Why do we read Kohelet on Sukkos?

Question: We read Kohelet either on the Shabbos Chol Hamoed of Sukkos or Shemini Atzeres.
Why do we specifically read this on Sukkos? What is the connection between Sukkos and Koheles?
Comment: No source, but I always assumed it was because Koheles is meant to temper some of the joyful exuberance in the holiday of Sukkos. Koheles thus serves to reconnect Sukkos with Yom Kippur, by introducing sobriety into the levity.
Comment: Rav Medan gives a pretty comprehensive overview of the many (possible) connections https://www.etzion.org.il/en/reading-kohelet-sukkot
Answer: The Sukka teaches us that this world is just temporary. Kohelet teaches the same thing.
(One can expound immensely on this)
Comment: Do you have a source for this reason?
Comment: @msh210 it's from the my friend and I heard it's from the movie Ushpizin.
Answer: Sukkot is called "The Holiday of Gathering", since it is the time of the in-gathering of the crops. At this time one, feeling flush with his successful agricultural endeavors, may forget to attribute the success to G-d (as promised in Sefer Devarim).
In order to remember G-d's role in our work, we move into a temporary dwelling (sukkah) where we can see the heavens and remember G-d.
For this reason we read Kohelet, which "is full of earnest thoughts and reflections on the "vanity of vanities" of this world. It fittingly concludes with
the words, "The end of the matter after all is heard, is:
Fear G-d and keep His commandments, for this is the
whole purpose of man."
Source: The Complete Story of Tishrei (pg. 147)
Answer: I heard a really nice dvar Torah about this over Sukkot.
At one point in time, Kohelet was debated as to whether it should be part of the Tanach or not.  One argument against Kohelet was that it is confusing and contradictory. In one verse it says that Simcha is Good, in another verse it says that Simcha leads to sin and is therefore Bad.  (There are many such examples)  However, one of the reason this argument was refuted was because Kohelet also makes us think.  Yes it is full of contradictions, but in the end it makes us think and brings us closer to Hashem.
The holiday of Sukkot, is also full of these 'contradictions'.  On the one hand, The etrog is alone and considered to be the Talmud Chacham. On the other hand, we have the Lulav which is made up of 3 types of non-Talmud Chachams all with their pitfalls.  But we bring them together, and the Lulav is considered greater than the Etrog.  On Sukkot, we go outside but build for ourselves booths so we go out to go in.  During the rest of the year we seperate ourselves from Non-Jews, but on Sukkoth the non Jews are invited to the Temple as well, and we bring sacrifices for them.
So in Short. Just as in Kohelet, the good and the bad are brought together, so too in Sukkot the good and the bad are brought together all towards one purpose... serving Hashem. (And it makes us think)
The follow up question to this though, is why do only Ashanazim read Kohelet on Sukkot?
Answer: I heard that since all the other Megillot were read on a holiday, a minhag (custom) started to read the remaining megillah, ie. Kohelet, on the remaining holiday, ie. Sukkot.  Later rabbis came up with justifications for this minhag, such as those mentioned above.
(I don't have a hard source for this.  Sorry.)
Answer: Sukkos in prayers is refered to as zman simchateinu, time of our happiness. It is happier than and both Pesach and Shavuos, because happier than the day one is introduced to their beloved, and happier even than the day one is married, is the day one reconciles with their beloved after a fight.
Conflicts and their resolutions make relationships stronger. We spent this past year in varying degrees of unfaithfulness to Gd. Admitting our faults, and commiting to forsake them for His service, makes our relationship with Him stronger every time we do it. That should bring about more happiness than a memory of first meeting Him, or making an eternal covenant with Him, because it represents both that meeting's and that covenant's enduring presence in our lives, how year after year it is renewed, stronger and more full of love than ever before.
Koheles captures that, in essence, by considering all of the pleasures of the world, as well as its mechanics, concluding from experience that its all worthless, and arriving at the service of Gd as the means and the end. Shlomo struggled to find real meaning in places other than torah and mitzvos, and finally admitted that there was none, reconciling with himself and his existence as a servant of Gd, the only source of meaning.
Just my thoughts.

Why do we read Kohelet on Sukkos?


What could be causing my solid stained doors to make cracking noises?

Question: I have new solid interior stained doors and they all keep making cracking sounds when they are closed and left open, even though no one is touching them.  Can you please tell me what it is? I am sound asleep and get woken up by these sounds.
Answer: One possibility is a slight cracking of the stain or finish coat on as sections of the doors as they expand and contract based on changes in temperature and/or humidity.
Many doors have inset panels that are not rigidly glued in, but sit in channels in the rails (cross members) and stiles (upright members). When these doors are finished, the stain and finish coat may create a weak bond where these panels are joined. As the doors shirink and swell, the panels shift, breaking these seals.  There also may be a slight edge of finish that remains, and as the doors continue to shift, that edge may make noises even after the seal is broken.
One way to reduce dimensional changes is to make sure all six (6) faces of a door are sealed or painted. Often neglected are the top and bottom edges, and moisture can be absorbed through those raw faces increasing dimensional shift.
Answer: This is hard to say really but it could be a number of different things.
If the door was left in a cold or damp place for an extended period of time then the suddent adjustment of being brought into a warm dry house when it was installed will cause it to expand to its new environment.  This expansion can sometimes result in the door grabbing on the inside of the door frame or in solid wooden doors can result in friction being built up between wooden pieces while expanding and then suddenly they can release and cause a small crack sound like what you are describing.  This is typically a temporary thing and will slowly stop happening over time.
Another possibility is that the door may not have been built very well.  In a solid wooden door the wooden pieces are typically held together in much the same way cabinet pieces are held together, with biscuit pieces and glue.  A liberal amount of wood glue will exist between two pieces and they are usually clamped together until fully dried.  If one or more pieces were not cut square and yet were still clamped together with glue, then there could be significant stress pulling on the glue as the two pieces wouldn't naturally be seated next to each other.  Over time this stress can cause the glue to start cracking suddenly and the overally structure of the door may be weaker as a result.
A final possibility is that since solid wooden doors are heavy, if they are not secured properly to the door frame then you could be hearing stress on the hinges, hinge screws or hinge screw holes into the frame.  If the door was installed into an existing door frame using standard three hole interior door hinges then it may not be held secure enough.


How can I change password for my Exchange settings

Question: Due to corporate policy, I was forced to change my domain password, which impacts also the access to Exchange server.
Now I need to update that password also in my Android phone (Galaxy S, Android 2.1.1), but I can't find the settings in the phone.
Any idea?
Answer: Settings - Account and Sync - <your exchange account>' - Account settings - (scroll down) Incoming settings' - password field.
On my Samsung Galaxy S - running Froyo 2.2.1
Comment: Thanks, @Edelcom, that was easy...
The problem was that the fields below has pixel or two of identation, so "Incoming settings" look like chapter label, and I haven't tried to click on it.
Comment: I had exact same problem, did not see it was itself a field to edit.
Answer: The phone should prompt you for the new password once it gets an error back from Exchange.  If it doesn't - you can try removing the account and re-adding it on Menu -> Settings -> Accounts and sync page.
Answer: Samsung Galaxy S2...same solution touch click "Incoming Settings"  which looks like a label rather than a field
Answer: Samsung version 7.0 answer: Apps - email - settings - click account - exchange server settings
This was way more difficult to figure out than it should have been.
Answer: In Samsung Galaxy S2:

Settings > Accounts and Sync > (Select your Exchange email) > Account Settings > (Select your added account) > Scroll down to Sub heading "Sever Settings" > Exchange server settings

Under that heading is:

Domain\User name
Password
Exchange Server Settings

The phone does NOT prompt you for a new password. That would be nice if it did, instead of continually updating you with notifications that it could not connect to the Exchange server.
Answer: Changing your account setting will allow you to access your e-mail, but will not reset the Google account synchronization.
After you update your passwords in the accounts of the security section then open the Playstore application.
The Playstore application will then notice your change of password and will prompt you for the new one.
Give the new password and that's it.
Comment: That looks like you are talking about the *Google Account* password. OP is asking for his *Exchange* password. AFAIK, the two are not related. Did I get something wrong? What does the "Playstore application" have to do with Exchange accounts, and why should it prompt for a new one?


Why can articles be omitted in this sentence?

Question:
But all the while, he lived in the guesthouse where authorities believe he turned from con man to killer. (source)

This seems to be a case of article elision. Why can articles be dropped before "con man" and "killer"?
Comment: Possible duplicate of [When can an article be omitted?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/33304/when-can-an-article-be-omitted)
Answer: The construction verb from X to Y uses nouns in their generic meaning for X and Y, even when either X or Y, alone, would require an article.  Con man and killer wouldn't ordinarily be used in a generic sense alone, except with carefully selected verbs.
You could say he was a con man and turned into a killer.  In each case, he is an example of a con man or a killer, so an article is used.  You couldn't say "he was con man" or "he became killer", using the terms in a generic sense.
But it does work with certain verbs, "turned" being one: "he turned con man" or "he turned killer".
To the phrase in the question, the construction he turned from con man to killer lets you use each term as a generic class, so no articles are needed.
Some other examples:

the house went from dump to showcase
  the car went from clunker to hot rod
  the meth addict went from movie star to bum
  the plane lost its wings and went from glider to rock
  he grew from boy to man
Comment: Is "he turned a con man" or "he turned a killer" possible?
Comment: @listeneva, that would actually have a different meaning, or at least become ambiguous.  "He turned X" means "He became X".  If you add an article, it could refer to someone else.  At least without some clarifying context, "He turned a killer" could mean someone else is the killer and "he" (the subject) made the killer change (e.g., to stop being a killer or change sides).  If you add an article and want the sentence to still refer to the same person, you could add a clarifying word like "into": "He turned into a killer".  (cont'd)
Comment: But that has a different nuance.  "He turned into a killer" focuses on just that individual.  "He turned killer" has a meaning closer to "He became a member of the class of people identified as killers"; it's a more generic meaning.
Comment: Thank you. Appreciate it.
Answer: It may be an elision. But, depending on how you look at it, the nouns could be acting as adjectives, modifying him.
Consider the ambiguous:

That is a safe house.

