Would a 9V alkaline power a 12V DC motor?

Question: I am thinking about buying a 12V DC motor but want to keep everything, including the motor, battery, and power switch somewhat compact. I am not very knowledgeable about these kind of things and am curious whether or not my 12V DC motor would run at all on a 9V battery.
This is the motor
Comment: 1.1A rated at 12V means about 11A start current or 1 Ohm DCR across 9V means 9A start torque. How many minutes of run time do you expect a tiny battery to last?
Comment: You might want to consider Lithium-Iron-Phosphate cells. Alkaline batteries are NOT designed for high-dischange applications.
Answer: Not for long! (And the speed would decrease as the battery wears out and the voltage falls)
9V batteries are pretty "weak" because the other half of the story is how much current they can supply at that voltage (Power = Voltage * Current). If you want to spin a big motor, the battery voltage will sag because of the battery's internal resistance. The lower the supply voltage, the slower your motor will spin. Ultimately the battery and motor will reach an equilibrium speed for the load you have on it. Check out this page to see how the 9V batteries hold up under load (hint not well).
For reference, Adafruit's 130 size hobby motors consume only 70mA with no load (battery will last ~5 hours but won't be very useful) and up to 500mA when stalled (worst case scenario and if the motor doesn't burn up, the battery will last ~20 minutes).
As you can see, the alkaline battery chemistry is not designed for rapid discharge. A NiMH, PbA or LiPo battery would be a better bet if you need more power (and you could recharge the battery for more fun in the future!)
Answer: If you reduce the voltage to 9 volts, the speed will be reduced proportionally. The torque capability will not be reduced. If the battery is too small, it will be discharged quickly and the internal resistance may reduce the voltage significantly below the nominal battery voltage.
The rated motor current is 1.1 amps and the rated torque is 14 kg-cm. That means that the motor will require 1.1 amps to drive a load that require 14 kg-cm to turn. The motor should be capable of operating at the rated speed and torque continuously without failure for the normal lifetime. Unfortunately, the rated speed of the motor is not given. It is likely considerably less than the 30 RPM no-load speed.
A small motor with a gear reducer that provides a lot of speed reduction is not going to be very efficient. A lot of power will be lost in the winding resistance and in the gear friction.
A search of battery specifications should allow estimation of motor operating time and the minimum battery size. Battery life is given in ampere hours or milliamp hours.
See also: Calculate battery life
Answer: According to your link the motor specs are:

Rated Voltage: DC 12V
Reduction Ratio: 1: 172
No-Load Speed: 30RPM
Rated Torque: 14Kg.cm
Rated Current: 1.1Amp

With a permanent magnet brushed DC motor, speed is proportional to voltage and torque is proportional to current. Your motor is specified to produce 30rpm at 12V with no load, and 14kg.cm (presumably) at 1.1A. No-load current draw and rpm at rated torque are not specified.
A typical PP9 Alkaline battery produces ~7V at 1A when fresh, dropping to 5~6V after a few minutes. At 1.1A you might only get 4 minutes run time before the battery goes flat, at about half normal speed due to the lower voltage.
If the torque load is less the motor will draw less current, so you should get longer run time with a light load. However without a no-load current spec we have no way of knowing what the maximum run time could be. We also don't know how accurate the specs are. The only way to find out what it can really do may be to test it.
Discharge tests of 9 Volt transistor radio style batteries
Answer: In principle, it's probably possible to run a 12V motor on 9V -- it'll just run slower and with much less torque.
But if by "a 9V battery" you mean a typical PP3 size battery (i.e, the rectangular ones with a snap connector on top), the answer is almost certainly "no". These batteries are designed for low-current applications like handheld radios, remote controls, or smoke detectors; they cannot supply much current, and will be unable to drive a motor for long, especially a motor that's designed for a higher voltage anyway.
Comment: Slower - yes, much less torque - no.
Comment: Yes, that is the type of 9v battery I was talking about. If that would not work, what battery could I use instead that is still somewhat small/compact? Thank you for your time and help.


Clear emails automatically from sent folder?

Question: I managed to set to clear emails automatically for inbox (after the email is redirected somewhere) using Inbox rule, but how to set this for Sent folder as well? I'm not familiar with Outlook.com and can't figure out a way to create a "Sent" rule.
Answer: We have a reference article located at https://support.appliedi.net/kb/a1345/how-to-keep-messages-from-being-saved-to-sent-items-folder-in-outlook-2013-2016.aspx which addresses this question.  For the visibility of the relevant content to answer the question is as follows:
Outlook.com / Outlook Web App (OWA) is intended for those on the go.  Email can be accessed from anywhere.  The account can be connected to some of your favorite apps such as Skype.  It does, however, have limited features.  The OWA is a "compact" edition of sorts.  Rule settings only apply to the Inbox.  Retention policy settings (OWA for business) appear to reflect the Inbox only as well.  Therefore rules cannot be specified to the Sent Items folder in OWA currently.
If you have Outlook 2013/2016 (not OWA), there are more features to help you manage your account settings.  In Outlook 2013/2016, you would not need to create a rule that deletes messages from the sent folder.  There is an option to not save sent messages at all.  After you connect your email account in Outlook 2013/2016.  The following steps can be used for this option.
Please note that there is also an option to save sent messages.  Then archive/delete them after a time frame of your choosing.  The following steps do not include this option.

Go to File>Options
Select Mail from the left column.
Scroll to "Save Messages"
Deselect the box "Save copies of messages in the Sent Items folder"
Click OK

You should never see a message in the Sent Items folder for this mailbox afterward. Repeat the steps for other mailboxes where applicable.
Comment: Please disclose your link to the website/product, as mentioned in the site FAQ.
Comment: Tombull89 - The posted answer is regarding differences between Microsoft.com which is Microsoft's online web application for email and Outlook full version 2013/2016 installs.  The question Nur presented specifying Outlook.com.
I am not certain the website/product or FAQ in question.  Please clarify the FAQ in reference if this comment does not answer the question.  We are Applied Innovations.  We are Microsoft cloud hosting experts, who offer a variety of products and services for businesses.  Our website is https://www.appliedi.net/.  Please let us know if this addresses your request.


Is there any technical term for a type of reading that focuses on minor characters in a literary work?

Question: Is there any technical term for a type of reading that focuses on minor characters in a literary work? For example, a type of reading that focuses on the character of Polonius in William Shakespeare's Hamlet or on the character of Jordan Baker from The Great Gatsby.
Answer: This would probably be what is called a parallel novel. Common examples include Wide Sargasso Sea, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Grendel. To quote wikipedia:

These stories further the works of already well-known novels by focusing on a minor character and making them the major character

so it seems to be exactly what you're looking for.
Comment: I like this answer, but I'm not sure if this is what the author of the question is looking for? It almost sounds like they're asking if there is a name for the process of rereading a story but focusing on the characters who aren't central to the plot.
Comment: @Lockjaw Ah, I see what you mean. I'll look for that term, I suppose, but I'm not entirely sure it exists =)
Comment: *R&G are Dead* isn't a novel.


Ethereum node stuck can't sync. for Win. 8.1

Question: I've downloaded the latest Win. version but can't make the Ethereum node sync. I've also turned my firewall off but still not working. Can anyone help? I'm not a techie guy. Thanks.
Comment: Can you provide more details? What does `eth.syncing` command show?
Answer: You may have a corrupt blockchain, in which case, you can open windows explorer and manually type into the address bar: %appdata%. Then go to the /Ethereum folder and delete or remane the /chaindata folder. This will force the wallet to resync the blockchain from the genesis. Note that any existing wallets will be saved.


How to find lat/lon values for every pixel in a GeoTIFF file?

Question: I want to a store GeoTIFF file pixel by pixel in the database. I need to store pixel values along with the lat/lon of that pixel on the GeoTIFF image. Is it possible to do that?
Comment: Is the goal to be able to query by Lat/Lon?  You could accomplish this with GDAL using the geotransform attribute - I can provide a python example.  The conversion could be pre-rendered into a 2 band geotiff (Band1 - LAT, Band2 - LON), but I wonder if it wouldn't be more efficient to do this on the fly.  I guess a use case would help.
Answer: In a generic sense, use the affine transform parameters, which should be available with any raster file format. With GDAL, this is available with GetGeoTransform(), or PostGIS' ST_GeoReference() function. After finding these six parameters, one only needs to determine which ones they are, then a function can be made to transform in linear space.
E.g., with Python:
<code>from osgeo import gdal
ds = gdal.Open('myfile.tif')

# unravel GDAL affine transform parameters
c, a, b, f, d, e = ds.GetGeoTransform()

def pixel2coord(col, row):
    """Returns global coordinates to pixel center using base-0 raster index"""
    xp = a * col + b * row + a * 0.5 + b * 0.5 + c
    yp = d * col + e * row + d * 0.5 + e * 0.5 + f
    return(xp, yp)
</code>
For example, if there is a pixel at col=10, row=22, then the real-world coordinates to the pixel center are:
<code>>>> pixel2coord(10, 22)
(2780000.0, 6162300.0)
</code>
Something similar can be cooked up for PostGIS with ST_Affine().
Answer: The world file (.tfw) that accompanies a GeoTIFF contains:

pixel size in the x-direction (and y-direction) in map units/pixel and
x-coordinate (and y-coordinate) of the center of the upper left pixel.
This is all you need to calculate position in Lat/Lon of every pixel.
Comment: In addition to what you describe, at a minimum you need to know the coordinate system!  (A world file does not include such information.)
Comment: Also, not every GeoTIFF contains a world file. A [true GeoTIFF](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoTIFF) has the coordinate information stored in the header, not in a separate file. However, the term "GeoTIFF" is often applied to TIFF images with a world file. The point is, there won't always be a TFW.
Answer: This may be a bit archaic:
Convert the pixels to points, add lat and long fields, and populate with lat and long values.


What languages were used during Mass from paleo-Christianty until the Council of Trent?

