Are all descendants of Muhammed dead?

Question: E.g. Konfuzius has living descendants in all of China. How many descendants of the Prophet are there and are there any branches of his family tree that lived on until today?
Answer: No, and they will continue until Day of Resurrection.
Surah Al-Kawthar clearly mentions about this fact:

(108:1) Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], al-Kawthar.
  (108:2) So offer Prayer and sacrifice to your Lord alone.
  (108:3) Verily your enemy alone has been cut off from the roots.

In the last verse the word used for cut off is abter. Which the some of Quraish used to abuse holy Prophet (saw). One of the meaning of the word implies to having no descendants (literally having no [living] male child). So Allah (swt) revealed this surah (chapter) as an answer. Saying to them it is you who is abter. Not the Prophet (saw).
Comment: As far as I understand the some of Quraish indeed used this word with every possible meaning. In the other hand to Allah (swt) it is not just male childs but female ones also considered as one's descendants (i.e. Fatimah (as)). Interestingly enough Jews consider female offspring is essential, not the male. Example: they (jews) doesn't consider a person as Jew if his or her mother is not Jew.
Comment: But that would mean the Qur'an is self-contradictory, as Muhammad indeed had no male child who survived! I read this interpretation in Tafssir ibn Kathir, but -so far- not elsewhere.
Answer: No. All descendants of Muhammed are not dead.

It was narrated that Sa'eed bin Musayyab said: "We were with Umm
  Salamah and we were discussing Mahdi. She said: 'I heard the Messenger
  of Allah (ﷺ) say: "Mahdi will be one of the descendants of Fatimah."
  Sunan Ibn Majah 4086, Book 36, Hadith 161

and

Narrated Umm Salamah, Ummul Mu'minin:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The Mahdi will be of my family, of the
  descendants of Fatimah. Abdullah ibn Ja'far said: I heard AbulMalih
  praising Ali ibn Nufayl and describing his good qualities. Sunan Abi
  Dawud 4284, Book 38, Hadith 6

and

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a
  broad forehead a prominent nose. He will fill the earth will equity
  and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will
  rule for seven years.  Sunan Abi Dawud 4285, Book 38, Hadith 7

The above Hadiths have been classified as Hasan. As can be observed that Imam Mahdi will be from the line of Fatima (RA) who is the daughter of the Prophet Muhammed (SAW). So we know that atleast till the emergence of the Mahdi, the descendants of the Prophet will inshallah exist.
Answer: In fact the Hashemi dynasty in Jordan and the Alaoui Dynasty in Morocco claim to be descendants of the prophet () and before the Fatmids, Idrissids and Saadi's too. Most people who are called or referred to as Sayyid or Cherif/Sharif are more or less true descendants from Muhammad () via his daughter Fatimah and his cousin 'Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Answer: Well, I can tell you about the descendants of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)'s uncle Hamza R.A. Balochs in Pakistan say that they are descendants of Hamza R.A through his daughter Umama R.A and her husband Salma Bin Abdullah R.A. They have centuries old poem which tells how they start living in Syria and support Hussain R.A against Yazeed. After the martyrdom of Hussain R.A they migrated to Iran and live there for few centuries. This where their language Balochi came into being but later due to bitter relations between them and the ruler, Balochs now divided into 44 tribes migrated under the leadership of Mir Jalal Khan to what is now known as Balochistan. This is just a poem which got no sanad of it, but most of Balochs think that they are descendants of Hamza R.A and I am one them. After all, they have a complete family tree back to Hamza R.A.

Are all descendants of Muhammed dead?


Why don't more people run up their credit cards and skip the country?

Question: If I total up the amount available on my unsecured line of credit and the limits on my credit cards, it comes to over $100,000.  This amount of money would last a long, long time in somewhere like Honduras or the south Pacific.  What is stopping me from withdrawing to the limit on all of these at once and then fleeing the country?  Why don't we read about this happening more often?
Comment: Moderator's note: Interesting question, but let's keep the answers limited to the ways in which such a scheme would be caught or foiled by the system.  i.e. *please* do not provide any how-to guidance or suggestions on how to perpetrate such a fraud.
Comment: @ChrisW.Rea If I knew a way to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars and get away with it, I wouldn't be sitting around talking about it on a forum. I'd just do it, and then I wouldn't want to give the police any hints to help them track me down. :-)
Comment: "This amount of money would last a long, long time in somewhere like Honduras or the south Pacific".  That is **completely, totally wrong**.  it's the sort of thing that was true decades ago, and is just utterly out of date now.
Comment: In certain areas of Honduras, with careful planning and modest living, that amount might last you a decade - although, let's face it, it's far more likely that you would blow it in 4 years. You won't find out, though - you will be arrested upon trying to enter the country with $100,000 in cash or valuables, and extradited.
Answer: It's harder than you think.
Once card companies start seeing your debt to credit line ratios climb, they will slash your credit lines quickly. Also, cash credit lines are always much smaller, so in reality, such a scheme would require you to buy goods that can be converted to cash, which dilutes your gains and makes it more likely that you're going to get detected and busted.
Think of the other problems. Where do you store your ill-gotten gains? How do you get the money out of the country? How will your actions affect your family and friends?
Also, most people are basically good people -- the prospect of defrauding $100k, leaving family and friends behind and living some anonymous life in a third world country isn't an appealing one. If you are criminally inclined, building up a great credit history is not very practical -- most criminals are by nature reactive and want quick results.
Comment: I think this last paragraph is important: you're not just stealing $100k in a week, you're stealing over however long it takes you to build up the income and credit history that will justify people lending you so much money.
Comment: and 100k is not going to give you an awesome leave full of riches. earning 100k in two years is pretty much standard.
Answer: Because most people aren't willing to sacrifice their ability to live in the US for 100k.
Remember that you can't pull this off multiple times easily.   So as a one and done kind of deal, 100k isn't a great trade for the right to live in tthe US or whatever country you have roots in, particularly once you factor in:

If you have 100k in credit on cards, you are likely well-employed with some savings
you can't easily convert that credit to cash.    Sure, you can try to buy gift cards and whatnot, but they may not be accepted at Casa de Honduras Hotel for Refugees, and it's not like you can pay with the cc cards- once you stop paying and go on the lam, they'll cut you off.
Comment: @CrimsonX, agreed - my assumption was that the OPs question is already implying, "given that there is a some meaningful subset of people who seem to be able to get past the moral resistance to stealing, how come more of them don't do it thusly: ..."
Comment: I would say that also morality comes into play here - I dont think that most people do a cost-benefit analysis about this thing, most probably never even consider it because its clearly dishonest
Comment: You have up to 35 days before a minimum payment is due, which is a lot of time to run up the card and withdraw cash.
Answer: Even if you could get it with no major hassle, $100,000 is just not that much money.
In a cheap third world country, as an expat you're looking at spending about $800-$2000/month, plus unexpected expenses. Locals live on less, but very few of us would be happy with the lifestyle of a Honduran or Thai farmer. Your 100k will last 4-10 years. This is hardly a great deal considering you're cutting off ties back home and almost becoming a fugitive. With USD going down the drain (e.g. in Thailand it went down 25% in 3 years), this period would probably be even shorter.
Of course, you could work in the new country, but if you do then you don't need 100k to start with. The initial amount may improve your security, but from that standpoint being able to go back and work in your home country is worth more.
Comment: I don't know about that expat spending level, since I manage to live quite comfortably in the US (and in an above-average cost of living area) while spending less than $2K on average.
Comment: @jamesqf In general, living abroad as an expat (or long term traveler) involves doing more stuff than back home. I could huddle comfortably in a small apartment in the U.S. and spend minimal amounts in near-hibernation, but for most people it wouldn't make much sense to go halfway around the world and do the same. You could _survive_ in acceptable comfort on $800/mo or less in, say, Bangkok, if you were frugal, spoke the language, and your lifestyle did not involve going out, traveling, eating out, dating. Most (not all!) things are cheaper, but there's much more to do.
Answer: I take it the premise of the question is that we're assuming the person isn't worried about the morals. He's a criminal out for a quick buck. And I guess we're assuming that wherever you go, they wouldn't arrest you and extradite you back to the U.S.
As others have noted, you can't just walk into a bank the day you graduate high school or get out of prison or whatever and get a credit line of $100,000. You have to build up to that with an income and a pattern of responsible behavior over a period of many years. I don't have the statistics handy but I'd guess most people never reach a credit limit on credit cards of $100,000. Maybe many people could get that on a home equity line of credit, but again, you'd have to build up that equity in your house first, and that would take many years.
Then, while $100,000 sounds like a lot of money, how long could you really live on that? Even in a country with low cost of living, it's not like you could live in luxury for the rest of your life. If you can get that kind of credit limit, you probably are used to living on a healthy income. Sure, you could get a similar lifestyle for less in some other countries, but not for THAT much less. If you know a place where for $10,000 a year you can live a life that would cost $100,000 per year in the U.S., I'd like to know about it. Even living a relatively frugal life, I doubt the money would last more than 4 or 5 years.
And then what are you going to do? If you come back to the U.S. you'd presumably be promptly arrested. You could get a job in your new country, but you could have done that without first stealing $100,000.
Frankly, if you're the sort of person who can get a $100,000 credit limit, you probably can live a lot better in the U.S. by continuing to work and play by the rules than you could by stealing $100,000 and fleeing to Haiti or Eritrea. You might say, okay, $100,000 isn't really enough. What if I could get a $1 million credit limit? But if you have the income and credit rating to get a $1 million credit limit, you probably are making at least several hundred thousand per year, probably a million or more, and again, you're better off to continue to play by the rules.
The only way that I see that a scam like this would really work is if you could get a credit limit way out of proportion to any income you could earn legitimately. Like somehow if you could convince the bank to give you a credit limit of $1 million even though you only make $15,000 a year. But that would be a scam in itself.
That's why I think the only time you do hear of people trying something like this is when they USED to make a lot of money but have lost it. Like someone has a multi-million dollar business that goes broke, he now has nothing, so before the bank figures it out he maxes out all his credit and runs off.
Answer: Quality of life, success and happiness are three factors that are self define by each individual. Most of the time all three factors go hand by hand with your ability to generate wealth and save.  Actually, a recent study showed that there were more happy families with savings than with expensive products (car, jewelry and others).
These 3 factors, will be very difficult to maintain after someone commit such action. First, because you will fear every interaction with the origin of the money.  Second, because every individual has a notion of wrong doing.  Third, for the reasons that Jaydles express.
Also, most cards, will call you and stop the cards ability to give money, if they see an abusive pattern.
Ether, skipping your country has some adverse psychological impact in the family and individual that most of the time 100K is not enough to motivate such change.
Thanks for reading. Geo


How to understand free jazz?