It could be interpreted as there being a noun phrase safe house, or as there being a noun house that is modified by the adjective safe.
Semantically, you can have a killer recipe, so (theoretically, although it seems ungrammatical with the words in this order), you could have a killer man.
In your sentence, if there is elision, I believe the elision would actually be being a rather than just a:

 . . . he turned from being a con man to being a killer.
Comment: I don't see what your example has to do with the question (everything before "In your sentence...").
Comment: @userr2684291 if **con man** and **killer** are functioning as adjectives, then there is no elision . . .
Answer: On pp.409–10 in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL) by Huddleston, Pullum, et al. (2002), in Ch. 5, §8.5 titled Restricted non-referential interpretations of bare NPs, subsection (b) Fixed expressions or frames, there are listed some categories of special constructions, and the examples there look similar to yours:

arm in arm, back to back, day after day, mouthful by mouthful,        [repeated nouns] side by side, mile upon mile
from father to son, from beginning to end, between husband and      [matched nouns] wife, mother and child

[...] The examples [above] are illustrative of a number of expressions involving repetition of the same noun or contrasting nouns [...]. Similarly, in coordinate structures, bare NPs can optionally be used in repetition: We searched endlessly for a spring or a cave to spend the night, but neither spring nor cave could be found.

CGEL lists and categorizes expressions such as in hospital, by bicycle, have lunch, at dawn, but I didn't include these and the accompanying comments as they don't quite look like the example in the question.
Anyway, I asked professor Pullum (and one of two coauthors of the relevant chapter, Payne, as it turned out: they seem to have been in the same place at the right time) and he told me your expression had to be exemplifying one such special construction. He commented that there are many exceptions to the default requirement that an NP with a singular countable noun as head have a determiner, and then listed a few such examples (e.g., with hand on heart, tongue in cheek).
Answer: I don't think it is article elision but article omission. It is not an elision in the linguistic sense.
The answer is simple: there is no article because it's making a general statement.
Adding an article would make it refer to a specific person, idea, object or concept:

... from the con man to the killer.

If there was an article that was omitted or if it were to include an article, it would be the indefinite article a:

... from a con man to a killer.

Because it would have the same meaning as:

... from con man to killer.

The latter is preferred, because "from a A to a B" just seems tautological, when it can just be "from A to B". There are certain exceptions though, that being a matter of style--the article may be useful for emphasis.


What is the difference between Applicative and Generative Modules, and Type Classes?

Question: Reading the comments to this blog post made me realize I don't know much about some really interesting functional mechanisms between languages like Haskell, OCaml and Standard ML. I'd love a high-level overview not of syntax but of the general concept of what these 3 things are.
Comment: Did you read the research paper that blog post links to?
Comment: @RobertHarvey the paper makes no mention of generative or applicative modules
Comment: Are you sure you're using the right terms?  "Applicative Module" doesn't even Google, though "Applicative Functor" does.  The term "Generative Modules" seems to be associated with electronic art and music.  The blog post you linked uses the terms "applicative" and "generative," but not in a module context.
Answer: Since both are in OCaml, We can explore the difference between generative and applicative functors easily:
<code>module type S = sig type t end
module M = struct type t = int end

(* An Applicative functor. *)
module F (M : S) = struct
  type t = Foo of M.t list
end

module F1 = F(M)
module F2 = F(M)

(* M1 = M2 => F(M1).t ≡ F(M2).t
   This works.
*)
let x : F1.t = F2.Foo [3]

(* A Generative functor. Note the () argument *)
module F (M : S) () = struct
  type t = Foo of M.t list
end

module F1 = F(M)()
module F2 = F(M)()

(* This doesn't work anymore ! F1.t ≠ F2.t *)
let x : F1.t = F2.Foo [3]
</code>
Applicative functors are the default in OCaml, they are more appropriate when a functor application is pure (which is, arguably, the most common case). Generative functors are available since 4.02.
Generative functors are the default in SML, they are more appropriate when a functor is impure (or when doing type shenanigans). AFAIK, applicative functors are not available in any SML dialects.
In practice in OCaml, generative functors are used in general in combination with first class modules to have functions that generates a fresh type at each application. This has various use cases (heterogeneous maps, emulating singletons types, ...). In particular, this sentence from the manual is of importance: "As a side-effect of this generativity, one is allowed to unpack first-class modules in the body of generative functors."


Syndicate posts to another blog?

Question: I want to import one blog to another, but have that constantly happening, i.e. when I blog on one site I want it to appear on the other.
Answer: Take a look at the FeedWordPress plugin, I've used this on one client site to aggregate feeds from their other sites and republish the latest post from each site. The UI is a bit complex and unfriendly, but it does the job.
Answer: a trick would be to blog by email
set up both sites to publish thru the same email.
once you send email - it is auto published to both at same time without waiting for cron job of aggregation to happen

Syndicate posts to another blog?


Packers Material for learn how to unpack software

Question: I would like to known where i can found guides to learn how to unpack packers like Themida, Armadillo, VMProtect, etc. I was searching challenges and guides but i could not found for packers, only other types of challenges. I have to learn how unpack that type of software, i'm new in this world of RE but i need to learn this. Thanks in advance.
Answer: If you are just starting out learn Assembly and Study C, and don't try to learn how to "unpack" commercial protectors (They are commercial for a reason), even if you want to insist on the error easily you will find scripts to do all the work for you, but I ask you, will you learn something new or just say that you know how to unpack with someone else's scripts? focus on the base, I recommend that you read beginners RE, if you want an excellent book read Practical Reverse Engineering: X86, X64, ARM, Windows Kernel(ISBN: 9781118787250), these books will teach you the necessary basics, after finishing your reading you will be able to unpack simple protections, and with a focus you will learn the tricks of commercial protectors and how to get rid of them and differentiate code virtualization, good studies.
Comment: if you want to insist on this error, here is an unpack tutorial for vmprotect, but remember what I said: https://youtu.be/aoa89Khfgr0
Comment: Thank you for your answer, it was really helpful. We start with the study (it was a group research) because we understand that the most important thing it is to know the bases of RE.


Layover in CDG can I check my luggage through to DUB and go into Paris

Question: i have a 14 hour layover in CDG (Paris - Charles-De-Gaulle) coming back from BKK (Bangkok airport), can I check my luggage through to DUB (Dublin airport) then leave the airport and go into Paris.
Answer: This will depend on your airlines. The airport is irrelevant unless it requires you to claim your baggage and walk them through customs. That is not the case in your scenario.
If both flights are operated by the same airline, the answer is: Yes, you'll be able to check your luggage in at Bangkok airport and all the way through to Dublin.
If it is different airlines and one of them is a budget airline, the answer will almost certainly be: No. You'll need to reclaim your luggage at CDG and check it into the next leg of your trip.
If both airlines are non-budget airlines (and especially if both belong to an airline partnership like Star Alliance) it may be possible to check the luggage through. I've done this with Icelandair on one hand and Lufthansa, SAS, United, Singapore and Malaysian airlines on the other. I.e. all traditional airlines, not budget ones.
Answer: This will depend on your airline (and maybe the airport).
First, I wonder why you need to check your luggage if you have a layover (i.e. a connection)? Did you buy two separate tickets? If you bought BKK-DUB flights on the same tickets, your luggage should be transferred automatically to Dublin, you should not collect them in CDG.
Otherwise, you should go to your airline (selling airline) website, look for "Check-in time" on the website and figure when it is open. It usually opens 2 to 3 hours before departure depending on the distance, but some airlines offer to check the baggage 24 hours before departure (Lufthansa in some German airports for example)


Restricting / monitoring wireless access in a restaurant

Question: I'm currently working for a software company that also runs a restaurant next door, and customers have recently been asking for access to the WiFi. I've been tasked with making it happen, but networking issues aren't really my thing.
The DSL hops over several routers before it gets to the wireless antenna, and signal strength is fine from the restaurant. Since our customers are generally locals and relatively "trustworthy", everyone else was okay with just supplying them our wireless password and off they go, but I'm not happy with this - firstly for security reasons, and secondly because I work off the same connection and it could slow me down considerably.
What would be the simplest way to maintain some kind of access-restriction system on the network, considering I'd like to monitor their usage, block certain ports, throttle their transfer speeds and perhaps expire passwords?
Answer: There are several ready-made solutions. Check these links: Sputnik, WiFiDog, ChilliSpot.


