EMT Grounding requirements

Question: I'am running 2" EMT from an outside enclosure through the exterior wall into a switch room that is being attached with beam clamps, The EMT is carrying a Fiber optic cable feed to the switch room that converts to PVC upon entering the room, can I ground the EMT outside using a ground bushing with a ground rod or does it have to be grounded to the building ground?
The EMT is dedicated to the fiber only.
Comment: What if any mains power wires or cables will be in that conduit also? Even if not you, a 2" conduit will be a tempting route for the next person who needs to get power through.  The answer turns on this question.
Comment: What is the outside enclosure made of, and is it grounded?
Comment: The enclosure is a metal NEMA 3 outdoor. The enclosure itself is not grounded, but the 2" REMC from the enclosure entering the building has a grounding bushing and is grounded with a #6 bare copper wire on the outdoor enclosure side, from there the conduit run is 80ft to the comm room.
Answer: You don't need to ground a hamster run, either.
Suppose you had a hamster habitat.  And instead of fiber optic, you were using this EMT to extend the hamster habitat to an outdoor maze.  Would this habitat run require grounding *solely due to using EMT as a building material?  Of course not.  That would be silly.
Well, as far as NEC is concerned, fiber-optic cable that has no DC wires running it counts the same as a hamster.  It simply does not count for anything at all, and is completely out of its jurisdiction.
The only time fiber-optic cable is in NEC's jurisdiction is when you intermix it in a conduit with electrical wires.  But even then, they consider it disregardable if there is nothing metallic in it.
Comment: @manassehkatz right.  Like EMT is the material of choice for [geodesic domes](http://www.desertdomes.com/tips.html) (and by the way, I wrote "material of choice" before I even found that link, so funny synchronicity).
Comment: Or to put it another way: If you reuse something "not from the electrical world" for electrical, then NEC gets involved. But if you use something "from the electrical world" for something **not** electrical, the NEC says "have fun".
Answer: To be code compliant you would ALSO bond the fiber at the service entrance with a intersystem bonding termination. NEC 250.94
Just driving a ground rod and not bonding it to the service supply w/ a intersystem bonding termination creates parallel paths and potential differences for voltages.
Edit: In light of the dielectric properties that some Fiber cables have, NEC 770.93 requires the bonding or grounding electrode of fiber only when in contact with electric light or power conductors.  If you do decide to bond even though the fiber is not in contact, there are quite a few requirements. Some that may be relevant to your scenario is the use of non-corrosive material like copper or similar material for the bonding.  Galvanized conduit would suffice but not regular EMT.
Comment: Bond the fiber? You realize it's non-conductive plastic, probably in a non-conductive shell.
Comment: I've been doing some reading and in light of what DoxyLover brought up about the dielectric properties of fiber, the code Article 770.93 would be more prudent to the scenario
Comment: The room that the EMT conduit goes into is actually a comm room and there is no power service supply for grounding entering the room other than the electrical outlets, how would I bond the EMT then if not with a ground rod.

EMT Grounding requirements


Short story where a man disguises the destination of a letter by making postal code different from address

Question: A man is running from some people who have him under surveillance, and when he wants to send a letter he thinks they can see the address he wrote on the letter, so he writes a fake address and prints a differing postal code surreptitiously, by hand.
This was many years before the invention of the Postal Bar Code, and it used dots instead of bars.  But the UPS MaxiCode uses a two-dimensional square of dots, very similar to what was used in the story.  Thus I think of this as a Heinlein story, one more "invention" ahead of his time.
Answer: You may be looking for Robert Heinlein's novella "Gulf".
Wikipedia article
Our hero is an agent working for the government (World, I think). He has just returned from the moon carrying vital evidence (film canisters, I think).
After the sequence involving forging the destination codes and posting the evidence, the protagonist retires to a hotel, where he is easily and ellegantly captured by sinister forces working out of the building (to which he was directed by a plant at the port). He meets the arch villainess, and has to watch some poor innocent tortured to keep the vital secret. He gets some help busting out from a fellow prisoner who turns out to be running a secret society of supermen and women. Our hero is offered a place in this organization and trained in varied skills and arts.
In the end he and a partner undertake dangerous mission on the moon. The partner is a women he met and fell in love with.

 And they die in the execution of the mission.
Comment: You are exactly correct, I found it there!
"... addressed the top one to "Raymond Calhoun, P.O. Box 1060, Chicago" and commenced to draw with great care in the rectangle reserved for electric-eye sorter. The address he shaped in arbitrary symbols intended not to be read, but to be scanned automatically."
Comment: Unless I'm mixing up two stories in my head, there is just such a sequence. It comes early in the story. But I don't have a copy in front of me right now so I am relying on my frail memory.
Comment: Good guess.  Lots of "scramble codes" in that story, but no hand-printing of dots for a postal address.
Comment: Great story! Also, this story is the prequel to the novel *Friday*. Friday is an "artificial human" - created with hand crafted DNA, and some parts of her DNA were taken from the main character and his partner from Gulf.


Right time to start applying for PhD - Germany

Question: I am a computer science student and am currently doing my Master Thesis in Germany. I am in the second month of the six month duration for the Master Thesis. I wish to pursue a PhD after Masters and I was wondering when the right time is to start applying for PhD positions. I found a few positions that start in September 2015 but I would be done with the Masters only at the end of November. Is it alright to start applying for a position from now itself or should I wait for a few months?
Comment: Where do you apply in Germany? Graduate School or PhD Researcher position (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter)?I don't think your application will be successful for the former before you have graduated. In the latter case, it may depend on whether you know the prof. If they know you and believe you are a good fit for the position, then they might keep the position vacant for two or three months.
Comment: Also, don't you want to take a couple of weeks off after graduation? ;)
Comment: I intend to apply at universities such as TUM, RWTH Aachen or at institutes such as MPI, DLR etc. There are a few openings at these places that start in October which are interesting and on the similar lines of my Master Thesis and I am worried that I am missing out on such positions. What is the usual time (in advance) when one applies to universities or institutes. Do all the potential candidates apply only after graduating? @henning
Comment: I can't give a definitive answer for computer science (political scientist here), but every call for application that I know requires that the applicant has graduated. Only for postdoc positions, being close to graduation (i.e. dissertation is written but not yet defended/published) is sometimes enough. If you don't already have suction with your future boss, I am sure your chances are slim. The first things they will be looking for are your master certificate and letters of recommendation (LoR). You probably can't get a good LoR from your advisor before she has read you thesis.
Answer: I'd recommend that you start applying a few months before you graduate. The process may easily take several months, and if you want a direct transition, you need to find something before you actually graduate.
In most cases, it will be possible to delay the start of a position by a few months. So by all means, if you find an interesting position that starts a bit before you expect to graduate, you should still apply. Just state the date of you expected graduation (month/year is fine) with your application.
Note that many potential employers, especially if they don't know you from earlier activities, will want to see results of academic work such as a Masters thesis (or at least a draft for it) or other academic texts. If you can't show anything in that direction, it would be good to first focus on positions where you know the professor.
Answer: The best time to apply depends on the funding type of your Ph.D. position and on whether the start time is fixed. There are generally two funding types, namely, research assistants (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) and scholarship based funding.
For research assistants, a master degree certificate is a legal prerequisite to get employed and if the supervisor doesn't know you personally then he probably won't consider your application until a semi-final draft of your thesis is already done. Supervisors can delay the start of their project only if they find an excellent match.
As for scholarship-based positions, you can apply a bit earlier depending on the application deadline. You may even start conditionally without having your master degree certificate issued yet which gives you extra flexibility. Note that issuing the master certificate may take a few months after defending the thesis.


How do you set markers on items in Fortnite Battle Royale on Xbox?

Question: In the recent Season 8 update, the ability to place markers on items, such as guns, meds, etc... has been added. I have tried to use this feature, but I cannot seem to find out how to use it. You cannot access this through the map, as it will just mark a location, and I do not know how to set markers without going to the map. Does anyone know how to access this feature for console players?
Answer: If you have not changed your settings then it should be left on the d-pad.
There are many applications of this functionality:

When aiming to place a marker on an enemy.
While looking at guns/loot to place a marker on them.
While looking at a place to place a marker on the location.

Placing a marker in the sky will cancel an existing location marker.
Answer: R1 and L1 should by default set/remove markers. If you are using custom bind and your R1 and L1 have assigned other functions you will not be able to use markers quickly.
Comment: Can you answer how to do this for PC players too? I know its out of scope of the question, but I think it silly to create another question for it.
Answer: It's LB and RB for removing and setting a marker on your minimap pressing left on your D-Pad while looking at an item/weapon will mark the weapon. Looking in a general direction will set a normal marker that only people in your party can see. Looking in a general direction and pressing Left on your D-Pad twice will set a marker titled 'DANGER' this marker will be red and will also only be visible to players in your party. The last one can be used to mark enemy sightings and bases.


Difference between three terminologies

Question: I have confused many times wherever I studied about "Dacoity, Robbery and Extortion". These three terms are closely related to each other and written in ambiguous forms
Answer: Robbery is a theft achieved through the use of violence or a threat of violence.
Dacoity -- which I'd never heard of before -- is robbery by a group of at least five people. The term appears to be used only in India and maybe some nearby countries, but other countries may have equivalents. In the United States, for instance, that conduct would often lead to liability under our criminal street gang statute.
Extortion is the use of illegal means (such as violence or coercion) to obtain something or to force someone to do something.
Robbery and extortion can start to look like the same thing when dealing with threats rather than actual violence. In those cases, distinguish between the two by looking for:

a threat of violence,
a threat of violence in the immediate future; and
a threat contingent on a refusal to surrender property.

