Is it true that Diet is far more effective than Exercise for fat loss?

Question: I recently read Lyle MDonald's article here about the relaitve merits of exercise versus dieting for fat loss. He makes the argument (with numbers to back up his case) that in terms of calories lost, exercise will achieve far less than a disciplined diet will. This actually makes sense to me on a gut level (pardon the pun) as over the years I never felt exercise made as much an impact on my fat levels as dieting did. So it's good to read a more formalised argument for the case. My question is: does he have facts right?
Answer: If you compare the number of calories you can burn per hour exercising to the calories you can consume per hour eating, eating definitely wins out. It's so easy to "undo" the weight-loss benefits of exercise. Even running pretty hard for half an hour, I probably only burn 300-400 Calories (table estimating Caloric expenditure), but I could go home and eat all those Calories back in a matter of minutes (e.g. .5 to .75 cups of trail mix or 2 glasses of orange juice or 1-3 slices of pizza). And running is one of the higher Calorie-burners!
That said, certain types of exercise, such as weight training, raise your metabolism so you burn more calories while you're sitting around doing nothing (more info in another answer). To me, that's a big plus. Drastically decreasing food intake, on the other hand, may actually lower metabolic rate (more info on Livestrong).
People generally have more success when they combine diet and exercise to lose weight (Source). I like doing a combination of both because if you only change your diet, or to only change your exercise regimen, you to have to go really hardcore to get results. If you do a combination of both you can go a little easier on each, which makes it more achievable.
Comment: I agree, a combo makes the diet easier and you'll burn off additional calories.
Comment: Thanks for the Livestrong link. It's important to me to see actual numbers. Also it's not so much about how many calories you can eat in an hour (I can eat a LOT!), but in fact the opposite: if your daily calorie intake goes from say 2000 down to 1000 as part of a short term diet, I don't think any exercise can match that kind of calorie "burn" in one day (even more so if sustained for 10 days or more). So in fact, in terms of effectiveness I'm tempted to think "focus on the diet, the  exercise can come later for maintenance".
Answer: If you think of "diet" in terms of "eating less" or "reducing calories", this is a bad idea. It does not work, and you lose at least as much muscle (rather more) as fat, and as little as it works, it does not work for a long time at all before you grow tired of it. In the end, you'll have more weight and less muscle, which is an unfavorable combination.
If you think of "diet" in terms of "eating correctly" or maybe "eating with some restrictions", then it can be very effective up to a certain point.
I have gone from 115kg to 104kg over one year by following the Montignac diet, without ever being hungry or feeling agonized. (It's a low carb diet, though less fanatic than some others). It takes a bit of discipline to begin with, but after a while you don't even feel like you're missing something any more. Quality of life is very good. "No beer" is the only thing that really hurts, but hey, a glass of wine for dinner is allowed.
104kg was the end of the road as far diet went, no more change. Going on the elliptic trainer for 2 hours every other day got me down to 95kg in 8 months, for a total of 20kg in 20 months (prepare to spend some money on new trousers!).
Now... going on the elliptical trainer every two days, again, is something that admittedly takes a lot of discipline, but it's entirely possible, and it works. And, you eventually get used to it, too.
Start gently if your're not in shape (30-40 mins), and add 5 minutes every day until you're at 2 hours. Never train too hard (130-140 bpm is good), and read a book or watch a DVD to make it less boring. Be sure to aim for at least 1 hour (better 2 hours) per session, because anything less than an hour is useless for burning fat.
Comment: Weight training leaves you with a more favourable body composition without joint wearing, muscle eating, boring cardio. If I was fat and someone told me I had to do 2 hours of cardio every day - I most likely would never do it! +1 million though for the dedication and weight loss though!!
Answer: I've given you a lot of information suggesting that exercise, as the sole means of creating weight loss, is relatively inefficient or even counterproductive. Here are the steps that you should take to best ensure your success.

Determine how many calories you expend every single day. You can use ExRx's calculator here. For best accuracy, calculate this by body fat percentage. If you don't know your current body fat percentage you can use this helpful article by Leigh Peele.
Reduce your calorie intake by 20% of your maintenance calories. Any time you decrease your caloric intake, it's helpful to simultaneously increase your amount of protein in order to stay satiated. (Protein also has the higher Thermic Effect of Food out of any macronutrient, meaning your body needs to expend more energy to digest it in comparison to carbs or fats.)

How much protein should you be eating on a caloric deficit? Nutritionist Alan Aragon recommends figuring out your target body weight and getting that amount in grams. For example, if you are a 200 pound woman who wants to get down to 120 pounds, consume at least 120g of protein per day.

Once you are comfortable with counting calories, consider switching to counting macronutrients instead. Focusing on macronutrients, rather than calories calories, is a nice "hack" to disrupt the fact that people (myself included) are often translating exercise and eating into the same currency: calories. You can learn all about the basics of how to count macros here.

You'll notice that the weight loss recommendation above makes no mention of exercise. But while you shouldn't be factoring exercise into your caloric expenditure or intake, you should still be incorporating it as much as possible practical.
Answer: I believe he is quite spot on. Correct nutrition is just as important if not more important for weight loss and fat loss.  Exercise can certainly amplify results and shrink timelines, but if you were to pick one, I'd go with eating well.
I think a lighter is a good analogy.  In order to make a flame, you need fuel (correct nutrition) and a spark (exercise).  While the spark is the catalyst to the flame, without fuel you'll get no flame.
Comment: Thanks. Do you have any links to provide references?
Comment: The references can be found in this book:  http://www.amazon.com/Body-Life-Mental-Physical-Strength/dp/0060193395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308140559&sr=8-1
Comment: Tell that to every sub 105kg olympic weightlifter ever. You NEED both. One is not more important than the other. Most of them don't watch their diet and some even eat like trash and still have single digit body fat in their respective weight classes. You can and most athletes do out-eat their diets. It's not optimal or efficient but picking one or the other or saying one is more important than the other is ignorant. It's comparing apples to oranges. One is the modulation of caloric intake, the other is use of available resources. How can you compare the two?
Answer: Diet definitely. Exercise is almost a band-aid solution for weight loss, "you can't outrun a bad diet". Vox did an interesting video on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXTiiz99p9o


Importance of vi/vim for sysadmin

Question: I am currently using TextMate as a text editor. How important is it to learn something like vi if I am to do more sysadmin related stuff, mostly involving ssh?
Answer: I'll go ahead and say very important.
Vi or vim will be on every linux or unix system you every get your hands on, whereas TextMate most certainly will not. While you may be able do to day-to-day admin stuff using TextMate and scp, what happens when you have to recover or do maintenance on a system that doesn't have a network connection? In that case, you'll be working directly on the console, and you'll likely be stuck with vim. If you're not in the habit of using vim on a regular basis, the situation is going to be much more stressful than it needs to be for you.
Additionally, it's really just a Good Thing(tm) to be able to admin your machines using only an ssh client. I carry my (password-protected) private keys around on a USB thumb drive along with the PuTTY ssh client. It's very nice to know that, from wherever I am, even if I don't have my own laptop along, I can get into my servers without needing to muck around with client-side applications.
As an aside, I tend to use familiarity with vim (and CLI usage in general) as a means of judging the skill of sysadmins I work with, interview, or otherwise come into contact with. Whether or not this is appropriate can be left for another discussion, but personally, I tend to be wary of any so-called sysadmin that doesn't at least have a modicum of vim/CLI knowledge.
Comment: While knowing ed is an admirable goal, I really hope we're past line terminals for the most part. And acoustic couplers. :)
Comment: Also a bit of ed skills won't hurt. You never know when you're going to find yourself in a line-only terminal ...
Answer: vi can be very feature reach, and you definitely might not need to use all those features, but knowing how to search for text, edit, delete, copy/paste, save files and abandon changes is definitely more than useful. Takes about 20 minutes to learn all of the above, and you're good to go, and use vi for sysadmin tasks.
Answer: Yep, it's on everything, I came across it as the only editor on a system that I was trying to recover and had to grope (grep???) around blindly whilst trying to get my head around the different modes.
I resolved to learn it and it's now my goto editor, I script in it, edit windows config files and of course edit Linux config etc.
Learn it, use it, extend it, abuse it.
Answer: I think that knowing vi for a sysadmin operating on unix environments is almost indispensable (a must know) because it is present on nearly all Unix variant and "descendant" out there, so if you know vi you can edit files on any system without the need of installing new packages.
Furthermore is one of the more powerful editor in the world, so learning al least its basis is worth the effort, ever ...

Importance of vi/vim for sysadmin


Are materials for printing from color negatives in darkroom still available in 2019?

