Two ISP bgp topology?

Question: We use palo-alto firewall as an internet gateway. We have 16 static ip-addresses. One is used for outbound traffic (users browse internet) . The rest is used for inbound traffic (mail server, webservers, etc).
For redundant purposes we subscribe to second ISP. We buy 16 new static ip-addresses from new ISP. And here comes the hell with configuration. I've been reading for two days about BGP, PI addresses, AS numbers and other stuff. But I don't understand anything. Theory without practice and overall understanding is nothing. I call to these ISP's, and both providers say they won't configure any routes and won't sell AS numbers, try solve it by your selves. In our small asian country there is no LISP or any other cloud base routing solution. I don't know what to do next. Should I request AS number directly from APNIC? With policy based rules I may only configure outbound traffic redundancy. Is there any reliable solution to make redundant our small hosting? May it is possible to configure BGP without AS numbers and PI addresses?
Comment: Just a suggestion (maybe not practical): put your infrastructure in a data center / co-location facility.  These typically have the redundancy you are looking for.  Then as far as getting to those resources (which now have single IP addresses) you can use separate ISPs and internal routing protocols / VPNs to achieve site-to-dc redundancy.  ...just a thought.
Answer: Even if you could still get PI IPv4 addresses in Asia: if your ISPs don't want to route your IP addresses then there is nothing you can do. Tunnels and LISP could solve some of your problems (I use LISP here), but you already stated that this is not available in your region.
BGP is the protocol that is used to route your IP addresses from an AS. You need both to run BGP. Blocks of 16 addresses are too small to be routed with BGP anyway. Technically you could, but nobody will accept your routes.
If you want to have your own IP addresses and route them etc. you'll have to make some investments. Because APNIC ran out of IPv4 addresses for normal distribution you'll have to comply with some very strict rules. If I recall correctly the current rules are that you have to be multihomed already, must be able to justify 25% of the addresses (which would be 25% of 256 = 64) immediately and 50% (=128) within a year. Based on your current numbers that seems unlikely. If you could then you'd need to get an AS number from APNIC and you'll have to find ISPs that want to set up BGP sessions with you. This will probably be more expensive than your current contracts. And on top of that you'd have to study a lot to learn how internet routing and BGP works or you'll have to hire someone else to manage it for you. In addition to buying the equipment needed to do all of this.
In short: it's probably not worth it for your case.
Comment: 1.Besides BGP there is no redundant solution to put a few servers for external usage, am I right?
2.What if we use two ext ip addresses for one internal server. And just point public DNS cname record to those two ip addresses?
3.What if we get those AS numbers and providers' routes, would it be enough to use just palo alto firewall? Or should we buy routers to use them as a gateways, one per ISP?
Comment: 1: BGP is *the* protocol to route addresses on the internet. 2: putting multiple addresses in DNS will make you dependent on all of them, *reducing* reliability. 3: using a single firewall would make that device a SPOF. A single ISP is probably more redundant than that, so you'll only make it worse...
Comment: You can see how I handled some level of redundancy with a single ISP over diverse circuits at http://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/1745/inbound-bgp-load-balancing-from-same-isp-router.
Comment: "2: putting multiple addresses in DNS will make you dependent on all of them, reducing reliability." Are you sure about this? Most applications try the first entry in the provided list then after a timeout period with no response move to the second entry.
Comment: That would be nice but those timeouts are long
Comment: What are timeouts for browsers? Firefox, IE?
Comment: It depends on the OS and the browser and the type of timeout (connecting vs re-establishing a broken connection) and whether ICMP errors are properly propagated and handled. So it's difficult to give a simple answer. 300 seconds is normal. And this applies to every single connection, and loading a single web page usually uses multiple connections...
Answer: You can configure a Palo Alto Networks firewall to fail over to the other ISP.  You need to set up two sets of NATs -- one for one ISP and one for the other -- or set two DMZs, one for one ISP and one for the other (or overlay two subnets on one interface).  It will use both for inbound and will fail over to the second for outbound when one fails.
You can start reading here.
Comment: This won't work for inbound traffic for the servers. If one link goes down, how will external clients know how to reach the servers when their external IP address(es) change? DNS records with a low TTL may help for longish outages, but that is hugely unreliable and far from efficient.
Comment: It absolutely DOES work. What you do is put an address from both ISPs on each service.  You have two dns servers, dns01, dns02. Each has service IPs for one ISP's address space for services. Both are listed as dns servers for your domain. When everything is up, dns queries come to both and both addresses can be used. When one breaks the working one is used.
Comment: Example: DNS01.foo.com has a zone file that lists ISP1 ip addresses for services. DNS02.foo.com has a zone file that lists ISP2 ip addresses for services. Both DNS servers are listed for the domain. When ISP1 goes down, DNS01 can no longer be reached. DNS02 serves ISP2 addresses to queries. Yes, it's "janky" but failover for static routed nets is janky.
Comment: I see what you're saying. However, as the rest of the world already has cached records pointing to the old IPs, they won't look up the name again until their cache expires, at which time they will use the name of the up name server. Until then, their local pc cache contains an invalid record, as will their upstream DNS servers. You'd need to use a very low TTL, and not everyone honours those. So yeah, "janky", but I suppose it is better than nothing :)
Comment: There is another way to do it in a vendor-specific way. In the PAN firewall enable DNS proxy.  In the rule set for the interface to ISP1 you have static entries for ISP1 addresses for services. In the rule set for the interface to ISP2, entries for ISP2 addresses. Clients get address according to which interface the DNS query arrived on.
Comment: Yes, that is why you put a short TTL on any records that are subject to failing over.  Say 5 minutes.
Comment: Better/easier hybrid approach. DNS server carries only ISP1 addresses. PAN DNS proxy enabled on only ISP2 interface. Rule set has ISP2 static IP addresses configured. Queries arriving on ISP1 go to DNS server. Queries to ISP2 get static ISP2 proxy rule entry.  Only one zone file to maintain. Again, failing over static routed nets is tricky.
Comment: I agree with you. No matter which approach is taken, there is guaranteed to be at minimum a decent portion of the userbase who will be in the dark for at least some time. So is the nature of the beast when one is not large enough to play in the BGP world
Comment: At least  you can list your smtp server with separate IP addresses and matching dns entries for each ISP. Add MX records for both and you have one less service to worry about. Depending on your requirements, buying a traffic manager (intelligent load balancer) service from a nearby IaaS provider might give you some of what you need.  That way you always direct clients to the fixed IP addresses of the load balancers/traffic managers, who will determine the availability of your different addresses and services, and finally act as a proxy between the client and your service.
Answer: There is some way to load balancing without AS and PI.
For outbound it achieved by  policy routing
For failover inbound traffic, is good to use dynamic DNS. When primary ISP changed, DNS name (with short enough TTL) of site changed to new IP and clients keep access to site.
Setting DNS to two IP simultaneous can make round robin IP selection on clients.
Periodical changing (with period near to DNS record TTL) between two IP also can make balancing. Same effect is using DNS server that support giving different IP to different clients.

Two ISP bgp topology?


Theme for mobile devices

Question: I want parts of my site to be accessible to Android, iPhone and other mobile platforms. Is there a particular theme I should start with, or anything I should look for in a theme besides it being clean and simple?
Would I be better off creating a theme from scratch?
Comment: Not really an answer, so I'll add it as a comment - if you come across Mobile Tools, remember it's really bad for performance. Doesn't matter if site traffic is pretty low, but bear in mind.
Answer: The Omega theme is a grid based theme that will allow the developer to use a shared CSS file and three different CSS files for different screen resolutions. This way the same site can be served to different devices without having to do a ton of work to make it look nice on all of them.
Answer: Honestly, iPhone and Android devices don't need special mobile sites, they just need a bit of thought put into the layout, and that was what I assume you're after judging from your question.
If you really want a specific theme for mobile devices then I'd recommend just starting with one of the many Drupal base themes, and trying to keep it simple. Keep it 1 column, avoid position:fixed like the plague because the iPhone doesn't do it. Avoid :hover wherever you can for the same reason.
These sites that are designed to look like apps are more often than not annoying, especially if mobile devices are automatically redirected. You'd be much better off directing your time into something like Responsive Web Design, so your mobile visitors get the same content with a better layout.
Answer: For themes, as well as iUI, there's Nokia Mobile and the simplistic Mobile.
Use this module to set a mobile theme (i.e. only used by mobile devices): Mobile Theme.
Comment: Which is 'this', sorry?
Comment: This doesn't have an option for mobile users to go back to the main site, so be prepared to annoy people with decent mobile browsers like the iPhone or Android devices.
Comment: Sorry, the [Mobile Theme](http://drupal.org/project/mobile_theme) module that lets you specify a mobile theme. There's no way to let mobile users view the regular site, they have to use the mobile version.
Answer: Definitely agree with Paul Jones, these mobile devices don't need special mobile sites. I think that your website and all your content should be available as well on mobile devices as on desktop. It also seems a lot of overhead, creating and maintaining seperate themes.
A better solution would be an adaptive theme that doesn't scale to specific devices like some modules or themes do, but that adapts to screen sizes, with things like media queries, flexible grids and flexible layouts.
Something like this: http://drupal.org/sandbox/kristofo/1086306
Also check out this group: http://groups.drupal.org/responsive-web-design
Answer: I would also suggest checking out jQuery Mobile UI which is developed by Jason Savio. I attended his session at the Design 4 Drupal Boston 2011 and it definitely looks very promising. Apart from that, I dont see any other native jQuery Mobile module for Drupal 6.
Answer: iui is available as a showy theme for the mobile platform, and with modules linked from that page you can have the theme automagically changed when the page is viewed from a mobile device.
Answer: If you want a completely separate mobile theme you can use the Mobile Tools module with the Fusion Mobile theme.
If you just want a responsive theme I would give 320 and up a look.
Answer: jQuery Mobile looks great to me, though a full Drupal module is still in it's early stages.

