Is there a command line Bitcoin CPU miner for Windows?

Question: Is there a Bitcoin miner that I can run using the command line on Windows? I want a CPU miner, not a GPU miner.
Comment: You do understand that at this difficulty level, you will not recoup your power costs from bitcoin mining? This link provides an idea of what hash rates you'll get from CPU and GPU mining
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison I wouldn't recommend it even if the power is free. It just isn't worth the wear and tear on your CPU.
Comment: `bitcoin-cli -rpcconnect=127.0.0.1 generate 1`
Answer: You can install the standard Bitcoin-QT client, navigate to
<code>\Program Files (x86)\bitcoin\daemon\
</code>
and then run
<code>bitcoind -gen=1
</code>
However this isn't recommended except on the Test network because it is next to impossible to generate any coins this way on the production network.
Answer: One of the best for both LiteCoins and BTC is
CGminer
It supports both Linux & Windows
Download from here
https://github.com/ycros/cgminer/downloads
You can get complete instructions from
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0
Or just check the readme including in the zip
It Supports FGPA GPU and GPU for BTC & GPU for LiteCoins..there is extensive tuning instructions as part of teh community so if you want to get the most bang for your $$ then this is the one :D
Comment: Does the litecoin cgminer use IRC?  Also do you know if cgminer works with Butterfly Labs FPGA for *litecoin*?  I thought lightcoin was made to resist FPGA/GPU optimizations
Comment: ckolivas has got it working for GPU with TacoTime (big Litecoinminer) using both it & reaper for GPU Litecoin mining with cgminer being the most stable i.e 9 days and no probs with cgminer...FGPA wont work as the code is specific for BTC ..my bad should have stated FGPA only for BTC..have edited answer to suit :D
Comment: It Uses/Supports IRC as far as I know
Answer: This client includes a command-line miner which supports CPU mining (and GPU, should you have one available).
But unless you're mining in a pool, you're not going to get any benefit from CPU mining. And even with a pool, you'll get very little.


Do people still read blogs?

Question: I am under the impression they do but I have colleagues who believe nobody reads blogs anymore, and that if you must blog, video blogs are better. Any thoughts on this? Is writing becoming redundant?
Comment: @Montag451: Hayley isn't asking whether writing is required for video blogs; she's asking whether written-word blogs are becoming redundant.
Comment: Blogs are still being written and read; the question is in what numbers. What kind of information are you looking for? Total number of readers? Influence and reach? Viability of any one blog successfully finding a following?
Comment: Even a video blog needs the process of writing in the format of "script writing" (unless you're talking about spontaneous videos). The process of recording thoughts still requires (and most probably for a long time will require) the concept of writing. How would someone find the aforementioned video and learn its contents beforehand if it isn't recorded in the form of scripture?
Comment: No answer to this question could ever be reliable if it doesn't bring citations and figures. There are a lot of studies and articles discussing this, so an internet search could provide a better overview than any "people still read my blog so yes" answers could provide.
Answer: My blog is still being read, and at about the same level it always was.
But as blogs have become a popular form of content marketing, it is inevitable that fewer and fewer of them are being read. Ineffective marketers pump out boat loads of drivel which people do not read. Since producing something that is not drivel is hard work, they are always chasing the next media fad in hopes that it will get people reading their drivel. They see stats that show fewer blogs are being read and immediately jump to producing videos. Perhaps briefly people who have started to avoid blogs because of the drivel may turn to videos, but as all the drivel producer flock to video, people will see through that as well.
Text and video are both valuable means of expression, each with their own areas of particular strength. But drivel is still drivel and people will not watch drivel just because it a video rather than text. People will consume quality content in whatever media they find it in.
Create quality. Make sure you have something real to say and that you understand who you are saying it to. Choose the media that best suits the message. People will come.
Comment: If people want YouTube videos, they go to YouTube. If they search Google for videos, it points them to those videos on YouTube, not those embedded in other people's blogs. To get traffic to your site, you have to either post content that ranks well in search engines (quality is the best form of SEO) or build an audience that is willing to visit your site directly or subscribe to your feeds. For that you need consistent quality, not just the occasional good piece.
Comment: You answered as I was trying to refine my question and I'm glad to hear your views. The company I work for has a blogging platform, which the marketing team uses extensively. Recently they started simply calling YouTube videos into their blogs, with a short introductory sentence to explain what it's about. With both formats, users don't seem to be engaging - no comments, no subscriptions, not that many views. Sometimes the content is actually quite interesting, but perhaps it's not consistently interesting, so people have lost interest and don't bother anymore.
Answer: As the Web continues to develop, I see a trend that can't be denied. Shorter and simpler is far better than lengthy and content focused. Also, comedy seems to be a hit. If you can make it short and make it funny, it becomes memorable and "watch-worthy," if that's a word. If you're blogging about insurance and you drone on and on about shop talk insurance jargon, you just lost at least 70% of those that even gave your blog a fighting chance. If, however, you make it concise, funny and endearing (focusing on common issues your target audience encounters and making light of them), all the while offering a solution, you have the makings of a successful blog/vlog.
Answer: I read several blogs each week. If they are relevant, well-written and interesting I take the time to read them. If they aren't, I delete the without reading them.

Do people still read blogs?


Can I check in the day before when flying British Airways from Geneva to London?

Question: The flight departs at 7 am for international connection in London, and I would like to check in my bag the night before because I'm elderly and there will be no one to help me get my bag down three flights of stairs during my early morning trip to the airport.
Answer: While your airline will definitely let you check in online for your flight up to 24 hours before the time of departure, it's relatively unlikely that they will let you drop your bags with them until the flight checkin desks at the airport opens, 3 to 4 hours before your flight. The only exceptions appear to be at Gatwick and Edinburgh, which do allow evening check ins for early flights. You could try contacting them with a plea for special assistance, but I'm not going to guarantee you'll get anywhere.
On the other hand, Geneva airport does offer some paid for luggage services, with self service lockers available from 03.30 to 0.30 each day on the railway station level. There is also a staffed counter, but that doesn't seem to open early enough for your purposes.


Power steering leak in 82 GMC truck

Question: I have a 1982 GMC K1500. This junction where the steering column connects to this other part is moist and occasionally drips a reddish fluid. What is this other part called and what is involved in fixing this?
Comment: Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair!
Comment: That's a leaking input shaft seal on your power steering gearbox. Usually replace with a rebuilt unit.
Answer: If I understand your question correctly, I believe the part you are talking about is called a "rag joint". It softens the feel between the steering wheel and the steering box.
That isn't what's leaking, though. It appears (from the one photo) the problem is the seal from the steering shaft on the steering gear box. You could possibly replace it, but if time is considered money, you'd be better off replacing the entire steering gear.
Comment: I don't know about "easier", but I think a lot less time consuming. There are several parts which are *tough* to get off, so a bit of a trade off. Thing is, you have to remove quite a few of those same components to get to the seal as well. Thing is, after you've replaced the seal, you still have an old steering box which is most likely worn out ... which could be why the seal is worn out in the first place.
Comment: Cool, thanks. I see from Moab's post below that the gear box is more expensive but I'd imagine significantly easier to install.
Answer: That is a Power steering Gear input shaft seal, they make a kit just for that but is tricky to install, might be better off installing a reman PS Gear.
See kit Edelman 8525
See reman gear Cardone 277522
Comment: No alignment needed. "Will those reman pumps that you linked to be OK in light of this information or do I need a different one? " Gear box is the same for both.
Comment: Thanks a lot! I appreciate the links. Is there a good writeup or book that would walk me through the process of doing this myself? I assume an alignment would probably be needed afterward?
Comment: Also, I'm told this truck has something called hydroboost where the power brakes run off of the PS pump. Will those reman pumps that you linked to be OK in light of this information or do I need a differnet one?
Comment: You will need a couple of somewhat specialty tool to replace the steering box. You will need tubing wrenches to remove the lines, a pitman arm puller to remove the steering arm that attaches to the steering box. a tierod breaking tool . You will also need a "large" breaker bar (pitman arm to steering box nut is torqued to about 180ftlbs).

Power steering leak in 82 GMC truck


Irfp250n n channel mosfet gate charge problem?

