Can CBT cure any kind of depression?

Question: CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, no doubt is far better than medications while having long terms goals in mind, but the question is: can it cure any kind of depression, like Seasonal Affective Disorder, Melancholic Depression etc? Or there are a few kinds of depression that can be cured only through medications?
Answer: "Cure" is a very risky word here. If I stick to it, the answer is no, because no treatment is 100% successful; not in all cases. Let's talk about significant outcomes.
CBT is not the only therapy that science has proven to have aceptable outcomes in depression treatment. Also Interpersonal Therapy, CBASP or even electroshock therapy.
Also, the recent research in the field of antidepressants is surprisingly questioning their real outcomes.You can research the works of Irving Kirsch, who found that antidepressants weren't statistically better than placebo in the treatment of depression. He found out that the research that had been done till the moment was not completely double-blinded, as antidepressants have noticeable side effects and people "knew" when they were having the drug and not the placebo... the ones having side-effects improved. It seems that the more side effects, the more effective a substance was in major depression, either being an antidepressant, an opiate, synthetic thyroid hormone... etc. You may read further here.
This recent paper has also interesting results that apply to your question:
Driessen E, Hollon SD, Bockting CLH, Cuijpers P, Turner EH (2015) Does Publication Bias Inflate the Apparent Efficacy of Psychological Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of US National Institutes of Health-Funded Trials.

"The efficacy of psychological interventions for depression has been
  overestimated in the published literature, just as it has been for
  pharmacotherapy. Both are efficacious but not to the extent that the
  published literature would suggest."

Then, first of all, CBT can alleviate any kind of depression, but not only CBT.
Second, it can be the case that someone has great results only with medication but usually they're not long term ones (there is also research that seem to point out that antidepressants worsen the long-term course of depression).
And third, different kind of depressions have greater outcomes with different approaches. For example, it's well known that antidepressants don't work with dysthymia but learning social skills is usually very useful and leads to good results; that light therapy can alleviate a Seasonal Affective Disorder to the same extent as CBT, or that the best treatment for psychotic depression is electroshock therapy.
Answer: There are different levels of depression and some antidepressants work well than others as a variances in individuals mind may counteract against the meds. This is supposedly the key to upkeep the emotions in order to stabilize while going through CBT. It has helped me and I think it is critical if you want to get healthy faster. In other words psychological dependencies such as abusing substances can cause unhealthy changes to your overall health as it is cycled with mental and physical health. Not all depression can be "cured" through pharmaceutical medicines. It just helps like putting a bandaid on a fresh wound. But if CBT is involved then that would be like putting neosporin or antibiotic ointment on the wound to heal up with a rather cleaner scar than it is untreated. Not all scars can go away but proper psychological diagnosis with the insights can make a speedier process in the meantime for healing into good shape.

Can CBT cure any kind of depression?


SharePoint 2013 people picker not resolving users from AD groups

Question: Help.... Please.... Users from AD groups are not populating in the site people picker. I've set up a SharePoint 2013 site collection permissions group with only AD groups in it, no users added directly. Whether or not I give this SharePoint group permissions to the site content, I still get none of the AD users showing up in the people picker. I have done the iisreset after adding the groups.
I've checked all of the people picker properties in stsadm to be sure there are no constraints in effect on the web app or site collections.
User profiles are synching and I've tried both AD import and User Profile Sync.
The AD groups are security groups, though not email-enabled.
The AD service account has all the special permissions.
 My web app is claims based.
 My app pool runs with Network Service account.
No policies in place to restrict users, checked CA and the site collection settings.
What am I missing?
I've read in multiple places that this is a supported/working config.
So why can't I get these users to populate in people picker for things like Assigned To in a tasks list, or attendees of an event?
Comment: Are users populated in user profile service? From user profile service --> manage user profile and search for users.
Answer:
Try creating a new service account and configure the User Profile Service with that account.
Keep the Configuration Synchronization Settings to "User & Groups" and "Use SharePoint Profile Synchronization"
Run -> Profile Synchronization as "Full Synchronization" and check
Also I think the App pool should run as a admin account, please verify with it also


Poker etymological dictionary

Question: Is there a Poker etymological dictionary out there that explains the origin/history of the poker terms? There are many terms in Poker with meanings that are not immediately obvious and it'd be nice to find out their origins, for example terms such as cow, broadway, cooler, coffee housing, come bet/betting on the come, etc...
Comment: I don't think there will be a dictionary explaining the etymology of poker slang as some of it is quite obscure. For example I have no idea why broadway is called broadway, I mean it makes sense you could say something like- "there's nothing better than broadway" (comparing it to theatre) but I don't actually know where it comes from. There are some cases where you might be able to find out though, for example  the term "three bet" doesn't really make much sense in NLH but that is because it has its origins in PLH
Answer: Some of the terms are defined here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_poker_terms.
Some etymology here: http://www.flopturnriver.com/top-10-poker-lingo.php
Comment: Oh yes, but they only define it they don't give their etymology. For example, why does broadway called broadway, or why does cooler called cooler?
Answer: Personally I like this site: http://pokerterms.com/
It does answer your cow question (and many others): http://pokerterms.com/cow.html
This is good too: http://www.poker1.com/archives/2344/wiesenberg-official-dictionary-of-poker-mcu-intro but has a drawback: When you search you have to search the whole site, not only the dictionary

Poker etymological dictionary


Natural Approach text books

Question: I have only found a single example of a Natural Approach text book, Lingua Latina. Are there any other books in this style available for purchase online?
Comment: This is really broad. Can you narrow down the requirements of "well-known" and specifics about the subject the book should be about?
Comment: Please clarify whether you are looking for specific languages. The natural approach probably has many examples.
Comment: I have updated my question, I am not looking for specific language . Chris can you point me to a few of these many examples ?
Comment: All the textbooks for French, English and German that I used at school used only the target language.
Comment: @chris I have never seen another text book targeting complete beginners written completely in the target language
Answer: One series of books for English from the late 1970s to mid 1980s was Streamline English by Bernard Hartley and Peter Viney, published by Oxford University Press and now out of print. It consisted of volumes titled Departures, Connections and Destinations. The series was created for use in classrooms rather than for self study. (This series was for British English; apparently, there was also an American version: American Streamline.) Our English classes were entirely in English from the very beginning.
My first German textbook was volume 1 of Deutsch für junge Leute by Roland Schapers and published by Verlag für Deutsch. This book was entirely in German. It was part of a series of books for use in classrooms, not for self study.
One of the series of books we used for French, Feu vert au français, was also entirely in French except for a vocabulary list at the back of the book.
For a Spanish example, see Nuevo Ven 1, published by Edelsa in Spain. You can't preview the book on Edelsa's website or on Amazon, but one of the reviewer comments on Amazon.com says:

Native English speakers tend to freak out over a book like this, but the fact is that in Europe the majority of school foreign language textbooks don't have a word of the student's native language written in them. The idea is to build the skills you'll eventually need during total immersion in the language.

And yes, another reviewer complains:

This Spanish book is TERRIBLE. There is not one word of English to explain anything that needs to be explained, therefore the book can only be as useful as your lecturer is.

These are all books for classroom use. The Natural Approach is a language teaching approach, not a self-learning approach.

Natural Approach text books


Can I test a base station CB radio with a magnetic mobile antenna?

Question: I am looking at a base station and want to test it before purchasing can I use a magnetic mobile antenna to see if it transmits and receives without damaging it?
Comment: Base station? For CB or amateur radio?
Comment: More information definitely required for this
Comment: It`s a cb president washington the guy has no antenna and hasn`t tested it it was his uncles.
Comment: CB != amateur. We can ignore that (it's about general radio), but your question doesn't really show enough detail or sufficient own research.
Answer: Magnetic mobile antenna is supposed to be mounted on the roof of vehicle, thus metallic roof serves as ground plane.
If you want to use it as base station antenna, off the vehicle you have to provide similar ground plane. As it is magnetic antenna it probably does not have option to attach radials so you have to set it up on large enough sheet of metal.
For VHF and UHF, side of PC case is good enough. For CB I guess it should be larger.
Anyways, you should test transmitting on low power first (less than 5 watts) and with SWR meter. If everything is OK then you may switch to higher power (but not higher than what is antenna rated for)
Comment: It does NOT have to have the ground plane for testing. As long as you don't expect stellar performance from it, you can hook the mag mount antenna up to the radio, and it will transmit at the very least across a piece of property. That is plenty to know that the radio does in fact work. No need to over complicate it, it's a used CB radio.
Comment: Reference: I actually did this about a month ago with a bunch of Boy Scouts. I know for a fact that will work.
Comment: Magnetic antenna without metallic ground will have large SWR (tested). I would not recommend using it except with very low power, no more than 5 watts.
Comment: Which is exactly what he has with a 4 watt radio.
Answer: If you are using a magnetically-mounted antenna that is designed for mobile use, then ideally you need to put it on as large a sheet of metal as you can find. This is because a mobile antenna of this type is (as mentioned in another answer) designed to use the roof of a vehicle as a groundplane.
The President Washington should only transmit about 4 watts of power (Google is your friend), so any small antenna should do for testing purposes. Do be aware that some people do like to increase the power out to 15-20W, which puts the radio out of spec. If this is the case, you would be well advised to have the radio realigned - which won't hurt anyway, as these sets are getting long in the tooth now.
Ideally though, you would want to take a power meter (a regular power/SWR meter would do just fine) and a small dummy load. Plug the dummy load into the antenna socket of the power meter, and plug the power meter into the transmitter. That will tell you how much power you are transmitting.
For testing how well it receives, any antenna will do really. A mag-mount on a balcony railing will be fine to see if the radio's receiver is working at all.
Comment: What, plugging a dummy load into it and seeing that it transmits? Sounds like normal due diligence to me
Comment: That is a LOT more trouble than it is worth just to see if a CB radio works before buying it.
Comment: Yeah, but how many people have dummy loads and know how to use them and how many people have a second $30 CB radio at least somewhere accessible? A lot more of the second in my experience. But if you have a dummy load and know how to use it, sure.
Answer: In general, as long as the antenna is reasonably sized for the transmitting frequency it should be fine. In other words, if you are transmitting on 30 MHZ (10 meter band) and you try to use a 12" mag mount, you can either damage the radio at worst, or best case the radio clamps down the output and you won't get any signal out.
Keep in mind that you will probably not get great performance out of it, but it should at least be good enough to test with another close by radio to make sure that the base station is actually working.


