How much do Springer-Verlag authors make per book sold?

Question: How much do Springer-Verlag authors make per book sold?
Comment: My first book with Springer was on the basis of of royalties with no advance fee. I am about to be offered a second contract but they are offering an up front fee with no royalties. I am slightly anxious about this and would welcome any advice.
Comment: There are other benefits to publishing a scientific book than money. E.g., getting a review of the material, professional copy-editing and printing can be itself worth a while over having unpublished lecture notes.
Comment: @YetAnotherGeek Yes, of course. My question and the answers here do lend support to the whole open-access model.
Comment: Don't expect much money from academic publishing. After a couple of years it is likely close to zero. If you want to make a lot of money writing, do mystery or romance novels and get famous. A few academics buck this trend if their Calc 1 or Econ 1 book is adopted very widely and becomes a standard. They then become slaves to the process of updating it every year or two. But these are very rare cases. I think I've only known one such person in nearly 50 years. Most of the market is too small and the costs too high for authors to earn much.
Comment: The big problem with self publishing and open-access is getting adequate reviews of a work as well as expert copy-editing. You'd be surprised how many mistakes you'll make without outside help. This is the value that publishers add (for taking too large a part of the pie).
Comment: @Buffy Yes, reviewers are harder to find with OA.
Answer: This varies substantially, depending on the sort of book, how well the author negotiated (each book involves an individually negotiated contract), the price of the book, etc.  Based on one Springer contract I'm familiar with, here's a first approximation.  I can't say for sure how representative it is, but it's at least one data point, and I'd guess it's typical for Springer and competing publishers.
For regular sales, the author may get 9-12% of "net cash receipts", defined as what the publisher made on the sale (excluding taxes), with the percentage depending on things like how well the book has sold.  Note that "regular sales" excludes some special cases, for which there may be lower royalty rates.
Then the question is how much Springer charged the bookseller for the book.  You can download a 6 megabyte zip file of Springer wholesale prices.  I glanced at a few math books, and the prices look like they are about 60% of what bookstores are charging.  That's certainly the right ballpark, but I haven't computed any real statistics.
So a first approximation is that the author's royalty is probably 5-7% of the price you pay in a bookstore.  Considering that academic books are expensive, that's not bad, but nobody's going to grow rich off it.  For advanced books, selling 1000 copies in total is very good and selling 10,000 is amazing.
Comment: I would be interested in the hourly pay for writing such a book :) I guess it would be rather sobering.
Comment: Net proceeds? Uh oh, don't count on getting rich off any deal based on net - as Bugs Bunny wisely advised us so many years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
Comment: @IvarPersson: It's 50% of Springer's net proceeds if they license the translation rights to another publisher, right?  (At least that's what I've seen.)  Basically, Springer collects royalties from licensed translations and then splits them 50-50 with the original author, but this isn't as lucrative as it sounds since these royalties are only a modest fraction of the price of the translated book (most goes to the translation's publisher and the bookseller).  Also, net proceeds are after production costs, so any expenses on Springer's part are deducted before the 50-50 split.
Comment: Based on my 1 contract with Springer, I would like to add that the way to get rich (presumably) is translations. The author royalty on those is 50%. Other than that there is a 33% discount on Springer titles, though I haven't used it. Oh and you get a few free copies of your book, in my case I got 5. I haven't seen a cent other than that
Comment: @IvarPersson: the discount on Springer titles is available for all authors with Springer publications including journal papers, not only for book authors. (Source: I'm co-author of some papers in Springer journals, but neither of a book nor a book chapter, but get the author discount)
Comment: Also, http://realtime.springer.com/ shows download statistics for e-books. Do authors get royalties for e-books, too?
Comment: @Geremia in a word, yes. Individual eBook sales count a normal sales from the royalty point of view. Bulk access from bundles works differently but the author still gets something.
Comment: Thanks @AnonymousMathematician that clarifies a lot of things. I must say, in the few years since I posted, I've made almost 600€ in royalties, all of it entirely unexpected. The eBook sales form a surprisingly substantial source of revenue.
Answer: My answer is close to $0.00.  I published a book with Springer in 2007, and it is a standard work found in most university libraries.  I have never received a royalty cheque, as there was a threhshold number for sales.  However, now sales are close to zero, as the book is available electronically via SpringerLink and other platforms, and Springer essentially does not pay royalties on downloads via SpringerLink, as they have no way of calculating the proportion owing - so they avoid the issue, and authors are totally shafted.
Comment: It may interest people that Springer revenue from eBook Packages is now in the hundreds of millions of euros, but authors see a tiny, tiny fraction of this.  Springer refuses to release data about eBook Package sales, despite contracts stipulating a fair and equitable return from Ebook Package revenue.  Authors have no way of knowing if royalties paid, if any, are fair.  My eBook Package royalties to date will not buy a cup of coffee.  Springer does say that they will royalties on MyBook sales, but that would like be less than $1.per copy
Comment: It probably was, but it was only 200 copies. I did not worry about it then.  Most interestingly, eBooks then took over the market, notably via Soringer's eBook Packages.  Book sales declined to near zero.  Springer pays a royalty on Ebook Package revenue, but it is calculated as % of book sales.  With higher  Ebook Package sales, book sales become effectively nil, and thus total royalties are nil.  Patrons at eBook subscribing libraries can also get a copy of the book (MyBook) from Springer for $25, and obviously no royalties are paid, and sales are lost.
Comment: On my Springer books, the statement I get shows sales both of physical copies and electronic copies (either the entire book, or individual chapters).  Yes, I have received some money for electronic sales.
Comment: Was that threshold negotiable?
Answer: Here's what Springer says:

§ 6 Royalty
For each sold and paid copy of the Work or part thereof, print or
  electronic, sold as an individual book or individual part thereof,
  Springer shall pay to Author a royalty of 6% based on the net income
  received by Springer (list-price minus discount and VAT, withholding
  tax and any other applicable taxes). For the avoidance of doubt, this
  includes (but is not limited to) such individual sales to digital and
  non-digital libraries.
If there is a legal requirement for Springer to withhold any taxes on
  a royalty payment, the taxes will be deducted from the royalty payment
  to Author.  If the Work is sold electronically as part of a Springer
  e-book package, Author will receive an equitable share of royalties
  from the income generated by Springer from the e-book package. The
  share formula for each individual title within the e-book package will
  be determined by Springer no later than April for the preceding
  calendar year.  This amount will be paid in addition to the royalty
  described above and shown separately on the annual royalty statement.
In the case of Bulk Sales, Author's exclusive royalty for the
  respective Bulk Sale will be 0 % of the related Net Proceeds, with
  "Bulk Sale" being defined as the production and/or distribution of a
  special number of copies of the Work or parts thereof at a special
  price regardless of whether it be performed by Springer or by third
  parties, regardless of whether in print or electronic format and
  further regardless of whether in a layout identical to the normal normal edition or not. For the purpose of this Clause 6 Royalty, the term "Net Proceeds" shall be defined as the net amount Springer actually receives after deduction of all discounts, minus production costs incurred by Sprnger or any Springer Group Company and minus VAT, withholding tax and any other applicable taxes.
If Springer grants licenses to use the Work or derivative works
  thereof or parts of either in non-Springer products and the related
  use is not covered by the above subsections of this clause 6 "Royalty"
  (e.g., a license to translate the work and to distribute the
  translation, or a license to distribute parts of the Work in a third
  party book), Author's exclusive royalty for the respective license and
  any related use will be a share of the Springer's Net Proceeds
  according to industry standards (currently 50%).
The aforesaid royalties shall be the sole compensation to be paid to
  Author with respect to the Work and the rights granted. In case the
  Work contains or links (e.g. through frames or in-line links) to
  media, social or functional enhancements, the royalties, complimentary
  copies and/or access rights granted under this contract, are deemed to
  be adequate consideration. For the avoidance of doubt, the aforesaid
  royalties will be paid as a total to the joint group of authors if
  "Author" comprises several individual authors. Each co-author will
  receive an equal share of any payment.
Accounts will be settled annually in April for the preceding calendar
  year, with payment to follow soon thereafter.
Authors are responsible for the taxation of their royalties. Springer
  is entitled to report related information (including personal and
  financial data) to the respective authorities.
Free copies which are provided by Springer for the purposes of review,
  promotion, sample or otherwise free of charge are not subject to
  royalty payments. Likewise, copies that are damaged and cannot be sold
  are not subject to royalty payments.
Any publisher's proceeds from rights managed by national copyright
  organizations (collecting societies including but not limited to
  societies such as Copyright Clearance Center) are the sole property of
  Springer. Any such author's proceeds are the sole property of Author,
  and if applicable, registration and taxation of such proceeds is the
  Author's sole responsibility. This subsection shall have precedence
  over any other subsection of this Clause 6 Royalty.
Answer: Beware of publishing with Apress (Springer-Nature) on two issues:

Payments for SpringerLink downloads are not issued
Data for sales is not shared

I published 5 books through Apress. These books were earlier published on Amazon's KDP program a year before (2016 to 2017) they were republished by Apress (December 2017 onwards).
At Amazon's KDP program they were provided in self-published mode. There I use to get 70% for e-book and 50% for physical book. I could set my own price for different regions. Sales data is shown live too. I was making decent sales of ~10-50 USD per day.
Then Apress approached me to publish the books again (they used the term "adopting") and paid me 3000 USD for all 5 of them (1000 USD for book on Julia programming and 500 USD each for other four). This amount was suggested to be "bonus for signing in" and was in addition to 10% of sales as royalty payments for first 4000 copies, 12.5% for next 4000 copies, 15% for next 4000 copies and 20% henceforth.
But there was a catch. Within the contract, the bonus payments (3000USD) were added for Subscription services like SpringerLink too. Being first-time author dealing with publishers, I was too naive to understand the consequences.
The payments are made on quarterly basis. Payments of one quarter are made at the end of next quarter. My books got published in December 2017. For fourth quarter of 2017, I got payments of ~180 USD which was decent sale of books considering just a month worth of sales. But second payment of Quarter-1 of 2018 which was released in July 2018 was just ~250 USD. This was surprising since the books were decently ranked in Amazon sales data all through the time and Julia book was quite popular. When I asked for sales data based on which royalty statements were issues, the e-mails are simply not relied to. Also at this point of time I realised the issued with subscription based downloads at SpringerLInk where the books got downloaded well over 25000 times within those 3 months of 2018, but I wasn't paid a single dime.
Hence my advice to new authors:

Of course you should not be naive as myself while reading the contract. Even better if you ask a legal expert to do the same.
Ask for payments for subscription based services too. The downloads run in thousands there whereas sales might be less than hundred (if you believe royalty statements!)
To avoid the hassles, go for one-time payments either for life or 5 year basis (royalty paid every 5 years). A decent book priced 20 USD should easily fetch yourself at-least 20,000 USD by the time its obsolete. Of course the estimates varies on type of books and subjects.
Comment: I've editted to remove your appeal for help. Whilst it would be great if you could get that help (and given how old this answer is, I hope you got it), this isn't the place for it. If you're still looking for it, I'd ask over on Law.SE.
Answer: If you live in Germany, don't forget to register with VG Wort when your book is published. They only pay out once a year, as does Springer. But I got more money from VG Wort than I did from Springer for my book published in 2014. As an answer above noted: you aren't going to get rich.
Also, do read the proofs very carefully. They seem to employ people who don't understand the manuscripts to do what little editing they do.
Comment: Your answer would be more complete, and understandable to everybody, if you could give a short description of what VG Wort is.
Comment: Their home page is https://www.vgwort.de/startseite.html (in German). In Germany one cent from every photocopy made and a certain amount for every storage medium is given to the VG Wort to be distributed amongst all of the authors who registered new works for the past year. They pay once a year. They also have an extremely complicated method for registering online articles. Once the articles have be read often enough (the amount changes every year) one can get a few euros for them.
Comment: VG Wort does not publish anything. They collect the "Copy cents" (Kopierpfennige) that one pays for every photocopy taken and the yearly fees paid by institutions and distribute that money among the registered authors.
Comment: When you publish a book you sign a contract. do you say that you can VG Wort will also publish your book. Could you please tell me what do you do and what do they do? My best guess is that you give your books soft copy to them and they make use of it somehow and pay you 1 cent per usage. Is it compatiable with the contract that you make with Springer? Because you are not allowed to give your book to third parties.
Comment: The UK equivalent is [ALCS](https://www.alcs.co.uk).  They're more focused on humanities than STEM, I think, and on journalism rather than academia, but you should get a _small_ cut from 'photocopied' or otherwise downloaded articles.  It emphatically _won't_ pay the mortgage, but it's good for a mildly warm glow every six months.
Answer: I am a Springer author of a book in the Boston Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science series, and I made 6% off the gross sales.
Answer:
How much do Springer-Verlag authors make per book sold?

I am getting roughly EUR 2 to 4 for each copy of my Springer book - eBook, softcover, and hardcover, respectively. That's 10% of net sales, and then 25% of that, since my co-author wrote 75% of the book. The annual royalty statements from Springer have been a nice surprise since they also include royalties for eBook packages that universities and other institutions purchase. Plus the book added almost EUR 500 to my VG Wort payout; too bad that's only in the year of publication! So, I am pretty happy with Springer, with the premise that I did not expect (and need) to make any money from this project - indeed the hourly pay is probably something like EUR 2. What may also be of interest to some is that the book is being cited at a rate of 25 to 50 times a year, which is significantly higher than any of my articles. It's a research monograph in a technical field.
Answer: Royalties amount to a couple of candybars a year.
It is hilarious to see the looks on students' faces when you recommend your own book for the course. "Cor Blimey, he's getting rich off our backs."
No sunshine, I recommend it because this is the course I intend to teach and you can always download a PDF from the previous years archive, since obviously my book started its life as a set of lecture notes.
Answer: With Springer, the royalties accounting report does consider only book sales for individuals while excluding institutional and group sales which constitute the majority of revenues.  For highly specialized expensive books whose price exceeds the capability of individuals, sales are considerably low while institutional and group sales are high.
Even when the detailed chapter by chapter downloads for books on Springer site are high, they are excluded from the royalties accounting report. The authorship rights are thus subdivided into full rights against the minority of individual readers, and zero rights against the majority of institutional and group readers.  Highly unfair to totally exclude the author from institutional and group online downloads and hardcopies.
Totally upsetting and frustrating experience for the authors, specially when emails are not answered!!
Answer: I published a book with Springer in 2018. The first years I received less than 100 Euro per year - after that I received less than 10 Euros per year.
If you are based in the German-speaking countries, I urge you to have a look at VG Wort. It will dramatically increase your income once a "Wahrnehmungsvertrag" is signed.
Comment: Why the downvote?


Why is my north arrow pixelated when being imported as emf?

Question: I've tried to import my own North Arrow with the Style Manager (ArcGIS 10.1) both as .emf and .bmp but the North Arrow is pixelated although the resolution of the picture should not cause this problem (i've saved the Arrow in a DinA3 file) and although the vetor format of the picture.
Has anyone an idea how to solve this problem?
Answer: Unfortunately, ArcMap's anti-aliasing capabilities are very limited. (See also the similar GIS.SE question about marker symbols being low-quality after .emf import.) Even if your high-quality symbol still exists, it is displayed crudely on screen.
This problem only arises during low-resolution display (in most cases during display of maps on a screen, but also if you export to low-resolution graphics). It should not occur if your map is printed in high resolution, exported as pdf file, or exported as high-resolution raster image.

The most advanced way to avoid pixelated display of your north arrow / symbols is to use a custom font. (To render TrueType fonts, ArcGIS uses the anti-aliasing settings of your display, which can be configured in Windows.) This is probably tedious if you need to display a single symbol only. There is a question addressing common font editing tools if you want to dig deeper.
Note that fonts are monochrome by design; simple multi-color symbols are possible by stacking different layers within the Style Editor, but symbols with more sophisticated coloring may not be possible.
If you are preparing a map for print or pdf export only, you may probably ignore the pixelated view which misses missing anti-aliasing because it occurs during map display within ArcMap only, but not after print or export to pdf - your full-quality vector symbol is preserved there.
If your final product is a map for low-resolution display only, you can achieve quite good results by embedding your symbol (north arrow) as a raster graphic which has been designed for that particular low resolution. (You could export the custom vector symbol to a low-resolution raster, utilizing the anti-aliasing capabilities of your vector editing software.)

There are lots of cons to all of these methods, particularly (1) the high effort using ttf, (2) the coarse screen display by ignoring the issue, or (3) the coarse display of low-res raster graphics if viewed in higher resolution.
I would recommend the universal method using a ttf (see 1) if ignoring the issue (see 2) is not an option.
Probably you can also optimize the overall display of your .emf vector file. Note that the page size you mentioned is not relevant in order to determine the quality of a vector graphic. Avoid unnecessary vertices, make use of curved paths and choose appropriate line widths depending on the final display size. You may also consider to generalize high-level details in order to improve small-sized display of your symbol.
Note that there is a feature request on ArcGIS ideas and a support forum thread that both address the general (poor) anti-aliasing capabilities of ArcMap.


Linking Multiple Implementation Files in C on Emacs

Question: I need help with linking multiple c source code files on emacs. Could anyone show me the way on how to work this out? Thanks!
Comment: In C developement: c-source files are compiled to object files `*.o`. These object files are then linked together, sometimes also involving static or dynamic librarys, to create a binary (or library). What do you mean by "linking multiple c source code files"?
Comment: By linking multiple c source code, what I meant was compiling and running source files together. And also I need to read a binary raw data file (ht3) with C. How could I achieve this? (I'm new at programming)
Comment: As far as I understand you, you should search for "how to compile C code with gcc". If you are using the gcc compiler, then it is something like `gcc -o foo *.c` on the command line. You do not necessarily need emacs for this. Maybe this helps: http://www.network-theory.co.uk/docs/gccintro/gccintro_9.html Reading the `ht3` data file is a complete different story.
Answer: Emacs has a builtin tetris game, a psychoanalyst, and a bunch of other fun stuff, but AFAIK it does not have a linker (nor a C compiler), so I think you're either looking at the wrong place, or asking the wrong question.
The way I compile&link C files from Emacs is by writing an appropriate Makefile and then with C-cC-c which I have bound to compile which by default runs make.


Is there a feat that can change ability damage dealt by a creature's special attacks to ability drain?

