你好啊? or 你好吗? Which is more common?

Question: I have recently come across the phrase 你好啊 and I was curious about its usage. It was in the FSI Chinese course with a meaning of 'How are you?', but I have only heard 你好吗 on other courses and when talking to Chinese speakers on Skype. Is this because 你好啊 is not really used very much in everyday life, or is it because Chinese speakers tend to tailor the way they say things to suit the level of the other person and 你好吗 is more common in text books?
Answer: Usually people just say 你好 because, well, it's just the common way. I don't think there are any reasons.
你好啊 sounds like talking to babies, or if you are greeting someone who is some distance away and you want yourself to be heard. 你——好——啊——
你好吗 is a direct translation of "How are you?" It is only used by Chinese when one really wants to know what is going on with the other, or it may be used with English speakers to make them feel less culturally alienated.
Comment: Ok that makes sense. So "How are you/你好吗" is not really used in normal speech therefore the distinction is irrelevant.
Comment: When people say "How are you" to me, I always stutter :$
Answer: I believe  "吃了没" is more elder than 你好啊?
I'm born and raised in China and when I see a friend I just say "Hi" or "Hay"
They can get it whether they can speak English.
Answer: "您好吗" 一般是对长辈和领导说您好吗。一般人见面 "你好吗" 就可以了。"您" 相对 "你" 来说多一分尊敬的意思。
"你好啊" 和 "你好" 的意思一样,"你好啊" 更亲近一些。
Answer: Like "How are you" in English, those are old fashioned. Unless you write to some one or making a poem? You can just say "吃了没" which is more common and native.
Answer: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BD%A0%E5%A5%BD
In Chinese, 你好 actually has a common usage with Hello in English, it will be used by the time you want to say hi to people. But the difference between them is, I don't think Hello has a specific meaning in English, but 你好 in Chinese do have a specific meaning. To understand this better, you must know this first, in Chinese, every single word in chinese hold a specific meaning.
Answer: 你好吗, as opposed to 你好, is seldom used because it implies asking whether the other person has or has not overcome some past problem or medical affliction.
So, 你好 is straight forwardly wishing someone well, whereas 你好吗 is akin to an  unsolicited question.
If someone says to me 你好吗, I may jokingly reply, 我 有 什 么 不 好?
In English you do not for no specific reason say "How are you today" because it implies you were not that good yesterday or sometime in the recent past.
Finally, a Chinese rarely if ever use 吃了没 to a non-Chinese, though I am not sure of the reverse.

你好啊？ or 你好吗？ Which is more common?


1972 Schwinn 10 speed missing chain need to know how many links

Question: I just bought a vintage Schwinn Suburban 10 speed bicycle but the chain was missing from the bike. I need to know how many links is generally on this bike. I bought a bike chain that says for 5/6/7/8 speed bike chain. for bikes with 5-8 rear cogs. this bike being a 10 speed has 5 rear cogs and 2 front gears. I counted the links and it has 111 total links and 1 connecting link. I need to know if I need to shorten this chain before installing onto bike, or will it fit just as it is?
Comment: Yes you need to shorten it.  Yes you will need a chain tool to take the links off.  You will probably get a quicklink joiner with the chain or a replacement pin - either's fine.   The chain needs to be as long as it has to be.
Comment: @Criggie Isn't this basically an exact dupe of the question you link?
Comment: @Criggie good find, I retracted my close vote.
Answer: There are two different techniques used to size a chain for a multi-speed, derailleur bike.  The specific one to use is based on the number of teeth the largest cog of the freewheel has. One method is used if the large cog has 27 teeth or less, the other method when the large, rear cog has more than 27 teeth.  On a bike like you describe, with a five speed freewheel, the largest cog will have 28 teeth or less.
First method for bicycle with a rear cog having >27 teeth: WITHOUT going through the rear derailleur, wrap your new chain around the large front chainwheel and back and around the large rear cog bringing the two ends of the chain together.  Essentially you've now wrapped the chain around the large-large combo, eliminating the rear derailleur. The chain ends will come together and you should note an overlap of a few links.  The properly sized chain will be +2 links (that would be 1 inner link and 1 outer ink of the chain) past the point where the slackless, wrapped chain comes together.
The second method should be used if you're sizing the chain when the large rear cog's teeth number 27 or less.  In this instance, you'll wrap the chain around the larger chainwheel and around the SMALL rear cog.  You must thread the chain through both derailleurs so it's necessary to have them (and therefore the shifters) in the correct position (large front: the inner shift cable will be under tension, and small rear, where the rear's inner cable is under little to no tension).  With the chain wrapped as described, you will bring the ends of the chain together (note that you'll be pulling one side of the chain against the spring tension of the rear derailleur which will create movement of the derailleur's cage/pulley wheels).  Continue to bring the ends together and overlap until the the rear derailleur's cage is straight up and down.  More properly stated, the correct chain length is achieved when a line drawn through the center of the upper guide pulley wheel and lower pulley wheel is 90 degrees to horizontal.  Please refer to the diagram on page 28 of the following link:
Shimano General Operations.
Page 28 deals with chain sizing on road bicycles having two front chainwheels and multiple rear cogs.  Keep in mind that your connecting link is an outter link and that you'll eventually join your sized chain where each end is an inner link.
Comment: Helpful videos from park tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0YibMDWBAw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC8_ndnXJUY
Answer: Jeff's answer covers most of it, but I tend to use a visual method.

Fit the new chain through the derailleur and on the big/big combo.
Use a double-hooked wire to hold the ends under tension against the derailleur spring
Then I pull the chain tight so the rear jockey wheel points quite a long way forward.  Not tight enough to bind the chain but still tight.
Then I trim the chain so the next inner/outer pair reaches each other - IE the next place where the chain finishes correctly
Fit the chain joiner master link.
Lastly I check in small/small to make sure the chain through the derailleur doesn't touch itself.

This visual solution works for me on doubles and triples.  I've never done differently based on the cassette or chainring sizes.


Does a quadratic necessarily have a root in this interval?

Question: If F(x) is the quadratic $ax^2+bx+c$ with $ac>0$ $b^2-4ac>0$, it is true that within the interval $[-\frac{b}{a},+\frac{b}{a}]$ there exists a point $x$ where $F(x)=0$. I was told this earlier but I don't see how that is necessarily true.
Comment: You've tried using the quadratic formula here?
Comment: @flapjackery you need  to show that,whenever  a is  positive or negative,so is  c,it means that  roots have also same sign,now range depend on only  what is  possible values of -b/a,and  after this, you can easily follow  instructions,see my answer
Answer: You can do what J.M. suggested, i.e. use the quadratic formula.
First, it's clear both a,c have the same sign, so multiplying by $\,\,-\frac{1}{a}\,\,$ if necessary we can assume the equation is $\,\,x^2+bx+c=0\,\,,\,\,c>0$ .
Using the quad. form we get that we must prove  $$\,\,\displaystyle{-\frac{|b|}{2}\leq\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4c}}{2}}\leq\frac{|b|}{2}\,$$
For example, assuming $\,\,b>0\,\,$: $$(1)\,\,-\frac{b}{2}\leq\frac{-b+\sqrt{b^2-4c}}{2}\Longleftrightarrow\frac{\sqrt{b^2-4c}}{2}\geq 0$$$$(2)\,\,\frac{-b+\sqrt{b^2-4c}}{2}\leq \frac{b}{2}\Longleftrightarrow\frac{\sqrt{b^2-4c}}{2}\leq b\Longleftrightarrow b^2-4c\leq 4b^2$$
And as both these inequalities are clear we're done.
Answer: if we rewrite  quadratic  equation as $x^2+(b*x)/a +c/a$  ,then we  have  following
$x_1+x_2=-b/a$
$x_1*x_2=c/a$
now  $c/a>0$  always,
also $b>0$
and $b/a>c/a$
so we have followings
1.a>0
then we have  $x_1$ and $x_2$   are both negative ,so both of them is greater  then $-b/a$
2.a<0
then   then   then both $x_1$ and $x_2$   are positive,so  both of them is less then  $b/a$
Answer: $F(\frac{-b}{a}).F(\frac{b}{a}) = c(\frac{2b^2}{a} + c) = \frac{2b^2c}{a} + c^2 > 8c^2 + c^2 (as\ b^2 > 4ac) = 9c^2 > 0$ (ac>0 means that c is not 0).
So F(x) changes sign from -b/a to b/a, this together with the fact that it is a continuous function means that it must be 0 at some point in the interval.
EDIT: This does not actually work as it stands, we want the product to be negative not positive. We need to use product of F at -b/2a with F at -b/a instead. Here is the proof:
$F(\frac{-b}{a}).F(\frac{-b}{2a}) = c(\frac{-b^2}{4a} + c) < \frac{-4ac.c}{4a}+c^2$ (as $b^2 > 4ac\ $ and also, $\frac{c}{4a} > 0$ as $ac > 0$) $=-c^2 + c^2 = 0$.
This shows that we have a root between -b/a and -b/2a, so the looser condition of a root between -b/a and b/a is also satisfied.
Comment: @Wonder Great explanation. I see there must be a root in the interval. So would this also imply that the points at F(b/a) and F(-b/a) must have different signs themselves? Or only that a sign change must exist?
Comment: Actually if we look at the first solution I incorrectly gave, F(b/a) and F(-b/a) will in fact have the same sign. It will be different from the sign of F(-b/2a) though.


What is the useful range of apertures for lenses?

