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3,604,532 | Rails 3 is out and every one is excited (etc etc).
However, I'm not ready to update to it yet for a couple reasons:
* Not all gems I use are supported.
* Just finally got my head around 2.3.x.
* My client expects software that is reliable.
So, right now I'm running 2.3.5 and will be upgrading to 2.3.8 soon. But what about any security patches or parallel feature updates that 3 might get? Will there be a 2.3.9? Will there be a 2.4? Does anyone know? | 2010/08/30 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3604532",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/43792/"
] | Looking on <https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails> there is a 2.3.10 milestone, so they will at least have that. | You can see from the commit log that there are still [commits to the 2.3 branc](http://github.com/rails/rails/tree/2-3-stable)h eventhough it's not as active as the 3.x branch. 37signals are still using 2.3 on many of their apps that's why you will see many patches/commits coming from [Jeremy](http://bitsweat.net/), one of 37signals employee. I don't think they will make any major changes that will break your apps though. |
3,604,532 | Rails 3 is out and every one is excited (etc etc).
However, I'm not ready to update to it yet for a couple reasons:
* Not all gems I use are supported.
* Just finally got my head around 2.3.x.
* My client expects software that is reliable.
So, right now I'm running 2.3.5 and will be upgrading to 2.3.8 soon. But what about any security patches or parallel feature updates that 3 might get? Will there be a 2.3.9? Will there be a 2.4? Does anyone know? | 2010/08/30 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3604532",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/43792/"
] | You can see from the commit log that there are still [commits to the 2.3 branc](http://github.com/rails/rails/tree/2-3-stable)h eventhough it's not as active as the 3.x branch. 37signals are still using 2.3 on many of their apps that's why you will see many patches/commits coming from [Jeremy](http://bitsweat.net/), one of 37signals employee. I don't think they will make any major changes that will break your apps though. | Actually upgrade to 3.0 doesn't break that much. There's few gotchas, but they are mostly very well documented. Most common gems are already compatibile with rails 3 (at least the newest beta versions). I am sure, that by the time you would finish upgrading all of those would have stable relases.
I would go rather for 3.0 instead of going for an upgrade in 2.3.x branch.
It is very crucial to have lots of well placed tests for your application. This way you can easily see if anything breaks.
I found much many problems after switching to Ruby 1.9.x, then after going from Rails 2.3.x to Rails 3. Actually now I am using REE 1.8.7 with Rails3. |
3,604,532 | Rails 3 is out and every one is excited (etc etc).
However, I'm not ready to update to it yet for a couple reasons:
* Not all gems I use are supported.
* Just finally got my head around 2.3.x.
* My client expects software that is reliable.
So, right now I'm running 2.3.5 and will be upgrading to 2.3.8 soon. But what about any security patches or parallel feature updates that 3 might get? Will there be a 2.3.9? Will there be a 2.4? Does anyone know? | 2010/08/30 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3604532",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/43792/"
] | Looking on <https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails> there is a 2.3.10 milestone, so they will at least have that. | Judging by the lastest commit to 2.3.9pre ("[preparing for 2.3.9](http://github.com/rails/rails/commit/b2c91983dcb5e2a21ea2c0be28f86ad33b48f660)") and the open tickets ([none](https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994/milestones/73534-239)), it looks like Rails 2.3.9 will be released any day now. |
3,604,532 | Rails 3 is out and every one is excited (etc etc).
However, I'm not ready to update to it yet for a couple reasons:
* Not all gems I use are supported.
* Just finally got my head around 2.3.x.
* My client expects software that is reliable.
So, right now I'm running 2.3.5 and will be upgrading to 2.3.8 soon. But what about any security patches or parallel feature updates that 3 might get? Will there be a 2.3.9? Will there be a 2.4? Does anyone know? | 2010/08/30 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3604532",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/43792/"
] | Judging by the lastest commit to 2.3.9pre ("[preparing for 2.3.9](http://github.com/rails/rails/commit/b2c91983dcb5e2a21ea2c0be28f86ad33b48f660)") and the open tickets ([none](https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994/milestones/73534-239)), it looks like Rails 2.3.9 will be released any day now. | Actually upgrade to 3.0 doesn't break that much. There's few gotchas, but they are mostly very well documented. Most common gems are already compatibile with rails 3 (at least the newest beta versions). I am sure, that by the time you would finish upgrading all of those would have stable relases.
I would go rather for 3.0 instead of going for an upgrade in 2.3.x branch.
It is very crucial to have lots of well placed tests for your application. This way you can easily see if anything breaks.
I found much many problems after switching to Ruby 1.9.x, then after going from Rails 2.3.x to Rails 3. Actually now I am using REE 1.8.7 with Rails3. |
3,604,532 | Rails 3 is out and every one is excited (etc etc).
However, I'm not ready to update to it yet for a couple reasons:
* Not all gems I use are supported.
* Just finally got my head around 2.3.x.
* My client expects software that is reliable.
So, right now I'm running 2.3.5 and will be upgrading to 2.3.8 soon. But what about any security patches or parallel feature updates that 3 might get? Will there be a 2.3.9? Will there be a 2.4? Does anyone know? | 2010/08/30 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3604532",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/43792/"
] | Looking on <https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994-ruby-on-rails> there is a 2.3.10 milestone, so they will at least have that. | Actually upgrade to 3.0 doesn't break that much. There's few gotchas, but they are mostly very well documented. Most common gems are already compatibile with rails 3 (at least the newest beta versions). I am sure, that by the time you would finish upgrading all of those would have stable relases.
I would go rather for 3.0 instead of going for an upgrade in 2.3.x branch.
It is very crucial to have lots of well placed tests for your application. This way you can easily see if anything breaks.
I found much many problems after switching to Ruby 1.9.x, then after going from Rails 2.3.x to Rails 3. Actually now I am using REE 1.8.7 with Rails3. |
20,127 | So this is my current result (loss and score per episode) of my RL model in a simple two players game:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/K7YTe.png)
I use DQN with CNN as a policy and target networks. I train my model using Adam optimizer and calculate the loss using Smooth L1 Loss.
In a normal "Supervised Learning" situation, I can deduce that my model is overfitting. And I can imagine some methods to tackle this problem (e.g. Dropout layer, Regularization, Smaller Learning Rate, Early Stopping).
* But would that solution will also work in RL problem?
* Or are there any better solutions to handle overfitting in RL? | 2020/04/09 | [
"https://ai.stackexchange.com/questions/20127",
"https://ai.stackexchange.com",
"https://ai.stackexchange.com/users/16565/"
] | I will give one perspective on this from the domain of robotics. You are right that most RL agents are trained in simulation particularly for research papers, because it allows researchers to in theory benchmark their approaches in a common environment. Many of the environments exist strictly as a test bed for new algorithms and are not even physically realizable, e.g. [HalfCheetah](https://gym.openai.com/envs/HalfCheetah-v2/). You could in theory have a separate simulator say running in another process that you use as your planning model, and the "real" simulator is then your environment. But really that's just a mocked setup for what you really want in the end, which is having a real-world agent in a real-world environment.
What you describe could be very useful, with one important caveat: the simulator needs to in fact be a good model of the real environment. For robotics and many other interesting domains, this is a tall order. Getting a physics simulator that faithfully replicates the real-world environment can be tricky, as one may need accurate friction coefficients, mass and center of mass, restitution coefficients, material properties, contact models, and so on. Oftentimes the simulator is too crude an approximation of the real-world environment to be useful as a planner.
That doesn't mean we're completely hosed though. [This paper](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1810.05687.pdf) uses highly parallelized simulators to search for simulation parameters that approximate the real-world well. What's interesting is it's not even necessarily finding the correct real-world values for e.g. friction coefficients and such, but it finds values for parameters that, taken together, produces simulations that match the real-world experience. The better the simulation gets at approximating what's going on in the real world, the more viable it is to use the simulator for task planning. I think with the advent of [GPU-optimized physics simulators](https://developer.nvidia.com/isaac-gym) we will see simulators be a more useful tool even for real-world agents, as you can try many different things in parallel to get a sense of what is the likely outcome of a planned action sequence. | The question is generalizability. I completely agree though but, ideally the policy found will generalize to more complex environments the model hasn't seen. You could also run a planner on a new scenario but the issue is that it would be too computationally demanding for real time. |
115,138 | I am a Tier 2 General Primary Applicant , My in laws visited UK yesterday in Family Visitor Visa with the validity of 180 days, In the heathrow airport the border force immigration officers have asked about the return date, they weren't too sure at that time when they are gonna return back(definitely not a plan to extend / over stay), they just randomly mentioned 2 months, the officer has mentioned that they should not stay within UK beyond July 15th ( 2 months from arrival) , If they do then my Tier 2 general visa will not be renewed as it is due next year, Is this just a threat? Will the 180 days visa validity overrides with 60 days dutaion given by border force Airport immigration officer ? They haven't mentioned this anywhere in the passport, but officer has mentioned that she will note down in the system, which may impact the renewal.
Now my daughter wants her grandparents to be there on her birthday in September , Will that be not possible ? Should they return back before July 15th ? Is this a risk?Please assist | 2018/05/17 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/115138",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/77926/"
] | Border officers don't make jokes or idle threats. The 180 day limit is the maximum. Individual travelers can be given entry with shorter limits and that seems to have happened here.
What return travel arrangements do they have booked? | It would be helpful to know under which paragraph of the Immigration Rules your in-laws’ visas were curtailed because that information will inform what they do next. In the absence of that, from the information you’ve provided it seems pretty clear that it was due to not having a return ticket that matched the duration of stay stated in the application, and not providing a credible explanation for this when questioned. Given that your in-laws have family in the U.K. this made it appear that they may have been intending to overstay. IMHO they have a couple of options: 1. Book a flight home by 15th July (preferably a day or two before to allow for any possible flight delays). A second visa application would then be wise if your in-laws want to be certain of being able to return for your daughter’s birthday; 2. Contact U.K. Immigration to explain the situation and ask if an application to extend can be made under v8.7 of the Immigration Rules <https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules> so that your in-laws can stay until your daughter’s birthday in September. The success of this may depend on the strength of your in-laws’ ties to home and the credibility of them being able to be absent from their home country for 4+ months. 3. Having your visa curtailed on your first trip overseas is not a good position to be in and could make future visits more difficult. As time is on your side you should perhaps consider consulting an Immigration lawyer before doing anything. |
89,176 | I have, in the last years, developed the somewhat controversial opinion that land property (not necessarily private property *tout court*) is the root of all evil.
Without going too deep into whether there is any truth in this, I am also equally uncomfortable with Anarchism and Communism/Socialism.
Probably the closest I've got to is "anarcho-primitivism". I like the anti-civilization stance but I think civilization is irreversible and we have to live with it.
I'd like to see a global rewilding movement that advocates shared land property, nomadic farming and essential, non-invasive technology. Pretty much mission impossible, I know, but is there any philosophical doctrine that goes close to this vision? Thanks and sorry for the silly question. | 2022/01/26 | [
"https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/89176",
"https://philosophy.stackexchange.com",
"https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/users/57624/"
] | Abolishing private property, in practice, generally creates more problems than it solves. How do rights and duties get negotiated? How does waste and disuse get managed? The backstop of land ownership historically, is who can violently eject others from their bit of land, or failing that murder them. Much of civilisation has accrued to avoid that, though it still the final degree of disputes.
Graeber's [Debt: The First 5000 Years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years) goes into the anthropological record on money, finding it emerged as debt not barter. Networks of *reciprocal* social obligations, underpin systems in which currency and ownership occur.
Graeber gave a talk [Imagining Alternatives: Indigenous Societies' Perspectives On The Modern State](https://youtu.be/_0oOod0nu3I), talking about his doctoral research on the human arrival to Madagascar and the culture there, and various Native American cultures, with interesting things to say about different models of ownership (eg '[Indian giving](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giver)'), and the cultural reaction to enslavement in a world with large amounts of land with no humans on.
I'd say it's misguided to think of land ownership as one thing, or kind of thing. Many different types of agreement have been made, many different enforcement mechanisms involved with them. I would look at these as sets of answers to problems that typically occur in communities over land use, rather than as a single practice or concept.
An idea I have heard in the context of people suddenly needing to grow a lot more food locally when global supply chains break down, is to recover the Roman concept of being able to hace '[usufruct](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usufruct)', or 'use of the fruit'. A bit like a food-growing leashold, that doesn't give rights to do other things with the land. That would address anxieties people may have preventing fallow or disused land from being used to grow.
Another case is the absorption in the UK of much of the ancient commoning system into the National Trust. This was largely about conserving wild places & traditional land use, rather than being ideological. | Very broadly there are movements like Geoism / [Georgism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism) but notably somewhat in contention with Marxist theories. There's a certain repetitious character to these debates however and you can see the lineaments of the struggle between social reforms of a Geoist and a Marxian character in the contemporary disagreements among various hues of leftists around the question of *basic income*, which is after all perhaps a pretty skeletal form of social power, at least compared to labor organization and sectoral bargaining (eg actually helping to structure and configure the commanding heights of political economy, and not just distributing economic rent from the land). |
283,111 | 1. The kids were told that 2 to the power of 3 **is** 8.
2. The kids were told that President Joe Biden **would** visit their school.
Both sentences use the same past tense in main clauses, but use different tenses in that- clauses.
***Why*** does sentence #1 use simple present tense, yet sentence#2 uses a past tense (past future tense)? | 2021/05/04 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/283111",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/135361/"
] | I would say yes, it needs an article.
A 'twinge' is a sudden sharp pain. It is not being used here as a measurement of thought, like you would say "a moment of time". It is saying that the thought *was like* a twinge, that it occurred suddenly and sharply. So "a twinge of a thought" is syntactically similar to expressions like "a giant of **a** man", in which a man is being *likened* to a giant. | I agree with Astralbee that an article is needed, but I am surprised nobody has mentioned the definite article. The definite article would sound better in this context
>
> I didn't pay attention to that twinge of *the* thought of losing what I hadn't lost yet.
>
>
> |
224,362 | The Context
-----------
I am designing a type of zombie that is made through a ritual involving an eldritch abomination called the Unsound Vulture. These zombies manipulate their decaying flesh and bones to move, and they can only be "killed" by stopping the decay of their flesh and bone.
Other relevant information
* The time it takes for the zombies zombies to decay extended by the Vulture's magic.
* This zombification cannot be spread through bodily means.
* If the zombies are set on fire they will remain on fire and are able to move their burning flesh just as well as their decaying flesh, due to the Vulture counting the act of burning as a form of decay.
* All parts of the zombie will continue to move and act even when separated from the body.
* The zombies, while insane, are just as intelligent as a human.
* Despite their rotting nature the zombies are twice as strong and twice as fast as they were in life.
The Question
------------
What is the best way to stop a zombie that can only move when its flesh and bone is rotting? | 2022/02/16 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/224362",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/93425/"
] | If you can kill or inactivate the bacteria responsible for organic decay, decay will stop, thereby killing the zombie. This is a problem that has already been solved in various ways in the realm of food preservation.
**Freeze them.**
This is the basic idea behind refrigeration - low temperatures slow bacterial growth, and freezing inactivates all bacterial activity, preventing food from rotting *indefinitely*. Simply fight the zombies outdoors in cold climates, and they'll freeze to death. A zombie presumably does not produce its own body heat, so an ambient temperature anywhere below freezing will be deadly given enough time.
**Irradiate them.**
Irradiation is a modern food preservation technique that uses radiation to kill or inactivate bacteria. Simply expose the zombies to a high dose of penetrating ionizing radiation, and the bacteria responsible for decay will die.
**Pasteurize them.**
High heat also kills most bacteria responsible for organic decay. Engulf the zombies in an inferno, or blast them with microwaves in order to increase their body temperature significantly. This might not kill all bacteria, but will eliminate most microorganisms responsible for decay, significantly weakening the zombie. | Although these zombies are fearsome, let's talk about non-magical ways to destroy them.
Mummification and Preservatives
===============================
Get these zombies into dry, dry places. Big deserts or high mountains provide natural places where they become mummies. No rotting means the magic doesn't work. This takes time, however, and requires preparation and understanding of the zombie's limits. Pits and other traps can be constructed to give these zombies a place to "dry out".
The same logic goes for using preservatives. If you can immerse the zombies in a preservative, you stop decay and therefore their movement. The problem is that this is a lot of oil, salt, and other preservatives to use on an actively hostile thing.
Eat the Dead
============
This isn't decomposition, this is feeding. Introduce the zombies to creatures who are not entirely opposed to chowing down on still moving but decaying meat (Bears? Wolverines? Ants?) and let them do the work for you.
Lean Into Decay
===============
Obviously, there is only so much decay that can happen before these zombies are ideal plant food. Each one of these zombies is on a timer. Since their actions are fuelled by decay, simply get the zombies to do more things so they reach the point of totally decayed. Run away from them, build defenses, trip them- just make yourself protected and watch them lose steam until they are totally done. |
224,362 | The Context
-----------
I am designing a type of zombie that is made through a ritual involving an eldritch abomination called the Unsound Vulture. These zombies manipulate their decaying flesh and bones to move, and they can only be "killed" by stopping the decay of their flesh and bone.
Other relevant information
* The time it takes for the zombies zombies to decay extended by the Vulture's magic.
* This zombification cannot be spread through bodily means.
* If the zombies are set on fire they will remain on fire and are able to move their burning flesh just as well as their decaying flesh, due to the Vulture counting the act of burning as a form of decay.
* All parts of the zombie will continue to move and act even when separated from the body.
* The zombies, while insane, are just as intelligent as a human.
* Despite their rotting nature the zombies are twice as strong and twice as fast as they were in life.
The Question
------------
What is the best way to stop a zombie that can only move when its flesh and bone is rotting? | 2022/02/16 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/224362",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/93425/"
] | If you can kill or inactivate the bacteria responsible for organic decay, decay will stop, thereby killing the zombie. This is a problem that has already been solved in various ways in the realm of food preservation.
**Freeze them.**
This is the basic idea behind refrigeration - low temperatures slow bacterial growth, and freezing inactivates all bacterial activity, preventing food from rotting *indefinitely*. Simply fight the zombies outdoors in cold climates, and they'll freeze to death. A zombie presumably does not produce its own body heat, so an ambient temperature anywhere below freezing will be deadly given enough time.
**Irradiate them.**
Irradiation is a modern food preservation technique that uses radiation to kill or inactivate bacteria. Simply expose the zombies to a high dose of penetrating ionizing radiation, and the bacteria responsible for decay will die.
**Pasteurize them.**
High heat also kills most bacteria responsible for organic decay. Engulf the zombies in an inferno, or blast them with microwaves in order to increase their body temperature significantly. This might not kill all bacteria, but will eliminate most microorganisms responsible for decay, significantly weakening the zombie. | **They'll split, they can't be stopped**
----------------------------------------
These zombies would act like an invasive species.. Deploy a strategy to spread as quick as possible.
And that's easy. You said
*"All parts of the zombie will continue to move and act even when separated from the body."*
If I were a zombie, *as intelligent as humans*, I would go ride a **lawn mowing machine** and invite all my zombie friends to lie on their back, in front of it. Splash, crunch..
Your zombies have the size of hamsters now. Smart as humans, and still rotting (as zombies always are) so they move, twice as fast ?
Now supposed they'd slow down, they will still *move*.
**Disinfect drastically**
As a human, you *could* survive, for a week or so.. I'd keep some liquid nitrogen at hand.. and watch the floor all day. With other means, I don't see any daylight in your scenario. The zombies will *win*, they are too powerful. |
224,362 | The Context
-----------
I am designing a type of zombie that is made through a ritual involving an eldritch abomination called the Unsound Vulture. These zombies manipulate their decaying flesh and bones to move, and they can only be "killed" by stopping the decay of their flesh and bone.
Other relevant information
* The time it takes for the zombies zombies to decay extended by the Vulture's magic.
* This zombification cannot be spread through bodily means.
