Should I set the metronome the same speed as the shortest note when practicing?

Question: If the piece's time signature is 4/4, and its shortest note is sixteenth.
Should I set the metronome the same speed as sixteenth note, or quarter note? Why?
Comment: At a guess, the tempo is marked as ♩ = 60. Set the metronome to that.
Comment: What's the time signature of the song?  That should designate what note gets the beat and how you describe the bpm, not the shortest duration note.
Comment: @Dom The time signature is 4/4, and the tempo is  ♩ = 60, as Patrx2 guessed.
Comment: @Dom I've reworded my question, hope it's clearer than before.
Answer: It depends on what you're trying to accomplish.  If I'm trying to work on accuracy in sixteenth notes, I set the metronome to a sixteenth note (or eighth notes).  If I'm trying to work on the bigger flow of the piece, I set it to quarter notes.  Sometimes I turn the metronome off (or to a very slow setting) and work on the "big" beat (i.e. each measure).
The metronome is a tool to help you improve the accuracy of your timing, and you should use it in whatever ways help you best.
Answer: In general, setting the metronome to sixteenth notes for a typical piece will only be useful when you are trying to figure out an intricate rhythm in ultra-slow motion.  Once you move from the "figure-out" to the "actually practise in style" phase, you'll very likely want to use the "denominator of the time signature", like 4 in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 beats or 2 in 2/2 beats.  For some rhythms, it makes sense to go even coarser, like 2 beats per 6/8 measure or 1 beat per 3/4 measure (Viennese Waltz).
It may be helpful to use a "drum pattern" from an arranger rather than a metronome when available: those offer finer subdivisions for orientation without losing the "big picture" like a metronome does.
Answer: If the time signature is 4/4 that tells you that a quarter note gets one beat and that there are 4 beats to a measure.  If the time signature was 3/4 that tells you that a quarter note (indicated by the second half of the time signature) gets one beat and there are 3 beats per measure.
If the time signature is 6/8 then that tells us that an eighth note gets one beat and there are 6 of those beats per measure.
So if you simply want to follow the meter designated by the composer, then you would set your metronome to the same speed as the note that gets one beat as prescribed in the time signature. In 4/4 time that note is a quarter note.
So if the time signature is 4/4 and the tempo is marked as ♩ = 60, then you would normally set the metronome to 60.
Sometimes for practice purposes, you might set the metronome to a slower speed that will permit you to play the piece accurately during practice.  Start with a speed that allows you to quickly get to 100% accuracy and then gradually increase the speed until you get to full tempo.
There may be other situations involving practicing the piece where you might use a different setting on the metronome.  If it helps you learn the piece to practice it with the metronome set to twice the indicated speed (eight note gets one beat and each measure has eight beats), then I suppose you could try that as a learning tool.
But the short answer to your question is that common protocol would indicate setting the metronome so that the beat is equal to the tempo prescribed for a quarter note in 4/4 time.
Answer: A big thing with drummers now is the distinction between micro-time and macro-time. When practicing, you can set your metronome to work on one aspect or the other. (I've never heard anyone but drummers talk about this, using this specific terminology, but I imagine this concept would be useful for all musicians regardless of their instrument.)
Setting the metronome to click on 16ths would be zooming in to work on your micro-timing: are you subdividing accurately?
Conversely, setting the metronome to click on whole notes would be zooming out to work on your macro-timing: are you feeling a steady pulse/tempo?
For a challenge, drummers will play to a metronome such that the click is not on the beat. The easiest is simply hearing it as an upbeat, ie on the 'and'. More difficult is hearing it on the 'e' or 'a'. And the macro version is to hear the click on any beat other than the downbeat. This prevents you from relying on the metronome as a crutch because it forces you to really feel the music, not just follow the click. (A bit off topic, but useful and interesting nonetheless.)
Answer: Generally no. You might set it to 1/4 notes, 1/2 notes, whole notes or even less. It depends on tempo. It's usually comfortable to have the metronome somewhere around 60bpm, but you might set it somewhat slower if you want to work on your ability to maintain time. (I used to practice having a very slow metronome that clicked every few bars, which is quite challenging.)
16 notes would be very fast for most music and quite irritating. You want to develop your ability to play the various subdivisions accurately while holding tempo. A slower tick generally helps this more than a fast one.


What are the main safety risks of fencing?

Question: I want to try fencing with a friend, but I think he may be worried about safety. What are the main injury risks for fencing and how common are they?
Answer: I am an assistant fencing coach for a collegiate club.
Several injury risks I've encountered:

Poked in the eye/face/chest/"below the belt"/etc: This is most common. Being accidentally poked in some places are less severe than others, but it is still a common risk. In addition, the tip at the end of your fencing weapon may be loose or missing. A weapon without a tip is more painful than with one.
Twisted ankles (ligament tears are less common, but possible): In some fencing positions, one is susceptible to twisted ankles/ligament tears simply by shifting your weight the wrong way. An example: After a lunge, you can twist your ankle causing the rest of that side of your lower body to collapse. A member actually suffered ligament tears in her knee when I was a student, and was in a full leg brace for about a year.

To prevent these risks:

Safety first. Use common sense. Don't put yourself or others at risk.
Take time to learn the fundamentals. Many people are interested in fencing because it "looks cool," but these same people lose interest because they are not willing to put forth effort to learn the fundamentals. In my club, if you think you're going to use a weapon during your first month of drills, think again. It is not a toy.
When fencing, wear appropriate fencing gear. This includes:

Mask
Glove
Jacket
Underarm protector (plasteron)
Chest protector (mandatory for females; optional for males)
Protective Cup (for males)
Knickers
Knee-length socks
Fencing shoes (recommended, but tennis or court shoes and sneakers will suffice)

My club only requires socks, sneakers, and appropriate attire (t-shirt, gym     shorts) for warm-ups, conditioning, and drills. When a weapon is involved, we require most of the gear listed above. We are lenient about the underarm protector, knickers, and knee-length socks (as long as the body is covered, sweats for example as an alternative to knickers and knee-high socks)...but we are stringent about the rest, especially a mask.
NOTE: Even if you're fencing lightly (or horsing around), wear gear. Accidents are most common when we are not at an appropriate awareness level. That, compounded with not wearing gear, can result in a costly accident that could have been easily prevented.
Scan your equipment before use. Make sure the equipment you are using is in good, maintained condition. As I state above, a weapon without a tip is more painful than with one. This can be easily prevented if you take a careful look over your equipment before you use it. If something doesn't look right, let someone (who knows what they are doing) know.

Hope this helps, and hope I didn't scare you and your friend away ;)
Comment: For men, I'd add a cup.
Comment: @TheodoreNorvell Good call. Added.
Answer: Fencing is really very safe as long as you go to a real club and follow directions. Any risks of injury are the same for other leg-heavy sports.
In General:
• Make sure to drink plenty of water
• Stretch and warm-up before and after (especially stretch your quads and athletic lunges)
For Fencing
• Pay attention to form when learning advances, retreats, and lunges
• For epee, where the whole body is target, you are more likely to get some bruises. (It all depends on the other people you fence with; beginners might be a little wild.)
• I can't speak for foil, but I've never been hurt by a saber
Have fun! Fencing is great exercise and a mental challenge, and I hope you and your friend decide to give it a try!
Comment: Beginner wildness is the main cause of bruises.  When you are just learning, judging distance is the one of the last things that comes around and as a result you give (and get) bruises more frequently.  Moderately experienced fencers generally don't hit as hard because their grasp of how much force/speed is required to cover ground is better.
Answer: Compared to many other sports fencing is much safer.
There is an article on this by Peter Harmer.
For prevalence:

Studies in Table 10.1 indicate consistent  findings  of  a  time-loss  rate  of  0.0  to  0.3  per 1,000  athlete  exposures  (AE)  across  a  wide  variety of  competition  and  training  settings.  By  comparison, soccer and basketball have been found to have ~50  times  and  31  times  higher  rates  of  time  loss from  competition  because  of  injury,  respectively, than fencing.

As for the main types of injuries, studies differ a bit, but it seems that hands, knees, and ankles are relatively common compared with other sorts of injuries.   See Harmer's article for details. (In my experience, hands are commonly scratched, blistered, or bruised, but injuries to the lower extremities, while rarer, can be more severe.)
My own impression is that many fencing injuries are caused by people competing at too high a level for their ability.
Comment: I am interested in how your experiences brought you to your opinion (of injuries being caused by competing beyond your level). I understand it and it makes sense...it's easy to overdo it to match and exceed an opponent's level beyond yours.
Comment: During the time I assistant-coached fencing, our unranked members were competing against D's and E's (maybe a C every so often). They were being shut out, but the only concern we ever had was poor conditioning (which, I understand, causes injuries...but that's despite an opponent rather than because of an opponent -- it's happened during practices against same-level practice partners).
Comment: I didn't mean that they were necessarily fencing against people who are much better than them.  Those bouts are usually over quickly and safely, since the experienced fencer can control the distance.  It's more when you have two college kids who started fencing in first year and now they're in second year, competing for their school, and way too hyped.  Form, distance, and common sense can quickly be lost. Anyway it's just an impression built on a very small number of examples; don't take me too seriously. Fencing is so safe it's hard to make generalizations based on personal observation.
Comment: Good points. In my experience (which doesn't include many examples either), the college kid would be more nervous than hyped. Thanks for the helpful insight.


Can I use my Country Living Grain Mill for homebrewing?

