Options when defending against SSLstrip?

Question: I'm wondering, does anyone have any suggestions to defend against SSLstrip particularly?
Comment: For those who are not so familiar with SSLstrip, here is a video tutorial: http://www.securitytube.net/video/193
Answer: Here are my recommendations for what users can to defend themselves against SSLstrip, Firesheep, and similar attacks:

Install HTTPS Everywhere or ForceTLS.  (HTTPS Everywhere is easier to use.)  This tells your browser to use the SSL versions of web sites, where possible.
If the browser gives you a certificate warning, do not bypass the warning, and do not continue browsing that web site.
For critical sites, like online banking, go to the HTTPS (SSL) version of the site from your machine while using a secure network, and then bookmark that page.  Then, always open the site by opening the bookmark whenever you want to go to that page.  Never type its address into the address bar or search bar.
If you will only be browsing a single site, consider configuring a site-specific browser.  This is probably not needed for most purposes, but it will provide additional security against some attacks; it might be appropriate, e.g., for businesses that are using online banking.
Alternatively, instead of HTTPS Everywhere, you can do your web browsing via a VPN service.
Configure your email client to use SSL (also known as TLS) and to check the validity of certificates.  This will ensure the connection to the email server is encrypted.

Here are my recommendations for what web sites can do to protect their users against Firesheep, SSLstrip, and similar attacks:

Enable SSL sitewide (i.e., HTTPS).
Enable HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security).
Make sure that your certificate is valid.  Consider buying an Extended Validation (EV) certificate, for more security-critical sites.
Enable secure cookies, i.e., ensure that all cookies are served with the secure attribute, so that your user's browsers will only send those cookies back over SSL-protected connections and never disclose them over any non-SSL (HTTP) link.
Disable HTTP (non-SSL) access, or redirect users to the SSL version of the web site.
Avoid or minimize use of third-party Javascript libraries, widgets, like buttons, etc.  Or, if you must use them, make sure they are served from a https: URL and that the site hosting them is one you trust.

On a different topic, administrators of mail servers can protect their users by enabling SSL/TLS protection for IMAP (or, better yet, requiring use of SSL/TLS on all connections) and by enabling STARTTLS on their SMTP servers.
Comment: Is it requires to type https into the browser URL bar? I believe it is, even if HSTS exists, because the unencrypted HTTP redirect can be subverted. I guess even HSTS isn't perfect in this case?
Comment: @atdre, Nope, your understanding is not correct.  I believe that using either HSTS (if the STS header has previously been sent) or HTTPS Everywhere takes care of that risk.  Neither of them rely upon an unencrypted HTTP redirect; instead, the browser takes care of automatically turning http URLs into https URLs.  The threat you are concerned about is exactly the sort of thing that both HSTS and HTTPS Everywhere were specifically designed to defend against.
Comment: But, if this is the first time the user has been to the site on this device, the device doesn't know the HSTS policy. Therefore, an attacker can do what they like. The solution browsers have now arrived at is a global list of pre-configured HSTS sites.
Answer: Using Privoxy rule:
<code>echo '{ +redirect{s@http://@https://@} }
.foo.org' >> /etc/privoxy/user.action
</code>
will redirect you to HTTPS if a site is whitelisted. In the example www.foo.org and foo.org and subdomain.foo.org can only use HTTPS because the proxy redirects it. If there's an SSLStrip mitm then the page would just load and load and load....it won't be reachable. I think this would be a very good solution (fixme).
Answer: When you visit SSL secured web site or ssh to host, you accept certificate. If certificate is not validated with public Certificate authority servers, or any local CA, your browser warns you about the wrong certificate. So if you want to secure your traffic from ARP attacks, you have to use valid SSL certificate and don't browse web sites warning about invalid certificate.
With SSH, if certificate was changed, SSH will inform you about public key change.
Comment: No, no, no!  This answer is simply wrong, and dangerously so.  SSLstrip does not introduce certificate errors.  SSLstrip can still screw you even if you never click through any browser warning about invalid certificates.  That's because SSLstrip can *remove SSL entirely*, transparently converting a SSL site to a non-SSL site (converting HTTPS to HTTP).
Comment: you're right, ettercap is capable changing SSL certificate.
Answer: SSLStrip merely redirects to http versions of the page.  From the server side, you could introduce things like messages or images that state "your browser has been hijacked" or similar.  If you are in a controlled environment this can be handled with an inline transparent web proxy that replaces all http content in this way.  Similar to the forcetls etc answer, but handling the problem on the server side.  This way, you don't have to worry about pebkac and unauthorised devices.  Just a couple of thoughts.
Comment: @curiousguy Forcing https at the proxy as stated in the question(we're talking local proxy in a business case).  If someone tries gets any assets via http, you replace all assets with "you have been hijacked."  I thought that was relatively clear from the statement.
Comment: It would prevent a mitm-ed user from fetching non-http assets.  Instead of a "Paypal" banner it would display "you have been hijacked".  Hence, they don't continue entering data.  Hence it is useful.
Comment: You're totally missing the point.  I'm not saying from the server hosting side e.g. mydomain.com.  I'm saying from a local proxy for a LAN before ever leaving.  I'm convinced at this point you're intentionally just being difficult.
Comment: "_From the server side_" how could you know the client is being MITM-ed?
Comment: "_If someone tries gets any assets via http, you replace all assets with "you have been hijacked."_" So you end-up with an http website that just says "you have been hijacked."? Why do you even have an http website then? why note https only? "_I thought that was relatively clear from the statement._" It isn't clear how this blocking might be useful in any way!
Comment: "_Hence it is useful._" Sorry, it is not. It makes zero difference. You might as well not have an HTTP site at all.
Comment: "_I'm not saying from the server hosting side e.g. mydomain.com._" Yet, **your answer says "server" twice**. Do you know you can edit your message in order to clarify it? "_I'm convinced at this point you're intentionally just being difficult._" how much would you bet? Do a poll: ask people if your answer is clear.
Comment: "_You're totally missing the point._" So: 1) I initially totally missed the point 2) Now I think I am getting 3) I stand by the fact that your answer is not clear as worded, and is difficult to understand without the comments 4) If you could rephrase your answer making clear this is about a proxy, I would remove the downvote.


Does Saitama have any friends outside the heroes ones?

Question: Outside of his heroes friends (Genos, Bang, King, Fubuki, etc.) , AFAIR Saitama is never seen in the anime with other friends. Does Saitama have any friends outside the heroes ones? Why doesnt nobody from his former heroe life appear in the series?
Comment: In the OVA, he seemed to be friends with the Tailor that made his suit. However seeing that the Tailor up and quit, I don't know if that's true anymore.
Comment: Also, while I wouldn't call them friends, he is on friendly terms with Charanko later on, who is Bang's disciple.
Answer: I've just read one of the last chapters of the webcomic, and Tatsumaki asks him exactly this, that if he has any friends and

 when it was the last time he met with someone outside of the hero association, to what Saitama can't answer.

And Tatsumaki calls him a lonely baldy


Why does aluminum have a lower first ionization energy than magnesium?

Question: I used to use the explanation that $s$ orbitals penetrate better than $p$ orbitals, however, could the explanation be that $3s$ is shielding the $3p$ in aluminum?
Answer: The easiest way to explain it is that $\ce{Al}$ has one unpaired electron in it's highest energy orbital ($\mathrm{3p}$), and $\ce{Mg}$'s highest energy orbital ($\mathrm{3s}$) the electrons are paired. It is energetically favorable for all the electrons in an orbital to be paired, which means that breaking up this pair would require more energy.
Here's what their orbital pairings look like:

and if you look at the general trend you can see that this occurs whenever all the valence electrons are paired:

Sources:
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch7/ie_ea.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_pair
Comment: Electrons repel each other so pairing them raises potential energy.  Note that O is lower than N for this reason.
Comment: I've edited my answer to reflect that discrepancy. In the cases where the entire orbital level has electrons of one spin, adding a lone electron of opposite spin is unfavorable because of repulsion. =
Comment: Note that in the trend chart that i posted, the noble gasses have the highest 1st ionization energies. This is because all of their valence electrons are paired, and it is energetically unfavorable to unpair them.
Answer:
could the explanation be that 3s is shielding the 3p in aluminum?

Yes, one could say that for 2p, 3p and 4p orbitals; it becomes more confusing for 5p and 6p. One can also say that a half filled p orbital (3 electrons) shields the nucleus against the 4th electron.
Answer: Removal of an electron will disrupt the stable filled 3s subshell of magnesium. Also the 3p electron of aluminium is further from the nucleus compared to the 3s electrons of magnesium


Why most ERC-20 Tokens Have 18 Decimals?

Question: I don't really understand the fundamental rationale for this. I'd think 0 decimal is much simpler to understand for most people?
Answer: Ether itself has 18 decimals, most ERC-20 tokens simply follow that standard.
1 ETH is represented by 10^18 of its natural unit ( 1 Ether = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei ).
This offers you much greater precision - essentially, you aren't limited to trading the equivalent of a cent ($0.01 for example), you can go much, much lower. It means you can own - actually own, and have full control of - a very small portion of a whole Ether. Might not be so relevant today, but it might be in the future; in case the trade value rises dramatically, you would still be able to buy, own and use the system, without any changes.
As per your point about 0 decimals being simpler to understand, it's more of a matter of which unit you use. In the case of ETH, using wei allows you to completely skip decimals, as you can't go lower than 1 wei.
Keeping the same decimals simplifies the programming of your contracts, as you don't need to do conversion between units - you can use full precision (18 decimals).
You however obviously do have the option to specify the decimals used by your token, in order to control the total available supply (Fixed supply contract example).
Answer: Technical Use Case
In addition to Xilis' answer, solidity assumes 1e18 to be 1 ether as referenced Here.
Interoperability
As referenced in a post here:

It makes math work out really really well when interchanging with other systems.
  If you have to restrict the precision for some good reason, try instead restricting the divisibility of the transfer functions. For example, only increments of 1000000 can be transferred gives the same effect as using fewer decimals than 18, but still retains the convection of putting the point at the 18th decimal place.


If you are/become very sensitive for sounds what could be the reason/cause?

