How do you change to master mode?

Question: I want to change my game to master mode, (BOTW DLC) without deleting my save file. The reason is that I want to change my white lynels to silver and silver to gold. I'm pretty sure you can do that. I'm not sure how, though.
Comment: Have you already purchased and downloaded the Master Trials (DLC pack 1)?
Comment: Yes my dad plays BOTW too so I used his switch to do the DLC things
Answer: To unlock Master Mode, you must purchase and download The Master Trials (DLC pack 1). After doing so, you should see an option to start "Master Mode" on the main menu.
Selecting Master Mode for the first time will start you with a new game. It is not possible to switch your current save to master mode. However, starting in Master Mode will not clear your current save. You will be able to toggle between your normal mode save and your master mode save on the main menu.
Comment: Thanks! I'm just scared of the Lynel at the beginning. I watched a couple of youtubers fail to get past that Lynel. In my current save file, I have every divine beast except for Urbosa, so I can easily defeat Lynels.
Comment: @Struck Master Mode is a *whole* lot of fun. But you'll definitely find yourself running from enemy encounters for the first 10-15hrs (just to conserve weapons if nothing else) that you would've fought easily in normal mode. Good luck!
Comment: I know, but I hate the regeneration thing. If the regen goes slower, then it would be ok. Also, the Beginning Lynel thing is scary
Comment: @StruckZeus that early game lynel is easily avoidable though.  I enjoy masters mode a lot, the balloon platforms adds a great way to power up early on as they usually contain good weapons.
Comment: I tried to avoid it but I got caught anyways the notice range of a lynel is HUGE!
Comment: I did master mode, and it was pretty easy if you know where to go and beat the game before.

How do you change to master mode?


Iron man Jarvis like robot

Question: I'm very passionate about robots from my childhood.I'm a java developer.
I love sci-fi movies.I have a little bit knowledge in embedded systems and electronics.
My ambition is to build a robot like Jarvis (In Iron Man Movie).Which is a voice controlled robot.I would like to implement that in my house as a home automation system.It would take voice as input and take appropriate action.. Please help me to do this.
Any kind of help is appreciated..
Comment: I hate to bust your balls (welcome to Robotics.SE by the way), but your question is similar to this: "I love helping people and I want to become a doctor. I have a little bit of knowledge about livers and the pancreas. Please help me become a heart surgeon". In other words, this question is way too broad to be properly answerable. There are many aspects to building a complex robot such as mechanics, electronics, hardware, software, even materials and each with various sub-topics. You would almost always need a _team_ to build a complex robot like that.
Comment: where i start . Please help me to find any kind of speech recognition systems..
Comment: If I ask "where do I start" for my heart surgeon analogy, what would you answer? The same answer goes for your question.
Comment: Try this out: http://api.ai/
...and good luck for your dream :)
Comment: 1. Find a cheap robot arm, 2. Learn Python, 3. Get a voice-to-text program on a computer 4. program a python program to take text input (translated from voice by #3), to issue commands to the arm. You won't have any sensing, it won't be intelligent, it will be very simple, but it'll work. Now, this question will be closed because it is too broad and not helpful to future readers, but I loved it so I answered it the best I could here.
Answer: As it has already been pointed out, this is such a broad topic, it's almost impossible to answer it... People do entire doctoral thesis for years on "just" one aspect like speech recognition!!
But here is what you could do:
1) get a Raspberry Pi for the brain. You'll have to learn how to use Linux and a programming language like Python
2) get a cheap robotic arm: this one has been reverse-engineered before and you can find all the code on the web to control it with the raspberry pi
3) add a microphone and a little speaker and use the google Speech API for voice recognition
When you get there, you'll be where most hobbyist can get too easily without needing a lab or expensive equipment. Many people have done very similar projects, just google it, look on YouTube.

Iron man Jarvis like robot


Is there a mathematical formula to calculate drag force without empirical testing?

Question: Typically people put the interested rocket prototype in a wind tunnel to find out the drag force and use the drag force equation to calculate the drag coefficient of the rocket model. I am wondering whether there is a mathematical formula that we can use to calculate the drag force without empirical measurements. For example, can we simply look at the system of one air molecule and the rocket, calculate the instantaneous change in momentum of the air molecule after collision as the resistive force, and then sum up the forces experienced by all air molecules to get the drag? The motivation behind this question is that I think if we can relatively accurately simulate drag force and find out the drag coefficient of a model real-time while we are doing the prototyping on software, it will accelerate the process of model improvements. Thanks!
Comment: Something close to what you ask is what can be done in simulations. Ansys Fluent, among several other CFD software, can be used to get almost every parameter you are looking for in the flow. These simulations require an in-depth understanding of various mathematical models of the fluid. It is easy to do CFD, but difficult to do good CFD. It is basically just the computer solving equations in iterations, and it remains your responsibility to tell it which ones are the best to use for your scenario.
Comment: "It is easy to do CFD, but difficult to do good CFD." bravo!
Comment: Simulating single molecule colliding with the surface of moving object - for very very rarified air maybe it can work, I'd like to know the answer myself. But for dense enough atmosphere we just can't use this approach. The reason is a molecule bounced from moving object will immediately collide with another molecules and exchange its energy, these molecules will transfer it further and so on. As result in macroscopic level we will have pressure waves around the moving object and the interplay of these waves will define the drag, the lifting force, etc.
Answer:
I am wondering whether there is a mathematical formula that we can use to calculate the drag force without empirical measurements.

Yes, much modern rocket design is done with Computational Fluid Dynamics software instead of in wind tunnel testing.

can we simply look at the system of one air molecule and the rocket, calculate the instantaneous change in momentum of the air molecule after collision as the resistive force, and then sum up the forces experienced by all air molecules to get the drag?

That isn't a practical way to do it, because of the staggering number of air molecules involved; I believe modern CFD implementations subdivide the volume around the rocket into (millions of?) small volume regions where the aggregate airflow (pressure, velocity) is simulated, and use heuristics to decide where to subdivide volumes further to get finer-grain simulation where things get turbulent and complicated.
Comment: +1 Before you youngsters and your new-fangled computers took over there were entire books written on estimating drag (Hoerner 1965 *Fluid-Dynamic Drag*)
Comment: Note also that the process of subdividing the volume is itself a tricky art form.  If you choose the wrong grid to discretize your problem, you will get weird, unphysical, incorrect behavior due to the limitations of the discrete model, like reflections and wakes from surfaces that aren't really there, but are subtly implied by the grid structure you chose.  If you have to interpolate the results to a different grid needed for some reason by another part of your toolchain, things get much worse.  In summary, +1 to bad CFD is easy, but good CFD is really hard.
Comment: Thanks for your response! Could you elaborate more on how the airflow is simulated within the small volume regions or simply refer me to some other resources? I am actually researching this for a school project and am exploring how we can speed up the calculation of drag force by CFD software. Do you think using quantum algorithms can help?
Comment: There are many references on the Wikipedia page I linked in my answer; they should keep you busy for a while. I don't know much about CFD myself.
Comment: I was under the impression that CFD algorithms are based off of empirical measurements of simple cases, rather than the implementation of purely mathematical equations.
Comment: @BillThePlatypus All mathematical equations to describe physical processes are based off empirical measurements, aren't they?
Comment: @HagenvonEitzen Yes, they are, but in many cases the equations (at least for ideal behavior) can be derived mathematically from some simple laws. But in some cases (drag and convection come to mind) the equations are more of a curve fit than a nice equation.
Comment: @BillThePlatypus : Same advice for you as Answerer gave OP: Read the linked page.  There you will find a plethora of information about the development of equational models and their incorporation into CFDs.  There is even a section specifically about how certain equational models are built on top of other equational models.  CL and CCL equational models are *not* "based off of empirical measurements of simple cases"; they are first principles derivations.
Answer: It is possible to compute rather than measure the drag on an object.  However the answer to the specific technique you suggest:

can we simply look at the system of one air molecule and the rocket, calculate the instantaneous change in momentum of the air molecule after collision as the resistive force, and then sum up the forces experienced by all air molecules to get the drag?

is no: you can't do this.
Here is one argument that makes it clear why this is not possible.
One thing that happens when some object is passing through a fluid is that it heats the fluid.  A famous example of this is something entering the atmosphere from space: the object entering the atmosphere gets hot, because the fluid (atmosphere) it's passing through is heated adiabatically.  A lot of the kinetic energy of the object is dumped as heat into the fluid.
But the temperature of a fluid (or in fact of any object) is a statistical property: it only has meaning when you consider very large numbers of particles of the gas.
This means that you can't simply consider how a single particle of gas bounces off the object and somehow multiply it up to compute the drag.  You have to look at how the particles of the fluid interact with each other.
So any mathematical model of drag forces must do one of three things:

treat the fluid as a huge number of particles with individual velocities and momenta and model the interactions between this huge number of particles, the object and each other;
based on understanding the statistical mechanics of the first model derive some equations for how fluids behave, and then treat the fluid as a fluid, with properties such as temperature, pressure and so on;
derive some simpler expressions for drag based on understanding the fluid which will give approximate answers, usually requiring various experimentally-determined parameters to be added.

All of these approaches are 'mathematical formulae', but only the last one comes anywhere close to being something you could, for instance, calculate with the aid of a calculator in a few hours.
The last of these is what was done before computers existed.  The expressions you would get would generally only be valid for certain ranges of parameters as they would fail to deal well with phenomena like turbulence and shocks.  Anyone using this approach would be well-advised to check their results using a model in a wind-tunnel, and this is what they did.
The first approach is not computationally practical except in very special cases and probably never will be.
The second approach is very widely used.  There are some reasons why wind-tunnels are still useful however.