Question: I already own a Country Living Grain Mill for making flour and want to start crushing my own grain for my homebrew. Will this style of mill work for homebrew or should I buy a mill specially for homebrew?
Answer: Are you able to adjust the mill, so that it can mill more coarsely than you would want for flour?  If so, I think you should be all set.
When brewing all grain, you want a pretty coarse grind; you essentially just want to crack the kernels open, rather than pulverize them.  This leaves the husks in tact, and they serve as a filter bed during the sparge process.  If you grind too finely, you can end up with a stuck sparge, where the wort doesn't flow through the grain.
Imagine if you filled a colander with flour, and then tried to pour water through it.  Likely, very little water, if any, would make it through.  That is the situation you are trying to avoid.
Comment: I would suggest trying it with a small amount of grain, and then inspecting what comes out.  If it looks like the kernels are being cracked into two or three pieces, then you should be all set.
Comment: I am able to adjust the mill, I'm just not sure if I am able to adjust it enough, or even if this style of a mill is appropriate for brewing. Do you have any experience with plate grain mills vs. roller mills?
Answer: I am planning on buying a Country Living Mill, and I am both baking and brewing. I was researching if the mill could be used for crushing malt as well.
A lot of people have been asking this question, but I've only found one person actually having tried it. According to him it crushes the malt nicely and leaves the husks.
Here is the link: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/barley-crusher-what-mill-should-i-buy-65298/#post671124 I also found a video where a guy demonstrates the grain mill and he shows a sample of cracked wheat he made on the coarse setting. You can skip to about 5:15 if you want to see the cracked wheat. The movie is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIwPlj0ooEs
Answer: A grain mill that is appropriate for crushing barley for a mash is typically referred to as a grist mill.  The mill needs to be set 'open' enough that the husk of the barley seed will crack open, but will not be torn apart.  This is due to the need to use the husks as the filtration media during the sparge.  A typical grist mill can be opened to a gap of at least 0.070".  See this mill at Northern Brewer for a typical example.
Comment: Thanks! I am aware of what the typical mill for cracking barley looks like--I'm more wondering if anybody has any experience with my particular mill and if it works/how well it works for this task. Ideally, I don't want to purchase a second mill (extra expense, takes up more space, etc).
Comment: Then I would just run some malt through it to see how it comes out.  Can you adjust the roller distance on your mill?


Why punish sinners on earth (death sentence,jail etc) when they'l probablyl end up in Hell anyway?

Question: It seems pointless to punish evil doers with earthly punishments when they will go to hell anyway for their bad deeds. I understand it's a good prevalent to prevent further crime but it seems strange we are punishing wrong doers when Allah will in the end?
Answer: The Prophet Muhammad (S. A. '. S) is noted to have said, A wrong done in this world that is punished, will not be punished in the hereafter. A wrong done in this world that is not punished in this world will have a severe punishment with Allah.
As we have people that commit crimes against people and or society as a whole, we are duty bound to assist them. Being Muslim we must be at the forefront of building a safer world for our children to live in. So, when we have the opportunity to correct a wrong we are actually helping the wrong doer closer to Allah's forgiveness. Allah says in Al Qur'an, "oh ye that believe enjoin right and forbid the wrong." That is an order not a request. We are duty bound by this. There is a saying, Am I my Brothers keeper? The answer to that question is yes. We help our brothers in right and in wrong. You might ask,I understand in the right however, how do we help in the wrong? You do that by deterring your brother from doing the wrong. That gives you and him/her a blessing. As Salaamu Alaykum wa Rahmat Ullahi wa Baarakatuh.
Answer: Usually to act as purification or to strongly discourage it or when it affects someone else. I mean the punishment for murder is death as it will discourage people to kill and cutting of hands for stealing as it will discourage people to steal. Sins like murder and stealing not only affect you but also others and thus, punishment in this world.
Answer: It is because he should not do it again.
Suppose a person who don't believe in hereafter who raped someone. If you don't punish him what he will do?


Why did Django kill Miss Lara?

Question: During the climax of Django Unchained, Django enters Calvin's house and asks Shiba and the other black girl to say goodbye to Miss Lara, after which he shoots her. Why did Django kill that lady? Although she was Calvin Candie's sister, she is not seen doing anything wrong. Instead when Calvin tries to strip Broomhilda at the dining table she objects and rebukes Calvin, after which he stops. Had Django started hating all the white folks whatsoever?
Comment: She ran the place when Calvin wasn't there. He owned a few plantations. She definitely got what she deserved
Comment: They were all slave owners and cruel she didnt free any of her slaves either she was an accomplice
Answer: Him hating all the white people is a bit of a stretch, after all that white Dr. Shultz did for him.
However, hating all the Candies is not a wee bit of a stretch. Covering his track is also a good motive: random slaves are not very likely reveal (or even be asked) who killed their hated masters when some sheriff or a marshal come to investigate, but Calvin Candie's sister surely would.
Then there is the matter of Django's punishment at the Candieland. It was her to decide to LeQuint Dickey Mining Company. This was the destiny waiting for Django, by Miss Lara's decision, as described by Stephen:

Lo and behold, out of nowhere, Miss Lara come up with the bright idea of giving your ass to the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company. And as a slave of the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company,henceforth, till the day you die, all day, every day, you will be swinging a sledgehammer, turning big rocks into little rocks.
  Now, when you get there, they gonna take away your name, give you a number and a sledgehammer, and say, "Get to work!"
  One word of sass, they cuts out your tongue. And they good at it too. You won't bleed out. Oh, they does that real good.
  They gonna work ya.
  All day, every day, till your back give out.
  Then they're gonna hit you in the head with a hammer, throw your ass down the nigger hole.
  And that will be the story of you, Django.

And it's not like miss Lara was really concerned about Broomhilda:

We are eating. Ain't no one wanna look at her whipped up back.

She's merely concerned about unpleasantness at the dinner table.
All taken into account, there is no reason for Django to be merciful to her, but there are quite a few to treat her like all the other white people at the Candieland.
Comment: Great reasoning. And I thought *Jamie Foxx* just wanted to [*"kill all the white people in the movie"*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Unchained#Controversy). ;-)
Answer: She might not have ordered anything particularly severe that we saw but she was complicit with the brutal treatment of the slaves at the house, including Broomhilda.
Her brother adored her and she could easily have used that influence to ease the plight of the people there but she chose not to and merely enjoyed the luxury of her life off their backs.
She also, as Vendran pointed out, gave the order for Django to be sent to the mining company and was involved in the conversation about how best to torture him.
IMHO she was lucky he killed her with one shot and did not kneecap her first, she was as despicable as her brother.
Answer: He did it because she was the one who was going to have his genitals removed and then who decided to send him to the mining company as an even worse lifelong punishment than keeping him at the Candyland plantation.  She basically was saying just killing him would be too easy, she wanted him to suffer for a very long time.  She was Leonardo DiCaprio's sister too and complicit with all of the slavery.
Answer: Well she was merely the one to point out how Hildi had big eyes for Django. Thus giving Stephen a reason to suspect foul play between the trio. If Miss Lara had kept her big mouth shut I believe their scheme would've gone unnoticed and nobody had to die.

Why did Django kill Miss Lara?


Should I remove an answer which turns out to be a duplicate?

Question: I answered a question without thinking too much, and then it occurred to me that something similar must have been addressed before, and I found it. Should I remove my answer and mark the question as duplicate?
Answer: do mark the question as a duplicate.  but don't remove your answer.  although the answer may be essentially the same as the one for the question identified as a duplicate, someone coming to the site in the future may find this question first,
and the fact that the answer is there may save that person from an additional
step in finding an answer.
(on the other hand, if you find the duplicate before you've written an answer,
just link it.)
some good guidelines appear in this question (which could conceivably be considered a duplicate of the present one).
Comment: Leaving the answer in place also has the advantage that it may improve the searchability via goggle and similar services. And even if the duplicate answer may not solve the specific problem from the google-brought visitor, the linked duplicate may.
Comment: See, for instance, http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/53513/hyperref-token-not-allowed/53514#53514 that recently brought me a gold badge for 100 upvotes. `;-)`


how to suppress Firefox addon updates window from being on top of everything?

Question: Whenever Firefox installs updates, the "Firefox addon updates" window is always on top of everything (highest in the z-order of all windows of all apps). Although it lasts only 10-ish seconds, it is very annoying (and unnecessary). Is there a way to suppress that? Thanks.
Answer: You can disable automatic updates for add-ons from within FireFox.
If you're using FireFox on Windows, navigate to...
Tools > Options... > Advanced > Update > Automatically check updates to:
... and uncheck 'Add-ons'
For FireFox on Linux, navigate to...
Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Update > Automatically check updates to:
... and uncheck 'Add-ons
You can then manually check for updates at a more convenient time by selecting:
Tools > Add-ons > Extensions > Find Updates


How do some of the X-Men come back in "Days of Future Past"?

Question: In Days of Future Past, Magneto has his powers again, Charles Xavier is alive and Rogue has her powers when in X-Men: The Last Stand, Magneto got the 'cure', Xavier was killed by Jean and Rogue got cured. What happened?
Comment: The cure isn't permanent, and Xavier transferred his mind into another body. A lot of this isn't answered in the film directly because Brian singer, the director of x1, x2, and days of Future past, wanted to essentially forget and erase x3 from the timeline because he as well as movie goers didn't like the film and it was perceived badly. This is also why he completely rewrites wolverines origin story because he also disliked the X-Men origins movie about wolverine, and even included his own scenes in the X-Men apocalypse film.
Answer: Magneto was not fully "cured", he's too powerful for that; right before the end credits of The Last Stand start rolling, you can see him move a metallic chess piece with his mutant power.

Charles Xavier went for mind transfer in the post-credits scene, explaining how he could come back - see the thorough answer to What happened to Charles Xavier after X-Men 3?.
I don't remember Rogue in the version of DOFP I watched, I think the Rogue cut is a special cut. I'd have to watch it to confirm, but I'd wager a guess that Rogue is also very powerful and a single shot of "the cure" may not have been sufficient to remove all of her powers.
Answer: It is never addressed. In one of the last scenes it is hinted that the cure doesn't work (permanently) with Magneto seemingly being able to move a chess piece.
But the Marvel Fox universe is filled with Continuity errors, with the same characters having different origin stories.
Like Emma Frost being the sister of Logan's wife in X-Men Orirgins: Wolverine and being a member of the Hellfire Club decades earlier without having aged in between.
Or Caliban being a mutant in Apocalypse while being the same character with a completely different personality and backstory in Logan.
Same errors go for Cyclops, Storm and a lot of other minor characters.


How to avoid excessive concentration?