Hostels in US vs. Europe

Question: How do hostels in the US compare with hostels in Europe? Are they similar in terms of convenience, availability, cost, amenities, etc? Or is the "hostel culture" completely different in the two places?
Answer: It occurs to me that I've only ever stayed in one hostel in the US, and it was a 17 bed dorm of hell with a Russian snoring in it.  Which is pretty much like every other hostel around the world ;)
To be fair, I've been in a lot of hostels, some are good, some are bad, but for the most part they follow a similar pattern - dorms with bunks and a basic breakfast sometimes. Good ones have a common room, helpful staff, wifi and a happy vibe.  Bad ones have cockroaches, randy people in the bunk above you, little personal space and no security, and are staffed by an old goat with a beergut.
The rest of the 'differences' are simply what makes them unique, and the experiences you have at them make for stories - good or bad. :)
But given that hostelworld and hostelbookers both use the same criteria for hostels in the US and in Europe (and anywhere else for that matter), and I've never heard anyone say anything weird about them being 'different', I'd say if you were happy in one, you're likely to be happy in a similar standard one in the other.
(and I've had a lot of Americans stay at hostels I've been at, and never heard any of them say 'This is nothing like hostels back home!')
EDIT
Update, I stayed in a hostel in Honolulu in April, and another in Seattle in May.  Just like any other hostel, I assure you :)
Comment: Most American I met in hostels elsewhere had never been in an American hostel. I did not see much difference but only 2 US ones and a few more Canadian hostels, and those back in 1992.
Comment: "But given that hostelworld and hostelbookers both use the same criteria for hostels in the US and in Europe (and anywhere else for that matter)" - that is hardly a point. Hotel booking websites such as HRS display hotels based on the same criteria in all kinds of countries, as well, even though standards vastly differ between countries.
Answer: I agree with Mark and thiton that the differences between individual hostels are vaster than the difference between US and European style of hostels generally.
But there is one kind of hostel common in some parts of Europe that I haven't encountered in the US.
Especially in Germany but also nearby including at least Austria and Luxembourg I have encountered a style of large old "institutional" hostels run by Hostelling International (HI).
The "hostelling movement" started in Germany and these seem to have sprung up from that original movement and many of them are still going. They seem to cater either to large groups of children or groups of families. Typically they are very large and well outside the centres of cities. You won't have much of a relationship with the staff who are much more like mere employees than cool travellers to hang out with that you might find in small hostels. They also typically have large canteen-style dinging rooms and the breakfasts can be pretty good. Some seem to offer other meals besides breakfast also.
The prices can vary wildly. Back in 2001 I found some of these hostels to be amongst the cheapest, while others were so expensive I couldn't afford to stay. Also back then at least in Bavaria these hostels strictly enforced an upper age limit for guests of 26 years.
The first European hostel I ever stayed in was one of these in Frankfurt am Main, Germany ten years ago, Haus der Jugend. Most recently I stayed at one on the edge of Vienna last year, Hostel Hütteldorf.
Answer: The hostel culture in Europe already differs so widely that any significant difference with the US is unlikely.
Many of the HI hostels in Europe are new buildings with two-bed and some four-bed rooms, much closer to hotels than hostels in anything but name. On the other hand, the large tourist cities feature many dirty, snoring-heavy 20-bed dorms. And there are plenty of small, almost family-style and very nice hostels in the cities of central and eastern Europe.
Answer: Biggest difference are IMHO the people who visit those hostels. In Europe you get the Americans, Australians and south-Americans, and in America you get the Europeans, Australians and yes, more Americans. I always found it odd if people hostel in their own country, but in American hostels that seems to be quite normal.
The other difference i noticed was that the American hostels where mostly run-down ex hotels with dirty carpets and smelling couches, while the hotels in Europe seemed to be cleaner in general.
Comment: I quite often stay in hostels in Ireland, when I'm spending a weekend away in Dublin or (more often) Galway. Cheep and handy.
Answer: In Europe the term "Hostel" is not so common anymore. Hostel has the connotation of being a cheap and uncomfortable form of budget accomodation. The snoring roommate maybe being the main caricature. In the Netherlands for example, the youth-hostel chain changed its name to stayokay.
It might be worthwhile to compile a list of synonyms for budget-accommodation forms in the country you intent to visit. Bed & breakfast works in many countries, but sometimes you can find really nice accommodation if you search for local alternatives in the same price range as a hostel. chambre d'hotes (France), Zimmer frei (Germany but also used although not their language in the Netherlands), Gastenkamer (Belgium), Agriturismu (Italy).

Hostels in US vs. Europe


Why does "Schweiz" form the corresponding adjective like a city?

Question: Is there a reason we say Schweizer Schauspielerin as opposed to schweize Schauspielerin (note lower case)? I believe this has to do with adjectives based on cities always being capitalized and ending with -r (e.g. Berliner Mauer). But why is a country-based adjective behaving that way?
Comment: Note that this phenomenon is not limited to *Schweiz,* but also applies to *Thüringen, Brandenburg, Tirol, Kärnten, Pfalz,* and many more.
Comment: Because _Schweiz_ is a proper noun, not an adjective. You can't just add a case ending to a noun to make it an adjective. Conversely, _englisch_ and _deutsch_ are both adjectives, not proper nouns. Note how the corresponding names of the countries for those two are not _*English_ and _*Deutsch_, either, but are (originally) compounds/phrases with the noun _Land_ as their heads: _Deutschland_ is 'German land'; _England_ (from earlier _Englaland_) is 'land **of** the Angles'. _Schweiz_ is completely incomparable to these two.
Comment: Just to clarify: Could you explain how you'd derive the (invalid) adjective "schweize" from Schweiz? (I automatically read it as "schweizer", assuming you're just asking about lower/upper case)
Comment: As Mark Sitro commented, the adjective would be *schweizerisch*, which is used in the country name *Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft* for example. Regarding *cities*: there are also the adjectives *hamburgisch*, *lübisch*, *köl(ni)sch* and *bremisch*, referring to cities [though probably in their capacity as countries], so the case is not that clear cut here, either.
Comment: Schweizer is a substantive. A (male) person from Schweiz. Something like schweizich oder schweizerich would be adjective, although I don't know if that is a real word.
Answer: The origin of the name "Schweiz" is indeed the name of the town "Schwyz" and the canton with the same name.
In the 14th century the Swiss people were actually called "Eidgenossen". After a battle (Schlacht bei Sempach) where soldiers from the canton "Schwyz" had an important part, a chronicler first called all "Eidgenossen" as "Schwyzer", short for "Schweizer Eidgenossen". And in the following centuries this name pushed through.
And that's why we have today

deutsche Schauspielerin
  englische Schauspielerin

but

Schweizer Schauspielerin
Comment: Wir haben aber auch
einen englischen Schauspieler aber eine englische Schauspielerin
aber schweizerische Schauspielerin ist auch möglich.
Comment: Wir sagen auch Nürnberger Bratwürste, die nur in Nürnberg hergestellt werden. Aber Bratwürste aus Franken werden fränkische Bratwürste genannt.
Answer: This rule actually refers to "geographical names" rather than just cities - the capitalisation of "Schweizer" thus just follows the rules :)

D 90:

Von geografischen Namen abgeleitete Wörter auf -er schreibt man immer groß <§ 61>.
das Ulmer Münster
  eine Kölner Firma
  die Schweizer Uhrenindustrie
  die Wiener Kaffeehäuser

Edit: I apparently misunderstood the question at first.
If it is indeed primarily concerned with why the "-er" derivation isn't restricted to cities' names, I'm afraid there's probably no firm rule. You'll just have to memorise the rather few instances.
Speculation: There might be a tendency for this derivation in the alpine regions:
Tirol -> Tiroler Berge
Allgäu -> Allgäuer Kässpätzle
Vorarlberg -> Vorarlberger Skilehrer
Schwarzwald -> Schwarzwälder Kuckucksuhren
but also:
Thüringen -> Thüringer Rostbratwurst (although "thüringisch" is used for everything else besides these sausages)
Comment: So the answer is: "deutsch" and "englisch" weren't derived from a geographical name, i.e. do not consist of such a name + "-er". A Deutscher would be someone from Deutsch, but Deutsch is not a place.
Comment: I think the OP's question is why it is "deutsch**e** Schauspielerin", "englisch**e** Schauspielerin" but "Schweiz**er** Schauspielerin".
Comment: It's not speculation/tendency, it is as it is. deutsch and englisch are just adjectives. Tiroler is "${NAMEOFSOMETHING}er" - different rule.
Comment: I doubt your speculation concerning the alpine region, see Sylter Deich, Harzer Käse (as well as Tilsit-er, Edam-er).
Comment: @guidot Not to mention Engilsh _London-er_, _Dublin-er_, Danish _København-er_, Swedish _Stockholm-are_, Norwegian _Ålesund-er_, etc. Not only is it not limited to the Alpine region, it's not limited to German at all—it's common to nearly all Germanic languages. (Except maybe Icelandic; can't think of any there.)
Comment: @guidot: Good point regarding Sylt and esp. Harz (as a relatively small island, Sylt could be argued to fall into the "city" category rather than "country" or "region" -- at least size-wise). Tilsit and Edam are in fact cities, so they don't really serve the point here, right?
Answer: Today, Schweizer is considered an adjective. However it does not possess any declension which points to its actual origin being a genitive plural of the noun Schweizer. This also is the reason why it is still capitalized. Thus Schweizer Schauspielerin actually meant "(der Schweizer) Schauspielerin" thus "Schauspielerin von den Schweizern".
Knowing this, it is helpful for writing fluid German to avoid ambiguities that may reactivate the original genitive. Thus writing "... der Schweizer Schauspielerin" is harder to read, as "der" may be genitive plural or genitive/dativ singular.
Within Switzerland, the adjective schweizerisch is preferred to Schweizer. The official name of Switzerland is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft.  Similarly
Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung and not the Schweizer one &ct.
Answer: Sorry, not enough rep to comment. I think you can say "deutsche" und "englische" because it already ends with a "sch". "Schweiz" does not end with "sch" so it's not possible.
You could use "schweizerische Schauspielerin" which seems to be also correct. https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/schweizerisch
Comment: No, that is not the reason. A town like Windisch would lead to "Windischer Berge" (no idea if there is a town by that name, or if there are mountains around ;) ).
Comment: There is a town called Windisch: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windisch_AG :P
Answer: Simple: If something is directly Made Up from a place Name, Like Schweizer from Schweiz, it's er, If it's Not, Like deutsche from deutsch (deutsch ist an adjective, Not a place), it's e
Comment: I don't get what you are trying to say. Can you edit your answer and clarify it?
Comment: @Robert Ok, I Hope ist's okay now

Why does “Schweiz” form the corresponding adjective like a city?


Change from Gold Roger to Gol D. Roger

Question: Was there ever a reason given for the name change? I thought at first that it was possibly a mistranslation in the initial episodes. However, in LogueTown Luffy visits a bar named "Gold Roger" and considering the owner knew Gold Roger you'd think they'd get the name right.
Answer: There hasn't been any change, I think.
The real and first name is ゴール・D・ ロジャー (Gōru D. Rojā, Gol D. Roger), but he is also known by the name of Gold Roger. I think it's just an in-universe thing.
That said, his real name carries the D. which in the story is being described as "more than a simple initial", often mentioned when talking about The Will of the D:

In the series, few characters have the middle initial "D.". This mysterious middle initial has been called "the Will of D" (Dの意志 - D no Ishi) or "D's will" by several characters in One Piece. [...]

