How important is typing speed to a successful writing career?

Question: How important is it for a writer to be fast when using a keyboard?
Comment: [Related question.](http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/473/is-touch-typing-skill-important-for-being-a-good-writer)
Answer: It is important to be able to type fast enough to focus on the writing and not the keyboard. Being able to touch type is essential, in my opinion. I don't think I could keep my train of thought if I was constantly scanning the keyboard for the next letter.
Comment: I'm a programmer and I have a coworker right behind me who hunts and pecks.
Comment: What about using a notebook, or a recording device, to record ideas, and typing them up later (or hiring someone to transcribe them)?
Comment: I would rather like to touch type than get someone else to transcribe it. My 2c. P.S. I can touch type, I'm a programmer.
Answer: Typing Well is more important than typing Fast.
That is, you need to be able to type the words as they form in your mind, as you think them, without thinking about the actual typing.
Bruce is correct. If you can touch-type, you are mostly there.
Answer: In my case, the answer was: not very important at all. I'm the author of 40 books and hundreds of magazine articles. I've made a living as a writer since about 1990. I never learned to touch type well; my typing speed is about 30 wpm now. As my writing needs and output increased, I turned to voice recognition using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which also saved me from a nasty bout of RSI.
Almost anyone can talk way faster than they can type. Dragon is not a perfect solution by any means, but it's really good once you learn its quirks. You must learn to use it effectively, and it's way better on Windows than on the Mac (ironically, for me, since I write mostly about the Mac and Apple products).
I use Dragon to compose first drafts of book and article manuscripts. I usually then edit by typing. Things like email I usually type, unless I know in advance that it's going to be a long message, in which case I'll shift to voice recognition. I also tend to write short pieces like this answer by typing.
Answer: See Dean Wesley Smith's recent article about writing speed: http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=3204
As Smith says, "I don't type faster with my little four-finger typing, I just write more hours than most... I am considered a fast writer because I spend more hours writing. Nothing more."
Answer: The answer depends upon what type of work you are getting into.
Just because you can type fast, doesn't mean you can write well. But writing fast does have the added benefits of allowing you to quickly lay down a rough draft, tweak the hell out of it, clean it up during editing, and publish the final piece. Also, if you are going to be writing for a fast-paced publication that requires you to submit a certain amount of articles per day, you would help yourself by being able to type faster.
Seeing as I write for both (I've previously written for Mashable, CMSWire, and others), I have managed to find a good blend. I can usually write 700 - 1,000 words in a rough draft in the span of 30 or so minutes (assuming I don't need to break out of my flow to do research/fact checking). But it could require an hour or two of editing and fact checking to make this blob of text into something presentable.
For more long-form content like editorials and essays, however, I usually take my time and pay more attention to the flow of the article. It is especially important because you have to keep the reader engaged and captivate his/her attention for a longer timespan (which is critical for the plentiful amount of readers that have ADHD in my industry).
In the latter case, writing speed isn't as important. Creating a story that people will want to read is critical, though, and even when I can pump out an impressive 125+ words per minute, little of that helps with the basics of crafting a well-written article. It might help get ideas out of my head faster, giving me more time to rearrange things and produce a better product, but that can only take you but so far.
But you are a writer, right? You are always looking for ways to improve your writing. Improving your writing speed can improve your writing. So take it slow for now; build up your writing speed over time.
TL;DR: Writing speed helps immensely in certain situations, but crafting a well-written product, in the end, requires creativity and dedication — something writing speed can't compensate for.
Answer: I don't think that FAST typing is important, but I do think it's important to know how to type.  Not to be able to touch-type is a handicap, not just in writing but in the job market overall.  With the internet it's easy to learn to type or get better at typing--there are LOTS of sites for typing help.
Typing qualifies as a communication skill; writing is all about communication; why not have as many skills at your command as possible?  Even if your typing aint great, it is better than not being able to type at all.
But as far as whether being a fast typist makes one a better writer--no.  Not in my opinion.
Answer: Think about how fast you need to type in order to hit your word count goals: if you can write a thousand words in an hour, then you'll have no trouble writing things quickly (only fifty hours to complete NaNoWriMo, for example).
But a thousand words an hour is less than seventeen words a minute - you don't need touch typing to reach that pace.
Answer: Typing fast has zero impact on your writing career. One can create clear, captivating and concise text at 12 WPM or 120. As you type more you'll naturally speed up of course, but unless you find you can't piece together a sentence because you're too busy typing it's nothing to focus on.
Answer: ... (this may be begging a down-vote, but...) Irrelevant.  For the majority of history we've had writers who didn't have access to keyboards.  I'm loath to think that the great writers from two-hundred years ago were worse writers because of this.  They may have been more prolific had they been able to write faster, but that has nothing to do with the quality of their work.


Converting orientation and speed to position

Question: I have a body located at $(x,y,z)$ at time $t_0$. I know the body is moving at a constant speed, $s$ (I don't know the direction he's moving only the magnitude of the velocity vector). The body's orientation is a known constant $= (h,p,r)$ (heading pitch and roll). I would like to calculate the location of the body after $t$ seconds as a function of $x,y,z,h,p,r$. How do I do this? Thank you.
Answer: There is not much linear algebra involved. All you need is trigonometry to find the forward direction $d$ of your body. It is clear that roll does not affect the direction, and you can then figure out (following appropriate conventions) that:
$d_x = cos(p) . cos(y)$
, $d_y = cos(p) . sin(-y)$
, $d_z = cos(p)$
Then, you get the position vector $p$ at time $t$ using $p=p_0+d.s.t$, where $p_0$ is the initial position.
Answer: In vector notation the position is given by
$$\vec r=x\, \vec i+y\, \vec j+z\, \vec k$$
The velocity vector
$$\dot {\vec r}=\dot x\, \vec i+\dot y\, \vec j+\dot z\, \vec k$$
You are given the magnitude such as
$$v=\sqrt{\dot x^2+\dot y^2+\dot z^2}$$
Note that the orientation (direction) is the unit vector of velocity vector and can be described as
$$\vec u=\frac{\dot {\vec r}}{||\dot {\vec r}||}=\frac{\dot x}{\sqrt{\dot x^2+\dot y^2+\dot z^2}} \vec i+\frac{\dot y}{\sqrt{\dot x^2+\dot y^2+\dot z^2}} \vec j+\frac{\dot z}{\sqrt{\dot x^2+\dot y^2+\dot z^2}} \vec k$$
Since $\vec u$ and $v$ is known to you you can find the constant velocity vector as
$$\dot {\vec r}=v \times \vec u$$
and the position after t seconds
$$\vec r(t)=\vec r(0)+v \times \vec u$$


Indian Bamboo Flute: Practice

Question: I am learning a 8 hole bamboo flute. I am having difficulties in practicing it because I am getting different sounds for different lip positions. Are there any tricks or ways to get the right sound apart from the normal way of practicing it for a long time?
Comment: I assume this is a transverse flute, like a bansuri?
Comment: @the flute is a south indian version with 8 hole called Venu.
Answer: Making some assumptions here: you're talking about a transverse flute whose playing technique is similar to that of a typical C flute.
If by "different sounds" you mean "different pitches", then read below. Otherwise, if you are either getting a good tone or not getting a good tone, that's just going to take practice until you can play a good tone reliably. Here are three techniques for achieving the correct lip position (embouchure): use the one that works best for you (though in concept, they should all get you to the same place):

Form your embouchure as you would if you were blowing a tone on a glass Coke bottle.
Shape your lips as though you were blowing 'cooling' air across a bowlful of something hot.
Say the word 'peu'.

If you are getting different pitches, the sounds you are hearing are most likely in the harmonic series above whatever fundamental note you are fingering. Your goal should be to practice these so that you can control them. In general, if your airstream is aimed toward the floor at an angle, across the tone hole of the flute, you will get a higher pitch with a more intense airstream aimed at a point on the floor farther away from you.
Practice with a basic note (left hand fingers down, right hand fingers up) by playing up and down in the harmonic series without changing the fingering. Once you are comfortable controlling which pitch you want to hit at what time, you will be able to aim directly for the fundamental note with the fingering that you are intending to play.
Answer: Your basnsuri's blowhole's center and your lips center should align.
There is one method to place bansuri initially, afterwards your judgment will do
Try like kiss your blow hole of bansuri and then turn it outwards 90 degree.See the recordings and the pictures of some well known players
Try practice blowing with the above mentioned techniques
Answer: Different pitches or different sounds with varying lips position is quite obvious in bansuri.
The lip position is normally attuned not just by paying attention to to lips position, but mainly listening to the pitch it resonates. The bansuri could then be adjusted by turning round its axis to resonate to best audible giving minimal sound of blowing.

Indian Bamboo Flute: Practice


Limit wordpress posts loop to continue onto another page

Question: Theres a site i did that on the home page, i created kind of like a news box type
of thing which is what the client wanted...
the posts bit im using to limit the posts on the index page is
query_posts('posts_per_page=4');

Now, this limits my posts to "4" or whatever number i want etc, when the user clicks on the
"news" page button, it takes them to a page which has the full posts loop without the
query_posts('posts_per_page=4'); which essentially shows them all the posts.
Now the problem is that, this person is posting A LOT now and the page now has a bunch of posts one after the other.
Is there a way to limit these to any number (that i choose) and show the rest of the posts on another page???
So essentially something that says
filter out 20 messages/excerpts for example, BUT after 20 show a "next" page or something like that?
is that possible? Because as it stands now, by years end this ONE page will have hundreds of posts.
ive looked around but not sure exactly what im looking for. This one came close (here on SO)
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3875895/wordpress-loop-show-limit-posts
And although its similar, i need a way to limit the posts on the page AND continue them on another page so that one page doesnt hold ALL the posts.
Thanks in advanced.
Comment: Do you mean pagination?
Answer: just use WP's custom built pagination or a pagination plugin and that's it, not sure if this is what you mean though


Why "Categorify"? Relating to link/knot homologies...

