Is the Arca Swiss Z1 compatible with Kirk brackets

Question: Does anyone know if that Arca Swiss Z1 ball head top plate is compatible with the Kirk angle-bracket?
Comment: The Z1 Fliplock and Classic are adjustable to take any Arca-Swiss style plates.
Rod klukas
US Representative
Arca-Swiss Int.
Answer: Kirk say

Our custom machined camera and lens plates are Arca-style compatible

P.S. RRS say

all Really Right Stuff plates and rails will work in all screw-knob
  versions of Arca-Swiss style clamps.This includes screw-knob versions
  of Arca-Swiss style clamps from Markins, AcraTech, Arca-Swiss, and
  Kirk. BUT only Really Right Stuff and Wimberley plates and rails are
  guaranteed to work with Really Right Stuff lever-release clamps.

P.P.S Sunwayphoto clamps have an adjustment for exactly this reason

All SUNWAYFOTO Lever-Release clamps are user-adjustable,  can fit
  plates from different manufacturers as RRS,Markins, Arca-swiss,
  Acratech etc.

So it may depend if your z1 has "flip-lock" or not.

Update:
The Z1 has an adjustment as shown in this photo (from the digital picture)


Pre-chilled spirits - is there a content difference?

Question: Normally I would add ice to a glass, then a piece of lime, pour (in my case) gin over the ice, then top it off with tonic.  However, a friend of mind chills their gin in the fridge, but also pours their drink in exactly the same manner.  So, my question is:  If I pre-chill my gin in the fridge does it have any effect on it, such as taste (other than having a much colder drink)?
Comment: Dilution would be a big factor.
Comment: Just realised that this is a similar question to one below - any problems and I will happily remove it.
Comment: Even if you both drink your gin over ice, since hers is cooler to begin with, the ice will melt slower
Answer: Depending on how cold your gin would be served at, it aromas may be altered.
As a spirit gets warmer, it releases more volatiles, compounds that easily vaporize. We know that if a spirit is too hot, the smell of pure alcohol can be overwhelming. However, when a spirit is too cold, the aromas and tastes might seem downright non-existent. This applies to whiskeys and gins especially.
Cold gins may be okay for some, but I prefer to be able to truly taste my gins. That is why I would only add ice to it, if I had to. Even at that, I truly doubt anyone in my family would chill their gin or put ice in it.
But then, to each his own!
Comment: Agree with this. Hence would chill cheap gin but drink good gin just at room temperature (probably with refrigerated tonic so that the drink ends up a little below room temperature)


Send email when publish new post in certain categories

Question: I'm looking for php code that will allow me to do the following: when new post publish in categories which ids are 12 and 34, email will send to all users.
Answer: You can use transition_post_status function, then fetch users and send an email to all users.
Here is a sample code, it's not tested. But it will get you started with this.
function wcs_send_mail_on_publish_category_posts( $new_status, $old_status, $post ) {

    global $post;

    if ( 'publish' !== $new_status or 'publish' === $old_status ) return;

    if ( in_category( array( '12', '34' ) ) ) {

        $subscribers = get_users( array ( 'role' => 'subscriber' ) );
        $emails      = array ();

        foreach ( $subscribers as $subscriber )
            $emails[] = $subscriber->user_email;

        $body = sprintf( 'Hey there is a new entry! See <%s>', get_permalink( $post )  );

        wp_mail( $emails, 'New entry!', $body );

    }

}

add_action( 'transition_post_status', 'wcs_send_mail_on_publish_category_posts', 10, 3 );

Comment: In real life it is not as easy. First thing is that you might not want to send an email when the post is updated (gone draft and the published again). More important is that if you have many users your email is likely be blocked by your hosting or marked as spam by anti spam services.
Comment: Yes, that's the downside. I think he should use Feedburner, mailchimp or similar service to email subscribers.


What is the difference in articulation between /CjV/ and /CʲV/?

Question: I have been looking into words like "pure" and "cube" and I sometimes get /pʲɔɹ/ and /kʲub/, but other times I get /pjɔɹ/ and /cjub/. I know some Slavic languages make the distinction between those two, and I would like to eventually be able to articulate that difference, as well as learn which IPA representation is more accurate.
Answer: There is no IPA principle that prefers superscript rather than regular j based on pronunciation alone. Both [pj] and [pʲ] identify the same phonetic fact, but differ in phonological analysis. In writing [pj], the claim is that there is a cluster of consonants, the second being a palatal glide. In writing [pʲ], the claim is that there is a palatalized consonant. You have to call on some phonological theory to decide which is more appropriate for the facts of a language.
If a sequence like "pj" can appear anywhere p can, including before other consonants, people are more likely to posit palatalization as a secondary articulation and call the thing [pʲ]. If it only appears before vowels, it's more likely to be treated as a cluster p+j. You might have stronger evidence for a cluster analysis if for example the language allows only two consecutive consonants and breaks up three-C clusters with an epenthetic vowel, and you find that /pjt/ becomes pjVt] but /pj/ remains unchanged. Contrarily, if you find that /p/ becomes "pj" after a front vowel (thus ip → ipj), it is more likely that people would treat that as secondary articulation, thus [ipʲ]. However, these kind of arguments are not particularly compelling on their own, and only hold relative to some concept of what a possible phonological rule is.
Some people, for example Steriade at different times, have tended to deny the distinction between a cluster and complex segment. Fujimura's CD model, in fact, rejects the distinction, in favor of complex articulations.
Comment: But this post [link](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/20196/what-are-the-differences-between-palatal-consonant-and-palatalized-consonant) mentions Russian has a distinction between /CjV/ and /CʲV/, which would lead me to conclude that they are phonetically different.
Comment: The contrast and phonological pattern drives the transcription, not the other way around. In lieu of an actual contrast (which is exceedingly rare), if you encounter one "type", there's no way to determine how to pick a transcription just from phonetics. Russian is mildly problematic since it is sometimes held that consonants are palatalized or velarized, so CV is "really" CᵚV. I have no dog in that fight. You could learn how they are pronounced in Russian, but that may not get you very far with Irish.


Laravel Homestead.yaml init.sh issue

Question: I am using the Laravel Homestead installation docs.
https://laravel.com/docs/4.2/homestead
When it says to use bash init.sh command to create the Homestead.yaml configuration file I am asked if I want to overwrite /Users/oliverwilliams/.homestead/Homestead.yaml
I thought it should be creating a new file as I can't see a current Homestead.yam file?
Answer: Files and directories starting with a . are 'hidden' on Unix-like systems such as OS X. That means the file probably already exists.
You could run the following command in your terminal to see whether the file exists in the directory:
ls -a /Users/oliverwilliams/.homestead
You can read how to show hidden files on OS X here: http://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-mac/

Laravel Homestead.yaml init.sh issue


Adverbs male vs female usage

Question: Hi I would like some clarification with how to use adverbs in Spanish, especially regarding male vs female usage. For example: She sings really pretty: ella canta muy bonito or bonita? Also, she walks so slow: ella camina tan lento or lenta? I know you can use lentamente but isn't lento/lenta also a possibility? Thank you in advance.
Answer: As can be read here, adjectives used as adverbs need to be in the masculine and in the singular:

Las golondrinas vuelan bajo.

Las espinacas saben raro.

In the sentences above, the adjectives modify the verbs (fly low, taste strange).
However, adjectives can be used in the predicate to refer to the subject, in which case they are subject complements and have to agree with the gender and number of the subject:

Las golondrinas vuelan bajas.

Las espinacas saben raras.

Though syntactically different, we can say that, from the point of view of meaning, (3) is equivalent to (1) and (4) is equivalent to (2).
There are certain combinations of verbs and adjectives where the adjective will always function as an adverb and be invariable (i.e. masculine gender, singular number):

hablar claro
hablar bajo
pasarlo estupendo/bárbaro
pasarlo fatal
atar fuerte
jugar sucio
correr rápido
hacerlo rápido
volar alto
comprar caro
cantar bonito
pisar firme
hilar fino
caer bajo
comer sano
comer saludable
Comment: @Bluelion7 "volar bajo" (invariable) sounds much better to me, but with "saber" (taste) both possibilities are equally correct.
Comment: I understand the last  list provided is fixed and adverbs are in the masculine and singular. I am confused regarding the first point. Is it optional whether you want it to agree with the subject or stay masculine and single?

Adverbs male vs female usage


How do I interpret uncertainty in velocity greater than the speed of light?

Question: I just studied Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in school and I came up with an interesting problem.
 Assume an electron which is moving very slowly and we observe it with a distance uncertainty of say $\Delta  x=1\times10^{-13} \text{ m}$ if we try finding uncertainty of velocity using the formula $$\Delta  x \cdot \Delta v\ge \dfrac{h}{4\pi m}$$
$$\Delta v=578838179.9 \text{ m/s}$$ Which is clearly greater than the speed of light but that is not possible. How did physicists overcome this challenge?
Answer: The right formula is
$$\Delta X \Delta P \geq  h/4\pi$$
where $P$ is the momentum which is approximatively  $mv$ only for small velocities $v$ when compared with $c$. Otherwise you have to use the relativistic expression
$$P = mv/ \sqrt{1-v^2/c^2}.$$
If $\Delta X$ is small, then $\Delta P$ is large but, according to the formula above,  the speed remains of the order of $c$ at most. That is  because, in the formula  above, $P\to +\infty$ corresponds to $v\to c$.
With some details, solving the above identity for $v$, we have
$$v = \frac{P}{m \sqrt{1+ P^2/m^2c^2}}\:,$$ so that
$$v\pm \Delta v = \frac{P\pm \Delta P}{m \sqrt{1+ (P\pm \Delta P)^2/m^2c^2}}.$$
We have obtained the exact expression of $\Delta v$:
$$\pm \Delta v =  \frac{P\pm \Delta P}{m \sqrt{1+ (P\pm \Delta P)^2/m^2c^2}} -  \frac{P}{m \sqrt{1+ P^2/m^2c^2}},$$
where
$$\Delta P = \frac{\hbar}{2\Delta X}\:.$$
This is a complicated expression but it is easy to see that the final speed cannot exceed $c$ in any cases.
For a fixed value of $P$ and $\Delta X \to 0$, we have
$$v\pm \Delta v = \lim_{\Delta P \to + \infty}\frac{P\pm \Delta P}{m \sqrt{1+ (P \pm \Delta P)^2/m^2c^2}}= \pm c\:.\tag{1}$$
Finally, it is not difficult to see that (using the graph of the hyperbolic tangent function)
$$-1 \leq \frac{(P\pm \Delta P)/mc}{ \sqrt{1+ (P \pm \Delta P)^2/m^2c^2}}\leq 1\tag{2}\:.$$
We therefore conclude that
$$-c \leq v\pm \Delta v \leq c,$$
where the boundary values are achieved only for $\Delta X \to 0$ according to (1).
Relativity is safe...
Answer: What you've discovered is that "normal" Quantum Mechanics is incompatible with relativity. As Valter Moretti pointed out, using a relativistic expression for momentum solves this problem. There are, however, more problems that cannot be solved by simply using relativistic expression for energy and momentum. For example,

