What's the best way to travel around Greece? Train or Bus?

Question: Looks like a train pass for a 25 year old is only $150 for 5 travel days, but I hear the trains don't run everywhere, so would it just be cheaper to take the buses everywhere? And what is the best way to get to and from Greece via Istanbul? Bus/train?
Comment: What is *best*? Is it *cheapest*, *fastest*, *most scenic*, *most comfortable*, *easiest to organise*, *best coverage*, or something else?
Comment: No experience on trains, but at least buses are a good option: when travelling around northwestern Greece I found connections to be frequent, the buses quite comfortable, and prices reasonable. (Btw, I think it's better to post a  separate question about Greece - Istanbul.)
Comment: Why not by car?
Comment: Here is a map of the bus services offered from the city of Thessaloniki http://www.ktelmacedonia.gr/en/content/Destinations-map.124/
Answer: Even though I am Greek, I haven't lived there for a long time. Last time I traveled to Greece I also went via Istanbul and took an overnight train from there to Sofia and then a plane down to Athens. Before that, I have take trains between Athens and Thessaloniki (the second largest city) and Athens and Patra (another large city). If you are backpacking and want to see the most beautiful parts of Greece (in my opinion Crete and the Islands and the mountains of central Greece and Peloponnese) then you are likely to need to take other means of transportation such as ferries, large boats and buses.
I really like trains and dislike buses but the few times I have taken an overnighter in Greece and in Turkey the conditions were like getting yourself in a train for the front in WWII (In fact once I was traveling with soldiers as they get free tickets on the overnighter I think). Both in Greece and the one to Sofia from Istanbul were very slow, not very nice and not very comfortable. I know that the day trains are much better and faster than the all night trains, but I haven't used them much (as back when I was travelling around Greece I was going for the cheapest).
Based on those experiences I can recommend you that, depending on your budget and your travel plan, and whether you dislike buses as much as I do, try the following in order of preference:

Get a day train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki if there is one and it looks decent, and to the same between Thessaloniki and Athens and Athens and Patra.
If you can afford it, fly to the furthest away islands and to Crete.
Definitely take the "odondotos" (gr. Οδοντωτός : rack-and-pinion railway). The area is beautiful and the trip rewarding. Info here: http://www.odontotos.com/index-en.htm
Don't get a railpass for Greece only for the price you mentioned it, but look into Eurail passes (3 days in Greece for 102 euros http://www.eurail.com/eurail-passes/one-country-pass/greece). The reason for that is that you are unlikely to need to travel 5 days on rail.
Take at least one boat trip to an island.
Have a great time in one of the most beautiful corners of the earth :-)
Cheers
Comment: This technology you call *toothed train* is called [rack-and-pinion railway, rack railway, or cog railway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway) in English.
Comment: @gerrit Thanks for the english correction. I have heard that term before, but could not remember it. I will add it to my answer
Answer: International trains to and from Greece have been suspended (see here and there). The easisest way to travel from Greece to Turkey will be by bus. There is also a possibility to travel by ferry.
I would not buy the railpass. You would need to take a lot of trains during these five days so that the pass would be profitable. Moreover, as the rail network is not very dense, you will need to supplement it by bus journeys anyway. Or you will miss a lot, such as e.g. the Peloponnese.
I suggest that you first make a list of where you want to go, and then check how it can be done. And then buy tickets (train, bus, ferry, ...) on purpose. With 150 USD you can already get far in Greece and see quite a bit.
A more general remark. Rail passes may look interesting at first sight. However, this may not necessarily be true. It is always interesting to compare passes to point-to-point tickets. You can refer to a discussion on this site or to seat61.com.
Comment: Train service has been restored. https://www.seat61.com/Greece.htm
Answer: It depends on the way you like to travel, the place you want to go and the budget you want to spend. When I was younger I used to travel around Greece by train, but the last few years I don't feel that safe doing so.
Also, the schedules are fewer than those offered when choosing a bus. Sometimes taking the fast train (intercity) might be at the same price it would cost you to get a seat on a bus or even catch a budget flight. There is no straight answer to this one. It has to do mostly with your destination and the time of your visit... Budget is also an issue. You can find a train ticket at the 1/3 of the price of a bus ticket if you are lucky to get an economy seat.
Although it is nice to travel by train I choose the bus most of the times since it can take me to most places. To get to the islands you might wanna do a bit of island hopping, you can check out the ferries section at Hostelbay for the Greek Island Pass if you like.
Comment: You should mention that you work for hostelbay.


Can non-Muslims enter a Mosque or prayer room?

Question: Are non-Muslims allowed to enter a prayer room and pray? I am asking this because I have seen non-Muslims come into a Muslim prayer room before.
Comment: I am trying to promote this site.

http://meta.islam.stackexchange.com/questions/124/how-do-we-promote-our-site
Answer: I do not consider myself Muslim, yet I have visited a Mosque.  I was well received and we discussed beliefs.  I found it educational, fun, and I made new friends.  However I did feel like there was an 800 pound gorilla in the room that we were all avoiding.
IMHO, I feel that interfaith friendships are very important and should be explored.
Comment: I've visited the Sultanahmet Mosque in Istanbul. But that was as a tourist. (They're used to tourists, and even provide clothes for them to cover up with (I brought my own).) On the same trip, I visited a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Meteora and St Peter's in the Vatican. The Vatican was the only one that didn't provide clothes for tourists.
Answer: This is a very good question and most people always wonder and many non Muslims always ask hey buddy, can I come into the Mosque? Will they let me in?
There might be some common confusion in regards with this....

O you who believe (in Allah's Oneness and in His Messenger (Muhammad SAW)! Verily, the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah, and in the Message of Muhammad SAW) are Najasun (impure). So let them not come near Al-Masjid-al-Haram (at Makkah) after this year, and if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you if He will, out of His Bounty. Surely, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (Qur'an 9:28)

So, does that mean we should not allow the Mushrik even into our normal local mosques too, or is the restriction only on Al-Masjid-al-Haram? Well, I think it is only talking about Al-Masjid-al-Haram and not in general any mosque. And moreover, I don't remember any verses prohibiting the Non Muslims from entering any house of Allah in general.
And also here are some of the supporting points towards allowance of non Muslims to mosques in general.

They might simply be curious and wanna taste the mosques.
They really want to start believing in Allah and wanna pray there.

First, if the person is curious as in here and if he stays within limits (not planning a terror attack), it is fine. It is just an opportunity for him to explore Islam. (in little baby steps of course).
Second, clearly, the person is exploring Islam and there is no problem in allowing him to explore a piece of Islam.
Finally, here is a complete supporting answer for the question "Is the joining of a non-Muslim in a jama'a salat allowed?". And the answer which we get is 'Yes' to your question too "Are non-Muslims allowed to enter a prayer room and pray?"
For verily, we must always make sure this condition is satisfied at any cost always,

And the mosques are for Allah (Alone), so invoke not anyone along with Allah. (Qur'an 72:18)

And make sure the non Muslims don't come to Mosque to invoke others besides Allah.
If the above conditions are met, then I see no problem in allowing a Non Muslim to a mosque.
May the creator guide us all.
Comment: [Here](http://islam.stackexchange.com/a/21559/11938) is point revisited of harming the Mosques, hence we should be careful in allowing them...


clinical report dataset

Question: I am doing a research on detecting negation cases on medical reports (NLP medical).
I need clinical report that contains sentences, patient conditions, patient history, clinical terms, etc
Is anyone can help to find?
Answer: Searching for "clinical science reports" (CSR) on Google returns various websites from pharmaceutical companies, which publish summary reports. Maybe these are enough for your research.
As this article points out only recently did the European Medicines Agency start publishing CSRs, the Food and Drug administration currently does not.
You can also contact pharmaceutical companies, explain your research proposal and ask for access...

clinical report dataset


Making headers readable on a multi colored background

Question: So the client wants a multi-colored background (think 4 colors of paint splats randomly all over the page. Because of this the headers are a bit hard to read. I've currently got them set up as black text with some white drop shadow, but it's still pretty hard to read in IE. How can I make the headers legible regardless of what is behind them (it's a CMS so position on the page is liable to change regularly)?
Answer: Hmm... readability is essential, and part of design. I think better change background to a more readable format.
There are no magical rules for making fonts readable. Good contrast with background, nice size and leading, nice fonts... Good choices makes the readability. If background is your problem, try changing other text aspects, or try to change the background, at least on headers.
Answer: There actually is a way to make text readable on every background color, and it's actually quite simple.
All you have to do is using text-shadow with black color.


Do we all look at pictures from left to right?

