Hardware Bitcoins (Smartcards, RFID etc.)

Question: is it possible to create a real hardware Bitcoin, e.g. a specified (and verifiable) value which is stored on a smart card or RFID which can be given directly to other people?
Comment: Isn't this what BilBills is all about?
Answer: It's certainly possible. The card would basically need four functions: add/generate account, add bitcoins, prove bitcoins, spend bitcoins. The card could piggyback on external smart systems so the card doesn't need to do very much.
Each function would be implemented as follows:
Add Account: An ECDSA private key would either be randomly generated by the card or loaded from an external source. The card would add the key to its store of keys. This would be a secure operation that would require the card's internal key to perform.
Add Bitcoins: A list of transaction identifiers and output indexes would be loaded into the card. This would also be a secure operation.
Prove Bitcoins: This operation would prove the ability of the card holder to spend a particular number of Bitcoins. An external device specifies a number of Bitcoins to prove. If desired, approval is sought from the card holder via a PIN or similar mechanism. The card then forms a transaction to pay that number of Bitcoins but damages it so the transaction is invalid (for example, it adds a single transaction input for a billion Bitcoins). Then it signs it. The recipient, seeing the invalid transaction signed knows the card holder could have signed the corresponding valid transaction. (If desired, a challenge can be included to prove the signed transaction was generated on the spot.)
Spend Bitcoins: This is the same as the prove Bitcoins operation except the transaction is valid, the recipient commits the transaction to the block chain, and the card updates its memory to reflect that the coins are spent.
The only other thing you might need is a 'sync' operation where the card fixes any discrepancies. For example, if a spend operation is done but for some reason it doesn't make it into the block chain, the card needs to know that it still holds those Bitcoins. (And can't spend the 'change' from that transaction.)
This is a minimal implementation. You can certainly add more capabilities.
Answer: http://smartcardwallet.org/ claims to have a system where the wallet is stored on a smart card. A custom client is needed to access the wallet, but they say all software is open source.
Comment: Hi Martin! Please try to expand your answer so that it does not just contain a link. A couple of lines describing SmartCardWallet will make the answer much more useful to other users.
Comment: @ThePiachu et al, I've updated the answer, since the link looks relevant.
Comment: While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference.  Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes.


Who started it? And who did not?

Question: The question is: Who started it? And who did not?
Comment: Is there significance to China's flag having six-pointed stars instead of its usual five-pointed stars?
Comment: Is there a reason the answer hasn't been accepted?
Answer: Filling in the blanks we have

 Doris Day

 Joe DiMaggio

 Richard Nixon

As to who started it:

 It was always burning, since the world was turning. So certainly not started by us.

And to spell it out explicitly

 The sequence of images is enumerated in the lyrics of the popular Billy Joel song, "We didn't start the fire." The lyrics also explicitly say who started it (no one, it was always burning) and who didn't (we didn't) http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/billyjoel/wedidntstartthefire.html
Comment: This seems like an incomplete answer.  As @Penguino noted above, while this answer contains the response to the question as stated, it doesn't sufficiently explain the meaning of the question, and how the answer was derived.  I would appreciate a more-fleshed-out answer that allows anyone reading it to understand both the question and the answer.  (Remember that the ultimate goal of Stack Exchange is to become a repository of questions and answers.  Help those encountering this puzzle in the future by explaining your answer sufficiently.)
Comment: Is it just not being a USA-an that leaves me as confused by the answer as I was by the question? Or am I missing something obvious?
Comment: Added some more info to make the solution more explicit.

Who started it? And who did not?


Does the concept of Evil Spirits occur in Hinduism?

Question: Some of the western religions have evil spirits like devils and demons.  Does the concept or belief in evil spirits occur in Hinduism?
Comment: The concept of Satan as an adversary to Elohim is recent. This evolved over the years, particularly as the Hebrews interacted with neighbouring cultures (such as Kemetism & Zoroastrianism). Originally, it can be argued, "Satan" was the aspect of an all-pervading God. The aspect which challenges us. Through challenge our faith, knowledge, and abilities expand. Seeds cast on the surface, or buried too deeply, do not grow. But give the seed just enough resistance and it will proliferate. See how it even breaks up the sidewalk! This was the original role of "challenger" in early Judaism.
Comment: Shiva is similar the destroyer of worlds.
Answer: Yes there is a concept of Evil spirits in Hinduism , but  not  similar with the concept of  Satan of Abrahamic religions. Instead the evil spirits are grouped in classes like Bhoot (ghosts) , Pisachas( flesh-eating demons) Vetala  , Preta  etc.
One thing to note that the concept or Demons or Rakshasas is different from evil spirits. Evil spirits do not posses a material body but Demons or Rakshasas do posses a body. So These beings, in a limited sense, can be called demons.. Rakshasa also can assume the form of evil spirits. (invisible form).
There is a sukta in Atharvaveda called "Pishacha kshayan sukta"  (पिशाच क्षयन सूक्त ) which requests Mother Goddess for protection  from   evil spirits or Pishacha.

अविष्क्रुणुष्व रूपाणि मात्मानमप गूहथा: | अथो सहस्त्रचक्षो त्वं
प्रति पश्या: किमीदिन ||५||
AvishKrnuShava Rupani MatMaNaMapa Guhatha  Atho SahastraChaksho
Tvam Prati Pashya KimiDin
O Mother goddess bring out your that form which removes demons and
evil spirits. Please do not hide yourself. O goddess with thousands of
eyes , to protect us from the Pishacha's who Roam  secretly ,look at
them.(evil spirits).
दर्शय मा यातुधानान् दर्शय यातुधान्य: | पिशाचान्त्सर्वान दर्शयेति
त्वा रभ ओषधे ||६||
Darshaya Ma YatuDhaNaNaan Darshya YatuDhanyaha  PichachaNtasaRvaan
Darshayeti Tva Rabha Aushadhe
O goddess ,Please show us the all the  demonic forms , thus they could
not harm us by remaining invisible. Show us the Yatudhani and all type
of Pishacha's  to us.
(Atharvaveda Book 1 , Kanda 4 ,Sukta 20  shloka 5-6 , Pishacha kshayan
sukta)

We also  find mention of Evil spirits like Bhoot,Pishach ,Preta etc.in puranic literature. Garuda Purana , Preta Khanda  ,describes various demonic forms and evil spirits.

भगवान उवाच-:
भूतप्रेतपिशाचैर्वा स चेदन्यै: प्रपीडयते | पितृद्देशेन वै
कुर्यान्नारायणबलिं तदा || विमुक्त: सर्व्वपीडाभ्य इति सत्यं वचो मम
||२४||
Bhagvan Uvacha -:
He is never affected by Bhutas and Pisccas or other sorts of ghosts.
By performing rites of oblations to Narayana with the ancestors in
view he shall be freed of all sort of affliction .This is my sworn.
statement.  GP Preta kanda chapter 22 ,Verse 24

Hanuman Chalisa  a  prayer to Lord Hanumana by poet saint Tulsidas also says that those who recite this stotra with devotion won't get affected by evil spirits.
It is a very popular belief that chanting the Hanuman Chalisa invokes Hanuman's divine intervention in grave problems, including those concerning evil spirits.

भूत पिशाच निकट नहिं आवै। महाबीर जब नाम सुनावै॥ २४ ॥
Bhoot Pisach Nikat Nahi Aavai Mahavir Jab Naam Sunavai
All the ghosts, demons and evil forces keep away, with the sheer
mention of your great name, O'Mahaveer!!
Comment: Yes, there's also evil in time spirit like certain duration is termed as Rahu kaal/ amavasya, etc during which auspicious activities shouldn't be performed to avoid lack of progress/bad outcomes. So, it's more of to be in tune with the nature, positive tendencies to get quick benefits from beneficial muhurats. ***It's also described demon Rahu - enemy of ,  afflicts both during solar/lunar eclipses as per samudra manthan episode in which the head becomes immortal due to drinking of nectar by demon Rahu.***
Answer: The concept of the 'Devil' as the nemesis of 'God' and demons as fallen angels can possibly be equated with Daityas / Asuras, the counterpart to Devas / Suras.
In current tradition, Asuras or Daityas are pretty similar to how demons might be portrayed elsewhere, completely antagonistic, and mostly evil, but this was a change that only happened in post-Vedic literature (interestingly, at around the same time in Zoroaster, the similar group of deities called daevas became evil and ahuras became good) and
In early Vedic texts, both suras and asuras were half-sibling / cousin deities who were antagonistic and constantly competed with each other, some bearing both designations at the same time. The mother of the suras was Aditi and the mother of the asuras was Diti, both sisters-wives of the Rishi Kashyap (who incidentally is also the father of pretty much every thing else thanks to his other wives, the other sisters of Aditi and Diti)
Later texts introduce beings such as Vetalas (a kind of ghost-vampire thing), Pishachas (flesh-eating demons), Bhoot and Preta (types of ghosts) which can be referred to as the demon / devils cognate to the Western idea.
Comment: actually no. Dyaitas aren't comparable with Christian Satan. There's no counter to Christian Satan in Hinduism.
Comment: I'm definitely not considering them to be exact counterparts at all - but the idea of 'nemesis to the benevolent deity(ies) who were ex-benevolentish themselves' does seem to me, to be comparable? Why do think that comparison doesn't work? After all, the OP didn't ask for the Hindu version of Satan, they asked for 'evil spirits like devils and demons in Hinduism'.
Comment: yes, sure. You can compare devas vs. dyaitas.
Answer: There's no equivalent of Satan in Hinduism. Hinduism has a universal Brahman which pervades all things good as well as evil. Satan (an absolute evil) is a necessity in Abrahamic faith to explain all things bad because the Abrahamic God cannot do anything evil. Hindu God on the other hand pervades everything good as well as bad.
According to the Vedas, there are only three principles or entities that exist in reality, in sum total. These three are: Brahm (God), Jeevatma (the countless souls) and Maya (the material energy). Indeed, the universe is made up of these three entities alone. There never was a fourth being and there never will be a fourth being.
All the 'demons' in the Hindu religion are classified under the 'soul' category. Due to their Karmas (actions) they are born in those wicked races and have such sinful propensities. The Upanishads state that no one can be equal to God ("Eka mevadveeteeyam brahm"). He is unmatched in power, stature or opulence. Thus, there is no room for any independent being to work against the will/design of God in Hinduism.
Besides, Hindu scriptures state that any person performs actions only according to his will. Of course, these actions are shaped by his company and atmosphere, but there never is any inherently evil being whispering sin into his ears.
In fact, Hinduism denies the very idea of evil. Evil, according to the Hindu scriptures, is non-existent. There are three modes of nature - sattva, rajas and tamas. The demons and other cruel people are said to be possessed of tamas, but even they can overcome this darkness by purifying their mind through association with sattvic matter/personalities.
To quote Shri Ramakrishna,

