the dead don't have anyway. Wycliffe's teachings were condemned posthumously at Constance, but he wasn't excommunicated. Similarly, Hitler can't be posthumously excommunicated, but the Church has repeatedly and clearly condemned him and his actions, as has nearly everyone else.

Excommunicated Nazis?


Completely remove a program without uninstall app

Question: I removed a program from my MacBook Pro by deleting the app. I also found a few other things in the file system and removed them. Is there a way to ensure no additional information is left on my laptop? Perhaps from command line?
Answer: There is no guaranteed way or app that will remove all the files used by a program unless the application comes with an uninstall program, even then do you want all documents you created with the program to be removed?
Leaving aside the documents, you would have to assume that the program was well written and wrote configuration and other files only to the places that Apple suggest. These include ~/Library/Application Support for various files but exactly where in that directory? Some use the application name, others the supplier. ~/Library/Preferences, again what is the file name? Also ~/Library/Caches for caches. Add to these possible use of the /Library versions of the folders.
OSX does not provide a registry of files used by an app.
However in iOS and now OSX sandboxes all the files will be under one directory and so can be removed - but note this might include any documents you created. Also, note that not all applications are or can be sandboxed.
Answer: When I want to delete all the preferences without the app (especially when something is acting wonky) I use AppZapper and just uncheck the application. Although as Mark said there is no guarantee you'll be able to delete everything. For example some developers (of unsandboxed apps) create hidden strangely named files in order to counteract piracy. Although this may not affect you it annoys me when I have unnecessary files around after uninstalling applications. This is also why I do clean installs whenever I need to reinstall.
Answer: The only way to guarantee removal of anything and everything an app could leave behind (especially if you are running using an admin account) is to clone your HD(s), eject the clone before installing and running the app, and then do a complete HD reformat and restore from the clone drive after removing the app.  Make sure the clone is bootable.
Comment: True.  Apps you install afterwards could have been corrupted or have had stuff hidden in their data or directories by the app you want to remove.  So the only way to be absolutely sure is to go all the way back to the earlier backup or cloned HD.
Comment: What about other apps you have installed afterwards? In effect this only works if you install a program use it and then delete without doing anything else.
Answer: AppCleaner is a free application which searches for files associated with an App, but I don't know how far it goes in ensuring nothing is left.
Comment: After using AppCleaner, I use FindAnyFile, to search the drive for prefs files, temp files, invisible files plists, etc. that might be related to the App. You have to come up with likely names yourself, but it's not uncommon to find 3 or 4 files that get left behind by the automatic cleaners. It takes practice to get good at deciding what file names to look for, but that gets easier over time. You can also search by date and time of creation to find leftovers sometimes.


Since computer screens can't display many colors, where can I go to see the full color gamut?

Question: I found out recently that computer screens are only able to display a subset of all the colors visible to the human eye. Naturally one of my first questions was what do the other colors look like, but this is one of the few questions that I cannot Google. I have been able to find a few objects around my house that I'm pretty sure have colors that my screen can't display, but I'd like to see the full gamut. I will have to find it IRL, so my question is where can I find it? Is my local library likely to have a picture? I live in Boston so I was thinking I could try the Science Museum or the MIT Museum, but neither seems to have an exhibit on color.
Comment: Interested passers-by (like me) might appreciate the question more fully after reading about the "color matching experiments" described in [http://jamie-wong.com/post/color/#wright-guild-s-color-matching-experiments](http://jamie-wong.com/post/color/#wright-guild-s-color-matching-experiments), which you linked in a comment.
Answer: I suppose what you want is to see the full gamut of chromaticity, ignoring luminance. Otherwise you'd have to somehow display a 3D volume of colors.
Unfortunately, even chromaticity gamut isn't easy to display. There's no monitor currently manufactured that would be able to display all the chromaticities of the visible gamut, and no color printer that would be able to help here too.
What are the obstacles? First, the chromaticity gamut is not a polygon. It has a curvy border everywhere except the line of purples (and the line from infrared to yellowish-green 550 nm, where curvature is small), see the following diagram (image source; the colors outside the sRGB gamut are undersaturated to fill the whole shape):

This means that you can't take a finite (or too small) number of primary colors to mix so as to get any other color.
Second, if an approximation of the true curve by a (possibly many-vertex) polygon can satisfy you, there's a problem of finding the necessary light sources. Red and infrared colors of high saturation can be easily obtained by LEDs. But to get really saturated violets, blues, cyans, and especially greens you need lasers. And this can be challenging, depending on how well you want to fill the gamut (some wavelengths are easier to obtain, others are only emitted by very expensive and often energy-inefficient lasers).
So, if you really want to see the whole gamut at once, you'll have to devise something yourself. Maybe make your own laser projector (not too infeasible if you take two mirrors and a set of lasers, and modulate lasers' intensities while the mirrors are rotating).
If not at once, then you just have to mix the laser lights with corresponding intensities shone at some good diffusely reflecting white surface. The hard part is to make the light homogeneous enough so as to not get gradient instead of the color you're trying to display.

Now, there's also the peculiarity that the exact visible color gamut actually varies between people—even those with "standard" trichromacy, i.e. without anomalies. The reasons for this are e.g. yellowing of the eye lens with age and varying pigmentation in the macula of the retina. Moreover, the gamut differs even in different parts of the retina: e.g. for foveal area there's the standard gamut defined by the CIE 1931 Standard Observer that describes the 2° area of the central vision, while for larger part of the macula (10° in the center) there's the CIE 1964 Standard Observer. So in practice, although one can in principle create something that would shine the whole (standard) chromaticity gamut from some surface, it'll likely be missing some small set of colors that you personally could distinguish—due to individual variation of color vision.
Answer: The colors you can see form (the positive orthant of) a three-dimensional real vector space.  (A color is defined by three real numbers, describing the intensity of stimulation of the three types of cones.)  A computer can display a finite number of colors.   So you'll never get close to displaying the "entire gamut".
On the other hand, you could certainly ask for a computer that can display a set of colors that are "dense" in the sense that for any given color X, there exists a displayable color Y with the property that you can't subjectively notice the difference betweeen X and Y.  How big that set of colors would have to be --- and whether it is greater or less than the number that your computer already displays --- seems like more of a biology question than a physics question.
Comment: The sensitivities of the three cone types overlap so that you can't create every color in that orthant. The space of colors you can see has a curved boundary excluding the corner of that orthant. The space of colors a computer screen can make is a smaller "orthant" under a different basis and sits inside the set of visible colors. There's a lot of colors inside the set of visible colors and outside the set of screen colors.
Answer: You can't go anywhere to see the "full color gamut".  There are three types of cone cells on your retina that only see the colors red, green, and blue, which are the same colors that are imprinted into the tiny phosphors on your color TV screen.  Thus, your eye can only see these three colors.
In everyday experience, a particular object will reflect varying amplitudes of red, green, and blue to your retina.  If all of these colors have equal amplitudes, your brain interprets the light reflecting off a given object as "white".  With all other amplitude combinations, your brain will interpret the color as something between red and violet.
Comment: It's a little more complicated than that, here's a blog post explaining it all if you're interested http://jamie-wong.com/post/color/
Comment: The cone cell pigments aren't monochromatic, though. And their spectra have considerable overlap, especially the M & L cones. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision#Physiology_of_color_perception etc.
Comment: @David I don't disagree that eye biology constrains what colours we can see. BTW, not all colours are [spectral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_color), eg, the line of purples, as well as colours formed by mixing a spectral colour with a shade of grey. The [sRGB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB) colour space is rather limited in the range of chromaticity that it can represent, although actual monitors have a wider gamut. And then there are [chimerical colours](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color)...
Comment: @PM2Ring, despite that, your eye biology still constrains what "colors" (aka frequencies) you can see.  Changing your color environment doesn't change that fact.