Question: I wonder if the materials, paper and chemistry, are available even today in 2019?
I used to make color prints in the seventies and might do it again if someone still sell the required materials.
Jyrki, Mikkeli Finland
Answer: Yes.  In the 1970s, you probably used the EP-2 chemistry system and paper.  This system was long ago replaced by the RA-4 system, which works fairly similarly but is incompatible.  You won't have to change your working methods much, if you remember what those methods were.
Answer: Indeed, it's a dying breed but it's still kickin'.
Some papers: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Color/ci/801/N/4288586367
Some chemicals: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/For-Color-Paper/ci/596/N/4288586376
I'm not sure about the shipping to Finland or if these things exist in your local market...but for the time being, they do exist.
Answer: Mind that, here at the beginning of 2019, one of the key manufacturers (Tetenal) of photographic chemicals is reported to be facing severe crisis. Future availability of materials might change due to that, so you might want to postpone any investment in darkroom gear and especially process-specific stuff until the dust has cleared.


What is the optimal resolution required of a picture to print on an A1 size canvas?

Question: I am working on a poster in which the background is a photo that I took myself (18 MP). I am wondering what would be the best resolution for printing this photo on an A1 canvas.
This might sound very basic, but I have no experience in printing photography at all.
Comment: What you have to do is to resample your photo for paper size (e.g. Resize dialog in photshop). [Here](http://www.photoshopessentials.com/essentials/resizing-vs-resampling/) is a basic intor.
Comment: Here is a similar question: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/19678/what-is-a-suitable-image-resolution-for-canvas-prints
Answer: For this size 150ppp is already a good resolution.
A1 is 33.1 in × 23.4 in you need (x150)  => 4965x3510 pixel. That is 17.4MP, so if you use the full image (no crop) you'll be fine.
Comment: you can differentiate between 300 dpi and 150 dpi only when being quite close. Since an A1 poster is quite big, you are standing at a certain distance, from which you will not notice the lower resolution used. If someone gets close though, he will notice it, but meh, whatever.
Comment: I have to admit, the reason I haven't up voted this is that I really think 150ppi is going to be unsatisfactory on canvas. 200 ppi is the lowest I would normally take it, I would rather use a good tool to scale the image up in software (such as onOne's Perfect Resize) instead.
Comment: but I was reading some comments online and most of them said that the resolution should be around 300 dpi for a sharp image, is that correct?? or 150 dpi should be fine for me??? Thank you
Answer: The best setting is going to depend on the printer, but use the highest resolution you have.  Any decent printer should support decent built in scaling, you just need to make sure your pixels per inch setting is correct on the image format if the printer doesn't automatically scale to the print size in the printing dialog.
You can try to artificially increase the DPI/PPI in Photoshop which might give slightly better results than the build in scaling, but the best setting to choose would depend on the printer's native resolution (which often isn't even the same in both directions.)
The 150/300dpi rule is more for what quality level you need for a large image to look decent.  It's an arbitrary number though and isn't some idealized resolution for all printers.  It has more to do with the resolution necessary for the image to appear smooth to an eye viewing it.  It is also highly dependent on viewing distance.  A billboard for example doesn't even need close to 150ppi because of how far away the viewer is.  If your image is smaller than this rule before scaling, scaling is only going to make a very limited difference and probably only noticeable if you also do sharpening on it after the fact.  In your case, as long as people will be viewing from a meter or two away, you should be alright at 150.


Animal POV Sound design

Question: Hi! I m working on film where i have to design the POV of different animals. I have some ideas, but i m doing some research too.
Do you remember any film with this kind of sound design? I ve seen some, but it s great to discover new films with your help.
Thanks a lot!
Answer: Ooo, sounds like a lot of fun!
Here are some things to think about when designing for different animals:

A lot of smaller animals have high frequency hearing, but miss some low frequencies.  For example, a mouse cannot hear below 1kHz, but hears up to 90kHz
Some animals have accute hearing, but it's not in a very wide frequency.  They are just better at processing at what they are hearing than humans and some animals.  Perhaps making sounds "pop" more when they are important to the animal (a predator, prey) would help give a better POV.
Many animals can detect vibrations (such as elephants) and use that for communication beyond what they hear.
Certain animals detect electrical and magnetic fields.  Bringing out that aspect could be interesting.

As far as movies that have POV, the only ones that come to mind are cheesy kids movies that have a dog's POV or something like that.  Their design just involves a lot of snuffling sounds.  I feel like an animal would filter out its own noises, but if we're getting a true POV, you would hear a cat purring in its head and a dog sniffing.  Do you have a list of animals you're specifically working with?  Do you have access to the animals to get some of their natural sounds?
Answer: the film Predator sometimes takes the POV of the Predator, which im counting as an animal for the purpose of this question :P
The sound design changes drastically in the Predator's POV to show that his sense of hearing is very alien, iirc modulation effects were used.
You could think about how the physiology of different creatures would affect how they perceive sound.
EDIT: I've just watched episode 16 in season 2 of the Simpsons, where you see & hear briefly from the perspective of Santa's Little Helper (a dog).  The sound is really cool because you can hear Krusty the Clown's very recognisable voice but not speaking proper words - just made up nonsense.
Answer: A French movie has this: L'Ours (Jean-Jacques Annaud). I haven't seen it in a looong time and I don't even know where to find it legally.
From what I remember, you hear the bear (who is the main character) groan as he lost his mother bear. You hear insects and it seems now that the grass could have been louder as well, cause the animal is closer to it than us humans. There's a moment in the film where he eats hallucinogens (mushrooms) and there must be some specific sound design for this.
This movie is from a French director but there is no dialogue in it, it's just the story of a bear that can't make it alone in the outer world. Very sad movie.
Comment: Here is the first part on Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7gyrw_l-ours-1-5-de-jean-jacques-annaud_shortfilms
Comment: I saw it when i was a kid, it s very sad, but i can t remember any details of the sound, i m gonna see it again, thanks
Answer: I've not seen the film as it looks truly awful but the novel Fluke by James Herbert is told from the POV of a dog (although it's actually a reincarnated human). It's years since I read it but if memory serves it did describe some sound from the dog's perspective.
Answer: You might also want to have a look at this interview freshly posted on Designing Sound, there's a small talk about POV that's always worth reading!
Answer: I am working on a 3-D animated version of a film that has animals throughout. I did the foley and what I concentrated on was making the sounds larger than life. It is more cinematic than real since we wanted to punch up the size of everything such as dogs walking, a dung beetle rolling a ball, flying ants etc. I suggest looking also at films like Microcosmos- a film about the insect life in the french countryside. The perspective of sound from the insects was phenomenal. Totally filled the screen without overwhelming us.
I generally think that we have to take ourselves outside of how we would hear things from  a human perspective. With animals, as one person replied do not hear things in the same way as other species. But it also depends on the type of film you are making.
Good Luck

Animal POV Sound design


Dancing and singing on Shabbos

Question: Halacha seems to imply it is problematic to partake in these activities on Shabbos yet of late I have noticed it has become a Mitzvah to do it. What is the Halachic Basis for it? And which Posek talks about it? What does he say?
Comment: Are you asking about clapping and dancing? Never heard that singing is a problem!
Comment: What do you mean it has become a Mitzvah?
Answer: Since nowadays no one is going to make a musical instrument on the spot - which was the reason for the original Gezeira not to dance and clap - the Biur Halacha 339:3 and Tosfos, Beitzah 30a says the Nohagim Lehakail. The Aruch HaShulchan 339:9 says that the original Rabbinical decree applied only to dance movements which required musical accompaniment, not to the unstructured and informal circle dancing popular today. Notwithstanding the above clapping with a Shinui is permitted according to all opinions - see Orach Chaim 339:3; Mishnha Berurah 338:1.
Answer: maran forbids, rama mekel but for mitsva.
in practive is forbidden for sefaradim and some ashkenazim do it with conditions.
see ialcut iosef where he brings that it is proper to refrain even to walk in circles like some people do it the synagogue, while it is not considered dancing because people doesn't lift the legs (so from icar hadin is permitted) he recommends not doing it.

Dancing and singing on Shabbos


Remote Powershell Execution on a machine without Powershell?

Question: My computer is Windows 7 and has Powershell running, I'd like to execute commands to pull back information (specifically netstat) from a bunch of other machines (Windows XP) that do not have Powershell. Is this possible with Powershell or do I need to find another solution?
Answer: In order to execute Powershell remotely you need to have Powershell installed on the remote machine. What you want is to use something like PsExec: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897553.
Comment: If he's just running `netstat.exe`, he could use PsExec to run just that command remotely.  Although I am curious what he might be trying to get that WMI doesn't have access to.  A lot of it ought to be in `Win32_PerfRawData_Tcpip_TCP`.
Answer: PowerShell remoting is indeed out out the picture. But alot of information you could still gather via WMI. Another technique I've used in the past is to remotely schedule a task on other computer to run a script "locally" to get the information you want. This works great for things like netstat.
Answer: You can do this any number of ways, but the amount of information you can get will vary widely by the technique you use.
I'd recommend taking a look @ Get-WmiObject -computerName.  This will use WMI's native remoting to communicate to XP and Windows 2000 (or any newer OS).  You will not be able to do everything you can do with full PowerShell, but you will be able to do everything you can with WMI on Windows XP, and you'll be able to remotely manage this from PowerShell on a single box.
The EventLog is also open remotely in a similar mechanism.  Use Get-EventLog -ComputerName to get remote event log entries from XP or 2000.
Hope this Helps
Answer: You can do this with Powershell with the target machines not running Powershell.  Use Invoke-Command to run netstat remotely on a targetted computer.
Answer: You can use the Get-WMIObject cmdlet with the -ComputerName parameter, you will need admin rights on the remote machine:
Get-WMIObject Win32_BIOS -ComputerName Contoso-Client -Credential Get-Credential

Use the -Credential if you are using a different account on your local computer that doesn't have rights to the remote machine, you will need credentials of an account that has admin access on the remote machine.


