How long does a fully upgraded Artifact weapon take to finish in World of Warcraft? And where should you be farming Artifact Power?

Question: I successfully made a fully upgraded relic weapon in FFXI(2 months for level 99, 2 months for 119+), and was curious how much time i was going to be investing in my artifact weapon? I am at the 16,000ish mark for my next level up.
As far as where to farm artifact power, I've just been doing the daily world quests-which seem to grant around 2500 AP? Is there a better way, or is there something else I should be doing for more power?
Comment: The real crux of this question is Artifact Knowledge. It's difficult to given a specific answer given the scaling nature and catch up mechanisms.
Answer: Leveling up your Artifact will solely depend on your Artifact Knowledge which increases Artifact Power gains. As you become more knowledgeable with your Artifact, you gain a percentage increase which is not retroactive (saving AP related items won't increase when your knowledge increase), the bonuses range from 50% (level 2) to 24,900% (level 25). With this will take a long time, the total AP cost to max traits on your Artifact is 5,216,220, once you finish those traits you move into 'paragon' area. Your first three paragon points will cost 5,560,200 AP and increase from there.
AP levels are as followed:

= 100
= 300
= 325
= 350
= 375
= 400
= 425
= 450
= 525
= 625
= 750
= 875
= 1000
= 6840
= 8830
= 11280
= 14400
= 18620
= 24000
= 30600
= 39520
= 50880
= 64800
= 82500
= 105280
= 138650
= 182780
= 240870
= 315520
= 417650
= 546000
= 718200
= 946660
= 1245840

So really, the gist of it is: invest the time and you'll have a pretty well rounded weapon. This entire system requires time, if you plan on not playing in 2 months then you shouldn't worry about it too much.
Answer: The amount of Artifact power (AP) is only limited by your play time and ability to quickly clear dungeons (especially Mythic+ dungeons).
There are a few things at work here. First of, artifact Knowledge. Artifact Knowledge increases the AP gains, and works exponentially. You can find a nice table on WoWHead.
In the future, you will be able to acquire Artifact knowledge more quickly, but details are yet unknown:

One "hidden" feature of the Artifact system is that the rate at which your Artifact Knowledge Work Orders complete speeds up over time. The system keeps track of the time that it's been since the release of the expansion, and how long it takes to process Artifact Knowledge Work Orders and gain Artifact Knowledge will reduce as time goes on. So whether you're just working on an alternate character or you're not playing cutting-edge player, the system will gives you ways to "catch up" as time goes on.

Source: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/news/20286674
Next, there are World Quests (WQs) that give AP, certain rare mobs, and alot of treasures. The treasures and WQs are limited, though. The first random heroic ini per day yields increased AP, but subsequent runs still yield AP.
Mythic+ dungeons also reward AP, and the AP rewards increase with the difficulty of the keystone.
WowProgress show artifact power rankings. It has the highest AP currently (17.10.2016) at 2,770,964 - since you need  5,216,130 Artifact Power to get all 34 traits of one wepon, nobody has yet done that. And after the initial 34 traits you can get 20 ranks in a "bonus trait", for a total of 60,040,200 Artifact Power (see http://www.wowhead.com/guides/legion/artifact-weapons#knowledge).
So how long will it take to finish those? Thats impossible to answer. For players that invest much time, shorter then for others. For people who start well after the launch of legion, it will take shorter then for people who do it right now.
At some point somone will finish the weapon, and when that time comes, we will have a lower bound for the time (before the catch-up kicks in significantly). Right now, it would only be wild speculation. But I'd guess it will take most people several months to max out their weapons, maybe even most of the whole expansion.
Update 30.10.2016
The first players have now unlocked all 34 artifact traits (see http://www.wowprogress.com/artifact_power/) and started unlocking bonus traits. This means that it took pretty much exactly 2 months to complete the first "stage" of the artifact weapon. Those players have done well over 600 Mythic+ dungeons, so it will take longer for most other players (but then again, there will be a catch-up).
Answer: After getting enough AP into both weapon specs, I've noticed you get a lot more AP the higher you go. The Artifact research notes increase the amount of AP items give you. I was getting 3k for an elite WQ, and 900 for the most basic now. Just to add to the current topic, you will get more AP the farther in your progression for a weapon that you are.
Comment: It's not at all related to how far into the progression of a weapon you are, but instead directly related to how many times you've completed Artifact Research. Artifact Research applies across all weapons regardless of if you've invested any power into them or not.
Answer: This post from Ask Mr. Robot will answer your questions.  To summarize the contents, you can earn 2400+ AP daily and it'll take 14 weeks to unlock all traits and 27 weeks to fully upgrade
Comment: @nly "Note that this data is the minimum you'll have if you do all activities, as it doesn't account for drops from mobs or rares that give Artifact Power."  It says right at the top of the infographic that they're assuming you're getting the minimum.  A fully accurate answer is specific to each player
Comment: That blog post is not accurate. Some numbers (artifact sources) are missing and a few others are different/wrong. It's just summarizing the very least minimum you can get from doing quests and daily stuff.
Comment: Ok, so they had a good guess at what you can get from fixed sources (excluding all variable sources, like drops, missions, etc).
Comment: @dly Its not a good answer but its not a good question.  Valid, but too player specific to be good
Comment: Yep, that's true. :)


Is every subset of a metric space a metric subspace?

Question: Is every subset of a metric space a metric subspace? A simple proof does justify that all are subspaces, still, wanted to know if I missed something.
Answer: To be completely precise, all subsets of a metric space equipped with the induced metric are metric subspaces. You could also equip the subsets with other metrics, and then they wouldn't be metric subspaces.
(Strictly speaking you could also not equip them with a metric at all, and then they aren't metric subspaces because they aren't even metric spaces).
Comment: Yes,  exactly what I meant! Thanks a lot! I'm trying to find if there's any criteria to find if a normal space has a (not- closed) subspace which is not normal, now I can rule out metric spaces.
Answer: All the definition of a metric subspace of $(X,d)$ is is a subset $Y\subset X$ together with the metric $d|_{Y\times Y}$. So the subsets themselves aren't metric subspaces, but they can be made into subspaces by giving them a restriction of $d$ as a metric.
Comment: Technically it's $d|_{Y\times Y}$ rather than $d|_Y$.
Comment: Yeah sorry, that's what I meant!
Comment: @user123123 you answer, is for me the useful one. Thanks!
Answer: Let $(x,p)$ be metric space and letting $Y$ be a non empty subset of $X$. Define the function $§$ on $Y$. $Y$ by $§(x,y)=p(x,y)$ for all $x,y$ in $Y$.Then $(Y,§)$ is also a metric space called a subspace of the metric space $(x,p)$.


employer lying about not selling the company

Question: the employer i work for has stated they are not selling the dealership but there are very strong rumors and someone that works for another dealer that stated they are buying our dealership. the regional manager came in and had a meeting stating that they are not selling, our manager just quit out of the blue, and there have been corporate contractors on the property marking areas for what looks like financing. also the office clerks came through marking and taking inventory of all company owned tools and equipment. just curious if they do end up selling and have lied to us this whole time if there is a case or not.
Answer: It depends where you are located. If in the U.S., this is likely completely legal.
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck... Yes, they are probably selling the business.
They're lying so they will still have employees during this transition. If they told everyone that in a couple of weeks a new owner will be overseeing things at that they cannot guarantee any of you will be kept on, then everyone would quit and go find new employment. Your manager caught wind of what was happening and did exactly that, maybe you should too.
Comment: im in california.
Comment: And I'm betting you're an at-will employee as well? Which would mean they can terminate your employment for almost any reason.
Comment: basically yes, im a mechanic.


Are campden tablets necessary?

Question: I use distilled water in wine making. Is campden necessary when I use distilled water?
Comment: I think others are doing a great job at attempting to answer this question- but really there isn't enough information here. Why are you using water? How much? What is the recipe? What are you intending to use the campden for?
Comment: Guess it depends n the country. I've been making fruit wines with plain tap water in Germany, but tap water tends to ruin my beer in the US.
Answer: Campden (or rather sodium meta-bisulphite, which is its active ingredient) serves multiple purposes in wine making. It removes chloramine from municipal tap water, but in your case that is unnecessary since you use chlorine-free water.
It serves as a microbial inactivator, which means that in low acidity musts (i.e. insufficient acidity to keep microbes in check) it helps to prevent microbial infections.
It serves as an oxygen scavenger, which means it acts as a wine stabilizer that prevents oxidation. In commercial wine making it is commonly used for this purpose, the 'Contains sulphites' notice on the back of bottle refers to sodium or potassium metabisulphite, i.e. Campden.
So even if you don't need Campden to de-chlorinate your water, it can still be useful in wine making for other purposes.
Answer: If you are using distilled/de-ionised/RO water for beer brewing or wine making then Campden tablets are not needed to knock out Cloride ions from the water as they are not there but, you may still want to use a small does of campden in wine making to inhibit wild yeasts and bacteria, if you are using raw fruit.
And... yes there is more ...
You will if using RO/Deionised or distilled water need to add back salts to the water to give your yeast sufficient magnesium and zinc or other trace ions that yeast require for a healthy fermentation, and to get the correct mouthfeel for what ever you are making.
Where I brew I know my water is low in magnesium, so I treat the liquor with epsom salts, as there is also low sulphate. I used campden to knock out chloride as the cholramine used by the water board is difficult to get rid of otherwise and can lead to medicinal flavours in final wine/beer. I also due to the high carbonate levels treat with a little lactic acid, to reduce the pH so I can reliably hit optimal mash pH; which is less of an issue in wine making.
You may want to take your water to a state of containing some ions or your mouthfeel will likely feel weak and underwhelming, and the yeast will end up stressed due to lack of trace nutrients in the form of dissolved salts.
Comment: Campden tablets removes chlorine not chloride.  There is a significant difference.
Comment: There is a difference and it knocks chloride ions out of aqueous solution, if that comes from dissolved chlorine or chloramine.

