Taking cuttings from apples

Question: Does anyone have any direct experience of taking cutting from apples? I am aware that apples are usually grafted, however, I want to make comparisons between cultivars on their own roots and those on named rootstocks. My first thought is hardwood cuttings, but I would like to know if there is a "recipe" that works before just applying general principles.
Comment: Yes and no. Granted only seed grown trees produce a natural taproot. However, as for for the validity of the comparison, apple rootstocks are not grown from seed, usually being produced by stooling. So they will similarly lack a seedling-type root system as well.
Comment: The interest is that by growing a cultivar on its own roots, there will be a perfect balance (or as near possible) between that above and that below the ground. As all commonly available rootstocks are to some extent dwarfing, it means the graft is in a permanent state of stress throughout the lifespan of tree. I would expect an own-root tree to be more drought and disease tolerant, and to live longer overall.
Comment: There was a trial orchard somewhere in Kent, where they were experimenting with own root trees with promising result, but funds dried up and it got grubbed out I believe.
Comment: On apples, the rootstocks are usually weak, so it is done to have smaller apple trees: easier (and cheaper) to maintain healthy and to harvest the fruits. So without grafting I expect normal apples, but on very large trees.
Answer: I'm dubious of the premise, but sure, give it a try.
When looking into some of the more extreme propagation methods for another question, https://gardening.stackexchange.com/a/29992/6806 I found a description of a setup where bottom heat was employed to encourage rooting while the tops were kept cold to prevent them from deciding to leaf out before there were roots to support them. It was also described as complex and/or costly to do such that it was not a common technique. I'm fairly sure hormones were also employed.
Here is that link, which still seems to work as of today: "A. D. Webster (1995) Temperate fruit tree rootstock propagation, New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 23:4, 355-372, DOI: 10.1080/01140671.1995.9513912"
While it is aimed at propagating rootstock, it should be fundamentally applicable to propagating apple cultivars, as both are apple trees of a sort.
From what I understand, "micropropagation" or tissue culture may be a somewhat more reliable (if also somewhat more involved, and equipment/chemistry intensive) approach, but I have not tried it. I have done "casual" hardwood cutting propagation with more failures than successes, suggesting that a less-casual approach is likely required for a reasonable success rate. What it's actually done for me is to make the "traditional" approaches look pretty sensible, on balance.
Comment: Some excellent links there. Sensible depends on the objective - high success rates for commercial viability then yes. If, however, the objectives are not commercial and are to create an orchard for posterity then disease resistance and longevity are the priority. Success rate is less importance, so long as there are enough successes. Also, getting a variety on to its own roots would allow subsequent propagation by stooling.
Comment: I wonder if air-layering would be effective as it is similar to stooling just at a more convenient location (exposure to rooting environment whilst remained connected to parent)?
Comment: My limited experience with air-layering has been that it seems trickier in practice than stooling or tip layering, due to the need to keep a mass of rooting media that's "up in the air" damp for long enough to get roots formed - easy to write about, harder to do in practice than keeping something with soil contact similarly damp. But there are probably technological aids that could be used (which I did not have or use when I tried it long ago.)

Taking cuttings from apples


Free annotation software where I can review web pages and save a PDF?

Question: Just like Microsoft Word allows you to review and annotate documents, I'm looking for something similar for web pages - preferably a browser plugin. I should be able to highlight text (not just "draw on the page freely") in web pages and add annotations, then save a PDF with the results so that I can email it to the document author. This will allow me to suggest multiple modifications to a document at once while collaborating with my team, who publishes most of their documentation on the company intranet as web pages. Again, exactly the same as Word's reviewing feature.
Answer: Pastel
Better than saving a PDF and emailing, Pastel creates a collaborative "canvas" overlay of the entire site, and allows everyone to comment, chat, and resolve issues.

Highlight text
Add annotations
No sign-in required for collaborators: just email them the link
Suggest multiple modifications at once
Collaborate with your team
Discussion
Track issues


Can I test an app on all devices without purchasing all devices?

Question: Is there any way to test an app on all devices without purchasing all devices?
Comment: The facetious answer is "yes". And "no". There are multiple services that provide testing on a wide variety of devices, but they probably don't cover all possible devices because obsolete devices won't be included.
Comment: Use Browserstack- https://www.browserstack.com/
Comment: Voting to close because googling the title would OP give bunch of service providers, and selecting between them is a matter of opinion and constraints not mentioned in the question.
Answer: In order to do that, you can purchase a cloud based service like SauceLabs, BrowserStack or even try Amazon's Device Farm, which would give you the capability of testing your apps, across different platforms, on different devices.
There are other services too that offer this capability , and so you can search for this in and whatever suites your budget and needs , you should go for it.
Answer: Yes  there are multiple website which provide App testing functionality

pCloudy: https://www.pcloudy.com/
experitest: https://experitest.com/
Amazon's Device Farm
testobject: https://testobject.com/
Answer: Google's firebase test lab is another option that I don't see listed in the other answers so far. https://firebase.google.com/docs/test-lab ;
pcloudy, that was listed in one of the other answers, also supports testing automation through integration with appium.
Answer: BitBar = lots of devices, lots of supported test frameworks
Answer: This is a common requirement in mobile testing services and for the same we can test an app on different online platforms without purchasing the real devices and below are some of them:
1. Browser Stack
2. Sauce Labs
3. Device Farm
But these platforms are paid one and require a subscription to get the benefits.
IMP: App build should also be made compatible to run these in Online Platforms.


What is the difference between flow and cannabis induced high?

Question: I am doing research on flow. So far I found out that flow is a short-term positive peak experience, but not a persistent state of mind. I wonder, what is the difference between flow and cannabis induced high? (The ICD-10 code is F12.0 cannabinoid intoxication.)
Comment: How did you come to compare flow and cannabis use? Do you think cannabis usage is also associated with a "short-term positive peak experience"?
Comment: This question may need to be asked more precisely, since as stated below, flow is linked to activity while cannabis induced high is linked to the effect of a substance. In my eyes it would be interesting to know, whether experiencing flow is different with or without cannabis induced high. Regards.
Answer: Following your links I understand you are relating to:

Flow: also known as the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does and loses sense of space and time.

While the effects of cannabis intoxication include, but are not limited to:

general alteration of conscious perception;
euphoria;
feelings of well-being;
relaxation or stress reduction;
increased appreciation of the arts, including humor and music;
joviality;
metacognition and introspection;
enhanced recollection (episodic memory);
increased sensuality;
increased awareness of sensatio;
increased libido and creativity;
abstract or philosophical thinking;
disruption of linear memory;
paranoia or anxiety;
greater enjoyment of food taste and aroma;
enhanced enjoyment of music and comedy;
marked distortions in the perception of time and space (where experiencing a "rush" of ideas from the bank of long-term memory can create the subjective impression of long elapsed time, while in reality only a short time has passed).

At higher doses:

altered body image;
auditory and/or visual illusions;
pseudohallucinations;
ataxia;
rarely dissociative state (depersonalization and derealization);
acute psychosis;

So in all, based on a cursory wikipedia search, I would say there are more differences than similarities between the two states of mind.


Does Stroop test performance correlate with any personal characteristics or abilities?

Question: Have there been any studies that found that an extremely high (or low) Stroop test score correlates with certain personal characteristics, abilities or aptitudes, or would all such conclusions be outside the test's scope?
Answer: N.B.: There are many varieties of "Stroop-like" tasks, which as a class are often called implicit association tests or IATs.  Since those are likely to test attributes related to their specific construction, I have excluded them from this answer.
There have been a variety of papers studying correlations of Stroop performance with other characteristics.
Ward et al. (2001) examined the correlation between Stroop effects and executive control, finding that Stroop costs and other measures of executive control were not well correlated.
Brewer et al. (2008) found sizable correlations between neural activation in Stroop testing and treatment outcomes among cocaine-dependent patients; they interpret this to suggest executive control differences are determinative in treatment outcome, but this interpretation is contradicted by Ward et al. above.
Less recently, Golden (1975) found the Stroop test to correlate with measures of creativity; I have found no more recent discussion of this so cannot speak to its currency.
References
Ward, G., Roberts, M., & Phillips, L. (2001). Task-switching costs, Stroop-costs, and executive control: A correlational study. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology Volume 54, Issue 2, pages 491-511. DOI:10.1080/713755967
Brewer, J., et al. (2008). Pretreatment Brain Activation During Stroop Task Is Associated with Outcomes in Cocaine-Dependent Patients. Biological Psychiatry Volume 64, Issue 11, 1 December 2008, Pages 998–1004. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.05.024
Golden, C. (1975). The Measurement of Creativity by the Stroop Color and Word Test. Journal of Personality Assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment Volume 39, Issue 5, 1975 pages 502-506. DOI: 10.1207/s15327752jpa3905_9
Answer: The Stroop test also correlates with age and education level (Van der Elst et al. 2006).
When emotionally charged words are presented (Emo-Stroop), the Stroop task was found to correalte with high state anxiety.(Dresler et al 2009)
You can find a review in "Secondary Influences on Neuropsychological Test Performance", edited by Peter Arnett. (Its on google books)
references:
Wim Van der Elst, Martin P. J. Van Boxtel, Gerard J. P. Van Breukelen, Jelle Jolles (2006) The Stroop color-word test: influence of age, sex, and education; and normative data for a large sample across the adult age range. Assessment. Vol 13, Issue 1, Mar 2006, Pages 62-79.
Thomas Dresler, Katja Mériau, Hauke R. Heekeren, Elke van der Meer (2009) Emotional Stroop task: effect of word arousal and subject anxiety on emotional interference Psychological Research Vol 73, Pages 364–371


Is it safe/compliant for one circuit to supply grounded wall outlets in both a kitchen and a living room?

