What's the quickest way to write "2nd" "3rd" etc in LaTeX?

Question: If I want to use abbreviations for second, third and so on in my LaTeX documents, I am currently doing this: 2$^{nd}$ which seems unsatisfactory. Is there a macro I'm missing? I'm sure I could define one myself, and it would be fairly easy. But this looks like something that should already have been covered...
Answer: You should not use math, when it is normal text. Use \textsuperscript instead: 2\textsuperscript{nd}. You can also define a shortcut for this, e.g.
\newcommand{\ts}{\textsuperscript}

Then you could use 2\ts{nd} in the text.
Edit:
An even nicer solution is to load the package nth with the option super and use the \nth command:
\usepackage[super]{nth}
\nth{1}, \nth{2}, \nth{3}, \nth{4}

Comment: Is `\nth{}` guaranteed not to be hyphenated?
Comment: @CodeMocker I think that would depend on your hyphenation rules. `nth` doesn't create a box for itself.  I would never expect TeX to hyphenate such, though.
Comment: Options for the package are: ```% In LaTeX:
%           \usepackage[super,negative]{nth}
% where option [super] gives superscript `th'
% and option [negative] allows ``st, nd, rd'' suffixes on negative numbers.```
Answer: I guess the quickest and easiest solution is to simply write "2nd", "3rd", etc.
Superscripts aren't really necessary.
Comment: But where's the fun in that? Any chump can just write "2nd"...
Comment: Unfortunately, sometimes life is a little bit boring – there are solutions that are both simple and correct. But as a consolation, bear in mind that most MS Word users will produce 2-superscript-nd *accidentally*, and they have no idea how to disable it.
Comment: Bringhurst (I think) does recommend against using superscript ordinals. But it's nice to be able to `\nth` things automatically, especially in math mode.
Comment: This is the correct answer! Remember that English is not French and does not put `st`, `nd`, `th` into superscripts!
Comment: To say "Superscripts aren't really necessary." Sort of misses the point given that we're already writing in LaTeX and so presumably   we care enough about the formatting that the author of the OQ (or anyone else who arrived at this page later) probably already thought through that it would be easier to just write "2nd", "3rd" &c. and decided that they wanted to go through the trouble of having superscripted ordinals. And @tohecz even if a style guide says that a language does things in any particular way, generally (excepting (if you must?) the Académie Française) there is no *correct* answer.
Comment: I  read somewhere  that the superscript ordinals were usually used  by British in the 19th century. I see still here and there. May be this was a foreign influence, but why this changed in the 20th century? To adapt to the preferences of _The Chicago Manual of Style_ or simply because many documents were created with typewriters where it was easier put inline ordinals?.

In Spanish there are an undisputed reference  for this kind of conventions  (the  Real Academia Española)  but what about English?
Comment: At first I though: "+100 rep bounty for not answering the question?" However, looking back, this does answer the question. Lesson: Be extra clear when asking on SE. xD
Answer: An alternative to nth package is fmtcount.
In this case the command is \ordinalnum. By default the ordinal is formatted as superscript, but this is optional, as it is also in nth:
\usepackage{fmtcount} % equivalent to \usepackage[super]{nth}
\usepackage[level]{fmtcount} % equivalent to \usepackage{nth}

But there are some advantages over nth:

Limited multilingual support (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Italian). For example, in a Spanish document \nth{3} is formatted incorrectly as "3th" but  \ordinalnum{3} is rendered almost correctly as "3º" (see addendum).
Optional gender. For example \ordinalnum{3}[f] produces in Spanish the feminine ordinal "3ª" (tercera). There is also a neuter option (n). By default the gender is m (masculine).
Is if possible switch between raise and level versions  of ordinals in the same document (I can't imagine why, but who know!) with \fmtcountsetoptions{fmtord=raise} or \fmtcountsetoptions{fmtord=level}
For English-only users, obviously (1) and (2) features are useless, but the ftmcount package has also many other ordinal commands, as \ordinal{counter} or \ordinalstring{counter} to print a counter as section as an ordinal ("3th") or as textual ordinal ("third") and more.

A third  package, engord, also print numbers  (\engordnumber{12}), counters (\engord{page}) and can switch between styles with \engordraisetrue or \engordraisefalse, but there are not multilingual or gender support.
On the other hand,  for enumerated lists you can use  the moreenum package with the labels \raisenth or \levelnth. A MWE:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{moreenum}
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}[label=\raisenth* --- ,start=1]
\item one
\item two
\item three
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

Addendum: Ordinals in Spanish.
Although often not used, according to the RAE there must be a dot before the superscript, as in any abbreviation ended with a superscript as explained here. Then, the correct ordinal is "3.o" (tercero) or "3.er" (tercer) but not "3º".
In most cases one can just typing 1.º or 1.ª because is Spanish keyboards there are a key for the º ª \ symbols. However, the problem remain with numbers that can be ended by .er (1,3,13,21,23,31,33,etc.). Moreover, in some fonts the  º and ª symbols are underlined (as in the keyboard), that it is correct in Spanish, but can produce inconsistencies  if one type, for example, 1º,2º,3\textsuperscript{er},4º. Another problem is that these symbols are only in lower case even using \MakeUppercase.
The babel package take care of the format of Spanish abbreviations with a superscript suffix, and thus with the spanish option one can use n\sptext{os} to obtain for example  n.os ("numbers" in plural), but moreover provide a shorthands for masculine and feminine ordinals (also in uppercase) using " which is not used in LaTeX for quotes. In this way, instead of 1\sptext{er} on can use just 1"er for example.  In summary:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{bera}
\usepackage[spanish,es-noindentfirst]{babel}
\begin{document}

\subsubsection*{Lowercase}

1º, 2º, 3º ... 1ª, 2ª, 3ª \dotfill
Keyboard input, incorrect (no dots). \\
1.º, 2.º, 3.º ... 1.ª, 2.ª, 3.ª
\dotfill Keyboard input, correct but underlined.\\
1\sptext{o}, 2\sptext{o}, 3\sptext{o} ...
1\sptext{a}, 2\sptext{a}, 3\sptext{a}
\dotfill With Babel \verb|\sptext{}| command.\\
1"o, 2"o, 3"o ... 1"a 2"a 3"a \dotfill
With "\ Babel shorthand.\\
1"er 2"o 3"er ... 1"a 2"a 3"a
\dotfill Apocopate version (primer, tercer, etc.).

\subsubsection*{Upppercase}

\MakeUppercase{1.º, 2.ª, 3.\textsuperscript{er}} ...
or ... 1.º, 2.ª, 3.\textsuperscript{ER}
\dotfill (wrong way)\\
1"o 2"a  3"er  $\neq$ \MakeUppercase{1"o 2"a  3"er ... }
or ...  1"O 2"A  3"ER
\dotfill (babel way, correct)

\end{document}

Comment: The `moreenum` package actually just uses `fmtcount` at bottom. (I wrote the package: it's nice to see that a question I asked prompted my to write a package which then became an answer to that question.)
Answer: If you are using ConTeXt MkIV, you can even imitate the automatic conversion of MS Word:

\usemodule[translate]
\translateinput[2nd][2\high{nd}]
\enableinputtranslation

\starttext
On the 2nd of November \unknown
\stoptext

This will translate all 2nd into 2\high{nd}.
Comment: Neat. How does this `\translateinput` work? It looks like XeTeX's input mapping but it must occur earlier in the processing.
Comment: I am not 100% sure on how it works. The translate module just registers a "user" filter. Looking at the source, this is how I understand what is happening. The input file is read line by line and first the input translation (encoding regimes and such) is done, then unicode translation (collapsing characters, etc) is done, and finally user translations are done. All this is done in the `openers.textopen` function in  `data-tex.lua` file.
Comment: Is it possible to implement `\translateinput` in LaTeX as well? Might come in handy.
Comment: @marczellm: Since `\translateinput` is based on luatex, it is possible to implement it in LuaLaTeX. But I don't know how easy it will be to translate the ConTeXt code to LaTeX.
Answer: If you're after speed when writing, this solution seems to be the quickest to type
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xspace}

\newcommand\nd{\textsuperscript{nd}\xspace}
\newcommand\rd{\textsuperscript{rd}\xspace}
\newcommand\nth{\textsuperscript{th}\xspace} %\th is taken already
\begin{document}
This is the 2\nd of December. Or the 4\nth of July. Or 3\rd place in a race.
\end{document}

The \xspace command intelligently decides whether there should be a space after the macro or not.
Comment: For maintain the space when appropriate you can use the package `xspace`. There are several questions about this package in the corresponding tag.
Comment: I know this answer is quite old, but the question [Drawbacks of `xspace`](http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/86565/4918) is maybe worth to have a look at …
Comment: This is my preferred approach as it makes the source code far nicer to read. Who wants to read `\nth{4}`?
Comment: Thanks! Edited my answer to include `xspace`.
Answer: Although this question is quite old and has very good answers, I think that maybe there are other people as type-lazy as me, who might appreciate my approach.
Edit: In response to egreg's comments, I wanted to adapt my answer - but the proposed changes would mean that the answer coincides with Nathanael Farley's answer, except for the fact that I redefined \th. egreg strongly cautions about compatibility issues with actually typing þ when redefining \th - use at your own risk.
In the interest of completeness, here's my original answer, which distinguished between math mode and text:
\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{xspace}
\usepackage{mathtools} % only for \binom

\let\thorn\th % so that thorn-rune \th is not lost
\renewcommand{\th}{%
    \ifmmode% math mode
        ^\mathrm{th}%
    \else%
        \textsuperscript{th}\xspace%
    \fi%
}
% similar commands for \st \nd \rd (which are unoccupied)

\begin{document}
Works both in text (5\th, {\it 2\nd}, {\bf 1\st}, {\sf 3\rd})
and math mode $\displaystyle \left(
5\th, \, \binom{n}{5}\th, \, \sum_{1\st}^{n\th}\right).$
\end{document}