How can Jiren fly when meditating in the tournament of power if flying was disabled?

Question: In the tournament of power the flying technique was disabled so only characters with wings could fly. But after the fight with Goku , Jiren started meditating in the middle air flying. How is this possible?
Comment: maybe he is stronger that they would imagine so they didn't make the non flying thing strong enough?
Comment: the question I guess is more.....is it flying or just slight levitation?  as far as I understand those two things are different from each other at least
Answer: To be fair, some of the fighters like Jiren and even UI Goku are fighting at the levels of a god of destruction. The world of void is infinity and Jiren's mere presence caused infinity to shake and even when Goku emerged during his UI transformation, it was stated that the world of void is shaking. I think when their power is as enormous to ripple across infinity, such rules wouldn't apply to themIt was stated that time itself meant nothing against Jiren's strength so I don't see why a rule like the no flight would apply to him when he is at the level of strength.*An alternate explanation: We see android 17 use his energy to create a form of footing and he stands on that to eliminate Kakunsa. The special force or special gravity responsible for stopping flight, should have in theory stopped that layer of footing from existing but it didn't. So in other words, android 17 could've sat on that for as long as he wanted and it would appear even as though he was floating. Jiren's energy is obviously a lot superior to android 17 so whatever special forces of gravity responsible to prevent flight aren't strong enough to hold Jiren in place.


Will GNOME Online Accounts ever support Ubuntu One?

Question: Like the title of the question says, is Ubuntu One integration with GNOME Online Accounts on the roadmap for Ubuntu?
Answer: Its not on the roadmap of both of them.
Not trying to guess stuff out and say no but the short answer will be that: no, not that its known atm.
Answer: I think the real question is "Will Ubuntu One ever support GNOME Online Accounts?"
I do not believe it is planned for either of the projects, but I would recommend asking a developer of either projects if they could add the feature before ubuntu 12.04 (should be able to find a dev at launchpad)


VMware Fusion on MacBook Pro running Vista, not working after installing a wireless card

Question: A tech friend installed VMware on my Mac so I could use my Windows programs as well.  It worked great until I inserted my Sierra 881 USB wireless card while in VMware trying to get to the internet while on the road.  It worked briefly, then the AT&T Communication manager won't respond when you click on the icon, I can't open Network and Sharing center, I can't sync my palm - shows it can't connect.  Looks like it messed up several things, along with not being able to connect to the internet while in windows.  This wireless cards works directly from the Mac - but I need internet while in Windows for some work I am doing.  How do I uninstall this - when I try - it just gives me an endless reloading circle - not doing anything.  I really need to sync my palm and get back to the way it was.  I don't know much about VMware at all and I don't have access to my friend right now to get help.
Comment: Change the VM network settings to "Share the Mac's network connection (NAT)" then it would work like ethernet. So you should be able to just connect to the internet on your Mac and use internet on Windows as if a cable is plugged in
Answer: try this its for an 885 ...sounds like it might work for the 881 tell me if it does!
                       mh
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/other-hardware-peripherals/168290-t-usb-modem-problem-10-6-64bit.html


Writer's Block For Years...?

Question: I just kind of stumbled upon this site but I would love some help from anyone...
All my life I have loved to write. As a kid and teenager it was my favorite pastime, and I was always planning for a story, writing a new story, finishing a story. I loved it. I always had ideas and was creating new things all the time.
However, the past two years (maybe a little more), I haven't been able to write anything. It's as if I have no ideas, no creativity, no inspiration, nothing. It's really awful because I still love writing, but I feel no motivation or anything. I feel like all my creative sparks are gone and I can't come up with anything good or worth reading.
Does anyone else have this problem? What is this called? Am I not a writer anymore?
Thanks in advance.
~McKenna
Comment: My suggestion is simple, read news articles. There are so many incredible things that are real stories. From near misses of asteroids: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/661900/NASA-asteroid-3200-Phaethon-Geminids-meteor-shower-Earth-orbit-December-2017-space

to AI writers with the same problem of writers block: http://www.iflscience.com/technology/ai-attempts-to-write-harry-potter-and-it-goes-hilariously-wrong/

they all can be found on sites like IFLscience.com. Just ask your friends what worries them and there are the beginnings of your new story. Good Luck.
Comment: If you do come back into writing don't be surprised if 1. You find your writing really stinks compared to before your writer's block. (You're rusty and out of practice.) 2. Your writing style changes. Both of these happened to me. I had a writers block that extended sometime around 2011, with maybe occasional dabs of writing around 2012, but not much progress until this year 2017.  It was a bit of a letdown reading what I wrote now vs before the block, but I can see though rough, what I have written now is better than back then even if it is lackluster. It's the potential I see and strive for.
Comment: Expanded: there's no easy way out of #1: Lackluster (rusty) writing, except to work through it and keep writing. ( I'm finding this with my current rough draft. ) It's like the sea of terrible art you have to do before getting where you want if you're an artist. Sometimes that frustration itself is enough to desire putting it aside, but doing that only prolongs the period of lackluster writing. That's why it helps to have an idea you really want to write and can't put aside regardless.
Comment: From the experience I saw from my mom over the past 40 years, writing can come and go, same way with inspiration.  Trying to force it will only make things worse.  There are tricks to getting over Block, but mileage will vary.  Just write when/what you feel like.  Keeping a daily/weekly journal may help you stay in practice and may jog interest in something.  Also, don't hem yourself into any one genre, let the pen fly for any or no reason on any or no topic, regardless if you think you'll publish it.
Answer: Adding to the comment above about life and stress, other hobbies can also get in the way. Sharing this from personal experience. Other people may be able to manage more than one hobby, but if you're like me, I find no matter how hard I try to juggle projects, I end up choosing one hobby at a time and go all into it leaving little to no time for much else to do in my free time.
Maybe that's happened to you. As far as what helps to get out of a writer's block, I suspect is individual and up to you. What helps me is sometimes going back and reading over old drafts and start editing helps get the process started. Eventually I find my mind filling in more and expanding, changing stuff and improving, unfinished ideas start playing in my mind.
Also, like suggested, reading news articles and watching the news helped. The highly charged political atmosphere of late 2016/ early 2017 jumped started my urge to write. First it was just doing forum comments, then expanded into what core ideas I had in my past stories. Some of the old ideas I no longer agreed with, but rather than remove them, decided to play it out, have conflict between the old ideas and new ideas. That gave me a motive and a message to share in my writing.
Maybe that will help you. Maybe you're looking for a message or an opinion close to you to share?

Edited to add:

This little bit is what came to my mind when reviewing this topic. I'm not sure how useful it is, but I'll post it anyway.
Writers block is the naysaying little creatures in your mind biting at you, the rocks slipping under your feet, pulling you down, tripping you you into the valleys of your mind, telling you that your work isn't good enough, that you should give it up. That your work isn't good enough, and you should scatter your focus into other hobbies. You have to fight through those voices, hold your head up high and climb that mountain, keep climbing. If you slip, get back up, keep going. Don't let the naysayers win. Yes your work will be terrible. There will be times of self doubt, but you know, there's no way around it. You have to fight through the bland, get past the bottom of the mountain to get to the summit. To give up at the mediocre stage, means having to return at that stage when you go back. This is where I failed in the past. Giving up when it was mediocre and hoping I could get to the summit when I returned from my break. It doesn't work that way. You have to keep climbing if you desire to achieve your goal. It helps to have a desire, a message that is near to you, enough that you can see the potential and stick with it as you struggle through the early stages.
Comment: News is great idea, but you don't need crazy political stuff, read the weird crazy news. That's where good stories lie. Also Deep dives on Wikipedia for crazy history and science
Comment: Agreed, it doesn't have to be all political. Just something that you feel strongly about, enough to drive you into writing it. Or it may just turn out like a high school or college essay, just something you write but not put your heart into. Without that drive, then it gets easy to find another hobby and fall into writers block again. That said I find ebbs and flows. Sometimes I have to skip over sections because writing them feels like work more than fun and it would kill my desire to write if I forced it, so I leave a note and return to that section later.
Comment: Oh and don't be afraid (especially in the rough draft phase) to go ahead and type up a rant about why you're stuck. Sometimes I've done that and it can be interesting. Other times I'll write out a summery of what I want the characters to do but...just...can't...get into the mindset or make the characters do it.  In time when I write out the draft, I may find out that I was stuck because the original idea didn't work and the actual scene comes out different, either another location, sequence, or set of characters. Or was boring and/or not needed.
Answer: There are lots of things that push our creativity to the side or that bring it back on full force.

Stress. I guess you are in your early 20s? Maybe you're finishing a degree, or starting a job, or moving, or even getting married, or having children.

Any of these things will take precedence over writing. When you were a teenager, you had to write for classes, and writing was probably therapeutic for you too. But if life came along and gave you other things to take care of, you won't have the same nudge to sit down and put pen to paper. You mind is on the here and now, the details of 'adulting.'

Close death or divorce etc (this is #1 on steroids)

I have a friend who loves to sing and her husband started abusing her and guess what, she never felt like singing and she told me she didn't know why and we were all like "because your husband is abusing you" and when she got out of the relationship guess what? She started singing again. This is a thing. Heavy stress will change what you feel like doing.

