What is this question asking about

Question: I found this question. The titular question is "How should a student act towards a prejudiced instructor?" This seems like a great question for us. Looking at the question itself, the OP seems to be suggesting that there was sexual discrimination because the professor is a feminist. Again, that is a perfectly fine topic. The issue I see is that I don't see any evidence of sexual discrimination. The professor's response to discussing grades with a 200-pound 6'3" professional boxer was that she felt intimidated. A question about how to deal with a professor who feels intimated by you is on topic. To me the two issues (dealing with sexual discrimination and a professor who feels intimidated by you) are so unrelated that I wanted the question clarified especially since claims of sexual discrimination often seem like acts of sexual discrimination. Is it possible to clarify the question?
Comment: I edited your question to remove the "reverse" in front of discrimination.  Reverse discrimination is a term with hidden nuances that "OKs" the discrimination because the person is usually discriminating on the offending party, which taken quite literally means that you think that I usually am sexist, therefor anyone displaying sexist behavior towards me would be displaying reverse discrimination.  You should educate yourself on discrimination and how the media and certain groups push for wording just like yours to downplay real discrimination.
Comment: What would constitute "evidence" here? Surely anything written on this site is purely hearsay. The way I interpreted the OP's post is that, in his opinion, the professor had no cause to be intimidated by him other than his appearance. Certainly he could be exaggerating/lying but is it not also feasible that he is correct? I don't see evidence either way. Furthermore, I don't think think the OP's logic was "Femanism implies discrimination against males." His logic sounds more like "I suspect I am being discriminated against and my professor's reputation as an extremist supports my claim."
Answer: I think you went overboard with your moderation on this post. The situation as it is described by the OP is a perfectly valid one and if you needed clarification or the question needed editing, you should ask so. Also, closing a question which already had been upvoted is something I have never encountered in a SE site.
Another issue with your moderation is that it was very fast. If any question is a not a good one, waiting for an hour or so is usually enough for any SE community to judge its merit. Closing sooner than that, especially in grey area questions is something that should be generally avoided.
Comment: "closing a question which already had been upvoted is something I have never encountered in a SE site" - it happens _all the time_ on other sites. Though I'm not saying that should necessarily carry over here; each site has slightly different norms for when questions should be closed and how votes are used.
Comment: I fully agree with both of these points. Closing down a question with mod-powers that does not have a single close vote from the community, and which even had a bit of discussion going on when it was closed, seems not right to me.
Answer: If you don't see evidence of reverse sexual discrimination in this scenario, you can write as much in your answer. We often answer questions here where people have misread the situation they are in.
The question is "What should I do, given I think I was the victim of prejudice in this situation?" and that question is answerable even if the OP has misunderstood the situation.
Comment: I agree with this one - "I think you may be reading this wrong" is still answerable.
Answer: Thanks for opening this meta question.
I have to say that the quick closing of this question was a surprise to me. Yes, the question seemed relatively biased and had a bit of an anti-feminist touch to it. However, this kind of questions ("My advisor / professor did something unfair. How should I react?") are almost always biased, fragmented, confusing, and (I would assume) oftentimes not factually correct as written. We usually do not close down these questions, but point out what inconsistencies we see, and what we think the OP should do based on the given information. StrongBad seemed to hold this question to much higher standards than comparable earlier questions.
In my opinion, I would prefer if the mods would use their power to unilaterally put a question on hold only for more clear-cut cases. A good example was a question put on hold by ff524 today, but I can't find it anymore. This question was about 15 fundamental questions in one, so it was entirely clear that it will be put on hold. blankip's question was much less obvious.
Comment: Reputation for being extreme feminist was just repeating what was said to me... and she told me it was based on how I looked and she even told dept head... I know you get some bad questions on here but I wouldn't jump to the "OP must not being telling us something" for everything.  I was just passing on what I was told or saw in the question.
Comment: @blankip "(...) she just would not talk to me based on how I looked." ... "(...) had a reputation for being an extreme feminist." ... "My adviser who was female, basically said 'sorry about this'". ... it is of course possible that everything was exactly as you said, but I was certainly a bit sceptical whether you are telling the entire story here. Hence my statement that the question seemed (not "is definitely"!) biased.
Comment: Why did the question seemed biased?  I was just trying to give facts of question and honestly don't understand the bias I conveyed.  I think if I would have left out the context people would wonder why the dept head pulled me from the two classes after one quick discussion.  I have no biases towards women or even this person.  The punk college kid in me at the time was like, "Sweet, don't have to go to two classes for the next 2 months!"  It was so shocking to me at the time I didn't know how to react.  I didn't understand what my adviser was warning me about either.
Comment: Any ideology can be taken too far. It sounds to me like OP displays a bias against extremism, not feminism itself. I share in this bias and I suspect most people do too.
Answer: Just a remark from someone who was on the other side not so long ago: you did not abuse your mod powers. We have had some problems in the past with posts related to gender discrimination, where questions could quickly turn into flamewars. Considering the lack of clarity in the original question, closing it quickly was a correct  thing to do.
A question on-hold, even by a mod, does not disappear, people can add comments, edit it, and can discuss about it on meta, which is exactly what happened. No reputation was lost in the process, no harm was done. This was not censorship, and that's why we have elected mods, to avoid having potentially problematic posts.
That said, one thing that could be held against you, is that you said in the questionnaire that:

As a mod I would try and shape the site with up votes, down votes, comments, meta questions/answers, and chat instead of using close/reopen votes (excluding blatant spam). I would not generally just mod hammer questions, but when the voting is clear (e.g., one or two more regular user votes are needed to close a down voted answer, I would happily hit it with a mod hammer vote).

As for the question itself, since we only have only one side of the story, it's hard to make any judgment, and all the details make it look like a rant rather than an objective question. I agree with you that there are two interesting questions:

I feel I've been discriminated, what should I do? (and it's not up to us to judge whether there was indeed discrimination or not.)
I think I'm intimidating my professor, what should I do?

Somehow, the question is a mix of both, which is not ideal to provide a clear answer.
Answer: Well it was directly related.  I wanted people to answer based on the facts as I heard them at the time and not be influenced by later revelations.  At the end of the semester the department head told me that she has had numerous issues with males in her classes and that he was looking into it with the Dean.
He also said that she said that she was intimidated by me because I was a big male and he even confirmed with other students that I was never aggressive around her.  He apologized.  I got my papers back.  He told me that I would have gotten A's on them.  Said I would receive P's on report card.
She left the school for undisclosed reasons after the spring semester as a tenured professor.
The question is more about how I should have handled it in that situation.  She was sexist.  There was an outcome.  But I didn't state those in the question because it would taint the responses/answers.
Also as far as your mod powers to close a question you need to lay off.  I find it abusive that you don't like a sentence so you close a question.  I don't have to write my question for your personal PC views.  No offense because you could be a great mod and great person but I feel this sort of censorship is the opposite of SE philosophy.
I didn't say I had this "feminist bitch teacher".  No I just represented facts.  There was no opinion in my whole question.  I am sorry that if you hear the word feminist and all of a sudden it conveys horrible things to you.  That is something you need to keep under control if you are going to be a mod.
I would personally like to hear how you would reword the sentence that offended you.
Comment: +1 for "I don't have to write my question for your personal PC views" and more or less I agree with you. On the other hand, you are also a bit harsh on this answer and toning it down, especially in "That is something you need to keep under control if you are going to be a mod" would be appreciated. We are all friends here.
Comment: I was way more sympathetic toward your situation and your post before I read this.
Comment: I know this is old, but this corresponds to all mods on all stacks:  Moderation should be done ONLY in line with your stacks policies, not your personal views or political leanings.

What is this question asking about


Do I need to take my weight off the bike to lock out the suspension?