* If the zombies are set on fire they will remain on fire and are able to move their burning flesh just as well as their decaying flesh, due to the Vulture counting the act of burning as a form of decay.
* All parts of the zombie will continue to move and act even when separated from the body.
* The zombies, while insane, are just as intelligent as a human.
* Despite their rotting nature the zombies are twice as strong and twice as fast as they were in life.
The Question
------------
What is the best way to stop a zombie that can only move when its flesh and bone is rotting? | 2022/02/16 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/224362",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/93425/"
] | If you can kill or inactivate the bacteria responsible for organic decay, decay will stop, thereby killing the zombie. This is a problem that has already been solved in various ways in the realm of food preservation.
**Freeze them.**
This is the basic idea behind refrigeration - low temperatures slow bacterial growth, and freezing inactivates all bacterial activity, preventing food from rotting *indefinitely*. Simply fight the zombies outdoors in cold climates, and they'll freeze to death. A zombie presumably does not produce its own body heat, so an ambient temperature anywhere below freezing will be deadly given enough time.
**Irradiate them.**
Irradiation is a modern food preservation technique that uses radiation to kill or inactivate bacteria. Simply expose the zombies to a high dose of penetrating ionizing radiation, and the bacteria responsible for decay will die.
**Pasteurize them.**
High heat also kills most bacteria responsible for organic decay. Engulf the zombies in an inferno, or blast them with microwaves in order to increase their body temperature significantly. This might not kill all bacteria, but will eliminate most microorganisms responsible for decay, significantly weakening the zombie. | Entombment and Immobilization:
==============================
The best way to make something that can't be stopped stop is to seal it or it's components up so there is no opportunity to move. Then you can deal with the remains at your leisure.
* **Entanglement**: First, you need to stop the thing from moving. Trap it in an immobilizing trap, like a pit. Ideally, a pit with a grate on the top, so you can fill in dirt or sand or mud around the thing.
* **Sealing in**: A corpse is best buried, and this was the best option even in times where people feared the dead could rise from the grave. A body buried in such a way as to prevent movement is as good as dead. Have you ever been buried in the sand? It is REALLY hard to move. Stuffed into a chest, even a strong corpse can't move. A coffin wrapped in chains and buried. Pinned into place with dirt, sand, mud, or concrete, that sucker will sit and keep rotting until there's nothing left - helplessly.
* **Dismemberment**: Yes, after being chopped up, the individual parts can move. But a leg or an arm has almost no leverage by itself. Toss it in a chest or a bag, and tie it up. Then put the part under a rock or bury it. A torso without arms or legs is pretty pathetic. The individual parts can be either buried apart, consumed by fire or acid/lye, or cut into such tiny pieces that no part of it can move. Then pour the mess into a clay pot and cook it until it's a nice, sterile bucket of steaming meat.
* **Commercial use**: These things are able to burn perpetually, even as pieces. So if you can trap a part of it in a tiny cage, you have a perpetually burning lamp. Public lighting! Heat things, cook things, or just use them to start fires. If you can stand the smell. |
6,847,679 | I want to know which type of data and how much data we can obtained from client's IP. For example his location, city etc or any other information. | 2011/07/27 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/6847679",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/826659/"
] | You can't depend on any info derived from an IP - even if it's a static IP, it could be someone sitting in a library! | With the IP Address you should be able to use one of the many Geo Location services (in form of a library, a web service or a simple programatic http request to whois.sc) to find out city, country, Internet Service Provider, etc. As far as I know, none of these libraries or web services are 100% accurate. |
2,750 | What happens if you perform a double slit experiment near an event horizon, if one of the slits is outside, one is inside the event horizon? | 2011/01/12 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2750",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/47/"
] | This is just a little bit subtle, because at first it looks like nobody has causal access to both light rays, which is required for the existence of interference pattern. On the other hand the principle of equivalence seems to assure us that local experiments done by a freely falling observer would not be affected by the presence of the horizon. There is a sense in which this is true, as follows.
For an observer freely falling into the horizon of a large black hole while conducting the double slit experiment, there will not be any change in the results of the experiment. Gravity is weak and nothing special happens when they cross the horizon, they will only discover they fell into a black hole sometime in the future when tidal forces will make life very uncomfortable. Any experiment localized within space and time will be the same up to tiny corrections due to weak gravity. This is true also if one of the slits (and therefore necessarily the light source) happens to be outside the horizon at the time of the experiment. Of course, for the freely falling observer that statement does not mean much, only the outside observer will be able to make meaningful distinction between inside and outside the horizon.
On the other hand, for an observer staying outside the horizon, one of the slits is invisible, they don't have access to all the light rays, and they will not see any interference. In fact they will not even be aware that there is a double slit experiment going on. There is no problem there because they are not freely falling observers, and there is nothing that states that the result of their experiment is identical to the same experiment made in flat space.
The fact that infalling and outside observers describe the same phenomena so differently lead to many black hole paradoxes, where quantum mechanics and GR (or the principle of equivalence) just barely co-exist without contradiction. Lenny Susskind's popular book on black holes has a good discussion, I think.
Edit: If you jump into the black hole you can have access to the interference pattern after the fact. So, it looks like you can generate another paradox, in addition to the original one. Look at arxiv.org/abs/0808.2096 for the resolution of that one. Roughly speaking, after you jump into the black hole you have only finite time to make measurements before you encounter the singularity. This time is insufficient to get more information than you are entitled to by the rules of quantum mechanics. This statement requires a detailed calculation which is in that paper. | I strongly suspect there would be no interference, as we would be able to determine which slit the particle went through. |
2,750 | What happens if you perform a double slit experiment near an event horizon, if one of the slits is outside, one is inside the event horizon? | 2011/01/12 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2750",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/47/"
] | In order to perform a double slit experiment, you need to recombine the beams passing through both slits, and that is where the interference occurs. Since one slit is inside the event horizon, this interference location has to be inside the event horizon, in order to be reachable by photons/electrons/whatever passing through the "inside slit".
An observer outside the black hole will therefore not be able to see whether the interference happened or not. And an observer inside the horizon can see the interference pattern, but it is not problematic because he can see both slit. However, he will not be able to describe us what he saw ;-)
**Edit**: Clarify sentence 1 of §2, to answer @kakemonsteret's comment. | I strongly suspect there would be no interference, as we would be able to determine which slit the particle went through. |
2,750 | What happens if you perform a double slit experiment near an event horizon, if one of the slits is outside, one is inside the event horizon? | 2011/01/12 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2750",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/47/"
] | You get two, single slit experiments.
One on either side of the event horizon, by definition.
Light in, Light out. | I strongly suspect there would be no interference, as we would be able to determine which slit the particle went through. |
2,750 | What happens if you perform a double slit experiment near an event horizon, if one of the slits is outside, one is inside the event horizon? | 2011/01/12 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2750",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/47/"
] | This is just a little bit subtle, because at first it looks like nobody has causal access to both light rays, which is required for the existence of interference pattern. On the other hand the principle of equivalence seems to assure us that local experiments done by a freely falling observer would not be affected by the presence of the horizon. There is a sense in which this is true, as follows.
For an observer freely falling into the horizon of a large black hole while conducting the double slit experiment, there will not be any change in the results of the experiment. Gravity is weak and nothing special happens when they cross the horizon, they will only discover they fell into a black hole sometime in the future when tidal forces will make life very uncomfortable. Any experiment localized within space and time will be the same up to tiny corrections due to weak gravity. This is true also if one of the slits (and therefore necessarily the light source) happens to be outside the horizon at the time of the experiment. Of course, for the freely falling observer that statement does not mean much, only the outside observer will be able to make meaningful distinction between inside and outside the horizon.
On the other hand, for an observer staying outside the horizon, one of the slits is invisible, they don't have access to all the light rays, and they will not see any interference. In fact they will not even be aware that there is a double slit experiment going on. There is no problem there because they are not freely falling observers, and there is nothing that states that the result of their experiment is identical to the same experiment made in flat space.
The fact that infalling and outside observers describe the same phenomena so differently lead to many black hole paradoxes, where quantum mechanics and GR (or the principle of equivalence) just barely co-exist without contradiction. Lenny Susskind's popular book on black holes has a good discussion, I think.
Edit: If you jump into the black hole you can have access to the interference pattern after the fact. So, it looks like you can generate another paradox, in addition to the original one. Look at arxiv.org/abs/0808.2096 for the resolution of that one. Roughly speaking, after you jump into the black hole you have only finite time to make measurements before you encounter the singularity. This time is insufficient to get more information than you are entitled to by the rules of quantum mechanics. This statement requires a detailed calculation which is in that paper. | In order to perform a double slit experiment, you need to recombine the beams passing through both slits, and that is where the interference occurs. Since one slit is inside the event horizon, this interference location has to be inside the event horizon, in order to be reachable by photons/electrons/whatever passing through the "inside slit".
An observer outside the black hole will therefore not be able to see whether the interference happened or not. And an observer inside the horizon can see the interference pattern, but it is not problematic because he can see both slit. However, he will not be able to describe us what he saw ;-)
**Edit**: Clarify sentence 1 of §2, to answer @kakemonsteret's comment. |
2,750 | What happens if you perform a double slit experiment near an event horizon, if one of the slits is outside, one is inside the event horizon? | 2011/01/12 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2750",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/47/"
] | This is just a little bit subtle, because at first it looks like nobody has causal access to both light rays, which is required for the existence of interference pattern. On the other hand the principle of equivalence seems to assure us that local experiments done by a freely falling observer would not be affected by the presence of the horizon. There is a sense in which this is true, as follows.
For an observer freely falling into the horizon of a large black hole while conducting the double slit experiment, there will not be any change in the results of the experiment. Gravity is weak and nothing special happens when they cross the horizon, they will only discover they fell into a black hole sometime in the future when tidal forces will make life very uncomfortable. Any experiment localized within space and time will be the same up to tiny corrections due to weak gravity. This is true also if one of the slits (and therefore necessarily the light source) happens to be outside the horizon at the time of the experiment. Of course, for the freely falling observer that statement does not mean much, only the outside observer will be able to make meaningful distinction between inside and outside the horizon.
On the other hand, for an observer staying outside the horizon, one of the slits is invisible, they don't have access to all the light rays, and they will not see any interference. In fact they will not even be aware that there is a double slit experiment going on. There is no problem there because they are not freely falling observers, and there is nothing that states that the result of their experiment is identical to the same experiment made in flat space.
The fact that infalling and outside observers describe the same phenomena so differently lead to many black hole paradoxes, where quantum mechanics and GR (or the principle of equivalence) just barely co-exist without contradiction. Lenny Susskind's popular book on black holes has a good discussion, I think.
Edit: If you jump into the black hole you can have access to the interference pattern after the fact. So, it looks like you can generate another paradox, in addition to the original one. Look at arxiv.org/abs/0808.2096 for the resolution of that one. Roughly speaking, after you jump into the black hole you have only finite time to make measurements before you encounter the singularity. This time is insufficient to get more information than you are entitled to by the rules of quantum mechanics. This statement requires a detailed calculation which is in that paper. | You get two, single slit experiments.
One on either side of the event horizon, by definition.
Light in, Light out. |
2,750 | What happens if you perform a double slit experiment near an event horizon, if one of the slits is outside, one is inside the event horizon? | 2011/01/12 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2750",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/47/"
] | You get two, single slit experiments.
One on either side of the event horizon, by definition.
Light in, Light out. | In order to perform a double slit experiment, you need to recombine the beams passing through both slits, and that is where the interference occurs. Since one slit is inside the event horizon, this interference location has to be inside the event horizon, in order to be reachable by photons/electrons/whatever passing through the "inside slit".
An observer outside the black hole will therefore not be able to see whether the interference happened or not. And an observer inside the horizon can see the interference pattern, but it is not problematic because he can see both slit. However, he will not be able to describe us what he saw ;-)
**Edit**: Clarify sentence 1 of §2, to answer @kakemonsteret's comment. |
288,093 | I'm having a little difficulty understanding this section of a circuit from the datasheet for an [MC33035](http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/MC33035-D.PDF) BLDC Motor Driver.
Some info:
* Pin 7 is enable, send pin high to enable motor
* Pin 8 is a 6.25v source
* Pin 14 is a fault pin, active low during a fault (at VCC (pin 17) not during a fault)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A9EVR.jpg)
I'm assuming during a fault "Latch on Fault" is closed, pushing the reset button would therefore send pin 7 high, re-enabling the motor.
However, following this logic then "Latch on Fault" would be open when the motor is running - but how is pin 7 sent high?
Or is it default high, closing the switch next to it pulls it down, or if "latch on fault" closes it pulls it down?
What is the 47uF cap for?
Any help greatly appreciated. | 2017/02/22 | [
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/288093",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/users/113332/"
] | It looks like "Latch On Fault" is an optional switch via which you can set the behavior to display in case of a fault. It does *not* change with the fault state.
The logic is quite simple:
Pin 14 is low on fault, pin 7 is high for enabled. Now if you connect these pins, e.g. via a closed switch, once a fault is detected it also disables the motor by pulling enable low. If the switch is open, a fault will not disable the motor.
The reset button pulls the enable pin high again, overriding the fault signal of pin 14.
(For this logic to actually work, during fault pin 14 must stay low even when enable goes/is low.) | "Or is it default high, closing the switch next to it pulls it down, or if "latch on fault" closes it pulls it down?"
Correct, pin 7 is pulled high by that little symbol shown to the right of it on the diagram - it's a 25uA current source internal to the chip. 25uA through a 4k7 resistor gives you 117.5mV across it, which is comfortably below the logic 0 threshold. |
288,093 | I'm having a little difficulty understanding this section of a circuit from the datasheet for an [MC33035](http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/MC33035-D.PDF) BLDC Motor Driver.
Some info:
* Pin 7 is enable, send pin high to enable motor
* Pin 8 is a 6.25v source
* Pin 14 is a fault pin, active low during a fault (at VCC (pin 17) not during a fault)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A9EVR.jpg)
I'm assuming during a fault "Latch on Fault" is closed, pushing the reset button would therefore send pin 7 high, re-enabling the motor.
However, following this logic then "Latch on Fault" would be open when the motor is running - but how is pin 7 sent high?
Or is it default high, closing the switch next to it pulls it down, or if "latch on fault" closes it pulls it down?
What is the 47uF cap for?
Any help greatly appreciated. | 2017/02/22 | [
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/288093",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/users/113332/"
] | It looks like "Latch On Fault" is an optional switch via which you can set the behavior to display in case of a fault. It does *not* change with the fault state.
The logic is quite simple:
Pin 14 is low on fault, pin 7 is high for enabled. Now if you connect these pins, e.g. via a closed switch, once a fault is detected it also disables the motor by pulling enable low. If the switch is open, a fault will not disable the motor.
The reset button pulls the enable pin high again, overriding the fault signal of pin 14.
(For this logic to actually work, during fault pin 14 must stay low even when enable goes/is low.) | Pin 7 has internal pull-up current source. Don't know why it is a source and not a resistor. Thus, you need to pull it down to disable motor control.
Haven't read the whole datasheet but 2.2k resistor and 47uF capacitor look like RC network filtering small "fault" spikes.
"Latch on fault" is either a manual switch or a latch that latches when the voltage across it crosses a threshold. If it is an automatic latch, latching will happen when sufficient "fault" spikes have been integrated over time.
Thus, 47uF capacitor acts as memory and retains the charge unless discharged via "reset" button. I think a current source has been used to discharge the capacitor in a known period of time for auto fault escape. |
288,093 | I'm having a little difficulty understanding this section of a circuit from the datasheet for an [MC33035](http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/MC33035-D.PDF) BLDC Motor Driver.
Some info:
* Pin 7 is enable, send pin high to enable motor
* Pin 8 is a 6.25v source
* Pin 14 is a fault pin, active low during a fault (at VCC (pin 17) not during a fault)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A9EVR.jpg)
I'm assuming during a fault "Latch on Fault" is closed, pushing the reset button would therefore send pin 7 high, re-enabling the motor.
However, following this logic then "Latch on Fault" would be open when the motor is running - but how is pin 7 sent high?
Or is it default high, closing the switch next to it pulls it down, or if "latch on fault" closes it pulls it down?
What is the 47uF cap for?
Any help greatly appreciated. | 2017/02/22 | [
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/288093",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/users/113332/"
] | "Or is it default high, closing the switch next to it pulls it down, or if "latch on fault" closes it pulls it down?"
Correct, pin 7 is pulled high by that little symbol shown to the right of it on the diagram - it's a 25uA current source internal to the chip. 25uA through a 4k7 resistor gives you 117.5mV across it, which is comfortably below the logic 0 threshold. | Pin 7 has internal pull-up current source. Don't know why it is a source and not a resistor. Thus, you need to pull it down to disable motor control.
Haven't read the whole datasheet but 2.2k resistor and 47uF capacitor look like RC network filtering small "fault" spikes.
"Latch on fault" is either a manual switch or a latch that latches when the voltage across it crosses a threshold. If it is an automatic latch, latching will happen when sufficient "fault" spikes have been integrated over time.
Thus, 47uF capacitor acts as memory and retains the charge unless discharged via "reset" button. I think a current source has been used to discharge the capacitor in a known period of time for auto fault escape. |
37,183 | As per the comments of [this SO answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2148658/java-list-use-through-use-of-jstl-cforeach/2148672#2148672):
>
> *Maybe it's due to your low reputation that you're unable to delete your own answer.*
>
>
> *It is because of my low rep. but i think the fact i can't delete my own answers is a bit lame.*
>
>
>
I checked the [help center about reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/faq#reputation), but I can't seem to find the minimum reputation one would need before being able to delete *own* question/answer.
Is there actually a minimum reputation for this? If so, how much is it? And can it be added to the SO FAQ as well to avoid future questions/confusions? | 2010/01/27 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/37183",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Unless something changed *very* recently, you don't need any rep to delete your own answers, **provided you're using a registered (OpenID) account**.
(Same goes for questions, although there are additional restrictions if answers have been posted and up-voted.)
Note that "[Mark](https://stackoverflow.com/users/259453/mark)" (the user in the question you link to) is *not* a registered user, and therefore cannot delete his posts unless/until he associates an OpenID with his account.
### See: [What can cause a post to be deleted, and what does that actually mean?](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5221/what-can-cause-a-post-to-be-deleted-and-what-does-that-actually-mean) | This is a more *unabridged* version of that FAQ:
[How does “Reputation” work on Stack Overflow?](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7237/how-does-reputation-work-on-stack-overflow)
* You need "+250 to vote to open/close your own questions."
And according to this:
[What can cause a post to be deleted, and what does that actually mean?](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5221/how-can-a-question-or-answer-be-deleted)...
* "You can delete your own post, provided you have registered your account (logged in using an OpenID)"
* "You can't delete your answer if it has been accepted."
* "You can't delete your question if the total score of all answer(s) to it is >= 2, or it has been closed less than 48 hours ago."
* "Deleted answers can be viewed, edited, and undeleted by their original authors, however deleted questions cannot be seen by their authors (unless they have a reputation >= 10K or happen to be moderators)." |
5,238 | ### Summary
I would like to build (ideally based on ESPHome) a device with a buzzer I can trigger remotely via the network.
### Context
I have several systems built around my home automation system:
* Home Assistant to keep state and trigger action on devices
* AppDaemon where I code my automations
* two kind of "hardware triggers":
+ 433 MHz wall switches, which signals are picked up by a 433 Mhz to Wi-Fi bridge (and then to MQTT)
+ Zigbee switches managed though Zigbee2MQTT
* various sensors
* various services around a dashboard I wrote myself
I am listing all this to show that I have, so far, two major kind of operations:
* getting data from sensors / Google calendar / Meteo services / various other APIs → and displaying their values
* sending a message from a wall switch, ultimately resulting for a Wi-Fi enabled device (such as a Sonoff Basic) to do some action
What I am missing
-----------------
I now would like to build an IoT device that would accept data from my Wi-Fi network and trigger a module attached to it. You can see this as some kind of poor man alarm clock - where all the logic of the alarm is offloaded to a service, and the device just receives the order to buzz.