The calculations are extremely numerically intense: supercomputers were and are built mostly to solve these problems (not only drag problems but general fluid-dynamics problems).  This means that, with limited computing power, the calculations can only be done rather approximately (generally this means that the chunk of the fluid – the element, grid-box or cell – that is the smallest unit you can deal with is rather large.  This in turn means that various features of the problem can't be modelled properly and must be 'parametrised'.  If important behaviour happens below the scale of an element you either simply miss it or do some clever trick of noticing that things are being missed and successively shrinking the element size until you capture the behaviour.  This makes the model still more computationally intense: sometimes it's easier, cheaper and quicker to just put something in a wind-tunnel, if you want an answer this year, especially in the era when all you had was a Cray-1 or something.
Even if the computational model 'works' it will have been built using a necessarily simplified model of the fluid: the equations which govern fluid flow are nonlinear and have all sorts of complicated behaviour like turbulence and shocks which may or may not be properly captured in the model and which can cause tiny numerical errors due to lack of precision in the number representation to blow up.  You certainly will want to go and check the model's results against a real fluid, if you can.
Programs are often just buggy, numerical algorithms are often unstable, computers are often buggy.

All of these things mean that computational approaches, while profoundly valuable, especially where experiment is expensive or forbidden, have limits and actually doing experiments is still useful.
Comment: "You have to look at how the particles of the fluid interact with each other." Hence [Computational Fluid Dynamics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics), which has widely supplemented wind tunnel work, though it hasn't yet entirely replaced it.
Comment: @uhoh: Yes, I think that that's close to how I read the question: I'd not thought that the person might be answering 'is this computable at all?'.  I specifically was aiming at the suggestion that you could simulate *one* molecule and then sum.  I've reworded the answer extensively now to, I hope, be clearer (and longer!).  If you have time have a look to see if you think it's better.
Comment: `+1` There was a down vote, I think they missed that you've simply offered an *existence proof* which is all that's necessary to support "No, you can't do this."
Comment: The existence proof that refutes "no, you can't do this" is *the entire field of CFD.* There's no *simple* formula that works, but you can absolutely do drag simulations without a wind tunnel, which is how I interpret OP's question.
Comment: @uhoh: yes I think whoever downvoted me is entirely missing my point, which was entirely to offer a sufficient reason why summing over a single molecule/object collision will not work.  Oh well.
Comment: I am interpreting the question as "can you simulate drag without resorting to a wind tunnel," which obviously yes. You're interpreting the question as "can you do so by summing over individual molecular behavior", and saying no (although in theory (but not in practice) you could if you simulated the inter-air-molecule collisions as well as the air-molecule-versus-rocket collisions). Since this is a difference of interpretation I'll remove the downvote.
Comment: @RussellBorogove I think the difference here is in "Is there a formula?" To me and (I'd guess) to tfb, numerical simulations are what you do when there is no formula. If you had a formula you'd use a hand calculator or pencil and paper, plug in the parameters and immediately have an answer. When there's no formula, your fallback position is to run a full-blown simulation and every time you change some input you have to start again and run another. If you had a formula you could say "y varies inversely with x^2", if you do CFD you have to re-run it for several values of x to see the dependency.
Comment: @RussellBorogove: Oh, it had not occurred to me that someone might think that numerical simulation was not *possible*.  I will reword it.
Comment: @tfb I can confirm all three of those; clearer, longer (4 times) *and better!* (4! times) :-)
Comment: Surely it could at least be estimated. I remember doing that in the 70s with nomographs from the USAF. This sounds like a physics vs. engineering fight.
Comment: @RussellBorogove: I don't understand.  I'm saying you can't simply sum over  collisions, because you need to treat the fluid properly and giving one example of why you need to do that.  You're apparently agreeing with me ... and then downvoting me.  What?
Answer: There is a mathematical formula, but it requires knowing the pressure and velocity distribution around the surface of the object:
$$D=\int_{S_{upper}}\left[-pcos(\theta)+\tau_wsin(\theta)\right]dA +\int_{S_{lower}}\left[psin(\theta)+\tau_wcos(\theta)\right]dA$$
where $S_{lower}$ and $S_{upper}$ refer to the lower and upper surfaces, respectively, and $\theta$ is the angle between the local unit normal vector to the surface and the vertical direction.
To get the pressure and velocity under specific conditions, you need one of three things:  experiment data, a computational simulation, or an analytical solution to the Navier Stokes equations for your particular case of interest.  Analytical solutions are few and hard to come by for the general case with arbitrary flow domain shapes.  Experiment data can be costly to obtain and would require using instruments that necessarily disrupt the flow, making it more difficult to accurately measure what you want (although, well designed experiments minimize disruption as much as possible).
Computational simulation, in my opinion, is the best compromise between the other two.  It provides a "virtual" experiment using analytical equations that need to be solved iteratively.  Nonetheless, as others have stated, it is non-trivial to obtain useful solutions from computational simulation.  Experienced CFD analysts spend a lot of time preparing cases carefully, creating appropriate meshes, using/implementing proper gradient schemes, numerical fluxes, time stepping schemes, turbulence models, transition models, shock tailoring, boundary layer treatment, etc...  While CFD may be more ubiquitously accessible, it still takes a lot more effort to produce useful solutions.
When computers were still relatively low power and were not yet capable of solving Navier Stokes equations, there were other methods for estimating the flow field parameters.  One such method is to first solve the "Euler Equations", which are essentially an inviscid form of the navier stokes equations.  Of course, if the fluid is only treated as inviscid, the drag would always be zero.  To estimate the viscous solution from the inviscid one, we look at the individual streamlines of the inviscid solution on the body of interest and integrate from start to finish to sort of "build" a boundary layer up iteratively until a convergence criterion is met.  Once you've built up enough of a boundary layer thickness, you can use various correlations to obtain the resulting pressure $p$ and wall shear stress $\tau_w$ that you need to compute drag.  This method is often referred to in literature as the "Momentum Integral Equation".


How are PCPs and ZKPs related?

Question: I only have a (very) introductory knowledge about the Hardness of Approximation and PCP theorem, and I am wondering if it has any specific implications (or can somehow be studied) with Zero Knowledge Proofs?
Answer: PCPs are very often used to construct ZKPs, especially for NP-complete languages. The idea is simple: you commit to every bit of PCP separately, and then the prover makes random queries to the PCP. Given the query and committed bit, you prove in ZK that the bits in concrete locations would make the prover to accept. Since the number of queries is small, the proof is relatively efficient.
The main problem tends to be the computational complexity: generating a PCP for an arbitrary NP language is efficient only in theory, and thus people look for more efficient solution.
A recent related paper, that does something in between is by Bitansky and others (TCC 2013) where they study "linear PCPs" and their relation to ZK. Since linear PCPs (see their paper) are less stringent than general PCPs, they can be constructed more efficiently.
Comment: For more information, see for example Kilian's classical paper from 1994, and there's a lot of followups (culminating with those "linear PCPs" papers, for example)
Comment: were you taking about the paper Igor Shinkar suggested?
Comment: No, this paper: "A note on efficient zero-knowledge proofs and arguments" (Kilian, 1991)
Answer: There is a classical paper of Feige and Killian Zero Knowledge and the Chromatic Number that uses the ideas from Zero Knowledge Proofs in order to construct PCPs with certain "ZKP-type" properties. Using these properties they prove that it is NP-hard to color a $N^{0.01}$-colorable graph with $N^{0.99}$-colors.
It should be noted that their result does not rely on any commitment schemes, or any other cryptographic assumptions. The only assumption they make is $NP \not\subseteq ZPP$, that is, their PCP-reduction is randomized, and not deterministic.

How are PCPs and ZKPs related?


What kind of perspective is this?

Question: I want to make something similar to this, but I can't figure out what the perspective is called. It seems like it is an aerial perspective maybe, but it's not quite looking straight down. Can someone help me figure this out?
Answer: Strictly speaking this isn't a perspective projection but a mix of different parallel projections. (In perspective projections objects that are far away appear smaller than objects that are nearby, and that doesn't happen in this drawing.)
The landscape and the houses are drawn in the kind of orthographic projection which is called axonometric projection and specifically it's called trimetric projection because the three axes of space appear unequally foreshortened. (Isometric projection, as mentioned in another answer, is another kind of axonometric projection where the three axes of space appear equally foreshortened. There is also a kind called dimetric projection where two of the three axes of space appear equally foreshortened.)
The trees and animals are simply drawn in side/front view.
The drawing is cut off in the top, which gives the impression of a horizon. Axonometric drawings don't have a horizon, but just continues endlessly.
There is a good article with many illustrations on Wikipedia about 3D projection.
Answer: Inconsistent? <code>:)</code>
I think it's trying to be isometric overall. It's kind of free and loose in style, so it doesn't strictly adhere to isometric. But that's as close as I'd put any name.

What kind of perspective is this?


How to add a textbox to a DWP webart and passing paramters

Question: Not sure if this can be done using OOTB webparts.
I have a list and i want to use webparts to display a master detail view.
But i need a text box in one of the  a webparts so that users can type in an input value and then pass the value to a calculated column to perform some calculation.
Is this possible with OOTB webparts?
I have used OOTB webparts for the view but it seems there is no way to have a textbox with connections.
Any ideas?
Answer: From the sounds of it, you'll want to look at Data View Web Parts (DVWPs). By manipulating the XSL in a DVWP, you can do pretty much anything, including creating customized displays and forms.


UNO Stacking a Draw 4 Card instead of picking up 4 cards?

