How to improve schema access performance

Question: We have Apex code that needs to interrogate the schema to dynamically handle configuration-based behaviour (e.g. for defining fields that should be loaded or saved) for specific types of object (such as "Account" or "MyCustomObject__c") and have seen that a lot of CPU time is spent just loading the schema. What's the best way to use the Salesforce APIs to minimize the overheads?
Comment: I have tried to provide a question/answer that pulls together a few different points, notably a key part of sfdcfox's excellent reply in the cited question - which I have myself linked to. So, it is partially a duplicate, but looking at it more broadly and pointing out that there are TWO Salesforce behind-the-API caches for the "dynamic" and "static" schemas. If you query something both statically AND dynamically the data is loaded twice and cached twice.
Answer: The first thing to realize is that calls to Schema.getGlobalDescribe are cripplingly slow and should be avoided at (pretty much) all costs. The usual approach here is to replace this call with an appropriately targeted call to Schema.describeSObjects so you only load the schema detail for explicitly named object types (e.g. 'Account', 'MyCustomObject__c' etc.), though that has been shown as ineffective.
The second thing to realize is that Salesforce's Schema mechanism actually has two different flavours and two different session caches for this data. I am unsure what Salesforce officially calls these, but I have badged them:

Dynamic - this is what is used when calling the Schema.getGlobalDescribe and Schema.describeSObjects methods or when using custom metadata Field Definition fields in queries
Static - this is what is used when explicitly accessing schema elements via things like Schema.SObjectType.Account or Schema.SObjectType.MyCustomObject__c (and in a few other cases - see below).

Static schema access is much, much faster than dynamic access (literally orders of magnitude faster) and is the cornerstone for improving the performance you get.
While we can't always make use of Static schema access (see this question for an example) there are ways to avoid use of both Schema.getGlobalDescribe and Schema.describeSObjects when you already know the name(s) of the type(s) of SObject that you want to get the schema details for.
Given an SObject API name, such as "Account" or "MyCustomObject__c", as a string and realizing that the different types of SObject are actually Apex classes too, you can statically access the schema detail using the following (based on this question's answer):
SObject obj = (SObject) Type.forName(theApiNameString).newInstance();
DescribeSObjectResult describe = obj.getSObjectType().getDescribe();

The describe thus obtained does not even need to be added to a custom session cache (static map or similar) since Salesforce optimizes accessing that same describe again in the same session as part of its behind-the-API caching of results, and the reflective instantiation used is quite a cheap operation.
NB: Code that accesses the schema for a given object both "statically" and "dynamically" will have Salesforce load (and session cache behind the API) the schema details twice, as two different instances of the DescribeSObjectResult. For this reason it is best to ensure you always access the schema in the one way (ideally "statically").
Kudos to sfdcfox for identifying this alternative, Type-based approach.
UPDATE (2023)
If you use the updated Schema.describeSObjects, ensuring that the SObjectDescribeOptions.DEFERRED option is applied, you can get even better performance. For example:
String typeName = ...;
List<Schema.DescribeSObjectResult> describes = Schema.describeSObjects(new String[] { typeName }, SObjectDescribeOptions.DEFERRED);
DescribeSObjectResult describe = describes[0];

This, surprisingly, has better performance compared with the use of Type.forName.
Comment: This is great!  Thank you, and yes, it probably explains the difference with querying FieldDefinition in CustomMetadata.  I guess the "correct" way to fix that problem, then, is to use strings, and run a nightly process to ensure your metadata and CustomMetadata coincide.
Comment: Keep in mind that `getGlobalDescribe()` also caches its results, so if you need to get describe for many objects `getGlobalDescribe()` may still be better.  I tested the exact breakpoint awhile ago, I think it was about 10 objects (as in, `Type.ForName().newInstance().getDescribe()` was about 10x faster), but that was on a live org so YMMV depending on the amount of custom metadata you have.
Comment: @IllusiveBrian, yes, indeed, which is why I mention two different caches (static and dynamic). This double caching means you actually get different instances of the describe from the two different approaches. We have a lot of custom fields in our schema, typically extended further by solutions using our package, across a core set of perhaps 8 commonly used object types. For us the "static" schema access is massively better. We were initially using getGlobalDescribe but that was taking over 300ms per request. With the "static" access we are down to 10s of milliseconds instead.


Can I ask question about comparison?

Question: Can I ask question about comparison? For example, if I wanted to ask a question about comparison of Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo and Mass Effect technology tier levels.
Comment: Ehhhh... you can (you always *can*), but unless it's worded carefully it's likely to fall into "gorilla vs shark" problems... in addition, comparing tech usually means trying to relate different settings through real world physics, which is also off topic... and that's aside from something like "tier levels" being completely arbitrary and likely to be opinion based.  So there's three potential close reasons right off the bat.  It going to depend on the specific aim of your question, and there's definitely a minefield out that way.
Answer: Yes (but probably no).
The very short answer is that trying to compare two different fictional universes is always going to be tricky. Over the years SE has tried to grapple with the subject of "Gorilla Vs. Shark" type questions, where you're basically comparing two dissimilar worlds. If you want to know...

"Which is the most advanced technologically, Star Wars or Star
  Trek?"

... for example, you're going to be on very shaky ground. Not only is this definitely a G vs. S question but it also borders very heavily on being 'unclear what you're asking' and 'opinion-based', all of which are considered valid close reasons.
That being said
If you're wanting to compare items that have a defined feature, it's possible to ask them. For example ...

"Which ship can go faster, the Millennium Falcon or the USS
  Enterprise?"

... would be perfectly acceptable. We know the top speed of both and can compare their movement directly with objects (galaxies, in this case) that have known dimensions.
So what should I do to avoid getting my question closed?
You've got a couple of choices. My personal suggestion would be to write the question out in notepad, precis it and post it into chat. There are usually people around (including higher-rep users with a strong knowledge of the site's policies) who'll be happy to offer advice on how to post without falling foul. You might also try posting a Meta question on the subject ("If I asked "X" would it be closed?"). You'll also get good advice but probably less interactivity.
Comment: This answer isn't complete without mentioning the **SFF-specific** [Gorilla vs Shark](https://thesffblog.com/2015/06/gorilla-vs-shark-not-so-fast/) policy. I could write up my own answer based on that, but since this answer is pretty good already, I'll just suggest that you edit to base it more on the SFF blog post than the SO one.
Comment: @MissMonicaE - It was the last time I checked; https://i.stack.imgur.com/OYD1w.png
Comment: Precis is a verb?
Comment: @Randal'Thor - I'd forgotten about that. Cheerfully added.
Comment: @amaranth - "Not Constructive" is no longer a valid close reason. I've voted to reopen.
Comment: @amaranth - I don't see why. Even a small shuttle in the Star Wars universe is capable of outstripping the pride of the Federation. If I could be bothered, I'd work out a speed calculation but the path of the Tyderium equates to something like Warp 9.9999 on the Star Trek scale, traversing half the galaxy in less than 3 days.
Comment: @amaranth [Actually...](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/155325/64950)
Answer: As an addendum to the well-received "Yes (but probably no)", and in light of the back-and-forth on this question:
Which ship can go faster, the Millennium Falcon or the USS Enterprise?
And its related meta:
Why does the community continue re-opening this particular question?
I think we should make it clear that if we are doing direct comparisons of quantifiable properties, such as speed, weight, force, etc., and the question would thus be on-topic, then it should be done under the assumption that if the universes are using the same units of measurement as one another (or, rather, as we use in reality), that they can be considered equal.
That is to say, we don't need to question whether or not the fictional universes are somehow fundamentally different on some quantum level, or using weird amounts despite being portrayed to us, the readers and viewers, using our language.
Absent any contrary information explicitly given in the works, we should assume that 1 second, 1 newton, 1 gram, 1 lightyear, etc. etc. are equal between the universes being compared and our own.
Comment: Pssh. Parsecs are clearly measurements of time in the SW universe.
Comment: @phantom42 [Maybe not](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/20360/31178)
Comment: I think the Millennium Falcon question was closed largely because it *smells* like Gorilla vs. Shark.
Comment: @Valorum Right, and having the implicit assumption be "all else being equal" kind of thing, as I suggest, helps cover that smell.
Comment: @creationedge - My thought is that the fact that they might be different is, in itself, quite interesting.
Comment: @Valorum From what I saw, there were _pages_ of arguments about that question in the comments, plus an answer that was just a continuation of that argument about the possibility of different measurements, a full set of close votes, and a reopening that involved a moderator, all because no edit was made to the question to make the implicit be explicit. That's a lot of drama to subject an asker to, for no good reason that I can tell.
Comment: @CreationEdge - and while that's true, it's not always obvious that units are the same. In Star Wars, for example,  a week is only 5 days long.
Comment: "Absent any contrary information explicitly given in the works"

Can I ask question about comparison?


