How to improve the sampling rate of Arduino due ADC?

Question: I am now working on a project, which needs a cheap analog acquisition device with a sampling rate of no less than 5MHz. Before, I only used Arduino, and rarely operated the registers on Arduino. I hope to use Arduino due to complete it. I spent a lot of time researching and querying solutions, but it didn't succeed. I hope someone can help me.
Comment: Or is there any other solution?
Comment: To help us come up with a possible solution, please tell us exactly what you are trying to do. Why 5 MHz?  That's rather a lot.  How many bits of resolution?  Also, at that sample rate you will be getting a flood of data; what will you do with it?
Comment: I want to collect the pulse signal of the scintillator detector. The duration of this pulse is less than 1 us. In order to maintain the accuracy, the sampling rate must be higher than 5 MHz. The more data bits, the better. I will temporarily store the obtained data in Arduino, stop sampling after accumulating a certain amount, and then start analysis. After the analysis, I will discard the sampling data.
Answer: I haven't used the Due, but I understand its ADC is rated for 1 MHz sampling.  If that's its absolute limit then you can't expect 5 MHz.  However, judging by the Unos which I have used, you may be able to push things by limiting the number of bits.  This gives a speed boost two ways, by shortening the time the ADC uses to acquire the data, and if you limit to 8 bits you have half as many bytes to move into memory.
Do not try to use more than one channel, since then you have multiplexer delays as well.
Also, you may want to skip interrupts and just sample in a tight loop. Using this loop trick doubles the useful ADC rate of the Uno, from 50 kHz to over 100 kHz. (You'll need to figure out the actual sample rate by reading the timer before and after the loop, then divide by the loop size and take the reciprocal.)
Comment: Thank you very much for your reply. After your reminding, I have turned off my interrupt. It's really effective, but it's still far from enough. I think 12 digits are offline to ensure accuracy.,so It seems that I may have to find another way.


Bandpass filter for audio wav file

Question: How do I apply a bandpass filter on an audio file which is in wav format?
And write back the filtered data in a new wav file for further analysis.
Comment: What have you tried? What tutorials/books/online resources have you read? This is a pretty basic task that is well documented.
Comment: So I've looked/tried/read ThinkDSP by [AllenDowney](https://github.com/AllenDowney/ThinkDSP/blob/master/book/thinkdsp.tex) but it relies heavily on the thinkDSP library. I want a more robust solution. I have a matlab code that works wonderfully. I want to implement it in python as well.
Comment: Try [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24920346/filtering-a-wav-file-using-python), they discussed similar topic to yours
Comment: Using sox: https://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/45868/bandpass-filter-using-sox
Answer: Consider looking at this StackOverflow answer which provides the full code for creating a Butterworth bandpass filter. In the sample code the answerer provides, the filter is applied to a manually constructed simplistic signal x. If you substitute this signal with your own NumPy array, it should achieve the intended effect.
WAV files can be quickly made into NumPy arrays, consider using the librosa module. librosa.core.load will be what you use. To write out the filtered signal, simply use librosa.output.write_wav.
Comment: https://pysoundfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ is nice
Answer: import numpy as np
import os
from scipy.io import wavfile

WAV_FILE_NAME = 'my_audio.wav'
lowcut = 1200.0
highcut = 1300.0
FRAME_RATE = 16000

def butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=5):
    nyq = 0.5 * fs
    low = lowcut / nyq
    high = highcut / nyq
    b, a = butter(order, [low, high], btype='band')
    return b, a

def butter_bandpass_filter(data, lowcut, highcut, fs, order=5):
    b, a = butter_bandpass(lowcut, highcut, fs, order=order)
    y = lfilter(b, a, data)
    return y

def bandpass_filter(buffer):
    return butter_bandpass_filter(buffer, lowcut, highcut, FRAME_RATE, order=6)

samplerate, data = wavfile.read(os.path.join(record_path, WAV_FILE_NAME))
assert samplerate == FRAME_RATE
filtered = np.apply_along_axis(bandpass_filter, 0, data).astype('int16')
wavfile.write(os.path.join(record_path, f'filtered_{WAV_FILE_NAME}'), samplerate, filtered)

Bandpass filter for audio wav file


Prayers and how many times a day

Question: Are you meant to pray 5 or 6 times a day? I have looked up prayer times where it gives 6 times for prayer as they have put two separate times for fajr and Soboh
Comment: Are you sure the different time is labelled for "Soboh"? I often see timetables list a separate time for *shuruq* (which is sunrise, i.e. the *end* of the *fajr* time), but never seen one list a separate time for *subh*.
Comment: Well there's fajr = the time and fajr the prayer some madhabs distinguish between the fard/farz prayer calling it clearly sobh (other say the fard prayer of fajr) and the sunna prayer which should be done before calling it "fajr". As the Time to pray sobh or fajr fard is between the fajr time and the shuruq (=sunrise). So there are only 5 fard/farz prayers a day! But 6 Times to distinguish when one should perform them!
Answer: No, we have 5 fard prayers, because fajr and subuh are the same prayer but with different names. Evidence:

narrated by Muslim (656) from 'Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Abi 'Amrah who said: 'Uthmaan ibn 'Affaan entered the mosque after Maghrib prayer and sat by himself. I sat beside him and he said: O son of my brother, I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: "Whoever prays 'Isha' in congregation, it is as if he spent half the night in prayer, and whoever prays Subh in congregation, it is as if he spent the entire night in prayer."
And al-Bukhaari (555) and Muslim (632) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Angels come to you in succession by night and by day, and they meet at Fajr prayer and at 'Asr prayer, then those who stayed among you ascend and He (Allaah) asks them, although He knows best, 'How did you leave My slaves?' They say: 'We left them when they were praying and we came to them when they were praying."

As you can notice, in the first hadeeth, the term "Subh" was mentioned as the fard, and in the second hadeeth, the term "Fajr" was also mentioned as the fard. So, we can conclude that Fajr and Subh are the same one prayer but with different terms.
After Fajr/Subh, we have Duhr, Asr, Maghrib  and Ishaa' to give a total of five prayers.
Comment: Oh I see thank you very much for your time and references! It was much appreciated and has clarified a lot for me.
Comment: You can mark this answer "accept" if you think it fully answers your question. @user14134

Prayers and how many times a day


Diagram of all IPA sound places

Question: Wondering if there is a diagram similar to the following one, but that lists all of the mouth configurations such as for ʃ and everything else.
Comment: Doesn't answer the question, but you might appreciate [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCluRCd2YuM) (MRI sagittal section of an opera singer's head).
Answer: No, for a couple of reasons. First, this is not an diagram of a language sound (it's an open mouth), but there are such drawings, in the old days known as cutaway Sammy, purporting to be particular sounds. Here is a page with various places of articulation being sketched. Such drawings, when not made from whole cloth, are based on xray, MRI or ultrasound imaging of articulation, and such data is hard to come by. So there are gaps in coverage, especially when it comes to "unusual" sounds (ones not found in major national languages).
Such a diagram only shows one perspective (the sagittal plane), and assumes a single moment in time. A lot of the interesting details of language sounds would require animation and 3-D, and for that, we really do not have the data. So you will have to live with that limitation. But: here is a useful resource. This provides animations, MRI and ultrasound (depending on what's available) of the IPA chart, produced by two professional phoneticians (depends on what's available). The warning is that these are not productions in a language, they are theoretical articulations of IPA letters. In some cases (such as [ħ]) you can compare the individuals and observe that one person's performances are very different and, if you are familiar with languages having the sound, one is better than the other. Unfortunately, the clicks are sort of "cut-and-paste" inserted into the vowel frame, and one would need pictures from a real speaker to get real click articulation.
Now, there are infinitely many mouth configurations, so clearly we can't have infinitely many diagrams, but we might at least cover the letters of the IPA, using theoretical articulations, as that web page does. If you want something more like "all mouth configurations", I quasi-recommend Pink Trombone, but it doesn't assign letters to the vocal tract configuration that you create.
Comment: Wow that Pink Trombone is great! Thank you.
Answer: There is no single diagram for all sounds, but there are diagrams for each sound. For those sounds that have movement in the manner and place of articulation (or other dimensions) then two or more diagrams are needed. That said, there are only sammy diagrams for some languages and these are not published (as far as I know) systematically. The key is to focus on the particular language and then look for that work. For less popular languages, one can use the work on more popular languages where they match up in sound, and then fill in the missing elements. I've done this very approach with Thai, and the sammy diagrams are embeded in a few flash card sets for the Thai language. https://lannainnovation.com

Diagram of all IPA sound places


Can Huawei sue Google for refusing to offer its services like Google Map?

Question: Can Huawei sue Google for refusing to offer its services like Google Map? Although Huawei was put on the entity list, Google not providing services to Huawei is very anti-competitive. Is there a legal avenue for Huawei outside of the U.S. and what about in the U.S.? What kind of legal challenge can Huawei launch against Google?
Comment: "Google not providing services to Huawei is very anti-competitive." How so? They are two private companies. They run their businesses the way they want to, as long as they operate within national and international laws. Google can legally deny Huawei's use of or a license for Google's products.
Comment: That's called private enterprise. Google is under no legal (or ethical) obligation to help or aid any other business, related to their own business or not.
Comment: It makes their product less competitive against other Android device.
Comment: There is often confusion about what anti-competitive means. Huawei can compete. They will just find it harder to beat their competitors.
Comment: Then why did Google get sued by the EU for not willing to provide access to its online store when manufacturers used Android forks?
Comment: @BlueDogRanch You seem to not be familiar with the concept of anti-trust laws.
Answer: No
Let's assume that Google and Huawei had a valid contract that obliged Google to provide certain services and failing to provide them would be a clear breach of contract that would normally entitle Huawei to damages.
Once Huawei was put on the entity list so that supplying such services would be illegal under US law, the contract was discharged by frustration because performance of the contract is now illegal. That is, the contract is at an end and the future rights and obligations of both parties are a nullity.
Under contract law, if Hauwei had paid in advance for these services, too bad for Huawei. If Google was owed money for services already provided, too bad for Google. It's possible that each party in those circumstances could bring an equity case for unjust enrichment but that is at the discretion of the court and would require, among other things, the aggrieved party having 'clean hands'. As a prescribed organization, Huawei might struggle to do that.
Comment: I'm a bit skeptical of the last two sentences. And this only addresses the question of whether they can sue under US law.
Comment: @Acccumulation Are you skeptical that an equity case is possible here, or that Huawei might struggle to win it?
Comment: @Greendrake When I wrote the comment, the last two sentences were asserting the absence of an equity case.