Question: I know Latin was a vulgarization in attempting to make Mass more accessible to Christians. So which were the languages used in paleo-Christian Mass? Koine Greek, classical Greek, or something else? What other languages were used, up until the Council of Trent.
Comment: When you say "paleochristian" I assume you refer to the church of the first few centuries, but the Council of Trent was in the sixteenth century - much later. (Latin was used as a liturgical language for *many* centuries before Trent.) Which time period are you interested in?
Comment: Vernacular languages really weren't used in the Mass until Vatican II. Latin has been used for the most part since before the council of Nicea.
Comment: Related perhaps? http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/18053/scriptural-reasoning-for-latin-being-the-official-language-of-catholic-mass/18062#18062
Comment: @JamesT paleochristianity i mean the early chrstianity Trent council unify the liturgy so i thing this is the end of many different languages in Mass.
Comment: @CharlesAlsobrook latin was a vernacular languages in the early christianity but i thing is not used before the vulgate. But who knows the liturgy in the paleochrstanty....
Comment: It's likely that the Jerusalem church used Koine and even some Hebrew.  Antioch (and Alexandria?) probably used Koine.  Rome probably used Vulgar Latin, which is what the Romans spoke.  Vulgar Latin likely was liturgically common in Jerome's time, hence his Vulgate, right?
Answer: In the earliest centuries of the Church, there wasn't a pattern of using liturgical languages, as much as trade languages.
In the East, Greek was predominantly used because whereas it was the first language of few people, it was a second language for many people. It's use could symbolize the internationality of the Church, but more practically, it made it possible for as many people as possible to follow along, if not understand every word. Interestingly enough, Greek predominated in Rome itself, because its heavily international population didn't all speak Latin. By contrast, in North Africa, Latin seems to have been the predominant language almost immediately. Outside of Egypt, Latin was the language of international affairs in North Africa because of its extensive colonization and coordination by Roman authorities. This was also the case in Spain, Britain, and non-Mediterranean France, other regions little influenced by the Greeks. When it was evangelized, Ireland experienced the Mass in Latin. (Nickerson, Jane Soames. A Short History of North Africa. New York: The Devin-Adair Co., 1961, p30.)
In the ninth century, permission was given by the Church to translate the Mass and related texts (such as the scripture) into what is now called Old Church Slavonic. At the time, it was a dated but not quite defunct legal and ceremonial language used in Slavic regions, essentially a mother language to the languages they were speaking at the time. The idea was the same - a single liturgical language for a broad swath of country and for many nations, not exactly native to any of them, but not entirely foreign, either. (Korolevsky, Cyril. Living Languages in Catholic Worship: An Historical Inquiry, trans. Donald Attwater. Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1957, p3.)
Additionally, Franciscan missionaries to the Mongols were given permission to translate the liturgical rites and the sacred scripture into their language in the 13th or 14th century, provided that the most noble and poetic version of the language be used. In like manner, Jesuits were given permission to translate the same materials into Chinese (Mandarin, I think) in the 16th-17th century, but because of the cultural climate in Europe at the time, they never actually made use of these permissions.
So long answer shortened: Latin was in use in the early Church but, ironically enough, not in the region of Latin's origin. The Church's primary concern was not exactly just that the Mass should be accessible. She was also concerned that the Mass should be transnational.
If you're wondering, while in the seminary, I wrote a paper on topic of liturgical and vernacular language in pre-Christian and Christian worship. My thesis is that the Church has always wanted both accessibility and transcendence in the worship of a God who transcends and makes himself accessible. (Here's a dropbox link. It doesn't seem like a very good way to share the file, but I don't think there's a place to upload or attach PDFs here: Vernacular and Liturgical Language in the Mass
Answer: What languages were used during Mass from paleo-Christianty until the Council of Trent?
I know that the Tridentine Mass was always said in Latin, but have there ever been exceptions to this rule? I heard that some exceptions were allowed!
If we count the lawful liturgical variants of the Tridentine Mass such as the Dominican Rite and the Carmelite Rite and permission given to some Religious Orders, we able to see that the Holy See has given various indults for the Tridentine Mass to be celebrated in various languages.

Although Latin prevails in the West as a unified liturgical language, in the face of certain circumstances the Roman church has made exceptions to provide a language in the Liturgy more familiar to the people. It is in the ninth century among the Slavic nations that we find a departure from liturgical Latin in divine worship. A privilege was first granted to Sts. Cyril and Methodius, by Pope Hadrian II in 869, and again by Pope John VIII in 880 to use the vernacular (Slavonic) in the Liturgy.
Another example of the flexibility of which the Roman rite is capable is the privilege granted for the use of Chinese as a liturgical language. History records in the fourteenth century that the first Franciscan missionary to China, John of Monte Corvino, used the vernacular in the Liturgy.26 Pope Paul V, in a brief of June 27, 1615, granted the same privilege to Jesuit missionaries. As recently as 1949, the privilege to use the Chinese literary language in the Liturgy was granted by the Holy Office.
Still further concessions have been granted:
a) During the fourteenth century the Roman Liturgy in its Dominican variant was translated into Greek for use by the Dominican missionaries in Greece.
b) Permission had been granted to celebrate the Dominican Liturgy in the Armenian classical language in Armenia.
c) At the end of the sixteenth century missionaries of India of the Latin rite were allowed to celebrate Mass in Syriac.
d) In the seventeenth century the Discalced Carmelites were granted permission to use Arabic in their mission foundation in Persia.
e) In the seventeenth century the Theatine Clerics were granted permission to use Georgian or Armenian in their mission foundation in Georgia.
f) In the nineteenth century the Franciscans in the Holy Land were granted permission to use Arabic.
g) In 1958, an indult was granted India to use Hindi.
h) Five Latin priests in the Holy Land were granted permission to use Hebrew.
i) In 1959, the Holy See renewed Germany's privilege to use the vernacular (German) in the Epistle and Gospel after they are recited in Latin. - Liturgical Languages

Certainly the Apostles said mass in Hebrew and Aramaic. The apostolic times predates the times prior to times that liturgical rites were distinguished from one anther.

The first language of Christian liturgy was Aramaic, the common language of the first Christians, who were Palestinian Jews. While Hebrew was the language of scripture and formal worship, Christian worship occurred in the home where Aramaic was spoken. The words Abba and maranatha are Aramaic.
Christianity quickly spread from Palestine to the rest of the world, and the Eucharist came to be celebrated in many languages, including Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian. In most of the Mediterranean world, the common language was Greek, which became the language of liturgy in that region and remained so until the early third century.
From around the third century B.C., what we call "classical" Latin was the language of the Roman aristocracy and the educated classes. Around the time Jesus was born, during the reign of Augustus Caesar, the language began to change. The Roman aristocracy was destroyed by war and political infighting; when they disappeared, their language went with them. Classical Latin was replaced by a less refined version of the language.
In the third and fourth centuries A.D. this form of Latin began to replace Greek as the common language of the Roman world and soon became the language of the liturgy.
Exactly how this change in the liturgy came about is uncertain. In the early church the liturgy was led extemporaneously by the bishop, according to a pattern. There were written examples of Eucharistic Prayers, but they were models, not prescribed prayers. The last such document in Greek was written around the year 215. By the sixth century, the Roman Canon (which is still in use, also called Eucharistic Prayer I) appears, completely in Latin and prescribed for use exactly as written. - When did we start celebrating Mass in Latin?

Up to the third or fourth century, the mass in Rome was in Greek, not Latin. Some believe that this was strongly influenced by St. Augustine of Hippo.


Is an iOS development license with Unity free?

Question: I'm coding in Unity Personal and I'm going to try to put my game onto the App Store (through the Unity --> XCode --> App Store process). In the past, Unity has charged money to get a iOS license for this. The price was $400 I believe. I've certain articles that say that it has changed, and some that say it still costs money. So, I'm not sure which one is true. Is creating and publishing a commercial game with Unity Personal now free? (meaning that there is no license required). If there is a price, how much is it, and is it a one-time fee or per month/year/game published etc. Thanks! Also, can I legally make money with this game using the Unity Personal?
Comment: When in doubt, always check on Unity's website. It should have the most up to date details
Comment: I'll sift through the website today. I've already looked at lots of stuff there, but I'll keep digging.
Answer: You can use Unity personal tu publish a game on every platform for free but if you start making a revenue up to $100k per year you need to pay an annual plan, which starts at $40 per month.
Here you have all the info for that in their site Info of Unity Plans
On the other hand you should pay a developer license of each platform to publish. Every platform has their own fee, in the case of Apple is $99 per year. Here you can see more info about it Apple dev program


What character creation method did Gary Gygax prefer?

Question: Having recently acquired the AD&D core rulebooks, I would like to soon run an AD&D adventure, and am interested to do so the ''Gygax way'', starting with character creation. For that matter, I would like to know, what were Gygax's known character creation methods and preferences?
Comment: A good clarification: which time in his career? Given that he worked on RPG's for a good long while, he's likely to have varied his opinion on it.
Comment: Do you mean, known character creation methods and preferences apart from those he recommends in the DMG (p. 11)?
Comment: Yes. More specifically, I am looking for what methods he personally preferred to use, be they in the books or not.
Comment: I hadn't thought of that. If possible, an overview of his various evolving opinions would be best. But if it would have to be just one period only, I would say during the years that followed the release of AD&D.
Answer: Gygax could be very cagey about questions like this and would give answers such as this one.
But my impression of reading his comments, and sometimes communicating with him directly was that he didn't really stick to any one method and let players choose how to generate characters from the options listed in DMG and others he deemed "not cheating".
Both he and Frank Mentzer often said that ability scores neither saved stupid players (if high) nor damned clever ones (if not).
Generally speaking, Gygax made very little reference to the RAW when actually running a game from the reports I've seen.