jQM Theme
jQuery Mobile module
Drupalcon Chicago: Drupal on the go with jQuery Mobile

Theme for mobile devices


Find both lower and upper asymptotic bounds for $T(n) = 2T(\frac{n}{2})+n^4$

Question: So far we have learned Recursion Tree, Substitution Method, and Master's Theorem.
I'm not sure how we can find lower AND upper bounds.
I know that using Master's Theorem, we get $T(n) = \Theta(n^4)$, but how can I find both upper and loewr?
Comment: If the master's theorem gives you a Theta class (I haven't checked), it already is a tight upper and lower bound asymptomatically. I am not sure what you're asking here?
Comment: I was wondering when the question said give upper and lower bound, I thought it was asking for the Big Omega and Big O
Comment: I saw a solution of this problem being $T(n)=  cn + (\frac{8}{7}) +n^4$, but I have no idea how to get there
.
Comment: @donnyan Doing the maths in my had, I came up with about (8/7)n^4. It's easy and a method that you should always use: Calculate T(2^10) = 2T(2^9) + 2^40 = 2(2T(2^8) + 2^36) + 2^40 = 4T(2^8) + 2^37 + 2^40 etc. It gives you an immediate idea what's going on. Or calculate T(1), T(2), T(4), T(8), T(16)... until you find a system.
Comment: Well, a lower bound is $1$ and an upper bound is $n!^{n!}$. In other words, you have to be more precise with what you want to know.
Answer: It seems that you have overlooked the fact that $f(n) \in \Theta(n^4)$ already implies both an upper bound of $f(n)\in O(n^4)$ and a lower bound of $f(n)\in \Omega(n^4)$. Intuitively, $\Theta$- notation says that a function grows "as fast as" another function, which means both "at most as fast" and "at least as fast".
Answer: It automatically implies that $ O(n^4)$ and $\Omega (n^4)$  because of $f(n)\in O(n^4)$ and master theorem  $ \Theta (n^4)$.


How to stop the insider preview builds completely on my phone?

Question: I have a Lumia 930 running on slow ring Insider Preview. I wish to quit the program now but the only option under Settings->Windows Insider Programme is to put the builds on hold for a maximum of five days. I want to leave the program completely. How do I go about doing that? (there is link to stop getting insider builds completely when you tap on Stop Insider Preview builds button, but it takes me to the help page for the PC version.. which is pretty useless.)
Answer: At this moment the only way to completely exit the Windows Insider Preview is to reinstall the phone using the Windows Device Recovery Tool.
You can prevent new builds from being installed for up to 5 days though by doing this:

go to settings -> Update & security
Windows Insider Programme
Click "Stop Insider Preview builds"
Select number of days you want to delay the updates

You'll also see "Need to stop getting Insider builds completely?" link to a Microsoft Support which is currently only relevant for the Windows Insider builds on desktop PCs.
Comment: thanks. I assume they want to prevent people from staying on unstable builds. But I agree, there should be an easier way.
Comment: Nice... this works :). Wonder why Microsoft would do this. I will award bounty in 12 hours
Comment: Totally agree WDRT is such a mess, takes too long, requires too much and is not straightforward to the latest W10m version... it's a very very annoying tool, needing for a total revamp
Answer: Simply uninstall Windows insider app
So there is no way any updates will come to your mobile. I've done it before it helped me
Comment: Windows insider app is a legacy item. Uninstalling it now will not stop updates from being delivered. I have no doubt that it has worked for you before. It's just it will not work now.
Answer: Follow these steps,

Go to insider app on your phone
Click on ...
Select "leave program"
Click Continue.

Reference : Stop getting insider build - Windows Central
Comment: Actually this doesn't work anymore. This used to be the way to do it, but now they moved everything to Settings. This option is no longer available.


How long before fruit tree grafts begin bearing fruit?

Question: If I graft a scion from one apple tree onto another mature tree, how long will it take for the graft to begin bearing fruit?
Comment: What kind of graft? I splice graft on the end of a fruiting branch will be able to bear in 2 years, but if you're doing rind grafting or something, it'll be a lot longer.
Comment: I'm attempting grafting for the first time, so if you can give an answer that covers the time to bear for common techniques that would be great -- my decision on how to go about it will depend somewhat on what will make it happen faster.
Comment: Are you thinking of changing over an entire tree, or a large section of one, or just doing something small?
Comment: How did it go then?
Answer: Two years, it needs a growing season to establish, will set leaf buds the first winter and will start setting flower buds the second winter. Sometimes you'll get an early blossom, but you should cut it off early so it doesn't stress (physically or nutritionally) the graft.
Answer: If you splice graft, whip and tongue graft, or bud (or any of the many similar grafts) onto stems that are under 1/2" in diameter, it should produce budwood in 2-3 years.
splice graft:

Generally with a diameter larger than that, at least with apple, you'll be rind grafting or cleft grafting. These will put out lots of growth in the next few years, to rebuild the removed mass, and often don't fruit for 5-7 years. Dwarf trees are always faster.
rind graft:
Comment: @Escoce no, all of them take when properly done. Proper training is then required to keep each branch controlled in it's own space.
Comment: There sure are lots of different terms for grafting. I call the first one whip grafting, and the second one is like a hybrid of bud and cleft grafting. Pretty ingenious. What do you do if more than one graft takes? Do you thin them so they don't compete?


Call of Duty: Black Ops Co-op

Question: Does COD:BO (on XBOX 360) have an offline co-operative mode for the campaign like Gears of War, Halo 3 or Borderlands do?
Answer: There is no co-op campaign. You can only co-op in online multi-player and Zombie mode.
Answer: However, the online multiplayer has "combat training" that is allows you to set up team death match and deathmatch games. This mode has a separate levelling system that mirrors the normal pvp stuff and does allow your friends to join a match against or with the bots that populate the training mode. Lots of fun to get kill streaks and practice with the glory that is a gunship or unleash the alsatians on unsuspecting bots.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Co-op


How do you pass input to a circuit?

Question: I've implemented Grover's search algorithm in qiskit, and I'd like to pass in an input to run through the circuit. How is that done?
Comment: Hey! What do you mean by pass an input in? Grover uses an oracle to search all potential options to find the desired result
Comment: As a follow-on from the above comment, do you mean the input to the circuit (which is generally taken to be all $\left|0\right>$ by default) or are you asking how you create the oracle? Or how you store the data for the oracle? Or something else? It would probably be worth looking up these questions: [1](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/q/2110/23), [2](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/q/5696/23), [3](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/q/2200/23), [4](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/q/2149/23), [5](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/q/5696/23)
Answer: It would be helpful to get a code sample, but from how you've phrased the question, the circuit assumes that the register is originally initialized to the ${|00..0\rangle }$ state. You'll need to initialize the register into the uniform superposition of all states, and then your Grover's algorithm should work.
*full disclosure - it would be super helpful to have more context in your question.
Answer: To give you an example, at the last Qiskit Camp I was part of a team that implemented some Groverian Iterations in an Algorithm which as an input took positions on a complete graph.
The repository is here.
So if we want to encode for example two walkers on the graph below, since it has 4 vertices we require 2 qubits to encode the position of each walker. Thus our input will be some state using these 4 qubits.

In our case we Hadamarded over all the qubits to distribute the walkers over the whole graph evenly before iteration. This you could say was our state preparation.
Take Home Message
Think about how to encode your problem in terms of qubits. This will then allow you to think about what your algorithm is going to act on and so what your input will be and what registers you need and so on.

How do you pass input to a circuit?


What happens if you die while ulting as Karthus?

Question: If someone kills you when you're ulting as Karthus, does your ult go on cooldown or does the channel continue while you turn into a zombie?
Answer: Your ult is interrupted and your Requiem goes on cooldown.
Answer: Following the general rule of channeled spells, if a channel is interrupted in any way, the ability goes on cooldown. If the caster is killed, the channel is interrupted.
Skip everything below if you are against "fun":
I once dropped a karthus to 1/10th of a bar, and he thought that he was dead. I had very little HP, so he decided to cast Requiem. I went up to him and bashed him in the face, thus killing him. Channel interrupted, Karthus pissed off, Ult wasted, Team saved: Mission accomplished.
Also, Karthus is a skeleton, thus allready undead, and can not turn into a zombie. What happens is that karthus becomes ethereal, or as you "Humans" like to name it - a "Ghost".


USB flash drive doesn't appear in any OS

Question: Hi I got new Kingston DataTraveller drive. I have repartitioned it in OS X than dumped and image of another flash drive on it. Few more times of the same but now it doesn't appear in any OS when I plug it in. Here is output of dmesg | tail in Linux:
[17470.869451] usb 2-2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci_hcd [17470.987138] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0951, idProduct=1643
[17470.987142] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[17470.987145] usb 2-2: Product: DataTraveler G3
[17470.987147] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Kingston
[17470.987148] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 001CC0EC346CFC70C71B2429
[17470.987590] scsi12 : usb-storage 2-2:1.0
[17472.091870] scsi 12:0:0:0: Direct-Access     GENERIC  USB Mass Storage 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[17472.092168] sd 12:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg7 type 0
[17472.097092] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg] READ CAPACITY failed
[17472.097096] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg]  Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[17472.097100] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg]  Sense Key : Unit Attention [current]
[17472.097104] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg]  Add. Sense: Not ready to ready change, medium may have changed
[17472.097713] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg] Write Protect is off
[17472.097716] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 00
[17472.098713] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[17472.103079] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg] READ CAPACITY failed
[17472.103083] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg]  Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[17472.103086] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg]  Sense Key : Unit Attention [current]
[17472.103089] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg]  Add. Sense: Not ready to ready change, medium may have changed
[17472.104703] sd 12:0:0:0: [sdg] Attached SCSI removable disk

So it sees it a little bit and point it to /dev/sdg
If I mount it with mount /dev/sdg /media/usb:
mount: /dev/sdg: can't read superblock

If I try to fdisk it to see partitions (which it has none) with fdisk /dev/sdg I get this:
fdisk: unable to read /dev/sdg: Invalid argument

If I attempt to zero out the whole disk with dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdg
dd: writing to '/dev/sdg': No space left on device
1+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes (0 B) copied, 0.000208433 s, 0.0 kB/s

I can't figure out how to trash entire disk and partition it again correctly. Any ideas?
P.S. Before this began I did manage to format it to ext2 in openSuSe but it threw a bunch of error which I don't remember any more. Windows also sees it as online but total size 0 bytes and won't let me format it.
Alex
Answer: To rule out a faulty usb hub or cable, try it on a different computer. If the error persists, the usb drive is likely to be dead.
Comment: Yeah I have tried on a number of different machines and ports. I am just surprised it worked briefly in the first place.
Comment: Different OS, yes. I edited my answer. OP didn't mention a different computer.