Question: Assuming for example a lens has a range of f/1.8 - f/22, for an ideal picture which apertures should I avoid, and for what specific reasons? Now if the answer is "do not use the first two and the last two stops", can I assume the same for all lenses? Or is this information very much dependent on the quality and type of lens in question such that a rule-of-thumb cannot be created.
Answer: The two "ends" of the question can be answered with

How to stop a high F number from appearing blurry?
What's the base f-stop when counting an ideal f-stop for lens?

In short, at the stopped-down end, you become diffraction-limited at around f/11 with current APS-C DSLRs; maybe a little sooner. On the faster side, generally lenses perform better about two stops down from the maximum, but that varies by lens. And, often in both cases you might choose to do it anyway for perfectly valid reasons.
Comment: We spent many more words discussing DLA in our answer at http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/8304/what-is-a-diffraction-limit than will fit in a comment. ;-)
Comment: DLA of a specific sensor is determined by the pixel size, not the overall sensor size. An APS-C DSLR with only 6.3MP like the Canon 300D had pixels 7.4µm wide for a DLA of f/11.8. The 18MP APS-C Canon Rebel T4i has pixels 4.3µm wide and DLA is f/6.8. Likewise, a Full Frame sensor like that on the 36MP D800 has smaller pixels (4.7µm), and thus a lower DLA, than the 16.2MP D4 (7.21µm), or even the APS-C D5100 with 4.73µm pixels.
Comment: Yeah; that's nicely covered in detail in the answers to http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/8304/what-is-a-diffraction-limit; I was just aiming for a rough guideline.
Comment: Also see http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/11205/do-smaller-apertures-provide-more-depth-of-field-past-the-diffraction-limit-eve — even on. A sensor with highly-packed pixels, you may want to stop down past the nominal limit.
Answer: Every stop has a use, otherwise they wouldn't exit.
Typically at the widest end (f/1.8) the lens will suffer from aberrations and produce a slightly softer image. But there are times you need the light gathering ability. The degree to which this is true depends on the quality of the lens and other parameters such as focal length.
Likewise at the narrow end (f/22) the image will be soft due to diffraction. But there are times when you need a slower shutter speed, or to maximise depth of field. In this case lens quality is irrelevant, but pixel/sensor size comes into play when determining at which point diffraction becomes visible.
Comment: I asked a large format photographer why he used his smaller apertures if diffraction was an issue. He said "It's easier to sharpen the whole image and have adequate depth of field than it is to try to correct inadequate depth of field'. To restate- you can easily sharpen away some diffraction blur because it's an evenly distributed blur. Shallow DOF, on the other hand is a gradient, and can't be corrected quite as simply.
Comment: With large format the issue is not so much what is the *detectable* amount of diffraction for a given aperture on a given imaging medium (when viewed under high magnification) as much as it is what is the acceptable circle of confusion for a given *display magnification*. A 4X5 contact print can have a CoC of .2mm and still out resolve the human eye's ability to detect the diffraction. A 35mm size image would need to be magnified by a factor of 10 for the image to display at the same 4X5 size, thus a CoC of .02mm on the sensor would be required for the print to have the same resolution.
Comment: It is possible though that it exists for another camera :) You may have noticed newer lenses stop at F/16 or F/22 quite often while older ones often went beyond F/32.
Answer: It will depend on many factors.
Several of these are:

How you wish the image to appear
The characteristics of the specific lens
The characteristics of the camera being used

There is no rule of thumb for how you wish the image to appear. If you wish to use a narrow depth of field you will need to use a wide aperture. If you wish for almost everything in the scene to be in focus you will need to use a narrower aperture. If you want the plane of focus to be as sharp as the lens is capable of you will most likely need to use an aperture in the middle of the lens' range.
Each lens is a compromise between many factors that affect lens design. A theoretically "perfect" lens is not possible but the closest we could hope to make would be a single focal length and single aperture shaped in a perfect circle. As soon as we begin to add additional capabilities to the lens, we also begin to add design compromises. How many blades do you need to make the adjustable aperture "circular enough"? How much distortion is acceptable in exchange for a wide focal length range? How much more are we willing to spend for that next minute increase in performance? There are some tendencies that many lenses share that might be useful. Most lenses are sharper at the mid frame and edges when stopped down one or two stops from their widest aperture. This is especially true of lower quality lenses, but not so much the case with manyof the highest quality lenses. Most lenses tend to project images that are noticeably darker on the edges than in the middle of the frame when set to the largest apertures. Sometimes these "defects" are desired by the photographer, but many times they are not.
The media used to record the image will affect the amount of diffraction on an image using a particular lens at a particular aperture. On digital cameras the Diffraction Limited Aperture (DLA) is determined by the size of the sensor's pixels. With film it was the size of the grains in the emulsion, thus the DLA of the same camera/lens combination would vary based on the film being used. This is because it is related to the size of the circle of confusion for a given aperture. With a digital sensor the DLA is the aperture at which the size of the circle of confusion becomes larger than the sensor pixels and begins to visibly affect image sharpness at the pixel level. Diffraction at the DLA is barely visible when viewed at 100% (1 pixel = 1 pixel) on a display. As sensor pixel density increases, each pixel gets smaller and the DLA gets wider. DLA does not mean that narrower apertures should not be used. It is where image sharpness begins to be compromised for increased DOF. For more about diffraction, read this question. Current Canon DLSRs may have a DLA as low as f/6.8 (Current Digital Rebels) and as high as f/11 (EOS 1D X). Most other manufacturers offerings fall somewhere along the same lines.
Ultimately you must consider all of the factors involved to decide what is the best aperture to use for a particular photograph. Many times it will be a compromise between several factors such as more depth of field (narrow aperture) and usable shutter speed and ISO (wide aperture).
Answer: What I do is to go to: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx
and see for yourself how your lens performs at varying mm and f. Then learn how your lens operates from this.


opinions on film credits

Question: you and your team have finished a film.  The producer emails you looking for a list of credits.
You had a small crew and a few people performed multiple jobs.
How do you want your credits to look on screen?
how do you want them to look in imdb?
Answer: I have a small film company here in Sweden and we often do these kinds of films with less than 10 people in the team. The directors always write their own scripts and produce the movies themselves, so we write in the credits:

Written, directed and produced by: Person

And I for example do both sound and music, and instead of writing every single aspect of sound work we simply write:

Sound and music: Olle Sjöström

And the directors always edit the films themselves but we give that a separate credit.
So I guess that's how we do, don't know if it answers your question, but I hope so :)
Answer: IMDB has a standard set of sound credit roles/titles, and you can enter multiple credits for the same project so thats fairly easy...
FWIW I dont personally agree with asking for a front credit, such things are given rather than taken/asked for... And if you are to be given a front credit or a card credit, it is usually stated in your contract...
Answer: I always gun for any opening title credits I can get...and a few times they've obliged!
In the end credits, go for whatever you'd like and feel your team deserves.  They don't cost the production anything to put up there - credits any more for the crew.  Nobody in the theater cares who the 2nd unit assistant accountant was except for that person and their friends/family.
For IMDB, I'd go with 1 or 2 reasonable credits.  If you ran a camera for a day, or AD'd because it was a slim crew, I wouldn't take a credit for something like that.  Pick credits that will reinforce your current experience and career path.  As other folks pointed out, you can edit IMDB.  I routinely go through and purge out any oddball items to tighten up my credits.
Bottom line, don't sweat.  As for something reasonable, and sort it out on IMDB later.
Answer: Doesn't really bother me as long as I'm credited for what I do.  A few jobs I haven't been credited at all (was an expenses only gig too..).
Answer: I am never to worried about the credits in the actual film anymore.  It is great to see your name up on the big (or small) screen but sadly I find no one sees them.  Theaters are often empty by the time sound crew credits scroll by and broadcast television credits are routinely sped up to unreadable speeds or squished to the edge of the screen while a preview of another program plays at the same time.
IMDB is the important credit listing to me. I can Qc it myself and link to it on my website and in emails with clients. It is not perfect but at least people can actually read it when they are looking for the information.
If I complete multiple jobs on a project I normally allow a generic term for the on screen credit and them make the IMDB listing more specific to the individual tasks I worked on. So something like "Sound Editor" on the screen and then maybe three entries in IMDB with "Dialog Editor" "SFX Editor" and "ADR Recording Engineer" as a random example.
Low budget productions can complicate credits as all the jobs melt into one and there is no way to really credit every hat a person wears. I am not a fan of having several credits whip by in a row and the same name beside all of them. better to list all the tasks in one batch and then the name the one time.
Not sure if that is what you are asking but that's my two cents.

opinions on film credits


Server compilation error on some pages apache mono

Question: We have a .net web application running in fedora 6 under Apache & mono 1.1.18 version. So long it was working good. Suddenly I'm getting the following Server Error in some of the pages,
<code>Server Error in '/' Application
Compilation Error
Description: Error compiling a resource required to service this request. Review your source file and modify it to fix this error.

Error message:
(0,0) : error CS0006: Cannot find assembly `/tmp/apache-temp-aspnet-0/383ed40f/shadow-J7sRQf'
</code>
But please note, rest of the pages are loading properly. I know it has something to do with JIT compilation, but why it is happening on some specific pages. Also the error 'Cannot find assembly -----/shadow-J7sRQf' is something suspicious. The same error is displayed across all the browsers all the time.
I have not restarted apache or rebooted the system, as I'm not sure whether this error will occur again and i want to root cause it instead of just ignoring it. i didn't find anything on the httpd log also. I tried to Google it, but was unlucky to find anything specific. Can anyone help me on this? thanks in advance.
Answer: Wow, mono 1.1.18 is really old!
If I were you, I would try to stop apache and clean everything in the temporary compilation directory /tmp/apache-temp-aspnet-0/
This should force mono to re-generate everything in this directory.
Then, restart apache and see if it helps.