97 thunderbird brakes

Question: Recently purchased a 97 t bird and brakes went to floor but had the front drivers side lock up under a emergency stop. I add fluid but see no leaks so it's got to be going somewhere but was thinking brake booster or master cylinder. I read that when a booster goes bad it's the opposite, the pedal is hard to press. And recommendations?
Comment: Does the steering wheel pull to one side when you break? Also you said you add fluid, is the fluid going down or did you just add it once?
Answer: If you do not have ABS Brakes, the brakes will lock up when you make an unexpected sharp stop. But it sounds like there is not enough pressure (or vacuum) being made. Since the brakes go to the floor when making a stop and you know that there is not fluid leaking, that means that either the problem is the master cylinder, or the power brake booster. The brake booster uses vacuum pressure to amplify the pressure put on the brakes. If the booster is bad, than the full amount of force to needed to activate the master cylinder and pressurize the brake fluid will not be there. Hope this helps
Answer: POWER BRAKE BOOSTER- with out a doubt.  You just might have a hole in the Diaphragm of the Power Brake Booster. Turn the car on and press the brake pedal down to the floor and hold it--- if it goes to floor within 15 seconds or less--, and if you hear a HAUGHT sound when releasing the pedal,-- it's a good chance you need a Brake Booster.  When one of your brakes lock up you can temporarily release the stuck caliper / Brake by loosening / Bleeding the brake fluid line that leads to that particular wheel.  You can loosen the Bleeder valve on the Brake Caliper or Brake Piston (on older vehicles) to allow the Caliper or Brake Piston to open and release.  You may hear a slight clicking noise when doing this; it is the sound of the piston moving away from the rotor.  Just wait till it stops clicking or at least 15 seconds and close the Bleeder valve.  You should be able to turn the wheel now. You can also loosen the line-nut, located on the Fluid Compression Box.  Just look for a box under the hood that looks like it has spider legs (tubing), one of the lines attached to this box is also connected directly to your specific wheel so you can actually do this from under the hood.  Just crack the fluid line-nut and let it purge for about 15 seconds and close the line.  Check your Brake Fluid / top it off and That's it but don't bother with topping off the fluid until you've replaced the Power Brake Booster First !!

97 thunderbird brakes


Is there a notion of exploration-exploitation tradeoff in dynamic programming (or model-based RL)?

Question: Is there a notion of exploration-exploitation tradeoff in dynamic programming (or model-based RL)?
Comment: Given that this is a one-line question, which may be fine, it may be a good idea to explain why you're asking this question or wondering this.
Comment: Not in dynamic programming no. If you have an unknown model then yes. The issue of RL is basically that you don't know the model.
Answer: I think there is an implicit notion of it in dynamic programming; say, if you have to make some sort of search over a subset of a state space and you are deciding whether to use BFS, breath first search, or DFS, depth first search, you are at least implicitly thinking on the best way to explore/exploit the state space.
As for model based RL, yes. There is explicit algorithms that mediate exploration and exploitation. One of them is UCB, uper confidence bound. One of the best examples of a model based reinforcement learning algorithm is AlphaGo. The algorithm uses a variation of UCB to explore the state space.


Does Samsung galaxy tab pro 10.1 support exFAT on the SD card?

Question: Does this tablet support exFAT file system on micro SD card? Can this tablet recognize micro SD card formatted with exFAT file system?
Answer: Yes, as indicated on the user manual. I'm currently using a Sandisk Class 4 32GB formatted with exFAT, works just fine. Stock ROM, unrooted.
Answer: Just format everything to FAT32.
Your mobile,flashdrive and PS4 all just format to FAT32.
Format everything to FAT32 the best.
For example:You use FAT32 files from PS4 to FAT32 flashdrive(5GB),then you transfer the files in your flashdrive to my mobile(ExFat and FAT32) driver.
The transfer will be exactly 5GB,because FAT32 and FAT32 has no side effect of expansion of files.
Beside,adding FAT32 to your mobile is very cheap.
Just pay $1 to $2 and you will have no issue in the future.
It is very likely that Samsung Tablet use EXFAT,because it exceed 32GB in it's memory slot.
I am refering to Memory card.
To prevent expansion of files,I add FAT32 to my Samsung Tab.
Beside,it is so cheap.
Pay less than $2 and you can forgot about all worries.
Let say one day........
You tranfer 5GB of files to your flashdrive and then transfer it into your mobile,which is EXFAT.
But,the EXFAT expand your files to 10+GB.
When you tranfer the files to your flashdrive and then transfer it to your PS4,you can't save all the data to your PS4.
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/hardware-clinic-2/exfat-take-up-more-space-than-fat32-4746802.html
Just set everything to the same format and if it is less than $2.
Just buy the add on.
In the future,you don't need to worry which porn video in your mobile must you delete.You don't need to delete some of your PS4 games to make space for your data.
Comment: What has a PS4 got to do with anything? And where do you get this idea about paying $2?


would it be legal for a company to rate clients, and customers exprience share the info with other companies

Question: I'm considering in regards to freedom of expression, is it permitted for a company to reveal a persons dept for a service provider, is it contrary to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), I know that Uber and AirBnb are rating their customers, my question is is it legal to share the customer experience and their payment with other service providers, or can they claim lawsuits as a violation of privacy or what.
Answer: If the company is a "debt collector", then it may not be legal. 15 USC 1692c(b) states that without the consumer's direct consent (or other probably irrelevant conditions)

a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the
  collection of any debt, with any person other than the consumer, his
  attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law,
  the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the
  debt collector.

except that there are legals ways to ask where the consumer is. Then one must determine if the company is a "debt collector", which is defined in 15 USC 1692a(6). If the company is collecting on behalf of someone else, they are a debt collector. This would also include a creditor who uses a

name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is
  collecting or attempting to collect such debts

so for instance if Jones owes money to Acme Anvils and Acme Anvils attempts to collect on that debt, using the name Acme Anvils, they are not a debt collector (they are a creditor). Subparagraph (A) specifically excludes

any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the
  creditor, collecting debts for such creditor

and there are other exclusions. That said, my understanding is that California has a version of the law that applies to original creditors as well. These laws pertain just to debt collection, and do not limit any First Amendment rights to expression of opinion or true fact (that is, the company can't defame a customer).
Comment: thanks very well explained, just what will be considered a right of expression vs defame a customer, the plan is to build a database with customer ratings.


How to use Adobe fonts

Question: I stumbled onto several folder named "Adobe" in TeXLive distribution, and it seemed like they are ready to be used. So, is there a way to use Adobe fonts in pdftex,like adobe symbol font for math and adobe times for text?
Answer: If you say
\usepackage{mathptmx}

you'll be using Times and Symbol (plus some characters from other fonts).
However the standard set up uses URW clones of the fonts that are freely usable. If you don't want them, then use the following code:
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\pdfmapline{=ptmb8r Times-Bold 262178 " TeXBase1Encoding ReEncodeFont " <8r.enc}
\pdfmapline{=ptmbi8r Times-BoldItalic 262242 " TeXBase1Encoding ReEncodeFont " <8r.enc}
\pdfmapline{=ptmr8r Times-Roman 34 " TeXBase1Encoding ReEncodeFont " <8r.enc}
\pdfmapline{=ptmri8r Times-Italic 98 " TeXBase1Encoding ReEncodeFont " <8r.enc}
\pdfmapline{=psyr Symbol 4}

This will use the default Times and Symbol font coming with the PDF previewer or the printer. But, as Taco suggests, this may happen or not depending on arcane astral conjunctions.
Better to stick with the default setting and let pdflatex (partially) embed the fonts in the PDF file.
Comment: you should add an 'if you are lucky' to that last statement. These days, Adobe insists that you should include all fonts inside PDF documents, also previously predefined ones like Times-Roman. Failure to include all fonts may mean they end up being replaced by the multiple master fallback in Acroread, or producing errors/missing glyphs during printing.
Answer: Have a look at the document of psnfss. There are several font packages that support Adobe PostScript fonts:

mathptmx, Times and math and some others.
mathpazo, Palatino and math and some others.
helvet, Helvetica.
pifont, Zapf Dingbats.

And fourier, fouriernc and so on, for other PostScript fonts. See also:
http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/

How to use Adobe fonts


What happens to the singularities of two black holes in the moment they merger?

Question: Let's assume the merger of a binary black hole and consider especially the moment of the transition from the last stable orbit to the merger, i.e. the transition where two black holes form one black hole and thus two singularities one. Here I'm not sure if it makes any difference if we discuss mathematical black holes (i) or physical black holes (ii) (physical in the sense that the mass is not contained in a point and hence the break down of GR is avoided). While in (i) the singularities which contain the masses are a point in time instead in (ii) the masses are part of the manifolds (this is just my guess I can be wrong). Are in the latter case the two masses at two different "locations" before and instantaneously(?) at one location after the merger? In general how would you describe and eventually distinguish these two cases?
Comment: Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/535112/226902 https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/649035/226902 https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/277073/226902
Answer:
in (ii) [physical black holes] the masses are part of the manifolds (this is just my guess I can be wrong)

Yep, you were wrong :-). In any black hole, we can't really localize the mass. The difference between a Schwarzschild black hole and an astrophysical one is that a Schwarzschild black hole has always existed. It didn't form by gravitational collapse.

While in (i) [a Schwarzschild black hole] the singularities which contain the masses are a point in time

The singularity is spacelike in both cases (which makes it similar to a spacelike surface, which is similar to a point in time).

In general how would you describe and eventually distinguish these two cases?

Basically there is no interesting distinction between the two cases with respect to a black hole merger. An astrophysical black hole differs from a Schwarzschild black hole in the past, when they formed. The merger happens after they have already formed.
Comment: thanks for your answer. There seems to be a misunderstanding though. I didn't talk about astrophysical black holes whose singularities once the event horizon has been formed are indistinguishable form Schwarzschild black holes, they are a point in time and not a part of the manifold. Instead I mentioned "physical black holes". I've seen this designation somewhere but have to search for it.
Comment: In contrast to an astrophysical black hole the physical black hole (which is formed by gravitational collapse also)  avoids the break down of GR (nobody knows how, it concerns quantum gravity). My notion is that then the mass is contained in a volume of planck scale and part of the manifold.
Comment: kindly let know if  there "is no interesting distinction between the two cases" if the black holes contain mass thereby avoiding the singularity as most physicists think? This was my question.