You are 'settling down.' I think there probably is something to the idea that what you feel in teenage years changes in your twenties. Each decade has its own 'thing.' The twenties are all about those grown up things - Jobs and what not. Thirties are mostly about kids, forties are about other things and fifties and sixties and seventies and so on.

This does not mean you are not a writer. It means many people are different in their twenties than they were as teenagers.
If you want to write a little bit, you could start a blog, or enter short story contests, or join a writer's club (meet-up has writers clubs everywhere), or just get a notebook and do short form stuff (poetry). A blog has a nice advantage in that you can build up a whole series of blog-gy posts and if you get back to other types of writing down the road,  you have this nice set of blog posts that chronicle where you were and so on for the past xx years. You might have followers too, if it's on FB.
Things come and go and come back again. Don't sweat it.
Comment: Upvoting this. There may be a bit of truth to this. Though I didn't get married or start a family, I did find a drop of creativity in my mid to late 20's as I focused on moving out of state from my parents place and eventually transitioned into living in my own apartment. The job I have isn't my dream job and the pay is so-so, but working part time and maybe my mindset nearing my mid 30's me to slowly allowing me to get back into writing.
Comment: I want to add to this that other hobbies can get in the way of writing and vise versa. While actively pursuing photography, that meant more on the go time and less sitting behind a computer. Just simply not enough time to do both hobbies and get the most out of them. The same goes with drawing or sculpting. There's only so much time in a day and unless you want to set a time to both, then you're going to find yourself choosing one, and have no time left for the other. You might have chosen another hobby at the time of your writers block.
Answer: You're still a writer - you've given us a story and some character development in just a few words. The problem looks like one of inspiration and  motivation.
Other posters have mentioned other things getting in the way - with me it was a different kind of writing : my work involves producing and editing technical manuals, reports, and corporate communications. I never had a problem with those as I had a writing brief, a deadline and an intended audience, but I was looking for a way to pull that back into the fiction I used to have a lot less trouble writing.
Local or online writers' groups might be able to give you a writing brief (inspiration) and a deadline and audience (motivation). I would highly recommend the Writing Challenges on the Meta site here (latest at Writing challenge: Sale! - 8 Dec 2017 - 29 Dec 2017). It's not the only place online for this, but it's a good one - special thanks to Michael, Mithrandir and Vylix for the recent ones.
I'm probably making it sound like work which won't help everyone but might get some people started. When you can get back to thinking of writing as play, the inspiration and motivation will take care of themselves.
Answer: First, what happened two to three years ago? What happened in the months  after the last story you wrote? You don't have to tell me, this is for yourself to contemplate, and I am not soliciting any criminal or sexual history, or any betrayals committed or suffered, or any unrequited love or rejection, or any other kind of emotional trauma concerning yourself, your family or friends.
I suspect that your lack of writing is due to a significant emotional event. Understanding that is your first step to moving on from it.
Another route toward this would be analyzing what you wrote, and how it changed over time. What did your fictional characters do that inspired you or pleased you? Were you writing your own wish fulfillment fiction, e.g. McKenna finds true love, or conquers evil, or solves world hunger, or goes to Harvard. If you were, get in better touch with your own current aspirations, think about how stories could illustrate them.
Or perhaps, the idealistic self-expectations you once had became unrealizable. Despite your best efforts, you did not get into Harvard, and did not even get a full scholarship. Or did not become an actress, or young politician, or professional athlete, or published author, or whatever you truly thought possible as a young teen. Perhaps your current block is a result of disappointment.
Perhaps you felt that writing was fun because something like it would someday come true, and as an adult you find that naive and silly. If I look at the stories I wrote as a young teen, they are unpublishable naive drivel I regard quite fondly, because they do reflect some of my core desires for justice, fairness, and the permanent destruction of evil.
Another way of putting this is that very young children dress up as superheroes or princesses because they truly believe they could grow up to be like that: But eventually they grow up and realize that is childish and impossible, and stop dressing as superman or wonderwoman.
In the same way, you may have grown out of the kind of stories you used to write, that came easily to you, and if you want to continue writing (I assume you do or you wouldn't have asked this question) you need to stop dressing up as a superhero with magical powers, and move on to more difficult, vulnerable adult heroes that are more realistic and not guaranteed to win.
I suspect your life changed 2-3 years ago, and that change is what shut down your writing. It may have been a permanent change (first love, first sex, first something-else), but that is okay: It should just mark a change in what you write about going forward. Figure out what happened, and that will help you figure out why it should not have changed the fact that you write, it should only have changed how you write and what you write about and what you want from writing.
Comment: It doesn't always have to be a major life change, though it could be. I've found writers block to come very subtly. 1. I have an idea I really want to write, but just can't. (insert reason. Either at work, or on the bus or involved with something else)  2. Come back to write it, but facebook or some other page looks more interesting. 3. Try to come back to the idea I wanted to write, but then see some other shiny subject (such as a sunset) 4. Grabs camera thaes picture of the sunset. 5. Posts picture of sunset on a photography forum or facebook and get positive response. 6.  - next post.
Comment: 6. Decides to take more pictures and plans a bike trip to a scenic local place. 7. Does that activity. 8. The idea I wanted to write is becomes a distant memory.  Enough days like that and a hiatus can be rather easy.  That said I may be tempted to go back and return to the hobbies I put aside to do the writing hobby and start the cycle over.  I suspect I'm not alone and the process can cause writers to go on hiatus. There's only so many hours in a day and so many hobbies one can follow at a time. To do one means sacrificing the others. Sometimes it is writing. Sometimes it is another hobby.
Comment: @BugFolk Your distractions do not match the OP's experience, they **want** to write but cannot. I suspect you don't really want to write, it doesn't hold your interest and isn't as much fun as being entertained by the Internet. S. King says many that say they want to write do not, they only want to **have written,** to be an author and have an income from sales without further work. Maybe that is you, or maybe you are so stuck you are discouraged and THAT is no fun. I think something happened to the OP that blocked all their younger **reasons** to write. Hence no ideas that matter anymore.
Comment: I think you misunderstood my post. I really do want to write. The idea drives me, but at some point I hit a mental roadblock. It's the I want to get this idea down but I can't make it materialize, so other distractions get in the way, seem easier and then before I know it, it gets harder to return to the idea, than it is to block out the distraction and get it out anyway, even if the idea falls short of what I wanted.
Comment: But yeah there's a degree of what you wrote in your last few paragraphs that I can relate to as well. People like my older, childish stuff, but when I read it, I just can't engage in that mindset. Part of continuing the writing process was having to accept that even if I may have liked parts of my old work, I cannot return to that style no matter how hard I try. I outgrew the ability to fully relate to my child characters and the plots that engaged me as a child bore me as an adult. So yeah To continue I had to accept a slightly more mature perspective than my child self.
Answer:
"I can't come up with anything good or worth reading."

This implies you have ideas, you just think they're bad.  That's irrelevant.  You must write.
Do you honestly think an artist just happens to make a masterpiece every time?  That an athlete just goes out and wins a gold medal?  No.  These people practice.  Most of the time it's not interesting, but they keep practicing.  So must you.
Write.  Write anything.  Write about your day, write about something that interests you, write about someone who interests you, write short stories, write world building documents. You are not a writer because you had written something years ago... you are a writer because you spend time writing. Most importantly, write when you don't feel like it - force yourself to write regularly.
I'm an indie games developer.  I spend most of my time writing code for my game.  Many times I don't feel like I want to work on a specific thing, because it's boring or hard. But I force myself.  This makes me feel better because I end up achieving something, instead of just watching TV.  Even if it's ugly code, it serves a purpose.  The same for writing short stories, which I have done on and off over the years.
Feeling uninspired?  Read.  Fiction, history, the news.  Watch documentaries.  Listen to radio talk shows.  Go for walks. Exercise.  Do something.  You either do, or you do not.  Don't care about whether it's bad or not, write.  The more you write, the better your writing will become.
Answer:
I feel like all my creative sparks are gone and I can't come up with anything good or worth reading.

This sounds like perfectionism to me.
Try reading some of Albert Ellis' texts. He has been one of the most influential psychologist in the therapeutic field. One of his ideas is: "make a bad version".
You could also force yourself to write a book within one day. This has been done before with books which where reviewed and publicized by editors, and then rated by journalists or columnists with 3 stars or more.
Books don't have to be perfect, as long as they are enjoyable.

Writer's Block For Years...?


Which of Ben Franklin's grandsons was blessed by Voltaire?

Question: I've seen this image and I was curious if anyone knows which grandson of Ben Franklin's this is receiving Voltaire's blessing:

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Franklin-Descendants-1
Comment: Interestingly, this picture looks much more like a 16yo grandson than a 9yo one. However, its not a photo, and I've found loads of other paintings of the two meeting showing a much younger-looking "grandson" (and at least one "nephew".)
Answer: According to Voltaire and the Century of Light
By Alfred Owen Aldridge, (page 400) it was

Franklin brought his namesake and grandson of eight years, Benjamin Franklin Bache to meet Voltaire and, accordingly, requested a benediction for the little boy. In the midst of twenty witnesses, Voltaire, according to his own recollection, pronounced the simple blessing "God and liberty".

This really is more convoluted then it appears, as there are different opinions on which grandson this might be. Some of the controversy and sources supporting both views are listed in an authors note for Franklin and Bache: Envisioning the Enlightened Republic
By Jeffery Alan Smith, for any who wish to investigate further.  One thing mentioned here is that Temple would have been an adult:

Various accounts of this meeting exist, some of which suggest that
  Voltaire blessed Franklin's other grandson, but the versions seem to
  agree that it was a young child rather than the fully grown Temple.