If any one of those is missing, you're probably dealing with extortion rather than robbery.
Answer: Extortion: Do what I want or I will do these bad things to you.
Robbery: Give me what I want now or I will do these bad things to you now.
Dacoity — same as robbery, but done by a gang.

Difference between three terminologies


How serious are occasional kernel panics?

Question: I had a kernel panic about 2 years ago, and another one a few days ago. I haven't had any other problems besides minor software bugs, and I was able to harmlessly reboot after both. I've been told this can mean many bad hardware-related things. Could it just be something relatively harmless, since it doesn't really seem too persistent? Is it worth having it checked out?
Comment: Twice in as many years isn't something I'd consider worrisome; twice in, say, an hour - that's different.  That said, it's always a good reminder to make sure that your important data is backed up and known retrievable (regularly test restoring from your backup solution); to run Software Update and install any available patches and upgrades; and to run a maintenance utility, such as the always-excellent [Cocktail](http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10909/cocktail) or [MLCC](http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/9503/mountain-lion-cache-cleaner).
Comment: I agree. Not something to worry about. Non-ECC RAM can have random single bit errors that would cause the odd kernel panic. It happens, nothing to do or worry about really. If it starts happening frequently or at least with some regularity, then start worrying, but at the moment, I wouldn't sweat it. As da4 says, it's a good time to check your backups.
Answer: The first time you get a kernel panic, it is a reminder to make sure you have a regular backup system in place. Restart the Mac and check that your backup is configured. Check later that day to test restoring a files you need to be backed up.
The second time you get a kernel panic, decide how you're going to track when they happen. I use a 3 x 5 note card to document things like what I was doing when I noticed it in the date and time.
Other than that, until you lose real work, the occasional panic/error isn't a real concern as much an annoyance. If you end up annoyed or have recurring panics, gather objective data needed to solve most kernel panics. Apple documents their well engineered process for this:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200553

Once you have a handful of events, checking with support is good since they are in a better position to weigh if hardware is suspected to be faulty or if your panics are software in nature.
Answer: Yes, sometimes a kernel panic can indicate bad/damaged or incompatible hardware. The frequency with which you have them is probably not indicative of a major hardware problem (i.e. bad cable connected to MotherBoard from HDD, etc.), unless you notice physical conditions that seem to coincide (i.e. hottest day of the year, child pounding on desk, etc.), or while performing the same software related task (i.e. clearing caches). It could be as simple as having one system file corrupted that is not often used.
On the other hand, I have also seen this caused by having hardware just lose its connection slightly (i.e. an eSata ExpressCard slipping out just a little while in use on a 17-inch MacBook Pro).
Answer: Twice in two years is nothing. Computers run on electrical signals not 0 and 1. Yes, sometimes errors occur. 'Single-bit errors' may occur, but the hardware and your OS are smart enough to deal with them most of the time. However, sometimes, they can't and you get the kernel panic, indication of something serious went wrong, perhaps not possible to correct. Twice in 2 years doesn't necessarily mean faulty hardware, just random unlikely errors.
If you are so worried about, you can start inspecting your hardware. Most kernel panics I have encountered were due to bad RAM modules! Start by running a memory test and see what you get.
Answer: There's so much conflicting and confusing advice on the web about Kernel Panics - and very often no reason to take your machine in.
Read Apple's own support page, About Kernel Panics ,
and MacWorld's How To Troubleshoot a Kernel Panic. You'll be able to isolate the problem and from there, know what steps to take, many of which are quite simple.


Should a beta version of an engine be used to start a new project?

Question: Is it advisable to use a beta version of unity(2019.3b) to make an actual complete project? What are the disadvantages?
Comment: This isn't the place to gather opinions of a specific engine / version - you can have a more informal discussion about that in [chat] if you like - so I've answered below what the general considerations are when using beta versions of any engine/middleware.
Answer: The downside of using a Beta version is that it might contain bugs that are never fixed in that version, or features implemented in a preliminary way that end up being implemented differently or scrapped altogether in a future stable version.
If that happens, you might find your project is dependent on a version of the engine that is not stable, or lacks the full feature set you want, but you can't easily upgrade it to the fixed/complete version because the API changed between the Beta and the stable release. This leaves you with a lot of refactoring to do, or a complete port over to the stable version.
So, it's generally considered better practice to use the main line releases, or even a Long-Term Support version, when starting a new project. That way you have confidence that the version you're using has been thoroughly tested, that bug fixes will continue to be available for it, and if you need to do an incremental upgrade later in your project, major refactoring should be more rare.
Beta versions are useful to get a preview of new features, to evaluate them and offer feedback to the devs, or to begin updating tools/middleware you've made so it's ready to share with developers using the new features in the next stable version when it releases.
Comment: Thank you. That's actually the perfect answer that I needed..


Was Brett Gardner first MLB player to hit consecutive walk-off home run and lead off home run?

Question: Brett Gardner hit a walk off home run against Tampa and the next game lead of with a home run.  Was this ever done before by any other player?
Answer: Yes, it has been done by many players though not sure how many times in MLB history. And Brett Gardner became the third player in Yankees history to hit a home run leading off the game, the game after hitting a walk-off home run. Hall of Famer Joe Gordon did it in 1940 and Roberto Kelly in 1990.


Is "Finish him" grammatically correct or must it be "Finish him off"?

Question: I know it's just "Finish him" in Mortal Kombat, but is it really grammatically correct when, say, writing dialogues for characters in a story (eg. a villain saying the line in a superhero story)? All dictionaries say it's "finish him off."
Comment: Your wooden statue of George Washington looks pretty good, but it lacks varnish.  You need to finish him off. ???
Comment: I think you need to edit to clarify that in _Mortal Kombat_ "Finish him" is what the games announces as an instruction to deliver the _coup de grâce_ to an already-defeated player: not everyone knows this!
Comment: Not to be confused with _Finnish him_, which is an order to speak to him in long words with too many vowels.
Answer: Grammatically "Finish him" is an imperative verb with a direct object, and is completely normal: like "Eat it".
Lexically, "finish" meaning "kill" is less common than "finish off"; but it does occur.
The iWeb corpus has 2060 instances of "finish/es/ed him off" and 3323 of "finish/es/ed him" (including the 2060).


What should i do regarding taxes if I am working full time and have a self employed 'freelance' work?

Question: I have a fulltime work in UK and have an old business which give me some money every few months,
I have my national insurance number as a full time worker, but now any money will come from my freelance work will come directly to my bank account, I want to know what steps to do to pay taxes if any for this freelance work and how they will calculate it while I am not sure how much I get per year exactly.
Answer: First, request that you complete a tax return.
On this tax return, you will complete both the employed and self employed sections. This will give you a total income and tax liability.
You will already have paid some tax via PAYE, but you will have to pay additional tax for any other income. For future years there is the option, depending on amount, to collect extra tax through PAYE to cover the other earnings. If it is likely to be the same for the next few years, this may be a better option than paying a lump sum.
The tax return is now mostly online, and not too bad if your affairs are otherwise simple. The hardest part will be keeping a good record of your other earnings. Remember that you have to keep these records for seven years in case HMRC ever want to audit them, and it's a good idea to have a separate account for the income, or some other way of easily identifying it.
Answer: I would talk to your HMRC tax office they do have guidance on this issue here
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/working/intro/employed-selfemployed.htm
Comment: Their website is excellent, easy to understand, and contains the definitive information. It's not going away (HMRC is Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs office, not some random site), and it will be updated when the rules changed. A better answer couldn't be given.
Comment: @littleadv is correct. My own government's tax site (our IRS) had a web update that broke hundreds of outbound links from my own blog. While the answer "search on the HMRC site" may ultimately solve the problem, SE's policy is that link-only answers are to be avoided. A couple sentences summarizing the solution would be great .
Comment: This is hardly an answer.
Comment: @gnasher729 Ty quite often So seem to prefer a lot of wafflely fluff in answers when a simple one or two line one is the best answer


do i need to install noobs and raspian jessie pexil?

Question: I have already installed Noobs to operate my Raspberry Pi3.I would like to
run Raspbian Jessie Pixel.Do they run side by side or do i need a different
sd card for both?
Comment: NOOBs isn't really an operating system in the same sense as Raspbian.  I believe it *includes* a version of Raspbian by default.  If you are getting to a normal desktop, etc., that's not NOOBs, that's the Raspbian that NOOBs comes pre-installed with.  So installing another Raspbian as well is a bit pointless.
Answer: The main purpose of NOOBS is to install Raspbian PIXEL and/or other operating systems for you and let you select which operating system to start when you have more than one installed. So yes, you can have both.
I'm not sure what you picked when you first booted NOOBS and did the initial install of OSes, but my guess would be that it was Raspbian PIXEL and you're now looking at the separate (non-NOOBS) Raspbian PIXEL download. You don't need that at all; you already have it via NOOBS.
If you hold down shift (as prompted) during the boot, you can bring up the NOOBS rescue menu again and it will show you what OSes are currently installed on your card.
Answer: Yes you can, but I suggest you do a clean install of a rasbian jesse
Comment: Why a clean install?


