Is iddah needed if the wife didn't have any physical relationship with her husband?

Question: I did Nikah 3 years ago and my rukhsati (wedding/first sleeping time/Dukhlah) was in near future. I still lived with my parents. My husband died when I was living with my parents. We never had any sexual relationship. We met in family gathering only. So is Iddah necessary for me too?
Answer:
According to the 4 caliphs (Abu Baker, Umar, Othman, and Ali) and majority of scholars, If you and your husband were alone in a private place and you can have intercourse in that place(house, room in a hotel, etc...) . then iddah is needed even if you didn't have any intercourse (iddah is three periods as mentioned in Surah al- Baqarah verse 228)
Shafi and Mailik Madhab state: "Iddah is needed only if you had intercourse with your husband".
Answer: In Islam, if nikah has taken place then you're considered married.  It doesn't matter if rukhsati happened or not.
The iddah of a widow, whether there was intercourse or not, is four months and ten days. This is from the general command of Allah in Surah al-Baqara 2:234:

If any of you die and leave widows behind, they shall wait concerning themselves four months and ten days: When they have
  fulfilled their term, there is no blame on you if they dispose of
  themselves in a just and reasonable manner. And Allah is well
  acquainted with what ye do.
Comment: We're discussing widow.
Comment: Still there are some situations in which Iddah is needed even if woman is married.
Answer: Iddah (the waiting period) of husband's death must be observed whether they had sexual relationship (intercourse) or not. Let's read the fatwa of Grand Ayatollah Sistani regarding this issue:

If a woman is free and is not pregnant and her husband dies, she
  should observe Iddah (the waiting period) for four months and ten
  days, that is, she should not marry during that period even if she has
  entered into menopause or her husband had contracted temporary
  marriage with her, or he may not have had sexual intercourse with her

For further information visit this link.
Comment: Ayatollah understands that this idda is only for mourning ...which is baseless & wrong! If pregnancy probability is not there ...idda is absent
Answer: According to quran, The only reason for the iddet is to clarify what is in the womb. If a child is delivered the next day of iddet then it ends. Since there is no physical contact, Iddat is not necessary.
Allahs says in quran in 33:49

O You who have believed, when you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, then there is not for you any waiting period to count concerning them.
Comment: Widow, not divorce.
Answer: Yes Iddah is necessary for you even if he did not touch you.
Ibn Mas'oud (RA) one time was asked about a man who married a woman but did not pay her dowry, and then later he died before he touched her. So Ibn Mas'oud (RA) said: "She gets a dowry that's equal to what other women get in her area, not more or less than them, and she has to do Iddah and she inherits him". So, a man named Ma'qil Ibn Sinan معقل بن سنان heard him saying that, he stood up and said: "The Prophet (PBUH) gave the same judgement for a woman named Birwa' Bint Washiq بروع بنت واشق". And when Ibn-Mas'oud heard that his judgement (Ijtihad) is similar to what the Prophet (PBUH) had said before, he was very happy.
The story above is found in Sunan At-Tirmidhi سنن الترمذي, in Book of Nikah, and the translation above is my own, so forgive my mistakes. Here is the hadith in Arabic:

حدثنا محمود بن غيلان حدثنا زيد بن الحباب حدثنا سفيان عن منصور عن
  إبراهيم عن علقمة عن ابن مسعود أنه سئل عن رجل تزوج امرأة ولم يفرض لها
  صداقا ولم يدخل بها حتى مات فقال ابن مسعود لها مثل صداق نسائها لا وكس
  ولا شطط وعليها العدة ولها الميراث فقام معقل بن سنان الأشجعي فقال قضى
  رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في بروع بنت واشق امرأة منا مثل الذي قضيت
  ففرح بها ابن مسعود
Answer: You can refer into these two Ayats in the Qur'an:
"O You who have believed, when you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, then there is not for you any waiting period to count concerning them. So provide for them and give them a gracious release." Qur'an 33:49
Or
"And if you divorce them before you have touched them and you have already specified for them an obligation, then [give] half of what you specified - unless they forego the right or the one in whose hand is the marriage contract foregoes it. And to forego it is nearer to righteousness. And do not forget graciousness between you. Indeed Allah , of whatever you do, is Seeing." Qur'an 2:237
Comment: plz try explaining more about how those verses are applicable in this situation. That would be helpful. and try formatting i.e. block quoting the verses.
Comment: You appear to be implicitly claiming that "dying" and "divorce" are the same thing (at least from a jurisprudent perspective); do you have any evidence at all to support this claim?  As written, this answer is in sore need of elaboration (see also relevant meta discussion: http://meta.islam.stackexchange.com/q/1475/22).


iCal can't add event invitations to iCloud calendars

Question: When someone sends me an iCal event invitation over email, I can't seem to properly add it to a calendar I'm storing on iCloud and accessing via CalDAV.
After accepting the invite, I get the error "https://p06-caldav.icloud.com:443/150624888/principal/ is not a location that supports this request." and I must choose "Revert" or "Go to server..". Sometimes, hitting "Revert" will keep the event in my calendar until the next update, when it will vanish. Hitting "Go to server" will immediately remove the event from my calendar and act like I never saw the event invitation in my email.
If I try to duplicate the event and store it on my mac instead of on iCloud, iCal thinks that I've created a new event and proceeds to email everyone who was invited.
Quite annoying, and embarrassing. Anyone know a fix?
Comment: Have you noticed this with one particular sender or anyone?
Answer: Apple discussion boards point to a name collision between calendar or reminder lists:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3384144
Try deleting or renaming the Reminder list on icloud.com (after backing up reminders)


Palm Pilot Graffiti

Question: I have been completely unable to find details on the underlying model that is used for the Palm Pilot Graffiti handwriting recognition. Given the computing power available for handheld PDA technology, I have always been quite surprised this was possible at that time. I was hoping for a source with information about the model, e.g., features, recognition method, etc.
Comment: I'm not sure how useful it is, but the Palm system was "stolen" from Xerox's **Unistrokes** system, [which was written up here.](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=169093)
Answer: If you are looking for a good explanation of some of the methods used in projects like GRAIL look here:
Back to the Future of Hand Writing Recognition
Comment: That may have been the best tutorial I have ever gone through. After a single pass I feel vaguely confident that I could implement a simple detector on a microcontroller. It is an unbelievably simple approach to a seemingly very complicated problem. Thanks.
Comment: This one is a great catch! +1.
Answer: Surprised?  DARPA (GRAIL project?, et.al.) supported handwriting recognition research circa 3 decades earlier, and on mainframes less powerful than a PalmPilot 1000.
Hawkins talks a bit about implementing Graffiti in a Computer History Museum oral history.
Comment: Your link for the oral history is bad.
Comment: seems to be, yeah.
Answer: It seems most of the data is in Graffiti (Palm OS) - Wikipedia.
It seems the technology is related to Unistrokes technology (U.S. Patent 5,596,656, granted in 1997).
Since the model relies on single stroke and using symbols that are exceptionally well separated from each other graphically I would be assume parameterizing the stroke would be a great way to get well separated features. Just the coordinate and the relation between them will be perfect.
Comment: I had looked this up on Wikipedia before I asked the question, but it wasn't clear to me whether the patent dispute was over a unistroke input method or the actual recognition system design. I figured that it was the former as the patent was repeatedly disputed.
Comment: Do you know if the recognition system was the same?
Comment: Well, if they made the effort to only support "Single Stroke" which leaves very little to discern between the hypothesis.
Answer: if you can get into the IEEE Explore Library
Pull up
D. J. Burr, "Designing a Handwriting Reader," in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. PAMI-5, no. 5, pp. 554-559, Sept. 1983.
and then look at the citations, which include both the Palm and Xerox Patents.  Xerox claimed that Palm infringed so you might pick up some clues.

Palm Pilot Graffiti


What's the shape and place of the tip vortex in a propeller, depending on propeller sense of turning?

Question: If the propeller vortex is placed and has changing features depending on the propeller sense of turning, both in traction and pusher configuration, knowing about this may have an interest for the design of multi-propeller airplanes.
Comment: I'm not completely sure what you're asking, but [this question](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q/29564/62) might help
Answer: I too am unsure exactly what your question is but propeller blades shed vortices at the tips just like wings and rotor blades. This vortices and their paths can be seen when the weather conditions are right as in this photograph. (I don't own this image)

You can find many more of these types of images with a quick google search. The vortices roughly follow the advance ratio of the propeller at the moment they form. There would be little difference to the formation of vortices for push or pull configuration.