Question: Need clarification on the Draw 4 rule.
- Player 1 lays down a Draw 4 Card and says the color is Red.
- Player 2 does not have a Red card but has a Draw 4 Card.
Can Player 2 lay down his Draw 4 Card and have Player 3 draw 8 cards?
Comment: Interestingly, the "original" version of uno in Brazil - [Can-Can](https://cdn.serounaosei.com/wp-content/uploads/20170803082815/jogo-can-can-da-grow-anos-80-completo-407601-MLB20380036605_082015-O-300x225.jpg) - had special house-rules built-in in the game manual for this situation. Stacking +2 cards was baseline, where stacking +4 or +1 cards was optional. Uno took away the +1 cards, and removed the stacking mechanics.
Answer: Not under the standard rules - there is no ability to respond to a Wild +4 (or a +2 for that matter). If the previous player to you played one of those cards, you take the cards and the turn pass.
"Stacking" + cards is a common house rule, but we obviously can't tell you what your house rules are.
Comment: This was recently clarified by the designers of Uno on their twitter thread.
Comment: It should be noted that there is no ability to other cards such as a skip or reverse as well.
Answer: No, it's not valid to do so since according to the Mattel's UNO rules the next player forfeit their turn and MUST draw 4 cards from the pile.
From mattel.com: https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/42001pr.pdf

Wild Draw 4 Card - This card allows you to call the next color played and requires the next player to pick 4 cards from the DRAW pile and FORFEIT his/her turn.

Note: Stacking or Progressive UNO, i.e. playing a Draw 4 card (on top of another Draw 4 card) instead of picking up 4 cards, is a house rule used by some.
Answer: According to official rules, if a player plays a Wild Draw 4 card on you, you can only:

Draw 4 cards.
You may challenge that player, if you suspect that a Wild Draw 4 card has been played on you illegally (i.e. the player has a matching card). The challenged player
must show you their hand. If guilty, the challenged player must draw
the 4 cards instead of you. However, if the challenged player is innocent, you must draw
the 4 cards PLUS an additional 2 cards (6 total).

Reference:
https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/UNO%20Basic%20IS.pdf
Comment: This does not appear to add anything new to the question that was not addressed in a previous answer.
Comment: But you don't answer the question about the common house rule of stacking draw cards. The only thing that was really new to the question is the challenge rule which wasn't being asked about.
Comment: I am answering EXACTLY what you can do when someone throws a "Draw 4" card.
Comment: I agree with Joe W that the question was about the stacking house rule and your answer is about something else that wasn't asked about.
Comment: I am sure there will be people who appreciate this clarification that complements the rest of the answers. Thank you
Answer: I'm guessing this question is a reference to a tweet that was viral over last few days.   So direct from source.....

If someone puts down a +4 card, you must draw 4 and your turn is skipped. You can't put down a +2 to make the next person Draw 6. We know you've tried it. #UNO pic.twitter.com/wOegca4r0h— UNO (@realUNOgame) May 4, 2019


How do you keep your household pet/s away from your toy collections?

Question: I own a small companion, a mixed Pomeranian and Lhasa Apso breed. Don't let his size fool you, that little bugger can be ferocious at times, chewed off the head of my beloved Snake Eyes (G.I. Joe) action figure. I learned my lesson and was wondering if you guys can recommend anything? I was looking online and found a few wood pet gates. They seem like they would be able to keep him away from the living room (where I usually keep my collection). What do you guys think? And how do  you keep your pets away from your action figures?
Comment: take a look here https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/18328/cat-in-a-electronics-hobbyist-house
Answer: I'd say the best way would be training. Those are your toys and yours alone. For the time being, a gate won't hurt (assuming the dog can't squeeze through or jump over it). Also depending on the age of the dog the urge to chew on things might disappear later on its own.
Other than that always remember: Now you know, and knowing it's half the battle. SCNR :)


mistake importing footage

Question: I am kind of new to video (1 year). When I import video footage into Premiere, I sometimes get duplicate clips. Only the long ones. I think I am not importing my footage correctly. Does it have to do with the clip, if it is long, is really spanning 2 clips? The video is HD, mostly those Canon MTS files. What is the correct way to import into Premiere, just started working with CC (2014) version?
Answer: It is possible that Premiere is detecting a spanned file and automatically connecting them.  If a file goes beyond 4GB, it may have to be split in to two files due to limitations of the file system used on some memory cards.  It is possible that when you load the file in to Premiere, it recognizes the file was split and puts them back together for both parts that you import.
Comment: This would be what it is - if my memory serves me correctly, a .MTS is usually the wrapper codec for an AVCHD file, which is commonly used on Canon's dedicated video cameras (not their DSLRs, though).
Answer: To import into Premiere Pro CC 2014 simply click on the Media Browser tab and select (or multi-select) the files you wish to import. Right-click and click import. Note if you double click on a file, default behavior is to open it for preview.
Here's an adobe help on importing as well:
http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/importing-assets-tapeless-formats.html
and a how-to video on importing:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-premiere-pro-cc/import-video-and-audio/
Answer: Not paying attention...I was importing the whole card folder by dragging instead of the actual clip files! Some of the clips were long and must have been too big for the filesystem on the card?  When I import the actual clip files through the media browser - Presto - no duplicates and now I see skips in the numerical sequences of the clips - e.g. MTS0000, MTS0001, MTS0004, MTS0007. And the spanned files were always the longest ones.

mistake importing footage


Will 220v 50 Hz BLDC Washing Machine work with 240v 60 Hz?

Question: Looking to take advantage of price difference to import a washing machine from China - rated 220 volts 50 hertz to Kenya where we use 240 volts 60 hertz. Our supply also tends to be unstable with brownouts and surges. What would be the implication of using the device here?
Comment: The voltage is not a problem the frequency may be. I have quite a few motors that are listed for 50hz that run on 60hz, but it would be best to check with the mfg to make sure.
Comment: @EdBeal depends on if he is talking a BLDC system Brushless DC or one that has AC motor. 240V could be a problem too - he has true 240Volts - generally 240 is the max volts for a household appliance in the USA to handle.
Comment: Most of the single phase motors I work on are rated from 208 to 240 v and yes I run them on a true 240 I have quite a few Euro motors designed for 50hz that do run on 60hz. If a brushless I would not be concerned at all.
Comment: I see no Hiragana, Katakana, or even Hangul to give us hope this could be a quality product of those nations.   It is also a supposed washing machine **that weighs 8kg**.  Also washing machines are huge and bulky so shipping one halfway around the world to "save money" makes no sense.  Super skeptical this thing is even real.
Comment: Realised that I had wrong information on our grid - after checking local appliances and checking with an utility employee, we actually have 240 V 50 Hz. So the only difference is 220 V and 240 V, which after enquiring from a power engineer, says should be within the range of any appliance designed for 220 Volts.
Answer: BLDC ? Normally when talking BLDC my thoughts go to Motors you are talking Brushless Direct Current [Brushless DC] motor. Which means that motor is controlled differently - Voltage is converted to DC and you either have a direct connection where voltage controls RPM or a VFD style motor controller that determines RPM.
Now back to that BLDC motor - it would be using a Controller to operate that motor - and as such depending on what type  of controller and how its supply circuits are it could over drive the motor - burn up both motor and controller.
In a washing machine the Motor is generally AC , but not always anymore..
Now on to the deal between 50Hz AC and 60Hz AC at 60 Hz your motor will run faster about 20% faster, you will use more power as well [see next paragraph for important information] - approximately 20% more.
You will also draw more current and might exceed the FLA [Full Load Amps] of the motor - what does that mean .. it means you will let the smoke out of the motor and the aroma will not be pleasant - nor the expense. They have yet to create any device to put the smoke back into a motor once it is blown and fried so you would need to buy a new motor. Now frying a motor if it goes up in flames while you went outside somewhere - perhaps your home burns with it.. is it worth saving a few pieces of silver IMO no.
Given that the unit you want is made in China I would imagine the FLA barely meets the requirements for the 50Hz threshold - so at 60Hz you would exceed the FLA.
In short - Don't do this..
EDIT 12/13/2017
If you insist on doing this :
You can solve all the problems surges, brownouts and the voltage / frequency issue in another way.
Purchase a battery backup unit or Inverter of sufficient amperage to support operating your washer. 240VAC/60hz input 220VAC /50hz output.
Of course that might defeat your intent to save on costs..
Comment: A BLDC motor should run independent of mains frequency (unless some odd circuit uses the mains as a timebase) - since at some point in time, the supply voltage will be turned into .... wait for it ... DC before being modulated appropriate to each winding by power electronics. The power supply turning it into DC is what matters here.
Comment: Here's a link to the device https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a220o.10008184.108.40.206b3e731z2N6OL&abtest=_AB-LR67-PR67&pvid=00ef417c-f8d5-48c3-a65b-fc3a865cce04&pos=1&abbucket=_AB-M67_B9&acm=03067.1003.1.1977615&id=537226337869&scm=1007.12776.82642.100200300000000&skuId=3207853512439.   Also, saw a Samsung Variable Frequency Drive where the voltage and frequency isn't implied, wondering if that means it can take 240v 60 Hz
Comment: @DennisKioko a Variable Frequency Drive is a motor controller. You supply it power and it controls the motor voltage, current AND frequency in order to provide the proper torque, rpm and braking. There is a rated input voltage for these drives and that depends on the drive as to how it is to be configured whether through wiring, configuration or automatically calculated or a combination thereof. As I was writing this - I have a better idea for you that solves both problems. See Edit in about 10 minutes.
Comment: So I checked what Bosch sell locally, and interesting enough, it is rated 240V 50Hz. So seems the only difference now is down to the voltage For surges and brownouts, we use some protectors on the socket that cuts out supply if it is outside a given range.
Comment: @rackandboneman Yes DC note my post outlines DC first and then for side note AC. The issue is not the conversion for his regular electronics, switching PS in modern world converts  240/220/130/120VAC  50/60hz  AC to DC no problems; however all motor controllers do not not do this.
I suspect the DC motor is controlled for speed, torque, braking and direction via a controller and that the motor is at least 48VDC. Since I don't have the service manuals or diagrams of the circuit I can not say if the motor controller will handle this (probably - but maybe not).
Answer: A BLDC motor is, by definition, electronically controlled, so frequency range is not a matter of the motor itself but of its control electronics and power supply. If the power supply is either a simple rectifier or a PSMPS (vulgo inverter), a slightly higher mains frequency should not matter much (a significantly LOWER mains frequency might, though!). HOWEVER, this is something to best ask the manufacturer about.
An explicitly 220V rated device on a 240V mains can be trouble, though - there are nominal minimum/maximum voltages for a given device, and also for a given power grid (often around +/- 10% - but that is up to your national grid). In a pessimal case (grid at maximum voltage allowed) the device can fail or wear more quickly than intended.
"Surges" and "Brownouts" are even more troubling, you would have to measure what the actual voltage during such events is and make sure the device can handle these (undervoltage in continued use can be bad for a PSMPS, not just overvoltage!). BTW, do not use small "plug in" surge protectors for that application: they are meant to deal with short surges from electrical storms and grid trouble, not constant overvoltag. The device you would need is called a voltage stabilizer and more large, complicated and expensive.
Answer: I bought and have had the above washing machine for more than 1 and a half years now, and it as worked quite fine. It's a Bosch, so there could be that. It's quiet and does laundry just fine despite the variance in the voltage and frequency rating.
As for whether it wears out fast, that will be seen over the next few months/years. I do laundry about once a week.
Comment: As you said your frequency is 50Hz for both supply and the washing machine you ordered, then there is no frequency difference.
Comment: Yes, you're right its 50 Hz.
Comment: So the basic premise of your question was false.
Comment: Yes. I've always assumed we were on 60 Hz until your response, and that from those above prompted me to Google, and I found that all references in our utility's documents were 50 Hz. Blame my confusion on that many electronics state 240/60 Hz.