Question: On one side of my wall (in kitchen, not the refrigerator or stove plug) is a three prong grounded outlet. Would it work without overloading a circuit to put a new outlet on the other side of the wall (the living room)? Any special precautions I should take? The house is small and short on plugs, so I could use a few more. Is this OK or not OK?
Comment: For calculating loads, see How do you plan capacity for electrical circuits? http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/10622
Comment: It's impossible for this question to be answered through the internet, without more information.  It will completely depend on your location (for code requirements), and what else is currently on the circuit.
Comment: I am not sure based on the information you provided. In my old house I had a GFCI in my kitchen with two regular outlets chained off it. One was in the dining room. This was up to code, even if weird. If I were adding outlets myself I would not chain off the kitchen. Motors/GFCI aside, that is one room where there is a tendency to plug in high-amperage appliances that could trip a breaker. Best to run a new circuit.
Answer: National Electrical Code says no.

National Electrical Code 2008
ARTICLE 210 Branch Circuits
210.52 Dwelling Unit Receptacle Outlets.
(B) Small Appliances.
(1) Receptacle Outlets Served. In the kitchen, pantry, breakfast room, dining room, or similar area of a dwelling unit, the two or more 20-ampere small-appliance branch circuits required by 210.11(C)(1) shall serve all wall and floor receptacle outlets covered by 210.52(A), all countertop outlets covered by 210.52(C), and receptacle outlets for refrigeration equipment.
(2) No Other Outlets. The two or more small-appliance branch circuits specified in 210.52(B)(1) shall have no other outlets.
(3) Kitchen Receptacle Requirements. Receptacles installed in a kitchen to serve countertop surfaces shall be supplied by not fewer than two small-appliance branch circuits, either or both of which shall also be permitted to supply receptacle outlets in the same kitchen and in other rooms specified in 210.52(B)(1). Additional small-appliance branch circuits shall be permitted to supply receptacle outlets in the kitchen and other rooms specified in 210.52(B)(1). No small-appliance branch circuit shall serve more than one kitchen.

210.52(B)(1) basically says, that all the receptacles in the kitchen should be supplied by 2 or more 20A circuits. 210.52(B)(2) says that there should be no other outlets on these 2 or more circuits, which means no lighting outlets and no outlets outside of the kitchen.  210.52(B)(3) says that the 2 or more circuits, can be used to supply receptacles in other 'related' rooms (pantry, breakfast room, dining room, or similar area).
Even though the kitchen and living room may share a wall; according to NEC 2008, they cannot share an electrical circuit.
Comment: If there were e.g. four 20A circuits serving kitchen outlets, would code require that none of them serve the living room, or merely that at there must be least two that serve only the kitchen?
Comment: @supercat As I interpret it, they would all have to serve only the kitchen.
Comment: In other words, no circuit which serves a non-kitchen-related room may also serve a kitchen counter, although such circuits could perhaps serve areas of the kitchen which weren't near counters?
Comment: @supercat My understanding of the code is that 1.) there must be at least two 20 ampere circuits that supply all the receptacles in a kitchen (on the counter or otherwise). and 2.) those 2 or more circuits **cannot** supply any other outlets (outlets meaning both receptacle, and lighting outlets) in any other room (aside from those rooms specifically mentioned).
Comment: I wasn't clear what outlets were covered by 210.52(A), and whether that would apply to outlets which were intended to power things like clocks, night lights, wall-mount televisions, cabinet lighting, etc. and were not placed particularly well for use with toasters, blenders, etc.
Answer: Your question does not provide enough information for a definitive answer, but load calculations are not difficult.
First, you should only load a circuit to 80% of capacity, so a 15amp circuit should only have 12amps of load.
Amps = Watts/Volts.  Add up the wattage of all the devices plugged into that circuit and divide by your household voltage.  If you are in North America, this is 120V.  Lets say you have ten 10 50watt lights:
Amps = (10 * 50) / 120 = 4.12Amps.  In this case, you can safely add another outlet because there are about 8amps of capacity left.  If this were above 10 I'd say you should consider adding a new circuit since you would be just on the cusp of overloading the circuit.
Comment: Usually people add outlets to plug more things in.
Comment: Point 1) adding another outlet does not affect the load! Moreover, having more outlets means they are located more conveniently, meaning fewer extension cords, which is safer! Point 2) any circuit can be overloaded, even a circuit with a single outlet.  The central question is code compliance.
Answer: This answer only applies if your jurisdiction accepts the NEC as the model code. Even if it does not apply, it gives you some idea where an authoritative code organization stands on this issue.
You may NOT extend a kitchen outlet circuit to serve a living room. Generally, you cannot extend such circuits in a kitchen at all, however there is an exception for certain related rooms such as dining or breakfast rooms or pantries where it is acceptable to extend kitchen circuits.
As for determining whether an added receptacle would overload the circuit, as mentioned, the total load cannot exceed 80% of the circuit ampacity. How to determine this load has been misrepresented as it relates to NEC requirements. First add all permanently connected loads on the circuit, fridges, lights, dishwashers, disposers, etc. Then for all convenience receptacles not having a permanent device connected, assume each receptacle strap in a residential occupancy would draw 180va for load calculation purposes. The code recognizes some outlets are not used and others used could draw much more than 180va, some simultaneous, others possibly not. 180 is simply a happy medium to limit the number of outlets on any given circuit. One is not required to anticipate the actual load of every device connected to any particular outlet if it can be easily unplugged and moved elsewhere.


Renaming & moving files based on their file path

Question: I am trying to rename files based on the treepath it is in, then move the renamed files to a specific folder (based on its name).
So, for example, I have a file in path L:\a\b\c\d\e\f\file.pdf
I want to rename "file.pdf" to "d e f"
Also, all the subfolders branch off at c so I want python to scan all the documents in the subfolders contained in folder c to be renamed according to the aforementioned pattern. I.e., L:\a\b\c\x\y\z\file.pdf, file.pdf renamed to "x y z"; L:\a\b\c\q\r\s\file.pdf, file.pdf renamed to "q r s"; etc.
Then, I want to move all those files to a new, already existing folder, based on their names. So say for example for file "d e f" I would want to move to L:a\b\1\d\f\e.
I am quite new at coding at Python and I have a few pieces of the puzzle kind of worked out but I am having a lot of trouble. Here is some of my code but I don't think it will prove very useful.
For this code, I have to drop the file into CMD with the .py file. It spits out the name I want (but with extra spaces that I don't want), it doesn't actually rename the file, and is done only with the specific file I dropped into CMD when I would rather have the code look through all of the subfolders and do it automatically. Please note that my code (specifically, lines 6-7) is specific to how the folder I want is actually named, I obfuscated the name of the tree path for confidentiality reasons and it just makes it easier to understand.
from sys import argv
script, filename = argv
txt = open(filename)
print "Here's your file %r:" % filename
string = "%r" % filename
print string [94:-17]
line = string [94:-17]
line = "%r" % line
for char in '\\':
line = line.replace (char, ' ')
print line

Doing some homework, this code will search and rename all the files in the directory I want, however it does not name it the way that I want. Again, this isn't really helpful but it is what I have.
import glob, os
def rename(dir, pattern, titlePattern):
for pathAndFilename in glob.iglob(os.path.join(dir, pattern)):
title, ext = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(pathAndFilename))
os.rename(pathAndFilename,
os.path.join(dir, titlePattern % title + ext))
rename(r'L:\a\b\c\', r'*.pdf', r'new(%s)'

And then for actually moving the files, I don't have any code made yet - I am pretty lost. I understand that this is a lot of work, but I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me out.
Answer: As I found this post searching a similar solution for bash, I post an answer for people who will follow the same path :
#!/bin/bash

mkdir extracted
for var in "$@"
do
    for f in `find sources -name "$var"`
    do
        groupname=`echo $f | cut -d'/' -f 3`
        filename=`echo ${f##*/}`
        cp "$f" extracted/"${groupname}_$filename" -v
    done
done


