How can I prevent checkmate in this position?

Question: It is White's turn to move. How can White avoid a checkmate?
[FEN "8/1kpP2q1/1p2P1p1/1P3pP1/5p1K/5P2/6P1/R7 w - - 0 1"]

Answer: Initial Analysis
White is clearly in a dire situation, since Black is threatening mate in one on either h7 or h8 if White doesn't do anything. But the White king can't move nor can White get rid of any of the pawns that surround the king. White's rook, the only White piece, is too far away to do anything. The move 1. Ra8? to try and stop 1... Qh8# fails to 1... Qh7#. Promoting White's pawn with 1. d8=Q? also fails to 1... Qh7#. So what can White do now?
Assessment Of Available Options
In order to prevent Black from moving the Black queen, White must give a check to the Black king so that Black is legally obligated to move the king instead of the queen. However, what check is there for White to give? Ra7+ doesn't work because the Black king will just take it and White cannot stop both mating threats. It seems that White is totally losing.
However!
There is only one move that can save White, which often goes unseen by many first-time problem solvers: underpromotion to a knight with check: 1. d8=N+! After 1... Kb8 (not 1... Kc8?, as that allows  2. Ra8#), White can forcibly checkmate Black in 4 moves with a constant stream of checks as any non-checking move loses. Therefore, White is not losing as it seemed before!
[FEN "8/1kpP2q1/1p2P1p1/1P3pP1/5p1K/5P2/6P1/R7 w - - 0 1"]

1. d8=N+ Kb8 2. Nc6+ Kb7 3. Ra7+ Kc8 4. Ra8+ Kb7 5. Rb8#

It is important to note that while 2. Nf7 seems like an option to block the Black queen, it actually loses as Black can then play 2... Qxa1!, and it is checkmate on the next move with 3... Qh1# no matter what White plays.
Answer: 1.d8=N+ is necessary to avoid losing, but it also gives White a forced win after 1...Kb8 (1...Kc8 runs into 2.Ra8#) 2.Nc6+ Kb7 (2...Kc8 3.Ra8+ transposes) 3.Ra7+ Kc8 4.Ra8+ Kb7 5.Rb8#.
Answer: This is actually a cool position. Although, not easy to see as first sight, white can execute an Arabian Checkmate. Like others mentioned, executing the move d8=N+ is the only move that saves white from checkmate. This would force a check, but also allow white to win with a maximum of 4 moves proceeding an Arabian Checkmate.
Answer: It's an underpromotion problem, with promotion to a knight on d8 with check by 1.d8(N)+ to avoid checkmate by the black queen on the ensuing move on the "h" file.  All ensuing white moves must be with check for the same reason. If 1..., Kc8 then 2. Ra8# is mate, so the king must go to b8 with 1..., Kb8 after which White can follow up with 2. Nc6+ Kb7 (or 2..., Kc8 3. Ra8+ Kb7 4. Rb8#) 3. Ra7+ Kc8 4. Ra8+ Kb7 5. Rb8#.


What is the easiest way to monitor a 120v line via software?

Question: I'm wanting to count how often a water pump turns on, how long it's on for and when it turns off for an extended period of time. My plan was just to monitor the pressure switch, which is at 120v on 1 leg and write the data into a MSSQL database. What's the best way to get this data safely?
Comment: Related: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/7728/2118
Answer:
My plan was just to monitor the pressure switch, which is at 120v on 1 leg

The most common methods would be to use current (I) sensor to detect current flow when the pressure switch is activated (engaged). Such as Hall effect IC sensor, current transformer, or high voltage input Opto-isolator.

What's the best way to get this data safely?

Using a current detection method that also provides circuit isolation from the AC mains to your digital interface. Basic isolation methods include galvanic isolated (no current flow between isolated sides), opto-isolation (optical), and capacitor-coupled isolators.
I believe the most basic, yet low cost and non-invasive method of monitoring would be to use a split-core current transformer such as SCT-013-000 (US) (or UK). As you only are interested in on/off you can use a voltage divide circuit to meet digital logic level thresholds or make use of an ADC if available on the microcontroller assuming you are using one.

The load resistor (R_burden in the voltage divide circuit) value is based upon the current range, which depends on your motor. If the motor is 1 HP (horsepower) 110-120V motor, let's assume it is rated at 750 Watts (replace with actual specs from motor), so the current range is less than 8 Amps, let's round that to 10 Amp. Using the previously suggested current transformer sensor, with a turn ratio of 1:1500, that would be:
10 Amp (rms) * sqrt(2) = 14.142... Amps (peak-peak)
14.142 A / 1500 turn ratio = 0.0094 A = 9.4mA (secondary coil)
2.5 V / 0.00942.. A = ~ 265 Ohm R_burden so as to provide a mid-point (2.5 V) output at 5 Amp, or full-range  (5 V) at 10 Amp for 5 V dc logic level.
Since the power (P = I*V) is 0.01 Watt, a 1/4 Watt resistor would be fine.

From there you should be able to interface a low-level (voltage & current) signal to whatever device you wish to use to send such data to the computer with the (logging) database. Typically a microcontroller with an ADC (analog to digital converter) and a serial, Ethernet, or USB interface would be the "glue" device between the sensor's circuit and the database computer. (IMHO MS-SQL is overkill (and expensive), SQLite would be fine)
If you are not familiar with microcontrollers, I would suggest using one with a friendly high-level easy to user interface, and hobbyist-oriented presentation such as the Arduino or PIC-AXE. They are more expensive than a stand alone or "naked" microcontroller per device or board, but the development environment is more newbie friendlier and for an one-off the one unit cost may be offset by the not having to purchase a SDK, reference documentation, or 3rd-party tools (high level language compilers) for a more traditional device such as the Atmel AVR or Microchip PIC microcontrollers.
Answer: These pages contain very interesting information on how to sense voltage and current in a non-invasive way. Have a look at it :)
Comment: Those pages do have good information right now (two months after you posted), but it will be better if you can summarize/quote (use the `"` button) the relevant parts of those pages.  If that link goes dead, your answer is pretty useless as is...
Answer: I'd put a current transformer in the supply to the pump, and monitor the rectified output with a suitable MCU, sending the data with a time stamp to the data base.
Answer: mctylr briefly mentions a Hall effect sensor, and that's a good solution. Allegro is a well-known supplier of Hall sensors, like the ACS712.

"Rectified Output. 3.3 V scaling and rectification application
  for A-to-D converters. Replaces current transformer solutions with simpler
  ACS circuit. C1 is a function of the load resistance and filtering desired.
  R1 can be omitted if the full range is desired." (from the datasheet)

[Added - Note: In this context  - as an on/off sensor - the above circuit is fine - but it is incredibly non-linear if magnitude signal measurement is desired, as the diode drop is outside the ACS712' control loop. The ACS712 is ~=$3 in small quantity - adding even a cheap opamp will greatly enhance cct performance. Allegro should be ashamed. See above data sheet application 2 page 12 for a vastly superior circuit. Take output after D1 - FET circuitry not needed - RMc.]
Adam mentions the optocoupler solution.

In this and this answer I extensively describe how to use this.
Comment: @Stevenh Just came across this answer 2.5 years on. The 1st circuit is terrible in many cases if measument of signal level is wanted. It comes straight off application 4, page 12 of the data sheet that you cite, so Allegro are at fault. As a quick and ready solution it has its place but the diode plays havoc with the linearity of the signal.  Using the application 2 cct immediately above it up to the cathode of D1 is VASTLY superior. It needs an opamp but gives a "precision rectifier" and very very much better results..
Answer: I'd connect this switch through optocoupler to DCD pin on PC serial port or one of the data pins on the parallel port
Comment: Interesting. Then you just write an app that listens on that port? Would I need a resistor in serial of the 120v side?
Answer: When I've done this in the past I've used an AC optoisolater, such as this Vishay SFH620A from Digikey, and a suitable resistor.  Put the resistor in series with the optoisolator input, then connect to the AC line.  The output will be active when there is AC power on the line, and will be inactive when there's no power.
There will be inactivity during each zero crossing, so you might want to use a capacitor on the output to provide a smooth output signal which will drop shortly after the power goes off.
Then you can connect the output to anything that you can use to log the usage.
Answer: I know I'm late but for those that follow, the Fairchild HCPL-3700 will directly take AC or DC from 5 to 240 volts and produce a logic output.
Answer: With a LM324 using two of its four Op Amps in comparator mode like in this schematic:

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab


Does it matter which way Torbjörn's turret faces?

Question: Seeing how there is no rotate function when placing a turret, does it matter at all which way Torbjörn's turret faces when planting it?  Are there any advantages, like perhaps a faster turn speed or detection speed in specific directions? Or does it not matter which way it faces.
Answer: I will have to say it does matter which direction the Turret is facing.
The turret will default to the position it was facing when first created, so there will be a slight delay between a forward facing turret and a backwards facing turret when an enemy is in LOS.
Although given discussions on rebrn, it seams the rotation speed is near instantaneous, but not 0, so it is a matter of milliseconds.
For Pro players, it probably matters, but for the casual bunch it shouldn't.
EDIT:
As per further request, and of course my bad for not adding this, here is how fast the turret rotates 180' It clearly takes some time and is much better to have the turret facing the enemies, than having it turn away after a clutch.