Is there any non-hermitian operator on Hilbert Space with all real eigenvalues?

Question: The property of hermitian is the sufficient condition for eigenvalue being real.
Is there any non-hermitian operator on Hilbert Space with all real eigenvalues? If there exist, then can all eigenstates be orthogonal to each other?  And these operators have any application in Quantum mechanics?
Comment: Related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/16678/2451 , http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/39602/2451 , http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/105563/2451 , and links therein.
Answer: It is indeed possible to have a non-hermitian operator with all real eigenvalues. However, in that case at least two of its eigenstates must be non-orthogonal: having real eigenvalues and orthogonal eigenstates is sufficient for hermiticity.
For an example of the former, try e.g.
$$
\begin{pmatrix}
2 & - 1 \\  0 & 1
\end{pmatrix},
$$
whose second eigenvector is $(1,1)$.
Note, however, that in a case like this (non-hermitian diagonalizable operator with all real eigenvalues) you can always find a second inner product with respect to which the operator is hermitian, essentially by declaring its eigenbasis to be orthogonal, by decree, on the new inner product.
Comment: @user56751 Ask separately - probably on [math.se].
Answer: A Hermitian operator is diagonalizable and has real eigenvalues. If you have an operator with real eigenvalues and such that all its eigenstates are orthonormal and, moreover, form a complete basis, then this operator is Hermitian. This is because you can pick its eigenbasis as an orthonormal basis and in that basis it will be represented by a manifestly Hermitian matrix. If eigenstates do not form a complete basis or cannot be orthonormalized, it is not Hermitian.
If you have a diagonalizable operator with real eigenvalues, there is an inner product for which this operator is Hermitian. To construct it, go to the basis which diagonalizes the operator and declare the inner product to be given by the standard inner product for this basis (sum of products of corresponding components, the component expression you learn in kindergarten).
Finally, you can have an non-diagonalizable operator with real eigenvalues. Its Jordan normal form must then contain non-trivial Jordan cells. An example would be
$$
\begin{pmatrix}
0&1\\
0&0
\end{pmatrix},
$$
also known as the fermion creation operator $a^\dagger$ or as the momentum rasing operator $l_+$ in spin-1/2 representation.


Open Self Extracting .exe

Question: I have a self extracting exe file that is password protected, does anybody know of a program that will open this? If I need to I can just run bootcamp, but it would be convenient to not have to do this.
Comment: Have you tried Stuffit from the app store? Also, crossover mac is a very thin "windows" wine emulation layer that might do the trick for a simple exe like that where you are just getting an encryption key in exchange for the passcode.
Comment: I'll give those a shot. I tried The Unarchiver, which is supposed to be able to handle self extracting exe files, but I didn't try Stuffit or crossover mac.
Comment: @bmike, you should probably turn your comment into an answer. I've tried that and it did work for me.
Comment: @JuanA.Navarro I've got tons of answers, if you step up and answer it and I'll up vote your answer. :-)
Answer: Some self-extracting files can also just by unzipped using the command line 'unzip'. Just open Terminal, change into the directory with the .exe, and try running unzip -t filename.exe. You should see a listing of the files in the .exe. If you don't, then this approach won't work. If you do, you can make a directory and then extract the files, something like mkdir extracted && unzip /path/to/file.exe
Answer: Ok, this is how I solved the problem. Following bmike's advice, I went to the App Store, searched for and installed Stuffit. When you open Stuffit, it opens for you a target where you can drag and drop the file compressed as a Windows executable. At least for the file that I've got, that pretty much did the trick.

Open Self Extracting .exe


How to keep leftover pizza tasting fresh

Question: Whenever I order pizza, I always have some leftovers. I'll usually have them in the next day or two, but they never taste as good. I don't know if it's how I store the pizza (in aluminum foil in the fridge) or how I reheat it (in a microwave), but they never have the crispiness that I want (it's too soggy). How can I store and reheat pizza so that it tastes like I just bought it?
Answer: Storage
Get an airtight plastic container and line it with paper towels. Place a piece of pizza on the paper towels, then place some more paper towels on top. If you have more than one piece of pizza, repeat until all of the pieces are stored. If you plan to eat the pizza in the next 24 hours, store it in the fridge. Any time longer than that, store it in the freezer.
Reheating
Before you reheat, let the pizza warm up to room temperature/
Oven (best when you have a lot of pizza)
Preheat oven to 400o. Place the pizza on a baking sheet and bake it for 15 minutes. The pizza is good if the cheese is bubbly and crispy brown in spots.
Toaster Oven (best for one or two slices)
Preheat to 400o. Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. The cheese should look bubbly and gooey.
Microwave (quickest, but least effective)
Put not only the pizza (on a microwave safe plate is usually the best) in the microwave, but also put a half-filled glass of water. The water will prevent the heatwaves from going deep inside the pizza, making it only heat the crust and cheese. Reheat for 30 seconds.
Source: WikiHow
Comment: +1 for using a toaster oven. I usually reheat the pizza for 30 seconds or so in the microwave, then run it through a "toast" cycle in the toaster oven to burn off the moisture and make it crispy again. It even works for delivery pizza that I've frozen, I just microwave it longer to thaw it.
Comment: I only ever use the microwave to reheat pizza if its still fresh (aka hasn't been refrigerated yet) to remelt the cheese. Otherwise it just gets soggy and chewy. The toaster oven is a good way to reheat refrigerated leftover and get it tasting like fresh.


Coding homework dataset

Question: I would like to compare 25+ different coding (same programming language, if possible Java but other languages are fine too) implementations of the same homework. Where can I find such homework solution datasets?
Comment: Thanks, but the difficulty of obtaining such data set says long on the lack of data sharing culture in academia (+ privacy hampering research)... I am hoping some MOOC will release interesting data sets at some point, although they are fighting with lawyers right now (not sure how actively though).
Comment: Does it have to be homework specifically?  You could put together a '[code challenge](http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/code-challenge)' and post it [CodeGolf.SE](http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/)
Comment: Any homework is good, but simple homework is better (say < 200 SLOC). I fear golfing around might produce some weird code :) and also I'm interested in commonalities between solutions while SE golf solutions try to not overlap too much. I have just made my that that request PL-independent to broaden the search.
Comment: Are you looking for datasets?
Answer: Including to other answers, here is one that may help to create a database.

Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer
  programming problems that will require more than just mathematical
  insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at
  elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming
  skills will be required to solve most problems.

As the about section said, project Euler is a collection of many mathematical problems and users try to solve them one by one with programming languages. Unfortunately, there isn't a limitation on the programming language you have to use. But if someone track them and collect only those that want, it would create a nice database.
Comment: Let the scraping begin!
Comment: I don't know if Project Euler shares their participants' code, but many are hosting on GitHub: https://github.com/search?q=project+euler&ref=searchresults&type=Repositories
Comment: They don't have an api to share them, but when I am logged in, I can see the forum with all the answers.
Answer: Note: I've been thinking about this question since it was asked because I think doing text analysis on human-typed computer programming langauges is a very novel idea. I don't think this answer is spot-on, but I hope that it starts the discussion and gets us to a better answer.
The idea

GitHub is the source of many programming codes these days, in addition to other resources (data sets, code snippets, writing, team projects, etc).
Many courses and contests require or suggest posting code to GitHub. For that reason, you have many implementations of the same "homework" or assignment.

Option 1:

Kaggle is a predictive modeling and analytics competition (contest) platform with many projects and 95,000 participants (source).
Participants may post their code submissions to GitHub.

Steps:

Visit GitHub and search "kaggle" - direct link
The left menu bar has a breakdown by programming language. Kaggle is heavy with R and Python. The popularity of Java with data-science people is decreasing (more info here). Or maybe it is just Java in general - N-grams link, indeed.com job trends.

So let's choose Python from the filter - search results.
One recent contest was a handwritten digit recognizer. 36 Python results for searching "kaggle digit" and 30 "kaggle digits" on GitHub. Here is a random example of code.
You can see contests have the largest turnout, and then create GitHub searches for those in particular. After some digging you may find one that is Java-centric.
These repositories can be easily and openly be obtained. If you aren't familiar with Git, you can download all the code, or use their API to search and collect code that meets your criterea. Here is the documentation about API search.

Option 2:

Similar to above, but for MOOCs from places like Coursera instead of Kaggle.
These online courses often encourage or require posting code to GitHub.
One example: 173 Java results with tons of Java code for a course called "Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems" - GitHub search results.
With deeper searching you can find tons of code for identical project descriptions.

