How to Prevent Cramping

Question: When I increase my riding routine I end up getting bad cramps in both my calves and also my thighs and hamstrings.  Does anyone have any tips to reduce cramps when your riding gets more serious.
Comment: Patient: `Doctor, it hurts when I do this!`

Doctor: `Then don't do that!` :)
Comment: Do you mean cramping whilst riding or cramping afterwards?
Comment: Afterwards, mainly not long after and especially at night
Comment: I saw people with cramps in random situations. Sometimes vitamins (vegetables) helped them, sometimes milk products.
Answer: I had problems with cramps in my legs after about an hour of exercise. A friend of mine that is a physical therapist said that if you sweat a lot this can cause loss of potassium, calcium, and magnesium. These minerals are used to signal the muscles to flex and relax. I started eating vitamins with these minerals in them. Since then my problems are gone.
Stretching and a good warm up is also important to prevent cramps.
Comment: @Andrew -- because, as far as I know, there's no evidence stretching cold muscles actually does anything as opposed to just warming up by simply riding slowly for a mile or so. I recently stopped stretching, and have noticed nothing. The only time I stretch is if I need to start for the day and don't have the option to ride slowly and gently (for example, if I have to start climbing right away).
Comment: Don't forget to add solid hydration to the answer above. You should be drinking about 1 litre and hour or fluid. If you loose more than 2 pounds on a ride then you're not drinking enough.
Comment: The latest "official" advice is that static stretching should only be done after exercise, while dynamic stretching (aka warming up) should be done beforehand. Static stretching increases medium-term flexibility, but reduces short-term performance.
Comment: +1 for ingesting potassium, -1 for stretching.
Comment: @Andrew I have some problems with my foot that a slow warm up doesn't do much for, as the foot is quite static when biking. To avoid problems I have to start each day with a gentle stretch and massage of these muscles. Since I started doing this the problems is slowly going away. But I can agree with that intensive stretching is not good before the muscles are warm and can cause pain.

@curtismchale Word, water is important and easy to forget when it's colder. During the winters I always tend to forget to drink enough.
Comment: @neilfein why -1 for stretching?
Comment: @neilfein, I have heard that stretching before exercise is actually not good for muscles, however, do you stretch after riding, and does this help with cramps, as I do find stretching after riding helps a bit, but not much on it's own.
Answer: I used to get bad cramps after just 25 minutes of riding and found out that it was due to low potassium levels. I'd recommend more bananas and potatoes or a good potassium supplement.
Answer: I know roadies who swear by pickle juice - that's the brine in which pickles and gherkins are preserved.  Its basically salty sweetened vinegar.  The pickle juice I have no evidence for, but a nice road rider told me that, as he ate pickles and drank the juice... it worked for him.
Real bananas is another one, but I'd expect them to squash and bruise easily.  Banana lollies don't work, but bars with banana baked in do help.
Simply staying hydrated is your first fix.  Depending on the weather, sun, wind and gradient, I can drain two 600 mL bottles in an hour.  So for a 3 hour ride I'd need 6 bottles, or stop near a fountain.   Pre-hydrating helps too - that's where you drink a couple glasses of water before your ride, not enough to cause bloat.  This also helps you pee before your ride.  Sufficient hydration helps the muscles to not cramp.
http://everydayhealth.com/news/unusual-signs-of-dehydration point 3 summary: Muscle cramps are a follow on effect from overheating which comes about by dehydrating, and point 5 describes bonking.
http://emedicinehealth.com/heat_cramps/page2_em.htm summary: Sweating leads to a low-sodium condition called hyponatremia.
Then the flip side http://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/09/ways-to-stop-muscle-cramps summary: Dehydration probably not cause Muscle Cramps, and pickle juice probably doesn't help.
So based on that, the jury is undecided.  Whatever works for you as a rider is good.  Some experimentation may be required.
Comment: Can't pure water be detrimental? I got bad cramps on a sportive today and it appeared some time after I had my bidon re-filled with water. But I was also pushing much harder than I am used to and on a much longer distance than I am used to. Unfortunately, they were out of any energy gels on the next food stops. I was not low on carbs as I was I still able to bridge some gaps, when I was not currently actively cramping.
Comment: @VladimirF possibly - cold/chilled water can be bad, as can changes in routine.  If you're used to exercising with one thing and then change it, might trigger cramps.
Answer: There are a number of potential conditions which can cause cramps or muscle pain, while riding, immediately after riding, or hours later.
Two that I am personally aware of are low potassium and a condition called MADD.
Low potassium is especially likely on hot, humid days when you sweat a lot.  The body has stores of most chemicals the muscles need (eg, calcium is stored in the bones), but it cannot store extra potassium -- it only has what's in the blood and body fluids.  And potassium, which is lost in sweat, is a critical chemical in muscle metabolism -- even though the muscles don't "burn" potassium (it's reused again and again), without it they will contract and not be able to relax.  This can result in agonizing muscle cramps anywhere in the body (though the legs are most likely if you've been cycling), and there is non-trivial risk of muscle injury.
The solution to low potassium, of course, is to get more.  Bananas are a well-known source, as are potatoes.  It's a little tricky finding potassium-rich snack foods, though, since if potassium isn't listed on the nutrition label you have no idea whether potassium that might have been present in listed ingredients was washed out in preparation.  (I've used "kettle style" potato chips and various mixed nut products on occasion and they've seemed to work, though recovery is not instantaneous.)
(Magnesium and calcium are also critical for muscle metabolism, of course, but the body can better "store" these, so you're unlikely to experience a deficiency unless your diet is woefully inadequate.)
MADD is Myoadenylate Deaminase Deficiency, a genetic "metabolic disorder" that a few percent (somewhere between 1% and 5%) of the population has.  The symptom is muscle soreness and a sort of achy "pulled muscle" pain which comes on between about 6 and 48 hours after fairly vigorous or protracted exercise and which can persist for days, weeks, or even months. The cause is a defective enzyme in the muscles that doesn't properly "recycle" one of the components of ATP which power the muscles.  Lacking intense exercise, one can have this condition their entire life without being aware of it (at least until they start taking statins, which trigger symptoms without exercise).  And even if you notice it, the thought that it's a "disease" is unlikely to occur to you.
But it's an incredibly easy condition to diagnose and treat.  One merely needs to take, while experiencing symptomatic pain, a few grams of "D-Ribose", an inexpensive "food supplement" popular with weight-lifters, and the pain (or at least most of it) will miraculously vanish within an hour or so.  And treatment consists of simply taking more D-Ribose.
Another muscle condition I'm not personally familiar with is McArdle's Syndrome, a somewhat rarer genetic disorder.  This condition is known as a "glycogen storage disease" -- the body does not properly store glycogen, a starch-like chemical, in the muscles.  The purpose of glycogen is to provide energy when the muscles are deprived of blood or when blood sugar levels are low.  It usually will not affect someone engaged in an aerobic activity like cycling, but could pop up when climbing at a very low RPM, say, or when simply squatting to work on a tire.  The primary symptom is a sudden, intense cramp, though low-level injury can occur without significant cramping.
A non-pain symptom of both MADD and McArdle's is the appearance of "tea colored" urine, or urine which, after sitting in the bowl for a couple of minutes, has a rust-like sediment settle out.  This is "myoglobinuria", the remnants of dead muscle tissue, and it's obviously a sign that muscle is being (permanently) damaged.  It also creates a significant risk of kidney failure.
Beyond that there is low blood sugar, low salt, and dehydration, but these do not generally cause muscle cramps, but rather result in fatigue and light-headedness.  Low blood sugar can be especially insidious, as it causes "ketosis" which basically poisons the body and which requires a day or two to recover from, while low salt and dehydration, if caught before unconsciousness or a crash occurs, can be recovered from very quickly when the necessary nutrients are restored.  But it's fairly easy to provoke any of these conditions near the end of a long, hot day, so it's important to be alert to the symptoms, in yourself and your companions.
Comment: Yes, bananas are the traditional cyclist solution.
Answer: This New York Times article asks Can Pickle Juice Stop Muscle Cramps?
It concludes the something about pickle juice seems to help, but with no clear explanation why or how.
It's a worthwhile read because of it's general discussion of the problem.
Answer: How long are your rides, and how well do you fuel up before and during rides?
Cramping is likely due to mineral or salt imbalance (sodium, potassium, and magnesium, calcium, plus a few other more minor ones). It could also be due to lack of energy of your muscles to continue working. Either could be compounded with rides longer than your body is used to, and both are relatively easy to solve (assuming that it's not a bigger problem). Depending on how long/intense your rides are getting, it may be a good time to focus a bit more on nutrition & making sure you have enough energy & salts/minerals for the ride.
Most people consume far too much sodium (at least in some Western countries), and not enough potassium. A balance of both is needed for muscle contraction.  Magnesium and calcium are also needed. Dark leafy greens are great for potassium & magnesium, and there are many of sources of calcium out there (think dairy, and there are others as well). Managing a minimum sodium intake is usually not an issue, however too much can be problematic for other reasons. Supplements can help. Gatorade and other commercial products might be useful too, and may also help if your body is running low on energy.
If the cramping is towards the end of your ride, it may be that your body's store of rapidly available energy is running out. A small, carbohydrate-rich snack before (and perhaps during your ride-depending on the length) may help. Doesn't hurt to try it to see if it helps. As you increase ride length/intensity, your body will adapt and store more rapidly-available energy for next time, but this can take time to develop. Also needed for this is adequate recovery time between rides.
This all assumes a decent warm-up, stretching, and adequate hydration for your rides.
As always, do your own research & consult with a professional when making dietary decisions. I'm just some random person on the internet.

