HP Officejet Pro 8500 wireless printer

Question: I replaced the black ink cartridge and still couldn't print because it now said replace the Yellow int cartridge.  I replaced the Yellow and then it wanted Magenta.  I replaced the Magenta and now it wants the blue and yellow.  The black was the only one that was empty.  I know that these other cartridges are not empty.  Why won't it print?
Answer: Newer HP printers contain a sort of DRM in the cartridge that causes cartridges to have a lifespan, enforced by a chip in the cartridge. The printer may refuse to print simply because it deems that the cartridge is too old (6 months iirc), even if the cartridge has plenty of ink.
The company claims this is for print quality reasons.
(I've seen what old inkjet carts used infrequently spit out - it can be awful...but it means that when you want to print every six months, you need new carts & that's a waste.)
(Aside: this is why I use an old HP laser. It may eat power and spit ozone, but the cart runs out when there's no toner. Full stop.)

HP Officejet Pro 8500 wireless printer


What areas in the south-western US are the wildest?

Question: Where are the wildest places in the south-western US?  By "wild" I mean places where evidence of people or their lasting effect on the land are minimal.  Particularly, I am looking for places with infrequent airplane overflights, low night-time sky light pollution from man-made lighting, no signs of logging, or roads.
Answer: Any Wilderness Areas.
Seriously. The legal mandates for designating "Wilderness" in the US (as defined by congress) have very rigorous criteria established by each of the major land agencies. Take a look a the Forest Service process for an example.
Size, lack of roads, lack of altering (logging, invasive plants), opportunities for solitude are all defined criteria.
However, there are many empty stretches of land that are not Wilderness, and there are many Wilderness areas that are "Wild" by law, but not in reality (lots of visitors, close to civilization, etc.)
Now, which areas are actually the wildest? That is entirely subjective and dependent on where you go. Wander 1/2 mile off the busiest trail, you might not see a soul. Exploring a slot canyon, you might feel like the last person on earth, even though a highway runs parallel.
Often "wild" is a state of mind.
For your specific criteria, you might do best to start with a map of Wilderness Areas, find the center of the biggest one, overlay a map of city lights, and a map of flight paths and see if there is any green showing through the lights and flights...
(Though from personal experience, the majority of commercial flights are high enough you never notice. It's low-flying tourist flights that disturb - and many Wilderness areas have laws against this.)
Answer: Other than the airplane overflights, this will be pretty easy to see by looking at a map.  I don't know why you care about stuff like commercial jetliners because they are 5-8 miles up, hard to see, and don't seem to bother wildlife any.
As for roads, looking at a map is a good guide.  Few roads means few people, which means not much light pollution, at least nearby.  In the southwest US, you're never going to be all that far from at least some dirt road.  The more important criterion I think is how many people show up, not whether a road is nearby or not.
I would look at some of the larger patches of national forest.  LBell is right in that the Wilderness Areas will have no active roads, but they tend to be small, so could have more light pollution from nearby populations and provide less of a feel of you being out in the wild because the not-wild places are closer.
It would help if you described more what you really want to do when you get to this wilderness.  Do you want to be able to hike for days without running into anyone?  On trails or bushwhacking?  How do you plan to get there if you want to avoid roads?  How far from the nearest paved road do you really want to be?  How far are you willing to go?  What about dirt roads where someone in a 4 wheel drive pickup might come along once or month or something?  If all this really matters to you, then how do you want to avoid having you presence spoiling it for everyone else?  If the requirement is some minimum distance from other humans, then obviously only a few humans at a time can have that.
I have been some places in the southwest where I was very likely the only human around for a few miles that night, and the sky was quite dark.  One such area is in the Coconino and Apache-Sigreaves National Forests north of the Mogollon rim in Arizona.  Other than Flagstaff to the northwest and Winslow to the north, there are very few sources of light at night and a lot of open terrain.  There are some paved roads thru that area, and lots of dirt roads, but most of the time very few people are on the dirt roads.  The vegatation in that area is also conducive to bushwhaking, which is pretty much just walking around wherever you want to.  Getting away from where anyone else is likely to be within the next few months is really pretty easy.  The major evidence of people in that area, aside from the dirt roads, is ranching.  Some of the land is leased to ranchers and has cattle on it.  Even if not, there will be the occasional barb wire fence or remnant of a old one.


How to store printer ink without drying?

Question: I don't use printers often, and its ink may dry out. I don't want to waste the ink, and I don't want to pay a lot of money for resupplying it too often.
How can I prevent printer ink to dry?
Comment: My personal solution was to buy a Laser printer, which I recently replaced by a Led printer, the cost used to be much higher but the recent versions are almost as cheap as inkjet printers and much less 'ink' replacement cost.'
Comment: https://superuser.com/q/818661/269574
Answer: If you use a printer very infrequently, then remove the cartridge(s) and place them in the smallest air-tight container (e.g. a tight-sealing jar or heavy-duty zipper-closure bag). Many printers, though, upon replacing a cartridge and restarting, go through a brief self-cleaning cycle, which uses up some ink.
BTW, printer re-inking kits are a great way to save the cost of replacing the entire cartridge. If you go that route, be sure to get a compatible kit that includes a device to reset the cartridge, if required.
Answer: I cover the nozzle of the cartridge with a piece of painter's tape.
What kind of printer? I recall hqving HPs that had the jets integrated with the cartridge. But Epsons have a permanent print head with the cartridges just being tanks.
In the latter case, you hqve mechanisms in the printer itself that suffer from disuse.
A cheap laser printer is probably best for "occasional" use.  A style like the HP, with carts removed and hermetically sealed, would be OK for a cheap color printer. The kind with internal plumbing needs to be used or undergo a laborious cleaning process.
Answer: I have had great success by putting cellophane sandwich wrap around the cartridge put it in a small container and store it on the top shelf of  the refrigerator. When it's time to print I'll take it out a couple hours prior and it's good to go
Answer: Easy tips to avoid ink drying out

Most of you must be facing the problem of ink drying out. For this store an ink cartridge in an airtight or zip-lock plastic bag. Keep it in a cool and dry place. Do not let it expose it to the sunlight and heat.
Keep the cartridges in the head down position. It will keep it moist and will help prevent cross-contamination of colors.
Do not let the cartridges touch any electronic parts. It will damage and disrupt printer and cartridge connection. Do not use plastic container for color ink cartridges when you will bring them to the refilling stations. To prevent cross contamination of colors, use the original box or cover the print head with a paper towel.
Carefully remove and insert the ink cartridge in the printer and from the printer. Circuit board might get damaged if you force the cartridge in and out.
last but not the least, even after doing all this, if you are left with changing the cartridges search for the best compatible toner cartridges suppliers. If you don't get the equal or better quality of the cartridge it is likely to damage the printer.
Comment: A paper towel will wick the ink out, empying it and making a mess!
Answer: Solution is simple, just use the ink cartridges every week. at least print something, like a photo or a word document.. ink nowadays are more affordable, much affordable than buying a new inkjet if you are trying to save up on ink by not printing much :)


Remote desktop for multiple users

Question: This is an old question.
Is there something like remote desktop but have multiple users logging into their own desktop?
Well as at home windows xp remote desktop.
Comment: Look into VNC. That should be it.
Answer: Try x2go, seems to be a good project with good support.
I had problem with athentication mentioned here. This will happen if you SSH into the server before installing x2go. SSH by default likes ecdsa keys, and x2go doesn't. These step fixed it:

On the server, edit the ssh config:
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

(Remmember, Ctrl+O saves changes and Ctrl+X exits from nano text editor)
Then comment out this line with a #:
#HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key

Now restart ssh:
sudo service ssh restart

On your client you need to remove your old key. I just removed all of them.
rm .ssh/known_hosts

Gnome-session-fallback seems to be needed
Please add this package on server:
sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

And then configure custom desktop with gnome-session-fallback on client
Another amazing feautre from x2go, is this.
I have tried it and changed html file localhost > my.ip.addre.ss and command= from xfce to gnome-session-fallback
Also change quality and colors from 16m to 2m.
Everything works great, now I'm posting it with a remote desktop session from a web browser with plugin and also copy and paste works!  Sound works through net!!! Just very complete solution.
@Wolfer: I don't know how to have multile users remote desktop with VNC, do you have any information about it? link to some help?
Answer: Recently i have used remote desktop multi users.. this is how to configure..
ubuntu 14.10 multiple Simultaneous independent remote (desktop like ) connections

Remote desktop for multiple users


Gas grill: soaked wood chips vs. dry wood chips

Question: I have a gas grill and want to get some good smoke flavor in a pork shoulder I am cooking. I've done some looking around for the best way to use wood chips and have found conflicting ideas about if you should soak them or not. Does soaking the chips do something other than adding time to getting to the initial smoke?
Comment: @rfusca! One for you, I believe.
Comment: @ElendilTheTall I don't do much smoking on a gas grill lately.
Answer: If you're putting your wood chips directly on a fire, it's good to soak them (and that means real soaking--a few days--not an hour or two). This prevents the wood chips from actually catching fire, which can cause off flavors from combustion chemicals settling back on your food. Tastes kinda like a brand new telephone pole smells on a hot day. Tar/Creosote, and not a nice flavor.
But on a gas grill, if you've got your chips in a pan or wrapped in a fairly tight foil pouch, you needn't worry so much about the chips actually catching on fire. As long as they just smoulder, you're good to go.
Comment: I tried this this weekend and it looks like the key is to restrict oxygen to the chips with a foil pouch or a metal box. Anything open will just catch fire. I'll no longer be soaking my chips, thanks!!
Answer: You want your wood to smolder/smoke, not burn. This is why soaking chips is recommended. However, the effect gained from that practice is temporary. Once the moisture boils off, your chips will catch fire in the high oxygen environment of your gas grill. I recommend choking the oxygen supply to your smoke wood, and placing the chips so that less heat gets to the wood (you want just enough to get the wood to slowly smoke). A foil pouch or smoke wood box would do the trick.
Answer: Don't soak the chips for a gas grill. Get a large aluminium pan and place all your chips in it first. Then heat up your grill and get them smoking, but not on fire/combustion this is bad. Once you have a good smoke going, put your pork shoulder in there. After a while the chips may try to catch fire but you can prevent this by watching them closely, through the holes in your grill you don't want to open it too many times, and dousing or spraying any flame ups with a small amount of water as some people like to do with a charcoal grill. Follow this method and you will never cook your pork shoulder any other way!
Answer: Actually, there is no reason to soak the chips at all.  The wood doesn't absorb enough water to make a diffrence in either smoke production or length of cooking.  That said, if you are looking to create a more distributed smoke over the cook cycle, adding water to the pie pan that holds your wood chips will create the same effect that people are trying to accomplish with the soaking. The one caveat is that you have to put the pie pan directly on the burner in a gas grill, as the grate will not be hot enough at 200*F to produce the required heat.
Comment: I agree: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_soaking_wood.html
Answer: The best practice would be to separate the wood chips from the fire altogether. Use a small aluminum tray or just a bit of aluminum foil, to hold the wood chips near the flames. The idea to smoking is to cook "low and slow" but you only really need the wood chips for the first hour or so, additional smoke after that point doesn't really add more flavor.