By the way, the  meaning for the D. has not been revealed yet, but it certainly holds great importance and is likely to be a major point in the development of the One Piece story.
Comment: The change wasn't the name as a whole, but how people said it.  Like how people say (Al*ex) or (Al*ix)
Comment: @Blue It's not a radical change though. I mean, if everybody calls you Bob, but your actual name is Robert, your name hasn't changed. People will simply call you by another name, but you'll always be Robert. Gol D. Roger is the real name, but since it has a nice word hidden in it, people call him "Gold Roger" but that doesn't change his name neither in the universe, nor in the Manga itself (for us).
Comment: Yea, but people just got lazy in saying the "d" so they just referred to him as Gold
Comment: @Blue That might be one of the reasons, sure. But if I was Roger, I'd be offended! :P
Comment: @Alenanno [Even Roger himself was offended (chapter 576)](http://i.stack.imgur.com/xiyNH.jpg)
Answer: There is a flash back around the time of the Whitebeard war where Gol. D. Roger is talking to either Whitebeard of the villain form the strong world film.
Here Gol remarks that people have begun calling him gold instead of Gol. D. and laughs about it asking the other person if he wants to know why the "D" is important.
This scene is set 10 years in the past so the name change began around then and slowly spread around the world the way words do. The purpose for the name change appears to be a sign that knowledge of the will of "D" is fading form the world.
Answer: One reason of the change of Gol. D. Roger's name to Gold Roger was due to slang.  People would rather just connect the name making it Gold Roger than having to say more syllables.
Another reason would be that the treasure One Piece is thought (One Piece isn't confirmed to exist) to contain gold.  Since his name's spelling is close to gold, people then just start saying Gold Roger.
In my opinion, his name change would be due to the laziness of the later generations.

Change from Gold Roger to Gol D. Roger


How can I follow someone on Twitter without them knowing?

Question: Is it possible to follow someone on Twitter without them knowing?
Comment: +1 Great question. I haven't ever really used Twitter until recently decided to follow one of the hosts of a favorite tech vidcast and I've been getting random follow requests from bots ever since.
Comment: I would have said a definite "no", but I've had people (bots?) turn up on my followers list without getting an e-mail so either a) some e-mails aren't getting through or b) yes there is.
Answer: If you use a feed reader such as Google Reader, you can subscribe to the RSS feed of the twitter user you want to "follow". Basically, it'll be like visiting their Twitter page, but you won't show up as a "follower" on Twitter.
Comment: This only works when the person you're trying to follow hasn't protected their updates. If they have (and you can program), you could write a simple bot to follow them (under some pretend name) and send you updates.
Comment: This is no longer available since Twitter depreciated unauthenticated RSS feeds.
Comment: Wow. I never thought of that. +1 from me. I'd give more if I could.
Answer: Put them on a private list. You can then just visit the list to see their tweets. You might want to also add the people you're actually following to that list and change your bookmark to point to it instead of Twitter's home page.
Comment: @Joe: Unlikely. The answer has never been edited and your comment was 5 hours after the answer was posted. ;-)
Comment: They will appear on your list which is kind of like following them
Comment: @Joe Phillips can they see that when the list is private?
Comment: I do not think so. This answer may have been revised at some point
Answer: If the account is unprotected and you're using Firefox, there's a plugin called TweetStalk that lets you stalk users instead of following them.
Answer: You would have to do it manually (by going to their page and seeing what they post).  You can't add their content to your homepage unless you follow them.
You could write an application that pulls your homepage content and mixes in their timeline content.  You could also use a RSS reader to pull in multiple feeds (your homepage and their stream) into a single location.
Note: They will only be notified if they have notifications turned on, or they constantly monitor their list of followers to see if it is changing.
Answer: Jared Hardley's suggestion (RSS) is the way to go (for non-protected accounts). If you want the person's tweets plus any replies (which you can get in RSS via a search), you can use this Yahoo Pipe I created that mixes both things up: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=a9379d57504827fc594e71daeb54dd60


File extensions related to LaTeX, etc

Question: In addition to the .tex and .dvi or .pdf files, TeX/LaTeX/ConTeXt produces and uses lots of other files. What do they do? Which ones are used to create the document and which ones are automatically created by the compiler. What files can I safely delete?
Comment: What are the following files? .glg .alg .tdo .agr .acn .fls .fdb_latexmk .run.xml .acr .gls .glo .xdy I found the answer here: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/53310/69025
Comment: According to David Carlisle (https://github.com/gpoore/minted/issues/114), turns out the `.mw` extension is from the `morewrites` package. Apologies for asking ... trying to track down an obscure `Runaway text?` error that halts the compiler with a few mysterious, peculiar comments `\_morewrites_tex_immediate:w` `\_morewrites_tex_write:w` and `\g_morewrites_iow` output on the console that I don't understand.
Comment: I don't see an entry for files with a *.mw extension. What package(s) do they belong to? Thanks!
Comment: It would be handy to have a basic `LaTeX` mechanism for indicating the extensions used for temporary files. This could be indicated via an `ASCII` file in the source code of a project. It would then be very easy to have all the extensions that can be removed.
Answer: .fd = Font definition; used in generating the output.
.bst = BibTeX Style File (e.g., a certain journal's preferred Bibliography layout settings); used by BibTeX when generating the bibliography.
.aux = LaTeX auxiliary file; created when LaTeX is run, these contain information LaTeX records which is then used by either BibTeX or LaTeX itself on later runs (e.g., about cross-references), and can contain other things as well. This file is created by running LaTeX but also used the next time LaTeX is run. It can be deleted, but then you may need to run multiple times in the future to regenerate it.
.bbl = Bibliography; this is what is outputted by BibTeX for insertion into LaTeX the next time LaTeX is run.
.blg = Bibliography (BibTeX) log -- just like .log but for BibTeX; generated by BibTeX and can be safely deleted if there's no need to check it for errors.
.brf = BackReference file for the backref package, I think. I'm not very familiar with these, but I suspect they're created by LaTeX when a file using that package is compiled.
.cls = Documentclass (like article, or report - if you have them cluttering up your folders, you must use a lot of custom classes for individual journals or universities, etc.) This is obviously used to generate the output.
.dtx = Documented source file; can be used to generate a LaTeX package or other file along with its associated documentation.
Of these, .aux and .blg can  be safely deleted. Probably .bbl too if you don't mind rerunning BibTeX and have access to the .bib files needed. The rest should not be deleted but maybe moved somewhere more appropriate. In particular .fd, .cls, and .dtx are better taking up space on a (personal) TeX tree, not in the folder of the document you're working on.
Comment: I'm afraid I don't know what a .lbl file is. Probably something specific to a package, like .brf, and the letters suggest something having to do with labels. What packages are you using for things like that? Almost all of these are plain text files, so you could open it and see what's inside.
Comment: Do we now know what package produces `lbl` files?
Comment: Thanks very much. Actually, I forgot another extension which is .lbl. Could you please edit your answer to tell me what it is?
Answer: General
Manually created

.tex: The document itself
Created by you.

Automatically created

.aux: An auxiliary file that saves information for the creation of ToC, references, indices, bibliographies and other things like that. It is reread in the next compiling to create the ToC, references etc.
Created by (pdf/xe/lua)(la)tex
.toc: An auxiliary file that stores the Table of Contents, read in on subsequent runs to create the actual ToC.
Created by (pdf)latex, xe(la)tex.
.lof: An auxiliary file that stores the List of Figures, read in on subsequent runs to create the actual LoF.
Created by (pdf)latex, xe(la)tex.
.lot: An auxiliary file that stores the List of Tables, read in on subsequent runs to create the actual LoT.
Created by (pdf)latex, xe(la)tex.
.log:  Stors all messages of the compilation, like errors and warnings. It's used by most Editors / LaTeX IDEs to show the errors in you document.
Created by (pdf)latex, xe(la)tex.
.pdf:  The common output format for your document.
Created by pdflatex, xelatex, ps2pdf, dvipdf.
Answer: Bibliographies
Manually created

.bib:  The data base file containing your bibliography entries.
Created by you.
.bst: BibTeX style file.
Determines how the bibliography looks (usually downloaded from somewhere).
.bbx: A biblatex bibliography style.
Created by users.
.cbx: A biblatex cite style.
Created by users.

Automatically created

.bbl: bibliography environment, generated by BibTeX.
This is what the call to bibtex produces and what is included into your document by the \bibliography command.
.blg: bibtex and biber log file.
Created by bibtex/biber.
.bcf: biblatex control file.
.run.xml: biber XML file.
-blx.bib: biblatex control file.
Answer: beamer special files
In addition to the standard .aux, .log, and .toc files, a beamer document will also create the following auxiliary files:

.nav: contains the information needed for the navigation bar hyperlinks.
.vrb: will contain the verbatim material when fragile (containing verbatim material) frames.
.snm: will contain information that will be used by \pgfimage
to include actual slides when using the beamerarticle package.
.out: contains information about the sectional units that will be used to write the outlines.
Answer: General Layout and Package files
Manually created

.cls: Class files containing settings for you document and providing the basic macros for the mark up, e.g \section.
Created by users or latex with an ins file.
.def: Collection of a list of similar definitions, that would make a sty file long and unreadable. See What does the .def file do?, and When to use ".sty" extension and when to use ".def".
.dtx:  Source file containing template files, like classes and styles and their documentation.
Created by users.
.ins:  installation file to extract template files out of a dtx file.
Created by users.
.sty:  Style file containing macro definitions and other extensions for your document.
Created by users or latex with an ins file.

Automatically created
Comment: These are not templates!
Comment: @JosephWright: Maybe it's the wrong word, I'm no native speaker. Pleas change it if you find a better title :-)
Answer: Some further extension you might encounter depending on what packages you are using:

.soc - package changes
.fdb_latexmk - compile tool latexmk
.fls - running latex with $ latex -recorder
.spl - documentclass elsarticle (Elsevier journals)
.auxlock - tikzlibrary external
.xwm - package xwatermark
.tdo - package todonotes
Answer: I think you don't need to worry about files other than *.tex, *.cls and *.sty.

*.tex is the extension for input files in which you put your document content and format. You can have more than one input file for your project. But only one input file can contain \documentclass call. The input file contains \documentclass call is called as your main input file.
*.cls is the extension for documentclass containing layout settings and commands. There are many documentclass, such as article, book, minimal, report, etc. From within your main input file, you call this document class using the command \documentclass{book}, for example. Calling \documentclass{book} means you want to create a book project. In book project, you will have some settings such as chapter, section, subsection, subsubsection, frontmatter, mainmatter, backmatter, etc. Other documentclass also has different settings.
*.sty is the extension for package containing class-agnostic commands. There are many packages. Each provides different purposes and works indendepently. For example, if you want to draw Euclid diagram for your project, you can use pst-eucl.sty. From within your main input file, you call this package by using \usepackage{pst-eucl}.