SQL Server without Powershell

Question: I'm trying to install SQL Server 2008 Express Edition, and it's demanding Windows Powershell and refusing to proceed with the installation. Is there any way to get it to install without Powershell? (The reason I'm asking is not so much for myself personally as to reduce the number of headaches through which I'm going to have to drag other people when I tell them my program needs SQL Server.)
Answer: Use the command line install, i imagine you will be doing this for the sql server to set it up without the user going through it.
command line sql server
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259(SQL.100).aspx
powershell
http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Installing_Windows_PowerShell_1.0#Performing_a_Windows_Server_2008_PowerShell_Command_Line_Installation
you can do these in silent mode and include the script run in install shield (or most installation package managers)
You doing the installations via script removes many headaches and if scripts fail, then have them sebd install log to find problem.
Answer: Given that Powershell is part of the current windows operationg system - just install it. Actually, just install the current version of the perating system. Both Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 come with Powershell enabled (at least I find it on mine, and I know I did not include them manually or in the build images).
So, this basically is a non-issue ;)
Answer: You will likely find that you don't want to not install powershell.  I believe in sql 2008 R2 there are management functions that require powershell.

SQL Server without Powershell


As an ingress level 8 & the 2000 item limit, what's the best proportion of resonators to carry?

Question: Should a person keep lots of level 1's, or discard them for level 2's?  Or do you skip those completely for levels 4-8?  And at what proportion?  When hacking and deploying, I wonder how many of the low level stuff I should carry.  Just curious what others think or suggest
Answer: In order to capture a portal by yourself, you need 2 L4 Resonators, 2 L5s, 2 L6s, one L7 and one L8. When upgrading portals, you usually need one L7 and one L8 resonator. So, a reasonable strategy will be to carry the same amount of resonators in each level, starting from L4.
For example, if I have 200 resonators in each Level, I would be able to capture 100 portals and upgrade an additional 100. If I tend more towards capturing and less towards upgrading, I could reduce the number of L7s and L8s. If I tend more towards upgrading (as most L8s should, actually), I could reduce the number of L4-L6 resonators.
There are two reasons to carry lower level resonators:

As a L8 player, lower level resonators are usually harder to come by. So sometimes I compensated for the lack of L4s (compared to my L5s and L6s) with L3s or lower.
Handing out equipment to lower level players (especially L5s, who still need L3 resonators in order to completely capture a portal by themselves).

The ratio that worked best for me, after taking into account the various factors and the amount of use I had for each item level, is to have, for each L5 resonator: ~2 lower level resonator (L1-L4), 1 L6 resonator, ~2 L7 resonators, ~2 L8 resonators.
I usually had ~700 resonators in my inventory at any one time, but I can't pretend to have a strategy behind that number. It just the average amount the I carried.
Comment: Yes, this glyphing thing didn't exist back in my day...
Comment: Capturing a portal only requires 1 resonator.  Your first paragraph is describing fully deploying a portal.
Comment: Note that you can glyph for L4s and L5s resos while deploying. A lot of people (including myself) carry very few of those (20-50) and hack more as they go.
Comment: An easy way to get low level resonators is to partially deploy until the portal is at the level you want, then glyph hack.
Answer: It depends on your play style and a bit on your environment.
If you generally play alone, then it's actually easier to run out of low-level resonators since building up an empty portal on your own requires at least 4 resonators of level 5 or lower, and if there are other high level players around, you also don't get many low level resonators from hacks. They can easily be your scarcest resource!
But if you mostly play with high level friends, you can build up portals without ever needing low level resonators, so in that case you can probably discard everything below level 4 or 5.
As for other stuff: power cubes are great, no matter the level. XMP bursters get so much stronger at the higher levels that the lower ones (say, below 6) aren't really worth your time. Whether you want to collect media is a matter of taste. Portal keys are always useful, except those from places you won't visit again.
Comment: You can always hack low level stuff by hacking before you have placed all your resonators. A simple way to get them if you need them.
Comment: Only 2 r4's are required for completing a portal by yourself.
Comment: @RoryAlsop: yeah, but you'll still get them at a lower rate than high-level resonators (if there are active players from your faction around who build up portals) while using them up at a higher rate.
Answer: So dependent on strategy and local conditions. Here's what I do:

100 L1 + L4
100 L5
200 L6
200 L7
300 L8

I think L1s are better than L2 or L3 because a fully deployed 87665511 portal is L4, so you can use L1s to get more L4s out of newly-captured portals.
I seem to be able to keep in a roughly steady state with those conditions, but you should adjust to what your conditions are and what you find allows you to generally keep inventory stocked. This is also based on the fact that I'd like to be able to give away 50% of my resonators at any time to a teammate and still be able to operate effectively.
Answer: You can hack for lower level resonators as you deploy. I find I can deploy to level 4 (lvl 8, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5, empty, empty), glyph hack, and deploy the rest (lvl 4 or lower) without running out of lower level resonators. As long as I hit the high level farms to restock lvl 5+ resonators, I never run out of resonators.
For bursters I recycle anything lvl 5 or lower when I need XM. I also recycle lvl 7 and 8 resonators when I have significantly more than lvl 5 and 6 resonators. It's been a good way to balance my inventory from home while working on recharger badge.
Answer: I would focus on L4 and higher, because that's the minimum you need to capture a portal solo.
Given that L8 resonators are harder to come by as you need a L6 portal or higher to give L8 resonators, which means you need at least 2 people, I'd give priority to the L8 resonators. Also because you will need them to create L8 portals.
But if you have lots of active L8 players in your neighborhood and you often play together (often enough to nearly never need to capture portals solo), you should definitely focus on having many L8 and L7 resonators and only have L6, L5 and L4 as spare.
In fact, you could be focussing on bursters and keys more.
As for bursters, I would recycle any bursters of level 3 and lower. Level 4 bursters can be used effectively on a portal that has no shields anymore, so you can use spare L4 bursters to save on your higher bursters (but only if you have the luxury to have place for spare parts).
Answer: If you can destroy 25 portals in one day,  I suggest to keep atleat 100 L3, 100 L4 resonators.
And if you regularly farm from 4 portals, I suggest to keep atleast 20 L8, 20 L7, and 40 L6, 40 L5 resonators.
That makes total 320 resonator.
And if you think the opposition can destroy more than you can hack, keep more than I suggested for farming.
Answer: Here are my notes:
<code>
BEST ITEM MIX - 1,940
(Items in 2 Red Capsules)
Have 1800 max when going out to load up
                   INV      (CAPSULE)    TOTAL
Capsules -         3        (Load 2 Red)   3
Mods -             0        (22)         = 22
(10 Rare Shields & 10 Rare Turrets)
(2 Rare Multi Hack)
Portal Keys –      180 (Local)
Power Cubes –      80       (30) = 110
Resonators –       1,100
(Capsule)  L1-4 =  130      (20) = 150
           L5 =    180      (20) = 200
           L6 =    280      (20) = 300
           L7 =    190      (10) = 200
           L8 =    240      (10) = 250
Weapons -
L8 Bursters        500
L8 Ultra Strike    30
Ada Refractors              (20)
Jarvis Virus                (20)
</code>


How to do line optical illusion art effects?

Question:
I was wondering how I can do this type of optical illusion. Is it done manually or is there a quicker way to do it. Thanks ahead of time.
Answer: Simulate the old bw photo printing system. There dot sizes or line widths are modulated by local greyshades.

have a bw photo as a layer
have a pattern of black  lines or dots on white. The pattern is your major line art and the printing raster at the same time. The illusion is the simulated greyshades.
blur the pattern. A slight zone of black and white should be left.
adjust the curves to get uniform shift from white to black in the blurred pattern
copy the blurred pattern to the layer mask of the photo, invert the mask!
insert a white background
make a safety copy of everything to be able to readjust and try again
merge the background and the masked photo
choose proper foreground and background  colors in the tool palette; black and white are good.
go to image adjustment "Treshold"
adjust the treshold for your taste

Overlay your original pattern to make the line art dominant.
Here are a couple of examples. The line art is a bunch of horizontal straight lines. First a noisy smartphone photo is hidden into the "art"

In this example a second piece of art is hidden into the same horizontal line art:
Comment: I think this would benefit from an example... I struggled to follow this until I tried it myself
Comment: Thank you so much user287001 for this answer. Though I also have some difficulties replicating this effect. Would you mind sharing a video with us?
That would be really helpful! Thank you in advance.
All the best,
-J
Answer: The way I do it:
You have to find a good photo of grayscale values.
Build your own Pattern before converting the image in Bitmap.
I used the Illustrator just to make the pattern.
The image below shows the step by step of the workflow.
Comment: good one! but why do you need to blur the pattern? Also wouldn't it give better results if the image would be B/W instead of greyscale to start with?
Comment: All the pattern sources need to be blurred. The PS bitmap conversion uses that gray information to make the reticulation process. If you do not do that, you will get just the lines you drew. Sometimes you have to convert the image to Grayscale before converting it to Bitmap. The Bitmap mode is enabled only in Multichannel and Grayscale modes.