Question: If you get disturbed at night by tiny sounds or find it difficult to hear loud sounds at day is there a particulary cause known for that in buddhism. Is it bad and what to do about it?
Answer: Sensitivity could just mean your senses are being noticed. Something that you once ignored is now being noticed because your living in the present moment. You're aware of things which you didn't notice before. It may seem louder than usual because your mind is no longer being occupied by something else. Another explanation could be sensory adaptation to a new environment. It's not uncommon for practitioners who return from retreats to be more sensitive to their environment. Their ears have adapted to the silent lifestyle but eventually adapt to usual city noise over time.
Answer: If you have too much sensitivity to sound it means Air element is disturbed. It also results in insomnia. Your body is a five element phenomenon. Buddha never paid any attention to them because they are supposed to be taken care of by right living and meditation techniques.
But modern man is a highly disturbed creature with a toxic body. I suggest if meditation techniques are not working try detox techniques which some monks practice like eating light or limiting to two times in a day. It is important you take care of nutrition and calories otherwise it will be counter productive. If they do not work visit a herbal medicine practitioner. Try Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine. They are very effective in fixing imbalances especially for meditators.
Answer: To hear you need:

have a functional ear faculty
a sound to hear
direct your consciousness to the ear faculty

Assuming you ear is in good condition as you hear well in night. Since you are sensitive at night, and not at day, when things are quiet, is that you are more composed or focused with you attention at the ear to hearing than in day time. During the perhaps with other activities you are also distracted hence attention is not fulling on the sounds you hear.


What can I do with all my EU?

Question: On my Tekkit server I have several solar arrays and a nuclear reactor producing tonnes of EU, and most of it if going into storage and rarely used en masse. Aside from a mass fabricator, how could I use this EU in a productive way?
Comment: Turn it into MJ and power your quarry
Comment: @jeffreylin_ a Quarry requires less than 4 eu/t to run at full capacity. (source: tekkit lite, two electric engines hooked to an MFE and one LV solar array)
Comment: @legacy A quarry can accept up to 44 EU/t to go lightning fast (I think). Therefore, you must always have MOAR POWER!
Comment: @legacy just tested, a electrician engine will only accept 4 EU/t no matter how much you have.
Answer: That's about it: a mass fabricator. Anything less doesn't need all that power, since the draw is so low that it might as well be free. Even then, once you've made everything you want from UU matter, you'll still have more power lying around than you need to keep your godlike gear fully charged.
Though, if you have the EU to power a small town, maybe you could start using it like that. Build things like street lamps using Luminators just because you can waste the power on something so frivolous. The wiring and building challenge of a huge power grid (and the aesthetic structures to go with it) may be worthwhile all its own.
Comment: Microblocks are a good way to make it look pretty.
Answer: You could always try building Overclockers for your basic machines (Macerator, Compressor, Extractor ect.) to make them run faster, They also eat up a lot more power when they're overclocked so if you're wanting to burn off some EU that'd be the fastest way to do it.
Check the wiki for more info -
http://thetekkit.wikia.com/wiki/Overclocker_Upgrade
Like the wiki also says you'll need to put in Transformer upgrades to actually deliver more power the machine quickly enough to get the most benefit -
http://thetekkit.wikia.com/wiki/Transformer_Upgrade
And you'll also need to use Glass Fiber Cable to minimise the power loss across the duration of the cable - http://thetekkit.wikia.com/wiki/Glass_Fibre_Cable
That should help you burn off your EU a bit quicker :)

What can I do with all my EU?


Fresh cowdung and baggase in lasagna gardening

Question: I am an apartment balcony gardener. I have access to a lot of fresh cowdung and baggase. However, I have no place to dry it or let it mature properly. I could dry it in my little balcony but the smell would attract undesirable pests. Can I use it directly in my lasagna gardening layer which I set up in an old plastic drum or is it better to compost it first? I do anerobic composting in the corner of my little balcony. Kindly suggest some ideas.
Comment: You need to let it dry.
Answer: Fresh cowdung can not be used directly. It will rot, give birth to fungus and adversely affect soil quality. Since you have space constraints and smell factors, it's best to use dried cowdung. In case you are sourcing cow dung from a local dairy farm, ask them for dried  one. Almost all dairy farms keep piles of cowdung which gets dried up in few days. This dried cowdung can be used along with bagasse and a few earthworms.


SDL Tridion UI 2012 not updating the page component text in the staging site after clicking the finish editing button

Question: I have installed SDL Tridion UI 2012, now Iam trying to edit the page component text in my staging site the problem is that after doing the edit and clicking on the Finish Editing button the page refreshes but my changes don't get visible, now if I click the same component in edit mode my changes becomes visible. The strange behaviour happens when I closed the application and start it again now my changes starts appearing even if I am not editing the component, which I believe should be the actual behaviour.
My question why the recent changes not get visible after clicking the Finish Editing button. Why I need to close the browser and start the application again. What I have missed in my installation steps? Please help.
Answer: That's exactly what Session Preview should take care of - after you click "Finish Editing", the page should be refreshed and show your changes.
If you're not seeing this, then it looks like Session Preview is either disabled or not configured correctly.
Answer: Seeing the latest when editing...
When editing, regardless of Session Preview's setting, you should see your latest (minor) edits as they exist in the Content Manager. You can double check by comparing the same component in the CME. After editing and when you click off of a component your edits are saved (as a minor version).
Old content showing...
I've seen old content showing when authors click off of edited content usually when Session Preview is partially set up. When content is outdated the Update Preview button will flash to let you know to display the latest updates (even when Session Preview is mis-configured).
Clicking on it should show you all of your minor (and others' major) updates. A green border and pencil icon will also hint that there are pending changes. Without Session Preview on or working, then you must publish to see all of your page changes on Staging (default behavior in SDL SiteEdit 2009).
Restarting after Finish Editing... (works because of a publish to Staging)
If you're seeing changes when not editing but sometime after "Finishing," it might mean Finish Editing published your changes to Staging successfully (it should). Look for a notice to refresh the page. You don't need to restart your browser though, a refresh should do the same.
Answer: Most of the time I have seen this happening when CD is not able to properly map the publication, ensure in your staging site cd_dynamic_conf.xml the proper publication mapping is done, also in the cd_storage_conf.xml session wrappers configured properly and cd_ambient_conf.xml has the session preview cartridge. Also make sure your staging site has a ambient data and preview modules configured.


If Radha and Krishna aren't married, why do we worship Them together, like Sita-Rama?

Question: We all know that Lord Krishna didn't marry his lover Radha, but we still consider her as the consort of Lord Krishna. My question is why do we worship them together?
Comment: possible duplicate of [Why didn't Lord Krishna marry Radha?](http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/277/why-didnt-lord-krishna-marry-radha)
Comment: My question is why we worship them together. Please read question again. Don't you feel the differences?
Answer: Besides the Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentioned in the other answer, the 39th Chapter of the 9th Book of Devi Bhagavatam also mentions the origin of both Radha and Lakshmi from Krishna:

4-33. Nârâyana said :-- Of old, in the beginning of the Prâkritik Creation, from the left side of Krisna, the Supreme Spirit, appeared in the Râsamandalam (the Figure Dance) a Devî. She looked exceedingly handsome, of a dark blue colour, of spacious hips, of thin waist, and with high breast, looking twelve years old, of steady youth, of a colour of white Champaka flower and very lovely. The beauty of Her face throws under shade millions and millions of autumnal full moons. Before Her wide expanded eyes, the midday lotus of the autumnal season becomes highly ashamed.
By the Will of God, this Devî suddenly divided Herself into two parts. The two looked equal in every respect; whether in beauty, qualities, age, loveliness, colour, body, spirit, dress, ornaments, smile, glance, love, or humanity, they were perfectly equal. Now she who appeared from the right side is named Râdhâ and she who came from the left side is named Mahâ Laksmî. Râdhâ wanted first the two armed S'rî Krisna, Who was Higher than the highest; then Mahâ Laksmî wanted Him. Râdhâ came out of the right side and wanted first Krisna; so Krisna, too, divided himself at once into two parts. From His right side came out the two-armed and from his left side came out the four-armed. The two-armed person first made over to Mahâ Laksmî the four armed One; then the two armed Person Himself took Râdhâ. Laksmî looks on the whole universe with a cooling eye; hence She is named Laksmî and as She is great, She is called Mahâ Laksmî. And for that reason the Lord of Râdhâ is two-armed and the Lord of Laksmî is four-armed. Râdhâ is pure Aprâ kritic S'uddha Sattva (of the nature of pure Sattva Guna, the illuminating attribute) and surrounded by the Gopas and Gopîs. The four-armed Purusa, on the other hand, took Laksmî (Padmâ) to Vaikuntha. The two-armed person is Krisna; and the four-armed is Nârâyana. They are equal in all respects.

Therefore, Radha & Lakshmi are on the same level and hence she is worshiped along with Krishna just as Lakshmi is worshiped with Lord Vishnu & her incarnation Sita is worshiped with Shri Rama.
Comment: Fabulous answer sir! Didnt kno about Radha and Lakshmi being equivalent.
Comment: My pleasure completely :)
Answer: Because She is indeed half body of Shri Krishna in the following way:

आबिर्बभुव कन्यैका कृष्ण्स्य वामपार्श्वतः
  धवित्वा पुष्पमानिय द्दातर्ध्य प्रभो पदे
  रासे सम्भुय गोलोके सा दधाव हरे पुरः
  तेन रधा समाख्याता पुराविद्भिद्विजोतम [BVP - 5.25,26]
Meaning
  Then a maiden manifested from the left portion of Shir Krishna. She ran and obtained flowers to offer onto the feet of Shri Krishna. O best of the priests, because she originated from the rasa(ra) in Goloka and  dhavitva (dha), i.e. ran in front of Hari, scholars call Her Radha.

So in Goloka, the abode of Krishna, it is Radha who is the consort of Shri Krishna. It is Shri Radha who becomes Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, in Vaikuntha, Sita, the consort of Rama, in Treta yuga and Rukmini in Dwapara. We generally worship the Lord along with His consort as the Shakti-Shaktimaan duo. So Radha being the consort of Krishna, they are worshiped together.
If you are interested to know whether they were married or not, and if not then why, then you can refer to this answer.
Answer: A brief answer, source linked at the end.

