Self study from nil

Question: I'm going to start music lessons this summer, but I'd like to know whether I could learn something upfront. I'm a complete beginner and don't know what I could do? I installed gnu-solfege but don't know exactly what to do with it? What's something worth learning for an absolute beginner?
Comment: You don't say which instrument you will study, but I would be reluctant to suggest much in the way of exercises on an instrument before your instructor can help with technique. Maybe the best thing to do would be to listen to as much music of the type you want to play as possible. Try to hear isolated passages, and try to hear them clearly enough that you can sing them. Playing music is really about hearing, as drawing is really about seeing.
Comment: It might be worth studying basic theory, like learning to identify note names from a staff and so on.
Comment: To join in with @DavidBowling, I 100% agree that listening closely to music from your instrument (and watching excellent players) is a great way to improve your playing in the long term.
Answer: If you are a complete beginner, GNU solfege may be a bit much at first.  As one review on their site reads,

However, after testing the program, you can easily tell that you need to have already some basic – if not intermediate - music knowledge if you want to make the most of GNU Solfege.

Nonetheless there are many other places you can visit that will help you.  Here is a good site:
https://www.musictheory.net
If you have access to a piano, learn what the notes are on the keyboard, and then play some scales (maybe just stick to the treble clef at first).  Here is a site that shows basics about scales:
https://www.pianoscales.org/
Also, importantly, try to find a friend who is knowledgable about music.  They can show you firsthand things that you might be missing.
When you practice, be sure that you go slowly and accurately.  Practicing too fast is counterproductive.
Good luck!
Answer: The best plan (apart from the very good advice about listening!) would be ask to your teacher.
If he/she starts complete beginners on practical work with their instrument, and lets the theory follow on from that, the answer might be "no, there isn't really anything much that you can do before the first proper lesson". Some instruments need minor adjustments to match the player (e.g. chin rests or shoulder rests on violins, slings and straps on wind instruments or guitars) and if those things aren't right for you, then you are be starting off by using the wrong body posture - which is not a good idea!
Learning music is like learning to ride a bike. You won't learn much just by reading books about the theory of bike-riding - you actually have to do it, and fall off a few times as you learn.
If you try to start playing an instrument without any tuition, you may be developing bad habits right from day one, and you will then have to unlearn them - and that might take more time that if you just waiting! Without any guidance, you can't tell whether a slick-looking "how to play the [whatever]" series of YouTube videos is teaching you good or bad habits, or whether you are looking at material for a "complete beginner" or somebody who is more advanced. There are a lot of good tutorials, but there is also some complete garbage - just as with everything else on the Web.
Answer: I find that it has great worth for musicians to first discuss their ambitions with their new teachers and to also share their musical likes with their teachers.
If you are a singer just take your MP3 player with you and play some of your favourite music for your new teacher. Do you want to be a opera singer or do you want to do musicals, some insight into why you are starting with your music lessons may a worthwhile way to start a teacher-student relationship?

Self study from nil


What are some ways to anonymize your writing style?

Question: I imagine that if someone suspected an anonymous online persona of being a specific real person who also had writing samples available online (like a blog or social media) they'd be able to compare the styles of writing. What are some ways to prevent this? Should techniques be done on your anonymous account or your identifiable one?
Comment: If you are going to use writing style obfuscation use it on a (ideally newly created) anonymous account and never use those techniques for any other account (especially your public profile).  Spinbot is one simple scripted example of obfuscation of writing style
Comment: One thing you can do to hide yourself is to add misleading clues by copying someone else's writing style and including details that imply a different background. (Consider how Satoshi Nakamoto used a Japanese pseudonym. In my opinion, he's probably not Japanese, but it probably distracted a lot of amateur investigators.)
Comment: There are a number of research papers on anonymizing writeprint (unique writing style) to avoid stylometric analysis. If I recall, one common conclusion is that writeprint actually drifts over a period of years, so documents you have made from 5 years ago are going to be hard to link to documents you make today.
Comment: Make sure not to use the word "lodestar", unless you want to frame the vice president.
Comment: Develop multiple personalities and you will write different for each of them.
Answer: There is a program written in Java called Anonymouth which assists with this:

Anonymouth is a Java-based application that aims to give users to tools and knowledge needed to begin anonymizing documents they have written. It does this by firing up JStylo libraries (an author detection application also develped by PSAL) to detect stylometric patterns and determine features (like word length, bigrams, trigrams, etc.) that the user should remove/add to help obsure their style and identity.

On its own, Anonymouth is only of limited value. Anonymizing your writeprint analysis requires a basic understanding of linguistics and stylometry. Basic stylometry involves the so-called 5-feature analysis, where five major writing style features are analyzed (paraphrased from Wikipedia):

lexical features - The analysis of the lexicon, the author's choice of vocabulary. Different people use different words at different rates, which can make them quite unique. I, for example, tend to use the word tend a lot. I would need to avoid that if I wanted to hide my writeprint. Using simple, short, and common words can reduce the potential of this feature.
syntactic features - The analysis of the author's writing style and sentence structure, such as: punctuation, use of passive voice, and sentence complexity. Using sentences that are as simple as possible with a standard writing style can help weaken this feature.
structural features - The analysis of the author's organization of the work. These include paragraph length, spacing, indentation, use of oxford commas, etc. Just as with making the 2nd feature less useful, making this feature less useful can be done by following standard writing styles rather than using one that naturally evolved with you.
content-specific features - The analysis of the language that is contextually significant to subject of the written work. Examples include the use of slang or acronyms that may be shibboleths. E.g. a set of botnet owners can easily be divided into those who say "C&C", "CnC", and "C2".
idiosyncratic features - The analysis of errors and other ungrammatical elements that may be unique to the author. This is by far one of the most damning features and has lead to numerous people being deanonymized by their writing style. Small mistakes made on one non-anonymous identity can carry on to anonymous identities, potentially linking them.

Many of these features can be anonymized by using standard English with completely proper grammar and spelling, and short, simple sentences. Idioms and the like should be avoided. It's also possible to emulate other authors in order to fool analysis. If all else fails, simply waiting can help. A person's writing style drifts over the years, so it's unlikely that a document authored by you several years ago will be easy to tie to what you write now. This does not mean it is impossible, just harder.
Answer: It would take a lot of writing samples for this, but it is theoretically possible to some degree of certainty (I doubt it would be admissible in court, for example, but they could convince themselves at least). Preventing this would require you to intentionally write completely differently than you normally would (or use a script that makes your writing look different, as @DarkMatter mentioned). Trying to emulate the writing style of an author you like might be one way of manually doing this (it is certainly possible and common for writers to emulate the writing style of H.P. Lovecraft, for example).
You should definitely alter the writing of your anonymous persona since you have undoubtedly been writing since a very early age, thus a lot of data exists tied to your real identity.
Comment: It in fact was used to arrest a child pornography website operator from Australia. If I recall, he had used some rare idiosyncratic phrase both on his illicit website, and on public forums attached to his real name.
Answer: A couple of rounds of Google translate seems like a good bet. E.g. plaintext-->chinese-->english-->german-->italian-->English.
You would probably lose a lot of meaning, too, due to imperfect translation at each step, but you could proofread to make sure the essential message is the same.
Comment: Depending on your threat model, this may actually be worse, since you would be giving the original, unedited copy to Google.
Comment: @forest Fair point. I think the principle still stands though, if you replace "Google translate" with "generic, locally-hosted translation software"
Comment: But of the five main writeprint features, that would only anonymize lexical features and, to some limited extent, syntactic features. It wouldn't help with the others (which are important).
Comment: More good points. Look, I didn't say in my answer "this is a surefire, bulletproof method." Was just throwing it out there as an idea. I see your own answer in here is much more lengthy and well thought-out. Just let the community's upvotes/downvotes do their job now.
Comment: Oh I'm not criticizing you, just pointing out a potential issue with an otherwise good idea.
Comment: No worries. Just feels like you were camping on my answer wanting a fight.


How important is lookahead search in decision trees?

Question: I am using random forests, and, in my data, I have a lot of situations where $X_1$ is a bad predictor, $X_2$ is a bad predictor, but the joint distribution would make a good predictor.
Say that $X1$, $X2$ and $Y$ are binary variables. We have that $P(X_1|Y)=0.5$ and $P(X_2|Y=y)=0.5$ for any $X_1,X_2,Y\in\{0,1\}$, but $P(X_1=1,X_2=1|Y=1)=1$.
Practical example: I want to predict whether text1 is the same as text2. I have added as a feature difference-in-usage-of-!. But, difference-in-usage-of-! can be zero in two very different cases: when neither text has ! or when both use ! in the same numbers. So, I have added another feature: both-texts-use-!.
The problem now is that the decision tree needs to be forward looking because it is only true that the text is the same if difference-in-usage-of-! is very small and both-texts-use-! is 1.
Now, I probably could and should combine these two features into a single, smarter feature (and suggestions are appreciated). But I have a lot of features such as this one, and I wonder whether the decision trees in my random forest, which are learnt using traditional local search are sub-optimal, relative to lookaheads kind of search.
I read in this thesis that,

As empirically investigated in
  [Murthy and Salzberg, 1995], such an approach (using lookahead search) is however not only more computationally intensive, it is also not significantly better than greedily induced decision trees.

Comment in parenthesis is added by myself. The work being cited is another thesis, and it indeed says that, for instance,

The counter-intuitive result that lookahead search does not improve over greedy search would stand to reason if the latter itself constructs near-optimal trees.

Both of these works are old and, from what I read, do not delve much into it (but I have not read them fully). I wonder if anyone knows if there are features for which only some kind of lookahead search would work, or whether regular the regular local search algorithm is good even for those cases, and whatever thoughts you have about local vs lookahead searches.
Answer: There is no common implementation of decision tree with lookahead search, all common implementations use feature-by-feature greedy search.
Using feature-by-feature greedy search, decision tree can learn conditional relationships. For example, a decision tree can learn patterns you describe. The first split would be either (₁|)=0.5, (₂|=)=0.5, then  additional splits would define (₁=1,₂=1|=1)=1. This similar to the XOR problem that decision trees can learn.