Question: How does the protocol prevent Block Producers (stake pools, I assume) to concentrate too much and make the consensus less robust?
How does the protocol prevent bandwidth holders (EOS holders)from concentrating too much and make the platform unattractive for small users, who would then need to rent EOS from oligopolistic holders to operate on the Blockchain?
Answer: The EOS constitution forbids to have more than 10% (total supply) eos tokens for one individual/dApp/BlockProducer.
This was addressed by Thomas Cox in interview with EOS GO : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQe15JHpjDA
Answer:
How does the protocol prevent bandwidth holders (EOS holders)from concentrating too much and make the platform unattractive for small users

If I am not mistaken, if a particular EOS holder do not use bandwidth, this bandwidth is available for another users. So if a big token holder would like to spam the network, actually he can. If he owns 1% of the tokens, he could whatever he wants with his bandwidth.
If there will be a situation in which there will be no bandwidth left for the average user, then witnesses could try to scale their nodes.
// at least, this is how I understand that.
Answer: As mentioned above the proposed constitutional article will limit each entity to a maximum of 10% ownership of EOS. Entities with more can be subject to arbitration.
Another key component to minimizing consolidation of the EOS token supply is in the game theory behind the initial distribution of ERC-20 EOS.
By stretching the distribution out over a whole year and selling fixed tranches of EOS for an unbounded price, any whale looking to dump funds into EOS quickly are penalized by having to pay much more per token. Looking at a distribution of ERC-20 EOS, while we are not able to differentiate separate identities behind multiple wallets, we can see the token distribution is relatively more widely distributed than every other blockchain asset.

How to avoid excessive concentration?


Do I need to be concerned about browser security?

Question: I have been a long time windows user till about thanksgiving when I switched to ubuntu. on windows I used firefox because I could trust the security that it gave. Since malware/virus are next to none on ubuntu (and yes I have read  up on all of the diffent point of views on both sides of having ubuntu security software or not) is google chrome just as safe on linux or should I stick with firefox?
Comment: I ask this because i currently use firefox due to noscript and adblock. I know Chrome has adblock too. I just dont trust java script...
Answer: from my experience, as an average user I would say you don't have to worry so much about malware on linux than on windows. This might be very different if you are running servers with important content on it.
Since you have to approve anything that could be harmful to your core system (ie. anything that happens outside of /home) by giving your root password malware can't really affect your system settings, unless ofcourse you unknowingly grant them access.
So just stick to the rules...only download executable packages from trusted and/or well reviewed sources and NEVER run wine in sudo mode^^
Regarding the browsers I'd say either one is fine. I've used firefox for 3 years and I am now using Chromium for about a year and a half and I have never had problems with facebook hacks or anything like that.
From a very subjective point of view...I like the user experience with Chromium a little better though.
Comment: thanks for your oppion. I have been using Firefox nightly as my main browser with no fualts in the almost two years doing so. Is the Dev versions of chrome just as... I dont wanna say "stable" but usable as a daily browser
Comment: I have no experience with chromiums dev builds. But I guess there's no harm in downloading and trying one of them
Answer: This is really a matter of opinion as you're correct in that there aren't as many viruses or malware written to target Linux based operating systems. Of course, that doesn't mean that there aren't any either.
If you're concerned, maybe just install something like Avast and at the very least you've got some decent virus protection for free.
So it's up to you and your comfort level. In terms of a browser, I recommend Chromium as it has sandboxing for the web browser rendering services which are really quite good.
Check out the Chromium security principles. Nice piece of mind as well.
Answer: Linux is not invulnerable and there are cross platform vulnerabilities.
Check out http://www.ubuntu.com/usn for firefox vulnerabilities as well.
At the end of the day, you need to match your security with the value of your assets on your computer or the sites you connect to.
There are some common protection you should do on any OS, for example you should only conduct financial transactions on an encrypted connection, ie https
Considerations for Firefox on Ubuntu would be:
1) Enable the apparmor firefox profile.
<code>sudo aa-enforce /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox
</code>
2) You might want to use NoScript. Only you can decide if the hassle is worth the additional security.
3) Social engineering ( Phishing ) is often more effective then cracking and works on any os.


Blender Cloud texture settings: How to get from 0 alpha partial transparency in render?

Question: My aim is to get the leaves-object of a tree to have some transparency generated by the preset cloud texture from blender.  I cannot use cycles render. Is there a way to get that possible though?Here's a testrender to show my current result
Things I already tried so far:
- set material settings up with a mask-transparency (alpha on 90%)
- texture settings like following:  type: clouds  colors-> ramp enabled,  left side on white with 0 alpha.  right side a color at position 0.771, full alpha. blending method 'ease'.
mapping is generated, flat (since it's a bunch of single planes)
influencing (diffuse) alpha, color and some geometry settings.
bump mapping is set as best quality and texture space.

[A thing that might happen is a not fitting size of the texture for the objects.]
If anyone out there has got some experiences with a working method, I'd be happy to get some help here.
Thanks^^

Comment: Surprised your question hasn't been answered by now, (14th March 2017) but as as it's been re-presented, I've made two basic leaves and added them to my earlier attempt to answer/reply.  More detail is provided at the edited section of the post.
Answer: You can use the Value from the cloud texture to get transparency.
Enable nodes, and in material nodes connect the value of the cloud texture to the Output's Alpha.
You can fine tune the amount of transparency by adding a color ramp in between .
Comment: Thanks, it made them appear a little transparent now. Somehow not the right method to create petals however. In the end, I will need to create textures therefor I fear.
Comment: Is the result still bad even with a color ramp?
Comment: Well, it makes the seperate layers not overlap each other where there is transparency but show the world background. I don't think it would help doing color ramp there.
Comment: @xDonnervogelx, with that World Bkd showing through, try ticking or unticking the "Transparency" box for those leaves.  You'll find that under each leaf object's properties at extreme right. (orange cube icon at top of properties)  Go down to it's "Display" tab and open that.  It's in there.
Answer: Try the "Transparency & X-ray tickbox under each object's Properties-->Display. (the orange cube icon at top)  That cured my problem when peering through a semmi-transparent surface and losing what was behind it.
-=============-
Edit: 14th March 2017
Surprised your question hasn't been answered by now,  but as it's been presented again, I've made two basic leaves and added them here.

They are made from ordinary 2D planes fashioned into the shape of leaves, then textured with leaf images. After some bumping to raise their veins(?), transparency and colour was adjusted.
I am at a loss to appreciate exactly what it is you have in mind here but gather that it's not a botanical representation, rather, employing a measure of transparency and sky colouring along with a soft texture, which is not necessarily leafy.
I've used leafy texture here and not limited the settings in the left hand example in order to demonstrate what can be done in ordinary Blender and OpenGL rendering.
You can scale down the texture's "Color" and "Geometry" sliders in the Influence tab for much softer and perhaps even 'mystical' results with the right shading and lighting.  You can also use any texture you like but using one that's alpha layered can add complication.
An alpha layered texture would normally require the Material's "Transparency" slider to be at zero already.  The texture's opacity slider could be adjusted for a single image but cannot be keyframed (varied) if producing video.
The compositor may be able to override this but you'd then be back in Blender's render and results might look entirely different.
In the example shown in your question you mentioned that the leaves were planes, so the setup described here would be possible with the leaves as placed.
The varied angles that they hang at will affect how the bumping will appear so you may have to add weak point lights here and there, or create different material slots for some leaves and adjust those texture and material settings to compensate
In brief - the above was rendered in OpenGL, and put together using ordinary Blender.
Comment: Thanks for that tip, I used it on a different object which is for hair (texture affects alpha value). It now shows the transparency in texture mode. Still, it doesn't render as expected. The backface culling seems to be disabled. I am still trying to figure out, what causes this. I worked with game engine for a while and going back to blender render is getting difficult. Something is fishy here...
Comment: You're most welcome.  I did elaborate elsewhere on this site regarding interaction between transparent surfaces that are behind each other, but can't find it now.  Basically-parenting the one behind to the front one will make the rear one disappear when the front's transparency is set to .008 or thereabouts and this effect can be cancelled by joining the two together and then seperating the back one in Edit mode, using key 'P'.  If you're tempted to try this, copy your Blend file to a temporary one first, do it on the copy!
Comment: I've just seen you added some info to your answer. Since it's been so long ago, I have to overthink the whole issue a few times. Maybe I'll comment again if it comes better to my mind. I do get the part with having flat or almost flat planes. Seems, that somehow the objects themselves are overlapping their own surfaces, when they have got a more complicated shape. Oh, and please tell me, if I misunderstand your explaination. It's hard to follow sometimes, since I am not natively speaking english...
Comment: So... I just tested the things with setting alpha down and started player on a new file. It only worked on one side. Which is strange. I had two transparent planes, same settings for both, selected around but only from below I could see through both planes. So this must mean this is a bug by blender itself? I could add the pictures I took out of it just this minute.


Oracle Recovery

Question: Oracle server died. Built a new VM and mapped out the volumes to the SAN. Installed the same version of Oracle on the new server and applied the same patches. How can I "register" or "attached" the oracle files > control, redo and DBF files to the new server? Oracle 10g 10.0.2.0.3. Thoughts? Thanks.
Answer: If your files are visible and accessible on the new server as they were on the old one, restore a pfile or an spfile (found in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/ ) from the old server and use that to start the database.
If needed you can generate an editable pfile from the spfile to check the path's of the controlfiles. Easiest is when all path's are the same otherwise, you really need a dba to get you going.

Oracle Recovery


How do you make this synth sound?

Question: This is probably a silly question, but I've always been wondering how to make one of the most typical acid/rave synth sounds.
You can hear it, for example, starting at 2:37 in Unix - Overdrive Your Speakers
Thanks so much in advance!
++A
Answer: If I'm not mistaken that is the sound of a Roland TB-303 bassline synthesizer run through a distortion effect.
It's a quite famous sound and is one of the major elements (some would say the major element) of acid music.
Comment: I actually own a tt-303 (tb-303 clone), but I still have to learn how to make that particular sound :) Any clue on the kind of distortion / parameters I can try?
Comment: Experiment and use your ears!
Answer: That is the classic Roland TB-303, which recently has been re-imagined by Roland with a modern and improved version named AIRA TB3.