Question: I've recently bought myself a new mountain bike (my first since my schooldays...) and it has front suspension with a lock-out function.  Suspension is new to me and I'm not sure how to use the lock-out.  It seems I have to stop and take my weight off the bike to lock-out the suspension - is this correct?  Or should I be able to operate the lock-out whilst sat on the bike and I'm just not turning the lock-out hard enough?  As I'm not really sure, I've avoided turning it too hard in case I do some damage.
Answer: Less expensive forks have a mechanical lockout. This type of lockout is only usable when the fork is unweighted. Think of it like trying to deadbolt your door when it's still ajar. Higher end forks- coil or air- use a hydraulic lockout. There's a lot going on inside them but to simplify things a bit, there are two valves in the damper of most mid-high end forks that allow oil to pass through and both only work in one direction. One allows oil to pass through when you hit a bump, the other allows oil to pass through on the rebound from that bump. When you engage the lockout on one of these forks it basically closes the valve that allows oil to pass through when you hit a bump, however the rebound valve stays open allowing the fork to return to it's original position.
So back to your original question-
No, there is nothing wrong with your fork. The lockout is working as expected and don't force it or you might break it!
Comment: As a small addition: forks with a hydraulic lockout normally are still absorbing hard bumps even when locked. This also means that it is okay to ride them in locked state on ways that are not totally smooth. Forks with fixed lockout in contrary can be damaged when they hit a hard bump while locked, as their locking mechanism is somewhat similar to the bolt of a lock.
Comment: Thank you everyone for the responses, happy now in the knowledge that I was right not to try and force the lockout whilst I'm sat on the bike.  Will have to see whether its worth stopping to lock-out for the big hills I have to cycle up or whether i'm just as well just carrying on with the suspension active - some test rides will have to be done!!
Answer: With an inexpensive coil sprung fork the lock out is often only usable with no weight on the fork. So yours is probably working normally.
Lockouts are most useful for sprinting and climbing, when your weight moves forwards and your putting in more effort that you don't want to waste.
More importantly, don't forget to free it again if you get enar anything bumpy, you can damage a fork like that.
(Personally, even with a remote lockout I rarely use it, except on perfectly smooth tarmac.)
Comment: The forks are Suntour XCT V3.  I don't use the lock-out too often as even when i'm not 'off-road', the roads I do use aren't great and I end up hitting lumps and pot-holes so keep the suspension active at the expense of a bit more effort when heading uphill.  But if i knew how to use the lock-out properly, maybe i'd use it more...?
Comment: While I don't know these forks personally, I've had similar ones where the lockout was only usable unweighted. I think you're fine.
Comment: "With a coil sprung fork the lock out is often only usable with no weight on the fork. So yours is probably working normally." This is not true. Please see my answer.
Comment: @jm2 But it also not completely wrong as coil sprung forks are more common in the lower end price segment than in the higher end one. And as you write in your answer a fixed lockout is more likely in the lower price segments. Therefore chances aren't that bad that a coil sprung fork might have a fixed lockout. On the other side this is only the half story, as one can see from your answer.
Comment: Nah, his is a much fuller answer.
Answer: You have the same fork i have on my 29er Felt Nine 70.  Yes, you have to unweight the fork to lock it out.
I paid $70 extra for the ability, used it once, hit a ramped curb and landed hard, so I turned it off and never used it again.
If your new bike is under a grand and straight off the line, most likely you have a "cheapy" lock out system.
I just got a banshee spitfire with a pike and a crane creek inline db, and I can lock it out while riding.  Makes life so much easier when you don't have to stop pedaling to lock out the suspension.
Comment: Gidday and welcome to SE Bicycles.  I have tweaked your answer to make it more relevant, and broken it up into paragraphs.  Thank you for your good contribution too - please keep it up.
Answer: If in doubt leave the fork locked out. If it's a bolt action mechanical cheap version, then I'd take the switch off so it can't be locked on. If it's not hydraulic lockout then don't bother.  Work on your smooth high-torque cadence and the lockout won't matter. A good rider will be smooth and not bob up and down.
Comment: Welcome to Bicycles. Formatting can make what you write much easier for others to read. Check out the formatting options available using the icons above the answer box. I'll make an attempt at editing you answer; check it out as a guide, and make sure I have retained your meaning.


Is PHOTOGRAPHY halal or haraam?

Question: Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu
There are so many opinions and I would like to know the.answer with evidences from the Quran and Sahih Hadith.
Is Photography halal or haraam?
Jazakallah Khair.
Comment: There is obviously no direct ruling from the Quran and Hadith as it did not exist at the time of the Prophet. There is difference of opinion on Photography, we can not choose for you and give you "the" correct answer, at best we can give a description of the opinions and the evidence or reasoning they are based on.
Comment: Yeah please do that, jazakallah khair.
Answer: As stated by UmH above there is no direct ruling from the Quran and Hadith but this is what islamqa has to say. https://www.google.com/amp/s/islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/365

Is PHOTOGRAPHY halal or haraam?


I asked a question, in an instant it was a duplicate, I accepted and moved on. Why is the question still there?

Question: I asked a Star Wars question and I got a message claiming what I asked was a duplicate. In an indirect way it was a duplicate, but I found the answer from the mod and the post that he directed me to. Satisfied with that, I answered the prompt "Yes, I don't need to pursue the question". The prompt said that it would just reroute to the original question and is closed to answers. How come I'm getting dinged points? Should I have deleted it?
Answer: That's how the Stack Exchange system works.
When a question gets closed as a duplicate, it doesn't get deleted: it's still there on the system, still searchable via Google. If it's a duplicate of a good question, then it's probably also a good question and therefore worth upvotes, and upvotes still earn you points.
Comment: @zer00ne I think you can delete, it provided it doesn't have any answers, but this may be frowned upon: questions are supposed to be useful for others too, not just the asker.
Comment: *usually* 'dinged' means a penalty, that's how I interpreted it; and I assume it would get auto-deleted eventually, but if it's score's just going down, may as well put it out of its misery :)
Comment: Thanks for the prompt answer. Can I just delete it? I found what I needed to know.
Comment: Ah, looks like you've already deleted it. Never mind then.
Comment: Yeah, I was wondering if it was frowned upon, which is why I was hesitant. But I believe i have a serial down voter or a couple of them ... or maybe just one stalker with a couple accounts. I gotta be on my toes. ;)
Comment: @randal'thor if the question was getting dowvotes, for whatever reason, it probably wouldn't have been as useful to others are we'd like (perhaps others thought the duplication was "too obvious"?)
Comment: @MikeEdenfield I interpreted 'dinged' as upvotes, hence the last sentence of my answer. If it means downvotes, then the question would get auto-deleted after 30 days anyway, right? (Still can't see deleted questions, so I don't know what it said or what votes it got.)
Answer: The reason closed questions remain on the site is that people might show up in the future with the same question you had.  Depending on which search terms they use, they might find the original question, or the might not.  If we deleted every duplicate, people could only find the original question by randomly guessing the right search terms to use.
But if we leave the questions that have been closed as duplicates, it is more likely that future visitors will be able to find what they're looking for, because if their search terms bring them to your question, the link that is now attached to your question will send them to the original one.
There are some limits, of course, and we don't want to have a billion closed duplicates all over the place, but it makes sense to leave a good number of closed duplicates around so people can find the information they're looking for more easily.
It also helps to prevent people from asking questions that have already been answered.  If we have several similar questions, each using slightly different wording, and all but one of them are closed as duplicates of the first one, it will be more likely that the person asking the same question again will realize it and be spared the hassle of opening a question, only to find it closed moments later.


How do I increase the water pressure in my shower in spite of water-saving hardware?

Question: I recently rented a new apartment that has water-saving hardware in the bathroom. My bath pressure is decent, but my shower water pressure is barely a trickle. How do I increase the water pressure and flow, i.e. the force and amount of water?
Comment: Are you using the word 'pressure' when you actually mean to use the word 'flow'?  Do you want the stream striking you with great force, or with just a whole lotta water coming down softly?  Is a massaging showerhead involved?
Comment: I know this isn't a DIY answer, but does the apartment have a maintenance group? Have them fix/replace the head if it is noticeably low output - or at least ask them to and see what they say. If it really is just a low flow showerhead, then I would take Dan's advice below: purchase a new showerhead of your own and just put the old one back on before moving out.
Comment: I want both pressure and a lot of water. It is not a massaging showerhead.
Comment: We do have a maintenance group. I called and am waiting to hear back. I figured I could try to find an answer while I wait.
Comment: Very good edit btw...
Answer: If Jeff's suggestions don't fix the problem, it could simply be that the water-saving showerhead doesn't allow the pressure / flow rate you want. This was the case in all of the apartments I lived in; I went to Home Depot and bought a decent new showerhead for $30, and moved it with me from apartment to apartment. Each time I moved out I simply put the original one back on.
They aren't difficult to replace; all you need is:

A pair of pliers large enough to grasp the collar (tongue-and-groove pliers work best)
A rag to wrap around the collar, to prevent damage from the pliers
A small amount of Teflon pipe thread tape

