What's the best way to carry a dslr camera when rock-climbing?

Question: I am interested in hearing how people take their dslrs (digital single lens reflex camera) onto multi-pitch-rock-climbs. I have carried mine up in a small pack, but I end up taking hardly any pictures, since it is so cumbersome to get to it. What do professional climbing photographers/videographers do?
Comment: To be honest, I switched from a DSLR to a m4/3 setup just because of the inherent awkwardness of a big heavy DSLR on long stuff like that. Depending on what DSLR you're using, moving to m4/3 can often be only a slight image quality reduction.
Comment: I just carry a point-and-shoot in my pants pocket when I'm doing a multipitch route, and leave the DSLR for sport climbing.  But you can tell that from the quality of pictures I take on trad climbs.  :(  So I'd be interested in hearing an answer too
Comment: Point and shoot all the way - in fact we use the Fuji W series, as they are waterproof as well.
Comment: I was thinking about adding a peak design capture clip at the back of my harness as well as another strap to secure the camera in case of bad manipulation. Anyone did try that?
Answer: I wish I was still in Yosemite for this one. I used to climb with some fairly well known climbers back in the day, "Big Wall Pete" Takeda, the Parker Brothers, even happened on Peter Croft after he taught a class and we climbed for about 45 minutes. Big Wall used to work for "Climbing" and did a number of photo shoots, I know how they get the pictures from above and away from the rock using bivouac style set ups, but I never asked about taking the big cameras up. We used to take cheaper cameras up. We would tape a loop on them, throw a biner on it and drag it up that way. Almost always wrapped in a protective padded bag attached separately. If you drag it behind you and in its own case, it is easier to get to than say in the center of your food bag. Just remember that the camera is never to come un-clipped. You could rig up something with a 6' sling attached to the back of your harness and then a second carabiner closer to the camera and clip it to say your hip, with a camera bag for protection. This will give you quicker access, if that is an issue, but at the cost of being in the way.
The biggest reason why we stopped taking cameras up had more to do with the relatively lame angles you get from taking it from another climber's perspective. Either you get their feet or the top of their head. To get better shots, you need a separate team climbing ahead with bivouac gear to push you away from the rock, this will give you a lot better angle to shoot from. And if you are going to be taking a DSLR, I am guessing you are a lot more serious about the shots, so you might want to look into getting that set up figured out. For quicker and easier shots, you can lock off and stand horizontal off the rock. This is easier, and more of an angle than just hanging, but might not bring justice to taking a DSLR up the rock.
Answer: My strong recommendation is one of the BlackRapid straps.
 Black Rapid - THE WORLD'S MOST TRUSTED CAMERA STRAP
They are solid products. Need some checking before setting off to make sure it's connected securely. I'd personally probably add some sort of redudancy to the system if I was to go climbing with it, but I've done long hikes and it keeps the camera out of the way until right when you need it.
Comment: I've used one. It is OK under a rucksack, and doesn't bounce on the stomach while walking. I keep the camera in a plastic bag with bubble wrap inside for extra protection. (Also avoids stares.)
Comment: In a similar vein are Peak Design's stuff - there's a lot of debate in the photography community, but I think Peak's is generally better designed.
Answer: I recently got the Mantona Elements, an interesting hybrid camera/trekking backpack:

The lower part of the pack contains a small removable camera bag, while on top of it there's some space (not too much, though) for gear, food, clothes, etc.
Alternatively, you can reconfigure it without the camera bag to use the entire space like a regular backpack.
I'm pretty happy with it, it's comfortable to carry and not too large.
Comment: I would not feel particularly inclined to change lenses several hundred feet above the ground, but maybe that's just me :)
Comment: That looks like a really slick pack for carrying a camera. The best part about it is it doesn't look like a camera case so I'd be more inclined to take it places that a camera case would look out of place.
Comment: @Erik: it's of course very much a compromise. The camera bag part fits probably one full-sized DSLR and one to two additional lenses, depending on their size. The backpack part is then enough for a thin sweater, a small water bottle and some sandwiches, and that's it.
Answer: I've used a Black Rapid (clone) shoulder strap and added a carabiner that I attach to my belt loop to keep it from swinging or banging against the rocks.
I also connect the carabiner to the clip that attaches the camera to the strap so it holds the camera firmly at my waist.
Answer: I use this strap for biking:

It's a crossbody strap with a stabilizer that keeps the camera securely on your back while biking. It's perfect for mirrorless or compact cameras, but could hold a DSLR. It works for skateboarding, hiking, and I imagine it's great for climbing when you want to keep the camera out of the way with both hands free.
Answer: Just coming back from a climbing weekend where I manage to bring my camera around the rocks: I've added a peak design clip at the back of my harness and a simple strap. The clip allow quick and easy manipulation of the camera, and the strap is only to assure not dropping the camera.
With this configuration, the camera is exposed, therefore I wouldn't advice to lead a hard route because in case of fall, the probability to break your camera would be quite high.
Here is how it looks (sorry for potato image quality, the good camera is on the picture...):

After a couple of usage, I'd add this method is really nice because it is really quick to be ready to take pictures. The downside is that it is not that easy to clip back as you don't see what you are doing.
Comment: Hi Puck! Welcome TGO! Would be great if you could add a pic of the same for others to benefit from this.
Answer: I use the Manfrotto Offroad 30L pack. This does have a very good adjustable & comfortable fit and works well when you have a loaded harness. It is not too bulky and I rarely need all the space even with overnight bivy and all inside.
The camera gear stays at the bottom in it's own are, (only room for camear plus 2 lenses so Canon 80D 12-28 f4 & 70-200 f 2.8), I tend to carry a little more gear than I should but it's no difference in reality & the bulk is tideied away.
An APS-C DSLR is the right size for me, cold wet hands and a micro 4/3 doesn't work.
I have the PD Capture Clip V3 also but haven't yet found where to put it when Scrambling / Climbing, but for Multi-pitch the DSLR with 12-28 f4 is within reach to get out but not so easy to put back in, but when the photo is worth it I can do it.
Actually for climbing this works very well, it is the tricky scrambling which I have to plan better for with this setup.t is a little larger than the Mantona Elements and the same as one of the LowePro's. I'm so happy with mine I have two! When I need more camera gear I have an additional insert in the top and still enough space for overnighting up top.


Where can I get a small text proofread?

Question: I've just discovered this site hoping someone could proofread a small description of my new open-source project. However the FAQ specifically disallows it. Would anyone kindly point me to site that does offer this kind of service?
Answer: The StackExchange network doesn't have anywhere offering proofreading. Expecting to find such at English.SE or Writers.SE is not unreasonable; however, both sites have declared proofreading off-topic as being too localized, and as a straightforward process of correcting technical errors, rather than questions to be answered or problems to be solved.
Answer: Our sister site Writers does accept critique requests (they have a dedicated tag for those). However, make sure that you meet their guidelines.
Comment: Proofreading questions are off-topic at Writers: http://meta.writers.stackexchange.com/questions/301/should-we-allow-grammar-proofreading-questions . We do accept critique questions, but for something rather different.
Answer: Last I checked, Writers was OK with proofreading requests.

Writing critique questions are also welcome here, provided you tag them as critique – and provide details and context for your writing, as well as some direction on what type of feedback you're looking for.
Comment: Not any more: http://meta.writers.stackexchange.com/questions/301/should-we-allow-grammar-proofreading-questions .

Where can I get a small text proofread?


mongodb: replica-set with load balancer

Question: Is there an option for load balancing with mongodb replica sets?
I am not asking for a HAProxy or similar, but for a built-in feature from mongodb.
Could not find tips for this in the docs.
Answer: If you are using sharding, then the "load balancer" is the mongos process - actually it is more like a router - it keeps an in-memory copy of the config database and can make decisions based on the shard key.
If you mean load balancing across identical replica sets or across the members of the set, then there is a feature request to have mongos handle that scenario too (https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-1594), however given how the drivers operate it is not really necessary (it would make the drivers less complex though).
In a single replica set, you cannot distribute writes, they all must go to the primary.  You can distribute reads to the secondaries already, via Read Preferences as you deem appropriate.  The driver keeps track of what is a primary and what is a secondary and routes queries appropriately.
Answer: The 'load balancing' is achieve via sharding. By sharding you actually distribute writes/updates onto individual shards. There is no specific algorithm that does this as mongo will let you partition the data based on whatever key(s) combination
you want.
The best partition algorithms are the ones that have a compound of sequential entries plus a random one.
For example a user id can be partitioned as follow
<code>xx-sha1(user email)
xx = time sequence
</code>
Be aware that to implement sharding you need to have three config servers and the data nodes. The data nodes can be grouped into replica sets for redundancy and can be used (only if you can) to read data from secondaries. I say only if you can to read data because the replication is done asynchronous so is no guarantee that the new data will be available at the query time on the secondaries.
Keep in mind that the partition algorithm is totally up to you and should suit your application needs. Also you should consider if you just want to write the data and only on have occasional reads or you need to read it just after you wrote it.

mongodb: replica-set with load balancer


PTIJ: Using the Force on Shabbat

Question: What halachic considerations must a Jewish Jedi take into account before using the Force on Shabbat?
This question is Purim Torah and is not intended to be taken completely seriously. See the Purim Torah policy.
Comment: Off topic, but R' Gil Student discusses this question seriously. https://www.ou.org/life/inspiration/jedis-in-halacha (text and YouTube)
Comment: @Micha Berger: Excellent
Answer: This is a serious issue that requires real iyun.
We learn of the original star wars in Judges 5:20:

מִן־שָׁמַ֖יִם נִלְחָ֑מוּ הַכּֽוֹכָבִים֙ מִמְּסִלּוֹתָ֔ם נִלְחֲמ֖וּ עִם־סִיסְרָֽא׃
They fought from heaven, The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

Now, the stars could not be fighting (with the force) on Shabbos, because the timeframe of the fight is given in Pasuk 2 as:

בִּפְרֹ֤עַ פְּרָעוֹת֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּהִתְנַדֵּ֖ב עָ֑ם בָּרֲכ֖וּ
יְהוָֽה׃
When people pay off their loans in Israel, When the people donate; Bless the LORD.