Question: Recently, to my dismay, I discovered that my longstanding understanding of the Dire Weasel's Blood Drain ability was incorrect.  As Blood Drain deals Constitution damage, the weasel does not gain temporary hp.  Unfortunately, the temporary hp gain is rather important in a couple of modules I run recurrently, and so I am seeking a feat from somewhere in 3.5's vast body of first party sources (including Dragon and Dungeon) that would allow the ability damage to instead be ability drain (and thus grant 5 temporary hp/round per victim attached to).  Does such a feat exist?  I desire a feat, as opposed to other sources, because replacing the Dire Weasel's Alertness feat with such a feat would impact the use of such a monster least, while e.g. spells, magic items, etc require either additional HD in class levels for the weasel or an outside source (i.e. a friendly druid) currently not present in the most important weasel-based module I run.
Comment: I've created the 'monster-design' tag because I really think that it should exist and it is very applicable to this (and many other) questions.  Monster design is separate from encounter design in that a good monster is usable in a wide variety of encounters, with differing circumstances making things different.  It's different from Character creation cause that's about PCs.  It's different from game-design because that's mostly about the overall system.  It's different from homebrew because that umbrellas a lot of stuff and I wanna be more specific. Just in case you were upset by the new tag
Comment: Are you including *Dragon*?  Because outside of that, I am fairly sure no such feat exists. My sense is that even there, it wouldn't pass an editor, but they did publish some crazy stuff. Ability drain is much more powerful than ability damage, and its use is especially unbalanced between Team PC and Team Monster.
Comment: @fectin yeah, Dragon (and Dungeon) are ok.
Comment: Would you be willing to expand the question's mandate beyond official material? (Not that I have anything, of course, but because I hate answers that are just *No.*)
Comment: @HeyICanChan "No, but here's some stuff that doesn't quite fit your criteria but is close" is always a better answer than "No".  If the answer is "No", though, I'd rather ask another question than change this one.
Answer: No feat turns ability damage into ability drain
I've a document that I compiled for personal use that has, I think, all of the official feats, including feats from licensed sources. It runs over 2,500 pages, but that's including all my notes. Nonetheless, all told, it probably contains, like, four thousand feats, and while I won't claim that I've actually caught them all, I'd like to think I almost have and that any remaining omissions are from sources so obscure no one has them anyway.
With that in mind, I can say with a great deal of confidence that no feat transforms a creature's ability damage into ability drain. In fact, no feat even comes close. The effect ability drain is, of course, mentioned by several feats like Detach (Savage Species 32-3), Empowered Ability Damage (Libris Mortis 26), Inheritor (Dragon #315 70), Pawn in the Great Game (Dragon #354 56), Shriveling Touch (Ghostwalk 38), and Tainted Construction (Expanding Your Mind Web column "Subpsionics"), but ability drain is usually mentioned in the context of bonuses to resist ability drain, restrictions on the use of ability drain, or the creature gaining a unique ability drain effect—often with such a feat having very strict prerequisites (q.v. Shriveling Touch).
So, yeah, I'm almost sure you're sunk. I mean, it's possible, for example, for a psion to use the power astral construct and, with the feat Tainted Construction, grant that astral construct an ability drain attack… and were that a psion to possess a sufficient Craft (sculpting) skill bonus, the psion could make that astral construct appear to be a weasel or dire weasel. But that's exactly not what you want.
The closest you may get is the domain feat Death Devotion (Complete Champion 57)—which seems to fit well with weasels as described in your campaign—that allows a typical weasel 1/day for 1 min. to cause foes struck by its melee weapon (its bite likely qualifying) to make Fort saves that, if failed, causes a foe to gain a negative level. Even the effect of the Death Devotion feat, however, isn't true energy drain, so while the weasel, during that minute, will shred the heck out of, like, 10 commoners (and, tomorrow night, they'll become wights—weasels can still be jerks!), your weasels still won't have the special attack ability drain.
I suspect you must venture beyond official material for your weasel needs.
Comment: compiled resources... *drools*... oh for want of a properly compiled resource, my campaign will surely fail.... ^^


Idiom for someone who works fast without paying attention to the quality?

Question: Is there any idiom or any suitable words for someone who works fast without paying attention to the quality?
Answer: "Quick and dirty"

l am not interested in a quick and dirty job. I want it done right. The contractor made a lot of money on quick and dirty projects that would never last very long.
Comment: "Quick and dirty" is an idiom, with a largely positive connotation.
Comment: @Mari-LouA fixed.
Answer: The following phrase is a very well-known proverb and is often said in cases when we advise someone against rushing a task or performing it poorly.
If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well.
Proverb: If you decide to do something, do it as well as you possibly can

Bruce never did sloppy work. He believed that if something is worth
  doing, it's worth doing well.

A suitable word that describes someone who works fast but carelessly is the adjective slapdash

He gets his work done quickly, but he's very slapdash
Answer: I would simply reverse a common phrase and use, quantity over quality.
Answer: Shoveling is often used in this context: "he's just shoveling it out."
Answer: You might say that they are doing sloppy or shoddy work. You could also describe them as a bodger, particularly if their job involves making or repairing something.
Answer: As an idiom: give something a lick and a promise

(American & Australian old-fashioned) to do a job or piece of work quickly and not carefully
We didn't have time to do much clearing up in the yard - just gave the grass a lick and a promise.

It is old-fashioned but it is still used today. Sometimes used as "a lick and a promise".

Also, as an idiom: once-over-lightly

1. Fig. a quick and careless treatment. (A noun. Said of an act of cleaning, studying, examination, or appraisal.)
Bill gave his geometry the once-over-lightly and then quit studying. Ann, you didn't wash the dishes properly. They only got a once-over-lightly.
2. Fig. cursory; in a quick and careless manner. (An adverb.)
Tom studied geometry once-over-lightly. Ann washed the dishes once-over-lightly.


Distance from Terminal 2 and 3 for people who are arriving in Dubai

Question: I am arriving in Dubai on 25 Sept at 08:05 terminal 3 with Emirate From London  and My wife arrives on the same day from Dar es Salaam with Flydubai at terminal 2, It's our first time in Dubai and we want to meet together before going to the hotel, How far is from terminal 2 and 3 and advise us how can we easily meet ?
Answer:
Transferring to or from Emirates Terminal 3
For your convenience there are buggies to transport you within the terminal buildings, but not between the terminals.
If you are transferring from an Emirates flight to a flydubai flight departing from Terminal 2, you have to use a dedicated bus service to the F Gates in Terminal 2. This bus ride can take up to 40 minutes.
If you are connecting on any other airline flight, another dedicated bus service will transfer you to the D gates in Terminal 1.

Emirates
So, take the 40 minutes Bus ride to reach Terminal 2 and follow the exit signs. Pre coordinate a spot outside Terminal 2's exit gates.


Why are eggs not stored in the fridge better in baking?

Question: I have always wondered why baking with refrigerated eggs VS room temperature eggs comes out much better. Can anyone explain why please?
Comment: Do you really mean "not stored in the fridge"? I store all of my eggs in the fridge but if a recipe calls for eggs at room temp, I take them out and leave them on the counter for an hour... as far as I know, there's no difference between an egg never refrigerated and one left to come to room temp... Also, this depends extremely on **what** you're baking... some recipes aren't affected and some specifically call for cold eggs.
Answer: This isn't at all exclusive to eggs, searing off a really cold (fresh, not frozen) steak will get you a tough steak. Unless the recipe depends on the behavior of a protein as refrigerated, proteins are better to work with at room temperature.
Think of the egg yolk and white sort of like ice cream; the warmer it becomes, the more distinctly the viscosity changes. Beating cold egg whites to stiff peaks is one heck of a workout :) Cold yolks are also very likely to result in 'broken' emulsions.
In your specific case, cold eggs simply won't incorporate into the mix in a manner that's consistent with what the recipe previously produced. The difference would depend on the recipe, but in most cases, not subtle. Things would be denser than ideal, or just simply not hold together very well. It really depends on what you're doing.
Comment: +1 for the egg bits, but not for the steak analogy -- America's Test Kitchen found that cooking from frozen was better than allowing a frozen steak to thaw before cooking.  See http://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/46565/67
Comment: @Joe I try not to freeze steaks (I buy them the day, or a few days before I intend to cook them) and they can get incredibly tough and dry if you sear them while they're cold. But I think an edit to indicate that would be helpful, thank you :)
Comment: I'm convinced the "warm whites beat better" thing is a myth. Direct-from-the-fridge egg whites beat up just fine, in my experience, and more importantly, they're less likely to collapse when you start adding other ingredients (such as ground nuts for a torte).
Comment: Thank you for the replies! I think this site is very educational and on track with a true food focuss. I will let all my foodie friends in NZ and Oz know about this site.


What is the use of TPM-based Bitlocker if the drive gets decrypted automatically?

Question: I am using Bitlocker which uses a TPM to unlock the drive. My question is, although TPM provides security against tampering, how is it useful in defending against attacks that involve physical access? An attacker can just power on the computer and then he can carry out other attacks such as cold boot or DMA-based attacks to extract the key. The ideal solution is to use Bitlocker with a PIN, right?
Comment: Yes, TPM + PIN helps:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLocker#Security_concerns
Comment: Note that DMA-capable ports should be disabled when using BitLocker, if at all possible. I've read some discussion of Windows trying to hide the key from DMA devices somehow, but barring a clear indication that this is a reliable measure, disabling devices (for example, in the BIOS/EFI) should work. Obviously, make sure an attacker can't just re-enable them (for example, if this trip BitLocker to demand the recovery password, that should be OK). Not a perfect protection against physical access, because internal DMA can't be prevented, but it may help in some cases.
Answer: TPM protects you from an attacker removing your hard drive and mounting it in another computer, or booting to another OS on the same computer.
The pin protects you from an attacker logging into your computer directly.
Comment: Which PIN is it? I have a password to start my Windows session, is it enough? I'm thinking so as a thieft will be able to bot the computer but will be blocked at the Windows login screen, right?
Answer: As with any security measure, this reduces the risk, it doesn't eliminate it.
With no TPM, an attacker with physical access can just grab the disk, walk away and read the data at their leisure. If the disk is encrypted with a key in a TPM, the attacker needs to walk away with the whole computer (or at least pull out the RAM and store it safely, to try a RAM remanence attack which isn't fully reliable).
This makes no difference if the attacker has uncontrolled physical access, but it makes a difference if the attacker has limited access, e.g. they're walking around in an office environment or in a coffeeshop and are observed. In such circumstances, it can be very easy to grab a removable drive, it takes less than a minute with a screwdriver to extract a hard disk, whereas extracting RAM tends to require a bit more time and walking away with the whole PC is less discreet.
If the attacker has full physical access, you've lost anyway, though a tamper-resistant TPM plus a PIN to unlock the key can make things hard for the attacker if the machine is powered down before they reach it. Basically, whoever has physical access to the computer owns the computer — but that's only true for unfettered physical access, not in more restricted scenarios. In some scenarios, partial protection is useful.
Use of a TPM-based key should be combined with secure boot, refusing to unlock the drive if not booting the pristine operating system from that drive, so that someone walking past can't just reboot onto their USB stick. It should also be combined with memory wiping at boot time (at least if the last power cycle was not ended cleanly) to prevent cold boot attacks.
Comment: I have one more question. If an attacker replaces the hard drive in my computer (which has TPM+PIN based bitlocker encryption and secure boot it turned on), with a new one, what will be the challenges for attacker? This might be a stupid question but I am kind of confused. Is it easy to use my computer just by replacing the hard drive ?
Comment: @entropy If the BIOS is locked and requires secure boot then to use your computer the attacker would need to replace or erase the hard drive, and reinitialize the TPM (which wipes all the keys and other data that it stores). Reinitializing the TPM is possible if you have physical access — after all you presumably want to keep using it if the hard disk fails.
Comment: Just to be sure, the secure boot you are talking about is the Secure boot option in Group Policy Editor and not the UEFI secure boot right ? I have both enabled.