Take the old one off and clean the threads of any old sealant or Teflon tape. Apply 2-3 wraps of new Teflon tape in a clockwise direction - direction of wrap is important so that when you thread on the shower head, you're going in the same direction as the wrap and not unraveling it as you tighten. Thread on the new showerhead until snug and check for leaks.
Comment: I'm going to second this. Apartments (especially those that include water in the rent) like to use some wimpy showerheads. If water pressure and volume are fine throughout the rest of the apartment, then just buy a nice showerhead and put theirs back on after leaving.
Comment: I find a [rubber strap wrench](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strap_wrench#/media/File:Strap_wrench.JPG) to be better than pliers + cloth, both for grip and to prevent damage. The strap wrench should apply just enough gripping force before turning, while you might still accidentally crush through the cloth.
Comment: It's not just for apartments.  I take a shower head with me on every trip; motels and hotels are the worst these days. Sadly, shower controls aren't so portable and they're different every time.
Answer: If everything else has a nice flow, then you could have a sediment or calcium build up in the shower faucet or after. I have to take my shower faucet cartridges out and shower head off once every few months and clean them out to remove sediment and calcium build up. I am on city water as well and it is worse than when I was on well water in a previous home.
I also had a rubber washer that wasn't seated and had turned sideways and was blocking half the pipe and only allowing half the water flow.
Comment: I have pulled the flow restrictor on my showerheads and drilled the plastic out that might be a problem with a rental.
Comment: I've had some heads perform worse after removing the entire restrictor. Now I usually just remove the black O-ring and put the rest back. Just be a little wary of permanently altering parts you can't replace easily.
Answer: There is no water-saving shower head with high flow; water-saving is by definition lower flow than the "standard" 2.5 gal/min. The management may be OK with your changing to a head which gives a more satisfying shower for you, and some do this without having a high flow. The management may have put in water-saving heads because the municipal water system requires it as the default head, but may allow a resident to change if they have a special head they want. They may have limits on the stated flow rate such as 2.5, 2.0, or 1.5 gal/min.
If the apartment has a central hot water system, then the proper functioning of the system as a whole may depend on all occupants using lower flow shower heads. Does each apartment have its own water heater or is there a central system?
The flow limitation could possibly be in the valve. If I were going to try to limit water consumption in the shower in a tamper proof way, I would install a shower valve which limits flow because the head can be so easily changed, but I don't know if this is done in practice. You could unscrew the head and see if there is a high flow coming out the shower pipe without a head in place. If that flow is low, then a new head will make no improvement. When reinstalling the head or installing a new one be sure not to cross thread it. It should screw in easily until the seal makes contact.
If you do change the head, you generally don't need Teflon tape on the threads. The shower head will have a rubber or plastic seal that seals against the end of the pipe. Tighten just enough to seal. If this joint would leak, it would only do so when the shower is on and it would drip into the tub.
If you take the existing head off, you may be able to remove a "flow restrictor" and get significantly higher flow with the same head, but of course the management may not approve of this. If you do remove it, then keep it and reinstall it when you leave. Depending on the diameter of the restrictor you may be able to get one which allows a more flow, but still limits it to say 2.0 gal/min. The management might approve this.
A head with a flexible hose that can be hand held gives a better result without a high flow. The one I have installed in our house and the houses of two relatives is an inexpensive one (Niagara 1.5 gal/min IIRC ~$15 through Amazon) that works well, but with the flow restrictor in place it does not have the flow rate of the original 2.5 gal/min head. The hose on this Niagara is long enough to reach under our dog to wash him in the tub. The head is adjustable from a gentle spray to a pulsing, more forceful stream.
EDIT
This 2.0 gal/min head might be a good compromise between water saving and performance: https://www.amazon.com/Niagara-Conservation-Handheld-Massage-Showerhead/dp/B002OSMVE4/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_60_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6AQWCB7W5V8Z987KJ7Y3&dpID=31F%252BeqaR9dL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail
Comment: To test whether it is a showerhead issue or not with the amount of water coming through, one could take the showerhead off and turn the water on (being careful that the water coming out of the shower pipe doesn't splash all over the bathroom).  This would give a good indication if there is a water supply issue, or if the issue is with the head itself.  Also check both hot and cold water supplies to see if there is a pressure/flow problem only with one side, which might indicate a restriction in the shower valve or elsewhere in your plumbing.
Answer: The so-called water saving shower heads (which are not just a nuisance but really water wasting devices since you need to shower three times as long) that I have encountered in my life were very primitive, and simple to fix.
The secret to the hardware's working is nothing but a removable little piece of plastic with a small hole, accessible under the screw where the collar meets the hose. You might need pliers, but I've done it with a towel and bare hands in virtually every hotel I stayed during the last years.
Screw off head, throw plastic piece into trashcan, screw on head again, get naked, enjoy.
Needless to say that if the landlord ever asks you, you should deny any knowledge or having done anything. The shower head has always been like this to your knowledge, never any different.
Comment: I cannot agree that it is the right thing to do to remove the flow restrictor in a hotel shower. Removal of the flow restrictor in an apartment without checking with management is in a *grey area* in my view. I removed the flow restrictors in our two Niagara 1.5 gpm shower heads because our tankless water heater would not stay on with the low flow of these heads.  I first tried to get new restrictors in the 2.0 gpm limit, but could not find them in the right diameter for this head. Then I tried drilling out the restrictors but that didn't work so I just removed them.


Show only Web Application Chat rooms in the sidebar

Question: I think it is better to show only Chat Rooms related to Web Application to the Web Application Chat Widget. Now it is showing all Chatrooms from http://chat.stackexchange.com/. Visitors may confused if all chatrooms are showing there.
Answer: I think some blending is good.  Some of the rooms are not tied to a specific site, like the General Room, Sandbox, Chat Feedback to name a couple.  Perhaps the sidebar could show rooms associated with the specific site and rooms that are not tied to a site?
Comment: It is possible if Rooms have "Tags". Like "Web Application" site only shows the rooms tagged "web-application" or related "web-application". In that case, all common rooms like "General", "Sandbox", "Chat Feedback" have all tags like "web-application", "gaming", "wordpress" etc... Tags may be hidden to the users expect "Moderators"


What's with the abundance of black balloons in NF's videos?

Question: Recently, I have been listening to a lot more NF, and sometimes watching the music videos that go with them. I've noticed that in some of his videos, including The Search, Real, Why, and various others, he is pictured holding, or near a bunch of black balloons. Why have these balloons been put into many NF videos, do they stand for something? Do they represent something from his childhood?
Answer: While there isn't any official information on this, in many of NF's recent videos there is a trend of these black balloons being present.
As evident by the tone and lyrics used, the contrast between the black clothing and items against the lighter colors used by the other individuals (see: The Search) can be used to describe mood, state of mind and health.
Adam McDonald (2019) suggests:

The black balloons resemble his burdens, that follow him around attached to his cart.

Further reading/analysis on the topic:

Adam McDonald's NF – The Search (Lyrics Review and Song Meaning)
Clifford Stumme's What does "The Search" by NF mean?
Comment: Additionnaly, black balloons are the symbol of overdose awareness, which is how he lost his mum.
The symbolisms in his music videos are so rich...
Answer: They represent his burdens as he says in "The Search", something along the lines of "I brought a few burdens with me", and he points to the balloons.
Answer: It represents that he has not quite got over his imperfections and I respect that and the balloons represent all his dark thoughts and feelings
Answer: They mean his burdens. He carries them around and talks to them in the lyrics in the song "Leave me alone". I totally understand his personalization there.


How to copy to PC?

Question: I downloaded Droid Explorer correctly, Busy Box and can view my files (on my Android device) .. but when I select the file to copy how can I drop it on to my PC drive?
Answer: There are a couple ways to accomplish this.
You select the files (folders are currently not supported) and click the "copy to PC" toolbar button.

The other is to select the files (folders are currently not supported) and right click and click "copy". Then paste the files to your desired location.

There are plans to attempt to allow for dragging and dropping, but I do not have a timeline.

Disclaimer: I am the developer of Droid Explorer

How to copy to PC?


Requirement added during the interview

Question: One of my friends was interviewed for a big company in the position of Sales Director for Asia. The requirements for the job didn't include that you need to know Mandarin or that it represents an advantage. After 4 months of interviews she was concurring against another individual, both of them were asked if they have any knowledge of the language. She didn't have, but the other person did, so she lost the job.
She is very angry now that after 4 months she lost because of a requirement that was added after. Is it legal or moral or normal?
Comment: She could have used that 4 months to learn Mandarin. If she did, she probably had the job now.
Comment: Speaking Mandarin was not a *requirement*, it was a *preference*.  If the other candidate didn't exist, your friend would have gotten the job (despite not speaking the language).  To decide between two candidates who equally meet the requirements, differentiating based on preferences is absolutely normal.
Comment: The only situation this would be questionable in is if the other candidate is unqualified based on the stated requirements.  Even then not necessarily illegal, amoral, or abnormal since actual requirements to do the job may be lower than stated but still questionable.
Comment: @Myles - If you're requirements don't fit the job (not the case here), it could look like discrimination. If a law firm requires their lawyers to be able to lift heavy objects, that seems a little suspicious.
Comment: @JeffO True.  I was thinking more along the lines of "10 years experience widget flipping required" where they'd actually be willing to take 7 years experience if the candidate was strong in other areas.
Comment: We can't answer "is it legal", which leaves "moral or normal".  I almost closed this as "unclear" despite the other votes because it *also* doesn't sound like this was a new *requirement*; it sounds like they had two good candidates and asked about extras that could tip the balance.  If you [edit] the question to fit our guidelines better (see the link in the on-hold notice), it will be reviewed for reopening.
Comment: @scaaahu: Learn Mandarin in four months?  Are you serious?
Comment: @jamesqf I am a native Chinese speaker. No, of course you cannot  learn to be be a fluent Chinese speaker in  four months. However, if the OP's friend can use this 4 months to learn Chinese to show her aggressiveness, her willing to understand Chinese culture, it will help her to get the job. At least, I would consider a job offer to her if I were the hiring manager because one of a Sales Director's job is to get to know the local culture and the willingness and eagerness to do so.
Answer: It's perfectly legitimate and normal.
When it comes down to choosing between two very well-matched candidates the company will have to find another criteria to differentiate between them, and excuse me for saying this, but speaking the actual language of the country you'll be in is a pretty big deal in my opinion.
It definitely isn't a pleasant feeling to have your hopes dashed after 4 months of interviews and meetings, however there always existed the option that this wouldn't work out.
Your friend needs to move on.
Comment: Yes, it wasn't a requirement, it was a tie breaker.
Comment: Absolutely correct.  The applicant needs to remember that this is about one thing:  The company finding the BEST individual to advance THEIR interests at a PRICE that makes sense to them.  If I didn't speak Mandarin, but had a demonstrable plan to increase their profits in this market by 25% over their expectations in 18 months, they would have hired me over the person that spoke Mandarin.  It's about who benefits and supports the company's interests most cost-effectively.  That's it.
Answer: She did not lose the job. She never had it.
The other candidate had everything she had and spoke a useful language on top. So the other candidate was simply better. Sometimes you have multiple candidates that fit all the written requirements. Would it be "fair" to just throw a dice then? Maybe. But it makes total sense to pick the candidate that is better suited for the job. And it seems the company did. That's both legal and moral.
It would have been different if the final pick had been based on gender, age, sex or religion, but based on a skill that can be learned and that is actually useful for the position? Well, that's how it's supposed to be.
Answer: "Is it legal or moral or normal?"
I think it's the only thing the company could have done. If two candidates are equal on all requirements, you have to find new ways to find the better fitting one. And speaking mandarin for a position in asia is perfectly reasonable and legal.
Answer: I'm going to answer this in general and not to this specific example.

after 4 months she lost because of a requirement that was added after.
  Is it legal or moral or normal?