The relativistic equation $E=mc^2$ implies that it is possible for energy to be converted into new particles. The time-energy uncertainty principle $\left(\Delta E\cdot\Delta t\geq\hbar/2\right)$ implies that it is possible for particles to be created out of thin air, even when, from a classical viewpoint, there is not enough energy present.
Even when single-particle quantum mechanics is modified to use a relativistic Hamiltonian, as in the Klein-Gordon equation, there is always a non-zero probability that a particle can teleport across a space-like interval (faster than the speed of light).

These problems are resolved by the introduction of Quantum Field Theory. Basically, instead of quantizing individual particles, we quantize fields. The particles are excitations of the fields, and new particles can appear out of thin air. Quantum field theories are designed to preserve causality so that they work well with relativity. The mathematics is all very complicated, but that's the basic idea.
Comment: The statement that QM is incompatible with relativity is misleading.
Comment: QM is not _incompatible_ with relativity. It is a low velocity approximation to it.
Comment: One-particle relativistic QM violates causality, which I would consider a serious incompatibility (for reference, see section 2.1 of Peskin and Schroeder). I'm not sure what you mean by single-particle QFT. How would that be possible?
Comment: Heisenberg principle position-momentum  is valid as it stands also for relativistic quantum theory (one-particle qft). Further physical phenomena may happen in addition to it, as creation of couples, but the proof of H principle is still valid.
Comment: I think that one-particle QFT (relativistic QM) is logically consistent with special relativity though part of the formalism has a subtle interpretation (e.g. the definition of position observables). The problems only regard physical phenomenology. For instance it is not able to describe the phenomenon of pair  production. These phenomena are accounted by qft instead.
Comment: Well, I do not want to enter a long discussion, but the argument by P&S is disputable...https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/346780/does-relativistic-quantum-mechanics-really-violate-causality
Answer: There are two problems with this setup. The first is here:

Assume an electron which is moving very slowly

If you know already that the electron is moving very slowly then you already have a small uncertainty in momentum.  For example, if you know that the electron is moving at less than $1 \text{ m/s}$ then $\Delta v = 0.29 \text{ m/s}$ so we already have $\Delta p = 2.6 \ 10^{-31}\text{ kg m/s}$. By $\Delta x \ \Delta p \ge \hbar/2$ then $\Delta x \ge 0.0002\text{ m}$ so the distance uncertainty mentioned in the setup is not possible.
Of course, perhaps you meant something different by "moving very slowly", but if you work through the numbers then $\Delta x = 10^{-13}\text{ m}$ gives an uncertainty of velocity $\Delta v \ge 0.88 \ c$ which would be hard to justify as "very slowly" regardless.
EDIT: Per the comment below "very slowly" refers to a non-relativistic velocity. If we insist on $\gamma < 1.01$ then that corresponds to $v < 4.2 \ 10^7 \text{ m/s}$. This is $\Delta v < 1.2 \ 10^7 \text{ m/s}$ or a maximum of $\Delta p = 1.1 \ 10^{-23} \text{ kg m/s}$. So by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle the minimum uncertainty in position is $\Delta x > \hbar/(2\Delta p) = 4.8 \ 10^{-12}\text{ m}$
The second problem is

using the formula $$\Delta  x. \Delta v\ge \frac{h}{4\pi m}$$

The correct expression is $\Delta  p \Delta x\ge \hbar/2$. This is important because $p=mv$ is only a non-relativistic approximation. In relativity $p=mv/\sqrt{1-v^2/c^2}$ which is unbounded as $v$ approaches $c$. With this correct formula $\Delta x = 10^{-13}\text{ m}$ results in $\Delta p = 5.3 \ 10^{-22} \text{ kg m/s}$. As indicated above, for an electron this corresponds to a velocity uncertainty of $\Delta v = 0.88 \ c$ which is quite large, but does not exceed $c$.
Comment: well by slow speeds i meant that mass would not be affected by its speed($e=mc^2$) so that i can directly substitute rest mass of electron from various sources........thanks a bunch(+1).I did not know that when we can multiply $\Delta v.m$ and get P. thanks again :)
Comment: Thanks for the explanation @Thulashitharan I have updated the answer to calculate the minimum position uncertainty for a "very slow" electron.
Comment: @Thulashitharan mass is not affected by speed; relativistic mass is an outdated concept as explained [here](https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/133376/195139).
Answer: So when you become a particle (or nuclear) physicist , one of the first things you need to memorize is that:
$$ \hbar c \approx 200\,{\rm MeV\cdot fm}$$
where "fm" is a fermi ($10^{-15}\,$m), which is the scale of a nucleon.
Thus, if your position uncertainty is 100 fm, you can immediately estimate a momentum uncertainty of 1 MeV/c.
Since you've also memorized $m_e=0.511\,$MeV/c$^2$, that means the velocity uncertainty (which isn't really a thing in particle physics, it never comes up) corresponds to a Lorentz factor of:
$$\gamma = \frac{E}{m_e} \approx \frac p {m_e} \approx 2,$$
and we've all done enough relativity problem to know this corresponds to a velocity:
$$ \beta = \frac v c = \frac{\sqrt 3} 2 \approx 0.866$$
which is close enough to @Dale's answer.
Answer:
Assume an electron which is moving very slowly and we observe it with a distance uncertainty of say Δx=1×10−13 m

In QM, particles don't have velocities in the normal sense of the word. Velocity is an observable, and thus is represented by an operator applied to a quantum state. Talking of a particle's "velocity" implies that the particle has a definite velocity (i.e. is in an eigenstate of the velocity operator) or, at the very least, its state has a small spread in velocity space.  As you calculated, an electron with such a small $\Delta x$ would have such a massive $\Delta p$ that it cannot be said to have anything close to a well-defined velocity.
If an electron is moving close to $c$, then it will traverse $10^{-13}m$ in ~$3*10^{-22}$ seconds. According to a cursory web search that I performed, the highest time precision ever recorded is $10^{-21}s$. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicists-record-smallest-slice-time-yet-180961085/ So it's not possible to measure an electron over short enough time period for it to be confined within a region of $10^{-13}m$.
That is not to say that it is not legitimate to ask about a purely hypothetical, completely unmeasurable scenario in which over a period of less than a zeptosecond, an electron has $\Delta x = 10^{-13}m$. I just thought it should be pointed out that this is a physically unrealistic situation.
As for this apparently resutling in $\Delta v > c$, as Valter Moretti says, your calculation is based on $p = mv$, and if $m$ is taken to be the rest mass $m_0$, then this is valid only for small $v$ (relative to $c$). However, I don't think Valter Moretti's further calculations are valid. The $\Delta p$ in the uncertainty is not the range of $p$, although this interpretation is a good enough approximation to be a good intuition when the priciple is being introduced. Rather, $\Delta p$ is the standard deviation of $p$: $\sqrt {<\phi^* |p  \phi>^2-<\phi^* |p^2  \phi>}$. Since $p$ is a nonlinear function of $v$, we can't calculate an exact value of $\Delta v$ in terms of $\Delta p$ without knowing the exact $\phi$.


Did Plant Cells Evolve from Animal, Protist, or Fungal Cells?

Question: I know protists and animals preceded plants but I am unaware of when fungi arose in relation to plants. At the moment, I cannot find a resource stating how plants evolved from existing kingdoms, or whether they evolved independently from prokaryotes. Thanks for the help, sorry if this is common knowledge.
Comment: cladistically speaking plants, fungi, and animals are all protists.
Comment: @John protist is not even a clade, actually. It was a group of all unclassified unicellular eukaryotes.
Answer: Plants were almost always considered a separate group from fungi and animals.
As per the latest classification both animals and plants are included in the clade Opisthokonta: animals and related unicellular organisms (holozoa) form a sister clade with holomycota (contains fungi and Cristidiscoidea).
Plants (archaeplastida), aveolates and rhizaria are now grouped under Diaphoretickes (previously they were grouped under Bikonta).
To cut short the plant and animal lineages merge only at the level of the last eukaryotic common ancestor. This means that plants are as unrelated to fungi as they are to animals.
Protista is no longer considered a proper clade. It used to be a group where all unclassified unicellular eukaryotes were dumped. Now these organisms have been reclassified; some are closer to animals (for e.g. Amoeba), some are closer to plants (e.g. Plasmodium) whereas some are part of a group that is distantly related to both plants and animals (for e.g. Euglena).
Have a look at this WikiSpecies site for a detailed classification (latest and historical). It also cites proper references.