Retrying a failed skill challenge

Question: On page 74 of the
DMG  (Step 5: Consequences), it says that if you fail a skill challenge, it can become more difficult, such as detouring you in a different direction. Could you attempt the same challenge again at a higher difficulty? So, could you try 'talking to the ogre again,' but since it already knows what you want, it makes it more complex and you need to work harder for the answer?
Comment: Are you asking this from the perspective of a player in the game, or from the perspective of a DM planning an adventure?
Comment: Page 74 of what?
Comment: I think he says page 74 of DnD-4e player handbook
Comment: @luke burgin you should serously consider reformulate, since there is no apparent question in the text
Comment: @RenanMalkeStigliani I think I've found the core of it. See if this is clearer.
Comment: Sorry i meant  DMG
Answer: Failing a Skill Challenge Should Be Interesting
DMG 76 says,

...don't fall into the trap of making progress dependent on success in a
  skill challenge. Failure introduces complications rather than ending
  the adventure. If the characters get lost in the jungle, that leads to
  further challenges, not the end of the adventure.

This means a DM should never introduce a skill challenge whose failure will stop the story (which is really what it means if they have to try it again and again until they win). Always have an interesting consequence that presents that party with an answer to "what do we do next?" It might be another skill challenge, or a combat encounter, or an intense RP session, but it shouldn't be "try it again, and do better this time." That's boring and frustrating for the players and the DM.
Answer: As a GM, I would personally avoid allowing your party to rehash a skills challenge at a greater DC for both narrative and creative reasons. To elaborate your ogre example a bit, let's say the PCs quest is to rescue a group of villagers which have been captured by an ogre. The captain of the guard wants you to kill the monster, while the local druid sympathizes with the creature since his territory has been encroached upon by the growth of the village. In this case, the goal of your challenge would be to convince the ogre to release his captives through some non-violent means.
If your party fails to broker a peace, allowing a "redo" detracts from the dramatic weight of the skills challenge - where is the tension if the players can simply attempt a second round of negotiations? Failure needs to hold certain consequences in order to be meaningful, and win or loose, a skills challenge should always advance the narrative in some direction, not leave the party back at square one. Similarly, skills challenges are an awesome opportunity at collaborative story-telling between the players and the GM - you want to reward new and innovative thinking on the part of your PCs. Allowing your paladin to attempt yet another a diplomacy check isn't an especially creative approach to the problem presented.
Answer: Despite the story-stopper, already pointed out, sometimes a retry could be allowed
Example
Like a dead end cave, where a landslip had blocked the return path, and now the players must swim the way off. It's nice to see some char struggling to swim and hold the breath, and the multiple skills checks should be increasingly difficult every time they fails. In the end, the character dying or making it through the deep waters would have added a lot of tension.

Retrying a failed skill challenge


Cloud mining contracts

Question: I don't get it. How it can be profitable even in theory? F.e. if someone has a machine that earns say 2$ per day, why would he want to lease this machine for 1$ for some stranger and give him this 2$ if he can just run this machine for himself and take the whole 2$ in his own pocket?
Comment: I think you've answered your own question...
Answer: Intelligent people ask intelligent questions.
Indeed it is true that if a particular setup can profit $2 per day there is seemingly no sensible reason to lease it out for $1 a day when you could have the $2 a day yourself - it would make more economic sense to lease it out for $3 a day.
From another perspective, someone who wants to mine can forgo the initial outlay for mining equipment and hire mining power for a fee. It is possibly not true, also considering the cost of running the machine, that leasing mining power may be more cost effective than purchasing and housing mining equipment yourself - most high-power mining equipment is also quite loud. It is still to consider that the equipment you lease may have lower costs for power and cooling than you could provide.
Comment: Absolutely. Intelligent people do the math.
Comment: Only retard would want to pay 3$ for machine that can earn only 2$ for him) Opposite is also true - who would want to lease a machine for 1$ that can earn 2$. The only point on this line where nobody lose anything is lease this machine for 2$ which absolutely has no sense except heating the atmosphere. Which is very stupid and nobody would want to make this without profits. The conclusion - ANY cloud mining farm is a scam including Genesis Mining. It's just a tricky way to steal money from... well, retards. Very cool although =)

Cloud mining contracts


How is volatility relevant for trading outside of options markets?

Question: What do traders use volatility for if they are not interested in the option space?
Are there volatility patterns that can predicts future movements of asset prices?
Comment: Yes, there are people who try to predict future movements of the asset from unusually low or unusually high volatility. (Toby Crabbel, for example). How successful they are I don't know. It is probably not a good question for this forum, however.
Comment: You may find interesting the following answer: http://quant.stackexchange.com/questions/30911/risk-required-return-and-expected-volatility-what-is-the-relationship/30913#30913
Answer: Yes, when volatility goes up, it is a signal that asset prices are going to be more volatile. Seriously, that is a useful piece of information.  If you want to take a certain amount of risk, you will need to reduce your positions.
Answer: If you measure volatility as the standard deviation of (rate of) returns, it is immensely important in a whole host of methods for financial analysis. It's primarily used as a measure of risk.
E.g., when doing portfolio optimization, in context of modern portfolio theory, this is taken to the next level where co-variance of each asset's rate of return is aggregated into a single portfolio variance. Remember that variance is simply the standard deviation squared, i.e., "volatility" squared. This is then combined with the expected return (mean of rates of return) of the portfolio, making it possible to optimize the allocation of your capital such that you get the lowest risk (i.e., volatility) given a required minimum return, or best return given a maximum level of risk (i.e., volatility). If you'd like to know more, I wrote about it in this blog post.
In the past volatility, as the standard deviation or returns, was also used a lot for value-at-risk calculations, but is now frowned upon as it assumes that returns are normally distributed. In essence you measure the standard deviation of the rate of returns, and use this statistically to say how much you stand to lose (or more) given a probability, say 5%. Example output of such an analysis would be: "With the proposed portfolio X, there is a 5% chance of losing more than 10% within the next month". Today you would use other methods, like Monte Carlo simulations, to get better VaR estimates.
Comment: I just realized that the question was specifically about trading, thus my answer might be too general. I'll let it stand in case anybody's interested.


How to use a stop and limit order together?

Question: If I own a stock that trades at 100$, and I want to sell the stock if it either goes to 95$ or below  and also if it goes to 105$ or above, is it possible to do so? Do I need to use a stop order or a limit order?
Comment: @JoeCoderGuy - have you heard about Guaranteed Stop Losses. Also you can have a stop-limit order as JB has mentioned or a stop-market order.
Comment: @JoeCoderGuy - what are you talking about? A GSL is basically a market stop loss order which you pay a premium (extra fee) in order to get executed at the price you specify in your GSL. The whole point of a stop order is that you want to be filled, so your statement doesn't make any sense. If you put a simple stop-market order you will get filled at the next market price after your stop gets triggered. Sounds like you don't know much about these type of orders from your comments.
Comment: @JoeCoderGuy - you pay an extra fee for a GSL, usually 0.1% extra on the value of you order. It is something you should consider using or not using in your risk management strategy.
Comment: You're asking a lot of questions.  Could you try and pick better tags?  This question has nothing to do with stock analysis, for example.
Answer: You need to use one of each, so a single order wouldn't cover this:
The stop-loss order could be placed to handle triggering a sell market order if the stock trades at $95 or lower.  If you want, you could use a stop-limit order if you have an exit price in mind should the stock price drop to $95 though that requires setting a price for the stop to execute and then another price for the sell order to execute.
The limit sell order could be placed to handle triggering a sell if the stock rises above $105.
On the bright side, once either is done the other could be canceled as it isn't applicable anymore.
Comment: Some brokers allow "group" orders, such that when one is executed all other orders are cancelled.
Comment: It is called an OCO - One Cancel Other order, so you can place a stop loss order and a profit target order and whichever gets triggered would cancel the other.
Comment: and if you forgot to cancel you are screwed?


In MongoDB, how can I replicate this simple query using map/reduce in ruby?

Question: So using the regular MongoDB library in Ruby I have the following query to find average filesize across a set of 5001 documents:
avg = 0
    total = collection.count()
    Rails.logger.info "#{total} asset creation stats in the system"
    collection.find().each {|row| avg += (row["filesize"] * (1/total.to_f)) if row["filesize"]}

Its pretty simple, so I'm trying to do the same using map/reduce as a learning exercise. This is what I came up with:
map = 'function(){emit("filesizes", {size: this.filesize, num: 1});}'
    reduce = 'function(k, vals){
            var result = {size: 0, num: 0};
            for(var x in vals) {
              var new_total = result.num + vals[x].num;
              result.num = new_total
              result.size = result.size + (vals[x].size * (vals[x].num / new_total));
            }
            return result;
    }'
    @results = collection.map_reduce(map, reduce)

However the two queries come back with two different results!
What am I doing wrong?
Answer: You're weighting the results by doing the division in every reduce function.
Say you had [{size : 5, num : 1}, {size : 5, num : 1}, {size : 5, num : 1}].  Your reduce would calculate:
result.size = 0 + (5*(1/1)) = 5
result.size = 5 + (5*(1/2)) = 7.25
result.size = 7.25 + (5*(1/3)) = 8.9

As you can see, this weights the results towards the earliest elements.
Fortunately, there's a simple solution.  Just add a finalize function, which will be run once after the reduce step is finished.


Freelance graphic design - who sends the proofs?

Question: I am a freelance graphic artist. I deal with a print broker. He has clients that he needs proofs for for print projects. I set up the proofs. Is it my responsibility as a rule to send the proofs to his clients or is the broker supposed to receive my proofs and forward to his clients? The print broker is my client. His customers are his customers in my eyes, but maybe I'm mistaken. There is no written contract. I only do this in the evenings and weekends and have a full time job. If this were my full time gig, I'd definitely have contracts! Your opinions?
Comment: What is *your* job? Are you not the graphic designer? And isn't it *your* clients then? Ah, perhaps you are the *printer*?
Comment: I am a freelance graphic designer. The broker is a print broker and passes info to me to put together a proof. To me, HE should be sending that proof to HIS client. HE is my client (the broker), not HIS customers. But maybe I'm mistaken...
Comment: What does your contract say? Ultimately, it's going to be dependent on the precise deal you have struck with this broker.
Comment: Laura, Please edit your question. Do not add more terms as a comment. (Wellcome :) btw)
Comment: We have no contract.
Comment: Hi. Welcome to GDSE. I think you should ask your print broker.  They're his clients, so let him decide how you should proceed.
Answer: It's up to you to establish the relationship you want.
Best I can figure...