Question: Because in western culture, writing and reading is from left to right, while arabic writing/reading is the opposite, chinese is from bottom to top and left to right (correct?) I don't know about others. Also being left or right handed may be considered, I am left handed and I know it. Is it there a relation?
Comment: Could you limit yourself to a specific case? Are you referring to real-world images (sceneries like a house, landscapes *etc*.), faces, text, meaningless patterns or something else?
Comment: hi AliceD, @Kino answerd too and I am satisfied, it is unecessary that you answer. Thanks anyway.
Comment: I was not planning on answering. Specific questions are encouraged here and I'm just trying to get the question clear such that it can be helpful to others too.
Answer: When reading you are performing a trained or learned skill, so if your instruction taught you to follow certain order that's what you do. There is a transfer of this behavior ( or any other learnt one for that matter ),into other types of images and situations,but the degree at which it is transferred depends on both context,cues, and expertise to name a few.
So in one way, yes if you are presented with mainly a text based image you are expected to follow your training to some degree.
This is but half the picture, the human visual system has evolved to notice and extract things ( or features ) in a picture or real life, things that move, things with edges, moving things, things that were once important, the whole thing and on an on.
So in order to analyze an image, there seems to be a complex interplay of attention from both your innate visual skills as well as features from the image that due to their novelty or other feature demand your attention, and sometimes even before that, you are making a decision as to what the image is and how to analyze it.
So which direction then ?
Your eyes analyze an image through voluntary and involuntary saccades,(directional eye movements) which due to the above explanation can be directed everywhere depending on a number of things, an interesting feature could be the starting point, or also a random one, and from there on you will keep analyzing the scene based on where your attention is at, here are 2 images being analyzed:

The resulting lines represent patterns of fixation and are called Scan Paths.They differ from one observer to another and from one image to another, as well as depending on which task the observer is given and context.
I am not aware of the same type of studies made with text and mostly text based images and predominantly left right handed subjects, that would probably give us the definite answer, but it is not too far fetched to expect some jumping around the page with periods of directional fixation based on your preferred reading method.
Sources/Notes

Patterns of Fixation were pioneered by the Russian psychologist Yarbus (1965)
Vision Science (Palmer) 11.2 visual selection: eye movements and attention. A whole chapter that goes into detail.
The nefertiti image is from Yarbus, A. L. (1967) Eye Movements and Vision. Basil Haigh (trans.). New York: Plenum Press. The face one ( not sure about the methodology ) from the wiki on saccades.
Comment: +1 and yes please add your sources. A simple link of the eye tracking pics would already be very cool.
Comment: @AliceD:It is my understanding that task given ( don't look at the nose) and other salient features ( a mole ) and context also affects the way we scan faces.
Comment: I have read just now a comment from @Kino, and I found it quite exaustive. So please consider null my previous reply to you, since answer is not necessary. Thanks anyway. Kind Regards.
Comment: Faces are scanned in a way emphasizing their most salient features, notably eyes, mouth and nose. Perhaps you could include that in your answer?
Comment: Looks OK - I'll remove my comments. Well - perhaps after you mention the figure source ;-)
Comment: @AliceD:  ┬──┬ ¯\_(ツ)
Comment: Haha thanks for all this. Unfortunately you already have my upvote :-)


Google hangout in gmail : How to display textual notification?

Question: I have got a problem :
With the first google chat integrated in gmail, I can see when people talk to me on top right of my screen.
I switched to new hangout chat:
How to display textual notification instead of sound notification when a conversation start ? (like when a email is received).
I read google doc without success to find answer....
I run latest chrome on mac 10.7
Should I go to adium + growl notification ?
Thank you.
Answer: To people who as same problem:
I ended by using Adium + Growl, because it was very important to me.


Why does my PC continue to play music after freezing

Question: It could be something that only happens with my computers, but I noticed that when I have Windows Media Player playing music and my computer freezes, the music continues to play fine until the end of the song, then it stops. I eventually have to hold down the power button to do an hard-restart on my computer. How is it that the music can keep playing when everything else is frozen?`
Answer: The technical reason is because WMP is using the DSP directly to play the audio. Here's a short, example workflow.

WMP reads the file and decodes it
WMP writes uncompressed audio to the DSP's buffer
DSP begins playing audio
CPU crashes (?)
DSP continues playing

Because the DSP does not have to rely on any more processing from the CPU nor does it need to traverse the system bus it can continue uninterrupted until the buffer is empty.
Like I said, this is just an example of what might be happening. The real/detailed/technical reason depends on the specifics of your audio system.
But seriously, shouldn't you be more concerned about a crashing/freezing system than wether or not it plays sound?
Comment: I am more concerned about the freezing but that doesn't mean I can't know how the music keeps playing too :)
Answer: How do you know your computer is 'frozen'?  What are the precise symptoms?  Frozen is a very generic term that is nearly meaningless about describing what the actual problem is.  Computer software is extremely complex and failures can happen in many different locations each with different results.
For example if something in the User Interface fails, then your computer could be unusable in that you where no longer able to provide any input, but it could continue whatever tasks it was working on.
There have been instances where I have had an unresponsive computer at the console, but I was able to actually use remote-desktop to connect to that computer and save things, and reboot it.


Centos directory server / 389 directory server - any differences?

Question: I have very broad view that Redhat Directory Server, 389 Directory Server and Centos Directory Server are all the same. It's just the support you pay for on the RedHat version.
Is this true? Are there any differences between Centos DS and 389 DS?
Answer: This is indeed the case.  389 is the parent project for these services.  The name was changed to that to divest from the branding of being "Red Hat" and to encourage adoption across other flavors of Linux.


How to handle errors in SQL Server Reporting Services

Question: I just started working with SSRS. I created a report and trying to deploy it to a server. Its asking for User Name and Password. I tried with sa and the password for sa, and Windows User Name and its password. Both are not accepted. What should I do now?
Answer: The report server requires an Active Directory account with Content Manager role assigned in the report folder where it is being published. Here is a walkthrough on assigning item-level permissions.
A common error is attempting to publish to the report manager URL (http://< servername >/reports), instead of the report server URL. Check your project properties and confirm the following:
ReportServerURL value should be http://< your_servername_here >/reportserver


Will getting child care from a non-native English speaker impact my child's language development?

Question: My wife and I really like a neighborhood day care we recently checked out. The place seems very nice and the care providers seem to do a very good job. They are organized, appear to give a lot of attention to each child, and plan activities for the children. Our only reservation is that the providers are non-native English speakers. They have a strong accent and I assume a smaller vocabulary compared to a native English speaker. So we are concerned with whether our child would get the same level of language stimulation that they would from a native English speaker caregiver. Will spending significant amount being taken care of by a non-native English speaker speaking English impact our child's language development?
Comment: how much time would the child spend there compared to the time with you native speaking people?
Comment: how old is the child?
Comment: I edited the question to specify that the caregivers would be speaking English, and not a second language, to clarify your concern is about accent, vocabulary, and grammar in English, and not bilingual development.  If this is not correct, feel free to roll back the edit.
Comment: @Beofett, that is the correct edit, Thanks for helping me clarify.
Comment: For some anecdotal evidence: Our pre-school/daycare in the US has quite a few employees with Chinese/Spanish/Other accents, and for our otherwise bilingual kid (English/Danish) it has NOT affected he language development. He is 4 years, and speaks with an American accent, some words pronounced more precisely than me (as  Dane, 'a' and 'u/o' sounds in English are a little tricky). However, all the classrooms he has been in, at least one teacher was a native American English speaker (usually the lead teacher).
Answer: My wife is not a native English speaker and has an accent (though lessening over time), and she is the primary care-giver during weekdays when I am at work. My son speaks like a native.
My wife's sister is a far worse English speaker and much more heavily accented (and not improving), and furthermore her husband is a non-native English speaker as well, and guess what? Her son also speaks English like a native, with only the slightest hint of an "exotic" accent that is impossible to place as to its origins.
Thus I don't think you have anything to worry about, because children can tell what is correct and what is not, as long as they have enough exposure to the correct thing. I realize that whether your child will get enough exposure to the correct thing is the aspect you are trying to figure out, but I think the quantity of correct exposure doesn't have to be as high as some people are saying.
I read some research lately in the book Nurture Shock about what kinds of language input helps children develop their language skills the best. Perhaps surprising, it was not the level of education of the parents, and not the quantity or quality of parental vocalizations. It was the amount of vocalization in response to the child's own language-like verbalizations and the lack of conflicting input (not rewarding non-language-like child vocalizations).
Generalizing, it appears that a child's language acquisition is a positive feedback loop that requires sufficient quantity of right input and generally ignores wrong input when it is not confusing. It is a conditioned response—when you reinforce the correct speech in a child, they produce more of it. Thus, if the right inputs are provided early, then development is early. While this research point may not be directly applicable to your question, I think it sheds light on the subject, and I think, based on my own experience, that accented English is not confusing input. (That is, it doesn't reinforce the wrong thing as long as the child gets the correct reinforcement elsewhere.)
My son occasionally pronounces words incorrectly, sometimes reflecting how he heard them from others (perhaps his mother). However, 90% of the time it only takes one correction by me for him to adopt the correct pronunciation.
Again, I don't think you have anything to worry about as long as you are properly interactive with your child during the time he is with you.
Five Years Later
With five more years of experience (my son is now 10), I will say that he does pronounce words incorrectly once in a while, and does sometimes have trouble changing to the correct pronunciation. However, few of these came from hearing the word from his mother first—most of them came from his avid reading, where he picks a pronunciation based on his guess and then has trouble changing. I think I can safely say that the risk of a non-native speaker negatively affecting a child's pronunciation is no worse than equal to the child's risk of getting incorrect pronunciation from book-reading or any source of new words. He even occasionally mispronounces words I taught him, such as philosophical (though I think he's learned that one, now).
For example, he struggles to pronounce nuclear as NEW-clear or NEW-klee-er but instead slips into the common but atrociously awful NEW-kyu-ler. That's just the fault of random English speakers everywhere, fie on them! At least he knows to say lie down instead of lay down... heehee.
So you can see the non-native-language-speaking-parent risk is not really worth worrying about—mispronunciation risks are everywhere!
As an afterthought, it's worth adding that my son has always been home-schooled and so he spends even more time with his mother than most kids, and he still hasn't picked up incorrect pronunciations from her.
Comment: Did you read that in nutureshock? I found it fascinating too!!
Comment: Yes I did! :) Fascinating book.
Answer: My experience is:
My parents-in-law are non-native speakers of our (and our child's) mother language
and I see, that our child (which often spends time with them, on average maybe at least 6..24 hours per week) also adapts

wrong pronunciation and
unusual vocabulary or
idiomatic expressions which are translated from another language word-by-word