Is it good practice to manually lock down ports on each host

Question: We have a strong perimeter firewall.  Would it make sense to still use IPTables on each host to hard block any and all ports except for the ones that are needed (DNS, 80 for the web server, nagios ports, etc.), or would this just lead to inefficiency.  The web server gets millions of hits per day.
Comment: Yes you should - it's called defence in depth.
Comment: I like the CIS benchmarks at http://benchmarks.cisecurity.org . They address various operating systems and some common services (Apache etc.).
Comment: Do you know of a good overall checklist of things such as this (disable unnecessary services, disable ports, etc) just so I can systematically check things off and make sure I'm not missing any?
Answer: Yes, it is a good idea to lock down all of the hosts inside the firewall as well to protect against any threats coming from your internal network. That way, if someone gains access to your network or if there is a virus/worm/etc attacking your local machines, there are that many fewer services that could potentially be compromised.
Someone else will need to speak to the inefficiencies in this particular case, although my suspicion is that they would be negligible.
Comment: Thanks.  As I mentioned in my previous comment do you know of a good "best practices" security checklist.  I know a lot of them are common sense but would like a systematic way of auditing each host that is backed by industry standards.
Comment: One option it to use a tool such as nessus to automatically scan your hosts for vulnerabilities.
Comment: That's part of the plan :), I'm actually playing with it right now.  I noticed that there weren't many local configuration checks although nessus does have the ability.  For example I do not see a plugin that does not check php.ini to check for things like disabled functions.
Answer: Definitely do this. I've made it a habit to deploy services using Puppet, so the allow service rules are written into the same definition file that installs the service. The generic firewall manifest file finishes off by dropping everything I didn't otherwise allow (besides ICMP. Don't turn off ICMP).
Comment: Care to clarify you statement about ICMP. I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't know why ICMP needs to be switched on.
Comment: @Polynomial http://security.stackexchange.com/q/22711/2264


Dry Brining Turkey

Question: I have dry brined my Thanksgiving turkey for several years with great success. I usually do this for 3 days (start the process Monday AM then air dry in fridge for 24 hours before meal on Thursday). This year I will not get my turkey until Tuesday night. Is 36 hours enough time for the salt to do its reverse osmosis thing? I want to give it enough time to dry on Thursday. Or should I keep it in the salt until as late as possible and then pat it dry?
Answer: If you want crispy skin on your bird, you have to make sure that you leave time for the water to come off the skin entirely, so the full drying time is recommended.
If your skin doesn't make much diffrence to you, use the full brining time to create optimium penetration.
That said, your bird should remain nice and moist after as little as ten hours in the brine for a fourteen pound bird.  I rarely brine any poultry longer than 12 hours as I find there isn't a noticable diffrence in the moistness as long as I pull it out at the proper temperature.

Dry Brining Turkey


Crusty french bread

Question: The crust on my french bread never turns out "crusty" like it does in restaurants, what am I doing wrong?
Comment: See also [Techniques to get a nice golden-brown crust on bread](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1535/techniques-to-get-a-nice-golden-brown-crust-on-bread) and [How to achieve great baguette crusts](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/9934/how-to-achieve-great-baguette-crusts) (of which this may be a dupe).
Comment: @justkt: I would say it is almost an exact dupe of the latter: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/9934/how-to-achieve-great-baguette-crusts
Answer: To promote a crust on a bread (ie. getting it 'crusty'), the bread must be baked in two phases.  First, steam must be introduced (and not vented) for about a third of the bake time.  Then, you must evacuate the steam and bake the remainder of time dry.  This is the trick to making crusty breads. Also critical in the promotion of crust is temperature.  You must bake crusty breads at a high temp., at least 400 degrees (which is what I bake my crusty-style breads at).
Also of note, crusty breads tend to be lean doughs, that is one without a high fat content.
Answer: The answer provided by mrwienerdog is true, but short on details.

Heat oven to at least 500 degrees F, ideally with a pizza stone inside.  Also inside should be a thick metal pan that can handle having water poured into it.  Carefully position shaped, proofed bread on a pizza peel or unrimmed baking pan that is generously dusted with corn meal.
Heat 1 c. water to near boiling.
When your oven is heated, open oven and slide bread onto stone (or place the baking pan on the rack if you don't have a stone).  Add 1 c. water to the metal pan that you heated in the oven.
Open the oven after 30 seconds.  Mist the sides of your oven (being careful to avoid the glass pane, which may shatter if in contact with cold water when hot).  Do this twice more.  Then lower your baking temperature to the prescribed temperature.

This amount of water should be the correct amount to promote the critical early steam without steaming your bread for the entire baking time.
Comment: I've found that the misting isn't really necessary if you're using the pan-with-water technique.  Just to warn you though... I used a cookie sheet for this and over time it had a tendency to rust, so maybe use a pan you don't care if this is its only purpose.
Answer: As mentioned below, you need to maintain a high temperature and steam the loaf for part of the baking time.
An easy way to get both of these things in a home oven is to use a covered cast-iron or ceramic pot and pre-heat it with the oven. The mass of the cast-iron maintains a consistent temperature, and the cover allows the loaf to steam in its own water.
There is more detail on this method here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html?_r=1
Answer: When we made this bread at school, they told us to throw a few icecubes into the bottom of the oven every 5-10 minutes while baking. These are gas ovens, not sure if it makes a difference between electric or gas. But the bread I made with this method turned out fantastic!
Answer: I have a 30" oven and what works for me was to place a small cast iron pan with lava rocks on the lower rack and the stone on the middle rack. Preheat oven to 500F and have 1/4 to 1/3 cup of boiling water ready. Put your loaves on the stone , pour the water over the lava rocks, close the door, turn down to 425F. Bake about 35 to 45 min  keeping watch for the degree of color you want.Too much water will result in the loaf having a caramelization of the crust, which looks dark brown and shines. Try venting oven 1/2 way thru cooking and again at 3/4 time if you have a oven with a good seal.

Crusty french bread


Where do stores get their photographs/prints?

Question: Walk around any home store such as IKEA and you will find a wide range of photos for sale, from landscapes to still life. Where do these stores get these photos? Is it straightforward stock buying, or is it more specialised?
Answer: For large multiple retailers, there is ultimately one of two things that go on -- Either a photographer has licensed the work as a stock image, or the manufacturer has commissioned the work. Given the nature of the photos, I'd be surprised if they commissioned them, themselves. They've then printed up thousands of copies for the retailer to distribute and sell.
Smaller retailers sometimes act like galleries and will accept finished works from photographers and sell them on a commission basis. The one I'm involved with has even gone the other way, and approached photographers on sites like Flickr to see if they'd like to try and sell images for them.
Answer: Stock agencies, house photographers, contracting directly with professionals, competitions among staff and/or customers.
All kinds of ways to get photos to sell or display, any or all could be used.


What should go into an .h file?

Question: When dividing your code up into multiple files, what exactly should go into an .h file and what should go into a .cpp file?
Comment: This is a pure style issue, but I believe that C++ declarations go in a `.hpp` file while C declarations go into a `.h` file.  This is very helpful when mixing C and C++ code (for example legacy modules in C).
Comment: Related question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/333889/in-c-why-have-header-files-and-cpp-files
Comment: @ThomasMatthews Makes sense. Is that practice oft used?
Comment: @lightningleaf:  Yes, the practice is oft used especially when mixing C++ and C languages.
Answer: Header files (.h) are designed to provide the information that will be needed in multiple files. Things like class declarations, function prototypes, and enumerations typically go in header files. In a word, "definitions".
Code files (.cpp) are designed to provide the implementation information that only needs to be known in one file. In general, function bodies, and internal variables that should/will never be accessed by other modules, are what belong in .cpp files. In a word, "implementations".
The simplest question to ask yourself to determine what belongs where is "if I change this, will I have to change code in other files to make things compile again?" If the answer is "yes" it probably belongs in the header file; if the answer is "no" it probably belongs in the code file.
Comment: All good, but with inaccurate terminology.  In a word, "declarations" - the term "definition" is synonymous with "implementation".  Only declarative code, inline code, macro definitions, and template code should be in a header; i.e. nothing that instantiates code or data.
Comment: I have to agree with Clifford. You use the terms declaration and definition rather loosly and somewhat interchangably. But they have precise meanings in C++. Examples: A class declaration introduces a name of a class but doesn't say what's in it. A class definition lists all members and friend functions. Both can be put into header files without problems. What you call "function prototype" is a function *declaration*. But a function *definition* is that thing that contains the function's code and should be placed into a cpp-file -- unless it's inline or (part of) a template.
Comment: They have precise meanings in C++, they do not have precise meanings in English. My answer was written in the latter.
Comment: Except private class data has to go into the header. Templates must be completely header defined (unless you use one of the few compilers that supports `export`). The only way around #1 is PIMPL. #2 would be possible if `export` was supported and may be possible using c++0x and `extern` templates. IMO, header files in c++ lose much of their usefulness.
Answer: Fact is, in C++, this is somewhat more complicated that the C header/source organization.
What does the compiler see?
The compiler sees one big source (.cpp) file with its headers properly included. The source file is the compilation unit that will be compiled into an object file.
So, why are headers necessary?
Because one compilation unit could need information about an implementation in another compilation unit. So one can write for example the implementation of a function in one source, and write the declaration of this function in another source needing to use it.
In this case, there are two copies of the same information. Which is evil...
The solution is to share some details. While the implementation should remain in the Source, the declaration of shared symbols, like functions, or definition of structures, classes, enums, etc., could need to be shared.
Headers are used to put those shared details.
Move to the header the declarations of what need to be shared between multiple sources
Nothing more?
In C++, there are some other things that could be put in the header because, they need, too, be shared:

inline code
templates
constants (usually those you want to use inside switches...)

