How do I move game pieces around a three dimensional board in a turn based game?

Question: I have the board made, and some rudimentary pieces. I need to figure out how to use the game engine to move the pieces around. I do not want to write script yet that actually plays the game, because it needs a lot of play testing to work out any issues. I've watched several game engine tutorials, but none I find relate specifically to moving pieces around on a 3D object like this. Any ideas about where I can look for this type of info? I will continue to work on better renditions of the board and pieces while I'm learning the rest of what I need to know.
Comment: It should be possible to do this. I don't know how to move them around spherically (there is definitely a way though), but, you could have the sphere initially a flat plane and then apply some sort of modifier to make it into a sphere.
Answer: Represent the board using a more abstract notation. Essentially, you need a way to store co-ordinates in 3D space.
One way would be to place empties at all possible piece locations. Then you can snap to them. This is quite a limited approach. A better solution is to use a mathematical representation. For example, a sphere is very easily notated in ... spherical co-ordinates (two angles and a radius). Thus to snap a piece to a location is just a coordinate conversion issue. An easy way to think about this if you don't have experience with spherical coordinate systems is if you have a single piece at the top of the board, parent it to an empty in the middle of the board, and then rotate the empty. The piece will follow the surface of the sphere.
You will need python for this for the reasons pointed out by Quacksilber. I can think of ways to do it using animations and logic bricks but it will be a huge huge huge effort that will be very tedious.
I am quite interested in your game. Looks a bit like chess? Programming chess is never easy at the best of times (aka a flat board)
Comment: I used coordinates to build the sphere. Can you explain what you mean by an empty? @sdfgeoff
Comment: If you're using coordinates to build the sphere then your job is mostly done. You just have to build an interface that allows you to select a piece and move it to a specified location. This sounds like a fun mini-project. I'll just have a quick go at this.
Answer: Video of end solution:
https://youtu.be/2XNgRXUhVQI
Blend at end of whole post:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B27awtGNGuMPd1Y2QzVXSEt6aUE
Basic Setup
1) Create a red piece by creating a cube and scaling it on the Z axis. Give it a material with a red diffuse color, 'object color' enabled and give it the game property 'PIECE' (value does not matter)

2) Create a blue piece the same as before but with a blue diffuse color
(If you already have pieces, make sure 'object color' is enabled and they have the game property 'PIECE'
3) Create a tile by creating a plane, giving it the game property 'TILE', and enabling 'object color. Duplicate the tile a couple of times, feel free to use random angles:

4) Create a new text datablock with the name 'move_to_tile.py', and past into it the script from here: http://pastebin.com/tVgmqCkJ
Create an empty with the logic bricks:
Always -> Python
The always sensors should be in pulse mode (green circle on left)
The python controller should be in module mode, and should have the text 'move_to_tile.init' (middle green circle)

Put it in blender game mode, hit 'play' and you should be able to move the pieces around. If the pieces are all grey, make sure you are in GLSL 'textured' mode. You may need to add a light source.
Note that you can duplicate pieces and tiles as you will. Do whatever you like.
Creating a Spherical Board
Blend at end of this section (same as first link)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B27awtGNGuMPd1Y2QzVXSEt6aUE
We don't want to have to place planes for all the faces in the platonic solid you have above. That would take far too long.
Thankfully blender has some neat tools.
1) Add your base shape. Give it the tile material (object color enabled) and the game property 'TILE'
2) In edit mode, select all faces and run 'edge split' (press space then type 'edge split'). This separates all the faces. If you have non-triangular faces, then only select the edges of the tiles.

3) Now seperate all the faces into separate objects using 'P' and 'by loose parts.'

4) The script places objects at the tile origin, so move it using the set origin to geometry button with all the tiles selected:

Now you should be able to move the pieces all over the spherical board.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion, all the comments have been moved to a [chat room](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/51896/discussion-between-quazipseudo-and-sdfgeoff).
Answer: Why not make one object for one tile?
When you know the tile, you know where to place the 3d model of the stone.
Answer: I think, the easiest way would be using a flat baord, I guess it's nearly impossible to do the 3D-board version without python scripts. The only way I see to move the figures on a 3D-board is by animating every figure, placing it manually on the fields, one "frame" per position. But that would cause a total mess if you want to move them all around - allready for a single figure you would have to connect one logic brick per field on your board. So let's say there 50 fields, multiply with let's say 40 figures makes around 2000 logic bricks you'd need to connect by hand. (If not using scripts)
By using a flat baord:
You probably might search for videos on "point and click", so by clicking on a field, the selected figure would go to it. Then you should also look for the mouse-sensor option "mouse over", which tells you, whether the cursor is placed over an object (wich you can specificate by using game properties).
Firstival, you should declare game properties like "turn" and "selected figures".
Please tell me, if you consider using a flat board, if not I could tell you more about the action-animation way and if using a flat board feel free to ask about the property stuff! :)
Comment: I might do a flat board as a learning exercise, but the end product has to be on the geoboard. I'll consider your suggestions, and I'll let you know which way I go. Just to be clear, I want to write script, (not that I know how,) I just don't want to write script as detailed as a full chess engine. Only to move the pieces around manually. @Quacksilber


How can I find short-term private room accommodations in London?

Question: I've lived in London in flats for 4 years - but am travelling at the moment.  When I return, I'll need some accommodation for 2-4 weeks - just short term.  Hostels are one option, but they're per night, dorms etc - if there's some cheapish short-term accommodation with a private room, that would be perfect.  Will have had enough of dorms after 3.5 months backpacking ;)
Comment: Will this be during University term time, or in the vacation? If the latter, then Uni accommodation is an option
Comment: Um....Mid August to Mid September?
Comment: @Mark Then you should look at uni accommodation, you can get private accommodation pretty cheap because many uni terms start in October.
Answer: you could try couchsurfing.org or hospitalityclub.org ; people there often have a spare room, and if you can pay for it they might be happy to give you a place for a few weeks and not just for a few days.
Otherwise try gumtree.co.uk , or http://www.spareroom.co.uk/.
Comment: Most people (that I know) do couchsurfing for *completely* different motives than earning money, so I seriously doubt putting money on the table will make it easy to find a room through CS or similar services. Instead, something like http://www.airbnb.com/ might work better.
Answer: Airbnb worked a treat for us in London, there's plenty of choice in all price brackets.   (No affiliation, just a happy customer.)
Comment: This is what I used for my nearly 2-month stay in London, and again for a weekend.  I moved every week or every other week, as availability is not always predictable, but I met many people that way, and saved a ton of money versus hotels.
Answer: In addition to the sites already mentioned, you may have some luck with Craigslist's London rooms section also.


Is it possible to display current workflows on the welcome page of a doc set?

Question: I would like to have the workflows active for a particular doc set shown on the welcome page so that when a user clicks on the link for the doc set in the email they get they will see the task instead of having to go to the workflow tasks page.  I thought I could do this by adding a list view of the Workflow tasks and setting a filter only showing the tasks for that doc set by linking the related content column with the name of the doc set but for some reason filtering based on the name of the doc set is not an option, just filtering by the other categories. Is there another way to do this?
Answer: This is possible creating a list view in the Documents Library with the workflow related column, filtered by workflow status. This column will display a link for a page, listing the tasks.
It's necessary add a step in the workflow to change your status when it's finished (to filter by this).
Comment: I cant customize my workflows because I don't have SharePoint Designer.  Is there any other way?
Comment: It's complicated, because you need a info to use as a filter. Your current workflow change a document info when completed?
Comment: I think so but I'm not sure. I realized the Title column works instead of the name column but the issue is that connecting it with the related content column in the workflow doesn't work since that is a lookup column.  I'm thinking if I could somehow just display the workflow status column in my doc set that would be ideal but it doesn't look like that column is available outside the doc library.
Comment: Unfortunately, that column is available only in the doc library.


What is the point of having a Q&A website dedicated to coffee?

Question: I wonder what could be the reason for stack exchange to host a website for a simple day to day task that looks so trivial. Is coffee making that hard?
Comment: There's a lot to know and discuss about coffee, especially when you get into specialty coffee. Unfortunately most of the questions here are just about people cleaning their moka pots.
Comment: If you wonder, I suggest you look at a few sample questions, from [very basic](https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/4855/using-nescafe-gold-on-espresso-maker) to [quite complex](https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/5357/can-i-brew-espresso-with-14g-portafilter-basket). Some users start at basically no knowledge and need a helping hand, others are fine tuning their skills with feedback from the community. We welcome all of them.
Comment: Please post questions about an SE site on the corresponding Meta site, but please note that as it's written, your post is very much opinion-based.
Answer: Someone is new to the world of coffee, (it is not a day to day task for them and there are hundred of ways to make coffee from all over the world) and they  have a question about coffee. They do not know anybody who is knowledgeable about the subject.
They turn to the interwebs to find information. They do  a web search but there is so much crap and misinformation to filter out that a good and correct  answer is very difficult to find, so they think Gosh why don't i put up a site were  anybody can ask a question about coffee and those in the know can post answers to those questions.
The best answers will be voted on so they rise to the top and eventually a correct answer will be chosen. Misinformation will be called out and not allowed to misguide.
In the future if somebody else may have the same question and they do an interweb search on it, one of the search hits will be the Question and Answer  site where a correct answer was given to the very question they are wanting an answer for.
Perhaps this could work for All kinds of things
Even for questions with seemingly obvious answers like "What is the point of having a Q&A website"
Answer: I do not believe that this is a bad question. If fact, I believe it is an opportunity to educate and inform someone on the culture and art behind making coffee. There are many different types of coffee and there are plenty of ways in which coffee is made. For example, you can generally tell the quality of the coffee bought in packs based on the seal if you let too much air touch your coffee grounds then you will lose some of the flavors that make a good coffee. Then there is the type of coffee bean used and method of roasting which can help deliver the taste you want. This is very similar to how you program a computer changing certain variables leads to a different output. Then there is how the bean is processed to make the grounds used in your coffee. I am a firm believer that you will greatly improve the taste of your coffee if you grind the beans yourself but others have different methods. Lastly, there is how is the coffee made? There are different cultures around the globe and all of them have different methods for brewing coffee. This also affects the resulting cup of coffee. I encourage you to look into different methods of producing coffee and feel free to ask questions. That is the purpose of this forum. We all here have different lives but we all drink coffee and there are pride and joy that comes with taking a little extra time to produce something you enjoy.
Answer: Depending of the coffee, yes
You don't have to learn something in orders to make instant coffee, but try making coffee with v60, soon enough you will understand how changing a degree in water temperature or adding 2 more grams coffee can make a whole difference.
Being a barista is not a simple task.