to some extent (!).
Our child is 3.5 years old and was and is (from my point of view) quite interested in speaking, language and vocabulary and started talking quite early.
So I think that it might have a negative impact concerning pronunciation and vocabulary/vocab/idioms usage of your child.
That might depend on the amount of time, your child spends with those non-native-speaking people and surely also the age of your child.
That it also trains the child's understanding for different sounds and pronunciation, as some other answers assume, is possible. In our case it also often stimulates discussions about pronunciation with our child. But it is IMHO quite difficult to explain to your child that those people which it should respect (like his grandparents in my case or those people in your day care) are doing something "wrong".
On the other hand, a native speaker who doesn't care much about the child itself is not a better alternative, AFAIK.
Answer: Speaking from personal experience, I had a brief period where a babysitter spoke to me in another language when I was just learning to speak. My mother was surprised that I stopped speaking the few words that I had learned and started mumbling what was baby-gibberish to her. On a subsequent visit, the caregiver said, "oh, he just wants a glass of water." I had learned to speak enough of the babysitter's language to communicate with her. However, I quickly learned how to communicate with my mother again. It's probably fair to assume that, if that babysitter had continued living in the same area and my family continued to have her take care of me, I would have been a pretty natural bilingual. My English abilities were certainly not irreparably harmed and I certainly don't have the slightest accent, nor any hint of non-native speech patterns, that can be traced to that experience.
My understanding is that children raised in multilingual environments tend to have an easier time developing a broader range of communication skills. I have personally found that intentional study of foreign language in high school and college improved my understanding of English.
We are living in the US and I am a native speaker of English. My wife speaks Japanese to our son. I speak a mixture of English and mediocre Japanese. He's not quite old enough to speak intelligibly, but we fully expect to raise him bilingual. If I were a little more adventurous, I'd speak German with him and try to help him pick up three languages. We're fairly confident that my poor Japanese won't irreparably harm his ability to speak proper Japanese, though obviously I can't guarantee anything; I also had a few Spanish and Portuguese speaking caregivers who spoke English to me and I can say I didn't pick up a trace of Spanish speech patterns.
We have some friends in similar circumstances to us with a pretty wide variety of results. Less social parents found that their children's speech tended to develop a bit later than parents who spent more time with people outside of home, but generally, there is no "harm" from speaking two languages to young children. Some of our friends' children are a bit willful and reject speaking the non-dominant language but will generally understand what their parents are saying without any trouble. Presumably, because few, or none, of their friends speak Japanese, they refuse to use Japanese even with their parents.
A fair number of studies have demonstrated that most children learn "code switching" and are generally able to distinguish between languages. Over time, they figure out which contexts are suitable for which language. In practice, I've found that in languages I'm most comfortable with, with the appropriate audience, I can incorporate phrases or brief interludes from the language that is most comfortable for whatever thought I wish to express, so this does not surprise me.
Answer: Assumption 1:
I'm writing this with the understanding that the caregivers speak English - with a strong accent - and not their native tongue, as the other 2 answers seem to assume.
My honest opinion is that if my child spends a significant amount of time in the daycare, then I would require that the staff must speak reasonably accent-free. Children learn from what they hear, and I'd not want my child to learn incorrect grammar/pronunciation/etc. because of any staff's accents.
I'd like to point out that I'm not at all against meeting people with strong accents and spending some time with them - on the contrary, it shows the breadth of the population, which is a good thing. But my reservation is that this should not be the dominant input outside the home.

Assumption 2:
Let's assume that the staff speaks their own language almost exclusively. How would that affect the child?
I can't really imagine that a daycare in country "A" would be allowed to be operated in language "B" unless specifically entitled to, which is not how I understand your question.
But given this, I think it would only really work if the child spends a significant amount of time in the daycare, otherwise there's not enough learning opportunity for the child and it would just be "foreign" to the child, which would in turn be ineffective and also very frustrating for the child and the caregivers.
I don't see much potential of language development here. If the caregivers speak their native tongue only among themselves, the child will understand that "foreign languages" exist (which teaches a cultural lesson) but that's about it, I don't think the child would even begin to learn the language from that.
Comment: I don't think that requiring the "staff speak reasonably accent-free" is supportable with any objective evidence. As long as the child has a large enough source of accent-free English to provide the proper feedback loop (even television) then they learn fine. While I don't have any scientific studies to point to, either, I do have my own experience with my son spending most of his time with a non-native English speaker (see my own answer) and having no problems.
Comment: The children appear comfortable interacting with the caregivers in English so as far as we can tell, everything is done in English
Comment: Down-vote for the reasons given by "ready to learn."
Comment: All the other children will also learn proper pronounciation at home, so the dominant input will still be proper, even if the care-givers speak with an accent.
Answer: So, while it's not exactly the same circumstance I think it makes sense to look at the language development research around children of immigrants. What you'll find there is that the immigrants will either have very strong accents or won't be able to speak English at all while their children will be native English speakers with no foreign accent and will be native speakers of the foreign language without an accent.
I think it's clear from this that children will eventually get stuff "right" despite being around people who are doing it "wrong".
By "right" I mean the dominate forms of the language in terms of frequency (hearing native English being spoken form you, their peers, people on the street, TV, radio) and authority (you are their parents and they will accept your corrections for English over any others).
Comment: That's right, however I think it also is a question of proportions. Many children spend much more time of the week (awake) in a day care or nursery school than with their family.
Comment: ... E. g. "our" nursery school can "keep" children from 7am until 5pm. So they might (for sure, only in the most extreme case) be 50 hours per week in the nursery school of maybe 84 hours in total they are awake per week. That would be nearly 60% of the time.
Comment: I think guidoism's argument is exactly why I'd avoid staff with strong accents: if immigrants' children learn good English because they spend significant time immersed in it, then the reverse could also happen: a child learns poor English because of the immersion in the daycare.
Answer: I am not an expert in the subject but what I have read would seem to indicate that it might have a positive effect. Assuming you are the primary care-giver, the baby will ultimately learn your language but being exposed to other languages at an early age can help exercise their comprehension skills, and advance their understanding of languages and their ability to interpret.
Comment: I have never heard of bilingualism helping a child's *general* development, but bilingualism may help a child's *language* development in the sense that the child better learns to distinguish sound patterns etc. (because different languages have different vocalizations, intonations, and melodies). It may also *hinder* the language development somewhat, simply because there's so much more to learn and keeping the languages separated is a mental overhead. The net sum is positive though.
Comment: I think you misunderstood the question. The caregivers aren't speaking their own language, wathever that may be, but are speaking their non-native English.
Comment: I'm not sure that would be feasible unless every parent in the daycare thought it was ok. Also is there actually research that bilingualism helps a child's development, or is that just something commonly accepted?
Comment: I thought in the short term bilingual babies are slower at language development but in the long run are better off for it? So you are both right from what I understand.
Answer: You have nothing to worry about.  While having a couple caregivers speaking non-perfect English in their household might seem worrisome, possibly, keep the following in mind -
Your young kids, in daycare, if exposed to perfect pronunciation and grammar, are going to butcher, mis-pronounce and screw up their English.  That's because they are kids.  They're just trying to get the basics down, and their level of development that they could hope to achieve at that age isn't such that the caregivers will set them back.
Your kids live, interact and exist in a society that is saturated with English.  Both now, and when they start formally learning the correct, proper English, there is no danger that this will put them behind.
If it is a concern, that the caregivers will somehow give them enough non-ideal English to impact their learning, request that they, instead, interact only in their much better native tongue.  This will help your kids with language skills. Kids are tiny brain-sponges.  They will pick up both, effortlessly, if exposed to it, without confusion.  It happens all the time in other cultures.  There's nothing about ours that precludes the same, other than our own limitations we put on the kids.
My mother is from Asia, and still has a heavy accent, though her English is pretty good, it's still not perfect after 55+ years in the US. My English communication skills have always been considered pretty far above average, as a child and throughout school, being raised by her as a stay at home mom, and being exposed to her less than perfect grasp, 24/7.
If your kids wind up with tortured English, it's more likely to be your fault, than a daycare provider.


Showing hand before call

Question: Is it by rules (texas holdem) to show hand before calling fold or "all in" in situation when two players are in showdown ?
In more details ... there are three players on the table, on river first one is calling "all in", second players folds ... can last player first show his hand and then call or fold ?
Since there are no more moves showing hand can't disturb anything so it sounds to me that it can be legal ?
Comment: There's no rule I've ever seen to prevent it -- but it's a truly foolish practice to be in. If you never intentionally do that, then you never put yourself in the position of accidentally exposing your cards before you need to (because you thought it was safe but you made a mistake).
Comment: Montreal casino seem to allow showing the hand before calling,folding or all in. I guess it depends on the casino. In any case, practice your poker face:)
Answer: You need to be careful with this. In some casinos this is perfectly allowed while in others, like most here in Vancouver, your hand is automatically dead the second you show it to another player, regardless of how many people are still in the hand. This is because it's a form of angling. You are trying to gain information from your opponents response to seeing your hand.
In other casinos, like in Calgary, it's actually a fairly common, and allowed, practice. Just make sure to ask the dealer before you do so.
There is also the Jamie Gold rule which states that you aren't allowed to discuss, or show, the contents of your hand with our opponents at the table. This rule is strictly enforced during World Series of Poker events. This rule stems from Jamie Golds actions during the 2006 World Series of Poker.
Comment: Do the rules in Vancouver apply if you're showing your hand to the entire table (which I think is what the OP meant), rather than select player(s)?
Comment: In Berlin Germany it works like this : As soon as you show 1 Card from your hand, it's a fold.
Comment: Weird, I would have expected the opposite (that it would have been deemed a call) - many times I have seen players turn over their hand to call, although in that case there is definitely forward motion of the cards onto the felt.