This variant will always print upright letters in math mode, instead of adapting to the ambient text style. For a variant that adapts to the ambient style (e.g. italics in theorem environments, use \textsuperscript without distinguishing cases, see Nathanael Farley's answer).
I can imagine that someone might consider an exponent hidden in a macro bad form, but then, cases like n^2\nd seem far-fetched (and ugly), and I think it's obvious to anyone using LaTeX that this would need to be grouped. For powers, I guess I would prefer the inconsistency of $n^2$-th to $(n^2)\th$ anyway. These kinds of questions seem to be a hotly debated topic, see https://english.stackexchange.com/q/36512.
As a side note, I first tried to build an automatic \th which reads the previous character along the lines of How to find the previously printed character?, but managing \lastbox and the other primitives turned out to be way above my head. Also, even if this worked, writing 1\th is really not much quicker than writing 1\st (using the above), whereas the latter one is much more intuitive.
Comment: Redefining `\th` is a *very* bad idea. Try using UTF-8 encoding and type a `þ` in your document. Of course, simply using `\textsuperscript` in every case is easier. And, finally, no: `th` shouldn't be superscripted.
Comment: Even though it only an example, and my comments are not important, I can't help myself. **(1)** I don't see why is everyone so obsessed with `\xspace`, but it's your personal preference, just be sure that it's frowned upon in some journals. **(2)** You should definitely never need ordinals inside math. **(3)** Don't use `\left(...\right)`, especially not for sums and integrals. Better try `\biggl(...\biggr)`. **(4)** Many copy editors with change `1\st` to `1st` anyways (i.e., no superscript), so why all the fuss ...
Comment: @Axel Please, use the `@` mechanism to answer comments, so a notification is issued. Since `\textsuperscript{th}` in math mode does `^{\mbox{\fontsize\sf@size\selectfont #1}}`, it seems useless doing `\mathrm{th}` in that case. So doing `\newcommand{\nth}{\textsuperscript{th}}` does better than the complicated macro you're using. Add `\xspace`, if you prefer; in math mode it does nothing.
Comment: Thanks for the comment. Short responses in order: **(1)** I have no experience with other solutions that avoid gobbled spaces, but am open to everything that works. **(2)** The math-examples are contrived, but `$(n_1+1)\th$` isn't, and if the brackets are larger than the base size the superscript wouldn't be positioned correctly. Also, it's a compatibility precaution. **(3)** This was purely for bracketing the examples without overloading the MWE, I usually use `\DeclarePairedDelimiter` from `mathtools` (which are nicely scalable to the desired size).
Comment: Duly noted. I can see the reason to avoid redefining `\th`, but since I have never encountered (let alone used) the rune in question, I felt comfortable in taking this risk. Do you know of any package which uses this internally? You're right about needing no disambiguition if both are to be set in the ambient textstyle, but I like having the possibility of treating them differently (also I wasn't sure what `xspace` would do in math mode). Lastly, superscripting or not comes down to personal preference (various style guides notwithstanding), otherwise there wouldn't be interest in the question.
Comment: @ all, please excuse my many edits. @egreg, clearly, I still have much to learn. My initial thought was to keep upright letters in math mode, regardless of the ambient font (the reason for \mathrm), but I will admit that I learned about the \ifmmode just recently, so maybe I was more prone to use it than reasonable. I edited my answer to reflect your comments.
Answer: nth package
Example
\documentclass[a5paper]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[super]{nth}

\begin{document}
    The \verb+nth+ package is my \nth{1} choice when it comes to typsettingh
    nth-stuff. It might also be my \nth{2} and \nth{3} choice.
\end{document}

Results in

Limitations

\nth{$i$} does not work: domwass answer does
Answer: The easiest and most beautiful way (in my opinion) is to input the ordinals as Unicode characters:
1ˢᵗ, 2ⁿᵈ, 3ʳᵈ, 4ᵗʰ, $i$ᵗʰ, $n$ᵗʰ

renders as

(I believe that requires LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX and a supporting font.)
Comment: That's really interesting. Perhaps the packages above (e.g. nth) actually translate to the Unicode characters? Are they UTF8 compatible? Google is not helpful in this regard (presumably because it treats these phrases as stop words).
Comment: Maybe this requires a specific environment? When I use them in Overleaf like `17ᵗʰ August 2023` it just gives error messages, `LaTeX Error: Unicode character ʰ (U+02B0)`.
Answer: You could also simply write out the word. 1st = first, 2nd = second, and so on.  Probably better in a formal setting anyway. If this is in a figure or table then any of the above answers sound great, but in a paragraph setting there's no need to get too cute.
Answer: Using the amsmath package, you could to use the \text{} command in the math environment in the following way.
\usepackage{amsmath}

1$^{\text{st}}$

Comment: Welcome to TeX.SX! Do you think this is better than `1\textsuperscript{st}`? Stylistic considerations aside. By the way, it is essentially the same internally, but much less efficient.


How to sleep in a hot room?

Question: It's 40 degrees celsius / 104 degrees fahrenheit outside and in my room it's 30 degrees celsius / 86 degrees fahrenheit (I don't have air conditioning).
How am I suppose to sleep in such a hot room?
P.S Please don't answer "get an air conditioning".
Comment: naked or use very thin clothes before sleep may help
Answer: I also faced similar problem when I was in Rajasthan last year. You can use following tips to make your life a bit easier:

Do whatever you can to prevent excessive heat build-up in your room. During the hot daytime use blinds to keep out sunlight and keep the windows closed if the temperature outside is much hotter than inside.
At night time, if the temperature is less outside than inside, open your windows. It will cool down your room a bit.
Try sleeping on the floor as they may be 5 - 10 degrees cooler than the walls. I know it may sound a bit awkward but in India many people sleep on the floors.
Stay hydrated and take a cold shower before you sleep.

Hope these tips may help you.
Comment: *Try sleeping on the floor as they may be 5 - 10 degrees cooler than the walls* - wow, this is a **real lifehack**. It's simple, does not require any additional hardware so it is applicable without any additional preparation, and seems to relly help :)
Comment: Sleeping on the floor could work, but I can't imagine myself sleeping on it, it's too hard and not comfortable at all, I couldn't fall asleep. Other than that, nice advices.
Comment: @Plexus I am not sure how effective it is. But what I would do is put a blanket on the floor all day when you are not sleeping and just turn it up side down to sleep on it.
Answer: You're probably experiencing the reason air conditioning (cooling) is so widespread in regions where weather gets into the high 30s (C) or higher on a routine basis: regardless of daytime coping methods, sleep is disturbed by excessive heat.
Given genuine air conditioning isn't an option for you, you might try some alternatives.  A fan is the place to start, but if you're like me, constantly moving air will disturb your sleep nearly as much as heat -- and if the fan isn't blowing directly on you, it doesn't do much good.
An alternative that still uses a fan is, rather than blowing the fan directly on your body, blow it across a bowl or bag of ice.  This will cool the entire room, and can make a significant difference.  It will inevitably raise the humidity however, and may improve comfort for only a short time before the climbing humidity undoes the benefit.
Another alternative is to take a cool shower immediately before going to bed.  Not cold; that will tend to wake you up and is counterproductive, but water at around swimming pool temperature (say, near 25 C) is cool enough to cool your skin and remove much of the "sweaty" feeling that comes from heat and humidity, without the undesirable effects of chilling.
Another possible technique, especially if your local humidity is low, is to barely dampen the top sheet.  This will provide evaporative cooling for up to a few hours.  Used in conjunction with a fan, the temperature differential can be 10 degrees C or more.
Comment: Absolute humidity will actually decrease as temperature drops because water vapor will condense into liquid water. Relative humidity should remain constant (in theory).
Comment: If you keep the ice _in the bag_ then surely the humidity will not increase...? You'll just end up with a bag of water which you can refreeze ready for the next night. I'm not really sure how much of an actual difference this strategy can make to the temperature though.
Comment: The bags ice comes in are very prone to punctures and leaks.  Even without leaks, the humidity will rise as the temperature drops -- the dew point will remain constant, but the temperature will approach it more closely.  Cooling humid air without removing some water may reduce comfort, rather than increase it, causing a "muggy" or "clammy" feeling.
Comment: Condensation on the cooling source will lower relative humidity for a while, then it will reach an equilibrium that changes the dew point (a good measure of comfort) little if at all until room temperature gets down to the dew point, which is a *very* uncomfortable state at any temperature.
Answer: Hammocks are probably among the best ways to keep cool and stay comfortable in a warm bedroom without AC. Many many people in Central and South America sleep in hammocks every night, at least in part because it is a cooler option than a mattress. They don't trap heat like mattresses will, and allow airflow around your entire body, allowing your body heat to escape.
If you combine the hammock with a fan or slightly damp sheets that should help a lot.
Comment: I think this is a brilliant answer. Definitely more comfortable than sleeping on the floor and if you know how to sew they are not hard to make yourself.
Answer: A hot shower before bed opens the pours --- the body will sweat a bit and the evaporation of that sweat will cool your body.   Of course sleeping naked with a fan in the room to keep the air circulated (not directly on you)   will help with evaporating the sweat and cooling you down.  A futon on the floor is a great idea. Happy slumber!!!
Comment: A warm shower will do the trick, then go to bed still damp.
Answer: You didn't mention whether it was a humid heat or a dry heat - key distinction! I'm assuming it is humid where you live, so here goes... I lived for a year in Douala, Cameroon - consistently "hot and oppressive year round" with high humidity (to the extent your shoes will literally mold overnight if not kept in a lighted cabinet).  I managed for a year without AC by bouncing an oscillating table fan off the ceiling onto my bed, and onto a mosquito coil which also kept the mossies away.  I was reasonably comfortable with that arrangement. Make sure your mattress isn't contributing to the problem by holding in your body heat - e.g. foam mattresses often make it worse. Also use cotton sheets, not polyester.... A cool shower before bed cools me down and helps me fall asleep - it seems to "reset" my body temperature before trying to sleep.
Answer: Actually I think  "get an air conditioning" is the best possible answer in your situation. But if you are unable to get/install one you could use fan instead.
Comment: A fan always helps. I don't have air conditioning and I am able to sleep really well if I have a fan pointed at me and cover myself with a sheet so that I will not have direct exposure to the fan's current
Answer: I haven't tried this myself yet, but I've heard of people wearing wet socks to bed. Let your feet out of the covers to let the water evaporate off and cool you off. Have a spray bottle by the bed to rewet the socks if you wake up hot and they are dry.
If you try this, let me know how it goes.
Comment: I don't think that's a good idea, especially could be bad for circulation.
Comment: @Plexus Why do you think it would be bad for circulation?
Comment: Well cold feet are a sign of bad circulation, so if your feet are constantly cold and wet it can be a bad thing.
Comment: @Plexus true, but making your feet cold shouldn't affect your circulation. And, for being constantly cold and wet, it would only be at night while trying to sleep.
Comment: Maybe it works for someone, but I know that for me sleeping with cold feet only wakes me up more.
Comment: @Plexus then don't use that solution. there's plenty of other solutions in this thread to try
Answer: I got for a damp sheet or T-shirt with a fan blasting on me. Living in Arizona, my air conditioner failed a few weeks ago when it was 116. Got up to 96 in my room.
Wet the top sheet, wrung it out, and set fans to high / oscillate.
I fell asleep without a problem.
Answer: Apart from some great hacks above, you could try this one. Wet your curtains with water (preferably cold) and run your fan on full speed. This will replicate an AC and your room would become cool enough to sleep comfortably. Oh and while you do this, make sure your curtains are closed, and that there is no way for heat to enter the room
Note: This hack might make your curtains look wrinkly or might increase in length if they are made from stretchable fabric. So, choose the right curtain.
Answer: I live in the city where 30degree to 40degree is normal temperature. Try the below things.