Question: Hey Everyone!
So I am new blood in the topic of Khovanov Homology and related topics. According to my basic reading the idea is to get the Jones polynomial as the Euler Characteristic of a certain homology theory. My question is, why do this? I mean this in the sense that why is it important/interesting to have this "quantum invariants" $\rightarrow$ "homology theories" transformation? If this question is perhaps to basic and /or unsuited for the site I would appreciate some bibliography on the matter as Khovanov's "A categorification of the Jones polynomial" article doesn't seem to answer this question for me.
Thanks!
Comment: Sam, why not make that an answer?  If it takes three comments to get your point across, it's not a comment!  :)
Comment: that's a good idea!
Answer: A good reason is that categorified invariants are usually more subtle than the uncategorified ones, and their additional structure gives more information about the knot/link. For example there are rather simple knots with the same Jones polynomial that are distinguished by their Khovanov homology. Furthermore, Kronheimer and Mrowka have recently proved that the Khovanov homology detects the unknot, while it is an open problem to determine if the Jones polynomial does or not.
Another very interesting categorification is the Knot Floer homology (defined by Ozsvath and Szabo, and independently by Rasmussen), whose graded Euler characteristic is the Alexander polynomial. This categorified invariant is also much subtle, for example (as proved by OS) it detects the genus of a knot, while the Alexander polynomial gives only bounds on it, and KFH detects fibred knots (Ni) while the Alexander polynomial gives obstructions about it.
Comment: Well I don't know what actually Khovanov was looking for when he discovered Khovanov homology, but surely when you try to "complicate" an invariant you expect to get something stronger. By the way a good introduction to the topic is arxiv.org/pdf/math/0201043 , you can also find the example I was talking about
Comment: Thanks for your answer Francesco! Do you know if this was the original motivation for the categorification or a side product? Can you please give me a reference regarding knots with same Jones poly different Khovanov homologies, please?
Answer: Physicists view categorification as adding a time dimension in gauge theory. For a description of this in the context of Khovanov homology, see Witten's notes, or you can read his lecture notes and watch his video from the Freedman conference last summer. There's a dimension shift here though that I don't understand, where the elliptic equations are in 4D, whose count gives the Jones polynomial, whereas Khovanov homology is counting solutions to a related equation in 5 dimensions. Witten also gives as an example how to categorify the Casson invariant to give Floer homology.
Answer: As suggested by Budney and Agol's answers, one short answer to the question "why categorify [3-manifold invariants]" is "to get 4-manifold invariants."
This is directly related to the standard answer to the question "why is homology better than the Euler characteristic" which is: "functoriality." Functoriality in the case of Khovanov homology leads to maps coming from 4-dimensional cobordisms between knots, which one hopes will give interesting information about knot cobordisms (this has been realized in the work of Jake Rasmussen).
More specifically, the work of Donaldson/Floer/Witten et al in the 80's and early 90's led to an invariant for 3 and 4 manifolds which you might call "Donaldson-Floer theory" and which (more or less) fit together into what came to be called a "3+1 dimensional topological quantum field theory." D-F theory gave many exciting results about the smooth structure of 4-manifolds, but it was defined using complicated non-linear analysis and was very hard to compute.
Around the same time, there appeared another TQFT, the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev (WRT) theory. This was a 2+1 dimensional TQFT, and the work of Reshetikhin-Turaev showed that it had a purely combinatorial definition. Moreover, it gave invariants of knots which were directly related to the Jones polynomial.
According to the introduction of Khovanov's paper, his original motivation goes back to ideas of Crane and Frenkel on lifting the WRT theory from a 2+1 to a 3+1 theory, in the hopes of getting a combinatorially-defined invariant of smooth 4-manifolds with the same power as D-F theory. To understand, from their point of view, why this is related to "categorification" in the algebraic sense (a term which they may have helped define? I'm not sure), see their paper "Four dimensional topological quantum field theory, Hopf categories, and the canonical bases." There, they say

"the second idea motivating our
  construction is that replacing an
  algebraic structure with a similar
  categorical algebraic structure lifts
  the dimension of the corresponding
  TQFT by 1"

Currently, Khovanov homology is not defined for all knots and knot cobordisms in all 3 and 4 manifolds, and it gives limited (albeit very interesting!) 4 dimensional information. It remains a fundamental problem to get a complete combinatorial 4-manifold invariant generalizing Khovanov homology and fit it into a TQFT, and to understand its relationship with (categorified) representation theory and smooth 4-manifold topology.
I should add that there is a different point of view on this question, which takes the "categorification of quantum groups" as a fundamental goal and interesting problem in its own right. But this should probably be addressed by someone who knows more about it than I do!
Answer: Let me begin with  the  grand daddy of all invariants, the Euler characteristic of a triangulated space. This  is an easily defined and computable invariant, but  the price we pay for this ease in  computation is that      it is a rather  rough tool. It cannot distinguish too many spaces.  E.g.,   compact oriented $3$-manifolds  have Euler characteristic $0$.
The  construction of homology by Poincare can be viewed as a first instance of categorification. It takes a bit more work to define this new invariant but it is more powerful. The Euler characteristic of a space is the Euler characteristic of  its   homology.  One advantage  is obvious: the Euler characteristic could be trivial without the homology being so.   Put it differently, the "sum" of all parts could be zero, but the parts themselves   may not be so.
The  Alexander and Jones polynomials are themselves  Euler characteristics of more refined objects (Ozsvath-Szabo  and resp. Khovanov  homology).    These polynomials could be trivial, but the corresponding homologies may not be so.
Answer: A slightly different answer than Francesco's.
Why would one want to categorify?   I think it comes down to how you want to think of knots.   By that I mean, the kind of invariants you study very much depend on what kind of object you think you're studying.   Khovanov homology came about as a search for a more natural way to understand the Jones polynomial. The Jones polynomial, one way or another was defined in a more or less diagramatic way, which in the world of geometric topology is most naturally connected to concordance / pseudo-isotopy / cobordism categories.  In my mind I'm thinking of examples coming from Morse and Cerf theory here, also knot concordance.  So roughly speaking, the most natural geometric notion connected to the definition of the Jones polynomial pulls you towards things that are of a categorical nature.   So in hindsight I don't think the development is surprising at all.


What is the best knife/sharpener setup for an active cook?

Question: There are several posts that get close to this but I am looking for a specific knife(ves)/sharpener(s) combo(s) that can be used routinely and that work(s) well.  My opinion is in this answer.
Comment: It's not clear to me whether the product in your linked post is an actual *sharpener* or if they're just as confused as everyone else about the difference between *sharpening* and *honing*.  My guess is the latter.
Comment: No, they are certainly not confused.  These are great products and are exactly what they claim them to be.  You may be confused between actually sharpening a low quality knife and a high quality knife.  The below answers do this exact question justice...
Answer: If you have top quality knives, I generally discourage the use of any do-it-yourself sharpeners.  I take my knives yearly to a professional knife sharpener who puts that amazing 17 degree edge back on my Shun knives.
In between sharpening you should be using a quality honing steel every time you use your knife.
Additionally, your knives shouldn't need routine sharpening. Unless you intend routine to mean every 6-18 months. If you're sharpening knives more frequently than that, you're doing it wrong. From what I've seen the quality sharpeners on the  market are just too expensive to justify their space in my kitchen. Maybe if I charged friends for sharpening services?
Comment: 17 degrees is a very obtuse edge to have on a shun (unless you are talking the softer Wasabi series). And some japanese knife types just need to be very sharp to work, and would be sharpened *daily* in professional use, and probably monthly or after heavy use in a hobbyist kitchen.
Answer: If you're using cheap knives (which you suggest to the answer you linked to, and I admit, I have quite a few), feel free to sharpen them yourself ... I have both a stick-style diamond dust sharpener, and a set of whet stones.
But I don't sharpen my good kitchen knives myself, and I tend to go a few years between sharpenings (but I also have two chef knives and a santuko, which get the majority of the use, but it's spread across three of 'em, so they likely don't get as much wear if I only had one) ... but I agree with @hobodave -- I hone 'em, but I'm not going to sharpen them myself.
Answer: The best sharpener is the old italian man in a van who comes by on Saturday morning ringing his bell.
If you have good knives, don't try to sharpen them yourself.  You need a grinder with the exactly right stone on it, and you need to have destroyed a couple hundred practice blades before you get the technique right.
I get my knives sharpened every 18-24 months, and steel them about 15 strokes per side before use.
Comment: A "grinder" (as in, a powered device) is rarely needed, and indeed not recommendable for non-professionals - even many professionals use them wrongly and damage knives.


Possible contamination / small areas of bubble clusters on top of brew

Question: How would you know if your brew is or isn't contaminated? I'm the first timer that dealt with the broken spigot & had to transfer at 6 days. Just hearing about contaminated home brew so many times & the fact that I'm looking at my batch right now & it just looks like dark coffee with no movement ..freaks me out a little. ??? Also, if this brew is ok, can I transfer it back in to a bucket from the Carboy for ease of bottling ??
Answer: The bubble clusters are normal, not to worry :) An infection typically looks like there's big chunks of stuff floating on top. Another thing that tends to worry first-timers but is actually normal is the crown of nasty-looking stuff around the top of the beer, that's just the yeast and sometimes sediment depending on if/how you filtered the beer (hops are a major culprit in making the carboy messy). Also don't be concerned about funky smells if you put your nose near it. If you don't know what to expect, those smells can freak you out but it's normal for the yeast to make it smell a little rotten (it is a fungus after all).
For the transfer back into the bucket, that's fine as long as you make sure to thoroughly sanitize it/you, and just be gentle with it so you don't dissolve any more oxygen into the beer.
If you want an easier way to bottle, look for a bottling nozzle that you can stick on the end of a siphon. Most homebrew shops carry them, they usually look like a 10-inch long clear plastic straw with a small valve at the end. If you use a rubber tube to siphon you basically jam that straw in the end of it and it will stop fluid from coming out until you press it into the bottom of a bottle, which opens the valve and lets the fluid pass through at a very manageable rate. Here is an example of one. That will probably be a lot easier/safer than using the spigot.
Cheers!
Answer: Everything sounds perfectly normal. After a week of fermentation it's normal for the beer to be mostly still with some bubbles or foam on the surface. Leave it for a while and then test the gravity before bottling. The gravity should be at the final gravity specified by the recipe, or close to it, and stable over three days. After drawing a sample for your hydrometer, don't return the sample to the fermenter as this can introduce contaminants. If the beer tastes normal at this point, it's most likely free of contamination?
When you're ready to bottle, rack the beer from the fermenter to a clean, sanitized bucket and add your priming sugar. Be sure to mix well, but be careful to avoid introducing oxygen. I like to boil the priming sugar in some water and put it in the bucket before the beer. That way the turbulence of the flowing beer distributes the sugar effectively throughout the beer.