How to Prevent Cramping


Entry to the US with an expired Nexus

Question: Is it possible to enter the US through the Nexus lane while my Nexus card is being renewed? And how?
Comment: You can for up 6 months, but not by air (if not using a passport), for which the card must be valid
Answer: According to the CBP website, you can use an Expired NEXUS card, provided you have submitted your renewal, for up to 6 or 12 months after expiry. The grace period is normally 6 months, but as of December 2019 CBP has extended it to 12 months.

If you submitted a renewal application before expiration of your
  current membership, then you can continue to use your benefits until
  the renewal is finalized (up to 6 months after your expiration date).
  CBP "I have submitted my Trusted Traveler application for review. Did CBP receive my application?"

As of December 2019, the Dashboard of the Trusted Traveler Program website says,

Due to a significant increase in application volume, we are extending
  the grace period from 6 months to 1 year for any submitted renewal
  application. This means you will continue to receive full benefits
  for 1 year while U.S. Customs and Border Protection is finalizing your
  renewal application.…

This note then links to a popup document How do I renew my Trusted Traveler (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST) membership?, without a clear URL. This popup document says,

…If you submit a renewal application before your membership expires,
  you will be able to continue to use benefits up to 1 year after your
  membership expiration date.…
Comment: The first sentence slightly mischaracterizes the quoted material, since it omits the requirement that the renewal be submitted before expiration.  I did not cast the downvote.  I find unexplained downvotes vexing.
Answer: No, it is not.  You are permitted to renew as early as one year prior to expiry so there is no need to leave renewal to the last minute.
You can, however, use a non-NEXUS lane as usual, using your passport or other WHTI-compliant identification.
Comment: I've downvoted this answer because it appears to be incorrect.
Comment: A reference would improve this answer.
Answer: You can use your NEXUS card for up to 6 months past the expiration date just as Jason said.  So long as you submitted your renewal application before it expired.  Here is the link that gives you that information. https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1332/~/i-have-submitted-my-trusted-traveler-application-for-review.-did-cbp-receive-my
Answer: The links above no longer work - here is the new link https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1332?language=en_US - note that the article calls out that you an use your card for up to 6 months if you apply to renew it before it expires.
Comment: You can (and should) edit the post that has a broken link.
Comment: I have proposed such an edit to @Jason's answer.

Entry to the US with an expired Nexus


Using ecryptfs encrypted home directories with Dovecot

Question: I have setup home directory encryption on Ubuntu 10.04 machine, but ecryptfs does not seem to be able to work with Dovecot (or CourierIMAP, etc).
After successful IMAP login, home directory is never mounted, and Dovecot obviously can not find mail directory.
I am not sure I understand how the mount is triggered, so I need some help.
Dovecot is using PAM, so I hoped that after successful login home directory would be mounted, but this is all I get in logs and directory is not mounted:
Jan 16 02:12:37 ubuntu dovecot-auth: pam_sm_authenticate: Called
Jan 16 02:12:37 ubuntu dovecot-auth: pam_sm_authenticate: username = [username]
Jan 16 02:12:37 ubuntu dovecot-auth: Passphrase file wrapped
Jan 16 02:12:38 ubuntu dovecot-auth: Error attempting to add filename encryption key to user session keyring; rc = [1]
Jan 16 02:12:38 ubuntu dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<username>, method=PLAIN, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1, secured

If I create an SSH session and then perform IMAP login, it works (obviously) but I get this:
Jan 16 02:30:25 ubuntu dovecot-auth: pam_sm_authenticate: Called
Jan 16 02:30:25 ubuntu dovecot-auth: pam_sm_authenticate: username = [username]
Jan 16 02:30:25 ubuntu dovecot-auth: pam_sm_authenticate: /home/username is already mounted

So, it does seem like Dovecot (well, PAM module, I guess) is trying to mount the home directory, but it either mounts and dismounts it immediately or something else happen - and I am unable to figure out that part.
I have also tried using SSHD's PAM file for Dovecot, but nothing really changed, except the fact I was not getting the error message ("Error attempting to add filename encryption key to user session keyring...").
On Ubuntu community Dovecot page (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Dovecot) there is a paragraph that says:

NOTE: Dovecot will NOT work in an encrypted directory/folder. Dovecot would just complain about permissions and wont work. One answer is to create a 2nd user account that has an unencrypted home directory. We have not tested this solution on a separate home partition, but most probably the outcome would be the same.

However, I am not sure if this is definitive answer (and I don't understand what they mean with having 2nd user account).
I would appreciate if someone could tell me if it is possible to use Dovecot (with mail directory inside user's home directory) with ecryptfs.
I have seen this question (and borrowed some wording from it :) on Launchpad's ecryptfs questions page (but no answer to it), so seems like I am not the only one with the problem.
Thanks.
Answer: The problem is that pam_ecryptfs captures and uses your login passphrase to decrypt ~/.ecryptfs/wrapped-passphrase, and perform your home directory mount.
Unfortunately the non-interactive dovecot pam session that you describe doesn't ever actually snag your login passphrase, so it cannot perform the mount.  Sorry.
Answer: I have never set it up myself. Your error seems to indicate that Dovecot opens a PAM session then immediately closes it. Could you post the relevant passages from you Dovecot config as well as /etc/pam.d/dovecot ?

I have also tried using SSHD's PAM file for Dovecot, but nothing really changed, except the fact I was not getting the error message ("Error attempting to add filename encryption key to user session keyring...").

Do you get an error message in this case ? Is PAM debugging enabled in you Dovecot config ? If not, use the following :
passdb pam {
  args = failure_show_msg=yes
}

Here are a few of the elements I would check :

Are you passing session=yes to PAM ? You should not in this instance.
Is lookup caching disabled in Dovecot ?
If you are using Dovecot < 1.1, ensure that you're using non-forking lookups
Comment: I apologize, didn't get email notification about an answer, and I gave up on this long time ago anyway. Do I need to accept this answer? I do not have the setup available for testing anymore, so it is kind of pointless for me to try to continue the discussion.


How to place two data driven pages on one map layout?

Question: I need to place two data frames (DF) with different data driven pages (DDP) on one map layout. i have two different Strip Map Index Features (SMIF) for each data frame.
When i turn next page in DDP series for DF1 this work only for DF1. If i want next DDP in DF2 i need to setup DDP and choose SMIF2.
Is it possible on one map?
Dynamic text work only current DDP this is problem too.
P.S. I don`t have Map Atlas Extension.
Comment: I don't think you can have two DDP on the same map layout. However, with the text you can do a join to one of your DDP-driving layers and use that. I've noticed that too much (>5) DDP-text on the layout severely slows down performance.
Comment: Thanks. You can tell more about dynamic text join on my example.
I have SMIF1 and SMIF2  with field attributes in table. what i need to do? As result i will get two different dyn. text who take attribute from two different feature layers and use one DDP?
Comment: It's no different than any other join you make. Based on spatial relations (Spatial join) or common attributes (Join Field) you can join data to your DDP-layer, which you then can access and display on your layout.
Answer: To my understanding it is not possible to have two different data frames each using data driven pages. However, there are methods/tricks you can employ to emulate this behavior by manipulating properties of the data frame. Specifically the Extent Indicator and Data Frame tabs of the Data Frame Properties dialog.

For example, in the image above the same layer that is used as the Index Layer in the data driven enabled main data frame is also placed in a second data frame shown in the lower right of the page. On the Extent Indicator tab of the second data frame (inset map), the show extent indicators for these data frames property is set to the main data frame (in this case Surveys) which is currently using data driven pages.

Then, as in the image, above set the data frame tab Extent property to Automatic and Extent Used By Full Extent Command to Extent of data in all layers (Default). This will cause the inset map to keep its same extent when the going through the data driven pages but have a colored indicator tracking the page of the data driven pages, which are on a much more focused scale.
Although this is an example, manipulating the options on the Extent Indicator and Data Frame tabs of the Data Frame Properties can quasi enable data driven pages for two data frames.
Comment: +1 for extent indicators, didn't think of that one (even though I use it almost every week).
Comment: @JamesSLC You may help me. I'am not sure what i correctly understood how extent indicator work. My map has 3 data frames: 1DF Contain base part of polygon (use DataDrivenPage to show next item); 2DF Contain additional part, but not all basic polygons have this part (use Bookmarks); 3DF This is extent indicator. In theory, I add 1DF and 2DF to "Show extent indicator for these data frames:" in Extent Indicator dialog. But its work only for one DF (1 or 2). Maybe not works becose second DF does not always has extent?


Why don't we light the full menorah all 8 days?