Removing all member from Trello cards at once

Question: On Trello, I have multiple completed cards with 20+ people on each one. I would like to keep the card un-archived, but do not want the completed cards to clutter up people's to-do boards.
In future I will have them remove themselves from the card once completed. For now, is it possible to remove all members from a card at once?
Comment: I do not understand why you might want to keep the cards active in the board.  Archived cards are VERY easy to find when you need them.
Archived cards do not show up as To Do cards.  Hope you ind the best answer for you.
Answer: You may make a COPY of the card(s) as you finish with them.
When you make a copy of a card you can include or exclude what is kept in the copy.  Keep the title, labels and comments. Uncheck Members.
This will make a copy of the original card without members.  Add back the one or two you wish to remain. Then delete (or archive). the original
Answer: You can use Butler Bot, which is a Trello automation tool, to do this. Depending on your criteria for a card being "complete", you can issue commands such as:
when all of a card's checklists are completed, remove all members from the card
or
when the label "Done" is added to a card, remove all members from the card
Etc. The tool is quite flexible and the developer (me) is quite responsive.


How to give characters a unique voice

Question: When writing dialogue all the characters sound the same. I'm not sure I even know what giving a character a voice means, but my dialogue sucks so any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Comment: If your characters are well-developed in your mind, they _will_ have a different voice. While any technical advice should be helpful, IMHO you just need to spend more time imagining your characters acting and talking.
Comment: It also occur to me that having them dialog with one another in pairs may allow you to find their differences. Try writing out some conversations between them--not for your story but for this particular goal of finding their voices. Figure out what they disagree on (it can be anything, story related or not) and then you can use that to help with voice.
Answer: A character has a "voice" if, when you read about a page worth of that character's dialogue (without any attributions) you could identify the character correctly.
Not EVERY character needs a voice; in particular the above test suggests, if they don't even HAVE a page of dialogue in the book, they don't need a particular voice.
One of my warriors has a propensity for describing things, including emotions or pretty things, in militaristic terms. If his mind is changed by an argument, he wouldn't say "I agree", he says "I surrender" to the argument.
Another character was raised in a "traditional" part of the world, and speaks a little archaically; if you see an explanation including the word "thus," where you would normally use "So," this is the only character that does that.
You can use emotions, too. A character may grow angry speaking on certain topics, even though the conversation is benign.
Some characters are deeper thinkers, and use longer compound sentences. Some speak very simply. I personally don't stray into either accents or fancy words, but a scientist is likely to think with more complexity than a janitor. The scientist may speak longer sentences with qualifiers; the janitor can speak in shorter sentences.
A character might have a tendency to interrupt themselves, or repeat themselves, or their mind keeps running after they say something, and they say "And another thing" or "you know what else" every once in awhile.
You do not have to get heavy handed with this; their "quirk" doesn't have to be present in every sentence they utter. That gets grating.
Ultimately, if you are doing your job of imagining your characters and their personality, their dialogue will be a function of that. Where they were raised, their "class" or economic circumstances, the slang used there, how much cursing was going on, the things that entertain them, what they do for a living, who they interact with frequently (family, friends, coworkers) and what THEY do. That is how we learn to speak, it is where we learn our metaphors (is it a touchdown or a home run or a slam dunk?) and it is difficult to shake without an effort.
It also doesn't have to be a repetitive 'catch phrase' or repeated use of a special word. A character can have a propensity for "comparison". Nothing is 'sweet', it's 'sweet as clover honey.' It's not difficult, its 'hard as threading a needle with your eyes closed.'
Or a character might get lost in what they are saying, differently each time, but occasionally lose track of what they were saying and trail off, or start over. Or not realize it until whomever they are talking to points it out.
Giving main characters a voice helps the reader keep them separate, and (along with conflict) this helps sustains the illusion that their longer conversations are not all just the author talking to themselves.
Answer: When it comes to crafting individual character voice, be aware that there are existing lists you can find that will give you specific items to think about. These lists include things like: Education level, dialect, age, station in life, accents, loquaciousness, and so on.
You can add a catch phrase for sure, but make it a harmless and invisible one. My characters do each have a catch phrase--and no one else in the novel is allowed to use it. (but that is only one part of their voice.)
Example: One and only one of my characters is allowed to begin his sentences with the word 'Look.' Another uses "Well," and a third sticks the phrase 'of course' into her dialog on a regular basis. They each came to their personal verbal tics naturally and logically. The scientist character quantifies his observations with the phrase 'a bit.'
Look, it's just something to become aware of. I mean, of course you're probably already aware, but if not, pay a bit of attention to people around you. Well, that's how I see it anyway.
Here's some de novo dialog with very little attribution. Can you get a sense of character voice? Why?

"Are we there yet?" she whined.
"Sweetheart, shush. Your father needs to focus on driving."
"How much longer?"
"Would you like the iPad?"
"I don't want the iPad!"
"Honey, settle down. We'll get there when we get there."

It has to do with how characters treat one another. It has to do with punctuation. It has to do with the words they choose--simple or advanced. "Would you like" is a more sophisticated way of saying "Do you want."
It has to do with all sorts of stuff--and you can make yourself a formal list for each character if that works for you, or feel your way more organically. I like lists, personally. Eventually it becomes second nature to write in a character's voice.
Answer: Find yourself a writer's group where you critique each other's work.  Or a group of friends/family will work for this.  Make sure it's in person (or by video/phone conference, if you must).  Now, read your work out loud.  Not the whole thing; maybe 10-15 mins.
Even if you're writing work meant to be read individually, using the technique of reading it out loud really helps you, the author, figure out where things aren't working right.  While this technique works for all kinds of things, where it really shines is in figuring out dialogue problems.
When you say your dialogue sucks, that tells me that maybe it doesn't sound real.  So that's your first step: making sure that all the dialogue sounds like it could have come from the mouth of a real person.
Next, you want each character to have a unique voice.  Some will really sound different and, for others, the difference will be subtle.  And that's okay.  Think about in real life how out of a group of 10 friends, several will (or could) respond in the same way to something.  Make sure the main characters are really different and aim for some slight differences among the others.
If your critique group is willing, ask them to pretend to be a character and react as that character would.  Do some improv.  If they get it wrong, how is it wrong?  Ask the other members of the group to weigh in here.
Remember too, it's not just what someone says or how they say it.  If they speak is part of their voice too.  Sometimes people respond with grunts or nods.  Others selectively ignore what they don't want to discuss.  Some will answer if they're alone but will let others answer for them if they're not.  Then there is body language.
Once you're able to see each character as a full, complete, person, you will hear their voice and see how they interact with others.  Then you can call on these things as you write for them.

How to give characters a unique voice


Exactly how commonly closed questions are reopened?

Question: As a tangent to the active question regarding whether it's worth improving closed questions, I began wondering what percentage of closed questions are ever reopened. I have a feeling that it's not as uncommon as the poster in that question feels it is, but is there a way to pull hard numbers on exactly how often people are successful in turning around their closed questions? I searched to see if this had been measured in the past but didn't find anything on this topic historically.
Comment: Yeah, I understand the process through which it can happen. I just wondered if there's a way to query the data to see the actual proportion of closed questions to reopened.
Answer: We have to be cautious about what data we seek and how we interpret the data. The issue at stake seems to be this proposition:

It is pointless to edit a question that has been closed because the question will remain closed irrespective of whether it has been improved to the point of no longer being close-worthy.

What if we find that the vast majority of questions remain closed? Would this prove the claim? I don't think so.
We'd have to take a sample of questions and look at questions individually and decide whether the question should have been reopened after it was edited and yet remained closed. If the vast majority of closed questions are not edited in a way that makes them worthy of being reopened then we would expect that most questions would not be reopened. The problem then would not be that closure is a death sentence but that the authors of the questions are not fixing their questions in such a way that warrants reopening. Many a time I've seen a question that was originally unclear become too broad, or opinion-based.
Comment: What is the strategy or approach of the website? How often do you consider closed questions? or in the other words how much do you (by you I mean those who are responsible for that) try to save some closed questions?


how could I duplicate my Nikon D5300 live view on both my PC and camera itself?

Question: I have been looking for finding a way to cast my camera's live view on my computer while I can watch the live view on the camera itself simultaneously. I could not find any solution like using digiCamControl and any other Nikon software and even using chromecast device. Does anyone have an idea?
Answer: With Nikon D3x00 series and D5x00 series cameras you can't. Apparently it is hardware limitation. Other Nikon models may also be affected by the same limitation.
Bottom line: If you want to view Live View via both an external monitor and the camera's LCD at the same time, Nikon is probably not the way to go.
Please see other existing questions here regarding this and similar issues:
Is there a way to replicate Nikon D3100 live view on my laptop screen?
Can I live view my Nikon D3200 via laptop/ tablet etc?
Nikon D3200 video tethering software?
Is Nikon D3200 compatible with external monitor?
How can I use live view while tethering a Nikon D810 to LightRoom 5 CC?
Are there any free Windows programs to get a live view for a Nikon D700 in tethered capture mode?