sudo apt-get update is not working in Ubuntu after a fresh install

Question: Recently I install Ubuntu 12.10, after install, I am going to update Ubuntu, so  I open terminal, and write " sudo apt-get update " then more than 1 hour has spend it won't finished. Any suggestion ...
Answer: All that
sudo apt-get update

does is to update the available archives.  It should download the changes which does nothing more than let Ubuntu know what updates are available.  If you want to then upgrade individual packages you should issue the command
sudo apt-get upgrade

and this will update any packages that are available except for when there is a change in dependencies. This would be the case when there is a kernel update available.  To perform the kernel update for 12.10 you would then have to issue the command
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Note that this will not upgrade the release level.  It does precisely the same thing as running the normal updates in the GUI.  A release upgrade done on the terminal is something completely different.
The apt-get update and upgrade commands should either run normally, or give you some error messages.  To get help fixing any problems you would have to tell us what those error messages are, but as far as I can tell the only problem is that you haven't actually run the upgrade.
Answer: It depends on your internet connection , I did a update while I was tethering with my phones 3G (No 4G in the area at the moment) and it took me a good 2 hours , It can spend alot of time or even a little with you have a stable fast connection
NOTE - You are already running the latest version , That is the latest version of Ubuntu so your wasting some time there , Just check Ubuntu.com once a month to see if they have updated anything or use that terminal command once a month , Until now , You have the latest
Comment: No, this command isn;t just about version numbers of Ubuntu. It's every package, that will most likely get changed between Ubuntu releases. If all it checked was one version number, it wouldn't be likely to take 2 hours.
Answer: if you installed latest version of ubuntu i.e 12.10 , while installing it ask you

download updates while installing
  install the third party softwares

you just select these two options , then you install it done.
(ubuntu has not been released updates for ubuntu 12.10)


Naming a child after two relatives

Question: I once heard Rabbi Shmuel Niman, Mashgiach Ruchani of the Chafeitz Chaim Yeshiva, say that he had "recently learned" that it is improper to give a child parts of the names of two relatives.  For example, if you had a grandmother Rachel Leah and another named Esther Malka, Rabbi Niman would say you can't name a baby Rachel Esther to honor both?  Has anyone else heard this?  Would you know the source?
Comment: I seem to recall reading something about this on this site before, but can't locate it now.
Comment: Similar: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/47471
Answer: The sefer "Viyikare Shemo Beyisroel" (page 84) brings two views on the subject. Some consider combining two names as a completely different name that has no association to either, while others have no problem. He writes that the prevalent custom is like the later opinion.
The sources he brings: Bris Avos (8:39). Pe'er Hador (vol. 4 pg. 200). Yabiye Omer (5 Y.D. 34). Betzel Hachochma (1:34). Beer Moshe (1:60:2). Ben Ish Chai (Shana Shinya Parshas Shoftim 27). Shut Sdei Haaretz (3:22).
Answer: To quote my own answer from another question:
According to Rabbi J. David Bleich (in the first class of of his Ishut series in 2010, which alas YUtorah.org does not have. Here is the first class the next year, which hopefully includes him saying that link), the value of naming after a relative is Kabbalistic. He went on to say that this Kabbalistic benefit* only takes effect if in fact the name is identical. So if I name my child Moshe because it was my grandfather's name, or Chaim because it was my other grandfather's name, some sort of benefit goes to those relatives. If I name him Moshe Chaim, no such benefit goes to either of them.
However, Rabbi Bleich thinks the value of making family happy is greater than the value of Kabbalistic benefit. So, naming with an initial, or a gender-flipped equivalent, or a translation, or such does not achieve Kabbalistic benefit. It does achieve happiness of family (presumably), and as such is of value for that reason.
*(This benefit may be to the deceased who get some form of extra credit from their namesake's mitzvot over and above the credit the relative would ge for descendant's mitzvot. Alternatively, it might be that the baby gets extra doses of good midot from the deceased (which frankly could work without Kabbalah, and merely through psychology). Or it could be both. I am not a Kabbalist.)

Naming a child after two relatives


How do I repair hairline cracks in stucco?

Question: The exterior walls on my house which is made of stucco, are starting to get hairline cracks in them.
Can anyone suggest a simple, cheap solution for it that doesn't require painting the whole house exterior?
Answer: If it were my house I'd get painting! Paint is intended to seal hairline cracks of this kind. Depending on your locality you may find that it's feasible to spray a paint finish over stucco, which can be by far the easiest and cheapest way to do it.
Answer: I recently used DAP All-Purpose Stucco Patch. It comes in a tube too so you can just attach it to your caulking gun. It needs to be painted over. You need to repair those cracks so water does not get in and DAP will seal it along with a coat of paint. You'll need a plastic spreader to spread the mix.
Answer: I am fixing cracks right now for an apartment building. There is nothing I am doing that hasn't been done already. Buy some good decent caulk and run a bead over the crack then smear it into the crack with your finger. It will come back slower or faster depending on how well you ran the bead.
Good luck. Stucco is cheap junk anyway -- the lattice always rusts and expands no matter what.
Comment: Cheap junk? Perhaps you mean expensive junk...
Answer: Kover Krack, textured type from Sherwin Williams just brushes on the paint over.


What could cause my water heater to pulsate during cold water usage?

Question: I have a well and a pressure tank. I lost water pressure last night and thought everything was frozen but it wasn't, however, the regulator was not engaged. I engaged the pressure regulator and the water was flowing through the pipes in the house. Now when the cold water is used in the house the water heater pulsates. What could be the cause of this?
Answer: Sounds like the pressure regulator is failing and needs to be replaced. Last time mine went, it would bang all the pipes after I used any water, hot or cold. Depending on your existing pressure regulator and the replacement you find, it may be as easy as unscrewing the old one and screwing on a new one. But more than likely, you'll need to cut the pipe and solder (assuming copper) a new connection or two.


A bug tracker service that can can also handle user feedback and community support?

Question: Shipping date for the 1.0 of our product is nearing. It has known issues and missing features, but we'd like to release early, be transparent about missing stuff, and be responsive and prioritised on future developments, driven by user input.
So I'm looking to set up a feature / bug tracker where staff can log issues, post both technical or design progress, and as a side effect, upcoming features are showcased to the public. At the same time, I'd like to allow (non-technical) users to find or log support tickets directly, as well as provide more general input in the form of voting for an exsiting feature request / bug, supplying useful details to help get them done, or submitting new feature requests that will be vetted by the userbase and staff. An added bonus would if the facility can double as a space for community support and help each other, or maybe rave or complain about some aspect of the product, commonly found in the form of phpbb-style forums with many small software companies.
I would like to avoid setting up an 'internet forum', so as to avoid the gradual decay of the signal-to-noise ratio that IMO eventually keels all user forums, and instead go with a facility that somewhat constrains open-ended discussions, so activity is mostly focusing on what is happening to the product, and how the user base collectively prioritises areas of improvement, and not the tone of a certain user in a certain answer, the weather etc. And I'd also like it to be an effective issue tracking system.
I looked at uservoice.com and getsatisfaction.com, but I gather that the feature/bug tracker features are rather weak, and they are more focused on the customer-facing use cases.
Are there any issue tracking or customer support services I should evaluate that handles issue tracking, user input and community support all effectively?
Answer: Look no further and try FogBugz for free for 45 days! It's totally worth it.
Among other things it has:

Great Issue and Bug Tracking System
Awesome Customer Support
Evidence Based Scheduling
Integrated Version Control System
Joel
And many many more cool features and super fast environment.

Whatever questions you have regarding the FogBugz please use their Customer Support. I personally never experienced better customer support by any other company, and they have to be since that is one of their killer features.


Why does microwaved food get cold faster

Question: My evidence is entirely anectodal and non-scientific, but I've noticed food gets cold faster when it's been heated in a microwave instead of a stove. Is this true? And if it is, why does it happen?
Comment: My guess would be that, in the cases where you've noticed this effect, the microwave is heating unevenly. Some parts get very hot, which you notice when you touch the food, but since other parts are much cooler, there's a lot less thermal energy, and as the system starts to equilibrate, the hot parts cool quickly.
Comment: @Sklivvz: this is about thermodynamics, it seems fine here.
Comment: Belongs on Cooking?
Comment: @Ted, In case the food is in big chunk, this effect is there. Inside of big meat lumps or dumplings are shielded somewhat from the MW.
Answer: There are two physical processes that are important in a microwave oven. First is dielectric heating: basically, the oven sets up an electromagnetic wave inside itself, and certain molecules in the food absorb energy from the wave. Specifically, an absorber molecule needs a nonzero electric dipole moment, and it has to be free to rotate. Liquid water is a very efficient microwave absorber, fats and oils are somewhat less so, but a lot of molecules are not. So only some of the molecules in the food can actually absorb energy from the microwave oven.
The other important process is called thermalization. All that means is that the hotter molecules (which in this case happen to be the absorbers) will move around and bump into other molecules, and transfer some of their energy away. This is how heat spreads from the absorbers throughout the food.
Now, the thermalization process takes some time, typically more time than the food actually spends in the microwave oven. So when you take it out, it's unevenly heated: some of the molecules still have more energy than others. The temperature does even out after some time, but that means that the energy from the absorbers has to be shared out among all the molecules in the food (and its container), so they're not as hot as they were when they came out of the oven. This is the cooling process you've noticed.
In contrast, when you heat food on a stove or in a conventional oven, the only process involved is thermalization, and every molecule in the food (and pot) is equally capable of receiving energy by that process. So when you take your food off the stove, all the molecules have been completely heated up. The energy doesn't have to be "shared out" any more. For that reason, the food has more total thermal energy which keeps it hot longer.
Comment: this : ""and it has to be free to rotate."" is a contradiction in itself. There is no free rotation of molecules in liquids. (aside from a limited number of molecules like Camphor or Adamantan, these rotate even in crystal lattice) MW heating of water is the relaxation of orientational polarisation. The resonances of water molecules rotation in gas phase is at other frequncies.
Answer: There are differences in the amount of moisture which affects the cooling time as well but I think that most of the commonly "observed" effect is simply due to the fact that the regular oven heats up the container - the dishes - while the microwave oven ideally heats up the content only.
Because the dishes are hot in the classical oven, their heat is keeping the food warm for a longer time than the relatively cooler dishes taken from a microwave.
Comment: Oh, that's a better answer than the one in my comment above. I bet that the cool dish is the main effect.
Comment: So is there any work around? Something non heat conductive like plastic plates can also cool down food?
Comment: "...microwave oven ideally heats up the content only."  "Ideally" is the key word.  An empty squeaky clean bowl, be it plastic, glass, or ceramic, will heat up in the microwave, even to the point of of being too hot to touch.  I don't know why.  It's just my observation.
Comment: With enough power or time, it will, but water heats up way faster than glass, porcelain, plastic, cardboard in the microwave. Try to measure it quantitatively.
Answer: Another effect is that instructions for heating in a microwave are of the order of minutes. Mostly the water molecules get heated to 100C during that time.
When heating in the  oven one may set it   180C which is normal cooking temperatures, and one leaves it a longer time; of course then there is more heat content and it takes longer to cool.
Comment: Not mostly, only the water is heated in a MWO! But not the water molecules, only bulk water is heated by microwaves. Because water is about 70 or more % of food, the MW heat food, not the dishes: that is why dishes stay cold as Lubos states in his answer.
Comment: Well, Georg, that is what I thought at first, that only water is heated, but I looked up the article in Wiki, and fat molecules also respond to the radiation. It seems  fires can start in a microwave after all the water has gone. It is the few minutes that make the difference, keep the dishes cooler and the food at 100C.
Comment: I assume another item of Wikis limits. A lot of people (including scientists) do not know about the effect used in MW heating. Or is the article You read about "wave" heating in general? RE fat: try some oil in a glas dish in Your MW oven.
Comment: @Georg so this answer is wrong? Do you have an answer?
Comment: @cambraca, Yes this is wrong. The right answer is Lubos and for big chumps, Davids answer.


