qid int64 1 74.7M | question stringlengths 12 33.8k | date stringlengths 10 10 | metadata list | response_j stringlengths 0 115k | response_k stringlengths 2 98.3k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1,491,224 | Recently i get in touch with Empire-db. The project doc. stated that they are using "[string-free coding](http://incubator.apache.org/empire-db/empiredb/stringfree.htm)", intended to use less constant strings as possible to avoid typos and use the force of the compiler.
I was always a big fan of this principle, because i think as Java is a formal language it could be expresive for configuration like properties or xml and gives extra value by checking thru the compiler. Maybe at runtime there are less posibilities to changes without recompiling but this depends on each case.
Do you now more references or readings about this term/principle/design pattern ? | 2009/09/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1491224",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/114226/"
] | This is the same thing as **magic number** vs **constants**. Using constants raises maintainability and readability. Constants also encapsulate change: a change in constant value is automatically propagated and, as for string-free coding, a misspelled constant is a compile-time error. | Never heard the particular expression, but [Effective Java](http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/) recommends to "*avoid strings where other types are more appropriate*" (Item 50). |
1,491,224 | Recently i get in touch with Empire-db. The project doc. stated that they are using "[string-free coding](http://incubator.apache.org/empire-db/empiredb/stringfree.htm)", intended to use less constant strings as possible to avoid typos and use the force of the compiler.
I was always a big fan of this principle, because i think as Java is a formal language it could be expresive for configuration like properties or xml and gives extra value by checking thru the compiler. Maybe at runtime there are less posibilities to changes without recompiling but this depends on each case.
Do you now more references or readings about this term/principle/design pattern ? | 2009/09/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1491224",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/114226/"
] | Never heard the particular expression, but [Effective Java](http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/) recommends to "*avoid strings where other types are more appropriate*" (Item 50). | The famous [Pragmatic Programmer](http://www.pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer) mentions this principle especially in connection with metadata handling. One of the tips about this is:
>
> Put Abstractions in Code, Details in
> Metadata
>
>
> Program for the general case,
> and put the specifics outside the
> compiled code base.
>
>
>
It is worth reading the book anyway. |
1,491,224 | Recently i get in touch with Empire-db. The project doc. stated that they are using "[string-free coding](http://incubator.apache.org/empire-db/empiredb/stringfree.htm)", intended to use less constant strings as possible to avoid typos and use the force of the compiler.
I was always a big fan of this principle, because i think as Java is a formal language it could be expresive for configuration like properties or xml and gives extra value by checking thru the compiler. Maybe at runtime there are less posibilities to changes without recompiling but this depends on each case.
Do you now more references or readings about this term/principle/design pattern ? | 2009/09/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1491224",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/114226/"
] | Never heard the particular expression, but [Effective Java](http://java.sun.com/docs/books/effective/) recommends to "*avoid strings where other types are more appropriate*" (Item 50). | Regarding empire-db, it's like 'type-safety' for SQL queries. |
1,491,224 | Recently i get in touch with Empire-db. The project doc. stated that they are using "[string-free coding](http://incubator.apache.org/empire-db/empiredb/stringfree.htm)", intended to use less constant strings as possible to avoid typos and use the force of the compiler.
I was always a big fan of this principle, because i think as Java is a formal language it could be expresive for configuration like properties or xml and gives extra value by checking thru the compiler. Maybe at runtime there are less posibilities to changes without recompiling but this depends on each case.
Do you now more references or readings about this term/principle/design pattern ? | 2009/09/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1491224",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/114226/"
] | This is the same thing as **magic number** vs **constants**. Using constants raises maintainability and readability. Constants also encapsulate change: a change in constant value is automatically propagated and, as for string-free coding, a misspelled constant is a compile-time error. | The famous [Pragmatic Programmer](http://www.pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer) mentions this principle especially in connection with metadata handling. One of the tips about this is:
>
> Put Abstractions in Code, Details in
> Metadata
>
>
> Program for the general case,
> and put the specifics outside the
> compiled code base.
>
>
>
It is worth reading the book anyway. |
1,491,224 | Recently i get in touch with Empire-db. The project doc. stated that they are using "[string-free coding](http://incubator.apache.org/empire-db/empiredb/stringfree.htm)", intended to use less constant strings as possible to avoid typos and use the force of the compiler.
I was always a big fan of this principle, because i think as Java is a formal language it could be expresive for configuration like properties or xml and gives extra value by checking thru the compiler. Maybe at runtime there are less posibilities to changes without recompiling but this depends on each case.
Do you now more references or readings about this term/principle/design pattern ? | 2009/09/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1491224",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/114226/"
] | This is the same thing as **magic number** vs **constants**. Using constants raises maintainability and readability. Constants also encapsulate change: a change in constant value is automatically propagated and, as for string-free coding, a misspelled constant is a compile-time error. | Regarding empire-db, it's like 'type-safety' for SQL queries. |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | [This CodeProject article](http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/662301/x-Instruction-Encoding-Revealed-Bit-Twiddling-fo) is an excellent high-level view of x86's instruction format (with diagrams!). After reading this, more detailed references will make more sense.
Due to many years of backwards-compatible evolution, the x86 instruction format is quite complicated, with all sorts of optional prefixes and instruction-dependent fields, so it is a bit tricky to work out the instruction length. If you want something robust, I would advise adapting existing software rather than rolling your own. But understanding these concepts will of course be very helpful. | You can use the capstone library to disassemble the instructions stating at the address you are looking at. It has the ability to determine for you how long the instruction is in bytes, and then you can use that in your code.
<http://www.capstone-engine.org/> |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | If you want to understand the instruction encodings in detail you need to study [Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual Volume 2 (Instruction Set Reference, A-Z)](http://download.intel.com/products/processor/manual/325383.pdf). Be aware that Intel IA-32 and AMD64 are very complicated instruction sets and in order to hook a function which is not specifically designed to be hooked by injecting a jump you will run into a great number of different instructions. There is no guarantee that the function even has a stack frame set up.
There are libraries which can do the disassembly and hooking for you, such as [Detours](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/) by Microsoft Research. | A lot of people have mentioned the Intel manuals, which are an invaluable reference, but quite hefty. I'd suggest looking at [this OSDev wiki page](https://wiki.osdev.org/X86-64_Instruction_Encoding#General_Overview) to get an idea of how the instructions are encoded on a simpler level.
For all practical instruction-length-finding problems, I would advise using a disassembler.
Function hooking is an interesting challenge. [This MSDN blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20110921-00/?p=9583) explains some of the difficulties well. Depending the requirements, it might be preferable to use the operating system's debugging functionality to attach to the process, "break" on functions, and implement your hook in a separate process. |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | If you want to understand the instruction encodings in detail you need to study [Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual Volume 2 (Instruction Set Reference, A-Z)](http://download.intel.com/products/processor/manual/325383.pdf). Be aware that Intel IA-32 and AMD64 are very complicated instruction sets and in order to hook a function which is not specifically designed to be hooked by injecting a jump you will run into a great number of different instructions. There is no guarantee that the function even has a stack frame set up.
There are libraries which can do the disassembly and hooking for you, such as [Detours](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/) by Microsoft Research. | You can use the capstone library to disassemble the instructions stating at the address you are looking at. It has the ability to determine for you how long the instruction is in bytes, and then you can use that in your code.
<http://www.capstone-engine.org/> |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | The [IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software Developer’s Manual Vol. 2](http://www.cs.uaf.edu/2006/fall/cs301/support/x86/reference.pdf) in all its mind-numbing glory. | You can use the capstone library to disassemble the instructions stating at the address you are looking at. It has the ability to determine for you how long the instruction is in bytes, and then you can use that in your code.
<http://www.capstone-engine.org/> |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | If you want to understand the instruction encodings in detail you need to study [Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual Volume 2 (Instruction Set Reference, A-Z)](http://download.intel.com/products/processor/manual/325383.pdf). Be aware that Intel IA-32 and AMD64 are very complicated instruction sets and in order to hook a function which is not specifically designed to be hooked by injecting a jump you will run into a great number of different instructions. There is no guarantee that the function even has a stack frame set up.
There are libraries which can do the disassembly and hooking for you, such as [Detours](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/detours/) by Microsoft Research. | The ground truth on instruction decoding can be found in the processors manual for software developers. Assembler authors need to know this, so the information is there. For Intel, it's in the beginning of Volume 2A (I think, I lost track since they smushed all the manuals into one PDF). There's a big table that defines how prefixes are encoded, how opcodes are encoded, and how operands are encoded. It's not the easiest reading, but it's there... |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | A lot of people have mentioned the Intel manuals, which are an invaluable reference, but quite hefty. I'd suggest looking at [this OSDev wiki page](https://wiki.osdev.org/X86-64_Instruction_Encoding#General_Overview) to get an idea of how the instructions are encoded on a simpler level.
For all practical instruction-length-finding problems, I would advise using a disassembler.
Function hooking is an interesting challenge. [This MSDN blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20110921-00/?p=9583) explains some of the difficulties well. Depending the requirements, it might be preferable to use the operating system's debugging functionality to attach to the process, "break" on functions, and implement your hook in a separate process. | The ground truth on instruction decoding can be found in the processors manual for software developers. Assembler authors need to know this, so the information is there. For Intel, it's in the beginning of Volume 2A (I think, I lost track since they smushed all the manuals into one PDF). There's a big table that defines how prefixes are encoded, how opcodes are encoded, and how operands are encoded. It's not the easiest reading, but it's there... |
5 | I'm writing a small utility library for hooking functions at run time. I need to find out the length of the first few instructions because I don't want to assume anything or require the developer to manually input the amount of bytes to relocate and overwrite.
There are many great resources to learn assembly but none of them seem to go into much detail on how assembly mnemonics get turned into raw binary instructions. | 2013/03/19 | [
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/5",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/users/16/"
] | A lot of people have mentioned the Intel manuals, which are an invaluable reference, but quite hefty. I'd suggest looking at [this OSDev wiki page](https://wiki.osdev.org/X86-64_Instruction_Encoding#General_Overview) to get an idea of how the instructions are encoded on a simpler level.
For all practical instruction-length-finding problems, I would advise using a disassembler.
Function hooking is an interesting challenge. [This MSDN blog](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20110921-00/?p=9583) explains some of the difficulties well. Depending the requirements, it might be preferable to use the operating system's debugging functionality to attach to the process, "break" on functions, and implement your hook in a separate process. | You can use the capstone library to disassemble the instructions stating at the address you are looking at. It has the ability to determine for you how long the instruction is in bytes, and then you can use that in your code.
<http://www.capstone-engine.org/> |
255,684 | We have a database of resources, be they products, blog posts or something. We need to design a URL scheme to address them, for the public website.
Here are two examples that are database ID bound:
* <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FPS6llqhXw>
* <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000NHOMSQ>
Here's an example that's friendly:
* <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_circuit>
(A little glimpse into my browsing life there)
I like the friendly URLs since you have an idea about what's on the end of the URL when you hover or see it in an email or document. It's better for SEO, or it used to be.
What happens when the document or product is renamed? Either because it changed (Wiki may not change but our resources could) or due to a typo, right? Our resources are very technical, long words and error prone.
Also, we have a database ID, which is a number. Let's look at an idea for an address of a video using a pretend rental store:
* <http://vidsyeah.com/video/sliding-doors/287171>
The ID is obvious and is used in the DB look-up. Fine.
The sliding-doors bit is non-unique and just generated from the video title, it could be verified on GET, so if gliding-doors was entered and doesn't match what's really in doc 287171 it responds 404.
Or maybe it could be ignored, allowing humans to stick whatever they like in there, if someone ever cared to. So this URL would also work:
* <http://vidsyeah.com/video/anything-at_all/287171>
The issue with verifying the friendly part is, as mentioned, the problem of renaming or typo correction. If the name changed, and in our domain that does happen, we don't want to break the URLs that are out there, so should we:
* Just not verify the friendly part.
* Verify, but add a 'history' of friendly parts to the database record so any previous friendly IDs still work!
Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.
Luke | 2014/09/08 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/255684",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/12625/"
] | Keeping the ID in the URL is the most future proof method and as you demonstrated, the URLs can still look relatively good.
Another option used by multiple projects is to keep an history of previously used slugs. When the title changes, you update the slug and if someone tries looking for an obsolete slug, search in the list of old slugs. That way old slugs can be reused for new content (or not depending on your implementation).
Wordpress did that and so did the [friendly\_id gem](https://github.com/norman/friendly_id) which is probably the most used gem for managing friendly ids for Rails.
Also, while I like good looking URLs, I think it's important to remember that this is most likely a feature used by more tech savvy users. Some browsers are even starting to hide URLs (or part of it). | The BBC use slugs that are:
* alpha-numeric (for compactness)
* unique (for lookups)
* non-sequential (so that the order things are added to the db isn't exposed)
e.g. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk7h>
Each public programme has both an ID and a slug. IDs can then be auto-incrementing integers as usual, and gaps aren't exposed. |
10,494 | I was reminded of this curiosity just moments ago when I got a craving for coffee and couldn't find any normal coffee beans/grounds (owing to the fact that I don't normally drink coffee at home anymore).
I unwittingly purchased this so-called espresso coffee at a supermarket in the heart of the Italian district here, and most of the writing on it is Italian; I didn't even realize my mistake until after I had used it three or four times to brew normal coffee and saw, in very tiny letters, the words "espresso coffee" written on one of the sides.
So I shelved that coffee until today; even though it seemed fine, I figured I might have been using it inappropriately. After my act of desperation today I decided to look this up. [According to Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso)
>
> Espresso is not a specific bean or roast level; it is a coffee brewing method. Any bean or roasting level can be used to produce authentic espresso and different beans have unique flavor profiles lending themselves to different roasting levels and styles.
>
>
>
This is what I had always believed. The answer to [What factors lead to rich crema on espresso?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/5900/41) does hint at a possible difference, though: It says that darker roasts are better for producing crema. However, the coffee I have does not seem to be *particularly* dark a roast; it's dark, but I've had "normal" coffee that was darker.
Needless to say, I'm a little confused, and the internet is helping me a whole lot. Maybe it's because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Is there an appreciable difference between coffee beans or coffee grounds labeled as "espresso coffee" and plain, ordinary coffee? If so, what is it?
Perhaps more importantly, is espresso coffee suitable for use in a normal coffee maker or press? | 2010/12/25 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/10494",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/41/"
] | It IS the roast that is the difference. The only real difference in the beans is that some beans taste better at a higher roast than others, so they are more appropriate for espresso. Your Italian grocery coffee company may be using the espresso label for marketing purposes, but in general, espresso coffee beans can be the same beans that are used for "regular" coffee, but roasted to a French or Italian roast level, which is darker than City or Full City.
Since the advent of Starbucks, many roasts are much darker than they used to be. Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which is a Full City roast, used to be the norm, but now a French seems to be what you can buy.
I roast my own coffee and take it to just into the second crack which is, generally, a Full City roast...a point where the character of the coffee predominates rather than the flavor of the roast. There is more information about roasts at [Sweet Marias where I buy my green beans](http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php), and reading through the site will give you way more of a coffee education than you probably ever wanted.
So, yes, you can use the coffee you have to make brewed coffee. It will probably be roastier than you would normally have, unless it is just a marketing ploy, in which case it will taste normal. Consider how long you have had this coffee; if it has been shelved for a while "normal" probably won't be all that great, since freshly roasted coffee is, generally, way better than old coffee. But as long as the oils aren't rancid, it is more likely just going to be bland. | Espresso is a preparation method in which high pressure, steam is forced through tightly packed, finely ground coffee. As Doug mentions, it works best with very darkly roasted beans, and coffee sold as "espresso" will generally be prepared that way. Likewise espresso works best with a fine grind and pre-ground coffee described as "espresso" will come that way.
You can use the same beans to prepare drip coffee, though you risk getting a somewhat bitter brew. Also the fine grind means that a paper filter will work better than a perforated metal sieve. I recommend adding the water is small increments so you don't leave water sitting on the ground for a long time.
The couple of times I've tried beans prepared for espresso in a french press I've gotten a harsh and bitter cup of joe, so I don't recommend it. |
10,494 | I was reminded of this curiosity just moments ago when I got a craving for coffee and couldn't find any normal coffee beans/grounds (owing to the fact that I don't normally drink coffee at home anymore).
I unwittingly purchased this so-called espresso coffee at a supermarket in the heart of the Italian district here, and most of the writing on it is Italian; I didn't even realize my mistake until after I had used it three or four times to brew normal coffee and saw, in very tiny letters, the words "espresso coffee" written on one of the sides.
So I shelved that coffee until today; even though it seemed fine, I figured I might have been using it inappropriately. After my act of desperation today I decided to look this up. [According to Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso)
>
> Espresso is not a specific bean or roast level; it is a coffee brewing method. Any bean or roasting level can be used to produce authentic espresso and different beans have unique flavor profiles lending themselves to different roasting levels and styles.
>
>
>
This is what I had always believed. The answer to [What factors lead to rich crema on espresso?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/5900/41) does hint at a possible difference, though: It says that darker roasts are better for producing crema. However, the coffee I have does not seem to be *particularly* dark a roast; it's dark, but I've had "normal" coffee that was darker.
Needless to say, I'm a little confused, and the internet is helping me a whole lot. Maybe it's because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Is there an appreciable difference between coffee beans or coffee grounds labeled as "espresso coffee" and plain, ordinary coffee? If so, what is it?
Perhaps more importantly, is espresso coffee suitable for use in a normal coffee maker or press? | 2010/12/25 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/10494",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/41/"
] | It IS the roast that is the difference. The only real difference in the beans is that some beans taste better at a higher roast than others, so they are more appropriate for espresso. Your Italian grocery coffee company may be using the espresso label for marketing purposes, but in general, espresso coffee beans can be the same beans that are used for "regular" coffee, but roasted to a French or Italian roast level, which is darker than City or Full City.
Since the advent of Starbucks, many roasts are much darker than they used to be. Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which is a Full City roast, used to be the norm, but now a French seems to be what you can buy.
I roast my own coffee and take it to just into the second crack which is, generally, a Full City roast...a point where the character of the coffee predominates rather than the flavor of the roast. There is more information about roasts at [Sweet Marias where I buy my green beans](http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php), and reading through the site will give you way more of a coffee education than you probably ever wanted.
So, yes, you can use the coffee you have to make brewed coffee. It will probably be roastier than you would normally have, unless it is just a marketing ploy, in which case it will taste normal. Consider how long you have had this coffee; if it has been shelved for a while "normal" probably won't be all that great, since freshly roasted coffee is, generally, way better than old coffee. But as long as the oils aren't rancid, it is more likely just going to be bland. | There are two aspects to making a ground roast coffee for espresso -- the grind and the roast!
As you observed, the roast is dark but not the darkest roast one can find. It's not as dark as what (in the US) is called Italian roast, and certainly less dark than what here we call French roast.
The grind is not a coarse one, but in my experience the "espresso grind" that one sees on various coffee grinders is too fine for the best cup. If there were to be a problem making a normal pot of coffee with "espresso coffee", most likely it would be that the grind is too fine (powdery) for your normal method of brewing. Paper filters would likely eliminate any actual dregs showing up in the bottom of your cup, but methods like the coffee press or brewing through one of the metallic coated reusable filters is apt to produce a certain amount of dregs. When I have my espresso coffee ground (from the roasted beans), I ask the setting be a couple of notches coarser than the "espresso" setting on the machine.
One last observation has to do with the beans. In days gone by it was thought that blending in a robusta variety of coffee produced a better "crema" than pure Arabica beans. I have my doubts about this, as robusta tends to be cheaper and there may have been an element of self-serving marketing in that trend. In any case I'm not enough of a coffee gourmet to judge the "crema" of pure Arabica as being in any way inferior. |
10,494 | I was reminded of this curiosity just moments ago when I got a craving for coffee and couldn't find any normal coffee beans/grounds (owing to the fact that I don't normally drink coffee at home anymore).
I unwittingly purchased this so-called espresso coffee at a supermarket in the heart of the Italian district here, and most of the writing on it is Italian; I didn't even realize my mistake until after I had used it three or four times to brew normal coffee and saw, in very tiny letters, the words "espresso coffee" written on one of the sides.
So I shelved that coffee until today; even though it seemed fine, I figured I might have been using it inappropriately. After my act of desperation today I decided to look this up. [According to Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso)
>
> Espresso is not a specific bean or roast level; it is a coffee brewing method. Any bean or roasting level can be used to produce authentic espresso and different beans have unique flavor profiles lending themselves to different roasting levels and styles.
>
>
>
This is what I had always believed. The answer to [What factors lead to rich crema on espresso?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/5900/41) does hint at a possible difference, though: It says that darker roasts are better for producing crema. However, the coffee I have does not seem to be *particularly* dark a roast; it's dark, but I've had "normal" coffee that was darker.
Needless to say, I'm a little confused, and the internet is helping me a whole lot. Maybe it's because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Is there an appreciable difference between coffee beans or coffee grounds labeled as "espresso coffee" and plain, ordinary coffee? If so, what is it?
Perhaps more importantly, is espresso coffee suitable for use in a normal coffee maker or press? | 2010/12/25 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/10494",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/41/"
] | It IS the roast that is the difference. The only real difference in the beans is that some beans taste better at a higher roast than others, so they are more appropriate for espresso. Your Italian grocery coffee company may be using the espresso label for marketing purposes, but in general, espresso coffee beans can be the same beans that are used for "regular" coffee, but roasted to a French or Italian roast level, which is darker than City or Full City.
Since the advent of Starbucks, many roasts are much darker than they used to be. Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which is a Full City roast, used to be the norm, but now a French seems to be what you can buy.
I roast my own coffee and take it to just into the second crack which is, generally, a Full City roast...a point where the character of the coffee predominates rather than the flavor of the roast. There is more information about roasts at [Sweet Marias where I buy my green beans](http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php), and reading through the site will give you way more of a coffee education than you probably ever wanted.
So, yes, you can use the coffee you have to make brewed coffee. It will probably be roastier than you would normally have, unless it is just a marketing ploy, in which case it will taste normal. Consider how long you have had this coffee; if it has been shelved for a while "normal" probably won't be all that great, since freshly roasted coffee is, generally, way better than old coffee. But as long as the oils aren't rancid, it is more likely just going to be bland. | Espresso coffee refers to the type of brewing method and the type of grind used. Below is an article that explains the different types of brewing methods and grinds associated for an optimized cup of coffee.
<http://www.examiner.com/article/different-types-of-coffee-bean-grinds?cid=db_articles> |
10,494 | I was reminded of this curiosity just moments ago when I got a craving for coffee and couldn't find any normal coffee beans/grounds (owing to the fact that I don't normally drink coffee at home anymore).