Take some bath towel and put it into the freezer for some time and when you go to the bed just put that towel on your body. You will feel like you are in air conditioner.
Drink cold water it will cool your body.
Take bath with regular cold water.
Use only shorts not to wear all clothes.
Use ceiling fan or small table fan. Small table fan blow cold air than the ceiling fan.
Use small portable fan.

Eat ice cream or snow candy which feels you cold.
Put ice in 4-5 zip bags and put it around you it will make you cold.
As I see one answer is sleep on floor it works. If it is hard to sleep on floor then here is hack. Make your bed cold with ice for e.g. put ice on some bottles or cold water and put it on bed so that your bed will remove heat and when you go for bed just remove all that bottles it will cold the bed.
You can put your bed sheet on freezer and when you go to sleep it use that bed sheet it will make you cold.
Use air water cooler.
Answer: Wear wet clothes or put a wet towel on your body and feel cold for at least one hour. I personally do this when I don't have access to any cooling hardware.
I don't know where you live and whether you are looking for a long-term or just a temporary solution? If there's a place with trees and river, then it should be cooler than anywhere else and it is suitable for rest and relax. But this is a temporary solution of course.
Comment: Hi Joseph, welcome on Lifehacks. Just some feedback. Your answer was posted after others that recommend wearing wet sheets etc. So the bit that is new is the recommendation about staying cold for at least one hour. However again there are others that recommend taking a shower or a cold swim with this effect. You should make more clear what is new and different in your answer if others are already there. The second part of your answer does present a new idea; while I would expect this more as an answer to a camping / outdoor question it's not really wrong either. Why not post _this_ at the top?
Answer: In the hot Mediterranean region, during summer, the locals take a cool swim before sleeping to cool down the body. A cool shower does not really work, it needs to be at least a bath.

Also, Bananas have a very good cooling effect.
Answer: In my hometown temperature is 42 degree Celsius currently which reaches to 49 many times. And there are so many mosquitoes which are the biggest challenge for me.
AC is the best solution. if you want to save energy bill then AC with solar panel can be a good idea. Otherwise keep the refrigerator always door open(don't take it on the serious note). Or in last you can use water fans with some dehumidifier in the room.
Or you can create something like by your own;

However I'm not sure how effective it is. The other thing you can use the Camphor oil on your body and head. You can also put ice packs in some poly bag and put them under the bed sheet. You can fill hot water bottle with ice and try that.
In last, cover all the entrance (wherever possible) with plants and trees. Believe me they will reduce the temperature not only of your room but whole environment.
Comment: Dehumidifier, as well as leaving refrigerator door open, will heat the room, rather than cool it.  With some dehumidifiers, you can exhaust the heat outside, but not with a refrigerator -- not to mention, you'll spoil your food.
Comment: Leaving the refrigerator door open will RAISE the temperature.
Comment: @AmitGupta You'll still spoil your food, and by the time you've been there an hour or two (less in humid conditions), you may frost up the refrigerator to the point it doesn't work at all.  Better to use the freezer in the fridge to make ice and use that with a fan.  Dehumidifiers always, pretty immediately, heat the room, unless they have an outside exhaust.
Comment: @ZeissIkon, I mean to use dehumidifier when you use water cooler not with refrigerator. I suggested various options which may or may not combine together.
Comment: @Chenmunka, using refrigerator is a temporary solution when it is beside your bed or you do bedding beside refrigerator and you don't have any other option like AC.
Comment: @Zeiss A dehumidifier should work though, if the humidity is high. Of course it will raise the temperature even further but dryer heat will allow the natural temperature regulation of your body to work more efficiently. It will feel cooler.
Comment: The purpose of the contraption in the picture is a complete mystery to me.

How to sleep in a hot room?


What is Orochimaru's ancestry?

Question: Orochimaru has pale white skin and purple skin around his eyes. His eyes are also similar to that of snakes. Does it signify that he belongs to a particular clan? Or is he one of a kind?
Comment: Maybe the first question is "What is Orochimaru's real name?"..=)
Answer: In support of @Quikstryke answer, allow me to elaborate more on this topic.
How Orochimaru gained snake-like characteristics
From Orochimaru article on Naruto Wiki:

Orochimaru was an orphan who became a pupil of Hiruzen Sarutobi alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade. Compared to the more laid back Jiraiya, Orochimaru stood out as a genius — his talents, knowledge, and determination were considered by Hiruzen to be that of a prodigy seen once in a generation. According to Tsunade, Orochimaru had a twisted personality even as a child. His sadistic attitude was presumably due to the death of his parents. At some point after losing them, Orochimaru found a white snake near his parents' grave, with Hiruzen's explanation of it representing fortune and rebirth inspiring Orochimaru to study kinjutsu and obtain knowledge of all techniques. Jiraiya theorised that Orochimaru went down this path in an attempt to forget his painful memories.

From the link above, we learn that Orochimaru did not get his snake like eyes from childbirth, but through his research on the white snake that he found near his parents grave. He spent his life researching about immortality and rebirth.
From Orochimaru article on Wikipedia:

Through his experimentations he has also been able to add some snake-like characteristics to his own body

Orchimaru's Snake Techniques
Below is the list of Orochimaru's snake related techniques.

Orochimaru's trademark trait is his affinity with snakes, in addition to impacting the appearance and composition of his true form, and granting him the ability to extend his limbs to abnormal lengths and to take on snake-like traits in battle, caused him to learn a number of snake-related abilities, including learning Sage Mode. His snake-related techniques have been referred to as Power of the White Snake. One such ability is being able to summon giant snakes to fight alongside him in battle, made possible by the summoning contract tattooed on his arm. This allows him to summon snakes within his vicinity, as opposed to having to place his hand on a surface.
If need be, Orochimaru can morph into a giant snake, despite being slightly smaller in size to his larger ones. His signature summon was Manda, a colossal snake which was described as the largest in the world, with immense fighting capabilities. With Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, Orochimaru can instantly call forth snakes from his sleeves and mouth to attack his opponents in large numbers with venomous bites. A stronger variation of this technique was the Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, in which the summoned snakes grow noticeably in both numbers and size.
Another usage of snakes comes in the form of his signature weapon, the Sword of Kusanagi, the Kusanagi of Japanese legend. The sword, kept within the mouth of a snake within his own throat, is able to extend to great lengths to attack enemies that are very far away, can be controlled remotely by Orochimaru, and can return to him by turning in a snake. Although he is capable of wielding the sword normally with great proficiency, it's not uncommon for him to use it without ever removing it from his mouth. The sword is stated to be able to cut through almost anything, and despite failing to penetrate four-tailed Naruto's chakra shroud, did push him back an incredible length. In the anime, he is also capable of having numerous Kusanagi-like blades sprout from the mouths of the snakes he summons.
He is also able to summon use one of his larger snakes around its target, trapping it in its stomach. Following this, Orochimaru can speed up the digestion process on the target. His strongest technique is the Eight Branches Technique, which allows him to transform into an eight-headed, eight-tailed giant serpent bigger than the already colossal Manda, another reference to the Japanese myth. This was described as the ultimate snake-related technique, which turned the user into an immensely powerful "Dragon God".
Comment: This best answer i have found so far. This needs more upvotes.
Comment: Just to stop people from actually believing the above false statement, Orochimaru has had his snake like characteristics since birth. He did not experiment on himself until he was much older. He is seen as a child with golden eyes, pale skin and purple markings. There is no mention of him being a part of a clan, and we do not see his parents, so we have no proof that he is one of a kind or a part of a clan. Summoning snakes was a choice, he chose to sign the contract with serpents. So as far as facts go we can't say if he was a part of a clan or not, however he was born that way.
Comment: Please provide canon references to back up your answer. The youngest we see of Orochimaru is during Hiruzen's training of the trio. So, the "snake-like appearance since birth" part needs to be validated. His natural affinity was towards snakes. Therefore it was not only a matter of choice.
Comment: but orochimaru gained snake like appearances since he is a kid . .
Comment: "we learn that Orochimaru did not get his snake like eyes from childbirth, but through his research on the white snake that he found near his parents grave"

