Host a windows-based mail server

Question: I am setting up a kiosk that will allow a user to view a client's catalogue and let that user send an email of some item or other to themselves.
I'm hosting a windows-based web site, so I want the client to use an email server on the kiosk.  Should I set up my own email server (non-IIS) and if so, what software should I use? If not self-hosting, any recommendations as to what i should use?
Comment: Why do you need a whole mail server?  If they are just sending an email, all you need is a SMTP component.  You might want to move over to stackoverflow and ask for recommendations.
Answer: This question is extremely broad, so you can expect to receive only very general advice.
If you are hosting a windows-based website then why not use the windows SMTP service running on that server?
You may still have a whole lot of network infrastructure decisions you need to figure out, but my advice is start simple with something well-documented like the Windows Server SMTP service, then as you gain a deeper understanding of your operating environment restrictions and requirements you can start to ask more specific questions.
Answer: If by 'catalog', you are planning to set up an E-Commerce application of some kind, any good shopping cart program these days has an "email to a friend" type of feature, so you can easily use this feature to allow the user to email the product to themselves.
If you were not planning on using a shopping cart program, you might want to consider it, as for the same amount of work/trouble you'd have an online shopping cart (which of course, can be used as a kiosk) and now or in the future you can enable it so clients can shop directly off the web site.
Normally in the admin area of the shopping cart, you would be able to configure how mail is sent.  Some support smtp authentication, which means you can setup any email account to send through (you'd enter the email address username, password, and mail server settings)
A good shopping cart program for Windows is aspdotnetstorefront:
http://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com
Hope this helps

Host a windows-based mail server


How can one manipulate gaze direction in post-processing?

Question: Let's say you have a portrait photo of somebody looking straight in to the camera and you, in retrospect, want to change the gaze so that the person looks, say, to the upper right instead. How would one go about doing this most efficiently in software like Photoshop?
Answer: I've done similar things when dealing with bad flash reflections on impromptu group shots.  I grabbed the eyes of another family member and pasted them in place.  When viewed at 100%, it looks a little odd.
This method really depends on how much of the image you're changing.  If the eyes make up a significant part of the scene, it's going to look processed.  If this is a full-length shot, then you may be able to get away with it.
A little noise added to the edit will help smooth out the "fake" look, too.
Answer: I don't think there is a simple answer to this. There are a few ways of going about it. I would recommend first cutting out the colored part of the eye, leaving only the white (letting photoshop fill in the middle with the clone tool). Then pasting the colored part of the eye on top and moving it to where you want it to be.


why only impulse signal for convolution?

Question: Why do we only use impulse response for convolution for getting output of LTI systems. why we don't use unit step or any other signal for this purpose?
Comment: The answer below gives all you need in the very first proposition. The step is just the integrated impulse, which means the output changes to an integral, so in order to find out the transfer function, you'll have to differentiate. This is what I meant above with the extra calculus and noise.
Comment: You can use any signal at the input, there's nothing stopping you from seeing the output of a sine, but if you meant for finding out the response of the system, then try making a simple filter and feeding an impulse at the input; what do you think you'll get at the output? Now suppose you don't know what filter you have, just a black box, how can you find out its response? You could use a step function, but then you'd have to differentiate, and that adds extra calculus, possible noise, etc.
Comment: " Now suppose you don't know what filter you have, just a black box, how can you find out its response?" please kindly elaborate your this comment
Answer: Because the impulse response completely characterizes an LTI system. The reason is an arbitrary input $x(t)$ can be written as an infinite sum of time shifted and scaled Delta functions:
$$x(t) = \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}x(\tau)\delta(t-\tau)d\tau$$
or alternatively, using the convolution operator, $$x(t) = x(t)*\delta(t)$$
Properties of linearity and time invariance lead to the following sequence of input-output pairs:

$\delta(t) \longrightarrow h(t)$
Time invariance: $\delta(t-\tau) \longrightarrow h(t-\tau)$
Linearity: $x(\tau)\delta(t-\tau) \longrightarrow x(\tau)h(t-\tau)$
Linearity: $\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}x(\tau)\delta(t-\tau)d\tau \longrightarrow \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}x(\tau)h(t-\tau)d\tau$

The last input-output pair can be written as $$x(t) \longrightarrow y(t) = x(t)*h(t)$$
This way, any output can be computed using the input $x(t)$, the impulse response $h(t)$, and the convolution integral (or sum, in discrete time).
@a concerned citizen gave you some other hints regarding your question.
On the contrary, if you use the unit step function, you get
$$\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}x(\tau)u(t-\tau)d\tau = \int_{-\infty}^t x(\tau)d\tau$$
or alternatively, using the convolution operator, $$\int_{-\infty}^t x(t) = x(t)*u(t)$$
Once again, just for comparison, you get the following sequence of input-output pairs:

$u(t) = \int_{-\infty}^t \delta(\tau)d\tau \longrightarrow s(t) = \int_{-\infty}^t h(\tau)d\tau$
Time invariance: $u(t-\tau) \longrightarrow s(t-\tau)$
Linearity: $x(\tau)u(t-\tau) \longrightarrow x(\tau)s(t-\tau)$
Linearity: $\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}x(\tau)u(t-\tau)d\tau \longrightarrow \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}x(\tau)s(t-\tau)d\tau$