Are campden tablets necessary?


Do I get same charging speed when I use a MacBook's usb port to charge my iPad?

Question: I like to use my MacBook Pro's usb port to charge my iPad, but do I get same charging speed as compared to using the included power adapter?
Answer: From the Apple iPad Charging Support Doc.

The fastest way to charge your iPad is with the included 10W USB Power Adapter. Your iPad will also charge, though more slowly, when attached to a computer with a high-power USB port (many recent Mac computers) or with an iPhone Power Adapter. When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge, but only when it's in sleep mode.

Your 10W iPad charger (which is different to your iPhone / iPod charger) is the fastest way to charge your iPad. It is faster than your Mac or PC's USB port.


What's the origin of the concept of "no first use"?

Question: What does it mean "no first use"? Have NATO applied this concept ? In what ways?
Who was the first to develop this concept?
What are the work laying the foundation of the concept?
Comment: Have you done ***any*** research? Such as the first link when Googling for the phrase, the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_first_use
Comment: Thanks. You might as well post this as an answer, but it doen't answer what are the work laying the foundation of the concept.
Answer:
"What does it mean"?
As per Wikipedia:

No first use (NFU) refers to a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons. Earlier, the concept had also been applied to chemical and biological warfare.

First use of "No First Use"
Again from Wikipedia:

China became the first nation to propose and pledge NFU policy when it first gained nuclear capabilities in 1964, stating "not to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances"

However, the first use of the term goes as far back as 1946, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Volume 32 / Atomic Scientists of Chicago, 1946

Have NATO applied this concept?
To answer the question: not in its pure form. Specific use policies and how close they come to "No first use" for both US and UK are elaborated in detail on that same exact Wikipedia page.

Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France say they will use nuclear weapons against either nuclear or non-nuclear states only in the case of invasion or other attack against their territory or against one of their allies. Historically, NATO military strategy, taking into account the numerical superiority of Warsaw Pact conventional forces, assumed that the use of tactical nuclear weapons would have been required in defeating a Soviet invasion.
At the 16th NATO summit in April 1999, Germany proposed that NATO adopt a no-first-use policy, but the proposal was rejected.

For bonus points, even the much-vaunted supposed USSR's temporary NFU policy between 1982 and 1993 may have likely been just a PR stunt:

In June 1982, the Soviet Union undertook a unilateral pledge not to resort to the first use of nuclear weapons. How seriously the Soviet Union regarded this commitment is open to debate. For example, Therese Delpech, of the French Foreign Office, has written that:

...military  records  of  the  Warsaw  Pact  that  fell  into German hands demonstrated beyond doubt that Russian operational plans called for the use of nuclear and chemical weapons in Germany at the onset of hostilities, even if NATO forces were using only conventional weapons—this at a time when the Russian official doctrine was no first use.

(source: "No First Use of Nuclear Weapons" by Feiverson; citing in turn 'Therese Delpech, "New Stages of Nuclear Disarmament: A European View," in H.A. Feiveson, editor, The  Nuclear  Turning  Point,  (Washington,  DC:  The Brookings Institution, 1999), p. 335.)')


How to hide the new friendship with a user from few of my friends on Facebook

Question: I want to make a friendship with some person, but I don't want to let some of my friends know that me and that person have become friends. How can I achieve this? What privacy settings changes do I need to make? Is there any way to do this?
Answer: Click on the little triangle on the far right side of blue bar and choose Activity Log from the menu.  Then in the left sidebar under Comments click MORE and then Friends.

Under the blue bar at the top it will say "Who can see your friend list?" followed by some icons.  Click the square-like icon and uncheck all the check boxes corresponding to places where you do not want your new friendship to appear.

If you don't even want people to see your new friend by looking at your friend list on your profile you can click on the icon before this to change who can see your friend list; make it visible to Only Me or choose Custom and exclude certain people from seeing your friend list.

Keep in mind that if your new friend has their friend list visible, other people may see your friendship as part of your new friend's activity or on your new friend's friend list, or in the list of Mutual Friends if they are also friends with the person.


Which medical specialist should be consulted for anus polyp?

Question: Who is the appropriate Dr who can understand issue better and help accordingly?
Comment: Hi! Thank you for your post. May I ask who diagnosed the anus polyp? Or is it something you have self-diagnosed? Best regards. M. Arrowsmith
Comment: @M.Arrowsmith: Once I diagnosed with one of the Surgen. But I wanted to confirm it and reverify it with expert
Comment: An analyst? ;-)
Answer:
Which medical specialist should be consulted for anal polyp?

A physician specialised in disorders of the colon, rectum and anus might be the person of choice.
This could be a proctologist (a physician specialised in proctology), or if this speciality is not recognised/available in your country, this could be a colorectal surgeon. In some cases (depending on the size of the anal polyp) a gastroenterologist can also handle anal polyps (through endoscopic removal).
I would suggest seeing the surgeon who diagnosed this anal polyp and discuss further management with him.
Answer: The answer depends on which country you are in, as well as location of where you live (rural vs city).
If you are going to a hospital, medical doctors specialized in surgery (general surgery) can help you with your problem.
Comment: I received two down votes for this answer. I would like to know why this answer is "appropriate". This answer was meant to start a discussion, as people live in different countries and have different health care systems.

I live in Taiwan, which has a national healthcare system and although not completely "free", is subsidized compared to the health care system in the US. Patients can visit a teaching hospital, community hospital, as well as small clinics, but the doctor you would want to see should be specialized in General Surgery. In general surgery, there are other sub-specialties.
Comment: Sub-specialties include hepato (liver), cardiothoracic (heart/lung), colorectal (gastrointestine related). The best physician would be one who is specialized in general surgery, and sub-specialized in colorectal procedures.
Comment: Answers are not meant for starting discussions.


How does RusNet block websites with so many separate ISPs?

Question: How does the Russian Federation enforce the blocking of websites for end users? I know that ISPs have a database of DNS records that will redirect the user to a corresponding IP address for a given URL. Does that mean that every ISP in Russia has the same DNS and the records are always up-to-date?
Answer: The process of Russian Federation enforcing it's filtering of websites for access is by handing down the list of IPs that should be blocked to the Internet Providers that operate within it's borders. How exactly the providers will do that, is entirely their decision, as long as the result is that website is unavailable for access to users trying to access the said websites through ISPs located within Russian Federation.
Answer: The Russian Federation maintains a list of blocked websites, known as the Internet blacklist, the contents of which are decided upon by the Roskomnadzor and the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia. Russian Internet Service Providers are compelled to block these websites.
On a technical level, there are many ways an ISP could a block website, and they likely don't all pick the same solution, so it is unlikely that there is one simply answer. To answer your question regarding DNS however - what you are referring to, a database of DNS records, is called a DNS server, sometimes called a name server. Simply put, DNS servers can negotiate in a hierarchical fashion to determine the truth about what the record set is. This is how name records are standardized globally, not just inside the Russian Federation.


What differentiates a "Game Design/Development" question from a question that belongs on this site?

Question: Game design and development questions are considered off-topic, and should be asked on the corresponding Stack Exchange sister site. But what defines a question as being about game development? How do I know where to ask my questions about consoles and mechanics?
Answer: Stealing a leaf from the discussions about FAQs on the Game Development site to start this off, these topics are very explicitly about Game Development and should definitely be asked over on the other site.

Game design (architecture, gameplay, ideas, mechanics, etc)
Game assets (creation, storage, editing, etc)†
Game programming (coding, bugs, best practices, patterns, etc)
Game development (testing, team development, tools, etc)
Game release (hosting, publishing, etc)
Game industry (careers, trends, technology, etc)

† Note- This is refers to assets in the game's architecture, not things like "Where are replays stored for StarCraft 2?" or "Where do I put music files to support NS Shaft?"
Comment: I've got some additional words to add, but it'll take me some time to compose them. In the mean time, feel free to add to this post, or add your own answers!


Display J2Store product options

Question: Any experienced J2Store users out there? I'm displaying my product articles via the j2store products module. I've made an override for a product line that we want to display but not sell yet and the product options have gotten lost in the shuffle somewhere. I believe this is because I basically copied and pasted the necessary code from addtocart.php and addtocart_options.php into my override file. Is there a way to use a direct php call to display the product options? I know they're in the article attributes I just can't figure out how to access them...
Comment: So if you hide your template override file, the options are there? A template override has access to all the same variables that the base file does, so you should have no trouble accessing the information and displaying it. (I'm not familiar with J2Store though.)
Answer: I had a similar situation on a page I built using J2Store, as the client wanted to present the products but wasn't ready to actually sell them yet.
As a quick solution that also is easy to reverse once the products are ready to be sold, I added this jQuery code to my template in order to disable all "Buy" buttons:
<code><script type="text/javascript">
    jQuery(".j2store_cart_button").prop('disabled', true);
</script>
</code>
I don't think it's the best and cleanest solution, but it was enough for this particular case, and a very quick fix.
In your case, maybe you can remove the override file, and modify the jQuery code to target only the buy buttons from the product line you want to disable.
Comment: Thanks for your suggestion! After talking to J2store's support team, all I had to do was comment out a line, $attributes = $model->processAttributeOptions($attributes, $product); in /components/com_j2store/helpers/cart.php
Comment: Doesn't sound bad -for a quick and temporary solution - to disable the buy buttons. Sometimes small smart things can work adequate for certain scenarios. I give it +1 -for the reasons I described.

Display J2Store product options


Is a patented European product able to be produced in US?