Move to the header EVERYTHING what need to be shared, including shared implementations
Does it then mean that there could be sources inside the headers?
Yes. In fact, there are a lot of different things that could be inside a "header" (i.e. shared between sources).

Forward declarations
declarations/definition of functions/structs/classes/templates
implementation of inline and templated code

It becomes complicated, and in some cases (circular dependencies between symbols), impossible to keep it in one header.
Headers can be broken down into three parts
This means that, in an extreme case, you could have:

a forward declaration header
a declaration/definition header
an implementation header
an implementation source

Let's imagine we have a templated MyObject. We could have:
// - - - - MyObject_forward.hpp - - - -
// This header is included by the code which need to know MyObject
// does exist, but nothing more.
template<typename T>
class MyObject ;

.
// - - - - MyObject_declaration.hpp - - - -
// This header is included by the code which need to know how
// MyObject is defined, but nothing more.
#include <MyObject_forward.hpp>

template<typename T>
class MyObject
{
   public :
      MyObject() ;
   // Etc.
} ;

void doSomething() ;

.
// - - - - MyObject_implementation.hpp - - - -
// This header is included by the code which need to see
// the implementation of the methods/functions of MyObject,
// but nothing more.
#include <MyObject_declaration.hpp>

template<typename T>
MyObject<T>::MyObject()
{
   doSomething() ;
}

// etc.

.
// - - - - MyObject_source.cpp - - - -
// This source will have implementation that does not need to
// be shared, which, for templated code, usually means nothing...
#include <MyObject_implementation.hpp>

void doSomething()
{
   // etc.
} ;

// etc.

Wow!
In the "real life", it is usually less complicated. Most code will have only a simple header/source organisation, with some inlined code in the source.
But in other cases (templated objects knowing each others), I had to have for each object separate declaration and implementation headers, with an empty source including those headers just to help me see some compilation errors.
Another reason to break down headers into separate headers could be to speed up the compilation, limiting the quantity of symbols parsed to the strict necessary, and avoiding unecessary recompilation of a source who cares only for the forward declaration when an inline method implementation changed.
Conclusion
You should make your code organization both as simple as possible, and as modular as possible. Put as much as possible in the source file. Only expose in headers what needs to be shared.
But the day you'll have circular dependancies between templated objects, don't be surprised if your code organization becomes somewhat more "interesting" that the plain header/source organization...
^_^
Answer: in addition to all other answers, i will tell you what you DON'T place in a header file:
using declaration (the most common being using namespace std;) should not appear in a header file because they pollute the namespace of the source file in which it is included.
Comment: +1 with a caveat that you can do using as long as it is in some detail namespace (or an anonymous namespace). But yes, never use `using` to bring stuff into global namespace in a header.
Comment: +1 This one is much easier to answer. :) Also, header files should *not* contain *anonymous* namespaces.
Comment: It's fine for header files to contain anonymous namespaces, so long as you understand what that means, i.e. that each translation unit will have a different copy of the stuff you define namespace. Inline functions in anonymous namespaces are recommended in C++ for cases where you'd use `static inline` in C99, because of something to do with what happens when you combine internal linkage with templates. Anon namespaces let you "hide" functions, while preserving external linkage.
Comment: Steve, what you wrote didn't convince me. Please pick a concrete example where you think an anon namespace makes total sense in a header file.
Answer: What compiles into nothing (zero binary footprint) goes into header file.
Variables do not compile into nothing, but type declarations do (coz they only describe how variables behave).
functions do not, but inline functions do (or macros), because they produce code only where called.
templates are not code, they are only a recipe for creating code. so they also go in h files.
Comment: "inline functions ... produce code only where called". That's not true. inline functions may or may not be inlined at call sites, but even if they are inlined, the real function body still exists just as it does for a non-inline function. The reason it's OK to have inline functions in headers is nothing to do with whether they generate code, it's because inline functions don't trigger the one definition rule, so unlike non-inline functions there are no problems with linking together two different translation units which have both included the header.
Answer: In general, you put declarations in the header file and definitions in the implementation (.cpp) file. The exception to this is templates, where the definition must also go in the header.
This question and ones similar to it has been asked frequently on SO - see Why have header files and .cpp files in C++? and C++ Header Files, Code Separation for example.
Comment: of course, you can also put class *definitions* into header files. They don't even have to be templates.
Answer: Header (.h)

Macros and includes needed for the interfaces (as few as possible)
The declaration of the functions and classes
Documentation of the interface
Declaration of inline functions/methods, if any
extern to global variables (if any)

Body (.cpp)

Rest of macros and includes
Include the header of the module
Definition of functions and methods
Global variables (if any)

As a rule of thumb, you put the "shared" part of the module on the .h (the part that other modules needs to be able to see) and the "not shared" part on the .cpp
PD: Yes, I've included global variables. I've used them some times and it's important not to define them on the headers, or you'll get a lot of modules, each defining its own variable.
Comment: As a rule of thumb, as few includes as possible should be in the .h file, and the .cpp file should include whatever headers it needs.  That shortens compile times and doesn't pollute namespaces.
Answer: Mainly header file contain class skeleton or declaration (does not change frequently)
and cpp file contains class implementation (changes frequently).
Comment: Please refrain from using non-standard terminology. What's "class skeleton", what's "class implementation"? Also, what you call declaration in context of classes probably includes class definitions.
Answer: Your class and function declarations plus the documentation, and the definitions for inline functions/methods (although some prefer to put them in separate .inl files).
Answer: the header file (.h) should be for declarations of classes, structs and its methods,  prototypes, etc. The implementation of those objects are made in cpp.
in .h
    class Foo {
    int j;

    Foo();
    Foo(int)
    void DoSomething();
}

Answer: I'd expect to see:

declarations
comments
definitions marked inline
templates

the really answer though is what not to put in:

definitons (can lead to things being multiply defined)
using declarations/directives (forces them on anyone including your header, can cause nameclashes)
Comment: You can certainly put *class definitions* into header files as well. A *class declaration* doesn't say anything about its members.
Answer: The header Defines something but doesn't tell anything about the implementation. ( Excluding Templates in this "metafore".
With that said, you need to divide "definitions" into sub-groups, there are, in this case, two types of definitions.

You define the "layout" of your strucutre, telling only as much as is needed by the surrounding usage groups.
The definitions of a variable, function and a class.

Now, I am of course talking about the first subgroup.
The header is there to define the layout of your structure in order to help the rest of the software use the implementation. You might want to see it as an "abstraction" of your implementation, which is vaughly said but, I think it suits quite well in this case.
As previous posters have said and shown you declare private and public usage areas and their headers, this also includes private and public variables. Now, I don't want to go into design of the code here but, you might want to consider what you put in your headers, since that is the Layer between the end user and the implementation.
Answer:
Header files - shouldn't change during development too often -> you should think, and write them at once (in ideal case)
Source files - changes during implementation
Comment: This is one practice. For some smaller projects, it might be the way to go. But you might try deprecating functions and their prototypes (in header files), rather than changing their signature or removing them. At least until changing the major number. Like when 1.9.2 is bumped to 2.0.0 beta.

What should go into an .h file?


Fish eaten with milk?

Question: Is there any halachik problem with eating fish and milk together? (A classic example is a bagel with lox and cream cheese)
Comment: Why do you think there might be?
Comment: You mean there's an issue with lox and cream cheese? ;)
Comment: See the Pischei Tshuvah 87:9 which brings a few shitos on this inyun and the Adnei Paz on fish and butter.
Comment: Rabbeinu Bachya in the 13th century seems to think it's a health concern (Shemot 23:19)
Answer: Famous question.  Rabbi Yosef Karo in his commentary Bait Yosef (which would serve as a first draft of sorts of the Shulchan Aruch) writes not to eat fish with milk (Yoreh De'ah 87:3).  His Ashkenazic counterpart Rabbi Moshe Isserles famously commented, "rabbi Karo mixed his milk with meat!" (נראה שנתערב לרב בית יוסף בשר בחלב; Darkhei Moshe, ibid), as the Talmudic quote regards fish with MEAT as being a health risk.
The fish-and-milk business was omitted from Rabbi Karo's later work, the Shulchan Aruch.  So it's a question of how seriously we take the original comment in the Bait Yosef.
Non-Hassidic Ashkenazim simply follow Rabbi Isserles, that the whole statement was a mistake, and therefore there's no problem.
Among Sephardic Jews (who follow Rabbi Karo), and Hassidic Jews (who occasionally follow Rabbi Karo's stricter points), it varies from community to community.  The mainstream Israeli "Eida Charedis" hechsher, which includes many Hassidic groups, will allow fish cooked in butter, but the Belz Hassidic hechsher won't.  The Bukharian Sephardic practice may not be the Iraqi one, so you'd have to consult with your local hacham.  Some rabbis also draw other differentiations, such as it's okay if they weren't cooked together (so yes bagel and lox, no tuna-noodle-casserole).
Here's more on the topic from Rabbi Brody in the Jerusalem Post.
Comment: Isn't there a Zohar that says not to eat fish with milk?
Comment: Excellent answer! Thanks for the information about the Belz hechsher.
Answer: The Lubavitcher Rebbe writes in Reshimos: "The prohibition of eating Milk and Fish [mentioned] in the Bais Yosef is considered to be a mis-write. Nonetheless, we are careful [not to], therefore we add something (butter). This is an instruction from the Tzemach Tzedek".
The editors of Shaarei Halacha Uminhag write that it seems that adding butter to milk makes the danger go away.
Answer: To continue Shalom's answer, I would like to bring down the opinion of the Taz that says the Bet Yosef made a misprint and meant to write fish with meat. So wrote the Hida. However, Maran HaRab Obadia Yosef in Yechawe Daat writes "Yesh Lehimana" meaning that is prohibited according to Sephardim. Rab Obadia Yosef brings a Kula from the Kaf HaHaim that butter with fish one can be lenient. For Ashkenazim it is Mutar.
Comment: `"Yesh Lehimana" meaning that is prohibited according to Sephardim.` Actually that's not what it means.
Comment: Where exactly in the yechave daat?
Answer: There is a mishnah that explicitly permits fish and milk:

Hullin [8:1]:
כל הבשר אסור לבשל בחלב, חוץ מבשר דגים וחגבים
My translation: "One is not permitted to cook [and eat] any meat in
  milk, except for the meat of fish and [permitted types of] locust"

So no, there is no halachic problem with eating fish and milk together, or else the Mishnah, our edition of Torah SheBe'al Peh, would not have permitted it.
Some forbid it for medical reasons, as per the Bet Yosef:

בית יוסף יורה דעה סימן פז
ומכל מקום אין לאכול דגים בחלב מפני הסכנה כמו שנתבאר בספר אורח חיים
  סימן קע"ג
My translation: "Nevertheless, one should not eat fish in milk because
  of its danger, as will be clear in volume Orach Chaim, Chapter 173
  (where he does not mention fish and milk at all).

As mentioned in the answers above, most dismiss this as a misprint.
Comment: The Mishna states that it is permissible to _cook_ fish and milk together. The OP asked if they may be _eaten_ together!
Answer: to all of the above learned commentors; you are all correct but not entirely. Not all ashkenazim are lenient and not all sefardim are stringent.
yes, it is based on a beis yosef and whether or not he mixed up the words meat and milk, but their were even rishonim who were machmir, including rabbeinu bachaye!
some feel its an actual medical issue and not the same as tzaraas mentioned by mixing meat and fish.
Moroccans are known to be lenient entirely, other sefardim bdieved; the ben ish hai was extremely stringent.
and although most ashkenazim are lenient some are mkpid due to the levish, pri megadim and g.maharsha being makpid for it.
you can read about this an a thorough 2 part article here
Comment: Welcome to the Mi Yodeya (if the welcome's a bit late), and thanks for your answers. Specific sources (chapter and verse, so to speak) would be great if possible.
Comment: i think this above answer is based on rabbi spitz's halacha column. i can tell you from past experience, if the original sources aren't listed in the article, just email the good rabbi and he will send you them - he most definitely has them! - email@example.com

Fish eaten with milk?


Are there any statistics that support the need for Title Insurance?

Question: Number of claims per year / per region etc. Can't seem to find any. Publicly available through the web would be nice too :)
Comment: You are referring to real-estate title insurance correct?
Answer: The point of title insurance is that when you buy a house, it is possible that you may eventually find out that the seller didn't actually own the property - either because they were trying to deceive you, or some transfer of ownership in the past wasn't carried out properly. If that happens you can find yourself with no house, and still owing the mortgager the purchase price. Hardly anybody can afford to take that kind of hit, which is why you need some form of protection against it.
The traditional way of doing this was to get a lawyer to do a title search, in which they check that everything in order. However this costs tens of dollars at least to do the work for every sale, and hardly ever finds anything.
Title Insurance is a company volunteering to take the hit for you if there turns out to be a problem, in return for a payment of less than the title search would cost. In essence they are saying that it's cheaper to take the risk than do the work.
What are the statistics? This report seems to indicate that payout is around 5% of premium, but title insurance is a one-off premium and the payout can theoretically happen many years down the line. However it is almost certain that the insurance companies have done the math and believe that selling this insurance will be profitable for them, so they believe that payouts are going to be substantially less than 100%.
Is title insurance worth it for you? If the payout is 5% of premiums, the in a purely statistical sense it is not worth it. You would on average gain more by not taking it. However that is true of almost all insurance. The policy is there to protect you in the unlikely but not impossible event where you would otherwise lose a huge amount of money. Unless you can afford to lose the value of your house, you need some form of protection. We've already seen that the only other form of protection is a title search, and they cost more.
The other issue is that if you are taking a mortgage, your mortgager will absolutely insist that you have either a title search or title insurance. There is no other way - and title insurance is the cheaper of the two. In this case it is best to look on the title insurance as simply a cost of doing business. It's irrelevant whether it's worth it or not - you can't do the transaction without it.
Comment: I've seen quotes for title insurance on the low end in the $200-$300 range, and over $1000 in the high end.  That's why I was surprised at "tens of dollars" :-)
Comment: *"tens of dollars at least"* ... vs ... *"the only other form of protection is a title search, and they cost more."* ...?
Comment: What I was pointing out is that you're saying a title search might only cost tens of dollars.  I would expect it to be hundreds, at least.  Then by comparison, you're implying that title insurance is even less than "tens of dollars".  I'm just questioning "tens of dollars".  Where'd you get that?
Comment: My own title search was in the $50-$100 range, though that was a few years ago. My title insurance (different purchase) was under $50. This was admittedly in Canada. Different jurisdictions may have different requirements for title search.
Comment: Lol, when I read this answer I thought "tens of dollars" was a typo and should have been "tens of thousands" of dollars. We are talking about lawyers, after all
Comment: It seems on closer inspection that the situation is very different in the US from Canada. A lower standard of record-keeping is reflected in much higher insurance costs.
Comment: Yes, exactly. Title insurance typically costs fewer tens of dollars than the search (at least on the size of houses I can afford).
Comment: Canadian government entities make the final determination of title. In the US, tracking ownership is recorded and not registered. Think of it as a going through the changelog or version control records of an application, but with more mistakes.
Comment: Just FYI - Iowa is one of the few states left that still does abstracting on houses (The title search you are talking about).   If you have the abstart from when you purchased the home and you havent made any land aquisitions and amendments that need to be added its about $200-350 usually(depending on the property).  Forclosed properties with no abstract can cost thousands to clear just in the search fees(the bills that are found have to be paid).  If the property has changed hands multiple times or been redeveloped it get tougher.
Answer: I'm really surprised at the answers here. Claims/year per region isn't a statistic that is meaningful here... you need to think about the risk factors and the purpose of the insurance.
First, what does title insurance do? It protects you against defects in the deed -- defects that may crop up and mean that your mortgage is no longer valid. This is different from most forms of insurance -- the events that render your title invalid are events that may have happened years, decades or even centuries ago. A big part of the insurance policy and its cost is conducting research to assess the validity of a deed. The whole point of the insurance is to reduce claims by improving data associated with the "chain of custody" of the property.
So how do you evaluate the risk of finding out about something that happened a long time ago, that nobody appears to know about? IMO, you have to think about risk factors that increase the probability that things were screwed up in the past:

Is the property a standard city lot in a neighborhood that's been around for 100 years? (Low risk)
How long has the property been a contiguous unit? (Longer == lower risk)
Has the property been subdivided or added to? (High risk)
Are there easements on the property that are close to new additions, outbuildings, etc? (High risk)
Are there unusual rights associated with the deed? Things like lake rights, a easement/right-of-way for a neighbor's driveway, mineral rights, etc. (Medium-high risk)
How does your jurisdiction handle title disputes? (Boston, MA and other places are different that most parts of the country)

You need to have an informed discussion with your attorney and figure out if it makes sense for you. Don't dismiss it out of hand.
Comment: I guess the more meaningful statistic would be how many policies have been sold and how many claims have been made against those policies.
Comment: @Duffbeer: ... And/or do some research in the town's records office, where you can look up some or all of these.
Answer: There seems to be no such information available. What is available is that number of claims are high and the Title Insurance companies have gone bankrupt as per the wikipedia article

In 2003, according to ALTA, the industry paid out about $662 million in claims, about 4.3% percent of the $15.7 billion taken in as premiums. By comparison, the boiler insurance industry, which like title insurance requires an emphasis on inspections and risk analysis, pays 25% of its premiums in claims. However, no reference to the relationship between when claims are made and when policies are issued is found. As of 2008, the top three remaining title insurers all lost money, while LandAmerica went bankrupt and sold its title business to Fidelity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_insurance#Industry_profitability