Listing Self-Taught Credit-Based Courses on Resume

Question: I would like to put them on my resume, because they enhance my profile. I put it under education since it's ongoing; should it be listed somewhere else? I don't want potential employers to skip over it.
Comment: I'm trying to understand the combination of "self-taught" and "credit-based".  Did you receive university credits for this work?  If so, how did they validate your self-taught learning -- did you take exams?
Answer: I put it under education since it's ongoing; should it be listed somewhere else?
Putting courses where you received college credit outside of your degrees (whether self-taught or otherwise) in your Education section makes sense.
As a reader of many resumes, that's where I'd expect to find them.
You probably should only list courses that are relevant to your profession or specifically relevant to the job you are seeking.
For example, even if you got credits for a self-taught basket weaving course, don't put that on your resume (unless you are applying for a basket weaver position).
Comment: Nope, they're directly relevant to my B.S. so they're a great addition to my resume. Thank you!
Comment: I'm seeking research positions so these courses are necessary.
Comment: Suggest you use a  `>` to properly format the quoted sentence (I'd do it myself but I can't find anything else to fix to get up to the 6-character edit minimum).


Is there tax in Michigan for packaged food (steaks) sold door to door?

Question: I had some guys come to my door last week to sell some frozen steaks in vacuum packages.  They said they would have to charge tax on the retail value.  Is this correct?
Answer: It appears that he is incorrect, although since there is a technical tax law distinction involved, he may be mistakenly misclassifying his product and collecting tax when he is not required to do so.
As a general rule, sales tax must be collected on all retail sales in the state.

Individuals or businesses that sell tangible personal property to the
final consumer are required to remit a 6% sales tax on the total price
(including shipping and handling charges) of their taxable retail
sales to the State of Michigan. Sales of electricity, natural or
artificial gas and home heating fuels for residential use are taxed at
a 4% rate. Michigan does not allow city or local units to impose sales
tax.

The person selling it is an individual or business, a steak is tangible personal property, and you aren't buying the steaks for resale, so you are a final consumer. So, unless an exemption applies, sales taxes are owed.
None of the Michigan Department of Revenue's Common Sales and Use Tax Exemptions apply. But, like most states, Michigan has a sales tax exemption for grocery store food, but not for restaurant food.
Naively, based upon the definitions given in like grocery store food exemption link, vacuum packed steaks ought to qualify as grocery store food and be exempt from taxation. In general, food that is subject to sales taxation is called "Prepared food" by the Michigan Department of Revenue.

"Prepared food" is:

food sold in a heated state or that is heated by the seller;

two or more food ingredients mixed or combined by the seller for sale as a single item,or;

food sold with eating utensils provided by the seller, including knives, forks, spoons, glasses, cups, napkins, straws, or plates, but
not including a container or packaging used to transport the food.

MCL 205.54g(4) and 205.94d(4).

One way that I could be wrong about my belief that this is not subject to taxation, if if the steaks come pre-seasoned rather than being just raw meat, in which case thy are prepared food under clause (2) above.

"Prepared food" does not include:

food that is only cut, repackaged, or pasteurized by the seller;

raw eggs, fish, meat, poultry, and foods containing those raw items requiring cooking by the consumer in recommendations contained in
section 3-401.11 of part 3-4 of chapter 3 of the 2001 food code
published by the food and drug administration of the public health
service of the department of health and human services, to prevent
foodborne illness;

food sold in an unheated state by weight or volume as a single item, without eating utensils, or;

bakery items (including bread, rolls, buns, biscuits, bagels, croissants, pastries, doughnuts, danish, cakes, tortes, pies, tarts,
muffins, bars, cookies, and tortillas) sold without eating utensils.

MCL 205.54g(5) and 205.94d(5).

For example:

Food sold in an unheated state by weight or volume as a single item,
without eating utensils, is not "prepared food" and is exempt from
sales and use tax. Therefore, deli trays of such foods as cheese and
crackers, luncheon meats, seafood, or vegetables and dip, sold in an
unheated state by weight or volume as a single item, without eating
utensils, are not subject to sales or use tax.

If there is an exception to the exception for vacuum packaged steaks sold door to door, I was not able to locate it.


MS SQL Table and ETL connundrum

Question: We have a database which has a number of tables that all utilise different identification methods for currencies. Some use ISO numbers other tables use ISO Codes. All the data and (and effectively) structure of these tables is from outside third party sources, so there is no influence on how and the format of the data produced.
We have a table that is a Currency table that contains both ISO number and ISO alpha codes, and a CurrencyId (just a simple integer: 1, 2, 3 etc).
We have an ETL that imports the data, and in some tables, the data is converted at import time from one currency identifier (eg ISO number) to the other currency identifier (eg ISO code). This I think is a result of different, incongruent, teams working on the software but that is a topic in its own right lol.
We have a .net software application that references these tables directly, and obviously there's no consistency in which ISO code (number or alpha) that the software is referencing.
It is also proving difficult to maintain code by referencing sometimes the ISO code and other times the ISO Number for the currency.
So we are considering one of the following resolutions:

Import all data and map at that point a new derived field (we are using SSIS) that is the CurrencyId for that currency from the "Currency" table based on the ISO code number or alpha (and still import the currency identifier that the original data does). Then change the references in the software to utilise the CurrencyId instead of the currency ISO code or number.

OR

build views for all the relevant tables and join them to the currency table on either ISO number or ISO code (whichever relevant). Then change all the references in the software to reference the view instead and utilise the CurrencyId instead of the currency ISO code or number.

We would like some advice and input as to which would be better approach for a performance perspective. Data storage perspective I imagine will be a small impact since I think the CurrencyId can be contained within a tinyint datatype field, but still very interested to know what you think in this area too.
Answer: The common sense approach would be to cleanse and sanitise the data on import. Creating a view to mask the problem is not fixing the underlying issue, it's just hiding it.
Also, having the views is unlikely to be a one stop fix, you'll likely need to write other code in other places to work around the issue, which will all need to be maintained.
Having code that works around a problem might be the quicker of the options, but in the long run it will create more work and problems than fixing the data as it comes in to the system.
Comment: Thanks, we implemented the change to the data import side. As you said, it wasn't really practical to create views for everything. It didn't actually take as long to implement either.
Comment: @KeerKolloft no problem, you've just saved yourself a lot of future head aches. Do you work with the OP?

MS SQL Table and ETL connundrum


Why wasn't the codex enough for Zod, in Man Of Steel?

Question: I was under the impression that all Zod  needed was

to extract the codex, and thus all of Krypton's unborn DNA sequences.

Aren't the contents of the ship superfluous?
Comment: Related: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/38000/did-jor-el-have-intentions-for-kal-el-to-recreate-krypton
Answer: The codex contains the DNA of the unborn kryptonians, but he stills needs an artificial womb to grow them. The ship contains one of these devices. You can see one in Krypton, in the chamber where Jor-El steals the codex.
The ship that Superman destroyed was originally meant for colonisation purposes, as such, it contains one of these "genesis chambers" that would allow to populate a newly krypto-formed planet.
It's having all the DNA of your people in a set of floppy disks and not having access to a reader.
Comment: They say Zod and his crew spent a lot of time going through old colonies. It's easy to assume that they might have hoped to find a genesis chamber at some point (they even found a world engine). Also, Zod was determined to find Kal-el because of his desire for vengeance against Jor-el
Comment: Ah, and no with no means to procure wombs anywhere. What was he going to do with the codex without one of those genesis chambers then?
Comment: @pureferret, the 20k old ship had genesis chambers in them. That is why he got so angry when superman destroyed the ship.
Comment: Yes, but he was after that prior to finding out about the old scoutship!
Answer: Yahoo Movies did a Q&A hosted by Kevin Smith with Zack Snyder and Amy Adams in the studio and Henry Cavill joining via satellite for the Blu-Ray release of the film.  In that video, which is still available online, Snyder was asked a question about the Codex by Steve Younis (of SupermanHomepage.com) who indicated that while the base genetic information comes from the Codex, the variation and programming arise from the Genesis Chambers.
Zod is preeminently preoccupied with eugenics.  He genuinely believes that Krypton needs the "right" bloodlines (non-degenerate) to go forwards... a belief bred into his blood, potentially somatically programmed into him as a trainee, and reinforced by his own will.  He believes it so strongly he literally calls natural birth heresy.  He believes in it so consistently that despite 33 years passing at no point did he mandate natural reproduction on the Black Zero OR even the beginnings of cloning by Jax-ur.
Zod's vision of Krypton is narrow and orderly and specific.  He would rather die that see a Krypton filled with super-powered citizenship.  He risks his liberty and overthrowing his government to ensure eugenic purity.  So although the Codex would have provided enough information for reproduction... he already had that in the form of a mixed-sex crew and a brilliant scientist / geneticist aboard his ship... rather, Zod required that Krypton conform to that vision that he had in mind when he risked upsetting the Status Quo with his coup.  One where Krypton's bloodlines were selected and dictated by himself... not random chance, not a limited gene pool of clones, and not without the guidance and control of a Genesis Chamber.
It may seem a narrow and inflexible view... but that's how radical fanatical individuals can be!