How to thicken Chili without compromising flavor

Question: I enjoy adding beer to a pot of chili for taste, but at times find the end result is too soupy. What's a good way to thicken it without overcooking or compromising the flavor?
Answer: As noted above, reducing the liquid through evaporation will thicken up the chili but you run the risk of burning/scorching the bottom and it can take a long time at lower temperatures. What I like to do is to take some of the beans (I prefer black beans in mine) and mash them up into a thick paste and then stir that into the chili. The starches from the beans will help thicken up the chili and you aren't adding anything that isn't already there. I have also seen people do similar things with cornbread.
Comment: well what your talking about isn't what i would call scorching, when i think of scorching i think of burning. What your talking about I call creating fond, which I agree adds a lot of excellent flavor.
Comment: Scorching the bottom (a bit) is not a problem – it actually adds flavour (some recipes even *demand* for it, especially in Bolognese). Just scrape off the burnt bit in regular intervals to avoid burning it too much.
Comment: That's the classic technique for thickening beans in Brazil :) Works like a charm everytime
Comment: That's a good idea.  Will have to remember that when I don't have time for protracted simmering.
Answer: I use instant Corn Masa Flour as thickener. It seems to hold onto water better over time than does corn meal. That's likely because unlike corn meal, it's precooked, nixtamalized. Either way, you'll get a bit of a corny taste.
Comment: +1 This is the canonical way to thicken chili in Texas. The flavor isn't really that strong (most people probably won't notice).
Comment: Come to think of it, if you don't mind being thought a heathen, you could pour your beer into another pot, boil it down hard and fast to about 25% of its original volume, then add that flavor concentrate to your chili.
Answer: I add beer to my chili and simply let it simmer with the lid off for an hour or two so the liquid evaporates.  I've never had a problem with overcooking.
Comment: You could also reduce the beer separately first, then add to the chili.
Answer: I don't like using masa flour as it affects both texture and flavor. I have come up with some less conventional ways to thicken chili that work:

Brisket torn into small pieces. Buy some pre-cooked from your local BBQ house, remove the crunchy and fatty parts, and tear the rest into very small pieces. These bitty brisket bits will fill the voids and make your sauce both thicker and meatier. The smokey brisket flavor may even improve the taste. This is also good as a last-minute remedy since the brisket is already cooked. Alternatively if you are planning ahead you can cook brisket in the chili.
Broccoli. Don't laugh - I won a chili cook-off THREE YEARS IN A ROW with broccoli in my chili! Use raw broccoli and only the florets. Chop the broccoli very small. At first it will look like you made a mistake, but let it simmer for an hour - the broccoli cooks down and shrinks to the point you can hardly see it anymore, but you end up with thicker chili since the raw broccoli soaks up a lot of the liquid as it cooks. Just use chopped broccoli instead of beans in any recipe. Again, try it before you say nay! The broccoli pieces take on the flavor of the sauce and taste great.
Unsweetened cocoa. Just one tablespoon - too much will make your chili look like a muddy swamp. This works if you just need a little thickening and I like what it adds to the flavor.
Finely chopped bell red pepper. I recommend stir frying the chopped peppers before adding to the chili or it will affect the texture.
Finely chopped mushrooms. Stir frying is optional - depends on how long you slow cook your chili. If not long, then stir fry the chopped mushrooms before adding to the chili.
Comment: Preston, I eat the crunchy bits as I'm doing that. :)
Comment: Welcome to the Stack Exchange universe, especially Seasoned Advice, Mad Martian! It's nice to see such an elaborate a first post. If you have a bit of time, consider taking the [tour] and browsing our [help] to learn more about how the site works. I'm looking forward to more posts!
Comment: you're absolutely insane by i am definitely putting broccoli in my next chili.
Comment: "remove the crunchy and fatty bits" hurt my heart
Answer: If you want to thicken it fast use flour, just don't add it directly to the pot (If you do, the flour will clump and you'll spend the next couple of hours trying to de-clump the clumps).
Use a bowl. To the bowl, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and a cup of hot liquid from the chili. Mix/whisk both until combined. Add this mixture to your chili and stir until combined. It'll thicken in 20-30 minutes.
You can also use cornstarch, xantham gum, and many other thickeners or liaisons.
Good videos on reduction and thickening using thickeners/liaisons.

Thickeners/liaisons part 1
Thickeners/liaisons part 2
Thickeners/liaisons part 3

Another good video: Sauce Thickening Agents
Comment: @Robert: flour and cornstarch are opposites in this respect. Cornstarch you always stir into cold liquid. Flour actually dissolves better (fewer clumps) if you add hot liquid. (If you mix flour and cold water, you get glue.)
Comment: Confirmed - just used this method and it worked like a charm
Comment: I thought you always stir flour or corn starch into cold water to prevent clumping, not into hot liquid from the pot.
Answer: Depending on whether you'd consider this a compromise (I consider it a feature), corn meal or crushed tortilla chips not only thicken it but also add a flavor that usually complements the chili.
Comment: The tortilla chips will work much better than the corn meal; they're cooked already, while the corn meal will take a long time to get soft enough to blend in and not make your chili gritty.
Comment: Yeah, that is an important distinction.  The corn meal is good to plan for and add early, but tortilla chips can adjust the consistency near the end.
Comment: As a matter of fact, my favorite chili casserole recipe has layers of Frito corn chips. Yum!
Answer: I add roux in two stages. First, after sweating the peppers and onions and browning the meat(s) and before adding the beer, with the pot over a medium-high heat add flour approximately equal to the amount of oils (I would have used bacon grease, butter and olive oil to sweat the peppers and onions, your recipe will probably very, but I hope you get the idea...) and stir the mixture until the flour has absorbed the oils and the roux is clinging to the rest of the mixture. Then add the beer. This will thicken the mix, but not 'thoroughly'. The second stage comes at the end. When you are 1 - 1½ hours from 'done' mix 4 ounces each of oil (peanut, corn, olive, lard dealers choice) with 4 ounces of flour in and oven safe dish and bake this roux for about 1 hour at 350°. (This is not quite 'red brick' roux, you want to be short of that...) After baking mix the roux into to the chili, stir and cook for another 30 minutes.
Your mileage may vary based on the batch size and the amount of grease run-off from the meat, but this practice leaves me with a nice thick chili.
Answer: I've seen some of the usual answers like ground tortilla chips (unsalted if you can find them), and masa harina, but potato flakes (the instant ones in a box) are a great way to thicken your chili (or any soup). You can also do a quick cornstarch slurry by mixing a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of corn starch and add as needed. Always add either of them slowly and wait about 3-5 minutes. They don't need heat to be activated either.
Comment: If you can't find unsalted tortillas, tostadas are typically salted less than chips.
Comment: I really like to include actual potatoes in my chili
Answer: How about reducing the beer (and other possible fluids) separately before adding them? That should give you the desired flavor effect without the excess water.
Comment: Part of the benefit of the beer is the alcohol helps to extract the flavor of other items.  You're better off adding the beer as the first liquid addition, reducing it, then adding any other liquid ingredients.  (although this may change the texture, as the acid in tomatoes will slow the breakdown of onions and some other vegetables)
Answer: Flour, Cornstarch, amd Tortillia chips all work fine, but they will all mute the beef-y flavor of the chili.  To avoid any muting at all, use a gum like Xanthen Gum to thicken your pot of goodness.  1 tsp will tighten up a quart of chili, with no reduction of chili flavor.
Answer: Whenever I need to thicken some kind of stew or soup I add chia seeds. They act as a binder for baked goods too. They don't have a flavor but will get a gel coating on the outside after a bit. Plus they reheat well.
Answer: I added a can of refried beans. This also calmed down the heat a bit. Thick, spicy and delicious.
Answer: I've thickened chili with tomato paste. I really boosts the tomato flavor, but other than that it doesn't introduce "new" flavors to the mix and works quite well to thicken it up.
Answer: I start with a roux. Bacon grease is the best but butter will work too. Or you can put some beans in the food processor if you are health minded.
Answer: You can use blood - fresh cow, goat, or lamb companies sell it. Soups, chilis, and many other things used blood as thickener before B.C. even became A.D.
Its used for so many things like blood pudding, even brownies. It enhances the flavor and no this stuff will cause more problems not used it is not evil and any meat including fish has at least some sort of blood in it anyway if think on it everything has its own blood, sap of tree, plants.
A lot of restaurants including Indonesian, African and Asian gourmet use blood as thickener and meats.
Comment: Welcome! Please, for the sake of cleanliness, attempt to use proper spelling and grammar as much as possible.
Comment: And while your are at it, please get down from your soap box - simply suggesting the use of blood as thickener is sufficient, no need to go back to B.C. or getting plants involved!
Answer: I use flour to thicken my chili, but I put a half of cup in my sifter (2-3 sifts at a time) and stir so it doesn't clump together. This has soaked up some of the saltiness as well when I over season it.
Comment: Sifting is a good trick. Thanks for the inspiration :)
Answer: To thicken a sauce without changing the flavour, I use powdered arrowroot.  In a bowl, put a tablespoon of arrowroot powder with a small amount of cold water.  Mix well then slowly add a few tablespoons of the excess liquid from your chilli.  when thoroughly blended, add the mix to your chilli and allow to cook through.
Answer: In desperation because I didn't have time I used an immersion blender right in the pot. After half a dozen or so pulses on low setting the thickness was near perfect.
Probably a good idea not to blend more than 15 to 20% or the texture will change too much (unless that's what you want).
Be careful about splashing, you don't want to get scalded.
Comment: It should be noted that this should only be done when the chili has cooled below about 60 C, otherwise it is very easy to splatter and cause burns.
Comment: Important note @bob1; added
Answer: Try quinoa! The red type blends in, soaks up the excess liquid and makes it more hearty. I put in about a quarter cup an hour before chili is "done" cooking on low in crockpot
Answer: Use kuzu root starch.. It comes in rock-like granules. Mix 1 Tb kuzu with 1 Tb water first, then add to simmering chili until thickened. I use a lot of onions and peppers that give up a lot of water and kuzu works best! No change in flavor, texture or mouth-feel. Re-heats perfectly as original.
Answer: Stir in one can of refried beans. Or blend one can of whatever beans you are using in your chilli. Wash them off first.
Answer: I can't boil to evaporate because my chili recipe requires the ground chili paste. garlic, ginger, cilantro, etc to remain fresh and uncooked.
My family tradition has been to add tapioca or corn starch. Boil half a cup of water in the microwave, and then stir in tapioca/corn flour gradually until the paste is super-saturated. I might even try to microwave the paste further. Tapioca flour is easier to deal with. Corn flour imo tastes better.
When the hot flour paste has chilled to a warm state, gradually mix it into the chili paste until desired thickness is achieved.
I have added brandy, rice wine or chardonnay to the chili paste but never beer.
As absorbent thickener, I am even thinking of cream cheese, or home-made sour yogurt on the verge of becoming cottage cheese. I have never tried but perhaps I should one of these days.
Or apple pulp.
Comment: OP wasn't asking about chili salsa, raw chili chutney or whatever it is you make, but about the kind of chili most Americans make - a thoroughly cooked stew with beef.
Comment: Just out of curiosity, what kind of chili are you making??? That doesn't sound like any chili recipe I've ever seen or heard of... I believe OP is referring to American-style chili, which doesn't usually have ginger, or "chili paste"
Comment: "American" style? Quite a number of Asian or European foods are actually American inventions. "American" recipes are a very diverse collection. "American" chili is just as "american" as Panda Chinese food you find at the mall.
Comment: ok, sure, but if you google "chili recipe", there are lots of hits, and none of them have those ingredients you were using -- I was just wondering if it was some kind of regional variation or something -- I'm intrigued!!
Comment: Google chili salsa.
Comment: Raw chili chutney.
Comment: "American chili" is how they named the adapted version of Mexican tingas / chili con carne. Which are some kind of meat stewed with tomato and chillies (preferably chipotles in adobo)
Answer: Peanut butter....2 tbsp in a big pot will thicken and not affect the flavor.
Comment: How much is a "big pot" :)