Question: Do you need to know music theory in order to fully appreciate Free Jazz? What is it that makes free jazz harder to understand than, say Bebop?
Answer: Some genres and styles (not exclusive to jazz) are based on very well stablished and known patterns and dynamics: specific cadences, progressions, scales, rhythms, instruments, etc.
Free jazz is a very loose concept that tries to label improvised performances that try to cut away those common conventions. As you walk into the realm of the uncommon, things start to sound strange.

Do you need to know music theory in order to fully appreciate Free Jazz?

It depends on what you mean by "fully appreciate". If you want to analyze a performance and study what is happening, why, and how, then music theory will be helpful. But if you want to just listen and enjoy, then music theory is unimportant.
I've played free jazz tracks to friends with zero music theory knowledge, and some of them have loved it to the point of starting a free jazz music collection. Other friends, including people that make a living out of music, have given me the "what is going on, I don't want to listen to this" look.

What is it that makes free jazz harder to understand than, say Bebop?

Many genres and styles are based on patterns that are familiar to the listeners. Bebop in particular has a bit blues, swing, gospel, ragtime, and theory that can be tracked all the way to the common practice period (baroque, classical, and romantic).
Free jazz tends to say goodbye to many of those patterns, so you can find it harder to understand. The idea is to free yourself from those conventions (both as a musician and listener), and explore what is beyond those limits.
It can get chaotic (not necessarily), as musicians can all be playing different harmony, rhythm, and perhaps no other framework than "no framework". They might even deliberately try to stay away from each other's structure. In other words, it can get really really weird.
Comment: Besides Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Sun Ra, which other musicians who do Free Jazz would you recommend me?
Comment: @user135395 From the top of my head: John Medeski, Kris Davis, Matt Mitchell. Any good internet radio station should have free jazz related channels where you can surf endless free jazz performances and buy whatever you want. I use Accujazz.
Comment: Try Tomasz Stańko, especially "Freelectronic/Pejotl" for some mixture of free trumpet with free analogue devices coupled in different configurations by Andrzej Sudnik. The second album is composed to early XX century peyote tripraport by Polish painter/playwright.
Comment: Oh, and maybe also "Miłość" with Lester Bowie. It's free jazz, but it is well, a bit easier for newcommers.
Comment: @user135395: Cecil Taylor, Peter Brötzmann, Anthony Braxton, Paal Nilssen-Love, Eric Dolphy and Archie Shepp should keep you occupied for a while :).
Answer: I would like to answer from a humble listener point of view, with absolutely no music theory background. For me free jazz is like an open window into musician's mind. It's his stream of consciousness rendered in real time into music. If you can tune to this transmission (and the only thing I believe is required to do this is to be completely calm and relaxed) you might be even able to read his/her emotions, thoughts maybe? Unless we develop some machines to read other person's mind, free jazz is the only medium to achieve it.
But, you know. It might be just completely different. I've read somewhere an anecdote about one musician asking another how does one play jazz. "Oh, just play off-key, but stay in the groove!", answered the old musician. "And how do I play free jazz?", the younger wanted to know. "Oh, then just f*k the groove!".
Answer: In some ways free jazz can be easier to understand than other jazz forms. You really don't need music theory since the central theme of the genre is to free the performers from exactly the conventions that music theory analyzes.
Sometimes that means freedom from traditional song forms. Such as the common structure of bebop having a familiar "head" followed by a succession of solos, usually returning to the head at the end. Free jazz often ditches the idea of song form altogether, often having the players soloing simultaneously.
Sometimes they seem to be freeing the forms from their traditional constraints. Coltrane's "Ascension" for example used a single short line to create, basically, a 'non-head' where all musicians take that line and go where they want for a certain period. Then they move onto solos, each separated by a return to the "head." They are not limited to measures or even a specific rhythm or beat. They are free to go on as long as they feel. Except for that one very short phrase it is 100% improvisation.
One thing they almost always free themselves from is harmonic structure. Whereas previous jazz had increasingly complex chord structures which are heavily entrenched in music theory concepts like cadences and resolution, free jazz ditched the constraints of chord structure completely. Many free jazz groups lacked any polyphonic instruments such as piano or guitar. For most jazz pianists chord progressions and the interplay between each chord is their stock in trade. This creates a structure which would limit where the soloists can go with their melody. To avoid this they just leave out piano completely.
Far from needing a music theory background to "understand" the music, the goal was to free the performers from those type of restraints. When listening to free jazz you are to focus on the expression of the players - less emphasis on what they're playing and more on how they are playing it.
It can seem that understanding free jazz is difficult, but to me the real challenge was getting past the harsh and often cacophonous sound that results from removing the structures we are used to hearing. It requires letting go of your expectations and listening to the performances.

How to understand free jazz?


Are two different color apples valid Mishloach Manos?

Question: Are two different color apples considered to be different minim for the purposes of Mishloach Manos? They do taste different from each other.
Comment: Good luck finding a halachik source saying you can't send two of the same food.
Comment: Two brachos is made up,two different tastes has a source
Comment: similar https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/86853/759
Comment: The Shulchan Aruch uses the phrase שתי מנות בשר https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh%2C_Orach_Chayim.695.4?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en which might point to 2 servings of the generically same food.
Answer: It is not so clear if one needs 2 separate items. However, the gemara in megila 7a seems to imply that two different items should be used. This is how the Aruch Hashulchan (695:14) seems to hold. So if you send a dark piece of meat and a white piece of meat those are considered two separate  manos since they taste different. Rav Eliyashiv (Ashrei Ha'Ish pg 311:5)
holds that two different drinks counts as two manos. So it seems according to this two different apples would count as two separate manos, especially if they taste different.
Rav Eliyashiv also held that two big pieces of the same thing may be considered two separate manos. However, he held that one should be machmir and use different items,or at least two separate parts of a chicken.
Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky in Kovetz Halachos 17:2 holds that one should not use two of the same thing, based off the Aruch Hashulchan 695:14. See also Eshel Avraham (Butschach) 695.
Text of Ashrei HaIsh:
Answer: Rav Shmuel Kamentesky in Kovetz Halachos 17:4 brings this exact question whether a red and green apple which have different tastes are considered two manos. He holds that it is considered one min and one would need an additional item. He also holds that red wine and white wine are also considered one min. However, see my other answer.


Which one brings more benefits to community? Blockchain or Traditional bank?

Question: The blockchain is becoming more and more popular. It has become a double-edged sword to the bank. On the side, its power is the ability to save billions of dollars in cash by reducing transaction costs and paperwork costs. On the other hand, blockchain can remove the third party in the transactions. Banks will never accept that.
There are many people who still believe that making banking transactions is safer than blockchain because of the blockchain anonymous ability.
So which one brings more benefits to the community? Take the freelance market as an example. Blockchain or Traditional bank?
Answer: Maybe my answer can help you especially involving the blockchain technology and working freelance. I wrote a answer about the use of blockchain technology for freelance work and how this could help for avoid internet scams using multi-signature wallet or maybe some crypto a good smart contrack: Escrow System Alternatives or a Smart Contract For Working Secure. but I think few people understand my question and also my answer.
I am trying to use cryptos as payment method working freelance but nobody have it. Mostly clients use paypal, paypal take my commision, and I lose money exchange paypal to my local currency is the worst payment method. so 30$ of work become in 25$ in my country.
I never had a International account, Mastercard, Visa, Bank of America or any international bank account ( neither my fathers ) because my country and the banks demand too many requirements. Here only people with "real" jobs can have a Mastercard or international bank accounts not informal jobs neither freelance jobs that's the bank's requirement. I had to paid a Virtual Credit Card for finally can use paypal without paypal block my money I have this problem since years, only with cryptos I can save funds of inflations and move my money through internet.
I want to this technology arrives fast to the freelance market. I would like that my clients pay me with cryptos, low commissions and if is using a smart contract or invoices generated by the blockchain is better.
Answer: I still believe that the banking system is safe and I will continue to use it. In general, most bank users rarely lose money.
While blockchain sounds more effective for transactions as it can reduce costs and transaction time, there are still many hackers trying to challenge themselves by attacking the money stored on the blockchain platform. Besides, anonymous functions provide opportunities for scams.
If they can combine both, it will definitely bring about unexpected results. I know that's not an easy thing to do.
Answer: If we are talking about community benefits, I believe that crypto in blockchain is better than the bank.
I frequently use internet transactions and it cost me a lot of money and I need advanced technology to help save more money and time.
Blockchain won't kill banks, because it is a technology that anyone can use and integrate into the product for advantage.
Comment: The removal of 3rd party help reduce transaction cost
Answer: This question assumes that the banks are independent actors. In most countries, banks are private institutions that act as agents for the government in helping to manage the money supply and flow. For this reason, the government stands behind the currency and props up the banking system.
So, your question is really "which is better, a government backed system or one that allows value to be transferred apart from government control?"
The answer really depends on how trustworthy is the government. I have seen rumors that much of the rise in crypto currency prices has been due to people trying to move wealth out of certain countries where people didn't trust their government. Likewise, certain governments are clamping down hard on people using crypto currencies in order to control the money.
Crypto currencies have the potential to reduce the transaction costs. There are numerous efforts to bring block chain technologies into the banking system for that very reason. A block chain currency backed by the banking system might bring the best of both worlds.
In my opinion, your question is too early as we don't have the stability we need nor full integration of crypto into our financial system. It is coming, but it isn't here yet.
Answer: Blockchain is better for everyone when it works, except banks. When it doesn't work it's a nightmare.
In terms of international payments blockchain has serious drawbacks depending where you are located. Most of these are caused by banks and governments.