Option 3:

Other contests: e.g. here or here
For example...
Answer: Rosetta Code might help you in your task :

Rosetta Code is a programming chrestomathy site. The idea is to
  present solutions to the same task in as many different languages as
  possible, to demonstrate how languages are similar and different, and
  to aid a person with a grounding in one approach to a problem in
  learning another. Rosetta Code currently has 711 tasks, 131 draft
  tasks, and is aware of 530 languages, though we do not (and cannot)
  have solutions to every task in every language.

You can find all the programming tasks on the relevant page and on the page with candidates.
Comment: Thanks but for a given problem each solution is written in a different different language. +1 though as it might be useful someday!
Comment: Oops, I didn't read your question properly indeed.

Coding homework dataset


Answer with more votes than question has views?

Question: This question's best answer has 37 upvotes, yet the question itself has only 33 views. Even if they were the same, surely not every person who viewed the question would upvote an answer?
Answer: The view counter is cached while the vote count is "real time". Jeff has posted about this on one of the other new meta sites, but as there's half a dozen now I can't remember which one.
Answer: I think there're bugs with the view counter, because it's also possible that an answered question have 0 views. It may also just be delayed like some of the other parts of the SO system. Reputation changes, for example are delayed between a site and it's meta and Area 51.


How to filter application insights logs based on log file type

Question: In a regular Sitecore deployment, the logs are written to files such as Crawling.log.yyyyMMdd.txt Search.log.yyyyMMdd.txt log.yyyyMMdd.txt and Publishing.log.yyyyMMdd.txt. When viewing logs in Azure Application Insights, is there some way to differentiate logs which would go into each of these different files?
Comment: I've also struggled a bit with App Insights, it seems a log harder to find log files for specific things. Did you find a solution for this?
Comment: I'd also like to see some improvement the way the logs are written in Azure, because currently they have a maximum size per file and logs get splitted to something like azure.log.20191025.124147.txt, azure.log.20191025.124147.txt.1, azure.log.20191025.124147.txt.2 and so on, but when you try to use Sitecore Log Analyzer (SCLA) you don't have all the results due to the files are splitted.
Answer: As long as I understood from Application Insights, I made the below assumption which can help here.

Insights Trace= Log.Info, Publish log, search log, crawling log
Insights Avail= Azure all resource availability logs.
Insights Exception= Sitecore and other exception logs.
Insights Event= Operational logs for internal Sitecore operation from xConnect, xdb and other.

I am still struggling to get more deep knowledge of how we can distiguish different Sitecore logs in Systematic way in Application Insights.


Why is Pesach called זמן חירותנו, when we did not have the Torah yet?

Question: Our sages tell us, "there is no free man except one that involves himself in Torah learning" (see Avos 6:2).
If that's the case, why is Pesach called זמן חירותנו, a time of our freedom, when we did not have the Torah yet?
Comment: "There is no ... except ..." statements like that don't always indicate that that's literally the only correct interpretation of that word in rabbinic literature. Also, like many aspects of the Torah, that standard may have been introduced with the giving of the Torah, whereas previous to that event, a different standard applied.
Comment: You think it should be Z'man Chofshoteinu? Or whatever would be correct. However we did have some laws already at that point so maybe that is why.
Comment: Perhaps it could be understood as saying there is no freeman except ... after the Torah was already given, but before, just to be able to do the mitzvos without actually "learning" was called free
Answer: perhaps it is referred as that being the beginning of matan torah, and is called so for its purpose. as rav shimshon Raphael Hirsch says in "chorev" as to the meaning of sefiras ha'omer, that were counting to matan torah as that is the purpose of yetziras mitrayim.
Answer: Itamar Shwartz writes in his pesach talks book at bilvavi.net that our soul wants to do the right thing, but our yetzer hara and the fact that we're in exile hold us back. There's a force of evil that's external like an angel that persuades us to sin, and there's an evil that's within our hearts that causes our evil desires. The yetzer hara is mixed into our hearts. We view the outer force of evil as not being a part of us so we feel that we can overcome it, but we see the inner force of evil as a part of us, so it's much more difficult to overcome. Therefore, there's a yetzer hara within us, and a yetzer hara outside of us which causes us to sin. Additionally, there is a third kind of evil, the evil that the erev rav brought with them when we left mitzrayim. They brought an evil government with them. When Hashem spoke to us at har sinai, the erev rav didn't want to hear Hashem's voice, they wanted to hear it through moshe, and they were not ready to be moser nefesh for Hashem so they didn't hear His voice. When we heard the torah at har sinai, we attained freedom and it completed the freedom that began in mitzrayim. We had a certain freedom when we left mitzrayim, but also a certain freedom when we were given the torah. But still, the erev rav are there to prevent us from receiving holiness. When we left mitzrayim, our outer yetzer hara left us, and when we heard the torah the inner yetzer hara left us, but the erev rav wa still present. The erev rav didn't want us to be moser nefesh to hear the torah, and each year they come back to prevent us from being moser nefesh. In order to be free on pesach and be prepared for receiving the torah, we need to have mesirus nefesh. When it says there's no free person except the one who learns torah, it means that if we want to be free of the erev rav's influence, we need to have messirus efesh in learning torah. If we always yearn to do Hashem's will, it will help us have mesirus nefesh and have true cheirus to overcome the influence of the erev rav that persuades us.
See http://bilvavi.net/files/Pesach.Talks.pdf page 62-64
Answer: As noted here, when the rabbis say that a word means something in particular, in the form "X" is naught but "Y", they do not mean that this is the literal meaning of the word, but at most, that that is its usage in a particular context.
Moreover, as cited from R. Saul Lieberman z"l, it isn't necessarily even implying a strict interpretation in that context, but rather, it is a literary phrase used to introduce a Midrashic hyperbole.
Accordingly, the Mishna doesn't actually mean to actually interpret the word as חרות; freedom (in fact I don't think חרות even means freedom in Biblical Hebrew). And certainly doesn't mean that the only person who can ever be referred to as free in any context, is one who is occupied in Torah study.
In a similar vein, note the numerous references to freedom in Parashat Mishpatim (Exodus 21:2,5,26), none of which relate to Torah study.
That is the real answer.
Homiletically, we could answer that the time of the exodus is the time of freedom, since the point of the exodus was receiving thethe Torah. Cf. Exodus (3:12):

זֶה־לְּךָ֣ הָא֔וֹת כִּ֥י אָנֹכִ֖י שְׁלַחְתִּ֑יךָ בְּהוֹצִֽיאֲךָ֤ אֶת־הָעָם֙ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם תַּֽעַבְדוּן֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים עַ֖ל הָהָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה
This is the reason why I have sent you: when you remove the nation from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain. (Translation following Ibn Ezra there)

The service at the mountain refers to receiving the Torah, as explained by R. Hayyim Paltiel, in his commentary there:

תעבדון את האלהים שתקבלו התורה

Since the point of the exodus was receiving the Torah, we an rightfully refer to the time of the exodus as the time of freedom, even were the term 'freedom' only appropriately applied to one occupied in Torah study, since the exodus was just the prelude to accepting the Torah, which is obviously the most essential prerequisite to being truly free by studying the Torah.
Comment: Commentless downvote?


What are the use cases of tokens? How they are different than ethers?

Question: I am searching for the ERC20. From what I found is that , tokens allow us to have our coins based on smart contracts. But I am little bit confused about the use cases of tokens? When I should use them , as long as I can use Ether instead ??
Could anyone give a nice explanation for tokens?
Answer: Tokens and Ether are not interchangeable in functionality.
Ether is a fundamental part of the Ethereum network. It is used to fund gas, which is literally the gasoline of the network. Users pay transactions fees in Ether, Miners get rewards in Ether, and Ether is managed as a part of the underlying Ethereum core blockchain.
On the other hand, tokens are really nothing more than a glorified accounting system. The smart contracts that power ERC20 tokens have simple functions which allow users to send funds between one another and identify how much people have.
By themselves, ERC20 tokens don't do anything (unlike Ether). However, these tokens usually represent certain securities or utilities, which is what ultimately gives them value and functionality.
For example, Binance has a cryptocurrency exchange which allows users to pay for the trading fees in their special ERC20 token at a discount rate. I suppose you could call this a utility token because the token has real world functionality based on how the engineers at Binance developed their exchange.
There are another class of tokens which act more like a stock in a company called security tokens. Usually these do not have an underlying functionality beyond the fact that they are tradable. Most tokens fall in this category because ultimately they don't really provide the user any real utility.
Comment: so a company A can create its own token, for instance, Token A, and users can buy such tokens to get some service from that company. Right?
Comment: The company would need to honor that, but sure. Note that there are a ton of legal hurdles to overcome when doing an ICO in the modern day.
Comment: What hurdles do you mean ?? By the way , I am working on a technical paper and I am trying to utilize tokens as a part of my application . I want to allow customers to get some service in exchange for tokens.
Comment: Take a look at [this](https://www.google.com/search?q=sec+ico)
Comment: I got it. again, I like the idea of using tokens to pay for services using smart contracts. again I want to use it in a research area. Last question, Could you please suggest me any startup online application or article so I can understand how can I work with ERC-20?
Comment: Not ERC20, but ERC721: https://cryptozombies.io/. If you understand and follow that tutorial, ERC20 should be easy to understand
Comment: Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/85993/discussion-between-mohamed-and-shawn-tabrizi).
Answer: Ether is a global and predefined currency. You can't control the supply or ownership of it. On the other hand, an ERC20 token is your customized currency where you can control each aspect of it like :

What will the total supply?
Will the supply will be fixed or can be manipulated later and who has the right for token attributes manipulation?
What amount for total supply will be available to public?
When and where the token holders will be able to use the token?
What will be initial value (in ETH) of token, what will be the name and symbol of token?

and many more ....
There can be multiple use cases of token. You can introduce a platform to use the token for an utility token. You can back the token with assets. It all depends how you are willing to use it. It is fully customizable according to your terms and conditions which is not very much possible with Ether.
Comment: But at the end, users have to buy these tokens with ethers, right? so what the advantage of such conversion?
Comment: Yes. Advantage is designing your own version of currency for your own usecase that you cannot do with ether. Purchasing with ether does not make it unworthy for above implementations.