Task completion rate increased from 53% to 73% but still under the standard average of 78%

Question: A tree testing conducted for a website navigation and the result was 53% then, we redesigned the information architecture and produced a new tree testing with the new navigation. The result improved from 53% to 74% but it is still under the standard accepted rate of 78%. What reasons to put forward while communicating this? Is there anybody encountered this type of situation.
Comment: It depends on the type of navigation. If you use complex megamenus, nested browsing or specific menus for secondary pages the percentages will vary, and so will the reasons why this happens. On a side note, where did you get this 78% rate? I know Jeff Sauro used it as a generic example, but he didn't say is average for menus, just as a general rule for generic tasks. And I know Jeff won't tell anything without data supporting it, so specific tasks like yours might differ (again, depends on complexity). Besides, a 40% improvement is really good
Answer: The 21 percentage points increase is an impressive improvement and only 4 points below the standard rate. You could explain what adjustments were made and how they could have contributed to the jump in success rates.
However, you need to include more factors when communicating the results.
Is the 78% standard accepted rate specific to the industry or topic that the website is designed for? A shopping website is less complex in terms of topic and domain knowledge, compared to an industry-specific website.
The validity of these test results are also dependent on the test participants: How many participants were there in the test? Are they expert users and high levels of domain knowledge? Were they the same users in the first test or were they a different group?
These are other factors you can think about including in your report.


Methods for fast image comparison

Question: I want to implement a real-time system for image comparison (e.g. compare a face with a reference one) on an Odroid. I would like to know what are the most suitable architectures for this task. I started with methods based on triplet loss (like Facenet) but I realized that a real-time solution is not feasible. Are there good, light alternatives?
Answer: The problem might not be caused by your loss function. Deep learning models tend to be computationally demanding. Mobile devices are not usually prepared for handling models with high throughput. That being said, you might try to:

Prepare smaller model - less layers, less computation
Mobile models optimization - Google provides some materials on optimizing Tensorflow models for mobile inference:
https://www.tensorflow.org/mobile/prepare_models
https://www.tensorflow.org/mobile/optimizing
Answer: For face ID, Apple is using Siamese Network. You may get a better idea here https://towardsdatascience.com/one-shot-learning-face-recognition-using-siamese-neural-network-a13dcf739e

Methods for fast image comparison


Google rich snippet looks different then Google Search

Question: I have added the authorship to a website of mine however it looks like this when I enter my URL into the tool, however when I search for the site on Google, it shows an out of date cached image and doesn't appear like the rich snippet tool. Any insight as to why this is happening?
Comment: How long has it been since you have updated it?  It might need time to update, what is the date of the Google cache of the page?
Comment: @moobot It has been 3 days since I updated the page. The as cached version of the page is Jun 12, 2013.
Comment: Wait until Google has updated its cache.of the page with the current changes,maybe it will display correct then.
Answer: Rich Snippets only show if you're logged into Google+ or at least Authorship Rich Snippets only show if you're logged into Google+.  It also depends what keywords were typed into the search.
Rich Snippets aren't guaranteed, sometimes Google for a keyword phrase might not show them when for a different keyword phrase they will show a Rich Snippet. There is a difference between "Rich Snippets" and Authorship.  Authorship is tied to Google+, Rich Snippets are tied to schema.org and a few other standards.
Supposedly Amazon.com doesn't follow any of the recommended standard but Googlebot knows how their website works so they get "Rich Snippets" anyway. It is good to be the king of e-commerce.


Where can i get photo collection for website/template

Question: I'm developing website templates and wonder how to get (free or buy) photos of product sample for my templates. For example, collection if furniture, shirts, lingerie? Maybe you have preferences with affordable price. Please note that these images is going to be use in  web templates for sale.
Answer: There are many sites like this on the web, one I've heard good things about is http://www.istockphoto.com/ -- they have reasonable prices and good selection.
Comment: @Danni If you plan to resell an image purchased from iStockphoto as part of a paid website template, note that you'll need to buy the image with their Extended Licence, which allows unlimited resale of images as part of a template. Their regular (cheaper) licence doesn't allow you to redistribute images electronically at all.
Answer: Read the license for the stock photography carefully.  In order to resell the images you usually need an extended license, which can be very expensive.  In many cases, it will be a one-use, non-resell license.
If the images in your template are just examples and the license your customers agree to does not allow them to use the images, you may not need an extended license, but you should make that clear to your buyers.
Answer: The Creative Commons Flickr search finds Flickr images licensed for commercial use, adaptation, and modification.
Do check the licence terms for each image, though; you will often be required to credit the photographer by name or with a link.


DNS Suffix - can someone see my computer

Question: So a friend set my computer up, he happens to run networks and has a private one of his own.
Will he be able to see my computer and what i'm doing?
Answer: The easiest way for your "friend" to do that would be to install a program on your computer that he would be able to connect to.  Likely also he'd have to configure your router, assuming you are using some form of broadband, to allow the incoming connection to your machine.
However, with the way most networks are set up today, a person can't just "see" what you are doing without some cooperation with your router and computer.
It's possible for someone to create a program that does things like record what keystrokes you are typing and send them without your knowledge, and other nasty things.  If your router has "remote management" enabled, he might be able to log in to that via the Web and look at your router's logs and things like that.  There's worse things as well.
The moral of the story is that you shouldn't have someone you don't trust doing work on your computer.
If you are really paranoid I recommend you read the manual to your router, learn some basics on configuring it, reset it, and reconfigure it yourself.  The router is the gateway from the outside Internet into any computer within your home network and if you reset and reconfigure it yourself, you'll know the main path into your home network is set up by someone you trust, i.e. yourself.


List of 3D libraries based on WebGL

Question: Is there a up-to-date list of WebGL libraries or articals with comparison?
Until now I heard only three.js and GLGE.
Comment: It'd probably be a good idea to rename the title to "List of 3D libraries based on WebGL". It's not that huge for people looking at it now, it's easy to figure out what you mean, but when people will do searching for 3D engines for JS later they may not find this.
Comment: @dreta thanx man!
Answer: Khronos, the guys who are the "keepers" of OpenGL and WebGL have a preeeeeety loooooong list of WebGL stuff found on the web: http://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/User_Contributions
And, the list is actively updated, although, there might be some outdated stuff hiding in-between.
And, I bet, that a little in depth browsing through http://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/Main_Page would give you more than enough information to get you started.
But, if you're looking for direct comparison chart, that's a problem. Because 3D graphics is such a broad term, and WebGL is nowhere near production use, all the libraries out there are basicly experiments.
There are no set guidelines what a WebGL library should boast, therefore, it's hard to compare them.
Comment: The WebGL list on Khronos is an open community wiki (http://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/Main_Page). If you do find anything missing, or out of date in your search for content, you are encouraged to make updates.
Answer: I have been looking into this question, and creating a comparison of my own. As a starter I used this post.
http://weblog.benjaminsommer.com/blog/2012/05/13/comparison-of-webgl-framework-apis/
While this is not a comparison of the complete list of WebGL frameworks, it is more then I have found available. If anyone else has similar links I hope they share!
Answer: My own super-lightweight barebones.js can do basic matrix and vector math, load and draw fonts, textures and animated meshes.  It has a super-basic 2D UI framework too.
I actually have quite a lot of stuff I made for my last Ludum Dare entry - a 3D online multiplayer space combat game - to fold back into barebones.js including performance improvements, fps counters and so on.
Finally I've got some newer mesh collision code, auto-normals code and other goodies under development for my latest hobby game; I'll fold them into barebones.js when they work too.
All in all its super lightweight and is super-easy to initialise your canvas properly, give you simple glu equivs like look-at, unproject, perspective etc as well as quaternions and that kind of stuff.  And then it gets out of your way and lets you make your game!
I'd be happy to fix and improve if others use it too.  Long live hobby coding!

List of 3D libraries based on WebGL


Does EMET prevent WannaCry exploit execution?

Question: Based on answers to the question How is the "WannaCry" Malware spreading (...), I understand it leverages vulnerabilities present in the SMB implementation. Assuming an unpatched and otherwise vulnerable system, would EMET (properly set-up to enforce DEP, SEHOP, ASLR and certificate pinning, in addition to importing the "Recommended Software" and "Popular software" mitigation lists) prevent this exploitation?
Answer: No, EMET won't prevent exploitation.
WannaCry uses the ETERNALBLUE exploit, targeting the MS17-010 vulnerability. This vulnerability exploits the Windows File Sharing Service (a.k.a SMB) on TCP port 445. This Windows File Sharing Service runs with SYSTEM level privileges, under the SYSTEM process - basically at the kernel level.
On the other hand EMET is a user-space protection tool to protect user-space processes like browsers, browser plugins or Office applications. EMET is injecting a DLL into every protected application, and provides protection through that DLL. By default, EMET provides almost no protection to the system (except enforced DEP, enforced ASLR, SEHOP). It only protects applications (Executable files) which have been configured to be protected by EMET.

A logical step would be to configure EMET to protect the SYSTEM process, but unfortunately this is not how operating systems work. Different memory protection strategies and implementations are needed to protect user-space processes and the OS kernel.
Comment: Good answer, but I wonder exactly how does it exploit the SMB Service? From what I read [(here)](https://security.stackexchange.com/a/159663/91904) it's a buffer overflow exploit, which I would think should be mitigated by enforcing DEP for all processes.
Comment: @Marc.2377 DEP (NX) protects from trivial buffer overflows, but there are numerous ways to get around that protection with that primitive.
Answer: EMET is a set of tools. It won't do anything by itself.
If properly used, you can counter malware with it, but you can do the same with a properly designed .bat file.
So the answer is no, not by just having it installed.


