How do you keep chess fun when your opponent constantly beats you?

Question: How do you keep chess fun when the only person that wants to play against you beats you all the time? I am struggling to want to keep playing, because I get smashed all the time, and it is not fun anymore.
Comment: Play with someone else maybe?
Comment: I used to play against a stronger player. If I made a really obvious mistake mid-game, after taking my piece he would let us rewind the board. After a check-mate he would sometimes suggest we rewind and look for alternative moves. Occasionally after such a rewind we would switch sides. When I stopped making obvious mistakes, we played full games. This was more fun for both of us!
Comment: Just train more :-) There are programs that play at different levels not by making silly mistakes but by "setting you up" in a position that you have to recognize to make the best move and get an advantage. I personally like Fritz but Shredder is also good.
Comment: One variant I like is for the strong player to play blindfolded and just call out his moves while the weak player physically manipulates the board.  This gives the weak player the chance to take advantage of his opponent's mistakes.

Another is that, until the strong player declares, "checkmate in X moves," the weak player can choose to switch sides with his opponent - and it is declared a win for the weak player if he can survive for longer than X moves after this declaration.  This gives the weak player the chance to experience play from a position of strength.
Comment: Nice question that I seek answer from the other point of view as I always play IRL with beginners that tends to not want to play anymore after a couple of defeats.
Comment: Play with others online :)
Answer: There are many people who want to play chess with you. You can play chess online! Online sites such as chess.com and lichess.org will match you with opponents of similar rating so you should win about 50 percent of the time. Furthermore, playing online as well as studying chess will immensely improve your chess, and maybe you'll play your friend again and this time you will win!
Answer: There are lots of ways to play with a handicap in chess. One way is to give one player a starting material advantage, where the weaker player starts with an extra queen, or the stronger player replaces their queen with a bishop/rook, or starts with some of their pawns missing - anything that weakens one player's starting position can be used to even the odds. Another means of handicapping can be used in timed games, where the stronger player has a shorter clock than the weaker one, so can spend less time thinking about their moves.
Comment: Clock variants are a lot of fun! In high school there was one really good player so we'd have him play a one minute clock while the rest of us had 2-5 minutes depending on who
Comment: though many people do not like playing with handicaps because it's embarrassing when they lose and unrewarding when they win...
Answer: If you can change your attitude from this being a competition that you are "losing" to this being a tutorial, that should help a lot. Every time you play a game, you get more famailiar with lines and their responses. Consider each move to be a question (what sort of responses are this to this move?) rather than a challenge.
Comment: @Parrotmaster More precisely, he says he gets *smashed* every time. Losing after a good fight is fun, but being beaten so badly that you don't even know *why* you lost isn't. The OP might find it useful to ask their friend to explain where the big mistakes were made and what they might have done instead.  This is particularly easy if you're playing using a program that permits rewinding the state to look at how the game went. I did that with a friend I used to play with regularly (and usually lost to, but after a good fight), and it both helped me improve and was entertaining in its own right.
Comment: This is my favourite answer because the most important issue that stems from the question isn't that OP has trouble finding others to play with (as most answers here address) but that he considers losing to always be a bad thing and less fun.
Comment: Might be hard to keep OP's opponent interested though.
Answer: In regular tournaments both players write the moves down and play with clocks to make sure both players have the same amount of time for their moves. It is normal after the game for the players to analyze the game. They can do this easily because they have written the moves down. When I lose in a tournament I almost always ask my opponent if they would like to go over the game with me. Even if I "got smashed" this makes it much more interesting for me and I always learn something. Most opponents are friendly and helpful and will agree to do this.
To make the games more even the best way is to use the clocks. Start by giving both players 5 minutes each on the clocks. In subsequent games the loser gets one minute more and the winner gets one minute less. If you reach 9 minutes versus 1 minute and still lose then go to 9 minutes 30 seconds vs 30 seconds, then 9 min 45 vs 15 seconds etc. Sooner or later you will come to a stage where you take it in turns to win.
Answer: Here's what I used to do while instructing the kids (usually the weaker player) in our local chess club: We would play a normal game of chess under standard rules, but the weaker player could request to swap colors at any time during the game. Like this, the stronger player gets a real challenge too. After the first switch, he's busy trying to regain the advantage he had over you a few moments ago.
The weaker player trains to detect when his position gets "really bad" and he is about to get checkmated soon.
Overall, the games run for a longer time like this, which may resolve some of the frustration that you seem to experience. Have fun and continue playing!
Comment: Can they ask for a switch once per game, any number of times, or some fixed amount?
Comment: I never had to add some of these restrictions, at least I can't remember. They were totally free to when and how often they wanted to switch the board. But if you feel that it might be necessary in your case, just go ahead and setup the rules for "color changes" as you like. The Color-Change-Chess-Police won't come after you...;)
Comment: My favourite answer. This way, the weaker player can instantly compare how they would have played with the play of the experienced player, and learn lessons from this.
Answer: In chess, like other sports we go through many falls to eventually find our balance and improve. Just like everyone goes through many falls before learning how to ride a bike. And then we want to be able to ride without our hands, well, that'll again take a good dozen of falls before we eventually master it, and this keeps happening at any juncture we challenge ourselves again.
These falls remain inherent to the learning process for as long as we intend to improve even further. That is to say that, even at the highest level, even the world champion, players are constantly reflecting back on each game and saying to themselves: "why did I lose this endgame?, where did I miss the win?, what went wrong in my opening?" and so on, until they eventually amend those weakpoints. So keep playing and stay focused on the game and your weak as well as strong points, and in due time you'll start beating your regular opponent as well. I'm sure the very opponent you speak of, has a friend to whom they also always lose to :), it's just a matter of perspective and realising how natural your experience is.
From another point of view, getting beat should not deter you from having fun, there's an element of purity to chess logic, a bit similar to that of learning mathematics, there is a peaceful quiet beauty to it. Think of it as there being something to learn in every game you play regardless of the outcome, shift your mindset onto better understanding the game and how to reason about it as opposed to beating a specific player.
Diversify your opponents, for example start playing online blitz/rapid games on lichess, quickly your rating will settle and your average opponent will be at the same level as you currently are, which will naturally lead to more balanced games. Like anything else, the competitive element should only be of major relevance if one intends to take the game to a professional level. Speaking of which, there's a very good related movie called "Innocent moves" or "Searching for Bobby Fischer", which you might find interesting: without spoiling, it's about a kid who discovers chess in a park and develops a strong sense of curiosity and passion for the game, who also happens to have a natural ability for it, but soon starts to have conflicting thoughts about it as soon as it becomes competitive: where it's expected of him to become the best, to beat everyone, to ceaselessly improve and to never fail, in other words they turn chess into another mindless responsibility for the kid in which he has to succeed as opposed to simply playing chess for the sheer fun of it, which should be the only point to playing any game.
Other than playing online, consider just getting into the habit of solving chess tactics where you have to find the best moves, treat it as any other puzzle game: there's no opponent and you'd simply be trying to get better at solving puzzles by discovering more about chess strategy and the art of coordinating your pieces in order to achieve specific objectives: checkmating, winning a piece, securing a draw, etc. The better you get at it the higher the gratification. There are various website you can start from: lichess, chesstempo, chess24.
You might also find it fun and instructive to watch chess lectures: in particular, Yasser Seirawan lectures tend to be quite fun and easy to go through, not only he provides a lot of insight and reveals a lot of the reasoning that goes into each move of a chosen game, he complements with a lot of lighter moments with his fun anecdotes. For example, his coverage of one of the 1972 Spassky-Fischer games, or the famous miniature games, ... there are many to choose from.
Answer: This question transcends chess I think.
In any game/sport, there are people who are better than you and those that are worse. You can learn a lot by losing, way more than you can learn by winning against easy opponents.
Analyze your games. Ask why your opponent made moves he made that you didn't see when you were playing with them. Get better.
My local chess club is small and I am the strongest of the bunch. It's much less fun to win all the time and learn nothing from it. Losing and learning from those losses is a quality problem to have.
Answer: Honestly, it is not fun at all if you feel you can and will never win.  Losing sometimes is fine, but losing all the time is extremely frustrating.
I think you can make it more fun by doing a few things:
1. Make it a goal to improve your chess.
Solving tactics puzzles can be fun and feel rewarding to solve.  They also improve your chess.  If you improve, you can reach the point where you are able to win sometimes against your opponent.  It is much more fun to play chess when you feel you have a chance to win.  You can improve a lot by learning to see simple tactics quickly and by being mindful of undefended pieces (yours and your opponent's).
2. Go over your games with your opponent.
This will give you some perspective that will help you understand where you are making mistakes.  You may find that you make the same sort of mistakes often.  You can identify the issues and know where you need to focus to improve.  In this way it plays into point 1 by helping you improve.  It also gives you a chance to enjoy a chess activity with your opponent without feeling the stress of making a mistake like in a game.  You can walk through the game and discuss what-ifs and even play them out a bit.  You sort of turn chess into a cooperative game for a time when you are walking through a game together.
3. Play a larger variety of opponents.
You can play online at various websites against players of similar skill.  The rating system is great because you can be matched with an opponent that you can beat, but who can also potentially beat you.  I find that this tension makes chess much more fun.  This will give you other exposure to chess where you feel you can win.  It may make you feel less frustrated playing against a player you are not likely to beat.  You won't feel that you lose every game anymore so it can be easier to brush off those loses.
Answer: It depends on what you want with chess.
If you're willing to play chess to be able to win, you're in for a huge disappointment.
Let me take the example of Nim, which is a simpler game. You learn the rules, and start to play and have fun. Until you meet somebody who knows the true structure of the game, and the invisible goal to pursue (enforcing the binary parity of stacks) They start to smash you every time you play with them, and you don't understand why.
Chess is like that, but with more layers of understanding. You learn the rules, you play, until you play against someone who counts attacks and defenses on pieces better than you, and they start gaining material advantage over you at every game. If they care to explain it to you, you start to see something invisible that is more interesting, and you may get better, even starting not to lose so many pieces so sillily.
Then you meet someone else who knows about how pawns play against each other in the endgame, once the queens are no more on the board, and they start exchanging all the pieces and you end up with a shattered pawn structure at every game, and their king being centralized sooner than yours, and you don't understand how they can promote to queen every time and you lose. If they care to explain it to you, you may get better, but this requires time, thinking and dedication.
Or maybe you meet someone who read Nimzovitch's "My system" and you end up having your opponent's rooks slaughter your pawn line at every game... et cetera.
In the end, someone who is better than you has learned to see invisible things in the game that you don't see yet.
Now, do you want play chess to understand the game and what it is made of? Or do you want to play just for fun? Both are OK. There are people who play for the former, some for the latter, some for both. Fun will be there if your opponent can adapt to your level and can teach you. I would advise you to walk away from a person whose only aim is winning.
Fun is slowly disappearing from high-level chess, as Aleksandra Kosteniuk puts it forward. A chess game will be won by the one who could, during training, mine a better acute line of play from a commonly played line. Less and less things are unknown about chess. Kosteniuk advocates for playing Chess360. That may be a lead for you.
I'd advise you to try to play online, with people who are about your level. Try also other variations of chess, maybe fairy chess, Chess360, or others.
Answer: It may be hard to accept, but losing is the best way to learn and improve. Think of each game as a lesson. The one-time world champion Jose Capablanca said you had to lose 10,000 games to learn chess. You should also record your games and go over them later to see what you did wrong and how you could have improved upon your play.  Having a stronger player look at them is also a good idea.  Studying annotated master games is also recommended.  And don't take your losses so seriously.  They are not a measure of your worth.  They just show that you have more to learn.  Chess is not a quick study.  If you want to see your progress, you must play other players too.  I'm sure there are some at your skill level.  You can even do that online if necessary.  Be sure to start with slower games though, not speed chess. You need time to think and make plans. Unless you are one of the few who are professional players, chess is just a game.  It has many pleasures. Enjoy it! I have played since 1948 (I'm 83), and although I went through periods of losses as you are doing, I persevered and have never regretted it.  Just playing can be fun and intellectually satisfying.  Think of it as problem solving. In fact working on problems in itself can be fun as well as educational. Chess has been one of the enduring joys of my life. Don't give up on it.
Answer: If the rating difference is large (say, 400+ points), then you probably aren't going to beat them much so odds games and playing other players seem like the best idea.
However, if you are closer in rating you should stand a decent chance of winning so in that case I would say look for opening ideas, try to improve overall and analyze each game.
Answer: I noticed one thing playing chess: I adjust my level to my opponent's level.
If I play against a weak player, I play weak too.
Against a strong player I play better.
I don't know what the reason for this is, maybe because I lose interest playing against a weak opponent.
So, I prefer to play against strong players even if I lose.
Answer: Sir, when you lose you learn many new lines, variations, tactics etc. and improve your database of knowledge which definitely helps to beat others in the game.
Answer: Don't play with that opponent :)
That or ask for piece/clock odds, but they'd have to agree.
Answer: I began playing chess in school in 7th grade and lost my first game in four moves. For the first year and one half I didn't win a single game against anyone. That brings us to the middle of my 8th grade year. We had a chess ladder and I wanted to be on the 10th spot (of 10 total). I was due to challenge the 10th spot that day but my opponent was home ill from school and did not show. We had a rule you could challenge up to two spots up on the ladder and the person holding the 9th spot was there that night. I challenged him and won. Since then I climbed the ladder to the 1st spot.
I'm now 45 years old but I can tell you I am grateful for that 1 1/2 year of losses and I am grateful I didn't give up. I learned that there must be more to chess than winning and losing. That, or I'm a glutton for punishment. I do believe that this story adds credence to Garry Kasparov's quote: "Current success is the greatest enemy of future success." You may be losing repeatedly but I can guarantee you that you are storing up valuable lessons along the way. Hopefully, you too, will score your first victory against this opponent and it will be the change in momentum and the gain in confidence needed to start off a series of wins and your story might help encourage others in the same boat.
Answer: I think that the only way out of this situation is to seriously work at improving your chess, and possibly start beating him from time to time.
Answer: I suggest to put the fun in the analysis afterwards.
To analyze every game with the fellow player.
Have fun in the analysis.
The game has three possible outcomes and they are all possible.
Your experience of the loss depends on what you identify yourself with.
If you are there to learn and to analyze, then the game is a process that gets you there.
Peace,
Rauan
Answer: Read a book and get better.
It's like basketball. You want to compete with the best? Get good.
Read My System by Nimzowitsch.
Comment: No offense i'm downvoting because: 1 - OP is not intending to compete with the best or even maybe really improve as a player. there is nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to improve as a player. 2 - you don't need physical books or even ebooks or video lectures to get to a rating of say 1200 blitz lichess. in fact, arguably tactics are more important than reading books/watching lectures on strategy (or even on tactics)


