I have a 1-year-old daughter. How to define the difference between buying her a toy she wants and spoiling her?

Question: We visited a toy store and my 1-year-old daughter showed great interest in a doll and I bought it for her.
It is wrong to buy whatever a child wants, and I am wondering how to define the difference between "I buy her a toy" and "I am spoiling her."
Comment: What we did when our kids were very young. They could hold the toys while they were in the store, but when we were leaving, the toys would always 'want to go back to their friends on the shelf'. We kind of made a game of this, so the kids were usually fine with it.
Comment: Also see: https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/33598/too-many-presents-from-grandma-is-this-bad-for-my-child
Comment: "It is wrong to buy whatever a child wants" Yep. That isn't going to to teach good behavior at all. At 1 year old, they get over it pretty fast when you deny them something. But give in to this kind of behavior now and you might be stuck with a brat later on.
Comment: @SiXandSeven8ths I don't think that's true as a blanket statement. Buying her everything she wants, when she demands it -- yes, that's an issue. Buying her whatever she wants as a birthday present or as a reward for some exceptional behavior, not so much. (It's also possible I misunderstood you, and you meant the first thing, in which case I agree)
Answer: It's a good idea to restrict toy buying to particular times of the year, like birthdays, or Christmas, or whatever other holidays are meaningful to you and your family.
This will help teach your child self-control and patience, and help them to value the things they already have.
At 1 year old, I would say the problem is not yet too bad, but if you do this sort of thing when she is 2 or 3, it will become a big problem.
If you don't set expectations early, then you will soon discover that you cannot get out of stores without her throwing screaming tantrums and demanding ever more extravagant toys. She'll play with them for a day or two until she sees something more exciting, and then demand that.
Answer: At one year old, the concern isn't so much her, as your habits.  She's not going to really understand the idea of limitations on toys yet; the toys appear and she's happy.  Even the concept of ownership is pretty far away.  Buying her something that she shows interest in is a good thing; her interest may point to something that she doesn't have at home that she'd like to develop, such as social skills.
The question is you getting into good habits.  When she's three or four, how are you going to handle toys then?  How do you want to set things up so that you're buying within acceptable budgetary limits, and are teaching the concept of scarcity to your child?
I disagree with another answer above that buying only at special occasions is the right strategy, though that's certainly a reasonable one. I don't like the "big piles of gifts" (or even "small piles") concept; spreading it out more over time will make sure you end up with more overall utility. But that's one strategy, and certainly one better than none.
The strategy that I prefer is an allowance for toys.  We scale the allowance on age - as older kids realistically want more expensive toys - and then keep to that as best we can.  (We still occasionally buy things outside of that budget, but we try to keep that to a minimum.)  Once the children are old enough to make their own choices about toys, they get control over the allowance (with normal limits of course); until then, we make the choices.  So a 1 year old we allocate maybe $1 a week on toys, for example.  When she's two that goes up a bit, at three goes up a bit more, etc., based on your finances and preferences.
That not only helps us budget, but it also helps us teach our children budgeting and scarcity, and the idea of saving up (since they don't get enough in one week for the things they want).  Getting into the habit when they were babies was helpful for us, though, too.
Having a good toy selection is good for the child; up to a point, having more toys gives the child more ways to stimulate her senses and learn different things.  Especially now that she's probably mobile, being able to have many different toys in different locations gives her incentive to move around and investigate her environment.
Comment: I like your suggestions. I also don't like the idea of them getting lots of toys for special occasions. What we try to do is encourage our children to carefully consider their choices, rather than being impulsive. When my children show an interest in a toy at the store at random time, I'll add it to a list of photos of toys they like, and then at a later stage, they can decide which "one" toy they would like for Christmas or their birthday. This strategy has worked fairly well for us, and has diffused many potential tantrums.
Comment: I think the real key thing is, don't do impulse purchases. Have a clearly defined plan, or shopping list when you enter the store, and stick to it.
Answer: The simple answer to what you've done- no.
Putting this into the greater framework of parenting in general though, I'd have to say that the response would be to, as @User1751825 has said- restrictions should be in place.
Ultimately as a parent what you do is entirely down to you- but the general "common" belief is that the occasional treat, if for a purpose other than "just because" doesn't hurt and can be a motivational factor to influence children's development that good behaviour or performing in a certain way will lead to "perks" or positive reinforcement.
This can be something like saying that if they behave at school and home all week, on the weekend you'll do something together or go to a shop and buy something up to a monetary value of "X", with longer-term rolling benefits of if they do well to get a bigger reward.
However, there are downsides to this as evidenced in some TV shows (supernanny for example) that showed a Mother buying her young (roughly 6 yr old) daughter chocolate each week if she did well- but the reward was, after some months, no longer enjoyed and so the daughter ended up with a literal pile of chocolate which she didn't want and so began to slide back into bad habits that this process was meant to curtail.
The term of "spoiling" would only apply if you were to, upon the whims of the child buy them everything or most things they want, when they want it- be it food, toys or otherwise. Depending on the frequency of this, it could potentially impact their development to some degree- for example despite behaviour and/or performance at home/school (or otherwise) that they'll get whatever they want still.
It's a different situation for every parent with their children- where do you draw the line of buying them things they'd like and getting them something because you want to? The interpretations from both sides are difficult to always determine but nobody wants their child to be seen as a "spoiled brat", but by the same token don't want their child to be viewed as being worse off as a result.