Multiple comparisons without adjusting

Question: If I am comparing two groups with respect to 20 different variables, and do not adjust for the number of comparisons I make, will my probability of making a type-I error be larger than alpha = 0.05? Or will be equal or less than 0.05?
Answer: It will be larger, (if I understand you correctly saying that you will test each variable..)
You could view it as a 0.05 change to reject H0 unjustly for each comparison, this means 0.05n, with n being the number of comparisons.
You basically 'create' a possibility for a false positive with every comparison. This for example often happens with ANOVA (or when t-testing 100+ variables on an important outcome variable in hopes of finding some useful but unexpected predictor (common in datamining).    To remedy this you should use a form of a posteriori tests (post hoc tests). E.g. Bonferroni's Procedure. What this does is effectively change your alpha (e.g. 0.05) to alpha / n (resulting for your example  in 0.0025) As you can imagine the downside is loosing power..

Sidenote; this effect of increased type 1 error is sometimes called 'familywise' (or 'experimentwise') error rate
Comment: Thanks, Steven. That what I thought the correct answer was, that adjusting for 20 different variables, we will only reject the null hypothesis if p-value < 0.05/20 = 0.025.

Multiple comparisons without adjusting


14 year old daughter has a boyfriend and I have heard reports of inappropriate behavior from her friends

Question: My daughter has been spending a lot of time with her new boyfriend, to the point it is making her other friends uncomfortable.  While I had told my daughter as long as she could be responsible and mature about it, it appears it may not be going that way.  I am just trying to figure out the best way to dial it back a bit, if possible.
Comment: Define 'inappropriate', please... we might associate different things with the term.
Comment: If I had time right now, I'd offer a full answer that basically expands on these main points: Set clear boundaries, with clear consequences if those boundaries are crossed. Be prepared to decrease limitations over time so that you may both exercise trust. Make sure you've had "the talk" about sexual activity and safety.
Comment: Are you asking how to limit her sexual encounters, or how to help her be more responsible and mature about it?
Comment: Yes, too vague to get really useful answers I'm afraid. I will say that a red flag went up when you wrote "as long as she could be responsible and mature about it". If that's really the way you phrased it to her, note that "being mature" could be (intentionally or otherwise) misconstrued by a teenager as "do what adults do". (See again: vague.)
Answer: Talk to her about your concerns. Explain sex to her and make sure she understands the dangers of pregnancy and how to prevent it.
You might not be able to stop her but you'll probably feel better knowing that she's using protection
Answer: It's unclear to me what you mean with "to the point it is making her other friends uncomfortable", especially as your title talks about inappropriate behavior. However, a few general pointers:

Make sure your daughter knows about sex, protection against pregnancy and protection against sexuality transmitted diseases. This might include helping her find a doctor to prescribe birth control, for example. Or letting her order condoms to be shipped to her. From your question, you don't seem to be completely opposed to her having sex at this age, as long as she is mature about it. Looks like you have a good communication basis there, keep it open :-)
Make sure your daughter knows about laws regarding sex in your area. Where I am, sex between two 14 year olds is legal, it might be not be where you are, and this is especially important to know if one of the partners is older than the other. In some jurisdictions, there are laws that define sex between partners that are underage and have an age difference of two or more years as statuary rape
Make it clear to hear what your expectations are in regards to what can happen in your house. Are you okay with him sleeping over? Do you require them to leave the door open when they are in her room? Do you want her to only see him after a certain time on weekends so as to not interfere with schoolwork?
You might want to mention to her that physical display of affection in public is not always appropriate - if it made a friend uncomfortable, I am however of the opinion that this friend can voice that themselves. If it makes you uncomfortable, you need to voice that, though in that case it would be helpful for them to have some privacy where they can express these needs (in her room, for example)
Does she also spend time with other friends without her boyfriend? I believe that it is always important for people to have some kind of hobbies outside of a partnership. However, as you are her parent, this might be difficult to raise without being seen as nagging or somehow disapproving of her partner. Encourage activities other than "hanging out with my boyfriend" if you can, keeping in mind that this is now also a part of her life. If her friends are getting concerned and you are being aware of that, that's a sign that this is getting an issue. Depending on your relationship with your daughter, maybe you can plan some activities that only involve her and her friends.


Maplex label engine

Question: I'm currently going through the GIS 20 essential skills book where I have to fix labels. I have changed the setting from simple to Maplex and now I couldn't figure out how to assign buffers to label using conflict detection tab in Maplex. Usually, I would assign "2" to a simple label. So how do I do that in Maplex? It has two choices; Interior boundary features and exterior boundary features. I tried entering the same for Maplex but the results are still chaos.
Answer: Make sure the maplex labelling engine is enabled.

When a label buffer is specified, the Maplex Label Engine uses this
  buffer as a guide for the trial positions and places the labels with
  their buffer if there is space available. If creating a buffer for a
  label would result in unplaced labels, the label engine will not
  create the buffer, resulting in closely placed labels. In this
  situation, no labels will be dropped from placement.
If the Hard constraint check box is checked, the buffer is respected
  regardless of available space. This results in well-spaced labels but
  also in the possibility of many unplaced labels.

key part is to modify the label buffer value as a percentage of font height. The default is 15%, and the maximum is 50%.
full detials
http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/map/working-with-text/specifying-a-label-buffer-distance-to-change-the-s.htm

Maplex label engine


When I turn the key to start it it acts like the battery is dead: It wont even click

Question: I have a 2011 GMC Acadia Denali. When I turn the key it doesn't even click, but I still have headlights and interior lights, my gauges work, I can roll my windows down and move my seat (both are electric) nothing dims. I tried to jump start it but it wouldn't even take a jump (didn't change anything when tried to jump start it). I have also replaced the battery thus did not help. I have checked the fuses and relays for the ignition and starter and they are all fine as well. What could be the issue? So far I have been told possibly the starter or maybe the computer and I have also been told that it sounds like it's going into "limp mode" or possibly a ground wire issue. My check engine light is on but these are the only codes I am getting P0455, P0496, U2142, U2100, C0710. My message center also has the following messages on it...traction control is off, service stabilink, service traction control system, also tells me that I have a tire that needs air (but tire is fine) and will randomly tell me tighten gas cap as well. Please help! I can't afford to have an expensive yard ornament! Thanking you all in advance.
Comment: When you try to start the engine, is there power to the starter relay coil?  Does the relay energize?  How did you test the relays?
Answer: Your neutral safety switch may be stuck, intermittent, out of adjustment or disconnected due to running over a tree branch or other debris.
Put your foot on the brake, turn on the ignition and move the shift lever briskly from Park all the way to Low and back to Park several times. Leave it in Park.
See if it starts.
If it does not, repeat the process but end with the transmission in Neutral. See if it starts.
If it does not start, return to Park. As HandyHowie suggests, the next step will be to measure voltage at the starter relay while you attempt to start it. This normally takes two people and a voltmeter. The results of that test will determine the next steps in diagnosis.


How to compare the positive predictive value and negative predictive value of two diagnostic tests?