How to choose a bassline for a vocal melody

Question: I have a melody for a 90bpm pop song that I wrote but am struggling with the bass line pattern a little bit. It is not what notes to play but what pattern I should use that I am stuck with. I don't have any other instruments except that I know what chords I want to use. The problem is that the melody changes a lot and doesn't have a set pattern so my question is, when you have a complex ever-changing melody hitting a lot of 16th notes and "in between the beats" is it better to keep the bassline simple and on the 8th note divisions of the grid so as to not confuse the two? Most songs have some kind of melody pattern in the lead vocal which is fine but I like only doing that in the chorus and leaving the verses more diverse so the bass pattern is always tough for me because using any 16th notes in my bass pattern (which should remain more or less the same in the verse) always conflicts with some part of the melody. Can anyone give me a hand or tips please?
Answer: For me personally I'd stick with 8th notes, and put a lot of root notes in it.
I've found that the average listener will only focus on a bassline if there isn't any vocals to distract them! (Or if it sounds wrong!)  Our singer is amazing so she'll carry the song and I'll only add bass flourishes at the end of the phase when she not singing or holding a note.
It's all personal preference I guess, but that's my two-penneth.
Comment: you are probably right, with older songs that I wrote, I tried to only use a 16th note in the groove where it fits with the vocal but this one is a bit trickier because the vocal doesn't play on the same 16th notes every bar and a bass line should be consistent in pop as it is there to carry the vocal IMO else it clutters
Answer: The bass pattern depends on the type of song too. If one is writing for a particular type of dance (tango, foxtrot, waltz, rumba, mambo, samba, etc.) the bass line may be written to emphasize the rhythm of the dance. Of course, the individual notes depend on the melodic and harmonic goings on in the music.
The bass is fundamental to making the melody sound good; it should support the melody. In most popular music, the bass shouldn't dominate, especially where the vocalist is being featured. The bass may move around a bit between sections though, to make the listeners aware that something is happening.
The bass should generally stick to chord roots at cadences and other important places within the song. It can move between these to keep the overall impression of activity.
Answer: Write one bass note per chord.  If this feels too static, try two.  If the melody is fairly simple, you could write a more ornate bass line.   WHY should the bass line remain the same density in verse and chorus?
Comment: The bassline doesn't stay the same in the chorus but the chorus is easier because it has a set melody that repeats more or less. The start and end notes of the phrases are more or less the same. you can do more with this kind of melody because you can write the bass part for the melody. In the verses I might start the first phrase on the up beat then on the next one I might start on the downbeat of beat 2 and always the 16th notes are hitting different parts in a very unorganized hip-hoppy kinda way. Not sure if I am making sense yet.
Comment: The bass line doesn't have to follow the melody note-for-note.  Set up a simple 'groove' and let the melody have all the freedom it needs.
Comment: It doesn't and in fact, far from it. But the placement of the bass line should line up with some of the melody notes, do you agree? That is the problem for me because the melody changes from bar to bar


ByPass credential prompting on drive map - windows server 2k3

Question: I have 2 windows server 2k3 machines - server A and server B, Server A is on the company domain, and Server B is not.  I have a need to bypass the credential prompting that happens every time I map a drive from Server B to Server A.  The reason i need to do this is that I'm running a program called SourceAnywhere on Server A that points to a VSS database on Server B.  (SourceAnywhere solves the slowness issues that VSS http access has).  While I can configure SourceAnywhere to point to this VSS database (after mapping drive and getting access), I cannot connect to the VSS database from my development machine - i get an error saying I can access database alias..  I'm thinking this might have to do with Server B prompting me for credentials from Server A since it isn't on the domain.  Is there anyway to store these credentials?  or do i need to get Server B added to the domain?
Answer: The key would be to map a persistent drive to the server in the other domain (check reconnect at logon).  Do not enter your credentials on the drive mapping page though, instead hit connect/OK and wait for Windows to prompt you.  Then enter your username and password and click the box to save them.
Any future connection to that server during your logon session will utilize the secure channel that was setup in the drive mapping.  Because you set the drive mapping to persistent and saved the username and password, you should not be prompted in the future.


What is a link budget, and how do I make one?

Question: Like the question title says, what is a radio link budget? For what is it useful, and how do I make one?
Answer: A link budget is a summary of a communications link that tries to take into account all factors which have an impact on the received signal strength. It is often used to determine the minimum amount of output power required at the transmitter for a given signal strength at the receiver, and takes into consideration power output, antenna gains, propagation losses, acceptable signal fading, and other factors (for example, for long cable runs, cable attenuation may be a factor, and at microwave frequencies, losses due to absorption in atmospheric gases become a significant factor for Earth-bound links).
A few elementary values are required to make up a link budget. For unobstructed line of sight communications, which is the primary propagation mode on VHF and up, propagation losses can be estimated using the formula
$$L_{p} = -22 - 20\log{\frac{r}{λ}}$$
Where r is the distance covered and λ is the wavelength of the operating frequency. When the two use the same units (for example, meters), Lp comes out in dB and expresses the propagation attenuation (loss) between two isotropic antennas. For example, the propagation loss for a distance of 100 meters at 450 MHz is approximately 65.5 dB. Note that the determining factor is actually the distance in terms of wavelengths between the two antennas, so the loss goes up by 6 dB for every doubling of either the physical distance or the frequency (halving of the wavelength).
No antenna is perfectly isotropic, and the common dipole has a gain of approximately 2.15 dBi (dB over isotropic) broadside to the antenna. Directional antennas generally have their gain specified as either dBi or dBd (dB over dipole, which is dBi - 2.15 dB, so 3 dBd = 5.15 dBi).
To ease calculations, convert the power output of the transmitter to dBm. Using dB throughout turns many a multiplication and division into addition and subtraction, greatly simplifying calculations. For example, a 100 W transmitter puts out +50 dBm, and a 5 W transmitter puts out +37 dBm.
To make the link budget, at a minimum add the transmitter output power, transmitter antenna gain in the desired direction, propagation loss and receiver antenna gain in the desired direction. By making the calculations in dB relative to some known reference (generally dBm or dBW) this comes down to addition and subtraction.
As a very simple example, for a 100 W transmitter with dipoles at both ends broadside to each other (+2.15 dBi × 2), over an unobstructed 20 km path using a frequency of 150 MHz (2.00 meters wavelength), we get:
<code>  +50    dBm   power output
 +  2.15 dBi   transmitter antenna gain
 -102    dB    propagation loss, 20 km at 150 MHz
 +  2.15 dBi   receiver antenna gain
 ===========
  -47.7  dBm   signal strength at receiver
</code>
If the minimum usable signal at the receiver for the modulation and bandwidth in use, taking into account natural and receiver noise, is -90 dBm, this gives us a margin of about 42 dB, which is huge. This of course means that in theory, we can reduce our output power by a corresponding amount, maintaining communications with only +8 dBm output, as seen below:
<code>   +8    dBm   power output
 +  2.15 dBi   transmitter antenna gain
 -102    dB    propagation loss, 20 km at 150 MHz
 +  2.15 dBi   receiver antenna gain
 ===========
  -89.7  dBm   signal strength at receiver
</code>
Admittedly, the above link budget gives us for all intents and purposes no margin: to maintain communications over this path using this equipment and mode of transmission, everything must work out absolutely perfectly. To have a 10 dB margin for issues such as fading, we'd need to use +18 dBm (slightly less than 100 mW = +20 dBm) power output, which is trivially achievable with practically any handheld radio.
A link budget for a HF link, or an obstructed VHF link, is much more complex because the propagation losses are harder to calculate than for a pure line-of-sight link, but the general principle remains exactly the same. A complete link budget for a line-of-sight link will at least include the following factors:

+ Transmitter output power
- Attenuation in the transmitter's antenna cabling, including any impedance matching network
+ Transmitter antenna gain in the direction of the receiver
- Propagation loss in free space
- Attenuation due to absorption in atmospheric gases
- Margin for attenuation due to rain
- Margin for attenuation in tree foilage
- Margin for attenuation due to reflection against walls etc.
- Margin for signal fading
+ Receiver antenna gain in the direction of the transmitter
- Attenuation in the receiver's antenna cabling, including any impedance matching network
= Signal strength at the receiver input terminals, to be compared with the minimum necessary signal strength