Removing potentially load bearing wall

Question: We're looking a taking out a wall between the kitchen & living room that is likely load bearing. The wall between the living room & kitchen is an extension of a hallway that runs the length of the house with the peak of the roof & main floor girder running parallel down the centerline of the hallway across the entire house. There is no support directly under the wall. The only support is the main girder 12 inches away, which is supported by floor jacks on concrete pads. The it has a truss roof, and the ceiling joists meet about 12 inches to one side of the wall (again over the center line of the hallway). We've consulted with several experienced DIYers, a general contractor, and a design engineer, and no one can agree on if it's load bearing, and what approach to take to remove the wall. Since then, we've had the general contractor remove the sheet rock on one side of the wall and discovered a diagonal board across the wall (accidentally cutting the electrical in the process - but that's a different issue). It's a fairly small house - 928 square feet, and the wall in question is about 13 feet long. Any ideas on if this is load bearing, and what approach to take if it is?
Comment: There's no need for consensus, if you paid a design engineer. Take their answer. Knowledge and experience (not to mention liability) will beat polling strangers on the internet for advice.
Comment: Looks like it's just a let-in diagonal brace.
Comment: Is that a stairway behind the wall?
Comment: To clarify, do the floor and ceiling joists run parallel or perpendicular to the wall?
Comment: Design engineer? You need a structural engineer or architectural engineer; someone who knows where to put structure in a house and how to calculate its required strength. That sort of person should be able to analyze the situation for you and provide recommendations you can trust.
Comment: @metasequoia Does it seem odd that an interior wall would require a diagonal brace, load bearing or not?
Answer: You say this house "has a truss roof".  If the house truly has a truss roof, the only load bearing wall is at each end of the truss.  But you contradict yourself when you say "the ceiling joists meet about 12 inches to one side of the wall".  The bottom cord of a truss (what the ceiling dry wall attaches to on truss construction) would be either one piece or spliced.  They also would likely be 2x4 construction on a house that small.  When you say the ceiling joists meet about 12 inches from the wall, I assume you mean that they overlap each other at that point.  I would dearly hope that both ceiling joists reach all the way to the top plate of the wall in question.  If not, and the fact that you say the wall is not directly supported to the building foundation, it looks like poor construction practice and not meeting whatever code is in place at your location.
I just finished removing a wall very similar to what you have described.  But my wall was directly in the center of the house, parallel with the roof peak, and directly over the center beam of the house.  My wife wanted a smooth ceiling, (no header), so the support had to be done in the attic.  I ran the calculations for a 22' span and found out that a span that long is totally impractical.  So I put a column at 13' from one end, which I used as a pipe chase for the kitchen sink vent.  With only a 13' span, I was able to use two, 1¾" by 11¼ " LVLs in each direction from the new column that I shimmed so they were a little more than ¾" apart.  Each other end was in a wall so I was able to add 2x4s as a support and block the space between the basement beam and the subfloor so that the load was transferred down to the foundation.  I also had to check that the resulting point load from these new columns did not overload the basement beam.  I then fabricated some steel "hangers" from 4" channel and ¾" threaded rod to catch the two ceiling joists that overlapped the old wall.  The two lapped ceiling joists nested perfectly in the 4" channel, and the threaded rod slipped between the two LVLs to above a top ¼" plate that spanned the twin LVLs allowed a firm bolted connection.  The ceiling joists were shimmed as required to keep the ceiling level.
So I agree with Jimmy Fix-it on the inadequacy of a 4"x8" for a 13' span.  You don't say where you are, north or south.  If you are south, you don't have a huge snow load to worry about.  But I would spend the money and engage an engineer to evaluate the current design situation, as any changes you do could exasperate the problem.
Comment: Actually not all trusses clear span the house so there could be an interior bearing wall, (i.e.: pitched bottom chord for a room, etc.) Also, not all ceilings are fastened to the bottom chord of a truss, especially in ultra high snow load regions.
Answer: Why are you removing walls if you can't determine whether or not this is a load bearing wall??? Hire a professional please..... You're looking at both a load bearing, and a sheer wall here. On approach to take, you need to put up two temporary walls to carry the load, pour concrete footerson both sides of your span. Post up, and hide an engineered beam in the ceiling. Use Tico plates and hangers with appropriate nails or screws.... (please hire a professional.....)
Answer: It's hard to judge confidently from the picture and description. If there are not floor joists or carrying timbers supporting the wall from below, and there aren't joists landing on top of it, I'm inclined to think that it's either not a load bearing wall, or it's a poorly designed/implemented load bearing wall.
If you do determine that it would be good to have something structural there, there may be opportunity to do achieve that goal and open up the space. For example, you could install a 4 x whatever's-appropriate across that span with some posts and diagonal bracing on each side.
Comment: Uh, I think a 4x8 is not nearly big enough for a 13' span.

Removing potentially load bearing wall


My Site Organization and Memberships

Question: How do I use Organization and Memberships in my site/my profile without setting it all up in AD? Is there a way to have SharePoint store the info?
Thanks,
David
Answer: David,
Memberships aren't administred via AD: site memberships appear in a persons profile whenever that person is added as a site member (so no site owner, administrator, just owners.). AD-groups don't count, the profile has to be added, otherwise it won't work.
about the organization:
that is created based on what manager you do have and do have in common with other colleagues. This manager field is filled from user profile import, it does not have to come from an AD import. You could do this manually (blegh!), but you could create some SQL database which contains the organization structure. Connect the SQL database with a BCS connection, and define an import in the user profile synchronization service. Configure that the manager field will get its data from the BCS data source, and your organization will be filled. Note that this doesn't have to be a SQL data source, you can configure other systems, such a HR-system that contains the hierarchy, too.
After the import, you can use the Add-SPProfileLeader to define the CEO's (the person's who don't have a manager).
Answer: Have a look at Spence's blog post on Add-SPProfileLeader: It's all about relevance. The *-SPProfileLeader Windows PowerShell cmdlets in SharePoint Server 2010 SP1
You can create your organizational structure with this power shell command. I don't know what you mean by "Membership" though. Your "memberships" usually get populated with the SharePoint sites where you are in the "Member" group - this is not related to the active directory.
Comment: Robert, that *-SPProfileLeader only allows you to specify the organization leaders: the steve ballmer and steve jobs of an organization. It doesn't allow you to specify a manager of an employee
Comment: Oh, you're right. Too bad, I really liked the idea.

