What should a main game loop do?

Question: Generally, what are the core things that one should do in the game loop, and what are some things that one shouldn't do in the game loop?
Comment: **Note to future visitors**: although this was an interesting and relevant question when it was asked ~10 years ago when the site was shiny and new, this is not a good representation of the questions we expect today; it is on-topic but does not really present an issue to be solved.
Answer: The main game loop handles three major tasks:

Get user input
Update the game state
Draw the game

A simple game loop just mushes these three tasks into one while loop. This has some undesired results:

Game runs at different speeds on different computers.
CPU (can be needlessly) pegged at 100% usage.
"Game states"/menus are missing or mixed with game code.
Main game loop is very long and hard to maintain.
Code is difficult to extend/port to other platforms.

Advanced gamed loops address the issues listed above. Here are some useful articles:

deWiTTERS Game Loop
Integrating a timer into a game loop
Managing Game States in C++
XNA Game State Management and Network Game State Management
Understanding the Game Main Loop

For an excellent example game loop, take a look at the Allegro skater demo game:

Game loop code is in framework.c.
Browse full source code here.

Other related resources:

Glenn Fiedler's article about robust framerate independence, "Fix Your Timestep!"
This deals with a number of different ways to write your game loop:
Multithreaded Game Engine Architectures
Game Loop · Sequencing Patterns · Game Programming Patterns

Game loops often do the same type of work for most games, so I have been thinking of a way to make a generalized game framework. It is better to write one implementation of a game loop and share it between games. It saves work when creating a new game, and improvements to the shared game loop can be shared by all games (for example, adding a FPS counter or screen capture feature).

What should a main game loop do?


How to keep my cats warm in outside cat house?

Question: I really need to figure out a way to have my cats live outdoors (6 months old). They're stinking up the whole house. I'm going to buy a cat house on Amazon, but I'm not sure how to keep it warm. I feel bad for those guys being in cold temperatures when they're used to being mostly indoors. Should I try to make it warm and toasty for them? Or is it OK to just give them like a heated pad to lay on?
Comment: If you can't take the smell because you're failing to clean the litter box, please just return them to the rescue and/or surrender them to one if you didn't get them from one in the first place, you aren't equipped to care for them.
Answer: So, cats are very clean creatures. If there is odor, assuming you mean cat box smells, you need to clean it much more often. Cats don't like the smell either so they may be going outside the box.
Kittens six months old are too young to be outside unattended. There are dangers outside they are not equipped to deal with since they have been inside with humans: other animals--especially other cats, car traffic (they won't stay in the yard once they acclimate)--they can easily get hit by a car.
There are a number of issues brought up by your inquiry. Are they spayed/neutered? Vaccinated? A heating pad outside is a fire danger and shock hazard for them. It will get wet and they are likely to chew on the cord. VERY DANGEROUS AND NOT AN OPTION. Check back in and let's try to find solutions for you AND the cats.
Answer: I agree with M.Mat, kittens or even cats that are used to inside shouldn't be placed outdoors. Those outside cat houses, some that are heated, are usually used for strays that frequent an area but refuse to go inside due to probably being feral or just afraid of humans. Cats outside are in danger, especially during the cold, wet, and at night.  Even if they manage to be kept safe from outside attackers, cars, and any other dangers in your area, they still have to deal with constant weather elements and as kittens, people usually take them inside to save them from that hard life of a stray. It's never really a good idea to turn a domestic cat into a stray cat.
If the litter box is bothering you, then it might need to be changed more often. I have two cats, one that is prone to UTIs so I find myself scooping my litter every other day rather than waiting the week, like my sister, who has one cat, does. She also has 2 litter boxes for her one cat. I have two litter boxes for two cats. I have them side by side because I notice the cats naturally using one box for poop and the other box mostly for pee. You can choose to spread them out if you would like especially if you notice a room that they are spraying in. Often times cats will pee in the same spot every time.
Also make sure you clean the area they marked with a urine remover or bleach everytime they pee to ensure the odor is gone. Cats will remark an area if they smell the urine of themselves or another cat. I, for one, do not like the smell of litter as well which is why I change it more often (it's in the corner of my kitchen so I do not want the smell of litter box to be overpowering the smell of my kitchen).
If they are marking or peeing outside the litter box, it might mean they need changed more often, need more than one litter box (especially with more than one kitten you probably need more than one litter box), or need a litter box with a lid. Some cats do not like to use a litter box with a lid so keep an eye on that problem. I also changed my litter to be clump and seal for multiple cats. I used to use tidy bowl but found the smell of the one cat's stronger smelling urine (which is a side effect of her being on special more acidity food to prevent UTIs), to still be smelled after a day of her using the litter box. My sister likes tidy cat so it's a personal preference I guess. Sometimes a change to multi-cats, or to a different litter can be the answer. Maybe all four changes will help the smell of your house if that is related.
Answer: First of all, cats 6 months old are too young to live outdoors, so please wait until they are at least one year old. You don't tell where you do live so it's not easy to give advice. There is some difference if you are living in the Arctic or in the tropics.
The most important thing is to keep the cat house out of the wind and in a place without direct sun. This means that if the temperature is in the range of minus 5 to plus 30 degree Celsius, cats might have a good life if they are provided water and food in the correct quantity. (I hope it never gets below freezing where you do live, as this is bad for cats and people; I live in Norway and know this).
Answer: The question is "How do I keep my Cats warm in outside cat house?" That is a valid, and pragmatic question. I offer a pragmatic answer.
The issue here  is that house cat corporal temperature is higher than most mammals I know of. Average cat temperatures hover around 102 degrees F (39 °C). They normally seek higher temperatures to preserve body temperature while in 'park mode'.
You may have noticed that most of your animals  like to sprawl out half in the sun, half out on a warm clay patio... this is part of their amazing energy-saving system.
What I learned from that...
When I built my dog coop, I installed low-wattage red bulbs in the peaked roof, out of reach of my guys... If you want to get sophisticated, you could substitute IR reflectors; (most of those fall into the 75-150 watt range);  but as an electrician I can say  that is only recommended  for a a space of 5-6 cubic meters on a timed cycle.
It takes a single 25 watt bulb to keep a one cubic meter  enclosure warm even in zero-degree temps, provided the house has thermal roofing, and the wind is not fierce.
The other issue is training your guys to use it...

BTW...before buying anything on Amazon I suggest you take a very close look...there have been a number of electrical issues with some of their  products recently...
Comment: I just realized I am thinking like a Latin-American...we all have walls surrounding our houses, not dis-similar to the Middle-Eastern practice from which our custom derived.
Comment: Txs to Lila for your edit. My grammar and spelling should be held to a higher standard.
Comment: Oh you are welcome, and I do not think there is any problem with your grammar and spelling, I primarily only added Celsius temperature units, the rest of the details that I corrected were so subtle than most people would not notice.


How can I keep my amp from buzzing?

Question: Why does my amp (which is a very expensive, high-quality stage amp) keep buzzing and how can I make it stop? Other than the buzzing, it sounds and works great. It's a Vai Legacy stage amp. It is a few years old but hasn't seen a whole lot of use. I have an electric guitar (Ibanez Prestige) plugged into it via a Line6 POD UX2 (which, in turn, is connected to my laptop). The POD sounds great on headphones, and the tones are great on the amp, but there is always buzzing (whether or not I am using "pedals" in the PODFarm software).
Comment: If possible, please share more information to allow for more specific help. Like, what kind of amp do you have? What kind of instrument are you using with the amp? Are you using any pedals? Etc.
Comment: Cables are a common culprit. Switch them out one by one to make sure any one of them is not the source of the noise.
Comment: Does it still hum if you use the laptop on battery (i.e. unplug it from the mains?)
Comment: It's also worth checking the shielding in your guitar. If the amp buzzes more when your guitar is plugged in vs. when nothing is plugged in, you will probably want to look into shielding the cavity inside your guitar. You can also try a shielded cable.
Comment: You could also consider a noise gate pedal. It could also help out with any debilitating noise you may have.
Comment: I plugged a guitar into my Cambridge Audio to test it out, and turned up the amp until i could hear the guitar, but i fried the amp, now it's making a sympathetic kind of vibration noise in timing with the music, it's not AC or anything like that, i just blew a transistor.
Answer: From personal experience as well as working with well respected engineers, guitar amps make noises.  A lot of time this has to do with the type of amp and setup that you are going for.  Sure, you can get a fairly clean sound out of certain amps/guitars but if you're playing a rock setup, your amp will be making some noise.  This is only really an issue if the noise is overly audible while you're playing.  Typically the amp noise is drowned out when playing and is really only noticeable when you're not.  So if it is audible while playing, then you may need to get your amp or guitar checked.  A lot of times this sort of noise is mostly noticeable because the amp is turned up rather loud and distortion effects tend to make this much more noticeable/present.  In the end, if you're not sure about the amount of noise you're hearing, it may be worth taking it to get checked out.  Usually any sort of technician will be able to offer up some advice on how to reduce the noise if it is functioning as normal.
Answer: What have you hooked up to it?  Does it buzz when you have nothing plugged in and turn up the volume?  If so, it is the amp.  If not, you may have created a ground loop.  In that case, a DI box will hopefully break it.
Answer: I've been using Line 6 since the day they came out. I didn't want to admit it when I figured it out, but the circuit it's self inside the line 6 can cause a buzz or humm... The only way to fix mine was to set up the rig without my POD HD Rack Mount. Then the noise was gone. It was a bummer to realize this cause I had to spend a lot more money to gain the convenience line 6 brought to the table. I replaced cables, cords, changed outlets, and bought a whole new head and none of these fixed it. I bought the head cause I was chasing a particular sound/tone not because of the hummm. As soon as I built the loop without the POD my signal was clear and crisp and noise. Just try it and see. Otherwise I agree with the guys above.
Comment: And BTW unplugging the POD unit from the wall will not matter. The noise will stay there and you might skip it as an option. You have to take the unit out of the guitar signal chain/path/route...Heck just plug straight into the guitar and straight into the amp by themselves with no effects and see if the noise is gone. If so, add your effects back one at a time and see when the noise occurs again. Then check that effect and or cables. Look for ground lifts and damaged gear.