Question: If the reason we light candles on Chanukah is as a commemoration for the fact that the lights of the menorah burned for 8 days on fuel that was only sufficient for 1, why don't we light our menorahs in the same way the menorah was lit in the beis hamikdash? Meaning, why don't we light all 8 (or, if we really wanted to emulate the way the menorah was lit, 7) candles each day of Chanukah?
Comment: You want to light seven 192-hour candles?
Comment: @DoubleAA no, just 8(/7) candles that last the halachic minimum. Although, the fact that we could actually light 192 hour candles sorta makes the miracle seem pretty feeble
Comment: Are you asking why the basic mitzva is one instead of seven, or why the mehadrin min hamehadrin (the best way to do the mitzva) is increasing from one to eight?
Comment: @not-allowedtochangemyname It would only make the miracle seem feeble if they were 24-hour candles and they lasted for 192 hours.
Comment: maybe we should use as much oil as they used http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/50701/6873
Answer: The purpose of lighting is to publicise the miracle and not as a commemoration (in the sense of re-enactment) of the miracle of the oil. See Rashi on מבחוץ. Shabbos 21b .
Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel give different reasons for why they light in decreasing and increasing numbers of lights respectively.
The reasons are B"S – the days that are to come or the bull offerings of Sukkos (which decrease) and B"H – the days that have gone or because we increase in holiness and not decrease.
The reason for the changing number is not related directly to the miracle of the oil.
Comment: Rashi just says "משום פרסומי ניסא" I don't see how that indicates what the mitzva should be like. If you want to say it's not in some way re-enacting the original miracle, then why light candles? Why not post signs?
Comment: Yes, but they could just be reasons for once we decide to do things in a progressing way, which way should that be? We still have to find out why we chose to use a progressing way, instead of a constant 7 (or something like that).
Comment: And it is pretty strongly related, because it is directly related to the number of days in the holiday which is directly related to the length of the miracle of teh oil.
Comment: @DoubleAA I take your points! But will you agree that the second reasons of B"H and B"S are not related to the oil?
Answer: We purposely don't light a seven light Menorah because we aren't supposed to replicate the holy vessels for our own use.
The fact that we light for eight days shows the miracle of it lasting eight days. Nothing is to be gained by lighting eight candles. Therefore, the original Mitzvah is to light one candle each of the eight days. This means one candle per household.
The Gemara says that there are two levels of Mehadrin, of showing more enthusiasm about this commemoration and thanking of Hashem.
The first level is to add a candle for every person in the household. The next level is (according to Beis Hillel) to add one for each day. This shows how we are living along with the excitement of the fact that the miracle is for another day.
Comment: We do light seven lights on the seventh night, though.
Comment: @DoubleAA Which is why I worded it carefully: "A seven light Menorah."
Comment: But not everyone starts with all 8 placeholders in place before Chanukkah. I've seen people adding on another, eg. beer bottle, each night. So too with people staying away on the 7th night (eg this year on Motzash) who just bring a makeshift menorah for that night.
Comment: @DoubleAA setting up seven candles is not the form of a Menorah (as far as replicating Klei Kodesh goes).
Comment: @HaLeiVi so if you don't need a menorah, then you haven't answered the question -- why not light seven candles each night? who says this is about not replicating holy vessels?
Comment: @wfb The only purpose of seven would be to replicate the Menorah in the Mikdash.
Answer: An alternative approach.
The answer to this question could depend on the answer to the question of the Beit Yosef as to why we celebrate Chanukah for eight days if we are celebrating the miracle (Shabbat 21b) that oil that should have lasted for only one day lasted for eight. We should celebrate Chanukah for seven days, since only seven days of the burning of the oil were miraculous!
The following two reasons (text taken from)  (and) of the Beit Yosef himself might lead us to say that we increase the number of lights each day to symbolise our increasing wonder at the repetition of the miracle rather than lighting all 8 lights every day.

1)    Those who were preparing the Menorah for lighting knew that it
  would take eight days until new oil could be obtained. They therefore
  divided the flask into eight parts, so that at least the Menorah would
  be lit every day, albeit not for the entire day. A miracle occurred
  and the small amount of oil that was placed in the Menorah each day
  lasted an entire day. Hence, there was a miracle on the first day as
  well.
2)    On the first night, the contents of the flask were emptied into the
  Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for one entire day.
  However, after filling the Menorah, it was discovered that the flask
  miraculously was still full. This miracle repeatedly occurred for each
  of the days. Hence, there was a miracle on each of the eight days.

This does not seem to work for the first answer of the Beit Yosef that:

they split the supply they had into eight parts. Thus, on each of the
  eight days a miracle occurred, since oil that should have lasted for
  an eighth of a night lasted an entire night.

A full analysis of all the answers to the Beit Yosef's question is obviously needed.
Answer: A kabbalah interpretation from Rav Mansour 2009 Shabbat Drash
In the Beit Hamikdash the Menorah that was lit daily had seven lamps. So on the eight nights of Hanukah they lit a total of 56 lights . 7 candles per day for 8 days total 56) to nullify the (דין)
We also see in Tehilim perek 23 מזמור לדוד ה' רועי has 57 words to "sweeten" the .דין
Longer detail:
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphabet that correspond to
 (kindness). There are 5 letters that are סופי תיבות (the letters that words can only end with). They are מ,נ,צ,פ,ך these letters correspond to 5 דינים (strict judgement). This is seen in the fact that they "constrict" a word- disabling the word to continue after them. We see this alluded to in the וידוי prayer when we repent based on the מרדנו :are doubled (ex דינים-מנצפך The letters of .)אשמנו בגדנו( א,ב letters of the showing the strictness of these letters. The total numerical )מרינו דברך- נאצנו נאפנו .דינים 280 equal= 280. They are therefore called the מנצפך value of these letters Each one of the 5 סופי תיבות letters represents 56 out of the 280 (280 divided by 5 =56). So the number 56 corresponds to דין (strict judgment), this is why before ויהי נועם ה' אלקינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו :doing certain Mitzvot we say the Pasuk to sweeten the 5 times 56 contained )56=נו( s'"נו" 5 which has in it ומעשה ידינו כוננהו . דינים 280 in the
In order to sweeten the 56 we "need" 57. The numerical value of the names of Hashem of ...'57= אל ה, so they sweeten the דינים of 56. That's why it says in Tehilim א-ל ה' ויאר לנו that '57( אל ה) "lights up" לנו -the 56. The Greeks attacked us using 100 out of the 280 דינים. This is alluded to in the story of Yaakov's fight against the angel of Eisav. The angel hit Yaakov in his כף- his thigh, the word כף is numerically 100, hinting that the שטן will "hit" the Jews with 100 דינים in the times of the יונים. The miracle of Hanukah was done with a פך שמן (a jug of oil). The word 100 and equals 100, hinting to the sweetening of the כף has the same letters as פך ,עשרת הדברות of the Greeks. This is also alluded to in the last letter of the דינים since there are 613 Mitzvot from the Torah and 7 from the Rabbis totaling 620. There are 620 letters in the עשרת הדברות, each letter corresponding to another Mitzvah.(an example of this is the first Mitzvah in the Torah which is פרו ורבו- to have children. The 552nd Mitzvah is to get married-קידושין the first letter in the from the word ל' and the 552nd letter is the, אנכי of the word א' is the עשרת הדברות This hints that in order to have a fruitful and successful marriage the couple .לא has to have the attitude of אנכי לא , there is no "I" in the marriage. No one can be selfish, a couple must always be considering the needs of their spouse.) The last Mitzvah is the Mitzvah of Hanukah, which is the final Mitzvah from רבנן. So the last letter of עשרת הדברות is the letter 'כ, alluding to the 100 דינים we overcome on Hanukah. (The letter 'כ spelled out is: כף which equals 100) So the extra day of Hanukah is celebrated to commemorate the overcoming of the 100 דינים, with which the יונים attacked us with.


Does iCloud Calendar Backup Include Local (Non iCloud) Calendars?

Question: First, my basic question:
If I have an iPhone and it is using a local calendar ("On This Phone", I think), and my backup is to iCloud, does that backup include the local calendar?
Edit: to be clear, the backup I'm referring to is:
iCloud.com > Settings > (Advanced section) > Restore Calendars and Reminders
Second, and the reason for my question:
I've performed a series of steps that's left me in a mess with migrating a local calendar to an iCloud calendar whilst also (around the same time) sharing iCloud calendars between two users...
The sequence has been something close to this (unfortunately I didn't note them down 100% as I was going):

iPhone A and iPhone B, separate Apple IDs, both backing up to iCloud
iPhone A uses iCloud calendars, only
iPhone B uses a local calendar, but also has an iCloud calendar containing some events that were invites from iPhone A
iPhone A shares an iCloud calendar with iPhone B. It all works as expected. The calendar is name "Calendar"
iPhone B considers sharing a calendar with iPhone A, but realises they're using a local calendar, so goes through the process of merging/migrating that local data to be in an iCloud calendar
(I think, this was achieved by turning on the Calendar option in the iCloud settings, then answering "yes" to "do you want to keep local calendar data?")
iPhone B now has iCloud calendars only; the iPhone B user checks on their Mac and they now see the iCloud calendar on their, too. Yay!
iPhone B now shares their iCloud calendar with iPhone A. The calendar is named "Calendar"
This time, the sharing from iPhone B to iPhone A only kinda works. New events on iPhone B are immediately propagated to iPhone A. However, existing events on iPhone B are not seen on iPhone A (this was not the case when iPhone A was shared to iPhone B)
Upon seeing this, the users of iPhone A and iPhone B tried things like: un-sharing and re-sharing, re-naming calendars, re-synching... None of which worked.
Unfortunately, a side effect of the above was that (and I'm not sure at what point it happened) - the existing events on iPhone B became readonly on iPhone B. New events on iPhone B went into the re-named calendar. So, the calendar on iPhone B was renamed from "Calendar" to "Ciara". Existing events were listed as being under "Calender" and new events were listed as being in "Ciara"...
Further un-sharing and showing/hiding calendars resulted in the pre-existing events on iPhone B disappearing completely...

Note:

Unfortunately, I did not export any of the calendars before doing this (I know, I should have)

What I've tried:

I've tried un-sharing all calendars, then using iCloud.com for iPhone B's account to restore a calendar (only) from before any of the above was started
It did not work
However, at the time of that backup, the Calendar option in Settings -> iCloud was turned off. When trying to restore the calendar via iCloud.com, the Calendar option is still turned on

What I'd like to try:

Turn that setting off, so iPhone B is not using iCloud calendars
Restore a calendar backup from iCloud.com
If it works, and I see the pre-existing events, first do an export, and second try to migrate to iCloud calendars on iPhone B before doing any sharing

The reason for this question:

iPhone B belongs to my wife ;)
I've already lost a whole load of her events; I don't want to mess it up further ;)
I'll try the above, if I know that the older iCloud calendar backups will have contained the local, calendar data...