Concerning trying to discern the grandsons apparent age from the image in the OP's question, this painting is credited in Wikipedia to Pedro Américo, who, being born in 1843, was not directly familiar with the subjects in his painting; they had all died well before he was born. The painting really can offer no assistance in answering this question.
Comment: edited with a little more detail.
Comment: Is there a more complete quote?  There seem to be two conflicting answers.
Answer: @justCal appears to be correct:

Born on 12 August 1769, Bache was soon taken under the mentorship of his famous grandfather, Benjamin Franklin. In 1776, when Franklin went on a nine-year diplomatic mission to France, he took the seven-year-old Bache with him so that the child would get an enlightened education. Franklin then enrolled Bache in Le Coeur boarding school in Passy, a suburb of Paris – during this time, Franklin also arranged for the boy to meet Voltaire. PSU

Difficult to cite an absence of evidence, but I searched for both young gentlemen's names in connection to Voltaire; the citations for Bache are more detailed and more specific (see above).
Comment: Heh. I actually found the same, and agree it lends credence to it being Bache. I'm not sure that's enough though. Bache was at boarding school when the meeting took place. He could have been pulled for a day or two just to meet Voltaire. (And if so, bravo to Grandpa). But the other grandson acting as his secretary almost certainly would have been there either way.


How to apply Scrum in fixed date, fixed budget project?

Question: Considering that we work on a project with fixed deadlines and fixed budget and we use Scrum: what are best practices we should use to make this setup successful? Since Scrum wasn't directly designed to deal with such projects, what changes we should apply to standard by-the-book approach?
Answer: Scrum works best when there are known quantities because you can easily compare expected's to actual's. With the scope and deadline already determined, you can basically list out all the features, break them up into 2-week iterations, then as you move forward, you'll be able to gauge whether you're scheduled to complete the project before the deadline.
For the folks signing the checks, this can be a HUGE benefit because they will be able to see progress every step of the way, and be able to make immediate adjustments as necessary to get the project done within those constraints.  If the project is falling behind, they'll be able to see that almost immediately, and determine if they need to allocate more resources, cut features, or scrap the project altogether (hopefully before they've lost 100% of their investment).
I am currently working on a project with similar constraints, and the business loves the Scrum model because although the requirements for the product we are building haven't changed much since Day 1, they are still involved at every step, and they feel confident that what we are building will meet their needs.
The key is really just to keep them involved, and show them how their money is being spent.  Then, if the project does end up a bit over-budget or over-time, they will feel more comfortable making adjustments, instead of writing a blank check for an unknown delivery.
Answer: A good approach to managing this is suggested in Steve Tockey's Return on Software - You should initially prioritize all the stories that are envisioned before the start of the first sprint. Now for each story come up with its best and worst (story point) estimate. Also have some estimate of the velocity - either use judgement (team based - you could use planning poker for this too :) or use past data - but be realistic. That should give you an initial guess as to how many story points can you deliver (PSPD = planned story points deliverable)
Starting from the most important story, in that order:
Take the sum total of all the 'worst' estimates - once that exceeds PSPD, Stop. (Remove the last story so that you are below PSPD. You need not but may). These set of stories are definitely "in" (= DIN i.e., will be developed).
Do the same for the 'best' estimates. Once you exceed PSPD, Stop. The stories left out (i.e., not considered by this step) are definitely "out" (= DOUT).
So the set {Best - Worst} (i.e., the stories that only belong to best, but not to worst. It's the minus set operator) are the ones whose 'fate is uncertain' for now. All you can say is that few of the highest priority features will be delivered and few of the low priority ones won't be. The rest is contingent upon (business/technical) knowledge gained at the end of each milestone. Re-estimation at subsequent milestones would then repeat the above process but on the Uncertain set = {Best - Worst} to know the new DINs and DOUTs (and of course the new uncertain set)
This should allow the management to see a realistic plan of action as well as gauge the level of uncertainty at every milestone (i.e, end of sprint) and see what is DIN/DOUT/Uncertain and decide accordingly!
This is by a book approach :) Hope this helps
Answer: You'll probably have to juggle the fixed scope part of your project (since fixed budget is usually just means a fixed team and fixed delivery date means when this team stops working).
It depends mostly on how much consensus you can get from stakeholders, product owner etc. Usually this boils down to making compromises on functionality (again thinking about how defined is the scope and how important are the stories you can't afford to deliver for any reason or maybe the justification for replacing these stories for different ones).
I would suggest paying more attention to your product backlog, and making the fixed scope part of the project a bit flexible in the sense that you want to leave out as much technical details as possible for interpretation and better implementation later.
Answer: There are multiple solutions possible depending on the type of uncertainty and the type of project. As always, there is no single correct solution. Look at the various options and see what fits into your context:

In some projects, there is uncertainty, but it is well understood. For example, website design, has some back & forth before you finalise on the output, but this is well understood. Usually you know how much time will be spent in revisions and you can buffer that time & cost into the fixed price when you make a quote.
In some projects, you dont understand where there will be uncertainty. In this scenario, you need to prioritise your work, delivering the higher value stories first. When you get feedback or changes for the higher value features, create new stories for those changes and remove an equal amount of lowest value stories from the bottom of the backlog. Basically, you are trading one story which is more valuable for another story which is less valuable
In new innovation work, where there is going to be a lot of uncertainty, then negotiate for the time & material contract. It is in your own customers interest to do time & material as it is likely that a lot of changes will be required before you end up with the right software that your customer actually wants. If you do fixed price, the delivered software will mostly not meet customers needs.

The various contexts where these can be used:

First is the fixed-price fixed-scope scenario. Choose this for commodity software which you have delivered many times before and you understand well. Not only about the product you are building, but also which are the likely areas of uncertainty and duration to resolve them.
Second is the fixed-price variable-scope scenario. Choose this for reasonably well understood software where you understand the product you are building, but dont know the time it will take to resolve uncertainty.
Third is the variable-price variable-scope scenario. Choose this when you are doing something new, and expect a lot of uncertainty in the product direction
Answer: I find that scrum is usually part of an agile approach and as pkoval implies, having a fixed date is not very scrum-like.  I would start with bare-bones functionality that you can do in HALF the time.  Deliver that and then start delivering features one-by-one.
I would work on additional education of senior management if necessary about all the pieces of scrum and agile.
Scrum and it's implications have to be well understood by all, not just 'applied' on top of an existing system to try and push 'faster' results.
Comment: Fixed date is fine, you just have to manage the other two points of the triangle, and since budget is fixed, all you can play with is scope.  So you deliver the most important stories that provide the most business value to the customer.
Answer: I believe DSDM Atern, which is another agile methodology, explicitly deals with fixed time and fixed budgets.
By prioritising the requirements using the MoSCoW method, it is understood that some things will not make it into the final release. It is up to the Business Visionary to identify which requirements are flexible in this manner. Although there is a ratio that is advised, else everything becomes a Must Have.
Answer: You should watch the video "Agile Fixed Price Projects" that discusses this exact topic
Comment: "Using Scrum in fixed price, fixed date situations presents an opportunity, but only if your audience knows how to listen and is willing to listen" - Agile Project Management with Scrum. Ken Schwaber. There is a piece where he details how to approach such a situation, concluding with the above statement.
Comment: The video is not available anymore.
Comment: No video available
Answer: I'm a Scrum newbie and looking to implement Scrum in my company. Obtaining buy-in is not a problem, it is my company and the developers are more than happy to work like this.
The problem is that 75% of our revenue is derived from fixed length/fixed price projects.
Ken Schwaber in his book, Agile Project Management with Scrum, covers the topic of bidding on fixed length/fixed price projects in an appendix at the end of the book.And u explained beautifully.Hats off
Here is a Plug to my website
http://www.scrumstudy.com
Comment: Could you summarize Mr. Schwaber's key points & value?  And please clarify how your website answers the question?
Comment: Hi peeter, welcome to PM.SE! Is important to make sure your answer actually answers the original question, otherwise it only look like a proper promotion of your website (which is not advised unless really in scope for the original question). Not revising the answer will make it get eventually deleted.


Writing test cases for MOSS 2007 WCM

Question: Does somebody have a test case template for WCM solutions?
How should the test case be categorised? Is it based on page layouts?
Answer: All testign depends on specifications, ofcourse.
Generally WCM solution come with predefined navigational structure, site definitions, page layouts, with freedom of editor to create new sites, pages and normal list/ document content.
Most important in my experience is to give structure to your test (it is all to easy to forget parts) and drill down from basic to more advanced.
These steps I always execute:
1) Check navigational/site structure, site definitions and page layouts.
2) Check basic content editing and webparts (e.g. create new sites, pages, and other content)
3) Check custom features/ jobs, etc. specific implemented for this client
4) Design check (cross browser) : especially here it is key to have reliable test content supplied by end user
5) Authorisation.
6) performance (note: watch out for functional issues because of cached content)
For simple sites you might just want to rpitn out specs and keep track of test on hardcopy.
For more complex site, you might put all items to check (navigational structure, site defintions, webparts,. etc) in excel to keep track of what has been tested.

Writing test cases for MOSS 2007 WCM


What are the advantages of walk-in or in person interviews over online video interviews?

