What are my chances at getting a mortgage with Terrible credit but High income

Question: I want to get a house in the near future(ideally within 6 mo. to a year) and my credit is very poor right now. Basically, I was working in a job that I could barely make it on, and missed payments on my 3 credit cards for the past 3-4 months. I also have some collections. I started a new job where I am making double the money I used to make. I am now trying to get everything paid down and should be in "paid as agreed" status on everything for next month, but I am pretty upset at the hit my credit has taken. I also am paying roughly twice as much in rent as a mortgage payment would be on the type of house I have been looking at, so I'd really like to purchase a house if possible. Basically I am just wondering what my chances might be at getting approved for a mortgage. If you need any more information please let me know. Thanks!!
Answer: With bad credit but good income, I would simply save a large down payment. You're much more likely to get a mortgage with 25% down and a history of recently saving that 25% to show.
Comment: look for a bank that will do manual underwriting - that is, the "old fashioned" way of deciding if a loan is worth the risk (from the bank's perspective). Rather than looking at your credit score and putting a mark on your forehead because it's "bad", manual underwriting looks at your assets and income and assesses whether providing a loan is worth the risk. With a 20% or greater down payment and a great income, the risk (for the bank) is low.
Answer:
I also am paying roughly twice as much in rent as a mortgage payment would be on the type of house I have been looking at, so I'd really like to purchase a house if possible.

Sounds like I need to rain on your parade a bit: there's a lot more to owning a house than the mortgage. Property tax, insurance, PMI, and maintenance are things that throw this off. You'll also be paying more interest than normal given your recent credit history. It's still possible that buying is better than renting, but one really should run the detailed math on this. For example, looking at houses around where I live, insurance, property tax and special assessments over the course of a year roughly equal the mortgage payments annually.
You probably won't be able to get a loan just yet. If you've just started your new job it will take a while to build a documentable income history sufficient for lenders. But take heart! As you take the next year to save up a down payment / build up an emergency fund you'll discover that credit score improves with time. However, it's crucial that you don't do anything to mess with the score. Pay all your bills on time. Don't take out a car loan. Don't close your old revolving accounts.
But most of all, don't worry. Rent hurts (I rent too) but in many parts of the US owning hurts more, as your property values fall. A house down the street from my dear old mother has been on the market for several months at a price 33 percent lower than her most recent appraisals. I'm comfortable waiting until markets stabilize / start rising before jumping on real estate.
Comment: @OP If you save up for the house you need (for need read 'want') rather than trying to buy it now, it will end up costing you much less over the long term. Spend a year living in a rented house smaller than you would like and you'll be putting yourself on a sound financial footing. That's much more important than a little extra space.
Comment: Well, you're not really raining on anything, as I already was aware of that. The biggest trouble is that for my family size (6) what we can afford to rent is far too small for what we need. In our area though there are plenty of homes that are affordable that would be great. Thanks for the advice :)
Comment: Good point; if you need the space renting a house is an entirely reasonable solution, not always more expensive, preserves your option in case you need to relocate, and not only gives you time to save and to repair the credit record but will help you nail down exactly what you want your house to be.
Answer: First step, pull a copy of your credit report, and score. You should monitor that score and do what you can to bring it up.
Your chances are far better if (a) you first save a sizable downpayment, and (b) go with a local bank that doesn't just write the mortgage and sell it.
Better still, go to that local bank and inquire about REO (real estate owned by the bank) property. These are properties they foreclosed on and depending how they are carrying them, you might find decent opportunities. As a matter of logic, a local bank that owns these specific properties (as compared to debt pools where big banks have piles of paper owned fractionally) are more willing to get a new owner in and paying a new loan.
Congrats on the new, higher, income. I'd suggest you first build the emergency fund before the downpayment fund. Let us know how it goes.
Answer: The bottom line, is that you are doing the right thing now:  correcting your past indiscretions.  Get those collections taken care of, then start saving for a down payment.  Of course, during this time, you should pay your bills early or on time.
During that time your credit will improve dramatically.
I bet that this will not be an issue once you have your down payment saved, so the point is moot.
However, with outstanding collections it is very unlikely you will get a loan.  In my own case, I had to pay a collection, that I did not owe, in order to obtain a mortgage.  It was for a small amount and the loan officer told me that "it is the cost of doing business".  Ship $150 and my loan when through free and clear.


Code block text coloring not working?

Question: So Sometimes my code will highlight properly and other times, it gets no colors or anything. What gives! I can't find anything on this meta that has discussed this aspect of this issue.
Answer: This is called syntax highlighting as explained over in the SE-meta post :

Before you do anything, are you sure that you've got the correct
  highlighting turned on? Behind the scenes, Stack Exchanges uses the
  tags on the question to infer the language you are using. If there's
  more than one tag that has syntax highlighting, it uses a default and
  lets Prettify infer what's the best language to use. If you're curious
  whether a tag has a language hint, any user is capable of checking by
  visiting that tag's wiki page.

Bolding mine. So, if you're offering a code answer to a question that isn't tagged with the code, you won't get syntax highlighting by default.
You can force a specific syntax by using Prettify language codes. Put this immediately before a code block, and it'll be highlighted as Bash:
<code><!-- language: bash -->

    for f in *.mp3; do echo "$f"; done
</code>
Comment: Outside the code, before the code block. See for example here: http://superuser.com/posts/885595/edit
Comment: @slhck I tried that with `lang-vb` but I'm thinking I wasn't clear on exactly where it should be. In the code? Outside the code?

Code block text coloring not working?


Wifi Problem With Elementary OS

Question: I am a noob at linux so don't be harsh please. I installed Elementary OS on my Dell Inspiron 7559 and the install was fine but, wifi networks don't show up and ethernet works perfectly fine. Can someone help me out please.
Answer: Your wireless card is not supported by the 3.19 kernel.
To upgrade the kernel, run this command

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-xenial
  xserver-xorg-core-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-lts-xenial
  xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-xenial
  libwayland-egl1-mesa-lts-xenial

Reboot your computer and try connecting to the Wifi.
Answer: I had the same problem with every Linux distribution on my Asus X552 and the only solution I found is to put laptop on sleep and then turn it on again and wifi will work.

Wifi Problem With Elementary OS


Visual equivalent of VST

Question: What would be most similar in concept to VST effects but for visuals?  In other words, is there a standardized interface for running VisFX on a video in the same way that one can run VST realtime effects on audio?
Answer: It really depends on how much you care about realtime operation.  VSTs tend to be used both for production and performance, but with video, because there's so much more processing involved, things tend to be split between production and performance.  That being said, for production, After Effects plugins are probably the closest analogy.  For performance, probably Freeframe.
Freeframe is a format that's specifically tailored to be cross-application, but on the production side of things, I don't know of anything that transcends applications the way that VSTs do.  Each video production app tends to have its own format.  The main reason I say AE plugins are the closest analogy to VSTs is because AE itself is almost as ubiquitous in the same application price range/platform.
So there's not really an exact analogy (if you consider all the various factors), but there are similar things out there.
Answer: In addition to the AfterEffects plug-in API, there's also FxPlug, OpenFX, and AVX plug-ins.
FxPlugs often work in real-time because they tend to utilize the GPU. They work in FCPX and Motion.
OpenFX plug-ins can work in a variety of hosts (sometimes requiring an adaptor), but as far as I know, they aren't real-time usually. They work in Sony Vegas and I think Nuke. There was an adaptor for After Effects at one time, but I don't know if it's still maintained.
AVX plug-ins are used by Avid systems. Again, I don't know if they meet your realtime requirements.

Visual equivalent of VST


How can my PC avoid the effects of command?

Question: I'm playing a barbarian. Another player's PC is a warlock. The warlock is constantly using the spell command on my barbarian, and it's annoying. How can my barbarian avoid the command spell's effects?
Comment: What are they using the command spell to force your barbarian to do?
Comment: What's the actual problem here? Command is spell who's effect lasts for precisely 1 round, and I'm having a hard time seeing how that's doing anything to your barbarian without some context.
Comment: @bubbajake00 — Or https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/37103/what-is-my-guy-syndrome-and-how-do-i-handle-it
Comment: Welcome to the site and, perhaps, the hobby! Take the [tour]! I took the liberty of editing your question so as to put it more game-based terms. I hope that's okay. Answers might encourage you to talk over this issue with the warlock's player rather than providing you with in-game techniques for resisting the spell. If talking to the warlock player outside the game isn't an option, please add *why* that isn't an option to the question. Thank you for participating and have fun!
Comment: Is the player doing this for RP purposes because it is something the character would do, or is the player can doing it because he can?
Answer: Mechanically, there are number of methods
The right way to approach the problem is talking to the player. However, your question was "how can my barbarian avoid the command spell's effects" specifically. Well, the description of the spell is:

Command
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: 1 round
You speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn. The spell has no effect if the target is undead, if it doesn't understand your language, or if your command is directly harmful to it.

Therefore, possible methods of preventing/avoiding the Command effect are:

Kill the caster. Dead warlocks do not cast spells.
Threaten the caster. An RP-ish way: "That's an insult! If you do this again, I'll rip out your tongue!". Keep in mind your character is completely aware of the Command spell effect.
Knock the caster unconscious. An unconscious creature can't take any actions, including casting a spell.
Blind the caster. The caster has to see the target.
Silence the caster. The caster has to perform the verbal component. He cannot cast anything while gagged.
Take the Mage Slayer feat. It gives you advantage on the saving throw and allows you to attack the caster as a reaction, but only when the caster is within 5 feet.
Go away. Don't stay near the warlock. The spell range is only 60 ft.
Deafen yourself. Apparently you have to hear the caster in order to be affected, despite the fact the spell description doesn't require this explicitly. Ask the DM how the spell works in their game.
Succeed on the saving throw. There are plenty of methods of increasing your chances of a good roll. Raise your Wisdom score. Take the Lucky feat. Take the Resilient feat. Find a magic item that helps you succeed on saving throws (Ring of Spell Turning, for instance).

