Why is the Boruto manga different than the anime?

Question: How come that the manga of Boruto: Naruto Next Generation is different than the anime?
Comment: Related [Why do many anime not follow the manga? Why are they usually made shorter?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/2647/1458)
Answer: Short answer: the manga is one arc ahead of the anime.
Long answer: Actually that's a little bit more complicated than "the manga and the anime are different". They are actually mixed up and follow different timelines. Also, there isn't one manga or one anime but actually two different mangas, a film and an anime entering his second arc. Let's get right into it :
Note: all release dates are Japanese dates.
The story of Boruto starts on August 4, 2015 with Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring, an independent book published in the Weekly Shōnen Jump. Along with this book, a movie called Boruto: Naruto the Movie is released on August 7, 2015.
The character of Boruto is then added to the original manga on October 6, 2015 in the 700th and final chapter of Naruto, when he becomes Hokage.
An OVA of two episodes called The Day Naruto Became Hokage is also released on July 6, 2016.
Then, a whole new series called Boruto: Naruto Next Generations started on  May 9, 2016 for the manga and April 5, 2017 for the anime.
To summarize, we have 1 short book, 1 chapter, 1 manga, 1 anime, 2 OAV episodes and 1 film dedicated to Boruto. That's a lot, isn't it?
So what about the history?
To follow the timeline, it starts with, of course, the 700th chapter of Naruto and the OAV "The Day Naruto Became Hokage" which basically recount the day when Naruto became Hokage and show us the Naruto's main characters' children.
Then, we have the first arc (18 episodes) of "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" the anime. Boruto and his friends are yet applicant ninjas at the Ninja Academy. The anime emphasizes Boruto's journey BEFORE the Chūnin Exam.
Then, we have a special arc dedicated to Uchiha Family with the short book "Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring" and the second arc of "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" the anime.
Finally, comes "Boruto: Naruto the Movie" that takes place DURING the Chūnin Exam and "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" the manga which recounts the film's events but also emphasizes Boruto's life AFTER the Chūnin Exam.
That is a little complicated so I hope it was clear.
Answer: Although I agree with everything in Nevios' answer, from another lens, I would also say that the manga and anime are different because the manga only comes out once per month and the anime would be ahead of the manga which is a no go because the manga is typically looked at as "canon" or "the actual story line" while animes have the luxury of having "fillers" or "story lines separate from, and in some cases, alternative to the actual story itself.
I believe the creators of Boruto made a brilliant decision to go back and fill in the gaps between Boruto starting his ninja journey and the Chunin Exam. By doing so, they brought back some of the nostalgia of the Naruto series while also allowing us to understand Boruto beyond what we saw in the movie which was a character that was really bratty but redeemed himself at the end.
Through the anime, you get to see that Boruto has a strong moral compass and that he isn't just looking for the easy way out. Conversely, unlike Naruto, Boruto has had everything he would have ever needed from jump. He doesn't know struggle like Naruto or Sasuke did. It's a poetic commentary on our technological generation vs the generation before. Boruto has a mindset of "why do things the hard way when I can get the same result with an easier path" while his elders are trying to teach him that there is something very important about going through a process.


How do I delete friends on Facebook?

Question: How can I permanently delete friends from my Facebook account?
Answer: To remove a friend:

Click "Account" on the upper-right part of the screen
Click "Edit Friends" (first option under your profile picture)
On the left sidebar, under the "Lists" section, click "Friends".
Find the friend(s) you want to remove (you may need to click the arrows at the top or bottom of the list) and click the "X" button on the right.
A message will pop up asking if you really want to remove them. Click "Remove".

If you want to block someone, so they can't contact you at all:

Click "Privacy Settings" under the "Account" button on the upper-right part of the screen
Under the "Block Lists" section at the bottom of the page, click "Edit your lists".
Type the name or email address of the person you want to block, and click the corresponding "Block This User" button.
If you want to unblock them later, follow the same steps, but click the "(remove)" link next to their name/email address in the list.
Comment: way to copy someone else's answer... and post it 3 minutes AFTER they did. Lame - downvote
Comment: @Book 'em Danno: When I started my answer, there weren't any other answers. Apparently, we were both writing our answers at the same time, and mike finished his before I did.
Comment: No worries Matt... the point of the site is to get the best answer for the person asking! Thanks for contributing!
Answer: To Remove Friends - or more specifically "Relationships"

Log into your facebook account via: http://www.facebook.com/
Click "Account" from the top right hand side of the header, and select the first option "Edit Friends". That will take you to your editable friends list: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/friends/?ref=tn
Select the "X" next to the friend that you wish to remove.

*Note that you will be removing the connection between you and the friend, and not the actual friend. In other words, you are deleting the "friendship", not the "friend" (read: You can't delete other peoples facebook profiles).
To block friends from ever seeing you again:

Go to "Privacy Settings" in the account link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/settings/?tab=privacy&ref=mb
Select "Block Lists" from the bottom of the page.
From there you can add names and emails of people you want to block.

More Resources
There are a number of other things you can do to manage relationships w/ people. For instance I like to leave people as friends, however add them to specific "lists". That way only people on specific lists can see my posts, pictures, etc. I can also chose which list to share with when I post, or chose to share with all.
All this is outlined in the facebook help center under the "friends" topic: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=441
Answer: A much simpler way is to go to that friend's profile page, and then at the bottom of the left column (below their picture), the last thing in that column there is an option: Remove from Friends.
Answer: Click "Account" on the upper-right part of the screen. Click "Edit Friends" (first option under your profile picture) On the left sidebar, under the "Lists" section, click "Friends". Find the friend(s) you want to remove (you may need to click the arrows at the top or bottom of the list) and click the "X" button on the right.
Answer: If You Want To Remove Somebody from your friends on facebook.com
Example:i want to delete sarah jake,i go to her proifle
you'll find something that says (friends) ,that means you have her on contacts,click on settings and click unfriend
Comment: How is your answer different to the ones already given?

How do I delete friends on Facebook?


NaNoWriMo participants

Question: I decided to enter into the NaNoWriMo! If anyone here has entered into it, let's get support for each other going! Maybe we can exchange ID's or talk about struggles on this thread. Apologies if this is not the right area for this.
Comment: Great! Related: https://writers.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1372/26
Answer: I'm in. I have this idea popping in my idea since ages, I'll be trying to give it a shape.
2000 words a day seems really ambitious, tho.
Comment: Only way to know is try. You sure won't do it if you don't (try) ^_^
Comment: Yes, that's why I am starting now, cause I work 9 hours a day (not including travel) and it will be a struggle to reach that mark. In the end I will be happy even if I don't make it. I just want to do something that can help see if I am motivated or not enough to actually see this through.
Comment: If you have created your profile, let me know I will add you as a buddy.
Answer: I'm entering.
It'll be good to try something new. Never tried to write a whole novel in a month.
Comment: For me this is a ton of fun. Bringing a world to life that has only resided in my head. To give this world life and a story has been amazing. But yes I have been making sure I rest plenty too! Last night i had a good idea to change a riddle i wrote for my story, but forgot to write it down :/ when I went to remember today I forgot what it was :/ but I'm okay with that because I am happy with the way it currently is too. My biggest fear is making sure i have enough material to go another 60-60,000 words.  Currently at 10,000 (writing in hopes of a 3 part epic).
Comment: Make sure you keep a notepad with you at all times. The best ideas can pop up at the most awkward moments... just don't tell your boss to wait a bit while you write something down ;) he he he.
Comment: Keep your note-taking device by your bedside. I tried to record mine on my smartphone :P but discovered I hate the sound of my own voice, so went back to paper and pen. But yes, having a way to take notes immediately is important. You don't want to go on with the nagging feeling that you've forgotten the best idea you ever had. But don't forget rest is also an important part of writing, you don't want to get burned-out.
Comment: I'm not a trilogy person :p I'd like to know how others are capable of limiting themselves. 10 000 is amazing! I'm only at a little over 7 000. This is why I'm entering NaNoWriMo. Maybe I'll learn how to write more... objectivity?!
Comment: I think you are well on the way to prove that. 10 000 words is amazing for someone working 9h. I know well how it is like to get home tired, trying to get your brain away from the day's turmoil and focused on this thing that you enjoy, but are sometimes too tired to pursue. And I love trilogies too, but I **need** to limit myself! My mind is allover the place with stories about the universe that exists in there. To hard to pick one and focus on it. I think I'd like to try a *...logy* of sorts ;) if I am able to keep at it.
Comment: I have never tried to write a novel at all so everything about this is new to me. Being that I work 9 hours a day, I started writing already. I want to make sure I meet the mark!
Comment: Lol! I actually jot a lot of notes down in my phone and I also keep my icloud drive open on my work computer so I can type up any new inspirations. Been sacrificing my hour lunch break to work on it at work! We need to invent a machine that translates thoughts into notes. So many times i come up with something good as i am half asleep and drift off before i can muster the energy lol
Comment: I am entering to prove to myself that I am dedicated in becoming a novelist. And I wouldn't say it's about limiting myself but rather planning out a long tale that can be broken into mini stories. I find that trilogies are beautiful in that they involve so much layer and subplot that it's hard to limit the story to 3 books (lotr was originally 6 before he combined and chopped them down). Grats on 7000! That's awesome too! I hope you find what you are looking for too
Comment: let me know what your ID is! I can add you as a buddy!
Comment: I'm ShieldedTulip in there :) not sure about my number.
Answer: I'm participating too! :) It's my third attempt. I 'won' last year, but I started with too little of a plan and never really found the heartbeat of that story despite the goal being reached. This year I have more of a grasp on that, so I'm hoping to have something workable by the end!
Looking forward to suffering along with you guys!
Comment: Wow :o well done on the win! It's easy to suffer for something we enjoy ;) just imagine if we were trying to do  a math marathon lol
Comment: Maybe I can add you as a buddy! let me know what your ID is
Comment: @shieldedtulip Thanks! It was tough but I really enjoyed it in the end, and it has definitely helped increase my productivity. I'm a math nerd too, but don't think I could do that for a month :P
Comment: @ggiaquin I'm sudowoodo on there too!
Comment: Okay... not sure how to add people by user name ><
Answer: This is gonna be my second attempt at NaNoWriMo. Last year there was a lot going on, I wasn't really enamoured with the characters I was writing, and I ran out of steam about a third of the way through. This year I have a brand-new story idea (though set in the same universe as an existing one), and my life is a lot more settled.
If anyone wants to add me, my username on the site should be "F1Krazy", same as it is here.
Comment: Same here. I have my commutes to and from work, my lunch breaks, and of course, the weekends. I was just barely keeping pace last year, until I burnt out, so I'm confident I can do it.
Comment: Yes! It will be hard! I work full time as a software developer so my time will be very limited when I can spend quality time. I hope though that I can still meet the goals!
Answer: At pretty much the last minute, I decided to try NaNoWriMo. I'm doing it mainly to try to better understand a universe I've been working on over the past year or two. Normally, I worldbuild for the sake of worldbuilding, rather than for a story. In this case, though, I have the world developed quite a lot, but I still don't know if everything in it truly works, for lack of a better word. I figured that if I try writing a story set in this universe, it might give me a better feel for how I've fit things together.
I've already asked some questions about my world on Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, and I bet some thoughts will drift onto some posts on Writers (I do need to improve my writing!). I'd like to keep my NaNoWriMo ID private (it's under my real name), but I'll try to edit this to talk about my progress.
Comment: Cool man looking forward to it!