How old is Yoga as a form of physical and breathing exercises?

Question: The question refers to Yoga as a form of physical exercise, breathing exercise with spiritual elements and not the word itself.
Answer: Yoga is a very broad term, the one which is known popularly is Hatha Yoga. This is different from Gyana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and all the other forms desribed in various scriptures.
Lord Shiva is credited with propunding Hatha Yoga, interestingly the fish which overheard him instructing Devi Parvati on the details later became a siddha known as Matsyendranath. Matsyendranath was a historical figure dating back to the early parts of 10th century CE. He was the teacher of Gorakhnath alongwith whom he is said to have founded Hatha Yoga.
However, the asanas and breathing exercises that make up popular Hatha Yoga today were mentioned by Patanjali as two of the limbs of Yoga in his sutras. This dates back to the 2nd century BCE.
Comment: Welcome to Hinduism.SE!  You should cite sources.
Answer: (Short answer: at least very much more than 5000 years)
It really loose in time. But, at least we can say that:
On Indus Valley culture (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro), was found a seal with a very complex Asana:

In his paper, The Indus Valley Origin of Yoga Practice, he suggests
  that Yoga was known and practiced by the people of Indus Valley
  civilization.

and keep saying

The person on the seal is seated with his legs drawn close to the body
  with two heels touching, which A L Basham calls, "a posture quite
  impossible for the average westerner". This posture, has been
  identified by Yan as Mulabandhasana, which is difficult even for
  people who practice Yoga

and that was not the only seal

The same posture has been depicted on all five proto-Siva seals found
  disproving the theory that it was the work of an imaginative artist.
  Besides this other seals have been found with figures in other yoga
  postures suggesting that people in the Indus valley were the
  practitioners of Yoga.

So, we are talking of at least 4000~5000 years old from now.
On the other hand, we can read in Bhagavad Gita chapter 4, verse 29, 30, that

apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe 'pānaṁ tathāpare
  prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ
  apare niyatāhārāḥ prāṇān prāṇeṣhu juhvati sarve
  'pyete yajña-vido yajña-kṣhapita-kalmaṣhāḥ

(look word pranayama on 2nd line) Which according to this can be translated as

Still others offer as sacrifice the outgoing breath in the incoming
  breath, while some offer the incoming breath into the outgoing breath.
  Some arduously practice prāṇāyām and restrain the incoming and
  outgoing breaths, purely absorbed in the regulation of the
  life-energy. Yet others curtail their food intake and offer the breath
  into the life-energy as sacrifice. All these knowers of sacrifice are
  cleansed of their impurities as a result of such performances.

So, that means at least before kali yuga, which means, very much more than 5000 years from now
I cannot remember other if there is some pranayama explanation on older texts as upanishad, but is dificult to say time of some of that texts.
Comment: Good answer. Btw, I think yogi Paramahamsa described those Gita verses as part of *Kriya Yoga*. Mostly it's a synonymous term to *Hatha Yoga*.


How To Deal With a Whistler

Question: There is this guy in the office that constantly walks around whistling loudly all day long. He doesn't seem to realize that it's distracting and that others including myself find it to be incredibly irritating. However, no one has said anything to him so far. How would you deal with a situation like this?
Comment: Have you considered the cathartic effect of slapping?
Comment: "However, no one has said anything to him so far". Well, about time someone did, dontchathink?
Comment: Normally it's hard to notice things which annoy other people unless they tell you.
Comment: I know that when I join in with the whistling, it makes them aware of what they are doing.  At the same time, their whistling is much less anoying and even becomes fun, estpecially when whistling "Whistle while you work".
Comment: It's just terrible, that not only is the radio blaring through the roof - but he whistles on top of that .... that piercing whistle - makes you want to go deaf.
Answer: I don't recommend coming to him and telling him that it's been bugging you for a long time or that anyone else doesn't like it. Instead, on one particular occasion, say something like:

Bill, I'm trying to [difficult task] and that whistling is going right through my head. Can I ask you not to?

He will probably comply, then absent mindedly whistle again later. When it bothers you, you can now say something like:

I'm having another can't-hear-whistling day, Bill

Eventually he will learn that you can't stand whistling at all, or what level of it you can stand, and he may hear similar things from others and stop whistling at work at all.
Some people whistle when they're relaxed and happy. It would be sad if he felt less happy at work because people were asking him not to whistle. But it would be sadder still if he came to realize that you had been seething about it or discussing it with others. Just react in the moment as many times as you need to, until it doesn't bother you any more.
Or wear headphones.
Comment: Thanks Kate. I think I'll give your advice a shot. Its the matter of approaching the situation without being too confrontational that has made me hesitant. As you mention, as much as the whistling annoys me, I wouldn't want to make him feel uncomfortable either. I have been wearing headphones up until now, but would like not to have to stop what I'm working on to put them on every time I need to block out his whistling so that I can concentrate.
Comment: @THEDOCTOR did this work? What did you end up doing? Do you have any other advise?
Comment: headphones don't really work - unless you're listening at really high volume - but I doubt that would be case as one would be trying to concentrate. Just ask them not to.
Answer: Drop him a quick email saying you find his whistling distracting and ask him politely to tone it down.
If that doesn't work you can escalate it to management but 99% of the time a polite email (so he doesn't lose face) will sort everything out.
Comment: ... talk to him face to face on this. Email is incredibly passive aggressive.
Comment: Depends on the culture. In my work place a polite "would you mind" email would be seen as less serious than taking someone aside or talking to the in public.
Comment: @enderland  I would say if someone doesn't approach you face-to-face, in private, about something, it will most likely end up with grief and senior/lead involved. Text carries/miscarries intent and emotions involved, that can turn sour over time if someone misinterprets. Been there, done that, got e-mail telling me to be quiet. Kinda felt that he would do something stupid further down. He was gone shortly after, decided it was best to e-mail the toppest of the top. After that he was asked to pack up and go. Quick chat with his team lead about concerns should have been first step in his case.

How To Deal With a Whistler


Does KSP model friction?

Question: I'm currently try to land a kerbal without a spacecraft on gilly, but I just keep sliding around. Is this an effect of the low gravity, or the fact that there is no friction?
Answer: KSP models friction. What you're running into is the challenge posed by Gilly's extremely low gravity and high rate of rotation:

Landing on Gilly is challenging due to its very low mass, steep slopes, and highly eccentric orbit, making it very easy to overthrust engines or send a spacecraft tumbling. Gilly's odd shape and fast rotation give the surface near the peaks an apparent velocity near 5 m/s.

Unless you're really skilled at velocity matching without instruments, your kerbal is likely to be thrown off their feet as soon as they "stand" on Gilly's surface. It is by no means impossible though, once you understand the (Coriolis) forces you're up against.
Answer: There is ground friction in KSP, but it is quite a lot lower than one would expect in real-life. It feels a bit like all grounds are modeled to behave like flat concrete plains instead of rough natural rocks or soil.
On low gravity worlds this problem is more apparent, because in the physics engine used by KSP, ground friction is proportional to the force with which the object is pressed onto the ground (which is realistic). That means that lower gravity results in even lower friction.
To safely land on a low-gravity world, try to touch down as vertical as possible.  When you are still sliding, you can try to stop using your RCS thrusters. Thrust down onto the surface to increase your friction and/or thrust sideways to counter the movement.

Does KSP model friction?