Exercise ideas for 400 pound double leg amputee

Question: I am a female double leg amputee that weighs about 400lbs. I haven't exercised in about 20 years. I have a whole host of medical problems and have been told that I have to lose weight. I am modifying my diet, but exercise is the hardest for me. Being so big and having no legs, or artificial legs, has limited me on what I can do. I need ideas on how to do some exercises that can actually help me lose weight that I can do either sitting or lying on the bed. I am also incapable of turning onto my stomach. Please, if you have any ideas I would love to hear them. Thank you!
Comment: My answer is to **fix your caloric intake**, making sure that you are eating less than your [maintenance/TDEE](http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/). Though I can't give you the exact answer as to how much you should subtract from your TDEE. With that said, this is the very reason why I did not post this as an answer. As for exercises, you may want to tell us whether you have access to the gym/park/home so we can give a better answer.
Comment: You might be interested in [Jesse Shand's story](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/3csl77/bodybuildingcom_forum_helps_guy_go_from_700/).  He was completely immobile and weighed almost 700 lbs.  He's now down to somewhere around 250 lbs.  There are some details about his diet [here](http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/350-pounds-and-counting-jesse-shands-incredible-journey.html).
Comment: Besides physical exercise and fixing your diet, it is also important to make these changes a part of your life rather than just something you _do_.  Becoming a part of a fitness forum, conversing with people with similar goals was HUGELY helpful for me.  Tell people your goals and your progress, their support can really help you push through times of discouragement.  You can learn from their mistakes rather than making them all yourself.  Also, congratulations!  It will be a long, difficult journey, but deciding to start is the step most people never take.  Don't quit, can't fail.
Answer: It's important to get a good start and make yourself feel good about your weight loss project. The most important part of weight loss is eating fewer calories than before, it's much, much more important than exercise in that regard. So don't feel bad if it's hard to find ways to exercise in the beginning, it will likely get easier as you lose some weight, and if you're losing weight at a steady pace by eating a bit less, you're doing better than the majority of people who attempt to lose weight.
Anything that makes you breath heavy (except intentionally breathing more heavy) uses a lot of calories. Is a wheel chair an alternative, then do that. Will walking with prostethic legs be an alternative when you've lost some weight? If so, it makes an excellent partial weight goal.
It's important to remember that as an overweight person, you'll use loads of energy for exercises that are easy for regular weight people. Using a wheel chair might use as many calories per hour as running would do for a thin person.
Good luck!
Comment: Also important to remember, find an exercise that isn't *too* onerous. An exercise you don't do because you hate it does you no good. You need effort (and moderate exercise does have benefits for nutrition) but it needs to be within your range of willpower.
Comment: Yes, the best exercise is the one you actually do :)
Answer: Well, if your arms can move, you can do something! Anything that involves moving your arms quickly can produce aerobic activity, so it really comes down to finding something you find fun.
If you are using a non-powered wheel chair, simply getting around is a form of exercise.
Alternatively, you can spend some time on youtube and look for aerobic exercises that utilize a lot of arm movements.  Or, martial arts forms often have a lot of hand movements which you can do - with a lot of focus on repetition and speed.
Because you are just really using arm movements, you can do this while watching TV even, so you're getting some benefit even when you are "doing nothing".
Comment: Sorry, but I just don't see sitting around doing arm movements as something that addresses her needs. She's a 400lb double amputee with a lot of issues (caloric and movement), and your answer is a fraction of a drop in an ocean.
Comment: She already mentioned she was doing diet modification, and I'm sure her physician will be giving her advice on other medical options.  Are you suggesting non-movement would be a better option?  Movement burns calories, she has two limbs that she CAN move, so she might as well do so.  Wheelchair athletes successfully burn calories this way so why wouldn't this be an option for her?
Answer: I'm a double amputee and I've gained a fair bit of weight, although it's sneaked up on me. I know this is an old conversation but I thought I'd put in my two penn'orth.
I've just started swimming for the first time since I lost my 2nd leg(below knee, the 1st was above) and I'm glad to say I didn't drown but thoroughly enjoyed the freedom it gave me.
I'm trying to reduce my weight but it's difficult because of a restricted
diet but I live in hope. Activity has to be better than the alternative.


How to determine the length of poles for a tent

Question: This tent appears to need just 2 diagonal poles.
How do I figure out what length diagonal poles I need for an 8 foot x 10 foot (footprint) tent, taking into account the radius of curvature?
Comment: Can you explain, via **edit**ing the question, wht those poles are, lying by the tent?
Answer: Okay, it is a bit hard to tell the model, so here is the process you'll need.

Stake the tent out.  Any old stakes will do.
With a semi-rigid pole (see below) push this pole through the loops/guides until it is taut.
Mark and measure.
Once you measure you can order poles from any of a number of sites that sell custom poles.

Semi-rigid poles that can work (depends on tent and diameter of pole)

Ratan/Bamboo
Fiberglass - You can buy very inexpensive fiberglass rods, just google around.
Comment: Thank you! I will do what you suggest. We also have some extra poles with no tent, and they're not a ready fit, but I can cut the length down a little for the right tension. You can put me on inactive, or whatever.  Thanks again!
Comment: Shouldn't you state that you must actually have "a semi-rigid pole" lying around, and that it is at least as long as the required missing pole?


Flies in wine before airlocking

Question: I picked some wild blackberries, mashed them up with sugar and water, plus yeast and two campden tablets, and put these into a bucket and covered (loosely, with a t-shirt - that was probably my mistake), as per the recipe. Of course, this kind of thing is very attractive to flies. And when I uncovered the wine, to strain it, I saw maybe a half-dozen flies hovering around. I do not know what kind of flies they were. But how can I make sure that this batch has not been spoilt by this?
Comment: Take a spoonful and check how it tastes.
Comment: Take a look at:  https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/15616/is-there-a-way-to-tell-if-fruit-flies-have-laid-eggs
Answer: IMHO, the only real way to test a fermented product is by taste and smell. If the brew tastes and smells OK then it is fit to drink. If the brew tastes too acidic or sour then it is somewhat "spoilt". How sour that can be is a matter of personal taste. If the brew tastes very slightly sour then it is sometimes possible to recover it by adding some calcium carbonate which can neutralise any acid present. If the brew tastes "strange" or musty then that too can be an off flavour caused by infection. Similarly with smell - very bad aromas indicate infection. However all tastes and smells are a matter of personal preference. I have still to find a fermented product that is actually poisonous.
It is also worth remembering that a young wine can be "less than optimal" in flavour and aroma. Quite often just bottling the wine and leaving it to mature for a year will cure a multitude of problems and result in a wine that is quite palatable.
As a general method fruit wines can be made by pasteurising the fruit in very hot water - or even by a very quick rolling boil of the mashed fruit and sugar. This will effectively sterilise the ingredients. Cool to room temperature before adding yeast. There is no need to add campden tablets using this method and that would be better for the initial yeast growth. The fruit wine should begin fermenting within a day and the ferment should be actively producing bubbles on the surface of the brew. If you intend to make much wine it would be better to get a brew bucket with a lid and an airlock. Of course one can always use a glass/plastic 5L demijohn or other suitable container with lid if one brews batches too small to fill a larger brew bin.
Comment: I always find fruit flies are attracted to fermenting fruit. It seems to be in their nature. An airlock, correctly fitted will usually deal with any fruit flies - often they end up drowned in the trap liquid which might have to be emptied and changed. I have seen a carboy which has the opening stuffed with cotton wool and that seemed to work OK. Just putting a clean cloth over the bucket might be OK as no flies would get through the cloth - but the cloth itself is not usually impervious and cannot stop any gentle "rain" of micro debris, dust or organic matter. A brew bin is a better option.
Comment: In the future I think I will pasteurise the fruit like you suggest, since as it happens, I have been looking for a way to reduce the need for campden tablets. Will this also make the wine less attractive to flies or should I definitely go and get better buckets?
Comment: I agree with the comment above - if you intend to make wine occasionally then your current method may suffice. If you intend to make wine more regularly then a brew bin with a lid and airlock will make the process more predictable. And the airlock bubbling will give some indication of fermentation taking place - which is always reassuring.

Flies in wine before airlocking


Are stars rotating?

Question: This question may sound silly but I'm really not pretty sure whether stars are rotating or stationary. If they are not rotating what makes them to be stable?
Comment: I think there is a new question possible, something like "Haver there ever been theoretical predictions of the distributions of rotation rates for a given start type in a given galaxy?"
Answer: Stars rotate due to the angular momentum of the gas they formed from. This angular momentum must be conserved, and remains as the rotation of the star and it's satellites. If a star collapsed from a completely static gas cloud it would not rotate, but would still be stable. The stability is provided by the hydrostatic equilibrium between radiation and thermal pressure with gravitation collapsing the star - not the stars rotation.
I don't know any statistics but I expect all stars rotate to some degree; It is usually the turbulence of gas clouds that leads to overdensities that then collapse in to stars.
Answer: Stars are rotating, but that's not the cause for their stability.
The stability is caused by the hydrostatic equilibrium between gas/plasma pressure and gravity. The pressure is mainly caused by the heat of several millions degrees.
More details here.
Comment: More clearly, I would say that the pressure is granted by thermonuclear fusion reactions, releasing enough radiation to support the gravity force. It is radiation pressure that "pushes outward" the stellar mass.
Comment: Radiation pressure is one of several terms adding up to total pressure. Heat is provided by adiabatic compression, and as you state, mainly by thermonuclear fusion.
Answer: Like Chris said above, stars rotate to conserve their angular momentum. They have an initial angular momentum from their formation. In a stellar system both energy and momentum, must be conserved for the system to be stable. Throughout the evolution, the system may radiate some angular momentum away in the form of gravity waves (ie. double degenerate binaries). During this process the separation of two stars will be reduced and the rotation rate of the star will spike to conserve angular momentum.
More on this here: http://www.selmademink.com/science/on-the-origin-of-stellar-rotation-rates-and-the-role-binary-interaction/
Comment: But why is the initial angular momentum not zero? In that case *stars would NOT rotate to conserve their angular momentum.*

Are stars rotating?