How available is Internet in Sierra Leone?

Question: I am interested in travelling to Sierra Leone to visit family, but from talking to them they do not have steady access to Internet. As someone visiting from the US, will I be able to pay for consistent internet access?
Comment: Where abouts are your family based in Sierra Leone? Varies a lot by location
Answer: 3G internet in Sierra Leone (which I'm currently using to write this answer :-)) is surprisingly good in Freetown, major cities like Bo and most spots on the peninsula. It's expensive by international standards, but not punishingly so. Outside of those areas, e.g. in the villages, there's very little, though in some places I believe some villages have clubbed together to set up VSAT masts.
In the areas with signal, a popular alternative to simply using the SIM card in your phone (then for computers, tethering or setting up a local hotspot) is a portable 3G router. They seem to get slightly better signal than phones - just remember to tell your devices it's a metered connection when you connect, else they'll burn all your data on random software updates - also watch out for applications like DropBox that ignore the "metered connection" flag and eat gigabytes of your data without any warning, and also that horrible trend for websites to have massive auto-loading decorative videos (see here for that one, and on Windows consider something like Glasswire that lets you see where your data is going). Most of the 3G providers below sell these little 3G routers, they all seem to use more or less the same (Huawei) model. It seems to be a fashionable sign of status for well off locals to walk around town holding a 3G router and brand new Samsung Galaxy phone in one hand.
"Regular" domestic or office Wi-Fi is usually actually 3G as well, but with different pricing and speed control (usually unmetered but fixed to a certain speed), there are few "real" wired connections. Typically they install a small receiver dish on the building pointed towards the nearest mast. This is a very expensive option, unsuitable for a short visit, so I'll stick to conventional 3G.
A quick breakdown of 3G providers (I won't link to their websites because last time I tried to use them they were out of date and/or had no useful info...):

Africell in my experience have the fastest and cheapest 3G. It really is very fast, not quite 4G but possibly slightly faster than 3G in other countries e.g. the UK (they market it as '3G++'). Last time I checked they had the best value: they have two tiers of 3G pricing, one for small bundles up to 500mb which you buy through *113# and one for much better value large bundles up to 25GB with no expiry date which you buy through *114#. Note that for the big bundles, the amount of banknotes you need to hand over when topping up are so big, you'll want to go to an Africell shop rather than the usual approach of topping up through some guy on the street. You also might need a special SIM card available with a 3G router, I'm not sure. A couple of prices to give you an example:
500mb expiring after a month through 113 costs 65,000 SLL - at current rates ($100 note = 740,000 SLL), that's about $9
10GB with no expiry date through 114 costs 500,000 SLL, that's about $68
Airtel (since taken over by Orange) have a reputation for good coverage, especially out of Freetown, and their 3G is pretty reliable, but it's slower than Africell and a little more expensive. What many locals do (and what I've started doing) is having a dual-sim phone with Airtel for calls and Africell for internet
Sierratel have a deal where you pay for 3G monthly and (I think) it's unmetered, but it's complicated and I've heard many people complain about the speed and reliability
There's also a new player, SmartMobile, but I don't know anything about them. They've got a big shop just outside Lumley Market if you want to be thorough :-)

If you need unmetered Wi-Fi, e.g. for large downloads, there are many places offering free Wi-Fi in Freetown's wealthier districts (it's rare outside of Freetown). These are all the sorts of places that are rarely full during the day where it's perfectly normal to see a few people sitting with laptops for several hours (just buy some food and drinks - note that food and drinks in these places are very expensive by local standards, but average prices by international standards, e.g. $3 for a coffee, $5 for a sandwich).
Off the top of my head:

Gina's, Crown Express, Gusto, Bliss and Tessa's on Wilkinson Road
Papaya in Aberdeen / Lumley Beach
Country Lodge hotel bar in Hill Station
Crown Bakery downtown

All of these listed have reasonably reliable connections these days. Not the fastest - slower than Africell 3G, normally similar to Airtel 3G, but if another guest is doing big downloads you'll notice - but pretty good. Country Lodge used to have a reputation for the fastest Wi-Fi but I think the others have more or less caught up now.
There are also some low cost internet cafes with desktop computers in areas like Lumley Market, St John, Murray Town and others.

I see in some comments you mention things like coding courses for your cousins. I'd recommend you visit the Sensi Technology Hub in Aberdeen, just the other side of the bridge from the mainland near the SeaCoach wharf and Indochine restaurant. They're trying to provide low-cost computer access and training and were negotiating a deal with one of the internet providers. It's quite new, I don't know how operational it is yet, but they might be able to help.
Also, Sierra Leone is one of the countries where the Android YouTube app allows you to "Save offline". You can choose what quality you want and it tells you how many MBs, then it downloads those videos and keeps them for a few days. (Note some specific videos disallow this, e.g. music)
Comment: The more up-to-date info has arrived. Excellent! You're listings bring back memories :)
Answer: Until someone has more recent info, here's my take.
I lived in Sierra Leone for a good year, leaving around 2012. This was just before Sierra Leone got connected to the internet by cable. Before that, all communications ran through satellite.
3G services were available, but they were expensive and unreliable. Similarly, internet cafes were aplenty, but though affordable, quality of their connections was horribly unreliable.
No companies were offering landline connections. Microwave solutions did exist but they, too, were very expensive.
Comment: @user57651: If your cousins have a device on which they can program, it's most certainly possible to get access to programming resources. They can download manuals and work offline.
Comment: @pnuts: Indeed, I actually was present when the cable was officially connected on one of the country's beaches, but for months afterwards, politicians were bickering over who would get control over the IX.
Comment: Perhaps you already thought of this, but tablets without keyboards don't make good tools for programmers :)
Comment: Thanks. That's sad to hear, but unfortunately consistent with what I've been able to find on Google. Seems like you pay similar prices to what you would in the United States, but get much lower quality service. Particularly sad because I was hoping to introducey cousins to online coding resources, but that's hard to do if it's unaffordable to get them regular internet access.
Comment: The average person cannot afford the consistent unlimited internet service we enjoy in the west. Now if you're talking access perhaps an hour or so a day, that is somewhat doable. Will cost about $2/hour for a VSAT connection or $1/hour at  a cafe.
Comment: @MastaBaba good point - we are buying them tablets and solar chargers. So still not ideal without internet (I think they'd do better with interactive courses and access to a community) but still doable. Thanks
Comment: @MastaBaba And it should be a good keyboard; something like the keyboard that comes with a Microsoft Surface is, from my experience, a terrible tool for programming. Tactile feedback isn't up to par, the keyboard itself is flimsy, etc.
Comment: Consider deleting your answer now that there's a fresh one.
Answer: For anyone looking into this in 2022, I just visited Sierra Leone and spent a few days working remotely from Freetown. I ended up just using my phone with a local Orange SIM card as a WiFi hotspot, which worked surprisingly well: 200ms end-to-end ping to outside West Africa, 40 Mbit uplink/downlink, the cost was 125 000 SLL for 8GB of transfer, which for me would last for about 5 days.
I posted more notes in https://pnote.eu/notes/working-from-freetown-sierra-leone/ .
Comment: For those not familiar with the currency, can you please give a value in one of the bigger kinds of money? US doller, UK pound, Euro, so we understand how much it was at the time.
Answer: Internet bundles used to be expensive in sierra Leone before Orange SL (Airtel) reduces the prices up to 58%
As of august 11th 2017
3MB New Bundle- Le450
10MB Old Price le2,500 New Price le1,400
75MB New Bundle - le8,400
50MB Old price le9,000 new Price le4,500
150MB Old Price le11,250 New Price le10,000
200MB New Bundle- le15,000
250MB le45,000 New price le24,000
500MB Old price le67,500 new Price le35,000
1GB Old Price le112,500 New Price le60,000
3GB old Price le270,000 New Price le125,000


Is there any Windows, Mac, or Unix software similar to LSDJ for writing "chiptunes"?

Question: I am aware of LSDJ and have tried to use it via various GameBoy emulators, but I find the interface to be incredibly clunky and am wondering if anyone has seen a suite of software that takes better advantage of the keyboard and/or mouse interfaces commonly available to us today, but that can generate the same sort of "chiptunes" sounds?
Comment: Are you interested in the sounds from a specific chip or general chiptune-style sounds?
Comment: The chiptune-style in general; I've not a refined enough ear to even tell the difference. :)
Answer: There are a whole bunch of ways to make chiptune music in modern environments.
The "classic" approach to this is to use tracker software to sequence chip samples. Most trackers use samples, and there's a lot of history to using chip samples in tracker music. There are a few traditional trackers available for modern OS's, such as MilkyTracker or Modplug Tracker/OpenMPT. There are also more modern trackers with newer features, such as Renoise. Trackers are neat because you work at a very low, fundamental level with your samples. It can feel like programming as much as composition.
A more common approach these days, since DAWs and plugins are so common now, is to use a plugin to either emulate the sound of the old chips, or play back samples of them. If you're on Windows, try Tweakbench's free Toad, Peach, and Triforce plugins which make sounds based on NES waveforms, likely similar to what you were making with LSDJ. This approach is great too, because you can easily combine chipsounds with other recorded or synthesized sounds, and it's generally very easy to add effects and make broader edits. There's also a larger community of people working with this kind of software that you can rely on.
Of course if you REALLY want to be authentic, it is possible to sequence notes on actual chip hardware, using a solution such as a HardSID or MSSIAH cartridge. There's no more authentic way to get these sounds, but recording them can be a hassle - a lot of those old machines were noisy, and it can be hard to get a clean signal.
Comment: As someone with a SIDstation, I'd like to comment that the properly-noisy signal is part of the appeal in the first place.
Answer: You should try LMMS, which has a SID and a FreeBoy plugin.
Answer: Pretty much any "tracker" program (Impulse Tracker, CheeseTracker, etc.) can be used to make chiptunes, given fundamental waveforms as samples.  There are also a lot of chip-style softsynths available for sequencers such as Cubase, Logic, Ardour, Reaper, etc.; Logic even comes with a whole bunch of them with different wonderful bleepy-blorpy characteristics.
Answer: On macOS, you can try GarageBand (free) or Logic Pro X ($200). You can import your own custom chiptune instruments and have at it from there
On Linux, macOS AND Windows is another Application called LMMS (free and open source), however the interface is extremely clunky from my experience and I personally would only consider it as a last resort.