Opinions on the BJCP

Question: Are you a BJCP certified judge?  How does it affect and influence your homebrewing?
Answer: I just took the test earlier this month, and I can say that it's a difficult bitch of an exam.  Overall I don't brew towards the guidelines and I'm kind of an anti-style kind of person, but I think studying and taking the exam was definitely a worthwhile experience.
One of the main goals of the BJCP program is to improve beer literacy.  Just because I don't brew for guidelines doesn't mean that as a judge I should be ignorant about Dusseldorf Alts, Roggenbiers or Biere de Garde!  Knowing the history, ingredients, and special processes behind the creation of these beers can be of great value towards creating my next non-style creative beer.  I also learned quite a bit in depth about yeast, mashing process, malting, water chemistry, and ingredient selection.  I already knew the basics of these, but we took it much further in our study sessions.  Knowing a lot more about beer can never hurt you... even if you don't brew to the style guidelines.  I can just take my new knowledge and apply it in new and creative ways.
Comment: Those are some great points. How much was the class / test? And when do you find out?
Comment: The test itself costs $50, and the class was just something that I and a few homebrew club members put together over the course of the past 5 months or so.  We'd get some beers from the styles that we were reviewing and split the cost, which was usually $3-$8 each week.  The BJCP exam takes forever to grade, and last I heard the wait was approximately 6 months.  The group that took theirs in August in Longmont still hasn't heard back about theirs.
Comment: My club did a ten-week class, one night a week for $100.  Just enough to cover the 8 or so beers we tasted each night. Watch out for Belgian strong night!
Answer: I use the BJCP guidelines when trying to determine what the start of my recipe is going to be, and sometimes what to call it. Past that, I make beer that I think will be awesome. Sometimes the end result fits in the style I was going for. Sometimes I'm way off and in another style. Sometimes I can't classify it at all. But if it tastes good, I'm happy.
I definitely understand, appreciate, and enjoy what guidelines can do for beer. It's mightily hard to compare a pale ale to an oatmeal stout, or a pilsner to a porter, especially if you can't classify them as such.
So, in answer, the BJCP influences some key components in my recipe, but my final product is not geared to match the guidelines.
Answer: What's most improved my brewing is actually judging in competitions. At a good comp you are paired off with a higher ranked judge (assuming you are a junior) and if they are also good s/he will give you a brain dump.  I've learned a lot about where off-flavors come from and how to avoid them, and the beers usually aren't all that terrible.  When I encounter an off-flavor in judging I always try to give the entrant a pointer on how to eliminate it.
I usually brew to-style, partly because of the BJCP.  It helped me appreciate the history behind the beers I drink.  Becoming certified made me much more literate and I speak with authority about myriad styles.  Telling people you are a beer judge sounds impressive, too.

Opinions on the BJCP


Best lossy format for music?

Question: Which one of the lossy file formats like Ogg, AAC, Mp3, Wma has the best quality/size ratio?
I've seen that AACs are smaller than MP3 at the same bitrates. Do they sound worse than MP3?
Comment: From the graph referred to by @D_adams, I gather that they converge over 128kb/s.  Your question needs to specify "how much" and "what use".
Answer: You may find a lot of subjective answers here, and some of the quality seems to be dependent on what you play the files on - for example AAC and low quality mp3s will be fine on your iPod through headphones, but pop them on a decent system with good speakers and they will sound crap (Skeptics question here)
Each of the lossy formats has its own way of deciding what to lose (the wonderfully named psychoacoustics) and you may prefer one over another.
I don't like the way AAC, Mp3 or WMA compression sounds on low or medium bitrates, but on high I can't tell the difference between them. Ogg I actually like slightly less at low bitrates than the others, but morally I like it :-)
So I use mp3 or ogg in all my audio players, at high bitrate/quality settings (or flac in the devices that support it)
Answer: A good place to look for this type of info is Hydrogenaudio. But... because this is so subjective (quality) it ultimately comes down to doing some listening tests yourself.
As a purely pragmatic thing, I'd use .mp3 for lossy compression as it's established itself as the gold standard for better or worse.
Answer: I personally think that WMA or Ogg sound better at lower bitrates than MP3.  At higher bitrates I don't notice as much of a difference.
For my MP3 player I tend to encode everything at the smallest file size I can without constantly hearing the compression artifacts.
I currently am using Ogg at compression level 0 which is roughly equivilant to 64 Kbps.  The only thing I don't like about the format is that Windows Media Player does not like it, so I must add my music to my MP3 player manually instead of being able to sync using WMP.

Best lossy format for music?


Goofy search results

Question: why does a search for "indicators" return the #1 hit as a closed thread with one upvote that was closed because it was an exact duplicate of the thread "List of application indicators" that has been upvoted 171 times, instead of that thread?
Comment: Try using [this](http://askubuntu.quickmediasolutions.com) for searching instead :)
Comment: It's hard to help you unless you tell us you sort searches by.
Comment: @N.N., sorted by relevance.  Why are closed questions even showing up in search results at all?
Answer: Closed questions may contain relevant content. For instance if a question is closed as a duplicate both the duplicate and the original question (linked from the duplicate) may contain relevant content.
I don't know what the algorithm for relevance sorted searches is but the tooltip says "Search results with best match to search terms". So sorting by relevance is about finding posts that post matches the search terms best and then it's irrelevant whether or not it's closed.
If you want to posts with most votes you can sort search results by Votes (and you can also sort by Newest and Active).
Comment: @psusi My answer is descriptive not normative. I'm describing how searches work not how they should work. You tagged your question as support and not as feature request or bug so I read it as asking for how the site works (descriptive). Questions that are closed as duplicates are not always merged, see http://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/1959/are-answers-to-a-question-marked-as-duplicate-merged
Comment: I would think that the original question that is both highly upvoted, and has several dups pointing to it should rank as much more relevant than any of the closed dups.  Also when a question is closed as a dup, any good answers are supposed to be moved to the other question, so that kind of negates the argument that the closed questions may still have relevant answers.

Goofy search results


Is it possible to add an option to migrate to a programming site?

Question: There have been a number of questions in the Close part of Review lately which were basically asking for help creating an algorithm to do some mundane task (see here, here, here for example). I wonder if some of these people could be helped by migrating them over to https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/. Even if you don't think these questions in particular should go there, I'll bet that those who are okay with migration in general would be okay with the option to migrate to the programmers website. Hence my question: are others in favor of adding this feature? If so, can someone make a request to the appropriate powers?
Comment: You shouldn't suggest migration to sites you are not familiar with. The scope of [Programmers.se] is not what you think it is. This is one of the reasons opening user migration paths is taken seriously. I think to open a migration path you need approval from both sides, not just the migrating site. Even on cstheory we don't get that many programming questions and I don't think MO will be much different in that regard.
Comment: Just be careful when choosing *which* programming website to migrate to. The first of the cited questions would be answered with "Why don't you do your own homework yourself?" on *every* math. or programming related forum I'm a part of. Also I am as reluctant to allow myself to judge what level a not completely obvious programming question appearing on MO is as to allow the programmers judge whether they should move a math. question from their site to MSE or to MO.
Comment: I removed the discussion tag since it didn't make much sense. Posting a feature-request is the right way to make a request to the appropriate powers.
Comment: Somewhat related http://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/572/option-to-migrate-to-cs-theory a request for a path to cstheory.SE though discussion suggested maybe rather we should have cs.SE (the more general one). And for the first of the question actually this might be the right site (though I am not really sure). I do not know programmers.SE well but I really doubt we get any reasonable number of question that fit there; *maybe* SO but Programmers seems not needed to me. David White do you know programmers.SE well? Perhaps I am wrong.
Answer: Yes, it's possible, but as Anna Lear explained in an earlier answer, there are some requirements. There needs to be a clear pattern of questions to be migrated and the migrated posts need to have low rejection rate on the target site. In the mean time, if you need to have a post migrated, just flag the moderators and explain the situation. Moderators can migrate any new post to any site in the network.
Comment: Okay, thanks for the answer. I don't think there is enough of a pattern yet for the programming migration but my gut says we're headed that way. I guess time will tell.
Answer: I don't really like our setup at the moment. Anna said we need to establish precedents of migrations before the open migration paths, but for now only moderators can actually do these migrations. Because we're actually a long established site where moderators area relatively rarely involved in closing questions, we're sort of stuck.
It would be helpful, I guess, if posts that should be migrated get flagged, even if they are already closed. We can reopen then migrate them.
Comment: That's what needs to happen in a nutshell. If you migrate 10 questions a month to Stack Overflow and only 2 or so are rejected in the same period, then a migration path from you to SO would likely make sense. We just need some statistical assurance that questions too programmy for MO would be well received on SO in order to be certain that we're providing a _better_ experience for users by setting up the path. If most of them were rejected (closed once being migrated as anything other but a duplicate) then we're not really improving the experience of the question author, which is the goal.
Comment: @quid: If done carefully this would help identify potential target sites. Be very careful to make sure the questions are actually suitable for the target site because rejected posts will negatively impact the possibility of opening a migration path.
Comment: I think to create a culture of things getting flagged for migration would be important, regardless, since as explained in the post linked by François G. Dorais there is an upper-limit of *four* (other, ie excluding meta) sites with open migration paths. At the moment we have two (math and stats) but say some migrations to tex, academia, mathematica, scicomp, cstheory, cs and a couple others could be useful on ocassion; a lot more than four. [At the moment, some of the sites are still in beta so here is another reason for no path, but since this is about long-term.]
Comment: @quid: They will increase if there is a need, but I think we need to train users to know when & how to migrate before giving them a longer list.
Comment: @FrançoisG.Dorais (or also Scott Morrison): personally, I somewhat changed my mind about a longish list (from the time of the first discussion). I doubt it will ever work well in practice (*except* for math.SE) as migrations to sites other than math.SE seem too rare and also due to the feelings of some against migration. Flagging for moderators seems more viable to me. What is your opinion: would it be good/bad/neutral for somebody to go over recently closed posts and to flag things they consider as good candidates for migration?