What effect(s) does Google's Panda 2.5 update have on new websites in the SERP?

Question: I recently launched 3 websites (within the past 7-10 months) that had been steadily increasing in the rankings on Google search up until this past weekend, when I noticed a huge drop across most of my tracked keywords. The websites are e-commerce sites. This drop coincided with the exact date and time (September 28) of Google's most recent Panda update, Panda 2.5. I am wondering what the implications might be for new websites like mine with Panda 2.5. What is this most recent algorithm change targeting? Duplicate content, poor content, bad URLs? Any new information on this would be of help.
Answer:
Google declined to share any specifics about what types of sites, pages or content this update targeted...

...but you may want to have a look at Google Panda 2.5: Losers [and winners] for some at-least-evidence-based speculation.
Answer: In a quick glance at your sites I noticed some things that might be impacting your ranking.
I didn't do a full link analysis but it looks like most of your links come from your other sites with very few links from outside this circle. These links were probably discounted in value since it probably triggered an anti-link-wheel algorithm. You need to work on obtaining outside links, especially ones from stronger, well-established, sites that Google trusts. External links and their strength is what will make or break your site in SEO terms. I wouldn't remove the links you already have since losing a significant number of links, even if they're discounted, can cause even more damage.
Beyond that, there are a few on-site tweaks that you could make, such as using more keyword friendly page names (rather than SKUs), but I wouldn't make that change now since it looks like most of your pages are indexed. Increasing the amount of content on these pages might help some but it will be a slow process.


how to install windows 7 from hird disk from H:\Setup7

Question: i have 2 hard disk and now i using windows 7 and old windows xp in another haskdisk in patition C: and datain D:, E: i would like to install new windows 7
and not have dvd drive but hard disk have data in H: and i have H:\Setup7 for setup windows
and some data i have in H: how to setup its?
Answer: If you want to install Win7 on HDD . Firstly download Daemon Tools . Download Win7 image and  mount it to Daemon virtual drive. Now you access your Virtual CD/DVD and install it normally on every partition you want .
The missing one when you do this method is you won't format your hard disk :)
Comment: now i am using windows xp?
Comment: Sure . I installed for my friend yesterday :)


Should I hand over my current business card in a job interview?

Question: Is it a good idea to bring your current companies business card to a new job interview?
Comment: What is your reason for bringing it? The primary purpose of business cards is to easily share contact information, which should all be on your resume.
Comment: That's exactly what I thought. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't thinking too much into it.
Comment: Only if it is your company.
Comment: Uh, no. Not a good idea.
Answer: No, because in a corporate setting you should only use your business card when you're representing your employer1 . Everyone who needs your contact details should already have them and they should be different from the ones on the card. You're not applying from your work e-mail are you? That said, according to Alison Green (#3 at the link) it's not really a big deal if you do hand one over.
When I was going for interviews fresh out of college, I already had personal cards made. Some of the interviewers I met gave me their card during the interview and promptly received my personal card in return. It's a bit of a gimmick, which I normally don't recommend when job searching, but all of them appreciated it. A few even mentioned that it added a professional touch. Personal cards are inexpensive and quite convenient to have on hand in general. They're also known as calling cards.

1 - It's fine to use your business card outside the office. As an example I routinely use mine when people have trouble entering my name in their records (and I've run out of personal cards).
Answer: No don't bring your business card, unless it is for a internal transfer.
The card is used to tell them the best way to reach you. You should provide that information on the resume and/or job application.
If you are talking to another company you don't want to use your business email and business phone number. Generally the point is to not let your boss know about your job search.


What fundamental differences separate low-budget airlines from traditional airlines?

Question: Low-budget airlines have made it incredibly easy and cheap to travel far and often, and yet at first glance they seem nearly identical to traditional airlines. Sure, you have to pay for meals, but a few dollars/euros here and there shouldn't make THAT drastic a difference. So what is it that makes a budget airline a budget airline?
Comment: You're underestimating the sheer volume of fees LCCs levy on passengers compared to (most) major carriers, especially in Europe. Booking fee? Book a seat at all? Fee. Check in early? Fee. Aisle seat? Fee. Print your boarding pass at home? Fee. Priority boarding? You guessed it. Check in at the airport? Yep.
Comment: I'm only half-joking when I say that a good part of the difference in many cases is that traditional airlines have unions and billions of dollars worth of shortfalls in their employee pension plans while LCCs don't.
Comment: @egid - I've travelled on several of the most prominent European budget airlines, and have never had to pay a fee for booking, for aisle seets, for pre-printed boarding passes, or on checking in.  Yes, reserving specific seats usually has a fee attached, as does hold luggage, and priority boarding *of course* has an associated fee (otherwise everyone would want it and therefore the system wouldn't work!), but its quite easy to travel without paying any additional fees, at least if you're willing to travel light.
Comment: @Jules I'm not saying you _have_ to pay those fees. But those are fees that often are completely absent at mainline airlines! You have the _option_ to pay them to RyanAir or EasyJet, but many of the fees don't exist on say Lufthansa or Air France. I have definitely been given the opportunity to provide RyanAir with money for those things, and they are in fact lifted straight from [RyanAir's fees page](https://www.ryanair.com/us/en/useful-info/help-centre/fees). :)
Comment: Well, apparently on [budget airlines they allow people on who continually fart until fights break out and the flight attendents encourage it or something and the plane has to make an unscheduled landing and kick everyone off](https://nypost.com/2018/02/18/farty-passenger-forces-flight-to-make-emergency-landing/).  If that sort of thing happened on a traditional airline the flight attendents would probably not encourage the fighting.
Comment: There are some really good animated youtube videos that explain this in detail.
Comment: @Jules You probably haven't flown with Wow then, who charge for hand luggage (you're allowed a small item that fits under the seat for free).
Comment: Last summer I flew from San Francisco to Ireland with my two teens, by the time I had added bags for all legs (including hand baggage) the cost for a non stop, faster flight with Aer Lingus was a little over \$200 more that the lowest airfare I could find (Wow) for the three of us. Given that we were already spending over $3k, this was a no-brainer. (Plus, Aer Lingus ground staff & air crew actually care about their passengers and treat them as humans. **Not** a comparison with Wow, with whom I have never flown.)
Answer: Generally speaking:

They operate a limited number of airframes if not a single one (for example Ryanair operates 420 737-800's and only a single 737-700 for chartering). This allows them to buy planes in bulk as well as cut down on spare parts reserves, pilot proficiency training in multiple airframes and overall maintenance costs by only needing to hire mechanics proficient in a single airframe. They can also easily substitute an aircraft on a given route as they are all configured the same.
By having seats that don't recline and sometimes no first class they can really pack people in. Those extra customers make a big difference. There has even been some buzz about packing more people in with "standing" seats but I have not seen anything certified on that front as of yet.
In my experience they tend to have less lenient refund and change policies. For example Spirit charges a $90 cancelation fee and most tickets are around that price.
The meals tend to be pre-packed and may have a longer shelf life than the hot food served on other airplanes. This means they can buy it in bulk (read cheap), in advance and store it, and there is no need to coordinate the delivery like there is with hot food. Cold food can hang out at the gate waiting for the plane.
There has been a big move to use mobile devices for a lot of classic functions like check in and boarding passes. This allows them to not need checking counter employees or curb side employees etc. This labor cost is a huge savings. In many cases the flight attendants may also be the  boarding/gate personnel.
Some of them also avoid major airports and may elect to fly out of smaller regional airports. This helps keep fees down and some satellite airports may be substantially less busy allowing them to get in and out faster.

As per @Jamiec's comments

Shorter turn around times

No seat back pockets so nothing to clear out.
No pillows and blankets to pick up
Cabin crew may do the majority of cleaning

As @757toga notes some of them also may keep pay low or act as a jumping off point for young pilots to get their type certs and build hours.
Related questions:
How can Ryanair offer flights for a penny?
What's the typical cost (and its breakdown) for a long-haul commercial flight?
Comment: @757toga not only lower pay on flight crews, but other departments as well. I've done an IT project with one LCC - their security protocols were almost nonexistent, code was buggy, etc.
Comment: Also, customer service. I've had flights cancelled both on a low budget airline and on a regular one and bloody hell I could feel the difference.
Comment: Discount pilots? That's not scary.
Comment: Low cost also has less nice flight times usually. They start at 5 in the morning, so they can fly 1000 km back and forth 3 or 4 times a day, instead of only twice. Since the plane and parking fees are very expensive, this reduces cost a lot.
Comment: I agree.  But don't forget the  lower pay for flight crews, cabin crews, etc.
Comment: @rickboender Im not sure that helps keep the cost down, I was always under the impression that the early flights cater to the business market who flies to cites for a single day (for meetings etc). Many of the pilots I know that fly for the big carriers but fly regional routes also fly 3-5 hops a day. I dont think that behavior is unique to low cost operations.
Comment: *Cabin crew may do the majority of cleaning* with the rest done by the nicer passengers clearing up after themselves.  I got the last Easyjet of the day back to home base several times, and the cabin crew were getting ready to clean the cabin thoroughly -- there were no cleaners. By the time I boarded the turnarounds were under pressure so they gave it a very quick clean at the gate; I was sometimes first on as I knew roughly which gate before it was called, and they were still at it.
Comment: They certainly do avoid certain airports. Try to travel to Frankfurt with Ryanair. You'll end up 2 hours by bus away from the actual city.
Answer: For a true LCC (Low Cost Carrier), the answer is simple :

Single-line buisness model
Volumes
Cost & efficiency discipline

Those three items are what, fundamentally, makes an LCC an LCC.
I will briefly explain :

Single-line business model

A true LCC will define its business model as "seeking to offer its customers the lowest fare possible for a flight".
That is ultimately the goal that underlies everything else that goes on in the LCC's business.  That is their "mission" if you like that word !