Do the Apple AirPods have audio delay due to bluetooth?

Question: If it is a song, and it is delayed for 0.5 or 1 second, it really does not matter.  What I am trying to find out is for games and videos. If there is a 0.5 second audio delay, for videos (movies or youtube if video/audio is unsync'ed) or for games, then it could be a bigger problem.
Comment: Apple bluetooth is rubbish.
Answer: There is zero concern for music and videos since the system compensates for audio delay. Same for many games since as long as the visual and audio tracks start at the same time (buffering enough content for each to start and then hoping the new content delivery / creation can keep the buffer from emptying).
Now, technically speaking, the laws of physics and the limited processing power of the CPU/chips that encode/decode the audio ensures there is a delay - but it's not on the order of a second. Subjectively, this isn't a problem for me until I use airplay / WiFi and even then it's nit horrible but the lag is noticeable. But I also can't argue if someone else has a subjectively different experience and the lag isn't acceptable to them.
The codec and stream of the bluetooth chips means that the sound needs to be buffered, encoded, transmitted, decoded and then sent through the amplifier.
There have been some nice attempts to scientifically measure this - http://stephencoyle.net/airpods/
The raw data says the measured latency of wired headphones is around 85 ms and AirPods are around 256 ms. My personal impression is the AirPods are more in the range of 120 ms delay and almost equivalent to wired earphones. Also, I'm fairly certain that Apple corrects for video playback if you use the API since I've never ever gotten the feeling that videos lag when switching from AirPods to EarPods and back on Apple devices and Apple audio devices.
Same sort of synchronization is being done for the HomePod setup where millisecond sync and offset is going to be used to synchronize and phase the sounds for multiple bluetooth playback speakers spread around a room, but that's a far easier task where you can buffer all the sounds and then play a delayed and perfectly synchronous to the phase of the sound waves - as opposed to having a low latency audio interface.
You'll want custom hardware for that like the Universal Audio Arrow line of monitor hardware if you are performing live or making millisecond measurements.

