What ratio scales do Google Maps zoom levels correspond to?

Question: Can anyone provide me with a link (or some details) on the actual ratio to "zoom level" figures for Google Maps?
e.g. Google Maps Level 13 = 1:20000
Answer: If you are designing a map you plan on overlaying over google maps or virtual earth and creating a tiling scheme then i think what you are looking for are the scales for each zoom level, use these:
19 : 1128.497220
18 : 2256.994440
17 : 4513.988880
16 : 9027.977761
15 : 18055.955520
14 : 36111.911040
13 : 72223.822090
12 : 144447.644200
11 : 288895.288400
10 : 577790.576700
9 : 1155581.153000
8  : 2311162.307000
7  : 4622324.614000
6  : 9244649.227000
5  : 18489298.450000
4  : 36978596.910000
3  : 73957193.820000
2  : 147914387.600000
1  : 295828775.300000
0  : 591657550.500000

Source:
http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisserver/9.3/java/index.htm#designing_overlay_gm_mve.htm
Answer: I found this response - written by a Google employee - this would probably be the most accurate one:

This won't be accurate, because the resolution of a map with the mercator projection (like Google maps) is dependent on the latitude.
It's possible to calculate using this formula:
metersPerPx = 156543.03392 * Math.cos(latLng.lat() * Math.PI / 180) / Math.pow(2, zoom)

This is based on the assumption that the earth's radius is 6378137m. Which is the value we use :)

taken from:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/google-maps-js-api-v3/hDRO4oHVSeM
BTW - I'm guessing that:
'latLng.lat()' = map.getCenter().lat()
'zoom' = map.getZoom()

Answer: To help you understand the maths (not a precise calculation, it's just for illustration):

Google's web map tile has 256 pixels of width
let's say your computer monitor has 100 pixels per inch (PPI). That means 256 pixels are roughly 6.5 cm of length. And that's 0.065 m.
on zoom level 0, the whole 360 degrees of longitude are visible in a single tile. You cannot observe this in Google Maps since it automatically moves to the zoom level 1, but you can see it on OpenStreetMap's map (it uses the same tiling scheme).
360 degress on the Equator are equal to Earth's circumference, 40,075.16 km, which is 40075160 m
divide 40075160 m with 0.065 m and you'll get 616313361, which is a scale of zoom level 0 on the Equator for a computer monitor with 100 DPI
so the point is that the scale depends on your monitor's PPI and on the latitude (because of the Mercator projection)
for zoom level 1, the scale is one half of that of zoom level 0
...
for zoom level N, the scale is one half of that of zoom level N-1

Also check out: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/FAQ#What_is_the_map_scale_for_a_particular_zoom_level_of_the_map.3F
Answer: Straightforward authoritative correct answer:
591657550.500000 / 2^(level)

it gives you the table above, entering the zoom level.
Try it live on jsfiddle.net
Because the question is only for Google MAPS, not EARTH, the OP doesn't care about 3D geometry. Google maps are ALREADY flattened so 1 pixel is always the same distance (in DEGREES, which is what concerns to a google map), here and in the ecuator as in the poles.
By the way, Did you realize that somewhere inside the first pixel row of a world's map, the scale is 1:1?
Comment: Perfect and simple solution !
Answer: Not that easy. Given the projection, the size of the tile pixels depends on the latitude of the area you're interested in. Then in terms of transforming tile pixel size in screen pixel size, it depends on the screen and the resolution the data is displayed, the dpi your screen is using.
Answer: Radius @ Equator 6,378,137 meters exact (WGS-84)
Circumference at Equator = 40,075,017 meters (2πr)
Zoom level 24 uses 2 to the 32 power (4,294,967,296) pixels at circumference.
Equatorial Circumference / 2 32 =  .009330692 meters per pixel
Unit at Latitude =  (Cosine of Latitude) X (Unit at Equator)
Zoom level doubles each increment.
1 foot (International) = 0.3048 meters
Edit
Well its not really a legitimate question to start with.  Scale ratios are relative to printed documents not computer screens.  What you need  for these images to be used with any accuracy is to know the dimension of each pixel then scale the image according to whatever your overlaying it with.
So back 15-20 year ago someone took WGS-84 as base data.  (note in a previous post someone used a value of 40,075,160  I've seen this in Wikipedia a few places and it's incorrect.   The correct value is 40,075,017
They then took that and divided it by a full 32 bit integer.  This is a logical choice as it yields global accuracy to about one centimeter which is plenty for aerial imagery. 32 bit integers are also efficient to store and process.
Why this is level 24 was chosen I don't know however as someone else here worked out 0 gets you down to one 256 pixel tile for the earth.
Now for an example of how to use the above data.  Lets say I have an image at zoom level 20 (as zoomed as they currently let you get)  Take 0.009330692 (Zoom 24 at equator) double it for zoom 23, again for zoom 22, again for zoom 21 and one last time for zoom 20.  You should now have 0.149231071.
Now lets say our image is at latitude 45.  Take the Cosine of that (0.707106781) and multiply it by our 0.149231071 and it will give you  0.105564729 meters.  That is the length and height of one pixel from an image at latitude 45 at zoom level 20.  If you screen capture a 1000 x 1000 pixel image of that area the dimension are 105.56 meters square.  If you want feet divide that 0.3048
As for sources I essencial reversed engineer about 5 years ago from various bit of info and documentation I found on the web including Google and MS mapping support sites.
I have used this hundred of time and overlaying it with actually field survey data and its always been correct.  Check it against any to the tables posted here and the numbers will match.
Answer: There is such a table in the documentation of the Virtal Earth Tile System from Microsoft. But as said by GuillaumeC the values depends on the latitude and on the screen resolution. The table gives values as measured at the Equator and at a screen resolution of 96 dpi.
PS: Not sure of that, but the zoom levels by Microsoft might be shifted by 1 in comparison to the zoom levels by Google. But they definitivly use the same projection so that the values remain correct for Google.
Answer: Just did some calculations and got the following results:
Google Maps shows a 1km ruler (bottom left of the map) which is 90 pixels in length, at zoom level 13. Which means the following:
Assuming the screen resolution is 96 dpi or 36 dpcm, at zoom level 13 we have 0.4km (from 36/90) in 1cm, which yields map scale of 1:40,000 for a 96dpi screen.
For various operations on the screen the best is to take 90px as a basis, as all numbers will be round at all zoom levels, i.e.

Zoom level 12: 2km in 90px
Zoom level 11: 4km in 90px
Zoom level 10: 8km in 90px

and so on.
Note that this is an approximation that should work more or less fine on smaller scales rather than big ones.
(And Google likes round numbers in the end...)
Answer: I cannot add a comment yet but this is a possible source of Pete's reply above: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/maptypes#MapCoordinates

[...] note that each increasing zoom level is twice as large in both the x and y directions. Therefore, each higher zoom level contains four times as much resolution as the preceding level. For example, at zoom level 1, the map consists of 4 256x256 pixels tiles, resulting in a pixel space from 512x512. At zoom level 19, each x and y pixel on the map can be referenced using a value between 0 and 256 * 219
Answer: Based on all the info provided, I have built a function that gives the best z applied to a map when you want to have a horizontal line that represents N% of the displayed Map.
The displayed Map is characterized by its own pixel width.
function calculateZoom(WidthPixel,Ratio,Lat,Length){
    // from a segment Length (km),
    // with size ratio of the segment expected on a map (70%),
    // with a map WidthPixel width in pixels (100px),
    // and a latitude (45°) we can get the best Zoom
    // assume earth is a perfect ball with radius : 6,378,137m and
    //      circumference at the equator = 40,075,016.7 m
    // The full world on google map is available in tiles of 256 px;
    // it has a ratio of 156543.03392 (px/m).
    // For Z = 0;
    // pixel scale at the Lat_level is ( 156543,03392 * cos ( PI * (Lat/180) ))
    // The map scale increases at the rate of square root of Z.
    //
    Length = Length *1000;                     //Length is in Km
    var k = WidthPixel * 156543.03392 * Math.cos(Lat * Math.PI / 180);        //k = circumference of the world at the Lat_level, for Z=0
    var myZoom = Math.round( Math.log( (Ratio * k)/(Length*100) )/Math.LN2 );
    myZoom =  myZoom -1;                   // Z starts from 0 instead of 1
    //console.log("calculateZoom: width "+WidthPixel+" Ratio "+Ratio+" Lat "+Lat+" length "+Length+" (m) calculated zoom "+ myZoom);

    // not used but it could be useful for some: Part of the world size at the Lat
    MapDim = k /Math.pow(2,myZoom);
    //console.log("calculateZoom: size of the map at the Lat: "+MapDim + " meters.");
    //console.log("calculateZoom: world circumference at the Lat: " +k+ " meters.");
    return(myZoom);
}

Answer: Here's a formula to calculate altitude on Google Maps for zoom level and latitude.
const EARTH_RADIUS_IN_METERS = 6371010
const TILE_SIZE = 256
const SCREEN_PIXEL_HEIGHT = 768

const RADIUS_X_PIXEL_HEIGHT = 27.3611 * EARTH_RADIUS_IN_METERS * SCREEN_PIXEL_HEIGHT

const altitude = (zoom, latitude) => (RADIUS_X_PIXEL_HEIGHT * Math.cos((latitude * Math.PI) / 180)) / (Math.pow(2, zoom) * TILE_SIZE)

None of the listed formulas worked for us, so we reverse-engineered Google Maps Javascript to implement pagination for Google Maps API.
Given the zoom formula in Google Maps.