While paying off loans is encouraged, money is muktzeh on Shabbat; thus, this battle (and usage of the force) could not have happened on Shabbat. The fact that the Navi specifies the non-Shabbat piece is meant to teach that the force is Assur on Shabbat. Indeed, the Rashbam writes:

שבת אסור... פורס
(On) Shabbat, it is Assur (to do...) Force.

Thus, L'Halacha, the force is Assur on Shabbat.
Answer: W = F * s
As long as the Jedis not moving, there's no work being done. That may be the reason the pasuk says "אל-ייצא איש ממקומו--ביום השביעי"  (Don't move!!)
Comment: Work is done on an object if the force makes the object move. I think the takeaway is the Jedi shouldn't use the force to do telekinesis.
Comment: Is it the Jedi doing the work, or the Force?
Answer: On Shabbat, any self respecting Jewdi would use the Schwartz , of course.
Comment: We learn in [Mishnah Pesachim 8:8](https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%A1%D7%97%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%97_%D7%97): Force from the Orlah is like force from the grave.
Answer: You can use it in a karmelis, as per the Magen Avraham O.C. 357:10:

דכחו בכרמלית לא גזרו
No decree was made against Force in a karmelis

Everywhere else, it should be avoided.
On the other hand, when the Jewish Jedi washes for his Shabbos seudos, it's a must (S.A. O.C. 159:7)!

צָרִיךְ שֶׁיָּבוֹאוּ הַמַּיִם מִכֹּחַ
The water must come through the Force
Answer: Rabbeinu Yoda (not to be confused with Rabbeinu Yona) explained:

Anger, fear, aggression! The dark side of the Force are they ... a
  Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense. Never for attack.

So, the rules seem pretty simple. If you have an Oneg Shabbat, you have joy, not anger.
Fear is hard to eliminate on Shabbat as you have to fear G-d. But, then again, if you know G-d and gain knowledge of G-d, this becomes a permissible use of the Force, so this is allowed on Shabbat.
If a person isolates himself at home all of Shabbat, and avoids interacting with people, he can eliminate the aggression and the dark side and gain benefits from the force, as well.
Answer: Actually, our interaction with 'the Force', a type of energy, is not direct. Our connection and ability to work with the Force is through intermediary creatures called 'Midi-chlorians'. They dwell within our cells. Manipulating the Force occurs through manipulating these creatures. This is akin to using your animals for work on Shabbos. It would therefore seem to be prohibited.
Answer: Firing missiles down a ventilation shaft that leads to the nuclear core of a spaceship is a mitzvas aseh she'hazman gerama because it has to be done before Darth Vadar escapes.
The passuk says be'moado, from which we derive that the tamid and korban pesach may be brought on Shabbas.
Therefore you may assume that be'moado is also matir using the Force.
However because Darth Vadar is related to the Balrogs so can use an anti-Force Force, it is a sfek sfeika if switching off your flight computer in this situation is the most sensible thing you could possibly do so the Shmiras Shabbas Kehilchaso is noteh le'esor.
Answer: Using the force is Avodah Zarah in any case. Chillul Shabbos and Avodah Zarah are both shakul k'neged the whole Torah. Additionally, both carry the penalty of Sekilah. Therefore, there is no reason to differentiate between using the Force on Shabbos and during the week. Hence, no special considerations need to be taken into account in using the force on Shabbos.
Comment: From where do you derive that using the Force is Avodah Zarah?
Comment: @Ze'ev Blumenkrantz Pesach Guide. I kid you not.

PTIJ: Using the Force on Shabbat


Call option- premium fall with rise in spot price

Question: The premium of the below call keeps falling although the price is increasing and it still has more than a month until expiry. The current spot price is 392.
Shouldn't the in the money strike premium increase?
I have attached the picture.
Comment: Check put Black Scholes formula, generally used to price options, will help you in getting the answer.
Answer: Options are generally viewed as having two types of value: "Intrinsic value" and "time value."  The intrinsic value is based on the difference between the strike price on the option and the spot price of the underlying.  The time value is based on the volatility of the underlying and the amount of time left until expiration.  As the days pass toward expiration, the time value generally decreases, and the intrinsic value may move up or down depending on the spot price of the underlying. (In theory, time value could increase at some points if the volatility is also rising.)
In your case, it looks like the time value is decreasing faster than the intrinsic value is increasing. This may happen because the volatility is also going down (as suggested in the answer by CQM) or may just happen because the time to expiration is getting shorter at equal volatility.
As noted by DumbCoder in a comment to the original question, the Black-Scholes formula will give you more analytical insight into this if you're interested.
Answer: Volatility typically decreases when stocks rise except pending news events or fast markets.
It has a great impact of the premium of the option.
Answer: The answers and comment you  received have clearly explained the meaning of intrinsic and extrinsic value as well as the relationship of time premium and implied volatility.
However, I think that there's a larger problem that hasn't been addressed.  The current spot is 390 and the 390 call that you are looking at has no open interest,  a closing price of 21.85 with a  last trade of 22.80 (up 4.35%) and a current B/A of 24.40 x 26.65.
Based on that information, what's fair value for this option? A Black Scholes model will tell you that but from looking at sporadic trades under the above conditions, you can't tell at any given moment of time if the time premium is increasing or no unless you do a bit more analysis.   To get an idea, you could average the B/A over a period of time and compare extrinsic.
There are a number of  approaches to get a better idea.  You could  look at daily Implied Volatility sheets.  Without access to that, you could compile it yourself from averaged IV numbers for the security and back it out via Black Scholes.  Or for a visual, you could use the free IVolatility volatility charts  (US stocks for me) that offers several vol graphs  for optionable securities (3, 6 and 12 month looks at  IV Index Call, IV Index Put,  IV Index Call & Put,  and IV Index Mean).


Is baking powder the same thing as baking flour?

Question: Are the two the same? I have no clue. A brief google search didn't provide much help.
Update:
Here's an example of baking flour
Comment: I have never heard the term "baking flour".
Comment: Can you post the recipe that calls for it? Some context would help.
Answer: If you're talking about "cake flour" or generally flour used in baking, no. In fact, I don't know of any product that is called a flour that would be the same as baking powder.
Baking Powder is a leavening agent; it makes things rise, much like yeast. It leavens by combining an acid (like Cream of Tarter) with an alkaline component (usually Baking Soda), and also usually contains an inert starch like cornstarch to prolong shelf life.
If your recipe is calling for cups of something, it's probably not baking powder :)
Answer: The important phrase in the description of the flour you linked to is "all purpose". It's all-purpose flour, the middle of the road flour that's reasonably good for anything. They chose to throw in the word "baking" to emphasize that you can bake with it, presumably because it's a gluten-free version which is designed to work for baking.
It has absolutely nothing to do with baking powder, a chemical leavener. Besides the fact that it says "all purpose flour" in the name, you can also tell from the fact that it comes in a six-pound bag, and the fact that the ingredients are all non-wheat flours.
Comment: Just to add on to this (very good) answer: occasionally you will see a normal flour which includes the words "self rising." This is usually the indicator that it contains baking powder to cause it to rise without the aid of additional leaveners.
Answer: Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda, calcium acid phosphate, and starch. It is used as a leavening. Baking flour is ground wheat and covers all flours used for baking, including cake flour, pastry flour, all-purpose flour, and self-rising flour. So yes, there is a very big difference.
Answer: No: it is probably an uncommon term, but, as far as I know, baking flour either means just regular flour, or possibly self-rising flour, which is regular flour mixed with some baking powder and sometimes salt, usually the most common ratio used in recipes like pancakes, so for example a ratio of 5 % baking powder and 1 % salt.


Formula for sum of series $1+(1+x)+(1+x)^2+.... +(1+x)^n$

Question: What is the formula to get sum of series
$$1+(1+x)+(1+x)^2+.... +(1+x)^n,$$
where $n$ is Integer and $x$ is Rational
Answer: HINT $\ $ It's a geometric series
Answer: It's a geometric series with common ration $(1+x)$. The sum for a geometric series is given by $$ S = a \frac{ r^{n}-1}{r-1}$$ where $a$ is the first term and $r$ is the common ratio.
Comment: ... and where there are $n$ terms. (Be careful, as there are $n+1$ terms in the question)
Answer: Simplified after the comment below by Yuval Filmus.
$$S=1+(1+x)+(1+x)^{2}+(1+x)^{3}+\ldots +(1+x)^{n}$$
is the sum of a  geometric progression with ratio $1+x$ and $n+1$ terms, the first of which is $1$. The usual way to derive $S$ is to multiply it by the ratio
$$(1+x)S=(1+x)+(1+x)^{2}+(1+x)^{3}+\ldots +(1+x)^{n}+(1+x)^{n+1}$$
and subtract from $S$:
$$\begin{eqnarray*}
S-(1+x)S &=&1+\left( (1+x)-(1+x)\right) +\left(
(1+x)^{2}-(1+x)^{2}\right)  \\
&&+\ldots +\left( (1+x)^{n}-(1+x)^{n}\right) -(1+x)^{n+1} \\
&=&1-(1+x)^{n+1}.
\end{eqnarray*}$$
Solving for $S$, we get
$$S=\frac{(1+x)^{n+1}-1}{x}\qquad (x\neq 0).$$
For $x=0$ the sum of the series is
$$S=1+1+1^{2}+1^{3}+\ldots +1^{n}=1+n.$$
Comment: Why consider $(1+x)^0$ separately?
Comment: Yuval Filmus, You are right! There's no need. The first term becomes $1$ and the ratio remains $(1+x)$


How do I load all images and thumbnail for a multivalued image field in node view?

Question: I have a content type with a multivalued image field. I want to make the image field render with one main image and all the thumbnail. When any of the thumbnail is clicked then it's respective image takes over the main image section. Something like amazon product images.
What I have thought about so far is to create a preprocess function for the field to load all images along with all the thumbnail then, with custom CSS and JS, customize its rendering, is this the right way to go about it? And how do I load all the thumbnails for the image field in node view?
Answer: You can use galleryformatter and then a bit css if you want


SIEM v/s Network Forensic

Question: when SIEM is already implemented in a enterprise network; does it not do all tasks and report like network forensic investigation? Or can we do away with SIEM and have only Network Forensic tools installed in a enterprise network
Answer:
Or can we do away with SIEM and have only Network Forensic tools installed in a enterprise network.