The love between Radha and Krishna is not a mundane love like in this material world. Therefore, we can't apply normal moralistic standards here.
Another story in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana states that they were indeed married by Lord Brahma
On a more esoteric level, Radha is married to Abhimanyu, who is but an expansion of Krsna. However, for the purpose of rasa, or spiritual mellow, Radha and Krishna are in the mood of separated lovers, which makes Their spiritual love more intense.

See full answer here
Answer: Krishna is the supreme God, only for the followers of Gita and Bhagwatam. Krishna, as a God, is a creation of the puranas and Gita. Vedas have nothing to do with this Krishna that has been raised to the Supreme God by the Puranas.
Neither any Samhita nor any Brahamanam mentions this Krishna. He is never a Vedic God. It may be pertinent and proper to say that Krishna, the pauranic God,, is a non entity in the vedas. He is no where mentioned in the vedas, none of the traditional commentator has been able to find out Krishna in the vedas. Even where the very word "Krishna" is found in the vedas, the same has been explained as the herbal plants, the black buck, or even a sage. But nowhere it has been used for the God. Even the word "Keshav", synonymous with Krishna, means an eunuch in the vedic lexicon.
Vedas glorify Indra since Indra is the king of the Gods, the very epitome of courage, force and power, in the vedas. Indra is the foremost God, and has the lion's share of the vedas dedicated to him. He is the God of the atmosphere, brings rainfall, provides wealth, kills the demons and is feared by all of the evil forces. Indra is the foremost power of nature.
The difference is between the puranas and the vedas. A few of the Puranas state Krishna to be supreme God, while all of the Vedas praise Indra as the best of the Gods. But since vedas are superior to the Puranas, and are to be followed when there is any conflict, Indra prevails. That is why the followers of puranas have coined so many derogatory stories about Indra, only to show him in a bad light. This is also the reason that Krishna based sects do all efforts to show that Krishna is mentioned in the vedas, but they do not find any single of such verse in any of the samhita or brahamanam to prove their point, they try for pervert translations, but the same are caught in the act, since none of these is supported by any of the traditional commentators.
https://www.quora.com/If-the-Supreme-God-is-Krishna-why-do-the-Vedas-glorify-Indra
Comment: Quora is not reliable source. Visit [Guidelines for new users answering questions](https://hinduism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/125/3500).
Comment: The source of the answer is not "Quora" rather the Vedas and the citations thereof as mentioned in the answer.


Conditional distribution of $(X_1,\cdots,X_n)\mid X_{(n)}$ where $X_i$'s are i.i.d $\mathcal U(0,\theta)$ variables

Question: Let $(X_1,X_2,\cdots,X_n)$ be a random sample drawn from $\mathcal U(0,\theta)$ distribution. It is a common exercise to prove that the maximum order statistic $X_{(n)}$ is sufficient for $\theta$ as an application of the Fisher-Neyman Factorization theorem. However, I am trying to prove this fact from the definition of a sufficient statistic.
Indeed, for some discrete distributions we can prove sufficiency of a given statistic from definition without using the Factorization theorem. But for continuous distributions like this one, I guess it is not that straightforward.
Joint density of the sample $\mathbf X=(X_1,\cdots,X_n)$ is given by
\begin{align}
f_{\theta}(\mathbf x)&=\prod_{i=1}^n\frac{1}{\theta}\mathbf1_{0<x_i<\theta}
\\&=\frac{1}{\theta^n}\mathbf1_{0<x_{(1)},x_{(n)}<\theta}
\end{align}
It is clear from the Factorization theorem that $T(\mathbf X)=X_{(n)}$ is sufficient for $\theta$.
But from the definition of sufficiency, I have to show that the conditional distribution of $\mathbf X\mid T$ is independent of $\theta$. I don't think I can say the following:
\begin{align}
f_{\mathbf X\mid T}(\mathbf x\mid t)f_T(t)&=f_{T\mid\mathbf X}(t\mid\mathbf x)f_{\theta}(\mathbf x)
\\\implies f_{\mathbf X\mid T}(\mathbf x\mid t)&=\frac{f_{\theta}(\mathbf x)}{f_T(t)}f_{T\mid\mathbf X}(t\mid\mathbf x)
\end{align}
We know that the density of $T$ is $$f_T(t)=\frac{n\,t^{n-1}}{\theta^n}\mathbf1_{0<t<\theta}$$
But I don't know what $f_{T\mid\mathbf X}(\cdot)$ is because it looks like $T\mid\mathbf X$  has a singular distribution.
If I knew the joint distribution of $(\mathbf X,T)$, then maybe I could have said that $$f_{\mathbf X\mid T}(\mathbf x\mid t)=\frac{f_{\mathbf X,T}(\mathbf x,t)}{f_T(t)}$$
Also tried working with the conditional distribution function $$P\left[X_1\le x_1,\cdots,X_n\le x_n\mid T=t\right]=\lim_{\varepsilon\to0}\frac{P\left[X_1\le x_1,\cdots,X_n\le x_n, t-\varepsilon\le T\le t+\varepsilon\right]}{P(t-\varepsilon\le T\le t+\varepsilon)}$$
I have gone through this related post but could not come up with an answer. Is it also true that $\mathbf X\mid T$ has a mixed distribution?
I also have this equivalent definition of sufficiency at hand, which says that if $T$ is sufficient for $\theta$, then for any other statistic $T'$, the conditional distribution of $T'\mid T$ is also independent of $\theta$. Maybe for a suitable choice of $T'$ I can prove the required fact, but I prefer to do it from the first definition. Any hints will be great.

It looks like what I am looking for is basically a proof of the Factorisation theorem for continuous distributions, which I did find in Hogg and Craig's Mathematical Statistics.
Here is an extract from Theory of Point Estimation by Lehmann-Casella (2nd edition) that gives a hint of a probabilistic argument for sufficiency of $T=X_{(n)}$:

Let $X_1,\cdots,X_n$ be independently distributed according to the uniform distribution $U(0,\theta)$. Let $T$ be the largest of the $n$ $X$'s, and consider the conditional distribution of the remaining $n − 1$ $X$'s given $t$ . Thinking of the $n$ variables as $n$ points on the real line, it is intuitively obvious and not difficult to see formally (Problem 6.2) that the remaining $n − 1$ points (after the largest is fixed at $t$ ) behave like $n − 1$ points selected at random from the interval $(0, t)$. Since this conditional distribution is independent of $\theta$, $T$ is sufficient. Given only $T = t$ , it is obvious how to reconstruct the original sample: Select $n − 1$ points at random on $(0, t)$.

Problem 6.2 says

Let $X_1,\cdots,X_n$ be iid according to a distribution $F$ and probability density $f$ . Show that the conditional distribution given $X_{(i)} = a$ of the $i−1$ values to the left of $a$ and the $n−i$ values to the right of $a$ is that of $i−1$ variables distributed independently according to the probability density $f(x)/F(a)$ and $n−i$ variables distributed independently with density
  $f(x)/[1 − F(a)]$, respectively, with the two sets being (conditionally) independent of each other.

So for a 'formal' proof of the sufficiency of $T$ without applying the Factorization theorem, do I have to prove the theorem itself for this particular problem or is there another option as highlighted in the above extract?
Comment: In what sense does $T\mid X$ have a "singular" distribution?
Comment: @whuber I might be wrong, but I think $T\mid X$ does not have a density, i.e not absolutely continuous. That's what I meant.
Comment: The quotation after "Problem 6.2 says" refers explicitly to a density.
Comment: @whuber Not sure I follow. No specific density is mentioned. Except perhaps it was referring to the Uniform density in the previous quotation.
Answer: $(X_1, ..., X_n) \vert X_{(n)}$ can be expressed as the mixture distribution of $(Y_{1}, ,Y_{n})$ with $$Y_{i} \quad\begin{cases} &\sim  U(0,X_{(n)}) & \qquad \text{for $i \neq j$} \\ &= X_{(n)} & \qquad \text{for $i=j$} \end{cases}$$
where the mixture is due to using $n$ different values for $j$ giving $n$ different distributions for $(Y_1,...,Y_n)$.

You can see it is independent from $\theta$.

It gives a bit strange density function. You get (where for simplicity of notation $\eta =  X_{(n)}$):
$$g_\eta(\mathbf{x}) = \frac{1}{\eta^{n-1}} \mathbf{1}_{0\leq x_{(1)},x_{(n-1)} \leq x_{(n)}=\eta}$$
and this indicator function $\mathbf{1}_{0\leq x_{(1)},x_{(n-1)} \leq x_{(n)}=\eta}$ is not equal to 1 inside the hypercube, but only on $n$ of its facets (here you see the facets for $n=2$ as an L-shape, the 2 facets of a 2d-hypercube are sides of a square.)
The above is a bit intuitive. I actually don't know how to correctly describe the pdf/cdf. For comparison an example in two dimensions: the conditional variable $(X_1,X_2)_{ \max(X_1,X_2) = t}$, with $X_1$ and $X_2$ i.i.d uniform, is a uniform distribution on the two line pieces $X_1=t , 0\leq X_2 \leq t$ and $0 \leq X_1 \leq t, X_2=t$ in 2D space.
Maybe you can resolve this by using $(X_1, ..., X_n) \vert (X_{(n)} \leq t)$ which is the $(Y_1, ..., Y_n)$ where the $Y_i \sim U(0,t)$
Comment: I wonder if I can say the following like in discrete cases by introducing an indicator variable:

\begin{align}
f_{\mathbf X\mid T}(\mathbf x\mid t)&=\frac{f_{\theta}(\mathbf x)}{f_T(t)}\mathbf1_{\mathbf x\in A_t}
\\&=\frac{1/\theta^n}{nt^{n-1}/\theta^n}\mathbf1_{\mathbf x\in A_t}
\\&=\frac{\mathbf1_{\mathbf x\in A_t}}{nt^{n-1}}
\end{align}

where $$A_t=\{\mathbf x:x_{(n)}=t\},\quad0<t<\theta$$


The difference between "krümmen" and "beugen"

Question: Both mean "to bend" but are there any differences in usage of these words?
Comment: I believe that your question would benefit from a little more detail: Where and what did you look up? Did you find anything at all that hints to differences in usage? - Basically: Do you have proof, that this cannot (easily) be looked up in a dictionary? :)
Answer: By way of adding some thoughts to other answers here: I am not sure if the difference between biegen and krümmen can really fully be explained semantically, i.e. by contrastive definitions of meaning. I rather think it is more a question of pragmatics: how words are used by tradition.
As Janka correctly points out you would say

Der Weg krümmte sich.

rather than

*Der Weg bog sich.