The corollary: "Why then isn't the Scout Ship enough?" From the Prequel comic we know that each Scout Ship was equipped with a Growth Codex (but not, necessarily paired with a World Engine, again suggesting that only planets that were within the band of habitability without a World Engine could even be terraformed to begin with).  However, as Zod's vision of Krypton is driven by eugenics, the Codex within the Scout Ship would not have the benefit of the past 18,000 years of refinement and would be as much heresy for Zod to adopt as any other reproductive measure.
Answer: If you think about it, the consciousness of Jor-El said that thousands of the colonial ships were placed in the void. He could easily trace one to any one of those planets and find a ship to make a brand new Krypton.
Comment: Hi! This is a QA website, and we expect our answers to address the question, so I have to ask: how does this answer the question? Is there any more you can add?


Playing Barre Chords

Question: Is barring only the four top string (E, B, G, D) in playing barre chords wrong in both acoustic or electric guitar?
Comment: Hi - Soorry but I have a bee in my bonnet about this - there's no such thing as "wrong" in music. Just whether or no the result is what you intended, or even if it's not as intended, whether you like it or not. If it sounds ok, then it's fine !
Answer: Most barre chords can be played using only the four highest strings, on either electric or acoustic.  I would not label it as right or wrong to do it that way.  If that is the way you choose to play the chords, then that is your decision.  Perhaps there is a reason you prefer to play them that way.
As an example many people choose to play the F major chord in first position - using only the four top strings. But I prefer to play it as an E shaped Barre chord on all 6 strings.  Either way it's an F major chord (and neither version is "wrong") - but adding the base notes gives it a fuller, richer sound in my opinion.  Same holds true for all the other chords that can be played with 5 or six strings.
Many so called "power chords" are played using only two strings.  Two string power chords sound better on an electric guitar with distortion to add more body to the sound of just two strings.  The electronics can make a two string power chord sound really powerful (no pun intended).  You can't really get the same effect on acoustic.
But playing the top four verses a 5 or 6 string version of a barre chord will work on either acoustic or electric.
Pictured below with his two and three string guitars -  is a guy who only uses only two or 3 strings on his guitars, ukuleles, and banjos, but his accompaniment sounds just fine. His name is Casper Babypants and he takes at least half the tuning pegs off of all his guitars and plays with either two or three strings and he performs professionally.  It works for him. If you play 4 strings you are playing more strings than he is.

Don't let anyone tell you it's wrong.  Let your ear and your abilities determine which version you play.
Answer: In addition to the two excellent answers here already, there is generally only one sort of chord which actually needs a top 4 string barre - a minor 7th, named off the top string.A basic 'E7' shape could use a barre over all four, to produce the 7th part on the D string, although with an inversion like that, it can sound quite weak. Other chords can be played using the top 4, but there may be no purpose in barring all four. Take an 'A' shape chord - the 'barre' part is only on the top string. A C-shape chord would only need the top 3 barred.
Reiterating the content of the previous answers, three or four strings is sufficient for most chords - jazzers often prefer them - but adding full-blooded chords to your inventory is a great move, for variety if nothing else. Some songs need the one, others, the other.
Wrong and right in music is pretty blurred (thank goodness !), and the oft quoted "if it sounds good, it most likely is" is king.
Answer: I wouldn't say that it's wrong per se. There are many contexts where all you need is a few high notes.
But it's worthwhile learning to play a full barre chord across all six strings. It opens up many more possibilities for partial chords on the lower strings, middle strings, or even split with a few muted in the middle.
An electric guitar with a band of other musicians is more likely to get away with only partial barre chords. So it's less wrong on an electric IMO. But if you want to play that thing solo, some low chords or fuller chords (unless you're heavily distorted) are good to have ready.
Answer: "...a barre chord...is a type of guitar chord, where one or more fingers are used to press down multiple strings across the guitar fingerboard." (Wikipedia)
And, also from Wikipedia:
<code>              F               F
E-------------1---------------1---
B-------------1---------------1---
G-------------2---------------2---
D-------------3---------------3---
A-------------3-------------------
E-------------1-------------------

An F-shape "great bar" chord and an F-shape "small bar" chord.
</code>
I guess some people even call a triad like (1,1,2,x,x,x) "barred".
So, wrong is just the person who says that "barre" means your index finger presses down 5 or 6 strings at the same time.

Playing Barre Chords


What is the title of this song on the Pupa OST?

Question: What is the title of the song played around this part? I really wanted to know the title of the piano piece or at least the composer. I tried searching for Pupa OSTs but unfortunately only the OP and ED were released.
Answer: Pupa's OST was composed by KONISHI Kayo and KONDO Yukio (who, together, make up the musical unit MOKA☆). Unfortunately, I think that's as good an answer as you're going to get, given that the soundtrack hasn't been (and, I'm guessing, never will be) released.
If you liked the music in Pupa, perhaps you would like to listen to the soundtrack of Elfen Lied, which was also composed by Konishi and Kondo.
Comment: Do you know when it's going to be released or is it?
Comment: @EdselJeddRenovalles I kind of doubt it's going to be released - the BD/DVD came out back in March, and it didn't have the soundtrack bundled with it. Pupa sold terribly, and plus, since it's a 4-minute series, there can't have been that much music in the first place (most OSTs are longer than the entirety of Pupa), so I can't imagine there's much financial motivation to release the soundtrack as a separate album.


How does a dictionary attack use it's "words"?

Question: Does it assemble/concatenate the dictionary elements into candidate passwords, or does it just use the dictionary elements/words as passwords (which sounds strange)?
I'm wondering about "SmartKey ZIP Password Recovery Professional".
Answer: A classic dictionary attack simply uses each element of the dictionary as a candidate.
Using rules to extend the dictionary is common, and tend to vary from implementation to implementation. A rule set might include adding numbers, concatenating other words from the list, or substituting letters for numbers or symbols. Hashcat has a fairly proficient rule set and the wiki entry for rule based attacks can be somewhat confusing, but the basic idea is that for each word in the dictionary, variants of that word are also tried.
I'm unfamiliar with the program you mentioned, but given the small amount of info available on the web page, I'd hazard a guess that it runs a simple dictionary attack (only the words in the list are checked).
Answer: Most password cracking applications that use wordlists (dictionaries, list of names, etc) work on the premise of encrypting a word, then comparing the ciphertext. Then there are those that use a brute force method that uses all the words available. For example, imagine I have a list on N amount of words:
$cat mywords.txt
apples
bananas
carrots
grapes
mango
oranges
potato

I can create an application that says (pseudo code):
insert $word_from_my_list into encrypted_file try_to_unlock

In the case of "password recovery" applications, most use the brute force method:
try_first_word_in_list then second_then_third

A similar question was posted, and answered before, but for the most part, this is how those applications work: check one word, then another, then another, until you find it. Some applications can take a word and try variations (mutations) of a word for example, the word password may become:
password
p@ssword
p@$sw0rd
P@$5w0rd

And so forth


What is the purpose of "ts & 0xffff0000"?

Question: I'm working on a real time protocol that adding the timestamp for each transmitted packet and I don't understand what the lines of code mean. Thanks for help.
// ts for timestamp
unsigned int ts;

if(ts & 0xffff0000){
 // do something
}

Answer: Given the fact they're using binary-and (&), the intent seems to be to check if any of the 16 high bits are set.
Binary-and examines the bits at each position in both numbers, and if they're both 1, then the result as a 1 bit in that same position.  Otherwise the result has a zero in that position
0b 001001001001001001001001001001  (first number, usually a variable)
0b 010101010101010101010101010101  (second number, usually a "mask")
=================================
0b 000001000001000001000001000001  (result)

If this is used as the condition of an if-block, such as if (x & mask), then the if-block is entered if x has any of the same bits as mask set.  For 0xFFFF0000, the block will be entered if any of the high 16 bits are set.
That is effectively the same as if (ts > 65535) (if int is 32bit or less), but apparently the intent is to deal with bits, rather than the actual value.
Comment: @mafso: If `int` is 33 bits, then it could hold the value 0x100000000, which fails to match the mask, but is definitely `>65535`. I feel like you might have misunderstood the sentence in the answer though.
Answer: 0xffff0000 serves as a bit mask here.
ts & 0xffff0000 satisfies as a condition when some bit in the first 16 bits of ts is 1. Put another way, when ts >= 2^16.
Answer: This IF loop checks if any of upper 16 bits of ts is high. If yes, then loop is executed.
The IF loop is executed only if ts >= 0x00010000.
Comment: oops, the ts >= 0xFFFF0000 should be ts >= 0x0000ffff
Answer: An intuitive way to understand this.
    **** **** **** **** //the first 16bits of ts
&   1111 1111 1111 1111 //the first 16bits of 0xffff 0000

If one of the first 16bits of ts is set, then the result above won't be zero.
If they are all 0, the result above will be 0000 0000 0000 0000
For the last 16bits of ts, no matter what happens to these bits, the result of Binary-and will be 0.
    **** **** **** ****
&   0000 0000 0000 0000
   =0000 0000 0000 0000

So if the first 16 bits of ts have one 1 bit ==>  ts&0xffff0000 > 0 (which means ts>=0b 10000 0000 0000 0000(i.e., 2^16)), el se ts&0xffff0000 == 0.
Always, we also use this ts&1 to test whether ts is an odd number.


What is an expression that means "of course!" as if suddenly realizing something?

