Is it possible to upgrade a 6 speed mountain bike to 7 or 8 speed?

Question: I ride a Hero Sprint, MTB, with 6 gears in rear and 3 in the front. I am thinking about upgrading my 6 gears to something like 7 or 8. Is it possible, if yes, how much does it cost, and what are the plus and minus points i might face if i did that?
Comment: You might have a setup that can be easily upgraded, if you can find used parts cheap.  But odds are you will just screw it up, since there are so many variables.
Comment: I think no  https://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html
Comment: Since it's a newer bike, it could have 130 or 135mm spacing and just have a 6-speed freewheel on it. Too many variables to say without knowing more about the bike. Photos and measurements would help.
Answer: Yes, you can upgrade your mountain bike.  However its a slippery slope of knock-on upgrades that can cost more than a nice, lightly-used bike.
For starters, you can't generally slap on a cassette or freewheel with more gears, because they're wider.
So the first thing to do is measure the "Over-Locknut Dimension", or OLD.  This is the horizontal distance between the locknuts on the hub, and is equal to the gap between the inside surfaces of the rear dropouts.
  This is measuring a rear hub that has no axle in the way.  This is 130mm
 This is measuring the rear dropouts using a ruler.  Lower tech but just as good.  This one is 126mm
If you have a steel bike frame, is slightly more options than an aluminium or carbon frame, because it can be cold-set (aka slightly widened at the rear dropouts) to fit a wider hub.  Can't do that with aluminium or carbon frames,
If you have a steel bike you can increase about one size, so 126mm to 130mm or 130mm to 135mm.  Then you have to align the rear dropouts again, using alignment tools like these half-axles showing minor tweak required.

If you don't realign the dropouts, the wheel will wander easily, even hard pedal presses can pull the wheel out of alignment.

Once you have a wider hub, you can fit a wider cassette (don't bother buying a hub that takes a freewheel - that way lies bent axles and wallet-tears)
So you need a cassette, which will require a new chain.  Generally speaking 6/7/8 speed chains all use close to the same width, but you want an unworn chain to help prolong the life of your cassette.
Then check out the front chainrings for wear.  They wear slower than the cassette, but if the chain is making bad contact it could be time for new chainrings.
You will very likely need a new right-hand shifter too.  Your six-speed unit will have 6 indents/positions, and it won't handle the extra gears.  If you have a friction shifter it might work, or it might not.
While changing all this stuff you may as well install new cable inner wires and outer tubes too.  A cheap set costs about a happy meal.
Once that's all done, you need to reindex your gears, and might find that the 6 speed rear derailleur doesn't have enough range.  First try backing out the limit screws, but if you still can't get the chain to reach the biggest and smallest cogs then you're up for a new rear mech.
SUMMARY

Minimum

Hub
Cassette
Chain
Shifter
Wires

Maximum

Entire wheel
Rear derailleur mech
Chainring(s)

So yes its possible, but can be financially bad idea.  If you have spare parts from another bike, it becomes more cost-effective.
Comment: I have upgraded two bikes - one was a 20" folder, which changed from a 1x6 freewheel to a 3x8 freehub.  That required rebuilding the 20" wheel onto a cassette-capable hub.    The other was a 15 speed so started as 3x5 and is now 3x8.  That needs the rear dropouts tweaked to be parallel still.
Answer: Well, I tell you: you should think before upgrade your gearing. Ask yourself: Do much declines and inclines? In my experience, you cannot run out of a 3*6 combination on flats or even the meager gradients of elevated corridors in cities.
As for if it's possible or not, yes it is.
You'll need to change your freewheel, change your derailleur and change your shifters and this will cost you a great deal if you consider how much you actually spent on buying that bike. (Well I did some research, turns out that the upgrades alone will cost you a considerable fraction of the cost of your bike, especially since the country you're living in doesn't have an abundance of upgrade parts.)
Also, you might need to get a new chain along with all the other things but it won't be required if you're lucky and you get a similarly spaced cassette.
---

A generic 7 speed cassette- INR 450
Generic 7-speed cassette on Amazon.in
Shimano's Tourney TZ derailleur- INR 1800
Shimano Tourney TZ on eBay.in
Shimano TX-50 7s shifter set- INR 1000
Shimano Revoshift 7-speed on bikeinn.com
Hero Sprint costs INR 6800
Hero Sprint on Amazon.in

As can be seen, the upgrade costs make about 47% of the bike's market price, which makes the upgrades highly absurd, also considering that with this money, the person can probably sell this bike and upgrade to a bike of a nicer build and his desired gear set-up.
I hope this updated answer is better.
Comment: Down vote was for lecturing the OP that they 'DO NOT' need the upgrade in the first half of the answer. It's fine to say something like  'you *may* not see much benefit with one or two extra rear ratios'. You don't know the OP or their situation. Maybe they would get something out of the experience of doing the upgrade work themselves and the changes to the bike are secondary.
Comment: That said, the point you make about the upgrades costing nearly 50% of the bikes market price is valid. The OP would do well to consider selling the bike and purchasing a new or used one with better features.


What would constitute Fair Use in a work that is derivative of a parody?

Question: Let's say that there's a work B, which under U.S. law seems to count clearly as a transformative use (parody, satire or the like) of another work A, and thus subject to fair use. So what about a work C that is a (licensed) derivative work of B? Would it also need to count as a transformative use of A for it to be fair use?
Answer: The analysis is always with respect to the work that the owner is claiming infringement of. Work C would be compared to work A.
The copyright owner would have to prove copying happened (even via an intermediary, like work B). The copyright owner would also have to prove that work C included a substantial taking of the original work in A.
The owner of work C could raise a fair use defense, and work C would be subject to the 4-factor fair use test in relation to work A.
Comment: @feetwet That is correct. However the creator of work C could file a motion for summary judgement requiring A's copyright owner to at least argue how a fair use analysis of C would materially differ from the fair use analysis of B. Basically, the argument used for B would probably work for C (depending on purpose of use, etc.), which would greatly simplify/shorten the litigation. I can imagine a situation where the *purpose* of work C is different from the *purpose* of work B in a way that tips the fair use analysis against C.
Comment: So the fact that B falls under fair use, and C has licensed B, provides no safe harbor against claims by A against C.
Comment: Actually I'm pretty sure C would count as a parody of A (since C is a crossover of B and another, original, work by B's author, and the main transformative value of B are its characters), but I wanted to try and cover all the bases.


How to add gravatar support to Joomla article

Question: I'd like to add gravatar support to my Joomla article. How can I do that?
Comment: What have you tried? https://www.google.com/search?q=gravatar+joomla+extension+article&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Comment: Johan's answer solved the problem momocho :) I was just surprised why there is no simple solution about gravatar while I googled it (it always returns gravatar extensions result rather than tutorial ) then I created this question. Maybe this will help other later
Answer: Take a look at the Gravatar PHP documentation. Basically, you want to generate a URL for the image to be displayed. This URL is based on the users email address, and will of course only work for logged in users.
The following code should give you a starting point:
<?php
$user = JFactory::getUser();
$default = "http://www.example.com/default.jpg"; // default image if no gravatar
$size = 40; // 1 - 2048 pixels

$grav_url = "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/" . md5( strtolower( trim( $user->email ) ) ) . "?d=" . urlencode( $default ) . "&s=" . $size;
?>

<img src="<?php echo $grav_url; ?>" alt="" />

There are many options available for default image, size, rating etc. See the Gravatar documentation for more info.
As for how to use the code, it depends on what you mean by add gravatar support to my Joomla article. You can build a plugin, create an override, or use a custom HTML module that supports PHP code.


self directed RRSP for a non resident

Question: I am a US resident and want to take money out of my superannuation municipal plan and have it converted to an RRSP. However, some banks don't allow you to obtain a self directed RRSP if you are not living in Canada. How can I do this?
Answer: I had this problem when I finished my job in Canada in Sept 2013.
You'll likely have to open the account in person in Canada, at least if you don't already have a relationship with a broker there.
DO NOT go to Virtual Brokers.  They told me that my US citizenship was no problem, but right before I left Canada to double check.  It wasn't until I asked specifically which US states they were licensed in that they realized they were licensed in NO US STATES. They told me that they'd freeze my account when I left.
I then moved my (former) pension to a locked-in RRSP at BMO.  As of September 2010 BMO could handle residents of most US states, but it took some tooth pulling to get the list out of them.  However, after I flew to the USA, BMO called to demand more ID.  My account was frozen until I flew back to Canada in person just to show ID.
Annoyed, I closed the BMO account and moved it to TD Waterhouse.  TD waterhouse can handle accounts for residents of all the US states EXCEPT Virginia, Louisiana, and Nebraska.  (I only got the complete list of exceptions when I made my first trade, since the guys at the trading desk are much more knowledgeable about such things than the guys in the branch.)  TD was extremely friendly about my USA citizenship/residence.  (Many Canadian brokers simply won't accept US residents, at least as of the end of 2013.)
Whichever broker you choose, BRING LOTS MORE ID than they require.  Insist that they zerox it all. Make sure to include your social security card.  You don't want them to demand more ID after you've left the country, like BMO did.  They may even make such a move simply to get rid of US customers, because the FATCA is a pain for foreign banks.
Comment: Welcome to Money.SE. Please consider editing this response for clarity.

self directed RRSP for a non resident


Run core with catchup complete

Question: I have a new stellar core instance with CATCHUP COMPLETE true and one stellar horizon instance with INGEST true. I'm totally new with stellar.
I've started the core node and it's catching up the data. I'm not sure if I have to start the horizon after core or I should wait until it's syncing if finished?
Comment: there are very few scenarios where one would want to perform a complete catchup. do you really need it? its only needed if you wish to have the entire history of the blockchain on your HD. note that you dont need it to run a fully-functioning core.
Comment: Yes, I really need to catch-up all of the data. And DB instance is not on my computer. FuzzyAmi
Answer: You could start Horizon anytime (before or after Core), even though Core is still catching up.
Horizon is depending on Core, and will "ingest" data after Core has processed it, little-by-little. Without Horizon, Core can still work perfectly, but not the other way around.
p.s. If you are catching up with the public main-net / test-net (where both contains tonnes of data), it could take you tens of hours... so be sure if your Core is running good, or you would have hours wasted before getting the right configurations.