Can't sing high or project

Question: So I have a bit of a problem. Anytime I try to sing higher than I normally can do without going out of tune, my voice will crack and then stop. Like no sound will come out and I'm only exhaling. I've been trying really hard with vocal exercises and warm-ups but nothing is working. I also have trouble with projecting my voice to where I can sing loud and strong. Anytime I try to sing with chest voice, my voice becomes very lazy and loose sounding. Like I can't hold a tune and I struggle to sing on key. It's gotten a little better with practice but it's still not good. I need some tips and help because I really love singing and I'd love to be able to get over this little bump in the road.
Thanks!
Comment: Is it possible to find a good singing teacher with whom you could have lessons? Very often these things are very unique to the individual and a knowledgeable someone who is there to be able to hear (and see) you sing will be infinitely more helpful than the folks on the internet.
Comment: Sounds a lot like what happens when you don't use your diaphragm well. Best bet, get a teacher as @GoatsWearHats said
Comment: @GoatsWearHats  I don't have enough money to get a teacher since I'm using it for a foreign language tutor. Are there any cheap or free videos or lessons that teach how to use your diaphragm better?
Answer: Lottee: This may help get you started with exploring the many voice lessons and tips available on Youtube. Click here to go to a good voice lesson on Youtube. (BTW, she discusses voice-cracking beginning at the 8 minute mark.) If numbers mean anything to you, this teacher's one lesson got over 4 million views and 57K likes, and that may indicate there is at least some value in her advice. In addition, I recommend exploring youtube further than simply this one teacher, as there are numerous free voice lessons available from as many teachers. Enough to keep you busy for hours, if not longer. Perhaps not all are the best, or the best for you, but I think it would be definitely worth your time to dig in and see what you might find. (Of course, there are also lessons that are free, and useful, but exist primarily as ads to entice viewers into purchasing further lessons, so just be aware.) Just type "voice lessons" into the search field and you'll be off and running...and singing...in no time.
Answer: I have to tell you this:

So I have a bit of a problem. Anytime I try to sing higher than I normally can do without going out of tune, my voice will crack and then stop. Like no sound will come out and I'm only exhaling.

Worries me.  It sounds like you're making yourself hoarse.  I'd second Rootley's advise and seek out a good voice teacher (look up Brett Manning if you'd like )
Also this is a bit concerning too:

Anytime I try to sing with chest voice, my voice becomes very lazy and loose sounding. Like I can't hold a tune and I struggle to sing on key

That's pretty much what's known as "pulling up chest", when you sing in chest voice and try to sing too hard, you automatically fall out of pitch.
I can tell you that projecting your voice isn't so much singing loud as it's singing to be heard further away, there's a difference.  Think of a garden hose, if it's shooting water out 3 feet, but you squeeze the hose, the stream gets thinner but it also shoots out further.  Projecting your voice works the same way,  you're using the same stream of air but shooting it further , only with your diaphragm, not your throat.
Definelty get a good voice teacher, as you may wind up loosing your voice if you continue with what you're doing!  (I'm a keyboardist and a singer btw! )
Answer: 'Trying really hard' is part of the problem. Just from what you have written, I can say it is a 99% certainty that, with the best will in the world, you are forcing the voice and distorting whatever natural gift you have. Sing inside yourself at a level that feels organic and 'natural'. Seek smoothness of line and internal sensation, rather than listening to the sound you make.  Psychologically, it is very important to you as the singer that the listener is drawn in to what you do, rather than having your voice thrown in their faces!
  The voice naturally needs to change register at certain points. Forcing the pure chest voice higher than nature intended is similar to trying to make a car achieve 70mph in first gear!
 The concept of 'projection' is actually quite a dangerous one, because it creates a mental picture that is completely contrary to what the process of producing rich, resonant and SUSTAINABLE singing entails. You definitely need to work with a good professional voice teacher, preferably one who has respectable performing credentials in opera - even if that is not the music you sing, the vocal techniques of opera are the most robust and durable, because it makes the greatest demands on the human voice.
Good luck.

Can't sing high or project


Creating an Array Rotation

Question: I'm having trouble creating a Rotational Array. First I transform the object, a UV Sphere, along the Y axis to the radius I want the array to have. I add an Empty at the world origin. I choose the UV Sphere, and start to add an Array Modifier. I set the offset to 0,0,0. The number of copies I set to 8. I enable Object Offset and choose the Empty. And this is where the problem starts. I had planed to then rotate the Empty by 45 degrees, but before I can do that 8 copies of the UV Sphere appear in a straight line with the first copy centered on the vertical axis of the Empty. What am I doing wrong?
Comment: This seems only to work when the sphere does not have a transformation on it. Try moving the sphere in edit mode instead of in object mode.
Answer: The array object need to be away from its origin.
un-tick Relative offset, tick object offset in the Array modifier tab.
Answer: If you want to have an Array going around a rotation you need to create a Curve that it can follow. For example you add a Circle.  On your Array Modifier you only set the Count and enable the Relative Offset the other fields stay at default. Now you add a second Modifier which is called Curve and select the added Circle as Object.
Here is an example file:

Creating an Array Rotation


steaming cabbage

Question: Can someone  please explain why by adding a knob of butter into the pan of water during the steaming of cabbage makes the cabbage taste better.   I understand this idea come from Denmark. I've tried it and for some unknown reason works and my friends have spotted the difference during a blind test I did.
Comment: Is there some reason you don't think the answer is "butter tastes good"?
Comment: @Jefromi But if the cabbage is being steamed, how does butter in the water transfer to the cabbage?  Oil riding on water vapor droplets seems unlikely.
Comment: @CareyGregory Butter *not* getting on the food is what sounds unlikely. Butter+water boiling doesn't just keep the butter "mixed" into the water.
Comment: @CareyGregory If the cabbage were steamed in a steamer basket, that would be the case, but frequently cabbage is steamed by piling the cabbage into a pan with a small amount of boiling water and putting a lid on it.
Answer: Some of the butter ends up on your food. Most people will think the flavor is improved if there's a tiny bit of salt and a tiny bit of butter flavor. We like fat, we like salt, and we like the actual butter flavor, though it's more subtle.
In case you were wondering why the butter ends up on the food... The oil melts into the water boiling on the bottom. It'll be trying to sit on top, but with the water bubbling and boiling things mix a bit. Either way, little droplets are definitely going to get thrown around. A bit of butter, or even most of it, is going to end up on your food.
You can easily prove this to yourself - the residue on the sides of the pot will also be greasy, and if you boil away all the water after you remove your cabbage, there won't be nearly as much melted butter as you started with. You can also see this if you're cooking things in just oil (with a bit of water coming off the food). As things splatter, you get a lot of oil droplets flying everywhere, which I'm sure you've noticed when you're cleaning in the kitchen. Actually mixing oil and water just makes this even more pronounced.
I'm not sure how you do your steaming, but if you're taking a shortcut, skipping the steamer basket, and just putting a bit of water in the bottom of a pot or pan, even more (probably most) of the butter will end up on the food.
Answer: Well, adding things that taste good to a dish makes the dish taste good, and butter tastes good. If you added something that tasted bad to the cabbage it would taste worse. It's the essence of good cooking.
If you are asking why butter in particular is good, butter is an emulsion of fat, milk solids, and optionally salt. The milk solids have flavorings, the salt never does any harm with cabbage, and the fat adds not only flavoring but mouth feel. Butter is semi-solid at room temperature but melts not far above it. Butter fat keeps a nice, viscous coating property that oils don't have. If you put in sunflower oil instead and did another blind taste test your guests would probably tell the difference.
Animal fats generally have this quality as most become solid at room temperature. If you fried some bacon and added it you would have a similar experience to the butter.
EDIT: I see from the comments that the butter was added to the water steaming. The butter and solids will end up being vaporized in a mechanical process as the water is boiled and evaporating.

steaming cabbage


How can I reward a user who helped me in the comments?

Question: The user "UnholySheep" helped me in the comments by suggesting an out of bounds index, however since it's in the comments upvoting doesn't do anything. Can I reward him/her somehow? Is there a way to send reputation to a user? (link)
Comment: If the user wanted to get reputation for helping you, they would have posted an answer.
Comment: Whew! **First** thing to do is *restore your question*! As it is, it's no longer a question: "Here's the WORKING code"! You should leave the 'wrong' version there, you can always post the solution as a separate answer.
Comment: The wording of the text suggests there is no problem in the code in there. All such information should not be there in the question. Please make sure it remains a real, standalone, question.
Comment: @RadLexus I did! I posted an answer, but I cannot accept it right away, two days have to pass (that's a rule). I no longer have the wrong version.
Comment: Granted, if the question needed a lot of clarification in the comments, it wouldn't have been a good idea to answer it before that clarification was accomplished. Sometimes the question gets answered during the clarification. It's not a big deal. People wouldn't help if they didn't want to.
Answer: You can't. Or, well, maybe you can but you should not.
Here is why.
Suppose you click the name of this user and check out his Questions and Answers. Click a random one and upvote it.
That is not fair. If you don't know what the question or answer is about, you cannot decide whether it's a good one or not. What if you accidentally upvote a very bad answer, making others - with as much experience as you - think it's actually a good answer?
Okay, so find a answer of which you can appreciate its correctness and upvote that.
Still not fair. There may be other answers which are just as good or better, but you are deliberately picking one based on the poster's name.
So, you pick a question where this OP is the only answerer and upvote that.
Still not fair. Even then, you are not voting for the correctness of that answer!
In conclusion, don't vote "for" a user in any way, vote for contents only.