Question: I thought of changing and using a mosfet with n channels instead p channels. I connected the mosfet's source leg to the minus pole. I connected the drain leg of the mosfet to the plus pole. In this way, MOSFET will think that it is sending electricity to the minus pole and n Channel mosfet will work and connect positive + pole like P channel mosfets. I connected a lamp where the positive electricity was. The result is successful because it worked without any problems. But the arduino did not charge the mosfet gate leg. Later I saw that the plus pole of the mosfet was operating the gate leg when it is connected. Then I connected the plus pole of the mosfet to the minus pole of the arduino uno and the arduino uno started the mosfet smoothly. But I can do this with a maximum of 20 volts because the electric current coming to the gate leg is equal to the sum of 5.5 volts and 20 volts. When I use 100 volts, the electric current coming to the gate leg is 105 volts. Then the mosfet explodes. How can I solve this problem and run MOSFET with 100 volts. I can't charge mosfet gate leg any other voltage source. I can only charge their drain positive voltage source. I need to use n channel mosfet like p channel. How can I fix this charge problem ? Mosfet have only 20 volt Vgs limit capacity in gate leg. When I give it 105 volt it exploded like a bomb .
Comment: Your text is now a "wall of text" making it hard to read. Please divide it into a couple of paragraphs for better reading. *When I use 100 volts* Seeing your circuit and how you write about it, I conclude that you're **not yet experienced enough** to work with anything above 50 V. Making Arduino + MOSFET work at 100 V can be done but you really need to know what you're doing to prevent blowing up components but also **not getting electrocuted**.
Comment: *I need to use n channel mosfet like p channel.* NMOS and a PMOS are both MOSFETs and they can be used in the same way **but** you will have to reverse **all** polarities in order to "use an NMOS like a PMOS" that includes swapping the polarity of the Arduino which cannot be done just like that. I suggest you do some studying on Arduino, MOSFETs and switching a load on/off.
Answer: If you're wanting to use the Uno to control high voltage AC devices, I'd recommend using a relay for switching instead of a MOSFET. Relays are more reliable and safer, but don't offer anywhere near as fast of switching speeds as FETs, so for a simple light switch it's likely a better option.
in the datasheet the absolute max for Vgs is 20V, so it's no wonder why pushing 100Vs through it got wild. Relays isolate the two circuits so you don't run the risk of damaging your board or popping another FET. Even though the IRFP250 is rated up to 200V VDS, expecting it to handle the resulting Wattage would require a serious cooling system and lots of additional safety measures built in. As others have pointed out though, you probably should hold off on working with such high voltages until you have more experience.


Reformulated: Universe expansion or collapse

Question: I reformulate the question a little bit because I feel that
I was misunderstood.
There are cosmic observations that tell us the universe seems to expand.
It also seems to expand always faster (accelerating).
I am missing the step of reasoning that, from the collected data, leads to
the conclusion that it is certainly expanding.
I mean: did they (the astrophysicists) checked that it can't be
possible to see an "apparent expansion" even in a collapsing
universe, before making their claim?
Are there other different (from the redshift) observations that reinforce the conclusion of the expansion? Or: is this theory enough robust today, in order to exclude
a possible "revolution" similar to the Ptolemaic/Copernican one (in the near future) ?
Thanks for explanations.
Comment: ""What about the statement that if we were involved in a gravitational collapse then the observations will be the same? i.e. apparently expanding"" Who says so?
Comment: @Georg: Perhaps the statement is that the universe is collapsing, but the entropy of the endstate is zero, so that time is ticking backwards?
Comment: @Ron, such things are discussed for oscillating universes, but not that the contracting univers looks as if it were expanding.
Comment: @Georg: if the universe is contracting to a zero entropy endpoint, you would still call it "expanding". But this is not the question. The question is about tired light.
Comment: Related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/2110/2451 and links therein.
Answer: I don't know of the statement claiming similarity between collapse/expansion but theory and experiment tell us that the almost universal red-shift we observe would be a blue shift; If the universe were collapsing.
Answer: You are asking: is there any independent evidence, other than redshift, that the universe is expanding. This is a sensible question. In the old days, some people postulated "tired light", the theory that light just gets spontaneousy redshifted with time. This theory is not theoretically compelling, but it does ask that there should be independent evidence that the universe is expanding.
Big Bang nucleosynthesis
If the universe is actually expanding, and its not tired light, then there must have been a time when it was very hot. During this time, the temperature would decay in a very precise way, determined by General Relativity. Alpher and Gamow were able to calculate the amount of each element and isotope produced in this hot phase of the big band, within a few minutes of the birth of the universe.
The results are that 75% of the universe is Hydrogen, 25% is Helium, and a precise calculable trace amount is Deuterium, Lithium, Beryllium, He3. These abundances very across more than 5 orders of magnitude, and they are crazy numbers which are very sensitive to exactly how much matter is in the universe, and the precise masses of the fundamental particles.
These calculations match the observed abundances of H,He, Li, and the trace elements, with tiny residual errors. This is very strong evidence that the universe used to be hot.
Cosmic Microwave background
The Cosmic microwave background is relic radiation from the big bang. Tired light can account for the redhsift, perhaps, but it would not explain why at the edge of the visible universe we see a residual radiation which is at a definite temperature which matches observations.
This is also compelling evidence for the hot big bang. Further, the anisotropies in the microwave background are correctly predicted by inflation, using the observed abundances of normal and dark matter, inferred by other means. The accelerated universe is also in accordance with the cosmological constant required for inflationary theory to match observations. The detailed distribution of the temperature deviations of the microwave background would require an unbelievable conspiracy of tired and conspiratorial light to reproduce.
Structure formation
The theory of the big bang also predicts the formation of large-scale-structure in the universe, which is as expected, with simulations matching observations of the gap-structure and filaments in the large-scale universe, from the initial seed provided by inflation. These predictions are further confirmation of the circle of ideas.
Some of the most obvious signs of a universe expanding from a big-bang is that far away objects are more poorly developed than closer objects.
Is it possible that everything is wrong?
It is not realistically possible that all this is wrong, because the evidence was already too great to deny before the modern revolution in cosmology, and it has gotten much better.
Comment: first of all thank you for your answer.  I need to go a little more deep into my argument. Big Bang nucleosynthesis is OK, but it does not prevent that the universe could be, right now, collapsing. The CMB is the relic of Big Gnag, OK, but same as above, I can't see why it would'nt be the same if all is collapsing out there. (I do not know/understand the implications of the anisotropies..). large-scale-structures... same comment. Please help me a little bit more.
Comment: @user6090: presumably if the universe is collapsing right now,  it didn't just suddenly start collapsing just now. The structure formation calculation starts with CMB, and reproduces the rough statistics of galaxy walls and filaments, something which depends sensitively on the expansion over the past 13 billion years. General Relativity plus a small cosmological constant predicts the expansion exactly, so we have a compelling theory which matches observations, and which tells you exactly how the universe expansion goes. Further, this theory matches the redshift data, which you dismissed.
Answer: Why does anybody expect overall blueshift in a collapsing universe? I would expect redshift as well:
The universe consists already of a giant central black hole attracting our milky way and all other galaxies. The observed red shift can be explained by the 1/r² law of gravitation: galaxies that are nearer than our one to the central black hole have higher speeds towards it than we have. So we see them moving away from us. Galaxies that are further away from the central black hole than our one don't move so fast towards it as we do. So looking at them we see them escaping from us as well. The black hole and our distance to it are so big, that the field gradient is quite low, so we experience no tidal forces. Adjusting Newton's 1/r² law by Einstein's general relativity field equations does make a big difference to this model. The general pattern of galaxy motion relative to each other remains the same.
How can these claims be verified? Here is the principle algorithm. It can be implemented and executed even on a PC:
Take all recorded quasar spectra from the known quasar catalogs. Normalize their spectra to zero red shift. Compare each spectral signature which each other. Try reasonable compensation for differences according to dust or other noise adding effects. If you find two identical or similar ones, check the respective quasar's positions. If their angular positions differ by several degrees, you have some evidence. Because you found the same quasar twice: Once seen in direct (curved) line, and once its light wrapped around by the central black hole's gravitational field.
Twin quasars are already known but turned out to be the result of "small" (means: a massive galaxy in our line of sight to them) gravitational lens effects. In these cases their seeming positions differed by some arc seconds or minutes. A number of twin quasars with significant (several degrees) angular position differences or even at opposite sites of the universe would be a proof for the above model


Where is the Polyfuse of Raspberry Pi3?

Question: I wan to test the polyfuse of the Raspberry pi3 B+ I try to find where it is but it said in the search result locate the F3 but there is no F3 in the board written anyone can help?
Comment: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/schematics/rpi_SCH_3bplus_1p0_reduced.pdf shows no polyfuse (or I can not find it)
Comment: F1 is the polyfuse in the schematic
Answer: The polyfuse on the Pi3B+ is adjacent to the power socket, near the HDMI socket.
NOTE I strongly advise AGAINST poking test leads in a running Pi - if you must test do it on an unpowered Pi.
You would be better to just measure voltage on pin 2 of the expansion connecter.

Where is the Polyfuse of Raspberry Pi3?


