If there is no self what or who is it that gets enlightened?

Question: From reading this answer I come to understand that anatta means the lack of a core that can be conceived as self. If there is no permanent self, then who or what gets enlightened?
Comment: Not an answer to your question but something to reflect on: what is exactly the "it" in "it rains"?
Comment: Duplicate of http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/3545/if-theres-nobody-to-get-enlightened-why-bother
Answer: The main point of the answer you cite is that anatta is a characteristic of ultimate reality. Your question misses this and conflates two different paradigms or levels of understanding.
In Theravada Buddhism we recognize two levels of truth; conventional truth (sammuti-sacca) and ultimate truth (paramattha-sacca). Conventional truth relies on a spatio-temporal paradigm, in which there exist people, places, and things. It is the level on which "you" and "I" exist, and it is the level on which a "person" becomes "enlightened". None of this has anything to do with the characteristic of non-self, which works on the level of ultimate truth. Ultimate truth relies on an experiential paradigm, in which there exists only the momentary experience of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, or thinking.
So, the answer to "who becomes enlightened?" is "a being becomes enlightened." As to how that can be reconciled with the teaching on non-self, there is really no conflict, since non-self describes a characteristic of ultimate reality, at which level concepts like "being" or "enlightened" have no place.
Answer: The anatta concept doesn't say that there is no self - it says "not self" as in "all phenomena is not self". There is a self, but it is not permanent and is not independent from the inter-workings of the senses, sensation, perception, mind and consciousness.
For e.g. a static image that is projected on the wall - it is a result of light projected onto a wall from a projector. If you dig deeper, you can explain how a projector works, how electronics and electricity works. The image does not exist permanently and independently from the wall or projector or electricity. But this does not mean that the image does not exist. Surely it exists.
So, similarly, if a person become an Arahant while living, then this "self" or "person" surely is the one who became enlightened. But this "person" is not permanent or existing independently.
Answer: To answer your question we just need to explore the concept of Anatta.
Anatta doesn't mean that there is nothing within us, there is a mind. All sentient beings have a mind, eventhough they have different bodies or are in different realms, this is all temporary.
What Anatta rejects is the idea of a soul that keeps your current caractheristics, just like we see in some movies. According to Buddhism all you can see in the mirror, your body, is nothing but your Kamma Vipaka, the consequences of your Kamma that have ripened.
Anatta also emphatizes the idea of not identifying with the body as something that belongs to us. Now you are a human being, tomorrow you could be a bee, a deva or a hell being. So essentialy your mind is just like any other mind except for the different Kamma is "carries" and creates. This mind is what can be enlighted.
Answer: I think that this story suggests  that the "who" who "gets enlightened" is the "who" who needs the four noble truths: the "who" who experienced dukkha; the "who" who had manifested kleshas.
But I think that it's a difficult question to answer because it's a person's view of self which causes (or co-arises with) suffering; because that view of self should/must be abandoned on the way to enlightenment; and because that self is impermanent (even momentary) and enlightenment is opposite.
A dichotomy between self (which needs enlightening) and Bodhi (which means enlightened understanding) is expressed in the poems associated with Shenxiu and Huineng.

Only Shenxiu wrote a poem, anonymously on the wall in the middle of the night.[6] It stated:[7]
身是菩提樹, The body is a Bodhi tree,
  心如明鏡臺。 The mind a standing mirror bright.
  時時勤拂拭, At all times polish it diligently,
  勿使惹塵埃。 And let no dust alight.
After having read this poem aloud to him, Hui-neng asked an officer to write another gatha on the wall for him, next to Shenxiu's, which stated:[8]
菩提本無樹, Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;
  明鏡亦非臺。 The bright mirror is also not a stand.
  本來無一物, Fundamentally there is not a single thing —
  何處惹塵埃。 Where could any dust be attracted?

The Platform Sutra describes the first of these as a way to practice ("You should all recite this verse so that you
will be able to see into your own natures. With this practice you will
not fall into the three evil ways.") but not as having attained enlightenment.
The second one is associated with "knowing the original mind" or "knowing the mind and seeing its true nature".
Answer: Same as the giver, the act of giving and the given. All three must be present to complete what is called "give". Similarly, if there is no self, the "self" is missing and thus there is no enlightenment.
Answer: The concept of self identity or perception of self is a source of misery, as you continuously compare your perception with reality and get disappointed or carried away when there is a gap.
Since perception of self identity is a source of misery you should try to:

reduce the polarity of the perception of self. One such way is to contemplate there is no self (at least as perceived within the framework of conventional wisdom.). This will not completely remove perception. There will be residue or worse, a perception with the opposite polarity.
practice meditation to experience the cessation of perception

Here conventional wisdom is "wisdom" that can be perceived, comprehend, though within the field of perception.
Ultimate reality is something that you experienced with the cessation of perception, something leading to the cessation of perception, not comprehended by though or perception.
Self identity is a perception or notion that we have built in our minds. With the cessation of perception the notion or view of self dissappear. So in the realm of ultimate reality there is no self. But this is due to a paradigm shift in our thinking due to cessation of perception and notion but the process which we perceived or identified as a entity before still continues.
While you have not experienced the cessation of perception, it is wise not to ponder on the subject of self and not self too much as this itself maybe building perceptions of the opposite polarity.
Comment: You get attached to the concept of non self what realizing it though the cessation of perception.
Comment: What is "a perception with the opposite polarity"? For example if "Self exists" is *positive* and "Non-self is true" is *zero*, does 'opposite polarity' mean 'negative', and if so then what are examples of 'a negative perception'?
Comment: A good test to see if there you have got attached to the concept is to see if there is any agitation when someone bring up a view on non self other than what you subscribe to.
Comment: I.e. you are replacing the concept of self with the concept of non self what getting rid of the perception altogether.
Comment: Let me know if this explains what I meant.
Answer: Nobody.
This very same realization is enlightenment.
Answer: You are a continuum of phenomena that has arisen in the universe through cause and effect, in a very real way you are the universe. When one becomes enlightened one simply knows this and when you die, you return to the universe just as a flame goes out. Ask yourself, where does a flame go when it goes out? think about it for a while. Get a match and see for yourself. It simply ceases to be, but everything that enabled the flame, was inherent in the flame still exists everywhere. It just no longer takes form, as the conditions for it have been cut off. Within you, there is a cause for body, a cause for consciousness, a cause for perception, a cause for mental formation and a cause for feeling. Namely, craving. When you become enlightened you realise this and craving ends, cutting you off from arising again, just like the flame. The question who is it that gets enlightened? is an oxymoron. Instead try asking yourself the question, why do I feel like 'I am'?