**What is the right approach to build such an IoT?**
I have NodeMCU modules, or Wemo D1s. I could flash them with ESPHome, bringing in the WiFi communication and the ability to connect to GPIOs.
What I do not understand is how the Wi-Fi stack interacts with the GPIOs, exactly. Do I need to write a specific module to be added during the compilation? (it's been 20 years I did not code in C, last time was for my PhD - but this is something I could get into). Or is there a module that does the bridge already?
Generally speaking, what is the approach when I want to send a message to a ESPHome, Wi-Fi enabled device in order to access its GPIOs.
Please note that I know how to do it the other way round: I have added existing ESPHome modules to a Weemo D1 and they are correctly exposed in Home Assistant or the built-in web server. But this is a case where such modules already exist (for specific hardware) and just send data out. | 2020/09/03 | [
"https://iot.stackexchange.com/questions/5238",
"https://iot.stackexchange.com",
"https://iot.stackexchange.com/users/5922/"
] | If you are looking for something custom on the ESP8266 end, you a likely going to want to write a program to do what you want it to do. If you are already using [MQTT](https://pypi.org/project/micropython-umqtt.simple/), then you might consider using [MicroPython](https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/tutorial/intro.html) on the NodeMCU. The toolchain is a bit simpler, and the development iterations are a lot quicker than flashing a C program. | It looks like there is a provision in ESPHome for that:
* [Generic Custom Component](https://esphome.io/custom/custom_component.html)
* [MQTT Subscribe Text Sensor](https://esphome.io/components/text_sensor/mqtt_subscribe.html)
I would be very much interested in other (different / better / more typical) approaches to the problem |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | If you have 5-10 year old sons, daughter, nieces and nephews (basically kids you trust with a ring), get a group of them together and tell them that whoever finds the ring in the grass will get $20 (or some other appropriate, parent-approved prize). Also have cake & ice cream for those who didn't find it.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TD2KK.jpg) | You could try raking the grass, with any luck the ring might hook onto one of the many tines on the rake and thus be retrieved.
If it doesn't hook on, it should be easy to hear the metal on metal 'ding' noise once you've scraped over it. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | Obvious but expensive answer: wave a metal detector over your lawn. Maybe a friend has one you could borrow?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/on5bt.jpg) | You could try raking the grass, with any luck the ring might hook onto one of the many tines on the rake and thus be retrieved.
If it doesn't hook on, it should be easy to hear the metal on metal 'ding' noise once you've scraped over it. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | If you have 5-10 year old sons, daughter, nieces and nephews (basically kids you trust with a ring), get a group of them together and tell them that whoever finds the ring in the grass will get $20 (or some other appropriate, parent-approved prize). Also have cake & ice cream for those who didn't find it.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TD2KK.jpg) | Crows here in the Pacific Northwest find everything. I threw a loaf of bread squares onto my lawn one morning, trying to remember where I put my single car key. Voila, a crow buggered around and flipped the key so I could see it. Luckily he didn't use it for his nest. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | First of all, do not assume it is in the garden unless you are absolutely certain. If there is any possibility it is somewhere else, then those other places must be systematically searched.
Do not use a rake. Do not walk around on, or otherwise disturb in any way the search area. Randomly casting around for the object is a bad idea.
The way to find the ring is to **systematically** search the search area. To do this with a plot of ground, like a backyard, what you should do is string it with a grid. Drive in wooden stakes around the perimeter of the area. Make sure the stakes are well outside anywhere the ring could have dropped. Next, pull twine around the stakes making a lattice pattern. Tie a heavy object to the twine and throw it across so you do not have to walk in the search area. When you are done you should have the yard divided into a grid, each cell being about 16 inches square.
Once you have divided the search area into a grid, begin searching it cell by cell, marking each cell after you finish it. If your ring is in the search area, it is likely you will find it as long as you thoroughly search each cell. Also, check all branches and twigs in each cell; sometimes an object will catch on a twig. | Crows here in the Pacific Northwest find everything. I threw a loaf of bread squares onto my lawn one morning, trying to remember where I put my single car key. Voila, a crow buggered around and flipped the key so I could see it. Luckily he didn't use it for his nest. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | First of all, do not assume it is in the garden unless you are absolutely certain. If there is any possibility it is somewhere else, then those other places must be systematically searched.
Do not use a rake. Do not walk around on, or otherwise disturb in any way the search area. Randomly casting around for the object is a bad idea.
The way to find the ring is to **systematically** search the search area. To do this with a plot of ground, like a backyard, what you should do is string it with a grid. Drive in wooden stakes around the perimeter of the area. Make sure the stakes are well outside anywhere the ring could have dropped. Next, pull twine around the stakes making a lattice pattern. Tie a heavy object to the twine and throw it across so you do not have to walk in the search area. When you are done you should have the yard divided into a grid, each cell being about 16 inches square.
Once you have divided the search area into a grid, begin searching it cell by cell, marking each cell after you finish it. If your ring is in the search area, it is likely you will find it as long as you thoroughly search each cell. Also, check all branches and twigs in each cell; sometimes an object will catch on a twig. | You could also try the old vacuum panty hose trick. Your neighbors might think you are crazy, if they see you vacuuming the lawn :)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W4G4w.jpg) |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | Go outside that night with a very strong flashlight or preferably a higher-intensity floodlight. With any luck, the glint of any metal object will stand out considerably compared to anything else you might find among the grass. Work systematically. Search the lawn one *square* at a time. You are much more likely to find something searching one square meter at a time rather than wandering aimlessly. | You could try raking the grass, with any luck the ring might hook onto one of the many tines on the rake and thus be retrieved.
If it doesn't hook on, it should be easy to hear the metal on metal 'ding' noise once you've scraped over it. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | First of all, do not assume it is in the garden unless you are absolutely certain. If there is any possibility it is somewhere else, then those other places must be systematically searched.
Do not use a rake. Do not walk around on, or otherwise disturb in any way the search area. Randomly casting around for the object is a bad idea.
The way to find the ring is to **systematically** search the search area. To do this with a plot of ground, like a backyard, what you should do is string it with a grid. Drive in wooden stakes around the perimeter of the area. Make sure the stakes are well outside anywhere the ring could have dropped. Next, pull twine around the stakes making a lattice pattern. Tie a heavy object to the twine and throw it across so you do not have to walk in the search area. When you are done you should have the yard divided into a grid, each cell being about 16 inches square.
Once you have divided the search area into a grid, begin searching it cell by cell, marking each cell after you finish it. If your ring is in the search area, it is likely you will find it as long as you thoroughly search each cell. Also, check all branches and twigs in each cell; sometimes an object will catch on a twig. | You could try raking the grass, with any luck the ring might hook onto one of the many tines on the rake and thus be retrieved.
If it doesn't hook on, it should be easy to hear the metal on metal 'ding' noise once you've scraped over it. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | If you have 5-10 year old sons, daughter, nieces and nephews (basically kids you trust with a ring), get a group of them together and tell them that whoever finds the ring in the grass will get $20 (or some other appropriate, parent-approved prize). Also have cake & ice cream for those who didn't find it.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TD2KK.jpg) | First of all, do not assume it is in the garden unless you are absolutely certain. If there is any possibility it is somewhere else, then those other places must be systematically searched.
Do not use a rake. Do not walk around on, or otherwise disturb in any way the search area. Randomly casting around for the object is a bad idea.
The way to find the ring is to **systematically** search the search area. To do this with a plot of ground, like a backyard, what you should do is string it with a grid. Drive in wooden stakes around the perimeter of the area. Make sure the stakes are well outside anywhere the ring could have dropped. Next, pull twine around the stakes making a lattice pattern. Tie a heavy object to the twine and throw it across so you do not have to walk in the search area. When you are done you should have the yard divided into a grid, each cell being about 16 inches square.
Once you have divided the search area into a grid, begin searching it cell by cell, marking each cell after you finish it. If your ring is in the search area, it is likely you will find it as long as you thoroughly search each cell. Also, check all branches and twigs in each cell; sometimes an object will catch on a twig. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | Crows here in the Pacific Northwest find everything. I threw a loaf of bread squares onto my lawn one morning, trying to remember where I put my single car key. Voila, a crow buggered around and flipped the key so I could see it. Luckily he didn't use it for his nest. | You could try raking the grass, with any luck the ring might hook onto one of the many tines on the rake and thus be retrieved.
If it doesn't hook on, it should be easy to hear the metal on metal 'ding' noise once you've scraped over it. |
6,712 | How do I find my gold ring which is lost inside the grass in my garden?
Please tell me an easy way to find my ring quickly. | 2015/04/27 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/6712",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4505/"
] | Crows here in the Pacific Northwest find everything. I threw a loaf of bread squares onto my lawn one morning, trying to remember where I put my single car key. Voila, a crow buggered around and flipped the key so I could see it. Luckily he didn't use it for his nest. | You could also try the old vacuum panty hose trick. Your neighbors might think you are crazy, if they see you vacuuming the lawn :)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W4G4w.jpg) |
1,168,323 | >
> The **PRODUCT** topology is the coarsest (smallest, weakest) topology you can define such that the projections are continuous. (it is apparently the unique topology with this property)
>
>
> The **BOX** topology is just this similarly defined thing.
>
>
>
However I've been informed by the book the product topology is unique, this means the box topology (if it is distinct) will not have continuous projections.
What does this actually mean (please may I have an example?)
---
**Questions:**
Can somebody prove that the product topology is the **unique** topology such that the projections are continuous? The book annoyingly leaves it as an exercise.
---
**What have I done?**
Read [Continuity of product of fuctions w.r.t. product and box topology](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/72781/product-and-box-topology) and got an example
found [Why is the box topology finer than the product topology?](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/72176/product-and-box-topologies) and [Examples on product topology $ \gg $ box topology?](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/220381/examples-on-product-topology-gg-box-topology) | 2015/02/27 | [
"https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1168323",
"https://math.stackexchange.com",
"https://math.stackexchange.com/users/66223/"
] | No - there is no such formula as discussed in [this MathOverflow post](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/168201/).
The most important work in this area has been done by Ken Falconer. His first paper on the subject "The Hausdorff dimension of self-affine fractals" *Math. Proc. Cambr. Phil. Soc.* **103** (1988) 339-350 contains an algorithm that yields an upper bound on the box-counting dimension which almost always yields the Hausdorff dimension as well. Using these ideas, I estimate the dimension of the fern to be about 1.84. I'm not certain, though, as the technique can fail in special cases. Later papers by Falconer and others explore situations where the technique is guaranteed to work. | For graph-directed IFS of similarities satisfying an open set condition with every cycle contracting, it's possible to compute the Hausdorff dimension:
[Hausdorff Dimension in Graph Directed Constructions](http://cas.unt.edu/~mauldin/papers/no67.pdf)
R Daniel Mauldin, S C Williams
Transactions of AMS, vol309 no2, October 1988, 811-829
A regular IFS of can be considered as a graph-directed IFS with one node, so every similarity must be contracting.
However, similarities are not very general (you can have IFS with all sorts of transformation functions), box-dimension is sometimes different from Hausdorff dimension, and I don't know if any algorithm exists for verifying that the IFS passes the open set condition.
I have a [Javascript implementation of the algorithm described in the paper](http://mathr.co.uk/blog/2007-10-03_graphgrow.svg) (view page source), with some more information in two [blog](http://mathr.co.uk/blog/2007-10-03_graphgrow_svg_javascript.html) [posts](http://mathr.co.uk/blog/2007-10-09_the_mathematics_of_graphgrow.html). |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assembly language variants relate to the CPU family/model, not the Operating System. Further, this looks like a special asm encoding supported by a specific compiler... so you may wish to use the same compiler (if portable), and/or port to the notation of a specific destination compiler. Nobody can help you unless you explain which compiler(s) you can target. | You can try set a breakpoint at the function (using your platform's debugger), and copy down the machine code that was generated. It's possible that the same machine code can be used on Windows, or at least it would give you a head start. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assembly language variants relate to the CPU family/model, not the Operating System. Further, this looks like a special asm encoding supported by a specific compiler... so you may wish to use the same compiler (if portable), and/or port to the notation of a specific destination compiler. Nobody can help you unless you explain which compiler(s) you can target. | You need a chip that can run your assembly language. Each chip have their own ISA, instruction set architecture (assembly language). Usually a compiler would convert programming languages to assembly language such as x86 (intel and amd's ISA) and from there the cpu takes care of it.
I have no idea what you're trying to do with C++ and assembly language together. But if you're hoping that some how the C++ compiler will convert those assembly languages to x86 assembly language, so it can run on your computer, then no. What you can do is get some kind of emulator that emulate the code, kind of like LC3 assembly language (introduction to computing systems by Patt Patel).
What you can do is look up equivalent x86 instructions (opcodes I believe) and match it with your ASM instructions. From there you can perhaps build a software that parse asm assembling codes and convert it to x86 so you can run it on x86. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assembly language variants relate to the CPU family/model, not the Operating System. Further, this looks like a special asm encoding supported by a specific compiler... so you may wish to use the same compiler (if portable), and/or port to the notation of a specific destination compiler. Nobody can help you unless you explain which compiler(s) you can target. | Assuming you use Visual C++ compiler, you can just use \_\_cpuid() intrinsic. See [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hskdteyh(VS.80).aspx) for the description and [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xs6aek1h(VS.80).aspx) for the complete sample. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assembly language variants relate to the CPU family/model, not the Operating System. Further, this looks like a special asm encoding supported by a specific compiler... so you may wish to use the same compiler (if portable), and/or port to the notation of a specific destination compiler. Nobody can help you unless you explain which compiler(s) you can target. | Check Microsoft's [KB888282](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888282) article on the topic. Windows will have done this for you already, you don't need to do it yourself. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | You can try set a breakpoint at the function (using your platform's debugger), and copy down the machine code that was generated. It's possible that the same machine code can be used on Windows, or at least it would give you a head start. | You need a chip that can run your assembly language. Each chip have their own ISA, instruction set architecture (assembly language). Usually a compiler would convert programming languages to assembly language such as x86 (intel and amd's ISA) and from there the cpu takes care of it.
I have no idea what you're trying to do with C++ and assembly language together. But if you're hoping that some how the C++ compiler will convert those assembly languages to x86 assembly language, so it can run on your computer, then no. What you can do is get some kind of emulator that emulate the code, kind of like LC3 assembly language (introduction to computing systems by Patt Patel).
What you can do is look up equivalent x86 instructions (opcodes I believe) and match it with your ASM instructions. From there you can perhaps build a software that parse asm assembling codes and convert it to x86 so you can run it on x86. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assuming you use Visual C++ compiler, you can just use \_\_cpuid() intrinsic. See [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hskdteyh(VS.80).aspx) for the description and [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xs6aek1h(VS.80).aspx) for the complete sample. | You can try set a breakpoint at the function (using your platform's debugger), and copy down the machine code that was generated. It's possible that the same machine code can be used on Windows, or at least it would give you a head start. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assuming you use Visual C++ compiler, you can just use \_\_cpuid() intrinsic. See [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hskdteyh(VS.80).aspx) for the description and [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xs6aek1h(VS.80).aspx) for the complete sample. | You need a chip that can run your assembly language. Each chip have their own ISA, instruction set architecture (assembly language). Usually a compiler would convert programming languages to assembly language such as x86 (intel and amd's ISA) and from there the cpu takes care of it.
I have no idea what you're trying to do with C++ and assembly language together. But if you're hoping that some how the C++ compiler will convert those assembly languages to x86 assembly language, so it can run on your computer, then no. What you can do is get some kind of emulator that emulate the code, kind of like LC3 assembly language (introduction to computing systems by Patt Patel).
What you can do is look up equivalent x86 instructions (opcodes I believe) and match it with your ASM instructions. From there you can perhaps build a software that parse asm assembling codes and convert it to x86 so you can run it on x86. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Check Microsoft's [KB888282](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888282) article on the topic. Windows will have done this for you already, you don't need to do it yourself. | You need a chip that can run your assembly language. Each chip have their own ISA, instruction set architecture (assembly language). Usually a compiler would convert programming languages to assembly language such as x86 (intel and amd's ISA) and from there the cpu takes care of it.
I have no idea what you're trying to do with C++ and assembly language together. But if you're hoping that some how the C++ compiler will convert those assembly languages to x86 assembly language, so it can run on your computer, then no. What you can do is get some kind of emulator that emulate the code, kind of like LC3 assembly language (introduction to computing systems by Patt Patel).
What you can do is look up equivalent x86 instructions (opcodes I believe) and match it with your ASM instructions. From there you can perhaps build a software that parse asm assembling codes and convert it to x86 so you can run it on x86. |
3,572,167 | I am still a newbie to flash....still trying to learn AS3 atm
I got some movie clips with different shapes and I would like to make a pattern from those movie clips. I have assigned the x y co-ordinates of those movie clips with the Math.random function. However, the shapes overlap all the time, what can I do to avoid it? Someone has suggested that I could add the clips to a list after being randomised, then define the area which couldn't be place by the other movie clips. However, how can I define that area in AS3? I have tried to do the hitTest, but I am not too sure what should I do if it has detected a hit, since there's a probability that it will hit another shape. Hope you guys could help me a bit!Thank you very much! | 2010/08/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3572167",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/431464/"
] | Assuming you use Visual C++ compiler, you can just use \_\_cpuid() intrinsic. See [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hskdteyh(VS.80).aspx) for the description and [here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xs6aek1h(VS.80).aspx) for the complete sample. | Check Microsoft's [KB888282](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888282) article on the topic. Windows will have done this for you already, you don't need to do it yourself. |
93,159 | A friend's father died a couple of weeks ago. He usually used the same numeric password on all devices. But not on his iPad. I can't even reproduce the password via the fingerprints. The lock time is already at 60 minutes. Is there some kind of an exploit or process at Apple which can help us to retrieve the information from the iDevice or is a full reset the only way to use it?
PS
This isn't a question about morals or ethics. The friend has reasons to try to recover the data. The loss of her father left a million questions open and she thinks there might be answers in his personal data.
I appreciate any answer, but please, don't judge over a fate or a question, before you are sure what the reasons may be. | 2013/05/31 | [
"https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/93159",
"https://apple.stackexchange.com",
"https://apple.stackexchange.com/users/50720/"
] | Apple provides access to law enforcement with a warrant. This access is typically done through password guessing in a manner that does not risk resetting the iPad. I do not know if Apple will provide this service in the situation that you describe, but it's possible that they will if they are contacted by an attorney or ordered to do so by a court (for example, if there is material on the iPad that is required for probate.)
What do you hope to find on the iPad? Most information on the iPad is simply a copy of what is in cloud-based services, and you can usually get access to those directly.
Another option that you have is to go after the backup. This is a useful option if the iPad was synched with a desktop. Frequently the backup can be accessed directly (if it is not encrypted).
Finally, if it is an iPad 1 or 2 the security is not as strong as on an iPad 3. You may be able to get a computer forensics professional to get you access. Many investigators have such services available. You may be able to get the iPad opened for a few hundred dollars. | you can probably be hopeless now... sorry for ya but if he updated it to IOS7 you are in really big trouble.
try doing this: hold down the close button until you see the slider, dont slide it. then close your smart cover. open and press cancel |
9,972,927 | I am evaluating LogiXML for dynamic reporting requirements in my struts/spring based web-application. do anybody have examples or some feedback about quickly generate and deploy report in existing web-application? | 2012/04/02 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9972927",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/994930/"
] | You'll likely find the best resources for finding a solution on the Logi DevNet site.
Typically, a Logi application is deployed as a fully managed web application inside a standard java application server container-- eg. Tomcat, Jboss, Websphere, etc. The key requirement will be to ensure that you're running JDK version 1.6+.
Here's a link to the article on configuring Java application servers for deploying Logi apps:
<http://devnet.logixml.com/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Article&dnDocID=1179>
Once your app is deployed, accessing the Logi output will be most commonly be via URL, either directly in the browser or using other types of HTML, javascript, or ajax calls (Iframes, the Logi javascript Widget, or web service requests are common)
For additional details, you may also wish to search on specific topics in the DevNet search option to scan through articles or samples.
