How To Develop A Character For A Character-Driven Story?

Question: What is essential for a character-driven story - except, obviously, appearance?
Comment: What do you mean by appearance? (Not the character's physical appearance, which isn't even necessary in a character-driven story.)
Comment: Sometimes appearance is necessary to reveal something about the character. I'm a short-story writer and reader, and nearly all of the stories I can think of have little to no physical descriptions of the characters. The exception I can think of now is that the blind man in Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is described in a way that tells us a lot about the narrator's prejudices.
Comment: Is it not? I can quote at least two great stories which begin exactly with the character's physical introduction.
Comment: I do realize the character's soul is much more essential than physical appearance. But I believe each writer has their own process of crafting a character, which is what I want to ask about.
Answer: Character-Driven Story Is Driven From Self-Concept
Self-concept is one of the strongest powers on earth. That's because so many people have self-concepts which put them at odds with the world around them.   Self-concept drives the actions a person takes.  Because it is so real, it is the essence of what we search for in our stories.
Self-Concept Drives Real People
People act from the foundation of their self-concept. They follow actions that are based in the belief of who they are. Your characters -- if they are to be real -- must do the same.
American Idol: (Failed) Self-Concept On Display
Consider those terrible, awful, singers, auditioning for a spot on American Idol, who sound worse than a cat with its tail caught in a door. One of the judges, like Keith Urban might ask, "Well, how do you think you did?"
"I think I killed it," the contestant answers.
The horrified judges stare. Blink. Blink. The cat with its tail caught in the door has evidently grabbed their tongues. They cannot speak. Why would this obviously terrible singer believe he is good?
One reason: self-concept.
Maybe the singer is joking? Sometimes you see the judges laugh because they cannot believe the singer is serious.
"You don't really believe you are good do you?"
The smile slides off the contestant's face. "Uh, yeah. I love to sing. I don't know how to do anything else." Self-concept is about to take a beating.
It is at this point, the contestant either cries (full on blubbering) -- realizing that maybe the self-concept is incorrect. Or, the more fascinating and often occurring response is that the contestant becomes angry.
Self-concept erupts. "Who are you to say? Some people like this kind of thing. My mother loves to hear me sing."
"Are you sure? Is she usually in the same room when you are singing? Maybe she's out at the grocery store or something."
More anger.
Then, J Lo tries to ease the contestant down, "Baby, it's a no." The soft sell. Get the crazy guy out of here and make sure he gets his meds before he kills us all. Now that his self-concept is bruised and battered, anything could happen.
Example of how it might work in a story:
Push Character Up Against His/Her Self-Concept

What we need is Herman, an inveterate philatelist who is mid-thirties
  but still lives at home with his mother. He loves stamps. He knows the
  historical story behind each stamp he owns. He stares at them for
  hours memorizing small details of each. You learn that his stamp
  collection is worth a huge sum of money, but that doesn't matter to
  Herman. He loves stamps.
Meanwhile he pines away for the girl next door who is gloriously
  beautiful. (I'm having to tell here instead of showing you guy's
  tongues fall out of their mouths as she walks by, because telling is
  faster for this summary, but believe me, she's a knockout with curves
  in all the right places.)
Herman has a discussion with her as she's arriving home late one
  evening and trying to get rid of the guy who took her out.
"Why do
  you go out with him if you don't like him," Herman asks.
In a moment
  of honesty she explains that the gentleman has a huge net worth --
  "that's right, Herman, he's rich and I like being pampered. I suppose
  you think I'm terrible" she says and brushes his face with a hand.
"I
  could never think you're terrible, Ophelia."
Ophelia gets into her house leaving Herman to contemplate. Instant
  realization of what he must do lands inside Herman's mind like a
  boulder smashing through a wall: I must sell my stamps.
They're worth millions. Ophelia would marry me.

Self-Concept: Stamp-lover
But, he loves stamps. Now the faltering of the self-concept. He has to alter his self-concept. Sell the stamps, get the girl. But the stamps are the essence of who Herman is and his entire meaning in life.
You Can See How This Will Turn Out
Of course, you know how this is going to play out? Herman is going to sell the stamps, spend his money on wild living with the painted lady and then lose her too. Then, where will his self-concept be? Completely trashed. No stamps. No beautiful girl.
That's The Power of Self-Concept Playing Out In A Story
If you get the self-concept correct with your character it will drive your story and your story will be completely believable.
Comment: Amazing answer. After reading it, I now desperately want to read some of your fiction. Is there something I can buy?
Comment: Interesting! And I hope you'll write a novel soon.
Comment: @what That is very kind of you to say such a thing.  Unfortunately, at this time I only have some short pieces.  I do have a book about writing which analyzes 25 different excerpts of published novels.  http://amzn.to/2bWnDrW
Comment: @what Now that's the best thing one writer could ever say to another.  :D I'm walking on air.  Wonder if my novel could live up to it.  :)  Thanks.
Comment: Forty year old virgin
Answer: By definition, character-driven fiction is that where the plot takes a back seat to the characters.
What's essential? Everything that's in a plot-driven story, really, just in a different balance. There is usually a plot, but its purpose is to keep the readers engaged while the author digs into the characters. A teacher of mine said plot is the shiny keys that the author jingles as a distraction while he picks the reader's pocket. That is, plot is there to just keep the characters moving around while the author tells the stories of the characters.
I suspect that any story - even sci-fi, romance, crime - could be a character-driven story with that shift in balance. Tone down the plot, tone up the character. Dig into their minds and emotions. Make the finale more about an internal change than in an external achievement (even if you include a final achievement).
The best advice I have is the same advice I'd give almost everyone here at writers.stackexchange: go read a lot of books that are like what you want to write. Go read character-driven fiction. It's sometimes called literary fiction. It's Raymond Carver, John Updike, Lorrie Moore, Larry McMurtry, and gazillions of others.
Answer: I see three keys to character-driven stories:

The character wants something strongly enough to struggle for it.
The character has a unique reason for wanting the thing.
Something about the character makes the struggle more difficult.

The first one is common to all stories.
I'm not sure the second one is essential, but it sure helps. Give the character a unique reason to want the thing, and to want it so badly. This distinguishes this character from others who, on the surface, might want the same thing.
The third factor is, for me, what distinguishes a more character-driven story from a more plot-driven story. In a plot-driven story, it's often enough that external forces keep the character from achieving the goal. But for character-driven stories, something about the character must be a key obstacle. That's what forces the character to change.
Those three things combine to tell the reader a great deal about the character.
Answer: My advice (Probably not helpful advice, but still)
Make the character relatable
You have probably heard this a million times, but it is important. Many readers, including me, are turned off by relatable characters. And I've also learned "relatable" does not mean "average". The character could be the leader of an empire, but they're still human. They have good points, and they have flaws. It's a part of life. You have to flesh out your chatacters.
Do not let the character take backseat
It is a character driven story. The character is as important as the plot, if not more. I have seen too often the following scenario: The plot takes over, and the character is forgotten. The character is still there, they're just leaning back and watching. This cannot happen.
Hope this helped!
Comment: You're turned off by relatable characters? Isn't that contradicting what you're saying elsewhere or am I just missing it?
Answer: The way I see it, there are two ways of deeply developing a character for a character driven story.

If you already have an idea for who the character is (say she's a housewife dealing with 'empty nest syndrome'), then you can write a short, or long, text describing what she does on an average day. Focus on how she does her tasks and any thoughts/reactions she might have. The aim is not for it to have a plot or for the text to be usable later on, it's just for you to get to know her. You can write one such 'day in the life' for before and after her children leave the house, for a week day, a weekend day and a festive day. This allows you to discover the character as you write, from how she feels about her husband to what she has in the fridge and whether she follows recipes or makes recipes up when looking at what's in the fridge.
Whether you have an idea of who she is or not, you can cook up a list of questions to fill in. Include the obvious name, age, date and place of birth, favourite stuff (colour, food, drink, music, ...), stuff she hates, pet peeves... Very importantly, think back to when this now adult character was a child and a teenager: what did she want from life then? Name favourite and least favourite subjects, games, music... see how she changed and matured as she grew. You can add zodiacal and chinese signs, a quote that defines her, a Christian virtue and vice (but don't let those two rule her soul). Add family members and friends and how she feels about them. Decide what she has in the fridge and on her bedside table, inside her handbag, what type of clothes she wears. How she met her husband, problems her children have and had (because Johnny wanted to be spiderman and decided to jump from the balcony or because Janey's labour was a breeze compared to Joey's, who incidentally turned out to be a bully in primary school) and how she deals / dealt with them. All of these should tell you a little bit about her and help you to create a fully fleshed character. Of course you don't have to fill in a six page quiz; you can just glance at the questions and answer the ones that catch your fancy and imagination.