https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/arrow.html

The only case where I've seen lag as a legitimate problem is musicians with split second timing needs or scientific measurement apps. I've also heard of AirPods and iPhones needing a restore if they get stuck or some process is running amok and otherwise slowing down the processing of audio.
Comment: Adding on to bmike's answer, it's not just Apple devices and AirPods. All bluetooth devices have latency, and both iOS and Android devices will attempt to correct for it while you're watching a video.
Comment: I would add that there's a warning about the delay on GarageBand when the AirPods are in use. So even Apple acknowledge it !
Comment: I am curious how the 85ms latency of wired headphones was calculated. I would expect the wired number to be much lower—likely single digits. 85ms would be terrible for rhythm games, which can have timing windows as small as 15ms.
Comment: @bmike By the way, I don't think it is the "law of physics" that is limiting this. Electromagnetic wave can move faster than electric signal in a metal wire. I think it is probably due to Bluetooth not wanting to have "gaps" in the audio when a person is moving around and then 0.2 seconds of the audio is missing, so the audio is buffered up for, say, 0.5 seconds or 0.7 seconds so that when the signal is lost for a split second, the audio in the buffer is able to catch up and offer continuous audio.
Comment: In my experience, the YouTube app has a noticeable audio delay over Bluetooth. YouTube's site in Safari was in-sync, however.
Answer: Yes they have a delay, just as traditional headphones have a delay (albeit practically imperceptible). It's caused by both the digital to analogue conversion, as well as the variable amount of time it takes the signal to be transmitted and any interference present.
If you're using bluetooth headphones (airpods or otherwise) while playing video,  Apple and most manufacturers adjust the audio based on the latency so they remained synced. They also buffer all audio ahead a certain amount (when possible) to deal with small inconsistencies in the connection.
Assuming the application is using Apple's native support for this, the latency correction is built in. Any time you see the iOS or macOS styled video player you don't have to worry. Applications with their own custom players will have to deal with this more manually, and so support is not guaranteed. (e.g. Youtube on Chrome in macOS has a barely-noticable audio lag).
Unfortunately with games there isn't really anything they can do to make it better synced. Though since you probably have the device directly in front of you, you're in a pretty ideal position to limit any lag. At that point the amount of lag depends on the devices and distance/interference (which according to @bmike's answer, is pretty low for AirPods).
Comment: RE: "Yes they have a delay, just as traditional headphones have a delay" -  this is outright false. Traditional headphones introduce literally no latency, while airpods throw in some extra >200ms into the mix; see https://stephencoyle.net/AirPods
Comment: And regardless of all the theoretical discussions, wired headphones vs. AirPods makes  a very, very, very noticeable difference in software like FL studio: the virtual piano is unplayable with AirPods, but is semi-usable with built-in speakers/headphones. We really are on the same page regarding the technology, but it is misleading for others to read that AirPods latency is "just like" anything that has wires. It is not.
Comment: To clarify: 1)Traditional headphones don't introduce ANY measurable latency at all between the headphone jack and the ear. 2)Of course, there's latency from audio source (software) to the headphone jack, that's not what we are talking about here. 3)AirPods, just like any bluetooth device, add extra latency to the signal path - you can't say they're "just like" traditional headphones, because traditional headphones don't add extra latency themselves, but AirPods do. 4)To clarify, by "traditional" headphones, I mean wired headphones plugged into the headphones jack.
Comment: Also, read the actual article you posted: "The Bluetooth devices I tested last time had roughly 3x the latency of a wired connection"
Comment: If you read the answer..."(albeit practically imperceptible). It's caused by both the digital to analogue conversion, as well as the variable amount of time it takes the signal to be transmitted and any interference present." Everything has latency. Even if you can't notice it.
Comment: Lol...I said everything has latency. Not the SAME latency....but since we're being pedantic. Unless you're from the future and using quantum teleportation, there's a delay whenever a signal moves from one place to another. At the typical headphone length it would be much <1ms with a predictable latency from the DAC/software, which should always be <100ms. BT headphones usually have cheep DACs and ADCs so may be higher than typical computer. With BT you add latency with conversion to/from BT. Which adds another ~100-200ms. Any additional latency variable due to distance and/or interfeerance.
Answer: Noticeable Delay When Using For Phone Calls.
Watching YouTube videos and what not are okay, sometimes with a slight delay in movement of the lips with the audio you hear. That's annoying but less critical than the following.
When making phone calls with the Airpods on an iPhone (in my case the Xs), there is a noticeable delay between what you say and when the receiver hears it. More than what you're typically used to with other headphones or through the built-in earpiece.
Others might not notice it but it's very obvious to me. That gap of silence between what you say and when they hear it is the cause of many awkward conversations where it feels like you're constantly cutting the other person off. You start talking but they hear silence for a fraction of a second, enough for them to continue on with their sentence. Then your voice comes in and they stop. And on and on it goes.
I used to use my B&O headphones with the 3.5 mm jack in my old iPhone 6, but since "upgrading" to the iPhone Xs that doesn't have the 3.5 mm jack, I'm "forced" to use my Airpods over Bluetooth (unless I buy the Lightning to 3.5 mm adapter).
It's a big step backwards in quality for me. Not sure if other Bluetooth headphones handle this better but if Apple's own Airpods can't do it without a noticeable lag, I doubt others will be better.
Curious to see if others have experienced the same thing and if it's perceptible to them as well.
Comment: Make sure you check for interference and malfunctioning device - I'm on calls for hours a day in AirPods through Skype / WebEx / VOIP / Cellular calls / FaceTime / FaceTime audio and there is no delay versus hard wired for me. I'm not saying you're not seeing a delay - just that it might not be the AirPods.
Comment: @bmike Interesting. It's definitely noticeable for myself. And the iPhone is only 2 - 3 feet away from my head. I do use a Magic Wireless keyboard and mouse that also use Bluetooth. Maybe that would cause interference but you would think that's a scenario they tested for.
Comment: This is exactly the same behaviour that I noticed. When I speak there is a noticeable delay until the other side can hear me. I tried everything from resetting my AirPods to even resetting my iPhone 12 but the delay is always there.


When I reference a patent, do I use the Asignee or Inventor if they are not the same

Question: When I write my own patent, I have to reference someone. Do I use the inventor or the assignee when referencing patents?
Answer: I assume that you are referring to prior art references which you are planning to include in the patent application of yours.
You may cite the patent publication number or the patent application number of the prior art reference. This will be of convenience to the examiner or anyone who reads your patent application to understand the prior art references you are referring to.
Quite often patent applicants are hesitant in revealing in their patent application, prior art references that may have an adverse impact on the patentability of their patent application. Further, some of the applicants may reveal such references while filing an application, however, they may ignore informing the patent office any additional relevant references that they may come to know of after filing the patent application but before the patent is issued. Failure to reveal relevant prior art references that the applicant is aware of to the patent office can have an adverse impact on the validity of a patent that was obtained by concealing such information.
To understand the importance of disclosing prior art references in the patent application, you may refer to this link:
http://www.invntree.com/blogs/duty-of-disclosure-in-a-patent-application


Would a hurricane increase intensity due to increasing translation speed?

Question: For example, if a hurricane has 200km/h wind speed, and it increases the translation speed from 10km/h to 30km/h, would the intensity become 220km/h?
Comment: @Gstesto - here is your answer in this paper - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011GL050765/pdf. I will write it up later.
Answer: It is not the quite the numerical relationship you have described  in your question but YES the effect of translation(or forward speed) upon the intensity of tropical cyclones in the tropical oceans has been studied in this peer reviewed reference - Tropical cyclone translation speed and intensity correlation
The conclusions that the authors have reached  is that there is a positive correlation with translation speed and tropical cyclone intensity. The explanation for this correlation is that a tropical cyclone with a faster translation speed reduces the exposure time of the cooling to the TC. The sea surface cooling is induced by the effect of the surface winds on the ocean and and strong winds can bring cooler subsurface water to the ocean surface . A slower moving TC is exposed to the sea surface cooling for a longer period of time and hence contributes to a negative SST feedback and has lesser chance for  reaching higher intensity.
You  can read a popular science version of the peer reviewed reference in this website - Hurricane speed intensity
Answer:
Would a hurricane increase intensity due to increasing translation speed?

As depicted below, meteorologists account for this effect in announcing the highest sustained wind speeds. The highest sustained winds account for both the motion of the storm itself and the motion of the winds relative to the moving storm.

Source: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D6.html
The hurricane in the above diagram is moving to the northwest at 10 mph and is capable of sustaining 90 mph winds relative to the storm itself. That means that relative to land, those 90 mph winds become 100 mph winds in the northeastern portion of the storm, but only 80 mph in the southeastern portion of the storm. The highest sustained winds would be reported as 100 mph for the hurricane depicted above.
That northeast section of the storm where the winds are strongest is the so-called dirty side of the storm. Note that which side is the dirty side depends on the storm's motion. The dirty side is to the east during a sharp landfall along the Gulf Coast, to the north during a sharp landfall along the US Eastern Seaboard, and to the south for eastern Pacific hurricanes making landfall on Baja California. Because tropical storms rotate clockwise in the southern hemisphere (as opposed rather to counterclockwise as depicted above), which side is the dirty side also depends on the hemisphere.


login redirect for anonymous users

Question: I would like my homepage to seen by every user. But anonymous users should be redirected to a login page if they click on any link.  How can I achieve this?
Answer: There are many specific ways to do this, but here's the general idea:
Create a special content type for your home page that allows Anonymous access.
Then, set your other content types to require an authenticated user.
If you get stuck on a specific part of this process, or have more specific questions you may get better responses.
Answer: If I understand correctly, you want to have a front page with links to premium content.  The front page should be visible to everyone, including the anonymous user role, while all other content should be premium (i.e. only be available to logged-in users, i.e. the authenticated user role). Users who are not authenticated should be redirected to a login page if they click on these links.
In Drupal, the default View access control is very crude.  The permission View published content covers all content types.  In order to have premium content on your site, you need to install a role based node access control module.  Out of old habit, I use Content Access for role based access control.  Some people think it is too marignally supported to be used on a production site, but it works for me.  However, you may want to consider the alternatives.
With role based noded access in place, you can create a specific content type that everyone can see for use on the front page, and make all other content types premium.
You then need to set up the redirection to login.  For this, I suggest you use the CustomError module.  Clicking on a link  to premium content will throw a so-called 403 error, and with CustomError, you can design your own 403 error page, which can be a login page.
Disclosure: I am co-maintainer for CustomError.

login redirect for anonymous users


How closely tied is my credit score to my spouse?

Question: If you and your spouse/life-partner have a joint checking/savings account, and bought a house/car with a joint loan, how closely tied are your credit scores? For example, if one person suddenly took on a lot of debt or ruined his or her credit score, does that affect the other person's score in anyway? How would it affect future joint loan applications?
Answer: Your credit score is only affected by the status of loans and credit accounts which are yours, either alone or jointly with someone else.
Bank accounts are not usually considered on credit reports or credit scores.
So to answer your questions:

If one person took on a lot of debt or ruined his or her credit score, does that affect the other person's score in any way? One person cannot directly affect another person's credit, except to the extent that they can affect (by not paying) shared obligations. If someone with whom you share a joint loan goes bad on other debts, it will affect their credit score but not yours.
How would it affect future joint loan applications? I'm not so sure on this one, as it would be up to the lender. They would probably consider both applicant's credit scores and reports, so one person's bad credit would probably affect the outcome of the loan application.
Answer: A while back I got a chance to check our real FICO scores for free.  Our lives have been tied together for a long time and our FICO scores were absolutely identical.
Comment: When you say tied together, do you mean all your financial documents have both of your names?
Comment: @MrChrister:  Everything actively used.
Answer: Your credit score will only be affected by accounts that you share.
So if you go bankrupt, and share no credit lines, mortgages, etc, your spouse's credit will not suffer at all. But, if you go bankrupt and discharge debt on a joint account, your spouse's credit will be affected negatively.
If one spouse has bad credit, the main consequence is that the only the income of the spouse will be considered by the underwriter. So if you make $200,000 (but have awful credit) and your spouse makes $75,000, your spouse will not have sufficient income for a $500k house.