Less reasonable, but still valid methods:

Become unable to understand language. The spell description explicitly requires the target to "understand your language". For instance, you "can't understand language" after the Feeblemind spell.
Incapacitate yourself. "If the target can't follow your command, the spell ends".
Die. - A dead body is considered an Object and is not affected by any creature-targeting spell.
Become undead. "The spell has no effect if the target is undead".
Comment: On the one hand, dying to avoid this spell seems like a failure of priorities. On the other, I'm probably describing the question as much as the answer...
Answer: This is Player vs Player interaction. Some tables have a rule against this. Check with your DM. Beyond that, explain to the warlock player that their behavior is reducing your fun with the game. If they are reasonable, they should stop. If they continue, they are being a jerk. No table should allow jerks. If you can get no satisfaction by talking to either DM or player, you are left with three options:
1) tolerate it
2) leave the group
3) retaliate
I do not recommend the third, as it tends to escalate the situation and can lead to hard feelings. However, your barbarian does not have to like the warlock, can refuse to aid him in combat, fail to warn him of traps or surprise attacks, etc.
Finally, warlocks have a very finite pool of spells. If they are wasting one of their (likely) 2 spell slots on practical jokes, this will backfire on them eventually. AFAIK, there is no warlock invocation that grants command, and only Pact of the Fiend even grants the use of the spell in the first place. This is poor spell maintenance and detrimental to the party.
These are my recommendations. However, if your desire is merely to resist the effects of the spell, your options are limited. You could stop up your ears. The target needs to "understand the language" of the command, which in this case I would interpret as needing to hear it at all.
Comment: On the third, least desirable option, if I'm a barbarian, and some spellcaster is consistently casting spells on me against my wishes, knocking him unconscious would be the least of my reactions. Forget passive aggression.
Comment: Yep. A Barbarian would solve the problem by removing the Warlocks tongue.
Comment: Casting a spell to control another PC is an immediate ban on my tables. *"The Dark Powers were looking for another Dark Lord in a pinch, and your (former) PC was conveniently in a weak spot for the mists to pick you up."*
Comment: I disagree that retaliation "only escalates the situation and leads to hard feelings". There already are hard feelings at that table. And in-game retaliation can lead to good off-game laugh and smoother play. Seen it happening at my table. "My guy has no reasons to stop doing that"; later "Now your PC has all the reasons he needs, I presume?" kind of laugh back.
Comment: Good point. I have made the language less absolute. Some people enjoy that sort of play style.
Answer: First of all, on the level of "another player keeps commanding my character to do things they wouldn't normally do and it's bothering me," is there a reason you can't talk to the warlock's player and tell them it bothers you? This is almost like a form of railroading, except instead of the DM forcing your character into situations it's another player. It's just as not okay from a RPG etiquette standpoint, and if they won't listen you should talk to your DM about it - they can probably sway the warlock's player if you can't.
In-game, though, you should have a few options. The command spell requires a wisdom saving throw to succeed. I'm sure, if this is a problem, wisdom is not exactly your barbarian's strong suit, and there aren't very many items that increase wisdom on their own. So:

If you take the Path of the Berserker, at level six you gain the Mindless Rage feature, which means you cannot be charmed or frightened while raging. It doesn't help the rest of the time, but it's something. (Edit: I have been informed by @keithcurtis that Command is not a charm effect. Whoops!)
It'd be really hard to come by, but the Tome of Insight, when read, grants you a +2 to Wisdom.
There aren't any preset items in 5e that I can think of that would help with wisdom saving throws, but if you talk to your DM and they for whatever reason can't do anything about the player outright, you could see if they'll homebrew something like that and drop it in as loot. Suggestions might be something that grants advantage on wisdom saving throws, or maybe just a +1 or +2 bonus. Once you come by it you can get other players to let you use it by explaining that it would be really bad for them if you're controlled by an enemy, and this item will help that not happen.

Beyond that, I will reiterate that you should talk to the warlock's player outside the game. They may think that this is a fun dynamic between your character and theirs, and not even be aware that it bothers you.
Good luck!
Comment: Re: point 1 -- *Command* does not impose the charmed condition. Mindless Rage will not affect it.
Answer: Command only allows single word commands. With a single word, you can only specify an action, not a target.  So next time the warlock commands you to "kill" "charge" "attack" or whatever, you're completely justified in targeting the warlock :). ("He made me do it! :) :) )
In any case, after the single round duration expires, you're free to... forcefully express your displeasure... with the warlock. Or keep disturbing him when he's trying to rest to relearn his spells :).
Or just rip his head off and use it as a football :).
Answer: Earplugs. The Odyseuss solution to annoying sonic attacks.
If the barbarian can't hear the commands he can't act on them.
Comment: This is a pretty good idea, but you may want to expand a bit on how to deal with wearing earplugs all the time.
Answer: Other answers have already addressed that sometimes in certain playstyles what the warlock is doing is off limits.  This answer will assume you are in a game where that's not the case, and where PvP activity is totally acceptable.
Become extremely attached to your beliefs
Command doesn't work if the command directly harms you.  Arrange yourself (by which I mean the interior state of your soul) such that acting against your beliefs constitutes direct emotional harm. Use the opportunity to decide what things you really care about, and to remove the obstacles in your life that lead you to sin against them, especially sins of omission.  If you possess the spiritual state that guards against sins of omission, commands to sin against your ideals will constitute direct harm.
This method of avoiding the effects is superior to all others, because it provides an opportunity to develop your character and costs no mechanical character resources.
Use violence
In addition to bettering yourself to prevent this kind of problem in the future, you should punish the Warlock for their bad actions.  What constitutes an appropriate punishment depends on the nature of your in-character relationship and those with the rest of the party.  Unlike in previous editions, however, you can possess the might necessary to enforce your punishments against the full-caster's will despite not being a caster yourself; don't be scared just cause the warlock can rearrange the universe.  Your party less the warlock working together should still win a fight, as long as there's at least two of you.  That's not to say that you need to fight the warlock, but the fact that you conceivably could strengthens your ability to impose penalties against them.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/70992/discussion-on-answer-by-the-dark-wanderer-how-can-my-pc-avoid-the-effects-of-com).


Date form to unix timestamp

Question: I'm using Drupal 7.8, and am trying to get the user to specify a date using the drupal date form. I want to take this date, and save it to a database as a unix timestamp. The trouble is, I think the data given by the date form is based on the user's current timezone. Does drupal provide anyway to convert the form data back to unix time? Is there an easier way to handle dates?
Answer: I'm pretty sure the values stored using the date attribute are unaltered and just passed on in an array. So the question would be if the user submits the date for UTC or his/her timezone. I would say the latter ;-)
I'm no expert on date settings and timezones, but had seen this question before on stackoverflow, so taking that into account I assume you can do this:
<code>global $user;
$datefields = $form_state['values']['submitted_date'];
$submittedDate = "{$datefields['year']}-{$datefields['month']}-{$datefields['day']}";
$timezone = $user->timezone;
$newdate = new DateTime($submittedDate, new DateTimeZone($timezone));
$unixts = $newdate->getTimestamp();
</code>
This would require the user to have set his/her timezone accurately in the account settings.
Comment: Thanks for the answer, I'm having a bit of trouble with $user->timezone though, it appears to be a blank string. I have per-user timezones enabled. Any Idea what could be going wrong?
Comment: Do you have "global $user;" defined? That is needed to access any of the $user properties.
Comment: I just came across the [Date](http://drupal.org/project/date) module. This also supports date conversion (in addition to a nice calendar popup I was looking for). From the readme:
Example, the following will create a date for the local value in one
timezone, adjust it to a different timezone, then return the offset in seconds
in the new timezone for the input date; The offset will be adjusted for both
the timezone difference and daylight savings time, if necessary:
$date = date_create('2007-03-11 02:00:00', timezone_open('America/Chicago'));
$chicago_time = date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i');
Answer: I think you want to store the timestamp of the user, you can use strtotime function for converting the date to unix timestamp.
I used the below code for the same :
<code>$date = $date['year'] . '-' . $date['month'] . '-' . $date['day'];
$timestamp = strtotime($date);
</code>
Answer: Use mktime():
<code>$values = $form_state['values'];
$unix = mktime(0, 0, 0, $values['date']['month'], $values['date']['day'], $values['date']['year']);
</code>
This will produce a unix time converted using the time zone of the current user.

Date form to unix timestamp


Where is the Isolated Storage located on Windows Phone?