What are the differences between LDAP and Active Directory?

Question: What are the differences between LDAP and Active Directory?
Answer: Active Directory is a database based system that provides authentication, directory, policy, and other services in a Windows environment
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is an application protocol for querying and modifying items in directory service providers like Active Directory, which supports a form of LDAP.
Short answer: AD is a directory services database, and LDAP is one of the protocols you can use to talk to it.
Answer: LDAP is a standard, AD is Microsoft's (proprietary) implementation (and more). Wikipedia has a good article that delves into the specifics. I found this document with a very detailed evaluation of AD from an LDAP perspective.
Comment: Thanks for the links.  The PDF document, while informative, seems to broadcast negative sentiment towards Microsoft. While I assume the factual statements are correct, I found the tone distracting and it made them sound less than objective.  Just my 2 cents.
Comment: Not really an exact answer. LDAP is a protocol to access directory server, while Microsoft AD is an implementation of directory server.
Comment: @Mark: Anti-Microsoft sentiments are common in Europe and especially in Germany and this should be factored into your interpretation of the document.
Comment: @MarkBennett From my (very quick) reading it appears their conclusions were that LDAP had security issues and was being pushed by a political agenda which was profit rather than security driven. I think using the term 'negative tone' is an understatement but, yes, Wayne Werner that's why I also read the document!
Answer: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol or LDAP, is a standards based specification for interacting with directory data. Directory Services can implement support of LDAP to provide interoperability among 3rd party applications.
Active Directory is Microsoft's implementation of a directory service that, among other protocols, supports LDAP to query it's data.
While it supports LDAP, Active Directory provides a host of extensions and conveniences, such as password expiration and account lockout.
Answer: Short Summary
Active Directory is a directory services implemented by Microsoft, and it supports Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
Long Answer
Firstly, one needs to know what's Directory Service.
Directory Service is a software system that stores, organises, and provides access to information in a computer operating system's directory. In software engineering, a directory is a map between names and values. It allows the lookup of named values, similar to a dictionary.
For more details, read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_service
Secondly,as one could imagine, different vendors implement all kinds of forms of directory service, which is harmful to multi-vendor interoperability.
Thirdly, so in the 1980s, the ITU and ISO came up with a set of standards - X.500, for directory services, initially to support the requirements of inter-carrier electronic messaging and network name lookup.
Fourthly, so based on this standard, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, LDAP, is developed. It uses the TCP/IP stack and a string encoding scheme of the X.500 Directory Access Protocol (DAP), giving it more relevance on the Internet.
Lastly, based on this LDAP/X.500 stack, Microsoft implemented a modern directory service for Windows, originating from the X.500 directory, created for use in Exchange Server. And this implementation is called Active Directory.
So in a short summary, Active Directory is a directory services implemented by Microsoft, and it supports Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
PS[0]: This answer heavily copies content from the wikipedia page listed above.
PS[1]: To know why it may be better use directory service rather just using a relational database, read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_service#Comparison_with_relational_databases
Answer: Active Directory isn't just an implementation of LDAP by Microsoft, that is only a small part of what AD is.  Active Directory is (in an overly simplified way) a service that provides LDAP based authentication with Kerberos based Authorization.
Of course their LDAP and Kerberos implementations in AD are not exactly 100% interoperable with other LDAP/Kerberos implementations...
Answer: Active directory is a directory service provider, where you can add new user to a directory, remove or modify, specify privilages, assign policy etc. Its just like a phone directory where every person have a unique contact number. Every thing in AD(Active Directory) are considered as Objects and every object is given a Unique ID.(similar to a unique contact number in a phone directory.
Ldap is a protocol specially designed for directory service providers. Windows server OS uses AD as a directory server, AIX which is a UNIX version by IBM uses Tivoli directory server. Both of them uses LDAP protocol for interacting with directory.
Apart from protocol there are LDAP servers, LDAP browsers too.
Answer: active directory is the directory service database to store the organizational based data,policy,authentication etc whereas ldap is the protocol used to talk to the directory service database that is ad or adam.
Answer: LDAP sits on top of the TCP/IP stack and controls internet directory access. It is environment agnostic.
AD & ADSI is a COM wrapper around the LDAP layer, and is Windows specific.
You can see Microsoft's explanation
here.
Comment: There's a problem in Microsoft's explanation. Quote:

Microsoft provides the Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) for developing client-side directory service applications.

ADSI consists of a directory service model and a set of COM interfaces. These interfaces enable development of network directory service access applications.

ADSI uses an LDAP provider to communicate with Active Directory.
ADSI can also access Novell NetWare Directory Services.
ADSI can communicate with various directory services by using their native providers.
---------
NetWare as opposed to AD or to LDAP?
Comment: NDS is a directory protocol used by Netware. There is actually a NDS provider for ADSI.  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa772204(v=vs.85).aspx
Comment: AD is a server. ADSI is a COM wrapper. NDS is a product and it uses LDAP. @jwilleke
Answer: https://jumpcloud.com/blog/difference-between-ldap-and-active-directory/
Realistically, there are probably more differences than similarities between the two directory solutions. Microsoft's AD is largely a directory for Windows users, devices, and applications. AD requires a Microsoft Domain Controller to be present and when it is, users are able to single sign-on to Windows resources that live within the domain structure.
LDAP, on the other hand, has largely worked outside of the Windows structure focusing on the Linux / Unix environment and with more technical applications. LDAP doesn't have the same concepts of domains or single sign-on. LDAP is largely implemented with open source solutions and as a result has more flexibility than AD.
Another critical difference between LDAP and Active Directory is how AD and LDAP each approach device management. AD manages Windows devices through and Group Policy Objects (GPOs). A similar concept doesn't exist within LDAP. Both LDAP and AD are highly different solutions and as a result many organization must leverage both to serve different purposes.
This is why there's an obvious opportunity for innovation. Why leverage and manage two complete systems, when one system can effectively merge the two?
Answer: There are lots of systems that support LDAP to talk to them, not just Active Directory.
Sun, IBM, Novell all have directory services that are very effective as LDAP servers.
Answer: Active Directory is a super-set of the LDAP protocol.  Depending on how the organization uses Active Directory, your LDAP search/set queries may or may not work.


How can I customise the publish/edit screens, or provide a custom UI for editing entries?

Question: I'd like to provide my users a prettier UI to publish and edit/delete content (compared to what is provided by EE's control panel). For example, say I wanted to divide my entry form into tabs, etc. What are my options?
Comment: Can you clarify in your question if you are wanting to do this custom UI in the EE control panel or in a custom built "My Account" area in your templates?
Comment: A custom built "My Account" would be nice, if possible. Is it possible to allow users to interact with a custom theme instead of using CPanel?
Answer: You already can use tabs in your publish layout:
Edit an entry > click "show toolbar" > add/remove tabs in this section:

More info in the EE documentation: Publish Page Layouts
Comment: Yes - this is a very powerful tool that gets little love. You can move fields into different tabs, change field sizes and positioning, and make them available to some user groups and not others.
Answer: I've done this using an entry that uses Ajax calls via jQuery and SAEF. Basically just hold all the changes in a json string and pass them when everything is collected that you/they need.
I didn't use tabs though. I used modals and steps.
Answer: In addition to customizing the layout of the publish screen as per janvl's answer, you can have a look at one of the available third-party themes for the control panel.
Answer: You can build a custom "My Account" area in your EE templates to handle all editing of content. The primary addon you'd use is the Safecracker Module.
Here are some global variable conditionals you'll use a lot with a custom "My Account" area:

{if logged_in}
{if logged_out}
{if member_group == ""}
{if member_id == ""}

There is also alternative syntax for some of the above if you are trying to use the conditional inside a channel:entries tag... variable names get prefixed with "logged_in_"
Comment: I haven't used Safecracker, but will look into it. Can this also be used to provide member a customized member manager?
Comment: SafeCracker is for managing channel data so whatever you have stored in channels change be added/edited.