where $s(t)$ is the step response, the system output when the unit step is presented at the input. The last input-output pair can be written as $$\int_{-\infty}^t x(\tau)d\tau \longrightarrow x(t)*s(t) = x(t)*u(t)*h(t)$$
The latter can be written as $$(x(t)*h(t))*u(t) = y(t)*u(t) = \int_{-\infty}^t y(\tau)d\tau$$
So after all, what you get at the output is the integral of the output you would get using the delta decomposition of an input signal. That is, your output must be differentiated to obtain the actual system output for a given $x(t)$.
Comment: I have modified my answer to include what happens if you use the step function.
Comment: I think you should check and correct the second part of your answer concerning the step response. E.g., the first equation in that part of the answer is probably not what you meant.
Comment: "Because the impulse response completely characterizes an LTI system. The reason is an arbitrary input x(t) can be written as an infinite sum of time shifted and scaled Delta functions"  can't we use unit-step instead of delta in this case? what will happen if we use unit step ?
Comment: Of  course we can use the unit step function. If we know the system response to a unit step function (that is, the step response), we can write any input as an infinite sum of time shifted and scaled unit step functions, and following similar argumentation, we end up in similar results.
Comment: "Of course we can use the unit step function." But why impulse is normally and mostly used??If we can even use unit step as you said,what is the issue using unit step because of which people opt for impulse instead of unit step?
Comment: Thanks for noticing @MattL. Any objections now?
Comment: "can't we use unit-step instead of delta in this case?" Yes.  You can use any signal that can be filtered into a unit step, in fact.  I'm pretty sure this means any signal that has nonzero energy across the entire frequency spectrum, but I'm not *absolutely* sure.
Comment: @GKH: Looks good now :)
Answer: If you try to pass a specific frequency through a system, the system will either stop that signal or attenuate/amplify it or it may even delay the signal(phase shift). The output determines how the system responds to that particular signal.
What about another input signal with some arbitrary amplitude and frequency?
The answer lies in the frequency response of the system.
Then the next question is what is frequency response?
Frequency response is nothing but how the system responds to each individual frequency, provided the input amplitude is unity and zero phases (all signals aligned to the zero of the timeline),
To obtain the frequency response of a system what we need to do is to pass through the system is, a signal with all frequency components from $-\infty$ to $+\infty$ with unity amplitude and zero phases (which input signal is having such a property? this is your first answer.)
what the system will actually do is, it will act as a filter and pass only those frequency components which it can process, which is in effect gives you the frequency response.

when you try to push any signal with an arbitrary spectrum,  the output will look like the multiplication of the input spectrum of the signal with the frequency response of the system, think of it as a product of point to point value multiplication for each frequency value.

As you already know multiplication in the frequency domain is convolution in the time domain. ( Hope your second doubt got cleared.)
Answer: Unit impulse is a nice pedagogic construct in order to understand how we can measure and execute a LTI system.
The stimuli of choice when characterizing real-world near-LTI systems is often not a unit impulse. It may be a MLS sequence, a sine sweep or some other signal containing a range of frequencies and more energy than an impulse.
Answer: Because the impulse function is the neutral element for convolution?  So it is a consequence of how convolution is defined.  So why doesn't one define it differently?  The Fourier transform, by and large, is an invertible transform.  It transforms a constant 1 into a dirac pulse and vice versa.  Dirac pulses are sort-of ugly since they are distributions rather than proper functions, but this makes for symmetric and reasonably powerful domains with regard to Fourier transforms, allowing to represent undampened perpetual continuous sine/cosine functions as an idealisation.
Once you move to other definitions that integrate or differentiate in one direction of the transform, either the transform domain or the time domain become vastly less useful.


Does the Gita have any apocrypha?