Phase angle operator, Implemention and drawbacks

Question: Let assume we have a signal as:
$\color{blue} {x(t)=M e^{(-\beta.t)} e^{j(\sigma .t+\delta )}}$
By applying phase angle operator we have:
$\color{blue} {Phase[x(t)]=Phase[M e^{-\beta.t} e^{j(\sigma .t+\delta )}]=\sigma.t+\delta}$
I have two questions:
 1. How can I implement the Phase angle operator, i.e. Phase, in practice ,like a chip.
 2. Does phase angle operator increase the effect of noise in a noisy signal?(for example some operators like derivative operator increases the noise effect in a noisy signal)
Kind Regards
Comment: I guess $\tau$ on the right-hand side should be $t$. If you already have a complex-valued signal (i.e. you don't need to generate an analytic signal from a real-valued signal), then the phase is simply the phase angle of the complex number represented by the signal at a given time $t$. So you basically need to implement [atan2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atan2).
Comment: Yes, I meant to present the time variable by writing $\tau$ However the signal is modified and 't' is substituted now. Also, Thanks for giving the hint of using `atan2`. Now I have two questions. First, How can I apply it to my signal? is this function within every microcomputer programming tool? Second, Does noise effect increase the error as derivative operator does? thanks @MattL.
Answer: As mentioned in my comment, you need the atan2 function. If it is not implemented in the library you're using, you can implement it yourself quite easily according to this definition. If your signal is $x(t)=x_r(t)+jx_i(t)$, where $x_r(t)$ and $x_i(t)$ are the real and imaginary parts, respectively, then for a given time $t$, the phase is computed as $\phi(t)=\text{atan2}(x_i(t),x_r(t))$.
The computation of the phase of a signal is indeed sensitive to noise. Note that - no matter how you implement it - there is always some direct or approximate computation of the ratio of the imaginary and the real part of the signal, and since both are corrupted by noise, the ratio can be very noisy. The computation of the ratio can also become numerically problematic if the denominator (i.e. the real part) becomes very small.


execvp exec format error for shell script on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Question: We have two RHEL 6 systems that are running identical versions of the kernel and glibc (glibc–2.12–1.90.el6_3.6). According to the POSIX standard and the Linux man pages, if the kernel determines that an executable file is not in an executable format such as ELF and it doesn't have a shebang (#!) line, the functions execl, execlp, execle, execv, execvp, and execvpe (but not execve) will attempt to execute that file using a POSIX shell, which on Linux is /bin/sh.
However, on one of the systems, executing a shell script whose first line is : using the function execvp fails, while on the other machine the script is executed using /bin/sh, as expected. Specifically, we're using these test programs; /tmp/test_script is made executable:
x.c:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

extern char **environ;

int main () {
        char *argv[]   = { "/tmp/test_script", NULL };
        char *progname = argv[0];
        if (execvp(progname, argv) == -1) {
                perror("execvp");
                return -1;
        }
}

/tmp/test_script:

:

echo "Test script called"
exit 0

We've searched the source RPM for the installed version of glibc, and it definitely implements the desired behavior (execvp is a trivial wrapper around execvpe):
posix/execvpe.c:

if (strchr(file, '/') != NULL)
    {
        /* Don't search when it contains a slash.  */
        __execve(file, argv, envp);

        if (errno == ENOEXEC)
            {
                /* Count the arguments.  */
                int argc = 0;
                while (argv[argc++])
                    ;
                size_t len = (argc + 1) * sizeof(char *);
                char **script_argv;
                void *ptr = NULL;
                if (__libc_use_alloca(len))
                    script_argv = alloca(len);
                else
                    script_argv = ptr = malloc(len);

                if (script_argv != NULL)
                    {
                        scripts_argv(file, argv, argc, script_argv);
                        __execve(script_argv[0], script_argv, envp);

                        free(ptr);
                    }
            }
    }
else
   ︙

Here, scripts_argv is a simple function that prepends /bin/sh to the argument list, and __execve is identical to the execve that is exposed to userspace via glibc.
Has anyone else encountered this issue on Linux? The behavior is correct on every other system I've tried it on.
Comment: please show the error messages. Also, use "strace -f ...." to help in finding out what's going on?
Answer: Alright, I discovered what was calling the issue. After compiling the x.c executable, I ran ldd on it and discovered that there was a library liboit.so dynamically linked to the executable. This library was installed by the ObserveIT Unix Auditor, which intercepts all activity by logged-in users, including system calls. However, I would think that just intercepting system calls wouldn't result in the observed behavior, since the re-execution with /bin/sh is done inside glibc. Perhaps ObserveIT also emulates POSIX functions as well, apparently non-conformantly in this situation.


Different Screen Sizes and Camera in Unity

Question: Now I know that no matter what the screen size is the camera will keep its height, so no worries about that. My question is, is there a way to manipulate the camera, either its orthographic size, or its viewport rect width, height, x or y so that the camera will fit perfectly on different screen resolutions. I know this a perfect solution for supporting different screens problem but how do other games do that? I mean I took some games from google play like bunny skater, or stick hero, those games look the same on Huawei P6 which has 1280x720 resoltuion, on Prestigio Multipad 4 which has 1024x768 and on HP Slate 7 which has 1024 x 600 resultion, now my question is how do they do that? I think the closest solution to this is to manipulate viewport rect of the camera, I'm saying this because I found a script that does so but it leaves black bars on top and bottom, the game looks the same on every device though but as I said it leaves black bars on top and bottom, so is there a solution on how to do this?
Answer: When making games, I typically support resolutions between 5:4 to 16:9. The best way I found to ensure maximum object coverage on the screen is to optimize for 3:2 and then adjust the camera's view along the axis that minimizes the amount of extra space. So if the game is in landscape mode and is being played on a 5:4 device, the width would remain static and the height would adjust, if it's being played on a 16:9 device, then the height would remain static and the width would adjust.
Here's a picture display of how it works in practice.

A 3:2 display will have the best experience, a device which is taller than 3:2 (going towards 5:4) will have some extra view at the top or bottom, a device which is wider than 3:2 (going towards 16:9) will have some extra view at the left and right edges.
The content of this view will however only contain an extra bit of background, it should not contain anything important or interesting.

The issue with relying on Unity's "constant height" default behaviour is that the amount of overlap between the two extremes of common resolutions: 5:4 and 16:9 is huge. Meaning you can't position anything in the yellow area of the image above or the purple area of the image below, because it will simply not be shown on devices with the other (in images smaller) resolution. This also messes up things like the rule of thirds and makes scene composition essentially impossible.
Comment: I am quite new to game design, but I like to just enforce 16:9. for example define the game at 480x280 resolution and just scale it to whatever screen its on and pillarbox any extra space.
Comment: Considering how little screen space a phone has to begin with, enforcing certain resolutions will waste a lot of space (see last image in answer above: the purple area will be wasted on a 5:4 device). It's essentially always worth doing adjustments for various screen resolutions on a released game. For prototypes and personal projects, simplifying this is fine, but if you plan on releasing your game, it's a good idea to spend the time and do this right.
Answer: Usually for portrait games you need to set camera as fixed height , that is how it already works in Unity. And for landscape games like side scrollers you need to use fixed width. You need to write some additional code to achieve this functionality.
You can find the explanation in the following tutorial at 37 mins
Unite 2014 - 2D Best Practices In Unity
Answer: What you are asking, in the Web Design world is known as "responsive design".  essentially the game positions elements relatively, instead of absolutely.
This means the positions are "skewed" with the viewport size.  A good example of this might be to say:
<code>column1_x = (Screen.width / 4) * 1;
column2_x = (Screen.width / 4) * 2;
column3_x = (Screen.width / 4) * 3;
column4_x = (Screen.width / 4) * 4;
</code>
This would give you screen column coordinates to work with.  (HTML5 Web pages utilize typically a 12 column layout, but that is a bit excessive for a game)
the next question you have about manipulation of the camera, comes from unity's scripting API.  You can find a range of functions and properties for the camera at:  http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Camera.html
Comment: The reason Bootstrap uses a 12 column layout isn't because any webpage is expected to ever actually have 12 columns, it's simply because of its divisibility - it's easily divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 meaning you can have any combination of columns of these widths which adds up to 12. An even better number would be 60 columns, which is also easily divisible by 5 and 10 (used in minutes and seconds for this reason). So dividing a mobile display into 12 or 60 'columns' makes sense - it just doesn't make sense to use a width of 1 of these columns for your UI elements.


Can I add a porcelain bathroom fixture to existing tile?

Question: I have a tub and shower with no means of placing bottles of wash or shampoos except for around the edge of the tub.  I tried to put in a make-shift shelf tower but it does not fit.  I wanted to put porcelain shelves in the corners but I need to do it over existing tile.  I have done it before without removing the original tile but it was about 9 years ago and I can't remember how I did it.  I tried to remove some of the existing tile to place one shelf but managed to pull out Sheetrock that now has to be replaced.  I am not going to ruin any more of the tile or wall.
Answer: I would say it is too late to add these. Another alternative is to use a shower caddy. They are fairly common, and can hold soaps, shampoos, etc.
If you really wanted to go this route, you may end up having to re-tile the entire shower.
Answer: You should be able to drill holes in the tile (there are special drill bits for that) and then mount the shelf via anchors.  Make sure to use tub and tile caulk around the edge of the new fixture once it is installed.
Comment: I would now be concerned about the area where you removed existing tile and damaged the sheetrock substrate. Tile installation in wet locations requires a waterproofing medium between the tile and the surface below (usually waterproof "craft" paper), especially when that surface is sheetrock, because tile grout is porous and water will penetrate.


Tax on Irish ETF as US tax resident

Question: I am moving to the U.S on a H1B visa. I have a portfolio of accumulating ETFs domiciled in Ireland. What will be the tax implications of this in the U.S if I plan to rebalance this portfolio every year?
Answer: TL DR: If you are subject to US tax, you should instead consider converting your assets to US based assets to avoid complex and unfavorable tax treatment of your investments.
Most ETFs held outside the US are considered PFICs (Passive Foreign Investment Companies) and are given unfavorable tax treatment. This article gives a bit of a summary:
https://mazarsledger.com/article/the-complex-universe-of-passive-foreign-investment-companies/
Tax treatment of PFICs is very complex and I am not an expert.
If you choose to hold the ETFs and opt for the mark-to-market option, you unrealized gains for the calendar year will be treated as ordinary income.  That is, they will be taxed on the appropriate marginal tax bracket like your earned income, which could be up to 37% in 2018 (vs 15% for most long term capital gains). This essentially makes you treat the unrealized gains from a tax year like short term capital gains.
The same applies when you sell shares during rebalancing if you are eligible to use mark-to-market. You calculate the gain since the previous tax period and treat it as ordinary income.
Losses are also treated specially, but I won't try to explain that here.
Unfortunately, it seems that if you buy and sell within a single year, you don't get to use mark-to-market, and the whole sale price may be treated as ordinary income.
You will almost certainly be better off converting the assets to US based ETFs while you are subject to US taxation. If these ETFs are held in some sort of retirement or pension scheme, you may want to get professional advice on whether they are PFICs or not and if tax treaties offer you any advantages.