The world consists of the illusory duality of knowledge and ignorance. It contains of knowledge and devotion, and also attachment to 'lust and greed'; righteousness and unrighteousness; good and evil. But Brahman is unattached to these. Good and evil apply to the jiva, the individual soul, as do righteousness and unrighteousness; but Brahman is not at all unaffected by them.
One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of the lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but that lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked as well as on the virtous. You may then ask, 'How, then can one explain misery, and sin and unhappiness?' The answer is that these apply to the jiva. Brahman is unaffected by them. There is poison in a snake; but though others may die if bitten by it, the snake itself is not affected by the poison.
Comment: I guess, it's in there. Asuras are *jivatman*. Actually, every living being, except Brahman ofcourse is a *jeevatman*.
Comment: Not sure if I should create a whole new question for this - but I got really curious - where are suras and asuras classified among the 'Brahma', 'Jeevatma' and 'Maya' trinity?
Comment: The trinity is Paramatma(Brahman), Jeevatma(countless souls) and Prakriti(material world). Only Adi Shankara termed it as maya. So it is not necessary that maya among the trinity. Prakriti is. Pishachas are a type of jeevas. But they nedd not to be evil.
Answer: Culturally those concepts did exist.  Ramayana talks about demons trying to stop fire rituals.  Many other literary works and chants do mention about them.  Tamil epics and prayers do refer to them.
But there is no single book as a guiding authority for Hindus.  So, it depends upon the sub-cultures and belief systems to have / not have evil spirits.  For example, communities living closer to forests have more references to evil spirits.
Answer: There are multiple evil spirits prevalent in Hindu culture. Some of these are :
Preta(प्रेत): Literally mean ghosts. Hindus believe that after death, all souls remains in the state of a Preta for one year after which they are liberated through pindadâna performed at their shrâddha ceremony. However those who perform certain sinful activities or die unnaturally(by accident, fire, drowning, cold-blooded murder, poisoning or suicide) are more prone to become Pretas for a long term unless somebody performs pindadâna for them at certain tîrthas, especially at Gaya or redeemed by other methods. In the Lalitopakhâyam section of the Brahmânda Purâna, it is mentioned that a person constructed a temple out of wealth obtained through theft & subsequently became a Preta in his afterlife untill he was redeemed by the wife. Similarly, the Shiva Purâna Mâhâtmya states that the Brâhmana who indulged in theft, wine & prostitutes abandoning the sacred rites like Sandhyâvandanâ, became a Preta in his afterlife & was redeemed after made to hear the recital of the entire Shiva Purâna. In some cases, they are known to possess humans. In Skanda Purana, it is mentiomed that ungrateful persons also become Pretas. It is erroneous to some extent to translate the word Bhûta(भूत) into ghost.
Pisâcha(पिशाच): These are nocturnal hideous beings who feed on human flesh & are endowed with the power to foresee past(perfectly) & future(correctly to some extent). They are the descendents of Prajâpati Kashyapa through his wife Krodhavâsâ. Through certain Tântrika rites, one is able to control them. A sort of marriage effected through rape of the bride is named after them. Certain pisâchas are also attendants of Bhagavâna Shiva.
Yaksha(यक्ष): They are invisible nocturnal beings who feed on human blood & hoard wealth. Through Tântrika rites, one who desires to possess wealth, can control them. They are descendents of Prajâpati Kashyapa through his wife Khâsâ. Kuvera, the Treasurer of the Devas, is their ruler.
Râkshasa(राक्षस): Similar to Yakshas, with the exception that they possess hideous forms & can't be controlled by humans. A specific community among them are the Brahmarâkshasas, who feed exclusively on Brâhmanas. Certain Râkshasas named Yâtudhânas are also attendants of Bhagavâna Shiva. Nirriti(the regent of the South-West) is the ruler of all râkshasas & is invoked during penitence for breaking celibacy. A sort of marriage effected through abduction of the bride after defeating her relatives is named after them.
Vetâla(वेताल): Similar to Pisâchas with the only exception that it is humans who, on being cursed, become this. They animate corpses, eat human flesh left in battlefield, can be subdued through Tântrika rites & attend upon Bhagavâna Shiva. Skanda Purâna describes Kârtikeya to have been made ruler of the vetâlas.
Bâlâgraha(बालग्रह): Collection of various evil spirits ruled by Kârtikeya that afflict infants with diseases.
Vinâyâka(विनायक): Malefic spirits ruled by Ganesha that cause all sorts of obstructions.
Besides these, there are also female spirits like Shâkinîs & Dâkinîs who constitute the retinue of Bhadrakâlî, consort of Vîrabhadra.
Answer: Yes there is Satan in Hinduism too.
Most of the people who follow Hinduism are not aware of what written in Bhavishya Puran.
In the Bhavishya Puran it was said that to extend his empire Kali Pursh was looking for his followers but no one who was living at that time were disobeying the Vedas so he prayed to Vishnu and asked for his wish.
Vishnu then said that there in a Garden under Papa Vruksh or sinful tree there are Adama and Havyavathi who can extend your followers and you can try to possess them.
Then after Kali Pursh approached Adama and Havyavathi and possessed them to eat the fruit of that sinful tree and they expressed their will to follow him.
Same as Bhavishya Puran in the Bible Adam and Eve were possessed by Satan and they started following Satan.
So Kali Pursh in Hinduism is nothing but Satan in the Bible.
If you ask me how can I mix these two things as same.
Then I can say about another character. There is one more character in Bhavishya Puran whose name is Nyuha resembling character Noah in Bible.
So yes Satan is Kali Pursh.
So you can find some links here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_(demon)
https://marbaniangdomenic.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/the-bible-and-bhavishya-purana/
Comment: Great encomiable job! Yes you are definitely right. These pisachas bhakti for Maa Bhuwaneshwatri also and so for the Maya to be tricked and wicked at their ease. Asuras do this, Pisachas are used to them. That is why Kali demon (not to be confused with Maa Kali!) came into existence. The name of Satan is a willed distortion of Saanatan. The name Abraham (Ibrahim) is a willed distortion of The Brahma Himself. Thank you to clarify this because mostly Indian Hindu ignore that and fall into conversions of the Abrahmics.
Answer: My answer is positive......i read a para somewhere that was like this-
"bhoot,pishach,pret,churail aur jinnh.....hamesha they aur hamesha rahenge kyonki bhagwaan hamesha they aur hamesha rahenge,aakhiri hisaab ke baad bhi."
I would like to expand it in my language as......yes, evil spirits/entities exist in hindu mythology and will continue to exist until dooms day but god always existed and will always exist after the doomsday.i also read an article somewhere that-
"agar manushya bure kaam karne lage ya uska bure kaam karne ka mann hone lage joki pehle ek achcha vyakti tha..........toh iska matlab hai ki uske saath koi pret aatma jud gayi hai jo apni ikshhaon(wishes) ko puri karna chahti hai.woh achche aur bure dono kaam karwa sakti hai"............but in my views'koi aatma ya keh sakte hain bhoot bure kaam hi karwaata hai kyonki agar woh achche kaam karwaana chahta toh usko pehle hi mukti mil jaati'.
Comment: `i read a para somewhere` You need to cite sources when posting an answer on this site
Comment: I believe you. Text in Hindi or your language I will translate you when possible. @SwiftPushkar


Why would anyone ever want to go to the heavens?

Question: References to a rebirth in the heavenly realms seems to be viewed in a positive light in Buddhism. It's easy to see why it would be considered more favorable than a rebirth in the hell realms of course. But my understanding is that beings in heaven don't practice the dhamma as there is no suffering to create conditions for them to seek the cessation of suffering, so they will not become enlightened there. Is there something positive that comes of a rebirth in the heavens other than a temporary respite from suffering? I realize we don't get to choose our rebirths, but I would like to know if heaven is considered to be a truly beneficial place and if so, why? Thank you.
Comment: Incidentally, those on the Bodhisattva path actively wish for hell and lower realms, to guide those who have no opportunity to learn the dharma. There is a story of a yogi who meditates in the Himalayas until he has perfect peace, a halo, psychic powers and all that. Now he decides to head down to the nearest town. As soon as he is in the middle of the jostling crowds and the bustle and noise of the market, he realises he has lost all his peace and tranquility. Like steel being super heated and hammered before being cooled down, spiritual practice needs to be tempered in suffering.
Comment: Great question. I have made myself the same question many times. From a Buddhist's point of view (escaping samsara as ultimate goal) going to heaven seems like a distraction. Of course it is good, but not for escaping samsara into PariNibbana, therefore it is just a "waste of time". Maybe I'm missing something...
Comment: My Guru has said that we spend time in Astral realms until it is right to be reborn on the physical plane. In that sense, it is like resting, or a vacation, returning us renewed for more effort. But in itself, I do not see benefit, or have any desire to go there. People talk about reaching their "true self", but to me, any *self* just kicks the can down the road: another me that needs perfection... Why not make do with this one, now? Why not make effort, here? *"Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought for itself."*
Comment: Very good question and comments. But there are "more" heavenly realms or you can say "higher heavens" that enlightened beings goes after death. These higher heaven beings are destined to attain parinibbana and it is not possible to come back to earth(maybe few come back to earth with their choices to help few people). Also in the spirit world there are no boundaries, every being in the spirit world can shift their awareness to the higher realms, but only enlightened beings stay there untill attaining parinibbana
Answer: There is suffering in heaven. They still have to eat to maintain their bodies. They feel frightened when they get to know that their lives are running out. I've heard that there's a divine tree with flowers in the palaces of the Devas. When an year of their world comes to completion, a flower will wither and fall down. That is how they know that they are ageing. When they see this, they get upset and worried. Then they come to human world to acquire fresh merits. Also, their radiance diminishes as they age. When they are about to die, the flower garlands around their necks wither and they start to sweat as well. It is also said that they can perish if they get angry or forget to eat because they are too caught up with other pleasures.
Yes, there are greater distractions to the path in heavens due to the extreme sensual pleasures, but there are Devas and Brahmas who spend their time meditating. Especially the ones who have attained Magga Phala. Also, in the suttas we hear about many Devas and Brahmas attaining enlightenment after listening to the Buddha's sermons. Ex: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, Anatta Lakkhana Sutta etc.
Here are some of the advantages of being a Deva or a Brahma with regards to practicing the Dhamma