Writer's Block Help

Question: I am in the middle of writing a book but I have serious writer's block any tips on how to combat this? I am only able to write poetry but it isn't as deep and meaningful as it used to be.
Comment: you should search the site before posting; this question looks like it has the answer you are seeking https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/2100/help-ive-got-writers-block?rq=1
Answer: Take a break, go for a walk, write longhand instead of typing, force yourself to get words on the page, pick up a novel structure handbook, google all the websites online...

Writer's Block Help


Trigger observer of parent class on change

Question: I'm writing a timeline, that stores events in a table when there are changes to objects, such as "products".
I've written an observer for Product that composes a sensible log message and associated data using "after_create" and "before_update" and so on. This works perfectly.
Now, each Product has many Variants, and also, each Variant has many Prices. However they are typically edited in the same form. But only changes to the Product-class cause the observer to trigger "before_update".
I would like changes to Variants to trigger the Product-observer for the associated product, and in the same way cause changes to Prices trigger the product associated with the Variant associated with the Price.
This is not unlike the :touch functionality in Rails 2.3.3+. I've also tried to depend on that function, but the touching does not seem to trigger the before_update observer method.
How would you do this?
Answer: Based on my current experience touch should trigger regular callbacks but not observer callbacks. As these are slightly different.


Is there any evidence of the Ancient Greeks worshipping Zeus's daughter Helen?

Question: Is there any evidence of the Ancient Greeks worshipping Zeus's daughter Helen? For example, did they build any shrines in her honor or did they offer sacrifices to her?
Answer:
We first a crown of low-growing lotus
having woven will place it on a shady plane-tree.
First from a silver oil-flask soft oil
drawing we will let it drip beneath the shady plane-tree.
Letters will be carved in the bark, so that someone passing by
may read in Doric: "Reverence me. I am Helen's tree."

Theocritus' epithalamium commemorating the marriage of Helen and Menelaus
Helen was worshipped and had a festival at Therapnae in Laconia; she also had a temple at Rhodes, where she was worshipped as Helen Dendritis (Helen of the Trees, Έλένα Δενδρῖτις); she was a vegetation or a fertility goddess(the tree goddess).
Like her brothers, the Dioscuri, she was a patron deity of sailors. Her name is pre-Hellenic and the cult may go back to the pre-Greek periods.
Comment: So her sister Clytemnestra got short shrift?
Comment: Clytemnestra is not Helen's sister in the Helen Dendritis myths, only in the writings of  Aeschylus, Euripides and (with a smaller role) in Homer's Odyssey. The connection with Castor and Pollux as patron deities of sailors is probably how both Helen and Castor came to be associates with the kings of Sparta and ultimately in the Odyssey.
Answer: Herodotus, in his Histories, recounts the story of how Ariston took his third wife, the most beautiful woman in Sparta, from his friend Agetus, and says that she had been an ugly baby, but her nurse's constant prayers at Helen's shrine had caused Helen to appear and make her beautiful.
If the story is not accurate, nevertheless the existence of the shrine is very likely.


Privacy friendly payment processor

Question: What is the most reputable Bitcoin payment processor that has privacy friendly terms and conditions? BitPay and Coinbase are known to have used chain analysis to spy on customers. What are the alternatives for reputable merchants who do not approve of this type of privacy violation applied to their customers?
Answer: I'm pretty sure that all crypto payment processors that deal with fiat <-> cryptocurrency exchanges are doing AML/KYC routines including chain analysis. That's not only true for BitPay and Coinbase but Circle et al. too. As soon as you're trying to move value between crypto and fiat you're going to have to deal with different levels of privacy invasions if you're using a payment processor.
The exceptions to those KYC/AML routines is either cash <-> crypto transactions (like localbitcoin, mycelium...) or using a crypto currency that can't be traced by (evil) companies like chainalysis.
tl;dr I don't know any non-privacy invading bitcoin payment processor as soon as fiat gets involved.
ps: However I know that there a various people working on new (open-source) cryptocurrency payment processors. I will try to dig out some additional info on those and update my post accordingly.
edit: interesting update on coinbase: https://news.bitcoin.com/coinbase-helps-fbi-shut-kickasstorrents/
Comment: "including chain analysis" what makes you say that? Just a pessimistic healthy skepticism or do you have actual data?
Comment: I'm not sure if there has been an official statement from any payment processor regarding chain analysis, but Coinbase is known to shut down and freeze funds if someone uses his coinbase account to fund/transfer btc to/from a gambling site. This has been happening since 2014. If you google "coinbase blocking gambling" you'll find lots of posts like these: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=747596.0 / https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1231723.0 / http://www.sportsbookreview.com/forum/sportsbooks-industry/3240629-email-coinbase-asking-if-im-using-their-services-gambling-purposes.html
Comment: related: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/35384/how-did-coinbase-monitor-btc-transactions
Comment: Yeah, CoinBase is notorius. I guess I was mostly wondering about "ALL crypto payment processors". There must be some that don't do chainanalisys, maybe? But you're definitely right to always assume the worst.
Answer: You can just accept the cryptocurrencies directly, there are Bitcoin plugins for many shopping carts. The spying and KYC/AML often comes into it because of the fiat side.
Answer: You might try Coin Cafe.  They do have KYC, but they are smaller so I doubt they have the resources or motivation to track your purchases unless specifically requested to.
Answer: You need solutions without third parties or decentral solutions for privacy because central/third parties are regulated or might be corrupt with your data. A good payment processor without third party involvement is btcpayserver.org . It manages BTC (plus lightning plus litecoin) payments fully automatized. In case you want to exchange it into fiat without a central party having knowledge about I'd recommend bisq.network . The bank can see of course the fiat transfer but has no clue about the payment reason. So far this 2nd step isn't working automatically, however the DAO (decentralized autonomous organisation) bisq is working on an API. bisq transactions in the blockchain are difficult to trace because they are like payjoin transactions.
Answer: Privacy-wise the only way to go is to self-host payment processing. Fortunately, as of 2021 good end-to-end open source solutions are available:

https://btcpayserver.org/
https://cypherpunkpay.org/ (disclosure: I am the author)

The worse alternative but still no KYC are the so called "watch-only" payment processors. The watch only payment processor is privy to all transactions in your wallet. The two I am aware of (never tried though):

https://www.blockonomics.co/merchants
https://gear.mycelium.com/

Privacy friendly payment processor


A word for 'hiding strong emotions'

Question: My partner is a very passionate, loving and caring person. He does however keep these emotions unexpressed, hidden, though not in a negative way and not to me.
Is there a word that defines this?
Example sentence:

His (blank) enabled him to hide his strong emotions from others.
Comment: Weirdly, I found following sample sentence under *diffident* in Google dictionary - "underneath his diffident exterior was a passionate temperament".
Answer: Stoic is a term for someone who can handle pain and hardship without showing one's feelings or complaining
From Lexico,

a person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.
Comment: Thanks for helping. He is stoic, yes, when required. But that also implies coping with something, whereas I am talking about a man with lovely feelings that he keeps private.
Comment: @Novae The Stoics are known to partition those "lovely feelings" into good feelings and bad feelings. Pleasure and lust are "bad" feelings, but they distinguish joy and wish as "good" feelings. The bad feelings are a 'controlled' version of the good ones; caution is but fear that is expressed less.  https://immoderatestoic.com/blog/2013/4/2/stoic-emotionsall-three-of-them ... basically, a Stoic will aim to hide their feelings no matter whether pain/hardship is involved. For this reason, I personally consider this word to be the best available to describe the nature of hiding of one's feelings.
Answer: It sounds like your partner is reserved. From Oxford Dictionaries (Lexico):

Slow to reveal emotion or opinions

This fits your description of your partner as someone who generally keeps his emotions hidden, but who does share them with you (though, I'm guessing, only after a gradual process of getting to know you). Note that the term reserved doesn't imply a lack of emotions or opinions. In fact, the definition from Collins Dictionary is

Someone who . . . keeps their feelings hidden

which (in addition to sounding very much like your description) strongly implies that there are emotions to be hidden. However, a person who is reserved could be mistaken as unemotional by people who don't see beneath the surface calm.
For your example sentence, you need the noun form.1 From Cambridge Dictionaries:

reserve noun (SHY BEHAVIOUR)
★ [ U ]  tending to keep your feelings or thoughts private rather than showing them

So you could say

His reserve enabled him to hide his strong emotions from others.

