What does "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" mean?

Question: In episode 4 of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April), Kaori says a prayer "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" before the performance. What does it mean?
Comment: Not sure if this is directly relevant, but the main character in *[Akuma-kun](http://myanimelist.net/anime/8194/Akuma-kun)*, uses [this phrase](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQyfGIkFq48#t=5m47s), too.
Comment: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etz_Chaim  Not French, but bad Hebrew.
Comment: I notice everything that turns up when I search "Elohim Essaim" on google is related to Shigatsu wa Kimi no Usu, but Ran also says this while "cooking" taiyaki in [episode 109 of Urusei Yatsura](https://uruseiyatsura.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_109) (ランちゃん・初キッス涙涙の恋の味)
Answer: Both of the words "Elohim" and "Essaim" could be meaning a variety of things.   But my speculation goes as follows:
From this Reddit thread:

A similar phrase occurs in the Book of Black Magic and in the
Italian Il Grand Grimoire.   A couple translations and
transcriptions later, we end up with this.
"Eloim" is "God" or
"Powers", "Essaim" might be "Locusts" or "Swarm".
I'm thinking that
she's offering her soul to the devil/the angels/god in exchange for
being able to captivate her audience.
This isn't Faust; it's not a serious treatment of pacts. The Japanese adore Christian mythology, similar to how the West adores Eastern mythology. In effect, she's doing the same thing as someone in a Western work invoking his "chi" or whatever. (It's shōnen; teenage boys love foreign mysticism.)
Comment: Oh, that's the same site I linked to, but for linguists to say that they believe that the base of the oldest word is "power" doesn't equate to the derived word "Elohim" being a synonym for "powers" or "power." Is there another place on that page which gives "powers" as a current definition rather than as the background root?
Comment: Okay, can you point me to a dictionary entry that explains this as being a synonym?
Comment: @seijitsu I did, it's called the "Book of Black Magic" and the "Il Grand Grimoire".
Comment: @seijitsu BTW I'm from israel, so I think it's fair to say that I'm positive to recognize this as a synonym.
Comment: @seijitsu This is one example: http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/monotheism/context-elohim.html "The oldest Semitic word meaning "God" is El. Linguists believe its base meaning is strength or power."
Comment: I have studied Hebrew for 2 years and "Elohim" does not mean "powers" according to any definition I've seen. Please give a reference if you have one.
Comment: There's another example in the Hanafuda video game "Youkai Hana Asobi" (PlayStation, 2001, by Unblance) which has a unique game mode called "Eloim Essaim"
Answer: It's a chant common in anime and manga (For example, it occurs in Gugure! Kokkuri-san ep12 this season), if recited 3 times can give good luck or summon demons.
Its origin comes from The Grand Grimoire, it's "The secret of the Black hen, a secret without which one can not count on the success of any cabala". Elohim as mentioned is Hebrew for God, Essaim could be french for swarm, or a way of writing Jesse; Jesse -> Esse + im (hebrew plural).
You can read more here: http://moto-neta.com/anime/eloim-essaim/ (Japanese)
Comment: Is it really that common? Can you site a few examples before "Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso" aired?
Comment: @ton.yeung Well, here's one after that:  I found this question because it's shown up in the closing music to [Gabriel DropOut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_DropOut).  The angel lyrics and demon lyrics play off each other and at one point when the singers merge they say "Hallelujah Essaim"
Comment: The full line appears at around 16:20 in episode 8 of _Hinako Note_. Contextually, a reference to _KimiUso_ is implausible here, so it is likely that there is indeed some alternative source from which all of these shows draw. Would be nice if somebody did some digging into the putative sources linked from moto-neta ("The Black Pullet" and "The Red Dragon", and the line "frugativi et appelavi") to see if this is for real or just citogenesis.
Comment: @ton.yeung *Hayate no Gotoku!* (which aired >7 years before *Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso*) used the phrase at around 24:16 in episode 8, in the next episode preview, as the title of episode 9 is "Eloim Essaim. Mr. Cow, Mr. Cow! What is It, Mr. Frog?".
Answer: Elohim(אֱלֹהִים) is a Hebrew word that means either 1) "gods" in the plural, or 2) "God." "El" (אֵלִי) and "Eloi" (אֶלֹהִי) are "God," and the "-him" suffix (הִים) makes it plural.  So it would literally mean "gods" in the plural; however, it is also used in the specific case of referring to the monotheistic Judeo-Christian God. It is found 2602 times in the Hebrew Bible.
It does not mean "powers" as Hashirama Senju wrote.
"Essaim" is French for "swarm."  This word does not occur in Hebrew.
Comment: I'm a native Hebrew speaker, I've heard the word Elohim many times, never as "gods", always as "God".
Comment: gods in plural would be Elim (אלים), not Elohim. As for "Power", the word Elohim itself probably doesn't directly mean Power, but it can be implied that the meaning in this context relates to "Power".
Comment: "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים) as a plural for Gods is generally accepted by Hebrew scholars.  Please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elohim#Notes Could you give a citation that rejects it as a plural for gods?
Comment: For what it counts, I've seen sejitsu's comment here mentioned on the [Christianity SE](http://christianity.stackexchange.com/a/17477) in reference to Genesis, but I don't know Hebrew and so won't comment further. Perhaps this might be a modern/Biblical usage difference?
Comment: @Maroon, thanks for the link! I definitely agree that Elohim is used for a singular "God," as I noted in my answer, but I haven't come across a refutation of it also bearing the meaning of "gods."
Answer: As mentioned in other answers, Elohim is Hebrew for gods and Essaim is for swarm. I believe it could be interpreted to mean that she believes the swarm of music notes should be as powerful as gods and that she is asking that they listen to her plea.


What is lean UX, and where can I learn more about it?

Question: There is a new trend called Lean UX, apparently stemming from the Lean Start-up approach. What are its main principles?
What are good or recommended reference, sources or education for learning about it?
Comment: Google led me here
Comment: This is not as trivial as it seems. I was hoping for informed insights and recommended materials, which Google not always supplies.
Comment: A simple synopsis is that Lean UX is "Doing UX in the context of Agile development." As to where to find it, I hate to be *that guy* but, google it. Really, there's plenty of great resources out there just by searching for them.
Comment: I'm glad this question might benefit Google users :)
Comment: It isn't that new concept. There is a great book about it, it's called Lean UX by Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden...easy read. I'd highly recommend getting it.
Answer: Personally speaking, lean UX is not a type of UX strategy, it is more like the business strategy which accommodates the fundamental UX principles.
In UX Design you Design -> Prototype -> Validate as is, but when you do this in sync with other development units in the organization, it becomes lean UX.
Anyways, here are some of the links/books/what-have-you.
Lean UX model:

Lean UX: Getting Out Of The Deliverables Business - Jeff Gothelf @ Smashing UX

Stay lean and focus on the experience, not the paperwork.
Book: Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience
Jeff Gothelf (Author), Josh Seiden (Editor)
The 10 Principles of Successful Lean Product Teams - luxr.co article

The Principles:

Design + Product Management + Development = 1 team
Externalize!
Goal-driven & outcome-focused
Repeatable & routinized
FLOW: think -> make -> check
Focus on solving the right problem
Generate many options
Decide quickly what to pursue & hold decisions lightly
Recognize hypotheses & validate them
Research with users is the best source of information & inspiration
Comment: I agree with this and would add that Lean is essentially the same as Agile.  As far as I can tell "Lean" is largely just a buzzword to promote buy-in for the idea that UX can work in an Agile development environment, treating each version of the project as a prototype for the next version.
Answer: I think there needs to be more clarification on this concept in general. Even reading some of  the comments so far I'm getting confused when UX within Agile is equated with Lean UX. There's a gap there that isn't really addressed in most content on the subject. And I imagine that's just because it's a challenge in general for which I'm not sure there's a single magic answer.
Lean UX, as explained by Jeff Gothelf, is one solution to the Agile UX problem. It is NOT necessarily the final answer to "Agile UX" and it definitely is not "Agile UX" itself. It was developed based on the lean start up concept as mentioned earlier, it was not based on Agile.
I think this is an important distinction, because so many articles on the subject make it seem as though Lean UX is a very clear answer to the UX within Agile question. When I see things that seem to imply that somehow you'll know how to manage all of this because you're doing Lean UX, I get kind of confused. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem like it.
Even Gothelf doesn't seem to equate the two in any of his presentations or writings. He does a presentation on Lean UX within Agile and it's a whole separate beast. You take those Lean UX principles, sure, but there are new challenges to face and new questions to answer.
We have to separate the concept of Lean UX and the concept of Lean UX within Agile. Lean UX itself is a separate method that could be used regardless of the development process. Can it help in Agile? Of course. But that's an additional topic to me.
Lean UX within Agile is another situation entirely and one that I don't think is often even well covered. There is little, if anything, in the charts and articles generally provided on this subject that will give you any major clues on how to suddenly do UX within the constraints of Agile's tight development iterations.
The challenge of integrating Lean UX into Agile to come up with some sort of new, hybrid Agile UX methodology still remains. Equating the two seems to just lead to confusion, in my opinion. Many articles only touch upon that gap in platitudes, if at all. I think there are ways to address the gap that remains between Lean UX and Agile UX of this (largely making UX equal on the team like a developer or QA member -- maybe the points should include that work like it would any other work), but that's kind of an additional concept.
I'm not arguing against Lean UX, quite the contrary. I just think you need to be careful in assuming that you'll take Lean UX and clearly and easily slot it into Agile with developers and QA. It's not that simple. However, Lean UX forms a mindset and approach that's more similar (and therefore more suited) to Agile and I think it's the way to go in general.
I've worked on a team where we've done Lean UX in general to great success. But we were always ahead of development. We also tried an iteration where we designed and developed with a team on the same two week iteration – and it's a whole different scenario. Lean UX principles were used in both situations, but I would never refer to them as the "same".
Beyond all of that, I would argue heavily in favor of Lean UX in general for your UX team. It's not just a "buzz word", the tenets of it have actual practical purpose.
At my last job, we had a project where we were able to take the business needs, do contextual inquiry with our users, form the personas we needed and then write realistic tasks that got to what they actually would want to do in reality. Along the way we involved developers, business and marketing by letting them attend the tests and by immersing them in the information we had acquired. We then did paper prototyping around those tasks and tested those designs with actual users. And because it was paper, we were iterating between tests -- sometimes even during tests.
The task approach is a good one because we wound up with chunks of the site that could be moved on to development while we then in turn worked on the next set of tasks. I'm sure other places do it differently, but this went pretty well for us overall.
We eliminated the "toss it over the fence" mentality, we were constantly improving the product before it even got to development and (I think most importantly) everyone involved had a SHARED UNDERSTANDING of what the user needed and how we were addressing that need. Doing all of this in a linear fashion, as you may see on a waterfall project a lot of the time, would have diminished all of that.
Comment: Part of the challenge is "What is Agile?" It means many different things to many different organizations. It's usually some form of Agile, but there certainly isn't a one-size-fits-all Agile methodology out there either.
Comment: +1 for the informing comments and sharing of experiences. Your effort to distinguish Lean UX from Agile (UX) was apparent. Nevertheless, I still don't have good answers to the original questions: What are the main principles, and what are good ways to learn it?
Comment: I guess I believe that my latter half explains that? haha But I think taking that information and combining it with the charts others have posted should give you a very good idea. I'd look at Gothelf's website (http://www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/) as he has several articles on the subject.
Answer: I took the Luxr course a couple years back - their blog is a nice resource: http://blog.luxr.co/
Comment: Seems like CHECK portion has to do mostly with "live" metrics - that is the product has to be in production. What about qualitative metrics gleaned from generative research? Jeff does have a "Research" section as step 1 but that's about it. Curious if this was elaborated on elsewhere.
Comment: Another article from Luxr for principles of lean UX: http://luxr.co/10_principles_of_lean_user_experience