Question: I am asking from the perspective of interviewer but am also interested in views from interviewee perspective if they can help. Are there certain positions where an in-person interview is preferred assuming parameters like distance etc. are a non issue for the recruiter. I also wish to explore situations in which walk-in style interviews are preferred over scheduled interviews and vice-verse.
Answer: Both sides miss out on a lot of the body language, so it far easier to misinterpret.
As an interviewer, you  miss out on the chance to check with others about their perception of the interviewee. In an in person interview how an interviewee treats people he casually run into is often taken into account. They are looking for fit and people who are rude to the receptionist are often eliminated for that alone.  You miss out on evaluating the person's hygiene. Yes that sounds silly but I once had someone show up for an interview for a client-facing position wearing no shoes and very visible dirt up to her knees (well that was as far as I could see). So it really is a factor. She would have appeared fine in a video interview where we only saw her face.
It is also easier for a remote interviewee to have someone else in the room feeding them the answers to technical questions. So many interviewers are likely to be primed to be more impressed with the answers they get from people in person. And people do relate better to people they have actually met. There probably is even an unconcious bias in favor of the people they met in person in many cases. I bring that up because the interviewee would have to work harder to impress on a video interview because there is a bias to overcome in many cases.
From the interviewee side, you miss a chance to independently evaluate the work conditions, how the people in the office appear to relate to each other (If you have have ever walked into an office where everyone hates everyone, it is appranet within seconds from the tension in the body language and the tone of voice people use to each other). You miss out on seeing if the noise level is such that you can live with it, you miss out on meeting people who are not the interviewers (and sometimes you run into someone who knows you who will give you a good reference). Does the place seem regimented or relaxed?
Interviewers will often make a place sound better than it actually is (and to be fair, they aren't necessarily deliberately lying-one man's quiet, relaxed place can be another man's noisy, tense place), you can better evaluate the place with a chance to walk through the offices yourself and observe for yourself.
Does this mean you should never video interview? No, sometimes it is the best option if the person is in another country and you don't want to spend the money to bring them in. Just that both sides of the table may have to work harder at it to get the information they need to move forward in the hiring process. As na interviewer, I likely would not want to consider it for a client-facing postion (sales, account management, consultants, etc.) where you really really need to knwo how the person relates to other people in general. As an interviewee, I would not want to do it all if there are any other options avaiable because you are at a disadvantage in comparison with people they interviewed in person and you don't get a chance to evaluate them as well as you might want.
Answer: I've attended interviews that mix both at the same time: One of the interviewers was in person with me, and the other over video from another city. As an interviewee, I didn't feel much difference. This was for a software developer position, with no programming during the interview. I think that is why it was done with a mix, since showing programming for both persons at the same time might be challenging - it's hard to see whiteboard/paper through video, and the other way you would need to setup a computer for this purpose.
So in this situation, I think you can get away with video conferencing. But if you need any writing, pseudocode, or drawing charts, I think this is the case when video conferencing falls short. It would probably be quite difficult to do a good interview over video.
Answer: My interviewing (hiring mgr) experience is that an online interview can weed out candidates quickly.  Online interviews weed out people that are simply not cut out for the job.  They usually last under 30 minutes, and can be done from home by a single individual.
Several candidates will crash and burn when asked very simple questions about what is on their resume.  If a "Senior" dev prospect cannot answer a simple SQL question, there is no need to waste time doing an in person interview.
I would never hire someone based on an online interview only
You need in-person interviews to ensure the guy didn't cheat his way through your online  interviews.  You will also be able to have a much more in-depth conversation, and include some white-board problems that would be too complicated over phone\skype.
It'll also be easier to gauge enthusiasm as in person interviews usually last several hours, and involve multiple people.  It also gives you the chance to make sure the candidate has good hygiene, can dress appropriately and show up on time.
Comment: By online interview, are you sure you're talking about a video interview? Although I have a bias in favor of in-person interview, I don't see what's wrong with asking your SQL question to the candidate via video interview and see how he/she responds. The video interviewee faced with this question does not have any greater advantage than the in-person interviewee. If you as the team and hiring manager do really want to hire him, but you want an in-person interview just to be sure, then offer to pay his travel expenses.
Comment: In person interviews make sure the guy isn't being fed the answer by his friends.  I've never ask fizz-buzz in a phone or skype interview because the first page that comes up is alway the SO page about it (with the answer).  This has taken out a few in-person candidates, so I'm assuming at least some people are cheating this way.
Answer: Video interviews are just one step in the hiring process. More and more companies are using video interviews these days because it enables them to connect with candidates earlier on to gain greater insight. Most of our customers actually use them as a replacement for the phone screen. Thus, they are not totally abandoning in-person interviews, but using video interviews as a more efficient screening tool which allows them to quickly get to the step of inviting the best fitting job candidates into their office. Also, the majority of companies that we see using video interviews don't use them as a replacement to the in-person interview unless an in-person interview isn't feasible because of location, scheduling, etc.
Additionally, employers can cut down on valuable money and time being wasted by using video interviews. They also share with candidates the relief of less hectic scheduling. For example, with a One-Way interview, candidates have the convenience of being able to record their answers using a webcam or mobile device whenever, wherever. This interview also gives candidates the ability to think through questions and prepare a great answer before recording. Each question is presented the same way and in the same order to each candidate; therefore, one candidate doesn't have an advantage over another candidate in any way.
A job candidate will be seen at some point in the hiring process. There's no reason that the first time can't be via a video interview. If the employer chooses to eventually have the candidate come in for an in-person meeting, they already have a sense of their personality and characteristics from their video interview to make better hiring decisions.


What should I look for in speakers for an electronic keyboard

Question: I was just lent a keyboard (a Korg SP-200) and would like to buy low-cost external speakers for it. What should I look for in speakers for a keyboard?
Comment: I edited your question a bit as it was bordering on off topic. It would be useful to know what you want to do with it. Are you just playing at home?
Comment: @yossarian Thanks, I tweaked further. Kathy, we don't accept shopping recommendation questions (see the [FAQ]) but the current version of the question should get you answers that will help you determine what fits your needs.
Answer: A keyboard like this creates a full spectrum of sound, and you don't generally expect your amplifier and speaker to add colour to the sound. The keyboard outputs stereo (or, optionally, mono) line level, unlike the much quieter "instrument level" that comes from a guitar.
As a result, you're looking for most of the same properties as a you'd be looking for in a set of speakers for a CD player or an MP3 player.
Whatever the output connectors on the keyboard are, you will be able to find adapters to make it fit any of the solutions below.

PC speakers -- a pair of speakers and maybe a subwoofer, with a built in low power amplifier and a 3.5mm plug designed to go into a PC's sound card. They range from cheap and tinny sounding to more expensive and as good as a hi-fi
A hi-fi -- just connect it up as if it were a CD player, or any other sound source.
A powered PA speaker / keyboard amp. -- now we're approaching "gigging" territory. These look like guitar amps, but they're designed to have a full frequency response and not to distort the sound. They have the disadvantage of usually being mono. They have the advantage of being all in one unit. They range from small units that'll fill your living room with sound, to 4 foot high monsters that will fill a large hall.
Comment: I can concur on the PC speakers with a subwoofer. Depending on the particular set, you can even use them as a PA in a small space. I've performed live on iPad with a set of PC speakers with a subwoofer and been very satisfied with the results.
Comment: Harman Kardon puts out a nice set which I think give a good spectrum spread.  There's a separate subwoofer to support the sound; the negative is that it's not stereo -- not essential with the low end but still would be nice for that to be stereo, too.  Also note that stereo placement is important for some kinds of sounds and for different reasons.  In some cases it may play a role in the identity of the keyboard patch (a harpsichord may span R-to-L) and in others it may be useful for effects or separation (as in a bass-and-vibes sort of patch).
Answer: You need two things to be able to get external sound, an amplifier and a speaker. Often these will be combined.
In addition to budget, the other consideration is use. Are you planning on playing with a band? At home? How load does it need to be? How great does the quality need to be?
Assuming that you just want to practice at home, I would suggest one of two things:

Plug it in to your home stereo. Your stereo almost certainly has some inputs that you can plug in to (probably RCA or 1/8th inch) and your keyboard probably has 1/4 inch output. All you need is an adapter to take you from one size to the other, and you are good to go. If you already have a stereo, you're done. You could also buy a cheap stereo, or even an ipod dock, just as long as it has some kind of input.
Search for "Keyboard Amp" online. You can get one that is quite cheap (all things considered). This might be a bit more portable and will be designed for a keyboard. If you want to play with other people or travel with the keyboard, this may be easier.
Comment: Another option to look for are a pair of small "studio monitors". These are powered loudspeakers with a built-in amplifier intended for listening at close distances. They are suitable for use at home.
Answer: Most small speakers that sit at ear level do a poor job of reproducing the frequencies of the low notes. You may hear the bass notes, but they don't sound as rich and full as the signal being sent out of the keyboard. Thus it is essential to purchase speakers with a powerful subwoofer. Commercial keyboard amps have a bass speaker or subwoofer built in. Other kinds of speakers have the subwoofer as a separate component in its own cabinet that sits on the floor.
Answer: I would suggest if you have a budget for above $500, go for Bose L1 compact. You can find a used one around $600. If you have a tight budget and you only want to play at home or with some family/friends, then I would suggest Logitech Z623 sound system, which comes with two speakers and a subwoofer.
If you want to go at higher end, then you can get EV, JBL, Mackie or QSC loudspeakers (12 or 15 inches) (any of them you prefer) and pair them with subwoofers (12, 15 or 18 inches).


Why is Hashirama hailed as the most powerful shinobi of all time?

Question: Why is Hashirama hailed as the most powerful shinobi of all time and there hasn't been anyone who can surpass him? Also, why is the Wood Style unique to him?
Comment: Could you quote from where did you get this point that the strongest shinobi is Hashirama. For wood style read [this](http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Wood_Release)
Comment: This may interest you then [Strongest Hokage](http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6621/who-is-the-strongest-hokage)
Answer: There is more to it than this but the main reason he was considered the strongest was that his Wood Style allowed him to control the Tailed Beasts.  Before he did this there was no Jinchuuriki System.  The system only came after he passed them out to other Nations in good faith.  He potentially had all the Nine fighting for him at one point along with his own abilities.
I think Wood Release was basically a Blood Release version of Senjutsu which could explain a lot of the shared attributes between the two (like extra damage, rapid healing, growing nature, etc) and was so overpowered. Imagine someone having access to massive nature chakra reserves at all time.
I wish they explained Wood Style more and why the release was only unique to him and not his whole family (since it is considered a Kekkei Genkai).
Comment: Manga not sure where Anime is at but I would guess eventually Anime.  Read his abilities then the plot line but you might spoil it if you're not up to date.  You have to fill in the line but he can control them and he had all of them to give out at one point.  http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Hashirama_Senju
Comment: "He potentially had all Nine fighting for him at one point along with his own abilities."