The amount of premium received and claim made can be got from some of the companies balance sheet. For Fidelity its at http://www.investor.fnf.com/releasedetail.cfm?CompID=FNT&ReleaseID=363350
The article in here mentions the claims ratio as 5%. Refer http://www.federaltitle.com/blog/title-insuance-qaa
Comment: The Wikipedia article is poor here. The references to back up the statements are raw data, which Wikipedia does not normally allow, and the lack of profitability could be attributed to a wide variety of things (especially in the light of the statistics already quoted).
Comment: @DJClayworth: Agree. There surprisingly isn't much data available even in todays info world. In absence of it only can only try and guestimate some numbers :)
Comment: What am I missing: title insurers = 4.3%, boiler insurance = 25%. Surely that's a *good* thing for the title insurers?
Comment: Also the question is not about profitability of companies.
Comment: @Dheer exactly! No independent data. If 5% is in claims, shouldn't someone know someone who's had to use it? Shouldn't there be something in the news about a particularly large settlement/payout case? Haven't had luck finding any cases or meeting someone who had to need or use this coverage.
Comment: @robDean the problem with this is the claims get filed when you go to sell your house and the mortage company or their title insurance place finds an issue.  If they already insure it they may pretend they didnt find the issue and not pay it.  If the next company doesnt find it then they are off the hook.  That debt never goes away and it will eventually end up in some debt clearing house for pennies on the dollar or less.  That clearing house gets notified of the sale and pounces.  Then the title insurer is on the hook.
Comment: I don't understand... title companies are keeping 95%+ of the money they take in as premiums but are still going bankrupt?  Also, that seems like a *huge* profit margin even for the insurance industry.
Answer: When I bought the house I had my lawyer educate me about everything on the forms that seemed at all unclear, since this was my first time thru the process. On of the pieces of advice that he gave was that title insurance had almost no value in this state unless you had reason to believe the title might be defective but wanted to buy the property anyway.
In fact I did get it anyway, as an impulse purchase -- but I'm fully aware that it was a bad bet. Especially since I had the savings to be able to self-insure, which is always the better answer if you can afford to risk the worst case scenario.
Also: Ask the seller whether they bought title insurance. Often, it is transferrable at least once.
Comment: I have to disagree with you: It is not *always* better to skip the insurance if you can afford the risk.  How many houses will you buy during your lifetime?  If one of those has a title problem and you lose the house, you'll never make up for it over all the other houses you'll buy, simply because the volume isn't there.  Title insurance might be one of those things where the thing you are insuring is so big and you need it so few times that it often makes sense to transfer that risk.  The insurance company covers enough houses to come out ahead on average; you don't.
Comment: . Your objection is built into "if you can afford the risk." I could,  if necessary,  and by definition the expectation value of insurance is less than its cost. The mere fact that this policy is cheap is prima fasciae evidence that the real. risk is low.


Did Benjamin Franklin know calculus?

Question: My sense is that Franklin was a scientist more like Faraday than Maxwell. Given also that Calculus was fairly new when Franklin was in school (and as far as I know, Benjamin Franklin did not get very far in school anyway) how likely was it that he could use Calculus or even really knew what it was?
Answer: Apparently, no. Boman's biography Benjamin Franklin's Numbers specifically focuses on Franklin's mathematical activities, and calculus is not among them. He was deep into magic squares, and anticipated some basic ideas of statistics and population dynamics. In a 1772 letter to Joseph Priestley he described what  he called Moral or Prudential Algebra for decision making, but that was more what is now called cost-benefit analysis.
In Keith Devlin's description, the closest he came to calculus topics is predicting exponential growth of populations before Malthus in a two-page essay with no formulas:

"Franklin had a lifelong interest in magic squares... Now, to the outsider these look like just doodling with numbers but, in fact, to construct one of those things, you have to get deep into the mathematics and into the patterns. And Franklin did, in his lifetime, spent a lot of time constructing these things and you can only do that if you have a certain deep feeling for numbers.
The other example is what we find in his political and business writings. He is very early, much early than many other people in realizing that you could use what we would now call basic statistics in order to make political and business decisions.
... he wrote an article... in 1751 called Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind and the Peopling of Countries. And that was really one of the first ever works in what we now call demographics, using mathematical techniques to look at how populations grow and how people move and how societies develop. In fact, Franklin was the first person who speculated that populations probably increase exponentially. Now, we always associated that with Thomas Malthus, who was the one that demonstrated that. But, in fact, Malthus had already read Franklin's work and cited it when he did his work."

Although Franklin did not do calculus he knew of it at least since 1725 at the age of 19. According to Bunker's Young Benjamin Franklin, when in London he met Pemberton, well versed in calculus and Newtonian physics, who was then preparing a new edition of Principia. Pemberton himself wrote an essay attempting to use Newtonian mechanics to explain the functioning of muscles, which Franklin read and which stimulated his interest in experimental science. A personal meeting with Newton, promised by Pemberton, never came to pass, but Franklin's interests shifted away from metaphysics, and four decades later he ordered a portrait of himself with Newton in the background.
In 1754 Franklin became one of the trustees of the Logan library established by the sons of late James Logan "a classicist who in the margins of his books crossed swords with greatest
European editors, and a scientist who described the fertilization of corn by pollen, understood and used the new inventions of calculus, wrote on optics, and made astronomical observations, the Quaker virtuoso brought books to feed the wide-ranging
appetite of his mind", see At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin. But they add:

"Although
Franklin in his promotional tract for the establishment of a college in Philadelphia had
described Logan's library as a valuable book resource available to professors and
students, use was seldom made of the scholarly works in the collection. In the eighteenth
century there was furthermore little interest in the classics and advanced mathematical
sciences on the part of merchants and artisans in Philadelphia."
Comment: @releseabe He certainly knew that. When in London at 19 (1725) he met Pemberton, a master of calculus and an editor of *Principia*, and asked to meet Newton in person (unsuccessfully). Later he ordered a portrait of himself with Newton in the background. But his interest was in experimental science, not theory. [Bunker's Young Benjamin Franklin](https://books.google.com/books?id=KranDwAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s) has many interesting biographical details.
Comment: @releseabe See edit. Bunker agrees with you on the meeting. Getting to know Lyons and Pemberton was more important in turning him from metaphysics to science. But Franklin took to that side of it that had to do with figuring out phenomena and staging experiments rather than writing formulas. Newton and Pemberton did both.
Comment: Interesting. I would guess that a decent number of math faculty (although I am not sure in 18th century the idea of professor of math existed or corresponded to modern professor) might not have known much calculus in the mid 1700s, even in England or Germany. I note that Harvard only got a microscope for its school of medicine in 1860 or so, if that is related. Still: even if BF could not take a derivative I would bet he knew that Newton had developed calculus.
Comment: Sad that he did not meet Newton. But: Harrison met Newton and Harrison met Geo III who probably met Victoria (as an infant) and during the 20th century many people were around who met Victoria. Newton in 1725 had many health problems and in 1725 who the heck knew who BF was?? Kind of presumptuous of BF. But I think Newton would have not clearly understood the difference between theory and experiment -- pure math was a 19th century idea with some exceptions -- I guess number theory was always "pure."

Did Benjamin Franklin know calculus?


If God is omnipresent, is he also in hell?

Question: Using the 'separation from God' concept of hell - how can God be in all places yet still place a soul into a chasm of separation.
Comment: Maybe hell is not so much a *place* as a *state*.
Comment: @SoftwareMonkey I think we covered that [here](http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1017/what-exactly-is-hell/1023#1023)
Answer: Yes, God is also in hell. The separation is not from his presence as if there was a place where his power was in effect, it's a severing of the relationship with him. The thing that will be experienced in hell is the wrath of God against sin rather than the grace of God towards his Son.
I have heard this quip from several preachers so I don't know who originated it, but there is a poignant quote about heaven and hell:

Heaven is heaven because God is there. Hell is hell because God is there.

We see over and over again that Heaven is defined by the presence of God, his holy purifying presence. Unfortunately hell will also see some aspects of his presence as he stands in utter severity against those who would defy his holiness. Those there will be separated from his grace and any relationship with him other than being objects of wrath.
Comment: For Orthodox Christians everyone experiences unfiltered love of God for eternity. Just some will not find this pleasant, his love will be like 'heaping burning coals on their heads.' But wrath is just our perception. He is actually very loving.
Comment: Actually, His wrath is not just perception. It's called  His wrath because that is what He calls it.
Answer: In searching for scripture to answer this question, I found the following commentary and supporting scripture that would indicate that, yes, God is also in hell. This information was found at; www.ovrlnd.com/Teaching/omnipresence_hell.html (and the Bible).
The difficulty of grasping the Lord's presence in hell can be understood by realizing how God is described by Scripture to be present throughout His creation. By witness of the Scripture, God is said to be present to bless, to sustain, or to punish.
King David speaks of God's presence to bless: "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" Psalm 16:11.
Yet all things are sustained by the Lord's presence so that they both exist and function as the Lord allows. "And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" Colossians 1:17.
In this sense the Lord our God is everywhere present and to this the author of Hebrews agrees, writing of Christ that He is "upholding all things by the word of His power" Hebrews 1:3.
The third way the Lord is present is described by this unsettling passage delivered through the prophet Amos:
Amos 9:1-4 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and He said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
Similarly Isaiah 59:2 reports that "your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear," as well as Proverbs 15:29 which declares: "The LORD is far from the wicked: but He heareth the prayer of the righteous." Within the context of God's omnipresence, this doesn't say that God is not present whatsoever, but that He is not making His presence known by delivering blessings upon His people.
Therefore to summarize: God is present in every part of his creation—hell included."
Answer: It depends on which definition of "omnipresent" you are using!!
From a Christian perspective (or at least, a Biblical perspective) the answer is no. God is not present in Hell; that is what makes it Hell!