To be honest there is a variation of point 1: start your story with the plot you have in mind (and by plot I include even the vague feels abandoned and useless - struggles to find a solution - solution creates havoc in family life - deal with that - new life). As you progress, discover who she is. Once you really know her (half way through the novel), go back and adjust any out of character actions and reactions. Carry on.
P.S.: I mention go back as soon as you know your character because, in a character driven novel, every thought, reaction and action can change the essence of the novel immensely, so I think it's essential not to risk out of character moments anywhere and, when you notice one, you should immediately fix it. The emotions and reactions of the character define and drive the plot. Get one wrong, and the plot starts going in the wrong direction.
Answer: I've never been entirely sure what the distinction between plot driven and character driven is supposed to mean. Story is the intersection of character and event. Character without events is psychology. Events without character is history.
None of the definitions of the concept I have read are really definitive and they don't really seen to agree with each other. The nearest distinction I can find that might fit is between a story that primarily give the pleasure of vicarious experience (being a policeman or a cowboy or an astronaut) and the pleasure of meeting a person.
A story whose principle aim is to give the vicarious pleasure of imagining oneself a policeman needs characters, because policemen meet characters: the partner, the captain, the villain, the mentor, the pretty girl who is not all she seems. We have met these characters before, and we will meet them again. And again. And again. These characters are archetypes and you can follow a template to generate instance of the archetype.
But in a story whose principle aim is to introduce you to a person, that person is not an instance of an archetype, generated to fill a role in a plot. They are a person. You don't invent people. You observe them. The drive to create a "character driven" story, if this is what the concept means, comes from an encounter with, and observation of, that person. This is not to say that such a character is a literal portrait of a single individual. Sometimes they are an amalgam of several people. But the point remains that observation, not invention, not a formula, are what drives their creation.


Mac OS Sierra - Disk Utility will not let me partition an external hard drive

Question: Within disk utility, the partition icon is grayed out.  If I mouse over it, it reads:  "Disks with Master Boot Record Partition Maps cannot be partitioned".  The history on this drive:  It is a 2 TB Seagate external hard drive that the Mac store reformatted for me to use with Time Machine. I had a problem right after I bought my Mac and we did this to backup my machine and literally restore it to a new machine.  Since then, I have used it with time machine and now want to re-partition it so I can store backups of additional files to the other partition (once it is created).  The current single partition is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".  Any ideas how to address this issue?  I would prefer not to have to erase the disk as part of the process (if possible).
Comment: Correction - you cannot partition a drive that is being used with time machine. You could try backing it up, format it, then partition it, then repeat the time machine process. Though I've not done this, so I'm not sure what TimeMachine will do with a partitioned drive.
Comment: @Ozzie I've never heard of this restriction, is it something recent? I used to have my Time Machine disk partitioned until about a year ago
Comment: i have 3 partitions on my external drive. one for time machine that works fine.
Comment: I may be wrong - but last time it reformatted the entire drive. There may have been another reason for this. I'll delete my comment.
Comment: I think the take-away here is that a drive currently being used for TM cannot be partitioned. However, an unused drive can be partitioned; after partitioning, each partition will appear as a separate drive, and one can be used for TM. My WD 1TB external has two partitions: one for TM backups, and the other for a less-regularly-updated bootable backup created by ChronoSync.
Comment: Not sure if I have a spare drive with enough space right now (I may get one soon anyway).  But @David - if I copied the existing backups out to another drive, then selected Erase, would this give me the option to re-partition the drive in setting it up from scratch?
Answer: I've just encounter the same problem, where Partition icon is grayed out. I found the solution.
Simply launch this command in terminal and the partition icon will not be grayed out anymore :
diskutil erasedisk hfs+ External GPT /dev/disk2

For clarity, in the above command, the path argument starts from /dev, not "External GPT "
However, this command will erase the disk, make a backup if needed before !
Source : Apple Discussion - Alberto Ravasio
Comment: Just FYI: "External" is the new name of the disk, and GPT is GUID Partition Table, the type of partition that you want. You can change "External" to any name that you want. The valid types of partitions are GPT and MBR (Master boot record), but GPT is correct in this case.
Comment: Yes!!!! I got a SanDisk 500gb external to back up a newly acquired 2015 MacBook Air (4/128/$500) and could not partition it until I found this magic incantation. Thank you!
Comment: Would be better if the answer explained what each component of the command was doing. Appreciate @PatrickChu for his callout of each flag. Nothing should seem like magic. And in spite of the caveat of data loss, it's dangerous to run commands without understanding them. Answers that say "just do this" aren't the best imo.
Comment: two quick questions:  "External GPT " is part of your disk path?  Also, if I use this command, the command itself will erase my disk while enabling partition for the future?
Comment: @TMWP I really don't know what External GPT is, but it should work on any disk. And yes, the command itself will erase your disk
Comment: Thanks!  Testing will commence after I am ready to whip out the drive.  Not quite there yet, but soon.
Comment: Yup, works. Wonder why erasing via Disk Utility don't
Comment: Worked perfectly on Catalina with my Sandisk Ultra Dual Drive!
Comment: The "Partition" option is no longer grayed out but when I click on Partition, I can't add nor subtract partitions.
Answer: The sample screenshot in the question is only showing "Volumes", not "Devices".
In Disk Utility, select "View" and "Show All Devices" to also show the device hierarchy.
Then, erase the device - doing which will reset the MBR.
(Click "Show All Devices" will allow other formatting options thus enabling the partition button)
Answer:
In the disk utility, select 'View' and 'Show Devices'.
Select the drive (out-dented entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the side list.
Click on the Erase tab in the Disk Utility toolbar. A panel should drop down.
In the drop down panel set the partition scheme to GUID. Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button and click on the Done button when it is activated.
You can now create partitions.
Answer: TMWP: Yes, that's what I did. Here's the procedure:

Go to System Preferences > Time Machine, and turn Time Machine off
Make sure that TM disk and your temporary storage disk are both plugged into your computer's USB ports
Launch Disk Utility
Click on 'Restore'
Set the source to your old TM disk
Set the destination to your temporary storage disk
then start the process

This will copy your TM backups onto your temporary storage disk. Make sure the copy is complete before going further, as the subsequent partitioning of the original TM disk will erase all data on that disk.
Then reformat your original TM disk to create multiple partitions. When the partitioning is complete, you can restore the TM backups from the temporary storage disk onto the new partition where you want TM to reside.
Finally, in System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk, select the new partition as TM's target. TM can then be turned back on.
Answer: I had the same issue, resolved with this steps, please refer attached image for more details.

Select the correct Volume/Disk
Select Erase
For me it was selected wrong Scheme Master Boot Record instead of GUID Partition Map.
Select the GUID Partition Map and Erase the Volume/Disk, it will enabled "Partition Option'


Freya Wingpanel taking a long time to load after update

Question: After a system update the indicators and the clock (wing panel) is taking a long time to appear, has anyone experienced something similar? Or know how to fix it?
Thank you
Comment: I'm having the same problem. How did you uninstall the parental control Plugin?
Comment: sudo apt-get purge switchboard-plug-parental-controls
Answer: I solved this problem by uninstalling the Parental Control plugin in System Settings:
sudo apt-get remove switchboard-plug-parental-controls

Not sure why.
Comment: Could you elaborate? What package is that?
Answer: Most likely the problem arises from the use of unstable repository ppa:elementary-os/daily. If you have no pressing need to use it, it is better to disable it. Install and use ppa-purge:
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:elementary-os/daily

Also, you can remove unneeded packages (this is not required, but the packages are not needed when using a stable repository):
sudo apt-get purge apport apport-gtk apport-hooks-elementary apport-symptoms elementary-os-prerelease elementaryos-report-problem-dockitem evolution-data-server-google2 evolution-data-server-outlook evolution-data-server-pantheon-online-accounts fonts-opendyslexic gsignond gsignond-extension-pantheon gsignond-plugin-lastfm gsignond-plugin-oauth libaccounts-glib0 libgsignon-glib1 libgsignond-common0 libpantheon-online-accounts0 pantheon-online-accounts-plugin-lastfm python3-apport python3-problem-report screenshot-tool switchboard-plug-a11y switchboard-plug-mouse-touchpad switchboard-plug-networking switchboard-plug-parental-controls

Then reboot.
In order to avoid problems, before you perform these commands, I recommend to use TimeShift.


How can I get Cask or Pallet to automatically install packages on startup?

Question: I manage packages in Emacs using Cask and Pallet.  Yesterday I upgraded to Emacs 24.4; it went well enough, but all of a sudden all my packages were missing.  Cask installs packages in separate directories by Emacs version, so everything was in .cask/24.3.1; there was nothing in .cask/24.4.1, and in fact the directory didn't exist.  Once I figured this out, I was able to run cask and install everything again -- but is there a way to make this happpen automagically, from within Emacs itself, when upgrading?
Comment: Is there an advantage of using Cask+Pallet instead of plain `packages-install`?  I have all my packages installed automatically with `packages-install`, see https://github.com/rekado/.emacs.d/blob/master/lisp/init-package.el .
Comment: Cask is an external program that you have to run independently of Emacs. You could create a script file which runs `cask` on every startup.
Comment: @rekado I think some people don't want to install/update packages every time they start emacs, and they don't want to manually upgrade every individual package either. Cask is also good for managing dependencies when you write your own packages.
Comment: cask and pallet can be called from Emacs, but you have a bit of a bootstrap issue if you setup Cask in the recommended way to load from ~/.emacs.d/.cask/emacs-version. Could you maybe install Pallet at every startup using the default package.el method and run pallet-install? Then Pallet would be in ~/.emacs.d/elpa as usual (and discoverable by default after an Emacs upgrade) and Pallet would do the rest.
Answer: Without using cask or pallet, you can achieve this with code such as the following:
(setq package-user-dir (expand-file-name (concat "elpa/" emacs-version) user-emacs-directory))
(setq package-enable-at-startup nil)
(package-initialize)

(defun require-package (package &optional min-version no-refresh)
  "Install given PACKAGE, optionally requiring MIN-VERSION.
If NO-REFRESH is non-nil, the available package lists will not be
re-downloaded in order to locate PACKAGE."
  (if (package-installed-p package min-version)
      t
    (if (or (assoc package package-archive-contents) no-refresh)
        (package-install package)
      (progn
        (package-refresh-contents)
        (require-package package min-version t)))))

Then you can sprinkle (require-package ...) calls throughout your config:
(require-package 'flycheck)

The packages will be installed into a version-specific package directory at startup, unless they're already there. (Disclaimer: I haven't tried the modification to package-user-dir above, so YMMV.)
This won't "lock" package versions, but I don't personally care about that. To upgrade packages, you'd go through the usual M-x package-list-packages procedure.