Tax on Irish ETF as US tax resident


Can a commercial pilot decide where to make their turn after departure?

Question: If there aren't published vectors to tell a commercial pilot which heading to take as they climb, can they decide where to make their initial turn on their own or would an ATC always involved in where they make the turn?
Comment: The takeoff clearance usually tells them what heading to hold and if any turns are to be made (above 400 feet.) Departure will give turns also.
Comment: @MikeBrass don't you mean above 500 feet, at least as far as new PBN rules are concerned (for LNAV engagement)?
Answer: The short answer is yes, a commercial pilot can make a decision when to turn.
To clarify a few points though, there really isn't such a thing as a "published vector".  If a departure procedure with heading were to be published it would then become a Standard Instrument Departure, or SID.  True, some SIDs will specify radar vectors, but this simple tells pilots that they should expect ATC to assign headings that will vary depending on traffic, not which heading they can expect to actually fly.
Next, "commercial" pilots don't do anything different than private pilots, airline transport pilots, or military pilots.  When and where you turn during departure depends primarily on whether you are operating under IFR or VFR.  Secondarily, decisions on when to turn will be based on terrain, noise abatement, company policy, and lastly personal preference.
So, considering my answer in light of the above, there is a big difference between a 737 operating IFR on a SID, and a commercial pilot in a 172 towing a banner under VFR out of a non-towered airfield.  If you have a specific scenario you are wondering about you might get a better answer if you can narrow down the question.
Comment: If you have been cleared to fly a SID that requires you to turn at 3 miles and you haven't turned by 5 you are in violation of your clearance!  ATC does not call your turn for you in case that's where our miscommunication lies.  When cleared for a SID or STAR you are expected to fly the entire published procedure without further guidance from ATC.  That's why they are standardized and published, to reduce radio chatter.  ATC assigned vectors should be only out of necessity.  Does that clear things up?
Comment: Thx. I was referring to a U.S. commercial pilot flying a 737 under IFR. For example if there is a SID, does the pilot have the say where the initial turn would be made right after departure (e.g. 2 miles or 4 miles or 5 miles) before they get vectored? For this example lets say there aren't any noise abatement or terrain issues.
Comment: If there is a SID, fly the SID.  If you are told to expect vectors, maintain runway or last assigned until given a new heading. Otherwise I am not quite sure what you are asking without an example.  Each SID is different and there really isn't a blanket answer.  Why would you turn otherwise?  Your are either cleared your own navigation, or driven around by ATC.  There aren't really any other options...
Comment: Thx. If there is published SID and the turns are always made at 3 miles, who can m ake the decision to start turning at 5 miles? Can a 737 pilot do that? Or would the ATC?
Answer: It depends. Commercial pilot could be doing a VFR part 91 flight from his own backyard.
I suspect you meant pilot of an airline flight? Yes, in one way or another he will be told which way to turn 99.9 % of the time, in the USA at least. Whether by tower, ODP, or company guidance.
Comment: Thx. I did mean airline pilot. I'm not that familiar with ODP, but is it possible for the company or ATC to direct a change from a turn that's normally made at 3 miles to 5 miles, on a published SID? I'm just wondering what the scenario would be in which that could happen?
Comment: @FlyGRL - We are also wondering what the scenario would be in which that could happen.  Two possibilities:  ATC initiated - If they need you to extend beyond the point where you would turn for traffic they will take you off the SID and provide vectors.  Pilot requested - if for weather, minor cockpit emergency, or some other reason, the pilot can always request a deviation from the clearance, even if temporary.  (real emergency just squawk and fly...)  However, the company or anyone else cannot simply direct a change to a SID without asking or telling ATC.  Does this answer your question?
Comment: Thx. Would this make a difference? The initial part of the route is defined by a compass heading and not satellite-based. There isn't an open departure. There are no emergencies, no changes in weather, no waypoints in the first segment until well after the turn. Most of the turns were made at 3 miles, now at 5 miles. Here's the SID (RNAV) route description: Climbing right turn heading 210, expect vectors to ----, then on track 009 to cross ------ at or above 13000... on (transition) maintain FL230. Expect filed altitude 10 minutes after departure.


Two identical dishes - how do I adjust temp and time for two 9x13 pans instead of just one?

Question: Two identical dishes - how do I adjust temp and time for two 9x13 pans instead of just one? It calls for one being baked at 350 for 40-45 minutes.
Comment: Are we talking about double the amount in the original container size, or the original recipe divided into two smaller containers?
Comment: I needed two identical casseroles.  Both are in 9X13 pans.  One is supposed to bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.  I am going to put ad additional identical recipe and pan in the oven at the same time.  I just don't know if I go ahead and cook two according to the directions to cook one or if I need to change the time and temp.  Thank you in advance for your response!
Answer: Likely no adjustment is necessary if they fit in your oven with good circulation.  If it is a tight fit, you might want to add a few minutes, and/or rotate them halfway through the cooking.  Your best approach is to simply measure the temperature of your product around the 45 minute mark and adjust from there.


covert hand drawn sketch into visio chart

Question: is there some software that would take a sketch drawn by hand and scanned and then convert it to  a Visio  (or similar software ) chart I can  edit ?
Answer: I assume your sketches are in a bitmap format such as .jpg .png or .bmp
And you want to convert this to a format where you can individually edit the components in the drawing such as lines, shapes, etc. rather than a painting tool which just works with the pixels.
vectormagic.com converts bitmaps to the open w3c approved standard, SVG, Scaleable Vector Graphics. The resultant SVG file can be edited in many tools such as the free Inkscape, Corel, Illustrator. It can be viewed in several web-browsers (plug-in may be necessary) and then converted back to bitmap if needed.
vectormagic.com provide a free online tryout service, then pay per image after that. They also offer downloadable software for a one-off fee, though more expensive, but provides unlimited conversioms.
Another benefit of having it in SVG is that the drawing can be enlarged without loss of quality, i.e. no jaggy edges.


How to produce clock signals with data on serial port

Question: I am designing a Serial to Parallel converter with PIC16f84A micro-controller. Where I am going to use pin RA0 for data input, RA1 for clock input and RB0 to RB7 for parallel data output from MCU. Now I cant figure out that how to produce clock signals with data signals, since the serial port RS232 have only one pin for data transmission, and also Hyper Terminal program only use pin no. 3 for data transmission only.
Comment: What kind of clock do you want to produce? Since serial seems to be your input, I assume you want to provide a clock with your 8-bit parallel output?
Answer: RS232 does not involve a transmitted clock; the reciever must synchonize to the transmission using the start bit, and the baud rate has to be agreed in advance (or inferred from a sequence of characters transmitted, sometimes called "auto-baud")
(If that PIC has a UART, you could use it to make this project easier)
Comment: Actually it is possible to "guess" the baudrate. Several implementations can do this in hardware where they find the baud rate without knowing it in advance.
Comment: The PIC16f84a doesn't have a built-in UART functionality. It I set baud rate at the time of programming, I think the timing errors may occur.
Comment: Regardless of a hardware or software UART, setting the baud rate at compile time is fine if 1) the device clock from which the baud rate is divided is sufficiently accurate and the division rounding error is within tolerance and 2) the connected equipment uses only the chosen baud rate, and uses it with sufficient accuracy.
Answer: You could implement a psuedo-clock by bit-banging the extra pins in a serial port (DTR, RTS). You would need a custom driver or c programming. Since you are using hyper terminal,  you would need to look into a windows implementation.


Administration of IaaS versus PaaS

Question: Am I correct in understanding that generally IaaS (looking primarily at rackspace cloud servers) will provide a virtual server where OS updates, software updates, anti-virus, managed backups and other common non-hardware server admin tasks will be required by the client. With PaaS (looking at heroku) on the other hand almost all of that is handled by the host with only maybe occasional external backups necessary. Flexibility and customization as the main trade offs?
Answer: Yes, you've got that right.
In case of Rackspace Cloud Servers (IaaS) you can optionally pay for Managed support, which means you can get Rackspace to take care of many of those sysadmin tasks. You'll still need to deal with some things though.
In case of PaaS you pretty much don't care about servers at all. As far as you're concerned there's just a web interface that allows you to publish applications. You can add optional services, some free, some paid, that add features such as a database, but you won't know how they're set up exactly.
Answer: You also have something like EngineYard, which feels like a hybrid of these two approaches: you can an customized EC2 instance that's ready for you to push your app to, but you can have greater customization if you also push Chef recipes to that instance.
I'm not sure if you get the best of both worlds of customization + standardized deploy environments, or the worst of both worlds with difficult to implement tweaks because the standardized environment doesn't quite work for you (and the customization is tantalizingly close).
As a side note, one thing about, say, Heroku, is that you will write relatively portable apps that scale horizontally.  That's the straightjacket that PaaS offers you, and it's not a bad thing if you find that Heroku doesn't quite fit and you need a IaaS solution.
Answer: You can think of IaaS as cloud for systems administrators, PaaS as cloud for developers, and SaaS as cloud for end users.
IaaS gives you self-service provisioning of infrastructure - compute, storage, and networking. You need to manage these things yourself, including configuration, updates, etc. It abstracts the details of the hardware, usually through virtualization (but not always - bare-metal clouds give you IaaS directly on hardware).
PaaS gives you self-service deployment of applications. It abstracts the details of servers and other infrastructure, including scaling and recovery. It does require applications to be developed to certain constraints to enable this, e.g. 12 Factor design principles.
SaaS gives users applications without having to install it themselves, or manage the underlying systems.