Question: I know that もちろん is often used to mean something like "of course (you may)" or even "naturally, ..." However, what would an equivalent expression be for "of course!", used as an interjection as a result of sudden realization or comprehension? For some reason, もちろん doesn't seem right, and I don't believe I've ever heard or seen it used in this context.
Answer: I think the following come closest

when you realize something you didn't anticipate (or at least you pretend not to have anticipated, e.g. when you are being polite):

(あぁ) そっか
  Of course! I never noticed!

when you had confirmed something you did anticipate:

やっぱりね
  Of course! I knew it!
Comment: @Flaw I don't know why, but although I might use it like that as a silent comment to myself (当たり前なのか...), I couldn't use it as an exclamation. I think both もちろん and 当たり前 need more context to work well and don't fit the bill for Eureka-like _out of context_ exclamations.
Comment: How about 当たり前 ?
Comment: @Flaw Although 当たり前 can also be used as an exclamation, I don't think it quite fits here (if I understood the question correctly), because you couldn't use it out of context and still be sure that anyone will understand that you just had a sudden realisation.
Comment: Ah, these both sound familiar and seem to fit the scenarios I was thinking about. Thanks!
Comment: @user1205935 Can 当たり前 be used in telling yourself how obvious it is, at the moment you realise how obvious it is? Then it would be some sort of exclamation "but of course!" to yourself.
Answer: Some quick impressions:

そっか: Oh, is that so?
やはり / やっぱり: I suspected that all along.
まさか / まじっ: No shit!
あった: Yay!
Comment: あった does not correspond to "yay."  Did you mean やった?
Answer: I have also heard "あった!" used in this context. Which I assume to be a contracted/casual form of "当たり".
Comment: I think あった is the past tense of ある and is used when you _find_ something. But since the found object could also be information (e.g. a sentence in a book), I guess it could be something like あった!ここにかいてある "Got it! It says right here:"


How can I hide or modify page name

Question: This might more be a Drupal rather than a CiviCRM question but how do I hide or modify the name of a page like in this example? It's CiviCRM home page here.
Answer: If you just want to hide on that particular page one option is to add this in css/extras.css
<code>body.page-civicrm-dashboard div#tabs-wrapper h1 {
  display: none;
}
</code>
Answer: Try adding word replacement. Navigate to CiviCRM >> Administer >> Customize Data and Screens >> Word Replacements.
For some strings it works but for others you need to add some JS to replace the words or hooks to change the page titles.
Pradeep
Comment: Do you want to make more space on the page, make the tiltle smaller or not display, rather than change the spelling, is that the aim? Restyling is the answer. Alternatively you could see if https://civicrm.org/extensions/shoreditch is more suited to your aesthetics.
Comment: Thanks Pradeep, I had already tried this option and it was not succcessful.
Comment: thank you Sean Kenny, I didn't know about this extension/theme. I will have a look.
Comment: Actually I want to change the page name to be named by our customer's company name. Where can I modify this?

How can I hide or modify page name


Making a menu to take me to different scenes

Question: How do I make a mesh clickable so that when I click on it, I go to a different scene? Obviously just making a mouse sensor (left button) > Set Scene (game) isn't working. Whenever I click anywhere on the screen, it goes to the next scene. How do I make it so that when I click a specific object, the actuator goes off?
Answer: use both mouse over and mouse left click on the object :


How do I make images smaller or larger?

Question: I was wondering if there was an easy way to make images smaller or larger. How would I do that?
Comment: Possible duplicate of [can anyone tell me how to scale down PNG images i put in an answer](https://electronics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5553/can-anyone-tell-me-how-to-scale-down-png-images-i-put-in-an-answer)
Comment: Cross-site duplicate with complete information: [How to reduce image size on Stack Overflow](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/253405)
Comment: For the CircuitLab inserts I find that if I have a very small simple circuit I can make it display leatly in ladscape format by placing a token node or wire to the left and right of my circuit that makes the image wider than the 640 pixels and it gets scaled to a nice size.
Answer: Found this, I thought it was pretty cool.
Source: How to make pictures smaller?

Yes, just add an s, m or l (lowercase) at the end of the
  imgur link before the ".png".
For example, the image https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tE32.png can be made:
Small:

https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tE32s.png

Medium:

https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tE32m.png

Large:

https://i.stack.imgur.com/9tE32l.png
Comment: Nice to know! Now, how to make it work with schematics drawn with CircuitLab? :)
Comment: Just found out, you can do the same to the snippet when you insert the schematic, but I got weird results with 's'. Maybe it's worth to add it to the answer, since especially simple schematics end up quite large
Comment: You should not do this with CircuitLab images, it makes them non-editable without a lot of hassle.
Comment: Also, sadly related: https://electronics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5595/circuitlab-schematic-integration-we-still-get-huge-diagrams-after-3-years-any (but now we have to add a few more years)
Answer: Instead of relying on SE or Imgur to handle images in specific ways, you can post images exactly as you want in the first place.  Keep in mind that SE displays images to a maximum of 640 pixels wide.  Therefore if you make your images 640 pixels wide or less, SE will display them exactly as you uploaded them.
Image editing software is widely available with cheap and free options, so anyone can do this.  It's useful for other things than making images for SE too.  Basic image manipulation is a capability anyone should have and feel comfortable with.  Once you learn a particular toolset, you'll probably find it easier to make images the way you want rather than learning specifics of yet another system like SE/Imgur.
This is what I do with pretty much every image I upload, including schematics.  I use Eagle to draw schematics, then export them to a image file with a Eagle script.  I have another script that runs on Windows that takes the Eagle image and filters and resizes it to a nice resolution for displaying here.  You can get a lot of information in a schematic that is 640 pixels if you lay it out with that in mind.
Photographs require a whole other set of manipulations before they are acceptable to inflict on everyone else here.  In general, you should:
FOCUS!  Blurry pictures need not apply.  If you can't post a good picture, don't post.  Wait until you have access to a camera that can do what you need.  There is no excuse.  When I see a blurry picture, I usually don't even bother reading the text.  I vote to close a unclear, downvote for dumping crap on us, and move on.
CROP the picture to only the useful part.  Way too often we see a little thingy in the middle of a big picture.  Don't be so lazy.  As with focus, there is no excuse.
Remember to focus.
Remember to crop.
Fix the black and white levels.  Just about any image software can automatically expand the dynamic range so that the darkest part is 0.0 and the lightest 1.0.  Don't inflict muddy grayed-out pictures on us.
Fix the color balance.  Just about any image software lets you select a point in the picture and declare it a shade of gray.  If there is nothing known white or gray in the picture, then take another one with something white slipped in.  Use that as the gray reference to the other picture.  Again, don't be lazy.  You are asking lots of other people to spend a lot more of their free time to help you than it takes you to adjust the color balance of a picture.
Fix the brightness.  Just about any image software can slosh intensity towards the bright or dark end without changing the ends of the range.  Digital camera pictures often need some "brightening" so that detail is not lost in the dark areas.