It is important to note that several of these factors (propagation loss, atmospheric absorption, foilage losses, and so on) are heavily dependent on the operating frequency. This means that a link budget for one frequency is unlikely to be applicable at another frequency, even if nothing else changes.
Answer: That's a pretty good answer but I can add some more details.
The exact formula for path loss is $$ 20 \times \log_{10}\left( 4 \times \pi \times \frac{d}{\lambda{}} \right) $$ $ 20 \times \log_{10}\left(4\times\pi{}\right) \approx 21.98$, and that's where the '22' comes from.
If your receiver specs give a minimum signal strength, then the analysis above is pretty much all you need. But in a more general link budget you have to compute the required receive power yourself from the data rate, the type of modulation and coding, and the receiver system noise temperature.
The most power-efficient modulation/coding method in use is rate 1/6 turbo coding over BPSK (binary phase shift keying). This is a very popular deep space signal; it's being used by New Horizons at Pluto, for example. This particular signal requires a minimum $E_b/N_0$ of about 0 dB.
What is $E_b/N_0$? It's the received energy per bit divided by the received noise power spectral density in watts/Hz. This also has units of energy, so the ratio is dimensionless. It's usually expressed in decibels. The famous Shannon Limit says it's impossible to make a system operate error-free at an $E_b/N_0$ below -1.6 dB even if you can use infinite bandwidth. So you can see that we're pretty close to the theoretical limit.
Then you add the data rate, also expressed in decibels (with respect to 1 bps). For example, 1000 b/s would be 30 dB(bps), so your New Horizons signal would require a $P/N_0$ of at least 0 + 30 = +30 dB, where P is received power.
That just leaves us with $N_0$. In space communications, noise is usually expressed as a temperature T since everything above absolute zero generates thermal noise. The big 70m dish at the NASA Deep Space Network sites has a noise temperature of 17.5 kelvins (I looked it up). To get N0, you multiply T by Boltzmann's constant, 1.38e-23 J/K or -228.6 dBW/Hz-K. So 17.5K is an $N_0$ of -216.2 dBW/Hz (or dBJ, same units).
Now you have what you need to compute P, the required receive power. It is simply -216.2 dBW/Hz + 30 dB-Hz = -186.2 dBW or -156.2 dBm. That's not much, but it's still hard to generate all the way from Pluto!
Comment: Phil Karn KA9Q??
Comment: Yup, that's me.
Answer: Let me take the later question out of the title.

how do I make one?

By using a tool, such as

Radio Mobile Online
Help is here, you don't need a free account to read it

This is a free tool, and will work for Amateur Radio frequencies.
Once you get started, in order to display a "Link", you do the following

Use "New Site" from the main menu to setup both TX location and RX location
Use "New Link" from the main menu to setup a new link.

This will get you a nice graphical representation of your link, and accompaning data which was used for its calculation.
YMMV.
Answer: A practical solution to examine the performance of a terrestrial radio link doesn't require the consideration of very small contributors to that performance.
Link performance that considers the major factors such as frequency, radiated power, receive system sensitivity, free space LOS path loss, added losses due to direct path and Fresnel zone obstructions/reflections from the earth, etc can be calculated usefully by allowing  sufficient "fade margin" to account for temporal path loss variations.
Below is one example of software using this approach to evaluate the expected performance of an FM broadcast station for the conditions shown there.  The analysis includes the effects of terrain elevations along the great circle path between the transmit and receive antennas.
Note that despite a significant obstruction to the LOS path and Fresnel zones, the fade margin calculated for this application exceeds 20 dB — which would permit very high link reliability.
.


Asking Thesis examiner for guidance

Question: I am currently writing my undergraduate final year thesis. It happens so that I have to consult papers written by my thesis examiner on a particular topic. My question is is it appropriate to seek clarification from him on parts which I'm unsure of in his paper even though he is my examiner? I tried asking my supervisor first but he is unsure about it as well as this is not within his area of expertise. (I need some results from other branches to prove something.)
Comment: If it [is appropriate for a paper by someone unrelated](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/7439/9482), I would consider it even more appropriate for a paper by your examiner. I don't know why you have any doubts in this situation. Can you elaborate a bit?
Comment: I think this depends on the country in which it happens and the regulations around thesis examination.
Answer: This is perfectly acceptable.
Caveats:
I would be wary about asking questions you should know the answer to.
I would also avoid anything that might be interpreted as a criticism. I know this sounds obvious but its an easy mistake to make. If you are not a tiny bit careful, "Please clarify X" can easily be read as "X wasn't clear".

If your advisor isn't clear you're covered that it's not a 'trivial' or stupid question.
If you are careful about how you word the question, you shouldn't be in any danger of offending anyone. Explaining things can be tricky and if you are outside the immediate field, it doesn't look bad for anyone that you didn't follow.

Conversely not asking could end up reflecting badly on you. He will in all likelihood: understand the issue, see how it applies to your situation, and will be interested in your response/use of his results. If you don't follow it will probably be clear. If on top of that you missed (what he will see as) an easy step to rectify the situation - ask, exactly as you suggest - he may well see it in a negative light.
Finally if for some nuanced reason - and I really can't think what this would be - there was a reason he wouldn't be happy to discuss this with you: if you ask in a way that doesn't demand or expect an answer no harm will have been done.

Asking Thesis examiner for guidance


Discourage / prevent "didn't read the question" answers

Question: If a user keeps posting poor answers to your questions such as because skimming the question, is the best action to take to downvote or is there some way to prevent it?  I don't like when that happens because it makes the question look answered.  I feel bad about downvoting someone so if I do downvote, I wait until they get a +1 (if they do at all), but maybe I shouldn't feel that way (perhaps I'm the only one haha)?
Comment: You shouldn't be voting (up or down) to negate someone else's vote.
Comment: At the very least, an answer you don't want gets your question back at the top of the front page to give it more visibility. You can always deal with it in the ways Sven outlines in his answer.
Answer: Discourage bad answers by downvoting them. Don't wait until they have an upvote left by someone else, as this is a net gain for the answerer and will only encourage them further. And if the answer is truly bad, it should not be getting upvotes!
You should also comment to explain why the answer is bad. For instance, explain what details from the question they missed, or any other significant problem with the answer.
Wrong answers normally should not be flagged for moderator attention, as it's also possible to learn (e.g. what not to do) from wrong answers. The big exception is if they are harmful or malicious. For instance, if someone posts an obfuscated command that would result in data loss if someone ran it, that would be something we would want to nuke on sight (and this has happened).
If your question is getting a lot of bad answers, though, it's a strong indication that the question itself is the problem, and should be edited to clarify and improve it.
Answer: No, you can't, and that's a very good thing.

You can always downvote an answer.
One answer will not stop others from reading the question and contribute better answers if they feel that the present one is not good enough.
If really necessary, you can flag for mod attention. But this shouldn't be done for lackluster answers, only for real bad stuff (even for plain wrong answers, a downvote and maybe a comment why it's bad would be sufficient).

Some further thoughts:
First, the negative impact you fear is either extremely small or non-existant anyway. Second, after having read the conditions you added to your bounty question I have to say I dislike your attitude. SF is free for everyone and you just don't get to choose who, how or what people answer. If a partial answer contributes to solving your problem, you should be thankful for this, and even if it is wrong, someone took the time to try to help you. Be grateful! And adding 100 worthless fake internet points to your question still entitles you to nothing!
Comment: Well, I usually want to answer things about topics that interest me. If I see an interesting question (with an answer) that I could also answer, I'll be even more likely to read it, as I could learn something from the other answer I didn't know.
Comment: That wasn't the question I was referring to.  I don't think the points are worthless - they're earned through spending time helping others and are able to be used to encourage help in return when a question otherwise goes unanswered especially.


Why Aren't I More Tone?