Long term saving: Shares, Savings Account or Fund

Question: I'm reasonably disciplined with regard to saving but am unsure as to how exactly I should go about it on a long term bases. Should I favour shares, funds or long term saving accounts? What are the rules of thumb? What percentage of my savings should I invest in shares? How many different shares should I have? What sectors should I try to spread my investments across? IT / Banking / Transportation / Energy etc. Why might I favour a fund instead of shares?
Comment: then I suggest you learn from Enron and decouple your personal investments from your employment.
Comment: is the pension from the same IT company?
Comment: @littleadv I'm employed by this company and they "top-up" my pension by paying into the state controlled pension system.
Comment: What do you consider to be "long term savings"? Is long term three years, five years, ten years or 40 years? I'm *guessing* you mean retirement-targetted savings, meaning you are looking at a 30-35 year timeframe, but it would be better if it was made explicit.
Answer: Congratulations on a solid start. Here are my thoughts, based on your situation:
Asset Classes
I would recommend against a long-term savings account as an investment vehicle. While very safe, the yields will almost always be well below inflation. Since you have a long time horizon (most likely at least 30 years to retirement), you have enough time to take on more risk, as long as it's not more than you can live with. If you are looking for safer alternatives to stocks for part of your investments, you can also consider investment-grade bonds/bond funds, or even a stable value fund. Later, when you are much closer to retirement, you may also want to consider an annuity. Depending on the interest rate on your loan, you may also be able to get a better return from paying down your loan than from putting more in a savings account.
I would recommend that you only keep in a savings account what you expect to need in the next few years (cushion for regular expenses, emergency fund, etc.).
On Stocks
Stocks are riskier but have the best chance to outperform versus inflation over the long term. I tend to favor funds over individual stocks, mostly for a few practical reasons. First, one of the goals of investing is to diversify your risk, which produces a more efficient risk/reward ratio than a group of stocks that are highly correlated. Diversification is easier to achieve via an index fund, but it is possible for a well-educated investor to stay diversified via individual stocks. Also, since most investors don't actually want to take physical possession of their shares, funds will manage the shares for you, as well as offering additional services, such as the automatic reinvestments of dividends and tax management.
Asset Allocation
It's very important that you are comfortable with the amount of risk you take on. Investment salespeople will prefer to sell you stocks, as they make more commission on stocks than bonds or other investments, but unless you're able to stay in the market for the long term, it's unlikely you'll be able to get the market return over the long term. Make sure to take one or more risk tolerance assessments to understand how often you're willing to accept significant losses, as well as what the optimal asset allocation is for you given the level of risk you can live with.
Generally speaking, for someone with a long investment horizon and a medium risk tolerance, even the most conservative allocations will have at least 60% in stocks (total of US and international) with the rest in bonds/other, and up to 80% or even 100% for a more aggressive investor. Owning more bonds will result in a lower expected return, but will also dramatically reduce your portfolio's risk and volatility.
Pension
With so many companies deciding that they don't feel like keeping the promises they made to yesterday's workers or simply can't afford to, the pension is nice but like Social Security, I wouldn't bank on all of this money being there for you in the future. This is where a fee-only financial planner can really be helpful - they can run a bunch of scenarios in planning software that will show you different retirement scenarios based on a variety of assumptions (ie what if you only get 60% of the promised pension, etc).
This is probably not as much of an issue if you are an equity partner, or if the company fully funds the pension in a segregated account, or if the pension is defined-contribution, but most corporate pensions are just a general promise to pay you later in the future with no real money actually set aside for that purpose, so I'd discount this in my planning somewhat.
Fund/Stock Selection
Generally speaking, most investment literature agrees that you're most likely to get the best risk-adjusted returns over the long term by owning the entire market rather than betting on individual winners and losers, since no one can predict the future (including professional money managers). As such, I'd recommend owning a low-cost index fund over holding specific sectors or specific companies only. Remember that even if one sector is more profitable than another, the stock prices already tend to reflect this.
Concentration in IT Consultancy
I am concerned that one third of your investable assets are currently in one company (the IT consultancy). It's very possible that you are right that it will continue to do well, that is not my concern. My concern is the risk you're carrying that things will not go well. Again, you are taking on risks not just over the next few years, but over the next 30 or so years until you retire, and even if it seems unlikely that this company will experience a downturn in the next few years, it's very possible that could change over a longer period of time. Please just be aware that there is a risk.
One way to mitigate that risk would be to work with an advisor or a fund to structure and investment plan where you invest in a variety of sector funds, except for technology. That way, your overall portfolio, including the single company, will be closer to the market as a whole rather than over-weighted in IT/Tech.
However, if this IT Consultancy happens to be the company that you work for, I would strongly recommend divesting yourself of those shares as soon as reasonably possible. In my opinion, the risk of having your salary, pension, and much of your investments tied up in the fortunes of one company would simply be a much larger risk than I'd be comfortable with.
Last, make sure to keep learning so that you are making decisions that you're comfortable with. With the amount of savings you have, most investment firms will consider you a "high net worth" client, so make sure you are making decisions that are in your best financial interests, not theirs. Again, this is where a fee-only financial advisor may be helpful (you can find a local advisor at napfa.org).
Best of luck with your decisions!
Answer: There is no rule of thumb (although some may suggest there is). Everybody will have different goals, investment preferences and risk tolerances. You need to figure this out by yourself by either education yourself in the type of investments you are interested in or by engaging (and paying for) a financial advisor. You should not be taking advice from others unless it is specifically geared for your goals, investment DNA and risk tolerance.
The only advice I would give you is to have a plan (whether you develop it yourself or pay a financial advisor to develop one). Also, don't have all your savings sitting in cash, as long-term you will fall behind the eight ball in real returns (allowing for inflation).
Comment: Good answer, but I'd add that you should probably look for a fee-only financial planner/advisor. If it's someone who sells *any* investments, they have a natural conflict of fiduciary interest--approach with extreme caution.
Comment: @RickGoldstein Second that. For a few hundred dollars, you should be able to get a lot of useful information as well as a good idea of where to start. Try napfa.org to find a local advisor.
Answer: RED FLAG. You should not be invested in 1 share. You should buy a diversified ETF which can have fees of 0.06% per year. This has SIGNIFICANTLY less volatility for the same statistical expectation. Left tail risk is MUCH lower (probability of gigantic losses) since losses will tend to cancel out gains in diversified portfolios. Moreover, your view that "you believe these will continue" is fallacious. Stocks of developed countries are efficient to the extent that retail investors cannot predict price evolution in the future. Countless academic studies show that individual investors forecast in the incorrect direction on average.
I would be quite right to objectively classify you as a incorrect if you continued to hold the philosophy that owning 1 stock instead of the entire market is a superior stategy. ALL the evidence favours holding the market.
In addition, do not invest in active managers. Academic evidence demonstrates that they perform worse than holding a passive market-tracking portfolio after fees, and on average (and plz don't try to select managers that you think can outperform -- you can't do this, even the best in the field can't do this).

Direct answer: It depends on your investment horizon. If you do not need the money until you are 60 then you should invest in very aggressive assets with high expected return and high volatility. These assets SHOULD mainly be stocks (through ETFs or mutual funds) but could also include US-REIT or global-REIT ETFs, private equity and a handful of other asset classes (no gold, please.) ... or perhaps wealth management products which pool many retail investors' funds together and create a diversified portfolio (but I'm unconvinced that their fees are worth the added diversification).
If you need the money in 2-3 years time then you should invest in safe assets -- fixed income and term deposits.
Why is investment horizon so important? If you are holding to 60 years old then it doesn't matter if we have a massive financial crisis in 5 years time, since the stock market will rebound (unless it's a nuclear bomb in New York or something) and by the time you are 60 you will be laughing all the way to the bank. Gains on risky assets overtake losses in the long run such that over a 20-30 year horizon they WILL do much better than a deposit account.
As you approach 45-50, you should slowly reduce your allocation to risky assets and put it in safe haven assets such as fixed income and cash. This is because your investment horizon is now SHORTER so you need a less risky portfolio so you don't have to keep working until 65/70 if the market tanks just before retirement.

VERY IMPORTANT. If you may need the savings to avoid defaulting on your home loan if you lose your job or something, then the above does not apply. Decisions in these context are more vague and ambiguous.


I got sent funds but cannot get them

Question: I got sent funds but I do not have enough space on my computer to update bitcoin core and therefore the funds will not come is there anyway to cancel the transaction.  The website I got the funds from said they cannot cancel so can I cancel.
Comment: You probably want to export your private key and use a different piece of software to access the funds.
Answer: It is difficult to cancel a Bitcoin transaction after it's been sent, and it cannot be done by the recipient, only by the sender.  If the transaction has been confirmed, cancellation becomes impossible.
However, the funds are not lost.  They will be waiting in the address until you claim them.  You can either eventually finish installing and syncing Bitcoin Core (possibly on another computer), or you can import your wallet.dat file into some other software with lower resource requirements, and you will be able to spend your funds then.
Answer: If you lack free space enable disk space restrictions via settings menu > options > main tab. You will still need to download the blockchain but it'll automatically delete blocks that it has verified to lower disk space usage. The lowest you can set the amount there is 550 megabytes. However if you do that it'll use about 3.5GB so that's the minimum amount of free space you need.
Bitcoin core doesn't have to be running for you to receive bitcoin so don't worry if the above takes a while. You haven't lost anything and will get to spend your coins once the client is synced.

I got sent funds but cannot get them


Splitting the Makot

Question: The splitting of the Parshiot usually make, at least, some sense.  However, in the next two Parshiot the plagues are split up (7 in the first, 3 in the second).  Are there sources on why this may be?  Is it teaching us something or was it done simply for time and length of parshas sake (I can't imagine this is the case, but maybe).
Comment: There used to be a custom to split the Parsha before the plague of hail (instead of after it), making the split 6-4. This would fit reasonably with http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/52527/759 http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/36829/759
Answer: Abarbanel discusses this and gives two reasons why the parshiyos were split this way (which, incidentally, are the reasons @LarryK and @GershonGold have offered).

The plague of arbeh was chosen to begin Parshas Bo with because it begins the makkos for which Pharaoh began to fear the plagues and negotiate with Moshe before the plague started.
All the last three makkos took place in the dark. The locusts "darkened the land of Egypt" with their sheer mass. Choshech, clearly. Bechoros was at exactly midnight (although it would have been full moon, so it probably wasn't completely dark).

[Also, it makes the mnemonic work. First two letters of each parsha, Va'era and Bo add up in gematria to how many plagues are within.]
Comment: Also the first and last letters in each parsha name.
Answer: The Ba'al HaTurim (9:33) says that after the plague of Hail the Jewish nation no longer suffered from the burdens of Egyptian oppression.
There would therefore be a clear distinction between the first 7 plagues and the last three, which might be why the plagues are separated there.
Answer: The seventh, Hail, marks a turning point. So it is also a good place to divide the parshiot.
The plague is a turning point since it is the first one whereby Moses/Gd gives Pharoh three choices:

Let B'nei Israel leave
Fully suffer the plague
Partially suffer the plague: save your fieldworkers and animals by bringing them indoors away from the hail (Ex 9:19)

In prior plagues, only the first two choices were given. Sometimes the first choice was implicit.
But for the seventh, a clear choice on severity was provided to Pharoh. And note the response: those servants of Pharoh who feared Gd brought in their fieldworkers and animals from the fields. Those that did not directly enabled the death of their fieldworkers and animals by leaving them in the field. See Ex 9:20 - 21.
Drash: While some of Pharoh's servants recognized Gd and saved their people, Pharoh himself willfully sacrificed his field workers and animals in his denial of Gd. Pharoh felt no connection or concern for his field workers and animals. He was beyond redemption.
The seventh plague enables Pharoh to clearly show that he was not the "Gd" of his people. (For he would have saved them if that was so.) Rather, he was only concerned for himself and his dynasty. Thus the Parsha ends and sets the stage for the final surrender of Pharoh.
Source: Teachers of Pardes
Answer: I remember hearing that the 3 last Makos all had to do with darkness. Arbeh - grasshoppers covered the entire ground as it says וכסה את עין הארץ ולא יוכל לראות את הארץ, then you had Choshech - darkness where the Posuk says they were literally able to touch the darkness וימש חושך, and then Makas Bechoros which happened at midnight ויהי בחצי הלילה וה' הכה כל בכור.
The Baal HaTurim also mentions that when Hashem told Moshe Bo El Pahro, Bo = 3, and it was alluding to the fact that there will be three more Makos.
Comment: Odd because he says Bo El Par'oh a number of times previously as well.

Splitting the Makot


Auto-saving when editing a form?