NaNoWriMo participants


What is this type of logical fallacy called?

Question: If the Principal of a school says that unruly boys will not be allowed to play games and if someone concludes that it is perfectly fine for unruly girls to play games, what is the fallacy called as?
Comment: Not a fallacy. There is no ambiguity involved. The principal claims that for all x, if x is unruly and x is a boy, x won't be allowed to play games. That's logically independent of (or consistent with) the claim that: some x is such that x is unruly and x is a girl and x is allowed to play games.
Comment: "Bad communication."
Comment: @HunanRostomyan, consistency is not enough here. The person hearing this is supposing that the first implies the second when it doesn't.
Comment: @Addem I read 'it's perfectly fine' as 'it's logically consistent with'. Then, the principal claims [that unruly boys can't play], and the person concludes that [that unruly girls can play] is perfectly fine (i.e. logically consistent) with that. While [that unruly girls can play] does *not* follow from [that unruly boys can't play], the claim that: { [that unruly girls can play] is consistent with [that unruly boys can't play] } *does* follow. Had the person concluded [that unruly girls can play], there would be a fallacy. But the claim is only about the two being mutually satisfiable.
Answer: This would be described by a "correct" usage of the exception that proves the rule. By specifying boys when perhaps you don't need to (you could say "unruly children"), the contrary of your statement applies for those children who are not boys.
Quite often "the exception that proves the rule" is taken to mean "X therefore not X in general", which is logically incorrect, but not what is meant here.
Generally the utterance "boys can't play" does in fact imply "girls can". Because if both could play, or none could play, you either wouldn't say anything  or would say "children". There is more information in what you say.
It's less clear in cases where there is an adjective, as it is difficult to determine the assumptions that are implicitly made. If you say "boys can't play" it's clear this is applied with a group of children in mind. But if you say "unruly boys can't play" its unclear whether the group you have in mind: all the children, the unruly ones, the girls, or less likely the not-unruly girls and the unruly boys.
So the "unruly" case is using the exception that proves the rule where perhaps it shouldn't. Is it a fallacy with a name, who knows. The exception-that-proves-the-rule-when-it-doesn't-fallacy?
Comment: Note: the 'imply' in the third paragraph is meant informally. Since 'implies' already has a formal meaning, we use 'implicates' to mean, roughly, what the informal 'implies' means. We would, for example, say that (i) boys can't play does not _imply_ that girls can, but (ii) boys can't play (perhaps with an added emphasis on 'boys') might _implicate_ that girls can't.
Comment: I don't think it's really a proper usage, since there is nothing in the prohibition on unruly boys' playing games which states that they are the only prohibited category.  One might infer that, from the standpoint of the person making the statement, it is at least possible that there might exist an unruly girl who is allowed to play, but it would be entirely possible that every single unruly girl had some other disqualifying factor which made her ineligible to play, and that no unruly girls who are not prohibited from playing exist.
Answer: I'm not sure it has an official name, although it's close to denying the antecedent. The essence of the exchange is that one person says "if (unruly boy) then (no play)" and is taken to imply "if (unruly not boy) then (play)".
Here the denial is not actually of the antecedent. The more exact structure would be something like $(A\land B) \rightarrow C$ therefore $(A\land\negB)\rightarrow \neg C$.
Comment: denial of the non-antecedent? We're manufacturing fallacies to cover other problems.


This is a Question about a bug. What does your computer think mayonnaise has to do with cougar attacks?

Question: I was browsing to see if there had been any Questions about taking precautions or defending against cougars. (There had been.)  Questions about bears came up in the search -- that's reasonable.  But this question about mayonnaise also came up.  Mayonnaise?  It didn't even talk about spoiled mayonnaise attracting cougars. How long does mayonnaise last unrefrigerated in the back-country?  I don't expect a serious answer to this, or a fix.  I think it is funny.  Computers aren't ready to take over yet!
Comment: So you're reporting a bug with the SE search algorithm? I don't really understand your question....
Comment: @Erik There is not much to understand.  A search for cougars turns up mayonnaise.  This is odd.  Ignore it or tweak the search algorithm, whichever you prefer.   As I said: "I don't expect a serious answer to this, or a fix. I think it is funny."  Sorry if I have wasted people's time.
Answer: I'm not trying to say you didn't get the results you got, or that you're wasting anyone's time. I just don't know what search terms you used to get your mayonnaise result.
I tried cougars and got 22 mayonnaise free results.
I tried precautions and I got 91 results. I scanned the first 50 and didn't see mayonnaise.
I tried cougar precautions and I got 1 mayonnaise free result.
I don't work for StackExchange/StackOverflow so I couldn't fix the problem even if I could reproduce it. I think if you give us the query/search terms you used then we could answer why mayonnaise was in the result set.
Comment: @ab2 That is basically what I was expecting. It was probably keying on a common word as a search term. Searching with key terms instead of questions will probably give you better results in most search engines.
Comment: OK, I'll try for the mayonnaise again later today and report.
Comment: I couldn't get the mayonnaise back -- I don't remember the exact wording of the test question I formulated to see if anyone had asked about cougars.  I get geocaching, exploding rocks, shoelaces, igloos, less noisy Tyvek, and sandstorms, along with many other irrelevant Questions by asking "What should I do if I encounter a cougar?" or "What precautions should I take to avoid cougars" or "How can I protect myself against cougars?"  The search engine seems to put major weight on "What" and "How" and minor weight on the actual subject of the query.  Mayonnaise remains a mystery, but who cares?
Comment: *mayonnaise free results* LOL


Strokes with same width change when exporting to .psd

Question: I draw some shapes and paths with the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. I put a stroke on all of them with the same width. For some reason I must export my work as .psd but when I export it and change it to pixels the strokes haven't the same width: one of them is one pixel the other is two pixels. I don't know how to solve this problem? Or why is this happening.
Comment: Why are you converting the strokes to a raster image?  PDFs can handle vectors just fine.
Answer: In Illustrator, go to menu View > Pixel Preview
If the shapes or strokes don't match the pixel grid, when they get rasterized the thickness will vary in at least one pixel.
Stroke width with pixel preview:


Explanation of kri u-khtiv vowel for first letter of tetragrammaton

Question: In Kri u-Khtiv, the vowels provided are for those of the Kri. The Kri of YHVH is usually Adonay. The first vowel of Adonay is Hataf-Patah. Why then is the first vowel of YHVH given as Shva in those cases instead of Hataf-Patah?
Comment: A Hataf-Patah is just how a Sheva presents itself under a guttural.
Comment: @DoubleAA, but the Masoretes thought the distinction was important enough that it should be represented by differing symbols, with the proper choice explicitly dictated to the reader by the symbols. Why drop the distinction just here?
Comment: @DoubleAA,  so why not point the first letter Hataf-Patah and let the reader know the proper vocalization for the guttural Alef?
Comment: Probably because it's a waste of time (and space under a narrow letter). But my point was more that it already is the correct vowel: the vowel just has different representations depending on the letter it's written with.
Comment: Related, especially the second half: http://onthemainline.blogspot.com/2011/06/shadal-series-1-how-was-tetragrammaton.html . I know this is linked somewhere on one of the [shemos-sacred-names] answers but I can't find it.
Answer: The niqqud we use today is that of the Tiberians.  The default pronunciation of the shewa naʿ in the Tiberian tradition was identical to the pronunciation of the ḥataf pataḥ, and took on other qualities depending on its environment.
In some situations, such as under a gutteral letter, the vowel quality of a shewa would was less predictable; as such, ḥatef forms of vowels were used to remove ambiguity.
Before the stabilization of the ḥatefim in manuscripts, regular shewas were sometimes used under gutterals. For example, in MS Sassoon 1053 a "simple shewa rather than ḥaṭeph segol is used with aleph (as in אְלֹהִים)" (Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah, §34).
This image shows both shewas under gutterals and ḥatefim in MS Sassoon 1053:

Thus, Khan proposes that the ketiv form יְהוָה "is a vestige of a primitive stage of the development of Tiberian vocalization, in which a shewa rather than a ḥaṭeph sign was written on the ʾalef" (Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics,  Ketiv and Qere).
Comment: Argon, the idea of a vestigial form becoming tied to a divine name seems compelling, but I then I wonder why instances of Adonay and Elohim themselves (where they are not substitutions for YHVH but the actual written text) do not retain shwa for the first letter.
Comment: @paquda Presumably because they are not qere-ketiv forms and were subject to the same rules as any other word. (NB those words also are not inherently references to G-d, since we have phrases like אלהים אחרים). For some reason or another, the Masoretes felt that there was no need to change their tradition only with יהוה.
Comment: Shva aside, do you have any idea why they skipped a vowel?  i.e. Normally with qri ktiv, they write in every vowel of the qri.  Yet when it's read with a cholam, they frequently skip the cholam.. any idea why?
Answer: i agree with @DoubleAA in the comments that it is just short-hand
but there can be another reason of the 2 versions
see shulchan aruch harav 5.2

When, however, [the name] is written as י‑ה‑ו‑ה, there are those who pronounce the alef with a shva, for this is the vowel of [the corresponding initial letter which is] the yud of the name י‑ה‑ו‑ה. Others pronounce the alef with a chataf patach, using the same vowel as the alef of the name A-donai.