How can I keep my amp from buzzing?


Can't set own self-signed root certificate to "Always Trust" on macOS Sierra

Question: I have a root CA certificate I created for my personal software development needs. I want to add it to the keychain as a trusted certificate.
I am running macOS Sierra 10.12 which I just installed this morning.
I unlock the System keychain.
I added the certificate to the "System" keychain. It is showing up with a red X and the warning reads that "This certificate was signed by an unknown authority." This is expected.
I right click on it and select the "Get Info" item. A screen appears with trust details. Form the "When using this certificate" dropdown, I choose "Always Trust" and close the window. Nothing happens. The certificate remains untrusted. If I click on "get Info", the setting is still "Use System Defaults".
I was running MacOS X 10.9.5 previously. I had this exact certificate marked as trusted in the "login" keychain.
The same issue happens if I do the above steps in the "login" keychain.
If I select "Never Trust", I get asked for my password and to save settings. However, this is the opposite of my intention. I want to "Always Trust" this certificate. It's as if macOS is shifting its eyes and whistling, making believe it did not see me select this menu item.
What do I need to do to mark my own self-signed root certificate as "Always Trust"ed?
Answer: I had this problem on Sierra with a very old root cert signed with MD5. Creating a new root CA certificate signed with SHA256 solved the issue.


DL185 G5 Upgrade to 3tb hard drives

Question: I would like to upgrade my DL185 G5 to take 3tb hard drives. the P400 controller does not support 3Tb hard drives. If I upgrade the controller to a P212 (which I already have), Do I simply use a SFF-8484 to SFF-8087 cable. Sorry I don't understand the backplane does it have it's own SAS expander built in.
Answer: Yep, the backplane has its own expander in some models. You did not specify which HP ProLiant DL185 G5 model you have, though. How many drive bays does your unit have? That dictates the backplane setup. 12-bay units have a built-in expander, for instance.
I really wouldn't try to stuff newer drives into an old unit like that, given that the DL180 G6 model is relatively affordable and more capable.
But using the right cables will work. You'll need the older SFF-8484 cables on the backplane side and the newer SFF-8087 on the controller side.
BTW - Do you have cache for your P212?

DL185 G5 Upgrade to 3tb hard drives


I entered my password manager password in the browser URL field

Question: I saw various questions on a similar note but not quite the same as my situation:
I entered my password manager's password into the browser URL bar and hit enter. Has this breached the confidentiality of that password?
Comment: @EsaJokinen but the same treat and impact applies. I added another duplicate which is more on topic in terms of additional impacts.
Comment: The other question is indeed more related. Maybe I should move my answer there.
Comment: No way to be sure, but probably. I suggest you change your password.
Comment: Unless you can provide the questions that do *not* meet your needs (and *why*) we can only guess. The duplicate above perfectly matches your question, even without hitting enter.
Comment: @schroeder: I'd like to reopen this, as it's NOT a duplicate. The difference is whether enter was pressed or not. In the other question, enter wasn't pressed. The answer for this is very different, because hitting the enter starts name resolution.
Comment: Sure, but the consequences are way worse in this scenario, as more eyes may possibly see the password. Nevertheless, OP should change the password immediately.
Comment: @EsaJokinen I'd do that.
Comment: Thank you all, I did *not* see those other questions, not sure if that was just me or the site algorithm but thank you all for still adding info to my heap to sift through. Much appreciated (@schroeder)
Answer: It depends on the possible consequences. Estimate your risks.
1) For instance, if your password manager keeps passwords for your online banking account and similar important passwords, then the consequences can be very expensive and it makes sense to change the password and to delete any backups with the old password.
2) But if you keep there passwords for accounts like your local pet shop or for your local bowling club, the consequences in the worst case can be acceptable. Then you don't need to warry.
3) If your browser is configured to use URL field for search, then take into account that all major search engines use HTTPS only. That's why nobody except search engine could see your password.
4) Estimate what it costs for somebody to gain access to access to the servers of your search engine (like Google, Bing or DDG), find there requests related to you, then find a particular request that contained password. Then the attacker would need a copy of your password manager database. Only then he can use his knowledge of the password. Now estimate if it makes sense for smb. to do such efforts to get your passwords. If your passwords really cost millions of USD, it definitely makes sense to change password, delete any old copies. If not, don't waste time searching for the backups or copies of your password manager database on all your devices.
Answer: I would say it's better to change the password just in case but realistically the risk you're exposed to is pretty small. Your password will likely be stored in the browser's history in plaintext, but your password likely never left your computer as it is not formatted as an external address.
Comment: Your stetament *"password likely never left your computer"* is not quite correct. If browser is configured to use URL field as search field (earlier it needed configuration, now some browsers provide such behaviour by default), then the browser sent such search request to the search engine. Means, at least search engine received the password.
Comment: @mentallurg Wow I don't know how I missed that, you are entirely correct about the search field
Answer: In this scenario, the name resolution is your worst enemy, as it leaks the password in multiple ways. Your password will leak to multiple DNS servers and through the local network – mostly in plain text, even if you are using encrypted connection to your DNS resolver.

DNS resolvers will not handle the query just within themselves: they will start asking it from the authoritative name servers, starting from the root servers, or from a forwarder that does it for them.
As this is not a real working domain name, it will be also queried using

Multicast DNS (mDNS, RFC 6762) and
Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR, RFC 4795).

Both mDNS and LLMNR are using IP multicasting.

By default, ethernet switches will flood these requests to every port, as they won't see the multicast MAC addresses beginning with 01:00:5e as a source address on any ethernet frame.
Some switches can limit this using IGMP snooping, but it's still possible for anyone to join these multicast groups to get these IP multicast transmissions.

In addition, the password will leak to your search provider with most modern browsers after the name resolutions fails, as explained by mentallurg. Some browsers may also start sending out contents in the address bar even before you have pressed the enter, as explained in an answer for "Does accidentally pasting password into browser URL field send it over the network?".
TL;DR: Change your password.

In this example, testp4ssw0rd is typed into the address bar of Google Chrome on Windows 10.

The computer 192.0.2.100 has local domain (configured through DHCP) example.com and,  as a common bad practice, example.local. The 192.0.2.254 is a router that also acts as a DNS resolver.

With example.com, the resolver, any MITM and the ns1.example.com will know the testp4ssw0rd.
With example.local, the the NXDOMAIN reply comes from a root server.

The MDNS (5353/udp) query testp4ssw0rd.local to 188.8.131.52 is an IP multicast query message with MAC address 01:00:5E:00:00:FB. It asks the host having that name to identify itself.

Likewise, LLMNR (5355/udp) query testp4ssw0rd to 244.0.0.252 is an IP multicast query message with MAC address 01:00:5E:00:00:FC.

As there wasn't devices with these names, you won't see mDNS/LLMNR responses.


Magento 2 - Foreign Key Constraint does not delete record

Question: I am using the extension Amasty Product Attachments.
If I add an attachment to a product and then delete that attachment from Amasty -> Product Attachments -> Attachments Management, then I can't open the product in the backend anymore. It just loads forever and I get this error logged into the console:
dynamic-rows.js:660 Uncaught TypeError: dataRecord.slice is not a function
    at UiClass.getChildItems (dynamic-rows.js:660)
    at UiClass.initChildren (dynamic-rows-grid.js:85)
    at UiClass.initialize (dynamic-rows.js:191)
    at UiClass.initialize (wrapper.js:109)
    at UiClass._super (wrapper.js:106)
    at UiClass.initialize (dynamic-rows-grid.js:42)
    at UiClass.initialize (wrapper.js:109)
    at new UiClass (class.js:49)
    at Object.initComponent (layout.js:137)
    at fire (jquery.js:3238)

This is the state if I create a new attachment and assign it to a product:
Table amasty_file:

Table amasty_file_store_product

If I delete the attachment from Amasty -> Product Attachments -> Attachments Management then the record should get removed in both tables, but it is only getting removed in amasty_file:
Table amasty_file:

Table amasty_file_store_product

So the product still thinks that it has the attachment, but can't find it since it was deleted, so the error is getting caused.
Normally the file should get deleted in both because of the foreign key constraint, but the constraint does not work as it seems, even though it exists.
Foreign Key Setup in table amasty_file_store_product:

If I test it on a fresh magento 2, then it works!
So I disabled all third party modules in my not working environment and changed to the Luma default theme, but it still fails.
I am running on Magento 2.4.2 on both. Tested with PHP 7.4 and PHP 7.3.
The code of the extension in the fresh magento 2 is exactly the same as in my environment.
I hope someone has an idea
Answer: I figured it out, I had to go to "Relation view". I noticed that the constraint "AMASTY_FILE_STORE_PRODUCT_FILE_ID_AMASTY_FILE_FILE_ID" was missing, so I created it again by looking at a fresh magento with a fresh extension installed.

OLD ANSWER:
I was finally able to solve it, but I have no clue why it worked.
Solution:

Delete all amasty_file* tables.
Open Table "setup_module" and delete entry "Amasty_ProductAttachment"
Execute php bin/magento setup:upgrade to install the tables again.
It should work now!


Straight 1" OD quill stem for Townie

Question: I have an Electra Townie with handlebars offset 2 1/8" forward of stem tube.  Is there a replacement quill stem available that would line up handlebars with stem tube?  Center of handlebars needs to be about 5" above top of stem tube.
Answer: Sounds like you have a ~60mm stem   Quill stems are available in lengths from 20mm up to over a hundred mm.
Your other option is to rotate the handlebars so they get a bit closer, or possibly pull your saddle further forward on its rails.  These might be worth trying anyway - they're free fixes and you can always revert.
If you want, you could replace your quill stem with a quill/threadless adapter and then fit a modern stem.  There are many more threadless stems available nowdays, including adjustable ones which might suit you.