Question: In this scenario, I have a user returning to form and pressing an edit button, then the form  is editable a modal window. Should the user have to hit the save button? Any downside to auto-saving after a text field has been changed?
Comment: You need save and cancel options to cater for the (rare) case that the user changes their mind. Even if you have an "undo" function, which is a good thing, people generally expect to be able to change their minds and abandon modifications.
Answer: I think most users would prefer having to press "Save". It gives a sense of control.
I fail to see how this increases the user experience when using a modal window.
There really is no reason not to have a "Save" button, as they have to close the modal window after they are done anyways.
Answer: Thanks all, after some more discussion we came to the conclusion that hitting the save button is best. One particular deciding factor was the chance to undo changes. If you changed one field and then wanted to change it back, you may have lost the original data.
Answer: Yep, they should probably hit a save button.
With a lightbox, the only way of moving to the next task is by clicking the X in the corner. This is generally recognised as a 'dismiss' or 'cancel' action rather than 'save'.
In a lot of cases, having no save button is likely to make the user ask "Is my data being saved? ...maybe I should look around for a save button just to make sure" so having the save button is likely to avoid unnecessary mental work.
Big systems could also struggle with the extra server load of autosave.
Answer: See also this tangentially related question, What's the rationale behind Google's ''no-save'' approach.

Auto-saving when editing a form?


Are questions about CNC and laser cutting on-topic?

Question: My first inclination is to say that questions about computer-automated production belong under a different site, but Personal Manufacturing and Digital Fabrication didn't make it past beta. It could perhaps be argued that computer-automated production is just another evolution in woodworking, similar to the progression from hand tools to power tools. Also, I imagine some shops might initially produce an item using the more typical woodworking techniques but switch to using a CNC and/or laser cutter as they scale up production. What does everybody else think?
Comment: You can buy some of the machines new for less than the price of a premium cabinet-style table saw.
Comment: I'm not entirely sure what that price is but if that means some home woodworkers will do this, then it seems on topic to me.  Just because a question could have a better site doesn't mean it can't be on topic if this community would potentially find value.
Comment: Ottawa Pulblic Library lets you use time on the laser cutter for free as long as you take a course with them. Like most tools as long as its related to woodworking it should be fine. The community will ultimately decide.
Comment: Are these sorts of things something you might do at home?  Or are the machines needed realistically too expensive.
Comment: I don't have one myself but the first CNC price I found in a search was slightly less than $3000. Like many "woodworking" tools, it may be a luxury for many, but within the limits of others' budgets. Also, I didn't intend to suggest that this site should be limited to home woodworkers; I was just listing one possible scenario which blurs the lines between what we traditionally call woodworking and what some people may consider to be just another tool in a woodworker's arsenal.
Comment: I have a shapeoko CNC that I've spent about $800 on. That being said, the kinds of questions that pop up about CNCs tend to be about software, electrical engineering, material characteristics.. not as much about woodworking itself, even if the material being cut happens to be wood.
Answer: I think they should be included. They're woodworking tools after all. I'd say that questions related to programming these machines don't belong here, because that crosses over into software, engineering etc. but there are many possible questions I could think of (given that I work at a joinery with a 5-axis CNC router) directly related to the woodworking aspect, that would have been great to ask when we first got the machine. Things like tooling selection (i.e. router cutters and tooling blocks), workpiece holding and the like which are both directly related to woodworking and specific to CNC machining. I now also have plenty of knowledge that I can pass along on the matter.
Also you can get small-scale, DIY or second-hand CNC routers for less than $5k, and probably even less than $1k, so it's not out of reach of the average person, if that's to be a factor.
Would you exclude questions about a spindle moulder? To me it's the same principle.
Answer: I think while the questions can be on topic (assuming they are actually working with wood and not some other material).  First I suspect we won't get a lot of these questions because I think most would consider this to be a more 'hand-on' question and answer place, not necessarily a more production oriented one.
But just because of that doesn't mean those types of questions shouldn't be asked here.  The important part is if the question is focused on the wood working aspect or some type of manufacturing issue that would be better asked elsewhere.
Comment: I agree this probably won't be the bulk of questions but I think it's worth considering how to address it before someone asks. Sometimes a woodworking project also involves working with other materials. If I'm making a woodworking tool and want advice on laser-cutting a metal component, would you consider that on-topic or off-topic? Would it make any difference if the entire tool was made from metal vs. making a tool which has metal inlays or blades but is partly wood?
Comment: @rob hmm.  All good questions.  Do we include making any tool that is used in woodwork as well?  I think that is something we'll just have to experiment with.  I think it will depend on how closely it fits with woodwork, but it likely to have a grey scale, and the community will have to decide the line.


Marriage - how is it internationally recognized?

Question: When two people get married (1- hetero couple and 2- homo couple), lets say in the US, how is it recognized internationally?
Let say the couple travels to Europe, are they recognized as being married? Or do they need to carry around "proof" of marriage? What kinds of documents need to be acquired to be "legally" married everywhere? Is there even such a thing? Is it very different for gay as opposed to straight couples?
Comment: @JonathanReez There are many scenarios, e.g. one of the spouse is a citizen, being married might help the other one to enter, in some countries, you can't share a hotel room without being married, etc. The question is a little too broad, though.
Comment: There could be a useful question in here, but it needs to be made much more specific, to apply to one specific situation (i.e. yours).  Are you married?  To someone of the same gender?  In which country were you married?  Where will you be traveling?  What recognition are you concerned about?  For visa purposes? Hospital visitation in case of illness? etc
Comment: Why would other countries care about marriage in a travel context?
Comment: Welcome to travel.SE.  Can you clarify how it is related to travel?
Comment: @JonathanReez in case of hillness. Eg.: in some countries you're only allowed to visit/visit outside official times / give support in hospital if you're married/family.
Comment: @JonathanReez maybe also relevant if you want to marry abroad. Many persons plan to get married while traveling.
Comment: There are I believe also places where unmarried couples are not allowed to share a room.
Comment: The question needs reworded, but I think it would make more sense on expats since, as mentioned, there's little need for proof of marriage in a normal travel context.
Answer: There are still a handful of situations where being married makes things possible that would otherwise be impossible. (Hospital consent, hotel room sharing, being on the same immigration form, etc.) In the vast majority of these cases, an opposite sex couple can get through by simply stating they are married. Occasionally the "proof" of having ID with the same last name is needed. Where things get tricky is when the couple is the same sex and/or has different last names.
Don't underestimate the power of simply stating things that shouldn't be believed. I have been claimed as a sister more than once because of rules (about how many families can camp on a single campsite, and who can visit whom in the hospital) and nobody asked for proof - even when the two sisters had the same first name, or another time when the two sisters were of different races. If you are married and you say so with confidence it's unlikely you'll be asked for a marriage certificate.
Unfortunately that can work in the other direction too. If you're blocked from doing something, but you're married, and you're dealing with someone who doesn't want to let you do it, you may be out of luck. Even if you produce a marriage certificate, some nurse or hotel clerk or immigration officer can simply announce that "your marriage isn't recognized here" and there won't be much you can do about it. (You could maybe sue later, but I am talking about getting through whatever the block is on the spot.)
Technically, most countries recognize each other's opposite sex marriages but possibly not same sex ones. For example, a Canadian government page about getting married outside of Canada says:

Marriages that are legally performed in a foreign country are usually valid in Canada, and you do not need to register them in Canada.

It then goes on to warn:

Although same-sex marriages are legal in Canada, they are not recognized in many countries. Same-sex civil unions are more widely recognized.
Answer: There is no international standard for this as there is for passports, probably because marriage customs and procedures are just too diverse.
As Kate said, people will usually take your word for it for most everyday purposes such as travellign (getting a visa for Saudi Arabia may be the exception). Actual proof of marriage is usually only required for things like immigration, taxes, inheritance and child custody. The demands there vary as well. Sometimes an official document like a marriage certificate or marriage license may be enough, in other cases you even have to prove that the marriage was consummated.
Answer: That would entirely depend on the countries in question. For many there's no reason to care about it at all, unless you're planning on getting married in a country where you're not residents.
For example if you're Dutch and get married in the US, there'a  heap of paperwork involved to get your US marriage certificate to be registered in the Netherlands and have your marital status made official so you're qualified for all the benefits married couples have.
In some countries, as Annoyed points out, you might need to be married in order to share a hotel room. In such situations, it would depend on the laws of the countries involved.

Extreme situation might be a homosexual couple who're in their home country legally married traveling to a country where homosexual marriage is not recognised and only married people may share a hotel room. In that country it's quite possible their marriage would never be recognised, in other countries there might be international treaties in place that handle such a situation.
Best to ask a consulate or embassy if you want to make sure, it's the only way to get the information about your specific information.
From the broad travels I've been at, I've never seen my parents hand anyone a piece of paper to indicate marital status. Apparently the surnames on your passports being the same is for most countries enough to indicate that you're indeed family.


How do you cope with an asymmetric flap extension?