Question: The Abrahamic religions have Biblical apocrypha, sections of the work claimed by some to be authentic but excluded by the main body of the religion. Does the Gita have any similar sections?
Comment: Here is a book which apparently includes a comparison between the Kashmiri recension of the Bhagavad Gita and the Shankara (South Indian) recension: http://www.archive.org/details/srimadbhagavadgi015443mbp.
Comment: The concept of "apocrypha" only makes sense if you have a fixed canon to begin with. There is a fixed canon in Christianity (established by church councils and all that), but there really isn't an equivalent concept in Hinduism (taken at large). If you ask specifically about the thoughts of a specific sect (which may have its own conception of a canon), you might get answers, but as is, this is too broad.
Comment: The Bhagavad Gita is not the only sacred text of Hinduism.  Here is a summary of what is included in Hindu scripture: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/64/36 The Gita is such a tiny portion of the Mahabharata that it's not likely to have much if any apocrphya. So maybe you want to broaden the scope of your question to apocrypha of Hindu scripture in general?
Comment: Interesting, one comment the scope is not broad enough (Keshav Srinivasan) and one the scope is to broad (senshin). This question is just about the Gita, are there some sections that some believe should be included while others exclude from using?
Comment: @JamesJenkins The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata, so not really. The Bhagavad Gita is the best preserved and most authentic part of the whole Mahabharata. The only people who claim interpolations are liberal psuedo-Hindus who are quick to judge, but slow in reason.
Answer: Hindu scriptures, including the Mahabharata which contains the Bhagavad Gita, were originally passed down through countless generations via oral tradition.  But nowadays the main source we have on them (other than the limited oral tradition that still goes on in some ashrams) is via written manuscripts, and manuscripts had to be copied and recopied as the material they were written on (either bark in North India or palm leaves in South India) was of poor quality.  So as it happens, the best manuscripts we have today of the Bhagavad Gita are not the manuscripts of the Mahabharata, but rather manuscripts of commentaries of the Bhagavad Gita, because a commentary needed to quote accurately the verses it was commenting on.
The famous Adi Shankaracharya wrote a commentary (the Bhagavad Gita Bhashya) which quoted 693 of the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita, so the "Shankara recension", the version of the Bhagavad Gita quoted in his commentary, as preserved in the South Indian manuscripts, has served as the accepted reference for verses in the Bhagavad Gita - it's the one relied upon whenever people make translations of the Bhagavad Gita or the Mahabarata (since the Mahabharata has to include the Bhagavad Gita).
But in parallel with the South Indian manuscripts of Adi Shankaracharya, there is another commentary on the Bhagavad Gita that has been diligently preserved in manuscripts - the commentary of the Kashmiri Shaivite philosopher Abhinavagupta.  He commented on relatively few verses, but some of the verses he quotes are verses that we otherwise don't have from any other source.  The version of the Bhagavad Gita quoted in Abhinavagupta's commentary, as passed down in Kashmiri manuscripts, is known as the "Kashmiri recension."  In the introduction to this book, Shripad Krishna Belvalkar describes some of the differences between the Shankara and Kashmiri recensions.  This mostly has to do with relatively minor grammatical and syntactical changes that lead Belvalkar to conclude that the Kashmiri recension is probably a distortion by later scribes of the original text of the Bhagavad Gita, which in his view would be closer to the Shankara recension.
But the more important difference is the fourteen extra verses unique to the Kashmiri recension.  These would be the only thing that could possibly be called by the term "Bhagavad Gita apocrypha".  That's really tiny, but you have to consider that the Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse portion of a 100 thousand-verse epic poem, so there's not much room for apocrypha.  In any case, if you want to know what these verses say, they're given in Sanskrit in the appendix of Belvalkar's book.  But if you don't know Sanskrit, you can read Swami Lakshmanjoo's brief commentary on the extra verses.  (Lakshmanjoo apparently believed that these few extra verses contained some important mystical truths that only the Kashmiri Shaivites were in possession of.)
Comment: very nice answer.could you share where can one see those fourteen verses?
Comment: @Sai Thanks!  My answer has a link to the verses, but the site seems to be down.  Here's another link to the same PDF file: https://www.universalshaivafellowship.org/usf/images/gita/Bhagavad%20Gita.pdf
Answer: As senshin mentions above, there is no fixed canon of Hindu scripture.
However, if  you are referring to Hindu scripture whose authenticity is not held to be infallible, the smṛti parts of Hindu scripture might fit that description--in particular, the purāṇas, which are very sectarian scripture and have very obvious contradictions
I recommend that you research the difference between śruti and smṛti Hindu scripture, but keep in mind that not all Hindus (as with any point of Hindu faith!) make this distinction, or make this distinction as it is widely held.
The Bhagavadgītā itself technically falls into the śruti class of Hindu scripture, but this does not mean that it is not true or valid in any way. It simply signifies that the words are of human origin (but this does not mean the words are not divinely inspired).
But I think the best answer is that there is nothing like the Biblical Apocrypha in Hindu scripture, particularly in the Bhagavadgītā. There is only one Sanskrit version of the Bhagavadgītā. Only the translations, and sometimes the structuring of the lines, may vary.
Comment: except the starting of 1st chapter the whole Gita is between lord Sri Krishna and Arjuna. so we can say it is devine origin na.
Comment: btw see my question here(http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/10246/chapter-1-verse-8-of-bhagavad-geetha)
Comment: Vedas are fixed
Answer: "Apocrypha" is not an appropriate term when referring to the Gita.
Comparison with Bible
The Bible is a compendium of over 60 books. Bhagavad-gita is but a chapter in a canto of the epic Mahabharata.
In the biblical tradition many texts are anonymous and the origins and transmittance of the text obscure. Most Vedic texts mention the author (either at the beginning or at the end), even many songs include a verse about the author. When properly received, the texts come from an unbroken parampara (chain) of teachers-students where each member is a known (at least, to the adjacent generations) reliable saint. Mahabharata gives Vyasadeva as its author and he was still available in the 13th century to validate Madhvacarya's commentaries.
The very text of the Bible gets edited at times, but it is forbidden to modify standard shastra in the vedic tradition. Instead, sages write commentaries or even commentaries on commentaries, or their own treatises.
Abundant commentaries on Bhagavad-gita attest to its preservation. Shankaracarya's commentary is from 7th century, but his mission was to misinterpret the Vedas. Commentaries of the 4 Vaisnava sampradayas (who preserve the original message) are available here.
Substitutes for apocrypha
Somewhat similar in spirit, an "enhanced version" of Gita is Purnacandra's Gitamrita, based on the commentary of Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.
There is another chapter in Mahabharata, where Arjuna asks Krishna to repeat the Gita again, but Krishna tells him some other story.
The 11th canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam contains Uddhava-gita, which is similar in topics to the Bhagavad-gita.
The very speaker of Gita -- Lord Krishna was present on the Earth from 1486 to 1534 A.D. in Bengal as Nimai pandita a.k.a. Krishna Caitanya. He was actively preaching his teachings again, so those could also be taken as an extension to the Bhagavad-gita. However, he did not indicate any discrepancies in the extant version of Gita.
Comment: Look, I'm a Vaishnava, and I like the website with the Vaishnava sampradaya commentaries, but it's really ridiculous to say that Adi Shankaracharya's "mission was to misinterpret the Vedas".  You are aware that this is the author of Bhaja Govindam and restorer of the Badrinath temple we're talking about, aren't you?
Comment: @KeshavSrinivasan In Padma Purana (62.31) Lord Vishnu instructs Mahadeva to present some imaginary interpretations of Vedic literatures in order to divert people from the actual purpose of the Vedas. Also in Padma Purana (25.9) Lord Shiva explains to Parvati, that in the age of Kali he would come in the form of a brahmana to preach an imperfect interpretation of the Vedas, known as Mayavada, which is actually Buddhism in disguise. And you are correct that Shankara is a great personality, even vaishnavas respect him, and so do I.

Does the Gita have any apocrypha?


Sit at left or right window when flying into and out of Hong Kong HKG

Question: When flying into and out of Hong Kong HKG and as a general rule, is it better to book a window seat at the right or left side of the plane? (I understand that actual weather situations, etc., may always bring about changes relative to such a general rule.) I'd like to have a nice view of the city and its surrounding coastline, if that's possible and as opposed to a view of the open sea (presumably in the East) only. I'll be on Cathay Pacific flights directly from and to Europe.
Comment: Don't get your hopes up too much. Hong Kong is often overcast and there can be a fair bit of smog & fog in the area. Blue sky is fairly rare, although it seem to have gotten significantly better this year. Chances are you won't see anything until you break cloud cover which tends to happen only very close to the airport.
Comment: @Hilmar Thx for the heads up.
Answer: Just answering for the "into HKG" part of the question.
Assuming this is a direct flight from Europe (all bets are off if you connect somewhere else, obviously) and that the flight path is similar to that for LHR-HKG, probably left for a closer look at the city.  It appears that the most common approach passes by the city and then loops back.