They are born in full form with palaces and all the other requirements. They are not clumsy like humans at birth. So they don't need to spend a childhood orienting themselves to the world, studying and acquiring skills to make money just to get food, clothes and lodging. That saves a lot of time.
They don't get sick. It can be difficult to meditate if you get sick often.
They don't have bodily discomfort. So they can sit in one position for a long time. This is actually more useful if you do Samatha first and then turn it to Vipassana.
They don't have to take bath or cleanup as divine food has no excrements. So while meditations like Patikulamanasikara won't work in heavens, it saves time for other meditations.
Their life spans are huge. So once they learn a meditation technique, they can keep practicing it without having to learn it all over again.
They don't get angry easily, so they can possibly attain concentration faster, if they seclude themselves (helpful for samatha pubbangama vipassana).
They possibly get to meet other Devas and Brahmas who have directly heard the Dhamma from the Buddha. The Abhidhamma was fully preached at Tavatimsa heaven. So there are Devas and Brahmas who have heard the comprehensive version. We humans only have the summarized version.
The higher chance of meeting enlightened beings in heaven compared to human world nowadays.
The ability to read the minds can help them recognize enlightened beings easily. The divine eyes and the divine ears can be used to listen to all the sermons of the Buddha even from the palace.
The chance to hear the Dhamma from several Buddhas

Also, bear in mind that suffering in the first noble truth doesn't just mean pain. A pleasurable experience is also an instance of suffering as it is subjected to change and death.
Comment: Yes, so much I didn't know. Thank you Sankha! :)
Comment: Added a few more ;)


Katabami mon (Japanese crests of wood sorrel) Crest family identity

Question: I am hoping to narrow my search for this family crest from two caskets A pair of Edo Period Hokai Kaiawase Lacquer Chests. I have found (with the help of History Stack) a Mon which may be the one. Maruni Katabami is close to my version.
Edo period Family Mon]1
Answer: I looked at other requests for family mons (as suggested by the help section) and found this excellent lengthy discussion on Family crests with lots of links and description. This answer led me to the information I am looking for. Thank you, Semaphore♦ and Tyler Durden and user64617! Meaning of samurai crest / symbol


How likely is it to get killed by a hopping side kick?

Question: Something like 12 years ago I participated in tournaments for fighting. After many years I learned that one can get killed by getting hit in the liver area and so on... I don't know if this depression or overthinking thing has ever made you suffer or not so I want to know if my hopping side kicks to the opponents has done them damage. I was 57 kilogram and highly trained with great flexibility. In one occasion I knocked down a karate artist who had a black belt by kicking around right part of belly and the other time I threw a hopping side kick to my opponent but he wasn't knocked down and he decided not to continue the fight after it.
Comment: Yeah, as Tony's answer mentioned, if they got up and seemed fine, then they were fine. There's no long-term damage you have to worry about. If you managed to really damage someone's liver, they would be heading to the hospital. They wouldn't even be able to move. Most of the long-term damage you should worry about in martial arts practice is damage to the brain. But that's a different subject.
Comment: Thank you for your comment. You helped so much
Comment: @HamidrezaDehanvi I write this with the sole intention of possibly helping you. I assure you I have no other intent and I write this with zero judgement or any type of negativity.  Your question makes me wonder if you are suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  OCD can generate pervasive fears that the afflicted has harmed others.  Psychiatric (medication) and psychological (therapy) treatments are available to help those suffering from OCD.
Answer: Lots of people fight full contact (muay thai, kickboxing, and full-contact karate systems like kyokushin) for years and take blows like this regularly - if the guys got up at the time and seemed ok, the chances that your blows had any significant long-term effect is incredibly small.  That one of the guys was still standing suggests you didn't get a particularly solid liver shot in that time anyway.  How badly they'll have been effected depends a lot on whether the attack caught them unprepared - with muscles relaxed, especially when inhaling - the attack can more easily penetrate to compress the liver.  You were light weight, and - no offence intended but in my experience - that you mentioned flexibility as if it was of any real significance suggests you don't understand body mechanics terribly well, which means you've probably never employed them terribly well, so just more reasons to think the strike was unlikely to have had a lasting effect.
Comment: Thank you for your time. You answered my question and help me a lot.
Comment: @nick012000: I'm not a doctor, so I can't speculate on how likely that is - but of course if you reframe the question in terms of _"if they were just about to die, could this be the straw that broke the camel's back"_ then the answer is generally yes, however minor the "straw" is.  That said, these people were martial artists fit enough to want to fight in a tournament; the one who was "knocked down" was apparently a black belt in karate - his usual training probably kept him in reasonable health....
Comment: If the victim had unusually thick blood, couldn't a blow like this cause a blood clot that might later dislodge and cause a heart attack or stroke?


Dragon Quest IX: Skill to prevent enemies from escaping?

Question: Is there a class skill in Dragon Quest IX to prevent enemies from escaping? If so which class?
Answer: there are certain skills that can stun the enemies for 1 turn, such as roar for the martial artist, but no skill that prevents escaping for all enemies.  Also, these skills typically do not work on the metal slimes, you just have to prepare for them carefully before attempting to level up using them.  I.e. have 4 sword users with metal slash ready in case they don't escape the first round.
Answer: There are no such skill. It would make the game too easy to level up in. Since if such skill exist it would prevent those silver blobs from escaping.


Where can I send feature requests?

Question: Where can I send feature requests? Both for Ubuntu as a whole and individual (supported) apps?
Comment: Most feature requests are ignored, regardless of the venue. There simply are not enough volunteer developers to respond to the constant flood of requests. The best way to add a feature to Ubuntu is to create it, or find it in the wild and package it, or to help a project or team that is working on it.
Comment: Noel, you need some change in the answer or the answer provided is enough?
Answer: Individual Applications
For individual apps, the best way is filing a bug requests or feature request in the individual applications.
Some upstream development portals might be having explicit feature for asking user ideas but most of them use their bug tracker for that.
Example, you want a new feature in Synapse (the kick-ass launcher powered by zeitgeist) then you can file a bug request, ask for the feature and ask for the bug to be classified under [Wishlist].
Or before filing bugs for wishlist, you might want to talk to the devs of the particular application. You can look at their mailing list or IRC channel.
Comment: so basically there is no way to make sure that your idea or request ATLEAST reached canonical team? Can getting involved here- https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork be limited to just giving ideas?
Comment: Unfortunately Brainstorm was closed: http://askubuntu.com/a/321291/34298
Answer: You can make a feature suggest by submitting it as a "bug" at  bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu.
Mark the bug starting with wishlist:  and the developers will know there is a demand. Only the maintainer of a project or bug superviser can then change the "Importance" to "Wishlist"
These types of bugs unfortunately are not usually given a high priority so you may have more luck trying to approach the upstream developers.
The link to actually file a bug "Report a bug" in the top right corner leads to a page, where the possibility to file a bug is hard to find. The link can be found in the section:

3. Tips and tricks >> 2. Filing bugs at Launchpad.net

It is also possible to file a bug now at the console if you type
ubuntu-bug

into the console and follow the instructions.

Note: I think this whole process could be optimized and I think it is strange to call feature requests still "bugs".
So I filed a feature-request here
Comment: Yes, and to sort flooding out, the best way to see one's feature request considered quickly, would be a system of votes.
Comment: @EML: why do you say brackets are rejected? there are many entries starting with `[wishlist]`
Comment: The brackets are added when it has been accepted as a bug, and classified: before that point, you can only add a tag, without brackets (I tried it). Curious that my comment has disappeared.
Comment: @EML your comment was obsolete, because I edited the answer accordingly. thx for the clarification
Answer: To report bugs or do feature requests to Ubuntu:
1. For individual applications:
Figure out how to file a bug or feature request for that individual application.
Ex: after a series of searches and clicking around I discovered that all GNOME-related bugs and feature requests should be submitted to the GNOME-project directly. This includes for gnome-terminal, for instance. Do that on GitLab here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME.
2. For Ubuntu itself, or in the case that the individual application tells you to file the bug or feature request "with your Linux distribution's maintainers":
Here are the answers for Ubuntu itself:

Read here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs.
Holy smokes, that's long! Whew, what's the short answer?
To report bugs, type ubuntu-bug into your terminal and follow the instructions.
To do a feature request:

Post it on Launchpad here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug/?no-redirect Update: Sebastien Bacher tells me to post it on https://discourse.ubuntu.com/ instead.
AND/OR email the Ubuntu-devel-discuss group at email@example.com. However, if you're not part of the group, your email will probably be rejected, so first sign up here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss. And then when you go to send the email, be sure to send it from the same email you just signed up with.