When can an examiner dismiss two independent claims if just one is allowable?

Question: If a patent examiner tries to force a restriction on 1 of 2 independent claims, and the applicant elects to tie them together as obviously connected, is it legal for the examiner to dismiss both if he allegedly finds that just one is unallowable?  And what is a "traverse"?
From the Action: "Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. ln either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AlA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention."
Answer: It sounds like -  in a restriction requirement the examiner said two claims were so different they could not be examined as a single invention. You responded that they were not that different and should be examined as a single invention. He/she took that response as you admitting they were not patentably distinct. If they are not (by your admission) patentably distinct, then if one is not patentable, neither is the other.
In this context a "traverse" is an argument you make to counter the examiner's restriction requirement analysis. If you said that both should be examined in the same case, you essentially made a traverse even though you may have not provided any actual argument.
It is not necessary to admit two claims are patently the same to traverse. You can argue that they are close enough to not be a burden on the examiner's time.
The most likely outcome for a traverse is the examiner saying you were not persuasive and then just pursuing the claim you prefered in your response.


Improving probability of spontaneous parametric down conversion

Question: As mentioned in an earlier question of mine, I am interested in using type one spontaneous down conversion (SPDC) in optical quantum computing. However, SPDC is a somewhat low probability occurrence - most of the photons pass straight through the crystals unentangled. What methods, if any, are there to improve the probability of down conversion occurring, and therefore entanglement between photons?
Comment: In case this helps: An alternative to spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is
two-photon emission from electrically driven semiconductors.
Relevant paper: [Observation of two-photon emission from semiconductors - Alex Hayat, Pavel Ginzburg & Meir Orenstein](https://www.nature.com/articles/nphoton.2008.28).
According to the abstract it is "*three orders of magnitude more efficient than the existing down-conversion schemes*". I deleted my previous answer to this question because it didn't really answer how to improve photon entanglement in SPDC. It should rather be a comment.
Comment: This paper may be of interest to you: https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.07140. It deals with domain-engineering of PDC crystals to improve heralding, brightness and spectral purity of the emitted pairs (in the telecom band)
Comment: @Blue, interesting paper, I've never heard of that.
Answer: Your question asks two questions that are less-related than you might hope.
First, how do we increase the probability of down-conversion occuring?
This is fundamentally a question about material properties: the chance per unit length of down-conversion occurring is proportional to $\chi^{(2)}$; if our material of choice doesn't have good phase-matching conditions then we can "cheat" and use quasiphasematching at a hit of ~$2/\pi$.  As it happens, PPLN is just about as good as you're going to do, at least to within an order of magnitude.  A very long device, say with a waveguide, lets you get more unit lengths; things still scale linearly, so to get much higher conversion you'd need a much longer device, which brings its own problems (such as absorption).
(This is setting aside other options, such as spontaneous four-wave mixing and true single photon sources.)
Second, you ask "...and therefore entanglement between photons?".
This does not immediately follow from the first problem (increasing conversion from pump to daughter photons).   Depending on what kind of entanglement one is interested in, it's not at all the case that making more photons per (pulse/unit time) increases the entanglement of those photons.  Generally speaking, SPDC sources for (discrete-variable) optical quantum computing are limited by the multi-fold emission rate, not by the pump power; this literally cannot be avoided by an SPDC scheme.  If you're looking at achievable squeezing for CV experiments that's another kettle of fish that I'm not an expert in; my understanding is that the limits in total squeezing at present are not due to limited $\chi^{(2)}$, but other noise.  (I may be mistaken on this count.)
As it turns out, this leads to people trying to make unentangled photons pairs and heralding one of them to try and simulate a "true" single photon source; a multiplexing scheme using space, delay lines, or a memory can then be used to put your known-good photon in the mode of interest.  Once you have a device that can spit out a photon in a particular mode in a pure state, you're good to go.
If, on the other hand, you're interested in large amounts of time-frequency entanglement, that too is not set by the conversion efficiency, but by the phase-matching conditions in the crystal: the opposite problem from the papers posted by glS.
To conclude, while there are reasons to want to increase conversion efficiency (for one thing it seems awfully wasteful to have conversion efficiencies as low as we do), it's not immediately obvious that doing so is a rate-limiting step in most experiments at present.  It's unfortunately also not at all clear how to do so in a more than marginal way; leading to people working on related problems such as increasing heralding efficiency and purity of the single-photon states instead.
Answer: Here's some relevant work in Optimizing type-I polarization-entangled photons-Radhika Rangarajan, Michael Goggin, Paul Kwiat.
Abstract:

Optical quantum information processing needs ultra-bright sources of
  entangled photons, especially from synchronizable femtosecond lasers
  and low-cost cw-diode lasers. Decoherence due to timing information
  and spatial mode-dependent phase has traditionally limited the
  brightness of such sources. We report on a variety of methods to
  optimize type-I polarization-entangled sources - the combined use of
  different compensation techniques to engineer high-fidelity pulsed and
  cw-diode laser-pumped sources, as well as the first production of
  polarization-entanglement directly from the highly nonlinear biaxial
  crystal BiB3O6 (BiBO). Using spatial compensation, we show more than a
  400-fold improvement in the phase flatness, which otherwise limits
  efficient collection of entangled photons from BiBO, and report the
  highest fidelity to date (99%) of any ultrafast
  polarization-entanglement source. Our numerical code, available on our
  website, can design optimal compensation crystals and simulate
  entanglement from a variety of type-I phasematched nonlinear crystals.

Apart from that I'd like to mention another interesting development in methods to entangle photons efficiently: An alternative to spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is
two-photon emission from electrically driven semiconductors. According to Wikipedia:

The newly observed effect of two-photon emission from electrically
  driven semiconductors has been proposed as a basis for more efficient
  sources of entangled photon pairs. Other than SPDC-generated
  photon pairs, the photons of a semiconductor-emitted pair usually are
  not identical but have different energies. Until recently, within
  the constraints of quantum uncertainty, the pair of emitted photons
  were assumed to be co-located: they are born from the same location.
  However, a new nonlocalized mechanism for the production of correlated
  photon pairs in SPDC has highlighted that occasionally the individual
  photons that constitute the pair can be emitted from spatially
  separated points.

Relevant paper: Observation of two-photon emission from semiconductors - Alex Hayat, Pavel Ginzburg & Meir Orenstein.
According to the abstract it is "three orders of magnitude more efficient than the existing down-conversion schemes".


What open source software for auto-alignment of photographs?

Question: Do you know any open source tool to automatically align images, similar to the auto align feature in Photoshop?
Comment: Also see http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/12233/how-do-i-combine-multiple-exposures-for-action-shots/12320#12320
Comment: My problem is that I do not want to create panoramas, but to align stereoscopic images.
Comment: Hi Max. Welcome to photo-SE. I think you'll find what you're looking for at this earlier question. http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/230/recommendations-for-panorama-creation-stitching-tools. It doesn't mention "alignment" in the Q, but since that's a vital step for panoramas, all the answers cover it.
Comment: The software should generally be the same, I think (see the second link for a non-panorama case), although I don't know about stereoscopic images in particular.
Comment: This is also useful for HDR. BTW, I'm still looking for a simple program to do this :)
Answer: Alignment of multiple images taken from the same point
If you are not making a panorama, but just aligning an image stack for focus stacking, exposure fusion or HDR, then align_image_stack from Hugin project is one of the simple yet very useful tools.  Hugin is a multiplatform collection of tools that is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
For example, if your have 3 files a.jpg, b.jpg, c.jpg, to align them you may run:
align_image_stack -a aligned_ a.jpg b.jpg c.jpg

which will produce three TIFF images, aligned_0000.tif, aligned_0001.tif and aligned_0002.tif, which will be well aligned. Now the images are ready to be, for instance, enfused:
enfuse aligned_*.tif

If you prefer the graphical interface, or you want to align only partially overlapping images (like in panoramas), then use Hugin itself, it is a very powerful and flexible software.
Alignment of stereo pairs
From your comments I see, that you want to create stereoscopic images. The keyword to search for is anaglyph, not align.
For this purpose I used Stereo Photo Maker, which is not open source, just a free Windows program. It runs well under wine too. But I almost never used its automatic alignment feature, because I prefer to align images manually, watching the composite 3D image. By aligning the images manually I can also choose what exactly is "in focus" (one cannot align everything in a stereo image).
SPM can also optimize color anaglyphs to reduce ghosting, a very useful feature.
There are some scripts and tutorials for Gimp (e.g. anaglypher, script-fu-make-anaglyph, this short tutorial). It is relatively easy to build a monochrome anaglyph through layer effects and by moving a layer manually, it is not always working well for color anaglyphs.
Finally, there is -stereo option of composite command of ImageMagick, but I didn't use it.
Comment: Actually I didn't mention the word stereo nor anaglyph intentionally.
Compositing the anaglyphs from two images is not the problem.

align_image_stack actually has extra support for stereo images which does not work as expected. I've already contacted the author of the specific code.
Comment: Oh, I didn't know about that new feature, my version of `align_image_stack` doesn't have it. Thanks, nice to know.
Comment: If you try, please tell me. I couldn't get it to work in the way I understand the commands. Try -C -S and -A
Answer: If this is in order to get a nice animation of the images, you can use Google Photos. Then, once they are in your library, select the images you want, click the big plus in upper right, and select Animation. A few seconds later, you have an animation of the aligned images.
This is as of 10/01/2017
Comment: Maybe they've changed something since 2017, but I just tried Google Photos as suggested and -- animation, yes; alignment, no.
Answer: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoStitch
"Autostitch uses methods known as SIFT and RANSAC. This program differs from some other image stitching software in that it automatically stitches together even unaligned or zoomed photographs seamlessly without user input, whereas others often require the user to highlight matching areas for the photographs to merge properly. The only requirement is that all photographs be taken from a single point."
Free demo for Windows (which works seamlessly on Linux under Wine) is available, and I never needed another tool for stitching of pics.
As mattdm correctly wrote above (in comment), this is similar question:
Which tools are good for creating panoramas/stitching multiple photos? and autostitch is also there one of the answers. I love (and prefer) it for two reasons:
- simple installation (one exe file, nothing to install)
- simple to use - choose input pics, choose size of output image, and other settings you do not need to set/change if you don't want to
So it's not exactly open source, but it is free (demo), simple and works fine both on Windows and Linux.
Answer: Hugin's command-line align_image_stack has arguments for dealing with stereo pairs. You need to experiment with the settings, particularly the grid subdivision count -g, the point count -c and the prescale -s (larger images need to be scaled down more for the point detector to work reliably). Also make sure you pass in the FOV with -f. Here's a command line that generates a super-excellent stereo pair from two 1920x2560 images:
align_image_stack -f 35.09 -p stereotest.pto -a stereotest -v -g 3 -c 16 -i -d -s 3 -S -C -A -P P9010741.JPG P9010742.JPG
Comment: Yeah, I found that, but it didn't work for me. Don't ask me why. I wrote the author of the patch, but he didn't respond.
Comment: I get a segmentation fault when i try this command. :(


Can two proteins have equal primary structure but different secondary structure?