My Site Organization and Memberships


Cowboy verb for roping and dragging an animal or person?

Question: In some western movies, there are a lot of violent scenes. For example, a man on horseback ties and pulls an outlaw on the ground. My question is: What is the correct verb that can be used to describe the act of drawing an outlaw behind on the ground?
Comment: There is no specific word for dragging somebody behind a horse.
Comment: This is the "drawn" part of [hanged, drawn, and quartered](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_drawn_and_quartered). It is a truly ancient form of punishment and was part of the penal code of England from around 1300 until about 1820  [old illustration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanged,_drawn_and_quartered#/media/File:Drawing_of_William_de_Marisco.jpg)
Answer: It's called "lassoing" — Dictionary.com

verb (used with object) lassoed, lassoing. to catch with or as with a lasso.

"He lassoed the villain and dragged him along the ground."
Comment: And only greenhorns call it lassoing, cowboys call it roping.
Comment: "lassoing" is the **act** of capturing, and doesn't describe what follows.
Answer: I would say "dragging" — M-W

verb to cause (something) to move along the ground, floor, etc., by pulling it

"The cowboy tied the outlaw up and took off on his horse, dragging the outlaw behind him."
Comment: Thanks Ron. BTW, can "drag" be used whether there is a rope or not?
Comment: Yes. Anytime you pull something along behind you.
Comment: @midomido - And the usage is not restricted to American cowboys. From "The Bastard King of England": "Then the Earl of Sussex jumped on his horse and straightway rode to France/ where he made a pass and stripped the sash from Phillip's pajama pants./ Then in front of a fhrong/ he slipped on a thong then jumped on his horse and galloped along/ dragging Phillip back to merry England." And yes, he was dragged along by exactly the body part you might expect.
Answer: roping:
Definition:

verb (used with object)  10. to catch with a lasso; lasso.
  (Dictionary.com)

Example:

Yes, for instance, roping bandits with that Mexican lasso that the
  cowboys gave her last season.

Also try leashing, tethering, noosing.
Answer: Wrangle means to

"round up, herd, or take charge of (livestock)."

It doesn't explicitly mean to drag someone in a literal sense, but the word does carry a connotation that its subject is being controlled forcibly.
Source: Many hundreds of hours spent watching westerns with my father.
Comment: This word is more commonly used to describe an action of using one's arms and hands to round up livestock, not a rope
Answer: There's not a lot of historical discussion readily available. So we can imagine that "lasso'd and dragged" would fit the style of language associated with the old West.
Or possibly just dragged, since that already implies that a tethering of some sort has occurred.
Another possibility is "drawn" which doesn't have a specific connection to the American West; but that is an old legal sense of the word in English. (see drawn and quartered http://www.britannica.com/topic/drawing-and-quartering)
Answer: Draggle

to soil by dragging over damp ground or in mud.
to trail on the ground; be or become draggled.
to follow slowly; straggle.

Also, "drabble" (Ref. - http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-slang-d.html)
Also, "dragging death"


Company matched charitable giving and ma'aser

Question: If my company matches a certain level of charitable giving, can this be included in any way in ma'aser calculations? Does it make a difference if the company matches the donations by giving directly to the charity, or if it makes a contribution to my charity account, which I then use to make donations?
Comment: Welcome to Mi Yodeya! Please treat any information you get on this site as if it came from a crowd of your friends. For a practical ruling, ask your rabbi. You might also want to see "[Why is it necessary to ask a rabbi?](//judaism.stackexchange.com/q/9146)" for more info. We hope to see you around!
Comment: It's not your money that is being given. It's a sort of gromo. Maybe it should be treated like damages for tzeroros - where you would pay half IIRC.
Comment: Since it is not income to you (and not taxable) but an expense of your employer,10% cannot be added to your ma'aser account nor can the payment be considered a ma'aser payment.
Answer: Shulchan Oruch Yoreh Deah 249 (1) refers to giving ma'aser:

The amount of charity one should give is as follows: if one can but
  afford, let him give as much as is needed. Under ordinary
  circumstances, a fifth of one's property is most laudable. To give
  one-tenth is the average disposition. But to give less than one-tenth
  is niggardly. When the Rabbis said a "fifth" they meant a fifth of the
  property the first year only and a fifth of the profits in succeeding
  years.

The obligation is to deduct from one's property and then one's income. The implication is that one's property and income are therefore liable to a deduction for ma'aser. The person himself has to make that deduction.
Meir Tamari in With all your Possessions p 225 writes that tithing in Judaism is part and parcel of the tax system. Tax is considered a personal obligation.
The implication seems to be that since the person himself is liable to make the payment, he cannot rely on another person to make up the amount.
Therefore the praiseworthy matched giving of the employer does not release the employee from giving what he has to give from his income.


Is there a Ubuntu for SPARC computer?

Question: Is there a Ubuntu for SPARC computer? My friend like Ubuntu and he want to install on his SPARC (UltraSPARC IV, release 2005).
Answer: Kind of, Yes.  There were SPARC ports of two LTS releases: 8.04 and 10.04 server.  After 10.04 however no-one was actively maintaining the ports so that was the last one.  12.04 does not have a SPARC port, and I haven't heard of anyone working on the port.
Theoretically 10.04 server is supported until April 2015, however since no-one appears to be maintaining the SPARC ports it seems unlikely that there will be any updates.  What there is of 10.04 for SPARC is here.  Scroll down to the bottom for most of the SPARC downloads
It seems unlikely that there would be many people here who have used the SPARC port, but you might ask around the SPARC community to get their thoughts on it.
Answer: No, at least -- not a recent release. You can still install 10.04 LTS, which has SPARC installation images available.
Alternatively, you can try Debian, since Debian is continuously being released for SPARC as well as a broad range of other architectures.
Answer: I guess the best way is to install Ubuntu 10.04, and add Debian repos, then update via those, that would keep things modern, but in effect may remove some things Ubuntu is known for ie branding, design quirks for Debian layouts ie the way gnome is layed out etc...