Showing hand before call


Kindle 5th needs repair

Question: I have Kindle 5th generation, model number D01100. I had this problem for few years now and I gave up. Recently I tried to turn it on and to my surprise it worked. Unfortunately after reboot it showed the same message: "Your Kindle needs repair. Please contact Kindle Customer service at kindle.com/support". I don't understand why did it turn on and why is it bricked again. I tried holding power button for 40 seconds but nothing happens. I plugged it to my PC but it is not detected.
Answer: Some Kindle users managed to trigger a factory reset using the following steps:

Charge the Kindle for several days (some users did this for a week).
Create an empty text file with the name DO_FACTORY_RESTORE and without any file type extension.
Connect the Kindle via USB and copy the file to the root directory.
Safe eject the Kindle and hold down the power button 40 seconds to trigger a factory reset.

The trick part is having the computer recognize the Kindle. (It might be only be visible in the Windows Explorer for a couple of seconds.)

Kindle 5th needs repair


Duplicating fields in Freeform

Question: Im building a form in freeform and it is going to contain many state select dropdown fields. Is there any way to duplicate this field so I do not have to populate the options/values manually every time I use that field?
Answer: Not manually but you can search for the field in your database. If the plugin uses the normal craft_fields you can copy it's settings and paste it in a new record
Answer: Using the Craft Element or Predefined Data feature in Freeform, you can easily setup options (from Craft Entries, States, Number ranges, etc) for when you're creating additional fields. If you're referring to custom data, if you've created the field through Freeform -> Fields manager area with the options, you can also duplicate fields from there.

Duplicating fields in Freeform


Problems in elementary linear algebra

Question: I'm looking for challenging problems in elementary linear algebra, i.e. mainly about matrices in the field of real numbers. Can anyone provide some references?
Comment: Welcome to math.stackexchange! Anytime you need elementary but challenging problems, check out the [Art of Problem Solving](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewforum.php?f=346).
Comment: Linear algebra is not that elementary, I don't think they discuss it extensively there.
Comment: Could you describe more precisely what you are after then? These problems see relatively challenging to me, though you may find them easy: [1](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=349&t=421324) [2](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=349&t=419577) [3](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=349&t=443600) [4](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=349&t=432640).
Answer: Pretty much any linear algebra book would be an obvious start...
I like MIT's OpenCourseWare, and they have an excellent course on Linear Algebra. You could certainly find plenty of exercises there, and there is particularly relevant material in the "Related Resources" section. Paul's Online Notes also has a linear algebra section. There's also "A First Course in Linear Algebra", a free online book which has an interactive Sage version available.
A Google search would also reveal plenty of free online books from which to pull examples:
http://www.freetechbooks.com/linear-algebra-f62.html
http://www.numbertheory.org/book/
http://joshua.smcvt.edu/linearalgebra/
It would probably be best to choose a book targeted toward your eventual goal - linear functional analysis, number theory, an introduction to abstract spaces? From the wording of your question, it sounds like you are just focusing on the mechanics of elementary row operations, determinants and the like over the reals. I have not found that any of these sorts of problems are ever that challenging, the more challenging parts of linear algebra are generally the proofs.
If you are interested in proofs, I would be remiss if I did not mention my favorite book on Linear Algebra, Linear Algebra Done Right. I hesitated to mention it immediately, since it does not focus exclusively on the reals, however it is an excellent source for proof based questions and provides and excellent reference for well written proofs within the text.
Comment: @Jessica Could you post an example or a link to an example of the type of problems you're looking for in your post?
Comment: By "challenging", I really mean challenging, in the sense of problem solving, not just mechanical computations. I know there are not so many problems like this, but that's the reason I asked this question in the first place. I don't find such problems in linear algebra books. I've read Linear Algebra Done Right as well, but that's not what I'm looking for right now.
Answer: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/resources.php?c=142&cid=25&sid=b3cd05503ffbbfcbba952e211dd952de
Please look up the link I gave you.I think the questions for the 11th grade contain a bit of linear algebra.I myself have learned very little of it, so I cannot be sure if that will be challenging enough for you.Hope that helps.The book Putnam and Beyond has problems in linear algebra as well. http://www.amazon.com/Putnam-Beyond-Razvan-Gelca/dp/0387257659
Answer: Please have a look at the answers at this MO link, not all the stuff is elementary, but you will find a good list.

Problems in elementary linear algebra


What Would it Look Like Inside Jupiter's Great Red Spot?

Question: From what I've read, Jupiter's 'Great Red Spot' is an unbelievably powerful storm. Do astronomers and scientists have any idea of what that might look like if it were possible to be inside/below it? Would it look like a storm on Earth (thunder, lightning, winds, etc.), or would it look completely different?
Answer: You would not actually be able to see that much, since sunlight there is less than 4% of its strength at Earth's distance to the Sun. That is still enough to see though (much brighter than moonlight at night in fact). The problem is the transparency of the atmosphere: we can not look in, so you could not look out. You would only see a weak brown or red glow below the cloud cover.
However, there is plenty of lightning! Strong winds and thunder exist too.

Lightning on Jupiter
Comment: 4% sunlight is plenty of light to see with, but the transparency (or lack of transparency) of the gas would be the key factor.   It looks red to us, but I don't know how transparent / how much visibility there would be from within.
Answer: There would definitely be high winds, and I assume that means very fast moving clouds.
 The clouds are a reddish orange, as we can tell from images of the Great Red Spot.  From what I understand, it would look something like this, with lightning happening if you were in the cloud tops of the Great Red Spot, looking at the sun (granted, I could be off):
YouTube video of Jupiter Red Spot Development
Screenshot:

I am making this as a level for Planetary Settlers, and trying to get as accurate as I can based on what we know.  Please correct me if any of the details are off.  I made the sun smaller according to the size difference we would see due to the further distance Jupiter is from the sun.


How can we be thankful to Allah?

Question: Allah sends a lot of blessings in the form of answering prayers, helping, giving peace, protecting, giving respect and a lot of other forms. So, my question is, how can we be thankful to Allah for all his blessings?
Answer: A short and simple answer is quoted in (2:152)

So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.

Is don't deny Allah by believing in him, as deny here is the translation of "kafara" which also means disbelieve.
In fact we are encouraged to thank Allah, even if we will not be able to thank HIM the way we should as it is stated in two verses of the Quran.
Once as a supplication of the Prophet Sulayman ():

... "My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to do righteousness of which You approve. And admit me by Your mercy into [the ranks of] Your righteous servants." (27:19)

and in another verse

..."My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to work righteousness of which You will approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims." (46:15)

So the best way to thank Allah is by following HIS orders, and leaving anything HE has prohibited.
And by the remembrance of Allah (dhikr), so anytime call him for supplication by praising HIM by HIS beautiful names.
Here some ahadith about what some people may call the power of saying: Alhamdulillah (praise due to Allah) or allahuma lakal hamd (O our Lord to You is the praise):

One day we were praying behind the Prophet. When he raised his head from bowing, he said, "Sami`a l-lahu liman hamidah." A man behind him said, "Rabbana wa laka l-hamdu, hamdan kathiran taiyiban mubarakan fihi" (O our Lord! All the praises are for You, many good and blessed praises). When the Prophet completed the prayer, he asked, "Who has said these words?" The man replied, "I." The Prophet said, "I saw over thirty angels competing to write it first." Prophet rose (from bowing) and stood straight till all the vertebrae of his spinal column came to a natural position. (sahih al-Bukhari)
While we said prayer with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), one among the people said: Allah is truly Great, praise be to Allah in abundance. Glory be to Allah in the morning and the evening. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon, him) said: Who uttered such and such a word? A person among the people said: It is I, Messenger of Allah (who have recited these words). He (the Holy Prophet) said: It (its utterance) surprised me, for the doors of heaven were opened for It. Ibn 'Umar said: I have not abandoned them (these words) since I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying this. (sahih Muslim)

Note that there's also a difference between gratefulness (hamd) and thankfulness (shukr) according to most scholars while others say they are equal. See for example this fatwa islamqa#146025:

Hamd can only be expressed verbally, unlike shukr, which may be expressed verbally, in the heart or by one's physical actions.
Hamd may or may not be in return for a favour or blessing, unlike shukr, which can only be in return for a favour or blessing.

A quote from ibn al-Qayyim from the same source:

Shukr is connected to favours but not intrinsic attributes. So it cannot be said "we thank (shukr) Allah for being Ever-Living, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-Knowing", but He is to be praised (hamd) for these attributes, just as He is to be praised for His kindness and justice.
Shukr may be for kindness and favours. Everything to which shukr is connected, hamd may also be connected, but the converse is not true. Everything that may be a cause for hamd may be a cause for shukr, but the converse is not true, for shukr may be manifested in physical actions, whereas hamd is in the heart and on the lips (beliefs and words).

Only imam at-Tabari seems to set both of them equal.
Answer: We pray prayer five times a day, We live life as per principle and guidance of Islam. for saying to Allah thanks
Comment: Such a big question and such a small answer...

How can we be thankful to Allah?


DNA of the human body?