Run core with catchup complete


insufficent storage space for apps

Question: Have a new zenithink C95 tablet.Getting insufficient storage space error when installing apps.Have 16 gig internal flash drive and 16 gig SD card which still have 12 gig and 14 gig still available.Have nearly a page of apps loaded.Going into storage menu there is a 1 gig partition that the apps are loaded into,which is now full.Even though it is advertised as having 16 gigs internal storage for apps ,music,videos etc,you can't get any more than 950mb of apps on it,which is pretty useless for a tablet. EBay supplier of tablet says they are all like this,but will try and contact zenithink for maybe a firmware update.
Any ideas on sorting this out?
Thanks steve
Answer: Doesn't sound like you can do anything yourself (short of rooting the device, and installing a different ROM version).
I don't think as an Android user, you will be able to change how this (poor) design was implemented without changing the OS.
Answer: I don't have any ideas regarding your hardware configuration problem. But to solve your problem you can move your apps to SD card using stock android move to SD card feature or try third party apps such as Link2SD available on play store

insufficent storage space for apps


Omega theme sidebar padding

Question: I've started using the Omega theme, and wanted to apply a vertical gap in between my blocks in the sidebar on the right called sidebar-second. I went into the themes settings, and added an additioanl css in "Additional region classes" but its applied it the whole of the sidebar, and I still have no gaps. I have tried inspecting in firebug, and if I amend 'region-inner' it works but applies to all regions including main content etc. I just wanted the ones in the Sidebar Second. I'm afraid I dont know enough css to - can someone point me in the right direction?
Answer: I have fixed this now by adding:-
<code>
.region-sidebar-second .block-inner {
  background-color: white;
  border: 1px solid #CCCCCC;
  border-radius: 10px 10px 10px 10px;
  padding: 10px 20px 20px;
  position: relative;
  margin-bottom: 20px;
}
</code>
Sorry, it was a lack of knowledge of css causing the problem.

Omega theme sidebar padding


Autoflow Error Message

Question: I have a process set on the Opportunity object that launches an autoflow to create an Account and then link that Account back to a lookup field on the Opportunity.  All works great.  However, when there is an error and the flow does not complete, I would like to give the user the error message to let them know what is happening.  Is there anyway to get that message to populate either in a field or on the screen to let the user know the process failed?
Answer: The idea of an autolaunch flow is that it can complete run without user interaction. Therefore you can't show the user anything on the screen. (Your flow won't even save with an inactive screen element.)
Two options:
1) Don't make the flow autolaunch. This is possible if your account creation is always triggered from an user interaction. Then you can catch errors nicely, and the ones you miss will be shown on screen. (See: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_vpm_guide.meta/salesforce_vpm_guide/vpm_designer_elements_connector_fault_examples.htm )
2) You can catch the error with a fault connector and update an opportunity  field with the {!$Flow.FaultMessage} variable. (I haven't tried this.) You can't catch every exception but you should be able to get most. If the user doesn't check the opportunity to often then it may be better to send him/her an email with the error message and a link to the opportunity.

Autoflow Error Message


Withdraw ether from other miner

Question: I'm working with blockchain ethereum private network with several miners. I already successfully send and stamp a transaction from (example) one minerA to minerB using web3 library in python language. I want to ask, is it possible to make a withdraw function (without SC) that minerB will send back ether to minerA? But it happened as a request from minerA (minerB is not directly make a transaction to send ether to minerA). So what i want to make is minerA trigger minerB to send a transaction but still using blockchain architecture. Please tell me if it's possible or not, and correct me if my understanding about the transaction is wrong. Thank you
Answer: I'm not sure that I'm understanding what you want to do entirely, so I'm going to try to rephrase your question, and please correct me if I got something wrong:
Using a blockchain framework, but no smart contracts ("without SC"), can I get an account to send a transaction whenever it receives a transaction?
If that is the case, I suspect the answer is that it depends on what you're willing to automate. You could theoretically run a script that uses something like web3.py to monitor the blockchain, and then when some specific condition is met, sends a transaction from your miner B to miner A. You would need to make a listener that would look over each new block looking for the 'request' from miner A, and then if that condition is met, have it send the transaction you'd like to miner A from miner B.
Comment: thank you for your reply and sorry if my question is hard to understand. i think it's not possible, maybe i will just use a smart contract then.

Withdraw ether from other miner


Can't install Mysql on Linux -- Mysql website failing?

Question: I'm attempting to install mysql on Amazon Linux 2. I followed the instructions in the first answer here:
amazon linux 2 ami - aws - How to install mysql in Amazon Linux 2?
When I type:
sudo yum install mysql-community-server

I get:
Loaded plugins: extras_suggestions, langpacks, priorities, update-motd
amzn2-core                                                                                | 2.4 kB  00:00:00
amzn2extra-docker                                                                                | 1.3 kB  00:00:00
http://repo.mysql.com/yum/mysql-connectors-community/fc/2/x86_64/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404 - Not Found
Trying other mirror.

 One of the configured repositories failed (MySQL Connectors Community),
 and yum doesn't have enough cached data to continue. At this point the only
 safe thing yum can do is fail. There are a few ways to work "fix" this:

     1. Contact the upstream for the repository and get them to fix the problem.

     2. Reconfigure the baseurl/etc. for the repository, to point to a working
        upstream. This is most often useful if you are using a newer
        distribution release than is supported by the repository (and the
        packages for the previous distribution release still work).

     3. Run the command with the repository temporarily disabled
            yum --disablerepo=mysql-connectors-community ...

     4. Disable the repository permanently, so yum won't use it by default. Yum
        will then just ignore the repository until you permanently enable it
        again or use --enablerepo for temporary usage:

            yum-config-manager --disable mysql-connectors-community
        or
            subscription-manager repos --disable=mysql-connectors-community

     5. Configure the failing repository to be skipped, if it is unavailable.
        Note that yum will try to contact the repo. when it runs most commands,
        so will have to try and fail each time (and thus. yum will be be much
        slower). If it is a very temporary problem though, this is often a nice
        compromise:

            yum-config-manager --save --setopt=mysql-connectors-community.skip_if_unavailable=true

failure: repodata/repomd.xml from mysql-connectors-community: [Errno 256] No more mirrors to try.
http://repo.mysql.com/yum/mysql-connectors-community/fc/2/x86_64/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404 - Not Found

So, there's a 404 error. How can I get around this?
Answer: The answer you linked to is wrong, though it might have accidentally worked at the time it was posted.
MySQL does not provide RPMs for Amazon Linux (either 1 or 2). The instructions given in that answer are for CentOS 7, and only work on RHEL 7, CentOS 7, or actual identical clones (Oracle, Scientific, etc.). Amazon Linux and Amazon Linux 2 are not guaranteed to be compatible with CentOS packages, or indeed, with packages from any other distribution.
If you need to use such packages, you also need to switch your Linux distribution.
Answer: Michael Hampton is correct, please refer supported platforms https://www.mysql.com/support/supportedplatforms/database.html, If you still want to give try check http://repo.mysql.com/yum/mysql-connectors-community/fc/ this is indexed mysql repo and find the appropriate connector url for you repo.


Summon monster - can you pick the same trait twice?

Question: When you cast the summon monster spell you then roll a d6 and pick from the list of traits. Can you pick the same trait twice? That is could I have two stats at +2 or have it do 2d8 damage?
Answer: You can double up all manner of choices, but only some of them will benefit you:

It has +2 instead of +1 to one stat

As it's setting something explicitly, you have to pick different stats to benefit from stacking this.

It's not reckless

Yeah, that only works once.

It does 1d8 damage

As opposed to your damage die. This would be a downgrade for a multiclass fighter, for example. Only works once.

Its bond to your plane is strong: +2 HP for each level you have

That's an incrementor, so you can stack it. That might seem a little strong, but having hit points just means you're not dead yet; it doesn't say anything about how effective you are.

It has some useful adaptation

There's more than one possible useful adaptation, so this can stack.
Answer: You have to be able to pick the same trait twice, since you pick 1d6 traits and there are only five.
You can't gain 2d8 damage by picking 1d8 damage twice, because the trait only says "It does 1d8 damage", not "does 1d8 additional damage". The 1d8 damage trait just means that it does 1d8 damage instead of its default, which is your damage dice (d4, by default, for a wizard).
You can have +2 to multiple stats, though not +4 to one stat, since it says "It has +2 instead of +1 to one stat".
Comment: How bout the hit point trait?
Answer: You can for some, but not all of them.
The words are "The monster also gets your choice of 1d6 of these traits", there is nothing about limits, and like mentioned by Quadratic Wizard, there are 5 options, but you could get 6 choices on a perfect roll, so you have to be able to pick some of them more than once.

It has +2 instead of +1 to one stat:
Can be chosen more than once, but only to make more than one stat +2. Because it sets it to +2, rather than adding 1, it can't stack.

It's not reckless:
This is a bit subjective, but I don't think it should be able to be chosen more than once. This stops it from being reckless (whatever he GM determines that to mean), it doesn't reduce it, so taking it more than once shouldn't do anything extra.

It does 1d8 damage:
Can't be taken more than once, like above, it sets the damage to 1d8, so taking it again doesn't do anything.

Its bond to your plane is strong: +2 HP for each level you have:
Yes, you can take this one more than once because it's an addition to it's current health, rather than setting it's health to a specific number.