I unwittingly purchased this so-called espresso coffee at a supermarket in the heart of the Italian district here, and most of the writing on it is Italian; I didn't even realize my mistake until after I had used it three or four times to brew normal coffee and saw, in very tiny letters, the words "espresso coffee" written on one of the sides.
So I shelved that coffee until today; even though it seemed fine, I figured I might have been using it inappropriately. After my act of desperation today I decided to look this up. [According to Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso)
>
> Espresso is not a specific bean or roast level; it is a coffee brewing method. Any bean or roasting level can be used to produce authentic espresso and different beans have unique flavor profiles lending themselves to different roasting levels and styles.
>
>
>
This is what I had always believed. The answer to [What factors lead to rich crema on espresso?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/5900/41) does hint at a possible difference, though: It says that darker roasts are better for producing crema. However, the coffee I have does not seem to be *particularly* dark a roast; it's dark, but I've had "normal" coffee that was darker.
Needless to say, I'm a little confused, and the internet is helping me a whole lot. Maybe it's because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Is there an appreciable difference between coffee beans or coffee grounds labeled as "espresso coffee" and plain, ordinary coffee? If so, what is it?
Perhaps more importantly, is espresso coffee suitable for use in a normal coffee maker or press? | 2010/12/25 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/10494",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/41/"
] | Espresso is a preparation method in which high pressure, steam is forced through tightly packed, finely ground coffee. As Doug mentions, it works best with very darkly roasted beans, and coffee sold as "espresso" will generally be prepared that way. Likewise espresso works best with a fine grind and pre-ground coffee described as "espresso" will come that way.
You can use the same beans to prepare drip coffee, though you risk getting a somewhat bitter brew. Also the fine grind means that a paper filter will work better than a perforated metal sieve. I recommend adding the water is small increments so you don't leave water sitting on the ground for a long time.
The couple of times I've tried beans prepared for espresso in a french press I've gotten a harsh and bitter cup of joe, so I don't recommend it. | There are two aspects to making a ground roast coffee for espresso -- the grind and the roast!
As you observed, the roast is dark but not the darkest roast one can find. It's not as dark as what (in the US) is called Italian roast, and certainly less dark than what here we call French roast.
The grind is not a coarse one, but in my experience the "espresso grind" that one sees on various coffee grinders is too fine for the best cup. If there were to be a problem making a normal pot of coffee with "espresso coffee", most likely it would be that the grind is too fine (powdery) for your normal method of brewing. Paper filters would likely eliminate any actual dregs showing up in the bottom of your cup, but methods like the coffee press or brewing through one of the metallic coated reusable filters is apt to produce a certain amount of dregs. When I have my espresso coffee ground (from the roasted beans), I ask the setting be a couple of notches coarser than the "espresso" setting on the machine.
One last observation has to do with the beans. In days gone by it was thought that blending in a robusta variety of coffee produced a better "crema" than pure Arabica beans. I have my doubts about this, as robusta tends to be cheaper and there may have been an element of self-serving marketing in that trend. In any case I'm not enough of a coffee gourmet to judge the "crema" of pure Arabica as being in any way inferior. |
10,494 | I was reminded of this curiosity just moments ago when I got a craving for coffee and couldn't find any normal coffee beans/grounds (owing to the fact that I don't normally drink coffee at home anymore).
I unwittingly purchased this so-called espresso coffee at a supermarket in the heart of the Italian district here, and most of the writing on it is Italian; I didn't even realize my mistake until after I had used it three or four times to brew normal coffee and saw, in very tiny letters, the words "espresso coffee" written on one of the sides.
So I shelved that coffee until today; even though it seemed fine, I figured I might have been using it inappropriately. After my act of desperation today I decided to look this up. [According to Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso)
>
> Espresso is not a specific bean or roast level; it is a coffee brewing method. Any bean or roasting level can be used to produce authentic espresso and different beans have unique flavor profiles lending themselves to different roasting levels and styles.
>
>
>
This is what I had always believed. The answer to [What factors lead to rich crema on espresso?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/5900/41) does hint at a possible difference, though: It says that darker roasts are better for producing crema. However, the coffee I have does not seem to be *particularly* dark a roast; it's dark, but I've had "normal" coffee that was darker.
Needless to say, I'm a little confused, and the internet is helping me a whole lot. Maybe it's because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Is there an appreciable difference between coffee beans or coffee grounds labeled as "espresso coffee" and plain, ordinary coffee? If so, what is it?
Perhaps more importantly, is espresso coffee suitable for use in a normal coffee maker or press? | 2010/12/25 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/10494",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/41/"
] | Espresso is a preparation method in which high pressure, steam is forced through tightly packed, finely ground coffee. As Doug mentions, it works best with very darkly roasted beans, and coffee sold as "espresso" will generally be prepared that way. Likewise espresso works best with a fine grind and pre-ground coffee described as "espresso" will come that way.
You can use the same beans to prepare drip coffee, though you risk getting a somewhat bitter brew. Also the fine grind means that a paper filter will work better than a perforated metal sieve. I recommend adding the water is small increments so you don't leave water sitting on the ground for a long time.
The couple of times I've tried beans prepared for espresso in a french press I've gotten a harsh and bitter cup of joe, so I don't recommend it. | Espresso coffee refers to the type of brewing method and the type of grind used. Below is an article that explains the different types of brewing methods and grinds associated for an optimized cup of coffee.
<http://www.examiner.com/article/different-types-of-coffee-bean-grinds?cid=db_articles> |
61,812 | In the [War of 1812 battle between the *USS Chesapeake* and *HMS Shannon*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_USS_Chesapeake), the *Shannon* outgunned the *Chesapeake* decisively, then closed to board the enemy ship. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued before the *USS Chesapeake* was taken.
Reading the account made me wonder: if the crew of the *Chesapeake* had won the hand-to-hand combat, the boarding attempt could easily have backfired. After all, the two ships were close enough that the Americans could've boarded the *Shannon* instead.
Has such an attempt to board ever backfired? If not, why not? I'm guessing that it can't be that "if one side attempts to board they have already won the fight", because if that's the case, the loser would surrender. | 2020/11/11 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/61812",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/31722/"
] | The most famous example of this would be Blackbeard's defeat. The [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard) article is quite thorough, so I'll focus on the last battle. The local governor organized a pirate hunt to capture or kill Blackbeard after he started pirating again (Blackbeard was pardoned shortly before).
Two sloops found Blackbeard's vessel anchored at Ocracoke island. The whole situation was quite fortuitous for the hunters. Blackbeard didn't post a sentry, so didn't notice the enemy until they engaged and more than half his crew was at Bath (a town on the mainland, around 120km from the island).
The three vessels engaged in combat next morning. The account of what happened in the naval battle is a bit muddied. A broadside from Blackbeard's vessel heavily damaged and killed nearly 20 men on Maynard's ship and completely disabled its compatriot. Meanwhile Blackbeard ran aground on a sandbank, also taking heavy damage, it's unclear whether damage done by the British sloops caused this. Blackbeard then decided to board Maynard's vessel. Maynard kept most of his men below deck, so Blackbeard was lulled into a false sense of security seeing the many dead on deck and not expecting to see much resistance. After boarding, the pirates were surprised by Maynards men storming from below deck and while the pirates were able to inflict quite a few casualties, they were outnumbered. Eventually Blackbeard was surrounded and cut down after which the remaining pirates surrendered. | Perhaps the stories of boarding raids going wrong isn't retold often. A story of 'this little ship tried to board us, but we took it' isn't very compelling.
The opposing story is very compelling. The capture of the Serapis by John Paul Jones is still famous. And Lord Thomas Cochrane's taking of the El Gamo is legendary. That story was used in O'Brians Master and Commander series and, IMO, was toned down. The true story is too much for a work of fiction. |
2,406 | I have a content type named "school;" this content type has the "teacher" CCK field, but the number of teachers is not same for any school.
I need a thing like "add new teacher" button, which can be used to a new "teacher" CCK field.
Does anyone know a module to do this? | 2011/04/16 | [
"https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/2406",
"https://drupal.stackexchange.com",
"https://drupal.stackexchange.com/users/780/"
] | Set the number of allowed teachers to "Unlimited". | School needs to have a nodereference field pointing to teacher. Then, as tim.plunkett [said](https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/2406/same-cck-field-in-one-content-type/2407#2407), you need to make the number of teachers node reference field to unlimited.
Same as the one detailed [here](http://pras.net.np/blogs/guide-cck-nodereference), but the number of values set to unlimited. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Let's look at history. Kinda recent actually. Tzarist Russia. They used "Forced displacement" as a form of punishment.
The pros are simple:
1. government is posing as very humane one (as in old joke, we could have killed them but we just told them to F\*\*k off)
2. displaced person (or group) are still required to work so they are usable
3. you send them to place where they have little to zero chances of spreading their revolutionary teaching.
4. you can extend their period of punishment ad infinitum but they don't know that so they are in constant mind setting that "soon" they will get out.
5. you can send them to place with different language so they have problem with communication
6. You make them check with police regularly. If they fail, BAM, extend time on exile.
7. You don't need to build any facilities. The further the better. Distance is the best border.
Cons are:
1. you need to have a lot of police and secret police to check on people in cities and roads
2. All people are required to have ID. You don't give that ID to dissidents. It's easier to check if they have one or have forged it rather than database of all convicts.
3. You need to check their "danger" level from time to time otherwise you will end up with Lenin. | The government of the UFS has come to the conclusion that rebel activists are potentially useful later on. They've got initiative and ability, so the idea is to exile them to somewhere bleak, with bland and not-quite-sufficient food, and every so often offer to parole them with the condition of service to the State.
Alternatively, Bob and Alice have abilities that would be very useful in case of a war or other foreseeable disaster. Stalin pulled an awful lot of military officers out of the Gulag system when Germany attacked. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | The easiest answer is "martydom creates more dissidents". you can see this is some narratives concerning the middle east, where America's war on terror failed to fix the problem, instead blowing up villages simply made the locals more resentful and turn to terrorism themselves (who knew!)
The same kind of thing can happen with individuals - every activist student has a picture of Che Guevara on their bedroom wall, inspiring them to at least pretend to want to overthrow the oppressive fascist government (until they graduate and get a job, that is). So killing your dissidents has the *potential* effect of making martyrs of them, complete with nicely-designed images that can inspire future dissidents. One thing dystopian governments know is that a nice picture of a face (with an optional pointing finger) can inspire their own followers to do what they want, why would they let the same kind of propaganda imagery be used against themselves? Live rallying figures can be found and publicly executed, but what can you do against dead ones?
So the government ships them off somewhere cold and miserable, and everyone forgets about them. Job done, no worry, back to oppressing the masses!
Of course, another reason could be spite - why execute someone when you can send them to the salt mines to work until they die. | Keep in mind for your story that fascist governments were *not* efficient and all-knowing.
The Four Year Plan sets the Punishment
======================================
If the "show trial" was a local affair and not on national television, perhaps the *Dear Leader* has given [plan numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Year_Plan) not just to the steel industry but also to the secret police. Every month, so many traitors sentenced to death, so many sent to exile, and so on. The characters were lucky that they went to trial on the 27th of the month and not a week later.
If they went on national TV that doesn't quite work, because the fascists had no problem breaking their own rules. So how about this?
A Fate Worse Than Death
=======================
Things are happening in the Falklands camps. Things that fill regime critics with dread and loyalists with glee, *even if neither groups knows what exactly is happening.* The speculations are contradictory. Former prisoners know that every now and then, a bunch of camp inmates disappears. They may be working on [chemical weapons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_experimentation_in_North_Korea), or entirely [different forms of abuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women).
Early Nazi concentration camps -- [mostly holding the German opposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps#Pre-war_camps) -- were quite brutal, often lethal, but inmates could also get released alive after some weeks or months, to spread the tales of terror and to return to the workforce. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | The easiest answer is "martydom creates more dissidents". you can see this is some narratives concerning the middle east, where America's war on terror failed to fix the problem, instead blowing up villages simply made the locals more resentful and turn to terrorism themselves (who knew!)
The same kind of thing can happen with individuals - every activist student has a picture of Che Guevara on their bedroom wall, inspiring them to at least pretend to want to overthrow the oppressive fascist government (until they graduate and get a job, that is). So killing your dissidents has the *potential* effect of making martyrs of them, complete with nicely-designed images that can inspire future dissidents. One thing dystopian governments know is that a nice picture of a face (with an optional pointing finger) can inspire their own followers to do what they want, why would they let the same kind of propaganda imagery be used against themselves? Live rallying figures can be found and publicly executed, but what can you do against dead ones?
So the government ships them off somewhere cold and miserable, and everyone forgets about them. Job done, no worry, back to oppressing the masses!
Of course, another reason could be spite - why execute someone when you can send them to the salt mines to work until they die. | As a variant on the "someone important" idea, the dissidents are someone "useful." They have technical skills, knowledge perhaps, something you don't want to lose permanently from your institutional or collective talent pool... but they are too inconvenient to simply leave free. The other traditional alternative here is sequestration in a high security facility, but this gets expensive. Stick them on the Falklands, airdrop supplies, and you have them out of the way, but you can always grab them later. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Because the two regimes are waging propaganda wars against one another, so well known dissidents can't be killed because the opposing side would use that as evidence of the brutality of the regime they oppose. Such information may be used to destabilize regimes, cause civil unrest, and so they ship the well known dissidents off somewhere from whence they cannot escape, and where they can't cause any problems -- for a few years at which point they die from "natural" causes, accidents etc.
Keeping some dissidents alive for a while enables the regime to trot them out in the face of accusations as proof of their own benevolence.
The Falklands is nominally independent but really a satellite or puppet state with the US. This gives a veneer of truthfulness to their "exile". Alternatively they are exiled to some puppet state and escape from their to the Falklands as the security is much more lax in the puppet state. Add in a dose of bureaucratic inefficiency mentioned elsewhere.. slow paperwork, miscommunication to explain why security was lax maybe. | I have heard of a concept called "the good enemy": Convince the populace that they are under threat, and then propose to take measures against that threat at the low cost of a liberty or two being curtailed.
For instance, looking at how this latest traitor rewarded The Leader's clemency by scurrying away to conspire with all the other traitors that have been working to undermine the UFS, surely nobody would mind if the penalties for subversives were made a bit harsher.
Maybe with a bit of careful manipulation of language in the reporting of the trial, people that were actually there could be coaxed to remember it was Rivers himself that delivered the kind-of-slimy final plea for clemency at the trial. It is simply one less thread to unravel the whole thing by when Rivers was genuinely exiled. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Keep in mind for your story that fascist governments were *not* efficient and all-knowing.
The Four Year Plan sets the Punishment
======================================
If the "show trial" was a local affair and not on national television, perhaps the *Dear Leader* has given [plan numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Year_Plan) not just to the steel industry but also to the secret police. Every month, so many traitors sentenced to death, so many sent to exile, and so on. The characters were lucky that they went to trial on the 27th of the month and not a week later.
If they went on national TV that doesn't quite work, because the fascists had no problem breaking their own rules. So how about this?
A Fate Worse Than Death
=======================
Things are happening in the Falklands camps. Things that fill regime critics with dread and loyalists with glee, *even if neither groups knows what exactly is happening.* The speculations are contradictory. Former prisoners know that every now and then, a bunch of camp inmates disappears. They may be working on [chemical weapons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_experimentation_in_North_Korea), or entirely [different forms of abuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women).
Early Nazi concentration camps -- [mostly holding the German opposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps#Pre-war_camps) -- were quite brutal, often lethal, but inmates could also get released alive after some weeks or months, to spread the tales of terror and to return to the workforce. | Thinking simply perhaps it could be as simple as implanting tracking devices within the rebels so that they can locate the rebels base. This could be done as an "immunization" shot done to the Rebels before being released.
The surveillance aspect you describe SCREAMS this would absolutely be a possibility. In the governments mind all rebels are like cockroaches when there is one there is many, release these few today to lead them to more tomorrow. Maybe not to take them out, but rather to keep an eye on them.
Plus government could do the move in an effort to prevent martyrdom, something which can fuel an uprising, which they would not be willing to allow.
Hope it helps. Enjoy! |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Let's look at history. Kinda recent actually. Tzarist Russia. They used "Forced displacement" as a form of punishment.
The pros are simple:
1. government is posing as very humane one (as in old joke, we could have killed them but we just told them to F\*\*k off)
2. displaced person (or group) are still required to work so they are usable
3. you send them to place where they have little to zero chances of spreading their revolutionary teaching.
4. you can extend their period of punishment ad infinitum but they don't know that so they are in constant mind setting that "soon" they will get out.
5. you can send them to place with different language so they have problem with communication
6. You make them check with police regularly. If they fail, BAM, extend time on exile.
7. You don't need to build any facilities. The further the better. Distance is the best border.
Cons are:
1. you need to have a lot of police and secret police to check on people in cities and roads
2. All people are required to have ID. You don't give that ID to dissidents. It's easier to check if they have one or have forged it rather than database of all convicts.
3. You need to check their "danger" level from time to time otherwise you will end up with Lenin. | There are too many dissidents.
If you have a few revolutionaries, you can execute them. When it gets to the point where you would need a stadium-size mass execution every week, that doesn't make good PR. Even a dystopian government understands that there are limits.
So you send them away, to work camps (many historic oppressive governments did that). This way you don't lose their productivity to your economy, you can keep them under control, you can weed out those who just got swept up in some nonsense in their youth and those who are true hardcore revolutionaries... well... life expectancy in those work camps is not exactly the same as on the mainland. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | For the story you're telling, I might suggest the fascist government has weaponized the old
>
> Well, if you hate the UFS so much, why don't you just leave?
>
>
>
argument.
The protagonists are given a show trial, but it needs a satisfying conclusion for the masses. Given that fascist states often favor 'strong borders,' value loyalty, and believe in eye-for-an-eye justice, a very poetic conclusion to your show trial might be to send them to some remote islands "to let them TRY and create a better society on their own if they hate us so much."
Ideally, it should be implied that the government expects them to die on the islands. Maybe they're given limited supplies, or even a sparrow-esque firearm with a single bullet. But the eventual result is clear. They're going to starve or commit suicide, but not before they learn to regret their criticisms of the state. (To that end, perhaps along with their day of rations they're also given a signed copy of whatever their 'Mein Kampf' equivalent is.)
You could even have your dictator say something to that effect:
>
> Many view me simply as a ruthless defender of our great nation – but I am not without mercy. We must balance the security of the state with the free will of its citizens; it saddens me that these two so disrespect everything we hold dear, but if they think they can do better, they're more than welcome to try it in the wastelands on the Falkland Islands. I think they will live just long enough to regret betraying us as they have. Regardless, I believe the whole nation joins me in saying: good riddance.
>
>
>
It's punishment by granting their wish, in a way. | There are too many dissidents.
If you have a few revolutionaries, you can execute them. When it gets to the point where you would need a stadium-size mass execution every week, that doesn't make good PR. Even a dystopian government understands that there are limits.
So you send them away, to work camps (many historic oppressive governments did that). This way you don't lose their productivity to your economy, you can keep them under control, you can weed out those who just got swept up in some nonsense in their youth and those who are true hardcore revolutionaries... well... life expectancy in those work camps is not exactly the same as on the mainland. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Exiles are useful to the government
-----------------------------------
In war, an injured soldier is significantly more expensive than a dead one. (An injured soldier has to be rescued, treated, protected, fed... A dead soldier costs only a pension.)
A few centuries back, the gift of a White Elephant was used by Southeast Asian monarchs to financially ruin problematic people. White elephants were (and are) considered sacred, so a white elephant must be well kept and pampered. It could not possibly be used for work or given away. It was a gift that gave the recipient much honor, but a great deal more expense.
Similarly, your dystopian government uses exiles to cause problems in the neighboring regions. Why kill your problems when you can make them problems for other people? | Keep in mind for your story that fascist governments were *not* efficient and all-knowing.
The Four Year Plan sets the Punishment
======================================
If the "show trial" was a local affair and not on national television, perhaps the *Dear Leader* has given [plan numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Year_Plan) not just to the steel industry but also to the secret police. Every month, so many traitors sentenced to death, so many sent to exile, and so on. The characters were lucky that they went to trial on the 27th of the month and not a week later.
If they went on national TV that doesn't quite work, because the fascists had no problem breaking their own rules. So how about this?
A Fate Worse Than Death
=======================
Things are happening in the Falklands camps. Things that fill regime critics with dread and loyalists with glee, *even if neither groups knows what exactly is happening.* The speculations are contradictory. Former prisoners know that every now and then, a bunch of camp inmates disappears. They may be working on [chemical weapons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_experimentation_in_North_Korea), or entirely [different forms of abuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women).
Early Nazi concentration camps -- [mostly holding the German opposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps#Pre-war_camps) -- were quite brutal, often lethal, but inmates could also get released alive after some weeks or months, to spread the tales of terror and to return to the workforce. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Keep in mind for your story that fascist governments were *not* efficient and all-knowing.
The Four Year Plan sets the Punishment
======================================
If the "show trial" was a local affair and not on national television, perhaps the *Dear Leader* has given [plan numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Year_Plan) not just to the steel industry but also to the secret police. Every month, so many traitors sentenced to death, so many sent to exile, and so on. The characters were lucky that they went to trial on the 27th of the month and not a week later.
If they went on national TV that doesn't quite work, because the fascists had no problem breaking their own rules. So how about this?
A Fate Worse Than Death
=======================
Things are happening in the Falklands camps. Things that fill regime critics with dread and loyalists with glee, *even if neither groups knows what exactly is happening.* The speculations are contradictory. Former prisoners know that every now and then, a bunch of camp inmates disappears. They may be working on [chemical weapons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_experimentation_in_North_Korea), or entirely [different forms of abuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women).
Early Nazi concentration camps -- [mostly holding the German opposition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camps#Pre-war_camps) -- were quite brutal, often lethal, but inmates could also get released alive after some weeks or months, to spread the tales of terror and to return to the workforce. | There are too many dissidents.
If you have a few revolutionaries, you can execute them. When it gets to the point where you would need a stadium-size mass execution every week, that doesn't make good PR. Even a dystopian government understands that there are limits.
So you send them away, to work camps (many historic oppressive governments did that). This way you don't lose their productivity to your economy, you can keep them under control, you can weed out those who just got swept up in some nonsense in their youth and those who are true hardcore revolutionaries... well... life expectancy in those work camps is not exactly the same as on the mainland. |
119,782 | So, a lot of things happened in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the second American Revolution starts, due to the hardships of the depression. Armed revolutionaries storm DC, and the USA become the UFS. The Union of Fascist States. WWII sees both the UFS and USSR become more dystopian.