As the rule of thumbs: You may accidently lose files other than your input files, image files, data files. If you lost *.cls and *.sty, download again from the internet. If you lost *.aux, just compile again your input file.
Comment: I don't understand why someone wouldn't need to worry about .bst or .fd files, etc. Deleting those could definitely cause problems.
Comment: @frabjous: I would read "don't worry about them" as "leave them be: don't try to understand what's going on with them, for now, just treat them as part of the magic of TeX", certainly not as "they're not important; you may as well delete them"!
Comment: @frabjous. I don't say the other files are not important. :-)
Comment: Fair enough! Just so long as it is clear, which it wasn't to me, and may not have been to others. (It is now, thank!.)
Comment: What about `.bst`'s?
Answer: ConTeXt MkIV related files:
User-Input Files

.tex: For content and typesetting instructions.
.cld: For ConTeXt Lua Documents
.xml: For XML data (related: .xhtml)

Macro package files

.mkiv: Code for MkIV
.mkvi: Code for MkIV written with named variables \def\macro#{val1}#{val2} rather than \def\macro#1#2, etc.)
.lua: Lua code for MkIV
.lfg: Goodies for fonts (used for creating virtual fonts and changing parameters defined in fonts)
.mpiv: Metapost code for MkIV

Automatically generated

.tuc: Data stored for multiple passes, ToC, etc.
.log: Log file

You can safely delete the .tuc and .log files. These can be automatically deleted if you run
context --purgeall

Answer: Related questions

Egad! What are all those files?
Prevent pdflatex from writing a bunch of files
'Bundle' TeX output in a directory
Deleting external/auxiliary files?
Answer: The following is a list of most of the common file extensions used for UNIX (La)TeX files and what they mean. They are in the order in which you are likely to come across them rather than alphabetic order.

.tex: denotes a source file for any flavour of TeX.
.cls: denotes a LaTeX 2e class file.
.clo: denotes a LaTeX 2e class option file. usually options associated with a class are defined in a .cls file, but occasionally they are defined in separate .clo files.
.sty: denotes a LaTeX (or AmS-TeX) package/style file. LaTeX 2.09 made no distinction between classes and packages ... all such files were style files - hence the suffix. LaTeX 2e has retained the suffix for what it now terms as packages.
.log: denotes a log file for any flavour of TeX.
.aux: denotes an auxiliary file. generated by running latex (or etex) on a source file. It typically contains information latex needs on a second pass to construct \refs and \cites and information that bibtex needs to construct a .bbl file.
.toc: denotes a table of contents file. generated by latex when the source file contains the line \tableofcontents.
.lot: denotes a list of tables file. generated by latex when the source file contains the line \listoftables (Similar to a .toc file.)
.lof: denotes a list of figures file. generated by latex when the source file contains the line \listoffigures (Similar to a .toc file.)
.bib: denotes a BibTeX source file. such files contain the database from which the .bbl bibliography file is generated.
.bst: denotes a BibTeX style file. the style in which bibtex presents the .bbl bibliography file.
.bbl: denotes a (La)TeX bibliography file. usually generated by bibtex.
.blg: denotes a BibTeX log file.
.idx: denotes a MakeIndex index source file. contains \indexentry commands generated by a first pass of a TeX source file through a flavour of TeX.
.ist: denotes a MakeIndex style file. needed only when the default manner in which makeindex processes an .idx file needs to be over-ridden, e.g. when makeindex is used for generating a .gls glossary file.
.ind: denotes a (La)TeX index file. usually generated by makeindex.
.ilg: denotes a MakeIndex log file.
.glo: denotes a MakeIndex glossary source file. contains \glossaryentry commands generated by a first pass of a TeX source file through a flavour of TeX.
.gls: denotes a TeX glossary file. usually generated by makeindex, which needs an appropriate .ist file to over-ride the MakeIndex defaults that produce indexes.
.glg: denotes a MakeIndex glossary log file.
.dtx: denotes a file containing (La)TeX package(s)/class(es) together with its documentation. Running (La)TeX on the file usually generates the .dvi documentation. An accompanying .ins file calls docstrip.tex to strip the (La)TeX package(s)/class(es) from the .dtx file and sometimes also a .drv file.
.ins: denotes a (La)TeX install file. Running (La)TeX on the file strips package or class files from accompanying .dtx files(s).
.drv: denotes a (La)TeX driver file. Sometimes stripped from a .dtx file by running (La)TeX on an .ins file. Running (La)TeX on the .drv file generates the .dvi documentation.
Answer: Files generated by some other packages
changebar

.cb2: Coordinates of "points" in the text for beginning and ending stretches marked by a change-bar on the side.
.cb:  Some other kind of history / points file (package documentation is not very clear about it)
Answer: (r)(e)ledmac/(r)(e)ledpar files

.1, .1R, .2, .2R file storing metadata about line break and critical notes. One by \beginnumbering...\endnumbering
.eledsec1, .elesdec2 etc. File for the eledsection and related commands
.Aend, .Bend, .Cend etc. File for the endnotes of series A, B, C etc.
Answer: In addition to all the other answers mentioned here, I'd like to add the extensions mtc[0-9] and ptc to the list here.
Files with these extension names are created by the titletoc package, usually used in books and long articles to obtain a toc within each chapter.
I guess they stand for mini toc (with the suffix denoting chapter number) and partial toc (i.e. the global toc that gets continuously updated during the build process as each chapter is getting built).
Answer: I'm surprised no one has mentioned .synctex.gz (used by synctex to let you associate locations in your output with your source) even in the comments.  I'm just adding it for completeness

File extensions related to LaTeX, etc


Can Starting Strength be done by women realistically?

Question: Can Starting Strength be done by women? I'm following everything correctly except for the bulking (for obvious reasons). 10 lb weight increases happen every few weeks (as opposed to every few days). This is probably because I'm on a ketogenic diet (Atkins).
Comment: When you're saying "workout every day", do you mean you're doing barbell compound lifts every day?
Comment: Make sure you're eating enough. If you are dieting, Rippetoe would say You're Not Doing The Program.
Comment: It may or may not be diet related. It may help if you outlined what/when you are eating and when you are working out, and why you think you need a ketogenic diet.
Comment: Women do the program and it works. They generally progress slower and stall earlier. If something isn't working for you, tell us the details and maybe we can debug. Right now it's unclear why you're asking--is it working? Is it not working? Are you afraid of it not working soon because the weight is getting heavy? Have you read the book?It sounds a little weird to me to do 10 pound increases every few weeks instead of 5 or 2.5 pound increases every workout or every other workout.
Answer: Any fitness regimen can be done by women.
As far as the gains, that is going to be highly personally dependent. Another woman (or even man) might increase every few days, someone else might only go up every couple months. It will depend on many factors, only one of which may be nutrition.
Training history, regular sessions, proper form/technique, proper rest, proper nutrition, etc. These are all factors in the success and efficacy of an exercise routine.
Answer: Absolutely. Muscle and strength gains will vary from trainee to trainee, but there is no reason not to begin a program like this. Being on an Atkins diet will likely make it a bit more challenging to increase hypertrophy. I would recommend getting in some complex carbohydrates in the hours after you train. (potatoes, yams, rice, oatmeal, etc) You need to replenish your glycogen stores for your next workout. If you are depleted your body will start using amino acids (protein stores) as fuel. That is something you want to avoid.
Comment: don't 'sign' your answers. The system tags your answers with your username already, so it's not needed.
Comment: If it is a problem for you. I won't then.
Answer: Of course it can be done by women. The only thing that is a bit more difficult is progression on OHP and bench; for those lifts I would recommend microplates (you can find more info on them here). This will allow you to add just 2.5 lbs per session instead of 5 lbs... SS and also SL are very suitable for women. As a matter of fact a trained women will in many cases outlift an untrained male. No reason at all why women should not lift heavy!.
Comment: Excellent answer, you're right, welcome to the community! I'd only add that as a man I use fractional plates too.


How to insert direct current symbol in adobe illustrator?

Question: Does anyone know how to insert the direct current symbol (⎓) in Adobe Illustrator please? I copy and paste the character into a text frame but it becomes a cross square which cannot be displayed correctly. I switched to a number of different font types but no luck. I also tried to insert a symbol from Adobe Illustrator but cannot find any.
Thank you very much!
Answer: As it's a technical symbol, you should look for a font containing such symbols, as Cambria Math font.
If copy/paste doesn't help, use the Glyph Panel to look for it: with the insert text cursor active, click twice the symbol at the Glyph panel.
Comment: Thank you Daniel, Cambria Math font does work.
Answer: Another option — without using a special font file — is to actually draw the symbol from 4 basic rectangles, group these, and copy paste where needed.


Using Maven for project distribution

Question: I have an Project that I distribute by sending out large packages. I'd like to know if there is a user friendly way of using Maven to distribute updates of the project? I'd need something like what is done for updating softwares like Firefox or Acrobat Reader. Check a respository, warn user of an update, download and reconfigure. All within a simple and friendly interface. Alternative open source java projects are welcome.
Answer: If your project is a library: You need to set up a public maven repository (or use Maven Central). This way, your users can fetch the latest version of your library by updating their POM.
If your project is something else, you can use a Maven repository to keep the packages in a place for easy deployment for you (and easy download for everyone else). Next, you'll need to point your software to the site and download the file "maven-metadata.xml" once in a while. Maven will create and manage this file for you when you say "mvn deploy". The file contains the latest version numbers.
All you have to do is to download this small file and examine it. If there is a new version, open a dialog for your user so they can decide to download it. I suggest to offer "Only download" and "Download and upgrade" as separate options because users like to download some time in the background and then install between two projects. They don't like nagging dialogs ("New version available. Download and ruin your day now?" ... "I asked five minutes ago. Download now!" ... "Downloading anyway. Credit card details found on your hard drive. Selecting other important software you need. Purchasing now. Have a nice day!" ;) ).
Answer: I don't think maven has any standard way of providing this functionality. Maven does have notion of "release" and "deploy", but these don't apply to the scenario you are describing.

Using Maven for project distribution


Is a macro lens suitable for distant subjects - wildlife, sports, portraiture?