You could also add an adjective to make the sentence more pointed, as in his natural reserve or his habitual reserve. Similarly, if you wanted to stick with the adjective, you could rephrase slightly:

His reserved (nature/demeanor/etc.) enabled him to hide his strong emotions from others

Or

Because he was (always/naturally/habitually) reserved, he was able to hide his strong emotions from others

1 Of course there is also the noun form reservation, but that generally isn't used with this sense of reserve and reserved: When a table is reserved, someone has a reservation; but when a person is reserved, that person only has reserve.
Comment: I think the [SHY BEHAVIOUR] label is perhaps misleading here. [Macmillan](https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/reserve_1) has the uncaveatted '**reserve** [noun; non-count] the attitude / behaviour of someone who tends not to talk about or show their feelings' for this sense. [Google 2grams](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=admirable+reserve%2Cunfortunate+reserve&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cadmirable%20reserve%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cunfortunate%20reserve%3B%2Cc0) show 'admirable reserve' outperforming 'unfortunate reserve'.
Answer: If the hiding of emotions was not intentional, then it could be a flat affect. That is admittedly two words, but it's the term I've been diagnosed with. It can be associated with schizophrenia, depression, brain damage, or autism (I have the latter). On rare occasion, it can be present absent other factors.
Someone who is stoic doesn't necessarily hide all of their emotions; stoicism is more about persevering without complaint, not particularly seeking pleasure, and taking life as it comes.  Someone who holds to the Stoic philosophy strives to lack joy or grief, rather than just not show it.
Someone who is diffident lacks self-confidence, according to the dictionary definition of the word.
Someone who is self-composed chooses whether or not to express their emotion.  It could be due to a flat affect or it could be from training.  It's my understanding there is a connotation of the latter, however.  In any event, the self-composed individual knows how to portray the emotions that aren't being shown.
Someone who has a practiced facade is very definitely doing it deliberately, and they've spent time making sure they get it right.
I believe impassive and self-composed are similar, but it feels to me like impassive seems stronger - that someone who is self-composed seems more likely to be able to be goaded into an emotional display than someone who is impassive.  It's also not as clear that the impassive person knows how to show the emotion they're feeling, or that they are feeling.
Someone who is reserved is generally self-composed, in my experience.  Some of the people I've known who were described as reserved had a blunted affect, which is similar to a flat affect, but not as pronounced.  If a person has a blunted affect, and they're not controlling their emotional display, they will display emotion, but if you're not looking for it, you might miss it.  More likely, you'll just think they're a lot less enthusiastic about something than they are.
Someone who is expressionless is similar to someone who is impassive, but there seems to me to be less of a connotation of apathy.  But unlike someone with a flat affect it doesn't feel to me like there's a definite connotation of having emotion; the situation is just unclear.
Other affect terms are broad affect, which is what normal people have, restricted affect and constricted affect, which is between broad and blunted, and labile affect means their emotional display is really variable.
Technically speaking, it's possible to have a combination of different affects - for some emotions, the person just doesn't have a natural reaction at all.  For others, they have a natural reaction, but it's less distinct than normal yet not as muted as a flat affect is - for example, they may tend to not show much joy, unless they're consciously trying.  However, even when not paying attention to their presentation, when they're happy they will at least smile.  A bit.  But surprise or anger just don't get reflected in their outward appearance without an effort.  It doesn't mean it's not real.  But if it is real, there's going to be at least a second or two of pause between the surprise and the act.
That having been said, in my limited experience, ones startle response is not an emotion.  That's a purely physical self-preservation thing, and whether it's a strong response or not really doesn't seem to be affected much by their affect.  Not everyone with a flat affect will necessarily have a normal startle response, but everyone I know with that diagnosis at least startles to a normal degree.  But then after the startle, there will be a pause, while the person figures out what emotion to show, because whatever emotion it is, their affect isn't going to portray it right on its own.
Answer: I'd recommend impassive.
From Merriam-Webster:

giving no sign of feeling or emotion : EXPRESSIONLESS
Comment: Yes, we both thought impassive was correct, but when I looked up the definition it states that 'impassive' can also mean to be emotionless, which is far from the truth regarding him. So I'm not sure.
Comment: 'Impassive' is an awkward one. One of its specifying definitions fits perfectly, but yes, the 'stoniness' sub-sense informs the default meaning to an unfortunate degree for OP's desire. So not 'incorrect', but sub-optimal.
Answer: "His serious mien enabled him to hide strong emotions from others".
mien TFD & Vocabulary.com

bearing or manner, especially as it reveals an inner state of mind: a
  person's appearance or demeanor
Answer: No single word comes to mind other than already stated, so:
"His practiced facade of insouciance enabled him to hide his strong emotions from others."

facade

An artificial or deceptive front.

insouciance

the quality of being insouciant; lack of care or concern;
  indifference.
Answer: I think the noun introvert or introversion is appropriate, as your friend may choose to keep his emotions unexpressed simply by nature, as a trait of his character.
I am also thinking of temperate, moderate or simply quiet.
Comment: No, introversion is usually seen as a negative trait (from your reference: '
What is another word for introvert?
...  Here's a list of similar words from our thesaurus that you can use instead.
[One who prefers their own company, as opposed to the company of others
A person who is naturally shy or reserved]: ...
loner / recluse / hermit / solitary / homebody / solitary person / self-observer / lone ranger / misanthrope / solitudinarian / eremite ...'.) OP anticipates and pre-empts this answer. For which reason I've upvoted the question.
Comment: I see. Then I am thinking of "temperate, moderate" or simply "quiet". I agree, it is a good question.
Answer: In a comment to one of the other answers, you said that he is "a man with lovely feelings that he keeps private."
It seems to me that private would work well:

[Merriam-Webster]
3 a : withdrawn from company or observation
// a private retreat
b : not known or intended to be known publicly : SECRET
c : preferring to keep personal affairs to oneself : valuing privacy highly

So:

In general, he is private.

Or:

In general, he is a private person.

I qualified this with in general because, as you said, he doesn't always keep things to himself, and not with everyone.
You could also say that it's his sense of privacy that keeps his emotions hidden from other people.

In terms of your example sentence, if you're looking for a quality that actively enables him to keep his emotions to himself, I would say:

His self-composed nature enabled him to hide his strong emotions from others.

Merriam-Webster defines self-composed as:

: having control over one's emotions : CALM
Comment: I'd say 'self-controlled' is by far the better choice here. 'Private' defaults to '... solitary, reserved, retiring, withdrawn' (Collins; I don't think M-W lists subsenses in order of idiomaticity). OP wants the positive, 'in-control' rather than 'controlled by an inner reservedness' sense, and the presence of other subsenses is important here.

A word for 'hiding strong emotions'


How can be proved that the softmax output forms a probability distribution and the sigmoid output does not?

Question: I was reading Nielsen's book and in this part of chapter 3 about the softmax function, he says, just before the following Excercise, that the output of a neural network with a output softmax layers forms a probability distribution and the sigmoid output does not always forms it.
Now I've been wondering about the output of a neural network, if I have a sigmoid output layer, say for one observation the output is 0.7 for class 0, should the probability for class 1 be 0.3? Or, in this binary classification example, using a softmax output, the first output neuron would be 0.7 for class 0 and 0.3 for class 1 in that particular observation?
Answer: Softmax maps $ f:ℝ^n\rightarrow (0,1)^n$ such that $\sum f(\vec x) =1$. Therefore, we can interpret the output of softmax as probabilities.
With sigmoidal activation, there are no such constraints for summation, so even though $ 0<S(\vec x)<1$, it is not guaranteed that $\sum S(\vec x)=1$. The sigmoidal function does not normalize the outputs, so in your example where class 0 has output $0.7$, class 1 could have any value in $(0,1)$, which might not be $0.3$.

Here's an example:
$\vec x=[-5,\pi,\frac{1}{3},0] $
$ f(\vec x)\approxeq [2.6379\times10^{-4},0.9059,0.05464]$
$ S(\vec x)\approxeq [6.693\times10^{-3},0.9586,0.5826,0.5] $
Because $0<f(\vec x)<1$ and $\sum f(\vec x)=1$, the softmax output vector can be interpreted as probabilities. On the other hand, $ \sum S(\vec x) > 1$, so you cannot interpret the sigmoidal output as a probability distribution, even though $ 0<S(\vec x)<1$
(I chose the above $\vec x$ arbitrarily to demonstrate that the inputs need not be negative, non-negative, rational, etc., hence $\vec x\in ℝ^n$)
Comment: Thank you! So, in your example, I can see that the sum of all f(x) is 1 for the observation x, but for S(x), why do you sum it when actually, by using sigmoidal output, isn't it just one number (eg, 0.7 of being 1) because in that case we only use one output sigmoid neuron? Being that the case of one output neuron, wouldn't the probability of being 0 be 0.3? as in, for example, logistic regression? All these is like the second part of the question I coulnd't get to ask.
Comment: For binary classification, a single sigmoidal output neuron would be sufficient for the reasons you stated. For multiclass classification, sigmoidal neurons aren't guaranteed (and probably won't) output a legitimate probability distribution for the reasons I stated. So yes, in a binary classification problem, a single sigmoidal neuron is totally fine.
Comment: Thank you very much, sir! Would you recommend any books or resources to deepen the understanding of this topic? I am finishing Nielsen's book, and then go through Stanford's NLP and CNN courses.
Comment: Unfortunately, I am not up-to-date with reading materials for fundamentals. However, I'd recommend reading highly cited papers after you understand the basic concepts. Good luck!


Is there a quicker way to clear cache on Safari mobile?

Question: Is there a quicker way to clear cache in Safari on iPhone besides going to Settings -> Safari -> Clear Cache?
Answer: I have found that reloading a Web page in Mobile Safari twice clears the cache for the current Web page. Simply press reload, wait for it to finish loading, then reload again.
Comment: nope that doesn't do it. some elements that are stored are not cleared by reloading the page.
Comment: Worked for me. It seems to work even when you hit refresh before it finishes loading.
Answer: Regretfully, no.
(When I test my web code using Xcode's iOS Simulator, I find it easier to use the "Reset Content and Settings..." menu options rather than navigate into iOS's settings to clear the cache.)
Answer: Here is a way you can follow:

From the iPhone main menu, select "Settings" and then "Safari".
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. There will be three options for you to choose from: "Clear History", "Clear Cookies", and "Clear Cache". You can simply clear all three by tapping each of them once and confirming the deletion
You can also clear your browsing history directly from the Safari browser. Start Safari and select "Bookmarks" at the bottom of the screen. Navigate to the history section  and select it.
Your internet history should then appear on the screen. You can then clear out the history by selecting "clear" at the bottom of the screen. It will then ask you to confirm "clear history".