Broker contacts you to design something for his client who has no art
You create the design

Now you are wondering if you send the design to the broker or the broker's client for approval. As I read things, the broker is asking you to deal with his/her client and you really aren't interested in that type of relationship - preferring to only deal with the broker.
That's between you and the broker. We can't answer that effectively.
You need to have a conversation with the broker to iron out the process. There's no blanket rule when it comes to situations such as this.

In some instances the broker does not want you to have contact with his/her clients for fear you'll usurp them and cut the broker out of the loop.
In some instances the broker would prefer to you deal with his/her client direct to iron out any design issues before the broker is called upon to print anything.

Either way works, both have pitfalls and benefits.

If you only deal with the broker...

If you are paid by the broker: If the broker's client fails to pay the broker, does that mean the broker will fail to pay you? Or if the broker's client fails to pay the broker are you still going to get paid for the design?
The broker must accurately convey what his/her client want. In some cases this can be more of a mountain than a molehill, depending upon the broker's client.
You can be more casual in communications since you and the broker are familiar with each other.
If the broker's client is a difficult client and unpleasant to deal with, you won't have the stress of dealing with them.
If there's a design error in the final piece due to miscommunication, are you responsible?

If you deal with the broker's client...

If you are paid by the broker's client: you are then responsible for collecting if they fail to pay.
You can more accurately target a design due to the direct communication.
You need to be more professional overall when dealing with the broker's clients, since you would be his/her representative to a degree.

In the long run, it really depends upon who is responsible for paying you. That can be clutch. It's very difficult to demand payment from someone (broker's client) if they aren't even aware you exist. And if the broker is not going to cover your payment no matter what his/her client does, that can be problematic if you have no direct communication with the client.

For the record, I've been in both types of relationships at various times in my career... and had clients stiff the broker.. which meant I got stiffed as well. it was impossible to collect my fees because the client was completely unaware of who I was and why they owed me anything. And, since they were also stiffing the broker, the lines of communication were broken completely. It was an untenable situation that was going to cost more of my time and effort to collect than what the job actually paid. -- It's this situation you will eventually find yourself in.
I don't enter the "blind subcontractor" position any longer unless there's a written guarantee (i.e. contract) with the broker stating they are responsible for my fees regardless of whether they collect from their client or not.
I, personally, prefer to deal with the broker's client. It makes for better design in the end if I can directly interact with the client. The broker is unaware of some questions to ask and never relays any intangible communications that a designer can "pick up on" during client conversations. However, a savvy, experienced, broker can be a reliable middleman - it's just that often brokers in general are not vested in acquiring the unspoken information I need as a designer - style preferences, "attitude" of the design, target audience, etc..

I would also point out that you can have a contract regardless of how often or how much you work. Merely because this is a night/weekend thing for you and not full time, in no way means you should forego any contract. A contract merely means both parties know what to expect and what their responsibilities are.
A contract doesn't have to be a long, drawn-out, 2-4 page document full of legalese. It's simply a written agreement... I agree to do X, in turn you agree to do Y. That's all.
Comment: most likely the correspondence is by email, if yes then allmost certainly theres a sort of written contract in the mail account.
Answer: As someone who has worked for both print and packaging brokers, if the broker contracts with you for design, then all proofs including mockups and printing proofs, go to the broker. You don't ever come from behind the curtain unless you're expressly told/asked by the broker who hired you to send proofs directly to the client. The client belongs to the broker - not to you.
There is a reason for this - the broker has to protect his accounts. If you contact the broker's client directly, the broker can now lose that client to you in future work. You have broken confidentiality. In which case you have now also lost the broker as a potential client for future work.
In one particular instance I remember,the client contacted the vendor (mailing house) to a particular job going around me and my company. That put the project at risk. We fired both the client and the vendor.
Answer: If I am understanding your situation then this is what I think-
It seems you are a sub contractor that the printer has hired to do layout. Your relationship is with the "printer" and they deal with their "client". The printer is supplying you with the artwork (images, text, intent, etc.) and you are doing the design layout. This seems clear and not so unusual. It is as if you are an "in house" designer that would be doing the same thing- except that they have out-sourced this task to you. This sounds great for both you and them.
Where the ambiguity comes in is that it seems that they want you to send your finished design to their client. What is unclear is whether you are to deal directly with the client for any revision requests. Or, does any communication like that go back to the printer and then they communicate that to you ? Then the question of your payment comes into play. Are you being paid by the hour or by the job ? This needs to be very clear.
If you do not want to deal directly with the client then tell the printer that and make it their responsibility. If you are willing to deal directly with the client then have an arrangement to make sure you are properly paid for your time- as would be the case for the printer's own in house designer.
If the printer merely wants you to send your finished work to the client (as well as themself) then I do not see it as a big issue.
Answer: So ..

There is no contract.
This print broker is definitely your client.
You wish to extract yourself from one part of a non-written arrangement, and tell your client that you can only partially do the job. You probably don't have time and wish to avoid client servicing his clients for the creative part.

The problem is, there's no right or wrong here.
This literally needs to be agreed upon between you and your client (the broker).
He probably needs that part included, and you probably need that part excluded.
Overall sounds like a misunderstanding and, as with any business relationship, this can only work if the parties settle on the terms.
Ideally in writing.

(later edit)
Don't know why you keep using the term "proof". What is a "proof" ? Sounds to me like you are designing items.
Personally, if I design multiple items for multiple clients of a single client, I would also indeed tend to avoid being in contact with his clients. I do work with "agency type" clients, and they bring the work and they handle the clients and feedback and contracts and everything. But in your case, this needs to be discussed.
It is very likely this particular client you have, may need to delegate the creative part in full, feedback included.
Answer: This is probably a subjective answer because it is a subjective affair.

But first, probably we need an additional definition. What is "A proof"?
A proof can "only" be made with calibrated equipment. A proof is not just a printed test, but it is one which given the conditions of a file will render the same colors as the final product within a defined range.
So a proof, IMHO, can only be made by the printer itself or by the prepress department in charge of preparing the plates to be printed, not a freelance designer.
Of course, if a freelance designer has, not only enough knowledge of color workflow, but also available equipment can prepare prepress color tests, aka proof.
Normally, what a freelance designer provides are print samples, tests, physical dummies, or even color references that can be used as a guide for future steps of the process. But avoid the term "proof".

Back to the question. The usual disclaimer is important: This is no legal advice in any way.
As a freelancer, I only contact my client's client, if there is a very specific technical issue we need to solve and the middle man is "only a salesman" with no technical background.
For any administrative issues, I refer them back to my client.
A contract is important, especially for your client. There could be the case that the client's client will be tempted to contact the provider directly for future projects. And this can potentially disrupt the business relations. But if there is no contract, there is no obligation.
This is something you need to talk about with your client. If it is not an important technical aspect, they should serve their clients directly.
Comment: "Proof" in this case is a DIGITAL proof for printing purposes. Say the broker's client wants a postcard. They have no art. The broker sends me photos and text etc. and I put it together. That "proof" goes to the client so they can approve or request changes. Now, should I be sending that proof to HIS client (his client is not MY client - he deals with them on all other levels - printing, estimates, payments, etc.) or should I be sending that proof to HIM to send to HIS client? So you're saying I should send proofs to the BROKER and he forwards? That's what I'm thinking too.
Comment: Yes, and the responsibility if the color does not match is his. Again, the postcard is not a proof, it is a sample, a test, a dummy. A proof is for color matching in the final process.


Can the water heater be damaged if the gas has been shut off?

Question: Can the water heater be damaged if the gas has been turned off for a period of time?
Comment: I edited out a "No" at the end of your post; was that an attempt to answer your own question? If so, please use the checkbox labeled "answer your own question" below it, but be aware that we'll want a more detailed answer than a simple "no".
Answer: That depends. If the water heater in question has a pilot light, as opposed to an igniter, then probably not, but if there is an igniter and not a pilot light, the fuse for the igniter could blow as the igniter tries to light a nonexistent gas flow. As far as physical damage to the water heater itself, I don't see how. A fuse is a pretty minor fix. And if you turn the thermostat all the way down, you shouldn't have to worry about the fuse either.
Comment: Yeah, it's called a fuse. Sorry, couldn't resist. But seriously, I can only draw from my own experience, and I know I've lost two fuses due to lack of gas supply to my HVAC heater while said heater was on. And you're probably right; 99 out of a 100 people won't have a problem, but I'd hate to give bad advice to that 100th user.
Comment: If a water heater has an igniter, it probably also has circuitry to prevent the igniter from running indefinitely.


Would Muggle chocolate work on the effects of Dementors?