Are there specific behaviors that make someone a rasha?

Question: What halachically constitutes a rasha- Wicked person?
Are there parameters with which to determine someone's status in this area?
Comment: Possible duplicate of [Is the Baal Hatanya being too harsh with his definition of Rasha?](https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/87034/is-the-baal-hatanya-being-too-harsh-with-his-definition-of-rasha)
Answer: The Torah Prohibits a Rasha to bear witness as it says  Shemos 23:1  "אל תשת רשע עד"
(see Sanhedrin 27a).
The Rambam defines the parameters of a Rasha Hilchos Eidus 10:2 and 10:4:

אי זהו רשע כל שעבר עבירה שחייבין עליה מלקות זהו רשע ופסול שהרי התורה קראה למחוייב מלקות רשע שנאמר והיה אם בן הכות הרשע ואין צריך לומר מחוייב מיתת בית דין שהוא פסול שנאמר אשר הוא רשע למות.
What is a Rasha? Anyone who commits a sin that is liable to Lashes and he is disqualified from the Torah as it says "and when the rasha is liable to malkus" (nearly every negative Mitzva is liable to 39 lashes) and that goes without saying someone is a Rasha commiting a sin which is liable to the death penalty who is referred to as a Rasha Lamus (to die).
ועוד יש שם רשעים שהן פסולין לעדות אע"פ שהן בני תשלומין ואינן בני מלקות. הואיל ולוקחים ממון שאינו שלהם בחמס פסולין שנאמר כי יקום עד חמס באיש. כגון הגנבים והחמסנים אע"פ שהחזיר פסול לעדות מעת שגנב או גזל. וכן עד זומם אע"פ שהוזם בעדות ממון ושלם הרי זה פסול מן התורה לכל עדות. ומאימתי הוא נפסל מעת שהעיד בבית דין. אע"פ שלא הוזם על אותה עדות אלא אחר כמה ימים. וכן המלוה ברבית אחד המלוה ואחד הלוה שניהם פסולין לעדות. אם רבית קצוצה עשו הרי הן פסולין מן התורה
And some People called a Rasha even though they do not qualify for lashes, since they have taken money that doesnt belong to them, they are obligated to pay back but they still transgressed a commandment in the Torah and are unfit to testify as the Torah says Eid Chamas:Some who steals secretly or publicly or one who was an eid zomem and owed money compensation, and someone who lent with interest or borrowed with interest (from fellow Jew).
Comment: This seems to be a pretty strict definition! According to this, I think the majority of us might considered *resha'im*, then! Does *teshuva* cancel this status? What about those that are unaware that they sinned?
Comment: Interesting that the Rambam defines Rasha differently in Teshuvah 3:1
Comment: @MamaRochel almost all 365 negative (thou shalt nots) commandments qualify as far as being liable to malkus or death. the exceptions are still sins but avoid such penalty due to Tradition. It is very hard in a note to explain all the exceptions and rules; but the Talmud does. Anyway, even sins not liable to malkus are evil acts and those who violate them are also wicked.
Comment: According to this definition most Jews are a Rasha
Answer: Exodus 2:13 "He went out on the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarreling, and he said to the wicked one (Hebrew: "rasha"), "Why are you going to strike your friend?"
Rashi comments:
Why are you going to strike: Although he had not struck him, he is called wicked for [merely] raising his hand [to strike him]. [From Talmud Sanhedrin 58b]
ALSO
Deut. 25:1 "If there is a quarrel between men, and they approach the tribunal, and they [the judges] judge them, and they acquit the innocent one and condemn the guilty one (Hebrew:"HaRasha")"
(My comment: Obviously the person being condemned in a random case as a "rasha" does not need to be completely evil. They simply are found to have been "condemned" regarding the narrow scope of the subject matter in their particular court case.)

Chabad.org translation.

We see from here that there is a concept to say that once a person initiates any action that is evil (such as attempting to hit someone) they are called wicked because of that. This is true even if they happen to be righteous regarding other things.
The Tanya gives other single examples of a "rasha" in chapter 1 (based on Talmudic passages) such as:
violating any Rabbinical prohibition (and it certainly goes without saying, a Biblical one), missing out on performing any positive commandment, being able to protest something wrong, but avoiding it, even neglecting enough Torah study.
However, the Tanya (ch 1 continued) also records the well known idea that when sizing up a person as a whole, if they have more good deeds than bad ones, they are considered righteous in judgment in general; but if they have a majority of sins they are considered wicked. (see Rambam Laws of Repentance 3:1 and Talmud Rosh HaShannah 16b with Rashi there.)
So there are two ways to view a person as righteous or wicked; and both are valid.
1) Focusing on the individual action at the moment.
2) Looking at their overall record in general.
But either way, there is possibly good and bad in everyone.
Oh and yes, bad middos (bad character traits) may also qualify to condemn a person. For instance, The Rambam says: "Anyone who gets angry is as if he worshipped idols" (see: Anger is a form of idolatry)
Also R' Yochanan says in the name of R' Shimon bar Yochai: "anyone who is arrogant is as if they have worshipped idols." - Talmud Sotah 4b
But, once a person repents, they are considered righteous. - see Talmud Kiddushin 49b.
Comment: @David Kenner I have always been intrigued by this subject of anger. In Rambam's language he calls 'anger' "כעס". This is translated as being angry or displeased, but also as hot or swollen (like chometz), like in Gittin 70a. By human beings it is viewed as a bad personality trait, something to avoid. And yet by G-d, we see Him getting angry (חרון אף) in the Torah repeatedly like BeMidbar 25:4. We are told to know G-d in all His ways, meaning to emulate Him. This would seem to also mean in regard to anger. What is the difference between the anger mentioned by Rambam and anger exhibited by G-d?
Comment: @YaacovDeane  Regular anger is a sign that a person is so insecure, they don't believe anything outside themselves is important or will help them. Therefore when they are afraid they become angry to try and secure their position (which position is arrogance to begin with as it is preservation of exclusive self, like territory). Charon af is more like complete indignation against evil. It is not based on selfish fear. It is recognizing and not tolerating evil. If we in turn hate evil because Hashem hates it, then we are serving Him. Agree with my definitions? :)
Comment: Arrogance and anger go hand in hand, as an arrogant person is more prone to anger, correct?
Comment: @MamaRochel Yes, both are like idol worship. Both are from the same source , and yes arrogant people tend to fall into anger easily. The Rambam says that all chracter traits may be worked with in moderation, but arrogance and anger must be completely eliminated.
Comment: @MamaRochel "arrogant person is more prone to anger". Not necessarily. IIRC, Ramba"m who makes a strong point about anger, allows a teacher to be angry at his students in order to teach them a positive lesson and have them behave properly. There are numerous reasons as to why people get angry. But, I find that arrogance doesn't cause much anger, actually. Most arrogant people I've met are so egotistical that they're aloof to anyone else's concerns or opinions to let anything anger them. If anything, they cause others to be angry at them!
Comment: @DavidKenner Have you ever looked at chapter 32 in the Tanya, in particular with regard to what the Alter Rebbe says in connection with the idea of hating with an absolute hatred someone who sins?
Comment: @YaacovDeane yes, I was thinking of that.
Answer: Here is a Halachic definition of Rasha. Contextually, it is used to define personnel who cannot serve as a legal witness.
Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 34:2:

איזה רשע כל שעבר עבירה שחייבים עליה מלקות ואצ"ל אם חייבים עליה מיתת ב"ד ל"ש אם עבר לתיאבון ל"ש אם עבר להכעיס
Who is a Rasha? One who overrides a prohibition which is subsequently punishable by legal whipping; and certainly one who has overridden a prohibition punishable by legal death. This definition does not change because of the perpetrator's intention, may it be out of passion or desire to anger God through rebellion.
Answer: Not a definitive answer. But, I happened to have come a crossed this Tosfos today. See: Tosfos in Arachin 16b D"H V'anavah She'lo L'shma.
His last words are לא ישר אלי, דהוה רשע גמור״"
Answer: Someone who is a חוטא ומחטי את הרבים. Someone who wins and causes others to sin.
The mishna in Avos (5:18) says

: כָּל הַמְזַכֶּה אֶת הָרַבִּים, אֵין חֵטְא בָּא עַל יָדוֹ. וְכָל
הַמַּחֲטִיא אֶת הָרַבִּים, אֵין מַסְפִּיקִין בְּיָדוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹת
תְּשׁוּבָה. משֶׁה זָכָה וְזִכָּה אֶת הָרַבִּים, זְכוּת הָרַבִּים
תָּלוּי בּוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים לג) צִדְקַת ה' עָשָׂה וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו
עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל. יָרָבְעָם חָטָא וְהֶחֱטִיא אֶת הָרַבִּים, חֵטְא
הָרַבִּים תָּלוּי בּוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלכים א טו) עַל חַטֹּאות
יָרָבְעָם (בֶּן נְבָט) אֲשֶׁר חָטָא וַאֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל:
Anyone who brings merit to the many, sin does not result from him. And
anyone who brings the many to sin is not given enough [time] to
repent. Moshe -- who was meritorious and brought merit to the many;
the merit of the many is appended to him, as it is stated (Deuteronomy
33:21), "He fulfilled the righteousness of God and His statutes with
Israel." Jeroboam -- who sinned and caused the many to sin; the sin of
the many is appended to him, as it is stated (I Kings 15:30), "for the
sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and that he caused Israel to sin."