***Later 20th century***
In 1968, the USSR incorporates all of Asia, Europe (-UK) and half of Africa, and becomes the United Communist Alliance. The UFS incorporates South America, North America, and Africa. Both governments completely rewrite their histories, brainwashing their citizens. By the year 2018, both governments have near complete control on all aspects of citizens lives. The youngest, millennial generation are most passionate about the UFS, especially. Secret police and surveillance are always looking for the slightest sign of rebellion.
***Story***
In the story, my main character, Bryan Rivers, discovers the horrifying truth about the government, and secretly tries to tell his colleagues about it, to no avail.
He, along with his love interest Jessica, who has nothing to do with it, are sent to the council. They are given a show trial, and sentenced to life on the Falkland Islands in exile. This is important, as both characters need to be alive for the story to proceed. It’s dystopia, so it would make much more sense for the SP to just execute both of them, ending my story. So my question is, why would the government exile people instead of execute?
***Map***
 | 2018/07/31 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/119782",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52876/"
] | Exiles are useful to the government
-----------------------------------
In war, an injured soldier is significantly more expensive than a dead one. (An injured soldier has to be rescued, treated, protected, fed... A dead soldier costs only a pension.)
A few centuries back, the gift of a White Elephant was used by Southeast Asian monarchs to financially ruin problematic people. White elephants were (and are) considered sacred, so a white elephant must be well kept and pampered. It could not possibly be used for work or given away. It was a gift that gave the recipient much honor, but a great deal more expense.
Similarly, your dystopian government uses exiles to cause problems in the neighboring regions. Why kill your problems when you can make them problems for other people? | Let's look at history. Kinda recent actually. Tzarist Russia. They used "Forced displacement" as a form of punishment.
The pros are simple:
1. government is posing as very humane one (as in old joke, we could have killed them but we just told them to F\*\*k off)
2. displaced person (or group) are still required to work so they are usable
3. you send them to place where they have little to zero chances of spreading their revolutionary teaching.
4. you can extend their period of punishment ad infinitum but they don't know that so they are in constant mind setting that "soon" they will get out.
5. you can send them to place with different language so they have problem with communication
6. You make them check with police regularly. If they fail, BAM, extend time on exile.
7. You don't need to build any facilities. The further the better. Distance is the best border.
Cons are:
1. you need to have a lot of police and secret police to check on people in cities and roads
2. All people are required to have ID. You don't give that ID to dissidents. It's easier to check if they have one or have forged it rather than database of all convicts.
3. You need to check their "danger" level from time to time otherwise you will end up with Lenin. |
31,086 | I'm playing a Pathfinder game as a Psion, and am considering making some power stones (effectively scrolls) of Control Light. Control Light, unlike Darkness, is a "Concentration" duration power.
Does this mean that I have to maintain the power when I manifest it from the power stone? What if I were using a spell trigger or command word item instead of spell completion?
If there are any relevant differences between 3.5 and Pathfinder, elaboration of them would also be appreciated. | 2013/12/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/31086",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/10191/"
] | Completion (scrolls, power stones) and trigger (wands and staves, djorges and psicrowns) items function almost identically to simply casting or manifesting the spell or power. The only major differences are:
* Resource expenditure – they are single-use or use charges, rather than requiring spell slots or power points
* Access – you need to know/prepare a spell or power to cast or manifest it, while it merely has to be on your list for the items (for completion items, you also need sufficient Caster Level or Manifester Level), and you can get around even that with Use Magic Device or Use Psionic Device.
* Provoking – Trigger and Command Word items do not provoke attacks of opportunity for activating them. Completion items do, just as casting or manifesting does.
* Action requirement
+ *Pathfinder*
- Completion items, but not trigger items, are activated as a “Standard Action (or the spell’s casting time, whichever is longer),” which sucks if the effect was a Swift Action, and makes the effect basically unusable if it was Immediate.
- Trigger and Command Word items are activated as a Standard Action **regardless** of the original casting/manifesting time. Whether or not the omission of the parenthetical clause found for Completion items was intentional is anyone’s guess.
+ *Dungeons & Dragons* 3.5 before *Rules Compendium*
- All three item types originally used only a Standard Action, as with *Pathfinder* trigger items.
+ *Dungeons & Dragons* 3.5 with *Rules Compendium*
- All items that duplicate a spell or power take as long to activate as they would to cast or manifest.
+ Of the three options, I **strongly** urge all DMs use the 3.5 *Rules Compendium* one. It’s by far the most reasonable of the three.
The particulars of the effect itself, once cast/manifested/activated, are the same in all cases. Thus your Duration is still based on your Concentration, which you must do yourself (spending a Standard Action each round). The *only* type of magic item that generically changes the Duration of an effect is the Continuous type. | I think if a power needs Concentration to last then it doesn't matter if you cast it yourself or use an item. The item allows you to cast the spell, but you are the one who chooses where it happens and who it affects and how long it lasts so you still have to concentrate. The scroll is not going to make any concentration checks, is it? |
14,489,453 | Iam looking for something like a Backend as a Service but that can be self-hosted.
These are the basic features I am looking for:
* Authentication / Access control
* JSON support
* Resources
* Basic business logic support
* Open source or easily extensible
* Should be compatible with e.g. angular.js
are there any REST-backend implementations out there which can do most of the stuff like the Backend as a service providers (kinvey looks nice) can do but that I can host on an intranet?
regards Oskar | 2013/01/23 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/14489453",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1266768/"
] | I did a bit of playing around with Deployd for a personal project recently. It might fit the bill of what you're looking for:
<http://deployd.com/> | the next thing i want to try is [Dreamfactory](http://www.dreamfactory.com/), from what i've read it's perfect for a Backend with REST API and fits good to an AngularJS Frontend.
maybe you'll give it a shot aswell. |
14,489,453 | Iam looking for something like a Backend as a Service but that can be self-hosted.
These are the basic features I am looking for:
* Authentication / Access control
* JSON support
* Resources
* Basic business logic support
* Open source or easily extensible
* Should be compatible with e.g. angular.js
are there any REST-backend implementations out there which can do most of the stuff like the Backend as a service providers (kinvey looks nice) can do but that I can host on an intranet?
regards Oskar | 2013/01/23 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/14489453",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1266768/"
] | I did a bit of playing around with Deployd for a personal project recently. It might fit the bill of what you're looking for:
<http://deployd.com/> | Although I've yet to use either, look into [Firebase](https://www.firebase.com/) and [Backand](https://www.backand.com/) as well... |
14,489,453 | Iam looking for something like a Backend as a Service but that can be self-hosted.
These are the basic features I am looking for:
* Authentication / Access control
* JSON support
* Resources
* Basic business logic support
* Open source or easily extensible
* Should be compatible with e.g. angular.js
are there any REST-backend implementations out there which can do most of the stuff like the Backend as a service providers (kinvey looks nice) can do but that I can host on an intranet?
regards Oskar | 2013/01/23 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/14489453",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1266768/"
] | I did a bit of playing around with Deployd for a personal project recently. It might fit the bill of what you're looking for:
<http://deployd.com/> | You can check [Divroll Backend](https://github.com/divroll/backend), a Java based Backend Platform that can be used with Angular or any Javascript Framework through its REST Endpoint API.
It can be self-hosted in any server or application server as it is self-contained and does not required external modules (and databases). |
14,489,453 | Iam looking for something like a Backend as a Service but that can be self-hosted.
These are the basic features I am looking for:
* Authentication / Access control
* JSON support
* Resources
* Basic business logic support
* Open source or easily extensible
* Should be compatible with e.g. angular.js
are there any REST-backend implementations out there which can do most of the stuff like the Backend as a service providers (kinvey looks nice) can do but that I can host on an intranet?
regards Oskar | 2013/01/23 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/14489453",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1266768/"
] | Although I've yet to use either, look into [Firebase](https://www.firebase.com/) and [Backand](https://www.backand.com/) as well... | the next thing i want to try is [Dreamfactory](http://www.dreamfactory.com/), from what i've read it's perfect for a Backend with REST API and fits good to an AngularJS Frontend.
maybe you'll give it a shot aswell. |
14,489,453 | Iam looking for something like a Backend as a Service but that can be self-hosted.
These are the basic features I am looking for:
* Authentication / Access control
* JSON support
* Resources
* Basic business logic support
* Open source or easily extensible
* Should be compatible with e.g. angular.js
are there any REST-backend implementations out there which can do most of the stuff like the Backend as a service providers (kinvey looks nice) can do but that I can host on an intranet?
regards Oskar | 2013/01/23 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/14489453",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1266768/"
] | Although I've yet to use either, look into [Firebase](https://www.firebase.com/) and [Backand](https://www.backand.com/) as well... | You can check [Divroll Backend](https://github.com/divroll/backend), a Java based Backend Platform that can be used with Angular or any Javascript Framework through its REST Endpoint API.
It can be self-hosted in any server or application server as it is self-contained and does not required external modules (and databases). |
10,209,648 | I cannot find how to generate a script with all the INSERT i have done so far in my database
I managed to generate a script for my database itself but not for the data.
How could i do this ?
Thanks in advance | 2012/04/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/10209648",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/-1/"
] | Try this, using Sql Server Management Studio:
1. Right click the database
2. Select Tasks -> Generate Scripts
3. (Click next if you get the intro screen)
4. Select "Select specific database objects"
5. Pick the objects to generate scripts for (tables, stored procedures, etc...)
6. Click Next, then specify the output filename
7. This will generate the schemas only. If you want to do data generating scripts as well, click the Advanced button and scroll down to the "Types of data to script" and change it from "Schema only" to "Data only" or "Schema and data"
8. Click Finish to generate the script | If you are using SQL Server 2008, you can generate the script for data in an sql server database by setting the Script Data option in Generate script dialog box
For bringing up Generate Scripts dialog do the following.
1. Right click on a database name in server explorer
2. Select Tasks -> Generate Scripts
3. Click next until you reaches script options
4. Under table/view options there is setting "Script Data". Change it to true to generate script for data.
If you version is the one prior to SQL Server 2008, then are many tools available like
[Sql Compare from RedGate](http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-compare/)! |
634,014 | I'm writing some URL rewriting software, and I want to know which URL scheme is preferable from many points of view:
* Blog style: **my-chemistry-answer** -- Why? -- *(not preferable, technical)*
* Wiki style: **My\_Chemistry\_Answer** -- Why not? -- *(preferable, formal)*
**SEO:** Some say Google only splits words delimited by dashes which is why blog posts get better SEO than MediaWiki setups, is this true?
**Readability:** Finally its down to the user, when they see the actual "pretty" URL links in a search engine results page / their bookmarks/favorites store.
I'd feel the Wiki style is easier to read as the underscores appear as spaces, and therefore don't come in the way of grasp reading, and it also looks neater and more formal, and therefore appears more authoritative.
**Conclusion?** So which is better from the "**technical**" points of view? (SEO / Indexing), and from the "**human**" points of view? (readability / friendliness / prettiness) | 2009/03/11 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/634014",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/41021/"
] | **According to a Google engineer**, Matt Cutts, for SEO purposes "my-chemistry-answer" is better than "my\_chemistry\_answer" which is better than "mychemistryanswer."
See his response to a question at Google Moderator, Ask a Google Engineer: <http://moderator.appspot.com/#9/e=c9&t=long-haired-dogs>
As for human point-of-view, I can only give my opinion. I tend to prefer "my-chemistry-answer". URLs usually aren't rendered in a fixed-width font, so the hyphen is closer in width to a space than the underscore, so to me it reads more naturally. Also, as a programmer you may be used to seeing underscores because hyphens aren't allowed in identifiers (and therefore it looks better to you), but most people aren't programmers. | If you're writing url-rewriting software for generic use you should not even be asking this question and support both.
When your writing this url-reweriting for a specific site you should be guided by the purpose of the site.
Hope this helps in some way... |
634,014 | I'm writing some URL rewriting software, and I want to know which URL scheme is preferable from many points of view:
* Blog style: **my-chemistry-answer** -- Why? -- *(not preferable, technical)*
* Wiki style: **My\_Chemistry\_Answer** -- Why not? -- *(preferable, formal)*
**SEO:** Some say Google only splits words delimited by dashes which is why blog posts get better SEO than MediaWiki setups, is this true?
**Readability:** Finally its down to the user, when they see the actual "pretty" URL links in a search engine results page / their bookmarks/favorites store.
I'd feel the Wiki style is easier to read as the underscores appear as spaces, and therefore don't come in the way of grasp reading, and it also looks neater and more formal, and therefore appears more authoritative.
**Conclusion?** So which is better from the "**technical**" points of view? (SEO / Indexing), and from the "**human**" points of view? (readability / friendliness / prettiness) | 2009/03/11 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/634014",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/41021/"
] | **According to a Google engineer**, Matt Cutts, for SEO purposes "my-chemistry-answer" is better than "my\_chemistry\_answer" which is better than "mychemistryanswer."
See his response to a question at Google Moderator, Ask a Google Engineer: <http://moderator.appspot.com/#9/e=c9&t=long-haired-dogs>
As for human point-of-view, I can only give my opinion. I tend to prefer "my-chemistry-answer". URLs usually aren't rendered in a fixed-width font, so the hyphen is closer in width to a space than the underscore, so to me it reads more naturally. Also, as a programmer you may be used to seeing underscores because hyphens aren't allowed in identifiers (and therefore it looks better to you), but most people aren't programmers. | First of all only a google engineer can tell you for sure what is true about Google :)
And what do you mean that blog posts get better seo than mediawiki articles? Can you justify that? If that's the case, then why wikipedia usually appears in the top ten pages.
About readability, I agree that underscores are better for reading.
My conclusion is that from the technical point of view, as far as it is not in the form /p=34 or something like that, the style doesn't matter. Any style will do. What matter is the content. Don't forget that [content is king](http://searchenginewatch.com/3625720) |
297,954 | So the situation is thus. We're working with another company and as part of some file distribution processing we have to encrypt some files before they are sent.
The company in question sent us **their** public key which we have been using to encrypt files using GPG.
Recently they've got back to us complaining that they need to enter a passphrase each time they attempt to decrypt their files. So they changed their settings on their side to remove the passphrase requirement and sent us another public key
The thing is this "new" public key seem exactly the same as the old one. These are my tests: -
* Both .asc files -> the same
* MD5 hashsums of .asc files -> the same
* Installed key into a test keystore -> GPG refuses to install it as it's the same as the one already there (i.e. "Unchanged: 1")
* Deleted key from keystore, installed "new" key, made note of fingerprint/other details, deleted key again
* Added "old" key to keystore, made note of fingerprint/other details
* Compared the two notes -> the same
Surely we don't need to install this "new" public key if it's exactly the same as the old one? The reason why I ask is it's a bit of a pain to call our ops team to get them to install the key in the PROD keystore if we don't need to.
Any advice would be appreciated. | 2011/08/05 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/297954",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/90603/"
] | Public keys don't change just because someone removed (or changed) the passphrase on the private key. I see no reason why you would have to install this "new" public key.
I'd be concerned as to the competence of the other party if they're complaining that they have to always enter their passphrase (and that they thought it was a winning idea to remove the passphrase). | +1 for womble; writing this as an answer to avoid chaaracter limit.
The public key does not have to change when the secret key is decrypted. "Removing the passphrase" for the secret key just means it is left in a decrypted state permanently and written to disk, whereas generally the secret key is itself symmetrically encrypted with a given passphrase to ensure that an assailant who gains access to the key file cannot access the key without also knowing the passphrase.
There was, however, no reason for them to reveal this incompetence to you (though you should be grateful to have this information, so you know not to trust the other party with security). You should advise your collaborators to merely save out cleartext versions of the desired encrypted files rather than leave the secret key unprotected. If the secret key falls into the wrong hands, the keypair is invalidated forever and all content encrypted for that public key will be accessible by anyone who has the secret key. This is obviously very dangerous if anything important has ever been encrypted for that keypair. Please tell your partners to reapply a passphrase and save out the files as cleartext rather than exposing the secret key directly. |
130,496 | Someone asked me about what term is used for a **person who is called in to work on a public holiday**. (He told me that it is called *pump of leave*, but he himself was not sure of it.)
So, there are two questions-
* What is that person called?
* What is that leave is called?
If there are specific terms for them please tell. | 2013/10/08 | [
"https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/130496",
"https://english.stackexchange.com",
"https://english.stackexchange.com/users/53661/"
] | I don't know of any specific terms for the person or the cancelled leave, but I wonder whether your colleague might have said "bump", not "pump".
I could understand someone referring to the leave being *bumped*, *i.e.* moved to a new position (date). (See definitions in [The Free Dictionary](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bump)).
The alternative day off may also be referred to (at least in the UK) as a "day off *in lieu*", *i.e.* as a day off *instead of* the public holiday. (See definition in [Oxford Dictionary Online](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/lieu?q=in%20lieu).) In fact, in the UK you will sometimes be entitled to *two* alternative days off if you were required to work on a public holiday. | A "Stakhanovite" ? From Aleksei Grigorevich Stakhanov, a Soviet miner with phenomenal productivity in 1935. It is now known that it was fictitious, to encourage the others.
"Workaholic" could do, but doesn't specify that one is working even during his/her holidays.
The corresponding substantives are "stakhanovism" and "workaholism" (neologisms). |
130,496 | Someone asked me about what term is used for a **person who is called in to work on a public holiday**. (He told me that it is called *pump of leave*, but he himself was not sure of it.)
So, there are two questions-
* What is that person called?
* What is that leave is called?
If there are specific terms for them please tell. | 2013/10/08 | [
"https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/130496",
"https://english.stackexchange.com",
"https://english.stackexchange.com/users/53661/"
] | A "Stakhanovite" ? From Aleksei Grigorevich Stakhanov, a Soviet miner with phenomenal productivity in 1935. It is now known that it was fictitious, to encourage the others.
"Workaholic" could do, but doesn't specify that one is working even during his/her holidays.
The corresponding substantives are "stakhanovism" and "workaholism" (neologisms). | At my company (in Los Angeles), we would say we got called in for some 'golden time', which meant 200% pay. 99% of the time this is understood to be because of a holiday. |
130,496 | Someone asked me about what term is used for a **person who is called in to work on a public holiday**. (He told me that it is called *pump of leave*, but he himself was not sure of it.)
So, there are two questions-
* What is that person called?
* What is that leave is called?
If there are specific terms for them please tell. | 2013/10/08 | [
"https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/130496",
"https://english.stackexchange.com",
"https://english.stackexchange.com/users/53661/"
] | I don't know of any specific terms for the person or the cancelled leave, but I wonder whether your colleague might have said "bump", not "pump".
I could understand someone referring to the leave being *bumped*, *i.e.* moved to a new position (date). (See definitions in [The Free Dictionary](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bump)).
The alternative day off may also be referred to (at least in the UK) as a "day off *in lieu*", *i.e.* as a day off *instead of* the public holiday. (See definition in [Oxford Dictionary Online](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/lieu?q=in%20lieu).) In fact, in the UK you will sometimes be entitled to *two* alternative days off if you were required to work on a public holiday. | At my company (in Los Angeles), we would say we got called in for some 'golden time', which meant 200% pay. 99% of the time this is understood to be because of a holiday. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | According to Clark's ["Ignition!"](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf), German rocket scientists in WW2 had done the math on ammonia, and [JPL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory) had burned it with [RFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fuming_nitric_acid) and [WFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_fuming_nitric_acid) oxidizers in 1949-1951.
Regarding the [XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99), Clark says:
>
> But something more potent than alcohol was needed for the X-15 rocket-driven supersonic research plane. Hydrazine was the first choice, but it sometimes exploded when used for regenerative cooling, and in 1949, when the program was conceived, there wasn't enough of it around, anyway. Bob Truax of the Navy, along with Winternitz of Reaction Motors, which was to develop the 50,000 pounds thrust motor, settled on ammonia as a reasonably satisfactory second best. The oxygen-ammonia combination had been fired by JPL, but RMI really worked it out in the early 50's. The great stability of the ammonia molecule made it a tough customer to burn and from the beginning they were plagued with rough running and combustion instability. All sorts of additives to the fuel were tried in the hope of alleviating the condition, among them methylamine and acetylene. Twenty-two percent of the latter gave smooth combustion, but was dangerously unstable, and the mixture wasn't used long. The combustion problems were eventually cured by improving the injector design, but it was a long and noisy process.
>
>
>
At that point in time, state of the art in big rockets was the [Redstone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM-11_Redstone), which was burning 75/25 ethyl alcohol/water with LOX in an engine which was largely copied from the [V-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket); watering the fuel down was necessary to moderate combustion temperature. While regeneratively cooled, the design of the cooling tubes was not as complexly efficient at that time as it would be in later engines.
Kerosene would ["coke up" (polymerize)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerization) in regeneratively cooled engines, potentially catastrophically clogging coolant tubes. That problem would eventually be solved by the development of the [RP-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP-1) kerosene specification in the mid-50s.
So during the development of the XLR99, ammonia had a useful niche -- it gave better performance than 75% alcohol, was more suitable for regenerative cooling than cheap kerosene, and was safer than the hydrazine fuels. | The book *Aerofax Datagraph 2 / North American X-15/X-15A-2* by Ben Guenther, Jay Miller, and Terry Panopalis has some more info on the history of the propellant choice (page 27):
>
> Eventually it was determined that the two most important requirements
> from a safety standpoint concerned the propellant combination, and the
> means of achieving combustion safety during starting and shut-down.
> Seven propellant combinations were explored in depth, these eventually
> being narrowed to liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and anhydrous ammonia
> as the fuel. The choice was based primarily on the fact that Reaction
> Motors had significant experience with liquid oxygen/ammonia
> propellant systems, and also on the fact that this propellant
> combination had much less critical starting characteristics.
> Additionally, the liquid oxygen/ammmonia combination was an ideal
> coolant for the regenerative cooling of the proposed engine's thrust
> chamber.
>
>
>
FWIW, this book also has a good writeup on the developmental history of the XLR-99 and specifics on its design.
According to this [pdf of a powerpoint presentation](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the choice was made because one of the chief designers at Reaction Motors Dr. Paul F. Winternitz was an advocate of NH3/LOX engines.
Rationale for propellant choice:
The directive to use NH 3 came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a
propellant scientist from Austria.
* Dr. Winternitz had to find a fuel that would be stable, would be easy
to keep, show a good volumetric energy density, density, would work in
in the the temp range and allow conclusions for a later H2 fuel
system.
* NH 3 /LOX fit the bill and it worked!
* Later, when gravimetric energy density was more important than
volumetric energy density (for the Shuttle) H 2 was preferred
* Good heat transfer properties
The presentation is a bit sketchy (and incorrectly states that an earlier Reaction Motors built engine, the XLR-10 was NH3 fueled), but includes this wonderful schematic of the XLR-99.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1tXSW.png)
Interestingly, this presentation was given to the [NH3 Fuel Association](https://nh3fuelassociation.org) whose goals are
>
> to promote NH3 as an affordable, sustainable, carbon-free fuel for
> stationary power, transportation, and energy storage applications,
> thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels and enabling the
> transition to a low-carbon economy.