Is this based on manga or shippuden? I never seen or read about this before. Would love to see it.
Answer: The reason that Hashirama is the only shinobi to don the wood release is purely due to genetics and that alone. Don't quote me exactly on this, however there is a 0.0000001% change of genetically developing mokuton and Yamato was lucky enough to get it through experimentation.
As for why he's considered the strongest, I'd assume it's due to the nature of the wood release, it's classed as a kekkei genkei and is extremely rare, it can suppress the tailed beasts (as shown in episodes such as Naruto's training with Yamato and Kakashi), however it's not just that alone, I'd assume it's also due to his good nature, his determination and the sheer fact he genuinely worked extremely hard to get to the position he was in.
Comment: I had completely forgotten about that! Well pointed out.


Irobot Create 2 Open Interface Communication

Question: I am able to connect the create 2 robot to my laptop with a serial cable.  I am using putty_beta terminal to run. I am not able to key in commands in the terminal. but I am able to receive information from the robot. I want to achieve two way serial connection. What can I do?
Comment: Why do you think you don't have two-way serial communication? You definitely are receiving information. Try pressing control+G while in PuTTY; this will send character code 7, which should reset the robot. If the robot resets, you have two-way communication.
Answer: I was not able to send commands just using putty, because putty sends every character individually. You need to write your own code or use something  like https://github.com/xa4a/go-roomba to communicate with the roomba
Answer: The Roomba expects binary data.  When you type in the PuTTY terminal, you are sending ASCII data.  For example when you type "128" into the terminal, you are actually sending 3 bytes of data: [49 50 56].  And because many commands of the OI Spec are outside the typeable ASCII range, using the terminal in this manner won't work.
You should use a programming language such as C, C#, Python, etc. to send the data packet.  There are many libraries for the Create2 freely available online.


Install a new OS after wiping out the OS on Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 4G

Question: I have wiped the OS off of my Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 4G (T679). Now all I get is the flash screen.
How can I install a new OS at this point?
Answer: All credit goes to stubbakatt over HERE for the files and original instructions. I simply walked through it myself and re-wrote out the instructions in a way that caters to my brain.
Disclaimer: This has been tested on two machines - one running Windows 7 32 bit, and one running Windows 7 64 bit. This has not been tested on an XP machine (though it should work the same) or on a Mac. And of course, I'm not responsible if you brick your device, proceed with caution, etc. etc.
FILES NEEDED:

Drivers: click here (Google Docs automatically pulls up the content of the .zip - simply go to the top left and choose File then
Download to download the .zip) - if you're rooted/rommed, you
probably already have these, but just in case these are the drivers I
used
"Back to Stock" - Odin, ops, factory image, etc: click here (Google Docs automatically pulls up the content of the .zip - simply
go to the top left and choose File then Download to download the
.zip) - this is the main stuff that Odin will use to flash your phone
back to it's factory state

STEPS:

Make sure the computer recognizes your phone with the drivers above (again, this is probably already the case if you're having to do this!)
Unzip the "back to stock" .zip file to wherever you want - preferably somewhere easy to get to (desktop?).
Power down your phone. Once it's off, hold down the volume-down button and press power. Hold both down until you see the "Warning!!" message with the yellow triangle at the bottom. Once you see that, hit the volume-up button. This puts you into Odin/download mode.
Plug your phone into your computer.
Among the files you unzipped from the "back to stock" .zip file, open "Odin Multi Downloader v4.43.exe". Once it opens, the Message window at the bottom left should read "Added!!!" and "Detected!!!".
Make sure all four of the Options are checked (One Package, Auto Reboot, Protect OPS, Reset Time [mine's set to 300 seconds]). I don't know if this is all necessary, but at the very least One Package and Auto Reboot appear to be.
On the right side, click the "OPS" button, and select/open the Ancora.ops file.
At the bottom, click the "One Package" button, and select/open the "T679UVKJ1_T679TMBKJ1_T679UVKJ1_HOME.tar.md5" file.
The Message window should do an md5 check and end with "Check MD5... ok". If it doesn't, try redownloading again - don't want to flash a corrupt file!
If all of that is good to go, then select the "Start" button.
Your mileage will vary, but for me it took about 5 minutes, then the phone reboots itself into recovery mode (the little white box with the progress bar), then about 30 seconds after that and the phone fully reboots. Don't unplug it yet. After a few minutes (actually, the 300 seconds set in the "reset time" in Odin), it will say Pass!!! and you're good to go and unplug the phone.
However, we're not quite done yet. Our goal is to get back to a factory state. You'll notice a lot of your stuff is still in place - apps, etc. That's because this process doesn't touch the /data partition of the phone. In addition, it's possible you COULD still be seeing the Superuser app. If that's the case, simply go into your application settings (settings > applications > manage applications), find Superuser, uninstall it. It will say uninstall not successful, but it should disappear.
The last thing to do is simply a factory reset - this will wipe out the /data partition, back to stock, and you'll be done. This could also take care of Superuser, but I've never tested it to see since it's easy enough to do it before the factory reset.

So there you go - hopefully you're now sitting on an "out of the box" Exhibit II 4G to do with whatever you please.
Original post


"Tolerably + *adjective*"

Question: Does e.g. "tolerably disgusting" mean the degree of disgust involved is tolerable or intolerable? Or "tolerably vile" - does it mean the vileness involved is tolerable or intolerable?
Comment: It simply means it is tolerable, and, it is disgusting. It's that simple.  **It is NOT one of those weird English things such as 'quite bad' or 'horribly good'**.  It is **NOT** one of those - it simply means the two words. (Like if I said "big red" or "cheap cheerful".)
Answer: Tolerably: adv.

in an acceptable (but not outstanding) manner; "she plays tennis tolerably"
acceptably, so-so

It means to an acceptable extent. The extent to which disgust or vileness are acceptable is a matter of personal  opinion.
Answer: Tolerably disgusting means that the speaker finds it (whatever "it" is) disgusting, but can live with the level of disgust involved.
Similarly with tolerably vile: it's vile, but tolerable.
When something is "intolerably disgusting" it indicates that the speaker cannot stand the situation because of the disgust.
Generally, if something is described as tolerable, that's what it is.
Answer: The fact that there are so few examples on the internet for either of these usages shows that you're probably better avoiding them yourself. Though not ungrammatical, they're far from idiomatic (considered normal by native speakers).
'Tolerably' is almost always used in the (downtoner) sense 'reasonably' when modifying an adverb or adjective, as CDO indicates. And you'd not say 'reasonably disgusting' very often. The word is rarely if ever used with (especially strongly) 'negative' adjectives. This is not the case for 'intolerably', as Andrew indicates.
Answer: A "tolerably good meal" means that the meal was all-right, but not splendid. But you are perhaps more likely to hear it as a somewhat ironic understatement, when you really mean "a very good meal indeed". "Tolerably disgusting" is something I would only say if I am trying to be funny. The humourous tone comes from the fact that it is an oxymoron: if something is disgusting then it is by definition not tolerable.
Answer: Perhaps it means 'tolerably disgusting', such as picking your nose in a side street. But if you were doing it whilst walking along Piccadilly it would doubtless be considered 'intolerably disgusting'.

"Tolerably + *adjective*"


In what situation could the maximum ramp mass limit the allowed take off mass?

Question: I've been pondering this for the longest time, but have been unable to come to a conclusion.
Comment: If I understand your question correctly, then at an airport where the expected taxi-out fuel burn is larger than the difference between maximum ramp and maximum takeoff mass, the mass at start of takeoff would always be restricted by the maximum ramp mass (if not by other factors like performance).
Comment: Assuming you are referring to Max Ramp Wt (MRW) vs. Max Takeoff Wt (MTOW).  If the MRW is 241,000 lbs and MTOW is 240,000 lbs, then 1000 lbs of fuel would have to be burned during taxi so as not to start the takeoff roll beyond the maximum weight limit.
Comment: I don't really understand your question, but does [this one](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q/16292/62) answer you?
Comment: @Pondlife: I guess the OP is asking if the limit on the MRM could, in particular conditions, or for a particular aircraft, be so low that it would prevent the MTOM to be reached. But some clarification in the post would be good.
Answer: @vasin is correct. I'll put some actual numbers in a scenario.
A 747-481F has a max ramp weight of 913000lb, a MTOW of 910000. That 3000lb difference between max ramp and MTOW has been the same for 747s since the -100 airplanes.
The 3000lb is usually sufficient to cover the taxi fuel, but not always. Think having to taxi out at JFK when departures are heavy and the runway in use is the one farthest away from your ramp. Or, same thing at Honolulu and because of your weight you need the reef runway.
The dispatcher/load planner for the flight believes in following the rules, and he believes the taxi out will consume 4000lb. Thus, he has to use 909,000 as the max takeoff weight. Thus the max ramp mass has limited the MTOW
This kind of thing happens most on freighter flights because they're loaded as often as possible right up to their max zero fuel weight, that's where the money is. So let's say it's a freighter flight, JFK to Tokyo Narita. With the airplane near MZFW, you can't load enough fuel to get to Tokyo, but if you stretch a string on a globe between JFK and Narita, it goes almost right over Anchorage, and Anchorage is pretty much at the halfway point. Indeed, Anchorage has been used as the refueling stop for freighters for years and for pax aircraft as well, but especially for freighters.
Anyway, the load planner will put as much cargo aboard as possible to put the actual takeoff weight right up against the MTOW allowed.
Answer: **assume the allowed takeoff mass means MTOW.
MTOW means the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to take off, due to structural or other limits.
This includes all mass involves in the flight including MZFW, fuel and consumables. Both maximum ramp mass and MTOW are a fixed number regardless of temperature or airport altitude. since maximum ramp mass and MTOW are fixed number, if fuel burn during taxi out is greater than the difference between maximum ramp mass and MTOW, maximum ramp mass will limit maximum weight an aircraft can takeoff with.