Question: I came across a product that is solid almost exclusively in Europe with no reach or patenting in the USA. Am I able to pursue production and sale of this product in the USA? Do European patents apply to US markets?
Comment: Patents are territorial. A U.S. patent, for example, lets the parent owner control who has the right to make in the U.S, sell in the U.S., import into the U.S. and even use in the U.S.
Answer: Patents are territorial rights. If EP patent is not being filed or protected in US then you are free to do production and sale in US market.
Comment: Not entirely correct. The US patent application may already be filed, just not published yet. Or, the inventor may file within one year in the US. So called "submarine patents" surface suddenly and can be enforced.
Comment: If your US-manufactured product ends up exported to Europe, you may end up having problems. Extraterritorial patent issues are complex and you should seek proper legal advice.


How do I end an Open Borders agreement in Civ 5?

Question: I'd like my neighbor to stop moving units through my territory, but I can't seem to find an option to cancel our Open Borders agreement.  In the deal history screen, I can see an Open Borders agreement from well over 30 turns ago that doesn't even show up under Active Deals.  The trade screen just says that we already have an Open Borders agreement.  Am I missing something, or is there no way for me to cancel this agreement?
Comment: I am having the same problem. The open border aggreement was to last 30 turns and 100 turns later it is still in effect. No way to cancel except if you attack them but then you are hated by all civs because you broke an aggreement. Seems to me like it is a bug
Comment: Looks like this is what happened in my case, and it's a bug that will be fixed in the next patch ("Fix for never ending deals", see http://www.giantbomb.com/news/big-civ-5-patch-incoming-will-address-tons-of-issues/2635/)
Answer: Unfortunately, it's not possible to cancel an Open Borders agreement. You just have to wait for whatever turns remain for it to expire.
Or you can go to war with them, which "kind of" cancels it :)
Comment: ... which is a problem if the reason you're trying to end the agreement is because their military units are stomping all over your territory :)
Answer: Agreements can't simply be canceled, that's why they're agreements for a certain number of turns. Think contracts. You have to decide if you're able and willing to handle the terms of the agreement (contract) before committing to it. If you break the agreement, it has serious retributions (or rather, you have to go to extreme lengths, war, and face the backlash to break an agreement). If that wasn't so there would be little point to most agreements.

"Yeah, let's do this defensive pact thing, unless of course you're being attacked, at which point I may simply decide to back out of the agreement..."

Update (2010/10/14): Apparently your problem is a bug and will be fixed.
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94438

Diplomacy – Fix for never ending deals (peace, research agreements, etc).
Comment: Having said that, what you're describing sounds like a bug. Unless you missed something...


Is there any swamps/marshes symbol using Quantum GIS?

Question: I am having hard time to find nature symbols for polygons. Any tips to find more symbol (any plugins?)
Answer: Actually that set of styles mentioned by @underdark was improved couple of months ago and new set do contains swamp styles. I was going to translate captions of symbols to English (original are in Russian) and post new link at my blog, but just can't find time for it(((
Nevertheless, here you are the link for the upgraded style set with swamps fills. I bet captions in Russian won't prevent you from utilisation of the needed styles.
Comment: do you have these symbols (even Russian) updated for QGIS3?
Comment: @Vitruvius, nope
Answer: Some natural polygon fills are available at http://ssrebelious.blogspot.com/2011/10/qgis-symbology-set.html. I didn't see a swamps style though.
Answer: I found a couple of built-in options in QGIS 3.4.2 Madeira:
Option 1) A built-in fill pattern.  Go to layer Properties, Symbology tab, Fill (note: you must click "Fill," not "Simple Fill" below it); then choose "All Symbols" and go to the bottom, where there is one called "Topo swamp."  It's in the Topology symbol group.

Option 2) An SVG fill. This is more flexible, and it's easy.  Go to layer Properties, Symbology tab, Fill, then highlight the second line, "Simple Fill", and below that in "Symbol Layer Type" box select "SVG fill" from the dropdown arrow on the righthand side of the box.  The menus will give you additional options when you change to "SVG fill".  Under the symbol group called simply "symbol" there are a couple of swamp items.

A couple of symbol choices are shown on the end of the first line/beginning of the second.

Note that both options allow you to change the sizing and packing density of the symbols (also the usual other qualities like line color/type, background, etc.), which is quite nice.  I couldn't get the Russian SVG set to load.


What is the case against Gore Vidal's view that St. Paul "invented Christianity"?

Question: I was watching Gore Vidal being interviewed for CSpan's In Depth series and his book Live from Golgotha was being discussed. He claims that St. Paul "invented" Christianity. That Jesus came for the Jews only, but that St. Paul wanted to internationalize the appeal for Jesus and so twisted the truth. What are some arguments against this claim?
Comment: What is your question? If Paul invented Christianity, or if Paul internationalized Christianity? These are not the same things.
Comment: @gideonmarx It's obvious what the question is. Read the title.
Comment: Are there any arguments for it? Christianity is a cheap target. Haters and detractors of all kinds have railed against it for centuries, but it's still here and they're not. What were some of his more viable points, and what were his historical and scholarly sources?
Comment: @user8547. I like your question as it hits at a basic misunderstanding so I have to make sure you know what you are asking. So. You use both words. They have different meanings in the dictionary. They mean two very different things in reality.
Answer: The case is vast, and, quite literally, fills volumes. I'm currently reading New Testament People God Volume 1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God, for example, which addresses this topic at length.
There are far too many arguments against this claim than can be addressed here (obviously), but some key points I have so far taken from the book mentioned above include:

We know that Christianity was a significant factor by the early second century, because we have strong evidence of persecution of Christians. The Roman empire, and various regions, had, to varying degrees, official policies relating to (and often forbidding) Christianity.
This means that Christianity had been around long enough to grow to a noticeable size. Even assuming an early date for the origin of Christianity (say immediately after Christ's death), this is an astonishing accomplishment for such a new religion in a world where new religions, new gods, and new practices, were a dime a dozen.  Pushing back a Christian genesis date makes this only that much more astonishing--not less (as most advocates of such a theory would have us believe)
An honest study of the content of the textual evidence (particularly, but not limited to the gospels and the rest of the New Testament) shows a progression in literary style as well as theology that would have taken many years to develop, and could not have been a "quick invention" by a single person let, alone by even a single generation.
Comment: This doesn't really address whether Paul "drastically modified" (preferable to "invented"?) Christianity, since it is widely acknowledged that Paul wrote within 50 years of Jesus' death. The Q as now written is whether Paul re-wrote the story, and many do claim he did.
Comment: Following your argument is it not logical that the 'Christian genesis date' can be pushed back even further? Say to 150 BCE? Oh! I'm reading the Dead Sea Scrolls - curious stuff. Somebody copied somebody.
Comment: @gideonmarx: If the only information we had to go on was the records starting around 100 AD, yes, one would assume an earlier Christian genesis date, based solely on the apparent size of the Christian religion by that time, and the pattern evidence for how religions grew at the time. But that's not the only information we have to go on.
Comment: @disciple: Of course it doesn't address that. Because that's not the question. It might make for a reasonable follow-up question, although it would need to be far far FAR more specific. Naturally Paul "re-wrote" the story, as otherwise he would have had no reason to write it at all. The only meaningful discussion would be on whether he changed substantial portions of the story--and that depends on what one believes is "substantial." A follow-up question will need to be very well framed to be constructive.
Answer: The most important argument against any claim made in Live from Golgotha, by Gore Vidal, is that the book is a novel, a work of fiction set in 96 CE. In presenting Paul as a charismatic marketer of a new faith, Vidal was not making a serious claim to historicity.
Looking at the claim on its own merit, outside of the book, there are sound reasons to believe that Paul did not invent Christianity. Had he literally done so, there would have been no existing Christian communities before he began to preach. Yet, we know there was a church in Jerusalem, under the leadership of James, Peter and John (Galatians 2:9). When Paul wrote to the Romans, he was writing to a Christian community that had been formed by others. Raymond E. Brown says in An Introduction to the New Testament, page 561, that Paul's letter implies that the Christian community had been in existence for a long time, since he had been wishing "for many years" to visit (Romans 15:23).
The key point in the question is probably to do with whether Paul 'internationalised Christianity. We can perhaps credit Saint Paul with creating Christianity as a universal religion, away from its Judaic roots. In Romans 11:13 Paul tells the Romans that he is the apostle to the gentiles:

For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

Paul says that from the beginning he felt called to preach to the gentiles Romans 15:15-16:

Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Comment: Tx for the good answer. Wasn't the Apostle Luke a gentile? If so, then it appears there were gentile Christians before St. Paul's conversion.
Comment: @user8547 Yes, in spite of Paul's assertion, this case is good but not strong. Perhaps Paul converted Luke but, more importantly, the Roman church appears to have included gentiles.
Comment: @user8547: Luke was not an apostle. Paul was. Luke was a physician, and Paul's companion on many of his travels.
Answer: There is also the issue of the biggest 1st century the problem the church faced. Whether a person first had to become a Jew before you could become a Christian and the issue of circumcision.
If Paul was this fraud then why does the bible not tell us of these questions? It would have made Paul's ministry much easier. They had to accept that sorry guys he did not mention it we have to find our own consensus as to what the correct view on these issues is.
That is a question that would need answering by people who hold such a view.
Also why did no 1st century writer mention it? There was no lack of people that wished this Christian abomination to go away. Why do they not mention this hoax? Just one mention by an 1st century Judean could have squelched Christianity before it even started but the fact remains we just do not have any such accounts.
So the question you need to ask yourself is why should I believe this account of Christianity when we have no account of a 1st century person believing this. Surely people of Jesus's era are best equipped to tell us what he was like.
Answer: What is the case against Gore Vidal's view that St. Paul "invented Christianity"?
The disciples that were ministering to the Jews were aware of Paul and his ministry to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:7  But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the
  uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the
  circumcision was unto Peter;

At the council in Jerusalem about what to do with Gentile believers it was decided to send Paul and others to them.