How does mass work in Box2D

Question: I'm making a 2D platformer, shooter type game in LibGDX, and I'm wondering about Box2D's mass system. I'ven't used mass for anything in the game so far, and everything has worked ok. We move the player, enemies, and bullets around by
body.applyLinierImpulse(new Vector2(impulseX, impulseY), body.getWorldCenter)
and even have a variable jump height system, and it all works fine. To change the speed or impact of objects, we just change the impulse. I've tried using aplyForce() but it won't move the body. Everything is usually just a simple polygon, but when I'm creating fixtures there's an option to set the density, and bodies have the option to set the massData, but I don't know what either of these properties does. The gravity of the world is around 11. Can anyone tell me how I should be handling mass with my objects in the game? Thanks.
Answer: As Bálint explained, mass in Box2D basically works according to Newton's laws of motion.
Sounds like what you're really after though is how mass works in Box2D in practical programmatic terms. As you're suspecting, that's related to fixtures' densities and bodies' mass data.
Insights on density and mass can be found throughout the Box2D version 2.3.0 User Manual.
For example, in Section 2.2 of the manual, where it's talking about the second parameter to the create-fixture method:

The second parameter is the shape density in kilograms per meter squared. A static body has zero mass by definition, so the density is not used in this case.

Meanwhile, in Section 6.1, it states:

b2_staticBody
  A static body does not move under simulation and behaves as if it has infinite mass. Internally, Box2D stores zero for the mass and the inverse mass.

And a little later:

b2_dynamicBody
  A dynamic body is fully simulated. They can be moved manually by the user, but normally they move according to forces... A dynamic body always has finite, non-zero mass. If you try to set the mass of a dynamic body to zero, it will automatically acquire a mass of one kilogram and it won't rotate.

Essentially, to summarize, you'll need to use dynamic bodies with greater than zero masses to see mass related physical effects. And you'll probably prefer to use their fixtures' density settings to establish those masses where these densities are the areal mass densities for the shape associated with the fixture. Body masses are then calculated as the sum of the masses of all the shapes associated with the dynamic body where the mass of each shape is this areal mass density times the area of the shape.
Answer: Mass defines how easily something can be moved.
Imagine this: you have 2 boulder in front of you, they are the same size, but one of them is out of lead, the other is pure aluminium. Which one's easier to get to a certain velocity? The aluminium one of course.
The formula for force is F = m * a, where F is the force, m is the mass, a is acceleration. You can reorder the formula to get a = F / m. This means, that the heavier an object is, the smaller it's acceleration is if the force stays the same, and smaller acceleration means slower speed.
The mass also affects many many other aspects, like momentum (aka: how hard is it to move or stop something), but the main factor is acceleration.
Using force instead of pure acceleration or velocity makes the player actually "feel" how heavy an object is and it doesn't allow the player to push around everything with an ease.
It also makes the interaction between objects more realistic. Going back to the original boulder example, if I put a boulder as big as you in front of you and you start hitting it with pellets, then it won't move. However if you start throwing equally big boulders at it, it will fly away very easily (and I'll be scared of you).

How does mass work in Box2D


God as Cohen(paradigm) mentioned in my Jewish Study Bible (The Jewish Publication Society)

Question: Hello I'm a Christian that joined the board to learn more about the background of the Bible.    A decade ago, I bought a Jewish Study Bible and was intrigued by some of the ideas in the footnotes, and Introduction section.   One idea that intrigued me was the notion of "God as Cohen", in speaking of the Genesis creation.   (The article speaks in terms of microcosm and compares the Genesis account to other far "Near Eastern Creation stories".)   The article mentions God being like a priest because He a) gives blessings, b)consecrates the Sabbath, and c) parallels are seen between constructing the Earth and the construction of the Tabernacle.    Anyway I was wondering if anyone had more to add to this topic?   I find it intriguing but difficult because many times when I think of the roles God plays, other roles like King, Father etc. seem equally or even more true than God acting as a Cohen / Old Testament priest.
Comment: (c) is definitely developed in many places, but not in relation to the Kohanim.  The problem is the Kohanim didn't construct the Tabernacle (everyone who wanted to participate did, led by Betzalel and Aholiav, with the final assembly done by Moses).  Similarly (b) "consecrates the Sabbath", the Kohanim are not much more involved there than anyone else.  They brought special sacrifices on the Sabbath (in addition to the ones brought every day), but the primary sanctification is done by everyone in their own homes.  (a) kind of works, but standing on its own it's a little weak.
Comment: Welcome to Mi Yodeya and thank you for bringing your question here.  If you can remember anything more about where you read this, [edit]ing that in could help people provide answers.  Thanks!
Comment: Hi there, I found a link that shows the exact copy of the book I'm referring too.   https://www.abebooks.com/Jewish-Study-Bible-Featuring-Publication-Society/22536204759/bd?cm_mmc=msn-_-used-_-PLA-_-v01&cm_mmc=msn-_-Bing+US+Shopping-_-Ad+group+%231-_-{product_groups}
Comment: related https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/91559/759
Answer: The Talmud (Sanhedrin 39a) describes a conversation between a Min (heretic) and R. Abbahu:

A certain Min said to R`Abbahu: Your God is a priest [Kohen], since it is
  written, That they take for me Terumah [wave offering--this is the same word used for one of the priestly offerings].
Now, when He had buried Moses, wherein did He bathe [after contact
  with the corpse]?
Should you reply, In water: is it not written, Who hath measured the
  waters in the hollow of His hand? [R' Abbahu answered,] 'He bathed in fire, for it is written, Behold the Lord will come in fire.'
  [Asked the min,] 'Is then purification by fire effective? ' 'On the contrary,' he replied, 'bathing [for purposes of purification] should essentially be
  in fire, for it is written, And all that abideth not the fire ye shall
  make to go through the water.'
Answer: Given that the role of Cohen is defined by God in the Torah, it seems unlikely that that role would exert an influence on His behavior, rather than the other way around.
Along the lines you suggest, but in the opposite direction, many traditional commentaries describe many or even all of the Commandments as containing the intention of imitatio Dei. One commentator whose interpretations of intent and symbolism of the Commandments I particularly appreciate, R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, mentions this theme many times in his commentary on the Torah.
In particular (off the top of my head for now):

In the vicinity of Exodus 28 (if I recall correctly), he interprets the special roles of the Cohen and the Cohen Gadol (High Priest). I don't remember whether he talks about imitatio Dei particularly there, but he does explain the Cohen as embodying an ideal of the types of dedication and behavior Jews are meant to exhibit.
I'm pretty sure that he incorporates imitatio Dei in his explanation of the Cohen's role in "placing God's name upon the people" in the "Preistly Blessing" described in Numbers 6:22-27.

(I'll look these up later and provide more precise references and quotations.)
Comment: we know the concept as והלכת בדרכי
Comment: Thanks Isaac for the feedback regarding imitatio Dei.   It's very helpful.


How does one prove ownership of a Monero address?

Question: Just like how a user can prove they are the owner of a Bitcoin public key by signing a message, how can a Monero user prove they are the owner of a Monero public key?
Answer: Best is to sign a message consisting of your address, with your address.
The sign and verify commands have been merged just yesterday: https://github.com/monero-project/bitmonero/pull/818
First, make a file with the data you want. It just happens that, when creating a wallet, your address is saved in WALLETNAME.address.txt.
Then, sign:
sign WALLETNAME.address.txt
Then send the signature output by that command to the other party, who can now verify:
verify WALLETNAME.address.txt 4xxxxxx SigV1xxxxxx
Comment: If you just sign your address, how does that prove that you own it? How would the person know that you didn't get that message from the actual owner. Wouldn't it be better to sign some random message the questioner provides, or sign a message connecting it to your identity (like "This address is controlled by user36303 on monero.stackexchange.com" or "This address is controlled by John Doe")?
Comment: This method can sign an arbitrary byte string.
Comment: Can you say more about what you mean by this? To followup PyRulez comment, what is to stop me from taking any address (the XMR dev donation address, for example), placing it inside a txt file, and signing it with a gpg key?
Comment: Nothing. You're free to do this of course. You can sign anything with a GPG key, or with a Monero key (or with a scout's honor speech).
Comment: @user4 If you want to prove that you hold the private key to the XMR dev donation address, you sign a message *with the private key to the XMR dev donation address*. And as PyRulez points out, the message ought to be some random text supplied by the person who's asking for proof, in case you're an imposter who's recycling some one else's already-signed message.