The Orchos Tzaddikim elaborates on this:

וההולך בדרך זה יזכה את הרבים, כי הוא נושא חן בעיני כל רואיו, וכל מעשיו
וסדרי ענייניו מקובל להם, ותמיד הם משבחים אותו, ומתוך כך הם חומדים
לעשות כמוהו, וכל אדם יברך את בנו שיהיה כמו פלוני, ובזה הוא מקדש השם
ברוך הוא. אבל המתגאה הוא מחלל השם ברוך הוא ומחטיא את הרבים, והוא דומה
לנבלה שהיא מושלכת בשוק, וכל עובר ושב מניח ידו על חוטמו עד שיעבור: כך
המתגאה הוא מגנה את התורה ולומדיה, ומרחיק בני אדם מן התורה, כי אומרים:
מה תועלת יש בתורה אחרי אשר לומדיה רעים?! ומתוך כך פורשים הן מן התורה.
And he who walks in this path will cause the many to be meritorious,
for he will be liked by all who see him and all his deeds and the
manner of them will be acceptable to them. And always will they praise
him and every man will bless his son that he be like this modest man.
And thus he sanctifies the Name of God, Blessed be He. But he who
vaunts himself, profanes the Name of God, Blessed be He, and causes
others to sin, such a person can be compared to a carcass that is cast
out into the street and every passerby puts his hand to his nose until
he passes by. Thus is the arrogant man — he puts the Torah to shame
and those who study it, and causes people to shun the Torah, for they
say, "What worth is there in the Torah if those who study it are
evil?". And reasoning thus, they turn away from Torah.


Bookmark Removal

Question: I am on Windows 10 with TBB version 8.0.8. I extracted the bundle to my desktop and used it form there for some time (Computer A). Of note, I created some bookmarks. I then moved the TBB folder to a removable drive. When I insert that drive into another computer (Computer B) and run the TBB, the bookmarks I created are not present. Furthermore, and of concern, when I reinsert that drive into the computer that originally had TBB on the desktop (Computer A), the bookmarks are again present. This indicated to me that the current TBB is storing this information on the local machine outside of the install folder. I Would like to know where this data is stored so I may remove it.
Answer: Normally, TBB is a sandbox that tries to avoid any data left on the system it was running on. So, you should not have this experience.
See these two posts that describe where you could search for the bookmarks:
Tor Bookmarks file location and Where does Firefox store bookmarks? (because TBB is based on Firefox)
However, from the aspect of anonymity, I would suggest you to not use one TBB on different systems. Personally, I use one instance on every device.

Bookmark Removal


What are the stipulations for a mixed marriage to be valid in the Catholic Church?

Question: If a devout Catholic woman wants to marry a Baptist man, what what must be made to make the marriage valid to the Catholic Church if they have both gone though the Catholic wedding preparation but would like to be married in a non-catholic church? Would the Catholic Church consider such a marriage valid? I have heard that a special dispensation from the local bishop is necessary; How should that be acquired? If the marriage is valid, is it also allowed to baptize the children Catholic?
Comment: How can a devout Catholic marry a person from a different religion/denomination? She either doesn't understand her faith or she isn't a devout Catholic.
Answer: According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, mixed marriages (where one party is non-Catholic) require permission from the "local ordinary" or bishop (Can. 1124). The children must be baptized and raised Catholic, and the non-Catholic has to be okay with this (Can. 1125). They must have a Catholic wedding and cannot "have another religious celebration of the same marriage to give or renew matrimonial consent before or after the" Catholic wedding (Can. 1127 §3).
If a mixed marriage of doubtful validity already exists, you need to talk to a Catholic priest about convalidation or radical sanation.
Comment: In practice, I don't think priests follow these rules systematically. I'm a non-Catholic married to a Catholic. We talked to three priests and got three different answers, which seemed to be based on their own political leanings. (Priest #1: yes, but let's talk about the fate of your soul. #2: no. #3: yes.) I don't think anybody ever consulted a bishop. My wife wanted to have our kids baptized, but was unable to because her parish priest made demands that we couldn't accommodate (wanted the godparents to fly in for it, which they couldn't do). The reality seemed chaotic and arbitrary.
Comment: @BenCrowell Yes, unfortunately this sort of run-around sometimes happens.
Comment: @BenCrowell Also, usually godparents are selected to be someone physically and spiritually close to the child; however, the purpose of godparents is not so much the religious instruction of the child (this is primarily the parents' responsibility, which they can delegate to others like priests, godparents, school teachers, etc., if they need help) as it is shows the child—whose parents are making the decision to baptize without the child's ability to consent—is being raised in a Catholic milieu.
Comment: @BenCrowell Godparents just need to be someone present at the baptism; that's it. I've seen a baptism with one "real" godparent and another parishioner volunteering to be a second one.
Answer:
the woman is a devout Catholic and the man is a Baptist, ... would like to be married in a non-catholic church. Would the Catholic Church consider such a marriage valid?

Canon law 1108 §1 clearly states that such marriages will not be valid.

I have heard that a special dispensation from the local bishop is necessary. How should that be acquired?

Such dispensations are given only on certain conditions. Please see Geremia's answer for those conditions. Procedure to acquire such dispensation may differs for each diocese. You should contact your local parish priest. He will guide you on how to proceed.
Please note that such dispensations are given only for marriages done in the Catholic Church. There is no provision to grant such dispensation for a non-catholic marriages (i.e marriage done out side the church).

If the marriage is valid, is it also allowed to baptize the children Catholic?

Baptizing an infant has nothing to do with its parents marital status. If the priest has a reasonable hope that the child will be brought up in a good Catholic environment, the child can be baptized even if its parents are not in good standing with the church.
Comment: To @fredsbend : For example if a couple decided to marry outside the catholic Church, or just living together, or even worse living in a homosexual relationship they disqualified themselves as a suitable parent to raise her child in the Catholic Church. One cannot claim to be a Catholic in good standing while rejecting whatever teachings of the Church that oppose their desire. Based on this, the priest will be legally/morally bound to refuse to baptize an infant until such time as they repent and obtain a Sacramental Marriage or live separately within the Catholic Church.
Comment: @freds priests usually don't deny a couple who say they want to raise their child Catholic. Its cases of public and obvious scandal where they'd be refused I think.
Comment: "If the priest has a reasonable hope that the child will be brought up in a good Catholic environment, the child can be baptized." When reading 1 Corinthians, I would think that such hope is a given in all circumstances. Shouldn't the priest always have hope that the child will be brought up in a good Catholic environment? What is meant by reasonable, here?
Answer:
Catechism of the Catholic Church: Mixed marriages and disparity of
  cult
1633 In many countries the situation of a mixed marriage (marriage
  between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic) often arises. It
  requires particular attention on the part of couples and their
  pastors. A case of marriage with disparity of cult (between a Catholic
  and a non-baptized person) requires even greater circumspection.
1634 Difference of confession between the spouses does not constitute
  an insurmountable obstacle for marriage, when they succeed in placing
  in common what they have received from their respective communities,
  and learn from each other the way in which each lives in fidelity to
  Christ. But the difficulties of mixed marriages must not be
  underestimated. They arise from the fact that the separation of
  Christians has not yet been overcome. The spouses risk experiencing
  the tragedy of Christian disunity even in the heart of their own home.
  Disparity of cult can further aggravate these difficulties.
  Differences about faith and the very notion of marriage, but also
  different religious mentalities, can become sources of tension in
  marriage, especially as regards the education of children. The
  temptation to religious indifference can then arise.
1635 According to the law in force in the Latin Church, a mixed
  marriage needs for liceity the express permission of ecclesiastical
  authority [Cf. CIC, can. 1124]. In case of disparity of cult an
  express dispensation from this impediment is required for the validity
  of the marriage [Cf. CIC, can. 1086.]. This permission or dispensation
  presupposes that both parties know and do not exclude the essential
  ends and properties of marriage; and furthermore that the Catholic
  party confirms the obligations, which have been made known to the
  non-Catholic party, of preserving his or her own faith and ensuring
  the baptism and education of the children in the Catholic Church [Cf.
  CIC, can. 1125.].
1636 Through ecumenical dialogue Christian communities in many regions
  have been able to put into effect a common pastoral practice for mixed
  marriages. Its task is to help such couples live out their particular
  situation in the light of faith, overcome the tensions between the
  couple's obligations to each other and towards their ecclesial
  communities, and encourage the flowering of what is common to them in
  faith and respect for what separates them.
1637 In marriages with disparity of cult the Catholic spouse has a
  particular task: "For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through
  his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her
  husband." [1 Cor 7:14.]. It is a great joy for the Christian spouse
  and for the Church if this "consecration" should lead to the free
  conversion of the other spouse to the Christian faith. [Cf. 1 Cor 7:16]. Sincere
  married love, the humble and patient practice of the family virtues,
  and perseverance in prayer can prepare the non-believing spouse to
  accept the grace of conversion.