Question: I've been reading lately about primary (which I understand completely) and secondary (which I do not understand that well since I'm not very good at chemistry) structure of proteins. My question is: Can two proteins have equal primary structure but different secondary structure?
Answer: By equal I assume you mean identical.
Yes, in fact several known proteins have different folding patterns for the same primary structure as part of their function. but most proteins can take on more than one folding pattern, in fact specialized proteins called chaperones exist to encourage (force) a particular folding pattern in some other proteins, especially ones that are essential or in which the other foldings can be dangerous.
The easy way to understand the difference is the primary structure is the amino acid sequence and the secondary is the first stage in how the protein folds (the other being the tertiary). the primary creates the secondary (and tertiary) but there is usually more than one stable folding.
this video contains a further breakdown of the different levels of structure.


Does diamond dust conduct heat as well as diamond?

Question: Diamond is one of the best thermal conductors you can get. If the diamond is crushed into dust and spread out over a flat surface, but still held fairly compact (for instance in a small petri dish), would it still conduct as well as before?
Answer: Diamond dust (or dust of any other material) won't conduct heat anywhere close to as well as the solid material.
At a molecular level the dust isn't in very good contact with other grains of dust.  There is plenty of separation and air in between the particles that will retard heat conductivity. If you were to compress the dust so significantly that it did conduct as well, I'm certain the pressure would be great enough to cause the dust to bond with other dust into a larger solid.
For more a more technical treatment of the thermal conductivity of powder beds, see this paper.
Comment: Thank you, this is what I suspected. I just wanted to make sure.
Answer: It is highly unlikely that diamond dust would be anywhere near in thermal conductivity, what a solid diamond exhibits.
The thermal conductivity of diamond, is extremely dependent on the quality of the diamond, both as to crystal defects, and also impurity doping.
At room Temperature, a typical Type I diamond was measured, giving a thermal conductivity of about 10 Watts per deg C per cm; at least double what silver or copper give.   But the conductivity, typically peaks (for all diamonds) at much lower Temperatures, about 100 kelvins, where it is 3 to 4 times the 300 K value.  Conductivity is best for Type IIa diamonds, with a 100 k value of around 100 W/deg/cm.
Measured conductivity values seem to indicate that the simple isotropic homogenious model of heat flow is not followed in diamond.
The very highest quality (white) gem diamonds, are usually type IIa.   To the best of my recollection, I believe the Cullinan diamond was type IIa.  (largest ever found).


Why is it "your Majesty", but "my Lord"?

Question: Why is it "your Majesty", but "my Lord"?
Comment: @RichardGadsden "Your lordship" can also be used for lords.
Comment: Note that it's also "your Grace" (Duke/archbishop), "your Honour" (judge), "your Excellency" (ambassador), "your Holiness" (pope), "your Eminence" (cardinal) - only Lord is "my", though it's often qualified ("my Lord Bishop", for example)
Answer: Very succinctly, majesty, grace, honor, and royal highness are qualities of the exalted person being addressed, while lord, liege, and king are titles describing the superior relationship of the one addressed (superior to me, that is).
Comment: This is the best answer by far. Here's hoping it'll eventually get voted above the others...
Comment: Yes. That is why in the High Court (and above) in England we address the judges as "my Lord" but refer to them as "your Lordship" - the second is a quality they possess rather than a reference to themselves. Example "My Lord, has your Lordship read the agreed trial bundle?"
Comment: @Francis Davey Excellent observation
Answer: First, some etymology. I'll try to keep it short.
Lord has deep Germanic roots. Etymonline says:

lord
  M.E. laverd, loverd (13c.), from O.E. hlaford "master of a household, ruler, superior," also "God" (translating L. Dominus, though O.E. drihten was used more often), earlier hlafweard, lit. "one who guards the loaves," from hlaf "bread, loaf" + weard "keeper, guardian, ward."

Majesty was borrowed, ultimately from Latin and together with its meaning. Etymonline says:

majesty
  c.1300, "greatness, glory," from O.Fr. majeste "grandeur, nobility," from L. majestatem (nom. majestas) "greatness, dignity, honor, excellence," from stem of major (neut. majus), comp. of magnus "great." Earliest Eng. sense is of God, reference to kings and queens (late 14c.) is from Romance languages and descends from the Roman Empire.

Wikipedia adds:

Originally, during the Roman republic, the word maiestas was the legal term for the supreme status and dignity of the state, to be respected above everything else. [...] It was first assumed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who believed that, as an emperor,
  he deserved a style greater than Highness, which had been used by preceding emperors and
  kings. Soon, King Francis I of France and King Henry VIII of England followed his example.

What I take from all this is:

The word lord, originally and all throughout its history, referred to someone, a person (or a personification of God, as opposed to God as an abstract concept). It's only natural to refer to my guardian, my ruler and my master as, well, my guardian, ruler and master rather than your, his or her guardian, ruler and master.
The word majesty, on the other hand, always referred to something, a concept,
a trait that was attributed to someone — much like highness, honor, and excellence. When I am talking about a king (or a judge), I attribute majesty (or honor) to him rather than to myself.
Answer: I would venture that lord is a title while Majesty comes from the adjective majestic. So "your majesty" means "you who are majestic", while "my lord" means "the lord of me".
Comment: I completely agree with the sentiment, but completely disagree with the etymology. The adjective *majestic* was derived from the much older noun *majesty* around 1600, not the other way round.
Comment: @RegDwigнt: But Majesty must surely be a derived adjective, having a +y suffix. Perhaps from the Latin "magister"?
Answer: Explaining "my lord" is easy, "my lord" is the person who is the lord of me. "Your lord" would be the person who is the lord of you rather than me.
The function of the possessive (your, her, his) in "your majesty" or "her majesty" or "his royal highness" seems to be to indicate that the noun indicates a person, but this is some kind of archaic or rare usage.
Answer: A little late to this party, but it seems to me that no-one has made the most important point:  namely that it's "my Lord", but "your Lordship" -- the point being that one refers to the individual directly ("my Lord"), and the other refers to the same individual obliquely ("your Lordship"), and is a kind of metonymy.
Comment: "my lord" is a vocative form "Will you have a drink, Bill?" cf "Will you have some whisky, my lord?"  "Your lordship" is generally used in place of a pronoun - not "As *you* wish" but "As your lordship wishes". A kind of respectful use of the third person.


What is a 'noise sweep'?

Question: If you look around the internet, you can find the term noise sweep or white noise sweep all over the place and this is defined, but I can't find the basic definition of sweep anywhere. What does sweep refer to in the context in and of itself?
Comment: White Noise sweeps are absolutely amazing to generate procedural wind sound effects if done the right way. I'm doing it in my custom C++ Engine and its absolutely beneficial for the game me and my team are building. We can dynamically change how wind sounds depending on the environment in the game.
Comment: @DeepakChennakkadan: interesting, but what exactly are these "white noise sweeps" – I suspect, basically white noise run through a variable-frequency low pass or band pass filter? Definitely very useful, though I would rather call that "filter sweep", not "noise sweep". (Though I suppose it's a bit arbitrary.)
Answer: a sweep is usually sine waves at 20hz to 20khz played smoothly.  I've only ever heard the term sine wave sweep, never white noise sweep fwiw.
Comment: Okay, that does make sense. I guess i'm trying to figure out why the word 'sweep' is used. Is that because the sound "sweeps" across the full frequency spectrum over time?
Comment: Thats what I've always assumed.  It needs to be called something.  Sweep is is probably used to differentiate between that and static sounds like white noise and pink noise or pure sine waves.
Answer: As said by coaxmw, sweep normally means a sine oscillator starting at 20 Hz and then smoothly "gliding" up through the entire audible spectrum.
Now, in principle you could also do this with other types of oscillators. E.g. dubstep music, as it were, uses lots of sawtooth sweeps. Band-filtered noise can also be considered an oscillator – "noise sweep" could refer to a sweep performed with such an oscillator.
However, none of this makes a lot of sense for the technical applications of sine sweeps. The reason to do such a sweep is generally, you want to investigate the transfer characteristic of some PA system. Assuming little nonlinear distortion, it's sufficient to know the transfer for all sine waves; any actual signal can then be constructed as superpositions of such sine waves. In particular, the superposition of all audible sine waves is, pretty much by definition, white noise. So, when people are talking about a "white noise sweep" what they mean is probably, white noise decomposed into a sine sweep.
Answer: I thought that people took a narrow bandpass filter starting at 20hz and sweeping up to 20K across white noise for the purpose of creating an impulse response - you play the sound through your speaker and record how the room reacts.  I think sine wave sweeps can be used for that purpose too but I guess I thought a noise sweep was a distinct method of making the IR.
Answer: what about chirp !!
this is the def : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirp#cite_note-1

What is a 'noise sweep'?


Extract files from content database?