Sure, you can probably get away with forensic tools installed in an enterprise network. However, said tools are probably scattered all over the network.
For convenience sake, you will probably want to aggregate all the data and logs generated by the tools in one location. You will probably want to create a nice dashboard for glance-able information because who likes looking at logs?
You probably also don't want to hire a guy to stare at the logs all day in case something goes wrong. You probably want a way to alert your administrators in case something goes wrong....
At this point, you are basically rolling your own SIEM anyway so you might as well use one that has already been written and battle-tested.

SIEM v/s Network Forensic


Are pictures of GPL software GPL?

Question: GPL must be applied on screenshots of GPL software or not. Can a screen recording of GPL software, such as Linux, be published?
Comment: Is the first sentence a statement or a question?
Comment: @PeterMortensen It is a question…?
Answer: The question you need to be asking here is whether the picture/screen recording is a derivative work of the copyrighted material or not. In general, the answer to this is "no" (and this is independent of license) - a program compiled with gcc is not a derivative work of gcc, and a document created with Microsoft Word is not a derivative work of Microsoft Word. If the output isn't a derivative work of the copyrighted material, the license of the copyrighted material is irrelevant, and you can distribute it under any license you like.
Probably the most common situation in which in may be possible for a picture to be copyrighted is if it includes significant graphical assets - for example, I couldn't take a screenshot of Super Mario Bros (or Freeciv if you want a GPL example) and then distribute that under an arbitrary license, although various fair use/fair dealing exceptions may apply. You can think of other examples in which the output is subject to the original license - e.g. quines.
Comment: _"a program compiled with `gcc` is not a derivative work of `gcc`"_ - Actually, gcc usually embeds gcc code (the runtime libraries and headers) into the program it's compiling, which means the resulting binary _could_ be viewed as a derivative work. This is enough of an issue that [GCC makes an explicit exception for this situation](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gcc-exception-3.1.en.html).
Comment: I don't see how the examples ("a program compiled with `gcc`", "a document created with Microsoft Word") relate to the question, unless `gcc` or MS Word is taking a screenshot of itself.
Comment: @marcelm It's not a problem under US law for precisely the same reason coloring in a coloring book is allowed even though it might be technically said to create a derivative work. It wouldn't surprise me if there were countries where this was an issue though.
Comment: @DavidSchwartz : I fear for a future when the justice system will be run by an AI (as to be impartial and incorruptible, to not have human biases), because someone might forget to program in such obvious exceptions, and I'll be dragged to jail for coloring a coloring book and therefore violating copyright law. Human judges would see it, but a computer program going blindly through a ruleset might not.  (and I've seen a similar case in high school, there was an inspection issuing fines for pirated things, which just counted the number of .mp3 files. So if I rename an empty text file to mp3...)
Answer: It depends on how the software is featured in the image whether the image can be considered a derivative work or not and if copyright exceptions apply or not. If the image is a derivative work and no copyright exceptions apply, then it must be licensed under the GPL license.
For an image to be a derivative work of something else, that thing must be the main thing being depicted in the image. So, a screenshot or photo showing only a text editor with Linux code is most likely a derivative work of the shown portion of Linux code. On the other hand, a photo of a study with a monitor in the background showing Linux code is not a derivative work of the Linux code.
And then there is a class of derived works where you don't have to abide by a copyright license, and that is if your work falls under the Fair Use (or similar) exceptions in copyright law. A most notable example of Fair Use is when giving critique. In such cases, Fair Use allows you to reproduce parts of copyrighted works that would otherwise be in violation of the license terms.
Comment: @BartvanIngenSchenau At least in the UK, [photos of (modern) landmark buildings are already an issue](https://www.fieldfisher.com/en/insights/the-london-skyline-an-ip-view).
Comment: @PhilipKendall, for a picture *of* such a landmark building, I understand the issues. The big question is if a picture with "the London skyline" in the background (which happens to include several of those landmark buildings) is equally infringing on all those copyrights.
Comment: @BartvanIngenSchenau In the UK, there is a "freedom of panorama" which allows for such photos. As with much copyright law, there isn't a definitive test as to what's a "panorama" and what's a "photo of one building".
Comment: The photo of the study is almost certainly a derived work. If some proprietary Google, Oracle or Microsoft source code were on that screen, it could be in trouble. In the case of Linux source code, the photo isn't distributing the code in a way that is GPL-violating, because it's not shipping a runnable program.
Comment: @Kaz, in that case, any picture showing a landmark building would be equally in trouble, because those buildings are protected by intellectual property laws in a similar way as code is. If the shown code was from a proprietary application, it is far more likely that someone would be in trouble for violating trade secrets or an NDA than that the case would be based on a copyright violation.
Comment: @Kaz, You don't need to ship a runnable program to violate the GPL. If I were to take a random selection of lines from the Linux kernel and distribute those under any license except the GPL version 2, that would already be a violation of the license, even if that random selection of lines does not even compile.

Are pictures of GPL software GPL?


The number of featured questions

Question: I wonder why the number of featured questions increased nowadays. It was around $30$ before and nowadays above $50$.
Comment: More users $\Rightarrow$ more questions $\Rightarrow$ more features questions, perhaps?
Comment: @user1729 I try to answer more questions than I ask but it happens that i rarely get answers nowadays although i was getting more answers before.
Comment: [What about restricting the number of featured questions?](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/q/10879/19341)
Comment: @user1729 in some months the number of user in mse was not doubled i guess..
Comment: @draks... thanks i had a look at it. It says that mse is expanding, in my opinion expending more in a way that the questions are increasing much more than answers
Comment: Asking more questions but getting fewer answers? Welcome to academia!
Answer: The increase in the number of featured questions is roughly proportional to the increase in the total number of questions asked. The number of Questions Asked by Day indeed doubled in recent months:

The chart shows overall growth influenced by season: the number of questions is lower during Northern Hemisphere summers and winter holidays.

in some months the number of user in mse was not doubled i guess..

Since many (most?) questions are asked by relatively new users, it is more appropriate to compare the number of new questions to the number of new users. Which follows roughly the same trend, with very strong spikes during days when math.se was referred to on some more popular website. New users per day:

The number of featured questions


What player is chosen for the challenges before a match in career mode?

Question: How does FIFA 13 choose which player you get in the challenges before the match starts?
Is there anyway you can choose it yourself?
Answer: This answer is not entirely factual, and I guess it would be hard to confirm without having some insider knowledge anyway, but this is generally what I have noticed.
I am in my 5th career season as Yeovil Town FC (Go Glovers!) and have reached the premier league which allowed me enough cash to purchase Neymar.
The player that is selected for challenges will always be one from your starting 11, I have never seen a substitute (or excluded squad member) selected. If I have Neymar in my starting 11, it is always him selected - for me, this indicates that it is based on the player with the highest rating.
So then we have to wonder, is it highest overall rating? or highest stats for attributes related to the challenge? Again, it's hard to know for sure, but Neymar is not my FK specialist and has about 5-10 less stats in all the FK related attributes, yet neymar is always chosen even for the free kick challenges. Based on that I would say that it is the player with the highest overall rating that is selected.
My only doubt would be that it may be based on a shooting stat instead because the most common challenges in career mode warm-up are goal scoring ones, with the exception of the tennis style one, which I always get Neymar matched with my other forward/striker (I player 2 up front, Neymar and another).
Of course, Neymar also happens to be my top goalscorer for the seasons I have had him - this could also be a/the deciding factor.
Prior to acquiring Neymar, I distinctly remember my forwards always being the ones selected, and from what I remember it was always my best one at the time.
In short, I would say, it is always your best forward.


CRS reprojection

Question: I am trying to change the CRS of one shapefile that is originally in NAD27 to WGS84 in Qgis 2.6. When I proceed to make the change, I still continue to see the file in UTM coordinates... I've tried to save the file as a new one with the and change it at the "set layer CRS" option... Do you know another alternative?
Comment: Have you set the project properties to match the WGS84 layer? If not it's projecting on-the-fly to NAD27 (I assume) or what you had it as before.
Answer: I think there may be a bug in QGIS save as. This is from QGIS 2.6.0 (Brighton):
The easiest way to export a shapefile to a new coordinate system in QGIS is to right click on the shapefile and select 'save as' then in the dialog select Selected CRS which pops up a dialog and then select the 'to' CRS (in your case WGS84):

Using the method employed in previous versions: set project CRS then export using the project CRS the CRS does not change:

This is probably a new bug in QGIS; this method worked in previous versions (QGIS 2.0.1 Dufour).
After saving the new layer don't forget to change the CRS of the project or it will continue to use a different CRS: Right click on layer then select 'Set Project CRS from Layer' or in project properties from the list of available options.
Comment: It works that way in ArcMap @AndreJ. It's good to have that option working - the two most likely choices are 1. *Match the existing data* and 2. *Match the project/map*. That way if you're doing a few you don't have to think too much and limits the potential of hitting the next/previous CRS in the list.
Comment: I never trusted the `Project CRS` option, and always use the `Selected CRS` one with the `Change` button to get the right projection.
Answer: NAD27 EPSG:4267 and WGS84 EPSG:4326 are both CRS with lat/lon degrees.
The extent of your layer is in a projected CRS, but the projection information does not reflect that.
The most common pitfall in QGIS is to use Set CRS for Layer, which changes the CRS, but not the coordinates. You have to switch that back, or delete the layer and reload the original, then Save As... to another filename and CRS.
Try Settings -> Options CRS tab; Prompt for CRS for new layers to avoid automatic assignment of wrong default CRS, if the data does not come with projectiuon information.
UTM coordinates can be defined on either NAD27 or WGS84, so you have to be sure which one your data has (unless it is some state plane coordinate system or else).
Comment: take in to account this: http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/123069/project-from-datum-nad27-to-wgs84
Comment: @GerardoJimenez QGIS uses internally by default the ntv2 transformation from NAD27 to WGS84. That should be very exact.
Comment: Addendum: ntv2 is used for Canada, and NADCON for the United States. Mexico is partially outside the exact datum grid transformation.