Adding pictures to virtuemart product

Question: All I want to do is upload pictures to my virtuemart products from Imgur rather than my computer because I can only use a total of 2 gigabytes for the whole site. I am just learning to do any website building. Please help
Answer: Add external hosted images to product:
products -> product images -> "used url" & "used thumb url"
For importing images from Imgur to your Virtuemart webspace you need to write an extension which utilize the Imgur api. (I did this already for Dropbox.)
*But, I would recommend to resize your images to max 800x800px and compress them with 60 to 80% quality. Even you 2GB webspace should be big enough for that. (1000 images * 100kb / 1024 ~ 97MB)*

Adding pictures to virtuemart product


breathing techniques in buddhism

Question: My name is Prakash Karki. I am from Nepal. . I have just read 1 book on buddhisam and that is biography and philosophy of buddha. I became very serious about this spiritual stuff. I have been researching about spirituality for 2 years now. I want to know about the journey. how to be more serious about it and what should I do at first step as a beginner ?
Comment: I mean both of them. This is my first question I have ever asked so I cannot articulate my thoughts. I am improving day by day.
Comment: Is your question about Buddhism in general or about breathing techniques in Buddhism?
Answer: Where to begin and how to start...
For the sake of being concise, you already are on the path because you're kicking brother. Have you heard of the butterfly effect? Your actions, intentions and responses reflect the dynamic of the environment around you (family, work, etc) and so on and so forth.
That's the beginning to the whole 'spiritual stuff'.
Some breathing techniques that I have found useful (not only buddhist):

Tummo (buddhist)
Freediving
Yoga (breathing into the pressure to release the tension)

Cultivate in Harmony
Comment: thank you soo much.
Comment: Anytime! Just remember to keep a humble mind during the initial stages of self experimentation and you'll make the most from self discovery.
Understanding the foundations of a technique comes from the memory of the body as well as the thought of mind ;)
Answer: You should do a goenka retreat goenka is powerful and it's donation based I know it's powerful because a women did suicide because of going there  becoming the only meditation retreat that did irreversible damage like that so be careful and 1,2 millions people did goenka 10 days retreat till now it's the most popular meditation retreat and the most powerful it exists in 90+ countries  many people did have a good experience there you can just google them
It teachs breathing technique and body scan method I recommend you to download their app  and play the mini anapana/breathing guided meditation ->
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vipassanameditation just follow the audio instructions there, you can also search and apply the nearest 10 day meditation retreat using the app
But for a breathing theory you can read https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/WithEachAndEveryBreath/Section0007.html this thanissaro bhikku is the one who translated suttas from pali to english you can call him the modern buddha if you want because he knows nearly the entire suttas so you don't need to read that thousands suttas to only understand buddha's meditation/right concentration
Answer: The Buddha did not teaching any breathing technique.
In Buddhism, the mind is made empty of craving. When the mind is empty of craving, the breathing becomes the natural automatic object of consciousness.
Breathing techniques is Hinduism rather than Buddhism.
Comment: Buddha most probably did not teach breathing techniques. He mentioned breathing and attention to breathing in MN 118, which might be helpful..

breathing techniques in buddhism


Swann HD Doorbell

Question: I want to hardwire my Swann HD doorbell, rather than using it's in built battery.
Can I use an existing cable which supplies 18Vac 1.25amp from a powerplug, whereas 16-24Vac 1amp is specified in the manual?
Answer: Yes, the powerplug will supply the current demanded by the bell so the 0.25A extra is not an issue.
The voltage is within the specs you gave for the bell supply.
Should work fine, just do check the polarity just in case.

Swann HD Doorbell


Mouse/Touchpad acceleration disabling not working

Question: I'm running elementary OS, I installed it on my laptop to try it out but I can't disable the pointer acceleration (I'm only using the touchpad). I tried adding a bash script to startup to run xset m 0 0 but it only works for around 1 second after login. I also tried creating a file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-mouse-accel-disable.conf with the following code:
Section "InputClass"
  Identifier "mouse"
  MatchIsPointer "on"
  Option "AccelerationProfile" "-1"
  Option "AccelerationScheme" "none"
EndSection

but it doesn't work either.
xinput devices:
$ xinput --list
 Virtual core pointer                       id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                 id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
   ↳ ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad                   id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
 Virtual core keyboard                      id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ WebCam SC-13HDL12131N                     id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Is there another solution to this? Any advice is greatly appreciated
Answer: Try the following filter instead:
MatchIsTouchpad "on"


Question about upvoting

Question: I've been wondering if it is appropriate for me to upvote questions and answers. I know that native speakers upvote good questions and answers. But being a non-native, I've been feeling a bit hesitant to upvote questions and answers, especially answers (I've been upvoting questions here and there). I want to upvote questions when they are those that I'm also curious about, and I want to upvote comments or answers when I learned something new from them. What do you think?
Comment: You can use your votes however you like Miki, as long as they're not targeted towards a specific user. But please, please refrain from voting when you don't know whether the answer is correct or not. ELL gets a lot of upvotes on wrong answers.
Comment: You're not going to be questioned about how you voted. The reason *serial voting* is caught and act upon is artificially skewing the post score. It's just a piece of advice that you not vote for something whose quality you can't judge. I'd upvote an answer with a score of 9 much easier than one with a score of 0.
Comment: You might want to consider this: **Not so fast! (When should I accept my answer?)**: http://meta.ell.stackexchange.com/questions/1307/not-so-fast-when-should-i-accept-my-answer
Comment: As far as I know, ELL doesn't care whether answers are upvoted because they are correct. Else, why allow learners to vote on them? The only criterion is whether an answer is *useful*. Therefore ELL's definition of "the best answer(s)" is not answers that are correct but most useful.
Comment: @Miki A very important point: **you are not a foreigner!** The English language is not a nation; it belongs to everyone who speaks it, whatever nation they call home. The last thing we ever want a questioner to feel is that they are "foreigners." (Other notes: 1.) Everyone on the planet is a "foreigner" somewhere, so the term itself is suspect. 2.) "foreigner" in English is not a derogatory term, as 外人 often is in Japanese.)
Comment: @Miki Please! You have **not** written anything "stupid!" I am trying to explain that in learning English, either we are **all** "foreigners" or **none** of us are.  _Alien_ is not the right word here, either. We call everyone **English language learners,** and in a very real sense, every single participant here is a learner, whether they are asking questions or answering them. I learn new things every day: sometimes from an answer, and sometimes from a question. Also, no one here can be a "foreigner" or "alien" because the site has no nationality.
Comment: @DEAD That's what I was concerned about the most. It's like, I may think that I learned something, but in reality, the answer could be wrong, you know? In the end, I'm a foreigner, so how would I know which answer is the most reliable? That's my No. 1 concern.
Comment: I have the urge to upvote those answers that make me think to myself "wow, that makes complete sense!" but my judgment could be wrong.
Comment: @DEAD That's true. I will wait for a while before upvoting and see other people' reactions. That's probably way better than just my own judgment.
Comment: You can also drop in [chat] every once in a while. We usually discuss posts there. Furthermore, if a post is old enough, the comments below the answer usually contain very useful info on how the answer should really be judged, although they don't send the signal of quality as strong as score. Honestly, the fact that you asked this very question proves that you'd use your votes way better than me. :)
Comment: Thank you everyone for the kind and useful advice :)
Comment: @AlanCarmack Else, why allow learners to vote on them? - That is so true! Thank you for giving me the link. Yes. I'll make sure that I'm going to give it a day or two to accept/upvote answers. I'm glad to have found a site where I can learn so much from. Thank you!
Comment: I appreciate all of you for giving me these great tips!
Comment: @P.E.Dant You're right. That was a very stupid thing to say! Alien, on the other hand, is, isn't it? When I first heard the wording alien registration, I was like "Wait, what? I'm not E.T.!!" Anyway, thank you. :)
Comment: @P.E.Dant Thank you! I'm gonna keep learning with everyone on this site as part of the learners!
Answer: Here's how I would handle your situation: If the answer was recently posted, wait a day or two. See how others in the community respond. If no one seems to be commenting with negative feedback, then go ahead and upvote the answer.
You could also use the "favorite" button on the question to help you remember which answers you want to go back and check again later.
By the way, I think your caution is commendable. It doesn't happen too often, but,  on occasion, I have seen a few bad answers get upvotes. I think that undermines the credibility of this site, so thank you for wanting to vote judiciously.
Comment: Thank you for taking your time to answer my question. Yes, after all the advice, I decided to take more time before upvoting. When I first started using this site, this never even crossed my mind because I was thinking, "Yea, my English isn't that bad for a Japanese." But the more I use this site, the more I realized how ignorant I was! A bit embarrassing, but that's when I started to wonder about upvoting... Anyway, thank you!
Answer: Upvoting is not a crime! However, if you do so for one particular contributor, ELL may consider that as serial upvoting.
So, avoid doing these things while upvoting -

Don't do it too frequently - say in one day, you upvoted several dozens of them
  Don't do it for one particular user - say you upvoted only my questions/answers

The best thing is - be neutral. If you like questions/answers, upvote them by all means but it should come as a natural gesture.
Upvoting comments in any frequency is not an issue at all. But still, stay neutral.
Comment: Thank you, @Maulik V. I will be careful with the number of upvotes I cast per day. I don't think I've ever played favorites with anyone so I shouldn't have any problem with being neutral. But if it looks to you that I have been, please tell me.
Comment: So you think it's okay for me to upvote answers based solely on if 'I' feel that 'I' gained something from them?
Comment: No, no - there has been no such notification to me. You can certainly carry on. But, again, *be neutral...* Keep going! :) All the best!
Comment: Nice answer Maulik! One small issue though. We don't call it *spam*. We call it *serial upvoting*. Also there is nothing wrong with upvoting a lot of posts in one day.
Comment: @DEAD edited! :) thanks however, serial upvoting could be considered as spamming! Spam is an umbrella term which includes many 'acts'
Comment: Not on SE, Maulik. Spam here only means promotion of service without disclosed affiliation.
Answer: As long as you're reasonably careful to make sure you're not getting taken in by an answer that sounds plausible but is actually totally wrong, this should be fine. That's how votes are supposed to work! And the occasional error can be taken care of by other people voting and commenting.
Comment: Thank you, @NathanTuggy! I will try to take in all advice I got from you guys here!

Question about upvoting


Can you teleport 0 squares in a move action?

Question: There are many properties that trigger after teleportation in 4e. Is it possible to activate a teleport power and choose the distance teleported to be 0 squares? (effectively teleporting in place?)
Comment: @F.RandallFarmer best guess: he's trying to use something the triggers off a teleport, but wants to remain in current position.
Comment: I feel like invoking the *sack of rats* clause might be appropriate here.
Comment: Could you please explain the reason you'd want to do this? To break a grab?
Comment: Why would you want to do this?
Comment: There are a number of things that trigger on teleport, but I may not want to give up my position. As a pixie, I'd quite like to be able to teleport "within the same square"
Answer: No
Though it is not explicitly called out, there is a preponderance of wording that suggests you must chose a destination space other than the current one.
Teleportation[ddi]

... A teleportation power transports creatures or objects instantaneously from one location to another.

