How can I configure my contribution page so that recurring is not pre-selected by default?

Question: Obviously, I want to provide the option for recurring but I do not want it to load the page with default recurring selected. I think this is the way most administrators would want it to work. Should be simple, right?
Answer: Actually in the iATS Extension we've gone back and forth on this but are now "is.checked" as many orgs/administrators make special "Donate monthly now" pages with specific appropriate defaults for monthly $amounts like $25 or $50 - typically less than the default on a "Donate one time" page. On a Donate monthly to get people through without extra checking of boxes - the default is now is.checked (if recurring is an option). To uncheck that box you need to add some Javascript.
This is what you want:
$('#is_recur').attr('checked', false);

There are several ways to go about adding this [and not sure this is the best one - but it's one that I understand, it's what I typically do] - on Drupal 7:
In the theme's template.php - when preprocessing a page - I'll insert js - based on path:

So if we're on a civicrm/event/transact url -> then load civicrm-recurring.js
and that civicrm-recurring.js file lives in the theme's js directory and looks like:
Comment: Sorry so late to respond, Karin! Thank you! Unfortunately, I do not know how to code this or where to put it precisely. Can you give me a code snippet and instructions about where to place it (a file path).
Comment: Hi John! I've added details above. Give that a try - and let me know if you have any further questions;
Answer: Apparently, enabling the iATS ACG/EFT payment processor on a donation page causes the recurring checkbox to be pre-checked. We're using CiviCRM with WordPress, with a child theme and a custom page template for the CiviCRM front end page. I was able to automatically uncheck the recurring checkbox by simply adding the following javascript to the CiviCRM page template, just after the content section:


Can I freeze Parmesan?

Question: I am thinking about buying a larger amount of Parmesan and freeze it for later use. Is this possible? How long can I keep it for? How is the taste/texture affected?
Comment: Hi Sven, I edited your question so all the unrelated content is out. I also added some more questions, to have more question. If it's not alright with you, just say so or come to the chat room.
Comment: Related: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/4984/can-you-freeze-cheese-and-still-keep-the-flavor-when-you-defrost-it
Answer: Yes, you can freeze parmesan cheese. Even without freezing, Parmesan is very durable since the low water and high salt content prevents mould from growing. The younger varieties may be more prone to mould growth (having a higher water content), but I've kept ripe Parmesan (30-36 months) for at least a year in the fridge without problems (and it would probably have stayed good much longer). Just remember to keep it wrapped in paper, not in a sealed plastic container to prevent a buildup of condensation.
Comment: Personally I wrap in a paper towel and then in a plastic bag, occasionally changing out the paper towel to prevent moisture buildup. I do this because when it's sealed in a plastic bag, I can toss it in the fridge wherever I like instead of carefully wrapping in paper and placing it on a nice flat surface.
Comment: Tough stuff, Parmesan. You could probably build a n interior room, out of it. As long as it stays dry, and unoxidized, it should be fine. It doesn't oxidize easily.
Answer: I'm not going to add much as Tor-Einar Jarnbjo's answer was very thorough but just to note that you can also freeze parmesan rinds to add to soups and stews for an easy umami boost.
Answer: There is absolutely no need to freeze it. Keep it dry and cool and everything will be just fine.
I make artisan cheeses...cool and dry is how it is aged and is all it requires.
Comment: How cool and how dry? And how to keep it that cool and that dry? Is a regular refrigerator cool and dry enough?

Can I freeze Parmesan?


What is "the gap limit" in Electrum?

Question: I don't understand this explaination.
Answer: With a deterministic wallet you create from an initial seed a sequence of bitcoin addresses. Imagine counting 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
You can create as many addresses as you like, but not all of them will appear on the blockchain. For instance I might create one especially for you to give me 1,000,000 BTC. That is (alas!) probably not going to be used.
When you are recreating a wallet from scratch you do not know which is the last address used. So you start at the beginning and see what is on the blockchain. Then you look for the next one in the sequence. The gap limit is how many 'misses' you accept before you give up and stop looking.
Comment: So let's say gap is 10 and I've looked from 1 to 10 and found nothing. Do you mean that if address 20 is actually used and contain coins, then I would have lost those coins?
Comment: No, it doesn't mean that the coins are lost, it just means that you set the gap limit too small.  If you set the gap limit higher, then you'll find the coins.  The only way this happens is if you gave out 20 different addresses in a row and the first 19 didn't receive any coins.  Usually it's not a problem, because when you give someone an address, usually they send you coins to it!

What is "the gap limit" in Electrum?


The request failed with HTTP status 503: DNS Fail

Question: I have a host named site collection and on the host file I have 127.0.0.1 pointing to that host name.
I created the search service application but when I try to crawl I get this error:

The crawler could not communicate with the server. Check that the
  server is available and that the firewall access is configured
  correctly. If the repository was temporarily unavailable, an
  incremental crawl will fix this error. ( Error from SharePoint site:
  HttpStatusCode ServiceUnavailable The request failed with HTTP status
  503: DNS Fail.; SearchID = 79904609-8252-4DF4-B240-CB489C002CAD )

I checked IE settings on the server and there is no proxy setup.
Any idea how should I fix this crawling
Comment: Is there SSL in use?
Answer: First thing to check is if that web application has a root site collection. Check these sources: 1 (Technet) and 2 (wictorwilen.se).
Then, if sites are https-protected, I'd double check trusts if custom CA is used.


What should I use to finish my plywood table top if I intend to leave the end-grain visible for a modern look?

Question: The plywood that I'm using is 33mm baltic birch.
Answer: The plies (layers) in plywood are run in alternating directions, so approximately half of the layers visible on any edge will be end grain and half will be the long grain.  End grain usually absorbs more finish which makes it look darker.  If you want to minimize the difference between the plies you could seal the edges of the plywood with shellac before you apply a top finish coat over the whole piece.  Alternately, you could let the difference in the darkness of the plies be a 'design feature'.
Other than the alternating plies / darkness issue, the rest of the finishing depends more on how you want the table to look and how it is intended to be used.
Comment: Just for fun, I'll add that sanding end grain to a higher grit also minimizes the difference, but this obviously would be difficult to achieve on the edge of a plywood sheet.  I'd also stick with letting the differences be a design feature or test on some scraps first.
Answer: The oil based polyurethanes do a good job (at a good price), but are not friendly to any mistakes, if you want a deep finish.  If you sand through one coat, you get witness lines.
More forgiving (because they are faster drying) are the water bourne polyurethanes.  They are clearer (than the oil) and harder (especially the crossed linked polymers)
Foam brushes or pad applicators are recommended.
I would recommend several 'edge only' coats to start, since end grain absorbs much more than face grain.
General Finishes HP
General Finishes Enduro Var (adds amber cast, like oil)


Help with Syncing Geth: 1.8.23

Question: I am not sure if I'm alone in this but it seems that the latest Geth client is very slow.
I tried posting the issue on Geth's github page but it got closed almost immediately and no one is replying to it anymore.
This is my original issue
Problem is that this is the first time I ever suffered with syncing Geth, all previous clients synced fine, I've been spinning nodes for over a year now on both testnets and mainnet hosted on AWS EC2 instances and never had any issues whatsoever.
I have now started 3 instances running Geth v1.8.23 hoping one of them will sync but to no avail. All three nodes attached to an IOPS optimized EBS volume with 6000 IOPS and all three are c5.2xlarge instances, thats 8 vCPUs and 15GB of RAM which is frankly an overkill.
Yet geth still fails to sync and always 100 blocks behind. This is the eth.syncing result from one of my nodes a couple of seconds ago:
{
  currentBlock: 7278405,
  highestBlock: 7278488,
  knownStates: 274903276,
  pulledStates: 274894571,
  startingBlock: 0
}

Has anyone successfully started a Geth 1.8.23 node? Anything special I need to do before I start this latest client version?
Note that I need a full node, a light node wont serve my purpose.
Answer: USE PARITY instead of GETH
We started geth many times but it stucked after sometime and we have need to restart ever but in parity case it's working fine.

Help with Syncing Geth: 1.8.23


What are the most efficient exercises for balanced workout

Question: I have read that exercises like squats and bench press work a number of muscle groups. I really have limited time at the gym, and I'm trying to build an exercise routine that is as efficient as possible. What are the most efficient exercises that target the majority of muscle groups.
Comment: You need to know a full-routine comosed of few compound exercises might not train enough some muscles (as calves or obliques). So I recommend to add a few core and small muscle exercises to any of the anwers of your question.
Answer: I'm a fan of the following progression(1), which is the simplest I've seen that hits all the major movements (press, pull, squat, hinge). The beauty of the workout is that each exercise warms up the next one. It goes like so, adding weight to the bar both between and within each step:

Clean and press the bar. (You can front squat it--before or after the press--as a warm-up for the next step, if you like.)
When it's too heavy to press, clean and front squat it.
When it's too heavy to clean, deadlift it.
Hit the chin-up bar.