How would our circadian rhythm change over time if we had no sunlight whatsoever?

Question: Of course, over the span of a couple days, our circadian rhythms would lengthen a few hours. But what would happen to the circadian rhythms of humans overall if we had no daylight ever? Say we can live for 10,000 years, how would our circadian rhythm be different 10,000 years from now after zero exposure to sunlight? Would it still be slightly more than 24 hours?
Comment: Your question made me curious so I found this study of fossorial species like naked mole rats. With little to no light input from the environment their societies seem to maintain a circadian rhythm: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11134679/
Answer:
Say we can live for 10,000 years, how would our circadian rhythm be different 10,000 years from now after zero exposure to sunlight?

Probably almost the same.
A circadian rhythm has - by definition - a free running period of more or less 24h. Of course this might change over time, but 10,000 years are not very much on an evolutionary time scale.
As an example there are some studies about the circadian clocks of fish that have lived in underground caves for over 1 million years: They still have a circadian rhythm (even though its doesn't react to light anymore), but even after 1million years the free running rhythm only changed from 24h to 47h. Interestingly it can also still be 'entrained' (synchronised) to other regular cues like feeding time (this is also the case for normal circadian rhythms).
Answer: Blindness has the same effect as a total and permanent absence of light: it causes an abnormal melatonin onset, and, consequently, circadian desynchrony and increased wake times. To preserve the circadian rhythm, administer melatonin (dosing and timing matters).
In sighted individuals, artificial light at night disrupts daily rhythms and suppresses nocturnal melatonin production by the pineal gland. This observation could be exploited in your hypothetical scenario: to preserve the circadian rhythm, substitute the missing sunlight by artificial light (dosing and timing matters).


Forming a strong relationship between 2 characters

Question: How can one organically develop a strong relationship (father-son, to be precise) between 2 strangers over the course of a novel without making it seem contrived?
Answer: Have them face the worst possible moment of their lives together.
For example, if they were in an earthquake and got trapped in the basement of a building, just the two of them, with no way to call for help and limited food and water and the air running out and both are injured in some way … if they get out of that together, they will be each other's closest friend.
Comment: Not *necessarily* true, realistically saying, but good point though. 1+
Answer: Relationships are contrived. They are contrived by the people in them. They are formed because one of the parties sets out, more or less deliberately, with more or less forethought, to create the relationship. In other words, relationships are the result of courtships.
We are social creatures and we court other people all the time. In many cases, the courtship is mutual, or becomes mutual.
If you attempt to have the relationship form without one character courting the other, that will seem contrived. It will seem contrived because the relationship will appear without either of the characters doing the things that form relationships. Figure out who wants the relationship and why and have them act accordingly to try to create the relationship.
In other words, have one character court the other for believable reasons.
Answer: There should be a natural draw between them, as if they would normally be friends. If the younger character has a backstory similar to the older character or someone the older character cares/cared about, that would help.
The "father" role is very tough to build with a stranger, but mentor or "uncle" is easier.
Keep in mind bonds are formed through shared experiences, so the relationship should build over time as the younger character doesn't listen and has to be rescued, or his ignoring the older character gets people he cares about hurt.
Answer: This depends a lot on the context of course (not to mention the genre, if applicable), but try to see it from as a realistic perspective as possible - if indeed your goal is to make it appear natural.
How do people get closer in real-life?
Sociological causes:
When they have to be united against something else. There is an element of tribalism involved, but for a father-son relationship this should not appear as too peculiar. Example: Father and son have to unite against a corporation threatening to confiscate their land
Personal causes:
There might be a specific reason (that the readers and/or characters might only partially know of) for which one character is attracted to the other and wants to be around them. Example: Father has a terminal disease but he does not want his son to know about, so that the son can feel connection, not pity. There's a lot in such scenarios you can use dramatically, to enhance tension. Particularly if you allow your audience to know about it (while the character does not), there are strong elements of tragic irony at play
Miscellaneous/Forced causes:
Sometimes people can be forced to be together, for a variety of reasons. Think of two people who are castaways together (somewhat of a cliche, I know, but only to give you an idea of how it works). To develop this organically, this should ideally evolve into more personal reasons. But it can be a start.
Answer: The essence of a good father-son relationship is sacrifice by the father on behalf of his son, it must be a truly altruistic sacrifice, with no reward expected.
The essence of a bad father-son relationship is the opposite; the father is selfish and demands (or forces) sacrifice from his son to meet his own selfish wants and needs; so he will force his choice of everything on his son: Controlling his life, his leisure and interests, his friends, his romances, his job choices, everything. Often to make his son a clone of himself, or something that reflects on him: My son WILL be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a CEO, like it or not. Or WILL be a criminal and member of my criminal enterprise. This is the way some sons grow to hate their father and everything about him.
To forge a good father-son bond with a stranger, you need to emulate this. We'll call the father figure 'father*'. The father* needs to do something altruistic for the son, preferably repeatedly. The son needs to feel gratitude for that; and this will be easier if the son's real father was of the selfish, self-centered type, and the son really doesn't like his real father.
The altruistic act doesn't have to be momentous, but obviously should start the relationship. For example, the father* may pick up the son hitching on the road.

Son: "How far you headed?"
Father*: "As far as Stinson, have to pick something up."
Son: "Alright, Stinson's thirty miles closer than I am now." He throws his backpack into the bed of the truck, and climbs in the passenger seat.
Father* gets back on the road. "Where are you headed?"
"Albertville, but twenty miles at a time, if that's what it takes."
Father* nods. Conversations. They stop in Stinson. Kid's name is Mark. Father* is Walter.
Mark: "End of the line. Well, thanks Walter, that's a help."
Walter: "If you want to hang loose for twenty, I'll take you on to Albertville."
Mark: "Really?"
Walter: "Yeah, really. Get in, We'll go get my parts. Anyplace good to eat in Albertville?"

Think of it like the road trip that starts "When Harry met Sally". In that case a time for future-lovers to get to know each other, but it starts a lifelong friendship. But in this case, Walter is doing the kid a favor. In their conversations it is important to see conflict between them, but like Harry and Sally, it is friendly philosophical disagreement. Don't make Walter an infallible fount of wisdom; make both Walter and Mark learn something. Mutual benefit is the foundation of friendship (you like each other's humor, and share likes and dislikes and some general philosophy, but are still different, not boringly exactly the same), and you need to make strangers friends before they can love each other; which is what you want for a good father-son relationship.
What leads to LOVE is shared emotional events, and for a parent-child relationship, more selfless acts on the part of the parent. Walter needs to feel invested in Mark's success. One way to do that is to make Walter a part of Mark's success, as an older male he has more contacts and more influence and more knowledge about how the world works, which is going to waste until Mark comes along; but can be freely given by Walter and benefit Mark enormously.
That is all in the metaphor of the ride to Albertville: Walter gives up his time and pays for the gas, and maybe lunch on top of that in some joint they both like (give them something in common) and doesn't demand anything from Mark in return, he enjoys his company. But of course he gets something from Mark in return, some gratitude for the gift. Turns out, Mark's stay in Albertville is temporary, and this is the beginning of a relationship. But don't make Mark a parasitic kid, either, he needs to be a competent person on his own. The type of son a father would be proud of.
Answer: The characters should start the story with a need --probably subconscious --for someone in the opposite role.  The son-figure may not think he needs a father, but he's in desperate of advice, guidance, a male role model.  The father figure may have been running from the commitment a family represents, but he's keenly feeling how empty his life is.  If there's no void in their lives, it can't be filled.
Answer: I think that you need to define your two character's wants, needs, fears, and frailties clearly.  Then, have them interact according to their natures, with appropriate levels of openness and vulnerability given their situation.  The more circumstances out of their control drive their interaction, the less genuine their relationship will feel.  But, if they are in a voluntary situation and are choosing to interact with one another, then as they face challenges and vicissitudes together, their bond will grow because it naturally does between humans in those situations.  As long as you know their natures and you let the act and react honestly, you will find that they form as tight and genuine relationship as you can imagine.
Answer: The child character needs to have a need for a father figure.
People have many friends, but generally few parents. Children in fantasy books often have no father figure at all. What is the child character missing that they need a father figure? Do they need protection? Validation? Someone to explain how the world works?
The parent character needs to have a reason to believe intervening in the child's life is acceptable.
People don't take in random young kids at the playground. That's called kidnapping. The parent character needs to have a reason to think taking on a parental role is justified. Maybe the child is clearly wandering around a dangerous place alone. Maybe the child asks for help directly.
The parent character's involvement will generally start out small and then escalate. If they meet in a dangerous place, the first goal is to get the child to a safe place. If there is no obvious safe place, the parent tries to find one. If that fails, they're stuck with the kid. If the child instead needs validation, the parent character may start out as a teacher, performing an assigned job. Slowly (perhaps through the child asking for help on personal projects that have a more sinister context, perhaps through running into the child in dangerous places outside of teaching) the parent character comes to realize that the child needs help outside of the professional setting.
Friendly relationships usually develop in stages, from strangers to acquaintances to friends to an essential part of life. In a high-pressure environment the stages may be relatively short time-wise, but the important thing is each stage seems perfectly reasonable given what has come this far. The parent has already saved the kid from a monster, or accidentally gotten him in trouble, it would be unethical to just leave the child here now, for example.
Answer: Make the older guy more forgiving.
Make the older guy more forgiving. Long story short, the older man doesn't want the kid to drive fast. But he is in charm, drives fast, and got into some huge trouble with some rich guy. But instead of beating him up, he tries to ease his pain, etc., you can do whatever you like, from sci-fi to horror or old time.
Answer: Many ways. One example: Make them eat dinner together. Does the son care to serve the father, ask about his favorite dishes, about how he spent his day, plans for next day, and if he gets sound sleep, etc.