Can tribal nations initiate gambling between states or are they subject to the same rules as everyone else?

Question: As I understand it, gambling in the U.S. is only illegal if it takes place between states. However, the large, Native American owned casinos permitted by states through due to the 1987 ruling of California v. the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians draw in people from many different states at a time. I am wondering if this is permitted because these casinos are constructed within the sovereign territory of tribal nations within states, or, if it is because that ruling itself loosened regulations for all gaming institutions, Native or not.
Comment: I don't know what you mean by "between states" and honestly have a hard time trying to figure out what you are asking at all.
Answer: The two general federal restrictions on gambling are in 18 USC ch. 50, against off-shore gambling ships, and wire communication for transmitting information that assists interstate / international gambling on sporting events and competitions. Interstate lotteries are legal and internet sales of lottery tickets is legal (until Congress or SCOTUS says otherwise). These laws have the usual commerce clause justificational language.
In addition, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act says that you can't use the internet to engage in otherwise-illegal gambling, so if your state prohibits lotteries or bingo, you can't use the internet to gamble (in-state or across state/tribal lines). The definitions section (31 USC 5362(10)(C)) narrows the term "unlawful Internet gambling" so that an online wager is legal if made exclusively within or between the land of one or more tribes, and follows applicable Indian gaming regulations, see below.
Gambling on tribal land is covered by 25 USC ch. 29 which was passed in response to California v. the Cabazon, and there are three classes of gambling. Traditional and social games with minimal reward are unrestricted; bingo, cards (not games where you play against "the house") and other stuff is class II which requires tribal approval etc. The broader 3rd class requires a compact to be negotiated between the state in which the venue is located and the tribe. Section 2710(d) address the most stringent (and most generally-relevant) restrictions. The federal "take" on these matters is mediated via the Indian Gaming Commission under Interior (and not, for example, the DOJ), and 2 of the 3 commisioners must be registered tribe members. The law is framed in terms of location on tribal land which is "within the reservation" or "on tribal trust land", thus an operation owned by a tribe but located on other land is not covered by this act (and would be covered by the relevant state law).
No specific law is required to permit anything pertaining to gambling, instead a specific law would be necessary to prohibit it. The federal government prohibits very little, leaving that to the states. A state has authority to regulate gambling, but it has no authority to regulate gambling on tribal land, unless Congress gives it such authority (and Congress has not). The Indian Gaming Commission has (apparently) not issued any general regulations to the effect that a casino must disallow out-of-state gamblers or anything to that effect, although it might technically have the authority to do so. If home-to-casino internet gambling is legal in your state, then home-to-tribal-casino internet gambling is legal.
Answer: So from what I've seen, the United States at the Federal level bans interstate gambling because it is under the interstate commerce clause.  This presumably would include Native American territories as they are still under Federal Law.  Anyone may gamble at a casino in State A regardless of citizenship within that State.  You may not gamble with a casino in State A if you are physically in State B.
It should also be noted that not all States allow for casinos in reservation lands.


Are some drill bits better for mechanical (metal) work than others?

Question: I am looking to buy a set of high quality metal drill bits.  Usually, drill bits out there on the market are not classified for metal vs. wood and other softer materials.  Are some drill bits better for automotive work and metal applications than others?
Answer: Look at the below image of three drill bits. The one on the left is a masonry/concrete bit. The one in the middle is a steel bit. The one on the right is a wood/plastic bit.
The masonry bit is used along with a hammer action to chip a hole, rather than cutting. The steel bit was designed to shave away layers of metal. The wood bit does much the same as the steel bit, but the sharp tip first anchors the bit, followed by the forward-swept ears cutting a circle around the edge before shaving away the wood/plastic.
There are various fancy-looking bits out there, but the trick is still to look at the very tip to discern what it's meant to accomplish. Concrete will always need to be chipped away, steel and wood will need to be shaved. Wood needs a pilot tip to prevent following the grain.


Does the baker, endorser and accuser have to run next to the same node?

Question: I have 4 nodes running, all using the same remote signer. In this type of setup, can the baker, endorser and accuser run on either node? Or do they manipulate some local state so they have to group together on the same node?
Comment: Additional details is available on the baking slack at https://tezos-baking.slack.com/archives/CC4FD2HUY/p1550653675317700
Answer: The endorser and accuser don't need to run on the same system as a node. They can run on a completely separate system, or on the same system (your choice), and only require communication with the Tezos node over RPC (to port 8732 by default).
The baker, however, does require local access to the data files that the node creates. The Tezos blockchain data is stored in an LMDB database, and the baker requires access to these files while it is operating, so the baker should be running on the same system as the Tezos node, and you start the baker by running a command similar to tezos-baker-003-PsddFKi3 run with local node ~/.tezos-node. This points the baker at the same LMDB database that the Tezos node is using.
While having the baker require a local node is not ideal, the good news is that you can run your endorser on a separate system, or pointing at a separate node, which should allow you to take downtime on your baker (during software upgrades or OS patches) without missing endorsements.
Comment: Does the baker process still communicate over RPC with the (local) tezos node while baking? Is the local access to the data file read only, so it could be on a distributed file system for example?


Why is law of mass action only applicable for elementary reaction?

Question: Why can't we apply law of mass action for non-elementary reaction? Why does is vary with the rate law in case of non-elementary reactions?
Answer: The Law of Mass action states:
The rate of a reaction is directly proportional to the concentration of reactants raised to powers equal to their stoichometric coefficients
This is only valid for elementary reactions since they happen in a single step. As a result, such simple relations hold good.
But what about the more complicated ones. Certain reactions, like the oxidation of ethylbenzene to benzoic acid using hot $\ce{KMnO4}$ don't happen in a single magical step. They involve lots of reactive intermediates and transition states, so it's basically a bunch of several elementary reactions. You can't consider the whole reaction as an elementary reaction.
But you can formulate a rate equation for non elementary reactions by considering them as a bunch of elementary ones. However such formulations involve knowing the mechanism of the reaction in question, along with other data.
Comment: @Hisab For example, consider an arbitrary reaction: $$\ce{A + 2B -> C}$$ If this was a single step reaction, a molecule of $\ce{A}$ and two molecules of $\ce{B}$ should simultaneously collide and form $\ce{C}$. The concentration of $\ce{B}$ is more important than $\ce{A}$ (since two of it are needed in a single collision), and hence the $^2$ is attributed to it. For other single step reactions this isn't the case, not all reactants collide simultaneously.
Comment: //This is only valid for elementary reactions since they happen in a single step. As a result, such simple relations hold good.// Why does such simple relations hold good only when a reaction happens in a single step? Why is the 'single step' so necessary for this law?
Answer: If I ever knew why the tLoMA held for elementary reactions, I've forgotten. I can, however, give an example of a situation applicable to your question illustrating why it doesn't necessarily hold for complex reaction systems. Consider the two elementary reactions A+B→ C+D and A+C→E  the first thing I'd ask you to do is express the equation for the total equilibrium constant. The second thing I'd ask you to consider is if the first reaction had an extremely high rate and the second had an extremely low one (on the order of years-1). The overall reaction will be dependent almost exclusively (except for the very very start) on the rate of the second reaction, tLoMA will (and must) fail.


2012 Ford Escape with Flex Fuel capabilities

Question: Can Regular gas (not containing ethanol) be used in a 2012 Ford Escape with Flex Fuel capabilities?
Comment: Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair!
Answer: In a word: Absolutely.
There's no reason not to be able to use full fledged petrol. In order to be flex fuel capable, it has to know how much ethanol is in the system and adjust accordingly. It will know you have little to no ethanol in the system, which will allow it to make the changes to keep it running right.


How do I blend colors in photoshop?

Question: I'm trying to figure out how to perfectly blend color layers in photoshop. I want to blend the layers while maintaining the original saturation. The closest I've been able to get is by altering the opacity (shown below). When I do this, however, the image (magenta layer @ 50%) loses its saturation and looks faded compared with the 100% opacity yellow layer. This makes the red section where they blend look similarly faded. Is there a way to blend (100%) without sacrificing the saturation of the original image?
Comment: Hi Ian, welcome to GDSE and thanks for your question. If you want to know more about Stack Exchange in general or this site in particular, please see the [tour](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/tour) and the [help] or ping one of us in the [chat] once your reputation is sufficient (20). Keep contributing and enjoy the site!
Answer: Set the blend mode of the magenta layer from 'Normal' to 'Multiply' and its opacity back to 100%. This will cause the colour values of both layers to be added together, resulting in a bright red. You can find blend modes in the Layers palette, right next to the Opacity.
Do note that blend modes work differently depending on your document's colour mode (Image > Mode...). You will achieve the desired result in RGB mode, but CMYK may differ greatly.
Answer: Another method that may be of interest to more advanced users would be through channel activation/de-activation.
In CMYK if you have a layer 100% Yellow and another layer 100% Magenta on top of it you could go into the Blending options of the Magenta layer and deactivate the Yellow Channel for perfect mixing.

Likewise if the Yellow was on top you could turn off the Magenta channel from that one.
It will depend on the exact use case to determine if its better to use Multiply or Channels in any specific situation so its good to know both tools are available to you.
Answer: Changing the blend option of the top layer to Multiply

How do I blend colors in photoshop?