Judging by the video and Youtube's .25 play speed. It took a second for the turret to rotate 180'(MAYBE 1.25 seconds).
Comment: Just because the client _shows_ the turret turning doesn't mean there is actually a turn wait-time on the server.  I created  the bounty hoping someone would do some **SCIENCE™** to figure that out.  Both answers are currently just speculation.
Comment: That video is definitely not current, my experience is that the turret turns **way** faster than that.
Comment: I feel like the only way to satisfy the bounty is with a frame by frame comparison video showing what the small amount of actual time is, mixed with server recognition of someone being hit. Things outside of my technical ability :)
Comment: @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft My bad, refer to my edited answer.
Comment: @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft i would agree, however there is a turnspeed, you can sneak from behind and not get shot the moment you round a corner.
Comment: @Mayshar It most likely is, however my specs are too low for me to be able to run the game and recording software and get proper data out. Other than that it's not too hard to stretch a 5s video in windows movie maker, and analyse that
Answer: Torbjorn's turret instantly detects enemies and if there's a turn speed, it hasn't been noticeable to me. Therefore, you shouldn't need to worry about which way the turret is facing when placing it.
Comment: There is a turn speed, but it's a lot faster than TF2s.
Comment: I have to imagine there is technically a turn/aim speed, but in practice, it doesnt appear to matter in the game. Its most likely milliseconds if anything.
Answer: Yes, there are advantages to certain orientations of the turret during placement, although they are fairly minor. The specifics of this depend on what you're trying to accomplish with your turret. There are two main approaches to this that I've seen.
Out in the open: The turret is placed near an objective or chokepoint so that it has a large field of view to engage enemies. This also means that it will be in plain sight, so it's up to your team to keep the enemy focused on them rather than your turret. In this scenario, there's a small benefit to pointing the turret toward the locations that enemies are most likely to appear since it negates the brief (but not entirely negligible) rotation speed that occurs before it can begin firing at the enemy. This answer does a great job of examining the rotation speed of the turret, so I won't go into that any further.
Tucked away: The turret is placed somewhere that isn't immediately obvious, such as in a side room, with the intent of surprising the enemy. One tactic involves placing the turret on a health pack, which will not only heal the turret if it takes damage, but also increase the likelihood of finishing off an enemy that was already low on health and in need of the boost. Since the turret projects a laser that is visible to enemy attackers, pointing the turret toward a location that enemies are likely to come from can give away its position. This can allow enemy heroes to avoid the trap or destroy the turret before it can fire at them (particularly in the case of heroes such as Junkrat or Pharah who are capable of splash damage). In this scenario, it is more advantageous to point the turret into a nearby wall so that the laser will not be noticed by the enemy until it is able to fire at them.
In either of these two cases, I would consider these advantages to be fairly minor, but they can make a difference if you're trying to optimize your placement. I hope that helps!
Comment: @BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft I disagree. The question asked whether there are advantages to which way the turret is facing, with rotation speed being given as one possibility. It wasn't worded as "how does rotation speed affect turret placement". My answer provides a different possible consideration that wasn't mentioned in other answers.
Comment: _"This answer does a great job of examining the rotation speed of the turret, so I won't go into that any further"_ - That's the entire question... The rest of this answer is irrelevant.
Answer: I found this on a Torbjorn play guide that seems relevant:

When putting a turret down, the turret will face the same direction that Torbjorn was facing when he puts it down.  This is important to know because the turret will always default to that direction when not firing at enemies and it will always take slightly longer for the turret to turn around and start firing at targets behind the turret.  So always face the direction where you think the turret will be firing at more often for a faster firing response time.

This implies that the turret will shoot behind, but when not actively shhoting will default back to the direction it was built in. Therefore, building facing towards a choke-point or known approach would be slightly beneficial as it will need to turn less before shooting.


Image segmentation generates inclusions and is not smooth

Question: I am performing segmentation using opencv, but the segmented image has regions with breaks and also the border isn't smooth. How can I handle this problems?
Answer: If I understand correctly, you need to use erosion and dilation morphological filter.
To ged rid of inclusion, like below ring finger, blob detection would be helpful, to detect small blob and erase it (meassure its area and decide based on that).
As for continuity, simple blur after errosion helps to get it smoother, if effect is too small, then use contour trace and smooth it via curves (RDP algorithm, convert it to Catmull-Rom or B-spline and smooth it from here). If you take curves approach, take the contour and discard rest, it automatically solves component inclusions.
The inclusion in index finger is too big to be handled by erosion and dilation, as it may change geometry too much.  Fast idea is to generate circles of estimated radius (you know from scale or further detection that finger should be say 40px wide), so circles should push contour of finger, standardizing it's size). With curves, it is quite simple to handle checking distance to "parallel" wall.
Another approach is to take skeleton and draw fingers yourself, but this requires separate palm handling.
Comment: Thanks a lot,will try to incorporate your suggestion in my code.Will get back to you.


Cache tags with Ehcache

Question: I have 2 functions: first
public String doA(Integer userId, String someValue)

that I want to cache (taking into account parameters of function), and second
public String doB(Integer userId)

that should drops cache of function "doA" for current userId.
Does Ehcache support something like memcached tags or anything other that can helps me? Or may be anybody knows how I can solve my problem using ehcache annotations?
Answer: Ehcache annotations should do the trick.
Ehcache annotations let you (in fact, require you) to declare which cache applies to each method.
As I recently discovered ...

Cache tags with Ehcache


What are the Church Laws governing ingredients and shapes of altar bread in the Catholic Church?

Question: There appears to be perfect uniformity in the texture and make of the Sacramental Bread in Catholic churches all across the world. I wish to know if there are any laws governing the ingredients and method of preparation of the Sacramental Bread in the Roman Catholic Church? I also wish to know why the Holy Host administered to the faithful is perfectly round in shape whereas it could have been given the shape of `having been broken', say square, in order to avoid waste while it is  being cut from a larger bread.
Answer:
Can.  924 §2. The bread must be only wheat and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling.
[…]
Can.  926 According to the ancient tradition of the Latin Church, the priest is to use unleavened bread in the eucharistic celebration whenever he offers it.

Regarding the shape, canonist Dom Augustine, O.S.B., commentates on the 1917 Code Can. 815, the equivalent of 1983 Can.  924 quoted above:

As to the form of the bread, round hosts are used in the Latin Church, whereas the Oriental Church employs square hosts.9 The size of the host for Holy Mass and exposition in the Ostensorium should be from two to three and of the particles for distribution about one inch. The altar breads should be neither too thick nor too thin.10

Benedict XIV, Di Sac. Missæ, I, c. 6 [De Hoſtia, "On the Host"].

Prümmer, l. c. [Manuale Theologiæ Moralis], III, n. 171.

Also, round hosts are made with an iron, so there is no "waste while it is being cut from a larger bread". This baking machine makes hosts and particles:
Comment: The first part is good. The second does not answer where this is defined (and is outdated).
Comment: @K-HB I added the footnotes. Also, the ['83 Code commentary on Can. 924](https://books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&pg=PA1116) says nothing about the shape.
Answer: What are the Church laws governing ingredients and shape of altar bread in the Catholic Church?
First of all let us start with Canon Law for the Roman Rite:

Can. 924 §2. The bread must be only wheat and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling.
Can. 926]1 According to the ancient tradition of the Latin Church, the priest is to use unleavened bread in the eucharistic celebration whenever he offers it.

The 1990 Code of Canon Law states the following for Eastern rite Catholics:

Canon 706 - In the Divine Liturgy the sacred gifts which are offered are bread made of wheat alone and recently made so that there is no danger of corruption and natural wine of the grape and not corrupt.

In the Latin Rite of the Church the bread is to be made with wheat and water only. Nothing may be added to the recipe, and the introduction of materials such as baking powder, salt, and honey render the bread that is used illicit. In the Eastern Rites, leaven may be added to the bread.

[48.] The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. It follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament. It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools.
[49.] By reason of the sign, it is appropriate that at least some parts of the Eucharistic Bread coming from the fraction should be distributed to at least some of the faithful in Communion. "Small hosts are, however, in no way ruled out when the number of those receiving Holy Communion or other pastoral needs require it",[126] and indeed small hosts requiring no further fraction ought customarily to be used for the most part. - Redemptionis Sacramentum

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a great article on this subject:

Bread is one of the two elements absolutely necessary for the sacrifice of the Eucharist. It cannot be determined from the sacred text whether Christ used the ordinary table bread or some other bread specially prepared for the occasion. In the Western Church the altar-breads were probably round in form. Archaeological researches demonstrate this from pictures found in the catacombs, and Pope St. Zephyrinus (A.D. 201-219) calls the altar-bread "coronam sive oblatam sphericae figurae". In the Eastern churches they are round or square. Formerly the laity presented the flour from which the breads were formed. In the Eastern Church the breads were made by consecrated virgins; in the Western Church, by priests and clerics (Benedict XIV, De Sacrif. Missae, I, section 36). This custom is still in vogue in the Armenian Church. The earliest documentary evidence that the altar-breads were made in thin wafers is the answer which Cardinal Humbert, legate of St. Leo IX, made at the middle of the eleventh century to Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople. These wafers were sometimes very large, as from them small pieces were broken for the Communion of the laity, hence the word "particle" for the small host; but smaller ones were used when only the celebrant communicated.
For valid consecration the hosts must be:
•made of wheaten flour,
•mixed with pure natural water,
•baked in an oven, or between two heated iron moulds, and
•they must not be corrupted (Miss. Rom., De Defectibus, III, 1).
If the host is not made of wheaten flour, or is mixed with flour of another kind in such quantity that it cannot be called wheat bread, it may not be used (ibid.). If not natural but distilled water is used, the consecration becomes of doubtful validity (ibid., 2). If the host begins to be corrupt, it would be a grievous offence to use it, but it is considered valid matter (ibid., 3.) For licit consecration:
•the bread must be, at present unleavened in the Western Church, but leavened bread in the Eastern Church, except among the Maronites, the Armenians, and in the Churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria, where it is unleavened. It is probable that Christ used unleavened bread at the institution of the Blessed Eucharist, because the Jews were not allowed to have leavened bread in their houses on the days of the Azymes. Some authors are of the opinion that down to the tenth century both the Eastern and Western Churches used leavened bread; others maintain that unleavened bread was used from the beginning in the Western Church; still others hold that unleavened or leavened bread was used indifferently. St. Thomas (IV, Dist. xi, qu. 3) holds that, in the beginning, both in the East and West unleavened bread was used; that when the sect of the Ebionites arose, who wished that the Mosaic Law should be obligatory on all converts, leavened bread was used, and when this heresy ceased the Latins used again unleavened bread, but the Greeks retained the use of leavened bread. Leavened bread may be used in the Latin Church if after consecration the celebrant adverts to the fact that the host before him has some substantial defect, and no other than leavened bread can be procured at the time (Lehmkuhl, n. 121, 3). A Latin priest travelling in the East, in places in which there are no churches of his rite, may celebrate with leavened bread. A Greek priest travelling in the West may, under similar circumstances, celebrate with unleavened bread. For the purpose of giving Viaticum, if no unleavened bread be at hand, some say that leavened may be used; but St. Liguori, (bk. VI. n. 203, dub. 2) says that the more probable opinion of theologians is that it cannot be done.
•The hosts must be recently made (Rit. Rom., tit. iv, cap. i, n. 7). The rubrics do not specify the term recentes in speaking of the hosts. In Rome, the bakers of altar-breads are obliged to make solemn affidavit that they will not sell breads older than fifteen days, and St. Charles, by a statute of the Fourth Synod of Milan, prescribed that hosts older than twenty days must not be used in the celebration of Mass. In practice, therefore, those older than three weeks ought not to be used.
•Round in form, and not broken.
•Clean and fair, of a thin layer, and of a size conformable to the regular custom in the Latin Church. In Rome the large hosts are about three and one-fifth inches in diameter; in other places they are smaller, but should be at least two and three-fourths inches in diameter. The small hosts for the Communion of the laity should be about one and two-fifths inches in diameter (Schober, S. Alphonsi Liber de Caeremoniis Missae, p. 6, footnote 9). When a large host can not be obtained Mass may be said in private with a small host. In cases of necessity, such as permitting the people to fulfil the precept of hearing Mass, or administering Viaticum, the Mass may be also said with a small host but, as liturgists say, to avoid scandal the faithful should be advised.
As a rule the image of Christ crucified should be impressed on the large host (Cong. Sac. Rit., 6 April, 1834), but the monogram of the Holy Name (Ephem. Lit., XIII, 1899, p. 686), or the Sacred Heart (ibid., p. 266) may also be adopted.
  The altar-breads assumed different names according as they had reference to the Eucharist as a sacrament or as a sacrifice: bread, gift (donum), table (mensa) allude to the Sacrament, which was instituted for the nourishment of our soul; oblation victim, host, allude to sacrifice. Before the tenth century the word "host" was not employed, probably because before this time the Blessed Eucharist was considered more frequently as a sacrament than as a sacrifice, hence the Fathers use such expressions as communion (synaxis), supper (coena), breaking of bread, etc., but at present the word "host" is used when referring to the Eucharist either as a sacrament or as a sacrifice. In the liturgy it is used:
•for the bread before its consecration, "Suscipe sancte Pater . . . hanc immaculatam hostiam" (Offertory of the Mass);
•for Christ under the appearance of the Eucharistic Species, "Unde et memores . . . hostiam puram, hostiam sanctam, hostiam immaculatam" (Mass, after the consecration). - Altar Bread (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Here is an example of an Altar Bread manual baking machine 3/16 medium cast iron for Holy Mass Communion Hosts wafer from Vaticanum.

Most Eastern Churches traditionally use leavened bread for the Eucharist and this would be a requirement for the licit celebration of the Eucharist in those Churches.

For the laity, Communion is always given on the tongue and via intinction. However, the Byzantine Rite uses leavened bread in the confection of the Eucharist. Small pieces of the Host, usually sliced in very small cubes, are placed into the chalice with the Precious Blood. Then, each communicant comes forward receiving both the Body and Blood of our Lord through a small liturgical spoon.

In the Eastern Churches, the prosfora loaf is made of leavened bread. Communion is served on a golden spoon and dropped into the open mouth of the communicant by the priest or deacon.

This is an example of a Russian-style prosphora seal, for five small identical loaves.
A little note on gluten- free hosts:

In 2003, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in a letter that "hosts that are completely gluten-free are invalid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist."
The 2003 letter also acknowledged that "low-gluten hosts (partially gluten-free) are valid matter, provided they contain a sufficient amount of gluten to obtain the confection of bread without the addition of foreign materials and without the use of procedures that would alter the nature of bread." This language about gluten-free and low-gluten hosts is exactly the same as that contained in the recent letter. - Explainer: What the "new" Vatican rules on gluten-free hosts mean
Comment: In my place, a special variety of wheat namely,  the durum wheat is used to make the host, on account of its special properties like hardness and ability to make thin wafers.


What are good questions to ask for a black belt testing?

Question: I am a 4th Degree in American Karate. The dojo I have recently become a part of has a number of Black Belt candidates, and I will be serving on the panel. I don't have much experience attending black belt testings outside of my own, so I'm not sure what type of questions I should ask the candidates during the interview portion of their test. I would like some input from the martial arts community about what kinds of questions you have encountered, or what a few good questions for the candidates may be.
Comment: Will there be other people on the panel? Have you consulted with them about it?
Comment: There will be a total of 5-8 Black Belts on the panel, some of with whom I am familiar, others not. We won't likely discuss the questions to be asked in advance of the interview portion, which is why I would like a plethora of questions readily available, in case other judges ask similar questions to those I have prepared.
Comment: This feels like weird to me (not saying its a bad question). We didnt had any "interview" at my tests (in judo). People trust the coaches decision, if your coach send you in, basicly he's vooching for you and thats enough.
Answer: This is an interesting question, there isn't really any one right answer.
Asking them questions regarding their character is not really appropriate. They should have been training at a particular dojo for some time, and a lot should already be known about their character before they are invited to grade. Therefore asking character oriented questions at the grading is mostly redundant.
This leaves philosophical and theoretical questions. Philosophical questions can give you insight into their understanding of the spiritual and moral side of the art, and show any gaps (or negative leanings) in their understanding. Philosophical questions should be quite open ended, i.e.:

what is the meaning of the way of the open hand?
how will your responsibilities change once you have received your black belt?
how do you deal with someone who pesters you to show them some of those cool black belt moves?
you have mastered a particular technique; what do you do next?
some people want you to set up a dojo of your own, what are your thoughts on that?

These questions don't necessarily have a definitively right answer, but they certainly do have wrong answers.
The theoretical questions could include testing the candidates knowledge of the history of the dojo and/or style, or questioning them on applications of techniques which haven't been covered during the practical side of the grading.
Traditionally shodan gradings push the candidate to their physical limit, there is no reason why you shouldn't test their mental limits as well :)
Answer: "What does a black belt mean to you?"
"What would it mean if you did not receive your black belt today?"
"Are you ready to wear a black belt?"
"What is the difference between you wearing a white belt and you wearing a black belt?"
"Imagine you are in a fist fight - the other person has just started throwing the first strike, and you haven't started moving yet. What are all the things you may have done wrong to get you in that situation?"
Answer: In our dojo this is what we do for the Shotokan black belt exam (1st dan):

We i.e. each student, does 15 different Kihon (or combination) that have been extracted from one of the katas used in the exam. In our dojo it is customary to choose one of the upper katas of this exam to extract the kihon. Typically it is Bassai dai. Each kihon is repeated 5 times.
The katas that are, in order of execution, 5 x Heian katas (they are all done in one of the non-std ways e.g. from the last stance technique to the first, forward instead backward defence or attack or vice versa. In our dojo normal implies starting from the left so non-standard excludes the left start version of any of the 5 heian katas.
Then we do Tekki Shodan (but you need to know Tekki Nidan and Sandan), after this we do bassai dai, Tomari Bassai, Jion and finally Kankudai. In total 11 katas.
We then have our own kata which is performed first as a kata followed by the bunkai version of the same kata. We call this 'The Invented' Kata and is based on at least 15 different combinations of the kihon you find in the 11 katas listed in point 2. Each student has to hand-in the embusen of their invented kata. Two students can share the same kata.
We then have our dojo kata-kumite which has a total of 26 combinations. We ask any 6 of these combinations.
The next step is a 90 to 120 second sparring session with a fellow black or brown belt. Full contact is allowed or rather not frowned upon. From this year we have decided to make protective gear compulsory.
We then have to illustrate and explain one referee rule of kumite such as Yame, Points assignment etc. The sensei can ask you any other aspect of refereeing.
We then discuss our thesis. The thesis for a 1st dan is always about the journey taken by the karateka being examined e.g. how he or she got there and the difficulties encountered. There is also a discussion on different styles and/or a specific historical period of karate.

The whole exam lasts about 45mins. At the end the examination committee hands in the examination sheet (and verdict) which addresses all of the 7 points mentioned. A score is given to all students.
One last thing all students have heart beat monitors and their heart beats registration is graphed and displayed after the exam is completed.
Typically students work at about 85-95% (for all the exam) of their limit but higher is not uncommon. Exams occur every 6 months and at least 6mths have to go by since the last kyo was taken. Diplomas are issued within 15mins of completing the exam which includes the black belt ceremony for graduating 1st Dans.
The heart beat (HB) monitor is used to monitor the performance of the karateka during the exam. It is used principally for three reasons:

To compare performance across age groups and levels of preparation.
In general those who know the kata have a HB that matches the moments when energy is released and recovered. If you read kanazawa' black belt book you will notice both a correlation between speed, force, rythm and breathing. Those at higher Dan levels and with more experience especially competition experience have a distinct HB trace and you can see who really knows the kata.
To see the performance level of the karateka duringe the exam. Hence if your HB is below your threshold for maximum performance (a simple equation is 220HB minus your age) you will see it on the trace. You will be surprised to see how a karateka also tackles a drop in performance as the exam progresses. In this case the kata slows down, the HB lowers, recovery is slower and mistakes can be clearly seen.
To compare karate styles when we have two or more different schools participating at the same exam or exam level. For example, we have compared Shotokan to Goju. The former being much more intense with a HB typically around 95% or higher. So a shotokan karateka of an age of 20years would perform at typically around 190 heart beats per minute and if he or she is well prepared then the HB rate will either increase or remain stable for all the kata that I mentioned in the previous post.