If you don't want to buy the synth (classic or new) you can always pick a good soft-synth emulator with pre-programmed patches. Just google for "tb-303 vst".
You'll also find interesting this video documentary about where it comes from and its history.
Answer: Alifer, if "experiment" is too vague from the onset, as a starting point, try changing BOTH cutoff and resonance in realtime. Twist those knobs as the sound (even one repeated note) plays. That frequency modulation (i.e., "sound gets blurrier and sharper") is responsible for the "squelchy"-ness which is integral to acid. Then process the sound through different types of distortion.
There are MANY TB-303 clones out there worth googling, one of my faves is D16's Phoscyon http://www.d16.pl/index.php?menu=10 because it has precise presets with the sound you're looking for, which you can reverse-engineer to your liking.

How do you make this synth sound?


how to use window title to get process id,and process name

Question: I would like to get process id and process name via using window title
my develop environment is visual c++ 2008
how to do it.
thanks
Answer: It's not reliable to search window by title. But if you want to do so, first you need to find window handle for specified title. You can easily do this with EnumWindows function. When you find HWND you can use GetWindowThreadProcessId function to get process id.
UPD: To get process name you need to get process handle with OpenProcess and use GetProcessImageFileName.
Answer: <code>HWND hw = FindWindow(NULL, L"Window Title");

if (hw)
{
    DWORD dwProcessId = 0;
    DWORD dwThreadId = GetWindowThreadProcessId(hw, &dwProcessId);

    HANDLE hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION, FALSE, dwProcessId);

    if (hProcess)
    {
         wchar_t *szExeName[1024] = {0};
         if (QueryFullProcessImageName(hProcess, 0, szExeName, _countof(szExeName))
         {
            // ...
         }
         CloseHandle(hProcess);
    }
}
</code>
You should probably use the class argument as well (the one that is NULL in my first line) if you know it, so that it is less likely you will accidentally find some other program's window that happens to have the same title.
Of course, the class name is not guaranteed to be unique between programs either, but the combination is more reliable than just using the title by itself.
You can get the window class easily using Spy++.
Edit: QueryFullProcessImageName requires Vista, but you can swap that line for one which uses GetProcessImageFileName as per DReJ's answer.
Edit2: If you're not compiling for unicode, remove the "L" before "Window Title" and use a char buffer instead of wchar_t.


Can I run two versions of Opera with independent cookies?

Question: I'd like to have multiple Opera windows open, each using a separate cookie jar.  This is primarily so I can be connected to both my personal google email and my work google docs account at the same time.  Is this possible?
Answer: You don't need to run two instances of Opera for that. Just open a private tab (right click on the tabs bar and select the "new private tab" option) and load your personal email there, then right click on it and "pin tab".
Answer: Setting up multiple profiles is the best solution. They will use the same Opera instance so you won't have to update different directories manually when a new version is out, and a new profile doesn't use as much place on your hard drive as a complete copy of Opera.
Tutorials of how this can be done can be found all around the internet (I prefer the -pd way)
(Or alternatively you can do what I do... using Opera with my personal Gmail account and using Opera Next with my work account. But this should be considered a bad idea because Opera Next can be quite instable.)
Answer: Using the portableapps.com version of Opera should work; all the settings are supposed to be kept separate. And you could even make multiple copies if you need more than two.
Only drawback is that you might only be able to run one at a time. Just have to test it and see.


Should I use Illustrator or Photoshop for Collateral Design?

Question: I am creating a web advertising rate card. Basically a brochure. It will be a PDF file. Should I do brochure designs or collateral designs using Illustrator and then import the non vector images from Photoshop? Or can I use Photoshop entirely? Most importantly, does text quality come out better when creating a PDF through Illustrator or Photoshop?
Answer: Between the two I'd go with Illustrator and like a previous answer crisper text.
Illustrator allows you to:
Save directly as PDF that is editable so you only need one file. With photoshop you'll have your work file .psd and PDF .pdf.
You can have multiple pages of various sizes with in the same document, so you can have a brochure layout sitting right next to a business card, which is great when you need consistency throughout your designs.
Custom shapes are easier to make. (Pathfinder palette).
Lining up items is better and easier.
Guide positioning is better and you can make custom guides.
Easier to draw straight lines.
You can break apart text to manipulate characters.
There are lots more that Illustrator can do that Photoshop can't for your purpose.
However if you want to manipulate raster images such as .jpeg then stick to Photoshop.
Import raster images (non vector) from Photoshop into Illustrator.
Answer: What worked for me (and text quality wasn't compromised) was producing my art in Photoshop, mainly because I can get around here quicker than Illustrator then saving my files, up to you if you wish to save at print res (300dpi) and importing into InDesign.
Being part of the Adobe family InDesign shares many of the keyboard shortcuts and handles PSD files nicely. It took me a few hours to get up to speed,but once learned, it offers tools like the 'links' palette which manages your imported PSD files and if touched in Photoshop, maintains version by asking if you wish to update.
Answer: I'd go with Illustrator… wait… I already did :) and believe me it's convenient.
Seriously: while Ps let's you to easier mangle mercilessly pixels, Ill gives you nice tools to assemble multiple parts of design. If Ps would be like a canvas to paint on, Ill would be more like a montage table to perform your "colages" on.
Another important thing would be possibility to easily differentiate between "raster" and "vector" parts of your project. Also vector illustrations tend to be more flexible, reusible and smaller (in terms of file sizes) than their raster counterparts. "It scales better" argument is not exageration too.
You've mentioned "brochure" as your target. Well… in Ill exporting multipage pdf is brain-dead easy (CS4 and later) or easy (CS3 and before, at least to 10.0).
Answer: It's really a question of personal taste. The quality will depend on 2 things:

The type of artwork you include
The (raster) quality settings used for your PDF

Photoshop is a raster (bitmap) editing program, meaning that it edits pixels. Illustrator is vector-based, meaning it edits points and lines. If you have a lot of photography, Photoshop is generally a better choice. If you have a lot of line art, Illustrator will serve you better. InDesign is also an excellent choice either way because of its fantastic type setting tools.
Tip: You can also use Smart Objects in Photoshop to keep your Illustrator vectors editable.
If you use raster artwork, it will likely have to be downsampled (lowered in quality) to send via email, and will still have a large file size. Vectors will be incorporated into a PDF with no downsampling (i.e. perfect quality that can be magnified infinitely) and will generally produce small file sizes (unless their quite complex).
I suggest solving the design issues, and this will suggest a particular technology. Both tools are worth knowing and using.
Answer: I'd use InDesign, frankly, but if you only have Illustrator and Photoshop as your options, I'd use Illustrator. It's a little easier to handle blocks of text, and I usually find the text comes out crisper.
Answer: The text quality will always be better in vector files; for this Illustrator is better.

It's better to use a publishing software such as Indesign or QuarkXpress since they're made for that kind of work, have better performance and also create texts in vectors. You also gain way more control on the output, the colors/pantones, and it's easier to use for multiple pages projects.
The next best option is Illustrator but it's basically a single page editor and should be use mainly to create vectors and graphics. It's not the perfect solution for layout but it will create very high quality texts and is easy to use.
And then the third choice is Photoshop. But Photoshop is an image editor and should be use to control everything related to the resolution and calibration of your images. One main issue with Photoshop is that, depending on how you save your files, it will rasterize (convert to pixels) your texts. So the text quality is greatly affected by this and doesn't print clearly unless you do this.
The way designers work is usually to import in a publishing software the Photoshop and Illustrator files. It's also possible to import images in Illustrator, and vector in Photoshop BUT the vectors will lose their quality depending how your import them in Photoshop! So it's really better to import images in Illustrator and do your layout with it, or use InDesign.


Do I have to systematically show the protons in my reaction equation to find the Pourbaix diagram's line equations?

Question: I was trying to get the line equation for the Pourbaix diagram for the couple $\ce{Ni(OH)2}/\ce{Ni}.$ I can write two chemical equations for basic and acidic conditions, respectively:
$$
\begin{align}
\ce{Ni(OH)2 + 2 e- &-> Ni + 2 OH-}\tag{R1}\\
\ce{Ni(OH)2 + 2 H+ + 2e- &-> Ni + 2 H2O}\tag{R2}
\end{align}
$$
Now I can determine the line equation for both chemical equations using Nernst equation:
$$
\begin{align}
E^\circ + \frac{0.06}{2}\log\left([\ce{H+}]^2\right) &= E^\circ - 0.06\,\mathrm{pH};\tag{1}\\
E^\circ - \frac{0.06}{2}\log\left([\ce{OH-}]^2\right) &= E^\circ + 0.06\,\mathrm{pOH}.\tag{2}
\end{align}
$$
I need to make the $\mathrm{pH}$ appear in the previous equation. To do so, I use the relation
$$\mathrm{pH} + \mathrm{pOH} = 14 \quad\Leftrightarrow\quad \mathrm{pOH} = 14 - \mathrm{pH},\tag{3}$$
which gives
$$E^\circ + 0.06(14 - \mathrm{pH}) = E^\circ + 0.84 - 0.06\,\mathrm{pH}.\tag{4}$$
I've found two slightly different expressions depending on whether I choose basic or acidic conditions. I've spend quite a few hours trying to figured out what is wrong here, and I've found a PDF Diagrammes E-pH = Diagrammes de Pourbaix (courtesy of Académie de Clermont-Ferrand) stating on page 4 that even if the species only exists in basic conditions I need to make the $\ce{H+}$ appear in the half-reaction.
Is there a convention when writing chemical equation prior to the determination of the line's equation for Pourbaix diagram? Or did I make a mistake somewhere? If yes, could help me please?
Answer: the standard potentials are given in the literature generally in an acidic medium at pH = 0. In this case, we must therefore write the equations in an acidic medium with $ H ^ + $ and not with $ HO ^ - $


Is it legal to write and distribute adventures or campaign settings for D&D 3.5?