These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power -2 Thessalonians 1:9

The problem is that the term "omnipresent" is not a Biblical term; it is a term used by numerous religions to describe their Supreme Being in a philosophically acceptable way. It has almost come to be accepted as a philosophical given (in modern times) that if there is a God, He must be omnipresent in the absolute sense.
However, Christians do not build their beliefs on the philosophical conclusions of non-Christians; we build our beliefs on Scripture. Therefore, if a Christian uses the term "omnipresent" to describe God, it is a given that it should be defined according to Scripture. So how would God's "omnipresence" be defined according to Scripture? Basically, God is omnipresent in the sense that He is present everywhere in heaven and in the physical universe, but not in Hell. There is nothing in Scripture to indicate He is present in Hell.
Responses
Someone might argue that Hell is a spiritual "separation" from God in which God is still present, but the damned don't receive His love (or something along those lines.) This is a clever solution, but it is not consistent with Scripture. The verse cited above indicates God is not present in Hell.
Someone might cite Psalm 139:7–10 as proof that God actually is present everywhere -- even in Hell. However, this verse uses the Old Testament term, Sheol, which is more accurately translated as something like "grave" or "death"; even the righteous were said to go there when they die. David's emotive song simply indicates that even if he (a righteous man in God's sight) were to die, God would be with him. Sheol is not the same as "Hell" (in the modern meaning of the term.) Hell is primarily used today to refer to the lake of fire; the place of final, eternal destruction and judgment.


How to set Blocks settings in a Drupal Installation Profile?

Question: Is there a way to have my blocks pre-assigned a region and also enabled / disabled in a profile installation? I don't want to go to the structure / block page and assign these blocks individually each time, but would rather have them setup on site installation.
Answer: You can use hook_block_info inside your custom module to add all of your blocks programmatically. Look at this SE Post for an example to use the hook_block_info to assign it to the right region and also enable/disable it by declaring status=>true/false.


How can I see my progress for different badges?

Question: I am trying to obtain more badges on Stack Overflow. For example, to gain Archaeologist I need to edit 100 inactive posts but I am not keeping track of the number of posts I've edited. For Deputy I need to raise 80 helpful flags, etc. How can I view all my statistics about the badges, such as how many more edits I need to do, etc. I'm not doing it for badges, but I can spend a bit more effort if I'm close to getting a badge.
Comment: [This answer](http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/34440/152859) by Jeff also fit here. I personally agree to "Some of the badges are supposed to be surprises, not World of Warcraft style level grinds based on numbers" so too much statistics will just ruin the fun.
Comment: I would have to agree, I like the fact that a badge can appear though your personal random wanderings through pages.  It means they truly reflect your style of use and personality (well to a degree...I am probably more boring than my badges make out for example :)
Answer: The majority of the badges which exist do not have any method of "tracking" your progress built into the site. Simple badges such as Nice Answer/Question which require a number of upvotes can be tracked by simply viewing your list of questions and answers.

Custodian, Reviewer, and Steward can be tracked in the review panel via the progress bar at the top of each review task. You can also hover over the progress bar in order to open a detailed tracking box of that badge and several other badges:

Strunk & White and Copy Editor can also be tracked in the review panel (see Reviewer).

Electorate can be tracked in the review panel (see Reviewer) or you can track it manually by calculating your statistics in the profile page (see Civic Duty).

Civic Duty can be tracked in the review panel or on your profile page in the bottom right summary of votes.

Research Assistant can be tracked by visiting any tag wiki. Your progress will appear at the right.

Deputy and Marshal can be tracked on your profile page by viewing your helpful flags count at the end of your stats at the top. This item only appears if you've had at least one flag deemed helpful.

Enthusiast and Fanatic can be tracked on your profile page next to the "visited" stats near the top. There will be a "n consecutive days" piece there.

Epic, Legendary, Generalist, and some others can all be tracked on a single page using the Stinking Badges! Stack App.
Comment: Unsung Hero: [How Unsung Am I?](http://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/7521/how-unsung-am-i), Tag-Specific: [How many upvotes do I towards tag-specialist badges?](http://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/2357/how-many-upvotes-do-i-have-towards-tag-specialist-badges), Generalist: [Generalist Progression](http://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/141307/generalist-progression-updated). These could all be combined and turned in to a super-query. I elect someone with SQL skills (read: *not it!*)
Comment: @jmac The problem I have with the Data Explorer queries is they're only accurate for the last update. Especially for something like Unsung Hero, which is a time-sensitive badge. Only answers older than 10 days count (which I don't think is even checked in that particular query), so it could really throw users off.
Comment: Ah, I knew about the delay in updating (though it's only a week old at most usually), but I didn't realize the Unsung Hero was time-sensitive. Perhaps the queries should be updated too! There isn't really a good way of figuring it out yourself, save doing [a search for 0 score accepted answers](http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=user%3A1933347+is%3Aaccepted+score%3A0..0) and [a search for all accepted answers](http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=user%3A1933347+is%3Aaccepted) and taking the ratio.
Comment: **Yearling** can also be tracked on your profile page next to "member for".
Answer: With the more recent changes, badge progress can be seen by hovering over the progress bar in the statistics tab on one of the six pages for review (First Posts, Late Answers, Close Votes, Low Quality Posts, Reopen Votes, and Suggested Edits).
HowTo:

Open the review page1, and click on one of the six Recent Reviews links:

Click on the Stats tab, and hover the mouse cursor over the progress bar (just to the left of the Stats tab):

The badges include:

Reviewing (they are also shown in the right-hand panel on the page)

Custodian (bronze)
Reviewer (silver)
Steward (gold)

Voting (the bronze badges are not shown)

Civic Duty (silver)
Electorate (gold)

Editing (the silver badge Strunk & White does not appear to be ever shown)

Copy Editor (gold)

[1] The review link on the top of the page is not present below a reputation of 125, but it works as a URL (for example, http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/review). Reputation points may be so low that all links to the review queues are dimmed out, but the URLs to those also work (for example, http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/). In fact, a way to avoid all the mouse action above and go directly to the page with the progress bar is to add review/suggested-edits/stats to the site domain name (for example, http://tor.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/stats).
Answer: In the new user interface, you can go to the following path and track most of the badges from here.
User Profile ==> Activity (Tab) ==> Badges ==> Choose Settings icon at the bottom right
You can then see something like this:
Answer: With regard to edits (before you have the edit privilege), you can see the total number of suggested edits in your profile -

Go to the activity tab and select suggestions.  They are suggested edits because they need peer review before they are accepted.

How many helpful flags you have raised should be displayed in your profile -

If you want a bit more statistics regarding how close you are to other badges, you can add and authorize this Stack App - StinkingBadges
Comment: He did specifically mention the Archaeologist badge, so that number wouldn't be useful in that case. Also, the number isn't always accurate. There are things that could cause your edit number to increase but not the number that qualifies you for the badge.
Comment: helpful flag `xxx` looks you cross the integer limit :P
Comment: I wrote the badgesjust as examples. I wonder if there is a page that i can see all of my statistics. Thanks.
Comment: @luc - No idea why I was compelled to hide that number actually :P  It was public during the election in any case :P
Comment: Only 3 `X` ... C'mon! Andrew Barber has 4 closely 5 `X` !


How to add a custom field in Civicase that can be retrieved later?

Question: My question sounds simple, but... to explain. We are using Civicase to manage mentoring.  I want to add from 1 to 6 mentoring goals for each case - these would be text fields individual to each case.  When the mentoring is completed (months later) the goals are then 'picked' as ones which best matched to our funder's 4 targets. My problem is that I can't see a custom field to hold these goals that would do this or just lack the imagination on how to manipulate Civi to achieve this! I'm using 4.7 with Drupal, have about 5 years Civi experience but prefer not to code. Would a webform be the answer? Maybe I just create 6 text fields, each one with an associated drop down select with the funder's targets - but that seems a bit clumsy.  It seems that what I need to do is to allow the user to enter data into a select box, but that doesn't seem possible with custom fields.
Answer: One answer is to create a set of fields, set to use for 'cases', then add your six text fields to that set, then set up a webform that is set to Create or Edit a Case, and display those fields.
That said, I can't quite picture your use-case.
You say "Maybe I just create 6 text fields, each one with an associated drop down select with the funder's targets".
It may help if you can provide a specific example in your question.
Comment: I've created a custom field set for each mentoring goal, and if there are just 3/4 goals this seems to work, so I can have other fields added to those sets.  Thanks for the suggestion!


Movie about underground engineers

Question: I am looking for an art-type movie, that starts with very heavy meteorite bombardment of Earth. A colony of engineers end up living underground, in a highly mechanized society. Brain-damaged "bandits" try to eat them down there. Eventually a young lady helps a couple of engineers escape to the surface, years after the meteorite strikes have ended. They end up in a deserted railroad yard, where the trains standing there are in the colors of the old South African Railways (red and white carriages). Eventually the lady helps the escaped engineers deal with emotional trauma, after they rescue her from a perverted cannibalistic colony.
Comment: It was only two weeks ago, but I cannot find the TV schedule from that time, in order to find the name of the movie. It was a color movie, shown on South African TV. The actors appeared to be American, but at least some of the scenery was definitely in South Africa.
Comment: It would be helpful if you could add additional detail.  [This list](https://scifi.stackexchange.com/tags/story-identification/info) makes some suggestions.  In particular, you could probably answer when you saw it (last year, five years ago, twenty years ago) and whether it was color or black and white.
Answer: Is it Broken Darkness?
It's a South African film from 2017.  Humanity has been forced underground by a massive meteor shower.  Our heroes (two men and a young woman) come under attack from mutants, bandits and cannibals.  Eventually they make it back to the surface.
This trailer sounds like a mix of American and South African accents and shows the initial meteor bombardment.  There's a shot of railway lines above ground, although it doesn't show any trains.
Comment: Yes that's it!!! Thank you very much! Yes, I remember the girl's name was Rose, as the plot summary states.  And that trailer is the right one. Well done to you! I'm new here, so let me see how to give you a star or whatever. :-)
Answer: Is it possible you're thinking of The Last Train, a British six episode post-apocalyptic television drama, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1999?