Video rendering time is measured in man-hours. How is that calculated?

Question: I know that man-hours are used as a unit to measure time in things like modelling and other work actually done by people, but I also hear man-hours used to refer to graphics rendering time.  How is that measured?  If a video takes 200 man-hours to render, for example, what is that measured against?  Obviously a person could not be expected to perform the mathematics necessary for rendering an image, but all definitions of 'man-hours' that I've been able to find refer to expected output of a human worker in an hour.  How is that measured for things like video rendering which simply can't be done by a human?
Answer: I've never heard that term used for rendering before, but it is most likely referring to the number of hours of computation needed for a single CPU or GPU to process it.  In most video and 3d applications, it is possible to parallelize the rendering of the video itself (though not necessarily the encoding.
Thus, a job that would take 200 "man hours" (more often called CPU hours when I've heard it used) would only take 20 hours if you had 10 CPUs working on it.
Comment: CPU hours is metric.  Man hours is imperial.  ;)


What C++ containers should I use for my UI elements?

Question: I am writing some UI stuff for my games in C++. Basically its a very common problem, but I dont know the best answer yet. Suppose inside my UI Library I have a view class which renders 2D/3D scene. This view can contain many subviews. I needs a container which allows me to iterate over these views fast and also insert/delete subviews. I am not sure which container is best for the job - list, vector or something else?
Comment: This is more suited to SO.
Comment: @The Communist Duck - Yes, I thought of putting this question to StackOverflow rather then here, but I made this choice as I might get some feedback based on my particular case of games. Choosing containers always depends on what kind of thing you are trying to achieve. In case of games, I thought I might get a better answer considering a GUI views might be heavy as they contain texture data etc, I believe person answering my question would make this assumption and answer me accordingly.
Answer: Chances are you'll be iterating over your collection a lot more than inserting/deleting screens, so vector is probably the best choice.  Sure, inserting and removing things from the middle of vectors is "slow" if you just look at "Big O", but in practice it's actually really fast simply because your elements are contiguous in memory.  It's highly unlikely that you have so many screens that it becomes an issue.
Then again if you ask me I'll say never use list unless there's a really, really good reason to and benchmarks show that it's faster for that particular use case.
I'll point to my answer in the when should vector/list be used question to go into more detail.
Also, if you end up using map, make sure your keys are something that's fast to compare (i.e. not strings).  If you must use string keys, use a hash map like unordered_map.
Comment: @3nixios: On the other hand adding elements to a std::list is also slow because each new element will generally trigger a new allocation, and the cost of allocation will totally dominate the cost of a copy for reasonable sizes and PODs. Really, it's all in the question Tetrad linked
Comment: The `vector` class also becomes slow when resizing (adding more elements than max_size), because the max-size is changed and everything is copied to a new address in memory. You can `reserve` more memory though, if you know you will have a certain amount of elements in you GUI, in which case you have the advantages of a normal array.
Answer: Vector is a great choice- very fast iteration. You'd need an extremely high amount of Scenes to make inserting one, even at the beginning, to be slow for a vector. This is especially true if you're storing pointers rather than values.
Answer: List is probably a good choice here. A linked list is fast to delete and insert elements into the middle, the front, and the end. You can iterate over it, but you cannot do random access (i.e. myList[3] for the 4th element).
Arrays could be good if you have a fixed number of GUI subviews.
Vector is less of a good choice. It's implemented as a resizable array, so deletion/insertion anyway except the back of the vector requires shifting the elements along. You can iterate over it just as easily, and you have random access if you need it. For a GUI, I doubt you will.
The other option is Map. This is almost certainly not a good idea unless you need to store them by keys.


How does the Bitcoin block propagation process recover when false positive happens?

Question: I have read articles about how Invertible Bloom Filters (IBLT) work and I have some basic knowledge how Bitcoin works for block propagation using IBLT. But since IBLT would introduce false positive, participants in the network would have a chance in unsuccessful in receiving all differences between two IBLTs. So I am wondering how Bitcoin solve this problem to recover all blocks?
Answer: The purpose of IBLT-based block transfer mechanism is reducing bandwidth (how much data is sent in total) and latency (how long it takes to transfer the block), and depending on which has the priority there are different solutions.
If latency is of no concern at all, you would simply send a block header together with a list of (truncated) txids, and the peer would reply with "i'm missing transactions 3, 7, 112, and 234", followed by just sending those transactions. Such a solution would require several round trips: first sending the txids, the peer requesting the ones he is missing, and us sending the transactions.
If latency is a concern however, that's still just 3 steps, but each of those steps may be in the order of half a second or more, depending on how far away you are. If your network connection is over 10 Mbit/s, you could just transmit the entire block in the extra time wasted by the roundtrips.
So this is where IBLT and other efficient block propagation protocols come in: they try to construct a single packet that gives enough information for the peer to reconstruct the block, but without sending the full block. Occasionally that attempt will fail, false positives will occur, and the reconstruction will fail (as the block hash doesn't match what was claimed). In that case we just fall back to the naive version: go request the transactions you're missing, and incur the associated extra latency.


PowerPivot Data Refresh

Question: We have a user who had configured powerpivot data refresh jobs with his account. So, when he changed his password, his domain user account is getting blocked because of many wrong log-in try. Can I use management shell to display all power pivot data refresh jobs using his account credentials? Or what can I do with this issue?
Answer: How PowerPivot refresh configured?  Was it setup with Secure Store? I doubt it but if so you will need to change the SSS credential in CA.  Otherwise I would inspect the settings of the data connection PowerPivot is using.
Comment: PowerPivot was not configured with SecureStore. When uploading excel documents, user configured with his credentials. So now I need to find all PowerPivot documents to change credentials  and there are so many documents. I don't want to check one by one.
Comment: Ok, I see.  If all the files are in a couple of libraries you could download the list to Excel and filter the data to generate a list of files the user created but as far as automatically changing the password or the account used for data refreshes I do not know of a way to accomplish your goal programmatically.
Comment: There are so many documents in so many libraries uploaded by the user. Checking eachy library and each document for the user will have very much time. I was hoping to find a powershell cmdlet to iterate all documents which is using users credentials.

PowerPivot Data Refresh


How to get patent family information?

Question: Where can I get patent family information? I know there are several paid/subscription tools which can retrieve the information. However, is there a way to get the information using common/free database?
Answer: Yes.  The Lens is a public good, non-profit and global facility that provides comprehensive family information, including analytics at no cost, and with no advertising, and no compromising of the security and privacy of any user.
It has done so - as Patent Lens - for over 15 years.
Here is an example from one of my patents.
This type of query is available for all ~95M patent documents in the Lens, and results can be collected, annotated, shared and embedded.
Hope you like it.

How to get patent family information?


Rendered model is broken

Question: So I was finishing my model and I spotted this deformation.
I have bevel modifier applied, but turning it off doesn't fix it.
It also appears in rendered image
Comment: The problem is that likely you used booleans to cut the holes instead of modeling and you ended up with large ngons. Having large n-gons with non planar geometry will create creases  like the ones you are experiencing. Ngons are problematic and is a good practice trying to avoid them. [Watch this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc52fcrHvAA) that shows many ways to do holes and keeping proper quad topology.
Comment: You could try setting the shading on you object to smooth, and then using an edge split modifier or using the Auto-Smooth normals option in the object data tab of the properties panel. This will shade areas that are mostly or completely flat as completely smooth, and should get rid of some of the visible edges.
Answer: The issue seems to happen because you have an n-gonal surface (the side of the sword has more than 4 edges). Usually, when renderers encounter faces that have more than three or four edges, they get confused.
To fix this, try to select the face and 'triangulate' (ControlT) it. This will split the faces into triangles, making the shape less ambiguous for the renderer.
If this doesn't work, you'll have to manually cut it up with the knife tool (K) until only quads and triangles remain. If you do this, try to make a uniform pattern (don't just cut randomly).
Comment: I tried the triangulate - didn't work, it was horrible. And than i did it with the knife tool, but i could still see the cuts, which i don't get why, because the circles were projected onto the big plane, so they all should be in a row - no edges

Rendered model is broken


How can I mention/tag any user in a post?

Question: Is there a way to mention/tag a user in a question or answer?
Answer: If you just want to mention a user in your question, you should link to their profile.
If you're trying to get a specific user to answer your question, that's not a feature of Stack Overflow.  Ask the question of the whole community.  If the person is an expert in the technology you're asking about (and an active SO visitor), they probably follow the tag and will find your question.  It's entirely up to them whether they answer or not.

@midopa commented:

I'd like to use mentions to give credit to others' suggestions to my answers. Having to get/make a link to their profile and add it as an explicit link in my response makes it tedious.

If you only want to mention/credit someone in a post without notification, then yes, it would be nice to just @mention them. The problem is that display names on Stack Overflow are not unique, as they are on many social media platforms. I'd have to go to your profile to get your unique user ID anyway, so at that point I might as well just make a link.
Comment: I'd like to use mentions to give credit to others' suggestions to my answers. Having to get/make a link to their profile and add it as an explicit link in my response makes it tedious.
Comment: @Sunil Stack Overflow isn't for ono-on-one tutoring.
Comment: If you're trying to get a specific user to answer your question, that's not a feature of Stack Overflow. --- this is the required feature.
Comment: @FäridAlijani I strongly disagree. It is entirely reasonable that members cannot be tagged from questions or answers that they have not participated in. Adding such a feature would almost certainly drive a large number of the remaining experts away from the network.
Comment: in 2020, that does not seem reasonable for stackoverflow to exclude such an important feature after all!
Comment: @Demis I'm sure it seems reasonable to tag someone for one question. Now multiply that by the 60,000 matplotlib questions on SO. They still aren't going to see your question through the noise of all their notifications. These would just be quickly ignored by everybody.
Comment: That feature can simply be added to the privacy settings as "don't let others tag me or my answers" in each individual's profile
Comment: Alternatively/additionally, SE's settings could be such that a user may be tagged in only those threads in which he's contributed.  Presumably, a user is interested in those threads.