Tethering with locked boot loader

Question: A recent OTA update to KitKat removed the ability to tether my phone. I feel very frustrated by this bait and switch since I bought the phone for its ability to tether. The workaround is apparently to unlock the boot loader, gain root access, and then change a flag in a SQLite database. I'm aware that this introduces certain security risks. Is there a good way to have tethering without the security risks? E.g. could I unlock, become root, change the flag, and then relock? Most of the information regarding unlocking is in the context of installing custom ROMs and maintaining root access, which I don't have any particular desire to do. I really just want to change this one setting. Would this procedure enable future OTA updates to work? Are those updates likely to revert the value of the tethering flag?
Answer: The post you link says that a more recent OTA update fixes the problem. If you're not comfortable rooting the phone, I suggest you wait a few days and apply that update when your phone offers.
To answer your other queries about rooting: yes, you can unroot again (and lock the bootloader) once you've changed whatever settings you like. While the phone is unrooted, OTA updates will not apply. Applying an OTA update afterwards may undo the settings you've change: we can only guess whether they will or not. In this case, since the next OTA update fixes the problem, it probably will change the tethering flag.
FWIW, the problem you're seeing isn't that the phone doesn't have the ability to tether any more. KitKat adds new tethering features, and it seems (from the descriptions online) that the update had the accidental side-effect of making T-Mobile (and some other carriers) think that your plan doesn't allow tethering when it should.
Whether tethering is allowed is a matter between you and your carrier, not Android. If tethering is disallowed in your contract with the carrier, and you try to do it anyway, they have every right to stop you. Many carriers have other means to detect and block it that don't rely on the phone. It seems to be an accident that users on some carriers are being blocked when they shouldn't be, and that's what the work-around (and the official update) avoids.
Comment: I have the build KRT16S mentioned in the post and tethering still does not work for me and some of the other posters.
Comment: Did you update your APN settings as described? They seem to be the source of the problem.
Comment: It does not work with either APN setting.

Tethering with locked boot loader


Can a person of one caste have friends of another caste?

Question: Is this allowed? Do the hindu texts speak anything about this? Can a person of one caste have friends who are of a different caste?
Comment: Of course, they can.
Comment: This question is clearly asking for references from Hindu texts. While it seems to be unacceptable to some emotions, this seems to be a valid question. Note that the OP is not asking about how s/he would react based on the answer. It's like asking if hindu scriptures talk about sati.
Comment: @user1952500 I agree with you. OP's question is valid as he is asking for references from shastras.
Comment: @SuryaKantaBoseChowdhury on what basis are you saying this? Please remember here Smritis are higher than the isihasa and puranas in authority.
Comment: @user1952500 i think smritis do not allow such friendship as i mentioned in my answer.
Answer: If we obey the directives of the scriptures, the upper castes can not mix freely with the lower castes. If they do, there are provisions of even cutting their body parts in the samhitas.
The well-known definition of friend is

utsave vyasane cha iva durvikshe rastra-viplave/rajadvaare smashaane cha yas tisthati sa bandhavah//
meaning : He is a friend, who stands (by one's side, in support) in celebration, in adversity, in calamity (like famine), during a scuffle with the enemy and in the royal court (of law?)/at the door of the king and in the funeral yard.

But lower castes are not allowed to go even to the burning ghat with brahmins, as per Manu-samhita (I quoted some such lines in one answer:Which smṛtis (dharma śāstras) are to be followed in Kali-yuga? ).
Also there are such restrictions as:

Manu Smriti 8.281-2 A low-caste man who tries to place himself on the same seat with a man of a high caste, shall be branded on his hip and be banished, or (the king) shall cause his buttock to be gashed.
Manu Smriti 5.104 Let him not allow a dead Brahmana to be carried out by a Sudra, while men of the same caste are at hand; for that burnt-offering which is defiled by a Sudra's touch is detrimental to (the deceased's passage to) heaven.

So I think it is clear our tradition does not allow making friend from any caste or creed.
Please remember I am not supporting this.I am just pointing to the injunctions.
Comment: What/who is a Vandhava? Is it bandhava/baandhava? Bandhu is not friend. In general meaning, he is a relative or well wisher.


Is the Ramchal's sefer Derech Hashem based on any particular Rishon?

Question: Many books written by (early) Achronim are based on a particular shittah usually sourced in one or more of the Rishonim. This can be true both with regards to actual halachos or lists of mitzvos and of hashkofah books. Did the Ramchal have a particular shittah that he subscribed to which could be seen as a source for his book Derech Hashem?
Also, can the Ramchal be said to have generally subscribed to a particular shittah in the Rishonim?
Comment: @msh210 Arguably the latter two examples you cite _are_ rishonim themselves.
Comment: "Many books written by (early) Achronim are based on a particular shittah usually sourced in one or more of the Rishonim." I've never, ever heard of this. _Chidushe Halachos Maharsha_? _Minhagim_ of the _Maharil_? _Yam Shel Sh'lomo_? I haven't even heard of this phenomenon about "actual halachos or lists of mitzvos and [] hashkofah books".
Answer: I was a bit confused by your question because 'shitah' is usually a term used in learning halakhah but Derekh Hashem isn't a book of halakhah, i.e., what to do, but rather a presentation of a conceptual framework for understanding religion and the world. As far as the sources of the ideas: they come in large part out the Ramhal's engagement with the writings of the Ari and his working out a way of understanding them. The Ramhal took the writings of the Ari to be metaphorical and sought to penetrate to inner meanings, concerning the workings of providence and the processes of spiritual life. He works out these metaphorical interpretations in his other books, like 'Klalim Rishonim', 'Kla"h Pithey Hokhmah', and 'Adir Ba-Marom'. Then, in Derekh Hashem, the Ramhal presents just the conclusions of his interpretative enterprise, without reference to the original language of the Ari and without explicitly using any kabbalistic terminology at all. So the content comes out of the Kabbalah of the Ari, but it's a personal understanding or re-interpretation of that body of teachings, and is stripped of its original terminology.
Comment: No, but if you choose some specific paragraph in the book, I could try to show you parallel discussions in his other books, where he explicitly derives the particular idea from some part of the the teaching of the Ari.
Comment: Do you have a source for where the basis of Derech Hashem is from the Kabbalah of the Ari?
Comment: I once heard this from an audio by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel - that almost everything he says is from the kitzvei arizal (according to his understanding)
Answer: While the influence of Lurianic Kabbala is certainly there, a lot of the ideas in Derech Hashem can be traced back to R' Saadia Gaon's "Emunot v'Deot"  "Emunot v'Deot" was the first attempt to present Jewish thought in a systematic framework, which is exactly what "Derech Hashem" does.  Moreover, some of the actual content of Emunot v'Deot and Derech Hashem agree.  I highly recommend the Hacket publishing version of "Emunot v'Deot" as a starting point to compare the two works, since the Hacket version presents selections from R' Saadia Gaon's philosophy.
Comment: Welcome to Mi Yodeya. Do you have a source for this answer? If so, please [edit] it in. Hope to see you around. :)


live effects using usb on mixer

Question: I have a behringer Q1202USB mixer for live gigs.  It has a USB port and can use it for recording etc.  Is there a way to use the USB port with software or plugin to get reverb or other effects for live gigs????
I tried asking behringer but have not got any answer from any of the emails.
Comment: You can use the mixer as an interface and assign software effects yet latency is really an issue for these mixers as they were not designed for this purpose. Look for a dedicated audio interface and that should do the trick.
Answer: Looking at the spec you can only get the stereo channel via, so would only be useful for adding mix bus effects such as compression, limiters and EQ.
Source:
http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Mixers/Analog-Mixers/Q1202USB/p/P0ALQ

Built-in stereo USB/Audio Interface to connect directly to your
  computer. Free audio recording, editing and podcasting software plus
  150 instrument/effect plug-ins downloadable at behringer.com

Have you tried the free software included?
Answer: If it was plugged into a laptop and connected to a Daw you could get the effects from a DAW
You'll have to test latency though.

live effects using usb on mixer


"Not a Question" close vote

Question: Am I being dumb again or is there not a close option for "Not a question" ? I added a close vote to this question because it isn't one. But I didn't see it. If we don't have one, why not? SO has one (or at least used to).
Answer: Last year there was a fairly substantial change to the close reasons across the StackExchange sites.  You can read more about it and the reasoning about it on this blog post.
Honestly I couldn't tell you exactly when it rolled out here, but I think that the "not a real question" close reason disappeared quite some time ago.  The close reasons on StackOverflow even got a further refresh in January this year so are quite different from what you remember.
As for the question you voted to close on, I slightly disagree because it is kind of a question, though phrased very vaguely. Its a question asking for recommendations based on likes/dislikes.  However your instinct to close was correct, but the best reason is simply that its not on-topic as recommendations are explicitly off-topic in the help.
Answer: As iandotkelly said, the close reasons got a revamp a few months back. One of the main reasons was that they should be clearer and more encouraging to the asker.
I think the most fitting substitute for "not a real question" is "unclear what you are asking".

unclear what you're asking
  Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question.

I think they are pretty much equal, i.e. if you think the op did not post a real question, you are not clear on what he is asking.
However, as pointed out, the question you are talking to is a recommendation question and therefore off-topic.
Comment: @DustinDavis *"i knew what the OP was asking, it just wasn't an appropriate question for the site."* - Well, in this case it isn't so much *"not a real question"* either, no? Your description sounds perfectly like *"off-topic"*.
Comment: Yep, as said before, the question you link to is a real question (as you said yourself, you know what he was asking). I was just answering the question you posted above as I understood it: "Where did the "not a real question" close reason go and what can I use instead?" By no means did I mean you should apply it to the twin peaks question.
Comment: Yeah - 'unclear what you're asking' is a politer way of saying 'not a real question'
Comment: But the question wasn't unclear, i knew what the OP was asking, it just wasn't an appropriate question for the site.