Administration of IaaS versus PaaS


How can I scroll back the output in FreeBSD's console without Scroll Lock?

Question: I've installed FreeBSD inside a VM on a laptop. As it turns out, the laptop keyboard has no Scroll Lock key, which is used for scrolling the screen back in FreeBSD's console. How can I scroll back the output without Scroll Lock?
Comment: The question itself contained the answer I was looking for.  My keyboard has Scroll Lock, but I didn't know I could use it!
Answer: As root, dump the keyboard map to a file
kbdcontrol -d > mykeys

Change the file so "Ctrl+NumLock" will set "Scroll Lock". Find line with scancode "base" 069, or where "nlock" fills the entire line. Edit column 3 from "nlock" to "slock". The line now looks like:
"069   nlock  nlock  slock  nlock  nlock  nlock  nlock  nlock   O"

As root, issue the command:
kbdcontrol -l mykeys

The solution was found here.
Comment: For People using FreeBSD as a guest OS in a VirtualBox virtual machine on Mac OS X you can also remap Cntrl-Caps Lock. 058 clock clock slock clock clock clock clock clock O Typing Control-Caps Lock lets you scroll back on the console as far as the scrollback goes. Bliss!
Comment: since this is a top result, I'll add that to make this change permanent (after reboot) follow the steps above, and then `mv mykeys /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/mykeys.kbd` then edit your rc.conf file and add a line with `keymap="mykeys"`
Comment: This does not work through ssh. Any tip on how to make it work?
Comment: @Pablo Lalloni: these steps work for the syscons on the system you are connecting to with ssh. You need to perform the equivalent steps on the system you are connecting from.  I say "equivalent steps" because if you are using Windows, Mac or Linux to connect to the FreeBSD system, the steps will be different.
Answer: Laptop keyboards usually have a Fn key so that keys on a normal PC keyboard can be replicated. You should find that some combination of Fn and another key (hint: look for the blue text on your keys) will perform Scroll Lock. For instance, on my cheap netbook, Fn-F12 performs Scroll Lock.
Answer: I use tmux for that, you can install it from ports under /usr/ports/sysutils/tmux. Ctrl-b PgUp and Ctrl-b PgDn allow to scroll the console output in tmux. BTW, tmux has other great features, basically it is an advanced screen replacement.
Comment: The boot message are stored in a file called dmesg.boot.  `less  /var/run/dmesg.boot` might help you.
Comment: @Hennes This file contains only part of the messages, up to mounting the root filesystem. I needed the rest.
Comment: @Hennes dmesg.boot does contain everything since the kernel was started. It does not contain the bootstrap loader messages or any BIOS messages that weren't cleared.
Comment: WIll it allow to scroll back the output which was before starting tmux? Actually, I want to see all the boot messages, i.e. the output till login.
Comment: No, it will not.
Comment: That is probably because before it mounts the root filesystem it had no / and no /var. And thus nowhere to write the log file.  --- Does your VM allow you to set up a serial port? If it does then you could use a serial console?


Do I need to show amount of money at airport in France?

Question: I want to travel to France for 2 weeks vacation as a tourist.  But since my trip is a sudden one, I am planning to stay in a hotel for a few days then will be meeting a few friends there.  Will they ask me a full paid 2 weeks booking confirmation? Is 1500 euro enough to show at the airport?
Comment: See http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/33864/documents-necessary-and-recommended-for-first-time-travel-to-eu-for-us-citizen
Answer:
From my personal experience, the border guards in the EU region rarely ask for documents other than passport, visa and sometimes insurance. Of course, that also depends on your nationality and the place of origin of your journey. If you are concerned about them asking for confirmed accommodation, simply book a no-deposit, free cancellation hotel on booking.com and cancel it after printing the confirmation page. That should be fine.
They don't ask you to show money either. Anyway 1500 Euros is good enough to cover you for two weeks, given that you already have confirmed accommodation.
Comment: Hi..thanks for the infos. Very useful but I come from The Seychelles.  We do not need visa cause we had been exempt from it.
Comment: Will it be okay to mention that I will be meeting up with my English boyfriend, cause he will be the one waiting for me at the airport.
Answer: So you want to enter France with 1500€ in cash? No problem: you only have to declare the money when it is above 10000€.
So you don't have to declare it.

Les sommes (espèces ou chèques), titres (actions, obligations, etc.)
  ou valeurs d'un montant égal ou supérieur à 10.000 euros (ou son
  équivalent en devises), transportés par une personne physique, doivent
  être déclarés à l'administration des douanes qui effectue des
  contrôles en ce domaine, afin de lutter contre le blanchiment des
  capitaux provenant de trafics illicites, notamment des stupéfiants.

Source: Obligation déclarative des sommes, titres et valeurs
There is also no specify amount of money that you must have: it must only be "enough". The law is explicitly vague about this:

Tous les ressortissants étrangers qui souhaitent venir en France
  doivent être en mesure de présenter à la frontière les justificatifs
  réglementaires relatifs à l'objet du séjour, aux moyens d'existence et
  aux conditions d'hébergement.

Your return ticket and hotel reservation/friend's address is plenty enough if you are a "normal" tourist (that is, not a punk beatnik with a beach towel for only baggage :).
Comment: I think you've answered a different point - the OP isn't worried about it from the customs point of view, they're worried they might have to show proof of funds to the immigration officer deciding about letting them in or not
Comment: Oh, you might be right. I am adding the info, then.
Comment: @DamienClauzel That's actually incorrect, the law is much more detailed than that.


Drupal 7 -Resize image from URL

Question: At present I am working on a demo site. I am pulling in sample images from from lorempixel for place holders. That is working great. In my content type I have an image field and it includes the url to the image like this: http://lorempixel.com/output/people-q-g-605-186-6.jpg
I will be creating views soon and I want to adjust the image size using image styles. How can I apply the image style to the text field that holding the url? Is this possible, if so, how? if not, is there another way to accomplish this?
I don't want to create various image size, just adjust them as they are being referenced.
Thank you in advance.
Comment: the url to the image like this: .....  - your example is missing
Answer: For this one - I am going to adjust the size via css in each of the views.  Would still like to know if the above is possible, but this will resolve my current issues
Answer: You can use image_style_url function to create a url to your image with your custom image style.

Drupal 7 -Resize image from URL


USB Flash drives and data theft: x355

Question: Can somebody have stolen files and data from my desktop PC just by inserting a USB Flash drive in my computer, without dragging files over to the Flash drive?
Comment: If it was a USB based flash drive: No.
If it merely looked like one: Yes.
E.g. see [Hak5's rubber duck](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqUci4buvvM), which is designed to do these kinds of things. It just **looks** like a regular USB pen drive.
Comment: You missed my point, perhaps I should clarify: said party brought a USB Flash drive with him, I put it into my USB slot, believing that it was merely for me to access a few image files he'd brought to me.  I DID access 2 image files on his Flash (after my Windows 8 running PC recognized "new device" and I moused it, clicked and opened it).  The point: my question, again, is COULD this USB Flash drive have been "slurping" data down from my PC, unbeknownst to me, WHILE I was viewing, and installing, the 2 images on the Flash Drive? It was 'inserted' for about 5 mins or less, in full view.
Comment: Hennes: I appreciate your engaging this discussion, but your response isn't clear to me. I'm watching a 'rubber duck' video now, but it's 15 minutes (I didn't use your link). Could we cut to the chase? Could this printshop employee, ostensibly helping me with image/text files for my manuscript, have been actually slurping down data onto his USB, EVEN THOUGH HIS HANDS NEVER TOUCHED MY KEYBOARD, and my Windows 8 system never had a pop-up box asking for authorization to Install anything?  A local Techno-geek assured me that I was SAFE because these things never happened.  I appreciate your time.
Answer: Yes, easily. Removable devices (such as USB, or CD-ROM disks) have "AutoPlay" support on Windows. This is designed to auto-run installation CD-ROMs; just insert the CD and the installer starts.
It works like this: if in the root of the newly inserted device an "AUTORUN.INF" file is found, then its instructions are executed; they may tell the system to display a special, cooler icon for the device, but also to execute a program from the device. Both the autorun file and the program may be hidden so that you don't see them on the device, and it appears empty.
This executable could then do anything the logged-in user can do: it could run a search on the hard disk, and copy matching files on a hidden folder in the USB key. Or install a virus (that's how USB viruses such as Conficker propagate) that could then trasmit files at leisure through the Internet, if the computer was online.
It is easy to write such an autorun INF file using Notepad, and the executable can be built with any of several tools such as AutoIt, or it could even be a .CMD or .BAT file, which too can be created with just Notepad.
There are even "ready made" tools out there, such as, if memory serves, Slurper:

install the program
insert the USB key
choose the file search parameters (e.g. "Files newer than one week")
click "OK"
and the utility saves on the USB key an autorun file and executable that...