Volumes

In practical terms, the biggest element in the LCC's "mission" to minimise fares is to maximise the numebr of passengers on their aircraft.  The industy terminology for this is ASK (Available Seat Kilometers).  LCC airlines will have some of the highest ASK figures in the industry.
Part of the reason why the seats on LCCs are so "primitive" is to minimise the risk of a seats being taken out of service for technical reasons, hence impacting negatively on ASK.
Of course empty seats are worthless. So alongside high ASK figures, the LCCs will also have some of the highest load factor (i.e bums on seats) figures in the industry.  Or in other words, they will have some of the highest ASK yields in the industry.

Cost & efficiency discipline

Closely associated with the ASK figure is the CASK (Cost Per Available Seat Kilometer - excluding fuel and depreciation).  Again, the LCC carrier's "mission" is to minimise CASK.
The LCCs achieve low CASK figures through aggressive cost and efficiency discipline.
EVERYTHING, every single tiny little thing you could ever think of (both "tangible" e.g. toilet paper and "intangible" e.g. the "cost" of someone taking a lunch break) in the business will be assigned a cost and there will be a constant and aggressive drive to keep lowering those costs. Management reporting will be heavily skewed towards costs.
One source of "excessive" costs is of course poor efficiency. Therefore alongside an aggressive cost control programme, there will be an efficiency programme running in parallel.  One key component is finding ways to minimise time on the ground (if a aircraft is on the ground its not making money).  But there are also things like making sure routes are efficient (so they can also minimise time in the air so they can pack more flights into the day).
Its fascinating but very complex topic. Far too complex for a StackExchange answer !
Answer: One of the largest differences is luggage. Originally, checked luggage was part of your ticket, but airlines have been steadily cutting those back, largely because the costs associated with handling luggage

Less work for the ground crew

Fewer complaints (lost luggage is a common traveler complaint)

Less overhead in compensation over luggage

Collins waited for his missing bags. And waited. Finally, he called Delta out on social media and connected with a customer-service representative who helped him track down the bags three days after they'd gone missing. Eventually, the airline cut him a check for $230, the amount of money he and his wife had to spend on clothes and toiletries.

While almost all major airlines charge for checked baggage (Southwest is still included for now), the cheaper airlines also make you pay for carry-on bags. If you've flown at all recently on a regular carrier, you know that almost everyone now tries to cram it all into carry-ons since they are still free. This creates all sorts of hassles in boarding as, once the overhead space is full, you now have to start checking those carry-ons (I invested in a smaller carry-on to avoid that problem).
The cheap airlines hate carry-ons for this reason. So much so, they actually charge you more for a carry-on than a checked bag (as of this writing, both US cheap carriers, Spirit and Frontier, are \$35 for a carry-on and $30 for a checked bag, provided you pay at online booking). Personal items (a large handbag/purse or backpack) are still free.
Comment: Afaict for flights within Europe the most basic economy ticket (aka what will show up by default on the price comparison sites) often does not include checked baggage while for intercontinental flights it nearly always does.
Comment: "While almost all major airlines charge for checked baggage" -- AFAIK this is not the norm outside North America...
Comment: @DanMašek It is the norm for regional flights outside North America, at least in my experience. Air France/KLM does. Alitalia does. TAP does. Philippine Airlines does. Lufthansa/Swiss does. It looks like maybe British Airways is an exception. Intercontinental flights (on legacy carriers) typically include luggage for both North American airlines and those based elsewhere. Intercontinental flights on LCCs typically don't include luggage (and make a killing on bag fees.)
Comment: @DanMašek I went looking and, sure enough, some international flights still involve free bags on carriers that charge for them domestically (i.e. [Delta](https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/baggage/before-your-trip/checked.html)). Even within that category, there's an emerging "Non-bag" tier. By contrast, almost nobody charges bag fees for higher tiers like First/Business class. Since low cost carriers don't have class tiers like that, everyone is in the "non-bag" tier.
Comment: Interesting. I've noticed that for example Lufthansa now has a "light" category that doesn't include checked in baggage, but I didn't realize it spread so fast. IMHO the opportunity to do that is useful, but being forced to do that seems, well far from ideal. TBH I've gotten kinda picky on which airlines I fly with and airports I go through, so thanks for enlightening me (as depressing as it may be) :)
Comment: Isn't full-service airlines charging for checked luggage actually a relatively recent response to the LCCs? (Last 10-15 years, say.)
Answer: Target Demographic
The target demographics of legacy (or full-service or whatever name you prefer for non-LCC) carriers is different from that of low-cost carriers (LCCs.) LCCs target primarily infrequent leisure travelers who choose flights primarily based on lowest price, even if the flights are less convenient and less reliable. By contrast, legacy carriers cater more to business travelers who are typically willing to pay more for a higher level service and a higher degree of reliably getting the passenger to their final destination in the quickest manner possible.
Interlining Agreements, Codeshares, and Alliances
Most legacy carriers are part of one of the major airline alliances, namely, oneworld, Star Alliance, or SkyTeam. Airlines within an alliance will generally have interlining agreements and often codeshare agreements with each other. Additionally, legacy airlines often have separate interlining or even codeshare agreements with other individual airlines outside of their alliance, those these bonds will typically not be as strong as those within an alliance.
Selling Single Itineraries
Interlining agreements allow the member airlines to sell tickets that include connections to or from other member airlines as part of the same itinerary. By selling the entire itinerary as a single ticket, the airlines then take on the liability of ensuring the passenger gets from their origin to their final destination. For example, with separate tickets, if a passenger takes airline X from A to B and airline Y from B to C, airline X is only responsible for eventually getting the passenger to B and airline Y is only responsible for getting the passenger from B to C if they show up on time at B. On the other hand, if airline X sells the passenger a single itinerary from A to C via B, even if the flight from B to C is operated by a partner airline, the airline assumes the responsibility for eventually getting the passenger all the way from A to C, even if the connection at B is missed due to a delayed flight or similar.
Assuming this liability costs the airline money. Therefore, LCCs typically don't do it. LCC flight cancelled? You're likely stuck until their next flight (which may be a day or three later.) Only in extreme cases (e.g. the airport is closed for an extended period) would you have delays that severe on a legacy carrier, since they'd usually have one of their own flights or a interlining partner flight they could transfer you to.
Through-Checking Baggage
Interlining agreements between airlines, especially those within an alliance, also often include allowing passengers to through-check their bags across multiple carriers instead of needing to re-check at connections. This makes life much easier for the passengers, especially the business travelers who need to frequently travel from one region of the world to another. However, working out the necessary organization between airlines to do this costs money, both in getting their IT systems to play nice with each other and in getting their ground crews to efficiently hand baggage off to each other.
Transfers in Irregular Operations
Interlining agreements will also frequently include provisions for the airlines within the agreement to transfer their passengers to each other's flights in the event of irregular operations in order to help get them to their destination as quickly as possible.
Codeshares
In addition to the above interlining agreements, legacy carriers also often enter into codeshare agreements with each other. These agreements allow one airline to actually market another airline's flights with their own flight numbers. For example, Delta can sell seats on Air France flights using a DL flight number and vice versa. The airlines will then work out as part of this agreement how they'll split the revenue.
Loyalty Programs
Perhaps one of the biggest differences between legacy carriers and LCCs is that legacy carriers typically have extensive loyalty programs designed to entice their highest-profit customers to keep their flying within that airline and its partners rather than shopping around for the cheapest flight for each trip. LCCs, by contrast, typically have little-to-no loyalty program. The award tickets and other various perks offered to frequent fliers by these programs can represent a quite large cost to airlines, but they ultimately deem them worthwhile expenses in order to attract and keep their most profitable passengers. Since LCCs typically cater to people who aren't willing to pay extra for these benefits, they cut these costs and don't provide the benefits.
Classes of Service
LCCs typically offer economy-only configurations or at least relatively fewer and less extravagant premium cabins. Legacy carriers, on the other hand, typically have multi-class cabins. These range from wider seats with more legroom in regional first class cabins to seats the fold out into 6-and-a-half-foot-long flat beds in long-haul business class to extravagant apartments in the sky complete with dedicated beds, separate living rooms, and showers in long-haul first class. Again, this comes down to a difference in target demographic. Business travelers who need to get to the other side of the planet and arrive well-rested for an important meeting are going to be more willing to pay for those highly-profitable premium-cabin seats, while the infrequent leisure travelers targeted by LCCs won't be.
Route Networks
Another major difference between LCCs and legacy carriers is that legacy carriers usually have much more extensive route networks. Legacy carriers are more willing to provide service to less-highly-trafficked airports in order to connect those passengers to their more profitable routes elsewhere and in order to allow business travelers to reach more remote areas. By contrast, LCCs normally only (or at least primarily) run routes with high demand, especially high leisure demand. The LCC model is to be able to fill every seat on every flight of a 150+ passenger aircraft. Meanwhile, the legacy carriers are often content to fly half-full 50-seat regional jets to the middle of nowhere if it can connect passengers to their hubs for more profitable onward connections.


What home improvements are tax deductible?