Audio steganography and DRM

Question: I recently made a post about an audio steganography program and had another concern I thought I might ask. I understand that most music has DRM in them. If I hide secret files in audio files with DRM can an adversary see that I have hid files in it because of that? Also, wouldn't this be breaking the law as well because I'm technically modifying that file?
Comment: Hide secret files "with DRM"? What does that mean? As for whether or not this breaks the law, this depends on your jurisdiction. We are not lawyers and you need to get your own if you want legal questions answered.
Comment: What I meant was, Isn't DRM supposed to detect whether or not a file has been modified or distributed in any way?
Comment: No, not really. DRM is simply a way to prevent the playback of unauthorized files. For something like a plain music file, it may make it so that iTunes will refuse to play unauthorized files. In fact, in order to modify data, you often have to strip the DRM and turn it into a regular audio file.
Answer: You probably mean watermark rather than DRM. DRM forces you somehow to use subject in accordance to the license.
Watermark (signal modified using the steganography) can be supporting technology for DRM (i.e. you can't hear audio when PlayStation detects that movie is not legal - based on audio steganography watermark it prevents you to watch the movie).
As far as I know, it is very hard to find steganography data in any kind of media, because you have to know the algorithm used to encode the data to the signal.
What you definitely can do is you can compare original signal with modified one and based on these data to try to analyse if there is some pattern in it.
Good math guy can maybe make it :)
Regarding the law (European one), when I buy a CD nobody can tell me anything when I make a backup copy in any form (i.e. MP3). Also, when I put some hidden data to it it is my problem.
For distribution it will depend on the license the owner of rights will provide. If they will say you can't modify, you can't do that ;)
Comment: I'm not aware of any watermarking that is actually used to detect unauthorized playback. As far as I know, watermarking is _only_ used to track down individual pirates (or the source account from which a pirated movie came)
Comment: Try to play an illegally downloaded movie, ideally released by Columbia Pictures, on PlayStation over DLNA ;)
Comment: Well of course they use DRM (and will likely even refuse to output nearly anything over HDMI unless HDCP is enabled), but do they actually use watermarking for detection, not just non-repudiation?
Comment: See this https://www.techspot.com/news/56872-clever-anti-piracy-tech-cinavia-finally-gets-beaten.html and this screenshot from PS3 http://i.imgur.com/gUuUAuD.jpg
Comment: Oh that's interesting. Well, I learned something today!
Comment: Great we are still learning ;)

Audio steganography and DRM


WordPress and Security

Question: Are there some simple ways to beef up the security on a WordPress site?
Comment: Cannot believe you picked the "here's a couple of plugins" answer.
Comment: only install plugins & themes that you need, and you fully trust, and always keep them up to date (including wp). Or are you asking this from the programmer point of view?
Comment: all right, I changed it.
Answer: I'd tackle this problem on three layers: plugins, core and filesystem.
Most security problems arise via 3rd party plugins and themes, so as  Ambitious Amoeba notes the best thing you can do is choose those wisely.
You should also be sure to update to the latest version of WordPress, because they always patch the big issues but older versions are quite vulnerable. Since WordPress blogs are so commonly used (Google "inurl:wp-login.php") you are really asking for it when you don't update your core to the latest version.
Finally, there's a lot of user error that causes problems -- you can't get your FTP to update so you chown 777 or something, thinking it'll be fine, then some remote nerdowell figures it out and your toast. Best thing to do is make sure you lock down your permissions as much as you can on the filesystem -- I believe chmod 755 is the preferred level.
Comment: I don't think chmod 777 is a security risk. Even if you make a file writable by anyone, they would still need to get inside your server to be able to do that. And if they do, than the problem wasn't the chmod/own :)
Comment: Here's a link describing what's probably the single largest WordPress hack in history, courtesy of exactly the attack vector you say is not a security risk: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/12/network_solutions_wordpress_hack/
Answer: Use a non-dirt-cheap hosting who has a clue about what they are doing.
Security plugins, complex passwords, etc are cute and needed, but they won't matter a bit if hosting has poorly configured disorderly stack without proper management.
Comment: Do you have examples of such hosting companies?
Comment: @redconservatory for the record I am not an expert on hosting security, just been bitten by crappy hosting in the past despite doing everything usually suggested for secure WP. My blog is currently and happily hosted with LiquidWeb. On security site they have suphp, mod_security (with strict enough rules so I had to open tickets to relax it a bit for some WordPress parts) and provide SSH for all accounts (even shared, which is somewhat rare).
Comment: I have a good example of a crappy host (although I realize this is VERY late). A client of mine had a website running on LiquidWeb. I'm not sure what their security vulnerability was (they obviously can't divulge that information), however his website was crawling with links and ads that he didn't put there. It was only a few minutes to restore an old database backup, however, and get things working again.
Comment: @steven_desu as above I am quite content with LiquidWeb security setup myself. Had they confirmed that your friend getting hacked was their fault or it's only your guess?
Answer: Start with the Codex article called Hardening Wordpress.
The most important things are keeping WP up to date, using string passwords, and having a secure server setup.
You'd also do well to use some kind of monitoring. If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, there are some services that do it. I've been using Vaultpress for a couple months now and am pretty happy with it. But the package that comes with security scanning is a bit pricey for personal use ($40/mo!), so I'm thinking of moving back to securi, which has a $10/mo plan (but which doesn't include backups...just monitoring).
Answer: There are a couple of plugins you can use to boost your site's security. They are:

Secure WordPress
WP Security Scan

They do different things, but cover a number of potential problem points.
Answer: The way you secure a WordPress install is the same way you secure any other box. Figure out who needs access, only give them access, enforce a strong password policy, and limit the number of brute force connections.
The part about only installing plugins you need/trust is absolutely critical, but it's not just for security, it's also for performance.
Answer: Use a security scanner like wpscan or WPScans.com and check for security vulnerabilities.
WPScans.com can also monitor your WordPress-site over time. wpscan is opensource and can be downloaded from Github. There is also another version written in Python named WPSeku.

WordPress and Security


Zero propellant thrusters

Question: Is it possible to create thrusters for station keeping that require no fuel?
Are there ideas similar to solar sails which can help in station- keeping and make use of a natural phenomenon? Except the EM drive.
Comment: [Air breathing Ion thruster's](https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/World-first_firing_of_air-breathing_electric_thruster) have been developed lately (article from 5 March 2018). They use the thin air on low earth orbit as propellant.
Comment: Then there's the photon propulsion, which unfortunately provides way too little thrust for station-keeping.
Comment: `+1` for "Except the EM drive."
Answer: In theory an Electro Dynamic Tether (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodynamic_tether) could be used to impart momentum to a satellite or station for station-keeping maneuvers, converting electricity to momentum.
See this paper: http://issfd.org/2015/files/downloads/papers/111_Oliveira.pdf
Answer: The EM drive is currently the only concept under testing that I'm aware.
If by fuel you mean some consumable that is loaded before lunch, and if by "Is it possible" you are proposing a more theoretical rather than readily practical question, I would argue that it should be possible to create some kind of particle acceleration technique such that regular atoms and electrons found in the space environment could be accelerated or decelerated thus exchanging momentum with the spacecraft.  This would require electrical power, but no consumable fuel. Also, in theory light carries momentum, so emitting a laser is also a way of exchanging momentum.
Solar Sails are an interesting concept but they also would cause drag, in this sense if the station-keeping over long term is meant to compensate drag effects, I strongly doubt they could be effective. They could be used for deep-space missions, such as voyager, where the goal is to get away from the sun instead of remaining in a controlled neighborhood of a planet.
Note however that station keeping requires some specific minimum amount of delta-V provided over a finite windows of time, so any futuristic method needs to comply with real-world restrictions in order to be actually useful. Think about the Carnot Engine, that while it's theoretically the most efficient would take infinite time to run a single cycle.

Zero propellant thrusters


Google Account without Gmail -> possible to obtain Gmail later?

Question: If I create Google Account without Gmail today, will I be able to change my mind and acquire Gmail address in the future, keeping the same Google Account? (The last part is important because other people might share content with a Google account I give them so I don't really want to be changing Google accounts altogether.)
Answer: Yes, you will be able to do so.
From https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/72198?hl=en

Adding Gmail
If you add Gmail to your Google Account, your account's primary
username will permanently change to firstname.lastname@example.com.
After you add Gmail, the original email address associated with your
account will become your alternate email
address. If you
have verified your original email address before adding Gmail, you
will be able to sign in using this email address.
Adding Gmail to an existing Google Account

Go to mail.google.com.
Click Sign up for Gmail.
At the top of the page, click If you already have a Google Account, you can sign in here. You'll be redirected to a sign-in page.
Use your existing Google Account username and password to sign in. On the next page, you'll see a shortened Gmail sign-up form where you
can choose your Gmail username
Comment: Perfect. I was curious if I will be able to use my previous, non-gmail email as an account login as well, and I will so that's perfect.


Accepting money on a website as payment: when do I move past PayPal?