Question: Last year I installed a preview of Windows 10 for Phone (version 10.0.10149) on my Lumia, and it broke both WiFi and the cellular network. Thus I was not able to use the phone or update it with newer previews of Windows 10. Using recovering tools will erase all my data, but I believe my backup was incomplete.
I backed up to my Microsoft account before I installed the preview. However, judging from the size of the backup, I believe data of a particular app wasn't backed up. Is it possible that an app can choose to opt out from the backup, though?
Now that I can view all the "system" files on my phone, by exploiting a bug of the File Explorer, I want to find the place where this app stores data, and copy these data to my PC. The only place I know where an app stores data is the Isolated Storage, so where can I find it in the file system? I can confirm that C:\Data\programs and C:\Data\Users\DefApps\APPDATA are not the place.
Other methods that allow access to data of an app installed from App Store are also very appreciated.
Comment: Nothing discovered yet?
Answer: Check here: \Windows Phone\Phone\Data\Users\DefApps\APPDATA\LOCAL\Packages\


Eclipse compiler says attribute is undefined in case of array of enums field in the annotation

Question: I'm using Spring Security 3.1.0.RC3 because the possibility to secure methods with enum privileges was introduced in 3.1.
Here is my annotation:
public @interface SecuredEnum
{
  public PrivilegeEnum[] value();
}

And here is how I use it:
import static somepath1.PrivilegeEnum.SOME_PRIV1;

public interface MyService extends BaseService {
  @SecuredEnum(SOME_PRIV1)
  void insertOrUpdateMyObject(MyObject myObject);
}

javac compiles this code correctly every time, but eclipse (Indigo SR1) compiler gives an error after Project -> Clean:
The attribute value is undefined for the annotation type SecuredEnum

and suggests a quick fix:
Create attribute 'value()'

So here is my workaround: I apply this fix, and comment out the array field in the annotation:
public @interface SecuredEnum
{
  // public PrivilegeEnum[] value();

   public PrivilegeEnum value();
}

After that eclipse compiles all classes correctly (except for those where @SecuredEnum takes two or more privileges). Next step is to uncomment the old array field and delete new field created by the quick fix. As a result, everything is compiled perfectly.
So this is pretty annoying to do each time the project is cleaned. Another problem is that I can't reproduce this problem with a sample project, so maybe there is some crucial information that is missing from this question text.
Whos bug is it and how is it possible to fix it?
UPDATE:
neither using explicit array in the annotation argument (i.e. adding { } brackets), nor defining the argument name ('value') explicitly nor using fully qualified enum value instead of static import helps
Comment: Other answers didn't help me. Only solution worked for me was switching back to eclipse indigo from eclipse juno. It solved the problem.
Answer: Could be a problem with the retention policy, which you haven't defined in your custom annotation. So the retention policy defaults to class. It should be runtime, at least that's what the Spring Security guys are using for the @Secured annotation.
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.TYPE, ElementType.METHOD})
public @interface SecuredEnum {
    public PrivilegeEnum[] value();
}

Comment: by the way it works for me, although I don't use Eclipse. So I would guess your problem is due to the IDE...
Answer: With Eclipse Juno (4.2) I just needed to change (insert blank, delete blank) and save the file with the false positive to get rid of the "undefined value" Error.
I have to do this once, every time I change Compiler Settings, but then it is gone until then...


Bond lengths in hydrocarbons

Question:

It seems like the first molecule has a bond order of $1$, the second and third have a bond order of $7/6$ and the fourth molecule has a bond order of $3/2$. Why is the answer not $4 < 2 = 3 < 1$?
Answer: Well, 2 cannot be equal to three to start off, because a double bond it way shorter than a single bond.
The Answer to this is D, 2 has the shortest bond because it is a double bond, next 4 is a benzene ring, which is a resonance structure, which means that all the carbons technically have partial bonds between each other, or you can imagine the double bonds to be continuously rotating between the different carbons. Lastly 3 and 1 both have normal single bonds, so would have an equal bond length.
Therefore, since the double bond is shortest, the resonance between a single and double is a bit less short, but not as long as a single bond, and a single bond is the longest, the answer it 2(double bond)<4(between double and single bond)<3&1(which are both single bonds)
Comment: @user99364 Chemical formula for 2&3 is C6H10, but benzene's is C6H6, if you draw the two molecules, you'll realize that for benzene, if a Hydrogen is placed on each Carbon, regardless of where you place the double bonds, the molecule will always satisfy the octet rule for all it's  atoms. But, if you draw 2 or 3, you will see that the double bond cannot move, but must remain where it is in the molecule to allow all its' atoms to conform to the octet rule.Therefore, benzene or (4)'s double bonds can move around freely, aka resonance, creating partial double bonds between all it's carbon atoms.
Comment: Why are 2 and 3 not also resonance structures?
Answer: I can try to explain this by valence bond theory also:-
In first figure carbon is $sp^3$ hybridised having 25% s character and 75% p character.The same is for the  third figure where there is carbon carbon single bond.
In second figure carbon is $sp^2$ hybridised with 3 $sp^2$ hybrid orbitals which have more s character than p unlike sp3 hybridised orbital.
Now s being more electronegative makes the the double bond shorter than the single bond since it has more s character in sp2 hybridised orbital than sp3 hybridised orbital,so bond length of 1and 3 figure is shorter than that of 2 figure.
The bond in figure 4 fall somewhat intermediate to double bond and single bond and so is its bond length(intermediate).
Now the order of bond length will be:-2 less than 4 less than 1=3.

Bond lengths in hydrocarbons


Why does an unsuccessful NFL challenge result in the loss of a timeout?

Question: What is the reason an NFL team loses a timeout if it challenges and the challenge fails?
Answer: This can be answered definitively, without much speculation, by reading articles from the NFL.
The initial replay system, in place from 1986 to 1991, was scrapped for two reasons:

After a six-season run, instant replay met its demise in 1991 when 17 owners voted against renewing the system. The belief: The system delayed games too much and failed to get enough of the calls correct.

And while it probably didn't slow the game down that much, coaches were challenging a lot, and not winning very many challenges:

1991: 224 games, 570 challenges (2.5 per game), 90 overturned calls (15.7%)

So, it took almost 15 minutes of added time (say, 2 minutes per call, and almost 1/7 overturn rate) to get one overturned call.

When replay was being re-considered, in 1996, not only did they try to do a better job of getting calls correct, but they also added the following rule:

Each coach could challenge three plays per half — at the cost of a timeout per review. The league went away from the old version of replay officials in skyboxes and gave referees the authority to review plays on the field inside a booth equipped with monitors. And referees now had only 90 seconds to make their ruling.

However, that system (trialed in the 1996 preseason) was not passed, because:

Despite the changes, owners voted against implementation for the 1997 regular season. The main hang-up centered on each review costing teams a timeout, even when a challenge was successful.

And as such, when replay was reconsidered again in 1999, it was with the following change:

Coaches, unwilling to trade a timeout for any review, would now be charged a timeout only for unsuccessful challenges.

So you can see the progression: First replay was too slow and had too many challenges, and so they added the idea of a replay using a time-out, to both reduce spurious challenges and reduce the length of the game.  The coaches didn't support that, but did agree to a compromise - losing a timeout on an unsuccessful challenge.
Answer: Bottom line: because that's what rules say. Quoting from the 2015 Rulebook, Rule 15, Section 2, Article 1:

Each challenge will require the use of a team timeout. If a challenge is upheld, the timeout will be restored.

As for why that was the rule chosen by the NFL, you're into the area of speculation, but a challenge is in some ways similar to a timeout in that it gives players a chance to catch their breath, make substitutions etc. Obviously it doesn't stop the clock, but there has to be something to stop teams being able to throw a spurious challenge flag purely to slow things down.
Comment: Indeed,  as stated at the end of that Article: "but a fourth challenge will not be permitted under any circumstances." The game must not be slowed down, a big part of the game is tempo and momentum.
Comment: Joe's [answer](http://sports.stackexchange.com/a/12109) really touches into *why* quite objectively.
Answer: Because it is a timeout.  When you throw the flag the clock stops.  The play is reviewed and then the clock is only wound when the referee sets the ball.  And then the offense could run a play in less than 5 seconds.
So basically any smart coach with 2 timeouts and a minute to go would use the challenge flag as soon as he could if he weren't charged a timeout.  So instead of losing 20 seconds on a play they would lose 3-5 seconds.  The rule was put in for this exact fact.  We would have mindless flags at the end of each game.


Downloading MS SQL Server 2008 Standard edition

Question: I want to download MS SQL Server 2008 with business intellegence standard edition. But I don't know how to download it, because the one I got was EXPRESS edition and everytime I run the x86 FULL 2008 server standard I downloaded, which is 1.3 GB in size, I cannot install it. It keeps telling me to run the setup.exe file but I can't find it.
Answer: MS SQL 2008 Standard is a retail product for purchase.  Do you have Technet or Actionpack?  If not, where are you downloading this from?  Sounds like you are downloading the Express (free) version.
Comment: i tried to get it from technet microsoft, but its not working
Comment: Contact TechNet support, that's what you're paying for.


How to list the content of a zip file within another zip file without extraction

Question: We have a zip file which contains another zip file.
We tried zip -l file on a zip file but we don't know how to list the content of the other zip file within it, without any zip extraction.
Is that possible with Linux zip ?
Thank you all
Answer: You can't. You can view the directory of a ZIP file, but the only way to see the contents of a zipped ZIP file is to extract it first. Maybe only in memory, but you'll have to extract the zipped ZIP first.
(I can image you could write a tool that only partially unzips the zipped ZIP until it has the directory, but have never seen one.)


Encrypted data and digital signatures in the blockchain?

Question: Let's say that Alice publishes some data on the blokchain encrypted with Bob's public key. Bob then decrypts the data. Later Bob wants to prove that he is the owner of that data, that is he wants to prove he is the only one who could decrypt that data. Everyone in the network must be able to verify that. Is it possible to achieve this with digital signatures? If so, how should I use them?
Answer: Bob is the only one who could decrypt that data <=> Bob is the only one who has the private key.
The latter statement can be proved by simply letting Bob provide a signature (for example using "eth_sign") of an agreed upon message. The resulting signature can be verified with his public key (as an example, Etherscan has an UI that make it easy to check this verification process).
This proves that Bob has the private key paired with the public key that the data was originally encrypted with.
Answer: Hashing refers to the concept of taking an arbitrary amount of input data, applying some algorithm to it, and generating a fixed-size output data called the hash. The input can be any number of bits that could represent a single character, an MP3 file, an entire novel, a spreadsheet of your banking history, or even the entire Internet. The point is that the input can be infinitely big. The hashing algorithm can be chosen depending on your needs and there are many publicly available hashing algorithms. The point is that the algorithm takes the infinite input of bits, applies some calculations to them, and outputs a finite number of bits. For example, 256 bits.
and this link try it and help link
thanks


Launchpad OpenID no longer working

Question: Recently when I was asked to log back in to askubuntu, I got taken to a different launchpad page that asked me what kind of access I wanted to give to askubuntu, including access to modify private bug reports.  I don't want to give askubuntu any access on launchpad, only use the OpenID to authenticate me.  I opened this question and was told that askubuntu removed support for OpenID and is now using OAuth instead.  Why was this done?  It seems like the wrong thing to do.
Answer: Of important relevance is that OpenID support is in the process of being fully disabled across all of StackExchange, with a final kill date for OpenID support of July 25, 2018.
The Launchpad OpenID support changes were rolled out more quickly here for Ask Ubuntu because myself and some other individuals are part of the Teams system being rolled out on StackOverflow, and OAuth support is needed for that to work (the OpenID logins were 'disallowed' if you were part of Teams).  You probably got caught inside this rollout.
Also of note: Launchpad login is only officially supported on the Ask Ubuntu site specifically.  It is not a network-wide option for logging in.  As such, the Launchpad integration has already been moved to OAuth based login credentials, and this was done back in late May, and is a StackExchange driven change, not an Ask Ubuntu specific change.
Technically OpenID support for LP logins by providing the OpenID 'works' until the complete phaseout happens, but the LP login endpoint with the "Login with Launchpad" button now points to OAuth and not OPenID.  So you will need OAuth to use the "Login with Launchapd" button now.
You will need to disassociate the OpenID login, and associate the LP login again with OAuth to restore LP login functionality.  (Details of the phase-out network-wide are at the link above).  And when you link it again, you can use the 'Read non-private data' option, so that SE can't write your data or anything, and can't see your private data either.