Straight 1" OD quill stem for Townie


Resizing Partitions/Volumes on Dynamic Disks (Windows Server 2003)

Question: What is the best way to resize partitions on a server with a Dynamic Disk? I have 4 volumes in what appears to be 2 partitions. I have ghosted each of these volumes to separate image files. I will need to have the drive letters remain the same when the server OS boots back up. I know I need to use diskpart but I do not know how to make this work. Thanks.
Answer: You cannot extend the Boot or System volumes.  You can extend the rest of the partitions (if they have enough space) using DiskPart - see: http://ss64.com/nt/diskpart.html
If this is to increase the size of the C: drive, I would suggest you review this web page for methods of reorganizing your server data - the C: drive doesn't need to be that big if the server is managed appropriately.
http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/bootdrivesize.asp
Answer: Here is an article about resize dynamic disk.
You need to first convert dynamic disk to basic, then use some partition software to resize partition, after completing, you can again convert basic to dynamic disk.
Answer: I believe I extended a C: drive once using WinPE and DISKPART. Probably unsupported by Microsoft, however.
Can you post a screenshot of your disk management? 4 volumes in 2 partitions sounds strange to me.
Answer: I really liked PartitionMagic for this task.
Also, Acronis TrueImage will allow you to back up, and then select new sizes upon restore.
Comment: The Partition Magic 8.x web site states that it supports basic disks only.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/powerquest.nsf/0/14eea7fbdb6c2c4288256e8a00802456?OpenDocument&seg=hm≶=en&ct=us
Answer: I hear that many tools can resize partition, such as partition magic, GParted, disk director, easeus partition master….. As I know, partition magic doesn't support Windows Server 2003. Other tool can convert the dynamic disk to the basic disk directly, although it takes less time, but there is high risk of data loss. I would like to use easeus partition master to copy the dynamic disk to the basic disk and then resize on the basic disk, no data loss, it is very safe.
Answer: Partition Magic  doesn't support Windows Server 2003. How to resize the dynamic disk? I really like easeus partition master,  although it is complex, but it is safe to resize the dynamic disk, no data loss.


Audit Log to Figure out which user changed "Who can edit the membership of the group" within a group's settings

Question: I am looking to track the setting change that a group owner can make on their groups, changing the radio button selection of "who can edit the membership of the group?" from "Group Owner" to "Group Members"?
Answer: Good day!
I think in your case you want to know who did that historically? Unless you have the audit settings correctly established I don't think you will be able to do that.
To make sure you are good for the future:

Navigate to the desired site
In the site settings, make sure that Reporting is on.
Site Settings Audit Logs Reports, than security settings

You will need to filter and navigate the excel sheet. But there you should be able to see all the security changes that were made.
UPDATE...
Can you check under Site Settings -> Site Collection Audit Settings -> Editing users and permissions.
Let me know if that is ticked. Than try doing that with another security group what you described in your message and see if that is captured.
Hope that helps.
Comment: Hi Kyle, thanks so much for your input. I want to confirm that these options are active, and had been activated previous to the change we are trying to find. When i run the audit log, I don't see entries for the change of who can edit group membership. the only entries i see in that audit log are for group member creation/deletion and items like that. I don't think this log records the change i'm talking about. let me know if you have any more ideas and thanks again!
Comment: I may have another idea, but admit-tingly it may not work. Check my original post for the update.
Comment: Thanks again for the update Kyle. I attempted this on a dev site collection and it appears that it is not logged within the report still. Any backend areas i could access to see this information change in a log?


Where's The V in Magento's MVC? And is there better name?

Question: When you look at the Magento directory structure, the C for 'controller' and the M for Model are easily identified as files and classes. But where are the Views and what are they?
Answer: Magento implements a variation of the Two Step View pattern, where "the view" has two stages:

create a logical page structure
render the actual formatted output

The first stage is Magento's layout system, the layout is a hierarchy of blocks, generated based mostly on XML configuration. In stage one, this layout is loaded based on various parameters (current controller action, configured theme, ...) and the blocks are prepared with data.
The second stage are the blocks themselves. They render their output with their toHtml() method, starting with the root block. Each block is responsible to render its children, so it is not guaranteed that each block in the hierarchy actually gets rendered. Most blocks use templates (the .phtml files), which you can also count as part of the second view stage.
Difference to original Two Step View
Loading data from the model in stage one is usually happening in a controller
and is passed to the blocks using the registry like Mage::register('current_product', $product), so you could say, they cheated a little.
Many data is actually not loaded at stage one but as needed at stage two. In Magento, block classes are provided to actively query resource models.
Only the templates are really passive (or should be), as they retrieve all data from their block. You probably could argue, that blocks rather belong to stage 1 than stage 2. At least, the distinction is not as clear as in the original pattern.
Comment: It depends. In the context of Magento 1, I prefer the latter if it is possible. But pulling data in the block does not work well if for examle a loaded model has to be shared by several blocks at different places in the layout hierarchy. If I know, which blocks are going to need access to a loaded model, I'll use sth. like `$this->getLayout()->getBlock('blockname')->setSomething($something)` in the controller, if not, I'll fall back to the Magento way and use the registry or a singleton as global storage.
Comment: "Loading data from the model in stage one is usually happening in a controller and is passed to the blocks using the registry..."  So this is the controller "pushing" data in a temporary store for the Block to retrieve shortly after -- rather than the Block pulling in data using a Mage::getModel(....) call, right? Which of the two do you prefer and why?
Answer: Magento is not explicit about its Views. There are no directories called View and few occurrence of the word in the code.
There is however, Mage_Core_Block_Abstract::renderView() and
Mage_Core_Block_Abstract::fetchView(). This latter method quite literally sucks in a template (.phtml) file [Note: as mentioned in Alessandro Ronchi's Magento Best Practices, https://leanpub.com/magebp, this is why you can use $this to refer to the block from your .phtml:  fetchView() physically includes the template, so in your .phtml you are quite literally coding inside the block!]
This could be seen as an indication that the Magento core developers felt that it is in fact the .phtml file that is considered the View.
And running with this, the Block perfectly matches up with the ViewModel in the Model-View-ViewModel pattern, one of the many variations on MVC (http://blog.ircmaxell.com/2014/11/alternatives-to-mvc.html)
However, with the Block class and .phtml so intimately linked and acting together as a single presentation unit, one could equally say ""Blocks play the role of the view components in the MVC pattern" [from Magento Best Practices ch. 6]
Note: not everyone may find this an intuitive reflection of their idea of a "view". As their file extension suggests, .phtml files contain both server-side (PHP) and client-side (HTML) code. So these "views" include both sides of the divide, so the speak.
If the .phtml or the Block+.phtml combo indeed form the V in MVC, then in Magento this V relates somewhat differently to the M too. In the vanilla version of the MVC concept, the Controller dispatches a request to the (domain) Model, which engages business logic and a database access layer to pass the desired data to the View.
In Magento it appears the Controller typically doesn't create or talk to a domain Model. Instead the more common idiom is for the Controller's action method to create a Block, either through an explicit PHP call or declaratively, via a layout file (.xml). The Block in turn may instantiate a Model (or Models) to query the db (via ResourceModels). The Block then may apply some presentation logic and massage the data prior to presentation via the template (.phtml).
With the Block wrapping/instantiating both the View and the Model, I see the Block as the centrepiece of Magento's MVC.
Maybe we should call it MBC   :-)

Ctr — Blk -- Mdl -- RMdl
       |
      Tpl

Where’s The V in Magento's MVC? And is there better name?


magnetic door stop for steel doors

Question: I have a refrigerator door that opens up and hits the window of a steel door. What is the best way to stop this? I have been looking at door stoppers but they all have screws to attach them which won't work in this case as I don't want to put screw holes in the steel door nor in my steel fridge. Is there such a thing as a magnet to attach to a door that can be used?
Comment: A diagram or picture of just how the door hits the window would help.
Answer: Yep, get any old magnet & glue or screw on a Super Ball. But, if this is recent or different from how the fridge started out, then your fridge's door stop(s) is shot. This thingy.

These come in all different shapes & sizes & can be on the top or bottom of the fridge's doors, they commonly break. They usually fatigue where that wing meets the tab going up & look like they've been torn. You'll need to either replace it or get another run out of it by swapping it with the other door (this only works with Side by Side fridges).
If after replacement the problem is fixed but it's still too close for comfort, then you can drill holes & add more metal. However, limiting the swing too much will interfere with drawer & shelf removal.

magnetic door stop for steel doors


PCR enzyme units or concentration?

Question: When performing PCRs, usually in every protocol enzyme amount is specified as 1.25 U as optimal per 50 uL reaction. Then, when running 25 uL PCR reaction should i use 1/2 he amount the enzyme or should i respect the value on Units thus using the same volume as in 50 uL reaction?
Comment: I usually use 1 unit per reaction in 20ul reactions. Using less makes the reaction less reliable in my experience.
Answer: You have to scale amounts of all PCR components proportionally depending on the volume of the reaction. The polymerase is no exception in this respect, the only difference is that you measure it in terms of activity - units. So in your protocol you have 0.025 U/µl and you have to maintain this concentration when changing the volume.

PCR enzyme units or concentration?


Can Apache authenticate automatically?

Question: I'm sorry if the title isn't very precise, but that's really all there is to it.
I'm running Apache 2.2 on my computer to host a LAN subversion server. Since it's local-only, I don't need strict security, and there are no authentication directives set.
<code><Location /svn>
    DAV svn
    SVNPath /path/to/repos
    Order deny,allow
    Allow from 192.168.1.0/8
</Location>
</code>
This works well to the extent of saving revisions of my files. However, there's no author specified in the revisions as there's no authentication.
My roommate will collaborate with me on certain projects, and while it's not strictly necessary, it'd be great if we were able to sort out who made what. Of course, I could set up a simple authentication realm with two users (and there's a possibility that it's the simplest way), however I'm wondering if it's possible to have Apache authenticate me and my roommate, at least as far as SVN is concerned, based on our static LAN IP addresses (or whatever else could be used transparently as an identification factor) rather than on WWW authentication.
Answer: Don't use Subversion: use a DVCS instead.
If you do use Subversion, note that it doesn't require Apache. It can also run on local files, as a daemon, or tunneled over SSH. For example, by tunneling over SSH you can use public keys to authenticate automatically.