Why is Cr2O3 amphoteric but CrO not?

Question: I faced a question where I had to find the amphoteric oxides among some given oxides. The answer key says $\ce{Cr2O3} $ is amphoteric but $\ce{CrO}$ isn't. But why is that?
Answer: Basic oxide are those oxides that dissolve in water to form soluble hydroxide. Basic oxides are very soluble for this reason. Acidic oxides are that oxides that dissolve in water to form strong acids. Generally, covalent oxides form acidic oxides as the element to which oxygen is bonded is electronegative. As charge increases, electronegativity increase and thus oxide become acidic. This also applies for elements having multiple oxides. As oxidation no. increases, charge increases and thus oxides become acidic. This link shares a good information on this topic:

Since the acidity of a cation rises rapidly with charge, d-block
  elements which exhibit a wide variety of oxidation numbers may have
  one or more oxides that exhibit only basic properties and one or more
  oxides that exhibit only acidic properties. The higher the oxidation
  number the more acidic the corresponding oxide. Chromium is an example
  of such an element.
$$
\begin{array}{|c|c|c|}\hline
\text{Oxide}&\text{Oxidation number}&\text{Category}\\\hline
\ce{CrO}&\ce{Cr^2+}&\text{basic}\\\hline
\ce{Cr2O3}&\ce{Cr^3+}&\text{amphoteric}\\\hline
\ce{CrO3}&\ce{Cr^6+}&\text{acidic}\\\hline
\end{array}
$$

The amphoteric character of chromium(III) is stated in its Wikipedia article:

Chromium(III) oxide is amphoteric. Although insoluble in water, it
  dissolves in acid to produce hydrated chromium
  ions, $\ce{[Cr(H2O)6]^3+}$ which react with base to give salts
  of $\ce{[Cr(OH)6]^{3−}}$. It dissolves in concentrated alkali to yield
  chromite ions $(\ce{[CrO2]^{-}})$.

So, the rule of thumb is as oxidation number increases, charge on metal increases, acidic character increases. Also, basic oxide is soluble in water, acidic oxide is insoluble in water. This can be used to differentiate between acidic and basic oxide.
Comment: I understand the explanation, but find it incomplete. Apparently, it is just circumventing the main underlying logic. You say that increasing oxidation number means increasing acidity. But what is the reason for this? Why does acidity increase with increasing oxidation number?
Comment: Increasing oxidation number on the metal atom leaves more empty orbitals to accept electron density, so shouldn't that increase the Lewis acidity contribution to the behavior of the metal oxide?

I agree, if you can still say, "but why?", then the underlying logic (if any) is not sufficient.

Why is Cr2O3 amphoteric but CrO not?


Which channels are used by Wifi access points?

Question: The list of wifi channels are presented here. My question:
Let us assume that I have two Access points. which of the channels listed are used by which Access point? and how many users are supported per each Access point? are users allowed to send data concurrently to the access point (in other words, how many users can the channel hear at once?) Thank you.
Comment: Did any answer help you? if so, you should accept the answer so that the question doesn't keep popping up forever, looking for an answer. Alternatively, you could provide and accept your own answer.
Answer:
Which of the channels listed are used by which Access point?

For best results, only 1, 6 and 11 are used in the 2.4GHz band.  Typically, you would not have the two access points on the same channel because they would tend to interfere with each other.  You can manually select the channel, or some APs will pick the "best" one.

How many users are supported per each Access point?

That depends on the model of access point and the amount of bandwidth each user requires.  Cisco APs will allow up to 256 clients to associate, but normally you would saturate the channel long before then.

Are users allowed to send data concurrently to the access point?

802.11 is CSMA/CA, so each client waits until the channel is clear before sending.  In short, no.
Comment: So that means, a single channel(say channel 1) can be used by 256 clients turn by turn in the time domain. right?
Comment: Ok thank you. Let's assume channel1 is selected by Access Point 1. So, channel1 has a certain bandwidth, say B. can you show me the calculation that shows 256 or certain number of users are allowed to access the channel? in other words, I want to know how much is allocated for each of the users and how?
Comment: It's not that simple or deterministic.  And by that question, I see that you don't quite understand CSMA/CA yet.  Watch this first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f_Hk1RpmN4
Comment: okay I got the point, I think. Any number of users can use the channel as long as they sense the medium free and there is no collision. right? But what about the cellular network case? I think there is no CSMA/CA protocol there right?
Comment: I confess to not having spent the time to learn the protocols used on cellular telephone networks.  But I'm sure if you spent some quality time with Google, you could find out all you've ever wanted to know.


In Batman v Superman, how did Batman know where Martha was?

Question: Did I miss something during the movie?
How did Batman know where Martha was? Even Lex didn't know that.
Comment: She was in Plotville.
Answer: You may remember an earlier scene in a bar after a bare-knuckle fight, where Bruce, during his investigation of "the White Portuguese", clones the mobile phone of the head goon who later kidnaps Martha.
This allowed him to track the location of this criminal. It may have also revealed that the criminal had kidnapped Martha, or Batman might have deduced/guessed that he'd be responsible.
Comment: In classic Bat-style, I assumed he was targeted as a known higher ranking LL/White Portuguese associate; I think he refers to him as a lieutenant in the organization. Being the sort to collect extensive intel on his enemies, it seems likely that he could guess who LL entrusted with the task and/or correlated against other LL/White Portuguese cronies for a heat map of location likelihood.
Answer: If my memory is correct, Batman didn't know where Martha was, rather Alfred provided the location (using Batman's extensive resources).  @Shokhet notes in the comments:

"Alfred specifically mentions the phone location, and the fact that
  Batman is locked in on it"

It's worth noting that Batman is the ultimate detective, knows the area well and as pointed out by Paul D. Waite had been investigating the persons involved (including cloning the henchman's phone, and stealing files from Lex).
Comment: "Alfred provided the location" So you're saying the butler did it?
Comment: "Batman's extensive resources" -- Alfred specifically mentions the phone location, and the fact that Batman is locked in on it
Answer: He copied the bad guy's phone in the film during the boxing match. I think he was able to trace him through his cell phone after that. He even has the bad guy's cell phone by the time Lex calls.


2008 Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCI cranks but won´t start

Question: Ok, so I´m having this problem with a 2008 Ford Mondeo mk4 with a 2.0 TDci engine code AZBA, same one Peugeot uses in other cars such as the 407.
Car was having trouble a few days back to start whenever it reached normal operating temperature and it was stopped. It took like 10 seconds cranking to get it started. So I started plugging in my OBD scanner which throw me a p0087 error, low pressure on rail. It wasn't present, so I deleted it and performed an adaptation reseting all systems. Furthermore, I found out that three of the injectors were leaking like crazy, so I proceed to check it closely enough to find out they were losen, so I tighten them a little bit more.
The issue kind of disappeared for a few days, but now I´m having the same problem again, only I have not leakage and fault p0087 is now present, oh, and it doesn't start at all, doesn't matter if it´s cold or hot.
So I decided to test bypassing the whole low pressure system and putting it some diesel directly into the common rail high pressure pump, and yes, it started right away.
Now I´m thinking but I´m not sure and that´s where I need help, that probably some kind of lift pump is broken, and if so where is it located, cause I haven't been able to find it close to the tank. Could it be that this lift pump is integrated with the high pressure pump?
Comment: It sounds as though the your low pressure fuel pump has bit the dust, as you are thinking. The low pressure fuel pump is probably located in the fuel tank and is what moves the fuel from there to the high pressure pump. Without it, there is nothing for the high pressure pump to pressurize. I don't know much about the TDCi, so this is just some thoughts going down.
Comment: mine had the same problem after having the fuel filter changed then after two weeks it started ok must of been some air/dirt in the fuel line
Comment: I've got the same issue where is the rubber seal located ?
Answer: I just find out today after bleeding all the left air in the low-high pressure sides, that it wasn´t the lift pump that was faulty, but just a rubber seal located on the entrance to the high pressure pump. It took me quite a long time to find out but after discarding there wasn´t any kind of lift pump located on the fuel tank (Mondeo MK3 does have one there), and that it was indeed integrated among the common rail pump like other PSA engines usually do.
I replaced this rubber seal and now car works like a charm with 270000 Km. If this same failure still persists in the future, I´ll just install a non-return valve close to the high pressure pump, and a small gasoline pump that helps send the fuel along the fuel lines because it does make the difference on this particular case.
Regards!
Comment: Excellent! Glad you got it fixed. And while it's a simple fix, diagnostics of the issue seemed arduous! Sucking air at the HP fuel pump, well ... sucks! Ensure you select your answer as "the" answer.
Comment: I'm having the same problem where is this rubber seal located ? Would you have a picture please
Comment: Did anyone find out where this seal is? or whereabouts to actually look for it?


Is there any way to view/show card numbers on every card?