Pictures you include are part of your post, so they are part of what you will be judged by.  Just like it's rude to dump crappy writing on us without even a single proofreading pass, it's just as rude to dump crappy pictures on us without even a attempt to make them easy to look at.  In fact, since a picture is probably the first thing anyone sees, even if not at the top of the post, getting the pictures right is more important than the words.  There is also no foreign language excuse with pictures.
As has been said many times here before, if you wouldn't hand it in as homework, it doesn't belong here either.  In fact, we deserve better.  Your teachers are being paid to look at your homework, but the people you are asking to look at your question are volunteers doing it in their free time.
Comment: The problem with "if you wouldn't hand it in as homework, it doesn't belong here either" is that my experience tells me that people have far lower standards than I would have expected regarding what passes as acceptable for homework.
Comment: @SredniVashtar https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thru
Comment: @SredniVashtar ... We are not definitely here to enforce an English standard. There is a difference between dumping on us sloppy English full of "U 2 can do this" or "I dunno Y" slang (or, worse, leetspeech) and writing basic, understandable, English even with some grammar mistake.
Comment: I would recommend a nice little program that I've been using for years: [FastStone Image Viewer](http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDownload.htm) (fow Windows users; free for non-commercial **or educational use**!). Very robust; it does the basic things in a breeze with uncluttered interface; very lightweight and it comes in a portable version, too (so you can always take it with you on a pendrive)!
Comment: @SredniVashtar You still answer with using ad hoc arguments (you mentioned "thru" as an example, and I cited a reputable source indicating it is not wrong; again you reply H&H use "through", but that's not the point, since you seem to know that text, you must know that their style is so informal it won't pass always a "scientific paper style" test). Moreover you add sarcasm and "LOLs", instead of pointing out supposedly broken SE rules, as I did. Since now I see that your attitude doesn't appear to be constructive, and your replies don't try to address my counterarguments, I give up too.
Comment: " Just like it's rude to dump crappy writing on us without even a single proofreading pass". "if you wouldn't hand it in as homework, it doesn't belong here either". It appears all this does not apply to sloppy writing. Like using "thru" instead of "through".
Comment: @pipe, yes that's basically the definition of sloppy writing. "some technical journals" publish also 'original research' on overunity machines, or other bullshit, so? Try to hand in a master thesis with 'thru'.
Comment: @SredniVashtar Well, although we require a decent level of English here, we should not be elitists. Definitely we don't specifically require PhD or Research article fussiness about English. BTW, if we were to be that fussy, what about American vs. British? Would you accept centre instead of center of vice versa? Some Journals make (or at least made) a difference about it. And this is an easy choice even for a non-native speaker with a bit of upper education in English. What about synchronize vs. synchronise? Which is AmE and which is BrE? ...
Comment: Nice points, Olin. This is what I try to do every time I post a photo. Although I suspect you are a bit more fussy (given your photography background end expertise) about points 5, 6 and 7. ;-) Anyway, as you say, it is not difficult at all to focus most subjects on a test bench even with crappy phones (especially sheets of paper with notes on them). And cropping (and scaling/adjusting resolution or size) is almost as easy using freely available tools.
Comment: @LorenzoDonati the problem is when the author of those mistakes reverts back the corrections, essentially stating that there are A-series posters (who are above the rules) and B-series posters, who should follow the rules.
Comment: @SredniVashtar Again, it depends on which kind of corrections are made. If someone corrected typos or grammar mistakes in my posts, that would be ok. If someone changed the style of my English, that wouldn't be ok, even if the corrections aimed at an higher style of English. Remember the **first rule of editing on SE network: *respect the intent of the original poster***. If I chose that set of words to convey the content, that must be respected if the English is grammatically correct. No one has the right to put words in anyone's mouth. It happened before to me, and I rolled back the editing.
Comment: @LorenzoDonati, I see: for A-series posters the rules must be interpreted, while for B-series posters, they must be applied. Changing 'thru' into 'through' changes the intent of the poster, right. LOL.
Comment: @SredniVashtar I see that you like to put words in the mouth of others. There are no series A and B posters. The fact that at a certain level "thru" (since you insist on that) is not considered acceptable doesn't mean that it is wrong. I hope [Cambridge Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/thru) is enough high level source for your tastes. It is marked "US not standard", it doesn't mean it is wrong.....
Comment: @SredniVashtar ...  Do you want to enforce your variant of English and start edit wars? Then it is you that are not following the rules. There is no rule that says that SE posts must follow a well defined English standard.
Comment: @SredniVashtar To be more precise: the first absolute rule of SE is "be nice". Would you consider nice a person that continually corrects you while you are speaking because he thinks that your variant of English is wrong?
Comment: @LorenzoDonati correcting "thru" with "through" means to make the writing more formal (as should be the aim of this site: producing answers of a certain quality) , not 'changing the intent of the writer', nor 'putting words in the mouth of others'. The one starting an edit war is the original poster reverting back the corrections, not the other way around. You are simply confirming what I wrote before about rules. They are not the same for everyone.
Comment: @SredniVashtar "means to make the writing more formal (as should be the aim of this site: producing answers of a certain quality)". Sorry, no. You are mistaking formality with quality. The aim of this site is quality, not form. You can have the former without having a high degree of the latter. Example: The famous "Art of Electronics" book by Horowitz and Hill. I hope no one disagree about it being high quality, but it is famous for its lack of formality. The authors even make a point that its their informal style that helps understanding.
Comment: @LorenzoDonati H&H use "through" not "thru". You might ask yourself why. According to your metric, use of eye-slang should be allowed, too, since that's only 'form'. Also, let's forget about resizing pictures & formatting text, that's 'form' 2. All this 2 defend "thru", LOL. You are just confirming my point on class A and class B users. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll use my time for something with a greater probability of success, like getting police jailed for shooting unarmed black people.

How do I make images smaller or larger?


How long does it take Boeing to develop an aircraft?

Question: How long does it typically take Boeing to make a new plane model (e.g the 787), from the moment they decide to make a plane (the moment they decide to create a new 7X7) to the moment the first plane (in this case the first 787) flies commercially?
Comment: The only correct answer is probably "always longer than they thought", a simple consequence of the fact that research is almost impossible to estimate.
Comment: The answer to this question depends if you are focusing in a new airplane family (like the recent B787) or a family improvement that creates a new model in the family (B737MAX), or both
Comment: @JanHudec speaks the truth. In my experience, it's the unforeseen parts of R&D that take the longest.
Answer: For the general question, the answer will be "it depends on the aircraft." Specifically for the 787, though, the '7E7' program was officially announced on January 29, 2003. The program was later renamed to 787. It received its type certificate on August 26, 2011 and flew its first passenger revenue flight on October 26, 2011.
So, from the time the program began to the time of the first revenue flight was about 8 years and 9 months.
Of course, this is not including the R&D time invested on different projects whose R&D ended up being used either partially or completely in the 787 design before the 787 program itself began.
It should also be noted that not every airframe they start developing ever actually flies. Notably, Boeing worked on designs including larger 747 variants and the Sonic Cruiser (which would have cruised at Mach 0.98) before beginning the 7E7 program.
In addition to completely new airframes, aircraft manufacturers also commonly make derivative airframes based on existing product families. Current examples of derivatives in development include the 737MAX, A320neo, 777X, and A330neo ("neo" stands for "new engine option.") However, development time on derivatives can vary widely depending on how much modification is being made to the existing airframes and the level of resources being devoted to the project (which depends on market pressure.)
For a past example, the 2nd-generation Boeing 777 aircraft were announced on February 29, 2000 with the first aircraft, the 777-300ER, being certificated on March 16, 2004, and first service entry on May 10, 2004. This gives a time of about 4 years and 2 months from announcement to first service entry. This was likely slowed by the sharp downturn in aircraft orders following the 1999-2000 ".com bust" and, especially, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Also important is the FAA rule for applying for a type certificate. This will apply for new programs like the 787, but not for derivative programs like the 777X, which amend the original type certificate and do not need a new one. In 14 CFR §21.17:

An application for type certification of a transport category aircraft is effective for 5 years and an application for any other type certificate is effective for 3 years...

So once Boeing applies for a new type certificate, they have 5 years to get the type cetificate approved, unless they convince the FAA upfront that more time is needed. If the time runs out they must reapply, and the new type certificate would require the aircraft to comply with all new regulations passed since their original application.
Comment: You might need to add a few months between the CEO signing off on the decision to go ahead and the marketing people having everything in place to announce the program to the public.
Comment: So in the case of the 787 did Boeing have to apply for the type certificate twice?
Comment: @usernumber Apparently so. See the last paragraph of Section 1.1 of [this document from the FAA](http://www.faa.gov/about/plans_reports/media/787_report_final.pdf), which says, `"In accordance with the type certification process, the regulatory requirements applied to the B787 were those requirements in effect on the date Boeing applied for the type certificate as well as the additional amendments in effect on the date of Boeing's request for a schedule extension."`


Why does the guitar F barre chord have the low E string muted?

Question: So the index finger is supposed to hold down all the strings on fret 1, but mute the low E string, but isn't fret 1 of low E an F note? Why not just play the low E string's F note as well?
Comment: Actually, you do play the low E string's F as well.  It's hard to get all the notes clear, but that's the idea.
Comment: Which source told you this  misinformation?!
Answer: I'm not quite sure where you got your idea of an F barre chord, but both are correct. The F barre chord tends to be the hardest E shaped barre chord for beginners who don't have their finger strength up, so there are many varieties that do not have all six strings playing at the same time. There are also other flavors of Barre chords that will give you different voicings, but I'm not going to go to get to that in this post.
Taking a step back from the exact shape of the bar chord, you only need three notes to make an F major chord which are F, A, and C. If you look at the full E shaped F major chord, you can get away with only playing the high three strings as that has all the chord tones tones in it.
Answer: Never seen a barre F chord at fret 1 not play the bottom string as well - most will insist, as beginners are encouraged to play root position chords, and starting on the 5th string will make it a second inversion. Not wrong, but not sounding as strong.
You may be thinking about a Bb chord, which is often shown with a muted 6th string, although that again can be played , making a second inversion of Bb.
And - the first finger is not supposed to hold down all the strings - there's no point in it holding down a string that's fretted above the barred fret, so no point in pressurising it to do so.
Answer: The first F-chord I learned (self-taught) was the non-barre version which is basically the barred-F but you use the index finger to hold down the E and B, and then do not play the low note.
If this is the F form the question is about, then the answer is that this leaves only the thumb to fret the E.
I have big enough hands that I can do the "Hendrix Barre" where I fret the E with my thumb (if I choose to use this form). Many people do not, and so the solution is to not play the unfretted string (open E).
The image below shows the "F form" I refer to above, as well as a "Hendrix Barre" example. Hendrix appears to be fretting 3 strings with his thumb.
Answer: Is it possible that the chord diagrams you're implicitly referring to are only showing a single instance of each note of the chord.
In such an instance it would be serving to drive home that the (major) chord is specifically three notes despite that up to six notes can be strummed.
(Has anyone seen any chord box diagrams where perhaps the main notes are denoted in black and the optional ones in grey?)
Answer: There are no rule to mute it.
If you want to get more bass - you can play it with barre, if you want more funky sound and more control - you can press separate notes.
And lets clarify terms - "Chord" is not about "how to play some notes", its just a grouping of 3 or more notes that's sounds in tune in some scale.
How to play them - it's about "fingering" of chord, and it totally depends of your tonal and comfort preferences.
So, F chord consists of F, A, C notes - play them in any way you want)
Comment: The OP asks about a specific F chord - so this doesn't answer the question.