Regards | Check out Logi DevNet for examples <http://devnet.logixml.com>. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | **Testing graphics API interactions with OpenGL, Vulkan, etc.**
I am not sure if this fits your requirements, but while attempting to write unit tests for a graphical application I had to give up, because there were no solid methods to do this.
At least most of which I could find about were either extremely time-consuming and error-prone(mock interface took 5x the code needed for the tests than actual implementation) or worked only on complete systems that didn't want to change often. (Image comparison)
This is a practical problem that could be solved with clever engineering, so I am not sure if it fits a research subject. | Contribute a patch (fix a bug) in a popular open source software project.
Bug solved can be as ambitious as you can dare. There are many of them in any project. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | It might be interesting for you to try to solve automated usability testing. This would include 508 testing and color recognition as well as trying to identify annoying things like having to click 3 times for something etc...
In general this is virtually impossible to automate as it's usually a user perception issue that is being tested for and a machine is not as capable at testing this. | ### Change best practices into language features.
Some examples:
* Making sure that all references to HTML locators are done through Page Objects.
* Making sure Page Objects entries are unique, aren't duplicated and are actually used
* All code has tests or it is not accepted to the master branch
* All tests cover happy, sad and optional happy and sad paths
* Unit tests and acceptance tests don't duplicate each others tests
* All features include some level of volume testing
* Usability and accessibility is built-in and not optional
* Treat QE engineeers as full members of the development team
* Write one set of tests that work in all devices, browsers and versions
As you can see these various from easy to hard. Some technical, some human. Some might seem impossible. Then again you asked for unsolved problems or challenges. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | In a world of [continuous deployment](https://puppet.com/blog/continuous-delivery-vs-continuous-deployment-what-s-diff) test automation is becoming the most important form of testing.
The biggest problem with test automation is how do the engineers know they have covered all the important execution paths. There exists [code coverage](https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestCoverage.html), but that just finds untested code, it is not a quality target.
If you combine code coverage with [mutation testing](http://www.guru99.com/mutation-testing.html) it becomes better, but mutation testing is still too slow for large codebases. Also processing the results requires manual research. It is not repeatable continuously for these reasons.
There is something called [formal verification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_verification), but this seems to be so time consuming that I wonder if it is realistic for most software projects.
For me the biggest challenge is how do my engineers know they have written enough tests, while spending their time balanced between testing and coding. There is missing a good standard and most good techniques are currently to slow or to complex for complex systems. Coming up with a process that is automatable, (relatively) fast, lowers risks of defects significantly and which is repeatable seems like a great win for our industry.
You could discuss that such a process already exists, haven't people been testing software for ages? Sure, but a good testing process is slow as hell. The future needs something fast and furious. Test-automation helps, but still it is hard to know if you covered everything. Some help here would be great.
The second biggest problem with software quality is schooling:
* Engineers are not taught deep test-automation skills in school. Designing software that is testable and maintainable is nearly an art form.
* Engineers are not taught quality principles like [clean code](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0132350882).
I understand schools try to give students broad knowledge, but writing high quality code should be a standard that starts in your first weeks. So that you can practise it in your practical assignments over and over again. Unit-testing for example can not be a couple of classes to explain the basics. You need good understanding of the reasoning and how to structure your code. Then you also need a lot of practise and a larger project to make you see that test-automation is worth your while.
Maybe a new [programming paradigm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm) which includes code quality and testability as it primary focus. | Contribute a patch (fix a bug) in a popular open source software project.
Bug solved can be as ambitious as you can dare. There are many of them in any project. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | In a world of [continuous deployment](https://puppet.com/blog/continuous-delivery-vs-continuous-deployment-what-s-diff) test automation is becoming the most important form of testing.
The biggest problem with test automation is how do the engineers know they have covered all the important execution paths. There exists [code coverage](https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestCoverage.html), but that just finds untested code, it is not a quality target.
If you combine code coverage with [mutation testing](http://www.guru99.com/mutation-testing.html) it becomes better, but mutation testing is still too slow for large codebases. Also processing the results requires manual research. It is not repeatable continuously for these reasons.
There is something called [formal verification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_verification), but this seems to be so time consuming that I wonder if it is realistic for most software projects.
For me the biggest challenge is how do my engineers know they have written enough tests, while spending their time balanced between testing and coding. There is missing a good standard and most good techniques are currently to slow or to complex for complex systems. Coming up with a process that is automatable, (relatively) fast, lowers risks of defects significantly and which is repeatable seems like a great win for our industry.
You could discuss that such a process already exists, haven't people been testing software for ages? Sure, but a good testing process is slow as hell. The future needs something fast and furious. Test-automation helps, but still it is hard to know if you covered everything. Some help here would be great.
The second biggest problem with software quality is schooling:
* Engineers are not taught deep test-automation skills in school. Designing software that is testable and maintainable is nearly an art form.
* Engineers are not taught quality principles like [clean code](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0132350882).
I understand schools try to give students broad knowledge, but writing high quality code should be a standard that starts in your first weeks. So that you can practise it in your practical assignments over and over again. Unit-testing for example can not be a couple of classes to explain the basics. You need good understanding of the reasoning and how to structure your code. Then you also need a lot of practise and a larger project to make you see that test-automation is worth your while.
Maybe a new [programming paradigm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm) which includes code quality and testability as it primary focus. | ### Change best practices into language features.
Some examples:
* Making sure that all references to HTML locators are done through Page Objects.
* Making sure Page Objects entries are unique, aren't duplicated and are actually used
* All code has tests or it is not accepted to the master branch
* All tests cover happy, sad and optional happy and sad paths
* Unit tests and acceptance tests don't duplicate each others tests
* All features include some level of volume testing
* Usability and accessibility is built-in and not optional
* Treat QE engineeers as full members of the development team
* Write one set of tests that work in all devices, browsers and versions
As you can see these various from easy to hard. Some technical, some human. Some might seem impossible. Then again you asked for unsolved problems or challenges. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | ### Change best practices into language features.
Some examples:
* Making sure that all references to HTML locators are done through Page Objects.
* Making sure Page Objects entries are unique, aren't duplicated and are actually used
* All code has tests or it is not accepted to the master branch
* All tests cover happy, sad and optional happy and sad paths
* Unit tests and acceptance tests don't duplicate each others tests
* All features include some level of volume testing
* Usability and accessibility is built-in and not optional
* Treat QE engineeers as full members of the development team
* Write one set of tests that work in all devices, browsers and versions
As you can see these various from easy to hard. Some technical, some human. Some might seem impossible. Then again you asked for unsolved problems or challenges. | Contribute a patch (fix a bug) in a popular open source software project.
Bug solved can be as ambitious as you can dare. There are many of them in any project. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | In a world of [continuous deployment](https://puppet.com/blog/continuous-delivery-vs-continuous-deployment-what-s-diff) test automation is becoming the most important form of testing.
The biggest problem with test automation is how do the engineers know they have covered all the important execution paths. There exists [code coverage](https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestCoverage.html), but that just finds untested code, it is not a quality target.
If you combine code coverage with [mutation testing](http://www.guru99.com/mutation-testing.html) it becomes better, but mutation testing is still too slow for large codebases. Also processing the results requires manual research. It is not repeatable continuously for these reasons.
There is something called [formal verification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_verification), but this seems to be so time consuming that I wonder if it is realistic for most software projects.
For me the biggest challenge is how do my engineers know they have written enough tests, while spending their time balanced between testing and coding. There is missing a good standard and most good techniques are currently to slow or to complex for complex systems. Coming up with a process that is automatable, (relatively) fast, lowers risks of defects significantly and which is repeatable seems like a great win for our industry.
You could discuss that such a process already exists, haven't people been testing software for ages? Sure, but a good testing process is slow as hell. The future needs something fast and furious. Test-automation helps, but still it is hard to know if you covered everything. Some help here would be great.
The second biggest problem with software quality is schooling:
* Engineers are not taught deep test-automation skills in school. Designing software that is testable and maintainable is nearly an art form.
* Engineers are not taught quality principles like [clean code](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0132350882).
I understand schools try to give students broad knowledge, but writing high quality code should be a standard that starts in your first weeks. So that you can practise it in your practical assignments over and over again. Unit-testing for example can not be a couple of classes to explain the basics. You need good understanding of the reasoning and how to structure your code. Then you also need a lot of practise and a larger project to make you see that test-automation is worth your while.
Maybe a new [programming paradigm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm) which includes code quality and testability as it primary focus. | How about language interpretation?
There has been lots of research going into language interpretation, but it is extremely difficult for a script to understand a sentence, within or without a context.
Letting along if a sentence is spoken, its tone will play a vital role in its meaning. E.g. **Thank you very much** can be interpreted as a sincere thank you or a sarcastic comment, depends on the tone it is spoken in.
It is more of a software development hurdle, especially when you data mine keywords and try to summarize it. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | It might be interesting for you to try to solve automated usability testing. This would include 508 testing and color recognition as well as trying to identify annoying things like having to click 3 times for something etc...
In general this is virtually impossible to automate as it's usually a user perception issue that is being tested for and a machine is not as capable at testing this. | **Testing graphics API interactions with OpenGL, Vulkan, etc.**
I am not sure if this fits your requirements, but while attempting to write unit tests for a graphical application I had to give up, because there were no solid methods to do this.
At least most of which I could find about were either extremely time-consuming and error-prone(mock interface took 5x the code needed for the tests than actual implementation) or worked only on complete systems that didn't want to change often. (Image comparison)
This is a practical problem that could be solved with clever engineering, so I am not sure if it fits a research subject. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | How about language interpretation?
There has been lots of research going into language interpretation, but it is extremely difficult for a script to understand a sentence, within or without a context.
Letting along if a sentence is spoken, its tone will play a vital role in its meaning. E.g. **Thank you very much** can be interpreted as a sincere thank you or a sarcastic comment, depends on the tone it is spoken in.
It is more of a software development hurdle, especially when you data mine keywords and try to summarize it. | Contribute a patch (fix a bug) in a popular open source software project.
Bug solved can be as ambitious as you can dare. There are many of them in any project. |
26,212 | I'm a computer science master's student and I need to write a research proposal for my software testing class.
>
> I need to find a problem in the software testing field that hasn't been solved yet and one that prevents engineers or researchers from being as effective at testing than they otherwise could be.
>
>
>
As I don't work in this field, it's been tough finding a problem or challenge that no one has been able to solve. So I'm wondering, are there any problems in software testing in which testers or researchers have yet to come up with a solution? | 2017/03/17 | [
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/26212",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com",
"https://sqa.stackexchange.com/users/24674/"
] | In a world of [continuous deployment](https://puppet.com/blog/continuous-delivery-vs-continuous-deployment-what-s-diff) test automation is becoming the most important form of testing.
The biggest problem with test automation is how do the engineers know they have covered all the important execution paths. There exists [code coverage](https://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestCoverage.html), but that just finds untested code, it is not a quality target.
If you combine code coverage with [mutation testing](http://www.guru99.com/mutation-testing.html) it becomes better, but mutation testing is still too slow for large codebases. Also processing the results requires manual research. It is not repeatable continuously for these reasons.
There is something called [formal verification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_verification), but this seems to be so time consuming that I wonder if it is realistic for most software projects.
For me the biggest challenge is how do my engineers know they have written enough tests, while spending their time balanced between testing and coding. There is missing a good standard and most good techniques are currently to slow or to complex for complex systems. Coming up with a process that is automatable, (relatively) fast, lowers risks of defects significantly and which is repeatable seems like a great win for our industry.
You could discuss that such a process already exists, haven't people been testing software for ages? Sure, but a good testing process is slow as hell. The future needs something fast and furious. Test-automation helps, but still it is hard to know if you covered everything. Some help here would be great.
The second biggest problem with software quality is schooling:
* Engineers are not taught deep test-automation skills in school. Designing software that is testable and maintainable is nearly an art form.
* Engineers are not taught quality principles like [clean code](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0132350882).
I understand schools try to give students broad knowledge, but writing high quality code should be a standard that starts in your first weeks. So that you can practise it in your practical assignments over and over again. Unit-testing for example can not be a couple of classes to explain the basics. You need good understanding of the reasoning and how to structure your code. Then you also need a lot of practise and a larger project to make you see that test-automation is worth your while.
Maybe a new [programming paradigm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm) which includes code quality and testability as it primary focus. | **Testing graphics API interactions with OpenGL, Vulkan, etc.**
I am not sure if this fits your requirements, but while attempting to write unit tests for a graphical application I had to give up, because there were no solid methods to do this.
At least most of which I could find about were either extremely time-consuming and error-prone(mock interface took 5x the code needed for the tests than actual implementation) or worked only on complete systems that didn't want to change often. (Image comparison)
This is a practical problem that could be solved with clever engineering, so I am not sure if it fits a research subject. |
3,377,810 | What I'm trying to do is have a clock widget of different sizes (i.e. 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 etc) in one apk and a configuration activity to be able to select which size to add.
From what i've learned from documentation:
1. Widget size is specified in <appwidget-provider> tag in respective xml file
2. Also in that file I set up the configuration activity for that provider
So it seems that size is a property of AppWidgetProvider and I'll need to somehow create another provider from the code in configuration Activity of the first one...
Or am I getting this wrong and there's another way?
Is this possible at all? :)
I've been told that some widgets can do this :)
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I have read [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2570004/how-to-add-multiple-widgets-in-one-app) and [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1860914/changing-widget-layout-programmatically). First one explains how to put multiple wigets in one apk, but it's not clear how to select between them in runtime. Second one is about changing layouts, but not size... | 2010/07/31 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3377810",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/258848/"
] | Do you really have to do this at **runtime?** It is possible to define several widgets in one **.apk.**
Maybe you can have a look on transdroid source? They are including two sizes of a widget in the same package.
[AndroidManifest.xml](http://code.google.com/p/transdroid/source/browse/android/AndroidManifest.xml?spec=svn6a69442c758d5cd9814a200e6751c9c860dd8f0d&r=1de55ccfce7be9fbcef5a7c2e1f5a07fecae7830) used by Transdroid | I hope I have read your question right and think I have your answer. I could rewrite this information or just point you to it (as I would more than likely not be able to do it justice).
<http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/appwidgets/index.html#Manifest>
Look under "Creating an App Widget Configuration Activity". The example is good as well.
By doing it this way you may not be able to set a certain layout sizes without a lot of editing but will allow for customization by the user (which is what you want correct?) |
3,377,810 | What I'm trying to do is have a clock widget of different sizes (i.e. 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 etc) in one apk and a configuration activity to be able to select which size to add.
From what i've learned from documentation:
1. Widget size is specified in <appwidget-provider> tag in respective xml file
2. Also in that file I set up the configuration activity for that provider
So it seems that size is a property of AppWidgetProvider and I'll need to somehow create another provider from the code in configuration Activity of the first one...
Or am I getting this wrong and there's another way?
Is this possible at all? :)
I've been told that some widgets can do this :)
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I have read [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2570004/how-to-add-multiple-widgets-in-one-app) and [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1860914/changing-widget-layout-programmatically). First one explains how to put multiple wigets in one apk, but it's not clear how to select between them in runtime. Second one is about changing layouts, but not size... | 2010/07/31 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3377810",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/258848/"
] | I hope I have read your question right and think I have your answer. I could rewrite this information or just point you to it (as I would more than likely not be able to do it justice).
<http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/appwidgets/index.html#Manifest>
Look under "Creating an App Widget Configuration Activity". The example is good as well.
By doing it this way you may not be able to set a certain layout sizes without a lot of editing but will allow for customization by the user (which is what you want correct?) | I have the same problem and was hoping to find a way to add only a single entry to the Widget list, and have the configuration activity decide the size, but I realize this is not possible.
When thinking about it, it's only fair: if the program would have the right to set the widget's size at runtime, one would maliciously increase the widget once added to the launcher, and occupy more real estate than it was authorized to.
So as mentioned above, the solution is to add multiple widget providers and let the user choose the size she wants. You can even use the same configuration Activity if the options are not related to style but only colors, or refresh periodicity. |
3,377,810 | What I'm trying to do is have a clock widget of different sizes (i.e. 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 etc) in one apk and a configuration activity to be able to select which size to add.
From what i've learned from documentation:
1. Widget size is specified in <appwidget-provider> tag in respective xml file
2. Also in that file I set up the configuration activity for that provider
So it seems that size is a property of AppWidgetProvider and I'll need to somehow create another provider from the code in configuration Activity of the first one...
Or am I getting this wrong and there's another way?
Is this possible at all? :)
I've been told that some widgets can do this :)
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I have read [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2570004/how-to-add-multiple-widgets-in-one-app) and [this](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1860914/changing-widget-layout-programmatically). First one explains how to put multiple wigets in one apk, but it's not clear how to select between them in runtime. Second one is about changing layouts, but not size... | 2010/07/31 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3377810",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/258848/"
] | Do you really have to do this at **runtime?** It is possible to define several widgets in one **.apk.**
Maybe you can have a look on transdroid source? They are including two sizes of a widget in the same package.
[AndroidManifest.xml](http://code.google.com/p/transdroid/source/browse/android/AndroidManifest.xml?spec=svn6a69442c758d5cd9814a200e6751c9c860dd8f0d&r=1de55ccfce7be9fbcef5a7c2e1f5a07fecae7830) used by Transdroid | I have the same problem and was hoping to find a way to add only a single entry to the Widget list, and have the configuration activity decide the size, but I realize this is not possible.
When thinking about it, it's only fair: if the program would have the right to set the widget's size at runtime, one would maliciously increase the widget once added to the launcher, and occupy more real estate than it was authorized to.
So as mentioned above, the solution is to add multiple widget providers and let the user choose the size she wants. You can even use the same configuration Activity if the options are not related to style but only colors, or refresh periodicity. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | You also absolutely never can loose your temper. If you are quick to anger or have a temper this is absolutely not the job for you. If you can manage to teach the instrument in an intellectually engaging manner than that will also be a big feather in your cap.
There is somethings you should realise that will inevitably happen.
Parents will try and duke you out of your money. Be firm.
Not every child you teach will be motivated. Some may even just be plain lazy.
You may come across people who are not willing to accept your tutelage. There is very little you can do for these people.
If you want to set yourself apart from other teacher I would advise you to do the jobs that very few other teachers are willing to do ie sight reading, aural skills and theory. | As a teacher, one should not be **strictly** restricting the timings of teaching. By *strictly*, I mean, I have seen cases, where teachers have a funda like 45 minutes of teaching and 15 minutes of doubt clearing. After exactly 45 mins, the teacher will stop teaching in whatever case and exactly after 15 minutes the tution will end.
Being professional is okay, but somewhere, one should be flexible enough to give more time to students whenever required. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | Qualities a guitar teacher needs to have:
Patience. You need patience to sit through lessons with struggling students while keeping a positive attitude.
Motivation. You really need to be motivated about teaching. A lot of guitar teachers aren't motivated about teaching but see it as a way to earn money with their guitar skills.
Communication. This is a skill every teacher should possess regardless of what he is teaching.
Teaching ability. Not everyone makes a good teacher. Some people are skilled in their profession but make bad teachers for whatever reasons. Teaching is after all a skill in itself.
Playing ability. You need a certain level of mastery with the instrument.
As for things a guitar teacher should not have, I would say the exact opposite. This would be a teacher who is bored during the lesson. Isn't motivated to get his student to learn, cannot communication whit his student properly, etc.
These insights were given to me by a former guitar teacher of mine, Micheal Murray. | You also absolutely never can loose your temper. If you are quick to anger or have a temper this is absolutely not the job for you. If you can manage to teach the instrument in an intellectually engaging manner than that will also be a big feather in your cap.
There is somethings you should realise that will inevitably happen.
Parents will try and duke you out of your money. Be firm.
Not every child you teach will be motivated. Some may even just be plain lazy.
You may come across people who are not willing to accept your tutelage. There is very little you can do for these people.