My skype doesn't login on my Lumia 535.

Question: I am using skype over my phone Lumia 535, I logged out one day, And then it doesn't Login again It gives this error which says "Oops, Please check your network settings and try again". now i have checked all the setting and other applications are running very much perfectly except skype. Please tell me how can i fix this?
Answer: Visit Skype for Windows phone website on your Lumia 535 and check if your Skype version is up to date. If Skype isn't up to date install the latest version.

My skype doesn't login on my Lumia 535.


How to minimize a window?

Question: I'm new with elementary, and actually I don't find the way to minimize a windows, I only see a button to close a window and one to change the size. How can I minimize a window?
Comment: elementary apps are supposed to remember their state and launch quickly, so closing and reopening should feel like just minimizing
Answer: First, welcome to elementary OS! Hope you've found a Linux home!!!
To my knowledge, there are three different ways you are able to minimize a window. Two are available to a user right out of the box and the third is done via installing elementary Tweaks.
Here is a rundown of each:

You can place your mouse over the title bar of any window and right click then select minimize. (not in eOS 5.1)

Any active window can be minimized by using a keyboard shortcut. With elementary OS, it is Super Key (that's the Windows Key on PC or the Command Key on an Apple product) plus the letter 'H'. So, Super + H will do it.

You can install an app called elementary Tweaks that will allow you to alter the layout of the window controls. Here is how you can do that and I'm taking it for granted that you're using the newest release of elementary, 0.4.1 Loki. Here are the install instructions:

First, open Terminal. At the command prompt type each of the commands in this order:
sudo apt install software-properties-common

You will need to enter your Admin password. This is the passwrod you use to log into elementary.
Now, enter these three commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:philip.scott/elementary-tweaks

This adds the repository to pull the software from. After this is done you will update your repositories then install the app by the following two commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install elementary-tweaks

Once elementary Tweaks is installed, you can find it by opening System Settings. It will be in the topmost area called Personal.

One you open Tweaks, within the Appearance section you will see a section called Windows Controls. Click the pulldown and select the control layout that best suits your needs.

That's it! The process to install Tweaks is quite quick and there are other adjustments you can do using the app. In most cases, experienced Linux users install this in eOS as a standard step when they install the OS.
Hope this helps you out and Good Luck!
Answer: You can also set a hot-corner to achieve this in the Desktop settings. Then, all you have to do is point the mouse to the corner and the window will minimize. As you can see below, mine is set to minimize with the low right corner of the screen. It's surprisingly effective.

And, as a elementary os user for two years now, I can relate to your pain. Not having ordinary minimize controls for windows don't make any design sense, but sometimes the crave for being different just for the sake of being different gets in the way of the e0S team and this is the result. Thankfully, is easily fixeable with Elementary Tweaks.
Comment: Well, that's cool and I didn't know it was possible. Thanks!
Comment: Is there a way to get a window list to show the minimized applications?
Answer: There are many ways without adding hot corners, installing third-party software or creating confusing configurations in the command line. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to minimize a window.
Method 1

Click on the app's icon in the dock

Method 2

Win+H

Method 3
Change your layout to add minimize buttons
For a Windows-like layout :
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides "{'Gtk/DecorationLayout': <':minimize,maximize,close'>}"

For something like Mac OS X :
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides "{'Gtk/DecorationLayout': <'close,minimize,maximize'>}"

To revert to the standard layout :
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides "{'Gtk/DecorationLayout': <'close:maximize'>}"

If you're using an older version, use this instead.

For a Windows-like layout :
gsettings set org.pantheon.desktop.gala.appearance button-layout :minimize,maximize,close

For something like Mac OS X :
gsettings set org.pantheon.desktop.gala.appearance button-layout close,minimize,maximize

To revert to the standard layout :
gsettings set org.pantheon.desktop.gala.appearance button-layout close:maximize

Comment: Thanks for the update for 5.1.. banging my head against the wall on that one.
Answer: Beside shortcuts, hotcorners and elementary-tweaks (that adds the minimize button) indicated in the other answers, there are other ways:
A setting is available for the gnome-related desktops (Pantheon used in elementary, also in Budgie and Gnome itself) to minimize a window on right-clicking its top margin (titlebar). With one terminal command:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-right-click-titlebar 'minimize'

In this way you can select in Tweaks to use fewer buttons, possibly only "close".
To roll that back to showing the menu, use
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-right-click-titlebar 'menu'

If instead you prefer to use the middle-click for the same purpose:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-middle-click-titlebar 'minimize'

To roll back to the default (which is doing nothing):
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-middle-click-titlebar 'none'

To see all options available - example for the middle-click setting:
gsettings range org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences action-right-click-titlebar

Another way to minimize a window is to click its dock icon.
Answer: Use the dock!
Minimize and restore windows by clicking on their icons in Plank.
Answer: @NatoBoram answer is my favorite. A tiny supplement for elementary OS 5.0 (Juno) and 5.1 (Hera) the answer works.
Windows-like layout (three buttons on top right corner):
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides "{'Gtk/DecorationLayout': <':close,minimize,maximize'>}"
MacOS-like layout (three buttons on top left corner):
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides "{'Gtk/DecorationLayout': <'minimize,maximize,close:'>}"
I prefer this layout (close button on the left, minimize and maximize buttons on the right):
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides "{'Gtk/DecorationLayout': <'close:minimize,maximize'>}"
NOTE: do not leave any space in 'close:minimize,maximize'.

How to minimize a window?


Will Ubuntu Touch be avalible for all Android phones? what version will I need for installation?

Question: Will Ubuntu touch be available to be used on any Android phone such as my Lg G2X p999 or is it just Nexes and Samsung? Also what version of Ubuntu will I need for Installation? I know that the full version of Ubuntu touch will be out in October, and if by that time if you will have anything available for the newer version of my phone, the LG G2?
Answer: The primary target for Ubuntu Touch is dedicated handsets that come with the operating system.
As those don't exist yet, the supported devices being used for development are the Galaxy Nexus (GSM version), Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (2012 model) and Nexus 10.
Separate to this, there are community supported ports to some other existing devices.  If you are lucky, someone might do the work to create a port for your device, but it isn't guaranteed.


Can I sort the songs in a playlist on my iPhone?

Question: Is it possible to change the order of songs in a playlist on the iPhone?  For example, if they are originally sorted alphabetically by "Artist", can I change the song order of the playlist so that the songs are sorted by "Date Added"?
Answer: Im sorry, but in my knowlege there is no way to change the sorting in the way that you describe. The only close solution that i know of would be to edit the playlist manually, by pressing the "Edit" button in the top of the playlist, press and hold the three gray stripes on the right side of a chosen song title, and move it to its intended location within the playlist.
Answer: There is a round about way to do this.  First, go to the playlist you want to sort and sort it.  Next crate a new playlist.  Leave it titled as playlist for now.  Go back to your original playlist and drag the now sorted songs to the newly created playlist.  Once that's done, the songs will be in the new playlist in the order you wanted them.  Go ahead and delete you original playlist, then rename the new one to the name of the original playlist.
Answer: Here's what I did, and it worked for me:
In your computer's iTunes, open up your iPod and click "add playlist." It brings you to the screen with the changeable Playlist title and a bunch of album covers on the left of the screen, y'know what I mean? Under the changeable Playlist title is a Sort By dropdown menu. I want my songs ordered from most recently downloaded to oldest, so I chose Date Added. I see there's also an Artist option.
Answer: I couldn't get alot of these things to work because I added all my songs at once to my iPhone so I:

Put the playlist in the order I wanted by clicking Date Added or Purchased Date
Clicked on the smart playlist
File>Library>Export Playlist
File>Library>Import Playlist.
(The playlist will be imported into your iTunes library at the bottom under Playlists in your sidebar.)
Once it's in your library, you can drag it to your iPhone/iPod
(It will be in the order it was in when you exported the playlist)
Answer: I went under the info of all the songs I wanted and set their album name to a word I felt fit them so they would all be under one album I could play. Then to get the order I wanted I went under info once more pressing "more info" go to the "info" tab and three down to the right you will see the option of "track number". Set in the number for what the order is of the song you want to place first out of how many you will have. E.g. "Imagine Dragons. Track Number 1 of 102" Hope this helped.
Answer:
Go to playlist
Hit edit
On the right hand side, you will see three lines, touch them