Question: Specifically, do odor removal and air duct cleaning count as tax-deductible home improvements?
Comment: When you say "tax deductible," are you referring to deducting amounts off of your income tax, or are you talking about increasing the cost basis of your home for capital gains tax purposes?
Comment: @BenMiller the former, deducting amounts off of the income tax
Answer: In general, for a home you live in, there's maintenance, which is just that, you pay to keep your house in good repair.
There's also real improvements. I spend $xxx to turn my poured cement basement into living space. Here, I keep my receipts and the cost (although not my labor) is added to the basis of my home when I sell.
The couple things that may offer a deduction have to do with energy. When I insulated my basement, there was a state tax credit which I got back when I filed taxes. There are also credits for installing solar panels.
What you've described in your question just sounds like one of the small joys of home ownership.
Comment: One exception is that if you have a home office, a percentage of some maintenance & improvements can be taken on Schedule C.
Comment: The OP's two examples are barely maintenance items. More like cleaning.
Comment: Sure, @jamesqf , but then it's not this type of improvement, but nearly every expense. Regardless, point well taken.
Comment: I don't understand what the story about your basement has to do with the question.
Comment: It was an example of an improvement that gets capitalized (added to basis). As compared to OPs maintenance item.
Answer: On a personal income tax return home improvements are generally not deductible on a federal level.  There might be some exceptions made for special tax programs, such as solar panels, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule.
Answer: If the house is not used for business
As noted above but with sources

An improvement materially adds to the value
  of your home, considerably prolongs its useful
  life, or adapts it to new uses. You must add the
  cost of any improvements to the basis of your
  home. You cannot deduct these costs. Source Page 11, Adjusted Basis, Improvements

Second,

A repair
  keeps your home in an ordinary, efficient operating
  condition. It does not add to the value of
  your home or prolong its life. Repairs include repainting
  your home inside or outside, fixing your
  gutters or floors, fixing leaks or plastering, and
  replacing broken window panes. You cannot
  deduct repair costs and generally cannot add
  them to the basis of your home. Source Page 12, Adjusted Basis, Repairs versus improvements

But this is different if you are a lessor.

Generally, an expense for repairing or maintaining
  your rental property may be deducted if you
  are not required to capitalize the expense.
You must capitalize any expense
  you pay to improve your rental property.
  An expense is for an improvement if it results in
  a betterment to your property, restores your
  property, or adapts your property to a new or
  different use. Source Page 5, Repairs and Improvements

Good Luck,
Comment: @jpmc26 I'm sure there are loopholes around that though... for instance, maybe you rent from a corporation which you happen to own, somehow, at arms length.  But I was somewhat facetious, because I'm pretty sure that the extra income I (or the corp) would have to claim would cancel out the tax benefit until there was an unprofitable amount of maintenance to be done.
Comment: So what you're saying is that I should rent my own property to myself, in order to deduct maintenance.  Of course, then I suppose that I must count the rent I pay to myself as income... :-/
Comment: @Michael I believe you are on to something... if I rented to myself then I would be taxed twice (once for making funds and the other from renting to myself) reducing MY TAX LIABILITY. Boys and girls, we've made a break-through
Comment: @Michael There are laws that forbid you from claiming a property to be a rental when you live in it.
Answer: Home Improvements that improve the home's Energy Efficiency are currently eligible for federal tax credits.
This includes renewable energy equipment (solar panels, etc.) and Nonbusiness Energy Property Tax Credit. The credit is 30% of the cost.
From Intuit Turbo Tax: Energy Tax Credit:

Equipment and materials can qualify for the Nonbusiness Energy
Property Credit only if they meet technical efficiency standards set
by the Department of Energy. The manufacturer can tell you whether a
particular item meets those standards. For this credit, the IRS
distinguishes between two kinds of upgrades.
The first is "qualified energy efficiency improvements," and it
includes the following:
•Home insulation
•Exterior doors
•Exterior windows and skylights
•Certain roofing materials
The second category is "residential energy property costs." It
includes:
•Electric heat pumps
•Electric heat pump water heaters
•Central air conditioning systems
•Natural gas, propane or oil waterheaters
•Stoves that use biomass fuel
•Natural gas, propane or oil furnaces
•Natural gas, propane or oil hot water boilers
•Advanced circulating fans for natural gas, propane or oil furnaces


How to reuse modelling bases for the Stratasys uPrint SE Plus?

Question: It's criminal how wasteful the Stratsys uPrint SE Plus is with it's 'one use' modelling bases. Is there a reliable way to re purpose them? I have tried ethanol and acetone, but not had any luck.
Comment: Hello, I mean the black modelling bases that the ABS is printed onto. With this model of machine they are difficult to reuse as the support material laid down leaves a scar.
Comment: Hi, when talking about "one use modelling bases", do you mean the *rafts* created underneath each model as it is printed?
Answer: What I tried and worked is to apply water based normal Glue-stick on the tray and with few drops of water distribute it evenly across the tray surface, let it dry and then you are good to go!
Comment: @JPD, although I do not know the exact brand that Mohammad use, I know that [UHU Glue Sticks](http://www.uhu.com/en/products/paper-glues.html) are fairly commonly used. Different glue stick give somewhat different results, so you might want to try a few different types.
Comment: The brands I tried are Scholastic glue stick and Staples glue stick both gave the same results. Worth mentioning that it is easier to remove the part when the tray is cool.I plan to experiment with the Aquanet hairspray next week.
Comment: Thank you for your suggestion. What sort of glue do you mean? Glue that you would use to stick paper together with?
Answer: People have done quite a bit of experimenting with reusing Mojo build plates over the years. The uPrint is likely similar. Basically a different adhesion layer is placed on the bed that has easier release. BuildTak has been used successfully. Gluestick or hairspray such as Aquanet will work and are water soluble for easier removal post-print.
Comment: Right, you put the adhesion layer on the modeling base before printing. That allows the raft to come off easier.  If the added layer is thin enough, it won't interfere with the normal raft building process. But I'm not specifically familiar with your printer, so it may take some experimenting. Obviously this isn't supported by Stratasys, because they want to make money on consumables.
Comment: Thanks for your answer. BuildTak looks interesting. Excuse my ignorance, but would you put a layer of this on top of the modelling base before printing? Then remove the print from it, clean it and re-use?

Also do there have to be some manual adjustments to nozzle height etc. due to the added layer?

Lastly, how do machines that require calibration points (such as the uPrint SE Plus) deal with having a non-native surface to calibrate to?
Comment: Ryan, can you let us know the source for 'people have done...' to dig a bit deeper in their experience, - temerature changes and adhesion results for example? Thanks in advance
Comment: Search for Mojo posts by vrfx and EnginWiz on the 3D Printer Tips Tricks and Reviews Google Group. They've both posted about it a few times. Can't find links from my phone though.
Answer: By oversight in training, the operators of one of our UPrint SE Plus printers was simply placing the tray in the bath with the printed part.  After it was in the bath, all support material was removed and they dried and reused the tray.  This process was used for months before it was discovered, and they used the same tray for many prints.  Has anyone else tried this?
Answer: I've done the bit where you place the tray and part into the bath. Upon completion of dissolving, I then used a little dawn dish-soap to clean the tray, let it dry. I have access and used DI water for the hand washing (without any scrub or pad, just my hands). The trays worked fine.
Someone else took over for a bit. I think they were trying to clean with Vinegar, and the trays have all turned white (not sure if that is from this?). So, they aren't being reused.
I've started being a bit strategic with some print jobs. I'll print in one corner, then use cutters to remove the support without damaging the tray. Then I'll print on that tray in a different corner.


Colonial Cells Demonstrating Cell Specialization

Question: Are there any living examples of cellular colonies demonstrating very primitive cellular specialization?  If so, what do we know about how they assimilate?  How independent are the individual cells and what do we know about their behavior (for example, do they, perhaps, migrate to different colonies in certain proximities)?
Answer: Probably not what you are looking for but the protozoan slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum lives as free amoebae which can coalesce into a multicellular migratory slug that eventually forms a fruiting body in which some cells form the stalk while others form spores.
Slug formation is by chemotactic signalling with cyclic AMP as the signal. I seem to remember that there is a predatory species of slime mold which uses cAMP to attract D. discoideum as prey, but I can't bring the name to mind and have failed to find it online.


Is it possible to extend an Italian tourist visa?

Question: I would like to know if once in the Schengen area it is possible to extend a tourist visa for more time?
Comment: Generally not unless there is some emergency outside your control such as an unanticipated medical condition that makes it impossible for you to travel.
Answer: Generally no. Exceptions are allowed only in emergency.
For example, The Netherlands state

Can I extend a Schengen visa in the Netherlands?
You can only extend a short-stay Schengen visa in emergencies, for example if you become ill. Strict conditions apply.
Conditions for extending a short-stay Schengen visa
To be allowed to extend your visa, you must meet the following conditions:

Your stay in the Schengen Area must not exceed 90 days in total. If you stay longer than 90 days, your visa will be limited to the Netherlands.
You must explain why you need to extend your stay. If you are unable to return to your own country before your visa expires, you will need to show documents to demonstrate why.
You must have enough money for your stay in the Netherlands (at least €34 a day). Or you can ask someone to act as a guarantor.
You must have valid travel and/or health insurance.
Your passport must be valid for at least another 6 months and must not be more than 10 years old.
There must be no indications that you have other reasons for extending your visa, for example illegal residence in the Netherlands.
You must pay a fee to extend a Schengen visa.

An Italian Website also says that there must be "reasons of force majeure, humanitarian reasons or serious personal reasons" not just because there are some places or people you'd like more time to see.
I expect the rules are the same (or very similar) across the EU.
Answer: It's hard to say without knowing which passport you hold. And I'm certainly no expert on European visa's. But just a quick check on wikitravel I found http://wikitravel.org/en/Travel_in_the_Schengen_Zone. I hope that helps.