To be legal, there are some places where discrimination and equal opportunity regulations come into place. Some require the posting of a job for a certain amount of time before hiring a candidate. Changing the requirements, could require reposting the position.
This is why many companies do not give feedback for why you were not selected. This could prompt litigation.
Let's put an interesting twist on the newly discovered Mandarin language requirement. What if Mandarin was required from the beginning, but the company noticed that too many of the applicants were native Mandarin speakers, so they decided to make Mandarin as a second language as the requirement. This looks suspicious especially for candidates who speak both languages very well and opens the company up to a discrimination lawsuit.
Sometimes a company already has a candidate in mind and may tailor the requirements to fit this person. All the sudden, a surprise candidate who is equally qualified appears. Now company politics or possibly nepotism rears its ugly head, which isn't very moral, but is more normal than we would like.
Again, most companies don't really need to give you a reason not to hire you (Some locations may differ.) and it is in their best interests to say nothing. This is sad, because job candidates don't get the proper feedback to boost their skill sets. Maybe your friend could have picked up enough Mandarin in 4 months, but it would have been better to know that sooner rather than later.

Requirement added during the interview


Package up programs for installation via active directory

Question: We use active directory to push out applications and are looking for a solution that can do this:

1) I startup a clean machine (Proberbly virutal )
2) Start up some sort of monitor program
3) Install program XX and whatever else i want in that package.
4) Tell the monitor program to build the installer based on what has changed in filesystem & registry changes.

I know a solution like this exists for novell, so i figure a solution like this might exist for active directory
Answer: Any "solution" to repackaging that involves snapshots is going to have problems. Sure-- you're going to get lucky with some applications and they'll snapshot properly. Mostly, though, you're going to end up creating messy packages that have extraneous files in them, poorly chosen keypaths and/or too many keypaths, and dependncies that you don't realize you're making on the underlying operating system and installed patches.
I like what mh says re: making sure that programs aren't already using MSI files internally. Repackaging an MSI with a tool is bad mojo, and will end up messing up the state of the Windows Installer database.
There's no free lunch. A packaging tool can't invoke human intuition in reverse-engineering a setup process. For packages that aren't made with a known packaging tool, my procedure is to use a snapshotting tool (WinInstall LE typically) to get a "bird's eye view" of what an installer is doing, but I end up building my MSI package "by hand" using the WiX toolset to be sure that I have the cleanest, most compatible installation. If the package was made with a packaging tool that can be "de-compiled" then I do that first, and try to build an MSI package that does the same things as the original package.
Answer: There's among others Msi Studio pro (not free) which can track actions made by a setup and repackage the app. here's the link. There may be some free tools that i would hear about if someone knows of them. Hope this helps.
Answer: I've used Installshield Admin Studio actively for a number of years. It does have its flaws, but it's the best product I've used to create MSIs, however I've never used another commercial product to create an MSI.
Some other utilities that may interest you:
Win Install LE
Orca
InstEd
Wise Installer
Answer: I've used WinInstall LE in the past and can vouch for it.  In my book anything that's able to package up Oracle software has to be doing something right!
Before you go to package up any given application with any tool, you would be advised to double-check that it doesn't actually already have an MSI lurking inside.  Use something like 7-zip to try and extract the setup.exe, or check in your temp folder for installation files.
Maybe you already know this, but I think it's something that does bear repeating.
Comment: This is nto a issue for those kind of problems, but others where the installer either is bad. Or perhaps requires to be installed 3 times before its fully installed ( Can someone say Adobe acrobat reader )


iCal event invite colors

Question: I receive ical event invites from my boss all time. Once I accept the invite and it goes to the ical on my mac, the color of the event changes into the default blue on my mac. My question is, how do I keep the original color of the invite reflect on my calendar? For example, if the color of the event on my boss' mac was orange, how do I keep it's orange color once I accept the invite and it appears on my calendar?
Answer: I think that's not possible. When you accept an invitation you can choose one of your calendars (which can have different colors) to add the appointment. If you don't choose a calendar it will go to your default calendar.
So the only work around I can think of, is to create the same calendars that your boss has, and then select the appropriate one when you receive an invitation.
Comment: Yep. After some scouring around the interwebs, I do believe it boils down to just mimicking the colors of my boss' calendars. Thanks, guys. =D

iCal event invite colors


Import from mesh vs hardcoded vertices performance

Question: Which brings better performance at run-time: a cube imported from a mesh, or a cube made from hardcoded vertices?
Are there limitations to a certain method? Is one of them better architectural-wise?
Answer: Once it's in memory, verts are verts.
Comment: Once its in memory, variables are variables (this is a low level programming question at its crux)
Comment: Meshes are verts with indicies (and good ones at that). Still, it's still relevant - if you set up an index buffer etc. correctly it's just as good.
Answer: If by hardcoded vertices, you mean glBegin ... glEnd (OpenGL), or Draw(Indexed)PrimitiveUP (Direct3D), these methods are inferior because they result in the vertices being transferred from system memory to the graphics card every time they're called.
If, however, you're putting your vertices into a vertex buffer like you should be, it really doesn't matter. If your cube is logically an art asset, like the Horadric Cube, or the Weighted Companion Cube, it should probably be stored as a model on disk. If your cube is, on the other hand, intended to be used for skybox rendering, and therefore immutable, hard-coding it is probably fine.
Answer: When it comes down to raw speed, a hard-coded set of vertices (and indices) embedded in the application's data region will be faster; this is because you avoid the cost of loading the mesh from disk. For simple applications, such as rendering a triangle or a cube on the screen, this approach is fine. In practice however, geometry and other resources such as textures are typically loaded from some resource file on disk into memory. This approach is beneficial for many reasons, but two major reasons are: loading and unloading resources at will and decoupling the application from its resources.
Answer: Depends.
If we're talking something as simple as a cube, you're going to want to hardcode it. The loading time for all 8 vertices is not worth it. Same can be said for any simple geometric shape; just make a CreateSphereMesh, CreateCubeMesh, etc. set of functions.
However, have fun making an OVER 9000 vertex model by specifying the individual vertices. And tweaking. Oh, and animating. That's when it's much better to have it as a model format.


Why is it 3-way-handshake and not more?

Question: TCP uses the 3-way-handshake mechanism. I understand how it works pretty well but I wonder why it's not 4, or even 5-way? Is it because that's too much overhead and is not needed?
Comment: Check this out: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071022224300AA0uBgh
Answer: The startup performance of a TCP connection is dictated by the round trip time, and every phase of the handshake takes one half of that.  The more delay, the worse the initial performance of the connection.
If TCP could be securely and safely completed in a one-way handshake, it would be, because that would be faster.  So, it is 3-way not because there is any special virtue in 3, but because that is the minimum number of exchanges required to get going effectively.
In other words, yes, your assessment is exactly right: more steps in the handshake is more overhead, and are not needed.
Compare it it the recent Google SSL "false start" effort to shave a step off the SSL handshake, where someone figured out a way to take one less step in a protocol someone already thought was at the absolute minimum.
Comment: Interesting article that on Google's SSL discovery. #justSaying
Answer: Daniel did a good job explaining in his answer why the 3-way handshake is the most common method of setting up a tcp connection but it's not the only way to make a tcp connection.
There is the "simultaneous open" connection which is really each client doing a 2-way handshake.  As well as the split-handshake which made news last year as it can be used as an attack vector to by-pass incoming firewall rules and IPS.  Also called the sneak-ack attack.
Answer: Shall we say like this, three way handshake is mandatory to exchange network information between two peers and get acknowledged.  Example: Maximum Segment Size (MSS)
In other scenario, if both client/server send out syn then one handshake reduced to two.

Why is it 3-way-handshake and not more?


Buying United miles from third-party sites

Question: I can get a better deal on an international ticket by buying miles.  I have reached my yearly limit with United - I can't buy any more miles.  I found a site online that sells miles.  Is buying miles this way safe?  I've heard that some (all?) airlines might cancel a ticket if one uses miles purchased from third parties?
Comment: Did you check United's website for a policy statement regarding miles?
Answer: From United's website:

The sale or barter or attempted sale or barter of any such mileage,
  certificates, awards or benefits other than as authorized and/or
  sponsored by United is expressly prohibited. Any mileage,
  certificates, awards or benefits transferred, assigned or sold in
  violation of the Program Rules, in addition to exposing the member to
  the penalties otherwise associated with violations, may be confiscated
  or canceled. The use of award tickets that have been acquired by
  purchase, barter or other conduct in violation of Program Rules may
  result in termination of membership, cancellation of accrued mileage,
  certificates, awards or benefits, confiscation of the tickets, denial
  of boarding with respect to the ticket holder, and, at United's
  discretion, completion of the travel only upon payment of an
  applicable fare.