Can Apache authenticate automatically?


MOS FET reccomendations for a newbie

Question: I'm embarrassed how many times I've used ordinary BJT transistors in circuits that clearly would have been better suited to a FET, and even better a MOSFET. This is because as a lifelong hobbyist, I have a huge stash of common BJTs, and sadly the days of well stocked "neighborhood" electronic store are long gone. Experimenting always requires ordering parts first. Now I understand MOSFETS well enough to pour over specs and parameters and make choices, but maybe someone with more experience could point me to a short list of "general use" enhancement mode P and N channel mosfets that are both inexpensive and readily available as both SMT and through hole parts, that I  basically couldn't go wrong ordering a supply of. I realize there are thousands of good choices, but if you consider that the old familiar (and cheap!) 2N2222 (NPN) and 2N2909 (PNP) BJTs have satisfied the bulk of my needs for simple switching or basic amplification apps for as long as I can remember, perhaps some parts will come to mind. I very seldom need to handle more that 500mA, and usually have low voltage and power requirements (15VDC, seldom more than 1W). Honestly most of my needs are for switching and about the only 'specialty" wishlist item I have is that the lowest "on resistance" would certainly be worth a few cents more. Suggestions welcome.
Comment: By the time I factor gasoline and parking in, even **not** considering value of my time, it's hardly worth it compared to just buying 25 or 100 pieces of factory-fresh guaranteed parts from Mouser or Digikey or another distributor.
Comment: Since Dallas has a couple of great surplus places, my goto parts are often whatever is available at 5% of Digikey prices. See if you have a local version of BG MIcro or Tanner's and you will likely find everything you need at a cheaper price.
Answer: If you're into lower voltage (logic level, 3.3V) and such like circuits, the old standards such as the 2N7000/7002 (latter is SMT) are not great.
You might want to look into Alpha and Omega's line of SOT-23 MOSFETs which are good value and good performance. For example, AO3418/AO3419. You can get 100 of them for about $20, so even if you sneeze and a few of them go walkabout it's not a disaster.
Unfortunately, there's not much that's good introduced in through-hole packages in recent years at least for smaller than a TO-220.
MOSFETs have evolved rapidly, and the best available MOSFET of several years ago is often overly expensive and of poor performance compared to more modern parts.
Comment: I know what you mean about the fast evolution. Especially these Hexfets by IRF that the hobby world is in love with. The on resistance is getting close to being the equivalent of a relay contact, and the VGS thresholds are unbelievably low . I think i could live with SOT-23s for everything now, it would just be convenient to have some through hole variations for "white board" tests. Thanks! I'll check into those AO parts.
Answer: Honestly - the days of the "standard" part number are gone as more manufactures put out products, and we're given the luxury of choice. Every person I talk to, has different recommendations. Additionally, its hard to find a part that has both SMT and Through Hole variants. For example, my go-to is BSS138, but I believe they only come in SMT.
You seem to have the specs you need in mind. I'd type them into DigiKey, and find a part that has the best package and value for your needs and then just go with that.
Comment: Appreciated. I suppose its been the daunting array of choices, and my history of getting so much mileage out of a couple of BJTs that is motivating me to ask. And I suppose I could cut through hole devices loose at this point. Its easy to cut a proto board or solder a few leads onto and SOT-23 for a "whiteboard" test.
Answer: First, you have to get over looking for parts that have thru hole variants.  Hardly anything does anymore, and there's no point to them anyway.  Soldering a SMD part is actually easier than soldering a thru hole part.
My common N channel FET goto part for low voltages is the IRFML8244.  This is a great little part.  It's cheap, and better in just about all respects than its predecessor, the IRLML2502, which was my preferred jellybean part for such things before.  The IRFML8244 can handle up to 25 V, 41 mΩ Rdson at 4.5 V gate drive, can pass a few amps, has relatively low gate charge, and comes in the common SOT-23 package.  You can drive this FET directly from a processor pin without any additional parts in many cases.  It's great for switching solenoids, motors, and the like.
For high side switching, you have to look around.  Do a search on Mouser for your requirements.  You will find less parts that cover a variety of applications without more compromises or higher price.
Comment: Thanks Olin. I hear you about the through hole parts. There are times I just want to try something and plug parts into a breadboard, and its not hard to tack on a little SOT-23 "adapter" board for that. Your recommendations are much appreciated though. For the P-channels, I've been looking at "Diodes Incorporated" DMG2307L-7, and some International Rectifier parts that seem pretty common. Nothing like buying on recommendations though. Thanks again.
Answer: MOSFETs are a little unlike BJTs in that while just about any BJT can be substituted for any other device (so long as the parameters are in the ballpark), MOSFET circuits typically depend on a particular Vt. This is because for the most part BJTs are characterized by the beta parameter, but it is considered poor design to assume a particular beta for a circuit, as significant variations can occur even given the same part number.
This is different than MOSFET devices, where Vt can be (relatively) more precisely controlled. With that said however, the 2N7000 is apparently notable enough to warrant its own Wikipedia page, so it must be pretty common.
Comment: Ah! Well there's one apparently cheap through hole part I can look at for my "breadboard" experiments. :-)

MOS FET reccomendations for a newbie


Safari, Yosemite: Where is "Reopen all windows from last session" stored?

Question: Title wraps up the whole thing, but to elaborate I have an applescript that deletes Safari's history folder, bookmark folder, and a few other boot cache items, but quitting Safari, running the script, then re-opening Safari I can still choose "Reopen All windows from last session" and get the very last page from the site I was just at - where is this info stored? If my gf catches me looking at porn again I could be in hospital for a month or more!
Answer: It's stored in ~/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist, where ~ is your home folder of course.
Comment: Yeah, that gets deleted in my script, in fact the script moves Bookmarks.plist to the desktop, deletes the whole contents of ~Library/Safari/ then moves Bookmarks.plist back into Safari folder, then emptys the trash. But opening up safari stills shows last session web page, must be something stored somewhere else too... I'd blow kisses but last time they got edited out...


Lab test result meaning

Question: Why in this lab test results the microsomal antibodies amount has less sign and thireoglobulin antibodies don't have this sign? I did not question it first but now I have suspicion may be I am not getting it correctly. There is some ambiguity.
Comment: @CareyGregory Question was about not interpreting results but about lab test results generally,what they mean when they write or not certain signs with results.I've re uploaded with better resolution.
Comment: The image you posted is too low resolution to read. In any case, we can't interpret lab results for you. Only your doctor can do that since he/she knows your medical history and why the tests were done in the first place.
Comment: Okay, much better now, and I guess I misinterpreted the intent of your question.
Answer: Measurements will always have measurement errors, we distinguish between systematic errors and statistical errors due to noise, or other random effects than on average are zero. Usually the former type of error should not be in play, the tests will have been designed such that on average the tests results are correct. The latter type of error is always in play, this leads to an error margin that typically gets worse at lower measured values. This means that there will always exist a lowest cutoff value such that measurement values below it will be consistent with a real value ranging from zero up to the cutoff. This will then be reported like your value for the microsomal antibodies. For values that are a bit higher than the cutoff, the protocol will be to report the measured value, but the measurement error may still be significant.
Comment: It's worth mentioning that given the normal range of <34 (ie less than 34), a result of <5 (ie less than 5) is within normal range, because any number less than 5 is also less than 34.
Comment: @HighlyIrregular :-) obviously. Why they did not write less sign on thyreoglobulin  14. It could be <14.

Lab test result meaning


Ignore certain file types in Google Drive

Question: Is it possible to exclude certain types of files in a folder in Google Drive? E.g. say I wanted to upload everything, except all .txt files; like *.txt in a .gitignore file. Is there any way to do this?
Comment: Related: http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/35474/does-dropbox-or-any-other-similar-solution-ignore-files-based-on-regexp
Comment: Looks like this company may offer something like that for google drive: https://www.syncdocs.com/ -- https://www.syncdocs.com/2013/06/ignoring-certain-file-types-when-syncing-to-google-drive/
Answer: At this time it's not possible to set upload file exceptions or exclusion rules when uploading a folder from the Web UI.
An alternative among many others is to use your OS file explorer to search for the files to upload and the drag the files from the file explorer window to the desired folder on the Google Drive web UI.
Answer: A not so pretty but viable solution would be to use a script (robocopy would suit the job) to copy only the files you would like to upload into a secondary folder and set Google Drive to sync that folder. You could automate the script so it updated the secondary folder on a schedule.
robocopy %OriginalFolder% %GoogleDriveSyncedFolder% /E /Z /TEE /xf *.%FileExtentionToExclude%

Source: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145.aspx
             https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/919ab53c-8a86-439b-bc41-649fce8b9ba1/robocopy-exclude-file-types?forum=w7itprogeneral
Answer: As ignoring files in Google Drive is about workarounds, I give you a workaround for folders, It might help you to find a meta-workaround for your specific context
To exclude folders on Windows, I use a simple Powershell script that relocates the desired folders (node_modules) to a different location outside Google Drive, and replaces them with Symbolic links so everything keeps working.

The repo can be found here, along with the instructions to set it up.


Is 気象庁 used only for JMA or any general meteorological observatory?