How to modify Apocalypse World for a one-shot game?

Question: Apocalypse World has lots of elements that kick in between sessions or have long-term impact only, and so aren't very fun in a one-shot game. What rules, character roles and mechanics should I modify or omit to make a single-session experience (with 3-5 hours of gameplay) work better?
Comment: [Related] [Running a one shot session in Dungeon World. How?](http://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/18956)
Comment: Here's part one of a two-part Youtube video of [Vincent Baker running an Apocalypse World one-shot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NcanVthL8A).
Answer: Not much.
Apocalypse World is one of my go-to games for one-shots, and I find that it shows off well in a single 3-hour (preferably slightly more) session, even without changing too much. This includes not using pre-made characters, because I believe the setup to be an integral part of the AW experience.
There are some ideas on it on the "Barf Forth Apocalyptica" forums, for example in http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=490.msg4476#msg4476.
Do prep, filter playbooks and speed up character creation.
My concept for a one-shot is usually as follows.

Break the rules and actually do some prep before session one. Come up with a front and a "colour", a shape of the world, to bring to the table. I feel free to drop them if players come up with something cool on the spot, but they give me a situation to jump into immediately otherwise. My core prep are two rough types of NPC, a slaver and a family, that have interests and skills relevant to each other and will both come in contact with the PCs.
Hand playbooks out according to "Who is the leader? What are you the leader of?" (and hand out a Chopper, Hardholder or Maestro, or something else if they have a clear picture and I have something fitting at hand) and "Who is the thorn in your side? Why?" (Hocus is a good one to try to sell here, if no-one jumps on it, then Brainer, Battlebabe and Faceless are good) to set a basic idea, sketch a setting, and then hand out other playbooks. For those I like Hocus, Brainer, Driver if the boss is a Chopper, and Ruin Runner, and if someone asks in that direction Savyhead and Angel.
At character creation, make sure that people pick a name, a look and the special stuff on the back of the sheet so they have a good idea of their characters and can introduce themselves for Hx. Then do Hx and take it slowly (or use 2E! Simplifying Hx is a very good change that will come with it), making sure everyone gets a good image of the connections. The rest of character generation can be done later whenever convenient.
Make sure to use the beginning-of-the-session moves, don't worry about the end-of-the-session moves only showing up once.
I have played at conventions, where in other games people could buy rerolls for the benefit of some charity. In my AW games, I allowed players to buy additional D6s. Each such dice could be rolled and added to a roll (even after the roll), and each buy allowed them to advance one basic move, so that they could see the cool 12+ results in play.

The notes here, in particular the playbooks, are concerned with the first edition – I have only played one 2E playtest so far.
Answer: On Love Letters
You can find a basic treatment of the topic in the "Catching Up/Setting Up" segment of the book, p.273 1st ed/p.275 2nd ed, though you'll want to look at the 1st ed book if you can because it then goes on to detail a couple of scenario setup documents. They're missing from 2nd ed, probably for page count, because they're just extensions of things they're already teaching you how to do.
So here's the basic setup.
Step 1: Provide the necessary background.
A one-shot can effectively be thought of as a mid-season episode. The first session has already been run, people have spelled out the common threats and the MC has put them together into a map, and there are varying degrees of active dangers to the characters' lives, well-being, comforts, etc.
So provide the facts of the situation - where are you, what do you eat, what's the single biggest threat - and detail the responsibilities of whatever role it is people are taking on, as in @Anaphory's answer.
Step 2: Think about good and bad things.
Most moves let you pick from a list of good things you want to get, or a list of bad things you don't want to happen, and the higher you roll, the more good things you get to pick or the fewer bad things you have to pick.
Love letters aren't any different, but because they're intended to only be used once, you can have a longer list. Still best to keep it to around five or so, though.
Every benefit you want to offer people, or every threat you want them to dodge, also serves a secondary purpose, in that it communicates to people the kind of things their role has to worry about. So even if the hardholder doesn't pick to have their rule endangered by a lieutenant who's trying to make peace with the biggest threat, that still puts the idea in their heads that someone could be out there trying.
Step 3: Define the outcomes.
Once you've nailed down your list of things (which can be a mix of good and bad, see Lafferty's list with the one about Scanner in the examples), pick a stat to roll, which should probably be a marquee stat for whatever playbook you're handing it to. (If multiple off-stat playbooks could pick it up, such as perhaps a Hocus, a Savvyhead, or a Chopper, who could each be an early warning system, feel free to leave the +STAT blank and tell the player what stat to write in afterward.)
Then do the standard - if you've got a list of good things, they can pick some but not all on a 10+ and fewer on a 7-9. If they're bad thing, they pick some on a 7-9 and fewer on a 10+. Think about if you want to offer some kind of bonus if they get a 12+. And also think about what happens on a 6-. You're going to want to define that in advance, because you don't want to be flailing around searching for answers after the first roll of the game. "All the bad things happen" is a popular one, or maybe "GM's choice, not yours". If you came up with a list of only good things, let them still pick one on a 6 but detail what the cost will be - maybe they owe somebody a debt or have to trade away an advantage they previously had.


What should we do about questions that are "Why is this standard practice in the industry?"