Question: Im a surgeon who's trying to compare two diagnostic tests that are used to diagnose appendicitis. Two diagnostic tests were applied on 150 patients and the results were compared to a gold standard.  I understand that the sensitivities and specificities can be compared by using a McNemars chi square test. But what about the positive and negative predictive values... how do you compare these? Any help would be appreciated!
eg.
Comment: possible duplicate? http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/6309/statistical-test-for-positive-and-negative-predictive-value
Comment: PPV and NPV are both sensitive (i.e. *change*) with different true prevalence of the thing being tested for. PPV gets miniscule rapidly as prevalence decreases (i.e. positives from a test with extremely high sensitivity and specificity are still likely to be false). So asking to compare PPV and NPV requires the addition of a prevalence for the comparison.
Comment: Prevalence will be identical in this case as it is a comparative diagnostic accuracy study.
Comment: Then you still need to specify absolute prevalence to understand PPV and NPV in anything other than relative terms.
Comment: Reverse engineering gives the prevalence as 124 or 125 out of 150 (0.83 to 2 decimal places)
Comment: Please see my updated answer
Answer: UPDATE
I found a relevant paper!
Leisenring W, Alonzo T, Pepe MS. Comparisons of predictive values of binary medical diagnostic tests for paired designs. Biometrics 2000; 56:345-51.
It's not an easy one to read, I think it would be best to get a statistician with experience of hierarchical regression models to read the paper and advise. If this is not an option open to you then I will try to find time to have a go with your data, if you can provide it in the following format:
<code>+--+-----+-----+
|  |  D+ |  D- |
|  |B+ B-|B+ B-|
+--+-----+-----+
|A+|a  b |e  f |
|A-|c  d |g  h |
+--+-----+-----+
</code>
Where D is your reference standard and A and B are your two index tests (RIPASA and Alvarado). The full cross-tabulation is necessary.
(Previous answer)
In this example the test on the left is superior according to the diagnostic likelihood ratios (labeled PLR & NLR) which are both further from 1.
Diagnostic likelihood ratios, sensitivity and specificity are all significantly less sensitive to prevalence than PPV and NPV (which are both directly sensitive to prevalence) but they can still be affected if different prevalence in studies is due to spectrum bias.
Of course, a simple comparison of point estimates is not satisfactory - the better test might have only been tested in a small population and there could be no statistically significant difference. Also you want to know whether they were both evaluated in representative samples (using a single gate [cohort or nested case-control] design).
If you have multiple studies of each technique then a meta-analysis (using bivariate or HSROC method) may be appropriate. See chapter 10 (I think) of the Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy.
Finally, it could be that the diagnostically superior test is not acceptable to the same population as the inferior test. Better tests are often more expensive and more invasive, both factors which can render such tests poor for, e.g., screening.
Comment: Sorry if this does not exactly answer your question. I'm on mobile app and had difficulty viewing question to begin with. My advice is general but applies in your case also. PPV and NPV should generally not be compared between tests. It might be acceptable in this specific case as both tests were conducted in the same population, but best to avoid the question altogether and focus on diagnostic likelihood ratios.
Comment: In response to the specific question about whether to use McNemar's test for PPV and NPV the answer is no because you don't have the same population compared in each test. It is also not appropriate to use simple comparison of proportions test because populations are not independent either. I will keep an eye open for a suitable test for this situation...
Answer: The paper you have mentioned is one of the best ways to compare predictive values of a diagnostic test and can be easily implemented using package DTComPair in R.
A better statistic is "Weighted generalized score statistic" that can be implemented using same package but has an added advantage that it always reduces to commonly used score statistic when the samples are independent.


Partial Workgroup release of compute shaders?

Question: When using compute shaders, some workgroups can be faster than others, for example when all invocations within one group go into the 'if' case, where on another workgroup the invocations go into the 'if' and the 'else' case.
My question: are the workgroups be released which have finished their work while others are still working? And can these warps be used at that time for other shaders? Or are they blocked till all workgroups within that dispatch compute call are finished? Is that hardware specific or driver specific?
Comment: It's not a bad question, but think about it for a moment. If a workgroup would block resources for the entirety of the dispatch, you could only ever have as many workgroups/threads as your hardware has dedicated processing units (or at least scheduling space for managing workgroups), which, while quite a lot in modern hardware, are usually a multitude less than common workloads.
Answer: Yes resources will be availiable for the next command from the command queue, be it compute or other type of shader, even when the previous dispatch operations have not finished.
For this reason, if subsequent shaders rely on output of a previous shader, these need to have barriers in place or wait until the command queue is empty and and the operations are finished (glFinish).
e.g.
glUseProgram(computeShader1);
glDispatchCompute(...)

glUseProgram(computeShader2);
glDispatchCompute(...)

// Even at this point, shader1 could still have workgroups being processed... shader2 will either be in the command queue or currently being have workgroups being processed...

To use glFinish()...
glUseProgram(computeShader1);
glDispatchCompute(...)

glFinish();     // Program will wait here until all GL operations in command queue are finished (queue will be empty)...

// At this point, all of shader1's workgroups have finished...

glUseProgram(computeShader2);
glDispatchCompute(...)

You could use glFlush if you wish to process the commands without stalling the program, however this will not guarantee that subsequent commands are not being processed prematurely to what you think (since program is not stalled, it only empties the command queue telling GL to process what was in the queue and empty the queue).
It's important to note the difference between glFlush and glFinish.
glFlush tells GL to process all the commands that have been queued up to that point and clears the queue upto that point. Main program thread is not halted, and can carry on filling up (a now empty) command queue (while GL processes the 'flushed' operations).
glFinish tells GL to process all the commands that have been queued (like flush), but stalls the calling thread until GL is finished processing (which, in the example code, will prevent the second dispatch call until GL is finished processing its queue of commands, i.e no overlapping operations). When program continues, the queue will be empty and operations will have been processed.
As mentioned above, for compute shaders this is especially important if the input of shader2 relies on the output of shader1.
Comment: Very nice explanation! Many thanks!
Comment: Please, please don't use `glFinish` for synchronization (even `glFlush` is hardly ever necessary for anything). While the explanations are correct, this is really bad advice as it entirely defeats the purpose of CPU and GPU working asynchronously. There are various other means for fine-grained synchronization, you even mentioned barriers yourself. And even then, first check if that is even necessary as many operations in the GL have implicit synchronization anyway. Unfortnately, this advice really taints the entire answer.


How to find a document within a time range of recorded embedded document?

Question: I have a document that looks something like this:
{ "_id" : ObjectId("4e5044ecf9d7954533000002"), "events" : [
        {
                "state" : 1,
                "time" : 1313882989,
        },
        {
                "time" : 1313883005,
                "state" : 0,
        }
]}

You can see that "events" is an array of embedded documents. state:1 means that the document was set to "active" at that time (seconds in UTC), and state:0 means that it was set "inactive" at that time. This essentially give me a time range of when this document was active (from 1313882989 to 1313883005)
Now Im trying to determine what documents were active at any particular time, like at 1313883013, a time that falls between the active and inactive events.
I can get something with this query:
db.plays.find({events:{$elemMatch:{state:1,time:{$lte:1313883013}}}})

It matches a complete embedded document where state=1 AND time<1313883013. This is not enough however, because I need to ensure that the document also does not contain an inactive event at or before 1313883013. So I've tried this:
db.plays.find({events:{$elemMatch:{state:1,time:{$lte:1313883013}},$not:{$elemMatch:{state:0,time:{$lte:1313883013}}}}})

but to no avail. And I've tried different variations of that as well.
I hope I've made this clear enough, thanks in advance for any help!!
Answer: Just don't include state:1 in your query.
From the result you get, check the value of state (0 or 1).