However, at least some of the time the approach is more direct, in which case you may be able to see more looking forward out of the right side of the plane.
Comment: On the first path, landing, you would actually need to be on the left side (seats A) to see the interesting parts of the city (Central and Tsim Sha Tsui). Not sure what the proportion of the two approaches is (depends mostly on winds, possibly noise regulations).
Comment: @Drux I looked up the flight paths on FlightAware.  Probably there are other sites that can show it as well.  That particular site shows flights dating back a couple weeks, so I just looked at all of them.  That's a pretty short window though, as common flight paths may change due to weather and other factors, so I wouldn't read too much into it.
Comment: @jcaron Thanks, updated.  Forgot the geography of Hong Kong there.
Comment: Excellent. May I ask where you get such detailed maps of flight paths and how you determined the apparently most common approach? Also updated my question re direct flight.
Answer: I fly weekly out of HKG and back. I used to live in Tung Chung, near the airport, so I have good geographical reference points.
There's no way to predict where to sit for the best views. The planes land and take off in either direction, depending on the winds and traffic. It's not like the old days of Kai Tak, where the airport landings were scary and always in the same direction.
Some days you land from the west, some days from the east, regardless of the direction you're coming from. So it's a crapshoot. I don't have real data about the split, but to my untrained, frequent-traveler, eyes, it seems close to 50/50.
Comment: For night landings (between midnight and 7:00 am), aircraft are required to land from the southwest unless weather makes it unsafe. About 80-90% of flights do so. See https://www.cad.gov.hk/english/ac_noise.html for details.
Comment: @Drux don't hold me accountable but I would say east to west landings are more frequent.
Comment: @Drux, both videos are actually landing from the east. The first one starts southeast of HK Island, going north, giving you a fantastic view of Victoria Harbour, then turns west (great video!). The second one is pretty much straight from the east.
Comment: +1 Close to 50/50, but leaning in which direction? :-)
Comment: @jcaron Thx, that's an excellent lead for my ETA is 6:50. I guess [this YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F59lLwixbxI) is from a landing from the east (with loopback) whereas [that one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ocfCxW_RZo) is (just) perhaps from a landing from the soutwest. Does this make sense?
Comment: @jcaron Yep, great video!


Vajrayana VS theravada - after death theories - do they contradict each other?

Question: As far as i understand the having opposing views  about what happens between after you die until you are reborn again right ?  or do they "sit together" some how ?
Comment: Can you give a citation or some reference, or maybe an example of what you heard?
Comment: i dont know much about this subject and im probably wrong about what i heared  - but for example that in Theravada you reincarnate straight away (a few moments)   and in Vajrayana there is the a journey before  --- also im not sure what sects this belongs to but that a spirit of someone is next to the body for some days after also thats why you dont want to move the body much ?  (and i am sure its a buddhist who said that not another religon)
Comment: ruben2020  just gave an answer which is what i heard more or less
Answer: From Wikipedia on the Tibetan bardos:

Kyenay bardo (skye gnas bar do): is the first bardo of birth and life. This bardo commences from conception until the last breath, when
  the mindstream withdraws from the body.
Milam bardo (rmi lam bar do): is the second bardo of the dream state. The Milam Bardo is a subset of the first Bardo. Dream Yoga
  develops practices to integrate the dream state into Buddhist sadhana.
Samten bardo (bsam gtan bar do) is the third bardo of meditation. This bardo is generally only experienced by meditators, though
  individuals may have spontaneous experience of it. Samten Bardo is a
  subset of the Shinay Bardo.
Chikhai bardo ('chi kha'i bar do): is the fourth bardo of the moment of death. According to tradition, this bardo is held to
  commence when the outer and inner signs presage that the onset of
  death is nigh, and continues through the dissolution or transmutation
  of the Mahabhuta until the external and internal breath has completed.
Chönyi bardo (chos nyid bar do): is the fifth bardo of the luminosity of the true nature which commences after the final 'inner
  breath' (Sanskrit: prana, vayu; Tibetan: rlung). It is within this
  Bardo that visions and auditory phenomena occur. In the Dzogchen
  teachings, these are known as the spontaneously manifesting Thödgal
  (Tibetan: thod-rgyal) visions. Concomitant to these visions, there is
  a welling of profound peace and pristine awareness. Sentient beings
  who have not practiced during their lived experience and/or who do not
  recognize the clear light (Tibetan: od gsal) at the moment of death
  are usually deluded throughout the fifth bardo of luminosity.
Sidpa bardo (srid pa bar do): is the sixth bardo of becoming or transmigration. This bardo endures until the inner-breath commences in
  the new transmigrating form determined by the "karmic seeds" within
  the storehouse consciousness.

Above, you can see that the fifth and sixth bardos are located between death and rebirth.
However, the Theravada view according to Ven. Narada Mahathera from his book The Buddha and His Teachings, chapter 28:

In the foregoing case, the thought experienced before death being a
  moral one, the resultant rebirth-consciousness takes for its material
  an appropriate sperm and ovum cell of human parents. The
  rebirth-consciousness (patisandhi vi?āna) then lapses into the
  Bhavanga state.
The continuity of the flux, at death, is unbroken in point of time,
  and there is no breach in the stream of consciousness.
Rebirth takes place immediately, irrespective of the place of birth,
  just as an electromagnetic wave, projected into space, is immediately
  reproduced in a receiving radio set. Rebirth of the mental flux is
  also instantaneous and leaves no room whatever for any intermediate
  state (antarabhava). Pure Buddhism does not support the belief
  that a spirit of the deceased person takes lodgement in some temporary
  state until it finds a suitable place for its "reincarnation."