Question: Spawning from dispute over this question about sensitivity settings in console FPS games, what should we do about questions in the category "Why is this standard practice in the industry?"
Comment: Honestly, my main issue with most of these questions is that really, at their core, they're thinly veiled excuses to rant and vent about things that people don't like. We edit out the opinionated nonsense and we're left with these questions, which most of the time, we should have just closed instead.
Comment: This question isn't 'why is this standard in the industry' though.  The asker wants to know the benefits of the sensitivity adjustment feature in an FPS game.  Clearly, he's not familiar with how it works, and wants clarification.  I fail to see how it's different in principle from [this](http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/17098/worker-rush-why-do-people-do-it) question, or [this](http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/25465/why-do-video-game-framerates-need-to-be-so-much-higher-than-tv-and-cinema-framer) one with 114 upvotes.  If those are acceptable, this should be acceptable.
Answer: I think this question is fine, even if it's not excellent, and I disagree adamantly with assertions that it's "The same as 'why did they design it that way' questions".
This question isn't asking why the feature is standard in the industry.  The exact history of the feature is (probably) not documented very well, because it's not really important.  That question isn't suitable here with the burnination of the trivia tag, and probably wouldn't be suitable on GameDev.SE either.  It's also not asking about a specific developer, and game element, but about a generally recognized feature in many modern games of a given genre.  Even if he were asking about a specific element in a specific game by a specific developer, this would not simply be an unanswerable, 'why did they design it that way?' question.
The asker here wants to know what the purpose, or function of the adjustable sensitivity feature is.  This is not the same thing as what I discussed above.  The question is answerable, in fact more answerable than some questions I've seen go by on the site recently.  There are specific reasons for giving players the option to choose their own sensitivity (see here). This isn't exactly what's going on, but we don't get to tell users on the site what they can and can't ask about just because we don't see the question as an issue.  I'm sure most of us already know what adjustable sensitivity is for; great for us.  That doesn't mean everyone else does.  But I digress.
This is not an off-topic question, nor is it even a terribly bad question.  It might not be an amazing question, but the asker seems to think it's important, and who are we to tell him that he's wrong?  It seems to me that people have been stopping after 'why do' without looking at the entire question objectively.  I fail to see any difference between this question and questions like this one (why do people use a certain strategy), and this one (general industry trivia).
As far as the whole argument about this question being more suitable to GameDev.SE goes... I just don't see it.  The second question I linked above might actually be more at home there, but a question about why you would ever want to use the adjustable sensitivity feature in a game, and what the benefits are easily belongs here, as far as I'm concerned.  That wouldn't even make much sense as a question on GameDev, which is more geared towards questions like "How wide a range should I allow players to adjust their sensitivity in?".
Comment: The question is one that is initially *framed* as "Why did the designers implement an ability to change sensitivity settings?", which would be off topic. However, this is one that is simple enough to also parse as "What are the benefits of different sensitivity settings?", which is tackled from a gamer's perspective. It's akin to why there's "Slice" and "Drag" motions in *Gunbound*, the gamer's side and the importance thereof is a valid inquiry.
Comment: You make a lot of good points. I still stand by my answer for questions that fit in "Why is this standard practice in the industry?", but maybe *this particular question* doesn't fit that description.
Comment: +1 "Why is it standard practice?" questions are off-topic as far as I'm concerned but... you're right, this isn't that type of question (Although I didn't realize it until I read your answer).
Comment: @GraceNote I disagree that it is simple to read that way. The asker seems to be aware of the obvious correlations between sensitivity and speed and accuracy, the question was very much focused on fairness and the "why".  Proposing that version to the author and editing it if he agreed would be one thing, but it's definitely a different question.
Comment: Basically, if the question asks what the developpers were thinking, burn it with fire?
Comment: @Fredy31 Sort of.  In some situations, like this one, it's very clear what they were thinking, and a real, informative answer can be given as to the uses of a feature, or what something is for.  Questions like 'why is the wizard robe blue' (extreme example off the top of my head), and questions like [this](http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/75443/why-did-the-mortal-kombat-series-utilize-the-finish-him-ending-move)  are the kinds of things that are completely unanswerable except by a developer of the game, and we can't rely on that.
Comment: @Matthew Sub "fix" for "parse" and you'll probably get more what I meant to say.
Comment: @GraceNote OK fair enough. Thanks
Answer: Note: This idea and policy should apply to the class of questions brought up in the original post. This does not mean that it necessarily applies to the specific example question, which may not belong to that class.
Downvote, Close, Delete
Q: How is this different from "Why did they design it that way?" questions?
A: It's not.
Trying to make a distinction between these two is only going to lead to arguments over shades of gray. We already have a policy on this, and we don't seem to be having much difficulty enforcing it. The question you liked was already closed by the community.
Seriously, what is the difference between: "Why do the characters in TF2 have melee weapons?" and "Why do so many FPS games recently have melee attacks?" Nothing. They're both poor questions for our format, and should both be treated the same way. Neither has any reason to be on our site.
Comment: @Oak In Strix's context, "trash" and "not a good fit for our site" are synonymous.
Comment: I would disagree that it's not different from 'why did they design it that way' questions.  A question about why a particular element of a particular game was made in a particular way is unanswerable, save by a developer.  A question like the linked one here is *completely* answerable.  There are clear difference between high and low sensitivity gameplay, each with their own benefits.
Comment: Dammit Strix, I was just about to post that.
Comment: I would not call them "trash". Some of them are very interesting and can be of high quality. But I agree with you they fall under the "why did they design it that way" criteria and are better fitted for an extended discussion than our form of Q&A.
Comment: would you say there are.. fifty.. shades.. of [grey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_Shades_of_Grey)?
Answer: Migrate to GameDev.SE
Big Honking Disclaimer: I can speak only from my own experience
I asked on Game Dev why games like Mass Effect 2 disabled save functionality during combat, and got several very good answers.
It seems that the question about sensitivity is similar to my question, and may be suited to that community as well.
Comment: This is usually good advice (I'd love to see fewer programming questions on GDSE!), but questions like "Why did  do ?" (rather than "Why do games like  often do ?") are frowned upon on GDSE, because unless the original developer is participating or has directly addressed that issue in a postmortem it's usually just guesswork.
Answer: Don't burn the house down with lemons
I think these are questions that are valid and answerable questions. Unrelated to gaming (mostly) but a possible example within this category is Why do we use a mouse on a computer? And there is a lot of evidence surrounding this material (see Fitt's Law, et al) as to why it has been chosen as an industry standard.
Most games today run play tests, and some game studios are starting to even run studies on practices within the industry (something we as gamers should learn about and encourage). It is conceivable to have answers in this category that belong to decisions made based on research rather than those just made arbitrarily and these are interesting and valuable questions. In fact, they are, in my opinion, some of the most interesting cross-game questions we could ask here on gaming.
On-topic-ness
I've heard a few say that these questions might be a better fit on GameDev.SE rather than here, but just because something can be asked in either place does not mean it is off topic here. The question as stated is not about the development of a game, but about the games themselves. It is from the perspective of a gamer, not a developer, and as such is a better fit here.
But what about the children arbitrary decisions?
Stating that there is no known research that supports the decision made by the industry is completely valid answer. We can say that this decision industry wide was not made (at least not with public knowledge) based on any information other than its success or on preferences by developers. "Because people saw others doing it and decided to do it themselves" is a valid answer (though my reflex is to cringe at that answer a little) as long as the leg work has been done to investigate that conclusion.
Comment: Your background is incidental to you being a gamer: that is, you don't need to have taken classes in user studies or have a degree in informatics to be considered an enthusiast gamer. The goal of Stack Exchange's vertical system isn't to broaden each vertical until it includes experts on every field (then we're just Quora or Yahoo! Answers), but to target the expertise of the defined vertical (in this case, enthusiast-level gaming).
Comment: GnomeSlice's post on the question from the OP is perfectly accurate and well-written, I upvoted it, but at its core the answer is short and sweet and rude -- **"people like different things, OK?"**.  The purpose of having options is obviously to give people options; the question is incredibly silly and pointless.  I agree that some questions about interaction design and what have you may be interesting, but they're best suited to CS or Game Dev.  They're not **our** area of expertise.  Overlapping expertise between sites is fine, but overlap of scope without the corresponding expertise is not.
Comment: I think it's less about interest and more about ability to answer. Arqade's audience is enthusiast gamers: while these questions might be interesting to a subset of that audience, are enthusiast gamers the right expert audience to answer questions about game development best practices (or worse yet, psychological studies)?
Comment: @bwarner I'm not disputing that the question can be answered, I'm disputing that this is the appropriate place to ask it instead of (or in addition to) some other site that caters to that specific expertise (namely, GameDev.SE).
Comment: @MarkTrapp I can't speak for others, but educationally speaking I am. My degree is in Informatics and I've taken classes in User Studies and research around Human-Computer Interaction. I know how to analyze and find these studies and I can say from experience it isn't actually that difficult if you just go searching. That said, I think if we don't have any expert level questions, we'll never know of sure if we can attract an expert level audience.
Comment: @Mark The answerer of the example question probably hasn't studied HCI either, but he seems to have done just fine in giving what I believe to be a correct answer, despite being "just a gamer".
Comment: @MarkTrapp This is true. But that was why I stated that those who searched for it could find this information. My background was more to illustrate that I have researched this information so that you could consider me a bit more credible in saying that finding this information when you're seeking it isn't that difficult. Gamers will be able to find it and potentially provide interesting information given the research areas they might delve into. And gamers will offer a different perspective than game developers. Like I say in my answer, the sites are not mutually exclusive in content.


Is there a book which gives a good background understanding to Isaiah's prophecies?

Question: I am trying to learn the book of the prophet Yeshaya (Isaiah). I am finding the early (unfamiliar) chapters very difficult. Rashi's commentary does not help me enough. Is there a book which gives a good background understanding to the prophecies?
Answer: I have studied Isaiah several times, and I will share a few options, all of which I have tried.

Judaica Press Isaiah. You can read the prophecies with translation right alongside to help with difficult words or phrases. The commentary is combination of Rashi and whatever other classic commentaries R' A. J. Rosenberg found useful (mostly Radak, Ibn Ezra, Joseph Kara, Abarbanel, Malbim). This is essentially an efficient and English-friendly way of learning Isaiah in the classical fashion, i.e. by poring over a Mikraos Gedolos.
I found that it was helpful enough that I didn't get stuck wondering what prophecies were about or what Isaiah meant by something, but I didn't really come out with a clear picture of the organizational structure of Isaiah, nor a full appreciation of his style. At times it becomes confusing because of the several different understandings of the commentators that R' Rosenberg often tries to blend together, mixing and matching comments on various phrases.
Abarbanel on Isaiah. This was my personal choice, but could work just as well with another comprehensive commentary on Isaiah. Abarbanel in particular is attractive because he addresses pretty much every single issue that comes up exegetically, and he divides up the book into units (nevuos), each one introduced with its overall subject and purpose and relation to the previous unit. The pros: It was very helpful to have a single unified approach to the book, and a very organized one at that, and one that adheres strictly to pshat interpretation. The cons: Abarbanel in particular is quite prolix and verbose, and often gets caught on tangents. He often feels the need to quote all the previous commentators' opinions and debate them one by one, or other such time consuming antics. He also takes as axiomatic certain things that one may easily disagree with (e.g. the chronological nature of the prophetic books), which will influence his understanding of many of the prophecies. If one were to choose a commentator that he feels he mostly agrees with their approach, that would of course be more ideal.
Daat Mikra on Isaiah. This was written by the great scholar Amos Hacham, whose expertise in biblical studies is readily apparent in the commentary he provides. He too divides the book into sections and subsections. Each section is labeled with a title, elucidated with a brief commentary, and then followed by a discussion of its contents. When I used it, I read the verses without the help of his commentary (except when necessary), then read the concluding discussion for a very well-crafted summation of the overall purpose and context of the prophecy. Hacham is in general more "academically friendly" in the sense that he pays attention to the linguistic style of Isaiah and things like scribal additions and archaeological/historical findings, but he is also without a doubt an expert in Talmudic and midrashic literature, and of course familiar with the classic Rishonim, whom he does not hesitate to quote liberally. I found using this commentary to be especially helpful in gaining an understanding of the orginization of Isaiah as a whole as well as the overarching themes of the book, which I did not get with Judaica press or even Abarbanel.
Answer: Malbim's commentary is very helpful, especially for the parts of Tanach that are not in a narrative form. He explains the relevance of one idea to the next, etc. In addition, Metzudas David (printed in that edition and in every Mikra'os Gedolos) is significantly shorter and does include many essential things that Rashi omits.
Answer: If you have access to the collected writings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, see volume four. He has an extensive overview and insight into seffer Yeshaya.
It doesn't go in order of the navi (but then again neither did Yeshaya, see Rashi in the beginning of the seffer), but his goal was a deeper, broader understanding.
Recently, Feldheim(?) reprinted this as a standalone work on Yeshaya. In this version Rabbi Hirsch's thoughts were arranged by order of psukim. I can't comment on whether it is easier to follow along with this version or not.
Answer: Yalkut Me'am Loez is a popular compilation of midrashim and commentaries that is both interesting and easy to understand. It has also been translated into English.
Answer: You can also check out The Book of Yeshayah by Julius Hirsch (Feldheim Publishers, 2015). This is a translation and comprehensive commentary on Isaiah, following the same interpretative method of his father, Rav  Samson Raphael Hirsch.