Between 2 and 3, you could add a few squats from a rack if your squat is much stronger than your clean.
The last time I did this, I power clean and pressed 45 pounds as a warm-up, then 95, then  120 or so. Then I power clean and front squatted 145 or so, then 200 or so. Then I deadlifted in the 300s before doing three sets of chin-ups.
I get the "major movements" from an amalgam of the work of Mark Rippetoe and Dan John, the latter of whom might recommend adding a farmer's walk finisher to the end of the workout. (He sees carries as another fundamental movement.) I figure that squatting, deadlifting, pressing, and chinning covers all the basics of lifting. The rest of human movement (or "targeting" other "muscle groups") can come from sports or running.
In terms of muscles worked, which I think is a red herring in this endeavor, you're hitting everything. Squats work almost everything in your body, as do deadlifts, and anything they miss, the presses and chins should get. As far as I know, these exercises require the broadest swath of our body.
1 - On second thought, this may be more explicitly cribbed from Dan John's book with Pavel  than I initially recalled. Will have to check.
Answer: There are really only 2 movements: PUSH and PULL.
These two movements are then broken down into mostly 2 different planes: Vertical and Horizontal.
They look like this:
UPPER BODY
Vertical push: Overhead press
Vertical pull: Chinup/pullup
Horizontal push: Bench press or pushup
Horizontal pull: Rows
LOWER BODY
Vertical push: Squat
Vertical pull: Deadlift
If you do all these movements, you will no stone unturned. What is best (and most efficient) is to do antagonistic pairing (ie opposing movements in the same plane). If you are really short on time, do tri sets with a lower body exercise (squats or deadlifts) thrown in there as well.
<code> A1) Squat (--Lower front)
 A2) BB overhead press (--Upper front)
 A3) Chinup (--Upper back)

 B1) Deadlift (--Lower Back)
 B2) Pushup (--Upper front)
 B3) 1 arm DB row (--upper back)
</code>
Comment: Your proposed program is very close to a program I was doing recently. Neat. But what about vertical pushes in the downward direction, i.e. dips?
Comment: I think it depends on how you do the dip (ie lean forward vs. straight up). I classify them as horizontal push but I know others that call them vertical.
Answer: I've got a routine I can finish within 5 minutes + time spent waiting for the squat rack.
I've usually done the following order, Squat > Overhead Press > Deadlift > Chin Ups, but other orders could work as well. The squat and deadlift by themselves already target the majority of muscles, the overhead press and chin ups have a lot of overlap but use the muscles differently (there's a good mix of pulling and pushing with those 4).
I do 1 work set of 5 reps, where 5 reps is usually the max I can handle at that weight (going up 5lbs per week initially for the press, 10lbs for the squat, 15lbs for the deadlift, and as many reps as possible in one set for chin ups), with each work set preceded by 1, and occasionally 2 warmup sets of 5 with ~40%-60% of my work weight.
I had quite good results with just that, and I don't think it gets more efficient than 5 minutes, once per week.
Comment: The five-minute time span compels me to ask: what kind of weights have you been able to progress to with this method?
Comment: I'm still going up, I'll come back and answer when I hit a wall on one or more of them.
Comment: OK. Even knowing where you are now would clarify things in my head. I don't know whether my inability to conceive of rest periods that short is due to my failings or the fact that recovering from a ~BW deadlift is different than recovering from a 2xBW deadlift.
Comment: I'm at 1.5xBW on the DL. 4 exercises, 5 reps, ~30 seconds to complete each set (being generous), ~15 seconds for the warmup set (none for the chin ups), 3 rest periods of ~1 minute. I usually do the chin up after the dead lift, and the number I get isn't as consistent, so that's probably reflective of level of recovery.
Answer: The following hits every muscle. I won't give sets and reps, because the group of exercises works beautifully as a High Frequency routine, a HIIT routine, and with pyramids and drop sets and rest/pause finishers. Anyone that thinks that the calves and mid back are being ignored has never done farmer's walks and ab wheel rollouts. Suffice to say, 10 power reps and 40 continuous swings is a fine measure for the kettlebell swing before increasing weight, as is 100 yards with ever increasing poundages for the farmer's walk.
POWER CLEAN AND PRESS--
 FRONT SQUAT--
 KETTLEBELL SWING--
 AB WHEEL ROLLOUT--FARMER'S WALK--
 HYPEREXTENSIONS--
 HAMMER CURL
Comment: Hi and welcome to the fitness stackexchange! Unfortunately, your answer doesn't conform to our [community standards](http://fitness.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer), so you might want to edit and improve it. Some pointers: This is not a workout, it's a list of several exercises. A workout has exercises, sets, reps, resting time etc. If you could also provide information and/or (anecdotal) evidence of why you think this would be a great selection of exercises, that would be great. Lastly, what about calves/middle back?


classical guitar - how hard is it to learn new songs

Question: I have no musical knowledge, am just able to hold a few chords. I am trying to learn the classical guitar tab of a song i really like.  I see in the tab many combinations of notes being played together(sounded at the exact same time). My question is, are these note combinations something i would see in other songs. I generally have a very good memory, but classical guitar music really intimidates me. Would an understanding of music theory make songs like this easier to learn? Or is this really just going to be about memorising finger placements?
Answer: There are several questions here, all subjective. So it may need editing. Learning new songs can be hard - it depends on your skill, aptitude, practice regime and teacher.
Yes, note combinations will occur in other songs, in the same key and genre, as they are harmonies from notes that blend well in that (and other) key.
An understanding of musical theory MAY make songs easier to learn - some folks like to know how things work in order to make sense of them.
Others will quite happily learn a song 'parrot fashion', and be able to play it just as well as someone who has theoretical knowledge. But - they will have to go through the same process with each song they learn, as it's not easy to pick up patterns this way. And their repertoire will be limited by this process. It's the way a lot of guitarists learned, at least initially - myself included. Sadly, it often prolongs the learning process, and doesn't make one an adaptable player.
All subjective stuff, sorry!
Comment: I don't think that's subjective at all ! Whther or not the note combination is used elsewhere is a plain fact .. Even basic understanding of music theory will unliock where the notes are used commonly elsewhere. And the Parrot Fashion thing is a fact too - I think you've nailed the answer (+1) but I don't see it as subjective
Answer: It is a long way. Learning a few chords is not a bad start, but learning music theory and doing a lot of exercise to transfer the theory into practice on the guitar will definitely ease your job.
For the very first songs that I play, I had no music theory except for major and minor scales that I remember from elementary school recorder lessons, and it was OK to memorize the finger placements because the songs were relatively easy.
After learning some scales and chord transitions and doing a lot of practice you will be able to recognize a pattern in a single song itself and among different songs. I too am not in that level of expertise but if you can grasp every detail in music theory, I think you will be able to reason 95% of the placements and moves on the guitar.
Also, please use sheet music. Websites that only provide tabs and chords are the biggest struggle that you will have if you want to learn classical guitar.
Answer: When I first started to play classical guitar, I found a few things that helped:

A good book (or three!) that goes from "easy" to "medium", so I had a progression of songs to learn
Both tab and notes.  The tab helped me learn where to put my fingers, but the notes are a lot easier to glance at while I am playing (because the brain doesn't have to process numbers), so I can keep track of where I am in the song without having to memorize all those notes.  Just keep forcing yourself to watch the notes, not the tab, while you practice, and your brain will pick it up.
There are plenty of pieces called "studies" in classical music.  These repeat a technique throughout the piece so you learn it faster, while still being (usually) very musical and not boring to play.  I found it easier to get my fingers around a study than a performance piece, which allowed me to "make music" as opposed to just play notes a lot sooner, and was more fun.
Answer: The difficulty of learning a new song is based upon many factors, some of which you already named.

The musicianship of the player, a veteran player will learn new songs with less difficulty than a brand new player.
The players musical knowledge or lack there of.  Knowledge of intervals, chords, scales, arpeggios, and progressions greatly decreases the difficulty of learning new pieces of music.
Level of finger memory.  (This is slightly different than mental understanding).  The higher number of chord, interval, arpeggio, and scale shapes and patterns your fingers know and can play automatically without thinking about them hugely decreases how hard it is to learn new pieces.  Where as learning first time chords and fingerings for a starting guitarist can make learning new music much harder.
The quality of the instrument being played.  Poorly made instruments can be hard to play and can be a great source difficulty and frustration in learning new songs.  This is especially true of guitars.  Guitars with buzzes, high action, dead spots, can increase the difficulty of learning a new song.
The ability to read both sheet music, tab, and their respective notations makes learning new songs less difficult.
Time spent and the disciplined habits of the player effect difficulty.  More time spent on a dedicated daily practice regime will make learning new songs easier.  Whereas, poor habits and mismanaged time will increase difficulties.
The style and complexity of the music, the composer, and the time period when it was written all play a factor in how easy or difficult a piece is to learn.  Paganini for example will be light years harder to learn than anything Elvis wrote.
Use and availability of tools such as video aids, teachers, online tutorials, books, chord charts, etc. can reduce the difficulty of learning new songs.
Time Signatures.  Exotic time signatures like 5/4 or 13/8 would increase difficulty as opposed to something like 4/4 which would be easier to learn.
Rhythmic structures.  Simple quarter and eighth note patterns are easier to learn than things like syncopation and triplets over 16ths.