Are all goddesses part of Sati Devi?

Question: Is it true that all goddesses (e.g. Ambe, Vaishnodevi and other goddesses) are actually body parts of Sati Devi?
Answer: From Sati's Wikipedia page-

Daksha once organized a grand yajna to which all the gods were
  invited, with the exception of Sati and Shiva.
Sati goes there uninvited without Shiva. Sati was received coldly by
  her father.  Every passing moment made it clearer to Sati that her
  father was entirely incapable of appreciating the many excellent
  qualities of her husband. The realization then came to Sati that this
  abuse was being heaped on Shiva only because he had wed her; she was
  the cause of this dishonor to her husband. She was consumed by rage
  against her father and loathing for his mentality. Calling up a prayer
  that she may, in a future birth, be born the daughter of a father whom
  she could respect, Sati invoked her yogic powers or yogic Agni which
  was attained by her due to severe devotion or puja done by her and
  immolated herself.

According to some traditions, it is believed that an angry Shiva performed the fearsome and awe-inspiring Tandava dance with Sati's
  charred body on his shoulders. During this dance, Sati's body came
  apart and the pieces fell at different places on earth.
According to another version, Shiva placed Sati's body on his shoulder and ran about the world, crazed with grief. The Gods called
  upon the god Vishnu to restore Shiva to normalcy and calm. Vishnu used
  his Sudarshana Chakra to dismember Sati's lifeless body, following
  which Shiva regained his equanimity.

Both versions state that Sati's  body was thus dismembered into 51
  pieces which fell on earth at  various places. Several different
  listings of these 51 holy places,  known as Shakti Peethas, are
  available; some of these places have  become major centers of
  pilgrimage as they are held by the  Goddess-oriented Shakta sect to be
  particularly holy. Besides 51 main  Shakti pethas, some small peethas
  like Bindudham have also in  existence which are due to Sati's fallen
  blood drops.

But three Pindi's of Veshno Devis is out of this 51 Shakti Peethas. Even there is contradictions in this counts in all stories.
From Vaishno Devi Wikipedia page

Vaishno devi is one of 108 shakti peetha, the story of Vaishno Devi is
  found in Chandi uppurana. When Vishnu Bhagwan cuts Sati Maa's body
  into 108 peethas then 52 body parts fell onto earth atmosphere and
  rest of the 56 fell on other planets. Out of which the "Blessing Hand"
  of Goddess Sati had fallen on "Planet Venus" or Shukra.

From the same Veshno devi page its is told that Three Pindi's are Made by three Goddess ( Shakti, Sarasvati and lakshmi). So other goddess are not made by part of Sati's body  but this Shakti peetha's are. And the girl Kumari  made of Parvati's physical appearance, soul of "Lakshmi" and Goddess of knowledge, Saraswati. Which is know as Veshno Devi in Bhairav Katha.
Comment: did the sati practice originate from here ?
Answer: No. All are not body parts of Devi Sati. It is only the Satipeethas that are known to have Sati's body parts. The number and locations also vary from one tantra to another, the range being four (in Ppranatoshini Tanta) to 51(Peethanirnaya Tantra).The body parts mentioned also vary in different scriptures.
Also, there are Upapeethas that contain the ornaments or clothes etc of Devi Sati.
And there are siddha peethas.
In India, there are hundreds of Devi temples.Among them maximumm Satipeetha containing the body parts are at best 51.
(Ref:Shastramulak Bharatiya Shaktisadhana, Upendrakumar Das, vol 1, chapter 6.

Are all goddesses part of Sati Devi?


How to save audio from 2 XLR mics as 2 separate audio files

Question: Beginner here, so I'm sorry if this is a stupid question. Trying to make a binaural asmr video. I record with 2 xlr mics, and a zoom h4n. When saving audio, it saves as one audio file, so I am unable to pan audio from each mic to either the left or right during editing. How do I fix this?
Answer: You are recording fine. Simply split the 'stereo' file into two individual mono tracks when editing. Then, you will be able to pan them independently.
Answer: If you record in stereo then it saves as a single file but that file is a two track stereo file containing the left and the right channels. Make sure you have it recording in stereo mode and that the microphones are placed in the correct position for binaural recording. If you need to edit further then do as mark said.


Were there any attempts to assassinate Joseph Stalin?

Question: Were there any attempts to assassinate Stalin?  I haven't learned of any attempt to kill him, was he so brutal that no one tried to kill him?
Comment: Tito supposedly said, "Stop sending assassins to murder me... if this doesn't stop, I will send a man to Moscow and there'll be no need to send any more."; there's apparently a theory that [he did](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/06/did-tito-kill-stalin-a-new-book-on-the-theory.html).
Comment: [VtC as trivial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Zeppelin_(assassination_plot))
Comment: I always have wondered what the basis of his power was as an old, sick man. Or even when younger -- he was never physically imposing.
Comment: He died in very unclear circumstances, some believe it was assassination.
Answer: There were in fact several domestic attempts to assassinate Stalin.
Source

November 16, 1931. Ogaryov met Stalin on the Ilyinka str. near house 5/2 and tried to pull out his gun, but was stopped by a member of pre-KGB.
In early 1930-s, there was a society of people who called themselves "Klubok" (something like "a roll, a ball" if translated into English). Among the members there were military people, Enukidze, Peterson. There are mentions that there was an assassination attempt in the Kremlin library in January of 1935 done by Orlova-Pavlova, but Stalin was not hurt. Most of the people found connected to this, were executed.
May 1, 1937. An unconfirmed version of an assassination attempt based solely on the fact that that day, Voroshilov (the Defense Commissar) actually had a gun in his gun holster, which he never had neither before nor after the day.
French intelligence has some documents that Leutenant Danilov entered the Kremlin on March 11, 1938 using false documents and dressed as a pre-KGB type officer. He wanted to kill Stalin, and when he was being questioned after, he said that he was a member of a secret organization that had a goal to get the revenge for Tukhachevskiy's execution.
Operation "Bear" Far Eastern's KGB chief, G.S.Lyushkov, desserted to Japan in 1938. The plan was to kill Stalin while he was bathing in Matsesta (in hot springs). The attempt failed because the terrorist group was shot at while they were crossing the border, three out of six people died. Another attempt by Japanese secret service was to put a bomb into the Lenin's Mausoleum such that it would explode on May 1, 1938 during the parade. The failure of both of these attempts is attributed to the information provided by a Soviet agent named Leo who was working in Manchuria.
November 6, 1942. Dmitriev, a deserter, started firing a weapon at the government vehicle leaving the Kremlin. After making several shots, he was disarmed, no one was hurt. It is believed that he wanted to kill Mikoyan. According to the theories, he was either looking for a revenge, or was mentally ill.
German intelligence wanted to kill Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill during the Tehran Conference in 1943, but their plans failed because of leaked information.

Besides all mentioned above, there were also accidents that seemed like assassination attempts.
To sum up, why there were not so many attempts to kill or overthrow Stalin? In my opinion, there are two reasons. The first reason is propaganda. Most of the USSR loved Stalin but it was mostly because people were brainwashed about how good he was and he provided this and that and so on. The second reason is that people were being afraid so much to even tell limericks about him because if someone else told on them, they would be executed or sent into Siberia to chop wood.
Comment: A desserter (n. 6)? What's that - a disgruntled pastry chef?
Comment: This is certainly a very detailed account of domestic attempts to assassinate Stalin.  I agree with your assessment, despite all the positive attention he received from the war and economic improvement, his purges became widely known and thus the price to be paid for criticizing him.  This mixture lead to one of the most potent personality cults in modern history, the results of which lingered after his death, noticeable in incidents such as the outrage exhibited in response to Khrushchev's so-called "secret speech" in the 20th communist party congress which denounced Stalin.
Comment: My speculation about why none of the inner circle tried anything: The people in a position to do anything needed the help of people they could not trust.
Comment: People got 10 years of forced labor for using newspaper with Stalin's photo to wrap food. Saying limericks was close to treason.
Comment: I'm especially interested in item 3, Voroshilov had a gun in his holster? Where can I read more about this? If they really felt it was an assassination attempt, then why did Voroshilov remain a key Kremlin figure at least up to 1940? He even had an angry outburst at Stalin around that time that included smashing a dinnerplate with pork right in front of him! Even with all that, Voroshilov was never purged and lived to 1969.
Comment: `Most of the USSR loved Stalin but it was mostly because people were brainwashed about how good he was and he provided this and that and so on. The second reason is that people were being afraid so much to even tell limericks about him because if someone else told on them, they would be executed or sent into Siberia to chop wood.` Yes this is all true, but the real question is why did apparently no one in **the upper ranks of power** try to assassinate Stalin or at least do a coup? Surely by the mid 40's they could see they would probably meet the fates of so many party members before them.
Comment: Wasn't the pre-KGB just the NKVD?
Answer: Yes, in 1944 there was operation Zeppelin, a German plot to assassinate Stalin.   Also, Beria supposedly claimed to have killed Stalin, although it's more likely that this is a reference to him delaying treatment after Stalin had a stroke.
While Stalin was responsible for the imprisonment and executions of many Russians, it is also worth remembering that Stalin was also widely revered by the people of the Soviet Union for modernizing the country and fighting off the German invasion (as hard as it is to understand, there are some Russians who still love Stalin to this day).  The relative lack of attempts to kill Stalin are also due to his relative popularity in comparison to Hitler.  While Hitler was also widely popular among Germans (duh), his rule was during a period of national crisis whereas the Soviet Union in the 1930's was rapidly ascending in terms of economic and military power.
Comment: @Eugene I'm not suggesting that the number of people who are still found of Stalin are in any way the majority, or even near a majority of people, in Russia today.  I would think that there are far more people who don't like Stalin or don't really care one way or the other.  Despite that, my understanding is that he is still respected amongst some (mostly older, and thus rapidly declining number of) Russians who associate Stalin with Russian dominance.  I was simply pointing out that their numbers would be larger than one might expect given how Stalin acted.
Comment: Unless he wrote this post in the 1940s, his phrase "many Russians still love Stalin to this day" means that many Russians still love Stalin on April 7, 2012, which is not true.
Comment: @Eugene how do you define "truly loves"?
Comment: @BrotherJack: That I agree with, a very good point. There are some people who would still want to live with Stalin in power, but those are some of the few people who did not lose anything because of him. But still to say that "many" people love him would be an over exaggeration. Some, not many. Details, maybe, but it is history, and the details are just as important :)
Comment: -1, my friend. Many Russians these days don't really care who Stalin was. There are hardly any old people left who, as you say, "still love Stalin to this day".
Comment: I think BrotherJack was referring to the times when Stalin was ruling, not now.
Comment: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7802485.stm third best russian as voted by the people. I'm sure that's skewed by demographics likely to participate, but still shows a large following. Also http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7802485.stm
Comment: Interesting info. However, not entirely accurate as well. The web site, http://www.nameofrussia.ru/, tried to find the most "notable, symbolical, and valuable personality of Russia". According to http://24.ua/news/show/id/66770.htm, when Stalin was in the third place, they had to restart the count because of suspected Internet manipulations with the count (which is nothing new for Russia, haha!).
Stalin is a notable figure in Russia, but the amount of people who truly loves him still is very small.
Comment: @Eugene that does not surprise me! This is all probably deserving of it's own question rather than clogging up this one http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/1729/to-what-extent-is-stalin-still-popular-in-russia
Comment: What a great heated discussion! Anyway, I see that the majority understands that not many people love Stalin to the day, just some. I can't take my -1 off until someone edits BrotherJack's answer. Can someone please change "many" in "...many Russians still love..." to "some"? :)
Comment: Now this answer is absolutely correct (well, granted that the information is true, but we will never know for sure :)) +1, my friend, very interesting piece of info!
Comment: "those are some of the few people who did not lose anything because of him" - do you have any statistics to claim it is only a few people who did not lose anything due to Stalin?
Answer: There were a lot of attempt or plot to kill Stalin but those were top state secrets (and archives not allowed to reserch even nowadays),
1903(?)I was read about an attempt in 1903- a rich Russian factory worker hired Chechen hit-men to kill Stalin but he survived (Simon-Sebag Monyefiore: Young Stalin).