Acts 15:22  Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole
  church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul
  and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men
  among the brethren:

Paul rebuked Peter publicly and Peter accepted the rebuke.

Galatians 2:14  But when I saw that they walked not uprightly
  according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them
  all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and
  not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the
  Jews?

It is very easy for a fictional writer like Mr. Vidal to dismiss the Bible as lies and substitute his own theories. However, his alternative construct is rather weak. If the statements and the actions of Peter and the early church leaders recorded by Luke and Paul were false, it would have been easy to refute by those who had been there and observed and heard what was done and said.
If Mr. Vidal is perplexed by the failure of the nation of Israel to respond to the gospel message and receive the kingdom that was offered her, he may want to look deeper into the Bible.

Romans 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of
  this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
  blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the
  Gentiles be come in.
Answer: Jesus stated that he was  sent to the lost sheep of Israel in:

Matthew 15:24  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

But is not true that the salvation of God's grace through Jesus was reserved only to the Jews. As is indicated in the verses which follow that one.

Matthew 15:25 through 28  Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26  But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28  Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Jesus further instructed the twelve Apostles to only go to the lost Jews.

Matthew 10:5 and 6  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

If we approach this subject from a logical and historical aspect, we find that it really actually means He was sent to the Nation of Israel because he had shown himself as their God on many occasions in the Old Testament. Here are a few examples:
1.The entire book of Exodus, from slavery in Egypt to the Promised land in the book of Joshua.
2.Sending down fire from Heaven to devour the 400 priests of  Bal.
3.Punishing Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and Brimstone from Heaven.
Besides that he had sent Both Major and minor prophets to Israel right up until 400 years before Christ, and they were very aware of those prophets and their prophesies. they were taught from early childhood those things
Isaiah had even told them about how Jesus birth would come about and Psalms accurately described his death.
And even though these things were common knowledge they still rejected him:

Luke 13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

If we use some logic here it would only make sense that he was sent to the Nation of Israel otherwise, his death would have received no more notice than the many other crucifixions by the Romans. That the Sanhedrin was well aware of these things is evidenced by their securing the tomb and setting a watch. When Jesus arose from the dead even with those precautions being taken the Jews who were schooled and had the history with God, could put them together and take that message throughout the World.
Jesus himself said that salvation was not for the Jews only:

John 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.


Difference Between Publishing Page, Wiki Page and Web Part Page

Question: What are the functional Difference between the basic three pages which are :- Wiki Page, Publishing Page and a Web Part Page?
Answer: Wiki page = the most basic and easiest page of post-2010 SharePoint. You can write text directly in it, have 8-9 different layouts ('boxes' to write and place webparts in), very easy to manage for beginners too. Accepts direct insertion of videos and other multimedia.
Web part page = the oldest type of page (2007 and before) but still present in newer versions. It is composed of fixed placeholders where to put the web parts, does not accept free text in it unless it is inside a content editor webpart. Offers less flexibility than the wiki page but gives you an extra 8-9 templates in case you cannot achieve what you want with the wiki page
Publishing page = activated with the publishing infrastructure, the majority of templates offered by the publishing page gravitates around 'articles'. The most used templates are in the form of a combination of text box, eventual space for fixed size image, byline, date and other common fields that can be later used to pupulate content query web parts/content search web parts. They are projected to be newsrolls pieces (scheduled by date) rather than static pages to contain ordinary intranet material. This type of page can be under publishing control (=approval) and approval with workflow out of the box. Does not offer much flexibility since the space for the image is fixed (left/right).
You forgot the project page and the Enterprise wiki page
Comment: I haven't been asked to know about those two pages.
Comment: Can you tell me which versioning functionalities are limited in a web part page?
Comment: The web part page being more 'primitive' does not have on the ribbon, the typical buttons such as check in/out and save. It has Edit and stop editing. It does not have the publishing button too. But if you place them in the same page library as the wiki pages (Site Pages) they will behave like the Others in terms of versioning.


Iron Man inconsistencies

Question: In the Iron Man animated series, why does teenage Tony Stark have an arc reactor, but then in Iron Man he doesn't get one until a little bit in?
Comment: @Philipp I believe he is asking about the inconsistency between the two Iron Man backstories, not an unreasonable question for someone not familiar with the Marvel world.
Comment: Newer adaptations aren't obliged to follow the previous ones.
Answer: tl;dr: Because the two Tony Starks are different characters.

The Marvel comics universe is huge; so big that it can't even fit into a single universe. There have been so many different versions, revisions, reboots, and adaptations of those characters, that it would be impossible to come up with a single backstory for anyone, let alone someone as common as Tony Stark.
Instead, Marvel's stories are split up into different "universes" within the larger "multiverse". Each universe within the multiverse exists independent of the others, with its own history, characters, sometimes even its own laws of physics. This concept has been explored several times in the comics, most recently with the Secret Wars storyline that kicked off this year, showing all the various universes colliding with each other.
Iron Man, the movie, takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which includes all of the live-action movies and television shows produced by Marvel/ABC/Disney (that includes all of the Avengers-related movies, plus Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, and the Netflix series like Daredevil). Officially, this is Earth-199999. Again, all of those movies and TV shows are internally consistent, but they have nothing to do with the animated series.
The various animated series, on the other hand, generally exist within their own unique, or very limited, universes. Some examples of Tony Stark in various animated series:

Iron Man: Armored Adventures takes place in it's own unique universe, officially called Earth-904913. This is the only show set in that universe, which is how Tony Stark can be Iron Man as a teenager.
Iron Man: The Animated Series from 1996 exists within the universe for the Marvel Action Hour (which also includes 1996 The Incredible Hulk animated series, designated Earth-534834.
A group of Marvel animated shows starting in 2010, including Marvel's Avengers Assemble among others, take place in a universe unofficially referred to as Earth-TRN123 (because it has no official designation yet.)

On a related note, the majority of the comic book issues take place in Earth-616, the "mainstream" universe, while the Ultimate whatever issues take place in Earth-1610, the "Ultimate" universe. That's how, for example, Tony Stark could invent Ultron in the movies, but Hank Pym invented him in the comic books.
Comment: A nicely comprehensive answer.
Comment: The only thing I'd suggest is that there's a decent chance the asker was thinking of the more recent "Iron Man: Armored Adventures" (which features a teenaged Tony Stark) rather than the 1990s cartoon, although I could be wrong. IMAA is apparently set on Earth-904913, and is currently the only series set on that Earth.
Comment: true. I'll expand the answer, as that makes more sense.
Answer: Iron Man: Armored Adventures, though one of the more well executed Iron Man series, and inspired by the 2008 movie, does not tie in to that film series or serve as any kind of "supplement" to it. The Real-World reasoning behind the two is simple:
Iron Man the movie was foreseen to be a big hit, and to capitalize on it, execs created a kid's show to extend the familiarity of the brand, and have a possible second line of merchandise to shill.
The answer provided by @kutuluMike which mentions the multiple universe theory holds a lot of weight, .... but its easy for people to get confused as to why a movie franchise would then have a "tie in" cartoon that doesn't follow the original story in some way.
But this is fairly common practice; films tend to have stricter guidelines for audiences and only a certain amount of time to (a) develop character, (b) showcase "must have" items and (c)create memorable action set pieces. Cartoons and live action series, concurrently, tend to have less room for violence and excess, but (a)more time and Space to develop characters, (b)make story lines interesting, (c) get people invested and (d)continue adding new aspects. As such, a lot of movies have "inspired" follow up series of some kind without them being "exact continuations" of the film proper.
Iron Man:AA falls squarely in this category. It was based on the same canon material as the film, and made at least in part because the film proved profitable... but it's not a "Continuation" of the film. Other examples of this happen in both cartoon and live action, usually with a slight change in tone and demographic. Examples of these include:

Batman: The Animated Series directly inspired by  Batman 1989 and Batman Returns. The first Batman film was very dark and violent, and while the cartoon doesn't shy away from this, its noticeably less so. However, music, visuals and some story elements (the Joker being named "Jack Napier", for instance, or the look of the Penguin) were all taken from the films.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer the show being a continuation of the film of the same name. The basic story is the same, and this counts more because Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy, was the driving foce behind both, especially the series. However, this is one instance of the Show being much, much darker and intense than the film, which was meddled with by higher ups despite Whedon's original vision. He had a freer hand in the series dealing with the character he created, so this is why the "Buffy" in the movie and the "Buffy" of the show, though technically the same exact character [with the 5 years between the two being ignored] come across as distinctly diverse when viewed.
Star Wars films inspiring Droids and Ewoks. I don't believe George Lucas would consider the 80s Saturday morning cartoon Droids to be canonical, given where the franchise has gone. And in Ewoks, the little Teddy Bears speak English, and magic is a distinct thing in this series, as opposed to anywhere else in the completely MASSIVE Star Wars canon. It should be noted SW inspired several other pieces of media which had to be incorporated or altered to fit the franchise, from books where Luke has a wife [Mara Jade] to comics, to games which created new characters and Force abilities.
1998's The Mummy inspiring the 2000s cartoon of the same name. In the toon version, Rick and Evy O'Connell look extremely different, being a bit older, and their son  found the band of Anubis which first woke Imhotep [finding the band didn't happen til the Second film, and he'd been awakened in the First]. While on supernatural creatures...
1985's Teen Wolf would see a 2 season cartoon on CBS, and even some members of the original cast would play their roles to tie the two together. However, there were distinct differences between the film and the Show; the cartoon seemed to COMPLETELY disregard the occurrences in the film all together! Scott and his dad Harold were still werewolves... but now, they had an extended family of Grandma, Grandpa and a little sister Loopy. They lived in a town called Wolverton, and their lycanthropy was a tightly kept family secret which Scott never made public; only his friends Boof and Styles, whom he'd known since childhood, were in on it. Contrary to being a celebrity, Scott was more of a warmhearted, but social awkward kid, and having to hide his family secret constantly only complicated that fact.
1991's The Addams Family inspiring the 1992 revival H-B cartoon. Obviously, the ABC toon took some cues from the then-popular film (with Gomez and Fester being brothers) and it Completely ignored the birth of the third Addams child, Pubert, from the follow up movie.
2005's Fantastic Four cartoon following up on the 2004 film. There had already been a 1994-1996 series, and both were very similar, sticking pretty close to the comic on which they were based. The similarities to the characters in the latter series shown in the movie, however, were noticeable.
The Toxic Crusaders being loosely adapted from The Toxic Avenger films. The gore and violence from those 1980s Tromo Films B-movies was taken waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down for the short lived Fox Kids 1990s series. Same character and back story, but in the toon, Toxie was green instead of brown, his girlfriend wasn't totally blind, his mop was a semi-sentient living weapon, and he had other hideously deformed mutant allies to help him out; this actually had more in common with the then popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles than its parent series. Speaking of which...
The 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film is an odd mention, because it was inspired by the success of the then-IMMENSELY popular Cartoon, but actually was closer to the Source material of the original comic book! There were just some visual ideas lifted from the toon, such as their differing masks and April's yellow coat, with bits of the cartoon's comedy and lightheartedness. Even when blended with the toon, though, the tone, story and personalities were a bit darker, which put it in line more with the original black and white, creator-pushed comic books.
James Bond Jr. being loosely inspired by the James Bond film franchise. The 007 stories can get intense and violent even before Daniel Craig stepped into the role, with guns, violent deaths and naked women being a norm. The villainous organization SPECTRE were also a terrorist threat not to be taken lightly; in the cartoon, nobody dies, the good guy always wins, there's barely any kissing, and all the super cool spy gadgets are basically non-lethal.And where as SPECTRE was a serious threat to be stopped at any cost, SCUM was more a "bumbling villain of the week" team.
2000s X-Men: Evolution being a "high-school-ified" Saturday morning take inspired by the X-Men film that came out that same year. Many of the same characters are seen, and there's a wonderful amount of action and even depth...but you did not see people dying in the cartoon series the way they did in the movie, and the main characters are younger for kids to identify with. Oddly enough, it could be said the mature themes of race-hate and segregation lightly touched on in the film were actually addressed with more depth in the previous X-Men:TAS from 1992. Yeah, the 90s were a Damn good time for toons.

These are just examples pulled from the top of my head, but many exist. It's rare that you will find a follow up series that captures or closely resembles the aesthetic of its original film, especially if the series is made for kids...but it does happen. One of the best examples would probably be the Highlander series; though the sword play and violence had to be brought down a few levels for censorship reasons, this series ties very closely to its parent film, even going so far as to address issues in the film series as proper canon! And the themes of immortality, morality being gray, comradeship and "there can be only one!" still ring true, even for a TV series.
Taken in that stance, Iron Man: Armored Adventures was never meant to "Follow up" the films or continue them, so these aren't really "inconsistencies", just differences in media that have the same source material, but were meant to play out differently.
Comment: This probably needs some more examples.

Iron Man inconsistencies


Debian Dmesg Error - What does this output mean regarding an outage on eth1?

Question: The tale of the NIC that quit;
I have chucked the end of dmesg output from a server into pastebin;
This server (PowerEdge 1850) has two NICs, eth0 and eth1. eth1 has a couple of VLANs defined on it, and those in turn are in different bridges, one bridge has multiple IPs. eth1 is the public facing interface. eth0 if for backend/management access.
The server went "off-line" in the sense that it stopped serving public requests and I received an alert. I connected via SSH into using the management IP on eth0, to find the server up, load is low, plenty of disk space, RAM and cpu cycles etc. All services were up and running, but the server wasn't serving any webpages.
That's when I checked dmesg and saw the above output. It seems that there was a problem with eth1 and it wouldn't send any packets, but it was receiving them. There are a few "Reset adapter" messages in the dmesg output, so I assume the server was "self repairing"?
[10716872.816012] e1000 0000:07:08.0: eth1: Reset adapter

I ran tcpdump to see what was going on, (the output of which I have misplaced!). However, I could see that the default gateway that faces the public VLAN sub-interfaces on eth1 was ARP'ing out for the public IPs assigned to the server but it wasn't sending any response.
So this is likely why the public facing services weren't working. I restarted the interface with sudo ifdown eth1 && sudo ifup eth1 which executed successfully, but didn't help.
I checked the arp table;
user@server:~$ arp -n
Address                  HWtype  HWaddress           Flags Mask            Iface
188.8.131.52                  (incomplete)                                      br12

Seeing this incomplete address I took a shot in the dark (not really expecting it to work) and added the MAC for the default gateway of 22.214.171.124 manually. It didn't work.
It had been several minutes of production downtime so I rebooted the server moments later, and everything was back to normal after it rebooted.
Below I have posted the /etc/network/interfaces contents, however I need some help understanding the pastebin entry I linked above. What is a possible cause for eth1 to quit it's day job, in the middle of the working day?
allow-hotplug eth0
allow-hotplug eth1
allow-hotplug eth1.1
allow-hotplug eth1.2

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 10.0.1.25
netmask 255.255.255.0

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet manual

auto eth1.2
iface eth1.2 inet manual
vlan_raw_device eth1

auto br12
iface br12 inet static
address 10.0.0.25
netmask 255.255.255.0
bridge_ports eth1.2
bridge_stp off

auto eth1.1
iface eth1.1 inet manual
vlan_raw_device eth1

auto br11
iface br11 inet static
address 22.214.171.124
netmask 255.255.255.248
gateway 22.214.171.124
bridge_ports eth1.118
bridge_stp off

auto br11:0
iface br11:0 inet static
address 126.96.36.199
netmask 255.255.255.248

auto br11:1
iface br11:1 inet static
address 220.127.116.11
netmask 255.255.255.248

For debug purposes;
user@server:~$ uname -a
Linux server.site.com 3.4.10 #1 SMP Thu Sep 13 13:12:24 BST 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux
user@server:~$ cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 \n \l

The server has been up for 3 days and 17 hours now, no errors in dmesg/kern.log/message/syslog and it's running fine. This is the lshw details for the NICs.
Answer: I think this was a kernel error, probably a driver bug or a hardware error.
You can try to looking for kernel bugs, update kernel, and so.


Advantage of layer 3 switch over Router

Question: What is the advantage of Layer 3 switch over the Router ??
Answer: In general, layer-3 switches move packets faster (near line rate) because everything they do is in hardware. They tend to be cheaper and cheaper to operate (power, personnel, etc.) vs. a comparable router.
This does come with significant limitations, however...

reduced route table size
no NAT
no firewall and very limited security features
limited routing protocol support, if any.
possibly no IPv6 support at all (and that's not something that can be fixed with software) Granted that should be rare today. What I regularly see is IPv6 features substantially subtracting from IPv4 features.

Routers are predominantly designed to run routing protocols that regularly alter the path of traffic. They also handle numerous high-touch features such as NAT, QoS, security, VRF, etc. Outside the high-end market, routers are partially or totally software platforms.
For example, it's easy to take a commodity PC with a few NICs, load linux on it, and *poof* it's a router. No matter how much you hit it with the spice-weasel, it'll never be a switch.
Comment: The forwarding done in a hardware router is still done in hardware.  Only the protocol control messages are handled in software (which they would be on a "layer-3 switch" as well).
Comment: How about thinking of 'router' as the control plane processing for L3 protocolos? Then one would have a (rudimentary?) router running as piece of every layer-3 switch.
Comment: A "hardware router' is much less common, and much more expensive. A LOT of things people think are *hardware routers*, in fact, aren't.
Answer: Both "layer-3 switch" and "router" are essentially marketing terms - they have no definitive technical meaning.
Chances are that a "layer-3 switch" has more front-panel ports for cheaper than a "router", with less support for protocols and table size, while both do all forwarding at line rate, but that's highly dependent on the specific hardware in question.
Comment: I remember of other old related marketing terms: switch router versus routing switch. It seems the 'layer-3 switch' won the marketing war.
Answer: It's all about the business requirement. To put an example, the Cisco Catalyst 3850 has a more rapid backplane than a Cisco ISR 2900 series router. Nevertheless, Cisco ISR's support way more media types than most other switches (Cisco). Some tangible hardware design of switches may actually be valuable (or not) for their use in particular conditions.
Answer: You can't say that there is a "advantage" of a L3 switch, because it depends on the hardware and software of the device.
Generally speaking you would say that a Router, has more power in case of hardware, because it is designated to make routing decisions, but this still depends on the device.
Comment: Why? If one can differentiate between router and layer-3 switch, it should be possible to say there is *some* advantage at least in specific cases.