CRS reprojection


Add a Field to a Workflow Task Form

Question: I have some experience with SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010, and almost no experience with InfoPath.
I have created a custom workflow solution using SharePoint Designer 2010. I am attempting to add the field 'Purchase Order' to the Task form 'Initial Invoice Review'.
I have created a (secondary) Data Connection to the 'Supplier Invoice' document library and selected the 'Purchase Order' field. When I drag the 'Purchase Order' field onto the form it includes the field inside a repeating section. See Screenshot 1.
When I display the form on the SharePoint site it displays links to multiple Purchase Orders - which is not correct; it should only display one Purchase Order per form.
If I drag the field outsode of the Repeating Section and delete the Repeating Section I get the following informational message: 'Purchase Order (Supplier Invoice)(Control cannot store data correctly). See Screenshot 2. When I display the form on the SharePoint site it doesn't display a link to the Purchase Order.
Can someone suggest how I can display this field please. Is this the wrong way, and is there some other way to do this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Kind Regards
Walter
Answer: If you simply want to use the Purchasing Order as an input field you could simply add a Initiation Variable to the Workflow and it shall be done automatically.
Further you could always set/read that variable throughout your workflow.
Hope it helps,
C:\Marius

Add a Field to a Workflow Task Form


Add all senders from Entourage to Address Book

Question: I am trying to migrate from Entourage to Mail, and the only thing that keeps me using Entourage is  email autocompletion. Entourage connects to the corporate Exchange address book, while Mail can't.
Do you know of a way to import all Entourage senders / contacts into Address Book?
I've tried the following:

find an Applescript sample that reads Exchange address books and import all contacts into Mac's contacts. Could not even find an example.
add all senders in my inbox to Entourage's address book (by selecting all messages and clicking add sender to address book) - this would in theory work, but on every duplicate it pops up a dialogue box. I tried writing an Applescript that would close all these dialogues, but it turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would be
write Applescript that will iterate Entourage emails and add senders to address book (way too much work).
Answer: Well, I think I mostly solved this problem by doing the second solution in Mail instead of Entourage: it just silently adds all senders to contacts without popping up the idiotic popup message


Can two Kings stand next to each other?

Question: My white King is separated from the Black King by one square (between) which is protected by my white rook.  I moved my white King next to the black King putting him in check (from the square protected by my rook).  My opponent says that this is an illegal move because two Kings cannot face each other.  I contend that my white King can threaten the black King from a protected square (by my rook). Who's right?
Comment: Kings can **never** "touch"-one king can **never** attack another-therefore your opponent was right.
Answer: Your friend is right. Think of it in terms of capturing the king: check means that your king could be captured on your opponent's next move. If you could move your king next to your opponent's king, your king could be captured on your opponent's next move; the fact that after that you could capture your opponent's king doesn't change that: your king has been captured, and you've lost the game.
Comment: @Lance I don't understand your question. But Pete's answer is correct: regardless of what other material is on the board, it is illegal for the two kings to be on adjacent squares.
Comment: what if there is only one king and no other pieces he has no way to back his king up... how can the opponent not put him in check if he has a rook available he may not be able to check mate him but definitely put him in check
Answer: Your friend and the existing answer here are both right: You can't do that.
There's no explicit law of chess for just this situation because it's fully covered by a slightly more general article from the FIDE Laws of Chess:

3.9.1 The king is said to be 'in check' if it is attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces, even if such pieces are constrained
  from moving to the square occupied by the king because they would then
  leave or place their own king in check.

This covers both your case -- the square is considered 'attacked' by the opponent's king even though it could not be moved there because of the rook -- and other cases, e.g. a piece pinned against it's king is still considered to attack all the squares it could move to were it not for the pin, hence the opposing king cannot be moved to any of them.
Answer: Moving your king next to another player's king is illegal.
However, the USCF rules for blitz chess state
"3b) If an illegal position is created or an illegal move made without the opponent making a claim, the position stands and a claim not allowed when the opponent has determined a next move."
While this provision is obscure, it is sometimes amusing.  I remember seeing someone in a clearly won endgame position about to queen a pawn under severe time pressure, while his opponent simply moved his king back and forth.  Just before the queening pawn move, the ordinarily losing opponent checked the guy with his king.  The person who queened did not claim a win before pressing his clock, and he was startled to lose to KxK!
However, I see that the USCF has added explicit mention of this procedure to the rule book:
"16.) Moving the King next to another King is an illegal move. Intentionally playing a king next to the opponent's in order to take the opponent's king on the next move (if not caught) is a cheap shot and will not be tolerated! Stop the clock and claim a win because of an illegal move."
The rule book does not define the precise meaning of "will not be tolerated!", nor does it mention whether additional sanctions will be made for laughing.
Comment: Looks like the rules have been revised to clarify the zero tolerance for KxK traps: "A player who moves his king adjacent to the opponent's king and then attempts to claim a win under this rule based on the
opponent's failure to notice the check shall lose the game".
Answer: It is illegal to play a move that results in your king being on an attacked square, or, as the official rules put it, emphasis mine:

The king is said to be 'in check' if it is attacked by one or more of
  the  opponent's pieces, even if such pieces are constrained from
  moving to the square occupied by the king because they would then
  leave or place their own king in check. No piece can be moved that
  will either expose the king of the same colour to check or leave that
  king in check.

Moving your king next to his would leave your king in check (the square is attacked by the opponent's king), so you're not allowed to do that.
"Backing up" a king never makes sense; you aren't even allowed to let your king be captured, so what might happen after that capture is always irrelevant.
Answer: I think of it as if your king gets captured, all your pieces are automatically captured also. So if your king is next to his king and your king is protected, if he captures your king your rook is captured too and cannot capture it back. So those types of moves are considered illegal.
Answer: Two kings must always be separated by at least 1 square because 2 kings cannot check one another.
Comment: This seems circular.

Can two Kings stand next to each other?


PC logs off instead of shuts down

Question: I've upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10 but I have a problem with shutdown. When I turn off my PC it do the logout instead the shutdwon. When arrive to violet screen (login) than I can shutdown my Pc and all is ok.
Comment: I had the same issue on both PC + laptop and no report or fix for this bug
Answer: I managed to add an extended menu somehow Probably by following this guide
but feel free to report it as a bug to ubuntu if you think it is a usability issue. I think the correct category would be indicator-me
Answer: When this happens to me it is because I have logged into another virtual terminal on the computer and not logged out there. I've always assumed that Ubuntu was stopping me from aborting what that "other" user was doing in their session.
When I ask for a shutdown from the last remaining session it does shutdown for me.
Sometimes I'll just type sudo shutdown -h now and not worry about it. Ubuntu will shutdown right away no matter what.

PC logs off instead of shuts down


Topological description of map coming from correspondence

Question: An algebraic correspondence between two varieties, $V,W$ is a kind of multi-valued map from $V$ to $W$, or, in other words, a map from a covering $U$ of $V$ to $W$. Apparently, such a map gives a morphism from the cohomology of $W$ to that of $V$. How does this work? I know that we would get a map to the cohomology of $U$, by the functorial nature of cohomology. However, how do we then map this to an element of the cohomology of $V$?
Answer: I'm going to define correspondence a little differently. I usually think of a correspondence as a closed subset $Z\subset V\times W$ maybe with some extra properties. This should be the same as what you wrote with the property that the projection on the first factor is actually a covering.
The way I get a map on cohomology is to take the class of this subvariety $[Z]\in H^*(V\times W)$ (pick any cohomology theory you want with a cycle class map). The degree it sits in will depend on codimension.
Let $p: V\times W\to V$ and $q:V\times W\to W$ be the projections. Now we can use pullback and pushforward and the ring structure on the cohomology to get a map $\Phi: H^*(V)\to H^*(W)$ by first pulling back $p^* :H^*(V)\to H^*(V\times W)$, then cupping with the class $\cup [Z] : H^*(V\times W)\to H^*(V\times W)$ then pushing forward $q_*: H^*(V\times W)\to H^*(W)$.
Thus the map on cohomology is $\Phi (\alpha)= q_*(p^*\alpha \cup [Z])$.


Is there a ripple whitepaper?

Question: I'm interested in doing some research on the ripple system. Is there a whitepaper which explains the underlying fundamentals and how they are realised? I know about the Wiki, but that is not citeable in research publications.
Comment: This might help: http://encryptopedia.com/?s=ripple
Answer: Not that I know of. Opencoin is still playing around with the protocol, so there probably won't be a white paper until they open source it.
Answer: Try looking around on http://archive.ripple-project.org/, in particular: http://archive.ripple-project.org/Main/Papers
Note, that site refers to the original Ripple project and implementations of it such as RipplePay and Villages. Ripple.com is the new distributed implementation of the Ripple project and although not discussed at that site, supported by the original project founder.
Answer: Additionally, Ripple released a Consensus Whitepaper in August 2014. They write:

Ripple Labs has just released a whitepaper describing the Ripple network's consensus algorithm and its properties. The Ripple network combines Ryan Fugger's original rippling ideas with a p2p transactional database. Consensus is the distributed agreement protocol that the Ripple network uses to irreversibly arbitrate changes to this database in just a few seconds.
Distributed agreement protocols like consensus must operate in the face of unreliable networks and malicious adversaries and must defend against failure modes in which the system might fail to process transactions or fail to agree on current balances. This white paper explains how Ripple's consensus algorithm operates and how it provides a fast, reliable payment network.

Direct link: Consensus Whitepaper

Is there a ripple whitepaper?


Travelling from UK to Russia

Question: I hold dual nationality - British and South African. I am due to travel to Russia from UK. I intend to use my South African passport to exit UK because South African passport holders are entitled to enter Russia without a visa. Will Border Control at UK port of exit permit me to leave UK for Russia using my South African passport?
Comment: Thanks so much for the detailed reply. Will the same scenario apply if I decided to fly to Russia from a German airport ? I'm contemplating a flight to Frankfurt en-route to Russia, but I still need to enter Russia on my South African passport.
Answer:
I intend to use my South African passport to exit UK because South African passport holders are entitled to enter Russia without a visa

What passport you'll use for entry to the destination does not affect what passport to use for exiting the departure country.

Will Border Control at UK port of exit permit me to leave UK for Russia using my South African passport?