Why must the rate of GDP growth be positive?

Question: There are always expectations that GDP should be growing at a certain rate. This is what I see in the newspapers. I am not an economics major and this is a very basic student question. After adjusting for level of prices, meaning that forget about inflation and price related issues, it is expected to grow at say $2\%$. Why is this a case and what should it be driven by? Assume there is an economy that only produces apples, for simplicity. So, it is expected to make $2\%$ more apples every year? So the growth would be driven by the larger amount of goods produced? Why is this economy expected to make more apples every year?
Comment: What you've asked could be a little ambiguous. Does emeryvile's answer address the question you intended to ask? Or are you asking why it's considered to be a good thing that GDP increases?
Comment: @denesp You are right that I didn't provide sufficient argument to connect those two statements - CAMELS post seems to say what I wanted to say but better (Though I'm confused about what he's arguing...). And Fredy Perlman takes a few hundred pages to build a good argument if you are interested
Comment: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is so unclear that it is starting to attract pseudo-economic political answers.
Comment: @denesp Questioning a major point of contention in capitalism does not make it "pseudo-economic": Whether or not infinite growth is necessary or harmful is certainly questionable. Furthermore while the question could use some more focus, there are meaningful answers from multiple viewpoints below.
Comment: @popctrl Considering that I am honestly not sure about the real question, I don't know how the answers can be meaningful. Yes, they may be meaningful answers to some question. But I don't always know what that is, and I am not sure it is always economics based. And like most economists, I am not an unconditional fan of capitalism. Questioning one of its assumptions in a precise intelligent way would be most welcome here.
Comment: GDP per capita growth does not have to be positive.  [Angus Maddison](http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/oriindex.htm) calculated that worldwide it fell between 1AD and 1000AD, and that its average growth rate from 1000AD to 1820AD was less than $0.05\%$ a year.  Those were not particularly happy times for most of the population.
Comment: Perhaps this is unrelated, but in [Against His-story, Against Leviathan](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/fredy-perlman-against-his-story-against-leviathan) a major premise is that Civilization is founded upon infinite growth, which is unsustainable and (In Fredy's words) insane. So while it's not really a law, it's easy to see that when growth fails, things crumble.
Comment: @popctrl I fail to see the connection between your second and first sentence. In the first you claim that civilization being contingent on infinite growth is a premise, in the second you claim that this is easy to see. It cannot be that easy, for example I don't see it.
Comment: @denesp I agree that the question needs to be clearer. I think it's trying to use a scenario to ask the question: "Assuming there is a general goal of constant positive growth, how should that growth take form? Is the expectation growth in physical output, or is it something else?" I think that is tractable, with a lot of room for discussion in the implications of the answer AKA what should the growth look like.
Comment: @popctrl: I added an additional description but I think you got me right. Basically I am not clear if the assumption of growth is an expectation or a desirable assumption? Why is this something economists like/expect to have?
Comment: Does it really make sense to relate "production growth" and "GDP growth"? GDP is a value measured in money - so how does it relate to an increase in production, if you don't also increase the amount of money in the economy? Am I missing something obvious?
Answer: You would expect the rate of growth to be generally positive because inventing things or inventing more efficient ways of doing things, is generally a one way process - things don't get un-invented. So we would expect things that are made by machines to be made ever more quickly as the machines evolve and improve. Periods of negative growth are likely to correspond to some financial cock-up (e.g. asset bubbles) or increasing scarcity of some natural resources for which a replacement can not be found.
Comment: Depends on the time span you are looking at. The western world has experienced loss of technology moving from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Also, abandoned technologies tend to get forgotten. Imagine that all electricity comes from nuclear power plants for some decades, and then after some catastrophic accidents a nation decides to abandon it, for sociopolitical reasons. It will have to revert to, say, coal-fueled electricity production, and it is not at all certain that after this elapse of time the nation will have immediately the know how to do it efficiently.
Comment: @AlecosPapadopoulos what you are pointing too is a very rare case if compared to inventing and going forward. Such minimal case should not affect the expected positive GDP growth.
Answer: There is no expectation to "make more every year". There is no economic law such
as GDP must grow every year. Negative growth will lead to a contraction in a country's economy, and a decrease in its gross domestic product (GDP).
According to the Department of Labor, US GDP contracted by 5.1% from February 2008 to February 2010 making the Great Recession the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Check the NBER's page on US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions and the Wikipedia's List of countries by real GDP growth rate, where you will find evidence that some countries are still contracting today.
Answer: Let's imagine you live in this mythical land where people need only apples to survive and live secure, healthy, fulfilling lives.  You would be right to say that there is no iron law that such an economy will realize 2% real annual growth per year.  However let's draw out your metaphor to understand why a positive real growth rate is ultimately a good thing, why ultra-fast rates of growth tend to produce dramatic social change, and why it is nearly impossible to invest in an economy with an overall negative growth rate.
You own an apple orchard.  Since you're like every other poor bozo who didn't inherit money, you bought the orchard on credit from a bank that lent you funds at a rate of interest that not only takes into account the real growth rate, but the inflation rate and the cost of risk that you go bust and cease making mortgage payments.
If you don't produce enough apples to pay for your input costs (e.g., fertilizer, pesticide, labor to pick the apples), you won't be able to make payments on your mortgage and the bank will come and seize your orchard.  So, you buy crop insurance just in case you have a bad harvest.  Your insurance company, realizing that it shares an incentive with you and your bank to reduce the likelihood of a bad crop year, sends you apple trade journals to help you determine how best to fertilize your crops, plant seeds, and manage weather events.
These journals also advertise the latest and greatest machines to help you pick apples with ever lower amounts of labor.  That is, they reduce your input costs.  So, you go out and sign a two-year lease expecting that in another two years, technological innovation will have driven down the cost of the machines, or have increased their productivity.
With ever faster machines and crop insurance, you produce more and more apples each year with less variation in total output.  You lobby the government to help you find an export market for your apples, since you (and everyone else in this ridiculous example) produce more apples than is necessary to meet domestic demand.  The government gets the message, liberalizes trade with a country that produces mostly oranges, and your diet improves as you sell more apples.  The workers that you laid off from your orchard over the years retrain to become bankers who manage your trade finance and distributors who ensure your apples get to ever more distant markets.
To summarize, you adopted new technology and methods of risk reduction to ensure a stable growth rate in orchard profits.  Your government encouraged you to continue expanding your business by helping you find opportunities to sell to foreign buyers who love your apples.  Like you, others adopted the same measures, so in aggregate, the growth rate remained positive and roughly in line with past years' growth rates.
Now imagine a shock to the system.  Say your insurance company faces massive losses due to major weather events brought about by climate change.  Your orchard, like so many others, is now under water at high tide, and your insurance premiums have increased.  The growth rate will decline.
Or say that your major trading partner decides that it wants to start growing apples because it has many more underemployed people than you have in your country.  It imposes high tariffs on your apples, and it carves out an entire section of its south sea in an aggressive attempt to slow shipments of your apples among its trade partners.
Or imagine that the pace of technological change has been so rapid that you've laid off more people from your orchard than can retrain.  They lack the income to buy a full day's meal of apples, so they receive food stamps that allow them to buy 1/4 the number of apples they need to live healthy lives.  Their children can barely focus at school because they don't receive lunch, and they become fat as they eat apple-tasting substitutes.  Because they aren't buying apples, your total apple sales decline.
These people, out of work for many years, become disillusioned with our economic system and vote for populists on both sides of the political spectrum who promise to break up and re-regulate banks despite comprehensive bank regulation overhaul many years earlier.
It's not a big deal that they want to re-regulate banks, however, because climate change, trade wars, and declining consumption have tempered your overall economic growth rate.  The real growth rate stands at -2%.  Your bank, recognizing it will likely make no money by extending new loans to people who want to buy orchards, decides to distribute all of its remaining capital to its already wealthy shareholders.  Income inequality skyrockets.
There are many factors that effect long term average growth rates, though none should be taken as axiomatic.  I hope this example suggests some reasons why growth rises and falls due to both economic and exogenous political and social factors.  It is meant to be relevant, not rigorous.
Comment: This answer is almost entirely off topic. While it discusses many factors relevant to GDP, it does not address how those factors affect the generally held expectation that GDP should grow every year. Furthermore, it discusses the issue in a politically charged way that does not seem appropriate for this Q&A site.
Comment: You seem to start by saying that 2% growth it a positive thing, but the rest of the post seems to point to its impossibility...What am I misinterpreting?
Comment: The example suggests that it's hard to maintain growth when _exogenous_ factors such as climate change, protectionism, and populism threaten to undermine the incentive structures and policies that drive that growth.  The example also suggests that we can ensure that those factors remain at bay through social spending, say on job training programs and nutritional assistance for students.
Comment: I believe this answer could be improved a lot if you simplified and explored what would happen if the country had a constant rate of apple production (i.e., zero GDP change), which would presumably be a bad thing according to the question. Right now, you show *why* the GDP could change, and in a roundabout way it says "if a catastrophe happens, the GDP shrinks, so a shrinking GDP rate is bad". If that is your intended answer, then it would help to highlight that at the beginning and leave the rest as a long example.
Answer:
"There are always expectations that GDP should be growing at a certain rate"