...

...when you insert the USB key in a computer, will search matching files and "slurp" them on the USB key, optionally even deleting them.

UPDATE: There also happens to be a howto on Superuser.
Workarounds: on Windows XP, keep the "SHIFT" key pressed while inserting the flash drive. This disables autorun execution. Also works on Seven, haven't tried on Windows 8.
And of course, you can disable the autoplay functionality (also here), which is always a good idea. You never know where those USB keys have been, after all.
(IPQ sells a write-protectable USB key that allows you to let someone copy a file on his untrusted-by-you computer, without said computer being able to infect the USB key with malware. Other WP keys are available e.g. on Amazon).
Answer:
Could this print shop employee, ostensibly helping me with image/text files for my
  manuscript, have been actually slurping down data onto his USB, EVEN THOUGH HIS
  HANDS NEVER TOUCHED MY KEYBOARD,

Yes, it could.
The print shop employee would need to use a specially crafted device which looks like a USB pen drive, and which acts like a regular USB based pendrive for a while.
After that it can suddenly change its appearance and to your computer it now looks as if the pen drive got replaced by a USB keyboard. Since these are common devices no extra drivers are needed and to you (and your computer) it would seem as if someone suddenly started typing commands.
Those commands could be Control+Esc (aka open the start menu) Cursor Up (to get to [run]), then "copy ..."

and my Windows 8 system never had a pop-up box asking for authorization to Install anything?

Windows helpfully does not bother you with such questions when you insert a seemingly common device, such as an USB mouse or and USB keyboard. The device would merely have to mimic one of these.

A local Techno-geek assured me that I was SAFE because these things never happened.

Almost never.  But technically possible.  Thus I am answering the "is it possible?" with a yes.
It is unlikely though. These things are as common as 007 cars with ejector seats. Just because it is possible to build such a device does not mean that you will run into them. It is much more likely that something else happened, such as an open share on your harddrive and a curious person just browsing around.
Comment: I like your use of the word "UNLIKELY", and "common as 007..." That simile was used by another techie I spoke with. Thanks for all the info.  NO MORE FLASH DRIVES. Thanks for your time.

USB Flash drives and data theft: x355


Can accuracy become worse on the training set with more epochs?

Question: I know that overfitting occurs when the accuracy on the training set improves but the accuracy on the validation set decrease. So, we must stop the training. I would like to know if this is a rule that more epochs always decrease the accuracy on the training set. In other words, is the accuracy function over epochs a non-ascending function? If not, then why?
Answer: Yes, accuracy measured on the training set over epochs is not monotonically decreasing.
Possible reasons:

Software bug
Nan due to division by zero / log (0) / overflow
Too big learning rate


How do I properly hyphenate "well thought out"?

Question: Is it spelled well thought-out, or well-thought out, or well thought out?
Answer: It depends on how you use it... if it's preceding the word it modifies, then it should be hyphenated:

He paused for a bit, and then gave a well-thought-out answer.

However, if it follows the word it modifies, no hyphenation is necessary:

He paused for a bit, wanting to make sure his answer was well thought out.

(My source: Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition, sections 6.38–6.40)
Comment: I would argue that "well thought out" is the complete compound adjective, and as such, should be hyphenated (or unhyphenated, as the case may be) in its entirety.  http://m-w.com/dictionary/thought-out agrees with me.  :-)
Comment: I would use _well-thought-out_ if it would means something different from _well thought-out_; in the example sentence, _well_ can only be applied to _thought-out_, not to _answer_.
Comment: Style guides differ on whether adverbs in compound adjectives(?) require hyphens. Many of them recommend against hyphens for adverbs.
Answer: I agree with Hellion: when it appears before the noun attributively, it is almost certainly 'well-thought-out', with two hyphens (e.g. a well-thought-out plan). When it follows a noun, it is open (as in, the plan was well thought out).
I take it as noncontroversial that it is open after a noun, so in what follows I'll be discussing the case where it appears before a noun.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary now has an entry for 'well-thought-out', with two hyphens, here. It gives the following example: a well-thought-out plan.
Harrap's Essential English Dictionary has it with two hyphens, as in The play had a well-though-out and original plot. See here.
Google books hits are all over the place, with all combinations appearing (well-thought-out, well-thought out, well thought-out, well thought out). It would be difficult to tally the numbers of hits for each variation, and even more difficult to assign appropriate weights that would reflect how authoritative the source is.
As far as CMOS, it does not treat this case explicitly. But there is no rule that would say it shouldn't have two hyphens (contrary to what some people here have asserted), and what rules there are suggest that both hyphens are appropriate.

Let me first deal with the suggestion that there is a rule that says it should be completely open, with no hyphens at all. That appears on p. 3 of CMOS's summary table, under the category 'adverb not ending in ly + participle or adjective', and it says, 'When the adverb rather than the compound as a whole is modified by another adverb, the entire expression is open.'
Note that for this rule to apply, there need to be two adverbs. Indeed, this is the example given in the table: a very much needed addition. Despite the fact that CMOS puts a hyphen in a much-needed addition, when we add the adverb very all hyphens disappear because the adverb very modifies the adverb much. (On the other hand, CMOS says it is a very well-read child, because here very modifies the whole compund well-read rather than just the adverb well.)
However, in well-thought-out plan there is only one adverb: well. Indeed, thought-out is an adjective (see e.g. here), and thought itself is a participle; nothing in that can count as an adverb. Thus the rule about two adverbs doesn't apply.
Another objection that someone may have (though no one on this page has had as of yet) is that two hyphens simply looks awkward and so CMOS is probably not sanctioning it on that account. But that is not true: CMOS does sanction multiple hyphens in constructions such as a five-year-old child and a fifty-five-year-old woman, both examples appearing at the very beginning of the summary table mentioned above. The table contains many other examples: black-and-white print, a tête-à-tête approach, a one-and-a-half-inch hem (four hyphens!), time-clock-punching employees, an over-the-counter drug, a matter-of-fact reply, an up-to-date solution, stick-in-the-mud, jack-of-all-trades, a mid-eighteenth-century poet...
Now on to 'positive' evidence from CMOS in favor of two hyphens.
First of all, according to the summary table, in the category 'participle + up, out, and similar adverbs' (e.g. dressed-up children, burned-out buildings), it says 'adjective form hyphenated before but not after a noun'. This means it's 'thought-out', just as e.g. Merriam-Webster has it.
Next, when well is added, we are in the category 'adverb not ending in ly + participle or adjective' of the summary table—the same category we considered above. As we saw, thought-out is an adjective, and so the relevant rule is:

Hyphenated before but not after a noun; compounds with more, most,
  less, least, and very usually open unless ambiguity threatens. When
  the adverb rather than the compound as a whole is modified by another
  adverb, the entire expression is open.

We have already discussed why the last sentence does not apply. Thus, it would seem that the rule says that well and thought-out should be hyphenated. After all, well is an adverb (but not one of more, most,
less, least, or very) whereas thought-out an adjective, so it's just like the following examples from CMOS: a much-needed addition, a very well-read child, little-understood rules, a too-easy answer, the best-known author. the highest-ranking officer, the worst-paid job, a lesser-paid colleague.
Answer: That would be "well thought-out". See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thought-out. Adding "well" before "thought-out" does not require a hyphen because well is an adverb.
Comment: That link specifically lists "well-thought-out", with the extra hyphen, in its list of "entries found"....
Comment: -1, I'm afraid. The link you provide directly contradicts the answer you offer.
Comment: Does clicking on "well-thought-out" bring up a proper entry if you have a subscription/activate the free trial?
Comment: Most sources I am familar with only make an exception to hyphenating for adverbs ending in *-ly,* not for all adverbs in general. So we would write "quickly running fox" (not "quickly-running fox"), but "well-read scholar" (not "well read scholar").
Comment: E.g. see the quotes in Sven's answer here: [Should there be a hyphen in expressions such as "currently-available X"?](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/367316/should-there-be-a-hyphen-in-expressions-such-as-currently-available-x/367336#367336)
Answer: Whether preceding or following a noun, the phrase is open per Chicago MOS 7.85, "When the adverb rather than the compound as a whole is modified by another adverb, the entire expression is open." Chicago's example: "a very much needed addition."
Therefore, in both constructions, "His plan was well thought out" and "It was a well thought out plan" the phrase would remain open.
Comment: The rule you are invoking applies when there are *two* adverbs in the expression,  as in *a very much needed addition*: here *very* is an adverb modifying *much*, another adverb. However, there is only one adverb in *a well-thought-out plan*, namely *well*.  Note that *thought-out* is an adjective (see e.g. M-W entry for it [here](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thought-out)). Therefore, this rule doesn't apply to *a well-thought-out plan*.


What plants survive in a relatively dark room?