>
>
> |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | The book *Aerofax Datagraph 2 / North American X-15/X-15A-2* by Ben Guenther, Jay Miller, and Terry Panopalis has some more info on the history of the propellant choice (page 27):
>
> Eventually it was determined that the two most important requirements
> from a safety standpoint concerned the propellant combination, and the
> means of achieving combustion safety during starting and shut-down.
> Seven propellant combinations were explored in depth, these eventually
> being narrowed to liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and anhydrous ammonia
> as the fuel. The choice was based primarily on the fact that Reaction
> Motors had significant experience with liquid oxygen/ammonia
> propellant systems, and also on the fact that this propellant
> combination had much less critical starting characteristics.
> Additionally, the liquid oxygen/ammmonia combination was an ideal
> coolant for the regenerative cooling of the proposed engine's thrust
> chamber.
>
>
>
FWIW, this book also has a good writeup on the developmental history of the XLR-99 and specifics on its design.
According to this [pdf of a powerpoint presentation](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the choice was made because one of the chief designers at Reaction Motors Dr. Paul F. Winternitz was an advocate of NH3/LOX engines.
Rationale for propellant choice:
The directive to use NH 3 came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a
propellant scientist from Austria.
* Dr. Winternitz had to find a fuel that would be stable, would be easy
to keep, show a good volumetric energy density, density, would work in
in the the temp range and allow conclusions for a later H2 fuel
system.
* NH 3 /LOX fit the bill and it worked!
* Later, when gravimetric energy density was more important than
volumetric energy density (for the Shuttle) H 2 was preferred
* Good heat transfer properties
The presentation is a bit sketchy (and incorrectly states that an earlier Reaction Motors built engine, the XLR-10 was NH3 fueled), but includes this wonderful schematic of the XLR-99.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1tXSW.png)
Interestingly, this presentation was given to the [NH3 Fuel Association](https://nh3fuelassociation.org) whose goals are
>
> to promote NH3 as an affordable, sustainable, carbon-free fuel for
> stationary power, transportation, and energy storage applications,
> thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels and enabling the
> transition to a low-carbon economy.
>
>
> | Chiming in as a long-time member of the NH3 Fuel Association.
First, a small correction. "Cryogenic" refers to gases that liquefy below -150 degrees C. As you state, ammonia liquefies at -33 degrees ... which is fairly close to ambient conditions in the industry. "Refrigerated" would be a more accurate term.
Second, you ask why ammonia was used as the rocket fuel for the X-15. I'm no engine expert, and others have addressed this here with more knowledge than I can, but I understand that the "coking" issue was vital: hydrocarbon fuels formed soot that affected performance, but ammonia contains no carbon and thus formed no soot.
Third, you ask if ammonia was used before or after the X-15. Yes and yes.
In the past ... Belgium, municipal buses in 1940s; Norway, demonstration truck in 1930s; Louisiana, public trolley car in 1870s (ammonia steam engine, working fluid not fuel). See <https://nh3fuelassociation.org/introduction/>.
Now underway: dozens of projects for carbon-free power and fuel, from island energy projects to national grid-scale import/export projects. See [my website](http://ammoniaenergy.org) if you'd like to search for more information on projects around the world. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | The book *Aerofax Datagraph 2 / North American X-15/X-15A-2* by Ben Guenther, Jay Miller, and Terry Panopalis has some more info on the history of the propellant choice (page 27):
>
> Eventually it was determined that the two most important requirements
> from a safety standpoint concerned the propellant combination, and the
> means of achieving combustion safety during starting and shut-down.
> Seven propellant combinations were explored in depth, these eventually
> being narrowed to liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and anhydrous ammonia
> as the fuel. The choice was based primarily on the fact that Reaction
> Motors had significant experience with liquid oxygen/ammonia
> propellant systems, and also on the fact that this propellant
> combination had much less critical starting characteristics.
> Additionally, the liquid oxygen/ammmonia combination was an ideal
> coolant for the regenerative cooling of the proposed engine's thrust
> chamber.
>
>
>
FWIW, this book also has a good writeup on the developmental history of the XLR-99 and specifics on its design.
According to this [pdf of a powerpoint presentation](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the choice was made because one of the chief designers at Reaction Motors Dr. Paul F. Winternitz was an advocate of NH3/LOX engines.
Rationale for propellant choice:
The directive to use NH 3 came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a
propellant scientist from Austria.
* Dr. Winternitz had to find a fuel that would be stable, would be easy
to keep, show a good volumetric energy density, density, would work in
in the the temp range and allow conclusions for a later H2 fuel
system.
* NH 3 /LOX fit the bill and it worked!
* Later, when gravimetric energy density was more important than
volumetric energy density (for the Shuttle) H 2 was preferred
* Good heat transfer properties
The presentation is a bit sketchy (and incorrectly states that an earlier Reaction Motors built engine, the XLR-10 was NH3 fueled), but includes this wonderful schematic of the XLR-99.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1tXSW.png)
Interestingly, this presentation was given to the [NH3 Fuel Association](https://nh3fuelassociation.org) whose goals are
>
> to promote NH3 as an affordable, sustainable, carbon-free fuel for
> stationary power, transportation, and energy storage applications,
> thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels and enabling the
> transition to a low-carbon economy.
>
>
> | PS to previous comment about refrigeration in the X-15. It had none, keeping weight absolutely minimal precluded it. Temperature was far more of an issue for the LOX than for the NH3. During captive carry to launch the LOX was replenished from a supply in the B-52 carrier aircraft; otherwise some degree of boil-off occurred. A special case of venting LOX was sending it through the XLR-99 to precool the engine just before launch.
On Bob White’s FAI world altitude flight he asked for and received permission to reorder a few of the final items in the prelaunch checklist, in order to gain a few extra seconds of LOX top off from the B-52’s LOX tank, which was unique to the two B-52s used to carry the X-15. White also had an over performing XLR99 on that mission, and the Dryden rocket shop advised him of that in advance.
As a docent at the Aerospace Museum of California I often refer indirectly to the resulting performance. With an 82 second rocket burn, White set an FAI altitude record at 314,750 feet, about 30,000 feet above the planned apogee. That was within the X-15’s overall history of altitude overshoots and undershoots, the max that comes to mind was about 40,000 feet.
Another metric is that when the XLR-99 lit the pilot immediately has 2G of forward acceleration. That grew to 4G at burnout — it gave rise to a famous quote by X-15 pilot Milt Thompsin: “The X-15 is the only aircraft I ever flew where I was glad when the engine quit.”
Some other metrics from that record flight of White’s was that it covered about 315 miles horizontally, 110 miles vertically, and he touched down 10 minutes 20.7 seconds after launch. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | The book *Aerofax Datagraph 2 / North American X-15/X-15A-2* by Ben Guenther, Jay Miller, and Terry Panopalis has some more info on the history of the propellant choice (page 27):
>
> Eventually it was determined that the two most important requirements
> from a safety standpoint concerned the propellant combination, and the
> means of achieving combustion safety during starting and shut-down.
> Seven propellant combinations were explored in depth, these eventually
> being narrowed to liquid oxygen as the oxidizer and anhydrous ammonia
> as the fuel. The choice was based primarily on the fact that Reaction
> Motors had significant experience with liquid oxygen/ammonia
> propellant systems, and also on the fact that this propellant
> combination had much less critical starting characteristics.
> Additionally, the liquid oxygen/ammmonia combination was an ideal
> coolant for the regenerative cooling of the proposed engine's thrust
> chamber.
>
>
>
FWIW, this book also has a good writeup on the developmental history of the XLR-99 and specifics on its design.
According to this [pdf of a powerpoint presentation](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the choice was made because one of the chief designers at Reaction Motors Dr. Paul F. Winternitz was an advocate of NH3/LOX engines.
Rationale for propellant choice:
The directive to use NH 3 came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a
propellant scientist from Austria.
* Dr. Winternitz had to find a fuel that would be stable, would be easy
to keep, show a good volumetric energy density, density, would work in
in the the temp range and allow conclusions for a later H2 fuel
system.
* NH 3 /LOX fit the bill and it worked!
* Later, when gravimetric energy density was more important than
volumetric energy density (for the Shuttle) H 2 was preferred
* Good heat transfer properties
The presentation is a bit sketchy (and incorrectly states that an earlier Reaction Motors built engine, the XLR-10 was NH3 fueled), but includes this wonderful schematic of the XLR-99.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1tXSW.png)
Interestingly, this presentation was given to the [NH3 Fuel Association](https://nh3fuelassociation.org) whose goals are
>
> to promote NH3 as an affordable, sustainable, carbon-free fuel for
> stationary power, transportation, and energy storage applications,
> thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels and enabling the
> transition to a low-carbon economy.
>
>
> | As mentioned in one of the previous answers and according to this [source](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the directive to use anhydrous ammonia came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a propellant scientist from Austria and chief of R&D department of Reaction Motors Inc. (RMI). According to his statement It was chosen because of a practical reasons:
---
’’*I have worked with quite a few propellant systems and found NH3/LOX to be among the easier ones to work with. We did encounter a few challenges along the way, but none were related to the fuel itself*’’'
---
Previous works of rocket engineer named Robertson Youngquist on engine regenerative cooling with anhydrous ammonia laid the foundation on it’s use in RMI.
Following advantages of anhydrous ammonia were attractive to propulsion engineers:
* High hydrogen content, 17.65%, paired with decent liquid density of 0.682kg/l at BP (pre-chilling further increases density) gives 70% higher hydrogen content than LH2 itself,
* Good performance: sea level Isp 293s, vacuum specific impulse 343s. These values are still attractive,
* Low average molar mass of gasses (around 19.8 g/mol) for fuel rich mixtures due to dissociation of ammonia to hydrogen and nitrogen at higher temperatures,
* Combustion temperature is around 2800-2850°C, lower than in other combinations under the same conditions due to high content of water in exhaust and dissociation of ammonia,
* Zero-emission combustion, water and nitrogen are only combustion products. No COx, SOx, NOx and chlorine compounds. Ammonia is not a greenhouse gas.
* Medium liquefying temperature of -33.3 °C, low freezing point of -77.73 °C and high critical temperature of 132.4°C meaning that it’s liquid in wide range of temperatures,
* High latent heat of vaporization 1.37 MJ/kg and high heat capacity 4.7KJ/kg\*K (higher than water) meaning that its excellent medium for regenerative cooling,
* It’s self-pressurized gas, vapor pressure 10bar at 25°C,
* It’s not corrosive, explosive and highly flammable.
Yet ammonia is not without drawbacks:
* It is toxic when inhaled and must be handled with respect. It’s highly toxic for marine life. Still it’s less dangerous than hydrazine and its derivatives. Also there was a long experience in manufacturing, transporting and storage with excellent safety record,
* Ignition is troublesome, hard starts and combustion instabilities are often issues. RMI engineers managed to overcome those issues in LR-99 with clever injector design. However reliable re-ignition of the engine would be a challenge for deep space missions despite attractive vacuum specific impulse,
* Low overall O&F density, lower than Kerolox or NTO/Hydrazine, but still better than Hydrolox.
In rocketry anhydrous ammonia was intended for use in:
* **Douglas D-558-3** american manned rocketplane flown in 1954, a counterpart of X-15 intended for Navy. It employed another RMI engine XLR-30-RM-2. Abounded in favor of X-15,
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7myP.jpg)
* **Mini shuttle** was conceived in 1972 as maned rocketoplane which would use of the self components like LR-99 engine but was never authorized.
* In 2012 Russian rocket engine manufacturer [Energomash](https://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Develops_Revolutionary_Ammonia_Rocket_Engine_999.html) announced works on new rocket fueled by mixture of acetylene and ammonia. New atsetam engine should be based ond RD-161 and rocket was planned for launch in 2017-2018. But seems like it faced funding cuts. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | According to Clark's ["Ignition!"](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf), German rocket scientists in WW2 had done the math on ammonia, and [JPL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory) had burned it with [RFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fuming_nitric_acid) and [WFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_fuming_nitric_acid) oxidizers in 1949-1951.
Regarding the [XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99), Clark says:
>
> But something more potent than alcohol was needed for the X-15 rocket-driven supersonic research plane. Hydrazine was the first choice, but it sometimes exploded when used for regenerative cooling, and in 1949, when the program was conceived, there wasn't enough of it around, anyway. Bob Truax of the Navy, along with Winternitz of Reaction Motors, which was to develop the 50,000 pounds thrust motor, settled on ammonia as a reasonably satisfactory second best. The oxygen-ammonia combination had been fired by JPL, but RMI really worked it out in the early 50's. The great stability of the ammonia molecule made it a tough customer to burn and from the beginning they were plagued with rough running and combustion instability. All sorts of additives to the fuel were tried in the hope of alleviating the condition, among them methylamine and acetylene. Twenty-two percent of the latter gave smooth combustion, but was dangerously unstable, and the mixture wasn't used long. The combustion problems were eventually cured by improving the injector design, but it was a long and noisy process.
>
>
>
At that point in time, state of the art in big rockets was the [Redstone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM-11_Redstone), which was burning 75/25 ethyl alcohol/water with LOX in an engine which was largely copied from the [V-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket); watering the fuel down was necessary to moderate combustion temperature. While regeneratively cooled, the design of the cooling tubes was not as complexly efficient at that time as it would be in later engines.
Kerosene would ["coke up" (polymerize)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerization) in regeneratively cooled engines, potentially catastrophically clogging coolant tubes. That problem would eventually be solved by the development of the [RP-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP-1) kerosene specification in the mid-50s.
So during the development of the XLR99, ammonia had a useful niche -- it gave better performance than 75% alcohol, was more suitable for regenerative cooling than cheap kerosene, and was safer than the hydrazine fuels. | Chiming in as a long-time member of the NH3 Fuel Association.
First, a small correction. "Cryogenic" refers to gases that liquefy below -150 degrees C. As you state, ammonia liquefies at -33 degrees ... which is fairly close to ambient conditions in the industry. "Refrigerated" would be a more accurate term.
Second, you ask why ammonia was used as the rocket fuel for the X-15. I'm no engine expert, and others have addressed this here with more knowledge than I can, but I understand that the "coking" issue was vital: hydrocarbon fuels formed soot that affected performance, but ammonia contains no carbon and thus formed no soot.
Third, you ask if ammonia was used before or after the X-15. Yes and yes.
In the past ... Belgium, municipal buses in 1940s; Norway, demonstration truck in 1930s; Louisiana, public trolley car in 1870s (ammonia steam engine, working fluid not fuel). See <https://nh3fuelassociation.org/introduction/>.
Now underway: dozens of projects for carbon-free power and fuel, from island energy projects to national grid-scale import/export projects. See [my website](http://ammoniaenergy.org) if you'd like to search for more information on projects around the world. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | According to Clark's ["Ignition!"](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf), German rocket scientists in WW2 had done the math on ammonia, and [JPL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory) had burned it with [RFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fuming_nitric_acid) and [WFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_fuming_nitric_acid) oxidizers in 1949-1951.
Regarding the [XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99), Clark says:
>
> But something more potent than alcohol was needed for the X-15 rocket-driven supersonic research plane. Hydrazine was the first choice, but it sometimes exploded when used for regenerative cooling, and in 1949, when the program was conceived, there wasn't enough of it around, anyway. Bob Truax of the Navy, along with Winternitz of Reaction Motors, which was to develop the 50,000 pounds thrust motor, settled on ammonia as a reasonably satisfactory second best. The oxygen-ammonia combination had been fired by JPL, but RMI really worked it out in the early 50's. The great stability of the ammonia molecule made it a tough customer to burn and from the beginning they were plagued with rough running and combustion instability. All sorts of additives to the fuel were tried in the hope of alleviating the condition, among them methylamine and acetylene. Twenty-two percent of the latter gave smooth combustion, but was dangerously unstable, and the mixture wasn't used long. The combustion problems were eventually cured by improving the injector design, but it was a long and noisy process.
>
>
>
At that point in time, state of the art in big rockets was the [Redstone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM-11_Redstone), which was burning 75/25 ethyl alcohol/water with LOX in an engine which was largely copied from the [V-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket); watering the fuel down was necessary to moderate combustion temperature. While regeneratively cooled, the design of the cooling tubes was not as complexly efficient at that time as it would be in later engines.
Kerosene would ["coke up" (polymerize)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerization) in regeneratively cooled engines, potentially catastrophically clogging coolant tubes. That problem would eventually be solved by the development of the [RP-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP-1) kerosene specification in the mid-50s.
So during the development of the XLR99, ammonia had a useful niche -- it gave better performance than 75% alcohol, was more suitable for regenerative cooling than cheap kerosene, and was safer than the hydrazine fuels. | PS to previous comment about refrigeration in the X-15. It had none, keeping weight absolutely minimal precluded it. Temperature was far more of an issue for the LOX than for the NH3. During captive carry to launch the LOX was replenished from a supply in the B-52 carrier aircraft; otherwise some degree of boil-off occurred. A special case of venting LOX was sending it through the XLR-99 to precool the engine just before launch.
On Bob White’s FAI world altitude flight he asked for and received permission to reorder a few of the final items in the prelaunch checklist, in order to gain a few extra seconds of LOX top off from the B-52’s LOX tank, which was unique to the two B-52s used to carry the X-15. White also had an over performing XLR99 on that mission, and the Dryden rocket shop advised him of that in advance.
As a docent at the Aerospace Museum of California I often refer indirectly to the resulting performance. With an 82 second rocket burn, White set an FAI altitude record at 314,750 feet, about 30,000 feet above the planned apogee. That was within the X-15’s overall history of altitude overshoots and undershoots, the max that comes to mind was about 40,000 feet.
Another metric is that when the XLR-99 lit the pilot immediately has 2G of forward acceleration. That grew to 4G at burnout — it gave rise to a famous quote by X-15 pilot Milt Thompsin: “The X-15 is the only aircraft I ever flew where I was glad when the engine quit.”
Some other metrics from that record flight of White’s was that it covered about 315 miles horizontally, 110 miles vertically, and he touched down 10 minutes 20.7 seconds after launch. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | According to Clark's ["Ignition!"](https://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf), German rocket scientists in WW2 had done the math on ammonia, and [JPL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory) had burned it with [RFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fuming_nitric_acid) and [WFNA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_fuming_nitric_acid) oxidizers in 1949-1951.
Regarding the [XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99), Clark says:
>
> But something more potent than alcohol was needed for the X-15 rocket-driven supersonic research plane. Hydrazine was the first choice, but it sometimes exploded when used for regenerative cooling, and in 1949, when the program was conceived, there wasn't enough of it around, anyway. Bob Truax of the Navy, along with Winternitz of Reaction Motors, which was to develop the 50,000 pounds thrust motor, settled on ammonia as a reasonably satisfactory second best. The oxygen-ammonia combination had been fired by JPL, but RMI really worked it out in the early 50's. The great stability of the ammonia molecule made it a tough customer to burn and from the beginning they were plagued with rough running and combustion instability. All sorts of additives to the fuel were tried in the hope of alleviating the condition, among them methylamine and acetylene. Twenty-two percent of the latter gave smooth combustion, but was dangerously unstable, and the mixture wasn't used long. The combustion problems were eventually cured by improving the injector design, but it was a long and noisy process.
>
>
>
At that point in time, state of the art in big rockets was the [Redstone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGM-11_Redstone), which was burning 75/25 ethyl alcohol/water with LOX in an engine which was largely copied from the [V-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket); watering the fuel down was necessary to moderate combustion temperature. While regeneratively cooled, the design of the cooling tubes was not as complexly efficient at that time as it would be in later engines.
Kerosene would ["coke up" (polymerize)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerization) in regeneratively cooled engines, potentially catastrophically clogging coolant tubes. That problem would eventually be solved by the development of the [RP-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RP-1) kerosene specification in the mid-50s.
So during the development of the XLR99, ammonia had a useful niche -- it gave better performance than 75% alcohol, was more suitable for regenerative cooling than cheap kerosene, and was safer than the hydrazine fuels. | As mentioned in one of the previous answers and according to this [source](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the directive to use anhydrous ammonia came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a propellant scientist from Austria and chief of R&D department of Reaction Motors Inc. (RMI). According to his statement It was chosen because of a practical reasons:
---
’’*I have worked with quite a few propellant systems and found NH3/LOX to be among the easier ones to work with. We did encounter a few challenges along the way, but none were related to the fuel itself*’’'
---
Previous works of rocket engineer named Robertson Youngquist on engine regenerative cooling with anhydrous ammonia laid the foundation on it’s use in RMI.
Following advantages of anhydrous ammonia were attractive to propulsion engineers:
* High hydrogen content, 17.65%, paired with decent liquid density of 0.682kg/l at BP (pre-chilling further increases density) gives 70% higher hydrogen content than LH2 itself,
* Good performance: sea level Isp 293s, vacuum specific impulse 343s. These values are still attractive,
* Low average molar mass of gasses (around 19.8 g/mol) for fuel rich mixtures due to dissociation of ammonia to hydrogen and nitrogen at higher temperatures,
* Combustion temperature is around 2800-2850°C, lower than in other combinations under the same conditions due to high content of water in exhaust and dissociation of ammonia,
* Zero-emission combustion, water and nitrogen are only combustion products. No COx, SOx, NOx and chlorine compounds. Ammonia is not a greenhouse gas.
* Medium liquefying temperature of -33.3 °C, low freezing point of -77.73 °C and high critical temperature of 132.4°C meaning that it’s liquid in wide range of temperatures,
* High latent heat of vaporization 1.37 MJ/kg and high heat capacity 4.7KJ/kg\*K (higher than water) meaning that its excellent medium for regenerative cooling,
* It’s self-pressurized gas, vapor pressure 10bar at 25°C,
* It’s not corrosive, explosive and highly flammable.
Yet ammonia is not without drawbacks:
* It is toxic when inhaled and must be handled with respect. It’s highly toxic for marine life. Still it’s less dangerous than hydrazine and its derivatives. Also there was a long experience in manufacturing, transporting and storage with excellent safety record,
* Ignition is troublesome, hard starts and combustion instabilities are often issues. RMI engineers managed to overcome those issues in LR-99 with clever injector design. However reliable re-ignition of the engine would be a challenge for deep space missions despite attractive vacuum specific impulse,
* Low overall O&F density, lower than Kerolox or NTO/Hydrazine, but still better than Hydrolox.
In rocketry anhydrous ammonia was intended for use in:
* **Douglas D-558-3** american manned rocketplane flown in 1954, a counterpart of X-15 intended for Navy. It employed another RMI engine XLR-30-RM-2. Abounded in favor of X-15,
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7myP.jpg)
* **Mini shuttle** was conceived in 1972 as maned rocketoplane which would use of the self components like LR-99 engine but was never authorized.