If you want to set yourself apart from other teacher I would advise you to do the jobs that very few other teachers are willing to do ie sight reading, aural skills and theory. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | At its simplest level, to teach any musical instrument, you need to be able to play the instrument yourself and you need the communication skills to show others how to do it. Beyond that, and what I think will answer your question more helpfully, is if I say what I think are the qualities needed, not just to be guitar teacher, but to be a *successful* guitar teacher. I think it boils down to three key qualities - versatility, knowledge and reliability.
1) Versatility. It's not enough to just be a "good guitar player". Unless you are a famous recording/performing artist, travelling around giving master classes in your particular playing speciality, you will not earn a living as a guitar teacher by just teaching one or two styles e.g. rock and blues. Nor do students want you thrusting your narrow tastes or repertoire onto them. You have to cater for a very wide range of tastes and aspirations - acoustic, electric, finger picking, plectrum, jazz, metal, blues country, folk etc and be competent in all those areas. And unless you are appropriately qualified, this should specifically exclude intermediate and advanced level classical guitar, which should be left to classical guitar teachers.
2) Knowledge. Being a teacher is ultimately about imparting knowledge. Of course you need the skills to play the things you teach, but you need to teach the theory behind it, plus be prepared to answer questions that arise along the way. It also helps to have a broad and eclectic knowledge of guitar music, plus a reasonable knowledge of guitars, amps and accessories.
3) Reliability. Whether you teach one person or forty people a week, you need to be reliable and self motivated enough to make each student feel as if he/she is your only customer. That way they are much more likely to stick around. To that end you must do all of these things 100% of the time: follow up promised actions, be contactable between lessons to respond to questions e.g. about lesson material, be quick with your resonses eg within 24 hours, write up notes after lessons and thoroughly plan prior to lessons. You must also present yourself in a way that instills confidence in students and particularly parents of students that you are someone they can do business with.
Hope this helps! | **Elements of Guitar Teaching:**
**Timing:**
Timing is the name of the game. You have to schedule students at intervals. It is the worst part of the job (besides trying to get paid) @Pam is wrong *(because you have to be able to quantify your value in some way, and clients can't just come to you whenever, they need a schedule too. If there is a schedule, there is often a required end time to the lesson.)* but it is proof of how important timing is. Some times you want the student to go home early, and with others you may want them to stay another hour, and yet you are often stuck with a fixed time period regardless. You develop an internal clock and learn how long a half hour feels like. Maybe you need to set a timer to keep you straight. I am not saying you need to be stingy with your time, but I am saying that you don't always get a choice. You learn that some students like to talk and take up too much time and others just sit and listen and never seem engaged. You get saddled with a schedule, either that or you aren't making money. You cope with time. Time is your enemy. A lot of students think they are paying for time, but they are wrong. They are paying for coaching and knowledge. Still time rules everything you do as a teacher. It is your only tangible commodity.
**Observe:**
Students are not just paying for a teacher. They are paying for a coach. Look for the week spots in your students musical abilities and find ways to get the student to work on them and improve them. Each student will have a different problem that they need to solve to get to the next level. It is your job to find that part, and find multiple ways to get the student to work on them. Sometimes you can find a way to make working on that problem fun. Other times you can trick the student into working on that problem by switching gears and working on a new piece or exercise. Sometimes you need to be direct. Use your cleverness to inspire and motivate your students to work on the things that they would otherwise ignore.
**Your skills:**
I say that you need the following guitar skills in order to be effective. These should be skills that you want to impart to your students:
* **Rhythm guitar:** You must know around 30 different chords in the open position. You must know the basic strumming pattern(s) (I assert there are not very many, and one will do if it is the right one.). Consider learning Travis Picking (a popular finger picking style). You should also be able to handle almost any bar chord. You should also know how to play power chords with ease. Consider learning jazz chords, they are really cool. Freddy Green is the man.
* **Scales:** You must know the pentatonics. You must know your major scales, and the natural minor ones. You should consider knowing all the modes, harmonic and melodic minor, whole tone scales, exotic scales, and arpeggios.
* **Reading Music** Many guitar teachers teach guitar without teaching reading music. I say it is a must. Parents are paying you to teach their children the serious stuff, not just the fun stuff. If you are skipping the reading music there are some parents that will feel cheated if they ever find out. Just like reading text, reading music opens up worlds of musical knowledge and should not be avoided.
* **Tablature** Just because you teach sight reading, doesn't mean you should avoid tablature. Tablature is the lifeblood of the internet connected guitarist. Teach your students how to handle tablature, or your students will miss a world of knowledge just as vast and varied and rich as reading music. Give your students some examples that represent the imperfect tablature they will see on the internet so they know what is out there and how it can still be useful.
* **Guitar maintenance and care** This can easily be filled in. If you don't know enough, go guitar window shopping at 5 different shops and ask the sales man about guitar care and maintenance. 4 of them will mostly have good ideas about it.
* **Optional specializations** consider knowing the basics of major specializations: Jazz, Classical, Rock, Country, Blues, Slide, Finger Style, Folk, alternate tunings (Finger style, slide, folk, rock)
**Standardize some lessons:** Consider developing a list of songs that you can use to teach even to a beginner to sound cool. Have standard lessons memorized that teach songs that are easy but recognizable such as smoke on the water. I have met many kids who say they know guitar, but can only play that song. You student should be able to play some easy tunes like that as a beginner or playing guitar runs the risk of not being fun. Sometimes these are the songs that you pull out when you are facing a student who needs to be inspired and turned on.
**Write Things Down:** In most lessons most of your students will not remember much of your lesson when they leave your studio. Write down anything that you want your student to take away from the lesson and make sure they take it with them. Also write down their lesson assignments for the week. Include dates on every page so when they look back at when they learn something they can gauge how far they have come and how you have helped them get there; Or they can see what their lack of practice is costing them in terms of time. This is similar to what @Alex Basson is saying.
**Neat Penmanship, or printed handouts:** If your hand writing sucks, and you are constantly writing your ideas down to your students it is like entering a beauty contest after rubbing a balloon on your head so your hair sticks up the worst way possible. Find some way to combat your bad handwriting, if you have bad handwriting (like me).
**Put your best foot forward:** Develop a clear explanation of your teaching much in the same way that teachers in college hand out a syllabus on the first day. Explain your policies on the first lesson and reinforce it with a hand out. It will save you arguments later. Better to be clear and honest from the beginning. The students who will balk at reasonable lesson policies are the same students that are not committed.
**Protect yourself** If you are privately running a studio, present a simple contract to your students about rates, rights and responsibilities. It can be combined with the information from "Put your best foot forward" above. I recommend that you do this even when working for a store or school. Ordinarily I would not use this as a legal tool, but it is possible that in some cases there is no choice. Further, if you are running your own studio, invite the parents to be in the room with the lesson. This does two things, 1) There is no better way to prove that the lessons are indeed lessons, and valuable. 2) It makes communication with the parents more valuable and creates a stronger bond with your clients. 3) The parents who do sit through the lesson are protecting you in some small way from most false accusations of wrongdoing.
**Kindness and responsibility:** I do strongly support @bleakcabal's answer. I would add to that: Try to find ways to complement your students, especially when you can tell they do good work. Find ways to make it easy for them to practice and know what you want them to practice. Sometimes I found that having a simple form to fill in with practice assignments and the date was effective in helping me in a number of ways: It helped me remember what they were doing. It helped me remember their name (write their name on it). It helped the students know what was expected from them each practice that week.
**Transcribe:** While I would not require the skill of listening to music with the ability to quickly figure out the music and write it down, many students expect it, and it is a valuable skill. Don't take music home and transcribe it, do it in front of them. Let them see that it is a skill that can be learned. Show them how to play the piece as you figure it out. Encourage your students to figure out parts of the song that you didn't get to and bring it back with them the next week. Give them some guidance (hints) that will help them narrow the scope of possibilities and figure it out.
**Catch Phrase:** I had a catch phrase that I would say after each lesson that gave them a gentle push to practice and do well: it was something like: "Have a good week, practice every day and become a guitar genius." It was awkward for me to say at first, but I got to a point where I changed it every time while basically saying the same thing. Further, sometimes I would accidentally find myself saying it to people who were not students when leaving their presence. I also had the same way I would start a lesson that turned the catch phrase into a question: "Did you have a good week? Did you practice every day? You do know it's the same thing right?" "Are you a guitar genius yet?" I would always say something like "fantastic" or "awesome" to any positive response.
**Other answers:** There are some other good answers here. I would point out the following answers as extra valuable: @bleakcabal, @Neil Meyer, and @h22 |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | At its simplest level, to teach any musical instrument, you need to be able to play the instrument yourself and you need the communication skills to show others how to do it. Beyond that, and what I think will answer your question more helpfully, is if I say what I think are the qualities needed, not just to be guitar teacher, but to be a *successful* guitar teacher. I think it boils down to three key qualities - versatility, knowledge and reliability.
1) Versatility. It's not enough to just be a "good guitar player". Unless you are a famous recording/performing artist, travelling around giving master classes in your particular playing speciality, you will not earn a living as a guitar teacher by just teaching one or two styles e.g. rock and blues. Nor do students want you thrusting your narrow tastes or repertoire onto them. You have to cater for a very wide range of tastes and aspirations - acoustic, electric, finger picking, plectrum, jazz, metal, blues country, folk etc and be competent in all those areas. And unless you are appropriately qualified, this should specifically exclude intermediate and advanced level classical guitar, which should be left to classical guitar teachers.
2) Knowledge. Being a teacher is ultimately about imparting knowledge. Of course you need the skills to play the things you teach, but you need to teach the theory behind it, plus be prepared to answer questions that arise along the way. It also helps to have a broad and eclectic knowledge of guitar music, plus a reasonable knowledge of guitars, amps and accessories.
3) Reliability. Whether you teach one person or forty people a week, you need to be reliable and self motivated enough to make each student feel as if he/she is your only customer. That way they are much more likely to stick around. To that end you must do all of these things 100% of the time: follow up promised actions, be contactable between lessons to respond to questions e.g. about lesson material, be quick with your resonses eg within 24 hours, write up notes after lessons and thoroughly plan prior to lessons. You must also present yourself in a way that instills confidence in students and particularly parents of students that you are someone they can do business with.
Hope this helps! | As a former guitar teacher, I would agree with bleak's answer. Being able to play well is very important, but if you do not have the ability to communicate the knowledge to the student, you will not be a good teacher. In that sense, it is like teaching any subject.
Unfortunately, many music stores hire the local rock star to teach, knowing they will draw a crowd. It becomes painfully obvious over time that this person cannot actually teach.
Ultimately, I believe teaching is a gift. There is an internal desire to impart knowledge and a willingness to creatively adapt the teaching to the individual student. While teaching skills can certainly be polished, one who is not a natural teacher will only be so effective. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | Qualities a guitar teacher needs to have:
Patience. You need patience to sit through lessons with struggling students while keeping a positive attitude.
Motivation. You really need to be motivated about teaching. A lot of guitar teachers aren't motivated about teaching but see it as a way to earn money with their guitar skills.
Communication. This is a skill every teacher should possess regardless of what he is teaching.
Teaching ability. Not everyone makes a good teacher. Some people are skilled in their profession but make bad teachers for whatever reasons. Teaching is after all a skill in itself.
Playing ability. You need a certain level of mastery with the instrument.
As for things a guitar teacher should not have, I would say the exact opposite. This would be a teacher who is bored during the lesson. Isn't motivated to get his student to learn, cannot communication whit his student properly, etc.
These insights were given to me by a former guitar teacher of mine, Micheal Murray. | As a teacher, one should not be **strictly** restricting the timings of teaching. By *strictly*, I mean, I have seen cases, where teachers have a funda like 45 minutes of teaching and 15 minutes of doubt clearing. After exactly 45 mins, the teacher will stop teaching in whatever case and exactly after 15 minutes the tution will end.
Being professional is okay, but somewhere, one should be flexible enough to give more time to students whenever required. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | I've had two guitar teachers. One of them was a solid, competent musician and an incredible teacher. I learned more in the year-plus I studied with him than I've ever learned about any subject from anyone over any two year period. The other teacher was a brilliant musician, highly regarded and successful, played with some of the biggest names in the industry---but I hardly learned anything from him.
What was the difference between them? Simply put: the quality of the homework assignments. Keep in mind the most important rule of teaching: you're job isn't actually to dispense knowledge and expertise. Your job is to **be a guide for the student's own path** to learning how to play.
Understand: your students won't actually learn much during their lesson with you. They will do the vast bulk of their learning during their own practice time. The best thing you can do for them is to make sure they know how to spend that time in the best, most efficient way possible. With that in mind, my advice is to:
Assign Specific, Clear, and Level-Appropriate Homework
------------------------------------------------------
The great teacher had an ability to discern where I was as a guitarist and devise homework for the week that challenged me and pushed my limits without overwhelming me. The assignments were *very* specific and clear. A typical weekly assignment might be:
* Practice the mixolydian mode using these six different fingerings. Each fingering is associated with a specific dominant 7th chord voicing. Play the chord, then play the scale, then play the chord. Move one fret up and repeat. (He had about eight different exercises per scale: chord-scale-chord, three-note-groups, four-note-groups, in thirds, etc. A different exercise each week).
* Practice the dominant 7th arpeggios the same way as the scales.
* Play page 15 from your sight reading book (which he provided, at my cost).
* Play this tune from the Real Book, in the following way:
+ Play the melody in 7th position.
+ Play each chord in the following positions (then he would go through the entire tune and write fretboard positions for each chord). Play the chords in the Freddie Green comping style.
+ Play through the changes using arpeggios. In other words, if the changes are BbM7-Gm7-Cm7-F7, play a BbM7 arpeggion, then a Gm7 arpeggio, a Cm7 arpeggio, and an F7 arpeggio.
* Learn this Joe Pass chord-melody.
* Write your own chord-melody for X tune.
Obviously, I was learning jazz, and this lesson might not be appropriate for a different student. But the point is that it was **specific, clear, and appropriate** for my ability at the time. When I went home, I knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and when I came back the next week, I could show him what I was able to learn and what I wasn't, and he adjusted accordingly. Each week, he laid down the tracks in the direction he felt I needed to go, and I simply followed them.
The not-so-great teacher was much more vague. He'd say things like, "Play that solo the way Miles would play it." That's not helpful. He'd give me homework like, "Go home and think about all the different ways you can play a chord," instead of, "Play this chord here, here, and here." I'd leave the lesson not knowing how I should spend my practice time, and so I wouldn't actually learn anything. Of my two teachers, he may have been the better musician, but I didn't get all that much out of our time together.
Know your students' current level and assign them homework that pushes them just enough. Make sure it's challenging so that they don't get bored, but make sure it isn't overwhelming so they don't get frustrated. This is easier said than done, but if you strike that balance just right, your students will have an amazing learning experience with you. | As a teacher, one should not be **strictly** restricting the timings of teaching. By *strictly*, I mean, I have seen cases, where teachers have a funda like 45 minutes of teaching and 15 minutes of doubt clearing. After exactly 45 mins, the teacher will stop teaching in whatever case and exactly after 15 minutes the tution will end.
Being professional is okay, but somewhere, one should be flexible enough to give more time to students whenever required. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | At its simplest level, to teach any musical instrument, you need to be able to play the instrument yourself and you need the communication skills to show others how to do it. Beyond that, and what I think will answer your question more helpfully, is if I say what I think are the qualities needed, not just to be guitar teacher, but to be a *successful* guitar teacher. I think it boils down to three key qualities - versatility, knowledge and reliability.
1) Versatility. It's not enough to just be a "good guitar player". Unless you are a famous recording/performing artist, travelling around giving master classes in your particular playing speciality, you will not earn a living as a guitar teacher by just teaching one or two styles e.g. rock and blues. Nor do students want you thrusting your narrow tastes or repertoire onto them. You have to cater for a very wide range of tastes and aspirations - acoustic, electric, finger picking, plectrum, jazz, metal, blues country, folk etc and be competent in all those areas. And unless you are appropriately qualified, this should specifically exclude intermediate and advanced level classical guitar, which should be left to classical guitar teachers.
2) Knowledge. Being a teacher is ultimately about imparting knowledge. Of course you need the skills to play the things you teach, but you need to teach the theory behind it, plus be prepared to answer questions that arise along the way. It also helps to have a broad and eclectic knowledge of guitar music, plus a reasonable knowledge of guitars, amps and accessories.
3) Reliability. Whether you teach one person or forty people a week, you need to be reliable and self motivated enough to make each student feel as if he/she is your only customer. That way they are much more likely to stick around. To that end you must do all of these things 100% of the time: follow up promised actions, be contactable between lessons to respond to questions e.g. about lesson material, be quick with your resonses eg within 24 hours, write up notes after lessons and thoroughly plan prior to lessons. You must also present yourself in a way that instills confidence in students and particularly parents of students that you are someone they can do business with.
Hope this helps! | You also absolutely never can loose your temper. If you are quick to anger or have a temper this is absolutely not the job for you. If you can manage to teach the instrument in an intellectually engaging manner than that will also be a big feather in your cap.
There is somethings you should realise that will inevitably happen.
Parents will try and duke you out of your money. Be firm.
Not every child you teach will be motivated. Some may even just be plain lazy.
You may come across people who are not willing to accept your tutelage. There is very little you can do for these people.
If you want to set yourself apart from other teacher I would advise you to do the jobs that very few other teachers are willing to do ie sight reading, aural skills and theory. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | From the view point of the student:
* as much as this depends on you, plan the lesson carefully enough do not break it abruptly and demonstratively because the time has ran out.
* know the goals of the student. If the student is not sure about goals, help to choose, listing the possible options.
* a student may actually not know how to talk with the teacher, what to ask for and what to say. Help him with conversation.
* summarize the achievements and state the now following immediate goals. This does not take long and can be done during the lesson time.
* be very polite in suggesting to train more, do not overpressure and in general avoid raising this concern unless you see further progress is difficult to not possible without more practicing. The student may be busy earning money to pay for your lessons or maybe there is a session in the university. | As a teacher, one should not be **strictly** restricting the timings of teaching. By *strictly*, I mean, I have seen cases, where teachers have a funda like 45 minutes of teaching and 15 minutes of doubt clearing. After exactly 45 mins, the teacher will stop teaching in whatever case and exactly after 15 minutes the tution will end.
Being professional is okay, but somewhere, one should be flexible enough to give more time to students whenever required. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | Qualities a guitar teacher needs to have:
Patience. You need patience to sit through lessons with struggling students while keeping a positive attitude.
Motivation. You really need to be motivated about teaching. A lot of guitar teachers aren't motivated about teaching but see it as a way to earn money with their guitar skills.
Communication. This is a skill every teacher should possess regardless of what he is teaching.
Teaching ability. Not everyone makes a good teacher. Some people are skilled in their profession but make bad teachers for whatever reasons. Teaching is after all a skill in itself.
Playing ability. You need a certain level of mastery with the instrument.
As for things a guitar teacher should not have, I would say the exact opposite. This would be a teacher who is bored during the lesson. Isn't motivated to get his student to learn, cannot communication whit his student properly, etc.
These insights were given to me by a former guitar teacher of mine, Micheal Murray. | I've had two guitar teachers. One of them was a solid, competent musician and an incredible teacher. I learned more in the year-plus I studied with him than I've ever learned about any subject from anyone over any two year period. The other teacher was a brilliant musician, highly regarded and successful, played with some of the biggest names in the industry---but I hardly learned anything from him.
What was the difference between them? Simply put: the quality of the homework assignments. Keep in mind the most important rule of teaching: you're job isn't actually to dispense knowledge and expertise. Your job is to **be a guide for the student's own path** to learning how to play.