From the above two excerpts, it appears that the Tibetan and Theravadan views are contradictory.
Answer: The orthodox Theravada view is that the mind cannot exist without form except in the formless realms. Even in the cases of people floating around like ghosts after death, there's no proof that the mind exist independently of form. If they can see, hear, feel things it's very likely that they have some form of subtle body.
Answer: Life in between, existence in between, would be existence as well, or? So to give it a special notion, this rebirth as well, does not make much sense aside of possible willing to serve the everywhere common cultural aspect of untrained people in the teachings of the Noble Ones, that there is a lasting, independent spirit, searching for new body.
As Upasaka Sankha Kulathantille told in his answere, there is no mind without matter, no being without object. That counts as well for the "non"-material states, which just have mind objects instead of classical matter as object.
After each death, decay, a rebirth follows, moment for moment, as well for lager appearences of aggregating, which are common taken as living being.
Many existences are very short or "fail" after boming into being in a womb, so that they are regarded as having come into being at large. There might be the mystery of this distinction be found.
In folk perceptions there is no difference, exept of time and traditions in detail, within different countries and cultures and can be traced in western world as well, even in modern stories and movies, my person guesses.
The "living being in search for becoming" accurs also in the Pali canon, thinking on the Karaṇīya Metta-Sutta and may serve here especially to catch all possible perception a person may have in regard of existence and living.

Bhūtā vā sambhavesī vā,
Those born as well as those seeking rebirth

Events for the "in between being individual" are celebrated in Theravada folk-near Buddhism and daily life as well, but mostly not really made to a doctrine derived from the Buddha, by serious teachers and monks. But similar, and also popular at large, can be found as well, as it gives favors in many aspects for those willing to buy and trade for the sake of becoming.
The main different between the tradition might be, that Vajrayana seems to be more devoted to the world and serve its desires and ideas, while Theravada seems to focus more on liberation it self. How ever, Buddhas Dhamma, the good teachings, serve both in it's best possible way, so actually not that much requirement to stick to much to later developed notions and to much to cultural aspects, althought they might also serve certain purposes in given circumstances.
May you soon no more come into being, may your rebirth end! :-) do you like it?
The Bardo-questions here, by the way, could still not be valid answered by the followers of certain sects.
[Note: This is a gift of Dhamma and not meant for commercial purpose or other low wordily gains by means of trade and exchange.]
Answer: No they do not.
31 Planes of Existence is cosmological theory valid across all Buddhist religions, Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan (Vajrayana), and even new branches such as Nichiren Buddhism.
This wheel of rebirth is a basic fact of life accepted across all eastern religions actually and was common accepted knowledge in the time of the Buddha.
However, Tibetan Buddhism goes into the most detail of this post-mortem transmigration process with tips and tricks to help the noncorporeal spirit get closer to enlightenment (because it is easier to enlightenment at certain points in time when one is without this body).
Comment: and does theravada think that the reincarnation process is a few moments while tibetians think it can be days ?
Comment: Nope. Buddha talks about the gradual dissolution of the elements from the body which a smart person can correlate to the much more detailed after-life description of Tibetan's. They do not contradict but explain in more detail. This is the nature of of the Buddhist teachings--the COMPLEMENT each other and not COMPETE.
Answer: In the Pali suttas, 'death' is the unenlightened ending of a state of attachment or acquisition, which is a form of sorrow & suffering. Therefore, what happens after death in the Pali suttas is sorrow & suffering. The Pali suttas say

As he explores he understands thus: 'The many diverse kinds of suffering that arise in the world headed by aging-and-death: this suffering has acquisition as its source, acquisition as its origin; it is born and produced from acquisition. When there is acquisition, aging-and-death comes to be; when there is no acquisition, aging-and-death does not come to be.'
As he explores he understands thus: 'Acquisition has craving as its source, craving as its origin; it is born and produced from craving. When there is craving, acquisition comes to be; when there is no craving, acquisition does not come to be.'
SN 12.66


Reapers are coming after me in a star system. How do I reset the meter?

Question: After scanning a few planets in a star system, the Reaper bar fills up and they start coming after me. When will that bar resets so I can have access to the system again?
Answer: You have to do one mission, and all systems get their reaper awareness meter reset.
To make the most out of this you should visit all systems you haven't explored to 100% yet before going onto a mission, that way you get the maximum number of tries overall.
There is also the trusty old save and reload method here, just save before scanning and then scan down everything in one system. Let yourself be eaten by the reapers, reload and only scan exactly where you know the signatures are. That way you often don't alert the reapers at all, or if you do you're already close to the signature and can just pick up whatever there is and quickly get out of the system. While you're in orbit around a planet the star system map is paused, so you can even do that with the reapers on your trail.
To find the signatures that are not on planets without alerting the reapers you can also just fly around in space a bit and wait until you hear the sound effect you get when you fly near a planet. If you get that effect while not near a planet it means that there is a scannable signature nearby. This can reduce the number of scans you need and help you avoid alerting the Reapers.
Answer: You just have to do any 1 mission and it resets. But i found that its pretty easy to just clear the galaxies while you are being chased by them
Answer: It is very very easy to continue scanning a system even if the Reapers are alerted.  I considered them a minor inconvenience, at most.  Go in and scan until you find stuff, then if/when the Reapers come, flee the system before they get you.  Return right away, flying directly to whatever assets you found but didn't pick up yet, or directly to wherever you haven't scanned.  Rinse and repeat whenever a Reaper gets close.  They are at their slowest when they first enter the system each time, giving you time to move around a bit.
Just because Reapers are there doesn't mean you don't have access to everything in the system.
Also, remember the trick that whatever direction you ship is facing on the map will be the way you enter the system....so if my ship is pointing down on the cluster map, it will enter from the "north" side of the system, still facing down.  If my ship is facing right on the cluster map, it will enter from the "west" side of the system, ready to travel right.  This little trick can save you time when outrunning Reapers to make direct paths for scanned items or to exit via Mass Relay or refuel.