brined turkey and fat

Question: I had a brined turkey that someone had cooked for the 1st time this Thanksgiving.  Typically we eat one that has been cooked in a roasting bag.  My daughter and I both noticed that the brined turkey seemed greasier. Is the total fat higher for a turkey that has been brined, compared to cooked in a roasting bag?
Answer: Brining shouldn't have any real effect on fat content, just moisture. The issue is, that fat and water can have similar cooling feelings on the tongue, and dried fat may not feel as greasy to the hand.
I have noticed that if you take the bird straight from the brine to the pan, the skin doesn't crisp as much, leaving it feeling mushy and greasy. The best thing you can do here is after you're done brining it, dry it off thoroughly, and have it rest in the refrigerator for 3 or more hours. This will dry out the skin, and make it crispier, and the subcutaneous fat should effectively fry it.
Alternatively, you could have just gotten an unusually fatty bird. It's hard to say from just one sample.

brined turkey and fat


Train from Nice to Monaco during Grand Prix weekend

Question: I am staying in Nice for the Monaco Grand Prix and will be travelling by train to and from Monaco on Saturday and Sunday. Can I book an 'open' return for each day rather than selecting a train time for each journey? I would like to book the tickets on line before I travel.
Answer: The train between Nice and Monaco is a regularly scheduled, frequent local train service. Unless things are significantly different during the Grand Prix weekend, there is no way to reserve a particular seat so buying a ticket in advance wouldn't really help. I was there not too long ago and I think I booked the tickets online using the SNCF mobile app. Using that, you arrive at the station and use your booking code at a terminal to get a paper ticket without having to wait in any queues.
See also How to get from Nice to Monaco by public transport? for further ideas on transport from Nice to Monaco.
Answer: Regional train tickets are valid on any train of the day when you buy the ticket at the station. You only have to validate it before getting on the train. The price of the ticket does not change over time (I mean booking early does not make it cheaper) and every regional train is the same price.
Therefore I would recommend to just buy a round-trip ticket every day you go there, at the station, and you can come back with any train (of that day, the ticket is only valid on one day). At the station, there are machines to buy tickets that accept coins and credit cards (visas and mastercard most likely but maybe not foreign and other cards). There are tellers but in Nice there is usually a line. So to make sure it works you'd better have coins (one-way is about 4 euros, so you should not have troubles). In case you are late and have no coin, you can still get on a train without a ticket but you should go find the controller and explain that you have no coin and you will pay the ticket price plus 4 euros.
Be careful, still, this applies only to the TER, I.e. the regional trains. This does not apply to TGVs that require a reservation and are usually more expensive.
Answer: Saturday will be just fine, but be prepared for Sunday.
Don't need to book a open return. Just mention going to Monaco at the counter. Book a day before or else you will have to get a ticket(which is quick) and queue for the train. The queue moves very slowly as they don't put extra trains for the F1 weekend. Very unlike Silverstone. Trains are packed, so if you want a seat board from St Augustine, many people do. If you are lucky you might get a seat at Nice. After Nice, the trains are jam packed, and be careful about your wallets and valuables. Even if people are dressed like gentleman(woman), be careful. The train driver will anyway remind you through the whole journey. it takes around 20 minutes, so willn't be too taxing on your legs, if you don't get a seat.


Is it OK for bushes to touch the house and fence?

Question: I have a house in the Seattle area.  A realtor told me to trim all the bushes so that they don't touch the house and wood fences before putting it for sale.  Is that really necessary?  What's the harm?
Answer: It shows a lack of care for the home. Bushes against the home or a wood fence are an entrance point for pests (termites, ants, etc). It also adds more wear and tear from abrasion that you wouldn't have from just the sun and rain. And for a buyer, a bush growing against the home could be hiding a problem.
So if you want to make it look as if you've been caring for the home, I'd trim it back before the buyers see it. And for your next home, I'd recommend trimming them back as well, so you are actually taking care of your home and not just making it appear that way before the sale.
Comment: +1 on entry path for pests. Any home inspector or pest management company will point this out as a "no-no" -- hence the realtor's advice. They're trying to minimize the number of red flags that show on inspection.
Answer: Another thing the brush and bushes do is create a more humid and shaded environment.  This will promote mold growth which can cause its own issues (rotting, allergies, etc).  If there is mold growth (black splotchiness) or algae, there are several cleaning products that you can pick up from a local hardware store.  They come in bottles shaped similarly to regular indoor spray cleaners but have a hose attachment instead.  Some products work better than others, and some are "greener" (plant-safe, environmentally friendly).  We just used some on a rental property a few months ago and the siding (on the north end of the house) looks new.  I wish I could remember the brand that worked best, but I honestly can't remember.  Maybe an employee could help provide recommendations.
Answer: In the Great Pacific Northwest, land of moisture and people that rust instead of tan, anything growing against the side of a house contributes to damp and mold growth.
It can also serve as a bridge for ants to evacuate the ground during the first rains, so they start crawling the siding to find voids where they can overwinter.
The absolute worst is Ivy. I personally value any house that's had any quantity of Ivy growing on it at demolition costs. The suckers it uses to cling to the siding break through paint. The moisture buildup leads to areas that never dry out, allowing black mold to grow in the breaches in the paint. It will push its way through the T&G edges of T-111 siding, despite it being well nailed down and proceed to attempt growing inside the wall. The worst instance of this had an ant nest filling the wall.
Another thing to consider in the PNW is wildland interface properties. Laws are going into effect that penalize property owners for maintaining hazardous situations where fire can spread off the property and into adjoining land. One of the major no-nos is having stuff growing against housing and under decks.
Plus it just plain looks messy.


stilllegen, but lahm legen?

Question: In Bastian Sick, "Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod", I read that it is "stilllegen",
but "lahm legen". He didn´t understand it himself and did not give an explanation, why the first word is written in one, whereas the second has to be separated in two. Can somebody
explain?
Answer: I think there was some confusion caused by the spelling reform. The Duden writes it as one word:
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/lahmlegen
The general rule is if you can have a comparative form of the first part, it's written in two words. But it looks like this rule is only applied if this comparative makes sense in the context of the word, e.g. you have "lahm", "lahmer", "am lahmsten", but if something is "lahmgelegt", it is stopped and you can't stop it even more.
That said, you'll find inconsistencies of this kind a lot. The Germans (including me) are confused about this topic as well, as the spelling reform was adapted several times. The matter gets even worse if both versions have a different meaning, e.g. "auseinander setzen" and "auseinandersetzen": You use the first one when two kids fight and you don't let them sit next to each other because of this, and the other one means "to deal with, to argue with, to discuss". You can imagine the chaos when the spelling reform tried to touch some of these constellations.
I read the books of Bastian Sick as well, and they were quite entertaining, but you should take them with a grain of salt. You'll find a lot of (sometimes quite elaborated) criticism in the blogosphere.
Answer: Since you don't provide the context, it is hard to tell.
But I think the main difference between the two is that lahmlegen means to bring something to a halt temporarily and stilllegen means to shut it down permanently - for example:

Er legte den Verkehr lahm.

means that the traffic is blocked for some reason but it may continue after a while

Er legte den Betrieb still.

means that the factory was given up and it will not continue to work.

As Takkat pointed out, I may have misunderstood the question - are you referring to this ? I'd say Bastian Sick gave an answer himself there (since he maybe published the book earlier).
Although, the Duden also writes lahmlegen in one word.
Comment: Yes right, that´s what I want to know

stilllegen, but lahm legen?


What was the Birthright?