This website has a nice explanation for smoking ribs on a gas grill. The principals apply to a pork shoulder just as well.
Answer: Personally, I have watched the wood chips opening my stainless steel smoke boxes on occasion to see "what's going on". My experience is that soaking the chips is a waste of time. There will be a little bit of steam for awhile, but the chips don't start smoking until they have completely dried out anyway. Best advice I can give on this is limit the oxygen flow in your smoke boxes.
Mine have holes on bottom and on the lid, I cover the bottom holes with foil before putting the chips in and this helps in most cases, although I still get flame ups some times. I've found putting more chips in helps with flare ups, rather than soaking as many will say.
I have had chips catch fire regardless whether I soak them or not. Fire needs oxygen... restrict it's oxygen soaking it only takes longer to start smoking.
Answer: The trouble with soaking is that it takes longer to get them to start smoking (you're just drying them out). This makes timing the start of smoke with putting your meat on more difficult. On top of that, you're using more gas to dry out the chips to start it smoking, which is where you started from!!


1999 Honda Accord can't change ventilation mode

Question: My wife has a 1999 Honda Accord.  The buttons that let you switch the ventilation between face/feet/defrost don't work.  It is stuck on face so you can't defrost in the morning.  The buttons for face, face/feet, and feet don't seem to do anything.  The lights for feet/defrost and defrost buttons will light up when you push them, but nothing changes.  Is the whole control unit bad?  Or is it possibly just a fuse or something else?
Comment: Usually A/C refers to air conditioning compressor, which cools (and dehumidies) the air. What you're referring to can be beter described using the term "ventilation". Just by reading the title I thought you couldn't switch the A/C compressor on/off.
Comment: @juhist I edited the title and question and replaced A/C with ventilation
Comment: Do the heating and cooling both work?  i.e. it will blow cold air on cold and warm air on warm (just not where you want it too)?
Comment: Yes, I believe they both work.  Obviously haven't used A/C much recently.
Comment: @Kevin wish I could say the same here in California!
Comment: Can you link a photo to the bonding straps? I really want to get this fixed, in the winter where I live I need the defrost option badly
Comment: @RemesRunes Sorry, I don't have the car any more.
Answer: Put the HVAC unit into diagnostic mode and it'll tell you what you should be looking for.
Key On Engine Off, turn off the blower motor, place the temp control knob all the way to full A/C the recirc light will come on. Press and hold the recirc button and the light will turn off. Keep holding the recirc button until it starts flashing.
1 blink is for the air mix motor.
2 blinks are for the mode control motor.
3 blinks for the evap temp sensor.
On this year Accord the mode door is cable controlled by an electric motor. Take a look under the left side of the dash and you should see a 7 pin connector for the mode control motor.
Hit a button, does the motor move? if it doesn't disconnect the motor and apply power and ground to pins 1 and 7 this should place the motor into the defrost position. If it still doesn't move replace the motor. If the motor does move you'll need to remove the control panel and check for continuity between the panel and mode motor. if the wiring and motor check out replace the control panel.
Comment: Finally got around to taking a look at this, but now none of the lights are coming on on the control panel.  Checked the fuse and it is fine.
Comment: " apply power and ground to pins 1 and 7" Would I do this with a volt meter
Comment: @Kevin You need to jump power and ground with some wires and pins. If the hvac controls aren't lighting up or working there may be another fuse for the unit.
Answer: It's a vacuum line.  Rubber tubes run behind the firewall to control the vents.  A rubber tube has likely deteriorated over the years.
You can look for the tubing under the hood, coming out of the firewall.  Oftentimes, a tube will disintegrate near the hot parts of the engine where it obtains its vacuum source.  If not, you will have to remove plastic cowling over the firewall and trace the tubing deeper into the dashboard.
Comment: Can this mean that in the worst case you will have to disassemble the dashboard?
Comment: I'm pretty sure manual hvac on this year accord is cable operated and not vacuum operated. you may want to double check your service info.
Answer: I'm not 100% positive on this, but I think the blower door actuators are electric on the accord, not vacuum.  To test this, I sat in my 01 Accord (same car different year).  With the key in the accesory position (no vacuum), I can switch between all of the different blower configurations with no problems.  You can even hear the little doors moving around in there.
So get in it, put the car in accesory mode, and try to switch between the various buttons.  If you don't hear anything, my guess would be the vent door actuator motor is toast, or whatever fuse it is on is toast.  Not sure what fuse that is exactly, but you can look at the fuse diagram in the owners manual.
From what I've found online, it doesn't look like you need to pull the whole dash apart.  The part under the center control console has a few screws holding in the trim that allow you to get at these elements.  Hopefully.
Comment: I'm pretty sure that's the heater core flow valve and cable.
Comment: @Ben You're absolutely right, I've edited that part out so nobody gets confused.
Answer: I had this happen to me right after I replaced some engine mounts. The power to the HVAC control panel would be intermittent.
I tried changing the panel but no luck. Still intermittent power.
I traced it to my bonding straps and battery ground cable. I replaced a couple of the engine bonding straps and cleaned all the the connectors on the ground cable and it works fine. Give that a shot. Lights came on right away and was able to switch functions again.
Luke
Answer: The mode control motor is easily visible from the driver's foot area. It's on the side of the center console. Change the setting on the control panel to bi-level (Def/Foot) and wiggle the control rods until they move to the bi-level position. This will hold you until you receive your new         MOTOR ASSEMBLY, MODE-  79140-S84-A01      which you can get from any Honda parts source, in person or online.


context.MyContext.SqlQuery() skips mapping logic from context's OnModelCreating()?

Question: I've just started using EntityFramework 6 and I'm still trying some scenarios out. I have overridden the OnModelCreating() method in my context class, and have some logic regarding some column name mappings to properties like:
protected override void OnModelCreating(DbModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
    modelBuilder.HasDefaultSchema("public");

    modelBuilder.Entity<Ninja>().Property(x => x.DateOfBirth).HasColumnName("date_of_birth");
}

As you can see the property name is DateOfBirth, and the appropriate column in the DB is date_of_birth. Now when I'm adding/inserting new data in the DB this mapping works fine. And when I'm querying/retrieving data like this:
var ninja = context.Ninjas.FirstOrDefault(n => n.Name.StartsWith("Kacy"));

It works fine.
But when I want to use a DB(postgre 10) function to retrieve the data:
private static void RetrieveDataWithStoredProc()
{
    using (var context = new NinjaContext())
    {
        context.Database.Log = Console.WriteLine;
        var ninjas = context.Ninjas.SqlQuery("select * from get_old_ninjas()").ToList();
    }
}

I get the following exception:
The data reader is incompatible with the specified 'NinjaDomain.DataModel.Ninja'.
A member of the type, 'DateOfBirth', does not have a corresponding column in the data reader with the same name.

Which means it doesn't take into consideration the logic in the modelbuilder regarding the column name of the DateOfBirth property.
If I add explicit mapping logic after the SqlQuery, it will work...
My question is why doesn't this method consider the logic already in place in the OnModelCreating method like all other cases do ?
Answer:
why doesn't this method consider the logic already in place in the OnModelCreating method like all other cases do ?

That is a limitation in EF6.  EF Core respects your column mappings when loading from raw SQL queries:

The column names in the result set must match the column names that
  properties are mapped to. Note this is different from EF6 where
  property/column mapping was ignored for raw SQL queries and result set
  column names had to match the property names.

Raw SQL Queries (EF Core)


What is the difference between 看到 and 看过?

Question: I've learned them in Chinese class, but still a bit confused,
看 means see, but what is the difference between 看到 and 看过?
Answer: I think it's easier if you think of 看 as look rather than see (e.g. 给我看一下: let me have a look.) It does not mean the verb resulted, because you can also not see (it, anything, etc.): 看不到
Then you can think of 看到 or 看见 as see (as in, you're looking and you can see it. The 到/见 is resultative, you have achieved your goal.) e.g. 我看到你的钥匙在桌子上: I saw your keys on the table.)
看过 is simply that you have looked in the past, like you have read a book previously (我看过那本书)
Another 结果补语 (resultative complement) is 完 (finished looking [reading]) like 我昨晚看完这本书 (Last night I finished reading this book.)
Another example of the 完 resultative complement is in 吃完了 (finished eating.)
You can see how these resultative complements work with other things, too, like 听:

听: to listen (but you might not be hearing anything, you're listening out for something)
听到/听见: to hear (you can actually hear something)
听不到: cannot hear

You can research 结果补语 (resultative complement) for more information (there are many forms.)
Answer:
看到
see sth at sometime(past, present, future), examples:
我刚才看到奥巴马了.
I saw the President Obama just now.
你将会看到太阳升起.
you will see sunrise tommorrow.

看过
have seen sth in the past, examples:
我看过电影《星际迷航》.
I have seen the 'star trek'.

any question, ask me.
Answer: 看过•To have seen before

I've seen that movie before.
  我看过那个电影了。
  Wǒ kànguo nàge diànyǐng le.

看到•to see

I can't see
  看不到

>

拐个弯儿就可以看到村子了。
  Guǎi ge wānr jiù kěyǐ kàndào cūnzi le.
  The village will come into view at the next turn.