Note that I found this Launchpad link to manually report bugs or feature requests buried way down on this page here under the section titled "Filing bugs manually at Launchpad.net", and the words "Launchpad's own bug report form".

Feature requests I've done:

I'd like to see Nemo become the default file manager instead of Nautilus:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/1885170
How to set Nemo as the default file manager in Ubuntu 18.04?

I'd like to see gnome-terminal add the ability to split the screen easily, like terminator: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-terminal/-/issues/280
I'd like an easy way to script the opening of tabs in gnome-terminal: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-terminal/-/issues/281, rather than doing my pretty ridiculous (but perfectly-functional) work-around I describe here: Open Terminal with multiple tabs and execute application.
Answer: According to Ubuntu Documentation feature requests should be submitted to ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list.
Comment: In case anyone is wondering, yes, in 2019 this is still the case.

Where can I send feature requests?


Has anyone ever heard of the town of Husinice, Russia or Ukraine, circa 1912?

Question: My grandfather came to the United States from a town in what was in 1912 considered to be Russia, or possibly Ukraine.  The town has been spelled many ways in passenger lists, naturalization documents, etc. - Hunsencye, Husinice, Husimce, Husyniec, Husynisc, Husynise.  Is anyone familiar with this town or can tell me where to look to find it?  I have checked some historical Gazetteers.
Comment: Welcome to G&FH SE!  Is there any chance that you may be able to include a picture of how the town name was written on at least one of the documents that links your grandfather to it?  Sometimes just a little more context can make a lot of difference to how answerable a question can become.
Comment: In 1912 it could be Poland too. It sounds more Polish than Russian or Ukrainian for me, but I might be wrong. If it's Russian, it could be spelled as "Гусинец".
Comment: Actually, Poland didn't exist as a country between 1795 and 1918. Apart from interim governments during WWI, independent Ukraine wasn't formed until 1991. So, politically, it's either Russia or (further west) Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ethnically/linguistically those things are of course much more complex.
Answer: To answer this question, indeed, more information is needed: *Hus- is a very common root for toponyms. It literally means goose, so every village located near a lake or a slow-motion river where plenty of geese resided, might be called in this manner.
So let me focus on the last part of your question,

…or can tell me where to look to find it?

Let me tell how I would run my search. I'll focus on Ukraine, but you can do exactly the same for Polish and Russian sources.

Google for "list populated places [country]", better if your request was translated to the country's language:

перелік населених пунктів України

Usually, it will lead you to an official portal of country's parliament where such list is published. Use Web translator if needed;
Here, topic #5 is what we need, it's an alphabetical index of all towns and villages;
Open the document and search for the name. It starts with "гус" in both Ukrainian and Russian, and "gęś" in Polish;
In this case, the list is split into several documents based on the starting letter, so you need to download yet another file;
Copy and paste the names into Google and search for them individually.
Completing the steps above, you will find the following ones:
Гусельське Днц 119
Гусельщикове Днц 923
Гусина Поляна Хрк 820
Гусинка Хрк 1211
Гусятин Тр 199; Хм 1272

Format contains village name, abbreviated region, and postal code. I have also stripped the names that don't sound similarly to your request.
Also check for list of obsolete towns and villages. One of the most prominent examples of what you may find is Husynci village, 77 km away from Kyiv.
Husynci village was wiped off in 1971 when Kyiv water Reservoir has been created.

Abandoned Church of Husynci in the middle of water reservoir; image courtesy of Wikimapia
Answer: I googled Husyniec which took me quite easily to
http://dolny-slask.org.pl/789805,foto.html
thence to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C4%99siniec.
I suggest Gęsiniec is your answer.
Comment accepted. This was wrong.
Can I bid again with Husince, Ukraine?
http://www.ukraine-kiev-tour.com/husince-flooded-church-transfiguration-temple.html
Comment: Despite the similarity, the requested placename is not today's Gęsiniec. In 1912, Gęsiniec was Hussinetz, Kreis Strehlen, in Silesia, Germany. Its residents were mainly of Bohemian heritage.
Answer: There's a small village near Polish/Ukraine border called Husiny. I'm not suggesting that's the place, but the Polish wiki note on it's names origin states that the name comes from "Husyci" - Polish for Hussite. Considering how many of them fled into that general region, settling in multiple places, and how many villages were completely wiped by WWI and WWII, I'm afraid you might be out of luck unless you can find some other sources to pin the location better.
Answer: I live in Husiatyn this a little town.
I can help you, but to find your relatives I would need to know your grandfather's surname.
Comment: Welcome to G&FH SE!  As a new user be sure to take the [Tour] because this site works differently to discussion forums, bulletin boards and other Q&A sites. Your email address can be included in your [user card](http://genealogy.stackexchange.com/users/4276/%d0%a2%d0%b0%d1%80%d0%b0%d1%81-%d0%9b%d1%83%d1%87%d0%ba%d0%b0) but not in any posts so I am deleting your comment that includes it.  Would you be able to edit your answeer to provide more details like why you think that your town may be the one that the question is trying to identify, please?  You can do that using its [edit] button.


What do i do to fix this dual boot ?error: out of disc grub rescue>

Question: I just instaled ubuntu 10.04 to my old computer that has windows xp sp3 and a new hardrive.at the end it said it need to reboot and when it did i got this.
error: out of disc
grub rescue>
How do i fix this?When i partitioned the drive i gave it 79gigs.I set all the settings as told.Any ideas?Im a first time linux user and if told to type code please type it exactly as it should be typed as i dont know how to type that stuff much.
Answer: This can happen when GRUB finds no usable config file. Try restoring GRUB using the Live CD.


Is there a way to ignore existing tables when using Propel?

Question: I am using Propel for PHP and I want to create a diff task to create new tables.
The issue is this is inside an existing database with tables already existing.  I don't want these tables to be managed by Propel.  When doing the diff task, it looks at these tables.  Anyway to ignore these tables during the diff process?
Answer: No, migration tasks are quite dumb at the moment. That's why you always need to review generated diff classes.


Folders etc. on desktop like on OsX?

Question: I wanted to know if it is possible to have desktop experience with EOS, just like in OsX? Would greatly appreciate any help or information about that! ;)
Answer: go to the app center, search & install the app: "desktop folder". that's it.
but maybe, after some time you will notice that there is no need for folders on the desktop, because everything can be attached to the dock and the rest can be accessed via apps (top left, also quickly accessible via hot corner or keyboard shortcuts).
i only have a note (also a feature of this app) on the desktop.
a desktop should keep space free resp. should be there to manage open applications. that's all. imho. but everybody as he wants.
ps: you can have your dock automatically fade in when you move the mouse to the bottom. maximized windows can still cover it if you don't do something like that (in this way, you can also minimize an open, maximized application to the dock itself; without any minimize - button).
pps: you can also configure the dock in any possible way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9o-9uE6Iwg
Answer: Everything is possible ;) but very big BUT. What is the point to change ElementaryOS to look like and act like another OS or distribution, if you need desktop folders and icons try other distributions, or to be specified other Desktop Environments.
EDIT: And check this.
EDIT2: And with one simple search on the elementaryos.stackexchange.com you will get this answer. ;)

Folders etc. on desktop like on OsX?


What can I do to passively generate income?