Please see also:

Mixed Marriages Marriages between a catholic and a baptized Christian who is not in full communion with the Catholic Church are
  called mixed marriages. For mixed marriages, permission (not
  dispensation) from the local ordinary (usually the bishop) is required
  for validity. Marriages between Catholics and unbaptized persons
  (disparity of cult) are invalid unless a dispensation from the local ordinary is granted. All this presupposes that these marriages are
  celebrated with all other necessary conditions fulfilled. The local
  bishop may grant permission or dispensation for such marriages on the
  following conditions:

The Catholic party declares that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of falling away from the faith and makes a sincere promise to
  do all in his power to have all the children baptized and brought up
  in the Catholic Church.
The other party is to be informed at an appropriate time of these promises that the catholic person has to make. It is important that
  the other person be truly aware of the commitments and obligations of
  the Catholic spouse.
Both persons are to be instructed with respect to the essential ends and properties of marriage, which are not to be excluded by
  either party.
The man and woman should marry in the Catholic Church. The canonical from (Church ceremony with an authorized catholic priest or
  deacon and at least two other witnesses present) is to be followed.
  When there are serious difficulties, the local bishop may give a
  dispensation and allow another form which is public (such as a civil
  ceremony) to be followed. It is never allowed, however, to have a
  Catholic priest or deacon and a non-Catholic minister, rabbi, or
  public official, each performing his or her own rite, asking for the
  consent of the parties. Likewise, it is forbidden to have another
  religious marriage ceremony before or after the Catholic ceremony for
  giving or receiving the matrimonial consent. Marriage consent is given
  only once.

cf. [Handbook of Prayers | Rev. James Socias, Publisher]
Comment: Not a bad answer in terms of information; but it's definitely a "wall of quote", so to speak. Could this be edited so as to provide a bit more explanation in between the quotes?
Answer: Marriage of a catholic and a non catholic baptised is prohibited, without extra permission according to cann. 1124 and 1125 CIC (Caution: links to old version of CIC, Pope Benedict XVI changed can. 1124 in 2009)

Can.  1124 Without express permission of the competent authority, a marriage is prohibited between two baptized persons of whom one is baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it after baptism and the other of whom is enrolled in a Church or ecclesial community not in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Can.  1125 The local ordinary can grant a permission of this kind if there is a just and reasonable cause. He is not to grant it unless the following conditions have been fulfilled:
1/ the Catholic party is to declare that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of defecting from the faith and is to make a sincere promise to do all in his or her power so that all offspring are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church;
2/ the other party is to be informed at an appropriate time about the promises which the Catholic party is to make, in such a way that it is certain that he or she is truly aware of the promise and obligation of the Catholic party;
3/ both parties are to be instructed about the purposes and essential properties of marriage which neither of the contracting parties is to exclude.

If this permission is granted, they can get married in the "canonical form" (the normal catholic wedding liturgy). If they want to marry in another form, they need a dispens according to can. 1127 § 2. Marrying without the permission but in canonical form would be prohibited, but valid. Marrying without canonical form and dispens would be invalid.

Can. 1127 §2. If grave difficulties hinder the observance of canonical form, the local ordinary of the Catholic party has the right of dispensing from the form in individual cases, after having consulted the ordinary of the place in which the marriage is celebrated and with some public form of celebration for validity. It is for the conference of bishops to establish norms by which the aforementioned dispensation is to be granted in a uniform manner.

This sounds very complicated, but it is not necessarily so. In Germany both the permission and the dispense is a routine act organised by your pastor, but other countries may have different customs and norms of the conference of bishops. Ask your local pastor for information special to your diocese.
The baptism of the children is unrelated to the marriage status of the parents.


Emacs: function to make a file with date/time as filename, and a shortcut for it

Question: I need to generate text files with the following name format:
YYYYY-MM-DD--hh-mm-ss.org. How can I use the capture funtionality for this? That is, instead of making one entry per capture in a single file, the function should make one single file per capture, and hopefully with all the possibilities within the capture mechanism.
Comment: Sorry, I forgot the context for my question. "capture" is a part of emacs org-mode
Answer: You should be able to use the function target form to do this:
(defun my/org-file-by-date ()
  "Create an Org file with current time as name."
  (find-file (format-time-string "~/org/%Y-%m-%d--%H-%M-%S.org")))

(add-to-list 'org-capture-templates
             '("x" "Template Name" plain
              (function my/org-file-by-date)
              "Capture template contents"))

Edit 2: As it turns out, code passed to a file form or the like isn't evaluated until capture time, so there's a more compact way to do this.  See Erik Sjöstrand's answer for an example.
Edit 1: To get similar functionality without going through the capture interface, you can use functions similar to these.
(defun my/org-file-by-date-with-inline-skeleton ()
  "Create Org file from skeleton with current time as name."
  (interactive)
  (find-file (format-time-string "~/org/%Y-%m-%d--%H-%M-%S.org"))
  (insert "Skeleton contents"))

(defun my/org-file-by-date-with-file-skeleton ()
  "Create Org file from skeleton file with current time as name."
  (interactive)
  (let ((filename (format-time-string "~/org/%Y-%m-%d--%H-%M-%S.org")))
    (copy-file "path/to/skeleton/file" filename)
    (find-file filename)))

Comment: Right.  I've edited my answer to point at yours.
Comment: Thanks ! I see, by testing the code, that it is maybe not necessary to use the capture functionality at all. Because I write very much in each of these files, and then I have to close by C-c c.

I would prefer to write directly into the created file and save as normal. How can I create a file named %Y-%m-%d--%H-%M-%S.org  and containing some fixed text (from a skeleton maybe?) and then opening it for writing?
Comment: I just added two functions that avoid capture entirely.  I think this is what you're looking for.
Answer: There doesn't appear to be any built-in functionality to do that (edit: yes there is, see below).  The simplest solution, one that does not require delving into the internals of the capture functionality, is to bind the value of org-default-notes-file at capture time:
(defun my-org-capture-advice (func &rest args)
   (let ((org-default-notes-file
         (format-time-string "~/org/%Y-%m-%d--%H-%M-%S.org")))
    (apply func args)))

(advice-add 'org-capture :around #'my-org-capture-advice)

This advice happens very early, so it doesn't yet know which template you're going to use.  If the name of the file depends on the capture template, then you'll probably need to advice org-capture-set-target-location.
Edit: the function template target is a better way to achieve that.  See Aaron's answer for an example.
Comment: Thanks! I am not sure how to use your code. I have added it to my init.el file. What do I do more?
Comment: Just whatever you do usually to invoke the `org-capture` function — `C-c c` if you've followed the advice in the Org manual.
Comment: I still do not understand. If I type "M-x my-org-capture-advice" nothing happens. When I type my normal C-c c I got my list of captures as I have defined them. So where does your code come in?
Comment: If your `org-capture-templates` do not specify a file to capture into, the file chosen will be formatted as you desire.
Comment: so I need to make a new capture file without a file to capture into, and then your code will do its work?
Comment: Jch: Thanks so much for your contribution !
Answer: Here's a way to keep it all in the org-capture-templates list, without defining other functions. org-directory can be changed to whatever directory you want to store the files in.
(add-to-list 'org-capture-templates
             '("x" "Template name" plain
               (file (expand-file-name
                      (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d--%H-%M-%S.org")
                      org-directory))
               "This string is inserted in the capture"))


How can I put a drain hose through a basement wall or window?

Question: I am putting a dehumidifier in our basement, but need to drain it to the outside.
Comment: What type of wall is it stone, poured concrete,block etc? How high above grade will the hole be?
Answer: Purely anecdotal, and I'm not claiming it's necessarily correct: When I put in a permanent "exhaust" for my sump pump, I did so essentially the same way the exhaust for my drier vent had been installed: I found an appropriate spot on the outside wall between the basement ceiling rafters, well above the sill and several feet above ground level. I ran a foot-long drill bit through from inside to outside; that gave me alignment marks. I then came at it from both sides with a Forstner bit, using that alignment-mark hole as the centerpoint. I believe I needed an extension on the bit's shaft to reach deep enough to complete the hole. Ran the pipe (with appropriate mounting brackets) from pump to outside, installed the outside bend and the adapter to a flexible hose to route water away from the house, and air-sealed the hole around the penetration.
As with the dryer exhaust, another alternative would have been to sacrifice a pane of a basement window, replacing it with plywood and running the pipe through a hole in that. I didn't like that solution. (The basement gets little enough natural light as it is.)
Note that a dehumidifier doesn't have to drain to outside. Mine drains into the sewer via a hose to the washer's drain pipe. (Actually, in its current location it drains to the same pump that my boiler's condensate drains to, which moves the water to the washer drain, but it comes out to the same thing.) Using the city drains isn't legal for sump pumps in my area, but it's entirely legitimate for the dehumidifier -- just as if the dehumidifier was filling its own tank which you periodically emptied into a sink.


Is there any animal internal monologue in The Lord of the Rings?