Many other things could also be considered in determining how difficult a song is to learn how to play.  One would have to take these into consideration in order to assess how hard it is to learn a new song or new songs.  Growing in and making improvements in any of these items will make learning new songs easier.
Answer: As you learn more tunes, you'll see how combinations of notes come into play frequently. Clasical guitar may differ from 'pop song' guitar in that the picking style and chord structure may well be more intricate and kind of a one-off, but it's still going to be based around a theme which may crop up elsewhere - perhaps subsequently. Eg "Air on a G string" is v similar to "Whiter shade of pale". No coincidence !
If you were to learn some straightforward songs with a bit more than the traditional 3 chords like ..err.. (first thing that comes to mind) 'Can't buy me love' by The Beatles, that involves a few major and minor chords, some very common themes and some slightly less common. That may be all you need in terms of theory to spot that the relationships in a chord's notes re-appear in other areas.
If you then move back to classical music, it could well be that you start to view it as an embelishment of the more simple kinds of structures. That depends o the piece though.
Some may still feel like it's a piece standing out on its own and the only thing to do is learn it note for note.
Generally speaking, the more musical material you learn, the more familiar it all starts to feel as a whole. Some parts will remind you of others- for example many pop songs use the same chord structure maybe in a different key.
This will all help with learning the more intricate classical stuff. It'll help with dexterity and your musical ear of course too.
Answer: Music arranged (or originally written) for classical guitar usually has several voices (think for example the soprano, alto, tenor, bass of choir).  Perhaps most common is a melody line, a bass line, and arpeggios or chords that fill in the middle.  Good video tutorials tell you to identify and become familiar with the melody line.  That way it is easier to highlight this when playing everything together.
Generally it is easier to identify the melody on the musical score than on the tabs.  The melodic rise and flow of that line stands out more; these notes usually have an upward stem.  The bass line moves less, with longer notes (whole or half notes).  And the stuff in between has a repeated pattern.
Beginner piano scores can be easier to use.  The melody stands out on the upper (treble) stave.  I also look for vocal scores, or arrangements for instruments like the flute if I just want to play the melody.
I also find it easiest to play songs with a distinctive melody, ones where I can 'hear the song in my mind' after just a few notes.  Ones that depend more on a distinctive rhythm are harder, especially when I am slowly picking my way through the score or tabs.


Referencing the homologous chromosomes

Question: There exist a co-ordinate system from chromosomes like "12p11.3". In this system, first integer range from 1 to 23 i.e it takes homologous chromosomes as a pair. If we want to distinguish among homologous chromosomes, how do we refer to each on of the pair? Is it possible to determine if one chromosome from a pair of homologous chromosomes is from father or mother?
Answer: The cytogenetic notation seems to refer to parts of the chromosome when they're being karyotyped when the chromsomes are condensed in metaphase. If so, I think you might be able to use FISH to look for pieces of maternal or paternal genetic content on the chromosome. It looks like you can use mat and pat to refer to a maternal or paternal chromosome.
Answer: It is not possible to know in most cases whether a chromosome is maternal or paternal without knowing the genome sequence of both mother and father (with some additional effort; see below).
There are certain exceptions and these include chromosomes that bear imprinted genes. For example H19 gene on chromosome-1 is maternally imprinted i.e. the paternal copy is silenced by DNA methylation. Likewise there are many imprinted genes; a list of imprinted genes could be found here.
A technique called bisulphite sequencing (also MeDIP-seq) can be used to find methylated regions in the genome but to map chromosomes using this methylation information is not straightforward. You have to do either of these two:

Segregate chromosomes before checking for methylation
Identify a variable region, proximal to the methylation site, that can be detected by FISH. (It is difficult to find such regions in homologous chromosomes because the differences are small that FISH cannot resolve.)

With X-chromosome it is possible to find out which one is paternal in relatively easy way but this check has to be done at neonatal stage (when placenta is still present). See this post.

Referencing the homologous chromosomes


How to set/save the extent of a map in QGIS?

Question: I'm creating a bunch of maps with TimeManager in QGIS in order to create an animation. In order to overcome some of the limitations of TimeManager for dealing with raster files, I'm creating animations 30 frames at a time, which I can export and later combine the frames to make a longer animation. The problem with this approach is that it becomes important that the extent and scale of the map is identical for each of the 30 frame projects. So far, the only way I know to set the extent of a map in QGIS is to select the hand tool and drag it around, setting the scale numerically at the bottom of the map window. It would be far preferable if I could set the extent numerically as well, so that I could ensure that it is the same each time. Is there a way to do this?
Answer: Use bookmarks: View -> New Bookmark. The extent and the scale of the current view will be saved. Then you can access it by View -> Show Bookmarks.
Answer: I never used Time Manager and have no data able to test, so i don't know if this will work:
When you use the Atlas plugin for printing a map, you can set a layer defining the canvas. Normally you use a polygon layer for this, and Atlas is iterating through the polygons and prints maps from these polygon extends.
In your case, when you only draw one polygon in your canvas layer to define your desired extend and execute map printing through Atlas, it will only generate one map at a time from the map template you prepared before. Repeating this might lead to your frames with identical extend and scale.
The default output is pdf, but you can change that to .png etc.
Comment: I'll check that out, as it might work for me since I'm not interested in the on-screen animation from directly within QGIS, but rather I'm just using it to create the frames that I'll assemble with some other tool like ffmpeg.


Automatic shipping calculation based on postal code

Question: I am using Joomla 1.5 and Virtuemart 1. I want to setup automatic shipping based on postcodes/location. For example if a customer lives in the postcode DH2 then they will have to pay a delivery fee of £1.50. Other fares for other postcodes could be higher or lower. I want to be able to do this automatically. Can anyone help?
Comment: I doubt anyone on here is using Joomla 1.5 (ancient) and VirtueMart 1 (ancient). Please try doing some research and above all, please consider upgrading to the latest version of Joomla
Comment: I've been researching this for weeks and found nothing. Theres a section to enter Zip codes but it doesn't work with English post codes.
Answer: GJC's plugin does the job. But this is using Joomla 2.5 and VM3. Still looking for an answer for 1.5, but might end up taking all sites to later Joomlas/VMs anyway.  - http://www.gjcwebdesign.com/joomla-downloads/virtuemart-20-postcode-zip-code-shipping-plugin.html
Answer: The Standard Shipping module worked for me in Australia (see below).
UK postcodes are a little different and you may have to search the downloads and forums on the Virtuemart website for a UK postcode compatible version of the module.

Create a Shipper.
Create Shipping Rates as required as per the example below.
Comment: Because I'm using Virtuemart 1 and Joomla 1.5 I doubt theres any downloads for it anymore. We're looking into the newer versions. I don't think the standard module will work for English postcodes since we have ones like "DH1 4BY", not just numbers which it seems is what its built for. I can stop users registering who don't have certain postcodes with JavaScript, but I just need the automatic delivery by postcode.
Comment: No I am capable of looking myself


Cross platform group video?

Question: I'm looking for a free Skype alternative that supports group video calls and is cross platform (Windows, OSX, Linux).
Any ideas?
Comment: Even skype does not support group video for linux,  http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=809765&view=findpost&p=3365403
Answer: There is a service called oovoo http://www.oovoo.com thats supposed to support up to 12 people and is free
if you have the resources you could also try setting up a webbased application on a server such as Big Blue Button. its flash based and you host all your webconference youreself so security isnt an issue
Answer: These days Google Plus Hangouts work really great, I ended up using that :)
Edit: explanation
It's a service integrated with Google+ called Hangouts. It allows you to set up meetings with several people with the option of sharing webcams. Whereas most of these services cost money (such as Skype premium), Google+ Hangouts is completely free :)
Comment: Care to explain a little bit more about Google+ Hangouts? People new to it might not believe your word for it without some explanation

Cross platform group video?


Data collected from ROS

Question: How can we collect the flight data after a ROS simulation and what kind of dataset do we obtain? Can we get the sensor and video dataset with timestamps to be used in analysis?
Comment: Welcome to *Robotics* Jean, but I'm afraid that it is not clear what you are asking. We prefer *[practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask)*, so it's a good idea to include details of what you want to achieve, what you tried, what you saw & what you expected to see. Please take a look at [ask] & [about] for more information on how stack exchange works and work through the [*Robotics* question checklist](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1302/37) to edit your question to make it clearer.
Answer: As Ben noticed, you may want to elaborate on your question, but in general data collection in ROS is performed using tools from the rosbag package.
As you'll find when you read the documentation, data (either from a simulation or the real world) can be recorded during a session, but not after it has already finished.
Recorded data can be replayed or extracted for analysis on various ways. In particular I recommend you check the API for programmatic manipulation of rosbag files, it includes many useful features, such as recovering message record times (which is very convenient for messages that don't already include a timestamp field).
Comment: Thank you Xperroni. I will try the rosbag package as soon as I can implement the sensors to my robot. All I want is to collect some data while the drone flies to be used for my data science thesis. Accelenometer, gyroscope, camera, sonar, lidar and radar datas can be useful.

Data collected from ROS


Why does my tuna Casserole turn sour?

Question: I've never had trouble making Tuna and Pineapple casserole before coming to Turkey. After making the white sauce and adding the cheese, tuna and fresh pineapple the whole mixture turns sour. No amount of adjusting with salt or sugar can save it. This has happened at least 3 times now. Could the cheese be making it sour or some other chemical reaction. I used to use canned pineapple in Australia but fresh is more readily available here. Could that cause the sourness because there is less sugar?
Comment: I am not sure if there are differences in canned pineapples between Germany and Australia... but at least the German ones are canned in syrup, and therefore MUCH sweeter that any fresh pineapple you may ever find. Considering that I would indeed suspect the pineapple. No full answer, though, because I usually only use canned ones as well, so my experience with fresh ones is severely lacking.
Comment: Completely speculation here but the heat treatment that tinned pineapple undergoes during the canning process denatures certain enzymes, maybe that might have something to do with it?
Comment: This sounds like a CRAZY weird dish to me. I would never think to combine tuna and pineapple. Very cool. Definitely going to check this out. Thanks.
Answer:
Basic Nutrition
One cup of fresh pineapple chunks has 82 calories, 21.7 grams of carbohydrates, 2.3 grams of fiber and 16.3 grams of sugar. One cup of drained, canned pineapple chunks has 109 calories, 28.2 grams of carbs, 2.4 grams of fiber and 25.8 grams of sugar. The calories, carbs and sugar in canned pineapple are higher than in fresh pineapple because the canned fruit is typically packed in fruit juice.