Question: I have a website I accept payments via PayPal. This works well, at what point does it make sense to change providers, given PayPal takes a higher percentage than some other services. What are the best alternatives to PayPal and how much should I be bringing in to have it make sense?
Answer: Depends on what you're looking to achieve.
If avoiding fees is the most important thing, you need to do the math and decide what vendor is going to give you the best deal based on your transaction volume.
If you need greater programmability, you might consider going to Authorize.Net, but it may cost you more with the gateway fees + merchant account fees.
Comment: Yeah, I was wondering if there was a tool to help me estimate the different services out there and determine which one works best. And it's not so much fees, but I know I can use different payment gateways to take payments, but those come with other costs. It's not easy to make those comparisons because they have more overhead -- hidden costs and such.
Answer: I may be a little old-school here, but PayPal says "amateur" to me. Credible and trustworthy e-commerce sites take real credit cards for payment.  Never underestimate the value of trust in e-commerce. Look to Authorize.Net for this, as they are great.
See this question for more.
Comment: I hear what you're saying, but PayPal is no longer draconian about requiring a PayPal account, one can invoice a person and they can simply pay with debit or credit, "taking real credit cards" is not a problem. My question is more figuring out how to decide that the paypal cut is too much, and another option might be better.
Comment: @artlung: Fair point about the PayPal "cut". I was thinking about all the research on e-commerce trust and consumer behavior in the context of trust perception. So many angles... so little time.
Answer: It starts to make financial sense to leave PayPal when your total sales are over $100 million per year.
PayPal now (August 8, 2010) charges the same rates across all accounts. $0.30 per transaction plus 1.9 - 2.9%.  The lowest competitive fees I could find at this time is $0.23 per transaction plus 1.5%.
If you are averaging ten $50 transactions per day, for a total annual sales of $182,500, your PayPal fees will total from $4562.50 to $6387.50, depending on what percentage PayPal charges you.
The total savings you may get from switching to a merchant account and payment processor at the lowest current pricing would be $985.50, assuming that you could qualify for the lowest competitive rates. If you could qualify then PayPal would be charging you their lowest rate of 1.9%.
In the above example you would pay 2.5% of your sales to PayPal, or 1.96% of sales to the cheapest merchant account and payment processor. The savings is 0.54%
At what point does it pay to save half a penny per dollar? At 100 $50 transactions per day, or $1.8 million per year you're only saving $9855.00 a year.  That's not really worth the bother.  At $18 million per year (1000 $50 sales per day) you're saving $98,550.00 a year. At that point you can hire someone to manage your credit card processing accounts and the necessary programming you may need. At $20 to $50 million you're not saving any money, but as you go beyond that it can be profitable.
There are many other factors to consider. PayPal has amazing fraud prevention services that are transparent to you and your customers. If you use other services you may lose more in fraud or bad transactions than you save, plus all the work required to manage the other accounts. When you're over $20 million you can consider using multiple merchant accounts and payment processors, which gives you more control over your payment clearing. There are also bad banks (merchant accounts) and bad payment processors, so there are risks.
Comment: There are some problems with the assumption that there is a set cap for PayPal earnings to justify involvement with credit card processing, though. I've worked for various software and hosting services and PayPal never accounted for more than 20% of gross sales in a given month so it would stand to reason from my experience that one would be missing out on millions (and millions) in sales as a result of consumer reluctance to use PayPal if one held out until sales were > $100m to add CC processing.
Answer: Danger Will Robinson!  If you switch to taking payments directly instead of having someone else manage the payments for you, you may open your website to PCI-DSS compliance requirements.  For most small businesses, the slightly higher fees for a service like PayPal are far less expensive than having to meet the PCI-DSS compliance rules.  They are complicated and tricky and can open your business to a lot of liability if not followed correctly.  See the PCI-DSS website for more detailed information.
Having said that, if you can meet the PCI requirements and the cost savings of processing directly PLUS the added costs of compliance will be less than that you're paying in fees for an outside provider, then it's time to make the move.
Comment: The intent was not to go directly to doing all the processing in-house, more to evaluate the spectrum of options available. There's a ton of gotchas, seems like, regulatory, accounting, security, customer experience, transnational -- it's a maze of factors.


Why to compress the hydrogen + air mixture in Hydrogen ICE engines when combustion efficiency of hydrogen at 1 atm is already high?

Question: ICE Engines are designed to burn the fuel and air mixtures at high pressures to increase the combustion efficiency. But hydrogen combustion efficiency is already high at 1 atm and at constant Volume combustion, peak pressure may reach around 8 atm. So why compressing the hydrogen and air mixture in Hydrogen ICE engines? If we could avoid compression of fuel and air, we can design much simpler and cheaper Hydrogen engines.
Comment: Using a compression ratio of between 8 or 12 to 1 (gas, but diesel is 18 or more to 1) is done to improve the power output more that combustion efficiency.
Answer: SolarMike's comment basically answers the question, but let me flesh it out a little.
Let's take a typical engine, say it has a compression ratio of 12:1, and weighs 500 pounds, and has a displacement of 4 liters.  Now let's reduce the compression ratio to only 2:1. To get the same amount of power output, the displacement now how to be 24 liters. (can you see why? burning one-sixth as many fuel molecules per liter, so need six times more liters).  So now the cylinders and pistons have to be about six times bigger as well, so now the car/truck has to be a lot bigger overall to fit this giant engine in there. Also those bigger cylinders are going to weigh a lot more, potentially as much as the entire car/truck, which hurts the performance of the vehicle. Overall it just doesn't make any sense to use this kind of engine.  The power density is too low.
Comment: It why car engines are small compared to locomotive engines. Locomotives have to haul are heavy load so they require a lot of power, resulting in a big engine. Cars however, haul much smaller loads & thus need engines with less power.  A high compression ratio is nice, but power is what gets the job done.
Comment: Thank you for replies. Compare jet engine and pulse jet engine. It is well known that pulse jets are inefficient and one of the main reason is due to their low compression ratios. As per my understanding now, fuel & air mixtures are compressed for both reasons 1. increase power density 2. combustion efficiency.


Is it possible to backup with dump or rman from Oracle to MS Sql Server?

Question: We need to move some tables and schemas from an Oracle database to an MS SQL Server database. We have only Oracle dump files. We import them into an Oracle database. Then we need to use a replication tool to move the data from Oracle to the SQL Server. Is it possible to bypass the replication tool for the moving task? Is it possible to move data from Oracle to the SQL Server using Oracle RMAN or DUMP files? Thanks...
Comment: Now I read your question again and I am not sure if I understand it right. You want to avoid to import it in an Oracle database and so avoid to use you replication tool. Is this right?
Comment: We get dump files from another company and they use Oracle. We don't use, we had to install Oracle for that. We want to use data in SQL Server. If it is not possible to move data, We have to use Oracle DB
Comment: I updated my answer. Please read note 3. Maybe it make sense to open a new question and provide more details.
Answer: No, I don't think that this is possible. Both tools use Oracle specific file formats and can work only with Oracle databases. So the way to move data from an Oracle dump file created by the Oracle exp or expdp tool is to import the dump in an Oracle database and move it from this database to an SQL Server database.
Note 1: Toad from Quest is able to read Oracle export dumps and I cannot be 100% sure that there exists a tool that hacked the Oracle dump format to read the data and write it to SQL server.
Note 2: It is possible to migrate data from an Oracle database  to a Microsoft SQL Server database. Evidently Oracle ist not much interested in such migrations but Microsoft is, so you should search the Microsoft pages for tools, e.g. here is one for Oracle 12c and SQL Server 2017. HR is a sample schema in provided by Oracle. Oracle 9i is a rather old version, so I am not sure if this will work for Oracle 9i.
Note 3: I think it will make sense that you describe the whole problem more detailed. Why do you want to copy the data to your system, what are the requirements and constraints. What is the size of the data, what type of objects do you want to migrate,... Maybe it make sense to open a new question that describes the whole scenario. Maybe the question that you put here doesn't really help you to solve your original problem.
Comment: there are 5-6 schemas which have 7-8 tables. some tables have 1 billion rows. There are no constraits. Data includes string and number. My collagues don't use Oracle. They used to use SQL Server. So they want to move them
Answer: I don't think you can restore directly in SQL from a Oracle dump either but if you restore it in Oracle, you can create a SSIS package that will use a connector to Oracle to read the data from Oracle and write it in SQL.
I hope it will help.
Answer: You can use Oracle Golden gate. It replicates metadata from oracle to any non oracle database and vice versa. It may not be helpful if data is available in only dump files.
Comment: Is that tool available for free?


What plant will grow to about 3' in the shade from a pepper tree and oleanders?

Question: Is there a low light plant, that will grow under a pepper tree, and between two oleanders,
that grows about 3-5 feet tall, in southern California?
Answer: I highly recommend Taxus baccata 'repandens', English Spreading Yew.  One of the few conifers that grows in shade! Does well in sun but in S. California I think you'd want this in the part-shade to shade and you want this to grow under your pepper tree. Don't prune this...it gets up to 3' with graceful, arching branches providing an excellent 'foundation' plant...or skeleton plant. These are plants that 'pull' your landscape together forming the 'bones' of your landscape.
Let me know if this isn't a good plant for your area. I've little experience with plants down there..
Comment: It grows in CA and the photos of it look good.
I had given up hope for an answer.
Cant help saying thanks, Stormy


How to automate testing of Zebra TC75X barcode scanner?

Question: I would like to implement test automation for an app running on a Zebra TC75X device (Android OS). The tricky part is the integrated barcode scanner. The device has a hardware button to trigger a barcode scan.  How can I automate this? Can this be done with existing frameworks like Appium?
Comment: 1 - You cannot automate testing. 2 - What risks are you trying to investigate using tools like Appium or Espresso?
Answer: When I worked for an IoT product manufacturer, we used a RaspberryPi running a web service to aide in testing. So in our automated suite we would simply call that API and move on with the rest of the testing. Here is a simple project I have public but you should be able to do the same by looking up Python, Flask, and RPi.GPIO. The RPi runs an API that we would call and would fire the GPIO ports which we had actuators and motors hooked up to. Our sister company had to test card readers so they hooked up the RPi to a Knex Ferris wheel to cycle through the dozen plus cards.
Comment: For this purpose even a simple USB controlled relay could be enough
Answer: No. Test automation tools can only simulate hardware. They are not designed to interact with hardware.
That said, if you want to automate tests of the software, you can probably use a tool like Appium to do so. The key thing is to remember that the tests would not cover the actual scanning function because that would need to be simulated. They would only cover the processing of the scanned data.
Comment: I'm sorry. I should have been more specific. Of course, automatic push of the hardware button would need some other hardware, for example a hardware robot. But it would be fine for me to simulate the scanning in software. And yes, I'll keep in mind the distortion of the tests by using a simulation.


What is the difference between "backhaul" and "core" network in cellular networks?