Thanks
Answer: Following some trial and error, and additional reasoning, I can partially answer my own question:
(1) The events from a local calendar, on an iPhone ("On This Phone", I think it is referred to), are not backed up to the calendar-specfic area in iCloud. Here:
iCloud.com > Settings > (Advanced section) > Restore Calendars and Reminders
Although it doesn't say so explicitly, it makes sense that these iCloud calendar backups cover a user's iCloud calendars. (Plus, my attempt to restore such backups with a hope to see pre-merged, local calendars, failed).
Screen shot from iCloud.com:

(2) The iPhone backup (the complete backup of the whole phone), which in my case was being backed up to iCloud (rather than iTunes), would, I presume, include the local calendars and their events.
However, by time I'd got to looking at this, my oldest 'complete' iCloud backup was just a day old... which was after I merged the local calendars into iCloud calendars.


Are there meditation practices that improve logical problem solving skills?

Question: I meditate daily, for around 30 minutes or so, I have been on and off for the last few yew years. I only ever do a simple breathing meditation and I find it tends to make my mind smoother and more relaxed (compared to days I do not sit). I am also in the process of becoming a mathematician (hopefully completing my PhD in the next few months). Before embarking on my PhD I worked in IT as a developer/support manager, so my work has always been fairly cerebral. Given this context, I was wondering - are there particular types of meditation that specifically improve mental ability ? I know one of the obvious answers is that solving a problem in pure math is really a form of meditation, and I should probably just continue with the daily grind. I'm hoping for a bit more though. Thanks
Comment: See also [Can following Buddhist practices help me in my studies?](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/5716/254) and [Can meditation help me in my academics?](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/8745/254)
Comment: Hi Andre and welcome to Buddhism SE. We have also a [*Help Center*](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/help) with useful resources for new comers.
Answer: I am not aware of any meditation practices that improve logical problem solving skills. However (although I am not an academic), I have found, in my experience, the more clear & calm the mind is, the better my logic & problem solving skills.
Answer: I've heard that when you sleep on a problem, you're mind thinks of a solution during the rest. That's kind of how meditation works, a sort of self-induced slumber (though its important not to fall asleep during meditation).
I'm not sure how exactly the mind works better after meditation and sleep but my personal theory is that it separates from the object of meditation gaining a clear overview of possible solution paths.
As long as you don't go too far during a session it's been proven that meditation relaxes you. Logical thinking, rationality, clarirty, etc, are necessary for a mathematical mind. However, I feel thats it is also necessary to have periods of fanciful and unplanned moments.
I think the type of meditatiom that would be good for math is samata as opposed to vipassana. Briefly, vipassana focuses on present moment awareness whereas samata is on an object of meditation such as a candle or burning incense.
I have a graduate degree in statistics and work as a statistical programmer and feel that meditation not only helps me solve problems but also be a better person. It may also give you a competetive edge when used in moderation. Best of luck on your journey.
Comment: I strongly agree with your answer, which is something that used to happen to me all the time when I had a very complex job. Meditation is certainly like sleep, in that whatever problem the mind has not fully answered will 'pop' up into awareness.
Comment: Yes, it's amazing how the mind works. I guess meditation is almost like changing the oil in your car.
Answer: There is a practice called Analytical Meditation. In this type of meditation you make a problem, or something that you want a deeper understanding of, to become the object of your meditation.  You then shift the sensations of the breath to the background in your mind.
The method is very well described on pages 361-368 of "The Mind Illuminated" by Culadasa.   I think it is exactly what you are looking for. It is a component of the Mahayana vipaśyanā system called "The Union of Wisdom and Calm Abiding."
The only caveat is that you must be able to sustain your focus on the object of your meditation, in your case the sensations of the breath.  If you do not have some degree of stability in your attention to the breath, Analytical Meditation will not yet be an effective practice for you.
Answer: "Learn no-self and there will be no problem":)(a quote I heard somewhere) Sorry, I probably should have explained.
OP is practicing anapana right?
What I meant was, how about Practicing   vipassana to let go of problems, anything and everyone? It gives practitioners wisdom for more appropriate decisions when dealing with problems...although, I'm not so sure about "logical problems" although.
Answer: In addition to the clarity and calm that samatha, that practice you do already, provides, I would suggest vipassana.
Dedicated vipassana practice I had found makes me more aware of my own thoughts and any chronic logical fallacies. I would suggest adding vipassana, aka cessation-contemplation, practice.
Answer: No but you can focus on your work better than before..
Comment: Maybe you could elaborate on how one will be able to focus better after meditation practice. As a Q&A-forum we are looking for the best answers possible.
Comment: I understand - meditating is about focusing on the present moment and not getting distracted by activities that waste time. It is certainly a necessary skill in logical problem solving.
Answer: You only have to keep the ultimate aim of enlightenment in mind when practicing meditation and living in the dhamma. Then everything else, like improved logical problem solving skills, is achieved. The good qualities that emerge and mature from the practice of Dhamma not only smooth the way for the journey to Nibbana; over time they have the effect of transforming the practitioner into a more generous, loving, compassionate, peaceful, and clear-headed member of society. The individual's sincere pursuit of Awakening is thus a priceless and timely gift to world.
Answer: Breath meditation is the best choice of mind's support. Because buddha said:

Bhikkhu! you should meditate samādhi. Because of samādhi, you will understand the truth - samādhiṃ, bhikkhave, bhāvetha; samāhito, bhikkhave, bhikkhu yathābhūtaṃ pajānāti, S iii.13 (truth = causes and effects = logic).

Another, you can also improve your brain by abhidhamma study @pa-auk monastery, too. Sāriputta asked questions moreover hundreds millions questions about causes and effects in paṭṭhāna, the hardest cannon in tipitaka,  for your brain.


Tiefling-Hobgoblin Child?

Question: Question from a DM: If a Tiefling and a Hobgoblin mate, what offspring does it produce?   The situation is that a PC and NPC relationship looks like it will produce offspring.   If there isn't explicit rules text, a well supported answer citing dungeons and dragons lore is acceptable.
Comment: Are you asking as a player or as a DM?
Comment: Related https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/90071/
Comment: @KorvinStarmast as a Dm
Answer: There are a couple novels which reference tiefling children, one being the Neverwinter sub-series of the Drizzt series (Elf + Tiefling = Tiefling) and the Brimstone angel series:

Prior to Asmodeus's ascension to godhood, the infernal blood could be diluted through intermarriage, but afterward, the union of a tiefling with another race always produced a tiefling child. - Forgotten Realms wiki, referencing the Brimstone Angels: Lesser Evils novel.

I am not sure how authoritative novels can really be considered, but the DM always can decide however they would like in such manners.
It might also be worth noting that hybrids are quite rare and seem to be limited to only a few races, namely Humans.
Comment: Definitely up on that last point. Tieflings are 'infernal humans' Aasimar are 'celestial humans,' Half-elves, Half-orcs. The base platform they all seem to derive from is 'Human.'
Comment: There are some exceptions. Tanarukks are Orc-Fiend (daemon), and there are some others that haven't made it into 5e yet I believe (mostly demon-elf, dwarf, halfling)
Comment: Assuming that a Tiefling can have an offspring with any race a human can, would that option be available to hobgoblins? Are humans capable of that?
Comment: @AguinaldoSilvestre Humans are special in that they seem to be compatible with a wide array of things, but it varies from race to race. Orcs have the stipulation that their partner must be of the same size/stature but produce orcs when mated to things other than human (I am inferring here, based on PHB and MM entries). Not sure what Hobgoblins can do in this area.
Comment: Keep in mind that there is/was a difference between "demon" and "daemon".
Answer: Basically, the DM would have to interpolate.  I would say that the offspring would likely be (or at least have a decent chance of being) tiefling hobgoblins, but might just be regular hobgoblins instead.  You'd have to decide the chances.
Hobgoblin PCs, according to the Volo's Guide, get +2 Con, +1 Int, darkvision, proficiency in 2 martial weapons and light armor, the "Saving Face" trait, and speak common and goblin.
Tiefling PCs, from the PHB, get +2 Chr, +1 Int, darkvision, fire resistance, the "Infernal Legacy" trait, and speak common and infernal.
So you can mix and match from there.
I would describe it as looking like a hobgoblin with horns and a tail, and go with: +1 Con, +1 Int, +1 Chr, darkvision, and fire resistance.  I would then choose (or have the player choose), for each individual, whether to have (a) the proficiencies, "Saving Face", and speak goblin, or (b) "Infernal Legacy", and speak infernal, depending on which parent was more influential in its upbringing.
Comment: This is one of the reasons I am changing tiefling and others to a template that I think they should have been in the first place.

Tiefling-Hobgoblin Child?


Converting Several Thousand .xml files into .csv

Question: I'm looking for a way that I can convert several thousand .xml files into .csv. I've had no problems doing so in small quantities, but the data that I am dealing with is within several thousand folders. More specifically, I am looking at MLB game data over the course of a single season. Each game has its own separate folder within other folders for day and month. Within each game folder are several files, however I am only interested in one .xml file called inning_all.xml for each game. I need to convert these ~2,500 files into .csv files in order to be interpreted by Stata (stata has a built in xml import function but is incompatible with these specific files; they are able to imported after converting to .csv).
Comment: And you are looking for software to do so (otherwise your question is off-topic here)? What OS, what price? We also need to see an example (part of) such a XML file, and your required CSV output. A hierarchical XML structure and a flat CSV structure do not match 'naturally' .
Comment: The fact that they are all in different folders is not very relevant to the question because many tools let you collect them in one folder. **Unless you need to have the CSV in the same folders, or they have duplicate names and cannot be renamed**. Please say so.
Comment: Please explain this "I've had no problems doing so in small quantities". For me this sounds like you already have an application or script which solves your needs. How did you do this task for small quantities. What is the problem with your current app/script?
Answer: You haven't said anything about your technology constraints, but
(a) converting XML to CSV is easily done with any XSLT processor
(b) XSLT 2.0 processors such as Saxon typically have the ability to process multiple files in directory structures using the collection() or uri-collection() functions.
The number of files isn't a problem - I've processed much larger quantities than this in a minute or two, and Saxon's implementation of the collection() function is multi-threaded so it scales well.
Answer: I would suggest using python with the built in os.walk, csv and xml parse libraries such as expat.