"Should" is the critical and revealing word here. @emeryville answer clarifies that there is no economic law that says that GDP does grow without interruption year after year.
From a "political economy" perspective though, we do want to see it growing year-after-year because we acknowledge that its current level, coupled with the observed income inequality, leaves too many people truly dissatisfied with their "standard of living". Increased output creates the opportunity to improve this situation without going into issues of income re-distribution that have proven to create social tensions, frictions and even clashes.
RESPONDING TO COMMENTS
I have written in a comment exchange that a constant GDP turns the situation into a zero-sum game, something that was challenged. First, I note that we are talking about production here, not assets/wealth. So we are looking at income streams. Also, this implies that we ignore exchanges with outside the economy. Finally, we consider prices as fixed, or we consider magnitudes in real terms. Then:
A) Constant GDP in levels
Here it is meaningfull to consider a constant population also, fixed at $N$. Then if $w_i$ is income of agent $i$, constant GDP in levels means
$$\sum_{i=1}^N w_{i,t+1} = \sum_{i=1}^N w_{i,t}$$
It is evident that if for some agent $j$ $w_{j,t+1} > w_{j,t}$, then for at least one other agent it must be the case that $w_{k,t+1} < w_{k,t}$ and at an amount equal to the increase in the income of the former, so as to maintain the equality of GDP in levels. So it is a zero-sum game.
B) Constant GDP per capita
Here we have
$$\frac 1 {N_{t+1}}\sum_{i=1}^{N_{t+1}} w_{i,t+1} = \frac 1 {N_{t}}\sum_{i=1}^{N_t} w_{i,t}$$
Denote $n$ the growth rate of population, and so the new comers are $nN_t$, and index them by $A$ (and the old timers by $B$) and use a bar for per capita magnitudes. Then we have
$$\sum_{i=1}^{N_{t+1}} w_{i,t+1} = (1+n)\sum_{i=1}^{N_t} w_{i,t}$$
$$\implies \sum_{j=1}^{nN_{t}} w_{j,t+1} + \sum_{i=1}^{N_{t}} w_{i,t+1} = \sum_{i=1}^{N_t} w_{i,t} + n\sum_{i=1}^{N_t} w_{i,t} $$
$$\implies nN_t \bar w_{A,t+1} + \sum_{i=1}^{N_{t}} w_{i,t+1} = \sum_{i=1}^{N_t} w_{i,t} + nN_t\bar w_{B,t} $$
$$\implies nN_t( \bar w_{A,t+1} -\bar w_{B,t}) + \sum_{i=1}^{N_{t}} w_{i,t+1} = \sum_{i=1}^{N_t} w_{i,t} $$
Now assume that for some oldtimer, we have $w_{i,t+1} > w_{i,t}$ and we are told that all other oldtimers had the same income in the two periods. Then necessarily it must be the case that
$$\bar w_{A,t+1} < \bar w_{B,t}$$
meaning that the newcomers on average had in $t+1$ lower income than the oldtimers had in $t$. Here it is in this sense that it is a zero-sum game, between the oldtimers and the newcomers.
If it is the case that $$\bar w_{A,t+1} = \bar w_{B,t}$$ then there must be another oldtimer that experienced lower income in $t+1$ compared to $t$, and so again we have a zero-sum game, here between the oldtimers. Etc
Comment: @Medan It would cause _social pressure_ for redistribution, there is nothing "inherent" in a constant-GDP situation that would lead to redistribution in itself. And how can it be possible that constant GDP means that on average "business keep doing better" - on the contrary it means that on average "business keep doing the same" (bar capital concentration and a lowering of the number of businesses).
Comment: @AlecosPapadopoulos If GDP was somehow forced to be constant then that would make it zero-sum, but if GDP "just happened to be" constant, then there's no guarantee that you being worse off would've made someone else better off. Maybe GDP would've decreased if you hadn't made yourself better off.
Comment: why would constant GDP cause income re-distribution? Basically it assumes that on average all the businesses in the country should do better year after year? Why constant is bad? Because if I start making changes how my business operates I might cause to produce less goods of whatever I am doing. Technology is always likely to help but other factors as politics can make it worse...
Comment: @Medan Practically constant GDP (I guess we are talking in per capita magnitudes here), would turn the economy into a zero-sum game. If I do better, it must be the case that someone else is doing worse. If you have in mind the GDP level, then constant GDP with growing population means a diminishing GDP per capita -see this question, http://economics.stackexchange.com/q/9936/61,  for a recent real world case of diminishing per capita GDP
Comment: @immibis Response was long so I included in my answer instead.
Comment: @AlecosPapadopoulos As I said, a *fixed* GDP ("somehow forced to be constant") causes it to be zero-sum game, but simply the fact that the GDP didn't change doesn't mean it's a zero-sum game. (It means the game was zero-sum this time, but only by coincidence, any tiny perturbation could've made it increase or decrease)
Comment: @immibis Certainly, but if it is ex post a zero-sum game, it was a zero-sum game. If we want to discuss "social strategy" ("forced/deliberately attempted to be constant") -and a discussion in favor of constant GDP per capita as a sustainability issue does exist, then we should point out that then we would essentially attempt to make GDP a repeated game whose stage game would be zero-sum.
Comment: @AlecosPapadopoulos A zero-sum game usually implies a situation in which if one person gains \$X, another person *must lose* \$X (or X points, or X widgets), and therefore if you had gained \$1 more, someone else would've had to lose \$1 more. This is not the case if the GDP growth is $0, because if you had gained \$1 more, GDP growth would've been \$1. (Or \$0.2 or -\$0.2 or whatever, but there's no reason it should be zero)
Comment: @immibis I am missing something here. Certainly the economy's "a priori" structure is _not_ a zero sum game, if this is what you are trying to clarify with me. But I am discussing the case "what if we are observing zero growth?" Then we can say that whatever improvements in income were experienced by some, they must have been counterbalanced by income reductions of others.
Comment: @AlecosPapadopoulos We can say that the improvements experienced by some *were* counterbalanced by reductions of others. We can't say that, *hypothetically, if you had* done better than you actually did, someone else would've done worse than they actually did.
Comment: @immibis Indeed we can't. So?
Comment: But in reality a drop of GDP growth rate from say 7% to 4% will probably be felt as nothing short of a mini recession, even though there's still 4% more output and everyone is supposed to be wealthier and happier than they were last year (assuming small population growth rate). It seems a decrease in the growth rate itself will have important consequences, even though the per capita GDP increases. I don't know why.
Comment: @Eric I would say, since the economy is not under anyone's control, any sign of slowing growth generates fears of _further_ growth slowing, which in turn, projected further in the future, leads to worries for an eventual output contraction.
Answer: GDP (Expansion and/or Productivity) must always average out to at least the rate of population growth. Population growth tends to be positive (Not always like in modern Japan), so GDP should then be positive if living standards are to be maintained in the long term.
That is: If a population is growing at 3% a year--doubling every 24 years--then so must GDP average 3% growth and also double in 24 years. Otherwise reduced living standards are the result--more people chasing the same amount of goods and services.
Imagine an isolated island nation that grows its own food and has a 3% population growth rate. In 24 years they better have either increased the amount of land in production, boosted farm productivity, or both, if all are to consume the same level of calories as in prior years.
Answer: The expectation that an economy's GDP should grow every year is largely an extension of humans' general desire to consume more goods and services. When individuals become more productive (get a raise, grow a family business, etc.), quite frequently they choose to consume more goods and services or invest more rather than cutting back their personal production and enjoying more leisure time. This is not universally true. In fact working hours have generally decreased. But on aggregate, decreases in working hours have not kept paced with productivity gains.
There are also demographic factors.

Any factor that increase population such as immigration or children creates more desire for consumption. With more people desiring to produce, the expectation that GDP should grow is clear--though this does not directly affect GDP per capita.
If you think about a typical person in a western country, productivity tends to increase over time. However, after retirement the desire for leisure time is deemed more valuable. Production decreases (or ceases). The consumption of goods and services often goes down too.

But it is entirely possible that this preference will (in the aggregate) change at some point. Some advocate for such change using the terms minimalism or simple living; there is much variety in how the idea is promoted. If a large number of people prefer to consume less, or simply consume the same while their productivity increases, then we might not expect growth in GDP (per capita).
Similarly, if the population ceases to grow, we may expect to see lower GDP, though perhaps not lower GDP per capita.


How to fix Nikon D40x shutter not re-arming?

Question: When I try to take photos I hear a strange shutter sound and I get the message 'Error: Press shutter release button again'. When I remove the lens I can see that the mirror is raised and the shutter is closed, covering the sensor. When I press the button again the mirror lowers and the error message goes away until I try to take another photo. I've tried opening the bottom and moving the red gear but it didn't help. The camera hasn't been used that much either. I also just discovered that the bottom half of the shutter never moves at all, does it being stuck have anything to do with the mirror not wanting to go back down after a shot?
Answer: If you have followed the procedure outlined in this video to free the red gear inside the bottom of your camera and it hasn't corrected the problem, it is probably time to write off your D40x. There are plenty of other places on the web that give slightly different variations of the same procedure. Some users have had success using mirror lockup or the manual cleaning setting (which locks up the mirror) to get the wheel to free up.
Sending it in for servicing will likely cost more than the camera is worth.