It has some useful adaptation:
Again, this is going to be up to the GM. I  would say yes. The GM is suppose to give you a monster based on the traits you chose, so if you chose this one a few times, it just means that they need to give you a monster with lots of abilities (it can fly, breath fire, carry a passenger so it's a Dragon.... or something)

Subjective section
You can always talk with the GM about it and maybe get some house rules so you can choose some more than once. The damage one could be re-written to "Increase the monsters damage dice by one stage" or "It does 1d8 damage, +1 for each extra time this trait is chosen". The Stat one could be re-written to "Increase one stat by +1" or something, so you could stack it.
I also like building on this spell for my players, adding options like:

It has +1 Armor
Its attacks have 2 Piercing
Its attacks are Messy and Forceful
You get to choose from a few options of your summoned monster
You have a form of telepathic link with the monster, allowing you to tune into its senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, echolocation etc.)

If the GM does not want to allow stacking traits for some reason, they might want to chose to provide more options.


Were railroads indispensable to American economic development?

Question: In "Railroads and American Economic Growth: Essays in Econometric History", 1964, Robert W. Fogel, the father of modern econometric history, found that railroads were not indispensable to American's economic development. This claim  seems contrary to common sense.
Are there more recent studies thatconfirm or rebut Fogel's conclusion?
Comment: I don't have the quantitative (computational) answer you are looking for, but I think that railroads were indeed indispensable in the sense that early on rivers constituted an all-important network for commercial trade. Due to geographical reasons and seen on a continent scale they mainly flow North-to-South (i.e. parallel to the Rocky Mountains). With railroads 19th century pioneers were able to push East-to-West on a substantial scale.
Comment: Is the study available online?
Comment: In terms of pure $$ of freight carried they probably didn't matter - and probably don't today. But in making the west coast feel that it is part of the same country as Washington they were as indispensable as telecoms or TV is now
Comment: @mgb I'd not be so rapid as to claim that the freight didn't matter. The railroads have always enabled large volumes of goods to quickly reach areas remote from their origin, even now that is their main raison d'etre. Things too large or heavy for aircraft and trucks, that need transport faster than possible by ship or to areas ships can't reach are transported by rail. Prime example are fuel, raw materials, etc. etc. without which the industry in the US heartland could not exist, and the products of that industry moving both east and west. Without railroads the heartland could not prosper.
Comment: @Mark, but it was nice to start this question reminding Pitagora & Plato!
Answer: The literal answer is no.  What most people would describe as a reasonable answer is yes.
Russia, and the central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Afghanistan are examples of what development is like without efficient transportation.  Are they more developed now than 100 years ago?  Certainly.  In comparison to the US? Absolutely not.
Development in the US would have been along coasts and rivers in the 19th century, and would have been slower.  With the discovery of oil, we could then build the road system and aircraft that make up much of our economic backbone now.  However, extracting and distributing oil requires large amounts of steel, and the process of moving the raw and finished goods associated with steel involve significant weight, and much of the resource is inland.  While motorcars appeared almost instantly with the availability of oil, heavy duty trucking only emerged toward the end of the 1930s.  Therefore, development that began in the 1820s would have been deferred until the 1930s.  The US, in that case, might look more like the Ukraine or Romania.
Comment: @Drux The two issues may not be as unrelated as it seems. The Sovier railway system, while impressive in its statistics was micro-managed from the centre and was in consequence - when you look at efficiency metrics such as average speed - very much below Western standards.
Comment: +1 for the unconventional view that relatively lacking economic development in places such as former Soviet Union republics and Afghanistan depended a lot on lacking transportation (train) infrastructures; one usually reads about perceived limitations of their political (prior to and during Communism) and cultural (i.e. Islamic) circumstances first.
Comment: @FelixGoldberg Yes, I see. Transportation-wise, Russia must also have been at a relative disadvantage, because (FWIK) its major rivers flow north, up to the Artic sea.
Comment: @Drux to compound on Felix's excellent comment, those political and cultural systems may hamper the development of an effective transportation network, or harm peoples' recognition of the need for one (the USSR's tendency to want people to stay put comes to mind, if you don't want your population to travel, best way to accomplish that is to not have the means for them to travel). The reduced economic development is then a direct result of the lack of transportation, an indirect result of that culture/policy.
Comment: @jwenting Of course, an enlightened Western government, given its political and cultural system, would never "hamper the development of an effective [communication] network, or harm peoples' recognition of the need for one", or would it? Maybe the guy currently at Moscow airport knows also about this :) My point is: transportation in Russia must have developed under many special "gray" circumstances, "black" Communism being only one I guess.
Answer: Fogel's contention is disputed by at least two other economists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_United_States
One of them is Walt Whitman Rostow, who specialized in the study of the "take-off" of developing countries. His argument was that railroads turned the U.S. from a developing to a developed country around 1840 not only because they improved transportation, but because of their "spillover" effects on creating demand for manufacturing and banking, two other important sectors.
Albert Fishlow argues that by 1890, the savings on using railroads versus alternate forms of transportation amounted to 15% of GDP, more than twice Fogel's estimate of such savings.


Can I get a housing loan for my father's property?

Question: I want to apply for a home loan, but the property is registered in my father's name.  Is it possible? Can anybody help clarify my understanding of home loans?
Comment: 1) Why can't the property be used as collateral with Dad as a co-signer? 2) Why doesn't the loan include buying the property from dad? Me and fiance plan on building on her mom's property (which will be split between her and her brother). When we do it, "our half" will be put in our name so that the land AND house is in our name.
Comment: In general, a housing loan or mortgage is secured by the property; in case of non-repayment, the lender is entitled to foreclose on the property (take possession) and (usually) sell the property to recover the principal amount of the debt.  If the sale price is more than what is owed, the balance is  returned to the person who owned the property. So, when you apply for a loan, how will you give the bank authority to sell property not belonging to you in case you fail to repay the loan?
Answer: If the property is registered in your dad's name, you cannot get a home loan on your name. Look at it from a lender's point of view, you take the loan and vanish, they cannot take possession of the property as it's not on your name. Legally your dad is not party to a transaction between you and Bank.
If your intent is to get some funds for the property then;
Options:
Let your dad take a loan and you can co-sign [although most Bank's if you are co-signing need your name on the property]. This may allow your dad to take a loan if his own income does not allow him to do so.
Take a personal loan for smaller amount, though the rate of interest would be high and the tenure (duration of the loan) shorter.
If your intent is not for funding the property but to get tax breaks; then the above will not help you. You would need to have the property in your name.
Answer: A housing loan or mortgage is generally obtained to buy a property, and it is secured by the property being purchased.

Assuming that you are buying the property in question from your father
and it does not have any mortgage or housing loan on it at present,
the bank will pay the amount that it is loaning you (agreed-upon
purchase price minus whatever down payment you are making to your father)
to your father, who will transfer the title to the property to your name.
Thus, the property will be titled in your name, not your father's, when the purchase is completed and the bank will be entitled to foreclose on the
property and sell it if you fail to make the necessary payments.
Assuming that you are taking out a housing loan to buy some
other property, the fact that your father owns some
property has nothing
to do with the matter.  The bank will pay whomsoever owns the property
that you are purchasing, the property will be titled in your name
when the purchase is completed and the bank will be entitled to foreclose on the
property and sell it if you fail to make the necessary payments.
If the seller has a mortgage or housing loan on the property, your
bank will make sure that the seller's bank is paid off first, and the
seller will get only whatever is left after the seller's bank is paid off.
Other monies that generally change hands under the table
when a real estate transaction
occurs in India are your responsibility.
If you need the proceeds of a loan for other purposes,
e.g. for current living expenses, and want to get a loan in
which your father's property is the collateral, then,
as Dheer has pointed out to you already, that is not possible.  Your
father could take out a housing loan on the property that he
owns, but it would have to be paid back by him, and the loan
application might be denied by the bank if his income is small.
In the US, reverse mortgages are becoming popular where a
homeowner effectively agrees to sell the property to the bank
which makes monthly payments to the owner (instead of the owner
making payments to the bank). When the owner passes away, the
bank owns the property.  This provides a steady income stream to
those whose income from pensions etc is no longer adequate to
cover living expenses.  But again, this is something that
the owner of the property can do, and the payments go to the
owner, not his children.
Answer:
Is it possible?

No. It is not possible.

Can anybody help clarify my understanding of home loans?

A home loan works like other secured debt. Secured meaning that real property is named in the loan contract as collateral against the debt balance. This simply means that if you don't/won't/can't pay the money back, the lender has a legal right to take possession of the property. This would be called a foreclosure in the case of a home loan. With an auto loan, for example, it would be a repossession of the car.
Obviously, I don't have legal grounds to take out a loan and name your car as collateral. Similarly, you and your father are two separate entities, so you have no more legal grounds to do that with his home.
If you are living in a home that is not in your name, realize that you are a renter. Even if you are paying the mortgage and maintenance, legally you have no rights to the property.
I suggest clarifying the situation with your father. If his intent is for you to posses the property, you both need to discuss how to get the house into your name. Seek legal and tax counsel if that is the case. Otherwise, the property is his to do with as he wishes.


What is the technical term for the product of "number of pixels" and "number of channel per pixel"?

Question: Assume I have m x n pixels of an RGB image. If I calculate 3mn, what is the name of quantity for this value?
Comment: Wikipedia calls them [subpixels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel#Subpixels)
Answer:
number of channel per pixel

This is typically referred to as colour depth or bit depth and expressed as bits or 'bits per pixel' (bpp)

number of pixels

There is no special terminology for this, it's just "Pixel count" or similar. It's unusual to need to refer to the total pixel count of an image without any other context, the dimensions are usually used instead.

If I calculate 3mn, what is the name of quantity for this value?

There is no special word for this quantity, but the units would typically be bits or bytes, for example
1024 x 768 x 32bpp
= 3,145,728 bytes (3Mb)
Answer: A comment states "subpixels" but that name is only used for the single-color physical display areas making up the pixels on a screen.  The corresponding data item does not have an official name of its own.  You can use "primary color values" for it.  Note that the light sensitive "pixel" areas of a rectangular photo sensor matrix under a Bayer matrix (or other color filter matrix) are called "sensels".  Proper 3-value pixels are extrapolated from them using a demosaicing algorithm like "AMaZE" ("Aliasing Minimization and Zipper Elimination").