Free, gratis & Open Source
Cross Platform including Windows
Quick and easy to learn
os.walk will "walk" a directory tree to find all of the files of interest.
there are multiple xml parsers but you might even be better off using the super powerful regular expression processing of the re library.


Can I install 64-bit Windows 7 on a Dell Vostro 1700 laptop?

Question: The processor is reported as being an Intel Duo T7250.
Answer: You can install it, but that doesn't mean all of the associated peripherals will work correctly or at all*. It appears that the Vostro 1700 only has drivers for 32-bit operating systems. 64-bit versions may be available from elsewhere but the only way to know for sure is test.
Unless you want to risk having to reinstall your machine regardless, you could repartition your drive and run your original OS alongside Windows 7. Once everything checks out, delete the the original OS and resize the partition.
*Advice from someone that's been down this road with a Sony VAIO with unsatisfactory results.
Answer: Use CPU-Z, look for 64-bit instruction set:

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main
  devices of your system.
Answer: The T7250 is a Core 2 Duo, which is a 64-bit CPU. It will support Windows 7 x64.
Answer: Your T7250 CPU supports the Intel EMT64 tech.
Intel Processor Spec Finder
So... yes you can!
Answer: Yes you can. A quick Google will find you the answer you're looking for.
I am running it on my laptop w/ 1.5 GB of RAM. and it's doing OK. I would suggest jamming as much ram as possible into your machine.
Answer: So I tried it out, and it works fine. I didn't need to get any drivers.
My Windows Experience is rated as 1.0 for graphics which may mean that the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter reported in Device Manager could be improved on (...?) but things are working  well for my modest needs.
Answer: You need to download the latest Windows 7 x64 drivers for Geforce 8x00m GS/GT (depending on which 1700 you have) and then your graphics score should definitely improve! Getting 5.8 for graphics on Vostro 1700 with 8600m GT video. Get them from www.nvidia.com
Regarding the processor... the T7250 is standard but optional is anything between that and T7700.
Comment: Thanks, Nvidia have a great little ActiveX scanner which found the correct driver for me! I'd upvote you if I could... Pete.
Answer: I have a Vostro 1700 and I am running Win 7 64-bit. Most if not all programs seem to work fine. Video drivers downloaded directly from nvidia.com.


How can we make Monero based eCommerce payment integration?

Question: If we want to make Monero based eCommerce websites, what is the process? how do we integrate Monero into the website so a seller can set a price for the product and buyer can pay in Monero and get the product, for both immediate and escrow based?
Comment: Probably a duplicate of my question? http://monero.stackexchange.com/questions/1994/whats-the-easiest-way-to-integrate-monero-payments-without-trusting-a-third-par
However, escrow is difficult for now, since we don't have multisig yet. It's scheduled after RingCT will be implemented.
Answer: You will have to have some code or product that is able to determine when a monero payment has been received at your merchant address, and compare it to the payment id (or integrated address) your ecommerce system generates.
There are two easy approaches:

Use a 3rd party merchant solution
Run your own wallet live on your server to scan for incoming transactions

Number one is easy, but does require you to rely on a 3rd party. You may be sacrificing some privacy or reliability, but these are pretty easy to work with. From getmonero.org has a list of merchant info, including payment processors:
https://getmonero.org/getting-started/merchants
At this time, there are two publicly known services to help:

https://payb.ee/
https://monero-merchants.com/

PayBee is in beta, and requires a beta signup. I don't have details on their API or how to use it.
Monero Merchants appears to be an open API that does not require an account or API keys. You will need a developer to help write some of the code, but it should be very easy to set up. Your website just tells the merchant API how much monero you need and what address you want it deposited into. They respond with a different monero address and payment id for your customers to send monero into. Your website can then check to see if the monero has been received. They collect the monero in a wallet they control (that you can't see) and will then transfer it to your account.
If you need more control or privacy (so a third party isn't involved) you will need to run a wallet live on your servers to scan for incoming transactions to your wallet address. There are libraries available for a developer to integrate with your website, although it requires an ecommerce platform that can accomodate custom code. You can see a list of libraries at https://getmonero.org/getting-started/merchants in the "Libraries and Helpers" section.
One such library is https://github.com/PsychicCat/monero-php which is a php library that will communicate with a monero wallet via RPC and is a good starting place if you need something custom.
Answer: You can run your own Monero node and use the existing RPC functionality of the Monero node to write an API to communicate with your node.
You can write the API using PHP very easily. I used PHP to develop API for my client and it is pretty straightforward to develop with all the resources available on Monero.
Once you have API, you can use it produce integrated payment address which can be used to track payments. Let me know if you need more help.


Why are there raisins floating in my ginger beer?

Question: When I buy homemade ginger beer (in South Africa), there are often small black raisins floating in it, about 1cm in diameter. Why did the makers decide to put them in?
Comment: Aren't raisins used in wine making or something to determine when a certain gravity is reached?
Comment: In mead making, raisins are sometimes added as an additional nutrient source and to add body via the grape tannins. My guess is that this was originally done for ginger beer for the same reason, and the raisins were just never taken out. The practice has probably just persisted as a matter of tradition.
Answer: I'm not sure if this is true in ginger-beer making, but in mead-making, raisins are sometimes added to supply nutrients for the yeast.  The all honey and water mixture which is the mead starting point cannot host a very healthy yeast colony without the trace minerals supplied by the raisins.
Maybe it is the same for ginger beer...
BTW.  If you can get your South African supplier to share, please post their ginger beer recipe (as part of your question, or as a comment on your question, or even as a comment on my answer).  I am sure that I am not the only person here who would be interested in seeing how things are done there.
Comment: This is honestly the most likely reason. It was probably done for nutrients back in a time before nutrients like Fermaid K and GoFerm, and has probably just persisted as a matter of tradition.
Answer: Putting a few raisins in a bottle before you cap it, will let you know when its carbonated as the raisins, will float to the top after. They sink at first.
Comment: top tip, thank you. I regularly make  Christmas beer by adding dark sugar,spice  (and NOW raisins) to an otherwise bland kit.
Answer: The skin of sultanas or raisins have natural occurring yeast needed for the fermentation process.
Older recipes typically used a 'ginger bug' derived from the yeast on sultana skin in stead of brewers yeast. It is not coincidental for the sultanas to float as this indicative of the fermentation process active also within the swollen sultanas.
Answer: I'm South African and my grandmother used to make ginger beer all the time when we were little and it always had raisins in. Unfortunately she is no longer around for me to ask her why but whatever the scientific reason is, I think it's the traditional way to make ginger beer in South Africa. I loved the raisins and will be adding some to my recipe!
Answer: Because somebody there likes raisins?
Answer: Simply put it tells you when the ginger beer is ready to drink. When you add the raisins they rise and fall but when the yeast has converted enough of the sugars the raisins float.  You can also eat them. They are really tasty.
Did not know this was a South African tradition.
Comment: "...when the yeast has converted enough of the sugars the raisins float" - This is not entirely true, as it depends on the final density of the ginger beer in relation to the variable density of the raisins. Given all of the CO2 produced by the yeast, the raisins will also float during the primary fermentation. In mead making, I've seen raisins both float and sink after primary.
Answer: This was also done in New Zealand. I am making it again using fresh ginger because the dried doesn't seem to have the same bite. I have a 3 part process, first you make a bug with grated ginger sugar and water, when this is bubbly make up 5 lts water 300 gm sugar and 300gm fresh ginger that has been chopped in a processor, bring to boil and extract flavour, let this cool. Once cooled add 250 mls of the bug and let ferment for 3 or 4 days. Then bottle. I am using swing top glass bottles and this is where the raisin question comes in.  I'll try it out.
Comment: This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient [reputation](https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/help/whats-reputation) you will be able to [comment on any post](https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment); instead, [provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/214173/why-do-i-need-50-reputation-to-comment-what-can-i-do-instead). - [From Review](/review/late-answers/7973)


What are logo ideas for money.stackexchange.com?