What powers did the ruby red slippers have?

Question: They were clearly powerful but what exactly could the ruby red slippers do?
Answer: Per the original book the only power the Silver Shoes (not ruby slippers which Hollywood thought would appear better on film) had was to be able to transport the wearer anywhere they wish.
The Silver Shoes would also only pass to a new owner if he/she had physically defeated the previous owner or the previous owner willingly handed them over.
In the original book final chapter after bidding her companions a tearful farewell, Dorothy holds Toto in her arms, claps the heels of the Silver Shoes three times, and says, "Take me home to Aunt Em!" In three giant steps, they take her back to the Kansas farmstead. There she finds that Uncle Henry has built a new house to replace the one the tornado had carried away. But she also finds that the Silver Shoes have vanished forever."
In that respect, the Silver Shoes act something like Seven League Boots. But, they are never again recovered/used in the Baum Books.
Hope this is helpful.
Answer: The silver shoes were actually omnipotent. While it is true the only power they displayed were teleportation, Gaylette the Good Witch of the North alludes to the fact that they are much more in the very first sentence spoken about the ancient Ozian magic artifact.
"The Silver Shoes," said the Good Witch, "have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, "
That is power(s) plural and teleportation is only "one" of the most curious things.
And later in the first book Baum says of the Wicked Witch of the West and her recently spent magic: "but if she could only get hold of the Silver Shoes, they would give her more power than all the other things she had lost."
Hope this helps.
Comment: I agree that omnipotent is a odd choice here but I disagree that this adds nothing to the accepted answer.  This provides evidence that the shoes have more than just the power of teleportation even if this is the only power observed.
Comment: This answer does nothing to help, add to, or dispute the already accepted answer. And to call the shoes "[omnipotent](https://www.google.com/search?q=omnipotent&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs)" is a strange interpretation. The shoes are God-like?
Answer: the Silver Shoes (changed to Ruby for the 1939 film version of the Wizard of Oz) give the wearer the ability to travel anywhere they wish to go.  This is the only ability outlined by L. Frank Baum in his writings about Oz.
Answer: In the movie the Wicked witch says that with the ruby slippers her power would be the greatest in Oz. The witch can already teleport so she really wouldn't need the slippers for that purpose. So possibly the shoes grant the owner the power to do what they really desire. Dorothy wanted to go home and the witch most likely wanted to enslave all of Oz.
Glinda didn't tell Dorothy how to use them because later she said she had to find out herself. Dorothy had to first go and find what she wanted.
In the book the silver shoes must have had incredible power. The other powers they
could have offered could just be making that person more powerful than they already are. Also the wicked witch of the west almost ran away when she saw Dorothy with the shoes but realized she didn't know how to use them.
Answer: The Ruby Slippers, in the movie had another power that I can think of.  The witch said that she would not be able to remove the slippers from Dorothy as long as she was alive, her attempt to do so caused sparks to come from the shoes.  This also gave the shoes the power to encourage the murder of the wearer by someone who wanted them badly enough.  I wonder why the witch would want these slippers so badly, her broom seemed like very fast transportation.  Did she want to leave Oz and maybe wreak havoc on the other side of the rainbow?


How do you explain Separation of Concerns to others?

Question: If you had a colleague who didn't understand the benefits of Separation of Concerns, or didn't understand it quite enough to apply consistently in their daily work, how would you explain it to them?
Comment: Found some good examples on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_concerns
Answer: Imagine you have a program which has been released. A customer comes along and offers to pay you for a enhancement to one of its features. In order to get the money, you will need to change your program to add the new feature. Some of the things that will influence what your profit margin is are:

how much code you have to change
how easy it is to make the changes
how likely you are to break existing features that are being used by other customers
how much you can reuse you existing model/architecture

Separation of concerns helps you to get more positive answers to these questions.

if all of the code for a particular behaviour of the application is separated out, then you will only have to change code directly associated with your new feature. Which should be less code to change.
if the behaviours you are interested in are neatly separated from the rest of the application it is more likely you will be able to swap in a new implementation without having to fully understand or manipulate the rest of the program. It should also be easier to find out which code you need to change.
Code that you do not have to change is less likely to break than code that you do change. So splitting up the concerns helps you to avoid breakage in unrelated features by preventing you from having to change code that they could call. If your features are mixed up together you might change the behavior of one by accident while trying to change another one.
If your architecture is agnostic to technical or business logic detail then changes to implementation are less likely to require new architectural features. For example, if your main domain logic is database agnostic then supporting a new database should be as easy as swapping in a new implementation of the persistence layer.
Comment: I love that you made the answer firmly anchored in the financial reality.  Managers have no excuse to be sloppy and ignore this fundamental concept.
Answer: Look at a hospital, and think about all of the different roles that are involved in providing care to a patient: triage nurses, doctors, medical assistants, techs, clerical staff, cafeteria, etc.
Is there any one person that knows how all of those people get their jobs done?  No, because it would be overwhelming.  They have to separate out the different responsibilities into distinct roles and the touchpoints between those roles are very specific.
Answer: If he/she works in an office, take it as an example, explain the role of each staffs in that office, and ask him, what would happen, if those staffs aren't divided according to their jobs?
Answer: I would look at how he failed to apply SoC in his code/design and turn that into a real-world example that he can relate with and that is obviously undesired.
For example, if he has a class where the client needs to supply several pieces of information that are not relevant for those clients, then I would use the analogy of a bakery where you have to bring your own grains and yeast if you want to buy a bread.
Answer: One example might be a html developer might want to separate out html, css and javascript into separate files. This way you can change the look and feel of something say by simply modifying the css or the behaviour of something by changing the javascript file that is loaded separately. If you have a responsive or adaptive site this paradigm works well as you can load different css or javascript depending on a users viewport or user agent. However if you modify the html or template, chances are that either the css or javascript could break. These separate concerns can also be dependent.
Another approach is to bundle all your css javascript and html into a group of components or modules. This means that you can make changes to one module and it should not affect other components or modules on the page that it runs along side of that are not related. Here the css, js and html files are merged into a single component that can be unit tested. So the separation of concerns comes in the form of individual atomic components that can be unit tested rather than separation of markup, styling and behavioural elements. This second approach is more suited to creating more complex web applications.
edit. Since I have received negative response to this comment I thought I would revisit it and try to qualify some of my pov. Unfortunately any feedback here is not particularly constructive but I did see an interesting discussion elsewhere that looks at React, the current hot technology in web development, a real world example, and asks if it breaks separation of concerns or in particular if it breaks one of the principle's of Feather's SOLID object orient design methodology.
The technical JavaScript Developer Perspective
NO, because JSX is a view language. That's one responsibility.
BUT, this implies that the JS developer is self-enforcing SoC/SRP on his own      architecture by not mixing ViewModel concerns in his JSX. This type of vigilance "in the wild" is highly suspect because JSX involves the full JavaScript dialect.

The UX/UI Designer Perspective
YES, because JSX mixes Semantic Content (Model) with Behavior (Controller)
YES, because the intrusion, specifically of JavaScript, into the Semantic Model makes it difficult or impossible for me to play my role and leverage my expertese and skills.

The Team Perspective
NO, if both...
Separate files are used for the View (JSX) and ViewModel (JS).
Either there aren't UI/UX/Designers involved, or they are productive working    directly with JSX (not very common).
YES, if either...
Everything is in the same file, causing problems for version control or productive use of modern editors.
Members of the team who are comfortable with HTML/CSS but less capable with JavaScript are excluded because of mixture or roles.

https://hashnode.com/post/does-react-really-violate-separation-of-concern-by-putting-html-and-js-in-a-single-file-cil3bn5hj0011a65347rsdut0
Also on the page is a link to an interesting presentation from Pete Hunt, of Facebook, where he talks about components not templates, and separating out the concerns in the language application rather than separating out concerns of the framework, i.e. templates, css and javascript etc.
With regards separating out your concerns in the language of your application this could involve use various patterns to separate out or decouple your code into modular form that can be unit tested etc.
So to summarise, separating out concerns can depend on your role or point of view, as mentioned else where.
Comment: this doesn't seem to offer anything substantial over points made and explained in prior 7 answers
Comment: I am just pointing out that separating out concerns can take different approaches depending on the context. This is closer to a real world situation in terns of software engineering and I am highlighting that there are different approaches you can take when working on html pages that may at first seem contradictory.


Can I read Qur'an from a monitor when I don't have wudu?

Question: We don't touch or read Qur'an when we don't have wudu. On the other hand, we can recite it. Which ruling apply to reading Qur'an from a different medium than a printed book? Can we read Qur'an from internet when we don't have wudu, or should we do wudu before we read it through our computers?
Answer: Strictly speaking, the wudu requirement is for mus-hafs only. A mus-haf is a tangible copy of the Qur'an, something that is permanent. This requirement comes from the ayah in Surat Waqi'ah:79:

None touch it except the purified.

The scholars say that digital media doesn't count as mus-haf because it is a fleeting display that comes and goes, there is no perpetuity to the display of Qur'an on a screen.
Reference for assertion above: Answer by Shaykh Salih Munajjid and from other scholars.
Note this is only about permissibility, not about the etiquette or adab of reciting Qur'an. It is obviously desirable to recite Qur'an in a state of purity from both major and minor hadath (impurities).
Comment: Although, you could call the data that resides on a hard disk just as permanent as being written on paper, just in a different written notation, i.e., binary.
Comment: @Monkieboy maybe the difference is that you don't read the binary, you read a specific rendering of that binary. In any case, this is not my ijtihad.
Comment: @Ansari, one can successfully argue that you do not read the "binary data" (atoms) but rather special molecular formations of ink on a paper :) But yes, that's not your ijtihad.
Comment: Didn't a standard mushaf exist only from the time Caliph Umar(RA)? Did this ruling apply to partial parts of the tangible Quranic notes earlier?
Answer: I believe that the same rulings apply as when you read from a paper based Quran. We forget that either way the words of Allah are infront of the reader and deserve the same amount of respect.