How to get current instance name from T-SQL

Question: How can I get the SQL Server server and instance name of the current connection, using a T-SQL script?
Comment: The accepted answer is correct. `SELECT @@SERVERNAME` produces the result needed to connect using `sqlcmd -S`. If it is the default MSSQLSERVER instance, then it must -not- be specified in the -S parameter. This is on 2017 14.0.2002.14 Developer edition, 64-bit.
Answer: Just found the answer, in this SO question (literally, inside the question, not any answer):
SELECT @@servername

returns servername\instance as far as this is not the default instance
SELECT @@servicename

returns instance name, even if this is the default (MSSQLSERVER)
Comment: Incorrect, use @@servername can give you a wrong answer. SELECT  CONVERT(sysname, SERVERPROPERTY('servername')) is the correct answer. The @@ServerName reports the SQL cluster name, while serverproperty('servername') reports the Windows cluster name. You need the Windows cluster name to connect to your db (The Windows cluster name can be different from the SQL cluster name; This usually happens when you install a new sql-server version on a different machine (@@servername = Environment.MachineName) and want to keep the old name so you don't have to change all configs).
Comment: @blasto, that seems to be the behavior when the instance is the default at the server. Try with a named instance. Check this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187944.aspx
Comment: @StefanSteiger The linked SO question's accepted answer indicates the solution you presented, but the comments indicate that it does not work for some people.
Answer: How about this:
EXECUTE xp_regread @rootkey='HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
                   @key='SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Instance Names\SQl',
                   @value_name='MSSQLSERVER'

This will get the instance name as well. null means default instance:
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('InstanceName')

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174396.aspx
Comment: SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('InstanceName') gives me a NULL.
Comment: instead use SELECT CONVERT(sysname, SERVERPROPERTY('servername'));
Comment: @Steam: Probably because it is the default-instance.
Answer: Why stop at just the instance name? You can inventory your SQL Server environment with following:
SELECT
    SERVERPROPERTY('ServerName') AS ServerName,
    SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName') AS MachineName,
    CASE
        WHEN  SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName') IS NULL THEN ''
        ELSE SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName')
    END AS InstanceName,
    '' as Port, --need to update to strip from Servername. Note: Assumes Registered Server is named with Port
    SUBSTRING ( (SELECT @@VERSION),1, CHARINDEX('-',(SELECT @@VERSION))-1 ) as ProductName,
    SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion,
    SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS ProductLevel,
    SERVERPROPERTY('ProductMajorVersion') AS ProductMajorVersion,
    SERVERPROPERTY('ProductMinorVersion') AS ProductMinorVersion,
    SERVERPROPERTY('ProductBuild') AS ProductBuild,
    SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS Edition,
    CASE SERVERPROPERTY('EngineEdition')
        WHEN 1 THEN 'PERSONAL'
        WHEN 2 THEN 'STANDARD'
        WHEN 3 THEN 'ENTERPRISE'
        WHEN 4 THEN 'EXPRESS'
        WHEN 5 THEN 'SQL DATABASE'
        WHEN 6 THEN 'SQL DATAWAREHOUSE'
    END AS EngineEdition,
    CASE SERVERPROPERTY('IsHadrEnabled')
        WHEN 0 THEN 'The Always On Availability Groups feature is disabled'
        WHEN 1 THEN 'The Always On Availability Groups feature is enabled'
        ELSE 'Not applicable'
    END AS HadrEnabled,
    CASE SERVERPROPERTY('HadrManagerStatus')
        WHEN 0 THEN 'Not started, pending communication'
        WHEN 1 THEN 'Started and running'
        WHEN 2 THEN 'Not started and failed'
        ELSE 'Not applicable'
    END AS HadrManagerStatus,
    CASE SERVERPROPERTY('IsSingleUser') WHEN 0 THEN 'No' ELSE 'Yes' END AS InSingleUserMode,
    CASE SERVERPROPERTY('IsClustered')
        WHEN 1 THEN 'Clustered'
        WHEN 0 THEN 'Not Clustered'
        ELSE 'Not applicable'
    END AS IsClustered,
    '' as ServerEnvironment,
    '' as ServerStatus,
    '' as Comments

Comment: Good Stuff Nate, I have a similar more enhanced Inventory script doing the same. contact me for a copy by email... Script would be out of focus for this thread.
Answer: SELECT @@servername will give you data as server/instanceName
To get only the instanceName you should run select @@ServiceName query .
Comment: First, you have the slash the wrong way. The correct form is "server\instance". Second, it is not always true that @@servername will give you both the server AND the instance because when there is only a single instance it will return just "server".
Answer: I found this:
EXECUTE xp_regread
        @rootkey = 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
        @key = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server',
        @value_name = 'InstalledInstances'

That will give you list of all instances installed in your server.

The ServerName property of the SERVERPROPERTY function and @@SERVERNAME return similar information. The ServerName property provides the Windows server and instance name that together make up the unique server instance. @@SERVERNAME provides the currently configured local server name.

And Microsoft example for current server is:
SELECT CONVERT(sysname, SERVERPROPERTY('servername'));

This scenario is useful when there are multiple instances of SQL Server installed on a Windows server, and the client must open another connection to the same instance used by the current connection.
Comment: SELECT CONVERT(sysname, SERVERPROPERTY('servername')); is the correct answer
Answer: To get the list of server and instance that you're connected to:
select * from Sys.Servers

To get the list of databases that connected server has:
SELECT * from sys.databases;

Answer: You can get your server name, machine name and instance name with Transact-SQL(T-SQL) as shown below:
SELECT @@SERVERNAME                    -- DESKTOP-OVPADTC\SQLEXPRESS
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('ServerName')   -- DESKTOP-OVPADTC\SQLEXPRESS

SELECT HOST_NAME()                     -- DESKTOP-OVPADTC
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('MachineName')  -- DESKTOP-OVPADTC

SELECT @@SERVICENAME                   -- SQLEXPRESS
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('InstanceName') -- SQLEXPRESS

Answer: Just to add some clarification to the registry queries. They only list the instances of the matching bitness (32 or 64) for the current instance.
The actual registry key for 32-bit SQL instances on a 64-bit OS is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server

You can query this on a 64-bit instance to get all 32-bit instances as well. The 32-bit instance seems restricted to the Wow6432Node so cannot read the 64-bit registry tree.
Answer: another method to find Instance name- Right clck on Database name and select Properties, in this part you can see view connection properties in left down corner, click that then you can see the Instance name.


Regarding Oil Type Material inside PVC wire

Question: Today, I was repairing my soldering iron. During the repair, when I cut the end of two core wire, I found some oil type liquid surrounding both the wire. To confirm, if this is present in whole cable, I cut the wire from other place, and found the same oil type liquid surrounding both the wire there also.
What exactly is that liquid and what it is purpose for it?
Comment: It's probably silicone insulation, and silicone oil. In a cable that's going to be flexed a lot during its lifetime, it's a reasonable way to reduce internal friction and extend its life. It also makes the cable more flexible than it would be if the layers couldn't slide relative to each other.
Comment: Some cables of obscure origin are made of low-quality plastic, which decomposes over time. I hope I'm wrong.
Comment: Maybe your mains plug had been left dangling is some oil and, due to capillary action, sucked up oil into the cable?
Answer: It's probably loss of the plasticizer in the insulation polymer. Flexible plastics like PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) are not "just" PVC chemically. There are numerous additives to improve fire retardant properties, UV resistance and flexibility. The latter property is improved by the addition of "plasticizer" chemicals, which can make up a significant portion of the material mass. The smell of a swimming pool liner is not the polymer, but the plasticizer.
Loss of the plasticizer over time results in gas and/or liquids leaving the plastic and embrittlement of the insulation. Dibutyl phthalate is one example of a plasticizer that is an oily liquid.
Additives of various kinds (in addition to the above-mentioned ones, there are others to improve processing characteristics and to reduce high temperature dechlorination in PVC, for another two examples) have a history of causing problems. High lead levels in homes were found to be a caused by inexpensive (about $10K for a sea-shipment container full,  FOB Taiwan) plastic Venetian blinds back in the 1970s. Turns out the manufacturers were using lead as a stabilizer in the plastic and the plastic broke down slowly under UV light (as window blinds are exposed to) and a fine dust containing lead resulted. More recently, some very effective fire-retardant additives have been banned because they are carcinogenic. Other chemicals such as BPA have effects that are disputed, with the EU generally being more eager to ban suspected problem chemicals, and the US EPA being more reluctant to impose costs on business.
I've seen this oily ooze mentioned in regard to Western Electric phone cords and  guitar amplifier line cords from the 1960s and other wiring.