Question: Money should be nearing the end of its beta, so what should the logo be for Money?
Comment: Here's a screenshot of the site when it was Basically Money:  http://i.imgur.com/8IPJI.png
Comment: What as the basically money logo?  Anyone have a link?
Comment: Related: http://meta.money.stackexchange.com/questions/185
Comment: Is this also the question of what the favicon should be? Because that is often related to the logo.
Answer: I'm kinda partial to whiskey and nickels.  Seriously though, since money has international followers it doesn't make sense to use the US dollar sign or any other currency sign.  It also doesn't make sense to use green colors predominantly in the design just because that is the color of money in the US.
Since government currencies come and go, I would prefer to incorporate the most predominant form of money for the last 5,000 years: gold and silver.
Comment: Definitely agree that green money (USD) should not be the dominant theme.
Comment: I suggest that if a few different currency symbols are used, it might be OK for the dollar sign ($) to be one of them :-)  But yes, I agree, no sense in having a U.S.-only flavor for a site that is broader than that.
Comment: @Alex B:  The US is not the only country that uses `$`!  Incl CAD, USD, NZD, AUD, MXN (peso)
Answer: Probably some icon displaying coins and paper banknotes. And maybe added to that some chart charts (symbolizing stock, etc. investment). Maybe a piggy bank too?
I would try to avoid going to $$ signs - I know it's recognizable and most of the topics would end up related to dollars and US matters anyway, but if we could have something more generic it'd be nice.
Comment: How about a blend of $ £ € ?
Comment: i love the piggy bank idea
Comment: @Muro There's no saying we'd be picking the "right" currencies.  Just a handful of representative ones.  That's all.  BTW, the Canadian dollar is also represented by the dollar sign ($).
Comment: +1 for the piggy bank. And some gold and silver (and spices? `:)`)
Comment: I like the charts idea.
Comment: @Chris - What about the Canadian dollar? or the Australian dollar? What if the Chinese allow the yuan to trade on currency markets?  It would instantly become one of the major currencies of the world.  I think it will be challenging to pick the right government currencies.  Just my opinion.
Comment: @Chris - good point.
Comment: @Chris: I think that using currency symbols, even the "major" ones, might be unwelcoming to those who don't use them on a daily basis. In fact, currencies become "major" because the countries that use them are rich and a majority of their people are financially literate. I think that those who stand to benefit the most from this site are those who want to make the most of their low-valued currency, and therefore help their country grow by becoming financially literate themselves.
Comment: +1 for the piggy bank. I believe it's recognizable, not US-centric, and emphasizes the "personal" in "personal finance".
Answer:
Comment: Copyright issues aside this one made me smile.  I've met Don Rosa in person and have a signed Scrooge McDuck.  "Work smarter, not harder." ;)
Answer: The logo for Money should be a a large, green "dollar sign":
$
Although some say the above sign isn't international enough, it's definitely internationally recognizable.  In addition that same symbol not only used in the USA.  It is also used in Canada and Australia + NZ.  That's 2 entire continents!
Interestingly, the $ sign has a Spanish origin (originally called the peso sign)
Comment: I disagree with the dollar sign. Yes, it is internationally recognizable, but the site isn't just for those 2 entire continents. I won't write my argument again here. See my comment in [this answer](http://meta.money.stackexchange.com/questions/184/what-are-logo-ideas-for-money-stackexchange-com/191#191)
Answer: Well, this site is about finance, since we are trying to optimize our financial situations, how about graphs and charts? and maybe even place a symbol of some commodities in foreground.
Answer: I like the idea of moneybags, but I think there are a lot of international users.  Maybe a big bag of coins instead of $ signs on the bags.  Or maybe a Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow to symbolize the dream this site helps promote.
Comment: I'd hope the site helps people save money and invest, not look for it at the end of the rainbow ;-)
Answer: How about very old currency?  I linked to persian coins, but anything would do
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_daric
Another brainstorm (that I like less) would be to incorporate modern currency symbols and the old coins together.
Comment: The problem I see with old currency is that this site is about ways to handle your money now, with current theories, ideas, and best practices.
Comment: Some of the best ideas are pretty old.
Comment: cowries or gold bullions
Answer: Cowries used to be the near-international currency for many years, some people in some rural areas still use them. so cowries for me.
Answer: What about a picture of a guy balancing his checkbook?  This emphasizes the "personal finance" part of "personal finance and money."
Answer: This is just an idea and I don't have any picture ready to show this but here goes:
A picture of a hand shake (symbolizes communication between people). Then a glowing bulb above the handshake which is made up of a currency note instead of transparent glass..(symbolizes ideas that are generated as a result of information exchange between people).
Answer: When I think of a design for this site, I tend to think of something that is reminiscent of a brokerage website or retirement site - clean, crisp, straight vertical and horizontal lines, and lots of white with one or two other colors in varying shades.
That said, I am somewhat partial to the idea of moneybags in the logo marked with different major currency symbols.  There's nothing about them that's clean and crisp, but I think it conveys the idea that getting good information and advice here will help you get and keep a bit more money.
Comment: Should we start a new question for just design ideas?


CRC Keeps Changing

Question: I have a multi-file RAR archive with an SFV file which I have checked several times using a couple of different programs (QuickSFV and SFV Checker) and both keep changing their report each time I run them, computing different checksums for each file on each iteration.
Can anyone suggest why this may be, or how I might diagnose the cause?
Clarification: the issue is that the reported CRC for a file keeps changing each time I run it, where the file does not change.  The context is an SFV file for a multi-file archive, and I'm computing the CRCs using QuickSFV/SFV Checker.
Update: I was able to extract the archive (which was originally failing because of a bad CRC, hence the need to check the SFV) by simply trying  again and again until it worked, so the files were in fact valid and CRCs were randomly being computed incorrectly.  I have no idea where the inconsistency is coming from though, and I'm interested to hear ideas.
Update: The computer had another spate of mini-freezes, when I restarted it complained about the 'header checksum' being incorrect and the file-system possibly being corrupt, and Windows did not boot.  Further restarts eventually led to a 'no drive detected' message.  I removed the side panels from my machine, unplugged the HD, blew on the slots/cables (I had a GameBoy, and old habits die hard), plugged it back in again and everything seems to be working once more (including resolving the original CRC inconsistencies).  Perhaps the cable was a little loose, or some charge in the side-panels (somehow) was affecting the communication?
Comment: You are *unexpectedly* getting *different checksums* for *different files*?
Comment: I'm getting different checksums for the same file on different iterations, will clarify my question.
Comment: That the files were extracted does not mean the CRC was being computed incorrectly. They may appear to be okay, but still have garbage data in some or all parts.
Answer: First, remount readonly and take backups.
This happened to me and I was convinced it was the disk.  It was not.  I would check your power supply and your surge protector and then that you're getting the right power from the power source.  In my case, it was the UPS/surge protector.
EDIT: I reread your question and I would not ignore this even if you were able to unzip the archive.  In my case, I would get different md5sums on the same file but they would be similar.  Small files would usually return the correct sum.
Example:
<code> md5sum file1  # returns abcde12345...
 md5sum file1  # returns bbcde12545...
 md5sum file1  # returns b1cde12395...
 md5sum file1  # returns abcde12345...
</code>
Comment: Interesting, I have no UPS/surge protector, so how could I check if my PSU is at fault?
Comment: In my case, I would get bad checksums about 80% of the time on any files larger than, say, 1M.  My caution is to make sure it _is_ bad data in the archive or some other software problem and not a subtle hardware issue.  You might just sum a couple different files see if you can reproduce the inconsistent behavior elsewhere.  I was also getting Kernel Paging Faults every couple hours or so; it was driving me mad.
Comment: Well the archive contained an iso, which installed appropriately etc, so I'm reasonably convinced the data is fine.  I'm also suffering freezes every now and again and sometimes when I restart I get a "bad header checksum" error which prevents booting... so it seems to be a pretty deep issue just not sure how to diagnose it :/

CRC Keeps Changing


How to find proper parameter settings for a given optimization algorithm?

Question: Is there any methodology to find proper parameter settings for a given meta-heuristic algorithm, e.g. the firefly algorithm or the cuckoo search? Is this an open issue in optimization? Is extensive experimentation, measurements and intuition the only way to figure out which are the best settings?
Answer: How to find the best configuration for an algorithm is an open research question in AI. The topic in general is known as `hyper-parameter optimization' and there are a range of possible methods:
One of the most popular is IRace, but other possibilities include:

Spearmint: uses wrappers in Matlab or Python. It uses MongoDb,
and Bayesian optimisation algorithms.
SMAC requires a python wrapper for the algorithm to be optimized
and has a command line interface.
Hyperopt: a Python library which uses Random Search and Tree of
Parzen Estimators.

This paper argues that Spearmint performs the best, compared with SMAC and Hyperopt, but with significantly longer running times in some cases.


How can I incorporate agile development into CS1/CS2 courses?