What you could have done: invite the commenter to post the comment as a proper answer. There are lots of benefits attached to that. Not only can the commenter add more detail to it, but also others can more easily comment on it as well, and vote it up or down (!), which is not possible with comments.
In addition, comments are primarily meant for asking clarifications (a "rule" that is often enthousiastically broken by everyone, including me), and it's always possible they can get deleted without any notification.
Comment: @theo2003: usually such a suggestion is done because the commenter has an idea of what's *actually* wrong. If I'm fishing for a solution with a comment, I can usually expand that into a full answer.
Comment: I couldn't have invited them to post it because it was just an suggestion, not an answer, thanks anyways.
Comment: I like the nuance in this answer. Everybody does that from time to time. But this isn't how the site should work.
Answer: The only thing you should do is upvote their comment.
Comments which answer the question are pretty common, but are discouraged because we would prefer people to post answers instead of leaving answers in the comments. Users also don't expect to receive a reward for helping via a comment, so there is no obligation to do so. Let reputation be earned naturally, not artificially.
If the user doesn't post an answer, it's fine for you to post an answer which explains the problem and solution, and then credits the user (as you've done).
Comment: it's also appreciated to post as community wiki, which doesn't leave the impression you're making rep on the back of the commenter.


A broad guideline for questions about writing-specific software

Question: We recently migrated a question about FrameMaker to SuperUser. I'm learning the ropes here, so I interpreted this as meaning software questions belong in SuperUser. Yesterday, I suggested migrating a question about Scrivener to SuperUser, but @Neil Fein responded that it is on-topic in Writers because it's a specialty writing tool. By that reasoning, FrameMaker questions belong here, too. I'm sure this question has and will come up for other writing-focused tools. Any thoughts on how we can come up with a broad guideline for this situation that treats different types of writers and software (creative vs. technical) equitably?
Comment: A very good question. I think formatting in Word should remain off topic but there are reasons to leave these questions here - some of the time.
Comment: Huh, good question.  I didn't see the FrameMaker question before now, but as a writing-tool question (that isn't "how do I make text bold in Word" or such) it seems on-topic here.
Answer: TL;DR - Let's keep Scrivener on-topic and explcitly make Framemaker on-topic, with caveats.
What's the situation now?
Here's the situation as I understand it. None of this is set in stone and we as a community can discuss this and change it if we like.
Since Scrivener is a tool specifically for writers, its questions should be considered on-topic here. (It's worth noting that the question of Scrivener's on-topic-ness has come up here before.)
While the program is on-topic at Superuser, there are not many Scrivener users there... but there are many of them here: At this point in time, we have a Scrivener tag and a body of questions on the program. (The same logic should apply to the screenwriting program Final Draft and any other writer-specific tools, including Framemaker and other technical writing tools.)
However...
All of these programs are also on-topic at Superuser or other sites. Using indesign add an example, the program isn't only a writer-specific tool, it's also used by graphic designers. Migrating such a question to Superuser makes sense (or possibly to the Graphic design site, although we'd have to check that) as it'd get more and better answers.
The Framemaker question you link above is specifically about formatting and isn't really a question about writing or a related field, more about the appearance of a document. But it's clearly a question about a writing tool. It'd be fine here or on superuser.
This sort of potential dual on-topic-ness isn't all that different from questions that could be on this site and on English Language and Usage, or her and on Academia, etc. But it's worth noting that no other site really handles Scrivener well. That's not the case with, say, Microsoft word, or other tools that do things other than cater to writers and writing.
So what should we do?
It makes sense to continue keeping Scrivener on-topic here and explicitly make Framemaker on-topic, assuming they're about the writing aspects of these tools.
When it comes to tools like MS Word and InDesign, I'm fine with having questions on more than one site. The cross-posted question should add value to both sites and, ideally, be slightly different for each site. But this isn't a common situation.
I suggest that in the future, we migrate these questions to Superuser/Graphic Design/Wherever but, in the case of questions that could also apply here (such as questions about how writers interface with Framemaker, or how tech writers can use the techie features of MS Word, etc) we make an effort to keep those questions here or encourage variations on multiple sites.
Comment: Thanks for this answer.  I agree that some questions are on-topic on multiple sites (usually in variant forms, not exact copies).  The philosophy I try to follow is: if it's on-topic here and the person asked it *here*, don't migrate it away.  We can suggest that the OP *also* look at another site, but we shouldn't be so quick to send on-topic questions away.  The questions we don't want, on the other hand (basic Word formatting, English grammar, etc), we should migrate if viable on the other site.
Comment: @rolfedh lets let this thread accumulate answers and votes and then we'll use it to set policy.
Comment: @rolfedh sorry, I was conflating framemaker and indesign. Will edit.
Comment: Oh.  Yeah, those are very different.  As a tech writer I've used FrameMaker for tech writing (but not general writing), and I've never touched Imdesign -- but I see a lot of graphically-minded folks use the latter.
Comment: GDSE has a big problem with "My Adobe Be Broke" (™ Scott) questions. If it's a basic How Do I Do X In InDesign question, just close it; don't migrate it. GD has enough of those as it is, and the answer should be easy enough to Google. ID *can* be used as a writing tool, but it's not really meant for that. I have no opinion on FrameMaker because I'm not at all familiar with it.


Can I improve efficiency by moving air ducts from attic to crawl space?

Question: My attic has 2 feet of cellulose insulation in it.
On top are the air ducts and hvac units.
It gets really hot up there (live in South Carolina).
The crawl space under my house is always cool.
I am thinking I could save some on cooling in the summer if I were to put the ducts in the crawlspace.
What say you?
Answer: The first step is always to lower where the heat escapes into the house (for summer cooling season). You most likely have plenty of attic insulation.  But you might check for other air leakage places (around doors, windows, pipes, electrical outlets, etc.)  Less heat entering is less heat to cool.  Shades or solar film over windows help too, as well as trees etc.
If the air ducts are insulated, then there might be some difference in moving the duct work to the crawl space, but most likely not enough to cover the cost to change it.  If they are not insulated, then the cost of installation still might be higher than many years of savings.
Another possibility for savings might be an attic vent fan, which could lower the attic temperature some.  Just lowering the attic temp by 10 or 20 degrees is worthwhile in many places.  It means a little less heat getting through the insulation and the ducts would absorb a little less heat as well.
Comment: You could install batts over the ducts and remove the insulation between the ducts and the ceiling. Then, the ducts will be "in" the conditioned space...heating season or cooling season.
Answer: Along with the other answer, the cheapest solution would be to drop the overall temperature in the attic. With insulated duct work in an average temperature attic, the heat gain into those ducts is minimal. What you do get is when the A/C is first turned on is the initial hot air coming out of the registers. Back to the attic cooling, if you can install an attic fan with a thermostat will be the best solution based on cost effectiveness.


Thunderbird contacts sync

Question: i work in a small office company and using thunderbird on all workstations, i've been searching for a solution of an address book that can be synced around the office and on an web-based application that may have the option to sync to other devices such as Android/iphone.
I tried SoGo, but it's pretty outdated since the rapid releases of TB, tried LDAP but can't be edited, tried SyncKobalt but didn't work well, tried vtiger with no great results.
The only thing that work's pretty well is Zindus + Google Contacts, the big downside is that the information is stored on the google servers rather then local.
Is anyone having a real life working solution that uses Thunderbird, or should i switch to Outlook or another client that actually offers some sync support ?
Answer: try  thunderbird sync
Comment: As far as i can see that's basically Zindus + Google Contacts, and i would love a local solution.

Thunderbird contacts sync


Can i use vegetable oil instead of butter in cookies?

Question: I have a recipe of cookies in which butter is used. Can I use oil as a replacement for butter? Would it affect the taste of the cookies? If I were to use oil as a butter replacement, what quantity should I use?
Answer: You can, but there will be several differences as a result:

Taste is the most obvious. Depending on the oil you choose, you will either just lack the buttery aspects of the flavor or replace them with other flavors (nutty for peanut oil, coconut for coconut oil, etc.)
Texture and structure is the next most obvious. Butter, which is semisolid at typical room temperature, will provide more textural support for your cookies than an oil which is liquid at typical room temperature. You won't be able to "cream" most oils the way you do with butter to provide a lighter texture. Using a vegetable shortening like Crisco, or another oil like coconut oil that remains solid at higher temperatures than most oils, could partially address this aspect.
Moisture content is related to texture but worth being called out on its own. Vegetable oils are 100% fat; butter is about 80% fat, with most of the remainder being water (and a small amount of milk solids, about 1-2%). To best approximate the butter, you should use 80% of the suggested amount as oil, and 20% as water.

So if you have a favorite cookie recipe that you must make with oil rather than butter (such as if you're cooking for vegans, or people with allergies), the best approach would probably be to use 80% coconut oil (which for most recipes "75% and round up" would be close enough) and 20% water. This would provide a nice flavor (although one very different from butter), a melting point more similar to butter than most oils, and gets the moisture content right.
Answer: The taste part of your question to me is most easily answered with another question:  Does the vegetable oil taste like butter?  If not, and I am fairly confident you will answer no to that, then yes, it will alter the taste.  How much depends on how much you use. but most cookies use quite a bit of fat so the change would typically be noticeable.
There are things like butter flavored Crisco that are used as direct substitutes, but I suspect that is not what you are looking for in an answer.  In most applications though, if you are going from a semi-solid like butter to a liquid vegetable oil you will likely have very noticeable changes in texture and cooking results due to increased moisture.  And in many cases you also may lose chemical and browning effects.  Some applications may work, but without experimenting, I would not expect to go from butter to a liquid oil entirely successfully.
Answer: You technically could, but I doubt they'll come out the way you intend.
You'll achieve zero creaming aeration. Without seeing a recipe, I'd say you'll have greasy, crisp, dense, fried "cookies". Use coconut oil as a replacement if you have on hand, as its firm at room temperature, like butter.
Answer: Butter is an emulsion of about 75-80% fat in water with some dissolved proteins. If you want to replace it with oil, make a mix of 75% oil and 25% water, and whip it into an emulsion before adding. Might add some soy lecithin or other emulsifier to make it easier. Also might want to choose an oil on the more saturated side like coconut or palm.