One hot encoding vs Word embedding

Question: I am very confused between one hot encoding and word embedding in terms of structure of the network and how it reduces the dimensionality.
I am currently using encog with c# which has some documentation but not many differing examples.
If I take an example of text classification by neural networks and have:
1000 different texts
10,000 unique words
What I was previously doing was taking each text and then working out the unique words and putting them in a list. I would then work out the number of times each unique word appeared in a text and I would end up with a matrix of:
1000 x 10,000 i.e. for each text a count of the number of times each unique word appears (text as rows and unique words (features) as columns).
I would then normalise this and use equilateral encoding (similar to one hot).
My network would then consist of 10,000 input neurons (one for each word (feature)) and then a hidden layer and then an output layer trying to predict a classification of an output column with 5 different values.
This appears to be totally wrong but it did train and pretty accurately. I'm trying to work out with one hot encoding what exactly that would mean in terms of matrix sizes, what those matrices consist of and the layout of the network.
This is also related to using word embedding as when I use this I get the following size: 1000 (number of texts), 872 (text size), 300 (vector size). I therefore have 3 dimensions so that made me think in one hot encoding I should probably have: 1000, 872, 10000 (unique words).
If someone could explain where I am going wrong here and the difference between how I would approach one hot encoded text classification vs an embedded layer using:
1000 texts, 10000 unique words, 872 text length and 300 vector size
Answer: Work with a Embedding Matrix. The Embedding Matrix Dimension = all of your unique Tokens x Vector Dimension.
Your Embedding Layer should have the Dimension WordVektor x length of your Text.
Watch this: watch this video Part 16 and Part 17. Easy explanation and short videos.

One hot encoding vs Word embedding


Why did Gen. Lee (Civil War) surrender to the U.S?

Question: I am sure, from different sources, that his men were willing to fight to the death, even if they were surrounded. Also, if they were willing to fight in the first place, because the issue was so important, why did he give up there? Why not keep fighting?

This still baffles me -
Does anyone know why?
Comment: One surrenders not because one is unwilling to fight, but because it is no longer possible to win.   The Northern advantage in logistics, materials, and resources were unsurmountable.  Or to quote a famous general, the point of war isn't to die for your country, it is to get some other b.....d to die for his country. War is about achieving victory, not spending lives.
Comment: Actually, about half of the men he had with him when he was driven out of the Richmond/Petersburg lines a few days before had already either surrendered to the US or left the army.  The desire of the common soldier to go down in a final holocaust is very overrated.  To Lee's credit, he had no desire to ask them to try at this point in any case.
Comment: What was the point of fighting to death? Generals usually surrender if they see that the battle is lost.
Answer: The simple answer is that General Lee didn't want to see his men destroyed.  There was correspondence between Generals Lee and Grant in the days before the actual surrender, as both recognized the disparity of position between Lee's Army and the larger, better supplied Union Army that kept pushing him west, away from Richmond and away from supply.
Prelude to Surrender

On April 3, Richmond fell to Union troops as Robert E. Lee led his
  Army of Northern Virginia in retreat to the West pursued by Grant and
  the Army of the Potomac. A running battle ensued as each Army moved
  farther to the West in an effort to out flank, or prevent being out
  flanked by the enemy. Finally, on April 7, General Grant initiated a
  series of dispatches leading to a meeting between the two commanders.
"General R.E. Lee, Commanding C.S.A.:    5 P.M., April 7th, 1865.  The
  results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of
  further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in
  this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift
  from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by
  asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate States
  army known as the Army of Northern Virginia.  U.S. Grant,
  Lieutenant-General"
The note was carried through the Confederate lines and Lee promptly
  responded:
"April 7th, 1865.  General: I have received your note of this date.
  Though not entertaining the opinion you express of the hopelessness of
  further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I
  reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and
  therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will
  offer on condition of its surrender.  R.E. Lee, General."

The correspondence continued up until that day the two generals met at Appomattox.
Lee had been facing the problem of fighting only a defensive strategy since the defeat at Gettysburg.  Even though the previous year had cost the Union dearly at Petersburg/Cold Harbor/The Crater, and elsewhere, Lee was aware that Sherman had made it to the sea and was heading North.  The fall of Richmond was the last straw.
There was no longer hope for victory.  Without that hope, he was not going to ask his men to die in vain. He got the best terms that he could manage so that most of them could go home and try to rebuild after the war.
You ask: why not keep fighting?

With hope gone, what they were fighting for was not achievable.
With their bases of supply destroyed or captured, they were
approaching the problem of having nothing to fight with.
Answer: To augment KorvinStarmast's excellent answer, it's worth looking at a map to understand just how over the war was.

Source Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Since the beginning of the war, the South had been blockaded by sea cutting off cotton exports and arms imports. This left them with increasing financial problems, and fewer and fewer quality arms to fight with.
In 1863, with the Union victory at Vicksburg, the Confederacy was split in two cutting off the manpower and supplies from Texas and the Western Confederacy.
In 1864 the Confederacy was split again in Sherman's March To The Sea leaving the Carolinas and Virginia left to fight alone. In December, The Army Of The Tennessee was rendered ineffective as a fighting force in the Battle of Nashville.
1865 found Lee with the last effective Confederate army in the Eastern Confederacy. He was being chased by the Army of the Potomac and knew Sherman would be coming up from the south. In April he'd failed to raise the siege of Richmond (the Confederate capital) at the Battle of Five Forks and realized the capital was lost.
The mission of the Army Of Northern Virginia was to attack Washington D.C. (and thus win the war) and defend Richmond. It could no longer do the former, and it had failed at the latter.
Tactically, Lee knew he was totally outnumbered and outgunned with an almost certainty of being surrounded. His capital was lost, he had no hope of resupply. His enemy was lavishly supplied. There was no hope of winning the war.
Personally, to continue would only further harm his men and his beloved Virginia. Sherman's army was tearing through the Eastern Confederacy and he did not want to see Virginia suffer the same fate as Georgia. If he fought on, his men would die by starvation or by a bullet. If he surrendered, his men would be allowed to lay down their arms on good terms.

The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.

They were even allowed to keep their horses and mules for farming, and were given rations for the trip home.
Lee's surrender was just the first. For over a month, holdout armies and governments of the Confederacy would fight and surrender.
Answer: Robert E. Lee
to
Jefferson Davis
Richmond, Virginia
April 20, 1865
Mr. President...
...At the commencement of the withdrawal of the army from the lines on the night of the 2d, it began to disintegrate, and straggling from the ranks increased up to the surrender on the 9th.   On that day, as previously reported, there were only seven thousand eight hundred and ninety-two (7892) effective infantry.   During the night, when the surrender became known, more than ten thousand men came in, as reported to me by the Chief Commissary of the Army.   During the succeeding days stragglers continued to give themselves up, so that on the 12th April, according to the rolls of those paroled, twenty-six thousand and eighteen (26,018) officers and men had surrendered.   Men who had left the ranks on the march, and crossed James River, returned and gave themselves up, and many have since come to Richmond and surrendered.   I have given these details that Your Excellency might know the state of feeling which existed in the army, and judge of that in the country.   From what I have seen and learned, I believe an army cannot be organized or supported in Virginia, and as far as I know the condition of affairs, the country east of the Mississippi is morally and physically unable to maintain the contest unaided with any hope of ultimate success.   A partisan war may be continued, and hostilities protracted, causing individual suffering and the devastation of the country, but I see no prospect by that means of achieving a separate independence.   It is for Your Excellency to decide, should you agree with me in opinion, what is proper to be done.   To save useless effusion of blood, I would recommend measures be taken for suspension of hostilities and the restoration of peace.
I am with great respect, yr obdt svt
R. E. Lee Genl