Question: My client needs the files from the SharePoint database to be extracted so he can work on the site locally. I have tried sharepoint database extractor and it didn't work, nor did any of the three variants I tried. Is there any simple way that I can just get the files? I have been trying this for three days and would appreciate any help. I am using Sharepoint 2010
Answer: You should NEVER touch the SharePoint databases directly, at least if you want to keep your solution in a supported state.
What kind of files are we talking about?
Maybee an export / import or backup /restore would do the trick? Since then you would be able to take a copy of your solution and import that into the development environment.
For doing a backup this is the basic script:
stsadm -o backup -url http://url/to/site
       -directory C:\SPBackup -filename mybackup.bak - backupmethod full

or the newer Backup-SPSite
Backup-SPSite http://url/to/site -Path C:\SPBackup\mybackup.bak

(both scripts will backup a specified site collection (but you can use Backup-SPFarm to do a backup of the entire farm)
Then use the appropriate restore commands in the new environment like so:
Restore-SPSite http://url/to/newsite -Path C:\SPBackup\mybackup.bak

Answer: I've used http://plaxoed.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/little-tool-to-extract-all-files-out-of-sharepoint/ for a 2010 environment, not recommended if you plan to actually work on the files though. In my case it was for a decommissioned environment where everything had already been properly migrated to the new environment. The client simply wanted to dump all files on a drive "just because" but actually never use that data again.
Answer: You could mount the database into a test web application and extract the files the standard way.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ff628582.aspx

Extract files from content database?


Candle timing measurement

Question: You are given two candles of equal size, which can burn 1 hour each. You have to measure 90 minutes with these candles. (There is no scale or clock). You are also given a lighter.
Comment: Is it really calculation puzzle, or more physics puzzle? If yes, please reformulate it as abstractly as you can and tell what exactly is different here with this puzzle: http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/166/burning-ropes-as-timers
Comment: This is a small piece of http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/170/burning-ropes-as-timers-how-many-time-intervals-can-be-measured
Comment: So you can not light both ends of a candle to make it last 30 minutes?
Comment: P.S. I have not marked it as duplicate. I marked it as "Unclear what you asking". You can not judge here that this is duplicate.
Answer: OK. Old Infosys interview question.
As @klm123 said, you burn both ends of one candle. It will burn in 30 minutes and you burn the other one from one end only.
Initially, the problem was with ropes / threads with each of timespan 30 minutes and you have to measure 45 minutes with 2 ropes; with which it was quite affirmative and little easy. But someone (NOT the asker here) become thinking himself/herself very smart changed the problem with candles and increased time to double. The smarty who changed it probably had no / little understanding of Physics / Chemistry.The candle will burn quicker if burned on both ends by placing it horizontal (burn a little faster from both sides) or vertical (burn quite faster from one side). So, we won't get exact 30 mins but have to approximate.
The rope problem on math exchange and glassdoor . Take a look : https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/183282/puzzle-there-are-two-lengths-of-rope
http://www.glassdoor.co.in/Interview/You-have-2-pieces-of-rope-each-of-which-burns-from-one-end-to-the-other-in-30-minutes-no-matter-which-end-is-lit-If-dif-QTN_108377.htm
Comment: -1. A candle doesn't not burn with the same speed if the fair is not vertical and you can not make fair at both ends be vertical.
Comment: That's true. But you have to approximate. If we put physics in  to the problem it will be really difficult/ impossible to find answer. One thing can be done. Put the candle horizontal and burn both ends. Nearly 30 mins. It was an interview question in a software company.
Comment: @klm123 Although I believe this is the conventional answer to this puzzle.
Answer: If the candles burn at the same rate when sideways vs. upright (which they probably won't, but let's make the assumption for the sake of having a solution), lie the candles horizontally next to each other, but with the wicks at opposite ends. Light both. When they meet, they'll have both burned halfway - 30 minutes gone.
Now blow one out. Let the other burn the rest of its 30 minute lifespan - now you've timed 60 minutes.
When it goes out, relight the other one for the remaining 30 minutes - total of 90 minutes.
Answer: One way that assumes the candle are exactly the same is to use the unlit candle to determine when the first candle has burned half-way.

Light the first candle and wait for it to burn to approximately half-way (must be before it reaches half-way).
Place the unlit candle next to the lit candle and use your finger or thumb to mark where the lit candle is on the unlit candle.
Invert the unlit candle keeping your finger/thumb on the position you measured in step 2 and compare it to the height of the lit candle again.
Once the mark is the same on the first and inverted measurement you know the lit candle has burned exactly half-way. You can now light the unlit candle and wait for it to burn to the end.
Comment: You don't know it's burned "exactly half-way" as in step 1 you only know it's "approximately half-way". You could get close, by approximating, but it wouldn't be exact.
Comment: You know its halfway because you can measure that the length of the lit candle is half of the unlit - accuracy is down to you sense of perception and skill at retaining the first mark/measurement;). Assume you have an infinitely thin fingernail, could hold the mark with absolutely no movement and had perfect vision you could determine when the lit candle is exactly half the height of the unlit candle (well assuming that the candle also burnt level but that type of problem applies to burning a candle at both ends too :p).

Candle timing measurement


Multiple domains on same virtual hosts in Apache

Question: I'm working on an application for my clients that allows them to set up small landing pages for their campaigns. I have a set of templates and views for adding text, photos etc to the templates. Everything works pretty well straight out of the box, with authentication, admin views etc. I'm using the Laravel framework.
Each client and campaign has an url friendly title to use in custom front end URL, i.e. "campaignsite.com/c/client/campaign". These URL titles are unique.
In addition to this, I want to allow my clients to point custom subdomains (or any domain for that matter) to their campaign. For example would pointing the domain "campaign.client.com" fetch the correct front end for that campaign. I've solved this very easily in Laravel, just by adding an input field for custom URL, and looking that up in the front end.
However, I have problems with setting up virtual hosts in Apache correctly. I have an VPS with multiple sites, all which have the following configuration:
<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot /data1/www/kampanjeweb/public
  ServerName kampanjeweb.redhost.no

  LogLevel warn
  ErrorLog /logs/www/kampanjeweb_error.log
  CustomLog /logs/www/kampanjeweb_access.log common

  <Directory />
    AllowOverride All
    Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

With this vhost snippet I need to define each ServerAlias server, but I would love to be able to let the clients update their custom URL settings without having me to do any customizing.
Have any of you done this before? What I basically want, is that any domain or request that doesn't match any of the virtual hosts files in Apache, should go to this virtual host.
Answer: Rename this virtual-host to 000-<old name> Making sure it sorts first lexicographically. When requests come to the server that doesn't match any of your vhosts, it will default to the first one.


How do I configure an Asus N56VM?

Question: I'm trying to configure all the hardware and make sure that everything is working on an Asus N56VM-S4060x. I've made some progress based on other answers, but there are still a number of things that aren't working.
From a fresh install I have done the following,

Installed kernel 3.5 (following these instructions, based on this answer
Installed asus-wmi (not sure if this is necessary though)
Installed asus-wmi V999.01
Installed bumblebee
Tried to compile the alx module for Ethernet (failed)

After I installed kernel 3.5 the touchpad right click worked. After installing the asus-wmi the fn keys worked, except for the brightness functions.
After I installed bumblebee the launcher no longer displays the icons, but still works if you click in the right place. The other change I saw was the the task switcher (alt-tab) was different, but does not display the expected image.
I tried to compile the alx driver but after following the instructions had this error,
make -C /lib/modules/3.5.0-9-generic/build M=/home/duncan/src/compat-wireless-2012-07-03-p modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.5.0-9-generic'
scripts/Makefile.build:44: /home/duncan/src/compat-wireless-2012-07-03 p/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/alx/Makefile: No such file or directory
make[4]: *** No rule to make target `/home/duncan/src/compat-wireless-2012-07-03-p/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/alx/Makefile'.  Stop.
make[3]: *** [/home/duncan/src/compat-wireless-2012-07-03-p/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/alx] Error 2
make[2]: *** [/home/duncan/src/compat-wireless-2012-07-03-p/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros] Error 2
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/duncan/src/compat-wireless-2012-07-03-p] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.5.0-9-generic'
make: *** [modules] Error 2

Some other things which are not quite right:

Right click area of the mouse pad can result in a left-click
Screen does not automatically dim when removing the power cord

So the questions:

How do I get the GeForce GT 630M to work correctly? (and how do I know if it is being used instead of the Intel graphics?)
How do I get the brightness keys to work?
Do I need a particular version of the alx module?
What else might I need that I am missing?
Does the asus-wmi provide all of the necessary power management features?
Is there a way to stop certain areas of the touchpad from being a left click? i.e. I want to prevent left-clicks when I am trying to right click
What do I need to install for more advanced power management?
Answer: About your first question:
Bumblebee switches to use the Geforce card only if you manually tell it to do so. Start programs that you want to run with the Geforce card with: optirun program
You can test it with glxspheres vs. optirun glxspheres.
See here.
It worked for me with Asus N76VM and Ubuntu 12.10. There also seems to be a user interface currently being developed for bumblebee that lets you configure which programs automatically start with the graphics card.

How do I configure an Asus N56VM?


Looking for a Wordpress template to integrate CiviCRM

Question: We have some issues about wordpress themes we bought at theme forest and CiviCRM.
When i google I find a a lot of same problems other users have with the CiviCRM backend and some wordpress themes.
Before I buy any new one I really wanna be sure that there are no problems with CiviCRM.
Is there any list of compatible wordpress themes somewhere here?
Or what kind of creative themes do you guys use together with CiviCRM?
Thanks for any suggestions and help.
Comment: It might help to tell us what the issues were: ie. civi not running because the theme had some conflicting code, or visual issues where the css was hiding parts of Civi or vice versa.
Answer: Assuming you are using the latest and greatest Civi and Wordpress - most themes should work fine.
There was an issue with backbone conflicts that may have caused issues with some themes- but that was addressed in 4.7.31. Outside of that - I never had an issue with the CiviCRM backend when using any front end theme. However, I have had conflicting CSS on the front end that can typically be fixed by changing some lines in your CSS.
As for what theme I use - a modified version of twentyseventeen.
Comment: My experience with CiviCRM and WordPress is you need to manually go over each front-end page and restyle it to match your style guide. A pain but easier than turning off all of civi's css.


Is a white dwarf hotter than a Red Giant?

Question: From what I've read, white stars are hotter than red ones. But a white dwarf would have just heavy elements to fuse, so shouldn't it be less bright?
Answer: "White" stars are typically much brighter than Red stars, as both the "color & brightness" of a star are directly proportional to the temperature. The only reason there are "bright" red stars is that their radius is incredibly large. Note that the "color" of a star is directly linked to the temperature.
The equation that best demonstrates this is the luminosity equation of a black body. Stars aren't perfect black bodies, but they are close enough that they are treated as such.