If you want to apply the semantical concepts "use biegen when it is on purpose, use krümmen when it is a deformation" you run into problems here. Is it necessarily a deformation that the street bends or makes a turn? Or is it on purpose?
I am afraid, the only safe way for using krümmen and biegen correctly is knowing (from passive and active use) what word is usually used in combination with what other words.

der Auspuffkrümmer

not: der Auspuffbogen - although this part of an automobile is on purpose formed so (exhaust manifold)

Die Banane ist krumm

not: die Banane ist gebogen, although that's how God created it (or whoever)

Das Rohr ist gebogen (on purpose)
Das Rohr ist gekrümmt (on purpose)
Das Rohr ist krumm (deformation; not as it should be)

Although there are some examples where one can argue that the rule "krumm = deformation, gebogen = on purpose) applies, e.g.

Steh nicht so krumm!

Somebody gets reprimanded for his unstraight posture.

Nimm's mir nicht krumm!

Don't be mad at me for this.

Das kriegen wir schon wieder hingebogen.

We will fix it, especially metaphorically (without anything being bent physically).
there is no way for a learner of German to derive the correct expression from a rule. You still have to know from experience what's the usual thing to say.
Answer: Krumm is an adjective meaning bent out of shape. The verb sich krümmen means to bend yourself out of shape.

Der Weg krümmte sich.
Sie krümmte sich vor Lachen.

Very seldomly, it's not used reflexive:

Die Gravitation krümmt die Raumzeit.

Most other times, biegen or verbiegen ist used.

Die Gravitation verbiegt die Raumzeit.

Biegen and verbiegen means applying force so something becomes gebogen (intended shape), verbogen (bent out of shape) or simply krumm.

An deinem Auto ist ja alles verbogen.

Sometimes, the intended shape is somewhat metaphorical:

Er biegt sich die Wahrheit zurecht.

The verb beugen means flexing joints.

Sie beugt die Knie.
Er beugt sich nach unten.
Comment: Because he's betraying himself. Non-reflexive is also possible, but the reflexive one happens to be a common phrase.
Comment: In my experience, especially in combination with *Raumzeit* you would always use *krümmen*, never *verbiegen*. At least that's my summary after reading a dozen books on that topic over the years.
Comment: In the sentence "Er biegt sich die Wahrheit zurecht."  why is zurechtbiegen reflexive in this case?
Comment: Yes, that's why I included this as one of the rare examples in which someone/something *krümmt* another thing. It's the preferred phrase.
Comment: During years of work in astrophysics and some teaching of General Relativity I never heard "verbiegt die Raumzeit". I don't consider this idiomatic, at least in professional texts.


Should we allow this type of question: "Evaluating a doctoral program/institute of CS"

Question: Should we close this type of question: "Evaluating a doctoral programinstitute of CS?". On the one hand, it's somewhat similar to the type of career advice questions we do allow. On the other hand, it comes awfully close to "What are the good programs in CS?" which would definitely be closed. My incliniation would be to close it, and ask the OP for a more specific question.
Comment: I would be against it too. It seems very subjective, and the bit about faculty quality seems a can of worms. There have been some pretty nasty anonymous ad hominom attack in the comments section on a number of well known CS theory blogs, and I would really like to avoid seeing any of that here.
Comment: @Raphael: I would disagree. Such things should definitely influence our policies, and this is exactly why "What are the good programs in CS" is not an allowable question. Any answer to that is going to step on a lot of people's toes (although if you privately asked people in the field, nearly all of them would come up with close to the same list of the top five or six programs). This question is broad enough that it is approaching the same territory. That's why I think it should be focused to one or two of the bullet points.
Comment: I agree with Joe and Peter. Questions like "what is the best university/department/program/area/researcher/...?" can lead to nasty things, they are too subjective. On the other hand, asking for criteria for judging seems OK to me (to some extent that it does not become nasty), but the OP needs to be more specific, if OP does not provide a set of objectives then the question seems to be a [bad subjective](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/) question and should be closed.
Comment: Well, I guess I am not enough a creature of political correctness: stepped-on toes are no argument, imho. People should be able to provide balanced answers; if not, he won't receive one. Asking the author to narrow his question would be a good compromise, too.
Comment: Joe, I do not think such things should influence our policies. I am not sure about that question myself. It is TCS related and can definitely only be answered by researchers but is not technical. I think making it CW would be a good compromise. We have questions asking for good books, why not also one for good environments for a PhD student? And, in the end, maybe by comparing different models here, shortcomings in programs can be identified and resolved.
Comment: What about asking sth like "I want to work on X, would you rather go to school A, B or C?"
Answer: The question as it is phrased, or as it could be phrased, asks only for criteria for judging candidate institutions/programs. If only criteria are given, then no one gets hurt (directly). As soon as names of institutions and so forth are given, then we are into the land of subjectivity, and then the question should be closed.
Comment: I agree with this point, and with Neel's point below. There is a valuable discussion to be had here, but it needs to be kept on a short lease.
Answer: I do not think this kind of question should be closed. Peter Shor actually gives my reason right here:

Any answer to that is going to step on a lot of people's toes (although if you privately asked people in the field, nearly all of them would come up with close to the same list of the top five or six programs).

Since the opportunity cost of a PhD relative to working as a software developer is pushing towards half a million dollars (comparing a ~100K salary as a developer to a ~25K stipend), I think we owe it to students to be very clear about the costs and benefits.
Furthermore, since information like this is (a) crucial to someone about to embark on a PhD program, and (b) really only something that researchers in computer science have a clear picture of, I think this kind of question should be allowed.
That said, there is no place for malice or ad hominem attacks, but it is certainly possible to be frank without being cruel or malicious -- either of which would certainly be suitable grounds for moderator action.
Comment: The information is crucial, but I do not think *this* is the site that should provide it. It might be better to try to obtain this kind of ranking by, e.g., an anonymous poll instead of using a Q&A site where many people write with their real names.
Comment: Neel, it seems to me that the question asked by OP is quite different from the question you are talking about. You are talking about the cost/benefit of going to grad school/industry. The OP is asking about how to rank grad programs.
Answer: Yes, we should close it, because the current question is just too broad.  The asker should clarify what he/she really wants to know and edit it to (or repost it as) a focused question.  I do not think that whether part of the current question is subjective/argumentative/controvertial/whatever is relevant at this moment.
Answer: I think we should close the question since e.g. last point in Sid's answer about brand names is approaching the point would lead to unwanted discussions on cstheory, IMO that question is clearly a bad subjective question in its current form.


Should the homework tag be deprecated?

Question: Apparently the use of the homework tag was deprecated on SO.  This is actually mentioned in the same meta that our FAQ points to in describing how to ask/answer homework questions.  However, elsewhere in the FAQ (and in the comments it seems) we tell them to tag their question as homework.  I propose that we should either deprecate the homework tag on CV (for the reasons discussed on SO) or update the FAQ such that we point to a uniquely CV discussion of how to ask homework questions (we already have a good one on the answer side).  What shall it be, or is there an option behind door #3?
Answer: I'm going to dispute some of the "facts" as presented in the SO version of this argument, which I think either don't apply here, or are just a little bit wrong. Generally speaking, I favor retaining the homework tag.