WolframAlpha simplified it to this one.

Where
z - zoom
a - altitude
l - latitude
s - screen pixel height; constant, equal to 768
t - pixel width and height of one Google Maps tile; constant, equal to 256
r - average Earth radius; constant, equal to 6371010
The resulting formula of altitude is

Here is a blog post which explains how we found this formula.
Disclaimer: I work at SerpApi.
Answer: Large scale cover small area
Small scale cover large area
https://developers.arcgis.com/documentation/mapping-apis-and-services/reference/zoom-levels-and-scale/

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Zoom_levels
Answer: I calculated the scales for four zoom levels:
Zoom level     |      Scale
20                     1:500
19                     1:1000
18                     1:2000
17                     1:4000
It seems that the scale is doubled as the zoom level increased by one step. So, I hope the scale for the zoom level 16 will be 1:8000 and so on.
Answer: I think I have calculated that 1pixel = 11.627km in straight-line; not taking into account the radius of the earth.
Here the link of video that explain how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3cvTeiMJqE&feature=youtu.be.


An aggressive counter for white vs Scandinavian Defense

Question: My chess rating is somewhere between 400 and 500 and I have a lot of trouble countering the Scandinavian Defense. My first move is usually e4 but when my opponent uses the Scandinavian Defense (d5), I have a hard time countering that. I heard from everyone that only beginners do it for a reason but I can't exactly figure out why nobody else would use that defense. I am curious if you know an aggressive counter to the Scandinavian defense.
Comment: If that's 400 to 500 USCF rating you are a beginner. It is highly unlikely that the opening is your problem. Most likely you'd want to study tactics and learn general principles first.
Comment: USCF? Why do Americans have to invent their own system to measure everything?
Comment: @David I don't know if Americans invented their own measuring system for **everything,** but in the case of chess, I think it's because there were no scientific rating systems in existence when Americans invented the first ones, starting with the CCLA and the USCF. The Elo system, devised by USCF member Arpad Elo, was adopted by the USCF around 1960, and by the FIDE some years later.
Comment: What's so "scientific" about ELO? It's just a bunch of arbitrarely-chosen numbers! Indeed, ELO regulations change every year based on the decisions of a selected group of people. Anyway, many national federations have their own ratings that are now basically meaningless, but Americans for some reason want to keep talking in their own terms!
Comment: @David because we can.
Answer:
I heard from everyone that only beginners do it for a reason but I can't exactly figure out why nobody else would use that defense.

It's not true that nobody but beginners use the Scandinavian - I use it, and my rating is in the 1700s.  The opening is, however, somewhat rare; I've only seen it about 4% of the time when I've played 1.e4 in tournament games. Some beginners perhaps like this opening because it gets their queen out early. But this is actually a bad thing for Black, not a good thing.
As White, one good idea is to make that queen your target. This game is the fastest I've lost playing the Scandinavian, and I lose when my opponent (rated 2042) traps my queen:
<code>[FEN ""]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Qa5 4.Be2 Nf6 5.O-O Bf5 6.d4 c6 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Nc3 e6 9.Bf4 Be7 10.a3 c5 11.Nb5 O-O 12.dxc5 a6 13.Bc7
</code>
And here's a game where a beginner (rated 535) tries the Scandinavian against me. Notice how, when possible, I attack his queen with moves that also develop my pieces.
<code>[FEN ""]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 {I attack his queen. So far this is the mainline.} Qd4 {This is where we deviate from the mainline Scandinavian. This isn't the best square for his queen.} 4.Nf3 {I attack his queen again.} Qb6 5.Bc4 {I develop another piece. I don't attack his queen with Nd5 or Na4 because that wouldn't help me develop.} Nf6 6.O-O Qd6 {He moves his queen again. His plan is probably to trade off my f3 knight with Bg4 and Bxf3, and then play Ng4 to threaten Qxh2#.} 7.h3 {To prevent his plan. It wouldn't work, but Bg4 is annoying so I prevent it.} Nh5 {Moving his knight again and putting it on the edge of the board. That's usually not a good idea.} 8.Re1 {Activating my rook. It's not the strongest move I could have played. Ng5, attacking f7 and discovering an attack on his knight, was better.} Qg6 {Moving his queen yet again! We're on move 8, and he's moved his queen 5 times. His threat is Bxh3, and I can't play gxh3 because the pawn is pinned by the queen.} 9.Ne5 {Threatening his queen again. He can't play Bxh3 if his queen isn't safe. This also threatens his f7 pawn.} Qg5 {Still threatening Bxh3.} 10.d4 {A discovered attack on his queen. Perhaps I should have just played Bxf7+ now, but this also works.} Nf4 {Blocking the attack on his queen and threatening Qxg2#.} 11.Bxf4 {I have to do something about his checkmate threat.} Qxf4 {Eleven moves in, and his queen is his only piece that isn't on its starting square, while my army is just about fully developed. It's time for me to attack.} 12.Bxf7+ Kd8 13.Bd5 {Threatens Nf7+ forking his king and rook.} Qg5 {Trying to set up Bxh3 again, but it just makes my impending fork worse.} 14.Nf7+ {King-queen fork.} Ke8 15.Nxg5 h6 {From here I have a forced mate.} 16.Qh5+ Kd8 17.Nf7+ Kd7 18.Be6+ Kc6 19.Qc5# 1-0
</code>
Comment: @DM There are grandmasters who played 3...Qa5
Comment: 3...Qa5 looks like a typical beginner reasoning of "I expect him to play 3.Nc3 which I answer by Qa5. Oh shoot, he played 3.Nf3 instead. What to do now? Ah well, screw it, I'm just going to play my move anyways! It's not an obvious blunder, so it's fine in this opening, right?".
Comment: You are choosing examples where Black is playing awfully bad! Why 3...Qa5 on the first game? It makes no sense! The second game is not about a player using the Scandinavian. He started with the same moves, but is playing nothing like an Scandinavian Defence. He is just randomly moving his queen around
Comment: @David This is in the context of a 400-500 player asking the question. I therefore doubt he's seeing a lot of people playing the best moves. 3...Qa5 was bad, yes; I think I played it because I was anticipating Nc3. You aren't going to see a lot of 13 moves games where Black plays good moves.
Comment: "Bad moves" is one thing and "moves that make no sense" is a very different one. Learning how to counter reasonably-looking moves that are bad for some tactical/strategical reason is a graet way to improve your chess. Analyzing moves that make no sense at all is not!
Comment: 3...Qa5 is the main line. The biggest mistakes black makes here are a) playing c5 (weakening a solid pawn structure and creating a hole for the night to move in around the queen) and b) leaving the queen out in the open afterwards.
Comment: @keithjgrant 3...Qa5 doesn't appear to be the mainline after Nf3 (as opposed to after Nc3, when it is.) Yeah, the computer agrees that 10...c5 was a mistake. My opponent had told me in the postmortem after a previous game that a c5 or e5 break was critical for Black, and I knew he was going to play b4 to drive back my queen and make c5 just about impossible for me to play - that's why I thought I had to play it while I could. (Indeed, I'm looking at some databases and in the few games they have from there, Black allowed b4, White played it, and the results heavily favored White.)
Answer: If you are having trouble with it, maybe you need to slow down the aggression!
My advice is to play 2.e5. It is theoretically a "bad" move because it allows your opponent to play an improved Caro-Kann or French. But at your skill level, nobody who goes for the Scandinavian will know anything about how to play those!
Comment: @Annatar Actually, I think understanding the position resulting from 1.e4 d5 2.e5 will serve your chess much more in the long term than understanding the Scandinavian main line
Comment: Nobody at this level will know all too much about the main lines either. But studying (not memorizing!) those will be much more useful in the long run.
Answer: You are correct to seek an aggressive line since at this stage in your chess development you should be going for the throat.
Here is a suggested line:
1.e4 d5
2.d4 dxe4
3.f3 or Bc4
[EDIT]  3.Nc3 is most common, then the ideas of f3 or Bc4.
Seeking fast development.  You can target f7...
Comment: @bof The "knights before bishops" rule is among the most counterproductive pieces of advice I've ever heard
Comment: @AlexanderMicharski you are not reading the moves.
Comment: 3.f3 e5 is likely to result in an early exchange of queens, which is probably not what white wants. 3.Nc3 is usually played nowadays (knights before bishops).
Comment: Why would you do f3 or Bc4? f3 blocks your knight on the right and doesn't open up any openings for any other pieces. Bc4 feeds your bishop to your opponent's queen.
Comment: @AlexanderMicharski not sure what you mean by feed's the bishop to the queen (which is on d8).  and f3 threatens fxe4...
Comment: @Ywapom The queen can capture the bishop next move and white won't be able to capture the queen succeeding it.
Answer: At your elo opponents are not really prepared with theory so you can surprise them with the following gambit lines :)

You can surprise the casual Scandi player with Mieses gambit that goes: 1. e4-d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. b4 with idea of opening the b-file and using the rook to apply pressure and develop with tempo

You can transposition into Reti/Tennison gambit after: 1.e4-d5 2. Nf3 dxe4 3. Ng5 which has very deadly trap if your opponent is not prepared
Comment: What would be the point of doing such a thing when there are several options for White to get an amazing position without giving up on any material?
Answer: You could play 2.d4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 to transpose into the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.
Comment: But why give up the advantage Black gave you with 1 ... d5?, and give Black an advantage instead with 2 d4? ?