Right-Click menu awareness on Web Application

Question: The web application I am building has a custom right-click menu. I'm concerned that the user might not find this menu as normally right-clicking will only display the default browser's menu. Is there a standard way to make the user aware of custom right-click menus? Is there another way to show this information?
Comment: Slightly OT, but why bother? Does it adds significant functionality that can't otherwise be added? Also: Are you adding or removing functionality?
Answer: Context menus are an added benefit for advanced users - this is even the case on desktop applications (and even the OS itself). Even fairly experienced users of Windows tend to ignore context menus almost entirely, so I wouldn't worry too much about the fact that a web browser has a "standard" context menu that you would be overriding. If the current user understands context menus and knows how to use them, they will have no problem understanding that the context is now different, which is why they see different options (hence the name "context menu").
An important caveat is that you should never use context menus as the exclusive means to complete a task, but adding them provides your advanced users with an easier and quicker way to get things done.
There is absolutely no problem with using a context menu, and if it makes sense for your application (web or desktop) then go ahead and use it. The key thing is to make sure that every action in your context menu can be completed in another manner for those users that don't really "get" context menus (or for whatever reason don't use them).
Depending on the application, I would even go a step further and add keyboard shortcuts for certain commands as well. If you're getting to the point of setting up context menus, you are probably at the point where you are optimizing your interface, so keyboard shortcuts can only help with that more.
Comment: "There is absolutely no problem with using a context menu"...well, they can over-ride the browser's own contextual menu, which could be an accessibility/usability issue for folks. In general, I prefer to not take away default browser behavior. That said, lots of sites are doing this now (Flickr comes to mind) so perhaps precedence trumps that issue.
Comment: There are many things in a browser's context menu that many people will not be able to find in the main menu. Most will never have had to access that menu before and all browsers except Safari hide the menu from their users. Don't underestimate the features in the default context menu. "Search with Google" and Apple's "lookup" dictionary feature are cornerstones of many people's daily interaction with their computer.
Comment: This reminds me of the good old days, where a site would display a pop-up if you right-clicked. It would generally say something like "Don't take our images! Or do things that we don't agree with!".
Comment: @KoenLagevenn & Charles Boyung - My experience with enterprise web applications suggests you are both wrong!!! ;) Starting around 2003 or so, participants in our usability tests of web applications started opening the context menu to search for functionality before looking anywhere else in the application. We hypothesized this behavior had less to do with (1) experience with browser context menus, or (2) overall system expertise. Rather, the applications were similar enough to desktop applications that the presence of functions in a context menu was assumed.
Comment: @DA01 - what accessibility issue could there be? Those menu options are still available via the browser menus themselves.
Comment: Taking a way default functionality of the browser can always introduce accessibility/usability issues that one should be aware of and test for (see also: keyboard commands)
Comment: @KoenLageveen "cornerstones of many people's daily interaction with their computer"? Sorry, but you're wrong. I have hardly seen anyone that isn't a "power user" use anything beyond copy and paste that is available in the browser context menu. And they aren't using the context menu for those either actually - they are using the keyboard shortcuts.
Comment: @user1757436 - How does that contradict my point that the browser's built in context menu isn't really valuable?
Answer: Generally I would suggest you not use right click menus, because just like you said: users are not aware of this menu's existence.
Jakob's Law of the Web User Experience states that "users spend most of their time on other websites." This is the biggest reason for you to use another solution
On the other hand, if it's a corporate app or an app where users need to study the UI anyway, or if the UI is like Excel or any other Office apps, you may try using a unique right click menu because in this case users would expect your app to function like the offline ones.
Comment: I like the comment "users spend most of their time on other websites"
Comment: @sushil bharwani Thank you! :) unfortunately it is not my idea, but well put by Jakob Nielsen!
Comment: i have seen a catalog manager for products where the only way to add anything was right click menu..
Answer: It depends on the nature of your web app, and the true answer can only be bore out with proper user testing.
It should be fine if your app is an 'editor tool': If your app is a tool of some kind that has a 'canvas' or 'grid' like a document editor, spreadsheet, or drawing tool, then I suspect you'll find users will naturally expect the right click to work and be context-sensitive to your specific app's needs. That the browser menu drops down outside of the canvas area is fairly intuitive.
Well established existing precedents exist: E.g. most if not all of Google's online 'editor tools' (docs, spreadsheets, drawings etc) support right click.
PS labelling niggle: it's not a right click for left-handed users. Sadly, for the more sinister amongst us it is not a right click, but they are used to it being called this so I guess it's unavoidable really.
Comment: I'm left-handed but there are some things I learned to do (like using a mouse, joystick, and guitar) with my right hand. Even when I use a mouse in my left hand, I still use the normal button configuration (index clicks secondary button, ring clicks primary).
Comment: I just found out that the correct term for it is 'Context Menu'? Ok, for my app, the context menu is only applied on the a calendar that resides in the main page. Imagine this image is the calander http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uzr-wsSLigk/TS-aFubUuZI/AAAAAAAAAMg/GFxyNn9PPMw/s1600/2011%2BTimetable%2BTerm%2B1_Class-1%2Bcopy%2B2.jpg . Do you think the user aware that each boxes can be right-clicked?
Answer: If you're worried people won't discover the context menu action, how about having a small button in the corner of each actionable item when you hover over it. This would pop up the context menu.
Comment: yes! but what will this button look like?
Comment: vertical or horizontal three dots


How do pilots detect and respond to windshear while landing and taking off?

Question: How does wind shear affect aircraft while landing and taking off? How do pilots detect that they are encountering wind shear and what would they have to do to prevent it from turning into a bad situation?
Answer: The most dangerous form of windshear for planes is the microburst. This is a downdraft that after it hits the ground spreads out in all directions. It is dangerous particularly for planes low to the ground (on takeoff and landing)
When a plane coming in for a landing approaches the microburst it will enter a headwind and see and increase of airspeed and lift, the inexperienced and unsuspecting pilot may then reduce engine power to slow down and keep himself aligned. After the plane passes through the burst it will enter a tailwind decreasing lift which may cause the plane to crash into the ground short of the runway.
To prevent crashing the pilot would need to keep power and possibly abort the approach to wait out the burst.
Detecting windshear from the ground is done with doppler radars (TDWR) and multiple wind sensors (LLWAS) which can detect the changes in wind which will be relayed to pilots in accordance with regulations (3-1-8).
All turbine powered airplanes used in §121 operations, except for turbopropeller powered airplanes, must have a windshear detection system installed, this is detected in one of 2 ways, using the onboard weather radar (predictive) or using the wind sensors on the aircraft like the angle of attack and airspeed (reactive).
Comment: don't forget that the downdraft of the microburst itself also affects the airplane to compound the problem
Comment: While this answer addresses microbursts, which are certainly the most dangerous, it doesn't address the more common types of windshear which pilots encounter on a regular basis.
Comment: The reactive windshear algorithm uses both air data and inertial data to identify the presence of windshear.
Answer: Windshear recognition and recovery, both during takeoff and landing are regularly practiced in simulators. Recognition includes a sudden loss of airspeed or a sudden increase in airspeed (probably to be followed by a sudden loss). Recovery (at least back when I was flying) included going to max power while bringing the nose up until stick shaker activation, which condition you would fly in until through the shear.
Answer: As soon as uncommanded: speed  deviation of 15-20kts. Vertical speed deviation and glide slope deviation of 1 dot and if EGPWS incorporates windshear call outs and Flight Director guidance for windshear recovery; SIMULTANEOUSLY:
DISCONNECT AUTO PILOT
MAX THRUST
FOLLOW FD GUIDANCE (or WINGS LEVEL MAX PITCH TO STICK SHAKER)
DO NOT CHANGE CONFIG(EXCEPT SPEED BRAKES  CLOSED IF THEY WERE OPEN)
ADVISE ATC
ADVISE CABIN
Comment: In that case, it would probably be best to write this answer in ordinary English instead of writing it in the style of a flight manual. As your answer is written, people who see your answer are going to think it's a quote from one particular aircraft's manual.
Comment: would you happen to have a source for that? it seems to be quoted from somewhere.
Comment: No..from my own experience and reading of various aircraft flight manuals which I was was qualified to fly.


Password no more working on a vista session: is that possible?

Question: I try to help my friend with his vista laptop but cannot figure out what can be the cause of this problem.
He has 2 users on his vista laptop, each been secured with a password.
On the first session (non admin user), no pb to login in (the password is a current word from the dictionnary).
On the second session (admin user), he had some problem login during the last weeks: sometimes the password was not recognized and sometimes it was (sometimes, after a couple of reboot, the login was successful). Now it seems the login is not possible anymore (at least 20 reboot but nothing changed). The password for this session is quite complexe one (something like ZZ@abc5).
My first though was that:
- a key from the keyboard might be damaged and preventing the password from been entered correctly => we have checked and this is not the case
- the keyboard language was changed (EN instead of FR) => also checked this and this is not the cas
- I've tested to use the visual keyboard but same thing.
- I've used the "safe mode" but this is the same thing
As this happens for an admin user, this is quite annoying.
Any idea ?
Answer: I did not understand the origin of the problem but I manage to get rid of it by clearing the user's password using an Ubuntu live CD and the chntpw utility.