How do I make Google Drive perform OCR on a PDF I upload?

Question: I have a PDF which is a scan of a few pages of a book. I want to be able to search inside this PDF for specific terms. I know OCR can be performed on files in Google Drive. However, I don't seem to be able to initiate this manually, and the PDF I upload doesn't seem to have selectable text (I can't even search for phrases in it from the search bar in Google Drive). Is there a way to "force OCR" it?
Comment: It only seems to have converted the actual text in the PDF; it didn't OCR anything
Answer: Now that you uploaded a scanned PDF (or an image file), do this:

Browse to the GDrive web interface.
Right-click on your uploaded image file.
Invoke the Open with > Google Docs menu command.

See the relevant Google Drive help page for details and tips. E.g. the text must be right side up and in a common, readable font; the file should be 2 MB or less, and the text should be at least 10 pixels high.
See this Tuts+ tutorial for more details and tips.
Another tip: Web search for GDrive OCR finds these articles.
Answer: PDFs which are scans and don't have embedded text info will be OCRed when uploaded. Drive will not add the text data to the file, but it will enable the file text to be searched in Drive.
Of course, opening the PDF as a Google Doc will show the OCR text which can then be edited and made "pretty".


Surjective graded homomorphism of rings also an isomorphism?

Question: Suppose we are given two graded (commutative) rings $A$ and $B$ and a graded homomorphism $\psi:A\rightarrow{B}$ between them. Suppose moreover that $\psi$ is surjective in each degree i.e. that $\psi(A_n)=B_n$ for all $n$. If $\psi$ is injective in degrees $0$ and $1$, must it also be injective everywhere else? (all relations in $A$ come from these two degrees). If not in general, does it make a difference if we assume $B$ is an integral domain? (or even more specifically if it is a polynomial ring with coefficients in an integral domain).
Answer: The answer is indeed no, for both cases : take $A=R[X,X^2Y]$, graded by degree in $X$ and $B=R[X]$, also graded by degree in $X$, and $\psi:A\to B$ sending $Y$ to $0$. This is a graded morphism between two integral domain (as long as $R$ is one), that is surjective in each degree, injective in degrees 0 and 1 (since every polynomial containing $Y$s must contain twince as much $X$s) but not an isomoprphism.
Comment: Ok thanks for the answer!
Answer: The answer is no.  Consider $A = \mathbb{R}[t]$, and $B = \mathbb{R}[t]/(t^k)$, both graded by degree.  The homorphism $\psi : A \to B$ is the natural projection, which is surjective in each degree.  For any choice of $k \geq 1$, we have $\psi$ injective up to degree $k-1$, but not injective for degree $k$ and higher.
About the follow-up question, if $B$ is an integral domain, let me think about that a little more.
Hope this helps!
Comment: This doesn't work : the natural projection homomorphism is not a graded morphism (e.g. $t^{k+1} \mapsto t$ lowers the degree by $k$.


Can I play Gwent with Lambert at the Nowhere Inn?

Question: I went to Skellige as part of Following the Thread and have not started Old Pals yet (my second playthrough) and was wondering if I'll be able to play Lambert at the Nowhere Inn so long as I don't progress his quest any further.
Answer: Confirmed Yes
At any point you physically encounter Lambert prior to him reaching the meeting point outside of someone's house at the end of the Following the Thread quest you can interact with him again and initiate the Gwent game.
Additionally after completing his quest I visited the Nowhere Inn later and saw him sitting there rolling dice and was able to interact with him.
Answer: You should be able to play him after completing The Final Trial per usgamer.

This is the part of the quest that will require some patience, as you
  can only play Lambert after you travel to Kaer Morhen to complete the
  Ugly Baby main quest. At first you will not have the option to
  challenge him to a game of Gwent, but after completing The Final Trial
  the conversation option should appear. If you're at Kaer Morhen and
  are having trouble finding him, make sure that you're tracking the Old
  Pals quest and he should appear as an objective marker on your map.
Answer: You should be able to play him anytime you can speak to him, provided it does not automatically trigger quest continuation. I was able to play him before he went to Kaer Morhen.
I managed to play him in Novigrad after we visited the other witcher in his house.


Can learning Spanish and French simultaneously improve your knowledge in both languages?

Question: I'm currently learning Spanish in school while learning French in school. I've noticed that the vocabulary and grammar of both languages is structurally similar. I've had teachers tell me that I should focus on one language at a time while others suggest that I should continue learning both languages at the same time. Will learning both simultaneously only cause confusion or help reinforce similar concepts? I'm a native English speaker if that's significant.
Comment: Possible duplicate of: http://languagelearning.stackexchange.com/q/1/13
Comment: Related: http://languagelearning.stackexchange.com/questions/8/learning-related-languages
Answer: Learning French and Spanish simultaneously can be both helpful and challenging.
There are a large number of words that are similar in both languages. An example is that the word for "cow" is "vache" in French, and "vaca" in Spanish. That's the helpful part. "Learn one version, and you basically learn both."
The challenge consists of distinguishing word pairs that are different. An example is "table," which is "table" in French and "mesa" in Spanish. It's helpful to note that in this example, the English and French words are similar (except for pronunciation), and it's the Spanish word that's different.
In my experience, "learning both simultaneously [can] cause confusion or help reinforce similar concepts" but more of the second than the first, which is why I choose to do so. Others may have different experiences, and make different choices.
Answer: I studied my second year of French and first year of Spanish during the same calendar year.  This was no problem, and was actually quite helpful in learning Spanish because I no longer had to consciously recall basic French vocabulary and the similarities made my first year of Spanish go much easier.  But the following year, when I was learning more advanced sentence structure, in both, I found it somewhat confusing.
I would suggest such a staggered approach if the languages are similar to each other and/or to English; even though English isn't a Romance language, it seems once one knows one of them the others come fairly easily (except Italian irregular verbs, imo).
Answer: Currently, I am learning both languages at the same time, one with direction, one without direction. As a result, there are definitely pros and cons to both.
One main facet is pronunciation. I've found it far more difficult to pronounce Spanish words than my peers, as learning French meant learning the ins and outs of its pronunciation, most of which are starkly different between both languages.
Another facet is similarities in the nouns themselves. There are many similarities between both languages in terms of words, as Tom Au pointed out in his answer, but there are also many differences. Distinguishing the meanings and usage only comes with practice, so I suppose in this sense it could be simultaneously easier and difficult.
I haven't learned enough grammar in each language to conclude whether the languages' grammars are similar, but from what I've learned, much remains the same between them.
Honestly, most of the difficulty comes from burning out on one language or the other. If you're motivated—and can stay so—in both languages, then this is not an issue; but it's very difficult to stay motivated when faced with such a difficult task.
Answer: I have an 8 in French and Spanish GCSE and I am doing Spanish a level and self teaching french with podcasts and reading french news. In your spare time brush up on the tenses and structures and it will come to you.
Comment: Thanks for your contribution, and welcome to Language Learning Stack Exchange! Please add some more detail to your answer to clarify how it answers the question.


To read the Qur'an on a mobile, should I do wudu? Is it complsory?

Question: Aslamualikum all.  When we ready the Qur'an as a book, we do wudu.  But when we read it on a mobile, is it compulsory to do wudu? During menses can we read the Qur'an on a mobile?
Comment: [Can we complete quran by reading from book and then from device?](https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/24815/can-we-complete-quran-by-reading-from-book-and-then-from-device) and [Can a woman recite the Qur'an during her menses?](https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/8598/can-a-woman-recite-the-quran-during-her-menses) should answer your questions.
Answer: It is not compulsory or needed to read Qur'an on mobiles with wudu or purity of menses as scholars classify the Qur'an on mobiles (soft copies) to not be related to the rules that apply to the written Qur'an (hard copy).
They explain that the Qur'an on mobiles is just a wave pattern of electrical and magnetic energy vibrating through space and therefore the picture of specific verses appear and goes away once you click on the screen; it is not the same as Mus'haf that a Sahih Hadith has intended it in its narration:
It has been narrated from 'Amr ibn Hazm stating that the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) wrote to the people of Yemen:

No one should touch the Qur'aan except one who is taahir (pure).

Mus'haf is an Arabic word for a codex or collection of sheets, but also refers to a written copy of the Quran.
According to the definition of Mus'haf, you can notice clearly that it doesn't fit the properties of the Qur'an on mobiles and thus it can't be considered to be a Mus'haf.

Source
Answer: One of the opinions I know is that whenever you touch the Arabic text of Quran (whether on paper or on screen) you must have wudu.
Comment: Would it be possible to cite where this opinion is from?
Comment: you can search on seekershub.org


how to understand that products and coproducts are dual

Question: I am reading some basic category notes, how can one relate the products to coproducts? If given a product, can one build its dual product?
for example, the coordinate product $(x,y)$ : $ R \times R$, what coproduct does it correspond to?
Comment: Note that if $X$ is a product of $A$ and $B$, there may exist a $C$ and $D$ with $C\times D\cong X$ such that the coproduct of $A$ and $B$ is not the same as the coproduct of $C$ and $D$.
Answer: Coproduct is the dual of product in the categorical sense, i.e. we have to reverse all occuring arrow in the definition.
While product in most concrete categories of structures is indeed realized on the Cartesian product of the underlying sets (because the forgetful functor usually admits a left adjoint), the coproduct may vary from category to category.
In the simplest cases (e.g. in $\Bbb{Set}$) the coproduct is just the disjoint union. But e.g. in the category of groups, the coproduct is the free product...
Answer: Products and coproducts are dual in the following sense:
Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a category and $\{X_i\}$ be a family of objects in $\mathcal{C}$. Let $\{X'_i\}$ be the same family but considered as a family of objects in $\mathcal{C}^{op}$. Then:
The product $\prod_i X_i$ in $\mathcal{C}$ is the same as the coproduct $\coprod_i X'_i$ in $\mathcal{C}^{op}$.