Do the Borg have any plans after assimilating all they want?

Question: We know that the Borg's aim is to assimilate all worthy species to attain perfection.  But the thought struck me: what then?  The Borg seem to preoccupy themselves with assimilation, and this takes up a fair amount of their time, as we see in Scorpion Parts I and II when they try to assimilate Species 8472.  But, even if they do succeed at assimilating everything they want to and achieving a state of 'perfection', what is their goal then?
Comment: Bask in their perfection over a tasty omega molecule cocktail?
Comment: Humanity resp. the Federation seem preoccupied with exploring everything. What is their goal when they are done? (Arguably, the Borg have the same goal using different means, so I think the questions are indeed similar.)
Comment: Nope. They came to assimilate everything and chew gum. *And they're all outta gum.*
Comment: ................. Well, Phase 3 is "Profit!"
Comment: I'm sure I'm not the only one reminded of this: ["Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."](http://letras.cabaladada.org/letras/nine_billion_names.pdf)
Comment: This question basically boils down to "what is the meaning of life?"
Comment: Assimilation is just a means to achieve the goal of perfection.  But perfection isn't really attainable except asymptotically.  Therefore, there is really no need for a plan for "after" as there is no "after".
Comment: @Michael You have no idea what the Borg consider _perfection_, no one does. It could just as easily be defined within a specific set or parameters as it could be absolutely unattainable. The OP asks under the assumption that they reach their goal, whatever it may be, hence **what is their goal then?**
Comment: "What are we gonna do once we have conquered the infinite universe?" … "Let's do one step after the other"
Comment: I'm pretty surprised this hasn't been specifically addressed before
Comment: They're goin' to Disney World!
Comment: They need to conquer the whole Galaxy to build a computer so vast, so powerful, that it can compute the answer to life, the universe, everything...
Comment: It is possible "perfection" could mean becoming like Q
Answer: They'd probably just wait around...
It's surprisingly tricky to find anything online pertaining to the Borg's long term goals post galactic assimilation, but its reasonable to assume that as the Borg ignore lesser civilisations which offer no technological advancements, eventually they'll begin to ignore more and more of the galaxy until they have no other option than to just wait around for someone worth assimilating to come along. They'd probably become the most accomplished explorers in the galaxy, they've already travelled to fluidic space.
I could even imagine they may begin to encourage different species to evolve and develop in order to assimilate them when they had something to offer.
Comment: There's a lot of galaxies out there...
Comment: Considering they went to fluid space, and we don't know what else there is outside our spacetime, but we can assume there is much, possibly infinite stuff, they will surely not run out of stuff to assimilate for a long time. Who knows, they might evolve into a Q like continuum...
Comment: @A.K I didn't want to start throwing out hypotheticals about alternate dimensions or time travel. I mentioned that _They'd probably become the most accomplished explorers in the galaxy, they've already travelled to fluidic space._
Comment: @PlasmaHH: [Maybe that's what the Q continuum is worried about?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FGvMdhG80)
Comment: This seems kinda limited for the vastness of the universe
Comment: @MasonWheeler: Or maybe it is worried about someone discovering that this is how they came into existing...
Comment: @PlasmaHH +1 for making me laugh.
Comment: +1 for encouraging races to evolve just so they're worth assimilating.
Answer: The Borg have 2 goals, in my opinion.

To obtain perfection, either biologically, or technologically. This goal is something that may or may not even be accomplished, as the further you improve, the more you may understand, and realize you can improve even further.
To create order out of chaos. This seems to be the underlying goal, to their quest for perfection.

Seven of Nine: 300,000 individuals have been transformed into drones. Should they be congratulated as well?
Borg Queen: They should be. They've left behind their trivial, selfish
  lives, and they've been reborn with a greater purpose. We've delivered
  them from chaos into order.

Source: IMDB (Internet Movie Database)

In 2378, a crippling blow was delivered to the Borg when Voyager discovered one of their transwarp hubs and destroyed it, killing the Borg Queen (again) and devastating the Unicomplex in the process. During this battle, the Borg were infected with a neurolytic pathogen, which was carried by Admiral Janeway and designed to disrupt the hive mind, to bring chaos to order. It was this pathogen that killed the Borg Queen, and allowed Voyager to destroy the transwarp hub.

Source: Memory-Alpha
To create order out of chaos is a massive goal, and is not contained to simply our galaxy, but the entire universe. Given the chance I believe this is the Borgs end game, to attempt to bring order to the whole universe, something that may very well be impossible, but would be a worthy goal to work toward indefinitely.
For what can bring order out of chaos? Why, only a perfect entity of course, The Borg.
Comment: At some point, they will have to repeal the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Answer: Although the issue seems complex, it actually is not.
Assimilating everything encountered would provide enough information to formulate a new primary objective...that could be anything, including time-line related or multi-verse related (from a ST perspective) or even multi-D.
It's just like asking a human what is his purpose in life. Very very few will provide a worthy answer...and of course, after that you can ask them what's next.
Realistically speaking, even if one's primary objective is completed, there are actually many more things to do or improve upon and one may find a new target objective as soon as the primary is complete.
Perfection for the Borg would mean having the perfect collective with the ultimate technology. But as I said above, that could grant them access to other things unknown until the point of maximum technological assimilation.
There's more about species 8472 assimilation in the story line episodes in Star Trek Online. You should try them, it takes only a few hours to complete them all.
Answer: As far as I know there is no canon answer so the following is surmise
The Borg pursuit of perfection is an infinite loop. At no point can the Borg actually say we are now perfect. If the Borg did decide they were perfect, there wouldn't really be a goal except to be perfect, whatever perfection means to them.
However, if at some point the Borg did assimilate everything in the universe that they deem worthy of assimilation, the likeliest scenario is that they would simply go about their business until a species that they deemed unworthy of assimilation in the past achieved some technological or biological distinctiveness, then they would assimilate it.
The scope of assimilating everything though boggles the mind especially if you consider the mirror universe and possibly other alternate dimensions, not to mention that alternate universe may have alternate Borg empires.
Comment: @RyanVeeder That assumes the Mirror Borg assimilate; they're probably a fun-loving species who hasn't developed Warp capabilities yet ;P
Comment: I figure, if the Borg found the Mirror Universe, they'd try to team up with the Mirror Borg—but the Mirror Borg would try to assimilate them.
Comment: @N_Soong I bet the mirror universe Borg men have goatees to simulate evilness and the Borg females are all dominatrix lesbians. Star Trek writers are not the most subtle.
Comment: I wonder how they plan on assimilating the replicators.
Answer: xelor's answer wraps it up nicely in five words: "The route is the goal."
The question presupposes a goal-oriented imperative.  The pursuit of perfection itself could be its own goal the same way counting rosaries is for a catholic or meditation is for a Buddhist.  Revere perfection by pursuing it.
Assimilation might also be an instinctual imperative like eating or procreation.  Ancient human history offers examples of hedonist and/or pagan societies who elevate these imperatives to religious importance.  Looked at this way, the borg assimilate because it's in their code and/or DNA and rationalize it with a religious assertion (The Assimilation Assertion).
In these contexts, the question is unanswerable.  (Why did the chicken cross the road? So he could cross back again.)
Good question.
Answer: I'm inclined to believe that if the Borg were to continue expanding they'd reach a critical point where they would condense into separate (identical?) entities - effectively undergoing mitosis.
Another possibility may be their inevitable expansion into isolated realms of subspace or whatever necessitating emergence of new Queens.
But before then, during their expansion, I believe they might just evolve into a 'generic all-consuming homogeneous mass', graduate onto eating stars, then go into 'hibernation mode'.
Comment: Some feedback on the downvote would be appreciated.
Answer: In my opionion the question is irrelevant.
The route is the goal. And we already know, that this goal is never reached, since the borg collective is to be distroyed in February 2381 by the Cealia [Star Trek Destiny 3 by David Mack]
Comment: True, but non-canon answer.