Advantage of layer 3 switch over Router


Move questions between Stack Exchange sites

Question: I remember Jeff saying, when they announced Server Fault, that it was going to be possible to move questions between sites. I'd find that feature very nice as since then I've found at least 10 questions on either site that belonged to the other one.
Comment: @random It only took two years, *but it was worth it.*
Answer: It might be useful to have a way to immediately move your own question before there are upvoted answers - similar conditions as for deleting your own question.
It happens too often that a question is voted on to belong to another site, but at the same time downvoted too. This could be prevented by immediately moving the question. Especially newbies not aware of the other sites will profit by this.
Comment: i dont have enough reputation on meta to upvote this. so i just add a comment: please add this feature. by all those sites now (stackoverflow, serverfault, superuser, etc.) it even happens that you post to the wrong site by accident.
Answer: If you have 3k rep, you can nominate this by voting close: "belongs on serverfault.com" etc; at 5 votes it is moved by the system.
If needed, a ♦ moderator can do this immediately; so if it is obviously on the wrong site, but in a low traffic tag, consider flagging it for moderator attention.
Comment: I see 5 sites in list, but site to what question belongs on, is not in the list.
Answer: It would be nice to have a way to alert the moderators that you'd like a question moved. This might be a big help to newbies.
Comment: You can always flag the question to require moderator attention and are then asked for a reason.
Answer: It just happened to me to post a question on the wrong website and I'm just waiting to cast enough votes in order to have it moved (not to ask it twice).
Maybe a "self-voting" or "self-moving" could be quicker?
Comment: You are right, but this requires the intervention of a third person while I know it was my mistake... Anyway thanks, I've flagged it :)
Comment: Well, just flag it for migration.
Comment: "The fast option is to just delete and then re-post it on the new site" fit. – Catija♦ Jun 3 '19 https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/how-do-i-move-my-own-question-to-another-stack-exchange-site/329029#comment1073824_329029
Answer: Could this not be sone wholesale based on a tag?
If we can vote a tag as belonging to another site like "Server2008" then if someone uses it on Stack Overflow they are prompted to move the question at the point of entry?
It can say "Is this a programming question? if not it may belong one one of the sister sites...bla bla".
Comment: This doesn't really work if the author doesn't know how to properly tag their question, or if there is no defining tag that can be used for a particular scenario/question that isn't otherwise valid on the current site.
Comment: I think it's not correct all the time - to move a TAG. Assuming someone wants to connect an Android to an Active Directory 2K8, why should he be denied to use that tag?  I think it's a per question feature only.
Comment: @Saariko, Not denied use, but like MrHinsh said "prompted to move"--you could still have the choice but a helpful description would be brought to the user's attention highlighting the difference between a contextual tag and posting elsewhere entirely.
Comment: Correct, but it my kelp reduce the number of questions posted to the "wrong" place.
Answer: It would be interesting, in the remote future, for the StackOverflow app to expose question moving to its API. That way a question could be moved from one SO website to another even if they have different owners.
Comment: With the platform not being an app and the network having one owner cc this is not even a relevant consideration any more.
Answer: Click on 'flag' under the question, than go to:
'should be closed' >> 'off-topic because' >> 'Super User' or 'Server Fault'
Comment: Simply stating the name of a site where it would be on topic is not a close reason. Close reasons should explain **why** the question is closed... some questions can be on topic on more than one site. It is much better to comment on the question and say "This question is off topic here but would be within the scope of _____. You can flag your own question and request a moderator to move it for you."
Comment: The question is an old feature request. I don't think we need the usage guidance there as well. There are plenty of other places where that might fit or is already explained. The FAQ-posts comes to mind


Install Joomla On Windows 10 And Use MS SQL As Back-End

Question: I have Windows 10 and IIS up and running, I was wanting to know if there was a way to set-up Joomla with MS SQL on windows 10 and IIS?
Comment: This question may be a bit Too Broad.  This will surely consist of many steps and this site's Q & A format isn't really meant to be a place to park complete tutorials.  Have you attempted to do this procedure yourself?  If so and you got stuck or encountered an issue, please rephrase your question to be more narrow so that your question is more attractive and simpler to answer.
Answer: As per https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements, IIS and MS SQL are officially supported and there are some installation instructions at https://docs.joomla.org/Installing_on_Microsoft although these may be a little out of date.
For a more rewarding Joomla experience, a better solution might be to install WAMP or similar.


Vocal strain Breath support (broadway belting)

Question: When I am vocalizing from middle C onwards, around E4, F4 (passagio) onwards up to C5 I always sound "strangled" when I try to sing within that range with "full voice". I have been practicing head voice within that range, and that sound fine, but when I try to sing in more of a "chest dominant mix" or in a broadway belting style within that range, I just sounded so strained and sometimes the voice just cracked. I have a comparatively weaker breath support but I've been working hard to improve my support. I put in all effort I have, lower abdominal, rib cage all 360 degree breath support and whatever I could, also trying to stay "grounded" as I sing, but why do I still strain so much?
Comment: We miss quite a bit of information in order to give any answer: Things like what age are you? How many years have you been trying this training regime? And more.  The best suggestion is to take these question to your voice coach or teacher and ask for specific advise as well as good exercises to do.
Comment: You say "sound strangled" but do you feel strangled?  That would far worse and a sign of straining, lack of support.  Could you be covering, closing the mouth a little?
Answer: I'm not a vocal coach, but my understanding is that, if you are 'straining' or trying to force things at all to reach a particular note, then you are probably doing something wrong (and may risk damaging your voice in the longer term). The advice about finding a professional coach is probably a good idea.
In terms of specific advice (from my own experience): as you increase in pitch in chest voice, you will always reach a point where you start struggling and the sound starts to become 'strangled' (as you put it). This is where switching to head voice will alleviate that tension, and enable you to get to higher notes, but the 'pure' head voice won't be as strong and full as your chest voice.
As I understand it, one goal of singing training is to 'smooth out' that transition between chest and head voice (i.e. the passagio), to create a smoother, more blended range, where in the middle you have a 'mix' of chest and head voice. Doing that should allow you to get some percentage of chest voice tone at higher pitches than you could previously, but the 'mix' will still have to lean more and more towards head voice, the higher you go.
I believe the amount of chest voice mix you can achieve a particular pitch can be increased with practice and training. But, doing that is going to be a gradual process that will take time and, as I said above, if you try to force or strain it, you might risk damaging your voice over the longer term. Best option is probably to find a coach, if you can afford it.
Answer: IF it sounds strangled, it's likely you're pulling up chest voice, that is, singing higher than you should be singing at this time.   Can you hit those notes in head voice comfortably , without sounding strangled?  If so, you're probably pulling up chest voice.
I would second the idea that perhaps  you should work with a voice coach, because  if you ARE pulling up chest voice , that WILL damage your voice.
Comment: The OP indicates that (s/)he can hit those notes in head voice without sounding strained.


"Pelle de neige" vs "pelle à neige"

Question: What is the difference between "une pelle de neige" and "une pelle à neige"? Which word is correct to refer to a "snow shovel" that we use in winter?
Answer: A pelle à neige means a shovel designed to be used to move snow while a pelle de neige would mean the quantity of snow that it contains (a shovelful of snow). The latter is better transcripted by Une pelletée de neige.
Comment: @AlexandreP.Levasseur An hypothetical shovel made of snow would more be a "pelle en neige". "Pelle de neige" is a lazy way, at least in France, to say the more literary "pelletée de neige".
Comment: Actually, "pelle de neige" would be a shovel made of snow. I've never heard it used instead of "pelletée de neige".

"Pelle de neige" vs "pelle à neige"


How much spacing is left after \end{enumerate}

Question: How much vertical space is left after the enumerate environment and how much space is the default between the items?
Comment: do you really mean "horizontal"?  this sounds more like a question about vertical spacing.
Comment: I want to be able to use \vspace{ } to create a space equal to space after enumerate
Comment: Oh. Well, that might be possible. But it is unlikely because it is unlikely that there is any such space. By default, the space will be stretchy. How much space? How stretchy? Well, it depends. You've said nothing which suggests, as of now, that it doesn't depend. In fact, you've told us nothing at all.
Comment: You're thinking in terms of fixed spacing. But TeX depends heavily, by default, on stretchy spacing. So if you try to get the space at, say, the start of a section or something, there is no such space in the sense that there is no such rigid space. There's stretchy space. But even that obviously depends on all kinds of factors to do with class, options and packages. All the stuff you know and we don't. But if you are looking for a rigid length type answer, there is unlikely to be one which is true. Although it does, obviously, depend.
Answer: This is a little complicated.  If you wish to adjust such settings you are strongly advised to use the enumitem package, as in Vertical space in lists .
The amount of vertical space added after the list depends firstly on which document class your are using and the nesting depth of the enumeration.  Usually the relevant value for the final vertical skip is the sum of \topsep and \partopsep.  When you are in a particular list you can display the values of these macros via \the\topsep and \the\parttopsep.  The actual skip used is \@topsepadd.  At a top level in a standard article document one has

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\begin{enumerate}
\item \verb+\topsep+: \the\topsep
\item \verb+\partopsep+: \the\partopsep
\item \verb+\@topsepadd+: \makeatletter\the\@topsepadd\makeatother
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

If you add \showoutput to the above document, one indeed sees
...\glue 10.0 plus 3.0 minus 5.0

after the enumeration.  So the equivalent \vspace command would be
\vspace{10pt plus 3pt minus 5pt}

Note that this not a fixed size of 10pt, but something that can stretch or shrink around that value.
However, the exact computation of \@topsepadd and other vertical spacing added at this point is more complicated and one has to dig through the details in source2e to get the full story.
Similarly vertical space between items is controlled by \itemsep.  In the above example it is again a glue value, this time 4.0pt plus 2.0pt minus 1.0pt.


Can't find oil leak

Question: I own a 2007 bmw 750li and it has a oil leak i can't find. Is there a dye you can put in the oil to find the leak? I tried crawling under the car to find it, but oil is all over the engine now.
Answer: There is no dye for the oil. Since it most likely already black shouldn't be too bad to identify.
What you need to do is clean the engine. Use a degrease then wash it but you will have to be extremely careful. BMW have a lot of sensors and any water intrusion will cause even more problems. If you have never washer an engine before before don't try pressure wash.
Then look to find the leak.
Many times the leaks is from the valve cover gasket.
Answer: You can use dye which is made for oil like this from GM (will work with any vehicle).

Besides this, you'd also need glasses and a UV illumination source to find it, but you can find those readily as well.

Just put the UV dye into the oil, let it run, then search for the UV glimmer, and there you go.

Can't find oil leak


Can Armory be used for mining?