Criteria for selecting a voice teacher

Question: I have been singing in a (classical) choir for several years, including the occasional solo line, and am now seriously considering voice lessons. However, finding a good teacher seems like a daunting challenge. What should I look for in a good voice teacher?
Comment: Well, non-technical you could just see if you can easily comunnicate.
Comment: Something to consider in the case of a voice teacher specifically is your goal--do you wish to become a better musician? A better solo singer? A better choral singer? These are three very different goals, and you should consider your choice of teacher accordingly.
Answer: Probably, you would look for the same things you would seek in any private music instructor.  No teacher is right for every student.  Here are a few things I would suggest:

Ask around.  Do you know anyone who has been a voice student?  Is there any particular instructor that this student recommends?
When you do have one or more instructors in mind, find out their background and experience.  Do they have experience in solo performance?  Choral performance?  Opera?  Music theatre?  What is their level of education?  None of these answers will be determinative by itself, but finding a teacher who has been where you want to go can be a good thing.
Is it going to work for you to have a lesson with this instructor basically every week?  There can be a variety of reasons this is not the case.  The teacher could be too far away from you for you to be able to take the time and expense to go to the teacher's studio each week.  Or, the teacher could have too much else going on and could constantly need to reschedule or miss weeks.  Everyone needs to reschedule once in a while, but doing so constantly is a problem, as it breaks continuity that you need for optimal learning.
Is the teacher organized?  Are payment and other policies clear?  While the business acumen of a teacher may not directly correlate to his or her teaching abilities, a decided lack in this area can lead to a lot of frustration on your part.  Also, there is a certain effect that this structure has on a student/teacher "separation" that can be beneficial.
Can you afford the teacher's rate?  The cheapest teacher may certainly not be the best teacher, but if you cannot afford lessons consistently, you will struggle.
Does the teacher have references?  Not all will, particularly if they are new to setting up a studio, but it is something to keep in mind.
Once you have a list of instructors narrowed down a bit, see if you can try a lesson or two.  Don't be afraid to pay for the teacher's time; back when I taught a lot more private lessons, I did offer a "first lesson free" deal to pretty much anyone who asked (or saw the offer in an ad).  However, not all teachers will want to do that for a variety of reasons, notably that doing so tends to encourage students who are not serious about lessons for one reason or another.  If the lessons "feel" right to you, and you know that you are learning something (and what you are learning), this might be the right teacher for you.  If you have difficulty understanding the teacher, or the teacher cannot answer your questions, this might not be the right teacher for you.
The teacher should be willing to discuss your goals and learning style, and the teacher should be able to articulate their own methodologies and reasoning behind them (at least upon request).

There are a plethora of items to consider, but the main idea is to find a teacher that works for you, with whom you are comfortable, who teaches in an environment comfortable for you, and from whom you find you are learning.
Comment: Point 8. is very important. When you are an adult and a non-professional, you have more specific needs and objectives, a different time span. Certain teachers have a good command of repertoire and technique, a lot of things to transmit but they are not very adaptive (not that you shouldn't be ready to change your habits and beliefs: this is usually necessary to make progress).
Answer: To Andrew's list, I'd add:

Do they teach other adults as well.

What kids need drilled into them, is not the same thing that adults need. So an instructor that is brilliant for children will probably make adult students uncomfortable.
Comment: +1 Absolutely... though it is possible that an instructor can be good with both children and adults, teaching them is very different, and not everyone can do both.
Answer: I had one single criteria in selecting mine: like how they sound.
The idea is how someone sounds is them applying all the technique they know.  If you don't like how that sounds, then you probably won't be able to go very far with that instructor.
Comment: And here's a [better answer](http://www.voiceteacher.com/finding_teacher.html)
Answer: The answer depends on the teachers available in your area. If you live near a big city, or near a music school you will have more options than if you do not.
1) Choose a voice teacher experienced in the style of music you wish to learn. Many teachers will lie and say they can teach every style. If you want pop, find a pop teacher, if you want classical find a classical teacher.
2) Choose a voice teacher which is the right level for you. If you are a intermediate, a teacher that focuses on teaching small children will be wrong for you. If you are an advanced student you will need to find a teacher who works with a local opera , or a local music school.
3) Decide what the goal is. Decide up front what you want to get out of the lessons. Is there a difficult piece you want to learn? Are you trying to win an audition? Have a clear goal and communicate this to prospective teacher. They should let you know if that is a goal than can help you with.
If you experience is learning lots of advanced technique, be especially careful choosing teachers. Many professional teachers work mostly with children, and are not as proficient with advanced techniques as they should be. If you can, spend the money on a good teacher in this situation.

Criteria for selecting a voice teacher


Any cure for epidermolysis bullosa?

Question: My young cousing has this skin disease, and that's awful. Any possible cure for this disease?
Answer: Sorry to say this, but epidermolysis bullosa doesn't have a cure, but there are ways to treat its symptoms.                                                                                Medications can help control pain and itching and address complications such as infection in the bloodstream (sepsis). Prescription oral antibiotics may be used if you show signs of a deep or widespread infection (fever, weakness, swollen lymph glands).
An oral anti-inflammatory drug (corticosteroid) may help reduce the pain from dysphagia (difficulty swallowing).
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/epidermolysis-bullosa/basics/treatment/con-20032497.                                                                      http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Epidermolysis-bullosa/Pages/Treatment.aspx
Answer: There is no cure as yet, but there are some treatments being used or trailed that reduce the amount of blistering.

In America and Japan they do bone marrow transplants for the more severe cases (but it is highly risky, and not always effective).
There are various trials going on with creams at the moment for various sub-types of EB, for example for EB Simplex the Diacerein 1% ointment (CCP-020) and Allantoin 6% for RDEB.
Gene-corrected skin grafts e.g. A Dying Boy Gets a New, Gene-Corrected Skin

Also being researched but I've not seen the results for yet are

Research in stem cells
Research into culturing the patients own skin from areas where it does not blister and transplanting it back.
Protein replacement therapies
Cell-based therapies

Any cure for epidermolysis bullosa?


What are the pros and cons of expansion-deflection nozzle?

Question: From the Wikipedia, E-D nozzle works similarly to aerospike nozzle which compensates the exhaust gas in the atmosphere to increase specific impulse.

Comment: Good question. Sutton doesn't say much on E-D nozzles. Seems like research isn't going toward compensating nozzles because it's more cost-effective to just pile on low-cost, low-efficiency thrust (e.g. SRBs) for the first stage of a 2STO.
Answer: From Hill & Peterson, "Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion", 3rd printing, November 1970.
I summarize from the relevant portion of Chapter 13, Chemical Rockets: Expansion in Nozzles (pp 413 & 414):
Pros:

...the presence of a free jet boundary to the expansion process lends
a kind of self-adjustment to back-pressure variations.
...[they are] substantially shorter than comparable internal-flow
nozzles.

Con(s):

The main difficulties associated with these configurations arise in
the process of adequately supporting and cooling the central plug.
Comment: I really wonder if it would be viable to move such an engine to roughly halfway the height of the rocket and have one cryopropellant tank go through the middle of the nozzle, pumping the propellant through the plug and radial structural supports "upwards". That way cooling would be solved and the overall rocket length would be reduced. Although the idea of exhaust "licking" the tank surface is quite scary.
Comment: @SF. That is what they did in radial aerospike cooling, I have attempted to do so, but I highly doubt how the structural integrity of the plug (spike) when the outside is around 1000 K and inside is 200 K, and also both plug and aerospike are brittle structures and needed to absorb enormous amount of pressure (100 atm) at least, I believe it is not the best solution for the issue.


How to avoid perspective distortion when taking selfies?

Question: I'm looking for an affordable way to avoid perspective distortion when taking selfies. I know the best way to avoid this would be taking a portrait with a DSLR with a 200mm-ish lens from 8 ft away, but this seems too much for me, because of the cost and the setup that requires enough space, a tripod, wifi screen, and remote control. It could be any type of camera, phone, a phone attachment, or whatever. And getting to the subject (myself) as close as I can would be also important since I'll be the one taking a picture of myself.
Comment: More information about the context of your problem is needed to adequately answer your question. What is the purpose of the selfie? What camera are you currently using? In what setting are you taking the photos? Why are you unable to set up a tripod? Is this a one off?
Comment: Related: [Distance-creating "lens"?](https://photo.stackexchange.com/q/99369/15871)
Answer: The most simple answer is a mirror. The distance from the camera to the mirror and back to the subject is optical distance. The additional optical distance will go a long way to reducing most perspective distortion in your selfies or eliminating it altogether.
Perspective distortion is caused by very short (or, in the opposite way, very long) camera to subject distances. When the difference in distance from the camera to the subject's nose and distance to the subjects ears is an appreciable percentage of the first value, the photo looks different than our eyes and brains interpret the same face when viewing it from the same position.
Please note that there is a difference between perspective distortion, caused by the relative positions of the camera and various objects in the field of view and geometric distortion, caused by the way a lens projects a three dimensional world onto a two dimensional sensor or film.
Comment: Perspective distortion isn't _distortion_ per se, like radial/pincushion that you can "solve" in the lens/software. It's a result of the camera<->subject distance only, it doesn't matter if you use a Hasselblad or a shoebox with a hole in it, the perspective is the same. The links provided in this answer should clear that up, it is *not* a gear solvable problem.
Comment: I tried with a mirror, and the quality of the picture was too low, it was too blunt when I cropped out my head. So I looked up point and shoot cameras and attachments for my phone since my budget is only $200.

My options are: 1. Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 HS point and shoot camera 2. Moment Tele Lens (on my iPhone SE) 3. Upgrading to iPhone 7 (not sure if it's that much of difference) 4. Asus Zenfone Zoom (13 MP, f/2.7-4.8, 28(wide)-84mm(telephoto), 3x optical zoom, OIS, laser AF)

I would appreciate your advice!
Answer: Selfie sticks were designed to solve this specific problem. Most are well within your budget. They require less space than tripods.
Comment: Attempting to hold up a 4-5 lb DSLR at the end of a selfie stick of any appreciable length may cause certain other facial distortions...
Comment: @twalberg They add character to the portrait.
Comment: @twalberg The question says "It could be any type of camera, phone, a phone attachment, or whatever."