Firewall with multiple interfaces

Question: I wan going through few firewall setup tutorial
and everywhere they set an external interface, facing the internet and internal interface, accepting traffic from the internal subnets.  I can't figure out why we need two interfaces, the end result can be achieved having a single external interface and setting rules on it too. What are the advantages or use cases of having two interfaces ?
Comment: A firewall controls the traffic between two nodes. How is this supposed to work with a single interface?
Answer: The purpose of pretty much any security device is to control what is permitted between two parties, and we need to force the interaction to go through the security device.  If the bad process/people/action can go around our device, it doesn't have to be bound by its rules.
For the case of a network security device, we have one wire connected to "us" and one connected to "them".  We normally have extra powers over "us" (corporate policies etc), and we know that at least some of "them" are bad people.  The purpose is normally to permit all the legitimate usage from the inside people and prevent any bad actions from the outside.  We need some interaction -- our people want web pages and e-mail -- otherwise we'd have a disconnected network.
If we mixed them on one interface, there would be nothing to force the bad people to interact with our device.
Perhaps you've seen the passport control at small ports?  It's an officer in a hut on the dock.  All the boats moor wherever.  If you arrive by yacht in the middle of the night you're supposed to go visit in the morning to get your passport stamped.  If you arrive by yacht at a little fishing jetty, you're supposed to go find the officer in the hut at the port.
Compare that to the situation at any large airport.  When you get off the plane you can only go out one way: through the passport control.
If you were a manufacturer of security devices, which model would you follow?
Comment: @krrish if the traffic doesn't go through your interface, the rules you set on it are totally irrelevant.
Comment: I got your point but I am confused that why can't we set up iptable rules on our external interface only, like drop any packet which is coming from ip p.q.r.s. So the packet gets dropped at external interface only. I tried to implement some firewall rules on external interface only and it is working as expected. So to block any particular ip, I can go with one interface only. If you can give some examples of rules which can not be done with single interface only then it will easy for me to understand.
Comment: Do you mean why do rules specify two interfaces?  Or why do firewalls have at least two interfaces?
Comment: I was confused because AWS assigns uses single interface for both outside and inside traffic by NATIng external traffic to interface. So my instance was working fine with single interface too.
Answer: The term "firewall" can mean one of two things:
(1) Dedicated hardware devices like the Cisco ASA whose whole purpose is to protect hosts on an "inside" network from bad guys on the "outside" network
(2) Software like Windows Defender whose purpose is to run on a general-purpose computer and protect that computer from bad guys.
I think your confusion is because you have type (2) in mind whilst reading documentation for type (1) :-)
Both types of firewall do the same thing: examine network packets and take action to prevent "bad" packets from reaching their intended target - in the case of type (1), the "intended target" is software running on other hosts in the same network, while in the case of type (2), the "intended target" is software running on the same host where the firewall software is running.
Hope this clarifies. And, by the way, discussions on type (2) are off-topic on networkengineering stackexchange - sorry.
Comment: (3) Software that runs on a general purpose computer and can be used to protect either that computer, other computers behind it or both. For example Linux's iptables or BSD's PF
Comment: Yes, (3) as well, which is conceptually a combination of (1) and (2). Even a Cisco ASA has to protect itself as well as the hosts behind it.
Comment: (2) Windows Defender is the anti-virus, the firewall embedded in Microsoft Windows is pompously called "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security".
Comment: I am talking about type (3) as mentioned by @PeterGreen. I want to know what are the advantages of using type (1) as compared to type (3)
Answer: You are correct in saying you can control traffic through one interface because for each interface there's an inbound rule and an outbound rule.
Your tutorial link points to a Sophos UTM on AWS.
Your question is why not use the inbound and outbound rule on the External Interface and be done with...
Its really to save processing power.  When you only allow clients XYZ from outside to your inside FTP or Web server, then clients ABC should be blocked without processing any further -- could be NAT, QoS and not just going down the list of ACLs.  Same with your inside clients trying to reach outside. If Clients ABC is allowed https and no one else, then clients XYZ should be dropped from going outside to use HTTPS.  If you dropped clients XYZ from the inside interface, the firewall does not have to process the packet and ask itself -- Does it need NAT? QoS? VPN? before it reaches the outside interface.

Firewall with multiple interfaces


Why is there only a slight change in pH when soda loses its fizz?

Question: I did an experiment for my chemistry class and did a control with sparkling water and the pH increased by a significant amount, but when done with sodas like cream soda, coke, or 7 Up, the pH change is so minimal that I can't say that there is a significant change in the pH level. Why do the pH level of these sodas to stay the same when they lose their fizz?
Comment: The sodas have other acids with pKa's lower than that of carbonic acid.
Answer: In addition to fizz (carbonic acid), Coca-Cola contains phosphoric acid (for an additional tangy taste). According to this leaflet put out by Coca-Cola, a 250 mL can of Coca-Cola contains 43 mg of phosphorus. With some quick calculation, you can find that this translates to $\ce{5.5538 \times 10^{-3} M}$ $\ce{H3PO4}$, which would have a pH of approximately 2.44. Pretty acidic! The other sodas are sure to contain other acids as well.


Coupling in single mode polarization maintaining fiber

Question: I want to couple light (785nm,~80mw) into a polarization maintaining fiber PMJ-3HPC3A-780-5/125-3AS-1-5-1 (5nm core diameter) with a coupler installed on the laser head (Sacher TEC 400 laser) .The coupler has three tilt knobs and literal moving lens. I tried my best to couple maximum light but can't exceed coupling efficiency more than 0.1%. I am now frustrated and out of ideas. I also tried company instruction but again no luck. can you please suggest or help me find a way to resolve this problem. The below pictures are the instruction provided by company for coupling.

Comment: good video here:  http://shop.ozoptics.com/pmj-3u3u-850-5125-3-5-1
Answer: Do you have the means to free space couple a fiber with laser light at 780nm? If so you could remove the coupler from the laser and send light backwards into a fiber and have it exit out of the coupler. You could then adjust the sliding lens adjuster (using the tool provided) to ensure the fiber coupler is roughly collimated. A red fiber checker could work for this purpose. It won't be exactly right because red isn't the same as 780 nm but it's close enough for 1st pass alignments.
Make sure you properly understand the function of the 3 screws indicated with red arrows in the diagrams above. These screws provide counter-force against the alignment screws and hold the coupler in place but they can make adjustment of the adjustment screws (marked in green) a bit tricky.
Finally make sure the lens in the collimator slides easily when you adjust it with the slider tool (fig 3). There are also set screws (on the side body of the collimator) which lock the lens in the place so that the sliding mechanism does not work. If you try to adjust the lens when these set screws are locked you will end up stripping out the notch that the tool grabs onto in such a way that you can't really adjust the lens easily anymore. I've made this mistake. Make sure the set screws are loose enough that the lens slide but that tight enough that you have some control to reliably position the coupling lens.
0.1% is very low coupling efficiency. It seems like something is wrong. Make sure the fiber you are using is appropriately matched to the collimator. For example, a PC fiber should not be used with an APC fiber collimator/coupler and vice-versa. APC vs. PC.
If your problems persist I recommend contacting the company who provided the laser and/or coupler.
Answer: Thanks @jgerber for your comment. Did you have any experience on these type of couplers?. To me it seem like i am unable to hit the main focusing peak and wondering in some local maximas or tales of the maximas. I also tried to couple in an other single mode 785nm fiber but the efficiency remains more or less the same. Moreover the output of the laser after focusing lens is not symmetric in horizontal and vertical planes. When I paced a beam profier at approximately 60mm from the lens. The horizontal beam waist was 1972.1um while the vertical beam waist is 6027.3um but although its not symmetric I would expect two focusing points where the intensity shoots up. If your have any experience with such couplers how one can first find the main peak at first place for which the tilt mechanism then will ensure the maximum coupling.


How do I say, "I am willing to relocate", in my CV?

Question: I'd like some help with my CV. I want to add one sentence below my name, telling the company that I am free to relocate to any city.
I am not a native speaker and I am not sure about this.
Can anybody tell me how to say it? Which way is proper and professional?
Answer: Your question actually has a sentence in its body which would work: "free to relocate". It's not a complete sentence but CVs often use fragments such as that for brevity. You might also say "willing to relocate", etc. @Robusto's "will relocate" works too but it sounds to me like you are saying that you already know that you are relocating at some point in the future.
Comment: @santimirandarp I've never encountered that word in English and had to look it up. Stick with simpler language, like "available".
Comment: Is it fine to say *disponibility to relocate*?
Answer: Address the issue of relocation in a cover letter, rather than your CV, and tailor the description to the particular requirement of that position. A résumé or CV is a description of your previous experience, while a cover letter is where you should promote your suitability for a particular job - including requirements like relocation.
If for some reason it is absolutely impossible to provide a separate cover letter, consider adding a general Availability section with additional information such as dates you can begin working. "Willing to relocate" is a suitable phrase.
Answer: I've seen Open to relocation in many resumes.
Answer: One sentence, two words: "Will relocate."
Comment: @Nivas: No. It will be construed to mean that you are open to the possibility. It's just a shorthand way to say "I am willing to relocate if the job demands it." If it worries you, say something like that. Or put a positive spin to it: "I am willing to relocate for the right opportunity." That expresses your willingness to relocate but sets the bar high enough so that they realize they must have something good to offer before you will consider moving your household.
Comment: "I am willing to relocate for the right opportunity" sounds perfect :-)
Comment: But won't this also convey that I _will_ relocate (even if the job does not need it) to some other place sometime in the future?
Answer: "willing to relocate" - you can add this to your personal profile


What does 'Bad fame' mean on torchlight 2?