So it would appear it's not in your best interest to do so.
Comment: Note this part: _other than as authorized [...] by United_.  If this site can prove that they are authorized - then the OP is good, however I would find it rather unlikely that United would authorize something like this.
Comment: @AleksG indeed, valid point.
Answer: No - under most interpretations of "safe".
All the frequent flyer programs I am familiar with have a passage in their T&C that looks something like this:
<code>> 7.1 Members must not:
> ...
> (b) abuse or misuse Qantas Frequent Flyer, any Rewards, Awards, Benefits,
> facilities, services or arrangements accorded to the Member as a result of
> Membership including by:
> ...
> (iii) selling, assigning, transferring or acquiring, or offering to
> sell, assign, transfer or acquire any Reward, Award, Benefit or Qantas
> Points other than in accordance with these Terms and Conditions;
</code>
Qantas Frequent Flyer T&C
The consequences of violating this can vary from having your entire FF membership revoked, to having your points balance changed, to having awards flights purchased with the points voided. It is really at the discretion of the airline.
The other factor in how "safe" it is to do this is the likelihood that you are caught, ie that the airline notices. This is your only source of "safety", and varies a lot between airlines, and probably between methods of purchasing and transferring. Qantas is one of the more strict for instance, allowing points transfers between family members only.
I've certainly heard of plenty of cases of people buying points of third party sites without getting caught or any consequences, but by no means it is "safe".
Answer: There are some third-party sites that are authorized to exchange miles for some airlines, hotels, etc. (e.g., points.com).  I am not aware that United participates in any such programs, however.
If you travel on an award ticket purchased from anyone, the airline might let you travel the outbound leg, but when you arrive at the airport to fly back home, inform you that your ticket is void and your option is to purchase a full-fare one-way ticket.
Answer: If you have a mileage credit card another option would be to "purchase" an item through PayPal or Square. You pay the 2-3% credit card fee, which is often the same as the cost of buying miles.
Open a PayPal account and make a buy button for a product and go from there...
You could also buy your own product on eBay etc...
The only difference is you have to wait for your credit card statement for the miles to come through...
Comment: Is this suggesting to by your own products on ebay in order to get the milage points on your credit card? Surely that is some sort of fraud..
Comment: ...and you need to live in North America in order to be able to apply for such a card.


If Blightsteel Colossus loses its abilities through an effect like Lignify, can it be put into my graveyard?

Question: If I cast Lignify on my opponent's Blightsteel Colossus and then deal 5 damage to it with one of my creatures, does it go to the graveyard since it has no abilities? Or is this ability regained once it is removed from the field since Lignify is destroyed at the same time?
Comment: The event Blightsteel Colossus normally replaces is "moving from anywhere to the graveyard" not "being in the graveyard."
Answer: The Colossus would be put into the graveyard because it doesn't have its "shuffle into its owner's library" ability when replacement effects would be checked.
At the moment that your Lignified Colossus dies, it's still a 0/4 with no abilities.
From the comp rules for replacement effects:

614.4. Replacement effects must exist before the appropriate event occurs—they can't "go back in    time" and change something that's
already happened. Spells or abilities that generate these effects
are often cast or activated in response to whatever would produce the
event and thus resolve before    that event would occur.
Example: A player can activate an ability to regenerate a creature in response to a spell
that would destroy it. Once the spell resolves, though, it's too late to regenerate the
creature.

It regains its shuffle ability once it hits your graveyard (since Lignify is gone). But the time for checking replacement effects has already passed. It stays in your graveyard.
Comment: Absolutely correct, nothing tricky about it. By the time it would regain its indestructible and shuffle into library abilities, it's too late.
Comment: But is it the creature that's indestructible? Or the card that's indestructible?
Comment: @corsiKa Indestructibility only applies to permanents -- I mean, how would you "destroy" a card in hand, for instance? "Blightsteel Colossus is indestructible" is a static ability that makes Blightsteel Colossus indestructible (indestructibility itself isn't an ability).
Comment: Blightsteel Colossus is both a creature and a card - the creature isn't in the graveyard, the card is. Consider Animate Dead which says "Return enchanted creature card..." even on its oracle text.


What is the significance of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden?

Question: If Adam and Eve were created perfect and without death (immortal), then what is the significance and purpose of the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Eden?
Comment: @The Preacher: Then, the question stands - what is the purpose of the tree?
Comment: Do not assume that their perfection and immortality (pre-fall) depended on consuming fruit from the tree.
Comment: We can only speculate, since the Bible is silent on it. It was just one more great cost of sin.
Comment: Some denominations interpret that the tree was eaten from regularly to sustain eternal life. They found death outside of the garden because they could no longer eat from the tree.
Answer: Here's the verse in question:

Genesis 2:16-17 NIV
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any
  tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the
  knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will
  certainly die."

The opportunity to live forever
What I find most interesting is that God didn't command Adam to keep away from the tree of good and evil life. When Adam did finally eat from the tree he was commanded not to eat from, here's what Jesus had to say to His Father:

Genesis 3:22 NIV
And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing
  good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take
  also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

This verse sheds some light on what's happening. Adam certainly had been allowed to eat from the tree of life and live forever prior to this sin event. But because God is a just and Righteous God, He could not allow Adam to go unpunished, therefore taking away the opportunity for Adam to live forever in eternal damnation.
The fruit of righteousness
If we continue reading we find that there is another way to experience the fruit from this tree of life.

Proverbs 11:30 NIV
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise
  saves lives.
Proverbs 15:4 NIV
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes
  the spirit.

The paradise of God

Revelation 2:7
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
  To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the
  tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Wow, I absolutely love this last verse and I don't know why. We will actually once again have the opportunity to eat from this tree of life. Lastly this tree of life is displayed along the main street in the kingdom of God that leads from the entrance to the throne room. Signifying that everybody can freely eat of the tree of life and have it abundantly.

Revelation 22:2
down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the
  river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding
  its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing
  of the nations.

The significance
I believe that God, being a fair and Righteous God, had not deprived man of the opportunity to be righteous from day one. However, man chose his own path, to sin. I don't have any doubts that God knew man would do this, but I also know that God would have been subjected to accusations from creation if he had locked the mouse in the cage with cheese and told the mouse not to eat of it.
As it is, no man can hold accusations against God, because God had given a fair opportunity to man.
Comment: +1.  Once sin had entered into the world, Adam and Eve and their descendants needed to be able to repent and be cleansed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. To attain immortality some other way would be to live forever in their sins, which would separate them from God eternally, and so be functionally equivalent to damnation.
Comment: According to our theology, the Tree of Life is the Cross.
Comment: ewh.. I didn't think about it being equivalent to eternal damnation if they had sinned and then eaten of the tree..  Good call.
Comment: I know I would not like to live on this planet, in this creation, forever.
Answer:
GENESIS 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree
  that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life
  also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and
  evil.

The Tree of Life represented Christ, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represented Satan. The two trees represented two choices that we all have, to choose the right, or the wrong.
At the end of Genesis Chapter 3 Adam and Eve are driven from the garden to keep them away from the way of the Tree of Life.

Genesis 3:22-23 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become
  as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his
  hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
  the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he
  placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming
  sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Isaiah 35:8 speaks of the return of this "way".

ISAIAH 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be
  called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it
  shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
  therein.

In Revelation, we learn that overcomers can once again partake of the Tree of Life.

Revelation 2:8 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
  saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
  the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

The Tree of Life produces fruit, which can be found in Galatians 5:22-24.

Galatians 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
  longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance:
  against such there is no law.

Eve (figuratively) ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil by disbelieving His Word. She literally ate from the Tree by participating in an act that is subject to much debate, and is outside of the scope of this question.
Answer: If we want to understand the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, we may find it helpful to first consider the issue of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; this tree leads to spiritual death because it is rooted in the (1).lust of the flesh, (2).lust of the eyes, and the (3).pride of life. Spiritual death means that we don't have the life of God in us, and so Adam and Eve, were cut off from the life of God in the Trinity.The fruit of the tree that caught the eye of our first parents (Eve was deceived, Adam not, he knew what he was doing), turned them to a life of self realization, and God is not in this mode at all, He is in an eternal sphere of holy self sacrificial love and humility, expressed among the Persons in the Godhead.The problem with self realization, is that it opens us up to possibilities of the knowledge of good and evil, helping us to become even more independent of God, creating our Babel, etc.
The tree of life is just the opposite, for it lends itself to absolute dependence on God for everything. The tree of knowledge of good and evil hooks the flesh nature of man,and using the powerful medium of the fallen soul (fell under the flesh) to keep mankind in spiritual darkness and away from the tree of life.
Comment: Welcome to Christianity SE! When you get a moment, check out our [about] page and [what makes us different](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/a/1809/4188) than other sites. We have very similar interpretations, but this site has a few rules concerning what makes a good answer (to be fair, the question itself no longer fits either). The links above can help learn the guidelines; specifically, because we all have various interpretations we don't really allow anyone to express them. If you can find a theologian/teacher with the same view, you can espouse that person's teaching.
Answer: From what I understand, eternal life is only eternal if we continue eating from the tree of life. So we are not not immortal beings unless we are partakers of the tree of life, if we do not partake then we will perish.
Answer: The Tree of Life - Christ - Grace was always available but Saten knowing this, deceived man to seek ' Knowledge'...to be ' as God'.  Jesus through His death brought again by His grace 'eternal life'.
At His Crucifiction ' religion' cried for the release of Barabbas who was guilty of SEDITION and MURDER and this is what 'religion' got, the Spirit of.
Religion (sedition) keeps trying to take and direct the believer to ' the knowledge of good and Evil', always  back to that Tree, back to the fruit of Death. though they deny this, Whereas Jesus by His Death is saying ' eat of me the Tree of Eternal Life'. The Revelation of Ezekial 36 and the New Covenent is that this fruit of Christ, eternal life with God, is Gods work  for it is Gods life through the Holy Spirit indwelling in the believer. Hence the whole Law of the Prophets can be summed up in Love God, Love neighbour and Love each other.
The teaching of 'good and evil' evey Sunday takes the focus away from HIM and HINM Crucified, it is sedition and comes from the murder..this is the false spirit of religion that Kills the Christ.
This is MY Body, this is MY blood, EAT & DRINK, He fed 600, 0000 in the( Church of )  Desert for 40 years, the Disciples could not discern this re feeding of the thousands.
Come to Me ( Tree of Life ) all those that are weary and I will give you rest.
Comment: Welcome to C.SE.  This answer really seems to stray from the question asked. If you could source more of your claims, and be tighter with the connection to what is being asked, it would improve the answer greatly.  Additionally, you may want to check out our [FAQ].  But welcome!