This seems to misunderstand the quote? He didn't research ON the white snake at his parents grave:
"Orochimaru found a white snake near his parents' grave, with Hiruzen's explanation of it representing fortune and rebirth _inspiring_ Orochimaru to study kinjutsu [forbidden techniques]"
Answer: There is never any mention of this in the story so far.  The thing that was confirmed was he is an orphan and his parents death influenced him greatly.  He also tried to forget their deaths and probably them in general since it was too painful, so he probably dropped usage of his clan name for that purpose.   He is considered to be a prodigy, however no mention of any blood limits were mentioned (though not all prodigies need blood limits, ex: Yellow Flash or Hiruzen)
Answer: There's no evidence he was born with the snake like markings, but since we see him as six years old in team Hiruzen, it's safe to say he was. A six year old can not experiment on himself darlings xD and I doubt his parents or any other external force experimented on him. sure the purple markings could have been tattoo'd on when he was younger (which is unlikely since they grow with him), but they couldn't have given him snake like eyes.
Also, as we see, Sasuke's natural affinity was hawks, yet he summoned snakes. Thus, one can have an affinity and choose something different. It was still a choice, even if it was a guided one ;)
Comment: Your answer's alright, but it doesn't really add much in comparison to what the top answer on this question already has.  Do you have more facts or resources to bulk this up with?
Answer: He is clearly of an unnamed clan of some sort.  We know Tsunade was of the Senju but it is never named for Jiraiya or Orochimaru.  The only source that names Orochimaru an orphan or tells a story of a white snake that I've come across is the wiki mentioned in the current highly rated answer - its own source is from the fight between Orochimaru and the Third where there is a flashback.  No mention is made of those facts - but he clearly has the snake-like features back then, before he could experiment.
Much like the Inuzuka, who have developed dog-like features, it would follow that these features came from a clan who dealt closely with snakes in some way and the power of the chakra gave them snake-like features over time.
If there is something valid that mentions the white snake thing in a valid source, that would still make perfect sense with him being in a snake-based clan.  Likely, he did develop more snake-like features as time went on, through experimentation, but it is clear that the foundation for this was already set through lineage.
Orochimaru was an homage to a much older story from feudal Japan; his clan was unimportant to the story, so we have no name for it.

What is Orochimaru's ancestry?


What do Chinese Catholics call their priests?

Question: This Catholic article explains and defends the usage of the word, "Father," in reference to priests. Now, in the Chinese language, people have a tendency to use the same familial words for society at large. A child may call an unrelated man, "uncle," or an unrelated younger girl, "little sister". Will this be in conflict with the Catholic concept of "Father" of the church? Or do the Chinese Catholics use a distinct honorific term just for the priest?
Comment: I'm sure [this page](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A5%AD%E5%8F%B8) has the answer you seek. :P
Answer: Catholic priests are called 神父 "Shenfu" (Mandarin) or "Sunfu" (Cantonese), literally "God- father". For reference please go to http://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A5%9E%E7%88%B6; then click on English (on the left hand side) to see a (rough, not very precise) translation of the page.
Another source is myself: Chinese is my native language and this is the word I use when addressing people who are Catholic priests.
Answer: mook see (pronunciation) is a distinct term used specifically for the pastor of a church.

Familial terms can be used for people like uncles and aunties but these terms do not extend to all.

Source: Chinese family friend.


Brew in a bag (BIAB) material

Question: Where can you buy and what type of material have you made a BIAB with? Specifically:
-Name/brand/type of material
-Mesh size
-Dimensions of raw material and final bag
Answer:
Generic brand
Nylon
Fine mesh - the finer the better
20 inches deep by 18 inches wide

This bag holds at least eight pounds of grain.  I BIAB as my pilot system, making 1-3 gallon batches on my stove.
A friend of mine thinks any fine nylon mesh will work. You could make one from materials found in an arts & craft store like Michael's or Beverly's Fabrics.
Answer: This is what I used:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90111980
It is sold as a curtain, it comes with two sheets measuring 94" X 110" and is made of polyester voile, don't know the mesh size.  I cut one sheet in half and fold it in half when I use it to line my insulated bottling bucket mash tun.  So my "bag" is 55" X 47" folded once.  I  rinse it off and toss it in the washer with my hop bags after brewing.  It cost $5 US, and is 4 times the material I needed.
Answer: I have tried two. I've used 100% polyester voile curtain material. You can find that at pretty much any fabric store and buy it by the yard. With that, I never bothered making a bag and things worked out well.
I recently decided to try a sparging bag in my now-insulated 6.5 gallon bottling bucket as an alternative, and I feel like I'm getting more positive results with that method because I can still drain through the grain bed for filtration (and you can lift it by the spigot for faster drainage).
I don't know exactly what brand it is, but it might be Bru-Heat. I purchased it from my LHBS and it is called "Sparging Bag for 6.5 Gallon Bucket." http://www.home-brew.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=EMP3373&Category_Code=BRUH

Brew in a bag (BIAB) material


Tag synonym(s) Nintendo Switch

Question: Right now we have the nintendo-switch Tag. In some questions it got edited into just switch. Would it be possible to add switch as a synonym to the previously created tag?
Answer: I think we'll be fine sticking with nintendo-switch without the synonym - typing 'switch' into the tag field will already bring up the nintendo-switch tag and now that the switch tag is uncreated, only 300+ rep users can bring it back unintentionally.

As for the 'switch' vs 'nintendo-switch' discussion, again I believe we should stick with nintendo-switch, because it's:

Unambiguous - people misuse ambiguous tags all the time. switch could be used for anything: switching consoles, switching camera perspective, mechanical keyboard switches, switching weapons and so on. Let's make it perfectly clear what this tag is for.
Full name: 'Switch' as in 'the Switch' or 'my Switch' is colloquial. 'Nintendo Switch' is the device's full name as used by Nintendo:
Official: Nintendo uses 'Nintendo Switch' in all official advertisements. Shops like EB Games/Gamestop use 'Nintendo Switch'. This contrasts with consoles like 'Xbox One', which is known as 'Xbox One' and not 'Microsoft Xbox One'

Let's not overcomplicate this by unnaturally shortening the tag because of 'convention' - a convention already broken by nintendo-64 as Nzall has covered.
Comment: Well this answer ended up being kind of weird because the scope of the question changed from adding a synonym to deciding what the tag should be in the first place. Anyway, should it be decided to use [nintendo-switch], I think a [switch] synonym would still be helpful, just to seal the matter entirely.
Comment: @DanmakuGrazer - I just wanted to get my thoughts out of comment-form :-). Although I've edited my answer to better reflect the question now as well, thanks :-)
Comment: Just to add my two cents: I could see a game coming out eventually that is named "Switch", since it's a more generic word. I don't really see that happening for "Xbox", "Playstation", or "GameCube". By not making them synonyms, we can potentially prevent a little confusion that may happen in the future. (Not a fantastic reason, but thought I'd throw it out there.)
Comment: @MageXy - while it's true that could happen, synonyms can be trivially removed at any time, so even if we did add the synonym that wouldn't be a big problem. :-)
Answer: I think we should be consistent in how we define consoles.
playstation, xbox, wii, windows, gamecube, ds, snes and psp are all tags that don't include the manufacturer. I don't think we should change this for the switch. I mean, we didn't do it for the Wii, the DS or the 3DS, which all are known with the prefix Nintendo to the general audience. The only console that's fully known with the manufacturer name is the nintendo-64, and that makes sense. If anything, nintendo-switch should be synonymous to switch, just like the other nintendo-x tags are synonyms to x
Comment: @DanmakuGrazer If you visit the [Nintendo Homepage](http://www.nintendo.com/) It's also listed as "Nintendo Switch" whereas the Wii U for example doesn't have that in it's name. Same with the 3DS. It's the "Nintendo 3DS" not just the "3DS".
Comment: @jutschge Beat me to it - Nintendo seems to refer to it all over their site as the Nintendo Switch so make of that what you will.
Comment: A lot of those Nintendo console tags have [tag:nintendo-x] synonyms. Also a lot of things (even in gaming) are called "switch". In addition to that the Wikipedia article refers to the console as "Nintendo Switch" whereas this isn't the case with some other consoles like the Wii for example.
Comment: @Jutschge I mentioned the Nintendo-X synonyms as well in my answer. I'm saying that we should be consistent: if all other consoles and platforms that we have tags for are without the manufacturer prefix, then the switch shouldn't have that prefix either, at least in the default tag. those other things that are also called switch are irrelevant for tags on Arqade,which are only used to indicate games and systems. As far as I can see, there are no other videogames that are named Switch.
Comment: @Jutschge The Wii has been referred to as "Nintendo Wii" for a long time. Everyone's calling it the "Nintendo Switch" because it's new, but it's exactly the same as the Wii and Wii U. Its name is Switch, it should be tagged Switch.
Comment: @DanmakuGrazer Both "Switch" and "Nintendo Switch" are correct terms (That's why I propose a synonym not a replacement). IMO the DS tag should be Nintendo-DS by default aswell instead of just DS. The normal tag should be an official (full) name. The tag synonyms are there for commonly used abbreviations etc.
Comment: While I agree we should be consistent with defining consoles, I just think 'switch' is too generic a term to stand by itself. (Personally I would've preferred having the manufacturer on all console tags as well but that's just me).
Comment: @DanmakuGrazer - "*What could the Switch tag be mistaken for?*" - *Anything*, that's the problem: Mechanical keyboard switches, switching perspective in game, switching first and second player controllers, switching weapons, switching from PC to console or vice versa, it doesn't matter what's in the excerpt - users will mistag with it if it's as broad a word as 'switch' with many ambiguous meanings. People use [xbox] for Xbox 360 /One questions, [tag:minicraft] gets mistaken for Minecraft, and like you've raised, [glitch] occasionally gets used for game glitches. (cont.)
Comment: @DanmakuGrazer Those are unfortunate side effects of the way those products are named - but in the case of the Nintendo Switch we have an unambiguous option (that just so happens to be the official 'branding' name from Nintendo) - and I'd rather stick to that then go with something as ambiguous as 'switch' in order to stick to a tradition that is already broken by the [nintendo-64] *anyway*.
Comment: @Jutschge The official full name is Switch, Nintendo is the manufacturer.
Comment: These comments are confusing.  What seems to be the consensus?
Comment: @Robotnik What could the Switch tag be mistaken for? System transfers? We have a tag that I've seen misused many times, "Glitch", but no one has suggested to change it to "Glitch game" or anything like that.
Comment: @Robotnik Those are all valid concerns, however now I'm wondering if adding "Nintendo" to the tag would even fix those issues. If Switch were a synonym of Nintendo Switch, wouldn't it be misused in just the same way? Scratch that, even if it weren't a synonym, typing "Switch" in the tags bar would show [nintendo-switch] all the same. I've seen [games-for-windows-live] and [retro-game-challenge] misused by, I assume, hasty posters looking for any tag that would match their question, and you can't really do anything about that. Just from a usability point of view, I think the two tags would
Comment: @Robotnik work almost identically, but I agree that [nintendo-switch] might be slightly less error prone, if uglier.
Comment: @DanmakuGrazer - We will never stop lazy posters, nor will we stop people that just tag '[minecraft][league-of-legends][world-of-warcraft][pokemon-go][fallout-4]' in order to get their question viewed by many eyeballs - but we **will** stop people who *don't know better* - a lot of [Pokemon-Go] questions used to be tagged '[pokemon-series] [go]' because posters didn't understand that 'pokemon  go' in the tag box would be redirected like that. Once we synonymised [go] to [pokemon-go], the instances of [pokemon-series] being used dropped considerably.
Comment: Note that I don't think we need to synonymise [switch] in this case either - typing 'switch' in the tag box will show the nintendo-switch tag anyway