Question: I killed a particularly difficult purple monster, almost dying and chugging all of my potions. After I killed it, it said 'bad fame'. What does this mean?
Comment: I decided it was saying "800 Fame" (eight hundred fame) and the font just made it look like "Bad Fame" because it flashed by so quickly.  But maybe that was wishful thinking!
Answer: When you kill purple monsters (aka champions) you  get fame. Fame is like a second experience bar that when full, grants another skill point to assign. The levels have names like unknown, remarkable, etc.
I'm guessing that you are just starting the game and currently your fame is low and is labeled bad. This isn't a negative thing, just currently the name of your fame level. If you gained more fame and got another skill point it would change to another name.
Also see: What does the fame stat do?
Comment: I see, thanks. I thought maybe my fame had gone down from killing it or something!


Sizing a solar panel and battery for a simple solar application

Question: I am a novice. I want to correctly size a solar panel and battery for the following application. I will be powering 2, 6 watt cfl lights and a 40 watt incandescent light. I am planning on using 400 watt inverter from Northern Tool. I need the inverter because of the need for the 40 watt incandescent bulb which will be used as a heat source. The 40 watt bulb will be on 24 hours a day when the temperature is below 32 F. The two 6 watt cfl lights will run a maximum of 5 hours a day year round. I have done research on the internet, but so far some of the information I have obtained is contradictory. I live in southwestern Pennsylvania. What I need to know is the size of the solar panel in watts and the size of the battery Ah.
Comment: Similar: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/36273/powering-10watt-light-bulb-for-24-hours-using-solar-power
Answer: Using a 120 VAC inverter and a light bulb to keep your pipes from freezing is just a dumb idea.
If you need 40W worth of heat in an enclosed space, just select a bunch of power resistors that add up to that amount, screw them to a heatsink and run them directly from your 12 V battery. For example, a 15-ohm resistor will dissipate about 10W @ 12V, use four of them.
You can also get CFL lamps that run directly from 12V.
Let's say you need a run time of 48 hours, and you have a minimum of 6 hours to recharge.
Your load is drawing a daily average of 3.33 (heater) + 5/24 × 1 (lights) = about 3.5 A.
Multiply by 48 hours to get the battery capacity: 170 Ah
Batteries aren't perfectly efficient, so it'll take about 170 / 0.8 = 212.5 Ah to recharge it.
If you want to drive the load and recharge the battery in 6 hours, you need a panel capacity of about 40 A @ 12 V, or 480 W.
Answer: This is not an answer to your question, but got too big to be a comment.
About using solar-power to charge a battery, and then convert the battery energy to generate heat aftwerwards... in general, solar panel doesn't have a high convertion ratio, and the heat that you get from an incandescent light isn't good either (since you're generating light, not heat).
Wouldn't it be better to use the solar light directly to heat it to the desired temperature, and use solar energy to heat some water and store it, and use the water as teh heating element during the night?
Solar cell: efficiency of around 20% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_panel#Efficiencies)
Solar water heating: efficiency around 68% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_heating#Economics.2C_energy.2C_environment.2C_and_system_costs)
Answer: Lots of variables/unknowns here. There is no "correct" calculation, but here is an example.
Load : 12W cfl = 12W, 5/24 duty  => 12*5/24 * 24 h =  60 Wh
Load : 40W bulb= 40W, 24/24 duty => 40* 24 h       = 960 Wh
Total load per 24 hours =  1020 Wh.
Inverter efficiency: 50%  (check the data sheet). Inverter loss = 1020 Wh * 50% = 510 Wh, so  total load is about 1500 Wh per day.
Hours of autonomy: 48 (No sun for 48 hours). Your system must provide about 1500 Wh for 2 days, so a total load of 3000 Wh.
Load = 1500Wh/24h = 62.5W
Battery: Current I = Load/Voltage = 62.5W/12V = 5.2A DC
Battery Capacity = 5.2A * 48h = 250 Ah
Solar panel must provide enough current to charge a discharged battery plus provide for the load. Assume a maximum of 6 hours useful sun per day. You need 250 Ah to charge the battery in 6 hours = 250 Ah/6h = 41A + 5.2A for the load. Quite a current, and this does not take into account the battery efficiency, maybe 80%.
But this is a back-of-the-envelope calculation, your sun exposure may be better than 5 hours, and even on cloudy days the solar panel will charge some. My suggestion: If you have mains power not too far away, use it.


Is there a prescribed punishment for eavesdropping on your spouse

Question: If a husband consistently eavesdrops on his wife's phone calls with her family without her permission or knowledge and without any specific reason, is there a _shar`i) consequence for this? What about in the akhirah (afterlife) or on the Day of Judgment?
Answer: If we track back the Quran we are going to find that Allah doesn't detailed some queries because he puts some another auto-answering "if can i say" system in the human soul, it is clearly here that am talking about Al-Fitraa, if a Muslim wife complained about eavesdropping from his husband and the same case touches a non Muslim wife is it going to differ ? i don't think so, because this kind of problems are humanized, it means the Muslim or the non Muslim will going to feel that they have been cheated, it is the same feelings that causes same reactions in the same time with all human beings repeatedly, it is not like the standard believing judgments where a non Muslim will not care if it is Hallal or Haram, because they don't believe in what you believe in, so, Allah equipped you with Al-Fitraa that's going to judge without any arguing about Islamic rulings and what wounds Al-Fitraa will not satisfies Allah of course, i advise you to interpret on what makes your husband doubts about you and i suggest to communicate and solve the problem together.
Answer: Assalamu `Alaikum,
Please read tafsir of following verse:

O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful. - Al-Ĥujurāt 49:12

Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Arabic)
Tafheem ul Qur'an (English)
In addition to that;

Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales. and do not look for the others' faults, and do not do spying on one another, and do not practice Najsh, and do not be jealous of one another and do not hate one another, and do not desert (stop talking to) one another. And O, Allah's worshipers! Be brothers!" - Sahih Bukhari Volume 8 Book 73 Hadith 92

So it's prohibited, have faith in Allah (SWT) and He knows everything that we do;
Allah (SWT) says about wrong-doers

And the record [of deeds] will be placed [open], and you will see the criminals fearful of that within it, and they will say, "Oh, woe to us! What is this book that leaves nothing small or great except that it has enumerated it?" And they will find what they did present [before them]. And your Lord does injustice to no one. Al-Kahf 18:49

So have faith in Allah (SWT) and rely on him completely. He is best disposer of affairs.
Hope this helps,
Wassalam


PostGIS: Extract intersected areas with their related column values

Question: I have inserted a MultiPolygon table in PostGIS with the following columns:
id, e_id , p_id, com, geom
Assume that I have 4 polygons with overlapped areas with the following values:
id  com  geom
1   1_1  geom1
2   1_2  geom2
3   2_1  geom3
4   2_2  geom4

Is it possible to extract only the intersected areas and concatenate their related values ?
The result that I want to succeed is a table or shapefile like the following:
id  com      geom
1   1_1_2_1  geom1
2   2_1_2_2  geom2

If the polygon with id: 1 intersects with polygon with id: 3 and polygon with id: 3 intersects with polygon with id: 4
Until now I can extract only the geometries of intersected areas in a column with the following SQL code:
SELECT ST_INTERSECTION(a.geom, b.geom)
FROM mytable a, mytable b
WHERE a.ID < b.ID
AND ST_INTERSECTS(a.geom, b.geom);

Any suggestions?
UPDATE
with @JGH helpful answer, I managed to develop more my code and now I can concatenate the com values from two intersected areas.
The problem that remains the same is the id column that contains duplicate values. Is it possible to create a unique id column in the query ?
I tried SEQUENCE command in order to create a unique id column:
CREATE SEQUENCE serial START 1;
SELECT nextval('serial'),
a.com || '_' || b.com as com,
ST_INTERSECTION(a.geom, b.geom) as geom
FROM mytable a, mytable b
WHERE a.ID < b.ID
AND ST_INTERSECTS(a.geom, b.geom);

But it's not the solution that I wanted because, every time that I execute the code the id numbers increment.
Answer: You can add and manipulate fields in your query
SELECT
  a.com || '_' || b.com as com
  ST_INTERSECTION(a.geom, b.geom) as geom
FROM mytable a, mytable b
WHERE a.ID < b.ID
AND ST_INTERSECTS(a.geom, b.geom);

Comment: Thank you so much for your helpful answer !


Does the extension of trailing edge flaps increase or decrease the critical angle of attack?

Question:

Which graph is the correct representation of the trailing edge flaps' effect on the critical angle of attack? Does their extension increase (as depicted on the first graph) or decrease (as depicted on the second graph) the critical AoA?
Comment: @mins Increasing camber using TE flaps also increases the whole wings AoA. Which means critical AoA is reached earlier. Reverse example is extending only LE slats. Result is a reduced wings AoA, which means critical AoA increases. The fact that tips stall last when flaps are down comes from their small AoA, relative to increased AoA, flaps extended wing roots.
Comment: @min Then, what about the effect of the leading edge flaps on the critical AoA? You said the increased camber decreases the critical AoA, but the second graph shows extension of the leading edge flap, which also increases the camber of the wing, increases the critical AoA.
Comment: @qqjkztd is right, the virtual chord line obtained with the extension of the devices changes the measured angle of attack
Comment: I strongly suggest you read [How it flies?](http://www.av8n.com/how/htm/vdamp.html#sec-effect-of-flaps). It provides insight about how airflow is modified by flaps.
Answer: Both right and both wrong, both over simplifications based on unknown airfoils, and so on. Real aerodynamics is complicated and 3 dimensional.
Flaps usually increase the critical angle of attack a few degrees, but they also increase the effective angle of attack for a given pitch. So the net result is that the pitch of the aircraft will be similar at stall with or without trailing edge flaps, but the true AoA will increase.
Comment: Yes. But it's better not to involve pitch here: it can be confusing and is not directly relevant. Just AoA is sufficient. The convention for flapped wing is that AoA is always measured with the same reference as for the 'no flap' configuration. The 'effective AoA' concept is handy for explanation, but the end result is that the critical AoA may change either way. Typically it will _reduce_ for simple flaps.