Hope this helps.
David
Comment: why the heart beat monitor?
Answer: The most common question I've heard asked at my school is "what does being a black belt mean to you?"
This question is very broad and open ended. It provides insight into how a person has evaluated oneself up to that point in time, and potentially what a person will do upon receiving one.
Answer: Many of the other answers are good.
At my test I was asked questions about the lineage of my style - who the founder of the style was, who my teacher learned from, basic stuff like that.
You might also want to ask questions about what techniques, forms, etc. the student feels are his or her best - it'll give you an idea of what to look for during the testing, and whether the student has an accurate view of his or her own abilities.
Answer: Some good suggestions here. I would like to add:

What are your thoughts about why we have these tests in general, and black belt test in particular?
What would you like to improve?
You are away/travelling/on vacation: Can you mention (and show?) some good exercises to do?
Answer: There are going to be a lot of different suggestions to this, a few that we use at our testings:

Number of moves, kihaps, meaning and philosophy of colored belt ranks
What is the hardest challenge you overcame on your way to black belt?
What would you say to a brand new white belt just starting in class?
Who has helped you the most along the journey?

That's a small sample size, really almost anything that addresses knowledge of the art, and an awareness of both the journey past and what lies ahead makes a good foundational question.
Answer: Really good questions above... especially in a perfect world :-).  IMO teaching should include posing these questions to students as they come up through the ranks, for their own benefit and so that they're not caught off-guard and give lame answers (embarrassing to them and irritating to the judges).
I don't know how hard-core your dojo is and whether teens can earn black belts, but for a lot of the kids at my dojang... oy.  Trying to get them to pay attention and focus and actually try to do techniques well and reasonably hard, is quite a challenge, so I could see a lot of them just regurgitating a couple of 3/4-remembered answers.


Building a calendar for iphone

Question: I am building an application for the iPhone that will display upcoming and past events. I settled for a list view, but then I realized that a calendar would be a best match
However, the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines just mentions the Date Picker, not the calendar, so I believe there is nothing like that out of the box. Is that true? If so, does anyone know of a third-party control that could be used? (I could write one myself, but I'd rather pick up something ready, since this is a departure on the original project plans).
Hey guys plz help me.....
Answer: I haven't used it myself but maybe Kal fits your needs.

Building a calendar for iphone


How to choose a writing system for a conlang?

Question: When one creates a conlang, it notionally has its own writing system (although in many cases actually working out the writing system is ignored, and everything is simply done in transliteration). If one is going to actually work out the writing system, how should one decide/evaluate whether to create ideograms, an abugida, an abjad, a syllabary, or an alphabet?
Comment: This is very close to something I'd think should be closed as a design choice question. There's no reason why any language couldn't be written with any of those types of writing systems. So could you [edit] this to focus the question somehow, perhaps by asking what characteristics are associated with each type of writing system?
Comment: _Technically_, you're correct. However, I already know what the "key" differences are; the lingustics.se version of the question would be about _why_ various languages evolved their writing systems (see the comment(s) to @OliverMason 's answer). Here, I'm trying to apply that idea specifically to choosing a type of writing system for a conlang.
Answer: The answer mostly depends on your grammar and phonotactics:
Alphabets
Examples: Latin, Ogham, Mongolian. Alphabets are a pretty reasonable writing system for most spoken languages. I think there's a good reason why the majority of languages with standard written forms use some sort of alphabet. That said, they seem to take a long time to develop, so alphabets are unlikely for concultures that recently discovered writing.
Abjads
Examples: Arabic, Hebrew, Tifinagh. Abjads are good for languages with few vowels and very few minimal pairs distinguished by vowels. It's especially good in languages with triconsonental roots or other forms that undergo dramatic vowel shift as part of regular grammatical processes to improve coherence across grammatical forms.
Abugidas
Examples: Devanagari, Ge'ez (Ethiopic), Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. Abugdias are pretty good for languages with relatively simple syllable structure (ideally not more complex than (C)CV(C)). Based on the real world, it seems that they're best suited for languages with a high number of tones or phonations.
Syllabaries
Examples: Hiragana*, Vai, Cherokee. Syllabaries are really only appropriate in languages with relatively simple phonology, ideally not more than (C)V (or adopt a pseudo-syllabary like the kana with separate symbols for coda consonants). Otherwise the number of characters grows exponentially, or will not do a very good job representing all segments of the language, though this is not necessarily a dealbreaker (cf. Cherokee).
* Hiragana is not a true Syllabary because each kana actually represents a mora, not a syllable.
Logographies
Examples: Chinese, Cuneiform, Mayan. Logographs are best suited to isolating and analytic languages. The earliest writing systems seem to be logographies though, so cultures that only recently discovered writing are most likely to have logographies.
Comment: Yeah, using symbols to represent individual sounds makes sense to us, but it's apparently not as intuitive as using them to represent concepts or words.
Comment: Great point "That said, they seem to take a long time to develop, so alphabets are unlikely for concultures that recently discovered writing."
Answer: Trial and Error
Natural languages tend to end up with a writing system because it was, at some point in time in history, foisted on them. The Sumerians wrote in cuneiform. This later got foisted on the Akkadians, the Hittites, the Iranians, etc. The Romans wrote with an alphabet, and that got foisted on just about the whole world, even those prestigious languages that have long had their own systems. Mostly as a matter of convenience to online existence.
As a language inventor, you get to play with these forces and circumstances. And I at least advocate out several forms of writing for a language to see which you think is the better fit. Especially if you happen to be, as a matter of philosophy, a language inventor.  If you happen to be a language discoverer, then you might come to the realisation that such-and-such a language uses a particular system, and you'll just live with it.
Trying out several systems at once, perhaps using a well known example text, will give you a good feel for how it meshes with the language structure. This exercise will also teach you how well (or how poorly) you understand either that kind of writing system or your own language's make-up! If you think a fixed syllable structure might benefit from a syllabary, then try it out! But if you discover that your "fixed syllable structure" is full of complications, exceptions, alterations, and so forth, you might find that a syllabary becomes unwieldy. That's not necessarily a bad thing --- scribes and writers have long had to deal with terribly complex writing systems (Egyptian! Sumerian! Chinese!)
Creating a few "temporary" writing systems for use with any later invented language project could also be useful. Doing this, you won't have to invent a whole new syllabary, a whole new alphabet for each future language project. The actual symbols won't necessarily be the symbols that get used for any language; they're just a tool to help you evaluate compatibility.
As for an evaluation tool, first I'd do some research into how many symbols various natural language systems have. In English, which uses an alphabet, we basically have 26 symbols. Abjads only notate consonants. So if English used an abjad, that would be 19 to 21 symbols (depending on how you count w & y). At the other end is Chinese, whose logogrammes number over a hundred thousand (according to WP's citation of a modern Chinese dictionary); but you'd only need about 2000 to read a newspaper.
This will you give a rough idea of how much work is going to go into devising characters for the invented language vs how much work is going to go into inventing the language.
Then, you'll want to consider how different writing systems work vs how your language works. No writing system perfectly captures the sounds of any language, except for the IPA. Everything else is a compromise. A language that is heavy on nuanced content words, a logography might be too unwieldy. A language with few lexical items might be very comfortable with logogrammes. A language with lots of vowels may not get along with anything but an alphabet: is PN abjad spelling for pan, pawn, pain, pean, pen, pin, pine, pane, pone, pon, or pun?
You'll also want to consider aesthetic qualities of the writing system. If you find cuneiform logogrammes are just the bees knees, then aesthesis might outweigh the difficulties of having to make hundreds of symbols. If calligraphy is more your style, then an alphabet or an abjad might be better choices.
Lastly, don't neglect combination systems! If you really like the aesthetics of logograpmmes, but don't want to bother with hundreds or thousands, consider a hybrid system where certain symbols have come to take on syllabic or alphabetic function, while certain words or classes of words continue to be written using full logogrammes.
Answer: I would say that depends on the structure of your language. If you have a small inventory of phonemes, then an alphabet might be best; if you have a fixed syllabic structure, then you might want to use that.
In general there is no reason why you only need one writing system. For toki pona you have a normal Latin writing system, but you also have ideograms and even a meso-American-style hieroglyphic writing system.
It depends what you want to use it for. Klingon has some very nice looking characters, but they are rather impractical, so mostly an ASCII transliteration is used. I would definitely recommend having a transliteration to make it easier to write the language on computers.
Other than that, it's up to you what works best!
Comment: "_Other than that, it's up to you what works best!_" Well, yes - but that's exactly the question - how do I evaluate what works best for a language? Why do the Indic languages generally use abugidas, while the Semitic languages generally use abjads, and the Romance, Germanic, and Slavic languages use alphabets? Why did Japanese shift to being primarily a syllabic language, while Chinese never did?
Comment: I guess it's got a lot to do with culture and history. There are many non-linguistic influences that are relevant. That depends on the details of the purpose of your language, and is impossible to answer without more details.
Comment: @JeffZeitlin One case where it is really obvious is Korean: King Sejong created Hangul, as he wanted a literate population and thought it was easier to use than Japanese/Chinese. So there is no single answer possible without any more context.
Answer: The writing system of the language mostly depends on the grammar, syntax, and structure of the language. i.e. The writing system of a language always evolve in such a way that it would be easy enough to write the language without any difficulties in writing the language. To be more clear, here's the comparison,
<code>|---------------------|----------------------|
|      Language       |         Writing      |
|        type         |          type        |
|---------------------|----------------------|
|    Inflectional     |   Alphabet / Abjad   |
|---------------------|----------------------|
|    Agglutinative    | Abugida / Syllabary  |
|---------------------|----------------------|
|      Analytic       |        Ideogram      |
|---------------------|----------------------|
</code>
As you can see in the above table, most of the world languages are by this. European languages and Semantic languages are highly inflectional, and they use Alphabet and Abjad respectively. Indian languages like Tamil(Dravidian), and Japanese(Japonic) are agglutinative, and use abugida and syllabary respectively. Chinese is a highly analytic language and it uses ideograms.
But it has to be noted that writing systems also depend on the languages and cultures that are nearby, but languages like Japanese still created its own script (Hiragana and Katakana, which are syllabaries) so that it would be easy to write.
Coming back to the question, choosing the right writing system is necessary as it is the first thing people are going to study in a language.

If you choose ideogram like Chinese, it would be easy if the conlang
is analytical. It would be a nightmare to see Latin like highly
inflectional languages in ideogramic symbols.
If your conlang is agglutinative, abugida and syllabary would be a
great choice. Alphabets too make a fine choice, but trust me,
representing agglutinating parts in alphabets is not efficient. Korean might be an exception.
Alphabets are universal, and could be used for any type of language.
But if you want to increase the complexity of the language and need
more elegant and unique language, it might not be great to choose
alphabets.