Is light brightness subjective or can it be quantified?

Question: What is the relationship between brightness perception and physical properties of light, such as light intensity?
Comment: It's pretty close to objective and it follows and exponential curve (gamma curve).  Double the brightness is seen by our eyes+brain as a linear increase.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_correction
Comment: If you are talking about the brightness of the actual light (not related to our perception), then of course there are various ways to quantify it. You can refer to [this post](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_path_length) or search on the web for quantities such as luminous intensity, luminance, irradiance, luminous flux, etc. There is even a unit for that: the [candela](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela). If you are talking about the eye perception, this is another story. So please be more specific.
Comment: Brightness has an objective part, as said in the answer, but there is a subjective factor. For example, a white object on a dark background will be brighter than on a bright background.
Comment: The more photons, the brighter the light.
Answer: Well this is a case of loose usage of words or terms that have a common everyday colloqial meaning, but also (maybe) have a very specific scientific meaning, that is different from the common meaning.
You have used two words in this loose fashion.    "Light"  and "Brightness".
So let's first discuss "light".
The Commission on Colorimetry of the Optical Society of America, defines "light" as:- The  Psychophysical Response of the Human eye, to Electromagnetic Radiation generally in the wavelength range of 400 to 800 nm.
Thus "light" is NOT the EM radiation itself; but the human eye response to that radiation.  For that reason, we do NOT measure "light" in the same units as EM radiation; Watts , Watts/m^2, Watts / Steradian etc.
Light is measured in Lumens rather than Watts, and for a normal or so called "photopic" eye response, the peak of the eye visibility, at around 550 nm wavelength is 680 Lumens per Watt.   At very low dark adapted human eye response, there is a standard "Scotopic" response curve which is shifted to different wavelengths at the peak.
So back to "brightness" which is generally discouraged for scientific work because of it being imprecise.
The preferred term is "Luminance", which is the photometric equivalent of "Radiance" used for EM radiation of any wavelength.
"Radiance" is  Watts per steradian, per square meter, and "Luminance" is lumens per steradian per square meter.
Watts per steradian is "Radiant Intensity" and Lumens per steradian is "Luminous intensity"   Both units imply a mathematical point source.   In practice, the error will be less than 1% when measuring the intensity of a fininte sized source, if the measuring distance is at least 10 times the source diameter, for a non point source.
So radiance can also be expressed as radiant intensity per square meter, and luminance as "Candela" per square meter, where "candela" is the photometric unit of luminous intensity.
Now scientists in their typical loose shop usage, will use the word brightness for all sorts of things; actual visible radiation sources, or infra-red or ultra violet sources, or even for the electron emission from a thermionic or other cathode for example.
In all of those cases, they are using the term brightness as a substitute for "Radiance" or "luminance" or similar units all of which have dimensions of flux per steradian per square meter.   So the "brightness" of a thermionic or field emitter, would be Amps per steradian per square meter.
In the case of photometric units for visible "light sources", Luminance is quite difficult to measure, because you have to isolate sharply, a specific surface area on the source, and then define a very specific solid angle for the radiation being admitted to the detector, and that requires some focusing optical system.
Luminous Intensity in candela, is much easier to measure, because you don't have to focus on a specific source area, but you do have to measure from at least 10 source diameters away, constrained by means of apertures, or the finite size of the measurement detector.
It's a complex measurement problem, and it isn't made any easier, by loose usage of the terms "brightness" instead of "luminance" or using the word "light" for either UV or infra-red  radiant energy, which aren't visible.   "light" is NOT the radiation; but the human eye response to it; so "light" by definition is visible; but only inside the human eye.   Strictly speaking, we get NO LIGHT from the sun; our eyes make it from the visible parts of the solar radiation.
But even after being warned we still use the word "brightness" in shop talk; but we know what we really mean is luminance.    You might sometimes see the word "Sterance" instead of "luminance"
And use Radiance, or radiant Intensity, or irradiance (incident Watts per square meter) or emittance (emitted Watts per square meter)   The photometric equivalents would be "illuminance" for incident lumens per square meter, or luminous emittance for emitted lumens per square meter.
Answer: We often use the term radiance to describe the brightness of an object.  Radiance is the amount of energy emitted (or reflected) from an object per unit area per unit solid angle per unit time.
To answer your question directly, radiance is how we objectively measure an object's brightness.  It is similar intensity but accounts for solid angle
As an example, the sun irradiates the earth's surface with approximately 1000 Watts/meter$^2$.  This is an intensity, also referred to as irradiance, which again does not account for solid angle.
If there is a Lambertian object on the earth's surface, it will reflect equal amounts of energy in all upward directions, a Solid angle of $2\pi$ (it won't reflect into the ground).  If the object has a reflectance of 10% the object's radiance will then be
$$ \text{Radiance}  = \frac{\text{Irradiance}\times \text{Reflectance}}{2\pi} = \frac{50}{\pi} \text{Watts } \text{meters}^{-2} \text{steradian}^{-1}$$
We can also talk about the Spectral Radiance which is the amount of energy emitted per unit area per unit solid angle per unit time per unit wavelength.  In other words, it takes into account different wavelengths of light, or different 'colors'.
The spectral radiance is important to take into consideration when talking about objects seen by the human eye because the human eyes response to the brightness of an object depends on the wavelength or color of the object and its illumination.  The field of photometry is dedicated to the study of how the human eye perceives the brightness of objects.
These terms are different from Intensity in that they take into account the solid angle over which the energy is propagating away from the object.  Intensity does not take this into account but is instead simply the energy per unit area per unit time.


Bicycle routes in Europe

Question: Planning bicycle trip in Europe. What are the best maps for trip planing purposes. I know https://www.openstreetmap.org. Would you recommend other ones?
Comment: This is strongly opinion-based but also _much_ too broad. There are tens of countries in Europe, each with their own maps.
Comment: Back in the 1970s I just went with the most detailed Michelin maps and stayed off of main highways. That was good for several thousand miles in Germany, Switzerland, and France. French D routes were great.
Answer: The data quality of OpenStreetMap (and other map services) varies a lot from country to country. Particular problems I have run into with OSM when bicycling are:

In many European countries, bicycling is often prohibited along better or high traffic roads. OSM maps usually have no data on this, making it impossible to know if you are allowed to ride along a specific road.
Bicycle paths on OSM maps are of unpredictable quality. I have often run into bicycle paths, for which you probably would need a mountain bike and which could at least not be driven with a loaded road or trekking bike.
A really odd thing with OSM is that at least a few times, I had planned to use roads that simply do not exist. I am not sure how they ended up on the map.

Google Maps is slightly better, at least for some countries. If you use the route planner for bicycling, Google Maps will avoid roads where bicycling is prohibited.
Depending on exactly where you are going and if you are planning to follow designated long-distance cycle routes like the EuroVelo network or national cycle route networks, you can often find designated web sites for these cycle routes with much more relevant and up to date information than on any free online map. I am going through France next month by bicycle and one example of such a web site would be 'Loire by bike'. If you speak German, I can also recommend radreise-wiki.de with lots of general information about countries and regions and also detailed first-hand information on many cycle routes.
Comment: While your enterly right about osm, I feel like it should be emphasized, when you find a problem, whuly no go and fix it and make things better for people that follow you.
Comment: I'm not sure if it's also the case with OSM, but Google Maps, Bing Maps and many others add non-existing locations to their maps. If someone copies the whole data and uses it for another service without paying, it's easy to prove that the data has been stolen and from which source. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argleton or https://gizmodo.com/the-fake-places-that-only-exist-to-catch-copycat-cartog-1695414770
Comment: @skifans I've had phantasy roads removed from OSM. When it comes to prohibitions and bicycle path 'quality', I doubt that data fragments are particularly helpful. The data has to be abundant to be of any reliable use. Even if such metadata is collected and stored, I am not even sure if any of the common map readers have functions to evaluate them, e.g. in the sense of 'show only roads where bicycling is allowed and bicycle paths, which are passable with a road bike'.
Answer: I would go for a bike route planner for the big distances and go with the bike routes they suggest or the maps, for the actual routes you use.
The European Bikeroutes planner information page, (much in Dutch but also in English and German) or a link to the planner (which has a tri-lingual interface with just a bit more Dutch) combines long distance routes and suggests, your choice between them, signposted routes, written routes in a selection of languages, GPS routes and possibly others as well.
And these days they also have an app for your phone.
For planning details I do use a local bike route planner as well as Google (or open street map.)
Out on the street I prefer to have a local 1:50,000 map, by preference one that is made for cycling use.
Comment: How do you get this European Bikeroute Planner to speak English instead of Dutch? There is a language selection in the preferences, but it has no effect.
Comment: @Tor-EinarJarnbjo Looks like you don't.  They have an English help page which tells you which Dutch buttons to click.
Comment: @Tor-EinarJarnbjo, the language selector tells the system which languages route books/descriptions you will use, the face language of the site does not change. I have recommended it to many people who do not speak Dutch and most found it working for them.
Answer: I'm using outdooractive.com quite frequently. It has bike paths incoorporated and tries to route you along them where possible. It requires to open an account with them, which is free of charge.
E.g. for a trip from Gent to Budapest this would look like this

and of course you may zoom in as much as you like and set custom way points, export the GPX track etc.

For detailed regional planning I also use opentopomap.org, which has hillshading and isolines, very useful when planning bike trips. There is no routing available, but you may load GPX tracks into the map.