Question: I was reading some publications on cellular networks. They constantly mention two similar concepts — backhaul network and core network. I am not sure if these two are the same stuff, or in any way they are different. Does anyone know the differences? thanks!
Comment: As far as I know, *core network* is the central part of a cellular network. *Backhaul network* is the links between the core network and the network equipment (such as cellular base stations, etc.).
Answer: Let's have a little bit of a glimpse from the diagram below;

What you can analyse in that diagram,is a convention point to point (PTP) and line of sight (LOS), a microwave link uses atail node and aggregation node,which allows remote base station to  access the core network through the backhaul link.
Therefore,backhaul network is a side network which communicates with the core network,i.e. it links packets to and from  the core network.
That said, cellphones also communicates with a single cell tower which constitutes a local network (subnetwork);whereby the link between the celltower and rest of the world(to the core network) begins with the backhaul link. The rest of the world is termed as autonomous network system,which is administered by global internet providers.
A high-level summary is that cellular backhaul refers to transport from remote cell towers to mobile telephone switching offices (MTSO). This backhaul is frequently provided by a third-party internet service provider via layer 2 circuits. The ISP's edge device (optical switch or router) with a customer handoff point (UNI) is located at the cell tower and the network demarcation between the ISP and the cell provider's core network (ENNI) is located at the MTSO. An EVPL (point-to-multi-point) configuration is commonly implemented with both circuits traveling from the tower to the MTSO over divergent paths to provide redundancy.
Hope this can give you some insights.
Answer: I might be wrong, I did not read this anywhere, but, for me it would mean:

Backhaul: a service link, with the main purpose of carrying information from one point to another. When we think about this network, we mainly think about throughtput, latency, etc... it is its main task.
Core: network for the interconection of the different nodes. Its main purpose is to provide funcionality, but throughput is secondary (even though it can be high).

This is very loose, but I think those terms are equally loose too.


Unit Testing DDL with SQL Developer 3.1

Question: SQL Developer supports unit testing of DML but I've not found a way to create unit tests for DDL. What would be a good approach to this problem? The schema I'm starting with is small, less than a dozen tables with larger projects on the horizon. Google isn't returning much to the application of unit tests to DDL. Any ideas on an approach to testing DDL or other tools that exist for unit testing DDL?
Answer: What do you want to test about DDL? Either the table is created as defined or it is not.
What you could do is write a series of tests that queries the Data Dictionary to ensure the tables are present, have the columns with the sizes and datatype you want etc. This would be more of a schema verification script than unit tests however, and I am not sure how valuable it would be.
If you maintain a schema build script (or a series of migrations to add new objects to add objects to your schema), then if it applies without errors you know the schema has been created as it was defined.
Then if you have stored procedures, some of them will fail to compile if the schema is not 100% correct. Getting the procedures in cleanly would be another verification step for the schema.
Finally, the unit tests that you write to test the DML and stored procedures will verify that the correct data goes into the correct tables.
You might want some tests to ensure that a table can only accept certain values or columns can be unique etc (ie test the constraints are correct) but that would be down to standard unit tests too.
I am a big believer in writing unit tests for DB code, but I don't like SQL Developers GUI approach of doing it. Right now I am writing tests for an application, but I am coding the tests in Ruby and it seems to be working well. It will also be easily built into our build and automated test process.
Another alternative is UT_PLSQL which I have used before, however simply due to the nature of PLSQL is makes the tests very verbose, which is why I decided to use Ruby for my current project.
Comment: foreign keys and constraints for example may involve lots of logic which should probably get unit tested, don't you thnk?
Answer: I know this is an older question, but I've recently been working to solve the same problem. I think it's useful to define tests for DDL prior to creating objects and then creating those objects to pass those tests.
I've done some of this using an assert "pattern" -- i.e., tdd.ddlunit.assert_tableexists(p_schema_name, p_table_name) which raises an exception if the table doesn't exist, and silently runs when it does.
Other assertions I've created are for things like making sure all varchar2 columns use character semantics instead of byte length semantics, and making sure all tables and columns are commented.
These get checked in to the code repository and can be run via continuous integration frameworks to make sure we have a valid database per what we expect.

Unit Testing DDL with SQL Developer 3.1


The Actual Process & Reason Of Performing Kanya Puja during Navratra?

Question: The traditional Kanjak Puja or Kanya Puja is also an important feature of Navratras. At the time of Pooja, the girl is considered to be an 'avatar' of Durga on earth and worshipped. Kanya Pujan or Kanjak Pujan is performed with a belief that young girls are the replica of Goddess Durga. The devotees invite girls at homes and offer 'bhog'. The faith is that Goddess Durga, who is worshipped in nine avatars during Navratri, gets pleased by `KanyaPujan'. This ritual is celebrated on the eighth and ninth day of Navratri. The nine names of the Goddesses the nine girls can be represented as:-
1. Kumarika
2. Trimurti
3. Kalyani
4. Rohini
5. Kali
6. Chandika
7. Shanbhavi
8. Durga
9. Subhadra
However, I am not aware of the actual process, rituals & reason of performing Kanya Puja during 'Navratra'.
Answer: Navaratra was first celebrated long ago by 'Sati' to see if 'Shiv' loved her. That day at night there was celebration and many more girls were worshipping him.Sati was with her dance teacher 'Madhurika' and she told her that 'shiv' loved her. After the night was over Shiva said that day will be celebrated as navaratra from then and all the single girls on that day will find her lover. Since Sati or 'Durga' won her love that day, kanyas today are considered DURGA and worshipped.
Comment: Kindly provide sources.


How to display nodes on front page with Search API?

Question: I have installed the Search API, Facets API, along with Search Pages.  When the user goes to the front page, I want to display some default node results.  How can I do this with just the node results for a particular view mode, without the user setting filter criteria?
Answer: I have very good experience in search api and the easiest way to display the search results is use module search_api_views (included into search_api).
Just create view for your search api index and select there required view mode and filtering criterias. Put this view on your front page and it will work.
Answer: You could do that by building a view based on search api index created for nodes.
Steps
enable the Search views module (search_api_views) a search api sub module
build a view && add display page
set the Default front page the url of the view page
Now you could have a front page from search api based on the index that you build before
the same thing will be done with  module by adding pages
detailed tuts on search api will help you found here


USB driver for Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S4 SCH-I545VRUFNK1

Question: I have a verizon S4 with which I plan to do some android development. Samsung's download website doesn't have a usb driver for the above mentioned model number.
I installed SCH-I545ZKAVZW's usb driver because it is for 16gb black mist devices, but android studio doesn't pickup my device.
Comment: You could try the universal ADB driver: http://adbdriver.com/documentations/how-to-use-android-adb-driver-installer-for-windows-xp-vista-7-8.html
Comment: Adbdriver's installer wizard doesn't pick up my device. My device isn't rooted, is that a problem?
Comment: No, it shouldn't need to be rooted.  What are the device IDs?  (Open Device Manager, click on the Properties for any Android device shown, go to the Details tab, and look at Hardware IDs).
Comment: Oops. Thse are the hardwar ids listed for the galaxy s4:  USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&REV_0400&MS_COMP_MTP&SAMSUNG_Android
USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&MS_COMP_MTP&SAMSUNG_Android
USB\SAMSUNG_MOBILE&MS_COMP_MTP&SAMSUNG_Android
USB\SAMSUNG_MOBILE&MI_00
USB\Vid_04E8&Pid_6860&MI_00
USB\Vid_04E8&Pid_6860&Class_06&SubClass_01&Prot_01
USB\SAMSUNG_MOBILE&Class_06&SubClass_01&Prot_01
Comment: What version of Windows do you have?
Comment: I have windows8.1
Answer: I suggest that you modify the Google USB Driver so that it is installed for your device.
If you have the Android SDK installed, edit this file:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\extras\google\usb_driver\android_winusb.inf

Otherwise, you can download the driver here and edit android_winusb.inf from wherever you extract that archive to.
Edit the [Google.NTx86] and [Google.NTamd64] sections to add these lines under both:
;Samsung Galaxy S4
%SingleAdbInterface%        = USB_Install, USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860
%CompositeAdbInterface%     = USB_Install, USB\VID_04E8&PID_6860&MI_00

Now you want to install the driver by right-clicking adb_usb.inf and choosing Install (make sure your device is connected).  It will probably give you an error about Driver Signature Verification.  Depending on your version of Windows there are different ways to temporarily disable that; here is a good guide for Windows 8.  Once it's disabled, install the .inf file and you should be good to go.
Comment: I followed every step, the galaxy s4 still won't show in android studio.
Comment: @u530891 That is very odd.  Are you able to transfer files and such to the device from your PC?
Comment: You may be right. The connection is very intermittent. I tried 3 different cables, same problem. Wondering if the micro-usb  port in my phone is gone.


I was told my TPMS was bad after work being done

Question: I took my 2011 Ram 1500 and had oil change, 2 recalls fixed and had 4 new tires put on.  Upon completion on everything but the 4 wheel alignment they came out and told me I had a TPMS sensor that was bad.  Now on the way to the shop my sensor was working.  I had a nail in the back tire and was checking it regularly on the way to the shop to make sure it wasn't loosing air/ going flat.  All tires were reading fine.  It's a direct system.  I have had no false reading or anything that would indicate to me that something was wrong with it.  I bought it in 2012 & it has about 164,000 miles on it.  I just find it strange that I had no indication that something was wrong with it before they changed my tires and now I have a bad sensor.  Could they have broken it? No they showed me nothing that says it had low battery or error codes, just came out and told me it was bad.
Answer: If you doubt their word, ask that they tun the test with you there.  The tester is a hand held diagnostic tool; the mechanic walks around the vehicle and tests each wheel.  It should be simple enough for you to ask to see and be shown the display.
I do realize this should likely go in comments, but I am not up to enough rep to do that yet.   Soon.....
Since the answer is here, I will add too that just because the test shows that the TPMS is faulty, it does not mean that they didn't cause the damage.
Comment: There you go. Comment away. Also good advice to ask the dealer to show how/why its faulty!
Comment: @ narkeleptic, Mussi Cho :)
Answer: Its hard to know the truth in situations like this when going by someones word but they do  like to crack around the stems a lot. Especially if you have been putting air in it often from slow leaks. Visually you will not always see it and this usually will not throw codes but it is still broken and could blow out at anytime so the dealer definitely would not allow it to be reinstalled.
Answer: Those older sensors are awful. They can break just by looking at them the wrong way. Battery life is 7-10 years, so you're in that range right now. Tire dealers charge a lot less than car dealers for TPS sensor replacement. Recommend taking it to a tire shop for second opinion and replacement if needed.
Comment: "older sensor" ... define older as compared to? These are 433MHz sensors installed on new (as of 2020) vehicles ... how would you consider them "older"?
Comment: they used dissimilar metals in those older sensors that caused galvanic corrosion and breakage. New versions are different and don't have the same breakage issues.