Question: I work 3 jobs totaling at 52 hours weekly. I don't have anything of value that I can sell for money. I put $10 into penny stocks a few weeks ago, but they don't gain much. I'm 25, and my savings is about $300. What can I do aside from working to make more money?
Comment: People who tell you "you must have passive income" generally get their income from whatever you're supposed to do to generate your passive income. This is not to say there's no such thing, or that it's not terrific. More a case of being careful who you listen to.
Comment: @TdotThomas `Writing, baking pies`... that is not passive income, that is work.
Comment: I would make sure you have an emergency fund set up. The traditional wisdom is 6 months but I personally like 10 months. "Invest" that $300 monthly until you reach that emergency fund goal. Once that is met you can start looking at doing something you love and enjoy as passive income. Writing, baking pies, whatever it maybe but if its something you enjoy and love you aren't really working, which is where the "Passive" comes from.
Comment: @Zenadix not if you enjoy it. The definition of passive income is subjective. What you might consider passive income might be work to me and vice versa. Income from anything still requires "work" be it in management or research or any other number of things. I'm going to bake 30 pies a day anyway might as well sell a couple.
Comment: @TdotThomas I've heard of that and have been making progress. I've only been saving since October but I only can afford to save about $20-$40 per paycheck as my tuition and other bills tend to eat up the rest.
Comment: Invest in yourself. Look into incentives, benefits, welfare and generally low-cost or subsidized education and training. Get your employer or the government to chip in. Consider tax incentives. If you're 25 and have basically one week's worth of minimum wage saved, sensible cheap education could allow you to double or triple your income, or more.
Answer: There isn't any place you can put $300 and turn it into significant passive income.
What you need to do instead is manage the active (work) income that you have so that your money goes farther, freeing income up for reducing debt and investing.  Investing $300 one time won't add up to much, but investing $100 a month will turn into wealth over time.
Making a monthly budget is the key to managing your income.  In the process, you'll find out where your income is going, and you can be intentional about how much you want to spend on different things in your life.  You can allocate some of your income to paying down debt and investing, which is what you need to do to get ahead.
For some general guidelines on what to do with your money first, read this question: Oversimplify it for me: the correct order of investing.  For more specifics on creating a budget, eliminating debt, and building wealth, I recommend the book The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.
Comment: `There isn't any place you can put $300 and turn it into significant passive income.` @Hikari for comparison, $300 would buy you around 6 shares of VZ or 9 shares of T, from which you might get $15 in dividends in per year. And you still bear the transaction costs and risk of capital gains/losses.
Comment: @Hikari you really should not be into investing anytime soon, at least not into anything other than yourself (in a broad professional / health sense, including enough time to rest). If you are professionally successfull, things will automagically get better in 5..10 years, and if you manage to limit the growth of your expenses, you will have enough money left to worth your time thinking what to do with.
Comment: @Michael and anybody else, Is there even a brokerage that will let you be a member with no more than $300?
Comment: Sharebuilder (https://www.capitaloneinvesting.com/) lets you buy partial shares of stocks with a low starting investment. You can purchase monthly dollar amounts of stocks (dollar cost averaging).
Comment: I did have a scottrade account before but I don't use it because of the 7.50 commission fee. The only investing I've done lately is on the app robinhood. @Michael since it's completely free.
Comment: Robinhood is certainly not completely free - it couldn't be, every trade costs them money to the exchange(s).  They just don't show their costs up front...
Answer: To generate a passive income you need lots of TIME or MONEY, you are short of both.
As other people have said, do whatever you can to reduce you spending and start saving.  Don't think "I work very hard, therefore I deserve xxx", start thinking "x cost y hrs of work, is it truly worth it?"   (Remember to consider your take home pay per hr, not you before tax pay!)
What would it take to get paid more per hr in one of your jobs?  Maybe investing a little time/money in training would increase your pay.  Doing your job a little better can often lead to a good outcome.
(I see from your profile that you are a new computer programmer; I assume that one of your jobs is programming, if so put your time and effort into it.   As you become more skilful within a few years you will start earning more.   Maybe even give up one of the other jobs by spending less so you can do better at programming)
Then as your incomes goes up, don't allow your spending to increase, save the additional money.
Comment: Don't even consider the take home pay; rather, consider the take home pay *adjusted for mandatory expenses for earning that income*. The obvious example of this (which probably isn't relevant in the OP's specific case) is if you need to have a car to get to and from work; then you need to subtract *all* the costs of owning, maintaining and driving that car (to and from work) from what you get paid for doing that work. The "true hourly wage" when considering things like this is often *significantly* lower than your pre-tax pay, but it's the number you need to consider for the "x hours of work".
Comment: @Hikari, the main point is that a "passive income" should not be your aim until you can earn more working for less hours, or spend a lot less.
Comment: Your right its just hard since I'm paying off tuition to re-enroll in school and bills at the same time. @Ian but if I did work more from home I'd finish projects faster and move up. But my time at home is so little. I'm lucky if I have time to make 2 meals a day.
Answer: This is a supplement to the additional answers.
One way to generate "passive" income is by taking advantage of high interest checking / saving accounts.  If you need to have a sum of liquid cash readily available at all times, you might as well earn the most interest you can while doing so.  I'm not on any bank's payroll, so a Google search can yield a lot on this topic and help you decide what's in your best interest (pun intended).
More amazingly, some banks will reward you straight in cash for simply using their accounts, barring some criteria.  There's one promotion I've been taking advantage of which provides me $20/month flat, irrespective of my account balance.  Again, I am not on anyone's payroll, but a Google search can be helpful here.  I'd call these passive, as once you meet the promotion criteria, you don't need to do anything else but wait for your money.
Of course, none of this will be enough to live off of, but any extra amount with minimal to zero time investment seems to be a good deal.
(if people do want links for the claims I make, I will put these up.  I just do not want to advertise directly for any banks or companies.)
Answer: The term "passive income" has become a bit of a buzzword lately. Many people are attracted to the idea of "making money on autopilot" and forget all of the hard work involved. Two examples:

A business that generates passive income may take years to reach the point where it is self-sustaining and generating meaningful income
An investment strategy that yields passive income may require years of research and savings.

This isn't to say that passive income streams are not good ways to make money - they are. That said, it seems like you'd do better by focusing on your main income and savings first. For example, if you could increase your income (and/or decrease your spending) by $100 each month, you'd save an extra $1200 per year. This is far more than you'll make with most passive income streams when you're starting out with $300.
I think people get caught up in the trap of thinking there is easy money to be made.
In order for passive income streams to be effective, you need to have time, money, or a combination of both.
Take dividend investing for example, since it requires no work and guarantees a certain payout each year. You can only make a considerable income from dividend investing if you have the money to invest.
Now, look at an example of a business as a passive income stream. Assume you're able to build a software and automate the sales process to the point where you can sit back and collect a check every month. In order to get to that point, you would have had to invest a LOT of time (and potentially money as well).
This analysis is important because there's an opportunity cost to both time and money.
Let's look at the business example again since we all have time and may not necessarily have investable sums of money. If you want to build a software you would have to spend hundreds-to-thousands of hours learning to code and market your product.
If things go well, you have a new passive income stream. If things do not go well, you wasted a lot of time.
Assume you spent those same hours working on increasing your regular income. Do you think you would have improved results? I'd bet you would.
I'm a strong believer in passive income, but I think it can be a distraction at times. Focus on getting your regular income down first before trying to generate passive income streams. The latter is far more difficult.
Answer: You're right to seek passive income and since you're already looking for it, you probably already know some of the reasons to why it is important.
Do you live in the United States?
If so I'd strongly recommend purchasing your primary residence and then maybe investment properties if you like owning your own home.  The US tax and banking structure is set up to favor this move in more ways than I can count. So, SAVE, SAVE, SAVE then beg, borrow and steal to get the down payment, rent rooms to friends or random people to afford the payments, buy a fixer upper in an up and coming neighborhood.  The US is rife with these in all price ranges.
If you're working 56 hrs a week, you've got the work ethic. So if you can't afford it it's probably because you're spending all your money on other stuff.
If you want to do this, it will take some effort, smarts, and savings. You will have to trim back the mochas, vacations, dinners out, etc, etc etc.  Let your friends do that stuff and rent from you.  Your life will get continually easier.
If you have already trimmed back all the discretionary spending and still can't make it then you need to earn more money. Doing either and both of these things will absolutely change your whole economic life and future.
So in summary I'd offer these
Ranked Priorities:
1) Learn to Save (unless you always want to have to work for someone else)
2) Increase your income capability (since your most valuable asset is YOU)
3) Buy and hold real estate (because the game is rigged to favor passive income)
I'm 38, never earned a six figure salary, made some good purchases when I was 25-30 and work is "optional" for me now.
Comment: @AshBurlaczenko no, he is using a phrase
Comment: @scrappyJay thanks for your post. But the things your talking about cutting out are far from even existing. I've never took a vacation, I brew my own coffee and the only dinner I have is pizza on occasion when I don't have enough time to cook food. I'm saving $20-$40 per paycheck and the rest goes towards bills,debts,groceries etc. Real estate is probably not something I can get into for awhile.
Comment: @AshBurlaczenko - I assure you, even though I've used the phase, "I'd kill for a slice of NY pizza," I've not actually killed anyone.
Comment: Buying residence can be a trap. Will buyer be able to stay put for 10-15 years or more? What if buying on seller's market (and forced to overpay), and then you lose job and have to move in buyer's market (forced to sell for less)? Many people lost money on such non-liquid investment. I am surprised you never heard of the collapse of home prices. I agree that ownership is favored by tax code, but it is NOT a risk-free investment.
Comment: Are you really encouraging him to steal to get want he wants?
Comment: Yeah, it can go down in value.  But it's not to hard to predict.  Don't buy things that are "hyped", there's a real danger of that stuff crashing.  If you see seminars, ads for real estate in an area, special financing, don't buy that.  But if you see something others don't see like a nice steady influx of good people into a neighborhood, the reduction in crime, closeness to public transit or new jobs coming in.  Or you just love it, and it's a good deal then others probably will too.  My view is DON'T buy anything in the suburbs! These will generally fall in value in the future!
Comment: Alright, then back to my 2nd point.  Make more money.  Talk to people you know (bosses, owners) who make more money and see what you can do to make more money.  They might just admire your pluck and tell you!  Hard workers are valuable and they know that.
Answer: Learn to build software and create a product.
The peoples will use your program, will pay you for that and you don`t need be there all the time. (Time is money)
The software will work for you (In theory) and will can make how many copies you want. How many more people need you, more rich you get.
Think about that.
Comment: That's not passive income.
Comment: Working as a programmer myself, I can definitely say that there is nothing whatsoever passive about that.
Comment: The people who use the program will probably complain about bugs and ask for extra features, so even once its made its not passive unless you ignore them.
Comment: I don't disagree that building a product which can be resold is a good idea. However, time does not automatically equal money. Investing time can yield pecuniary returns in the long-run, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right thing to do or that doing so will be successful. Time is often portrayed as a limitless resource, but that's not the case.
Comment: I know, but it`s works to earn money and is real!
Answer: Another way to get to a decent passive income is by mastering the art of affiliate marketing. An affiliate marketer is someone who posts advertisement links for companies on websites and gets a commission if people buy the advertised product via the posted links. It's very easy to get started with this, all you have to do is sign up for an affiliate program, e.g. Amazon's affiliate program. Another popular site for vendors and affiliate marketers is Clickbank.
Now, while it's easy to get started with this, you can simply start to post your affiliate links on websites and that will work to some degree, to really generate a high income from this requires building up a good reputation as an expert on the products you are trying to sell on social media outlets, and this will take time and a lot of work. Also, you must generate a large following of people who are actually going to buy the products you are advertising. The best methods are explained in courses like e.g. [this one][3]. This course is given by John Crestani who has been extremely successful in this field, he earns about $10,000 per day from commissions.
While in the beginning doing this is going to be the complete opposite of "earning a passive income" (unless you are extremely lucky or you're happy with earning a few bucks per day for free), when later with enough hard work done you do start to earn a big income, most of that will be a passive income. To sustain that income you do need to do some work, but compared to a regular job, the income you'll earn and the hours you'll be putting in will be completely lopsided.
This very answer can serve as an example of how you can post an affiliate link on websites in an effective way. The removed "[this one][3]" was an affiliate link to John Crestani's course (removed by the administrators here). While administrators of some  website won't tolerate affiliate links, many will. If you put a posting up that looks like an add which isn't adding any relevant value to the site, you'll not convince many people to buy the advertised product. You have to make sure the typical reader of the site wants to read your post for its content.
Answer: The things I'm about to suggest will not make you rich, or get you out of any financial holes. But they should be able to earn you some extra money, and for your situation it sounds like anything could help.
Have you looked into cash-back apps/sites that give you money back for making the purchases you already make?
For example, I personally use the apps Dosh and Drop. Dosh gives me a percentage of cash back for purchasing coffee at my local coffee shop (among other retailers). I don't get much from them, maybe a few dollars per month.
Drop is one I just recently started using. You pick a few places you normally shop at, connect your debit or credit card and earn points for every dollar you spend at that retailer. For Trader Joe's, where I do almost all my grocery shopping, I earn 12 points for every $1 spent. The points can be redeemed for gift cards to places like AMC, Best Buy, Amazon, etc.
1,000 points = $1, so the more you shop at the retailers you pick the more points you'll earn. You literally do not have to do anything to earn these points besides making normal purchases.
I see apps like these as a no brainer, because I'm already going to shop at Trader Joe's. Maybe it will take me an entire month to earn the 10,000 points needed for a $10 AMC gift card, but that's a movie you can go see with friends that might not have fit your budget before!
I'm not sure what your shopping habits are like, but if you do any online shopping, I'd recommend also using Paribus. It scans your email receipts (like Amazon purchases) and tracks the prices for what you've bought. If you bought something and the price drops a day later, Paribus will file for a refund of the difference on your behalf. I can't even tell you how many times I've bought something on Amazon, only to see the price drop the next week. This tool is seriously a life saver.
As I said above, these are some of the tools I personally use to help me earn a few extra bucks on the side without putting in any effort. I know it won't help you a ton, but it's better than nothing! Also, you don't have to put any money upfront for these, like you do with other passive income streams.
Let me know if you have any questions about how to use these sites. I hope they can help you out, even just a little bit!