That will allow you to move the song to any order.
Comment: This isn't sorting but merely re-ordering which is not what the question is asking.
Answer: Open the playlist you want. At the top click edit. Then hold down from the right side and drag where you want.
Answer: Click the settings button in the bottom left hand corner next to 'new playlist'. Click 'copy to play order' whilst your phone is plugged in :)
Answer: Make a new smart playlist, and set the rule for "Date Added" is after 2013 or whatever date you want.
This will list any songs added after the date you specified, and will auto update. Sync to iPhone.
Comment: Question is how to sort them


Setting up Apple TV without a TV

Question: How can I make my Apple TV 1st gen join a WiFi network without having a TV connected?  Is there an OSX utility for set up in the same way there is with Airport Express?
Answer: No. You need to connect the AppleTV to a video output of some sort, otherwise there's no way to specify the SSID (the WiFi network identifier) and the password (if any). After you've done that once, you can unplug it from the video output.
Answer: YES!  It can be done.  If the bluetooth method isn't working (turning on Apple TV and touching your iPhone to the device to configure), you can work your way through the menus and manually enter your wifi password using the voiceover command.  This activates automatically when you first plug in Apple TV. I needed Apple TV only for my music receiver (and don't own a tv), so I ran HDMI from the Apple TV device to my receiver, made sure my receiver was on so I could hear voice commands and then found images of the on-screen keyboard Apple TV uses (easy image search on Google).  Using the voice commands and these images, I could get through the menus and select everything (including a long gibberish password) with the remote.  Once I got going with the voiceover, it took under 10 minutes.

Setting up Apple TV without a TV


What are the foods forbidden for Muslims to eat and the reason?

Question: What are the different kinds of food that a Muslim can't eat and the reasons they were banned?
I heard some people mention that Muslims shouldn't eat horses' or donkeys' meat, but I couldn't find a proof of their claim.
Comment: `the reasons they were banned?` Well the food stuff banned in islam have their own scientific reasons to not be eaten/drunk. if you want a list of them then that is not possible
Comment: See also: "[Why is Pig forbidden in Islam?](http://islam.stackexchange.com/q/2192/9123)"
Answer: Muslims are forbidden to eat the flesh of swine, blood, somthing that was killed by another animal, somthing killed accidentally or by being beated, and food that was slaughtered by somone other than the people of the book (muslims,christians, jews.)

say: i do not find in that which has been revealed to me anything
  forbidden for an eater to eat of except that it be what has died of
  itself, or blood poured forth, or flesh of swine-- for that surely is
  unclean-- or that which is a transgression, other than (the name of)
  allah having been invoked on it; but whoever is driven to necessity,
  not desiring nor exceeding the limit, then surely your lord is
  forgiving, merciful 6:145
forbidden to you is that which dies of itself, and blood, and flesh of
  swine, and that on which any other name than that of allah has been
  invoked, and the strangled (animal) and that beaten to death, and that
  killed by a fall and that killed by being smitten with the horn, and
  that which wild beasts have eaten, except what you slaughter, and what
  is sacrificed on stones set up (for idols) and that you divide by the
  arrows; that is a transgression. this day have those who disbelieve
  despaired of your religion, so fear them not, and fear me. this day
  have i perfected for you your religion and completed my favor on you
  and chosen for you islam as a religion; but whoever is compelled by
  hunger, not inclining willfully to sin, then surely allah is
  forgiving, merciful 5:3
and do not eat of that on which allah's name has not been mentioned,
  and that is most surely a transgression; and most surely the shaitans
  suggest to their friends that they should contend with you; and if you
  obey them, you shall most surely be polytheists 6:121

The ayat above states that swine is unclean, which is why we cannot eat it. We cannot eat anything that wasent slaughtered correctly because it means that you were not thinking of allah when the animal was killed, and the animal was not meant for being killed for meat. We also cannot eat meat that was slaughtered by somone other than the people of the book because the devil contends with you if you do, and you may obey the devil and become a polytheist.Also, the meat may have been slaughtered for one of their idols, meat that we surley would not want to eat and become a transgressor.
The reason we cannot eat hore or donkey meat is because the quran did not grant permission to.

"And (He has created) horses, mules and donkeys, for you to ride and
  as an adornment. 16:8"
allah is he who made the cattle for you that you may ride on some of
  them, and some of them you eat. 40:79

When Allah refered to donkeys and horses it was explicitly said that they were made for riding on, period. As for cows, its gives permission to eat it says we may ride and eat them while it only said we may ride horses and donkeys.
some religous scholers say that this is not enough to label horses and donkeys are haram, for that to be true it must directly say they are haram, this rather makes them makrooh (disliked) to eat.
Comment: Actually the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wassalam) permitted eating of horse meat. http://sunnah.com/bukhari/64/259, http://sunnah.com/bukhari/72/51 . There are hadiths in the sahihayn which show that.
Comment: Does that mean everything else is halal? Like lion, crow, mouse, crocodile, snake?
Comment: if it can eat a human its not halal
Answer: Reason
Islam aims to purify human both body and soul. Thus it give some guidelines to what we eat.
As a general guideline, Muslims are not allowed to eat vicious animals like lion, shark etc whether they are on land or in water. There is also a natural tendency, not to eat these kind of animals.
Swine has characteristics of both vicious animals as well as tame ones. Thus it can be cause of confusion. Thus, Allah gave a judgment about it that it is forbidden.
For the soul part:
In addition to what is mentioned by NasreenA, Muslims are also not allowed to eat anything that is dedicated to anyone but Allah alone, as mentioned here.
Comment: The issue of pigs is addressed [here](http://islam.stackexchange.com/q/2192/9123)  in detail.


Getting flavor into chicken

Question: I made a chicken recipe tonight that was really good, but I want MORE flavor in the chicken. It had a rub on the outside made from Chinese five spice, brown sugar, grated ginger, and minced garlic. The cavity of the chicken was stuffed with slices of orange and chunks of ginger. The recipe then called for a mix of orange juice and soy sauce to be poured over the chicken then cooked (covered) with the lid coming off for the last 15 minutes of cook time for the chicken to brown. My first issue is that when I poured the liquid over the chicken (as directed by the recipe, the rub came off and pooled in the bottom of the dish. My second issue is that the flavors were good, but not IN the meat. Any suggestions of how to get the flavor all through the chicken? I'm wondering if I pulled the skin back a bit and put the rub underneath? Pour the soy/orange mix on the bottom? Baste every so often? Inject some of the liquid? Please help. Thanks!
Comment: Possible duplicate of [How can I cook more flavorful Chicken through and through?](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/5328/how-can-i-cook-more-flavorful-chicken-through-and-through)
Answer: If you're going to use a rub, i'd recommend rubbing it a day or two before cooking and leave it in the fridge. That lets the flavor set in properly. Also brining as mentioned in the previous answer is a great method of getting flavor into the meat. With chicken, however, I find it's best to create a sauce or gravy to serve it with. Getting flavor actually IN to chicken meat as you're asking is pretty hard, so sauce / gravy is the way to go.
Answer: Generally speaking, the way to get flavor INTO the meat is through brining in a solution of liquid and salt. Brining does two things well: it yields more moist meat, and seasons (salts) the meat throughout. It's likely not going to infuse your chicken with any of the flavors you use in this recipe; for those, a rub below the skin works better.
Here's a link with some good info: The Quick and Dirty Guide to Brining Chicken or Turkey