Generating an MSG file in SharePoint

Question: Is it possible to generate an *.MSG file on-the-fly in SharePoint 2010? This is an Outlook message file. I'd like to create an HTML message when the user clicks a button with dynamic properties from the page. Our organization uses Outlook 2010 and SharePoint is only for the intranet. Thanks.
Answer: You should be able to create a custom alert template, and have that alert send the customized email to an email-enabled Document Library. I think the email will show up in that document library as .msg file.
Answer: You can also use a workflow to generate an HTML email.  You can create any HTML markup you want and merge it with list/library data.  Then you can send it to the user and or send it to an email enabled document library where it will store it as a msg file.
Answer: You want to generate an actual .msg file from some information within SharePoint? I've done similar, we were successful with http://www.aspose.com/, their library made creating the file real easy.
HTH

Generating an MSG file in SharePoint


Patching a Small Hole in Drywall

Question: I have a small hole (2" x 1") in my drywall. The problem is that it is very close to a work box, so the smallest patch I can find it 4" x 4".
What can I do to patch this hole?
Answer: Using a level, and straight edge, draw a tight rectangle around the hole. Using a razor blade, or drywall saw, cut a clean hole. A saw will allow you to remove most of the material, and the razor will cut it cleanly. Then you can use the hole as a template to cut out the patch.
Before the patch can be installed, you will need to install a backer board to prevent the patch from falling inside of the wall. You can use just about any piece of wood as long as it is thick enough to hold a drywall screw without splitting. The wood needs to be long enough to be securely attached to the existing drywall on 2 opposite sides for strength. The screws must be at least an inch away from the edge of the hole so it does not crumble. You can also put a screw in the middle of the backer board prior to installation to give you something to hold onto while it is being installed.
Then screw the patch to the backer board to hold it in place. You can then clean up the edges of the drywall pieces to fix any imperfections. Use drywall compound to fill in the cracks, and cover up the screw heads. Keep this coat very thin, and just put in enough to fill in the voids. Let this dry, and then tape the edges with drywall tape. After this, you can skim coat the whole area to blend in the patch.
Comment: I don't recommend using those kind of patches on a hole of that size. They are a quick cover up, but don't last as long as the surrounding drywall. They also can't support anything hanging off of them such as a picture. Instead, I would recommend getting a sheet of 1/2" drywall, and cutting a patch from that for a proper repair.
Comment: I'm able to run the patch down to size?
Comment: When you say patch, I assuming that you are talking about a piece of drywall. If that is the case, then you can cut it to any size needed.
Comment: no it's a mesh patch. One you stick over the hole.
Answer: My suggestion is NOT to use a mesh patch, and instead make the hole slightly larger by carefully enlarging the existing hole to a clean, rectangular shape (as explained in the above answer.)
However, instead of using wood to back-board the patch, simply cut the dry-wall at an angle (front-to-back) so that the inner hole is slightly smaller than the outer hole. [You do this by holding your cutting tool at an angle relative to the wall instead of perpendicular to the wall.]
When you cut your repair drywall, cut it the same way, making the outside portion of the plug wider than the inside portion.  After you have it 'close' to the right size...test fit it again and again, until it fits in, and removes out, snuggly.
Lastly, insert the plug and use regular drywall mud to smooth over the patch without creating a lump. -- Skim once before applying drywall tape, then again after. if you have to use thick coats, then you pushed in your plug too far. -- knife out the mud, pull out the plug slightly, then re-mud/tape to seal it.
Comment: agreed, my oversight -- edited to improve the answer
Answer: If the outlet (work box) is at a standard height (approx. 16" above the floor), I doubt the repair needs to be strong enough to hang a picture from it. No need to cut out more drywall, tape will be needed to finish the patch to keep the joint from cracking. Spackling over the smaller holes as you have done is cool, but the larger ones need taping. The hole you have only needs a small piece of tape over it. Tape comes 2" wide, cut a 3" piece of mesh tape and stick it over the hole so it overlaps all sides about 1/2", AFTER you scrape the excess spackle from the nearby nail holes you filled, sand them if you like. First coat over the repair will be a tight coat, the idea is to fill the void through the tape. OR, you can fill it flush to the wall before you set the tape, however you do it, get the hole filled and use the knife to keep the wall clean, (you can fill it by smearing spackle on the backside of the drywall with your finger to build up the opening enough to hold more spackle). Let dry. Second coat will build up over the mesh and around the outlet a bit, set painters tape over the outlet to help keep it clean. To get a smooth surface you will need to apply more mud than you think, each time you build up the amount you need, then smooth it off. Each time you apply the knife to smooth down the build up, clean off the excess you remove, off the knife. A clean knife makes it easier to get a smooth job.
You may be able to keep the repair small enough where you will not need to go down on the sides of the box, which if you are new at this, will make it simpler for you. It really should require going around the box a little to help make the repair blend in better.It will take a second coat over the first build up coat. The idea is to get just enough finish over the tape to hide the mesh, 1/16" slightly more perhaps.
Answer: Use a technique called a "california hot patch".  Hands down the best low-tech technique to patch holes quickly.  Works with either chemical setting "hot mud" or conventional drying type.  The 5 minute setting type "hot mud" is incredibly finicky, but the 20 minute mixed with hot water is decent to work with and will allow you to have the patch done start to finish in less than an hour.
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/readerproject/2009/09/02/california-drywall-patch
Comment: I have used Hyde Bear Claw drywall clips to hold in patches. Fast, easy and secure. https://www.amazon.com/Hyde-Tools-09037-Drywall-Repair/dp/B001NOCL18 They come in a size for 5/8" drywall too.
Comment: See use of drywall clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UyyIhirm9M Note that a hole in 5/8" drywall (or any other thickness) can be patched with 1/2" clips on a patch cut from 1/2" thick drywall.

Patching a Small Hole in Drywall


Does Quran/Islam forbid women from going to school?