Tag synonym(s) Nintendo Switch


No "New" Link on Calendar View

Question: I made a custom Sharepoint 2010 list and then made a Calendar view for the list. When I view the calender, however, I don't get a link to add a new entry on the calendar like I do for the default calendar. I saw this suggestion but I don't know how to change the type. I am only using Sharepoint Designer. What should I do?
Answer: You have created a Calendar View in an existing list which was not created from Calendar List template. So the new option is not available. New option is available as usual from the Items Tab.
The link that you referred started with events list template so he gets the link to add new event in a calendar.
Answer: The question here is how to get the Add link in the new calendar.  Perhaps this calendar has to be a custom list instead of one made from the default available Calendar List. (Like the one I am working with when I found this post)  It has to be so because the client wants specific form behavior that I cannot get unless I alter the base Calendar List forms (Sharepoint tells me they are specifically locked).  But that would alter other lists on the installation, which the client does not want to happen.  What to do?  Make a new custom list so you have full form control.  But then you encounter this issue, as stated by skaz.  Sorry for the short rant there, but I found Ashish's post to only state the observation that we already have, and to offer nothing.
From the Office knowledge base: "The view itself is not directly customizable using the available view editing and WYSIWYG editing tools in SharePoint Designer 2010. To change the appearance of these views, you need to use code view or a developer application, like Visual Studio."  So lets go hunting in some code.
In the lower left of Sharepoint Designer's display of the calendar, there are three options:
Design, Split, and Code.
Using the code option/interface I am able to see the pre-render guts of the calendar view, but it looks the same as the one created with a Calendar List list.
Looking at the solution in the link in the original question and this one, at SO, appear to be the same but no one says what file it goes in.  It does not go in the calendar code (found that out).  Doing some Googling, I find the definition of the ListTemplate element: "Specifies a list definition that is available as an option for creating lists on the Create page."  This tells me that it should be somewhere at the root of my custom list.  The All Files option in Designer does not show me any file I did not already know existed in the list (forms and this calendar).  A little more reading (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office) shows me that this element is supposed to go in the Schema.xml file that defines the list I am working with.  I made this list with the UI (silly me, being an open source developer trying to do a favor in a Microsoft world) and have not found the Schema.xml file in the list folder.
Enough people say this is the solution (for Sharepoint 2010 anyway) that it should be the solution, if only I could find where that Schema.xml went to.  I bet the gremlins hid it... time to go hunting.

No "New" Link on Calendar View


Windows Search Limits Queries to 255 Chars. Any Way to Override This?

Question: I run Windows 8 and have run into an issue... As you know, Windows features a "fuzzy" search, which is great for finding multiple files... However, I often have to search for multiple files using a massive search string (usually ~500 characters, sometimes more) that comes from the support system at my company. Since Windows search limits you to 255 characters, I have to break my string into several searches.
This doesn't make much sense to me. I know that Windows limits file names to 255 characters (+ a null terminator), but I'm searching for multiple files. I found this page which discusses the MAX_PATH variable, which explains the file length limit, but I'm not searching for just one file.
I'm kind of at a loss because this is really impacting the efficiency of my workflow... Search strings should NOT be truncated after 255 characters, especially since we do have the ability to search for multiple files at once... Anyone have any ideas on how to "override" this restriction?
tl;dr Windows limits fuzzy search to 255 characters. I need to search for longer strings than 255 characters. Halp!
reddit post w/ some extra details in comments if you need it
Answer: When you save a search it gets saved as a .search-ms file, which is an XML-based format that's documented here.
One option could be to manually edit the XML or dynamically generate it to include all your query strings.


Origin of 「~ にとって」?

Question: I just encountered the 「~ にとって」 construction, as in:
「私にとって家族は大切です。」- "Family is important to me". I think I understand what it's supposed to mean. However, I couldn't find any information about the origin of にとって , and I find origins/literal translations helpful while learning. Does anyone know anything that could help me, like where「とって」comes from?
Comment: Note that this can be written に取って, although it hardly ever is.
Comment: So it's something about "taking"! Is it similar to "Take me for example; I think that X" (so take ≈ consider)? That would give a translation like "Considering me, family is important" which sounds sensible.
Answer: If you are truly interested in the origin check out a detailed Japanese explanation here. Most pertinent to this usage would be [九] (1) 「ある事に引き寄せて考える。」.
If you just want to understand its usage, I would say it is closer to 'as it concerns/pertains to (myself)'.
Comment: Keep it up! The short version (shown in answer), basically means to 'bring something (family, in this case) close (to oneself) and consider it'. Maybe you can revisit the origin issue again.
Comment: Thank you! Unfortunately that's above my current skill level – I've only been studying Japanese for a year and a half...

Origin of 「~ にとって」?


How to calculate energy of a molecule in an aligned electric field?

Question: So I am aware that many quantum chemical codes are able to add external fields to molecular calculations (for example to calculate polarizabilities). I also know that in some (eg. Orca) you have some control over the applied field, for example the strength. I am also aware that for example in Molpro, you can apply multiple fields at once, and set the direction of these fields with respect to another. However what I really want to do is apply electric field along a specific chemical bond, and I have not been able to do this yet, since most, if not all codes first align the molecule along the axes of inertia and apply the field after that. Is there an ab initio, or maybe a DFT code that is able to add an electric field along a molecule?
Answer: Aligning a molecule to a particular frame of reference (e.g., with the z-axis along a particular bond) is part of Avogadro for this reason:
In Avogadro 1.x, there's an align tool

You click one atom that will be set to the origin
You click another atom that will be projected along the x, y, or z-axis
You click 'align' and the molecular coordinates will be translated and rotated accordingly.

You will then need to set the program to avoid changing the molecular frame of reference:

In Gaussian, the keyword is NoSymm
In Q-Chem, the keyword is SYM_IGNORE
Comment: I don't have a full survey of codes. Q-Chem applies finite fields with the `$multipole_field` section, and Gaussian uses the `Field` keyword. Be careful with both programs to convert units.
Comment: I don't believe Orca performs this reorientation in single-point jobs, although it seems impossible to preserve orientation during geometry optimization in Orca 4.
Comment: Is one also able to define a finite electric field along specified direction in any of these codes somehow? All I can find is automated polarizability calculations with a finite numerical step, not a way to manually align the direction of the field itself
Answer: I would agree that the best approach is to align your molecule in a way where your desired field is along one of the Cartesian axes. However, you can specify the direction/magnitude of the applied field using Gaussian.
While the typical way of specifying a field Field=M+/-N only allows you to specify a multipole M and a magnitude N*.0001 a.u., you can give specify a particular direction of the field, along with higher multipole fields, at the end of the input file using iop(3/14=-6). Keep in mind that the magnitude of the components you enter is not scaled,  unlike the Field keyword.
Example input file, specifying a dipole field along (1,0,1):
#p hf/sto-3g iop(3/14=-6) nosymm

Dipole field in x and z directions

0 1
N 0.0 0.0 -0.549
N 0.0 0.0 0.549

!Specify coordinates of field
!Can give up to 34 values (3 dipole/field,
!6 quadrupole/field gradient, 10 octupole/field 2nd deriv,
!15 hexapole/field 3rd deriv)
1.0 0.0 1.0


Halachic status of malawach

Question: What bracha do we make on malawach? Does it have the same status as bread, or do we treat it as a cake or cookie?
Comment: −1: question doesn't explain what milawi is. (Just in case it's obvious to everyone else and I'm ignorant, I checked [Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/milawi) and [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/milawi), but they have nothing.) I'd even vote to close as "unclear what you're asking", were my vote not binding.
Comment: I'd never heard of milawi before this post.
Comment: what is milawi? malawa7? if it is, anything you dip you should wash for. even an apple which you dip in honey. also malawa7 is used as a bread type not a cookie.
Comment: Are you using water or juice to mix with the flour ? Or is it a giant pancake from filo dough ?
Comment: Further comments are at http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/13002840#13002840 et seq.
Comment: I think it's clear what Milawi is.
Comment: Also: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/35542
Answer: From here is the definition of milawi.

a certain flatbread called Milawi (Mill-ay-wee) made its way into the
  cities. It is flour and water made into a dough and then folded over
  and over with copious amounts of olive oil until it is slick, firm and
  elastic. Then it is stretched to about 10 inches and thrown on an
  inverted metal disk (looks like a reshaped, burnt hubcap - probably
  is) that is resting over a gas flame, and cooked until it is dark on
  both sides.