Question: Can Armory be used for mining?
I hear it is a wallet, but as it downloads the whole blockchain anyway should not you be able to mine with it, too?
Answer: Armory uses Bitcoin Core to download blocks and other basic functionality. Bitcoin Core is what is normally used for mining so that's what you'd be using. Armory does not add anything useful for mining. When you mine you can send the mining income to an Armory wallet without Armory taking part in the mining process.

Can Armory be used for mining?


How direct should I be in my email to a potential Msc advisor?

Question: In an email to a potential masters supervisor, should I ask to "speak" with the professor / researcher as opposed to instantly asking for her/him to supervise me during graduate school? For instance, should I mention that I find his/her research is interesting and I would like to speak to him/her about it? Or, should I just "cut to the chase" and ask if they could supervise my studies? I have heard conflicting opinions on this topic.
Answer: It's a bit of an art and a stochastic process because depending on the personality of you and the recipient same tactic can have opposite results. With that in mind, you can aim for an approach that is most efficient, courteous, and professional.
First a disclaimer: my experience is only relevant to the U.S. Generally, most researchers are wary of saying yes to supervising anyone without knowing the person. So, asking if he/she will supervise you from the get go can lead to a high rejection rate. And in the same time, you want to use your time efficiently so going in as a 100% academic consultation may not be the best for your interest, as some researchers may be interested to talk to you, but they may not have any funding or effort available to guide you.
To increase the success rate, I'd recommend starting with an introduction to describe who you are and what you are planning to do in the next academic stage. Then, ask for a defined amount of time  for an information meeting (30-minute is a sweet spot for me, 45-min is also fine but I'd avoid asking for any commitment for more than an hour). Lay out the major items you want to discuss, include using part of the meeting to ask academic questions that are pertinent to the researcher, and express the interest to learn more on optimizing your application process and tips in looking for an advisor, etc.
If you have a short, well-formatted resume, by all means attach with the e-mail for the recipient to "better understand your background before the talk."
The overall goal is to make the e-mail low-risk but with clear purposes. During the meeting if they are interested they may mention any opportunities that are available. And if they can't be your supervisor, they may still be able to connect you with somebody if you have impressed them enough.
Another tip is try to seek for a referral if possible. For example, if someone you want to meet has collaborated with one of your professors with whom you are in a good standing, check with that professor and see if he/she will be able to introduce you.
After the meeting, regardless of the result, send a thank you e-mail or a thank you card for their time and advice.
Good luck!


What do Grad Schools think about Pass/No Pass courses?

Question: I am a physics major at UCLA with a busy schedule. I am currently taking 3 upper division physics courses every quarter while balancing 10-20 hours of research per week. I would like to learn more computer science, so I wanted to take a couple of CS classes for a Pass/No Pass grade without stressing about my GPA. Would Grad Schools frown upon the idea of taking CS classes for P/NP grades? I feel like my reason is justified, and the CS courses are not a part of my major, but they could potentially relate to it as a needed skill.
Comment: Had to read twice because usually P/NP refers to something else in CS classes...
Comment: why do you want to take them officially? From what I understand, they are not cirruculum requirement, you just want to learn the course and don't want an official grade from the course. Why don't you just ask the proffesor if you could join and would he read your homeworks, if you turned them in? From where I am from, this wouldn't be inappropriate.
Comment: I don't quite understand. Can you choose if the classes at UCLA (I believe that's a university) are graded or pass/fail?
Comment: And why would the universities you apply to not approve of you taking additional CS classes?
Answer: I don't think you have anything to worry about. You seem to be doing the right thing in your major and that will be the important consideration for grad school. But anything you do to increase supplementary skills is a positive thing, not negative. For example, even an online no-credit course can increase your skills and would have a small positive effect. If you were doing this in physics courses it would be viewed differently.
You have a good explanation to give for your choices. If asked, just present that. No one should think less of you or your abilities.


How to get the bending moment for tie member?

Question: How to get the bending moment for tie member?  For the tie member, there is no uniformly distributed load and concentrated load, right? How to get the bending moment? The tension force was found to be 18.2kN btw.
Answer: You say "[t]he tension force was found to be 18.2kN". I assume you were the one who got this result.
If you did, you will have noticed that this force is perfectly parallel to the tie's longitudinal axis and that there was no perpendicular (transversal) component applied to the tie on either end.
As such, we can look at the tie in isolation and rotate it to make it horizontal. What we then have looks exactly like a simply-supported beam (since the tie's pinned connections allow rotation but not displacement). It just so happens that beam has no transversal external loads (concentrated forces or distributed loads).
What's the bending moment for a beam with no transversal external loads? Well, it's just zero. The beam suffers no bending moment. You're done.
Unless...
The only potential wrinkle is the fact that everything in the world has at least one load applied to it: its weight. Though it's not shown in your image, that tie does have to support its own weight. That weight will be pointing straight down, so it can be decomposed into a parallel and a transversal component. The parallel component will alter the tie's axial load (it will actually vary along the tie's length), while the transversal component will generate bending moment. Once again, the comparison to the simply-supported beam applies, and the bending moment diagram will be identical to the one for such a beam, just remember to calculate it using only the weight's transversal component, not its totality.
That being said, since ties are theoretically meant to be axial-only and since their self-weight is usually much lower than the loads applied to the entire structure, it is very common to calculate the ties' weight and apply them as concentrated forces at the endpoints (half to each node, of course). This will give an accurate description of the axial force but will eliminate the bending moment on the assumption that it's negligible.
For your question, if the weight (or density, through which you could calculate the weight) wasn't given, then it's probably fair to assume the teacher wants you to disconsider the weight, in which case the tie's bending moment is simply zero.
Answer: While the term 'tie-member' is typically used to describe an axial only link member, you must consider any loading effects. As you have shown it in the image it looks like a simple link. But just because the terminology suggests that the member is axial only does not necessarily mean that it is.
Any other connecting elements or applied loading could bending of the member. So you must identify any other loading that may be applied to the element.
Also a bending moment can be generated by axial forces that have eccentricity.
If your connections are off center, then there would be some bending moment due to only the axial load.


does my ginger bug have mold?

Question: My ginger bug had been 3 days bubbling and fizzing, but now it's stopped bubbling and smells too much of fermented ginger, can somebody help me? please?
I need help urgently.
Comment: "_it's stopped bubbling and smells too much of fermented ginger_" That sounds like normal yeast operation. What ended up happening?
Answer: Yeast is a mould (fungus), so you want your ginger bug to have mould.  If it has brightly coloured mould - black, red, yellow, discard it.  Generally yeast will stay in suspension for a while, before settling to the bottom, making a creamy-white layer.  While it's fermenting, yeast produces a lot of weird smells.
If it's stopped bubbling, the yeast has probably used-up all the sugar.  If you want to grow more yeast, let the yeast settle to the bottom, then decant the clear liquid on top, then add more pre-boiled 10% sugar-water.  (Or if your vessel is large enough, just add more without decanting.)
You could also put it in the fridge if you are not currently planning on using it.  This will slow down any fermentation activity.

does my ginger bug have mold?


Is there an extended-life battery for the Sony NEX-6?

Question: I'm really enjoying my Sony NEX-6, especially the time-lapse application. However, I'm often finding that the camera's battery dies before I can create a long time-lapse (say, 4-5 hours). Is there a way to either:
(a) charge the camera while it's taking the time-lapse, or (b) purchase a battery grip for the camera?
Answer: You could use an AC Adaptor - The Sony AC-PW20 is the option here.
Alternatively you could buy a third party non-OEM battery that is rated above the OEM battery in capacity. The Sony NP-FW50 is rated at 1080 mAh and you can find some 1500 mAh options out there if you look.
Answer: As a warning to anyone thinking of buying a USB battery pack, don't -- my NEX goes into USB mode when I plug in a USB cable, even if it's a charge-only cable. Which means that it doesn't let you take photos -- the entire UI is replaced by a "USB" indicator.
I tried changing the USB mode from mass storage to MTP to auto, to no avail.


Broad claim of US Patent 7,404,278 and available prior art

Question: Does anyone have any prior art for U.S. Patent 7,404,278.  The patent describes a method of siliconization for syringes, with the novelty of the method being asserted as "subjecting the siliconized syringe to a temperature treatment of approximately 120 degrees C to 300 degrees C and more" to bond the silicone to the glass surface of the syringe.  Subjecting the siliconized syringe to an elevated temperature, to effectively "cure" the silicone to the surface, has been known in the industry but I am unable to find the relevant references for this.
Answer: Patent number: 6447610
Filing date: Jul 18, 2000 was considered by the examiner. It mentions silicone oil but not curing. A later filed application says the present invention won't work because the adhesive holding the needle to the syringe will not stand up to the cure temp.


Salinic bridges in voltaic cells

Question: I'm doing a study a study on voltaic cells.
I've been working with them for a while and one of the questions that I've had is how does the salt bridge affect the cell. I mean, I know it allows ions to move and that it'a a basic component of the pill. But, does its' concentration affect the voltage of the cell itself?
Thank you.
Comment: A n ideal salt bridge just eliminates liquid-liquid junction potential without affecting the equilibrium of the cell. A non ideal salt bridge changes the observed voltage depending on the relative mobilities of the ions in the salt bridge solution.
Answer: A cell has an internal ohmic-equivalent resistance.  The salt bridge is a resistive path for the flow of ions.  Ions, plus their hydration shells and possible coordination shells, have low drift velocities through a medium.  The salt bridge can constrain the ion current of the cell and its material equilibrium rate.  A poor salt bridge by length, diameter, concentration, and permeability will increasingly adversely affect a cell's current and voltage as discharge rate increases.
Answer: I don't think it affects the voltage of the cell as :
E°(cell)= E°(red,cathode) - E°(red,anode)
so it doesn't depend on the salt bridge !
Comment: Theoretically it does not, although many factors ensure the observed voltage is lower than the theoretical voltage including the resistance of the salt bridge.