"homework is a meta-tag". I don't necessarily think meta-tags are bad. It helps put the question in context - this is homework, or an assignment, and so the relevant issue (at least should be) the OP understanding their answer, and being able to take it and apply it. While someone just asking "What does this output mean?" might be well served by an up and down explanation of the output, homework questions prompt me at least to try and convey some sense of how to avoid needing to come back to CV in the future with a similar, but slightly different, problem.
"homework might be factually incorrect". This is an argument against people tagging something they feel like is homework for being "lesser" as homework, not an argument against the tag itself. This is true for any tag - if someone errantly labels a thread with a tag, that tag might be factually incorrect.
"Copied assignments (verbatim) with no attempt at solving the problem are not real questions and should be closed anyway." These are only a subset of questions that could be, and should be, tagged as homework.
"Someone, somewhere, will feel the need to say "is this homework? is it? is it homework? Really?" then somebody else will "USE THE HOMEWORK TAG11!!11" This is at best mildly irksome.
"In spite of this tag, people do not treat the question differently (in my experience)." I do.
"homework on occasion attracts some poor quality stuff." These questions will not go away because the homework tag is missing. That's like saying the "Python" tag in SO sometimes attracts some poor quality stuff.
Comment: @drknexus It wouldn't be the first time I've disagreed with official SE stances on things. And for CV, I think Homework is less a "meta-tag" and more a "context-tag".
Comment: Just for the record, although I agree with you, the official stance of SE is that meta-tags are to be discouraged: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/the-death-of-meta-tags/
Answer: I'm strongly in favor of retaining the homework tag, in pretty much the way we have it now (though I can see some point to making all the links to things stay within CV so they stay relevant).
Edit: on the charge that SO deprecates it, I'd point out that math.SE does not; math.SE is a much closer model for the kind of activity we undertake than SO itself, so I don't think any claim of consistency carries weight.
I think there can be some inconsistency, but that's more a reason to more clearly promote the kind of behavior that's expected - to point out what the tag means for both askers and answerers.
Removing the tag is not doing the students a service!
Answer: My sense (purely anecdotal) is that the very existence of a "homework" tag tends to promote less-than-congenial responses to perfunctory questions.  Instead of providing a welcome and some hints--which should be our first reaction--some community members seem to prefer writing comments like "if this is homework, it should be tagged as homework!"
We could be friendlier.
I have therefore changed how I personally respond to questions that smell like homework: I still treat them as such in my comments and answers, but I don't demand that they be tagged.
(In the interests of full disclosure, I do become decidedly less friendly towards questions that appear to abuse the site or the goodwill of the community: but that's not a matter of whether the questions are related to homework or not.)
Comment: (+1) I think I am stealing this idea from someone else here on meta, but I can't seem to locate it at the moment: I think we should suggest remapping [tag:homework] to a "friendlier" synonym like "self-study" or "exercise" and editors should feel free to add it whenever it looks like it fits. I think the current tag wiki for [tag:homework] is great and personally see no problem with editors adding it without needing to comment. Remapping it so that it appears in the "softer" form also should reduce the instances of responses of the form "but it's not *my* homework!".
Comment: @Glen_b, you can actually still get to the homework tag wiki (albeit in a slightly fortuitous manner). If you type in a search for "homework" on the [tags page](http://stats.stackexchange.com/tags), and then hit edit for the tag you can [get to the previous wiki](http://stats.stackexchange.com/edit-tag-wiki/552). I would be ok with a copy-paste of it all, it only needs slight editing to make sense for the new self-study tag (e.g. `Don't edit a question to add the homework tag.`).
Comment: Okay, I've now adapted the `homework` tag information into the `self-study` tag, mostly by tweaking the wording (it won't show up until its approved). In a couple of places the word 'homework' remains, because those parts explicitly refer to it being okay to post homework. I took the opportunity to clean it up a little as well (it needed a couple of edits). Please check it's okay!
Comment: @whuber: Oh! I [stole](http://meta.stats.stackexchange.com/questions/1459/the-homework-tag-and-homework-policy#comment3623_1459) it from **you**! Ah, the irony...
Comment: To be honest, I detest the change of making homework a synonym of self-study. Not only does it incorrectly describe what is under discussion, but the mapping of homework to self study has lost the useful description of how to avoid ruining the value of assigned homework. As an educator I find this quite disturbing and as a regular answerer I find it annoying. I think much of value has been lost. Questions that were plainly homework I could happily answer when tagged - if more briefly, while downvoting and ignoring homework not so tagged. I think untagged homework has no place here.
Comment: @Glen_b: I don't quite understand your argument in the first comment. I think the intent of the tag, whether it is called *homework* or *self-study* is the same: To provide hints and guidance *without* ruining the value of assigned homework. In fact, that was the intent of the original *homework* tag and it was used much more broadly than a strict interpretation of homework. I found that a *good* thing! For one thing, it has insulated us from an outlandish amount of potential drama (see the math site if you want to see what can result) and also from being overrun by such questions.
Comment: I believe that this retagging without commenting already happens on many occasions, that it should be encouraged, and I even mentioned it recently [here](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/8608/proper-use-of-the-homework-tag-redux#comment29104_8614).
Comment: I'm more inclined to be helpful with a homework-level question if the person asking has taken the trouble to tag it as homework.
Comment: At the very least, please restore the bulk of the tag wiki information that has been lost. I'd do it myself if I could see how.
Comment: @Glen_b: I *completely* agree that the tag wiki for *homework* should be moved to *self-study* (sans the part about editing to the add the tag, as Andy mentions). I'm sure that was the intent; it was likely just an oversight. :)
Comment: @Glen I added the `self-study` tag provisionally and it currently is a synonym for `homework`.  Nothing has been lost.  I appreciate everyone's comments about the change. But please note Cardinal's response: he is correct in that the `homework` tag has *always* included self-study situations. But I have read a different intent behind it: it is not our duty, nor can it ever be, to distinguish homework problems assigned in courses from all other questions. The issue for us is that homework-like questions have a different *nature* than other questions and need different kinds of answers.
Comment: @whuber: I think our interpretations of the intent of the tag are more similar than may have appeared in my comment, due to poor wording on my part. I intended something more along the lines of: *To provide hints and guidance on questions of this type without ruining the value of assigned homework for those questions that actually do come from such assignments.* That is still quite clunky wording; you've stated how I generally view this matter better than I've managed to myself. :-)
Comment: @whuber Perhaps I misinterpreted what was happening in discussing a question yesterday. I'll investigate to see whether it's my understanding that was the problem. Short version - I wanted to explain to someone why I wasn't just 'answering the question' they had (and was giving hints to try to lead them there instead) by putting the homework tag on their question (in part so they could read it; their discussion made it clear it was homework), but couldn't (because self-study was there). When I tried to just *find* the homework tag, I couldn't seem to do that either. Maybe I screwed up.
Comment: I don't think it's necessarily you, @Glen_b: the synonym mechanism does not work very well on SE, IMHO. But I just checked and had no problem finding the `homework` tag through the search control at http://stats.stackexchange.com/tags and (as a test) when I started to ask a new question on the site and started to type "homew..." in the Tags control, the `homework` tag popped right up.
Comment: Yeah, I found it just now myself, and came back to say so - but something has definitely been 'lost', in a pretty obvious sense. If I post a homework question, I literally cannot add the tag even if I want to, and the `self-study` tag says *nothing*. Much of the exhortation and advice in the `homework` tag is especially useful guidance and I'd like to edit a lot of that in to the `self-study` tag. To what extent is that appropriate? Hang on, I'll post it as a question. edit - on second thought clearly several comments indicate that's the intent, so I will do it.
Comment: @Glen_b Very nice work: thank you for your dedication and the quality of your effort!
Answer: I'm against the homework tag simply because it seems to raise more problems than it solves, since answers should in theory act differently for 'homework' questions than other questions, but in practice do so inconsistently which causes conflict between users. I don't think we'll ever hit the utopia of all users being on the same page on this issue. Someone is going to jump in and just answer the easy question it to gain the rep, so hey it may as well be me.
I also have issues with the need to selectively judge exactly what 'homework' is, unless the OP tags it as such themselves. Some things are obvious but often not.
What do we actually gain even if we do treat homework questions 'properly'? Answers on CV almost always provide more than is asked for. For a silly example, if the homework question is
<code>Find the mean of [1,2,3,4]
</code>
answers would typically explain what the mean is, how to compute it and maybe some links to more detailed explanations. No one answers with simply 2.5. The OP has learned something which is the point of the site.
Homework questions are often poor, but if that is the case the deficiencies need to be treated the same way as any other question (typically asking multiple questions in one and not stating what it is about the question they do not understand). A well formulated question that someone is asking in order to complete some kind of homework probably wouldn't even be detected as a homework questions, which ends up making 'homework' a proxy tag for 'bad question' which may help prolong the life of bad questions that should simply be closed.
I see too few upsides to negate the many downsides of the homework tag.
Comment: I think your point about typical CV answers going beyond the minimum is a really good one. Certainly when answering I always feel like "Yes" or "2.5" are insufficient, & I ought to try to provide the OP w/ some understanding as well as an answer ('teach them to fish... ' & all that). I agree w/ @EpiGrad & I'm for keeping the tag, but that's the 1st argument that I've seen that I find compelling for removing the tag.

Should the homework tag be deprecated?


Can you die from eating chili peppers?

Question: I have heard that you can die from eating too hot or too many chili peppers (see here). Is this even theoretically possible? How much peppers would you have to eat to be in any danger?
Comment: One issue with the question as it stands is what counts as "dying from eating hot peppers"? Pure capsaicin poisoning? A side effect induced by the peppers (say, an asthma attack)? Something else? In any case, my answer below attempts one route at answering this.
Comment: Notable claim link?
Comment: I heard rumors but there is one supplied in the great answer hendy supplied so I will add it to my question although it is her source
Answer: Theoretically, apparently yes:

But is there a deadly dose of spicy peppers? Researchers at Niigata University School of Medicine in Japan ran tests on mice to find out. After several hefty doses of pure capsaicin, most of the mice died of lung failure. Don't worry, though—you'd have to eat hundreds of thousands of jalapeños in one sitting to get the equivalent dose...

I tracked down the actual paper mentioned.
Another article cites Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute on the matter:

"Theoretically, one could eat enough really hot chiles to kill you," he says. "A research study in 1980 calculated that three pounds of extreme chilies in powder form — of something like the Bhut Jolokia — eaten all at once could kill a 150-pound person."

Three pounds of powder doesn't really seem like "eating peppers" to me -- this seems like a modification of the ingredients to cause the actives to be absorbed faster and take effect.
So, let's take the hottest pepper, the Bhut Jolokia mentioned above, and try to figure out how much one would have to eat of it.
Here's our data:

LD50 for capsaicin (active spicy ingredient in peppers) is 47.2 mg/kg in mice
Bhut Jolokia peppers have 2.06% weight/weight capsaicin content
Average human body weight: 86.6kg (using heaviest male average from US)

So we need to solve:
47.2mg/kg × 86.6kg = LD50 dosage = 0.0206 × mass of peppers to ingest
This gives us 198,423.3mg ≈ 0.2kg (≈ 1/2 lb) of these peppers one would have to eat. I say that's doable. The open question is whether the LD50 in mice is transferable to humans.
Per @wjl's comment, Wikipedia lists Bhut Jolokia weight at 7-9g per pepper, so we're talking 22-28 peppers to reach the 0.2kg (200g) value.
Comment: I've not tried a Bhut Jolokia, but based on my experience with other peppers I don't know if you physically *could* consume that much delicious pain.
Comment: That's 198.4233 g of Bhut Jolokia peppers. Going by Wikipedia's weight estimates, that's 22 to 28 peppers.
Comment: the two don't seem to match. Half a pound of peppers is a lot less than "hundreds of thousands". It's more like a few dozen to at most a few hundred (for those really tiny peppers).
Comment: @jwenting: apparently Jalapeños [contain 0.30 mg/g capsaicin](http://www.livestrong.com/article/464669-jalapeno-nutritional-data/), that is 0.03% w/w. so ~70 times less then Bhut Jolokia. So, for jalapeños you'd get ~35lb.
Comment: @jwenting: I agree. I was puzzled by that myself. I was even puzzled by the expert quote about "3lbs of powder." The math seemed pretty straight fowards, so it seems to be what it is. Perhaps the expert quotes were just off the top of their head guesses? I do agree that 100k's of peppers seems crazy. Even if nico is correct at 35lbs... that's nowhere near 100s of thousands!
Answer: The World's Hottest Chilli eating contest in Edinburgh this year did end with two of the contestants being rushed to hospital by ambulance - vomiting, agony - not good.
It isn't evidence, however it is a good indicator that you can seriously upset the body even with just a few spoonfuls of hot chilli, so it isn't a great leap of faith...
Comment: On the other hand, this may make the predictions in the comments on the main answer more unlikely. How easy would it be to eat 22-28 peppers if you are in agony and vomiting before you get through them?
Comment: And the guys in the competition were eating them pretty fast - that's a good point...I wonder if you actually **could** eat that many.

Can you die from eating chili peppers?