I think that it is probably the pineapple affecting it. If you can buy pineapple juice, adding some of that may help the problem.
Livestrong.com
Answer: Canned pineapple is often HEATED (mildly) when canned. Heating the pineapple prevents the souring. This idea is used in some other dishes as well.
Comment: Canning always involves heat.

Why does my tuna Casserole turn sour?


How can I steal items without being put in jail and keep the item?

Question: Can I steal items without being put in jail and keep the item? What is the name of the skill for it?
Answer: To steal something without being prosecuted, you have to be in sneak mode and undetected (the "eye" symbol must be closed).
So the skill you are looking for is Sneak. However, even with a low sneak skill stealing is very easy when no one is around who could detect you. You still have to enter sneak mode though.
The item you took will still count as stolen, so if you go to jail later for another crime, it will still be taken from you. It may also happen that the owner of the item sends some thugs after you who will try to kill you, even if no one saw you committing the crime.
Answer: If you join one of the factions (Stormcloaks or Imperials) the guards of that faction in the cities will allow you to pay them off, typically some fraction of your current bounty, and they will let you go no questions asked.
Answer: Keep in mind too if you steal something that is very useful to you (a sword / dagger / armor, etc), if you are caught by a guard for any other crime, they will confiscate that item off you.
Just remember that, in case you get caught and find out later you lost your favorite item, etc;
Answer: You can use an invisibility potion and grab all you can, or just go in sneak mode and try to get the item without getting detected, but if you try to get an item in sneak mode and you get caught, just choose "i rather die than go to jail" and you will get attacked when chat ends, you should have good equipment, and a good weapon when you wanna steal, best places to steal stuff is near water, cause guards can't get you in it, though you must dodge every arrow shot. Once the guards are dead, grab all you want, exit, then go to your map and go somewhere far away, and don't ever choose anything else, the best way to keep your items. c:
Answer: You hold the steal button over an item while crouching. Move it to an area where no one can see, drop it, and steal it.


Dual boot with Windows 10 - Windows resolution stuck at 800x600

Question: I installed elementary OS in my Asus Vivobook S15 with 2GB NVidia MX150.
Everything is well with elementary OS. But Windows - there is a problem.
If I change the UEFI settings for Windows Boot Manager, Windows 10 loads fine. But if I have Ubuntu boot manager selected and I pick Windows Boot manager from grub, Windows loads with 800x600 resolution and it is disabled in properties so that I cant change it. Any idea?
Answer: Installing Intel Graphics driver along with nVidia in Windows fixed the issue. Actually I did this while trying to fix another issue where brightness control was not working in Windows - got the Intel drivers and installed it. That did fix the brightness control issue and as a bonus fixed the resolution issue with grub booting to Windows.
Comment: Please accept your answer as **answer**.


What if I install Ubuntu in a laptop that has a recovery partition?

Question: If I install Ubuntu dual-boot on laptop that has recovery partition will it become useless the recovery option provided by the BIOS and accessibility of recovery partition?
Answer: Yes it may become useless if you install GRUB at the beginning of your hard disk (master boot record).  (At least for my case, on a Dell XPS 15). The master boot record is the normal place for GRUB to be installed; Ubuntu's installer will almost always pick the MBR if you allow it to automatically choose. Sometimes, when GRUB's boot entries are created,  it may detect your recovery partition as bootable, and create a menu entry for it, allow you to select it and enter it to perform (or attempt) recovery.
If install GRUB into some other partition and use windows boot loader to load ubuntu, possibly you won't loose access to the recovery. (I am not very sure as I don't know how the recovery button is implemented. It does vary manufacture to manufacture)
A bit advanced thing:
A windows recovery is nothing but a <code>.wim</code> file. You can assign a drive letter and open it to copy the wim image for backup. Later point of time you can apply the wim image from a bootable disk with winPE. Which is very easy.
Best option: Generally the preinstalled windows systems come with a special software that can create a recovery disc (DVD/USB). You can use these disc for recovery instead of the image in recovery partitoin.
Whatever you do first create recovery disc and/or copy the wim image somewhere else.
Answer: My recovery partition worked for me, even after I installed Ubuntu. My situation was similar to yours, so I think your recovery partition will probably work as well.
I have eMachines eM355 that comes by default with Win7 and a recovery partition. During last three months of usage (Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS) I saw no problems. I even used Recovery partition for another install of Win7 because I got some nasty Trojan. Everything went fine. And even more, I don't really use Windows at all lately.
I'm just a newbie as I suppose you are, so maybe I'm missing something. I guess you should take this answer with a grain of salt.


Can an employer request recertification for a spouses permanent disability?

Question: My wife has a major medical health issue that there is no known cure for. I have been certified through my job for FMLA to take Intermittent Leave as needed for her health condition. Now every year they are requesting recertification.

This requires me to take time off work to get
Due to the amount of Vac/Sick time I have it sometimes is LWOP
The Dr. has stated that if he has to fill out the form with the same information every year then he will have to charge because of how time consuming it is

Now I'm not a lawyer. I have, however, read through the DOL site on FMLA and I believe that I should be exempt from this requirement due to:

§825.308 Recertifications for leave taken because of an
  employee's own serious health condition or the serious health
  condition of a family member.
(a) 30-day rule. An employer may request recertification no more often
  than every 30 days and only in connection with an absence by the
  employee, unless paragraphs (b) or (c) of this section apply.
(b) More than 30 days. If the medical certification indicates that
  the minimum duration of the condition is more than 30 days, an
  employer must wait until that minimum duration expires before
  requesting a recertification, unless paragraph (c) of this section
  applies. For example, if the medical certification states that an
  employee will be unable to work, whether continuously or on an
  intermittent basis, for 40 days, the employer must wait 40 days before
  requesting a recertification. In all cases, an employer may request a
  recertification of a medical condition every six months in connection
  with an absence by the employee. Accordingly, even if the medical
  certification indicates that the employee will need intermittent or
  reduced schedule leave for a period in excess of six months (e.g., for
  a lifetime condition), the employer would be permitted to request
  recertification every six months in connection with an absence.
(c) Less than 30 days. An employer may request recertification in
  less than 30 days if:
(1) The employee requests an extension of leave;
(2) Circumstances described by the previous certification have
  changed significantly (e.g., the duration or frequency of the absence,
  the nature or severity of the illness, complications). For example,
  if a medical certification stated that an employee would need leave
  for one to two days when the employee suffered a migraine headache and
  the employee's absences for his or her last two migraines lasted four
  days each, then the increased duration of absence might constitute a
  significant change in circumstances allowing the employer to request a
  recertification in less than 30 days. Likewise, if an employee had a
  pattern of using unscheduled FMLA leave for migraines in conjunction
  with his or her scheduled days off, then the timing of the absences
  also might constitute a significant change in circumstances sufficient
  for an employer to request a recertification more frequently than
  every 30 days; or
(3) The employer receives information that casts doubt upon the
  employee's stated reason for the absence or the continuing validity of
  the certification. For example, if an employee is on FMLA leave for
  four weeks due to the employee's knee surgery, including recuperation,
  and the employee plays in company softball league games during the
  employee's third week of FMLA leave, such information might be
  sufficient to cast doubt upon the continuing validity of the
  certification allowing the employer to request a recertification in
  less than 30 days.
(d) Timing. The employee must provide the requested recertification to
  the employer within the time frame requested by the employer (which
  must allow at least 15 calendar days after the employer's request),
  unless it is not practicable under the particular circumstances to do
  so despite the employee's diligent, good faith efforts.
(e) Content. The employer may ask for the same information when
  obtaining recertification as that permitted for the original
  certification as set forth in §825.306. The employee has the same
  obligations to participate and cooperate (including providing a
  complete and sufficient certification or adequate authorization to the
  health care provider) in the recertification process as in the initial
  certification process. See §825.305(d). As part of the information
  allowed to be obtained on recertification for leave taken because of a
  serious health condition, the employer may provide the health care
  provider with a record of the employee's absence pattern and ask the
  health care provider if the serious health condition and need for
  leave is consistent with such a pattern.
(f) Any recertification requested by the employer shall be at the
  employee's expense unless the employer provides otherwise. No second
  or third opinion on recertification may be required.

The medical certification states that the condition is a lifelong illness. So technically, I could claim that they can't request certification until my spouse is deceased?
I haven't requested an extension of leave.
The circumstances have not changed at all.
My employer doesn't have reason to doubt me.
Basically I was told that, they require recertification for all FMLA's that are more than a year, and this was important to provide the same requirements for all employees. However, my situation isn't a broken arm, surgery, or a pregnancy. My situation is a major medical health issue that will persist throughout my wife's lifetime and require me to miss an hour here or there, a day here or there, in order to care for her.
It doesn't seem like much? Roughly $50 to get recertified. But this requires me to take time off of work, find a sitter, ask my wife to go to the Doctors, burn up Sick/Vaca time that I might otherwise need for ACTUAL FMLA use, or worse... requires me to use Leave Without Pay in order to get the documentation.
I am aware that I can file a complaint with the DOL but it would be nice to know whether I have missed something important here before going that route and wasting tax payers money.
Frustrated because I just want to work. Not play arbitrary games for HR Red Tape processes.
Comment: Why don't the last two sentences of paragraph B apply, "In all cases, an employer may request a recertification of a medical condition every six months in connection with an absence by the employee. Accordingly, even if the medical certification indicates that the employee will need intermittent or reduced schedule leave for a period in excess of six months (e.g., for a lifetime condition), the employer would be permitted to request recertification every six months in connection with an absence."
Comment: Well, that really stinks. It's quite unfair to be a sick person, or love one, in America. I think you caught the part I missed somehow. I've read this section several times.
Answer: From the quoted passage:
"In all cases, an employer may request a recertification of a medical condition every six months in connection with an absence by the employee. Accordingly, even if the medical certification indicates that the employee will need intermittent or reduced schedule leave for a period in excess of six months (e.g., for a lifetime condition), the employer would be permitted to request recertification every six months in connection with an absence."
So, yes, they can do that.
I would suggest talking to your employer, though.