I  hope this helps
Comment: Given that the questions explicitly asked for a faster way than "Settings -> Safari -> Clear Cache", this is probably not answer 'dev.e.loper' is looking for.
Comment: dev.e.loper is looking for a different way to *clear the cache*. Clearing the history is not the same.


How do I install Google voice search on a rooted gb custom rom?

Question: I recently moved to X-gamer, a gb based stock rom. I flashed gapps for gb thinking I would get back voice search and talk. However it seems only talk got installed. Voice search link on Google play shows 'item not found'. How do I install Google voice search?
Answer:
In Android 4.1+ (Jelly Bean), it was merged with Google Now.

But Google Now isn't available for 2.3 (Gingerbread).
You have to search & download the last apk-File of voicesearch.
P.S.: If you have "Connections Errors / Server-Problems": Try reset the cache of the app.


Is it safe to mount a 65" TV to the wall using 1 and 1/2 inch lag bolts instead of 2 and 1/2 inch lag bolts?

Question: We are trying to mount a 65" TV in the basement. The studs in our wall are 1 and 1/2 inches deep, and behind that is concrete. The wall mount came with 2 and 1/2 inch lag bolts, but we really do not want to drill into the concrete. Can we buy 1 and 1/2 inch lag bolts and will it be safe to put up?
Answer: I would cleat the mounting using horizontal 2x4s or some thicker plywood mounted on the surface of the wall. It's less sightly, but you can distribute the weight along more studs. I would not try to mount it across only 2 studs using 1.5" screws.
Answer: TVs are lighter than they used to be, a 65" TV is only 55 pounds or so, and 2" screws are pretty darn strong.  (You probably want 2" screws - you have to get through the drywall, too.)
I am going to assume that the drywall is on 2x4's used as furring strips, solidly attached to the wall, capable of supporting the weight of the mounted TV.
I would not do this with an articulating mount - one that lets you pull the TV away from the wall and aim it a different direction.  That effectively magnifies the weight of the TV.
Choose a mount that will let you get at least two screws into two furring strips.  Make sure you locate the furring strips accurately.
You might want to use a newer type cabinet or structural screw because they are a little easier to use than traditional lag screws - for example, the GRK RSS in 1/4" x 2" is readily available here.  They are rated for far more than the weight of the TV and mount.
Use washers big enough to cover the holes in the mount.  (They probably supplied washers with the mount.)
Answer: Your studs are quite shallow. If you have a finished wall with a half inch of sheetrock then I would go for at least 1 3/4 inch lag bolts so that they grip as much wood as possible. You might even be fine with 2 inch bolts once you account for the metal thickness of the mount.
A lag bolt's pull-out resistance is only as strong as the wood that it is attached to so according to https://www.hunker.com/13401751/lag-screw-pull-out-limits it would be about 200 pounds per bolt. Your wall mount will be attached with 4 bolts, right? Everything should be fine as long as you are not doing chin-ups from the darn thing.
Make sure to pre-drill a hole slightly smaller than the shank dead-center of the stud. When screwing in the lag bolt DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN it or else it will turn the wood to mush and its gripping power will be compromised. Use a drill to start the bolt but switch to a wrench for the last 1/2 inch and tighten it flat against the wall; no more, no less.


Where are the other Baelishes, if any?

Question: I had a random thought : Does Petyr Baelish still have any relatives? What happened to his parents? Any siblings? Any children, legitimate or illegitimate?
Answer:
The device painted on the shield was one Sansa did not know; a grey stone head with fiery eyes, upon a light green field. "My grandfather's shield," Petyr explained when he saw her gazing at it. "His own father was born in Braavos and came to the Vale as a sellsword in the hire of Lord Corbray, so my grandfather took the head of the Titan as his sigil when he was knighted."
(A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold, p.357)

So Littlefinger's great-grandfather was Braavosi, but his grandfather was a Westerosi hedge knight.
And on the next page:

"Well, you can scarcely be my true-born daughter. I've never taken a wife, that's well known. What should you be called?"
"I ... I could call myself after my mother ..."
"Catelyn? A bit too obvious ... but after my mother, that would serve. Alayne. Do you like it?"

So his mother was named Alayne, and he has no legitimate children. As for illegitimate children, there is speculation that Robert/Robin Arryn may really be Littlefinger's bastard son and even that Sansa Stark may really be his bastard daughter, but no confirmation either way.
Quoting from an interview with GRRM:

In response to the why was LF fostered at Riverrun when he was a insignificant lord question: GRRM said that Petyr's father and Hoster met up during the War of the Ninepenny Kings and became friends. Apparently that was a time when a lot of people from all over the realm forged friendships. LF's dad later "cashed in" on the friendship to get LF fostered at Riverrun.

So his father was sufficiently high in society to be considered a friend by Lord Tully.
Comment: to answer your question, btw: According to the supplemental TV material, Petyr's grandfather was the first Lord Baelish. According to what he tells Tyrion in *Clash of Kings*, his grandfather was a landless knight, and his *father* was the first Lord Baelish.
Comment: Despite your link, we can be quite sure that Sansa isn't Littlefinger's daughter.

During the war she was pregnant with Robb, and she doesn't take Ned's bastard nicely. Also we would probably know from her POVs.

Where are the other Baelishes, if any?


Short story about genius kids who disappear and run into trouble in another dimension?

Question: I am looking for the name of an older sci-fi short story (read about 40 years ago) about genius kids who disappear (possibly into another dimension) and their father feels they ran into trouble there and is worried when they don't return. The story ends with him preparing to attempt follow them and rescue them wherever they might have gone. I read this as part of a Sci-Fi short story collection/anthology in the late 1960's but can't seem to find this story now.
Comment: Does '[The Mathematical Magpie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mathematical_Magpie)' sound familiar?  I have a feeling that's the collection you are talking about -- a good one to pick up, as it has a bunch of classics.
Answer: Sounds like "Star, Bright" by Mark Clifton.
The main character has a daughter named Star, a genius, who becomes friends with a boy who moves in next door, also a genius.  The two play together, using Time Travel (which the dad eventually learns) via visualization of a different dimensions, but, after he bans them from leaving this time, find a way to go somewhere without technically leaving the present.  The father's concern is that they can't get back from where they have gone.
It's available to read for free, online, here.
It's commonly compared to Mimsy Were the Borogroves, but where Mimsy ends with seeing the children vanish, Star Bright ends with the dad working out mentally the steps to follow them, and the story suddenly cutting off (presumably because he has managed it.)
Comment: That is it -- Thank you so much! I now even recall the collection where I read it - Tomorrow's Children. I liked this story so much more than Mimsy - thank you again for helping me find it! :-)


Why use DHCPv6 over Stateless Address Autoconfiguration?

Question: IPv6 and RFC 2462 provide a means for hosts to configure their own IP addresses via stateless address autoconfiguration. To me this seems like the bee's knees, and it leaves me wondering why someone would want to go through the trouble of configuring a DHCPv6 server instead. I don't manage networks as a profession, so I'm guessing that there are some obvious simple reasons why one would want to support DHCPv6 that don't occur to me. Could someone please elaborate on what these reasons might be?
Answer: One thing that DHCPv6 supplies that autoconfig doesn't is DNS servers.
Comment: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6106 For now, anyway
Comment: There's RFC 6106. If you can't use that yet your IPv4 DNS servers will probably be around until you can. Definitely not a reason by itself to use DHCPv6.
Answer: You want DHCPv6 if

the network administrator should have control over who gets (which) IPv6 addresses, e.g. because they need to be in sync with AAAA DNS records, or
if you don't want to tell the outside your MAC addresses (i.e. what hardware vendors you use), but don't want to use privacy extensions either, e.g. to still use permanent IPv6 addresses, or
if you want the same dynamic DNS updates for IPv6 which you're used from your DHCP(v4) server for IPv4.
Comment: @Ale Some operating systems handle SLAAC entirely in-kernel and have no provision for calling a userland program after SLAAC completes, which would be required to do dynamic DNS updates. Since DHCPv6 is done in userland, it is possible to have dynamic DNS updates.
Comment: @kasperd That's probably true...now I wish someone would do it! This is one of the annoying issues in my FreeIPA domains.
Comment: Why would you need DHCPv6 over SLAAC if you want dynamic DNS updates?
Comment: Good point, I updated that statement to be less ambiguous.
Comment: @MichaelHampton Even if there is no direct hooks for calling user space code immediately upon completing SLAAC, there are so many other ways the result of SLAAC would be visible to user space, that it certainly would be possible to create a user space utility that could detect the assigned addresses and update DNS.
Answer: DHCPv6 provides more control to the administrator in assigning addresses. If you really want that sort of control over your IPv6 addresses, you don't understand IPv6 yet.
It also can be used to provide additional configuration parameters beyond the basic address/gateway supported through autoconfiguration. An example might be WINS servers, NTP servers, TFTP boot servers, and other less common options. None of which are worth the pain of deploying a DHCPv6 architecture in my opinion.
Stick with autoconfig.
Comment: I think it's arrogant to claim that if you want DHCPv6 you haven't understood yet. There are definitely scenarios where DHCPv6 is the best solution.
Comment: Specifying TFTP isn't worth deploying a DHCP server? I'm guessing you've never deployed IP phones...
Answer: DHCPv6 has many features not present in SLAAC. Most of those features are rarely needed.
There is however one DHCPv6 feature, which would be useful in many cases. That is prefix delegation. If you are a network administrator at an ISP, that one feature may be enough for you to make it worthwhile to deploy a DHCPv6 server. If you are not working for an ISP, you probably don't need prefix delegation.
What prefix delegation can do is that the DHCPv6 server at the ISP can tell the CPE router which range of addresses it can use for its internal LAN(s). Without prefix delegation only the WAN interface of the router could be autoconfigured. The LAN would need to be manually configured.
The CPE router would act as DHCPv6 client. It would not need to act as DHPv6 server, since the LAN(s) can just use SLAAC.
Answer: SLAAC was a good attempt to autoconfig addresses and remove the centralization that a DHCP server obliges. In a IPv4 network with all devices' addresses handled by DHCP server, if it fails, soon enough (when leases start expiring), nobody will be able to talk anymore.
But SLAAC lacks features. In example, if you wanna attribute a local domain name for every device, you're gonna need a local DNS server anyway. If all connections are done by these names instead of (very) long IPv6 addresses, then you have back your centralized server giving you neat features and that irritating risk. Then, if you have a DNS server, then a DHCP one isn't big issue.
Another example, if you have multiple VLANs. Say you wanna restrict only known devices to your VLAN, and configure another one for new yet-unknown devices. This VLAN can't access Internet and neither see your devices. Then a DHCP server comes at hand.
A big issue with SLAAC is that a device's address has its MAC. It was ingenuous to do that, as it increased address size and reduced privacy, some say security too. DHCP server allows you to use other rules to set addresses.
Answer: Dhcpv6-PD is actually really efficient in the sense of ad-hoc networks. Got a computer that can't use ndp to get dns, so have to use dhcp to get dns, tftp and certificate server. Also, dhcpv6 is good for prefix delegation, I like to assign /128 addresses.
Comment: I thought all up to date OS understood DNS advertised through router advertisements by now. And I don't know of any good reason for using link prefixes longer than /64.
Answer: The whole point of ipv6 is for every device to have a permanent unique address that can be routed (found) in the network. The 'D' in DHCP stands for 'Dynamic' which was needed in ipv4 when ipv4 address exhaustion started to be a problem. ipv4 addresses could no longer be assigned without having routing problems. That is not the case with ipv6.
It is not needed. It defeats the point of having a bigger ip address space.
DHCPv6 foments an stratified ip address space. Not a good idea as we have seen with ipv4.
Stick with autoconfig.