Is there a Ubuntu for SPARC computer?


What is the difference between "universal theory of fiqh" and "laws of fiqh"?

Question: When I read about Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), I find out that there is a challenge between scholars regarding law on relation of universal theory of fiqh and laws of fiqh or Qawaed fiqhi.
Now I want to know exactly what is the distinction between them?
Comment: Sorry but i don't understand your Question are you talking about the difference between theological/fiqh jurisprudence and what we may call *established law*? Or do you want to know the difference of meaning of some terms like osol al fiqh (sources/bases/roots of fiqh), furu' (branches...) of fiqh, qawa'id (rules) of fiqh and maqassid a-Shari'a (goals)  of shri'a?
Comment: we have two kind of concepts in fiqh. one is to some rules that we know them as Qawaed fiqhi and other concept is universal theory of fiqh.some believes that these two concepts are as the same,I Want to know that is is it correct?that's clear.
Comment: What is universal theory of fiqh could you give examples?
Comment: for example there is no universal theory about contract in islamic fiqh. traditional fiqh just  is concerned with determined contracts and dealth with contracts seperately.
Answer: To the questioner. There are various sciences related to Fiqh (Islamic Jursiprudence). Relevant to your question are the following:
Usool al-Fiqh (Foundational Juristic Principles)
Ahkam al-Fiqh (or Furu')
Maqasid ash-Shariah (Aims and Objectives of the Sacred Law)
Qawaid Fiqhiyyah (Juristic Axioms or Maxims)
Nathariyah Fiqhiyyah (Juristic Theories)
There is no universal theory of Fiqh but rather the various sciences mentioned address the subject of the relationship between God (The Law Giver), Humans and their actions.
The primary subject of Usool al-Fiqh pertains to how to engage the juristic sources of Islam and the method by which laws are established. Usool al-Fiqh is also concerned with the characteristics and qualities of those able to do so. So, Usool preceeds the Furu and the Furu are a product of the Usool - generally speaking.
The Furu are concerned with the actions of the morally responsible. Such as how to make ablution (wudu). How to make prayer. The furu are cataloged in the manuals of fiqh that are well known to Muslims.
Maqasid ash-Shariah is concerned with the aims and objectives of the law. Think of it as a way to align the Usool and Furu such as to avoid harm for instance. This is perhaps what you may have been referring to when you said, Universal Theory of Fiqh. Maqasid studies engage major universal principles such as preservation of religion, life, wealth, lineage and intellect. But also how to weigh and rank legal rulings so that they align and do not conflict with the preservation of these things.
Qawaid Fiqhiyyah or Juristic Maxims or Axioms is the study of general legal principles that can be applied to many related branches. In logic this would be a type of inductive application of legal principles. The scholars in viewing the legal rulings laterally from various chapters and subjects of Fiqh compiled broad principles that can be applied various situation in order to arrive at a ruling. Such as the famous principle, "Harm must be removed".
Finally, Nathariyyah Fiqhiyyah or Juristic Theory is a recent development in the Science of Fiqh. They are subject based studies of particular topics in order to arrive at a general theory of what jurist understood or arrived at. As someone mentioned above, there is no general theory of contracts. That's not necessarily true. This is one of the benefits of Nathariyyaat because they seek to study a single subject in order to extract the theory that in many cases is implicit. Many times jurists in their books may not have addressed a theory per se but no doubt had a living method and reasoning behind their conclusions. After purposeful study one can begin to extract and derive juristic theories.
To that end, Nathariyyaat have become novel within the last 100 years or so. There have been studies produced on theories of contract, for instance. As well as many others. This type of study can be found within Masters and Doctoral studies at Islamic Universities.
I apologize for being long-winded but hope this helps the questioner.
And Allah ta'ala knows best..
Tariq


Is it accepted to answer recommendation questions with non web-based solutions?

Question: I'm referring to this question where one of the solution is a non web-based app. Do we want that or should we only answer with web-based solutions even if there are better apps out there?
Comment: The referred question is was closed as off-topic in Feb 2015 because of the change in the Web Applications scope, I think.
Answer: Answering with non web-based solutions is OK because the point is to help the user and there might not be good web-based apps.
Comment: Assuming the OP did not ask in the requirements for it to be a web app (`on desktop or online`) I agree. If the OP specifically asks for something that is online so that he does not have to go through installing on every computer he uses then no.
Comment: If you suggest a desktop app, you should probably explain why you are suggesting a desktop app and why it is better than a web app counterpart (if one exists).
Comment: @phwd makes sense
Comment: it's not only about the OP.. somebody who Google's the question expects to find a webapp on this site :)
Comment: Stupid Froyo autosuggestion changed googled > Google's :)
Answer: Often apps are hybrid anyway, for examples most photo sharing websites have an optional application (or active x control) to help with uploading and tagging lots of photos.
Comment: yes, but the website is standalone -- the app is *USELESS* without the website to support it.
Answer: I think comment would be better, because desktop apps usually not running on all platforms and if somebody is looking for an answer in webapps, it should be a webapp.
Comment: The only restriction this site imposes is that *questions* must be about webapps. *Answers* with non-webapp solutions are perfectly fine in my opinion.
Comment: I just reposted it here because of the duplicate..
Comment: @eagle maybe you're right.. :) sometimes it's much easier to get the app..