Two Microsoft Internet Explorers - 64 bits

Question: I just bought a new laptop. I have two Microsoft Internet Explorers installed : Internet Explorer and Internet Explorer (64 bits). What's the difference ? Is it a problem to have the two installed ? How come the two are installed ? Should I uninstall one ? It's Microsoft Internet Explorer 8. My PC is running Windows 7.
Answer: Windows 7 64bit ships with both the 32bit and the 64bit of Internet Explorer installed. The same goes for installing IE9 manually on a 64bit OS. This is for compatibility reasons, since a lot of plug-ins (including Flash and MS' own Silverlight) aren't available in 64bit versions and thus don't work in a 64bit browser.
For the same reasons, 32bit Internet Explorer is the default browser in Windows 7.
Similar considerations apply to other types of software. Take MS Office 2010 as an example: It's available as both 32bit and 64bit, but MS themselves recommend using the 32bit version for plugin compatibility.
Answer: No, it is not a problem.
The 64-bit version makes use of your 64-bit CPU to process web pages and it's content. The main difference between the two is that the 32-bit version has better support for add-ons.
It is also worth noting that the latest version of Internet Explorer, which is version 9, the 32-bit version is faster as the faster JavaScript rendering engine is not compatible with 64-bit, which uses the older JavaScript rendering engine.
Comment: It just uses the older javascript engine, see [here](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/chrome-10-vs-internet-explorer-9-reconsidered/792)
Comment: Whoops, will change it
Comment: As a general rule, any 32 bit program can be run on windows 64 bit (the same is not true of drivers and some other things)
Answer: There is no problem having both installed. I read an article here that gave a reason not to use the 64-bit version of IE 9. I have no idea of differences between the v. 8 programs, but something to keep in mind.


In "take up your cross daily" what does "cross" refer to?

Question:
Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

What does Jesus mean here? What kind of cross is he referring to?
Answer: There are at least two questions here, probably three. What would his hearers have understood by it before and after his arrest and crucifixion? And again after his resurrection? Jesus spoke in Aramaic, translated into Greek by Luke and later into English. To complicate things further, the word he used for cross was probably the Latin furca, a fork. This was a term used in the Roman Army for a backpack, and as slang for a punishment yoke or gallows, not the cross used in crucifixion as Romans were mainly exempt. General Marius devised cross-shaped backpacks for his men, capable of carrying large loads, reducing the need for baggage trains. This resulted in the men being nicknamed Marius's Mules. Each day they would take up their packs and march.
You asked what Jesus would have meant by it. That will no doubt be answered fully by other contributors. Comments by him and others point to literal and non-literal answers. He knew what he was heading towards. Outside Roman slang there was no reason not to extend the use of furca for a crucifixion cross or a burden carried to that end. Non-Romans probably did.
Comment: If he spoke in Aramaic which was then translated into Greek, where does Latin come into it???
Comment: The occupying Roman soldiers spoke Latin, certainly in their slang and many of these terms would have been adopted in the regions they occupied. Greek, of the type used in the New Testament, was the common commercial language but their home lanquage was latin.
Answer: This is not a literal cross. Cross deals with the common trials ,problems, sickness, temptations, and persecutions encountered by Christians. Sometimes serving the Lord requires some suffering, the following verses explains it.
Philippians 1:29 ~ For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
1 Peter 4:13 ~ But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Answer: Jesus was all about counting the cost of being His followers. To them He promised a life of self-denial, difficulty, and even death. All but one of His original disciples, tradition has it, met an untimely death, becoming martyrs for the faith. John, alone, likely died of old age during his exile on the island of Patmos.
With this concept of self-denial and cross-bearing in mind, Jesus said in each Gospel,

"'If anyone would come after me [my emphasis],

he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'" (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34).

he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me'" (Luke 9:23, my emphasis).

Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus also said,

"'If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple'" (Luke 14:27, 28; my emphasis).

"'. . . and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me'" (Matthew 10:39, 40, my emphasis).

The Greek word for cross in each of the above verses, at least in the NIV, is stauros, which to this day is a common Greek surname, as in Mr. and Mrs. Stavros (or Mr. and Mrs. Cross).
In summary thus far, by conflating the above verses, we have Jesus saying,

"If you would be a disciple worthy of My name, then think well in advance of taking the first step whether or not you really want to do this. Only then should you come after me and follow me, because by doing so you will be required to deny yourself by dying to yourself, each and every day. I will lead the way, because I am not the kind of teacher who requires you to do what I myself am not willing to do by way of example."

At this point, Jesus presents us with a paradox, a trope He was fond of using, and that paradox is:

"'For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me [and for the gospel] will find [and save] it'" (Matthew 16:25 and Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24).

Jim Elliot, Christian missionary and martyr for the faith in the 1950s, paraphrased this paradox as follows:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

How apt. In other words, if we hold on to what is not ours to keep, we will in fact lose it. But if we let go freely of what is not ours to keep, we will end up keeping and saving it for all eternity. As Jesus said elsewhere, and I paraphrase,

"'Even if moths destroy your finest clothes, rust claims your pricey luxury car, and thieves steal your most valued and priceless treasures, if you've taken what God has given you in this life and deposited it back into God's gracious hands as a token of sacrificial worship, then God will pay you back with interest for all eternity, because He is no man's debtor.'"

In summary, then, in taking up and carrying our own cross, we signify spiritually that we are voluntarily dying to ourselves and our selfish, earthbound, and impossible-to-satisfy carnal and worldly desires, appetites, and enthusiasms. The good news, however, is that in doing so, we are identifying with our Savior's own death and are raised to newness of life--eternal life--in Him. As the apostle Paul put it,

". . . we have been buried with [Jesus] through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. . . . Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we could not longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is free from sin" (Romans 6:4-7, excerpts).

Or, as the plaque in my godly grandfather's kitchen used to read:

"Only one life,
Twill soon be past.
Only what's done for Christ
Will last."
Answer: In "take up your cross daily" what does "cross" refer to?

Luke 9:20-26  He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter
  answering said, The Christ of God. And he straitly charged them, and
  commanded them to tell no man that thing;   Saying, The Son of man
  must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief
  priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.  And
  he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny
  himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.   For whosoever
  will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for
  my sake, the same shall save it.   For what is a man advantaged, if he
  gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?   For
  whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son
  of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his
  Father's, and of the holy angels.

One of the methods of crime prevention the Romans used was to crucify criminals such as thieves. Two of them were executed with Jesus. This was done in as much of a public way as possible including having the condemned carry their cross to the place of execution. One might imagine the concerned mother of a wayward boy taking him to see such a spectacle and warning him that if he continued to steal, this was likely to be his fate.
In this context, the cross is emblematic of the continual shame and humiliation that being a disciple of Jesus will bring. The fact that it is to be taken up daily places an emphasis more on the public ridicule aspect of the cross over the death part.
The aspect of death is still present and represents the ultimate in "denying self". This willingness to surrender even one's life is also a component in the imagery of the cross;

Revelation 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and
  by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto
  the death.

We have the disciples (the ones who argued about who was going to have the place of honor in the kingdom) being told to expect the opposite of honor. They should expect to be reviled as one who is forced to carry his cross to the place of execution. The cross imagery also includes the acceptance of the possibility of even being put to death because they follow Jesus.
Answer: Ephesians 6;6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 1 John 3;16-18  We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  Little children let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.  .....Denying one's self daily is taking up the cross.
Comment: Welcome to the site!  This doesn't really have much to do with your answer, but I find that sharing the following tends to help new visitors avoid mistaking the purpose of this site. I do hope to see more from you!  When you get a chance, please see [How we are different than other sites?](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1808/how-we-are-different-than-other-sites) and [What makes a good supported answer?](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-makes-a-good-supported-answer)
Answer: Tony's answer has just confirm some convictions i have. Nowadays, i think us as christians are too much obsessed by self-justification through suffering. I think it's a trap of the human mind to think that we should suffer to be able to say that we are real christians. We should not expect to be persecuted and hated, which is not really the case for most of the christians in the world. The first disciples of Jesus as the stones of the christianity foundations (cornerstones) have suffered as Christ had. But, we don't have to seek persecution or suffering in order to define ourselves as true christians.
Being christian is a having a new nature (off Adam, now through Christ),and that nature "naturally" seeks justice, fights to defend the weakest, and in this present word with a lot of bad people, working for good and justice to prevail (even through the mean of weapons) is our duty as christians, getting involved in our local communities or having impacts on remote communities to make justice prevail must be our duty, we deny ourselves by dying in Adam and reborn Saint in Christ by our baptism, and now in our daily lives we should support our communities and fight against injustice towards others christians. That is from my point the role of a christian in the current time.
Comment: This answer would be a lot better if you could add references showing that this is a common understanding, and who teaches/believes it. Remember that "I believe it means..." isn't an acceptable answer, since this site isn't about personal interpretation.  See [How we are different than other sites?](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1808/how-we-are-different-than-other-sites) and [What makes a good supported answer?](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/692/what-makes-a-good-supported-answer)


How can I make a grave-side photo which will not fade?