Is Studying String Theory Permitted According To The Rambam?

Question: Would the Rambam be fine with String Theory, being that String Theory involves what happened before the world was created (the big bang) and beyond our universe?
Comment: Please explain what string theory is, or provide a link to this info. And, considering your ID name, please don't shoot me for asking :-)
Comment: I don't know much about String Theory. It is a relatively high level of theoretical physics which theoretical physicists employ to explain the big bang, what happened before it and the Multiverse Theory. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory I'm not sure why I have this idea of the Rambam being anti studying what happened before creation, but that's what I remember.
Comment: You have a wrong assumption "*what happened before the world was created*" As any scientific theory is limited to matter, not spirit, it can not comprehend what preceded the Creation - it will always be a part of the Creation. The science cannot say, for example, "in the beginning there was Math, and then there was Matter". It always starts with different forms of the Matter.
Comment: See sefer hatmuna, assuming that there was and will be other worlds. 7 worlds, as 7 shmitot
Answer: I believe you are referring to Chagigah 16a:

The mishna taught: Whoever looks at four things, it would have been
  better for him had he never entered the world: Anyone who reflects
  upon that which is above the firmament; that which is below the earth;
  what was before the creation of the world; and what will be after the
  end of the world. The Gemara asks: Granted, it is prohibited to
  reflect on what is above, what is below, and what is after. This is
  fine, since one is examining things that are not part of the world but
  lie beyond it. But before the creation of the world, what has happened
  has happened. Why is it prohibited to reflect upon this?
The Gemara explains: Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Elazar both say: This can
  be demonstrated through a parable with regard to a flesh-and-blood
  king who said to his servants: Build for me large palaces on a garbage
  dump. They went and built them for him. Clearly, in that case, the
  king does not desire that they mention the garbage dump. Here too, God
  does not want people to concern themselves with the chaos that
  preceded the world. (Translation and elaboration from Sefaria.org)

Here we see that it is not proper to ponder certain questions.
Yet, Rambam clearly holds (Mishne Torah, Foundation of Faith 2:2) that there is an obligation to study the wisdom of Creation as a path to know G-d. And he goes on to explain the fundamentals of scientific knowledge of creation, as well as metaphysics.

But how may one discover the way to love and fear Him? When man will
  reflect concerning His works, and His great and wonderful creatures,1
  and will behold through them His wonderful, matchless and infinite
  wisdom, he will spontaneously be filled with love, praise and
  exaltation and become possessed of a great longing to know the Great
  Name, even as David said: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living
  God," (Ps. 42,2); and when he will think of all these matters,2 he
  will be taken aback in a moment and stricken with awe, and realize
  that he is an infinitesimal creature, humble and dark, standing with
  an insignificant and slight knowledge in the presence of the All Wise,
  as David said: "For when I see Thy heavens, the wonderful works of Thy
  fingers, of what use is man that Thou mayest remember him?" (Ibid.
  8,4). And, in harmony with these matters, I elucidate great, general
  principles of the works of the Lord of the universe, so that they
  might serve as an opening for one who understands by which to love the
  Name, as some sages said on the subject of love: "Out of it thou wilt
  recognize the One who spoke, and the universe was called into
  existence."

It seems that anything that is a testable theory about reality falls into the obligation to know G-d's wisdom. String Theory is a mathematical model that attempts to better explain the behavior of matter, although it generally has not yet produced any testable hypothesis.
Actually, Rambam would call scientific principles, such as the laws of nature, angels.
See The Guide for the Perplexed Part II ch. 6

They only show that all parts of the Universe, even the limbs of
  animals in their actual form, are produced through angels: for natural
  forces and angels are identical. How bad and injurious is the
  blindness of ignorance! Say to a person who is believed to belong to
  the wise men of Israel that the Almighty sends His angel to enter the
  womb of a woman and to form there the fœtus, he will be satisfied with
  the account; he will believe it, and even find in it a description of
  the greatness of God's might and wisdom; although he believes that the
  angel consists of burning fire, and is as big as a third part of the
  Universe, yet he considers it possible as a divine miracle. But tell
  him that God gave the seed a formative power which produces and shapes
  the limbs, and that this power is called "angel," or that all forms
  are the result of the influence of the Active Intellect, and that the
  latter is the angel, the Prince of the world, frequently mentioned by
  our Sages, and he will turn away; because he cannot comprehend the
  true greatness and power of creating forces that act in a body without
  being perceived by our senses.

On the other hand, Rambam explains in The Guide for the Perplexed (part II, ch. 23 (see also end of ch. 22)) that we do not consider things about the past that are impossible to prove and are inherently philosophical choices. In these areas we rely on tradition and the approach that is best morally.

Thirdly, [before choosing a philosophical model] you must be morally good. For if a
  person is voluptuous or
  passionate, and, loosening the reins, allows his anger to pass the
  just limits, it makes no difference whether he is so from nature or
  from habit, he will blunder and stumble in his way, he will seek the
  theory which is in accordance with his inclinations. I mention this
  lest you be deceived; for a person might some day, by some objection
  which he raises, shake your belief in the theory of the Creation, and
  then easily mislead you: you would then adopt the theory [of the
  Eternity of the Universe) which is contrary to the fundamental
  principles of our religion, and leads to "speaking words that turn
  away from God." You must rather have suspicion against your own
  reason, and accept the theory taught by two prophets who have laid the
  foundation for the existing order in the religious and social
  relations of mankind. Only demonstrative proof should be able to make
  you abandon the theory of the Creation: but such a proof does not
  exist in Nature.

Evolution in the past--as opposed to current mutations--and the age of the universe might fall into this category. String Theory as a theory of creation might fall into this speculative category, but as an attempt at a unified theory of everything (joining quantum mechanics and relativity (gravity)), it is certainly good to pursue.
In summary, any theory with practical application today is advisable to pursue. But when a theory is merely a philosophical choice, we choose the one that is morally good, being that there is no practical difference. (In the popular debate between science and religion these two--science and philosophy--are often confused. It is scientifically impossible to prove--and irrelevant--that the world didn't pop into existence last Thursday. Occam's Razor is a subjective tool for choosing a philosophical model. It can be useful, but it will not always select the model that is most moral.)
I hope this helps.
Answer: In my understanding, the string theory is not about the creation of the world at all, it is about fine-tuning the explanation of the existing phenomena on a smaller, sub-subatomic scale.
All the rests are hypotheses and extrapolations that have nothing to do with the theory.
Halachicly-wise this is not different from the theory of evolution, in Rambam's approach: as long as learning the theory targets a better understanding of the Creation and the ways of G-d and making this world better (יישוב עולם) it is fine, but once it targets heresy and denial of G-d's Creation it is surely forbidden.


what type of sensors does the Boeing 737 MAX use for MCAS?

Question: I can imagine there are several different ways to measure angle of attack (accelerometers, relative pressure measurements between pitot tubes, etc), but I'm curious which sensors the 737 MAX uses for its MCAS system since it's been in the news recently.
Comment: See related question: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/61011/how-many-aoa-sensors-does-the-737-max-have
Comment: Faulty ones, apparently.
Answer: The pitot tube has nothing to do with the angle of attack. It is used for measuring pressure which in turn gives you the airspeed.
Accelerometers are used for the Inertial Navigation System.
The angle of attack is another sensor (shown below): the principle is that it rotates and reads the angle between the current position and the reference position.

Regarding the 737 MAX, there are two AoA sensors one on the captain side and one on the first officer side.
The MCAS reads the AoA from the captain side.
Comment: appreciate the info! Just to not seem like an idiot, there have been studies as far back as 1955 showing that pitot tubes could be used for AoA measurement: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/102442.pdf
Comment: That's interesting! I wasn't aware of it
Comment: @Jan It would not be very accurate, as the vertical motion of the air is an unknown, and the variation of vertical airmass speed seen in normal weather conditions is comparable to the range of the vertical component of the incident airflow at typical airspeeds and AofA. No doubt one could have a more sophisticated model that included the airplane's response to both gusts and control inputs, and so attempt to estimate the vertical motion of the air by the aircraft's response to it, but there is little point in doing so, as the value can much more easily be directly measured.
Comment: The IRS can compute the flight path vector which, knowing the airspeed and ground-speed and thus wind speed could actually be used to calculate a pretty good estimation for the angle of attack. It is probably not fast enough through.
Comment: @NicolasHolthaus That is an interesting paper, but note that the pitot tubes described here are not simple ones like those used for airspeed measurements - they involve multiple ports, each with its own sensor, arranged around a conical or hemispherical body. Some of the other ideas here are quite wild, such as optically tracking smoke.
Comment: @sdenham good point, you could try and measure the vertical speed, too, but that is even slower :D The aoa vanes are already pretty good, no need to change a running system. (if you install and use multiple sensors of course)
Answer: I think you are talking about the heavy MCAS "corrections" that led to the two crashes.  The MCAS is part of the STS (Speed Trim System). Apart from the Angle of Attack sensor, MCAS also checks that the flaps are up (retracted) and the auto pilot is off before it triggers the heavy nose-down trim.  Some sources add that MCAS also needs a high bank angle and the engine at high power before it activates.
BTW the MCAS does not check to see if the AoA sensor readings make sense.  It accepts the sensor readings blindly.


Why did the rebellion allow Katniss to enter the Hunger Games a second time?