How can we disable an unused smoke detector?

Question: We have wired ADT smoke detectors now. Our old free standing detector is chirping. How can we disable it without taking it off the wall?
Comment: If disused, why not remove it? You will at least need to remove it from the mount to take the battery out. If it's too old to be reliable, it should be properly recycled (many detectors have a small amount of radioactive material in them, and should not be discarded in trash.) If it still works, you should put a fresh battery in, rather than disabling it, if you are not going to remove it. Extra smoke detectors are not a bad thing...
Answer: Put a battery in it. Why wouldn't you want an additional layer of fire protection?
Comment: It's on the ceiling above a stairway. Apparently my husband put it there when he wasn't 93. If we remove it we won't have to deal with it again. There is a third smokevand CO detector in the same area.
Comment: I agree with this answer if it was installed less than 10 years ago (the usable life of most smoke detectors). Otherwise, the correct action is to remove and replace it--since there are already new smoke detector replacements installed nearby in this case, the correct action would be to remove it if it is over 10 years old.


Which branch of linguistics studies handwriting?

Question: In all 3 of the non-Latin-script languages I have learned to relative degrees of fluency, handwritten and printed forms differed significantly. Of course, this should not come as a surprise. Often, learning handwritten forms required a significant amount of practice. Of course, being a language geek, I took pleasure in it. But as for the study of handwriting itself, to which branch of linguistics does it belong? I'd like to read some scholarly stuff on this. Maybe there is even a methodology for sample collecting.
Comment: For ancient writing systems — which often require significant effort to decipher — the relevant field of study is called paleography.  For what it's worth, though, paleography isn't really treated as part of linguistics.  The only paleographers I've ever met have been in classics or history departments.
Comment: At least in Germany, the study of paleography is considered part of *Historische Hilfswissenschaften*, i.e., the scientific toolbox for historians.
Answer: I think Graphetics is the closest thing you'll get in Linguistics that among its studies subjects has the handwritten language.
As stated in the article: "Graphetics is to the study of writing as phonetics is to the study of spoken language. As such, it can be divided into two areas, visual graphetics and mechanical graphetics, which are analogous to auditory and articulatory phonetics, respectively. Both printed and handwritten language can be the subject of graphetic study."
Emphasis and bold are mine.
Comment: Daniels and Bright's _[The World's Writing Systems](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195079930),_ while not cheap, is the gold standard for both ancient and current systems. They cover **everything**.
Answer: As mentioned above, anything that is related to the study of handwriting in historical documents is part of paleography. Paleography is a large discipline that covers all kinds of writing systems from widely different periods, and it includes the study of handwritten (as opposed to printed or epigraphical) writing. Handwritten forms of writing are often labelled as cursive or running writing, i.e. scripts typically used for everday purposes and/or for private correspondence. The letters of cursive writing tend to be "sloppier" than printed ones and they tend to be interconnected much more frequently.
For the scientific study of (past and present) writing systems in general there are the terms graphemics and graphetics. As in phonemics vs. phonetics, the former one is mainly concerned with the system of distinctive signs, while the second one is concerned with how those distinctive signs appear in actual scripts.
Graphemics and graphetics are not to be confused with graphology, the latter being a pseudo-scientific method of drawing conclusions about someone's psychology by analysing their personal handwriting.
There is to my knowledge no specific term for the scientific analysis of handwritten (as opposed to printed) writing. If you are looking for more information, your best bet is probably to search for cursive writing of whatever script you are interested in.
Answer: Despite the existence of a name for a subfield ('graphetics') and a reasonable expectation of study, the currently accepted faculty of linguistics as practiced in most universities these days does not consider handwriting as part of their domain; that is, linguists on the whole do not tend to study and discuss handwriting. Linguistics as currently practiced deals only with  spoken language).
The faculties where handwriting is studied in general are cognitive psychology (with respect to how people read it) or clinical psychiatry (evidence of problems shown in handwriting phenomena (the respectable arm of graphology), computer vision (recognition of handwritten characters), or history/archaeology (deciphering of old scripts). Written language (where handwritten script is a special, but not specially considered, case, is studied in literature departments.
If you want to find out about handwriting academically, I suggest looking to foreign language teaching literature for the individual scripts concerned. For example, look in instruction material for Hebrew, in English, that describes how one is supposed to draw the script version of characters. As that might be too practical, more scholarly discussion of handwriting will probably be limited to a foreign language teacher's special monograph, that is, most likely -not- a linguist but a specialist in one particular language/writing system.
Answer: Graphemics/graphetics is more of a sibling field to linguistics than a child. Their parent would be semiotics: spoken language represents ideas, written language represents spoken language (usually). So maybe graphemics/graphetics is more of a niece or nephew since it's dependent on the existence of spoken language...
Answer:
the study of handwriting itself, to which branch of linguistics does it belong?

This kind of hierarchical thinking is fundamentally flawed. The concept of university ought to some extent be self-descriptive.
On the risk of commiting a true etymological fallacy to the extent that it is fallacious if and only if the etymology is wrong, I would argue that the hiero- ("holy") in Hieroglyphics is a doublet of chiro- ("hand") because monumental, epigraphic hieroglyphs are disproportionately overrepresented in contrast to the Hieratic papyri. The hieroglyphs make this quite clear:  mḏꜣt (Gardiner Y1 "papyrus roll")  mdw-nṯr ("word of god")  mdw ("word; speech; text; command; plea")  zẖꜣ (Gardiner Y3 "scribe's equipment") zẖꜣw-mdw-nṯr ("Egyptian hieroglyphic writing"), cp. Sumerian dub "tablet", dub-sar "writer", Greek diphthera, Mycenaean , Latin letter, etc. but Luwian  /īssaris/, Old Persian d-s-t /dasta/ "hand"; hiero- is uncertain but PIE *ser- has been suggested.
The cursive Hieratic hands make this much less clear, which is an actual problem of epic proportions.
This does, admittedly, not amount to defeating evidence. It is still a worthwhile exercise to try and pinpoint the origins of χ chi as in χειρ "hand" as opposed to other hand signs. Psychology is necessary prerequisite because those guys were cray-cray.

A related topic which other answers haven't mentioned is forensics. If you are researching whodunit and you cannot determine a suspect because they religiously cross all the t's and dot the i's, forensic linguistics may be able to help.

Graphetic is potentially a misnomer, if following the the etic / emic distinction, i.e. "Of or pertaining to analysis of a culture from a perspective situated outside all cultures" (en.WT: "etic"), that was modeled on the example of phonetic / phonemic.
NB: Meletis & Dürscheid (2022) For the difference between graphetics and graphematics, as pointed out by Seyr (2023, in: Hierpglyphs 1)

Meletis, D. & Dürscheid, Ch. 2022. Writing systems and their use: an overview of grapholinguistics, Trends in Linguistics,
Studies and Monographies 369. Berlin & Boston, De Gruyter & Mouton.


How to make ends of a beveled curve sharp?

Question:
I want to make the ends of these curves sharp, and i want it to remain closed even if i move the bevel start and end point of the curves, the curves are generated by ivygen, i want to make it look like they're growing, but i want the ends sharp
Comment: in Curves panel select another curve to be the Taper object
Answer: Note: This wont work when you change the bevel begin and end as required. I will let it be posted as an answer if someone else finds it useful.
Depends on your need... this is one way.
Set the Radius to zero on your tip curve vertex.
Comment: sorry, i forgot to mention the curves were generated by ivygen
Comment: And missed the thing where you needed to fiddle with the bevel begin and end :-P


Guitar setup for which tuning?

Question: I play songs by breaking benjamin and other rock and metal bands which are in low tunings like drop C but i also play in standard when i play for church. I want to get a new acoustic but im unsure what to get my guitar setup to. I only have enough money for one new acoustic and my current one sucks. Its an esteban vintage 2008. My question is what should i get my new guitar setup for? Drop C or standard and if i do get it setup for drop c will it mess something up if i tune it up to standard and back to C constantly. My esteban is so bad it doesnt even have a trus rod so its not like i can get that one setup properly. I think the esteban was made to work with specifically standard but it just sucks and i want to get rid of it. So should i setup my acoustic for c or standard? Just fyi. Sometimes i play in tunings lower than c but not often.
Comment: I'd be surprised if you had no truss rod in the neck of that guitar, otherwise it would probably look like a long U it would be that bent. Really, save your money, experiment with other (cheaper) things such as different string guages and also play your lower tuned songs in a higher tuning (Drop D for example).
Comment: @JamieBrace A lot of classical/flamenco guitars have no truss rod or at least no adjustable one.
Comment: @ToddWilcox well that shows how often I come near a classical guitar! You learn something new every day it seems haha!
Answer: I admire your diversity in the exercise of your craft!  From Rock and Metal to church - that's some versatility!
You should have the guitar set up for the lowest tuning you will use regularly. If you have your guitar set up for standard tuning, and you have the relief and action set according to the way most folks like their acoustic guitars (reasonably low) then you will likely have some fret buzz when you drop the tuning.
To understand why this happens, let's look at what the truss rod does on a guitar.
Steel strings exert tension on the neck of the guitar.  The higher your tuning (assuming a given string gauge) the more tension will be exerted by the strings.  If you could actually tighten all six strings at once you could watch the neck bow as you tightened the tuning gears.
To compensate for that string tension, most steel string guitars are equipped with a truss rod (or two).  Tightening the truss rod pulls the neck in the opposite direction than the strings are pulling it - to keep the neck from looking like a boomerang and keep the action playable.
When you drop your tuning - you are relaxing the string tension exerted on the neck and if you don't simultaneously reduce the counter tension of the truss rod, the neck will be pulled flatter by the truss rod or could even end up with a reverse bow.  When that happens your strings don't have enough clearance above the frets so you will get fret buzz.
Since it is impractical (and unwise) to make truss rod adjustments during a live performance, you should set up the guitar for the lower tuning.  Then you can play buzz free on both the lower and standard tuning.  But you will have slightly higher action in standard tuning.  You could try a lighter gauge string if this higher action makes it too difficult to cleanly fret some barre chords.
If you have enough time between your rock and metal gigs/practice and church, you could adjust the truss rod between tunings. The first time you adjust the truss rod, make very minor adjustments (no more than 1/4 turn at a time) and give the guitar neck some time to react to the truss rod adjustment before turning it some more. Closely monitor (write it down) how many 1/4 turns it takes so you will know how many to turn in the opposite direction to go to the other tuning and for future reference.
Having said that, I don't think I would want to be continually loosening and tightening the truss rod on any of my guitars.  You could end up stripping the threads on the truss rod or perhaps weakening the neck if you did it often enough.
So my best advice is to set up the guitar for the lower tunings you will use and just live with the higher action when playing at church. With your talent, it won't be long before you are getting paid so much in your rock and metal gigs that you can afford a second guitar and have one set up for metal/rock and one set up for church.
Good luck and have fun playing.
Comment: I would add the minor caveat that if you are permanently setting up for an altered tuning, you can optimize the feel by buying strings of an appropriate guage, but I would **not** recommend doing this for a guitar that is sometimes in a lowered tuning. Normally you would want a thicker guage for a lowered tuning, but you don't want to have that guage on the guitar when you tune up to standard. So use standard guage strings and set up for the lowered tuning.
Comment: @ToddWilcox  good point.  Drop tuning usually sounds and feels better with heavier strings.  So if a dedicated guitar is available for the lower tension tunings, it would often be outfitted with heavier strings than the same player would use for standard tuning.  But in this case, for a guitar that must do both, heavier strings are not indicated.
Comment: Youve both helped. Thank you!! What if i kept two sets of strings. The heavier set for lower tuning and a normal set for standard tuning?
Comment: Changing strings back and forth every week seems like a major hassle.  Winding and unwinding the strings could contribute to a greater likelihood of string breakage (bending back and forth will reduce tensile strength).  When you wind the string on the tuning peg, it develops a memory.  It's difficult to get it back exactly the same way.  You could just put a new set of strings on twice a week but eventually you would spend as much on strings as just getting another guitar.  Just use your favorite string gauge for std. tuning until you can afford a 2nd guitar.  Or borrow one on church day.