Question: Does Tolkien ever include any internal monologue from the perspective of an animal? That is to say, a scene where he shows an animal talking to itself inside of its own head?
Answer: Yes. When leaving the Shire, the hobbits disturbed a fox:

A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.
'Hobbits!' he thought. 'Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.
-- The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 3: "Three is Company"
Answer: If I remember correctly, Shelob the sentient spider has a few inner-monologue moments.
Also, if you're interested about regular animals showing sentience in general, in The Hobbit, a Thrush and a Raven communicate with the Dwarves when on the Lonely Mountain. The Raven, if I recall correctly, tried to communicate and wasn't understood by the dwarves, but understood the dwarves' speaking about needing a Thrush, and the Thrush spoke with one of the dwarves who could interpret.
Comment: If you can find those moments from Shelob, quoting them would improve this answer. (Although I'm not sure if a superintelligent supermassive monster really counts as a normal enough animal to fit the scope of the question.)


Whats the difference between a project manager and an IT manager?

Question: What is the difference between these roles and where is the crossover? Is it possible to be both in particular jobs?
Comment: I think a "project-management"-tag is not esp. helpful here, is it!
Answer: Project manager is doing project management, while IT manager is doing IT Service Management. Two different disciplines. Like mathematics and physics :)
Comment: IT Managers also focus on "back office" and not client-facing products.  That's a helpful and important distinction from the IT Service management wiki link.  +1
Comment: What I was more talking about was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_management#IT_Managers - is this the same as IT Service Manager? (There seems to be some ambiguity with "IT Manager")
Answer: I would say that we are looking at two different levels here:
An IT manager could be a project manager but need not be one - and vice versa. What complicates matters - and insofar the question is a very good one - is that many IT related activities are managed in a project oriented manner.
So an IT manager can be a line manager but in many cases will be a project manager and a project manager manages projects - which can be IT related (or not).
So both levels are interrelated in many cases.
Answer: The PMBOK defines a project as a "temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result." PROJECTS differ from OPERATIONS. There are many different methodologies and best practices that can be applied to Project Management (as well as operations). IT Management can include Project Management and/or Operations Management, but it doesn't have to include both. It depends on the organization.
Answer: This depends a lot on the culture and size of the organization. In pure delineation of duties: PMs manage projects and IT managers manage IT people/departments.  Many projects have a significant IT component, even if they are not entirely IT driven projects. A strong relationship with the responsible IT manager will go a long way to ensure project success as long as you both agree on roles and responsibilities at the outset.  PMs shouldn't write code and IT managers shouldn't distribute the project update report.
The need and organization of the PM role is as varied as companies and projects but you will see general trends and setups.  In small organizations there is usually crossover or a breakpoint on what qualifies as a corporate project, requiring a PM.  Some organizations have a separate PMO office and some have PMs imbedded in business departments. Some organizations simply appointment someone to deliver the project, without PM title, or don't even have a PM job/role.
Answer: In my (brief) experience as an IT manager, and then later in finding my replacement, I found the following held true:
Small companies usually had an IT manager (like myself) doing all the management tasks, whereas a larger company would have a dedicated Project Manager organising work and a people management focused IT Manager doing appraisals etc.
Answer: At least within my industry sector,  the emphasis is that project managers "create a unique product, service, or result." (hat tip to @craig Villacorta); this excludes routine operations, and activities that are designed to generate yesterday's results tomorrow.
IT managers are focused on "IT service management (ITSM or IT services) refers to the implementation and management of quality IT services that meet the needs of the business." Wikipedia goes on to focus on the relationship with the customer, and on process improvement - things that I think are generally perceived as NOT project oriented because they are about the process, not the discrete result.
There is overlap; IT Service managmeent can involve the implementation of services (which can be managed as a project). Project Managers certainly care about quality and about managing the stakeholders/customers. They each use many of the same tools and processes.
But in summary, IT Services Managers generally involve providing ongoing services, which project managers provide management for a discrete, result oriented project.
Answer: IT manager usually has a larger scope than Project Manager.
A Project Manager is just for a Project but an IT manager is responsible for completing operations, development and projects. In most cases, a project manager reports to an IT Manager.


Disjoint sets of fixed points 2

Question: Let $\phi$ be an acceptable programming system. For every recursive function $f$, let $(f)=\{x:\phi_x=\phi_{f(x)}\}$ the set of fixed points of $f$. Now, let $S$ be a set and suppose that there exist recursive functions $f$ and $g$ such that $(f)\subseteq S$ and $(g)\subseteq N\setminus S$. The question is: are there recursive functions $F$ and $G$ such that $(F)\subseteq S$, $(G)\subseteq N\setminus S$ and $\phi_{F(x)}\neq\phi_{G(x)}$, for all $x$?
Comment: For those not in the know, this is a follow-up to http://mathoverflow.net/questions/120746 .
Answer: No.
We'll build $f$ and $g$.  We'll diagonalize against a pair $(F, G)$ using an index $x$ for a function we will construct, and we'll also construct $\phi_{f(x)}$ and $\phi_{g(x)}$ (using several instances of the Recursion Theorem).  For $x$ which are not indices used for diagonalization, we define $\phi_{f(x)}$ the constant 0 function and $\phi_{g(x)}$ the constant 1 function.
Initially we keep $\phi_x$ empty, while defining $\phi_{f(x)}(0) = \phi_{g(x)}(0) = 0$ (and making no other definitions).  We wait until $F(x)$ and $G(x)$ converge, and then begin studying $\phi_{F(x)}$ and $\phi_{G(x)}$.  If $\phi_{F(x)}$ contains any definitions other than $\phi_{F(x)}(0) = 0$, then we can define $\phi_x = \phi_{F(x)}$ and declare $x \not \in S$.  Similarly for $\phi_{G(x)}$.
Assuming this doesn't happen, if we never see the definition $\phi_{F(x)}(0) = 0$, then we can simply declare $x \not \in S$.  Similarly if we never see $\phi_{G(x)}(0) = 0$.  So eventually $\phi_{F(x)} = \phi_{G(x)}$, and we've defeated this pair.
Answer: I don't quite follow Dan's answer, so I'll post my own solution to this question. Possibly this works out to be the same but with more details filled in. I'll show that given any answer to the previous question one can construct an $S$ for which the answer to the current question is no.
Suppose we have been given $f$ and $g$ such that $(f) \cap (g) = \emptyset$ but such that for any $F$ and $G$ with $(F) \subseteq(f)$ and $(G) \subseteq (g)$ there is $x \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $\phi_{F(x)} = \phi_{G(x)}$. For example we can take the $f$ and $g$ from my previous answer. We first show that we can strengthen this result slightly.
Lemma Suppose that $(F) \setminus (f)$ and $(G) \setminus (g)$ are both finite. Then there is some $x \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $\phi_{F(x)} = \phi_{G(x)}$.
Proof Define $F'$ so that for $n \in (F) \setminus (f)$, $\phi_{F'(n)} \neq \phi_n$ and $\phi_{F'(n)} \neq \phi_{G(n)}$, and for $n \in \mathbb{N} \setminus ((F) \setminus (f))$, $F'(n) = F(n)$. Similarly define $G'$ so that for $n \in (G) \setminus (g)$, $\phi_{G'(n)} \neq \phi_n$ and $\phi_{G'(n)} \neq \phi_{F'(n)}$. Then $(F') \subseteq (f)$ and $(G') \subseteq (g)$, so we can take $x$ such that $\phi_{F'(x)} = \phi_{G'(x)}$. Then for this same $x$ we have that $\phi_{F(x)} = \phi_{G(x)}$, as required.
We now construct in stages $S_0 \subseteq S_1 \subseteq \ldots$ and $T_0 \subseteq T1 \subseteq \ldots$ such that for all $i$, $S_i \cap T_i = \emptyset$, and $S_i \setminus S_0$ and $T_i \setminus T_0$ are both finite.
Set $S_0 = (f)$ and $T_0 = (g)$.
Now assume that we have defined $S_i$ and $T_i$ for $i \leq n$. We define $S_{n + 1}$ and $T_{n + 1}$ as follows. Decode $n$ as a pair of numbers $n = (n_1, n_2)$. We will ensure that for $F = \phi_{n_1}$ and $G = \phi_{n_2}$, if for every $x \in \mathbb{N}$ $\phi_F(x) \neq \phi_G(x)$, then either $(F) \cap T_n \neq \emptyset$, or $(G) \cap S_n \neq \emptyset$.
If $F := \phi_{n_1}$ or $G := \phi_{n_2}$ is partial or if there is some $x$ such that $\phi_{F(x)} = \phi_{G(x)}$, then take $S_{n + 1} = S_n$ and $T_{n + 1} = T_n$. Otherwise, by the lemma we know that one of $(F) \setminus (f)$ and $(G) \setminus (g)$ must be infinite. Suppose that $(F) \setminus (f)$ is infinite. Then since $S_n \setminus (f)$ is finite, there must be some $k$ such that $k$ is in $(F) \setminus (f)$ but not in $S_n \setminus (f)$. Therefore if we take $T_{n + 1} = T_n \cup \{k\}$, we have ensured that $T_{n + 1} \cap S_n = \emptyset$ but that $T_{n + 1} \cap (F) \neq \emptyset$. Define $T_{n + 1}$ as such and let $S_{n + 1} = S_n$. Similarly, if $(G) \setminus (g)$ is infinite, then we extend $S_n$.
Finally take $S := \bigcup_n S_n$. Then we clearly have $(f) \subseteq S$ and $(g) \subseteq \mathbb{N} \setminus S$ but such that whenever $\phi_{F(x)} \neq \phi_{G(x)}$ for every $x$, either $(F) \cap (\mathbb{N} \setminus S) \neq \emptyset$ (and so $(F) \nsubseteq S$), or $(G) \cap S \neq \emptyset$, as required.