Why Sri RamKrishna Paramhansa cut / attack Maa Kali with sword according to both dvaita and advaita perspective

Question: Why did Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa cut Maa Kali on the order of Sadhu Totapuri even though Sri RamKrishna Paramhansa considered both Dvaita and advaita and saguna and nirguna as same and he even said that "Jato Mat Tato Pat" means there multiple ways to reach same destination. Then why did he do so what does it signify?
Comment: What? From the best of my understanding - he followed Shankara's Advaita and Sri Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita. I'm not sure of he talking about Davita, my best understanding is that he must have not known about it. But I'm not sure about *cut* thing here, Can you cite the incident?
Answer: Cutting Ma Kali is a metaphor and should not be taken literally. He found it difficult to take his mind beyond the world of form in his Advaita Sadhana. He used the sword of discrimination to go beyond the world of form and experience the Nirguna Brahman.

" ..Totapuri asked the disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of
the relative world, including the gods and goddesses, and to
concentrate on the Absolute. But the task was not easy even for Sri
Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, the
Divine Mother of the Universe. "After the initiation", Sri Ramakrishna
once said, describing the event, "Nangta began to teach me the various
conclusions of the Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind
completely from all objects and dive deep into the Atman. But in spite
of all my attempts I could not altogether cross the realm of name and
form and bring my mind to the unconditioned state. I had no difficulty
in taking the mind from all the objects of the world. But the radiant
and too familiar figure of the Blissful Mother, the Embodiment of the
essence of Pure Consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality.
Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into the Great Beyond.
Again and again I tried, but She stood in my way every time. In
despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to
the unconditioned state and come face to face with Atman.' He grew
excited and sharply said: 'What? You can't do it? But you have to.' He
cast his eyes around. Finding a piece of glass he took it up and stuck
it between my eyebrows. 'Concentrate the mind on this point!' he
thundered. Then with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As
soon as the gracious form of the Divine Mother appeared before me, I
used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. The
last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond the relative plane
and I lost myself in samadhi."
Sri Ramakrishna remained completely absorbed in samadhi for three
days. "Is it really true?" Totapuri cried out in astonishment. "Is it
possible that he has attained in a single day what it took me forty
years of strenuous practice to achieve? Great God! It is nothing short
of a miracle!" With the help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind
finally came down to the relative plane.

Introduction, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna translated by Swami Nikhilananda
His famous statement 'Jato mat tato pat' has nothing to do with Advaita Sadhana. It is simply a paraphrase of the famous Gita verse:

O Partha! Whosoever worship Me through whatsoever path, I verily
accept and bless them in that way. Men everywhere follow My path.

Gita 4.11
'Cutting the form of Ma Kali with the sword of discrimination' refers to his difficulty of concentrating the mind on Nirguna Brahman.
Comment: Why did Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa did like that since he considers both saguna and nirguna Brahman as same and equal
Comment: He doesn't consider Saguna and Nirguna to be the same.  They are equal in the sense that experience of either would lead to freedom from Samsara.


Difference in electrons excitation in Au (111) between perpendicular and diagonal orientation?

Question: In Au (111) single crystalline as shown in attached file, is there a difference the way electrons are excited when they are excited from perpendicular and diagonal orientation as shown in the figure (attached file). Any help would be much appreciated.
Answer: Yes, the direction matters.
Take a look at this electronic band structure diagram for gold.

Atomic and electronic structure of gold clusters: understanding flakes, cages and superatoms from simple concepts
If there was only one spatial dimension (like a wire), the diagram would just have energy vs momentum.  In higher dimensions, instead the momentum along certain directions is used to try to "flatten" the band structure onto a diagram we can easily visualize.  Gold has a fcc (face centered cubic) crystal structure (which turns out to have a bcc lattice in momentum space), so the letters used (by convention) are $\Gamma$ is the center, and $X,W,K,L,U$ are all symmetry points on the crystal structure (well technically, the first Brillouin Zone in momentum space).

This has a nice description as well as images relating the "real space lattice" and the "momentum space lattice".
britneyspears.ac/physics/crystals/wcrystals.htm
$K$ is the line you drew in the direction connecting nearest neighbors.
The other direction you drew I believe doesn't correspond to a nice point on the cube. It would be a direction somewhere between $L$ and $U$ (which unfortunately isn't included in the structure diagram I listed, but I haven't been able to find a diagram that includes those directions as well).


My front wheel was steering to the right... now it's steering to the left. What's the cause of this?

Question: I already tried removing the cables that might pull it to the left. Still the same. I straightened the seat. I aligned the wheel properly. It's starting to annoy me. I cant ride my bike right. All the shops I visited told me to replace my bearings, which I did. It still it steers to the left. What else could it be?
Comment: Is the fork bent? Look carefully at the gap between tire and fork; is it even on both sides?
Comment: It could be your posture placing your centre-of-gravity off the centreline of the bike. Have you tested any other bikes?
Comment: Welcome to Bicycles SE. We ask that you [write to the best of your ability](http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer) on this site. This means proper capitalization, proper punctuation, and complete sentences. I have made some edits for you. If you feel I have inadvertently changed the nature of your question, feel free to correct me.
Comment: Define "steers to the left".  Do you mean when you take your hands off the handlebar?  Does it happen only when pedaling  or when you're coasting and relatively "neutral" in body posture?
Answer: Factors that have an impact on the steering include external forces and internal forces. External forces include things like cables, the riders centre of gravity and forces coming from the wheel (out of true, dead hub bearing). Internal forces have to do with the headset itself, if the bearing cups are not parallel, if the adjustment is incorrect, if a foreign object made its way into the headset, if there is pitting in the bearing cups. A bent steerer could also be it.
If you have eliminated the cable pulling (or pushing) as a problem, and your wheel is true, try adjusting the headset bearings. They should be as loose as possible without having any play or knocking. A dead bearing on one side of your hub would probably have a negligible contribution. If you've done that and it's still a problem, I would suspect the seating of the bearings not being parallel or the
 steerer tube not being perfectly straight.


From where does the Fetch Unit get its instructions?

Question: In the ARM Architecture pipelining stages, we know that the instructions pass from fetch to decode and so on? But, from where does the fetch unit get the instructions?
Answer: The instructions come from some part of memory, pointed to by the Program Counter (PC) aka Instruction Pointer (IP).
In modern computers, instructions tend to share the same RAM used for everything else (with protections in place to keep things sane), but especially in older or special-purpose machines it's not uncommon for instructions to be baked into ROM instead.
Comment: The first instructions that a computer will perform just after starting will come from ROM, on any modern computer. There must be enough code in the ROM to make the computer read more instructions from the hard drive. On a modern Mac, the ROM has enough code to actually download the operating sytem through the Internet, in case you replaced your hard drive with a new, empty one.


how many input and out put can include to a smart contract as multiple transaction?

Question: my main question is that how many addresses I can include to a smart contract as input and output and also I shoud add thease addresses before writing a smart contract or I can adding addresses after writing a smart contract? tnx you for answering
Comment: @LauriPeltonen please answer me
Answer: For input, you can take in an array of address types. Therefore there is (almost) no limit to how many addresses you can input.
For output, you can do the same: output an array of addresses. Therefore there is also (almost) no limit.
The only limiting factors are the transaction and block maximum sizes, but with just addresses this probably won't be an issue.
As the values are parameters to a function you don't need to define them when deploying the contract.