Remove vertical lines in table in coreldraw

Question: I'm creating a sign up list in coreldraw, it's a table with 3 columns and 15 rows. How do I remove the vertical lines in the table while keeping only the horizontal lines?
Answer: After you are done with the table and adding data into the table, select your table and press CTRL-K to break the table into lines, then select the table again and ungroup the lines of the table by pressing CTRL-U. Then select the all the vertical lines and either delete them or change their outline to no-color.
Hope this helps
Answer: In CorelDRAW 2017 (confirmed this works in X5 as well), this can be accomplished but needs to be done one column at a time:
Highlight the cells in the column where you want to remove the horizontal border:

In the Borders drop-down, select Inside:

Set the border size to None:

Final product:

EDIT:  I just noticed that the OP asked about vertical lines, not horizontal (as I have shown).  Regardless, the process is still the same for a row versus a column.


What do you call someone with the same occupation as you, but works for a different company?

Question: What do you call someone who works in the same field or occupation as you do, but in a different company or organization?
Answer: Using fellow in conjunction with the field or occupation is common, as in Walker and his fellow governors.
The first single word that springs to mind is peers, indicating people of equal standing, i.e. similar responsibilities and status. To indicate direct analogues/equivalents you could use counterparts, for example if you are benefits officer for Company X, the benefits officer at Company Y would be your counterpart. Your complement on the other hand is one in the opposite role; if you the head of sales at A Ltd., the head of purchasing is your complement at B Ltd. Your cohorts are those close to you in tenure or experience, especially in fields with long training programs such as medicine or architecture. If you are a third-year resident, all the other third-year residents in the country are your cohorts (and collectively, your cohort).
To emphasize a shared identity, you could use a variety of words suggesting membership in a club or family: members of the journalistic fraternity, your compatriots in the social sciences, our confreres at the German Embassy.
Answer: Confrere

a fellow member of a fraternity, profession, etc.;
Answer:
counterpart - a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another
Answer: If you're in a specific, identifiable position and want to refer to the equivalent individual in another organisation, you could call such a person your opposite number (or, informally, oppo).


Why didn't Dr. Strange reverse time?

Question: Since Dr. Strange uses the power to turn back time not much later than the ancient one's death, why didn't he use it earlier to bring the ancient one back to life?
Comment: He would have had to fly around the world backwards to do that.
Comment: @papakias he is referencing an old superman scene
Comment: @JackBNimble What do you mean by that? He did it later. Why couldn't he do it when he was with her and he saw her being hurt?
Answer: In my opinion, maybe the thought even crossed his mind, but he chose not to do it.
Keep in mind that, as Mordo said, messing with the time-space continuum is dangerous, it can have collateral effects such as creating branches and time loops. Therefore, it should only be used in desperate times, like when the last sanctum has fallen and earth is about to be destroyed. Using the eye of Agamotto to bring someone back to life is not something admirable (kind of selfish to revive someone whilst endangering many more). I believe the Ancient One would not have approved of it, since she said: death is what gives life a meaning. To know that our days are counted and each should be enjoyed as the last.
Comment: Excellent reasoning indeed.

Why didn't Dr. Strange reverse time?


Easy upload intro image from frontend on specific folder

Question: on joomla frontend submission you can upload intro and full image images using joomla media manager. You first upload on the folder you choose and then select image and then insert image.
I need to change that behavior, i want to upload image directly to specific folder without using media manager. Just select your image and then upload. How can i make this happen? Can i make it using template overrides?
Answer: I highly suggest using the Joomla Content Editor (JCE): https://www.joomlacontenteditor.net/ It's free and you can install and make it the default editor for your site. Once installed, its image manager overrides the core one, so when you click on Intro/full image, it pops up that dialog where you can upload directly there.You can also drag and drop into the body of the article if you do not want to see any popups.  However, if you wanted to assign as the Intro/Full Image on the "Images and Links" tab, you would have to know the file name and manually input it.  So if your default folder was /images/ and you did a drag/drop of sample.jpg, you would have to type into the Inntro Image field: images/sample.jpgHere is a demo if you want to check it does what you need it to: http://demo.joomlacontenteditor.net/
Comment: Well, yes i know about Jce but even with this  still open media manager to upload and then insert. All i need is to select image from my local computer and upload without see any media manager, directly on specific folder.
Comment: @Haris, See edited reply


What cuts are "stir fry beef" and "stewing beef"?

Question: I've seen beef chunks in the store labeled as both stir fry beef and stewing beef, but neither indicate what actual cut they are. I imagine it might vary by brand but what are these usually? Are they the same/interchangable?
Answer: They are not equivalent cuts and 'should not' be used interchangeably.

Stir Fry meat is cut from the more tender cuts of beef (tri-tip, sirloin, rib-eye) and don't require much time cooking to be 'ready to eat'.
Stew Beef is from less tender cuts (the Chuck or Eye of Round) which will become tender after a 'significant' time braising (cooking in liquid).

That said...the food police won't show up at your door if decide to interchange these, and using stir fry beef for stew isn't a terrible thing to do...but you will likely not be happy if you try to switch the other way.
Answer: I believe them to have interchangeable meaning, the small difference would be the size of the meat.  You are going to see more consistency in size with stewing meat and the size is typically going to be a little thicker opposed to stir fry, which is just a fancy way of saying the trimming's.  In regards to the cut: "stir fry beef" could be all cuts. "Stewing beef" is most likely going to be tougher less-expensive cuts, but in reality these two items are there to squeeze every penny out of the primal.

These are the two stages that are usually quickly made while cleaning cuts of meat.  Next goes to the hamburger stage which is another topic in it of itself (stir fry vs. stewing vs. hamburger).


Which organism has the smallest genome length?

Question: Which animal/plant/anything has smallest length genome?
Answer: Since you said plant/animal/anything, I offer the smallest genomes in various categories...
(Kb means Kilobases, Mb means Megabases. 1 Kb = 1000 base pairs, 1Mb = 1000Kb)

Smallest plant genome: Genlisea margaretae at 63Mb (Greilhuber et al., 2006)
Smallest animal genome: Pratylenchus coffeae (nematode worm) at 20Mb (Animal Genome Size DB)
Smallest vertebrate genome: Tetraodon nigroviridis (pufferfish) at 385Mb (Jailon et al., 2004)
Smallest eukaryote: Encephalitozoon cuniculi (microsporidian) at 2.9Mb (Vivarès & Méténier, 2004)
Smallest free-living bacterial genome: Nanoarchaeum eqitans at 491Kb (Waters et al., 2003)
Smallest bacterial genome: Carsonella ruddii (endosymbiont) at 160Kb (Nakabachi et al., 2006)
Smallest genome of anything: Circovirus at 1.8Kb (only 2 proteins!!) (Chen et al., 2003)

Refs...

Chen, C.-L., Chang, P.-C., Lee, M.-S., Shien, J.-H., Ou, S.-J. & Shieh, H.K. (2003) Nucleotide sequences of goose circovirus isolated in Taiwan. Avian Pathology: Journal of the W.V.P.A. 32 (2), 165–171.
Greilhuber, J., Borsch, T., Müller, K., Worberg, A., Porembski, S. & Barthlott, W. (2006) Smallest Angiosperm Genomes Found in Lentibulariaceae, with Chromosomes of Bacterial Size. Plant Biology. 8 (6), 770–777.
Jaillon, O., Aury, J.-M., Brunet, F., Petit, J.-L., Stange-Thomann, N., Mauceli, E., Bouneau, L., Fischer, C., Ozouf-Costaz, C., Bernot, A., Nicaud, S., Jaffe, D., Fisher, S., Lutfalla, G., et al. (2004) Genome duplication in the teleost fish Tetraodon nigroviridis reveals the early vertebrate proto-karyotype. Nature. 431 (7011), 946–957.
Nakabachi, A., Yamashita, A., Toh, H., Ishikawa, H., Dunbar, H.E., Moran, N.A. & Hattori, M. (2006) The 160-Kilobase Genome of the Bacterial Endosymbiont Carsonella. Science. 314 (5797), 267–267.
Vivarès, C.P. & Méténier, G. (2004) Opportunistic Infections: Toxoplasma, Sarcocystis, and Microsporidia. In: World Class Parasites. Springer US. pp. 215–242.
Waters, E., Hohn, M.J., Ahel, I., Graham, D.E., Adams, M.D., Barnstead, M., Beeson, K.Y., Bibbs, L., Bolanos, R., Keller, M., Kretz, K., Lin, X., Mathur, E., Ni, J., et al. (2003) The genome of Nanoarchaeum equitans: insights into early archaeal evolution and derived parasitism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 100 (22), 12984–12988.
Comment: The plant and bacterial ones I had floating around in my memory having read about them previously, so a bit of googling confirmed the names. The animal ones I got from the Animal Genome Size DB, and from Wikipedia. I guessed that viral genomes would be the smallest, so I also searched for the smallest viral genome. Then I went back to the literature (by searching Google Scholar for organism name + "genome size") to check all my facts and provide reliable references.
Comment: Nice answer Richard.
Comment: Well done! How did you find these?
Comment: "Smallest genome of anything" is wrong. There are virus-like elements like viroids with as little as ~200 bp 'genomes'. Some viroids have as little as one RNA enzyme, others have not even this.
Comment: Smallest free-living bacterial genome: Nanoarchaeum eqitans at 491Kb (Waters et al., 2003)
I downloaded this paper it says that this is archaea and its obligate symbiont not a free living bacteria. Please read carefully and then upload it.
Answer: I want to say Mycoplasma genitalium with a genome size of 582,970 bp. Turns out the answer is Nanoarchaeum eqitans with a genome of 490,885 bp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoarchaeum
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14566062
Comment: That's the smallest genome of a free-living organism. And until 2003 you would have been right about Mycoplasma, which were previously the smallest known in that category.
Answer: Both Mycoplasma genitalium and Nanoarchaeum equitans are obligate parasites / endosymbionts. This means that they depend heavily on their host to support their vital functions and they have lost many of their own genes.
A really free-living organism with an extremely small genome (~1309 kbp, 1354 genes) is the heterotrophic marine alpha-proteobacterium Pelagibacter ubique [1].
See a larger analysis here: https://alamot.github.io/smallest_genome/
[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16109880 Giovannoni SJ, Tripp HJ, Givan S, Podar M, Vergin KL, et al. (2005). «Genome streamlining in a cosmopolitan oceanic bacterium». Science 309: 1242–1245.