Why are light-haired male love interests common?

Question: It is relatively common for series (especially shoujo) for the/a love interest to be blond. This appears in Ouran High School Host Club, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, Tokyo Mew Mew, and a number of others. Why is this common in Japan, where the population is 98.5% ethnically Japanese--and as such naturally dark-haired--and most of the rest of the population is either Chinese or Korean?
Comment: Related: http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2872/why-do-many-characters-tend-to-have-crazy-hair-colors-and-styles
Answer: It might have something to do with the representation of the blonde-color. According here,

Blonde hair on a male character may imply that he is a trickster.
  Alternately, it may symbolize that this character is a focus of chaos,
  and trouble follows him wherever he goes, such as Vash the Stampede
  from Trigun, or Soichiro Nagi from Tenjou Tenge; a live-action example
  is the movie version of Battle Royale's Kazuo Kiriyama. It is also not
  uncommon for anime males with long blonde hair to be portrayed as
  Casanova-types. (Examples: Kurz from Full Metal Panic, Allen Schezar
  from Vision of Escaflowne, Kyle from Suikoden V among others...)
Answer: the easy artistic reason is because it makes it that much easier to tell characters apart very quickly. If it's a manga, you won't have voice to tell the difference, and the art style can be very similar between two male characters who are supposed to be hot. If you can't hear the difference, and you can't see much difference, an extremely different hair color makes them distinct even if they're facing away from viewer or are barely in frame!
If it's natural, it's sometimes used to make them seem foreign (usually french!) in a way meant to be mysterious and attractive. If it's dyed, it shows they have an interest in their looks, and often that they're a rulebreaker (since most Japanese schools have rules against changing your hair color), which means it's usually a casanova type.
Answer: Well, in Ouran, i know one of the blondes is like, part french, and the other is just suppose to be the cute little one and the blond hair just adds to it, plus in that anime is a school for rich people and we see a lot of them with dyed hair, some background characters have light brown hair or red hair, so it's to say they're rich, and most of them are easily able to dye their hair. Also some of them are part caucasian.
In Kaichou, the love interest is also from a wealthy family and his mother is from England. The japanese people still have very dark hair, and dark eyes.
In Tokyo Mew Mew, he is also a rich boy from Europe. The actual love interest is only blonde when he is possessed by an alien godlike entity.


Iterating through point layer to create & sum distance rasters

Question: I'm writing an Arcpy program to process data in a layer of several hundred points ('ptsLyr', from file 'ptsFile'), each of which has its own ID ('RecordID') and an associated value, 'radius', that I want to use to create a distance buffer around that point as a proxy for a trade area; at the location of the point, the value of the raster will be 1, while at the edge of the radius and beyond it will be 0, with a linear decrease from center to edge. Ultimately, I want to sum all of the individual buffers to get a distance-weighted measure of how many points contribute to each cell in the raster. Because of the number of points I don't want to create hundreds of individual raster files.
As an example, consider a cell that is located between two points, A and B, such that it is 4000 m from A and 2000 m from B, which have radii of 8000 m and 10000 m, respectively. The contribution to the cell from point A will be (8000-4000)/8000 = 0.5, as the cell is 1/2 way between point A and its perimeter. The contribution from point B will be (10000-2000)/10000 = 0.8, since it is 1/5 of the way from B's center to its perimeter. If the cell is 6000 m from another point, C, that has a radius of 3000 m, C will not contribute to the calculation as any value outside 3000 m from C will be 0. At the cell, then, the 'cumulative' value of the overlapping buffers is 0.5 + 0.8 = 1.3.
I have to iterate through the points individually because the distance function EucDistance() calculates the distance from each cell to the closest point, which is not what I want. Also, I apparently have to create a new layer from each point as I process it because EucDistance() doesn't seem to respect selections of individual points made by SelectLayerByAttribute_management(). EucDistance() will set values outside the radius to 'No Data' but I can easily enough reclassify those to zero once I have the final, summed raster.
The map coordinates are projected (NAD83 UTM Zone 17N) and all values are in metres.
import os
import arcpy
import arcpy.mapping as amap
from arcpy.sa import *

mapFile = r"C:\Project Files\project.mxd"
ptsFile = r"C:\Project Files\data\points.shp"
sumFile = r"C:\Project Files\data\Project.gdb\sumbuffer"
tmpFile = r"C:\Project Files\data\one_point.shp"

mxd = amap.MapDocument(mapFile)
df = amap.ListDataFrames(mxd)[0]
mlayers = amap.ListLayers(mxd)
for lyr in mlayers:
    if lyr.name == os.path.split(ptsFile)[1][:-4]:
        ptsLyr = lyr

arcpy.env.extent = arcpy.Extent(500000.0, 4705300.0, 775850.0, 4988910.0)

counter = 0     # counter variable
ptCursor = arcpy.SearchCursor(ptsLyr, "", "", "RecordID; radius")    # get records

for pt in ptCursor:     # iterate through each point in ptsLyr
    itemID = pt.getValue("RecordID")
    radius = pt.getValue("radius")
    # define query to select each point by RecordID
    query = "\"RecordID\" = " + str(itemID)

    # create new layer with single selected point for further processing
    arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(ptsLyr.name, os.path.split(tmpFile)[0], os.path.split(tmpFile)[1][:-4], query)

    # calculate distance to point out to value of radius
    distR = EucDistance(tmpFile, radius, 50)    # cell size 50 m
    dist1 = radius - distR     # invert values to give 0 at edge
    dist2 = dist1 / radius     # rescale values to give 1 at center

    # add each raster to one that stores all previous output
    if counter == 0:
        sumRas = dist2
    else:
        sumRas = dist2 + sumRas

    counter += 1     # increment counter variable

sumRas.save(sumFile)     # save the final summed raster in gdb

At the moment I have the basics working but am getting errors associated with either: the raster layers/raster math. I suspect the problems have something to do with my environment settings, raster objects vs layers, files vs geodatabases, and/or the (im)mutability of rasters.
If I do the raster math in the format 'dist1 = radius - distR', as above, I get the error
RuntimeError: ERROR 010240: Could not save raster dataset
to C:\Users\JohnR\Documents\ArcGIS\Default.gdb\minus_ras2
with output format FGDBR.

On the other hand, if I explicitly designate raster objects using the format
distR = EucDistance(tmpFile, radius, 500)
dist1 = radius - Raster("distR")
dist2 = Raster("dist1") / radius

then I get the result
Runtime error
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 43, in <module>
RuntimeError: ERROR 000732: Input Raster: Dataset distR does not exist or is not supported

Can anybody explain what the problem is and, most importantly, help me complete this code so it works properly?

Following up on Luke's suggestion, at this point I've now tried it with none of the files in a gdb, only the temporary files and the output raster in one, or all of the files in one (no spaces in the path/filenames). All files are in the same projection with the same extents. I've also tried it with 'Add results of geoprocessing operations to the display' both on and off.
I actually had it working the other night, but it crashed during operation and I must have changed something either in the program itself or in my ArcGIS configuration somewhere. This is more or less what the output is supposed to look like:

Now, however, whenever I enter the 'else' part of the 'if' statement (modified as below):
for pt in ptCursor:
    itemID = pt.getValue("RecordID")
    radius = pt.getValue("radius")
    query = "\"RecordID\" = " + str(itemID)
    arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(ptsLyr.name, os.path.split(tmpFile)[0], os.path.split(tmpFile)[1][:-4], query)

    getmax = distR.maximum
    dist1 = Con(IsNull(distR),getmax,distR)
    dist2 = radius - dist1
    dist3 = dist2 / radius

    if counter == 0:
        sumRas = dist3
    else:
        sumRas = sumRas + dist3
    sumRas.save(outfilename)

the sumRas raster gets replaced with no data, which obviously prevents me from accumulating a sum. I have no idea why this is happening and why I can't fix it.
Comment: All you need is to perform a [weighted focal mean.](http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//005m0000006q000000). It's a single fast operation.
Answer: You could try setting the output workspace with arcpy.env.workspace to be a folder not a file GDB.
Make sure you specify a folder without spaces in the path as ArcGIS will use its default GRID format for temporary rasters which can't have spaces in the path.
Comment: Hi, thanks. Yeah, I tried that. If I set a path using arc.env.workspace to a directory (with no spaces in the name) I get the RuntimeError: ERROR 010240: Could not save raster dataset. If I set it to an _existing_ personal geodatabase, I get the RuntimeError: ERROR 000732: Input Raster: Dataset does not exist or is not supported.