Question: Some macro lenses have a really nice focal length that would make them a nice prime-telephoto lens, but are there any downsides of using a macro lens when shooting distant subjects (besides the lack of zooming)?
Comment: This question has been [recently addressed](http://photo.stackexchange.com/q/12539/5870). Briefly, macro lenses tend to be sharp (good), but can be slow to achieve focus (bad). An extremely shallow depth of field can be achieved for creative work, but don't get in too close and just show pores!
Comment: I'm sorry for duplicating a question. Haven't found it through the search and it didn't popped up in the "propably similiar question listing". btw: my original question was "Is a macro lens a suitable telephoto lens?". I guess ElendilTheTall changed that, don't know why exactly. With "telephoto" I mean more wildlife and sports than portraiture.
Comment: Hard to say why ElendilTheTall changed the question like that. It's not common practice. I edited title to better match both original intent and answers already provided. Perhaps @dpollitt can even retract his downvote now :)
Comment: @Anisha Kaul: thats a macro-only special purpose lens.
Comment: Anuisha, the MP-E 65 is the lens equivalent of a Formula 1 racing car. It is so optimized for its one particular job that it is utterly unsuited to anything else. On the other hand, no other commercially available lens does what it does... it starts where other macros stop (at 1:1 magnification; it goes down to 5:1).
Comment: Question is good, but I voted down because it was just asked and answered.
Comment: @Gregor Müllegger - I vote up your original question :)
Comment: Unless you're planning on getting Canon MP-E 65, every macro lens is capable of shooting as a normal lens.
Comment: Thanks @ShutterBug what's wrong with that specific version?
Comment: Really, all this has already been covered in the other question.
Comment: @Imre I have myself flagged the thread and voted for closure too. :)
Comment: Thanks @ShutterBug Are those details usually mentioned in the manual or you experienced it personally?
Answer: Most prime macro lenses are suitable for distant subjects. However, there are some exceptions:

the king of macro photography, Canon MP-E 65, will not focus far enough to fit more than an eye or nose on a portrait;
some macro lenses, like Pentax DA 35 Limited Macro, have a short focal length -suitable for distant subjects only as environmental shots showing context rather than details of the subject; shorter than about 50mm on APS-C or 75mm on full frame are generally not considered suitable as portrait lens;
some zoom lenses are also sold as "macro" lenses; generally they have a variable aperture similar to consumer zooms. You can take portraits with them, but you have to use other tricks to get a good background separation (e.g. background far away, plain background, lighting subject to underexpose background).

Macro lenses are made to be comfortable for precise manual focusing (because that's how macro is mostly done), so their large focusing range is spread over almost a full turn of focusing ring. This implies that auto-focus can be a bit slow, especially if there's no focus range limit switch and the lens goes hunting through the whole range. Prefocusing to an approximate distance might help you here in many cases.
Another disadvantage in using macro lenses compared to a regular primes lens is their moderate maximum aperture for a prime of similar focal length (especially ones preferred for low-light, fast action or portraiture), usually in range of f/2.8 to f/4.5 - for macro, more would be overkill. Tamron 60mm f/2.0 is a surprising exception here; unfortunately 60mm has to be so close to subject it will scare away living critters, also lighting becomes challenging; so it has somewhat limited use in macro world.
The smaller aperture means less flexibility in getting thin depth of field. But small maximum aperture means the aperture for maximum sharpness is even slower (typically by a stop or two), meaning you have to take harder compromises between sharpness and background separation by DOF.
That said, an f/2.8 macro lens is still on par with professional zooms aperture-wise.
Comment: When you start talking about 100mm and up, f/2.8 is on the same level as a prime. Below 100mm you are correct.
Comment: @dpollitt macro lenses are still slower above 100mm - there's 135mm f/2 and (Nikkor) 200mm f/2 for portraiture, while macro lenses tend to be about f/4 at those focal lengths (with exception of Sigma 150/2.8)
Comment: I guess I was thinking about the 100mm f/2.8 Canon macros and the 70-200 f/2.8 Canon zooms, both of which are very common lenses to have in a bag. They have the same maximum aperture, and are likely to be selected for their own right, so they make a good comparison.
Comment: 70-200 f/2.8 is a professional zoom (addressed in my last sentence), not a prime
Answer: No disadvantage, macro lenses generally make good portrait lenses, especially if they're fast. A macro lens only differs from a standard lens in that they can focus at a closer distance.
Comment: Except for the MP-E 65, as noted by @Imre.
Comment: Actually this isn't quite true, a good macro lens has a longer throw barrel and has more barel rotation in the higher magnification range which tends to cause the lens to focus slower.
Comment: I wasn't referring to the focus speed, I was referring to the maximum aperture; wide aperture = faster shutter speed, hence the term 'fast lens'.
Answer: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Macro just means that the lens has a very short minimum focusing distance and can reproduce an image with a 1:1 ratio at a certain focusing distance range. Outside of that, a macro lens can perform just fine as a regular lens that doesn't have macro capabilities. I love taking portrait pictures using my 85 mm f/3.5 macro Nikon lens.
Comment: Macros tend to focus rather slowly, which can make them less than suitable for certain situations. And their maximum aperture is seldom better than f/2.8, which can be a limitation in low light. Optically, they are almost invariably superb.
Comment: @Anisha Kaul. No that is certainly not true. For landscape, travel, indoor shots such as at a dinner, etc, you'd probably want a wider angle lens. I haven't seen any macro lenses that are wide, that wouldn't really make any sense... As Mark Whitaker said you can't generalize it like that, and it's hard for me or anyone to answer in words unfortunately. Really depends on the situation, the location, and the subject. If we wanna talk about what lenses you should keep in your arsenal that will require a whole new thread :)
Comment: Thanks, does it mean that if one owns a macro lens, he doesn't need a special one for other type of scenes?
Comment: @rabbid I completely agree: my Canon 60mm f/2.8 macro is a great all-round prime lens.
Comment: @Anisha You can't generalise it like that unfortunately: it depends on the lens, the types of scenes in mind, the photographer...
Comment: @rabbid Thanks, I think I should study the macro lens before I can talk about it further. :)
Answer: Nikkor's 105mm f2.8 is commonly used as a portrait lens.
Answer: As I searched more info about macro lenses - especially Tamron AF 90 mm f/2.8 SP Di Macro, I read a lot of reviews and the guys at Lenstip say "Lenses of the focal lengths ranged 85-105 mm are ideal portrait instruments often used in macro photography." - similar opinions were also in other reviews.
Comment: I use this very lens for portraits, and it works great.
Answer: It is better to use a macro lens as a tele-prime than the other way around, if you don't need a larger aperture than the macro lens provides or super fast AF. The difference is in the optical and mechanical construction.
Optically, the macro lens should be made to give flat field focus plane, while the prime is curved (by equal distance from point to lens). The macro lens is also constructed with floating elements to correct for spherical aberration, distortion, and preserve sharpness as you focus closer and closer, whereas normal lenses might be made very simple moving the entire set glass elements back and forth (premium glass does have floating elements as well), and if you use them with extension tubes you are focusing by moving as all further away, and thus increasing the projection of the image on your sensor, leaving no control to fix any aberrations, distortion, or blur, i.e. magnifying these optical issues.
Mechanically, the drawback of the macro lens used as a prime is its strength when used for macro: It is more for precise manual focus, which means you change focus slightly with a big movement, instead of having the entire focus range on a short distance. Good for manual focus, bad for AF chasing distant and close subjects dynamically.
Is there a drawback in using the flat field sharp macro lens instead of a prime? Well, if your prime option is a F1.2-1.8 and your macro option is F2.8 and you won't get good background separation, then it is.  F2.8 at 20cm distance is really narrow but not so much at 2m. Also for portraits if may not be flattering to see the skin too sharp, so a soft prime with a glow wide open might look better.


Is there a limit to the number of naturally-spawned wolves you can have?

Question: I was wondering if there was a limit to the amount of wolves you can have in Minecraft. I have seen a lot of videos of people with a lot of wolves. Just wondering how because there is a limit to the number of mobs that can spawn around you. I would like to know if everything written here can be done legit.
Answer: There is no limit to the amount of wolves you can have at a time tamed. However, there is a limit of about 6 wolves that can be naturally spawned in a about 30 block radius untamed. This also applies to hostile mobs.  Passive mobs (like cows, sheep, etc.) have a different spawn limit. For more information, see "Spawning" on the "Wolf" page at Minecraft Wiki.


How to make twin toddlers stop biting each other without physical punishment?

Question: How can I stop my almost 2-year-old twins from biting each other? I've tried almost everything and nothing works, so I'm looking for some other suggestions. They are biting to the point of bruises. It's just getting worse as they've gotten older.
Comment: This question could do with some more body. What have you tried so far, and what is the reason for doing it without punishment, for example. It will give us more context to answer from.
Comment: The "no punishment"  clause seems odd here. Do you really mean "no punishment" or maybe just "no physical punishment" a.k.a. no beating.
Comment: No physical punishment and how can u put a one year old in time out impossible but they are very smart and have understanding of what They're doing so I'm at my wits end so to say
Comment: "How do I put a 1 year old in time out?" Is a good question. Maybe you should ask it as a question.
Answer: LINK WebMD
LINK
I liked what both these sites had to say. I'd try re-direction and a firm 'NO, we do not bite. It hurts." Then I would also try to make up a picture symbol board that allows your children to share how they are feeling. Cut simple pictures from magazines or copy images from the web. Post them in a prominent, reachable spot. Use the board to show your children how you feel, too. "I want lunch.", or, "I am sleepy." Separation for a few minutes is only slightly punitive, but perhaps they want a break from each other and can't tell you.
Sign language is something I recommend to all parents of infants because it takes the pressure off of having to use speech and gets the message across. There are only a few signs needed. I'd select, drink, food, sick, I want, finished/no more, more, sleep, help -- you choose.  LINK Parenting
This is perfectly normal and though not fun, children do grow out of it.
If you are concerned with time out LINK: Dr. Sears Has some great ideas.
I've added some new links, if you have a specific concern, make that into a question and perhaps someone will have experienced something similar.
Disciplining toddlers:
LINK - Parents
LINK - WebMD
LINK - Parenting
Answer: Siblings fight. Twins do too. If twin1 bites twin2 and twin2 turns aroung and bites twin1 - then it stops, just ignore it. Twin2 is standing up for themselves (which is a good thing). Twin1 is learning that they can't push twin2 around (also a good thing). At 2 years old there is a limit to what they can do.  I'm not saying that it's ok for them to hurt other people. Obviously you need to teach them how to behave with others. Just understand that the relationship between the twins themselves will last their entire lives. Good or bad, they have to navigate the world together. Going to school, sharing friends, dating, summer camp... every part of their lives will see them side by side. They have to find a way to work it out.  I barely talk to my twin brother, but I think about him nearly every day. It doesn't seem to matter that we only see each other once in a blue moon.... he's still right next to me.