If the UK did border control on exit at airports, no, you'd have to use your British passport, as with the South African one they'd look for an entry stamp and visa or BRP, and suspect you of being an illegal immigrant if not shown your British passport.
However, since the UK doesn't do border control on exit at airports, the issue is moot.
At bag drop, though, you should present both passports, explaining the British one is to be used for UK API purposes (advance passenger data - the staff will understand), and the SA one for the passenger data for Russia.
For this reason, I recommend you not to use self-service bag drop (if available) even if checking in online, as API forms online normally only allow one document to be used. Since Russia also does API, your UK passport has to be used for UK API and the SA one for Russian API. As such, bag drop staff may have to correct the data.
Comment: I think you might want to elaborate on "API". What if OP checks in online?
Comment: @MJeffryes Unless only bringing hand luggage, they still have to go to bag drop, where these matters are handled
Comment: Depends on the airline in my experience. More and more airlines are using kiosks, with minimal staff interaction. The concern for me would  be that they enter the Russian passport in API when checking in online, and as a result could be recorded as an overstayer.
Comment: @MJeffryes You mean self-service bag drop? Also I've heard Russia also does API, in wich case the SA passport details would need to be entered during OLCI, but for UK API the UK passport details
Comment: @Crazydre do you know how common it is for airlines' systems to be able to send different documents to the API systems of the departure country and the arrival country? I'm anticipating with some trepidation the introduction of ETIAS, especially in light of US efforts to tighten API-effected exit controls.
Comment: @phoog Out of my field I'm afraid :/

Travelling from UK to Russia


Number of irreducible polynomials of degree $2$ over $\Bbb F_{p^n}$

Question: What is the number of irreducible polynomials, $p(x)$, of degree $2$ over $\Bbb F_q$, $q=p^n$?
Comment: How many reducible ones are there?  How many total?
Comment: You could just list all the quadratics and then verify whether or not any elements of the finite field are zeros
Answer: Note that a polynomial of degree $2$ is "reducible" iff its roots are in the field. Let us count the reducible polynomials. First count the monic ones, for which the coefficient of $x^2$ is $1$ (then you can multiply your answer by $q-1$ to allow the coefficient of $x^2$ to vary).
So how many monic reducible polynomials of degree $2$ are there?  If the roots are to be distinct, they can be chosen in $\binom{q}{2}$ ways.  And there are in addition $q$ monic polynomials that have a double root.  Now put all these facts together.  Subtract your answer from the number $(q-1)(q)(q)$ of degree $2$ polynomials.
Answer: Here is a sketch of a solution that proceeds directly, instead of counting the complement.  It has the serious disadvantage that it does not work in characteristic $2$. Also, it uses more machinery than the counting the complement approach, but perhaps it has some merit.
Look at the quadratic $ax^2+bx+c$.  The coefficient $a$ can be chosen in $q-1$ ways.  We will show that for every such choice, and every one of the $q$ possibilities for $b$, there are $(q-1)/2$ choices for $c$ that yield an irreducible quadratic.
The idea is that (for characteristic $\ne 2$) a suitably interpreted version of the quadratic formula gives the zeros, and that in particular the quadratic has no zero in the field precisely when the discriminant $b^2-4ac$ is not a square in the field.
So let $a$ be a fixed non-zero element, and let $b$ be arbitrary but fixed. As $c$ ranges over all the elements of the field, so does $b^2-4ac$.  But exactly $(q-1)/2$ elements of the field are non-squares. This completes the argument.


Do helicopters fly a standard pattern before landing?

Question: How do helicopters approach and land at an airport? Do they use the same general traffic pattern as fixed-wing aircraft?
Comment: I live about two miles from Davison Army Airfield, and I can state that every Army helicopter that takes off or lands there does so in a way that is completely the same as the few fixed wings planes. They taxi at what looks like 40-80 feet and follow the taxiways, then taking off from the end of the runway, they gain altitude just like a regular plane. Every time.
Comment: taxiing at 40-80 feet is called an 'air taxi'. Its a fairly uncommon maneuver, except in certain circumstances, and quite fast. in the R44 its 60 feet and 60 knots. do these copters have wheels?
Comment: @CGCampbell if I'm not mistaken, military procedures are entirely separate from civilian ones, in the US at least.
Answer: The FAA AIM, in 4-3-17 and the Air Traffic Controller Handbook, Section 11, explains VFR helicopter operations at controlled airports. The procedure will depend on the airport and the current traffic.

Insofar as possible, helicopter operations will be instructed to avoid the flow of fixed-wing aircraft to minimize overall delays; however, there will be many situations where faster/larger helicopters may be integrated with fixed-wing aircraft for the benefit of all concerned.

Helicopters may operate from a designated helicopter landing area. The tower is responsible for separating them from other traffic. The helicopter can fly a much closer pattern than other aircraft, and may stay on the other side of the runway from the typical pattern. They may also operate straight in/out of the landing area, depending on wind and traffic.
They may also be cleared to take off or land in a "nonmovement" area that is not specifically designated for that activity, which could be a ramp at the airport or a location off-airport. This will be up to the tower to provide clearance and the pilot to execute safely.
Helicopters can also operate similarly to fixed-wing aircraft, taking off and landing using a runway, and following taxiways. Wheeled helicopters taxi on the ground. Otherwise, helicopters may either hover taxi, where they fly in ground effect at low speed, or air taxi, where they will fly out of ground effect up to 100 ft AGL and up to 60 kts, as directly as possible to the next point on the field, avoiding obstacles as needed.
Like ratchet freak says, they will generally come in horizontally while descending, flying into the wind, and then come into hover, where they will then be instructed by the tower to taxi to wherever they are going on the field.
Some airports, like in this photo of "spot Charlie" on Taxiway Zulu at Hayward Aiport, may have marked spots on the taxiways or non-movement areas for helicopter operations. In this case, students practicing landings and autorotations will be instructed: "Clear to land, Spot Charlie" to keep them off of the main runway 28L, while in left traffic on the opposite side of the runway of the smaller 28R.

As with any aircraft, the final authority for safety is the pilot, and they must be aware of their limitations and the conditions around them.
At non-towered airports, the procedures can be similar. The pilot should take the wind direction and traffic into account, and announce their intentions on the appropriate frequency.
Comment: @raptortech97 Many helicopters with wheels can taxi. The "horizantal propulsion mechanism" is just the same as in the air - tilt the disc forward with the cyclic. First one I found - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgkeZaCGhC0
Comment: @ratchetfreak you can move a copter on skids a few feet in any direction, or yaw them while on the skids, without going up into a full hover. just get it light on the skids with the collective, and use the cyclic and pedals to move around a bit. usually this is used for adjusting a bad parking job :)
Comment: Woah, you can taxi a helicopter? Do they have wheels and some sort of horizontal propulsion mechanism? Or is it just that the helicopter taxis above the taxiway?
Comment: @raptortech97 those with wheels are usually pushed, with skids you need to get into a hover or on a dolly to move it over a few feet
Answer: They won't come in at altitude and then descend vertically until touch down.
The major reason is that rapid vertical descent has the danger that the rotor could end up in its own downwash and lose most of its lift. You don't want that.
So what they will do is come in horizontally while descending until over the landing site only a few dozen feet from the ground.
Airports generally have specific landing pads for VTOL capable aircraft (like helicopters), so they will direct them there instead of the runway.
Comment: every maneuver has the possibility of danger. the proper procedure for a steep approach in a helicopter is land into the wind, keep the VSI below 300fpm, and maintain enough airspeed to maintain translational lift (which includes the headwind).
Answer: Depends on the airport.  When I fly to KBUR I was almost always asked to fly standard patterns and land on runways before taxiing out.
Some other airports wants you to go directly on pads, and sometimes has a published procedure to land there like KLGB
Sometimes they ask you to land on a taxiway, and then say "taxi parking," which means you can do whatever you want from there.
Answer: Only adding this answer as my experience is a little different. this is based on my Canadian experience.
At Controlled airfields, as a pilot you can request anything you want, as long as it complies with things like noise abatement etc, the limiting factor is ATC and how much they trust you to not land on trucks, or wander in front of the landing 737. at the airfield I trained, with lots of helicopters, [15+ trainers plus 4-5 other company's] there are published helicopter approaches and a dedicate circuit, the tower knew what we could do, and would approve almost anything you wanted, many of the other towers were less familiar and if there was traffic would sometimes make you join the pattern, but if you asked nicely sometimes they would let you cut in line if you stayed away from the active.
Uncontrolled airfields, it is a judgment call depending on if theirs other traffic and where you need to land. generally I would fly a much tighter circuit than the fixed wing guys, as my cruse and there landing speeds are close.


How do I get rid of aphids on kale?

Question: I have some kale growing in my raised bed which are getting infested with aphids.  How do I get rid of those and secondly, are the kale leaves still edible (after cleaning them in hot water)?
Comment: Do not use hot water!!  It might damage the cellular structure of the Kale leaves forget the aphids!  Look up a decent recipe for a soap/water formulation to spray and try that.  First use a hard spray of plain water.  Then spray with the soap/water.  Allow to dry.  If you still see aphids, do it all over again.  Aphids are actually yummy (so I've been told) and healthy!  Wash your Kale in cold water before using.  Not a big deal, honest!  What plants grow nearby and how are they doing?  For plants that are't for food, Neem, sprayed at night only is super.  Might need more than one spraying..
Comment: I should clarify.  I am washing kale with warm water after harvesting to get rid of aphids an other dirt on the leaves before eating.  I did not quite understand your comment about neem.  Are you suggesting I spray that instead of soap water?  Also,, the soap/water formulation that works for you would be helpful. Too much stuff on the internet and I come to this forum for trusted advice.
Answer: First and foremost, do confirm they are aphids. Pictures would help us confirm.
Once you have been attacked by aphids, you are probably going to see them again. The real long term solution is to employ lady bugs. These guys will take care of the aphid problem quite well for you.
Stormy is right. Hot water is not a good idea, unless you are talking about using hot water after harvesting them. In that case, your Kale may not taste as good and you may lose some nutritional value. For cleaning, a thorough rinse with warm water and a scrub should be sufficient.
If you want to help the plants while they are still in the bed, I repeat, hot water is not good. You then need to try a very diluted soap solution in water, and spray vigorously. You might have to do this over multiple cycles.
Herbicides are not good, in general. The mechanical wash from your spray and the establishment of lady bugs over the long term for future harvests is best. You can actually buy lady bugs at stores, and must make some previsions for them to stay and be happy in your yard. In most regions, it is too late in the year (unless you are down under) for lady bugs as a long term solution, but it ought to be one of the first things you try in Spring.
Talk to local master gardeners, nurseries and/or agricultural colleges, should you have access for specific solutions.
Comment: Spraying water or soap water will not work since these guys are well hidden and entrenched within the crevices of the kale leaves and hence hard to reach. How do I ensure that lady bugs won't fly away when I put them around the kale and how many lady bugs do I need?
Comment: I have plenty of lady bugs in the yard, and they take care of all of the regular aphids and whitefly.  But they won't touch the kale aphids, which are a different species.
Comment: Sorry, I didn't see your comment until now. You can start by getting a small can. They wont fly too far as long as you have a good environment for them. Once established, they will be back year after year, as long as the surroundings stay the same, and it doesn't get too dry or wet, etc.