Question: If our DNA determines certain patterns within the human body such as hair color and eye color, if scientists were able to "turn off" such as the gene for eye color after the pattern was established, what would happen?
Answer: The classic analogy here is that of a blueprint. For example this one I found here which is kind of relevant:

If you use the blueprint above to make yourself a little sister and later change the blueprint, the sister you built will not be affected.
That is only part of the story though, the analogy can only go so far. DNA is constantly "read", what this means is that genes are transcribed to RNA which in turn is translated into proteins. To use a horrible simplification, genes are the blueprints for proteins. Therefore, if you change the gene, and the cell then reads from it to create a protein, it will indeed create a different protein than what the original gene would have coded for.
The point I am trying to make is that depending on which genes are changed, you can either have no effect or a huge one. Some genes are only read once when the cells are reproducing, others are read constantly as the proteins they code for are used up and then produced anew. So, if the gene you change is one that will be read again during the cell's lifetime, then you will see a change. A classic example of this is cancer. If, on the other hand, it is a gene that will not be read again, then the changes will not have any effect.
Comment: That was a very good answer and easy to understand.  You transcribed it to laymen's terms basically. Thanks!
Comment: @Jody I kind of figured that's what you were after :). You're very welcome.
Answer: I'll just extend terdon's answer into more concrete terms.
An example of a gene that is constantly read would probably be the one that determines hair colour. If you were able wave a wand over the head of someone with blonde hair, replacing all their DNA with a different version of the gene, say, the one for brown hair, then chances are that as their hair grows, you would see that it was now brown at the roots! Something like this:

Note that this picture is evidence of hair dye, not my magic wand. ;)
Every time the cells try to produce a pigment, they read that particular gene. But now, they find the "brown version", and produce a brown pigment instead of a blonde one.
On the other hand, if you replace the gene affecting the length of a person's fingers, they may not just sprout a couple of extra centimetres over the next few months. Those genes may only be read at a particular time of life, such as during puberty or as a child, so they have to be in place at that moment to have much of an effect.
By the way, that idea of replacing all the copies of your DNA with a different version is roughly called "gene therapy", and we're still really in the investigation stage of research (to my knowledge).
Hopefully that helps to solidify your understanding. :)
(And just to add yet another note for this, most traits in humans, like finger length and hair colour, are not the result of just one single gene. They tend to result from a number of factors, but the general idea still applies.)
Comment: +1 fingers are a very good example. By the way, for future reference, you can choose between the full size image, a medium one or a small one by adding `m` and `s` respectively before the `.png` in the URL of the image uploaded to imgur.

DNA of the human body?


What substitutes for prayers for the Pope's intentions during sede vacante?

Question: One of the requirements one must meet to obtain an indulgence is to pray for the intentions of the pope. When there's no pope, what's the substitute? I guess it's the conclave and the next pope, but I don't know the exact rules on this.
Comment: @PeterTurner: I'm almost sure there is some way. We have more than two weeks to find the answer, and if no one here finds it, I'll demand on our priests to tell me, and if they won't give me a sufficient answer, I'll join old ladies praying rosary before every Mass and organize a demonstration for plenary indulgences :-)
Comment: Never thought about that... No plenary indulgences in the interregunum, that's sad :(
Answer: It's not a prayer for the Pope; it's a prayer for the intention of the Pope.
From the Enchiridion of Indulgences issued on 29 June 1968:

26. To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill the following three conditions:
• sacramental confession,
  • Eucharistic Communion,
  • and prayer for the
     intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.
It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent.
If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only.
29. The condition of praying for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary; nevertheless, each one is free to recite any other prayer according to his piety and devotion.

Although certain functions of the Papacy are carried out during a vacancy under the Cardinal Camerlengo, there is no "Sovereign Pontiff".
Given that a prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff cannot be properly fulfilled in a vacancy, it would appear that any indulgence will be partial only.
Comment: Thanks for pointing out that we pray for "the intention" of the pope, I corrected it in the question. The answer itself is not bad, it's logical and even priests usually don't know here. It took me quite a lot of google-work to prove it is not true. Well, it could be deduced from Catholic view on the Communion of saints, but it might be easier to google it or to ask the Apostolic Penitentiary and translate the answer from Latin. See my answer.
Answer: I made some research myself, and I found that someone tried hard to learn after death of John Paul II. Here is an English translation of a latin answer from the office of Apostolic Penitentiary, answering our question:

Most eminent father;
Geoffrey W. Horton of the Seminary of the of Baltimore Archdiocese
  under the title of Mount St. Mary's in the city of Emmittsburg, in a
  letter dated the 4th of April 2005, puts forth the following
  questions:

In regards to the prayer prescribed for the intention of the Supreme
  Pontiff for gaining a plenary indulgence (cf. "The Manual of
  Indulgences", 4th edition, Norm. 2. 20 paragraph 1), if in the vacancy
  of the Apostolic see the faithful are impeded in procuring said
  plenary indulgence. And to what point they are not be impeded.
How in this condition, with the Apostolic See vacant, the plenary
  indulgence is fulfilled. And God, etc.

April 13th, 2005
The Apostolic Penitentiary responds to the proposed question:
To the first question: No, the faithful can seek a plenary indulgence
  even in the time of a vacant Apostolic See.
  To the second question:
  Even though the Apostolic See is vacant, the conditions of praying for
  the intention of the Supreme Pontiff are fulfilled (by reciting once
  the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary" once; nevertheless, the
  opportunity is also given to the individual faithful to recite another
  prayer which pleases them according to the piety and devotion of each
  one), even if he has fulfilled the duty of his life, since the ends of
  the Pope's intention, the ends for which one must pray--undoubtedly
  the spiritual good of the whole Church -- persist.
John Francis Girotti, OFM Conv.
John Mary Gervais

The answer is awesome: Communion of Saints! It's the pope's job to pray for the Church (and while we pray for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff, we support mainly this kind of prayers). If he does it while living as a member of ecclesia militans, he will certainly continue in heaven or purgatory.
There is a problem when a pope doesn't pray for the Church, either because he lives and is prayer-lazy or because he is dead and damned, but I don't think either will be the case of Joseph Ratzinger in March.
Comment: Hmm. I wonder if the Regent Monsignor considered the case where the Supreme Pontiff is no longer Supreme Pontiff and *not in heaven or purgatory either.* The answer assumes that the Supreme Pontiff is still Supreme Pontiff after leaving office. This *could* be reasonable if he dies; but cannot be reasonable if he still lives. Or rather, needs to be explained because it appears to be unreasonable.
Answer: Each year, the Vatican announces the Pope's Intentions for the year ahead (see e.g. http://www.ewtn.com/faith/papalprayer.htm ) - so by praying for the intentions the last Supreme Pontiff indicated for that month, surely you are praying for the Pope's Intentions, even when there is no current Pope?


How to unlock jumbo jets?

Question: There is a screenshot on the Facebook page where you can see the player is at level 11 and has a Tetra-M. Yet I am at level 12 and the biggest planes I have are Birchcraft. Or maybe is it just because they are the developers?
Comment: It was proably a reward plane or a testing situation.
Answer: It is possible for a higher-level player to gift you the parts to build a plane that you haven't yet unlocked.
However, I think this image is just a developer version of the app.
Answer: It is because they are the developers; I haven't found a way to unlock planes ahead of my level.
Answer: Keep checking the Market for newer planes as items are randomly added. But of course this may only pertain to your level.
Answer: Every level yields 1 airport and 3 bux. Somewhere in the teen levels you start getting planes every other level.
After the Birchcraft is the Pearjet, then followed by the Aeroeagle. I don't know if the helicopters are a higher level unlock or unique to the "flight crew" challenges. (the casablanca challenge offered up Huey parts for example)
I'm level 18 atm, so much beyond that i'm unsure. Haven't found any parts i don't already have unlocked by buying the class 3 airports (red) or class 2 (blue) either, they just save you a few bux if your going to make a plane.
Answer: For Christmas, Nimblebit gives you a gift everyday in December. Sometimes it's an Airvan, sometimes a Kangaroo, and sometimes ten bucks. However, on Christmas Day they give you a big gift. That is probably how he got a Tetra.

How to unlock jumbo jets?


Install custom php modules with chef solo

Question: I've tried to search but unfortunately I don't find any documentation or article about how to install custom php modules like pdo_mysql when provisioning with chef solo.
If you do know, I'd be very glad to know :)
Answer: Try the PHP cookbook available here: https://github.com/priestjim/chef-php it contains a lot of extra modules as recipes and supports both rhel & debian platform families. FYI, if you use CentOS, the cookbook depends on https://github.com/priestjim/chef-yumrepo too for the Atomic PHP packages!


How to delete a column in a content type?

Question: How to delete a column in a content type? The columns are not clickable? And content types inheriting from based documents or items ct.
Answer: I know sealed or read only columns are not enabled for deletion. hmm. now how do you find a column is sealed or not. well, I use SP Manager 2010 to find out sealed columns. I think there is powershell to determine that as well.
But this may not be the case either. anyone else want to input their observations?
I doubt thats your case because all of your columns are non-clickable. hmm.
Answer: I think I have your solution. Open SharePoint Manager 2010. Expand the Site > Expand the Content Types > Click on the "Content Type" that giving you trouble. See the ReadOnly property to False.
I was able to set it true and false and got the behaviour you are having. Hope this helps.
So, ReadOnly for the content type (not the field level) level.
Comment: 100% on target. Thanks Bill. Yes, Readonly property was set to "True". I changed it to False and wala. Thanks a lot.
Answer: Are you in the top level site settings? Unless you are in the site that the content type and/or column was created you will not be able to click on it. Also, you may not have permission to do so.
Once you are able to click on the column, click on it. There you will find a "delete" button.
This is how I understand it. Does that help?
Answer: Check a workaround in my blog to enable the delete button using PowerShell
http://shareyourpoint.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/how-to-enable-delete-button-to-delete-sharepoint-2010-content-type-column/
Here is the PowerShell script to bring back the Content Type delete button:
<code>$site = Get-SPSite-Identity "http://sharepointsite/sites/test"

$ctype =$site.RootWeb.Fields | ?{$_.InternalName -eq"InternalFieldName"}

$ctype.AllowDeletion="true"

$ctype.Update()
</code>
Run the above script from the server and check that the content type button now appears.
Comment: I'd be great if you can detail the answer a bit instead of just linking to your blog. While it might answer the question, blog content comes and goes and your answer may no longer exist in the future.