Thank you for reading.


Are there any control libraries for Windows Mobile that enable iPhone-style touchscreen behavior?

Question: The way the iPhone uses the touchscreen to enable zooming in and out and scrolling and so forth is very cool, and I was wondering if there is anything available for Windows Mobile that provides a similar user experience.
Comment: Hi.
Ivan,
I try to use Resco Touch Panel in an application on Windows CE. TouchPanel enable scrolling, but disable all other events, such as mouse move, mouse up, mouse down, and click on other components of application form.
Answer: The zoom in/out is an artifact of the multi-touch hardware.  A Pocket PC uses a resistive touch panel, which provides only a single contact point (touching 2 places gives the average of the two, not two points), so WinMo hardware simply won't support it.  I've seen a hack that emulated the behavior, but it was just that - a hack, and it was more frustrating than useful.
The other large problem is that CE, and therefore WinMo, doesn't have the concept of the mouse being in 2 places at once, which makes something like multitouch require an upper-layer translator to handle the hardware and send out messages to apps listening for these double points.  It's certainly possible, but it would be OEM dependent in any WinMo device out today.
Scrolling and gestures aren't new, so there's definitely been work there by several tird parties.  I don't have any links offhand, but I've certainly seen apps that used a similar look and feel.  Typically it will be implemented in a List, ListView or Grid type control that hooks mouse messages and translates them into gestures for the underlying control.
Answer: Windows Mobile, up until v.6.1, has been created to be used with a stylet. All UI designed to resemble the iphone is just a software layer put on top of WM (a basic app that runs over windows), and the results are usually slow and buggy, though some have made a real effort to hide Microsoft's non-talented UI designer's work. (HTC has made a nice looking attempt with its Diamond, it's probably the best UI I've seen on Windows Mobile). As of today, there is no dll that enables you to handle the touchscreen the way that Apple does it with its SDK. You will find tricks to emulate multi-touch, but it won't get you far.
Finger navigation will be the biggest feature in Windows Mobile 7 (a big part of the OS core is beeing changed) and hopefully Microsoft's SDK will enable us to use the touchscreen features the same way that Apple does.
Remember that Windows Mobile has to run on different types of hardware, (Nokia, HTC, ...) and it's often hard to have an optimized generic OS.
Answer: It's not a control library but PointUI is a project trying to bring a more iPhone like interface to Windows Mobile devices.
Answer: CTacke hit the nail on the head with his answer.  Multitouch requires hardware support.  There's a company named Stantum that has implemented multitouch on resistive screens.  They have Windows Mobile drivers available and a consistent API across operating systems for the screen technology. However to make use of the technology a phone maker would have had to purchase the screen technology and drivers from the company. You can see a video of the technology here: http://www.stantum.com/spip.php?page=video
To date I know of no Windows Mobile phones that implement the technology.
Answer: As far as I know Apple patented those gestures. So there 'shouldn't' be anything legal out there.
See here for example
Comment: God...where will the madness end with these patents?
Comment: Should I delete my question before Jobs gets wind of it?  :)
Comment: It looks like they haven't gotten the patents yet.
Comment: some things shouldn't be patented :| just because there is _no_ other way of doing it.
Like peeing.
Answer: Have a look at Resco Mobile Forms Toolkit at
http://www.resco.net/developer/mobileformstoolkit/overview.aspx
You can find there controls to work with pictures in a very attractive way, and touch-scroll enabled controls.


Intermittent freezing when scrolling under Compiz

Question: After long enough uptime, some applications will start to freeze when I try to scroll.  X pegs the CPU and becomes almost completely unresponsive (both input and display) until the redraw is finished, which can take 10~20s or up to a minute.  (It takes much longer if I used the mousewheel, as the app tries to redraw once for every wheel click.)  It doesn't matter if I scrolled only a line with an arrow key or all the way to the end of a document with End.  Restarting Compiz or reverting to Metacity seems to fix the problem, which is why I suspect it's involved somehow.  If I stick with Compiz, the issue will reappear after some time.
I've noticed this in Firefox, evince, and Inkscape, all of which I believe make heavy use of Cairo.  Restarting Firefox will usually fix the problem, but it tends to persist across evince restarts.  It can happen in one application without happening in any other at the same time, or it can happen in every susceptible application I'm running.
There doesn't seem to be any sensible pattern to this behavior.  I'm not running anything that should be making heavy use of my video card or CPU.  Sometimes it happens after a week; sometimes it happens the day of a reboot.
gVim will also occasionally stop redrawing correctly: scrolling with the mouse wheel will draw the newly-visible text as it should appear, but any old text that should now be blank space remains.  Restarting gVim fixes it.  I'm not sure if this is related.
I'm not sure how to diagnose this, and it's difficult to test a solution to an intermittent problem anyway.
Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty), nVidia 8800 GTS with nvidia-glx-180.  Compiz plugins:

Commands
Gnome Compatibility
ADD Helper
Enhanced Zoom Desktop
Opacity, Brightness, and Saturation (just to change window opacity with alt-mwheel from time to time)
Desktop Wall
Expo (unused)
Animations + Add-on
Fading Windows
Window Decoration
Wobbly Windows
Window Previews
All the Image Loading plugins
Crash handler, Dbus, Mouse position polling, Session Management, Workarounds
Resize Info
Scale + Addons + Window Title Filter + Regex Matching
Video Playback
Application Switcher
Move Window
Place Windows
Resize Window
Ring Switcher (unused)
Shelf (unused)
Snapping Windows

compiz --version:
Checking for Xgl: not present.
xset q doesn't reveal the location of the log file. Using fallback /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Detected PCI ID for VGA:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present.
Checking for non power of two support: present.
Checking for Composite extension: present.
Checking screen 1Comparing resolution (3360x1050) to maximum 3D texture size (8192): Passed.
Checking for Software Rasterizer: Not present.
Checking for nVidia: present.
Checking for FBConfig: present.
Checking for Xgl: not present.
compiz 0.8.2

Any brilliant insights?
Answer: Output of "compiz --version"?
If it's <0.8.2, try adding the compiz repository and updating
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/compiz/ubuntu jaunty main #compiz

Comment: Got 0.8.2, and that PPA doesn't look like it has anything later.
Comment: got nothing then. you'll probably have more luck asking on the offical compiz forums


Multibit client synchronizing since 10 Days now

Question: I can not access my wallet, since 10 days now, I have downloaded the bitcoin-qt multibit version 0.5.13. On my HP-window 7- 32 bit laptop successfully and I immediately received 2 transactions simultaneously which was successful too, I could only rehearse with my transaction on the screen for just few hours, since ten days now.
I have been trying to open my wallet and make some transaction with my coins, but when I launch the multibit client platform as usual the screen start downloading blocks and synchronizing with network, this will go on for the whole day and stop at a particular point without access to my wallets, it has finally stopped at synchronizing with network 119 blocks to download.
I had mistakenly created 3 more empty wallets with my first and original wallet while looking for means to bring back my wallet to life. The four icons of the wallets are visibly displayed on screen, I have even tried to reset my block chain and transaction to see if any of the wallets can pop up, but they seems to be clinically dead, because the synchronizing therein always stop at 88%.
The download and synchronizing manner of this multibit client platform had finally exhausted my internet bandwidth for the month, I think the slow performance of my computer may have contributed to this drama also.
MY COMPUTER: HP LAPTOP CORE 2 DUO T5750 - OS WINDOW 7 ULTIMATE SERVICE PACK 1, 32 BITS, 2GHZ, MEMORY RAM 1GB, I am using a 3G broadband HSDPA 7.2MBPS network.
disk transfer rate 4.8mbp/s, graphics 4.0mbp/s, ram 4.5mbps/s, processor 4.7mbps/s and the total base score 4.0
Computer troubleshooting report -- programme compatibility details --incompactible application -- (multibit) detected.
I am not too familiar with IT technical jargons, but this information might be usefull to whomever would help me out.
I do not even have the address of my first and original wallet off-head, but the wallet was protected with a password before it disappeared.
Questions: how can I recover my address and my first wallet, and how can I migrate with my wallet to a light client or hassle free web-wallet.
Concerned people, if there is anything like going to the 'file' in my download to recover my wallet there, please help explain in details as am new to the whole computer stuff. thanks in advance.
Answer: I haven't used MultiBit, but according to the Exporting private keys page in the documentation, you should be able to get the private keys. You can then import them to another client (local or web) and sweep the coins. For an example of how to do this with blockchain.info, see the Moving a wallet between MultiBit and blockchain.info.


Adobe Flash Player 11.4 installer is not a valid Win32 application

Question: I'm installing Adobe Flash Player 11. While installing an error is shown:

flashplayer_11_ax_debug.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

What does this mean? How can I fix it?
Comment: Are you sure you've downloaded the correct installer?
Answer: If you have a 64-bit system, you need to download and install the 64-bit version of Adobe Flash Player.
In case your system isn't detected, you can select the version here.


How would I measure the Carbon Dioxide content in Coca Cola over a period of time?