Why do 7 chords use minor 7th while 6 chords use major 6ths?

Question: If you play the chord C7, you would play the root, major third, fifth, and minor seventh (C - E - G - B♭), but if you play C6, you play the root, major third, fifth, and major sixth (C - E - G - A). Why does the 7 chord use a minor interval while the 6 chord uses a major interval?
Comment: In key C, A# will actually be 'augmented sixth'. To get minor seventh, you need the 7th note, B, and flatten it, making it Bb.
Answer: Firstly, C7 should be spelled  C - E - G - Bb. C to A# is an augmented six rather than a minor seven, so you need to spell the interval C to Bb (even though they would sound the same, they are written differently).
Secondly, there are different kinds of seventh chords. The one you're talking about is the dominant seventh, which only occurs naturally on the fifth degree of the major scale (the fifth chord is known as the dominant chord of the key, thus the name dominant seventh). So a C7 appears in the key of F major. There are also:
Major seventh chords with a major third and a major seventh (for example Cmaj7 = C - E - G - B).
Minor seventh chords with a minor third and a minor seventh (Cmin7 = C - Eb - G - Bb).
Half-diminished seventh chords with a minor third, diminished fifth and minor seventh (C - Eb - Gb - Bb).
Diminished seventh chord - like the half diminished but with a diminished seventh instead (C - Eb - Gb - Bbb). That last note is read as "B double flat".
In other words, the premise of your question isn't quite correct. There exist seventh chords that use a major seventh. The different kinds of seventh chords arise naturally from the major scale; if you take each note of the scale and stack a series of thirds on top of each one, you'll first get the basic triads, and then different variations of seventh chords. The reason that different intervals appear is that the scale isn't symmetrical. Some notes are separated by a whole step, and other by a half step. Thus, when you move up by a third, you sometimes end up with a major, and sometimes a minor third - which then gives rise to the different qualities of chords.
Edit:
As Chai points out in their comment; these seventh chords are written differently in chord charts and lead sheets and such. When it simply says C7, then you're right in that it refers to a dominant seventh chord. The other seventh cords can be written in a few different ways. Wikipedia has a handy chart of common ways to indicate minor/major/diminished sevenths.
Comment: True, but you might add though: When chords are written, because in most music that uses chord symbols, the 7 chord as in G7, is by definition a dominant 7th chord because that chord appears a lot in music and it is very important. However it is just a convention, could have been any other chord, but this is the default.
Comment: "There are 7 [diatonic] chords that use a major seventh".   Really?  In C major, we have C which does, D and E which don't, F does, G, A and B don't.   Thats two which do, 5five that don't.
Comment: @LaurencePayne I meant that there exist seventh chords which have a major seventh. Not that there are seven such chords in a key - thanks for pointing out the potential confusion! I've edited my answer to make it more clear.
Answer: I think you should review the basics of interval naming and how jazz harmony chord symbols work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(music)#Main_intervals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_harmony

Those two sources are a decent starting point.
Basically the plain 7 symbol means dominant seventh chord which contains a minor seventh above the root whereas maj7 means major seventh chord which contains a major seventh above the root.
It's a similar thing with the 6 symbol. It means add a major sixth.
The particular meaning of those symbols will be understood with a review of jazz harmony.
Just make sure you start with an overview of interval naming, because jazz harmony definitions assume those interval names are understood.
Answer: I suggest you don't worry too much about the 'why', just accept that in chord names the intervals are by default major except for 7ths which are minor unless specified as major.
But if you want a historical justification - in functional harmony 7th chords normally had a (primary or secondary) dominant function.   You'd find 'cycle of 5ths' progressions, Bm7b5, Em7, Am7, Dm7, G7, C.  All the 7ths were minor.  Those pleasantly astringent maj7 harmonies (that we're very accustomed to hear now) were less common.
Answer: As other answers have said, there are many different seventh chords, it's just that the one called 'C7' consists of C major triad and a m7 interval (from I) for the 'seventh' bit. Thus C E G Bb. Being the most commonly used, it's usually called simple 'C7'. There are folk who prefer to call it 'C major, minor seventh', a sort of antithesis to 'C minor major seventh'.
The C6 chord is the same triad, but with a M6 interval from the I for the 'sixth' bit. Thus C E G A.
There is also Cm6, which a little strangely, is C minor triad, but still with M6 on top. Thus C Eb G A. Maybe it could (should?) have a m6 on top, C Eb G Ab, but it just doesn't sound good.
Answer: The historical prototype of the seventh chord is the dominant seventh chord in the major mode, built on the fifth scale degree.  The seventh above the fifth is the fourth, which is a minor seventh above.  The chord therefore comprises the degrees 5-7-2-4, or, for example in C major, G-B-D-F.  That is the source of the minor seventh.
The dominant seventh arose first because the nature of the dominant is that of a relatively unstable sonority that leads to a more stable one (the tonic).  Dissonance is therefore more tolerable or even desirable in that context, whereas it would be (historically at least) undesirable on the tonic.  Major sevenths are therefore quite rare until the last century or two except in dissonant contexts, where they usually resolve according to the normal rules of counterpoint and/or voice leading.  In fact, you will (historically) more likely find a major seventh chord as a subdominant (built on the fourth scale degree), where it is also subject to subsequent resolution, than as a tonic.
The dominant seventh chord may be seen as arising from the insertion of a passing tone in the voice that is moving from the root of the dominant chord to the third of the tonic chord (for example, the descending leap from G to E becomes a descending stepwise figure from G to F to E).  Alternately, it may arise from the root of a IV chord or the third of a ii chord being suspended into the shift to the V chord (for example, again in C major, in a Dm-G-C progression or an F-G-C progression, one voice has F-F-E).
This is why the unadorned 7 denotes a dominant seventh chord, and other types of seventh chord require some specific modification of the 7 (most commonly maj7 for major seventh chord, where both the third and seventh are major, and m7 for minor seventh, where both the third and the seventh are minor).


Age appropriate learning

Question: Is six an appropriate age to teach the importance of seeing things through to the end? My son wants to join karate which is very expensive, I don't know if he will want to continue when the weather breaks and his friends are playing baseball. He got interested through a birthday party and had a trial period and seems to really like it. We can't do both because I work second shift and we have two other young kids. We are trying to keep some balance in our lives and not become overwhelmed physically, emotionally and financially.
Comment: Tangential to the question, but if this karate club is "very expensive" then I suggest you may have a bad club. I've been to one expensive karate club, run by someone for whom it was his primary income.  He wasn't a good teacher, and his primary goals were (a) to screw out as much money as possible, and (b) ego-tripping.  I've been to plenty more cheaper clubs run by instructors doing it in their spare time, and they've all been very good.  Martial arts should be one of the cheaper hobbies out there.  If there's no cheaper karate club, send him to any other martial art instead.
Comment: @Graham Remember that "very expensive" is relative. What may be very expensive for one person might seem quite affordable to another. Also, while a six year old just starting out might view it differently, for most people martial arts are not fungible. I would not be eager to substitute my BJJ lessons with Karate lessons and a serious student of karate would likely not find BJJ a good substitute (cross-training is a whole different topic).
Comment: ... Since kids do end up in playground fights, I personally would recommend grappling - judo, aikido or jiu jitsu - instead of karate.  Jiu jitsu is a superset of all the others, so that is always a good choice.  But realistically at that age the main things are the confidence, exercise and self-discipline it gets them, and any good martial arts class will deliver that.  If there's someone locally doing kung fu or taekwondo, and their classes are cheaper, go there.  It's all good.
Comment: Hi Kim - these aren't really replies, they are comments (intended to help clarify); thanks for clarifying your concern!  There are two answers below right now that aim to answer your core question.  You may want to read those and comment on them if you feel they help, or do not help, you answer your question.  Thanks, and welcome to the site!
Comment: @TimothyAWiseman I don't disagree at the "expensive" end, but at a smaller club run by instructors in their spare time, you should be looking at a similar cost to swimming or a softball team.  That may still be beyond some people's budget, sure, but objectively it should still be one of the cheaper sports around.  I agree that martial arts for older children and adults, and anyone more experienced, are completely not interchangeable, but when the kid's 6 and the choice is to do something or do nothing, I think "something" is a better choice, whatever that "something" happens to be. :)
Comment: Thanks for the replies but it's not the expense or the curriculum  I'm really worried about, I am wondering if 6 is an appropriate age to teach a child about commitment or should I hold off for a little bit? Just trying to optimize the investment.
Answer: Six is certainly an age to have a conversation about seeing things through, and make a plan together.  Decide what's an acceptable outcome for you, and talk to him about what is important to him.
I've had roughly the same kind of conversation with my six year old, who decided he wanted to play violin and take a ballet class instead of some other activities.  This required a detailed conversation about how much practice time he'd put in and how much he'd stick with it; that conversation, adapted to your specifics, roughly is below.
Ultimately, though, remember that stick-to-it is important, but it's also important for kids to explore their surroundings and learn what they like.  It's one thing to want to quit Karate because it's too much work; it's another to want to quit because it's just not what he thought it would be, and not interesting to him to justify putting in the work.  Make sure you balance commitment with revisiting the decision in a reasonable amount of time - long enough that he's fully gotten an idea of whether it is "for him" or not, but not so long that you're having to drag him to class every week because it's really not his thing.

Jimmy, I hear you want to take Karate.  Karate's a great way to learn about your body, to learn control, balance, and self-discipline.  It's a lot more than just hitting and kicking!

Yeah, Mom, it was pretty fun too!

Well, I'm happy to sign you up for some classes.  But let's talk about the future here some first.  I think that to get the most out of Karate you're going to need some time in it, right? Do you think we can talk about how long you want to do Karate for?

I want to do it forever!

Do you remember when you were really into Buzz Lightyear last year?

Mom, that's baby stuff.

Well, sure, but you sure loved it for those six months.  The question we have to figure out is, are you going to stay with Karate long enough to get something out of it?  I don't think I want to sign you up if you're only going to do it a few months and then get bored.

Oh, no, it's so much fun - I'll never get bored!