Headless OpenVPN server with inadyn

Question: The goal:  bypassing the Great Firewall of China while I am there on a contract.
The concept:  a micro-minimal install of Ubuntu on a headless machine left behind in the States which boots and runs from a CD or DVD with only three tasks: login, run inadyn to update the external DNS via DynDNS and launch OpenVPN as a server.
Ubuntu, iandyn and OpenDNS because I am familiar with them, I have this working with a full install.  I'm open to other options. I want a CD/DVD to minimize maintenance in the case of hardware failure -- my "hosts" for this box are capable of plugging in a new drive -- but restoring a disk image, not so much.
So, the question is what / how can I best uninstall everything else but the core and these two tasks?  I'm trial-and-erroring it, but perhaps (almost certainly) someone has more experience than I in minimizing disk space while still having a functional enough OS?
Answer: Sounds like you want to start with the Ubuntu Minimal CD. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD . Download and install then apt-get the packages you need.

Headless OpenVPN server with inadyn


Standard Jazz teaching repertoire

Question: I am a classically trained pianist with many years of teaching experience in the classical repertoire. I would like to expand my horizons and become more knowledgeable about jazz and pop piano music and be able to share this with my students. Where can I gain this knowledge?
Comment: To add another, the [Jamey Aebersold stuff](http://jazzbooks.com/) can be really great for beginners. The ["Red Book"](http://jazzbooks.com/jazz/FQBK) is free and a great overview for anybody coming in with zero jazz-specific knowledge. If nothing else it serves as a jumping off point giving you enough info to know what to tackle next.
Comment: This might be a good start : [**_The History of Jazz Piano_**](http://www.piano-play-it.com/history-of-jazz-piano.html) - A survey from the early days up until nearly the present, featuring the great artists, bio info, highlights of their careers, unique features of their style, their influence, etc. (I'm going to read it through myself.)
Answer: The first thing you'll need to do is to understand jazz yourself. I'm sure you realize that. But what I mean is that I don't think it would be very useful to just have some recommended repertoire or a curriculum without first understanding it deeply enough yourself to be able make those decisions yourself.
Learning to play jazz yourself is a great way—and in my opinion the best way—to begin understanding the concepts you'd be teaching. But either way here are some things I'd work on understanding and/or playing before you dive in to teaching it:

Listen to a lot of jazz and get it in your ear. Get used to the rhythm, the harmony, the melodies and the general form. For bonus points,  take it further and analyze and transcribe some of the things that you really like.
Learn some rudimentary history and some of the basics. Know the different styles. Know some song forms (rhythm changes, blues, modal, etc). Know the terminology (for example if somebody says "head" or "chorus").
Learn the harmony. While much of it will be familiar to you and you'll have a huge head start, you'll need to know the idiomatic differences that make jazz jazz. This especially important for piano given that whether you're playing solo or with a band, the pianist is the one covering much of the harmony.
Learn how to improvise (or at least how other people do). This a huge part of what jazz "is" and it's what people studying jazz end up putting most of their time into. It takes years to become an expert at this so don't worry about mastering it or anything. But I'd learn enough that you can get students started on it.
Put this all together by learning tunes. Learn a lot of standards and listen to a lot of jazz and the other parts I mentioned should naturally come along with it.

One thing I think you'll find is that there's a little less agreement on the right way to do things in jazz which makes it tough to recommend any canonical resource or body of work to work through. Most people learn through a variety of resources and by listening to and copying from jazz that they like.
Answer: To learn jazz piano you need to learn to play by ear, by listening to things and trying to play them as they sound.  Sheet music can be a useful crutch to help you while you learn this skill but it alone will not teach to play jazz piano, you'll just sound like a classical player "trying to play jazz".
I would recommend finding a jazz piano instructor to get you started, you'll probably find the experience of approaching the instrument from a new perspective very rewarding, and as a teacher yourself you know how the personal communication and knowledge of a good teacher is far superior to books alone.
With your skill and knowledge at playing classical piano, it will be hard for you not to apply that knowledge and training to the sheet music in front of you, and in many cases with jazz, that way of looking at things won't apply.  In other words, the problem for you won't be what you don't know, it will be what you do know!  Your natural response to jazz tunes will be to try to understand and interpret them through your existing musical framework, when you really need to approach them "as a novice", in order to not miss the wood for the trees so to speak.
Obviously your existing technical ability will make you stand you in good stead to learn how to play jazz, but when approaching jazz piano it is worth remembering that it is a completely new discipline, and so a teacher will be invaluable.  I sometimes* find that classical players expect that playing jazz will come with minimal effort, since they already play very technically challenging classical works, and jazz is less "serious". Whereas in reality, I think a classical pianist would have more luck autodidactically learning classical flute or classical clarinet than jazz piano.
I absolutely LOVE teaching classical players to play jazz. It's incredibly rewarding.  But my experience has consistently been that the first thing I have to do is ban sheet music from the room, because as soon as there are dots on a page "the training kicks in" as the military might say.  Now, of course, I'm not at all saying that's the only way to teach classical folks to play jazz, (and I probably wouldn't take that approach for piano), but it illustrates how important the oral as opposed to the written side is for jazz instruction.
*I say sometimes, because in many cases the exact opposite is true, I've ran jazz & blues workshops with classical players who are sure they "can't play jazz" and were surprised at how quickly they found themselves playing it, once they were pointed in the right direction of how to go about it.  In fact, teaching classical players to play a bit of jazz is one of my favourite things to do for this very reason.

Standard Jazz teaching repertoire


Changing CiviCRM Site Key in the civicrm.settings.php file

Question: We have developed a white label Drupal and CiviCRM installation which we plan to use to launch a new server. When changing over I usually change the settings files to match the new database settings. However, I have noticed that the CiviCRM Site key also need to be changed. How can I go about doing this or is this not possible? THanks.
Comment: Are you just cloning and site and modifying the civicrm.settings.php file? Can you use a similar approach to what you are doing with the dsn?
Comment: Hi Donald. Yes, just cloning the site and modifying the civicrm.settings.php file. I modify the base URL and the database login credentials. Not sure what to do with the site key.  We are keeping the same name for the database for now on the new server. If I try to change the database name the website stops working. Another issue to figure out!
Answer: Changing the site key will break a few things. How many of these are important is up to you, but at least:
- every rest interface that connects to the site to read or write (you might not have any)
- any hash (eg. link to update preferences). this might not be an issue if the domain name changes too
- anything that is saved encrypted (eg. the password for the smtp connection).
search the code base for CIVICRM_SITE_KEY to have a complete list.
This being said, the easiest is probably simply to change and wait for a while to see if it breaks any of the features YOU use.
The value of the key itself doesn't matter, as long as it's hard to guess and long enough. The setup process generates it that way:
<code>md5(uniqid('', TRUE) . $params['baseURL'])
</code>
so a random hash of 32 characters
Comment: Thanks for your reply. This is a new site changing over so I rather make the changes now and break it then later. How could I create a new site key then? Cheers
Comment: the value of the key by itself doesn't matter. During the install, its md5(uniqid('', TRUE) . $params['baseURL']
Comment: thanks for your help. I have made the changes as per your suggestions. Lets see how it goes. Cheers.


Naming scientific output files

Question: What's the best practice for naming output files from scripts that you're experimenting with? I'm trying different parameters in my data generation script and I'd like to keep track of which files correspond to which parameters. If I use the standard way of naming with timestamps I soon lose track of how the files were created.
Comment: Maybe this two references could help:
[Good Enough Practices in Scientific Computing](http://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.00037.pdf) and [Best practices for scientific computing](http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001745).
Answer: The problem of recording how a particular piece of scientific data was generated has come to be known as "provenance tracking". Here is an article on it which also includes the description of a software tool, Sumatra: http://rrcns.readthedocs.io/en/latest/provenance_tracking.html.
Another, simpler Python tool to do something similar is recipy.
Answer: This question might get closed for being opinion-based, but I think it's an important question ... so here's my opinion.
As far as I know, there's no real industry best practice for this kind of thing -- a lot of "don't"s, but not a lot of "do"s. For example, Stanford has a web page dedicated to file naming.
What's worked well for me is to create a series of folders whose names are numerical keys (e.g. "7001", "7002", "7003", ...), as well as a text file which gives a description of each folder (e.g. date, numerical parameters, motivation, brief summary of results, etc.).
I like this scheme because the folder names are short which makes it easy to find the one I want. Having a description of each folder in one text file makes it nice for finding results months later, and remembering why I did what I did.
Comment: I do something similar to you. One thing I do on top of that is make sure the description files are easy to parse so I can use separate algorithms to quickly search for and grab the output file I want so the process is less manual.
Answer: The best approach may depend on the problem at hand. Just make sure that: 1) it is well automated and 2) every detail is recorded. I have been naming files with date and most important parameters (or the parameters that are being changed).

Naming scientific output files


iPhone facebook connect emails returning null

Question: I am using the newest newest Facebook connect API for the iPhone. I am trying to get the email addresses from friends of the my app's user. I am only considering those friends of the user that are users of the corresponding Facebook app, and that have given permission to the Facebook app to use their email address. I am performing a multiquery to get the user's friends' uids and then get the information of the friends. Everything else comes in fine in the response of the request, but the email adresses all return "null". Here is my code:
<code>-(void)viewDidLoad{

[super viewDidLoad];

// create facebook session
NSArray *permissions = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"email", nil];
facebook = [[Facebook alloc] init];
[facebook authorize:FB_AUTH_KEY permissions:permissions delegate:self];
[permissions release];

}

-(void)requestFriendsArray{

// create the multiquery
NSString* friendIDs = @"select uid2 from friend where uid1 == me()";
NSString* namesAndPics = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"select pic_square, first_name, last_name, email, is_app_user from user where uid in (select uid2 from #friendIDs)"];
NSString* queries = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"{\"friendIDs\":\"%@\",\"namesAndPics\":\"%@\"}", friendIDs, namesAndPics];
NSMutableDictionary *params = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:queries, @"queries", nil];

// send it out
[facebook requestWithMethodName:@"fql.multiquery" andParams:params andHttpMethod:@"GET" andDelegate:self];
[params release];

}
</code>
Does anybody have any idea what's going on?
Thanks!
-Matt
Answer: May be you need to request an extended 'mail' permission. See http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions


How did the United States treat POWs in Vietnam?