According to Nick Craver of the StackExchange staff, they are in the process of sending out email messages to users who only have OpenID login credential methods to add alternative methods of logging in with credentials to their account.
They have also altered the OpenID Support Final Death Date to be July 25, 2017, exactly one month from today. Which means you must now alter your login credentials so that you are not relying solely on OpenID to login to your account.
Comment: So you mean I just have to sign up for a stackexchange account and no more openid?  Why?!
Comment: No more *launchpad* OpenID or other OpenID mechanisms, yes. There are other accounts you can bind to your login methods which use OAuth - Google Accounts for example - that you can add temporarily so you can still login and switch to Launchpad OAuth instead of OpenID.  If you want to know why OpenID is going away check the link in my answer and read it, this is a StackExchange-wide decision about OpenID and all the reasons they have for the removal of OpenID in favor of OAuth methods instead are all laid out there. (Direct complaints about this to SE staff)
Comment: This said you still need to use a Google account or StackExchange login or such as an alternative login mechanism.
Comment: @psusi Thomas is correct. OpenID will be turned off on July 25th. We were able to transition Launchpad to OAuth instead of turning it off. Of course, you don't have to use it. You can associate Google, Facebook or email/pw to your account. Just make sure to do that prior to July 25th.
Comment: @JoeFriend, so you are saying that if I want to continue to log in via launchpad, it will work, but in this semi broken fashion?

Launchpad OpenID no longer working


Was Buddha born of a Virgin?

Question: I was reading a work that claims Buddha "was born of the Virgin Maya". What Buddhist works address the birth of Buddha? Do any support or conflict with a virgin birth for Buddha?
Answer: This refers to a dream that Queen Maya had after trying for many years to have a baby with her husband. The reality is, they wrote that he was born to a woman who had been married for twenty years,
This Blog will help to clear your idea. http://www.rightreason.org/2009/the-virgin-birth-of-buddha/
Answer:
Was Buddha born of a Virgin?

No. Tathagata Buddha was born as normal human being. He was named "Siddhartha Gautama". His birth is elaborated in some details over here
About the reference which you have given, the source from where you "got" this information - in my opinion this source is dangerous and is against Buddhist vision itself. It equates Krishna and Rama with Buddha! This is blunder. As I was Hindu (those who worship Krishna and Rama), I know that their message is nowhere close to Buddhist message. The whole things is conspiracy and in the Indian context it is called Brahminical conspiracy.
Answer: As far as I know Queen Maya is not described as a virgin anywhere in the Pali canon, but she was believed to be sterile by most Burmese Buddhists. The account of the Buddha's birth is derived from Acchariyabbhuta dhamma Sutta of Majjhima Nikaya
Comment: I've edit the link to the one that is working thanks
Comment: the link in your answer is temporarily unavailable.
Answer: Answer to the question "Was Buddha born of a Virgin?" is No
He was born as other normal humans are born into the world. Bodhisattva's who became Buddha in next immediate life are looking for 5 facts before they born into this world.

Suitable time
Suitable Land
Suitable Country
Suitable Cast
Suitable Mother

Here Mother should have various characteristics but here relevant factor is she should be biologically available (That means connection of Mother and Father as all of us know).
Load Buddha is not half god- half human but he has accepted him as a Normal human in lot of places. The Best location is "Dhrona Sutta" where Load Buddha has accepted he has born as a normal human.
As described in Dhrona Sutta, While Load Buddha was walking in between Udeni and Sawath towns, Load Buddha has met a Brahmin called Dhrona. Dhrona had seen special foot prints with various unusual symbols and marks and decided the owner of the foot prints cannot be a human and followed them.  Finally he has met Load Buddha at the end of footprint line and asked,
Are you a God?
Load Buddha said No.
then he asked following questions and got the same answer no.
Are you a Devil?
Are you a Gandharwa (half god- half human)?
Are you a human?
Then he has asked as everyone of us would ask, then who you are?
Then Load Buddha has answered "Drona, I was born as a normal human, lived as a normal human but I have destroyed all the klesha (desires, lust and angry). So I am a extreme human. Most suitable name to identify me is "Buddha"".
And finally Sidhhartha Gauthaama became Load Buddha not because of god has selected him to be a Buddha, Instead he has tried himself continually for very very long time to become a Buddha in his previous lives with fullfilling generally 10 facts (descriptivly 30) called Paramitha.
Answer: No, There is no truth of it .Buddha's fathe was king Suddhodana, leader of the Shakya clan and his mother was queen Maya Devi.So why there will raise a question of virgin birth of buddha ? He was born as all normal human born.
Answer: The Dona sutta does not say that Buddha was a human being. It actually says the opposite, that he was not a human.
"No, brahman, I am not a human being."
The Pali canon does not explicitly say Maya was a 'virgin' but certainly implies that he was conceived without sexual intercourse. At any rate the canon very clearly indicates that the the Bodhisattva's birth was due to the volitional choice of the Bodhisattva, not the result of a biological function.

Was Buddha born of a Virgin?


A place for putting code samples in projects

Question: Every now and then I get or write some minimal code samples to achieve tasks. What's the usual practice for storing these samples (which could prove useful later on) ? Have a separate source folder or create a separate project ?
Answer: I always use a separate project called scratchpad and I follow the same principles I do with the rest of my code (they have unit and/or integration tests etc).
Answer: Depending on the size of the creation. For smaller 'mixed' stuff you can have one project called 'bazaar'. But if you have some more complex (but still experimental) code you might want to create one project for each. Example for latter: "spring-mvc-poc" where poc stands for proof of concept.
Answer: Not a java guy, but I typically try and put this sample code inside unit tests -- at the very least it can provide a handy way to execute the code to check it out in action.


HTC Desire cannot connect with HTC Sync

Question: I recently received an HTC Desire as a gift with no SD card. It was updated to Froyo. I'd like to update it further to Gingerbread, however I cannot get any version of HTC Sync to recognize my phone.

I've tried several versions
I've disabled firewall and antivirus
I've run HTC Sync in compatibility mode and as administrator
I've rebooted both phone and PC
I'm sure I've tried other things that I forgot to list.

The standard answer to this seems to be 'install the HTC Sync version that is on your SD card', but I don't have the original card. I have been unable to find out which version of HTC Sync that was originally included.
Does anyone know which version of HTC Sync I need for my HTC Desire to connect?
Comment: Is this the original Desire (i.e. a8181), because I do have the original desire and can check.
Answer: It is the original desire. It seems to have come with 2.0.28 which I can't find anywhere. I did find 2.0.33 which also didn't work.

HTC Desire cannot connect with HTC Sync


Skydrive 1 way sync possible?

Question: I have no external hard disk to backup, so I want to use my skydrive account as my backup source.The problem is, AFAIK skydrive uses 2 way sync: so if someone will hack and get access to my skydrive (live) account and delete something from it, skydrive app will automatically delete these files from my pc too. Is there any way to set sync only 1 way: Backup? I mean sync only from PC to Web not in both directions. Or how to deal with this problem? How to secure files in pc?
Answer: If you want you can simply upload the files using the web app. If you don't install the Skydrive app on your pc you won't have 2-way sync.
Remember though that if somebody hacks your account, you will lose your files anyway, even if you have one-way sync. 2-way sync is not the problem, if you want to feel safer, use a stronger password to protect your Live account.
Answer: The latest SkyDrive client allows selective sync, so that not all files are downloaded again.
http://blogs.windows.com/skydrive/b/skydrive/archive/2012/11/15/skydrive-usage-has-doubled-in-the-last-6-months-now-you-can-select-what-to-sync.aspx
So you can now store some backups on SkyDrive without having them again synced on your drive.

Skydrive 1 way sync possible?


what is meta-sympathetic nervous system?

Question: I always knew about the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous systems, and today I was told about the meta-sympathetic nervous system, but I didn't understand well the man who told me about it and I didn't find enough or reliable information about this system, and if it's accepted in the scientific world or it's arguable.
Answer: As @mgkrebbs says, metasympathetic nervous system is still a matter of debate and is not fully accepted in the scientific world due to lack of research and evidence.
Metasympathetic nervous system, just like sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, is a part of Autonomic Nervous System.

On the basis of a number of structural and functional indices, application of pharmacological analysis as well as recording of neuronal activity, the autonomic nervous system is subdivided into the sympathetic, parasympathetic and metasympathetic parts. The metasympathetic system includes the complex of microganglia situated in the walls of visceral organs and having marked motility activity (the heart, ureters, intestine, stomach). According to the localization, separate areas of this system can be defined by its site (for example, the cardiometasympathetic area in the heart). The metasympathetic system attains the features of true autonomy. Its cells have no direct connection with the high centers: this connection is established through mono- and polysynaptic sensory and afferent units of sympathetic and parasympathetic nature.