Question: Everywhere I tried searching 気象庁 on the internet, I found that it is only associated with JMA. But my 先生 firmly argues that 気象庁 does not only mean JMA but general meteorological observatory/agency. I found 気象台 for general observatory but my sensei is adamant so I wanted to hear it from natives. Thanks a lot in advance!
Answer: 庁 is a kanji for national agencies, so you cannot use 庁 for observatories in general. For example, a weather station run by a university or a private company is definitely not 庁, although it may be called a 気象台 or 気象観測所. World Meteorological Organization run by the UN is not 気象庁, either. Here is the current list of Japanese 庁: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/庁
庁 itself can be used for other countries' national agencies similar to Japanese 庁. For example there is 大韓民国気象庁 in Korea. Still, not all national organizations in charge of weather are run in the form similar to Japanese 庁, so 庁 is not a suitable generic term for them. For example, Italian Meteorological Service is a sub-unit of Italian army, so it's not a 庁.
Japanese Wikipedia has a list of government-run meteorological offices: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/気象機関の一覧 Judging from this and some articles linked from this, there is no simple "generic term" for JMA-like organizations in various countries. You have to say 気象機関, 気象に関する国家機関, etc.
Comment: それはいい説明でしたね!どうもありがとうnarutoさん!


Brahma Viharas Without Visualizing

Question: I have a fairly straightforward question. When I visualize without aim, or even sometimes with aim, disturbing or aggressive images sometimes arise in consciousness. Can I practice meditations on the brahma viharas without visualizing?
Answer: To practice Brahma Viharas you should have at least one living being.
So it is not possible to practice without an object.
Answer: The subject of your meditation should be a subject which is a live being or some category or grouping of real living beings (loved ones, same part of the country, humans, some animals, northerners, neighbours,  etc.). You can use any visualization or verbalisations. But when you try to visualise X some other unrelated things happens. In this case do not react with despair and anger. When things are not in your control know that it is not / non self.
Also objective of Brahma Vihara is to:

develop these qualities
break the tendency to classify into favorable, unfavorable and neutral categories and  react to the sensations and feelings due to the perception creating unwholesome roots
break the tendency to classify into superior, inferior and neutral and and to react to them creating sensations and feelings due to the perception creating unwholesome roots
Comment: Is this the same for any visualization? Simply be aware that the visualizations  are not part of a permanent self and not reflective of motivation? For example, aggressive urges arise and, without identifying with them, observe them without linking them to actual intentions?
Comment: What you visualise is never reality but what you put together in your mental model. In you mental model there will be sence of being permanent entity view of people, but in reality they are changing, aging, etc. Also you have no control over your visualisation.
Answer: There is a Zen story that goes something like this, a Zen student ask the master if in the state of no thoughts, are there any sins left. The Master replied: "Sumeru!". Sumeru being the mythical World Mountain at the center of the world, a metaphor for immense afflictions.
The fact is that we have a great deal of suffering buried deep within our mind. And it is during the calm state of meditation that many start to surface. I once watched a documentary "Dhamma Brothers" about these prisoners who underwent an intensive 10 days meditation retreat. One of the things that stood out was that some of these murderers interviewed said they start to relive and become aware their horrible crimes. For them it was like coming out of a haze, and making realizations that they have hurt their victims unjustly.
This is why it is Ethics that is the foundation for a successful meditation practice, because we will be reliving a lot of our karma and negative mental habits. According to traditional Buddhist views, this buried afflictions are so deeply embedded all the way from our past lives.
So the question is what to do when these memories/thoughts/visual imaginations resurface? We should apply the antidote to these poisons in our mind. If we have deep anger and resentment for a person, we need apply compassion and forgiveness towards that person. The feelings of loving kindness and good will are the tool needed to overcome these negative mental states. ("Love" very much in the Christian sense). Repentance likewise is very helpful.
Answer: The practice of the brahma vihara meditation is given in the suttas as follows:

[One] dwells pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with [brahma-vihara quality], likewise the second quarter, the third quarter, and the fourth quarter. Thus above, below, across, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with [brahma-vihara quality], vast, exalted, measureless, without enmity, without ill will.

Where the quality in brackets stands for one of the four immeasurables: mettā, karuṇā, muditā, upekkhā ("loving-kindness", "compassion", "empathetic joy", "equanimity").
If we regard this practice description as complete, we can follow it as is. In this case, it doesn't seem to emphasize specific visualizations. Instead, it seems to instruct us to do an active immersion of the mind in a certain quality, say, spreading it and filling every corner of one's mind with it.
Using mettā as example, one immerses the mind in this quality gradually:

[...] one quarter with a mind imbued with mettā, likewise the second quarter, the third quarter, and the fourth quarter [...]

One makes it pervasive, ubiquitous:

Thus above, below, across, and everywhere [...] vast, exalted, measureless

One directs it and applies it to every being, to the entire world:

[...] to all as to himself, he dwells pervading the entire world with a mind imbued with mettā.

When this practice is undertaken, unwholesome qualities diminish:

[...] without enmity, without ill will.

They diminish because if these are effectively practiced, the mind becomes interested in these qualities; it grabs the interest of the mind once it finds them pleasurable. As result, the mind incorporates them.
They also diminish because of "incompatibility". For example, it's not possible for a mind immersed in compassion to have cruelty taking hold of it. Cruel thoughts appear distant, tasteless, sterile and weak in a mind soaked in compassion.

With the brief practice contextualized, let's talk the specifics:
You said: disturbing or aggressive images sometimes arise in consciousness.
If the aggressive images that arise (e.g. towards another or towards oneself) are born out of anger or are enticing, metta and/or karuna can be ideal primary practices. If the aggressive images are born out of envy,  jealous or discontent sentiments, it might be interesting to focus more on mudita (see AN 6.13 and also DN 34). All these can be complemented and calibrated by upekkhā, which is also one of the recommended practices for dealing with disgust and passion.
On the other hand, if the disturbing thoughts have as origin remorse or, generally, non-virtuous past behaviors, it might be fruitful to focus more on reestablishing the precepts, making amends to past mistakes and strengthening virtuous behavior.
Naturally, all the above are not mutually exclusive, meaning one benefits from doing them all, but certain difficulties might be approached better with a focused/dedicated effort.
Answer: Those are perfect appearances, Eggman. Developing, for example metta means to hold on an attitude of goodwill (metta) "like a mother holds on here only son", even so hold on a mindstate of metta. Special perfect, because those phenomenas cause you to fall into aversion. That's a perfect working place. So when such things arise, put more effort into keeping up goodwill and don't tend to aversion if it arises. Itks good when you also observe how mind reacts, phenomenas arising and decay. When you use metta as object for your concentration (thats actually the dhammic purpose of it), also obsere the comming and going of phenomenas. It's good to become aware of such, much better then to dwell dull in the Brahma Vihara realm.
Answer: I read once (in a modern, non-Buddhist psychology book) that some people are more visual, some more auditory, some more tactile (or haptic):

Most people are visual so you show them something.
Most of the rest are auditory (by which I mean, prefer to learn by hearing) so you tell them something.
The minority are haptic so they learn by doing something.

I guess it's possible that most people practice Bhavana by visual imagination, but that some people could do it via other forms of imagination. For example is it easier for you to identify people by sound instead of sight?
You're supposed to pervade kindness and so on in various directions -- maybe that means you can use your sense of proprioception.
Comment: What I mean is within thought saying, for example: "May X be happy, healthy, safe and live with ease." Repeating this multiple times for example. Or reason about the qualities of the person, etc. Would these be defined as metta?
Comment: Yes. [This](http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/scrn_metta.pdf) is a meditation involving words ("May X be happy"); and [this](http://www.buddhanet.net/chant-metta.htm) is a chant not a visualization (I suppose someone might visualize as well as or while chanting, but perhaps you understand words without trying to visualize objects which the words describe).
Answer: Visualizing is just one of the way to trigger happy feeling to arise, but not all of us could visualize thing. So, visualizing is not compulsory to practice brahmavihara.
Verbalizing too is one of the way to trigger happy feeling but if you chant "may you be happy" all the time, you won't get deeper in your meditation.
The problem with practicing brahmavihara is that there's only a few teachers who could teach this practice.
Bhante Vimalaramsi from Dhammasukha.org [My Teacher | Highly Recommended] [easy to practice without too much theory] [Free Online Retreat | Guidance]
Pa-Auk Sayadaw from paaukforestmonastery.org [Someone that i Recommend too] [Burmese Tradition, Theorical and Too much Abhidhammic and Commentaries]

Brahma Viharas Without Visualizing


White Walkers and the cold

Question: In the books of A Song of Ice and Fire as well as in the HBO adaptation, A Game of Thrones, whenever the white walkers make an appearance, it suddenly becomes really chilly and cold and everything turns into ice around them (water, trees, etc.). Are they responsible for the low temperature occurrences? Or is it the other way around meaning, that they can only appear when it is already very cold, which would kind of explain why they only appear during the mighty winter.
Comment: I think we simply do not know yet :) Given how little all the characters understand about the Others (or White Walkers), I don't think there's an answer for this yet.
Comment: It is frustrating how little we know after coming this far. I mean, we know almost nothing at all.
Comment: M. Night Shyamalan thinks the dead bring the cold
Comment: There's a bit where Sam says "They either bring the cold or they come when it's cold". For me that means that it isn't known yet.
Answer: In the book A Feast for Crows; Jon Snow and Sam Tarly are talking about 'The Others' (The White Walkers from the show) after Sam has spent some time studying them in the library of Castle Black. This is what he says regarding this topic:

"Long ago," Jon broke in. "What about the Others?""I found mention of dragonglass. The children of the forest used to give the Night's Watch a hundred obsidian daggers every year, during the Age of Heroes. The Others come when it is cold, most of the tales agree. Or else it gets cold when they come. Sometimes they appear during snowstorms and melt away when the skies clear. They hide from the light of the sun and emerge by night... or else night falls when they emerge.[emphases mine]-A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows, Chapter Five (Samwell I).
Comment: Good one. I didn't remember where that was from. I swear that there was something more, but I just couldn't find it.
Comment: Helps that I have the memory of a Goldfish... Wait, is it Elephant? I don't remember... Ahhh!
Answer: We don't know for sure, but there is a mention on the World of Ice and Fire concerning the Long Night, where it is mentioned that the Others brought the cold and the dark.