Question: Did the USA take prisoners of war in Vietnam? Did they administrate POW camps? Or were the South Vietnamese in charge. I know there is a famous photo of a South Vietnamese police officer summarily executing a prisoner.
Comment: I just wanted to add that "prisoner" executed was not a pow he was a nva spy therefore the Geneva convention doesn't apply. It was during the Tet offensive
Comment: What has preliminary research revealed? Have you checked google & Wikipedia?
Comment: The Burns documentary has more on this in episodes 7 (near end, telling the story of a nurse from NY) and 8 (at 13:14). Some prisoners received medical treatment in the field, and some spat on the doctors trying to treat them. There were POW camps in Saigon, 40k N VN and VC soldiers in "4 crowded camps," plus 200k S VN civilians, "many held without trial." There was torture, including electric shocks, waterboarding, and hanging men up.
Comment: You might want to consider including a remark such as "considering they made it alive from surrendering to being registered as a prisoner of war". Body counting could have been an incentive for not taking POWs in the first place, unless they also counted captured and alive enemies.
Comment: @BenCrowell please don't answer in comments.
Comment: remember that geneva convention applies only to  armies in uniform. Spies, infiltrators, non-uniformed saboteurs, do not count and may be killed. The US Army shot German infiltrators/saboteurs in WWII too. If a Vietcong officer forces or convinces a villager to fight against USA or South Vietnam, applying Geneva is not automatic for both of them. It depends on some factors.
Comment: @JoeWierdak plus the spy was executed by the South Vietnamese police, not the US Army.
Answer: Focusing just on the Viet Cong, the American's usually transferred them to the custody of the government of South Viet Nam.  This legal analysis identifies some of the flaws in the Geneva Conventions: Law at War: Viet Nam 1964-1973:

As combat units of the United States became heavily engaged in the war
  in 1965, the question arose as to the proper disposition for
  battlefield captives and others detained by U.S. units during military
  operations. In 1965 the United States determined to win over to the
  Vietnamese armed forces all individuals captured by U.S. forces. Such
  an arrangement is permissible under the Geneva Prisoner of War
  Conventions, which provide for the capturing power to release
  prisoners to a detaining power as long as both the capturing and the
  detaining powers fulfill certain obligations concerning the welfare of
  the prisoners.
While the legal basis for a transfer of prisoners was sound, carrying
  out the transfer was beset by serious legal and practical
  difficulties. The Republic of Vietnam regarded the Viet Cong as
  criminals who violated the security laws of South Vietnam and who
  consequently were subject to trial for their crimes. As indigenous
  offenders, the Viet Cong did not technically merit prisoner of war
  status, although they were entitled to humane treatment under Article
  3, Geneva Prisoner of War Conventions. Under Article 12, the United
  States retained responsibility for treatment of its captives in
  accordance with the Geneva Conventions even after transfer of the
  captives to the South Vietnamese. At the same time, the United States
  was concerned that Americans held captive in North and South Vietnam
  receive humane treatment and be accorded the full benefits and
  protection of prisoners of war. In the south, where the government of
  South Vietnam had tried and publicly executed some Viet Cong agents,
  there had been retributory executions of Americans by the Viet Cong.
  In the north, the Hanoi government stated that it would treat captured
  American flyers humanely, but it would not accord them prisoner of war
  status as they were "pirates" engaged in unprovoked attacks on North
  Vietnam. Hanoi repeatedly threatened to try United States pilots in
  accordance with Vietnamese laws, but never carried out this threat.
  U.S. policy was for the United States to do all in its power to
  alleviate the plight of American prisoners. It was expected that
  efforts by the United States to ensure humane treatment for Viet Cong
  and North Vietnamese Army captives would bring reciprocal benefits for
  American captives.
Early in the war there had been some question in the United States
  command as to whether the struggle against the Viet Cong constituted
  an armed international conflict as contemplated in Article 2, Geneva
  Prisoner of War Conventions, or a conflict not of international
  nature, to which Article 3 would be applicable. With the infusion of
  large numbers of United States and North Vietnamese combat units and
  the coming of the Korean, Australian, Thai, and New Zealand
  contingents of the Free World Military Assistance Forces, any
  practical doubts as to the international nature of the conflict were
  resolved. Although North Vietnam made a strong argument that the
  conflict in Vietnam was essentially an internal domestic struggle, the
  official position of the United States, stated as early as 1965, and
  repeated consistently thereafter, was that the hostilities constituted
  an armed international conflict, that North Vietnam was a belligerent,
  that the Viet Cong were agents of the government of North Vietnam, and
  that the Geneva Conventions applied in full. This view was urged upon
  the government of South Vietnam, which acceded reluctantly, but
  subsequently came out in full support of the conventions.

Some powerful photographs
Comment: Your answer doesn't really answer the question.
Comment: @Lisa: I heard from someone who was there, their unit or squad or whatever you call it tortured and I don't know why anyone would be surprised. Anyone who knows about how police treated suspects in the USA in the 1960s or how we treat prisoners at Gitmo to this very day, for that matter.
Comment: @Lisa impossible to conclude from this text. It doesn't mention either large scale executions, nor torture.
Comment: So, most prisoners were killed after being tortured, correct? Like 80% of all vietnamese captured?
Comment: @Jeff: Doesn't make it any better.
Answer: I was assigned to the 50th Medical Co.(Clr) in Long Binh 1965 - 66.  This unit was a second tier medical facility treating VietCong prisoners until they would be well enough to be sent to an RVN POW camp.  The unit also handled U.S. Army prisoners awaiting transfer to CONUS after being convicted of a crime and awaiting transfer prison.  The facility was enclosed with fencing and barbed wire and had (for the VietCong) three wards.  It was guarded by MP's.  The doctors and medics caring for them treated them just like any other patient.  Jokes were made about the "slopes", etc. but since they didn't speak English I think they were not likely too offended.  They got the same food as the troops caring for them, except they got rice with every meal as I remember.  There was never any abuse, torture, etc.  Some became friends with various medics.  They all hated to be released from this facility and be sent to the RVN POW Camps and often re-injured themselves to prevent that.
Comment: Please provide a verifiable source for your claims.
Answer: I was the Sgt in charge of the POW camp in Quinon Valley in 1968. No prisoner was abused. Their medical needs were attended and they were fed and sheltered. We had no problems with them. I closed the compound down and all 150 were turned over to Arvn police.
Comment: @DevSolar also something to consider: eye witnesses are often referred to in History as a *primary source*
Comment: @KevinStarmast: If that source can be verified, that is good. If that source can be verified by someone who does *not* have a conflict of interest, that would be even better. If that source cannot be verified, it's useless at best.
Comment: @KorvinStarmast: Right now all we have is a new user making unsourced claims to authority. Let's say I am skeptic of that.


Should I disable Wi-Fi on my laptop when my Ethernet cable is plugged in?

Question: At home I often connect my laptop to my Wi-Fi network. However, when I'm near my desk I plug in my Ethernet cable since that gives me a faster connection to the internet. But if I don't disable my Wi-Fi connection, will Windows (7) know to use my faster Ethernet connection? (Side question: is there a way to tell which connection is currently being used?)
Answer: I was wondering the same thing last week and found this blog post: Windows Prefers Wired Connections
Short answer
Yes, Windows usually defaults to using a wired connection if it's available. Starting with Vista, existing connections are not switched over to the wired connection if they were established on the wireless connection.
The article goes into greater detail and also explains how to tell whether the wired or wireless connection is actually preferred on your specific computer.
Answer: Windows 7 will use the faster ethernet connection, that "feature" has been there since Vista.
Answer: by disabling wireless adapter when you use the wired one, This conserves IP address allocation, reduces security risks, resolves dual interface routing issues, and prolongs battery life.
or you can brigde the wlan and lan connections, this make windows switch automatically to the connected adapter.


Why didn't Anakin just leave the Jedi Order?