Question: It would be easier to refer to a card using the card number. I see that when you open a card, it shows a number at the bottom right. Is there a way to see this number when the cards are shown on the board. Also, does a similar functionality exits on the Android app ?
Comment: You could manually add the card number to the title of the card, but it doesn't sound like a very convenient thing to do.
Comment: Can you reproduce the results of sirthomas?
Answer: I don't think there is a way to display card numbers from the board view. You can suggest this feature at email@example.com
A quick workaround for this until there is a solution is to hover over the card title in the board view. The URL preview provided by the browser (e.g. in Chrome the URL preview of the link is at the bottom left of the browser) will show the card's link. The number at the end of this URL corresponds to the number of the card.
Not a great solution, but the only way to see the card number without actually clicking into it.
Comment: 2021 Update! -- Download this chrome extension and boom, DONE - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/trello-prime/mkphpfbogfpojbbmbdhfcboleippkffh?hl=en
Answer: There is now a Power-Up in the power ups list that allows you to add card numbers to all cards. Just enable the powerup and you'll see the number on the front and back of all cards.
No browser extension needed, it's provided through the official directory of power-ups and works in the new standalone apps.
Comment: What's the name?
Comment: http://info.trello.com/power-ups/card-numbers You should be able to find it in the power up list
Answer: You can use this bookmarklet.
I'm going to create some Google Chrome Extension in near future.
But this bookmarklet is very simple fast solution to show card numbers on each card.
Answer: You can hack your way to adding card numbers for everybody (without requiring everyone to install an extension) by using the third party Butler for Trello tool, which lets you run automated actions on certain triggers.
Since Trello currently does actually have card numbers for each card in its data model (which is exposed via the API), we can get Butler to write the card numbers into the names of each card.
After you follow the instructions to add the Butler user to your board, the bot will add a "Butler" list to Trello. Add the following cards to it:

when a card not in list "Butler" is added to the board, rename the card to "#{cardnumber} {triggercardname}"
when the name of a card not in list "Butler" with a name starting with "#{* } " is changed, remove the matched text and rename the card to "#{cardnumber} {cardname}"
when the name of a card not in list "Butler" and with a name not starting with "#" is changed, rename the card to "#{cardnumber} {cardname}"

Now when you edit a card's title, the card's number appears at the start:

Disclaimer: I am an Atlassian (which develops Trello) employee, but this is not an official recommendation or advice. This technique may stop working at any time due to either changes in Trello or Butler for Trello (no affiliation). Consider using card linking to refer to cards instead, which is resilient to e.g. moving a card from one board to another.
Answer: Caspar's answer was the key for me. Now that Butler is part of Trello, the steps have changed a bit, but the idea is the same and this solution works for Trello "Free teams" without using up a power-up. It also doesn't require a browser extension.
Here is the rule I'm using:
when a card is added to the board by anyone, rename the card to "{cardnumber} {cardname}"

Answer: Looks like you might get your wish ... card numbers just showed up on my Trello board.  Not sure if it was due to some funky filtering I did, or if they just pushed an update.  Either way, I'm looking for a switch to toggle on/off, otherwise it just adds more clutter in cases where you don't need them.
Comment: Is there a setting? I cannot see any numbers
Comment: Thanks for sharing! Your share however, doesn't fitt the criteria of an answer. Read the [faq] section to figure out why.
Comment: And... they've disappeared again.
Answer: I had the same issue, that's why I created this plugin few days back.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/trello-prime/mkphpfbogfpojbbmbdhfcboleippkffh?hl=en


Evidence of user habituation to support elements

Question: I'm working on a site with a number of floating elements intended to provide support that appear on different pages in the same location. For some pages, the floating elements are considerably more relevant than others. Is there any existing research to suggest that users may become habituated to seeing the floating elements early on in the user journey, and may consequently ignore them to the point of not really seeing them when they are more relevant, losing any potential value from those elements?
Comment: People tend to "overfocus" when they can't solve a problem: their attention zooms in on the bit of the problem ( in this case on the screen ) and ignores everything in the surroundings ( like help icons on the edge of the screen ).  And the more frustrated they get, the more they do it.  Its a destructive cycle.  So the problem is more than just habituation.
Answer: In the advertising world, there's a lot of evidence of ad blindness.
But that's not to say that every element that repeats often will drive blindness. For example, most websites put some fixed navigational aid (e.g. a navigation menu, a search box...) on every page, and that doesn't get ignored.
I've also seen tooltips / callouts cause blindness when used too often.
In short, it depends a lot on the specifics, such as

Is the element dismissible and in the way of other content that is more likely to be the user's intent to access? If so, it may be blindly dismissed when a user comes to accomplish their task. Better sometimes to make such elements small but non-dismissible.
Is the element completely irrelevant to users' intent on the site, such as an ad or promotional message? Or is it likely to be directly related to their task?
Answer: Inattentional blindness/the Invisible Gorilla perhaps?
...what you describe also seems similar to just good old-fashioned banner blindness. Plenty of research on that phenomenon.
Answer: First of all, the correct terminology for this bubbles are tooltips, and all of them guide the user to correctly know how to use the interface.
Definition by NN Group (Alita Joyce)

Definition: A tooltip is a brief, informative message that appears when a user interacts with an element in a graphical user interface (GUI). Tooltips are usually initiated in one of two ways: through a mouse-hover gesture or through a keyboard-hover gesture.

You must use this only in a complex UI, since the UI need to be explained by itself.

If this tooltips are important, use the copy inside of the UI or, use the tooltips/pop up tips as a second option if you don't get a way to ingretate them in the user interface.
IMHO, the best solution, its to use the "More Info" tooltip in this case and change the color to a light neutral for "meh" information and a contrasted one for the important.
Comment: Thanks, but they aren't tooltips. See for instance https://www.toyota.co.uk for an example of floating widgets on the right hand side of the page.
Answer: It's not a floating element, it's just a sidebar navigation menu overlays the main content.
The point of UI design is not to make sure the user doesn't ignore something when it's relevant; the point is to make sure the user can easily find something when it's relevant.
It's not a movie; it's an application. People use applications, so it's an active experience for the most part. They'll actively look around when they need something.
Proof - Every site uses something like a three-stripe menu icon in the corner to hide buttons such as user profile, log out ..., but almost everyone ignores it at first because that's how the icon is designed, to be visually un-intrusive. But, the user will know where to look when they want to, for example, log out of the site. The log out button isn't just placed on the side, it's hidden, but it doesn't matter as long as the user knows where to look when they need it.


modis surface reflectance

Question: I wanted to perform atmospheric correction using MODIS surface reflectance products for validating my atmospherically corrected images (from Landsat 8). As Landsat 8 only became available in 2013, is it safe to use MODIS data of 2013 and beyond?
Comment: what do you mean by 2013 and beyond ? The important thing is to use Landsat-8 and MODIS from the same date. In any case, this is useful to detect artefacts but you cannot really "validate" with another image (spectral bands are not exactly the same, BRDF is not exactly the same etc)
Comment: i mean 2013 and any date after that 2014, 2015..
Comment: @radouxju: I mean 2013 and any date after that 2014, 2015.. Yes, I am using images from same date. My (little) understanding is MODIS and Landsat bands are almost overlapping. Also, I assume I can use MODIS surface reflectance products in lieu of spectra data from the field to check how my atmospheric method works with me Landsat/how good the atmospheric correction is?
Answer: Yes - you can use MODIS imagery. The MODIS sensors have been degrading a bit and as such, there are some problems there. Also, given that you don't have exactly the same bands, view angles are a bit different, vastly different spatial scale and so on, the comparison will most likely be quite noisy and as such, it may indicate that a correction that actually went well, is wrong, or the other way around.
Another option would be to compare your atmospheric correction, with the atmospheric correction that the USGS have applied to Landsat 8, which is available through EarthExplorer etc. Just look for the Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Product. This product is generally good, but there are some spatial anomalies and such, but for comparison purposes, it should be fine.
Comment: I see. Informative! I was of the opinion that MODIS SR products are generally better than Landsat SR product. Regarding differences in spatial resolution, cant I take care of that by aggregating (using the aggregate tool in ArcGIS, for example) Landsat (30m) to MODIS (500m) spatial resolution, and then perform regression?
Comment: The relationship between "high" resolution / Landsat reflectance and coarse resolution / MODIS reflectance could be a study in an of it self. Plenty of issues to investigate relating to aggregation, spatial correlation and decorrelation in in-homogeneous area. All in all, lots of assumptions to consider, and you want to simply say "it all works perfectly from the start". You should at least note in your report / paper / thesis that you know that it is a rough assumption.

modis surface reflectance


Setting up Jabber server for use with multiple AIM accounts?

Question: I'm not sure if this belongs on Serverfault so I'll post here and it can get moved if people think it should. I have three AIM accounts I'd like to use on my Symbian phone, but all the IM apps I've found only support one account per protocol. I thought it may be possible to set up a Jabber Server and use an AIM transport to log onto multiple accounts. If this is possible I'd appreciate pointers to documentation and programs to do this. I'd rather use Linux to do this but can use windows if necessary. If there's an easier way to do this with out running my own server that would also be appreciated.
Answer: I have just installed a nice and easy to use Jabber Server, OpenFire.
You can install it on Windows without trouble.
OpenFire Installation instructions are easy to follow.
www.igniterealtime.org/builds/openfire/docs/latest/documentation/install-guide.html
If a XMPP(Jabber) Server is the way to go to solve the problem, this server could be the way to go.
Good luck.
P.D. Hit the one link limit, it sucks.
Comment: +1 ... Jabber is awesome. Been looking for a jabberd GUI for Linux.
Answer: Jabber/XMPP is an open technology and you are not constrained to your own server and may use other servers services. So:

Register Jabber account on the server you like (unless you already have one)
Find three servers with AIM gateway
Register to each AIM gateway with different AIM account

Voila! You have three AIM accounts connected to your one Jabber account.