How to access Tridion Config Component in Event System

Question: I have created an Event handler on Component save which checks the Image Size for Multimedia Components on saving. I want to read the allowed Maximum size from the Tridion configuration Component, I do not want to use Core Service for some reasons, can I read the Component in my Event System dll without using Core Service?
Answer: As Atila, mentioned using core service in event system is never recommended but instead TOM.NET and to get the component "configComponent" in event system you can take the reference of the below code. Dont forget to add cache, if your config component is not updating very frequently.
 private readonly Session _session;

  private const string compWEBDEVURL = "/webdav/200 Global Content/Building Blocks/System/Developer/Configuration/globalconfig.xml";

public CachedComponents(Session session)
        {
            _session = session;
        }
private static ObjectCache Cache => MemoryCache.Default;

 private static Component GetConfigCompfromCache(string webDav)
        {
            webDav = HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(webDav);
            return Cache.Contains(webDav) ? Cache.GetConfigCompfromCache(webDav) as Component : null;
        }

  private Component GetConfigCompfromCache(string webDav)
        {
            var component = GetConfigCompfromCache(webDav);
            if (component == null)
            {
                component = _session.GetObject(HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(webDav)) as Component;
                PushIntoCache(component);
            }

            return component;
        }

  private static void PushIntoCache(Component component)
        {
            Cache.Add(component.WebDavUrl, component,
                new CacheItemPolicy { SlidingExpiration = new TimeSpan(0, 30, 0) });
        }

Answer: When working with the Event System, you shouldn't even use Core Service in the first place, but instead TOM.NET.
Additionally, the Component is directly available to you in the event handler, it is one of the arguments passed in the method, so no need to read it explicitly (except in some special cases).
private void ComponentSave(Component component, SaveEventArgs args, EventPhases phases)
{
    string title = component.Title;
}

EDIT
The question is now completely different than before, but the main point from the original answer still stands. Do not use Core Service, but instead TOM.NET.
You need the Session object to read additional Components from the system, and you can always obtain it from the subject of the event handler. In the example above it would be:
Session session = component.Session;

Once you have the session, you need to use the GetObject method;
Component configComponent = (Component)session.GetObject(<config component's ID or webdav>);

Comment: Thanks @atila for your comments, i want to read a configuration Component not the current component. I want to rescrict users to add high size images, which is configured in some other component,  so for each component save i want to read this saperate configuration, even if there is another way to achieve this then its ok..
Comment: Use the WebDAV url. And lock the config components in a folder with the relevant access.
Answer: In addition to the configuration Component approach, consider custom configuration settings for your add-on (a set of one or more product extensions or customizations).
See the SDL Documentation center for background on creating and uploading such custom Configuration.
For example, you might add something like this to note the maximum size of binaries in a system.
{
     "configuration": {
          "TCMExtension": {
          "maximumSize": "1024"
          }
     }
}

Or if you still prefer to manage such values in a configuration Component, you might set the WebDAV URL or another way to find the item in the Content Manager.
Comment: The Add-On feature is available as of SDL Tridion Sites 9.1. Before that, configuration Components are (and still are) a good approach. You could also look into using the Content Manager configuration itself to store custom values, though that's not as portable and easy-to-maintain.
Comment: Thanks @alvin your comments, is these add-ons are available in SDL Web 8 ?
Answer: As Alvin mentioned the add-on configuration approach, here is an example code on how to read the add-on configuration in the event system.
When you extend TcmExtension you have a member property called 'AddonConfiguration' which you can use. Here is one example:
private IConfigurationSection GetExtensionConfiguration()
        {
            if (AddonConfiguration != null)
            {
                var configurationRoot = AddonConfiguration.GetSection("configuration");
                if (configurationRoot != null)
                {
                    var extensionConfig = configurationRoot.GetSection("MyCoolEventHandler");
                    return extensionConfig;
                }
            }
            return null;
        }

You could also call this one line code example to read the config value:
var str = AddonConfiguration != null ? AddonConfiguration.GetSection("configuration").GetSection("MyCoolEventHandler").GetSection("param1").Value :  "NoConfigDetected"

In this case, the configuration JSON looks like the following:
{
  "configuration": {
    "MyCoolEventHandler": {
      "param1": "VALUE1",
      "param2": 1234
    }
  }
}


How can I delete my contributions and account to Parenting.SE?

Question: I have clearly have lost confidence in Parenting. The topic is just too subjective to have clear answers on questions asked. I don't want to take part anylonger. How could I delete my contributions? The same question for delinking my account to Parenting.
Answer: This has come up a number of times on Meta Stack Overflow:

A way to delete your posts even when they have upvoted answers or lots of activity?
What to do about "pls delete my question" requests?
Does the CC-Wiki license allow the licensor to withdraw their content at will?

If a question has little activity (upvotes, answers, etc.), it can be deleted by the OP. But otherwise, the answer is: you can't.
When you post on any Stack Exchange site, your questions and answers are published under a Creative Commons license for reuse, which you cannot arbitrarily terminate. Once a question has some answers, it has become just one part of a greater whole. Allowing users to remove not just their own content but also content contributed by the community would damage the site.
Answer: Even if you choose to leave the site, why would you want to delete your contributions, which could be valuable to parents struggling with these issues?  The only reason to delete would be if you think you have published wrong information.
Answer: I'm sorry to see you go! I think you've made several very good contributions, and you also have the rep points to prove it. You've been very active, and so have I, so I feel partly at fault. If that's the case, I sincerely apologize. You're right that the site is subjective by nature, and we must all learn to navigate the SE engine carefully; we're not used to dealing with SE content that's not clearly black-and-white.
You can delete your content using the "delete" link under your answer, right next to the "edit" link. I think there's a similar link for your questions, too. I don't know a way to delete your account itself, but I'm sure the moderators will come by here and answer that.
I would like to beg you to not delete your answers because your contributions are valuable. Still, they're yours to edit as you like (update: but apparently not yours to really delete, according to the license stated in this answer).
Comment: Dori's answer seems to be missing.  I think it contains useful information about this answer - that the licence and ToS etc means other users can undelete your posts if you try to delete them. Is that correct?
Comment: Ironically, that answer had been self-deleted. I've now undeleted it, since it does have a very assortment of links. @LeopoldoSparks see link edited into this question
Comment: @Erica thank you!
Answer: I just came back to find a sollution. Unfortunately it is thus not possible :( Don't get me wrong, I general think the stackexchange platform is great. Parenting is just one of those topics that does not belong on a stackexchange platform. It is just too subjective. There is no clear answer to any parenting question, so all answers will turn into discussions and would lead to generic blabla, or what someone else on this forum called soapboxing. I still stand behind any advice that I have given, but just came to realize that it might a be wrong answer for someone living in totally different context. But still you could argue it is nice to know different angles.
But then it becomes completely irrelevant to downvote or close questions. The turning point for me, was the closing of question relating immunization. If there is one question that might not be subjective in the end it is the immunization one. But people did not like the answers because it did not fit their conspiracy theory. When I saw it being closed, I really laughed out loud. It was closed on being subjective and argumentative. It was hilarious. And then other examples started appearing.
Take this example. Homeschooling is completely forbidden in my part of the world. I would consider it completely stupid to homeschool you kids. For me it is denying your kid exposure to the outside world. But then maybe in some parts of the world you just need to.
Yet another nasty examples, is where I have asked when siblings should have separate rooms. Someone deemed it appropriate to change that in "same-sex siblings". This makes it a completely different question, still it seems like I have asked that question. Okay I could role back which I did. I find it really worrying that when I ask a question about sharing a bedroom, some pervert needs to put a sexual connotation to that question.
So although I would agree that deleting the post would mess up the answers, but again that is why parenting should not be on the SE platform. Fine if you consider it a forum, but then don't downvote, don't close and don't let others change contributions.
Comment: Also, on your point about people's activities on the site... I think it is a different audience from other SE sites, and we need to give the community some time to "figure out how it works".
Comment: Having participated in this site for some days, I very much agree with you that the SE format is not a good match for a "mostly-subjective" topic such as parenting. Upvoting "good suggestions" makes perfect sense to me, but downvoting makes sense *only* if there is a (scientifically?) proven argument against it. You mention very good examples! Immunization is a very controversial topic; here in Austria, even the pediatricians can't agree! As for "same-sex", it could have been called "same-gender" instead; it's not meant to indicate intercourse... but to us non-English natives, it does!
Comment: On your point about people raising kids in a different culture or context, I think in some cases people should accompany the context with their answer.  Such as "This answer only applies to teenagers" or "This answer applies to those living in Finland" or whatever.
Comment: Probably, immunization question is more suited for sceptics.se, especially since there is such a question already: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/95/just-how-inaccurate-are-vaccine-myths
Answer: I second what has been stated here already. Sorry to see you go, but please consider leaving your contributions.
I have been on communities where members deleted all of their contributions and it messed things up. Others would look for their questions and answers having seen it before and wanting to find it again but couldn't. It just ruins the atmosphere of the community to have members comments and posts ripped away...
Comment: ...especially at this early stage where we haven't got much content yet, so you'd be removing a *significant* contribution.
Answer: To actually answer the question, I think it should be possibly for you to delete all your contributions yourself, if you wish, although finding all comments may be a bit of work.
I don't know about the account though, I can't see a way to delete that.
But I agree it seems to be an overreaction.


What is the best translation for 'Future Earth'?