What is the Difference between a Heretic and a Schismatic, according Catholic and Orthodox tradition?

Question: (This question is aimed at the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox perspective only)
What is the difference between a heretic and a schismatic, and what are the soteriological consequences of each?
Comment: Closely related: [What made Luther a heretic and not a schismatic?](http://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/20086)
Answer: Heretic are they who restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure. They believe not what Christ really taught, but the suggestions of his own mind. - (Summa Theologica - Second Part of the Second Part - Question 11)
Schismatics are they who of their own will and intention separate themselves from the unity of the Church. It is to be noted that Schism is NOT the same as disobedience to authority. Some disobedience can be schematic in nature. But not every disobedience is a schism; In order to become Schism, along with disobedience to authority, there should be denial of Divine right of the Authority to command. Its is to be noted that because of this in Catholic and Orthodox tradition all Schismatics are Heretics too.
Comment: Can you provide Roman Catholic and Orthodox references that support your claim that what you state accurately represents what the two faiths hold?
Answer: The EWTN (Catholic) expert Q&A contains this post on the subject:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines these three sins against the faith in this way:
2089 Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it.
"Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same;
apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith;
schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." [Code of Canon Law c.751]
The Church's moral theology has always distinguished between objective or material sin and formal sin. The person who holds something contrary to the Catholic faith is materially a heretic. They possess the matter of heresy, theological error. Thus, prior to the Second Vatican Council it was quite common to speak of non-Catholic Christians as heretics, since many of their doctrines are objectively contrary to Catholic teaching. This theological distinction remains true, though in keeping with the pastoral charity of the Council today we use the term heretic only to describe those who willingly embrace what they know to be contrary to revealed truth. Such persons are formally (in their conscience before God) guilty of heresy. Thus, the person who is objectively in heresy is not formally guilty of heresy if 1) their ignorance of the truth is due to their upbringing in a particular religious tradition (to which they may even be scrupulously faithful), and 2) they are not morally responsible for their ignorance of the truth. This is the principle of invincible ignorance, which Catholic theology has always recognized as excusing before God
...
Finally, the person who refuses submission to the Roman Pontiff, whom Vatican I defined as having a universal primacy of authority over the whole Church, is at least a material schismatic. It was thus common in the past to speak of the schismatic Orthodox Churches who broke with Rome in 1054. As with heresy, we no longer assume the moral culpability of those who belong to Churches in schism from Rome, and thus no long refer to them as schismatics.

Everything after the Code of Canon Law citation is not authoritative, in the sense that it is not an official document with the full weight of the magisterium, but it nonetheless addresses the soteriological consequences in a meaningful and Catholic way.
The Orthodox position on heresy is similar, though they more vocally reject Aquinas's work on the subject.
The Orthodox position on Schism is that it consists of cutting oneself off from the Church, and particularly in damaging the communion of the Patriarchs.  With respect to the Pope, the Patriarch of Rome is believed to have been given due primacy by the Orthodox churches, but it is generally believed that, not content with primacy, the Pope demanded supremacy and that denying him that was not schismatic. More details on that particular issue can be found here
Comment: Could you indicate your references for what you represent as the Orthodox understanding of heresy and schism?
Answer: Basil the Great explained the definitions of heresy and schism in his Letter to Amphilochius concerning the canons.
Heretics are defined as:

Men who were altogether broken off and alienated in matters relating
  to the actual faith.
Instances of heresy are those of the Manichæans, of the Valentinians,
  of the Marcionites, and of these Pepuzenes; for with them there comes
  in at once their disagreement concerning the actual faith in God.

Schismatics, on the other hand, are:

Men who had separated for some ecclesiastical reasons and questions
  capable of mutual solution.

Basil is considered an important Church Father by the Orthodox Church.  His definitions are included in Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky's Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, which is required reading at a number of English-speaking Orthodox seminaries and institutes (Fr. Michael was an Orthodox theologian and instructor at the Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, New York).
As Basil the Great is also considered a Father and Doctor of the Church by the Roman Catholic Church, I will propose that his definitions also apply for Roman Catholicism.
Answer: From Jaroslav Pelikan's 1st volume in The Christian Tradition (Ch2 3rd paragraph):

In its earliest Christian use, the term "heresy" was not sharply
  distinguished from "schism"; both referred to factiousness. But a
  dominant characteristic of such factiousness was that it created
  "dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you
  have been taught." At least as early as Irenaeus, therefore, "heresy"
  came to be the term for a deviation from the standard of sound
  doctrine. It was consistent with this development that Augustine
  eventually came to define heretics as those who "in holding false
  opinions regarding God, do injury to the faith itself," as
  distinguished from schismatics, who "in wicked separations break off
  from brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we
  believe." Basil's distinction was only slightly different: heretics
  were "men who were altogether broken off and alienated in matters
  relating to the actual faith," and schismatics were "men who had
  separated fro some ecclesiastical reasons and questions capable of
  mutual solution." But already in the conflict with Montanism, even
  more in the conflict with Donatism, and above all in the church
  history of the West since the Reformation, the distinction between
  heresy and schism has not been easy to maintain with any consistency.
Comment: Jaroslav Pelikan appears to have been a Lutheran. Can you add references to show that the Catholic and Orthodox churches agree with him?
Comment: @curiousdannii No I cannot. I just added it as I'm rereading his book and surprised I forgot this. Incidentally, he converted to Orthodoxy before his death (after he wrote this).


Is it rude to use tracking softwares for the emails that you send to potential advisors?

Question: A considerable portion of emails that I send to professors abroad to see if they have any position available remains unanswered. Not receiving a response, I can not imagine if they didn't attract to my CV or they simply forgot to open my email. In this way, I am wondering if it is normal(not rude) in academia to use email tracking softwares that inform you when the receiver opened your email. Actually, It is not very hard for them to check if the sender has used such software specially if they block the images in their received emails.
Comment: The OP explains, _there are a variety of services using this technique [that embed an] image in in your email_, to which the community explains that this doesn't work ([from chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/34704582#34704582)). @CoderInNetwork, what do you think to this?
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/51605/discussion-on-question-by-coderinnetwork-is-it-rude-to-use-tracking-softwares-fo).
Answer: My sense is that the vast majority would not notice one way or another but that some potential advisors might and would find it intrusive and and inappropriate. In many other cases, (like myself) professors use text-based email clients or systems that that block this kind of tracking. In these cases, folks won't think you're rude but you still won't know if I've read it. For that matter, I may have opened an email but not read it carefully. In some cases, people will notice and and think it is rude or unethical.
Critically though, I can't see why knowing whether your email was opened will help.
The reality is that many professors receive between dozens and thousands (really!) of emails from prospective students. This has been discussed at length. Many answers on this site explain why it's just not possible for everybody to reply to every email and there are many reasons why people do not. They might not reply because they are overwhelmed by teaching. They might not reply because it's simply not a good match. They might not reply because they don't have funding to take on new students this year.
My advice is to pick a small number of perfect potential supervisors. Read their papers. Write emails that make it clear that you're not just mass-emailing anybody you can find but that you want to work with them. Send an email. If you want, send a follow-up after a week or so. In either case, I don't see how knowing that the email has been opened helps.
Comment: I absolutely assure you that I would notice, and then I'd delete the email unread.
Comment: @Mawg "email tracking software" doesn't seem to refer to the old-fashioned requests for acknowledgements (didn't these die when most major webmail providers decided to not support them?), but rather the use of a small piece of code, stealthily embedded in the email (in this case, in a small image), which will call back home when it is evaluated. So it is somewhat more invasive.
Comment: Don't forget that we have the option to decline to send the acknowledgement. When we open the email, the client tells us that the requester has asked for a receipt and do we want to send it. We can always decline.
Comment: +1 for the comment about text-based editors. Many professors in the current generation started using computers earlier than the general population, and fell in love with the text-based email clients (particularly people in STEM, and especially in CS). About half the professors in my graduate department did not use HTML email.
Comment: *I don't see how knowing that the email has been opened helps* – it can solve the **fear** of being rejected. If you know they have read it but haven't received their reply yet for a long time, you can be sure that they have ignored you, and **move on** to another one. The tracking link is to have a realistic expectation when your mind is clouded in fear
Comment: Also, in theory, a security scanner may strip the tracker, or the tracker might be tripped by said security scanner. Both false positives and false negatives are possible, so it's not even worth the effort.
Comment: @BobBrown: The second half of the first sentence tries to say that. If you think that's an understatement, feel free to edit to make this point more clear.
Comment: I understand now. My thoughts were coulded by being forced to use MS Outlook. In that case, if I caught anyone using a tracking pixel on me, that would be a *very* black mark. The OP should track manually who responds to him.
Comment: I find this to be excellent advice, but I don't think *one email* potentially followed up by another is adequate when you are competing with dozens or perhaps thousands of other emails. If you think the match is good enough to call it "perfect", you should go to greater lengths to make sure you establish a channel of communication.
Comment: I'm not a professor, but I still use Alpine.
Answer: I guess the underlying assumption is that the sender is entitled to consideration and/or an answer, and so OP is trying to enforce this entitlement.
In email correspondence (academic or not), this assumption is usually wrong unless there is an established relationship (eg within a company), and trying to force it is indeed considered rude - or even intrusive/threatening.
Answer: I guess most people won't care about or notice the tracking (after all, we are OK that virtually every website tells Google about each web page we open), but if your e-mail happens to trigger an alert in their mailer or anti-virus, it won't do you any good.
It should be noted that e-mail tracking techniques are spectacularly bad at their primary purpose: reporting whether an e-mail has been read. Some people (like myself) configure their mail clients to never fetch online content, so you'll never see the notification. Other configurations may result in images being automatically downloaded, so you'll see a false positive.
Answer: I had used them since I began the applying process, however, today, in a telegram group that guys who are applying to Canadian universities exchange their experiences, several people said after they decided to stop using these kinds of trackers they have better responses. One guy said that his emails sent to spam inbox and another one copied an email from a professor who said: "I figured out that you use email tracker and suggest to unable this before contacting other faculties. Most of the professors find it an invasion of their privacy, and we never accept a student who uses such a program." As a student who has used this way for months, I don't suggest you apply trackers either. They are useless. It will not help you to find out if a professor has read your mail or not. Furthermore, you can never be sure because many professors use blockers. It isn't worth to use to even one potential supervisor by using these trackers.
Answer:
A considerable portion of emails that I send to professors abroad to
  see if they have any position available remains unanswered. Not
  receiving a response, I can not imagine if they didn't attract to my
  CV or they simply forgot to open my email.