What area is needed to grow enough food to sustain a person for a year?

Question: I was wondering, what area space (m²) do I need to plant rice/bean in order to sustain one person for a year?
Comment: Welcome to Sustainable Living! Do you mean this person is only living of rice or beans, or are the rice/beans just part of this person's diet (along with food from other sources)?
Comment: @THelper Just part, indeed. I used rice and bean because they take the bigger space. Although, wondering now, one might want wheat too.
Answer: In How to Grow More Vegetables, John Jeavons claims you can sustain one person on 4,000 sf (372 m²), with 60% of that space dedicated to interplanted grains and legumes. The rest of the space would be taken up by high calorie root crops (30%) and vegetables (10%). That's with high soil fertility and in a climate with at least a six month growing season, so you can get in 3 plantings in the space.
I've used some of his methods with good results, but have never tried to grow all of my grains and legumes. I suspect in my climate, with a 3 1/2 month growing season, it would take significantly more space.
Comment: Only 20x20 meters? That's seems incredible. You would really be starving I guess, but could survive. But you need also wood, some fruits and some place to live :-)
Comment: Agreed! I've read two articles which talked about people working on Jeavons' farm who were living for a year off of 4,000 sf. In both cases, the authors mentioned that the person looked healthy but very, very thin. In the plans he includes in his books, Jeavons does include some fruit trees and fruit plants, but it is true that you would need extra space for wood and other materials if you are trying for sustainability beyond just food. Also, I've read of people who have tried his methods elsewhere have said they could not get the yields he does and needed more space.
Comment: Just wanted to add - Jeavons is farming in Willits, CA. I understand that by California standards the land and climate are considered poor for farming, but compared to the climate those of us in the center of the country work with, he's got a long growing season going for him!
Comment: Thank you for your response michelle! It is interesting to know what's possible and what others were able to do.
Comment: This however does not take storage space in account, since you need to put all that food somewhere for the winter. I'd say *if* you manage to produce all that food, it might be better to sell the excess to local people and buy what you need in winter.
Answer: Jon Seymour, in his book The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, mentions that 5 acres (about 2 hectares) of good quality, well drained land could sustain a family of 6 persons. The answer to the question will partly depend on whether or not one chooses to consume meat and dairy products and whether or not the land should also provide timber for energy. Seymour's five acre plan includes grazing and hay pastures, barley, beets and carrots for animal fodder, some woodland, a large vegetable garden, lots of beans, and so forth. For a complete description of how such a farm would work, see Seymour's book which can be found online.
Estimates from Morrison and Jeavons thus seem rather optimistic but differences are probably in part due to the choices that are being made.
Comment: You make a good point with "the question will... depend on whether... one chooses to consume meat and dairy."  It will indeed.  A vegan diet would have the smallest footprint.  Then a diet including eggs and chicken, then beef and pork.  The larger the animals the more resources required to produce meat.  Alternatively you could probably stock an irrigation pond and have fish for a small increase in the foot print.  As to dairy goats would be more efficient source of nutrition than cattle.
Comment: Great point! Jeavon's sticks to a vegan diet for exactly this reason.
Comment: To compare with other answers I've calculated how much 5 acres for a family of 6 is in m2 per person. It's 3372 m2 (if I've done my calculations right).
Answer: That very much depends on how good a gardener you are. At least the following factors come into play

soil fertility
weather (esp. sun & rain)
length of planting season

I remember a quote from Bill Morrison I heard from a recorded lecture that, with permaculture methods, one can sustain a family (2 adults, 2 children) on 50m² (with around 2 hours of gardening per week). I'd say, try it to see if it's true!
Permaculture usually plants high-carbs in form of potatoes. Rice certainly will require more time and more space (and more water).
Comment: @gerrit, permaculture by definition is intended to be sustainable permanently.
Comment: I'd love to see the calculations behind that figure.
Comment: @gerrit Me, too. In the lecture he spoke of people having achieved this "extreme gardening". He also said that it takes a few years to get a garden into shape to yield as much as this per m².
Comment: And is this garden sustainable?
Answer: Figures for land area have been stated, it is perhaps important to consider where that land is, its inherent soil quality and type, inclination towards the sun, altitude and longitude, precipitation - or available atmospheric moisture to be extracted - and short, medium and long term long term climate conditions. That's one heck of a lot of variables to ponder. A single figure can relate to one year at one place but be hugely different the next year, or at a different place. To give a single figure - a "One size fits all" approach is just plane silly.
Also it is vitally important to consider varying protein requirements.
For your basic protein requirements legumes and plant growth tips and the germ part of things such as corn will go some way to
providing basic requirements for those lucky enough to posses the requisite genes to allow their immune system to function correctly with this input. See: for clarification. (The question as to protein requirements in human populations is moot, after all we clean our fruit and vegetables before eating, getting rid of insects, slugs, a variety of eggs from those etc, which would have been part of our pre-historic diet)
For Manual workers, the young and expectant mothers I suggest that waste foliage can be converted by gastropods (A type of molluscan commonly known as snail). The Roman Snail as it is known in Britain used to be considered a staple part of the diet, it's efficient at producing compostable waste and is a good source of the full range of amino-acids required by growing humans from womb to adulthood, the shells can be crushed and added to reduce soil acidity and increase calcium content where necessary. Here's the preparation and a recipe for the giant African version. * Not for the faint of heart (Generally free-range.)
Supplementary protein and alternatives such as those insects found in rotting wood are considered tasty when cooked. See the bushcraftuk.com website archives for more details.
I have no opinion as to the flavor of the above protein supplements having never tried them myself.


Hard Drive bay in Dell XPS L502X DVD-slot

Question: I'd like to replace my XPS' cd/dvd drive bay with a holder for a 2.5" hard drive.  I know I've seen things like this, but I can't for the life of me find anything like this these days!  Any ideas?
Answer: We actually have a whole series of posts about this on the Super User Blog!
Part 1: Setup and finding the right parts
Part 2: Installing and configuring
The first post contains detailed instructions on figuring out what exact type of drive caddy you need to order for your laptop, and some other details. The second one covers the whole installation process. There should be enough information there for you, but if you run into any snags or have any questions, edit your question here with what you need help with and I'll add more info.
Answer: Newmodeus sells them: http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=358


Trumpet playing to clarinet playing

Question: Sorry if this has been asked here somewhere before but I haven't been able to find this question (I found the reverse situation of my question). I've been playing trumpet for several years now and began clarinet a couple days ago for fun. I began to wonder if there could be a backlash with my trumpet playing if I began playing clarinet. Thank you.
Comment: Possible duplicate of https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/82337/is-the-myth-that-if-you-can-play-one-instrument-you-can-learn-another-instrumen
Answer: I have heard from some of my band directors that the right hand on the clarinet is very similar to the right hand on the trumpet, so this may help with fingerings.
Also the clarinet is a unique instrument because it only produces every other harmonic. Trumpet on the other hand produces each harmonic which is each partial. Although a beginner clarinet play may not be thinking about the partials, they are different and this could be somewhat confusing, but if you don't think about the clarinet in terms of partials at first, you should be fine.
Clarinet requires a firm embouchure while trumpet requires a more loose one. This could also take some adjustment. Your trumpet chops probably wont transfer over to clarinet, but it probably wont be harder than starting from scratch.
Just like any hobby, practicing clarinet will reduce the amount of time you have to practice trumpet. I think as long as you continue to practice both, they shouldn't negatively affect each other, but only increase your knowledge about the musical world.
Comment: Love to hear why he thinks fingering is similar! The embouchure of each is very different. No comparison at all.
Comment: As a clarinet and saxophone player, I see the trumpet as totally different. I was very surprised by that comment.  On the clarinet, there are many keys and holes and both hands are needed.  Even one finger may have multiple keys.  The trumpet does even use all of the fingers of one hand.  Note that I am not suggesting that the trumpet is easier, I know that it isn't, I can't get a note out of one.
Comment: The notes themselves are similar, obviously. However, the way fingers are used to produce the exact same notes on both are nothing like each other. And that's without considering changes of embouchure in trumpet, which are very different again from those on clarinet.
Comment: I don't think you could go from trumpet and only use the right hand in the way because the harmonics are different, but I think it could help a clarinet player move to trumpet when trying to remember fingerings. They are both in Bb so many of the notes on the right hand are similar. It would probably help a trumpet player moving to clarinet just to know the similarities.
Comment: As I was playing, I was surprised that my right hand felt like it was playing the a C scale on the trumpet! Other than that, it was really different.
Answer: Playing any instrument is a game of two halves (at least!). There's the music side and the technical side of the instrument. Having played the trumpet, the first skill is well on the way. You can probably read and know what the relationship between notes is, etc.
Trumpet is usually (not always) a Bb instrument. Clarinet is usually (but not always) a Bb instrument. Meaning they are both transposing instruments, and the music is written a tone higher than the pitches actually produced. Whether this is a helping factor will depend on the keys of the pieces you play, but overall, you'll be reading in familiar keys generally.
The embouchure. Very different between the two. With trumpet, you're basically blowing raspberries (so to speak!) whereas with clarinet, there's a reed which needs to be set moving and it's in your mouth. The tonguing is common to both, although that's subtly different.
Fingering has very little in common, pressing valves on trumpet is rather different from covering holes and pressing levers (lots!) on clarinet. Obviously one handed on trumpet compared to needing both sets of fingers on clarinet.
It's all music, but playing both will either take up twice the time, or cost half the time on each. Advantages on trumpet are that you can, with a little effort, also play other brass - same fingering, embouchure, etc., whereas clarinet can be extended to flute and saxes, with similar fingerings and, with saxes, embouchure.
Answer: Don't fuss over reading, transposition, fingering etc.   The two instruments are similar enough for there to be plenty of transferrable skills.  Different enough for trumpet fingering not to be in the slightest confused with clarinet fingering.
The only issue is whether developing a clarinet embouchure will affect the trumpet embouchure.   Again, they're different enough that I don't think you've anything to worry about.   Go for it!
Answer: Playing the clarinet will be easier than if you didn't play the trumpet, but it will still take practice.
Playing the clarinet will not be as hard, as you will already have learnt the music theory. It will also be easier because they both are instruments where you blow! That means quite a few blowing techniques will be passed on to your clarinet playing. Knowing the theory might even help playing the clarinet!
Though the fact that playing it will be easier, there still will be the hard parts. Here is a link that describes some problems normally encountered when picking up a new instrument.
Comment: Trumpet is woodwind?  Oh no it's not!
Comment: I am not the down voter but it is probably because you say that the trumpet is woodwind.  Are you thinking of the saxophone?  Despite not looking like it, it is considered woodwind.  Its mouthpiece and technique is similar to the clarinet.  The trumpet is not woodwind.  It has a very different mouthpiece and technique.  I play the clarinet and sax.  I have tried the trumpet a couple of times and could not get a note out of it.
Comment: @Tim, Sorry! My mistake. I'll go fix it.