Question: Using Google and other online dictionaries I came up with 'Terrae Futurum'.  Is this the best way to present the idea of how the Earth could look in the distant (billion years) future?
Answer: First of all, Google Translate is horrible with Latin and is not to be trusted.
It has relevant components to it, but the details go awry.
If you want a reliable online Latin dictionary, check this list of ours.
The word terra is more like "land", "country", or something of that kind.
For the whole planet the more suitable word is tellus1.
This is a feminine word, so the adjective2 futurus should go into the singular feminine form futura.
It is possible to use terra as well, but I find tellus more appropriate.
There seem to be regional differences in preference, but both are valid options.
They both take the same form of the adjective.
The future Earth is thus tellus futura or terra futura.

1
The plural is tellures instead of telli if you need it; don't be fooled by its ending in -us.
2
It's really a participle, but it can be treated as an adjective for many practical purposes.
Comment: It should be noted that _Terra_ is more easily recognisable as a scientific name of the planet, and its use with this connotation is attested even classically. For instance, in Quintilian's _Institutio Oratoria_ [we find](https://www.loebclassics.com/view/quintilian-orators_education/2002/pb_LCL126.189.xml): _Quaeritur per coniecturam... : 'an sol maior quam terra...'_ ("We use conjecture... is the Sun bigger than the Earth...").
Comment: @VincenzoOliva That's a surprise to me. Around here people would recognize *tellus* as the scientific name for our planet, not *terra*. There are regional differences, but it's true that both options work. My preference is *tellus*.
Comment: Fair enough! :)
Comment: In the US, "Terra" is the only widely recognized scientifical name for the planet. I didn't know that "Tellus" was recognized (by non-classicists) anywhere.
Comment: @Nickimite In Finland I had learned Tellus as a scientific name of our planet as a kid, perhaps a decade before I ever encountered the word *terra*. I'll edit the answer a bit to give both options.


Linearizing separable functions: SOS2 sets or binary variables

Question: When linearizing a separable nonlinear function is there an advantage/disadvantage in using SOS2 sets in comparison to using binary variables?
Answer: Mathematically they are equivalent, but some solvers will exploit SOS2 structure with customized branching rules. Here is IBM's explanation of this for CPLEX.
Comment: I read somewhere, I don't know where anymore, that using binary variables might lead faster to the optimal solution because of the advances made in the MILP field. I tried this out on a model I have developed but the results are disappointing. In my case, introducing binaries is far worse than using SOS2. Unfortunately, this observation, doesn't  prove anything; in another case the results might be the opposite.
Comment: IBM writes: "If there is no ordered relationship among the variables (such that weights cannot be specified or would not be meaningful), other formulations should be used instead of a special ordered set."
Can you imagine, what order relationship might  exist, between the members of an SOS2 that models the piecewise linearization of a separable function?
Comment: For SOS2 (in CPLEX), I believe that the weights are used to sort the variables, which in turn defines which pairs of variables are "adjacent". So you could, for instance, assign weights 1, 2, ... according to the indexing of the breakpoints.


File upload field in CCK field settings

Question: Is there a difference in Drupal 7 to add a file-upload field on a "normal" form (i.e. a separate page for a modules' configuration) as opposed to the small settings area for a CCK field (the one that appears after clicking on the cog for the field you'd like to modify under the "Manage Display" tab)?
I have a bunch of configuration options for a custom field using hook_field_formatter_settings_form, but am stuck at trying to figure out how to create a file upload field. I'd ideally like to have the user able to browse for an image and upload it without having the page reload. This is all I currently have:
$element['custom_field_name']['image'] = array(
    '#type' => 'file',
    '#size' => 48,
    '#title' => t('Image upload'),
    '#description' => t("Upload an image."),
);

If it is possible to have a file upload field (that uses ajax) in this area, what else must I do?
Edit:
My file field now looks like this:
$element['custom_field_name']['image'] = array(
    '#type' => 'managed_file',
    '#title' => t('Image upload'),
    '#upload_validators' => array(
      'file_validate_extensions' => array(0 => 'png jpg jpeg gif'),
      'file_validate_image_resolution' => array('64x64', '10x10')
    ),
    '#upload_location' => 'public://default_images/',
    '#description' => t("Upload an image."),
);

This is sort of working: it allows me to upload a file and it goes to sites/default/files/default_images, but its only temporary. I've been going through the form api reference and it says I need to permanently save it. I am just unsure how where to put this logic. Do I add a #process key to my file field and call some private function? Or do I create a submit handler? The API reference doesn't go into as much detail as I'd like.
Comment: Drupal 7 already has what you are asking for: it's an image field, which allows you to upload an image on the server, and show it though a field widget.
Comment: @kiamlaluno I'm not sure if what I just did is what you're talking about, but I'm open to any suggestions.
Answer: You need to add a FILE_STATUS_PERMANENT to the status of the file on form submit then save the file.
$file->status = FILE_STATUS_PERMANENT;
file_save($file);

File upload field in CCK field settings


How does the turbulent boundary layer thickness affect separation?

Question: I read that for a turbulent boundary layer, a thicker (turbulent) boundary layer separates earlier than a thinner (turbulent) boundary layer? Why is that? Or is it the other way around?
Answer: On a flat plate the thickness of the boundary layer grows along the flow path without a tendency to separate. Therefore, thickness alone is not the culprit.
However, when the pressure gradient in flow direction becomes positive (increasing pressure), the flow will slow down and thickness grows much faster than in non-decelerating flow. Now separation happens when the speed at the surface drops to zero. Right before separation you will see an exponential growth of the boundary layer, but it is only an indication for the decelerating flow which really is to blame for the separation.
Answer: Turbulent boundary layer is thicker than laminar boundary layer as rightly pointed out, for any given distance travelled by fluid over a surface. However, thickness is not directly related to separation. The separation results when the fluid doesn't have enough energy (read momentum) to counter an adverse pressure gradient (typically a divergent section).
Turbulent flow has more mixing between the layers and can survive more adverse pressure gradient than a laminar flow (which has no mixing between the layers). So for the same surface geometry, a turbulent boundary layer would separate later (or may not even separate) compared to a laminar boundary layer. The same idea is used in turbulators or vortex generators to keep the flow attached to the surface.
Comment: "...a turbulent boundary layer would separate later (or may not even separate) compared to a laminar boundary layer." You in this case consider a vortex to be a turbulent boundary layer?
Comment: I understand that a turbulent boundary layer would separate later compared to a laminar boundary layer. But given a turbulent boundary layer, would a thicker one separate earlier than a thinner one (as asked in the original question)? And why?
Answer: Not a textbook explanation, but maybe clarifying anyway.
Laminar flow or a jet doesn't stop unless something makes it stop. They are comparatively homogeneous throughout the layer, because they have no internal conflict. The whole thing wants to be a layer, because forming a layer is the path of least resistance. The same doesn't go for turbulent layers. They are forced to be layers, so they tend to generate a difference between the 'surfaces' and the 'center' of the layer, which gets more influential, the thicker the layer gets. Turbulence does not want to be a layer, it doesn't have any reason to. It wants to be a bubble. So as soon as there is enough turbulent mass gathered in a layer to do that, it will, which results in separation.


Bode plot of transfer function?

Question: I am having trouble where to start an attempt at sketching the Bode plot for the following transfer function:

I know I need to rewrite it into its proper form, making both the lowest-order term in the numerator and denominator unity... but the denominator is what's throwing me off. If I keep all of the terms separate in the denominator, how can I find the poles of the transfer function?
Answer: You need to calculate the roots of numerator and denominator.
For the numerator you have \$(s^2+s+1)=0 \Leftrightarrow s_{n_{1,2}}=-\frac{1}{2} \pm j\sqrt{\frac{3}{4}}\$
For the denominator you have \$(s+1) =0 \Leftrightarrow s_{d_{1}}=-1\$ as well as
$$(2 s^2+1) =0 \\
\Leftrightarrow s^2=- {\frac{1}{2}}\\
\Leftrightarrow s_{d_{2,3}}=\pm j\sqrt{\frac{1}{2}}
$$
because a product is zero if one or more of its factors are zero.
Therefore your transfer function is
$$
W(s)=\frac{(s-s_{n_{1}}) \cdot (s-s_{n_{2}})}{(s-s_{d_{1}})\cdot(s-s_{d_{2}})(s-s_{d_{3}})}
$$
Here is a picture of what the bode plot should look like (sorry for just using Matlab instead of drawing by hand):

Please note that the transfer function drops with 20dB/decade after the resonance.
As for the resonance: @Mario has explained very well that you see a resonance peak because of the complex conjugated pole pair on the imaginary axis. Because it is in the denominator, the peak points upwards. As there is no dampening (the peak is on the imaginary axis), you get an arbitrary high value.
Comment: Matlab is not a lot of use when there's an infinite resonance. The OP says 'sketch'.
Comment: Agreed, but with the poles and zeros that close together, sketching this bode plot is also hard to get right. You are welcome to create a sketch and add it as an answer. The question also says that finding the poles gave the author difficulties. I merely added the figure because it was little extra work and might help to start the sketch. After all, it is correct for all points except the resonance frequency. I'm looking forward to see how you will sketch an infinite value.
Answer: The poles can be found by checking where denominator becomes zero.
In this case you have a product of two terms and if one of them is zero the whole expression is zero.
(1+s) == 0 results in s = -1
(1 + 2 s^2) == 0 results in s = \$\pm j/\sqrt 2\$
The complex conjugate pair indicates that you have resonance. It will appear as a peak in your bode plot
Answer: Solve for numerator = 0 (for zeros) and denominator = 0 (for poles). For a pole-zero diagram, plot the imaginary values to the y-axis and the real values to the x-axis.
I use Mathcad to do so, but you could do it by hand of course.

Bode plot of transfer function?


How do designers know about kilowatt power of wind turbine generators like 1.5 MW?