Question: For the last four months I have been doing the Insanity workout. During this time I have decreased the amount of food I eat to about 1800-2000 calories a day. I drink the recommended amount of water one needs (about 8 cups) daily, and I never eat junk food. I drink a whey isolate protein after my workout (one 29g scoop), I take the ACG^3 pre-workout formula before exercising (one scoop), I take 12 Censor (a CLA supplement) capsules daily, and I get about 8-8 1/2 hours of sleep every night. Over these four months I went from 195lb to 175lb. I'm much stronger and feel really healthy, and I'm fairly tone everywhere except for my stomach. I exercise my abs daily and they've gotten lots stronger, but I'm not seeing definition unless I grab my excess flab and pull it down so I can see where it is covering up my abs. What's going on? I want the definition, and I'm working really hard every day for it. The abs are definitely there, but how do I get it to look like they are there?
Comment: What is your height?
Comment: Also, how are you judging that your abs have gotten stronger?
Comment: I am 5'8'' and I last longer and work harder through my ab workouts.
Comment: And is your weight still trending downward? Or has it stalled?
Comment: Still going downward but at a slower rate.
Answer: I would suggest keep doing what you're doing. You lost 20 pounds in 17 weeks. That's great progress. That progress will necessarily slow down, though.
Ab visibility is largely related to body fat percentage. My guess is that you're somewhere around 20% body fat (http://www.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat-percentage-men.jpg). (I'm assuming you are male from your username.)
Since you're still losing weight on your current plan, it's working for you, it will just take more time.
Lasting longer through ab workouts isn't training ab strength, but ab endurance. If you want to focus on ab strength, you need to progressively load them, and that is perhaps best done by working them isometrically as part of a larger full-body exercise, like the squat (http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf).
Answer: I don't know what your body fat percentage is but you need to have around 10% to have visible abs, mine is lower and I still barely see them.
One way to make your abs more visible is to do actual weighted ab exercises. Most fit people can do well over 20 situps which is no longer stimulating hypertrophy, if you try situps with some weight you may see better results.
I have to go back to my original point which is that body fat is mostly what matters, sometimes people who are not even in good shape have six packs solely because they are skinny, you are clearly doing a good job with your workout (lost 20 pounds) I say keep going as you are but increase the intensity of your workout that is the best way to get results, always keep trying harder.
I thought of one thing you can do but note that this is not necessarily healthy. Once you are around the BFP I specified you can start cutting water weight to make your abs show more. I suggest google searching this or ask another question, I'm not a body builder and don't have any reason to cut water weight so I'm not that knowledgable about it.
Answer: What abs exercises are you performing? How does your abs feel after every workout? (I know that Insanity videos come with at least one abs video and in many of the other videos, you are advised to always contract your stomach).
If you are seeing the abs under the "flab", that shows that your abs exercises are working. You do indeed have the abs muscles, but they are still covered by the layers of fat.
Do you know how many inches you've lost around your waist? It's important in order to determine how fast you are losing the gut. For example, I do P90X and Insanity (more Insanity than P90X) and over the past 10 weeks, I've lost over 7 inches off my waist. My abs aren't well-defined yet but they are already showing, even without flexing. I can tell that my flabs are almost gone because I cant even pull them anymore. So, measuring yours is equally important too.
In addition to those exercises, do as much calisthenics as possible. They strengthen your core as well as burn calories. Perform pull-ups, chin-ups, legs up, and reverse crunches. Perform exercises that require you to contract your core and those that require you to raise your legs (such as knee jumping, squatting, burpees, and various plank exercises)
While I don't believe in spot-reduction exercises, personal experiences reveal that some exercises target some areas than others. Do more of those exercises that target your core.
You can also lift weights. Deadlifting and weight-squatting target your core too when done properly.
In conclusion, take weekly measurements of your waist. That's the best evidence that something's happening or not.

Why Aren't I More Tone?


What do you call a hairstyle that make it so that the hair doesn't fly all over the place?

Question:
I am thinking there's an adjective to qualify these types of hair, but I am not sure what it might be. I am not looking for the exact word for this style, but a word that describes all styles that make it so that the hair doesn't move too much in the wind.
Comment: At least in US English, women sometimes refer to "wearing their hair **up**". I guess it is short for "pinned-up" as in Andrew's answer, but just plain "up" is a good general expression for a variety of styles: bun, pinned up into a mass of medusa-curls, chignon, wreath of braids (as in your picture), etc. Usage example: "If I'd known how hot it is in here, I would have put my hair up." "She used to wear her hair up, but now she doesn't even have time to comb it."
Answer: Styles where the hair is brushed away from the face and pinned or tied up are generally categorized as "updos."
They can be as simple as a ponytail or bun, or as complicated as the braid in your picture.
Comment: Yes, here, a braided updo. :)
Comment: in the U.S. this is the commonly used, one-word term for the pictured hairstyle and similar.
Answer: Pinned or pinned-up might work as a general term, but there are several dozen other more specific ways to decoratively "constrain" hair.  The hair in your picture has been partly braided and then pinned.
Often these have their own names, far too many to list.  For example here is a list of only some of the different kinds of braids, all of which can be pinned up in ways that might even have their own unique names.  If you are really interested, YouTube has hundreds of videos on how to braid and style hair, along with the names of those styles.
The style in your picture looks a bit like some kind of woven crown, like a laurel wreath.  I expect it has a specific name so that, if you want to a hair stylist who does this kind of thing and requested it, they would know exactly what you want.
(Edit)  Found it.  It's called a crown braid, with many variations.


Why Jesse did not kill Gus in Salud episode?

Question: Mike was injured, and Gus was unconscious. It was a perfect chance to kill them both. I thought Jesse wanted to kill Gus, so why he didn't do it then?
Answer: Jesse was not a killer by nature.  He was forced to kill Gale, but it tortured him, and he never voluntarily took a life.
Until Todd, of course.
Answer: Your premise is flawed, Jesse does not want to kill Gus, at least not at that point in the show.
Walt wanted to kill Gus ever since the season 4 opener, Box Cutter, as he believed Gus would kill them the first chance he got. However, Jesse was not as easy to convince. While Walt was trying to convince Jesse that they needed to kill Gus, Gus and Mike were doing everything they could to get Jesse on their side against Walt.
Even though Jesse tells Walt in "Problem Dog" that he will kill Gus the first chance he gets; we also see Jesse lying to Walt about having met with Gus in person since the events of Box Cutter. Jesse is very unsure about where his own loyalties are at this point; torn between the two sides. But he certainly isn't desiring to kill Gus.
It is not until Walt tricks Jesse into thinking that Gus poisoned Brock in "End Times" that Jesse is finally convinced that he should help kill Gus. Up until then, he was being successfully manipulated by Gus and Mike into being a part of their "team".
This, in addition to the other answer, which explains that Jesse in general was not someone who could easily murder anyone.


antenna circuit to hear or show radio direction

Question: Is it possible to create a circuit to hear (through earphones) or show (with an LED) the direction of a radio source? What does a really simple circuit look like and how does it work? How does the frequency of the radio source affect this circuit and antenna? Is it possible to locate WiFi, Bluetooth or ZigBee/XBee with this approach?
Answer:
Is it possible to create a circuit to hear (through earphones) or show (with an LED) the direction of a radio source?

Yes. There are basically two different types of direction finding techniques:

You can simply change the orientation of your antenna and observe whether this makes the received signal weaker or stronger. This has the advantage of working with any radio receiver, as long as either

the receiver displays some indication of the received signal strength, or
your antenna is sufficiently directional (e.g. a Yagi or loop antenna) that it makes the signal strength drop enough to make the signal vanish under the noise. (In fact, when using a loop antenna, it is normal to look for that point, the null, because it is easier to hear the absence of the signal than when it is at maximum strength.)

This method is commonly used by amateur radio operators who do it for fun, on foot (this goes under a number of names: foxhunting, T-hunting, radiosport); their equipment typically consists of a handheld transceiver, a Yagi or loop antenna, and a variable attenuator (to avoid overload when too close).
You can use a direction-finding receiver; this requires at least two antennas (or an antenna with multiple outputs, depending on how you look at it), connected to a receiver with multiple inputs, which compares the signal amplitude and phase to derive the direction information.
Amateur radio operators who do direction-finding in their vehicles (either as a sport or to locate interferers) often use the so-called "Doppler direction finder" design, which can give an indication of direction on LEDs, uses an array of four antennas, and passes through to an ordinary FM receiver to also listen to the signal.

Aircraft used to have an automatic direction finder (ADF) as standard equipment. These may work on either of the above principles. They are not typically used for navigation today, having been replaced by VOR and GPS.

What does a really simple circuit look like and how does it work?

In general, any design for a radio receiver which has either an audio (if the signal is continuous, anyway) or signal-strength output can be used together with a directional antenna.
Here's another question on this site which happens to have a schematic of one two-antenna design for a specialized receiver, and my answer discusses how it works and includes results of a simulation.

How does the frequency of the radio source affect this circuit and antenna?

Very loosely speaking, radio works the same at all frequencies. In practice,

Lower frequencies are more likely to propagate long distances, pass through walls, refract around obstacles, and otherwise complicate direction finding. Higher frequencies act more like visible light, making it more straightforward to locate them if you can receive them.
Lower frequencies require larger antennas, making moving antennas less practical to use.

Is it possible to locate WiFi, Bluetooth or ZigBee/XBee with this approach?

Yes, but because these are packet protocols you will practically need receivers for the purpose, which can recognize the quick bursts and distinguish them from noise. You will also need the receiver to report the signal strength (RSSI); I understand this is commonly available but I haven't worked with this sort of packet radio hardware so I can't give any details.
In principle, you should be able to connect a standard module to a tiny directional antenna, write software to ask it for the RSSI of every packet it receives, and be ready to go. The trickiest part will be fabricating the correctly sized and correctly matched antenna (more or less depending on what test gear you have available).
Answer:
Is it possible to create a circuit to hear(earphones) or show(with an LED) the direction of a radio source? How does a really simple circuit looks like and how does it work?

Virtually any receiver, connected to any antenna, will work. With some knowledge of the antenna pattern, and a receiver that can indicate the received signal strength, then one can infer how the antenna is oriented relative to the source.

How does the frequency of the radio source affects this circuit and antenna?