Disjoint sets of fixed points 2


Layered Architechture & Encapsulation

Question: I'm developing a project, ultimately it is going to be a web app. But I'm trying to follow a sort of layered approach for the business objects and data access, i've created the following class library projects in a single blank solution:
<code>MyCompany.MyProject.Repository
MyCompany.MyProject.Model
MyCompany.MyProject.Service
</code>
MyCompany.MyProject.Repository has a reference to MyCompany.MyProject.Model
MyCompany.MyProject.Service has a reference to MyCompany.MyProject.Model and MyCompany.MyProject.Repository.
This little framework of mine is going to be used by multiple applications in the future and so I am creating them seperately to the web app.
I have two questions:

With regards to layering the app is this approach correct, the web app (Or any app that needs to use my framework) will need to have all three DLL's in it's Bin directory - am I understanding this correctly?
The MyCompany.MyProject.Model project holds all of my business objects. With regards to encapsulation - for example I have a Customer object:
Public Class Customer
Private _customerID As Int32
Public Property CustomerID() As Int32
    Get
        Return _customerID
    End Get
    Friend Set(ByVal value As Int32)
        _customerID = value
    End Set
End Property
End Class

This is the way I think that the ID for the customer object should be exposed, because of the Friend access modifier on the Set the ID for the customer should only be able to be set internally by the framework, and only read externally by the web app or any other app created in the future. But because my code is in seperate class library projects, the MyCompany.MyProject.Repository for example cannot access it even though my Namespaces follow suit.
This doesn't seem to fit my understanding of encapsulation, what am I doing wrong here?
Your help is much appreciated.
Thank you.
Answer: The scenario you discribed is relatively common. I prefer using friend assemblies in this case. They allow acessing internal(.net) or friend (VB) members. You can find more info about friend assemples here.
Hope it helps!

Layered Architechture & Encapsulation


Working in a team of multiple SharePoint developers

Question: In a team of multiple developers, what is the best way to set up the development environment?
Does everyone have their own complete install of SharePoint, or share content databases, or something else?
Answer: Each developer needs to have their own virtual machine that nobody shares.
This is for two purposes. First, you can work uninterrupted and non-disruptive to the rest of the team. You're not worrying about someone resetting the system or making it unavailable to you. Second, you can deploy what you want or need without affecting others. Maybe you prefer to use Firefox over IE (I do) and the tools it has. Go ahead and install them in your VM. Maybe you come across a web part you want to try out. Install it. Best thing is you can take your own personal snapshot before you install that web part and if things go south, just regress back to the previous version.
Once you've done all your messing around and built your system then package it up as a feature and deploy it to a shared testing/staging environment before moving it onto production.
The only requirement is that your developers have a connection from their VM to your source control system. This is so they can check code in/out and if you're using continuous integration then your build server can grab a copy of the code and update the build. If you work in isolation in your VM, look at something like a robocopy script or SyncToy or similar tool to sync up the contents of your VM to an outside drive that will push your code into the repository.
Answer: Great question! Surprised on how we all seem to agree so far. This is usally a subject that can divide people quite a lot :-)
Each developer should have a virtual server instance (be it HyperV or VMWare, locally hosted or shared). Database could be shared, but each developer has his own database instance (using shared environments remotely using VPN is doable but often slows development process down quit alot, and hence should be avoided if possible).
When involved in several projects, each project should have a dedicated set of virtual servers for each developer.
I also like to have a local "POC site" that i can do with what i want. I use it for doing small tests and stuff i wouldnt do on my project development server. If it gets too messy, i can always reload a snapshot.
To avoid "it worked on my box" issues, there should be guidelines on how to develop. Like having the least possible privileges on the box while developing, and especially having only visitor permissions when doing normal web part development or similar.
Development servers should be created by same golden image and same (preferably scripted) zero point configuration as the dev test, integration test, pre prod and prod servers. This will minimize issues in dev test due to special configuration or software issues on the developers server. I even know of developer teams (eg Ben Robb) that delete all their virtual developer servers every week and roll out a snapshot (automated with powershell) of the server to keep development servers as close to dev test (and the other environments) as possible.
Often overlooked is that especially for larger teams you need guidelines on how naming should be (eg. sub folders in root folder (12hive if you like) how to use namespaces etc), how to deploy (BIN + CAS or GAC, and when to use what), usage of common Utility like libraries. Not having cleared this up before startup will cause you grief along the road and increase the risk of having small islands of code that should/could have been reused across the team (or even across projecs if the libraries are good and generic enough).
Answer: My take is that everyone should have their own copy of everything. Sharing databases, application pools, servers only makes you make more mistakes or have misunderstandings. Debugging is really awkward and unproductive using shared resources and think about database locks etc
Once the developer(s) are ready the features are moved to a test/staging environment, which is shared. Developers can copy the test/stage env to their development env if necessary to get some real data.
Answer: Forcing devs to have their own VM forces them to write code that is deployable to the team membes in their own VMs ;-) it's a cunning disguise for a great end result!
a lot of organisations share a SQL server with different content databases and have individual VMs with SharePoint and Visual Studio etc for each developer. Often these VMs are actually hosted on a shared virtualisation host rather than on developers workstations due to memory requirements etc.
The @SPDevWiki's Building a SharePoint Development Environment on this.


Bricked android karbon message ENTRY QPST DOWNLOAD

Question: My rooted karbon s5 android phone is showing "RESET FOR ENTRY QPST DOWNLOAD" message on startup, I am unable to execute this solution (quoted below) because I dont have the Karbon S5 rom, also there are many techniques posted to unbrick the device and I am confused how to proceed with it, I have Windows 8 so how to solve this problem?

A linux distribution (Ubuntu) sys_boot.img (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxJJ...tEMmFQZHM/edit) Follow the steps to restore the sys_boot partition:

Connect your phone to a pc using the cable
Install the drivers if necessary: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...m%20Driver.rar
Open your terminal
Type "lsblk" (without the quotes). You should see a list, showing every connected disk and partition. Look for a partition with a size around 50M. This is the partition we need, so remember the corresponding name under the 'NAME' column. It can be "sdc", "sdd" or "sde" followed by a number.
Cd to the directory you placed sys_boot.img in cd [filename]
Type "sudo dd if=/dev/NAME of=sys_boot.img bs=512 Replace NAME with the name you got from lsblk, and press enter. The output should look something like this:  3959420000 bytes (3866621 KB) copied, [ time spent], [KB/s]
Remove the cable from your device, do a battery pull and try to boot your device Normally, it should boot correctly. If you formatted the /system partition too, you have to get into recovery mode by holding the upper volume button while booting, until a red screen appears.

Another specific solution quoted here, which I cant implement as i dont have acronis which is a proprietary software:

download the BOOTFILES AND acronis recovery image files
download drivers that i attached(if u already have them.no problem)
press power button and volume up button till u get "RESET FOR ENTRY QSTP DOWNLOAD".Now connect the device to pc(windows os).install drivers if asked.
open acronis true image and select backup.now all the partitions are shown in which are in ur system.uncheck all ur system related partitions and select all the partitions of the device which are shown and finish the backup(this step is for safety.u can skip this if u r confident on urself)
now again open acronis true image and select recover.now select the "Partition3sector_full_b1_s1_v1.tib" file that i attached.it will ask where to recover.
this is the important step and do it carefully..now u have to select the partition which is of type FAT16 and has exactly 50 mb space. now open advanced settings and select recover sector-by-sector and now click recover
it will take around 4-5 mins and ask to reboot ur system showing like it is compulsory to restart to complete the process. (NOW WE AGAIN BRICKED OUR BRICKED DEVICE .DONT PANIC..CONTINUE..)
so click restart.disconnect ur mobile and take out battery.dont insert it.and now u open linux os
after opening linux.first keep the battery and on ur device by pressing power and volume down (carefull here.power+volume down) dont press colume up.
u mobile show a message "ENTRY FOR QPST DOWNLOAD".Now connect ur mobile to the system.in linux u get all the partitions which are shown in my computer.
now open the drive which id of 50 mb or around 50 mb..if u open it u can see a folder named image..
open the folder named "image".u can find two files named "AMSS,AMSSHD".select these two files and delete.now extract the files from BOOTFILES that i sent which exactly contains the files names as "AMSS,AMSSHD".. COPY THESE FILES TO THE SAME PLACE WHERE U DELETED.
after the copy is finished disconnect ur mobile.remove the battery
reinsert the battery and now select power and volume up buttons.ha ha.now u can see the green display of recovery.from here i think u pupil know how to proceed

I tried the above methods but I am unable to get the list of partitions on my mobile, on the computer it is showing that the removable drive is corrupted and it needs to be formatted. I faintly remember that I had installed helium app for backup and it had super user access , i suspect problem created by this app.
Also does a custom ROM update help in this? if yes please specify the best ROM for karbon s5, can  I proceed installing kitkat on this bricked device?
Comment: Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! Would you mind to [edit] your question and include an excerpt of "this solution"? If the owner at XDA decides to delete his post, the reference would be lost otherwise. Also it's not nice to let us check out details on other sites just to be able to understand your question, so many will simply skip it probably. Doesn't hurt to list up what you've tried already, either ;)
Comment: Thanks! I improved formatting a little for better readability. Not knowing/having the device, I now have to pass on to somebody else, who hopefully is able to help you out. Good luck!
Answer: When I went to service center with this problem , they gave the reason that this is because of a full battery drainage. And they were correct. After recharging the battery it worked. It was unexpected. Also after a few days it again showed this message but after restarting the Phone it worked again. I suspect the problem has to be something related to battery or charging. Its now a month I am not getting this error. I am glad that I was not able to try the above methods.