Source

Full article here
How is it different from sympathetic & parasympathetic systems?
One major difference is in the location.
The Metasympathetic system

includes the complex of microganglia situated in the walls of visceral organs and having marked motility activity (the heart, ureters, intestine, stomach).

while Sympathetic system

consists of cells with bodies in the lateral grey column from T1 to L2/3. These cell bodies are "GVE" (general visceral efferent) neurons and are the preganglionic neurons. There are several locations upon which preganglionic neurons can synapse for their postganglionic neurons:

and Parasympathetic system

consists of cells with bodies in one of two locations: the brainstem (Cranial Nerves III, VII, IX, X) or the sacral spinal cord (S2, S3, S4). These are the preganglionic neurons, which synapse with postganglionic neurons in these locations:

For detailed location, see this image:
Comment: Did you understand what the difference between sympathetic to meta-sympathetic? I don't. In addition the heart doesn't have nerves... it has its own electrical conduction system which consist of myocardial pacemaker cells, they are not neurons.
Comment: don't  understand me wrong. I love your comment and I appreciate it, I just said that I didn't understand the differences:) The intonation in words is not always clear... In my case I meant to the politely intonation. Thank you and I'm very sorry if you felt inconvenience due to my first comment. :)
Comment: @Assiduous its okay, nothing about inconvenience. I was just a bit surprised as the way you asked the question in comment, it seemed to me that you think that I am expert in metasympathetic nervous system ;)
Comment: @Assiduous this is not my theory. You wanted a reliable source for metasympathetic system and I gave you one. Also, you can never be so sure for something in biology on which research is going on. I also could never think of most of my body not being in my conscious control, but it is. I will add difference between sympathetic & metasympathetic.
Answer: The concept of a metasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system (distinct from the sympathetic and parasympathetic parts) seems to be an idea discussed almost exclusively in the Russian scientific literature.(src)  Many, if not a majority, of the papers concerned with it seem to have one A. D. Nozdrachev as one of the authors.  He has been publishing on it at least since 1980 ("Structuro-functional organization of the vegetative (autonomic) nervous system"); most recently is from 2006 quoted in another answer ("The Metasympathetic System of the Brain").  The presentation in the latter paper seems almost incoherent to me, and apparently not due to translation.  This idea doesn't seem to have much traction, particularly outside of Russia.
Answer: The concept of the meta-sympathetic system is founded by singles in Russian of the 80's. This theory wasn't accepted in the academic or scientific world. The most of the results in PubMed shows that they are from Russian, and a some of them are even from the same person (which published it on 80's and came back in 2006 with a new publishing of his theory, unsuccessfully.
The theory about meta-sympathetic system is not studied at the universities of the western countries such as US, Israel, UK, Australia, Canada etc. I talked with scientists from all these countries which told me these things. We can't even find any mention about this theory in the professional textbooks of biology or physiology such as Campbell biology and more.
Look at this conversion also:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science#what_is_meta-sympathetic_system.3F


How do I fix bubbles under linoleum flooring?

Question: We put down a sheet 12X9 of linoleum in our kitchen and it went under the new cabinets and baseboard. The flooring depot said no glue was needed. Well now we have bubbles, a great big one and several others. What is the easiest way to fix this problem?
Comment: Many manufacturers will state that a flooring does not require adhesive when in fact it does.  Always insist that they use adhesive in the future.
Answer: Most likely you have the new style of fiberglass, vinyl flooring. It has a softer feel than regular inlaid vinyl (slight padding on back) and in some cases can be laid without adhesives. I have been using this type of sheet goods a lot lately. My customers love it.
More directly to your problem. Since you installed cabinets and baseboards on top of the flooring, it has no space to expand into, thus the bubbles. Also, it may have not been rolled well before the cabinets and base were installed.  I would never have installed without an adhesive. You cannot use regular flooring adhesive on these types of fiberglass flooring. If an adhesive is used, it must be the new non-setting type. This adhesive is kind of like the glue on a post-it note. It never dries up hard and allows the flooring to be peeled up years from now. It must be applied very thinly across the entire field, never just around the perimeter. The flooring must then be rolled with at lest a 75 to 100 pound roller. We usually go back an hour after the initial rolling and give it a second roll.
In your case, I'd remove the baseboards, roll the flooring up against the cabinets, apply the proper adhesive and let the flooring back down.  Roll it from the cabinets out to the edges, so the adhesive does not pool up.  If you are brave, you could cut the flooring along the edge of the cabinets, take it out of the room then apply adhesive and reinstall the floor.
I should note, depending on what you have under your new flooring, you may have to apply an ultra thin coat of embossing leveler to assure proper bonding of the glue to the existing floor.
Answer: I'm not an expert on installing linoleum, but I've never heard it being installed without some form of adhesive.
I imagine the issue you are having is that because you installed without an adhesive, it's technically now a floating floor. A floating floor will expand/contract with changes of temperature and humidity. Because of that, you never have a floating floor span the entire width of the room as you want to leave a small gap to allow this expansion/contraction some place to go. Because you've 'pinched' the edges under your cabinets, the only place the linoleum can go when expanded is 'up' and it buckles in the center.
I think you have two options:

Pull it up and reinstall with adhesive
Pull it up and trim it so that it doesn't reach the cabinets/wall (leave a small gap). You may then need to install shoe moulding to cover the gap.
Answer: I recently pulled up my vinyl flooring and replaced it with some tile in my kitchen. While I was pulling up the vinyl I noticed that for the most part the flooring didnt have any adhesive on it. The installer/ previous homeowner did however use an adhesive on the edging of all the vinyl in the kitchen. It appears they made it tight and then glued the ends to prevent the bubbling. I've owned my home for 2 years before I ripped up the vinyl, and the vinyl has been down since '94 and there has never been any bubbling.


Where do web sites get foreign exchange currency rate / quote information?

Question: There are many web sites which provide the exchange rates between currencies. Where do they obtain this information? Is there any authoritative source from which they get this data? For example, Google also provides this feature. Where does Google get the real time data?
Answer: The prices quoted are for currency pairs traded on the foreign exchange market. For currencies traded on these exchanges, the exchange rates of a given currency pair are determined by the market, so supply and demand, investor confidence, etc. all play a role.
EBS and Reuters are the two primary trading platforms in the foreign exchange market, and much of the data on exchange rates comes from them. Websites will usually get their data either from these sources directly or from a data provider that in turn gets it from EBS, Reuters, or another data source like Bloomberg or Haver Analytics. These data sources aren't free, however.
In the US, many contracts, transactions, etc. that involve exchange rates use the exchange rate data published by the Federal Reserve. You might see this in contracts that specify to use "the exchange rate published by the Federal Reserve at 12 pm (noon) on date --some date--". You can also look at the Federal Reserve Economic Data, which maintains data series of historical daily, weekly, and monthly exchange rates for major currency pairs. These data are free, although they aren't realtime. Data for each business day is mostly updated the next business day.
Comment: @Sunny No, companies like EBS and Reuters sell this data; it isn't free. However, many websites will show the current exchange rate, possibly with a small delay, free of charge (Google, for example, as you mentioned in your question).
Comment: so foreign exchange markets will sell these currency pairs also... so the information is not free
Comment: People should also be aware that there is no equivalent to a NBBO in FX unlike in equities, so using random broker X for price discovery does not guarantee the reference market rate on EBS or Reuters is the same.  It's probably within a reasonable percentage with near to the same mid, but is likely to have a much wider spread.  This means the rate you see on a website like Google will not actually be achievable if you wanted to trade yourself (not to mention latency) or go down to your local FX exchange on the corner.  My theory is this is why google quotes in fewer DPs than convention.


Which special characters are safe to use in url?

Question: Which special characters are safe to use in url?
Comment: It would be far quicker and easier to ask which special characters are *unsafe* to use in a URL (as per Andreas Bonini's answer below).
Comment: Asking what is unsafe is as hard to answer: Any non-ascii character needs to be percent-encoded.
Comment: @neo: no it doesn't :O
Answer: The following characters have special meaning in the path component of your URL (the path component is everything before the '?'):
  ";" | "/" | "?"

In addition to those, the following characters have special meaning in the query part of your URL (everything after '?'). Therefore, if they are after the '?' you need to escape them:
  ":" | "@" | "&" | "=" | "+" | "$" | ","

For a more in-depth explanation, see the RFC.
Comment: Of course, just for clarity, this answer is the opposite of the question. The question asks for which characters are safe, not those which are unsafe. Since it's hard to answer the original question robustly, the question should probably be edited to ask it the other way around and match this answer.
Answer: The safe characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and _ - (underscore and minus), that besides the reserved characters which are used for the parameters.
Other characters will give problems to varying degrees, or with varying frequency. For example: if one parameter is an array ?param=array[content] it will show a URL with the square brackets URL-encoded, which look ugly and impossible to dictate.
But the problem is not only that it's ugly. Let's say you have a JPEG with a character in the name other than the safer ones; many times the browser will be unable to download it, getting a 404. This is a problem for older browsers and some mobile browsers.
How can we test this?

put a bunch of images/js/css with the characters you want to test in the names on a public page with many visitors
Make the 404 page send you an email every time it gets a hit

I have an inbox with 14,000 emails proving my point.
Comment: well, instead of "safe characters" I would say "extremely safe characters" -- the spec allows more, but I agree with you that it's better to be conservative here.
Comment: What's wrong with period?
Comment: can you also explain why `.` isn't a safe character?
Comment: please feel free to edit @iconoclast!
Comment: I see edits that could improve this answer, but I hate to remove @JeffAtwood as the last person to edit it
Answer: RFC 2396 is actually obsolete and was superseded by RFC 3986.
The unreserved special characters (safe to use without encoding) (other than letters and digits) are:
- . _ and ~
Comment: From RFC 3986.: unreserved  = ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "." / "_" / "~"
Answer: This question popped up first, of course, when I googled up "URL safe characters", as most people would. I think it's worthy to put up a straightforward answer to a concise question. From the horse's— ugh, RFC2396— I mean, Sir Timothy's mouth:

2.3. Unreserved Characters

   Data characters that are allowed in a URI but do not have a reserved
   purpose are called unreserved.  These include upper and lower case
   letters, decimal digits, and a limited set of punctuation marks and
   symbols.

      unreserved  = alphanum | mark

      mark        = "-" | "_" | "." | "!" | "~" | "*" | "'" | "(" | ")"

   Unreserved characters can be escaped without changing the semantics
   of the URI, but this should not be done unless the URI is being used
   in a context that does not allow the unescaped character to appear.