Question: What, specifically, did Esau lose when he lost the birthright, and what did Jacob gain? What did the birthright represent, and why was it so highly prized by Jacob?
Answer: When Esau lost his birthright, he lost a greater ownership of his father's property, as well as the position of leader of the family (thinking of family as a whole tribe of people). Jacob may have prized the birthright out of greed, but it's worth mentioning that God spoke to Rebekah in Genesis 25:22-23 and told her that the younger of her sons would rule over the elder. While it doesn't say that this is the case anywhere in the Bible, If Rebekah had told Jacob of this, perhaps he felt he was doing the will of God. This might also explain why Rebekah helped him in deceiving his father (Genesis 27). Again, this is only speculation on my part. You can read more about the Hebrew birthright here: http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/B/BIRTHRIGHT/
Answer: Mainly it appears to be a right to a double share in the inheritance. That is, if a couple had two sons, the first inherited 2/3 of the property and the second inherited 1/3. I've read some discussions that he also had additional responsibilities which made this fair.
Side note: Modern Bible teachers routinely talk about how sneaky and dishonest Jacob was in buying the birthright. But it's interesting to note that the only editorial comment the Bible makes about it is not, "Thus Jacob stole his brother's birthright" or "Thus Jacob tricked his brother out of his birthright", but, "Thus Esau despised his birthright." (Gen 25:34b) Thus the position of the Bible appears to be, not that Jacob , was at fault, but that Esau was an idiot. He was a classic case of immediate gratification, giving up (say) a million dollars several decades in the future in exchange for twenty bucks today.
Answer: It's worth mentioning that inheritance included father's blessing. Orthodox professor of theology Lopukhin thinks that those blessings had mystical meaning - the son being blessed becomes continuator of testament between God and Abraham, takes ability to "speak" with God and so on.
Also i like Jakob's blessing of Joseph, it's so poetic.

What was the Birthright?


Why do so many netbooks have a base resolution of 1024 x 600

Question: I'm running a piece of software the requires a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768. I was thinking about getting a netbook, but many of the netbooks I have looked at have a resolution of 1024 x 600. Why would they drop the below such a standard resolution?
Comment: So they can claim "widescreen".
Comment: It's actually 1024x576...
Answer: Because Intel (until recently) restricted the size of the display that they would allow manufacturers to use with N-series Atom chips.  This is the reason the Dell Mini 10, for example, uses a Z-series chip for the higher resolution version.
See here for an article that mentions this.  I don't think Intel have publicly admitted this, and can't find a direct reference.
Answer:
It's an 8 or 10 inch display.  1024x768 usually means at least a 14 inch display.
It's wide screen.  Wide screen displays are relatively new.  1024 x 768 would look awful on a widescreen display. 1024x600 is standard for wide screens.
Answer: In order to make it fit in a small form factor and still get a resolution that is 1024 pixels wide (basically the new standard).  And generally speaking people don't mind scrolling down, but hate scrolling sideways.  So if the screen is shorter than usual, most people won't mind just scrolling down to display it, but making it wide enough to fit the most popular applications/websites is a must from a consumer-hapiness perspective.
Answer: Look down at your keyboard. Notice how it is wider than it is tall? That's a big part of it. The keyboard is largely the limiting factor in netbook design, everything else has to fit in that general shape.
Answer: Because of the size and the associated weight.
Of course, especially when it comes to netbooks, the price is a major factor, too.
Answer: I have a 10" 1366x768 netbook.  The screen itself is ~150DP, and with Windows running at default DPI settings, small text is borderline too small to read if it's sitting on my knee.  People with poor vision will have to hold it closer than normal or change the DPI setting in windows (at which point they might as well have bought a 1024x600 model anyway) resulting in a poorer user experience.
I like the higher resolution; but I'm not surprised that it has never been more than a tiny niche in the market.  IIRC it's been several years since anyone has released a 10" model at that resolution.  Although with Windows 8 requiring a minimum of 1024x768 to run and 1366x768 to run two metro apps side by size this might change in the future.


Will sealing off rafter spaces and unusable spaces help my attic insulation plan?

Question: I am trying to warm an exercise floor in an unfinished attic and save on heating at the same time. I want to evaluate whether covering the rafters in my attic with various materials will be worthwhile to warm the space and to save on the heating bill. I have a pyramid shaped attic.  I would separate the peak from the main space with rigid foam, drop a knee-wall of blankets around the perimeter and then close off and connecting the two spaces formed thereby by stapling a layer of plastic sheeting or bubble wrap to the still exposed rafters in between. I think the foam and blankets will help. I am thinking that connecting them by sheeting spaces between the rafters will cut down on draftiness and maybe add r value. Does this plan sound worthwhile implementing for a season or three until I can afford a better system?
Answer: First of all, foam and plastic are fire hazards. Don't turn your attic into a giant match head for your house.
It sounds like your attic ceiling is not yet insulated, so that is where you should start.  The fiberglass stuff goes on sale pretty regularly at the big box homecenters. You want the paper backed stuff. The paper makes it easy to staple to rafters and it will stay put once it's up. Your roof requires some air circulation, so before putting up insulation between the rafters you will need to put up ventilation channels. The big box stores sell them, though I can't recall the brand. If you can't buy it all at once, do it a roll at a time until the whole ceiling is insulated.
When you have the entire ceiling insulated you will probably be surprised at how much warmer it is.
But your job isn't really done at this point. The craft paper backed insulation must be covered with drywall in order to pass any type of fire code (I'm not a fire code expert, but the insulation says so right on it). So once it's insulated, put up drywall. No need to plaster or paint yet, jut get the insulation covered. Start by making a peak ceiling and then fill that whole space with fluffy insulation. Then would you way down until you're ready to do the kneewall. Drywall is also fairly cheap. Just requires time and probably a friend to install.
If you close off the space first and it still is not warm it is VERY difficult to insulate after the fact.
Good luck!


What fantasy systems center on evil characters and specifically the consequences of being evil?

Question: I am looking to run a campaign of evil characters, but I want them to have consequences for being evil. The more evil power you gain the more it changes your physical body, mental state and ability to deal with normals. Are there any specific RPG's that handle this?
Comment: As usual I will chime in with RPG.SE's rules on answering system recommendation questions.  Have done it before or seen it done; don't just recommend your pet system. http://meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/1070/are-game-recommendation-questions-on-topic
Answer: Ravenloft for (A)DnD is an excellent choice for the exploration of evil roles in a gothic horror / fantasy setting.
What you get with it is a rules expansion for (A)DnD that allows you to measure - in a pretty unobtrusive way - game effects like fear and horror (that the characters experience), and that also presents you with a multi-level, gradual system to track and measure the evildoer's descent into madness, inhumanity and corresponding, symbolic, physical mutation. This systems also presents incentives for the evildoer, trying to "lure" the character deeper and deeper with rewards that partially compensate them for their degeneration.
As for the world of the setting: Officially it consists of "domains" that map 1) the most famous literary pieces of the gothic horror genre and 2) samples of DnD's most famous settings into a relatively(!) consistent whole. However, due to the nature of this setting - the "domains" being separated by "The Mists", a secret, godlike power(?) -, it is extremely easy to bring anything of your own design under Ravenloft's rules.
Personally, I'd recommend the version published for DnD3.5, but most other editions are great as well. (In fact, the earlier the books, the better they look. Poor 3.5 version is full of pretty weak illustrations that can be a great turn off for a certain kind of people... like me, for example. I do own the previous editions though, and can fall back to those when in need of visual inspiration, relying on 3.5 for rules only.)
Note, please, that Ravenloft, by default, does not encourage playing evil characters. PCs are supposed to be heroes tempted by evil and resisting it to the best of their abilities. However, the rules hinted at above provide a solid yet simple system that could meet the requirements of the Q.
-
PS: In case you're not into (A)DnD, you might want to take a look at Kult, which, though an old game (that definitely belongs to the horror genre, so reader discretion is advised, again), also has a rather efficient system for the measurement of characters' mental balance (+/- extremes) and corresponding mental/physical changes. Kult, by default, is set in a relatively contemporary setting - however, it features dream realms in which a whole isolated fantasy campaing could easily be set up.
Answer: If you're looking for a game about the consequences of evil, check out Kill Puppies For Satan. It completely deflates the idea of evil as a grandiose, melodramatic pursuit and shows those people who barter for dark powers as being cheap and a little pathetic. All the consequences you mention in your post are present.
Answer: Personally I would recommend Kobolds Ate My Baby for an evil campaign, but that's probably not what you are looking for.
D&D3.5 supplements Heroes of Horror and Book of Vile Darkness have variant rules such as "Taint of Evil" and "Lingering effects of Evil".
Black Crusade has mechanics for corruption and insanity.
Characters in Vampire: The Masquerade have a humanity stat and consequences for loosing points from it, but it's a bit sketchy for your purposes.
Answer: I'd say that a Fate based system like that in The Dresden Files RPG would work extremely well and could be converted from present day Earth to any setting you want effortlessly.
I say that it would be a great foundation because the system is very much about building a person that happens to be a little (ok, a lot) more than average, with a sort of power/free-will tradeoff. You can spend "refresh" to buy powers and mortal stunts, but unspent refresh gives you more fate points. These fate points allow you to influence the world, with declarations and invocations of aspects, or buy out of compels and ignore your nature (e.g. spend a fate point to not eat the king's face right now like your nature says you should want to). You could also accept the compel and gain a fate point for giving into your nature.
Characters have aspects that help define their character as a person. For a simple example, a dark angry batman type, pretty far into the not-yet-capital-E evil spectrum, might be something like this:

High Concept: Pure, mortal avenger of evil
Trouble: Zillionaire playboy by day
Aspect: Haunted by the loss of what could have been
Aspect: Mercy is for the pure and innocent
Aspect: I am the hand of retribution