Positive cable smoking......

Question: I have a question. My truck has the battery next to the frame. Positive is almost impossible to get to. There is a positive red box in the engine to connect the positive jumper cable to. I had a dead truck. I called AAA. The guy that came out used the battery . When he removed the cables. He touched the frame. Twice. Causing smoke and sparks. Now I seem to be having issues with the switch on the door for my electric seat. I have a 04 GMC Sierra. It never gave me issues till now. Could the sparks n smoke from the cables cause this? I've asked around and ppl say yes. And some say no.
Comment: Unlikely, but test the switch. See what's missing and go from there.
Comment: "When he removed the cables. He touched the frame. Twice. Causing smoke and sparks."

That's really a beginners mistake that i wouldn't expect from an AAA guy. When you disconnect a battery you should *always* do the negative terminal first. Otherwise if you start working on the positive terminal and touch the car frame with your screwdriver you'll make a huge short with flying sparks (and probably a damaged screwdriver) as a result.
Answer: Electrical issues are difficult to figure out without a lot of deadends. If you put YOUR seat in another truck and it worked fine, good.  If your door switches operate somebody else's perfectly working seat, good. If your seat's good and your switches are good, I'd check the relays and fuses - the truck's old enough that any of this could be age...the system is sensitive enough that the AAA guy could've accelerated your aging component's risk of failure: Test or have somebody test your relay's & get your seat exactly where you want it until then! Cheers!

Positive cable smoking......


Does increasing k in a k-way set-associative cache always lead to a better miss rate?

Question: As far as I know a 2-way set-associative cache works better than a one-way one considerably but going to 4 and 8-way caches leads to a marginal improvement. My question is: does increasing K (going more than 8) lead to better miss rate although marginal?
Answer: It's not guaranteed; it may depend on the data. Let's say an 8-way associative cache can hold 8 items at position 512k + j for each fixed j, and a 4-way associative cache can hold 4 items at position 1024k + j. My algorithm accesses locations 1024k + 512 + j for just four values k all over again. And locations 1024k + j for lots of values k, so there is basically no cache reuse.
In this case, 4-way associative caches has lots of hits and 8-way almost none. (There may be some mistake made somewhere, but you should figure out a pattern where 4-way ends up better).
For random access patterns, and for not carefully constructed patterns, higher associativity will be better. There is of course the problem that picking one out of 8 sets will take more time than picking one out of 2 or out of 4 sets.
Answer: I failed to understand @gnasher729 explanation, so this is my one demonstrating the same situation.
Let's consider just one line of 8-way cache, and compare it to two corresponding lines (A and B) of 4-way cache. Imagine the situation when we access 4 different addresses of line A, then 5 addresses of line B, repeating that in loop. So, hit:miss ratio for 4-way LRU cache will be 4:5. But in 8-way cache these 9 addresses will go to the same line, leading to 0% hit ratio.
Answer: My original answer was incorrect; see https://cs.stackexchange.com/a/105695/755 or https://cs.stackexchange.com/a/105719/755 for correct answers.
Comment: " it will never make the miss rate worse," - to my much surprise, @gnasher729 figured out that this is incorrect, and I (hopefully) simplified his explanation. See our answers.


The grains of the parabolic dunes

Question: My text book says that parabolic dunes consist of consolidated limestone grains, but I wondered if  they have sand grains too, so I googled this issue and found that they consist of sands, but I am still perplexed, do parabolic dunes have both sand and consolidated limestone grains or they only contain one type of grains? And do they form exactly as other types of dunes (barchan dunes for example)?
Answer: "Sand" is generally made up of whatever eroded rock type is nearby, minus the most easily eroded (and windswept) components. Typically, dunes are made up of highly resistant quartz grains, like the stuff that blows off of white sand beaches, for example, or feldspar sands which are even more erosion resistant (in certain cases). There are also very soft white gypsum sands in New Mexico who owe their existence to a nearby, inexhaustible supply of gypsum evaporites.
As for limestone sands, I've never heard of it although it's certainly possible given very specific circumstances. Nevertheless, that's not what controls dune morphology. Dune shape is almost entirely controlled by both wind and sand supply and similarly shaped dunes will occur regardless of grain composition if dune-forming components are the same.
Comment: Good answer. Limestone sand is quite common along coasts with nearby reefs or limestone cliffs. Limestone is soluble, especially in meteoric water, and therefore less stable than siliciclastic sand, but if the supply is good it can last long enough to be buried and preserved (e.g. Eocene carbonate sands in the Pyrenees).

The grains of the parabolic dunes


Ross 128 (What does the number mean?)

Question: I see that there are a number of stars that have a number at the end of them. Ross 128 is an example. What does this number mean?
Comment: Taking the answer by JohnHoltz into account - but there are far too many stars even in the observable part of the universe to name them all - especially if you widen your observable range with (stronger and stronger) telescopes...Thus came the catalogs of various astronomers into play. Like Messier for what he thought to be nebulae (turns out many were galaxies) [M32 = Andromeda and so on]..
Answer: The number refers to the number in the catalog compiled by Frank Elmore Ross. From the Wikipedia article on Ross

At Yerkes Observatory he was the successor to the late E. E. Barnard, inheriting Barnard's collection of photographic plates. Ross decided to repeat the same series of images and compare the results with a blink comparator. In doing so, he discovered 379 new variable stars and over 1000 stars of high proper motion. Some of the high–proper motion stars turned out to be quite nearby, and many of these stars (such as Ross 154) are still widely known by the catalog number he gave them.
Comment: Published in Astronomical Journal vol 36 to 48 in 8 list in years 1925 to 1939. It was a catalog of high proper motion stars: stars that move relatively quickly against background stars. Generally these are closer to earth, than most stars.
Answer: Adding to answer by John Holtz.
Ross compiled a catalog of high proper motion stars (stars that move relatively rapidly against background stars).
The numbers are in order of increasing Right Ascension (sky coordinate like longitude).  The list doesn't start at zero RA. Number 5 is just above zero.
See the first list of the catalog: Ross, Frank, E., 1925, Astronomical Journal v36, p96

Ross 128 (What does the number mean?)


Systemic sensory confusion?

Question: Sometimes when a person gets touched on one part of the body they feel it else where and may think it came from a different part of the body. What causes this? Other examples are similar to why you can trick your self into thinking your arms are heavier than they really are. another would be that you can close your eyes and move in circles up and down your arm slowly and then when you guess where u are touching your hand is higher or lower than expected. What causes these things?
Answer: When our brain works out where a part of our body is in relation to another part of our body, or in relation to anything for that matter, we combine:

visual information
information about how much our muscles are contracted
how much our joints are contracted
different forces being applied on our arms/legs or other body parts
where it remembers we used to be
how much force we applied to move where we wanted to move
where we would therefore expect to be
and many other things

That's quite a few things that our body relies on! The one that's most fine tuned is our vision. Let's face it, whatever we are actively doing with our hands requires the most skill and knowledge of where our hands etc. are. It is also the system that we rely on the most. But other systems are helpful to make sure we don't fall, grabbing on to things and making sure we reflexively contract the opposite muscles to prevent falling, stop us dropping things and lot's more. It doesn't matter if they're not accurate, they just need to be fast and in doing so they can't be extremely exact.
When we don't use vision, we rely on these other things. They're made to quickly adapt (e.g. hold a shopping bag for a while and when you let go your arm feels light or when you get out of a swimming pool your body feels heavy) and it is important that they do this to allow their functions as listed in the last paragraph.
Answer: The situations you describe involve what is called proprioception or the feedback to the brain of where your arms and limbs are in space. As APengioun mentioned, this is a complicated undertaking and if information is restricted, for example eyes are closed then the sense of where your limbs are gets messed up. As for your title, it's not really neuronal confusion as it is confusion of the sensory system if you can call it that. This includes sensory neurons from your limbs as well as central neurons in the brain that further process your information.

Systemic sensory confusion?


How to up scale video resolution for Video Card

Question: I've a Black Magic Declink Mini Recorder Frame Grabber which supports minimum 720p as Video Input. But my camera has a VGA resolution which ostensibly will give output in 640*480 resolution. The card accepts both SDI/HDMI slots for Intput and Camera cable I have is currently having BNC Connector at it's end. Could someone suggest how can I use this Video Card to process VGA Video Output from my camera?
Answer: Your problem is not (only) resolution.  640x480 resolution VGA is analog video, so you need an analog -> digital video converter.  This $200 Analog -> SDI Mini Converter from Blackmagic Design will do what you need.
Then again, for not much more than $200, you can get a camera that speaks HDMI and gives you true 720p.
Comment: I believe that if you feed 640x480 analog video into a Blackmagic miniconverter, you will get upscaled digital video out at 720p or 1080p, but not less than 720p.
Comment: Thanks Michael. I believe the Mini Recorder will take the analog signal and give the digital output. However, I do wish to know if it's possible to provide the VGA video as input to some converter and get the 720p resolution which can be fed to the Video Card I have!?
Comment: While Michael Already mentioned a "professional" version, you can find this much cheaper as well, here is a generic converter box for 30$ http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity®-Composite-Converter-Upscaler-High-definition/dp/B00MNFWYBI


How To Write Concisely

Question: I am a high school student, and am concerned with my recent compositional tendencies. This past year, I took AP English Language and Composition. It was a rather difficult class, as writing is not my strong suite yet I was still expected to get all A's. Timed writing is especially emphasized, and after a while I found that writing with "sophisticated syntax and diction", as my teacher called it, earned me high grades on essays (Whether this discovery was conscious or not I can't say). Now whenever I write something it comes out excessively ornamented and often times convoluted. Although it always earns me a high grade, as a quite meek and unassuming person I feel a kind of repulsion at how artificial it sounds. How can I attain a more concise and unaffected writing style?
Comment: Been there, done that, making a tee shirt.
Comment: can't believe no one recommended, Strunk & White... it is the way to go to trim your writings.
Comment: Write. Abridge. Repeat until it becomes second-nature; your first drafts will be more concise eventually.
Comment: @Reed I am with you. If Sky needs, happy to share :D
Comment: @bonCodigo that would be great!
Comment: @Sky I have physical book, purchased from Bookdepository.com. It was darn cheap. Here is a public available pdf : http://www.jlakes.org/ch/web/The-elements-of-style.pdf
Answer: You will probably come to find that different writing styles suit different purposes. This is taught in most writing classes, usually with discussion of "audience" or "target" or "purpose".
So you've already found one style (formal academic writing) that works for one audience and purpose. That doesn't mean it's the only way you can write.
Your post here seems slightly formal, but that's not completely inappropriate  for the audience, so it seems you've found another way to match your words to your purpose.
In terms of exploring different styles? Most writing needs rewriting. When you produce something you think is repulsive, edit it. Figure out which words you dislike, and change them. I know this seems obvious, but I really think it's the answer. It may seem like a strange situation, as if you're artificially changing your natural voice to make it seem natural, but it sounds like your natural voice has already been overly influenced in a direction you don't like, so you're just trying to work it back.
You can explore other styles of writing as well in order to make yourself truly versatile. Try some poetry, something in dialect, song lyrics, news reports, scientific lab reports, sales copy for a product you love, texts to friends, emails to prospective employers. And for all of them, don't forget the editing stage, because that's where you'll refine your style and develop the techniques that are best for that particular audience and purpose.
Answer: What a great question!  Your instincts are good.  "Excessively ornamented and often times convoluted" writing may earn you high marks in a class, or even in academia.  But in the real world setting, simple and direct gets the job done. I have 3 pieces of advice that I've learned from others (or learned the hard way) over the years:

Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary.  Never use jargon or a 50 cent word when a simpler word does just as well.  BUT, it is good to use jargon or a 50 cent word in place of a longer, more elaborate phrase.