All told, there are other reasons to have this feature besides getting one-on-one help.
Comment: After months of having a question posted, I know the package developer will probably have a good suggestion.  I only know this developer through his SE answers, so it seems reasonable to @mention the user(s) you think might be able to answer the question.  Here is an example: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66805192/matplotlib-make-objects-ignored-by-axis-autoscaling
Comment: My situation is that I would like to send a notification to the author of a certain software, either because he probably can answer or at least might be interested in the kind of problem people have with his software, and how they workaround them.
Comment: @doplano It is not at all an "important feature". It is exactly the opposite of how the site is explicitly designed to work. Stack Exchange sites **are not** for trying to find someone to help you on an individualized basis. They are for building searchable, high-quality reference libraries. Questions that you post here are **not about you**. Please read the [tour] for each site for details. If you want that sort of functionality, there are **countless** other places on the Internet that you can get it. Stack Overflow should feel no responsibility to work that way, just as Wikipedia doesn't.
Answer: If you want the attention of a specific member, you can look for them in the chat - you can see the active users list in the following links: (more about the reasoning behind the separation to three chat domains can be found in Why is Stack Overflow on its own chat network?).

Stack Overflow chat users list
Meta Stack Exchange chat users list
All other sites chat users list

Another option is to check their profile page; many have websites and even email addresses mentioned there, so use that to contact them.
Answer: If I understand this correctly, then what you are looking for is to ask/invite some specific users to check your question and answer them.
You will not be able to do that in your question. Such feature is not available in SE sites.
however there is a kind of work-around to get the user's attention to your question. i.e. You can add a comment to your question using <code>@<username></code> which will send an alert/notification to that particular user.
Comment: AFAIK, @user will only work if they are explicitly active in the ongoing communications (i.e. participating in comments.) So, the answer is yes, or no, depending.
Comment: Yes, @MrDisappointment is correct. @replies will only work if that user has previously participated in the discussion, or under certain other well-defined circumstances. All of the information is available [here in the FAQ](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/43019/how-do-comment-replies-work).
Comment: @Cody Gray, @Mr. Disappointment - Thanks for making me aware of this. I was not aware of this till now. Modifying my answer to say, there is no way to tag/invite specific users for question.
Comment: @Mr. Disappointment - I will just try to send you some alert from some other post in which you have not participated. Pls confirm if you get the alert.
Comment: That's not necessary - someone will know authoritatively and provide the details, I'm sure. Just be patient.
Comment: Thanks for clarifying whether the @user notation has machine functionality or was just convention.  It's nice to know what it does and doesn't do -- is this documented anywhere?
Comment: What about @AuthorOfTheAnswer? Would that work?


Removing additional spacing in Outlook 2007

Question: I have seen this question asked and answered dozens of times, however I have never found a solution. I am using Outlook 2007 and when I send an HTML message and CC myself, when I view the copy of the message in my Inbox, there are two spaces (line breaks) where there should be one.
The problem has to do with the way "something" interprets and parses what looked like line breaks when I compose the email but which are really paragraph tags (upon closer inspection). I realize that I could use Shift + Enter instead of Enter and the spacing will be as intended. It's just that Spacing Before and Spacing After paragraphs has been set to 0pt in NormalEmail.dotm. Something seems to be overriding this setting. I haven't tried setting up a Stationery Theme to see if those settings would stick better, because I was looking for a simpler solution. Any ideas?
Answer: BTW, when I save the NormalEmail.dotm, I can get most of the settings to save, but not the "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style". I checked that box then saved the .dotm file, but when I created an email and looked at the settings, the box was still unchecked.
I accidentally stumbled upon one way to fix my problem though. In the Mail Format options of Outlook, if I uncheck the box "Reduce the file size of the message by removing formatting information that is not necessary to display the e-mail message" the issue of extra spacing no longer occurs. If anyone else runs into this same problem you can try that.
If not, a surefire way to correct the additional spacing caused by the interpretation/settings of paragraph tags is to use a program and script to "automatically remap the Enter key to Shift+Enter whenever you are composing HTML emails in Outlook" such as described here:
http://www.fix-outlook-line-breaks.com/


Unpair apple remote from Apple TV

Question: I want to un-pair the silver remote that came with the Apple TV (3rd Gen) so that I can use it exclusively with my Macbook Pro. Is there a way to do that? Please help.
Note: I have tried using those instructions from Apple, but the Apple TV remote still continues to control the Apple TV.
Answer: Pair is actually a bit of a misnomer.   Unpaired remotes will still control the device.   Pairing only changes the receiver so that it just looks for the paired remote.  In "un -Paired" any remote can control the device.
If you have multiple devices that you do not want to interfere with each other pair them to their own remotes and they will not interfere.   If one device is left unpaired it will still follow signals from other remote.
Comment: I have the Apple TV paired to a 3rd Party remote. I want to use the Apple remote just for my Macbook Pro. But it still wants to control the Apple TV, even after I unpaired it.
Answer: From http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1555

To unpair your Apple TV from a remote
You can use any Apple Remote to unpair Apple TV from a remote. Note: If you lose the Apple Remote that you paired with Apple TV, a replacement remote will not work until you unpair Apple TV from the lost remote.
Press and hold the Menu and Previous/Rewind buttons on a white Apple Remote for 6 seconds, or the Menu and Left buttons on an aluminum Apple Remote for 6 seconds.
You can also use these steps:

Choose Settings > General > Remotes from the Apple TV main menu.

Choose Unpair Apple Remote.

When you've successfully unpaired a remote, Apple TV displays a broken chainlink symbol () above a picture of a remote. You can now pair Apple TV with a different remote.
Comment: I have tried using those instructions from Apple, but the Apple TV remote still continues to control the Apple TV.

Unpair apple remote from Apple TV


No electric motors can handle being stalled for even short periods of time, even at low power. Is this statement true in all cases?

Question: We were using a regular POLOLU d.c motor whose stall current is 0.36A. We want to use this motor in a robotic hand where the motor will be stalled while holding the object. We are limiting the current at 0.11A because according to datasheet at this current we get the maximum efficiency. Is it safe to do this? I mean stalling it at low currents? If not what can we do to tackle this situation?
Answer: Electric motors designed for stall torque can handle stall torque just fine. One giveaway sign of high stall torque motors is forced cooling (cooling with a powered fan and not just a fan mounted passively on the axis of the motor). One of the issued with stalling motors is heat, as the stopped rotor does not facilitate and airflow and the winding are more prone to overheating.
If your motors stall but the maximum specified stall current is not exceeded you will not damage the motor. Please take care as some motors specify more then one maximum stall current, larger ones (if there are more) can only be applied for a limited amount of time.
Efficiency is not directly related to the stall torque, it is safe to apply the maximum continuous stall torque current to the motor for a prolonged time without any damage.
Comment: You can set it to 100% of the stall torque, if the stall torque specified in the motor datasheet does not mention any time limitations.
Comment: That means I can safely stall a motor at lower current, probably 50% of the maximum stall current. I am planning to do it by using a current limiting motor driver. I will set it to 50% of the total maximum stall current allowed for this d.c motor.
Comment: Hey I was wondering, what happens if the motor is backdriven?
Comment: Goes into generator mode, most probably...
Answer: Efficiency is power output divided by power input. Electrical power, your input, is
$$
P = IV \\
$$
Mechanical power, your output, is
$$
P = Fv \\
$$
or
$$
P = \tau \omega \\
$$
that is, force times speed or torque times angular speed. If you are stalled, then your speed is zero. If your speed is zero then your power is zero and your efficiency is zero.
As 50k4 said, you can do whatever the datasheet says you can do. The keyword to look for is continuous. That's what you should be able to safely do, forever, without risk of damage.


What is the difference between "good" designers and "great" designers?

Question: While reading this wikipedia article, Brookes has told that there is a difference between "good" designers and "great" designers.  What is the difference between them? How can I decide if a designer is good or great?
Comment: A good question would include a key piece of informaton in a tag. A great question would include it in the title.
Comment: Isn't this a *completely* subjective question? Basically a survey question, since everyone will have their own particular idea of which particular traits are unique to the "great". After all "great designers do better design work than good designers" would make a pretty dull answer.
Comment: I guess it's meeting expectations versus far exceeding expectations
Answer: A good designer can design for simplicity or flexibility or efficiency or robustness.  A great designer has a deep understanding of the tradeoffs involved and can effectively balance all of these and come up with a solution that satisfies all of them reasonably well.
Comment: A great designer acknowledges that all design will have flaws. You can't be everything to everyone. But, a great designer would openly acknowledge these flaws and justify why they made those trade offs to come up with the ideal solution.
Comment: I would say any *competent* designer must do the same. A designer who cannot cope with trade-offs or refuses to acknowledge flaws in the design is a bad and incompetent designer, *not* a good one.
Answer: A great designer catches the intent of what I want to accomplish and improves on it to my delight. A good designer follows a specification to the letter, but creativity shows in how they did that.
A bad designer is, well, none of the above.
I think 'exceptional' is always in the eye of the client, and the people they hope to reach.
Other things come into play in the 'great' category, such as someone who can articulate why my 'vision' of something might be skewed. I guess it boils down, mostly to how much ownership someone takes in any given project, given a group of people with similar skills.
Great, is also, entirely subjective.
Answer: I'm going to assume you're talking about Software Design as opposed to the narrower Ux design.
I'll quote a semi-famous passage from Alan Perlis:
"Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it."
One aspect of a Great designer is that they reduce complexity.
Answer: After The Mythical Man Month came out, Fred Brooks released another collection of essays under the title The Design of Design. There's a lot of information in this book about how to design, the design process and methodologies, what makes a good design, methods of collaboration in designing. There are also case studies that range from designing a beach hours to the IBM Operating System/360.
A few passages stand out as being especially relevant to your question:

A chief service of a designer is helping clients discover what they want designed.