Question: How do pilots cope with an asymmetric flap extension? What are the procedures for this type of occurrence which I suppose are similar on all aircraft?
Comment: On the jets I fly, it is either extremely unlikely or the manufacturer has made it so the flaps can only be split up to 7° before the flap computer stops flap rotation.  I was once told, that if you make some change to the airplane and  you don't like what just happened, then undo that change.  Seems like good advice to me.
Comment: @dotancohen `rebase` is not quite as severe in an airplane. It just means it's now based at a different field. :)
Comment: @wbeard52: What is the aviation equivalent of `git revert`? I'm really hoping that it's not `git rebase`, especially if there are other people on that branch (passengers)!
Comment: While not an asymmetric extension, I did fly a 172 once that the flaps wouldn't fully retract, they were a couple degrees out. Most noticeable during flying was a reduction in speed. Most airplanes you can also slip to try to reduce the air going over that flap since the flaps are located near the wing root.
Answer: I'd guess the procedures probably vary considerably by class and type. If the flaps on one side broke or got stuck on the light GA plane I mostly fly, the procedure would be to just set the side you can control to the same as the side you can't control and land with that amount of flaps. You can land it with no flaps; you'll just have to land a little faster than normal and with sub-optimal visibility of the runway (but still plenty to get the plane onto it safely.)
At least in the planes I've flown, it would be nearly impossible for the flaps on both sides to get stuck in different positions (because both sides are mechanically connected to the flap lever,) but even that could be dealt with by using the ailerons to counter the asymmetry of lift.
The other procedure involved is to do a proper pre-flight and make sure your flaps aren't broken, loose, or damaged before you leave the ground. :)
Answer: This will vary between small planes and large planes as a result of the flap extension mechanisms and how they can possibly break. This recently happened to my instructor and we had a long discussion about it so...
Before we dive in, it should be noted that the FAA recommends that while in the traffic pattern you do not extend the flaps while banking, in the event of an asymmetrical extension it may push you further into the turn.
In smaller planes (GA sized stuff) there are 2 basic flap mechanisms, electric and mechanical. The common Piper Cherokee line (all the way up through the early saratogas) employed a Johnson bar and all mechanical flaps. On the contrary Cessna moved the 172 to electrically driven flaps early on in its production.
As for what to do this will depend on how it fails. In the Piper there are retract springs in the flaps so if the extension mechanism fails the flap will remain in the retracted position. Generally what fails on the pipers is the bolt that holds the push rod onto the flap or the nut comes off due to a faulty pin although the cables can fail as well. The rod looks something like this

(Source)
Edit: I went flying this morning and got a picture of the flap pushrod joint on the Piper Warrior I was flying to show it in action. Here the flaps are fully deployed (3 notches) during my preflight check. As you can see checking that joint is critical, and you should always inspect to make sure the pin is properly in place through the nut. In this case you are looking at the head of the pin so its a bit hard to see but its there.

In any case generally speaking releasing the Johnson bar will retract the other flap and you will make a no flap landing (runway provided). In this instance if you have the fuel it may be advised to divert to an airport with a longer runway. You should also practice some no flap landings during you training for this very reason.
In the electric planes if any of the extension mechanisms break and you can still retract the flaps adhere to the procedure above. However in this case you could also have a drive motor failure or other electrical issues. For this you may be stuck with your flaps in a partially extended state. Some amount of aileron deflection will be required and you should expect higher landing speeds. Again diverting to a longer/wider runway may help. Care should be taken in the pattern turns in this case as well.
Considering the redundancy in commercial airliner systems this is less of an issue for larger planes. On top of that since large planes generally have multiple engines you can take advantage of differential power settings as well as cross control. Large planes also generally have more than one set of flaps that are often powered by multiple sets of hydraulic pistons which are unlikely to all fail in tandem. While you can have an asymmetrical extension on a commercial airliner chances are it would not be like that of a GA plane where you run the risk of a full extension on one side and no extension on the other.

(source)
Answer: On the Boeing aircraft I fly the flaps and slats are both fitted with an asymmetry protection system. When an asymmetry is detected the flap motors are stopped and you are stuck with the flap/slat where it is. If its the slats that are stuck you can still move the flaps with the alternate system and vice versa.
The (Quick Reference Handbook) QRH advises the actions necessary in using the alternate system and the reference landing speeds required, depending on at what stage of extension or retraction the asymmetry occurred.


What's the best way to get started with Raspberry Pi?

Question: I've always been interested in technology trying new programs/games, tinking with a few mediocre languages, and been learning a big one for a while now at college. However, I've longed to get into Raspberry Pi's and I wonder where I should start.
Comment: Welcome to Raspberry Pi :-) But your question is too broad and opinion based. Such questions are flagged and may be closed. This site isn't made for brainstorming and discuss general issues. It is made to do one specific question that can be answered detailed. You may visit the [Help Center](https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/help) to get an idea how things work here.
Answer: Start at the MagPi Magazine there's lots of projects to try. Everything from the MagPi Mag is available as a free download or can be purchased printed on pulped dead trees.
Getting a Raspberry is easy, you need a RPi3B+, an official power supply, an official keyboard & mouse and a HDMI cable to connect it to your TV.
Something like the ModMyPi ultimate kit may be an easy way to get all the parts in a single bundle {Note: I am not affiliated to ModMyPi in any way}
Comment: Are all projects, in the magazines, on https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en @Dougie?
Comment: @AlienDrew I don't think so. Projects.raspberrypi.org is a fairly new addition. The MagPi (originally an end-user created magazine) has been running a lot longer.
Comment: Would you say the magazine has better projects than the link then?
Comment: Having been part of the original editting team I'm biased. I think the projects books are a good starting point for everyone. The benefit of the magazine is you're getting something new every month. You'll also get a Raspberry Zero (or 3A+) if you take a subscription.
Answer: You need

the latest Raspberry Pi 3+
an microSD card
an micro-USB powersupply (2100 mA or more)

Click on the official "Buy now" link here. After that, have a look at the (extensive) materials, worksheets, projects and documentation here:
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/pathways/getting-started-with-raspberry-pi
The Raspberry Pi website is full of materials for teachers, schoolchildren and everybody else who wants to learn programming, physical computing and much more with the Pi :
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en
Comment: Does the link have better projects than the MagPi magazine?
Comment: I think they are just different. The projects on the homepage probably better structured for classroom use.


Reference year for College Scorecard loan repayment rate

Question: What is the year or cohort to which the loan repayment rates refer on the College Scorecard as shown today? My institution shows a repayment rate of 68% but there is no year of reference.
Answer: Presently, the collegescorecard.ed.gov utilizes data from 1996--2014. The measure you're referring to, "Students Paying Down Their Debt," is defined as "The share of students who have repaid at least $1 of the principal balance on their federal loans within 3 years of leaving school." Therefore this would apply to those who left between 1996--2011, as the data for 2015--present haven't been released or collected yet.
My guess is that the measure is a time-independent average, or an average with more recent years being weighted heavier than earlier years.
Comment: You can also download the data yourself on collegescorecard.ed.gov/data.
Answer: The source of the metric is the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). The current data are from fiscal years 2014 and 2015 (this metric uses a pooled cohort for students repaying during 3-year periods of FY 2011-2014 and FY 2012-2015).  This information is included in the Scorecard Data Dictionary (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/assets/CollegeScorecardDataDictionary.xlsx) in the tab labeled "most recent cohort map."


What is up with the Ask Ubuntu points? Why do I loose so many points?

Question: I noticed that there are Ask Ubuntu points and I've lost tons of them. I have no clue how to get more. Do I loose points for asking questions?
Comment: You should read our [help]. Specifically the [section on reputation](http://askubuntu.com/help/whats-reputation).
Comment: 14 rep loss isn't "tons of points".  ANd read the help center.
Comment: This is why we are so much better than [the other place](http://answers.yahoo.com) - which penalizes you for asking questions.
Comment: Really you lost tons of points..?? :)
Comment: I didn't loose that much points, but I last saw my points at 21 and now it's at 6 points.
Answer: Looking at your Profile Rep Page I think the answer is that some people think you are not asking very good questions.
Asking good questions is not easy.

First you should search on this site and across the internet in general to see if your question has already been asked and answered.  If it has then you should not ask the question as it will be closed as a duplicate and may result in some people voting it down; especially if lots of people have asked a similar question.
Second you need to be sure that the question you are asking can be answered (even if that answer is: it can't be done). We are not looking for open ended questions where there are lots different opinions and they may be equally valid. This question: Should I install Ubuntu 13.04 64bit? is in my opinion at least impossible to answer as we don't know what you want to do with Ubuntu but the question that it was closed in favour of What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit and which should I choose? is much better because it is asking for a comparison of the options allowing you to make an informed choice.
Third you need ensure that its specifically about Ubuntu and not about Linux in general

Take a look at the help pages and read the comments people leave on your questions.  I personally never down vote a question without leaving some indication why: either by up-voting a comment left by someone else or adding my own comment.
Answer: You should also take a look at your profile's rep page and see where your rep is disappearing to.  According to that page, you've had a decent bit of downvotes on your answers, and a bit was lost because your question here was downvoted because you posted it on the main site and not meta.
Comment: @Alan the main Ask Ubuntu site is for questions about Ubuntu.  Meta Ask Ubuntu is the site that is about the Ask Ubuntu site, where you can ask questions and get help with issues on the site itself.
Comment: There is a right and a wrong place to post stuff? I rarely use askubuntu, but it is obvious there is a lot I don't know about.
Answer: You are losing points because people are downvoting your questions and/or answers. They maybe downvoting them because they have already been asked before. Here is how the point system works: https://askubuntu.com/help/whats-reputation As you will see in the link you can gain points by having your question or answers upvoted, by having your answer accepted, and by accepting other people's answers (click the check mark underneath the voting column).
P.S. You will also read in the link I placed that you can lose points as well for voting down other peoples answers or placing a bounty on a question. There are ways of 'spending' your points as well besides just losing them due to downvotes.
Answer: The community is pretty harsh when it comes to doing your "homework"
What I mean by this is you need to actually do some reading about the community rules when posting and understand how this site works as everyone else has already said.
If people believe you are asking a silly question most likely you will get a down vote and lose some points.
It may be a bummer, but trust me you will get the hang of it.  Just try and help others and make sure you do a good search on this site before asking a question because more often then not some one else has already had the same problem as you.
I hope this helps and I'm glad you are using AskUbuntu because I know it will just make this site better.
Comment: yes, I need to do a lot of reading. I can't ask questions anymore and 13.10 just came out. I am having installation problems. upgrading with the DVD was not a good choice.
Comment: If you are having issues with the install the best way to get help right away is on irc.  Look into getting xchat or irssi and then get on irc.freenode.net and then go to the channel ubuntu.
Answer: You can find the answer regarding reputation point system here


Difference between "in time" and "on time"

Question: I have an appointment at 8 and I arrive there at 7:55, is it "on time" or "in time"? What about "the nick of time"?
Answer: In time
Suggests that you arrived, or accomplished the desired task, at a time sufficient to be effective.  Typically, this means "at or before a deadline."