Washer Dryer Combo vs. Separate Units

Question: I am shopping for a washer and dryer set. I see combos and separated sets in market. What is advantage and disadvantages of each kind? I am not short in space but one unit is a nice to have. Also I am interested in electricity consumption comparison.
Comment: Are you asking about the washer and dryer combined as a single unit or the washer and dryer are separate but permanently attached?
Comment: With the combo it takes longer to do your laundry.
Comment: Combos are sweet.  Load once.  Take it out washed and dried.
Comment: What country are you in? Washer-dryer combos are much more common in Europe than the US (and I don't know about other areas).
Answer: One issue I can see, is that in 35 years I've bought three washers and one electric dryer. If you are referencing to is attached stacked units you may be replacing a working dryer because it is attached to the broken washer. The dryers have so few moving parts they are easily and inexpensively repaired. The same can't be said for washers.
Answer: The combo is only useful if you have a very small space and cannot afford to have separate units taking up extra space. They will have lower capacities and not perform as well as standalone units.
Another issue is that with separate units, if your washer breaks, you can simply buy a new washer and keep the existing dryer. With a combo unit you would need to replace both in that case.
Answer: It's unclear of what you are asking. There are three scenarios I can think of:
all-in-on-stacked unit
These are common in apartments where you have a top-load washer on the bottom and a front-load dryer on the top. The advantage is that these are usually cheap and, obviously take up little floor space. Disadvantages is that you have to lift heavy wet laundry up into the dryer, and these units are typically not the latest in energy saving models.
standard units with stacking kit
Most of the front-load washers and dryers today can be stacked together with a kit. They have the same advantages of the all-in-one unit plus: it's typically easier to lift the laundry into the dryer as front-load washers dry the clothes much better than top load washers; you can buy the latest in water and energy savings.
one-unit washer/dryers
These are one unit that both washes and dries the clothes. The advantages: 1 unit instead of two means a lot less space is taken up; you don't have to transfer laundry; they use a 'dehydration' system for drying rather than forced hot air so they can a) be installed without a vent and b) use less energy to dry. The big disadvantages are: they can take a lot longer to do a load of laundry; you can't typically put as much laundry into the cycle.
Of course, with the single unit, you can always start with one and if it's not meeting your capacity needs, get a second one as well.
Comment: And don't forget about losing multi-load parallelism throughput; with a one-unit, you can't dry load #1 while washing load #2.
Comment: @RBerteig - interesting, but I'd think that would apply to stand alone dryers too.
Comment: @mike, I suspect that most of the problem was with putting way more electronics without thought about the harsh environment they would live in. This was a niche brand device, and clearly suffered from lack of testing. Washer controls can get wet (and with just clean tap water in the right failure) and will collect wet lint. I've picked enough lint out of old-style mechanical timers... But quality whitegoods are built with the controls well isolated from the harsh environment and are likely more reliable today than what my mother experienced some fifteen years ago.
Comment: My mother suffered for years after buying a pricy imported washer/dryer single unit. Its CPU board was highly static sensitive. A clothes dryer might as well be a Van der Graf generator. It ate CPU boards all the way through its warranty, then it got to be too expensive to own quickly.
Answer: If you can fit them in, get separate units.
Washer-dryers tend to be much less reliable than separate units.
With a washer dryer you can only dry a half load - this means either doing twice as many washing loads, or taking half the washing out before drying it, then swapping over and putting the other half in, which kind of defeats the purpose.
If you put too much in (and it's always tempting to put too much in), drying will take hours and hours.

Washer Dryer Combo vs. Separate Units


Do any Christian scholars contrast Islamic eschatology with Christian eschatology?

Question: Are there any Christian scholars (and their works) that comment on Islamic eschatology, and/or contrast it with Christian eschatology? As an example of a Muslim scholar coming at this question from the opposite side, Imran Hosein wrote "Jerusalem In the Qu'ran", which looks at both Christian and Muslim eschatology from a Muslim perspective.
Comment: This is a nice example of an apparently inappropriate question being transformed into one that is eminently suitable for this site. Very instructive.
Comment: This is a list question. I suggest re-wording it to "Are there any examples of works which contrast Christian and Islamic eschatology?" Then any single answer in the affirmative can be authoritative.
Comment: Unfortunately it is a little unclear what you are asking here. Are you asking for the name of a Christian scholar who has looked at Islamic Eschatology, or are you asking what his views were in regard to Islamic Eschatology?  Alternatively, are you (as the last sentence might suggest) proposing that the Islamic tradition is 'Truth' and should be accepted by Christians?  Could you elaborate on your actual meaning?
Comment: I think my question is clear, I am asking about christain scholars who looked on the Islamic Eschatology, I didn't say anything about truth or lies, why are you interpretating my question ? and i just mentioned an islamic scholar who is a reference in Islamic Eschatology, that's all...
Comment: @DickHarfield Having said that, I really think that it would be very interesting if Christian and Islamic scholars share and discuss their views on Eschatology.
Comment: IMHO The latest edit brings this question into scope - thank you @Nathaniel.  I trust you accept his clarification, Wael?
Comment: @DickHarfield Yes no problem
Comment: I am tempted to suggest that this be reformatted as an overview question?  If some Christian scholars have looked into the topic as asked, or if a lot have, this has the potential to be a "shopping question" ... is overview a better approach?
Comment: @Flimzy It would have to ask "who are or what works comment" to be a list. But it asks simply "Are there" which is technically just a Yes/No question. Which is of course not good either. But my point being he does not need to rephrase but simply add "If so(yes), what are some prime examples?"
Comment: @Flimzy Can't see version history now, so I realize now maybe my comment doesn't fit what you commented on, but is still applicable to th3 current version.
Answer: No doubt there are Christian scholars who have studied Islamic eschatology but, although I have read a small number of books on Islam, I have not read any specifically about Islamic eschatology. However, a search of the internet found at least one interesting example from Joel Richardson, with enough preview information to suggest it could be recommended to the OP for his interest. I find that Richardson is not a scholar in the usual sense of the word, but a Christian preacher and author.
Joel Richardson (Antichrist: Islam's Awaited Messiah) speaks (page xv) of having  Muslim friends all over the world and stresses (page xviii) that 'the purpose of this book is by no means to "bash" Muslims in any way.'
Richardson says (page 22) his book is "first and foremost a study of Islamic Eschatology (end-time belief) and those specific Islamic doctrines and practices that seem to correlate in quite an astonishing way to the biblical descriptions and prophecies of the last-days." He claims (page 23) that his is the first comprehensive popular study of Islamic Eschatology as it relates to biblical eschatology.
On the one hand, Richardson sees Islam as the future of the world, but on the other hand, his theme appears apocalyptic. Islam may be the future, but the future is a dark place.
Comment: Thank you for the answer, but I have to say that Richardson, despite his amazing efforts in his book, was misguided about the Islamic Messiah, in fact he looked into the subject from a Shia perspective, but in reality, the Islamic Messiah is not Imam Mahdi (as Richardson suggest), he is in fact Jesus the son of Mary, and this is from an islamic view without any sectarian perspective, and this is how you can deal with the subject correctly. Imam Mahdi is an important figure in Islamic Eschatology, but NOT the Messiah. The Quran, without any doubt and clearly, refers to Jesus as the Messiah.
Comment: I suggest you watch this fascinating discussion, wich took place in the State University of Moscow, between two important scholars in Eschatology, a christian and a muslim (not sectarian), here is the link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHh3_oJeP8
Comment: I suspected that Richardson is not a good source, which is why I made the point that he is not a scholar in the usual sense.  As you know, I was initially confused as to just what you wanted to ask but, with  Nathaniel's help, I thought I had a handle on it. What I still could not tell from your question was whether you were looking for a serious, academic study or simply a popular one such as Richardson's.  You also did not say that you consider Shi'ite perspectives inappropriate., although of course they are Islamic perspectives in the broader sense.../
Comment: .../ I hope you can see how hard it is to give good answers to questions that I (we) have to interpret.
Comment: I know that it was not easy to answer my question, I thank you again, I imagine that you guessed that I am muslim, I wanted by this question to turn your attention to the fact that muslims and christians have a lot of common in terms of eschatology, and in the End of History, true muslims and true christians will be allied, I am personelly convicted by that, and i am convicted also that this End of History is around the corner, it is not so far.
Comment: Ellis Skolfield has made some comparisons between Christian and Islamic eschatology.


Term store Vs Categories

Question: On this link   http://www.jasperoosterveld.com/2011/09/creating-knowledge-centre-with_07.html, they define a managed term store hierarchy , then users can add categories  when adding new wiki articles if the keyword is not in the term store hierarchy . so does this mean that we can use  Term store and categories  to refer to each other, and what are the differences between the two?
Answer: A category is a predefined Term Set that is made in the term store management.
Comment: if your term set is open users can add terms and be displayed in the term store hierarchy
Comment: whenever users add a new term i advice they use the panel. If the click the square next to the text box of the categories they are able to point out where the new term should be added
Comment: thanks for your reply, but let say users are allow to insert new categories on the fly when adding new wikis, where will these categories be in the term store hierarchy?
Comment: thanks again for your reply, but on which level and under which parent term set the new category will displayed??, as users will just type the new category name without specifying the parent term set when adding a new category on the fly.