Dutch Father Canadian Mother - CAn I apply for a Dutch Passport

Question: My father was born in Holland in 1946 and immigrated to Canada in 1956. I was born in Canada in 1968 but would like to apply for a Dutch Passport as I spend a lot of time working in Europe. Does anyone know if this is possible? My father never had his Dutch Passport but my Aunt (his sister) has hers.
Answer: If your father was (still) a Dutch citizen when you were born, then you were a Dutch citizen when you were born, but you will have since lost your Dutch citizenship. If this is the case, as a former Dutch citizen, you would be eligible to use a shortened naturalization process known as the "Option Procedure" to regain your Dutch citizenship. However, in your case this would first require legally residing in the Netherlands for one year on a non-temporary basis. One benefit of this route is that it does not require giving up your Canadian citizenship.
If your father was not Dutch when you were born, then you are stuck with the traditional naturalization routes to gain Dutch citizenship. The traditional routes require several years' residence in the Netherlands, demonstrating you are integrated, and giving up your current citizenship when you naturalize. You can also be eligible for the Option Procedure if you are married to a Dutch person for at least 3 years.
Your father would have lost his citizenship before you were born, for example, if he naturalized as a Canadian or was included in his parents' naturalization as Canadians.
To clarify the part about you having since lost your Dutch citizenship if your father was still Dutch when you were born:
Dutch citizenship "expires" after 10 years outside the Netherlands after reaching the age of majority if one does not take specific action to retain it. In the 1980s, the age of majority changed from 21 to 18 and there was at least one reset to the 10 year period for some cases.  However, you are old enough to have comfortably passed all such 10 year periods.
Comment: The 1985 10-year rule applied to dual citizens who are born in the country of their other citizenship and lived there for at least ten years.  There was no way to prevent loss of Dutch nationality under this rule aside from moving outside the country of citizenship.  But if OP *did* live outside Canada for any significant period between 1986 and 1996, it's quite possible that he or she retained Dutch nationality until the change in 2003 (April 1). After that point it's possible (though unlikely) that the 10-year period could have been reset by a year's residence in the EU or another exception.
Comment: Also, if the father had naturalized as Canadian independently of his parents before his 21st birthday, he would have retained his Dutch nationality.  This is what happened to my father: he naturalized in the US at 19, and my grandfather naturalized after my father's 21st birthday.


Are questions about the demographics of who benefits from a policy on topic?

Question: I posted a question about who benefits from the government policy of National Parks in the United States. It was put on hold as off topic, but I want to make sure this area of scope is well defined and discussed. Are questions about the demographics of who benefits from a policy on topic?
Comment: This is the type of questions that look like on/offtopic due to wording and formulation. At the very minimum, I would prefer waiting for some answers/comments from other users who may be familiar with the subject, or ask the OP to adjust the wording. **And, most certainly, avoid closing it single-handedly.**
Comment: The question was not about "who benefits", the question was "What percentage of Americans visit a national park in a given year?". Landscape and wildlife conservation efforts benefit far more people than just those who spend time in national parks.
Comment: Visiting a park is not the only way we benefit from their existence. I love seeing pictures from the parks even if I have not had the opportunity to visit. And just because I have not visited in given year does not mean I will not visit one or more in my lifetime. The question is not about the benefits of the policy but a specific statistic that is merely tangential to politics.
Comment: Questions like "who benefit from a policy" are clearly **on**-topic to me. But that isn't your question at all. Who benefits from a national park organisation? Pretty much the whole world, preservation of bio-diversity, nature helping regulating global warming, C02->O2, scientific investigation, etc. Your question is about statistics of *Americans* who *visited* the NP. This is reducing the scope to something that is only a minor component of the benefits of the policy. Your question might be On-topic, but this discussion isn't about it.
Comment: @Chad I definitely agree that park visitors are not the only beneficiaries of national parks. It's just one statistic that helps us understand who benefits, but it's important to have that statistic. Social Security doesn't just benefit retired people, it also benefits the families and loved ones who would have to support their elderly relatives if the program didn't exist. That doesn't mean having statistics about who receives social security checks is irrelevant or somehow not about who benefits from social security.
Comment: @lazarusL - Its not irrelevant its just off topic.
Answer: Yes, questions about the demographics of who benefits from a policy are on topic. Questions are on topic for this site if they deal with "governments, policies, and political processes." A key part of understanding the impact of policies is understanding who benefits from them. Questions about demographics are on topic if they directly relate to a government policy.
In a democratic country, questions about the beneficiaries of policies are especially on topic, because those beneficiaries go on to vote for lawmakers. Understanding who specific policies benefit is vital to understanding the dynamics of those countries elections and how democratic forces influence lawmakers. Elections and how lawmakers pass laws are key political processes that this site helps users understand better.
Does allowing these questions open a rabbit hole of unrelated questions? I don't think so. For a question to be on topic, it must tie back to a government program or policy. "How many Americans work in factories that make auto parts?" is off topic. "How many Americans work in parts of the manufacturing sector that would be exposed to foreign competition by the Trans Pacific Partnership?" is somewhat broad, but it's a vital question for understanding the constituencies pressuring lawmakers writing the trade deal and the positions of candidates on the trade deal and thus should be on topic.
Answer: National parks are a function of the government, and I would consider questions about them and their implications to be on topic.
Keeping that in mind, your specific question might be too broad/opinion-based.
When I imagine a potential answer to that question, I imagine different metrics for "benefit", different kinds of benefits such as educational, environmental, economic, etc, and very complex ways in which a park may or may not benefit someone.
I feel as though if someone would attempt to answer that, they would need to make some assumptions about what counts as benefits, assumptions about opportunity cost, and they would need to speculate and guess.
When a question requires too much speculation and guessing to answer, I usually consider it to be opinion-based.
Answer: No, such questions are not on-topic.
Just because the answer to a question might be relevant for political decision making does not mean it is a question about politics. If we would allow such questions, then pretty much every aspect of life would be on-topic here because every aspect of life can be a topic of government regulation.
The litmus test if a question is on-topic here or not is "would a political scientist have a better answer to this question than an expert of a different specialization?". Visitor numbers of national parks are not within the area of expertise of a political scientist, so questions about that do not belong here.
Comment: Exactly.  Beside visiting a park is not the only way we benefit from their existence.  I love seeing pictures from the parks even if I have not had the opportunity to visit.  And just because I have not visited in given year does not mean I will not visit one or more in my lifetime.  The question is not about the benefits of the policy but a specific statistic that is merely tangential to politics.
Comment: "would a political scientist have a better answer to this question than an expert of a different specialization?" - I think I like that limit in concept, but have we ever actually used it as a policy before?