L = 4πR²σT⁴

this equation tells us that the Luminosity (L) is proportionate to the Radius Squared (R²) and the Temperature to the Fourth power (T⁴). The bigger the brighter, or, the hotter the brighter. Meaning that for a given radius the hotter the star, the more luminous, and the same goes for stars of the same temperature, the larger the radius the more luminous.
White dwarfs on the other hand are not stars in the sense that they do not fuse anything, they simply glow due to the lingering heat that was generated during their time as stars.
As shown in the HR-Diagram, White Dwarfs are some of the hottest objects in the universe, and as stated by agtoever there has not been enough time for even the oldest white dwarf to have cooled passed something like 4800K.
Answer: White dwarfs start hotter when they are created (up to billions degrees Kelvin), but in the end, they end as black dwarfs, which only happens after a few billion years. As per the age of the universe, it is currently the assumption that there are no black dwarfs yet.
Red giants are (on the surface) typically below 5000 K. Their core is up to a billion degrees Kelvin.
This might be an interesting link too.
As a final note: white dwarfs are the end stage of a star's life. Depending on the mass of the star, red giants can end up as white dwarfs. About 97% of the milky way stars will end as white dwarfs (including our sun).
Comment: Less than 5000K isn't much for a star that had a core of a billion degrees K. It doesn't have an energy source any more; only residual heat from the earlier phase of life. As stated in the Wiki link to White dwarfs: "A white dwarf is very hot when it is formed, but since it has no source of energy, it will gradually radiate away its energy and cool."
Comment: Yes. The residual heat of the **core** of the former red dwarf (millions up to a billion kelvin) is initially very much warmer than de **surface temerature** of the former red dwarf (up to 5000K).
Comment: But it is only the core which remains. So, from where do white dwarfs get so much energy? By fusing heavier elements?
Comment: So, is the residual heat so much that it makes the star hotter than a red giant?
Comment: This is very inaccurate. White dwarfs are born with *interior* temperatures of about 100 million K and surface temperatures of 100,000 K. The oldest white dwarfs in the universe are about 10 billion years old, still have interior temperatures of a million degrees and surface temperatures of about 4000 K.


How do you use the "passive se" with a reflexive verb?

Question: What is the rule for using the "passive se" (e.g. "¿Cómo se dice?") with a reflexive verb that involves another se pronoun? For example, how would you translate "One takes a shower (ducharse) frequently in hot weather."? Do the two se pronouns simply combine into one?
Comment: The question would be "¿cómo se afeita uno?", and I think the reflexive "se" is lost, the "se" is for the impersonal. An expert would be useful now...
Comment: The se in "¿Como se dice?" is an impersonal indicator and "duchar" is not strictly a reflexive verb; the translation would be "Uno se ducha habitualmente con agua caliente". I'm sorry but I think I don't understand your question (?)
Comment: Ok, I think I understand and, as far as I know, you just use one "se" in front of the verb, How does one say to himself? I think I would translate it as "Cómo uno se dice a si mismo?" even I can't think any situation to use it.
Comment: @Laura: Hmm, maybe my examples weren't the best then. I'm trying to think of an example that has that impersonal indicator plus the reflexive in the same verb. What about "How does one say to himself?" (making the *decir* in *¿Cómo se dice?* reflexive)?
Comment: The point is that I don't think this would happen (merging a reflexive and an impersonal), since both are exclusive (either it's reflexive or it's impersonal).
Comment: @JoulSauron: It does seem rare but still seems possible. What about a boy learning to shave asking his dad, "How do you shave?" (or "How does one shave?")? Wouldn't that be reflexive (*afeitarse* since you're shaving yourself) and impersonal (he's asking how one shaves in general, not how his dad in particular shaves)?
Comment: I would say "¿Cómo se afeita uno mismo?" too, and also "¿Cómo te afeitas?". But I'm not sure the last one is correct.
Comment: I already posted a detailed answer, but both "se" (impersonal + reflexive) can of course be used in the same sentence: "Se recomienda ducharse primero" (taking a shower first is recommended). "Se recomienda darse crema" (using sunscreen is recommended).
Comment: @JoulSauron reflexive (where the reflexive *se* is a direct or indirect object) is not going to be possible with passive se where both objects go with the same verb, *but* with mandatory reflexives, it is easy, and you just delete one of the ses, because *se se arrodilla* or *se se arrepiente* sounds awful (or worse, *se se lo llevó* ack!, *el viento se me lo llevó a mí*, pero *el viento se lo llevó a él*, much better)
Comment: I don't understand it either. You use "se" mostly when the subject performs actions on itself or if you want to make an impersonal statement like "It's said" --> "Se dice".
Answer: The two pronouns just combine in one:
"One takes a shower frequently in hot weather" --> Se ducha frecuentemente cuando hace calor.
She takes a shower frequently in hot weather --> (Ella) se ducha frecuentemente cuando hace calor.
Answer: As far as I know there is no "passive se".
As others have introduced, there are mainly two uses for "se".

In reflexive verbs, like "ducharse", "se" is a particle that adds to the verb and simply means the receptor of the action: "myself", "yourself", etc. This is the same idea of any verb that uses an indirect object particle for a person (telling who receives the action).

Me da la pelota, te doy la pelota, le doy la pelota, nos da la pelota, os damos la pelota, les damos la pelota.

However, in the case of reflexive verbs, the third person changes and "se" is used in the third person (both singular and plural) instead of the corresponding "le" or "les".

Ducharse: Yo me ducho, tú te duchas, él se ducha, nosotros nos duchamos, vosotros os ducháis, ellos se duchan.

If you speak German, also a Germanic language like English, this case applies exactly in the same way:

"sich duschen": ich dusche mich, du duschest dich, er duscht sich...

Another use of "se" is also to introduce a general/impersonal statement (but that is not passive in Spanish). It can be used with any verb and it's conjugated in the third person singular.

"Se recomienda no entrar" (entering is not recommended) "Se sabe que fue él" (it's known that it was him).

I guess your doubt is the following: can a reflexive verb (which uses the "se" particle) be combined with the impersonal "se" (what you call "the passive se") in the same sentence?
Yes. Perfectly.

"Se recomienda ducharse primero" (taking a shower first is recommended). "Se recomienda darse crema" (using sunscreen is recommended).

Hope this helps.
Comment: Thanks for the detailed answer, although I was really wondering not whether they can be combined in a single sentence (using two verbs), but in a single impersonal/reflexive verb (like the "How does one shave?" example I gave in comments above).
Comment: Sorry I misunderstood. I posted a new answer. Hope it helps.
Answer: I'm posting a new answer since I misunderstood and needed some more room than a comment.

Thanks for the detailed answer, although I was really wondering not whether they can be combined in a single sentence (using two verbs), but in a single impersonal/reflexive verb (like the "How does one shave?" example I gave in comments above).

In English you use an auxiliary verb "do" in "How does one shave?", but in Spanish you don't. There is only one verb in the sentence "¿Cómo se afeita uno?". We could get in an deep debate about where that "se" comes from, but I think it's safe and easy to just assume it's a fixed impersonal particle. Thinking it is a verb does not help and confuses more.
The first "se" is therefore just the "impersonal se".
Think about how you ask impersonal "how to" questions with "se" in Spanish:

¿Cómo se... conduce un coche?
¿Cómo se... estudia un idioma?

That's just a fixed formula.
A small break here that hope clarifies the thing about "se" in reflexive verbs, which is not so special after all.
In a general sentence we have a subject + verb (action) + direct object (what) + indirect object (receiver).

Yo + doy + una manzana + a María
I + give + an Apple + to Mary

As you know, you can substitute both direct and indirect object for pronouns.

I + give + it + to her

Which in Spanish can be tricky because not only is the order of the sentence altered but there is also an exception. This is the case of the indirect object "le" (to him / to her) that changes to "se" when both a direct and indirect object pronouns are present in the same sentence.
If you only use a pronoun for the indirect object, you say:

Yo + doy + la manzana + a ella
Yo + le + doy + la manzana

But if you use both pronouns, instead of the logical:

Yo + le + la + doy

Which is incorrect, "le" is changed to avoid the le-la "cacophony" (bad sound):

Yo + se + la + doy

This is where the infamous third person "se" for the indirect object comes from.
Reflexive verbs are not so special after all. It just happens that the receiver of the action (indirect object) is the same as the performer (subject), so logically speaking they are simply a normal verb with an indirect object pronoun sticked to them to mark that they can be applied to oneself.
"Ducharse" is just a special case of "duchar" (you can "duchar a alguien" / shower somebody). Ducharse just means that this verb can be applied to oneself, and the one who's being showered is the same as "the showerer" :):

Yo ducho a mí
Tu duchas a ti
Él ducha a él. By the way... who is "él"? "Él" himself, or "él" another other guy???

But that sounds weird so we just use reflexive pronouns (which as you see have a lot to do with indirect object personal pronouns), that in the third person is "se" to clarify that te showering is to oneself, not to a third person.

Yo me ducho
Tu te duchas
El se ducha

And now, back to the original answer.
Remember the general impersonal form of asking "how to"?

¿Cómo se... conduce un coche?

Why should reflexive verbs be special? We just say "uno" (meaning "un hombre", "uno a sí mismo") just like in English you say "oneself".

¿Cómo se... afeita uno?

If it's referred specifically to a girl, then "una" is generally used:

¿Cómo se... maquilla una?

Pfew. Hope it's clear now.
I just wanted to make clear where the "reflexive se" comes from and what the relation is.
Comment: Esta respuesta es clara.  Cabe mencionar que en América, se suele emplear el pronombre "you" en forma impersonal, mientras que in Inglaterra se emplea más el pronombre impersonal "one".  "How do you learn a language?".  "How does one learn a language?"


Can the dead see us?