My 11 year old Granddaughter told her Father today shes a lesbian

Question: My Granddaughter told her Dr. and Father she is a lesbian, and asked to talk to a counselor. I'm wondering at this age, do they really know for sure or because they hang with girls who think they are, is it the thing to do at this age with girls because they really don't like boys yet? I realize if she is she is and we all love her the same but there is so much influence on the computer about gays and lesbians and bi-sexuals now. I guess the Counselor will be good to help her through whatever she is feeling now. Wondering if anyone else on this site has any insight to help with what I am feeling. My husband, who is a psychology major told me its not carved in stone that she is, so just let it take its course and whatever she is she will be. Kids experiment with all kinds of things at puberty.
Comment: @EdHeal Could talking to a counselor not help her accept and value herself? It was suggested by the daughter, not the parents or grandparents.
Comment: Agreed that since the daughter has asked to see a counselor, she should see one.  She should even be able to see one even if she doesn't supply a reason;  she may have reasons she hasn't even disclosed.
Comment: As a gay man I sort of knew about 12/13, Why have medical intervention? If she is so be it. If not it was just a random expression. Using a conselor indicates that being a lesbian is bad - it is not
Comment: I told my parents I was a lesbian at about the age of 13. Ended up figuring out I was bisexual and am now married to a man. Have never actually had a relationship with a woman. Be careful not to make being a lesbian too much of her identity as a lot of things are pretty fluid at this age and may cause further confusion later.
Comment: BTW - I have a daughter to a lesbian couple.
Comment: Looking back, I knew I was attracted to other males by age 8, I didn't advertise that fact because my parents have values that are warped  (they think homosexuality is unnatural learned behavior) . Be happy she wants help understanding her feelings and emotions.
Answer: Expanding from my comment:
I believe it is very unlikely that she is going to change unless she later determines that she is bisexual rather than a lesbian. It is incredibly hard for someone to "come out" and tell others that they are LGBT. I have only ever told two people that I am bisexual.
I have a nephew and a couple close friends who are gay men. At least three of them have definitively told me they knew she certain in elementary school (a recurring theme is "about the age that most boys start to notice girls, [they] started to notice other boys."
Closer to home, I identified as completely heterosexual until some point late in college. I  had always been interested in girls and have never experimented. I am completely happy and satisfied with my wife. However, I know without question that I am bisexual and I can trace the related feelings at least age 14. I can also state with certainty that media had no impact on me in this regard.
Ultimately, you need to reach the point that it does not matter to you. The world is finally evolving to the point that she can have a happy and fulfilling life regardless of whether she is lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual. The only thing for you to worry about or so here is to love her completely for who she is. Any feelings that she needs to grow out of this will only serve to weaken that bond or leave her less happy with herself.
Edit (to address counselor and parenting thoughts): A counselor to help her explore her feelings and accept herself certainly seems like a reasonable idea as long as it is presented in a way that casts no doubt on acceptance of her (e.g. the counselor should not be viewed as a way to fix her; she needs to know that nothing is wrong with her). That seems doubly true given that she asked to that too a counselor.
As to parent (and grandparent) reactions, she is still the same person you have all loved all these years. If everyone accepts her, this could help you all grow closer as she is sharing a very personal part of herself. When my nephew came out, the main fears we dealt with as a family were that he would not have as fair and full a life, and that he wouldn't have kids. Things in the world are changing more and more to make the concern about a fair and equal life less of an issue. And the kids concern is much less of an issue than you'd think: not all heterosexual people have kids; similarly, whether through adoption, surrogacy, or other fertilization options, it is very possible for LGBT folks to have children.
Comment: +1, and thanks for your honesty. It's always helpful to post with personal experience. (I also agree with everything you've said.) The OP did ask, though, "I guess the Counselor will be good to help her through whatever she is feeling now. Wondering if anyone else on this site has any insight to help with what I am feeling." Do you have any experience with a parent's feelings, e.g. what would you expect your parents to feel?
Comment: I would upvote this again if I could.
Comment: @anongoodnurse Good points. Edited to more fully reflect those issues.
Comment: I think the difficulty of 'coming out' depends on your family, community, etc.  It sounds like her family is pretty understanding and wouldn't make coming out difficult.  Without knowing how she acted when saying it it's possible that to *her* it wasn't a big deal or hard to come out.  I think there is a good chance she is lesbian/bisexual; but by no means is it certain yet.  She is young enough that she she may not have reached the point of sexual attraction to boys (most will at 11, but not all) and think that makes her a lesbian; or even think it's 'cool' trend.  Wait and see as she grows.
Answer: I have learned a lot working on my new answer to this question. I collected some literature and took some notes from them to add here. I hope this will satisfy the question.
The average age of learning about ones owns the sexuality tendencies is 10, 14 for accepting the identity, talking about it with friends is 16 and 17 for talking to parents, well according to the cultural fabric of D'Augelli, Hersberg & Pilkington back in 1998 (D'Augelli, Hersberg & Pilkington, 1998).
Risk behavior based on the stigma of the hetero-normative sexist culture towards queer people (including lesbians) can lead to suicide, violence, homicide, drug use, alcohol use, bullying, depression. It takes toughness to face the music and search for a positive self image and when faces with violence then it can be even harder (Davis, Saltzburg og Locke, 2009; Morrow, 2006; Russel o.fl, 2011, Hegna og Wichstrøm, 2007; Pharr, 2000) failed suicide attempts are part of the history of 12% of non-queer young USA resident while for a queer young USA resident it is staggering 28% (Morrow, 2006; Marshal o.fl, 2011)
Positive and supportive social work has given good results in reducing risk behavior, approach that is not based on sex but the lived identity as a valued person. (Appelby og Anastas, 1998; Coleman og Remafedi, 1989) it is possible to let go of the phobic sexism and hetero-normative attitude and show acceptance support and love (Herek, 2004; Pharr, 2000; Røthing, 2008). Experimenting in save a environment with queer gender roles without normative expectations and positive emotional development can develop into a good self image over time. (Rosario, Schrimshaw og Hunter, 2008; Savin-Williams, 2001; Sigrún Sveinbjörnsdóttir o.fl.,2010; Van Den Bergh og Crisp, 2004; Dillon o.fl, 2004; Crisp 2006) It would also help to bring in some visible role models that have had fun with the emotional maturity while begin queer (Wichstrøm og Hegna, 2003)
Discussion
My rule is to not stigmatize being queer of the emerging lived realities of gender, sex, or sexuality. If there is stigmatized in the society around me than I like to protect my family from it.
Reason: Any stigmatization that a parent will hold and make any suggestion towards will in many cases internalize in the child making the child hate it self which in tun will lead to many problems such as risk behavior or other self harm. Studies have been published that the gender / sexuality identities have already formed from the age of six or seven and self harm based on internalized stigmatization may start at ages around puberty (Dietmar Ebke, 2006, private presentation)
Also I like to be critical of any treatment that a queer young person might get in counseling. If the counseling is not based on support for experimentation in a save environment and reducing risk behavior by searching for age appropriate outlets for this experimentation with the aim to build good, confident and strong self identity that reduces risk behavior and challenges the stigma and sexist hate that is to be found in what should be our loving community.
Refferences
Appelby, G. A. & Anastas, J. W. (1998). Not just a passing phase: Social work with gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. New York: Columbia University Press.
Coleman, E. & Remafedi, G. (1989). Gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents: A critical challenge to counselors. Journal of counseling and development, 68(1), 36-40.
Crisp, C. (2006). The gay affirmative practice scale (GAP): A new measure for assessing cultural competence with gay and lesbian clients. Social Work, 51(2), 115-126.
D'Augelli, R.R., Hershberger, S.L. & Pilkington, N. W. (1998). Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth and their families: Disclosure of sexual orientation and its consequences. American Journal of Orthopsychitry, 69(3), 361-371.
Davis, T. S., Saltzburg, S. & Locke, C. R.(2009) Supporting the emotional and psychological well being of sexual minority youth: Youth ideas for action. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1030-1041.
Dillon, F.R., Worthington, R.L., Savoy, H.B., Rooney, S.C., Becker-Shuttle, A. & Guerra, R.M. (2004). On becoming allies: A qualitative study of lesbian-, gay-, and bisexual-affirmative counselor training. Counselor Education and Supervision 43(3), 162-178.
Hegna, K. & Wichstrøm, L. (2007). Suicide attemts among Norweigan gay, lesbian and bisexual youths. Acta Socialogica, 50(1), 21-37.
Herek, G. M. (2004). Beyond "homophobia": Thinking about sexual Predjudice and stigma in the twenty-first century. Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 1(2), 6-24.
Marshal, M.P., Dietz, L. J., Friedman, M. S., Stall, R., Smith, H. A., McGingley, J. and more. (2011). Suicidality and depression disparties between sexual minority and heterosexual youth: A meta analytic review. Journal of Adolescent Health, 49, 115123.
Morrow, D.F. (2006). Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adolescents. Í D. F. Morrow og L. Messinger (ed.), Sexual orientation and gender expression in social work practice: working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people (bls. 177-195). New York Chichester: Columbia University Press.
Pharr, S. (2000). Homophobia: A weapon of sexism. Í M. Plott og L. Umanski (ed.), Making sense of women's lives: An introduction to women's studies (bls. 424–438). Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Rosario, M., Schrimshaw, E. W. & Hunter, J. (2008) Predicting different patterns of sexual identity development over time among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths: A cluster analytic approach. American Journal of Community Psychology, 42,
266-282.
Russel, S. T., Ryan, C., Toomey, R. B., Diaz, R. M. & Sanchez, J. (2011). Lesbian, gay, bisexual og transgender adolescent school victimization: Implications for young adult health and adjustment. Journal of School Health, 81(5), 223-230.
Røthing, Å. (2008). Homotolerance and heteronormativity in Norwegian classrooms. Gender and Education 20(3), 253-266.
Savin-Williams, R. C. (2001). A critique of research on sexual-minority youths. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 5-13.
Sigrún Sveinbjörnsdóttir, Þóroddur Bjarnason, Ársæll M. Arnarson & Andrea Hjálmarsdóttir. (2010). Lífsánægja Samkynhneigðra unglinga í 10. bekk. Sálfræðiritið – Tímarit Sálfræðingafélags Íslands; 15, 23-36.
Van Den Bergh, N. & Crisp, C.(2004). Defining culturally competent practice with sexual minorities: Implications for social work education and practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 40(2), 221-238.
Wichstrøm, L. & Hegna, K. (2003). Sexual orientation and suicide attempt: A longitudinal study of the general Norwegian adolescent population. Journal of
Abnormal Psychology, 112(1), 144-151.
Comment: Very nice answer! +1 Love the references.
Comment: I added some discussion based on my own experiences and what I actualy do with my family and how I reason it.
Comment: I did not find the Dietmar Ebke study. But I found a lot of other stuff!!
Answer: I'm trying to think when any media ever influenced what it was that got me hot n bothered. The answer: never. Is it being depicted as acceptable these days? yes. At that age is the line between "personal attraction" and "sexual attraction" harder to figure out? I think yes. In puberty every feeling is magnified as the hormones hit. She might be lesbian. The issue may be a tangent to what she is willing to talk about, for example she may be in the throws of a huge friend that they feel may reject them, or who they fear is not oriented the same way
The only thing that is obvious from her conversation is that she has things heavy on her mind, her sexuality being a key one, and wants to talk about them. She may not be giving the full reasons she wants to talk in order to get the door to counseling opened, because she is saying "I need someone who isn't you at this moment", and that may mean she doesn't feel her parents are equiped to handle whats on her mind.
Short answer: Any time a pubescent asks for a counselor - get them one. Immediately!
As far as giving insight to help with what you am feeling, that begs the question: What are you feeling?
Answer: yes she is probably either a lesbian, or at minimum bisexual, though you can't know for certain yet.  She isn't really old enough to have explored her sexuality too much, so there is a small chance she may not yet fully understand her own desires.  Still, she is old enough that she probably has a good idea about this by now, so I would listen to her and presume she probably knows what she is talking about, unless she tells you she feels differently otherwise.
There is a chance she may grow to be more bisexual then lesbian. It's not uncommon, even for adults, to think that attraction to the same sex means you must be gay/lesbian and that there is no middle ground like bisexual.  With children as young as 11 the idea of more complex attractions then a Boolean male/female are allowed can be confusing.  Thus as she grows older she may develop a more complex and nuanced understanding of her sexuality that allows for some middle ground.
For instance I have a lesbian friend who is now married to a man.  When she met him he was female, but the got married well after his transition.  She still identifies as lesbian, but she is attracted to her husband anyways.
As to your reaction, well treat her like you always did.  Her sexuality doesn't really effect anything about who she is, other then perhaps the need to be more careful with how dating rules are defined (most parents set rules that presume boys=dates and girls=friends.  With girls being both potential friends and potential dates you need to better clarify what is allowed with a girl-as-friend and what changes for girl-as-potential-date.  For instance slumber parties with your female friends may be allowed, but if one of those friends is someone she is dating the rules may become more strict).
one thing I would stress DO NOT act as if you don't believe her or she will 'grow out of' being a lesbian.  Sure there is a (small!) chance she will change her mind later, but odds are she knows herself well enough to know her own desires.  Acting as if she will grow out of it implies that lesbianism is somehow something 'wrong' your waiting for her to realize.  You need to support her in whatever she tells you to avoid stigmatizing her desires and making her feel that there is something wrong about her.  Besides, even ignoring the risk of accidentally stigmatizing her, telling her she may 'grow out of it' implies you don't trust her to know her own interests yet; it comes across as your not listening to her.
Frankly, I wouldn't pester her about her sexuality too much either way.  You don't want to imply she will grow out of it, but at the same time trying to write her into a 'just a lesbian' role isn't perfect either.  People actual sexuality is too complex to be painted into direct roles.  I would simply tell her she can date whoever she wants (well, sex wise, you can still ban drug addicts and anyone over 20).  If one day she expresses an interest in dating a girl in her class then give her advice on how to ask the girl out like you would with a boy.  If another day she seems to be attracted to a boy then give her the same advice; don't act as if being attracted to the boy is better, but also don't tease her about being attracted to someone other then another girl.  Even in the LGBT community many people who are predisposed to be bisexual will declare themselves as gay or lesbian because they feel stigmatized and forced to 'pick' one sex over the other, which you don't want to do.  Just support her in whoever she finds herself attracted to, don't make her assign labels to that attraction or shoe-horn herself to any group of people as potential dates.
The one thing I find odd is that she wanted to speak to a consular.  Of course let her do that and encourage it, but it makes me wonder why she feels the need.  In an ideal her telling you she was a lesbian should be a simple declaration of preference, no different then her saying she prefers to date someone with blond hair or who is of a certain height etc.  I know we are not in that ideal world yet, but my point is that her saying she needs to speak to a counselor may suggest she has reservations or fears about coming out.  She may need some extra encouragement and support if she is having concerns like this.  I would suggest sitting down with her yourself to figure out what she is feeling, why she wanted a counselor, and seeing if there are any fears she has about coming out.  That way your be able to reassure her, and help her to cope with any concerns she may have.
Answer: You have gotten a lot of great information from the other responders. I wonder if I can help you with this.