"Not a Question" close vote


Dog licking herself when she can't hold it at night

Question: My dog is an 11 year old terrier. She sleeps next to my bed at night and occasionally she wakes me up with the sound of slurping while she is licking her private area. I just let her keep looking herself but then notice when I let her out in the morning she doesn't need to use the bathroom. Is she licking up her urine over night? I try to get 8 hours of sleep so it's usually been 8 hores since she was out last. I tried not feeding her water at night but she still does this occasionally. If she is doing what she's doing I'm wondering if she just doesn't want to or can't wake me up. I would prefer if she woke me up when she's having trouble holding it over night. What do I do? Is there any way to stop this behavior?
Comment: I'm no vet but maybe she has an infection down there, get her examined by a vet...
Answer: Its pretty unusual for a dog to lick away their own urine, its something i've never come across. Its something mothers generally do to their pups in the earlier stages of their lives but generally stops between 5-8 weeks.
Generally when a dog obsessively licks an area its to clean it from infection or a wound so I would get a vet to examine her. The licks can foster all sorts of weird noises so that doesn't worry too much. But again, get a vet to examine her.
I would also try to put a routine into her bathroom breaks, one in the morning and one before you go to bed and she will eventually sync her bladder to this and learn to hold it until then. Do this without fail.


A good place to start?

Question: I am a high school student (going into 11th grade next year), who will be taking an introduction to astronomy and astrophysics as part of my core curriculum. As such, I would like to get a head start now, but I am not sure where to start.  Are there any specific learning resources that are recommended? Books, videos, documentaries?
Comment: While I'm not trying to discourage you from learning, this site is about specific astronomy concepts. So I'm voting to close this question as off-topic.
Comment: It probably will get closed, but if you know the teacher, or students who've already taken the class, start there.   Astronomy can be approached in a classroom a few different ways and Astrophysics could take it closer to a physics course depending on the teacher.    I love astronomy as a hobby, but I wouldn't know what to recommend cause the curriculum isn't well defined.
Comment: This is not a good question title.
Answer: Find a local astronomy club; they will help you get started, learn the sky, and show you different types of equipment. Also, read "Turn Left At Orion", H.A. Rey's "A New Way to See Them" and "Find The Constellations" to learn the sky.
And get a pair of 10x50 binoculars. These are the best "telescope" (actually, two telescopes!) to start with: inexpensive, wide-field of view to find objects (anti-soda straw effect), and 100x the light gathering power of the naked eye.

A good place to start?


Is there a way to upload multiple discount counts into CiviDiscount?

Question: We are getting ready to do a Groupon promotion that will discount memberships. Groupon has generated individual "voucher codes" for each person who purchases. I need to enter each of these voucher codes as a single-use discount code. I'd like to be able to enter up to 200 codes at once, all with the same usage limits and rules, but so far, I can't figure out how to do this except to enter each code manually and set all the rules each time. When I try to just copy one code to avoid having to set all the rules each time, the copy shows a randomly-generated code that can't be edited. Has anyone figured this out?
Answer: I upvoted Zachary's answer, but I felt conflicted.  I do NOT recommend importing directly to MySQL, because you end up bypassing validation logic and could create corrupt discounts.  However, their suggestion of the API CSV Import GUI is a good one, and the one I'd recommend.
If you're not sure what the values should be for your various columns, go to Support menu » Developer » API Explorer.  Set your entity to DiscountCode and action to Get and press Execute.  You'll get something much like you're seeing below.  In the "Results" screen you can see the values, which you can copy/paste.  If you already had discount codes, you may need to scroll down to find one that matches the ones you want to enter.  You can click "Add Option" to set Limit to 0 if you can't see the full list.
Comment: thanks, i learned something here!
Answer: It might be possible to import the codes directly into the database using a tool like PHPMyAdmin with the proper formatting.
The table which contains your codes is 'cividiscount_item'. It contains 18 fields. If you were able to generate a code in CiviDiscount which defined the same usage limits/rules, you could essentially use that as a 'template' for the other codes you imported - assuming it was the same for all of the codes you needed to bring in.
There are various ways to import or create the codes in mySQL, either using some insert/update statements, or import from CSV. The fields in the database which contain the codes rules/logic are serialized, but I am assuming you could use a statement to update the codes you imported fields from the original one without losing any data integrity.
You could also just copy the code 199 times (ouch) and then use PHPMyAdmin to go and update the codes to your liking in the 'Code' field, but I can't see how that would be more efficient. Also, have to be careful about changing things in the database once they have gone into actual use on your site.
The API CSV Import GUI extension also seems to be able to import Discount Codes but you would face the same issues above - might be useful to you: https://civicrm.org/extensions/api-csv-import-gui
Edit, this is also Really Ugly and not preferred, but you can go to CiviDiscount, right-click and edit the code in question in a new tab. Use Chrome Developer Tools (Etc.) by right clicking and "inspecting element" on the discount code field which is uneditable. Change the value to the new code, and then save. I verified this reflected the change in the database. The part you change will look like below. I think this also means developing an extension to change it or even some jquery might be possible - however, there are good reasons to not change a live code. Perhaps the copy function should be overridden to allow code definition?
TESTCHANGING2<input type="hidden" name="code" value="TESTCHANGING2" id="code">


iTunes "smart" playlists - unable to limit filter to any other existing playlists

Question: Someone has already asked this question about a month ago, and he did a fine job of explaining it and it is EXACTLY what is happening to me. Here is the link to the original post.
I am posting this here now (I'm sorry if you consider it a "duplicate") because I want to add more info to his problem and it's not allowing me to comment on his post since I'm a brand new member.
My new info - I have tried everything - deleting, moving, uninstalling... NOTHING has worked. The last step I tried was to completely remove EVERY single piece of Apple software, AppData, user files, etc. from my machine. No dice. I'm using the latest Windows 10 with iTunes 220.127.116.11.
I also had my Apple pro buddy try and help me since he has worked at the Apple Store in Tokyo forever, and he couldn't figure it out. But that may likely just be because he's been a Mac guy his whole life and has no Windows experience.
And now my smart playlists that WERE working using the playlist filter are gone forever... Thanks, Apple...
If anyone can help I will be extremely grateful.
Comment: Please include your question even though someone asked a similar one in another post.
Answer: Actually, I received helpful answer from an Apple forum, I have posted it also to the original article
How to create iTunes smart playlist of playlists


Intuitive explanation for the value of a binary option being lower when volatility skew is positive?

Question: According to the formula for pricing binary options with a volatility skew, it appears that the value of the binary option for a given strike gets lower, the higher the volatility skew at that strike. Why is this, intutively? I (think I) understand the derivation, but intuitively it seems like a positive volatility skew should make far OTM binary call options more expensive, not cheaper, because it should create "fatter tails" in the implied PDF of the price of the underlying at that expiry.
Comment: Yes, get your scepticism... how exactly are you defining "volatility skew"?
Comment: the derivative of IV with respect to strike price
Answer: You can replicate the payout of a binary with a put spread with strike prices which are very close to one another.  Higher skew makes the further out of the money put more expensive, which makes the put spread cheaper.
Comment: My question is really why the put spread is cheaper with higher skew, since the put spread should replicate the payout of a binary option as the spread goes toward 0. Intuitively it seems like the skew should increase the chance of the price being above some large number, or below some small number, at expiry, and the value of put spreads far away from the spot price should reflect that?
Comment: I tried to adress that in my answer trying to develop intuition behind P- and Q-probability
Answer: Just on pure intuition (close to a guess); the binary does not pay you for the fat tail. All you want is high volatility locally around the strike to add to the chances for the option to expire in the money. Just narrowly in the money counts as much as far out on the tail.
Edit: The put spread in the other answer above could provide a good starting point to deepen the intuition. It buys volatility nearer the current underlying price and sells it back farther out on the tail. Narrow it down to (an out of the money, OTM) binary: it is long volatilty OTM and short volatility (vola) in the money all (ITM) the way out on the tail. The fat-tail distribution has relatively low vola  when we are OTM and want vola to put us ITM. It has high vola when we are ITM and want low vola to stay there.
The takeaway here I guess is not to look at the expected return (P-probability): even though the chances for the very far OTM binary to expire ITM may increase with the fatness of the tail, its fair price will not! The fair price is what you would pay to break-even when you carry the option risklessly with a dynamic delta-hedge in the underlying until expiry (risk neutral Q-probability).
And where you are OTM you are long vola and long gamma and reap high rebalancing profits when vol is high. Where you are ITM and out on the tail it is the reverse, you lose in rebalancing when the large high vola moves producing the fatness even further out occur. Forget the (non-risk adjusted P-probability) expected return and look at how the vola skew matches where you will be long and short vola and gamma!
Comment: Yes. To expand on that, skewed distributions have a fat tail to the right.  But to create that, while keeping the expected value the same, you have to move the peak of the distribution to the left.  Hence the ATM digit call worth less that 50%.
Comment: I'm wondering specifically about binary options with a strike price far out on the tail. It seems like they should be priced higher when accounting for skew, relative to using constant volatility. Instead they are lower, and I don't understand why.


How to choose the calendar on Quick Add?

Question: I'd like to choose the calendar on "Quick Add" instead of modifying the event details once after adding. Is it possible?
Comment: This is not currently supported but you can vote for it here - http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs
Answer: As mentioned by Whitingx in the comment, it is not possible currently but you can vote for it here.
The "Quick Add" feature in the mobile version of the Google Calender adds the event to your default calendar.
Answer: There are 2 ways to quick-add your event:

Open the Event "pane", clicking on your calendar, or by pressing Shift + c
Open the quick-add box, by pressing q

There is no support for choosing default calendar for both #1 and #2. But with #1, if you uncheck visibility of other calendars, then you event will go to the first visible calendar, which is sort of workaround to pick default calendar.