Neural network for detecting individual human face

Question: In past few weeks, I have learned a lot about Neural Networks. Now, I am looking forward to create a Neural Network program that can recognize individual human faces. I tried searching it online but was able to find only small pieces of information.
What are the steps for implementing such a program from scratch?
Comment: What exactly do you want? A program that tracks a human face OR a program that can detect a human face and the person that face belongs to?
Comment: I want exactly the second kind of program.
Answer: I am assuming that you are new to all this. You can start with making a basic human face detection. Train the program to detect a human face with very good accuracy. This will help you to get familiar with the coding ground related to image processing and basic machine learning.
After that train your program to identify faces of only 2-3 people. Trying for too many in the beginning won't be a good idea. Test your program's accuracy in different situation, with a different number of crowd, etc.
If it's working fine then you can train your program for more individuals. In addition to this leave room for learning from experience in your code. Some codes only learn once and they implement the same thing for their whole life. A nice example of this kind is OCR. If a face is detected wrongly OR your program detects a new face about which it doesn't know anything. Then you should be able to tell the program and it should include that in its database. I think some form of reinforcement learning will help. Not much sure about it though.
Now the Implementation
I will highly recommend you to learn python and get familiar with OpenCV. You can think of OpenCV as a collection of libraries. I find them very helpful for image processing and machine learning. Another good thing about it is that you can import OpenCV in python, Java or C++ according to your need.
OpenCV has an inbuilt function that allows it train a neural network for positive and negative images. The success of your program depend highly on your choice of positive and negative images, so choose them wisely. The result of the training is stored as a haar cascade file. This cascade file can be used in your program to use the trained data and function accordingly.
For basic human face detection, you can find the cascade file online and implement a code like this

face_cascade = cv2.CascadeClassifier('haarcascade_frontalface_default.xml');

For detecting individual faces you will need to make different classes. The number of classes will represent the number of individual faces you want to detect in the beginning.
You can find OpenCV tutorials here.
Answer: DLIB has AA-class face detector based on ResNet model.
Here is C++ example.
The accuracy is much better compared to HAAR/LBP but performance is worse (but much depends on parameters passed to HAAR/LBP detector)
The latest version of OpenCV also contains face detector based on ResNet model, but I did not try this.
Answer: If you want to implement recognition you've just to train a convnet or CNN on a lot of images in which there are faces, and then you classify it 1 if there are faces and 0 if there aren't. If you want to do detection you have to use different approaches like a cascade classifier whit CNN or an object detection network like YOLO or SSD.
Comment: Thanks for the information, my purpose is to find a particular face in images. Let's say i have a particular person's face image, i would like to achieve all the images with that face. What's the best way to face up the problem?


Does Taproot allow CoinJoin-style transactions without revealing all signers?

Question: Taproot allows to hide a script behind a transaction and only release the relevant information when the output is being spent. Would this allow for a construction of a script with N participants + initiator to generate a script where all N participants have to sign it and the initiator finally signs? Would the MAST reveal all other signers or just the initiator who finally signs the script and can proof that he followed its rules?
Comment: The question is a bit confusing. CoinJoin refers to having a transaction *with multiple inputs* where each input comes from a different participant. The rest of your question seems to be about a single input that multiple parties need to sign for. Which of the two is it? (in case of the first the answer is no, in case of the second the answer is yes with some caveats).
Comment: Possibly, but that's completely unrelated to Taproot/MAST, as those are things *inside* an individual output (and inputs that spend them), not across inputs.
Comment: @PieterWuille Thanks for your answer! It's kind of both, is it possible to collaborate for N participants to create a decentralised, trustless mixing of coins to increase privacy?
Comment: Thank you for clarification, @PieterWuille! I will have to look deeper into Schnorr & Taproot, but there is not much understandable literature out there yet...
Answer: As per my understanding what you are proposing can be achieved with Schnorr signatures, which will be implemented with Taproot. Since Schnorr signatures permit key aggregation, you can construct a single public key (threshold public key) from multiple participant public keys, which in your case is N + initiator. When spending you can just combine the signature from all the parties together (threshold signature) and spend it. The threshold public key and threshold signature are indistinguishable from their single-party equivalents. So for an outsider, it might be as though a single person signed it.
MAST is used to reveal only one spending condition while hiding others. For example, say you have a transactio which states that for first 100 days, you require N and initiator. From 100 to 200 days you require M of N and the initiator and after 200 days you only need the initiator. Currently when spending such transaction you need to reveal the entire spending script. With MAST you can consider each spending condition as a branch of the Merkle tree. When spending that output you just need to reveal the branch that you are spending thus allowing you to conceal the other branches from the public.


Using "Raspberry Pi" in titles (and questions)

Question: While it is not as much of a concern in the questions itself, it seems like it may be important to avoid putting "Raspberry Pi" in the title of questions due to repetition and congestion.  How can this be avoided?
Comment: I believe that there are several blocked words (like "help"). Couldn't we add "Raspberry Pi" (and its derivatives) to that list?
Answer: I would drop it altogether in titles. We can folow the precedent from Stack Overflow of not mentioning programming languages in titles unless necessary (there are usually tags for that).
Comment: I think marking this as an answer might be a bit premature. I suggest waiting until the community is more than an hour old at least :-P
Comment: If the device name is necessary in the title, I suggest we stick to "Raspberry Pi" for formality, rather than abbreviating.
Comment: I agree. This is just my opinion.
Comment: The programming languages vs. tags thing on Stack Overflow has gotten out of hand.  It hurts readability, hurts SEO (the vast majority of people get to SE sites from Google) and titles are titles for a reason - tags and titles are segregated in the interface with tags de-emphasised.
Answer: It seems to me that any form of "Raspberry Pi" on a site entirely dedicated to Raspberry Pi is a bit redundant. However on the occaisions where it aids clarity, then a sensible acronym or contraction seems appropriate. I've seen "RPi" used a bit already and it seems like a good compromise to me.
Comment: This is the "official" shorthand version of Raspberry Pi, although I can't find the page on the site which mentions it.
Comment: I suspect that it will be far more constructive to keep to one standard abbreviation (i.e. this one), than to try to ban them completely.
Answer: Re: this question;
Is it safe to operate on any dry surface?
I would think it'd be much more useful in terms of SEO to include the term 'a rasp pi' in the title rather than something along the lines of 'the device'. If anything the better change may be to extend the abbreviation to include the full 'raspberry' word.
Comment: Happy to change question title if someone can suggest a good alternative.
Answer: If an object or subject is required, and it does not hurt the clarity of the title or question, it may be better to say "the device."  The words "Raspberry Pi" should only appear in the title of a question where absolutely necessary for clarity.
It's important, especially early on, that the community makes sure to edit question titles to set a precedent for this practice.
Comment: I would drop it altogether in titles. We can folow the precedent from Stack Overflow of not mentioning programming languages in titles unless necessary (there are usually tags for that).
Comment: "The device" seems a bit clunky. RasPi? RP? Pi?
Comment: You should add this as an answer.
Comment: That still has the problem of being repetitive.  I think @Tibor's answer is a good one.
Comment: Will Search engines associate these Titles with Raspberry Pi? Are there meta tags or something to link all this together?
Answer: So I was just searching for something related after asking how seach engines ascociate titles and results..
Maybe the name in the domain is good enough.. and then it scans for matches within indexed titles. It is obvios here it matched
raspberrypi in the domain name and then also in the titles.. So the results are useless because directfb is last because raspberry was matched first based on the search text.
So should be make a definitive answer and rule that Raspberry Pi should be avoided as much as possible in titles. As the above answer was accepted.. but not confirmed in the community.
Answer: It seems that so far, there ARE a few questions where it makes sense to have Raspberry Pi in the title. (Ref: Where can I buy a Raspberry Pi?) but it does seem like it could get crowded quick without proper moderation. And I know the true "algorithm" to SEO is a mystery, but too much could seem like keyword flooding to an elementary crawler and potentially hurt the overall SEO of the site.
Answer: Completely agree with the others, it would be out of place to be discussing Windows or Beaglebone for example and so the fact the question is about the Raspberry Pi should be taken for granted.


What smart tvs will be compatible with Ubuntu tv?

Question: As I want to buy a new smart tv/ pc monitor soon, what should I purchase - or what tech criteria does it need to have - that will allow me to update the firmware (?) with Ubuntu tv software when it becomes available?
Answer: The current plan for Ubuntu TV is to target a 13.04 release. Ubuntu TV is just a different form factor of Ubuntu Unity, so any Ubuntu installation of 13.04 should be able to become a Ubuntu TV interface (and vice versa). To my knowledge (I don't work for Canonical), there aren't any TVs that will run Ubuntu TV that have been announced, and I think installing on current TVs is a bit of a pipe dream (it would require a fair bit of hacking skills to do so, and probably wouldn't run very well).
You could build a box (or buy a small form factor box) that you could plug into a TV via HDMI or similar. Although there is no reference platform, I'd recommend something with an Atom processor. Although it may work on ARM, it isn't planned to be optimized for it so I'm unsure how well it would run.
Comment: That's solved my confusion, understood. Thanks!


Why are ebooks priced lower than their physical counterparts?