There's also an entire essay devoted to where great designers come from. This mentions teaching design in addition to performing prescribed experiments or tasks, co-op programs to provide real-world, practical experience as part of education, managing them to prevent distractions or managers who do things that stifle creativity, and continued study of things considered to be good designs or good practice.

As @Caleb notes in the comments, The Design of Design was published in 2010. No Silver Bullet was written in 1986, and The Mythical Man Month was published in 1975, updated in 1982, and republished with extra essays in 1995 (which is when the No Silver Bullet and commentary on it was added to the book). So there is almost a quarter century between the essay you are referring to and the release of the book that contains the essays that I'm citing.
It should also be noted that The Design of Design, as far as I can tell, doesn't identify the date of writing of any of the individual essays, although some do cite works as late as 2008 and 2009 as resources/references. I'd have to do further research to find out when "What's Wrong With This Model?" and "Where Do Great Designers Come From?" were written.
Comment: +1, but I think it's important to say that *The Design of Design* was published **35 years** after *The Mythical Man-Month* and 23 years after *No Silver Bullet*. A careful reader will allow for some evolution and not apply statements from TDoD directly to NSB.
Comment: @Caleb I will add that note, but The Design of Design is a collection of essays. I didn't see a publication date (or any indication of the date that they were first written) for the essays that I'm explicitly referring to.
Answer: A good designer creates something that does the job well. A great designer also makes the user say "wow!!!".
A good designer knows the established standards, and applies them well. A great designer goes beyond that and creates new solutions that become new standards.
Answer: If you want to know what Fred Brooks was saying in No Silver Bullet you should read the paper itself and not a Wikipedia article about the paper. Brooks isn't specific as to the the precise difference but he nevertheless makes it clear that the distinction will be pretty easy to spot:

The differences are not minor--they are rather like the differences
  between Salieri and Mozart. Study after study shows that the very best
  designers produce structures that are faster, smaller, simpler,
  cleaner, and produced with less effort... The differences between
  the great and the average approach an order of magnitude.
Answer: Depends on what kind of design. For web page designers a good designer can make something that looks good but a great designer can make something that looks good and works well (ie intuitive and easy to use).
Answer: A good designer writes code that works.
A great designer writes code that good designers borrow.
Answer: Great designers can make 2 + 2 = 5. They change the art of the possible.


Prosciutto and Cantaloupe

Question: Here's a pic of an appetizer I'd like to replicate. Can you tell me how to slice the prosciutto and cantaloupe and plate it? Thanks
Comment: @SteveChambers when you are replying to the question posted, please do it in an answer. Comments are for requesting clarification.
Comment: Personal advice beside aesthetic consideration. Sliced melon tend to be less "pulpy" and more rigid in mouth.  Overall it seems to taste less as compared to tick wedges. I did indulge on plating of that sort but stopped because it is not worth of.
Answer: Normally, your deli/charcuterie store will slice the prosciutto for you, either manually or with a meat slicer (more often).
The melon, is thinly sliced manually, just pick a ripe melon, halve it and slice it up and remove the rind.
Depending on the thickness of the slices, you will be able to make fancy folds like in the picture, or maybe not, then you will just have nice slices.
Melon and Prosciutto is a simple dish where ingredients is more important than presentation.
i personally, just slice the melon in wedges and drape the ham over it, or roll the ham around pieces of melon.
Comment: I agree, but that plate is very pretty

Prosciutto and Cantaloupe


How to add facebook like/share button to every new text I post?

Question: I would like to add facebook like/share button to every new post on news site without doing it manually every single time I post new text. Similar question has already been answered, but I wonder if there is solution that doesn't include much code intervention, for example, is it possible to do it just with Facebook Like Button Module or something alike. Thanks in advance.
Answer: Hope this will help you,
You can achieve this with two module views and facebook
after enabling both module go to the structure tab of drupal,click on this
put Fcaebook application Id here:

You can create application id from this link
on reference to ur facebook account.
Than inside Facebook social go to "Presets"
click on add
fill up this form

for like button put only the name and select radio button of "facebook like button plugin" and select your content type,
save the form,
Go to view to create a new view,
Select respective field of your node and below that select the "Node:Facebook Social plugin", on settings of this field put your preset name as below

Finally you will get the face book like button on every row of your view.
Comment: thanks. I will try, if I'll have no luck with fb like button module.
Answer: It sound as if like you're looking for the Facebook Like Button module.
From the project page:

Rather than having to manually copy/paste the Like this on Facebook code for each piece of content you (or your users) create, this module will automatically add that code to the end of each chosen node type. You are able to add a Like button which likes a given URL (static, e.g. your homepage) or/and put a dynamic Like button on your page to like the page you are actually visiting.

(Btw: It looks like you're mentioning this module in your question. If you have a problem with using this module, you need to spell out what the problem is.)
Comment: Like buttons doesn't appear in full node view, only in teasers, although both options are chosen in module configuration.
Comment: @natttan, all I can say is that is works as expected on my site (both for teasers and full node view). You need to configure permissions for non-admin to see the button (People/Permissions - Access FB Like button), but that works equal for both teasers and full view. I put the button in the "Content area" for both. Rest of settings are the default. Tested with Firefox, Chrome and MSIE. Tested on a clean install of Drupal 7.28.


Is there any Operations Research group in Clubhouse?

Question: Since the introduction of the Clubhouse app, there are several groups on different topics and people can talk about specific topics in different fields. Is there any group related to "Operations Research" in Clubhouse?
I would be thankful if well-known researchers and scholars in the forum can make a group In CH.
Comment: The question title should be edited to say "Operations Research group", which I just did. Other than that, this seems to be a legitimate question to me. I know some very technical people have done interviews relating to Machine Learning and similar in Clubhouse, so the question doesn't seem off the wall. Disclaimer: I don't have the app myself, and have never listened to any Clubhouse event.
Comment: Clubhouse is only available for iPhone and promotes a very exclusive (in contrast to inclusive) user base/community. IMO, this is not the way to go. Just my 2 cents.
Comment: Would definitely be interested in joining a group like this in case someone is starting one. Preferably a group of OR practitioners rather than a group of academics.
Answer: Not sure about operations research but there is a club called stackexchange in clubhouse. Do join and you can start a topic of your own.
https://www.clubhouse.com/join/stackexchange/FrzrVmPK


Calculating load on planetary gear from driving torque

Question: I am very new to gears I am fairly confused about planetary gears. I want to know the load on the gears contact point between the sun and the planets and the planets and the ring, assuming the ring not moving. Given I have the solid works file ,the pressure angle, and the gear ratios, I can easily calculate the distances, teeth numbers, etc. I also know the initial driving torque of the sun gear.
So, my question is, utilizing the solid works file and the driving sun gear torque how do I calculate the load on the contact point for each of the gears? Is there a general equation I can use without knowing the power and the rpm?
Thank You
Answer: Calculating forces on teeth
While determining the forces acting on the teeth of each of the gears requires using Newton's 2nd Law, the calculation of these forces is surprisingly involved. This is because it is important to find the locations on the teeth where these forces act, and the directions of the forces: it is important to analyse the geometry of gears.
Almost always in industry will gears be involute (with the notable exception of gears in clockmaking), and this indeed appears to be the case of the gears in your images. Involute gears have teeth whose shape are based on the involute curve, as shown in Fig. 1:

Fig. 1: Close-up of a typical involute gear's tooth.
The involute curve is displayed in cyan, and defines the shape of the part of the tooth that is designed to make contact with the teeth of the mating gear. It is this involute profile that is responsible for the smooth transmission of power from one gear to the next, and is the location of the force that one gear tooth exerts on another. For gears with sufficiently many teeth, the involute profile of the tooth starts at the base circle of the gear, shown in magenta in Fig. 1, and extends to the tips of the teeth. The involute curve can be expressed as a parametric equation with parameter $t\ge0$:
$$
        \begin{matrix}
        x(t)=r_b(\cos{t}+t\sin{t}) \\
        y(t)=r_b(\sin{t}-t\cos{t}), \\
        \end{matrix}
\tag{1}
$$
where $r_b$ is the base circle radius.
Note $r_b=r_p\cos{\phi}=0.5Nm\cos{\phi}$, where $r_p$ is the pitch circle radius, $N$ is the number of teeth on the gear, $m$ is the module and $\phi$ is the pressure angle.
Aside on undercutting:
For standard gears with less than 18 teeth, the involute profile might not reach down to the base circle, significantly so as the number of teeth becomes very small. This undercutting of the involute profile is often a bi-product for some of the manufacturing methods, and is generally undesirable. However, it can also be a necessary evil: for gears with low tooth counts, the lowest part of the involute profile obstructs the path of the tips of the teeth of the mating gear; undercutting provides the clearance necessary for the mating teeth to move without jamming. Fig. 2 shows the effects of undercutting on the involute profile for a gear with only 6 teeth:

Fig. 2: Close-up of a heavily undercut gear tooth.
While the mathematical involute curve (in cyan) does reach down to base circle (in magenta), the corresponding involute profile on the gear tooth itself does not: some of the involute profile has been lost to undercutting. This results in a reduction of the useful geometry of the gear responsible for smooth power transmission. Instead, the involute profile reaches down to a circle called the undercut diameter (in yellow).
Pressure Line: The involute profile is important when considering the forces as a special feature arises from the contact of involute profiles of two teeth: as the gears rotate, the point at which teeth contact one another moves in a straight line called the pressure line, as shown in Fig. 3:

Fig. 3: Animation demonstrating how contact points move along the pressure line.
In Fig. 3, the base circles of the gears are shown in magenta. The pressure line is shown in red, with the points of contact as red dots. Note how the pressure line lies tangent to both base circles, and that the contact points move at a constant speed along this line. The blue circles are the pitch circles of the gears, and the orange circles are the outer diameters.
The angle the pressure line makes to the vertical is equal to the pressure angle. In the case shown in Fig. 3, the left gear is the driving gear, the right is the driven gear, and so the pressure line lie clockwise to the vertical. If the right gear was made the driving gear, the pressure line would instead lie anticlockwise. Note how the pressure line lies though the pitch point, i.e. the point at which the two pitch circles touch.
Most importantly, note how the involute profiles of the teeth at the contact point is normal to the pressure line. Therefore, the force that one tooth exerts on another will lie along this pressure line (hence its name!). Since the tooth forces run in a straight line, the distance between the line of action of the forces and the centre of one gear remains constant, this distance being equal to the base circle radius $r_b$. As a result of this, provided the input torque $T_i$ remains constant, the sum of the tooth forces will be equal to a constant value. For a pair of mating gears will negligible friction, this value should equal $F=T_i/r_b$.
With this information, it is now possible to calculate the sum of the tooth forces one gear exerts on another: between the sun and planet gears and between the planet and ring gears. First, let's look at the sun-planet tooth forces. Let $T_i$ be the known input torque applied to the sun gear, and $F_{PS}$ be the unknown sum of the tooth forces that one planet gear exerts on the sun gear. Consider the forces acting on the sun gear, as shown in Fig. 4:

Fig. 4: Schematic showing the forces acting on the sun gear.
In Fig. 4, the pitch circles of the sun and planet gears are shown, with the pressure lines included in red, noting that the pressure lines should go through the points the pitch circles meet, rotated by the pressure angle away from the common tangent of the pitch circles. Note how the sum of the tooth forces act along these lines (the exact location along the pressure line at which these forces act is not important). To determine the sum of the tooth forces, applying Newton's 2nd Law would appear to be a sensible course of action. However, it is often satisfactory to just simply enforce static equilibrium of moments, ignoring dynamic effects, especially if the gears are travelling at relatively low speeds where the inertia forces are much lower than the tooth forces. In this answer, only static equilibrium will be considered.
When considering equilibrium, note how the fact that there are three planets engaging with the sun gear means that the total tooth force that each planet gear exerts on the sun gear (and vice versa) has effectively been split in three. The total sun-planet tooth forces for a three-planet planetary gear set turn out to be as follows:
$$F_{PS} = \frac{T_i}{3\times 0.5N_S m \cos{\phi}}\tag{2}$$
where $N_S$ is the number of teeth on the sun gear. Note how the value of the module $m$ should be the same for all the gear in the planetary gear set.
The static equilibrium of moments can be considered for one of the planet gears, and upon doing so, it can be seen that the sum of the tooth forces the ring gear exerts on one planet gear is equal to the sum of the sun-planet tooth forces.
We are therefore able to determine the sun-planet and planet-ring sum tooth forces. Note though that this is the sum: between any two mating gears, it is possible to have more than one point of contact at any one time, as can be seen in Fig. 3. If there are multiple points of contact, it can be assumed that the sum tooth force is split equally between the two contact points. The more contact points, the less load individual teeth will experience. (Note however that some gears may have considerable profile inaccuracies from its manufacturing, to the extent that, even if in theory there may be multiple points of contact, all the force falls onto just one contact point.)
To determine the force applied onto a single tooth, it is necessary to determine the number of contact points. Note that for a given pair of meshing gears, this number will fluctuate between two values over times; in Fig. 3, in can be seen that the number of simultaneous contact points varies regularly between 1 and 2. To determine this number, the contact ratio is calculated: this is defined as the length of line of action divided by the base pitch. The line of action is the portion of the pressure line along which contact points exist, and the base pitch is the distance between two neighbouring teeth measured along the base circle, equal to $p_b=\pi m \cos{\phi}$. The contact ratio can be interpreted as the average number of contact points, and so can be rounded down and up to obtain the two integer values of number of contact points. Often the line of action is bounded by the outer diameters of the two gears, and so the contact ratio can be calculated as follows (equation adapted from Dudley's Handbook of Practical Gear Design and Manufacture):
$$\rho_c = \frac{\sqrt{r_{o1}^2-r_{b1}^2}+\sqrt{r_{o2}^2-r_{b2}^2}-C\sin{\phi}}{p_b}\tag{3}$$
$r_{o1},r_{o2}$ are the radii to the outer circle of gears 1 and 2 respectively, $r_{b1},r_{b2}$ are the respective base circle radii, $C$ is the distance between the centres of the two gears, and $p_b$ is the base pitch. If one of the gears is an internal gear, as is the case for the ring gear, replace the appropriate radius of the outer circle with the radius of the inner circle of the internal gear.
This formula assumes that there is no undercutting. However, in situations where undercut does exist, it is still possible to determine the contact ratio by locating in the CAD model points in space where the contact points start and end (assuming it is possible to manipulate the CAD files as an assembly), and measuring the distance between those points to get the length of the line of action.
With the contact ratio, the force per tooth can determined.
Calculating contact stresses
Now with the force per tooth determine, it is also possible to determine the contact stresses that develop as a result of the teeth making contact. The contact stresses are the stresses that arise on the surfaces of the gear teeth about the points of contact, and are important to gauge so that surface damage can be avoided. The Hertzian model for contact stresses that arise due to line contacts will be useful for determining such stresses. According to Hertz's model, the maximum value of the contact pressure is given as follows:
$$p_{\text{max}}=\sqrt{\frac{FE^*}{\pi w R}}\tag{4}$$
$F$ is the force per tooth, $E^*$ is the contact modulus, $w$ is the width of tooth face that contacts the other tooth, and $R$ is the effective radius of curvature of the contacting surfaces. $E^*$ can be calculated from the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the materials that comprise the contacting surfaces of gears 1 and 2:
$$\frac{1}{E^*}=\frac{1-\nu_1^2}{E_1}+\frac{1-\nu_2^2}{E_2}\tag{5}$$
The only variable that requires determining is the effective radius of curvature. This can be approximated from the radii of curvature of the individual contacting surfaces:
$$\frac{1}{R}=\frac{1}{R_1}+\frac{1}{R_2}\tag{6}$$
Concave surfaces (such as those of internal gears) will have a negative radius of curvature. Each of the contacting surfaces are involute in shape, and so has the useful properties that the radius of curvature of a point on the involute curve is equal to distance from that point to the base circle, measured along the pressure line:

Fig. 5: How to calculate the radii of curvature, $R_1$ and $R_2$ at a contact point.
Note that since the radii of curvatures vary on both involute profiles as the contact point moves along the line, and so the contact pressures will also vary. Therefore, it may require careful consideration of where the contact points will be. Take should be taken in making sure contact points are spaced apart even by the base pitch $p_b$, and to note the configurations at which the number of contact points change. Occasionally, for the sake of obtaining a reasonably useful value of contact stress quickly, it is possible to just consider a contact point lying at the pitch point where the pitch circles of the gears meet.
Contact pressures are useful to keep in might as excessive contact pressure can cause pitting of the gear surfaces, wearing, and fatigue.
Calculating bending stresses
The tooth forces will also cause stresses to develop at the roots of the teeth, these stresses being the bending stresses. The complex geometry of gears make it impossible to use analytical methods to figure out the bending stresses. Instead, a Finite Element Analysis should be performed. While it would seem most proper to use the Hertzian contact pressure to define the forces to be applied onto the gear model, it is more than sufficient to use a concentrated force as the force acting on the gear tooth, the magnitude and direction of which as determined in the force calculations above. Bending stresses are important to observe as excessive bending stresses can cause to fracture and loss of the tooth, resulting in sudden failure that is more difficult to gauge and predict that damage due to contact pressures.


How does Fed Qe affect the housing sales in the US? Why does it happen to be that way?

Question: From my research, Fed's Qe should encourage house sales, however the graph shows houses price in the state seem to gradually go down after 2009. Isn't that contradicting itself? Ain't the increase in demand suppose to push the price of houses to go up? or am I wrong. Is the Fed Qe effective at inducing the house sales in the US? And if so why does it happens to be that way?
Comment: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink; you can send a boy to college but you can't make him think". The Fed only affects interest rates (incl. mortgage rates), not the price of housing (not directly).
Answer: There is a contradiction in your statement.  If QE supposedly motivates house sales, then the price should indeed go down.  I think you are trying to say that QE should motivate house purchases.  Well, QE is designed to make long term interest rates (including mortgage rates) go down, so yes it should help housing prices, ceteris paribus.  If you observe, housing prices have indeed recovered substantially since QE was initiated.
Comment: I don't see any issue in his statement. I think he meant "housing sales to home buyers."


How bad are incense sticks for environment?

Question: Belonging to a country where incense sticks are used extensively, I wonder how bad are they, althought it is said they are good for air. But at moment, it seems highly misleading to me.
What are the health issues related to regular inhaling of the produced smoke?
Comment: Take a look at this article: [Incense smoke: clinical, structural and molecular effects on airway disease](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2377255/). Environmental impacts are not discussed, but you may be interested to read about the health effects of air quality impacts.
Comment: Is your concern about people inhaling smoke from incense sticks, or about what effect smoke has on global heating and climate change? Please edit your post to clarify the question.
Comment: Thanks, that helps
Comment: Sorry, this site is primarily about sustainability, so the environmental impact of manufacturing, using or disposing things. If your question is about public health issues it would be better to ask on https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com.
Answer: This question has a different answer depending if you are indicating consequences on air quality or on global carbon cycle (i.e. climate change), and I would say it is similar to asking the consequences of lighting a cigarette.