Question: What can I plant in a pot that will survive in a relatively dark room?
Comment: How dark? (Or relative to what?)
Answer: I have kept bamboo in my bathroom (no windows) for years and they have done very well (I do use full spectrum LED lights, which probably helps, but bamboo is reported to do well in low light/artificial light anyway). A quick search provides the following plants as being good for low light situations as well:

spider plants
golden pothos
ferns
sansevieria (snake plant)
dracaena
aechmea (urn plant)
aglaonema
spathiphyllum
some palms
some philodendrons

There are actually quite a number, mushrooms also come to mind, though they like it very dark. Just do a search for 'low light plants' and you will find many possibilities.
Comment: Although spider plants can grow in low light, they grow a whole lot better with bright south window light, and they look awesome there. Golden Pothos plants are probably much more suited to low light conditions. Every time we tried ferns in the bathroom, they died. If you can leave a light on in the bathroom, that will help your plants out a lot.
Answer: The classic houseplant for dark areas is Aspidistra; there are three Dracaena which will not mind a darkish environment - these are D. Draco, D.marginata and Cordyline. The Philodrendron which will cope is P. scandens.
The definition of 'shade' for houseplants is well away from a window, but enough light to read a newspaper. Semi shade means near a sunless window, or some distance away from a bright window. Semi shade plants will tolerate a shade position for a couple of months.
The list for 'shade' plants has probably already been covered, but for clarity, the well known ones are: Aglaeonema, Aspidistra, Asplenium, Fittonia, Helxine, P. scandens, Sansevieria, Scindapsis, although the variegation on the latter will fade.


Can mere expectations affect oil spot price?

Question: For example if confirmed information spread today that for some reason oil producers will increase their supply one month later, will this affect oil spot prices  immediately like what happens in stock market?
or price remains at the same average and just days before the actual rise in supply occurs, some companies may defer oil purchase until supply is actually increased leading to prices drop days before the actual rise in supply and then price declines more when actual rise in supply occurs?
Answer: Yes commodities markets are affected by speculative information just like stock markets - everyone guesses at future earnings for companies, and the stock prices reflect that guess. They do not wait for the actual earnings to be reported.
But, in commodities markets futures prices are more affected by speculative information than spot prices, since spot prices are more determined by current supply and demand (other then speculators that buy a commodity and store it to try and arbitrage off of futures prices, for example)
Also, just like the stock market, actual information is generally more powerful that speculated information, since different speculators can guess different ways, sometimes muting the price effect.
Comment: In addition, oil is easily stored, so market participants can make quick decisions to store or to take oil out of storage. These decisions would affect the spot price.
Comment: this means that oil prices are more predictable than stocks using new market information that can be exploited by speculators to make gains
Answer: It will have much more of an effect of futures prices. The scenario you lay out is called backwardation, the inverse of contango, on the futures curve.


UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity results in COM error 0x80005000

Question: I've an MVC Intranet app that I've recently upgraded from .Net 4 to 4.6.1. This app queries user details from Active Directory to load details that aren't available in the Controller's User.Identity property and until lately has done so flawlessly. The code looks something like this:
<code>public static void foo()
{
    var usr = LookupUser("MyDomain", "jbloggs");
    ...
}

private static UserPrincipal LookupUser(string domain, string username)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Lookup {domain}\\{username}");
    using (var ctx = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, domain))
    {
        using (var user = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(ctx, IdentityType.SamAccountName, username))
        {
            if (user == null)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("User not found");
                return;
            }

            Console.WriteLine($"Found {domain}\\{username}");
            Console.WriteLine($"DisplayName = {user.DisplayName}");
            Console.WriteLine($"Office = {user.GetString("physicalDeliveryOfficeName")}");
            Console.WriteLine("");

            return user;
        }
    }
}
</code>
The code runs fine when debugging in Visual Studio 2015, but when it's running on the IIS box (v6.1 SP1 on Windows Server 2008 R2), throws a COMException (0x80005000) when calling UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity()
The web app is running on a dedicated App Pool, the settings for which are as follows:

.Net Framework Version = v4.0
Identity = MyDomain\MyAppServiceUser (Non-interactive AD User Account)
Load User Profile = false

All other settings are as per the defaults. The application itself is running with both Anonymous and Windows Authentication enabled. The server has .Net 4.6.1 installed and all other elements of the intranet app seem to be running just fine.
Having googled this to death, most of the answers seem to indicate that it's a problem with the service account's permissions to query AD. In order to confirm that the service account that the App Pool is running as DOES have access to query Active Directory, I've used the above code in a console app and run it as both myself and the service account on the server - in both instances it works just fine. It only bombs out when running under IIS.
I've tried numerous variations creating the PrincipalContext (including the OU container path, etc) but the results are always the same.
I'm doing my nut on this, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Update - additional details

Exception Type: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException
Exception Message: Unknown error (0x80005000)
Stack Trace:

at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail)
  at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind() at
  System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_AdsObject() at
  System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection.PopulateList() at
  System.DirectoryServices.PropertyValueCollection..ctor(DirectoryEntry
  entry, String propertyName) at
  System.DirectoryServices.PropertyCollection.get_Item(String
  propertyName) at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.DoLDAPDirectoryInitNoContainer()
  at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.DoDomainInit()
  at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.Initialize()
  at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.PrincipalContext.get_QueryCtx()
  at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.Principal.FindByIdentityWithTypeHelper(PrincipalContext
  context, Type principalType, Nullable`1 identityType, String
  identityValue, DateTime refDate) at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.Principal.FindByIdentityWithType(PrincipalContext
  context, Type principalType, IdentityType identityType, String
  identityValue) at
  System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(PrincipalContext
  context, IdentityType identityType, String identityValue) at
  Apollo.Security.ActiveDirectoryUser.Find(String identityName)
Comment: Does this work for you ? : http://stackoverflow.com/a/1722429/3709746
Comment: Unfortunately not - it blows up with the same error when calling DirectorySearcher.FindOne() - code in the next comment
Comment: var de = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://MyDC.MyDomain.com/DC=MyDomain,DC=com", "MyDomain\\ServiceUser", "password");

 var ds = new DirectorySearcher(de);
 ds.Filter = $"(&(objectClass=user)(objectCategory=user) (sAMAccountName={userName}))";
 ds.PropertiesToLoad.Add("physicalDeliveryOfficeName");

 var result = ds.FindOne();  // Blows up here
Comment: could you please insert exact error exception message you get in your original problem ?
Comment: Updated the post as requested
Comment: Try changing the app pool identity to NetworkService & see if that works
Comment: and this : http://stackoverflow.com/a/22104717/3709746
Answer: Talk about a head-scratcher. I've spent the best part of a day on this going around in circles.
Thanks to Rahul for all the help. In the end, at his suggestion, I created a new app pool running as Network Service and the AD lookups worked perfectly under that. Unfortunately, because my app accesses networked resources it needs to run as an AD User, so just for the heck of it I changed the credentials over to the AD Service Account I'd been using before and IT STILL WORKED.
?!?
I have no idea why this should be the case - both app pools have exactly the same setup yet one can perform the lookups and the other can't. I've switched both the test and production instances over to the new app pool and deleted the old one and everything is ticking along nicely.
Comment: It looks like this may have solved your issue, though (like you) I'm not sure why. I'm experiencing the same error, however it is more constant. In case it helps someone else, the error code 0x80005000 refers to an invalid ADSI pathname. The path is retrieved during PrincipalContext initialization, and comes from the wellKnownObjects attribute of RootDSE. In my case, the OU contained a slash "/", which interfered with the LDAP path.

Microsoft has a partial list of ADSI error codes here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa705940(v=vs.85).aspx
Answer: For us this was due to McAfee HIPS service blocking outbound/inbound WMI connections over TCP port 135


how to get rows in reverse sorted order using pycassa get_range?

Question: I want to get the rows returned by get_range in pycassa to be in reverse sorted order..i.e. from finish to start.
I know that there exists a parameter column_reversed for getting columns in reverse sorted order , but how do i get this done for rows?
Answer: Cassandra itself doesn't support getting a range of rows in reverse order.  It also doesn't support getting rows in normal sorted order unless you're using an order preserving partitioner, which is almost never recommended.  This post is a bit old, but still covers the topic quite well: http://ria101.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/cassandra-randompartitioner-vs-orderpreservingpartitioner/


How to make USB drives connect again in OS X

Question: In the following I'll try to explain and ask in the best way I can. I couldn't find any solution for my problem using Google. So if there are any solutions, please point me to them. If you need more information to help out please let me know which information you need.
I don't have lots of information on my problem as I come from a Linux world and don't have experience using OS X. I tried to add a line to /etc/fstab in order to permanently mount a network share.
I added a new line to OS X Yosemite's /etc/fstab using vi.
After reboot /etc/fstab disappeard.
Consequences:

Internal HDD (second drive) didn't mount anymore.
USB drives didn't appear on Desktop.

Thus I made some research and learned:

Used vifs to edit /etc/fstab.
/etc/fstab is depricated.
Disk Utility does not help.

Show usb-stick but cannot mount. Error: 'Mount failed. The disk "" could not be mounted. Try running First Aid on the disk and then retry mounting.'
'Verify Disk' says everything is ok
'Repair Disk' also works fine

It is hard to find information on this topic.
If I mount drive manually using mount as root user, drive appears in GUI and seems to be fully accessible (ex. can be "savely removed").
My problem could be somehow related to /etc/auto_master and /etc/autofs.conf.
$ cat /etc/autofs.conf | grep -v ^# |sort | uniq

AUTOMOUNTD_MNTOPTS=nosuid,nodev
AUTOMOUNTD_NOSUID=TRUE
AUTOMOUNT_TIMEOUT=3600

$ cat /etc/auto_master
#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master        # Use directory service
/net            -hosts      -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home           auto_home   -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers    -fstab
/-          -static
/Volumes        auto_custom

I managed to create an entry in /etc/fstab so second drive mountes again.
My Questions:

What shall I do to make USB drives mount again using GUI only?
What happend? Why did /etc/fstab disappear?
Answer: Removing entry:
    /Volumes        auto_custom

In /etc/auto_master answered first question and solved my issue.