Question: Are women allowed to go to school? If yes, are their any restrictions they have to observe? I understand they may have to go to school alone at times (if not all the time), they might have to travel in public transport just to get to the school. Is this OK/acceptable according to Islam?
Comment: It is not forbidden as long as they are covered properly and remain serious (_whenever there are also male students or teachers around_), but also not encouraged if it is not necessary (_again whenever there are also male students or teachers around_), for example becoming a physician for women is highly encouraged for them. Also if it is not neither forbidden nor obligatory, a father can force his daughter(s) either to go to school or to leave it (also about his son to be more precise!), a same condition also exist about the husband if he had not agreed with her studying at the marriage time.
Comment: I am really looking for Islamic view on this answer, not just a verse in Quran.
Answer: No, Quran does not forbid women from going to school. There is only a verse in Quran (relevant to the matter) ordering to only wives of prophet that they should remain in their homes:

And abide in your houses and do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance. And establish prayer and
  give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah intends only to
  remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet's]
  household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification.
وَقَرْ‌نَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّ‌جْنَ تَبَرُّ‌جَ
  الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ الْأُولَى وَأَقِمْنَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتِينَ الزَّكَاةَ
  وَأَطِعْنَ اللَّـهَ وَرَ‌سُولَهُ إِنَّمَا يُرِ‌يدُ اللَّـهُ لِيُذْهِبَ
  عَنكُمُ الرِّ‌جْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَ‌كُمْ تَطْهِيرً‌ا
  http://tanzil.net/#33:33

But this command of God is only to wives of prophet; although one of them did not obey this and left her house and leaded a war. this verse does not apply to all women and every situation, most of verses only apply to a specific time and situation with the potential of generalizing.
There are some verses about hijab and affairs of women but they are different topics.
But if you consider only this topic, then there is no such verses in Quran.
Comment: I know at least of two wives if the Prophet that did not obey this "order" and left their houses.
Answer:
Does Quran/Islam forbid women from going to school?

There is nothing in the holy scriptures of Islam that prohibits women from going to school. In fact, there is no mention of schools in the Islamic scriptures. School is a modern institution that didn't exist during the time of the Prophet.

Are women allowed to go to school?

Yes, it is permissible for women to go to school. But they should dress according to the principles of Islam.

If yes, are their any restrictions they have to observe?

There is a difference of opinion regarding this. Some scholar are of the view that men and women should be segregated. Some others disagree with this and permit co-Ed education.
My personal view is that co-Ed education is permissible because during the time of the Prophet, men and women prayed in the same mosque. Also, during the Islamic golden age, men and women studied and attended lectures together at the same place. My own views are not Islamic rulings but they are supported by narrations/hadiths and views of many Islamic scholars.

I understand they may have to go to school alone at times (if not all
  the time), they might have to travel in public transport just to get
  to the school. Is this OK/acceptable according to Islam?

Generally, most students attend schools that are very close to their homes (within 5km). If this is the case then it's permissible for them to go to school alone. According to the majority view, if the school is more than 48 km away, then it is not permissible for a women to go to school alone. But some modern scholars disagree with that and consider women going to school alone as permissible regardless of the distance.
With regard to "travel in public transport", if they preserve their modesty while travelling by public transport then there is nothing wrong with that.
Answer: Like boys , girls may be sent to schools and colleges  for acquiring knowledge . If a girl is educated she can uplift a family and finally a small step to improve the society.She will be a support to her husband and family by all means.May Almighty bless all the Muslim girls to acquire knowledge and lead a happy and meaningful life.
Comment: Answers here should be elaborate, and focused on addressing the question. Claims should be supported by evidence. Please visit our [tour](https://islam.stackexchange.com/tour) in the [help center](https://islam.stackexchange.com/help), and refer to [how to answer questions](https://islam.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer).


Milky Way Formation

Question: Is the Milky Way a collection of merged galaxies, or has it only been one galaxy that was created from the interstellar media?
Comment: Neither, but both!
Comment: @Walter - I sense an answer coming. . . ?
Comment: @HDE226868 I don't think you should hold your breath.
Answer: Great link in your answer, @LCD3. In addition, I'm going to cover some things about the continuing evolution of the Milky Way:
The Milky Way is currently merging with one or more of its satellite galaxies (I say "one or more" because several objects in its vicinity, such as the Virgo Stellar Stream, may or may not be galaxies). The major merger is with the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy, which undergoing a 100 million year+ merger with the Milky Way. It sill eventually be completely torn apart, and become part of the Milky Way.
There is also evidence that this has happened in the past (see this paper) and it could happen in the future. The Milky Way has a lot of satellite galaxies, and even though they are far away, closer satellite galaxies could have been consumed in the past. The eventual merger with Andromeda will also add to the Milky Way's growth, as the two become a new galaxy.

Other sources:
List of Milky Way satellite galaxies
Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
Note: I am looking for more non-Wikipedia sources, and I will update this answer as soon as I can.
Answer: The subject of galaxy (including the Milky Way) formation is still hotly debated by the professionals. But is is quite clear that the process is a hierchical mess. The standard picture involves cold dark matter (CDM), which first forms structures (sheets, filaments, haloes) into which the baryons fall. Since the baryons can dissipate and cool by radiation), some of them accumulate at the centre of the haloes, where they form a rotating disc (since angular momentum cannot be radiated away). Stars form (roughly) whenever the gas density is high enough.
This all is happening on various scales. First, smaller galaxies form, but mergers quickly lead to the formation of larger ones. Most stars in galactic discs actually formed in situ (rather than in a progenitor galaxies). Accreted stars (from merged progenitors) are typically not in a disc-structure, but form a spheroidal structure (stellar halo, bulge).
A major merger (mass ratios 1:3 to 1:1) destroys the stellar discs and leads to the formation of an elliptial galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy cannot have had a merger with mass ratio 1:1 to 1:4 in the last few Gyr, and even a 1:10 merger should have left some detectable traces.
Answer: This simulation probably gives the best answer.
Added:
The simulation is a 2 1/2 min video of the creation of a large galaxy from interstellar dust by collecting smaller galaxies. The time span is probably in hundreds of millions of years.
Comment: Could you summarize it here? If the video is ever removed your answer becomes useless.
Answer: If we look at M31 (the Andromeda galaxy) and consider that it has most likely had a similar history to our own (similar size, age and make-up) then I would say that it is a galaxy which initially formed by itself and later collected other galaxies. M31 has a distinct distortion on its inner region, like a kink. This is quite possibly the remnant of an ealier interaction with another galaxy. Some evidence has been proposed that this interaction was with the Milky Way, although this remains unverified.