Question: I'm sorry if this is a broad question, but I am trying to plan a simple experiment. I am wondering is there a somewhat simple way of continuously measuring $\ce{CO2}$. I already know the initial carbon dioxide content is around $\pu{2.2g}$ from research, but I don't know how this result is reached.
Comment: @ToddMinehardt, there is citric acid and phosphoric acid too. Not sure if the pH will change significantly.
Comment: @M.Farooq - True, good point. That Coke might go well with a Twinkie, reported to have a shelf life of 25 days...
Comment: Monitor pH continuously and stop when you hit the pH that corresponds to atmospheric $P_\ce{CO2}$ equilibrium in solution.
Comment: You want to know how the initial CO2 content of 2.2 grams is determined or do you want to plan an experiment to monitor the loss of CO2 from Coca Cola over time?
Comment: With some control measurements (tap water, carbonated water and flat soda) and calibration curves, IR spectroscopy might provide a contactless and direct quantification of CO2 content.
Answer: Measure the change in mass over time of the remaining liquid. Though some water will also evaporate, you can control for that by keeping the humidity near 100%.
If you have to be precise, collect the outgassed $\ce{CO2}$ in a liquid-nitrogen cold trap. Check the mass of the condensate, which should equal that lost from the soda. Check purity, to be really finicky.
Comment: You can also get flat Coke to compare, to get an approximation of how much mass loss is due to water evaporation (although the evaporation rate of water from flat soda may not be exactly the same as from carbonated).
Comment: @Acccumulation, the question asks for a , "way of continuously measuring CO2." The flat soda only gives an end-point... and what determines flat? One hour? One day? One week?
Answer: Measure concentration in a fixed volume of air
Easiest way might be to put it in a sealed impermeable bag or box and measure the CO2 concentration over time. Home hobbyists use something like the MG-811 CO2 sensor or a simple non-dispersive optical sensor and connect it to a Raspberry Pi or Arduino using an analog to digital converter chip (ADC). For (a little) more on that see this answer to Why are CO2 sensors so expensive when CO sensors aren't?

...CO2 sensors are either solid electrolyte chemical cells like the MG-811 or newer versions (see this question) or they are Non-dispersive Infrared Light sensors (NDIRs) based on optical absorption of a certain wavelength of infrared light, using a hot filament or other light source to produce IR and a narrow multilayer optical filter to select one of the strong absorption lines of CO2. The more CO2, the more the reduction in the transmission of light in the optical path of the sensor.

You would estimate the total volume of trapped air and multiply by the fraction that is CO2 (at each time point) to get the accumulated amount of CO2 released by the liquid.
Measure amount collected in a CO2 scrubber
Building on @DrMoishe Pippi's proposed technique though I can't guarantee precision, you could try to use something else to absorb CO2 besides a cold trap.
I propose that you consider a carbon dioxide scrubber.
However, lithium hydroxide may not be suitable for home use as it is very dangerous to touch or otherwise contact! So you should do this with supervision.
From PubChem; Lithium hydroxide (Compound)

Lithium hydroxide, solution appears as a clear to water-white liquid which may have a pungent odor. Contact may cause severe irritation to skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. It may be toxic by ingestion, inhalation and skin absorption. It is used to make other chemicals.

Regenerative carbon dioxide removal system
The regenerative carbon dioxide removal system (RCRS) on the space shuttle orbiter used a two-bed system that provided continuous removal of carbon dioxide without expendable products. Regenerable systems allowed a shuttle mission a longer stay in space without having to replenish its sorbent canisters. Older lithium hydroxide (LiOH)-based systems, which are non-regenerable, were replaced by regenerable metal-oxide-based systems. A system based on metal oxide primarily consisted of a metal oxide sorbent canister and a regenerator assembly. It worked by removing carbon dioxide using a sorbent material and then regenerating the sorbent material. The metal-oxide sorbent canister was regenerated by pumping air at approximately 400 °F (204 °C) through it at a standard flow rate of 7.5 cu ft/min (0.0035 m3/s) for 10 hours.

Exactly how to do it will require some input by an actual chemist. That might be best asked as a new question "How to use off-the-shelf LiOH (pellets or powder) as a home-made CO2 scrubber?" for example.
If you put the open container in a larger container (sealed, impermeable plastic bag or box) with something else that absorbed CO2 and held on to it at room temperature, you could weigh it before and after as a lower limit at least to the CO2 lost by the liquid.
If you have ever seen the movie Apollo 13 or know the story of the CO2 scrubber canister (1, 2) you might recollect that it removed the astronaut's exhaled CO2 from the cabin air and held it within the solid LiOH pellets it contained.
Because they needed it to be compact but to scrub a large volume of air, the spacecraft used a fan to circulate air through the scrubber. But in your case it might be possible to use lithium hydroxide or another material like silver oxide (see this answer and EMU METOX Performance Testing).
Here is some data from that report. You can see that the ~14 kg of silver oxide could hold roughly 0.8 kg of CO2.

History, from NASA's Building an Apollo 13 LiOH Canister Adapter:
Comment: Pretty much any strong base can be used to scrub $\ce{CO2}$ from the air. [Sodium hydroxide](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Sodium-hydroxide), for example, is commonly available in general stores. While it's also caustic (like any strong base) and needs to be handled with care, the precautions needed are merely the general ones for safe handling of laboratory chemicals: basically keep it out of your eyes and mouth, don't inhale the fumes if you heat it, try not to get any on your skin and if you do, rinse it off promptly.
Answer: For a direct measurement of $\ce{CO2}$ content, it is possible to use infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Infrared radiation can be absorbed by molecules, causing them to vibrate. The exact frequency of the radiation absorbed is often characteristic of certain bonds or functional groups.
In particular, the fundamental antisymmetric stretching mode of $\ce{CO2}$ in aqueous solution (specifically the carbon-12 isotopologue $\ce{^{12}CO2(aq)}$, not carbonic acid $\ce{H2CO3}$) is excited by photons of wavelength $\mathrm{4268\ nm}$ (more commonly reported as $\mathrm{2342.9\ cm^{-1}}$ wavenumbers for historical reasons). This vibrational mode is useful for the following reasons:

The absorption peak is quite sharp, with a "width" (FWHM) of only $\mathrm{9\ cm^{-1}}$
The molar absorptivity is strong, at $\mathrm{1.5 \times 10^6\ cm^2\ mol^{-1}}$
The absorption intensity varies linearly with concentration
Few other substances have strong absorption in the same region

Altogether, these properties make the peak suitable for analytic measurements. This has been discussed in Vib. Spect., 1992, 4 (1), 105-108. Though the article did not explore the possibility, it's likely the technique could be adapted for use in sodas. Measurements could potentially be performed directly in unopened bottles. Furthermore, similar benefits exist for measuring gaseous $\ce{CO2}$, so an independent measurement of the space above the liquid could be performed with the same instrument, and the results cross-checked for additional accuracy.
This wouldn't be very easy for a hobbyist doing kitchen chemistry (though handheld/compact/portable IR spectrometers exist and aren't tremendously expensive), but such a study would be very well within reach of most chemical laboratories.
Answer: You might want to use a $\ce{CO2}$ ion selective electrode, such as PS-3517 from PASCO:

This Carbon Dioxide Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) Probe is a gas-sensing electrode that allows fast, simple, eco-nomical, and accurate measurement of dissolved CO2 in aqueous solutions

The advantage over other methods is that you measure the concentration in situ and therefore do not have to concern yourself with how to capture $\ce{CO2}$ quantitatively (weighting small amounts), how to discriminate $\ce{CO2}$ from other gases (for instance water, which must be removed from the gas or prevented from condensing in the $\ce{CO2}$ trap), on complicated intermittent sampling, and on how the rate of capture might affect your measurement.
It should work with Coca-Cola:

pH Range: Samples and standards must be adjusted to below pH 4.00
Comment: @uhoh If I understood correctly the probe can be operated connected to a standard pH meter, see eg an instruction manual here: https://d2n0lz049icia2.cloudfront.net/product_document/Carbon-Dioxide-ISE-Probe-Manual-PS-3516.pdf You do need to calibrate it, this requires appropriate calibration solutions which can be purchased separately.
Comment: Actually, a CO2 standard solution is included with the probe. The meter would be calibrated with regular pH calibration solutions.
Comment: `+1` This could potentially (pun intended) be the best overall solution for the OP, but what's the minimum equipment necessary to *read* the probe? Can it be done with a variety of meters or electrometers that could be borrowed (something with very high impedance that reads millivolts), or would this require a purchase specifically of a "PASCO box" of some kind? Would a calibration solution also be needed as well or does this kind of probe yield at least approximate results without using a standard solution?
Answer: A very different method which should work well given the high initial level of carbonation in Coca-Cola (141 mM by my estimation based on this post) is $\ce{^{13}C}$-NMR. See for instance Reference 1. Spectra of liquid solutions are high in resolution and one dimensional data can be acquired continuously in a span of a few minutes per spectrum.
Note the spectra might be acquired at natural $\ce{^{13}C}$ abundance (about 1%) or spiked (enriched) with $\ce{^{13}C}$, which of course will be (a lot) more expensive. You might on the other hand be able to capture for reuse the released $\ce{^{13}C}$ with one of the methods suggested in one of the other answers.
References

Qi Yang,Mark Bown, Abdelselam Ali, Dave Winkler, Graeme Puxty and Moetaz Attalla. A Carbon-13 NMR Study of Carbon Dioxide Absorption and
Desorption with Aqueous Amine Solutions. Energy Procedia 1 (2009) 955–962


Cable to connect playstation 2 to VGA port

Question: I've been trying to find out how to connect my PS2 to my computer monitor, but I can't seem to find the right cable for it. Is is even possible to do this?
Answer: The VGA and Composite/Component standards are not compatible.  If you want to do this, a passive adapter will not work.  You need an active analog video converter that can translate between VGA and Composite/Component Video like this one.  This adapter requires a Component (Y/Pb/Pr) connection, which the PS2 can provide, if you use the correct cable.
Active converters usually require power.  The linked converter runs off of wall power, but you'll need a free electrical plug near your monitor/PS2.
Although passive adapters exist that would allow you to plug the two devices together, they only work with specific models of PC video cards that were designed with this application in mind.
Answer: Actually, there IS a ps2 video <> VGA cable available, of sorts. It was an option for when they brought out a Linux kit for the PS2. You could either run it through a normal TV (at a pretty low res), or for an extra €25 you could get the cable: PS2 video at one end, VGA + 2x phono sockets (for sound) at the other.
The website I recall them being available from though is now no longer running. You MIGHT get lucky and find one on eBay, or failing that, I've seen cables that have PS2/Nintendo video connectors <> VGA + composite, for about 13GBP also on ebay.
The only thing I recall though, at least for the Linux port, was that the monitor had to be Sync On Green compatible. I also have a feeling it said they didn't work for normal PS2 games, due to the PS2 not putting out the right signal. I've no idea if or how well the 3rd party (PS2/Nintendo) cables work.
For an idea of what you actually need, just Google pictures of "PS2 Linux kit", you should be able to see the cable on some of them.
Answer: It's easy to connect your PS2 to the PC monitor without any problem.
For this, you need to buy a external TV tuner box. It costs less and give you better resolution.
Here's how to connect:

Connect the your PS2 A/V cable to the TV tuner for the source.
Plug in your monitor's VGA cable to the TV tuner for the output.