From yeshiva.co's Rabbi Moshe Leib Halberstadt: are the principles of making the brocho

In a regular case where one uses soya, canola or vegetable oil which
  do not have a very dominant taste, and with the amount necessary for
  making dough, the taste of the dough is principal and it is classified
  as proper bread for which the blessing is Hamotzie Lechem Min
  Ha'aretz. But in a case where one uses a large amount of oil which has
  a very strong taste such as olive oil, and the taste of the oil is
  more dominant than the taste of the dough, it is considered snack
  bread for which the blessing is Bore Minei Mezonot.

The questioner at yeshiva.co was asking about ground sprouted wheat  but the answer does not appear to be specific to that sort of flour.

Halachic status of malawach


Is there a way to find recently created websites?

Question: Is there a way to find/search recently websites appeared in internet ? For example I want to find out latest games websites (not pages)?
Answer: No, not really.
There is no governing body where you have to report a new webpage or a new website. Thus there is no up-to-date central index of web sites nor a listing of new ones.
The closest thing we have are spiders who crawl the web. (Think Google, Ilse, Altavista, Coosto, ...). But those will only have partial listing and might not share that information.
Answer: Since you have a great answer from Hennes I'll explain why you may have to go down the new page route...
There is no way to class a new website in the manner you want IMO. For example, I can buy a new domain name, point it at my Windows Server and get the classic IIS7 screen... Well, this is a new website I would guess by definition but for this purpose it is not. However, the page responds, has links etc. And of course there is no limit to what the default website may be (IIS screen, an Apache message, custom message etc). I would suspect that a DNS change would also class as a new site.
So then assume I create the actual page 6 months later; well, this would not be picked up as the site isn't 'new'.
I think the page search is the only option... http://www.google.com/advanced_search
However, you'll still have an issue of getting results for just 1 category of website IMO (or at least, you'll have to accept a degree of inaccuracy).


Why do many manuals and technical documents seem to prefer passive voice?

Question: It seems like many manuals and technical documents prefer passive voice over active voice. Is this true, or is it just my perception? If so, why?
Comment: Can you say more about where you've seen this?  I don't see a lot of passive voice in manuals these days, but I don't claim to have seen a representative sample.  It'd help to know what you're looking at.
Comment: I agree that most reference and style guide's I've seen argue against using passive voice. If passive is still present in actual writing, I guess it is often a relic of being taught to write "formal" or "academic English".
Comment: @MonicaCellio I know this is an old question and an old comment, but here it is: https://google.github.io/swift/
Comment: On the other hand, Google suggests to use active voice and 2nd person. https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/one/active-voice
Answer: In academic writing, scientific papers and similar, it is normal practice to avoid writing in the first person.  Such documents are written in the third person.  Check the writing style guide of any scientific journal for confirmation of this.
This practice carries through to a large number of technical communications.  When writing in the third person, the passive voice becomes more natural.  There is a tendency to follow on from:

The system does x

to

The system is affected by x

rather than

x affects the system

This tendency doesn't make the use of passive correct or preferred.  It is just a common tendency among some writers.
It would be recommended to continue to use the general principle of minimising the use of the passive voice.
Answer: Speaking only from my own experience, passive voice is often a last resort. I write a lot of user guide material, and my company's style guide discourages using passive phrasing, but even more strongly discourages using second-person pronouns. So while it may feel more natural for me to write "You can access the setting in the widget," I may have to use "The setting can be accessed in the widget" instead, assuming I can't figure out another way around it.
I suspect this is true of other widely-used style guides as well.
Comment: For instructional content, rephrasing using the imperative mood "Access the setting in the widget" can sometimes be workable.
Comment: Something I've seen done is "One can access the setting in the widget."
Comment: Yes, imperative is definitely a mitigation strategy I use when appropriate :)
Answer: Well, there is no good practical reason for it. In other words, there are no studies showing that passive voice is more effective in communicating technical information. That leaves us with social reasons, which are necessarily a little more speculative and anecdotal. There is history to suggest that the following may be factors:

People often feel that because documentation is a "business document" it must be formal, and they often feel that the passive voice sounds more formal than the active voice. Neither of these propositions is true but they seem to be frequently held by people whose training and experience is not in communications.
The passive voice can be used to conceal the actor. "John hit Frank" becomes "Frank got hit" with the accusatory "by John" elided out. Thus it absolves the speaker either of taking responsibility or of assigning it. Communicators who seem unsure of themselves or who don't really want to communicate at all often take refuge in the passive to avoid taking or assigning responsibility.
If people are in a field where passive documentation is common, they may simply copy that style. It is remarkable the extent to which people will produce information designs that they would never use or like themselves just because they think those designs are conventional. People choose the conventional over the useful all the time.
Comment: I'm sorry, my opinion is that there is plenty of research into use of controlled English and active voice.  Look up some of Rudolf Flesch's research for the US Department of Defence.
Answer: I can add that more than a decade ago, I was senior tech writer with an engineering & manufacturing firm whose product was used in semiconductor fabs, and when I started, the vast preponderance of their tech docs were littered with egregious passive voice, as well as massive redundancies and an over-reliance on repeated heavily-bolded all caps warnings where there were use-case risks.
I found, after discussion with the heads of Document Control and Engineering that this was a result of the one class each engineer had been required to take in tech comms during university - and that independently, at no less than ten top-flight US engineering programs, these student were taught that passive voice would somehow help them magically evade liability and responsibility should an enduser be harmed in the use of their product.
Needless to say, this is a baseless belief, belied by both competent writing and many years of case precedent, and once I presented studies, and brought in a risk-specialist attorney to explain this, we shifted language.
Old:
"Should an incompatible gas be flowed through this purifier's getter bed, an uncontrollable runaway exothermic reaction may occur, with risk of harm to nearby persons or property. When facilitizing this unit, confirm gas compatibility."
New:
"Caution: this purifier may explode or catch fire if the wrong gas is flowed through the getter bed. Double-check for correct gas to purifier chemistry at installation and again prior to flowing gas."
I suspect that though this was more than a decade and a half ago, the same thinking may still apply.
Comment: This is still the case with a lot of engineers I'm working with. The first time I corrected the use of passive voice to active voice in a review, the engineer came back to me and requested that I show him examples of documentation using active voice (because he was taught otherwise in his university courses). Needless to say, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle were good enough to convince him.
Answer: I don't think it's a default standard any longer, and hasn't been for some time. Perhaps it's just that older documentation is still hanging around or used as a base document for similar, new products without any thought (or time) to update it to active voice. Personally, I've avoided using passive voice as a default for the past 20 years (and surreptitiously updated an entire suite of Standard Operating Procedures to active voice over the course of a few years).


My boy just turned 4 and is about to start Pre-kindergarten. He won't poop in potty, only pull-ups

Question: I don't know what to do. He won't do poop in potty. He is completely pee trained, no accidents. It even takes him forever to go poop in pull-ups because he is playing. He is an only child. He will just start Pre-kindergarten this year. Need help fast! Tried so much for 6 months. About to start Pre-kindergarten where he has to be potty trained.
Comment: Have you spoken to the teacher/carer at Pre-Kindergarten? Because what we found is that they are fully prepared for the idea that some children won't have quite made it all the way, and can cope perfectly well. Obviously you'll want to get him to full potty training, but they will support you in that.
Answer: Each child is different and different things work for different families. You may have tried these all but I hope something may help.

Take it in stages. He could be uncomfortable or scared about the idea of doing poos in the toilet so it's about easing him into getting comfortable with this idea.

So you could try easing him into the process through first getting him to go in his pull up in a specific place in the house. Like a corner or somewhere he feels safe. Then once this is done and he is fine going in a specific place, and not just anywhere while he keeps on playing then change that place to become the bathroom. So he gets used to going poos in the bathroom in his pull up. Then instead of going anywhere in the bathroom get him to sit on the toilet in his pull up and go poos. Then once he is comfortable with this step then you could move on to him actually going in the toilet itself, with a pull up pulled down. Slowly working though the steps so he is comfortable with each one before moving to the next.
Other ideas:

Incentives can work well for some children. A very special treat if he goes on the toilet. Like the best treat you can think of for him. The good old sticker or stamp chart is another option that has worked wonders for many children I've known.
positive motivation to use the toilet through explaining that if you stop buying him pull ups the money could be put towards something more fun.
what happens when you let him have an 'accident'? The mess is not ideal but sometimes the discomfort can motivate children to use the toilet.
peer pressure. As an only child this may be a good motivator. Does he have many friends his age who are not having this problem? Hanging out or spending time with them may help him see that going on the toilet is not so scary. Perhaps when he starts pre-k and he sees lots of other children using the toilet he will start to do the same.