Question: Why did the rebellion allow Katniss to enter the games a second time in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire if she was so important? It would seem like a much safer approach to have just taken Katniss to a secret location as soon as anyone knew they were planning to have the Victors re-enter the games. Instead they  allowed her risk accident or death, only to be saved by a helicopter flying through a miraculous breach in the dome. Is there a reason for this approach that I missed?
Answer: I think there are a few reasons behind this.
Firstly, it allowed Katniss Everdeen, the symbol of the revolution, to be seen and admired by all the Districts. Her appearance as a Mockingjay before the 75th Games began would have been inspirational to all the fighters in the Districts. It sent the message even though she couldn't avoid the Games and couldn't avoid another fight, she was taking it head on and being herself - not the girl-to-be-married Snow wanted her to be.
Secondly, it allowed all the undercover games entrants to be collected from the same location. Although they knew each other before the Games began, this game the Rebellion the opportunity to get all of its former victors in one place at one time and evacuate them all.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, this all happened on live television. If Katniss had joined the rebellion, or rather been rescued by them, in the Capitol, before the Games began, the Capitol would have suppressed the information and released a cover story. With Katniss disappearing in front of the world and the Games - which are used by the Capitol to display their superiority over the Districts - being blown apart (literally), the world knew how serious the Rebellion was and how strong it was. The message this act sent was powerful enough to risk Katniss.
This is a theme that gets explored further in the third book, when they bring Katniss out into the warzone on different occassions. Although they don't really want to risk her life, they want her close enough to the action for her to be inspirational and symbolic as the tough freedom fighter the rebellion's members think she is.
To conclude, imagine famous scenes from real-world history, such as the Tiananmen Square image - and now imagine the powerful effect they've had. I believe Katniss' appearance in the Games was intended to have the same effect. Whilst the first two reasons above are important, the third reason was the crucial one - her escape from the Games well and truly demonstrated the strength of the Rebellion for the first time to both the Rebellion's members and the citizens of the Capitol.
Comment: Excellent points and a great answer, especially tying it into real-world events.
Comment: @AndrewMartin I like this analysis as a whole, but it does bring up more questions. 1) You that that Katniss entered to prove she was "not the girl-to-be-married Snow wanted her to be", but at this point in the story, aren't Katniss and Peeta still voluntarily masquerading as a couple? Peeta is even building on the story and adding to the drama by mentioning a baby. It seems they are trying to bend the story, not abandon it.
Comment: @AndrewMartin 2) If it was their plan to evacuate all the "undercover" Victors from the games at the same time, is it ever mentioned how this would or could be done without the miraculous breach in the dome?
Comment: @AndrewMartin 3) Did the actual rescue/escape actually happen on live television? During this scene of the movie it appears that Katniss knocked out the camera systems with her lightning arrow. This would fit in line with why Katniss' tracker was cut from her arm; so that the escape would be under darkness. Katniss just got hit by lightning, and has no tracker. For all Snow knows at this very moment, she is still in the dome. If Snow had seen the evacuation of Katniss and the others, I suspect he would have immediately sent an army to pursue the helicopter and destroy it.
Answer: After the victory tour, President Snow sees the effects of Katniss on the Districts and the riots. He was planning to eliminate her, but Plutarch Heavensbee offers to take her into the games to give the districts a message: Even the strongest among all are weak against the Capitol and even they can be killed easily by the Capitol
So the Quarter Quell game had changed, and all previous winners are invited.
A speech between Katniss and Plutarch in the 74.th Hunger Games Victory Ball:

Katniss Everdeen: "Then why are you here?"
Plutarch Heavensbee: "Same reason as you: I volunteered."
Katniss Everdeen: "Why?"
Plutarch Heavensbee: (shrugs) "Ambition...the chance to make the Games mean something."
Katniss Everdeen: (contemptuously) "The Games don't mean anything. They only mean to scare us."
Plutarch Heavensbee: "Well, maybe it was you who inspired me to come back. (a fanfare sounds) Ah, the Presidential welcome. I'm sure we'll meet again."

So, the only chance Plutarch had was to help Katniss and to support the riots to put her into the games. Otherwise, Snow will get rid of her in some other way.
But in the books, the situation is quite different. At the Victory Ball, after dancing with Katniss, Plutarch Heavensbee shows her his watch. For a second, Katniss saw a mockingjay on the watch, which disappears afterwards. Plutarch tells Katniss that the watch is important and valuable.
After her rescue from the Arena, Plutarch tells her the reason he showed her his watch was he was expecting to see Katniss as a Mentor of new tributes, not in the arena as a tribute.
So, Quarter Quell tribute plan all belongs to President Snow, and the rebellion has nothing to stop Snow. Only thing they can do is arrange other competitors so they can help Katniss stay alive in the arena. Johanna concusses Katniss to remove the tracker chip so she can be rescued by the rebellion and not captured by the Capitol etc.
Answer: As per my speculation, the rebels allowed Katniss to enter Second time to send message to all 12 district about rebellion. Do you remember her dress conversion into Mockingjay, that must be a message to all about the coming rebellion. In the Hunger Game world, districts can't contact each other but the games are a good way to send messages to all districts.
My second thought is that they didn't get the right opportunity before. Katniss is now a star and people see her, follow her and a TV channel also covers her. Her disappearance need to be pre-planned. The 75th game was surprise for all, so they didn't have time for her escape plan.
But I more strongly believe the first one where the rebellion wants her to be a  Mockingjay symbol for all by participating.
Answer: It wasn't a miraculous breach in the dome either! The plan was always for that genius man to sacrifice his life and shoot an arrow at the dome when lightning struck. It was only once that guy was killed that Katniss realised what he was trying to do and done it for herself, also if Katniss wasn't put back into the hunger games then they would have just gone on as normal- therefore completely ignoring this "uprising"- Plutarch Heavensbee had been planning this revelution for years and was waiting for the right time- after the riots in the districts etc after katniss defied the capitol he knew it was time. Putting victors back into the games made the districts even more angry, and having all the extra added on violence from the capital and "peacekeepers" made people in the districts even more scared and angry. Whether Katniss lived or died she was put back in as a symbol. - the uprising was already happening before, this was just the spark to set it off.
Answer: There is a simple reason for this and one of the reasons they don't let Katniss know about the plan. It's that if she lives, she can be a symbol to hold up to all in the Districts. If she dies, she becomes a martyr, which is an even larger symbol they can rally the Districts behind. Either way, they have what they need. Katniss is just a pawn in the whole ordeal. Albeit a willing pawn, but a pawn nonetheless.
Comment: @Raytrek ... with all due respect, I'm not sure how what you've said has anything to do with the OP's question or with what I've stated? Maybe I'm just being dense? And are you actually talking about *Peeta Mellarh* when you say *Peter*?
Comment: To be fair, I can completely see where @Paulster2 is coming from here. President Coin throughout the books has no concern for Katniss' health, only viewing her as a symbol. Her actions at the end of the third book certainly put this beyond any doubt.
Comment: Why kill her if they didn't need to? She is valuable to them alive or dead, but alive they can write a third book. And I didn't say they didn't care about her. The question was, why did they risk her? They can risk her and have a positive outcome either way.
Comment: @Paulster2: Are you talking about Peeta Mellark when you say Peeta Mellarh? Lol - sorry, I'm being cheeky :P I do agree with your comment entirely.
Comment: @AndrewMartin ... what I get for typing with dirty/scratched glasses.
Comment: Quite disagree, if that's the case then why did they saved her, risking the whole district 12 for a pawn.
Comment: @AndrewMartin Ahh....third book make me stop reading any further ;)
Comment: @AnkitSharma: It really gets fairly miserable. I enjoyed the _journey_ but I'm not sure I really enjoyed the books that much.
Comment: @AndrewMartin ... It's also at the end of the third book where we see Katniss stop willingly be the pawn.
Comment: Peter brings up the baby, granted she isn't pregnant and if she were it wouldn't be to Peter, but the message was going out as to how brutal the whole arrangement is, driving stronger dissent, if you weren't on board with rebellion before, the idea that Capitol will execute an unborn child is too far. It is very much all about building the numbers in as many districts as possible. That is how I see it.
Comment: Yes, because I'm not that obsessed with the movie to know semantic details about it. My point stands, but it is my opinion as someone who doesn't even really like the movies, but I have seen them, never read the books, but technically they were all in custody of Capitol when the big opportunities to inspire revolt occur, hence they have to escape after exploiting those opportunities.
Comment: @Raytrek ... that's fine, but again, what does it have to do with the question at hand? We are trying to answer the OP's question, not necessarily give our opinion(s) about the movie. Being new here, I'm thinking you may not fully comprehend how the Stack Exchange works or what is expected.
Comment: True, I'm new and I don't know how it works, I posted on comment rather than giving my own answer. I don't think the question is that complicated and I believe I did answer it, it isn't so much an opinion as an observation. I'm sure there is more to it but in essence the biggest opportunities to inspire revolt came after they were in custody, that is everything to do with the O.P, unless I'm missing something.
Answer: I found some explanations in the books that reasonably apply to the movies too.
The rebellion wasn't full-fledged when they had the announcement of the Quell --

"It means we're on your side." That's what Bonnie said. I have people on my side? What side? Am I unwittingly the face of the hoped-for rebellion?

District 13 wasn't willing to risk another war prematurely. They needed other districts' cooperation to have a chance against the Capitol, and the other districts were not yet in total rebellion at the time of the announcement. Furthermore, they may not have been strong enough yet to operate out in the open against the Capitol:

I feel that twinge of hatred against 13 again. "So, you had all this, and you left the rest of the districts defenseless against the Capitol."
    "It's not that simple," he shoots back. "We were in no position to launch a counterattack until recently. We could barely stay alive. After we'd overthrown and executed the Capitol's people, only a handful of us even knew how to pilot."

It seems they got their plans in order quickly, though, based on Haymitch's explanation at the end of Catching Fire.

There was a plan to break us out of the arena from the moment the Quell was announced. ... We are currently on a roundabout journey to District 13. Meanwhile, most of the districts in Panem are in full-scale rebellion.

And everything fell together at that point. Many districts were in full rebellion by then, certainly fueled by the emotion of the 75th Hunger Games (the interviews, the Victors' hand-holding, etc), and 13 was clearly strong enough to come out into the open and wage war.
Answer:
It would seem like a much safer approach to have just taken Katniss to a secret location as soon as anyone knew they were planning to have the Victors re-enter the games.