Question: I am needed to know how to protect a photo of my daughter from sun fading. I want to put something different than the normal little oval picture on her headstone. I want to put at least a 5x7 in a metal frame like you would see in a home on her grave next to her headstone. Can anyone tell me the best way to do this so her picture will not fade?
Comment: @NikitaSokolsky, engraving a QR code in stone is easy.  Keeping a website up for decades is hard.
Comment: Sorry for your loss. I know it's not what you said you were looking for, but I'd be tempted to use a 'halftone' type image engraved into steel: https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=firefox-b&dcr=0&biw=1280&bih=955&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=halftone+portraits+in+metal&oq=halftone+portraits+in+metal&gs_l=psy-ab.3...14843.15868.0.16188.8.131.52.0.0.0.147.453.4j1.5.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0.bdcMstWxkIk
Comment: Lateral thinking: put a QR code on the gravestone that will link to an online image or even a website about your daughter. This will surely outlast any photos.
Answer: Search for "photo-etching on metal" and you will find many sources. These are not super expensive. Have more than one made so you or your heirs can replace down the road.
Comment: @JPhi1618 Some metals tarnish and some don't. Aluminium is cheap and easy to work with, and doesn't tarnish (or rather it's always tarnished, but won't tarnish any more).
Comment: Nothing that tarnishes aluminum? A lye!
Comment: This has a lot of upvotes, so maybe I'm missing something, but is _metal_ really what you want to leave outside on a gravestone?  Metal tarnishes, especially when left in the weather.
Comment: @ JPi1618 -- Ordinary chemical based black & white prints consist of an image comprised of silver in a binder of gelatin coated on paper. They can last and last but the silver will fade in time.  If toned using sulfur based toner, the image can outlast the paper. Conventional color prints fade as does ink based and dye sublimation prints. Chemical image etching can be on zinc, aluminum, magnesium, or better stainless steel.
Answer: There is a technique for somehow etching a picture onto polished stone (granite?).  I saw this on a few gravestones in the Rye Colorado cemetery in August of 2016.  The polished stone was dark.  The etched areas reflected ambient light more, and made a recognizable image when viewed from the correct angle.  I have no idea how long something like this lasts, probably a few years.  Since it relies on fine detail, I expect that part to weather away more quickly than other parts of the stone that can tolerate more erosion.
I remember wondering how the process worked at the time.  Alephzero mentions in a comment that this is probably laser-engraving.  That is plausible from what I saw.
Comment: One way to do this is laser engraving, which doesn't require making masks etc. The machine is similar to an inkjet printer, but with a laser instead of the ink cartridge. The engraved surface can be filled with resin or lacquered which should give a very long lifespan. There are plenty of YouTube videos (but the process is less exciting than watching paint dry.) You can also use hand engraving tools (preferably electrically powered) for "freehand" drawing, or make masks and use chemical etching.
Comment: @aleph: Thanks.  Laser engraving could certainly explain what I saw.  I should have thought of that.
Answer: This seems to be popular in some cultures. The photos I have seen appear to be fired in a ceramic kiln. A quick web search finds suppliers who will inkjet print the ceramic and fire it into a porcelain photo.
Anything that survives a ceramic kiln will not fade quickly in the sun- the colors that typically fade such as the reds will be inorganic oxides rather than organic dyes.
Answer: Normally pictures used in cemeteries are porcelain pictures and they won't fade because the ceramic toners are fired onto the porcelain at high temperatures. They are sold in many shapes and sizes.
You can do a 5x7 rectangle with a frame or a 5x7 oval with a frame from www.photosforheadstones.com. They do the pictures for much cheaper than what the cemeteries charge.
Answer: If you are looking for a color photo, carbon printing is about as permanent as it gets, and the image can be deposited on more or less any substrate. The black and white version of the process uses literal carbon (lampblack); three colour separations are made with artists pigments, like for oil paintings, which are known to last hundreds of years without fading.
Unfortunately it's a labour intensive process that has become pretty niche, and probably won't be cheap. A 5x7 might be affordable though; obviously this is a pretty important photo.
These folks specialize in this process in Seattle, and there is an article about a guy in Edmonton with some links to european practitioners here.
Answer: If you are looking for a Standard Photo, that wont exist. Even if you use Archival quality acid-free media fronted with UV and IR filters, temperature extremes and moisture will eventually get into the space and begin to act on the paper to degrade the image. Probably even if you were to embed the image in a poured acrylic block the acrylic would eventually yellow. Because of that your best bet for long term stability would be Etching Stone, Steel or Glass.
Depending on how much you wanted to spend, and if you wanted several hundred years of stability, I think Etching a Glass pane and then laminating that pane in a glass block would keep the image fresh for a thousand years or so if it were not broken. Then you would just need to polish the block and the image embedded in it would be visible again.
Answer: please check this website. costco has acrylic prints
https://www.costcophotocenter.com/Help#/topic/ordering-acrylic-prints
Comment: What are the environmental properties of these prints? Why do you recommend them?


Moderate first forum post only

Question: I'm looking to require the first forum post of a member to be moderated before it goes live but then allow all subsequent posts to post automatically.
Is this possible?
Answer: "You can moderate *who* is allowed to post, but not the posts themselves."
http://ellislab.com/forums/viewthread/219793/#1013472
I'm not sure, but maybe you can create a post-only forum (for the "new-member" group) and once approved move the message to the regular forums and assign the user to "regular-members" group.

Moderate first forum post only


Is it possible to login as / switch to a specific user using their password hash from the DB?

Question: I don't particularly want to enable Devel on my production environment to gain the Switch Users block. Is there a way to switch users without any additional php code?
Answer: There's Masquerade.
Masquerade adds some items to the Navigation menu to allow quick switching and switching back. It also creates a "Masquerade" block for quick switching which can be added to a sidebar or elsewhere on your site. It is visible only to those users with permission to masquerade.
Another module which accomplishes something similar is Role Switcher.
--a different Dan H
Comment: Thanks for the advice! Although I was hoping to accomplish this without adding any modules or functionality, still, good to know :)
Answer: drush user-login allows you to easily log in as any user.
Compared to a module that "emulates" a different users session:
The disadvantage is that this will require a separate session, often that just means a new browser (window).
The advantage is that you know for certain that you see what the user sees.
This will not explicitly change the password for the user but you will be able to change the password of the user once you login.

Display a one time login link for the given user account (defaults to uid 1).
Example:
"drush user-login ryan"
Displays a one-time login link for the user ryan.
Aliases: uli
Comment: @anoopjohn No, it will let you do so, but it won't happen on it's own.
Comment: Oh yes, I totally forgot about this. Never thought to use it for switching user, thanks!
Comment: Note that if you are already logged in, you'll have to logout before using the one-time-login link. So it's not as convenient as Masquerade or Role Switcher. Or, you could use a different browser.
Comment: Good point. Added that.
Comment: This will reset the password for the user right?
Answer: I created masquerade_drush in the Masquerade Extras suite to help this exact issue. Check it out http://dgo.to/masquerade_extras
Answer: For everyone wanting to login as specific user you can use: drush uli --name someuser which will give you one time login link to login as someuser.


Has there ever been a case where we have found what appears to be a prehistoric fossil but have no way of dating it?

Question: I find that when ever I learn of a new fossil, the age of said fossil is always mentioned. This perplexes me given how intuitively rare it seems to have radioactive material to date a formation. I know that Paleontologists also use other fossils in the formation to date a new fossils however surely there have been cases where we have found new fossils that we have no way of knowing the age?
Answer: The short answer is no, because we always have some constraint of how old something is.  Sometimes we have fossils with large date error bars, and often we do not know for how long that species existed. A large date range constraint in some cases, like archeology, might not be useful. If the specimen is taken without noting the location it was taken from, then we have no context to date it, which is a big reason not to plunder paleontological sites.
For dating a fossil, the context of the rock layer, other fossils, cross-cutting units, and location is key.  Geologists must use a combination of absolute and relative age dating techniques.  Geologists examine the rock layer from which the fossil was found and compare that to other rock layers that stratigraphically correlate to it.  They use basic relative dating approaches, including:

Principle of Superposition: older layers on bottom, younger layers on top
Principle of Cross Cutting Relationships: if a feature (like igneous intrusions and faults) cuts through a layer, then that feature is younger than the layer
Principle of Original Horizontality: Layers are deposited in a horizontal fashion
Principle of Lateral Continuity: Layers are general deposited in a laterally continuous manner until they pinch out; if you see a canyon and similar layer on either side, you can assume it was previously continuous and the canyon is younger.
Principle of Faunal Succession: The presence or absence groups of fossils can be used to hone in on the time period