Ford Focus Mk2 acc wire dead

Question: I have a 2005 mk2 Ford Focus and the acc wire that comes into the back of the stereo connector has stopped working. Also the electric windows only work with the engine running, not when just the ignition is on. This has only just happened so it seems like a fuse has blown but I can't find which one it might be. I've googled fuse box diagrams but I'm still not 100% sure if I should be looking in the engine fuse box or the one under the glove box.
Does anyone know which one it is?
Cheers
Comment: I've taken every single fuse out and checked it and it's definitely not a fuse. When I turn the ignition on I just get engine light and the coil symbol then when I start the engine they go off and everything works again.
Answer: Usually either the owner's handbook has the list or it may be embossed in the plastic cover of the fuse box.
But, it may also be worth checking the ignition switch as, if that is not working properly, then you won't get the acc supply even if the fuse is good. Apart from the fuse and the ignition switch there may also be a relay in the circuit.
Comment: The fuse box doesn't have a cover and I was trying to avoid paying out for a manual for what might just be a blown fuse. Will try and check the ignition switch tomorrow. Thanks for your advice.

Ford Focus Mk2 acc wire dead


衰落:decadence or decline?

Question: I'm trying to describe the plot of the work 红楼梦 using the phrase "the 贾 family's decline". The word for decline, though is confusing me. After putting "decline" through a few online translators, I've received the word 衰落. But when I reverse the translation to check it, sometimes I get decline and sometimes decadence, which is not what I'm trying to say. Is there a more appropriate word in this context to say decline without the implication of decadence?
Answer: The phrase you are looking for is "come/go down in the world", meaning to lose wealth or high social rank in one's past. It can be translated to Chinese as "家道中落".
Answer:
The term 'decadence' should be translated as '沈溺與腐化' (indulge and corrupt)

~

The term 'decline' should be translated as  衰落 (decline/ descend); 衰退 (decline/ recede); 減弱 (decline/ weakening); 減少 (decline/ decrease)

I don't think translating '衰落' as 'decadence' is accurate.
Translate "the 贾 family's decline" as "贾家的衰落" is a correct translation.

衰落: decline/ descend from a high status or position
衰退: decline/ recede from the front or forward position
減弱: decline/ weakening in strength
減少: decline/ decrease in number or amount

衰落：decadence or decline?


Press one button then another?

Question: Let's say we have two buttons - button 1 and button 2. What I need to do is to do something (like turn LED on) when button 1 is press, then button 2 is pressed. I can do it realy simple by just using two boolean variables, but how can we tell button 1 was the first pressed button?
Comment: Look up what a "finite state machine" is.  Use interrupts or digitalRead to check status of the buttons.
Answer: A nice solution is to use a state variable. In C/C++ (thus Arduino) you can use an enum variable for that.
<code>enum EState
{
  // Button 1 and 2 are not pressed
  NoButtonsPressed,

  // Button 1 is pressed, button 2 is not pressed
  FirstButtonPressed,

  // Both buttons are pressed
  BothButtonsPressed
};

EState _state;

void setup() {
  // put your setup code here, to run once:
  _state = NoButtonsPressed;
}

void loop() {
  // put your main code here, to run repeatedly:
  switch (_state)
  {
  case NoButtonsPressed:
    if (digitalRead(1) == HIGH)
    {
      _state = FirstButtonPressed;
    }
    break;

  case FirstButtonPressed:
    if (digitalRead(1) == HIGH)
    {
      // Button 1 is still pressed, ignore second button.
    }
    else if (digitalRead(2) == HIGH)
    {
      // Button 1 is not pressed, button 2 is pressed.
      _state = BothButtonsPressed;
    }
    break;

 case BothButtonsPressed:
   // Switch on LED
   digitalWrite(2, HIGH);

   // Reset state.
   _state = NoButtonsPressed;
   break;

 default:
   // Other state, illegal.
   break;
  }
}
</code>
In every state you can define exactly what needs to be done. Because of the loop function being ran continuously, you just need to handle one state (change) at a time.
Additional notes:

Your requirements are not fully complete (like when to switch off the LED), probably when button 2 is released (which I don't check for), you can add a new state for this.
I did not take debouncing of buttons into account; you might need to do this especially if you check for releasing buttons. On the official Arduino website there is a good article about it.
I haven't tested the sketch.
Comment: It looks like this code should not have button bounce problems because it ignores button presses unless it's in the state waiting for that button press, and then it advances to a new state where it will ignore that button press and wait for the next one. As you say, if you get more elaborate, like responding to button releases, it will need debouncing.
Comment: Thank you! This solution is great! :)
Comment: Nice clean answer. (Voted)
Comment: @DuncanC Thanks for the upvote and comment. In the example above debouncing is not strictly needed, although I can imagine the user wants to have the LED off after the second button has been released, without debouncing, the LED will stay on a ms or less after the second button has been pressed because the second button will be pressed (LED on) and bounces back (switching off the LED). If the requirements are that the LED should be on until the first button is pressed, than debouncing is not strictly needed.

Press one button then another?


Advantages of using Python in Blender for Animation?

Question: How can it help aid animation? I'm learning Blender and want to know what reasons there are for using Python. I've seen some videos on YouTube of people using it.
Comment: If you hate the blender Python Text Editor, there is this new tool Bacutor, has intellisense, http://bacutor.freeiz.com
Answer: Python is useful in three ways:

Scripting and addons
Drivers
The Game Engine

Scripting and addons:
Python allows you to automate actions with blenders existing tools to speed up workflow and add functionality that would be (practically speaking) impossible to do manually.
Here are some nice examples of what can be done with python addons:

Molecular simulation

Drivers:
Drivers can be used to set properties from other properties, e.g. a python function, the location of an object, or another setting.
This can be very useful for animation, among other things/
From the wiki:

Drivers can use properties, numbers, transformations, and scripts, to control the values of properties.

Here are some nice examples of what can be done with drivers:

Dynamic frosting
Randomly tweaking settings

Game Engine:
Python can be used in the game engine to control the behavior of objects (e.g. AI), the way the view looks (e.g. custom shaders), and interactions with the user (e.g. menus).
Here are some nice examples of the BGE in action:

Building demo
Water shader
Racing game
Answer: Its hard to answer your question since you just say Help with animation, For any kind of detail you would need to say what problems you have with existing tolls tools that you imagine Python may be able to help you with.
Blender's tools might do everything you need, in that case theres probably not so much use for Python.
However when you start doing larger, more involved projects - inevitably you start having to solve problems outside the scope of the default toolset.
Some times you can find pre-made extensions, other times you may want to start scripting a little yourself.
However this applies to any area of Blender, not just animation.
As has been mentioned, drivers are the obvious area you may want to learn at least basic Python for.
Another thing that was not mentioned, you may want to write one-liners in the Python console, these can speedup your workflow with some quick automation, without you having to become a Python expert.
eg, rename selected bones to add a prefix and lowercase the name:
<code>for b in C.selected_editable_bones: b.name = "prefix_" + b.name.lower()
</code>
Answer: You can use python for automating recurring tasks which would boring or too time consuming. In short for automation like: Mapping an algorithm to an animation.
Or to add new functions like the ones you know from the add-ons: to grow trees (sapling), create landscapes, create full rigs (rigify) and much more.
Answer: While the other answers are good, one of the most common uses for scripting in any animation package is writing scripted rigs. Scripting a rig often makes the rig a great deal more flexible, reusable, and easier to edit. E.g. adding a bone to an IK chain becomes really easy when you can rebuild the entire rig from scratch by just executing a single command.
There are other uses like this muscle sim, which are covered by "adding functionality," from the other answers.
Answer: python is also useful to create scenes/animations based on external data (e.g. large lists of coordinates of objects to be displayed)
Comment: Can you list a few examples where it helps, so the person who asked the question can have a better idea of why python is useful with lists?


What kind of circularity, if any, is it acceptable for a philosophical argument to contain?