The Endomorphism algebra of graded vector space

Question: Let $G$ be a group. A linear map $f:V\rightarrow W$ of $G$-graded vector spaces is said to be homogeneous of degree $g$ if $f(V_{h}) \subseteq W_{g\cdot h}$
for all $h\in G$. We denote the space all homogeneous maps of degree $g$ by
$\operatorname{Hom}_g(V,W)$ and we set
$$
\operatorname{Hom}^{\operatorname{gr}}(V,W) := \bigoplus_{g\in G}\operatorname{Hom}_{g}(V,W)
$$
If $V$ is a finite-dimensional vector space, why does $\operatorname{Hom}^{\operatorname{gr}}(V,W)$  coincide with $\operatorname{Hom}(V,W)$? Thank you so much in advance.
Comment: Use a basis of $V$ consisting of homogeneous elements to decompose any linear map as a sum of homogeneous maps.
Comment: Yeah, don't overthink this, just use arkeet's hint.
Answer: The reason is that vector spaces of finite dimension are small. For details (in a more general setting) see Section 3 in this article.


Why do automorphism groups of algebraic varieties have natural algebraic group structure?

Question: I am not sure that all automorphism groups of algebraic varieties have natrual algebraic group structure.
But if the automorphism group of a variety has algebraic group structure, how do I know the automorphism group is an algebraic group.
 For example, the automorphism group of an elliptic curve $A$ is an extension of the group $G$ of automorphisms which preserve the structure of the elliptic curve, by the group $A(k)$  of translations in the points of $A$, i.e. the sequence of groups
$0\to A(k)\to \text{Aut}(A)\to G \to 0$ is exact, see  Springer online ref - automorphism group of algebraic variaties.
In this example, how do I know $\text{Aut}(A)$ is an algebraic group.
Comment: The link to `eom.springer.de` is broken. The article can now be found here: [Algebraic variety, automorphism of an - Encyclopedia of Mathematics](https://encyclopediaofmath.org/wiki/Algebraic_variety,_automorphism_of_an). (In fact, the link in the post points to the reference [2] in the article, which is the following: T. Matsusaka, "Polarized varieties, fields of moduli and generalized Kummer varieties of polarized Abelian varieties" _Amer. J. Math._, **80** (1958) pp. 45–82. [MR0094360](http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0094360), [Zbl 0085.15304](https://zbmath.org/?q=an:0085.15304).)
Answer: This is really a comment on Pete's comment for Mikhail's answer, but I am making it an answer because it raises a question which I think should be more widely known.
The construction of Aut-scheme uses the entire Hilbert scheme, which has countably many components (due to varying Hilbert polynomials), and it is not obvious how many of these intervene in the construction. Mikhail's answer illustrates the basic example showing it can be infinite.  But this leads to the following problem (suggested by what is known about Neron-Severi groups, whose construction encounters the same issue via construction of Pic schemes in terms of Hilbert schemes, at least in the original Grothendieck construction):
Q. Does the Aut scheme of a proper scheme over an alg. closed field have finitely generated component group? (This is a more basic question than finiteness, which is really Pete's comment to Mikhail's answer.)
Incredibly, even for smooth projective varieties over  C this appears to be a wide open problem!! I have mentioned this to several experts in alg. geom. (including Oort), and nobody has an idea. If anyone has an idea or a solution, please let me know right away.
Comment: Since this answer is highly upvoted it may be worth mentioning that this open problem was solved in the negative by John Lesieutre: A projective variety with discrete, non-finitely generated automorphism group. _Invent. Math._ **212** (2018), no. 1, 189–211.
Comment: Why not make this a new question?
Comment: +1: This is a very natural question.  I wonder why it is not a more famous open problem in the field.  (Not just because people don't want to admit that they don't know the answer, I hope?)
Comment: Because I assume people with an interest in this topic will see answers to the initial question above, which led to it naturally, and I don't expect that anyone will have an answer.
Comment: @BCnrd Sorry if I'm being dense but I don't understand the terminology here. Does "finitely generated component group" means the quotient of the groups scheme by the identity component is finitely generated as an abstract group (mean the points of it)?
Answer: It is not always true that the automorphism group of an algebraic variety has a natural algebraic group structure. For example, the automorphism group of $\mathbb{A}^2$ includes all the maps of the form $(x,y) \mapsto (x, y+f(x))$ where $f$ is any polynomial. I haven't thought through how to say this precisely in terms of functors, but this subgroup morally should be a connected infinite dimensional object, and is thus not a subobject of an algebraic group.
On the other hand, I believe that the automorphism group of a projective algebraic variety, $X$, can be given the structure of algebraic group in a fairly natural way. This is something I've thought about myself, but not written down a careful proof nor found a reference for: For any automorphism $f$ of $X$, consider the graph of $f$ as a subscheme of $X \times X$, and thus a  point of the Hilbert scheme of $X\times X$. In this way, we get an embedding of point sets from $\mathrm{Aut}(X)$ into $\mathrm{Hilb}(X\times X)$.
I believe that it should be easy to show that (1) $\mathrm{Aut}(X)$ is open in $\mathrm{Hilb}(X\times X)$, and thus acquires a natural scheme structure and (2) composition of automorphisms is a map of schemes.
Comment: It is false that Aut(X) is always an algebraic group, when $X$ is a projective algebraic variety, as it seems guessed in the answer. Take for example two general cubics in the plane and blow-up the nine points of intersection, the automorphism group of the smooth projective rational surface obtained is a finite extension of $\mathbb{Z}^8$ and is certainly not an algebraic group.
Comment: More generally, if $X$ and $Y$ are projective, then $Hom(X, Y)$ is an open subscheme of $Hilb(X \times Y)$.  If you want a reference, this is carried out in Section 1.1 of Koll\'ar's book, Rational Curves on Algebraic Varieties.
Comment: @Chris: I think what is usually meant as an "algebraic group" is group object in the category of algebraic varieties, as opposed to a "group scheme" which is a group object in the category of (not necessarily locally of finite type) schemes.
Comment: @ David: It is probably just my ignorance, but why does being an algebraic group imply finite dimensional? For example shouldn't $Spec \; k[b_0, b_1, \dots]$ (infinitely many generators) be an algebraic group where the group law comes from adding, i.e. sending $b_i$ to $x_i + y+i$ in $k[x_1, x_2, \dots, y_1, y_2, \dots]$ ?
Answer: In [Matsusaka, T. Polarized varieties, fields of moduli and generalized Kummer varieties of polarized abelian varieties. Amer. J. Math.  80  1958 45--82.] it is proved that a non-singular projective variety has a maximal algebraic group of automorphisms (that is, every group which acts on the variety by automorphisms contains a maximal algebraic subgroup)
[Matsumura, Hideyuki; Oort, Frans. Representability of group functors, and automorphisms of algebraic schemes. Invent. Math.  4  1967 1--25.] shows the automorphism group (of an algebraic proper scheme over a field) is representable by a group scheme.
Answer: If A is an elliptic curve then G (in your notation) is finite. Yet it seems that for a square of an elliptic curve you get something infinite and very far from being algebraic. If $A=B\times B$, $B$ is a 'general' elliptic curve, then it seems that $G(A)=GL_2(\Bbb Z)$; this is a 'large' discrete group. Another example is an abelian variety with complex multplication: you get the group of units in some order in some CM-field over $\Bbb Q$, and this is infinite if this field is not quadratic. I think, in these examples it is not difficult to prove that Aut(A) is not an algebraic group.
Comment: I think different sources will differ as to whether or not these examples are algebraic groups. The functors are representable by schemes which are locally, but not globally, of finite type.
Comment: So far as I know, it is fairly standard to require that an algebraic group be an algebraic variety, hence of finite type (hence finitely many connected components).  There is no argument that Aut(A) is a (locally algebraic) group scheme, which I think is what is really being asked for here: ideally this more precise language would have been used in the question itself.  (On the other hand, one could ask for conditions on a projective variety V so that Aut(V) is of finite type.  Anybody know anything about this?)
Comment: @Pete L. Clarck Doesn't the tangent space at the identity (which is finite dimensional in the projective case by finiteness of cohomology) indicate that the automorphism group scheme has an identity component locally of finite type and by translation the whole group?