Understand: your students won't actually learn much during their lesson with you. They will do the vast bulk of their learning during their own practice time. The best thing you can do for them is to make sure they know how to spend that time in the best, most efficient way possible. With that in mind, my advice is to:
Assign Specific, Clear, and Level-Appropriate Homework
------------------------------------------------------
The great teacher had an ability to discern where I was as a guitarist and devise homework for the week that challenged me and pushed my limits without overwhelming me. The assignments were *very* specific and clear. A typical weekly assignment might be:
* Practice the mixolydian mode using these six different fingerings. Each fingering is associated with a specific dominant 7th chord voicing. Play the chord, then play the scale, then play the chord. Move one fret up and repeat. (He had about eight different exercises per scale: chord-scale-chord, three-note-groups, four-note-groups, in thirds, etc. A different exercise each week).
* Practice the dominant 7th arpeggios the same way as the scales.
* Play page 15 from your sight reading book (which he provided, at my cost).
* Play this tune from the Real Book, in the following way:
+ Play the melody in 7th position.
+ Play each chord in the following positions (then he would go through the entire tune and write fretboard positions for each chord). Play the chords in the Freddie Green comping style.
+ Play through the changes using arpeggios. In other words, if the changes are BbM7-Gm7-Cm7-F7, play a BbM7 arpeggion, then a Gm7 arpeggio, a Cm7 arpeggio, and an F7 arpeggio.
* Learn this Joe Pass chord-melody.
* Write your own chord-melody for X tune.
Obviously, I was learning jazz, and this lesson might not be appropriate for a different student. But the point is that it was **specific, clear, and appropriate** for my ability at the time. When I went home, I knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and when I came back the next week, I could show him what I was able to learn and what I wasn't, and he adjusted accordingly. Each week, he laid down the tracks in the direction he felt I needed to go, and I simply followed them.
The not-so-great teacher was much more vague. He'd say things like, "Play that solo the way Miles would play it." That's not helpful. He'd give me homework like, "Go home and think about all the different ways you can play a chord," instead of, "Play this chord here, here, and here." I'd leave the lesson not knowing how I should spend my practice time, and so I wouldn't actually learn anything. Of my two teachers, he may have been the better musician, but I didn't get all that much out of our time together.
Know your students' current level and assign them homework that pushes them just enough. Make sure it's challenging so that they don't get bored, but make sure it isn't overwhelming so they don't get frustrated. This is easier said than done, but if you strike that balance just right, your students will have an amazing learning experience with you. |
2,556 | I am thinking of starting guitar teaching and, of course, I am aiming to become a good guitar teacher. I don't think it will happen in the near future, because I don't have enough skill level yet, but since this is my plan, I think it's a good time to start thinking about it.
So, I would like experienced players to answer two questions:
1. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must
have** and how to acquire them? And why?
2. What personal and professional
qualities a guitar teacher **must not
have** and how to avoid them? And why? | 2011/03/27 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/2556",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/431/"
] | I've had two guitar teachers. One of them was a solid, competent musician and an incredible teacher. I learned more in the year-plus I studied with him than I've ever learned about any subject from anyone over any two year period. The other teacher was a brilliant musician, highly regarded and successful, played with some of the biggest names in the industry---but I hardly learned anything from him.
What was the difference between them? Simply put: the quality of the homework assignments. Keep in mind the most important rule of teaching: you're job isn't actually to dispense knowledge and expertise. Your job is to **be a guide for the student's own path** to learning how to play.
Understand: your students won't actually learn much during their lesson with you. They will do the vast bulk of their learning during their own practice time. The best thing you can do for them is to make sure they know how to spend that time in the best, most efficient way possible. With that in mind, my advice is to:
Assign Specific, Clear, and Level-Appropriate Homework
------------------------------------------------------
The great teacher had an ability to discern where I was as a guitarist and devise homework for the week that challenged me and pushed my limits without overwhelming me. The assignments were *very* specific and clear. A typical weekly assignment might be:
* Practice the mixolydian mode using these six different fingerings. Each fingering is associated with a specific dominant 7th chord voicing. Play the chord, then play the scale, then play the chord. Move one fret up and repeat. (He had about eight different exercises per scale: chord-scale-chord, three-note-groups, four-note-groups, in thirds, etc. A different exercise each week).
* Practice the dominant 7th arpeggios the same way as the scales.
* Play page 15 from your sight reading book (which he provided, at my cost).
* Play this tune from the Real Book, in the following way:
+ Play the melody in 7th position.
+ Play each chord in the following positions (then he would go through the entire tune and write fretboard positions for each chord). Play the chords in the Freddie Green comping style.
+ Play through the changes using arpeggios. In other words, if the changes are BbM7-Gm7-Cm7-F7, play a BbM7 arpeggion, then a Gm7 arpeggio, a Cm7 arpeggio, and an F7 arpeggio.
* Learn this Joe Pass chord-melody.
* Write your own chord-melody for X tune.
Obviously, I was learning jazz, and this lesson might not be appropriate for a different student. But the point is that it was **specific, clear, and appropriate** for my ability at the time. When I went home, I knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and when I came back the next week, I could show him what I was able to learn and what I wasn't, and he adjusted accordingly. Each week, he laid down the tracks in the direction he felt I needed to go, and I simply followed them.
The not-so-great teacher was much more vague. He'd say things like, "Play that solo the way Miles would play it." That's not helpful. He'd give me homework like, "Go home and think about all the different ways you can play a chord," instead of, "Play this chord here, here, and here." I'd leave the lesson not knowing how I should spend my practice time, and so I wouldn't actually learn anything. Of my two teachers, he may have been the better musician, but I didn't get all that much out of our time together.
Know your students' current level and assign them homework that pushes them just enough. Make sure it's challenging so that they don't get bored, but make sure it isn't overwhelming so they don't get frustrated. This is easier said than done, but if you strike that balance just right, your students will have an amazing learning experience with you. | At its simplest level, to teach any musical instrument, you need to be able to play the instrument yourself and you need the communication skills to show others how to do it. Beyond that, and what I think will answer your question more helpfully, is if I say what I think are the qualities needed, not just to be guitar teacher, but to be a *successful* guitar teacher. I think it boils down to three key qualities - versatility, knowledge and reliability.
1) Versatility. It's not enough to just be a "good guitar player". Unless you are a famous recording/performing artist, travelling around giving master classes in your particular playing speciality, you will not earn a living as a guitar teacher by just teaching one or two styles e.g. rock and blues. Nor do students want you thrusting your narrow tastes or repertoire onto them. You have to cater for a very wide range of tastes and aspirations - acoustic, electric, finger picking, plectrum, jazz, metal, blues country, folk etc and be competent in all those areas. And unless you are appropriately qualified, this should specifically exclude intermediate and advanced level classical guitar, which should be left to classical guitar teachers.
2) Knowledge. Being a teacher is ultimately about imparting knowledge. Of course you need the skills to play the things you teach, but you need to teach the theory behind it, plus be prepared to answer questions that arise along the way. It also helps to have a broad and eclectic knowledge of guitar music, plus a reasonable knowledge of guitars, amps and accessories.
3) Reliability. Whether you teach one person or forty people a week, you need to be reliable and self motivated enough to make each student feel as if he/she is your only customer. That way they are much more likely to stick around. To that end you must do all of these things 100% of the time: follow up promised actions, be contactable between lessons to respond to questions e.g. about lesson material, be quick with your resonses eg within 24 hours, write up notes after lessons and thoroughly plan prior to lessons. You must also present yourself in a way that instills confidence in students and particularly parents of students that you are someone they can do business with.
Hope this helps! |
308,516 | I recently dupehammered (verb: to close a question with the dupehammer) [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33247017/printing-a-sentence-and-a-list-in-python) as a dupe of [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44778/how-would-you-make-a-comma-separated-string-from-a-list). The user wasn't too happy about it. Was it an appropriate dupe close or did I make a mistake?
In reality he had two issues: one of how to join the list, and another of how to print both strings. The latter [also already has a question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15286401/print-multiple-arguments-in-python) though I only figured this out later. I thought joining the list was the hard part and he could figure out the rest on his own.
I could have easily written a nice answer answering the question exactly, it being a very simple question. It was a good question otherwise, explaining exactly what he needed and what he already tried. Both me and the user would have been happier. And it seems the net effect would have been the same had I done that vs. had I linked him to both questions - to answer his question - yet it would have been less conflict-inducing to just answer it rather than close it as a dupe.
I know what it feels like to feel like someone is hypervigilant in criticizing/downvoting/closing my questions and being apparently unhelpful. This time I found myself playing the role of that hypervigilant guy, and I didn't quite like it. | 2015/10/21 | [
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/308516",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/15055/"
] | It looks fine to me. The OP has two issues in general - the printing of the list without the brackets, and they must be on Python 2 since they're printing a tuple out.
They're going to be upset that their question wasn't *verbatim* answered by the dupe, but that's a thing that happens. The crux of the question was well-answered by the duplicate, *and* it does exactly what they want it to, so I don't see any issue with this dupe closing. | I think the real issue here isn't even the dupehammer, it's just the general laziness of OP and his unhappiness and his seemingly immature responses making you feel like anything was your fault and thereby doubting any and all of your actions (including closing it as a dupe).
I personally disliked the entire structure of his 'question' as it seemed more like he hadn't even attempted to read up on any Python and it's general demeanor came off as "I want to do this, I can't do this, tell me how to do this" which isn't even entirely unintentional to me.
Your decision was correct and, going to be blunt here, if he doesn't have half the rest of his brain to put some effort in to actually work something out, his discontent should not make you question the almighty dupehammer. |
308,516 | I recently dupehammered (verb: to close a question with the dupehammer) [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33247017/printing-a-sentence-and-a-list-in-python) as a dupe of [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44778/how-would-you-make-a-comma-separated-string-from-a-list). The user wasn't too happy about it. Was it an appropriate dupe close or did I make a mistake?
In reality he had two issues: one of how to join the list, and another of how to print both strings. The latter [also already has a question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15286401/print-multiple-arguments-in-python) though I only figured this out later. I thought joining the list was the hard part and he could figure out the rest on his own.
I could have easily written a nice answer answering the question exactly, it being a very simple question. It was a good question otherwise, explaining exactly what he needed and what he already tried. Both me and the user would have been happier. And it seems the net effect would have been the same had I done that vs. had I linked him to both questions - to answer his question - yet it would have been less conflict-inducing to just answer it rather than close it as a dupe.
I know what it feels like to feel like someone is hypervigilant in criticizing/downvoting/closing my questions and being apparently unhelpful. This time I found myself playing the role of that hypervigilant guy, and I didn't quite like it. | 2015/10/21 | [
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/308516",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/15055/"
] | A good Stack Overflow question contains just a single problem statement, one which is not answered by any other question on Stack Overflow. As near as I can tell, the question in question fails to meet either of these criteria. And since it fails the second criteria, it's eligible to be closed as a duplicate.
You shouldn't feel bad about complying with the standards of the site. As others have pointed out, people very often complain any time something they perceive as negative happens to them. That's more a reflection on them, than on you.
So why I am even answering? Because I will also point out: Stack Overflow has a community-driven mechanism for overriding your dupe hammer. Indeed, in what has probably been over a hundred applications of my dupe hammer, I have twice (that I can recall) closed as a duplicate a question that was later reopened by the community. In one case, I disagree with the judgment, but I accept that I will not always agree with the community. In the other case, the community's judgment was sound; I read through the question too quickly, and misinterpreted what was the core of the problem.
In either case, you've got the community there to watch your back. **You should of course always be careful in the application of the dupe hammer.** And it's even reasonable to at least for a moment reconsider if the OP presents a reasonable objection. But beyond that, feel confident in your actions and trust that if you have somehow made a mistake you yourself are unable to recognize, the community will be right there to help rectify a mistake if made (and occasionally even override your decision even if one wasn't made).
If the community doesn't speak up, odds are very good that you made the correct choice. And not to diminish the value of your question here, but your time is better spent, instead of worrying about your use of the dupe hammer, helping the OP learn how they can research their question, present their separate questions in separate posts (to keep one question from being closed as a duplicate by association with another), and generalize answers to their questions based on identical but superficially-different questions.
(Time-permitting, of course; it's not actually your responsibility to do any of these things, but if you feel you can provide useful, constructive commentary that can guide the user in that direction, you might as well.) | It looks fine to me. The OP has two issues in general - the printing of the list without the brackets, and they must be on Python 2 since they're printing a tuple out.
They're going to be upset that their question wasn't *verbatim* answered by the dupe, but that's a thing that happens. The crux of the question was well-answered by the duplicate, *and* it does exactly what they want it to, so I don't see any issue with this dupe closing. |
308,516 | I recently dupehammered (verb: to close a question with the dupehammer) [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33247017/printing-a-sentence-and-a-list-in-python) as a dupe of [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44778/how-would-you-make-a-comma-separated-string-from-a-list). The user wasn't too happy about it. Was it an appropriate dupe close or did I make a mistake?
In reality he had two issues: one of how to join the list, and another of how to print both strings. The latter [also already has a question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15286401/print-multiple-arguments-in-python) though I only figured this out later. I thought joining the list was the hard part and he could figure out the rest on his own.
I could have easily written a nice answer answering the question exactly, it being a very simple question. It was a good question otherwise, explaining exactly what he needed and what he already tried. Both me and the user would have been happier. And it seems the net effect would have been the same had I done that vs. had I linked him to both questions - to answer his question - yet it would have been less conflict-inducing to just answer it rather than close it as a dupe.
I know what it feels like to feel like someone is hypervigilant in criticizing/downvoting/closing my questions and being apparently unhelpful. This time I found myself playing the role of that hypervigilant guy, and I didn't quite like it. | 2015/10/21 | [
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/308516",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/15055/"
] | A good Stack Overflow question contains just a single problem statement, one which is not answered by any other question on Stack Overflow. As near as I can tell, the question in question fails to meet either of these criteria. And since it fails the second criteria, it's eligible to be closed as a duplicate.
You shouldn't feel bad about complying with the standards of the site. As others have pointed out, people very often complain any time something they perceive as negative happens to them. That's more a reflection on them, than on you.
So why I am even answering? Because I will also point out: Stack Overflow has a community-driven mechanism for overriding your dupe hammer. Indeed, in what has probably been over a hundred applications of my dupe hammer, I have twice (that I can recall) closed as a duplicate a question that was later reopened by the community. In one case, I disagree with the judgment, but I accept that I will not always agree with the community. In the other case, the community's judgment was sound; I read through the question too quickly, and misinterpreted what was the core of the problem.
In either case, you've got the community there to watch your back. **You should of course always be careful in the application of the dupe hammer.** And it's even reasonable to at least for a moment reconsider if the OP presents a reasonable objection. But beyond that, feel confident in your actions and trust that if you have somehow made a mistake you yourself are unable to recognize, the community will be right there to help rectify a mistake if made (and occasionally even override your decision even if one wasn't made).
If the community doesn't speak up, odds are very good that you made the correct choice. And not to diminish the value of your question here, but your time is better spent, instead of worrying about your use of the dupe hammer, helping the OP learn how they can research their question, present their separate questions in separate posts (to keep one question from being closed as a duplicate by association with another), and generalize answers to their questions based on identical but superficially-different questions.
(Time-permitting, of course; it's not actually your responsibility to do any of these things, but if you feel you can provide useful, constructive commentary that can guide the user in that direction, you might as well.) | I think the real issue here isn't even the dupehammer, it's just the general laziness of OP and his unhappiness and his seemingly immature responses making you feel like anything was your fault and thereby doubting any and all of your actions (including closing it as a dupe).
I personally disliked the entire structure of his 'question' as it seemed more like he hadn't even attempted to read up on any Python and it's general demeanor came off as "I want to do this, I can't do this, tell me how to do this" which isn't even entirely unintentional to me.
Your decision was correct and, going to be blunt here, if he doesn't have half the rest of his brain to put some effort in to actually work something out, his discontent should not make you question the almighty dupehammer. |
12,030,767 | I've been looking into building a basic game engine from the ground up and after making a list of features that are common to other engines, one of the bigger things is the fact that they have an embedded scripting language like lua or python.
My question is how is an embedded scripting language superior to just making a header file (or something of the like) that the user can include in a c++ file which gives them access to many of the functions and states. I'm sure there's a very good answer out there, I just haven't stumbled on it yet.
Also beyond why it's needed, what are languages like lua used for in things like game engines? | 2012/08/19 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/12030767",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1610598/"
] | Lua is a far simpler language than C++, and all you need to edit it is a text editor. This puts the ability to script events and/or high level game logic in the hand of your designers and end users. Dynamic typing and garbage collecting allows them write very succinct code that focusses on game logic rather than all the systems-level housekeeping chores you get in a language like C++. It's also far easier to sandbox.
Lua is a popular choice because it's small, portable, hackable ANSI C code base; easy to embed, extend, and -- most importantly for game developers -- it has a minimal runtime footprint (one of the fastest interpreted languages). It's also a great combination of easy to learn/read/write syntax, but with powerful features like coroutines which can be very useful in games. | The reason for including a scripting language is to allow users to customize the behavior without having to recompile the code.
I'm not sure about what you are asking in the second part of the question. Are you asking what other languages are used, or are you asking what ways are languages like Lua used?
If you asked about what other languages are good for this, one such language is Tcl. Tcl was designed from the ground up to be an embedded scripting language, and is very mature and robust, and easily learned by non-technical people.
As for what scripting languages are good for ... configuration files is one way. By using a programming language rather than a text file with name/value pairs, it allows users to add logic to their start-up files. For example, maybe you allow users to assign different functions to keys on the keyboard; with a programming language they can add different functions for different computers. Or, if you're creating a game like a RPG, perhaps you can assign different keys for different character classes. If playing as a mage, F12 might be cast a spell, but if playing as a warrior f12 might be to do a finishing blow.
There are many ways to use scripting languages, and many different langages to choose from. It all boils down to allowing your users to customize the behavior of the game without having to recompile the code. |
12,030,767 | I've been looking into building a basic game engine from the ground up and after making a list of features that are common to other engines, one of the bigger things is the fact that they have an embedded scripting language like lua or python.
My question is how is an embedded scripting language superior to just making a header file (or something of the like) that the user can include in a c++ file which gives them access to many of the functions and states. I'm sure there's a very good answer out there, I just haven't stumbled on it yet.
Also beyond why it's needed, what are languages like lua used for in things like game engines? | 2012/08/19 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/12030767",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1610598/"
] | Lua is a far simpler language than C++, and all you need to edit it is a text editor. This puts the ability to script events and/or high level game logic in the hand of your designers and end users. Dynamic typing and garbage collecting allows them write very succinct code that focusses on game logic rather than all the systems-level housekeeping chores you get in a language like C++. It's also far easier to sandbox.
Lua is a popular choice because it's small, portable, hackable ANSI C code base; easy to embed, extend, and -- most importantly for game developers -- it has a minimal runtime footprint (one of the fastest interpreted languages). It's also a great combination of easy to learn/read/write syntax, but with powerful features like coroutines which can be very useful in games. | You might find this article by a Game developer useful in understanding why embedded languages are used.
<http://www.grimrock.net/2012/07/25/making-of-grimrock-rapid-programming/>
Another good reason, is unless you are sharing your source code with your game users and they are all C programmers, languages such as lua make it possible for users to extend the game, for example look at World of Warcraft. |
96,996 | Both the Trigger and the Rules modules provide many event-driven actions, but there are still several difference. What's the major difference between them? When should I pick one module instead of the other one? | 2013/12/12 | [
"https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/96996",
"https://drupal.stackexchange.com",
"https://drupal.stackexchange.com/users/20976/"
] | Loosely speaking, Rules is much more generic than triggers. As Johan Falk [mentions](http://nodeone.se/en/introduction-to-rules,), "you could say Rules is an extended version of Triggers.. it is technically true, but does not really cover at full extent." | Triggers is optional core module that provide basic functionality. Rules provide much more freedom and is more advanced module. But the both of them we can use together.
Here is an example for rules <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9SD2S69Fjw> |
50,423 | I am going to buy a lens hood for my AF-S DX NIKKOR
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR. I searched and I found out that the best lens hood is Nikon's [HB-45 lens hood](http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Lens-Hoods/HB-45-Lens-Hood.html).