The British secret service in the territory of allied major power to commit a murder as well if get order and without any licence of the allied country). Stephen Cook dug after the operation of Stephen Alley (a British secret service agent in 1918 in Russia) , who was appointed the incompetent and uninteresting Hoare in 1917 to replace him as office leader(I do not know athe exact title). After the Bolshevik took over , but before the Brest- Litovsk peace, was a big debate in the Central Committee . Trotsky and his followers refused to sign a peace with the Germans , they expect a further outbreak of revolutions in the territory of the German Empire and the Monarchy , while Lenin and his circle have liked to have signed . Alley, unearthed after his death, the documents show that unmade all out to convince the Central Committee to hold out . There was no chance , because the numerical majority of the fifteen members would not vote in favor of signing . The 1918th 23 February vote to ensure a positive outcome , London decided to Lenin`s one of the not wide-known supporter should be killed, so not in a position who would vote yes to the next . Alley 's words :
"I got a telegram that must be eliminated (Joseph)Stalin . However, as was discussed with them, it does not seem like a good idea , because one would have to liquidate myself .
When I got back to London ... I was told that someone was appointed to take my place , this one is E. T. Boyce was one of the subordinates in Russia. I thought that was the reason for his dismissal suddenly that I did not kill Stalin , who as history shown , became the leader of Bolshevik Russia . "(Cook, Andrew: To Kill Rasputin: The Life and Death of Grigori Rasputin 2006).

1943 ""Nobody ever wrote about it, no one knows about it. I was a decoy to draw the attention of foreign intelligence. Stalin was already in Yalta.
"But it didn't work. Two attempts were made in Yalta to kill the real Stalin. Our intelligence failed. I was back in Moscow by then.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-559234/The-man-Stalins-body-double-finally-tells-story.html#ixzz2o4VRY5Ro "


How do you find pre-miRNAs from mature miRNA Blast output?

Question: So in short, I did a blastn with standalone blast using all known miRNAs against the EST sequences in a genome (word length 7 and e-value 0.01). Now to confirm one of the next steps would be obtain the pre-miRNA sequence of each hit and do an mFOLD for structural confirmation. Each paper I read always mentions to get a sliding window (of 70 - 100 nt length) but how do you get this sliding window from the BLASTN output.. Do you have to code something yourself or is there an easier way to do it. Thanks.
Comment: miRNAs in EST- I am a little skeptical on this..
Comment: sorry for the late answer.. I am not sure if you still need it now.
Answer: DISCLAIMER: I have never worked with miRNAs.
However, from what little I know, the mature miRNA is produced by modifying the pre-miRNA. This means that you should be able to infer the pre-miRNA by mapping your miRNA to the genome using a tool like BLAT. Since you already have an EST which represents a transcribed sequence, you can map your EST back to the genome. You can simplify this by using a tool like exonerate that also models splicing.
Answer: A BLASTN would work for mapping the mature miRNA but you should correct some parameters.
E-value is fine but increase the word length. Keep it close to 17 because you are interested in perfect matches. With miRNA small mismatches can mean a different miRNA altogether. Also run for only plus/plus alignments. (You can see this post on biostar for details on how to do it)
What you can also do is to use bowtie (sometimes BLAST is very slow and though BLAST allows multiple threads there is no option for utilize multiple cores i.e true parallelization). Again use the option --norc to avoid plus-minus alignments.
Use bowtie-build on your EST sequences to make an index.
However, there is one more problem; it is unlikely that you'll get pre-miRNA sequences in your EST collection. This is because the stable form is mature miRNA and pre is generally too shortlived to be sequenced properly without appropriate selective measures.
Capturing small RNAs by sequencing is also not that straightforward. It needs size fractionation of RNA and subsequent library preparation from the small RNA fraction. So I guess you will not discover miRNAs from ESTs.
If you have small RNA sequences then you can align it to the genome and then select the $\pm 70$ nt to find the hairpin.
In fact there is an algorithm called mirdeep which does that; you can use it and avoid writing your own codes. If you are good at perl then you can modify it to suit your specific needs if any.
Comment: never used bowtie.. I am trying to work on blastn with the number of mismatches set to 2 at the moment. What would you suggest is a good clustering program to remove duplicate sequences
Comment: fastx_collapser will collapse redundant sequences. BLAST can get very slow for these things. It is better to use a short read aligner like bowtie.
Comment: thx.. will have to try bowtie maybe next time. Too far with the current project to retrack.


Battery died and now car will not run

Question: I have a 2001 Nissan Sentra. Monday morning, I drove the car and when I got home I forgot to turn the lights off. It sat all day like that then Monday evening I realized that I had run the battery dead and I got a jump, but my car won't run now. It will idle but when I give it gas it cuts out and dies. Can someone help me and tell me what is wrong or what I can do?
Comment: So as soon as you give the car gas it stalls? or does it stall when you release the pedal?
Answer: You've depleted your battery beyond the point at which the car can recharge it on its own. You most likely have done damage to the battery, but it may be recoverable.
Before running out to buy a new battery, the first thing you need to do is see if the battery will take a charge. Take it out of the car and put it on a car charger. You'll want to put it on the slow cycle, which will most likely be a 2A rate. This will take a few hours to accomplish. See if it will take a charge and get anywhere near about 12.5vdc when completed. If you can get it to recharge, you shouldn't need a new battery. Even if it doesn't get up to that charge, it still may be useable for the time being.
If the battery still doesn't want to take a charge even after a slow roll with the charger, then you'll need to look at replacement.
Comment: We have tried a different battery and the car still won't run, I am at a loss because the car ran great before I ran the battery dead.
Comment: @CrystalHicksAdkins - When you turn the key, what happens? Does the engine turn over (crank) but not start? Or does it do absolutely nothing? You said it will start from a jump start, but won't stay running. Are you sure the other battery you put in is good?
Answer: Since you ran the battery down the better assumption is that it is still good.  Often the terminals have minor corrosion that functions as a diode preventing charging.  Clean the terminals and connectors down to shiny metal when working in this area.
                                                                    TomO
Answer: It's very possible that the dead battery cleared you ECUs Idle system. It has to "relearn" what it's doing.
Try starting the car and letting it idle for 10-15 minutes without touching the gas peddle. after 10-15 give it a little gas and see if it will take some drive. It'll be a little odd for a bit, by if that is the problem it's just a matter of the computer relearning everything.
Answer: If it starts from a jump then the other battery you tested it with was either dead, undercharged, or wasn't getting a good connection. If the car jumping you leaves their engine running and the cables hooked up to yours for a couple minutes I think you'll probably be able to rev the motor up and see that this is simply a battery issue. You might be able to get enough juice to keep it running that way but could sputter out in low rpms, and will very likely not be able to start it after your next stop. like has already been stated I would recommend grabbing a $10 trickle charger from Walmart or an auto store and charging it for 5-8 hours.
Answer: If the battery is a few years old I would change it. Also check and see how many volts are going to battery while running with ac on and the radio. If under 13.5 then it is time to get alternator as well. Alternator should be between 13.5 to 14.5 for most vehicles.
Answer: You have to buy a new Battery. It seems like the Battery is really dead and can´t get up itself.

Battery died and now car will not run