In any sort of social (or otherwise) situation, the GM can offer a fate point to the player and point out that one of his aspects might be making him want to... do something. The player can accept the fate point and agree that they do that thing, or spend a fate point to ignore the compel (a player could also self-compel, with GM approval).  That fate point can be used for anything from re-rolling dice, to getting a bonus to a roll, or to declaring something into existence fitting for the environment/situation (subject to GM approval/acceptance).
By default, your character has a set number of stress boxes that work a bit like temp-hp in 3.5/PF for social/mental/physical stress, determined by their stats, along with the ability to take consequences if they run out of stress boxes. Consequences can be anything, and are essentially just another aspect fitting to the "attack" that spawned them, which the GM can compel against (by offering fate points - the player can ignore these by buying off the compel). Consequences go away over time at various intervals based on their severity: mild (2 stress), moderate (4 stress), major (6 stress) or extreme (8 stress). They can also be used, with GM approval, to do things like taking a consequence in exchange for improving a roll - sort of like how some games let you use your health as mana in a more extreme and character affecting way. For a blunt and simple example, a werewolf might take a bonus on an attack in exchange for a "clouded with rage" consequence.
Taking consequences is also the result of physical/mental/social combat, the consequence fitting with the sort of character you have and whatever caused you to take the consequence. This can give you the consequences of "being evil" and whatever it is that makes you evil, which can then be used as compels (which sounds terrible, but work great in practice once everyone gets the hang of things) to have a real impact on things, as opposed to D&D/PF's "I'm a barbarian and talky people are talking so I'll sit here staring at a wall while talky people talk".
Answer: No-one has mentioned My Life With Master yet?
You play evil minions of an evil master who asks you to do despicable things. The more evil things you do the more you hate yourself (the self loathing stat goes up) and the less you're able to overcome your fear of the master and rebel to him. However, you can discover that you love someone and refuse to obey, making your rebellion more effective.
Wikipedia's My Life With Master article has a more detailed description of the specifics of the game.
Comment: The OP seems to be looking for something that emulates the [Evil Makes You Ugly trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilMakesYouUgly) (WARNING: TVTropes rabbit hole!) that shows up in videogames like [*Fable*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_%28video_game%29#Alignment). MLWM doesn't have rules for "more evil power you gain the more it changes your physical body, mental state and ability to deal with normals," so that's probably why it hadn't yet been mentioned.
Comment: While not responding to the first issue (beauty) and maybe not the third, the game has values that represent your ability to deal with yourself (mental state).
Comment: Oh yeah, that's a fair point. I think I may be focusing on the visual taint aspect too much. Carry on! :)
Answer: I once played in a game based on Glen Cook's Black Company novels and that worked really well. We played with the themes of honour amongst thieves, loyalty, betrayal, the lesser of two evils and so on - very epic in it's own dark and twisted way.
Green Ronin released a d20 supplement based on the series, but I never got to see how it worked in practice as our GM considered d20 excessively complex. I don't know how much it played on the themes of evil we saw in the books, but it might still be worth trying to pick up a copy if you like d20.
From a more modern perspective, you may want to have a look at Black Crusade.
With the option of playing campaigns at both Dark Heresy level and at the Deathwatch level, this could make for a very interesting campaign, if you like the Warhammer 40k universe. It is a pretty dark setting anyway, without bringing the Dark Powers into the heart and souls of the PCs. I'm certainly looking forward to playing this at some point.
Comment: @Downvoter, please let me know why you didn't find my answer useful and I will attempt to improve it.


Identical balls arrangement in a circle

Question: Six identical yellow balls and four identical red balls are to be arranged in the circumference of a circle.  In how many ways it can be done?
Comment: Are rotated arrangements considered equivalent to each other? That is, do you consider 6 yellows followed by 4 reds to be one arrangement or 10 arrangements?
Comment: @copper.hat : balls are identical so one arrangement
Comment: @Aizen: you've answered  copper.hat's question (and that's the reasonable answer) but the reason you give is not right, that the balls are identical has nothing to do with it.
Comment: Does your circle have an orientation? Or is it like a necklace with ten beads that we can choose to wear upside down. In other words are for example RRRYRYYYYY and YYYYYRYRRR (when bent to form a circle) the same. Or yet in other words, can we distinguish mirror images from each other?
Answer: Out of 10 places we can choose 4 places for the red balls in $\binom {10}4$ =210 ways.  If they are not symmetric, they come in groups of $10$.  If the two pairs of red balls are opposite, they come in groups of 5.  For example, (1,2,6,7) is the same as (2,3,7,8), (3,4,8,9), (4,5,9,10) and (10,1,5,6) whereas (1,2,3,4) rotates in 10 different ways.  As there are 2 symmetric cases (accounting for 10 of the 210) there are 20 asymmetric cases (accounting for the other 200), for a total of 22.
Added:  to see the effect of rotational symmetry, consider two red and two yellow balls.  Before we allow for rotations, there are $\binom 42=6$ ways to position the red balls:  (1,2), (1,3), (1,4), (2,3), (2,4), and (3,4).  But when we rotate there are really only two choices:  the balls can be opposite or they can be adjacent.  If you look, (1,2), (2,3), (3,4), and (1,4) have them adjacent and (1,3) and (2,4) have them opposite.  So if there is no symmetry, we collapse 4 positions to one.  If there is twofold symmetry, we collapse 2 positions to one.  In the 6+4 case, we had cases of no symmetry, where we collapsed 10 positions to one and cases of twofold symmetry, where we collapsed 5 positions to one.
Comment: can you please elaborate your solution.I couldn't get how you got 22.If you can make the result generalized for like n identical yellow and m identical red balls it would be helpful.
Comment: @Aizen: did you try with a smaller example, say 2 red balls and 4 yellow balls? what result did you get?
Answer: In general, the problem would correspond to counting binary necklaces of length $n$ (total of balls) with fixed density $m/n$, which is not trivial, see here (and try to understand Ross' answer).
At least, it should be easy to understand that $$\frac{{n \choose m}}{n}$$ is an lower bound, which should be quite precise if $n$ and $m$ are large. And, in particular, it's exact if $n$ and $m$ are relatively prime.
This formula counts all possible placements of $m$ identical red balls in a $n$ urns in a ring, and divides by $n$ to account for rotational invariance. This division is not completly right, of course, because some rotations of some configurations can coincide.
Answer: If you arrange them, there are two possibilities: either it'll become the same in a cycle of five or ten. Let's first think about the first case, which should have 3 yellow and 2 red balls, and it'll be $\frac{5!}{3!2!}=10$. The second case, in the other hand, has 6 yellow and 4 red balls. Calculating $\frac{10!}{6!4!}$ would be 210, but we must subtract from the first case, and it's 200. Finally, we divide them, which is $\frac{10}{2}+\frac{200}{10}=22$.

Identical balls arrangement in a circle


Is it possible to save the game during a mission?

Question: Since missions can be long I'm wondering if I can save the game while "on the field". The first training mission says something about saving when you are sleeping on the bed but I wasn't able to figure out how so far.
Answer: I would assume not, since in every game in the past you couldn't. However, in your home village, you should have a bed which would allow you to sleep in. That bed, when slept in, will prompt you to save.
Hope this helps!
N.S.
Comment: You can't access the home village while "on the field" though...
Answer: If you have a PSPGo, you can pause the game and perform a game state save. This is not the same as the game's saves - it's a feature of the PSPGo and can be used with any game, although the PSPGo only allows one state-save at any one time. Once saved, the PSPGo can be shut off completely without losing the state-save.
I believe the Vita also has this feature, although I have been unable to confirm this with the small amount of web searching I did.
Other PSPs can be put to sleep at any time. This has a similar effect except the PSP must remain with power - if the battery goes flat you will lose your place.


How to effectively test deployment script

Question: I'm developing a script for my company that installs all the dependencies we have and sets up some of the software. I need some way to effectively test my script on a clean machine over and over. Is there some way to "reset" the system to the state it was in when it was just installed? Or would the best approach be to have a virtual machine that I can reset?
Answer: I ended up going with a virtual machine and saving/restoring the state. It's works very well for my purposes at least. It's a bit slower when building a lot of stuff, but you can have multiple "startpoints" depending on what part of the script you're tweaking...
Answer: One way of doing it would be to clone / backup your existing installation. When you need a clean state, just clone the image back to your hard disk. Example guide can be found here.


"Why is this not" versus "why is not this"

Question: Should I use "why is this not" or "why is not this?"
Or are both correct?
Answer: The usual order is "Why is this not [ready yet]?" Inverting it to "Why is not this [rose in bloom]?" might be possible in poetry, but it sounds awkward at best in everyday usage.
Note: awkward at best is a euphemism for incorrect.
Edit: you didn't ask about it, but for completeness I thought I'd mention that "Why isn't this [all over the internet]?" is perfectly fine; indeed, it's probably the most common choice, despite the fact that expanding the contraction results in precisely the why is not this construction criticized above. (Contractions are like that.)
Comment: +1 Note that the contractions (*isn't*, *aren't*) always invert the order. That may be why some people think the order of the contractions ought to be the natural order.
Comment: @Robusto: jinx!
Comment: @Martha: Damn, I owe you so many cokes already ...
Comment: Why _isn't_ this all over the Internet?
Answer: The "not" should be placed as close as possible to the thing it's negating; generally directly next to it is the most appropriate spot.  Since you are not negating the entire "this", whatever it is, but only some element of it, the "not" should go next to the element being negated:  "Why is this not blue like I asked for it to be?"
Answer: The following is coming from the perspective of a native German speaker.
As far as I understand English grammar, most constructions are strictly right-associative:

Why (is (this flower (not (on (the table))))), but on the floor?
Why (is (not (this flower (on (the table))))), but the other one?

It wasn't always this way. If you look at old English literature and poetry, the grammar shared a closer affinity with the German language, where the "not" is more flexibly positioned. (The "not" is left-associative in German, but not in the whole sentence.) In German, the important part of a sentence is always at the beginning, where the interrogative pronoun is placed.
For example, if the following question is asked:

Where must this stay?/ Where has this to stay?

Then one might answer:

Here / Not here … must this stay! / has this to stay!

This does sound OK, or at least not too odd in German, but I believe that this sounds really strange for native English speakers.
The position of the word "not" can be a bit flexible in newer English language, as in the above sentence, but modern English usage allows this flexibility less.

Please correct me, if I'm wrong. (Or if my English is wrong.)
Answer: I can't think of a rule but "Why is this not a good example?" sounds way better to me than "Why is not this a good example?"
Comment: It is your language sense tingling :) It's pretty much same with me.


What kind of ad format best for site header?