How do I get rid of aphids on kale?


Constrained Second Angle Double Pendulum

Question: If I am trying to model the dynamics of a double-pendulum (on a horizontal plane without the effects of gravity), in which the second angle is constrained to range between values of [-10 deg, 10 deg], how would I derive the equations of motion? I'm having trouble identifying whether I would use some method involving solving the Lagrangian with holonomic or non-holonomic constraints.
Comment: What would constrain a real pendulum to that range? Resiliency of the material (how hard/soft/elastic it is) plays a big role in what the outcome of the simulation would be. Is the impulse at the end stops a large force over a short duration or vice-versa? Do you care how a real system would behave?
Answer: The derivation of double pendulum system is indeed trivial but tedious because of computing some derivatives. The first step is to tackle the problem from a geometric perspective. My drawing of double pendulum is shown in the following picture:

From the preceding figure, we can write down some equations. The derivatives of these equations are needed subsequently, therefore, we compute them as well. The independent time variable is omitted for the sake of simplicity.
$$
\begin{array}
xx_1 = a_1 \sin\theta, &
\qquad y_1  = -a_1 \cos\theta, \\
\dot{x}_1  = a_1 \dot{\theta} \cos\theta, &
\qquad \dot{y}_1  =  a_1 \dot{\theta} \sin\theta, \\
%####################################################
x_2 = x_1 + a_2 \sin\phi, &
\qquad y_2 = y_1 - a_2 \cos\phi, \\
\dot{x}_2 = \dot{x}_1 + a_2 \dot{\phi} \cos\phi, &
\qquad \dot{y}_2 = \dot{y}_1 + a_2 \dot{\phi} \sin\phi,
\end{array}
$$
To derive the dynamics equation of the system, I will use the Lagrangian approach. We need the kinetic and potential energies of masses. Let's start off with the kinetic energy.
The kinetic energy of $m_1$ is computed as follows:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{K}_1 &= \frac{1}{2}m_1 v^2_1 \\
              &= \frac{1}{2}m_1 (\dot{x}^{2}_1+\dot{y}^{2}_1) \\
              &= \frac{1}{2}m_1 (a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} \cos^{2}\theta+a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} \sin^{2}\theta) \\
&= \frac{1}{2}m_1 [a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} (\cos^{2}\theta+ \sin^{2}\theta)] \\
&= \frac{1}{2}m_1 a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2}
\end{align}
$$
The kinetic energy of $m_2$ is computed as follows:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{K}_2 &= \frac{1}{2}m_2 v^2_2 \\
              &= \frac{1}{2}m_2 (\dot{x}^{2}_2+\dot{y}^{2}_2) \\
 &= \frac{1}{2}m_2 [(\dot{x}_1 + a_2 \dot{\phi} \cos\phi)^{2}+(\dot{y}_1 + a_2 \dot{\phi} \sin\phi)^{2}] \\
%===============================================
&= \frac{1}{2}m_2 [(\dot{x}^{2}_1 + 2a_2 \dot{\phi} \cos\phi \dot{x}_1 + a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2} \cos^{2}\phi) + \\  & \qquad \ \ \  \quad  (\dot{y}^{2}_1 + 2a_2 \dot{\phi} \sin\phi \dot{y}_1 + a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2} \sin^{2}\phi)] \\
%===============================================
&= \frac{1}{2}m_2 [(a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} \cos^{2}\theta + 2a_2 \dot{\phi} \cos\phi a_1 \dot{\theta} \cos\theta + a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2} \cos^{2}\phi) + \\  & \qquad \ \ \  \quad  (a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} \sin^{2}\theta + 2a_2 \dot{\phi} \sin\phi a_1 \dot{\theta} \sin\theta + a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2} \sin^{2}\phi)] \\
%===============================================
&= \frac{1}{2}m_2 [a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} [\cos^{2}\theta+\sin^{2}\theta] + 2a_2 a_1 \dot{\phi} \dot{\theta}[ \cos\theta \cos\phi  + \sin\theta \sin\phi ] + \\  & \qquad \qquad a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2}[ \cos^{2}\phi+\sin^{2}\phi] ] \\
%===============================================
&= \frac{1}{2}m_2 [a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2}  + 2a_2 a_1 \dot{\phi} \dot{\theta} \cos(\theta-\phi) +  a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2} ]
\end{align}
$$
The kinetic energy of the whole system is then:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{K} &= \mathcal{K}_1 + \mathcal{K}_2 \\
&= \frac{1}{2}m_1 a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2} +
\frac{1}{2}m_2 [a^{2}_1 \dot{\theta}^{2}  + 2a_2 a_1 \dot{\phi} \dot{\theta} \cos(\theta-\phi) +  a^{2}_2 \dot{\phi}^{2} ]
\end{align}
$$
The second step is to compute the potential energy of the whole system. We start off with the potential energy of $m_1$ which is computed as follows:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{P}_1 &= m_1 y_1 g \\ &= m_1(-a_1 \cos\theta)g \\ &= -a_1 m_1 g \cos\theta
\end{align}
$$
The potential energy of $m_2$ is  computed as follows:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{P}_2 &= m_2 y_2 g \\ &= m_2(y_1 - a_2 \cos\phi)g \\
&= m_2(-a_1 \cos\theta - a_2 \cos\phi)g \\
&= -a_1 m_2 g \cos\theta - a_2 m_2 g \cos\phi
\end{align}
$$
The potential energy of the whole system is then:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{P} &= \mathcal{P}_1 + \mathcal{P}_2 \\
&= -a_1 m_1 g \cos\theta -a_1 m_2 g \cos\theta - a_2 m_2 g \cos\phi
\end{align}
$$
To construct the Lagrangian equation, we take the difference between the kinetic $\mathcal{K}$ and potential $\mathcal{P}$ energies of the whole system, hence:
$$
\begin{align}
\mathcal{L} &= \mathcal{K} - \mathcal{P}
\end{align}
$$
At this moment, we will compute dynamics equation of the double pendulum system. Remember this system has two degrees of freedom, therefore, we need two differential equations to describe the motion of the system. Let's start off with the first equation (i.e. the equation for $\theta$). This can be done by determining the following equations:
$$
\frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial \dot{\theta} }, \ \
\frac{d}{dt} \left( \frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial \dot{\theta} } \right)
\text{and}
\frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial \theta}.
$$
For the second equation of dynamics equation, we do the following:
$$
\frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial \dot{\phi} }, \ \
\frac{d}{dt} \left( \frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial \dot{\phi} } \right)
\text{and}
\frac{\partial \mathcal{L}}{\partial \phi}.
$$
I will leave the rest as an exercise. Once you came up with the dynamics equation, you can use some controllers to limit the range of the second pendulum.
Answer: I don't think you need to worry about the constraint. You can derive the non linear equation using Lagrangian. Once you have the non linear model, you will have to linearize it at the equilibrium point which is simply valid only for angle around 0 deg. This condition is much more strict then your mechanical limitations. Therefore you don't need to consider the limitations that you have mentioned. And I assume you will modeling the friction as a viscous damper which is a linear model. This assumption makes the system holonomic.
Here I assume that you will use linear model to control the system. However, if you want to use non linear control then you will probably need to worry about the constraints.
Answer: At first it is important to understand the double pendulum problem as a hybrid system. To solve these kinds of task a combination of a finite state machine plus mathematical equations are the best way. On page 26 of On-Line Symbolic Constraint Embedding for Simulation of Hybrid Dynamical Systems is a automaton given which consists of three modes: double-pendulum, slider-crank and stuck. Additional sourcecode in Matlab are not given, but this paper is the way to go.
A sourcecode for a simpler version (the single pendulum problem) is the following:
<code>def fsmstart(self):
  # strategy: if pole is on 180 Degree, move in other direction
  for i in range(10000):
    a1=self.angPole()
    pygame.time.wait(50)
    a2=self.angPole()
    middle=False
    if a1>160 and a1<200: middle=True
    direction="left"
    if a2<a1: direction="right"
    if middle==True:
      print direction
      if direction=="right": self.setspeed(0, .7) # move left
      if direction=="left": self.setspeed(0, -.7) # move right
      pygame.time.wait(500)
      self.setspeed(0, 0)
def angPole(self):
  return self.getangle(4)
</code>


Conversion from matrix defining rotation and position to camera matrix

Question: I have a matrix that defines the rotation and translation of an object, relative to (0, 0, 0). Assuming that the identity matrix defines the camera to be at (0, 0, 0) pointing at (0, 0, 1), how would I go about constructing the view matrix from the world + rotation matrix?
Answer: Assuming I've understood the question correctly, you need to inverse the matrix. The inverse of the matrix is a matrix such that a multiplication between it and the matrix it is an inverse of will result in the identity matrix (i.e. 1,0,0,0 ,0,1,0,0, 0,0,1,0, 0,0,0,1). I'm not sure if you're using Opengl, D3d or whatever but your library should include functions to calculate the inverse. Bear in mind that calculating the inverse is not trivial and shouldn't be done say, once per vertex - you should calculate the inverse of the view matrix only as often as you change the view position.
HTH.
Comment: Will this actually give me the view matrix? As in, the matrix required to project world space into camera space?