How much antimatter would we need in order to wipe out all humans, eradicate all animals and blow up the Earth?

Question:
Supposing we had many thousands of antimatter bombs (they can be detonated in many different locations), how much total antimatter would we need in order to wipe out all humans on Earth?
Supposing we had one antimatter bomb (it has to be detonated in one particular location, but it can be as big as necessary, even as big as an entire city), how much antimatter would we need in order to eradicate all animals on Earth?
Supposing we had one antimatter bomb, how much antimatter would we need in order to completely blow up the Earth into millions of pieces?
Comment: While I can't provide any numbers to back this up, I have a feeling the answers to Part 2 and Part 3 are going to be the same.
Comment: Antimatter are difficult to create and much less to contain. Supposed you have successfully build a special tomahawk missile entirely composed of antimatter, this method of conversion of mass to energy greatly dwarfs any conventional nuclear reactions. Q3 is very hard to answer you need to completely overwhelm the gravitational pull of earth so only terraforming don't qualify for millions of pieces. You can also convert entire earth into energy but you have to look for antimatter earth to do it.
Comment: possible duplicate of [The opposite to Worldbuilding: World Destruction](http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/4679/the-opposite-to-worldbuilding-world-destruction)
Comment: @Serban Tanasa: No, it's clearly not the same question. The question you linked is about the different ways to destroy a planet, not about the amount of antimatter needed to perform the 3 tasks in my question. Also your question only speaks about blowing up a planet completely, whereas my questions number 1 and 2 only speak about killing all humans and all animals respectively which is very different (your question very clearly states near the end "I dont just want to destroy all life on the surface, I want to reduce the entire planet to rubble so that very little remains").
Comment: The word "antimatter" is not even mentioned anywhere in your question. Though one of the answer does say that we would need 1.3 trillion tonnes of antimatter to blow up the Earth. So if correct the answer would answer question number 3, but questions number 1 and 2 are left unanswered.
Comment: @Frostfyre: I'm pretty sure they won't be the same. Since for example a big enough asteroid (around 100 km in diameter) could kill all animals but it would be far from completely blowing up the Earth.
Comment: On this page http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/Comets-and-Asteroids/When-Comets-and-Asteroids-Strike-Earth.html it says concerning the asteroid which struck the Earth 65 million years ago: "Roughly 70 percent of all the animal and plant species on Earth, including all of the dinosaurs, died." And it also says that the "asteroid that collided with Earth at that time was about six miles across" = 9.6 km in diameter. It almost eradicated all animals, but it was far from obliterating the Earth, it merely landed it a small scratch on its surface...
Answer: Taken shamelessly from my previous answer here
If you absolutely, positively need to sterilize the surface, you must blast it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
The problem you'll quickly run into is that the Earth is big. You can crash 10km sized asteroids into it, and there'll still be some survivors to whine about the injustice of it all. Now, we wouldn't want that, would we? There are two surefire ways.
1. Antimatter Bombardment
No, the only way to be sure is to be thorough. You'll need a fair bit of antimatter, um, let's see...
1 Mt is $4.1\times10^{15} J$ so the Tsar Bomba (in the tested config) at $42MT = 1.72 \times10^{17} J$
2 kg of $E=mc^2 = 1.79 \times 10^{17} J$
So each 2 kg antimatter bomb (as it annihilates with 1kg ordinary matter) would have a blast similar to the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated in the puny humans' history. That gives you a nice $1,200 km^2$ blast incineration area. Now, if we were sloppy, we would just pepper the land area of $148,300,000 km^2$, so about 1,236 MIEVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Entry Vehicles) with 100 2kg warheads each would do.
But that would miss all the boats, planes and submarines crowding their primitive buoyancy based transportation lanes. With about 100,000 ships out there, that's a lot of survivors.  $361,000,000 km^2$ to cover, you'd need another 3,009 MIEVs. You might still miss a submarine or two, but without space launch capabilities, zero industrial capacity, and an all-male crew, you're set anyway.
Pro: Clean blasts, little of that nasty radioactive slag. Also, once in atmosphere, any attempt to shoot down will only damage the containment system and detonate the antimatter.
Con: You need a lotta bombs.
2. One bomb to kill them all
We must use a bigger bomb. $<< 10^{32}J$ (gravitational binding energy of Earth)
3. Death star it
We must use an even bigger bomb. $> 10^{32}J$
Comment: How does that last equation (rolled back for the time being; see revision history) work out? There's no way $10^{32} / 10^{17} = 10^{27}$, much less $10^{32} \times 10^{17} = 10^{27}$, no matter where you place any 1.72 multiplicative factor.
Comment: I have no idea what you're talking about. $10^{32}J$  is simply the gravitational binding energy of the planet. The OP wanted it all in one bomb, so I told him his bomb must release at least that much energy.
Comment: I rolled back the edit that added a formula at the end, which was the reason for my comment. Check the revision history; if it's appropriate, feel free to roll back my roll back!
Comment: I believe *Anonymous* added that formula to calculate how many kg of antimatter that last bomb is. Not that he got it correct.
Comment: >$10^{15}kg$, it's not exactly rocket science. At least a trillion tons, probably an order of magnitude or so more when you account for noncentral location and dissipation loss.
Answer: The previous answer covered the bases fairly well for options 1 and 3. But case 2 deserves a better answer after all anti-matter is not cheap and they are always out of stock at Home Depot.
"Perhaps, just under four billion years ago, the Earth could have been hit by asteroids up to 400 kilometers across, forty times bigger than the one that is supposed to have been responsible for the K/T extinctions. Such an asteroid would boil away the oceans and transform the atmosphere into one of steam and molten rock." The resulting temperatures would be "well beyond the upper limit for life and the surface of the Earth would have been baked free of living microbes."
Source: Ian Goddard and Cockell, Charles S. Impossible Extinction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003: 88.
Sorry, but I don't know where you can get the text of this book online. But, taking the statement as accurate (and the source appears to be of generally high quality to me). The asteroid belt just happens to contain a 400 km asteroid built to order, 10 Hygiea Plugging in the numbers (assuming a 17 km/sec impact) you get somewhat more than 1E28 joules, a rather significant savings compared the the gravitational potential of the earth, but still a lot of antimatter just to destroy it with a single bomb, roughly 6E10 kg of antimatter. I think this is a very conservative answer in that it is very certain to get the job done.
As we learned in real estate, location, location, location. Instead of wasting 1E28 joules in an antimatter explosion on the surface of Earth, how about a nice 1E20 J bomb set off in a carefully drilled hole inside 10 Hygiea -- wait a few months and let gravity do most of the heavy lifting (or falling in this case) when 10 Hygiea impacts the Earth. Still a single bomb, it destroys the earth and you have plenty of time for popcorn while you wait. Now you can destroy all life on earth using only about 6E4 kg of antimatter, only 60 metric tons of the good stuff.
If you really need to do this on the cheap, a 400 km asteroid is really quite a bit of overkill and a 100 km asteroid is probably enough to kill all animal life big enough to be interesting to most people although it may not completely sterilize the earth, and your only need 1 metric ton to target earth.
For a 10 km dinosaur killer asteroid, 1 kg of antimatter should be sufficient retarget the asteroid -- actually quite a bit less would actually be needed because there are quite a few near earth objects that would need only a tiny orbital deflection to serve the purpose, the largest of these earth crossers, 1866 Sysyphusone of these objects happens to fit the bill as it is probably over 8 km diameter (close enough for our imagination) and currently scheduled to pass about 17 million km from the earth on Nov 24, 2071. With careful planning, I expect less well less than 1 gram of antimatter would be needed to make this a bad day for the earth.
We could make this happen if we work at it. Given how difficult it is to make antimatter, this is probably the only way could do so using antimatter within the next 100 years. Even on larger time scales, creating enough anti-matter to destroy the earth will still be very difficult without invoking the drop a rock strategy.
Comment: Dammit! ...scatch Home Depot...
Answer: Assuming perfect accuracy and a teleporter? Something less than 7g to kill every human. 7g divided 7 bn ways would equate to about the equivalent of 40 grams of TNT per person, something like a small hand grenade each.
A more realistic method might be to create a nuclear winter, by blowing dust up into the sky. Unfortunately that is rather slow, so a few humans will likely survive in bunkers you don't know about, for quite a long time. For that you can recreate the meteor that made the dinosaurs extinct (100 trillion tons of TNT) with about two tons of antimatter in one spot. Some humans would probably survive this, though.
This is generally ignoring the radiation effect of all the gamma rays, that might change the maths. You can maybe kill everyone with less antimatter if you settled for giving everyone cancer instead.
Comment: Check your math. 1 kg of antimatter = 53 megaton yield, 4000 kg  antimatter = 212 billion ton TNT
Comment: For scenario 1, you'd probably be able to get by with even less... just tens of grains per person, targeted at the brain would be enough to cause embolisms.  You could probably reduce your targets from 7 B to a few dozen by targeting, say, the leaders of a few large nations or the microprocessors in their early-warning systems, and let the ensuing nuclear strikes and counter-strikes do the rest.
Answer: None. any large scale destruction of a city, with non antimatter device, on earth of a nuclear ready country would trigger mutually assured destruction, in what is estimated to be a thousand times over. achieving the specified result.
Answer: 1. Kill all humans with  lots of small bombs
All of the other answers here are super overkill for this. If you want to kill all humans on earth, you have a couple of options:

Give them a fatal dose of radiation
Heat the atmosphere and cook them

According to this person 57 trillion annihilations at 30 cm gives you 1 rad of radiation. Scale that over the entire planet and you get 2.9 kg of antielectrons. Indiana Jones level kill you immediately radiation dosage is about 100000 rads, so that's about 290,000 kg of antiprotons spread out evenly.
Except the isochoric heat capacity of earth atmosphere is $C_v=.717kJ*kg^{-1}*K^{-1}$. Multiplying by the mass of the atmosphere $M_{atm}=5.1*10^{18}$ gives us how much energy it takes to heat the atmosphere by 1 degree Kelvin, $C_v*M_{atm}=3.6567*10^{18}kJ*K^{-1}$. Divide the energy put out by this annihilation and we get $\Delta K = 14000$. WAY too much.
Let's shoot to heat up the atmosphere by 200K; there's no way anyone's surviving that. $3.6567*10^{18}kJ*K^{-1} * 200K=7.313×10^{20} kJ$. Convert that into mass using $E=mc^2$ and we get $8.137×10^6 kg$ divide by 2 because half that mass is coming from regular matter and we have $4.069×10^6 kg$.
So to kill all humans you need 406,900 kg of antimatter. In all honesty you can probably get away with less because the force of the explosion will likely kill many humans. But I don't know how to calculate that.
I was planning on adding more to this response, but I think Serban covered it as well as I can for numbers #1 and #2. I definitely think #1 is overkill in his answer though.
Answer: In John Barnes' excellent Thousand Cultures series, the ultimate nasty weapon is the teleportation of antimatter into the atmosphere as a very fine dust spread over a large volume. It basically all reacts at once release an enormous amount if IR -- enough to melt any rock within sight -- followed by a blast wave.
The very find dust gets around the problem that a chunk of antimatter in the presence of ordinary matter acts a bit like a chunk of sodium dropped into water. Instead of exploding, it sputters and fumes and splits into pieces and generally makes a mess.  What's happening is that the heat produce by the initial reaction with the surface of the chunk of sodium boils the water around it and drastically slows down the reaction.
Antimatter would do the same. (On a much bigger scale to be sure -- it's not a good thing to have around the neighborhood.)
Something like this would probably be your optimal (in terms of parsimonious use of anti matter, anyway) approach for #1 and #2.
Number 3 just a really big bang deep down. I have no idea how to get that in an antimatter bomb, because of the fizzle problem noted above.
Answer: It seems like 2, 200kg antimatter bombs, in short succession, dropped into the Yellowstone Caldera would be fairly certain to ignite a life ending volcanic eruption saving a trillion tons of antimatter, more or less.
I have no math to back this up.


Sharepoint 2010 Organization Browser with Vacant Positions

Question: Our sharepoint 2010 uses Active Directory to populate the Org Browser, using the Manager field.
However, there are some exec. positions that are vacant, so they don't have a corresponding User in AD. What would be the best way to provide these 'dummy' users in the hierarchy?
Currently there are dummy users in AD to fulfil this purpose, but this is causing issues where other applications want to use AD to determine the genuine line manager for a User. My feeling is that AD should represent the real situation, and we somehow insert the vacant positions between AD and SP.
Answer: AFAIK there is no solution except creating fake users in AD.
If thats a problem, you could create a custom Org Chart.


Behaviour of neuron when membrane potential is maintained at threshold potential or more

Question: Via an external electrode the membrane potential of a neuron or group of neurons can be increased from resting potential of -70 mV to -50 mV or more. This will cause them to fire an action potential. What happens if the electrode maintains the membrane potential at -50 mV or more for say 1 minute? Initially it should fire once, but then it will not reach the resting potential, will it stop firing or keep on firing continuously since it is above threshold potential? Will this kill the neuron or make it malfunction permanently?
Answer: Before I start, I should point out that in order to change the membrane potential (known as the Vm) of a neuron you really need an internal electrode - so that you can pump current in to it, so increasing the potential above the resting membrane potential (RMP). The RMP is simply the Vm of a neuron at rest, without any external meddling by pesky scientists (or synaptic inputs).
When you depolarise a neuron - in other words, make it less negatively charged, it will fire an action potential once it crosses the spike threshold. This value is different for different neurons, but -50mV is usually not enough to trigger an action potential - normally it's more in the range between -30 and -40. But let's say it does, as it doesn't change the thrust of the question.
The major part of what happens during an action potential is that sodium channels open, allowing the spike to fire. Once closed, these channels have a 'refractory period' - essentially a time out, during which they are less likely to open again. So even though your neuron is still above spike threshold, it can't fire because the channels can't open. (For the aficionados, you can actually think of this as the spike threshold becoming temporarily more positive - going up to, say, -20mV).
So your neuron doesn't fire again for, say, 10ms, until the sodium channels reactivate. Then it does. So you get a train of regularly spaced action potentials at a certain frequency. The more you depolarise the neuron, the faster this frequency becomes until a point where the channels just become totally inactivated and the neuron stops firing. If you hold the cell at this voltage for more than a few seconds, in general it will die.
Answer: Edit 2: On second thoughts, maybe secondlevel isn't quite correct. Assuming a the membrane potential is held at -50 mV, using a patch pipette, in whole-cell voltage clamp, then the neuron generally won't fire action potentials. Not as we know them anyway as the cell membrane potential is "clamped". This controls the open probability of ion channels and allows ions to flow in and out of the cell, which can be measured as currents.

Unless the membrane potential is controlled by injection of current, in "current-clamp" mode. This could be controlled in patch-clamp, or done via an external electrode, which would provide local current, but wouldn't be so well controlled.
Secondlevel is pretty much spot on, here's an image of a neuron stepped to approx -60 mV from -78 mV.
The below cell's voltage is not being controlled directly; it is a recording in current-clamp mode, being depolarized by injecting positive current. Action potentials do not occur in a proper voltage-clamp.

Note that the action potentials aren't entirely predictable, there's a bit of variability in the frequency, but they're roughly every 20 ms. Also, this is just one example, from one cell type. Other neurons will behave differently.
Comment: Your current clamp example is fine. The OP's question doesn't make any sense if interpreted in voltage clamp terms, because you wouldn't get action potentials in voltage clamp.
Comment: Thanks, I was just in the process of trying to clarify. Not sure it makes sense without a thorough understanding of electrophys though.
Comment: Since the OP directly said an action potential is fired, and was also initially referring to external stimulus (though like the other answer mentions, it would be nearly impossible to maintain a steady depolarization that way), I think it is safe to assume two things: 1) the voltage is not clamped, and 2) the cell has a threshold no more depolarized than -50mV. I think your answer was more clear without the added explanation of current/voltage clamp.
Comment: Also, real life voltage clamp is simply not quick enough to prevent action potentials (usually referred to as action currents) occurring. They do happen in all but the lowest access resistance cases.


How does the physicalism discuss the line between life and death?