"Upper and lower case letters" in this context are understood as defined earlier in the section 1.6 of the same standard:

The following definitions are common to many elements:

   alpha    = lowalpha | upalpha

   lowalpha = "a" | "b" | "c" | "d" | "e" | "f" | "g" | "h" | "i" |
              "j" | "k" | "l" | "m" | "n" | "o" | "p" | "q" | "r" |
              "s" | "t" | "u" | "v" | "w" | "x" | "y" | "z"

   upalpha  = "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F" | "G" | "H" | "I" |
              "J" | "K" | "L" | "M" | "N" | "O" | "P" | "Q" | "R" |
              "S" | "T" | "U" | "V" | "W" | "X" | "Y" | "Z"

   digit    = "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" |
              "8" | "9"

   alphanum = alpha | digit

So the answer is, URL-safe characters are good old ASCII-7 Latin characters A through Z in lower and upper case, decimal digits 0 through 9, and a handful of non-alphanumerics explicitly enumerated in the mark production rule of the grammar in Sec. 2.3.

If the question is to be understood about the HTTP/HTTPS URL (note that RFC2396 defines the URI), the semantic treatment of the RFC2396 syntax as resource locators for the HTTP[S] protocol is currently standardised by RFC7230, Sec. 2.7. Nevertheless, inferring that the set of "URL-safe" characters is larger than that defined by the RFC2396 from the observation that they are not treated specially in RFC7230 Sec. 2.7 would not be a future-proof move; a possible future RFC7230 update may ascribe semantics to more characters that are outside of the "URL-safe" RFC2396 set, rendering such an inference ex statu quo invalid.
TL;DR, it is the safest and future-proof approach to treat the set of URL-safe characters defined in RFC2396 as the largest possible and non-extensible, and not extend it with those that are currently okay/safe/non-special per RFC7230: this may change. The RFC2396 set, in contrast, cannot.
Answer: The answers here are good, but there is one more exception I think is worth mentioning - non-english characters. Referencing this SF question here, characters like ñ (as in Español) are perfectly legitimate, IF they have been encoded in your DNS correctly.
You have to use Punycode within your DNS to get them to resolve in modern browsers (the entry for español is xn--espaol-zwa) but these are now perfectly safe to use in domain names, as they're easy for non-english-speakers to type as well.


Why did the waters of the flood have to cover the mountain 15 amos?

Question: The posuk in Bereishis 7,20 says that the waters rose above the mountains 15 amos. But why was this so? It's understandable why the mountains had to be covered with water, but why did the waters have to rise another fifteen amos to complete the destruction of the world?
Comment: to ensure that the giraffes on ladders got what they deseved
Comment: @ClintEastwood Adult giraffes are about 12 amot tall. I suspect they could find ladders more than 3 amot tall if they tried.
Comment: I don't have the answer. However, other pesukim which might contribute. (1) That the teiva was 30 cubits high. (2) That after the waters steadily receded, the teiva rested on mt ararat. There is a midrash about this. Alternatively, peshat is just to show the extent of the massive flood.
Comment: Doesn't the Ramban explain this ?
Answer: After I asked the question, an answer occurred to me when I remembered that Rashi on a later posuk makes a calculation to show that Noach's ark was submerged 11 amos (cubits) in the water. Why does Rashi tell us this bit of seemingly trivial information? To answer our question:
Hashem allowed Noach and everything in the ark to escape the waters of destruction, but it appears that it wasn't enough that they were protected by the ark, they had to actually escape the destructive sphere of the waters, which was until the top of the mountains. The waters above that level were not destructive because above the mountains there was nothing left to destroy.
Therefore, Hashem continued with the deluge until the ark was raised above this sphere. And since we know from Chazal that the domain of a person extends four amos in each direction, Noach and the ark had to be four amos above the sphere of destruction, that is, four amos above the mountains. And since, as Rashi proves, the ark was submerged in the water 11 amos, the total height of the waters needed for Noach to escape was 15 amos. So it seems to me.


Java program as a Windows Service

Question: I create a Java server, which tools do you recommend to wrap java as a Windows service?
Is it possible to have the service launch in sequence? Say server is start before a Java client can be run?
Answer:
Is it possible to have the service
  launch in sequence? Say server is
  start before a Java client can be run?

Yes. No. Services can have a sequence (depend on other services). How the heck, though, do you want to stop a user starting a client ON ANOTHER COMPUTER? This is like stopping people from typing your website address in the browser when you maintain your server. Does not work.
For the rest google is really your friend. "Windows Service Java" got me three hits - different wrappers - on the first page, the first three items.
http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/32068
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/68113/how-to-create-a-windows-service-from-java-app (whow, even here - try search here before posting)
http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.com/doc/english/download.jsp
I will stop here. The list goes on and on and on and on. Google really is nice to find trivial things like that.
Answer:
I create a Java server, which tools do you recommend to wrap java as a Windows service?

Yes. It's been covered by TomTom answers (google: "Java as Windows Service").

Is it possible to have the service launch in sequence? Say server is start before a Java client can be run?

You can't ensure clients running on other machine to run only after the server started.
However your client application can be made to wait until the server (I assume it's a TCP/IP server) listening to the TCP/IP port. So in order to achieve this, the client should itself wait until the server is up.

Java program as a Windows Service


Adding apps in the unlock screen

Question: I have a Samsung tablet (not sure of model), running Android 4.0.4.
When I unlock my screen, I have four default options that I can choose from, or I can use the empty area to unlock the main screen. How can I add apps like my favorite games to this menu so I can go directly into those games?
If you need more information, please let me know. Please provide steps for getting the information also.
Answer: Have a look at Go Locker. It provides you with custom lock screens that can be themed. Cant remember if compatible with tablets though.

Adding apps in the unlock screen


openFDA Device Adverse Events Data out of date

Question: Does anyone know why the Device Adverse Events data available via the openFDA API has not been updated since 01-Jul-2015?
Answer: My apologies, I posted a response earlier that was speaking about the status of the /drug/event.json API when your question is about the /device/event.json
The /device/event.json API is currently out of data due to some data corruption issues on the input data. We are currently working with the appropriate FDA folks to get this resolved. Until, it is resolved, we reverted back the last good copy of the device data that we had, which is from July of 2015.
Please keep an eye on the status page: https://open.fda.gov/api/status for updates.
Comment: Thanks for the quick response, I appreciate it.

You may know the answer to this too... I am using openFDA simply to determine the "mdrfoi__id" for an MDR that I need to build a direct URL link to a MAUDE database entry as in: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfMAUDE/detail.cfm?mdrfoi__id=5043177 . Do you know if the "detail.cfm" script supports keys other than the mdrfoi_id?  Thanks for your thoughts....
Comment: I am not sure off the top of my head. I am only familiar with the raw MAUDE files, I have not used FDA database search tool that often.


What are openings which were once thought good, but are now shown to be inferior?

Question: Are there any openings that were once often played, but are now known to be very bad moves?
Comment: I think bad openings have *always* been bad, it's just that it wasn't immediately obvious that they were bad.
Answer: Openings tend to go in and out of fashion. At example, the Berlin wall was considered to be very dull and unambitious, but then Kramnik played it against Kasparov to become World Champion. Nowadays the Berlin wall is a regular guest at top tournaments. The same can be said about the Scotch Game, which was rarely seen at the highest tournaments until Kasparov picked it up.
So most of the time when openings are not often seen it is because of fashion. One more important reason is that there may be critical lines that lead to unfavourable situations (like that the opponent can force a draw by repetition). Usually it takes a few years, but then someone comes up with a different idea and the lines are playable again. I remember vaguely a game in the poison pawn variation of the Grunfeld Indian between top 10 players (can't remember who, sorry) that turned the evaluation of the whole line upside down. Such games can kill or revive a line all of a sudden.
More generally, in my opinion there are several phases of the way chess is played. In the early days attack was everything and theory was not well developed, so gambits of all kinds were played (Evans Gambit, King's Gambit,...). I'd call it the romantic phase. Then the scientific phase began with lots of general rules discovered and well researched plans. This led to different opening, more balanced systems becoming the mainstay of tournament play. If you followed the rules of thumb your opening were considered sound. Nowadays we have entered the computerized phase, where concrete variations checked by computers rule the tournament halls. This led to the rise of some very sharp, concrete opening systems that otherwise no-one would have dared to play. So, depending on the time in history your question is asked, you will get a different answer about which opening is a bad choice.
Comment: I got stuck in the romantic era. (Very nice answer :)
Answer: The Giuoco Piano was quite popular around the turn of the 20th century (observe, for instance, Chigorin's use of it.  Now, however, it is not seen as a good attempt at an advantage for White.  Similarly, the Evans Gambit was once given a lot of use by the best in the world; it is no longer taken quite seriously.
Answer: I'll play.