Guitar setup for which tuning?


Is there a reason not to use Bamboo to run repetitive tasks instead of cron?

Question: Is there a reason it would be a bad decision to use Bamboo ( or Jenkins ) to execute a scheduled task ( say every 15 minutes ) rather than using a cron job?
Comment: Yes, what type of task(s) are you running?
Comment: Let's say that it's a task that takes 2 minutes to run and has to be run every 15 minutes.
Comment: Assuming it can be any sort of task: a bash script, a php script, a grunt task, a binary.
Answer: Using task schedulers like Bamboo or Airflow have a lot of advantages over cron, particularly in their ability to recognize errors and process dependent tasks accordingly.  By far the most common reason not to use them is that you simply haven't set up the infrastructure yet: some form of cron is installed on every Linux machine, and it's easy to add a new job in, whereas these more advanced schedulers require setting up fleets of machines, installing and configuring various pieces of software, and learning how to write new tasks.
Assuming that you already have this in place, though, there are a few usecases that cron handles better:

Running a job on a specific machine.  You can do this with other schedulers, but they're generally designed for tasks that can be run on any one of a set of machines; when you want to do something like run a log rotation on every server in your fleet, that's much easier to set up with cron.
Running time-sensitive tasks at exact times.  Distributed schedulers will schedule a job to run, but it may not actually run for some period of time, depending on what else is in the queue.  Cron doesn't have a queue, and so a task that needs to run every minute will run every minute (or at least as close to that as the OS scheduler will allow).
Comment: Just two remarks: any cron job output will be mailed to job owner, any non zero exit code will also trigger a mail even with no output, configuring mail alias is an usual task to have information about failures, linked to a ticketing system handling mail on critical tasks.  Anacron allow loosely coupled tasks to run (do jobs which would have run during a downtime) as well as precise timing  jobs along with usual cron definition IIRC
Comment: the timing of cronjobs is usually only good to the nearest minute unless you use  http://www.gnu.org/software/mcron/manual/mcron.html or similar
Comment: Emailing on error is good, but Airflow for instance has DAGs of tasks, and so it can abort running later tasks if a prereq task fails; they also only run the later tasks after the prereqs have finished, which is often a problem with cron when tasks take longer over time (due to processing a dataset that's growing).  Regarding nearest minute, that's what I intended to say; distributed schedulers can often queue up tasks for five minutes (or way more!) if a bunch of jobs are triggered at the same time.
Answer: Possible reasons for using cron over jenkins
I am assuming you mean cron on a Linux system and not a Kubernetes CronJob Controller (https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/cron-jobs/)
1) User permissions.  Although you can work around this with Jenkins, it is possibly easier to run commands as arbitary users in cron
2) Provisioning of commands.  You might want to be able to set up the commands with Puppet using a cron type.  Again, I'm sure Jenkins can be configured in this way but it's possibly easier in some circumstances to configure cron
3) Lightweight.  All Linux/Unix hosts run cron as a basic service that is always available.  Whereas Jenkins requires extra non standard items to be installed and running


Academic changing universities: How to negotiate start date to minimise problems with leaving previous university with little notice?

Question: I have an offer at another university.  It is late June, just got it.  They want me asap.  I have asked to not go until after the fall semester as we have an accreditation site visit as well as a faculty member coming back for their first semester after cancer treatment.  I don't want to stress out the department with a job search now and to go through the site visit without me.  I literally have my current university's contract in my hand and have not returned it.  I would like to ask them if I can accept for just the fall semester.  That would give us time to get through our very important site visit, and the fall semester.  It would also provide 5 months for them to fill my position.  My fear is if I ask they could say no.  If I don't ask, I'm not sure what if any penalties there would be.  I want to do the right thing but not sure what to do.  Suggestions?
Comment: Have you already signed and returned your contract for the next academic year?  If so, you've got an obligation.  If not, you'd be within your rights to simply leave.  Have you accepted the offer from the other university?  Have you talked to them about the possibility of starting in the spring of 2017 instead of the fall of 2016?
Comment: does your department know that you have another job offer?
Comment: When I read/misread @sally question, it sounds as if she is asking about 'how to negotiate *end* date?' (She worries whether her 'old' institution will let her sign a shortened contract or not  and appears to not have talked to them yet about leaving. She has  however said that she informed the new institution that she wants to wait 5 months. Did I read it incorrectly?
Answer: Also look at Possible to leave a contract academic position shortly after signing new contract? [closed]
But the decision appears not yours to make from my reading of the wording of the question.
If the current institution says no to a one semester contract, then the answer is given, as it would be kind of ridiculous to keep putting off the new position (assuming one wants to accept it) for however many years the old place keeps renewing the year-to-year contract.
But lets imagine that the OP is in a position where he/she is negotiating with both sides to stay one semester. The former department has requested that they 'need' the OP just a little bit longer. Accommodate the request or not?
There is no ethical obligation to stay (how would people ever change positions otherwise?). A junior faculty in a field where everyone knows everyone and a collaborative team player reputation is highly prized, might find it a smooth move to attempt to negotiate to stay one last semester at the desperate request of the former department. (If the new place says no, well then, figuring that out as soon as possible is more important to the old department than anything else).
But, even so, I get a sense from the question that the OP feels guilty for leaving, (which is normal).  I also suspect that is it pretty easy to mistake anxiety-over-getting-out-of-project  with being indispensable. ("It won't be done the way I would have done it" is not the same as being indispensible)


Columns disappear on page refresh

Question: Using SharePoint Designer 2010, if I add a table column to a XsltListViewWebPart it shows in the designer (always) but only shows in the browser once -- if the browser is refreshed the, a different view is displayed from then on.
For example, I start with a simple list and insert it on page (e.g., DataView), preview in designer, save, and preview in browser. All fine.  Choose a column in table, insert column to left, preview in designer, save, and preview in browser. All fine. (just empty column). Refresh browser, all columns except title disappear (and Attachment columns appears!).  No way to recover except delete and start over. Seems to depend on where in the site / subsite page exists whether this occurs or not (e.g., default.aspx has this error, but not page in sub-site used for trying things out.)
More info: It seems that if any change to the XLST is made,
<ViewFields>
    <FieldRef Name="LinkTitle"/>
    <FieldRef Name="FY"/>
    <FieldRef Name="Due_x0020_Date"/>
    <FieldRef Name="Status"/>
    <FieldRef Name="Clock"/>
    <FieldRef Name="Program"/>
    <FieldRef Name="Note_x0020_to_x0020_PM"/>
</ViewFields>

is changed to this (on the server):
    <ViewFields>
        <FieldRef Name="Attachments"/>
        <FieldRef Name="LinkTitle"/>
    </ViewFields>

and can't be changed at that point.  (I guess.)
There isn't an  tag.
Answer: Check for commented section in the page something like . Delete this part and retry

Columns disappear on page refresh


What are the common mistakes PhD candidates make in their final defense session?