Question: I'm not sure this is ever addressed in the books, but would chocolate made by Muggles work against the effects of Dementors, or would only wizard/witch produced chocolate have an effect? Why or why not?
Comment: Related: [Is There a Scientific Basis For the Healing Properties of Chocolate?](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/9835/2287)
Answer: I don't think there was ever any implication made that Lupin's or Madam Pomfrey's chocolate was a special "wizard" chocolate - it was therefore likely a regular unenchanted muggle chocolate.
As noted in the comment by gnovice, this question explores the reasons why Muggle chocolate might work: Is there a scientific basis for the healing properties of chocolate?
No mention of chocolate in that context in any of JKR sources.
Comment: @Kogitsune - was there a difference other than who sold it? ["Russian components, American components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!"](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/quotes?qt=qt0459113)
Comment: What I mean by "wizard" chocolate is, for example, Honeyduke's slabs of chocolate.
Comment: It probably comes down to the process or any additives, which I really don't think the books mention. Given the magical nature of other sweets that are produced, I wondered if there was anything "magical" about their chocolate other than just being made by magic users compared to mundane muggle chocolates.
Answer: It's not addressed directly in any of the books or JKR as far as I can find. That said, I think there's an argument for the existence of magical chocolate.
I think it's possible that wizarding chocolate may contain a magical component. That said, if chocolate does contain a magical element, we can't automatically assume that the magical component is what actually counteracts the Dementors. I think it's highly probable that any magical element in wizarding chocolate would indeed be what counters a Dementor's effects, though.
In Order of the Phoenix, following the Dementor attack in Little Whinging on Harry and Dudley, chocolate isn't even brought up -- not by Harry, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Arthur Weasley, Dumbledore, or Sirius. Perhaps it was because Harry had no access to wizarding chocolate; it could be that Muggle chocolate -- all that Harry would have had access to at Privet Drive -- was the wrong kind of chocolate to treat a Dementor attack with. (Ironically, in Order of the Phoenix, Harry threw away two boxes of Honeyduke's chocolate before the Dementor attack because he was feeling angsty and mad that no one was contacting him)
There is canon premise for magical ingredients being used in sweets. For example, Billywigs (FBAWTFT¹ page 4) are Australian insects that cause a pleasant floating sensation when they sting; Billywigs are the active ingredient in Fizzing Whizbees. The Glumbumble is a grey, furry-bodied flying insect that produces melancholy-inducing treacle, which is used as an antidote to the hysteria produced by eating Alihotsy leaves (FBAWTFT page 19).
Blending potions has a magical aspect it to it. Perhaps wizarding candy is similar and does too. It seems unlikely that Lupin went into the Muggle world just to procure Muggle chocolate, even less so that Madam Pomfrey would have (she had chocolate on hand in the hospital wing in Prisoner of Azkaban). Dementors are of the magical world; it would seem that to counter their effects would require some kind of magic (whether that's the regular chocolate, a magical ingredient, or both).
So, do we know for sure counteracting the Dementors requires magically-produced chocolate? No. Is it a possibility? Yes.
¹Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander - Scholastic Edition
Comment: Um... big mistake... "Muggle chocolate -- all that Harry would have had access to at Privet Drive" - is a false premise. Any chocolate in Privet drive may only exist in past tense as it's all already been eaten by Dudley. Harry wouldn't have had access to ANY chocolate in Privet
Comment: He says, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know." It's not specified what kind of chocolate Harry is given on the train or by Madam Pomfrey, but when he's practicing his Patronus, it specifically says Lupin gives Harry a Chocolate Frog and a slab of Honeyduke's best chocolate. :)
Comment: I'm pretty sure the first or second time Lupin gives chocolate to Harry in _Prisoner of Azkaban_, he says something like, "It's _just_ chocolate!"...
Comment: It's not a false premise that *should* Harry have chocolate provided to him by any Muggle on Privet Drive that the chocolate would likely be Muggle. Unless you envision Aunt Petunia making stealth visits to Honeyduke's. And Harry *did* have access to chocolate, as I mentioned in my answer -- he just threw it away in a fit of pique. So it's not quite correct that Harry didn't have access to chocolate at all. He spent the summer wandering around; he could have accessed chocolate if he wanted, I believe. Also, Dudley was dieting successfully by the time *OOTP* opens. He had become a boxing champ.
Comment: @Slytherincess, Lupin reccomended Chocolate Frogs and Honeyduke's because they're wizarding branded chocolate and prboably the first ones that naturally sprang to mind, him being a wizard.
Answer: There does not seem to be a need "wizard-made" chocolate... The chocolate itself is magic (1)!

The mood-enhancing properties of chocolate are well known in both the Muggle and wizard worlds. Chocolate is the perfect antidote for anyone who has been overcome in the presence of Dementors, which suck hope and happiness out of their surroundings.
Chocolate can only be a short-term remedy, however. Finding ways to fight off Dementors – or depression – are essential if one is to become permanently happier. Excessive chocolate consumption cannot benefit either Muggle or wizard.
Dementors and Chocolate By J.K. Rowling

(1) By magic, I mean the power to make one feel better is the chemicals it naturally contains!
Comment: Great find. This seems to suggest by WoG that there is no distinction between Wizard Chocolate and Muggle Chocolate
Comment: @DBPriGuy It wasn't so much of a find as it was published today on Pottermore! Hence the lateness of the answer. TBH though it is the shortest writing she has released there. It sounds more like a PSA to me. /shrug


Which conformations of 2,3-dimethylbutane are more stable?

Question:
I am not sure what the proper arrangement of these conformations are from least to most stable. I got the wrong answer, but my thinking was this:
 First, I thought that because 2 and 4 are in eclipsed conformations they are least stable.  From there I thought that 4 was less stable than 2 because of the steric interactions of the methyl groups.  Then of the two staggered conformations 1 and 3, it appears to me that 1 has more steric interaction of the methyl groups than 3.  So my ordering from least to most stable was 4,2,1,3.  Is there an error in my line of reasoning?
Comment: I followed your reasoning and actually, I would have reached the same answer as you did. I suppose the only possible area up for debate is between 1 and 2 - it basically comes down to whether 3x Me-Me gauche interactions are worse than 1x Me-Me syn - without running some calculations it is difficult to answer that question so I would not fault you (and myself) for getting the wrong answer.
Comment: ..so I just checked the assignment for the millionth time.. because for the past 2 days I've been sure I'm right about this....just discovered the mc answer option I selected was 4,2,3,1 (swapped 1 and 3) and 4,2,1,3 was not listed..the correct answer was none of the above.  So I'm pretty sure that my reasoning is correct here. Unless anyone can point me to an error still?
Comment: Nah, I figure you and I are correct. Sucks to have questions that are like that, sometimes feels more like a test of reading carefulness than chemistry.
Answer: The correct arrangement (from least stable to most stable) is probably: $4 > 2 > 3 \gtrapprox 1$ based on my calculations for the four gas phase rotamers you can see in the figure below.

Your reasoning for 4 over 2 sounds good, that would also be my point. For the two minima 1 and 3 (with Boltzmann weights of 46%:54% at the highest calc. niveau (red), 33%:66% at the lowest (blue)) you might also be right. But from the really small energy difference I don't want to argue too much about it.

My calculation methods seem a bit random, but at first I only wanted to make that fast wB97X-D3/def2-TZVP//HF-3c scan and then decided to calculate the bigger one.
Answer: I found a question in Chem 220 - Organic Chemistry
Problem Set 2.
The question is such:

Draw Newman projections for the eclipsed and staggered conformations of 2,3-dimethylbutane viewed along the $C_2-C_3$ axis. Calculate the energy of each conformation, both staggered and eclipsed.
Eclipsed (kcal/mol): H/H, 1.0; CH3/H, 1.3; CH3/CH3, 3.0 kcal/mol. Staggered (kcal/mol): H/H, 0; CH3/H, 0; CH3/CH3, 0.9.

Solution given:

This solution seems reasonable,your book might be wrong.
Comment: New link to user16347's answer. http://ursula.chem.yale.edu/~chem220/chem220js/PROBSETS/PS13spr/PS2-S13-ans/PS2-S13-ans.html. Problem #6.
Answer: The solution given by user16347 seems logical but is not really the correct solution. According to the answer the anti form is more stable since it has the least energy, this is actually false. Experimentally, the gauche form with 3 gauche interactions ( that is structure with energy 2.7 ) is more stable than the anti form. The reason being that in the anti form the geminal repulsions due to the methyl on adjacent carbon hakes the system more unstable than the gauche interactions. This for this particular molecule the gauche conformer is more stable.
For details into this concept of geminal repulsion, refered Chapter 2 - Strain and Staibilty from the book Physical Organic Chemistry by anslyn doherthy


Fix protocol and Bars

Question: I am newbie in fix protocol. I would like to know how I can work with bars (candles) in the fix protocol? I mean subscription to bars from client-side and what type of message I can use to send bars from server to the client? I tried to find a suitable message on http://fixwiki.org/fixwiki/Category:Message
but unfortunately I found nothing.
Comment: How would that even work?
Comment: I forgot to say I am developing a system based on QuickFIX/n.
I need to create as a client part and the server part.
I would like to know. What commands in the fix protocol used for subscription and sending bars?
As I understood to subscribe to the bars I need to use MarketDataRequest in client-side and XMLnonFIX for sending bar in server-side?
Answer: FIX is a lower level thing. It's more like message by message, quote by quote,  and trade by trade.
I think the closest message to what you want would be a MarketDataRequest. If your high and low are values for the trading session then they're in there. Otherwise, you're starting with price by trade.
I believe that for what you're describing you need to cache time stamped values and do calculations on intervals to make bars. It might make economic sense for a vendor to use their best guess at a FIX like spec for messaging bar data. You have a lot of fun architecture decisions ahead.
I'm going to add a large grain of salt for you to take this with. FIX is a dynamic protocol (what I thought I knew today might have been ancient history yesterday) and I have always used someone else's FIX solutions in production though I tinkered with my own in testing a couple of years ago.

Fix protocol and Bars


What does "closed and sealed" mean in the language it was written in?

Question:
Daniel 12:9
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for these words are "closed and
  sealed" till the time of the end.
Answer: The Hebrew Bible uses the verb חָתַם in two ways.
The first is the common use of seal as royal cachet. The idea here is that the king's edict is irreversible. Thus Jezebel (1 Ki 21:8) and Mordecai (Esther 8:8) seal the royal decrees as mandates "ex officio" from the king. The seal was therefore the explicit authority of the king.
The second and related use is therefore to prevent something from leaking. Thus in Lev 15:3 the same Hebrew verb is used to indicate blockage of bodily fluids -- that is, Moses wrote that certain human anatomy prevented the discharge of certain unclean bodily fluids. (Think of the seal on the engine block of your car that prevents the leakage of oil.) In this same light, Isaiah 29:11 indicates how the contents of a scroll are prevented from spilling out and therefore being revealed. (Thus is Jer 32:11-14 an unsealed scroll, which was readable, had to be paired with the duplicate sealed scroll that was the original deed of transfer for real estate, which could not "leak" information.) In fact, the Hebrew verb חָתַם occurs four times in the Book of Job and has the EXCLUSIVE meaning of the prevention of disclosure (i.e., Job 9:7 from disclosure or appearance of light by the sun and stars in night and day, respectively; Job 14:17 from disclosure or appearance of guilt; Job 24:16 from disclosure or appearance of the sinner in the daytime; and Job 33:16 from disclosure or appearance of foolishness). In other words, the Hebrew Bible idea of sealing not only included the sacrosanct and irreversible nature of written royal decrees, but also included the idea of keeping something safe from leakage or disclosure. Think of a sealed grand jury subpoena or the oil seal on the engine block on your car to use modern examples.
So what we therefore see in Daniel is the secondary nuance of the Hebrew verb. That is, the verb occurs four times: Dan 9:24 (twice); Dan 12:4; and Dan 12:9. In each of these verses the emphasis is on the secondary meaning of the Hebrew verb: thus in each of these verses we find that divine revelation is checked from escaping and leaking out (because it is sealed). It is not until we arrive at the Book of "Revelation" that the Lamb appears with the key of David (Rev 3:7), and he therefore is the one who unlocks or breaks the seals of this scroll so that they unfold and "leak out" (Rev 5:1-14). It is not that he compromises the sacrosanct nature of the Word of God by breaking the seals (which is NOT the meaning here), but that by breaking the seals he allows divine revelation to leak out and therefore to bring to full disclosure ("revelation") what is to occur in the end times (which is the explicit purpose mentioned in Rev 1:1). Of interest, the content of Dan 11 and Rev 5 are parallel in content, and thus lend credence to the proposition that the scroll that appears early in the Book of Revelation is, in fact, Daniel's scroll.
Answer: The book of Daniel is an early example of the apocalyptic genre, which includes the book of Revelation in the New Testament, and several apocryphal books. Books in this genre, though written over the span of several centuries, carried many similar features, including:

The prophet receiving his messages through visions and symbols
An angel guiding the prophet in his visions, or explaining the symbolism
The hiding away of the prophecy

For comparison, 1 Enoch (which was written/edited around the same time as Daniel) opens with the statement that the prophecy 'is not for this generation, but I speak about one that is distant' (1.2). The Assumption of Moses has Moses instructing his listeners to put his prophecies into jars and hide them away until 'the day of repentance' during 'the consummation of the end of the days' (1.16–18). Two other examples can be found in 2 Esdras 12.35-38 and 14.1-9. In Daniel, the prophet is told to seal his prophecy because 'it refers to many days from now' (8.26), and shall be sealed 'until the time of the end' (12.4,9).1
The reason for this 'sealing' of such prophecies comes down to the nature of the apocalyptic genre. Apocalypses are written in response to events contemporary with the author. In order to address those events under the mantle of prophetic authority, the author writes under the name of an ancient figure from the Hebrew scriptures (known examples include Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Ezra, and Baruch).
But despite having given his prophecies a degree of credibility, this might cause people to wonder why such a famous biblical figure's prophecies have only just recently been discovered. The answer: they were hidden away, with the instruction that they were to be found again during the precise time that the prophecies are concerned with.
On the apocalyptic genre in general, Schneemelcher writes, 'it has to be made clear why the book has just recently become known and not a long time ago', and this is explained by 'the command for its secret preservation till the end of days'.2
On Daniel in particular, Collins writes, 'The command of the angel in Dan 12:4 to "shut up the words and seal the book" must be regarded as a consequence of pseudonymity - it explains why the revelations of Daniel had not been circulated before the Maccabean era.'3

1 One notable exception is Revelation 22.10, where the author is specifically instructed to not seal up his prophecies 'because the time is near'.
2 Wilhelm Schneemelcher. New Testament Apocrypha: Volume Two, p 545.
3 John J. Collins. The Apocalyptic Imagination, p 112.
Comment: The idea of the Book of Daniel written under a pseudonym has some novelty in certain circles, yet is discredited by Jesus(When spoken of by Daniel the prophet, Matt. 24:15), and interestingly, Josephus, who spoke of Alexander the Great reviewing the Book of Daniel(Antiquities of the Jews-Book 11, Ch. 8, sect 5) which confirms it was written well before the Maccabean Revolt. The argument of course is Covenant Theology: you have to 'lay' the presuppositional foundations before you can expect us to 'buy' the conclusions.
Comment: @user2479, Matthew 24.15 or JW 11.8.5 certainly could be read as authoritative statements on who authored Daniel, but the validity of that authority needs to be demonstrated, not assumed. Additionally, 'Covenant Theology' has literally nothing to do with the answer I gave. My answer consists of a brief survey of specific traits found in Jewish apocalypses that Daniel has in common with them, so I don't understand where this criticism of 'Covenant Theology' is coming from.
Comment: My mistake; after looking up your sources, especially the John J. Collins source; I realized he was arguing from a "critical historical/grammatical"(ie: modernist) view, and not the Full Preterist view which can only originate from Covenant Theology. Alden Thompson, "Daniel," in Doug Clark and John Brunt, eds., Introducing the Bible, Vol. 1: The Old Testament and Intertestamental Literature (Lanham, New York, Oxford: University Press of America, 1997), 525-44. talk of the "psuedo-Daniel" writer during the Maccabean period as a Preterist view.
Comment: -(con't) Since the Preterist position is that of Christ's 'reign' beginning at the Destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the "time of the end" in Ch. 12:1 has to be 70AD. This of course, challenges the idea that 'Rome" is the 4th Beast-since Rome continues on after 70AD. Presterists 'allegorize' everything, yet hold to a 'strict' interpretation of 'generation'=70 Years.


What is the first source for making an Aufruf?

Question: What is the earliest record or source for making an Aufruf in some communities on the Shabbos before a wedding?
Comment: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/28359/4940
Comment: What do you mean by aufruf. Do you mean an event with this name, or an event with some particular characteristic(s)? If the latter, which characteristics?
Answer: The Maharil in Hilchos Tisha Bav mentions that he celebrated

Shabbos Shpinholz  שבת שפינהאלץ

on the Shabbos before his son's wedding (though it was Shabbos Chazon). It is also brought in Beer Hetev 551. It is not clear exactly what  Shpinholz means, but it is some celebration on the Shabbos before the Chasunah.
Answer: Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan z"l in his book "Made in Heaven" gives a number of references. The earliest seems to be the LEVUSH - 1530 -1612 (282 [7] in Hagah)
Rabbi Kaplan says the idea comes from the way King Solomon built the Temple with special gates -  one for mourners and one  for bridegrooms so the mourners would be consoled and the bridegrooms blessed. After the destruction of the Temple it became the custom for the bridegroom to come to the synagogue do that people could bless him.
see also Aufruf and Shabbat Chatan?


Visualforce object-specific action in Salesforce1

Question: In Salesforce1, I want to redirect back to Salesforce1 on a command button after the action runs. If there is an error, it should stop redirecting. I tried adding sforce.one.navigateToSObject on onComplete, which redirects even when there is error on the page resulting from the validations from the apex action on the command button. How can I make it redirect only when save actions runs successfully?
Comment: You should post your code, that would be helpful.
Comment:
Comment: do you intend to use lightening framework (specifically aura components)? Or do you plan to use Visualforce pages in Salesforce1 app?
Comment: no aura components. just VF page. How would aura components help?
Answer: Alright, so based on your comment, you've got a VF page and Controller.  You've got an action in the controller that returns void or null (since it's salesforce1).  You've got a command button in the VF page calling the action.
Probably the simplest thing you could do is in the oncomplete of the button, call a custom Javascript function. Like this one, which will handle the navigation.
<code><apex:form>

  <apex:commandButton action="{!save}" rerender="messages, othercontent" onComplete="postSave(); return false;">

  <apex:pagemessages id="messages" />

  <apex:outputPanel id="otherContent">
    {!Account.Name}
  </apex:outputPanel>

</apex:form>

<script>
    function postSave() {
        // here you just check to see the status of the save, you might be looking for the id of
        // the record if it's insert, or something else if it's update.  If it's update, then
        // setup a controller boolean property like "isSaveError" and set this in your save
        // action, and check for that here.
        if('{!Account.id}' != ''){
            // the record saved, redirect
            sforce.one.navigateToSObject('{!Account.id}');
        }
        // else, do nothing the error should be showing on page
    }
</script>
</code>
Comment: I just added sforce.one.back(false);   in the postSave. It redirects correctly to the previous page in one/one.app in Chrome. But not on the actual device. The same code works on  Cancel sforce.one.navigateToSObject('{!Account.id}'); does not work either. Not sure why.
Answer: This does not address your question directly with your current setup, but I have experienced a lot more control for this type of scenario with JavaScript remoting in Salesforce1. I do not know of any direct way to automatically navigate after using the standard commandButton component since it really isn't set up for client-side navigation (it would be great to be proven wrong!).
With JavaScript remoting you will need to do a lot more work for validation etc., but you gain control over taking action on a success or failure after the Controller method completes (will need to implement Save). There may be a better way to accomplish your goal, but consider this route as well:
https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce1.meta/salesforce1/vf_dev_best_practices_approaches_remoting.htm


Are there any open source Python modules compatible with arcpy that will allow complex SQL queries?

Question: I am trying to handle string (non-geometry) duplicates in a large attribute table of a shapefile without having to convert to gdb and back or connect to a postgres db. I need to be able to use a count function for my query. I'd prefer not creating an output file, but rather simply updating the file itself. I've looked at the cursors but I cannot seem to accomplish what I need to with them. I essentially need to get a count for duplicates, do a comparison, and then accordingly append values of one field with the values of another field.
Comment: Also, since you are working with a shapefile which uses a DBF to store its database info, you will be limited to the query capabilities of the DBF format.
Comment: What kind of duplicates are you looking for?  Geometry duplicates (overlapping features), duplicates values within a field, or duplicate rows comparing multiple fields?
Comment: Oh so conversion doesn't change the DBF? Thanks for the info. Sorry I forgot to explain what the duplicates are I will do so.
Comment: Yes, if you convert from a shapefile to another format (file gdb, personal gdb, arcsde gdb, postgis, etc) then of course the database specs will change and you will have different sql capabilities based upon whatever the native database format is.  You said that your didn't want to convert the data, though...
Answer: If the duplicates you wish to do something about are across rows I would look at ogr, specifcally ogr sql.
If OGR doesn't do what you want and the data you wish to change are across columns (fields) and not rows (records) with suitable care you can use any tool which understands DBF, which should any db tool worth it's salt, including Access/Excel. Something to watch for, especially with Excel, are silent reformatting of date/time fields, and truncation of total records (Excel has max row limit, and may or may not say something about it). Always work on a copy, validate the results, and never delete, add or re-order rows when using a non-spatial dbf tool.
Comment: @carl yes, with Arcgis 9.3, following [Can ArcGIS and OSGeo4W share the same python install?](http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/134/can-arcgis-and-osgeo4w-share-the-same-python-install). I'm not sure what would need to change for 10.x.
Comment: Thanks, I'll look into OGR, but I'm not very good at macros on Access and Excel and I wanted to concatenate string values in two different fields without merging based on data from another so I think this takes a more programmatic solution.
Comment: Do you know if the python version of ogr sql can be integrated seamlessly with arcpy?
Answer: (This uses neither python nor ArcGIS but it might be a useful approach.)
One alternative approach could be to read the dbf part of the shapfile into R (using the foreign package). Then install and load the package sqldf, which provides full SQL functionality. So long as you do not reorder or change the number of rows you can write out a new dbf file which will work^ with your shapefile.
^although I imagine it is possible to break the shapefile in certain circumstances I have not done this yet using this approach.
Comment: A creative sounding workaround. Kind of fakes out the original shapefile, and it's none the wiser.
Answer: If you install pywin32, you can query your .dbf files with any Jet compatible SQL query and access the results in a RecordSet from Python. You can run an aggregate function like count, nested query, update query, etc or output to another dbf. In my experience, the dbf file name must be 8.3 compiant.