Term store Vs Categories


Bevel to fit circle

Question: A seemingly common way to describe a beveled corner is with the radius of the circle that would fit in the corner. This is e.g. how the CSS "border-radius" property works in web design. The screenshot below explains my dilemma, and the diagram under it is what I'm trying to implement. Is there any way to do this automatically in Blender? I'd rather not merge and delete vertices 49 times to make the edges I want.
Comment: On a side note it might be a little faster to achieve what you want if you use an *Screw* modifier to make your revolution surface part, that way you only have to design the shape section
Comment: Unfortunately this kind of precision modelling is considerably complex to achieve in Blender, simply because it was not what the tool was designed for. It can be done but its an involved process requiring many steps. Regular bevel wont work here for two reasons, one being hat it extends beyond the length of existing edges, second that it is not tangencial to both surfaces.
Answer: I don't know what kind of precision you want to achieve (and I hope I have understood the question correctly), but, if you don't want to use curves, I'll do your bevel this way :
Your set-up :

Extruding some faces to get a visual reference :

Loop cut and slide at the right height :

For all the visual marks minus one (because you already have one) :

After the scale on x and y axis of the inner edge :

Grab on z axis each edges individually to match the right height :

Done :

It's quite fast (and could be even more precise with the use of snap ?). Is it what you want to achieve ?
Comment: Yes, that looks like what I want. I may want to write a script to do this automatically for me—should be interesting.
Answer: Another method you could perhaps use next time :
Create a cross-section of your object then use the Spin tool to fill it out.
Starting from your original setup:
1: Set 3D cursor to center of object.
2: Select vertices that make up the cross-section. (The ones that are selected at the start of the gif anim.).
3: Inverse selection ( Ctrl I ) and delete those newly selected vertices.
4: Select the remaining vertices.
5: Go into top view then from the tools panel choose the Spin tool.
6: In the Operator panel set the number of Steps and Angle of 360°.
7: After the Spin tool has done its job select All and from the tools panel
   choose Remove Doubles.
8: If necessary Recalculate Normals.
Comment: That is indeed a useful way to do this. Thanks!
Answer: There is no direct way to do it.
I just would subdivide or use extruding methods.
Suppose you subdivide the verticals to create a few more ring around that place, then next in edit mode use proportional editing to lift the center up, the proportinal displacement can come close to a circle shape.
And finish with a subdiv on your model
Its also possible to use a technical drawing on the background and make you model fit it, then by selecting those extra rings lift them up/down till its visually ok.

Bevel to fit circle


Show that expected value exist

Question: If I know that $E[X^2]$ exist, how can I show that $E[X]$ exist? For me it's obvious, but I don't have idea how to show it, because I don't have any information about distribution. Maybe someone can give a hint?
Comment: Hint: $1 + X^2 > |X|$ for all $X$.
Answer: How could it "not exist"?
I assume, $X$ is measurable, then the nonexistence of $E[X]$ would mean that either the positive or the negative part of the integral wants to go to infinity.
But then $X^2$ would go even faster as the base is of finite measure.
Let $A:=\{\omega|X(\omega)\ge 0\}=:(X\ge 0)$ and $B:=(X<0)$, then, using that $x\le x^2$ if $x\ge 1$, we have
$$\int_A X \le \int_{X\ge 1} X^2+\int_{0\le X<1}1\le E[X^2]+1 $$
And similarly over $B$.
Comment: Yes, exist means that $E[X] < inf$

Show that expected value exist


Should we allow encyclopedic questions?

Question: Where should we stand on encyclopedic questions? For example, one can ask "How should I perform salat?", it is a question that you can google and get more answers than you want, or you can ask "How can I divorce according to Islam?", although a good question, this one is quite googleable too. What should we do about such questions?
Comment: see http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/02/are-some-questions-too-simple/
Comment: Googlable questions will be downvoted naturally.
Comment: @Ansari downvoting isnt enough those questions should be closed as off topic
Comment: You mean fiqhi questions?
Comment: Yes, but also, any kind of question that can easily be answered by googling it.
Answer: I think we should allow it.
StackExchange websites were meant to provide meaningful answers for important questions.
Prayer and divorce are important to all practicing Muslims, and this information should be available to all Muslims in a simple to understand way.
A way to achieve this is through collaboration, people here should collaborate to enhance the quality of answers available on this website, that's why there's community wikis.
Another reason why we should allow this is the scarcity of quality Islamic content on the internet.
Comment: This is what other SE sites do. They down-vote/close and answer it.
Answer: I'd say they are fine as long as they're not duplicates.
A new convert or non-Muslim may be interested in the details of Salat. You might even have opposing views between Sunni and Shia Muslims on such a basic topic. If it is indeed a trivial/lazy question it will be downvoted. If it's something a lot of people have asked or worded in such a way that it provokes thought, it will be upvoted. The system balances itself out.
A majority of Islamic sites are not very high quality or accurate. Wikipedia can be a target of vandalism. Sometimes someone will be confused over conflicting content.
While you don't have to quote every detail of salat, you can link to one that does or give a proper summary. The SE reputation system will be a decent judge of how reliable the answer is.
Comment: Yeah, precisely. particularly as you remarked
"  A new convert or non-Muslim may be interested in the details of Salat... "
Answer: This isn't really an issue about whether a topic is easily googlable or not. The real meat of the question is: Can we do a better job here than what's already out there?
There are plenty of encyclopedic questions which really are "encyclopedic": Often these questions would simply take the form of "What does Islam say about [topic]?". These sorts of questions often take far more space to explain in sufficient detail than Stack Exchange was really designed to handle in a single post, and are pretty much the definition of "Too Broad". And in many cases, these already have encyclopedic entries on Wikipedia (which, as a site actually designed to be an encyclopedia, can do a far better job of explaining these topics in detail than we ever could). There is often little to no value to bringing those over to here.
There are also plenty of questions which simply show little to no research effort. If Google is already coming up with a dozen answers which perfectly answer the question asked, the question should probably just be downvoted; Stack Exchange is geared toward providing expert answers to focussed questions, but if the best we can offer is simply re-iterating the top link on Google because the questioner couldn't be bothered to find it himself, that's just a waste of our experts' time and will likely just bore them away. We as a site should be geared towards people who want to learn, but that doesn't mean we should cater to users who are too lazy to work for it.
On the other hand, there are also a lot of commonly asked questions which, when googled, do bring "more answers than you want"; these are in my experience often questions in which there are multiple opinions, and the Google experience is basically more confusing than useful: Everyone has their own opinion and everyone says theyir own opinion is right and everyone else's opinion is wrong, and the actual questioner ends up with a face full of mutually contradictory answers and no way to sort them out.
For these cases, there often is value in bringing them over here, but they need to be asked appropriately: Just asking the exact same question verbatim that gives you a hundred disparate opinions on Google is highly likely to just get you the same hundred disparate opinions here. In other words, no net improvement. The Stack Exchange model does not work there.
To me, this is the sort of thing where Community Wiki posts really shine. As long as the question is asked with the intent of providing a canonical answer, and the answers are written in accord with that intent, and everyone is willing to work together to handle and maintain the thread, you can build far more valuable resource here than exists elsewhere.
Take for example the classic SO post "The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List". That post was a massive community effort, spanning not only numerous revisions in the thread itself (and countless now-deleted comments, I'm sure), but also arguments on meta on how to handle it and discussions in chat on what should and should not be included. Such posts provide tangible value not only to the site, but to the people seeking that information (which is really what we're here for), but they really need the community to work together — they're called Community Wiki for a reason — else they degenerate into opinion-bait.
In all the above cases, however, a one-liner question with absolutely no effort shown would fail: We want questions that show both effort and value, because if you don't think the question is valuable enough to warrant effort, why should anybody else? If you think a question is a viable fount for a comprehensive and valuable resource, you need to be willing and able to actually present it in such a way that the community will back you up on it, and willing to work with the community to bring that to fruition. Otherwise, it'll just founder.

Should we allow encyclopedic questions?


Does the California plumbing code require a water line shutoff behind a refrigerator?

Question: Appliance store says I need a shutoff valve behind the refrigerator.  They want a valve box in the wall to attach their flexible water line.  The plumber put in flexible copper tubing with the shutoff valve under the sink.  Appliance store says that's against code. I live in California if that makes a difference.  The copper tubing is the smooth type.  The refrigerator is a LG French door.
Comment: Ask the appliance people to quote chapter and verse of the code they're referring to. Then remind them that you'll do the install yourself if they don't cooperate. (Even if they are somehow correct, and I give that very slim odds, your plumber did the smart thing.)
Comment: Just to be sure... is your copper of the smooth walled type, or is it corrugated? (If corrugated, you're limited to 10', per California Plumbing Code 604.12.)
Comment: What is the make and model refrigerator? What does it say in the manufacturers installation instructions?
Answer: The guy at the appliance store is correct. California plumbing code 606.5 states

A control valve shall be installed immediately ahead of each
  water-supplied appliance and immediately ahead of each slip joint or
  appliance supply.
Comment: Yes, but it does not say that it must be right AT the refrigerator. If you read the PURPOSE of the change from the 2012 code, it was because people were putting valves in attic spaces, not accessible to the homeowner if the appliance or fitting developed a leak. The valve under the sink in the same kitchen would meet that code requirement, so long as there were no other fittings or tap-offs between that valve and the ice maker. I've done that and had it pass many times. That said, I RECOMMEND putting it behind the fridge so that it's easier to turn it off if you have to pull the fridge out.
Answer: Most appliance installers' policy dictates that their installers CANNOT attach to refrigerator water lines to any supply that can't be shut off at the refrigerator area,i.e.  not in cabinets or opposite walls etc. It has to do with liability of potentially causing water damage by crawling in a sink cabinet or similar, or other areas. The dishwasher install is an exception for obvious reasons. That is the case for appliance installers contracted by Lowes and Home Depot. They are not trying to match CODE but it works out that way and it is an easier reason to share with customers.
Comment: Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Thanks for the answer; keep 'em coming. And, you should probably [take our tour](//diy.stackexchange.com/tour) so you'll know the details of contributing here.