SharePoint performance

Question: We have a SharePoint application which works fine in the beginning. Now it takes more time to load the page and i am getting error page manytimes. When i check on that error, i found the reason as SQL timeout error. We used Stored Procedure to get data from AllUserData table from content database. Now the size of database is 2 GB. How can i increase performance and avoid getting error page?
Comment: What are you doing that you needed to write a SP against a SharePoint DB? There are other more supported ways to get data out than hacking away at the DBs (which is a no-no).
Comment: A DB size of 2GB is nothing, SharePoint can handle that with ease, event at 2TB it can still perform well. Use best practice guideline about how to configure and don't add custom code unless its normal SharePoint solutions accessing the object model. If you have custom t-sql for permissions you might well be introducing table locks that are causing deadlock and timeouts.
Comment: we tried using spquery. since that methods was slow, we created views and used stored procedure to get value from the views.
Comment: On the content on your site, are you using a lot of unique permissions on items and have a lot of them?
Comment: No.. we are using only groups and handle user permissions in code..
Answer: I would hazard a guess that your SQL server is critically under-spec'd for your environment. Please ensure it has enough RAM on the server itself, and that the database engine is configured correctly for it's memory usage.
As you haven't stated what version of SharePoint you are using, please locate the TechNet documentation for hardware and software requirements for SQL Server for the version of SharePoint you are running and validate the recommended production system requirements against your environment.
Answer: As another test to see what is happening on page load, you could enable the Developers Console.  You can find instructions on how to enable it here:
http://www.topsharepoint.com/enable-developer-dashboard-in-sharepoint-2010
I recommend using the On Demand setting.  This will give Admin's an icon in the upper right of the content of your pages.  When you click the icon, it reloads the page with your Console Appearing below the content of your page.  You can see if there are custom web parts or other objects that are causing your problems.
Hopefully this helps!
Cheers!
Comment: Developer dashboard does not show information regarding custom  stored procedure execution. I am getting sql exception timeout error issue only when executing custom stored procedure.
Answer: I wrote a blog series on bad access patterns to the SharePoint content database: http://apmblog.compuware.com/2010/03/18/how-to-avoid-the-top-5-sharepoint-performance-mistakes/ - we keep seeing the same mistakes from developers - assuming that SharePoint's List Model allows high transaction volume with high performance. Well - unfortunately thats not what SharePoint was designed and architect-ed for.
I also recorded a video on how I analyze SharePoint Performance Hotspots with free available tools. The video is linked in that blog above + you can find more of my SharePoint related blog posts on the same blog - just search for SharePoint

SharePoint performance


Is it possible to build Lego bricks with a makerbot replicator 3D print?

Question: Is it possible for plates, tiles or small pieces ? Is it possible to use MLCAD with a Makerbot replicator?
Comment: I can't imagine that the tolerances would be as good as LEGO's - would probably be on a par with MegaBloks ;)
Comment: Yes, but the quality would not be that good.  See this (my) [answer on a related question](http://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/1283/738).
Comment: The MakerBot Replicator 2 produces surfaces with 100 micron precision according to MakerBots website.
Comment: See the referenced answer by InkBlend; precision of normal lego pieces out of box is under 10 microns. The quality you can get from a 100 micron printer is not going to work as well as a real piece. Once we have 10x precision for the 3D printers, things might change.
Answer: (fair warning: I work for a 3D printer company [Type A Machines])
I thought this cross-posting up on the RepRap forum would be useful here.
Summarizing that post:
It is possible to 3D print LEGO-compatible parts on desktop 3D printers, but with caveats:

The fit will likely never be as tight as real LEGOs. Those are tough tolerances to match. LEGO Corp are (I've heard) the masters of injection molded plastic.
The fit we achieved is not bad though, but to make it work you can't just print the holes at the exact diameter and just hope it works.
I did my models in CAD software and (CRUCIAL POINT) had to expand hole sizes by about 1/2mm to get the right fit.
I added 1mm chamfers to the holes as well.
I also widened the holes after printing with a 4.8mm drill bit. No power tools needed, just a few turns manually.

...but with those caveats, it's totally doable.  The holes I printed stuck quite nicely to the top of a standard LEGO 8x8 plate. Of course, it's crazy to try and print any standard LEGO/Technic brick. LEGO corp does that so much better than you ever will. The interesting thing is making custom pieces that you'll never see from LEGO. There are a lot of interesting 3D designs out there that - with the methods above - allow you to turn them into a LEGO component.
Answer: LDview can directly export LDraw files to .STL. But the problem is that the mesh obtained may not be suitable for 3D printing, many of LDraw parts are not "watertight", or contain surfaces inside the part volume (eg. studs are simply lain on flat top surface).
Answer: You can't directly export from MLCad to the .STL format that the Makerbots require, but there are workflows you could probably set up.
MLCad doesn't really have many export options, so you're better off using something like LeoCAD which can read .ldr files from MLCad, and export as other formats.