King's Gambit
The Grob (1. g4) a.k.a. The Spike
Bird's Defense to the Ruy Lopez (ECO C61), though this may not qualify as bad, as such. It just has little going for it.
Comment: Who said it was good?
Answer: In general, "gambits" used to be popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but are usually considered inferior nowadays. This includes not only kings gambit but the Evans gambit, and "wing" gambits such as the Muzio gambit or offshoots such as the Grob ("Spike") opening.
Modern theory, with computerized simulations, show that with accurate Black play, an early pawn sacrifice is usually not worth it. One exception is the Queen's gambit, where the sacrifice is more apparent than real, because White will usually regain the pawn, or Black will have hard time holding it.
Comment: But other gambits have taken their place -- the Benko Gambit, various pawn sacrifices by both sides in the Catalan, or ...c5 against the Saemisch King's Indian. Saying that early pawn sacrifices are never worth it is clearly wrong, it's just that they aren't only connected with quick attacks against f7 anymore.


Guitar Banjo used as G-banjo

Question: Would it make any sense to retune the first and fifth strings of a "guitar banjo" (which is essentially a guitar neck with a banjo sound board) and play it like a G 5-string banjo?
Answer: What's your goal? Seems like, sure, you could tune a fifth string like a drone while you save up for the real banjo, but the drone tuner is up at the fifth fret to keep it out of the way of your first-position playing.
Git-jo is about either allowing guitarists to get bluegrass sounds without learning anything, or to get the rhythm chunk of dixieland jazz, I think, and you're sounding like you're just wanting a real banjo.
Comment: but would it be feasible to play banjo chords and rolls on it?
Comment: People play around with tunings all the time. I'd guess it's doable but I've only played around in guitar stores with gitjos, so I'm not 100%.
Answer: It absolutely can be done, but it will definitely change the flavor of the 'banjo'. You won't have the crack and lack-of-sustain that banjos are distinctive for, but you will have something playable. You may not want to hit bluegrass tunes with it, per se, but another smoother genre of tunes (such as Old Time or Parlor tunes) would sound appropriate on it.
Foggy Mountain Breakdown would sound a bit weird, but it would technically work.
So if you're doing this to learn banjo, I say pass on the instrument grafting and buy a starter banjo. That way your ear will develop the proper banjo sounds with the proper banjo moves. If you're just thinking of tinkering, got for it.
Also: Check out Rob Bishline's Madera
Answer: IMO just save 250 and get a little gold tone or a washburn. its absolutely worth it. but be warned, you'll come out with an addiction by the end (im on my 5th with 3 custom built banjos at this point)

Guitar Banjo used as G-banjo


How did Facebook implement the chat sidebar?

Question: I'm trying to understand how Facebook implements the chat sidebar. It seems to stay there even as I change pages. For example, if I select some text inside the sidebar, then click to go to another Facebook page, the text remains selected. It's as if it was a separate frame, but when I look at the code, it's not.
Answer: All requests are made trough AJAX calls. Only "content" container is replaced when needed.
You don't actually "go" to another page. Just the "content" div gets updated.
Answer: There is a container DOM element called "fb_content", its content is replaced through straight-forward AJAX or more technically XMLHttpRequest. (Although when for example you enter an app, the entire page is refreshed.) To update the address bar they use the JavaScript History API.
Answer: In addition to what Zeno and lericson said (fb_content gets updated via ajax), the address bar also gets updated while maintaining the history (if you press back/forward).


Long sleeve vs. short sleeve jersey

Question: Does a long sleeve jersey add a lot of warmth for riding during the winter months, or does a short sleeve jersey suffice during the cold. I want a jersey for my commute to work and back and I can't decide if I should get a long sleeve or short sleeve. I am in Seattle, WA so the weather goes down to around 35-40 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter. My commute is all down hill going there (I hit around 35 mph), and all up hill going back. So I do not want a jersey that will get me too hot on the ride back, but will keep my warm riding to work. Any tips or recommendations?
Comment: A small contribution: you can take a long sleeve with a long front zipper, since it might help gets you a lot cooler if needed. A "turtleneck" one would be perfect for best thermal/airflow control around your torso.
Comment: Fer cryin' out loud -- just carry a small bag of some sort and put on/take off layers as need be.
Answer: Start with short sleeves, arm warmers and a light jacket and layer.
Everybody has different tolerance for temperature changes, but here is what I normally wear on my upper body.

65°F (18°C) or higher: Short Sleeve Jersey
55-65°F (13-18°C) Short Sleeve Jersey with Arm Warmers
45-55°F (7-13°C) Short Sleeve Jersey and a Jacket/Windbreaker
35-45°F (2-7°C) Short Sleeve Jersey, Arm Warmers and Jacket - or Long Sleeve Jersey (see below)
Below 35°F (2°C) PolyPro Base Layer T-shirt and a combination of the top layers...

My primary decision on whether to use arm warmers or a long sleeve jersey is what the temperature it is forecast to be when I head home.  If I think it's borderline or will be warm enough I pick the arm warmers in the morning so I can ride in the short sleeve on the way home.  I have about 25 short sleeve jerseys, 2 lighter and 2 heavier thermal fleece long sleeve jerseys. I rarely wear the LS above 35-40°F.
Also - for flexibility you may want to look at a convertible cycling jacket where the sleeves can be removed.  That gives you additional options like using the full jacket in the morning, and using it as a vest on the ride home.
Comment: +1. I too progress from short-sleeve to adding arm warmers, or a long-sleeve base-layer with a short-sleeve jersey over it. Arm warmers are cheaper and more versatile, since jerseys tend to be a bit pricey.
Comment: @rally25rs thanks.  Another great thing about the arm warmers is that I now use them for backpacking too.  Saves packing an extra sweater or LS T-shirt.
Comment: This is really a great explanation, thank you. But I have one stupid question. What are arm warmers? Can you provide a link to an amazon product?
Comment: @anton2g They are long sleeves without the shirt... http://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Izumi-Thermal-Lite-Warmer/dp/B002KW3I5U/ref=pd_sbs_a1
Comment: +1, the key to riding in the cold is layers. You'll be amazed at how quickly you get hot riding in even the coldest of weather.
Comment: This is really a great suggestion. Thank you. I never even thought about any other options other than long sleeve and short sleeve.
Answer: I also live in the Pacific NW climate.
Here's what I do....when it's not summer...

Short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, plus a wind protective vest. This gives me the options of adding and subtracting layers to get to the right comfort level.
A GORE windstopper jersey. The front panels are made with a "wind stopping" fabric. The sleeves zip off. This is one of the best bicycling clothing products I ever bought. This works well for me and seems like it may fit your criteria.

I currently use the Gore Windstopper jersey, but that is not to say that other manufacturers don't have similar products.
And as others have mentioned, layering is key. I have a variety of base layers (Craft, UnderArmour, etc) to utilize depending on the conditions.
One other note...back in the 90's my commute was from the top of Capitol Hill to the Seattle Center area. My morning attire was usually a base layer, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers and a somewhat water repellent wind shell (and maybe a fleece layer on really cold days). I subtracted whatever necessary for the ride back up the hill in the afternoon.
Comment: Great recommendation with the Gore Windstopper jersey. I will keep that one in mind. Also good to hear the perspective of someone in the Pacific NW.
Comment: Windstopper is a gift from the gods.
Answer: All other things being equal (similar material, etc.) then a long sleeved jersey is going to be much warmer than a short sleeved one, especially down to those temperatures.
If you're wavering in the middle, I'd say to use arm warmers. Certainly for those days when it's colder in the morning (perhaps it's still dark) but warmer in the evenings, it allows for a wider flexibility.
Answer: I try to keep my clothing layered, and in such a way that I can re-configure mid-ride. I'm always colder when I start, so I will often start my ride with arm-warmers and a short-sleeve jersey, and peel off the arm-warmers after I warm up.
As the temperature gets lower, I'll use a long-sleeve base-layer with a short-sleeve jersey over that (my base layer is black, so i keep a jersey on to add color / visibility), and also start to add a nice warm vest (keeping your core/chest warm makes a lot of difference), and/or a long-sleeve fleece.
All these layers can be removed and stuck into or onto my hydration pack (or tied around the bike frame) so even if I start my ride with a fleece, jersey, and arm warmers, I could stop and peel down to just the jersey in 30 seconds.
So anyway, my overall suggestion is to keep a short sleeve jersey, and add arm warmers and a long-sleeve outer shell (fleece or a wind-proof jacket)
Answer: I can't imagine riding in the winter with short sleeves, even with a jacket over them.  Perhaps I'm just too sensitive to the cold or perhaps the climate here is just a lot colder than the northwest, but short sleeves don't come out of the closet until April.
Answer: I don't think I have ever seen,let alone heard of arm warmers. It doesn't get as hot here,  but in summer I wear a t shirt or vest and in winter a long sleeved top over that. If it is raining I will wear a waterproof top as well but any more layers would make me overheat on anything over a ten minute cycle.

Long sleeve vs. short sleeve jersey


Does using urinals make bathing compulsory?