Swap information

Question: Alice is trading information with Bob. Alice and Bob are in a Prisoner's Dilemma in that they'd prefer not sending their respective key while receiving each other's but would prefer an exchange taking place to no exchange. Is it possible, with or without a neutral third party, to swap two pieces of information while ensuring that both parties receive the right information, or at least incentivize people to send the right information (eg a method where it's probable they won't receive the right information if they send the wrong information). You can assume Alice and Bob will know the information is correct on complete arrival.
Answer: Theoretically it seems to be possible. First idea:
If Alice and Bob have a way to verify that the information is correct one approach would be for them to give the algorithm for that to a trusted third party. Then this third party can check the information and only exchange the values if both of them are correct.
If the third party is not trusted but does not collude with any of the participants an FHE encrypted version of the same scheme might work.
Without a third party it seems impossible. The reason is that one party has to send their information first and then the other party can cheat.
Answer: It is well known that it is not possible to achieve complete fairness in the two party setting, to agree on a random unbiased coin. See Limits on the security of coin flips when half the processors are faulty.
The functionality you are looking for seems to reduce to this functionality, which in turn is not possible.

Swap information


Spendable Wallet

Question: My friend ask me to open a wallet in blockchain and ask me to give the ID and password later he transact certain amount of btc which shows non spendable after which I am asked to change my password and finished 2FA then I was asked to deposit some btc in my wallet to create a transactions history so that non spendable can be made spendable so is it a scam
Comment: Can't add much more to it. NEVER EVER give anyone access to your wallet EVER. Unless it's already gone to hell and you're attempting to pay/beg someone to help you recover it. In that scenario never put money into that wallet again. Once you regain access, move anything into it to a new wallet. Remember, the owner of the wallet is the person who has the ability to create a transaction and move amounts away from it.
Comment: See also linked questions in answer to https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/74362/13866
Answer: Yes, it's a scam, and a well known one. You will lose all money that you deposit to that wallet, even if only you have the password and 2FA for the wallet. Your "friend" already copied the recovery seed and can take the money from the wallet even without a password or 2FA. Simply stop corresponding with that person.

Spendable Wallet


Access Android device's file system over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi

Question: I'm looking for a way to access the file system of an Android device (Nexus S) wirelessly, as its USB port has become unfit for anything but charging. Ideally, I'd like the same functionality as offered by connecting the phone to a PC with a USB cable.
Answer: Over Wi-Fi
Install a small app SwiFTP FTP Server. (original link 'dead' - 2012-09-22, see 'http://ppareit.github.com/swiftp/' instead ) Just, setup username & password. After tapping Start button, your device will become FTP server & the app will give you URL (handy if you don't know device IP & FTP URL format). On PC, you can use any FTP client software to access file system of device. Windows Explorer works, too. You can also create a network drive in computer. For example, you can visit this in address bar of Windows Explorer:
ftp://192.168.1.10:2121/

Here, 192.168.1.10 is IP of Android device & 2121 is port on which FTP server is working (you can configure port in app, too). Visiting it will ask you username & password. Enter what you specified in app. Done!
The app will not give you URL if device is not connected to PC using external Wi-Fi router, but it works in those situation too. If you've made device Wi-fi Hotspot & connected PC with Ad-hoc network, then you'll have to find device IP by yourself (ipconfig /all command is fine with Windows). It really works as long as you've IP of device (I've tested it by myself). Just, use this IP in FTP URL & visit it.
The Interesting Thing: As FTP is universal standard, this method will work with any PC, Mac. That's not true for Samba file share, AirDroid etc.
Over Bluetooth
There's no need of external app. If Bluetooth software on PC supports OBEX FTP, you can do this directly. If you've issues with stock bluetooth services, install Bluetooth File Transfer app. It supports both OBEX FTP and OPP. Means, you can do both-side file system access: device to PC & PC to device!
Comment: Notice that ftp is an inherently insecure protocol...
Comment: @miniBill Enter FTPS or FTPES which are almost similar to FTP, but they have compatibility issues. For most of home users, getting things done matters more... not full-time security. Occasionally, file encryption etc can be used to transfer sensitive data (use BoxCryptor without internet).
Comment: Security is not *that* important, on a LAN. But what about public wifi hotspots?
Comment: @miniBill The answer also includes MobileAP based solution which is available everywhere.
Comment: The "Bluetooth File Transfer" by Medieval software linked in this answer has some serious drawbacks: I found that it would not allow me to browse the whole filesystem, only one portion that it decided to default to, meaning that all of my SD-stored media was inaccessible.
Answer: Not exactly "accessing the filesystem", but you could try AirDroid. It has a really nice file manager.
Answer: There are many ways, you can use ADB over wifi, run an FTP or SSH server on the phone, or use Dropbox.
The easiest to set up is Dropbox, but it's fairly limited which files and you can synchronize. The best solution would be installing an FTP/SSH server on the phone, but setting up those might be difficult.
Comment: I don't suppose any of these will work over Bluetooth?
Answer: With Samba you can access the files like a network share.
I think it requires a rooted phone though.
Should be better than FTP, and it should also be better than USB in that the phone can use the card in the same way (you don't need a specific mode)
Answer: Samba Filesharing is a great app for connecting over wifi, but does require root.  I use it regularly myself.  Just turn on wifi, fire up the app, and then you can browse your SD card from your pc.
Comment: How is the app requiring root a mistake? BTW, if you read the app description it will tell it needs root under the requirements.
Comment: So I did! Dur.  Corrected.
Comment: Excellent, I deleted my original comment as it may only cause confusion now...
Answer: AndSMB is functionally more useful among free samba file sharing apps.
Comment: It is SMB client. What it has to do with the topic?
Answer: If you're just looking for a way to easily transfer files to and from your device wirelessly, then rather than an app that lets you access the device's filesystem directly you might want to consider using a file synchronization app instead.
For example, if you use Syncthing to synchronize certain directories (music, pictures, video) on your phone to your PC, then when you want to copy or change a file on your phone you can just update it in the synced directory on your PC. This method is much faster than directly accessing the phone's filesystem, since the actual copy operation happens silently in the background. No need for your phone to even be online at the time; it'll automatically synchronize next time you connect to Wi-Fi. As an added bonus, this solution also doubles as a local backup of all your pictures and other files on on phone.
I realize this isn't quite what you asked for, but I felt I should mention it anyway since I was having a similar problem and this solved it for me.
Comment: but does that mean those files and folderst will have to stay on computer in same folder and if you remove , they will be removed from phone as well, like in dropbox?


How do you discover the indexes of the big maps of a contract?

Question: How do you discover the indexes of the big maps of a contract? It seems you would have to inspect the storage, and correlate with the type of the storage, and pick out the numbers that correspond to big_maps. Not so fun to do programmatically.
Comment: Why? For example, consider a contract with storage `(pair (big_map %debits address tez) (big_map %credits address tez))`. Why do you want to know which big_maps they are, without knowing which is which?
Comment: Consider the following use case: I want to write a script that 1) originates a contract with big_maps and then 2) query these big maps. Between step 1 and 2, I will have to obtain the storage of the originated contract, parse it and pick out the integers that corresponds to indices. If there was an RPC / client command that lists the big_maps of a contract and their indices, then this task would be simplified.
Comment: Why query the maps without knowing which is which? I guess you intend discover which is which by e.g. examining the (typically different looking) data in the maps?
Comment: Motivation aside, you answered your own question, in my opinion. The way to find the big_maps is to look for them in the storage value. Because big_maps have no 'tag' in the Micheline (like `Big_map 1`), this means you need to consider the storage type, in order to distinguish the big_maps from other values which are encoded as integers. Unless you are willing to delegate this task to someone else (like tzstats), that's it, I think.
Comment: Consider the case where there is only one big_map in the contract. The method i described works, of course. What I'm asking for is a simpler way. Users can interact with the node directly using RPCs. But there is also the more user-friendly `tezos-client`. It would not be absurd to want such a feature in the client.
Comment: OK, there is no such feature. I improved the existing answer to say so.
Answer: The tezos-client and tezos-node RPC have no such feature.
If you don't mind using an API other then the node RPC you can find this in the new version of the tzstats indexer (GET /explorer/contract/{hash} returns an object with a key bigmap_ids which is an array) see https://api.babylonnet.tzstats.com/explorer/contract/KT1E5toJrALhVPuKpHWTbRVjgEvWWR98sVKj for an example, the id is also part of the decoded/unboxed storage endpoint at https://api.babylonnet.tzstats.com/explorer/contract/KT1E5toJrALhVPuKpHWTbRVjgEvWWR98sVKj/storage
Answer: If you are using the RPC you have to query all the block ids since the origination of the contract and collect the big_map_diff's from the contract's applied transactions. This is a slow process so you will need to store this data. This amounts to building an indexer around the contract.
The internal structure form the block RPC looks like this:
      "big_map_diff"?:
        [ { /* update */
            "action": "update",
            "big_map": $bignum,
            "key_hash": $script_expr,
            "key": $micheline.007-PsDELPH1.michelson_v1.expression,
            "value"?: $micheline.007-PsDELPH1.michelson_v1.expression }
          || { /* remove */
               "action": "remove",
               "big_map": $bignum }
          || { /* copy */
               "action": "copy",
               "source_big_map": $bignum,
               "destination_big_map": $bignum }
          || { /* alloc */
               "action": "alloc",
               "big_map": $bignum,
               "key_type": $micheline.007-PsDELPH1.michelson_v1.expression,
               "value_type": $micheline.007-PsDELPH1.michelson_v1.expression } ... ]

If you are not interested in building an indexer, a more practical approach is using the Better Call Dev API. There is a route /bigmap/{network}/{ptr}/keys which takes the network name and the big map id and returns the big map keys. It also has a few options that let you see the big map keys at a particular block height.
You can see an example in their UI: Dexter tzBTC/XTZ liquidity providers.