Good luck and he will get there with time if nothing else.


What is the meaning of 퍼트리?

Question: Specifically 소문 퍼트리. I know that 소문 means rumor, but i can't find 퍼트리 in all translator machine either it's naver papago or google translate
Comment: It's 퍼(지다)+뜨리+다.
Comment: A complete sentence will be '소문을 퍼트리다'. It sounds unnatural if 을 is omitted.
Answer: The verb is 퍼뜨리다, although it is sometimes pronounced [퍼트리다] by some speakers.
It means to spread.
EDIT
Actually, 퍼트리다 is also an alternative standard form of the verb.
This generally applies to most verbs ending with -뜨리다, that you can also say -트리다.
Answer: I believe 퍼뜨리 is just a typo.
Or, the final letter 다 went missing while copying and pasting.
The person should have written it 퍼뜨리다 or 퍼트리다.
On the second thought,
if the person has used 소문퍼뜨리 to call someone for their behaviors or as someone's nickname while talking on someone's back,
it may mean the person who spreads words.
However, I wouldn't consider this case usual.
Very well could be some teenagers' jargon.

What is the meaning of 퍼트리?


McEliece key size

Question: There's a lot of references about McEliece key size being the barrier for proper usage of the algorithm, exactly (or roughly) how large are the keys?
Comment: The *public* keys are upwards of 1MiB these days, though there are at least 1 or 2 [techniques](https://cardis2020.its.uni-luebeck.de/files/CARDIS2020_Roth_ClassicMcElieceImplementation_paper.pdf) to ease this burden on embedded devices.
Answer: As you probably know the public key in McEliece is an $k \times n $ binary matrix, encoding a generator matrix for a randomly permuted Goppa code (i.e. $G_{\mathsf{pub}} = SGP$, where $S$ is any $k \times k$ invertible binary matrix, $G$ a $k \times n$ generator matrix for an $(n, k, t)$ binary Goppa code, and $P$ a $n \times n$ permutation matrix).
McEliece originally proposed the use of a (1024,524,101) binary Goppa code. That would translate to a public key size of roughly 32kB (calculated as: $(n-k) \times k / (8 * 2^{10})$). However, later cryptanalysis have made this choice of parameters obsolete. More up-to-date parameter sets can be found here (Table 2). Drawing a few values from that table we have:

For an expected security level of $2^{80}$ using a (1702,1219,91) code: 72kB;
For an expected security level of $2^{96}$ using a (2440,1877,101) code: 129kB;
For an expected security level of $2^{109}$ using a (2804,2048,133) code: 189kB.
Answer: McEliece public keys need about 100 kByte to 1 MByte depending on the desired security level.

65 kB for 80 bits of security (too low, corresponds to 1024 bit RSA)
150 kB for 112 bits of security
220 kB for 128 bits of security
1000 kB for 256 bits of security

The McBits paper contains the following table:

McEliece key size


Resources for learning quantum computing from an undergraduate physics perspective

Question: I am a physics and math undergraduate and I want to learn quantum computing mainly I want to try doing research. Are there any resources online courses or books or websites? I not familiar with the concepts of computing. In particular, it would be really helpful if the books are for physics people.
Comment: **Related**: [Are there any organised resources available from where I can begin my quantum computing studies?](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/2082/are-there-any-organised-resources-available-from-where-i-can-begin-my-quantum-co) & [Does a study guide exist that starts from a "purely CS background" and advances towards "making a new quantum programming language"?](https://quantumcomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/1926/does-a-study-guide-exist-that-starts-from-a-purely-cs-background-and-advances).
Answer: I had already mentioned some beginner level resources in this answer to Does a study guide exist that starts from a "purely CS background" and advances towards "making a new quantum programming language"? I'll list some other good resources others which I have found since then, which I believe will be more suitable for physics undergrads.

University of Waterloo's USEQIP 2011-12 lectures are now available on YouTube. Ideally, you should follow them in sequential order and if you devote full-time you should be able to grasp the basics of quantum computing in around 2 weeks. The lectures are extremely well structured and specifically aimed at pre-final year undergrads. They cover both theoretical and experimental topics like linear algebra, quantum algorithms, practical decoherence modeling, error correction, quantum dots, quantum key distribution, spin-polarized transport, superconducting qubits, quantum foundations, and NMR quantum computing. Generally, it's quite rare to find undergrad-level lectures by the leading quantum computing scientists like Michele Mosca, Andrew Childs, and Raymond Laflamme themselves. So you're lucky!
John Watrous' 2006 lecture notes  are a great resource to accompany Vazirani's lectures and notes. You can think of this as an abridged undergrad-version of Nielsen and Chuang. It covers the basics of quantum algorithms, quantum information, cryptography, and error correction. This will be more useful if you're bent towards the computer science side of quantum computing.
John Watrous' 2011 lecture notes provide a very thorough exposition of quantum information theory (some of the topics discussed there are not even available in Nielsen and Chuang). You may go ahead with it once you're done with the resources mentioned in points 1 and 2, and find yourself sufficiently interested in quantum information theory. I've personally only been able to go through the first couple of chapters so far, as it's quite dense. Not recommended for beginners but definitely useful for the advanced students.
To get a basic idea of quantum complexity theory, go through Quantum Complexity Theory (Part 1) - CSSQI 2012 and Quantum Complexity Theory (Part 2) - CSSQI 2012. I believe complexity theory is a topic which very few physics students have a solid grounding in. But it's extremely helpful to have at least an undergrad level knowledge of computational complexity theory if you wish to pursue higher studies in quantum computing, even if you choose the physicist's path.
The CSSQI 2012 playlist also has topics like topological quantum computing and quantum control theory. I haven't watched all of them yet, but from what I've seen, they seem to be very high quality lectures, aimed at beginners.
Answer: Some answers have already been proposed in this previous question and in this one. Nielsen and Chuang's book is the reference but may introduce much and very fast. But you have many introduction PDFs like An Introduction to Quantum Computing (Michal Charemza). I would recommend crossing different sources to learn even material for non-physicists, like An Introduction to Quantum Computing for Non-Physicists (Rieffel & Polak). Look at quantum development kits like Q#, Qiskit, pyQuil and follow their docs and getting started.


Why are there two expressions for the Black-Scholes hedging portfolio

Question: I am new to derivatives pricing and am trying to understand why there are two different expressions for the Black-Scholes hedging portfolio. The first approach, used in books like Hull, stipulates that the hedging portfolio consists of being short one option and long $\frac{\partial V}{\partial S}$ shares at any time $t$, that is:
$$\Pi_t=-V(t,S_t)+\frac{\partial V}{\partial S}S_t.$$
In other references such as Shreve, the hedge portfolio is presented via the following tautology:
$$\Pi_t=\frac{\partial V}{\partial S}S_t+\left(\Pi_t-\frac{\partial V}{\partial S}S_t\right).$$
This might be a stupid question, but are these two expressions just different ways of expressing the same thing? Is the cash position in the second equation equivalent to reinvesting the price of the option if we are selling it in the first place (i.e. $-V(t,S_t)$)?Any comments or explanations would be greatly appreciated.
Comment: The second formula looks suspicious to me. Can you check?
Comment: @onlyvix.blogspot.com Yes I have seen this in several places including in stochastic calculus and finance by Shreve (from p. 153 onwards)
Answer: The first portfolio $\Pi^{(1)}_t$ is a self-financing hedging portfolio. It is typically what you get when you delta hedge an option position (here short hence the minus sign, but it could be long without loss of generality) with shares of the underlying asset. If the only source of risk comes from the randomness of the underlying asset price $S_t$, then one can claim that $\Pi^{(1)}_t$ evolves at the risk-free rate i.e. $d\Pi^{(1)}_t = r\Pi^{(1)}_t dt$, because applying the self-financing property along with Itô shows that $d\Pi^{(1)}_t$ is a deterministic quantity (the randomness reflected by the $dS_t$ term disappears) and should hence evolve at the risk-free rate under no arbitrage assumptions.
The second portfolio $\Pi^{(2)}_t$ is a self-financing replicating portfolio. It is composed of shares of the underlying and money placed/withdrawn from a risk-free money market account (or equivalently a position in zero-coupon bonds). Usually, $\Pi^{(2)}_t$ is used to dynamically replicate an option position $V_t$, in the sense that, for any infinitesimal period of time we want to make sure that $d(\Pi^{(2)}_t - V_t) = 0$.
The equations $d\Pi^{(1)}_t = r\Pi^{(1)}_t dt$ and $d\Pi^{(2)}_t - dV_t = 0$ are two different yet equivalent ways of deriving a pricing PDE under no arbitrage assumptions (at least in a complete single factor market).
Comment: Thanks for your answer. I was under the impression that hedging portfolio and replicating portfolio were the same thing, since the seller of the option wants to "hedge" his position by "replicating" the value of the option at all times.
Comment: You actually have a choice in practice:

If you hedge using the underlying only, your resulting portfolio will grow at the risk-free rate (considering an ideal world where all usual modelling assumptions are met).

If you hedge using a self-financing portfolio composed of stock and cash positions, with a number of shares matching the delta of your option position at all times, then the resulting portfolio should be perfectly neutral (under the same assumptions as earlier).

As you can see both are related and it really depends on the context.
Comment: Ok cool I understand better now. Is the first case an example of static hedging, as opposed to the dynamic rebalancing with stock and cash in the second case?
Comment: Nope, both are dynamic hedges since you have to keep rebalancing your delt continuously.