Question: Someone I know recently died by killing himself. I don't know if he is going to Jannah or not, that's is why I wonder if he can see and hear us now.
Answer: There is no clear evidence as to whether the dead can hear or see those who are alive or not. There is evidence that certain incidents took place, or still take place, where the dead can hear those who are alive, but the opinion is that such incidents are either specific to the Prophet ﷺ or specific to a time or place.
The Qur'an compares the disbelievers to the deceased in their refusal to listen to the Prophet ﷺ:

إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ
Indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they have turned their backs retreating.
— Surat An-Naml 27:80

It is a figure of speech that their deafness is likened to that of those who are dead, which means the dead do not normally hear. In another verse, Allah draws parallels between the believers (the living) and the disbelievers (the dead):

وَمَا يَسْتَوِي الْأَحْيَاءُ وَلَا الْأَمْوَاتُ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَاءُ ۖ وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِي الْقُبُورِ
And not equal are the living and the dead. Indeed, Allah causes to hear whom He wills, but you cannot make hear those in the graves.
— Surat Fatir 35:22

Then the verse, in a similar fashion to the previous verse in 27:80 likens the disbelievers' unwillingness to listen to the deafness of the dead. However, in a hadith narrated by 'Umar ibn al-Khattāb after the Battle of Badr, the Prophet ﷺ talked to the deceased among the disbelievers in their graves, and he told 'Umar that they could hear him:

عَنْ أَنَسٍ قَالَ كُنَّا مَعَ عُمَرَ بَيْنَ مَكَّةَ وَالْمَدِينَةِ أَخَذَ يُحَدِّثُنَا عَنْ أَهْلِ بَدْرٍ فَقَالَ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَيُرِينَا مَصَارِعَهُمْ بِالأَمْسِ قَالَ

هَذَا مَصْرَعُ فُلاَنٍ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ غَدًا

قَالَ عُمَرُ وَالَّذِي بَعَثَهُ بِالْحَقِّ مَا أَخْطَئُوا تِيكَ فَجُعِلُوا فِي بِئْرٍ فَأَتَاهُمُ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَنَادَى

يَا فُلاَنُ بْنَ فُلاَنٍ يَا فُلاَنُ بْنَ فُلاَنٍ هَلْ وَجَدْتُمْ مَا وَعَدَ رَبُّكُمْ حَقًّا فَإِنِّي وَجَدْتُ مَا وَعَدَنِي اللَّهُ حَقًّا

فَقَالَ عُمَرُ تُكَلِّمُ أَجْسَادًا لاَ أَرْوَاحَ فِيهَا فَقَالَ

مَا أَنْتُمْ بِأَسْمَعَ لِمَا أَقُولُ مِنْهُمْ

It was narrated that Anas said: "We were with 'Umar between Makkah and Al-Madinah when he started to tell us about the people of Badr. He said that the Messenger of Allah showed them the day before where they [the disbelivers] would fall. He said:

This is the place where so-and-so will fall tomorrow if Allah wills.

'Umar said: 'By the One Who sent him with the truth, they did not miss those places. They were placed in a well and the Prophet came to them and called out:

O so-and-so son of so-and-so! O so-and-so son of so-and-so! Have you found what your Lord promised to be true? For I have found what Allah promised me to be true.'

'Umar asked the Messenger of Allah: 'Are you speaking to bodies in which there are no souls?' He said:

You do not hear what I say any better than they do.'"

— Sunan an-Nasa'i, Book 21, Hadith 258

The majority of scholars that this incident was specific to the Prophet ﷺ on the day of Badr and only to the disbelievers. There is another hadith that may also be contextual to any person at the time one is being placed in one's grave, being able to hear the footsteps of one's friends:

عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّ نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ: إِنَّ الْعَبْدَ إِذَا وُضِعَ فِي قَبْرِهِ وَتَوَلَّى عَنْهُ أَصْحَابُهُ
Anas ibn Malik reported that Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) said: When the servant is placed in his grave and his friends retrace their steps.
— Sahih Muslim, Book 53, Hadith 87

Abu Huraira in the hadith about what happens to the soul of a believer after it ascends to heaven:

فَيُسْأَلُ: مَا فَعَلَ فُلَانٌ؟ مَا فَعَلَ فُلَانٌ؟
Then he is asked [by the souls of one's relatives]: "What happened to so-and-so? What happened to so-and-so?"
— Sunan an-Nasa'i al-Kubra, Book 58, Hadith 11924

If the relatives of the deceased could see and hear their relatives, they would not have had the need to ask about their well being. There is a weak hadith that is widely circulated about the deceased returning the greetings of those who pass by their graves, but it cannot be used as proof:

ما من عبد يمر بقبر رجل كان يعرفه في الدنيا فيسلم عليه إلا عرفه ورد عليه السلام
Anytime a servant [of Allah] passes by the grave of a man that he knew in this world, and he sends his salām (greetings) to him, he [the deceased] would recognize him and return his salām.
— Da'īf al-Jāmi' as-Saghīr 2/752/5208

The conclusion is we do not know one way or the other, but a higher number of scholars lean towards the inability of the deceased to hear or see.
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. We cannot find words to praise Him, as He only sees fit how laudation should be addressed to Him. We seek refuge in God from the evils within ourselves and the evils of our bad deeds. Whosoever Allah guides will never be led astray, and whosoever He leads astray will never find guidance. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the One without any associate, and We bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger and bondman, peace and blessings be upon him, his kith and kin, his Companions and all those who follow their guidance until the Day of Judgment.

Your Question: Can the dead see us?
Answer:

Sa'id b. Jubayr (d. 95/714) is reported to have stated : " It is for sure that the dead people are informed about the people who are alive. There is nobody whose relative(s) passed away and who is left uninformed about the relatives he leaves behind. If the news they receive is good, they become happy and if it is not, they become upset." (23) Abu'd Darda (d. 32/652), from the Honored Companions, used to pray like this: "O Allah, I take refuge in you from a deed which may make my dead relatives feel ashamed of" (24)
Abdullah b. Mubarak reports that Abu Ayyub al-Ansari said: " The deeds of the people who are alive are reported to the dead. If they receive good news, they become happy and share the glad tidings but if they receive bad news, they pray " O, Allah keep him away from it".

As can be understood from the dead people asking for news from a person who has recently died, we cannot say that the dead people receive the news about the people alive on their own – except for the ones Allah wills. For this reason, we learn that they are informed by those who have just arrived and joined them. Their receiving news from the new-comers proves that they meet and talk to each other.
Muhammad's (pbuh) meeting with other prophets while he was still alive is something possible to happen. And it is of no difficulty for Allah to do this. This happened when Allah made him meet them and in the night of Miraj, Muhammad (pbuh) met the spirits of the Prophets at Al-Masjid al-Aqsa while he was awake. Later, some reports prove that he met some of them in the heavens.
Also, in an another hadith narrated by Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet (pbuh) reported that Moses (pbuh) prayed to Allah to let him talk to Adam (pbuh) and Allah let Moses (pbuh) meet and talk to Adam (pbuh), when he was still alive and awake.
Those who are alive meeting the people in the intermediate realm while they are asleep, is divine dreams, which are a part of prophecy, according to Ibnu'l Qayyim's report; and they represent Knowledge. Erzurumlu Ibrahim Hakki says: "Seeing the dead in good or bad situations in the dream is knowing the exact situation they are in. This is to show the situation of the dead or to make stay awake." , He pointed out that seeing the dead in the dreams are of real dreams.
When Imam al-Sadiq (as) was asked about whether we should visit graves and whether the people of Barzakh realised we are visiting them, he (as) said: "Yes, by Allah!They surely understand your visit, feel delighted and enjoy your company." (al-Faqih 1:115)
"A believer (in Barzakh) visits his family and sees that which he would like and that which he would hate is veiled from him. A disbeliever visits his family and sees what he would hate and what he would like is veiled from him. Some are allowed to visit every week, while others are allowed to visit according to their actions" (al-Kafi, 3:230)
As for the dead can hear, the scholars disagree concerning whether the dead hear the talk of living people. Some believe that they hear them. Others believe the opposite, i.e. that dead people do not hear living ones.
The Hadith where the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) addressed the dead of disbelievers in the battle of Badr three days after their death: "When he halted at the edge of the well, he addressed the corpses of the Quraish infidels by their names and their fathers' names, "O so-and-so, son of so-and-so and O so-and-so, son of so-and-so! Would it have pleased you if you had obeyed Allah and His Apostle? We have found true what our Lord promised us. Have you too found true what your Lord promised you? " 'Umar said, "O Allah's Apostle! You are speaking to bodies that have no souls!" Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is, you do not hear, what I say better than they do".
The narration reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim that "The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) told Muslims to greet the dwellers of graves and he said: 'Say: peace be upon you all, O inhabitants of the graves, among the believers and the Muslims. Verily we will, Allah willing, be united with you'" .
the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "When the funeral is ready (for its burial) and the people lift it on their shoulders, then if the deceased was a righteous person, it (the soul) would say, 'Take me ahead', [i.e. hasten to burry me] and if he was not a righteous one, then it would says, 'Woe to me! Where are you taking me?' His voice is heard by everything except human beings; and if they heard it, they would fall down unconscious." [An-Nasaa'i and Ahmad]

References:

Can a dead person contact with the actual world? Can they see the people who visit their graves?
DO OUR DECEASED RELATIVES LISTEN AND RESPOND TO US IF THEY WANT?
Can a dead person hear?
The Dead Hearing People Before Burial

Can the dead see us?


Thunderbird - Mark my comments with option

Question: Outlook has an option to mark my comments with a whatever I specify.  Does Thunderbird have an add-in to do this?
Answer: Use the Permanent pen feature of the MailTweak add-on to insert your inline reply with a different text style and colour. MailTweak will only change the text formatting and not throw in your name to preface your comments. But that should suffice to set your reply apart from the original text of the email.
If you wanted to use another add-on to insert your name, you can try and pair it up with Quicktext.
Lifehacker has a tutorial on the use of Quicktext. It basically consists of setting up templates and clicking or using a keyboard shortcut to drop in some auto-text.
Or just go the simple route of using your initials in all caps to mark the beginning of your response.
Answer: I found that it is also possible to reply in color using only the Quicktext extension with any standard text (e.g. name) in HTML.
E.g.  "some text" in the Quicktext template will introduce red color "some text".
Multiple such templates of different color "red", "blue" and "green" etc. can be used.
One can then go back to any other color from the TB formatting tool bar (assuming HTML).