Question: Generators and transformers are always designed in kVA because designers never know about the load it will provide power to. Then how do we know the wind turbine generator will deliver 1500 kW or 2 MW etc?
Comment: Jason, can you check your post and clarify or fix "aur 2 MW"? If English is not your first language then please mention this in your user profile. Note: small "k" for kilo, so 'kVA'. 'K' is for kelvin.
Comment: @Ghellquist No, when transformer is designed its rating is given in kva. The same is true for generators. It is so because the designer dont know about its power factor. Then how do we know about kw ratings of wind turnines? Some turbines are 2MW and some are 1.5MW. Why are they not rated in kva?
Comment: Could you clear up the question a bit. What are you really asking about? The units of kVA and kW basically mean the same thing -- the maximum amount of measured energy the generator can produce. The difference between them depends on how reactive the load is. For a fully resistive load kVA and kW is exactly the same. Maybe you want to ask about kWh, that is how much energy the generator can produce over time.
Comment: @ghellquist: kVa and kW are units of power, not energy.
Comment: Agreed. power, not energy. Happens when you leave your home territory in a second language.
Answer: Generators are designed for a specified capacity that includes both a kVA and a kW capacity. Wind turbines are designed for a specified capacity to drive a turbine that would include the torque that can be provided at a given speed over a specified range of wind speeds and rotating speeds. What is known is the power that can be delivered at any wind speed. A generator of a given capacity will not be installed unless there is a reasonable expectation that there is sufficient demand for power to make the installation economically advantageous.
Answer: In most practical contexts, the load of a wind turbine is pretty well specified: It will be connected to a regional power distribution grid. For the relevant purpose here the grid can be considered an ideal AC voltage source -- pushing 2 MW into it will not affect its voltage amplitude or waveform much.
It is therefore reasonable to design the generator to work in that specific electrical environment -- and, in particular, to avoid delivering significant reactive power to the grid (which would tend to make distribution companies unhappy). So specifying its capacity or operating limits in watts is appropriate.


Is there a way to stop generating rep and still participate?

Question: I would like to not earn reputation, but still participate in this site. Is that possible? Why or why not?
Comment: You're not contributing here. You're asking pointless questions that display a stunning lack of understanding about the entire point of this site/network. You have been alternating between requesting fundamental changes to the way the site works and asking unnecessary, passive-agressive questions to make a point. Come back when you understand how the site works and why we do what we do.
Comment: Give away bounties to good answers with any reputation that you've earned.
Comment: @murgatroid99 I don't know. My work week has been a lot less boring now that I've had all of these brilliant, in-depth analyses of the SE network to read on meta.
Comment: What do you classify as "participate in this site"? There are questions here. If you have an answer for them (that hasn't already been put forth), there's nothing preventing you from adding it to the question.
Comment: @Coronus That would change his reputation, which he appears to want to avoid.
Comment: @murgatroid99 Hmm I read it as "I don't care about rep"
Comment: @Coronus - my problem is that I see no reason to devote my time to answering others questions on the main site if the current system is not up to my standards. That's why I'm posting in meta. If the time comes when the system is up to my standards then I will contribute to the actual site. But until then, I will only contribute in full effect to the meta site.
Answer: The only way you could participate in the site without changing your reputation would be making useful comments on other people's posts. Theoretically, you could achieve this by making every post you make community wiki, but that would be abusive behavior and would probably get you suspended.
Reputation is a measurement of how much the community as a whole trusts you. We cannot simply allow an individual to prevent the community from making that measurement.
Comment: @kraftydevil Stack Exchange might not be for you, then :)
Comment: @kraftydevil So basically you want to ignore the whole way the network works.....
Comment: @kraftydevil No.  You need a better grasp of the function of the SE network.  I, for one, think the system works well.  There isn't a problem to be solved here, other than you learning more about StackExchange.
Comment: Abolishing the rep system would cause more problems than it would solve.  How would you determine who can do what?  Who has the ability to keep the site clean and moderated?  Not to mention, without rep, we'll never get new users.  Everyone wants their imaginary internet points.
Comment: it is unless we abolish the reputation system
Comment: @fbueckert- I love those questions and wish you'd really ask them sometime.
Comment: I've been observing for years and I'm still not impressed.


Lambic fermentation/aging temperature

Question: I am anxious to start a batch of lambic, but have some reservations timing wise about the temperature in my basement currently.  My basement goes from around 45 in winter (now) to 60-65 at the end of summer.  If I keep the fermenter at ale temps for the first 10 days or so and then (slowly) lower the temp to ambient, am I going to stall/stunt the wild cultures too much?  Would I be better off waiting until the ambient temp is around 60 to let the cultures have a better start before they start to cool off in the winter?  Thanks,
Answer: I'd try to keep the beer warm for at least two or three weeks to ensure good primary fermentation. If you can do that, I say just go for it. The wild/bacteria portions of the culture will express themselves eventually. Many are slow moving to begin with, and the initial lower temps will not stop them, just slow them down a bit. The beer won't taste right for many months (or years) anyhow, leaving plenty of time for all the beasties to do their things once it warms up.
Plus, it's what the Belgians do. From Jeff Sparrow's Wild Brews (which you should have if you are doing lambics, and don't already):
"A seasonal beer, lambic is brewed and exposed to wild yeast and bacteria while in the coolship and allowed a 'primary fermentation' during the cooler months. The onset of summer brings an increase in the population of lactic acid-producing bacteria. The fall brings with it a secondary alcoholic fermentation by highly attenuative yeasts".
Comment: Thanks for the helpful and quick response.  Should I add the bugs at the same time as the Sac yeast to get it off to a warm start or delay the addition of bugs and still keep it warm for a week or two.  Thanks,
Comment: Depends on where the bugs are coming from. Are you using something like Wyeast's [Lambic Blend](https://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=129)? Or individual isolated strains of wild yeast/bacteria? Or are you adding bottle dregs?
Comment: I am planning on using a commercial blend like Wyeast.
Comment: You don't really need to do primary with a different yeast since there's usually already a _S. cerevisiae_ strain in the commercial lambic blends. Just pitch it and let it do its thing.

Lambic fermentation/aging temperature


How far should wires be if nailed straight onto a brick wall?

Question: When training climbing roses onto a wall without the use of an arbor, how much space do you leave in between from wall to wires?
Answer: You only need enough space between the wires and the wall so you can thread the ties behind the wires.
It might be easier to use a wooden frame like these pictures, instead of wires. You only need to fix the frame to the wall at a few places, instead of fixing both ends of every wire.
https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/gallery/climbers-on-walls/
Answer: Usually, largeish eyelet or vine screws(https://www.amazon.co.uk/VINE-SCREW-ZINC-PLATED-75MM/dp/B0041OABD2 for instance) are used for this purpose; for a brick wall, it's usual to drill into the surface and use a rawl plug (not sure what they're called in USA) and screw the eyelets into those. Because the eyelet part of the screws naturally stick  out from the wall surface, there's a gap between wall and wire of half an inch to an inch, depending on the size eyelet you use. For a Rose, half inch is fine, assuming you're not intending to thread the canes behind the wire, but, ensure the wire is strong, or heavy guage, before letting a rose grow up, or the weight of the rose canes over time will break it.


Will removing footer links hinder my site's SEO performance?

Question: I have a site which has key location landing pages in the footer which have been there for a long time. I know that these are not best practice and we should remove them. However, this could have a negative impact on the link equity to these pages. Is it worth removing them for best practice?
Comment: For clarity, what makes you think they're not best practice?
Comment: That article refers only to links placed in the site footer by the web designer, linking back to their own website. Basically that sails very close to what Google consider a "link scheme", which is against their terms of service.
Comment: I read this https://www.seroundtable.com/google-nofollow-web-design-by-links-19943.html
Comment: Oh yes sorry that's not what I mean. I have around 60 site wide internal footer links. I heard at a conference this is bad practice. Is it?
Answer: Links in the page footer are not bad practice per se.
The article you mentioned in your comments refers to a very specific type of common footer link which, being something that could be building links to one site on a large scale, could fall foul of Google's policy on link schemes.
It sounds like what you're doing is a good faith effort to serve user experience, i.e. put direct links to key locations in the page footer. That's a fairly conventional practice common on, for example, hotel and car rental websites. As long as it's done within reason, there should be no cause for concern.
There's arguably a wider issue in that, if you're finding a need to use the footer to link extensively to main content, it might indicate your main navigation needs attention.
Comment: You're welcome. It's not at all uncommon to find some variation of "footer links are bad; don't use them" in blogs and talks, it's just rarely based on any real _evidence_.
Comment: So called bad footer links are outgoing links. It does not apply to internal links for the site. This is a perfectly normal thing to do. Some long time ago, site templates would have a link that credits the designer. While I personally feel this should be allowed and exist, the purpose really was for ranking. Also at the time J.C. Penny got caught making tons of links on other sites trying to game the system. If it were not for this, I believe that no penalty would exist. A perfect storm. Google had no choice but to apply penalties. Now Google can figure out appropriate links.
Answer: You should be fine.  Where I've seen this be a problem is where a site simply has a ton of keywords and links that server no other purpose but to push a higher ranking.  Search engines are smarter about identifying that, these days and pushing those out of or lower in the rankings.


How drupal keeps revisions for some content types only

Question: In Drupal 6 for some content types when editing a node its replicated and keeps revisions for that content type by keeping vid (version id) for that in the table, But for some other content types it wont make new table entries when editing that content types . How is it like that ? Or is there any criteria to keep revisions for some content type only ?
update from comment

The revision information can be done when creating a  content type item itself , but how come its auto selected for some content types ?
2nd update
When creating a new content type i can see the options as follows :

But as you can see , revision settings is inside submission form settings  but **its disabled** here , how i can set revisions for particular content type only for some content type only .
Answer: For D7:
admin/structure/types/manage/YOUR_CONTENT_TYPE

You need to tick the checkbox "Create new revision" for saving revisions of any content type you want.
For D6:
administer/content management/content types/edit/workflow
Thanks!
Comment: You specified options for d7 , thanks for the solution though