For example, as a medical student, I would use the phrase "Painful to palpation" in many of my notes: "The Patient's abdomen was painful to palpation."  Finally, the resident told me one day, "Look: the word is tender." So my notes became more concise, easier to read, and more expressive when I just wrote "The patient's abdomen is tender."
Having a good vocabulary is crucial.  But don't use a fancy word just for the sake of using a fancy word.  Make your statements as simple as possible.  Use fancy words when they make sentences more concise.  Don't use fancy words when they make sentences longer than the plain English version.

"Get the lard out."  This is a phrase one of my teachers used to use. It means "be direct."  When writing for an academic audience, we can't help but add a bunch of useless (often introductory) phrases that add nothing but bulk to the paper. We all include them out of habit, because we hear or read them so much.

For example, I'm editing a document now that starts with:
"This document provides descriptions of the requirements necessary to implement changes in the program."
I'm recommending it be changed to:
"This document describes required changes to the program."
It's hard to come up with good examples on the spot.  And it's hard to be succinct about what to watch out for.  But once you get in the habit of watching for "lard," you'll see it everywhere.  In this example, the red flags are redundancy such as "requirements necessary" (if the "requirements" aren't necessary, they're not requirements, are they?) or "implementing changes" ("implementing" already implies a change of some kind).  Using non-specific verbs ("provides") also requires you to tack on extra verbiage to make the meaning less ambiguous ("provide descriptions").  Why not just start with a more precise verb to begin with ("Describes...")

Revisions and editing.  If you're being asked to do a lot of on-the-spot timed writing, you won't be able to revise much.  So this tip won't help much with that. But "getting the lard out" really does require numerous drafts, sleeping on something overnight so you can look at it with a fresh eye the next day, and a dedicated effort to, say, "shorten a section by 50%."  This is where practice comes in, too.

If you're a high-school student, take heart.  If you take writing classes in college, you'll get plenty of additional practice. And the instruction gets more sophisticated, too.
Comment: +1 for great advice, but a "tender abdomen" makes me think of 14 year old girls and illegal desires. Scientific writing needs to be exact and avoid ambiguous language, even if that makes it elaborate or hard for laypeople to understand. Wouldn't "algesic" be a better word? But then English is not my mother tongue, and maybe tender *is* the best choice. Just wanted to point out that other demands, such as unambiguity, can override linguistic elegance or brevity.
Answer: Excessive concission always seems affected. Feel free to increase the words to idea ratio. Ignore the unimportant ideas as a way to cut verbosity. If you want your words to have a greater impact, say less and only say what matters. My greatest asset in limiting my vocabulary choice is to remember which words my little sister uses. If you are an only child eat lunch with the stoners (but don't use their ten most favorite words or share their habits). Choose words they would understand. A large vocabulary is a joy but if you want to be read by a wider audience, writing with a smaller vocabulary aids in understanding. Good luck and have fun.
Comment: This brought to mind Randall Munroe's [Up Goer Five](http://xkcd.com/1133/). He has a forthcoming book, *[Thing Explainer](http://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251/ref=sr_1_1)*, which presents "Up Goer Five-style diagrams of things (explained using the ten hundred most common words)".
Answer: For class, write whatever gives you a good grade.
Otherwise, write for yourself. You already know what gives you that feeling of repulsion. Trust that feeling. Write for yourself.
Answer: Honestly, you must enjoy these high grades, even if you don't like that much.
Why?

High grades in school? Awesome;
Not always you will like your writing, specially in school when you are forced to write certain themes.

What to do to attain a more concise and unaffected writing style?

If you really like to write, do it in your free time and write freely, with no concerns about the ornamented  writing;
But If you are really repulsed about that, stop with the hard words and expressions when you write. You know, those words that we need a dictionary to know what they mean.
Try to write more coloquial and add expressions that you and your friends speak. (but not barbarian expressions ;) )

Do you thought that it is your style, your writer's voice? Don't close the voice inside you :)

How To Write Concisely


Would recalculating the residual in the conjugate gradient method help?

Question: The conjugate gradient method suffers from an accumulation of errors as it continues. For this reason it is unwise to use it as a direct solver. My question is, would it help to recalculate the residual every 5 or so steps in an attempt to mitigate these sorts of errors even when used as an iterative solver? I've not heard of people doing this but it seems kind of obvious. If it wouldn't help, can you explain why?
Comment: Hi Cramer and welcome to scicomp!  Could you give a little more detail on the problem you're solving and how you implemented the CG method?  This will help us address your question more precisely.
Comment: I'm working on structural optimisation and I've implemented it in a matrix free fashion using CUDA. But the question is more general, the residual is key to the method working, and it can be calculated at any time for a reasonable cost (although I can understand not calculating it every time if you don't have to).
Answer: Nobody does this. It seems like everyone who has thought about the issue has come to the conclusion that the error one incurs by not computing the residual exactly is small and that computing it every few iterations would be a waste of time.
The reason, I believe, is that even for large systems with hundreds of thousands or hundreds of millions of unknowns, we typically only do a few hundred or thousand iterations at most. This is not enough for errors to significantly accrue due to round-off.
Comment: If you run CG for a long time (e.g. $n$ iterations), then the vectors in the CG algorithm can lose their orthogonality due to round-off errors.  Sometimes the method is "restarted" after a large number of iterations to deal with this.  For example,you might restart every $n$ iterations.  As you've said, the CG method is most commonly used on very large scale problems and not run for even a significant fraction of $n$ iterations, and under those circumstances restarting isn't really necessary.
Answer: This tutorial talks about recalculating the residual every 50 iterations to mitigate round-off errors.


How is punishment and enjoyment possible in hell and heaven without body?

Question: How does a soul enjoy the fruits of his deeds in heaven without a mortal body???
Comment: We along with subtle body will get a new body when we got to hell or heaven
Comment: it is only the gross body. the subtle body is the experiencer in the heavens. See https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/6758/where-does-a-soul-attach-to-the-body
Answer: In the hells, the soul is NOT endowed with the physical body, but it still has a subtle kind of a body which is capable of feeling the pain.
The same question was in fact asked by Savitri (wife of Satyavan) to Yamaraja in Devi Bhagavatam's book 9.

O Bhagavan! What is the size of the several kundas or hells that Thou
  hast just now enumerated? How do the sinners dwell there? When a man
  departs, his body is reduced to ashes. Then of what sort is that other
  body by which the sinners enjoy the effects of their Karmas and why do
  not those bodies get destroyed when they suffer so much pains for so
  long a time? What sort of body is that? Kindly describe all these to
  me."

See Yamaraja's reply to it:

O Fair One! Now I have described to you the states of those persons
  that are not under the control of Kâla, good and bad karmas, pleasures
  and enjoyments, etc., and those that do not suffer those pains. Now I
  am speaking of this visible body. Listen. Earth, water, fire, air, and
  ether are the five Mahâ Bhûtas (the great elements); these are the
  seeds of this visible body of the person and are the chief factors in
  the work of creation. The body that is made up of earth and other
  elements is transient and artificial, i.e., that body becomes burnt to
  ashes. Within this visible body, bound, is there a Purusa of the size
  of a thumb; that is called the Jîva Purusa; the subtle Jîva assumes
  those subtle bodies for enjoying the effects of karmas. In My world,
  that subtle body is not burnt by the burning fire. If that subtle body
  be immersed in water, if that be beaten incessantly or if it be struck
  by a weapon or pierced by a sharp thorn, that body is not destroyed.
  That body is not burnt nor broken by the burning hot and molten
  material, by the red hot iron, by hot stones by embracing a hot image
  or by falling into a burning cauldron. That body has to suffer
  incessant pains. O Fair One! Thus I have dwelt on the subject of the
  several bodies and the causes thereof according to the S'âstras.
Book 9, Chapter 36

In a similar manner, in the heaven too, the soul is endowed with some sort of a body, that is capable of receiving pleasures and happiness.

The Karma, auspicious and inauspicious, done in many previous lives and preserved in seed forms, remains always inherent in a human
  soul. Urged on by this Karma, the Jîvas quitting their previous
  bodies, enjoy Heaven or Hell as effects of these, their own acts.