Question: I have room in the header of my website for ads. I've tried 480x60 banner ads and text ads from several networks, relevant to the subject matter of the website and every type of ad has performed very poorly. Skyscraper ads in the left nav perform much better. Are there best practices or research that deals with the best type of ad to place in the header of a website? Or, is there a common ratio that relates performance of banner ads vs. skyscraper ads?
Comment: What is your website about? That makes a difference.
Answer: For reference, clickthrough rates on targeted email campaigns can often see success rates in the low single digits.  Pull up your traffic (absolute uniques) subtract yourself and your clients from the mix, then multiply by .05.  That should give you a pretty good sampling of how low the success rate can be.  If you are using Google Adwords as your delivery mechanism, you can also track via their control panel.
Google makes so darned much money because:
a) they have insane traffic hitting their sites
b) they deliver on a mind-bending array of media and categories
c) they broker the deals as opposed to just waiting for a viewer to click on their sites
d) they tailor the ad specifically to what the user is looking at
Generalizing heavily here, UI studies say things placed high on the page are generally going to score well in the measure of the user's attention.  That's not to say that other positions wouldn't work better...that's your challenge as the designer to figure out.  A visually attractive ad (and site) will help.  As will quality content on your own site that invites the user to linger and be exposed to the ads.
Personally, if I'm placing an ad with a focus on max revenue, I'm going to make it stand apart from other elements so as not to lose it in the flow.  I find when I'm browsing if I see a tight grouping of ads, I immediately get away.  The only exception would be text ads which I might consider "hiding" among real text content to "sneak" some unintended extra clicks.  I feel a little conflicted about trying to trick my user, however.
It's a tough business trying to make it solely on pay-per-click these days.  Good luck.


Find the coordinates in an isosceles triangle if the triangle it self is in positive axis

Question: A at $(45,10)$,  B at $(10,20)$,  $AB=AC$ and angle $C=20$ degree find the coordinates of $C$.suggest the formula so i can write code in Perl.
Answer: We have $A(45,10),B(10,20),C(x_c,y_c)$.
$AB=AC=\sqrt{(45-10)^{2}+(10-20)^{2}}=5\sqrt{53}$
$C=B=20^{%
%TCIMACRO{\U{ba}}%
%BeginExpansion
{{}^o}%
%EndExpansion
}=\pi /9$ rad
$A=180^{%
%TCIMACRO{\U{ba}}%
%BeginExpansion
{{}^o}%
%EndExpansion
}-40^{%
%TCIMACRO{\U{ba}}%
%BeginExpansion
{{}^o}%
%EndExpansion
}=140^{%
%TCIMACRO{\U{ba}}%
%BeginExpansion
{{}^o}%
%EndExpansion
}=7\pi /9$ rad

Let's make the following change of variables: $x=X+45,y=Y+10$ (translation of axes). Then $A$ becomes the origin of the $XY$ referential.
The vector $\overrightarrow{AB}$ can be written in this $XY$ referential as
$\overrightarrow{AB}=(5\sqrt{53}\cos \left( \pi -\arctan \frac{2}{7}\right)
,5\sqrt{53}\sin \left( \pi -\arctan \frac{2}{7}\right) )=(-35,10)$
and the vector $\overrightarrow{AC}$ as
$\overrightarrow{AC}=(5\sqrt{53}\cos \left( \pi -\frac{7\pi }{9}-\arctan
\frac{2}{7}\right) ,5\sqrt{53}\sin \left( \pi -\frac{7\pi }{9}-\arctan \frac{%
2}{7}\right) )$
Therefore in the original referencial $xy$, we have
$x_{C}=5\sqrt{53}\cos \left( -\arctan \frac{2}{7}-\frac{7\pi }{9}+\pi
\right) +45\approx 78.239$
$y_{C}=5\sqrt{53}\sin \left( -\arctan \frac{2}{7}-\frac{7\pi }{9}+\pi
\right) +10\approx 24.837$
Answer: You have the coordinates of A and B, so you can compute the distance AB.  AB=AC, so you then know the distance AC.  Let the coordinates of C be (x,y).  Apply the distance formula to A and C and set the result equal to the distance you already computed.  This equation guarantees that AB=AC.
Now, the angle at C is determined by the vectors $\overrightarrow{CA}$ and $\overrightarrow{CB}$.  These vectors can be found by subtracting the coordinates of C from A and B (respectively).  $(CA)(CB)\cos C = \overrightarrow{CA}\cdot\overrightarrow{CB}$, and you know the distances CA = AC = AB and the measure of C, and you can compute CB and the dot product in terms of (x,y).  This equation guarantees that the measure of C is 20°.
Solve the system resulting from the two equations above to find the coordinates of C.  There are almost certainly 2 solutions.
(See also this question.)


market completion under stochastic volatility model

Question: Consider a stochastic volatility model. As there are two sources of risk and one asset only, this is an incomplete market. One can complete the market by considering a derivative V1 used to hedge the volatility risk. My question is: Do derivatives prices depends on the derivative V1 one chooses to complete the market? And if no, why?
Answer: Of course. The whole point of pricing derivatives is that it is an interpolation exercise. Saying that the market is incomplete means there are not enough constraints to determine the price of all derivatives. It's a bit as if you had a polynomial of degree 2 but you gave only 2 points rather than 3.
So yes, the price of your V1 will be vital because if you need to use it to hedge your position then for sure you need to know how much it costs...


Kubuntu 11.10 Lot of Networking problems

Question: Since I upgrade to 11.10 I have a lot of problems with KDE. First of all there are problems in configuring a static IP address. Just to explain @home I have a normal fiber ADSL and I use a DHCP. When I go to a customer I must insert a static IP address. With ifconfig everything seems ok but there is something wrong in searching DNS names. (I have installed Ubuntu and was going ok again). Now I Have reinstalled again Kubuntu 11.10 and I have the same problem in addition today I have discovered that if I connect to a network in another customer office the desktop freezes and I could only switch between windows with alt+tab. No FN key or right click to open run command works. So i unplugged network (configuration is just DHCP here) and tried on another position in office. It was the same. My Laptop freezes when connected, a fedora 14 of a friend works. So I decided to connect my Galaxy S II as USB network device. Everything is ok for like 3 minutes. When I noticed a little loss of signal again the desktop freezes and i must work (like now) just switching between windows with alt+tab). Additional information: Unplugging network or restarting it via Konsole does not not solve the freezing problem. Every time I must open a console and reboot.
Any idea of what tests to do ?
Just a recommendation: If I must post here logs or something else please guide me. I use Linux since Ubuntu 9 but I am not an "expert".
Answer: I had a lot of networking problems with 11.10 Server. This may help.
First off I had to create /var/lib/dhcp3 and run update-rc.d -f apparmor remove.
Apparmor was configured for use with network manager, which is not even installed on Ubuntu Server 11.10 (or any Ubuntu Server release).
I can't imagine how a missing directory like /var/lib/dhcp3 passed a smoke test.


HTML5 maps with dynamic data instead of Flash

Question: I was wanting to create maps on our site similar to http://globaledge.msu.edu/Countries/Rankings except that we want the maps to be HTML/HTML5 instead of Flash. (The above site is the site that I'm working on also) The data is dynamic and gets updated periodically, but there's no set time, I just update the database. Any help would be much appreciated. I've looked at MapBox, but they seem to be one time only type of maps and I'd have to create a different map for each variable.
Answer: If you are looking for state-of-the-art developments in HTML5 dynamic map applications, this question has quite a few resources.
Personally, I'd say look into OpenLayers. It is a great Javascript mapping library that utilizes the canvas element. Hook it up with GeoServer or MapServer, and you should  be able to "just update the database" similar to how you do now.
Answer: I was looking for some pure-HTML way to display a map myself and stumbled upon this one
Fla-shop.com HTML5-powered JavaScript Map
Answer: The map package at the Fla-shop link is excellent, I believe you have the option to purchase a single map for $70 or a bundle of 10 various colors for $100, they are extremely easy to install and in my view saved me so much time the purchase price was a no brainer as it saved me so much time.
The other benefit you will get is you can change the font sizes, colors and links in the settings file so you will be able to customize your own map if you wish and have this as a basis for future maps so all the heavy lifting is done for you.


How do you clean and fill a keg manually?

Question: What equipment is required to clean and fill a commercial keg (not one adapted for homebrewing), before paying for a full blown keg washer and filler? Is this even possible?
Answer: I haven't found removing the spear to be too much of a problem once you depressurize it (screwdriver in a rag pushed down on the ball) remove the circlip it just lifts right out.
Assuming you are only using it for bright beer (i.e. not fermenting in it) I would think you could get it reasonably clean by just boiling a small amount of water and PBW inside it although Jimmy is right that inspecting it will be a problem. Brewers hardware (link no longer available June 2021) has a great sanke conversion kit for making into a fermenter and discusses cleaning on the linked page.
Despite all this. I still think the cornelius soda keg is the way to go for home brewing. Six to the bbl, easy to clean, cheap to obtain and easy to move when full.
I use converted Sanke kegs for my HLT, MLT and BK and love them but will stick with Cornies for packaging and dispensing.
Answer: I'd look into making a homemade version of a spray ball or wand, that you can insert in the keg.  Having it recirculate wash solution inside there.
Of course the more diligent you are about cleaning the keg after its empty the easier it is to clean.  For the most part a seal keg just needs a good rinse with cleaner and sanitizer.  Because there should be nothing but liquid remaining.  Of course if you aren't filtering the beer then you are more likely to get some beer stone in there to clean out too.
In the interest of cost, most small scale start up breweries get good with fabrication in their own shop.  This is a must if you can't afford to by pre-made and designed pro-grade equipment.
Answer: You could fill it through a regular sanke coupler.  You'd have to remove the check valve and then connect connect whatever device you use to get the beer out of your fermenter.  For example an auto-siphon with a tailpiece on the other end of the tubing.
To clean it, you probably want to remove the spear, which takes some tools.  See here
Even then if would be difficult to visually inspect that all surfaces are clean.  All in all kind of a pain.