There are a wide variety of absolute dating techniques, each with its own time and medium constraints. Radiometric dating, fission track dating, and paleomagnetic approaches are typically restricted to igneous rocks. For radiometric dating, only a small quantity of isotopes are needed for a measurable date. Igneous rocks contain usable quantities of minerals like zircon that are good at holding atoms of uranium and other elements useful in for the absolute age-dating technique. Geologists use absolute dates of rocks that can be dated in combination with relative dating techniques to constrain the age of a rock layer that cannot be dated with absolute techniques.
Fossil morphology must also be considered to determine if you are really looking at a new species or just a special case of a previously identified species. Sometimes, evolutionary approaches can be applied to help place the specimen into a timeline.
Figuring out the temporal extent of a species takes more time and multiple discoveries of samples of that species to better constrain that extent.
A combination of approaches and techniques can help paleontologists be detectives in determining the age of specimen. Like other sciences, geology is social in the sense that it relies on the culmination of the work of many, with multiple lines of complementary pieces of information, to come to a conclusive age.
Here are some great articles related to your question:

DiMaggio, E. and Tripathy-Lang, A., 2019, How Do Scientists Date Fossils?: Smithsonian Magazine, online: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-do-scientists-date-fossils-180972391/
Peppe, D. J. and Deino, A. L., 2013, Dating Rocks and Fossils Using Geologic Methods: Nature Education Knowledge vol. 4, no. 10:1, online: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/dating-rocks-and-fossils-using-geologic-methods-107924044/

Here is an example of an "undatable" fossil, where the age could "only" be constrained by 2 million years:

Yong, E., 2015, Why Don't We Know the Age of the New Ancient Human?: The Atlantic, online: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/09/why-dont-we-know-the-age-of-the-new-human-ancestor-homo-naledi/405148/
Answer: Yes it does happen, and we know when and why it happens.

Bad collection. The most common reason is because of bad collection methods. Some times laypeople collect fossils without recording where or when they collected it, in those cases the fossil has no providence and is generally useless for scientific analysis. As long as you know what rock formation a fossil comes from you have a window of time it had to come from. This is by the way why some paleontologist absolutely detest private collectors, because so often it results in these useless fossils. While usually you can at least get a rough idea by comparing to similar fossils but sometimes the fossil is to badly damaged to even do that.

Bad luck. Occasionally fossils are collected properly and because of unusual circumstances (say a museum being bombed in a war) collection data is lost and a fossil again becomes useless because it has no providence, this is one reason collection are encouraged to be recorded in detail in multiple locations. This happens often with fossils collected in the early days of paleontology when record keeping was often of lower quality.

Bad actors. Sometimes a private collector engages in outright fraud, this most often happen in private collectors who want to make a fossil more salable. Often this evolves sticking the fossil in rock from a different formation or combining multiple different fossils into a single fraudulent piece. this is another reason many paleontologist dislike private collecting as it can encourage sellers to purposefully destroy a fossils providence. It is usually fairly easy for an experience paleontologist to spot such frauds but private buyers often cannot.

Bad Luck again. There is one other circumstance, rarely you have reworked material, that is fossils that where exposed by erosion in the distance past then reburied, This is exceedingly rare, and always leaves its mark on the fossil, in that case we know the fossil is in the wrong place but may not know exactly where and thus when it comes from originally. Usually you can identify by finding similar fossils, but rarely the fossil so badly degraded identification is impossible.

http://preparation.paleo.amnh.org/35/techniques-in-the-field
https://www.nature.com/articles/512371c
Answer: To answer your question, "...surely there have been cases where we have found new fossils that we have no way of knowing the age?", the short answer is yes.
Prior to modern radiometric dating in the early 1900s, which placed firm constraints on age, you could say that all fossils found until that point were of unknown age. Sure, you could establish depositional constraints: this fossil is older because it lies under that one, but no one knew how old, relative to the age of the earth, it was, or how old relative to each other they were.
For a long time, at least throughout Europe, the Bible was the chief source of all information and natural philosophers assumed fossils were victims of The Great Flood. If you spent all of your time studying the bible for clues for when God created everything, you'd back-calculate that nothing on earth could be older than about 4,000 years old. They were derided as "Antediluvialists" by later generations of thinkers for whom the concept of deep time was a very real possibility. Even Lord Kelvin, the smartest man in the world at the time, couldn't understand why fossils needed to be so old.
Discounting Tinder, it's impossible to find an undatable fossil, even those that have survived metamorphism.
An analogous situation existed for European history. Prior to carbon dating, it was believed that all of European culture was derived from the Greeks, as it was (by circular reasoning) the "oldest" that anyone could find because all artifacts found throughout Europe had to be derivations.
When carbon dating revealed European cultures pre-dating the Greeks by thousands of years, an entire school of thought that lasted centuries, vanished literally overnight.
Answer: There is always some way of dating a fossil. The problem is not so much in finding a way as in finding an accurate way. Laboratories usually have to deal with incredibly small amounts of material. Take the potassium - argon method for instance.
A volcanic tuff will not be pure potassium, it will only contain a trace. Only about one potassium atom in a thousand is the radioactive potassium 40 (half life 1,3000,000,000 years). It is therefore only useful in dating something millions of years old, no good for dating Neanderthal fossils, for example. The difficulties don't end there. Only 11% of K40 decays in a very unusual way to become Ar40, the rest decays by normal beta decay to become calcium 40.
So you can see that the procedures are so delicate and sensitive because of the minute quantities scientists have to work with that it is a wonder they get useful results at all. Such dating is often contentious as not surprisingly, like all radiometric dating, it is subject to error. Similar problems exist with regard to carbon 14, which is suited to more recent fossils like Neanderthal man.
For dating fossils as far back as the late Precambrian a new dating method called the rhenium - osmium method has recently been used, and is much more accurate for that period than previous methods, being capable of reliably dating fossils a billion years old. Previous inaccurate datings were rendered obsolete.
Fossils found in limestone cave accretions such as Raymond Dart's Taung child (a gracile australopithecine from S. Africa) are notoriously difficult to date because of the lack of stratigraphy and suitable radioactive elements.
Comment: Hello, can you provide references? I doubt that Re-Os is a "new" method, furthermore I doubt that it is more accurate than U-Pb for widespread use (maybe in a few niche applications IE ultramafic rocks). Furthermore- ALL measurements (not just dating) are subject to error, all for different reasons. Weighing a gram of yeast for your bread using your bathroom scale will not provide satisfactory results, nor using a kitchen scale to weigh your car.


A Really Good Site

Question: Do you guys know some site that is really good, well organised, with video lectures for learning general concepts of chess like openings, middle-game, end-games, tactics, and, furthermore, for free? What do you recommend? Grateful!
Comment: A very subjective question, but I would recommend the youtube channel of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis - http://www.youtube.com/user/STLChessClub

It has many free GM lectures and I have personally enjoyed the quality of the teaching.
Answer: It's hard to make a suggestion without knowing your rating of approx. level, but here's a try.
My suggestions would be the following YouTube channels:
(1) Majnu.
Especially check out the "Chess middlegame training" and "Practical chess endgames" playlists. I like Majnu's videos because, not only is he a good player, but he also manages to explain ideas and plans in chess in a very simple manner. The concepts really stick in your mind, and you get to actually use them in your games. And from the way he explains things, you can see that he loves the game, which is also inspiring. I recommend Majnu highly (especially to beginners).
(2) SeanGGodley.
Excellent analysis of famous games and players. The book "My system" by A. Nimzowitsch is considered to be one of the most important books in chess history, and Sean has a playlist dedicated to this book. Excellent and (pretty) detailed analysis make him one of my favourite YouTube channels for improving my game. Also, Sean is a great narrator in my opinion, and that makes it easier to follow his thoughts. However, Sean's videos are maybe too much for beginners.
(3) thechesswebsite.
Many videos on openings and traps, as well as other things. Just check out the playlists on this channel. Great stuff!
Of course, there are more interesting channels out there, but these are my favourites. I would also like to mention KingsCrusher, who produces videos on a daily basis (for couple of years now). This channel discusses a lot of different chess topics, so it's very likely that you'll find something of interest there.
Enjoy!
Answer: The Chess Website
And If you go premium on Chess.com you can have full access to their video library
Of course youtube is a very good source, many very good chess channels
Answer: Try my blog.I am posting some postion and some videos that are made by me currently I am making videos in marathi language but hope I will be doing in english soon..The position given are very instructive..I hope you too like them the link of the site is  http://koravichess.blogspot.in/

A Really Good Site


2 words/phrase like mantra chanting (Bud- dho) to strengthen contemplation

Question: Q/.Is there any short comprising of 2 words/phrase that can be recited while inhaling & exhaling like mantra chanting (Bud- dho) in order to strengthen our contemplation.
Answer: Try,

Let--go
Pad -- me
Maha -- Muni (Great Sage)
Gate -- Gate
Answer: A/.For myself the expression "Don't know" covers so many facets of mindfulness development, it is surprising more people are not aware of it. The Zen practice of the "Don't know mind" that 'empties' the mind, is not what is intended here; but of a meaningful enquiry so as to keep focused on just about any object of contemplation. One of the basics of Dhamma is Anattaa, hence any object under investigation will respond to the genuine exclamation of "Don't know" simply because all objects lack any substance and thus arn't objects.
Unwholesome objects will become 'stressed' or rejected; whilst wholesome objects will gladden and develop, until such time as increasing subtlety renders such objects unwholesome so as to give way to states of ever greater subtlety and wholesoeness: etc, etc.
For some practitioners the best results might come when the so called 'heart' centre is focused on, whilst synchronising the breath. The space behind the sternum joint at the first visible rib pair: but this drifts off topic.
Answer: You can try Vajra recitation
Om - breathe in
Ah - hold
Hum - breathe out
Alternatively, So Ham is another commonly used phrase. Its the sound of breathing in and out spelt out phonetically. More yogic than buddhist though
Answer: I don't see any support in the suttas for this approach. IMO it is better to stay with the breath than add words and mental clutter.
Alternatively, just chant a mantra, which is a practice with different assumptions and goals.