Question: I am considering writing and selling adventures and/or a campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons v3.5 and I am wondering if it is legal to do so. Also what am I allowed to use from the official sources and do I need to contact Wizards of the Coast?
Comment: Considering the state of the industry, I'd suggest looking at the [Pathfinder Compatibility License](http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility) as well.  But if you'd prefer to target 3.5 instead, there's nothing wrong with that.
Answer: Anything you find in the SRD is Open Gaming Licence content and thus free to use so long as you abide by the terms of the OGL. You'll note that it does not contain XP or Wealth-By-Level rules, and you'll also notice that it doesn't really contain fluff; those rules (and the fluff) are still WotC's property and cannot be used. Beyond that, you're perfectly free to use any of the rules in that SRD, edit them, homebrew for them, and add your own fluff to them - in point of fact, that's how Pathfinder, World of Warcraft D20, and many other D20 systems got created and legally sold at profit. However, you are still not permitted to reference D&D in your product at that point (it's a D20 system release, but D&D itself remains the property of WotC, with whom I assume you are not affiliated).
Comment: Definitely start by reading the [Open Game License](http://www.d20srd.org/ogl.htm) itself.
Comment: Yeah this answer really should say you are free to use it - *under the terms of the OGL*.  SRD stuff isn't "free to use however," it's still very specifically restricted by that license.
Comment: That part about xp and wealth by level isn't entirely correct. The DMG/Player's Handbook portion on xp was not OGL and the d20 license (now defunct) had a provision specifically disallowing progression. However, the Unearthed Arcana (OGL) included level independent XP awards which included xp awards and progression table. One can easily reverse-engineer 40/3 encounters to level (or come up with your own scheme) and treasure per encounter is in the SRD (which works with 40/3 per level, or can be modified to match your progression rate). This is effectively what pathfinder did.
Comment: And wealth by level is just treasure per encounter times encounters for each level.
Answer: Yes, and the law says you don't actually need the Open Game License to do it.  But, You probably need to use the OGL anyway because the world is crazy.
The OGL is the legal vehicle that most publishers used during the d20 craze, and is what Pathfinder uses, to be "compatible with" D&D 3rd Edition; it was given by Wizards of the Coast during their experiment with open source content.  They've since given up on that sort of thing.
First, the law says you can do it without the OGL:
Link
It's never infringement of intellectual property to be compatible with an existing game's rules mechanics, other things being equal.  Game mechanics can't be copyrighted.  This is why so many other games look a lot like D&D and never had to pay D&D a dime (how many games have hit points and classes and levels?).  Famously, WotC had to patent a bunch of stuff for Magic:  The Gathering for this reason (such as tapping a card to show it's used up for the turn).  I'm pretty sure there are no patents for D&D rules mechanics.
You can even say "This work is compatible with D&D 3rd Edition published by Wizards of the Coast," provided you also add a disclaimer, eg "but this work is not associated nor approved by Wizards blah blah blah."  That's not infringing on their trademarks.  If it was, Ford could control who gets to make oil filters that fit their vehicles, or could prevent people from putting "Fits a 2009 Taurus" on the box!
But, you may infringe a literary or artistic copyright (the PHB's textual content and artwork), or trademarks.  So you can't just quote verbatim from the PHB, nor reuse that badass picture of Tordek refusing to be eaten by a dragon.  Say, if you reference hit points or rolling damage with a die code, that's not infringing, but if you discuss the history of the city of Greyhawk or certain spells that contain the names of trademarked characters ("Bigby's Interposing Hand"), that's infringement.
But you should use the OGL because the world is crazy:
Wizards of the Coast's Lawyers of Social Domination Through Legal Harrassment +3 could come after you anyway, because the way intellectual property is protected in the modern world has gone completely crazy:
http://chillingeffects.org/
What you're willing to brave in terms of harrassment and litigation is up to you, but it's awfully telling that just about everyone who's published D&D material in the modern era has used the OGL to do it.
See, even though you're following the letter and spirit of the law, copyrights are civil rather than criminal which means you have no right to public (free) defense counsel nor presumption of innocence.  In other words, copyright vultures with deep pockets can just force you through the vehicle of legal fees and hassle into doing what that they want you to do.
So yeah, I'd use the OGL.  But the full story is rather more complex than "just use the OGL."
Comment: @tex The OGL is simply a license to use the SRD material, so it's a legal contract you can enter into with WotC in order to enjoy the rights and responsibilities it enumerates.
Comment: "it was given by Wizards of the Coast during their experiment with open source content. They've since given up on that sort of thing." - They've since released SRD/OGL for 5e.
Answer: It depends on what you want to use and how you want to use it. As Lord_Gareth mentioned, all of the content from the System Reference Documents are available under the Open Game License.  If you write your adventure and setting in a sufficiently generic way, you may not need to bother with the OGL.
The answers for Copyright of Existing Systems might also be of interest to you.


It looks like my account just got wiped

Question: This probably isn't the right spot to post this, but I just wanted to ask - I just went onto the meta for the first time, and it looks like my account got wiped - the records of questions etc. and badges disappeared, while the rep didn't. Is this just because the meta is officially another SE - if so why did the rep stay? - or is something wrong? Thanks.
Answer: Yes, so-called reputation points ("rep") carry over to Meta but history, badges, and other things don't. I assume the reason is that rep isn't earned separately on Meta so it may as well carry over from Main. As to why rep isn't earned separately on Meta, I'm guessing it's because people vote on Meta depending on whether they agree with the post, and one shouldn't gain or lose rep on that basis.
Comment: If that's the reason rep isn't accumulated separately on meta, it's interesting then that meta.stackoverflow.com does have its own reputation count.
Comment: Ohh... and apparently it doesn't do that anymore. But where did my Meta SO posts go??
Comment: @Daniel, a while back, they split Meta SO into Meta SO (for questions specific to SO) and [meta.se] (for questions not specific to SO), and divvied up the questions as well as they could.
Answer: You're not the first person to be confused by this.  Your account on meta is separate; in addition to separating your posts and comments between meta and main, it can earn different badges than you have on main.  A meta account is automatically created for you the first time you visit meta.  If you go to your user profile, you'll see links from main to meta and meta to main next to the "network profile" link.
There is no meta-specific reputation.  However, I'm guessing, rep-based things like privileges are too "baked in" to sidestep.  Since we need a reputation number, we might as well use the one from main.

It looks like my account just got wiped


some of the links withing Micro-Feeds has wrong href

Question: I have installed a brand new SharePoint 2013 test environment and testing around. When you go to NewsFeed (previously called my content), you find a web part (I think) which shows who follows who/what. some of the links within this web part are wrong. I mean when you hover over the names the href of link contains the name of Server instead of host header (for example instead of subdomain.domian.com it shows testSrv01 which is the name of the server and is wrong). so when you click on those links that contains the name of the server the browser shows "The page cannot be found....". thank you for your help.
Comment: Did you ever get this resolved?
Answer: You will need to probably check your Alternate Access Mappings and make sure the default one is the one you want to use.


How does one know that how many births he/she is yet to take? And is his/her present level of conciousness?

Question: As per the book Immortal talks, every soul has a level like T12 or T13; T14 being the highest. How do we know which level soul are we?
Comment: What is the correct name of the book? "Immortal souls" or something else?
Comment: @Rickross I think must be immortal yogi book!!!!
Comment: It is Immortal talks by Shunya
Comment: "How does one know that how many births he/she is yet to take?" you cannot know this. Maybe if you can consult a rishi who can see the future.

" And is his/her present level of conciousness?"
Will always remains unknown.
Answer: You can chose for this one to be your last birth. For that, you need to meditate. Once your Kundalini (Also known as Parashakti or the divine coiled energy) starts rising and all of your seven Chakras open, you will achieve enlightenment. Then, it will be the end of desires and thus end of re-birth.

He who knows the Supreme Brahman verily becomes Brahman. (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9) Brahman is not grasped by the eye, nor by speech, nor by the other senses, nor by penance or good works. A man becomes pure through serenity of intellect; thereupon, in meditation, he beholds Him who is without parts. (Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.8)

Till the time you have slightest of desire/attachment to this world, you will keep taking birth endlessly.
To know, which is your last birth or what is your consciousness level, you need to introspect whether "Moksha" (liberation) is your ultimate goal of this life or not.

Though grouped among the minor Upanishads, the Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad is a very important work on Kundalini Yoga. It begins with an analysis of the nature of Chitta. It maintains that Samskaras and Vasanas on the one hand, and Prana, on the other, constitute the causes for the existence of Chitta. If Vasanas are controlled, Prana is automatically controlled. If Prana is controlled, the Vasanas are automatically controlled.

http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/end.html
Thus, till the time you have desire, you will have re-birth.
The answer lies within you and only you are to chose.
Stay firm once you do make a choice.

I am the Great Vak, Para-Shakti of the Universe. (Rig Veda.X.125.6-8)
Comment: Welcome! Answers on this site should be backed up with proper sources. Visit [Guidelines for new users answering questions](https://hinduism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/125/3500)
Comment: The quotations of Vak-Sukta does not directly support your answer I think
Comment: It is a well known fact, that Kundalini is also refered by the name Para-Shakti. The knowledge of Chakras and its opening is also in the Vedas. I have definitely not invented it. Maharishi Vashisth had given this knowledge to Lord Rama and Lakshmana that any person can attain Moksha only by performing "Nishkaam Karm" i.e. giving up desires and attachment to the fruits of Karma. Same has been said by Lord Shri. Krishna in the Gita to Arjuna. It really does not require any reference as this knowledge is freely available in the Gita and is passed on to us via generations of ancesters.
Comment: The claim that Kundalini can be awakened and liberation attained at the will of the aspirant is not supported by your quotation.
Comment: Check the edit. The reference was only to describe Kundalini i.e. the term isnt my invention and is mentioned in the Rig Veda as Para-Shakti. I have added another Quote, which provides a way to reach the Brahman (God). Thus, the Upanishad states that one can reach the Brahman by "mediatation". In order to do that, one needs to have the will first to reach the Brahman i.e. to chose to meditate. It is not an assurance that Kundalini will definitely awaken via meditation, but it is one of the ways to do so. To become one with the Brahman is to get liberated from the cycle of life and death.
Comment: You might read here as well  http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/end.html


How do you convince a client that testing is a must?