Trumpet playing to clarinet playing


What does "to root a phone" mean?

Question: I heard this phrase or the variants (rooted phone, rooting, etc.) in android forums but I don't know what it means. Can you explain it in simple terms?
Comment: Two great resources for understanding this more deeply are: http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/Obtain_Root and the [CyanogenMod Wiki](http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Main_Page). The latter does a *great* job of defining terms throughout, so even if your goal is not to install CyanogenMod (which they also define :) ), the wiki is a great way to fill in gaps in your understanding.
Comment: Dead URL.  Cyanogenmod.com vanished recently.  Instead, try https://wiki.lineageos.org.
Comment: Related: **HOW ANDROID RESTRICTS ROOT ACCESS?** section in my answer to [How Magisk works?](https://android.stackexchange.com/a/213344/218526)
Answer: To 'root' your phone means to gain administrative rights on the file system of your phone (in linux, root is the username of the master admin).  With root access, you can install and uninstall anything you want on the phone.
Most phones come with limited access regarding what you can and can't do on it.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it can keep users from accidentally breaking something they shouldn't mess with on the phone, especially in regards to the operating system.  However, many manufacturers limit your rights to things that aren't really so mission critical, too, and rooting the phone gets around this.
If you have a few unnecessary applications (bloatware) pre-installed on your phone that you cannot uninstall, rooting will give you this ability.  It will also allow you to upgrade to newer versions of Android before your phone's manufacturer and/or cell provider make the updates available to you.  Be warned, though, that rooting may void your warranty.
For more info on what rooting enables you to do with your phone, check out this question.
Comment: Nice answer... I also like the part where you said ` It will also allow you to upgrade to newer versions of Android`.  Any good resources you can recommend for that ? (Hopefully One of your prior answer..)
Comment: Why is bloatware such a big deal for many users? As long as the phone works well, and one can disable the blatware (I do not because I do not pay attention to them), everything should be fine.
Answer: When you "root" your phone you are unlocking the administrative privileges of the phone which by default are locked by the manufacturer.  It's similar to "Jailbreaking" in the iphone world.
Rooting your device allows you to do things like overclock or underclock your CPU, delete those preloaded apps that your phone wont delete like Amazon MP3 or Corp Calendar, install certain apps that require root access, load custom ROMs...
The manufacturers don't want you to have access to these options for a number of reasons including but not limited to:

They want to control and ensure a specific user experience
Certain carriers require that certain functions are locked out because they want you to pay for them or because they are incompatible with their network
If you don't know what you are doing you can "brick" (render useless) your phone or at least cause enough problems where you'll be calling tech support demanding to know why your phone doesn't work.
Comment: A big one is that you can remove critical system components and require a wipe (reinstall). They don't want this. Too much dissatisfied customers and tech support calls :)
Comment: @DmitriyLikhten I doubt that its tech support and neither customers satisfaction, instead its **making money on bloat and surveilance**.
Answer: To gain root (administrator) access to a phone.
'root' is the user with UID 0, which is the equivalent of a full 'System Administration Account'.
It means you have the permission to do anything.
Anything includes opening protected ports (for example for WiFi-tethering), update and upgrade the OS and all software, replace the operating system with your own software, full access to every file on the machine, and the ability to delete any file, including the entire operating system.
Comment: " replace the operating system with your own software" is not true. Root is not required to flash new firmware. It may make the process easier though.
Answer: In short, it means to get administrator access to the phone.  To do things that a normal (non-administrator) user of the phone cannot do.
Answer: Other answers are already correct, but just for a bit of nerd reference. In all Unix-based systems, there is a "root" user who has access to any and all functions available by the operating system. This is a very powerful (and dangerous) privilege because once you are root, you can do anything, and much of what you can do can completely destroy the system.
This is why when you administer a server, you usually don't do it as root so that you can take advantage of the operating system saying "umm... you don't want to do THAT!" when you accidentally ask it to wipe clean the entire hard drive at 3am.
Answer: This is a bit of an amendment to everything. Essencially Rooting is Jailbreaking. You are a user, you don't have administrator access to your own phone. Rooting is the process of getting access to the "root" user. Once you have root, there are some fun things you can do.

Remove "system" apps like Sprint's Nascar or NFL apps.
Use tools like Open Tethering to do wifi tethering (for free)
Underclock or Overclock your processor (underclocking with SetCPU helps keep battery usage up while not really affecting performance when your phone is in idle/etc.)
Install a custom recovery tool.

Nandroid Backup -- A complete dump of your android's internal memory to the SD card which allows you to do a very clean backup and literally roll your android back to that point when needed. Also allows you to swap operating systems in minutes by having 2 backups, 1 of each.

Recently rooting is getting more efficient and with 1-click rooting coming up, it should be a breeze for most people, just set up and let it run for a half an hr.
The only risk is bricking your phone (screwing up some critical software thus making it impossible to start it up or install a fix).
Answer: This question is one of the most viewed on this site, yet all answers say the same: "getting admin rights, let's you do stuff like xyz and abc". The latter is not really part of a relevant answer, and indeed there is already a question here: what can a rooted phone do?.
Sure rooting equals getting admin rights, but let's add some more details: how admin rights are implemented in Android. Whats happens, on a technical level, when you root a phone? A new program/applet becomes available: su. It sits in the /system/xbin/ folder and allows users to switch to a different user ID --including root (aka admin).
Remember that in android applications normally run under their own user ID. So if 1) su exists and 2) an app uses it to change to root, then the app can do anything the root user could do!
Not all rooting methods produce the same change. For example many methods rely on an additional app called superuser.apk that has a custom version of the su binary. This lets the app act as a permission control manager whenever su is invoked by an app.
In addition to su and superuser (or SuperSu), often busybox gets installed as part of the rooting script. These three files (technically busybox is a set of files) are the most common additions when we talk about rooting a phone.

It is not trivial to just copy a su to the folder yourself, as the /system partition is mounted read only and you need root rights to (re)mount it as writable (and you'd need write permissions if it was).
One 'indirect' way of doing this is using a recovery with extended functionality, it can mount /system as writable and copy files to it. In most cases this means flashing a custom recovery, as many stock recoveries are limited to patching only specific (OEM) files.
A more 'direct' way would be to directly flash a new /system partition (with root files) using some flashing tool. Such tools include:

odin(PC--Samsung only)
fastboot(PC--Generic Android)
flashify(app--Generic Android)

It is relatively easy to copy the /system partition from your phone--or an image file from the web, and flash the root-modified partition back. Lastly you may be able to get a root shell using ADB, if the ROM was compiled to allow it (not common in stock ROMs). Using the root shell it is trivial to remount partitions and copy files anywhere you want--if you know linux commands.
These simple methods work for phones that are unlocked/easy to unlock. When a bootloader is locked the process of rooting can become a convoluted process that may differ between devices, see more specific rooting info here.
This is because any custom modifications to important partitions will break the OEM 'signature' and cause the bootloader to refuse loading (bootloop). Or, in some cases the bootloader will just undo any changes.
Comment: "*Lastly you may be able to get a root shell using ADB, if the ROM was compiled to allow it (not common in stock ROMs).*" -- the whole ROM is not responsible for that, only the kernel is. Make changes into the kernel and you would have insecure adbd running in your machine (adb root, that is).
Comment: "*any custom modifications to important partitions will break the OEM 'signature' and cause the bootloader to refuse loading (bootloop).*" - per Google's instructions [here](https://source.android.com/security/verifiedboot/verified-boot.html#boot_state), in case of signature mismatch, the bootloader must issue a warning which isn't alike to  refusing  the user to boot into OS. Why would it cause a bootloop?
Comment: @Firelord You are right about boot being the partition that controls the ADB root permission. But I didn't wan't to get too specific. Feel free to suggest edits.
Comment: @Firelord Regarding the bootloop: because if all a locked bootloader did was issue a warning (and continue to boot), rooting would be easy. The reason simple partition flashes on locked devices fail is because the bootloader detects a change. Or am I missing something?