In a lot of ways. The size of an antenna is proportional to wavelength, so while you might be able to use a hand-held parabolic dish at 5 GHz, the same wouldn't be possible at 5 MHz since the frequency is 1000 times lower, and consequently the wavelength and antenna 1000 times larger.
Additionally, the frequency will dictate the kinds of components you can use. It's quite easy to make a radio that will work at low frequencies like 20 MHz, and this can be accomplished with ordinary, discrete components and a soldering iron. As frequency increases this becomes increasingly impracticable and you'll need to use fabricated components like MMICs.

Is it possible to locate wifi, bluetooth or zigbee/xbee with this aproach?

Yes, provided you have a receiver that can operate at those frequencies.


Как по-русски будет "energy footprint"?

Question: Данное словосочетание часто встречается в экологии.
К примеру:

3% of US energy footprint comes from heating water for laundry.

Правильно ли сказать "энергетический след"?
Answer: No, "след" is not the right word here: although "footprint" does translate as "след" in a related term of "carbon footprint" ("углеродный след"), the meaning is quite different when the word is used in combination with "energy".
I would translate the term as "объем энергии" using the "memory footprint" ("объем памяти") as a template, or simply use the "энергопотребление" word, like this:

3% энергопотребления США приходится на нагревание воды для стирки.
Answer: I'm Russian, I have a diploma in Economics, and here's my answer: there's no such concept as "footprint" meaning "total cost" in Russian, you need to search for an appropriate word, as by "footprint" you always mean different things.
In this context I'd write "3% потребляемой энергии приходится на стирку." But be careful, in some context you might want to use энергоёмкость (specific energy conumption) which means that to do X you need Y kWt*Hrs of energy. Or, to improve costs by M% you need to reduce энергоёмкость by K%.
Answer: Russian language is de-facto used (to greater or lesser extent) in some countries, even in those one where it is not recognized as official one.
Among Latvian residents I've recently encountered phrase экологическая стопа, which I've never heard before but nevertheless came up to conclusion that this is exactly what "ecological footprint" stands for.
After some research (a-ha-ha, that's how googling should be called to sound more scientific) I've found this term used in official Latvian documents translated to Russian.
Moreover, there are some examples of using this term in Russian documents as well.
So, since this is a relatively new term and thus this is a question of adoption of some certain form, I'd stick to стопа. This perfectly understandable, clear and correlates with english word footprint.
So, my advice would be to say энергетическая стопа.
Comment: I would like to both upvote and downvote this. Upvote for finding this rare usage, downvote for recommending to use it.
Comment: @Anixx, I don't recommend it, I've just said that personally to me it is quite acceptable, so up-vote without doubt )))
Answer: "коэффициент эмиссии парниковых газов на единицу площади" or a slightly reduced version "энергокоэффициент парникового эффекта" would be a bit wordy but no less concise suggestion in my opinion.
Answer: Well, given the general Russian tendency to literally copy English terminology, almost word for word, this particular case poses one of the most misleading concepts since "footprint" appears to be of an ultimately metaphorical simile comprising both area and the trace left by carbon emissions per hectare, so, fair enough,it would be logical to perceive it as a proportion of carbon dioxide pollution per area unit, a required quotient  rather than just measurement.
Comment: Welsome to Russian.SO! On this site, you can edit your own answers (and when you gain enough reputation, even others' answers!) If you want to add to an answer, please just edit it rather than posting a new answer. Thanks!
Answer: I would translate with a verb like 'отнимает' or 'отбирает' or 'забирает'.
Means - takes from the whole consumption or from the whole energy production even better

Как по-русски будет "energy footprint"?


Should a writer be a good reader?

Question: Someone who wants to be a writer, has a good idea in his/her brain but is not much of a reader. Can that person be a good writer given that he/she has read a few novels but wants to write a great story.
What's your opinion/take?
Comment: Should a composer listen to music?
Comment: Do you mean a prolific reader? Not to nitpick, but even a decent writer should have a broader vocabulary, and pick a word more precise than good/bad, big/small etc.
Answer: Storytelling is a skill
Storytelling is not only a skill, it's a multi-faceted skill, a whole family of skills.  To describe a scene, to set a mood, to foreshadow things to come later on, to develop interesting and engaging characters, to draw the readers in and get them emotionally committed, to plot within scenes and across scenes in an order and manner which makes sense, feels thorough, yet doesn't drag on...
You can have an intriguing idea, but that's not enough to make you a good writer.
Do you need to spend your time reading books in order to become a good writer?  It helps.  You can see how other people have done things, learn from their techniques how better to accomplish this or that aspect of telling an engaging story.  Is this the only way to develop those skills?  Probably not.
If you grew up in a community of storytellers, if you've spent years telling tales in your neighborhood, to your younger siblings, to your children, you may have had a chance to discover and hone many of the techniques you need to succeed in telling a good tale.
If you haven't spent much time reading, but you've watched movies, and you've watched life, and you've soaked up the feel of it all, and now you have an idea of a story you'd like to put together...  You're only partway there.  A short story, a novel, a spoken tale, are different animals than a more visual medium.  Even if you can picture the scenes in your head, and have a good sense of how to fit a story together logically and engagingly...  Which details to you put in as you're writing?  Which details do you leave out?
If I were to describe the room around me in half a dozen words, which half-dozen words would communicate the mood of the room?  Should I talk about the bookshelf and its contents, or the chair I'm sitting in, or the already-dried exercise clothes, still hung up from this morning, flapping in the breeze of the ceiling fan?  Well, wouldn't the right words, the right aspect to reveal, depend on what I'm trying to say about the room, which would depend on the story I'm telling and the mood I want to set?
As with any skill, storytelling requires practice to do well, and reading the work of great storytellers will better inform you as to what to practice.  But there are other ways to get there.
An idea may be great, just as a face may be beautiful.  But there's more to sketching, painting, sculpting, than having a subject worthy of artistic endeavor.  You also need the skill, and one part of gaining a skill is studying others' work.
Comment: Besides what to include, the how is also a thing to think about.
Answer: Ask yourself, what is a successful or even great novel? To begin with, you as the writer have no input on the judgement of your work. That judgement lies entirely with your readers. When you write a novel (or any other creative work), you engage in a conversation between you as the writer and the readers of your work. That necessitates that there is common ground. You would not write a novel in Russian if you were targeting an English-speaking audience. You would not violate every convention of novel writing if you expected people to actually read the entire thing, particularly if the novel was your first one.
Think of every conversation that you have had. They follow certain protocols, certain patterns, certain conventions. The people on the other end of these conversations can take comfort in the familiarity of the interchange. The conversation works.
Reading novels, both great and awful, with a critical eye makes you as the prospective author aware of these patterns. If you have a mystery, there WILL be a dead body found early in the book; otherwise, you just have a mess that will confuse and turn off the reader who came searching for another good mystery to read.
There is also a whole universe of theories about story structure. Probably more than you can ever consume. Even if you did read all of them, they are not consistent with each other. Plus, there are great novels that ignore or bend the rules proposed by these theories. But I would be surprised to find that any of these rule-bending authors were ignorant of the rules.
I am not suggesting that you adhere to each and every one of these rules. Every author breaks some of the rules every time that they finish a scene. But the clever writers know that they are doing it, know the risks, and know the possible rewards. And if the readers see what they are doing and enjoy the results, that's OK.
Be a clever writer. Read everything that you can. Read the novels that you wish that you had written. Learn from the masters.
Answer: I think beginning to write is a great way to inspire reading. Reading is a process that can differ depending on the cause. If I feel inspired to write an essay on an unfamiliar topic, then I will likely dive right in and write a few lines before acknowledging my naivete. Eventually, my excitement will decay into the shame of having written garbage, but I will at least have more concrete questions to ask. And those questions can only be answered by reading the work of other minds.
Answer: A writer can always be a good reader. A writer feels, thinks & displays content on the paper. A writer always has direct connection with paper & pen. A a writer has habit of reading & writing his mistakes of reading can be quantitatively less and of course that totally depends on the person who are interacting with and what kind of a writer a person is.
Answer: There's a difference between a good reader and a vociferous one, so I'll assume your question isn't a duplicate of this one, about whether a novelist has to read many novels. But they are connected.
My answer to that question highlighted the value to novelists of reading non-fiction discussions of writing that condense well-worn insights; if nothing else, this is more efficient than reading a novel, seeing what three or four things you think you've learned about writing from seeing what it did, and repeating with the next novel. I bent over backwards to seek how, in learning how to write well, one could hypothetically minimize novels read, though I still didn't think it would go to zero (then again, you don't either).
If my proposed techniques work, it's because they teach you how to read novels well, then has you read carefully chosen ones. So the lesson for your question is that a novelist has to be a good reader in the sense of knowing how to learn from another writer. English literature lessons in school may have provided you with a perspective on this: what is the author doing, and why, and how? But that was more focused on understanding social context than how to write something publishable today.
Answer: Reading or listening to a written story told to you is the only way to witness examples of how to tell a story with just words. It's how you learn to craft pictures of the mind in the heads of your readers. Compare these three:

The streetlight flickering, unsteady shadows, a single man waiting.