About air quality: the effect is similar to the one made by every
kind of wood combustion: air with some smoke that sure is at least a
little less healty than air without smoke (release of CO2).
About carbon cycle changes: there is no consequence if the wood did
not come from a plantation up exclusively to generate wood to be cut.
This is because the wood that is cut and burned relases the same
compounds (mostly CO2) that it would release if the tree it is coming from dies
naturally and its parts naturally biodegrades.
Please note that in this second case the problem does not come with the fact of burning
wood, but with the fact that the wood to be burned comes form a plantation and it is
not collected by the naturally dead trees or fallen branches.


Migration tool to migrate data from 2010 to 2013

Question: If I migrate the content from SharePoint 2010 to 2013 via third party migration tool, could we upgrade the site collection successfully passing by the custom solutions errors that might occur if database attach upgrade method is used?
Comment: If you plan to upgrade content db with database attach method, what is the purpose to use migration tool?
Comment: pls read my question again.
Comment: if you migrate your contetnt to SP2013, why do you need to upgrade site collection using attach db method? To migrate content using 3rd party tools, you should already have SP2013 environment. you can migrate selected content leaving trash. so you will have fresh SP2013 with migrated content. Custom solutions should be redone to support 2013 version in both cases. Success of upgrading with attach db method doesn't depend on content (which you want to migrate with tool) itself.
Answer: If you migrate content only with the tool, yes you might bypass the warning messages you get when doing a database attach migration. You may still encounter problems depending on what these customizations did.
In our experience with using a third party tool to go from 2010 to SPO, all of the customizations we knew of were not carried over (obviously) and did not pose any major issues.  There were a couple pages here and there using a custom web part. Those were stripped out when the pages were migrated.


JQuery Mobile pageinit for Two Pages

Question: I already below for JQM page with id page1:
$('#page1').live('pageinit', function(event, data){

});

If I have another JQM page with id page2 and want to have the same pageinit with page1, how to call it or add the event without copying all the code at page1 pageinit event.
Answer: $('#page1,#page2') should do the trick.
Pls refer - http://api.jquery.com/multiple-selector/
Answer: I think it will be triggered only once in a multi-page template.
See page load events and page change events:
http://jquerymobile.com/test/docs/api/events.html

JQuery Mobile pageinit for Two Pages


Is a Giant TCX W wrong for me if I want to use it for around town and occasional long rides?

Question: I'm looking for a bike to ride mainly around town and hope to get up to doing longer rides (maybe Cycle Oregon).  A local bike shop is selling a Giant TCX W cyclocross for $950 (reg price $1,900).  I test rode it and like it.  Since I'm not doing cyclocross, is this the wrong bike for me?  I generally don't like the real racing road bikes as I don't like to bend over that much. Thanks.
Comment: Just because a bike is labeled as something doesn't mean it only applies to that field - a lot of people use cyclocross-ish bikes as commuters (though often, these bikes are a bit more tuned to commuting with a more relaxed geometry and component spec, e.g. Trek Crossrip). The most important thing is bike fit. You may also want to consider something marketed as a tourer (such as the Trek 520) which will be less agile but have good of rack+fender+water bottle mounts and what not. Only you (possibly with LBS help) can determine if this bike is right for you.
Comment: Also, note that the price of a bike isn't the only thing. You still need a good lock and helmet at the minimum. And look at this thread: http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/6497/can-i-use-a-cyclocross-bike-for-regular-road-biking-purposes?rq=1
Comment: Assuming you're going to be riding on the road, you might want to consider changing to slicker tyres, but otherwise there's nothing wrong with this bike. Giant are a good make, it sounds like that's a really good price, so as long as it feels comfortable to ride you should be fine.
Answer: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that cyclocross bikes are basically road bikes with a bit of knobby on the tire. I recently purchased a Raleigh Roper to use as a daily commuter. I went with the cyclocross style because the slight knobby lets me leave the hard-pack every once in a while. Also, there are numerous bosses to mount a rack, bottle cage, pump, etc. If you're looking at graduating to the Cycle Oregon week ride, you can always get a road/touring set of wheels to swap out. Or, the cheaper alternative is to just get a set of road tires to swap onto your wheels when you want to tackle the longer 100% pavement routes.
Also, as @Batman mentioned, the most important thing is bike fit. I test rode a number of bikes at my local shops before settling on the Roper. Some bikes with the exact same setup felt slower and cumbersome while others felt twitchy and uncontrollable. It all comes down to what fits you and your style best. Everything else can be upgraded.
Comment: I have the wingspan of a condor, so I naturally land on the horns on my Roper. But, I do spend quite a bit of time in the drops once I get up to speed. I just added a rear rack today using the existing threaded bosses. I'm looking at stringing my front wheel with a dynamo hub, so I don't have to worry about constantly charging my light batteries.
Comment: Cyclocross bicycle's geometry is usually different than that of a road bike's. CX bike also has a higher bottom bracket, cable routing on top tube is not on the bottom of top tube to be able to shoulder the bike.
Comment: @Akshay is correct. The CX geometry also typically includes a longer wheelbase and a more upright riding position.
Comment: upvoted the above comment for "wingspan of a condor" which made me LOL


Is NZT-48 real?

Question: NZT is a fictional compound in a movie called limitless, basically it's a brain booster, it gives access to more simultaneous neuron activity.
are there any real cognitive enhancers out there?
Answer: As others have said, this compound is fictional. Leaving illegal compounds aside, I would vote for nootropics. And from them I find pramiracetam to be the best fit. I have found its action to be rather similar to the one described in the movie, although with no side effects. One of the most notable mechanisms of it is the highly selective potentiation of acetylcholine and improvement of brain blood flow. Papers on this chemical are easily accessible through Google, so I won't provide lnks.
However, no cognitive enhancers will do any good without proper motivation and conscious efforts. It is pointless to eat pills and hope that something will come and change who you are for the good. Cognitive enhancers need something baseline to enhance.
UPDATE
Looks like this question really belongs to CogSci SE, but I feel that I should complement this answer with some more information that is important to take into account.
Cognition/mind enhancement can be a double-edged sword for some people. Instead of giving pleasure directly, it actually enhances mind and calls for much more self-discipline and responsibility. For example, I practice meditation and some other mental disciplines for a long time already, and it came in handy to control and direct my mind. However, some people who tried pramiracetam reported that the intensity of their own mind was too much for them, they simply did not know what to do with it for they had no real task, motivation or big plan formed before administering the compound, and it could happen that they got themselves overwhelmed by many long-forgotten memories that rejuvinated in all their lucidity at the same time when the present day reality became much more integral and whole, without many pieces comfortably forgotten.
These memories could not necessarily be negative, but what about a super-fine image of the wallpapers pattern you were looking at when you were 3 years old, standing as bright as a day before your eyes when you try to sleep, eat or mate? And I am not even saying about the fact that recent events are perceived in much greater detail and integrity, senses sharpened greatly... Personally I was able to control my mind because I also practice it in daily life (without the enhancers), but this may not be easy for people who are not used to that.
Another issue such an enhanced mind could face is that people around remain as they are. The perceived difference can render them much less intelligent and almost dumb. A person with an "enhanced" cognition can find himself living in a world of dense people. This is in no way an offense, a similar condition can be observed when one with a body "enhanced" by a stimulant can run 3 miles and still feel not even slightly tired, while an average untrained person will extinguish in under a mile. It is true that there are lots of smart people in this world, but one has to be ready for a sudden shift of perception that could occur. I remember reading reports of piracetam users who say that while they became more effective in integrating knowledge, people around did not, and situations occured when "obvious" things were not immediately understood by the surrounding people which caused irritation and conflicts. One has to be careful as this may lead to social disadaptation.
This again calls for discipline, ability to love and appreciate other people, and actually rises many unusual ethical questions. As with any gain, one must always remember that love and understanding are essential.
Another example of a two-fold effect is piracetam - an older, less potent but nevertheless useful nootropic. While it has an effect which may with high probability result in enhanced cognition, it also rises agression due to stimulating the secretion of the thyroid gland. So again, this calls for enhanced discipline. (do not mix the terms "piracetam" and "pramiracetam" in this text, they mean different compounds).
In any way, it is always important to apply conscious approach to your own behavior and thinking, be it with or without enhancers. But with enhancers, the responsibility is times greater.
One more point to notice. While nootropics do not exhaust body in any way (they are not stimulants), it is very important to provide oneself with sufficient nutrition and sleep, and avoid drug usage such as nicotine, alcohol and other psychoactive drugs. Failing on any of that may significantly reduce the useful effect and in case with illicit drugs cause unpredictable consequences. Dietary supplements such as omega-3, lecitine, vitamins can also provide some support.
Disclaimer: aside from compiling information available online, what I am saying is also supported by personal experiences of 2 courses each 6 months long, taken with a pause of 1.5 years between them, 600mg pramiracetam 2 times a day. I don't smoke or drink alcohol. Both times the experience was life-altering.
Comment: Totally, without motivation, all that is excess energy without a proper outlet. still interesting though, that we're nearing a future where we could have more access to our thoughts, more control over our lives.
Comment: @AlyShmahell I thought that I should build up on your position and express some more concerns directly related to the issue and possibilities
Comment: I'm glad you did. it's both such an interesting subject and a sensitive one. it requires as much care and planning as pushing forward into research and application. now it's my turn to build up on your information, I'll be researching what you provided in the update. and next question it's going on CogSci ;)
Answer: Yes there are a few out there, though the mechanism is quite different to the film. Things that increase the activity of dopamine and norepinephrine particularly in the prefrontal cortex where a lot of your higher functions like decision making seem to be. Things that do this can include amphetamines (ritalin and other adhd medications) along with things like modafinil.
Comment: That's very interesting, but isn't dopamine responsible for reward-driven-motivation? is that to say even intelligence is increased by increasing the promise of reward?

Is NZT-48 real?