What does "to root a phone" mean?


How to automatically show USB camera or memory stick contents in Icewm?

Question: I normally use a very lightweight Linux setup.  No desktop like Gnome or KDE, just Icewm as the windows manager and nothing else that normal users might consider essential.  Well, I do need a file manager - I use Thunar.
Recently I've been trying Gnome. Whenever I shove a memory stick into a USB port, or connect my digital camera, it can automatically pop up a file manager showing all the goodies on that device.    KDE does this too.   I like this.  Although quick at the command line, I like not having to go sudo to mount the device and all that.
If I want to stick with a lightweight setup using Icewm+Thunar, is there something non-huge I can install to make external devices fire up a Thunar window, or otherwise make access to the contents brainlessly easy?
Answer: I believe the customary tool used here is autofs. You don't specify your Linux distribution, but on Debian, the corresponding package is autofs5.


What does it mean if my chicken tastes like fish?

Question: I got the chicken fresh from Smith's, rinsed it, seasoned it, and it didn't smell at all. I put it in my mother-in-law's baking dish, baked it, and it smelled sooo good in the house while baking. I served it only for my husband to spit it out. It tastes 100 percent like fish. Not smell, taste. What could this be from? Does it indicate the chicken was unsafe to eat?
Comment: Actually, I doubt fish tastes like fish - it actually smells like fish. There is no taste receptor for fishyness known :)
Answer: I can think of several things, but it's not the definitive answer (not enough info in the question):

Oven was used recently for baking fish
Dish/pot was used recently for baking fish
Chickens were fed food containing fish. I don't know if this still happens, but in my country (The Netherlands) some 30 years ago, you could buy a 'powdery' chicken food that was some mix of ground-down grains, corn, and fish serving as a cheap protein source. You could definitely taste that in the eggs - I don't remember about the chicken meat itself.Note that chicken meat is sort of 'lowest on the rung' where quality is concerned, and maybe this was a batch from someone looking for a quick profit.

Note that the smell of fish permeates/overpowers quickly and that taste is very much determined by smell.
Answer: Fishmeal :( Some farmers feed chickens fishmeal. I assume it provides a better nutrient base, blah, blah. It's gross. I can only buy one brand of chicken now, because most of the local grocery stores sell "fishy" chicken.
Comment: From the chicken's point of view it's probably not gross at all. It's just that they usually aren't able to catch fish and that we (very much including me) don't like the resulting taste. But chickens are naturally omnivores. They feed on worms, snails, slugs, insects (which are easier for them to catch than, say, fish) and the occasional mouse (if they get it).
Answer: In the UK, in the post-war era of the 50's and early 60's, a whole roast chicken was an expensive luxury food. For many British families it offered a rare alternative to the regular Sunday roast "dinner" (lunch) in place of roast beef, pork or lamb, far less expensive to buy for the so called working classes of the time. This was still the age of free-range chickens so quality and taste were excellent. Egg-yolks were rich in color and taste. This all changed from the mid-60's when economies of scale turned the raising of chickens into an unregulated industry, the so called "battery" chicken "produced" on a vast, industrial scale. Millions of chickens flooded the market and the retail cost to the family dropped well below that of meat. But these chickens were raised in appalling conditions and fed the "waste" byproducts of the UK's fishing industry, a dried fish powder or mini fish pellet. The chicken of the late 60's, 70's and early 80's tasted fishy unless bought from upscale poulterers or sourced from known free range outlets. The battery chicken of today has improved with High Street supermarkets using their clout to reject suppliers of fish-fed chucks. Maybe the OP has stumbled on a supplier of foul-tasting fish-fed-fowl.


What screw is best with treated lumber?

Question: I have some projects coming up for the garden and I want to use some screws with the raised beds. I recently was told certain screws get 'eaten' by the chemical used for treating the lumber. If this is true, what screws will last longest with the treated lumber?
Comment: Treated or untreated doesn't often matter, the application can determine the appropriate screw (e.g. softwood, exterior use, self-tapping) and then you have to pick the head style, and whether it needs salt resistance or not. Expect some sticker shock with better-quality screws!
Comment: *"I recently was told certain screws get 'eaten' by the chemical used for treating the lumber."* When you hear anything like this always seek some specifics from the person because this is far too vague to be useful.
Comment: @Graphus i tried getting more information from my shop teacher but then he went on as to how he forgot what screws are not supposed to be used with treated lumber, which is why I asked the group.
Comment: Don't you just hate that? "Oh I forget the specifics but..." Not knowing the specifics never seems to stop people handing out well-meaning advice anyway! Anyhoooo, about the screws, while hot-dipped galvanised and stainless screws are both good choices they are *not* the only ones you can use. There are numerous multi-coated screws available that are also fine to use with all treated woods. See [this](https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/fasteners/drive-screws-that-dont-corrode) on the Wood Magazine site for a little more.
Comment: That said, not knowing the specifics can still help people... if indeed some screws are unsuitable for certain types of timber then that at least points people in the direction of doing further research to find out whether that is true or not and if so which types.
Answer: Pressure treated lumber is treated with Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ), an environmentally friendly water-based preservative that is free of arsenic and chromium. However, ACQ treated lumber is more corrosive to metal, so the right fastener is key to a safe, long lasting deck, fence or other outdoor project.
When nails are exposed to ACQ, a chemical reaction occurs, which accelerates the corrosion rate of the fastener. In addition, the organic components of ACQ attract water, further increasing corrosion on the fastener.
The wood treatment industry recognizes the corrosive nature of ACQ in relation to fastening systems, and recommends hot dipped galvanized or stainless steel nails be used. Hot dipped galvanized nails must meet American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) A153 Class D standards and stainless steel nails should be made from grade 304 or 316, to provide maximum corrosion protection. If screws are used they must be rated for ACQ.
(source www.treeisland.com/company/news-events/what-fasteners-work-acq)
Answer: Galvanized and coated deck screws rust in treated pine; I am sure it has very little to do with the treatment. The first screws failed at about 10 years but a few lasted 20 years. I expect the stainless replacements to last much longer; The box indicates they are 316 SS which is likely true. Driving the heads down into the wood makes it worse because the recess retains water. I looked at the reference regarding corrosion and it listed no source for the corrosion reference, so I still doubt it. However I built my deck in 1996 so used CCA wood ; The EPA did not require the new crap until 2003. I am/ was a NACE certified Corrosion Specialist ( # 1635 , I have not renewed my certification) so I am not impressed by random articles regarding corrosion.
Answer: Second answer:If you are using "deck wood" ( aka 5/4") it doesn't make much difference, the wood and the coated or galvanized screws or nails all last roughly 10 years. If you build a deck with the much stronger, longer lasting 2" X lumber, use stainless screws, period.
Comment: Thank you for more information, it does help me out. Also, you might want to edit your previous answer and add the new information....

What screw is best with treated lumber?


Keeping valuables safe whilst in costume

Question: I'm going to a fancy dress (I think cosplay may be the term used in other parts of the world) event wearing an improvised costume in which sweat pants are the only item with pockets. These are not secure pockets and it's far too easy for things to fall out. I need to take money and my phone, and I will need easy access to them to buy drinks, take photos etc. How can I keep money, phone and keys on me and safe? I could have some sort of bag, but that would not go with the costume. Also, to plagiarise House Greyjoy, I do not sew.
Comment: What do you mean by money? A credit card? Folding currency? Coins? Can you give us more info? You mention "fancy" dress and sweat pants — what else can we work with? Do you have head wear of any kind? Do you plan to carry any kind of costume accessory?
Answer: Get something that is generically known as a "running belt".
These things are fantastic; everyone should have one. They wrap around your waist or hips, and you can wear them under just about anything.
Whenever pockets are not ideal or completely absent (running, cycling, beachwear, costumes, too much to carry, pockets too bulky, hiding cash, etc…), these things are a lifesaver. And if you frequent water/theme parks where your phone might get wet, they even come in a waterproof version.
Product Search: Running Belt
Comment: I imagine a bright blue or bright pink spandex or polyester belt, unless you are going as a superhero, is likely to ruin a cosplay costume.
Comment: @IQAndreas: 1) They do come in colors other than bright blue (black is common).  2) Unless you've a very skimpy costume, you wear it underneath.
Comment: Well, there is a version of this which is called "Travel Money Belt", e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Travel-Money-Light-iPhone-Silver/dp/B00ZSETURM - sounds like a better fit, as it's more slim and would less likely ruin a costume.
Answer: If your colsplay clothing allows for it, find the pouches that hang around your neck, and and are worn underneath your clothing.