(from such map it may be more obvious that it's better to take the detour along the river than the shortest track. ;-))
Answer: If you're travelling through the Netherlands Fietsnetwerk is a great option. They have a nice app that works well with cycling touristic routes.
Comment: Are you associated with Fietsnetwerk?
Comment: This is a good site (not spam) good for local area routes within the Netherlands. Not sure how well it works for a cross country or multiple country tour.

Bicycle routes in Europe


Purifying Things That Can Not Be Cleaned With Water

Question: How Can I Purify Books Pages If Semen/Sperm Or Urine Fall On Them?
I Mean, How Can I Purify Things That Can Not Be Cleaned Or Purified By Water?
Answer: The best thing which has been made a substitute of water in most of the cases if "mud / soil".
There are many places where we can find this. E.g. Qur'an in the Verse talking about Tayammam, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) reported to be praying on the ground cleaned by pure mud etc.
So, I wish to conclude that things where water cannot be used, cleaning / purifying them with clean mud should be the best alternative.
Comment: I reckon the light of the Sun can be investigated as another cleaner as well as what you illustrated.
Answer: First displace the unclean material with everything, but make sure that it doesn't exist anymore on that material. Then expose it to the direct sunshine(even not from behind a curtain or cloud) to make it dry. be sure that there is no wind and only the sun makes it dry.
If your material has two surfaces, make sure that both of them are exposed simultaneously. otherwise the surface which has been in front of the sun would be clean and the other surfaces wouldn't be clean or purified.
Comment: what you remarked looks true. Of course, you'd better try to submit at least one reference in your answer (s) in order to make it more creditable and more attractive. Meanwhile, it that case, you'll obtain more reputation as well. (as I saw one of your answer which was presented a reference ... Well done mate. Good luck.
Comment: Thank You very much.Will not be it very difficult for me, cleaning many books pages?I am thinking about it, it makes me mad!
Comment: Yes, you are right. I missed the reference, but I remember right, it is in the dissertation of Mr.Makarem Shirazi.


Source for Rambam on Habit and Character

Question: Where does the Rambam say, "Habit and Character are closely interwoven. Habit (as it were) becomes second Nature"?
Comment: How do you know he says such a thing? (or, more likely, an approximate translation of that)
Answer: What you are quoting is an English translation of part of a testament that has been attributed to the Rambam (-some details). It is called שערי המוסר. A more literal translation is "Accustom yourselves to habitual goodness, for character is dependent upon habit, habit becoming as it were second nature."
Comment: Where in the שערי המוסר does the Rambam say, "Accustom yourselves to habitual goodness, for character is dependent upon habit, habit becoming as it were second nature"?
Comment: @user6633 The English phrase you quoted is found in the link he provided on the word __is__.
Answer: Hilchot Deot 1:7

How can one train himself to follow these temperaments to the extent
  that they become a permanent fixture of his [personality]?
He should perform - repeat - and perform a third time - the acts which
  conform to the standards of the middle road temperaments. He should do
  this constantly, until these acts are easy for him and do not present
  any difficulty. Then, these temperaments will become a fixed part of
  his personality.
Answer: In Hilchot Deot 1:2
"With regard to all the traits: a man has some from the beginning of his conception, in accordance with his bodily nature. Some are appropriate to a person's nature and will [therefore] be acquired more easily than other traits. Some traits he does not have from birth. He may have learned them from others, or turned to them on his own. This may have come as a result of his own thoughts, or because he heard that this was a proper trait for him, which he ought to attain. [Therefore,] he accustomed himself to it until it became a part of himself."


If you block an attack, can the blocker be killed with an instant before you can sacrifice it?

Question: Let's say I control a Brindle Boar. If I block an attacking Nessian Courser with it and then activate the ability of Brindle Boar, can my opponent interrupt it with say, a Shock to kill it before I can sacrifice it? And in this case, would the full damage go through to me?
Comment: You almost answered the question when you asked it: "If I sacrifice it, can my opponent respond before I sacrifice it?"
Comment: Yes, Rusher, but imagine if someone said "If I enchant it, can my opponent respond before I enchant it?" and the answer would be yes they can. It's poorly worded (what OP actually means is "kill it before it is sacrificed") granted, but it's a completely legit question.
Comment: @corsiKa I wasn't questioning the legitimacy of the question. I was challenging the wording. Rather than letting the OP explain his lapse in logic, I went ahead and fixed it myself.
Answer: TL;DR
No, your opponent does not have an opportunity to react to you paying the cost to activate the boar's ability, and the creature you blocked remains blocked.
It does not quite work the way you think. To use the Boar's ability you had to pay its cost. Its cost was to sacrifice it. So the boar is gone before any other spell put on the stack would resolve.
The creature the boar blocked remains blocked, and no damage would go to you. Also your opponent would not be able to target the boar because it would not exist at that time.

The relevant rules here start with 509.1h:

509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature;...A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

Looking at the rules for casting a spell, you will see in 601.2g that all costs must be paid before the spell is 'cast'. In the case of the boar's ability:

Sacrifice Brindle Boar: You gain 4 life

which follows the universal <code>{cost}:{effect}</code> template of MTG; sacrificing the boar is the cost. Before the ability can go on the stack and priority can pass so your opponent could cast a bolt, the boar must be sacrificed.
Comment: Note that combat damage would go through if the Nessian Courser had trample.


Are there any specific advantages to using the Amazon Android App Store over the Google Android Market?

Question: Is the new Amazon Android App Store just another marketplace or are there any specific features or benefits that the Google Android Market doesn't have?
Answer: There are a number of differences between the two marketplaces and while "Advantages" may be somewhat subjective there are a few specific features that the Amazon App Store has that the Market place does not.

Amazon claims to test each app before making them available for download to ensure that "each app works as outlined in [the] product description, does not impair the functionality of the mobile device or put customer data at risk once installed."
They offer one "paid" app for free each day.
Some apps have a "Test Drive" feature on their website that allows you to try the app in a virtualized Android interface in your browser (although I can't seen to find an app that has this feature yet ).
Amazon is employing their recommendation engine to suggest apps you may like based on your purchase history.

It should be noted that at the moment the Amazon App Store only works in the US (unless you are able to use a US Proxy in another country) and the service is blocked on AT&T devices.
Comment: In their [Dev FAQ](https://developer.amazon.com/help/faq.html) that say "...As a result, we will be testing the apps you submit prior to making them available in our store to verify that each app works as outlined in your product description, does not impair the functionality of the mobile device or put customer data at risk once installed, and complies with the terms of the Distribution Agreement and our Content Guidelines."
Comment: Another advantage: gift cards http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_354382502_3?docId=1000619631
Comment: Test Drive has been temporarily disabled, I believe.  Does Amazon's testing mean manual testing?  I assume Google does automatic scans now, though I'm not sure.
Comment: I'm going to experiment with publishing my app on Amazon. The other thing is that they control the price. You give it a "list" price, but they could have a "sale" or give the app away for free for a day.
Answer: The pricing model is nice. You can set a list price. They will sell the app for (almost any) price. You will either get 70% of list price or 20% of sell price , whichever is higher.
So occasionally they might give it for free and that increases your sales (without losing revenue) or they might sell for a high price (which is good if people ready to pay for it).
Answer: A nice feature of the Amazon App store is that it is tied to your Amazon account, not your google account.    This means if you have two phones with different gmail accounts in the same house, you can share apps if they both log into the amazon app store with the same login.   On Android Market, I've had to buy apps twice in that case.
Answer: Angry Birds (Paid/Ad-Free), Angry Birds Seasons (Paid/Ad-free), Angry Birds Rio. That's it, if you like Angry Birds, that is. These are currently exclusive to Amazon's Appstore, for the time being. There are probably other apps that are exclusive as well, I don't have a list.
The Amazon Appstore is be taking advantage of its recommendation engine and the one-click purchasing it is known for. In that regard it is leaps and bounds better than the current Android Market/Google Checkout system, must faster, however the recommendations will only take into account apps you've purchased through Amazon's system, so it might not be super useful at first.
The main advantage of the Amazon Appstore is that you don't need Google's blessing, meaning you can install this on any device (above a certain Android OS version) that doesn't come with the official Android Market, say one of those cheap Chinese tablets. You have access to many of the same apps, so long as the developer has uploaded them to both places, without the need for Google to okay the device.
Update: If you like to play games on your phone Gameloft's commitment to use the Amazon Appstore exclusively is significant.


Physical Exercise as a Monk?