Salinic bridges in voltaic cells


How come the average studio rent in Vietnam is bigger than the average salary?

Question: A studio in Ho Chi Minh city center : roughly 500 USD/month
Average salary in Vietnam : 300 USD/month
I have noticed the same thing in other "poor" countries : a studio rent is so expensive compared to the average salary. Is there an explanation ? And how do vietnamese people pay their rent ??
Comment: Many families afford such prices because one or multiple other family members work abroad and remit parts of that income.
Answer: The rent figure in the question relates to the centre of Ho Chi Minh City and it is a fallacy to infer that it is typical of the whole of Vietnam.  There is a body of theory going back to von Thunen suggesting that land rents will generally fall with distance from a city centre, forming a rent gradient. Given a free market in land and property, residents and entrepreneurs will choose where to live or site their businesses with regard both to price and to costs of travel and transport, and this tends to result in such a gradient in land rents.  Property rents will depend on the size and type of property as well as land rents per unit of area, but otherwise similar properties will tend to be cheaper with greater distance from a city centre.
In the case of Ho Chi Minh City, this World Bank Report indicates (p 153 Section 3.4.1. Prices) that the market for land is subject to considerable government intervention, but that land prices are nevertheless much lower in peripheral districts than in the city centre.
While the factors listed by emeryville may also play a part, a large part of the answer to the question "How do Vietnamese people pay their rent?" is probably therefore that most poorer people do not live in the parts of large cities where the rents are highest.
Answer: One reason could be price discrimination. For instance, the same apartment is not rented the same price for locals vs (rich) foreigners.
Other potential reasons:

the apartment could also be furnished or designed specifically for rich people (product differentiation);
the given price could be a base price subject to harsh negotiation;
locals may have access to better information on the rental market and may find better opportunities.


Is IP masquerade and Network Address Port Translation(NAPT) the same?

Question: Is IP masquerade and Network Address Port Translation(NAPT) the same? I'm not sure whether it is the same thing or not but I realized the mechanism is almost the same where both IP masquerade and NAPT changes TCP/UDP port and many-to-one relation is allowed:multiple private addresses share one global IP address.
If it is different which part is IP masquerade and NAPT is different?
Answer: IP masquerade is the same as NAPT and the only difference is that when NAPT is used in Linux, it is called IP masquerade. The mechanism is the same, it's just the place where the technology is implemented is different.
Comment: In Linux, NAPT is called IP Masquerade for historical reasons.


Mac completely freezes when waking up from sleep

Question: When I wake my MacBook Pro 15 inch up from a long period of time (2-5 hours) of sleep, my Mac shows a black screen (there is clearly some backlighting, so its on, just showing only black), and my Touchbar is on. However, it responds to absolutely no input: the trackpad, keyboard all have no effect. The Touchbar and the screen are both completely frozen.
A restart does seem to put everything back to normal, however. I should also add that in the events that my Mac had these sleep issues, the case was open. Whenever I shut my MacBook, physically, and leave the lid down, I notice no issues whatsoever. I've left my mac on sleep with the lid down for hours at end (traveling, or when I'm asleep) with zero issues whatsoever. Statistically speaking, I only experience issues when the lid is left up the and the Mac falls asleep.
I should note that I've already asked a similar question before, where my screen was instead showing a repetitive pattern, rather than a black screen. The link: 15 inch MacBook Pro running macOS Mojave woke up with blue screen from sleep
As of that previous question, I have run a diagnostic with no issues found.
I don't know if the problem is hibernation or anything like that, but here is the relevant info:
<code>❯ pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
 standbydelaylow      10800
 standby              1
 womp                 1
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 proximitywake        1
 powernap             1
 gpuswitch            2
 networkoversleep     0
 disksleep            10
 standbydelayhigh     86400
 sleep                1
 hibernatemode        0
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         10
 tcpkeepalive         1
 highstandbythreshold 50
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1

</code>
<code>❯ pmset -g assertions
2019-06-15 23:03:12 -0700
Assertion status system-wide:
   BackgroundTask                 0
   ApplePushServiceTask           0
   UserIsActive                   1
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    0
   PreventSystemSleep             0
   ExternalMedia                  0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     1
   NetworkClientActive            0
Listed by owning process:
   pid 354(useractivityd): [0x0000042d00018358] 00:00:01 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "BTLEAdvertisement"
    Timeout will fire in 58 secs Action=TimeoutActionTurnOff
   pid 352(sharingd): [0x000003c70001834e] 00:01:43 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "Handoff"
   pid 100(hidd): [0x0000002900098145] 00:00:00 UserIsActive named: "com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle.4294968616.3"
    Timeout will fire in 600 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease
Kernel Assertions: 0x104=USB,MAGICWAKE
   id=504  level=255 0x4=USB mod=12/31/69, 4:00 PM description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14300000 owner=USB Receiver
   id=505  level=255 0x100=MAGICWAKE mod=6/15/19, 10:56 PM description=en0 owner=en0
Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler
</code>
More information on my system:

Hardware: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4, Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB, Radeon Pro 555X
Software: I have Xcode installed, and the apps running in the background were  Spotify and iTerm.
Answer: This is a common problem with Macs, but it's usually easy to fix. You probably just need to reset your System Management Controller (SMC), which controls things like how your computer sleeps/wakes and responds to opening the lid from sleep, etc.
If this does not work, you could go a step further and reset your Nonvolatile Random- Access Memory (NVRAM) and/or your Parameter Ram (PRAM). These two things store small pieces of memory related to your system settings. The SMC, NVRAM, and PRAM all sometimes contain errors, or simply bug out, which just requires a quick resetting of their stored information. Sometimes the steps for resetting each differs depending on your model Mac, so I suggest reading through Apple's Official docs on their steps here:
How to reset your Mac's SMC
and
How to reset your Mac's NVRAM or PRAM
I hope this helps.


How can I batch convert photos made from some angle to frontal view?

Question: Is there an application that would batch convert photos made from some angle to frontal ones? I know ShiftN does batch perspective correction, but I would like to automatically convert some photos of buildings that have visible lines and were made from like 70' angle to frontal textures.
Comment: Why does the batch perspective correction not work for your needs?  Also, keep in mind that the actual captured information is still going to look weird unless the building is perfectly flat as you are actually capturing the image at an angle which means that any 3d geometry will cause odd stretching in the corrected image.
Comment: Perspective correction can be performed in any direction and will work on the sample image you showed.  Lightroom 5 has an automatic "upright" tool which may be useful to speed up the process, but it doesn't always get it right.
Comment: @FlashThunder What's your application?  For photography, with an angle even greater than in your sample photo, a fully perspective corrected version is going to look *very* weird.  If the application is more like google street view (and you have a huge number of images), perhaps you can try to roll your own algorithm (using a package like Mathematica/MATLAB) and you'll find more expertise on dsp.stackexchange.com.  You'd be starting with a Hough transform to detect lines.
Comment: -1 for no sample image. The process clearly works with most images and as it stands the question is for everyone not reproducible. Upvote once sample is added...
Comment: I know it won't be perfect, but I need it anyway. Perspective correction did not work because the angle is horizontal not vertical. Rotating 90' did not help, because it is not about perspective. Those tools only correct keystone effect. I can't show exact photos because I dont have them, but found really nice sample: a shopping shelf - like in here: http://www.shelving-supermarket.com/photo/pl448718-heavy_duty_chrome_powder_coat_shelving_supermarket_shop_shelf_racks_display.jpg
Comment: Ok I know why it does not work. It does with the photo in comment. But my angle is like 2 times bigger :/
Comment: Do you mean a 70 minute or a 70 degree angle?  70 degrees is huge.
Answer: What you want is generally not possible because there is no image information for the part of the subject hidden from view. For instance, in a side-view portrait, half of the subject's face is turned away from the camera.


how to call exe file in vb6 with multiple parameters

Question: I tried With below code
Dim pthName As String
Dim Parms As String
Dim RpNo As Integer
Dim glngbr As Long
Dim PrtVw As String
pthName = "D:\Sample.exe"
RpNo = 1
PrtVw = "V"
glngbr = 84003
Shell pthName & Parms

I am getting error "Run time error 53 ".
i tried without parameter its working
Shell pthName

Comment: Possible duplicate of [Passing parameters in Shell command in VB 6](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9076225/passing-parameters-in-shell-command-in-vb-6)
Answer: You can use like this,
Shell "D:\Sample.exe" & " " & Param_1, Param_2

Comment: Shell "D:\Sample.exe" & " " & RpNo, PrtVw, glngbr.  Am getting error "Wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignment"
Answer: Try this:
Shell "D:\Sample.exe" & " " & RpNo & " " & PrtVw & " " & glngbr

Answer: Use the api shellexecute http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238245
Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" ( _
                    ByVal hwnd As Long, _
                    ByVal lpOperation As String, _
                    ByVal lpFile As String, _
                    ByVal lpParameters As String, _
                    ByVal lpDirectory As String, _
                    ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

Private Const SW_HIDE As Long = 0
Private Const SW_SHOWNORMAL As Long = 1
Private Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED As Long = 3
Private Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED As Long = 2

private Sub exec_program()
    ShellExecute App.hInstance, "Open", "D:\Sample.exe", "Parms", "C:\", SW_SHOWNORMAL
End Sub

Answer: You don't need to use the Shell command, or ShellExecute either for that matter.  There's a simpler solution: the global VBA.Command object contains whatever string you added when you called your exe file.  For example, if you enter myproject.exe hello world on the command line, VBA.Command will contain the string hello world.
If you want multiple command line arguments, you can just put them all on the command line separated by a known delimiter such as /.  Then you can use the Split function to break them up.
Read This.  It will tell you all about it, including how to use it in the IDE without having to test against a compiled version.