From one location to another. Strike 1 - Seems to exclude the same location - but depends on grammatical set theory. :-)

... Instantaneous: Teleportation takes no time. The target disappears and immediately appears in the destination that the teleporting creature chooses. The movement is unhindered by intervening creatures, objects, or terrain.

Blocking isn't a problem.

... Destination Space: The destination of the teleportation must be an unoccupied space that is at least the same size as the target.

Strike 2 - The destination space is occupied - by you.

... Immobilized or Restrained: Being immobilized or restrained doesn't prevent a target from teleporting. If a target teleports away from a physical restraint, a monster's grasp, or some other immobilizing effect that is located in a specific space, the target is no longer immobilized or restrained. Otherwise, the target teleports but is still immobilized or restrained when it reaches the destination space.

Assuming Teleport 0 is being used to escape restraint, this is Strike 3: You aren't teleporting away from restraint, so your are still restrained.
Despite all that, I imagine many DMs would house-rule otherwise, and I might be one of them.


Crop an image based on another image dimensions in Photoshop CS6

Question: I have got two images one is a PNG having some part transparent for rounded corners and a curved top. It is used in a slideshow. I have got another image in JPEG format which needs to fit in these dimensions including the transparent edges. Can someone please help in getting this done?
Answer:
Open both files in Photoshop.
Look up the pixel dimensions of the png file with Edit>Image Size and write them down
Resize your jpeg with the crop tool by entering the pixel dimensions for with and height in the control bar of the crop tool. If the jepg has the same proportion it will only be resized, but if the proportions are differten this way you can crop some of the image to make it the same size and proportions of the png.
This is a little harder. The easiest way is to ctr+left click (cmd for mac) on the png layer icon. This way you will make a selection of all of the layer content. In this case it will be the outline of your png, including it's rounded corners. Exactly what you need.
Before you go to your jpg, go to Select>Save Selection and save your selection by naming it "rounded corners".
Go to your jpeg in Photoshop, go to Select>Load Selection and choose "rounded corners". The selection has the same size as your png, so make sure you got step 3 right!
Click on the "add layer mask" in the layer window. This way you load the selection as a mask. You will notice that the mask has some black corners in it, this is its way of telling the image where it has to be transparent.
Now you can save your image. There is one problem: jpeg does not support transparency, it will be shown as opaque white instead. So you can save as jpeg but only if the background of your slideshow is also white. That is why I recommend to save to png with file>save for web for optimum results. This way you can save the transparency too. You can fiddle around with the settings until you are satisfied, I won't go into details here, that would be overkill. Remember to save as psd with file>save as well to keep as a "master file" of the image that contains all the information Photoshop needs, like layers.
Answer:
Open the PNG
Select "Image" then "Image Size"
Make a note of the dimensions in pixels.
Open the JPG, select "File"
Select "Automate" then select "Fit Image"
Enter the dimensions you made note of for the PNG, press Ok
Answer: It's difficult to answer without seeing an image (can you upload one?), but since you mention round corners, I think your best option is to recreate the original picture in a way that lets you re-use it for future ones.
The easiest way to do it is to use masks. Here's a quick reference on how to add rounded corner masks to any photo in Photoshop. You basically create a mask using a rounded rectangle using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Then save as PSD, and add the new images as layers underneath the mask (it helps if you apply the mask to a folder and drop the images in there).


Telescope size to view saturn

Question: What is the properties (size, etc) of required lenses for minimal telescope to see the Saturn rings clearly?
Answer:
The rings of Saturn should be visible in even the smallest telescope at 25x. A good 3-inch scope at 50x can show them as a separate structure detached on all sides from the ball of the planet.

Source

The best time to see the planet Saturn in 2013 will be in late April and May.

Source
Comment: Just to add to this already excellent answer: Those images are definitely achievable, but your biggest hindrance will be [seeing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_seeing). Don't look over warm surfaces (e.g. pavement), and be patient. Sometimes you just have to watch for a few minutes and wait for the atmosphere to be momentarily still, and then you'll be rewarded with an excellent image. Same advice for seeing Jupiter's cloud bands.
Comment: Also, the inclination of the rings to our line of sight varies between about what is pictured here and edge-on (read: invisible). This next approach will be somewhere in between I believe.
Comment: @hunter2 likes to comment (but can't): "Also, most binoculars are sufficient to see Saturn's rings."
Comment: @Richard And, are you seeing anything?
Comment: Pretty sure you have to ping Richard on his question itself, since he never commented on this answer in particular. In any event, the SE engine notified me, so I'm pretty sure it didn't notify him.

Telescope size to view saturn


Computer drawing surfaces

Question: I was looking at some Adobe products and noticed at this page the artist appears to be drawing on her computer screen directly, it appears to be a Mac.  How is the artist doing this?  Is she using a special type of screen hooked to a computer or is this a stand-alone computer?  Is there any reference material available about devices like this?
Comment: By the way, in case you don't have a graphics tablet and are looking for something cheap to get started, the same company that makes that screen also makes surfaces without a screen, but which are much better than a mouse (for example, they have pressure sensitivity). The Wacom Bamboo Splash can be aquired from as low as $60 on the US.
Answer: It's a Wacom Cintiq 21UX, Wacom's 21" pen display. On a 1-10 scale it rates about an 11 if you're a digital artist.

Computer drawing surfaces


Why didn't Asuna die in real life when she died in the game?

Question: Asuna died near the end of Sword Art Online. However, judging by the rules, why didn't she die in real life? Did Kayaba Akihiko lie about dying in the game?
Answer: If you read the light novel, after the battle teleported them to another place just to have a talk with them:

I firmly closed my eyes and allowed my tears to flow before asking:
"...What about those who died? Both of us are already dead, yet we continue to exist here. Doesn't that mean you can return the other four thousand dead to the original world as well?"
Kayaba's expression didn't change. He closed the window, put his hands into his pockets, and then said:
"Life can't be recovered so easily. Their consciousness will never return. The dead will disappear— this fact remains true in every world. I created this place only because I wanted to talk with you two— one last time."

So everyone who died remains dead. Kirito and Asuna didn't die, simply because Kayaba intentionally teleported them somewhere else instead of letting them die.
Comment: An important factoid here is that dying in the game doesn't instantly kill you. If it did, the Divine stone of Returning Soul which can revive someone who died in the last 10 seconds wouldn't' work. http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Nicholas_The_Renegade. So the time it took between Asuna's death and Kayaba's death was not enough time for the system to actually go about killing her, so he had time to save her.
Answer: Not quite.

 It's an issue of timing.  She died before the game was cleared, but her death timer didn't expire beforehand.  So, she was eligible to be logged out of the game, much like Kazuto would be.  Her mind was taken to a compatible server in ALFOnline, which is where she's trapped for that arc.

EDIT:  The source for this is Episode 14.

 Both Kirito and Asuna have died, but neither of their death timers have expired.  It stands to reason that, if Kirito is eligible to be logged out despite having died, then so would Asuna.
Answer: Kirito asked Heathcliff (Kayaba) to promise to prevent Asuna from commiting suicide if Kirito were to lose. But when Kirito was about to lose, she jumped in front of him, using her body to shield Kirito from the incoming strike and "killing" herself in the process.
Because Kirito lost after that, technically they are both dead. However, Kirito won after that, and Kayaba agreed to make sure Asuna didn't kill herself, but she did. The only resolution therefore was to keep her alive. As for Kirito, it seems to be that Kayaba wanted him alive to talk.
Answer: Asuna didn't die because Kayaba made it so that if Asuna die in game, she wouldn't die in real life, as promised to Kirito before the duel. Just like in episode one, where he made it so that people couldn't log out, and if they died in game they died in real life, he probably disabled this setting for Asuna in the GM console.


Are Chrome extensions like Advanced REST Client safe to use?

Question: I'm just getting into learning REST and came across this great application that instantly lets me test out requests (Advanced Rest Client).  The question arose that since it is an extension to the browser and I had to log my credentials in to run the request, is it safe to use?  I see nothing but great reviews for this extension and it has 350,000+ downloads so I would assume it's safe.  Assuming doesn't get me anywhere though.
Answer: I worked this summer around 3 browsers: Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer: by principle any extension is a source of vulnerability if not an exploit in itself. Trust me it is not the number of people who use REST that will make you comfortable to use it because there had been several and more popular extensions that were discovered finally later to be too dangerous. You can find examples of such malicious extensions (even if most of them were used as spywares and adwares) on here and there, for example.
Answer: By using an extension you are basically throwing to the garbage all the hard work that the browser's developers have done to protect you.
Think of extension as program that you install directly on your computer. If your extension is a virus, then you just installed a virus.
The team developing the browser is trying really, really hard to protect you. But, by installing an extension (think virus) you destroy that. If the OS or Browser is compromised then you cannot safely browse.
Your system is only as secure as the weakest link and here the weakest link is the extension. I can trust my OS, I can trust my browser but I'm usually not sure when I install any other program or extension.
In general, don't install extension or keep them to a minimum.