Desktop UX vs. Web UX

Question: As a C#/WPF developer and a beginner to UX I find it hard to apply some ideas to my desktop applications because most of UX books are focused on web development. What are the main differences between web UX and desktop UX? Are there any? Is there a good source (book/web) focused on Usability regarding dektop apps?
Comment: This question is too broad to answer. There are many differences (one of which is that - by nature - web is mainly thin client, and desktop is mainly the opposite). Every case is specific. This is why porting applications from desktop to web needs having an UX designer on board.
Answer: Also, and not trying to confuse you (seriously!), do you mean "mobile web" or "desktop web"?
The first and foremost influence is not the medium (desktop, whatever web, or native mobile), but the user and their goals. So there really is no single answer. Very abstractly, there usually is a reason why one app is desktop and one is web:
A desktop app has been installed. Somebody has spent some effort on that. Why?

To get more performance,
to get more interactivity,
to ensure a certain hardware,
or to get more security.

A web app is accessible from everywhere, which means

unknown screen size (e.g., regular website on phone)
unknown device (mouse, touch, keyboard?)
unknown situation (at home, or on subway)

These point to differences which typically can be seen between desktop and web apps: More interactivity, more visualization, and specialized input devices on desktop, more focussed, single-tasked web apps. Users on desktop apps usually are more proficient with them, because they use them more often.
There are also a few design patterns which belong to either: Navigation is done by menus and toolbars on desktop, while there is a top-or-left-side navigation pane on web apps. Functions on objects can be invoked using the context menu on desktop, which is not available on web apps.
Use cases also differ: Noone will install Amazon or Google on their own machines - the use case is inherently web. The former desktop-only use cases (such as my personal accounting) migrate to the cloud, however.
Answer: A couple of the biggest differences I can think of between a desktop application and web application are:
A desktop application is generally faster than a website. A desktop application is able to compile and display results faster than a browser (typically) because a browser has latency displaying results. It has to send requests out, have those requests fulfilled by a server, receive them back, and then process those requests into the correct binary code from the browser. There are just more layers involved, so there's more latency. The practical application of is this that desktop applications are able to do some process or display results quicker. The downside is that these items can only be done on the computer(s) you have the application installed and synced together.
A desktop application is available even when a computer is offline. This is a different use-case than almost all websites. Almost every website is designed under the assumption that the user has some consistent internet connection. Yet what happens to your application (interactions, available actions, data) if the internet isn't available? Does the user still have a valuable experience? Does going online enhance your app or is it crucial for the application's success? The offline experience becomes much more important.
A desktop application can utilize different UI paradigms than a website. Just as gestures in a smart phone app introduces a different way of accomplishing tasks, desktop applications provide different approaches as well. Users assume certain items are always true with a website. There will be some sort of navigation. Information can be deep-linked to, so the experience is non-linear. Information is organized from most important to least important. The browser offers additional functions as well (bookmarking, searching the text of a page, history, back & forward buttons, etc). With a desktop application, you don't have any of this. You need to build it, and because of that you're able to reinvent it too. Your application isn't wrapped in a browser. You don't have to necessarily work within the workflows typical to a browser. You can re-organize your application's approach (menus, panes, layout, workflows, etc) as you see best to solve the user's problems.
Answer: There is a common false assumption that UX means just the interface. If, by UX, you mean interaction design then there are many good books on the basic principles of interaction and interface design such as About Face by Alan Cooper.
Good UX is as much about learning the underlying theories creating good programmes. Anyone can learn to code, but that doesn't mean you can programme. Anyone can learn to put together interfaces but that doesn't mean they have created a User Experience.
Here's a few more books...
http://ux.stewdean.com/ux-books-worth-reading/
Comment: The link is broken ...

Desktop UX vs. Web UX


What is the meaning of text on Jesse's shoes in S03E12 in Breaking Bad?

Question: In S03E12, when Jesse is walking to kill two of Gus's enforcers, the camera shows the back of Jesse's shoes and there is a text there. Right this scene. I think it says "PAID". I think this is yet another symbolism. Could you explain the meaning of this?
Answer: Those are "Osiris 'Get Paid' Bronx Lifestyle Shoes." Osiris appears to be a brand targeted to "skater/surf culture." Certainly they are in character for Jesse, but it is debatable whether this carries any further meaning within the story.
I suspect that these were a Wardrobe Department choice rather than an editorial one.
Answer: This might well be implying the payback. In many cases Breaking Bad producers show things that have not yet happened. That being said, the next thing is the two enforcers get ran over by Walter.


In speech recognition, what kind of signal is used?

Question: Speech is a major primary mechanism of communication between humans. With respect to artificial intelligence, which signal is used to identify the sequence of words in speech?
Answer: Not sure I understand what you mean by signal. However, incoming audio must be cleaned and processed for a machine to understand. Some people speak faster and others slower. First thing is to sample in the incoming audio. In other words use analog electic signals and store them as binary values at a set rate of sampling frequency.
See Nyquist Shannon theorem.
Now that it is sampled we need to clean it up and extract only the voice data. Effectively the sample is a set of values (frequencies) recorded over time. Or a signal :).
We can cut up this signal into many smaller components of a few milliseconds say 10ms. Each of the millisecond samples is further processed
A Fourier transform is generally used to break a signal into components, or frequencies that make up the signal. This is basic signal processing and we have not even entered machine learning yet.
Now we have a fingerprint of each 10ms sample these samples are then fed into a neural network. Samples are broken between frequency drops to create blocks of sound which may or may not be a word. These blocks are passed to the neural network.
A traditional feed forward neural network will not work as it forgets the data. So a recurrent neural network is used.
To train the neural network known words are tagged and encoded as a number. The neural network will output a number and the difference between this number and the expected number is the error. The error is then used to update the weights
Once we have the words, those can be further processed by other networks that specialise in natural language understanding
Answer: The signal path in speech recognition as one travels further from the basic representations of sound depends increasingly on the role the recognition plays. Consider these roles.

Translation to another language
Comprehension as in listening to a lecture
Comprehension as in a bunch of people out for food, drink, and laughs
Transcription into text

There are similar differences in other natural language facilities of reading, writing, typing, speaking, interpreting body language, and expressing with body language. With auditory language, the stages of sensory processing proceed in a particular order of signal types, each representing the dynamics of language at successively abstract levels, essentially reversing the process of speaking.

Physical dynamics of air
Frequency dependent vibrations of cochlear hair
Spectra, transients
Pitch, tone/timbre, impacts, loudness
Phonetic elements
Linguistic elements distinct from other noise
Beginnings of attention based functionality

The first six elements are common between all language oriented hearing. The seventh is where the above four roles diverge. In translation and comprehension, comprehension of linguistic nuance is required. Colloquialisms, euphemisms, culturally dependent references and analogies and other higher level linguistic and social constructs is required for full proficiency. For transcription, comprehension is required only to improve transcription reliability and to distinguish between phononyms like to, too, and two.
Notice that the sixth level is not words or sentences. Words and sentences are later developments in human language and occur later in an individual's childhood. Our educational systems are largely word oriented, but people do not talk or listen in words. There is no signal for "way" in the brain when someone hears, "No way!" which, in the current semantic state of U.S. English is a single linguistic element that means, "What you just said is very surprising to me." Two written words represent this one linguistic element.
Conversely, there are two distinct signal representations for, "wanted", specifically, "want," and "-ed." The second of the two is reused for, "planted." The -ed ending is not relearned for every verb.
Consider these lines out of a dialog.

Jenna: Cats run.
Chelsea: That's ridiculous.

In transcription, the voices must be distinguished and the words must be written, including the contraction of, "That is," whereas the plural of cats could be possessive, so the computer attempting this transcription must somehow chose the plural over the possessive in this case. Out of context, the pronoun, "That," does not refer to the cat or a person named Cat but the idea of the running. Consider this conversation between people out for food, drink, and laughs.

Catherine: He's so sexy.
Jenna: Cat, you always pine over the really toxic guys.
Catherine: No I don't.
Jenna: What about that cute (and well dressed) guy that wanted to meet you for lunch last week?
Chelsea: She gave him her number.
Julia: Yea, with the last two digits transposed.
Chelsea: All the Jennas I've ever met are first to run when a nice guy comes around.

Catherine nods. (beat) Patrick comes to the table.

Patrick: Hey, you're Catherine, from Central High, right? Didn't we have study hall together in junior year?

Catherine puts some cash on the table for the drinks.

Catherine: I didn't go to Central. I went to East Barnard. (beat) Girls, I'll see you later. Gotta go so I can get up for work tomorrow.

Catherine exits. Patrick wanders off.

Jenna: Cats run.
Chelsea: That's ridiculous.
Julia: What, you think she left because of work?
Chelsea: Why not?
Jenna: She works at a restaurant closed on Mondays.

This dialog is a series of signals relying heavily on understandings that are not in the language. There is no formal grammar that could faithfully guide parsing by words. The signals after all seven levels of processing still fall far short of complete descriptions of the scenarios or the ideas of the individuals involved. Yet a series of themes and triggers to existing information shared in common between those at the table communicate volumes of information.
Level six from the layers listed above is important here because people are talking and possibly loudly at other tables. Level seven of the listening is entirely different at this girl's night out and may not share any significant functionality with the listening process when Jenna, Chelsea, Catherine, and Julia are in class taking notes.
For computers to partake in a conversation like this one and actually socialize, many more functions beyond the seven layers of abstraction above must be assembled and must learn all the nuance and information brought in as cultural reference. For example, there are several cultural ideas involved.

Some people tend to pick those that are not particularly healthy for mates.
Getting a phone number is a first step toward talking in private.
Cat is Catherine.
The conversation is occurring on Sunday, thus the next morning is Monday, the day when the restaurant at which Cat works is closed.
A man producing some connection from the past is a segue into further conversation based on some relational interest.