Question: In this day and age with modern medicine, the line between life and death are blurred, as the brain dead may act as if it's alive, and the alive, due to being comatose may be reposed as if dead. What does physicalism say about this blurred line of life and death?
Comment: So we will change one social convention to another in response to a technological advance (note that in most cases the convention does not even come into play). So what? The boundaries between biological species are somewhat vague too, and were redrawn a little when biologists started using DNA. What difference does it make philosophically? The philosophical issue is what animates matter, what make it "live", not at what point it is more expedient for us to declare that the living ended.
Comment: Why phil of science and noyt simply phil ? See [The Definition of Death](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/death-definition/).
Comment: @MauroALLEGRANZA I've tried to label things philosophy on here, but it's a too broad of a category I'm being told.
Comment: I am pretty sure you are not talking about philosophy of science, which is about *how and why science works or doesn't* and therefore has no position on death.  Do you mean scientific physicalism ('scientism')?   Do you mean logical positivism?  Do you mean modern biological/neurological theories?
Comment: @jobermark I'm not talking about logical positivism, so i guess the only one that remains (since the philosophy of science has no position on the topic) must be physicalism
Comment: This line is unproblematic for physicalism since it considers life to be a manifestation of certain dynamic activities in organized matter. How much of normal activity needs to be happening to still count something as living is a purely practical matter, medical professionals developed detailed guidelines for humans (taking into account relevant social arrangements), and even distinguished activity in the brain (brain dead) versus in the body as a whole (dead). The issue is more problematic for substance dualists because for them the "soul" has to detach from the body at some point.
Comment: @Conifold what about people who are in a vegetative state and due to some change, medicine, new treatment, etc, when before medical science would have said no improvement in condition is possible?
Comment: @Conifold Does the issue with the soul detaching from the body have a name, so I can look at it in more detail?
Comment: @APCoding This is related to [ensoulment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensoulment) and the pairing problem, see [Audi's paper](http://www.paulaudi.net/Audi_Pairing.pdf).
Answer: Physicalism says that only physical things exist and our best scientific theories are what should provide the model for that ontology. Neuroscience is our best physical theory about the brain, which is where most of our understanding of human life and death comes from, so if we believe in physicalism we should believe in what neuroscience has to tell us. You alluded to a vegetative state in your question and it should be noted that vegetation is not the same thing as brain death. I believe that the answer to this question will need some clarifications, especially about consciousness. That being said, I believe that after these clarifications it is very clear that physicalism provides a great understanding of what the line between life and death is.
Now, on to consciousness. Physicalism says that a person's mind is synonymous with their brain and that consciousness is just a collection of brain states. It's very true that we do not have an exact understanding of what consciousness is, but we do know that it is located in certain parts of the brain (the thalamus plays a central role). However, even without having the exact details down we still know (mostly) what things are involved in consciousness and (mostly) what things aren't. Organisms do not need to have a brain, or even consciousness, to be alive, though. The vast majority of life on Earth (plants, fungi, bacteria, etc.) does not have a brain.
Death of an organism is the condition wherein all biological processes that are required to sustain its life irreversibly cease to happen. Human death is defined as the complete death of all areas of the brain. This is different from any cultural idea of death as "the inability of a person to walk around, have consciousness, etc." As long as the biological processes that allow life to sustain itself are still happening, the organism is still alive. Although some people might refer to someone who is in a comatose state and does not have consciousness as being dead, our current medical understanding is that as long as they can still maintain metabolic processes unassisted they are alive. This is because, although some areas of their brain may have died, the areas that maintain the metabolic processes required to live unassisted are still functioning. Death is when all functions of the brain have irreversibly ceased.
So, imagine you have severe trauma to the brain stem, the part of the brain that controls your breathing and blood pressure (as well as some other important functions for sustaining life). Other parts of the brain, for example the frontal cortex, might not have sustained any damage from that trauma, so they might be functioning perfectly well. However, after a short amount of time, if the trauma to the brain stem was so damaging as to disallow it from functioning, then the rest of the brain will also die. If blood is not able to flow to the rest of the brain the metabolic processes of those parts will cease to happen and they will die. Cells, especially neurons, are incredibly delicate structures and if they sustain enough damage they will never be able to function again. If enough of these cells are damaged then the brain will never be able to function again. This is why death is irreversible. In this case of the death of the brain stem, the person may still be conscious for a few moments afterwards. The parts of the brain that control consciousness have not yet suffered cell death and are continuing to function. However, once the lack of blood causes those cells to die as well all areas of the brain will have ceased to function and the person will be dead.
The exact point of death is best understood as the point where cell death has become so great that any sort of ability to reverse the processes is gone. Now, it's true that we put a lot focus on the brain because the brain is what normally regulates our entire body. The brain is what controls our respiratory and circulatory systems and without the brain those systems will fail. For humans being in a state where those systems fail and damage is caused that will reversibly forbid them to ever function on their own again is synonymous with dying. The person could have been without consciousness due to other trauma to the brain for months before that moment. In that situation, as long as their brain stem still functioned and they were able to live unassisted they would still be alive. However, the moment that the rest of the brain loses its ability to function, the person will die.


In a non-life-threatening emergency, can a female doctor do a hospital procedure on a male or vice versa?

Question: Surgery usually requires viewing parts of a naked person. Are there halachic problems with a doctor of opposite gender doing this on a Jewish patient? If the procedure is one where part of the body may be covered such as an endoscopy or repairing an arm or leg, would the halacha be different?
Comment: dupe? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/27653/759
Comment: I've seen that it is permitted; no source at the moment.
Comment: Possible dupe, but neither answer there addresses this generalized case.
Comment: While I'd rather not, do you want me to edit and narrow the scope of the question?
Comment: Without answering the question directly. One is allowed to go to the best medical doctor available. One need not compromise ones health because of tsnius issues.
Comment: @preferred - understood. I also gleaned much of the answer I was seeking from the link to the question that DoubleAA mentioned. From all of this, I infer that it is fine. Though, personally, I must admit to admiring some of the nurses. I guess a person's mind is weakened to these aveirot when he's in a hospital bed, and you can't do much else. Imagine if someone created a "frum" hospital!
Answer: Shulchan Aruch Even Haezer Siman 21 Saif 5

It is forbidden to be served by a woman at all, whether she is an adult or a minor, whether a slave or free, lest he come to have forbidden thoughts. What service were they speaking of? Washing his face, hands, and feet, even to pour water so he can wash his face, hands, and feet, even if she does not touch him; or making his bed in front of him; or pouring a drink
Rema-  And some say that anything not done in a affectionate manner (בדרך חבה), where his intent is only for Heaven's sake, is permitted. Thus the custom is to be lenient in these things

Sefer Nishmat Avraham- The Tosfot write that it is because we depend on this that we today use the services of women. The Aruch Hashulchan writes the above ruling only applies if she does not do this as a service, but if these acts are performed as a service it would appear to be permitted. However, washing his face, hands and feet are clearly forbidden for this involves close contact. Rav Neuwirth wrote that this is only true with regard to a healthy male but if he is ill a woman (such as a nurse) may attend to his needs if another male is not available to do so.
The Birkei Yosef writes that one may ask how we permit a woman to attend to a man suffering from intestinal disease (presumably diarrhea) for since she has to attend to his private ares he may come to sinful thoughts resulting possibly in the emission of semen. However, since he is ill his inclinations will not overcome him for his body is weak as the Terumat Hadeshen writes.
A male doctor, student or any other caregiver, whose work in treating and caring for the sick in undoubtedly noble, must be most careful that when attending to a woman, his eyes and thoughts are entirely focused upon his job and that he is intent only on what he is doing. In addition, he must also be acutely aware of the patient's feelings, for example, where possible, only uncovering that part of her body that he needs to examine, re-covering it before examining elsewhere.
Comment: This is very interesting @Bochur613 (I like the tag name!), thanks. I don't have access to Birkat Yosef, offhand, I guess it's on hebrewbooks.org ?
Comment: Thanks! I can check later if I have the source for the Birkei Yosef
Comment: The Source for the Birkei Yosef is Yoreh Deah Siman 335 Saif 5
Comment: Also see Avodah Zarah 20b regarding a tailor for women's dresses and a breeder, both of whom have to watch things improperly to do their job. The Gemara concludes that since they are involved with their work, they won't come to think improper thoughts.


Is masturbating with someone online zina?

Question: Recently I went on a chat site and I met a girl. We chatted privately, aroused each other and then we masturbated together (she aroused me and I her). We then both climaxed and haven't spoken again. Is this zina?
Answer: Yes, but it is different form of zina than intercourse. It is zina of a lesser degree which does not trigger any hadd punishment. That does not mean it is not a sin. It is certainly a sinful act but of a lesser degree then unlawful intercourse. The following hadith is about this type of zina:

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Allaah has decreed for every son of Adam his share of zina, which he will inevitably commit. The zina of the eyes is looking, the zina of the tongue is speaking, one may wish and desire, and the private parts confirm that or deny it."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5889; Muslim, 2657.
Comment: can you please answer this zina related question: https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/43796/18985


How can we find a mentor for publishing our book?

Question: We have finished our nonfiction, self-help, book draft. We require finding a mentor for improving the book's structure and for publishing and marketing.
How can we find a mentor (not proofreader)? Is there this kind of service?
Comment: I highly recommend Dan Poynter's ["Self Publishing Manual"](https://www.amazon.com/Dan-Poynters-Self-Publishing-Manual-Write/dp/1568601425).  Whether or not you self publish, it gives a wealth of useful info.  ["Damn! Why didn't I write that?"](https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Why-Didnt-Write-That/dp/1884956556/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=21YZ2NAQBZ7T5&keywords=damn+why+didn%27t+i+write+that&qid=1555948970&s=books&sprefix=damn+why+didn%2Cstripbooks%2C153&sr=1-1-fkmrnull) is another great resource.
Answer: There are certainly people who will perform a substantive edit on a manuscript and give you an evaluation of it. They generally advertise themselves as editors or literary consultants.
However, finishing a non-fiction book before you look for a publisher is generally not the right approach. Publishers buy fiction based on the specific merits of the manuscript, so you have to finish your novel before you start to market it. But with non-fiction, publishers want to know what the market for the work is, what the competition is, why the author is qualified to write the book, and what standing they have in the community that will help sell the book. All of these are things that you can establish before you write.
If the publisher accepts your proposal, they will then become your mentor through the writing process, guiding you to create the kind of book the publisher thinks they can sell. I have written three non-fiction books and contributed to two others and in every case, the books were sold before they were written, and in every case but one the publisher provided support and guidance through the writing process.
So, you might want to take a step back and start approaching publishers with a proposal that outlines the market for the book, the competition, and your qualification to write it. (Most publishers will provide a detailed description of what they want a book proposal to cover.) You may then find you have to rewrite to suit the publisher's requirements, but at least you will have a mentor, in the form of your editor, to help you do so.
Answer: Congratulations on finishing your draft!
I think Mark has some valid points and much more experience than I have publishing non-fiction/self-help books, but this site may assist with your search https://reedsy.com/
You can also try looking for an agent on Twitter, Facebook or a writer's union/writer's guild in your country as I understand they can be helpful for navigating the industry.
Hope this helps and happy writing :)