Can a Jedi *reflect* blaster bolts with their hands?

Question: I know some Force-users can deflect blaster bolts with their hands, but can they also have the bolt reflected back at their attacker barehanded? Any examples?
Comment: Who can? If you mean Vader, then as per canon it wasn't "with their hands", it was with a glove made of Mandalorian Iron.
Comment: I'm pretty sure it wasn't just the glove...use of the force also played a role there. Also, if I had to guess, force lightning probably has more energy than a blaster bolt.
Comment: Yoda can absorb force lightning with his hands using the force.
Comment: @Jared - force lightning != blaster bolt.
Comment: @DVK-in-Florida - Or was it made of cortosis, which can also conduct energy?
Answer: Yes, a Jedi or Sith can reflect blaster bolts with their hand using Force deflection
Episode V, in Cloud City, Darth Vader also use Force deflection to deflect shot from Han Solo.
There also another question about this.
Why did Darth Vader choose to take shots from Han Solo?
Comment: "Force deflection" seems to be no longer canon (it's listed as *Legends* in Wookieepedia), so this cannot be the answer. Same goes for the "Mandalorian crushgaunts" that some mentioned in the question you linked to. My own opinion is that Vader deflected the bolts 'cause he is a badass and the [Rule of Cool](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool) reigns supreme in Star Wars. As it should.
Comment: @AndresF. _The Empire Strikes Back_ isn't canon any more?
Comment: @Paul D. Waite that's not what I said back in 2015, is it? I said the power called "Force Deflection" was not canon anymore (I haven't checked if this has been updated since). There are possible alternative explanations on how Vader could deflect the shots with his hand (the "rule of cool" being of course the default one).
Answer: No. That is a special quality of the lightsaber that allows for bolts to be deflected.  Bolts can be absorbed by hand but in most games this is mitigated through strain or or drain on force abilities.  It is much easier to deflect.  The absorption is done to make a point, you will not succeed in attacking me, or to prevent errant deflections from harming bystanders.
Answer: Yes
It seems quite likely that it is not a common power, but a sufficiently powerful Force wielder could deflect a blaster bolt with their bare hand. In Star Wars Annual 1, when the Rebel Eneb Ray mounts an ill-conceived assassination attempt on Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith deflects his blaster bolt with his hand, with the reflected bolt flying off in all directions:

As for reflecting it back at an attacker, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason that Sidious couldn't deflect the bolt back in a direction of his choosing, if he can deflect it. That is, after all, what Jedi and Sith do with lightsabers. A hand is a different tool, but the principle seems the same: applying an opposing force to move the bolt in the direction of one's choosing.
And, of course, as an indirect interpretation of "reflecting a blaster bolt with one's hands," one could simply use the Force to stop a blaster bolt, as Kylo Ren does, and then turn it back upon the one who fired it.
Answer: There is a rare ability among the Jedi called Tutaminis. It allows the user to absorb or deflect an energy-based attack. I guess if they aimed right, they could "reflect" it back to the attacker, but I've never seen it. Master Shaak Ti used this, although she possessed only an elementary knowledge of it. Master Yoda used it in his duel with Count Dooku, and Vader used it in Episode V, when Han Solo fired some blaster bolts at him. I'm not sure about lightsabers or blaster bolts, but you can redirect lightning, as Yoda does with Dooku in Episode II. So, Jedi can "deflect" blaster bolts, but I don't know about "reflecting."
Comment: If you can find any video sources or text quotes to support your answer, you'll attract more upvotes and improve your answer.
Answer: Yes.
In the canonical novel Ashoka, the former-Jedi titular character is capable of doing so, but realizes that it would be too risky to do so while on the run.

She couldn't use the Force for anything as showy as deflecting blaster bolts, but she could jump and she could run, and that would have to be enough.
Comment: Can you expand the quote to provide more context, because as-is, that can be interpreted as saying she can't do it at all.


How weather-proof is a Nikon D5300?

Question: A few days back, I went for a riverside shoot with my Nikon D5300. Unfortunately, moderate rain soon started. I noticed a few photographers, probably with professional grade cameras, were daring enough to shoot the landscape in such weather. The scenic beauty around at that moment was mesmerizing, but I missed capturing any shots, fearing that a single droplet of water would burn out my DSLR. Before trying out taking pictures in rainy condition with my Nikon D5300, I need to know how weather-proof it is. Any suggestions/authentic information is appreciated.
Comment: Why not using a rain cover or a simple homemade plastic protection ?
Comment: Arguably not a duplicate, but given that they're both mid-grade DSLRs I think this is a valid question: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/20988/is-the-canon-60d-weather-proof
Answer: The D5300 is an entry-level DSLR and is not weatherproof at all. As most cameras, it will handle a few drops of water or snow but you should not let it get wet.
Weatherproof DSLRs and mirrorless exist and they will be able to stand up to strong rain without issues as long as a weatherproof lens is also attached. All camera manufacturers except Pentax/Ricoh reserve such features of higher-end models and pricier lenses, so if you want to get a weather-sealed DSLR and lens for a low cost, you will have to switch systems.
There are things called rain-covers which are basically ponchos for a camera which you can buy to use your D5300 in the rain. Its a little cumbersome to work with and you have to be careful because it is not a sealed bag, but can do for occasional rain. These cost $50-$100 the last time I checked. There different sizes are to accommodate different lenses.
Answer: Not sure if it is or not but I took my D5300 up Snowdon while it was raining and hailing, camera got drenched but it is still in good condition
Comment: I'd vote for cameras not being too prone to water too (I tried my cameras which were not proof) but this still is more of a luck if camera survives soaking. Your answer does not seem to be helpful.
Answer: The most authentic information available for the D5300 is the official manual. Here is the link:
http://download.nikonimglib.com/archive2/BTcII00t9KUv024jW9c13oRqeg68/D5300VRRM_(En)02.pdf
Specifically, in the "Caring for the Camera" section, there are several important indicators as to how weatherproof your camera really is, for example:

Keep dry : This product is not waterproof, and may malfunction if immersed in water or exposed to high levels of humidity. Rusting of
  the internal mechanism can cause irreparable damage.
Avoid sudden changes in temperature : Sudden changes in temperature, such as those that occur when entering or leaving a
  heated building on a cold day,can cause condensation inside the
  device. To prevent condensation, place the device in a carrying case
  or plastic bag before exposing it to sudden changes in temperature.
Keep away from strong magnetic fields : Do not use or store this device in the vicinity of equipment that generates strong
  electromagnetic radiation or magnetic fields. Strong static charges or
  the magnetic fields produced by equipment such as radio transmitters
  could interfere with the  monitor, damage data stored on the memory
  card, or affect the product's internal circuitry.
Do not leave the lens pointed at the sun : Do not leave the lens pointed at the sun or other strong light source for an extended
  period. Intense light may cause the image sensor to deteriorate or
  produce a white blur effect in photographs.

Further information is provided as well, including caring for the battery, so I suggest you read through it to get a better understanding of the weather capability of your camera.
Answer:
Above, you see frost on my camera. It is okay to use your camera in moderate rain and just dry off the camera well before the next use.
Comment: The camera might be okay - but how hard was it to get that ball-lock to move at those temps?!

How weather-proof is a Nikon D5300?


Can I layer Lemon curd and Lemon Mousse?

Question: I have a friend who really wants me to make then a cheesecake that has a layer of lemon curd that is then covered in a layer of lemon mousse. I think this sounds great but will the lemon curd curdle my mousse?
Comment: why would the curd curdle the mousse? How will they mix? I thought you are layering them.
Comment: What's in the mousse? Basically whipped cream based? And becoming a lemon mousse through what means? (zest, juice, extract)
Comment: that is my thought, too. I wonder if the lemon mousse might curdle on its own, tho, depending how it is made.
Answer: There are several recipies on the internet for this though most have the lemon curd on top of the cheesecake.  Mary Berry has a version where she includes the curd directly into the marscapone mixture, so it doesn't seem likely it will curdle.
Putting it onto the biscuit, then adding the cheesecake mixture might cause other problems, either the curd could be pushed out of the sides or moisten the base too much.
Comment: One way to control the moisture and firmness and content was an old trick of mine of creating a thick lemon curd custard, but this of course would adjust the original intent of creating a curd and cheese cheese cake.