How to refer to Supreme Court cases by just one name

Question: I'm writing a paper for my high school U.S. History class, and I want to refer to certain Supreme Court cases by just one name after my first naming of the case (for example, I want to refer to Rucho v. Common Cause as Rucho or as Common Cause), but I'm not certain about whether the proper name to use is that of the appellant or that of the appellee, or even whether such a standard exists. I've seen it done before in news sources covering Supreme Court cases, so I know it can be done, but I have seen both used at times. I've tried to search for a solution to my problem online, but have found only references on how to cite decisions in full, at the end of a paper. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Comment: This is addressed by the *Bluebook*, which is a standard manual of legal writing, in Section 10.2.  You need a subscription to read it (maybe your librarian can help?) but there's a summary [here](https://www.suffolk.edu/law/faculty-research/library-services/a-bluebook-guide-for-law-students/case-citation-rule-10).
Comment: I looked on the site you provided. I concluded that the information on which party to name should be contained in Rule 10.9, but the page itself contained no Rule 10.9. Am I missing something?
Comment: Well, I was referring to Rule 10.2 on abbreviating.  But I agree that the page I linked does not explain all the details.  It is only a partial summary of the complete rules in the *Bluebook*, which I unfortunately don't have.
Comment: Well, thank you for a detailed summary of some of the rules. It's just unfortunate that that page doesn't answer my specific question.
Answer:
How to refer to Supreme Court cases by just one name

In general, subsequent references to a decision can be the first name in the caption of that case.
As an example, you will notice that in the decision Rucho v. Common Cause, 139 S.Ct. 2484 (2019) the court makes an initial reference to Gill v. Whitford (at 2492), and thereafter most of the references to that decision are simply Gill (see, for instance, at 2498, 2501, 2507).
Nate Elredge makes a good point in that there are exceptions. Where the general rule may result ambiguous, another main party in the caption would be mentioned. Using Nate's example of United States v. Nixon, the court's subsequent references to that case in Calley v. Callaway, 382 F.Supp. 650 (1974) is Nixon.
There might be other, harder to find, instances where ambiguity persists. For instance, several unrelated decisions issued by the same court might involve the exact same parties. In those scenarios only the suffix (that is, the numbers following the caption) would distinguish among decisions.
Comment: "For instance, several unrelated decisions issued by the same court might involve the exact same parties." It would be customary in those situations to say after the first instance "(hereinafter "Nixon I")" for example, and refer to them with the name that would otherwise be used and a capitalized Roman numeral indicating temporal sequential order when they are truly the same parties. If there are unrelated different parties with the same surname, who both have cases being referred to, that option isn't available and a different short form citation must be used.
Comment: There must surely be some exceptions to that rule.  For instance, it would be very confusing to refer to *United States v. Nixon* as *United States*.
Comment: @NateEldredge Thanks for pointing that out. I supplemented accordingly. I would not be surprised if there are yet additional exceptions, but I think you mentioned the most frequent one.


Alert if a process has uploaded more than X bytes over the last Y seconds

Question: I am looking for a Windows program that can give a process has uploaded more than X bytes over the last Y seconds. E.g., if the running Oracle server has uploaded more than 1 GB over the last hour,  it should give an alert. Gratis is better. Ideally, it could allow to whitelist IP (i.e., IPs for which uploading to doesn't count).
Answer: NetWorx (gratis) can do this. In the Notifications settings you can set X data within Y time:


Can an existing exhaust fan with a light and night light be replaced with just an exhaust fan and a seperate can light in the shower?

Question: We are remodeling our bathroom and in our shower we have an exhaust fan with a light and night light combo which are connected to three different switches.  We are replacing our exhaust fan with a better one but it does not have a light in it so we wanted to put a LED can light that was made for the shower.  Is this possible using the existing wires from where our original exhaust fan is to install both the exhaust fan and can light and if so how?
Answer: Yes, absolutely.
Install the recessed light over the shower and use the junction box attached to the lights to then extend the wiring to the new fan location. You'll obviously need new wire between the light and fan.


What is the lowest chess title you can get?

Question: I am not a pro chess player or anything, but I want to get some kind of chess title. What is the lowest ranking I can get to earn a chess title?
Comment: Patzer. (fill).
Comment: Do you mean to include titles for arbiters, organizers, trainers, problem composers, et cetera? Or just titles to do with chess strength?
Comment: Do you consider only international titles?
Comment: Point Cow (fill)
Answer: According to this Wikipedia entry, the lowest FIDE title is Candidate Master (CM), which requires an ELO rating of at least 2200. Obviously national chess federations offer their own titles, often with lower requirements.
Answer: A solution: Move to a country with a low rated national team and join the team in the Olympiad.
CM and WCM titles are awarded for 50% performance in at least 7 games in the Chess Olympiad, regardless of the ranking of opponents (Fide Handbook). Because the pairings are made using the Swiss system and your team mates are (hopefully) performing poorly, you get constantly paired with relatively weak opponents and you do not have to perform even close to 2200 Elo level.
For example, in the Olympiad 2012 quite a few players got >=50 % points with a performance <2000. (Note that the list behind the link is cut at 63.6 %, so it is not the whole truth. Unfortunately, the list of CM titles awarded does not contain information of performance...)
Comment: If he ever played to his country, he can't play to another country :) there's more, lets say he's in USA, he should move to country X, wait a long time till they give him the nationality, then he could join their national team, but if he doesn't want to wait that long, he's going to have to marry a woman from country X so he gets the nationality fast, if he's married, he should have new kid born in that country... All that just to get a CM :) and if he doesn't do all that in time, he'll have to wait 2 more years for the next Olympiad!
Comment: I'd rather study chess SERIOUSLY for 2 years, anyone who does so can reach 2400 easily, thus getting a CM, maybe more
Answer: The United States Chess Federation has a title system that goes down into class play. I have the category 1 title, which I gained by getting 5 tournament performances which would be impressive for an 1800 player (norms) and achieving a rating above 1800.
The category titles correspond to the classes 1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D
Above category 1 are Candidate Master for 2000 rating and norms, National Master for a rating above 2200, and Life Master for norms and rating 2200 , Senior Life Master for norms and rating 2400.
Comment: Note that bar for the USCF mailing out a certificate for title appears to be for National Masters (2200). Experts can walk around with a 2000+ rating and just call themselves that (no official document awarded by the Federation).
Comment: The lower titles are documented on the USCF website, so you can prove you hold the title.


What pair of muscles provides the most power for running?

Question: Generally alot of muscles are involved when you are running according to Google, but which one provides the most power?
Answer: Your gluteus maximus (butt) and quadriceps (front of your thighs) provide the bulk of the power while sprinting.
Your glutes and quadriceps work to absorb vertical forces and push into the ground to propel your body forward, extending both your knee and hip.  While they work in tandem to produce this power, the gluteus maximus is the more significant of the two muscle groups—to answer your question: the gluteus maximus produces the most power when running.
Hope this helps!


Resubmission after Rejection

Question: My manuscript is rejected by the editor after receiving the reviewer's comments. The rejection is based on the comments from the reviewers. Two reviewers rated my manuscript as important. I received a full 2-page long comment from reviewer 2, which after all recommends re-submission after extensive revision. The problem is that one of my data is not relevant to the rest of the manuscript. So the manuscript needs extensive re-write, re-collect of the irrelevant data. The rest is ok. This is the reason for the rejection from the editor. So if I revise and re-collect the data, should I re-submit it to the same journal with a rebuttal letter?
Comment: The journals of my areas allow an author to resubmit a rejected paper by providing a response.  Whether it proceeds to review is at the discretion of the editor.  He/she may allow it if the changes are significant, or that the rejection was based on unfair comments.
Answer: Unless you were told not to resubmit then a complete reworking of the paper (from the data up) could be submitted. It might be rejected immediately, of course.
But I caution you about a "rebuttal". If you try to explain why they were wrong to reject the paper it will probably fail. If you, instead, submit a note of changes, updates, and improvements of the paper it will be better received. Unfortunately the word "rebuttal" is often misused in this context and the literal meaning gives the wrong impression about what should be included. If you think you need to explain why the editor was wrong, you should save yourself some time, effort, and pain and jut submit the paper (with improvements) elsewhere.
But note that "reject" means different things to different journals. Sometimes it is absolute and final (i.e. "go away"). Otherwise it just might mean "you've got a lot of work to do here - more than we care to deal with". Hopefully the rejection note from the editor lets you distinguish which situation applies.
Answer: Unless there's a specific note that they don't want a resubmission, reject usually just means you have to revise and resubmit. If you think the comments are all reasonable you're better off resubmitting to the same reviewers with an updated manuscript and a response letter.
I'm pretty sure it's because they'll list the initial submission date as whenever you resubmit. I can't recall the last paper that I had that didn't get "rejected" on the initial round of review.

Resubmission after Rejection