Getting flavor into chicken


Health Savings Account

Question: I have been with the same employer since 2005.  In 2012, I opened an HSA.  I used all of the funds by the end of 2013.  In 2013, I didn't go with the HSA plan, I switched back to the plan using a Flex Spending account.  In 2017, I had several medical bills, currently approximately $1000.  On October 1, 2017 (this is when our plan year starts over), I switched back to an HSA plan.  I plan to put the maximum amount into my HSA before the end of the year.  Can these funds be used to pay off my medical bills which came prior to October 1, 2017?  Originally, I was told no, by an HSA representative.  But then they told me it might be possible, since I did start an HSA in 2012.  Any advice?
Comment: Was the HSA account "open" during the time between 2013-2017, even if it didn't have any money in it?
Comment: When you said that October 1 is when your plan year starts over, is October 1 the day that your new plan actually takes effect, or is that the day that you can choose which plan you will be in for next year?
Comment: Have you called the bank that houses your HSA?
Comment: I was told to consult with a professional.  The plan starts Oct 1, 2017 and ends Sep 30, 2018.  We signed up for our plans in August.
Comment: @Amy If you do ask a professional your question, please come back here and tell us what he or she says.
Comment: I guess I don't know who I should call.  Any suggestions?
Comment: Please use a more informative title.
Answer: I can't find a definitive source to back this up, as all sources are about accounts that were newly opened, but my understanding of it based on similar conversations with my HR people indicate that yes, you can. As long as the account remained open (even if it was empty), and you deposit funds into that same account, you may use that account to pay any medical bills accrued during that time. The IRS guidelines specifically use the wording "Expenses incurred before you establish your HSA are not qualified medical expenses."
If the account was closed and re-opened, any bills accrued prior to re-opening would not be eligible. If a new account was opened for 2017, the new account may not be used for bills accrued prior to opening.
Another SE Q&A on the same issue seems to confirm.
Comment: My understanding was the account was never closed, it just had no funds in it.  Thanks for the info.
Answer: Your new health plan should start Jan 1, while elections begin in October for the next year plan.  (Please check this, tax code and health insurance is setup to run on a calendar year basis.)  Your new health plan allows contributions to your HSA which won't apply this year, unless you're able to change your plan before the end of the year.  Any contributions to your HSA can be paid out for medical expenses and aren't constrained by time as long as the medical expense was incurred after your HSA was opened.
Details via IRS 8889
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8889.pdf
So, once you open the HSA under a qualified plan, the account is yours for life, you can pay out for any medical expense you have as long as there's money in the account and the medical expense was incurred after you opened the account.  I think your issue is that you can't make a qualified deposit into that account until your plan changes, which will be at the beginning of the year, not at the time of your elections.  To get your elections changed this year there needs to be one of the following changes:
<code>Change in marital status.
Change in number of dependents.
Change in employment.
Change in dependent eligibility due to plan requirements (e.g., loss of student status, age limit reached).
Change in residence (e.g., employee or dependent moves out of plan service area).
Significant cost changes in coverage.
Significant curtailment of coverage.
Addition or improvement to benefits package option.
Change in coverage of spouse or dependent under another employer plan (e.g., spouse's employer had no insurance coverage before but now offers a plan).
Loss of certain other health coverage (e.g., plans provided by governmental or educational institutions).
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) special enrollment right events.
Judgments, decrees or orders.
Entitlement to Medicare or Medicaid.
Change in hours worked to less than 30 hours per week on average if the employee and covered family members enroll in another plan providing minimum essential coverage. The employee is eligible for a special enrollment period to enroll in a qualified health plan through a marketplace/exchange. Employees and others covered must enroll in the plan by the first day after coverage ends under the employer plan. See, IRS Notice 2014-55 for details.
</code>
Comment: Many health plans start on other days besides Jan 1st. My current one starts in May, another started in July. This has been with small and large companies.
Comment: We signed up in August, and the plan started Oct 1.  I plan to put the maximum contribution into my HSA between the months of November and December, for the tax calender year.

Health Savings Account


Watering clover seeds

Question: I'm planting some Dutch white clover in my yard from seed. The seeds came already inoculated. We generally have weeks where it rains several times a day for at least a week during the spring, can I just sow the seeds and let them sit for a week or two until we get a lot of rain, or is there some risk of either drying out the seeds or having the inoculant damaged by heat/dryness?
Answer: I planted Palestine Strawberry clover in my yard (Phoenix, AZ) this past fall. My clover seems extraordinarily resilient so far (with the exception of falling prey to our local quail population). Considering clover is considered a difficult-to-remove lawn pest by many, I don't expect you'll have too much trouble getting them established.
When I sowed mine, I covered them in a thin layer of composted mulch to retain moisture. Since it's dry out here (read: no rain for three months), I did water every day to keep it moist. Provided you get a good ground-soaking with rain and you mulch, you may not need to water that much (if at all).
Comment: Thanks, I hadn't thought of light mulching to keep it damp - I am going to give it a try.

Watering clover seeds


What's the US equivalent of double and single cream?

Question: I can find whipping cream, half and half, and even clotted cream where I'm staying in the US but not double or single cream, are these familiar terms or is there a US equivalent term?
Comment: Whoever answers this should update this wiki as well: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/784/60
Answer: In the UK, single cream is a milk product with at least 18% butterfat.  Double cream has 48% butterfat.  Neither are common in the US.
If you can find clotted cream, which is 55% fat, then there is a chance of making double cream at home by diluting it.  As some clotted creams have a cooked taste, there may be other solutions.
Comment: Was 5% fat for single cream a typo? Other answers I've found have said 18%. 5% isn't much more than whole milk, which is 4% fat.
Comment: @Jimothy is right. I fixed the answer (source http://bit.ly/1WUP4Uq). There is a cereal milk that runs at 5%, a tad creamier than US whole milk.
Comment: Light cream (single cream) is generally available only in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. I've been all over the US and never found it anywhere else.
Answer: In Canada, we have

Half and Half (10%)
Table Cream (18%)
Whipping Cream (35%)

There's also a "Light" cream at about 6%, but that's a newer product.
So I've always taken Half and Half to be "Half cream", Table to be single (roughly 2 x 10%) and Whipping to be double (roughly 2 x 18%)
Answer: Here's a link to the US specifications: 21 CFR PART 131—MILK AND CREAM
From there:

Light Cream (18% or more fat)
Heavy Cream (36% or more)
Dry Cream (I've never heard of it, 40% or more)

From the percentages provided by Papin's answer, it looks like:

U.S. Light Cream is likely Single Cream equivalent
Some U.S. Heavy Creams may be close to Double Cream
U.S. Dry Cream, if you can find it, is something to consider

Update, I also learned:

Looking at fat content alone is not enough to compare US v. UK creams. Pasteurization practices are also a large factor. Apparently most (or all?) U.S. heavy cream is processed using Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT), and UHT reportedly yields less flavorful heavy cream than UK double cream.
I read Double Cream, when used as a whipping cream, can be problematic. Apparently, it's higher fat content makes it prone to over-whipping if you don't pay close attention.
Answer: It's not exactly a direct answer, but in terms of practicalities, I tend to use Darigold Classic 36% Heavy Whipping Cream as a substitute for double cream in recipes. and I've had a lot of success, where the cream was intended for richness as opposed to thickness.
Answer: Manufacturing cream would be the closest substitute for double cream. It is heavy cream with a minimum of 40% butterfat and is available at Costco and Smart and Final. Sometimes manufacturing cream is labeled 'heavy cream' but the label will say 40% butterfat.
Comment: USA only, not available in Canada sadly.


Can Minato teleport to his special kunai from Kamui's dimension?

Question: During his fight against Minato, it seemed that Tobi was trying to send Minato to Kamui's dimension. Even if Tobi had succeeded, couldn't Minato just teleport to one of his special kunai using the Flying Thunder God technique? Tobi knew of the Flying Thunder God technique, so what did he want to accomplish by sending Minato to Kamui's dimension?
Comment: Except that he probably can't teleport back if only half of him is sent there? Or one of the other possible witty guesses anyone can come up with without reading Tobis thoughts in the situation.
Answer: From this page about Kamui's abilities:

Despite not always being present, Obito could keep targets under genjutsu while they were confined inside this technique's pocket dimension, thus keeping them incapacitated for extended durations.

Tobi knew that he cannot defeat the Fourth Hokage so easily while keeping Kyuubi under his control, since controlling Kyuubi itself consumes a lot of chakra. Hence, he may have tried sending Minato to Kamui's dimension to keep him out of the equation.
Minato can teleport to his Flying Thunder God formulas (specially marked kunai), but it isn't revealed whether he can do it from a different dimension.
Comment: maybe the toad can reverse summon him though. . .
Comment: Thanks for answering this qn without posting a snarky remark.
Answer: Just to add to the already given answer. From the wiki page of Space Time Ninjutsu

It appears that each specific space-time technique has its own unique
  dimensional void that other techniques cannot normally access.[5]
  However, a user can synchronise their respective dimension with the
  other one to gain access to it. To achieve this feat, however,
  requires an enormous amount of chakra.[6]

LINK


How to take advantage of multiple core GPUs

Question: I'm interested in developing for the new Nexus 7 tablet when it finally arrives.  I've done a little OpenGL development for Android but I'm not sure what I have to do to take advantage of the 12-core GPU on the Nexus 7.  Does OpenGL take advantage of the cores for you (in some/all cases); if not, how do I specify which core does what, synchronize between them etc?
Comment: have you read "NVIDIA 3D Vision Automatic Best Practices Guide" http://developer.download.nvidia.com/whitepapers/2010/3D_Vision_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf
Answer: GLES2 (OpenGL) pretty much forces you to use vertex buffer objects and shaders to do any rendering.  That's a good thing because it means you are using the GPU correctly and keeping battery life high by keeping information off the power hungry transfer busses.  You don't have to worry about using the entire GPU because those shader units automatically divide up the rendering tasks based on the geometry of your render windows.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/3DDrawing/Conceptual/OpenGLES_ProgrammingGuide/TechniquesforWorkingwithVertexData/TechniquesforWorkingwithVertexData.html
That's a link to Apple's site, but it will be the same practices for Android.
To the above who says using OpenCL kills battery life, this video speaks differently.  It's a demo of the PowerVR GPU using OpenCL on the CPU, then on the GPU.  It shows power consumption during the examples where they do image processing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDrz-w1jzEU
Running benchmark apps will kill your battery, actually using OpenCL to perform tasks efficiently and quickly will keep power consumption down.
Answer: Yes, OpenGL spreads the load over all available cores on the GPU. To be more exact, the videocard driver spreads the hardware-specific implementation of the OpenGL commands over the cores. I read here that the Tegra 3 chipset by NVIDIA has 8 pixel shader units. That's not a lot compared to desktop videocards, for instance my NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti card has 384 CUDA cores.
I wouldn't worry about spreading your commands across all available cores, that's well into driver territory. Unless you're using OpenCL on Android, but that's ill-advised because it will eat up your battery like crazy.