Image taken from KevinCoffey.com, though, it's unclear if the website's owners hold the copyright, or if the image is from elsewhere.
These are often advertised for travelers or people going through airports. It keeps your valuables safe from pickpockets, and with most cosplay outfits, it should be possible to easily pull out the pouch when you need something important.
I'm mostly finding brand names and trade marks while trying to search for these, but the generic name seems to be security neck pouch or security neck wallet and are between $8.00 and $20.00.
Comment: @Fennekin It hangs around your neck **underneath** your shirt or topmost layer, so in most cosplay outfits, it shouldn't be visible. The thickness ends up being about as thick as the items inside, so the worst offender should be the phone.
Comment: Wear it under your clothes but diagonally, under one arm.
Comment: that looks bad. at least for fancy dress
Comment: I did this when I was young. I used to hold keys in such pouch however i was bullied and understood the aesthetics the hard way
Answer: How you conceal your belongings will depend both on the structure of your costume and the ease of access required to your belongings.
If you have a clear division between the upper and lower portions at the waist, and the costume is not snugly fitted at the waist and hips, a runners' belt or travel belt, worn around the waist under your clothes, can provide easy access and hold a fair amount of property. While this works for your specification of "sweatpants," you didn't describe the rest of the costume, and if the upper portion is more than mid-thigh length, accessing the waist belt will become increasingly difficult the more length you add. (The exception here is if the upper portion has any slits that would allow you to regain access to the pouch.)
If the waist belt is impractical, and the upper portion is more loosely fitted, a neck pouch worn under the top can help. The downsides here are that it can become heavy and uncomfortable with the phone in place, it will move around under your clothes and can be visible even in most loosely fitted garments, and can be awkward to access. Additionally, if the neckline is too snug (a dress shirt collar or a turtleneck, for instance), you will lose access to the pouch.
If these options won't work for you, the next step will be a belt pouch. This will likely (but not necessarily) be visible, so choose a nice looking one. While fancier ones exist (I own several), they can be easily made by tying up the lanyard on a neck pouch to shorten it and fix it to a belt or belt loop. If your costume involves a belt or tie-on point of any sort (sashes and loops count here), you have a place available to attach a belt pouch.
If a belt pouch is also out of the question, then I'm sorry, but you're going to have to carry your belongings in some sort of bag and keep track of it. There are only so many ways you can conceal items in a costume without involving sewing. Please do not attempt to hide items in your bra/underpants/socks/shoes. Not only are they inconvenient locations, but you will disgust the recipient of your money.
Source: I am an experienced cosplayer (15+ years) who regularly has to carry multiple items on me while costumed.
Answer: When doing "cosplay" myself, I have put some flat items such as money & drivers license in plastic slipcovers or plastic bags, and put them in the bottom of my shoes before putting my shoes on my feet. There is not much room but for just a few flat items it does the trick.
Comment: @IQAndreas I agree. I reread the question yesterday, and was thinking about deleting my answer because it OBVIOUSLY won't work for a phone!!! But I'm going to leave my answer here in case it helps someone else who DOESN'T need to bring a phone with them (for some weird reason).
Comment: Perfect for money and a credit card, but might get a bit crowded if you hide your phone in there. ;-)
Comment: @BrettFromLA I agree completely, keep the answer for other Googlers! (And I happen to be one of those few people who doesn't own a cellular phone)
Answer: In case your are female and our phone is not too large, put it into your bra. It might be good to place the small items like money, keys or cards inside a small bag to prevent them from moving on their own.
Answer: I'll concentrate on the bulky item—the phone.
Buy, rent, borrow, or steal a safety pin. They come in various sizes and styles. You can paint one if it clashes with your improvisation; so, it will go with your intensions no matter how discerning your critics may be.
Slip your phone into either one of the pockets of your costume, get-up, attire, clothing, ensemble, garb, uniform, livery, togs, apparel, gear, or what have you and pin your pocket shut.
Here's the good part. When you want your phone, undo the pin and retrieve your equipment. When you have finished using your phone, put it back into your pocket and REUSE the same pin to safely store your phone on your person again.
NO SEWING is necessary or required at any point
You can use this procedure as often as you want so long as you don't lose your pin, phone, or pants.
Really, if something like this drives you to seek help…
Comment: I see that a grumpy person can't handle pointy things. : )


What are the minimum hardware requirements to run elementary OS?

Question: I have a 2007 core-duo laptop and wanted to know the system requirements for this OS. What are the minimum requirements.
Comment: That'll eat most Linux distros for breakfast...
Comment: Note that "Core Duo" is a 32-bit CPU, while "Core 2 Duo" is 64-bit. The 32-bit version of the OS will run on both. Otherwise, I'd recommend the 64-bit OS if you can run it.
Comment: What about ATOM CPU's in NETBOOKS, do they at least CRAWL with elementary OS loki too ?
Comment: Can elementary OS run on 1GiB or less CPU/RAM?
Comment: One of my laptops has following specs: Core2Duo T7300 (2x2.0GHz)
4GB RAM (2x2GB DDR2)
Intel integrated graphics Mobile GM965
HDD 250GB Intel WLAN and Realtek ethernet Everything works out of the box and quite fast.
Try it!
Answer: Recommended System Specifications

Recent Intel i3 or comparable dual-core 64-bit processor
4 GB of system memory (RAM)
Solid state drive (SSD) with 15 GB of free space
Internet access
1024×768 display

Learn more at
http://elementary.io/en/docs/installation#recommended-system-specifications
Comment: eOS 32bit on a P4 2.6 and Athlon XP 2000+ nVidia mx440 and 1GB DDR 400 requires patience. Desktop taking 15-20% CPU reources idle so bottleneck's on the CPU side. @fleamour's right about any Core2Duo but I'll check a CoreDUO Solo first before going on.
Comment: These are the recommended specs, not the minimum. eOS runs smoothly on a core2 duo, for example.


How to control name of the item created using Sitecore WFFM form submit action - 'Create Item'?

Question: We are using Sitecore 8.2 update-5 along with corresponding wffm module. Form submit action 'Create Item' doesn't show any way to configure item's name. is there any way to set it to one of the form's fields?
Answer: I'm afraid that is not possible out-of-the-box.
What I can suggest is that you create a custom <item:created> event handler to rename an item of your certain WFFM item template.
That would work as a dirty fix.


How can I generate a Bitcoin address from a 12 word seed without using a computer?

Question: I have a 12 word seed and I want to generate an address without exposing it to any computers. How can I accomplish this?
Answer: While theoretically possible, the algorithms involved mean that it is practically impossible. You would need to compute the seed from your mnemonic word according to BIP 39, and then derive the keys and address from that according to BIP 32.
Generating the seed from the mnemonic alone requires executing the PBKDF2 function, which is specifically designed to take a long time for a computer to compute. The time required and the complexity of the problem mean that you've got no chance.
Answer: Most hardware wallet, such as the ones from Ledger, have a recovery mode that allows you to enter in a mnemonic seed.
Provided that whatever originally generated the seed for you is compliant with BIP-0039 you will be able to recover/reuse the private keys.
Comment: Fair enough. I thought you might have been asking about avoiding common computer platforms such as a PC etc. Hardware wallets are specialised devices with High Security Modules in that provide superior protection for sensitive data. In that case the only way to do it will be by hand with pen and paper (a calculator is a computer as well) using the algorithm detailed in BIP-0039.
Comment: I would consider ledger to be a computer


Does anyone know how to get an XP-Pen Star 06 tablet working on Ubuntu/elementaryOS or Linux?

Question: I'm trying to get this (XP-PEN Star 06) tablet to work. I tried DiGiMend on github and installing their drivers etc... did not work. Here is my complete output for the tablet. https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/d5DFQ8V3ZG/
Answer: I just ordered this tablet and am waiting for it arrive but looking around for linux drivers I found that Xp Pen have actually released a linux driver Checkout this page https://www.xp-pen.com/download/index/cid/36.html
Answer: XP-Pen tablets do not work on Linux full stop. Be a hero and write a driver for it; or else weigh the value of your time spent doing that versus the cost of buying a Wacom tablet that will work.
Comment: um...clearly you have zero clue as to what you're talking about there are plenty of XP-Pen tablets and many others that work on Linux thanks to these folks https://digimend.github.io/ and others. The issue that I'm having is more of a configuration issue than a driver issue. Linux has generic drivers that would work with most tablets be it edev or xinput.