Bob stood at the corner of mainstreat and first avenue. It rained. The light at this corner was defective. It flickered.

He stood at a corner, the flickering of the old bulb above him casting unsteady shadows in the puddle at his feet.

One is written as a poem, beautiful in it's own right, but not suitable to begin a story. The second example sounds rather rough, almost like a kid's essay. The last one takes what is essential to the picture and tries to make it one fluid description that reads easily.
Comment: Reading a lot is one way to avoid writing *it's* as a possessive.
Answer: A good writer does not have to be a good reader, but they often go hand in hand. There are some rare cases. There are those great genius writers who did not do well in school, like Scott Fitzgerald. He did so poorly in school and was not a great writer in the beginning, but was an amazing storyteller. I definitely think writing well is hard without proper education and reading skills. Reading will enhance your vocabulary immensely, give you fresh new ideas, strengthen your writing structure, and really help your writing improve.
Answer: YES.
At least, in the sense that the writer should try to read as much as possible. If you want to become a better writer (why else would you be here?) then you have to study the craft. As long as you keep reading and keep trying to read more, then you will get better. This is just a fundamental truth to writing. you have to take in writing so that you know how to structure sentences if you want them to be funny, or serious, or informative. Blog posts and such can help you with that, but if you want to progress faster, you just have to start reading more.

Should a writer be a good reader?


Delete web-based OneNote notebook

Question: I have a web-based OneNote notebook in my skydrive. So in the skydrive folder I only see a link to the notebook. I think that if I delete the link, then the notebook will be still out there, but I just won't have the link. So how do I delete the notebook itself? I can't find that delete button in either web or windows OneNote applications.
Answer: If you follow these directions you can delete a notebook. Be sure that you log into the OneDrive WEBSITE, very important.
Delete or restore files and folders
You can delete specific files on OneDrive, or you can delete entire folders and all the files in them.
Delete files and folders
From the OneDrive website
Go to the OneDrive website.
You might need to sign in with your Microsoft account.
Pick the items you want to delete by selecting the check box in the upper-right corner of items.
On the bar at the top of the page, tap or click Manage, choose Delete, and then tap or click Delete.
Note
If you delete items that are shared with you, they're moved to the owner's recycle bin. If you delete items from a group, they're permanently deleted.
In Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, or using the OneDrive desktop app
Restore deleted items
From the OneDrive website
In Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, or using the OneDrive desktop app
Note
Answer: To delete part of the notebook: browse the Notebok you will see the Tabs and Pages of the notebook on the right. Select a tab or a page and right click over the label, you should see an option labeled X Delete. Selecting this prompt to confirm deletion.
To delete the whole notebook. Select in SkyDrive and right click. In the pop-up menu select Delete. This will be removed but you can Undo it. To permanently delete empty the Recycle bin in the lower left.
Comment: Wouldn't the delete button on skydrive produce the same result as if I would delete it on my PC and then sync?

Delete web-based OneNote notebook


What are the factors in voting someone into the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Question: What are the determinant factors in voting someone into the Hall of Fame in baseball? Or any sport for that matter. Is it just statistics or is it more of what that player represented?
Answer: Imo I would say its a combination of the two. For instance Mark McGwire put up alot of good numbers (plenty good enough to get into the hall) but he admitted to using steroids and has yet to be voted in because of it.
So you do have to have good statistics but you also have to play the game the right way with integrity and sportsmanship.
It will be interesting to see how the voters vote now that we got more steroid users coming up on the Hall Ballot like Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemons, and Barry Bonds
Comment: @chris maybe but I dont necessarily want cheaters to make the hall either
Comment: So true. It's real unfortunate to see all the players with great stats get passed by because of substance abuse.


How to make your shirt shorter without sewing anything?

Question: I have a shirt that's too long, but I have no time to sew it or bring it to a shop. I don't like tucking it in, because it doesn't look nice. How do I make it shorter without cutting anything, and make it seem like I cut it shorter?
Comment: What kind of shirt is it? A button down buisness shirt or a t-shirt (with long or short sleeves)?
Comment: It's a cotton t-shirt with short sleeves.
Comment: Maybe it is a factory "second" that you can return to get the proper size?
Comment: Um no it's kind of a school shirt.
Answer:
Exchange it for a shorter one
Wash and tumble dry it on the hottest settings to shrink it; all my t-shirts shrink more vertically than they do horizontally
Use some hemming web, a heat based glue tape, to hem the t shirt shorter - check YouTube for tutorials on how to use it (faster than sewing)
Give it to a shop or relative who has the time to shorten it via the usual cut/hem method (sorry, some questions don't have a life hack, and there isn't a popular alternative to doing it properly because the proper way gives the best results for the least effort)
Answer: The answer to your question depends on if you're a man or a woman.  If you're a man I don't think I can help you.  If you're a woman, I have some ideas.
I don't know how many inches you have to work with, but you did say that it's a cotton shirt and that is great for these solutions.  They shouldn't take long.
If you have at least three inches to cut, you could cut off the hem and cut fringe into the bottom of the shirt.

If you want you could also tie knots in the fringe, like this.

Another option would be to tie a knot in your shirt hem like these examples.
Comment: Wow that's a creative idea! Never thought of that before. Even though I can't use it for this shirt (it's a school shirt), I could use it for other shirts. Thanks!


Storing Unopened Mozzarella

Question: I have an unopened vacuum packed ball of Mozzarella.  How long can I keep it refrigerated before it goes bad? I'm getting mixed answers.
Comment: Is there a date on the package? Most packaging will tell you a "best by" date. Can you explain what the "mixed answers" you're getting are?
Comment: Agree with Catija. Every package of vacuum-packed mozzarella I've ever bought has a "best by" or "use by" date.  The shelf-life accroding to that date usually depends on the type of mozzarella ("low moisture" or not, etc.), but it's generally anywhere from a month to a few months.
Comment: @Catija From my point of view, this is not only the answer, it is even the correct answer. As long as something offers a solution to the question, don't be afraid to post it as an answer, even if it is short and (to an experienced cook) obvious. Nobody says that an answer has to be long at profound, only that it should solve the problem.
Comment: @rumtscho I was hoping to get some further detail. I'm not a huge fan of answering questions that don't really have enough detail to answer.
Answer: My best advice would be to adhere to the manufacturer's guidelines, and push them at your own risk. Cheese doesn't usually go bad "all at once" but you can definitely get sick from eating spoiled or moldy cheeses.
The most common notice I have been able to find for various brands available for ordering online reads something like this:

Freshness is assured in unopened package until the date stamped on the front of the package.  Use within 3-5 days after opening or freeze up to 2 months.

Though, I have a bag of mozzarella in my freezer right now, which I purchased at the local supermarket, for which the manufacturer's note states it can be frozen up to 6 months.
Generally, the expected shelf-life of Mozzarella cheese depends on many factors, including:

How the cheese was produced. Some methods spoil faster than others. Typically low-mosture cheeses last much longer (some claiming 6 months or more).
The packaging. Some mozzarella (like other cheeses) comes in specially designed packaging that claims to prolong the life of the cheese.
The temperature of storage. Frozen cheese lasts significantly longer, around 6 times as long.
Answer: If you plan to store it a long time, refrigerate it more strongly - that is, freeze it. Not so good for the texture of fresh cheese, but does not affect the texture of melted cheese a bit.
Otherwise, there really is no hard and fast guideline - "vacuum packed cheese" is relatively well sanitized, but it's not sterile. Storage and handling conditions and the precise temperature of your fridge, and every storage condition back to the factory will have some impact.
Being cheese, if it looks good, it probably is good. If it looks bad, throw it out.
Based on various times when "string cheese" has been inexplicably less expensive than a pound package of mozzarella (despite much greater packaging expense) I'd give it a month or two easy if the fridge is cold and the package unopened.
Answer: Generally, it is safer to freeze cheeses for a long storage. However, anything two weeks or less is generally an okay period of time to keep cheese refrigerated, as long as it isn't exposed to air. This is how long it takes for a noticeable amount of bacteria/fungi to grow on moist foodstuffs.
Answer: Refrigeration and vacuum sealing allow a cheese to be not spoiled for a very long time.  Add to that the fact that most cheese are very low in carbs.
The only thing I'd worry about is the degradation of the product -- it doesn't matter how long there is no bacteria if the product starts becoming chewy or brittle or separated.  I don't think this will apply too much to mozzarella.
So with respect to your example, I'd go with several years as my answer (unless you see air being generated in the package..).  But make sure to check on the texture during your experiment to determine if the proteins are starting to break down.  This can be a simple as a taste test, since again, I'm not worried about the bacterial part.
I'm not a chef, and I'm not a food scientist.  Since the interweb answers are vague and generic, I get the impression that general rules apply, and that the consequences are not that bad.