Question: I'm studying circularity in arguments and was wondering if there is any acceptable circularity possible in a good philosophical argument. For instance, I gather that some regard rule-circularity as being generally less vicious than premise-circularity - is this the case, and so, would it still be generally unaccceptable in argument? I was also wondering whether circular arguments are always vicious - I've seen "virtuous circularity" mentioned and wanted to know if that was possible? It seems odd that circular reasoning could be non-vicious. thank you!
Answer: I think that the non-vicious quality proposed for some circular arguments is well-described at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on Abduction:
>

Stathis Psillos (1999, Ch. 4) has responded by invoking a distinction credited to Richard Braithwaite, to wit, the distinction between premise-circularity and rule-circularity. An argument is premise-circular if its conclusion is amongst its premises. A rule-circular argument, by contrast, is an argument of which the conclusion asserts something about an inferential rule that is used in the very same argument. As Psillos urges, Boyd's argument [in defense of inference to the best explanation] is rule-circular, but not premise-circular, and rule-circular arguments, Psillos contends, need not be viciously circular (even though a premise-circular argument is always viciously circular).
...
It is fair to note that for Psillos, the fact that a rule-circular argument does not guarantee a positive conclusion about the rule at issue is not sufficient for such an argument to be valid. A further necessary condition is "that one should not have reason to doubt the reliability of the rule—that there is nothing currently available which can make one distrust the rule" (Psillos 1999, 85). And there is plenty of reason to doubt the reliability of IWE; in fact, the above argument supposes that it is unreliable. Two questions arise, however. First, why should we accept the additional condition? Second, do we really have no reason to doubt the reliability of abduction? Certainly some of the abductive inferences we make lead us to accept falsehoods. How many falsehoods may we accept on the basis of abduction before we can legitimately begin to distrust this rule? No clear answers have been given to these questions.
Be this as it may, even if rule-circularity is neither vicious nor otherwise problematic, one may still wonder how Boyd's argument is to convert a critic of abduction, given that it relies on abduction. But Psillos makes it clear that the point of philosophical argumentation is not always, and in any case need not be, to convince an opponent of one's position. Sometimes the point is, more modestly, to assure or reassure oneself that the position one endorses, or is tempted to endorse, is correct. In the case at hand, we need not think of Boyd's argument as an attempt to convince the opponent of abduction of its reliability. Rather, it may be thought of as justifying the rule from within the perspective of someone who is already sympathetic towards abduction; see Psillos 1999 (89).
[bracketed expressions added by Elliot]
Answer: On Self-Reference, Fractal Ontology, and the Nature of Consciousness
=====
Preface:--
Those desiring a more technical "Sources and References" section of this writing.

Douglas Hofstadter claimed that phenomenon such as consciousness arose from fractal(-like) strange loops, and, that circularity, not only was not pejorative in this context, but was actually an exposition of much of the structure of reality.
Certain structures such as Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems give rise to self-circuality.

"Douglas Hofstadter, in his books Gödel, Escher, Bach and I Am a
Strange Loop, cites Gödel's theorems as an example of what he calls a
strange loop, a hierarchical, self-referential structure existing
within an axiomatic formal system. He argues that this is the same
kind of structure which gives rise to consciousness, the sense of "I",
in the human mind. While the self-reference in Gödel's theorem comes
from the Gödel sentence asserting its own unprovability within the
formal system of Principia Mathematica, the self-reference in the
human mind comes from the way in which the brain abstracts and
categorises stimuli into "symbols", or groups of neurons which respond
to concepts, in what is effectively also a formal system, eventually
giving rise to symbols modelling the concept of the very entity doing
the perception. Hofstadter argues that a strange loop in a
sufficiently complex formal system can give rise to a "downward" or
"upside-down" causality, a situation in which the normal hierarchy of
cause-and-effect is flipped upside-down. In the case of Gödel's
theorem, this manifests, in short, as the following:" —  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems)

"Merely from knowing the formula's meaning, one can infer its truth or falsity >> without any effort to derive it in the old-fashioned way, which requires one to >> trudge methodically "upwards" from the axioms. This is not just peculiar; it is >> astonishing. Normally, one cannot merely look at what a mathematical conjecture >> says and simply appeal to the content of that statement on its own to deduce  whether the statement is true or false." (I Am a Strange Loop.) —  (https://publicism.info/philosophy/strange/14.html)

======
Sources and References:--

Primary Sources:--

Hofstadter, Douglas R. Gödel, escher, bach. New York: Vintage Books, 1980.
Hofstadter, Douglas R. I am a strange loop. Basic books, 2007.
(https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/self-reference/)
Mandelbrot, Benoit B. The fractal geometry of nature. Vol. 1. New York: WH freeman, 1982.
(https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chaos/)

Other References and Further Reading:--

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_loop)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-reference)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-modifying_code)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Strange_Loop)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems)


How do you encrypt a file or a single folder worth of data?

Question: Looking for a way to easily encrypt a file or a folder with a password without having to make up an encrypted read write image in Disk Utility?
Answer: There are plenty of utilities that will create a simple encrypted volume/image for you, I've used Exces, but I got it in a bundle, otherwise seems a little bit expensive. I know there are others. Exces does what it says and nothing more.
It creates a volume where you can drop anything (folders, files, etc.).
After you close it, you need the password to re-open it and access its contents. If you lose it, you're hosed.
Answer: Found some interesting solutions in the article How to password protect folders. Someone in the comments of this article mentioned the app Espionage 2 and this seems to be more along the lines of what I was looking for with more a seamless Finder integration and maintaining folder appearance, not sure if it works on just single files the same way, will need to try it. Eg I have a important Tax Documents folder, and now I have a Tax Documents Folder Encrypted, and not now I have a Tax Documents disk image file sitting there instead of a folder.


Security implications of forwarding ports 1-10000 on Airport Express?

Question: Today I found that ports 1-10000 were being forwarded on an Airport Express that I as well as a fair number of other people share. This was setup by another user. There are multiple machines and devices on the network, OS X and Windows, and I was wondering what having those ports forwarded means to the various computers on the network and if there are any potential issues for this situation.
Answer: Functionally, it would be as if the machine to which the ports were forwarded was directly connected to the Internet.  (At least for those ports.)
To the other machines on the network, the forwarding itself wouldn't be much of an issue, but if the forwarding target gets compromised, it could pose a threat to other machines on the network.
The first thing you should find out is what machine the ports were being forwarded to.  If that IP is not in use, then the forwarding should not be a significant issue.  If the target is patched with no services exposed to the Internet, then having ports forwarded is not likely to be a significant issue.  (Most clients that are compromised are done in a way that NAT won't protect you against anyway.)
Answer: Forwarding simply removes the protection of network address translation (NAT). This means for most effective purposes that the computer which is being forwarded too has about the same level of access you'd have being on a local LAN with it via the internet.
It doesn't mean it's inherently insecure, in fact it has identical security to what it has against other LAN users on the network. A key difference is though now instead of however many malicious users you have on the LAN looking (perhaps 1?) you have thousands on the internet checking it out.


How to add "time lock" to the EOS tokens

Question: I have issued some tokens base on eosio.token in jungle testnet, and I am able to transfer the tokens between accounts. Now if I want to enforce some control to the tokens sent ( for example, time lock, I do not want the receiver to transfer the tokens to someone else in 2 years). How should I program this function? Thank you for the help!
Answer: How about this ?
 /// @abi action
 void transfer( account_name from,
                account_name to,
                asset        quantity,
                string       memo );

 ///@abi action
 void transferf(account_name from,
                account_name to,
                asset        quantity,
                string       memo,
                uint32_t       frozen_days);

...
void token::claim( account_name owner ) {
   require_auth(owner);
   frozens frozen_balance( _self, owner );
   uint32_t n = now();
   for (auto itr = frozen_balance.begin(); itr != frozen_balance.end();) {
       if ( n >= itr->time_limit ){
           add_balance( owner, itr->balance, _self);
           itr = frozen_balance.erase(itr);
       }else {
           itr++;
       }
   }
}

void token::add_frozen_balance( account_name owner, asset value, uint32_t frozen_days, account_name ram_payer )
{
   frozens frozen_balance( _self, owner );

   frozen_balance.emplace(ram_payer, [&]( auto& row ){
       row.pkey = frozen_balance.available_primary_key();
       row.balance = value;
       row.time_limit = now() + (frozen_days * 86400);
   });
}

...
void token::transferf( account_name from,
                      account_name to,
                      asset        quantity,
                      string       memo,
                      uint32_t       frozen_days)
{
    eosio_assert( from != to, "cannot transfer to self" );
    require_auth( from );
    eosio_assert( is_account( to ), "to account does not exist");
    auto sym = quantity.symbol.name();
    stats statstable( _self, sym );
    const auto& st = statstable.get( sym );

    require_recipient( from );
    require_recipient( to );

    eosio_assert( quantity.is_valid(), "invalid quantity" );
    eosio_assert( quantity.amount > 0, "must transfer positive quantity" );
    eosio_assert( quantity.symbol == st.supply.symbol, "symbol precision mismatch" );
    eosio_assert( memo.size() <= 256, "memo has more than 256 bytes" );

    sub_balance( from, quantity );
    add_frozen_balance( to, quantity, frozen_days, from );
}