Now, you can play PS games on your monitor. Enjoy!
NOTE: Make sure your external TV tuner supports VGA output.
Comment: +1 Thanks, have been spending a lot of time at frys trying to find something and this will solve my search once and for all.
Answer: While no cable allows direct connection between PS2 and VGA, there are a few alternatives you can use, I would recommend getting a PS2 component cable (since this allows a higher resolution connection, 480p/576p, depending on region), and getting a component to VGA adapter.
I've been using this one from DealExtreme (discontinued), which is USB powered (meaning the PS2 itself could provide power, no additional AC adapter needed). It worked great with Wii and PSP and there's no reason why it wouldn't work with PS2.
Component to VGA adapters aren't cheap, running $30 to $50-60, and the image quality probably won't be too high (after all, PS2 software runs at sub HD resolution), and remember that you still have to deal with the audio signal.


Should we have a PSA/Community bulletin to stop using Wubi now that it has been officially pulled from development releases?

Question: I see lots of questions cropping up about Wubi limitations.  The thing is already dead and fated to just go away eventually.  Should new users see this in the community bulletin block on the landing page?
Comment: I'll change the accepted if that's what is supposed to happen, I just can't uncheck a mod answer without at least one other mod statement to the contrary.
Answer: As long as we have a supported operating system WUBI should be supported, endorsed and advised (but with other options as being better) as a valid method of using Ubuntu.
Even the download page still gives the option to use it http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/windows-installer :

With Wubi, our officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows, you can install and uninstall Ubuntu easily and safely. For 12.04 LTS only.
Windows installer is not compatible with Windows 8 or UEFI firmware, and is not available for Ubuntu 13.04.

As long as that page exists I disagree on us stating WUBI should not be used anymore. The disclaimer above is more than enough.
Until April 2017 questions about WUBI are on-topic; a statement on the landing page will not stop those questions.

Update: wubi seems to be valid again for 13.04: https://askubuntu.com/a/330112/15811
( http://releases.ubuntu.com/13.04/wubi.exe )
Comment: @Rinzwind trust me; it isn't.
Comment: I upvoted your answer btw because it is correct. I will still (not immediately) write up a community bulletin (hopefully with input from other mods) about it though.
Comment: I don't mean to stop the questions, just put out a flag to say "don't expect this to remain relevant forever...it's going away"
Comment: oh and I expect people that go to the download page to understand the limitations WUBI has. They are warned twice: once on the 1st page and a 2nd time when they click the link to the actual download. Should be more than enough :)
Comment: @RolandiXor pessimist! :D
Answer: Yes. I'll add it (adding it to my todo list).
Comment: It came back like the sequel of a horror slasher movie. http://askubuntu.com/a/330112/15811  :)
Comment: @Rinzwind - The "same unreliability" bit in that answer is cute.  The answer is dripping with venom, but I like it.  There really should be some completely off the fence on this one in the near-ish future.  The fact that it exists, doesn't necessarily mean that it's supported though, think alpha/beta.
Answer: I think we should and it should discuss the plan moving forward. It would be nice if some statement of the preferred alternative(s) were referenced or linked to.
Comment: That's a comment not really an answer.  I was just trying to get ahead of the next LTS coming out and a slew of questions on how to leapfrog upgrade in a no longer supported tool to try and eek more out something that is dead/dying.


Will there be elementary OS 5.0

Question: Is there a elementary OS 5.0 in development? Because I would love to send some feedback! Also i would like to see hex-chat as a built in support software.
Answer: Development for elementary 0.5 will be happening in the future series on Launchpad, however currently there are no changes, only bug reports (not surprising given that elementary 0.4 was only released this month).
If you are referring to being able to install Hexchat on Loki, it can be found in AppCenter (or can be installed with sudo apt install hexchat). If you meant you would like to be able to request support via Hexchat, you can join the elementary IRC channel #elementary on Freenode.
Comment: Wow Elementary OS 0.4 is one month old

Will there be elementary OS 5.0


How is TB harmful in HIV patients?

Question: The mycobacterium of TB doesn't secrete any toxins. The cause of disease in the immunocompetent is the collateral damage due to the immune response against disseminated infection. But then, when HIV patients are immunocompromised, why should TB do any harm to them? There is an absence of the typical granuloma in HIV cases.
Comment: That meant the fever, blood-coughs, pain etc in tuberculosis-patient just due to secondary infection? nothing damage that bacteria do?
Comment: @always confused I  mean that. I meant that the immune response is doing more damage than the pathogen per se. For example in cholera, it is the bacteria that secretes a toxin which does the harm. In TB, theres nothing like that. It is immune cells destroying surrounding tissue.
Comment: You still have innate immunity, which is the biggest perpetrator of immune-mediated tissue damage, IMO, when supplied with constant stimulation.
Comment: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacterial species which causes tuberculosis. Many people in the world (~1/3 of the population) have an M tb infection. However, an immunocompetent host is able to prevent the bacteria from causing disease (tuberculosis). In the case of an HIV patient, there is no immunity, and thus the bacteria is free to cause disease.
Answer: This is an interesting an useful question about host-pathogen interactions. For a general reference (for both hosts with and without a competent CD4+ T-cell response) see Cecil Medicine, Ch.332, and Murray Medical Microbiology, Ch. 28. There is also a decent review in Lancet Infectious Disease that discusses the pathophysiology in immunocompromised hosts.
Overview / tl;dr
Tuberculous mycobacteria may not secrete any toxins or replicate quickly, but they are clever and persistent. Without an effective immune response, they will eventually overwhelm the lungs, spread to other organs, and kill the host through organ failure and/or embolization.  In these cases, infection is universally fatal if not treated. This is what happens in HIV patients with a low CD4+ T-cell count.
In hosts with a competent CD4+ T-cell response, infection is sometimes fully resolved and sometimes held at bay for many years without major organ damage.  In other cases, the immune system's methods are too powerful for the infected organ. Tissue damage in these cases is the direct result of prolonged activation of large fused groups of macrophages. Importantly, this is not an overactive immune response, it just happens to be too much for the local organ. You cannot treat TB by shutting down this immune response. If you block TNF-$\alpha$, for example (a major player in the cross talk between CD4+ T cells and macrophages), you end up with disseminated TB. The solution here is elimination of the pathogen with direct anti-mycobacterial treatment.
Initial Infection
In either an immunocompetent or immunocompromised host, tuberculous mycobacteria enter, e.g., alveolar macrophages through phagocytosis and, initially, prevent fusion of the phagosome with lysosomes, while allowing fusion with other vesicles. This allows the bacilli to live, access nutrients, and replicate within the macrophage.
Immunocompetent host
In the immunocompetent host, the interaction between the infected macrophage and CD4+ helper T cells leads to formation of an activated macrophage and either elimination of the mycobacteria or compartmentalization of the infection. Either of these outcomes are generally good for the host. Clearance of a pathogenic bacteria is obviously good. Latency in a walled off compartment is a close second.
The typical disease syndrome of pulmonary tuberculosis involves a brief, often unremarkable respiratory infection, followed by a long period of clinical latency. In many cases where the primary infection isn't fully cleared, latency may be lifelong, only to be discovered incidentally at autopsy. The brief illness followed by clinical latency corresponds to the infection of alveolar macrophages with an immune response that successfully walls off the infection.
In a host with generally capable CD4+ T cell / macrophage cross talk, if disease develops, it typically occurs after years or even decades of latency, through reactivation. Reactivation may be the result of a temporary failure of the compartmentalization strategy, with short term or partial immunosuppression due to age, some other illness or drug. It is sometimes the result of re-exposure. In severe cases, the result is a massive and damaging, but relatively slow immune response. This is not toxic shock syndrome or gram-negative sepsis. It occurs over month to years, with night sweats and weight loss. Fever may or may not be present. Tb is a slow burn. The OP is correct here, that the tissue damage seen in these cases (caseous necrosis, cavitary lesions, sometimes followed by hemorrhage), as well as the night sweats and weight loss, are all caused by the immune response, not directly by any toxin produced by the mycobacterium.
This lung (image from wikimedia commons) was chewed up by giant, angry macrophages, spurred on by CD4+ T-cells:

Immunocompromised host
This lung (image from a public slide set through the University of Utah), on the other hand, was not chewed up by giant angry macrophages, but was lethally infected with M. tuberculosis all the same:

In an immunocompromised host, the clinical syndrome is different. For an HIV patient with a low CD4+ T cell count, alveolar macrophages are not sufficiently activated. There are no large cavitary lesions, but they are also unable to clear or quarantine the replicating bacilli. This results in disseminated tuberculosis, sometimes with spread through the bloodstream to the brain, kidney, and bone, and devastating illness that is universally fatal without treatment. Death may result from organ failure (e.g., of the lung), infectious or non-infectious embolism.
Interestingly, in an AIDS patient with disseminated TB, when you combine TB treatment with HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), you can sometimes see a paradoxical worsening of symptoms. This is called immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, or IRIS. It may look like worsening TB, with fever and worsening lung function. The solution for TB-IRIS is not immunosuppression, but supportive care and, again, direct treatment with antimycobacterial therapy. Here again, the problem isn't an overactive immune response, it is the pathogen.

How is TB harmful in HIV patients?