I downloaded yesterday some updates from software center as usual and both wifi and ethernet do not work anymore

Question:
Hi everyone. I have a macbook from 2009, I downloaded and installed updates from the Software Center as usual yesterday night and after the reboot both wifi and ethernet did not work. The network worked just fine before 10pm but not after the reboot. I attach a picture I took to show the last updates installed. I think I must delete some of these updates manually using Synaptic Package Manager, I can find all of them with it, but I would like to know which ones.
Answer: Install both linux-firmware and linux-firmware-nonfree packages,e.g.

sudo apt-get install linux-firmware linux-firmware-nonfree

and reboot.
For me Installing newer drivers solved the problem from this article or you can go through this for your specific need.My WiFi adapter is not working at all, how to troubleshoot?


What would it take for a theropod-like creature to be capable of running underwater?

Question: I'm designing an alien creature that has a similar body structure as a theropod. Now one thing about this creature is that it lives near bodies of water like lakes or shallow seas because that's where its prey lives. However, it does not prey its victims outside of the water but rather going inside tge water to chase them. It doesn't exactly swim though the water though. When it chases its prey it looks more like it is running at the bottom of the sea/lake. Now I got this idea from how hippos are capable of walking underwater, but there are lots of things that are different here. For example, hippos walk underwater not run, plus hippos are big stalky tetrapods while the creature I'm designing is a bipedal theropod. So my question is, what changes should I make to my creature in order to be capable of bipedal running underwater? And also, is such a creature possible?
Comment: You want speed underwater, you need a powerful tail, not a pair of legs.
Comment: a "a bipedal theropod" is called a biped...
Comment: "Running" by definition includes a phase with no ground contact, so, unless your theropod is considerably denser than water, it will have either to swim, or to bounce like an astronaut on the Moon.
Comment: @L.Dutch "a bipedal theropod" is a theropod, since theropods were bipedal.
Comment: the only animals that "walk" underwater do so to sneak up on prey, that form of locomotion is completely useless for speed underwater.
Answer: Expanding on @Renans comment, when trying to walk underwater the biggest problem you have is providing motive force without simply pushing yourself off the ground. To combat this you need a lot of downward force that can be gained in two ways: Density and Power
Density is obvious. Dense things sink, and so they can push off the floor and forward to their prey. The downside, of course, is that you have more weight to move around.
Power is less so, but basically if you swim downwards constantly you can exert force against the floor and use it to push off.
So, to your beasties. They are very muscly (dense), powerful creatures with powerful tails. When chasing prey they use powerful tails to push themselves both forward and down (powerfully), and then use powerful legs for explosive bursts of speed and dangerously fast changes in direction. 'Walking' on the bottom gives them an advantage in leverage when it comes to combat manoeuvres, allowing them (with clever use of grasping limbs and positioning) to best theoretically 'stronger' prey. They should also be able to burst up to the surface and snatch prey on the surface, or just use that to escape from the seabed should they need to.
Of course, all this requires relatively sturdy ground. No point in using the ground for leverage if it's made of sucking mud or sand, so places where the waves or tides have exposed bare rock would be best.
I'm envisioning smart ambush predators that prey on creatures trapped in large tidal pools. Basically aquatic raptors...
I may never swim near the coast again.
Comment: @L.Dutch: Crabs: Raptors of the water.
Comment: Never seen a crab hunting for food? ;)
Answer: For speed underwater, if you're going to insist on bipedal motion (or really any motion that isn't swimming) you're going to need to overcome a couple blatant obstacles.

Water is dense and relatively uncompressible. As a result, it's less able to 'get out of the way' as your creature (which is more dense) moves through the space it so recently occupied.
Water is under pressure, the deeper you are, the greater the pressure. As you move out of a space, you leave a 'hole' that the pressurized water will quickly move to fill. This water includes the water immediately in front of you (this btw, is how airplane wings work in principle, by creating a lower pressure zone above the wing)

That being pointed out, there are ways to get bipedal underwater sprinting to be a thing that actually happens. Your creature will resemble a tapered wedge at both the front and the back, and the bipedal limbs will resemble (jointed?) oars, able to have a flat, gripping surface that can be turned sideways to minimize drag on the fore-swing. Basically imagine a flatfish with articulated flippers that function like tentacles but are shaped like, well, flippers.
The gradually tapered front gives a aquadynamic design for parting the water, the reversed taper at the back allows the water to be easily and gently "unparted" to prevent the creation of a low pressure zone (or at least minimize the pressure difference). The articulated flippers give the ability to adapt to the underwater terrain without introducing too much drag.
The serious downside to such a design comes with the underwater currents common to essentially every major body of water. One cross-current and your creature is helplessly dragged sideways, due to the almost sail-like form of its body.
As a joke, you could also just chop all but 2 tentacles off an Octopus and hope for the best.
Answer: To those who would say a tail is better, remember that evolution
1 Has to work with what it has. A biped can't give birth to a fish.
2 Can only select individuals that make it work in their lifetime and survive to breed. Doesn't matter if an individual represents a step towards the perfect solution if the intermediate steps aren't survivable.
So what would happen here is a bipedal animal that hunts by running on land finds itself low on land-dwelling prey, and faces a sudden pressure to hunt some water-dwelling prey. The individuals that survive the first wave of land-prey-famine do so by running through the water. It's awkward but it works. Individuals that start down the path of becoming fish (webbed feet, legs start to fuse together) are neither good at running anymore, nor good at swimming yet, and die. Running works though, and those individuals live. Although we could see a better solution, the sudden change in selection pressure makes natural selection myopic. It can only see what works right now.
You'd need to be significantly denser than water so that you sink and land on the bottom with weight on your feet. Your feet need weight pushing them into the ground so you can get traction. So your biped is lean, and either has dense bones or something like scales or a shell that doesn't float. As it adapts to running underwater its limbs become very narrow and streamlined. It probably hunches over so that the length of its torso is aligned if the direction of motion. So maybe the first individuals to go in the water were awkwardly hunching themselves over like a bicyclist and then maybe this led to adaptation to a posture more like a T-rex in later individuals.
So maybe like a T-rex with legs that are wide back-to-front with muscles for running, but narrow side-to-side to slip through the water, and a streamlined head like the front of a fish to slip through the water. The smaller muscles on the side of the legs would be OK underwater where it isn't as easy to topple over, but eventually your creatures might find that their legs are no longer suitable to balancing their top-heavy bodies on land.
Comment: therapods already have a tail to work with.
Answer: I like Joe Bloggs' answer, but since I can't give that one anymore, I'll offer a slightly more exotic one (especially since you said "alien" in your description).
Your creature has developed a beneficial, almost slightly symbiotic, trait which allows it to not require massive amounts of power or weight to run underwater. Imagine it has developed something similar to the hook part of Velcro on its feet. The lake bottoms around it are covered with a strongly rooted plant which resembles the loop portion (it may also gets= most of its nutrition from the scattered remains of your theropod's prey which meets its end underwater, symbiosis is always interesting).
This allows your creature to still move forward as the hooks all point backwards on its feet, something similar the special skis people use to actually walk up mountains and then ski down (Ski skinning). But instead of retarding rearwards motion, the hooks and loops combine to prevent upwards motion. Your creature is still free to 'run' forward using leg power alone.
If your creature can control how these miniature hooks on its feet come out, it can change directions quite easily or release itself in case of entanglement.
Just a more off-the-wall idea (which can likely be built on) if your world allows for such things.
Answer: Hippos are fast underwater because of their low centre of gravity, their sheer weight and their special skin. A therapod could angle down on all fours and push forwards. Smooth skin, and as others have suggested a powerful tail would help. Penguins are modern therapods... Perhaps your therapod has wing like powerful forearms the work well under water?
Answer: Dreamworks got around a similar problem by making one of their dragons - in How to Train Your Dragon's television series, the speed stinger grow webbed feet so they could actually walk on water. I mention this because the speed stinger was also a wingless therapod. I direct you here: http://dreamworks-dragons.wikia.com/wiki/Speed_Stinger hope that helps :-)
Answer: You can't. Water is dense: it provides bouyancy and considerable resistance to motion. To even walk underwater, your creature first has to be a good bit denser than water, otherwise the force of a leg against the bottom will simply push it upwards. That means that at best the motion will more or less resemble astronauts moonwalking rather than any sort of running.
Now once we get that moonwalk going, realise that in water the legs have to swing back and forth against water resistance. This uses energy, and probably more energy than could be obtained from prey, so your creature starves and becomes extinct.
That's not the biggest problem, though. Even if we overcome the first two, the creature is trying to move its upright, unstreamlined body against water resistance. This means that it will be very slow (try it yourself if you have a pond or stream handy), and will not catch prey. Thus it will starve, and again, the species becomes extinct.
Really, there's a reason why things as diverse as dolphins, tuna, ichthyosayrs, and submarines all have the same basic shape: physics dictates that that's the shape you must have if you want to move at speed in the water.
Answer: A fish hook with legs...
No, but seriously; there are many fishooks that are shaped so that they will dive into the water when you reel. See https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung&ei=aox-W8_eE9nF0PEP64WWwAk&q=diving+lure&oq=diving+lure&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3..0i71l5.0.0..30138...0.0..0.0.0.......0.kyE5YgwE8PA
In order to go faster in the water your creature needs to stay low to the bottom so it can push against the ground and gain momentum. It will probably have strong legs, small, fined arms that either pull against the body or streamline behind it, and a tail with webbed spines to give it even more momentum.
Another part of going fast underwater is being very streamlined. There's a reason almost all fish look like rounded arrowheads, and that's because they evolved to be streamlined. Your creature will need a narrow, tube like body if its to keep up with anything underwater. It's already at a disadvantage with legs, since they have drag, plus it will need a head shaped like a wedge to keep its feet properly pressed against the bottom, which also generates drag.
All in all I would make this creature closer to a lizard than a theropod, a frilled neck to act as a wedge and keep it low, webbed feet that work similarly to a frogs in that they stay under and beneath its body, minimizing drag, and a strong thick tail that has a fin on the end made of webbed spines that can be flattened on land, which it uses to gain an additional burst of speed when catching prey, and also as a counterbalance on land to keep it on two feet. It catches prey in its mouth and then takes it back to land to eat so it can spit the excess water out.