Question: I would like my students to get the most out of the course by experiencing an agile development structure in their projects. Currently I give 5 assignments, each building on the previous one and adding to the complexity of the final product. Although this is far from letting students experience "real" agile development, it is a first step. How can I incorporate an agile development methodology backbone to the course, letting students experience it first-hand? The courses are taught in Python (CS1) and Java (CS2) and this is an Applied Information Technology program.
Comment: Welcome to the site. Can you expand (by editing the question) on CS1, CS2: What level are you teaching at? We have people here teaching from nursery to University and the work place. From all over the world. So we do not always know what something like CS1 is. Thanks.
Comment: Although scrum-orientated, there are some useful resources produced by [Mountain Goat Software](https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile). I use these resources in the first software development practice class my undergraduate students encounter, which runs in parallel with CS1.
Comment: Can you clarify the structure of your project? Are the 5 "assignments" 5 iterations of the project? It is group work right?
Answer: Don't.
Agile is great, but it's mostly about how to manage the development process, interact between the different parties involved, communicate status and break down larger projects of work into achievable segments. When you're trying to understand what a loop/function/class/object/etc is there's really no need to also think about the software engineering issues for larger projects, teams, etc. Students only have capacity to learn so much and I'd argue it's counterproductive to have them spend some of their attention on learning agile.
By all means talk about it if you're looking at software engineering practices, but it shouldn't be a focus.
Test driven development might be ok to teach, although I suspect it will just complicate things for new students.
Comment: Giovanni is asking about CS1 and CS2 in a post-secondary environment. The typical high-school course articulated to post-sec CS1 is AP CS A, a course using Java, and the syllabi are required to indicate that the course includes teaching waterfall methodology. So College Board thinks we should teach methodology in high school CS.  They name waterfall rather than Agile only because the objectives are stale. In writing a high school CS curriculum, I interviewed industry engineers. Agile and version control were named often as skills that they wanted to see more of in undergraduate programs.
Comment: [Information Technology 2017: Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Technology](http://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/education/it2017.pdf): Information technology students "need to learn about the mechanics and dynamics of effective team participation".
Answer: Agile is about more than software engineering. The individual practices of, for example XP, are just good programming practice. In addition they can be incorporated into your pedagogy. Test First, for example, helps students to get it right, but also to avoid writing things unnecessarily. "Just make the test pass." Likewise, Pair Programming can be used to make the learning a more social process and to help students help each other get over the inevitable humps. But that assumes you, the teacher, enforce switching of roles, both within a pair and within the entire class.
You can, especially in early assignments, provide the tests, or at least some of them. The negative aspect of this is that the tests include the names of public methods of the classes as well as class names. This implies that you have done some of the design of the solution already. This has positive pedagogical implications for beginners who often are stuck on a blank page, not knowing where to begin.
Finally, here, you can present early problems as a "product backlog" rather than a long description of the problem. Again, this implies that you have decomposed the problem yourself into meaningful chunks. This too is helpful to the beginner.
So, you don't need to think about Agile Development in the large, just about which practices enhance student learning. In general, take a more explicit role as Customer/Product Owner so that student program becomes a conversation.
Comment: Hi Buffy! Welcome to [cseducators.se]! This is a great first answer, and we're glad to have you on board. I hope that you continue to contribute good content here!
Answer: I think it is a good idea to introduce students to Agile concepts, since they're likely to see this in the real world.  However I wouldn't dwell on it too much.  Some people, even on real projects, get so caught up in the lingo, point systems, tools, etc. that managing a project takes on a life of its own.
A lightweight Agile process that would fit into a classroom situation could be as simple as 1 or 2 week sprints, with a planning meeting at the beginning where tasks are estimated, brief daily morning meetings (scrums), and a post-mortem on the last day.  Scrums should be brief, focusing on tasking and eliminating blockers.
This kind of process really only applies to team situations so if the students are working solo it might not reveal much to them.
Answer: Uncle Long Hair gave a perfectly good answer. I'm adding information about a particular CS course for high schools that does include Agile. The Project Lead The Way curriculum for AP CS Principles has students divide their work on a project into a prioritized backlog and divide the top backlog item into a sprint task list where each item on the list can be accomplished in a small amount of time. Students aim to knock out two sprint tasks per session, and a sprint lasts a week. Work on a project might last two weeks. A sprint lasts a week with Scrum standup at the end of the week, where students report progress. That's not really what is supposed to happen in a standup, but it works in the classroom. The teacher serves the role of the Scrum master.
Students are exposed to the lingo with a "Scrum in 10 minutes" video. After they've done it for a few projects, Scrum poker is added in one activity because some teachers and students find the mechanics fun and lets the class talk about the importance and difficulty (especially for beginners) of estimating how long something will take.
For some teachers, once or more during the year, pairs create the problem they intend to solve and then swap with another pair and solve someone else's problem. This provides a client, albeit without engaging the community.
Comment: In addition, games like Planning Poker (Scrum Poker) can help a class of individuals meld into a team quickly. It is used in industry partly for that purpose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_poker
Answer: Ensure that you have experience first
The worse thing you can do is tell them that they are doing agile, but then do something that does not work. (This seems to be the normal approach in industry.) It will lead them to think that agile does not work.
So first ensure that you have a good grasp of the concepts.
Select some useful agile practices
«Test first», and «one thing at a time», are very useful tools in teaching (but without automation, until later). Having students just do one thing at a time, can help to rid the feeling of being over whelmed. Planing a test before writing code, helps students to think about what it is that they are trying to do. Another similar technique is «re-write the assignment in your own words».
«Pair programming» from XP, is also useful. Groups and pairs have been shown to help learning.
«You are not going to need it»: is there anything that you are producing, that you don't need yet. Don't produce it until you need it.
«Automate it»: So you got to the end and did not need a flow chart, so did not make one. But the examiner insists that you need one in your design. Therefore use a tool to generate one from you code (they will never know).
«Do the simplest thing that will work»: Why complicate things. This could mean using techniques that you already know; using a library;
Use a «revision control system»: This allows you to exhibit «courage», as you will not loose all of your hard work.
Accept «feedback», try things, make mistakes, learn from them.
In writing this, I have just selected agile/lean practices will enhance my teaching and students learning. The others can wait for another day. Tell the pupils that you are doing this: tell them that you have selected a sub-set of practices, and why.
Answer: It has been a long time since this question was asked, but in the meantime, we have begun to incorporate something rather kanban-ish into our senior year capstone course at my school.
We did a large-scale curriculum review with industry engineers, students, teachers, guidance counselors, and college professors, and we decided to integrate agile into our senior year capstone projects.
Many of the answers here seem to reflect upon whether you should do this at all, but since we are actually doing it, I thought it might be worthwhile to explain what we have done and why.
What we are doing
Our projects are roughly five months long, and typically involve working with an outside client.  We are using trello boards with roughly the following setup (student initials have been blacked out):

Sprint meetings with our student groups are roughly once every two weeks.  Students place there goals for the next week in "To Do" and create a card color for the week.  By the end of the sprint, the goal is to have all of those cards in "Testing" (or in "Blocked") and to have a new batch of cards (in a new color) in "To Do".
At that point, we have a weekly meeting to talk over their progress, look at the project and the code, check in on their communications with the client, negotiate the next set of goals (or the next date), and award grades for the sprint.
Goals
The process helps keep things moving in the classroom during such a large-scale project, and familiarizes the students with some industrial practice.  It was nevertheless important to us that the process itself remain simple and low-overhead enough as to not step in the way of the work itself.
We are not far into the projects yet, but so far, things appear to be going well, and students have expressed that the process has remained helpful.  If the students begin to report that it is not helping, then we will revisit the requirements and make modifications as needed.  At the end of the day, we are transplanting an industrial process into the classroom.  The translation does not have to be exact to be in the spirit of the original, and if it must be modified in order to function in this environment, then that must be okay.
Ultimately, it must be of use within the projects that the students have in front of them, or it will feel like a chore instead of a helpful organizing process.  That is (and must be!) the final arbiter of how to organize an agile process in the classroom.


Why doesn't Fry return to his original time?

Question: Though he's certainly built a life for himself in the future, Fry still has a life (though it's pretty lame) back in the year 2000.
Why doesn't he go back in time and stay there? What's keeping him in future Earth?
Comment: In one word: Leela
Comment: When/how exactly does he has the possibility to do that?
Comment: It depends on how good the pizza is in the future...
Comment: Well if he wanted to he could always just freeze himself again.
Comment: If you woke up in 1000 years to technology beyond current imagination, would you go back? I wouldn't, except maybe to pick up a few friends and family members.
Comment: There is also this quote of frys, athough it was about going further into the future than back home, it does indicate he was pretty happy with his life in the year 3000: "... in the year 3000, I had it all; friends, a low-paying job, a bed in a robot's closet. I envied no man ..."
Answer: I believe this is answered in the first episode. Fry hates his life. His within the first 2 minutes of episode 1 he is chanting "I hate my life I hate my life I hate my life". His girlfriend dumps him.
He finds that the pizza he is delivering is a prank, and has a drink to "another lousy millennium", then falls into the cryo chamber.
His life is terrible, and in the future he has a wealth of close friends and self-appreciating accomplishments. Good choice not going back.
When he wakes up he says "My parents, my co-workers, my girlfriend, I'll never see any of them again... WOOOHOOO!". He clearly doesn't want to go back.
He also says: "I'm glad, I had nothing to live for in my old life. I was broke, I had a humiliating job, and I as beginning to suspect my girlfriend was cheating on me."
And: "I'm the luckiest guy in the whole future, I've been given a second chance and this time I'm not going to be a total loser".
Comment: He's incredibly wealthy for a very brief period of time (at least he only knows for a brief period of time). That doesn't count, though.
Comment: While I know all of this, I suppose I was hoping for a revelation of some kind. My hope for a deep and meaningful reason was doomed from the start, as Fry is neither deep nor meaningful. Nicely done :)
Comment: @bitmask Absolutely true, just threw it in there for some reason.
Comment: @GorchestopherH: You may want to change that.
Comment: @bitmask done and done
Answer: Gorchestopher's answer is very accurate, but I'd like to add a little contribution. :)

What's keeping him in future Earth?

His love of Leela.
In "The Why of Fry" (S05E08), when Fry is trapped inside the Infosphere, the Giant Brain suggests he query the database concerning the night of December 31st 1999 (the date Fry got frozen). Fry then finds out that it was Nibbler who deliberately blew Fry's tilting chair, which made him lose his balance and the chair tipped back. They have an argument:

Fry: I, I don't understand. You made me go in the freezer tube?
Nibbler: We had no choice. You were the only one who could help us. What is one life  weighed against the entire universe?
Fry: But it was my life.

Another excerpt:

Infosphere Brain: There is a nexus point between universes,  at the space-time you entered the cryogenic tube. You and only you can return there.
Giant Brain: Interesting. You could stop the Nibblonian from pushing you into the cryogenic tube.
Fry: That is interesting. Why?
Giant Brain: It would be as if you never came to the future. You will have your life back and we will succeed in our plan to understand and destroy the universe.
Fry: Everybody wins!

I suspect Fry wouldn't mind of going to the future if that event was caused by casualty, but since it was a Nibblonian plot, he wanted his life back.
Let's move on. Fry is now below the table with Nibbler, back in the date Fry got frozen. The 1999's Fry is in the chair:

Nibbler: Our saviours foresee that in a thousand years, at one moment, the fate of the universe will depend on you. Since you will not live that long I must freeze you now.
Fry: Well, why couldn't you just ask me?
Nibbler: We were afraid you would refuse.
Fry: Of course not, I love the future.
Nibbler: Then why are you choking me right now?
Fry: Because I don't like being used.

Here we go, Fry does love the future. :) The real question is how Fry got there. That's why he is suffering: he would prefer to be in the future as a result of his own decision, not others. But then something happens:

Nibbler: Well now it's your choice. Is there nothing in the future worth saving?
Fry: Leela. But she doesn't think much of me.
Nibbler: Ah, she must be the other. You must not give up on her. I am stationed on a distant world known as Vergon 6. But if you return to the future I will transfer to Earth to give you what help I can.
Fry: You really think I would have had a chance with Leela?
Nibbler: You must choose. The present or the future? To save yourself? Or to save Leela?