According to these tales, they [The Others] came from the frozen Land of Always Winter, bringing the cold and darkness with them as they sought to extinguish all light and warmth
 page 11

But, those are tales that are hard to credit, so the Maesters can't be sure if it is the Others that bring the cold.
Comment: @yondaime008 There is some fan speculation that the Others/White Walkers are the minions of the Great Other, the enemy of the Lord of Light, as explained by Melisandre. It seems reasonable to believe that just as fire is R'hllor's element, so is cold for the Great Other. But this would require believing in the explanations of Meli and other Red Priests, which we have some reasons not to.
Comment: @yondaime008 This is offtopic, but from her POV, we know two things about Meli: some of her powers are real, some are deceptions. She is evidently not telling the full truth to Stannis. The Red Priests may believe in R'hllor, but there is no indication they are right about it (magic is not the same as gods). It may be that they have real powers, but they're wrong about the source of said powers.
Comment: The doubt is over whether R'hllor really exists and is the only God, all others being demons aligned with some Great Other against him. The existence of magical fire and cold is clear, but the anthropomorphisms of the various religions are (I presume intentionally) not clearly real or not, and even if real may not be as any one religion thinks they are. And, seriously, check the running title of the books, it seems likely that fire and cold are significant opposed forces ;-) Still, it doesn't follow that Melisandre's stories of the personalities involved are correct.
Comment: As you said, this is indeed no firm affirmation. Perhaps however, they need the cold and dark to thrive. My opinion is that the White Walkers are directly related to the lord of darkness the enemy of R'hllor. Or maybe to R'hllor himself.
Comment: @AndresF. Why do you say we have some reasons not to. In ADWD, Melisandre POV clearly shows how even though she uses tricks to make some show, some other things she does are real. I am familiar with such theories though, there are theories that even state that R'hllor is the bad god and the great other is the good. Which is foolish if you ask me, GRRM is against such stupid classifications of good and bad.
Comment: @yondaime008 Then again, GRRM is on record stating that the seasons in Westeros are governed by something of a magical nature, so the explanation of R'hllor/Great Other has some merit...
Answer: The TV show actually does give a definite answer to your question in season 5 episode 8: "Hardhome".

 When Jon and the wildling Loboda search for the dragonglass daggers in the burning townhall, they encounter a White Walker warrior.
 The White Walker warrior walks through the fires without paying attention to them and the fires in his vicinity diminish and die out.

There is a clip on YouTube showing what I described here.
So it seems that, in the TV show at least,

 the White Walkers are responsible for the cold.
Comment: Also the scene at Hardhome where the Others initially arrive, they are preceded by the fog. Excellent Cath mate!
Answer: As per show canon the White Walkers bring the cold with them. This has been explained by the visual effects company that did the work for the Season 2 finale when the White Walkers and their army of wights are marching on the Fist of the First Men.

"On top of that we had to add the zombie makeup to the horse, and our actor had a bit of a belly, so we had to reduce his belly a bit, and we added some cold emitting from his body, so there's a particle system coming from him. Of course we had to create his blue eyes, and a snow particle pattern on top of everything. We also replaced the green screen with a full CG environment and matte paintings and a dramatic sky and, of course, an atmosphere. The atmosphere was meant to make the shot look more beautiful and fit in with this idea that the White Walkers are bringing the cold with them. At the same time it was meant to hide from all the imperfections that we would get from all of these plates.
Fast Company, Collaboration Isn't Always Pretty–Behind The Emmy-Winning VFX For "Game Of Thrones"

White Walkers and the cold


Do Central City and Starling City send their convicts to the same prison?

Question: The Iron Heights penitentiary was a recurring location in the Flash as it holds many of Central City's worst (and for while wrongly held Henry Allen) however dialogue in in Arrow's fourth season says criminals from Starling (or Star city, whatever) are sent somewhere also called Iron Heights- aren't these cities at least a hundred miles apart?
Answer: Both places definitely have a prison called Iron Heights, but I doubt it could possibly be the same place.
In Arrow, S01E04, Jason Brodeur is complaining to his lawyer about Laurel trying to send him to prison:

BRODEUR: She's going after me!
ATTOURNEY: She'll wanna meet with her client after what happened in court today. We have friends up in Iron Heights. Prison can be a dangerous place.

This shows that the prison is close enough that Laurel can get up there to visit clients as part of her normal work schedule. There are, in fact, multiple cases where Oliver's team goes up to Iron Heights on short notice. So, that prison must be relatively close to Starling City.
Similarly, In The Flash S01E02, Barry is arguing with Joe and says:

BARRY: I'm not your kid, Joe. And you're not my father. My father's sitting in Iron Heights.

We also know that Barry once ran away to visit his father in prison, long before he got his speed; we also know that Joe visits Barry's dad a few times on his own. So that prison must also be within driving distance of Central City.
Finally, as we've already discussed in this related question, Oliver has explicitly placed the two cities about 600 miles apart; in addition, in the Arrow episode "Legends of Yesterday", the team requires use of Felicity's private jet in order to get from Star City to Central City fast enough to stop Vandal Savage. So clearly, those two cities are not within a few hours drive of each other.
Thus, it seems incredibly unlikely that they are talking about the same prison; I suppose it's feasible that the prison is literally halfway between the two cities, and they routinely drive 10 hours round trip to go there, but that sounds pretty far fetched.
Answer: It's the same "Iron Heights" in both shows. The reason is simple sloppiness on the part of the writers. In the early days of production of Flash, they hadn't entirely worked out some details like how far apart Starling and Central cities were, and they'd already established both cities used the same jail as a nod to continuity. This made it on the air before anyone connected wit the shows realied that didn't make any sense. Thus it's an accident they can't really fix, but which we're just kind of not supposed to notice.


If Kaioken x2 increases the power level of his user by 2, how much does the regular kaioken increase the power level?

Question: It's said that kaioken x2 increases the power level by 2. And it's also said that the regular kaioken increases the strenght. Then,  how much does the regular kaioken increase the power level?
Answer: x2
When Goku learns the Kaio-ken, he is told it will temporarily double his power level at the cost of draining him and potentially injuring him.  But when he uses the Kaio-ken x2 against Vegeta, it also doubles his power.  It could just be that Goku is saying x2 for the audience, especially since he breaks out the x3 moments later.  Or it could be that there is some other improvement in the Kaio-ken x2 versus the base version (i.e. it is safer or more efficient).


Accelerometer IoT

Question: I am not sure if I am in the right place. I would like to build a device (as small as possible) that has an accelerometer and can talk to my phone via bluetooth. Im not asking anyone to build this for me. I would just like some starting help. Can you tell me the parts that I would need to accomplish this?
Comment: For low power battery powered operation you want BLE not normal Bluetooth.
Comment: Only moments ago, I was perusing the Adafruit selection and found this BLE module for arduino and similar:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1697
Comment: Find a tutorial, e.g. https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-analog-accelerometer-breakouts
Answer: Your smallest solution would not involve a conventional "Arduino" at all, but rather something like an nRF51822 Bluetooth Low Energy chip/module, which in addition to being a radio is a processor in its own right capable of running custom software built in a variety of ways, including one that extends the Arduino IDE to support it.
Basically, you need the nRF51822 or similar chip, an accelerometer, and whatever solution for powering the two you decide upon.
In terms of conventional bluetooth vs. BLE the choice depends not only on technical merits, but also on which phone you want to connect to.  If you want to connect to an iphone, you are basically locked into BLE as the bluetooth stack there is restricted to approved devices.  On the other hand older/cheaper Android devices may not support BLE, or support it poorly, while their conventional bluetooth does not have the approval restrictions of iOS.
Answer: you will need:

Arduino Mini (can also use Uno/Mega/Pro....)
Bluetooth Module (mostly used: HC-06/HC-05)
Accelerometer (mostly MPU-6050)
Few wires.

If you want to carry this device around, you will need a battery to power this circuit.
Answer: If you want Arduino programming AND you have physical size limitations, you may want to checkout RFDuino.
http://www.rfduino.com/
They have a variety of breakout boards that make rapid prototyping easier.
I should say however that while I have purchased one of these, I have yet to get around to using one. Others with more experience may want to chime in.

Accelerometer IoT


android list view number of elements per page

Question: I have a listview where I have 50 elements being displayed. I have decided to paginate the view so on each part of the view there are 10 elements and then a next button is clicked to get to the next 10 elements. Is this good practice or are there better methods for pagination on mobile devices.
Comment: That kind of pagination sounds like an anti-pattern
Answer: I think that there is no pagination on mobile devices, not the way you use it. Your use is usually covered by vertical scrolling. If that's a problem because of performance or other reasons, you put your first batch of items on the screen and either a button or a gesture that says "Load more" and gets you to the second batch - but the layout is still vertical scrolling in a single list.
Pagination in the sense of moving horizontally between lists is used in two cases: you either move between large items, where the entire page is an item (e.g. a book or a contact card) or maybe a stack of two items, or you go through a number of different lists (e.g. in an email client one could be your inbox, another could be your sent items and another your contacts). But still each list here is vertical and you can scroll down it to reveal more items.
There's also paging through large grids, like the list of apps on your device, but that's not a list view.
Answer: I would suggest you lazy-load your pagination into one list.
Load up 10 initially and then when you are at the bottom of the list append a loader, fetch the next 10 items and replace the loader with the next pages results. Rinse, repeat.
I think it's also known as an infinite list.
Answer: I don't find pagination on Mobile Screens a good idea at all.
As others have suggested, have a lazy loading list which keeps loading the data until it runs out of it.
But please have a fast-scroll button available, unlike twitter's app, so that users can come back to the top whenever they want.
Moving page-by-page can be a very annoying experience. It's already quite annoying on many scenarios over the Web too.
I've noticed that information that needs to be read a little thoroughly than being skimmed through (like questions on StackOVerflow) can be presented with pagination, because then I'll take pain to read everything on a page and then move to another to read more. This bunching kind of make sense here.
But imagine a situation (like a real estate portal) where you are presented with thumbnails and short info about things/products and you just want to have a glance at them, then going through that whole info page-by-page is pretty annoying.
Without drifting the topic to the web, lets stick to the mobile experience, Pagination isn't quite preferred here, and I haven't seen many people doing it.