Wondering if anyone else on this site has any insight to help with what I am feeling.

We have our own sometimes very strongly held beliefs and value systems, and we want to pass these on to our children. The majority of parents actually try to do this (as did I). And then something happens that causes us to realize our child no longer holds the same beliefs as we do.
It doesn't really matter what the belief is. The truth is that we feel a sense of profound loss, among other things. Loss of shared values, loss of a certain imagined future with the child, loss of self-esteem wondering if we did something wrong, whatever. We do feel lost.
The whole religious thing aside, this is no different than any other departure from your value/belief system, so try to see it that way. Your daughter is still the same person you loved before you found this out.
Part of your fear may come from a misconception, e.g. she'll never have the wedding I always imagined for her/she wont have children/she'll be an outcast/it will be harder for her to find a partner, etc. The way to fight this battle is to look around at what's happening in the world today; it's hard to miss. You just have more reason to pay attention to it. Your worries may be groundless.
The other part of dealing with your feelings is that some of them may well involve worry about what is not happening now, again: now.
We plan for the future, we remember the past, but all we really have is now. You may die in a week. She may die in a week. We all may die in a week. She may marry the most incredible woman you ever met. She may have four children. Would you consider your worries a waste of time if any of those were the case? If so, then stop worrying and start choosing to live in the now. This time is all you're guaranteed.
Some people need a good therapist to work out the myriad feelings you may be facing. If you think you can't do this on your own, find one.
I hope this helps.

 In 1785, the great Scot poet Robert Burns wrote about the blessing it is to live in the now. A gentleman farmer, he accidentally turned up a mouse's den while plowing in autumn. His poem is all about the serious problems she faces now because of his actions, yet the last stanza, the best, states a problem with the human condition: "Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!/ The present only toucheth thee:/ But Och! I backward cast my e'e,/ On prospects drear!/ An' forward, tho' I canna see,/ I guess an' fear!"


At what point is it no longer a "Free Change"

Question: I am a freelance web developer.  I have built many different websites for all sorts of people.  Once my client signs off on a project as complete I am still willing to offer little updates and things.  I always have that one client though who abuses this offer.  At what point do I say enough is enough and begin to charge for these changes?  Enough of these little changes could add up to a whole new site.
Answer: There are several categories of post-changes. They should be treated in different manner, unless your agreement with the project owner states otherwise.
So, you have completed a project and, trying to satisfy your client, you offered...
Little Updates and Things

Bugs. As your software product is running and users are using it, they will inevitably find bugs. They should be eliminated at your cost, since you have already been paid for it.
Changes due to external factors changed. Say, local laws may require a different format of a certain report. Or the users' community has asked the product owner for a change. Or a dependency software has changed its API. Since that was not in original scope, such improvement is clearly billable;

The rest of changes are most difficult to deal with. What I do often when being asked for such change, I analyze the thing and make two offers:
Free way: I do some minor change that does not take more than, say, several hours.
I make sure the project owner was aware that I will do it on my personal time so it did not interact with my billed activities, e.g. on weekend.
I also inform the project owner that any side activity should be done by their teams. I'm a Web developer, so I can't do free QA, Art, HTML/CSS mockups, team collaboration, and other things. This is a powerful argument by itself! :-)
Billable way: A full-power work that ensures best possible scope and quality.

Post-mortem
Also, as others have mentioned in their answers, a good practice is conduction a post-mortem meeting. At this meeting, you will define how your project will be improved over time.
As an important note specific to a freelancer, on this meeting you will almost guarantee yourself some future income:

You guarantee to continue your business relations with the project owner;
You define status of forthcoming changes, possible scope, and rates;
You ensure that the product you have developed will be at top quality. Think again, you will refer that product as your past work. Say, you show it to another prospective customer. Do you need excuses why the product looks buggy or outdated? No.
You secure for yourself the future projects with the same partner;

There's an article by Jeff Atwood, The project Postmortem addressing more issues.

Finally, a story that illustrates the ideas above:

A freelancer and a client are talking after project completion.
Client: "But aren't you someone who just makes and forgets? If we need an update, would you do it for free?"
Freelancer: "Sure, but it depends on how much work to do."
Client: "Don't worry! Of course we wouldn't ask to redo everything from scratch."
Freelancer: "Agreed. I also have a request. Aren't you someone who just pays me and forgets? If I run out of money, can I come up and ask you to pay me some extra?
Client: "???"
Freelancer: "Don't worry! Of course I wouldn't ask you to pay me the whole amount again!"
Comment: I disagree about bugs being your responsibility to fix. As you said, there will inevitably be bugs, and if you commit to fixing them for free there's no end to it. The client should test and approve the code, and any modifications to it later (including bug fixes) are billable work.
Comment: that is like a snake biting in it's tail: As all software has bugs, the customer can *never* order bug-free software. Or if it orders bug-free it can not expect to get it unless there *is* a maintenance plan.
Comment: @Juhana (sarcasm mode on) You buy a car in my shop. You, the client, should test and approve the product prior to purchase. If you commit with a purchase, and the car falls apart just behind the doors of my shop, it's no longer my problem. Is that correct? :-)
Comment: You're comparing apples to oranges here. You don't pay to the car manufacturer by the hour based on how long it took to build the car, do you? (Or perhaps we're just talking about different things; if you're paid a lump sum to build X, there should be a limited guarantee.)
Comment: @Juhana The definition of a bug: *an inconsistency between documented and actual behaviors*. Even for Time-and-Materials projects, I have been paid not for "spending time", but for specific tasks to make a software that behaves in a certain manner. That manner is defined in a task specs, and the docs are based on specs, **not on actual behavior**. Hence, if my software does not behave like described (and initially required), and I have been **already** paid for it, who should fix it?
Comment: The client should be made aware that any software requires maintenance and part of it is bug fixes. In the end it's even cheaper to the client because you don't have to raise your hourly fee to cover for the "free" work. At the very least there should be a limit to how long the "free bug fixes" offer stands--even the car manufacturer isn't responsible if the car falls apart 10 years after purchase. It's also sometimes very hard to draw a line to what is a bug fix and what is a new feature (if a new browser version comes out after the project and breaks the web site, is it still your fault?)
Comment: @Juhana It's, indeed, hard to draw a line between bugs and features if external factors are in place -- a car worn over 10 years, a new browser, etc. Quality flaws at the "factory" have different nature. [Some companies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug) may have saved $500 million if they said, "it's not our problem, you should have tested prior to purchase".
Comment: You wrote *"they will inevitably find bugs."* Doesn't that mean they have paid for the work *with the bugs* and not *without*? Therefore fixing bugs *after* the work has been done is new work? Isn't the professional approach to explain a customer that all software contains bugs and therefore they should *care* about maintenance?
Comment: @hakre This point is very good and maybe it worth asking a separate question expecting a detailed answer. In two words (it's my personal opinion), *each* software has bugs, but the client pays for *bugless* product. The problem is not in having the bugs, but in **way how/when you solve them once they are found**.
Answer: Here's my insight.
Working as a freelancer makes you control your time more thoroughly and prioritize the projects and tasks you are currently involved in.
So, for me, "marking" the project as complete means that me and my customer should sit and discuss our future plans: are we going to make updates (software updates, bug fixes, other improvements), what if the customer needs my technical support etc. And, of course, it's your time and should be billed.
Answer: I think you need to define out what a "free change" really means. Less than 15 minutes within 30-60 days of project end date? Sure, especially if its a quick and easy change. I don't see an issue with that.
More than that, 1 hour minimum at an hourly rate. This will encourage them to either stop abusing the "free change" or start gathering up a minimum amount of changes... which will more than likely exceed an hour.
You also have to actually explain this to them. They may not realize they are abusing it!
Answer: Something like this would have to be defined in your contract with the client, including with what constitutes a minor change (as opposed to a major change). You may also want to base it off of the original deliverable; after X minor changes or after at least Y% of the code base changes, there would have to be a charge for further changes.
Comment: I think you've highlighted a possible cause there. Very few freelancers - in my experience being one, and working with others - HAVE contracts with their clients. We should... but many don't.
Comment: Another option is: after X hours.
Answer: This is always a business decision.  As a general rule I fix bugs and the like free of charge.  I offer a one year warranty on bugs and so forth.
I will also throw in small changes free of charge (without promising customers this upfront) when it seems like a good idea given the general relationship with the customer.  Maybe the customer badly misunderstood some requirements but the change isn't invasive, and I like working with this customer.  I may throw it in free of charge just as a nice gesture.
The thing though is that in general you should make your free change promises as limited as you can.  When you decide to go beyond that, you should be the one to look generous, going beyond what you promised.  It's always easier to say "you know what?  I will even do that free of charge!" than it is to say, "well, this is getting annoying, so more help will be paid."
Answer: Setting boundaries early is essential as most clients quickly get used to you doing things for free and then they don't appreciate the free hours you put in.
Establish agreed terms and conditions in advance that include a project sign-off date and warranty period.
My clients have two weeks to test and report bugs and I will happily fix these for free.
Beyond the two weeks, I don't charge for minor issues that only take me a minute or two to fix. Sometimes I don't charge for longer tasks but that's at my discretion. I'm more likely to do things for free if it's my mistake rather than something that looks more like a feature enhancement, something outside the original scope, or something that wasn't clearly defined to start with.
Track your un-billed hours so you can tell clients with unreasonable expectations the ratio of un-billed hours to billed hours. 10% might be reasonable but 20% is probably stretching the friendship. If possible, show the un-billed hours on your invoices so clients are aware of the extra time you have put in for them.
Don't be afraid to sack clients who fail to appreciate excessive un-billed hours. Remember that losing a client is not the end of the world and is likely to open your schedule to a better client.
Answer: I offer actual bug fixes for 30 days after launch, but everything else is billable (either my hourly rate in half-hour increments or a minimum five-hour-per-month retainer for clients with whom I have an ongoing relationship). My contract is also explicit about what, if any, responsibilities I have post-launch. During our final project meeting (post-launch), I go over that with clients and remind them which bits of their sites need regular updates (e.g., WordPress, plugins) and their responsibilities with regard to backups of files and databases.
I do this not to nickle-and-dime the client, but to protect my time. I can always choose/opt to offer to do a fix or update for free, but I want to have that choice. It's also important, I feel, to be tracking your time pretty diligently, including these sort of unbilled hours so you can identify where your time is going and make your business more efficient.


How does centrifugal force work?

Question: I know what centrifugal force is, but how does it work? Why are things forced to the outside?
Answer: The real force at work is centripetal force, or a force pushing inwards.
Imagine you have a bucket on a string, and you swing that around in a circle:

As you swing the bucket, it travels in a circle. The red line shows the path the bucket takes. In order to make it swing like this, you have to apply a constant force on the rope -- this is the green arrow in the image. At any given moment in time, the bucket wants to travel straight -- the blue line in the diagram. By applying the centripetal force, the inward force, you change the motion from straight to the circular motion (the red line).
Because the contents of the bucket always want to go straight, and the force you apply always make them change direction, there seems to be an "outward" or "centrifugal" force "pushing" the contents against the side of the bucket. But it's an an illusion -- it's really just the momentum of the bucket and it's contents.
Comment: I don't have time to write a full answer right now, but I will mention that the term "centrifugal force" does refer to a real and precisely defined physical concept. We tell intro-level physics students that it's an illusion just because that's a simpler way to keep them from getting confused than discussing noninertial reference frames.
Comment: The best proof that the centrifugal force is an illusion is the direction the bucket will fly if you let go of it: If there really was an outward-pulling force, it should fly away along the line connecting you and the bucket. In reality, it will fly along a line perpendicular to that.
Comment: I dislike the "centrifugal force is not real" concept. It is most certainly real. That it only applies in a particular reference frame could be said of nearly anything. This is like in grade school when they told you it is impossible to subtract a larger number from a smaller. It may have avoided confusion in children, but at this level, if we persist in claiming that it isn't real, we are being misleading, not helpful.
Comment: @Josh: the point I meant to make is that if you draw a force diagram _in the rotating reference frame_, there is a real centrifugal force that does go on a force diagram. With respect to Lagerbaer's example, in the _rotating reference frame_, the bucket _does_ fly away along the line connecting you and the center. In intro physics classes, we tell people that rotating reference frames "don't count" for simplicity, but in reality they are just as valid as inertial reference frames, and therefore the centrifugal force is just as valid as any other force.
Comment: @David: All models are wrong, but some are useful. (George E. P. Box)
Comment: @DavidZaslavsky and @ColinK, What I mean when I say it is not real is that there is no actual force (in a force diagram) pressing the contents of the bucket against the bottom. I agree that of course there is a *real and precisely defined physical concept*, but it's the momentum you're feeling, not an actual force.
Comment: Although to be fair, this question isn't really about mechanics in a rotating frame. The intro physics explanation should be fine. If you delete your first paragraph, you'll get my upvote.
Comment: @David: Done! I posted this as a layman's example on the new HowThingsWork beta... I should have known it would be deemed inadequate over hre ;-)
Comment: And upvoted ;-) Pretty much everything we do in physics is inadequate in one way or another, anyway.
Comment: _"in the rotating reference frame, the bucket does fly away along the line connecting you and the center"_ This is true immediately after the bucket is released, when it has an outward speed Coriolis force causes it to curve backward.
Answer: Centrifugal force is a particular example of a fictitious force.  It is introduced so that Newton's second law holds in a rotating reference frame.
Newton's second law says
$$F = ma$$
This means that whenever we find an object accelerating (speeding up, slowing down, turning, or some combination), we can look around and find a physical reason why this happens.  For example, a dropped stone accelerates towards the Earth, and this is due to Earth's gravity; if we drop the stone far from Earth, it won't fall.  Your car turns a corner.  This happens due to friction with the road.  If the road were perfectly slick, the car would simply slide.
Newton's second law holds in an inertial reference frame.  It is simply a fact that such reference frames exist, and that they are all related to each other by moving past each other at constant velocities.  (This becomes more complicated in general relativity, but that is not a major concern in everyday situations.)
However, suppose you are in a train that begins accelerating forward (from the stationary track's point of view), and you are looking out the window at a ball sitting on the sidewalk nearby.  From your reference frame in the  train, the ball is accelerating backwards.  However, there is no obvious source of a force on the ball that would make it accelerate backwards.  This means that in an accelerating frame, Newton's second law doesn't work.
Sometimes we would still like to do physics in such an accelerating frame, so we simply invent a new force, called a fictitious force, and say that the ball has a fictitious force of just the right amount needed to give it the acceleration we observe.  Since the ball's acceleration is $a_b = -a_t$  with $a_t$ the acceleration of the train in an inertial frame, we need to introduce a fictitious force
$$F_{fict} = -m a_t = m a_b$$
That way, Newton's laws still work and we can do physics as normal as long as the train's acceleration stays the same.  We could, for example, play billiards in the accelerating train, noticing the the balls have curved trajectories across the table, and these curved trajectories would be perfectly explained by a fictitious force $-ma_t$ acting on each ball (with $m$ changing for balls with different masses).  Keep in mind that the fictitious force points in the opposite direction of the train's acceleration.  If the train accelerates forward, the ball appears to accelerate backwards, so the fictitious force must point backwards.
Another type of accelerating frame is a rotating reference frame, for example a carousel.  On the carousel, every part is accelerating towards the center (see Josh's answer).  Therefore, to do physics in this frame, we must introduce a fictitious force
$$F = -m a_c$$
as before.  $a_c$ is the acceleration of the carousel at any point.  Because this acceleration points in towards the center of the carousel, the fictitious force points the opposite direction - out towards the edge.  This fictitious force is called the centrifugal force.
Introducing the centrifugal force lets us do physics from the point of view of the rotating carousel, with the caveat that we can only handle statics this way.  If things are actually moving on the carousel, we need to include the Coriolis force, which pushes things sideways.  (See derivation  here  or some discussion of it in my answers here or here.)
As for whether the centrifugal force is "real", it depends on what that means.  In an inertial frame, each force can be traced back to some physical interaction like the exchange of a photon.  That's not true for the centrifugal force.  This is the essential difference people are referencing when they say the centrifugal force and other fictitious forces "are not real".
Answer: Because things want to go in a straight line.
Imagine swinging an object around your head on a string. At any moment the object wants to go straight ahead (ie on a tangent) but it can't because of the string.
It's as if the string was pulling it back in toward you - that's balanced by a force pushing it outward = centrifugal force.
For a more technical explanation try physics.stackexchange.com, but expect an arguement about whether centrifugal force exists!
Comment: note - the answer was written for a how-things-work level site
Answer: Centrifugal force is not a real force in Newtonian mechanics. Whenever a frame of reference is accelerated (except the cases where the acceleration is due to gravity) w.r.t. an inertial frame of reference, an observer situating in that reference frame experiences a "force" in the opposite direction of the acceleration.
For an outside inertial observer this is nothing but the inertia of the objects situated in the accelerated frame. Since in Newtonian mechanics strictly the descriptions of only the inertial observers are legal hence the "force" experience by the objects in the accelerated frames is not a real force. It is called a pseudo force.
A rotating framed of reference is also an accelerated frame where the acceleration is directed towards the center. It is called the centripetal force. As always, as described above, a "force" will be experienced by the objects situated in that rotating frame opposite to the centripetal acceleration i.e. away from the center. This is called the centrifugal "force".
Obviously it is not a real force from the point of view of an outside inertial observer, who is the legal observer in the Newtonian mechanics. For this observer it is simply the inertia of the objects.
Therefore we call this centrifugal force as a pseudo force and not a real force.
From General Relativistic considerations however all observers are equivalent no matter how they are moving and all accelerations are equivalent to gravitational field in a short enough scaled. Therefore for an infinitesimally small rotating frame the centrifugal "force" can be thought of as a gravitational force! This directly follows from the equivalence principle.