A random group of individuals on a train to Sheffield are cryogenically frozen when a canister of gas is released in their carriage. They unfreeze to find the world in ruins. Decades have passed; they are some of the few humans to have survived an apocalyptic asteroid strike and are alone in the British countryside. It is revealed that one of the group, Harriet Ambrose (Nicola Walker), knew of the incoming asteroid strike and had been on her way to a top-secret government project known as Ark.
Harriet wishes to track down the Ark team to find her boyfriend, scientist Jonathan Geddes (Ralph Brown). The rest of the group agrees to join her, since it seems like their best chance to find other survivors and a safe haven. On the way they must deal with the dangers of the post-apocalyptic world, such as feral dog packs and tribes of seemingly hostile humans.

It doesn't match in that it's passengers, not engineers, and they're cryogenically preserved rather than living underground, but they are led by a young woman to the surface, and they are attacked by savage survivors. Also, it does not open with the meteorite strike, but with the patients boarding, followed by them getting frozen and then waking up.
First episode
Comment: No, not that one. But thanks for trying.

Movie about underground engineers


Javascript implementation of Blowfish ECB Encryption

Question: [Transferred from crypto.stackexchange.com]
I'm looking for a javascript library that supports ECB Blowfish encryption/decryption with a symmetric key. Do any exist?
I've seen some in a Google search but they their either don't support Blowfish or don't support ECB.
I know that ECB is insecure, I don't really care about that so please don't comment that, I'm mostly just trying to decode information that is already encrypted with it and/or communicate with an API that requires it.
Answer: I think Dojo framework supports Blowfish in ECB mode. Well check this code (Scroll down a little bit) : Blowfish-ECB mode


How to automatically disable EVF when LCD is pulled out on FujiFilm X-T20?

Question: My X-T20 switches to EVF when the LCD it tilted out. I know some cameras automatically disable the EVF when the LCD is pulled out, since the only reason to pull the LCD out is to use it. How can I set my camera to automatically disable EVF when the LCD is pulled out?
Answer: The Fujifilm X-T20 does not have that feature. There is no way to add because the camera has no idea that the LCD is pulled out. On those with that feature, there is usually a  sensor or mechanical switch that gets pushed in when the LCD is flush against the body which enables the camera to behave differently.
Answer: There should be a view mode button somewhere on the camera, on the x-t1/2 its on the side of the viewfinder.  Unsure if it has a mode for your specific need, but thats propably your best bet.
Comment: That just rotates among EVF, LCD, EVF/eye, EVF+LCD/eye. It doesn't automatically disable EVF or eye detection when the LCD is pulled out.


Will gelled fuel work in a cat can stove?

Question: Recently a friend suggested using gelled fuel in a cat can stove instead of liquid alcohol.  Since a cat can stove works by using pressurization to create the "jets" it seems flawed, but has anyone tried?
Comment: Good question - I haven't tried it but my gut feeling is the same as yours, it wouldn't work.
Answer: Gelled alcohol has problems even in its "native" setting of a Sterno can. Gelled alcohol burns at a lower temperature. A standard Sterno can take 20 minutes or longer to boil water and is typically more expensive than liquid alcohol fuel.
Some good information on different fuel sources for alcohol stoves.
Information on Sterno.
Answer: If it's an open top cat stove (or any open top container) you can use gel.
If it's a trangia style stove with tiny vents - no. Well, yes you can - the gel will still burn out of the trangia fill hole but it will clog up the vents.


Baofeng not finding CTCSS tone

Question: I have this Baofeng and I want listen to my school radios. The problem is that I want to find the CTCSS tone for the fun of it, but when I scan the tones on the Baofeng it cycles through but does not stop on one. I know that the school uses a little 35 Watt repeater but the input frequency does not yield any tone when I scan it. Do you think the school uses a non-standard CSCSS tone? Also, could they be using a DCS tone? Thanks!
Comment: Please rephrase your question so it is not asking for _guesses_ about what the repeater is doing. Questions should have answers that can be seen to be accurate just from reading the question and answer — not by visiting your school.
Comment: Well why don't you try scanning with DCS as well and see what happens? Also are you sure that they're using a continuous tone squelch? I spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out the tone of a local repeater that used a 1750 Hz tone burst to disable squelch.
Comment: Are you sure you are using correct frequency for the scan? "School radios", unless there is an official amateur radio station, can not use amateur radio frequencies.
Answer: They may not be transmitting a tone at all.  I had this with my Baofeng and a local club repeater I wanted to access.  They only receive the tone but do not transmit it because then others would know what it is and could use it without paying dues to the club.  The school may be of the same mind.
Answer: It could be no tone, it could be DCS, or it could have an activation tone. It could even be a very, very simple trunking system implemented in an odd way.
Answer: Can you determine the repeater input frequency? If so, you could try running the tone scan on the input frequency, this would help in the case that the tone is not output by the repeater.

Baofeng not finding CTCSS tone


VST on Android or iPad

Question: Are there any apps for Android or iPad that have full VST support?  From what I can tell, every VST must be specially compiled for use on these systems, so the answer would be no.  But is that correct?
Answer: The VST SDK doesn't exist for Android or IOS, so there can't be apps with true VST support. Chris Randall explains on his excellent blog (warning, may contains profanity!).
Answer: What ObscureRobot said in 2013 is now outdated information. The VST 3 SDK now exists for iOS 8/9. It's GPL3 so I can't see why someone couldn't port it to Android. https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk
As for your question, is there any "ios app with full vst support"? Steinberg has a list of apps that use VST3. https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/mobile_apps.html Although some of the apps obviously used the SDK for hosting VST, as far as I can tell, there are not (yet) any iOS apps with full third-party VST support.
Indeed, the Auria iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/auria-mobile-music-production/id524122834?mt=8) that is the topic of that blog posted by ObscureRobot does not list VST support in its product page. On the other hand, it does offer, "Third party plugin support available via in-app purchase," which may well utilise the VST technology. As I understand your question, it's "full VST support" but the only supported VSTs are apparently the in-app purchases.

It's fairly easy for a developer to port a plugin to Auria, as we use
  VST 'under the hood'.
  http://auriaapp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=12311&start=0

VST on Android or iPad


What physically happens when foreign currency reserves change?

Question: Assume that the United States decided to hold more yuan in the federal reserve. Which processes does that involve? I assume there is some sort of electronic exchange between the two central banks where dollars are exchanged for yuan. What happens physically? I assume that the Fed will only need to hold a portion (say, 10%) of the reserves as currency, and the other 90% will be just based on the credibility of the bank. Does that mean that the currency worth 10% of the exchange needs to be loaded in a special plane and flown from China to the US and vice versa? How often do those sorts of plane trips happen?
Comment: I just read in the news that on 7 March 2017, R200 million was being flown out of South Africa. The story didn't say why.
Answer: Typically foreign reserves will just be assets denominated in a foreign currency, most importantly government debt. Another popular reserve asset are IMF special drawing rights, which are convertible into currencies of member countries. I don't think there is any amount of physical cash currency in international reserves. You can see the makeup of US reserves here: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/IR-Position/Pages/12302016.aspx
If the US treasury would decide to increase it's Yuan holdings, it will just buy bonds that pay are traded and denominated in Yuan.


Chicken without all that fat?

Question: Whenever I make chicken, I end up going through and trimming a ton of fat. I have heard that free-range chicken is leaner. Is this actually true? What, generally, is the best way to make sure you end up getting high-quality meat that doesn't require a huge amount of fat-trimming?
Answer: Depends what sort of "chicken" you want to make. If you roast chicken on a rack or rotisserie and make some slashes in the skin, most of the surplus trimable fat will drip away during cooking. Most of the visible fat is directly under the skin
Other form of cooking generally do not allow enough fat to drip away, so skinning and trimming is the answer
Free-range is not inherently lower in fat, better tasting or anything better than other chickens. The fat content depends on the variety of breed, the food they eat, and the conditions they are raised in. You have to make your own call on this
Shop around and find the brand that has least visible fat. I have tested a variety of local chickens myself, and there is a huge difference. Strangely enough for me the large dominant brand is the leanest?
Comment: Testing is a good method: standard labels for chicken are quite poor (free-range is meaningless in Canada and the US).  Cook it, taste it, try different brands and farms. As an ex-chicken farmer, fat content is strongly related to the speed that the birds are raised and what they eat.
Answer: There are a few ways to get less fat from your chicken:

Cooking method (rack/rotisserie mentioned above)
Eat only the white meat (less fat)
Remove the skin when you eat it (some fat remains in the skin)
Eat less of it (easy fix)
Raise your own chickens (and avoid feeding them grains)

Chicken without all that fat?


How is marriage after divorce looked upon?

Question: From this article, it is clear that Buddhism accepts(but doesn't really root for it) divorce when things get worse.  But, how is marriage after divorce looked upon?
Comment: @ChrisW Tibetean Buddhism.  Added the relevant tag
Comment: The first paragraph of that article says that Buddhism has no religious rules about even the first marriage. So perhaps it's only individual Buddhists or specific Buddhist societies who might "look upon" marriage after divorce. If this is a question about the social conventions of Buddhist societies perhaps it would be better to identify which society (e.g. which nationality) you're asking about.
Answer: The 3rd precept doesn't prevent you from getting remarried. So as long as you don't steal another man's wife, it should be fine.
Answer: As not learning from your mistake.
Just kidding. :)
No problem at all. From the same article mentioned:

The Buddhist views on marriage are very liberal: in Buddhism, marriage
  is regarded entirely as personal and individual concern, and not as a
  religious duty. There are no religious laws in Buddhism compelling a
  person to be married, to remain as a bachelor or to lead a life of
  total chastity. It is not laid down anywhere that Buddhists must
  produce children or regulate the number of children that they produce.
  Buddhism allows each individual the freedom to decide for himself all
  the issues pertaining to marriage.

Although this is the author's interpretation or opinion, I didn't find anywhere in the article that mentioned that remarrying is looked down upon. I don't know of any teachings related to this either.