We finished cleaning the house in time for the guests to arrive.

In time to...
A related variation on the phrase "in time" is "in time to" (also "with time to"), and indicates that you arrived or accomplished a task with time remaining, sufficient to do something else.

I finished cooking dinner in time to take a shower before the guests arrived.
We got the kids in bed with time to watch a movie.

On time
Suggests that you arrived, or accomplished the desired task "exactly on schedule."

I arrived on time, at 8:00pm.

Although, the phrase "on time" is often used interchangeably with "in time" and it is probably rare that you would find a context where only one would be understood.
Answer: "In time" means various things but here it would mean with time to do something. So, something like: "My appointment was a 8, but I arrived at 7:55, in time to wash my face before the meeting".
"On time" means that you arrived when you were supposed to: "My meeting was a 8, but I wasn't exactly on time, I was 5 minutes early".
"In the nick of time" means without any time to spare. "I boarded the train in the nick of time, just as the doors were closing".
Answer: I believe that on time means at the planned time: neither late nor early.
For example, say you have class at 8 a.m., and you show up at 8 a.m. You would be on time.
However, in time means with enough time to spare.
For example:

He is lucky the  ambulance arrived in time. If it had arrived any later, he would have died.
Answer: "On time" implies keeping fixed schedule; example, if the office hour is 8:00 am and you always arrive in office at 8:00 am, then you are always on time. It also means keeping a planned schedule.
"In time" implies an event that was not planned or scheduled,example, if rebels are about to kill someone and you arrived just at time of killing the person, then you arrived in time perhaps to save the person.
Another example could be, the doctor arrived in time to save the dying patient.
Answer: "In time" implies before the exact time or planned time.
"On time" implies for the exact time (on the watch dot).
Comment: Welcome to ELL.SE. Thank you for your answer, but it does not really add anything more than Flimzy's answer provided 7 years ago. I strongly encourage you to take the site [tour] and review the [help] for additional guidance.
Answer: In time means arriving a bit earlier then required time. For instance, I was supposed to attend a lesson at 10:00 AM, but I arrived at 9:56 AM.
On time means arriving exactly hour or a bit late. For example, I was supposed to attend a lesson at 10:00 AM but I arrived at 10:00 AM or 10:05 AM.
Answer: in time: in short a bit earlier or a bit late
on time: in short neither before nor late but on fix time.
Comment: While this may be correct, we like our answers to be backed up by references. You can [edit] your answer to include one (e.g. an online dictionary). See the Help Center article [answer].


Why could the pictures and paintings in Hogwarts talk and the photos of Harry's parents couldn't?

Question: In the Harry Potter universe, the people in photographs and paintings can move and talk. You actually see characters interacting with the "people" in the pictures, particularly in the portraits that hang all over Hogwarts School. Then why can't Harry's parents photos interact with him ?
Comment: possible duplicate of [What causes the portraits of Wizards to behave interactively?](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/12878/what-causes-the-portraits-of-wizards-to-behave-interactively)
Comment: @phantom42 I don't think that's a dupe. The question you linked is asking how portraits work. This question is asking about the difference between paintings and photos.
Comment: @Moogle the text of the original question says it's asking about painted portraits. DVK's answer explains why/how portraits are animated.
Comment: @phantom42 But, as far as I can see, that doesn't explain why the same process can't be done with a photograph.
Comment: @Moogle Correct, and there's nothing in canon that I'm aware of that says photos *cant* be made interactive. So, why isn't the photo of Harry's parents interactive? Because it wasn't imbued with their essence.
Answer: You identified the main difference in your Question. One is a Photo and the other is a Painting. Now we can only imagine the magic which goes into creating a Painting we do have this from JKR though.

Q: All the paintings we have seen at Hogwarts are of dead people. They seem to be living through their portraits. How is this so? If there was a painting of Harry's parents, would he be able to obtain advice from them?
JKR: That is a very good question. They are all of dead people; they are not as fully realised as ghosts, as you have probably noticed. The place where you see them really talk is in Dumbledore's office, primarily; the idea is that the previous headmasters and headmistresses leave behind a faint imprint of themselves. They leave their aura, almost, in the office and they can give some counsel to the present occupant, but it is not like being a ghost. They repeat catchphrases, almost. The portrait of Sirius' mother is not a very 3D personality; she is not very fully realised. She repeats catchphrases that she had when she was alive. If Harry had a portrait of his parents it would not help him a great deal. If he could meet them as ghosts, that would be a much more meaningful interaction, but as Nick explained at the end of Phoenix—I am straying into dangerous territory, but I think you probably know what he explained—there are some people who would not come back as ghosts because they are unafraid, or less afraid, of death.

source from Accio quote, Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004
When it comes to photos it is something much closer to home to be able to have a moving image. Think of moving photos as videos without sound, they are basically the GIFs of HP, the difference being they are in newpapers and frames.
So a painting is really just memories from the subject and it's responses vary on how 'realised' it is. This would be much more complex magic than taking a photo (although I would suggest the cameras take videos and the magic with photos comes in putting them onto paper) with paintings it seems that the creation of them will allow them to talk. So you could also have a painting who can't talk, or like JKR said Sirius' mother who screamed out at most 3-4 different catchphrases I think?
To surmise Photo != Painting or Painting > Photo.
Comment: @damon that does not involve the painting thinking or answering itself. They can repeat what they are told to a degree. They can observe and I think probably learn  slightly as they go but never become a fully fledged person.
Comment: Everard's picture in the headmasters office is capable of carrying messages and spying for the headmaster of hogwarts. So it has a much more dynamic personality than Sirius' mother's painting.  Maybe it is quality of enchantment, or maybe she has gone mad from years of being covered and alone in Sirius's house.
Comment: @stonemetal It depends on the enchantment in my opinion as to how powerful the painting is. They can also travel between paintings of themselves of course. It would seem they can travel between paintings on the same wall too as is demonstrated in many chapters. One example is when the knight Sir Cadogan (was it?) ran between paintings to keep up with harry.
Comment: The explanation given by JKR once again proves that she didn't write the later books in her series herself, since she is oblivious of the fact that Dumbledore sends a former headmaster's painting to alert someone in the ministery when Weasley is attacked and injured, and the portrait reports back that he found Weasley, and he is being taken care of. That would be hardly possible given the "aura left in spot" explanation and merely being able to repeat catchphrases or such.
Answer: I always just assumed that there were different (magical) processes for making different kinds of pictures.  Just like in the real world the difference between a black and white photo and a lenticular 3D color picture.
We se at least 3 different kinds.  The plain pictures with no associated magic, the animated pictures that are just animated with no interaction and the fully interactive ones that can talk and interact.
Answer: Portraits in Harry Potter are made sentient using enchantments placed on the paintings by the painter.  Most of the talking paintings actually know little if any of the life of their subject.  The exceptions are mostly the Headmasters' portraits that are painted early and are kept so the Headmaster can add subtleties and intricacies they deem important for their portrait.
More, including a list of some portraits and their characteristics, here.


Can basic user permissions cause drastic decrease in download time compared to an Administrator level?

Question: This is an edited repost,
Currently one of our departments utilizes a web-based system to access, upload, download documentation/licensing for employee's. Our company has two corporate headquarters, North Carolina and Arizona.
In North Carolina, the system works fine, no real issues aside from the blue moon crash of Internet Explorer. (Internet Explorer is required for this system!). IE 9 for anyone who wants to know.
In Arizona, it takes three times longer for a domain/local user to download and view a file within the system than an NC user. The same goes for upload.
NC Setup - 15 Down/1 Up
AZ Setup - 20 Down/10 Up
Here is the fun part...
You would think that this could be a networking issue of some kind, although when a domain or local administrator logs in, it works perfectly fine (usually downloads an app/file within 1m 20s). Regular download time for a basic user in AZ if you're lucky would be 3m.
Notes:

Local Admin and Local User have same times as Domain Admin and Domain User.
Both sites are identical when it comes to network device configurations. Routers, switches, and WAPs.
The download times of the requested files are both same for wireless and wired.
If I give the user Domain Admin privileges, everything is good to go! Although not going to happen permanently.
Happening to any user/machine on the AZ network.
Same group policies applied to both locations, NC and AZ.
NC laptop has same settings/applications/OS version/IE version as patient zero laptop in AZ.
No malware involved to knowledge.
As stated beforehand, have tried with "barebones" PC without anything domain (Local Admin and Local User) with no such luck.
All directories that the application uses I've given the user Full Control over.
No form of content filtering applied.
Have disabled Windows auto-tuning, firewall, etc.
Same results whether on network or off network for the user. I have yet to have the user attempt admin off network, needed to give them a rest when testing on their machine.
System utilized is Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on all tests and actuals.