* In 2012 Russian rocket engine manufacturer [Energomash](https://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Develops_Revolutionary_Ammonia_Rocket_Engine_999.html) announced works on new rocket fueled by mixture of acetylene and ammonia. New atsetam engine should be based ond RD-161 and rocket was planned for launch in 2017-2018. But seems like it faced funding cuts. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | Chiming in as a long-time member of the NH3 Fuel Association.
First, a small correction. "Cryogenic" refers to gases that liquefy below -150 degrees C. As you state, ammonia liquefies at -33 degrees ... which is fairly close to ambient conditions in the industry. "Refrigerated" would be a more accurate term.
Second, you ask why ammonia was used as the rocket fuel for the X-15. I'm no engine expert, and others have addressed this here with more knowledge than I can, but I understand that the "coking" issue was vital: hydrocarbon fuels formed soot that affected performance, but ammonia contains no carbon and thus formed no soot.
Third, you ask if ammonia was used before or after the X-15. Yes and yes.
In the past ... Belgium, municipal buses in 1940s; Norway, demonstration truck in 1930s; Louisiana, public trolley car in 1870s (ammonia steam engine, working fluid not fuel). See <https://nh3fuelassociation.org/introduction/>.
Now underway: dozens of projects for carbon-free power and fuel, from island energy projects to national grid-scale import/export projects. See [my website](http://ammoniaenergy.org) if you'd like to search for more information on projects around the world. | As mentioned in one of the previous answers and according to this [source](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the directive to use anhydrous ammonia came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a propellant scientist from Austria and chief of R&D department of Reaction Motors Inc. (RMI). According to his statement It was chosen because of a practical reasons:
---
’’*I have worked with quite a few propellant systems and found NH3/LOX to be among the easier ones to work with. We did encounter a few challenges along the way, but none were related to the fuel itself*’’'
---
Previous works of rocket engineer named Robertson Youngquist on engine regenerative cooling with anhydrous ammonia laid the foundation on it’s use in RMI.
Following advantages of anhydrous ammonia were attractive to propulsion engineers:
* High hydrogen content, 17.65%, paired with decent liquid density of 0.682kg/l at BP (pre-chilling further increases density) gives 70% higher hydrogen content than LH2 itself,
* Good performance: sea level Isp 293s, vacuum specific impulse 343s. These values are still attractive,
* Low average molar mass of gasses (around 19.8 g/mol) for fuel rich mixtures due to dissociation of ammonia to hydrogen and nitrogen at higher temperatures,
* Combustion temperature is around 2800-2850°C, lower than in other combinations under the same conditions due to high content of water in exhaust and dissociation of ammonia,
* Zero-emission combustion, water and nitrogen are only combustion products. No COx, SOx, NOx and chlorine compounds. Ammonia is not a greenhouse gas.
* Medium liquefying temperature of -33.3 °C, low freezing point of -77.73 °C and high critical temperature of 132.4°C meaning that it’s liquid in wide range of temperatures,
* High latent heat of vaporization 1.37 MJ/kg and high heat capacity 4.7KJ/kg\*K (higher than water) meaning that its excellent medium for regenerative cooling,
* It’s self-pressurized gas, vapor pressure 10bar at 25°C,
* It’s not corrosive, explosive and highly flammable.
Yet ammonia is not without drawbacks:
* It is toxic when inhaled and must be handled with respect. It’s highly toxic for marine life. Still it’s less dangerous than hydrazine and its derivatives. Also there was a long experience in manufacturing, transporting and storage with excellent safety record,
* Ignition is troublesome, hard starts and combustion instabilities are often issues. RMI engineers managed to overcome those issues in LR-99 with clever injector design. However reliable re-ignition of the engine would be a challenge for deep space missions despite attractive vacuum specific impulse,
* Low overall O&F density, lower than Kerolox or NTO/Hydrazine, but still better than Hydrolox.
In rocketry anhydrous ammonia was intended for use in:
* **Douglas D-558-3** american manned rocketplane flown in 1954, a counterpart of X-15 intended for Navy. It employed another RMI engine XLR-30-RM-2. Abounded in favor of X-15,
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7myP.jpg)
* **Mini shuttle** was conceived in 1972 as maned rocketoplane which would use of the self components like LR-99 engine but was never authorized.
* In 2012 Russian rocket engine manufacturer [Energomash](https://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Develops_Revolutionary_Ammonia_Rocket_Engine_999.html) announced works on new rocket fueled by mixture of acetylene and ammonia. New atsetam engine should be based ond RD-161 and rocket was planned for launch in 2017-2018. But seems like it faced funding cuts. |
22,758 | Both [Flight 90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_90) and [Flight 91](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_Flight_91) of the [North American X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15) crossed the [Kármán line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line), reaching altitudes of 106.01 and 107.96 km respectively. Both flights were piloted by [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker), who became in 1963 the "United States' seventh man in space" and "qualified him as an astronaut under the rules of the U.S. Air Force and the [Fédération Aéronautique Internationale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale) (FAI)"
From [X-15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15):
>
> By November 1960, Reaction Motors was able to deliver the XLR99 rocket engine, generating 57,000 pounds-force (250 kN) of thrust. The remaining 175 flights of the X-15 used XLR99 engines, in a single engine configuration. The XLR99 used anhydrous ammonia and liquid oxygen as propellant, and hydrogen peroxide to drive the high-speed turbopump that delivered propellants to the engine. It could burn 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg) of propellant in 80 seconds.
>
>
>
I hadn't heard of anhydrous ammonia as a fuel before reading this. It needs to be either pressurized or cryogenic (about -33C) to remain as a liquid, unlike organic fuels like alcohols or the heavier hydrocarbons. What were the various reasonings behind developing an ammonia burning engine in this case? Has ammonia been used again after the X-15? Or before for that matter!
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SJHYG.jpg)
**above:** Test pilot and astronaut [Joseph A. Walker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_A._Walker)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lQl65.jpg)
**above:** [Reaction Motors XLR99](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Motors_XLR99) rocket engine from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:XLR-99_Rocket_Engine_USAF.jpg).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xHR71.jpg)
**above** X-15 from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-15.jpg). | 2017/08/22 | [
"https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22758",
"https://space.stackexchange.com",
"https://space.stackexchange.com/users/12102/"
] | PS to previous comment about refrigeration in the X-15. It had none, keeping weight absolutely minimal precluded it. Temperature was far more of an issue for the LOX than for the NH3. During captive carry to launch the LOX was replenished from a supply in the B-52 carrier aircraft; otherwise some degree of boil-off occurred. A special case of venting LOX was sending it through the XLR-99 to precool the engine just before launch.
On Bob White’s FAI world altitude flight he asked for and received permission to reorder a few of the final items in the prelaunch checklist, in order to gain a few extra seconds of LOX top off from the B-52’s LOX tank, which was unique to the two B-52s used to carry the X-15. White also had an over performing XLR99 on that mission, and the Dryden rocket shop advised him of that in advance.
As a docent at the Aerospace Museum of California I often refer indirectly to the resulting performance. With an 82 second rocket burn, White set an FAI altitude record at 314,750 feet, about 30,000 feet above the planned apogee. That was within the X-15’s overall history of altitude overshoots and undershoots, the max that comes to mind was about 40,000 feet.
Another metric is that when the XLR-99 lit the pilot immediately has 2G of forward acceleration. That grew to 4G at burnout — it gave rise to a famous quote by X-15 pilot Milt Thompsin: “The X-15 is the only aircraft I ever flew where I was glad when the engine quit.”
Some other metrics from that record flight of White’s was that it covered about 315 miles horizontally, 110 miles vertically, and he touched down 10 minutes 20.7 seconds after launch. | As mentioned in one of the previous answers and according to this [source](https://nh3fuel.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2011-seaman-huson.pdf) the directive to use anhydrous ammonia came from Dr. Paul F. Winternitz, a propellant scientist from Austria and chief of R&D department of Reaction Motors Inc. (RMI). According to his statement It was chosen because of a practical reasons:
---
’’*I have worked with quite a few propellant systems and found NH3/LOX to be among the easier ones to work with. We did encounter a few challenges along the way, but none were related to the fuel itself*’’'
---
Previous works of rocket engineer named Robertson Youngquist on engine regenerative cooling with anhydrous ammonia laid the foundation on it’s use in RMI.
Following advantages of anhydrous ammonia were attractive to propulsion engineers:
* High hydrogen content, 17.65%, paired with decent liquid density of 0.682kg/l at BP (pre-chilling further increases density) gives 70% higher hydrogen content than LH2 itself,
* Good performance: sea level Isp 293s, vacuum specific impulse 343s. These values are still attractive,
* Low average molar mass of gasses (around 19.8 g/mol) for fuel rich mixtures due to dissociation of ammonia to hydrogen and nitrogen at higher temperatures,
* Combustion temperature is around 2800-2850°C, lower than in other combinations under the same conditions due to high content of water in exhaust and dissociation of ammonia,
* Zero-emission combustion, water and nitrogen are only combustion products. No COx, SOx, NOx and chlorine compounds. Ammonia is not a greenhouse gas.
* Medium liquefying temperature of -33.3 °C, low freezing point of -77.73 °C and high critical temperature of 132.4°C meaning that it’s liquid in wide range of temperatures,
* High latent heat of vaporization 1.37 MJ/kg and high heat capacity 4.7KJ/kg\*K (higher than water) meaning that its excellent medium for regenerative cooling,
* It’s self-pressurized gas, vapor pressure 10bar at 25°C,
* It’s not corrosive, explosive and highly flammable.
Yet ammonia is not without drawbacks:
* It is toxic when inhaled and must be handled with respect. It’s highly toxic for marine life. Still it’s less dangerous than hydrazine and its derivatives. Also there was a long experience in manufacturing, transporting and storage with excellent safety record,
* Ignition is troublesome, hard starts and combustion instabilities are often issues. RMI engineers managed to overcome those issues in LR-99 with clever injector design. However reliable re-ignition of the engine would be a challenge for deep space missions despite attractive vacuum specific impulse,
* Low overall O&F density, lower than Kerolox or NTO/Hydrazine, but still better than Hydrolox.
In rocketry anhydrous ammonia was intended for use in:
* **Douglas D-558-3** american manned rocketplane flown in 1954, a counterpart of X-15 intended for Navy. It employed another RMI engine XLR-30-RM-2. Abounded in favor of X-15,
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k7myP.jpg)
* **Mini shuttle** was conceived in 1972 as maned rocketoplane which would use of the self components like LR-99 engine but was never authorized.
* In 2012 Russian rocket engine manufacturer [Energomash](https://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Develops_Revolutionary_Ammonia_Rocket_Engine_999.html) announced works on new rocket fueled by mixture of acetylene and ammonia. New atsetam engine should be based ond RD-161 and rocket was planned for launch in 2017-2018. But seems like it faced funding cuts. |
55,528 | I have a bike with SRAM s350 172.5mm 40T chainset, SRAM GXP 68mm BB and 12x142mm through axle rear hub, which should make my chainline 49mm.
As I have knee issues I am looking for 165mm crank arms (with 38T chainring). On SRAM site I see that Force 1 and GX-1000 crankset should fit, but I have 2 (actually 3) questions:
1. Does Rival 1 also fit those specs? As it works with 135mm rear hub (as written on SRAM web), shouldn't it work with 142mm rear hub as well, as they are basically the same? Also the Rival 1 is a lot less expensive and is more than I need so I would prefer to get that.
2. Do You know is there ANYWHERE in Europe that I could get some of these as I have searched every website I could think of and no one seems to have 165mm crankarms available?
3. What other 165mm 38T are available that are comparable to Rival 1 in price and spec?
I know it's a lot of questions but they sort of tie in to one another..I guess? :)
Thank You. | 2018/06/27 | [
"https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/55528",
"https://bicycles.stackexchange.com",
"https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/users/38364/"
] | If you look up [SRAM S350-1](https://www.sram.com/sram/road/products/sram-s350-1-crankset) (single chain ring) on SRAM’s website it says that it is a direct replacement for Rival 1 and compatible with 130, 135, and 142 OLD frames. Rival 1 should be a straight swap assuming you get the correct axle variant (i.e., GPX). | I believe I found my answer here:
<https://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=142287>
>
>
> >
> >
> > >
> > > 142 thru axle and 135 quick release have the same measurement from midline of bike to cassette.This is what has been used for years on mountain bikes.
> > >
> > >
> > > 130 quick release is 2.5mm less from midline of bike to cassette. This is what has been used for years on road/CX bikes.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
If Rival 1 fits then I'm not that interested in mixing other manufacturers, so Q3 is out, and as stated Q2 is about shopping so that one is out.
Thank You |
13,385,981 | I have the following line of code using imaplib
M = imaplib.IMAP4('smtp.gmail.com', 587)
I get the following error from imaplib:
abort: unexpected response: '220 mx.google.com ESMTP o13sm12303588vde.21'
However from reading elsewhere, it seems that that response is the correct response demonstrating that the connection was made to the server successfully at that port.
Why is imaplib giving this error? | 2012/11/14 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/13385981",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1387717/"
] | no, kadane's algorithm will still find you the subarray with the biggest sum...i have to solve the same problem. so far i kave find that if we create the array B as you mentioned above and then make the array C which contains the partial sums of the array B,then the maximum interval (i,j) that we are lookink for has the same number for i and j!!! for example:
array A is: 1 10 -1 -1 4 -1 7 2 8 1 .....and the given k is 5 then
array B is: -4 5 -6 -6 -1 -6 2 -3 3 -4
array C is:-4 1 -5 -11 -12 -18 -16 -19 -16 -20
so the subarray that we are looking for is [7,2,8], has length 3, and has the same first and last element which is -16!!!!
edit: i forgot to tell that we are searching for a O(n) or an O(n\*logn) algorithm.... @lets\_solve\_it you are right but your algorithm is O(n^2) whitch is way to big for the data we want to handle. i 'm close to solve it with the function map in c++,whitch is something like a hash table. i thing this is the right diredtion because here the elements of the array C have direct relation with their indexes! Also our professor told us that another possible solution ,is to make again the array C and then take a (special?) pivot to do quicksort....but i don't totally understand what we expect from quicksort to do. | @panos7:
after you have created array C (partial sums array), you seek two values of C, Ci and Cj,
such that, Cj>=Ci, and, (j-i) is as "big" as possible. (j-i) --> MAX.
then return j-i.
in your example, -16>=-18 so you returned j-i=9-6=3
which is the correct answer! |
51,397 | I am currently enrolled as a graduate student and am working towards my PhD. I need to update my CV and was wondering how others reported *ongoing graduate study when the completion date was uncertain*. That is, I know that I'll be graduating in, say, 2019 +/-3 years, and therefore can't honestly list my graduate work as, say,
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (Expected 2019)
>
>
>
Would something like:
>
> XYZ University, Graduate Study, (2014-).
>
>
>
be clear enough? I think that most people in my field will correctly assume that this is graduate study towards a PhD. However, it is probably not ideal to rely on assumptions. Another idea is:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (2014-).
>
>
>
But I think it could be read as though the degree is practically complete, which might come off as a bit presumptuous. What about replacing "PhD" with "PhD (in progress)". This seems to fix the "presumptuous" question but also seems less clean.
To be clear, I'm more concerned about the *phrasing* than the *formatting* of line. (Although I recognize that certain formatting styles may convey the proper message more effectively.) Any thoughts or additional ideas appreciated. | 2015/08/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51397",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23737/"
] | I would recommend a slightly different phrasing, to explicitly stating the start and expected duration of your program:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (2014 - 2019 [anticipated])
>
>
>
This conveys clearly the important information of how far along you are in your doctoral studies.
Most people know that there can be a great deal of variation in the completion of a Ph.D., and nobody expects that you can predict the future, so if you later shift the date forward or back, it should not be taken amiss by anyone reading the C.V. | >
> ...can't honestly list my graduate work as, say,
>
>
>
> >
> > XYZ University, PhD, (Expected 2019)
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
Sure you can. There's a certain typical length of a PhD program in your field; you take your starting date, add that length of time, and that's your expected completion date. Or if you have other information that allows you to refine your expectations about your own completion date, you can take that into account and list a different year.
It's given as "expected" precisely because you don't know if you'll actually be completed at that time. |
51,397 | I am currently enrolled as a graduate student and am working towards my PhD. I need to update my CV and was wondering how others reported *ongoing graduate study when the completion date was uncertain*. That is, I know that I'll be graduating in, say, 2019 +/-3 years, and therefore can't honestly list my graduate work as, say,
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (Expected 2019)
>
>
>
Would something like:
>
> XYZ University, Graduate Study, (2014-).
>
>
>
be clear enough? I think that most people in my field will correctly assume that this is graduate study towards a PhD. However, it is probably not ideal to rely on assumptions. Another idea is:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (2014-).
>
>
>
But I think it could be read as though the degree is practically complete, which might come off as a bit presumptuous. What about replacing "PhD" with "PhD (in progress)". This seems to fix the "presumptuous" question but also seems less clean.
To be clear, I'm more concerned about the *phrasing* than the *formatting* of line. (Although I recognize that certain formatting styles may convey the proper message more effectively.) Any thoughts or additional ideas appreciated. | 2015/08/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51397",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23737/"
] | I would recommend a slightly different phrasing, to explicitly stating the start and expected duration of your program:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (2014 - 2019 [anticipated])
>
>
>
This conveys clearly the important information of how far along you are in your doctoral studies.
Most people know that there can be a great deal of variation in the completion of a Ph.D., and nobody expects that you can predict the future, so if you later shift the date forward or back, it should not be taken amiss by anyone reading the C.V. | I would write something like:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, 2015 - present
>
>
>
I am not sure that the expected graduation date conveys any information since such plans are inherently subject to variations. Moreover the length of a PhD can be both country and institution dependent, hence to check of you're actually "on time" one would have to cross-reference your expected date with these two parameters. Franky I doubt that whoever reads your CV will actually compute this operation.
On the other hand the starting date is fundamental because it gives an exact measure of how long you've been enrolled in the program, and this calculation is quite trivial. |
13,493,352 | The Team Explorer / Pending Changes in VS 2012 is horrible.
Is there a way to bring back the VS 2010 Pending Changes window?
Even a good standalone TFS client will do. | 2012/11/21 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/13493352",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/326370/"
] | Create a new external tool (tools -> external tools)
**Command:** C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\tf.exe
**Argument:** checkin
**Initial Directory:** $(SolutionDir)
**Use Output Window** Unticked (dialog doesn't seem to popup if this is on) | There is a free 3rd party plugin called TeamPilgrim which imitates the old pending changes window from Visual Studio 2010.
It is apparently still in development but is a reasonable solution until Microsoft (hopefully) resolve the UserVoice request.
Download and further details here:
<http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/79e9baa7-ea8b-4335-86ba-ae929bf67222> |
13,493,352 | The Team Explorer / Pending Changes in VS 2012 is horrible.
Is there a way to bring back the VS 2010 Pending Changes window?
Even a good standalone TFS client will do. | 2012/11/21 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/13493352",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/326370/"
] | Create a new external tool (tools -> external tools)
**Command:** C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\tf.exe
**Argument:** checkin
**Initial Directory:** $(SolutionDir)
**Use Output Window** Unticked (dialog doesn't seem to popup if this is on) | There is a "pending changes" filter on the Visual Studio 2012 Solution explorer. While I'd rather have a separate window, this is much better than adding a separate command.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2012/08/14/showing-files-with-pending-changes-or-files-that-are-open-in-visual-studio-2012-solution-explorer.aspx> |
13,493,352 | The Team Explorer / Pending Changes in VS 2012 is horrible.
Is there a way to bring back the VS 2010 Pending Changes window?
Even a good standalone TFS client will do. | 2012/11/21 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/13493352",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/326370/"
] | There is a free 3rd party plugin called TeamPilgrim which imitates the old pending changes window from Visual Studio 2010.
It is apparently still in development but is a reasonable solution until Microsoft (hopefully) resolve the UserVoice request.
Download and further details here:
<http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/79e9baa7-ea8b-4335-86ba-ae929bf67222> | There is a "pending changes" filter on the Visual Studio 2012 Solution explorer. While I'd rather have a separate window, this is much better than adding a separate command.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2012/08/14/showing-files-with-pending-changes-or-files-that-are-open-in-visual-studio-2012-solution-explorer.aspx> |
179,219 | My friend recently joined a large federal government organisation in Canada. A few of months into the job, she's applying to another job within the org. During the application, she's being accused of holding a fake engineering degree from one of the top universities in Canada. In fact, I know her degree is legitimate. The reason given is that it "looks fake". It's scanned and looks different than the typical phone photo. Both the university and the org are saying this. Sounds like the university didn't actually check. She didn't change her name.
She is emotionally distraught due to this. She happens to belong to a minority group in an area of the country where sentiments against this group are high. It is hard not to think this might be relevant. Maybe it's a mistaken identity, though the chances of fooling this particular organisation is very low. I'd argue there are more chances of malice.
The university in question has been unresponsive so far. This is insane.
I suggested that she get a lawyer, reach out to organizations that handle human rights complaints, and to investigative journalists.
Has anyone heard of this happening before? advice on this? What options does my friend have?
Update after accepting answer: She managed to receive a notice of correction from the university. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions. | 2021/10/14 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/179219",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/125908/"
] | **Government degree verification in Canada often lacks quality**
I used to work for a governmental organization in Canada. I verified my degree with a picture of my diploma taken on my phone. That was how they checked your credentials.
I can easily see their idea of verification being emailing someone in admin at the university and them spelling the name wrong or going to the wrong department or asking for the wrong faculty or level or campus or year. Verification challenges have happened to quite a few friends.
Start by ordering an official transcript and ask HR for an address to send it. Universities all have some way to do this that is quick and easy.
Or just get on the phone with the Alumni office or the Registrar. Make them actually turn her down over the phone rather than ghosting her by email. | It should be a perfectly routine matter for any university to send you a transcript or to confirm that a degree was issued. Give them the name that she was using at the time, and they'll find it and mail it to you. But also – what did she *do* with the diploma when they handed it to her while she was wearing a cap and gown? Where is that piece of paper now? |
179,219 | My friend recently joined a large federal government organisation in Canada. A few of months into the job, she's applying to another job within the org. During the application, she's being accused of holding a fake engineering degree from one of the top universities in Canada. In fact, I know her degree is legitimate. The reason given is that it "looks fake". It's scanned and looks different than the typical phone photo. Both the university and the org are saying this. Sounds like the university didn't actually check. She didn't change her name.