Question: It is quite hard to sell testing in these days. Clients are always looking for cost savings and it often happens that they are not aware of low quality in the output. How do you deal with that?
Comment: See my question: http://pm.stackexchange.com/questions/16165/how-can-i-make-unit-testing-a-priority which has excellent answers
Answer: If you are building a product for a client, your internal testing / QC work is not subject to negotiations.  It is part of the work, part of the price, and there is no reduction in that area.  If the client does not want to conduct UAT, that's their choice and risk to accept; however, there's secondary risk on the seller in this scenario.  To mitigate the secondary risk, you need to craft your warranty and post production work very carefully where your liability has crystal clear limitations.  Your price would need to include a lot of reserves, too.  The risk of a bad reputation is there, too, and no amount of contingency can mitigate that.  It might be a good contract from which to walk away.
Answer: I don't know what kind of work you're doing, but in IT, you could write the  contract to say "client will test [list goes here]". When it's time to invoice, your sign off only includes [list goes here]. Make sure your contract clearly defines what you're responsible for during warranty period and that any issues related to items you didn't test are out of scope without an approved change request.
You could also present the client with options for different levels of testing. With this, you explain that your bare minimum testing requirements will be cheap but do not cover x y and z. However, these are your bare minimum testing requirements and cannot be negotiated out.
If you're in engineering, your company may be held accountable for safety and laws.
Why would you want to talk them into testing if they're willing to accept the risk? The answer to that question will be your motivation to persuade the client.
Try searching Google for: cost of not testing filetype:pdf


What is a "small" aperture?

Question: It happens a lot. People refer to the aperture being small (or big!). By default does this imply a small opening of the iris (literal aperture), or a small f-value (how the aperture is measured, for which the value gets bigger as the iris gets smaller)?
Answer: This is confusing for many beginners.  If you're talking to a beginner, all bets are off!  :)
If you're talking to someone with knowledge in the space, the term "small" or "large" aperture do indeed refer to the physical size of the opening, and not the numeric value.
You may see a "small aperture" also referred to as "stopped down" or a "high f-number".
A "large aperture" may also be referred to as "opened up", "wide open" or a "low f-number".
Good question.  I hope that helps.
Answer: Unless there's further context about physical size, "small aperture" almost always means a higher f-number. This is also, of course, a smaller physical size for a given lens relative to wider apertures.
A small aperture means a high f number, like f/22 or f/32. Where one draws the line is open to interpretation, and to context. A small aperture is also called slow (because it lets in less light, requiring a longer shutter speed to compensate).
This means that a "smaller f-number" where the number is low is a larger aperture, not a smaller one. That's a bit confusing, so really it's better to avoid "small" and "large" (or "high" and "low") altogether and talk about "fast" and "slow".
Here's a quick aperture "cheat sheet":

(Note that the maximum "wide open" aperture will vary based on each lens design. f/2.8 is common for high-end zooms and f/3.5 to f/5.6 for cheap ones. Many prime lenses are faster. At the other end, most lenses for APS-C or 35mm stop down to f/22 or f/32.)
Charts like the one above used to come with cameras, usually along with suggestions for lighting conditions appropriate for each. But these days with instantly-variable digital ISO (rather than swapping film), and with point and shoot cameras just doing everything automatically, it's left for intermediate photographers and above. If you want to progress beyond point and shoot, though, familiarity with this scale remains important.
Comment: It is also the case that people really do use the word "high" to refer to e.g. f/32. So it has to be explained in that direction at some point. I can add in some wording about it being a ratio, too, though.
Answer: I tend to use wide and narrow to avoid such ambiguity, and usually include an actual f-number such as f/2.8 or f/16. I'm also always careful to include the "/" to remind anyone reading that the f-number is a fractional ratio, so that 1/4 is larger than 1/16.
When reading what others have written I tend to use context to try and determine what they meant by a high or low aperture. If it can't be determined I will usually ask via a comment or reply, depending on the format of the discussion.
Comment: Not using the "/" is probably big part of many misunderstandings. I see often in online camera sales how aperture of a lens is written simply F2.8 or F4. That looks like the letter F was meaning "Aperture". Even beginners would more easily understand the meaning if written with the divider; that "f" is being **divided** by the number that follows.
Comment: Agree completely with saying "wide" and "narrow" instead. Just as accurate a description and less confusing.
Answer: Aperture refers to the opening in the lens. Small aperture should then mean that the lens has a smaller opening. The aperture size is denoted by numbers which are rather confusing. We use small number for big apertures and vice versa.
Aperture is denoted by 'f' numbers like f/4, f/2.8 etc. Do these numbers really make any sense? They do for sure and this is how. In 'f/4', 'f' means the focal length of the lens being used. '/' means divided by and '4' is numerical '4'.
Suppose we are using a 100mm lens on our camera and shooting at 'f/4', the aperture size is 100/4, which is 25mm. At f/8, the aperture size will be 100/8 or 12.5mm. Hence, the bigger the 'f' number the smaller is the aperture.
These calculations can be verified if the lens is a simple lens. Since our camera lenses are complex in construction and they have many elements, the physical aperture size coule be lesser than what your calculation says. Eg:- A 600mm f/4 lens doesn't have a aperture diameter of 150mm. Lens designers strive to keep the size manageable with complex construction and make our life simple by providing a luggable lens.

What is a "small" aperture?


What/Who is 'Mara' in Buddhism?

Question: Is there any definition for 'Mara' in Buddhism? Islam has a concept called Shayṭān. They explain it as the devil inside a human (Islam explanation). There is something like this in Christianity too. Does Mara represent the bad side of humans or is Mara understood differently in Buddhism?
Comment: Stephen Batchelor researched this and wrote a whole book on the "Devil" of Buddhist cosmology. I haven't read it yet: http://www.amazon.com/Living-Devil-Stephen-Batchelor/dp/1594480877
Comment: Mara viewed differently, depending on context, sometimes as type of living being and sometimes as personalization of Evil.
Answer: There are 5 kinds of Maras in Buddhism.

Khandha Māra - The five aggregates of clinging
Kilesa Māra - The defilements
Abhisankhāra Māra - The Karmic force
Maccu Māra - The death itself
Devaputta Māra - The god Mara who leads a faction in the Paranimmita-Vasavatti heaven.
Comment: I just have one more question. It says that the Arupa-loka beings are entirely of mind and cannot hear the dhamma. Then how do they practice?
Comment: They don't! They just enjoy the peacefulness of Arupa Jhana until their life runs out. They can practice in the next life.
Answer: Mara is seen as a tempter in some Buddhist texts perhaps personifying cravings and hindrances on the path. Perhaps I'll just highlight two references to Mara I am familiar with that point to this
The Enlightenment of the Buddha
During the Buddha's enlightenment Mara came to question, tempt and generally shake Siddhartha's (soon to be Buddha) confidence - sending women, firing missiles etc..
Finally he questioned Siddhartha's right to site on the spot under the Bodhi tree. The Buddha touch the earth as his witness and authority to sit there - put a bit more poetically here

Mara challenged Siddhartha--who will speak for you? Then Siddhartha
  reached out his right hand to touch the earth, and the earth itself
  roared, "I bear you witness!" Mara disappeared

This is why the Buddha is often seen touching the earth in pictures, rupas etc...
The Dhammapada
Another reference that points to Mara being more of a tempter rather than anything more comes from the flowers verses int the Dhammapada

. Realizing that this body is like froth, penetrating its mirage-like
  nature, and plucking out Mara's flower-tipped arrows of sensuality, go
  beyond sight of the King of Death!

I think it is notable (and evocative) that Mara is described as having flower tipped arrows. They are temptations that fly at you - more remeniscant of Cupid to my reading here.
So generally though I would hesitate to conflate Mara with evil (as in Satan) but maybe as own own internal obstacles and a personification of that.
Comment: Craving and hindrances fall under "Kilesa Māra". But "Devaputta Māra" is not a personification. He's a god leading a faction in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven.

What/Who is 'Mara' in Buddhism?


How would you describe a person that has many achievements?

Question: I've thought of achiever, but I need an adjective.
For example: Todd has many achievements; he is ___________.
Comment: 'prolific' would require a noun to modify.   a 'prolific career' would suggest many career accomplishments but a "prolific person" could be taken to suggest he had a lot of children.  If you had a specific sentence or context where you'd use the adjective it might improve the odds of a good answer being there.
Comment: ***prolific*** seems to connote a high quantity of output and not necessarily related to achievements.
Comment: Psychologists call them ***high achievers*** : https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youre-hired/201110/how-do-high-achievers-really-think
Answer: "Accomplished" may be a good fit. It means either having achieved in many different things, or having mastered a particular body of knowledge.
A "Renaissance Man" is one who excells in many different things. Thomas Jefferson was a Renaissance Man: Statesman, botanist, vintner, writer.
Ella Fitzgerald was an accomplished musician. She performed masterfully for many years, solo and with other singers, in person and in the recording studio.
Answer: Prolific would work in many contexts ... the words and paragraph around it would tip people off I would hope.
with your example:
Todd has many achievements; he is ___prolific________.

Definition of prolific
1
  :  producing young or fruit especially freely :  fruitful
2
  archaic :  causing abundant growth, generation, or reproduction
3
  :  marked by abundant inventiveness or productivity
a prolific composer


Do the governments of United Kingdom and USA share immigration data?