In John 9:7 how did the blind man go to the pool of Siloam, after being sent by Jesus to do so when he was blind he couldn't see the way through

Question: In John 9:7, how did the blind man go to the pool of Siloam, after being sent by Jesus to do so when he was blind he couldn't see the way through?
Comment: Presumably the same way blind people generally get around - with the help of others.
Comment: Welcome to Stack Exchange! If you haven't done so already, check out the [site tour.](http://goo.gl/5U2gsX) If you decide you want to answer any questions, Please note that "showing your work" is [required](http://goo.gl/BoMPLJ) for answers to be considered "good" and get upvotes from the community on this Stack Exchange.
Answer: Assuming the beginning of Ch.9 chronologically follows the end of Ch.8, it would be likely that Jesus found the man in the vicinity of the Pool of Siloam. The pool is located just outside of the temple mount complex, and Jesus leaves the temple at the end of Ch.8, thus if Jesus left the temple he may have come to the Pool immediately afterward and found the man there. It would also make sense for the blind man to be there, as sources of water were social centers and well trafficked areas for the needy to ask for charity.
Answer: Think about it, it is Jesus' powerful words and anointing that he was able to get there. He was doing what he was told, therefore his footsteps were already order. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD.
I hope this helps
Comment: Hello Kiesha, welcome to BHSE, so glad to have you with us! If you haven't already, make sure to take our tour to get yourself familiar with this site, you'll discover that we are a little different than other sites you know. (hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/tour) Thanks!


ERC721-OpenZeppelin: This contract does not implement all functions and thus cannot be created

Question: I know there are already a lot of topics that deal with the problem but their solutions didn't work for me.
this is the code:
pragma solidity ^0.5.2;

import "https://github.com/OpenZeppelin/openzeppelin-solidity/contracts/token/ERC721/ERC721Full.sol";
import "https://github.com/OpenZeppelin/openzeppelin-solidity/contracts/token/ERC721/ERC721Mintable.sol";

contract MyNFT is ERC721Full, ERC721Mintable {

  struct Structure{
      string name;
      uint id;
  }
  Structure[] public listOfStructure;
  address public owner;
  constructor() public{
      owner = msg.sender;
  }

  function create(string memory _name) public{
      uint id = listOfStructure.length;
      listOfStructure.push(Structure(_name, id));
      mint(owner, id);
  }

}

Remix says "This contract does not implement all functions and thus cannot be created.", I just started using nft so I know it could be a concept error, for example I didn't understand the concept of interface very well, but I don't think it's the same problem (maybe).
I tried to deploy with truffle but I have a similar error.
Thanks and sorry for the duplicate!
Comment: You must implement all the not implemented functions of `ERC721Full` and all the not implemented functions of `ERC721Mintable`.
Answer: I solved using 0xcert instead of openzeppelin.
Comment: Thank you, would you please post the code too


Detect named entities inside words

Question: Some languages have word endings with their nouns (like Finnish, e.g. "in Berlin" -> "Berliinissä"). I have tried to annotate the characters in the training data as entities, but then I run the model, it doesn't detect the characters inside the word. When those characters are a separate word, only then they're detected. I am unable to think of an implementation to effectively detect named entities within a word. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Comment: Can you add couple of samples of such sentences in German ?
Comment: I was trying to detect "London" from "Londonschlüssel". But since my german is not so good, I later realized that it would be appropriate as "London-schüssel", which can be easily tokenized.
Answer: I would recommend to look into character level named entity recognition. For example: Kuru et al, CharNER: Character-Level Named Entity Recognition, Proceedings of COLING 2016, the 26th International Conference on Computational Linguistics: Technical Papers (2016)
The authors evaluate on many highly inflected languages including Turkish, so this should be adequate for your Finnish use case
The code is here: https://github.com/ozanarkancan/char-ner
You should hopefully be able to download and get it running out of the box for training. Of course I am assuming you have a tagged NER corpus in Finnish, which you would need to preprocess to get into the same format as the CSV file that they use for Czech in the repo.

Detect named entities inside words


why are the leaves so smooth?

Question: first time growing avocado indoors.why does it look like there are almost no veins in the leaves. I don't have any idea where to start because everything else about the plant looks ok.
Answer: The veins are all there.  The picture you posted shows them clearly.  It also show that they plant is needing some fertiliser. The entire leaf should be dark green not just the centre vein (see leaf in background for clear view of what I mean)  The veins are dark green, but the rest is not.   You want fertiliser made for either Palm Trees or Citrus Plants.  These have extra micro-nutrient like magnesium-sulphate (Epsom Salts) that allows the roots to take up other vital nutrients like iron.   These are two important micro-nutrients. These and others are found in these speciality fertilisers.  You will find these micro-nutrients in other fertilisers as well, but not normally in high enough volume for avocados.
Here are some links to some examples of what you are looking for;
Espoma Organic Citrus & Avocado Fertiliser
Lilly Miller Citrus & Avocado Fertiliser
Sunniland Citrus Avocado & Mangos
Citrus Palm & Olive Trees
Comment: Thank you, I just bought a soil test kit but it didn't check for magnesium, I guess I forgot that other nutrients are important too.

why are the leaves so smooth?


How to invest in a specific market without investing in a specific company?

Question: Let's say I am bullish on "Cloud Computing" and I want to make one investment, but do not want to invest in any specific company (e.g. Amazon).   How could I invest soundly in the "Cloud Computing" market, betting that this market will rise generally, while hedging against any individual company failing?
Comment: Sector funds is what you are looking for.  However they may not have that fine of a granularity.  Perhaps you can go "technology" but not "cloud computing".  These technology fads come and go.
Answer: You need to hope that a fund exists targeting the particular market segment you are interested in. For example, searching for "cloud computing ETF" throws up one result.
You'd then need to read all the details of how it invests to figure out if that really matches up with what you want - there'll always be various trade-offs the fund manager has to make. For example, with this fund, one warning is that

this ETF makes allocations to larger firms that are involved in the
  cloud computing space but derive the majority of their revenues from
  other operations

Bear in mind that today's stock prices might have already priced in a lot of future growth in the sector. So you might only make money if the sector exceeds that predicted growth level (and vice versa, if it grows, but not that fast, you could lose money). If the sector grows exactly as predicted, stock prices might stay flat, though you'd still make a bit of money if they pay dividends.
Also, note that the expense ratios for specialist funds like this are often quite a bit higher than for "general market" funds. They are also likely to be traded less frequently, which will increase the "bid-ask" spread - i.e. the cost of buying into and getting out of these funds will be higher.
Comment: Analysts try to estimate how the company will grow over the next year and future years, these estimates may already be priced into the stock or ETF, if actual growth underperforms these estimates then the price will usually fall.
Comment: What do you mean " might have already priced in a lot of future growth"?  How could future growth be price in.
Comment: @gridsndrs growth in the sense of the market growing, turnover/sales becoming larger etc - the stock price might already be assuming that the company's profits and income will increase over the coming years as a result.
Comment: @Ganesh is that what is called "Over-Valued", when a company under performs based on its stock price?  Could one make money if the stock hit its estimates over a certain period??
Comment: Liquidity could also be an issue in such ETF.
Comment: @gridsndrs that would be one reason to consider it over-valued, yes. I've edited my answer to address the "hits its estimates" question.


Finding the greatest (smallest) factor of a number smaller (greater) than another number

Question: Instead of iterating through all the possible numbers, is there a better way to find the greatest factor of a number $n$, such that it is less than $m$ ($m$ < $n$). Similarly how does one find the smallest factor of $n$ that is greater than $m$?
Comment: This can be hard even if $n$ is squarefree with known but numerous prime factors, because it reduces to a knapsack problem (given items of size $c_i$, find $s$ large enough to approximate $\exp sc_i$ sufficiently well by primes $p_i$, and take $n = \prod_i \phantom. p_i$, etc.).
Answer: You can certainly use Pollard's Rho algorithm to probabalistically compute the greatest factor of $n$ smaller than $m$ in $O(min(n^\frac{1}{4}, m^\frac{1}{2}) polylog(n))$ time.  Your other question is actually the same as the first.  That is $k>m$ is a factor of $n$ iff $\frac{n}{k}$ is a factor of $n$ and smaller than $\frac{n}{m}$.
Answer: Here's a way to find small factors.  I think that finding large factors (up to the square root of $n$) is as hard as factoring in general.
Edit: Maybe the method in the paper I linked is not so great because it looks for small factors in a set of number.  But it may cite more relevant papers.
Answer: I think this may be an NP-hard problem similar to knapsack problem. It's straightforward to translate it into an instance of knapsack problem: let the knapsack size be $\log m$ and the items be $\log p_i$, where $p_i$ are prime factors of $n$. In order to prove NP-hardness one has to translate a general knapsack problem instance to this one though.


Inline wheels wobble

Question: I have been playing inline hockey for 15+ years but only recently made a switch from goalie to skater. I had not skated on a team since I was about 12 years old. I only play recreationally, so not wanting to spend much money, I found a pair of used skates that seem to be in good condition. However, when taking a sharp turn at high speeds they start to wobble. It is hard to pinpoint where the wobble originates, as sometimes it feels more towards the front and other times towards the middle wheels. I believe it had occurred on both sides. They could stand to be rotated but aren't terribly imbalanced. Is this an issue of quality with a particular part of the wheels? The chassis? How I am turning? This takes away an advantage of my natural speed, and I would very much like to get to the bottom of this.
Answer: Check your wheels for flat spots. Flat spots make your wheels wobble in turns.
Check if any bearings are broken or close to be worn out.
Check if the screws of your wheels need replacement or aren't fully screwed in.
Check if your wheels have spacers or need replacement.
Check if the frame is in a bad condition or is at least properly attached.