Is publishing with SpringerBriefs vanity publication for a beginner researcher?

Question: I am a beginning researcher and am unsure as to the academic worth/usefulness for my career to publish with SpringerBriefs. Would it be seen as a vanity publication?
Comment: It is peer reviewed?
Comment: Hi, thank you for your responses.   I just heard back from the editor, saying that the manuscript will be external reviewed. I finished my PhD a year ago, and have one article published in a journal, and one article published in conference proceeding.
Comment: Do you plan to use this to publish your PhD thesis? Do you have other publications already, or would this be your first?
Comment: It might be worth contacting them and asking if there is a peer review process.
Answer: Think "short book", not "long paper". There's been several questions here about the value of publishing a book (e.g., Is there any value in self-publishing a book as an academic? or Pros and cons of (co-)authoring a reference book in early career?), and the answers apply here as well. In short, the fact of having published a book carries virtually no weight (at least in most fields), but a good book can have a long-term impact.
Original research should in general be published in a peer-reviewed journal (or conference), not a book. But if you've written a few papers on a topic that you think would benefit from a consistent notation, cleaned-up presentation, extended introduction and literature review; or if you have a set of lecture notes on a current hot topic you are particularly proud of and would like to see get wider attention (preferring to trust the power of Springers marketing department instead of the vagaries of Google), then publishing them as a SpringerBrief could make sense for you. Whether it'd be worth the effort to get them into shape (and it will cost effort) is something you have to decide for yourself.
Answer: As for the peer review, I talked with a Springer representative at the 2016 Joint Math Meeting and she clarified as follows: two rounds of peer review, once when an author indicates a desire to publish a Springer Briefs (signs the paperwork, submits a table of contents and a couple chapters), and once when the work is completed.
Answer: Its not entirely clear from its website, but it appears that SpringerBriefs is not peer reviewed.  At least, that's what I get from their author instructions starting with:

Springer Briefs are designed to get your ideas to market as fast as
  possible. With this aim in mind, we  have outlined simple instructions
  for manuscript formatting, preparation, and delivery. After you have
  delivered your manuscript to editorial and it is transmitted to our
  production department, the  manuscript will be assigned to one of our
  full-service production vendors (FSVs).

Given that, my assessment is that publication in this venue is likely to be essentially worthless from a scientific career point of view: it's not peer reviewed, so it's not giving you any more credit than depositing the same text in a repository like arXiv, and it gets you much less exposure than something like arXiv because people have to buy it to read it.
Comment: It is mentioned that they have *editorial*; they may do the peer review for the received manuscript or they may have a policy on reviewing the received text.
Comment: @EnthusiasticStudent Like I said, it's not entirely clear.  Real peer reviewed publications, however, typically advertise that fact clearly.
Answer: Yes, SpringerBriefs are blind peer reviewed.  I'm not sure why one would assume that a major publisher like Springer would not send out work for peer review before agreeing to publish it.


How to get our music into games?

Question: As a fairly unknown independent band, what is the best way to get our music into computer games? I'm not so much thinking about licensing issues, but more about what channels are available and how to get noticed by game devs that could be interested in our type of music.
Comment: What type of instruments do you have?
Comment: We're a thrash metal band in the brutal end of the scale, so traditional lineup with drums, guitars, bass and vocals. Probably more suited for more violent games.
Answer: You have two options:
1) The indirect route: Find sites that distribute music and put it there.  See Where is quality paid game music? and Where can I find free music for my game?
2) The direct route: Find a project in development and talk to them directly.  See "Finding a project" from here: How can I get involved with open source game projects?
Answer: Direct Promotion.
Search for game developers which you'll think your music match in their current or previous products and send a simple email introducing yourself.
I'll even send an email to devs even if your music doesn't fit with previous projects, as you never know what could be building: today is a educational game, tomorrow maybe a Satanic Hack'n' slash Gore game that would make God Of War rate C ;)
Comment: Thanks, the direct promotion route is of course always available, but can be difficult as I imagine there are a lot of developers and no easy way to find them all :)
Answer: This isn't your games as the soundtrack, but Rock Band Network (currently under maintenance while they change stuff for Rock Band 3 compatibility, but should be back up soon) is simply awesome. You can author everything yourself, and the only cost is an XNA Creators Club account and an Xbox 36 ($300 for the Xbox, $100 for a year of creators club, which you can actually put off on getting until you're ready to test).
Another alternative is to just go make your own game. Shinobi Ninja just went and made an iPhone game about themselves:
itunes.apple.com/us/app/brooklyn-to-babylon-shinobi/id347930797?mt=8
They contracted a developer, so there was that cost involved. Make friends with computer science majors. ;)
Comment: Thanks. I've been thinking about rock band before, just forgot about it. The iPhone game idea is a good one though. I'm a programmer myself, but day-job + music leaves little time for game development, so I guess it would be better to hire someone with experience :)
Answer: As an independent game developer I would tell you that, for us, it is very difficult to find the right music for our games... It should not be difficult for you to find games that match your music style. Just set up a webpage with some examples of your music and promote it in game development forums. If it is good, you will get a lot of responses, I'm sure!
Comment: Thanks, I'll try to see if I can create a section for this kind of thing on our main webpage.
Answer: network network network...
Go to things like the Game Developer's Conference.  Hang out and talk to anyone and everyone you meet.  Learn more about videogame music at someplace like GameSoundCon to try to make yourself more knowledgable (and more valuable) to a potential game developer.
Know and love games and gaming.  Lots of people want to get into game music.  Not a lot of them love games.  Would George Lucas want a composer who never really watched movies or couldn't name a current game scoring his next film?  Game Developers often feel the same way about their composers.
Get a student game or two under your belt-- go to the local college and see if they have a gaming club or computer science department.  There are often a ton of student-created games at these places and they have no idea where to go for music.  Nothing makes for a better resume than "oh, download XXXX from the App Store to hear some of our game music.
Answer: Building on Brian Schmidt's 2012 answer about networking, I'd suggest looking out for Game Jams
A jam is like a hackathon or charrette, where a group of game creators get together to make a playable game from scratch in a very short period of time - often a day or a weekend.
Some jams have an official concept of "floater" artists, musicians, and sound designers, who can sign up without a development team, and the organizers will attempt to matchmake them with one or more development teams who are in need of visual & audio content. Even without official matchmaking, firing off a tweet on the jam's hashtag to offer music support is likely to draw the interest of at least one developer.
Jam games themselves are often ephemeral, one-off prototypes that never go further, but sometimes you hit on some gold that's worth developing to a full release (examples from jams in my area include Toto Temple, Mount Your Friends, Super Time Force, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, The Yawhg - I have no affiliation with any of these games, I just think they and their creators are pretty awesome) :)
This one-off nature can be an asset for getting your foot in the door. The chance that you already have the perfect song for a major project in-development is slim, but a jam game is naturally malleable and shaped by the constraints of the timeframe / theme / available people. Get in early and the devs might be able to build a game around your music rather than the other way around, and be more willing to take risks on a sound or style they might not have thought of before.
Beyond the scope of any one game, the jam lets you develop relationships with developers, where you each know what it's like working with each other. The next time they're working on a commercial project and looking for music to commission or license, you'll be on their mind.
As an example, I had a great experience with an audio floater on my last jam game, and I've since commissioned them for additional sound and music. I'm planning to jam with them again this weekend.

How to get our music into games?


What is the distance from Alpha Centauri to Barnard's Star?