Comment: Nice piece of code, add_frozen_balance can be skipped here you can shift more  logic to claim function otherwise this is also fine..
Comment: @NirdeshKumarChoudhary Thank you for your comment, could i get detail idea please?  :)
Comment: Your time complexity in the claim function is O(n) and in case of limited ram this is not good Idea. All you can do rather than using for loop differred your transaction by a longer period sayd max limit is 45 days (that depend on your usecase). And try to optimize the accessing of table.
Comment: @NirdeshKumarChoudhary Thank you so much. I will try to optimize code.
Answer: You cannot enforce time lock on eosio.token contract because you do not have ownership over the contract and you can't modify the logic in the contract.
However, you can create your own token contract based on eosio.token and add the time lock logic in your transfer function.
You will need to save the timestamp when the recipient receives the token into a vector or multi-index table depending on your requirements.
Comment: He's referring to the contract, not the account https://github.com/EOSIO/eosio.contracts/tree/master/eosio.token/
Comment: Thank you. Is there any code example that can show me how to create the lock ?
Answer: You can do that by slightly modifying your token contract.
Things what you need to do is add one more variable for timestamp in your account table or anything else that tracks users.
After that add timestamp by increasing it to two year when user purchase token.
Modify transfer function accordingly that every time checks that timestamp and allow users to transfer tokens after varification.
Comment: Thank you. Is there any code example that can show me how to create the lock ?
Answer: Hope this will be helpful for you!!!
https://github.com/yashbhavsar007/tokentime
Comment: do you think you could paste here some of the relevant bits just in case the link won't point to an existing resource later on when others visit the question?
Comment: it cannot be understood from a little bit of code..but i will try to put it here if i manage to do so..and i will also manage not to remove code from my repo
Comment: @Mr.Y why don't you  use deferred transaction concept here....  In  your case how  your transfer function call itself  for check the time limit...
Comment: @NirdeshKumarChoudhary We can do it by deferred transaction also but as it mentioned in eosio's official documentation "There is no guarantee that a deferred action will be executed" that's why i have not executed it over here.
Comment: you just check once the  time condition but  if you want your transaction to be complete you have to call transfer action until time reach to now(). How did you mange that...?
Comment: can we do this discussion in chat? because i am not executing transaction automatically based on time.


What anesthesia should I request for my mole removal as a vegan?

Question: I'm planning to get a mole removed from my face. I'm vegan, and I would like my dermatologist to use anesthesia that doesn't contain any animal products. I know in the US all medicine is tested on animals and is therefore never cruelty free, but I just want to find the best option out there. For mole removal, what is a good, vegan anesthesia option? Options to consider: Lignocaine, Bupivacaine, Ropivacaine.
Comment: Have you asked the dermatologist what anaesthetics they have available?
Answer: Cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen treatment) does not require any anesthetic. Depending on the skin condition, your doctor may decide to apply this removal method.
Before freezing the mole off, your doctor will evaluate how vascularized it is and may perform tests to determine if it is malignant.
You will experience some stinging and some level of pain during the procedure and a few minutes after the treatment, but not at a level requiring anesthetic.


How to move the Query Role?

Question: I want to modify the Query component from Server_A to Server_B on SharePoint 2010? and want to know how much time it will take to complete the activity? also what all are the process SharePoint 2010 will do in this case?
Answer: What applies to the crawl component applies to the query component as well. I far as I know, every change to the search topology will make SharePoint rebuild the index.
Answer: Click on the modify Topology.
Under Query Component, change the server from the drop down , select the other server name and nad create the drive location.
Additional you can follow thw link.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/russmax/archive/2010/04/16/search-2010-architecture-and-scale-part-2-query.aspx

How to move the Query Role?


Boyle's Law of pressure and volume

Question: Boyle's Law states that pressure is inversely proportional to volume.
However, let's take an example of a balloon: as we fill air in it, its pressure increases, but its volume also increases. Can anyone explain?

(source: ucdavis.edu)
Answer: Balloon is not an ideal system to study pressure-volume relationship. Because, on expansion, the elastic skin also expands and there needs to be an additional pressure build-up on the inner side to counter that force, very similar to the extra pressure in a spherical bubble. (where the surface tension acts exactly similar to the elastic balloon skin)
But in your arguments, you are forgetting an important point. Blowing a balloon also involves increasing the amount of air in it. Boyle's law holds for only a fixed volume of gas. If you change the number of moles, Boyle's law no longer stays valid.
Answer: Let's start with the general gas equation:
$$P_1V_1 = nRT_1$$
Now to get to Boyle's law, we assume that both $T$ (temperature) and $n$ (the number of moles of the substance involved in our experiment) are both constant.  Now we can rewrite the above equation as
$$P_1V_1 = \mathrm{constant}$$
Of course if we change $P$ or $V$ in our system their product must still produce the same constant, or
$$P_1V_1 = P_2V_2$$
So we can't blow additional air into our balloon (adding more moles of material and violating one of our initial assumptions) and still expect Boyle's law to hold.  In a fixed system like the one we just described where Boyle's law holds, if we reduce the volume of our balloon $(V_2)$ by $1/2$ then the pressure $P_2$ must increase by a factor of $2$ in order to maintain the value of the constant.
Answer: As Satwik explained, a balloon is not really a great container for ideal gases because of its elastic nature. It would be better to imagine a piston like in the picture below.

As this picture shows when the piston goes down (towards the base of the container), the volume decreases. At the same time, since the number of moles of gas stays the same (a constraint that Sathwik and Ron explained well), the pressure goes up since the ideal gas particles are now more likely to interact (collide) with the side of the container. Thus we can see that as the volume of a system decreases, the pressure increases (they are inversely proportional).
Image adapted from: https://opentextbc.ca/chemistry/chapter/9-5-the-kinetic-molecular-theory/

Boyle's Law of pressure and volume


How to identify the difference between two cryptographic schemes in terms of security?

Question: I am currently working on a project, that requires using encryption libraries namely (LibScarab and FHEW). I want to know how can I compare the two schemes in terms of security (I already compared between them in terms of execution time). All I know that LibScarab uses SV scheme, while FHEW uses LWE scheme. Can I get help in how to bring comparisons between two schemes to decide which one is more secure?
Answer: Security of the Smart-Vercauteren scheme is based on the Short Generator Principal Ideal Problem (SG-PIP), whilst FHEW is based on (ring)-LWE. There have recently been several attacks on SG-PIP that are much faster than the best known LWE attacks, so it would seem that FHEW currently has stronger security foundations.
In particular, Cramer, Ducas, Peikert and Regev described a subexponential attack that solves SG-PIP in $O(2^{n^{2/3 + \varepsilon}})$ time.
http://eprint.iacr.org/2015/313.pdf
I don't know whether LibScarab takes this attack into account, but I suspect at least the original SV parameters are much weaker than first suggested.
There are also polynomial time quantum attacks on SG-PIP that are referenced in that work, whereas there are currently no known efficient quantum algorithms for (ring)-LWE.
Comment: Thanks a lot,but I know that FHEW ae usig standard LWE encryption scheme not the ring-LWE.  However, the SV is using the ideal lattice based. So if I want to compare between scheme in mathmatical representation ( security bit) do you think that I could make something work a round this attack ??
Answer: To compare two schemes in terms of security, you need to know the security models of your schemes, i.e. being ind-cpa or ind-cca, etc.


What is right age for children to start fasting?

Question: In the month of Ramadan everyone would fast seeing which children are tempted to fast. So can anyone put some light on this question of mine that when is the right age for children to start fasting?
Comment: Right age, from a medical or Islamic perspective? Or any other?
Comment: according to Islamic way
Comment: Well if it comes to at what age one should start fasting then from the time one reaches adolescence on one has to fast as it would be fard/farz. But the right age a child should experience fasting is really depending on the child, it's health, culture, customs etc.
Answer: A person should start fasting when they reach puberty.
According to modern science and Islam, there are 3 sign of puberty you can look for, and if either of them appears first, then the person has reached puberty and should fast.
The conditions are,

Growth of pubic hair on the private parts.
Age of 15.
Ejaculation in males and menstrual cycle is females.

If either of them appears first, then you can conclude the person has reached puberty and should fast.
Hope this helps.
Comment: I believe this is the correct answer. But of course, one can start fasting way before that if they wish :)
Answer: According to this link:
Every child should start fasting when they reach the age of adolescence.
Answer: Although it is seen that apparently there are some (or much) differences between different sects of Sunnis and even Shia regarding the age of the puberty, but I assume all of them or at least more of them believe that children should be fast since the start of puberty aging. In regard to the age of the puberty, as a general rule from the viewpoint of Shiite, it is 9 for the girls and 15 for the boys. (Although it can be related to the signs of the puberty as well to change its age...)
Answer: The answer of the question is obvious that it depends on the age of Buloogh (adolescence). Because once a person reaches the age of adolescence, the wajib practices will be mandatory for him or her. and whereas fasting is one of those wajib practices, thus an adult (baaliq) person should do his or her wajib practices among fasting.


What are the opinions that explain why Gemara is authoritative?

Question: Rambam and R' Hai Gaon say that Gemara is authoritative because of minhag, but are there other opinions as to the reason? The one that I'm familiar with (or that I most identify with) is the reason that the Gemara is authoritative because it's simply the best index of the actual halacha (and what Chazal said). Is there anyone that takes this viewpoint? Rosh? Rama? Am I being a halachic idiot/outcast on this?
Comment: here you go, from my translation of the Rif. The very last page. http://alfasi.blogspot.com/2006/01/rif-eruvin-35b-eruvin-104a-continues.html

"And we do not hold so [like Yerushalmi over Bavli], for since our sugya of our gemara permits, we are unconcerned that the Yerushalmi forbids, for on our gemara we rely, for it is later {contains later generations of Amoraim} and they were experts in Yerushalmi more than us, and if they did not establish that this statement in Yerushalmi is not to be relied upon, they would not have permitted it to us."
Comment: Doesn't this have to do more with why Babylonian over Yerushalmi? I'm asking, "Why Babylonian or Yerushalmi?"