Is it dangerous to keep Thumbs.db on a web server?

Question: Windows Thumbs.db system files that are in most of folders were uploaded with all other files from the localhost to the server.
Is it dangerous, if you forget to delete them on the server?
I am on shared hosting running *nix and Apache server.
Comment: Not programming. I see no code.
Answer: There is no direct threat from having Thumbs.db uploaded, even if people were able to download them they wouldn't get any information worth having.
It does maybe highlight an issues with your upload process though, this is one of the reasons why FTP is an inefficient way to upload files, extra files that you may not have intended to upload will go up.
Answer: Thumbs.db just contains thumbnail information for images. That way when you are browsing with file explorer you can quickly see them. It is not dangerous. It can safely be deleted or ignored.
Answer: I still think this file can be threat in some cases.
e.g.: it is a security hole when you don't want everyone to know the full image list you have in specific directory the Thumbs.db compromises this information. It stores information about the file names, modification times, thumbnail images can be fetched from it as well.
Answer: I wouldn't say that they're dangerous. The thumbs.db file is just an auto-generated file used for caching thumbnails.
It's a real pain to delete the thumbs.db because it will keep regenerating and it tends to be locked, so I would suggest writing some logic to exclude hidden files altogether.
Comment: I wouldn't exclude hidden files because then `.htaccess` might not get uploaded.
Comment: Thumbs.db is a Windows system file, and .htaccess isn't hidden on Windows(that I've ever seen). [Dot files](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-file) being hidden is a *nix convention, generally.
Answer: I do not agree with the other answers. In some cases this is a low security risk but it could have a hugh impact. It is similar to allow directory browsing.
The attacker gets a list of file names that could be really bad if you think about a page like Facebook where images are pseudo hidden by there name.
If there would be a Thumbs.db in this folder you would get profile images and Facebook IDs of a few hundred users: https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-ash3/c170.50.621.621/s160x160/.
If there would be a Thumbs.db in every folder you could easily access all images and Facebook IDs of every single user. Using the ID you can query real names for every image, too. That would be hugh!
Also keep in mind that Thumbs.db are not updated by the server. So it it possible data of deleted images, too.
I would advice to delete all Thumbs.db from the web server. They do not belong there, they do not have any use, but they could be a risk.
Answer: Not it's not really dangerous, as the file is only used by Windows Explorer for the thumbnail cache: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_thumbnail_cache.
But I would advise you to not leave only unnecessary files on your server and to delete them when you switch to production mode.


Pipelines vs Event Handlers

Question: What is the difference between Sitecore Pipelines and a Sitecore Event Handlers for a specific event? When should we customise a pipeline and when should we add a new handler?
Answer: Pipeline
To me pipelines are about process. Do this, then this. Allowing you to insert and remove processes simply with patch configs. A great example of this is login user pipeline. Your pipeline would be:

Log user in
Identify user in xDB
Add logging info for user
Add user to marketing automation for returning customer
etc....

It is a process flow that you can reorder and add to/subtract from.
Event
Events are one off, very focused actions. Like item:saved vs item:saving. item:renamed vs item:duplicated. They are extremely focused. Although you could tie many events together in the config, they are not very process oriented. It is more about data manipulation than process.
Comment: Remember that you could also run a pipeline in your event handler :)
Comment: Thank you. This helped clarify my understanding of pipelines and event handlers :)
Answer: To add to @Chris Auer, think of it this way:
What is the difference
An event is a reaction to something happening in the system. This could be a user interaction, like item:saved, item:created, etc, or it could be raised by another process in the system like publish:end or publish:end:remote. And there can be many handlers for a single event, just look at some of the item: events and how many handlers SXA adds to them.
The key point here is that an event reacts to something else being done in the platform.
A pipeline requires something to start that process, but as Chris mentioned, the pipeline is a pattern that starts with some data and then sends that data through various processors to consume, manipulate or add to that data. So you might think of mvc.getPageItem pipeline; that pipeline takes the initial data about the page context and each processor does something with that data, from setting the language, trying different methods to resolve the page item to hooking into the Content Testing module.
The key for pipelines is that it's processing data.
When should I use event handlers/pipelines
Now we have the distinction, it should be fairly easy to know what you want to use.
If you want to react to an existing event that occurs in the system, you probably want to create an event handler. It is important to remember that hooking into some of the item event handlers can seriously affect your editor performance. You should make sure the code is as performant as you can get it. Don't take shortcuts just because it won't affect the delivery of the site.
As for pipelines, its unusual to create a completely custom pipeline, although it does happen. More often you are hooking into an existing pipeline and adding a processor there. So if you find that you need to change the way something in Sitecore functions, say for example you want to extend the source property on a TreeList, then you would be creating a pipeline processor to do that.
Answer: I guess the first thing we have to be sure about what we are doing.
Usually, we use events and/or pipelines to decouple process:
In a coupled way of data manipulation/decision, we use mainly 3 different patterns.
1 - Chain of Responsibility: The data flow through every process and one of the process decide if they can handle the process.
2 - Decorator: Every process can change something in the same data.
3 - Composite: Every process add some information to a collection of data, or even to a builder.
The pipeline state a sequence of processes that must be executed in a sequence to produce a result. The sequence of every execution matters.
There are mainly two types of events, the synchronous and the asynchronous.
When a process triggers an asynchronous event it doesn't receive an answer from the triggered event or it can receive a promise that will be fulfilled later.
But events are always very specific to just one thing, while pipelines can have very different steps of implementation.
Using events for querying data is possible. A pipeline is possible too.
To implement a chain of responsability using events or pipeline you have to be able to stop the propagation (avoid that the next process in the pipeline or the next event listener to be executed)
The decorator and the chain of responsability requires a control of se sequence of the processes execution. The pipeline works better here, the event would need a little hack.
But in both cases, you will use a non-canonical implementation. (which is not bad at all)
The pipelines couple the code a litle more than events, because the pipeline must be aware off all the processes that will be executed. In this scenario, the event have a better performance, because the events have no knowledge about how many listeners will be triggered.

Pipelines vs Event Handlers


EADGBE, thin to thick

Question: How would you tune your guitar in EADGBE where the THINNEST string is closer to your CHEST and the THICKEST is closer to your BELT? Not in a Hendrix way, that is inverted. I mean regular EADGBE, with EAD trebles and GBE wound.
Comment: Oh okay.  I just edited my answer based on my better understanding what your intentions were.  You are going to tune the first string just like the first string only instead of the thinnest string it will be the fattest one.  The second string will now be the second fattest string and you will use the A string from a standard set of strings but tune it like the b string and etc.   That way you can play normal chord shapes and just get a type of inversion of the chord.  Cool.
Answer: I haven't done it as described with the basses and trebles reversed, but I do have one old electric guitar in what I'd call high tuning (I think some people call this "Nashville" tuning).  I tune it to EADGBE but all six strings are trebles taken from two sets.
With this the "EAD" are plain unwound strings and are an octave higher than standard (and what was the "bottom" E is 2 octaves higher).  There's no bass sound at all, but it is pleasant to just sit and strum chords.
Ideally you would adjust the intonation of the bridge to compensate for the thinner strings - easy enough on electric.  But that's a different subject.
(Bonus - plain strings are cheaper than wound. So it's not expensive to try this out, just go to your local guitar shop and buy six single strings.)
Comment: I believe the OP is still talking about EADGBE, top of neck to bottom, but in different octaves. Not so far from what I've described. But I'll wait for further hints.
Comment: This still works on the premise of standard tuning. The OP is talking about the opposite way round.
Answer: I am not aware of anyone who has tried taking a standard right hand guitar and reversing the strings so that the bass and treble strings are on opposite sides of the fretboard -  to still play it right handed.  Although it might create some interesting inversions of chords.  It would certainly sound unusual, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  But there will be some challenges.
To do so would require customizing the guitar in most cases.  You would need a different nut because the slots in a standard nut are cut to accommodate the standard bass near ceiling treble near floor orientation.  Also, on an acoustic the saddle would need to be reconfigured and tilted the other way to properly compensate for differences in intonation.
This change in orientation with the highest notes closer to the ceiling would require you to make adjustments in your playing technique.  For example, if you played solos on the thinner strings (easier to bend) most of your bends would be down instead of up - so your playing style would be reversed.  Ascending solo runs would require movement in the opposite direction than normal.
Actually if you already play, it might be easier to accomplish this effect by learning to play left handed with a right hand guitar.  You are going to have to re-learn much of the way you currently play anyway - and it might be easier to teach your uninitiated/untrained right hand to become the fretting hand in this completely new configuration.  Furthermore you would not have to alter the guitar.
I suppose it might offer an interesting contrast to the standard configuration.  Downstrokes on chords would sound like upstrokes and vice versa.  There would be an alternate tuning effect due to the notes normally found in the bass of the chords are now higher.  So most chords would be some type of inversion.  If you have the patience to learn to play this inverted string arrangement then perhaps you can create some very unique and interesting  sounding music.
Good luck with that!
Comment: It seems like you could still play all the same chord shapes -- they'd sound quite different, but would still contain the same notes (by name, not frequency).  And I could be wrong but I don't think the direction of the bends matters, other than maybe a slight difference in which pickups the string vibrated over.  Good points otherwise!
Comment: Bends are achieved using up, or down stretches, depending on the player. Except thinnest E, which usually gets pushed towards the centre of the fretboard. Going outwards will push the string off the neck.
Comment: I have a classical guitar with a non-tilted bridge (it works by lifting the string) and the slots on the nut don't seem to be an issue.
Neither do chords because Matt is right, the notes would be the same, just in different frequencies.
However...
My main concern is string tension.
e treble - E slot tuned to e -» fine
B treble - A slot tuned to a -» good
G treble - D slot tuned to d -» ??? struggle
For now, I left the D and the G strings in their original position, and changed the others, but it sounds a bit off.
Comment: @MatthewRead Oops.  Just re-read the question.  You are correct about the chord fingerings.  I was thinking he would tune each string the same but just in a different spot.  But it appears from more careful reading that he will tune the b string like the A string would normally be tuned.  Hmmm
Comment: @user24708  - Sorry - I guess I didn't read carefully about how you would tune the strings.  I need to edit my answer.
Comment: AAAND just arrived in my room to find the wound (former A, now) B string snapped... F*ck... Guess I'll have to ask at the music store which string set they recommend for this
Answer: Replace the lower BE with CF and you have a tuning in perfect ascending 5ths, similar to the New Standard Tuning (which goes up in 5ths from C but the last string is only up a minor 3rd, in G instead of B).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_standard_tuning
Answer: In principle:
Take a left-handed guitar strung for standard tuning.
Tune it slightly differently, EBGDAE thickest to thinnest.
Play right-handed.
In practice:
It may strain the neck to tune a string up in pitch.
So you can either put different strings on, or tune down to an equivalent of EBGDAE. such as DAFCGD.
[Edit: Since the F and C are still higher than standard, you may want to go lower and/or replace the fourth string.  For experiments, nylon-core wound  strings may tolerate being tuned down better than metal/metal-core strings.  They also would be less damaging in general on the neck if tuned higher than standard, but then that might be something to do on your own, rather than borrowed, guitars and only if you are comfortable with the risk.]
Capo if you like.
Searching for EBGDAE on the internet may show interesting things, including the fact that someone appears to [edit: to be presenting themselves as if they ] have it as their surname.
If any left-handed players play right-handed guitars "upside down" and have used this tuning then they have done what you are suggesting.