Create Views Quickstart

Question: I have setup a few buckets and now I'd like to create a view but I'm not sure where to start.  I have logged in to the web console but the views I have created to not return any results.  Also, is it possible to create a view that spans buckets?
Answer: More than likely, you have not promoted the views to be production views. When views are "development" views they will only select a very small subset of data for efficiency purposes. Once they are promoted to production and gather everything, then they will actually see the entire data set.
At this time, there is no way to span buckets with views in Couchbase. If you need to do that, I would ask why you have to have things in different buckets? What is your strategy for why you have different buckets. Usually you would split it out into different buckets if you need to isolate data for performance or application reasons since buckets have different resource allocations. Another reasons is for cardinality of data. Say you need to use views and some data will never be seen by a set of views, it might make sense to split that data into different buckets.
All that being said, take a look at Couchbase's upcoming N1QL query language that will let you query across buckets. http://query.couchbase.com/.
Comment: Excellent! The decision to partition them was arbitrary and based mostly on my lack of understanding of the system; I will consolidate the documents in to one bucket and promote the views I created.  Thanks!

Create Views Quickstart


IOTA indexed messages using IOTA address

Question: Is it possible to encrypt or make sure that the indexed IOTA messages are received/extracted only by receiver they are meant for. My user case: User A, B, and C each have IDs that are known to all users (A,B,C in this case). Now user A want to send a message to B, so A will use B's ID as an index and attach the message to the tangle. User B will be looking for messages on the tangle that have B's ID as index and will be able to extract it. How could I make sure that only user B is able to extract this indexed data (and not User C, if user C decide to look for the same index)? Are there any other IOTA options?
Answer: You can add metadata to tx and store message.
But blocks containing tx or simply data are always public. So, to keep a message private you need to encrypt it using the public key of the user that you want to be the only one able to access (decrypt) the message.


Does paralysis last through unconsciousness?

Question: My cleric was paralyzed by a yeti, then one shot critted to unconsciousness. If my comrade heals me, am I still under paralysis and required to make a Con saving throw? Or does the paralysis shake off after coming up to positive hit points?
Comment: Whoops! Noted for future.
Answer: The Paralyzed condition lasts until a minute passes (or you pass the save); in general, conditions tell you when/how they end
The section on "Conditions" states:

[...] A condition lasts either until it is countered (the prone condition is countered by standing up, for example) or for a duration specified by the effect that imposed the condition.

In this particular case the Yeti's statblock states (I have assumed the Yeti's Chilling Gaze feature is what paralyzed you):

Chilling Gaze. [...] The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw against this magic or take 10 (3d6) cold damage and then be paralyzed for 1 minute, unless it is immune to cold damage.

Unless something explicitly says otherwise, the paralyzed condition that Chilling Gaze causes will not end until the 1 minute is up; one such explicit exception is the lesser restoration spell, which states:

[...] You touch a creature and can end either one disease or one condition afflicting it. The condition can be blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned.

As user @Ryan Thompson points out, there is further evidence that conditions persist even through the more extreme case of death. The PHB errata states:

Exhaustion (p. 291). The following sentence is appended to the last paragraph: "Also, being raised from the dead reduces a creature's exhaustion level by 1."

There would be no reason to reduce a creature's exhaustion level upon resurrection unless death did not reduce it to 0 already. Thus exhaustion levels persist even through death, let alone just unconsciousness, this would similarly apply to other conditions as well.

It is noteworthy that while unconscious you would continue to make saving throws to end the paralysis from Chilling Gaze (if you wanted). This could end the effect before the 1 minute is up, and is possible because ending the Paralysis requires a Constitution saving throw -- both the Unconscious and Paralyzed conditions only make you automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
Comment: Other evidence: exhaustion level (another condition) persists even through death (or else there would be no reason for resurrection to reduce exhaustion level by 1).
Comment: @RyanThompson Hopefully I've edited to include that in my answer


How do I get GitHub to not show organization's updates on my timeline

Question: I was recently added to an organization on GitHub and consequently, and updates that anyone makes to a repository on the organization are displayed on my timeline. Is there any way to suppress these updates?
Answer: By contacting GitHub support, apparently it is not possible to unfollow an entire organization's repositories at once. However, one can unwatch the repositories one by one. Such a tedious task but solves the issue.


How to convert a quantum circuit into a tensor network?

Question: I need to perform tensor network contraction on a maxcut circuit, are there any resources or code available which converts maxcut circuit into a tensor network (preferably the adjacency list or any graph based representation)?
Answer: Quantum circuits are effectively already a special type of tensor networks. We just need to interpret them appropriately to see this. Normally, we think of lines as representing qubits and boxes as quantum gates i.e. $2^k\times 2^k$ matrices in the projective unitary group $PU(2^k)$ where $k$ is the number of qubits on which the gate acts. Instead, we can interpret lines as contractions and boxes as tensors with $2k$ indices with each index ranging over $\{0,1\}$. See Example $3$ on page $7$ in this paper for more details.
Note that some gates admit an alternative interpretion as small subnetworks. For example, CNOT may be interpreted as a tensor
$$
\text{CNOT}_{i_1j_1i_2j_2}=\begin{cases}\delta^{i_1}_{i_2}\delta^{j_1}_{j_2}\quad&\text{when}\,i_1=0\\
\delta^{i_1}_{i_2}(1-\delta^{j_1}_{j_2})\quad&\text{when}\,i_1=1\\
\end{cases}
$$
or it may be interpreted as a contraction of a $\text{COPY}_{ijk}$ tensor with a $\text{XOR}_{ijk}$ tensor. See Example $4$ on page $7$ in the above paper.
This interpretation allows us to compute the unitary (or indeed any isometry obtained by fixing a subset of the input or output qubits including the input or output state) of any quantum circuit. This is the basis of tensor network simulation of quantum circuits.
Comment: Thanks for the answer. I need to convert a maxcut circuit into a graph (or a hypergraph) in order to perform tensor network contraction. Are there any frameworks available to convert a circuit into a tensor network?
Answer: You may find TensorCircuit package helpful.
After define the circuit c, c._nodes returns a tensor network representation in Google's TensorNetwork package format.


Use Outlook distribution list as SharePoint security group

Question: I got across this question, is it possible to use an Outlook distribution list as SharePoint security group? Let's say that I have a mail group and I need to use it as the Members group of one of my SharePoint sites.
Answer: No this is not possible, you can use AD Users and AD Groups if you do not use a custom Claims-provider
Answer: It is not possible to use Outlook distribution list as a SharePoint security group. However you can convert the Outlook distribution list to an Active Directory Security group. Next you can import the Active Directory security group to SharePoint.
Comment: Thanks! Sounds as a solution, but how do you convert those lists? I'm not asking for detailed description, but where it should be made?


In relation to the Babylonian method for computing a square root, if N/b = c, will c always be less than b?