This is great though, thanks.
Comment: indeed. though perhaps he was seizing upon 'best index of actual halacha', where we see that Rif holds here that it reflects a best index.
Comment: That could be it Josh, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks. :D One of you guys should make this an answer though, so I can choose you as best answer.
Answer: I don't think that this is a bad question at all. I'm aware of two explanations:

The Rambam states in his introduction to Mishna Torah that the Talmud Bavli is binding because כל אותם הדברים שבתלמוד הסכימו עליהם כל ישראל, it was accepted by all of Israel. I understand why you would read this as an appeal to 'minhag', but it could be for a fundamentally different reason. R' Elchonon Wasserman (in Kuntras Divrei Sofrim) explains that the acceptance of all of Israel has the halakhic force of a fully functional Sanhedrin (which is binding as per the Torah in parshas Shoftim). He understands that the Sanhedrin itself is only given this power because it is meant to act as a representative body of the entire Jewish people, so when the Talmud was actually accepted by the entire religious community, following it is equally obligatory.
The Rama (Choshen Mishpat 25:1) takes for granted that one can't argue on the Talmud, and the Gr"a in his comment there provides the source for this rule: 'Ravina and Rav Ashi are the last of horaah' (Bava Metzia 86a), implying that no one after Ravina/Rav Ashi can argue on them (and therefore the Talmud, assuming that they are the final editors of the Talmud Bavli like Rashi there and Rav Sheraira Gaon). However, he doesn't explain why all of the sudden after the deaths of Ravina and Rav Ashi no one could argue on their predecessors. The only explanation I know of for this sudden break is brought down in the name of Rav Y. D. Soloveitchik in Nefesh Harav (by Rabbi Hershel Schachter) who explains that once the main body of the Oral Law was written down (in the Talmud), then the nature of psak changed and cannot be undone.

(These are a bit complex; I'll explain in greater detail if you want me to)
Comment: On a side note. A friend of mine made this comment, "In particular, you cannot derive a proof from the Talmud itself that the Talmud itself is authoritative. It makes no sense to quote the Talmud that Ravina and Rav Ashi were the last, because it is a self-referential claim; one could easily imagine the rabbis of the Yerushalmi thinking that no, *they* were the ultimate decisors. The Talmud will be biased in its own favor, so to speak."
Comment: Please do. I'm heavily interested in this.
Comment: @Matt So why is today's halacha not 100% congruent with gemara?


How distantly related are research in computational neuroscience and neural networks/machine learning?

Question: If one is more interested in understanding how algorithms in the biological brain solve problems (theoretically, particularly the mathematical aspect), and possibly in building brain-inspired computation (applied theory, particularly neurorobotics), then is it suggested to focus more on studying computational neuroscience rather than artificial neural nets/machine learning? It seems the latter one is more oriented toward any algorithms just to solve problems via computer simulations without the constraints of biological brains, though there are still large areas for theory of machine learning and artificial neural nets.
Answer: Computational neuroscience and neural networks are both studied on this MSc at the University of Sussex.
When I took the course in 2004/5, the Neural Networks module was compulsory, and the Computational Neuroscience was optional in the 2nd semester, so that would suggest the course designers (world leaders in biologically inspired computing) thought that studying neural networks first might aid the study of computational neuroscience.
I think some of the other subjects taught on the course would be of interest to you, e.g. evolving genetic algorithms for robot control (see Rodney Brooks – and the iRobot corporation).
Lastly to answer the question(!), I think you probably need some understanding of (simple) neural networks (artificial or otherwise) to understand more in-depth concepts in computational neuroscience.
Answer: Neural networks constitute one (very important) level of organization that is modelled computationally in brain research. Computational neuroscience attempts to make these as biologically realistic as possible, often creating models that operate at multiple levels, such as having the neural networks exhibit electrochemical dynamics - something that is obviously not the goal of standard machine learning research. Thus, in a sense, studying computational neuroscience will necessarily make you more of an expert in artificial neural networks than studying machine learning ever will. The type of neural networks used in machine learning are much too basic to explain the brain. However, machine learning texts could give you insight into, well, how information about the environment could potentially be saved in the brain. Computational neuroscience as a field is still in its infancy, especially what concerns modelling learning in the brain. Even Chris Eliasmith's spiking neural network model Spaun (which is quite impressive!) has been criticized by Henry Markram (the guy that got 1 billion Euro from the EU for the Human Brain Project) for being biologically unrealistic. In short, you won't get around the basic ANN theory in studying computational neuroscience, and you will expand on it significantly in biological terms. However, you might want to check out machine learning texts to see how neural networks could possibly store patterns.
Answer: Not very related insofar, unfortunately. While the original inspiration for artificial neural networks (ANN) was biological, most of the subsequent progress in ANNs for what is called "machine learning", which is usually concerned with optimizing some function, came from mathematical insights that were not based in biology; quoting Marblestone et al.(2016):

The artificial neural networks now prominent in machine learning were, of course, originally inspired by neuroscience (McCulloch and Pitts, 1943). While neuroscience has continued to play a role (Cox and Dean, 2014), many of the major developments were guided by insights into the mathematics of efficient optimization, rather than neuroscientific findings (Sutskever and Martens, 2013). The field has advanced from simple linear systems (Minsky and Papert, 1972), to nonlinear networks (Haykin, 1994), to deep and recurrent networks (LeCun et al., 2015; Schmidhuber, 2015). Backpropagation of error (Werbos, 1974, 1982; Rumelhart et al., 1986) enabled neural networks to be trained efficiently, by providing an efficient means to compute the gradient with respect to the weights of a multi-layer network. Methods of training have improved to include momentum terms, better weight initializations, conjugate gradients and so forth, evolving to the current breed of networks optimized using batch-wise stochastic gradient descent. These developments have little obvious connection to neuroscience.

Marblestone (who is an AI researcher) and colleagues do argue (in fact this is the point of their article) that

however, that neuroscience and machine learning are again ripe for convergence

Their list of arguments is fairly long and I'll certainly not do them justice here, but for instance they cite a recent paper proposing to explain that Hebbian plasticity is a form of optimization:

Often these types of local self-organization can also be viewed as optimizing a cost function: for example, certain forms of Hebbian plasticity can be viewed as extracting the principal components of the input, which minimizes a reconstruction error (Pehlevan and Chklovskii, 2015).

Marblestone et al. dedicate a substantial amount of their paper reviewing fairly recent work that has attempt to pinpoint backpropagation (a key method for ANN's success in optimization) in the brain. The list of hypotheses how backpropagation might happen in the brain is pretty long, alas, so I won't review them here; I'm just pointing to a few papers and talks Hinton (2016); Liao (2015) that examine how backpropagation is (or isn't) related to biological neworks or which even propose biologically inspired alternatives to be used in ANNs, e.g. Balduzzi (2014).
Another issue that Marblestone et al. cover in depth is how cost functions might be represented in the brain. And this meshes in with how memories and goals are represented in the brain. This is obviously a vast area of research. Since the deep biology papers are generally beyond my pay grade, I'll just point to
a recent paper (highlighted by Marblestone) proposing that a "Naïve Utility Calculus" underlies much of "Commonsense Psychology"; Jara-Ettinger et. al (2016).
Comment: For the narrower issue with backpropagation see https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/16269/is-back-prop-biologically-plausible


Replacing Non-Working Single-Pole Dimmer Switch

Question: Ok- so I hope I explain well- I will also attach photo. Dimmer switch and switch to fan located in same box. When we removed the plate, the cords came out of there locations before we could see what was attached to what. We have: 2 white wires that had a yellow nut connecting them; then we have a red wire, 2 black wires and a green grounding wire. The new dimmer also included a yellow "jumper" wire. We are wanting to replace the current dimmer switch and also the switch next to it that controls the fan. The old setup has wires coming out of the switches attaching to the wires in the wall with yellow electrical nuts. The new switches don't have any wires at all (other than the green grounding wire)- just the screw or wire-in-the-hole hookups.
We are having a hard time figuring out the connection map. We can't tell which one is the common or "hot" wire. We don't have any electrical tools to tell us either.
The new dimmer switch has a blue screw, a gold screw, and a black screw. The new regular switch has a black screw, a gold screw and a green screw.
Can someone PLEASE help by telling us what to hook which wires to on both the new dimmer and the new switch? Even without knowing which is the "hot" wire, is there a couple of different configurations that could help us figure that out?
Thank you so much!!]1
Comment: Hello, and welcome to Stack Exchange. Another picture, especially of what's below the current picture, might help. If you can't post a second picture, post the URL, and someone will be along to edit it into your post.
Answer: I'd be surprised if the wires coming in from the bottom of the box (the 14/2 NM) weren't the supply (hot).  It's fairly common to use a 14/3 for the run between the switches and the light\fan. In that you only have 2 cables coming into the box and you're working with single-pole switches, the easiest way to verify is to use the regular switch to test for the hot.
I'd connect one of the non-green terminals to the red wire coming in from the top and one of the non-green terminals to the black wire coming in from the bottom. Switch it on, and turn the breaker back on. My guess is that either the fan (most likely) or light will come on.
You can then confirm this by turning the breaker back off, removing the red wire from the switch, and replace it with the black wire coming in from the top of the box. Turn everything back on, and the other device should be on now.
After you've confirmed that the bottom black wire is the hot, follow the installation instructions on the new switch and dimmer. You'll need to connect both of line terminals on the switches to the hot. You can either jumper them (tacky) or wire-nut two pigtails onto the hot and connect one to each switch.