How do you test the cache of a website?

Question: I am trying to find some guidance and a tool for testing whether a page on a website is cached or not. Please could someone advise what is the best process?
Comment: http://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/276554/how-can-qa-staff-test-caching-logic-that-they-cant-see
Comment: http://www.procata.com/cachetest/
Comment: Are you using Selenium or similar to test or manual?
Answer: The link from Yu Zhang in the comments has some good things in it.
It depends on the goal here, usually caching is for performance improvement.  If that is the goal then I would think performance testing to be more appropriate than cache testing.  If there is a unique situation involving specific cached values then you can utilize anything to read the values and ensure they remain the same.  Most browsers have dev tools/firebug/etc... to manually inspect elements as well as measure load times.  Selenium can pull the html to verify specific values.  There are also client side perf tools like dynatrace, etc... which can do more in depth perf tests on the cached pages to see if they improve in speed.
Is your goal performance related or value specific?  You can also manually inject some Javascript calls to interact on the page and ensure certain methods don't go back to the server, but execute locally within cached values.  It really depends on the goal though.
Answer: There are a lot of different types of caching, mostly broadly, server side and client side.
Client Side.
You can look at the http header which has a wealth of information about any caching that the browser is doing.  The original http request for any given page will have this information so that subsequent requests can decide if they can/should use it based on the parameters give.
Server Side.
This is a bit trickier.  You'll really need server-side access to be able to work with server side caching so you can change things and then test if the changes are shown, cached, etc.  It can also be done at many levels such as object caching, page caching, request caching, database caching, etc.
A lot more detailed info at https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/optimizing-content-efficiency/http-caching
Excert:
The good news is that every browser ships with an implementation of an HTTP cache. All you need to do is ensure that each server response provides the correct HTTP header directives to instruct the browser on when and for how long the browser can cache the response.
Each resource can define its caching policy via the Cache-Control HTTP header.
Cache-Control directives control who can cache the response, under what conditions & how long.
FYI When you want to force a new version of an asset(file) to be used that is frequently done through unique filenames, frequently using a fingerprint from the file contents and using that fingerprint in the filename.  This gets around the client side held cache because a differently named file does not exist by that name in the cache and so is not used from cache and is fetched from the server.
Answer: If you want to know whether a page on a website is cached or not, try modifying the database directly. The backend server should not know about your action and will not refresh the cache accordingly. Now if the changes are reflected on the UI immediately, I think the content have not been cached.
Answer: Certain browsers (such as vivaldi) allow you to show/hide what is and isn't being loaded from the browser's cache.   When performing manual testing this can allow you to easily switch between the modes to ensure what you are loading is coming from the server on page load.
Comment: Of note, Vivaldi uses the Chrome rendering engine, so a page looks and loads the same in this as in Chrome

How do you test the cache of a website?


Fried flour tortilla from scratch cook first or just fry

Question: I'm working on my chicken flauta recipe skills today, I like to make everything from scratch but all I can find are recipes with store bought tortillas.   Knowing how much better homemade corn tortillas are I'm thinking of trying this with scratch made flour tortillas, stuffing and then frying.   My question is should I first cook the flour tortillas in a pan, then fill and fry?  Or fill and fry with the raw dough after pressing it?
Comment: Store bought tortillas are at least partially cooked.
Comment: This looks like it would be a good chance to try both methods, do half with the raw dough and half with the cooked to see which one provides the best results.
Answer: According to this page... neither your first option. You should toast them in a pan without oil.

After rest period, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Roll each
  dough piece into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep
  work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don't stack uncooked
  tortillas on top of each other or they will get soggy.
When pan is very hot, place one dough circle into pan and allow to
  cook about 1 minute or until bottom surface has a few pale brown
  spots. The uncooked surface will begin to show a few little bubbles.
  If tortilla is browning too fast, reduced heat a bit. If it's taking
  longer than a minute to see a few pale golden brown spots on underside
  of tortillas, increase heat a bit. Flip to other side and cook for
  about 30 seconds. You want the tortilla to be soft but have a few
  small pale golden brown spots on surface. Remove from pan with tongs
  and stack in a covered container or zippered bag till all tortillas
  are cooked. This will keep them soft and pliable.

You can view the complete recipe following the above link.
Answer: I would fry the raw dough, like an empanada. That way you can seal in the filling by crimping the dough.


What happened to my cheese?

Question: I have had my Gorgonzola in the maturing box for 10 days turning each day it is shiny on the outside, hard and does not have any mould.
Answer: When I have had my cheese turn out as you described it was because it dried too much. One time was because I pressed it until it became like leather (oops). The other time it just wasn't covered well enough and the drying was only on the surface.
The lack of mold on your Gorgonzola could also imply that it was too dry- however that mold does require fairly specific temperature to grow well so that isn't conclusive either.

What happened to my cheese?


residency in california

Question: I am 22 years old. I am self-supporting. In 2017 - 2018, I lived in San Jose and paid my rents and expenses,In 2018-2019 I moved to Davis and stayed with my aunt.   Because I have been living with my aunt and instead of paying rent, I have given her ride services and bought most of the grocery. Now my residency is not being accepted by UC Davis and therefore I am being requested to pay tuition fee for non-resident. For the last 2 years I have been paying tuition fee to college as a resident. My parents do not live in US and are not able to support me. What is the law on this, and what appeals are available?
Comment: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about the law or legal process. You may have better luck on [Academia.SE](https://academia.stackexchange.com/).
Comment: @ron What makes a person eligible for in-state tuition at a state college or university is  a matter of state law, or of regulations implementing state law. As such it should be on-topic here.
Answer: This web page from Berkley Advocate gives the requirements for receiving in-state tuition, and the process for appeals. The requirements are confirmed by this official page.
The Advocate page says:

There are THREE requirements for qualifying for residency for tuition purposes.

Physical Presence

You (or your parent) must be physically present in California on a continuous basis for at least 366 days immediately prior to the residence determination date.
Residency may not be established in absentia and the prior residence must have been relinquished.
You or your parent must be able to demonstrate physical presence in California with sufficient documentation. The documentation can include receipts, bank statements, credit card bills, and housing contracts. The burden of proof is on you to demonstrate that you were present (as opposed to the University having to prove that you were NOT present).
Within the 366-day period, you or your parent can be absent from California for a total of six weeks.
A residency classification will not be granted for absences that exceeds six weeks.

Intent to Remain in California
You (or your parent) must demonstrate the intent to make California your permanent home and relinquish ties to your previous place of residence. Examples of establishing California legal ties include but are not limited to:

obtain a California Driver's License or State Identification card within the first 30 days of arriving in California
register vehicle in California (if applicable) within the first 30 days of arriving in California
register to vote in California (if applicable) within the first 30 days of arriving in California
file California state income tax returns as a resident or part-year resident on all taxable income earned in or out of the state after arriving to California
file out-of-state income tax returns as a nonresident or part-year resident on income earned prior to arriving to California

Financial Independence
  FOR UNDERGRADUATES ONLY:
If you are an unmarried undergraduate under the age of 24, you must be financially dependent on a California-resident parent. If your parent does not meet the UC residency requirements, you must be able to verify financial independence for the two full years immediately before the term in which you wish to enroll.
Relevant documentation to support a finding of financial independence may include tax returns from the student to verify the student's income, as well as W-2s, two year budget of income and expenses, official apartment rental contracts or leases, and copies of all financial documentation (bank statements, loans, trust, etc.) to verify the sources of the student's income/savings. The student must not have accepted any type of financial assistance from any individual, including California residents, during the required two years.

Requirements: An undergraduate student or a student enrolled in a degree or non-degree program who is not dependent on a California-resident parent will meet the financial independence requirement if s/he meets the following criteria:
a. student was not claimed as an income tax dependent by any individual for the two tax years immediately preceding the term for which resident classification is requested.
AND
b. student is self-sufficient. Student has supported self with own resources (employment, commercial/institutional loans in student's name only, financial aid and savings from earnings, all of which require official documentation) for two full years prior to the residence determination date for the term s/he proposes to attend the University.

The official page also lists a 4th requirement:

Immigration status
You must have the legal ability to establish a permanent domicile in the United States, meaning that you must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or hold a valid, qualifying nonimmigrant visa.

The advocate page says of appeals that:

A student may appeal a campus nonresident determination only if at least one of the following applies:

The decision was based on:
a. a significant error of fact,
b. a significant procedural error, and/or
c. an incorrect application of policy which, if corrected, would require that the student be reclassified as a resident.
Significant new information:
a. became available after the date of the campus decision classifying the student as a nonresident;
b. despite the exercise of reasonable diligence, the information was not previously known or available to the student; and,
c. based on the new information, the classification as a nonresident is incorrect.

If denied California residency by the Office of the Registrar's Residency Affairs Unit, you have 30 days to appeal the decision to the UC Office Of General Counsel.

The page gives contact addresses and additional information.

residency in california