Unconscious intention?

Question: Sometimes we do thing intentionally sometimes unintentionally. But is there such thing such as unconscious intention in Buddhism (Theravada)?
Comment: Hi and welcome to Buddhism SE. We have a [Guide](http://meta.buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/1502/i-am-a-new-user-here-at-buddhism-se-what-should-i-know-before-i-post?cb=1) and a [Resource section](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/help) for new users that you might like.
Answer: No such thing! Consciousness(Vinnana) is present in all Vedana, Sanna, Sankhara. Intention falls under Sankhara.
Comment: But unwholesome thought sometimes appear without intention. That is kamma, but without intention?
Comment: Every unwholesome thought has intention. It is the 8th thought moment of a single thought which can have a maximum of 17 thought moments.
Read the Abhidhamma [citta section](http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/mendis/wheel322.html#citta)  for more details
Answer: We may be fooled into thinking there is unconscious intention, because we are ignorant in some moments of the nature of dependant arising of that moment, but in reality every moment is conditional arising, and intention is a component of such arising.
If we were to observe deeply every moment in life, and trace the origins of every thought and impulse, it will firmly convince us from our own experience that this is how it works at all times. Of course, initially this may only be possible on a retreat or while in meditation.
The Dhammapada begins by stating this,

Manopubbangama dhamma1
  manosettha manomaya manasa ce padutthena2
  bhasati va karoti va
  tato nam dukkhamanveti cakkamva vahato padam.
Verse 1: All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have
  mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an
  evil mind, 'dukkha'3 follows him just as the wheel follows the
  hoofprint of the ox that draws the cart.

manopubbangama dhamma: All mental phenomena have Mind as their forerunner in the sense that Mind is the most dominant, and it is the
  cause of the other three mental phenomena, namely, Feeling (vedana),
  Perception (sanna) and Mental Formations or Mental Concomitants
  (sankhara). These three have Mind or Consciousness (vinnana) as their
  forerunner, because although they arise simultaneously with Mind they
  cannot arise if Mind does not arise. (The Commentary)
manasa ce padutthena (Verse 1) and manasi ce pasannena (Verse 2): Manasa here means intention or volition (cetana); volition leads one
  to the performance of volitional actions, both good and evil. This
  volition and the resultant actions constitute kamma; and kamma always
  follows one to produce results. Cakkhupala's blindness (Verse 1) was
  the consequence of his having acted with an evil intention in a
  previous existence and Matthakundali's happy existence in Tavatimsa
  celestial world (Verse 2) was the result of his mental devotion
  (manopasada) to the Buddha.
dukkha: In this context, dukkha mens suffering, or physical or mental pain, misfortune, unsatisfactoriness, evil consequences, etc.,
  and rebirth in the lower planes of existence or in the lower strata of
  human society if born in the human world.
Answer: Certain actions like bowel movements, breathing, beating of the heart, etc. happen without consciousness. Also perhaps some limited form of physical and vocal action. These actions are morally neutral.
Also when you are in bhav'aṅga state (deep sleep) you are not conscious. Say you are a heavy snorer, then in this state this is unconscious action.
Also there can be muscle spasm which also can be unconscious.
Any action which followings any motivation either habitual (reactive) or premeditated will be conscious. This aspect is stressed in @Buddho's answer.
For a more detailed discussion see: The Unconscious by Piya Tan.

Unconscious intention?


Time annotated corpus: plain text english corpus

Question: I am working on how entities take a new sense over time. I am trying to find out a large english corpus (free to download) which should have the time annotation of the origin of the text. I suppose some newspaper corpus and/or blog corpus should be fine for my work. Appreciate if someone could point to such corpus.
Comment: The keyword used in linguistics is "diachronic corpus" (diachronic = over time).
Comment: Did you want something like this: http://www.timeml.org/site/timebank/timebank.html ?
Comment: @prash- Not really. I just need plain text which must have been written in a particular year; I need this for multiple years
Comment: @robert- Thank you very much for sharing this knowledge. I did not knew this earlier :-)
Comment: I trust you know the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) ?
Answer: There is a corpus of internet discussion boards that is split up into weekly files that spans 4 years. It is freely downloadable here: http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/~westburylab/downloads/usenetcorpus.download.html
Comment: Four years probably isn't enough time, but you never know. Memes certainly come and go quickly.
Comment: Thanks @Cyrus! Though 4 years is too little time for analysis.
Answer: Why do you need to download such corpus? The corpus managers enable you to search for these corpora better than to work with them on your own computers...
You can see dozens of corpora in Sketch Engine which some of them are freely available, e.g. 62-million-word English corpus ACL Anthology Reference Corpus (ARC) available at https://the.sketchengine.co.uk/open/
Further corpora are accessible with free 30-day trial account, e.g. EEBO corpus (English from the 15th to the 19th century), 18-billion-word Timestamped English corpus and also next 17 languages (2014-2016).
Timestamped corpora with every day updated data are accessible with paid subscriptions.


Reciting Hallel on Yom Yerushalayim

Question: What is the reason why some people do not recite Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmut but recite it on Yom Yerushalayim? I've been at minyanim who practice this. Being that reciting Hallel on these days follows a certain point of view regarding the state of Israel, why would some people recite it on one but not the other?
Comment: @DonielF Now why would this be a duplicate? He's clearly asking how Yom Y differs from Yom H.
Comment: http://net-sah.org/faq/21025 Rav Tal does not say hallelujah on yon hastzmaut but on yon yerushalajim. I know it from someone who learned in his yeshiva
Comment: Possible duplicate of [Should Hallel be recited on Yom Yerushalayim](https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/82868/should-hallel-be-recited-on-yom-yerushalayim)
Comment: I have been told it is the difference between a political declaration and an actual nes in action. I do not have the citations so it is not an answer.
Comment: @sabbahillel See my answer, below. It's doesn't completely confirm what you said, but, most of it seems close.
Answer: While this is far from a "mainstream" concept, as far as I know, a number of yeshivot and Orthodox shuls in my mainly Orthodox neighborhood follow exactly this custom. (Do you live in NYC area, BTW?)
The reasoning is that they don't support the current Israeli secular government, and feel that the founding of what is now Israel was based on mainly secular concepts. (This reason partially explains why neither the shul nor yeshiva displays an Israeli flag or recites "Hatikvah" at social events.) However, all of them acknowledge the significance, holiness and importance of Yerushalayim, particularly, the Kotel. They all agree that the most significant accomplishment of the 6 Day War was regaining access to the Kotel, and that is something to say Hallel for.
I surmise that part of their thinking is making some sort of "political" statement, but it's not obvious to me what it would be and for what purpose.
Comment: I think most people think the most significant accomplishment if the six day war was regaining the temple mount, not just the retaining wall outside it
Comment: @DoubleAA from a purely technical halachic perspective, the most significant accomplishment is probably winning the war and not being annihilated.
Comment: @YehudaShapira I don't think that aspect is a part of the yeshivot thinking regarding Y.Y. If winning the war were important, they would be marking a holiday and Hallel for the Independence war, 56, Yom Kippur war, etc. In many of the yeshivot mindset, Israel is important because it happens to contain Yerushalayim. I.e., Yerushalayim is the only important current spot in Israel. The rest of the country doesn't matter much to them. If the whole country was just Y"M, I think they'd be happy.
Answer: Originally the Chief Rabbinate of Israel ruled that one should say Hallel without a bracha on Yom Haatzmaut ("The Chief Rabbinate ruled to recite Hallel without a blessing." http://hirhurim.blogspot.co.il/2007/04/hallel-on-yom-ha-atzmaut.html?m=1; "Because of all, or some, of these concerns, the Chief Rabbinate's Council originally prescribed that one recite the Hallel without a blessing during the morning prayers of Yom HaAtzmaut." ph.yhb.org.il/en/05-04-07) and with a bracha on Yom Yerushalayim ("The Chief Rabbinate, in a ruling signed by Chief Rabbis Isser Yehuda Unterman and Yitzchak Nissim, along with the renowned R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin and R. Shaul Yisraeli, ruled that Hallel on Yom Yerushalayim should be recited with a blessinng." http://etzion.org.il/en/celebrating-yom-ha-atzmaut-and-yom-yerushalayim) This is because Yom Yerushalayim is more clearly a miracle as a definite military victory occurred then, whereas Yom Haatzmaut was merely the day of a declaration. Perhaps some people extended this reasoning.

Reciting Hallel on Yom Yerushalayim