Using LeoCAD, add the part you want to print to the scene.
Export as either .3ds or Lightwave .obj, and import into Blender.
Export from Blender as an .stl file (native exporter).
Open the .STL in ReplicatorG and away you go.
Comment: I've heard there are limitations to printing layer-by-layer as parts can be very brittle. How do home-made bricks compare to the real thing, is it even a viable option?
Comment: Good question - I really doubt that the precision of the printers are anywhere close to actual LEGO bricks.


Unable to move few Apps to SD Card

Question: I have apps such as Any.DO and AK Notepad installed in My Samsung Galaxy Y Android 2.3.6 phone. I have tried Titanium Backup and App 2 SD (move app to SD) but still not able to move these apps to the SD card at all. What's wrong? Can someone help me out here?
Comment: What happens if you try to move the apps to SD?
Comment: @Flow see my answer. Both apps have widgets integrated, so they most likely do not support App2SD.
Comment: If you want to move your app to sd card because of "low internal storage" go check http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/30620/space-problem-in-samsung-galaxy-pocket-gt-s5300
Answer: An app must explicitly support App2SD, or you cannot move it to the card. There are several reasons why an app might not support it:

using widgets (both mentioned apps seem to fall into this category. AK Notepad: "Pin notes to your home screen"; Any.DO: "You can even add our widget to your homescreen")
running a service

As the sdcard would be unaccessible when connecting to a computer, both things would "crash" (as they could no longer access their data etc.). Of course there's always the possibility the developer simply didn't care -- in which case you should contact him and ask.
Comment: I've encountered an interesting case -  an app, https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.nanoconverter.zlab which has a defect - it offers background service and widget, yet my 4.2.2 **can move** it to SD card (losing that functionality, ofc).
Answer: There are some factors that may affect this:

An app must explicitly declare that it's preferable/possible to be installed on SD card.

Beginning with API Level 8, you can allow your application to be installed on the external storage (for example, the device's SD card). This is an optional feature you can declare for your application with the android:installLocation manifest attribute. If you do not declare this attribute, your application will be installed on the internal storage only and it cannot be moved to the external storage.

(Emphasis mine)
An app is set to compile using API 7 (Froyo) or lower, which doesn't support installing an app on SD card (even if it's installed on GingerBread or newer devices)

The ability for your application to install on the external storage is a feature available only on devices running API Level 8 (Android 2.2) or greater. Existing applications that were built prior to API Level 8 will always install on the internal storage and cannot be moved to the external storage (even on devices with API Level 8). However, if your application is designed to support an API Level lower than 8, you can choose to support this feature for devices with API Level 8 or greater and still be compatible with devices using an API Level lower than 8.

(Emphasis mine)

The reasons why some apps are not preferable to be installed on SD card are as following:

When the user enables USB mass storage to share files with their computer (or otherwise unmounts or removes the external storage), any application installed on the external storage and currently running is killed. The system effectively becomes unaware of the application until mass storage is disabled and the external storage is remounted on the device. Besides killing the application and making it unavailable to the user, this can break some types of applications in a more serious way. In order for your application to consistently behave as expected, you should not allow your application to be installed on the external storage if it uses any of the following features, due to the cited consequences when the external storage is unmounted:

Services
Your running Service will be killed and will not be restarted when external storage is remounted. [...]
Alarm Services
Your alarms registered with AlarmManager will be cancelled. [...]
Input Method Engines
Your IME will be replaced by the default IME. [...]
Live Wallpapers
Your running Live Wallpaper will be replaced by the default Live Wallpaper. [...]
App Widgets
Your App Widget will be removed from the home screen. When external storage is remounted, your App Widget will not be available for the user to select until the system resets the home application (usually not until a system reboot).
Account Managers
Your accounts created with AccountManager will disappear until external storage is remounted.
Sync Adapters
Your AbstractThreadedSyncAdapter and all its sync functionality will not work until external storage is remounted.
Device Administrators
Your DeviceAdminReceiver and all its admin capabilities will be disabled, which can have unforeseeable consequences for the device functionality, which may persist after external storage is remounted.
Broadcast Receivers listening for "boot completed"
The system delivers the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast before the external storage is mounted to the device. If your application is installed on the external storage, it can never receive this broadcast.

If your application uses any of the features listed above, you should not allow your application to install on external storage.

(Some parts are redacted. They are explaining what developers have to do to make their apps working properly after the SD card is remounted.)
Note: this answer serves as general information to "Why some apps cannot be moved to SD card"
Source: Android Developers: App Install Location.
Answer: It is definitely possible to move apps to the SD card and still have them working perfectly (widgets and services included) via Link2SD.
EDIT: Using this method requires root access on your phone and also needs your SD card to be formatted to have a second partition on it.
In order to avoid redundantly posting the answer again over here, I'll just drop a link to it: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/145591/167026