Question: Was this some sort of marketing gimmick that companies employed to familiarize and promote ebooks to people?
Or are there other factors that result in this pricing?
Comment: I suspect this question was closed because it's really an economics question about digital distribution that would require a book-length answer.  You might be able narrow the question down a bit by doing some background research to the bigger question and focusing in on what makes ebook publishing unique from other digital distribution.
Comment: Yes this is too ambiguous. Becuase then you will have to explain agency agreements, country price points etc. Also some ebooks are actually more expensive!
Comment: There's too many possible factors involved in a response to the question as it is. If the question can be made more specific, an accurate response may be possible.
Answer: There are three main factors why the price can be lower. One is transportation costs. The second is the 'cutting out the middleman'. The third is the cost of producing the physical book.
The physical transport costs and the need for human handling fall away if a book is transferred electronically. This is both the case when buying in a bookstore or from an online shop.
Physical books often go through distributors to stores and smaller online retailers. Ebooks cut out these distribution channels and their profits. Some publishers even have their own ebook sites, eliminating the profits of the ebook stores as well.
I hope the diminished cost of not having to kill and process a tree to make an ebook is clear.
I actually assume (but have no proof) that electronic books are artificially expensive compared to their physical counterparts, based on the percentages of physical book prices I have heard that authors receive.
Comment: For a while ebooks were priced the same or even more than physical volumes.  Ultimately, the answer would require a fairly lengthy analysis of supply and demand.  The marginal cost of ebooks after the first is essentially nil, so the real driver of ebook prices is demand.  Online distributors of virtual goods such as Value's Steam, Apple's iTunes, and Amazon's Kindle stores take advantage of their pricing flexibility to experiment with various price in order to drive future demand.
Comment: I'm pretty sure that your last paragraph is correct. A proper publisher workflow should be able to churn out the ebook edition for almost zero additional cost when producing the print edition.
Comment: @Donald.McLean Another indication is what authors that (move to) self-publishing tend to ask. That is often much lower than via publishing houses (and I assume they set the price higher than what they would get through a publisher) BTW Thanks for the edit.
Comment: Excellent point about self-published authors. Hugh Howey, whose works have entered the mainstream, still has exclusive rights to sell the ebooks himself - at very reasonable prices.
Answer: There are lots of factors that influence a company's decision to make a ebook price lower.
The main reason would most likely be is an ebook doesn't require as much funds to produce as it does to produce a print book, thus resulting in the price being lower.
You could also say that since the demand is high and the quantity is very high (unlimited), this then results in the price being lower.


Is it possible to dismiss an objective that I no longer want to accomplish?

Question: In Tropico 4, I accepted several objectives but then discovered that once you have five unaccomplished objectives, you can't accept any more. Is it possible to dismiss an objective, once accepted?
Comment: Can't recall off the top of my head. Try left clicking the icon?
Answer: It is not possible, and for a good reason. Several assignments offer a bonus up-front (like money or free blue prints). If you could just take an unlimited number of assignments, you could gather all bonuses without even intending to actually work on them.
Instead, the game forces you to decide what you actually want to accomplish. It would be great to get 5000$ for exporting 300 cars, but right now you're really struggling just to not have your citizens starve - so don't accept it. Or do accept it, intentionally agreeing to be bound to the contract even if it will take a long time to fulfill, and potentially prevents you from accepting other tasks later.
In the campaign, 1 or 2 tasks are often fixed and mandatory, though sometimes you can decide when to start them. It may be wise to accept them later, when you're ready.
Despite all this, the fact that elections and rebel attacks are mandatory, too, is a design choice I would personally consider at least somewhat questionable.
Comment: but... but... in *real* politics we have grand press conferences to announce our wonderful plans and never need to actually **do** any of that stuff! ;-)
Answer: Unfortunately, no.
This means that you can wind up having to decline interesting assignments later on because you still have the ones you accepted earlier stuck in your 'quest log'.
Especially irritating is that both rebel attacks and the election count as quests towards this total (and will be assigned whether you want to or not).
Answer: Correction!!!Yes...PS4 version press R3 on pause menu and the R1 to choose objective then your on your way to a new objective


How do I choose a good tiller (cultivator) for a 1000 sq. ft. garden?

Question: I'm getting ready to till about 1,000 square feet, but the problem is I have no experience buying tillers. However, I don't know much about buying them. What should one look for in a garden tiller that's appropriate for the size of my garden?
Answer: It depends on how you plan to use it. Are you going to till every spring? fall? Are you going to use it for cultivation (weed control) of paths? What's your soil like? Are you going to use it to incorporate soil amendments? green manures?
Where I'm coming from:

I use a ~35 year old (hand-me-down) tiller to maintain about 3000 sqft of vegetable garden, and a handful of smaller flower gardens.
A couple of years ago I borrowed a brand-new tiller to work one of the flower gardens (to compare performance to my old clunker).
I primarily use the tiller for breaking in new beds -- it hardly sees any use in mature planting areas.
In mature gardens, I manually work in amendments in the spring with a fork -- it takes less time and effort than using a tiller would.
We have very rocky soil (it would be more accurate to describe it as "gravel with a little dirt").

Given this, my perspective on what to look for:

rear tines (mine is front, and it's much harder to control, much more effort)
self-propelled (mine is not, and again it's hard work to shove it around the planting area)
a reverser (without this, when rocks get stuck in the tines, you have to shut off the machine and bang them out with a hammer; you may not care if you don't have rocks)
4-cycle engine (more power and IMO easier to maintain)
get a heavy machine (I haven't used the little 2-cycle machines, but I can't see how they can possibly break up heavy soil to any depth. When prepping new beds in my garden they'd just bounce around on the rocks.)

If you just want a tiller for cultivation / weed control, you might look at some of the inexpensive little 2-cycle machines that puree the top inch or two of soil.
Finally, the reason I'm using such an old beast of a machine is that I can't justify the expense of a new one. As Mike Perry mentioned in his answer, definitely consider renting. In a normal year I use mine maybe 10 hours; most of that work would be done in a day or weekend. At around $1000 new, over the next decade I'd be better off renting a machine for $100 each spring (and not having to bother with storage and maintenance). Of course, your other alternative is to look for a used machine -- especially if you are handy with maintenance, you may be able to find a good deal on something that just needs belts and a spark plug.
Comment: Great answer and even answered some questions I had locked away mentally. I'm in Galveston County, TX and we have very hard soil, so I'd assume that I needed something very heavy. Thanks for the tips.
Comment: @Robert: I'm in the "Granite State"... hard "soil" by definition!
Answer: I own a pretty large tiller.  The next step up would be a garden tractor with an attachment.  Until my wife started farming on large property we really didn't use it that much.  One thing to consider in the equation is the maintenance costs.  If you hardly use it it might not be cost effective.  A neglected machine is a maintenance issue.
Renting is a good idea until you discover that you are going to use it more than once or twice per year.  Or better yet, become friends with someone you can borrow from.
For your size plot you will want one of the big rigs.  Forget the little ones - you definitely need self-propelled with rear tines.
Comment: @Tim thanks for the advice. I do think I'll be using it more than once or twice per year which is why I originally decided that I wasn't going to rent. Renting with a U-Haul to carry from the store is going to cost me more than just buying (over time at least).
Comment: Got it - then certainly go buy one.  take your time - might be worth it to buy a used one.  I have the Troybuilt "Horse" model.  It would work fine for the size of garden you are talking about.   You might also take a look at something like a cub or bolens lawn tractor with a PTO for a tiller.
Answer: Another thing to consider is the fact that your garden might eventually contain strawberries, horseradish, garlic, kale, onions, asparagus etc... some things you might want to keep from year to year.
This will reduce the tillable area in your garden by quite a bit.
Also, in the spring, you might wind up with parts of your garden that are too wet to till and parts of your garden that don't even need all that much tilling.
For all this and more, a gas powered mantis sort of gizmo is the best option in my opinion. Even if you get a big tiller down the road, you'll still be able to use the mantis to work up the bed after your spring crops.
In your smallish garden, you're probably not going to leave enough room between rows to run a big tiller, so you'll at most get one use out of a big expensive thing in your garage.
Answer: Some things to consider and questions to ask yourself before spending your money on such a piece of motorised gardening equipment:

How often will you really use this motorised tiller?
Do you really need a motorised tiller for such a small area, 1,000ft² (93m²)?
If you do need a motorised tiller, it might be easier and cheaper just to hire from a local tool hire shop when needed.

Comment by Robert: I've thought about renting, but I wasn't for certain if it was worth it if I decided to expand (I've got a lot more land). For a trial run, I'm seriously considering renting.

Renting might be worthwhile (make a little more sense) for the first time or two, just to see how you get on, especially for such a small (experiment) area.
But if you have "a lot of land" and discover you have a real need for a motorised tiller, then buying one is probably the right way to go.
Comment: I've thought about renting, but I wasn't for certain if it was worth it if I decided to expand (I've got a lot more land). For a trial run, I'm seriously considering renting. Thanks.
Answer: My in-laws got me this little battery powered roto tiller and I have been pleased with it, but I only have about 400 sq ft and sandy, easily broken up soil.  Given that environment though, it easily works in my compost, and doesn't ever need oil cleaned off or changed, spark plugs changed, and a constant supply of fresh gas, not to mention the noise.  You can probably get away with it for a 1000 sq ft garden if you have loose soil, but any more space or harder soils and you might want a gas powered unit.
Comment: I'm being picky I guess, but that's not actually a *rototiller*. It's a *cultivator*. The specs on the web page say it has a maximum tilling depth of 4", which is inadequate for preparing new beds. It probably does a nice job of weeding and shallow incorporation of amendments, but the OP has heavy soil and ideas of expanding his garden in the future. This little device will be frustrating to use at best.
Comment: Ahh, I see.  I suppose I did just use a shovel to dig up the garden initially do a depth of about 6-8", then got the cultivator to mix in compost.
Comment: Sounds like a good strategy. I do a fair amount of digging in my garden too -- when it's time to pick rocks, the tiller doesn't help much...
Answer: For a big piece of land you'll want to go for a rear tine tiller. There are two main reasons for this:
1 - A rear tine tiller will pull itself along so you won't need to push it.
2 - A rear tine tiller will power through roots and tough clay soil (assuming that's the kind of soil you're dealing with).
The width of the tiller is going to determine how easily you'll be able to turn it. A wide tiller will cover more ground but will be more difficult to maneuvre when it's time to turn around for the back stretch.
If you want one that's easy to turn then you could spend a little more and get a tiller that allows for independant breaking.
There are some good options here: https://www.knowitalllearning.com/rear-tine-tiller/


Is eliyahu hanuvy real?