What difference does that make to you? Do you react an differently to the two? If so, please specify how, and we maybe be able to help you better.
My advice is simply to keep your own records, manually.  That way, you will probably get a more exact record (it will certainly be in exactly the format which you prefer), and you do not risk offending anyone.
Comment: Not the OP, but for me, it can solve the **fear** of being rejected. If you know they have read it but haven't received their reply yet for a long time, you can be sure that they have ignored you, and **move on** to another one. The tracking link is to have a realistic expectation when your mind is clouded in fear
Answer: Suppose, that I (total stranger to you), would hack into your computer, circumvait your protection measures, spy on you, all before I would presentr myself to you and then I would ask you to get even better access to your environment.
Would you protect yourself up to applicable law, or would you accept it and put me in your friends and grant me better access to you? (And if you would just out desparation from longliness, would you do, even if you would be target of such approach daily, while occupied over your head with existing real relations?)
That is (from my point of view) exactly what are you asking about.
(If tracking would hit, than it would be when the email is opened, before adressee is able to read first line - and cannot find, if the email was actually read, most it can do is tell if it was opened. And it nearly make sure you will be ignored and emeail deleted without reading at the best, (if it is discovered), more probabelly resulting in some worse case, from automatic rejection, maybe blacklisting, maybe contacting your school/employer, up to some official actions))
Not that such approach would work against myself, as I have all emails sorted first to apropriate directories (Family, Friends, lists/ConferenceA, lists/ConferenceB, ... Partners/A, Partners/B,... reports/A, reports/B ... reports/unimportant/A,reports/unimportant/B, ... Spam ...) and what is left (not met by any crieria) in Inbox I consider possible spam more than anything else.
And I did set my email client to not automatically confirm delivery nor opening email.  And to shouw only plain text (if email is only in HTML or other format, then it is presented as empty and usually deleted under assumption of being spam/malware/virus anyway without any attempt to see the content - except for a few manually explicitely named exceptions). And even if I open HTML attachement, it is not allowed to access internet (no images/css/flash ...) and of course all flash/(java)scripts/similar are baned from being run. And I would not run/install any program from email.
I reported back to authorities a lot of such emails as being unwanted and offensive. Some of such actions indirectly helped to the court and fine for the sender.

If you want to get positive answer from me, then I suggest (as other stated here) make your email as simple to deside on as possible.

use short, but descriptive subject
start with short (like one line/sentence/ short paragraph) summary in neutral tone ( I look for position as XXX, have this school/grade, I participated on YYY, more in email and on my website htpp://my.web.site/folder)
then write the "full official" body with addressing/greating, describing why you are sending this (read about free position there, wanted to participate on this, interested on that field ...), what you archived yet (if you have something related) etc, etc - just the letter you wanted to send.
if you send Curriculum Vitae, documents and such it is possible to include them as attachements, if they are short and important (and you can mention them in the email too)(longer document should be saved on web and provided by links to them - nobody wants have its email filled with multimegabytes messages from strangers), it is better, if the name is descriptive for the receiver (my_name_CV.doc, my_name_awards.html ...) then just common(CV.doc), as the professor probabelly have tons of CVs. Surely do not name it from your point of view (CV_for_proffesor_this_and_that.doc), even if you store it with such name on your comp (still is better to make directory on your computer named by this professor and store it there with your name on this, in case he/she would later ask you about 3. paragraf in my_name_CV.doc, then you can simply find, which CV it is and what exactly was there. The same, if you are later asked to resend that, maybe because it was accidentally deleted)
end the letter with your full name, email address and any other contact informations you want to share (including the website about yourself) - it is better, if the message is printed, saved/resend, that all contacts to you are included (as email headers can be stripped, or your email would be resend many times and finding, who is the author is difficult/impossible)

All other rules of proper coresponding also applies, but you surely know that.
Comment: *Suppose, that I (total stranger to you), would hack into your computer, circumvait your protection measures, spy on you, all before I would presentr myself to you and then I would ask you to get even better access to your environment.* As a computer engineer, I consider the use of the software the OP describes to be a tad less... severe than your description here suggests. If I'm not mistaken, numerous well-known companies use this type of software to track whether or not you open their email advertisements. Invasion of privacy? Perhaps. Hacking? Certainly not.
Comment: I also think, that mentioned "tracking software" is not some sofisticated hacking tool, but I was talking more like about ethical principles, then technical. The OP mentioned, that it is not so hard to block it. But still it is similar principle, where the OP tries to invade privacy and overcome the will of target to not provide some information. Arguing, that it is possible to defend yourself from some attack, does not render the attack polite (not rude). Just it says "if you do not spend enought resources on defence, you had it comming". Which is rude and amoral.
Comment: So I made the analogy/rewording from "I just want to know if ..." on one side to "There was attempt to hack my defence and invade my privacy" on the other side. If OP care, how the target sees it, than it is more like that persective (somebody tried attack my privacy and was caught redhanded, I should be carfull, better safe than sorry), then the OPs (maybe they just think I forgot to properly manage their request and want to help me by reminding me about my responsibility towards them, I should thank them for being so considerable and take them to my lab)


How can I make a reflector at home?

Question: How to make light reflector easily at home?
Please tell me the easiest way to make light reflector at home without spending much on that.
Comment: Is this really not a duplicate?!
Answer: The most available large sheet material is corrugated cardboard.
If you have a single layer sheet, you should first glue at least another single layer sheet on top of it to make it more stable. Rotate one of the sheets by 90° so that the "grain directions" of the layers cross each other. Like plywood.
For the reflective surfaces:

White paper provides a nice reflective surface.
To get a stronger reflector, you can also try aluminium foil (often called "tin foil").
There is a product available for first aid and rescue situations that's a foil with a silver and a golden reflective side. To keep people cold or warm. This is one source for a golden reflective surface. Which gives warm light which can produce great looking portraits.
Last but not least, there's black paper which provides the opposite effect of white paper. This is often called a flag. This is handy if you want to pull the dark side of your subject even further into darkness to get very dramatic results. It also helps to prevent light spill or reduce harsh highlights.

These are 4 surfaces. You could make 2 cardboard sheets and get all the different surfaces with one on each side. Or make 4 reflectors with only one surface each if you want to use them together at the same time.
To get the surfaces on the cardboard, use double sided tape. Regular paper glues will not dry under air tight foils. Tape is very convenient to work with for such large surfaces.
If you need something that's more portable, create a hinge in the middle of the cardboard to fold it.
Comment: @JDługosz the term ["tin foil" is often used to refer to aluminium foil](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil). I assume you are not a native speaker (me neither) and just translated literally. Either way, I was indeed referring to aluminium foil with the phrase. I add a clarification to my answer.
Comment: @JDługosz Interesting, I always heard native speaking people use the term tin foil and assumed it's more universally used. The article states this is regional. Maybe a good question for [ell.se]
Comment: **Aluminum foil** is common and better reflector than *tin* which is rare and specialized.  Normal mirrors use aluminum, in fact.
Comment: For flags, matte gaff tape is great and better thqn paper. Also black craft foam, as for the *black foamy thing* flash attachment.
Comment: I am a native speaker of American English. Tin is a different metal. Maybe british uses it as "tins" mean food containers. But that's not universal, and could just be dated: I think early foil was tin. Like, 19th century.
Comment: The box reads "aluminum foil" so I don't think it's necessary to point out that usage.
Comment: I always suggest avoiding that as deprecated and incorrect. If "stuff to line tins with"/"alternative to tins for the same purpose" is *regional*, it is best avoided on a global publishing platform.  Although here we have "cans" so that is not a natural expression.
Answer: Automotive windshield reflectors can function well as photographic reflectors. The best ones are the shiny silver accordion-fold ones (they often have a "bubble wrap" -like core).
Answer: A large piece of foam core board (or mat board) is good for portraits. Clamped on a stand opposite of  a soft box (key light) just outside of framing. It could be black on one side for absorbing light for more dramatic shadows. Or paint it gold or...?
Answer: For a large reflector go to a stationery shop and buy a large sheet of white paper for card. It's not as portable or durable as a proper reflector, but does the job.
Answer: Buy a "space blanket" from a sale bin. Search for that on the web and it will turn up places to buy for a buck or so.
Fold it over any convenient frame, board, wire loop, or in-situ surface. Secure with gaffers tape ('duct tape'). The tape costs more than the silvery material.
This is far more durable than paper, foam, etc. and a whole blanket-sized piece folds smaller than a pocket tissue pack.
Comment: Don't you mean **Kleenex**? Thats what the box reads.
Answer: See the inventgeek.com "DIY 40 Inch Silver Reflector" article for the full low-down, but he shows you how to build a full on, circular, metallic reflective, folds-down-into-a-smaller-circle reflector for what he claims is about $8 in materials. There are lots of pictures on the post.
The outer frame is made of fish tape. To quote:

Scary Springy Steel Wire of Doom:
  For this project we will be using what is called fish tape. This is normally used for fishing wires through tight spaces and long runs. The nice thing about this wire is it is extremely springy and strong. Be sure to respect this wire! This coil is like a bomb waiting to go off and it will unwind [itself] violently and completely if you lose control of it taking any eyes in the area with it. The circumference of our 40" reflector is 125.6 inches, so we will be using 129 inches of wire to allow for stretch and overlap. This stuff turns up in dollar stores often, or buy a refill [in place] of a new tape.