How does centrifugal force work?


What's wrong with `(add-to-list 'process-coding-system-alist '("zsh" . utf-8))`?

Question: In Emacs, I routinely use an inferior shell, invoked with M-x shell.  I often need to specifically set its coding system, which I do with C-x RET p followed by utf-8 (twice).
I want to do this once and for all in my .emacs file.  The documentation says that the default coding system for shells started via M-x shell comes from process-coding-system-alist.  After consulting the documentation for this variable, I tried
(add-to-list 'process-coding-system-alist '("zsh" . utf-8))

...since zsh is my default shell.  (According to the docs, the first element of the added pair is interpreted as a regex matching the shell program's name, so the string shown above should work.)
This, however, fails to produce the desired result.  (E.g. some characters are not properly displayed in stdout in a freshly started *shell*; nevertheless, these characters are properly displayed once I execute C-x RET p, etc., as described above.  This means that, whatever my add-to-list command is doing, it is not doing what I want it to do.)
My question is simply, why doesn't'
(add-to-list 'process-coding-system-alist '("zsh" . utf-8))

work?
NB: there may be other ways to achieve the same result, but here I am specifically interested in understanding why what I tried did not work, and fix it.
Comment: Did you try starting emacs with "Toggle debug on error" to check if it correctly reads that line?
Answer: I'm not sure about this and I don't really have a way to replicate it, but are you not missing a pair of parentheses, around utf-8?
(add-to-list 'process-coding-system-alist '("zsh" . (utf-8)))

Answer: On my system, C-hv on the variable showed that it was initialized to:
("[pP][lL][iI][nN][kK]" . #1=(undecided-dos . undecided-dos))
So to get cygwin bash working, I added:
(add-to-list 'process-coding-system-alist  '("[bB][aA][sS][hH]"  . (undecided-unix . undecided-unix)))
By extension I'd think that this would work:
(add-to-list 'process-coding-system-alist '("zsh" . (utf-8 . utf)))


What are some resources on the philosophy of computer science?

Question: Are there any links between philosophy and computer science? What resources might be useful for a programmer learning philosophy?
Comment: Can you unpack a little bit further? What do you mean by "reconcile"? What exactly does an answer to this question look like in your mind?
Comment: Also, do you mean programming or formal computer science. At least one of the answers here is connecting formal computer science with formal philosophy. The other is linking programming skills and philosophy skills.
Comment: You also have 'The Philosophy of Computer Science' at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computer-science And also Rapaport's 'Philosophy of Computer Science' at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/584/ with a lot of topics between the two fields. Another related topic is 'Philosophy of Information'. Floridi's website is of help here: http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/
Comment: Oxford has a program called "Computer Science And Philosophy"
[A YouTube video about the program from Oxford](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwFs8EUXyc)
Answer: Yes, study advanced symbolic logic.  My degree is in philosophy, not computer science, but I've been a successful professional programmer for several years, and my philosophical background, especially in logic, was a big help.
A well-written computer program is really nothing more than a long, complex, logic puzzle.
(Also, studying general philosophy will help you be less impacted by the madness of the modern corporate workplace.)
Comment: Coming from the opposite end of this I have my degree in computer science and I enjoy taking classes in philosophy, I very much agree with you @chris-sunami. Both require a rigorous use of logic, and the tools of logic can be universally applied once they are learned. Obviously syntax is different etc, but logic is the "multi-tool" of knowledge.
Answer: I've found that many areas of philosophy have had some impact on my career in computing, including programming.

Philosophy of mind overlaps significantly with artificial intelligence. Is the brain a computer? What's the value of the Turing Test? Could semantic understanding ever arise from syntactic processing (Searle's Chinese Room etc)?
Thinking about the limits of computation has both technical and philosophical aspects
Logic, from truth tables to modal, fuzzy and multi-valued logics can all inform the way you approach programming tasks
Understanding philosophy of technology helps me to consider the broader context in which programming occurs, including ideas of what constitutes progress
Computer programming is not value free, and so studying philosophical topics in ethics and politics can inform the larger decisions about the appropriate use of IT.
Answer: I would suggest reading up on philosophy related to mathematical constructivism. This can then lead you into areas such as type theory, the BHK interpretation, the Curry-Howard correspondence, and Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT). Along the way you'll encounter discussions related to the notion of the identity of indiscernibles, issues around the limits of computation, the notion of things that are valid-by-construction, and issues around computing mathematical proofs.
Hope that helps you get started!
Answer: There are philosophy books that explain some programming concepts, such as "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" by Douglas R. Hofstadter, which is primarily about philosophy of mind. There are other aspects of programming I can think of at the moment to which philosophy is relevant.
The first issue is that the organisation and writing of programs is about how to express knowledge in a precise way that both you and the computer can read. It is important that people should be able to read your programs, including you. If you write programs and revisit them later and you can't read them then you wrote the program wrongly in the first place. One interesting book to read about how to write programs and reason about them is Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programming.
The second issue is that how your organise projects is about the best way to organise the creation of knowledge. For example, adding a new person to a team increases the complexity of communication among team members and makes reaching agreement more difficult. For this and other similar problems see "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.
A third issue that is somewhat related to the first issue is the relevance of mathematical ideas to programming practice. There are people who come up with fancy quasi-mathematical tools to test programs, such as the people in the Haskell community. These tools have some uses but some people such as Rich Hickey have pointed out that every bug in a program has passed tests, so tests are not a magic bullet. Also, a proof of mathematical correctness indicates that the program does something correctly, not necessarily what you want it to do. In addition the vast bulk of code simply can't be reasoned about mathematically since the computer has to deal with complex things for which we have no model, like some hardware and users.
Finally, programming is a labour saving technology. Once you have understood how to solve a problem once you can mechanise solving it. In that sense, programming is part of a process of potentially open ended progress that took off in a major way with the industrial revolution. To understand why this potentially open ended progress is good see "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch and "The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution" by Ayn Rand and Peter Schwartz.
Answer: I like the other answers, they all show a great point. It seems evident that there are more links with Computer Science than with the discipline of programming.
I want to share with you a great essay from Scott Aronson, a theoretical computer scientist from MIT.
Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity
It is more centered in Computational complexity theory, a branch of the Theory of Computation.
Here is the abstract:

One might think that, once we know something is computable, how
  efficiently it can be computed is a practical question with little
  further philosophical importance.  In this essay, I offer a detailed
  case that one would be wrong.  In particular, I argue that
  computational complexity theory—the field that studies the resources
  (such as time, space, and randomness) needed to solve computational
  problems—leads to new perspectives on the nature of mathematical
  knowledge, the strong AI debate, computationalism, the problem of
  logical omniscience, Hume's problem of induction and Goodman's grue
  riddle, the foundations of quantum mechanics, economic rationality,
  closed timelike curves, and several other topics of philosophical
  interest.  I end by discussing aspects of complexity theory itself
  that could benefit from philosophical analysis.

Also, i want to nothe that Peter Millican, a professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, University of Oxford developed a new degree programme at Oxford University, in Computer Science and Philosophy.


Does vegetarianism help in protecting nature?

Question: Recently I saw a documentary in youtube 'Home'. It points out that in America, for feeding cattle, a lot of wheat and other food products are used and these animals are then killed for food. What are the side effects of this? How does this affect nature? If it does cause any serious side effects, does vegetarianism help in protecting our home earth?
Answer: Yes, being a vegetarian is more environmentally-friendly than otherwise
This question has been asked and answered on Skeptics Stack Exchange, based on a claim by PETA to that point.  Full details are in this answer.  To summarise the summary:

Production of meat is a major source of anthropogenic greenhouse gases.  A vegetarian diet therefore leads to less emissions
80% of deforestation is to grow more crops for feeding livestock, so a wide adoption of vegetarian diets would reduce deforestation significantly
There are other factors as well, such as use of water sources.

So, yes, vegetarianism does help to protect the environment.
Comment: I'd better say that an industry-limited (or -free) will help far more than this or that diet. However, that does not answer to the original question.


is data structures necessary for a blockchain developer?

Question: I want to know if i had to study data structures and algorithms for being a blockchain developer or a smart contract developer
Answer: The best answer is yes, especially in the case of an ethereum dapps developer. As you know everything that changes the state of the blockchain needs to be paid. For this reason you should know the differences between using mappings, arrays etc. having this knowledge will make you develop smart contracts which execution cost less.