Why are some of the boards in my hardwood floors disintegrating?

Question: Some of the boards in my hardwood floors (1949) are disintegrating.
Can anyone tell me what gives? And how I might go about stopping it?
Answer: Its either rot or termites.
The discoloring suggests a water leak that persisted long enough to rot.  Do you have access under that spot?  Is the subfloor similarly discolored? If so, it may need to be repaired at the same time as the board.
Board replacement is possible by any flooring contractor by sawing out the center of the board and chiseling/prying out the side pieces.  The replacement piece will be dropped in by cutting off the lower half of its groove (of the tounge/groove pair) and glueing it in.  Small finish nails can also be used to tack it down (and set and filled with colored wood putty).
The new piece may be a bit proud if the floor has been refinished more than once, and can be presanded to blend.
Here's a video found by Shirlock Hoimes on the TOH site
Answer: Looks like water damage. Did it occur while you owned the house? If so, and you don't remember any flooding, then the water is coming from underneath the floor. This needs to be fixed or you will continue to get rot and mold. Try to get access to the subfloor from below. The rotted pieces will need to be replaced so you could remove them to take a look at the subfloor to try to find how the water is spreading.


Soul Sculptor and creatures with cast triggers

Question: Suppose Soul Sculptor has turned a Ramos, Dragon Engine into an enchantment, and the Ramos player casts a (colored) creature spell. Will they get the +1/+1 counters for it? More generally, if Soul Sculptor hits a creature that has cast triggers, will casting a creature trigger those abilities?
Comment: @Arthur the sculptor creates a continuous effect with a limited duration. It ends as soon as its end condition (a player has cast a creature spell) is fulfilled. Ending the effect is not triggered and does not use the stack.
Comment: I can't really get a grasp on exactly when and how the Dragon becomes a creature again. It doesn't look like the Sculptor's ability creates a delayed triggered ability, and the only rules I've found in the rules which refer to similar wording specifically mentions "changing zones" and not changing types. I'd be interested to see an answer with some solid references.
Comment: @Arthur 611.2a is what explains this wording. There's nothing special about "until a player casts a creature spell" compared to something like "until end of turn".
Comment: @Gendolkari That's the best I can do as well, but that doesn't help us much with the timing as "end of turn" is a bit special that way (triggers and effects ending happen at different, clearly specified points of time). The main problem is still this: does the effect end early enough from a spell being cast for the trigger to see the spell being cast?
Comment: There is nothing particularly special about "end of turn". The phrase "end of turn" is part of a continuous effect with a duration that ends during the cleanup step. It never appears in triggered abilities because that use has received errata to "at the beginning of the next end step", which makes it clear exactly what the difference is.
Answer: The dragon will get counters.

603.10. Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions, and continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like.

To determine if an event (casting a creature spell in this case) triggered any abilities, we look at the state of things immediately after that event occurred. At the time that the game checks to see if anything triggered (immediately after the event), Soul Sculptor's continuous effect has ended.
Note that reverting to a creature when the spell is cast is not a triggered ability, or any ability that uses the stack. For that to be the case, Soul Sculptor would need to be worded as a delayed trigger. Something awkward like "Target creature becomes an enchantment with no abilities. When a creature spell is cast, this effect ends."

603.7. An effect may create a delayed triggered ability that can do something at a later time. A delayed triggered ability will contain "when," "whenever," or "at," although that word won't usually begin the ability.

Rather, it is simply a continuous effect that has a limited duration, and when the duration expires, so does the effect.

611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as "until end of turn"). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.

Rule 613 explains how the current values of an object's characteristics are determined. Immediately after a creature spell has been cast, when the game is determining what the dragon's characteristics are, it determines that the dragon is a creature with its normal abilities, because at that time, the enchantment-changing effect has ended, it is past the stated expiration point of the continuous ability.
Comment: @Belgabad I'm not sure what the best rule is to make that clear... it's more a lack of anything suggesting that it would be triggered. Triggered abilities must contain "when", "whenever", or "at" (603.1), and Soul Sculptor's ability does not.
Comment: The crux of the issue, in my mind, is whether Ramos becoming a creature again uses the stack. Would you mind including a rules reference for that? Generally, I have a pretty good handle on the rules, I have a hard time with delayed triggers and continuous effects
Comment: I would suggest citing 611.2a more than 603.7, or at least in addition. There are a lot of things that this isn't, including a triggered ability, but it very specifically is a continuous effect with a specified duration.


Why are there different starter limitations for dry cranking and manual start on the A320?

Question: I recently had this point clarified that when we place the mode selector to CRANK on the A320 we can dry crank the engine up to 5 mins. But the moment we place the mode selector to IGN/START then we are limited to 2 mins (I'm mainly referring to the 2 mins with regard to a manual engine start) Could someone please explain why there are these two different limitations?
Answer: Per the Airbus maintenance training manual, the crank limit whether it's dry (CRANK) or wet (IGN/START + MAN START) is 2 minutes.
An ECAM warning will notify of exceeding the limit: ENG 1 (2) START FAULT (condition: starter time exceeded).

This video shows the cranking of an A320 jet engine as a test after changing the IDG filter.
Answer: In CRANK mode, the air turbine starter (the thing that converts APU or bleed air into engine rotation) is working pretty hard, but nothing else in the engine is really doing very much. Speeds are slow, no fuel is being burnt, not much going on. After about 5 minutes, the starter will start to get hot, so you have to shut it down to let it cool off.
In START position, now there are lots of other things going on. Specifically, you are now introducing and burning fuel. That means a lot of things are going to get hot, besides just the starter. For example, you now have a bunch of hot gases going through the turbine. On a normal start, you will get to idle within 2 minutes or so.  But if you don't get to idle within 2 minutes, that means something is wrong.  There could be a bunch of different causes for this, but you don't want to continue to sit there and burn fuel while you figure this out.  If you do that, you could potentially overheat some other components (like the combustor or turbines). Depending on the cause, you might not overheat anything, but you don't want to risk it.
In summary, the 5 minute limit really just affects the starter. The 2 minute limit is for a bunch of other things (besides the starter).
Comment: if we leave the starter turning the engine during a manual start but we don't put the Master to ON then why are we limited to 2 mins. And during CRANK only 5 mins. After all in both cases the starter is only turning the engine and we haven't introduced any fuel as we haven't put the Master on. I'd imagine the starter will get pretty hot in 2 mins also.
Comment: Ok.  Maybe I misunderstood the question... if you are doing a manual start and have the master lever off, then you are correct that the situation is effectively the same as crank.  So I don't know why they would have that limitation. It is certainly not a limitation of the engine.


What is the difference between an alert and a warning message?

Question: Is there any difference between an alert and a warning message? When it should be used, under what condition and scenario?
Comment: In what context?
Comment: A wanring implies that an action is irreversable and will require user to confirm before proceeding. An alert is more of an information to attract user attention to an event. for example a new message or email received
Comment: I'd say warnings are generally used to notify a user that a problem is close (eg. "Warning, low battery level"). And that alerts on the other hand is a general term for when the problem has already occurred (eg. "File transfer failed"), alert could probably be rephrased as *a notification of an error*.
Comment: Related: [How to define/classify messages and notifications in web applications](http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/36783/how-to-define-classify-messages-and-notifications-in-web-applications)
Comment: In other word can we say Warning message is reversible and Alert messages are Ir-reversible
Answer: At a conceptual level an alert is usually a cue used to raise a users attention. For instance a phone may vibrate to send an alert that something requires attention.
A warning is usually related to the consequence of an action (or inaction). A warning can be given before or during an action, but not (usually) after.
Let's says you're running out of battery. Then an alert can be shown as a message. The text can simply say "Battery: 2%", which is contextual and may be interpreted as a warning.  If the text says: "Battery low. Please recharge soon or device will shutdown." - then it's an alert shown as a message containing a warning.
In other words this discussion becomes a discussion about semiotics, signs and signifiers and signified meanings.
Answer: It's simple really.  They are all alerts, dialogs, modals, etc.
Warning is the type of the alert along with Error, Information,  and many more.
Comment: Currently, I'm going with "notice" which has types of "error", "warning", "info", and "success".
Answer: You could think of the two in terms of how critical the user message is, in the context of completing the task. Is the user able to proceed to the next step after the message? Or will they encounter an error?  This should help you prioritize the different types of user messages and design accordingly e.g. a discreet snackbar/toast type of message box or huge pop-up overlay with bold, red text!
Generally, an alert is informational and contains additional info that needs to be communicated to the user.
A warning is used when the user cannot proceed to the next step unless the required action is taken. It is also used to let the user know that that the next step is difficult or impossible to recover, e.g. deleting files permanently or closing an account.


Where to put video transcripts?

Question: Is there any official guidance on where to put a transcript for a video? Should it go on the same page as the video or on a separate page?
Answer: Transcripts and videos are one in the same thing. Having them on a separate page can be quite a frustrating experience.
Let's take a look at other examples
Lynda.com has the transcripts right below the video:

This allows for easy reading and watching at the same time. And the current line is highlighted for easy access.
Youtube had the "transcripts" right in the video, so no need to scroll if you have a smaller screen.
I recommend easy access so you don't have to have the user jumping from place to place.
Answer: Putting it on the same page makes a lot of sense from the navigation perspective, as well as from the SEO angle.
If you put them on separate pages, the page with the video will never show up in the search engine results, since it has almost no text content. So, from the search results, people would get directly to the transcript. And then they will need to figure out how to get to the video itself - extra step that could be avoided.
While there are tools that auto-follow the transcript while the video plays, I am not sure whether their text content can be indexed by search engines - this is a big question. So, as a simplest first step, I would just put the transcript below the video.
An additional thing for easier text<->video navigation is putting time stamps to the main parts of the transcirpt. This will help readers jump to the needed part of the video if they are interested in that part only.

Where to put video transcripts?