He also gets nylon webbing to for the tube around the end that will cover the fishtape, and the main reflector material is a metallic/shiny fabric. (The post says he found it on eBay for $4, but he isn't particularly specific about the type of fabric).
He begins by cutting a 44" circle of the material.

Step one to building your reflector is to cut out a round disk of your reflective material. The easiest way to do this is to take the diameter of the circle, divide by 2 and then make a wire with loops at both ends that length. Then using a block of wood with a screw in its place one ends loop over the screw and a marker in the second. Scribe a circle on the back side of the fabric.

Then, pin the webbing to the circle, and sew it, leaving a gap at the ends big enough so you have room to fish the wire through.
The wire, fished through, should have enough overlap of the ends that you can adjust the tension, and secure the ends together. He used some staples that he straightened out and wrapped around the wires, and then covered everything again with electrical tape, and then (I surmise) sewed another piece of the webbing over the gap to completely cover the wire.

How can I make a reflector at home?


loading a sequence of obj in java

Question: I have 90 obj for an animation and currently using LWJGL. How would I be able to load them in sequence for 3000 seconds (a frame every 33 milliseconds)?
Answer: My first suggestion: don't use Wavefront .obj for animation. You're getting tons of keyframes for your data, but you have hope of interpolating between them, unless you make absolutely sure the indices stay the same. Instead, why not try COLLADA? It supports vertex animation, skeletal animation and simple node transformations, with a lot less keyframes.
In answer to your question: I would suggest loading the future frame you want to display while displaying the current one. This is known as double buffering. So if your animation is 3 frames:

Load frame 0
Load frame 1
Display frame 0
Load frame 2
Display frame 1
Load frame 0
Display frame 2

This ensures that you always have something to display, even if loading a frame takes a bit longer than you anticipated.
Comment: Do you know where I can find a good tutorial to load/parse the data in Java for a *.dae file?

loading a sequence of obj in java


In EDH/Commander, what is the 'color identity' of a double-faced card?

Question: The official deck construction rules for Commander (nee EDH) at http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php say that 'A card's colour identity is its colour plus the colour of any mana symbols in the card's rules text.'  How does this apply to dual-faced cards with faces of different colors, such as Civilized Scholar / Homicidal Brute out of Innistrad or Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound from Dark Ascension, where the color of the transformed face of the card is different from the color of the 'main face'?  The spirit of the rules would seem to suggest that these cards are the colors of both faces for deck construction purposes, but not only are these spells always cast as the front face, the front face is the only one 'seen' in other game zones: for instance, when the card's in the library, you could find Elbrus by searching your library for an artifact, but you couldn't find Withengar Unbound by searching your library for a creature card.  Could Elbrus then, for instance, be played in any Commander deck, or just one with a (partly) Black general?
Answer: Yes, both sides of DFC count towards its color identity.

903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card's color identity.
Example: Civilized Scholar is the front face of a double-faced card with mana cost
{2}{U}. Homicidal Brute is the back face of that double-faced card and has a red color
indicator. The card's color identity is blue and red.

So, Elbrus can only be used in a Commander deck where Black is part of your Commander's color identity.
Comment: Ahhh, thank you!  I should have just gone to the comp rules in the first place rather than the old commander page.  Much appreciated!
Comment: Yeah, mtgcommander.net is pretty disappointing these days.
Comment: it may also be worth noting that this also applies to split cards, like fuse and aftermath cards
Answer: Deckbuilding constraints apply to the deck (a set of actual cards, which exists even outside of the scope of a particular game), not just the library (a game zone); they "see" all aspects of a card, not just what it will look like as a game object in the library.
This is borne out by the comp rules:

903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card's color identity.


How do excessive foreign reserves cause inflation?

Question: I have studied that accumulation of foreign reserve has the potential to raise inflation levels in economy as the money base increases (= domestic currency + foreign reserve increases) and if it overshoots the money demand in the economy then it will raise price levels.
My question here is that how the foreign reserves which are under the custody of the central bank go into the system and cause inflation. Say, China has huge reserves of USD but it rests with the central bank mostly. So, how does it get into the economy and raise prices ?
Answer: Because you are taking other currencies off the market and/or selling your own currency, and increasing the supply of your own currency relative to others.
Answer: It's important to distinguish between reserves, foreign debt and foreign investments.
Let's start with pure reserves (of which dollar bills are in essence a component of).  Say South American country X no longer trusts their local Peso and decides to use dollars instead.  They can sell real wealth to the US (like farm produce) and in return receive dollar bills.  Country X then bounces these dollars back and forth internally to facilitate commerce.  This was a good deal for the US!  It exported worthless pieces of paper and in turn imported real wealth.  When this happens, it very much reverses inflation domestically in America.  The US then remains very hopeful that the day will never come when country X sells the dollars back to the US and demands real wealth back (like say trucks).  That would be very inflationary.
In a typical economy today, actual reserves won't exchanges hands for trade, but instead promises of reserves (aka bank deposits).  But the concept is very similar.  Bank deposits are pyramid'ed onto reserves, reserves that are exported mean less reserves locally for banks to create deposits (which is the main source of monetary inflation).
Then there are foreign investors.  China will not say hoard pure dollars, but rather dollar denominate assets like treasuries.  But this too generates demand for dollars.  If China sends say 1 billion dollars worth of toys and we send China 1 billion dollars in paper promises for dollars...then we (Americans) are better off.  We have more real wealth, while China has less.  However if China were to sell their debt back to the US (or let it mature), the US could face significant inflation as we would then have to send real wealth to China to redeem all the treasure bills we gave them earlier.
Comment: Take it from the perspective of China. How does the paper currency it gets by exporting goods to US gets into the Chinese monetary system. I mean how does these dollars get into the hands of Chinese public and cause inflation ? I believe all these dollars should be under custody of central bank of China.
Comment: @Sub-Optimal Who exports the goods? When you export goods you expect to get paid. Does the central bank export the goods? Where does it get the goods from?


Is it feasible to eradicate a virus without vaccines?

Question: Although a vaccine for hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains elusive, new direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drugs can cure HCV effectively and conveniently. The latest DAA, Epclusa, can cure 95-99% of chronic hepatitis C regardless of genotype (e.g. see here). So if DAA drugs become universally available, will HCV be the first virus eradicated solely by drugs?
Comment: It is not the answer you are looking for, but for the fun of it: Yes, simplest situation being to eradicate all the vectors of the virus = eradication of the virus itself. :)
Answer:
Is it feasible to eradicate a virus without vaccines?

It is possible? I would say yes. But feasible... I think not. Consider this, once vaccinated, a person is usually immune to the virus. And you only need the vaccine to take hold, for an individual to acquire life time immunity. However with drug treatment... even once the treatment succeeds, the person can be reinfected. And you will have come back with drug treatment again.
Given the difficult in vaccination campaigns (ie polio) to eradicate the last reserved of a virus... I think a similar drug based campaign would a lot more difficult. There is no herd immunity to prevent the virus from reinfecting the wider population when it leaves its strong holds.
Comment: I would also add that outbreaks of measles when herd immunity breaks down show how easy it is for a virus to breakout.
Comment: You're right. Chronic hepatitis C doesn't confer any protective immunity, and those cured are still susceptible to reinfection.
Comment: Herd immunity is a good point. I haven't thought of it.
Answer: To the question I would say certainly yes, since the only viruses that have been eradicated (to my knowledge) are smallpox and rinderpest, both via vaccine campaigns (as well as the usual tools of quarantine/isolation).
Note: I did not mean to suggest that "if drugs are widely available they will definitely eradicate HCV".  I interpreted the question as "if HCV is eradicated by DAA, will this be the first disease eradicated by drugs?"
Vaccines are typically used as prophylactic treatments, i.e. they are applied before an individual gets infected. Drugs can also be applied prophylactically (e.g. antiretroviral drugs against HIV), and vaccines can also be used post-infection, e.g. for rabies. In order for a cure (i.e., a treatment that is applied after an individual becomes infected) to eradicate disease, it must be applied soon after enough infection that it cuts down the infection period sufficiently to reduce the average number of secondary infections per infected person below 1. Analogously, when prophylactic treatments are given by age, as in the case of vaccines for childhood diseases, they must be administered to children young enough that most of them will not already have been naturally infected [and passed the virus on to others].
Comment: Due to the long time people can be infected with no or almost no symptoms, I doubt that. A vaccination is much more reliable here.
Comment: I think it is interesting to see how it goes. For HBV, we have vaccine but not cure, while for HCV we have cure but not vaccine. We can compare which is more efficient at shrinking the reservoir.
Comment: My guess is that vaccines are more efficient at eradicating acute diseases(smallpox, polio, measles) because you can hardly have those infected get treated before they can transmit the disease. While for persistent infections(HIV, HCV, HBV) a cure may be more efficient. Because it takes long time for infected people to die out.
Comment: One could certainly evaluate all of this using a simple model. To know the cure rate, you'd need to know (1) the untreated R0 of the disease; (2) how much of the force of infection is mitigated by the cure [i.e., we need to know the infectious period, how much of it is asymptomatic, and the rate of cure administration - expected time from appearance of symptoms to cure]