EADGBE, thin to thick


How do I break my game?

Question: How do I break the game at the chest to get all/lots of the items? I know you need the D6 (already unlocked), but what else do I need to do and get?
Answer: There are five main ways to break the game in Rebirth:

Infinite item charge + Jera + Blank Card. Find a room with batteries/48hr energy pills on the floor, and use the Blank Card w/ Jera to duplicate them. Pick up a battery and infinitely generate more batteries. Now, either you can use this to break using #2, or you can duplicate chests and open them for items. Or, you can use methods described in #3 to get infinite item charge as well.
Infinite drops generation + D20. Abusing Jera is not the only way to create infinite drops. The other major way you can accomplish this is by having coin generation (Swallowed Penny, Piggy Bank, IV Bag, etc.) and infinite health (Scapular, Bloody Penny, Guppy's Paw + Converter, etc.), allowing you to create unlimited money for you to reroll with the D20. A particularly creative way to do this, however, is to have Maggy's Bow (which makes red hearts worth double) and The Jar (which stores red hearts), allowing you to create unlimited red hearts on the floor.
Infinite item charge + D6. This is perhaps the most obvious method. You can get infinite item charges from Sharp Plug or the Habit, but they take health in exchange for spacebar charge, so you'll need a source of infinite health, i.e. Scapular. Another way to get infinite health is Pyromaniac and some sort of bomb item (Dr./Epic Fetus, Ipecac, Kamikaze!), which will give you unlimited healing from the explosion damage.
Greed farming + teleport + D6. Find a secret room or shop with Greed or Super Greed in it. These minibosses spawn enemies, so kill the miniboss while making sure not to kill all the enemies in the room. You can then use any of the free teleport items — Cursed Skull, Broken Remote, etc. — to teleport out of the room and get to fight the miniboss again. Do this a bunch of times until you have plenty of Steam Sales or Quarters in the room, and then you can use the D6 to reroll all of them into useful items. This is by far the slowest and most inefficient way to break the game, but it's also very cheap and easy to pull off.
Undefined. This item teleports you to one of the several special rooms on the floor (item room, secret room, super secret room, I AM ERROR room, and black market). When you have this item in the Chest, you can use it repeatedly and "exit" through the I AM ERROR room trapdoor, looping the Chest forever and getting infinite items. This method is by far the easiest, but also the most unreliable: getting the I AM ERROR room teleport is entirely luck-based, and even if you do get the teleport, you may run out of keys to be able to open any chests. Best used with key-replenishing items like Skeleton Key or the Paper Clip, as well as with infinite recharge items like the Habit. PATCHED IN AFTERBIRTH.

The new DLC Afterbirth added many new ways to break the game, which may or may not be patched in the future. Here are a few of them:

Infinite bombs + restock machine. Get an item that gives you infinite bombs, like Ipecac or Dr. Fetus. Find a shop with a restock machine. Bomb the machine to infinitely reroll the items in the shop until you get the item you want. PATCHED, the restock machine blows up after a while
D7 + D6 + item charge. Find a room with a miniboss that drops an item, like Wrath or Envy (if in the Chest, any room that drops a chest). After beating the miniboss, use the D7 to respawn the miniboss and fight it again. Repeat as desired, and reroll the items with the D6. This was partially patched so that the D7 needed 3 charges instead of just 1, so you'll need a way of charging the item, either with infinite item charges described in #3 or with 9 Volt + AAA Battery.
Angel room + Goat Head + D6 + bombs. Bomb the Angel room statue and beat the Angel that spawns. Take care not to pick up the Key Piece items (the Angels will stop dropping them if you pick one up), and instead reroll them into actual items. Exit the room and reenter for infinite items. Lots of bombs or an infinite bombs item like Ipecac are necessary for this method. Will probably be patched in the future.
Comment: The IV bag has been or will be removed from greed mode (https://twitter.com/edmundmcmillen/status/661536009838981120).
Comment: @Wieland That's too bad, but I guess to be fair, it was really really OP. Updated
Comment: Afterbirth introduced a new way for infinite bombs in the form of golden bombs, which, like golden keys, give infinite items of their name for the duration of the floor.
Comment: If you believe #5 is still valid for people who don't own Afterbirth, you should just note that in that bullet point. Don't strike through the entire text, it just makes it impossible to read.
Comment: @ChrisHayes I don't think it's too hard to read, and besides, the strikethrough keeps people from skimming over that point also and expecting that method to still work in Afterbirth. A little comment off to the side can be easily ignored, and attempts to make the note more visible seem undeservingly excessive.
Comment: @Khaz I didn't know that, I've yet to even unlock golden bombs in Afterbirth. Could you add it to the post? I know nothing about how golden bombs work.
Answer: There are many ways to break the game. If you're talking just about breaking on the Chest, you can use Undefined to get to the i am error room over and over until you are pleased with your loadout. Most other ways involve something like Sharp Plug + Scapular, giving you infinite rerolls, or D20 shenanigans, or Jera/Perthro + Blank Card.
Answer: You don't need the d6.
The most common combo is the Rune of Jera (unlocked by beating high brow) and the Blank Card (unlocked by beating The Cathedral as Eden). This allows you to repeatedly use the rune with Blank Card.
Once you have these two, you need a room containing a battery or 48 hour energy pill. Use the blank card, doubling everything and use the battery to recharge the card.
If you set up an infinite jera combo in The Chest, you can copy gold chests, which contain items.
Answer: D6 lets you to reroll the 4 gold chest items in the first room, unless you pick them up. To speed up this you should get 9 Volt (which reduces the charge of any Activated Items by 1) and the Habit (when Isaac is hit, 1 point of an item's charge is filled).
A way to break the game is to get Undefined, which teleports Isaac to either the Secret Room, Super Secret Room, Treasure Room, or I AM ERROR.
If you get to the Chest with it you can repeatedly reset the floor by going to the I Am Error room, getting more and more items and making your Isaac the most broken character ever made, with easily over five times the amount of items you'd get in a single run!
Answer: I found a breaking seed which makes it easy to break the game. The seed is DP4F HHZ2. On Basement XL, there is a jera rune in a golden chest next to an item room. On depths XL, there is a blank card in the shop. The best part about this seed is the Chest. Right of the starting room is a 48 Hour Energy Pill. To the left is a regular chest. Unlike a lot of strategies, this one isn't flawed.
Comment: While this may be a run-breaking seed, the question was really asking for what qualifies a run as "broken." To that end, this doesn't really answer the question.

How do I break my game?


Presenting proposals and rejected material in portfolio

Question: Can I use in my portfolio work that I made for competitions and rejected items (logos, brochures, etc.), which include the brands of the companies organizing these competitions?
Answer: Unless there is a written contract (which you signed) you OWN the work product. Additionally you have certain 'moral rights' to use the work in your portfolio.
As to rejected work.  That's cearly the property of the artist or their studio.
Our studio has staff designers who work under 'work for hire' agreements.  Even so our contacts allow (encourage) these designers to include their work product for our studio in their portfolio with approprate copyright and attributes.
This policy applies to interns as well.  I would add interns are paid (as they should be) fairly for their efforts.
Answer: This is totally up to you, assuming the terms of these competitions/etc allow you to use the work for self promotion.
If you look at diffent portfolios or browse through the Behance showcase, you will see some designers will also include rejected material, proposals, contest entries, etc. It will sometimes be relevant to potential new clients to present these, but be advised some other clients are more interested in seeing work that actually got produced.


What Does the Heart In Gyms Mean?

Question: I have been playing Pokemon Go for a while now, and I am quite new to the new gym style. Whenever I battle another persons Pokemon, the heart inches down a little. What does it mean?
Comment: Since you're asking what the heart means, and you've got your answer, you might like to know that it can be increased by feeding it berries. You can also remotely feed berries (which is less efficient) if one of your own Pokemon is defending the gym currently.
Answer: The heart you are seeing above the Pokemon during gym battles is known as motivation. A Pokemon's motivation level determines how much "energy" it has left to fight. Once the motivation reaches zero, it gets knocked out of the gym and returns to its trainer.
From the Niantic help page:

Every Pokémon on a Gym has motivation, a measurement of the Pokémon's desire to defend the location. Trainers from opposing teams battle to reduce the motivation of the Pokémon on the Gym. Pokémon gradually lose motivation over time and by losing battles against opposing team members. As a Pokémon loses motivation, its CP will temporarily decrease, making it weaker in battle. When a Pokémon's motivation reaches zero, it leaves the Gym and returns to its Trainer the next time it loses a battle.

What Does the Heart In Gyms Mean?