Question: I live in Europe and sometimes I use urinals, I am getting better at praying and getting to know my religion better. As the bathroom was full I had to use the urinal. My question is if one can simply change clothes and do Wudu to pray or a bath is compulsory?
Comment: What is the logic behind this question?
Comment: Tahir comes from the word "taharah" which means "pure" or "clean". The tahir state is the state of ritual purity - the state we have to be in to pray or perform any other worship.
Comment: @Medi1Saif Logic behind is in the question of me asking "Can I change clothes and do Wudu to pray?" If I used urinals?
Comment: Well you need to perform wudu' in any case but why would you change your clothes or take a bath?
Comment: @Medi1Saif when using Urinals the splashes go anywhere and even on clothes and when ur has done using it. one hasn't performed washing of private part which in turn make cloth dirty.
Comment: There are urinals where what you describe don't occur and one can help out with a handkerchief or something similar. What you have to do is be in a Tahir state and a few of najassa doesn't matter.
Comment: what is Tahir state?
Answer: As you are the user who asked Which things break the wudu? you should know that in the described case ghusl is out of question unless you have not quoted all necessary information. That's why I tried to clarify the question.
As for najassa the main rule is that little of najassa (ritual impurity) doesn't harm however scholars may differ on what a little may exactly mean in some cases with different opinion on different "najis" (ritually impure) items (see for example is pus and blood najis).
Among the conditions for the validity of a prayer there are two related to taharah (ritual purity) the taharah of yourself and that of the location or space used for the prayer. So you need to have both tahir (ritually pure or clean) by taking away the najassa (color, odor, taste) the best you can.
Of course changing the clothes on which the urine might have came in contact with maybe the safest option. And wudu' will be necessary based on the answers of your former question which I've linked above.
Note that the sunnah taught us that there's no harm in urinating in a standing position:

Once the Prophet (ﷺ) went to the dumps of some people and passed urine while standing. He then asked for water and so I brought it to him and he performed ablution. (Sahih al-Bukhari and in other hadith compilations and with an addition in Sahih Muslim)

The hadith actually doesn't mention that the prophet () cleaned his clothes afterwards! But scholars say and interpreted it that he () had certainty that the najassa wouldn't "fall" on him this means big drops or a jet of urine. So usual negligible splashes don't count as najassa in this case nor does the drop coming out of the genital after istinja' (according this Fatwa in Arabic islamweb #3490).
This hadith however (it is mentioned in all major hadith collections) is rather an exception as the prophet () usually used to urinate while sitting or squatting as mentioned on the authority of 'Aishah in Jami' at-Tirmidhi (see here) and Musnad Ahmad. Imam an-Nawawi in his commentary of Sahih Muslim added that the hadith of 'Aishah is the strongest evidence on the preference on urinating in a squatting position while most other ahadith on this are weak.
You may also find this fatwa on islamqa #9790 helpful.
This fatwa -in Arabic- on islamweb #198211 after explaining that urinating while standing without necessity is rather makrooh (frowned upon) by the majority of scholars comes to the conclusion that urinating in a urinal doesn't necessary mean that your clothes will be najis (ritually impure).
Answer: As'salaamu alaikum, brother.
As far as I know the only thing that NECESSITATES ghusl (bathing) is sexual intercourse or ejaculation even without intercourse (as sometimes happens from a wet dream).
I  understand your  concern about splashing urine on yourself while at the urinal. Urine is najasat (a filthy substance) that a conscientious muslim does not want getting on his skin, nor his clothes. Still, getting najasat on you does not require ghusl to rectify.
You need only wash the part of your body that the najasat fell on, and/or the garment too. @medi1saif said that "a little" najasat doesn't matter. I would still wash the garment, or change out of it into something that I felt confident was clean.
I hope this helped you


Solid state and Bragg's Equation

Question: A frst order reflection from (111) plane is observed for LiX with 2theta =24.6 degree (X-ray of wavelength 1.54 angstrom). Assuming LiX to be a cubic crystal system, calculate the length of the side of the unit cell in angstrom.
This is a question of JAM 2014, here, the length is considered as a=2a for ionic system in a solution provided by Arihant's book. Why is it so? Is it correct?
Comment: That's what happens when you are reading a book written by a troll. Indeed, bluntly saying $a=2a$ is a great way of leaving your readers confused and dumbstruck.
Comment: $a = 2a$ is a mistake of some kind.
Answer: From Cubic crystal system on Wikipedia:

In the rock-salt or sodium chloride (halite) structure, each of the two atom types forms a separate face-centered cubic lattice, with the two lattices interpenetrating so as to form a 3D checkerboard pattern.

If LiX crystallizes like NaCl, then the unit cell length is twice the distance of the shortest Li - X distance. The magnitude of the answer given in the book looks like it could be an interatomic distance, but the calculation does not make any sense to me (it does say $a = 2a$, as @Ivan_Neretin already pointed out in the comments. Also, when a calculation drops the units midway and sticks them back in the result, it demonstrates a certain nonchalance that does not instill confidence in the source.
The question asks about the unit cell parameter a (in a cubic system, this is all you have to specify to describe the dimensions of the cell because the other two lengths are the same and the angles are all right angles). If that's all you want, the internal structure of the unit cell has no bearing on the calculation (there might be systematic absences in a particular space group, but the question says that the 111 reflection was observed, so there is no issue there either). Why not just plug in the angle, get d, and calculate the unit cell length from that?
Comment: Yeah sir... Thanks for clearing the confusion . I'll do it that way.
Answer:
Your book must have wrong solution
Comment: This would be more helpful if you rotated the image and walked us through it. If someone writes a = 2a, I think there needs to be more discussion.

Solid state and Bragg's Equation


Bishul Akum Technology

Question: Is there Bishul Akum when using a microwave, considering that it is not cooking as it was in the times of Chazal?
Answer: It's debated by contemporary poskim (and can come up in many dairy restaurants that use a microwave to make eggs).  From what I've heard (a friend of mine spoke to the OU's Rabbi Genack, who asked RSZ"A, if I recall correctly), R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach held it was a problem (though he does not consider the microwave to be cooking vis-a-vis shabbos).  My impression is that many American poskim are lenient.
Here's Rabbi Jachter stating similarly.
Answer: in ialcut iosef shabat he brings that microwave is safek if it considered bishul. In practive we should be stringent.
in regards shabat it means that something prepared using a microwave could not be reheated in a plata because it is safek that it is already cooked.
while I personally understood the halacha that we posek lehumra maybe you could assume that it is safek miderabanan lecula. but this is rather bediavad and not lechatehila.

Bishul Akum Technology


When should I consider a language-specific site?

Question: I've got a client with about 20% of visits coming from Spanish-speaking language sets. Should I allow for translation or is this something that can be done automatically?
Answer: Automatic translation should not be considered as an option. Too much will go wrong. It is possible to automate part of the translation work, of course; translation agencies do it all the time. The crucial question is: how much does it cost to maintain the site in two (or more) languages? If the Spanish version is not maintained synchronously with the English site, it was a mistake to create it. So you need to consider the organizational work and running costs. Plus of course the initial cost.
For a business decision, some estimate is needed about the expected impact of the translated site. How many prospective customers would prefer Spanish to English (when visiting the site) so much that it affects their behavior (willingness to buy, for example)?
Answer: I wouldn't recommend any kind of automatic translation, the quality is too bad. Even a cheap human-translation is risky from the UX perspective, if something is not properly translated people are not going to get it.
Many companies use students of non-linguistic courses (whatever they find) to do the translations, getting a very low quality result. Some big websites got translated by their communities but I am not that sure that that always work, I remember reading very weird things on the initial Facebook Spanish translation (I don't know what process they used to improve the quality with the time.)
Bad translations also affect conversion rates, with potential big impact on, for example, newsletters.
If you can't afford a good translation, then better do not translate it.
Answer: I have worked on a lot of very multi-lingual sites (millions of users, etc.), and one thing I can tell you is that supporting the language of a country will drastically improve your traffic from that country. Especially countries that are linguistically isolated like France or Russia or Spain.
If you already have 20% Spanish traffic and you're not offering the site in Spanish, that should jump to the top of your priority list. When you launch the Spanish version you will see those numbers skyrocket. You might be ignoring your next big market if you don't.
Automatic translation is fairly unprofessional quality-wise, but for blogs and stuff you can get away with it you let the user choose. Having a "translate this via Google" button is a possibility.
Answer: I developed a bi-lingual, Microsoft Access desktop application where depending on the value of the UI_Language in the app control table, all the screen captions, messages and values selected by the user can be in English or Spanish. All applicable tables have English and Spanish descriptions. Each tables primary key, the ID AUTONUMBER column, is used in the programming logic. so as to not create any dependence on hard-coded values which could be language-specific. Before each form or report is loaded for execution, the language-specific captions are pre-loaded, therefore not requiring two versions for each form. This also makes for easier source code maintenance and modifications.
Comment: This only works if there is a direct 1:1 match between English and Spanish content though. What if the Spanish version requires specific pages just for those users, or what about if the structure of forms on the pages is different for each language (For example if Spanish contact details require a 'Region' that the English one does not).  If you take this route you're locking yourself into having to have 1:1 matching content for the life of the site.
Comment: My design applies specifically to my target users, Pawnshops. For your app, you could provide a control on each page where users can toggle from one language to another. In my app, if a field in English does not apply in Spanish, I hide that field. I also designed the forms so as to provide sufficient room and sometimes used abbreviations if a caption, description, etc. in one language is longer in another.
Comment: If your app is locale-dependent, then that's a separate issue. In my app, I also change date, currency and other GLS environment variables. They key is finding what things are common in both languages, then workout the differences.


Agricola question about minor improvement and occupation cards

Question: Every time I want to play a minor improvement or occupation do I need to pay what is on the top right hand side every time i play that card? or is it just one time pay and then i can use it for the rest of the game?
Answer: You pay the cost a single time when you play the card. That is, you take an action that allows you to play an occupation or minor improvement, pay the cost, take the card from your (secret) hand and put it face up on the table.
Note that in your question, you seem to have conflated "play the card" and "use the card". In the rules, "play" is used as I have used it: playing the card from your hand. If you later use the card (i.e. take advantage of it) you're not playing it. You might have less confusion if you think of subsequent use of the card as using it, not playing it.
In any case, once you've paid and played the card, you're done paying. The card likely has some kind of ongoing benefit, and you don't have to pay again to get that benefit. For example, once you've played Field Watchman, which lets you plow a field when you take a grain, you get that field plowed for free whenever you take a grain.
To make this feel really obvious, just look at the major improvements. You definitely don't have to spend clay every time you want to use your fireplace!
Comment: Oh ok because here I thought that we have to pay to play the cards every time we want to use them. So like you said once we pay for it we don't have to anymore through out the game. That makes sense since after paying for the card we have to face them up