She is emotionally distraught due to this. She happens to belong to a minority group in an area of the country where sentiments against this group are high. It is hard not to think this might be relevant. Maybe it's a mistaken identity, though the chances of fooling this particular organisation is very low. I'd argue there are more chances of malice.
The university in question has been unresponsive so far. This is insane.
I suggested that she get a lawyer, reach out to organizations that handle human rights complaints, and to investigative journalists.
Has anyone heard of this happening before? advice on this? What options does my friend have?
Update after accepting answer: She managed to receive a notice of correction from the university. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions. | 2021/10/14 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/179219",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/125908/"
] | **Government degree verification in Canada often lacks quality**
I used to work for a governmental organization in Canada. I verified my degree with a picture of my diploma taken on my phone. That was how they checked your credentials.
I can easily see their idea of verification being emailing someone in admin at the university and them spelling the name wrong or going to the wrong department or asking for the wrong faculty or level or campus or year. Verification challenges have happened to quite a few friends.
Start by ordering an official transcript and ask HR for an address to send it. Universities all have some way to do this that is quick and easy.
Or just get on the phone with the Alumni office or the Registrar. Make them actually turn her down over the phone rather than ghosting her by email. | So in my experience in getting international visas, it is a common function of the "Office of the Registrar" in Canadian Universities to send out sealed copies of final transcripts directly to whomever the alum requests. I had to do this to get a work visa in Korea and every other foreign teacher I know had to as well. Usually this fee is in the $30-50 range.
Honestly this seem like a fairly simple thing to sort out using the online portal for the university. It should just be a matter of getting a copy of transcripts ordered to HR or the new hiring manager. There shouldn't be any argument with an original issued directly from the issuing body. |
179,219 | My friend recently joined a large federal government organisation in Canada. A few of months into the job, she's applying to another job within the org. During the application, she's being accused of holding a fake engineering degree from one of the top universities in Canada. In fact, I know her degree is legitimate. The reason given is that it "looks fake". It's scanned and looks different than the typical phone photo. Both the university and the org are saying this. Sounds like the university didn't actually check. She didn't change her name.
She is emotionally distraught due to this. She happens to belong to a minority group in an area of the country where sentiments against this group are high. It is hard not to think this might be relevant. Maybe it's a mistaken identity, though the chances of fooling this particular organisation is very low. I'd argue there are more chances of malice.
The university in question has been unresponsive so far. This is insane.
I suggested that she get a lawyer, reach out to organizations that handle human rights complaints, and to investigative journalists.
Has anyone heard of this happening before? advice on this? What options does my friend have?
Update after accepting answer: She managed to receive a notice of correction from the university. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions. | 2021/10/14 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/179219",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/125908/"
] | It should be a perfectly routine matter for any university to send you a transcript or to confirm that a degree was issued. Give them the name that she was using at the time, and they'll find it and mail it to you. But also – what did she *do* with the diploma when they handed it to her while she was wearing a cap and gown? Where is that piece of paper now? | So in my experience in getting international visas, it is a common function of the "Office of the Registrar" in Canadian Universities to send out sealed copies of final transcripts directly to whomever the alum requests. I had to do this to get a work visa in Korea and every other foreign teacher I know had to as well. Usually this fee is in the $30-50 range.
Honestly this seem like a fairly simple thing to sort out using the online portal for the university. It should just be a matter of getting a copy of transcripts ordered to HR or the new hiring manager. There shouldn't be any argument with an original issued directly from the issuing body. |
37,728 | I know these two terms don't go well together but I need advice on how to pick healthy foods that I can simply buy and eat. I hate cooking and I live in a temporary accomodation where the kitchen is not that great. I eat only 2 meals a day (breakfast and dinner) with a snack at noon. I train 3 times a week and my training usually consists of bar training+300abs+30min cardio. | 2018/05/02 | [
"https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/37728",
"https://fitness.stackexchange.com",
"https://fitness.stackexchange.com/users/28498/"
] | What are your dietary restrictions (vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan etc.)? What appliances do you have? Here are some suggestions:
For breakfast:
* Protein powder - this is a versatile ingredient and can be added into shakes/oats etc.
* Egg beaters (egg whites in a carton you can just pour into a pan and cook). They might not have these in the UK under the same name but there should be similar items.
* Oatmeal (is it porridge in the UK?)- just put oats in a bowl with some water and microwave for quick breakfast. Add toppings as desired. You can also mix in protein powder.
* If you have a blender, just buy a bunch of bananas/strawberries/spinach (or other desired fruits within caloric intake requirements) and freeze them. Add them into your blender with milk/water/almond milk etc along with protein powder if you desire.
* If your calories allow it, everything bagels are calorie dense and relatively distributed with macronutrients which is a great on the go breakfast item.
For dinner:
* Buy whole rotisserie chicken from your supermarket and just portion that and eat it throughout the week.
* Minute rice - literally rice you can crush and microwave for a minute for a rice meal. It's cheaper honestly to buy a rice cooker and just cook your own rice but to each his own.
* Vegetable packs you can just throw in the microwave to eat along with rice/chicken.
* You can also just wash potatoes, poke holes and microwave them with a damp paper towel over them.
* Protein powder shakes. I don't like using protein powder as a main meal but as a supplement when i'm not getting enough protein in. Throw in frozen spinach for fiber and or frozen bananas for creamy substance. | Yogurt, eggs, things like nuts in bags/containers, oatmeal/cream of wheat, etc (simple and you don't need to quote on quote cook it), nutrition bars, etc. As you can see my answer is going be things you probably already know. The reality is the healthy packaged foods that are ready to eat are very simple and not much too them, if you are looking to eat healthy it isn't wise to rely on ready to eat food. I don't like cooking either but you can easily cook the most basic foods, pre done meat, eggs, rice, etc crappy kitchen or not.
Usually pre-made meals including ones that are advertised as healthy aren't, they usually are high in salt or other such things. If you really hate cooking that much stick to the basics, easy to cook meat, rice, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, fruits vegetables. Pasta is also incredibly easy. If you want to just throw stuff in the microwave or oven to heat up and eat you aren't in much luck.
Also why two meals in a day? Eating smaller but more meals throughout the day speeds up metabolism significantly compared to the normal three meals and you are even below that at two. |
1,518,673 | There is a question in TAOCP vol 1, in "Notes on Exercises" section, which goes something like:
"Prove that 13^3 = 2197. Generalize your answer. (This is a horrible kind of problem that the author has tried to avoid)."
Questions:
1. How would you actually go about proving this ? (Direct multiplication is one way, another way could be using formula of (a+b)^3). Does the solution requires using some method that will allow us to make some kind of generalization ?
2. What is the generalization here ?
3. Why is this a horrible kind of problem ?
4. What are some other kind of similar horrible problems that you are aware of ?
Appreciate any answers.
P.S. I apologize if the statement of problem above makes it look like a homework problem, but its not. Request people to not tag this as a homework problem, so that more people can give answers. | 2009/10/05 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1518673",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/141202/"
] | I'd guess that he's alluding to perhaps proving it starting from just the [Peano axioms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peano_axioms). Then [constructing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer#Construction) the integers, and going on to formally show that 13^3 = 2197 is a natural, logical conclusion that flows from the definition of exponentiation.
We could generalize to show that given an a and b, there exists some integer c, that is a^b.
This is a horrible kind of a problem because most people find it uninteresting.
Similar sorts of problems can be found in a course on analysis (along with some greatly more interesting). | Got stuck at the same exercise and 'solved' it this way:
a^b = mult(i=1 to b) a
After a bit of thinking I came to the conclusion that this is a prime factorization (both 13 and 3 are primes). Look up fermat's little theorem.
(I know, it's an old thread but maybe this'll help somebody who is also seeking an answer to this execise.) |
1,518,673 | There is a question in TAOCP vol 1, in "Notes on Exercises" section, which goes something like:
"Prove that 13^3 = 2197. Generalize your answer. (This is a horrible kind of problem that the author has tried to avoid)."
Questions:
1. How would you actually go about proving this ? (Direct multiplication is one way, another way could be using formula of (a+b)^3). Does the solution requires using some method that will allow us to make some kind of generalization ?
2. What is the generalization here ?
3. Why is this a horrible kind of problem ?
4. What are some other kind of similar horrible problems that you are aware of ?
Appreciate any answers.
P.S. I apologize if the statement of problem above makes it look like a homework problem, but its not. Request people to not tag this as a homework problem, so that more people can give answers. | 2009/10/05 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1518673",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/141202/"
] | I initially considered it as follows:
n3 = n \* n \* n
logn(n3) = logn(n\*n\*n)
logn(n3) = logn(n) + logn(n) + logn(n)
3 = 1 + 1 + 1
3 = 3
This seems fairly circular in its use of logarithmic identities, but given where I'm at in my algorithms research, it was oddly comforting. | Got stuck at the same exercise and 'solved' it this way:
a^b = mult(i=1 to b) a
After a bit of thinking I came to the conclusion that this is a prime factorization (both 13 and 3 are primes). Look up fermat's little theorem.
(I know, it's an old thread but maybe this'll help somebody who is also seeking an answer to this execise.) |
148,962 | Last year I was informed by my PI that the lab was too busy to take on undergrad students. I said that I understood and found another lab that I was interested in to join.
However, I had been working on a project for a year before I left, and didn't get around to sending them any data/notes related to my project after I left. The lab members also didn't ask for any data. So, I'm not sure if maybe my project as a undergrad wasn't that important, or if I was unprofessional. Would it be late now, more than a year after I left, to send in data? Did I leave a bad impression?
I was hoping to ask the PI for letters of rec for grad school, but (1) He has new undergrad students now and I haven't spoken with him for a while and (2) I'm not sure if I left a bad impression when leaving the lab. | 2020/05/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/148962",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123982/"
] | So first, it seems a little strange that after an entire year of work, they would suddenly be "too busy to take on undergrad students." Of course I am only speculating, but my guess is that they (rightly or wrongly) didn't think your project was going anywhere and decided to cut you loose. This would also explain why they didn't ask for your data or notes, and why they have since hired new undergraduates. If this is the case, this PI would probably not be a good choice when asking for letters of recommendation.
At any rate, to your questions:
>
> I'm not sure if maybe my project as a undergrad wasn't that important, or if I was unprofessional.
>
>
>
If they wanted your data or notes, they should have asked for them. I assume there was no directive that you failed to follow, such as "upload your results to the portal every week." So no, I don't think it was unprofessional.
Why didn't they ask for your data or notes? Two possible reasons:
* In my experience, first-time undergraduate researchers do things *literally* hundreds of times slower than I can. So, I would likely start from scratch rather than trying to turn the student's product into something useable. Of course, this will vary by field -- I can imagine that some "wet labs" have very time-consuming processes for which undergraduate data would be valuable (if we trust the undergraduate).
* Everyone always has more ideas than they have time. If an idea gets consigned to an undergraduate, it's probably not very high-priority. So, it could be that no one is pursuing that idea, or that a new undergraduate will start from scratch on it.
>
> Would it be late now, more than a year after I left, to send in data?
>
>
>
Personally, I would not offer. As noted above, this is unlikely to be useful; further, it raises the question of "if you thought I needed this, why didn't you provide it a year ago?"
>
> I was hoping to ask the PI for letters of rec for grad school but I haven't spoken with him for a while and I'm not sure if I left a bad impression when leaving the lab
>
>
>
I wouldn't worry about not having spoken with him in a while -- everyone is busy. And I wouldn't worry about the data/notes situation. But I would think carefully about the circumstances under which you left the lab -- generally, we don't fire students if we think they deserve a very strong recommendation. But of course there are exceptions. You can certainly ask "Would you be able to write a strong recommendation?" | The lab is obligated to keep records of its data, if that is reasonably feasible. If you did not leave the data with the lab, you should make it available to the lab.
In my opinion, it is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure this is done.
This isn't likely to have a significant effect on letters of recommendation. |
148,962 | Last year I was informed by my PI that the lab was too busy to take on undergrad students. I said that I understood and found another lab that I was interested in to join.
However, I had been working on a project for a year before I left, and didn't get around to sending them any data/notes related to my project after I left. The lab members also didn't ask for any data. So, I'm not sure if maybe my project as a undergrad wasn't that important, or if I was unprofessional. Would it be late now, more than a year after I left, to send in data? Did I leave a bad impression?
I was hoping to ask the PI for letters of rec for grad school, but (1) He has new undergrad students now and I haven't spoken with him for a while and (2) I'm not sure if I left a bad impression when leaving the lab. | 2020/05/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/148962",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123982/"
] | If they did not ask for the data I would not be worried about sending the data. If the PI were interested, they would ask you for the data.
We cannot possibly know what the PI's impression of you. But if you were to ask for a recommendation letter, you should summarize your achievements in their lab and ask them if they could provide a "**strong**" recommendation letter in the email. | The lab is obligated to keep records of its data, if that is reasonably feasible. If you did not leave the data with the lab, you should make it available to the lab.
In my opinion, it is the supervisor's responsibility to ensure this is done.
This isn't likely to have a significant effect on letters of recommendation. |
148,962 | Last year I was informed by my PI that the lab was too busy to take on undergrad students. I said that I understood and found another lab that I was interested in to join.
However, I had been working on a project for a year before I left, and didn't get around to sending them any data/notes related to my project after I left. The lab members also didn't ask for any data. So, I'm not sure if maybe my project as a undergrad wasn't that important, or if I was unprofessional. Would it be late now, more than a year after I left, to send in data? Did I leave a bad impression?
I was hoping to ask the PI for letters of rec for grad school, but (1) He has new undergrad students now and I haven't spoken with him for a while and (2) I'm not sure if I left a bad impression when leaving the lab. | 2020/05/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/148962",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123982/"
] | So first, it seems a little strange that after an entire year of work, they would suddenly be "too busy to take on undergrad students." Of course I am only speculating, but my guess is that they (rightly or wrongly) didn't think your project was going anywhere and decided to cut you loose. This would also explain why they didn't ask for your data or notes, and why they have since hired new undergraduates. If this is the case, this PI would probably not be a good choice when asking for letters of recommendation.
At any rate, to your questions:
>
> I'm not sure if maybe my project as a undergrad wasn't that important, or if I was unprofessional.
>
>
>
If they wanted your data or notes, they should have asked for them. I assume there was no directive that you failed to follow, such as "upload your results to the portal every week." So no, I don't think it was unprofessional.
Why didn't they ask for your data or notes? Two possible reasons:
* In my experience, first-time undergraduate researchers do things *literally* hundreds of times slower than I can. So, I would likely start from scratch rather than trying to turn the student's product into something useable. Of course, this will vary by field -- I can imagine that some "wet labs" have very time-consuming processes for which undergraduate data would be valuable (if we trust the undergraduate).
* Everyone always has more ideas than they have time. If an idea gets consigned to an undergraduate, it's probably not very high-priority. So, it could be that no one is pursuing that idea, or that a new undergraduate will start from scratch on it.
>
> Would it be late now, more than a year after I left, to send in data?
>
>
>
Personally, I would not offer. As noted above, this is unlikely to be useful; further, it raises the question of "if you thought I needed this, why didn't you provide it a year ago?"
>
> I was hoping to ask the PI for letters of rec for grad school but I haven't spoken with him for a while and I'm not sure if I left a bad impression when leaving the lab
>
>
>
I wouldn't worry about not having spoken with him in a while -- everyone is busy. And I wouldn't worry about the data/notes situation. But I would think carefully about the circumstances under which you left the lab -- generally, we don't fire students if we think they deserve a very strong recommendation. But of course there are exceptions. You can certainly ask "Would you be able to write a strong recommendation?" | If they did not ask for the data I would not be worried about sending the data. If the PI were interested, they would ask you for the data.
We cannot possibly know what the PI's impression of you. But if you were to ask for a recommendation letter, you should summarize your achievements in their lab and ask them if they could provide a "**strong**" recommendation letter in the email. |
19,391 | As a dentist, I often want to send medical information including digital xrays to another doctor. What would be a good/easy way to do this encrypted?
Our organization currently requires that all such sent information be encrypted. Their current method is an add-on program to our email, that automatically encrypts the attachment. The problem with this though is that the recipient needs to also have this particular program installed on their computer...
I would like a way where the recipient can easily access the file without having to install new, additional software.
(to answer the question I live in America (Oregon).)
(thanks for all the great responses!) | 2012/08/28 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/19391",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/12522/"
] | Sending healthcare information like that is very tricky, since you have to meet the healthcare security and privacy laws in your country (HIPAA in America). You might be able to use something like PGP to encrypt the emails and this may fine legally (I'm not a lawyer though). Encryption implemented through PGP would have fairly good support in email clients, so it should work for most places you want to share data with. However, this is a very hard-to-use solution. I'd be much better to not have to email PHI like that. You still have to worry about auditing access to the data, as well as proper access control.
What you really need is software that can enabled collaboration between two healthcare providers. This would give your organization a lot more power than what you currently have. This software would then handle the secure communication between the two healthcare practices. It would also let you share this data in a much easier, standards-based way.
As a side note, I started a [Healthcare Industry Stack Exchange proposal](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/41370/healthcare-industry?referrer=0FgbVsKaId7Z_15aCbzplg2) where this question would be perfect. Those interested in questions like this should consider joining. | I can't give you product recommendations, but if I were designing software to support this kind of collaboration, one option I would consider is to do it as a web service: something where you can log into a web site, upload the files, and let the other doctor download the files. This would eliminate the need for special software. On the other hand, if the files are very large, the time to upload and download them might be prohibitive.
I have a superficial impression that right now this is typically done by burning the files onto a DVD and then having the patient carry the DVD to the other doctor, or sending the DVD through the postal mail. This seems like a fairly reasonable approach, as long as you avoid certain pitfalls (e.g., use of autorun on the DVD).
See, e.g., [Going to the doctor and worrying about cybersecurity](https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/jeremyepstein/going-to-the-doctor-and-worrying-about-cybersecurity/) by Jeremy Epstein. (Read the comments there, too.) |
19,391 | As a dentist, I often want to send medical information including digital xrays to another doctor. What would be a good/easy way to do this encrypted?
Our organization currently requires that all such sent information be encrypted. Their current method is an add-on program to our email, that automatically encrypts the attachment. The problem with this though is that the recipient needs to also have this particular program installed on their computer...
I would like a way where the recipient can easily access the file without having to install new, additional software.
(to answer the question I live in America (Oregon).)
(thanks for all the great responses!) | 2012/08/28 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/19391",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/12522/"
] | Sending healthcare information like that is very tricky, since you have to meet the healthcare security and privacy laws in your country (HIPAA in America). You might be able to use something like PGP to encrypt the emails and this may fine legally (I'm not a lawyer though). Encryption implemented through PGP would have fairly good support in email clients, so it should work for most places you want to share data with. However, this is a very hard-to-use solution. I'd be much better to not have to email PHI like that. You still have to worry about auditing access to the data, as well as proper access control.
What you really need is software that can enabled collaboration between two healthcare providers. This would give your organization a lot more power than what you currently have. This software would then handle the secure communication between the two healthcare practices. It would also let you share this data in a much easier, standards-based way.
As a side note, I started a [Healthcare Industry Stack Exchange proposal](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/41370/healthcare-industry?referrer=0FgbVsKaId7Z_15aCbzplg2) where this question would be perfect. Those interested in questions like this should consider joining. | I find it interesting that no one offered this:
Why not use an SFTP or FTPS server, access to it locked down by ip address, users restricted to their own home folders only which are stored on an encrypted drive? I work for a mid-sized hospital, and we use this setup to transfer HIPAA information on a daily basis. There is a lot of work for a system administrator to get it setup initially and keeping the ip access lists up to date (especially if end users have dhcp'd connections) does take a little time weekly, but once everything's in place it's a very easy and acceptable solution for what Ken is looking for.
Let me know if you'd like more information on how to get a solution like this going and I'll be glad to provide more information. |
19,391 | As a dentist, I often want to send medical information including digital xrays to another doctor. What would be a good/easy way to do this encrypted?
Our organization currently requires that all such sent information be encrypted. Their current method is an add-on program to our email, that automatically encrypts the attachment. The problem with this though is that the recipient needs to also have this particular program installed on their computer...
I would like a way where the recipient can easily access the file without having to install new, additional software.
(to answer the question I live in America (Oregon).)
(thanks for all the great responses!) | 2012/08/28 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/19391",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/12522/"
] | If you want to use emails, then you want encrypted emails. There are two canonic solutions: [S/MIME](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/MIME) and [OpenPGP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenPGP). The former is already supported by many emailing applications, and uses X.509 certificates. The latter requires some add-ons, which exist for many applications and are not too hard to use.
But do you want to use emails ? X-Ray pictures are often bulky, and emails are not as reliable as one would wish; in particular, the files sit in whatever email servers the doctors use, so they will have backups, or lack backups, depending on the configuration of each such server. Also, there will be no classification or index worth speaking of. Last but not least, dissemination of medical data, which is assumed confidential, is supposed to be controlled and auditable. There are a lot of legal details to take care of.
Countries which are currently trying to setup systems and networks for handling medical data and sharing it between the involved doctors (but nobody else !) are finding out that it is hard work, and requires a lot of thought and procedures. In my experience, centralized architectures are preferred (i.e. the X-Ray pictures will be stored in a central database, with access control using smartcards), rather than emails. | I can't give you product recommendations, but if I were designing software to support this kind of collaboration, one option I would consider is to do it as a web service: something where you can log into a web site, upload the files, and let the other doctor download the files. This would eliminate the need for special software. On the other hand, if the files are very large, the time to upload and download them might be prohibitive.
I have a superficial impression that right now this is typically done by burning the files onto a DVD and then having the patient carry the DVD to the other doctor, or sending the DVD through the postal mail. This seems like a fairly reasonable approach, as long as you avoid certain pitfalls (e.g., use of autorun on the DVD).
See, e.g., [Going to the doctor and worrying about cybersecurity](https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/jeremyepstein/going-to-the-doctor-and-worrying-about-cybersecurity/) by Jeremy Epstein. (Read the comments there, too.) |
19,391 | As a dentist, I often want to send medical information including digital xrays to another doctor. What would be a good/easy way to do this encrypted?
Our organization currently requires that all such sent information be encrypted. Their current method is an add-on program to our email, that automatically encrypts the attachment. The problem with this though is that the recipient needs to also have this particular program installed on their computer...
I would like a way where the recipient can easily access the file without having to install new, additional software.
(to answer the question I live in America (Oregon).)
(thanks for all the great responses!) | 2012/08/28 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/19391",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/12522/"
] | If you want to use emails, then you want encrypted emails. There are two canonic solutions: [S/MIME](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/MIME) and [OpenPGP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenPGP). The former is already supported by many emailing applications, and uses X.509 certificates. The latter requires some add-ons, which exist for many applications and are not too hard to use.