I've attempted to talk with the company providing this product to us and it has been stated that they cannot help us troubleshoot anything internal, the problem doesn't seem to be on their system, etc.
The MAIN QUESTION here is...
Why would a domain/local user be restricted on download time 3x more than a domain/local Administrator account? No content filtering, no proxies, etc.
I'm pretty certain I've covered all bases at least for starters and it's driving me up the wall. I want to believe it is a network issue although it points directly to perms.
Comment: You say: "As stated beforehand, have tried with "barebones" PC without anything domain (Local Admin and Local User) with no such luck" - what do you mean? You mean a barebones PC, not joined to the domain at all has the same symptoms e.g. normal user slow admin user quick?
Comment: @DaveC
Yep yep. Any which way the machine is configured. Same issues.
Local Admin = Normal, Fast.
Local User  = Slow, 3x+ the amount of time.
With & Without Domain join.
Answer: Unless there is software for restricting the bandwith, which can be done with basic windows elements such as robocopy, no it wont affect it.


Does Tor prevent people from finding the sites you visited before dowloading Tor, or does it only block your history after downloading Tor?

Question: The title is my question--does Tor block access to your internet browsing history before you download Tor, or does it block access to your internet use after downloading Tor?
Comment: It is a bit unclear what your question is about. Before you download Tor (or Tor Browser) is does not do anything. When you have downloaded Tor Browser and use it, it will block access to your browsing history and delete it every time when you close the browser. I'm also not sure what you mean with the second part of your question. Could you elaborate?
Answer: I assume you're talking about Tor Browser here. Tor Browser itself doesn't keep a history of the pages you visited. If it comes to any pages you visit using other browsers, Tor Browser does not try to stop them from storing any history.
If you used another browser for browsing or to download Tor Browser, that history is not removed.


Where does Google Flights get its data from?

Question: Has anyone ever booked a flight with Google Flights?  I am just wondering where they get their prices and data from, and if I might find a cheaper flight by using something like Expedia or Travelocity.
Comment: So what exactly is your question?  Whether or not you will be able to book a cheaper ticket would be a simple matter looking at another aggregator like: http://www.skyscanner.com or http://www.kayak.com
Answer: Google uses ITA Software's QPX software, which uses algorithms to combine and parse multiple sets of flight information from airlines. This includes any pricing and any other available data, which allows them to keep an up-to-date database that can be searched just like their search engine. This allows them to check against multiple different airlines for the various data that all of those programs like expedia and travelocity have access to. Refer to the information provided in the links to prevent for a lengthy post that is just quoted from the website. It is a quite complex and very effective software. You can read more on this topic on Google's website.
EDIT: If you're looking to find really good flights at a cheaper rate, Google has a good starting point for sure. I would potentially refer to websites like Kayak or CheapoAir as well however and then compare the prices. I always like to refer to multiple sources and see who offers the best rate. I usually always start with a Google search, this allows you to see what airlines might be the right one to go with in the long run.
Comment: This doesn't answer the question asked. The question is where do they get the data, not what software or company they use. You say they get them "from airlines", but where/what/how? From e.g. the United website? for free? or do you have to pay the airlines? or is there an API? etc.
Comment: I think this answer is not complete. At first I also thought that QPX and google.com/flights were linked, but seems like they are different engines (or /flights is built on top of QPX). Seems like QPX/ITA matrix don't include results from some relevant companies. In my case, I was checking from Barcelona to London and QPX/ITA matrix doesn't include flights from Ryanair. The difference is of 80€ vs 399€, so it's quite relevant.
Comment: Google bought ITA Software and has built upon their product. So they initially used it as a base. If you read the article than you can see more about the acquisition and the nature of the product. http://www.google.com/press/ita/faq.html


Ogre For iPhone

Question: Do we need MAC OS for Ogre Iphone SDK? and Is there any other way for developing iphone game on windows i mean free open source SDK?
Answer: Since iPhone code is C/C++/Objective-C you can write the code anywhere. To use the SDK, compiler and debugger, a computer running OSX is required. Per the license agreement this must be an Apple built piece of hardware, although I've heard that hackintosh machines work just fine.

Ogre For iPhone


Peck deck machine vs dumbbells flyes

Question: I don't use the peck deck machine. If someone say can do 100 kg on the peck deck how much can he do with dumbbells flyes?
Answer: Even if the weight-stack is 100kg, all the pulleys make it so the actual weight you need to push, is far less than 100kg. And the number of pulleys, as well as their size, lubrication and distance between each other, is different depending on manufacturer. So there is no one-to-one relationship between how much you can do with free weights and how much you can do on the machine equivalent.
Comment: Also the dumbbells put a lot more stress on the joints to stabilize the weight. I was looking for some numbers even if not 100% exact. Anw thank you.
Comment: @rrirower - Why? I mean, I certainly agree, but I don't think the asker has any doubt about that. I saw it only as a question of "if I can do x on machine, how much with free weight?" But of course, both methods are beneficial.
Comment: @Alec You should clarify that there is still a benefit from using machines.
Answer: In addition to the point @Alec made, that the pulleys reduce the amount of force the user needs to apply (I think usually by about half), there's two other considerations that come to mind:
1) The lever-arm: when using dumbbells the force is applied where the weight is held, at the hand. Thus, the torque that you need to apply is (Weight x Arm Length), that's why it's so much easier to do flys the more you bend your arms (and makes it harder for people with long arms, given the same amount of weight). In a pec-deck, the weight is applied at the point where the cable attaches to the handles of the machine. This is typically much closer to body than the hands, maybe at about elbow length, give or take. Since you are applying force at your hand length, but the resistance is applied at roughly half that distance, you need to apply roughly half the force. (And, since the resistance point is fixed, the pec-deck doesn't "penalize" people with long arms).
So, rough estimate, about a quarter of the force of the weight stack gets applied at the hands, depending on the pulley system and arm length.
2) The pec-deck applies force much more consistently throughout the range of motion. Regardless of whether your arms are fully open or nearly closed, the handles are pushing back with nearly equal force. With DB flys, the force is always straight down. Thus, the force that is needed to close your arms is proportional to the cosine of the angle between your arm and the floor. That means that in the fully open position, the DBs are completely resisting the movement. At about 2/3rds of the way through the motion, they provide half the resistance, and by the end, all the effort is just holding the weight up, not pushing them together.
#2 is the primary reason why it doesn't really make sense to compare the weight done using DB flys with the pec-deck (and, of course, the fact you don't have to balance machines like you do free weights).

Peck deck machine vs dumbbells flyes


Why is action 'eosio::setcode' on the action blacklist in the mainnet?

Question: Error 3130005: Action to execute is on the blacklist
Error Details:
action 'eosio::setcode' is on the action blacklist
pending console output:
in mainnet
Why is this?
Comment: seems the mainnet is maintaining
Answer: It was mentioned on the Telegram channel for developers that a bug has been found, so the BPs blacklisted the command until it's fixed. No other details were provided for now, but some BPs mentioned that a more detailed report should be coming soon. There's also an issue raised on GitHub about this.

Post-mortem explanation thanks to Kevin Rose from EOS New York who saved Bart Wyatt's explanation from July 26th:

Now that mainnet is safe I can provide more details.  Several
  versions ago we subjectively disabled implicit re-scheduling of
  deferred transaction because they did not properly refund RAM.  That
  also disabled a pretty nasty bug that we were unaware of until
  yesterday.  1.1.1 fixed a source of non-determinism but in doing so,
  changed the behavior of a corner case in processing such that 1.1.1
  producers could make blocks that appeared to reschedule a deferred
  transaction to 1.1.0 producers.  This lead to those producers thinking
  that a later block was invalid (due to the nasty bug).  It was a razor
  thin edge case so, of course jungle hit it.
To make matters worse, the order in which jungle producers were set up
  created a stubborn forking scenario where the 1.1.1 producers were
  able to convince themselves of a superior chain despite it being the
  minority fork so they never rejoined concensus and the 1.1.0 producers
  thought the superior chain was invalid due to a bad block.  It will
  take them a while to coordinate and select a proper main chain.  Until
  those producers all upgrade to 1.1.1 it can happy again
And the last part of their issue is that there is some additional
  historical block made by a 1.1.0 producer (or earlier) that is failing
  replay on 1.1.1 .  We saw no such blocks in the mainnet and they are
  not producible by 1.1.1 so, again mainnet is safe.  Had we seen that
  before the release or on mainnet we would have tried to address it
  before patch but, replaying jungle was not yet on our acceptance tests
  (it will be now, as well as other busy community testnets)"
The two releases referenced in the above: July 17th -
  https://github.com/EOSIO/eos/releases/tag/v1.1.0  July 24th -
  https://github.com/EOSIO/eos/releases/tag/v1.1.1
The following was listed as a critical issue in the v1.1.1 release
  notes.  Self-Cancelling Deferred Transactions Calling
  cancel_deferred(sender_id) using the sender_id of the currently
  executing deferred transaction was not properly handled. This has been
  resolved so that the cancel_deferred call semantics match the
  expectation that passing invalid or already-retired sender_id is a
  no-op. The currently executing transaction is considered "retired" WRT
  these semantics. Unit test added
  https://github.com/EOSIO/eos/blob/083935ea0e4fa93e1a4a101164fe3e6182c8fcac/contracts/test_api/test_transaction.cpp#L321-L339
https://github.com/EOSIO/eos/commit/083935ea0e4fa93e1a4a101164fe3e6182c8fcac


Cause of Kitten Diarrhea?