Name for ensemble of the same instrument

Question: When arranging music, is there a commonly accepted or easy to understand name for an ensemble (be it a trio, duet, quartet, etc.) which contains all of the same instrument? For example, how could you generalize a tuba trio or a clarinet duet?
Comment: I'm having trouble finding a good answer to your question. Could you provide some context?
Comment: @DeanRansevycz I'm developing a sheet music website that allows you to choose which instruments are displayed, for example, for a piece written for quartet, it'll give you the options of "string quartet", "wind quartet", and then I need one that gives you the option for what Kilian describes as a "closed consort". In other words, a generic word for an ensemble of the same instrument. "Closed consort" seems to be the closest thing so far but it's not universally understood.
Comment: Thanks, @CCInc, now i understand what you're after. I'd steer clear of "consort" for a non-specialist audience.  While it's very clear, it is specialist language: one should always be careful of jargon in general contexts.
Comment: @DeanRansevycz I agree, it is very specialized. Any ideas of a better word? It doesn't have to be 100% accurate but I'd like something more clear than "Ensemble of Same Instrument"
Answer: Ensembles of equal instruments (especially viols) used to be called consorts. Later on, mixed groups became more common and a distinction was made between closed consorts (non-mixed) and open consorts (mixed).
Comment: Leading to a dedicated invitation to a performance as a "concerted consort concert"
Comment: While i like the suggestion of *consort*, a consort of viols would include viols of different sizes, similarly consorts of recorders. So i'm not are that it fits for the ensembles of *the same instrument*. The musical lexicon just didn't seem to have CC Inc's use case in mind.
Comment: Compositions for several of exactly the same instrument just aren't all that common, since you're quite limited compared to a "normal" choir of treble, alto and bass version of something. At the extreme end, there is a "Fanfare for 44 trumpets in B" by Weber, but it's clearly just intended as a silly joke.
Comment: @KilianFoth Indeed, they aren't common at all in any repertoire, but my use case is for primarily duet/trio/quartets designed for students, who tend to want to play with other like instruments.
Answer: Ensemble is a reasonable choice already (for example, "tuba ensemble" is an eminently googleable phrase). "Choir" is also another option; for example, a clarinet choir. Either should be easily understandable.
Comment: But neither define the ensemble as being all the SAME instrument.  'Clarinet choir' typically includes Eb, Bb and bass clarinets.  'Tuba ensemble' could have BBb, Eb tubas, euphonium (tenor tuba) etc.
Answer: There's no easy answer to this one. Suggestions are either going to be inelegant (exactly what you're trying to avoid) or use specialist language that could be alienating in a more general context. Worse, one could coin neologisms or borrow from other fields, which while providing a pithy terminology would be equally as alienating.
Just to explore the options for borrowing from other fields, one could coin homogeneous ensembles for ensembles of identical instruments (e.g. a flute choir, a dozen celli, &c.) & homologous ensembles for ensembles of like instruments (string quartet, brass choir, "Harmonie", closed consort, &c.). The problem is that these distinctions may require explanation.
Of course one of the issues here is one of definition: is a string quartet an ensemble of like instruments or of identical instruments. I would have a hard time arguing that an alto & a tenor sax are the same instrument, but would call them like instruments. Equally, are the double-reeds homologous, or just the oboes, cor anglaise & heckelphone in one set & the bassoons in another? If all the oboes & bassoons are homologous, what about the sarrusophone?
Clarity & ease of understanding would probably lead you back to more wordy options like larger groups of identical instruments & ensembles of like instruments. Unfortunately for your use case the musical lexicon deals better with specificity than generality.
Comment: Unfortunately it looks like "homogeneous" is the closest I'm going to get, thanks for the suggestions!
Answer: 'Consort' implied instruments of the same type (all string, all wind...) not identical instruments.  'Broken Consort' included mixed types.  But, as with most archaic terms, you'll find plenty of examples of varying usage.
I can't think of any generally-understood term that defines a group of identical instruments, other than the specific 'Trumpet trio'  or 'Clarinet quartet'.   Even then, a 'Clarinet quartet' might include Eb, Bb and bass clarinets.   I think you'll have to forego a general term and spell it out!
And, to spell out the answer to your question - no there isn't.
Comment: Not sure that this actually answers CC Inc's question.
Comment: Didn't you derive 'no there isn't' from my answer?  Ok, I'll spell that out too.
Comment: No, I couldn't seen your answer in the feed when mine was posted.
Comment: You commented to an answer that you couldn't see?  That's clever!   Do you know who's going to win the football World Cup?  I'd appreciate a PM.
Answer: Well-established formations like string quartet are the only ones, which have the benefit of short group name. But the precision you want is difficult to achieve. (Note that string quintet is already ambiguous, since the viola or the violoncello may be doubled, or a double-bass may be added to a string quartet). A piano quintet is more probably a piano combined with a string quartet than five pianos.
A clarinet quartet may address four clarinets as well as a clarinet combined with a string trio.
So you won't get much more precise than piece for two clarinets (which would still leave open, whether both are of the same variant as "clarinet in a", or whether it is for clarinet and bass clarinet.


Neural network architecture for author name as an input?

Question: I'm building a neural net to predict the value of a piece of art with a wide range of inputs (size, art medium, etc.) and I would like to include the author as an input as well (it is often a huge factor in the value of a single piece of art).
My current concern is that the name of the author isn't an ideal numerical input for a NN (i.e. If I just code each author with an increasing integer value I will be indirectly assigning more value to authors further down the list -_-). My thoughts were to create separate inputs for all the authors in my data set and then just use one hot encoding to better represent the input to the NN.
This approach however runs into a problem when an author that is not included in my training data is used as an input to the NN (i.e. a new author). I can get around this with an "other author" input field but I am worried that this won't be accurate as I would not have trained the the NN for this input (all pieces of art with a valuation have an author).
I haven't fully thought this through but I thought of perhaps training 2 NN's, one for a valuation without an author and one for valuation with an author to ensure I have enough training data for an "authorless valuation" to still be reasonably accurate.
I am still trying to conceptualize the best NN architecture before I get stuck into the implementation so if anyone has any suggestions/comments I would be very grateful!
Thanks in advance,
Vince
Answer: Try using a one-hot encoding of the artist name.
This is an example of a categorical feature
Answer: To avoid translating an author name in a comparable number, you could hash the name, this will create an even distribution.


Which set is this bag 2 from? White airplane pieces?

Question: Which set is it from? Can I build anything with it on its own? It says 2007 on the bag.
Answer: 3367 space shuttle seems to match, although it is a 2011 set
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=3367-1
The tail piece does not appear in older sets in white according to bricklink...
Comment: The design of the bag (typography, placement of text, production mechanism) was copyrighted in 2007 and likely used from that year onwards until replaced with the next style bag (copyright 2011), which is used on some current sets still, even though it has been replaved by yet another design (with the white band down the middle) in 2017.
Comment: That's the one! Thank you so much. It seems that for some reason the copy right was in 2007. Secondary question, i got that bag in an other set i got from a charity shop. What would be the best way to get the pieces from the bag 1? Or shoukd i just give up the idea and leave the pieces to my son's imagination?
Comment: The year on the bag, might just be the year the bag was produced/designed. For getting the pieces from the other bag(s) of the set (and the pieces et al. - e.g. the sticket sheet - not in any bag), you can use bricklink, if you make a wish list I believe you can make bricklink tell you which seller has the most of the needed parts, but it's going to be a lot of work, and if you can't find one or two sellers that have everything, shipping costs might make it more expensive than just ordering the complete set.
Comment: More likely in my opinion that the 2007 is another code altogether than that the bag was produced/designed 4 years in advance...


What's the difference between baby clothes that say X months and clothes that say X-Y months?

Question: I have clothes that are 3 months and I have clothes that are 3-6 months. Are they equivalent? is there equivalency between sizes that are given as a single number vs ones that are given as a range?
Answer: The X months sizing system for baby clothes is far from accurate.  Cloths of the same supposed size (say, all 3 months) from different manufacturers or different styles can vary dramatically in actual size.
Then there's the fact that there is no standard size for a 3 month old baby.  My 12 month old fits snugly in 18mo clothing.  And my friend's 12mo old fits nicely in 9mo clothing.
The main difference between cloths that say 3mo and ones that say 3-6mo is that the company admits they don't know how old of a baby it will really fit, but think it's probably in that range.
Answer: The 3-6 months tend to be sized to fit up to 6 months, and the 3 months ones are sized roughly for 2-4 months. I would tend to treat the single age as the centre of a range.
For the clothes we bought (in the UK) I would treat these sizes as a very rough guide, though. Different vendors produce clothes of wildly differing sizes all described as the same so try clothes from the next size above and below and don't be afraid to get clothes that are too big, otherwise you will get to the end of the year and find stacks of clothes they never wore.
Answer: From my personal experience, clothes that are X-Y are usually more towards the Y, meaning too big for X months.
We bought our daughter clothes for 1-2 years when she was year and half it for couple of months it was really loose on her - she has average build, not slender or anything. Now that she is 2 years old those clothes still fit, but pretty tight.
So unofficially I would say that X-Y clothes are bigger than X, although not sure what's the idea behind it.
Answer:
I have clothes that are 3 months and I have clothes that are 3-6
months. Are they equivalent? is there equivalency between sizes that
are given as a single number vs ones that are given as a range?

The 3 month clothes are more like 0-3 months.  If you only see one month listed, assume that's about the max age for the clothes.


How to measure mains frequency safely via GPIO

Question: I would like to measure the mains power (120vac/60hz) to know precisely when the voltage drops to 0, but in a safe manner for the pi - one solution would be to use a high-value resistor bridge that measures the peaks, and then add (1/240) seconds to when it detects those, but I am wondering if there is a safer/better alternative.
Answer: This isn't really a question about the Pi; it is an Electrical Engineering question, and would be better asked elsewhere.
I am always worried by questions about connecting the Pi to the mains, which then proceed to show little understanding of circuit design.
Your primary concern should be YOUR safety, not just the Pi. Some form of mains rated isolation is essential.
It is also unclear what you are asking. The title talks about measuring frequency - if this is your intention the mains is of higher accuracy than the Pi; you could use the mains to measure your Pi clock!
If you want to detect zero crossings then this is easy. Search for zero crossing detectors. A Schmitt trigger is the simplest, and the Pi's GPIO inputs can be configured to do this.
Comment: It was the zero crossings I was after, I will look into those (I didn't know what it was called "officially"), thanks.

And I find it hard to separate Pi questions - if it's software, chances are it is covered under some unix forum, otherwise if it's electrical/GPIO, it's EE