Question: My brother applied for a US visa in 2008 with a fake document and it was refused on those grounds. In 2015, he got the visas of and traveled to two Schengen countries on another passport. He intends to travel to the UK later this year for a week-long conference. Will the previous US visa refusal be an issue since his biometrics were taken then and does he need to declare these in his UK visa application?
Comment: Yes, they share information. But this is the wrong question. Your brother needs to ask instead, how to get a UK visa anyway, in spite of this incident.
Comment: @user2807327 Answer all questions truthfully. If you answer truthfully, the very worst that can happen is rejection of this application. If you have fixed the original problem, if you now do have strong enough ties home, it may make no difference at all. If you lie, you are likely to get a 10 year ban. See [What can I do to lift a 10 year ban for making a mistake in my UK visa application?](http://travel.stackexchange.com/q/64097/19560)
Comment: May I know what was the result of his application? I was also one rejected for US visa but due to not having tie to my home country. I wonder if this may effect my UK visa application. should I mention this in my application?
Answer: Yes, they share information.  The controlling reference for this is a treaty between the US and UK which was drafted in 2013 and entered into force last year (2014) which says in part...

CONSIDERING that the effective administration and enforcement of the
  immigration and nationality laws of the United States of America and
  the United Kingdom are important to protect the health and safety of
  their populations, to maintain the security of their societies, and to
  promote international justice and security by denying access to their
  territories to persons who are criminals or security risks;
ACKNOWLEDGING that identification of individuals who are inadmissible
  under their respective immigration laws enhances their ability to
  facilitate the travel of bona fide visitors;

Source: Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the United States of America for the Sharing of Visa, Immigration, and Nationality Information
So the answer is yes, the two governments share information, not only by this treaty (and similar ones), but also by terms implicit in the "Special Relationship".
The shared data includes biometrics.
Similar question, but framed as 'visa-on-arrival' rather than 'visa-application': Slightly illicit: felon traveling on a US passport; will I be refused entry to the UK?
Based upon all of this, it is natural to conclude that a pejorative history in one of the signatories will affect visa decisions in the other signatory.  This does not mean visa applications will be automatically refused, the decision-maker in each country will decide based upon all available information and sometimes this can be favourable to the applicant; but most of the time it would not be favourable to the applicant.
Comment: The UK and USA share immigration information solely based on biometrics. Fingerprints from the UK will anonymously be sent to the USA to check if the applicant has had an encounter with the immigration authorities there. If the fingerprints match, biographic and other details of applications submitted will be shared. Since the USA has the OP's fingerprints on their immigration database, it is safe to assume his visa refusal and the lifetime inadmissibility for material willful misrepresentation will be shared. The OP should continue to travel the non FCC countries. They won't know.
Answer: If you take sharing to mean the UK hands over all the data to the US and the UK gets some data on request -- then yes they share.
Comment: Do you have any references to back that up ? It would make for a better answer


Why would I have little to no water pressure after reopening the main water valve?

Question: I had turned off the main in my basement today so I could replace a couple of leaky valves in my basement bathroom and under my upstairs kitchen sink. turned on all the valves and opened up the main. I can hear water moving through the pipes, but Im not getting any pressure anywhere in my house. its a little more then a trickle at best. Ive had everything opened for over an hour now and its not getting any better. I tapped on the valve at the main, tapped pipes as well. nothing seems to be improving. Im on city water so the pressure to my house is good. the only valves that arent open again are under my sink as I cannot connect that until tomorrow. any ideas as to what it could be? I can hear water running through the pipe at the main. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Answer: I would not count on the main valve - it could have broke. I had similar situation last year, but in my case it was that i couldn't close the main valve. If every output - even the ones that You didn't touch - gives same response (little or no pressure), it is highly probable that main valve broke down.
I would suggest calling city plumbers (as this is main valve) to check and replace it.
Answer: I'm in New Zealand- here, usually the main is the only valve between any outlet and the distribution network / mains. Unless there was some other valve as well, if you turned off the main valve and flow stopped, then the main valve is 99%+* liable to be the problem.
However - is there any chance that the shutoff valves under your sink also serve the rest of the house?
Can you see where the pipes go to on the "downstream" side of the valves - are you CERTAIN that they do not serve other areas.
If you are not 100% certain, can you connect the sink temporarily or cap the pipes in some manner to allow you to turn on the valves which are closed 'just to see'
If the above is not the problem then two major possibilities are

You have not turned the main on fully. I have seen situations where there was corrosion on a valve stem leading to a stiff spot. When the valve was reopened it stiffened up part way through its travel and gave the impression that it was fully open. It wasn't.
The valve has jammed shut. If you have opened the handle the full number of turns then this would be possible only if the 'tap' or 'valve' did not have a hard connection from valve proper to handle.

eg a typical washer based tap has a washer which sits in a carrier which is pressed against the valve seat by tap handle pressure but which is moved away from the seat by water pressure. Handle and washer carrier are not hard-joined.
Whereas an eg gate valve has the gate hard-joined to the handle - except when the shaft breaks - if the handle is open, the gate is too.

In the 1st case only, closing and opening the valve a number of times, possibly while tapping the body in a non destructive manner, may free up a stuck washer. Or not.

Note:
(*-I say 99% but it's probably more like 99.999% - There is a very small chance indeed that you have tripped some sort of hydraulic trap where eg water in a siphon drained out and the head height is greater than mains pressure but that is vanishingly unlikely).
Comment: Try closing and reopening the main a few times as suggested  and then call the water supplier. Might want to have all the house valves open with aerators/screens removed in case there is rust/crud getting freed up as often happens when a system is drained and refilled. Not uncommon to have brown glop from old rust deposits, and if caught on a screen that can plug things up.


Put extra payments towards almost paid off house or newer house?

Question: My wife and I have two houses: one her parents live in and has only 4.5 years of mortgage payments left, the other we live in and is only 2 years into a 30 year mortgage.  She has been making extra payments on the 4.5 year house for many years, hence it'll be paid off about 10 years early.  Most of the monthly payment is now principal, and I estimate if she continues the extra payments it will only pay it off in about 4 years.  Both mortgages are a similar interest rate.  Should we put those extra payments towards the 2nd house ?  Does it even make any difference ?
Comment: Are you in the US? Do you itemize? If not, your mortgage is the gross interest rate, but the rental interest offsets rental income. This can make a difference.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer OP seems to be from Atlanta, so US I presume.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer what makes you think they have rental income? Poster said her parents live in the house. Maybe they're paying rent and maybe not.
Comment: @Jay - I did ask if they were in the US. In the US, if I own a house and family lives in it, as Tim described, there's imputed rent regardless of money transfering. And for a rental house, there's depreciation, etc. It's a rental whether or not he wants it to be. Or at least the IRS would say so.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer Hmm, I don't think that's true. IRS publication 527 goes into excruciating detail about determining when you are using a rental property for "personal use", and says that you cannot deduct expenses incurred during personal use, including rules for pro-rating things like insurance and mortgage. Personal use is explicitly defined to include use by a parent or grandparent. (Section 5 of this pub.) I don't see anything in this pub about imputed rent. Of course that might be in some other IRS pub, but it seems paradoxical to say that you have to pay taxes on imputed rent but can't ...
Comment: ... deduct expenses. (Not that IRS rules are necessarily fair.)
Comment: They're not paying rent (no means to do so). I was hoping once it is paid off we could do a reverse mortgage so the capital isn't tied up and not working for us, but I believe that's not an option.
Answer: What are the interest rates?  if they are from 10 years ago they could be very high.  I would check with a credit union for a 5 year loan at 2.8% interest.  Pay off both mortgages with it.   And pay the 5 year loan over 5 years or less.  I wouldn't pay it early because at 2.8 its almost a free loan due to inflation and the return you can make on your extra money buying low risk assets.
Comment: Both rates are similar, about 3.8 percent.
Comment: Ok that's a great number.  Personally I have 4% on two mortgages on two houses, I am in my 3rd and 2nd year on them.  I will not pay one cent over minimum.  Last year I made 17% on my investments and I just saw this year I made 9.69%   In don't expect to make 4% on my investments every year but I don't have to.  In 10 years I might make more than 4% on CD's or inflation will be 2% to 3% Compounding for decades.

This really doesn't effect you because you do not have much time left on these mortgages but more for other people to read.

Lets not forget that your interest in a write-off too.
Answer: Provided the interest rates are similars, and you still want to make overpayments on mortgages, then the best option is to put all the capital (available for overpayment) in the mortgage which has the longest term left.
In most cases this is going to be the mortgage with the most principal left, as in your case it is the 30 years mortgage.
The reason for it is:

if you overpay $1,000 dollars on your mortage with 4 years left. Since it's an overpayment the full $1,000 is paying the principal. So you will save the interest rate (3.8% from your comment) on $1,000 for the next 4 years: $1,000*0.038*4= $152
if you overpay $1,000 dollars on your mortage with 30 years left. Again the full $1000 is paying the principal. This time you will not pay the interest rate on $1,000 for 30 years: $1,000*0.038*30= $1,140

So by paying the same sum on your longest mortgage you already saved the equivalent of one or two monthly payments on this mortage. The saving on the shortest mortgage is not that attractive.
Since your interest rates are similar, you can apply a simple factor to compare any overpayment over the two mortgages: the ratio of time left on the mortgage.
R = 30(years) / 4(years) = 7.5
This means that any overpayment on the long mortgage will save you 7.5 times more money than a similar overpayment on the short mortgage. Now take your pick ;-)
Comment: You are ignoring that in your first scenario, the smaller loan will be cleared earlier and its payments can then be applied to the larger one. If you take that into account, you will see that both scenarios are equivalent.
Answer: If the interest rates are identical, it does not matter, assuming the mortgages have identical tax treatment (if you get a tax break on one but not the other, the situation changes).
And: Once the smaller loan is paid off, you must apply its payments to the other.
No matter where you put an extra 1000USD, it will always save you 38USD per year for each year until both mortgages are paid off.


What year is it in the Forgotten Realms during the Tomb of Annihilation adventure?