Tawheed asma was siffat

Question: My question is Allah name is ar rahman ar raheem al malik....but when we supplicate to Allah we say ya rahman ya malik without "Al" why? Please reply with evidences.
Comment: "Ya" is kinda like "O' God"; and  "Al" & "Ar" are kinda like "The God". One and the same, so when you're addressing God, you say, "O' God", not "The God"
Comment: Al in arabic means the and ya means oh. So we remove it when we are talking to God. It is like when an employee talk with his collegue about their boss he says "The boss did someThing" not "boss did something". When the employee speak to his boss he says "oh boss give me my salary" not "the boss give me my salary"
Comment: But its the perfect name of god how can we removenit...my name is ahmed if i remove ah from it my name med?
Answer: I totally agree with Azam's answer who wrote answer in the comment.
The Arabic word 'Ya' means 'O'. This word is used to call a person.
For Example: "Ya Hamza" means "O Hamza".
Another word 'Al', 'Ar' and 'As' etc means 'The'. This word is used for a specific person.
For Example: The teacher teaches a book. In this example: The describes a teacher specific. Similarly 'Al', 'Ar' and 'As' is describes for a specific person or for a specific thing in Arabic grammar.
I hope you get an answer and totally agree with me.
Answer: First of all there's a little weakness in those Ahadith (hadits) which name a number of the names of Allah for example from those 99 Names (Imam at-Tirmidi -who was apparently the only one who narrated this "Hadith" who quotes the names - himself qualifies the Hadith as gharib!) many are neither quoted in the Qur'an nor (elsewhere) in the Sunna -explicitly-  as Names of Allah:

الخافض - المعز المذل - العدل - الجليل - الباعث - المحصي - المبدىء - المعيد - المميت - الواجد - الماجد - الوالي - المقسط - المغني - المانع - الضار النافع - الباقي - الرشيد - الصبور

Now to your question: One important point is that except الله all the names are some kind of characterization which could also be applied on humans in some way. Therefore they are attributes in Arabic and to become a name they need the prefix al-, ar- etc. which is equal to "the" in English so ar-Rahman basically is "the" Rahman etc..
But the Name  الله has even in Arabic some specification because it is pure oneness of God (tawhid) in a word itself! As it is significant to الإله = The (one and only) God but more expressive than it, as without the prefix  "ال" إلاه has a meaning (God)! And it includes already the article "al" but without it it wouldn't have any meaning! And as it is the name which describes or better summarizes all the characteristics of divinity it's forbidden to name anyone with this name (you can only name abd Allah but not Allah)
Therefor in Qur'an even Pharao who regarded himself as a God didn't use this name and said

"And Pharaoh said, "O chiefs, I do not know of any other god of yours
  than myself. Burn for me bricks of clay, O Haman, and build me a high
  tower so that I may climb it to see the God of Moses for I consider
  him to be an utter liar.""
وَقَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ يَا أَيُّهَا الْمَلَأُ مَا عَلِمْتُ لَكُم مِّنْ
  إِلَهٍ غَيْرِي فَأَوْقِدْ لِي يَا هَامَانُ عَلَى الطِّينِ فَاجْعَل
  لِّي صَرْحًا لَّعَلِّي أَطَّلِعُ إِلَى إِلَهِ مُوسَى وَإِنِّي
  لَأَظُنُّهُ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
  [Al-Qasas 28:38]

"I am your Lord, the highest."
فَقَالَ أَنَا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعْلَى
  [Surat an-Naazi'at 79:24]

So when you call Allah in dua' by his name الله you say Ya Allah (O Allah) but when you call him by some characteristic name these names including their articles "al","ar"... obey to grammatical rules and disappear!
By the way if we count all the -different- names the scholars have quoted we find some 276 names
And Allah knows best!
Comment: Apologies if I was off the point; I concluded from the first paragraph in your answer (and apparently missed the last!) that since some of the names are not mentioned in Quran they are not valid names. all my fault...
Comment: I'm afraid, to me, it looks like totally the opposite way around, bro. Allah can have nameless millions of revelations and manifestations to the eyes of a true Salik (سالک), hence can have nameless number of names. Those names that have been narrated and have become commonplace among ordinary people are those with the easiest acceptance.

Tawheed asma was siffat


What does 回 mean in 回答?

Question: What does 回, the kanji for "turn", mean in 回答 "answer"?
Answer: In Chinese, this kanji (or hanzi) originally contains a notion of "returning" (both transitive and intransitive); for example, 回来 "to come back", 回家 "to go back home", etc.
Although in Japan this kanji seems to mean more of "rotating" than "returning", in this case, the original meaning has been carried over into Japanese.
So 回答 is about "returning an answer."

[Edit] More precise answer is provided below by Broccoli forest. Please don't miss it!
Comment: Strictly speaking, 回答 is a synonymous compound: 回 "to reply" + 答 "to answer".
Comment: In fact, 回復 is also a "verb-verb". Old Chinese is incredibly loose at parts of speech, so the almost only reliable clue is the meaning itself. If I had to make a "verb-adverb" compound, I'd choose more semantically distant kanjis.
Comment: Oh, I didn't know 回 could mean "to reply"... Do you know any instance of a dictionary describing about this? Thank you. > broccoli forest
Comment: I believe this sense is already inherent in 回's overall definition of "turn back", but sure, dictionaries recognize it as a noteworthy meaning: `答复;回报` (现代汉语词典); `<动>答复。` (古汉语小字典). Aside from it, that reminds me of a very confusing false friends, 回復 (which means "reply" in Chinese while "restore" in Japanese).
Comment: So actually 回答 is of "verb + verb" compound, not "verb + object"... I see. And 回復 is "verb + adverb" maybe? That seems to make much sense. Thanks for your insight and information again!

What does 回 mean in 回答?


Difference between yatha bhuta and vipassana

Question: Is there a difference between yatha bhuta and vipassana? Or are they just synonyms?
Answer: The two terms are not exactly synonymous although their context of usage is synonymous since both terms are associated with "seeing" ("passa") the same true reality.
'Yathā bhūta' means "true nature", as is found in AN 11.2, namely: 'yathā (true) bhūta (nature) jānāmi (know) passāmi (see)*'
"Vipassana" means "clear seeing" (namely, the Four Noble Truths, the true nature of suffering & peace; & the Three Characteristics, the true nature of conditioned things).
Answer: Vipassana is the process of methodology to see things as they are. Seeing this as they are (yathā,bhuta.ñana.dassana) leads to revulsion (nibbidā) --> dispassion (virāga) -->  liberation (vimutti) -->  knowledge of the destruction of the influxes (āsava-k,khaya,ñāna). [Upanisa Sutta, (Ekā,dasaka) Cetanā'karaṇīya Sutta, (Dasaka) Cetanā'karaṇīya Sutta].
So by means of Vipassana you get yathā,bhuta.ñana.dassana though which you can get liberation transitively. Vimutt'āyatana Sutta mentions this, though it skips some intermidiate steps Nibbida fomular implies that you have to pass through yathā,bhuta.ñana.dassana. Also see this answer.
Also see: Nibbida by Piya Tan
Answer: Yatha does not mean "true." Bhuta does not mean "nature."  Yatha means "as" or "like."  Butha means either "[it] is" or "has come to be."  Yatha butha therefore means "as it (really) is," or "as it has come to be."  There is an implication of truth/reality, but that is not literally present in the language.
Vipassana is neither process nor method as you can use multiple methods to attain vipassana meaning "insight" (lit. vi = "in" or "into" [in this context], passa = "see," na = nominalization marker).
Therefore cultivating samadhi allows us achieve vipassana as it pertains to cause-and-effect (i.e. experience "as it has come to be" yathā bhuta).  Though, the causality could be reversed and you could say that when the mind is still in samadhi then we are able to see experience yatha bhuta, which then becomes the cause for vipassana.
Answer: "yathabhuta - seeing things as they are - not as you want them to be" - this was the instruction at Goenka retreats. It relates to the four noble truths - suffering is because we want things to be different than they actually are in reality...in short - craving is what suffering is...
Comment: Someone proposed an edit, that this answer be changed to -- `seeing  things as they are - ajahn sumedho says "right now - it is like This"` -- but I don't think someone's edit should replace your answer like that, so here it's as a suggestion or comment.


How do I prove this inequality?: $a+b+c+\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}\leq 3+\frac{a}{b}+\frac{b}{c}+\frac{c}{a}$ where $a,b,c>0$ and $abc=1.$

Question: I have been thinking over this problem for a couple of days, but I have no idea how to solve it in a simple way.
I am interested if there is a way only using elementary methods to prove it.
Using the software Mathematica confirmed this inequality is correct.
Answer: Since $abc = 1$, any product term such as $ab$ or $\frac{1}{bc}$ can be rewritten as a singleton term  (i.e., $ab = \frac{1}{c}$ and $\frac{1}{bc} =a$.  Thus the inequality is equivalent to $$\left(a-1+\frac{1}{c}\right)\left(b-1+\frac{1}{a}\right)\left(c-1+\frac{1}{b}\right) \leq 1.$$
This inequality was Problem 2 on the 2000 International Mathematical Olympiad.  Knowing that, solutions should be easy to find.