Logically this is what they would have wanted, but it was impossible. Katniss, like all the other Tributes who survived, was heavily tracked and guarded. For the first year after winning, the Victor is paraded around from district to district. We see this at the end of the first movie, and the beginning of the second, as Katniss and Peeta travel by train. Then they normally become possible Mentors for others from their District, as well as fodder for public entertainment. Worse, the Victors become tools for Snow and the Capitol, which we learn in Mockingjay that he sells them for political favors. There is no free or alone time.
But worse, Snow is concerned about rebellion, especially from Katniss. She's doubly guarded and her family & Peeta threatened, personally, by Snow. And as she is still in the Victor stage, she is not in a position to be easily taken away.
The only way to get to her is in the relatively secluded situation that is the game arena. No guards nearby, insider sabotaging the games and security, secret agents that help remove Katniss.

Plutarch: Stop. Just listen. We couldn't tell you with Snow watching. It was too risky. Better for you to know nothing.
Katniss: Where's Peeta?
Plutarch: Now, Katniss... You have been our mission from the beginning. The plan was always to get you out. Half the Tributes were in on it. This is the revolution. And you are the Mockingjay. And we're on our way to District 13 right now.
Katniss: 13?
Plutarch: 13. Yes.
Katniss: Where's Peeta?
Plutarch: He still has his tracker in his arm. Johanna cut yours out.

Without all the distractions of the explosion, of the violence, of the lack of guards, they could never get Katniss' tracker out, and bringing a tracker to District 13 or on the hover jet would be fatal to the Rebellion.
In short, the Rebellion had no way to extract Katniss without letting her compete. In fact, without the 75th game, they would likely never have gotten her at all. Remember, they could only get into the Capitol in Mockingjay after all power was dropped, including the border defense systems, and even then only when Snow let them. They wouldn't have been able to extract Katniss from the Capitol by force or by covert means.
Answer: Not to mention we would have missed a couple hundred pages and a couple of hours of awesome if that were the case. The third book would essentially just merge in to the second...
But, in all seriousness, I like Andrew's answer. I also don't think Katniss would have let that happen. She's the kind of character that tackles things head-on, and will do whatever it might take to avenge the past and make way for the future. Whether she is to be a martyr or a hero, she is the character who will be either, but she would not be okay with being stolen away before she could get her message out to the world.
It's not just a matter of the rebellion "taking her". It's also herself as a character.


In Shia religion, in salat can we give three shadah?

Question: In Salat while sitting can we give three shadah? As one of my friends told me about that it makes salah as BAATIL (invalid) my reciting "ALI UN WALI ULLAH" in salat... I have searched and heard many scholar, but I am not clear of this? If any one can help by giving some authentic references?
Comment: Why do you refer to Shia as a religion? Do you not consider it part of the religion of Islam?
Answer:
In Shia religion, in salat can we give three shadah?

Although, the phrase of "ALI UN WALI ULLAH" is considered as a significant phrase/belief for Shia Islam, but, to the best of my knowledge, it is recited (only) in Adan/Aqamah of Salah of Shia (as a Mustahab practice/Dua); and (AFAIK) Shia Islam doesn't regard/allow it among the wajib (obligatory) parts of Salah, such as in Tashahod, etc.
Reference: hawzah.net


Can I turn a can of red kidney beans into red bean paste for Japanese Style Red Bean Paste Buns?

Question: I have a can of Red Kidney Beans, and I want to use it to make Japanese Red Bean Paste Buns. Looking online, I found that these buns require Azuki Beans for the paste, not Kidney Beans. Is there a way to turn Kidney Beans into a replacement for Azuki Beans?
Comment: See also http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/27495/azuki-bean-substitute-for-anpan/27496#27496
Answer: Welcome. According to the excerpt below from  this page , kidney beans are an acceptable substitute.

azuki bean = adzuki bean = Tiensin red bean = aduki bean = asuki bean = field pea = red Oriental bean = feijao bean = red chori    Equivalents: 1 cup dried yields 3 cups cooked beans  Pronunciation:  a-ZOO-kee   Notes:   The Japanese use these small red beans to make sweet red bean paste, but they're also good in rice dishes or salads.  Azuki beans are sweet and relatively easy to digest, so they won't make you as gassy as other beans.  They also don't take as long to cook.   Substitutes:   black azuki beans OR red kidney beans OR Tolosana beans

That said, while you may be able to substitute them you may need to make adjustments to end up with a similar bean paste. For example you may need to add more sugar as adzuki beans have a natural slightly sweet flavor.
Also, even though you have canned beans, they may require a bit of cooking to get them to the right softness. (Adzuki beans tend to have a very creamy texture.) Note that dark red kidney beans tend to be more firm than light red.
All said and done, you can probably make adjustments and end up with a slightly different result. But as for me, I would get the adzuki beans.
Comment: I'd be interested to know how good of a substitute that is; in that context, it might just be a "here's as close as you'll get without the real thing" substitute.
Comment: @SteveMidgley The point is for us to tell the OP whether it'll work, not make the OP do the experiment himself.
Comment: I'd also suggest pureeing the kidney beans - in many cases kidney beans have a shell/skin that won't be pleasing if you just mash the beans down. The idea of adding some sugar to get the taste right also makes sense to me. But you'd want a comparison azuki bean to get the flavor right. But if you have a comparison, why not just use it, instead of the kidney bean?
Answer: No, azuki beans are very different in texture and flavor from kidney beans, you won't be able to use them as a substitute.
Comment: I will @c.. I'll find them wherever they are.
Comment: I think it would require a lot of trial and error to get the sweetness right. Better to buy them from a Japanese market, but if you don't have one nearby online should be OK, as you can get them canned or as raw beans.
Comment: who is going to stop them


Compressor 4.1: Why can't I select the group I made for distributed processing?

Question: I'm currently trying to get distributed processing to work using two different computers on the same network running the same versions of osx, fcpx, and compressor. When I go to choose the group I made from the "process on:" dropdown, it will not let me choose the group that I made. I'm trying to export to compressor directly from FCPX, and that works, but it would be much faster if I could farm out the videos from this computer to my other mac. Does anyone have any idea why I can't select my group?
Answer: Compressor 4.1 does not support distributed renderings for other programs (such as FCPX).  This is documented on page 11 of the Transitioning To Compressor document.  You can only do distributed encoding for transcodes defined entirely within Compressor, not renders.
Comment: Okay, I missed that detail when reviewing the white paper; it makes more sense now. So the only way I can use the distributed processing function is to use compressor to transcode existing videos by building a batch from scratch within compressor then?
Comment: @Alex - right, and it would have to already have been rendered out of FCPX.  This makes sense when you think about it because Compressor knows how to distribute the load of its compression algorithms, but doesn't have any information on how to distribute FCPX rendering tasks.


Changes on a joomla site do not reflect on the front end

Question: I got a a joomla-powered site. Recently I added an article to the back end, published it but it does not show up on the front end of the website. I went further to 'unpublish' some of the articles that were already showing on the front end. They were still showing on the front end.
I have cleared the cache several times, but nothing has changed since.
I do not know if anyone has encountered such a similar issue. Will appreciate your responses.
Thanks.
Comment: Silly question, but are you sure you're managing the article for the correct site? I only ask because I have been know to (when tired) do stuff on my localhost and wonder why it's not showing on my live site. When you say you have cleared the cache, do you mean on your browser or on Joomla? Best thing to do would be to look at the `#__content` table in the database, and check the `published` columns to see if your changes have taken effect. `1 = published` and `0 = unpublished`
Comment: Okay,thanks @Lodder. will take a look at the table in the database. And yeah, the cache I cleared is on joomla, not on my browser.
Comment: What are your cache settings?
Comment: Currentlyit is set to off. And I changed the time to 0
Answer: There could be an issue with the date settings in your articles, make sure your dates are correctly set:

Start Publishing: Any past date
Finish Publishing: Empty, or any future date
Created Date: Any past date

I've sometimes copied existing articles and then edit the content, without changing the dates, wondering why my articles don't show up as expected.

Also, please make sure your articles are actually saved (maybe obvious, but simply in order to sort out possible errors).

Take a look at Lodders comment too, I've seen this happen before.
Comment: I already did that but nothing changed.
Comment: OK, I updated the answer with another option, just in case. Have you tried to make other changes, like unpublishing modules, or using the front-end editor to make changes to your articles, in order to see if the changes show up?
Comment: Yeah, I unpublished the logo...and the change was updated on the front end.And using the front-end editor, the changes appeared as expected. However I noticed that if i tried to change any settings on the template i am using, it does not also show. In fact, clicking on 'save' produces no action.
Comment: So the save button in your articles (and posibly elsewhere too) is not working at all? Try going to `Extensions ->Extension Manager` and click `Database` on the left side. Then click the `Fix` button.
Comment: Thanks, I did that but the problem seems not to go away. On the other hand as @Lodder suggested, I checked the #_content table on the database. The article that is not showing on the front end has a state of 1.
Answer: Check with your web host, they may be caching from the their end. I had that recently happen to me. When I had them remove their cache (which was on by default) I was able to see all of my changes in the front-end.
Answer: Mihir Chhatre's answer below gave me thought... Check what category you have assigned this article on... And then on the menu-manager, check if the relative menu item that you want this article to appear is set to display articles from this category.
If you are trying to show this article in the front-page and front-page is using a featured articles item, then you need to also set this article as featured and make sure that the menu-item is showing articles from that category.
Lastly, if the page that you are trying to see the article in the front-end is showing articles through any content module, then you will need also to make sure that the module is set to display articles from the category of this article as well.
Answer: You have to understand that after creating an article it needs to be linked up via a menu to the website.
I feel that since you have no linked the article up to the default menu, it is not being shown on the frontend.
Answer: If you want publish it on the front page, after created article you must select Featured article, on the another page you must publish it under the category
Answer: I had the same issue today, I've done the edit and save in Jooma and it just doesn't show in the front end. I clear the cache many times, it doesn't work.
Only when I change the publish date to "today" of the re-editing article and clear the cache again, it works. The front page changes.