As you can see, most men were not willing to fight.
The war was hopelessly lost, and continue to fight would be "useless effusion of blood" (unlike Alamo. other Confederate armies could get no reinforcement from devastated country).
Actually, only fanatic Jefferson Davis prevented restoration of peace two month earlier, after Hampton road conference, which could save South humiliating military capitulation and loss of thousands lives.
UPDATE
I wanted to correct TechZen answer, but my score is not high enough to comment; so I am doing it in my answer.
Artillery officer who was trying to convince Lee to take to guerrilla warfare was not General Preston; his name was brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander. This is how Lee responded to him:
" If I took your advice, the men would be without rations and under no control of officers. They would be compelled to rob and steal in order to live. They would become mere bands of marauders, and the enemy's cavalry would pursue them and overrun many sections they may never have occasion to visit. We would bring on a state of affairs it would take the country years to recover from. And, as for myself, you young fellows might go bushwhacking, but the only dignified course for me would be to go to General Grant and surrender myself and take the consequences of my acts."
Robert Lee was the great general. But his greatest service for his country was not what he did on the battlefields as army commander, but what he did not allowed to do. It was this surrender, which prevented guerrilla warfare. This was his service for both South and North.
Jefferson Davis did not take his advice, and insisted on war continuation. But fortunately, confederate generals did not obey his orders, they followed Lee.
Comment: I think this is spot on.  President Jefferson Davis did in fact flee to Florida to "carry on the struggle." One could ask "what happened to Jefferson Davis?" and maybe that would answer the question.
Answer: Generals will order their soldiers to "fight to the death" only when there is a military or political advantage to be gained. This was not the case here.
At the Alamo, some 174 Texans defended a fort to the death and inflicted several hundred casualties (a multiple of their own number) on the Mexicans. This weakened Santa Anna to the point where he could not pursue the main Texas force under Sam Houston until he received reinforcements. Houston also received reinforcements and won the battle of San Jacinto. A similar story could be told for say, the "fight to the death" defense of Stalingrad, to buy time for the encircling forces.
In the case of the Confederates, they had just been ousted from their fortified positions around Richmond, which was the Confederate capital. Half starved soldiers were fleeing west on foot, many without shoes. There were only about 30,000 left from an original strength of over 60,000. (And the decline in Confederate strength was more than 50% because many of these men were replacements for fallen veterans, supported by limited ammunition and almost no artillery.)
Their objective was Lynchburg, which supposedly offered them food and transportation to the mountains where there was at least a hope of a guerrilla resistance. Neither was present there, and the Confederates were caught in open country, outnumbered four to one, (not the earlier two to tone, in fortified positions), with hordes of Union cavalry ready to cut down any stragglers or "escapees" from the main fight. Under the circumstances, a "fight to the death" would have been suicide, without the chance of winning or even inflicting meaningful casualties.
In 1864, with his line broken at Spotsylvania, the same
General Lee asked his men to "fight to the death" to close the breach at a place called the "Bloody Angle" by offering to personally lead the counterattack, to allow  his engineers to build a new defense line. Their success prolonged the war almost a year. No such advantage offered itself around Lynchburg.
Comment: I'm a Texan and the Alamo is sacred but in the real battle was clusterf*ck between two incompetents. Travis' orders where to remove war materials and render the Alamo militarily useless. He decided to make as stand and fight, possible hoping to make himself a hero with an eye on a future political career. Santa Anna could have left just a 1,000 men, a fifth of his force, simply containing Travis and moved on. Fortunately, Santa Anna was every bit as vainglorious and fell into the trap, which cost him more time than men.
Comment: @TomAu There's no primary source for that story. It's further suspect that it came out decades after the battle. The assumption is it's an embellishment after it had been made legend. What is known is Travis did give his people a chance to escape.
Comment: The legend and moral of the Alamo rest on valor of men who could have run when they had the chance but took the risk, both personal and strategic to stay in fight when they knew it almost certainly meant their deaths.
Comment: @TechZen: I've been told that the term "draw a line in the sand" comes from the Alamo. Travis did this, and said that anyone who wanted to, could stay on the opposite side, leave and live. Anyone who crossed the line with him was volunteering for a certain death. Every man did so.
Answer: All these answer are right to some extent but there was one critical moment when IIRC General Preston, his artillery officer tried to convince him to take to guerrilla warfare.
But Lee was already thinking far ahead. He, like Grant and Lincoln knew that the Union had to be healed back into a functioning whole. The best interest of the South and North now rested with the rapid reintegration of South back into the Union.
Arguably, it was in the four years he lived after the war in which he became the hero that the Myth of the Lost Cause had tried to foist on him. He used his enormous moral authority and charisma to stamp out any violence and speed reintegration.
If he'd lived another 10 or 15 years, the history of American might have been much  better. Instead, in 1877, we got Civil War 1.5, the Democrats Strike back in which they murdered or drove out all the Republicans from the South while at the same launching a similar war of terror in the North to establish the all-white Unions and lock in the big city Democrat machines. The mostly Irish thugs in the North that murdered "scabs" and fought the Pinkerton's who defended them, became the basis of America organized crime, which formed a complex with the unions and the party machines.
It's possible Lee could have prevented some of that had he lived longer. He did try to ensure that Freedmen were allowed their 2nd Amendment rights as well as opposing the early Jim Crow laws that sought to prevent skilled Freedman like blacksmiths from competing on an equal basis with whites.
Comment: This answer would be better with some sources.
Comment: Trying to tie the unions into the confederacy is a bit much...


Spelling style in academic papers

Question: When an article is submitted to a conference or journal, is it better to use British or American spelling? Does it have to be according to the conference or journal's style (based on where it is being held or who hold it) or is it up to the writer to choose and stick to one style?
Answer: I'd think that the writer wouldn't be expected to change his or her writing style based on the style of a particular publication.  I've seen both styles in the same journal before, so I'd suggest writing at your comfort level.
Comment: Seconded, as a native speaker of American English I don't even know how to write in British English.  I know a few differences here and there but I would surely miss some, and it's better to be consistent throughout your paper by writing entirely in one dialect.
Answer: When I write papers, I usually try to write in American English. I say try because not being a native speaker (I'm Belgian), i have a natural tendency to mix up stuff. So when I'm not sure, I take a dictionary and look up the possible spellings and will settle for a consistent choice, which is most of the time American English.
The most important is to be consistent.
Answer: The only time you'd have to choose is if you're submitting to a journal or publication that has a list of writing standards to which applications must adhere, and one of their standards is preferred spelling.

Spelling style in academic papers


What are some alternative ways of fishing - i.e. catching fish?

Question: If I'm out in the wilderness and want to catch fish to survive, what are some ways I can do this without a conventional fishing pole/line?
Comment: When I lived in Bolivia, some acquaintances took me fishing with dynamite. We parked under a billboard sized sign notifying readers that fishing with dynamite was illegal. They cut the stick into thirds, and used a strip of bicycle tube to tie an old spark plug to each piece. Then they cut about 10 seconds (1/2" or so?) of fuses, inserted  them into blasting caps and crimped them on. Once these were inserted into the dynamite, they lit the first one with a cigarette. It sank to the bottom of the river and detonated. 15 seconds later there were hundreds of tiny fish floating tot he surface. Sad
Answer: I like the native american fish trap (fishing weir). It's relatively easy to build if you have the right access to a stream.

The basic idea behind this trap is to create a funnel that the fish follow into a trap that they cannot easily get out of. To build it, you simple stake off an area with small branches pushed down into the mud. The water must be able to get through, but make sure the sticks are close enough to prevent the fish from coming through.
Notice in the picture that the bottom set of sticks creates a funnel that fish easily follow into the trap. Once in there, it's very difficult for fish to find the one point where they can escape the trap.
Comment: The weir is a great way to go.  I've actually used this successfully.  It's easy to do and can be done even without blocking the whole stream (as in the picture).
Answer: You can actually reach in to the water and grab the fish. No running or chasing. You just quietly get in position, and then when it's time, you quickly grab the fish.
Thomas Elpel describes the process in his wonderful book, Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills.
The nice thing is that it requires no equipment.
He says the technique is illegal in many places, because it is so effective that if widely used it would harm the fish population. In a survival situation, I would accept the legal consequences.
Comment: wait wait wait. this sounds _impossible_ :D
Comment: I've tried it and it's really really hard. Only thing I managed to catch was those tiny 1 inch long fish, and I was using a cut-in-half javel container, not my hands. Just scoop a whole lot of water + a fish. When I finally caught the bugger, it jumped out, so I had to catch another one, which I immediately "drank" like a pill before it could get away too. This was not a survival situation, just the desire to succeed!
Comment: Tom Elpel says it's really easy when you get good at it - easier than a hook & line.
Comment: My great uncle Henry did something similar - hogging - with some success. Personally, I've not got the courage  to reach blindly into holes on creek banks. They've made it legal again in my area, but there are restrictions on the number you can take.
Answer: Spearing is both viable and varies in legality within the U.S. Spearing during salmon runs has been done for centuries in the pacific northwest. "Darkhouse" spear fishing is popular on frozen lakes in the upper midwest and during the summer natives still spear for pike and walleye on many upper midwest lakes.
Indian Fishing and Hunting Rights
Answer: One time in the Bihor mountains I watched a group of locals catch quite a remarkable number of fish by hand.  They would walk upstream fairly fast running creek, two of them actually in the water, and several of them on the sides.  The ones in the water would every once a while throw themselves down, scoop a fish with their hands and throw it to the bank, where the rest of the guys would  immediately fall upon it and kill it with a hatchet.
Answer: You can use a net to catch fish like you would do in an aquarium. Fastening a net at a strategic place in a rapid can, in theory, act as a fish trap, but I've never tried it.
Answer: Trotlining is popular in the southern U.S. for catfish.  It's reminiscent of more commercial techniques and is a passive means of catching fish, where one sets out temporary rigs of rope along a several hundred foot area and then baits hooks every few meters, so that there are ~25-50 hooks in the water.  Then it's left for some number of hours and checked to see if it's caught any fish.  After fishing, the trot line is hauled up to avoid boats, swimmers or divers from getting caught in it inadvertently.


Why does zinc react with sodium hydroxide?

Question: If zinc is less reactive than sodium, then why does it still react with sodium hydroxide?
Answer: Indeed, $\ce{Zn}$ is lower than $\ce{Na}$ in activity series of metals, so the following reaction won't take place
$$\require{cancel}\ce{Zn + 2NaOH \cancel{→} Zn(OH)2 + 2Na}$$
Remember, however, that $\ce{Zn}$ is amphoteric, so it can reacts with a strong base such as $\ce{NaOH}$ as an acid forming sodium zincate
$$\ce{Zn + 2 H2O + 2 NaOH -> Na2Zn(OH)4 + H2}$$
P.S. I forget a lot of good ol' chemistry, and I have just realized that usually we do not call metals themselves amphoteric, but rather use this term for their oxides/hydroxides. For metals we just say that some of them (such as $\ce{Zn}$) dissolve both in acids and in bases. The point is that $\ce{Zn}$ does not react as an acid in the reaction above since the reaction is not an acid-base one, but rather oxidation-reduction. So, the answer then is that $\ce{Zn}$ reacts with aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide because it can be oxidized in these condition in accordance with the reaction mentioned.
Comment: @Nick, chemistry (especially at school level) very rarely answers "why" questions. It is almost all about remembering answers to "what" questions, i.e. what happens when A and B are mixed together. What do you want me to do beyond that? Do you want me to calculate Gibbs energy for this reaction and show that it is negative so the reaction is favoured and then (somehow) estimate the reaction rate to show that it will indeed proceed in a reasonable amount of time?
Comment: does this explain why? so zinc can react because it's amphoteric?
Comment: @Wildcat. The closest to real answers to why-questions you get is from computational chemistry using first-principles methods. Unfortunately we are not yet able to fully simulate chemistry in the bottle with this, and its doubtful that we ever will be.
Answer: In effect zinc is not displacing sodium. It's displacing hydrogen. We expect a metal to do this from a hydroxide base if

the metal is more reactive than hydrogen and
the metal's own hydroxide can act as acid  towards this base (amphoteric hydroxide).

Zinc passes both tests and so, party time!
Answer: Zn is a amphoteric element. Therefore Zn can react with both acids and alkalis eliminating hydrogen. Learn more about amphoteric elements and compounds
https://www.chemistryscl.com/chemistry_theories/amphoteric_compounds/main.php