But do you want to use emails ? X-Ray pictures are often bulky, and emails are not as reliable as one would wish; in particular, the files sit in whatever email servers the doctors use, so they will have backups, or lack backups, depending on the configuration of each such server. Also, there will be no classification or index worth speaking of. Last but not least, dissemination of medical data, which is assumed confidential, is supposed to be controlled and auditable. There are a lot of legal details to take care of.
Countries which are currently trying to setup systems and networks for handling medical data and sharing it between the involved doctors (but nobody else !) are finding out that it is hard work, and requires a lot of thought and procedures. In my experience, centralized architectures are preferred (i.e. the X-Ray pictures will be stored in a central database, with access control using smartcards), rather than emails. | I find it interesting that no one offered this:
Why not use an SFTP or FTPS server, access to it locked down by ip address, users restricted to their own home folders only which are stored on an encrypted drive? I work for a mid-sized hospital, and we use this setup to transfer HIPAA information on a daily basis. There is a lot of work for a system administrator to get it setup initially and keeping the ip access lists up to date (especially if end users have dhcp'd connections) does take a little time weekly, but once everything's in place it's a very easy and acceptable solution for what Ken is looking for.
Let me know if you'd like more information on how to get a solution like this going and I'll be glad to provide more information. |
193,322 | So, I've been giving the mobile application a while for the last week or so, and I'm thrilled to be able to give feedback and report bugs on it. I'm also thrilled that I can use the Stack Exchange network on my mobile, or tablet!
After about a week, though, I started to realize a few deficiencies in the application - some of which I've already reported as bugs, some of which are *already* reported, and some of which I'm not sure I should report, since I don't know what role this application is meant to serve.
So, I consider myself a bit of a power user of [Meta]StackOverflow. I ask questions (at least on Meta), write answers, comment, but the bulk of my time spent on SO isn't geared towards that - it is, more times than not, flagging content, reviewing content, editing content, and otherwise consuming content.
The mobile application is certainly geared towards producing content and consuming content. It does a fine job of that (although there are some rough cuts). What I find myself doing, more often than not, though, isn't *directly* related to production or consumption of content - although I would agree that editing posts while on a 4 inch screen isn't *ideal*.
I'll compare my flow with the mobile version of the site.
* On the mobile site, I can check my profile.
+ I can see my cumulative daily reputation score here.
+ I can see my favorite questions here.
+ I can see my most recent activity.
+ I get credit for visiting the site.
* In the app, I can check the feed.
+ I see new questions on sites that I'm definitely a member of, or that I've recently visited in the app.
+ I'm not convinced I get credit for visiting the site on the mobile app. Nor am I convinced that I should - although I *want* to.
* On the mobile site, I can see what badges I've earned overall.
+ In the app, I can see what badges I've earned **that day**.
* On the mobile site, I can order the results of questions with a lot of answers by votes.
+ On the app, that's not possible.
What I'm getting at is, despite it being an early alpha, it doesn't feel like it's going to have feature parity with the mobile desktop site.
So, is it meant to supersede the mobile desktop site? Is it meant to be a CRUD application for SO? Or does it fit somewhere in between? I can provide better feedback and bug reports to the team if I have a clear understanding of what niche the app is trying to fill. | 2013/08/15 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/193322",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/175248/"
] | The key question for me has not been answered yet, or in fact maybe it has and I just don't like the answer!
>
> some of which I'm not sure I should report, since I don't know what role this application is meant to serve
>
>
>
Why would the role of a mobile app be the same as a desktop or even mobile website? What would be the point in replicating the same experience on two different interfaces capable of being accessed from the same device (e.g. safari browser & iOS app)?
I believe trying to reach feature parity of a website in a mobile native app is wrong and sets the app up to fail. I also believe mobile native apps should focus on utilizing the capabilities of their platform and innovating around on-the-go experiences rather than replicating something that already works fine where it is. | This is certainly a very interesting question, especially since I have started using Desktop mode to browse on StackExchange sites on my Samsung Galaxy S4.
The web app does not allow me to upload photos (screenshots), which is quite useful in the [Android.SE site](https://android.stackexchange.com/). So, I need to switch to Desktop mode. However, uploading photos in Desktop mode is a painful experience. The upload image icon is too small, and the modal dialog pops-up somewhere I have to find/scroll through. And more often than not, the image upload fails a lot of times. My only option is to take a screenshot on the phone, email it to my PC, and attach the photo from the PC.
So if this new [android-app](/questions/tagged/android-app "show questions tagged 'android-app'") can solve the image upload problem, then I think that's one area it will have solved.
There are also other functionalities that are not available on the web app, and are available in Desktop mode (but are too difficult to use due to its being Desktop mode; e.g. small text, or too much to display on a small phone). If the mobile app can provide a better experience for that, then I think this app will have served its purpose.
**UPDATE #1:** As I mentioned earlier in my comment (now deleted), I think the bottomline is to provide a better experience with mobiles. Perhaps the native UI experience is easier than with HTML5. |
55,200 | I remember in the book of Dune, the duke won't marry Jessica. Why doesn't Duke Leto marry Lady Jessica? | 2014/04/28 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/55200",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/25660/"
] | Not marrying his concubine leaves the way open for a politically strategic marriage with another House in order to gain power, influence, or create an alliance. This is explicitly stated in the book(s). Since Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, a faction that does not have (explicit) political influence of any kind, marrying her would not gain any advantages for House Atreides.
Note that Paul, for the same reasons, did not marry the woman he loved, but married into the imperial family by demanding the hand of Irulan after his victory on Dune. | Chapter 7 of Dune explains the situation well. His reason for not marrying Jessica is purely political and motivated by a love of his house's wellbeing.
>
> The Duke turned, faced his son, revealing dark circles beneath hard
> eyes, a cynical twist of mouth. "**I should wed your mother, make her my
> Duchess. Yet - my unwedded state gives some Houses hope they may yet
> ally with me through their marriageable daughters.**" He shrugged. "So,
> I. . . . "
>
>
> "Mother has explained this to me."
>
>
> |
1,319,740 | I currently have a filesystem path I would like to index into a SQL database. I need to access the data so that I can do queries against files based on modified times, or partial names, or many other items.
Is there a way to somehow sync a filesystem to a database automatically, or even access a filesystem in a sql-like interface, without having to crawl through folders recursively?
I was checking the Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0, since it supports SQL databases now, however it doesn't appear to support syncing files to databases.
I'm sure other vendors do something similar, such as Microsoft for the database of files in Media Center, or programs like TVersity storing a database of the files as well. | 2009/08/23 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1319740",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/36299/"
] | You don't mention a programming language but here is how I would do it and I think it's the way most media apps maintaining a library do it (although they might be writter in different languages and use the win32 api).
Using .net to get your initial data I would once recursively scan the directory and then add all information to the database. Then I would run a service using a [FileSystemWatcher](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filesystemwatcher.aspx) object to be notified about changes and process the events accordingly. | It sounds like what you want is [Windows Search](http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/choose/windowssearch4/developers.mspx). (or the Windows 7 Library feature if you're feeling bleeding edge).
Ultimately though something has to crawl the disk to pull the info out, whether it's you or a third party service.
As an aside SQL may not be the best tool for that particular job, depending on exactly what you want to search for. Tree structures are notoriously tricky to represent in relational databases efficiently - your searches could get quite expensive! |
57,668 | I'd like to be able to ban an IP from my website, but for privacy reasons I would like to not have a record of the IP itself. Hashing the IP would allow for the hash to be brute forced in mere minutes, and salting it would be useless because anyone with access to the bans database would have access to the salt. Is there any way that I could keep some kind of "fingerprint" of an IP, probably involving hashing, that would be feasible to generate on a server but infeasible for an adversary with moderate resources to brute force? | 2014/05/10 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/57668",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/46322/"
] | IP addresses aren't usually considered private information, so why you'd want to protect the data I'm not sure. If someone is trying to misuse your system the IP address is a valuable piece of data which you will want to be able to access. Checking IP addresses against a blacklist is an example of where the data is useful. Knowing where the IP address is located geographically could clue you in on who may be attacking you.
In any case you don't have a problem as your goal is to protect the data from yourself, not from others. As you say, if someone can access the database they probably have access to everything. You could store the salt on a different system and access it with some sort of API, but that could be intercepted. The data has little value to an attacker anyway, so why would they bother? | One solution might be plausible deniability.
Let's say a law enforcement agency is trying to associate an IP you banned with a post that user made on your site and you want to prevent that.
If you have a large enough pool of banned IPs and you have no additional information to associate any of those IPs with a certain post and there's no other information to correlate them (such as timing) then a law enforcement agency won't be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that any IP on your list was responsible for a particular post. |
57,668 | I'd like to be able to ban an IP from my website, but for privacy reasons I would like to not have a record of the IP itself. Hashing the IP would allow for the hash to be brute forced in mere minutes, and salting it would be useless because anyone with access to the bans database would have access to the salt. Is there any way that I could keep some kind of "fingerprint" of an IP, probably involving hashing, that would be feasible to generate on a server but infeasible for an adversary with moderate resources to brute force? | 2014/05/10 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/57668",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/46322/"
] | As GdD postulated, this may not be something you necessarily want to do, but I'll answer regardless of the usability.
Salts are supposed to be public information. You may use a second, static & secret salt, but even without a public salt prevents rainbow table attacks.
Your issue can simply be reduced to the problem of storing passwords, with the notable difference that there is a very limited amount of IP addresses in use. Hence an attacker may always try and brute force the hashed IP address - regardless of the salt.
The best way of protecting the data is to use a PBKDF (PBKDF2, bcrypt or scrypt) with a public and secret salt. But if the secret salt gets known, it should be possible for an attacker with enough patience to brute force it none-the-less.
Using an (additional) well protected server could help, noting that this will only protect data *at rest*, i.e. if your database gets stolen without the service being available to the attacker. | One solution might be plausible deniability.
Let's say a law enforcement agency is trying to associate an IP you banned with a post that user made on your site and you want to prevent that.
If you have a large enough pool of banned IPs and you have no additional information to associate any of those IPs with a certain post and there's no other information to correlate them (such as timing) then a law enforcement agency won't be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that any IP on your list was responsible for a particular post. |
57,668 | I'd like to be able to ban an IP from my website, but for privacy reasons I would like to not have a record of the IP itself. Hashing the IP would allow for the hash to be brute forced in mere minutes, and salting it would be useless because anyone with access to the bans database would have access to the salt. Is there any way that I could keep some kind of "fingerprint" of an IP, probably involving hashing, that would be feasible to generate on a server but infeasible for an adversary with moderate resources to brute force? | 2014/05/10 | [
"https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/57668",
"https://security.stackexchange.com",
"https://security.stackexchange.com/users/46322/"
] | The problem with any method of masking IPv4 addresses is that there aren't enough of them for it to be meaningful. Between inefficient allocation and reserved areas, there are only about 2 billion valid addresses. If an attacker knows your method of masking, they could build up a complete mask->address map in only 2^31 masking operations -- IPv4 addresses can be considered to only provide around 31 bits of security, regardless of what you do to mask them. | One solution might be plausible deniability.
Let's say a law enforcement agency is trying to associate an IP you banned with a post that user made on your site and you want to prevent that.
If you have a large enough pool of banned IPs and you have no additional information to associate any of those IPs with a certain post and there's no other information to correlate them (such as timing) then a law enforcement agency won't be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that any IP on your list was responsible for a particular post. |
51,917 | I found in [this post](https://travel.stackexchange.com/a/31193/30342) that is possible to go from Ciampino airport to Termini.
The solution suggests [this bus](http://www.schiaffini.com/ciampino/ciampino-fs-aeroporto-stazione-termini).
I read that it is possible to take a bus to Casabianca and then take a train to Termini.
Is this possible? Is it much more cheaper?
People with experience, what do you recommend? | 2015/07/29 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/51917",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/30342/"
] | As far as I know, you have two (three) options:
* The [Rome Airport Bus](http://www.romeairportbus.com/) that connects Ciampino to Termini (the main train station)
* [Terravision](http://www.terravision.eu/) which is another private airport shuttle that connects the airports passing by the center and Termini
* The taxi (the most expensive but faster option)
Living in Rome, I have never tried one of this options. But I've seen Terravision buses quite frequently.
About Casabianca, that's a local train station outside Rome. I'm not sure where you found it, but it definitely doesn't seem to be a good choice to me. The line (Velletri-Roma) is a very low-traffic and low-quality train line, it's better to take a bus shuttle from Ciampino to Termini. | In addition to Simone Carletti's answer, there is also the "Bus Shuttle" operating between Ciampino Airport and Termini (see
<http://www.sitbusshuttle.com/en/ciampino/>). It operates as a competitor to Terravision on that route.
In Ciampino airport, their ticket booth is adjacent to the one of TerraVision. Since you are asking for recommendations, I would suggest to buy a ticket to Termini from one of these booths, for whatever bus is the next one. With a ticket price of 4 Euros (one way) for any of the options, splitting up the trip into a bus and a train part is likely to be not worth the hassle.
For the trip back, you need to buy a ticket ahead of time (e.g., on TerraVision's website). Otherwise you will pay the walk-up fare of 6 Euros. You will also pay this fare if you do not visit the ticket booths at Ciampino airport, but rather walk to the bus straight. |
13,810 | I'm looking for a fitness device, and while I think the devices that collect a lot of data are really cool, I'm concerned about that data being stored in an online account. I have little faith in privacy and security protection I have so little control over, and I can't seem to find a device that doesn't require signing up for a "free account" to actually track the data collected.
**Are there any applications out there for MacOS or iOS that can synchronize with a wearable device and store the data locally either by syncing directly with the computer or with a self hosted server?** It may be that none of the devices are able to store data without a Bluetooth connection to another device, so an app that doesn't upload the data from the phone to a third party would be an acceptable solution also.
I'd like the device to be at a minimum a pedometer and heart rate monitor. It would be a big bonus if it tracked sleep patterns. I could create my own software to manually track the data, so what is important to me is downloading the data that was collected in real time from the device in a format that I can manipulate it without a third party storing that data.
We've switched all of our computers, tablets and phones over to Apple products, so I'm updating the question. I am doubtful that what I want exists, but I'll leave this question open just in case something comes on the market. | 2014/11/10 | [
"https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/13810",
"https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/users/4677/"
] | I have found a [Striiv smart pedometer](http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00546T5MY) that can sync up with a computer instead of smartphone, so it doesn't have access to more sensitive information like GPS location, my contacts, etc. If it had a heart rate monitor, even if it wasn't continuously sampling, it would be very close to what I'm looking for.
It looks like Striiv doesn’t make that particular pedometer any longer, and they require that you install a smartphone app to activate your device now, so I wouldn’t choose it over a FitBit device (which is what I was using). Now that [Google has acquired FitBit](https://blog.google/products/devices-services/fitbit-acquisition), that device is off the table for me as well.
I was hoping that someone had reverse engineered how some device sends its data so that they could write their own custom software, or start an open software effort, but it looks like no such thing currently exists. | I think your best bet is to look into something like [Fitbit](http://www.fitbit.com/home). It's a wearable device that seems to have the features you want including syncing and usage of an android/apple app. I've never used one, but, it looks worth investigating. Additionally, I've seen this question asked on the Fitness forum. |
13,810 | I'm looking for a fitness device, and while I think the devices that collect a lot of data are really cool, I'm concerned about that data being stored in an online account. I have little faith in privacy and security protection I have so little control over, and I can't seem to find a device that doesn't require signing up for a "free account" to actually track the data collected.
**Are there any applications out there for MacOS or iOS that can synchronize with a wearable device and store the data locally either by syncing directly with the computer or with a self hosted server?** It may be that none of the devices are able to store data without a Bluetooth connection to another device, so an app that doesn't upload the data from the phone to a third party would be an acceptable solution also.
I'd like the device to be at a minimum a pedometer and heart rate monitor. It would be a big bonus if it tracked sleep patterns. I could create my own software to manually track the data, so what is important to me is downloading the data that was collected in real time from the device in a format that I can manipulate it without a third party storing that data.
We've switched all of our computers, tablets and phones over to Apple products, so I'm updating the question. I am doubtful that what I want exists, but I'll leave this question open just in case something comes on the market. | 2014/11/10 | [
"https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/13810",
"https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/users/4677/"
] | I have found a [Striiv smart pedometer](http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00546T5MY) that can sync up with a computer instead of smartphone, so it doesn't have access to more sensitive information like GPS location, my contacts, etc. If it had a heart rate monitor, even if it wasn't continuously sampling, it would be very close to what I'm looking for.
It looks like Striiv doesn’t make that particular pedometer any longer, and they require that you install a smartphone app to activate your device now, so I wouldn’t choose it over a FitBit device (which is what I was using). Now that [Google has acquired FitBit](https://blog.google/products/devices-services/fitbit-acquisition), that device is off the table for me as well.
I was hoping that someone had reverse engineered how some device sends its data so that they could write their own custom software, or start an open software effort, but it looks like no such thing currently exists. | Set up a free account with Fitbit, sniff the packets with wireshark using coffeehouse wifi via dongle, get adequate sampling, spoof the server using a bash script, dump to CSV. Sell Fitbit and dongle when script runs, buy new Fitbit.
You've cracked the protocol, they have only sanitized data.
/ParanoidMode |
14,518 | I am looking for treebanks that contain both constituency and dependency parse trees. Both should have been manually annotated (i.e. the dependency parse trees shouldn't have been obtained from the constituency parse trees). | 2015/10/02 | [
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/14518",
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com",
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/users/2680/"
] | Arabic, spoken in one of the hottest countries on the planet, is far more guttural than Finnish (which nobody would consider "guttural"). There could be a correlation between climate and phonetic typology, but it would be coincidental. The phonetic properties of a language today are heavily influenced by the properties of its ancestor millenia ago -- Arabic has a lot of gutturals because proto-Semitic did as well. And proto-Semitic probably inherited gutturals from proto-Afro-Asiatic. This relates to geography because that ancestor language was spoken in a relatively small area in Northeast Africa, where it is generally not cold. In the modern era, one can easily move across the globe in a few days (I'm being realistic about airplane connections and border crossings), but in the pre-technological era, people tended to stay put for generations. To the point that Khoisan speakers in southern Africa have probably been there for tens of thousands of years.
So for humans, climate is irrelevant to language, and what matters is population movement patterns and contact between typologically-different languages. If this world is populated by non-humanoids who e.g. communicate (sometime) by blowing bubbles in water, then a different mode of communication such as belching fire might be necessary if the setting is Pluto. | The question seems a reasonable one, to see if there are any correlations of language features with extra-linguistic situations. And if memory serves, there has been lots of cross-linguistic research to attempt to find these correlations a good rainy day can be spent in armchair exploration of [WALS](http://wals.info/) to this end.
With all this research I'm pretty sure that *no* such correlations have been found...
...except for one. Described in the paper
>
> Charles Hockett et al., **F**
>
>
>
they found that there was one phoneme, F (the unvoiced labio-dental fricative) that was correlated with a cultural use of cultivating grain. Many cultures are hunter-gatherer, many others are pastoral and yet others stay in one place and grow crops. The hypothesis is that those cultures that grow crops have a certain way of cooking and eating grains and that somehow (I can't remember their details) that is conducive to having labiodentals where the other ways of cooking eating do not. Of course this was statistical and not strictly determinative. But there was some correlation (I don't know how strong). |
14,518 | I am looking for treebanks that contain both constituency and dependency parse trees. Both should have been manually annotated (i.e. the dependency parse trees shouldn't have been obtained from the constituency parse trees). | 2015/10/02 | [
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/14518",
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com",
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/users/2680/"
] | I remember reading about a study that associated warm, humid climates to tonal languages. Give it a read, it might inspire you: [(Everett, Blasi & Roberts, 2015)](http://www.pnas.org/content/112/5/1322.short) | The question seems a reasonable one, to see if there are any correlations of language features with extra-linguistic situations. And if memory serves, there has been lots of cross-linguistic research to attempt to find these correlations a good rainy day can be spent in armchair exploration of [WALS](http://wals.info/) to this end.
With all this research I'm pretty sure that *no* such correlations have been found...
...except for one. Described in the paper
>
> Charles Hockett et al., **F**
>
>
>
they found that there was one phoneme, F (the unvoiced labio-dental fricative) that was correlated with a cultural use of cultivating grain. Many cultures are hunter-gatherer, many others are pastoral and yet others stay in one place and grow crops. The hypothesis is that those cultures that grow crops have a certain way of cooking and eating grains and that somehow (I can't remember their details) that is conducive to having labiodentals where the other ways of cooking eating do not. Of course this was statistical and not strictly determinative. But there was some correlation (I don't know how strong). |
14,518 | I am looking for treebanks that contain both constituency and dependency parse trees. Both should have been manually annotated (i.e. the dependency parse trees shouldn't have been obtained from the constituency parse trees). | 2015/10/02 | [
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/14518",
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com",
"https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/users/2680/"
] | Another interesting one from Everett is the [connection between ejectives and high altitudes](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0065275). Everett did not control for phylogeny or do proper statistical analysis, but others [have](http://www.replicatedtypo.com/altitude-and-ejectives-hypotheses-up-in-the-air/6324.html) and found that the relationship remains significant. | The question seems a reasonable one, to see if there are any correlations of language features with extra-linguistic situations. And if memory serves, there has been lots of cross-linguistic research to attempt to find these correlations a good rainy day can be spent in armchair exploration of [WALS](http://wals.info/) to this end.
With all this research I'm pretty sure that *no* such correlations have been found...
...except for one. Described in the paper
>
> Charles Hockett et al., **F**
>
>
>
they found that there was one phoneme, F (the unvoiced labio-dental fricative) that was correlated with a cultural use of cultivating grain. Many cultures are hunter-gatherer, many others are pastoral and yet others stay in one place and grow crops. The hypothesis is that those cultures that grow crops have a certain way of cooking and eating grains and that somehow (I can't remember their details) that is conducive to having labiodentals where the other ways of cooking eating do not. Of course this was statistical and not strictly determinative. But there was some correlation (I don't know how strong). |
13,601 | I have a site where I
am thinking about putting an ajax "click for more results" similar to twitter, etc. But each of my results is displayed with A, B, C next to the result. I'm wondering what I should do when user click for more results. Should I keep going and just go all the way to AAB, AAC, AAD or should I restart the ordering and go A, B, C again? Which would be easier for the user?
I hope this question is clear. Thanks for any help.
**edit: so what I mean is like this:
(these are like what the listings would be)**
A. This is listing 1
---
B. This is listing 2.
---
C. This is listing 3
---
D. This is listing 4.
**On the "click for more" it could either restart the**
A. This is listing 1
---
B. This is listing 2.
---
C. This is listing 3
---
D. This is listing 4.
**or it could keep going until it was like**
Aa. This is listing 27
---
Ab. This is listing 28.