Logarithmic price defined as the midpoint of the log bid and ask : Simple Clarification

Question: Guys I would like a simple clarification. The paper by McMillan and Speight (2012) at the data section, defines the logarithmic price as the midpoint of the logarithmic bid and ask. Is that translates to [log(BID)+log(ASK)] / 2 or as log (BID-ASK) ? Thank you very much.
Comment: I reckon its the first - average of log prices - just from simple definition of a midpoint, also it seems sensible enough to do.
Comment: By a quick google search I couldn't clarify it. I proceeded using the first solution but I posted the question just in case.
Comment: It also makes sense, say the spread is small, in pennies, then the log would yield a negative value which cannot be taken as a price!
Answer: I reckon it's the $\frac{log(ASK)+log(BID)}{2}$, just simple arithmetic average as it makes sense, also considering logarithmic returns, when you can only take a differences from log prices.
Also, the second alternative would yield negative 'prices' for spreads lower than 1, which cannot serve as a 'price' indicator.


Having trouble getting gluten free bread to rise

Question: I am new to gluten free baking and I am having much trouble getting my breads to rise. I have tried several recipes, with no luck. Can anybody give me some fool proof suggestions? I am desperate. Thank you
Comment: This is one of those cases where a recipe would help, so we can see if there's something that might be strange or easy messed up.
Comment: What happens to your dough? Does it never rise, or does it rise first and then fall? The second possibility could happen when you have nothing to trap the gas bubbles. Are you using xanthan?
Comment: related : https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/407/67
Answer: I imagine you have tried recipes already with an appropriate quantity of xanthum gum and starches... are you making any substitutions, or omitting ingredients?
Substitutions really change the game significantly, even unwitting substitutions like sweet rice flour vs white rice flour, potato flour vs potato starch. Substituting an alternative flour directly for wheat flour in non-GF recipes won't work (unless you find a GF flour blend that specifies so - for bread, I haven't).
And when I started GF baking I omitted some tiny amounts of ingredients as I didn't want to go out and buy a whole packet/bottle of something just to use a few grams. Turns out some of those little things were absolutely essential. Don't skimp on them. Also, if using yeast, you can take a little bit and proof it to make sure it's not the dud.
Try finding a specifically gluten-free bread recipe with many positive comments, so you are sure it's not the recipe that's the issue.
Personally, my first proper attempt with no subs or omissions at making bread (my first GF bread, and first bread loaf ever - so it had to be foolproof for me) was with this recipe and it rose nicely, much to my relief and delight. Maybe give it a try, and once you got the rising bit down, work on other recipes from there?
If they are not working even though you are following them to a T, perhaps temperature is your issue - is the water too cold or hot for the yeast? Are you leaving the bread in a cold spot? I have a cool kitchen, so when my oven is pre-heating while rising I place the loaf above the stove to rise, as it receives ambient warmth from the heated oven.
Answer: A few months ago, I bought a bread machine specifically to make GF bread. (A risky venture as I didn't cook or bake.) I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and tasty my first loaf was; but it was a little thicker and gummier than I liked. I used Pamela's Bread Mix.
Sooo, I tried a few other mixes (and my own combinations)--melchhhh, I didn't like any of them. Back to experimenting with Pamela's and researching sites/books.
Here's where I landed. Follow the standard recipe on the Pamela's bag with the following changes to HELP THE YEAST do its work better:

use very warm (but not hot) water (yeast likes warmth)
add additional 2 TBS of water (the extra water is for more moisture--too much will make the dough fall)
whisk the liquids together
add a small amount of sugar (Stevia, maple syrup, honey, or coconut sugar) to the liquid (extra food for the yeast)
A tiny smidge more yeast (heaping vs. flat)
Baste the top of the loaf with a little olive oil during the last rise and leave the top open the last 2-3 minutes of the baking (if the top crust is too hard, the yeast has a harder time working the dough)

DELICIOUS, soft and much lighter. Hope this helps and happy baking!
Comment: stevia and other non-caloric sweeteners will not help the yeast rise.
Answer: I had limited success making gluten free bread. The best result I got was from the recipe at http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2010/august/no-knead-gluten-free-bread , which resulted in a half-decent, moist loaf.
Answer: I have only made gluten free bread once, but then I used a no knead recipe and it turned out okay. I generally find that no knead recipes rise well, probably becuase you allow it a long time to rise.
I don't know what kind of recipe you used, but if it wasn't a no knead one I'd suggest you try that and see if it is easier for you.
Comment: No knead recipes also allow extra time for the flours to hydrate, which can be a problem with gluten-free breads (the grittiness stops it from holding air well)
Answer: Mix the liquids and fold into dry ingredients instead of mixing all together. It made a world of difference in my banana bread.


Why is イチゴ written in katakana?

Question: From which language did it come to Japanese? And why does it have its own kanji?
Comment: You seem to be making two wrong assumptions: (1) that words written in katakana are always loanwords (i.e. words adopted from other languages), and (2) that loanwords usually don't have kanji.
Answer: いちご is a native Japanese word, which is almost as old as the written records of Japanese itself. (Apparently it first appears as イチビコ in the 日本書記{にほんしょき} (8th century) and as イチゴ two centuries later in the 倭名類聚抄{わみょうるいじゅしょう}.)
As practically all native Japanese words (like 雨{あめ} rain, 村{むら} village, etc.), いちご, too, was assigned a corresponding kanji from Chinese, in this case 苺.
Fruits (and more generally, plants and animals) are often written in katakana, so you shouldn't be surprised to see it written as イチゴ. (See for example this question.)
Comment: Also see [Why are katakana preferred over hiragana or kanji sometimes?](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1930/78).

Why is イチゴ written in katakana?


Do I need a visa to travel to South Africa with a Germany refugee travel document?

Question: Do I need a visa to travel to South Africa with a Germany refugee travel document? If yes, what is the requirement for the visa application at the South African embassy?
Answer: According to a query on the KLM Traveldoc, a visa is required for passengers holding travel documents issued to stateless persons or refugees or travel documents for aliens.
The South African Embassy to the Federal Republic of Germany visa and immigration page notes that [a]ll visa applicants must submit their applications in person during the consular business hours at the Embassy in Berlin or Consulate-General in Munich.
The Consular Section in the Embassy in Berlin
Tiergartenstr. 18
10785 Berlin
Fax Consular Section: 030 22073 202
Email Consular Section: berlin.consular(at)dirco.gov.za
Residents of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg must lodge applications and pay any applicable fees at the South African Consulate-General in Munich:
Südafrikanisches Generalkonsulat
Sendlinger-Tor-Platz 5
80336 Munich
Fax: 089 231 163 53
Email: munich.consular(at)dirco.gov.za
According to the Republic of South Africa Department of Home Affairs, the following documents are required to apply for a visa:

A passport or travel document valid for no less than 30 days after the expiry of your intended visit
Your passport must have at least TWO unused page for entry / departure endorsements
A completed Form BI-84 (application for a visa)
Payment of the prescribed fee
A yellow-fever vaccination certificate (if required)
Statement and/or documentation confirming the purpose and duration of your visit
Two colour passport photographs
A return or onward ticket if you are travelling by air
If you have children (minors) travelling with you or joining in South Africa, you will need to provide the following additional documents:
→ Proof of guardianship or custody or
→ Consent from the guardian in the case of an unaccompanied minor
Proof of financial means to pay for your living expenses while in South Africa in the form of:
→ Bank statements
→ Salary advances
→ Undertakings by the host(s) in South Africa
→ Bursary
→ Medical cover or
→ Cash available (including credit cards and travellers' cheques)


Connecting to a node and opening a channel

Question: What is the difference between connecting to a node and opening a channel with a node in the lightning network? What are the events happen when I just connect to a node?
Answer: When you connect to a node in the lightning network, you are opening a network connection to that node. You begin exchanging messages about the lightning network and can gather information such as other open channels, other nodes that can be connected to, etc. This information can help you build a better channel graph and decide whether you want to open a channel with this node or with some other node.
Once you have connected to a node, you can open a channel with it. Opening a channel requires creating a Bitcoin transaction, broadcasting it to the Bitcoin network, and waiting for it to become confirmed. When you open a channel, you must also be connected to the other node as you need to send information about the channel, such as channel updates, to that node.
Answer: In Simple Terms:

Before opening a channel, you want to make sure that you can securely communicate with each other.

With the lnd implementation you do this with: lncli connect <PUBKEY>@<HOST>:<PORT>

This only tries to establish a stable connection with your peer.

Then you can open a channel with your peer. You can specify a local amount you want to commit to the channel.

With the lndimplementation you do this with: lncli openchannel --node_key=<ID_PUBKEY> --local_amt=<AMOUNT>

After opening a channel, you will have to wait for a number of confirmations. The reason for this is that by opening a channel you make a transaction on the bitcoin network.

With the lndimplementation you can set the number of blocks with the flag: --block

Hope this answers your question.