Question: Anakin got Padame pregnant. I understand that Anakin had to keep the pregnancy a secret, or he would be kicked out of the Jedi but why could he not just peacefully leave the Jedi and do something else? He loved his girlfriend/wife so much what is the point in continuing such a dangerous job as a Jedi, whilst breaking the rules?
Comment: Okay that helps to clarify. I still do not understand why he did not just leave either officially by telling them, or unofficially by just running away.
Comment: It's against the rules for precisely the reason described by Yoda. ["The fear of loss is a path to the dark side".](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXekWMcCrLM&feature=youtu.be&t=32). "Attachment leads to jealousy.", etc.
Comment: Note that marriage ***isn't*** fine. It's also strictly forbidden by the Jedi code.
Comment: There's also the fact that she's broken the law by not getting permission from her Queen before embarking on this relationship.
Comment: Well, there was a war going on...not the best environment to raise a family.
Comment: Anakin is being manipulated by Darth Sidious to turn him to the dark side. Sidious doesn't want him leaving the Jedi and heading off to another world so keeps him close by playing on his love for Padme (and fears about her safety). He also needs Anakin to turn against the Jedi and help him destroy them from within, which he can't do if he if he's not a part of the order.
Comment: ^ I think he was aware of her pregnancy before he spoke to Sidious, so he could have vanished long before?
Comment: @securityauditor - unlikely, Anakin has been a Jedi padawan since he was a child and it has been known since he was found that he has an extraordinarily high force potential. Sidious has been manipulating the Jedi since before Anakin was found and these manipulations are not always verbal e.g. IIRC it's heavily implied that the dreams Anakin has about Padme dying are triggered by Sidious to manipulate him.
Answer: Anakin wants to save Padme
The Force is not Jedi/Sith exclusive. Anakin would still be Force sensitive, even if he somehow resigned from the Jedi Order. And he had lot of skills (piloting, engineering ) even if he had to put his lightsaber away. Also, Padme was not exactly penniless :)
But, there was another problem - his visions about Padme's death. His fear that he will lose her (just like he lost his mother) made him search for more power and knowledge about the Force. The primary reason he wanted to become a Jedi Master (and major disappointment when he was refused) was to have access to Jedi Archives with forbidden knowledge only Masters were allowed to study. He hoped he would find information there about the ways to cheat death.
Therefore, he was an easy prey for Sidious when he offered exactly the knowledge that the Jedi Order denied. Sidious purposely put him close to Padme in Episode 2, sensing his attraction to her and counting on her to become his greatest weakness. Throughout the Clone Wars she was his unwilling pawn to twist Anakin to Dark Side.
Answer: He doesn't have anywhere else to go.
Anakin's mother dies in Ep. 2, and he is essentially left with no one on his home planet of Tatooine that he knows well and likes. He also has the memory of being a slave there, and the embarrassing incident with the Sand People that he later confides to Palpatine. Perhaps he could go try to live on the Lars' farm, but that is possibly the one place he would never want to return to.
He doesn't have any real job skills.
Anakin went from slavery straight into Jedi Training (TM). Other than moving stuff around with the Force, he doesn't seem to have many skills that would translate well to a civilian career. The Republic (unlike Star Trek's Federation) is not a post-scarcity society - they have social problems galore, serious poverty, and major inequalities. One can't just "float around" and depend on a social safety net. People who try that get killed, thrown into a Rancor pit, or starve.
We see this sort of job skills problem in our own world - the stereotypical "homeless veteran" who gets out of the military with plenty of combat skills, but without the skills necessary to "make it" in the civilian world. Anakin has literally been with the Jedi since he was nine years old, way younger than the age that most people enter the military in our own world, meaning that his skills, contacts, etc. are even lower than one might expect for someone who joined a military force as an adult.
It's true that he's a good pilot, but he's impulsive and insubordinate - perhaps OK for the kinds of missions that the Jedi go on, but exactly the kind of pilot that would not be wanted for regular cargo missions or even smuggling.
Comment: He could build droids and podracers out of scrap when he was a child, I'd say he has some marketable skills there. As for learning to function outside the Jedi temple, I'm sure Padme could help him out. I imagine senators wages weren't small either.
Comment: Anakin could have easily gotten a mercenary or body guard job. On top of that his baby mama is a Senator. I'm sure with their combined connections Anakin could find a job that would use his extremely exceptional military skills.
Comment: ^ Exactly my points, he had options.
Answer: While the other answers are legitimate, I believe there is another answer. The fact that he thought Padme would die kept him in the order, where he was 100% sure he could speak to Palpatine as a Jedi. Therefore, for fear of losing Padme, he stayed in the order.
Comment: You're wrong and you're right. He was hoping to gain access to the Jedi archive (available only to Masters). That's also why he was so grumpy about being denied the rank of Master


Intuitionistic type theory in linguistics

Question: How important is type theory for modern formal linguistics? I am looking for modern references that build on Ranta's (Ranta, Aarne. "Type-theoretical grammar." (1994)) use of type theory for linguistics. Thank you.
Comment: Not everything that has the word "formal" in it is automatically off-topic for this site; neither is it just because it originates from/also has applications in other fields. The question explicitly asks about the use of this theory in linguistics; I see no problem having it here. Type-theoretic natural language semantics is a thing.
Comment: Well, Ranta was writing about computer languages (where typing is obviously an important concept) but computer languages aren't studied by linguists.
Comment: Type theory predates computers by a couple of generations.
Comment: I'm voting to close this question because this is a question on a concept from computer languages.
Comment: @JRC I think you need to specify more precisely what you're after. Are you looking for an assessment of how fruitful type theory is for linguistic applications? A list of recent papers discussing linguistic phenomena with methods of type theory? A modern textbook that covers the basics of type-logical grammar/semantics, or advanced topics?
Comment: @jk - Reinstate Monica No, he was not. The mentioned book is about natural language, not computer languages.
Comment: @user6726 Not intuitionistic type theory though; that only dates back to 1972 when computers had already been around for a while.
Answer: It's really nice to know that there are some other guys who are interested in type-theoretical semantics. I will give you some advice and references that might be interesting.
First, there is a crucial difference between simple type theory that is used in the traditional Montagovian formal semantics (that is, something you would normally find in an introductory textbook on formal semantics like Heim & Kratzer (1998)) and modern type theory (that is, type theory after Martin-Löf type theory) that is now extensively applied to linguistic semantics ever since Ranta (1994). If you really want to play with type-theoretical semantics, it would be better that you can first get familiar with type theory itself. If you have a theoretical math or theoretical cs background, it would be easy. If you are a student of Linguistics, it would be a little bit difficult because modern type theory is more complicated than simple type theory. I would recommend Granström's book Treatise on Intuitionistic Type Theory, which gives you a friendly and less technical introduction to intuitionistic/constructive type theory.
Second, type-theoretical semantics is less well-known to mainstream semanticists. Most formal semantic research is still done within a classical (or old-fashioned?) Montagovian setting. Recently, more and more researchers, mainly theoretical computer scientists and some logic-oriented linguists find that type theory can offer a better mathematical foundation for linguistics semantics. There are two different branches.

Modern type-theoretical semantics, pursued by Aarne Ranta, Zhaohui Luo, Stergios Chatzikyriakidis, and Daisuke Bekki. They have published a lot
of papers on lexical semantics and compositional semantics using
modern type theory (mainly, Luo's ECC/UTT type theory and classical
Martin-Löf type theory). I think Zhaohui Luo is the soul of this branch as his ECC is a widely acknowledged textbook theory and he has dedicated himself to the study of type-theoretical semantics for over ten years. Stergios was once a post-doc of Zhaohui. Bekki's theory, in particular, his type-theoretical analysis of presupposition resolution, is also inspiring.

Set-theoretical semantics with typed notations, pursued by Robin Cooper and his collaborators (Jonathan Ginzburg, Staffan Larson,
etc). They are more interested in using typed notations to model
linguistic interaction. The theory that they use is called TTR (type
theory with records). It's a hybrid system because it's essentially set-theoretical but uses typed notations to increase the expressive power of the object language. You can check their websites and see their
publications.

(PS: As far as I know, researchers of the two branches are now preparing textbooks or something like that for newcomers. Luo and Chatzikyriakidis are writing a book on type-theoretical semantics which I don't know when they will publish. Robin Cooper has a nice book manuscript circulated online for many years on TTR for modeling perception and linguistic phenomena related to that. You can check Robin's GitHub account.)
It is also worthwhile mentioning some other researchers such as Nicolas Asher and Christian Retoré. They also have published papers on type-theoretical semantics but not the main topic of their research.
Third, let's see whether type-theoretical semantics really fits your research. If you are interested in reasoning and related issues, I would say that type-theoretical semantics is perhaps much better than the traditional Montagovian or model-theoretical semantics. The main reason is that most proof assistants (Coq, Isabelle, ALF, ect) are developed based on type theory. So, you can easily check your analysis using these useful tools and implement your analysis if possible. However, if you just want to analyze certain linguistic phenomena, topics that linguists are normally interested in, such as the semantic interpretation of certain words, certain structures, or syntax-semantics interface, then it's not a good idea to turn to type-theoretical semantics because it is not well accepted by mainstream semanticists. A bad consequence of playing with a not well-accepted theoretical framework is that most mainstream semanticists, as far as I know, are usually unhappy to read papers using completely different frameworks and would regard you as an alien.
I hope it will help you.
Afterthought: There are some researchers, mainly mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists, who are now trying to apply homotopy type theory to linguistic semantics. But I once tried to talk to linguists, they were not quite interested and most complained that they cannot even understand this elegant theory, and cannot see why it's better than a traditional model-theoretical framework.
Comment: This is really a good answer! Thanks a lot!
Comment: I had a very similar experience. I tried to talk to some linguists about type theory and category theory, but they kept asking me for example words and example sentences. Finally, I gave up...
Comment: @Fred Thanks. This is so helpful, including the after-thought.
Comment: You might be interested in answering this question: [What explanatory advantages does so-called "type theory" have?](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/q/35341/2555)
Comment: @curiousdannii It appears that there is already a good answer there. Lemontree's answer is much more detailed than mine. :-)
Comment: HOTT in linguistics?? Please tell me more.
Comment: @phipsgabler Please take a look at this nlab article [dependent type theoretic methods in natural language semantics](https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/dependent+type+theoretic+methods+in+natural+language+semantics). You will find relevent info there.
Comment: Awesome, thanks.


graph.facebook.com and FacebookConnect on iPhone: How can I remove a "like"

Question: I'm developing an iPhone application using the Facebook Connect API. I arrived to set the "Like" on a post using the following code:
<code>NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"https://graph.facebook.com/%@/likes", discussion.postId]];
ASIFormDataRequest *request = [ASIFormDataRequest requestWithURL:url];
[request setPostValue:[self.facebook accessToken] forKey:@"access_token"];
[request setDelegate:self];
[request startAsynchronous];
</code>
It generates the following call:
HTTP POST https://graph.facebook.com/147512198609691_148877991806445/likes
But I'm not able to do the inverse operation "Unlike" (removing the like
from the post).
I tried the following:
HTTP POST https://graph.facebook.com/147512198609691_148877991806445/likes?access_token=....&method=delete
and also:
HTTP DELETE https://graph.facebook.com/147512198609691_148877991806445/likes?access_token=....
But those are not working, probably I'm using a wrong command.
Answer: <code>[request setPostValue:@"DELETE" forKey:@"method"];
</code>