Connecting Power BI to Civi

Question: Has anyone tried to connect Civi to Power BI?  I'm considering using this platform for some more in depth analytics.
Comment: How did it work out? I am considering the same
Comment: We've had to put this on the back-burner for the moment but we did encounter some issues that were making it difficult to make a connection.  Our challenges revolved around creating a secure bridge between PowerBI and the SQL database.  There are some services that help in creating that bridge but we didn't get that figured out before pausing this project.
Comment: Thx for reply. I just discovered that Power BI Desktop doesn't come with a Mac version either...
Answer: Connecting with API could be a better solution. This is how I did it:
Step 1: Prepare data in CiviCRM

Get the site key
Create a CiviCRM and Drupal user with correct access rights
Get(Create) the API-key of that user
Create a data processor with relevant data, accessed with API
First column to be an index key, used to connect with other CiviCRM data sources
Amounts to be Aggregate functions, 2 decimals, comma as decimal separator,
and space as thousand separator
Avoid including any personal information in the data processor API-call, than there will be no privacy risk involved with PowerBI.
With data processor API calls, only get-function is available. That means no risk of anyone updating/creating values in
database
Test by input URL to a browser

https://[site-URL]/[CiviCRM folder]?entity=[name of API-call or data processor]&action=get&api_key=[api-key of a CiviCRM&Drupal user with proper access rights]&key=[Site key]&version=[API version]&json{"sequential":1,"options":{"limit":0}}

Step 2: Proxy (if relevant)

Add API-call to CiviProxy
Get different site URL, CiviCRM folder, Api-key and site keys
Build up a new URL
Test by input URL to a browser

Step 3: Connect Power BI

Get data with Web connection
Input URL that is tested after proxy

Step 4: Create graphs and statistics in PowerBI

Transform columns to correct data type!
Schedule automatical refresh(es). Daily at 03.00 am is
a good suggestion,
as that will likely not cause any performance issues in CiviCRM
Connect different data sources in Power BI, like website traffic
Answer: I don't believe anyone has, but Power BI has a MySQL connector component, so it appears that would be all you need:
https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/integrations/mysql/
Comment: Thanks for looking into this.  We'll give it a try and see how it goes.

Connecting Power BI to Civi


does fully diminished fit into diatonic harmony?

Question: I am learning about repetition in classical composing using a basic idea that prolongs tonic (is that what they always do?). Anyways, I use a passing chord between I and vi, and fully diminished voiced with no repeat of the root an octave up provides a nice pull to vi, for which I did use the root an octave up. My question is, does fully diminished (or is it usually referred to as dim 7th?) vii fit into diatonic harmony? Also, what scale should I use if I'm following the strict guidelines of a composer writing chord tone melodies for exercises (I don't know if that's the correct term, chord tones on the strong beats is what I mean). I realize this is like 5 questions but most of them are feeling out the same concept I think (diatonicism vs chromaticism). Thank you.
Comment: by what scale I meant for diminished or fully diminished, and i simply meant I can't draw outside the lines right now if I want to learn the concepts
Comment: It might be useful to clarify what you mean by "fit into." The diatonic scale is a *hepta*tonic scale, while diminished chords are associated with an *octa*tonic scale. So it's no surprise that there is no diminished mode in a diatonic scale. If this is what you mean by "fit into," then the answer would be "no, diminished chords don't fit in." Is your question the whether vii o7 chord can be used in a song with deviating from a previously-established diatonic tonal center? Are you thinking in terms of a major tonal center, minor tonal center, or both?
Answer: A fully diminished 7th chord is home on the 7th scale degree of harmonic minor. Technically this is outside the diationic scale, but is well within the common practice period's style as are other chromatic concepts such as augmented 6th chords and Neapolitan chords. In C harmonic minor which would consist of the notes C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, and B, this would be Bdim7 with the notes B, D, F, A♭. Due to the symmetrical nature of the fully diminished 7th chord can also be looked at as Ddim7 and ii° respectively which also wants to take you back to i.
Don't get too hung up on the idea you have to strictly be using harmonic minor to use this as the chord itself is chromatic in nature and in during the common practice period especially in minor keys you will shift through the natural, harmonic, and melodic minors and it would not be too far fetched to see this chord in a major key.
Comment: If you add just a small bit about the function of this sort of ii o7 chord (e.g., to lead into a minor i chord), I'll upvote. I think this is an extremely clear and appropriate answer given the level of the question.
Answer: Common Practice Period music describes the minor mode as having two mutable tones, 6 and 7. In a minor key, using either form of either note is still considered as diatonic. For that matter, many chromatic chords may be used without effecting a key change: secondary dominants, augmented sixths, Neapolitan sixths, various diminished and half-diminished sevenths, and even a change of chords from major to minor or vice versa.
Classical (CPP) melodic analysis generally discusses "non-harmonic" tones rather than extending chordal types (passing tones, neighbor tones, accented or unaccented, escape tones, suspensions, etc.) There are a few tendencies in the use of raised vs unaltered degrees 6 and 7 in a minor key. Often, these tendencies are ignored because a composer thinks that would sound better. A few of these are given below.
Ascending scale runs with tonic harmony uses raised 6th and 7th steps.
Descending scale runs with tonic harmony uses lowered 6th and 7th steps.
Ascending or descending runs with dominant harmony uses raised 6 and 7th steps.
Ascending or descending runs with subdominant harmony uses lowered 6th and 7th steps.
Arpeggios of a dominant ninth chord use the lowered 6th and raised 7th step.
The upper neighbor of the fifth step is the lowered sixth step (I didn't find any exceptions here.)
The augmented III chord is used rarely.
The most common exception seems to be scale runs with a lowered 6th and raised 7th step. Sometimes this is used to give an exotic or oriental flavor the music.
Comment: @Tim, given that ttw's answer contains "The upper neighbor of the fifth step is the lowered sixth step", the start point is that Ab is lowered and A is raised in C minor. Neither are called augmented or diminished. Now using the A as A# would be called augmented and using the A as Abb would be called diminished.
Comment: I tend to use the terms raised and lowered rather than raised and unaltered. Probably because I think (in C) of the A and B being lowered from the Major and raised from the Minor modes. Sorry about the mixed terminology. There are two forms; both are diatonic; perhaps I should stick with the medieval words Hard and Soft.
Comment: From the melodic minor standpoint, say, using Cm, would the 6th as A be called augmented, *or* would using the 6th as Ab be called diminished? As both are actually 6ths in their own right within the key/scale, and both represent different 6ths. So which is taken as the datum point, and why? This is asked because you use the terms 'raised' and 'lowered'. Yes, they are, in a way, but surely one must be the start point, in which case, the other, only, is raised or lowered. It can't be both, logically!
Answer: C, C#dim7, Dm7, G7, C.    Or C/E, Ebdim7, Dm7, Db7, C.   Both are very common sequences, neither depart from the key of C major, although they use chromatic notes.
No, they aren't 'diatonic' chords, if 'diatonic' means using only the notes from the tonic scale.    But they fit pretty well BETWEEN diatonic chords, without confusing the key centre.
Comment: I can't, so I voted it back up. But your answer is essentially a jazz answer to a question of classical harmony. "Diatonic" indeed means using only the notes from the tonic scale, and also means "not chromatic." The relationship between chords and structure in jazz is quite different than it is in truly classical (say, pre-Debussy) harmony; what is simply a member of a chord progression in jazz harmony will often imply an upcoming modulation in classical harmony. For example, a C#dim7 in the key of C would imply an upcoming resolution to a B minor tonic.
Comment: Not that different!   Bach, Beethoven (and all the rest) used C#dim7 as a simple passing chord just as often as they used it as a gateway to a remote key.
Comment: I can't think of any examples of this (although there may be plenty, perhaps you can give me an example), and I can think of many examples of dim7 chords used as a modulating device. Also, my general point I believe is true, that jazz uses 7th chords where someone like Mozart would use a simple triad -- while jazz players say that simple triads are fine, in practice they don't use them that often, if at all. For example, if a song in a fake book has an F chord, that means an F major 7 chord, not a simple F triad (am I wrong?). Not what you would see in Bach's time.
Answer: If you are up for using a system of thought different from the scaler Roman numeral system, the functional system offers a nice interpretation of the fully diminished 7th chord.
In functional thinking, the B-D-F-Ab chord in c-minor is seen as a dominant chord (G-B-D) with a 7th and b9 added creating a G-B-D-F-Ab chord with the G omitted. The symbol for such a chord is not notatable on computers, it is a Db9, (D for dominant, not for pitch) and the "D" has a slash through it to show the root has been omitted.
In short, it shows the chord as being diatonic, although because it is a major dominant in a minor-key setting, it is technically not fully organic to the minor mode.


Redactor default .json

Question: From what I understand, the "Default" .json-file is hardcoded into the plugin, and always selected by default when creating a redactor field. I always use my "Standard.json" or "Simple.json"-files on my projects, the Default config has way too many options for less design savy clients to mess things up, so I try to keep things simple. Is there any way to make my "Standard.json" selected when creating a new field so I don't have to remember to change the .json-source every time?
Answer: Rename your file to the default.

Redactor default .json


Galaxy S3 cell standby is eating my battery

Question: My battery on my new S3 seems to be being eaten up by the cell standby using more than 50%.
I appear to get a decent signal on the phone. Does anyone have any idea why this figure would be so high?
Comment: See also: [What is *Cell standby* and how can I keep it from eating my battery?](http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/29447/16575)
Answer: That is terrible! Drains to 50% only in stanby!
Maybe the apps are not really shut off. You can use the free apps - JuiceDefender to save your power. Packed with smart functions, it automatically and transparently manages the most battery draining components, like 3G/4G connectivity and WiFi.
Or you may need to have a external battery to backup. This one sugegsted:
Small and portable design, Powerful and giant inside. Will be helpful!
Answer: XDA recogined contributer bala_gamer has explained and fixed this issue. Check this xda-developers thread and this news item.

It would seem that the issue comes from an error in framework-res.apk.
  XDA Recognized Contributor bala_gamer explains that the power drain
  value setting for Cell standby is erroneouslyset to 34 mA (practically
  impossible) instead of a more reasonable value of 3.4 mA in
  power_profile.xml within framework-res.apk. He then put together a
  corrected power_profile.xml, and provided a quick step-by-step guide
  to pushing the change. Those not excited about messing directly with
  framework-res.apk can thank Senior Member ausdim for providing a
  recovery-flashable update.zip.

Don't forget to read the warning and FAQ if any.


Install Arch Linux to external hard disk using a Virtual Machine?