Inline wheels wobble


Is there a site where people discuss game concepts and questions in general?

Question: I like making game concepts for fun, as a hobby. I don't think that all my game concepts are amazingly awesome and have to be created and would revolutionize the industry. I just want some people to talk to that have the same hobbies as I do. To be able to discuss ideas and point out the pros and cons.
Comment: A question this significant surely has more answers - or we game developers have failed to make a real contribution to our community. Take note, those of you who can do something about this: if this question ends up with no good answers, it's your job to do something about it and create a site which would make a spectacular answer. We do what we must because we can.
Comment: What are you implying, Jonathan? That the links posted are too few in quantity, or not of the right quality, or that you feel the industry is lacking in good game concepts, or... what?
Comment: I'm suggesting that the quantity of discussion is lacking, or this is an important question not receiving enough attention. At the time of posting the bounty, the answers amounted to two subforums and a chat room.
Comment: I don't entirely agree, but I've elaborated on this in an answer below.
Answer: Hobbyists, independent developers, and prospective developers discuss these things on this site, Gamedev.net, and various forums such as TigSource and Indiegamer. These are pretty much only the places where this sort of discussion happens.
By comparison, professionals tend to carry out their high-level discussion of game design in a similar way to much academia: they publish books, papers, articles, give conference talks, and post blog entries, which are then discussed and cross-referenced. There's no reason why you couldn't start your own blog about your ideas, but you'll have trouble getting any traffic, because the average person's game concept is not going to be of much interest to the wider community. This is why typically you'd go for the first route, of game development forums.
The reason there isn't anything more for this is partly because the professionals do a decent enough job of exchanging and discussing ideas, and partly because the ideas and concepts that a typical prospective developer comes up with are considered nearly worthless in the professional arena. (And as such, only of interest to one's peers on forums and the like.) This perception of worthlessness is because most professional game developers already have more of their own pet ideas than they have time to create (making ideas far too abundant for the average one to be worth much), and because the quality of a game is almost never intrinsic to the concept itself, meaning it can be almost useless in isolation without a full prototype or technical specification behind it - and usually the only people capable of making such a prototype or specification are already either in the industry, or are able to make the game themselves without presenting it to others.
Answer: There's a design board on the TIGSource forums. It seems pretty full and diverse.
Answer: There are game development communities on http://www.gamedev.net/ and http://www.indiegamer.com/
Answer: You might try the GDSE Chat Room.  It's occasionally pretty well-populated, and has proven to be a pretty good sounding-board.
Answer: GDNet also has a Game Design forum.
Answer: I have a website myself that I am using for game design discussion called Ascension Protocol. You can visit it at: http://www.ascensionprotocol.com, be sure to visit us on facebook as well!
Comment: Ascension Protocol seems to be about discussing _your_ potential game and its design. It's an acceptable answer since it still seems to allow people to talk about MMO concepts in general (without necessarily having to discuss _your game_), but you should have frank and full disclosure or else it's effectively false advertising!


What happens when the QB throws the ball and it lands behind the line of scrimmage without being caught by either team?

Question: QB throws ball and lands behind line of scrimmage without being caught by either team an hits the ground
Comment: If you want a better response, I would suggest that next time you might want to give a little more detail as to why you're asking.  Did you see a play in a game and wonder why it happened that way?  Just asking basic rules is okay, but they're pretty easy to read on your own.
Comment: Welcome to Sports Stack Exchange. It's generally expected that you have made some effort to find the answer yourself, before asking the volunteer community to do so. What did you find out so far?
Comment: Have been unable to find the answer I'm looking for
Answer: The ball landing beyond the line of scrimmage is irrelevant, for the most part, in this question.  The thing that is relevant is whether the pass went forwards from the quarterback's location, or backwards.  The quarterback must be behind the line of scrimmage, of course.
A forward pass that hits the ground is an incomplete pass, which ends the play and no gain or loss is recorded - the next down will be at the same location as the prior down.
A pass that hits the ground either directly sideways from the quarterback, or behind him, is treated as a fumble, and is able to be recovered by any player on either team, at which point the ball can be advanced; once downed, the next down will begin from that location.
There is one exception: if the quarterback intentionally throws the ball into the ground, not near a receiver, it might be considered intentional grounding.  A quarterback has two exceptions that apply to the intentional grounding rule:

If the quarterback is outside of the tackle box (meaning, to the right of the right tackle, or the left of the left tackle, in the position they initially set up in), and throws the ball beyond the line of scrimmage, it is not intentional grounding.
A quarterback is permitted to snap the ball and immediately throw it directly down into the ground, in order to stop the game clock (in a situation with little time left).

If the quarterback is not stopping the clock, and throws the ball intentionally awry (not near a receiver), and it lands behind the line of scrimmage, then it is intentional grounding, and treated as if the quarterback had been downed at the location he threw the ball.
Comment: @Acccumulation Essentially, yeah.  The rules don't require the referees to do any mind-reading, just look at the objective situation of the ball on the ground (though "near" has some room for leeway).

Also worth noting that (in the NFL, at least) the rule requires "imminent loss of yardage" to apply.  Basically, if you throw a ball that lands nowhere near an eligible receiver, out of a clean pocket, it's also not intentional grounding.
Comment: Is intention really a factor? When you say "intentionally", is that another way of saying "not near a receiver"?
Comment: To be clear, I use the word `intentionally` to mean that the quarterback doesn't have his arm hit during the throwing motion or similar - i.e., it is his direct action that causes the ball to go there.  But Kurt has it correct - the 'not near a receiver' is the important factor (which is why it's in the second clause).


Do airplanes have sensors to detect landing gear fires?

Question: Given that retracting a landing gear that happens to be on fire is a suicidally bad idea, for reasons that should be immediately obvious, do airplanes have temperature sensors on their landing gear in order to detect landing gear fires and prevent burning landing gear from being retracted?
Comment: Related: [Is wheel well overheat detection (not brake temperature sensor) necessary for commercial jet aircraft?](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q/46211/3201)
Answer: There are fire detection heat sensing loops in the gear well.  If a gear was on fire it would trigger a "GEAR OVERHEAT" message and warning when the gear was up.  There are no retraction prevention systems that are able to detect fires at the gear.  Nationair was a unique series of clusterflarks leading to the accident, on top of the fact that the magnesium wheels started to burn.  Modern magnesium alloys don't do that.
Comment: I added a line to cover the magnesium factor.  The DC-8 had old magnesium wheels and in those days they could catch fire if heated sufficiently (like scraping along pavement at 130 kt) and the resulting fire is intensely hot and can't be blown out.  This doesn't happen with modern alloys and a rubber fire wouldn't sustain itself at flying speed.  The bottom line is that the risk of a Nationair type event on modern aircraft is too microscopic to require mandating a system like that.
Comment: By the time the flaming gear is in a position to trigger the GEAR OVERHEAT warning, it's already in close contact with the flammable hydraulic lines in the well, which will shortly ignite the fuel tanks above the well, and your aircraft is already doomed.


Managed properties not available SharePoint on prem refiners

Question: I have added following Managed Properties and mapped to it's crawled properties. Any idea why they dont show up in the refiner? I have refinable, sort, searchable all set to true.
<code>Region - Text
RegionNumber - Text
Country - Managed Metadata
ProductType - Text
CustomerNumber - Text
CustomerName - Text
</code>
Do I have to use OOTB refinable properties for on premise sharepoint like this article suggests. http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2013/11/11/how-to-add-refiners-to-your-search-results-page-for-sharepoint-2013.aspx
Answer: These are working now after performing a full crawl.


Can you create a hash table made of binary trees?

Question: For instance, if you have a hash table with the array of buckets 26 nodes long, one for each letter of the alphabet. You use that to keep track of names. So when a name "Jed" is added to the J linked list that already has "Jack" and "John", rather than just adding Jed to the end of the linked list, you structure that J bucket as a binary tree and sort the new addition into it, so when you go to search for Jed in the future you can just go straight to the J bucket and then a faster binary search (vs if it was a list of unsorted items).
Answer: You can, because the structure used to store the contents of any bucket can be almost anything (list, vector, tree, etc.).  However, the buckets are usually pretty lean (1 or 2 objects), and the overhead of creating and maintaining the tree would be more than you'd gain. (You won't see any improvement until there are at least 3 items in the bucket, and even then it'll only be 1/3 of the time if the tree is balanced.) Once you start getting buckets large enough that you might see a performance gain, your hash table should probably be expanded and rehashed. Or you need a better hash algorithm to have fewer collisions.
Comment: Or, y'know, you could just use a binary tree.
Comment: This. If your buckets are getting so big that you need a more complex data structure than a list, it means that your hash function is bad. The fix for a bad hash function is not to make your buckets more complex, it is to fix the hash function.
Answer: Not only can you implement your fixed-size case-insensitive hash table using binary tree buckets ... you can implement it with 26-ary trees (or really another one of your top-level hash tables).
This gives you a Trie.
But really any container will work for the buckets of a real hash table, since they're not supposed to contain many collisions.
If, as in your example, the top-level container is not a real hash table (or you expect your hash to perform as badly as just taking the first character) ... you still have the whole universe of data structures to choose from. You want an array of 26 splay trees, or skip lists, or whatever? Knock yourself out.