---
Ac. This is listing 29
---
Ad. This is listing 30.
To give you more information on why I need these references, let me explain. I have a business directory. The reason I have need for these letters on the side is that I also have a map with icons that match to each of the listings. | 2011/11/07 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/13601",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/9461/"
] | If this is something you really need to do then try combining page number *and* result. Using multiple letters AAC, etc, is not a good system and just serves to confuse.
1-A
1-B
1-C
--
2-A
2-B
2-C
--
3-A
... | A,B,C... is just not well suited for infinitely long lists.
1,2,3... isn't much use either for alignment reasons.
My question is: how useful is it to give each result a reference? |
13,601 | I have a site where I
am thinking about putting an ajax "click for more results" similar to twitter, etc. But each of my results is displayed with A, B, C next to the result. I'm wondering what I should do when user click for more results. Should I keep going and just go all the way to AAB, AAC, AAD or should I restart the ordering and go A, B, C again? Which would be easier for the user?
I hope this question is clear. Thanks for any help.
**edit: so what I mean is like this:
(these are like what the listings would be)**
A. This is listing 1
---
B. This is listing 2.
---
C. This is listing 3
---
D. This is listing 4.
**On the "click for more" it could either restart the**
A. This is listing 1
---
B. This is listing 2.
---
C. This is listing 3
---
D. This is listing 4.
**or it could keep going until it was like**
Aa. This is listing 27
---
Ab. This is listing 28.
---
Ac. This is listing 29
---
Ad. This is listing 30.
To give you more information on why I need these references, let me explain. I have a business directory. The reason I have need for these letters on the side is that I also have a map with icons that match to each of the listings. | 2011/11/07 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/13601",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/9461/"
] | If this is something you really need to do then try combining page number *and* result. Using multiple letters AAC, etc, is not a good system and just serves to confuse.
1-A
1-B
1-C
--
2-A
2-B
2-C
--
3-A
... | Try this thread. A question I asked a while back. I think it ight be useful to you.
[How to combine search results from multiple sources onto the same results page](https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/7131/how-to-combine-search-results-from-multiple-sources-onto-the-same-results-page) |
902,662 | I have a Windows 8 Dell workstation XPS 8700 (Mid 2013) and recently purchased the Dell multimedia monitor UZ2315H 23 inch LCD Monitor. Issue is I can’t get the webcam integrated into the monitor to function.
* Connected the monitor to the PC via both HDMI and USB cables (at the same time).
* Re-booted.
* Get message saying installing drivers.
* Also installed all drivers from CD that accompanied the monitor.
* Installed “Dell display manager” from CD that accompanied the monitor.
* Perform a test via Skype, the microphone integrated into the monitor works.
* Perform a test via Skype and no webcam is found.
* Navigate to Device Manager and “imaging devices” does not appear in the list.
What can I do to get the PC to recognise the webcam? All the other functionality of the monitor is fine (display, sound, microphone). | 2015/04/17 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/902662",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/438500/"
] | If your device is not recognized it won't be on the imaging devices tree list but probably on the unknown list with the yellow question mark. Try identifying your Webcam through that and do a re-installation of your drivers. It could be the case that the drivers are incompatible with the version of the OS you are using. Try searching more drivers on the dell website for other versions of OS.
Lastly, try unknown device identifier software by HunterSoft, in the case that you can't find your webcam.
I hope you resolve it. - Thanks | Got home from work to try these suggestions and the issue had fixed itself. I did no further actions, not even a reboot, so can't add a fix here. Imaging devices now appears in device manager but it didn't after the initial reboot.
 |
52,225,684 | I want copy the table and put different value on column Type= B and auto\_increment id
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kn7kk.png) | 2018/09/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/52225684",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/9632393/"
] | That's because SENSITIVE is a [SQL reserved keyword](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/language-elements/reserved-keywords-transact-sql?view=sql-server-2017). | Finaly i find the solution. the only attribute which generate the error is sensitive.
I just rename the attribute to mySensitive and everything is ok now. |
591,078 | I have this PDF file which is just 1Mb - 30 pages .
So when I send it to printer ( HP 1320 ) i see that computer sends almost 50Mb to the printer. How is that possible ? I know that PDF is compressed format, but when i try command line program pdf2ps - i can generate postscript that is just 2.5Mb . I don't think it's so compressed 50/1 that would be something .. Any ideas ?
The file is generated by php tcpdf can it have anything to do with it.
Does PDF have any magical features ? | 2014/04/24 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/591078",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/181326/"
] | I've seen this before, and it was solved by this KB article: <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919543> (assuming you are using Windows)
>
> When you print a document that contains lots of raster data, the size
> of the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) spool file may become very large. Files
> such as Adobe .pdf files or Microsoft Word .doc/.docx documents may
> contain lots of raster data. Adobe .pdf files and Word .doc/.docx
> documents that contain gradients are even more likely to contain lots
> of raster data.
>
>
> This problem occurs because Graphics Device Interface (GDI) does not
> compress raster data when the GDI processes EMF spool files and
> generates EMF spool files.
>
>
> This problem is very prominent with printers that support higher
> resolutions. The size of the raster data increases by four times if
> the dots-per-inch (dpi) in the file increases by two times. For
> example, a .pdf file of 1 megabyte (MB) may generate an EMF spool file
> of 500 MB. Therefore, you may notice that the printing process
> decreases in performance.
>
>
> | Does it matter how much data is sent to the printer?
The HP 1320 is a low-end laser printer. It doesn't support native PDF printing, but [does support PJL and Postscript](https://www.openprinting.org/printer/HP/HP-LaserJet_1320).
Often times, generated documents like this are [not optimized](https://serverfault.com/questions/381013/shell-command-slow-when-using-pipe-fast-with-intermediate-file). Unless you have a networking complaint, you should only be concerned with the space that the print files consume on disk and that your print jobs complete in a timely manner.
I deal with Postscript production printing on a large scale, and have found that the data file size (after PJL, Postscript, formatting options) doesn't matter as much as the printer's ability to process the data stream.
See my answer to: [Shell command slow when using pipe, fast with intermediate file](https://serverfault.com/questions/381013/shell-command-slow-when-using-pipe-fast-with-intermediate-file/381048#381048) |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | I think you need to consider how your technical garbage collection would work. At what point would a memory or personality go "out of scope" and no longer be needed, and therefore cleaned up by a garbage collection process, freeing that memory for other use. If the user is editing their memories and personalities, at some point a lot of data leaves scope and gets cleaned up. Does it really matter what Personality #12 did on its tenth birthday when you're onto personality #4125?
The better, and more sinister, answer is if you remove all references to personality #12, would the person even miss it? Would they be able to know that they had personality #12 at all? You could have a situation where you keep the "base" personality safe and sound, and just update some references, so that when "base" personality went into the recursive loop (and created personality #2) you edit that memory so that instead of waking up as personality #2, the person recalls waking up as personality #x, where x is the earliest recursion you are keeping for memory purposes. Since you can estimate the amount of storage a typical lifespan would require, you can allocate and keep y number of personalities, deleting and updating references to old ones, keeping them in a personality linked list of sorts. | From the perspective of the servers running the virtual reality, there would not be an infinite loop. One person could descend into any level of simulation, but only the "current" one would need to be simulated. The rest could be suspended or abandoned and regenerated by the system when the person exits a layer of simulation.
Likewise, there would not be infinite (active) personalities, just one very fragmented personality, depending on what the person decides to take with him into the next layer and then take out again. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | Return Conditions
=================
If a transhuman gets bored and wonders, "would I do it all over again?" They can block off the memory that they are transhuman, and the memory that they have blocked off memories, and imagine a world where they are about to become transhuman, or join a server running that simulation. In either case it's possible the memories may fill the available storage, either after 1000 years or if everyone keeps asking "would I do it all over again?" and blocks off more memory. By including some standard return conditions like 'wake up whenever the server memory is at 90% or wake up if my memories are more than what can fit in my own head' you can ensure this doesn't happen. If you let them block out chunks of memory without some return condition, they may as well be deleting it. If you want to make sure they don't spend the rest of eternity asleep they can wake up whenever x time passes, or whatever.
Simulation Depth
----------------
Alternately you could have some notification between simulations, "By the way Ted, you're already in a simulation, you can't add another level. Would you like to wake up now or keep going?" Which would only be revealed upon trying to pass into a deeper level of simulation. | If I understood you correctly, you assume that after being "digitized" a person might go the same path, to the same end - being "digitizing" again in virtual reality.
However, there must be a reason behind that decision to be "digitized". For instance, you want to defy laws of physics, use backups, control space and time, etc. That's why you go to the virtual reality.
When that purpose is achieved, though, there're no point of being "digitizing" again. Your once "digitized" transhuman must find new goals, another reasons to exist. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | Return Conditions
=================
If a transhuman gets bored and wonders, "would I do it all over again?" They can block off the memory that they are transhuman, and the memory that they have blocked off memories, and imagine a world where they are about to become transhuman, or join a server running that simulation. In either case it's possible the memories may fill the available storage, either after 1000 years or if everyone keeps asking "would I do it all over again?" and blocks off more memory. By including some standard return conditions like 'wake up whenever the server memory is at 90% or wake up if my memories are more than what can fit in my own head' you can ensure this doesn't happen. If you let them block out chunks of memory without some return condition, they may as well be deleting it. If you want to make sure they don't spend the rest of eternity asleep they can wake up whenever x time passes, or whatever.
Simulation Depth
----------------
Alternately you could have some notification between simulations, "By the way Ted, you're already in a simulation, you can't add another level. Would you like to wake up now or keep going?" Which would only be revealed upon trying to pass into a deeper level of simulation. | Considering that it is a virtual world, even if they keep on creating new personalities - it would be in **their mind only**. According to them (the human), they have 5 different personalities according to the type of situation, but for a AI simulating that world, there is only **one person to consider**. Some extra data will be required to show that there are more personalities, but it won't overload the servers or anything. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | Your question could be shorten to: How do I fit infinite to finite?
Answer is: No way, no way.
[Exponential growth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth), which you have discovered for your self in that situation, at some practical point indistinguishable form infinity.
Is that problem new, or unique for your world only?
No, it's not. I'm pleased to inform you, we are (as we, I refer to any species currently available to find living, on Earth) exponential growth capable creatures. We live that way for million of years and most free will isn't harm in that time.
As free will isn't ability to do anything anywhere, I suggest you solve that simply as is done on any hosting services, limit space for copies for one individual - Sorry man, you run out of space for new copies, free the space or place efforts to extend our civilization capability's and get some space for free. | Considering that it is a virtual world, even if they keep on creating new personalities - it would be in **their mind only**. According to them (the human), they have 5 different personalities according to the type of situation, but for a AI simulating that world, there is only **one person to consider**. Some extra data will be required to show that there are more personalities, but it won't overload the servers or anything. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | Return Conditions
=================
If a transhuman gets bored and wonders, "would I do it all over again?" They can block off the memory that they are transhuman, and the memory that they have blocked off memories, and imagine a world where they are about to become transhuman, or join a server running that simulation. In either case it's possible the memories may fill the available storage, either after 1000 years or if everyone keeps asking "would I do it all over again?" and blocks off more memory. By including some standard return conditions like 'wake up whenever the server memory is at 90% or wake up if my memories are more than what can fit in my own head' you can ensure this doesn't happen. If you let them block out chunks of memory without some return condition, they may as well be deleting it. If you want to make sure they don't spend the rest of eternity asleep they can wake up whenever x time passes, or whatever.
Simulation Depth
----------------
Alternately you could have some notification between simulations, "By the way Ted, you're already in a simulation, you can't add another level. Would you like to wake up now or keep going?" Which would only be revealed upon trying to pass into a deeper level of simulation. | Same way that we have dealt with all resource-related problems in the pre-transhuman world: make limited resources cost something.
In this digital world, we'd be dealing with data space instead of physical land and electricity instead of food, but the principle is the same. People who created new servers in the physical world (by controlling robots that acquired resources and then built the servers) could sell or rent that space to other people. We do the same thing today - server space isn't free! People could make money by producing anything that is a limited resource in the digital world - art, new ideas, more efficient programs, physical structures for producing energy, electricity to keep the servers running - and selling it to people who want it.
Creating data "clones" is basically the same thing as making children - make sure you have enough resources (server space) available to support them before producing them. The fact that they can be produced almost instantly doesn't really change anything - if you make a million clones when you only own enough data space to allocate to five and your private server crashes, that's your own fault. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | Your question could be shorten to: How do I fit infinite to finite?
Answer is: No way, no way.
[Exponential growth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth), which you have discovered for your self in that situation, at some practical point indistinguishable form infinity.
Is that problem new, or unique for your world only?
No, it's not. I'm pleased to inform you, we are (as we, I refer to any species currently available to find living, on Earth) exponential growth capable creatures. We live that way for million of years and most free will isn't harm in that time.
As free will isn't ability to do anything anywhere, I suggest you solve that simply as is done on any hosting services, limit space for copies for one individual - Sorry man, you run out of space for new copies, free the space or place efforts to extend our civilization capability's and get some space for free. | If I understood you correctly, you assume that after being "digitized" a person might go the same path, to the same end - being "digitizing" again in virtual reality.
However, there must be a reason behind that decision to be "digitized". For instance, you want to defy laws of physics, use backups, control space and time, etc. That's why you go to the virtual reality.
When that purpose is achieved, though, there're no point of being "digitizing" again. Your once "digitized" transhuman must find new goals, another reasons to exist. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | I think you need to consider how your technical garbage collection would work. At what point would a memory or personality go "out of scope" and no longer be needed, and therefore cleaned up by a garbage collection process, freeing that memory for other use. If the user is editing their memories and personalities, at some point a lot of data leaves scope and gets cleaned up. Does it really matter what Personality #12 did on its tenth birthday when you're onto personality #4125?
The better, and more sinister, answer is if you remove all references to personality #12, would the person even miss it? Would they be able to know that they had personality #12 at all? You could have a situation where you keep the "base" personality safe and sound, and just update some references, so that when "base" personality went into the recursive loop (and created personality #2) you edit that memory so that instead of waking up as personality #2, the person recalls waking up as personality #x, where x is the earliest recursion you are keeping for memory purposes. Since you can estimate the amount of storage a typical lifespan would require, you can allocate and keep y number of personalities, deleting and updating references to old ones, keeping them in a personality linked list of sorts. | Return Conditions
=================
If a transhuman gets bored and wonders, "would I do it all over again?" They can block off the memory that they are transhuman, and the memory that they have blocked off memories, and imagine a world where they are about to become transhuman, or join a server running that simulation. In either case it's possible the memories may fill the available storage, either after 1000 years or if everyone keeps asking "would I do it all over again?" and blocks off more memory. By including some standard return conditions like 'wake up whenever the server memory is at 90% or wake up if my memories are more than what can fit in my own head' you can ensure this doesn't happen. If you let them block out chunks of memory without some return condition, they may as well be deleting it. If you want to make sure they don't spend the rest of eternity asleep they can wake up whenever x time passes, or whatever.
Simulation Depth
----------------
Alternately you could have some notification between simulations, "By the way Ted, you're already in a simulation, you can't add another level. Would you like to wake up now or keep going?" Which would only be revealed upon trying to pass into a deeper level of simulation. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | From the perspective of the servers running the virtual reality, there would not be an infinite loop. One person could descend into any level of simulation, but only the "current" one would need to be simulated. The rest could be suspended or abandoned and regenerated by the system when the person exits a layer of simulation.
Likewise, there would not be infinite (active) personalities, just one very fragmented personality, depending on what the person decides to take with him into the next layer and then take out again. | Same way that we have dealt with all resource-related problems in the pre-transhuman world: make limited resources cost something.
In this digital world, we'd be dealing with data space instead of physical land and electricity instead of food, but the principle is the same. People who created new servers in the physical world (by controlling robots that acquired resources and then built the servers) could sell or rent that space to other people. We do the same thing today - server space isn't free! People could make money by producing anything that is a limited resource in the digital world - art, new ideas, more efficient programs, physical structures for producing energy, electricity to keep the servers running - and selling it to people who want it.
Creating data "clones" is basically the same thing as making children - make sure you have enough resources (server space) available to support them before producing them. The fact that they can be produced almost instantly doesn't really change anything - if you make a million clones when you only own enough data space to allocate to five and your private server crashes, that's your own fault. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | Your question could be shorten to: How do I fit infinite to finite?
Answer is: No way, no way.
[Exponential growth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth), which you have discovered for your self in that situation, at some practical point indistinguishable form infinity.
Is that problem new, or unique for your world only?
No, it's not. I'm pleased to inform you, we are (as we, I refer to any species currently available to find living, on Earth) exponential growth capable creatures. We live that way for million of years and most free will isn't harm in that time.
As free will isn't ability to do anything anywhere, I suggest you solve that simply as is done on any hosting services, limit space for copies for one individual - Sorry man, you run out of space for new copies, free the space or place efforts to extend our civilization capability's and get some space for free. | Same way that we have dealt with all resource-related problems in the pre-transhuman world: make limited resources cost something.
In this digital world, we'd be dealing with data space instead of physical land and electricity instead of food, but the principle is the same. People who created new servers in the physical world (by controlling robots that acquired resources and then built the servers) could sell or rent that space to other people. We do the same thing today - server space isn't free! People could make money by producing anything that is a limited resource in the digital world - art, new ideas, more efficient programs, physical structures for producing energy, electricity to keep the servers running - and selling it to people who want it.
Creating data "clones" is basically the same thing as making children - make sure you have enough resources (server space) available to support them before producing them. The fact that they can be produced almost instantly doesn't really change anything - if you make a million clones when you only own enough data space to allocate to five and your private server crashes, that's your own fault. |
45,577 | Yesterday I was talking with some of my friends about ideal/utopian worlds and came across a potential infinite loop problem. My ideal world was that of a transhumanist vision. Humans still look and even feel the same, but their insides are mechanical and computerized.
**Possibly Non Necessary Information**
This ascended humanity is able to live and colonize most worlds without too much concern as they are largely independent of their environment. They also do not need to terraform planets, as they can just alter their sensory inputs to make the planet look however they want to. They can live out their lives for as long as they desire, free from work as lesser robots and AI would perform all the manual labor necessary for them. Even if their new bodies decay, they can be brought back into a new one from a backup that is constantly being copied and stored on servers constructed wherever they go. They are still allowed to permanently kill themselves if they wish as well as work to their heart's content.
**Necessary Information**
Ascended humans have the option of leaving the real world entirely and can retreat into their own mind or on servers and live out life in a virtual reality. This last part, however, is where the potential problem occurs.
If for instance an ascended delved into their own mind, but decided for the sake of immersion to block out or even delete parts of their memory, they could end up going into an infinite loop. If they had immersed themselves into a world where a transhumanist utopia was also getting ready to be developed, they could end up doing the same thing over and over again infinitely, just with slight variations. Each iteration would lead to the creation of a new personality for the original person as each one would have grown up in a different environment and had different experiences.
I imagine that this would quickly begin to take a toll on the servers as even one person would consume a lot of data and computer space. So if one person or, worse, thousands or hundreds of thousands started to essentially reproduce asexually we would see the computers and servers become overloaded and run out of memory. I also doubt that the robotic servants would be able to keep up in creating the required space and computers necessary for these new personalities or people. I don't really know exactly, but if it caused too much overload it might even cause the servers to crash and result in the extinction of the ascended.
Even if the computer space was not a problem though, there's also the potential problem that instead of the personalities being separated and treated as separate individuals, they become one confused mess and drive the person insane. Thus leading to a group of unpredictable, psychotic, spacefaring androids.
**Question**
Regardless if you think a transhumanist utopia is possible or not, how do you avoid/prevent/fix this infinite loop in this transhumanist scenario?
Note: I would prefer it if free will was kept intact as much as possible. | 2016/06/28 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/45577",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/21688/"
] | I think you need to consider how your technical garbage collection would work. At what point would a memory or personality go "out of scope" and no longer be needed, and therefore cleaned up by a garbage collection process, freeing that memory for other use. If the user is editing their memories and personalities, at some point a lot of data leaves scope and gets cleaned up. Does it really matter what Personality #12 did on its tenth birthday when you're onto personality #4125?
The better, and more sinister, answer is if you remove all references to personality #12, would the person even miss it? Would they be able to know that they had personality #12 at all? You could have a situation where you keep the "base" personality safe and sound, and just update some references, so that when "base" personality went into the recursive loop (and created personality #2) you edit that memory so that instead of waking up as personality #2, the person recalls waking up as personality #x, where x is the earliest recursion you are keeping for memory purposes. Since you can estimate the amount of storage a typical lifespan would require, you can allocate and keep y number of personalities, deleting and updating references to old ones, keeping them in a personality linked list of sorts. | The problem is that nested virtual universes will consume undue public resources. The simple technical, if uninteresting, solution is to **deprioritize individuals who consume too many resources**.
Give each person running the reality simulator using a shared computer their own account. The device running the simulation will have a system to detect when any one user is consuming an unacceptable amount of computational power, as determined by the material constraints of your world. The device would then simulate both the reality and the user's conscious at a reduced rate, thus making the expensive world progress more slowly than the real world, but not seem out of sync for a user still in the world. |
19,086 | So, a while back I created this icon from a game, but looking back on it behind a white background instead of an alpha-channel its edges are super choppy in some places while it's smooth in others, which is possibly due to the method I used to select certain regions before bucket-filling it. I was using GIMP and I was wondering if there is *any* possible way to easily fix this (ie make all edges even instead of choppy). Maybe some rendering filters or selection methods that I don't know about? I've googled and youtubed but with no avail.
My image:
(As you can see, the inner crescent-shaped things are choppy as well as the exterior of the circle on the left and right is choppy) | 2013/06/26 | [
"https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/19086",
"https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com",
"https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/users/13630/"
] | ### Tracing
In case we can not easily recreate the original in a vector oriented application we may also trace the bitmap to a vector graphic.
Below example was done with **Inkscape** where I imported the bitmap to trace it with 2 color steps:
This will not preserve the exact circular geometry of the source (note the slightly wavy shapes above), as tracing was done with Bezier curves rather than circles or boxes. Because of that such traces will always have a much bigger file size than properly recreated vectors.
---
Smoothing
---------
Another possibility to reduce aliasing in a bitmap if we can not use a vector graphic replacement is to apply a soft blur to the image.
Below I used the GIMP plugin [GREYC's magic filter](http://gmic.eu/): *Enhancement - Smooth (mean-curvature)* with 8 iterations for smoothing the outlines while keeping the alpha channel:
 | There is a really simple way to do this by using the fuzzy select tool to create a path. There is a short example on how to do it at [Fixing Jagged Image Edges with Gimp](http://jafty.com/blog/fixing-jagged-image-edges-with-gimp/). |
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