Question: I am new to Forgotten Realms and I'm running the Tomb of Annihilation module. What year is it at the start of the adventure? Is there an official calendar someplace? Thanks!
Comment: Closely related: [when in-universe does D&D 5e take place?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/82732/23970)
Answer: The current year is not specified in the module anywhere and, for the purposes of the adventure, doesn't matter. Tomb of Annihilation happens more-or-less in a vacuum, no references are made within the module to events of other modules, and no novels have been released related to it. If there is a particular year that you like the idea of using, then go for it.
However, if you want to make sure you are in the right ballpark with regard to other published adventures, it would probably be somewhere after 1492DR. Thus far, every 5E storyline that has been dated has happened within the late 1480s (post-second-sundering) to early 1490s. This gives us a basic date range to consider
The second sundering, which is the event that moved us into 5E, ended in 1487 DR. This is our starting point.
The Tyranny of Dragons storyline takes place in 1489 DR.
Princes of the Apocalypse happens in 1491 DR
The plotting to set Out of the Abyss into motion got started around 1485/6 DR (according to a related novel: Archmage), but the actual events were said to happen right around the same time as ToD and PotA (per Chris Perkins)
The year for Storm King's Thunder is not set, but it makes references to Tyranny of Dragons as a past event. The phrasing implies this was relatively recent. Furthermore, there is a moment (p34) where...

 Cultists from the Cult of Elemental Air turn up looking for allies. But the Elemental Cults are basically obliterated at the end of PotA...

So it seems that Storm King's Thunder is happening right about the same time as PotA.
The effects of the Soulmonger are very, very significant...so we know that ToA did NOT occur during the events of any of these prior adventures.
Thus, since the events of the world are fairly well booked from the second sundering up through 1491/2ish DR...if you want to slap a date on Tomb of Annihilation that makes sense with the other published adventures...then give it a date post-1492 DR
Comment: As an aside....life sucks in the Forgotten Realms right now. Seriously, since the second sundering they haven't made it two years without some apocalyptic threat rearing its head to destroy/enslave/overthrow the world. Kinda wonder if the peasantry is getting jaded at this point...though I doubt your average peasant even noticed that the soulmonger was up to something. Not like peasants can afford to get rezzed...
Comment: Is it worth a line in the opening paragraph that mentions ToA's *explicit* setting-agnosis, that they lay out where it might lie in non-FR settings?
Comment: These dates are also backed up by touchpoints in the DDAL series of modules, at least through season 5. (I haven't looked deeply into much of the season 6 or 7 modules.)
Answer: The exact year isn't listed in the module, as mentioned. But we can get a good idea of when it takes place. I'm looking specifically at the "History of Omu" section in Chapter 3, so, spoilers ahead for players.
First, the module says that "the Omuans' greed and hubris angered the god Ubtao, causing him to turn his back on Omu two hundred years ago--long before he abandoned the rest of Chult." The people of Omu needed new deities, so they turned to the Nine Gods, "for nine decades," after which point,

Omu drew the attention of Acererak, and "a little over a century ago, Acererak entered Omu and slew all nine trickster gods."

Now we skip ahead a bit. The module states that 50 years ago, the yuan-ti were banished from Hisari and came to Omu. At this point, "earthquakes shook Omu and cracked it open like a fig." Of course, earthquakes can appear whenever, but since Omu was a great civilization, they mustn't have had many this size. SCAG (The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) notes that the Second Sundering, which resulted in earthquakes and other disasters, began with the birth of the god Bhaal, in Balder's Gate in 1482 DR (the standard way of counting years in the Realms). Two years later, a series of calamities shake Faerun. It makes sense to place the Omuan earthquake around that time (~1484 DR).
But there is one more factor to consider: the Spellplague. This occurred in 1385DR, and during this time magic went haywire. This is guesswork, but if I were

slaughtering gods,

I wouldn't do it then. So

 Acererak must have arrived and slaughtered the Nine Gods before 1385DR

The most recent year mentioned in SCAG is 1487, so let's guess it's a little after that, say, 1493. That means Ubtao abandoned Omu around 1293, and the Omuans worshiped the Nine Gods until around 1383, which is "a little over a century ago," as required (see spoiler). This also means that the yuan-ti entered Omu around 1443. The yuan-ti are described as building their temple prior to the earthquakes, which lines up with this reasoning (since the earthquake probably took place during the Second Sundering).
Logic check. Current year: 1493. 1293, Ubtao abandons Omu. Omuans worship the Nine Gods until 1383, just before the Spellplague. The yuan-ti entered Omu in 1443, plenty of time to build even an elaborate temple before the earthquake in 1484.
It's a bit tight, but I think that timeline makes sense.
Answer: I think it happens right before Storm King's Thunder because of the Ring of Winter.
The Ring of Winter is with a man named Artus Cimber in Tomb of Annihilation. In Storm King's Thunder, the ring is given to a kid by his father, Artus Cimber. It can't be a coincidence.
Comment: SKT happens around 1490 DR if I'm not mistaken.
Comment: @GuillaumeF. from the book, pg 13:
_This adventure isn't set at a specific time but is assumed to take place sometime after 1485 DR, the Year of the Iron Dwarf's Vengeance_
Answer: According to page 92 of the ToA adventure book:

 Fifty years ago <…> The evil warlord Ras Nsi, who had raised an army of undead to wage war on the holy city of Mezro, only to suffer a terrible defeat, arrived in Omu shortly after the yuan-ti.

It means that

 50 years ago Mezro was still here and there were no Spellplague. But now Mezro is gone. As long Spellplague was in 1385 DR,

so ToA happens near 1435 DR.
Comment: That fifty year ago is refering to when the yuan-ti entered Omu. It has nothing to do with when Mezro was standing except for that fact that it happened after the war that Ras Nsi wager agains the city, as the last part of your quotation states.
Here's the part you left out of your quote:
_Fifty years ago, a brood of yuan-ti from Hisari (see chapter 2) slithered into Omu and made it their new home._


DigitalWrite Cannot Power HC-06 Bluetooth

Question: To save power consumption, I tried to connect the HC-06 bluetooth module to a digital pin of my Arduino Nano. (HC-06 +5V <=> pin 11, HC-06 gnd <=> gnd) In that way, I can toggle the bluetooth when I am not using it. However, when I tried to pinMode(11, OUTPUT) and digitalWrite(11, HIGH), the led on HC-06 does not turn on which means it is not powered. I have tried to connect the HC-06 +5V to the 5V output of arduino and the HC-06 can turn on sucessfully. I have also tried to use a multimeter and the digital pin outputs a voltage of 5V. As the digital pins of Arduino can give 40mA while the HC-06 draws 30mA - 40mA, it should have enough power. I have also tried to use other digital pins as well but still the HC-06 cannot be powered.
What have I done wrong?
Comment: Is it average or maximum current consumption? And also `40mA` for output pin is listed in section "Absolute Maximum Ratings" and there is also mentioned: "Exposure to absolute maximum rating conditions for extended periods may affect device reliability."
Answer: A digital IO pin is only capable of powering an LED or an incredibly low powered device. It is not suitable for powering meaty RF modules.
Instead you need to control the power to your module using a P-channel MOSFET as a High-Side switch.
For instance, assuming a 5V module with built in 3.3V LDO:

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
Note that <code>/RFEN</code> is active low - set the pin OUTPUT and LOW to turn the module on. M1 should have a threshold of no lower than -4V, better -2V or higher.
Also be sure to set RX and TX to be INPUT when you power down the module or back-powering through the TX/RX pins may occur.
R2/R3 is a simple logic level shifter for the 3.3V logic signal the RX pin expects.
Comment: The RX line at least often has a pullup, which should probably be disabled.  And the TX to the module is better driven low than left high.
Answer:
it should have enough power.

Probably not. Debugging is about challenging all assumptions, especially implicit ones.
Put a high side switch there and it should be ok.


Switching between active and passive voice

Question: I realize writing in active vs passive voice is a heated debate in academia, with arguments being made for and against both styles. My adviser prefers passive voice.. But is it acceptable to switch from passive to active voice in the same paragraph? What about different sections? For example, the intro and literature review in passive voice, but switching to active voice for materials and methods section. Is this a big no no?
Comment: A strongly related question (under a different guise): [Using first person vs. third person in papers.](http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11659/using-first-person-or-third-person-in-papers)
Comment: Personally, I would write the introduction/conclusions in active voice and the methods in passive voice.
Answer: "I realize..."
Active.
"arguments being made..."
Passive.
My point here is that it's normal to switch.  It's probably a good idea to favour one or the other, but I imagine you would have a lot of difficulty using only the active voice or only the passive voice throughout a paper.  Don't worry about it too much.
Answer: It is perfectly normal to use both in the same sentence:

John stepped in front of the window and was immediately shot.
The continuum hypothesis implies that the continuum is not a
measurable cardinal as was shown by Stanislav Ulam.
The lump of lead turned to gold after being prepared by a senior
alchemist.

The point is that you may want to focus on $X$, but sometimes $X$ is "doing" something and sometimes $X$ is influenced by, say, $Y$. If you want to keep the focus on $X$ and not shift to $Y$, it makes sense to combine the passive and the active voice. This makes the writing actually more coherent, not less.
Answer: You should write your paper in a consistent form. I personally prefer the active voice as well, but if your supervisor prefers passive... well then you will have to make the best of it or argument with him.
Try to be specific within paragraphs or connected sentences. If you have an example that you were doubting about, perhaps you can post it here and we will have a look.
But in general: no.
Comment: I switch all the time in my papers. It makes the text more interesting and less repetitive, e.g. "We fit model X to the data. Parameters Y and Z were fixed to values of 1 and 2, respectively.".
Answer: I believe it is acceptable to switch from passive to active voice according to the way the thoughts come to our mind. This way we do write exactly what we want to express. Sometimes when we try to use one or the other style we write in a "mechanical" way.
Answer: You can switch between active and passive, but the switch should not be jarring. A good reference on active vs passive is:
https://serialmentor.com/blog/2015/12/19/dont-use-the-passive-voice
Which argues that the choice between the active and passive voice is determined in any given sentence by what is in the stress and topic positions of the sentence. The TLDR is:

The simple rule is this: Topic and stress trump active and passive. If the topic is the actor, use active voice. If the topic is being acted upon, use passive voice.

Personally in my science writing, I tend to favor the active voice unless it really is easier to write a sentence in passive, in which case I do.