Question: Is a monk allowed to exercise the body in order to keep it fit and healthy? I reckon both 'healthy' and 'fit' as attachments, but is there an overall rule/teaching that explains this?
Answer: Healthy and fit body does not need to be seen as an attachment. If a monk took the Bodhisattva Vow, all his activities will be done with the wish to benefit others. A healthy body is actually a very useful tool if one wants to help other beings. During a long life free from illnesses one can do much more than during a short life with numerous visits to doctors and hospitals (which are usually costly). Precious human body is also a topic of various teachings (see this or that) which invite us to realise how rare it is to obtain a well-functioning human body and how easy it is to lose it. With that in mind, maintaining a healthy body is a very wise thing to do.
In Tibetan Buddhism one of the main meditation practices involves doing physical  prostrations. In Vajrayana traditions all practitioners - monks and lay ones - need to complete at least 100.000 prostrations as a part of preliminary practices. Some practitioners continue to do prostrations on daily basis and even Dalai Lama admitted that he indeed does them every day.
Answer: The Dalai Lama takes daily exercise, including walking on a treadmill if it's too wet to walk outside -- http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-routine-day. It makes sense to me since given that this human life is very precious in that it gives us an opportunity for moving towards enlightenment, it follows that it's a good thing to keep the body alive for as long is reasonably possible.
Yuttadhammo gives an interesting view on the whole exercise thing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJifR6EGTb8. He says that physical exercise "doesn't play any part", certainly for an enlightened being although I think he was also referring to people who want to become enlightened. But I think his overall point is one of adequacy. He doesn't deny that it's useful to, for example, eat enough so as to be able to meditate, but his position appears to be that there is no point beyond that.
Answer: My name is Thomas. I was a Zen Monk for 2 years! Physical exercise was a key part of my day and with many other of the monks and nuns.
Comment: What kind of exercise Thomas? Elaborate, please.
Comment: If there's no other physical work to be done Christian monastries recommend gardening. A little more genteel and useful than jogging.
Answer: In his wonderful book "A path with heart", by Jack Kornfield, the author, himself a Buddhist monk under Ajahn Chan for several years talks about exercise and several other normal things monks ignore in order to pursue enlightenment single mindedly. He advises against this extreme behaviour, and urges monks and spiritual seekers to not ignore normal healthy living.
He recounts interviewing several monks who suffered from diabetes and other lifestyle diseases that came from not eating healthy food, from not exercising, from developing an aversion to their body and consequently not caring enough.
That said, Zen monks and nuns in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh perform the ten mindful movements as a group daily. It is a slow exercise set to be performed with mindfulness. In itself it is a meditation, when performed so beautifully by the monastics. His order breaks with tradition in several ways, including allowing monks to cook their own healthy food instead of depending on donated food. A logical thing to do in this age. Someone at plum village told me that they used to get catered food but it made everyone sick often, so Thay changed the rules to allow monks to take turns to cook their own healthy vegan food and eat thrice a day. The monks also modified their uniforms from traditional Vietnamese dresses to suit the French climate.
Perhaps in times when monks only walked around from place to place, that was more than enough exercise. In modern times, especially in countries like Thailand where monks often live in cities, and can ride for free on buses, trains where usually someone pays their fare, or offers a ride, walking is minimal. Plus, devout people often offer rich or special food into the monk's bowls because they think it gets them extra merit. So food for survival gets turned into abundance. Eating a single meal a day means the body goes into glycemic shock after the meal, which can affect the insulin secretion adversely in some.
Bodhidharma according to some accounts allowed his legs to rot away by sitting in the cross legged posture for nine years. The cross legged position can cut off blood flow, which isn't a problem for a few hours, but if a monk sits in this position regularly for hours, bad side effects maybe expected. Such attitudes and role models don't help.
Answer:
Health is the greatest gift, contentment is the greatest wealth, a trusted friend is the best relative, Nibbana is the greatest bliss. -
  Dhammapada 204

For a lay person, moderate exercise, moderate diet and good hygiene can be considered as part of the middle way that the Buddha taught in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, as it contributes towards the maintenance of one's health, which is beneficial to practice.

"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one
  who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual
  pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common,
  ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction:
  painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the
  middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing
  knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to
  Unbinding.

In the case of monks, the Buddha explains in the Sukhamala Sutta:

"Drunk with the intoxication of youth, a monk leaves the training and
  returns to the lower life. Drunk with the intoxication of health, a
  monk leaves the training and returns to the lower life. Drunk with the
  intoxication of life, a monk leaves the training and returns to the
  lower life."

Despite this, I can still find some example of a monk trying to get light exercise, in the Meghiya Sutta (below). This leads me to think that light exercise without "intoxication of health" might still be considered acceptable to monks.

Then in the early morning, Ven. Meghiya adjusted his under robe and —
  carrying his bowl & robes — went into Jantu Village for alms. Having
  gone for alms in Jantu Village, after the meal, returning from his
  alms round, he went to the bank of the Kimikālā River. As he was
  walking up & down along the bank of the river to exercise his legs,
  he saw a pleasing, charming mango grove. ...
Answer:
To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be
  able to keep our mind strong and clear. ~ Buddha, 563 BC to 483 BC

"Monk" is a broad term and I will interpret it as "layman", not as a monastic.
Traditionally though as said other places, walking exercise is the main form of exercise for monastics. Let's also not forget that monastics also begged for food, roving all over the villages, another form of exercise.
Back to the present moment: we are a sitting generation. Both of my jobs are completely sedentary and involve the computer. Most sought-after jobs nowadays involve staying in one spot be it in manufacturing or entertainment.
Studies show those who stay still for more than 6 hours per day do not get the blood flow they need and lose decades off their lifespan--probably in addition to adopting other bad lifestyle factors.
This is a major reason why I am watchful of my physical activity levels and overall state and have many emotional and physical management techniques.
I am certainly not as realized nor have I devoted enough retreat time to be worth anything in the Buddhist level of experience but... I strongly encourage all my fellow Buddhists to adopt non-Buddhist energy balancing practices including exercise but also mental visualization and nature cleansing.
Also, "healthy" and "fit" are not attachments in this case. They are prerequisites for cultivating the Way.
The Buddha proclaims the importance of doing ANYTHING that will encourage healthiness as well as longevity. (See my answer to someone's question about drinking for an excerpt.)
This is why the Buddha encourages things like the brahmavihara practices (metta, karuna, upekkha) and dhyana (jhana, samadhi) practice even though they have nothing at all to do with Enlightenment, the Ultimate, finding your True Self/Nirvana/Emptiness and cutting off the root of suffering.
On several accounts the Buddha commanded certain people to stay in the world (avoiding death) until Maitreya's arrival. Mahakashyapa is one of them, lying in Chicken Foot Mountain. Is this a form of attachment?
No, it is not, because they have been commanded to do so.
Just so, your truest desire is to Awaken is it not? This is a command from the Buddha within, a command which encourages everything necessary to continue cultivating and making more time for cultivation by becoming healthier physically, emotionally, financially, mentally, and socially.
Care for the physical form is absolutely crucial to the great Eastern endeavor for Awakening and Immortality: tai chi, chi gong, kung fu, chakras, kundalini, chi mai, gong-fu (super powers), acupressure, tcm... these were all originally created by people with high dhyana attainments or as gifts from aliens (heavens).
If the body isn't your friend on the path, then it will be your obstacle!
The way I integrate physical practices is not completely coverable in a text-based Q&A but go to my Youtube page Bodhisattva Lifestyle where I have posted and will continue to post videos, with many exercise instructional videos planned.
The following are exercises (some energy-based) I integrate into my exercise session: grounding, nature cleansing, martial arts, tai chi postures, up-side down pushups, running, tricking, and some rare participation in athletic activities.
During my exercise session I will take breaks when getting breathless, oftentimes mantraing, mudraing or doing short sessions of samatha or vipassana.
These practices reset my energy levels, moderate my mood and prepare me for meditation. It also makes me more courageous.
These fundamental energies are important factors in meditation. See: The Five Faculties. I emphasize this because these energies are crucial to balance at the beginner to advanced levels.
I will put here one exception to my encouragement for exercise:
those who have mastered a high stage in meditation (stable dhyana levels) do not need to exercise because they do not generate the negative poisons that most people are constantly generating (which needs purification) anyway. Such people can also control their heart rate and their cardiovascular system, among other chi effects not worth discussing but all of which may help the person to be able to sit even longer periods of time.
Comment: Lanka recently posted a new question [How is Qi Energy used in Buddhist practice?](http://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/9334/254) if you'd like to try answering it.
Comment: You posted it already:) Thanks. Hi Ahmed i hope you see this post and my question. If its possible i would like to have an answer from you. Have a nice day.
Answer: One of the benefits of Walking Meditation is that it is also a form of exercise. Depending on how you want to get your exercise there are may way to do it.
Going to a Gym or Swimming may not be very appropriate as you cannot be in robes in public / among people. This might be an issue.
Comment: why does a monk have to wear robes all the time ?  it sounds kindof dogmatic and I always thought of buddhism as flexible and non-dogmatic ?
Answer: Householder Jordy van Ekelen, interested,
it's not proper for a monk to exercise the body in ways householder do, especially today. Also many "wanna be" traditions may do it. There are also cases where Monks teach lay people such. Both is not proper.
In the case of teaching such to householder, it's also easy to assume that there are grave wrongdoings till corrupting families involved. Monks and communities making a living on such, are not regarded by good monks and good communities and as it points a total wrong light on the way out of suffering.
Usually by walking, sitting, standing, lying, mindful on the body, by the usual required bodily tasks, the body of a monks stays naturally health as it is proper for the practice.
Moving the body and parts of it in wrong ways under householder would be a transgression for monks. In regard of the practice such as kammic not so good effects even not counting as wrong doings in regard of Vinaya.
Once one follows a livelihood in tune, once following right livelihood, such compensations of wrong are not required anymore. How wrong livelihood of modern people actually is, is best shown in the increasing of seek after wellness-compensations.
Although there are many today who follow ways of householder, do favors for householder, follow their trends to gain and maintain a market, one is wise not to regard such as the way of the good following disciples.
(Note that this gift of Dhamma is not dedicated for trade, exchange, stacks or entertainment but as a means to make merits toward release from this wheel)
Answer: If your spiritual life suffers from your weak body, wouldn't you do physical exercises? Yoga is the best practice to have a strong and healthy body. Strong physical body is a key element for achieving top results in any field of activity. Senna, the legendary F1 driver, did strenuous physical exercise to keep his body fit and perform at the top level as a racing driver.
Comment: That, how ever, is not the practice of those hurting their body with extrems, but the Middle Way dhamma and it's related conducts, householder.

Physical Exercise as a Monk?