non-steel frames and longevity

Question: Until recently, I had a late 80's Schwinn aluminum frame bike (now a thief has a 80's Schwinn aluminum frame bike, but that's another story). I had heard a number of horror stories about early aluminum frames--that the welds weren't properly done, or that the technology hadn't been perfected yet, that one should expect the frame to come apart any day, etc. I assume these kinds of rumors are being spread about carbon frames as well. Is there any hard evidence here? I know this is very hard to quantify because there were dozens of manufacturers, and there are/were lots of technologies being used. But is there any evidence, or is it just a cloud of Fear Uncertainty and Doubt?
Comment: -1 to the thief.
Comment: I was secretly hoping the thief would have a frame with longevity problems! I was also trying to decide whether to replace the bike with a used al frame, a new al frame, or a steel frame.
Answer: I ride aluminum frames almost exclusively and have had no problem with them.
The welds are what tend to break first on most bike you hear these horror stories about, but this can happen with any sort of weld (though some forms of welding are more effective than others), so if a bike seems to be too good of a deal to have an aluminum frame, make sure to check out the welds, for those could very well be the deal breaker.
Answer: I know in BMX, aluminium frames are too soft.  I had a frame and it was designed for racing but I used it for dirt.  Did not take too long for the headset (was not setup loose) to ovalise due to it being not hard enough.  I did bodge this with shimmys from coke cans for awhile.
It's also not a wise idea to put pegs on an aluminium frame as it leads to bending the whole frame out of shape due to the force on the pegs.
Answer: I ride a 1999 Specialized Allez Pro with an M4 aluminum frame. It's a great frame - light and extremely stiff. Apparently it's had some problems with cracks around the dropouts, but I've had zero problems with mine. I weigh 160 lbs FWIW.
You can see others' opinions on this bike over at roadbikereview: http://www.roadbikereview.com/mfr/specialized/older-road-bike/PRD_18545_1610crx.aspx
Apparently it's a harsh ride, but it's been a long time since I rode my steel frame Miele with Columbus tubing in the 80's so I don't have a great basis for comparison.
A carbon frame will be in my future sometime, but I'm spending my $$$ on stuff that will actually make me faster in the short term. My Computrainer arrives next week :)

non-steel frames and longevity


SharePoint 2010 Variations

Question:
          Our client is having sharepoint site which will open in different countries such as in Russia,Germany,China,Euro..etc. When the site is opened in china country then site should automatically open in Chinese language.In the same way,If SharePoint 2010 site is opened in Russia country then  sharepoint site should open in Russian language.This type of scenario should apply to all the countries.
Answer: You don't seem to actually be asking a question here, so I'll give a couple of pointers for you to work from.
This Microsoft blog post gives a brief introduction to the out-of-the-box localisation available for Sharepoint 2010.
You will have to develop something (possibly part of one of your core masterpages) that will determine the users desired language (I'd suggest going with browser strings if available over the IP-address based), and set the language for the session to that.
You will need to remember to properly localise any custom features you build (web parts, content types, etc.). Again Microsoft have a useful article giving an introduction.

SharePoint 2010 Variations


imagemagick globbing multiple extensions

Question: I have a folder containing photos coming from different cameras.
I use Imagemagick to convert to resized and renamed photos in another folder.
Something like this:
convert "*.jpg" \
    -resize 640 -scene 1 \
    "${folder}/${prefix}_%02d.jpg"

The problem is some cameras save photos with "JPG" extension, others with "jpg".
To solve this I used to rename extensions with this:
rename .JPG .jpg *.JPG 2> /dev/null

This won't work on filesystems where I have only read access. How do I glob in IM both *.jpg and *.JPG files?
Thanks for your help
Answer: I got it:
convert "*.{jpg,JPG}" \
    -resize 640 -scene 1 \
    "${folder}/${prefix}_%02d.jpg"

from here


Can't find recovery and others menus in LR4

Question: I made my first new import on LR4 after importing the old catalogue, but I don't find the recovery, fill lights and other slider from raw shoots! I checked the old pictures which I did import with LR3 and the slider is there but in the last import no! And yes I'm sure that the pictures are in CR2 formart so RAW.
Answer: Lightroom 4 introduces a new process version, PV2012. The new process version has totally revamped tone controls; as you noticed, for example, Fill Light and Recovery are gone. Generally, the approach in PV2012 is to work through the controls from top to bottom, starting with Exposure. When setting Exposure, you should concentrate on getting the midtones right (in contrast to PV2010, where you would set Exposure to avoid highlight clipping). Then work your way down through the rest of the tone controls. All of the PV2012 tone controls make the target brighter when moved to the right, and darker when moved to the left. So, for example, moving Shadows to the right will brighten the shadows much like the old Fill Light control.
Lightroom 4 still supports the PV2010 process that was the default in Lightroom 3. If you previously edited an image in Lightroom 3, it will still be in the PV2010 process, and the old tone controls like Fill Light will be visible. You can update an old image to PV2012 by clicking the exclamation point in the lower right corner of the image; however, the conversion is not exact, and you probably shouldn't update images indiscriminately.
Similarly, you can still work with new images in PV2010 in Lightroom 4 if you want to. Just select the 2010 process in the Camera Calibration panel of the Develop module.
Here is a video tutorial from Adobe that demonstrates the image update process and the new tone controls in Lightroom 4.
Comment: ok thanks for explanation but I don't understand how to recover burned part of the picture:\ (the red ones for instance)
Comment: Generally, PV2012 tries harder to avoid clipped highlights than PV2010 did, automatically. If you still have clipped highlights after adjusting Exposure for the midtones, try reducing (moving left) Whites and possibly Highlights.
Answer: You're seeing the difference the new Process Version 2012 brings (LR3 used PV2010). It's intended to be a better/easier way of editing. I think the 2012 naming convention is clearer, though it's subjective, I suppose.
Process version history: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS2bacbdf8d487e58240e1c02a1341ed8e630-8000.html


Is it possible/advisable to run VMware Server ESX/ESXi on a laptop?

Question: The idea of having a small footprint hypervisor as the primary OS on a laptop or desktop where every "real" OS is a guest appeals to me. Now I realize this software is more typically used on blades and the other servers but can it be done on a normal PC? Should it be? What requirements are there (eg hardware/BIOS/chipset)? Is there a performance impact for doing so? Is it a good/bad idea?
Answer: Its actually possible to Run ESX as a virtual machine on your laptop:-)
See the PDF here (Run VMWare ESX 3.5 & ESXI on Server 2.0 link)
Also here
Ran pretty well on a Dell laptop - as long as the Processor has V enabled in the bios and is compatible
Comment: I was so close to calling BS on this but you're right, it looks like it works fine - how odd, REALLY didn't think you could do that - thanks for informing
Answer: Hardware compatibility aside the biggest problem with your idea is the fact that the VM's in an ESX\ESXi system do not have the ability to interact directly with the console display\keyboard\mouse on the ESX\ESXi server. You will be left with access only to the ESX Service Console which is a modified RHEL command line environment (or to even less than that with ESXi). To access the user interface on the VM's you need to connect to them over a network using VNC\RDP or some other remote console protocol. This is because these are bare-metal hypervisors - they do not directly provide a VM user interface.
Products like Parallels, VMware Workstation\Fusion, Virtual Server, Virtual Box and the others are hosted hypervisors that allow you to switch between VM's and interact with them because they leverage the user interface of the boot OS to handle the redirected display and user input devices of the VM's.
Answer: A really easy way to find out is to create an ESXi USB stick, assuming your laptop will boot from USB.  If it works, awesome! Go find it some storage and see how it goes.
If not, you've only lost 15 minutes of your day.  The best bit... you haven't trashed your laptop in the process (unless you wipe the drive to become a datastore).
Obviously, performance likely won't be stunning, but it might be Good Enough(tm) to test one or two VM's.  That said, I run a half dozen VM's reasonably well on a single CPU/single core desktop PC with 3 GB of RAM, booting ESXi4 from a USB stick (used to get around a weird SATA controller quirk).  Horribly unsupported configuration, but works great for a lab :)
Answer: Yes It is possible, but I wouldn't recommend it.
ESX is a embedded hypervisor and the way it works is it takes over the whole disk drive so it will erase everything on the disk drive. If you wanted a hypervisor tool to have virtualization then you should use something like VMware Server so you can share your disk drive since it is not an embedded hypervisor
Answer: If you run the ESX hypervisor on your desktop, you're essentially running a small linux distro.
At that point, it would be kind of hard to use it as a desktop, so by definition it becomes a server. I know there are some desktop virtualization products coming out, but I don't think we're quite there yet as far as that technology goes. :)
Answer: I guess, you could if your hardware supported it.  Generally you can't do anything from an ESX console other then set some configuration options.  If you where expecting to actually be able to use the laptop from the console this may not be what you want.
Answer: VMWare ESX has a fairly short compatability list, it may be that it doesn't actually function on your laptops hardware.  Other than that, I can't see any problems with it.
Answer: Cletus, I'm not sure I understand the problem you are trying to solve and why isn't handled adequately by the freeware tools from VMware, Microsoft, Xen, whoever that are designed to run as apps on top of a host OS? The Host OS could be a bare minimal install with no un-needed apps, so it comes as close as possible to your requirements but is actually useable.
Even if its possible (ESX, as is said already, has a quite exacting HCL) then I'm not sure its a good idea unless you're talking about a "portable blade" you can take to demos with you and where you'll never need to open a console desktop to any of the guest OSes from the host. Good luck with that one ;-)
Which still brings us back to why not the more "conventional" tools for this kind of task because I can only imagine ESX on a laptop as being about as much fun as using a chainsaw to try and clean an angry bear's teeth.
Comment: How else would you clean a bears teeth?
Answer: I have done this with XEN and it worked just fine. The real advantage for me was ease of backup.


97 altima 5spd sputters, has loss of power under 3500rpm, dies when clutch is disengaged

Question: My 97 altima has been to the same shop four times for the same problem. It will sputter and smoke( black smoke) and has large loss of power under 3500rpms and dies just about every time you depress the clutch pedal. The idle is very rough just about all the time. When taken to the shop they had replaced the throttle position sensor, the egr valve gasket and the egr valve, the vehicle speed sensor, the distributor and the cap and rotor, the knock sensor, and the spark plugs. Since then the car still acts like it did before it was at the shop. Now it has error codes p0100( mass or Volume air flow A circuit) and 2 p0325( knock sensor circuit (bank 1)).
Now I've heard that it could be a bad mass air flow sensor..... how do I solve these problems and fix my car so it runs like it should and not like an overgrown golfcart with a horrible idle problem???
Comment: What were the error codes, if any, when your mechanic replaced all those other parts?
Answer: It sounds a lot like a faulty mass airflow sensor.  These are relatively cheap to replace.
Also, check the electrical connector to make sure its attached to the MAF and hasn't somehow worked its way loose.
There is the possibility that your MAF might be dirty -
You can also try cleaning it with this:
http://www.amazon.com/CRC-05110-Mass-Sensor-Cleaner/dp/B000J19XSA