Question: Alpha Centauri AB is the closest star system to Earth (4.366 ly), followed closely by Barnard's star (5.988 ly). The closest star system to Alpha Centauri is Luhman 16 (3.8 ly from α Cen). So I am wondering, what is the distance from α Centauri AB to Barnard's star, and more generally, from one star to a different one (all below 10 pc)?
Comment: See this https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/224950/how-can-i-convert-right-ascension-and-declination-to-distances
Comment: I am not an expert in this, but think about the spherical coordinates. You have two position vectors to the stars $\vec{r_1}$ and  $\vec{r_1}$. So the distance between them is simply. $||\vec r_1 - \vec r_2||$. We know their radial distance $r$. Here the problem is that, you need to convert Right ascension and Declination to $\theta$ and $\phi$. But maybe above post helps as well.
Comment: As Layla said, you can use the spherical trig formula in Rob's answer to find the angular distance between the 2 stars. And then you can plug that angle and the distances from Earth to the 2 stars into the [cos rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_cosines) of plane trig to find the distance between them.
Answer: To find the distance from one star to another, we need three things for both of the stars: their right ascensions, declinations, and the distance from Earth to those stars.
So, let's get those things:
From the Wikipedia page on Alpha Centauri:
$RA = 14^h\:39^m\:36.49400^s$
$DEC = -60^{\circ}\:50'\:0.23737''$
$R = 4.37\:\rm{ly}$ (you gave 4.366, some other sources give 4.367... I'm going to stick with 4.37)
and for Barnard's Star:
$RA = 17^h\: 57^m\: 48.49303^s$
$DEC = +04^{\circ}\: 41'\: 36.2072''$
$R = 5.958 \: \rm{ly}$ (again, you gave a slightly different value, I'm sticking with Wikipedia for now)
where RA is right ascension, DEC is declination, and R is radial distance from Earth to the target star.
Now, by themselves, it is relatively difficult for us to obtain an actual distance. What I would do is convert these to rectangular coordinates, and then it's a matter of using the 3-d distance formula.
First, however, we need to convert RA and DEC into units like radians or degrees.
For right ascension, we can use the general formula:
$degrees = 15  (h + \dfrac{m}{60} + \dfrac{s}{3600})$
and for declination:
$degrees = deg + \dfrac{m}{60} + \dfrac{s}{3600}$
(when the declination is negative, however, multiply all terms in the formula by -1)
So, for Alpha Centauri AB, we have:
$RA = 15  (14 + \dfrac{39}{60} + \dfrac{36.49400}{3600}) \approx 219.902^{\circ}$
$DEC = -1  (60 + \dfrac{50}{60} + \dfrac{0.23737}{3600}) \approx -60.833^{\circ}$
and for Barnard's Star, we have:
$RA = 15  (17 + \dfrac{57}{60} + \dfrac{48.49303}{3600}) \approx 269.452^{\circ}$
$DEC = 04 + \dfrac{41}{60} + \dfrac{36.2072}{3600} \approx 4.693^{\circ}$
Now, to convert from spherical to rectangular coordinates, we have to define which of RA, DEC, and R can be assigned to $r$, $\theta$, and $\phi$. R should be $r$ - that's pretty straightforward. Since RA can be thought of as "celestial longitude", we'll assign it to $\theta$, and thus declination will be $\phi$.
To clarify, I'm defining $\phi$ as the angle from the xy-plane - so a $\phi$ of $\dfrac{\pi}{2}$ would mean pointing straight upwards. I know some sources define $\phi$ as the angle complementary to that angle (so, $\dfrac{\pi}{2}$ -
the angle from the xy-plane), but for astronomical purposes, I think the definition I'm using is more intuitive and easier to work with.
We can then use the conversions:
$x = r\cos{\theta}\cos{\phi}$
$y = r\sin{\theta}\cos{\phi}$
$z = r\sin{\phi}$
So, for Alpha Centauri AB:
$x = 4.37  \cos{219.902^{\circ}}  \cos{−60.833^{\circ}} \approx -1.634\: \rm{ly}$
$y = 4.37  \sin{219.902^{\circ}}  \cos{−60.833^{\circ}} \approx -1.366\: \rm{ly}$
$z = 4.37  \sin{−60.833^{\circ}} \approx -3.816\: \rm{ly}$
and for Barnard's Star:
$x = 5.958  \cos{269.452^{\circ}}  \cos{4.693^{\circ}} \approx -0.057\: \rm{ly}$
$y = 5.958  \sin{269.452^{\circ}}  \cos{4.693^{\circ}} \approx -5.938\: \rm{ly}$
$z = 5.958  \sin{4.693^{\circ}} \approx 0.487\: \rm{ly}$
And now, finally, we can use the distance formula for 3-d:
$d = \sqrt{(x_1 - x_2)^2 + (y_1 - y_2)^2 + (z_1 - z_2)^2}$
So, the distance between Alpha Centauri AB and Barnard's Star is:
$d = \sqrt{(-1.643 + 0.057)^2 + (-1.366 + 5.938)^2 + (-3.816 - 0.487)^2} \approx\mathbf{6.476\,ly}$
Well, that was certainly tedious - but it's a process that you can standardize to pretty much any star, or really, any two astronomical objects:
First, convert RA and DEC to degrees.
Second, assign R, RA, and DEC to the spherical coordinates $r$, $\theta$, and $\phi$.
Third, convert spherical coordinates to rectangular coordinates.
Lastly, use the distance formula with the two sets of $x$, $y$, and $z$ coordinates.
Hope this helps. :)
Comment: It's a bit less tedious if you don't convert to Cartesian coordinates, and just use the cos rule on the angular distance and the radial distances to the 2 stars.
Comment: Nice explanation. you can even write a code about it, so that you just put the inputs and it tells you the distance.
Comment: As d_e noticed, the *z* component of Alpha Centauri should be negative.
Comment: @PM2Ring ahh you're right. Thank you d_e for noticing that as well - let me correct that.
Answer: Just to add another method. As hinted in a comment one can find the angular distance between the starts. How to find the angular distance?
Imagine the spherical triangle formed by the locations of the two stars and the North or South pole. Let's use the South pole in this case.  We have: 1) the angle at the pole which is the difference in RA's: 3h 18m 12s (=49.55°) - let's mark this angle with $p$; 2) we have also the arcs next to this angle - their lengths are the declination differences from the declination of -90. That is 29.16° (for AlphaC) - Let's mark it with $A$ and 94.69° (for Barnard's) - Let's mark it with $B$. Now, we are looking for the third arc - $X$. the length of the third arc is basically the angular distance from the center of the Earth. According to Spherical law of cosines:
$$\cos (X) = \cos(A)\cos(B) + \sin(A)\sin(B)\cos(p) \Rightarrow$$
$$\cos(X) = \cos(29.16°)\cos(94.69°) + \sin(29.16°)\sin(94.69°)\cos(49.55°) \Rightarrow$$
$$X = 75.89°$$.
Now, we can use the cosine theorem for the Euclidian Triangle (Earth-center, Star A, Star B). As we have 2 sides length and the angle between them which results in $6.49ly$ (using the distances from the question))


What is the difference between Citta contemplation and Dhamma contemplation in Satipathana?

Question: What is Citta?
What is Dhamma?
What is the difference between above two in Satipathana?
Comment: https://www.sirimangalo.org/text/how-to-meditate/chapter-two-sitting-meditation/
Answer: These are the two last stages in the 4 foundations of mindfulness:
Citta means "mind". Dhamma refers to the Buddhist teachings.
Cittanupasana is the meditation on the mind: the observation of the arising and setting of thoughts and desires. It is required to understand the impermanent nature of mind, which is wrongfully perceived as a permanent self.
Dhammanupasana is meditation on the Dharma, the Buddhist teachings. Typically a student will be asked to meditate/research one of these topics:

The Five Hindrances
The Four Noble Truths
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
The Five Aggregates
Canon Literature
Comment: I don't think that this is a proper translation of the 4 Satipathanas. If we take your approach, how are we supposed to feel dispassion in Dhammanupassana? "Dhamma" in "Dhammanupassana" does not refer to the Buddha's teaching but rather about the 3 characteristics and the letting go (vosagga) of craving (tanha). The 4 Satipathanas are done in a chronological way. Once the Body and the Mind is tranquillized one is feeling rapture. Once rapture arises it is the object of meditation and one is in the vedana "realm".
Comment: Dispassion in the Dhammanupassana section clearly indicates that the Mind is that sharp, that is,without thoughts so that one can clearly see the impermanence of the 5 khandas and once the impermanence is seen, dispassion arises since they cannot be grasped. One ultimately lets go of the clinging since it is otherwise dukkha.


How to root cyanogen OS? (On Wileyfox swift)

Question: I would like to know how to root Cyanogen OS on WileyFox Swift
Answer: Simply by flashing SuperSU.1 There's a thread at XDA explaining the steps:

download SuperSu
save it to your external sdcard
enable developer options (settings - about - click mutliple times on the build number)
enable OEM unlock in the developer options settings on the device
reboot Wileyfox Swift into fastboot mode: with the device powered down, hold the Volume Up and connect USB
to unlock the boot loader (WARNING!!! This wipes your user data!!!), type from your computer:
fastboot oem unlock
fastboot -i 0x2970 oem unlock-go
fastboot oem unlock-go

download latest recovery image from Cyanogen
to boot the custom recovery, on your computer type
fastboot boot <name_of_recovery>.img

install supersu update zip from recovery menu (choose zip from extenal SD)
reboot and enjoy root access

Note that steps 6 and 8 require the matching drivers being installed on your computer if you run Windows.
Updating a rooted Swift
Also note that "incremental updates" are no longer working with the device rooted. Please see how to update rooted fox at XDA for alternatives. Each of those updates will probably break root, so you'll have to repeat the above procedure after each update to regain root access.
Alternatively, you can also switch from CyanogenOS to CyanogenMod, which includes root access.

1: Note that's not the latest version – but the one reported working at the time of that post. The always latest version is available here.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/39827/discussion-on-answer-by-izzy-how-to-root-cyanogen-os-on-wileyfox-swift).
Answer: Izzy's answer is great.  A couple of additions - I hit an issue where my device would not Boot past the TWRP Recovery tool.  If you hit the same roadblocks make sure:

Use TWRP version 18.104.22.168 or newer.  The previous version I used did not work.  You can choose your Custom Recovery tool.  I used TWRP instead of CWM.
I followed these instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaK5OxUeDKM.  Key points: Wipe data first, via TWRP. Use Advanced Wipe and select Cache, Dalvik/Art Cache, System and Data
You can use adb sideload from TWRP (select the Advanced button). Make sure you install the rooted ROM and the gapps zip files before you reboot.

If it helps, I was running the non-rooted Cyanogen O/S.  You download the rooted version from: https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=crackling. I found the newest version of TWRP on xda-forums.  Then I used adb sideload to get the new version of TWRP onto my device.


How do I create a user for a server process I want to install on MacOS 10.6?

Question: In MacOS < 10.5, the NetInfo Manager let you see and manage accounts that weren't full users, i.e. couldn't log in. That app is gone, leaving me only with dscl :(
Answer: This page (For Leopard) says that you can use dscl or get the Server Admin Tools from Apple (here's the version for 10.6).
Use the Workgroup Manager and hit cancel in the Connect dialog and acknowledge the warnings that you're working on a local DB. In 10.6, you don't cancel, just put in localhost as the server and your admin credentials. Then you can use a GUI to manage users like you did in the NetInfo app.
Answer: In 10.6, the Accounts prefpane lets you create "Sharing Only" accounts. I believe this will do what you want.


What is the current substitute for the Value Line Composite Index?