Question: For a PhD candidate that has done a fine job in their PhD, what are the common mistakes to avoid in a defense session?
Comment: Being too worried about it.  I was pretty nervous, but in the end it was more of a stimulating discussion than anything else.
Comment: @Steven Not being nervous enough could also backfire. I've seen it happen.
Comment: As @StevenGubkin says, the point of the defense is for the committee to understand what you did. You're just giving a talk to a willing audience!
Answer: How the dissertation defense works varies enormously between fields, countries, universities, and departments.  Any guidance has to take into account what the expectations are.
For example, in the defenses I'm familiar with, there are no common mistakes at all.  In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone do anything worth calling a mistake.  Here, the defense is basically a formality: you don't reach that point unless your advisor and readers are happy with your dissertation and confident you will easily pass, and in practice nobody fails unless something goes dreadfully wrong.  That can happen (I know of one case in which a serious mistake was uncovered at the last minute, which was certainly embarrassing to both the candidate and the committee), but I've never actually been present when someone failed.  So if someone from my department asked me about common mistakes they should avoid, I'd tell them not to worry about it: making it to the defense is the hard part, and then passing it is really straightforward.  It's more of a celebratory ritual than an actual test.
But of course this depends on how the defense is handled in your department.
Comment: @Calchas - In case you can afford the time, I guess people in this thread would be willing to hear about the reasons why that bloke got a _flat out "No"_. What exactly did he do to deserve it?
Comment: Where I did my PhD it was even further to the side you describe. Before the defense one gets an email with a formal letter attached stating that the thesis has been approved (i.e. stating that the work is worthy of a PhD). Essentially the only way to fail at the defense is if it turns out you did not do the work yourself.
Comment: @TheDarkSide: maybe the university procedures don't really account for someone who wants to defend the indefensible, so if the candidate ignores all advice and insists, then they're entitled to submit and defend, and the only way to stop them would be to expel them first (which is even more hassle)?
Comment: @Mehrdad: I don't know the details (it was some years ago, and I wasn't directly involved).  As I remember it, during the week before the defense one of the readers found a serious mistake in a central part of the work, which everything else depended on.  It looked like it could plausibly be fixed, but it wasn't 100% clear whether or how it could.  The student was reluctant to cancel the defense, and he worked like crazy to try to fix the mistake before the defense, but he didn't succeed and didn't pass.  However, he passed on his second try, after spending a few months fixing everything.
Comment: @TheDarkSide From what I understand, it was obvious to everyone he was not going to pass, it is not quite as simple as he did no work but I remember vaguely seeing him always playing computer games in the office rather than doing any work. In his final year, I understand his advisor counselled him to change his registration to an MSci by Research and work towards that, but he didn't wish to do that. Actually the PhD examiners did have power to make that award instead of a PhD, but they decided to fail him immediately . I don't believe he appealed their decision. It was not a normal case.
Comment: @Calchas - Haha, no but what I meant was, if the writing was already on the wall, how did things get to the stage of dissertation defence?
Comment: @TheDarkSide This was in the UK so there is a hard limit of four years on the PhD, which cannot be exceeded in normal circumstances. Presumably he was entitled to insist on an examination, and I suppose he felt he had nothing to lose by trying.
Comment: I know one person who was flat out told "No" and another who was told to rewrite the thesis from scratch (he eventually passed). In both cases though it was not entirely a surprise.
Comment: @TheDarkSide Come to think of it there was another guy from my group who was awarded an MSci instead of a PhD after his viva. I am not sure what that says about the quality of our group!
Comment: @Anon: The case where you mentioned a serious mistake was uncovered last minute -- what kind of a mistake was it? Could you give any more info?
Answer: Let me turn the question around and answer what I want a PhD candidate to demonstrate during a defense. There are in reality only 3 things:

Demonstrate mastery of the subject, i.e., understand where the problem you researched comes from, why it is relevant, what others have already done, and why their approaches are insufficient.
That you have made a creative contribution to resolving the question you worked on. The creative contribution may really have been only a single idea or insight, grounded in an understanding of the field. In reality, you will have likely developed it jointly with your adviser.
That you have followed up this idea with diligent, comprehensive work that explored the potential and consequences of the idea.

If you cover these three topics, you will be on the good side.
Now for the common mistakes: Among the bad or difficult PhD defenses I have sat through -- of which unfortunately there were a number -- the candidate typically covered only one or two of the areas above. I can think of defenses where a candidate demonstrated good, diligent work, but was almost entirely unaware of the scientific background of the work. I can also think of defenses where the candidate understood the field well, but all of the work was essentially applying existing methods to problems to which it had previously been applied. And I can think of defenses where the candidate had had an idea, but whether the idea was worthwhile pursuing or not had not been explored in any kind of detail through follow-up work. In other words, I've seen PhD candidates make all kinds of mistakes. In reality, I think that the problem was in all of these cases not with the defense, but with the candidate, as usually becomes apparent during the Q&A session at the end.
Comment: The mistakes you list also seem to indicate that the candidate's advisor has done a poor job.
Comment: Just for my own sake so I don't screw up when it's my turn -- how do you want the balance to be between the presentation and the dissertation? For example, if a dissertation covers all 3 but the presentation is only supposed to be 30 minutes so it focuses on 1 or 2 of the areas, is that a *mistake*? It seems hard to cover any one of the areas in a short presentation while all 3 seem possible in the full text.
Comment: @tpg2114: Have a brief introduction (maybe 5 minutes) of the field and the question you're looking at, and then spend the rest of your time on the other two points. Your mastery of the subject will become apparent throughout the defense and the questions.
Comment: @tpg2114 I guess it depends on the form the defense takes, but where I am i would see it as the examiners' job not to finish the defence until they are sufficiently satisfied with all 3. I guess you could mess up by de-railing all their questions, but I'd expect that to indicate one of the 3 was missing anyway.
Comment: @MarcClaesen: Yes. As well as cases where a student forced the issue because they had a job lined up and requested the defense even though the adviser was not convinced it was time yet.
Answer: IMO, the most common is being defensive (perhaps encouraged by the name of the ritual). For instance if a member asks "Why did you use Smith's procedure...", and the candidate starts backtracking and apologizing, saying "I suppose I could have used Jones' procedure, that would have been better", when the question simply asks you to explain why you used Smith's procedure.
Comment: You mean it's not supposed to literally be [a defense of your thesis?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrlro3YJ15o) That takes all the fun out of it! :(
Comment: @MasonWheeler: I was certain you're going to link this: https://xkcd.com/1403/
Comment: I'd thought for sure [this picture](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--ZvxnH5JFFU/TxNVkityzWI/AAAAAAAAA00/IE2OeHSSCvo/s1600/PeerReview-ACS.gif) would suit the situation if something ever did.
Answer: In the end, the person in the room who probably knows most about the work done is the candidate.

Don't get nervous
Make sure your slides cover what you did, in sufficient detail. Don't overdo it, your time is limited. Make sure (e.g. by rehearsing) you fit in the allotted time. Might have to only show a slice for this, select it carefully.
When asked about stuff outside your direct work, it can be better to say you don't know than to try to come up with an explanation on the spot.
Check possible questions (within reason!) and have answers ready
Comment: All due respect, but bullet 4 is easier said than done. You can't anticipate _everything_.
Answer: I have been to multiple defenses, some common/general mistakes:

Not knowing why they use certain methods as opposed to others. Meaning that you can answer what you are doing and how the formula works, but you can't answer why not use X method instead.
Not knowing the specifics of certain methods/formulas and their reasons. Ex: we take X from Y, and you can't answer why you can/should take X from Z. more realistically: we take a measurement from the center, why not the top or bottom?
Charts with too little information, and trying to make connections that "are there" in most datasets, but doesn't imply they will be in yours. Don't create curved lines if you are missing dots.
Not knowing what is the importance of whatever it is that you are doing. Can you answer the question: "How is this useful for someone else?"
Answers in the following form: why are you using "matlab?", you: because my advisor said so. Expected response: because my advisor has plenty of experience with it and we know it can solve the problem better than other software.
Answer: The worst mistake you can make is to insist on defending on a certain date, over your advisor's objections.  (I have seen this happen.)

If I may be forgiven a small anecdote:  My aunt was asked a question in her defense (physics) that she didn't know how to answer.  She said to the questioner, "Perhaps a sketch will help make this clear," and attempted to draw some coordinate axes... which didn't come out straight... and after several erasures and retries, the questioner got fed up and said, "It's okay, I know you know it, let's move on."
Comment: I'm sorry, but I didn't follow the point of your anecdote. Could you please make that explicit? It seems to give the impression that you are suggesting derailment.
Comment: @TheDarkSide - I don't understand what or who might be getting derailed... but the anecdote is supposed to give an example of a committee wanting to help the baby bird get out of the nest (i.e. the department).
Answer: A common mistake to avoid is getting too nervous or defensive, and trying to cover up the limits of your knowledge.  The committee will try to explore the limits of your knowledge and keep pressing for answers to increasingly difficult questions until you say "I don't know."  Be expecting this.  It's OK to not know the answer, especially when the question is not core to your thesis.  If you can identify why a question is not core to your thesis, and articulate that clearly, you get bonus points for that (as long as you do it tactfully and don't imply that it's a bad question).  Also, depending on the committee, they may be looking for a better answer like "I don't know, but for X reason(s) I suspect the answer might be Y and I would go about finding the answer by Z."  If the question is core to your thesis, offer to find out the answer and get back to them (especially if they're on your committee).
The better your presentation, the more questions you're likely to get that try to expand outward into territory you haven't prepared for.  Take that as a good sign!


What is the recommended angle to set the Pole angle to when setting up an IK rig?

Question: Is there a specific or recommended degree to set the pole angle at when setting up an IK? I've read that 90 or 180/-90 or -180 are good degrees to set it to, but does it matter? Can any degree be picked so long as everything is aligned and straight to a person's satisfactory? Or are there any repercussions from doing this?
Answer: In the ideal case, you should have the pole value set to zero, reaching the desired behaviour by tweaking the bones roll in edit mode, and it's a habit to choose positive X axis as main bone rotation. The more your rotations happen on a single axis, the easier is to edit the animation with the graph editor, and this is the reason why - 90 and 90 degrees are considered "good values" (they "swap" the main rotation from X to Z axis). In a Pro rig the pole set to zero lets the animator to tweak it for special purposes and reset the default value easily. Aside from theese considerations, if the rig is used by its creator, you can set that value as you want, without any other bad repercussion (as far as I know).
Comment: Thanks for the explanation. I'm currently having a hard time getting my bones and IKs to behave properly. Looks like I'll have to experiment with the bone rolls a bit...
Comment: A good habit is to have the IK chian set not straight, with a little (or even big) angle toward the desired movement, in this way the IK algorithm will try to resolve the way we want.