Australian with P2 license hiring car in Spain

Question: I'm looking to hire a car in Spain. I called Avis there and they said you can't drive in Spain with an Australian provisional license but the guy on the phone wasn't really sure what it is and probably thought it was like a learner's license. You can get an IDP (International Driver's Permit) if you have an Australian provisional license does anyone know if it is legal to drive with an IDP + P2 license in Spain? And if so how can I convince the car hire place that it is the equivalent of a full license?
Answer: The DGT states in its website that you can drive in Spain if you carry an official translation to Spanish of your license. Check if Australia qualifies for the other possibilities in the website.
However, I'm not sure about provisional licenses. In Spain new drivers or people renewing licenses get a provisional authorization to drive (which is just a DIN-A4 sheet of paper) that is only valid for Spain. A full license (a credit-card like license, with all the usual security elements) is required to drive abroad.
Answer: Learner drivers in Spain must sit beside a professional instructor when in control of a vehicle and, if not, they cannot drive. Therefore, Spain does not have an equivalent to a provisional drivers license.
You will have to have an IDP, although I don't know whether you can obtain one with a provisional license.


Player with changeable speed

Question: I need to find an audio player app that can change the playback speed (slower and faster). Does anyone know an app that can do this?
Comment: what kind of player are you after? video? music? something else?
Comment: @RowlandShaw I need to player, wich can play audio.
I don't need music player(this files is not music), but I think music player also be ok.
Answer: VLC allows you to change the speed of reproduction from 0.5x to 2x, as you can see in this image:
Comment: Thank you for your help, but I can't find the way to change speed on my smartphone (Nokia Lumia 1020). I wiil be very thankful, if you tell me know how to do it.
Comment: Did you installed VLC as I suggested? Then just open VLC, choose a video to play and click on the "..." simbol; the speed option will show, like in the image I posted in my answer.
Answer: Audiobooked is an app designed for audio-books, with speed control, bookmarks and more.
Answer: Unotune player allows a changeable audio playback rate while preserving the pitch.

Player with changeable speed


What are the best ways to start gravel biking for a complete novice (in the Bay Area)?

Question: I recently got a Cannondale Slate and because I'm a complete novice, I'm a little hesitant in starting to ride on trails alone. I'm mostly wondering if I'd have to perform many jumps (which I don't know how to perform) on the trail. Any advice on trails or best practices would be highly appreciated.
Comment: Find some gravel and bike on it.
Comment: When you're riding, go with others, or at least pay attention to other riders and their approaches and techniques.   One of the best things about being on a bike is that you can talk with people, its not an insular cabin like a car.
Comment: Gravel bikes arent intended to jump, but to go over gravel well (essentially a cyclocross bike).
Answer: Welcome to the Bay Area! First, you should become a member of Bike East Bay - they provide advocacy as well as produce bike trail maps for the east bay. Being a member gets you a discount at most east bay bike stores.
Second, the gravel trails around here are all fairly gentle in terms of terrain except for some steep hills. You could do them all with a hybrid if you're fit enough. So my advice would be to just find some trails - either along the coastline where it's flat - or in the hills where you get the view -- and just do it.
The best way to learn is to just ride! If things get sketchy just take it slow. There are group rides scheduled through Bike East Bay, REI, and other organizations. Check through them or places like Meetup.
PS: You can find some very difficult, double black diamond trails for mountain biking in the east bay but you'd really have to go out of your way to look for them. Marked trails on the bike trail maps (and on google maps) are all beginner level.
Comment: Thanks much for the info. I was trying to search for maps from Bike East Bay but I couldn't find the online version. Would yuo happen to have a link to it?
Comment: There's no online version of the maps.  They want you to buy them at bike stores or  get them free with membership. Google maps will show some trails.
Answer: Gravel riding does not have to involve getting over 'technical' obstacles on the bike, although even on straightforward trails you may find you have to carry the bike over obstacles such as mud, steps or stream crossings.
It's good to ride with others to get to know trails and techniques and have some technical backup, plus it's just good to ride with friends; but you tend to meet people to ride with and make friends on the trail. Organized group rides are a great way to get started.
To get started on you own, research trails near you and select something that suits you in terms of surface, length, and amount and difficultly of climbing and descending. If in doubt start on the easy stuff and work your way up.
When going out on a ride, on your own or with a group:

Check weather and dress appropriately, including applying sunscreen.
For longer rides, make sure you have plenty of daylight to complete the ride.
Take a few essential tools. For short rides near civilization: a multi-tool and a puncture repair kit or spare tube are fine. Obviously you'll want to know how to repair a puncture and make at least basic adjustment to your bike.
Make sure your tires are inflated to an appropriate pressure for the surface you are riding on (higher for paved, lower for gravel or loose). The tire's pressure range is written on its sidewall, or consult your bike's owners manual or tire manufactures website.
Bring sufficient water (or know where to top up), energy bars or snacks.
Bring a (charged) mobile phone for navigation or calling for assistance in case of bike failure or injury. Bring a backup paper map folded in a sandwich bag so it does not get wet from rain or sweat. (Putting you phone in a bag protects it from moisture too.) If you research trails online they often have maps you can print, or print from Google Maps with the bicycling option turned on. Highlight your route or add hand written annotations if you want.
Answer: Nice bike.  Just venture out.  You can walk any section you are not comfortable with.  I jump / hop on my mtn bike but there are only a few spots I jump my cyclocross.  Off (down) camber drop is scary so just walk them - I am a pretty good rider and I walk them as I want to keep my teeth.


How to solve if we have $3^{(n-2)/2}$ in recurrence relation?

Question: In a question i found the recurrence relation $a_n=a_{n-2}+3^{(n-2)/2}$  then i should solve this relation with using generating factor but $3^{(n-2)/2}$ makes difficult to solve . Is there a solution for such a relations ?  Or is my answer  wrong ?
Answer: Expand the equation:
\begin{align*}
a_n&=a_{n-2}+3^{\frac{n-2}{2}} \\
   &=a_{n-4}+3^{\frac{n-4}{2}} + 3^{\frac{n-2}{2}} \\
   &=\sum_{i=1}^{\frac{n}{2}}3^{\frac{n}{2}-i} \\
   &=3^{\frac{n}{2}}\sum_{i=1}^{\frac{n}{2}}3^{-i}\\
   &= 3^{\frac{n}{2}}\times \frac12 \times\left(1-\left(\frac{1}{3}\right)^{\frac{n}{2}}\right)\\
   &=3^{\frac{n}{2}}\times \frac12 - \frac12\,.
\end{align*}
Answer: If you're looking for an asymptotic bound, it is easier to observe that on the $n^{th}$ level we get $3^{(n-2)/2}$ but on the $(n-2)^{th}$ level, we get $3^{(n-4)/2} = 3^{(n-2)/2} \cdot 3^{-1}$, for any $n$. So at any level, the children contribute a factor of 3 less than the parent, causing the recurrence to be "root dominated". That is to say, the first level dominates asymptotically. So the total value of $a_n$ is on the order of $O(3^{(n-2)/2}) = O(3^{n/2})$.


Excluding visibility to only one subsite for an AD user

Question:
I am trying to exclude visibility for my user, UserKiosk, to ONLY the 'KIOSK' subsite.  The issue I am having is that, since UserKiosk is an AD user they are automatically part of the 'Everyone' Sharepoint group.  This group has been added to the Intranet Visitors which grants view/read access to all of the other subsites as well.  When, UserKiosk, logs into the Intranet they are able to see the other subsites (Home, Our Company, OUr benefits, etc.) and access them but cannot edit.  I do not want this, I only want them to see Kiosk.  Is this possible or would I have to create a totally separate site/site collection?
Answer: The only way to do this would be to move KIOSK to a different site collection on a different web application and then add a Policy to deny access to the original web application or delete the group everyone and replace it with one that doesn't have kiosk inside.
Comment: Thanks for the insight.  I will definitely look into this and coordinate with our AD person, as this seems to be our best option.  I am sure down the road we will have more requests to give a user or group of users access to a portion of the Intranet but not all of it
Comment: I was afraid someone might say that.  I was hoping their was another way.  Would it be possible to remove the 'Everyone' group in Sharepoint and just create groups in AD and then add users to the appropriate groups and then use the AD groups in Sharepoint permissions?  This way I would not put the UserKiosk in a group so they would only have access to what I assign them.  Not sure if that makes sense
Comment: Yes, you can use AD groups. In fact, 100% of the places I've worked used this as policy. You can configure AD sync and then whenever you want to grant permissions SharePoint will pull the AD groups.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219646.aspx


What is the largest size offset commercial printer?

Question: I am looking to offset print a poster and can't find a service that does above 36"x48". Is this the largest size offset printing can accommodate? What's the cause of this limitation?
Comment: Sheetwise, the paper sheet size is the limitation. There's web offset that prints with rotary plates on rolls of paper or plastic.
Comment: @Stan but you still have the plate/roller limitation. I doubt there are many web presses with custom rollers to handle extra-long plates.
Comment: It's getting harder and harder to find 40" presses these days. I've heard of bigger sheet fed presses but they are rare. The cost and volume of work just isn't there to sustain these big boys these days. What kind of volume are you looking to print?
Answer:
The big size of the machines?
The low demand for bigger sizes?
The maximum paper size?

Actually depending on the country you live there is a chance you can not find a suitable paper, for example more than 72x102cm.
But for example some Heilderberg machines can print up to 121x162 cm https://www.heidelberg.com/global/en/products/press/sheetfed_offset/speedmaster_xl_145___xl162/technical_data___equipment_11/technical_data___equipment_22.jsp
In case you find a printer that big, you need to see the minimum ammount of units they are willing to print.
The bigger the machine, the bigger the number of thousands you need to print, because it cost a lot to have them paused mounting the new plates.
Comment: "The big size of the machines" is certainly significant LOL - the bigger the press the more people can stand on it! - http://i.imgur.com/Yq3hbmc.jpg
Comment: This is good information. I'm sort of amazed not one online service seems to offer prints at that size. At least none I can find.
Comment: @Lucent the bigger the press, the more expensive it is to buy, maintain, and the more room it takes up on the production floor. There's just not enough of a demand for offset printing beyond standard poster sizes for it to be profitable to run presses that large (let alone paper suppliers to stock paper cut to that size).
Comment: One of thoose machines is arround 5 digits...
Comment: @Rafael or 6+ digits depending on the options
Answer: I discovered about a dozen offset printers doing 64" and 81" in the United States. The secret was to search for the specific machines that can print at these sizes, like the KBA 164 (64"), KBA 145 (57"), KBA 185 (73"), and KBA 205 (81").
Printing companies more often advertise their acquisition of one of these expensive machines than their maximum sheetfed offset capability. You'll also find press releases mentioning the machines that'll lead you back to the companies.