Question: I have an external hard disk and I want to install Arch Linux on it. I want to have access to the online the documentation. Is it possible to install it from a VM so I could have access to the documentation?
Comment: You can access the wiki from within the Live install using a text browser like `links` or `w3m`...
Comment: great! I didn't know about that
Answer: This actually can be done directly using VirtualBox using the following steps:

BACK UP ALL DATA ON YOUR EXTERNAL
Create a Virtualbox VM without attaching a storage device
Find and note the device path of your external hard drive.  This should be something like /dev/sdb.  Make sure you have this right or you could lose a lot of data.
Run the following command in a terminal: VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /path/to/file.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda replacing /dev/sda with the path you noted in step 3.  Replace /path/to/file.vmdk with some location on your main hard drive.  This file simply provides the information necessary to tell VirtualBox how to mount your external, do not save this file on the external it self.
Go back into the VirtualBox UI, and attach that file you created in step 4 to your VM and boot it.
Install Arch Linux like you would on a normal VM.
Answer: After you create the Live USB from the latest .iso Arch Linux - Download). Reboot your computer from USB. Once you're booted into the live system in the root directory there is a install.txt file that you can view that contains instructions on installing the system.
Also, the live media ships two very useful applications:

irssi (irc chat client)
/server irc.freenode.net
/msg nickserv help (register your nick or you wont be able to speak in #archlinux)
/join #archlinux
elinks (terminal web browser)

But, while you're download the .iso and making the boot media you might want to look over this document.

Arch Linux - Installation Guide
Answer: I think you don't need a VM for that at all. You can create your own Archiso, have a look at this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archiso
Answer: There are two ways to do that:

Create a virtual harddrive on the external harddrive and install Arch on it.
Mount the external harddrive natively to the virtual machine and install Arch on it.

While im pretty sure the first way will work, it leaves you with a virtual harddrive. If you want to install arch natively on your external harddrive, you will need to copy the whole contents of the virtual hd to your native hd after you finished installing.
The documentation of your vm should state how to do that.
The other way would be mounting your hd natively to your vm. Obviously, you need a virtual machine that is able to do that or it wont work. Without any guest additions, i dont know any vm that is able to do that.
All these ways are not very elegant to go, so i recommend you not to try it. Instead, try to find a way to access the documentation without using a vm.
You could print the documentation.
If you have a second pc or a tablet, you could use that to browse the documentation.


Is it appropriate to change someone else's answer when you have edit privileges?

Question: I assert that the reason for the edit privilege is for fixing grammar and spelling.  Removing sections of someone's answer you disagree with or even think is off topic is both bad etiquette and an abuse of power.  That's what the downvote button is for.
Comment: Part of the purpose of editing is to improve the clarity and quality of both questions and answers. Editors regularily rewrite sentences and delete portions that cause confusion. This happens on a regular basis through out SE and doesn't seem to cause issue.

This thread has more to do with personal dissatisfaction with one particular edit than any site wide pattern.

I could make some edits to make that clearer....
Comment: I think the key here is to improve clarity.
Comment: Berin: I agree in principle, but "clarity" is subjective, and the way SO sites work is that reputation provides influence to those who've earned it (in a transparent way).
Answer: I don't agree that the information was off-topic -- the OP clearly asked about the context of a parent with a newborn baby.
At worst it was extra information, more than was asked for, but in no way was it a problem or tangential or unrelated. And since when is going "the extra mile" to answer a question ... bad?
I would say the edits were probably more invasive than they should have been -- but that's OK, that's why the "rollback" function exists... thanks for bringing it to meta to discuss.
Comment: sure, but that's a problem solvable by moderating the comments, which I totally support. If it turns into an *extended digression* that's bad, but as background to an answer it's fine.
Comment: It was a problem because the result was 6 comments discussing parenting, and none of them discussing fitness or nutrition.
Comment: Here's my metaphor. What if someone on the cooking forum answered a question about good recipe software and someone answered: "You should really use a mac instead, that will fix the problems you are having with the recipe software." I would say that answer is off-topic, and not particularly useful, because it is subjective. The subjectivity of Berin's answer is part of the problem. If you _do_ read the parenting forums, you will see that his suggestion is about as contentious as mac vs PC.
Comment: But, Berin asks a more general question, "Should users with edit privileges change someone's answer?" And, according to the FAQ, I say yes, independent of this specific context.
Comment: -1: Jeff's "answer" seems to be a comment on a specific situation, and not an answer to the question posed.
Answer: The FAQ says:
When should I edit posts?
Any time you feel you can make the post better, and are inclined to do so. Editing is encouraged!
...
Try to make the post substantively better when you edit, not just change a single character. Tiny, trivial edits are discouraged.

I agree that you should not edit something you just disagree with. I think removing off-topic information from an answer makes it substantively better.
It's not the first thing I tried, by the way. I put in a comment that your content was off-topic and belonged on the parenting site, but you continued the off-topic conversation you started and showed no inclination to do anything about it. So, I used the privileges I have to improve the site.
Comment: Now, it's not your opinion of the content I have that I see is the problem.  It's not even the fact that you edited my answer.  It is that your edit cut out information that I felt was pertinent to the OP's situation.  Edits **should not fundamentally change the answer**.
Comment: You have no foundation to stand on here. I've defended my position completely, and I am done.
Comment: (RE: http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3717/is-it-bad-to-workout-when-you-arent-sleeping-a-lot/3731#3731).  My counter questions are: since the OP volunteered that information as a reason why he is not getting any sleep, would it be wrong to point out that there are things they can do to help the situation?  Also, what would give the OP a reason to go to "parenting.se" to find the answer?  Is it really so wrong as to have a couple comments to help the new parent along?  Life is messy, particularly with kids.  I did attempt to keep the section relatively small.
Comment: +1: not endorsing any specific action, just voting for an answer to the question backed up by a reference to the FAQ.


What's the best technique for C major scale?

Question: I'm currently learning C major scale using acoustic guitar and I can play one note at a time on top of a Song. The challenge is,it doesn't sound like a music. How can I achieve good solo with it?
Answer: A raw scale or mode by itself does not have enough variety to work as a solo.
Scales and modes should be thought of as the raw material to build melodies, solos, and chord progressions.
What you really should do is pick up a book on writing melodies.
Some of the guidelines would be maybe starting with a sequence of 2 to 10 notes to use as a motif, a musical building block.
You can connect one or more motifs to form phrases, sort of a musical sentence.
The motifs and phrases can be repeated verbatim, transposed, inverted, or inverted retrograde (backwards).  Another way to vary a motif or the larger phrase, is to alter the size and/or the duration of the intervals/note lengths.
Typically a motif or phrase begins and ends on a note belonging to the chord playing at that time, but that doesn't have to be the case.
If you begin on a non-chord note, again typically, it will either resolve down to the nearest chord tone or held until the a new chord containing that note plays.
A good melody will have a variety of different pitches and some variety in the note lengths.  However, there are many examples of pieces where there is a constant stream of 8ths or 16th notes.  I would steer away from streams of notes of equal duration until you've had more experience writing melodies and you have an interesting harmonic progression to work off of.
Another guideline is to limit leaps (any interval larger than a major second) to 3 in a row in the same direction.  Too much movement in one direction should be balanced by moving back in the other direction.
If you're just starting out, use chord tones to build the starting and ending points, sort of like key frames in animation. Then try building your motifs, looking for stepwise motion between the chord tones, arpeggiating, etc. to flesh out your melody/solo.
Another activity is to play the chord progression and try to hum a melody over it. Another activity is to record the progression and play experiment with your guitar to see what sounds good to you.
Comment: No.  Don't try to learn how to write melodies from rules in a book.   Learn to play your instrument,  learn to read music which enables you to play just about every melody ever written!   Then, when you've encountered a few hundred songs, you'll be getting near ready to make up some of your own!
Comment: @LaurencePayne, are you saying someone shouldn't try soloing until they've learned a few hundred songs, or am I misinterpreting? It's also unclear to me what you mean by "learn to play your instrument." In my mind, that encompasses soloing. The last thing: I think your interpretation of "rules in a book" are different from what user3235 has described. This answer has good advice about ways to practice building melodies. I don't think they're "rules" in the sense you implied. They're guidelines like "*try* repeating a phrase, inverting a phrase, ending on a chord tone, etc." Very useful stuff!
Answer: Being able to play scales, and identify the key of a song and then play the appropriate scale over it, is one aspect of starting to create melodies and maybe write songs or improvise over existing songs.
However, along with this practical side of things, you'll also have to learn about phrasing, and how to be musical with the notes you play. Otherwise, as you have experienced for yourself, it just sounds like scales, and not like music.
There are many simple exercises that can help you make the leap from playing scales to creating melodies. A first type of exercise is playing the scales differently. If you play the C Major scale as c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c and then maybe back down again, it always sounds the same, and it's clearly just a scale. But you can also play the scale:

in thirds: c-e-d-f-e-g-f-a-g-b-a-c
in fourths, fifths, ...
in runs of 3 notes: c-d-e-d-e-f-e-f-g-f-g-a-g-a-b-a-b-c
in runs of 4 notes, 5 notes, ...
parts of the scale: c-d-e-d-c, c-d-e-f-e-d-c, ...
triads in the scale: c-e-g, d-f-a, e-g-b, ...
7th chords in the scale: c-e-g-b, d-f-a-c, ...
starting on a different note: any of the above exercises from d, from e, ...