Try to think of yourself in a few months, when Johnny and Alex are on the baseball team. You know we don't have the time to do two activities like this, right?  If we sign up for Karate now, we can't sign up for Baseball in the spring.

That's fine, mom, I don't care.  Karate is the best.  Baseball is so boring. So much standing around.

Okay, then let's make a deal.  I'll sign you up for Karate, and you promise to give it your best for the rest of the spring and summer at least.  We can revisit this in the fall, and see if you still are loving it then, okay?

It's a deal, mom.
Answer: Yes, but...make a conscious decision about how you want to balance commitment and the ability to explore.
First, every child is different. But in my personal experience I discussed and enforced a certain amount of follow through with each of my three children when they were five and started getting small chores. They seemed to understand and while it took all of them many repetitions to get it to really sink in (my youngest is still working on it at 7), it seems to me that starting early helped.
However, each parent is also different and needs to decide what type of lessons they want to teach. I value exploration and experimentation and want to make sure my kids aren't afraid to try new things. I have taken pains to teach them that they need to follow through when they have a firm commitment and other people are counting on them. My kids all know there are consequences for not following through. When my son was young the kids soccer team he was in wouldn't have enough players to field a full team if he quite so he had to finish the season.
The flip side is that my kids also know they can try certain things without committing. My daughter is starting the kids class at the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school I attend starting Friday. She knows she is free to quit after giving it a fair try if she doesn't like it. My son had to finish out his soccer season because they needed to field a full team, but he was allowed to quite as soon as no one was counting on him. All of my children have seen their tastes in games change as they mature.
Forcing people to commit early can make children, or even older people, hesitant to try something new for fear of being locked in. And for some things, and I very much include Karate, it can take more than one session to determine whether you like it or not. In fact, for Karate specifically when I was young I tried more than one style of Karate as well as Tae Kwon Do before settling into Jiu Jitsu with the occassional Judo cross-training. I explored and experimented before "committing" and I'm glad I did. Even now, my commitment is a loose one where I plan to train Jiu Jitsu well into old age but I'm open to exploring other martial arts or to moving out of martial arts entirely if my life changes. Its a hobby and no one counts on me to do it so I don't want to be bound to it too tightly.
Comment: Hi Timothy, welcome to the site! Thanks for the great answer! I spelled out "BJJ" in case it's unclear to others what that means; if it means something else please edit it to the correct meaning.  Thanks!
Comment: @Joe Thanks, I appreciate the edit. I sometimes forget not everyone knows that acronym.

Age appropriate learning


Problem with sound in Kubuntu 12.10

Question: I'm really enjoying Kubuntu 12.10 experience, but the problem starts with sound.
It wasn't here before, but today sound sounds garbled and echoed and wrong. It happens in Audacity and VLC. It doesn't happen when I test the sound devices nor when I use Amarok to play the music files (but come on, who uses Amarok to listen to a random music file, it's much more natural to use VLC for that ;-) )
Kubuntu/Phonon recognizes 2 sound devices:

RV770 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4850/4870] Digital Stereo [HDMI]
Built-in Audio Analog Stereo

I know it has to use the second option, and it probably does, but that's not the case.
What I did find out was that I had to rescan for audio devices in Audacity (and probably select "sysdefault") for it to sound normal.
Why does it happen? I've tried following some other questions, but well.
What I have noticed as well, is that the taskbar seems to blink and have an icon appear and disappear many times before for example Audacity finally starts. Could the sound system crash or something? I'm not going to make presumtions on my own, you're the pros :-)
Answer: Add 'tsched=0' to the 'load-module module-udev-detect' line in /etc/pulse/default.pa
It should read after changes:
load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0
Save changes and restart your system.

Problem with sound in Kubuntu 12.10


Is there a punishment for someone who asks a woman to divorce her husband for no valid reason?

Question: If someone/woman gives an advice(with a bad intention) to a woman to divorce her husband (for simple/non-valid reasons), What would be his/her punishment in the hereafter according to the Quran and Sunnah?
Comment: This could fall under deception.
Answer: There is no worldly punishment indicated through as appears in my research. Though, the issue is mentioned quite a lot specially from family members pressing their son or daughter to divorce the other.
In one of the questions asked to islamweb.net, the answer was that it is a major sin to do it. The one asking was telling that he felt in love with a married women and made a promise with her to marry her when she is divorced from his husband who, as the one asking said, was doing many haram things.
Source: https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/130035
In addition, what this woman is doing is a manifestation of fasad (corruption), and Allah does not like corrupters.

And they strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does not like corrupters. Quran

Opinion
I just cannot understand why one would feel to ask such a question. I mean, really, we know from our tradition about the women who was a devout worshiper but did not feed nor let the cat feed from the worms of the ground, and thus is in the hellfire regardless of what she did good.
Something I feel sad about is that some Muslims feel that they are on contract with Allah, so if something bad seems not important or little people will do it because they will still pass to paradise. We forgot what Omar ibn Al-Khattab said once, that even if one of his legs is in the paradise, he is not sure that the latter will make it there too.
You can be a devout worshiper, but because of small thing you go to hellfire, while one might enter paradise with so many sins because of some sincere doings.
Answer: No, there is no specific punishment mentioned in the Quran nor sunnah for someone who does that. Only Allah knows. However, this is not permissible in Islam and if someone does it, it will be counted as a sin which might lead him/her to be punished in hell (if bad deeds are more than good deeds)
Comment: about 'might lead him/her to be punished in hell (if bad deeds are more than good deeds)': Does not Islam says that if you violate some human right(Huqooq ul Ibad) then only that human can forgive you for that. So, I think no matter how many good deeds you did, you'll still be answerable for  harming other people.
Answer: As far as I know, there is no specific punishment for such a matter. Seemingly, it has not narrated directly regarding this matter, but the significant point is that God himself will definitely punish her (in this world or on the Day of judgement).


Spacing in Word documents is different depending on the user

Question: When working with styles, some users can open documents and the spacing looks like it was intended to look; however, when other users open the document, the built-in spacing is suppressed.  We have not been able to identify why the spacing is accurate for some and not for others.
Comment: Is this different users opening the same document?  Or just starting a new document?
Comment: This is different users opening the same document.  We work with templates so all machines are supposed to have the same templates loaded, including the revised normal.dotm.  We didn't have this issue until we converted to Office 2007 so I'm wondering if there is something hidden in Office 2007 settings that we haven't been able to fine.
Answer: I remember a long time ago, each user would mess with local settings and save them in normal.dot. Have you checked each machine to see if they have changed any settings?
Answer: Chances are that there is a font substitution occurring.  Microsoft Office will NOT inform the user of a font substitution, it will attempt to simulate the font, and that often will work on screen, but when printed, it'll look wrong.  Either the kerning will be wrong, or the font won't look just right.
Check the fonts on the system, and make sure that the document is using the right fonts.
MS Word will list the fonts that are being substituted, but I don't have my windows VM running right now...  Anyone willing to check to see what menu it's under?  (Edit --> Document Properties? I think).
Answer: Is there still a normal.dot (normal.dotm) file that sets the defaults for a new document? Those can be different for different users.  But I think that's only for new documents.
Answer: Word Styles are usually based on default styles stored locally.  If a style does not explicitly override the default style in some area, then any differences between one person's default style and another's will come through.
Resetting everyone's styles back to the default will solve the problem in the immediate.
Not basing styles on ever-changing default styles will solve the problem long-term.


Which are the non Schengen countries that allow entry for Schengen visa holders?

Question: There are countries in the Balkan area that allow entry if you have a Schengen visa but am not able find a definite list of all those countries. Knowing that will save me getting a visa for all those countries when I do my mega Euro trip.
Answer: Since each of these countries would unilaterally decide whether they recognize Schengen visas and under which conditions, I don't think it's possible to find an official list anywhere. I am marking this answer as "community wiki" so that we can come up with a list:

Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Cyprus (all EU members) have rules modelled on those of the Schengen area and allow holders of some types of Schengen visas to visit the country, see Croatian ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Romanian ministry of Foreign Affairs and previous questions on this site, e.g. Can I enter Romania and stay for four weeks with a Schengen visa?
Official sources are hard to come by but Albania apparently allow holders of multiple-entry Schengen visa who have already used their visa at least once to visit one of the countries of the Schengen Area, see Wikipedia and Timatic.
Turkey provides some concessions to those that normally need visas. If you normally need a visa for Turkey, and you hold a Schengen visa - you may be able to avail the new electronic "e-visa" system. The list of countries whose citizens can avail this exemption is mentioned on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website.
According to Wikipedia, multiple-entry Schengen visa holders can visit Bosnia and Herzegovina for 7 days.
According to Wikipedia, Schengen visa holders can visit Macedonia for 15 days (with some caveats).
According to Wikipedia, Schengen visa holders can visit Serbia for 90 days. The Serbian Ministry of foreign affairs confirms that information.

Kosovo - Foreigners which possess a valid multi-entry Schengen Visa are exempt to obtain a Kosovo Visa to enter, transit or stay in the Territory of the Republic of Kosovo for up to 15 DAYS within a period of 6-MONTHS.

Montenegro - According to Visit Montenegro holders of Schengen visas may enter, stay in or cross the territory of Monenegro for up to 30 days (but no longer than the expiry of the visa, if the visa expires in less than 30 days).

According to Timatic and Wikipedia, Mexico offers a visa exemption for 180 days to those holding a valid visa issued by "Canada, Japan, USA, United Kingdom or a Schengen Member State" (this may be further restricted by nationality).
Comment: congrats for civic mindedness on making this one a wiki! It was low hanging fruit for rep hogs.
Comment: @CGCampbell Thanks for the tip! Feel free to edit, it's a wiki-answer!
Comment: Is this applicable to residence permit holders from one of the Schengen countries?
Answer: There are 19 countries that are not part of the Schengen Area and which you can visit without a national visa if you do hold a schengen visa.
For more information, please have a look at
http://www.schengenvisainfo.com/non-eu-countries-where-you-can-go-with-schengen-visa/
Comment: Welcome to the site.  Your source, schengenvisainfo.com, is notorious on TSE for having outdated, unreliable information.  Is there any chance you can find a more reliable source?
Comment: I think it is very reliable source because for every information you find the official government link.
Comment: @Fisnik good point; I hadn't noticed that.