Can I add a 30 amp breaker to a sub panel being fed from a 50 amp breaker

Question: I have 100 amp service panel that feeds a sub panel with a 50 amp breaker. In the sub panel, there are currently five 15 amp breakers that feed three rooms worth of lights and two outdoor outlets used to run 2 Christmas light controllers. All lights are LED and there is a celling fan on one of the breakers. I need to add a 30 amp breaker for an electric in-wall oven. Can I put this breaker in my sub panel, or should/must I make room in the main panel for this breaker?
Comment: Do you have the square footage of the rooms served handy, as well as the wattage of the Christmas lights?
Answer: Assuming you've got 6 gauge wire feeding the sub panel, you should be fine. As long as you aren't pulling more than 50 amps through that sub panel at once, you don't need to worry about over loading the panel. That's what the 50 amp breaker is there for.
Answer: There are two separate issues here:  safety and usability.
From a safety point of view, as long as all the breakers are sized properly for the wires to which they are attached, and in good working order, you'll be fine.  You have a 50A breaker on the input, so as long as the wires feeding that can handle 50A and the panel itself can handle 50A (gosh I'd hope so...)  it's safe.  As long as the wires attached to your proposed 30A breaker can handle 30A, it's safe.  The breakers won't let you melt anything or light anything on fire just by plugging in too much stuff.
Now, from a usability point of view, you have one circuit that might be drawing 30A at any given time.  Do you have more than one 15/20A circuit in the panel as well?  If you do, and you try to use them all to capacity at the same time, you'll trip the feed breaker.  If this happens regularly, it's both annoying and potentially wears out your breaker.  If the 30A line is for something that's going to be used consistently, or which starts up on its own, you may want to consider upgrading the feed line to handle more than 50A.  If the 30A is for something that you'll only be using after deliberately turning off everything else, then it's probably not worth the expense right at the moment, but you might still regret it later when your use habits change and you start tripping the feed regularly and have to tear into the panel again to upgrade it.
Answer: it sounds like your 100A service is full and your sub would be over loaded with an oven of that size on bkr count , it could be done if the load was measured and low enough not to be a problem (with all the led & christmas lights on ect),however I would think about a larger service.I stand by my original statement with a 100A main a 30A oven what about waterheater, furnace blower, refridgerators, washer and dryer. these all add to the load that was not discussed, a 100A service panel is very small by todays standards and they have already added a 50A sub, I am a licensed electrician and I would not be pushing a small pannel that far knock me down more i really dont care I am trying to keep someone from burning thier house down.
Comment: You might want to read up about circuit breakers and panels.  The sum of the capacity of breakers doesn't relate to anything about the actual usage.  Applying your logic, replacing the 100 amp service with a 320 amp service would be severe overkill, extremely expensive, and not address the question.


What is the most theoretical, abstract and general topic?

Question: As in the title: What is the most basic question you can ask? So answers to it solve the most problem at once. Isn't it the question:
How do we improve the process of understanding?
Comment: Why?  .............   :)
Comment: Let's say you there were such a question. How would you know about it? You would have to ask your question, meaning that the question we supposed existed would have some question more basic than it. The part "How do we improve the process of understanding" is _way_ too broad.
Answer: A kantian answer (as he was the first to make this question explicit in his letter to Marcus Herz from February 21th,1772, Ak 10:129-35) to that question is:

What is the reason for the reference of perceptions to their objects?

His answer is named "Critique of Pure Reason" and is quite a bold book. It includes all kinds of ontological and epistemological questions, anthropology (implicitely) included, and therefore is in this sense more "general" than a question that merely asks for what is existing (object) or what "I" am (subject). It also includes practical philosophy, as there are perceptions of actions, therefore it would be more adequate to state that all Kant wrote after 1781 (the moment he finished a first sketch of an answer with before mentioned book, as he stated in a letter to Christian Garve from August 7th, 1783, Ak. 10:336-43) is part of the answer to that question.
Interesting enough, this question is the starting point of the philosophy of Hegel, Husserl (Phenomenology), the old realism/idealism debate, pragmatism, and the Philosophy of Mind.
Another question after Helmuth Plessner, and starting point of Philosophy of Life/Philosophical Anthopology, would be:

What is life?

If we take a concept of behaviour as a very broad concept like he did, this question includes perhaps even more than the kantian question, as it directly includes social aspects, culture and so on. You have to differentiate all layers of nature: dead objects, plants, animals and humans and their specifics.
Answer: The question so basic it "solves the most problems at once" is like the map with a perfectly accurate 1:1 scale. It solves no particular problems at all, echoing Wittgenstein's idea that philosophy, in answering its own questions, must "leave the world as it found it."
That said, my own candidate would be the question: "What am I?" The reason is that it entails both ontology and epistemology, and contains an outwardly spiraling dialectic of "subject" and "object," self and world. In the manner of Hegel, it  already describes consciousness as "self-consciousness." It reiterates the ancient imperative to "Know thyself," as well as the modern derivation of "Cogito ergo sum."
It asks the very Heideggerian question: What is it that asks questions? I don't see how a question answering your question could get better than that. At least not in a neat three-word trinity, the minimal possible fully specified question. So I will be so bold as to claim it is the "best" answer to your question, or at least has the best pedigree.
Answer: The most abstract and theoretical question that can be asked is that of existence.  What IS existence?  Everything stems off from existence.
The problem here is that very fundamental questions may have no answers for the simple fact that they are so fundamental that they are the foundation upon which all our answers are built.
Answer: What language do you want to phrase the most basic question in?
No, really.  That's the question where I'd start.  I think the definition of the most basic question will actually vary from individual to individual.  Not all of knowledge fits nicely into tree like structures with one fundamental question at the bottom.  If you do try to construct such a question, it tends to be less than perfectly objective, indeed often personal.
Answer: Your question leaves open a wide range of interpretation. But if you ask for a fundamental philosophical question, many would take into account Leibniz' question:

Why is there something rather than nothing?

But this question is totally open. Some would even argue that the question is meaningless because one cannot compare the two alternatives on a common ground. Hence one cannot speculate whether the question has a correct answer and what we could learn from that answer.


Thermo homework (HW) problem

Question: I do not believe this question can be solved with the thermodynamics knowledge that I have learned thus far, but someone correct me if I am wrong:

A 0.2-m³ tank containing helium at 15 bar and 22°C will be used to
  supply 4.5 moles per minute of helium at atmospheric pressure using a
  controlled adiabatic throttling valve.
If the tank is well insulated, what will be the pressure in the tank
  and the temperature of the gas stream leaving the throttling valve at
  any later time $t$?
You may assume helium to be an ideal gas with $C^{*}_{P} = 22 \text{ J / (mol K)}$, and that there is no heat transfer between the tank and
  the gas.

I think it's most illustrative to start with the entropy balance:
$$\frac{dS}{dt} = \sum_{k=1}^{K} \dot{N}_{k} \underline{S_k} + \frac{\dot{Q}}{T} + \dot{S}_{gen}$$
No $\dot{Q}$ since it's adiabatic, and no $\dot{S}_{gen}$ since I guess we're assuming it's reversible.  One output stream with $\dot{N} = -4.5 \text{ mol/min}$ gives
$$\frac{dS}{dt} = \dot{N}\underline{S}(t) = \dot{N}\frac{S(t)}{N(t)} = \frac{\dot{N}S(t)}{N_0 + \dot{N}t}$$
Solving this gives
$$S(t) = S_0 + \frac{S_0 \dot{N}}{N_0}t$$
For a closed system, my book derives relationships between entropy changes and two of volume, pressure, or temperature changes via the 1st law:
$$d\underline{U} = Td\underline{S} - \underline{P}d\underline{V}$$
$$d\left(\frac{U}{N}\right) = Td\left(\frac{S}{N}\right) - \frac{P}{N}d\left(\frac{V}{N}\right)$$
From here it integrates this to arrive at something like
$$\underline{S}(T_2, \underline{V}_2) - \underline{S}(T_1, \underline{V}_1) = C_{v}^{*}\ \text{ln}\left(\frac{T_2}{T_1}\right) + R\ \text{ln}\left(\frac{\underline{V}_2}{\underline{V}_1}\right)$$
However, this is for constant $N$!  With the helium tank, it is an open system and $N$ is not constant!  So I don't see how I can proceed further.  Without an entropy balance, the mass and energy balances alone are not enough to solve the system.
Answer: I think you should be able to solve this without involving entropy:

Start with the ideal gas law, $PV=nRT$, and solve for $n_0$ using initial temperature and pressure.
With a constant mass flow rate, $n(t)=n_0-\dot{n}t$ where $\dot{n}=4.5\text{mol/min}$.
The drop in energy of the gas in the tank will equal the energy flow out, $H\dot{n}=n(t){C_p}dT$.

Thermo homework (HW) problem