However, I also found a newer version, the [HB-45 II lens hood on Amazon](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00BKW8XME) Is it compatible with my lens? I prefer the petal shape of the II version. | 2014/05/21 | [
"https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/50423",
"https://photo.stackexchange.com",
"https://photo.stackexchange.com/users/28164/"
] | **TLDR;**
No they dont.
**Long version;**
You are right. Modern films and digital sensors are highly insensitive to ultra violet and in most cases UV filters are just doing the protection job. This can be even problematic if the UV filter is of those cheap ones with no coating. This can result in lens flare, and low sharpness. This impact might be not easily detectable but exists nonetheless.
You can see the result of UV filters multiple by 19
[source](http://petapixel.com/2011/06/16/experimenting-with-stacks-of-uv-filters/).
So, when you have a good DSLR or if you are using modern films, using a bad UV is a bad idea. It will do the protection but it will bring down your photo quality. Maybe you can afford a good lens protection with the money that you pay for a mediocre UV filter.
**Personal opinion**
I think there are some reasons that people keep on using UV filters but since I don't have any proof for them, I put them here.
Those who are doing photography for years, already have a handful of high quality UV filters and buying new equipments doesn't make sense.
I personally use UV on a very good digital body and very good lens. The reason I do so, I think is more mental! I am an old school photographer and I don't feel comfortable without a UV filter in front of my optics (I'm very well aware that this can raise some arguments).
**Edit**
As @Aj Henderson in the comments suggests, clear glass protections are not necessary cheaper. Although I agree that in general UVs are more expensive. With that in mind, I think there are couple of reasons that buyers are suggested to purchase a UV in place of clear glass protection. Firstly, many sellers are not aware of the fact that UV filters offer nothing to DSLRs. They suggest because they don't know. More cynically, I think another reason is commercial. Despite of Aj's valid point, while glass protections are fairly cheap, a good UV filter can cost up to 100$. So it would be more beneficial for sellers to sell you a UV. | UV filter as lens protection is exceptionally bad idea. The best lens protection is plastic lens cap. It is far cheaper than UV filter, and it is sold together with lens anyway. This plastic cap is designed for protecting lens and do its job well. Moreover, putting it on and off is quick and easy, in opposite to screwing UV filter into lens thread.
You take the lens cap off only when taking photo. Scratching lens, or leaving finger marks on it while taking photo is very unlikely and definitely not worth the image quality degradation caused by UV filter. |
19,995,040 | I have a relatively simple portrait-only UI, laid out in a Storyboard, with items which I want to vertically spread to fill both 3.5 inch and 4 inch screens.
In other words, I want the spacing between the controls to be adjusted so that the UI nicely fills the screen, irrespective of the screen form factor.
This doesn't seem like an unusual thing to want to do, however I just can't get Interface Builder (within Xcode 5) to add the right constraints - I only seem to be able to get it to add fixed vertical space constraints, which do not adjust for different screen sizes.
Does anyone know how to do this without resorting to programmatic UI construction? I've invested a lot of effort in getting the Storyboard-based UI just right.
The solution needs to work on both iOS 6 and 7. Thanks! | 2013/11/15 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/19995040",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/233602/"
] | How to do this depends on exactly what kind of adjustment you want when the screen size changes. One way to do it to give the top and bottom most views vertical spacing constraints to the top and bottom of the superview, respectively. Add a view, I usually use a UILabel with no text, in between all the views you have stacked vertically, and give them equal heights to one another. Give one of those "spacer" views a fixed height, but edit it so its priority is less than 1000 (which means it's not mandatory that it be satisfied). Then add spacing constraints between each nearest neighbor above and below each "real" view and the "spacers", so that you have all the views from top to bottom connected together by vertical spacing constraints. When the screen size changes, the only thing that can change will be the height of the "spacers", since the priority is less than 1000, and all other constraints are mandatory. My constraints look like this:
The labels each have the standard (8 point) spacing to the "real" views above and below them. The top and bottom views should have whatever spacing you want to the screen edges. | Apple have now posted a document which describes the officially-endorsed approach to solving this problem:
<https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userexperience/Conceptual/AutolayoutPG/AutoLayoutbyExample/AutoLayoutbyExample.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010853-CH5-SW8>
Summary of the approach: insert spacer views between your controls, which have equal width/height (as applicable) constraints. |
6,160,647 | I recently discovered, through Ubuntu's [empathy](http://live.gnome.org/Empathy) im client, that exists a protocol that enables the user to talk with anyone on his actual local network. It seems empathy calls this service "[People Nearby](http://library.gnome.org/users/empathy/unstable/salut-protocol.html.en)" and Windows "[People Near Me](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726969.aspx)".
After some research I discovered more information: it seems the "protocol" is called [Avahi](http://avahi.org/) (or [Bonjour](http://www.apple.com/support/bonjour/)/Salut(?) by Apple) and permits a user to connect to users, printers and files on the network.
**My questions:**
1. Bonjour, Avahi, people nearby, people nearby... are these things different names for the same thing, i.e. to connect to "things" (users/printers/files) on the same network? Are these different implementations of Zeroconf?
2. Which IM support this kind of protocol? AIM, Trillian and Empathy support it, am I right? Which of them are usable on a smartphone (Android)? I think Trillian does and WiChat too but only for iOS.
3. Is there an Android app that implements a Bonjour's or Avahi's service for Instant Messaging? | 2011/05/28 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/6160647",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/675577/"
] | Pidgin (available for windows/mac os/linux/bsd) also supports this, and the nokia n900 (which runs maemo) also supports avahi.
There are also other clients for each platform (adium being the for-mac version of pidgin).
Avahi is an open source implementation for unix-like OSs (including linux and some BSDs). Bonjour is also an open source implementation for Windows and Mac OS X by Apple.
Avahi and bonjour interact perfectly, being two implementations of the same protocol. I frequently chat between maemo/linux/mac using this combination. | Bonjour and Avahi are both implementations of IETF Zeroconf (AutoIP,
multicast-DNS-based service announcement/discovery and
multicast-DNS-based local DNS name resolution). Bonjour is the Apple
name for Zeroconf (essentially). |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Using [ReSharper](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/) you can do *"Go to Declaration"* directly from within visual studio and it will take you the actual, **original** source code that is not part of your solution. It works both while debugging and in normal mode. It doesn't just work for the .NET source it works for any assemblies that you have pdbs for (given that the source code is anywhere on your disk or in your network).
In conjunction with the [ReflectorNavigator PowerToy](http://resharperpowertoys.codeplex.com/) *"Go to Declaration"* even works for assemblies that you neither have the source code nor the pdbs for. It will use reflector behind the scenes to decompile the assembly and presents you the source code directly in visual studio.
[Here is an article](http://blogs.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2010/10/resharper-5-overview-navigation-to-and-within-external-sources/) that discusses all that.
 | Source code of many .NET framework libraries is [available for download](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/netframework.aspx). It is released under reference license so you can certainly browse through code.
Also refer [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/01/16/net-framework-library-source-code-now-available.aspx) and [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/04/21/setting-up-visual-studio-2010-to-step-into-microsoft-net-source-code.aspx) blog post about how to setup visual studio to step-in while debugging. |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Using [ReSharper](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/) you can do *"Go to Declaration"* directly from within visual studio and it will take you the actual, **original** source code that is not part of your solution. It works both while debugging and in normal mode. It doesn't just work for the .NET source it works for any assemblies that you have pdbs for (given that the source code is anywhere on your disk or in your network).
In conjunction with the [ReflectorNavigator PowerToy](http://resharperpowertoys.codeplex.com/) *"Go to Declaration"* even works for assemblies that you neither have the source code nor the pdbs for. It will use reflector behind the scenes to decompile the assembly and presents you the source code directly in visual studio.
[Here is an article](http://blogs.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2010/10/resharper-5-overview-navigation-to-and-within-external-sources/) that discusses all that.
 | you can see the source code from the tool called [**Reflector**](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/). Some companies obfuscate their DLLs(for security reasons) in which case Reflector will unable to show source code. |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Using [ReSharper](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/) you can do *"Go to Declaration"* directly from within visual studio and it will take you the actual, **original** source code that is not part of your solution. It works both while debugging and in normal mode. It doesn't just work for the .NET source it works for any assemblies that you have pdbs for (given that the source code is anywhere on your disk or in your network).
In conjunction with the [ReflectorNavigator PowerToy](http://resharperpowertoys.codeplex.com/) *"Go to Declaration"* even works for assemblies that you neither have the source code nor the pdbs for. It will use reflector behind the scenes to decompile the assembly and presents you the source code directly in visual studio.
[Here is an article](http://blogs.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2010/10/resharper-5-overview-navigation-to-and-within-external-sources/) that discusses all that.
 | Have you tried [Reflector](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/)? Might do the job. |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | You can look at the [Mono](http://github.com/mono) source code.
Mono is an open source implementation of the CLR and many base class libraries.
As for the Microsoft ones - they are proprietary, so any access to them is determined by Microsoft. As you have seen, debugging is one way of doing so and some companies have signed NDAs with Microsoft that allow them to see the source (an unlikely option for any individual, unfortunately).
Having said that, some libraries are [available to download](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/netframework.aspx) (provided you agree to the EULA), as @Hemant says in [his answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123/alternative-way-to-explore-net-framework-source-code/3871183#3871183).
Another option (since all of the .NET library code is compiled to IL) is to use a tool like [Reflector](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/) to see a disassembled version (it will not give you the original C#, but a best effort decompilation). | You should take a look at [Reflector](http://reflector.red-gate.com/download.aspx?TreatAsUpdate=1) which allow you to read bytecode compiled .NET assemblies. It's a mandatory tool for any .NET developper ;) |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Using [ReSharper](http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/) you can do *"Go to Declaration"* directly from within visual studio and it will take you the actual, **original** source code that is not part of your solution. It works both while debugging and in normal mode. It doesn't just work for the .NET source it works for any assemblies that you have pdbs for (given that the source code is anywhere on your disk or in your network).
In conjunction with the [ReflectorNavigator PowerToy](http://resharperpowertoys.codeplex.com/) *"Go to Declaration"* even works for assemblies that you neither have the source code nor the pdbs for. It will use reflector behind the scenes to decompile the assembly and presents you the source code directly in visual studio.
[Here is an article](http://blogs.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2010/10/resharper-5-overview-navigation-to-and-within-external-sources/) that discusses all that.
 | You should take a look at [Reflector](http://reflector.red-gate.com/download.aspx?TreatAsUpdate=1) which allow you to read bytecode compiled .NET assemblies. It's a mandatory tool for any .NET developper ;) |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Source code of many .NET framework libraries is [available for download](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/netframework.aspx). It is released under reference license so you can certainly browse through code.
Also refer [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/01/16/net-framework-library-source-code-now-available.aspx) and [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/04/21/setting-up-visual-studio-2010-to-step-into-microsoft-net-source-code.aspx) blog post about how to setup visual studio to step-in while debugging. | You can look at the [Mono](http://github.com/mono) source code.
Mono is an open source implementation of the CLR and many base class libraries.
As for the Microsoft ones - they are proprietary, so any access to them is determined by Microsoft. As you have seen, debugging is one way of doing so and some companies have signed NDAs with Microsoft that allow them to see the source (an unlikely option for any individual, unfortunately).
Having said that, some libraries are [available to download](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/netframework.aspx) (provided you agree to the EULA), as @Hemant says in [his answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123/alternative-way-to-explore-net-framework-source-code/3871183#3871183).
Another option (since all of the .NET library code is compiled to IL) is to use a tool like [Reflector](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/) to see a disassembled version (it will not give you the original C#, but a best effort decompilation). |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Source code of many .NET framework libraries is [available for download](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/netframework.aspx). It is released under reference license so you can certainly browse through code.
Also refer [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/01/16/net-framework-library-source-code-now-available.aspx) and [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/04/21/setting-up-visual-studio-2010-to-step-into-microsoft-net-source-code.aspx) blog post about how to setup visual studio to step-in while debugging. | You should take a look at [Reflector](http://reflector.red-gate.com/download.aspx?TreatAsUpdate=1) which allow you to read bytecode compiled .NET assemblies. It's a mandatory tool for any .NET developper ;) |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Have you tried [Reflector](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/)? Might do the job. | You should take a look at [Reflector](http://reflector.red-gate.com/download.aspx?TreatAsUpdate=1) which allow you to read bytecode compiled .NET assemblies. It's a mandatory tool for any .NET developper ;) |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | you can see the source code from the tool called [**Reflector**](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/). Some companies obfuscate their DLLs(for security reasons) in which case Reflector will unable to show source code. | You should take a look at [Reflector](http://reflector.red-gate.com/download.aspx?TreatAsUpdate=1) which allow you to read bytecode compiled .NET assemblies. It's a mandatory tool for any .NET developper ;) |
3,871,123 | While developing with Java in Eclipse it was very handy: you can attach sources and explore core java code just like your own. In Visual Studio I know about watching at the .net source code is possible only when debugging (and I can't say this feature works well).
Are there any alternatives of exploring .net source code? | 2010/10/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3871123",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102139/"
] | Source code of many .NET framework libraries is [available for download](http://referencesource.microsoft.com/netframework.aspx). It is released under reference license so you can certainly browse through code.
Also refer [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/01/16/net-framework-library-source-code-now-available.aspx) and [this](http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/04/21/setting-up-visual-studio-2010-to-step-into-microsoft-net-source-code.aspx) blog post about how to setup visual studio to step-in while debugging. | you can see the source code from the tool called [**Reflector**](http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/). Some companies obfuscate their DLLs(for security reasons) in which case Reflector will unable to show source code. |
273,944 | I am a graduate student in statistics and am about to begin writing my thesis, having finished my analyses and theoretical work. I have used LyX in the past and am well versed in knitr and have some working knowledge of LaTeX, but I have been limited to working in it only within LyX. Before I begin writing my thesis, I wanted to write to this community for any advice on what to do and what not to do.
* Have you learned anything that caused you to lose a lot of time in terms of reformatting your document or that caused you to pull your hair out?
* Do you have any general words of wisdom you can impart?
* Also, I'd appreciate any references to crash courses or documentation that you think would be a must read before I begin.
Thanks for help and any suggestions. | 2015/10/20 | [
"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/273944",
"https://tex.stackexchange.com",
"https://tex.stackexchange.com/users/11135/"
] | I graduated a few years ago and my thoughts are:
1. Always use LaTeX, not LyX. (see comments for some reasons)
2. Lose time at the beginning, thinking of which class you would like to use (book, memoir, classicthesis, ...) and what packages you might need. This will save time when you won't have much left
3. Always try to be documented on the packages you're using. Reading the documentation might save you much time and may produce a better output
4. I would recommend biblatex for bibliography, but the important part is never to neglect bibliography
5. Use microtype for an even better look (microtypography)
6. If you foresee some graphs/plots in your thesis, try doing some "fun" exercises with TikZ/pgfplots packages. It will make you accustomed to their syntax and the output they produce will definitely be a plus for your thesis.
7. Prefer vectorial images (better quality)
8. I would recommend using pdfLaTeX unless some features unique to LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX are necessary.
9. Do not try to reinvent the wheel. If you need anything that you think is strange, try and find a package that does that for you. Hopefully there will be a few that fit your needs
I hope this can be helpful. Good Luck.
EDIT: I added some points above | I graduated a few years ago, so things might have changed a bit, here is my 2 cents anyway.
* Don't use Lyx, you will get into a lot of trouble trying to convert it to LaTeX later (almost all my friends who used Lyx ended up doing that). Just use LaTeX!
* Divide your thesis into chapters (duh!) And let each chapter be its own file. Then include them all into a master wrapper file.
* Keep your figures in one figures directory (maybe one directory per chapter? Wherever makes sense) and import the graphics path at the beginning of each file. If you can, create your graphics with Gnuplot. It gives you a lot of flexibility.
* If you can/know, use "make files" to create your figures (if you use Gnuplot, or some other tool that allows scripting, you can do this with R at well). The goal (in my opinion) should be to have the raw data and scripts that can produce the necessary PS/EPS/PDF files for graphics. You can always reproduce your graphs however you need them. The worst (again IMO) would be to just have png files that you don't know how were created 6 months down the road.
* Although not directly related to a thesis, check out beamer for creating your presentation slides. You can reuse a lot of the same figures, pieces of code, etc and the consistency between the thesis and the slides is something that I appreciated.
* Definitely use version control. Put everything under git and commit often. Set up a remote repository so you can back things up automatically. Losing work when you're writing a thesis is catastrophic. On github, I think you have to pay for a private repository. Another approach could be keeping everything in Dropbox.
* Use Mendeley to manage your bibliography. Start right away if you haven't done so yet and add your papers. Make sure you keep your bib file up to date. Try to have a master bib file that has all the papers you need, get accustomed to the papers you need to cite more and come up with a way of referring to them (something like "JDoe\_2003" for a paper printed in 2003 by John Doe. It makes life easier if you know your major papers like this. Look into the style of citations you want/need to use. When I was writing my thesis, Mendeley did not have the greatest support for different styles, it might have been better now though.
I will update this if I can think of anything else.
BTW, good luck! :) |
6,546,986 | I'm making the switch from Winforms to WPF. In Winforms I have a plug-in architecture where a user control is hosted in a Winform. Does anyone have any suggestions on creating a plug-in architecture for WPF? I want to rally the forces of the developers in my community to further extend my products so I believe in an extensible framework for my apps. I'm just starting WPF so I'm not sure what the best way is to go about this.
Thank you. | 2011/07/01 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/6546986",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/167451/"
] | Have a look into the [Managed Extensibility Framework](http://mef.codeplex.com/) | You might find the article about [modular architecture](https://github.com/jbe2277/waf/wiki/Modular-Architecture) for WPF applications interessting as well. Please not that a plugin is the same thing as a module in this aspect.
The Information Manager sample application of the [WPF Application Framework (WAF)](http://waf.codeplex.com) shows how to apply these concepts to create a plug-in architecture. It uses MEF as well to discover and load the Plug-Ins. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | **Glaciers cover the old landscape.**
[Preservation of a Preglacial Landscape Under the Center of the Greenland Ice Sheet](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6182/402)
>
> Continental ice sheets typically sculpt landscapes via erosion; under
> certain conditions, ancient landscapes can be preserved beneath ice
> and can survive extensive and repeated glaciation. We used
> concentrations of atmospherically produced cosmogenic beryllium-10,
> carbon, and nitrogen to show that ancient soil has been preserved in
> basal ice for millions of years at the center of the ice sheet at
> Summit, Greenland. This finding suggests ice sheet stability through
> the Pleistocene (i.e., the past 2.7 million years). The preservation
> of this soil implies that the ice has been nonerosive and frozen to
> the bed for much of that time, that there was no substantial exposure
> of central Greenland once the ice sheet became fully established, and
> that preglacial landscapes can remain preserved for long periods under
> continental ice sheets.
>
>
>
In your world, glaciers cover what used to be fertile fields. Your people tunnel down through the glacier to access those fields and their soil. Under the ice, they may find other remnants of the world that once was. | That is not too far from what we do now to make our crops grow, since soil depletes quickly as you grow crops. "Crops perform better when they have nutrient-rich soil. Healthy soils contain a balance of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). These three nutrients help plants grow in different, yet each important, ways:
Nitrogen helps a plant’s leaves grow;
Phosphorus supports a plant’s root growth and flower and fruit development; and
Potassium is a nutrient that improves the plant’s overall health."
Google Potash mines images and you will get some great ideas for what an underground "soil" mine would look like. Potash is made of potassium.
Then you'd need Nitrogen--"Nitrogen fertilizers are made from ammonia (NH3), which is sometimes injected into the soil directly. The ammonia is produced by the Haber-Bosch process. In this energy-intensive process, natural gas (CH4) usually supplies the hydrogen, and the nitrogen (N2) is derived from the air." So rather than mining Nitrogen you would be manufacturing it. No doubt human waste could help in the processing...