High Speed Sync with Canon 7D and Sigma EF-610 DG Super

Question: Does anyone know how or if high speed sync can be triggered using a Canon 7D and a Sigma EF-610 DG Super? After making all the settings as per the 610's manual, as soon as I meter/focus the camera defaults to 1/250 or slower shutter speed. Sigma claims it is the camera, but apparently the 7D is capable of FP or HSS with a dedicated Canon Speedlite. Thanks.
Comment: I assume you are using the flash on the hotshoe, as the 7D will not do HSS when using the built in remote flash trigger.
Comment: FWIW, HSS on the 7D works fine w/ a Yongnuo 568 flash.
Answer: If the Sigma flash is compatible with the Canon HSS system then the settings should be accessible via the camera and should be set there rather than using the menu on the flash. Select: Menu-->Shooting 1(the first red tab)-->Flash Control-->External flash func. setting-->Shutter sync.-->Hi-Speed.
If any of the options along this path are grayed out or not visible, then the flash is not compatible with the HSS function of the 7D.
Comment: Thanks for the answer...sorry for delay in acknowledging, the last several weeks were busy with other matters. You verified what I reluctantly figured out. Looks like a Yongnuo flash (or flashes) is in my future. Recommended here and on several other sites.
Answer: If you select the last ETTL setting (press mode button 6 times after switching the flash on) and then just press the <code>+</code> button twice, it enables high speed flash. You can make sure its on by checking your flash settings in the menu of your camera.


Can I export my music and edited metadata from Google Music?

Question: I just received an invitation to Google Music. I noticed that it's possible to edit the meta data for tracks through the website including the album art. If I wanted to switch to another music hosting service later is it possible to download all my uploaded music with updated metadata?
Answer: Not yet.
You can visit google.com/takeout to see the services which Google currently lets you export your data from.
You can also visit the "Data Liberation" website to see Google projects where data can partially be exported.
However, neither of those list Google Music at all, and a random comment says it doesn't work yet, so the evidence is that no, you can't.
(Not being a US resident, Google Music isn't available to me, so I can't say for certain.)
Answer: Here we are almost 5 years later and the answer is now... still no.
I just tried this out by downloading a song that I had uploaded and added a comment to. I was able to download it but the downloaded MP3 had no comment.
Aside: It's disturbing that Google limits you to 2 downloads per song. It is, after all, your own music. The limit doesn't apply to Chrome, apparently, but for how long? I'm keeping backups elsewhere.
Answer: Check out this Google support thread. Best answer there is a user script that lets you download songs.


What is the most important tradition in the Catholic Church?

Question: I am doing a school project on Sacred Tradition and was wondering what Catholics view the most important Sacred Tradition to be. I was thinking that it would be Eucharist because it is the actual body and blood of our Lord. But then since tradition is equal to scripture in terms of authority, they all are equally important right?
Comment: How do you propose that this question be answered objectively?
Answer: What is the most important tradition in the Catholic Church?
The important Tradition is the Seven Sacraments as it is the Church instituted means to attain salvation of souls.

Seven sacraments of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church teaches that there are seven sacraments or rites through which God can communicate his grace to an individual. Catholic Christians believe that the sacraments are channels for God's grace - every time they take part in a sacrament, they receive more grace.https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zh4f3k7/revision/1

But in light of schism that happened post Vatican II, the most important tradition will be the very powerful words of Jesus to St.Peter and Apostles united to Peter.
What is that Tradition based on the gospel coming from the very words of Jesus Himself? The Apostles or College of Bishops united to the Pope is guided by the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth it cannot err.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit
…12I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.-John16:12-14

And with regards to schism, the schismatic who are saying and spreading that a Pope is teaching errors as they continue to accuse Pope Francis of heresy. Based on Jesus powerful promised of protection, the Pope cannot teach errors or commit heresies when teaching "faith & morals". Believing the Dubia Cardinals and Schismatic Bishops and their followers that a Pope can teach heresy will make Jesus a liar in Luke22:32.

"But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."-Luke22:32

More on this teachings on PASTOR AETERNUS.

THE PRIMACY OF THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER
IN THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19981031_primato-successore-pietro_en.html
Comment: Schism has nothing to do with this question, which is tradition.
Comment: @eques Yes, it is important in our times to uphold the Primacy of Peter and the infallibility of Living Church Magisterium because post Vat2 schismatic are distorting the Tradition of the Church.
Comment: The question is what is the most important tradition. Schism is not a tradition. You are just ranting about perceived "Schism"
Answer: Tradition (traditio) means "a passing on"; like the Olympic relay racers pass on the baton to the next runner, so does one generation of Catholics pass on the Deposit of Faith to the next.
Scripture itself is contained in Tradition, as it was the Church Herself who judged which books are to be part of the canon of Holy Scripture.
In terms of the sacraments, baptism is the greatest because without it one cannot receive the other sacraments, including Holy Eucharist. However, Holy Eucharist comes in a close second. See St. Thomas's ordering of the sacraments.
Fr. Chad Ripperger's books Topics on Tradition and The Binding Force of Tradition are also recommended.


Joomla 3-article is published but not showing

Question: I'm a newbie to Joomla 3 and I have installed it on my PC using Wamp 2.5. I published an article, but the article is not showing on the website. What is the problem and how do I fix it?
Comment: How do you try to access the article? So what do you mean by "not showing on the website"?
Comment: @Mainz007: I try to access the article by going to my website. For publishing the article I go to Content--->Article Manager--->Add New Article. I publish the article but it's not visible on the website.
Comment: I am not sure if is a setup failure or a bug, but none of my single articles are not displayed when are accessed in from the menu
Answer: Articles in Joomla are usually displayed through Menu Items. Creating and publishing an article is only the first step, you also have to create a menu item:

These are some of the most popular menu types:
Articles → Featured Articles
This will show all your featured articles (marked with a star in the article list).
Articles → Single article
This will let you choose a single article which will be displayed on your website for the menu item.
Articles → Category blog
This will display all articles from a chosen category. If the articles has a Readmore tag (inserted using the Read more button below the article editor), only the first part of each article will be displayed, followed by a link to the full article. This is the simplest way to create a blog in Joomla.


How can I estimate projects when I need to include a learning curve for new technology?

Question: Sometimes, there are research and development projects where nothing is known in advance about the technology, concepts, and client. However, the manager still needs time estimates. What can I do to produce useful estimates?
Comment: Take whatever your estimate would be in a known technology and move the decimal one place :P
Comment: Read Steve McConnoll's software estimation book and understand what makes a good estimate.  An estimate has uncertainty to it - if it didn't, it wouldn't be an estimate.  Saying "This may take anywhere from three months to six months, after spending a month on it, I will be able to narrow it down" should be acceptable.
Comment: @MichaelT - great comment. The one thing guaranteed to make imprecise estimates more palatable is refining them over time so management get an increasingly accurate estimate of work remaining. The one thing guaranteed to piss them off is a project that is permanently two weeks away from completion.
Comment: This is what prototypes are for.
Comment: @Carson63000 I had a simplified version of the [cone of uncertainty](http://construx.com/Page.aspx?cid=1648) in that phrasing.  The key thing to take away from that illustration is that an estimate of 2-12 months doesn't mean it ends up at 7 months at the end, but rather the estimate may converge from 2-12 to 4-12 to 8-12 to 10-12 to 12.  Also note that the original cone has a range of 16x when the initial concept is done.
Answer: Honestly, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb writes in his book The Black Swan: 'we just can't predict'. Mainly due to the unknown-unknowns. It is generally best to communicate this very fact, the fact that you can't predict, instead of communicating an estimate.
As Taleb writes: it is better to be broadly right, than precisely wrong. So be sure to communicate the fact that you have hard times estimating, and use things like 'learning curves in new tech' as one of the arguments. This means that the range of your estimate will be big: 'this project wil cost between 100k and 500k.'
By saying such a thing, the one asking you to estimate something realizes that things are not so simple.
Comment: +1 :  This is the only correct answer.  Teach you manager to embrace unknowns - it's much easier than estimating them. - Also look up the work of Steve McConnoll over at construx.com.
Comment: This is one of the most wrong answers here. You always can estimate anything. There are tools and techniques to support it. The only difference is the uncertainty. You might very well have 4x or 5x variance between your estimate and the actual value (especially early in a project), but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to estimate to serve as a starting point for future estimates.
Comment: @ThomasOwens You are right, you shouldn't just walk away for it. But my bold statement was intended to be interpreted: don't fool yourself, or fool your boss, but be open in the fact that the estimation is going to be hard! Because honestly, not every manager asking for estimates realize how hard/impossible it is to make one.
Comment: In my personal work experience, when doing freelance work on fixed price basis, my average hourly rate is way higher on small projects (like little add-ons to existing projects), than on bigger projects (often from scratch). It's not even linear. In hindsight, I should not have taken those bigger ones on a fixed price, or at least discuss up front that the estimate is very hard to do, and try to convince the client to work on a different basis to spread the risks a little bit.
Answer: The absolute first thing you need is some idea of the scope. The more concrete the better, but any form of requirements can be used to produce initial estimates. Customer requirements, vision and scope, and concept documents can be used early on. As the requirements and operating environment begin to become more clear, then the estimates will improve. A greater understanding of the client (especially the interfaces between the client and the developing organization), the team performing the work, the technologies to be used, the system architecture, and a detailed design will all contribute to a more accurate estimate. This is visible in the Cone of Uncertainty.
If you are using a parametric modeling tool, such as SLIM or COCOMO (Intermediate or Advanced only, as Basic doesn't account for cost drivers), then there should be adjustment factors for the unfamiliarity of the technology. As an example, COCOMO has a large number of cost drivers, including some that are specifically geared toward familiarity with the target platform as well as the language and tools being used to develop the system. SLIM also accounts for the overall experience of the development team, which should include considerations of the tools and technologies being used.
With this technique, the output of the modeling tools are typically validated because they have successfully been used to estimate previous software projects over many years in many organizations. However, the output is only as good as the input to the tool.
If you aren't using parametric models for estimation, you'll have to simply consider these factors when producing your estimates. It becomes more of a judgement call, but you can consider activities such as reading documentation, setting up the new development environment, and developing sample applications on the target platform or with the target languages.
In these instances, you will need to break down your estimates by task and be able to use your professional judgement to back it up. Hopefully, you have historical data and other concrete evidence to base your estimates on. Otherwise, it's more of an uphill battle.
Answer: Separate major training and research time from development time. Break the project into multiple sub projects that have happy endings. Make sure you create a proof of concept after the training.
If you are new to the technology, you will never get close to the actual development time. Raise this as a risk at the beginning of the project and be generous in your estimate. This applies to core technologies you and your team are not familiar with.
Answer: Depends, I used FPA (Function Point Analysis) most of the time, but we were into this "enterprizey web development", I mean, you know, Forbes 500 web companies.
There the task can be always divided into two parts: one, which fits FPA really well: you have input interfaces, output interfaces, internal logical files (aka. database tables / types to be exported), and you have these complex, unknown systems.
In the easy version, the complex task is a component already written, it's just hard and unknown to interface with it.
The hard version is when it needs to be written, then pilot-based estimations, COCOMO, whatever.
Two things, however, of importance:

Every kind of estimation system has to have a calibration time for your organization. You never develop alone, at least there's a customer waiting for your code (or you wouldn't be so desperate about this, writing code for your own sake). The question is not "how fast can it be developed?", but "how fast can it be developed with you all?"