Possible leakage of metadata during forensic analysis

Question: I'm going to encrypt external hard drive. HDD is wiped three times using the command shred --verbose --random-source=/dev/urandom --iterations=3 /dev/sdc but after it I was accidentally executed command dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc bs=4M status=progress and I've stopped it. /dev/sdb is an encrypted hard drive. Should I worry about possible leakage of metadata during forensic analysis?
Answer: You should elaborate on what you mean by "leakage of metadata during forensic analysis". Whether or not there is a risk of leaking confidential information, it depends on what you had on /dev/sdb. If you had sensitive, unencrypted data there, then writing it to the beginning of /dev/sdc would result in that data being retrievable unless otherwise overwritten. You should just initiate an erasure once more and limit it to only overwrite however much data you were shown by the results of status=progress.
Answer: Someone performing forensics on your drive would see that /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc started with the same data. This would indicate to them that the contents of /dev/sdb are almost certainly not random noise, but are in fact encrypted disk contents.
This would give them more confidence in spending time on attempting to recover the contents of that encrypted drive. Additionally, because when I think "forensics" I think "court", this would most likely eliminate any plausible deniability on your part if you were brought before a court and asked to divulge the encryption key - that is, you wouldn't have the opportunity to say "that's just an unitialized drive, there's nothing to decrypt."


Can one tell which way the market goes from sell and buy orders?

Question: Among other open access (i.e. public) data available in exchange API's are the open order books. They are given on exchange websites sorted by coin value. Is there a way to tell which way the market is going, as in up or down for a given pair, from sell and buy order books?
If the only way is by taking two snapshots of these data, would that be a good way to do it, or is there a better way, using public API's?
Answer: Market direction, as with any direction, only applies when you have more than a single data point.
So, the value of the trade at t-1 compared to the value of the trade at t can tell you if the market moved "up" or "down".  The value of t, by itself can only ever tell you the value of t.  There is no way to determine direction or velocity from a single point value.
If an individual API provides direction, then you could use that; however that is up to the individual API to provide.
Answer: All you're seeing in the order book are offers to trade at specific prices. There's no commitment there; they can be easily added or removed at a moment's notice. That leaves the order book as a very weak and gameable indication of future market price movement.


Verifying data accuracy on earnings by family income

Question: In the May 2019 collegescorecard data there are slightly over 150 institutions that report mean earnings 10 years after attending for the highest family income of $75,001+ (MN_EARN_WNE_INC3_P10) as being lower than earnings for the lowest family income $0-$30,000 (MN_EARN_WNE_INC1_P10). This goes against intuition although it is possible that some of this is correct. Is there anyway to verify the extent to which MN_EARN_WNE_INC3_P10 < MN_EARN_WNE_INC1_P10 can be true? Some of the differences are in excess of 50%.
Answer: It is not possible for end users to verify these data, as the student-level matching is performed within the Department and only the aggregate statistics are made publicly available.  The Department does not have any reason to believe that these data are inaccurate, and while these 150 institutions may not follow the pattern of most institutions, it is certainly likely that not all institutions will exhibit that same pattern.


How to control anger according to sunnah?

Question: I pray regularly fives, give sadakas (voluntary charity) and do other ibadats (rituals). I have a very weak point that I sometimes fail to control my anger. Most of the time I have a very hot temper. I sometimes misbehave and even use bad words towards other people. Afterwards I repent, but I repeat this bad behavior later. Is there 'doa' or sunnah to manage my anger.
Answer: There are ahadith which describe the importance of controlling anger:

Abu Huraira reported: I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: One is not strong because of one's wrestling skillfully. They said: Allah's Messenger, then who is strong? He said: He who controls his anger when he is in a fit of rage. -- Sahih Muslim 2609 b (sunnah.com; also Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 1317 sunnah.com)
It was narrated from Sahl bin Mu'adh bin Anas, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
"Whoever restrains his anger when he is able to implement it, Allah will call him before all of creation on the Day of Resurrection, and will give him his choice of any houri that he wants." -- Sunan Ibn Majah [grade: hasan] (sunnah.com)

And also "The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'Do not become angry and furious.'" Sahih al-Bukhari 6116 (sunnah.com), which IslamWeb interpreted as meaning "the cure for anger is to avoid its causes and stimulants".
From a psychology point of view, it can be helpful to identify the causes of your anger (e.g. anger out of frustration, i.e., when there are obstacles to achieving a goal).  Cognitive behavioural therapy encourages one to be aware of their thought processes, and why certain feelings are being felt.  This enables you to react more appropriately to situations.
So Islam espouses controlling one's anger.  In fact, there are ahadith addressing how to behave when angry:

Narrated AbuDharr: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to us: When one of you becomes angry while standing, he should sit down. If the anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise he should lie down. -- Sunan Abi Dawud 4782 [grade: sahih] (sunnah.com)
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "If any of you becomes angry, let him keep silent." (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, al-Musnad, 1/329; see also Saheeh al-Jaami', 693, 4027). -- sourced from Islam Q&A

IslamWeb also suggests performing ablution when angry, citing the following hadith (which is listed as "da'if" [weak] at sunnah.com):

Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only with water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution. -- Sunan Abi Dawud 4784 [grade: da'if] (sunnah.com)

Islam Q&A also includes other methods, e.g., listening to reminders: "sincere people will remember Allaah when they are reminded, and they will not overstep the mark" and being aware of the negative impacts of anger.
Answer: It is said to drink cold water, sit down, say bismillah and alhumdulillah when drinking. If that doesn't work try laying down.
Answer: I'll have to find the exact narration but I it was something like this from the prophet:
"If you are angry and standing then sit down. If you are sitting then lie down. If the person is from your kin, then touch the person as your love will be rekindled and you would calm down (a bit)."


How to upload pictures from an iPhone?

Question: When I take a picture with my iPhone 4 and I want to upload them to a site like craigslist or etsy, the upload or browse button is always gray so it doesn't allow me to do it. I try going to my desktop but the pictures arent there.  I have the cloud and wifi enabled but the pics don't go onto my computer. So I try emailing them to myself through gmail but I cant get the pics to completetly come off the email when I download them. I am at a complete loss and this is way more complicated than it should be, can anyone help me?
Answer: As other posters speculated, iOS 6 now supports uploading pictures through standard file upload forms.
Answer: The press has said that this fall's release of iOS 6 will provide a standard file-upload element will work as you expect, allowing you to choose or take a photo to upload. See this article for more information.
Comment: And how does this solve the problem? It's highly unlikely that Angie already uses an iOS version which isn't available to the public yet.
Comment: Is this disclosed out of NDA?
Answer: I was as frustrated as you about the problems regarding inter-device file transfer. Not being able to upload files from the browser is the climax (iOS 6 may come to rescue here), but until then try my Open Source software cross copy to get the photos from your device onto your desktop:

install and open the App "cross copy"
on your computer browse to http://cross-copy.net
enter the same codeword
pick your photo on the phone, it will instantly appear as downloadable item on the webpage
Answer: Check out the web browser iCab Mobile for iPad and iPhone. This seems to be currently the only full featured browser for the iOS platform which supports file uploads. There are a few limits though, but I can successfully upload photos on facebook, Flickr, Craigslist and many other pages.

How to upload pictures from an iPhone?


Detect if a number is between 2 others?

Question: What's the best way to detect if a number, is between two other numbers? Is there already a function to do this in the Math object?
Comment: Excuse me, but this is not math :)
Answer: There is no specific function, but you can do it like this:
lowNumber < yourNumber && yourNumber < highNumber

Comment: I prefer to use `min < n && n < max` because then it looks sort of like `min < n < max`.
Comment: ^^ Certainly nothing wrong with that. It does have a nice flow to it.
Answer: Though the code solution is fairly obvious, if you're going to use it a lot, you may want to implement it on Number.prototype for convenience:
Number.prototype.inRange = function( a,b ) {
    var n = +this;
    return ( n > a && n < b );
};

So you'd use it like this:
(5).inRange( 3, 7 ); // true

Example: http://jsfiddle.net/dTHQ3/
Answer: Um if it is greater than one and less than the other.
var num1 = 3;
var num2 = 5;
var x = 4;
var isBetween = (num1 < x && num2 > x);

Answer: if ( yournumber < highNumber && yournumber > lowNumber ){
  // do something
} else {
  // do something else
}

Answer: The only optimized way to do this is to guess which is more likely: Is the number your checking more likely to be lower than the lower bound, or is it more likely to be higher than the upper bound?
With this in mind, you can take advantage of short circuiting by placing the more likely failure check first (if it fails that, it won't test the less likely criteria). This is the only way to optimize it.
Even this will save you the smallest amount of time that is most likely not going to be noticed. Perhaps if you were making this check millions of times, you might save a fraction of a second over the alternative.

Detect if a number is between 2 others?


Google Sites Horizontal Navigation Bar Contents

Question: Is there any way that the items in the Horizontal Navigation Bar can be copied between sites.  I am a primary teacher and the 30 pupils in my class each have a site.  These sites have been up and running for the past year.  We would like to add some Urls to the Horizontal Nav Bar and some of these would have drop down links also.  Is there any way that they can be copied if an original was created.
Answer: Sites uses the pages that already exist in your Sites structure to build out the nav bar. This means that your 30+ sites, each with their own structure, cannot share/copy nav links between each other.
What you can do is add pages by URL. All you need to to is go to
More > Edit Site Layout > Click on the horizontal nav bar > Configure your pages > Add URL
When you add a custom URL to the nav, you can edit the text and paste the URL. Once you set this up, you can use the arrows above to manipulate the order of the pages. Clicking the right arrow will create a subpage (a page in the drop down)
This will allow you to at least only create 1 version of the new page and add it as a URL to all other existing site navigations.

Remember:

This only works if the pages you want to add exist somewhere else, and the users of the original site have access to view the added pages.
To set up horizontal nav bars you need to have selected the Horizontal navigation button when you first enter Edit Site Layout


Site to organize one's thoughts?

Question: I can't remember the name of the wonderful webapp that helps one organize one's thought by typing in lists and then freely moving bullet points around.
Searching for "organize thoughts" leads to many lists of sites but the one I'm looking for isn't listed.
I think it as "write" in its name or does a play on words with the word "write", but I'm not sure.
When in use, it just presents a full white page.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Comment: do give a try to Organisr (http://organi.sr)
Answer: Have a look at freemind
The term you are looking for is "mindmapping"

Site to organize one's thoughts?