22-23. According to their good or bad works, the Jîvas acquire the higher happy body and enjoy various pleasures in the Heavens, or they
  take up very painful vicious bodies and suffer various pains in
  hell.
Book 4, Chapter 21
Answer: Soul is Ananda-swarupa ie. Supreme Bliss in it self. It doesn't experience punishment or enjoyment in heaven or hell. The one which experiences them is the body.
 Now the question arises that the dead body is burnt here itself so how can it experience good or bad fruit of deeds ?
The soul is actually wrapped under five bodies, known as pancha-kosha. The Taittiriya Upnishad discuses this. The body which was burnt here is called Sthula-sharira or anna-maya kosha. Anna maya kosh means the body made of Anna ie. Eatables. Our outermost body is made of eatables and dies in its scarcity. The 2nd layer of body is Sookshma- Sharir. This is the one which undergoes punishment/enjoyment as fruits of deeds of jiva.
Refer to this article:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchakosha


Broken laptop monitor and external monitor have the same resolution and can't get the external to change

Question: I stupidly slammed the top down on my Dell laptop and broke the monitor.  I can still see the icons but am unable to adjust the resolution to make the desktop usable.  I attached my external monitor but the same display shows up on that one.  I can't adjust the resolution on the external either.  I'm hoping that I just broke the monitor and not the computer.  Is there anyway to check this?
Answer: If you are using 12.04, first is try to set the resolution of your monitor on the proper tool inside of the "system configuration" with the purpose of to make sure that the resolution can be changed without complications.

If so, then your laptop graphics (GPU) card is in good condition and you will only need to replace the crystal liquid display (LCD) and you also have the option of working with your external monitor only.
This and other characteristics can be configured in the same tool.
It would be very useful if you indicate us the make and model of your laptop with the purpose of knowing what graphics card it has and thus be able to give you an answer more personalized.
Best regards.
P.S. My system is in Spanish, the illustrations are in this language.
Answer: sounds like when you slammed the lid you might have loosen up something on the motherboard If you still have video its not broken.
also make sure you system is up to date terminal type sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
and post you fglrxinfo for terminal.


Increase power of emitters on objects?

Question: Is there a way to change the power of an emitter hitting a certain object? For example, if I had an emitter object with strength 5, and nearby had several other objects, could I set one of those nearby objects to treat light rays hitting it as twice as powerful, so that it would be hit for strength 10 while leaving the emitter as strength 5 for the rest of the objects?
Comment: The closest I can think of would be to plug your shader nodes into both sockets of an *add shader* at the very end.  That would double all rays hitting the object though, not just the ones coming from a specific light.
Answer: The closest thing I can think of is doubling the entire shader of the object you want to be more illuminated.  This is done by adding the shader to itself.  To do this plug plug your shader nodes into both sockets of an add shader at the very end of the node tree.

It produces the following result.  The center ball uses the above technique while the other two use just the node group.

The disadvantage of this is that it doubles all rays hitting the object, not just ones from a specific emitter.
See this post and this post for more on the add shader node.
Comment: Excellent. I think I could probably deal with the other rays getting doubled by re-combining the passes in the compositor and clamping certain ones.
Comment: @Drudge  Great.  I am working on another answer using fake lights too if you want to check that out in a few minutes.
Comment: Sure, I remain interested.
Answer: Another solution, which doesn't do exactly what you are looking for the way you describe, but can produce a similar result, is to fake a light source in the material of the object you want to be more illuminated.
To do this, take the difference of a normalized vector determining the direction of the fake light (it helps to use a normal node for this) and the geometry's normal, tweak the falloff with an "RGB curves" node, and use that as the factor to mix an emission shader with your normal shader nodes.  I like to create a fake light node group (which I include in my startup blend) which takes the direction, strength, light color, and input shader.

Here is the node group.  I also have included an exclude parameter which can be used to have a mask define areas of the mesh to not illuminate, just leave that at 1 if not used.

Here is the result, the middle ball has the fake light.
Comment: This also looks really interesting. Thanks for 2 great answers.
Comment: @Drudge  No problem!  Due to their limitations, fake lights are usually just used for subtle rim light effects and the like, so if you can get it to work it's probably wise to use the other solution.

Increase power of emitters on objects?


New TimeMachine backup on the same drive

Question: I have recently successfully cleaned my hard drive and restored data with the TimeMachine backup. Now I would like to prepare backup of "new" system. Do I have to clean the drive first?
Answer: If you're asking about multiple backup of the same Mac on another backup volume, then no, that's not possible as the Time Machine will backup the same Mac and effectively overwrite the most recent backup.
If on the other hand you're asking about backing up multiple (different) Macs on the same backup volume, that's possible. I back up 5 Macs onto my NAS regularly.
Comment: On my drive there is a backup of the data before I cleaned the hard drive. Now I would like to backup data which is currently on my hard drive.
Comment: The answer to your question is yes, clean the "backup" from your HDD before backing up your new system.
Answer: No, you don't have to clean it. Just plug it in and a new Backup will be written. As far as I know the most recent backup is used to restore the system, so if you consider to restore the very same state again in the future, the only solution is not to plug in the time machine hard disk after you backed up your current state.
However, you should consider that this is not how time machine is intended to be used.


Is it possible to use console commands to fix the "War Hero" achievement in the Civil War quest line?

Question: After finishing the Civil War quest line in Skyrim I noticed that I had not gotten the War Hero achievement. This achievement can apparently be missed depending on the outcome of Season Unending. As I am playing on the PC, I was wondering if it would be possible to use a console command to force start the quest that trigger the achievement? Since I sided with the Stormcloaks, this would either be The Battle for Fort Sungard or The Battle for Fort Greenwall.
Answer: Achievements Unlocker mod can unlock all achievements or any achievements you choose with a little Creation Kit modification (Available through Steam -> Library -> Tools). You can also use Steam Achievement Manager to add or remove any Steam achievements. All in all, these options are likely much faster and less bug-prone than messing around with using console to trigger alternative missions.


What is the best opening in Hansa Teutonica?

Question: What opening move should I prefer in Hansa Teutonica with 3, 4, or 5 players, and why?
Answer: As the first player in a 4 or 5 player game, I like to play a merchant (disk) and a trader (cube), one on each road into the action city. In the crowd I play with, these roads are highly contended, so I will likely have 3 additional pieces on the board before my next turn. This will leave me in good position to become the third player to get a third action, or perhaps the first to improve the movement or refresh skill, or to get the "remove 3 pieces" bonus marker. In short, I find it maximizes my flexibility while getting additional pieces onto the board.
Comment: @ire_and_curses: good idea. Done.
Comment: This seems to be the way it works in our group.
Comment: Can you explain in more detail why you think this is a good move?
Answer: While contending for the action city is a classic opening move, it by no means is the only way to go.  I recently won a 4 player game using the policy of non-competition, and worked on creating as big of a network as possible, as that has the most bonus.  In fact, I only gained one additional action the whole game, which balanced out because I didn't waste all those actions contending for the action city.
If you go first, then this question makes some sense, but if you're not first player, the correct opening move will depending both on the other players' actions and their play-style.


Is it true that canine distemper has no cure?

Question: My dog were very sick the past weeks, he was diagnosed with canine distemper, now he seems to be good, I mean that he is acting as usual, he's happy, playing with us and eating, but he still have secretion in his eyes and very rarely in his nose. We took them to the vet just to check if he's now ok, but she told us that he will never be healthy, because this virus has no cure.
I want to now if that's true?
Answer: No. There is no disease that has "no cure" (unless you were born with something like Down syndrome and such.)
People often say "it has no cure." What this really means is that they just can't cure it themselves. There is no saying your dog won't get over it by himself. Just because humans don't have a cure for it, doesn't mean it's incurable.
This is kind of a bad example: take for instance Ebola. It has "no cure" yet some people got over it themselves. Just because you got it doesn't mean you couldn't cure it. It just means that humans don't have something that will take it away for you. I'm not saying you dog will get over it for sure, I'm just saying that he might.
Let's hope for the best. Good luck.
Comment: Half of modern medicine consists of supporting the patient and controlling the symptoms while the body deals with the problem. Viruses especially; we can make vaccines against some, and there are expensive antiviral drugs which address some others, but curing an established case of a viural disease is mostly waiting for the body to make antibodies and keeping the symptoms from damaging the patient in the meantime.
Comment: I actually knew a person who's brother had a "0%" chance of living from his disease and he fell into a coma for 14 days. Then he woke up. When he woke up, he was perfectly fine. His body had fought whatever he had off. He returned home that day.
Comment: Statistics always have outliers.... but don't bet more on them than you can afford to lose, since that's the probable outcome. Better to be wrong and delighted...
Comment: True, very true. But also don't dwell on the fact that it probably won't be cured. Look on the bright side and know it might get cured.
Comment: What about rabies, for example? It has virtually 100% lethality rate.
Answer: There is no known cure but I believe I helped my dog with Distemper with Vitamin A.
Apparently Distemper is similar to Measles. Measles can be treated in children with Vitamin A.

vitamin A megadoses (200,000 international units (IUs) on each day for
  two days) lowered the number of deaths from measles in hospitalized
  children under the age of two years

Source: cochrane.org
My dog was so bad that she was walking into walls and skinny from not eating. She's a little under 50 lbs but was closer to 40 lbs. I was sure she was going to die and was trying to get my vet to do the chicken virus treatment.
I gave her 10 8000 IU vitamin A pills with some peanut butter (so she wouldn't spit them out) twice a day for a few days. After about 48 hours, she was looking better and eating. Less than a week later, she was normal again. She now has a facial tick but no other signs of being sick.
If nothing else, the treatment is low cost (about $5 for a bottle of 250 vitamin A pills) and low risk (dogs have no know toxicity level for Vitamin A).
Use my 8000 IU for 40 lbs as a ratio for dogs weighing more or less (i.e. 4 pills for a 20 lb dog and 16 for an 80 lb dog). And give it to them twice a day - once in the morning and once in the evening.
Comment: vitamin A is toxic in large doses so it is safer to ask your vet BEFORE you start any type of medication in any animal.


Why does a larger block size infer a bigger attack vector

Question: I have read this in several articles that larger block sizes makes adversarial attacks easier. What I wonder is why is that so obvious? is it because in a larger block the number of transactions could increase to a number that it becomes hard to validate each one of them?
Answer: Usually Denial Of Service(DoS) attack may take place on larger sized blocks.So to avoid this condition initially block size Bitcoin was chosen to be 1Mb. Because attacker sends a lot of data in the network to make it busy so that the actual transactions are not able to take place.
Along with reducing block size other methodology which is adopted in Bitcoin are:

No forwarding of orphaned blocks
No forwarding of double-spend transactions
No forwarding of same block or transactions
Disconnect a peer that sends too many messages
Restrict the block size to 1 MB
Limit the size of each script up to 10000 bytes
Comment: On which evidence is the statement "Usually DoS attack may take place on larger sized blocks" based?