Question: My kitten in 3 month old and losing weight due to diarrhea. Before de-worming, diarrhea was with blood, but now it is just stool. We give boiled chicken and kitten food (ROYAL CANIN). And sometimes yogurt and boiled rice. I asked the Vet but he says change the cat food. It is the same cat food that he suggested me during de-worming. So I bought 2kg bag. I am confused now what to feed to my kitten. Is it boiled chicken? Or the kitten food causing diarrhea.
Comment: has your kitten had a fecal test done?
Comment: nop, this is my first pet, I dont know much about the vaccinations and all kind of tests
Answer: Ask your vet to clarify what they meant by changing the cat food.
My recommendation would be to feed only the Royal Canin kitten food. The yoghurt or boiled rice could be causing digestive issues, and are not part of an appropriate diet for a kitten or cat. Small amounts of chicken are likely not be a problem as long as the chicken is not flavoured and fully cooked, however until the diarrhea has resolved I would feed only the kitten food.
There are hundreds of different causes of diarrhea in kittens, ranging from the simple-to-treat (parasites) to difficult-to-treat (allergies), with every bacterium and virus in between. Some kittens will respond well to simplifying the diet, while others need further workup (bloodwork, fecal, possibly x-rays, etc) to get to an answer and appropriate treatment. Some kittens will become very dehydrated with severe diarrhea so it is important to not let diarrhea go untreated for too long.
Comment: is it true that kittens are sometime not able to digest cat food ? is it the same for my case ?
Answer: Only have two things to add to the other answer:
Watch the cat throughout the day, make sure they're not eating something they shouldn't be (like plants or carpet fibers). If you can't do that, maybe put them in a clean room where they can't get anything bad.
Also, please take your cat to get a workup at the vet! Would you like to have horrible chronic diarrhea? It probably won't be that expensive. Think of it as an investment that will pay out over 10-20 years of your cat's friendship.

Cause of Kitten Diarrhea?


Working multiple jobs on EU Blue Card

Question: I am planning to move to Germany with a job offer lined up, and consequently the EU Blue card, and I am wondering what the rules are on working multiple jobs at the same time. I am thinking of doing some remote work for clients in the US on a part time basis and I am not sure if that is allowed within the first 18 months on the Blue Card. The second job could be a self-employment. Any suggestions?
Answer: The BlueCard would be only one of several problems. If one will be an employee, I'm not sure if US companies can hire him/her as employee in Germany (then they might need to be legally presented here, or he/she needs a service company in-between). Besides that, one may need a permission from his/her main employer in Germany to work for others or himself/herself in parallel.
However, both are theoretically doable.

First, it makes sense to get a permission from the main employer for self-employment job outside of working hours (i.e., double-check the contract).
Second, it is worse asking Immigration Office (Ausländerbehörde) about giving a separate permission for founding a company.
I'm not sure about international regulations about living and physically being in Germany and working for your own company in US --> this might be rather complicated, and one might need to consult a lawyer and tax advisor.
Besides Blue Card, there are other forms of residence permits (at least 3 for the purpose of employment, and at least one more for the purpose of founding a company), it is possible to select them instead.

P.S. I'm not a lawyer.
Comment: Most contracts explicitly state that a second job requires permission of the employer, so this must indeed be checked.
Comment: Awesome, thank you @Andrey Sapegin. The  § 21 Absatz 6 Aufenthaltsgesetzes you mentioned in the linked answer seems to be the exact answer to this question. Leaving the link to the rule here for quick reference for others looking for this: (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/aufenthg_2004/__21.html)

Working multiple jobs on EU Blue Card


AWS - Sharepoint vs inhouse AD Server authentication

Question: I have an inhouse setup at our office with Sharepoint 2010 installed on Windows Server 2008 R2, a MS SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 and a AD Server. I am planning to migrate Sharepoint 2010 and DB Server alone to AWS. I would like to retain my AD server inhouse itself. Now how do I authenticate AD users to Sharepoint Sever. Please consider me as an Windows Newbie.
Answer: Either have site to site Virtual Private Network (VPN) between AWS and your facility, so  all servers look like they are on same network.
Or setup Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) servers on both ends to exchange claims over the internet.


How do I "tell" a simple perceptron/adaline neural netrork its output can't be negative?

Question: I have made and trained a simple neural network which now seems to produce outputs reasonable  in all the aspects but one: it gives negative values from time to time even though the outputs are always either 0 or 1 (positive) in all my treaining samples (the actual neural outputs show to be more or less close to the answer most probable but never actually reach them, I consider this ok). Won't "telling" the network what output values are just impossible improve its performance.
Perhaps my mistake is in choosing activation functions. As far as my input values domain is (-1, 1) I use TANH for input neurons, but I have no idea what is the logic to choose hidden and output neurons activation functions and so I set the same (TANH) for all of them (update: I have just noticed that I have mistakenly chosen linear activation function for the output layer while inpit and hidden layers use TANH).
Clearly a negative value means "the answer is very probable to be zero" in this case and it works just fine from the practical point of view but it still gives me a sense that I am doing something wrong.
Answer: You can put the logistic function on top of the output:
f(z) = 1/(1 + exp(-z)).
You will also need to adjust the cost function accordingly, i.e. use log loss: https://www.kaggle.com/wiki/LogarithmicLoss


Holidays Beginning at sundown of the previous day

Question: I know that holidays begin at sundown the day before the date they are on. Do Jewish people begin to celebrate the holiday at sundown or on the date they are on? Take for example, Passover. Are any of the Passover meals eaten at sundown of the day before the holiday starts? I would also like to know about any differences from modern day and in antiquity.
Answer: For the entirety of Jewish History, Judaism has kept to a day that begins at sunset on the previous 'secular/non-Jewish date'.  Therefore, all meals eaten after sundown would be considered to already be eaten on that day, not on the previous day.
What is very interesting about your question is that the Torah specifically mentions the eating of a Passover meal on the Eve of Passover (according to the traditional interpretation):

In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

Exodus 12:15 (Sefaria translation)
An English article that touches on the sources discussed here can be found here.
Answer: Holidays don't begin before the date they are on. They are only on the date they are on. That date starts and ends at sundown. Many holiday rituals occur after sundown at the beginning of the holiday.
Modern common calendars by popular convention begin and end dates at midnight, so the holiday's date overlaps partially with two of the modern common calendar's dates. The publisher could mark both dates as overlapping partially, but since the second modern common calendar date overlaps with most of the holiday, they often just mark that. It's imprecise, but usually sufficient for most people's needs.
Comment: Many ancient cultures actually began the date at sunrise. Romans are the ones who popularized midnight
Comment: The origin of Jewish dates beginning at evening is in Genesis in the story of creation. Each "day" ends by saying "It was night and it was day ... the second day", etc. Since night was mentioned first, this where Judaism established the rule that the new "date" begins at nightfall.
Comment: This is similar to how seasons begin and end in different cultures. In the USA, winter and summer *begin* on the solstices, while in many European countries (all of November and most of December are actually considered autumn), the solstices are considered to fall *during* those seasons.
Answer: As others have noted, this has been a very longstanding Jewish rule - holidays start/end at sundown. But it actually gets a little more complicated. A brief overview:
1 - This applies to ALL days, not just special holidays. In particular, that means the days of the week, including Shabbos (Sabbath) start/end at sundown. That means the Friday night special Shabbos dinner (which traditional Jews eat every Friday night, except if Yom Kippur starts on Friday night) is eaten after sundown Friday night and Shabbos continues until sundown on Saturday night.
2 - The time for sundown is "fuzzy". Officially this is called Bein Hashmashos. The ends are "shekia" = "sunset", which generally has a pretty clear astronomical definition (sun below horizon) and "tzeis hacochavim" = "stars come out". Depending on location (ignoring the really wild situation in extreme northern/southern latitudes) and time of year and different traditions/interpretations of the Jewish laws involved, this time is typically between 42 and 72 minutes.
3 - The sundown time is normally treated as an extension in whatever way is strictest. For Shabbos and holidays where work is prohibited, that effectively means a 25-hour "day" instead of just 24 hours.
4 - For normal Shabbos and holidays, one is allowed to start the evening services and the festive meal early (Plag Hamincha). But specifically for Passover the Seder meal is to take place "at night" which is normally understood to mean "after tzeis hacochavim". The result is that Melachah (work) is prohibited from "shkia" but you can't start the Seder until "tzeis". That really isn't a problem as there are prayers and last-minute preparations that can be done "bein hashmashos".
Answer: While the previous answers are correct that Jewish holidays begin at night, they do not completely address the question. The question here asks whether all aspects of the holiday (such as meals) begin at night. The truth is that though holidays begin at night, there are often certain aspects that according to Jewish Law can only be done during the day.
For example:

The blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana can only be done during the day even though the holiday starts the night before. (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 588:1)
The taking of the Lulav on Sukkot can only be done during the day even though the holiday starts the night before. (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 652:1)
The festive meal eaten on Purim can only be done during the day even though the holiday starts the night before. (Shulchan Aruch O.C. 695:1)


Why is Indian rupee is stable against the USD even though most other currencies weakening?