Unable to move few Apps to SD Card


Premium vs. regular in medium compression engines

Question: We probably all know that using premium grade gasoline in a low compression engine (less than 9.5:1) is nothing but a waste of money, but what about medium compression engines with a compression ratio between 10:1 and 11:1? Before computer controlled ignition systems anything greater than 10:1 would quite likely require premium, but today an engine with a compression ratio of 10.5:1 can run on 87 octane (or at least my '14 Honda Accord can).I figure the ignition system, which would be getting the octane data from the octane sensor, would advance the timing appropriately to accommodate the higher octane fuel. This would then result in combustion being further along as the piston passed top dead center as compared to 87 octane fuel.My owner's manual recommends 87 octane or higher, and it does seem like my car has somewhat better acceleration with the 91 octane fuel. With gas being so relatively inexpensive and my not driving as much as when I was commuting to work, I don't mind paying extra for the premium. But I wonder if the increased performance is all in my head.(I don't think this is the same as other questions regarding premium vs. regular, as I'm specifically limiting the question to medium compression engines or engines that without computer-controlled ignitions would have required premium grade fuel.)
Answer: There is no such thing as an octane sensor. Octane is analyzed in two ways. Analysis of the chemical composition, they call this Research. They place the fuel into a test engine and run it until it pings, they call this Motor. If you look at a gas pump it will usually show for example, 87 octane (R + M)/2. This is an average of Research and Motor.
A modern ignition system has some type of sensor to detect pinging or knocking, what ever you want to call it. The computer then calculates the base timing for all the cylinders. The computer then optimizes the timing for each cylinder individually. The computer keeps track of cylinders similar to how sequential fuel injection does. The computer then pushes the ignition advance on a cylinder until it detects a knock. When a knock is detected the timing is backed off slightly. This is the optimal timing spot for that cylinder at that specific time. After a couple of ignition events the timing is pushed again to find the next optimal spot. This process happens in each cylinder individually.
There are two different methods for knock detection that i'm familiar with. A piezo knock sensor is the simplest and most common. When the sensor is vibrated at specific frequencies it generates a voltage. That voltage constitutes a knock. The other involves sensing the dynamic resistance of the spark plug gap. The resistance of the secondary windings is reflected in the primary windings. By sensing current in the primary windings the resistance of the secondary windings can be inferred.
You may actually be seeing a slight increase in power. With a higher octane the ignition can push the timing further. This can allow faster and more complete combustion resulting in more power.
Comment: @Paulster2 The advance is not arbitrarily limited. The knock sensors detecting knock is what limits the upper level of advance. When a vehicle is retuned the base or open loop timing curve is changed. This curve pushes the pre knock sensor optimized timing. After the tune the knock sensors are still used to push the timing to the optimized limit.
Comment: A lot of time, the spark advance is taken directly from the map and the knock sensor (if the car even has one) is only there as a safety measure. I'm not too hot on American stuff but I can only think of one management system that uses a knock sensor as part of a closed loop system for advance control, from Saab turbos. I would suggest that the OP's modern 10.5:1 CR engine can cope with lower octane fuel because of advances in combustion chamber design. The shape of the bowl in the head face, cylinder face, spark plug design and position can help reduce the occurrence of detonation.
Comment: I didn't *think* there was such a thing as an octane sensor ... I know there's a flex fuel sensor (detection of ethanol in your fuel), but not octane. Thanks for confirming that. It's been my experience you run an engine at the lowest octane it's rated for (in the OPs case - 87) as anything above that and you are basically wasting money. I don't think a butt dyno will detect the difference between 87/89/91 octane fuel, especially if your are buying up (if you go down from the higher to use lower you can probably tell a difference).
Comment: @Paulster2 Theoretically by igniting the fuel sooner a higher combustion chamber pressure can be achieved at the moment of the power stroke. A higher octane fuel can allow this. There is a law of diminishing returns at work here. You will gain a little power from regular to plus and less from plus to premium. Unless you on the race track and want to squeeze out every last ounce of power you are wasting you money with anything higher than what your vehicle calls for.
Comment: Agreed. My understanding is a regular performance vehicle has a tune (including timing) which will only allow for so much advance. That advance is based on the octane rating the manufacturer specifies. The tune will not allow advance beyond that. The only way to get more of an advance is with an aftermarket tune ... if you're going there, your tuner knows how much advance to allow (or the dyno will tell them).
Comment: I thought modern engines had an octane sensor, which I am obviously mistaken about. Thanks for the clarification. And I agree that lower compression engines can't take advantage of premium fuel; my question was about engines that have a compression ratio in between 87-required and 91-required. It seems to me that these could benefit from the extra octane. But as @vini_i points out, it depends on how much the computer can advance the timing.
Comment: Both R & M Octane ratings are derived from running the fuel in a motor, the [RON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating#Research_Octane_Number_.28RON.29) motor is run at 600rpm, the [MON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating#Motor_Octane_Number_.28MON.29) motor at 900rpm. The RON number is supposed to simulate a lightly loaded low speed motor, the MON is supposed to simulate a faster, highly loaded motor.


Does Dogen's wholehearted way say anything about the status of memory?

Question: Seems to me that memory is notoriously fallible, whatever we think about the nature of the self. I have a copy, but rather than reread it, I thought to ask, whether Dogen's wholehearted way, or right effort in general, from moment to moment, involves relying only on those memories of immediate relevance?
Answer: If you are referring to the intellectual capability of memory (隨念智), then this is not mentioned in Bendowa.
The whole-hearted way is, as you say, awareness from moment to moment. According to Zen, it is the experiential reality, not the memory or interpretation thereof (even if the memory is one of realization). The memory of a previous realization cannot help you. It will in fact hinder you if it arises. This is well explained in Mumonkan case 22:
Ananda asked Kashyapa, "The World-honored One gave you the golden robe; did he give you anything else.
"Ananda!" cried Kashyapa.
"Yes, sir!" answered Ananda.
"Knock down the flagpole at the gate," said Kashyapa.
Answer: Memory does not appear in the translated Bendowa
However, if we consider that memory might be defined as "held thought", then this passage from the Bendowa may be relevant:

All Buddhas continually dwell within this state, with None holding
  onto any of Their thoughts or perceptions, regardless of whatever may
  arise, whereas the great mass of sentient beings perpetually make use
  of what is within this state, but without their being fully awake to
  any situation
Answer: I don't know "Dogen's wholehearted way" but I do know memory is needed to make perception of being. Memory is collected knowledge and experiences from the past. It makes YOU recognize, label, discriminate, it builds YOUR conditions to act or react and is unique for every living being. It all comes with a thought. Some are true, some are false. The truth is in yourself, you only have to meditate/pray to find it. Clear yourself from all negative energy and reach a higher state of consciousness, your memory then becomes irrelevant. Feel and be, don't think. Good luck!
Comment: This is about Dogen's Shobogenzo, answer provides little value in this context.