Question: Is eliyahu hanuvy real? is he really coming by shfoch chamoschu or it's just the Jewish version of  Santa Claus?
Comment: Welcome to Mi Yodeya Avraham. :-) Eliyahu Hanavi is a real historical person in Jewish history. Any customary belief about him visiting thousands of years after he left the world, by the seder, a bris, etc. would usually be considered a spiritual visit. Physical manifestations of departed people are considered very rare.
Comment: Re "Santa Claus" comparison - I infer you are essentially stating that we're "talking" to an "imaginary" person. That type of action is a somewhat common part of not just every religion, but, humanity. Undoubtedly, you would find various situations where people talk or do some action pretending that a person is there.
Comment: I do not think Elijah will come. He is dead.  However, he is real because he is alive somewhere else. Some people may call this heaven. But the myth that he will return was taken from Christianity, who says Jesus will return.
Answer: Eliyahu Hanavi was certainly a real person, and is mentioned in Tanach a number of times.  See his Wikipedia page for more details.
There appear to be a number of reasons why the door is opened at this point in the Seder, and many of them are unrelated to Eliyahu Hanavi.  See the answer to my question here.  Certainly there is no need to believe that the door is opened (or that the extra cup is poured) for Eliyahu to physically enter (and drink).
(There are some who do believe/understand that Eliyahu Hanavi appears at the Seder in some spiritual form (see here).  While there are certainly some elements of similarity to "Santa", there is probably Kabbalah/Jewish mysticism behind this that I do not understand, and I would not lightly discard it without understanding th entire background first.)
Answer: My grandfather related from his father this explanation (a somewhat similar explanation is given in Taamei Minhagim) In past times Jews frequently suffered from blood libels in which it was alleged that they used the blood of a Christian boy for the wine at the Passoer Seder. When the gentile police (or mob) would show up at the door demanding to taste the wine, the children would be understandably scared. The parents would comfort the children by telling them "Don't worry zeiskeit, its Eliyahu Hanavi".
Comment: If you will down vote, can you explain why?
Comment: It's probably because it doesn't answer the question, "Is Eliyahu HaNavi real?" It does offer some interesting insight to the old minhag. (Btw I didn't downvote.)
Comment: It Wasn't me :-
Comment: Does it need to be spelled out?
Comment: I didn't downvote. But, I agree that the way this is phrased, it seems like a story that relates the reason for why we open the door. It does not answer whether Eliyahu was a real person. The last sentence implies something the parents said to comfort the children, but, if the kids were smart, perhaps they would question, even then who the man really was and discover that their parents were lying.
Answer: Taken from the following link: Eliyahu Hanavi

Few nevi'im (prophets) are as well known as Eliyahu HaNavi. He is a
  figure not only of the past, but also of the present and future.
Even after ascending to heaven, he continues to advocate on behalf of
  his nation. A seat of honor is set for him at every bris milah and a
  cup named for him is poured at the Seder. He will be Hashem's
  messenger to herald the coming of Mashiach.
All this is true, but it is not nearly a complete picture of the
  prophet whose exploits are spread over seven chapters of the Book of
  Kings. With incredible courage he opposed the evil King Achav and his
  villainous Queen Izevel. Achav flooded the Ten Tribes of Israel with
  Idolatry and Izevel ordered the slaughter of every prophet of Hashem,
  and would have done the same to Eliyahu had Hashem not carried him to
  safety. Though Eliyahu sharply admonished Israel for its sins, his
  love for them was as great as his anger, and he helped them whenever
  he could. In one of the most inspiring episodes in all of Tanach,
  Eliyahu brought hundreds of thousands of Jews to Mount Carmel and
  proved to them that the prophets of Baal were charlatans. United, the
  entire multitude proclaimed, "Hashem - He is the G-d! Hashem - He is
  the G-d!"
Finally, when Eliyahu's mission on earth was complete, Hashem took him
  up to heaven in a whirlwind. Who was Eliyahu? How can we understand
  his zealotry? What was his mission? How was he unique? What is his
  legacy for us? The Sages in the Talmud and Midrashim, the commentators
  on Tanach, and the classic Torah works are filled with descriptions
  and discussions about Eliyahu.
In this magnificent volume Avrohom Yom Tov (Abie) Rotenberg scours the
  classic literature to bring us an unprecedented picture of Eliyahu and
  his mission. Rabbi Rotenberg cites the verses in Tanach and explains
  them. And he delves deeper and broadens the portrait based on the
  major commentators.
Nowhere is there such a complete picture of the prophet and an
  analysis of his words, deeds, and period. To read this beautiful and
  profound volume is to informed, inspired, and uplifted.
Comment: Does this address "is he really coming by shfoch chamoschu?"?

Is eliyahu hanuvy real?


Ubuntu being... not too fast?

Question: Yeah I know there is enough of similar questions already - why ubuntu is slow and blah blah.
But, seriously. I have pretty ok-ish specs - desktop PC with Intel i3 and 4 GB ram. When I'm on Windows I run a lot of programs - IDE, Skype, Photoshop and a couple of browsers with lots of tabs open and never run into performance issues. Alt+Tab`ing between windows is smooth and multitasking is awesome.
But then I run Ubuntu and get none of this. Alt+tab takes a second to appear on the screen, programs launch a bit slow for the first time, faster afterwards though. Switching between open programs feels slow. Not too slow, but not fast either, while I have enough specs to have it fast. I have read a bunch of guides on how to improve the overall performance (like switching to old Unity 2D and using "preload" tool), tried some of it but never achieved similar multitasking performance comparing to Windows.
Am I doing something wrong? Or is it just how Ubuntu is? I'm a web-developer and I really want to switch to UNIX from Windows, but I'm really used to having tons of programs being open and comfortably switching between them and multitask and unfortunately I couldn't achieve this with Ubuntu.
Quick edit:
I'm dualbooting with Windows and Ubuntu using Grub.
I didn't use Wubi to install Ubuntu.
I have an Intel HD Graphics adapter, could this be a problem?
My swap is 4 GB, and I tried playing around with swappiness, didn't improve the speed much
Answer: Please notice your swap partition is too big an probably will never be used to the limit. Refer to this post to understand why.

Ubuntu being... not too fast?


Does keeping batteries in the refrigerator ensure longer battery life?

Question: I've heard that keeping batteries in the refrigerator ensures long battery shelf-life. Is this true? If not, where did this information come from?
Comment: @Daniel - You've never seen batteries in someone's fridge?  I thought this was a common misconception, too - especially among older folks.
Comment: Can you please provide some source? And give more info on what types of batteries. Because due to different types of construction and materials needed I think that the behavior for Li-Ion, Ni MH, Alkaline and Pb will be quite different.
Comment: In the research I did for the answer below, many of the sites that I came across implied that with old (think 1950s) batteries, refrigerating did help.
Comment: Question: I often hear or read about placing batteries in the refrigerator to extend battery life. As the battery is warmed to room temperature, will the battery condensate and damage the item they are placed in to?
Answer: It depends on the batteries.
For alkaline batteries, no.
According to Kodak,

Ideally cells should be stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight, radiators, and other heat sources. Refrigeration is not necessary, nor is it recommended. If you do store batteries in the refrigerator, let them warm up to room temperature (takes about two hours) and wipe off all condensation before use. Freezing is not recommended.

Duracell:

Do not refrigerate Duracell batteries, this will not make them last longer.

Energizer (pdf):

No, storage in a refrigerator or freezer is not required or recommended for batteries produced today. Cold temperature storage can in fact harm batteries if condensation results in corroded contacts or label or seal damage due to extreme temperature storage. To maximize performance and shelf life, store batteries at normal room temperatures (68°F to 78°F or 20°C to 25°C) with moderated humidity levels (35 to 65% RH).

According to Green Batteries and ehow, NiMH batteries do gain from being stored in a freezer (but keep them in a sealed bag and allow to warm up before using them).
According to M/A-COM, who apparently make batteries rechargeable batteries for radios,

Keep battery packs in a cool, dry storage area (32 to 86°F (0 to 30°C)).  Refrigeration is
  recommended, but freezers should be avoided.  When refrigerated, the battery pack
  should be placed in a plastic bag to protect against condensation.
Answer: Storing Li-ion batteries at low temperatures does appear to reduce the rate of capacity loss (page 4, figure 5).  They only compared two storage temperatures (5C and 35C), but the batteries stored in the former displayed substantially less loss in capacity.


Hand position in dumbbell bench press

Question: How does hand position in a dumbbell flat bench affect which muscles are activated? The positions I know are palms facing each other and the traditional palms facing down. On rare occasions I see people do it with palms facing upward.
Answer: When doing dumbell presses, I alternate palms facing in and palms facing out.  You can alternate on a rep by rep basis, or a set by set basis, or a workout by workout basis, or even stack by stack basis. Palms facing in or out gives different stretches at the bottom, works your forearms differently, and depending on angles, can hit your triceps differently.  Experiment with them and see. By alternating, you hit every single muscle fiber. Reverse grip bench press with palms facing up puts more stress on your wrists and focuses the triceps.  Normal grip with palms facing up focuses on the triceps.  The latter two are not used that much traditionally.
Also, wide grip bench puts emphasis on outer chest and shoulders, while close grip bench puts emphasis on inner chest and triceps.
Answer: Here's the only valuable article I could find: http://www.fitflex.com/hand-position.html
For overhead presses the hand position seems to change where the focus on the delts are most felt......
Comment: Link dead. Stack Exchange weeps. Maybe you could find another source, and excerpt the content here so it doesn't get lost?

Hand position in dumbbell bench press