Storing Unopened Mozzarella


HDMI audio on Raspberry pi 3 b not working

Question: I've already seen
Audio over HDMI not working on Pi 3 (audio not working though HDMI, but working though speakers)
 but the actions described by @Vader did not work for me.
The fact is that it worked at some time in the past, without configuring /boot/config.txt or any other thing, but now it does not anymore.
I have a SONY BRAVIA TV, and following the instructions from https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/README.md (edidparser output) I got all the specs from the TV, and I see:
<code>HDMI:EDID features - videodef 0x80 !standby !suspend !active off; colour encoding:RGB444|YCbCr422; sRGB is not default colourspace; preferred format is native; does not support GTF
....
HDMI:EDID parsing v3 CEA extension 0
HDMI:EDID monitor support - underscan IT formats:no, basic audio:yes, yuv444:yes, yuv422:yes, #native DTD:0
....
HDMI:EDID found audio format 2 channels PCM, sample rate: 32|44|48 kHz, sample size: 16|20|24 bits
....
HDMI:EDID best score mode is now DMT (39) 1360x768p @ 60 Hz with pixel clock 85 MHz (score 5188004)
</code>
I also see:
<code>$ /opt/vc/bin/tvservice -s
state 0x12000a [HDMI CEA (4) RGB lim 16:9], 1280x720 @ 60.00Hz, progressive
</code>
As @Vader said I modified the /boot/config.txt to have the following:
<code># uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=4

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
hdmi_drive=2
hdmi_force_edid_audio=1
</code>
I rebooted, and verified that the volume is right and not muted:
<code>$ amixer
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback -10239 - 400
  Mono: Playback -2 [96%] [-0.02dB] [on]
</code>
,that the sound is routed through HDMI:
<code>$ amixer cget numid=3
numid=3,iface=MIXER,name='PCM Playback Route'
  ; type=INTEGER,access=rw------,values=1,min=0,max=2,step=0
  : values=2
</code>
The sound driver is loaded:
<code>$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_bcm2835            24427  1
snd_pcm                98501  1 snd_bcm2835
snd_timer              23968  1 snd_pcm
snd                    70032  5 snd_timer,snd_bcm2835,snd_pcm
</code>
I compiled the /opt/vc/src/hello_pi/hello_audio/ application and ran it:
<code>$ sudo ./hello_audio.bin # I get sound though the speakers
Outputting audio to analogue

$ sudo ./hello_audio.bin 1 # I do not get sound in the TV though HDMI
Outputting audio to hdmi
</code>
I have the same behaviour with any application that I tested: speaker-test, aplay, lxmusic ... when I switch the audio output with amixer cset numid=3 2 or amixer cset numid=3 1
I do not have the .asoundrc and/or /etc/asound.conf files.
I uploaded an ALSA diagnosis file to:  http://www.alsa-project.org/db/?f=1c82d15d3df173fefc2b618f02cf7ccc172bf7d7, in case you want to see it (there you can find the output of alsactl )
The same HDMI cable and TV give sound with a windows barebone, so it is not a hw problem with those items. I doubt that it is a hw problem with the Rpi, because I borrowed another RPi3b and I tested it (same SD card) and it didn't work either.
My OS is Raspbian GNU/Linux 9.l
Any hint on what could have happened? Can I do something more to debug the issue?
Thanks in advance.
Comment: Try adding dtparam=audio=on to /boot/config.txt to enable the HDMI audio channel.
Answer: Please check in raspi-config Advanced Options that you are using the open GL Driver.
With the non-GL driver you will not be able to use digital sound.
Success!
Answer: It turned out that changing the HDMI cable did solve the issue, even with the default configuration of the RPi in raspbian 9.1. Maybe it was a too low quality HDMI cable, and as the Rpi pushes the data over the cable with very low power, the TV was not able to detect the signal.
It worked with the barebone, probably because the barebone was emiting with a higher power.


If a user (me) has a fundamental misunderstanding, shouldn't it be corrected?

Question: I had a fundamental misunderstanding of what an IP was. Instead of putting it on hold, shouldn't an answer be posted describing my misunderstanding, correcting it, and then answer the question? Or are non-professionals discouraged from this site?
Here is another example.
Answer: In some cases, I would say yes, a misunderstanding should be corrected by an answer.  In the case of fundamental misunderstandings, or false assumptions that form the basis of a question, we certainly have users who feel that this is automatic grounds for closure, and although I don't know that I 100% agree with that in many cases, it's probably generally appropriate.
In the case of the your specific question, I would say that the appropriate course of action was taken.   Because of your misunderstanding, it's hard to really know what the question is at all, and I suspect that underneath the covers it will not turn out to be an information security question, but a basic networking question, which would be off-topic for this site in any case.
So, while I agree with you that there are cases where questions in which the poster does not understand how something works should indeed be corrected by an answer, I would suggest that is only the case when the question is clear, clearly on-topic for the site, and not overly broad.
Comment: An answer post being used to correct a misunderstanding is not generally going to work. Commentary describing the problem so that the OP can post a new question that correctly describes the problem is much more useful.
Comment: Exactly. I would also add that while it is perfectly legitimate to make mistakes, a basic amount of research is expected to have been done before asking the question. If the question is based on an extreme lack of basics, then it shouldn't be asked. As a rough, general rule of thumb, I tend to use "the Wikipedia article with the same name as the exact topic under question" as a general guideline for "basic research".
Answer: No. Your question was confusing. Leaving it open would likely lead to answers of low quality and relevance being added to it. That doesn't help anyone.
But being up on hold isn't the same as being deleted. From the help section:

Questions that need additional work or that are not a good fit for this site may be put on hold by experienced community members. While questions are on hold, they cannot be answered, but can be edited to make them eligible for reopening.

IMO, your question needed "additional work". As I didn't see your question until after it had been closed, I'm not sure if I would have voted to close it or not. Still, I added a comment trying to explain to you what was wrong with the question. s
Assuming that you are still interested, if you edit the question so that it is not confusing, it should get reopened.


Private Key in HD Account Bither Watch Only

Question: I have a watch only HD account in Bither and I've got a password of the wallet but I don't have a private Key. I need to send  BTC received in that account to another address in another account
Answer: If you don't have the private key, you cannot spend the bitcoin in a watch-only wallet. There is no way to find, calculate, or recover a private key for a given address.
After all, if you were able to do that, Bitcoin, and many other systems that use public key cryptography, would be broken.
Beware: some scams involve a scammer telling you to pay for access to a private key for an address that was set up as a watch-only address. If this sounds like the situation you are in, so not send the scammer any money, you will likely receive nothing in return.
Comment: How can I draw my BTC from that account? Is there any way to prove my identity? Passport or any other identity card?
Comment: You cannot. BTC transaction's require no identification, and there is no central admin to orchestrate such a thing in any case. Where did you get the watch only address from in the first place?
Comment: I created it in Bither. It is an HD account and i gave the address but now i don't have any private key
Comment: *"I gave the address"* -> yes, where did you get that address in the first place?
Comment: I created it in Bither
Comment: So Bither has the private key, presumably?
Comment: @RuiFazendeiro Are you trying to use Bither in its offline mode? It should be quite intuitive. Did you have another offline device with Bither (cold) installed, which generated your wallet in the beginning?
Comment: @PieterWuille It's not straightforward to import xpub into Bither. It seemed to be designed to be used in pairs, one is online but watch-only (hot), and the other is offline (cold).
Answer: The answer is in two parts and you must have two separate devices (two phones / or a Phone & computer) in front of you:
Part 1:

Open your orignal Bither app and make sure to highlight (dark blue) the HD Account section on the Upper Left side of the app.
Then select the H [HD Account] Icon
A Query box will open with two choices:
a..HD Account Seed QR Code
b..HD Account Seed Phrase
Select option (a.) HD Account Seed QR Code
The QR Code will appear and keep it visible on the screen.

Part 2: (Switch to the device with the new Bither App)

If not already accomplished, download a new Bither app on an Iphone or Android.
IMPORTANT: When setting up this new Bither account on that device DO NOT select the + (plus or add) option.
Instead, go to Settings icon and select Advanced Options
Then select Import Private Key
Then select from Bither Private Key QR Code
At this point the device's camera should activate (turn on automatically)
Using the second device's camera, scan the QR code from the other device (from part 1 / step #5 above).
Your HD Account will be imported into the your new Bither application and you will now be able to access your $$$.

Let me know if you succeed?
Basically, your first Bither application was outdated and it was unable to provide a current Private Key format, nor did it show any funds available in the original HD Account. At least mine didn't before I completed the above steps.
Best regards,
Scott
Comment: Bither supports offline signing, doesn't it? The private keys/mnemonic words/HD seed doesn't need to be transferred out, unless the offline signing functionality is broken.