Question: I am trying to use the Value Line Composite Index for a project. Much to my dismay, I just found out that it was discontinued in 2013. Have there been other substitutes developed for this since then? What are people using instead of the VLIC? I am particularly interested in this in relation to Martin Zweig strategies - what is a Zweig investor going to use now?
Answer: The Value Line Composite Index was an equal weighted index based upon both US and Canadian stocks, totalling around 1700 stocks covered by the Value Line Investment Survey.  The coverage is around 95% of the total market.
Do you have any other information on why the Zweig strategies used the Value Line?  It might just simply be the case that there weren't any other broad market indexes that any decent history when the strategies were originally developed.  For example, the S&P 1500 only started in late 1994 and Zweig's "Winning on Wall Street" was published in 1994.
The question comes down to which characteristic(s) you are seeking:
a) Coverage by market cap (top 95% of the listed stocks)
b) Coverage by exchanges (US + Canadian, or is US on its own OK?)
c) Equal weighting or market cap/free float weighted (most indices these days are weighted according to market cap and free float).
Some alternative indices from Value Line which are still in existence:
Value Line Geometric Index
Value Line Arithmetic Index
These satisfy the top two conditions, but they have their own weighting methodology too.
If just want to cover US (not Canadian) stocks, and don't care about the weighting, the S&P 1500 Index would be an obvious contender.


Why does my MacBook Pro take so long to go to sleep?

Question: My MacBook Pro takes an awful long time to go to sleep when I close the lid. Considering that I generally want to close the lid and then carry it somewhere, I want it to be fully asleep so I don't have any hard drive issues. Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?
Answer: I recommend a nifty little utility called SmartSleep that allows you to control when the saving of your RAM contents to disk for the Safe Sleep / Hibernate feature Mac OS X has.
Alternatively you can disable Safe Sleep altogether by running: sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0. To change it back to the defaults, change the value to 3.
0 - Old style - just goes to sleep.
1 - Only Hibernate
3 - Default - goes to sleep but writes RAM contents to disk just in case.
5 - Only Hibernate mode but if you use secure virtual memory.
7 - The Default but if you use secure virtual memory.

Answer: Use the command pmset -g log to find out what is delaying the sleep command.  Look for "applicationresponse.slowresponse" and "applicationresponse.timedout" entries.
Answer: Depending on what applications you are running it could take a significant amount of time (20-30 sec) to actually "sleep."
OS X will "dock" the hard drive head if it detects sudden movement, so I wouldn't expect any issues there.
Comment: Two days ago my sleep time was only maybe 3 seconds. Now it is 20-30 seconds. Is there a way to go back to that? Could it have something to do with launchd/httpd stuff that I changed?
Comment: I have no idea. One way would be to check running processes / disk activity before attempting to sleep and then checking how long it takes to sleep.
Comment: Thanks. Using Console.app I saw lots of error messages related to nginx -- I had a misbehaved nginx (web server) launchd configuration that kept getting relaunched every thirty seconds. I uninstalled nginx (since it wasn't working anyway) and used launchctl list/stop/remove to get it out of launchd and now sleep is back to taking seconds (the backlit keyboard turns off when I hit sleep, instead of before where there was a thirty second delay). Hopefully this info (not nginx per se, but the fact a rogue launchd or other program can cause sleep issues) is useful to someone else out there.
Answer: Another use for the pmset utility (which, like most Apple utilities, is documented: do "man pmset" in Terminal) is to tell the system to sleep when you hit the power button. In Terminal, do
sudo pmset powerbutton 1
and thereafter when you hit the power button a menu comes up with choices Restart, Sleep, Cancel, and Shut Down. I always sleep my MacBook Pro this way in order to be sure it has really gone dormant.
On the other end of the sleep cycle, I don't want the machine waking up while traveling if it gets jostled enough to shake the lid open (even briefly). The Terminal command to estabish this is
sudo pmset -a lidwake 0
For both commands, you will have to authenticate as an administrator.


brachah on besamim during havdalah when only one species is used

Question: Most of the time when people make a brachah on besamim during havdalah they are using one species of spice. If that is the case, then the proper brachah which should be made is בּורא עצי בשׂמים if it's attached to soil, בּורא עשׂבי בשׂמים if it's an herb/grass/flower NOT attached to the soil, or הנותן ריח טוב בּפּירות if it is an edible fruit. בּורא מיני בשׂמים is only for where there are multiple species of spice. If one is only using one species, should they change the commonly made brachah or should they try to use multiple species or something else?
Comment: You should give a source why  בּורא מיני בשׂמים would be incorrect as it may be saying that you are allowed to use different kinds even though you are holding only one kind.
Answer: Mishnah Berurah 297 Seif kattan 1 says the minhag is always to say borei minei besamim at Havdalah, regardless of what you're using for spices. He writes the reason is to avoid people making a mistake in which bracha to make.
However, he advises to use a spice who's bracha is usually borei minei besamim. He doesn't say multiple spices as you suggested, but rather a single spice such as cloves. Your assertion that borei minei besamim is only for multiple spices is incorrect. It's like the "shehakol" of scent brachos. SA 216:10 says if you have multiple spices you usually make the bracha appropriate for each one (like you would when eating fruits and vegetables), while the Rema adds borei minei besamim would cover them all, that's not lechatchila. SA 216:2 says borei minei besamim is lechatchila when the spice is neither from a tree nor from plants, and gives the example of musk.
Comment: Why are cloves "minei" instead of "atzei"?
Comment: @DanF don't know the details. The Mishnah Berurah I quoted: ומ"מ לכתחלה טוב יותר שיקח לבשמים דבר שברכתו בורא מיני בשמים כגון המוסק שקורין פיז"ם או נעגילע"ך שגם זה להרבה אחרונים ברכתו הוא בורא מיני בשמים מותר. He's referring to cloves when he says נעגילע"ך


Exercise watches that can monitor irregular heart beats

Question: Are there any exercise watches such as Apple Watch and fitbit watch that can monitor irregular heart beat? My heart beats irregularly for each hours approximately. I also plan to wear this watch to run. Is there any suggestion? Thank you very much!
Comment: Not that i am aware of. But personally, I wouldn't measure my hearts condition on a sports watch. You should contact your doctor/cardiologist (with excerise test) to determine your condition & what sports you're allowed to do...
Comment: My doctor concluded that I am healthy. My condition does not endanger my life. It just needs to be monitored, which is what I am trying to do now, to monitor as a precaution. I hope my explaination helps.
Comment: Unfortunately, this really isn't on topic for the site. It's not about using the equipment to improve your workout, it's about using monitoring equipment for  medical necessity. With a little bit of rewording, it might be on topic at Health.se, but I'm not aware of anything like a [Holter Monitor](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003877.htm) for personal use. Also, by irregular do you mean varying rate, or actual PVC type irregularities?
Answer: Yes you can get Polar HR monitor with HRV (Heart Rate Variability)
Polar HRV Using these kind of watches you will see the rate between each heart beat intervals.


Wind load vs Earthquake load and R factor

Question: I read somewhere that if for instance for a building earthquake forces are expected to be much higher than wind loads, we can increase the R (response modification factor) value, so that we bring down the design earthquake force down to wind load level.
Why do we do this? Would increasing R value not increase the cost of rebar detailing? What is the problem if the earthquake load controlled the design here?
Comment: Where did you read this - the source may help answer.
Comment: I don't have the source right now I read this a while ago. Do you agree with it though? If so why do we do this?
Answer: Increasing the R factor decreases the load that the building has to resist during an earthquake.
Any easy example of this is a wood building. The cheapest choice for wood shear wall sheathing would be gyp board, with an R of 2. If you're in a high seismic area, the forces on that are going to be huge. Using structurally rated shear panels, like OSB, allow the engineer to use an R of 5 1/2. Not only is the load on the building reduced by using the OSB (and it's respective R factor), but the OSB is much stronger than the gyp. It helps you out twice as much as you'd think.
It is more expensive to increase the R value, but you are fine tuning your calculations and details to make the building strong enough for the seismic event.
There isn't an issue with the earthquake controlling the design. It's just that sometimes seismic forces can be 3x the wind forces. This results in having to use stronger materials or more detailed walls, which have higher R values.


Wireless Keyboard for mac, windows and linux

Question: On my desk I have a PC dualbooting Windows and Linux and a Macbook. Is there a keyboard that uses a USB dongle and bluetooth so i can connect the dongle to the pc and bluetooth with my mac?
Comment: get a bluetooth adapter and you can share keyboards & mice between the computers.  Probably the easiest and cheapest souliton
Answer: Switching Bluetooth
Because of the popularity of smartphones and tablets such as iPhone & iPad, many Bluetooth keyboards are now on the market that can rapidly switch between previously-paired computers/devices. In product descriptions, look for wording such as "switch" and "multi-device".
Your MacBook certainly has Bluetooth support built-in, and your PC may. If not, add a Bluetooth dongle. There are many such dongles; I'd look for one supporting Bluetooth 4.x or later. Modern ones are no bigger than the size of the USB connector plug itself.

While I cannot recommend any of these as I've not tried it, here is one found after some quick searching on DuckDuckGo.

K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth KeyboardSupports Windows®, Mac®, Chrome OS™, Android™, iOS®. Offers a set of 1, 2, and 3 buttons to switch back-and-forth between as many as three paired computers/devices.
Comment: I got the K380 for my work laptop (Dell) and my home MBP.  It would not connect to the work laptop, even ended up contacting support but no luck.  Would not recommend
Answer: The problem with your idea is that if a keyboard has two different ways to connect, it's going to favor one of them by design.  The demand for a keyboard that types the same thing on two computers at a time is next to zero, so you won't get automatic switching.
What you want is called a KVM switch, and this is an example.  It allows you to control more than one computer with the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor. This allows you to switch back and forth by using toggles on the switch, and you can share hardware between the two machines.
Comment: If you decide to go for a KVM switch you can find cheaper switches at [newegg](https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100160866%20600030362&IsNodeId=1&Description=KVM%20switch&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=36), at least relative to the example link.


OSM printing in QGIS-Web-Client

Question: Printing in QGIS-Web-Client generates pdf with only QGIS project layers. I tried to add osm map in QGIS Composer but it doesn't work. It still prints only overlays. Is there any other way to print a map with osm baselayer?
Answer: You can add OSM as a WMTS layer or with GDAL in your project and display it before you print the map.

OSM printing in QGIS-Web-Client