Question: I'm trying to wrap my head around the Babylonian method/algorithm for computing the square root of a number N. I can't seem to explain in words why, when a is too large i.e a^2 > N, then why you divide N/a to get b.
For example.
Compute the square root of 9409, where N = 9409.
If you guess a = 100, you get 10,000, which is too large as a^2 > N
so you then decide N/a = b and you say that b is an under estimate.
Why would b, be an underestimate?
In the wikipedia article for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_computing_square_roots#Babylonian_method it relates to the sentence "The basic idea is that if x is an overestimate to the square root of a non-negative real number S then S/x will be an underestimate, or vice versa".
I hope I'm making sense, if not, please let me know.
If there are any resources where I may be able to get a better understanding please feel free to link them, including any practise problems.
Answer: If $a^2>n$, then $\frac{n}{a^2}<1$. Let $b=\frac{n}a$; then $$b^2=\frac{n^2}{a^2}=n\cdot\frac{n}{a^2}<n\cdot1=n\,,$$ so $b<\sqrt{n}$.
Comment: in the second line, where did the inequality come from?
Comment: @David: It came from the inequality in the first line: $\frac{n}{a^2}<1$.
Comment: I don't understand where it was substituted or how it cancels out? Am I missing something with regard to how inequalitites work?
Comment: @David: Just multiply the inequality $\frac{n}{a^2}<1$ by $n$; $n$ is positive, so the directly of the inequality is unchanged, and you get $\frac{n^2}{a^2}<n$.


Heimdall firmware package of cyanogemmod

Question: How I can get a Heimdall firmware package of CyanogenMod?
For example, I want get this firmware, convert it to Odin images, and package and flash it with Heimdall.
Is it possible?
Answer: Why?  It's general safest to Odin to stock (if necessary), root and flash ClockworkMOD, and then flash CyanogenMod through recovery.
That said, yes it's possible; you'd need to unpack and repack the images in the correct format and bundle them in a .tar laid out as Odin/Heimdall expects.  Something similar to this in reverse.  I have not had any luck myself with interpreting the image format used by Samsung; any tools I've found don't quite seem to work.  It depends on your particular device however.
Edit: It seems we're still talking at cross purposes.  In addition to the Odin tarfiles, Heimdall can flash slightly different compressed tarfiles and the post you linked links to instructions on how to have Heimdall create those.  However the main problem is still getting the images into the correct format, everything is easy after that.
That CyanogenMod package contains the /system partition contents in just a plain folder; you'd need to package them into a factoryfs.rfs.  I know one of the ways this has been done before is via flashing the package via ClockworkMOD and then using dd to dump the partition(s) to a file.  There are general guides to that here and here.
On the other hand CyanogenMod might be sticking with Ext4 filesystems for Samsung devices rather than RFS, in which case it would be easier to create an image directly from the files.  However, I'm not sure whether Heimdall would be able to flash an Ext4 image properly.  I would probably ask the Heimdall developer in that case.
Comment: There is a firmware package called heimdall firmware packpage. eg http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1196179. I want to learn to make these packages with roms cyanogem then ask you please
Comment: @ademar111190 I've updated the post (and cleaned up these comments now that we understand each other).  I think the confusion stems from my focus on the image format vs your focus on the package format.
Comment: very thank you :). Part of the confusion is due to my bad english.


Flyback Diode Placement

Question: In a circuit I'm making I will be using an Arduino to switch a solenoid using a transistor(TIP120). I know I need a flyback diode as shown in basically every example.
My question is, is there a limit on how close/far away the diode is from the solenoid? I want to place it on the circuit board and then have the solenoid on the end of 2 wires maybe 50cm long at most. Will this pose any problems?
Answer: In general, you want the flyback diode as physically close to the inductor it is catching the current from as possible.  Long leads mean inductance, which slows how fast the current can build up in the diode, which makes large voltages at the solenoid.
If the only thing that is at the end of the long wire is the solenoid with the diode and driving circuitry at the other, then the diode will still protect the driving circuitry well enough.  However, the possibly high voltage transients at the solenoid end of the wire can cause radio interference, and in extreme cases arcing.
With long wire to the solenoid, I'd want two diodes.  One at the solenoid to limit voltages on the wire, and another close to the driving circuit to protect it.  The inductance in the long wire can cause kickback too.
Comment: I didn't even think of there being inductance in the wires. Thanks.
Comment: I'm not sure that a solenoid at the end of a long wire is any different than a slightly larger solenoid at the end of a short wire. The current is *already* flowing in the long wire. The inductance it adds is not relevant. What needs to be minimized is the inductance *added* when this current path switches to go through the diode; this is the inductance that will limit the effectiveness of the diode.
Comment: @Phil: A diode at the board is enough to protect the circuit, but that could still leave large voltage transients on part of the wire, which could be a radiation problem.
Answer: At least, twist those wires to minimize the inductance of the loop.
If that is a problem or not depends on how much margin of voltage you have between the expected peaks and your switching transistor (TIP120 -- 60V). The expected switching peaks depend on the inductance, current, switch off characteristics and rest of the circuit.

Flyback Diode Placement


Getting money paid to a US based bank account for Indian company based invoice

Question: I work for an american company and I used to get paid before directly by check. But now, I am raising invoices (for the work I do) from my Indian company. Is it ok if the USA company pays the Indian invoice to my USA located Chase bank ? Should I pay any taxes in USA for these Indian invoice payments sent to my USA based account ? Also, is it ok if the money is sent to the USA based bank account for an invoice from a foreign company ?
Comment: where are **you**?
Comment: @littleadv Right now in USA. But in the next few months will be in India.
Comment: So "Right now" the only relevant part of information is that you're in the USA. Why have you omitted that in your question?
Answer: The data provided in your question is irrelevant. The data that you provided in the comments (that you're physically present in the US while doing the work) is the only relevant information needed to answer your question.
You will need to pay taxes in the US for the earnings. The company invoicing the US client will also need to pay taxes in the US for its earnings from these invoices.
You can transfer between bank accounts and deposit whatever you want anywhere you want, no-one cares (with respect to the US taxes, check with Indian tax accountant about Indian requirements).
Comment: The member whose comments I deleted was not the OP.


Update Lead Owner using Flows/ visual Flow

Question: I created a flow with many choices, one of them is update the Lead Owner,it takes you to a screen where you choose 1 user from a list of users and in the Flow I save the User Id but when I hit Next this happens: "An unhandled fault has occurred in this flow
An unhandled fault has occurred while processing the flow. Please contact your system administrator for more information."
I checked and the Owner Id is Null but I'm not sure if I am saving it correctly. Any help would be appreciated.
Comment: It would be helpful if you could post what you are doing in each step that is causing the problem. Basically you should have the picklist choices that have values of the user ids, save the choice to a variable, and then update that variable into your lead object.
Comment: In addition, you should receive an email with more detailed information on the issue. Looking at your debug log is also a good way to go.
Answer: I was able to figure it out using this video: http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/c2XbYeeFb8
I did exactly the same thing using my variables and it worked. Thanks for replying to my question though!
- First saving the Id that I needed into a Variable, then creating a Fast Lookup to save a Sobject Variable with the Id of the record I want to update.
- Then create an assignment window that Saves the NewOwnerId into the Record Id using {!varLeadToUpdate.OwnerId} and last..
-Use "Fast Update" to update the record.
If anyone has a question in regards of this answer please add a comment and I would be happy to help you with it.
Comment: I hope the answer looks better now, it basically explains the same thing the video shows.


Automatically posting question updates to a user's twitter/facebook/linkedin

Question: Most of us have at least one social network account if not more and it would be nice to be tweeted about questions I ask automatically if I get answers (of course only if I check the right checkbox).
Is this possible to implement?
Comment: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/42816/twitter-integration
Answer: I think this is not a good idea. Linking a question is ok, since it bring people who are wanting to participate in answering. But given the number of answer, this would burden the system and the connections.
Maybe broadcasting the accepted answer could be interesting.
Notifications are already handled by the "StackExchange" drop-down overlay.