These exercises are good for scale practice, and they are helpful for playing scales (and thinking about scales) in ways that are more musical.
A second type of exercise is to limit yourself, and try to be expressive with a limited number of notes, by choosing when to play them, in what rhythm, for how long, how loud, ... and by playing each note differently, and trying to find something that works with the song or backing track that you're playing over:

play only the note c (really), and try to make it sound interesting
choose a different note, and try again
choose two or three or ... notes, and try to come up with something interesting
choose a string, and play notes only on that string
try the previous exercise on all 6 strings
choose one finger, and use only that finger to fret notes

This may sound silly, but I urge you to give it a try. These exercises force you to think musically, instead of just thinking about where to put your finger to play the next note in the scale. If you learn to add something musically meaningful to a song with just one or two different notes, you'll surely be able to add something meaningful without those limitations.
A third kind of exercise to avoid just playing scales, and think musically instead of playing what your fingers are used to, is singing the notes as you play them (out loud or in your head). This will force you to pick the notes very deliberately, instead of just moving to the next note in the scale because your finger are used to going there. You'll have to do this slowly at first, and it will take some time before you can do this as quickly as you can play scales, but it is an important part of becoming a player who can actually play a melody instead of just playing scales as fast as you can and hoping that that will impress your audience.
And lastly, sticking to the notes in the scale of C Major when playing over a song or backing track in C Major, is a simple rule of thumb that will help you as a beginner, but don't be afraid to step outside the lines. Try a passing tone now and then; instead of playing d-e, try d-d#-e and see how it sounds. Or just throw in a "wrong" note occasionally, just to find out whether it's interesting or not. Experiment, but always judge the result with your ears, not with what your brain or fingers have learned is the "right" thing to do.
Comment: Excellent first answer! Welcome!
Comment: EXCELLENT musical advice. I am going to go back and add in a few I have never tried. GOOD JOB, Plutar Gayer!
Answer: You may be doing a lot of up/down scale motion, perhaps something like basic scale practice up and down, but trying to add a twist here and there for "interest."
That approach treats a musical line, a melody, as a series of pitch changes. Going about it that way would seem to make sense, because a typical description of melody is something along the lines of "a series of pitches." But, don't overlook the importance of rhythm!
Try there two rhtyhmic things:

work with a short rhythmic motif, simple ideas like long short short, long short short, or long triplet long long, or whatever you can imagine, repeat the rhythmic motif for whatever pitches you choose
pay attention to forming good phrases with a pause at the end of lines, for example if you had a repeating 4 bar progression, when you get to the fourth bar play a long note, pitch-wise the tonic or dominant (or chord root/fifth) tend to make good line ending notes

Getting back to pitch, don't worry about moving pitch around too much, that would mean less motion for your hand on the neck. Of course you will want some pitch movement, but think in gradual terms, and don't think that you must constantly move pitch around, some ideas...

Choose a pitch from the chord then just articulate that single pitch with rhythm.
If you then want to add some pitch variety, try just a neighboring motion, one step up or down and then back to the starting pitch.
Also, instead of motion up/down the scale, try motion up/down the chord, that's called arpeggiation, you could add some pitch variety with your rhythmic ideas simply by arpeggiating up or down from a given tone and then return to that starting tone.

The pitch ideas above are what you might call "inside the chord" or "inside the bar". For example, consider you are playing in 4/4 time and you have beats 1 2 3 4  for each bar, for each chord. This "inside the bar" playing is all about motion occurring between beats 1 and 4, or in other words inside the bar lines.
But, good melodies pay careful attention to the changing chords and the change over the bar line. In other words: pay careful attention to beat 4 of the bar/chord transitioning to beat 1 of the next bar/chord. One way you can think about this is...

Think in terms of voice leading, which is very simplified terms is moving notes by single steps to make chord changes (the topic is more complex than that, but don't worry about it now.)

The important thing is this: when you are on a particular pitch moving to the next chord usually involves (with minimal, smooth voice leading) move up or down only by one step, or simply holding the pitch you're already on. For any given, common two chord change, you can think in terms of three melodic moves. For example, chords C to G, the three shortest melodic moves would be pitches G to G, E to D, and C to B. That's just one option to hold the pitch and two to move by one step down. Try the same thing and explore the possibilities for chords C to Am and C to F.
If you summarize everything above regarding pitch, it boils down to move by single steps, or arpeggiate the chord.
Notice how this would take us away from just noodling up and down scales!
Try these ideas to simplify what you're doing pitch-wise so you can better focus on interesting rhythms and good line phrasing.


Why the smallest ISO in Nikon D40 is 200, rather than 100?

Question: I have a Nikon D40. The ISO ranges from 200 to 1600. Why isn't ISO 100 (or smaller) available? Is this common in other cameras? I understand that there are technical limitations to provide higher ISO values, but are there reasons why they must start at 200? And is the fact that the smaller ISO is 200 a problem?
Comment: I keep wondering why 200 is the lowest "true" ISO for all Nikon DSLRs except the D3x and the D3000 (source: http://www.bythom.com/currentdslr.htm).
Answer: The camera is a bit 'elderly' these days, but the ISO range is usually determined by the native base of the sensor itself. However, most current cameras will do ISO 100 (and the odd one even less), but the limits are usually based on the technology at the time, cost factors, etc.
For a more technical description, the ISO of a digital sensor is determined by the signal gain of the sensor and these are matched up to be similar to film. At the low end of the gain, you get low ISO, so the lowest gain of the sensor matched up to film determines that end as well as the far end. ISO 12232:2006 gives guidance to camera makers on how to actually line these up, and the options vary quite a bit.
Now, if you want a really detailed article on film speed that covers film through digital, Wikipedia has it. It's an interesting read.


In Buddhism, does "God" exist or not?

Question: In Buddhism, is the existence of "God" accepted, or not? If not, what is the reason?
Answer: It depends on what you mean when you say "God" and "exists". In Buddhism all entities (objects) are abstractions or models, conceptual labels on top of mind-made constructs. So all things really exist in one sense, but don't really exist in another sense. God is like that too. If by God we mean "The Absolute" then it in one sense it obviously exists (since everything is included in it) but then in another sense The Absolute is just an abstraction so it doesn't really exist. It certainly exists as concept or model in our mental world.
Comment: On point answer!
Answer: Within the Tripitaka, the oldest and most authentic memories of the Buddha's words, the Essential God, or simply Essence, is neither affirmed nor denied. This is explained in The All Embracing Net.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.01.0.bodh.html
Metaphysical positions can never be more than speculation. The Essential Form that God needs to either Be or Not-Be is simply not evident within our empirical domain, nor within the domain of reason and logic. Mathematics even forbids Essential Truth within all formal systems:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarski%27s_undefinability_theorem
If you read Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, the deeply logical discussion of the Buddha's message, Essence within our empirical experience is denied evidence.
The Buddha was careful not to speculate beyond where perception and evidence were possible. Because if God Is (and all the mess that option 2 entails for him in Plato's Parmenides), and He Is beyond reach of our empirical experience, Independent of all of this, then we are like the man looking for the most beautiful woman in the land:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/dob/dob-13tx.htm
(this is not an affirmation of Not-Being, Nihilism of any sort)
The theoretical insight of the Buddha is now merging with scientific evidence with regards to the absence of Essence within experience. Background independence, conservation laws, flatness of local space time, even relational quantum mechanics, all point to a much more profound understanding of all this:
https://suttacentral.net/en/mn1
If you are curious how modern philosophy approaches the Buddha's message, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buddha/#NonSel is interesting!
Answer:
In Buddhism, is the existence of "God" accepted, or not? If not, what
  is the reason?

"God" has many meanings depended on what religious or cultural context this word referred to. Yet to make it simple, God, as a being who is in a higher ranking than man, does exist, in Buddhist teaching. The Christian God, and Brahma, both exist, so are many of those mentioned in different cultures.
In Buddhist teaching, there are many worlds and many forms of beings, which mainly categorized into 6 groups: 1. Celestial beings (they are gods; beings who accumulated great merits almost subdued greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, distrust but still controlled by desire) 2. Asuras (some may call them devils, demons; the beings who accumulated great merits but are deeply grabbed by anger and arrogance) 3. Men 4. Animals 5. (hungry) Ghosts 6. Hell beings.  The Celestial beings (sometimes Asuras) many cultures referred to as gods. They have more abilities due to their subduing of contamination (the 5 main pollutants that hindered one's abilities: greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and distrust). Thus they can exhibit supernatural powers such as being able to alter weather, turn stone into gold, etc. And of course they have clarity of vision they can see anything from any distance and be in any place in a blink of seconds, etc. And their body material is a different made from man, we cannot see them, and depends. Some of the gods such as Indra and Brahma (one is called "Conch-tufted Brahma" because of His hair style??) are mentioned in some of the sutras, they were audiences in the Buddha's sermons or pledged to uphold the teachings. Often said that Indra is the God in Christian faith however this is just one of the sayings.

In Buddhism, does "God" exist or not?


Separate Ketchup Bottles

Question: Does one have to keep separate ketchup bottles for meat and dairy? (and why or why not?)
Comment: Almost a duplicate of http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/44480
Comment: Do you think that ketchup bottles would be different from any other bottles of condiments. If not, consider not limiting the question to ketchup.
Answer: Source for it being an issue: Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah Siman 105:3 in the Rema, where he discussed pouring oil onto a candle made out of non-kosher fats.  Both the Shach and the Taz discuss this idea of nitzuk chibur (pouring creates a connection).
Comment: Hey @AlwaysLearning, I can kinda see where you're going with this, but perhaps you can expand it further. Perhaps include more of an explanation of nitzuk chibur and how it applies to ketchup bottles. Thanks!
Answer: It is commendable to use separate ketchup and mustard containers for meat and dairy but it's usually not required as long as it does not touch the foods directly. If you use one container you should use squeeze type bottles, so care can be taken that the bottle doesn't touch the food on the plate. Since it does not directly touch the food it does not become an issue unless there are small children in the home who will put the nozzle in the food leading to direct touching rendering the bottle Fleishig or Milchig depending on what it touched.
Comment: Can you bring a source?
Comment: There was discussion in achronim about separate salt cellars, but those are salt cellars, in which you dip your food (and food gets left behind), not salt SHAKERs.  There's a discussion about "nitzok v'hevel" connecting even a shaker to the pot below it, but that's regarding tum'a; vis-a-vis kashrus, this seems to not be the accepted halacha.
Comment: R' Dovid Miller's mp3 on yutorah from one of his hilchos basar b'chalav shiurim.
Comment: yknow, although m'din one is not required as our salt shakers are closed, it would still be recommended. i have a friend who decided that it was too big of a chumra - until his 6yr old kid, while salting the cholent dropped the whole salt shaker in!
guess what - now he has separate ones!

Separate Ketchup Bottles