Lastly you need phosphorus- "Most of the phosphorus used in fertilizer comes from phosphate rock, a finite resource formed over millions of years in the earth's crust. Ninety percent of the world's mined phosphate rock is used in agriculture and food production, mostly as fertilizer, less as animal feed and food additives."
Google phosphate mining and it appears that form of mining is usually strip mining on the surface. But... creative license..
So over all you need not come up with too fantastical of an idea which the world would have to mine soil. Since we already do. Any of your ideas, Global freeze, Global flood. Global disaster... |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | If your planet has only very little of natural land and the rest would be covered with water, then as soon as the inhabitants reach a certain number, the would have to get creative for food production, as there is only so and so much space for farming.
The first thing to do would probably be to move all housing and industry on platforms in the sea, but once that is done and all available natural land is filled up with farms, the only way to increase space for farming would be, to put soil on the platforms and farm there.
That of course means that the soil has to come from somewhere and as you don't want to destroy more fo the farming land you already have than is absolutely necessary, digging deep comes to mind.
Now bare in mind that soil is not dirt and it takes more than to mix the right amounts of nutrients and micronutrients with sand. The little critters living in the soil are just as important as all the nutrients, because they make them available for the plants.
That is why I would start the world with a bit of good soil, so the critters can be transplanted to the artificial soil.
A world like that would have to be very focussed on recycling all the organic material that is available. As it becomes valuable soil.
So this world would not actually be mining soil, there simply is no soil underground, just rocks, gravel and minerals. They would be mining the ingredients for soil and then make it. | If you look at human evolution, and movement to cities, you could take the angle of megastructure civilizations. These massive societies all contained in a few buildings around the world would still need to grow plants to feed people and to develop things like medicines. The thing with moving everyone inside though is that the population will still increase, requiring the need for more and more soil to produce food.
To make the "outside world" uninhabitable, you could pick from almost any list, authoritarian government mandate, nuclear war, supervolcanic eruptions, the return of the glaciers, or even an atmosphere that is in heavy deterioration which leads to heavy radiation of organic topsoil. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | Post apocalypse
===============
The asteroid that killed dinosaurs did not kill all of them by direct kinetic strike. Most of the world was affected in two ways:
* Temperature on half of the world rose too fast due to increased pressure (caused by the flying debris, which did cover almost a whole hemisphere) - this would have cooked bacteria in the upper layers of the soil, making many lands sterile for a long time;
* The Earth was then covered by clouds of ash, which not only kept sunlight from reaching the ground but which also got deposited everywhere after some time.
If the world has been hit by an asteroid like that in recent eras, it may take a million years or more for land to recover naturally. If mankind was just getting off bunkers months after the asteroid hit and the dust has settled, they'll have to dig for Earth that has good nutrients, and will have to treat that soil in order to make it arable.
*In lieu* of an asteroid, a global nuclear winter would do. You have to dig through all that radioactive ash in order to get good soil. This may also happen due to [global warning](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/126675/how-could-you-create-a-95-effective-global-emergency-broadcasting-system#comment393493_126679) (not a typo). | If your planet has only very little of natural land and the rest would be covered with water, then as soon as the inhabitants reach a certain number, the would have to get creative for food production, as there is only so and so much space for farming.
The first thing to do would probably be to move all housing and industry on platforms in the sea, but once that is done and all available natural land is filled up with farms, the only way to increase space for farming would be, to put soil on the platforms and farm there.
That of course means that the soil has to come from somewhere and as you don't want to destroy more fo the farming land you already have than is absolutely necessary, digging deep comes to mind.
Now bare in mind that soil is not dirt and it takes more than to mix the right amounts of nutrients and micronutrients with sand. The little critters living in the soil are just as important as all the nutrients, because they make them available for the plants.
That is why I would start the world with a bit of good soil, so the critters can be transplanted to the artificial soil.
A world like that would have to be very focussed on recycling all the organic material that is available. As it becomes valuable soil.
So this world would not actually be mining soil, there simply is no soil underground, just rocks, gravel and minerals. They would be mining the ingredients for soil and then make it. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | Post apocalypse
===============
The asteroid that killed dinosaurs did not kill all of them by direct kinetic strike. Most of the world was affected in two ways:
* Temperature on half of the world rose too fast due to increased pressure (caused by the flying debris, which did cover almost a whole hemisphere) - this would have cooked bacteria in the upper layers of the soil, making many lands sterile for a long time;
* The Earth was then covered by clouds of ash, which not only kept sunlight from reaching the ground but which also got deposited everywhere after some time.
If the world has been hit by an asteroid like that in recent eras, it may take a million years or more for land to recover naturally. If mankind was just getting off bunkers months after the asteroid hit and the dust has settled, they'll have to dig for Earth that has good nutrients, and will have to treat that soil in order to make it arable.
*In lieu* of an asteroid, a global nuclear winter would do. You have to dig through all that radioactive ash in order to get good soil. This may also happen due to [global warning](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/126675/how-could-you-create-a-95-effective-global-emergency-broadcasting-system#comment393493_126679) (not a typo). | That is not too far from what we do now to make our crops grow, since soil depletes quickly as you grow crops. "Crops perform better when they have nutrient-rich soil. Healthy soils contain a balance of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). These three nutrients help plants grow in different, yet each important, ways:
Nitrogen helps a plant’s leaves grow;
Phosphorus supports a plant’s root growth and flower and fruit development; and
Potassium is a nutrient that improves the plant’s overall health."
Google Potash mines images and you will get some great ideas for what an underground "soil" mine would look like. Potash is made of potassium.
Then you'd need Nitrogen--"Nitrogen fertilizers are made from ammonia (NH3), which is sometimes injected into the soil directly. The ammonia is produced by the Haber-Bosch process. In this energy-intensive process, natural gas (CH4) usually supplies the hydrogen, and the nitrogen (N2) is derived from the air." So rather than mining Nitrogen you would be manufacturing it. No doubt human waste could help in the processing...
Lastly you need phosphorus- "Most of the phosphorus used in fertilizer comes from phosphate rock, a finite resource formed over millions of years in the earth's crust. Ninety percent of the world's mined phosphate rock is used in agriculture and food production, mostly as fertilizer, less as animal feed and food additives."
Google phosphate mining and it appears that form of mining is usually strip mining on the surface. But... creative license..
So over all you need not come up with too fantastical of an idea which the world would have to mine soil. Since we already do. Any of your ideas, Global freeze, Global flood. Global disaster... |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | Post apocalypse
===============
The asteroid that killed dinosaurs did not kill all of them by direct kinetic strike. Most of the world was affected in two ways:
* Temperature on half of the world rose too fast due to increased pressure (caused by the flying debris, which did cover almost a whole hemisphere) - this would have cooked bacteria in the upper layers of the soil, making many lands sterile for a long time;
* The Earth was then covered by clouds of ash, which not only kept sunlight from reaching the ground but which also got deposited everywhere after some time.
If the world has been hit by an asteroid like that in recent eras, it may take a million years or more for land to recover naturally. If mankind was just getting off bunkers months after the asteroid hit and the dust has settled, they'll have to dig for Earth that has good nutrients, and will have to treat that soil in order to make it arable.
*In lieu* of an asteroid, a global nuclear winter would do. You have to dig through all that radioactive ash in order to get good soil. This may also happen due to [global warning](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/126675/how-could-you-create-a-95-effective-global-emergency-broadcasting-system#comment393493_126679) (not a typo). | If you look at human evolution, and movement to cities, you could take the angle of megastructure civilizations. These massive societies all contained in a few buildings around the world would still need to grow plants to feed people and to develop things like medicines. The thing with moving everyone inside though is that the population will still increase, requiring the need for more and more soil to produce food.
To make the "outside world" uninhabitable, you could pick from almost any list, authoritarian government mandate, nuclear war, supervolcanic eruptions, the return of the glaciers, or even an atmosphere that is in heavy deterioration which leads to heavy radiation of organic topsoil. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | That is not too far from what we do now to make our crops grow, since soil depletes quickly as you grow crops. "Crops perform better when they have nutrient-rich soil. Healthy soils contain a balance of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). These three nutrients help plants grow in different, yet each important, ways:
Nitrogen helps a plant’s leaves grow;
Phosphorus supports a plant’s root growth and flower and fruit development; and
Potassium is a nutrient that improves the plant’s overall health."
Google Potash mines images and you will get some great ideas for what an underground "soil" mine would look like. Potash is made of potassium.
Then you'd need Nitrogen--"Nitrogen fertilizers are made from ammonia (NH3), which is sometimes injected into the soil directly. The ammonia is produced by the Haber-Bosch process. In this energy-intensive process, natural gas (CH4) usually supplies the hydrogen, and the nitrogen (N2) is derived from the air." So rather than mining Nitrogen you would be manufacturing it. No doubt human waste could help in the processing...
Lastly you need phosphorus- "Most of the phosphorus used in fertilizer comes from phosphate rock, a finite resource formed over millions of years in the earth's crust. Ninety percent of the world's mined phosphate rock is used in agriculture and food production, mostly as fertilizer, less as animal feed and food additives."
Google phosphate mining and it appears that form of mining is usually strip mining on the surface. But... creative license..
So over all you need not come up with too fantastical of an idea which the world would have to mine soil. Since we already do. Any of your ideas, Global freeze, Global flood. Global disaster... | If you look at human evolution, and movement to cities, you could take the angle of megastructure civilizations. These massive societies all contained in a few buildings around the world would still need to grow plants to feed people and to develop things like medicines. The thing with moving everyone inside though is that the population will still increase, requiring the need for more and more soil to produce food.
To make the "outside world" uninhabitable, you could pick from almost any list, authoritarian government mandate, nuclear war, supervolcanic eruptions, the return of the glaciers, or even an atmosphere that is in heavy deterioration which leads to heavy radiation of organic topsoil. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | Post apocalypse
===============
The asteroid that killed dinosaurs did not kill all of them by direct kinetic strike. Most of the world was affected in two ways:
* Temperature on half of the world rose too fast due to increased pressure (caused by the flying debris, which did cover almost a whole hemisphere) - this would have cooked bacteria in the upper layers of the soil, making many lands sterile for a long time;
* The Earth was then covered by clouds of ash, which not only kept sunlight from reaching the ground but which also got deposited everywhere after some time.
If the world has been hit by an asteroid like that in recent eras, it may take a million years or more for land to recover naturally. If mankind was just getting off bunkers months after the asteroid hit and the dust has settled, they'll have to dig for Earth that has good nutrients, and will have to treat that soil in order to make it arable.
*In lieu* of an asteroid, a global nuclear winter would do. You have to dig through all that radioactive ash in order to get good soil. This may also happen due to [global warning](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/126675/how-could-you-create-a-95-effective-global-emergency-broadcasting-system#comment393493_126679) (not a typo). | The planet never evolved terrestrial macroscopic life
-----------------------------------------------------
Soil is primarily made up of the decomposed remains of other life, so a planet where plant life never made it to solid ground will have all of it's soil in water and around its bodies of water, but the vast majority of dry land will just be exposed bedrock, sand, and volcanic ash.
Furthermore, most plants do not have roots capable of penetrating solid rock; so, even in places where the ground may contain the nutrients they need, they still rely on pioneer species break up the ground enough to create arable soil, and prevent erosion. Without this, any soil that might try to build up from the remains of microbial life will just be washed away or compress into sedimentary rock.
**Is this possible?**
Absolutely. Plant life only moved to solid ground on Earth about 475 million years ago, but Earth has had aquatic life for billions of years. So, if you were to just find an Earth like world that is 500 million years or so behind us on its evolutionary path, then you will not find usable soil on most of the dry land, but you will find soil in bodies of water where the remains of microbes have gathered, and been kept soft from constant exposure to water.
Using pioneer plants, you could begin terraforming this world's dry land into soil, but this process takes a few thousand years, and most pioneer plant species are not agriculturally useful. So, in the meantime, your colonists would need to rely on dredging up soil from rivers and lakes to create artificial topsoil. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | **Glaciers cover the old landscape.**
[Preservation of a Preglacial Landscape Under the Center of the Greenland Ice Sheet](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6182/402)
>
> Continental ice sheets typically sculpt landscapes via erosion; under
> certain conditions, ancient landscapes can be preserved beneath ice
> and can survive extensive and repeated glaciation. We used
> concentrations of atmospherically produced cosmogenic beryllium-10,
> carbon, and nitrogen to show that ancient soil has been preserved in
> basal ice for millions of years at the center of the ice sheet at
> Summit, Greenland. This finding suggests ice sheet stability through
> the Pleistocene (i.e., the past 2.7 million years). The preservation
> of this soil implies that the ice has been nonerosive and frozen to
> the bed for much of that time, that there was no substantial exposure
> of central Greenland once the ice sheet became fully established, and
> that preglacial landscapes can remain preserved for long periods under
> continental ice sheets.
>
>
>
In your world, glaciers cover what used to be fertile fields. Your people tunnel down through the glacier to access those fields and their soil. Under the ice, they may find other remnants of the world that once was. | Post apocalypse
===============
The asteroid that killed dinosaurs did not kill all of them by direct kinetic strike. Most of the world was affected in two ways:
* Temperature on half of the world rose too fast due to increased pressure (caused by the flying debris, which did cover almost a whole hemisphere) - this would have cooked bacteria in the upper layers of the soil, making many lands sterile for a long time;
* The Earth was then covered by clouds of ash, which not only kept sunlight from reaching the ground but which also got deposited everywhere after some time.
If the world has been hit by an asteroid like that in recent eras, it may take a million years or more for land to recover naturally. If mankind was just getting off bunkers months after the asteroid hit and the dust has settled, they'll have to dig for Earth that has good nutrients, and will have to treat that soil in order to make it arable.
*In lieu* of an asteroid, a global nuclear winter would do. You have to dig through all that radioactive ash in order to get good soil. This may also happen due to [global warning](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/126675/how-could-you-create-a-95-effective-global-emergency-broadcasting-system#comment393493_126679) (not a typo). |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | **Glaciers cover the old landscape.**
[Preservation of a Preglacial Landscape Under the Center of the Greenland Ice Sheet](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6182/402)
>
> Continental ice sheets typically sculpt landscapes via erosion; under
> certain conditions, ancient landscapes can be preserved beneath ice
> and can survive extensive and repeated glaciation. We used
> concentrations of atmospherically produced cosmogenic beryllium-10,
> carbon, and nitrogen to show that ancient soil has been preserved in
> basal ice for millions of years at the center of the ice sheet at
> Summit, Greenland. This finding suggests ice sheet stability through
> the Pleistocene (i.e., the past 2.7 million years). The preservation
> of this soil implies that the ice has been nonerosive and frozen to
> the bed for much of that time, that there was no substantial exposure
> of central Greenland once the ice sheet became fully established, and
> that preglacial landscapes can remain preserved for long periods under
> continental ice sheets.
>
>
>
In your world, glaciers cover what used to be fertile fields. Your people tunnel down through the glacier to access those fields and their soil. Under the ice, they may find other remnants of the world that once was. | The planet never evolved terrestrial macroscopic life
-----------------------------------------------------
Soil is primarily made up of the decomposed remains of other life, so a planet where plant life never made it to solid ground will have all of it's soil in water and around its bodies of water, but the vast majority of dry land will just be exposed bedrock, sand, and volcanic ash.
Furthermore, most plants do not have roots capable of penetrating solid rock; so, even in places where the ground may contain the nutrients they need, they still rely on pioneer species break up the ground enough to create arable soil, and prevent erosion. Without this, any soil that might try to build up from the remains of microbial life will just be washed away or compress into sedimentary rock.
**Is this possible?**
Absolutely. Plant life only moved to solid ground on Earth about 475 million years ago, but Earth has had aquatic life for billions of years. So, if you were to just find an Earth like world that is 500 million years or so behind us on its evolutionary path, then you will not find usable soil on most of the dry land, but you will find soil in bodies of water where the remains of microbes have gathered, and been kept soft from constant exposure to water.
Using pioneer plants, you could begin terraforming this world's dry land into soil, but this process takes a few thousand years, and most pioneer plant species are not agriculturally useful. So, in the meantime, your colonists would need to rely on dredging up soil from rivers and lakes to create artificial topsoil. |
178,802 | I want to create a world were soil mining is a major industry. Imagine a vaguely Earth sized world where almost the entire surface of the planet is under, ocean, ice caps or is a hot or cold desert with nonexistent or very poor soils.
Soil or soil like organic matter does exist, but only quite deep underground and the inhabitants are forced to dig soil mines so that they can bring it to the surface for use in growing crops.
How could such a strange state of affairs come about? | 2020/06/17 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/178802",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/42450/"
] | **Glaciers cover the old landscape.**
[Preservation of a Preglacial Landscape Under the Center of the Greenland Ice Sheet](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6182/402)
>
> Continental ice sheets typically sculpt landscapes via erosion; under
> certain conditions, ancient landscapes can be preserved beneath ice
> and can survive extensive and repeated glaciation. We used
> concentrations of atmospherically produced cosmogenic beryllium-10,
> carbon, and nitrogen to show that ancient soil has been preserved in
> basal ice for millions of years at the center of the ice sheet at
> Summit, Greenland. This finding suggests ice sheet stability through
> the Pleistocene (i.e., the past 2.7 million years). The preservation
> of this soil implies that the ice has been nonerosive and frozen to
> the bed for much of that time, that there was no substantial exposure
> of central Greenland once the ice sheet became fully established, and
> that preglacial landscapes can remain preserved for long periods under
> continental ice sheets.
>
>
>
In your world, glaciers cover what used to be fertile fields. Your people tunnel down through the glacier to access those fields and their soil. Under the ice, they may find other remnants of the world that once was. | If you look at human evolution, and movement to cities, you could take the angle of megastructure civilizations. These massive societies all contained in a few buildings around the world would still need to grow plants to feed people and to develop things like medicines. The thing with moving everyone inside though is that the population will still increase, requiring the need for more and more soil to produce food.
To make the "outside world" uninhabitable, you could pick from almost any list, authoritarian government mandate, nuclear war, supervolcanic eruptions, the return of the glaciers, or even an atmosphere that is in heavy deterioration which leads to heavy radiation of organic topsoil. |
25,761,313 | We develop a platform for building travel itineraries.
The travel plan (=trip) is combined of places ordered by a user defined flow.
We want to use Google Places API for searching places. We would like to store a place\_id, and use it for retrieving a trip info. The place\_id will be used for fetching that place details from Google.
A place\_id will be saved for future use only if a user decided to include that place within his trip itinerary.
Is it permitted according to the terms of use ?
Thanks!
Orit | 2014/09/10 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/25761313",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3973263/"
] | Yes you can
>
> Place IDs are exempt from the caching restrictions stated in Section 10.1.3 of the Google Maps APIs Terms of Service. You can therefore store place ID values indefinitely.
>
>
>
[Referencing a Place with a Place ID](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/places#placeid) | I am currently asking the exact same question to myself.
Reading throught the Google Places API documentation (as you also did I guess), I haven't found a clear/explicit answer to that question.
However, several parts of the documentation make me think that **place\_id** can be saved and used later on to retrieve a place result.
In the "[Place Details Results](https://developers.google.com/places/documentation/details?hl=fr#PlaceDetailsResults)" section, it is said that the **"id"** property is deprecated and should be replaced by place\_id. As "id" was said to be a **stable identifier**, I conclude that place\_id is also a stable identifier.
Another interesting part is the one about the "**alt\_ids**": it is said that a given place can see its place\_id changing over the time: when the SCOPE changes, a new place\_id is attributed to this place. So, I would said that:
* a place\_id is unique and stable for a given place and a given SCOPE (APP|GOOGLE), **as long as the place exists**.
* a given place will remain searchable using any the place\_id previously attributed to this place
* using an APP scope place\_id, there is no guaranty that the result sent in the response has the same place\_id (it is not a problem, but it need to be kept in my mind, from a developing point of view)
At the end, unfortunately, I have no definitive answer. It is just my current assumptions. I hope somebody will help us with that question.
Regards
Philippe |
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