Are there wireless file transfer adapter options for the Canon 550D/T2i?

Question: Is there an equivalent to the wireless adapters available for higher-end Canon DSLRs? The closest thing I have found are the EyeFi cards but was wondering if there are any other alternatives.
Comment: I didn't find any sort of wireless adapter for 550D except using that EyeFi, in the official Canon site there's none of it, search in 3rd party accessories also no luck.
Answer: No, there are not any for the Rebel line.  The EyeFi is your best option, and works well with the Rebels, especially the T1i, T2i and T3i. The newer EyeFi products support saving to mobile devices running iOS or Android, similar to the Canon wifi adapters pushing to FTP.  It also can push video and RAW to your computer or to their servers.
The biggest disadvantage is that you don't have the wireless tethering feature that the high-end adapters provide.  There are options though, you can look into something like onOne's DSLR Remote, which uses a USB tether to a laptop, and then you use your iPhone or iPad to remotely control and use Live View to frame your shots.  This works really well when framing group shots, and you're out in front of the camera arranging the group, or you're actually in the shot.  It's also helpful for nature photography, when a IR trigger won't reach because of the sun and you don't want to be near the camera.
Comment: Thanks, Benjamin. Looks like an EyeFi card is the way to go then for the time being. I'm after the ability to push RAW so it sounds like they'd be ideal. I'll also check out the DSLR remote.
Answer: If after two years you're still looking for an answer to this, you can probably make your own with a Raspberrry Pi and gphoto. It's not exactly an off-the-shelf solution, but it's doable.
Comment: I randomly bought a Rasberry Pi not all that long ago :) Will take a look and thanks for replying, even though it's a pretty old thread.
Answer: Cam ranger. If you go to tethertools.com they have a product called camranger which is an awesome product that turns your android or iPhone iPad or Mac into a full featured camera controller as well as being able to control multiple cameras simultaneously. The other suggestion being the wifi sdhc card. You don't need to go with eyefi or mobi. Just get any wifi card. Toshiba make one for $40 or less. You can transfer directly to your computer.  Also there is cube. And heaps of other options


Inherited thousands of Magic Cards

Question: I have inherited over 20,000 Magic cards. What is the best way to find out what they are worth for selling. Do I need to look up each card? How? Where?
Comment: Do you have any knowledge of Magic (especially rarities and sets), and how much effort are you willing to put into maximizing your profit?
Comment: Related: http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/13907/how-should-i-group-rare-magic-cards-when-selling-them-online?lq=1 and http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/5458/where-can-i-sell-my-magic-the-gathering-cards?lq=1
Comment: Do you know what time frame the cards are from?  Newer cards have some clear indications of what cards might be valuable, but older cards do not.  Generally you can look at the bottom of the card and find a copyright year to give you an idea of how old the card is.
Comment: Also, are they organized at all? Do you know if there are rares, possibly kept separately? If it's just someone's boxes full of commons and uncommons it might not be as useful to try to look up values for individual cards.
Comment: Does your collection have cards older than Eighth Edition?
If not, [here](http://blog.mtgprice.com/2014/10/27/the-great-modern-uncommon-and-common-search-data-crunching-part-2/) is a list of expensive commons and uncommons from Eighth Edition through Khans of Tarkir. It's only about a year old.
Comment: On this topic, my entire giant 10k collection is ~Ice Age and earlier (90's through early 2001). Is there any way to quickly price and sell collections from this era? Is there an easy marketplace to flip the whole thing?
Answer: Your first goal is to separate bulk from value. Bulk cards are usually valued by the inch (for example, they'll buy for $0.20 an inch, which works out to about $0.005 per card) so getting value cards out of the bulk pile is paramount in properly valuing a collection.
The first thing you'll want to do is sort the cards by set. This will make them much easier to look up. I suggest you do this with the cards upside down if you're right handed so it's easier to thumb through them. Remember that cards will naturally have some order to them, so you will likely have a lot of runs in the same pile. If you find there's too many sets, then only pick out a couple of sets per pass (ideally the ones that have the most, to reduce the amount of picking on the next pass). I sorted a collection of 10,000 cards in five passes, but I used my knowledge of the block structure to help with that.
There's a very nice guide to identifying sets on this site.
Once you have them sorted by set, you'll want to go through each set and find the value cards. Go to a website of your choosing that lists the prices by set, and filter by the price so you only see prices over a certain threshold. (When pricing collections, I use $0.75 as my threshold, since they're the ones likely to pop over $1.00 on occasion...)
Separate your commons and uncommons into one pile and your rares and mythics into another pile. This can easily be done by flipping the pile upside down and thumbing from left to right. Commons are black, uncommons are silver, rares are gold and mythics are red. Now go to your price list for the set and identify if there are any commons or uncommons over your threshold. Don't let the Lightning Bolts and Ponders get lost in your bulk pile! Next look at the number of rares or mythics in the set on your price list - if it's like 8 or less, just find those 8 by name in your rare pile. If it's more than that, sort your rare pile by name, and sort your price list by name, and go down both the list and pile at the same time. You can skip large chunks of the set this way, and you'll find that sorting by name gets a lot easier after you've done it a few times.
I find on average it takes around 1 hour per 1000 cards using this method. You end up looking at each card 4 times doing this:

Separate by block (so you only have about 20 or so piles)
Separate blocks into sets (one pile into four piles)
Separate into common/uncommon and rare/mythic
Picking out commons, or picking out /sorting for rares

So a 20,000 card collection should take around 20 hours or so to sort.
This doesn't take into account foil cards. As a general rule, just to save time, any full art card, foil card, or dual-mana producing land I will set aside and look up separately.
Comment: Note that early sets (Stronghold and before) don't have any color indicator of rarity.  If you don't know the set symbols, look up any card with a date in the 1990's on the bottom just to be safe.
Answer: There is no short cut way for someone not familiar with the game.
The easiest way is to go to a reputable local game store, and offer to sell them the entire batch in bulk.
A potential easy way is to find young honest kids, who love sorting cards, and have them sort by expansion/set and rarity.  Then price the individual rares, mythic rares, and complete sets of commons and uncommons.  I have three such kids who would love to engage in such a task if you are interested.
Comment: Kids are especially a good idea if you work out a deal where they end up with a decent amount of cards. Even if there's real value and you don't want to just give it *all* away, you could easily give them their choice of at least a few valuable cards and most/all of the bulk commons and uncommons that you wouldn't sell for much anyway. Magic is not a cheap hobby, especially on a kid's allowance, so you could really make their day.
Answer: What is the current storage condition of the cards? Are they loosely organized by color and alphabet, or meticulously filed by expansion and collector number? The better the cards are organized, the less initial labor you'll have to do.
Start with the larger sites that operate in the 2nd hand marketplace; tcgplayer, channelfireball, etc. Find their buy lists and use it as a dig through of the collection to identify things that have a specific interest.
Consider how much energy you want to invest in selling off the cards. Consignment options may exist, or you can piecemeal via ebay.
Answer: If you are looking to maximize your profit, doing it yourself and selling them piecemeal is the best way. If you have someone you trust that knows MTG and can help you, you can work out a deal with them. Kids might be a good idea, but that wouldn't be my first choice.
Mox Diamond and MTGPrice are two dealers I have used in the past, but local comic shops, craigslist and ebay work just as well.
With the number of cards you have, if you can identify the rares, you can get a rough estimate of what the total value of cards are that you have. If the cards are not sorted in any fashion, look for the gold set icon in the middle of the card, just below the picture and just above the body text of the card.
If your cards are sorted already by the set icon, you can set aside the cards from sets that didn't have gold/silver/black color differences and look those up individually.
For a realistic preparation, the value of 20k cards can be valued for as little as $200 (0.01 per card) to as much as several thousand. Everything hinges on what cards you have. Commons are worth little to nothing and some rares are simply rare but not of high value.
Selling these cards in bulk on ebay or to a friend is the easiest, but you have to be able to identify the number of rares to certify you aren't selling a bulk of commons and then find a buyer willing to purchase them without actually being able to take the time and sort them. This method is also the one where you will receive the least amount of money for.
My bottom line advice is to spend the time sorting them first by set then alphabetically within the set. After that, make a catalog of only the rare cards. Once you know what you have, you can then get a better idea of what you can sell them for.
You might even get lucky and find some very expensive rares that you'll want to sell individually.
Answer: It all depends on how much time you are willing to put into sorting cards and looking up what they are worth
You can sell the rares for bulk at 15 cents US to any dealers at PTQ's or GP's and call it a day or you can go to MTG search engines and find out what is worth more than bulk. Be prepared to not get retail for you non bulk cards though.
The biggest retailers are Star City Games and channel fireball. You can try troll and toad and card kingdom as well although I have no experience with there store.
Star City Games has a great track record. I have bought from them for years and even when the packages have to travel literally half way around the world they always arrive.
They also have a simply brilliant customer service department that always answers your questions in a timely manner.
It may be a good idea to send them an email. They do not shark people.

Inherited thousands of Magic Cards