Once I had a manager who read that Black Swan novel and was maniac about it. He was telling us that it's impossible to estimate, and I was doing my usual precise to +-10% estimations relentlessly...
Comment: *"I was doing my usual precise to +-10% estimations relentlessly."* - the problem is the prospect that one day this won't be true. In Russian Roulette, you can have five full pulls of the trigger before being ruined. For a company that pulls the trigger a thousand times a year, just a 1-in-1000 risk of ruinous error, will almost guarantee catastrophic failure of the organisation.
Answer: I do projects that fit that description somewhat regularly and I haven't figured this out yet! Thankfully where I work I'm given the latitude to do what I need to and not have futile time limits. The projects are not always successful and that's just a part of what the work is with so many unknowns. The company gains knowledge each time though.
Sorry that doesn't help at all.
Answer: Estimate how long it will take to do a similar project using familiar tech.
Multiply by 4.
Add some learning time.
If the estimate is too short you will look naive and arrogant.  if the estimate is too large you will look ignorant and incompetent.  Choose wisely.
Comment: Why 4? Why not 5? 10? 33.3? ... Is there science behind your answer or are you just picking a random number? Including that in your answer might make it more useful.
Comment: on a related note, don't be shy of large numbers. My colleague once estimated some module rework in 935 (nine-three-five) days. Boss said we don't have that much and _ordered_ 60 days. Colleague did what was possible in 60. Result was quite troublesome but he was _never_ blamed for that. Have to admit that 60-days version, however troublesome, allowed us to get a pretty important customer - ie boss' push made pretty good business sense. BTW in the end we managed to get that module in shape, but that happened several years later and efforts it took were more in the ballpark with _935_ estimate


Wondering if i can debloat some google apps from unrooted lg phone for my father?

Question: My father being older does not want to modify his phone, however he has a LG L70 and no sd card, and doesn't use some unnecessary Google apps, such as play, books, and whatever else. My question is can i boot it into fastboot and run a custom written shell script(i run linux ubuntu), which would run something like fastboot oem append-cmdline "androidboot.unlocked_kernel=true"? Which i found on amazon fire 5.1.1 thread on xda-developers forums, then fasboot continue, and in turn, at least on the fire, allows to access the adb shell as root without running su. Then from there run adb shell "pm uninstall {app_name}"?
Comment: Why don't you disable them from Settings app?
Comment: As i said he does not have a sd card and doesn't want to get one... i keep telling him to get one but... and i dont have an extra! The phone only has 2 gbs internal storage and he likes to take pictures of the grand kids he also has no other apps on it, he just wants i to have some more room. Also when he updates his weather app it says low storage space. Maybe it actually cache storage space I'm not sure but removing the apps and clearing the cache should fix that for good.
Answer: You're looking in wrong direction. insufficient-memory error shows up when you're running low in space under data partition (named: userdata; mounted at /data). It stores user installed apps (APKs), updated system apps (APKs), their data files inter alia. System apps by-default are stored in system partition (named: system; mounted at /system). That partition is not mounted in read-write (rw) mode and doesn't cause that error.
Removing the system apps wouldn't achieve anything since as I said, unless the system app is updated by the user, the APK would only reside in system partition. However, it would consume a bit of space to store its data files in data partition.
If that amount concerns you, then go to  Settings → Apps → All apps → your system app → Force Stop → Uninstall Updates (if any) → Clear data → Disable. This would:

disable the system app which simply means that you wouldn't be able to use it or update it unless you enable the app.
delete its data files from data partition since you used "Clear data" button. If it was updated by user, its APK would be removed from data partition as well.

Why bother with extreme measures then?
Just so you know, adb shell pm uninstall  would blatantly fail to remove a system app, regardless of whether it is running with superuser privilege.
That said, some system apps wouldn't give you disable or clear data option. But if they are not giving such option then assume that your OEM considers that the app is critical for the stability or functionality of your OS (even if it is not) and you should ignore disabling it.
If you can't ignore it and wants to take a risk, use this command:
adb shell pm block PACKAGE # for KitKat
adb shell pm hide PACKAGE  # for Lollipop

This would effectively bar that system app from being used even if it causes instability to the system. This also means that the app would never be updated again unless you revert the changes.
To unblock or unhide the app, do
adb shell pm unblock PACKAGE # for KitKat
adb shell pm unhide PACKAGE  # for Lollipop

PACKAGE → package name of your system or user app. To know the package name of an app:

for KitKat - follow View app's full package name?
for Lollipop - open Settings → Apps → All apps →  your app → click here

Save yourself all the trouble: "i keep telling him to get one but... and i dont have an extra!" -- save some money, buy an SD card, plug it in his phone when he's not around and there you go with the surprise gift.


How to unattach an object and reattach it somewhere else in an animation?

Question: I made this simple example u can see below to understand the problem.

The little cube is attached to the bigger one with a child of constraint. I want the little cube to be able to move with the bigger cube, like in the gif below, and unnattach it when it reaches the top, and make it move to the cilinder from that point (I also would like to rotate, move, etc.. the little cube while it's going to the cilinder) and then attach it there to follow the cilinder.

I have no idea how to do this and would be amazing if someone could help!
Answer:
Go to the last frame where you want small-cube acting as the child of big-cube.  Keyframe loc/rot/scale and the influence of your child-of constraint (at 1.0).

Advance a single frame.  With small-cube selected, use "apply visual transform" operation.  (From ctrl-a menu in object mode for me.)  Small-cube will jump; don't worry about it.

Set the influence of your child-of constraint to 0 and you'll see small-cube jump back to where it "should" be.  Keyframe loc/rot/scale and constraint influence (at 0.0).

Optionally, turn off snapping in your graph editor and move this frame's keyframes -0.99 in the graph editor's X axis.  This is to preserve smoothness of motion.

Go to the frame when you want small-cube to begin acting as the child of cylinder.  Transform small-cube to how you want it to look at this frame.  Create an additional child-of constraint, targeting cylinder, and set the inverse.  Keyframe loc/rot/scale and constraint influence of this second child-of constraint (at 1.0).

Go back one frame.  Apply visual transform, then set constraint influence (of cylinder child-of) to 0.0, then keyframe loc/rot/scale and constraint influence.

Optionally, move this frame's keyframes +0.99 in graph editor's X axis.

Make and edit whatever breakdowns you want in the period between the small-cube acting as the child of big-cube and the child of cylinder.

Optionally, after completing the animation of small-cube and big-cube and cylinder and anything they depend upon, select small-cube and use a "bake action" operation with "visual keying" and "clear constraints" to write the constraints to raw transforms.  This will prevent any issues arising from motion blur and will allow you to retime the animation to your heart's content.
Comment: @Curve When I want to go back and forth like that, one technique I'll use is to create an extra empty to be the child-of, and then I'll copy transforms onto the rendering object/bone.  The empty can be adjusted while the character is not handling the object, rather than changing inverses on the constraint, and copy transforms interpolation works better than child-of interpolation, so I can activate or deactivate the CT constraint over several frames.  Original question wasn't asking about this, so I just provided the need-to-know rather than TMI, but you might find it useful..
Comment: You explained that so good! Thanks!
Comment: Just one thing to add to this - if you've got an object you want to hand off back and forth from one character to another, you CANNOT just re-activate the first "Child Of" constraint! The Set Inverse part of that process will wreck the beginning of your shot. For each "possession of the ball", as it were, you've got to make a new Child Of constraint. I had a shot where two characters pass a canteen back and forth between them, and it took 5 or 6 different constraints. Don't try to re-use them, just make new ones. Unless someone knows a sneakier way to get around this... go ahead and correct me


Piwik Sum Pageviews and Searches

Question: For my website the (internal) searches count on my website (mainly a specialized search engine) just as normal pageviews. Piwik however counts them separately. How can I tell piwik to sum both counts?
Update 1
After the answer from John Cave, I manually counted the actions in "detailed visitor log" on today:
* 42 "normal" page views (without icon)
* 22 outlinks (with the outlink icon)
* 22 site search (with the loupe icon)
In the "visits over time" chart I hovered over today and got that figures:
* 42 Pageviews
* 22 Outlinks
* 16 Searches
Interesting is also the difference between 22 Searches in "detailed visitor log" and 16 Searches in "visits over time". When I looked closer in the "detailed visitor log", I found, that 3 searches were executed twice. Seems those doesn't count at all.
Update 2
I asked the question in Piwik-Issuetracker now: https://github.com/piwik/piwik/issues/7136
Answer: Are you sure searches are not counted twice? Once by the page view counter, once by the site search system? For my site, Piwik definitely doesn't count everything starting with /search.php any differently to a page view, aside from it recording the search terms.

Piwik Sum Pageviews and Searches