For example, here's a nice one due to Robin Chapman that can be found here.
We have $$\left(b - 1 + \frac{1}{a}\right) = b\left(1 - \frac{1}{b} + \frac{1}{ab}\right) = b\left(1 + c - \frac{1}{b}\right).$$ Hence, $$\left(c - 1 + \frac{1}{b}\right)\left(b - 1 + \frac{1}{a}\right) = b\left(c^2 - \left(1 - \frac{1}{b}\right)^2\right) \leq b c^2.$$
Thus $$\left(a-1+\frac{1}{c}\right)^2\left(b-1+\frac{1}{a}\right)^2\left(c-1+\frac{1}{b}\right)^2 \leq b c^2 a b^2  c a^2 = 1,$$
proving the inequality in the case that every factor on the left side of the inequality is positive.
Now, suppose one of the factors on the left-hand side is negative; i.e., $a - 1 + \frac{1}{c} < 0$.  Then $a < 1$ and $c > 1$.  Thus $b-1+\frac{1}{a} > 0$ and $c-1+\frac{1}{b} > 0$.  So the left-hand side of the inequality is negative, and the inequality still holds.
Comment: A beautiful proof!
Comment: Well, just one of the factors *cannot* be negative because then $abc \ne 1$.  But two of them could, and then your remark at the end still works.
Answer: A good start would be to show that the only extremum is at $a=b=c=1$. First, we put $c=1/ab$, and from now on we can ignore $c$. Second, we calculate the derivatives of $f = RHS-LHS$ with respect to $a,b$. We get some rational expressions, for which we can extract the nominators (the denominator turns out to be positive, if it helps). We can equate both to $0$, and using Groebner bases find that the only extremum is at $a=b=1$.
There are now several ways to complete the proof. For example, it may be possible to prove that unless $a,b$ are both in some interval $[l,h]$ then obviously $f > 0$. The function $f$ must then attain its minimum inside the interval, which must be the extremum we calculated.
Answer: With $abc=1$, we can set :$a=\frac{y}{x}; b=\frac{z}{y}; c=\frac{x}{z}$. We have:
$\frac{x}{z}+\frac{y}{z}+\frac{z}{y}+\frac{x}{y}+\frac{y}{z}+\frac{z}{x}\le 3+\frac{x^2}{yz}+\frac{y^2}{zx}+\frac{z^2}{xy}$
$\Leftrightarrow 3xyz+x^3+y^3+z^3\ge xy(x+y)+yz(y+z)+zx(z+x)$.
It's true by Schur's inequality. Equality occurs if only if $a=b=c=1$


Windows installed on 17" MacBook shows bad resolution.

Question: I installed Windows 7 using BootCamp but I can only choose the 800x600 or 1024x768 resolution. Can I get any other resolutions? Is there any driver I need to install. These resolutions don't look good on my screen, in fact, they look very bad.
Answer: It sounds like the BootCamp drivers haven't been installed within Windows as those are the default software resolutions for graphics cards without drivers.
The BootCamp drivers can be found on the original set of DVDs that came with the machine, which will be updated to the latest versions once installed in Windows.
You can download BootCamp 3.2 for Windows, and the 3.3 update here, although 3.2 should update once you're online anyway. http://support.apple.com/downloads/#macoscomponents
Comment: What he said ^^


Has an artificial symbiotic relationship ever been created?

Question: Have 2 organisms ever been introduced to create a symbiotic relationship that doesn't occur in their natural environment?
Comment: Can you please give your definition of symbiotic relationship? No everybody uses the same definition. Some use it as an equivalent to mutualism. Some uses to describe any kind of relationship and I've heard people using it as "obligate mutualism or commensalism".

What kind of barrier to their relationship existed in their natural environment? If you consider a symbiotic relationship to be any relationship and you accept any barrier preventing their interaction in nature, then almost any example of introduced species would answer your question.
Comment: @Remi.b I've been thinking on this, and it's a good question, but I'm not sure how to answer it. I was just thinking of pairs that don't normally interact in nature, but were introduced (with or without genetic alteration) in an artificial setting to induce a cooperative or symbiotic relationship with benefits that either replicate their symbiotic relationships with other organisms, or else create a new beneficial relationship.
Comment: does domestication count?
Answer: Here are some examples:

symbiosis between genetic modified yeast cell populations (Shou W et al. 2007)
symbiosis between green algae and embryonic chick connective tissue (Buchsbaum R et al. 1934)
symbiosis between EcoBot II and microbial fuel cells (Ieropoulos, Ioannis, et al. 2005)
Answer: Do not forget domesticated animals that we now keep as pets. It's not unreasonable to argue that the relationship between dogs/cats and humans has a symbiotic character. The pet gets foodand shelter whereas the owner benefits in other ways, e.g. companionship, deterrence of enemies, herding,...
Comment: I thought of that initially, but the mutual benefit varies wildly when considering abusive/neglectful pet owners, and like my cat for example, she offers nothing in return. She overeats and ensuingly throws up on the regular, stands in my way wherever I'm trying to go, and deters very few enemies...very few indeed.
Comment: So if your cat actually offers nothing, why do you still own her? What I want to say by that: the pure presence of a cat often suffices to make their owner more comfortable. If a cat would not have nothing to offer, no one would have one as a pet...
Anyway, you would certainly agree that at least dogs perform useful tasks in some cases.
Comment: well I do enjoy giving her smooches on the whiskers, so I suppose there is some benefit.  I'm not sure if that qualifies as a symbiotic relationship, but maybe a re-defining of the word is in order to include the aforementioned smooches.


Installing webpart

Question: I'm a beginner on Sharepoint and I want to ask if I can install webpart at our subsite. I only have access to our subsite's MOSS.
Thanks
Comment: Do you want install web-part to site only having access to sub-site?
Answer: If the web part is not available in your Site's Web Part Gallery, you will need to have the administrator of your SharePoint farm install the web part solution so that it is available to you.
Answer: To add a webpart as a beginer I would recommend wspbuilder, It will add and deploy the webpart for you, the only task left is to do the following:
You need to be admin to do the following! (adding webpart to page)
On the page that you want to add the webpart goto:
Click: Site Action
then
Click: Site Settings
under Site Collection Administration
select: Go to top level site settings
under Galleries
select: Web Parts
Click on "New"
then select the webpart you want, tick "Overwrite if file already exists?"
now its added to the list you then need to:
Click on: Site Action
then
Click: Edit Page
select an area that you want the webpart to be in and click "Add a webpart".
Scroll through the webpart list zones to find your one, once found select it and add. You can now exit edit mode and you should be able to see your new webpart on the page ;)
Instead of wspbuilder you can do it manually using stsadm "stsadm -o addsolution -filename "" " and then you have to deploy the solution either from stsadm or sharepoint central admin select "operations" then select "Solution managment" and then find the solution that says the webpart name you have given it and its status should say "not deployed". Once you hve found it select it and click on "Deploy Solution".
this is wspbuilder:
http://wspbuilder.codeplex.com/
Hope this is informative and helps you out :)

Installing webpart


What soviet telescope is this?

Question: A friend has a vintage telescope with a broken lens, I asked him to send me its catalog so I can see if I can buy him a new one, he gave me what looks like a Russian catalog, it seems a soviet telescope, I can't read it, I hope you could tell me what it is. I want to search for its lens using English characters.
Answer: Possible search terms to use:

Vintage Russian CCCP Spotting Scope 3PT-460 20x
Komz Russian Military Telescope - 3PT-460 20x
ZRT 460 Russian Scope

Images of item:

Prices I found range from \$50 to less than \$100.
Comment: I added the picture in the question, it's like the ones in the answer
Comment: Yes you are correct I've seen it, it's white and resembles the ones in your picture, possibly the last, I'll show you a picture when I can. The lens costs that much right  not the telescope? Do you know a specific website I could buy lenses or Amazon and ebay are my only friends? Because those two don't have just lenses.
Comment: The 50-100 is the cost for what is shown in the above images, my *point* being that repair may not be practical unless you can find a lens for 10 bucks. I saw them on EBay and used telescope dealers in Europe. I suspect that they are such low cost that people only advertise a complete working unit in good to excellent condition in order to make a sale of a significant amount. Likely some place somewhere has the bits and pieces that they used to fix another one to sell a working unit. Try searching for the minimum text "3PT-460" and "scope" along with "used" or "2nd hand". Many I saw are *new*.
Comment: What is the range of such telescopes? like when you read 3pt-460 20x how does that convert to range? Because I found many newer telescopes in my country but I don't know if they can see further or not than the original. Sellers here say range between 1 and 2 km
Comment: It depends on the size of the object you are looking at. Basically the object will appear 20x closer or larger. So an object 200m away will look like it's 10m away, a person at 200m will look like a person standing 10m away (you'd be able to identify them, whereas at 200m away you probably couldn't; unless you knew them). At 2000m (2 km) you could see a tank (which is what they are for) but you certainly couldn't read a book that appeared to be 100m away.
Answer: Pervomaisk Machine-Building Plant. Portable tripod. Price: 4 rubles 20 kopecks.
Portable tripod is designed for lightweight movie cameras and cameras for various kinds of shooting.
Spotting scope. Model ZRT-460.
Characteristics: https://market.yandex.ru/product--zritelnaia-truba-komz-zrt-460/7084940/spec

What soviet telescope is this?


Presentation - How to make a Tiramisu to be photogenic?

Question: Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I can make a nice Tiramisu but the photo does not look good. I make Tiramisu, get a slice of it and photograph it. Challenge is that we have zero control over how the sides are going to look. It looks messy
Comment: Froze it and cut with a sharp knife.
Comment: Hi manu, and welcome. In addition to people here, you should see if [the photography stackexchange](https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/food-photography) might offer other or better help. They have "food photography" tag.
Comment: can you add a picture of what you are getting
Comment: @roetnig that is a great idea I will try it next time
Comment: @CosCallis here is a photo [imgur link] (https://imgur.com/a/Yxyo3oo) I can fix the background, but the dish is where my worry is. [this photo on shutter stock] (https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tiramisu-traditional-italian-dessert-on-white-477311839) looks clean.
Answer: Mind what you cut the tiramisu with - your knife might not be sharp enough, or even too sharp, or of the wrong kind, or using the wrong kind of technique (pull vs push vs rock cut give different results here).
Exactly the same, of course, applies to the camera equipment used.
But what matters most is how to light the texture of the cut - light it head on and in a nearly collinear to the camera fashion and you will suppress a lot of the texture since highs and lows will be equally lit. Light it from the side and you will emphasize the texture. A combination of both will probably work best. Mind what shadows (of the whole piece of tiramisu) you will cast, and also consider these shadows in the plating and background you use. Mind that white plates can act as a reflector lighting textural features from below (which might be desired or undesired) - but be aware that unwanted hard shadows (moreso if they pick up a color cast) on white backgrounds can be easily overlooked when framing the picture but can look atrocious in the final result. Consider polarizing filters or even using cross polarized lighting if reflections from shiny crockery or shiny, glazed parts of the dessert give you problems.
Answer: One thing you could try is heating the knife. Use a sharp, smooth-edged knife and heat it in hot or boiling water just before cutting the tiramisu. Freezing the tiramisu beforehand may also help. But you won't know what effect it will have on your particular creation until you try. Perhaps the one in the other photo has thinner pastry layers, which would give more resistance to cutting.