Question: The Indian Rupee (INR) seems fairly stable against the USD (1 USD = 62-64 INR) in the recent times even though most other currencies have weakened against USD, some by 20-30%. Apparently, INR is responsive to most other currencies these days except the USA. Is it related to the strength of the Indian economy, or that INR has already fallen to its lowest point well before other currencies?
Answer: That is because India maintains strong economic relations with the United States. In addition, India might be looking at maintaining a fixed currency with the US. In exchange, India would have to give up Monetary Autonomy, or Free Flow of Capital.
As far as I know, India does not restrict the flow of capital to and from the country, so I assume that most policies are more government related when it comes to the US (although the new bilateral agreement is to work to reduce that). Overall, India's strong economic relations with the United States and a tied trade allows them to maintain growth.
In fact, recently with numerous trade agreements, I wouldn't say India has reached it's lowest point (that would be a few years ago), but is rather trying to secure a very high peak for the next 5-10 years.
Comment: but many other countries also have strong (sometimes stronger - e.g., Australia - compared to India, for historical reasons) relations. Or are you saying that the Indian Rupee is not a freely traded currency, and that the government of India can decide what its value would be against other currencies?
Comment: I recently checked, and the US does only count for 12.2% of Indian exports. Yet, 12.3% goes to the UAE. The UAE is pegged to the dollar (their govt has an agreement to the US with a  conversion rate of $1 = 3.65 AED). Since that would mean that 24.5% of India's exports are traded in USD, I would assume that would be the reason for the close link.
Comment: @dbm I just did a bit of research I believe this might solve your question:

http://www.brookings.edu/global/ipf/patnaik.pdf
Comment: Thanks! The paper you showed is though dated a bit. It would be great to see some newer research?
Comment: Will keep an eye out for it
Answer: India maintains a de facto floating peg to the US dollar.  They run fairly high trade deficits driven by their fast growth.  Because of this, the Reserve Bank of India has needed to devalue the currency several times over the last five years.  The first event occuring in mid 2011, the second in mid 2013.
So yes, it's true that the Rupee is fairly stable against the dollar, but this is because of foreign exchange manipulation by the Indian central bank.  Alongside this, it is important to keep in mind that they cannot maintain their control over the exchange rate and have free flow of capital and monetary authority, so this peg will inevitably break down.
If you take a look at the IRB balance sheet you'll probably see a falling foreign exchange reserves balance, and judging by the time between the last two events the Rupee probably won't stay stable for long.
http://www.google.com/finance?q=USDINR
Comment: Thanks for the answer. Do you mean INR is still overvalued against USD and may have gone further down without IRB's intervention? Is there way to get any actual (free market) evaluation of INR against USD?
Comment: I haven't looked at it in a few years, but as far as I know they still maintain a defacto peg.  If you're interested in how this effects their devaluation behavior, you should check out the currency crisis literature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_crisis
Answer: In economic theory, the primary determinants of exchange rates are the supply and demand of tradable goods and services (of course, these include capital as well). According to textbook economics, the exchange rate is determined by the intersection of these supply and demand curves.
The fact that the US-India exchange rate has remained relatively stable implies that not much has changed in the fundamentals  that determine this supply and demand, i.e. these curves have not shifted.
To answer your question, you would have to look at what goods and services constitute trade between US and India and if there have been any recent changes in policy/production concerning those goods.


Is it cheaper to mass produce a carbon frame than an aluminium frame?

Question: I've heard this comment but I have not found any information about it. Is it true?
Comment: Depends if you consider the environmental cost when working out 'cheaper'.  Carbon bikes end up in landfills. Aluminum is valuable enough most are recycled.
Answer: Given that alloy framed bikes are generally cheaper than CF framed bikes, it's reasonable to conclude that an alloy frame is cheaper to produce than a CF one.
There are some videos on YouTube that show the basics of the process of making a CF frame. There hundreds of individually cut sections sections of CF cloth that need to be combined together in multiple steps to give the frame strength where it is needed. All the sections of CF cloth need to be combined together in moulds by hand. This is where a lot of the cost comes from.
Answer: It's basically untrue. Everything about carbon adds to the price. The raw materials and tooling are more expensive, the process takes longer, and the work is generally regarded as more finicky and easier for things to go wrong with, leading to a higher reject rate.
Comment: High reject rate and undefined recycling process for the rejects. http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/photos-of-carbon-fibre-bike-dump-reveal-worrying-waste-levels/
Answer: Cheap Carbon frames may well be cheaper to build than aluminum frames, but carbon has many more failure modes that can be introduced at manufacturing, requiring much higher levels of quality control.
It possible to buy very cheap carbon components out of China, but how many of us choose to buy these? I am happy to ride a bike made from carbon parts, but but would never consider using off brand for parts I consider critical - stems, forks, bars, frame, wheels.
Happy to use cheap carbon stem spacers though.


Besides Gun Runners, where can I buy missiles?

Question: Where can I buy ammo besides Gun Runners? I'm looking for missiles.
Answer: For high end weaponry and ammunition, you have a few good options. The Gun Runners robot is one, Sergeant Contreras at Camp McCarran is another. The Great Khan Armorer, Mick, Quartermaster Bardon, Knight Torres, and the unnamed Arms Merchant will tend to carry high level weapons rather frequently once you're of the appropriate level as well.
You'll also almost always find a large supply of Missiles and other heavy explosive ordnance being sold by the Boomer Munitions Manager over at Nellis AFB, along with tons of Missiles lying around on the ground for you to steal, if you're so inclined.
Answer: Check out Contreras at the supply shack in Camp McCarran. He sells mostly weapons/ammo. The link I put links to his quests, but that's the guy in case you don't know where he is.
Answer: Contreras is the best supply of 12.7mm ammo, and there is an unnamed arms merchant at the 188 that also has a great stock of ammo.


where we put ejb program in tomcat 6.0 and how to deploy?

Question: I do not have eclipse. and I am having Tomcat 6.0.I write the programs in notepad. and I was successfully run the servlet programs. but I am not know about EJB. that is "where we put the .class files(In which directory)?". and "how to run and how to deploy the EJB programs?" please give sample example. please help me.
Comment: I would recomand that you take a look to the Java EE tutorial, so you will get a view on the services and abstraction Java EE application server can give you.  A quik transversal reading should give you an idea of what you need to solve your problemes.
Answer: Tomcat 6.0 is not an EJB container. EJB's are a rather advanced topic. Do not haste into it. You can jump a mighty long way with servlets without ever needing EJB's or EJB containers.
If you need more services to  base your app on, look at Spring, which offers (almost) everything an EJB capable container offers and allows your programs to run on Tomcat 6.
Also Java is a bit verbose to use notepad for non trivial projects. You might consider to upgrade to an environment which gives better support. I am partial to IntelliJ myself, but netbeans and eclipse are nice too for that kind of development.
If you like to stick to notepad approach, you might take a look at grails. It offers all the services but uses groovy as the programming language which makes things a lot more compact allowing to develop JVM based web apps using a lean editor.
Answer: You can run only web applications with Tomcat . For application s developed using EJB Use JBOSS. But JBOSS may be very slow. So while development use glassfish.   Tomcat is only for jsp and servlets. When it comes to EJB its enterprise application and have to use EJB container like JBOSS or some other EJB container.
Comment: JBoss AS 7 has similar performance (start up time, memory foot print, disk size) than Glassfish 3 and Tomcat.


Deploying war with custom context in Tomcat

Question: I have a Tomcat server fronted by Apache with comms using AJP. The configuration uses JkMount for mapping URLs on Apache to the Tomcat node.
I am helping in the deployment of an application which is built using Maven and therefore is delivered in the form of a file named "my-war-3.0.1.war".
We can do a JkMount declaration of the following style:
JkMount /my-war-3.0.1 my-node
JkMount /my-war-3.0.1/* my-node

But obviously that requires the version number. New releases will mean updating the mounting and the users' bookmarks etc, which obviously isn't a Good Thing.
What I would like is to be able to have the JkMount declaration in the following style:
JkMount /my-war my-node
JkMount /my-war/* my-node

But I'm pretty sure that means that the .war file needs to be named in the same way.
I'm pretty sure it's possible to tell Tomcat to deploy a specified .war under another name using Context file fragments, but all I seem to get are error messages about the war being deployed inside the AppBase.
The environment I'm working in is quite locked down - it would be a lot of testing to be able to change the environment's configuration, so deploying a Context fragment file as a kind of deliverable would be a nice solution.
Is this possible, and if so what should the Context file be and where should it go?
I am using Tomcat 6.0.14, and as I said before, the environment is pretty locked down so it would be a lot of trouble to modify Tomcat configurations/folder structures.
The other solution is of course to remove the version number from the deliverable name, which is acceptable from the point of view of the development team, but I think everyone would prefer that the deliverable had the version number in its name for the sake of clarity.
Answer: The first thing comes to my mind is creating a symlink for your webapp. Whenever you change the version, just re-create a symlink.
ln -s /path/to/tomcat/webapps/my-war-3.0.1 /path/to/tomcat/webapps/my-war

And then, create a context.xml file in webapps/my-war-3.0.1/WEB-INF to enable symlinks:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Context path="/my-war" allowLinking="true">

</Context>


Need advice for linking with shared library

Question: i am working with Awesomium SDK for linux 32 bit system, i have followed these instructions to manually install Awesomium on any Linux distro, you'll need to add the
shared library to your system's library search path. On Ubuntu,
you can use the following commands:
cd awesomium_v1.6.5_sdk_linux32
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/awesomium-1.6.5
sudo cp -r build/bin/release/* /usr/lib/awesomium-1.6.5

If the folder /etc/ld.so.conf.d does not exist:
    sudo mkdir /etc/ld.so.conf.d
And finally:
    sudo cp config/awesomium-1.6.5.conf /etc/ld.so.conf.d
    sudo ldconfig
Till here i followed all steps.Then there is a step that i am not able to understand,so i have not done this below step :
To link against Awesomium, you should use "-lawesomium-1.6.5", for example:
g++ main.cpp -lawesomium-1.6.5 -o MyApp

And finally i followed this final step, to work with the Awesomium.Mono Samples, copy the Awesomium.NET folder
to a writeable location and open: Samples/Mono/Awesomium.Mono Samples.sln
in MonoDevelop.
I copied the folder in desktop and opened it from there.
NOw after following these steps when i run my project it gives me exception that System.dllnotfoundexception libawesomium-1.6.5.so.0
I need help to solve this exception, when i manually check it this .so lib is available in /usr/lib/awesomium-1.6.5, but somehow its giving me this bug. So please help me out on this. As far as softwares are concerned i have installed monodevelop, xsp4 server, libx11-dev.
Regards
Rohit
Comment: any help plz...
Answer: On Linux Wheezy 32bit you need to install libjpeg62:
apt-get install libjpeg62

This will fix the problem!