Then Fry blew the chair. :)
Later, in "Bender's Big Score", when one of Fry's time paradox duplicates saw his reflection in the mirror and realized he was Lars:

Fry: I'm Lars? I'm Lars! Wait for me, Leela! I'll be there in a thousand years.

Besides, there's also Zoidberg. /ducks :)
Comment: Just remember... *scooty-puff jr. suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks*
Answer: Fry is a laid back guy who enjoys futuristic gadgets, but doesn't make much effort to do anything. Fry grew bored of his 20th century life. He didn't care much about anyone, and didn't care much about anything. But he also didn't make much of an effort to change his boring life. In the 20th century, Fry was content to be discontent.
All this changed when he was cryogenically transported into the future. Even though his future job was still as a delivery boy, the texture of life changed enough to make it fun and exciting - without any effort on Fry's part. It helps that Fry has family (Farnsworth) and there is a mandatory employment system in place to place him in society. These two things eliminate much of the difficulty that an immigrant would ordinarily encounter when moving to a radically different culture.
Ten or fifteen years later, Fry will probably be just as bored of the future as he was of the 20th century. But the short run of Futurama only gives us a brief glimpse into Fry's first few years in the future.
Fry is lazy and bored on the 20th century. He is still lazy in the future, but the world is a lot more interesting to him. Not only is there nothing for him in the 20th century, but his laziness prevents him from even trying to get back into the 20th century on his own. In 20 years, Fry will probably be bored of the future. All he will do is complain.
Answer: He has. Several times. And met himself. Several times. The first time was when he tried to stop the Brains for the Nibblonians. The Brains told him he could go back in time to stop himself from falling in the tube. He did go back for that purpose, but changed his mind when he realized that he never would have met Leela if he stayed in his 2000 life. By then he had begun to have feelings for her. He also travels back twice in 'Bender's Big Score'. Once to wait on Bender and stop him from killing him while he was in the tube, but he decided to go back further so the pizza will be hot. He meets himself as he travels back in time and has an argument with himself about the plot. The stickler-for-the-rules Fry ends up living his life in 2000, where he took care of a narwal named Leeloo.
Answer: In the episode Anthology of Interest I Fry asks the "what if" machine what if he never came to the future. Fry hits his head instead of falling into the cryogenic chamber. The universe implodes in on itself.
Answer: His love for Leeela, obviously, is a huge factor because now that he's met her it would be impossible for him to go back to his old time and never see her again.
Also, apart from the time with the brains, he's never had an opportunity since there are no reverse time machines in existence.
Answer: Because there is no backwards time machine (as found in the recent episode where the professor can't go back from the year 30000) and that he prefers the future (as shown in the episode which shows his old life).
Answer: Because he was frozen inside a tube; while that preserved him, he cannot be preserved backwards in time. So even if he wanted to, he couldn't, unless possibly by using the freak microwave popcorn thing.
Answer: The central point of the story is that Fry was "meant" to come to the 31st century. Even though he is not a scientist, and not even just a nerd, he felt a close association to outer-space and space-travel.
Answer: I think fry should go back to his time because after a few years in the futur you start to see his family treat him like crap,but you also see how his family missis him,for example the episode when they try to get his clover back in the graveyard realy toched because it turned out to be his nephew. I also think he should return to his home because he had a dog that realy loved him and the love between a man and a dog is way better than some on again off again relation ship with a purple headed alien with one eye.
Comment: The question is about why Fry doesn't return to his time, not about whether he should.


Can the implications of dark energy be used to bridge the gap between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity?

Question: Can the findings of the Physics Nobel Laureates of 2011, namely the overpowering existence of dark energy (vacuum energy) have any implications in the quest the combine Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity? Maybe toward a theory of Quantum Gravitation?
Comment: If anybody had done this successfully, chances are we would have heard about it. We haven't, but I don't know of be reason why it's impossible. So I would have to say that nobody knows.
Answer: YES. The cosmological constant is extremely fine tuned. In a nonsupersymmetric world, bosons contribute enormous zero-point energies to the cosmological constant while fermions contribute an enormous negative amount. For both contributions to cancel in one part in 10 to the 123 is nothing short of miraculous. No other mechanism than unbroken symmetry appears to explain such fine-tuning needed for the evolution of life. Increase the cosmological constant by a few orders of magnitude and sufficient structure formation of galaxies and stars won't happen.
This points to the anthropic principle giving a special role to consciousness and needs a multiverse of pocket universes with different laws of physics. This fits in very nicely with the landscape of compactifications in string theory, and the theory of eternal inflation.
In string theory, any vacuum with a positive cosmological constant has to be metastable, and if so, our phase will have to decay to a more stable vacuum in the future.
As long as we remain in our current phase, the maximum entropy of our causal patch of the universe is bounded by the holographic bound of 10 to the 123.
Answer: Dark energy certainly can have implications for unifying QM and GR, in the sense that if we do develop a proper theory of quantum gravity, it should (probably) explain dark energy along with everything else. So any candidate theory that does give the correct density for dark energy becomes much more appealing than one that does not. So in this sense we can use dark energy as a "filter" for candidate QG theories.
However, I doubt that the knowledge of dark energy can lead directly to a quantum theory of gravity. If that were possible without being too difficult, someone would probably have done it already, and as Peter Shor posted in a comment, we probably would have heard about it.
Comment: I didn't say that if it were possible, it's likely that someone would have done it. I said that if somebody had done it, we would likely know. Thus, since nobody has done it, we can't tell whether it's possible (although I agree it is unlikely).
Comment: @Peter my mistake, sorry about that. I've edited to fix it.
Comment: What about us living in de Sitter space rather than AdS? I wouldn't be surprised if string theorists argued that ST predicts AdS if we didn't have the observed dark energy.


Should every website have a landing page?

Question: I'm building a job board, but I keep wondering if it needs a landing page? If people surf to the site, they immediately get to the 'job search' page. Should I first explain what the site does and add a CTA or is this self-explanatory?
Comment: Every publicly visible page is a landing page.
Comment: @Ashwin: Landing page is not a synonym for "explanatory page". It is any page that your visitors arrive on.
Answer: You will have a landing page no matter what you choose, as there has to be a default page.  Whether you choose to optimise that experience or not is the question.
Even if the main use of the site is the search, you still should have a planned landing page.  You can choose to make the search the focus of that page (like hipmunk).  If you have content you should use the landing page to provide customers with content that you think they will be interested in, or the content that you would like to promote.
Answer: Every website should have a centralized page, this would allow the user to navigate to "Browse" other pages. This would also give them more reason to go back to your site in the future.
A job board could be easy to create a useful homepage. Possibly integrating a feed of most recent job posts, and sortable by category or job type?
Answer: Yes, you should explain what your site does! Nobody ever complained that a web site was made too simple for them to understand.
This goes double for job boards -- honestly, I'm sick and tired of dealing with crap boards, crap recruiters, and crap jobs posted by crappy HR. If your service isn't an improvement over other job boards and sites in at least one aspect, whether it's that it serves a specific niche, or it includes a special way of visualizing my resume in a way that I think serves my interests, or otherwise promises something that other sites can't deliver on (Hint - Stack Exchange Careers 2.0 allows me to plug in my SE accounts, which I like!), I'm going to be hesitant to give my information over to yet another job board.
You have to tell me what that aspect is somehow... so you may as well use the home page as a landing page to do it!
Answer: A Landing Page as an introduction to your site...
Don't do it.
For everyday use, Landing pages are a thing of the past. Traditionally, they were like the loading dialog of a software application. Some designers even believed that using Flash would enhance this paradigm. The landing page is a dated concept that serves little purpose, and usually ends up having almost no SEO value.
The 'home page' of a site, on the other hand, is a place that should act as the 'lead-in' to everything on your site. It serves to funnel different customers into areas of your site that may be of interest. Not all traffic to your site will come from Google or similar, so you need a way to deal with organic traffic that explains your purpose. If you don't grab these users' attentions within the first 10 - 20 seconds, they may be gone forever.
It is a place to announce news and new content, and should have a prominent search right on the page where it cannot be missed. Worse than a landing page, is a home page that leaves your intended audience confused about the purpose of the site.
Landing Pages for promo campaigns
Do it right.
You should try to use a landing page for every inbound advertising campaign you operate. You might have multiple offers or setting up promotional offers for different user segments and your homepage can't deal with this level of message differentiation without becoming crazy. The style and effectiveness of your inbound marketing will also vary according to the source (PPC, email, organic, social media, display banners), so you should try and provide a relevant experience to each input funnel.
Comment: This is a tad subjective. Can you expand? Can you give some more detail as to *why* landing pages are 'a thing of the past'? To be honest it could be argued that even a Home Page isn't needed anymore, as Google et al should be directing traffic directly to the required page. Why is a homepage required but a landing page not?
Answer: If im going to a job board I know what I am looking for, I would say dont do it.
THe only reason I see for this is if you post an ad somewhere and want people that click the ad to have a different experience than the ones that got there organically
Comment: Wonder why the down votes... it would be nice a comment on this, if I am mistaken I want to know so I can improve


Disable Plank icon background

Question: So whenever an application is used, plank will change it's background to highlight it. Is there a way i can disable that? For an example when i start firefox there is that orange "shadow" behind it.
Comment: Can you send a screenshot to show what you mean?
Answer: There appears to be no way to change the icon highlighting from within the Plank Settings or the dock.theme file itself. This could be something that is hard-coded and unchangeable.
But I would recommend copying one of the theme folders and playing around with the configuration in the dock.theme file.
You should be able to find your themes here... ~/.local/share/plank/themes
or in your /usr/share/plank/themes directory.

Disable Plank icon background