Milky Way Formation


Why do many vinyl albums place sides I and IV on one record and II and III on the other?

Question: Why do many vinyl albums of classical music have Sides 1 / 4 on the first record and 2 / 3 on the second? An example of this is the RCA Red Seal recording of Beethoven's 9th Symphony by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Comment: It's not just classical music --a large percentage of double album sets in all genres are programmed that way --the reason is as Steve describes below.
Answer: Many phonographs were able to play multiple records in sequence with a mechanism that would hold one or more records on the turntable, and one or more additional records elevated on the center post.
At the end of one record, the mechanism sensed the tone arm reaching close to the center of the record, and then lifted it, pulled it out beyond the edge of the records. The system then dropped the bottom record of those on the center post, leaving the rest of them. Then the tone arm mechanism moved the tone arm to the outside of the record and lowered it to the record.
The mechanism was pretty ingenious, but it couldn't flip records over. So, to play a long piece, it would play one side of each record until the stack was exhausted. Then it was up to a person to flip the stack to play the opposite sides in sequence.
So, when playing records 1A/1B, 2A/2B, 3A/3B, 4A/4B in such a mechanism, the play order would be 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, (flip), 4B, 3B, 2B, 1B. The "B" sides would go the other way because flipping the whole stack would put them in the opposite order.
Purists would take offense at the idea of letting records drop like that, but it was an irresistible convenience to people who could tolerance slightly quicker wear of their records.
Comment: Dropping the discs didn't cause any damage.  What the purists objected to was primarily the loss of friction between platters, leading to a little "wow" in the playback, and to some extent the inaccuracy of stylus angle as the platter stack rose.  IIRC some high-end turntables actually raised the tone arm on each dump but I could be dreaming that one.
Comment: I still have my mother's old stackable record player from the 60s and it still works perfectly! :)  Why can't they make audio equipment that durable any more?
Comment: Oh I know, it was just a rhetorical question.  But I still play records all the time, and it amazes me how a 50 year old player --that hasn't been treated particularly well --is still cranking away just fine.
Comment: This gramophone mechanism was known as an autochanger or [record changer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_changer#Automatic_sequencing). The cited Wikipedia article explains how come different sorts required different pairings of sides: autochangers which just dropped the records needed a pairing such as 1&8, 2&7, 3&6, 4&5; those which slid the top record away after playing it needed e.g. 1&5, 2&6, 3&7, 4&8.
Comment: @ChrisSunami because people won't pay for quality anymore. It's all the Walmart model.  "Just give me something cheap."
Comment: @ChrisSunami because it is bad for sales and the shareholders. Most devices are specifically designed to break down after some time so the consumer must buy another. This is why they're putting computers into everything these days - then you can program the device to break itself down soon after the guarantee expires.


Why is my campaign for Starcraft 2 at two different stages with same profile

Question: I'm using two different computers with the same profile, but when I load on one computer it is way behind the other computer in terms of campaign missions. I'm using the same profile on each computer, why is this?
Comment: Are you loading a saved game or just going into your campaign?
Answer: While I have no has personal experience with this, I would guess that the saved game is saved locally on your computer, or only get uploaded to battle.net so often. I can't imagine battle.net saving every single game for every single player. So when you play on one computer you either will not see it updated on your other system for some time, or never, depending on if battle.net keeps track of your campaign progress or not.
It certainly keeps track of achievements, but beyond that I am doubtful.
Answer: What I think you're doing is that you're loading a saved game. Loading a saved game loads campaign progress as well. If you just "continue campaign" you should be in the same place on all computers.
Answer: Thanks for the responses. I'm "continuing" the campaign so I thought it would be the same everywhere since its on battle.net (I assume). I'll try again later maybe you're right smdrager.


What is the meaning of "two-sidedness"?

Question: What is the meaning of "two-sidedness"? I'd like a direct or indirect definition.
Comment: If you could provide a context, you would get a more nuanced response.  Do you have the sentence that it is used in?
Comment: Do you mean 'sides' as in edges of a two-dimensional figure, or as in left vs right 'handedness'?
Comment: @gbutters like "things always have two-sidedness".
Answer: Something that has two sides can be called two-sided.  The English suffix -ness is used to turn an adjective (or participle) into a noun that refers to the associated quality.  For instance, darkness is the quality which dark describes.  Thus, two-sidedness is the quality of having two sides.  Although this is not a common word, it is a reasonable one.  One could say, for instance, that a sheet of paper shows two-sidedness.  (It is more likely that two-sidedness would be used in a metaphorical sense rather than a literal sense of that example.)
Answer: The only occurrence of two-sidedness in the Corpus of Contemporary American English is in an academic paper dated 1990: [he] erred in his prediction that Britain would be one of the superpowers, but he correctly anticipated the "two-sidedness" of world politics after 1945 (note the quotation marks, which appear in the original, marking that the author knows the word is not standardly used).
@mgkrebbs gave a good description of using the -ness suffix to form nouns. Two-sided means having two sides, or two aspects. The first meaning is exemplified in a sentence like:

The set includes 1 00 two-sided letter tiles, four gray bank tiles, and four letter bags

The second can be seen in:

For the past five years, Pakistan has pursued a risky, two-sided policy toward Islamic militancy

or

He clearly enjoys having a two-sided conversation.
Answer: Two-sided as defined in Random House Dictionary:

Having two sides;  bilateral.

This is a more direct, literal definition, where the sense of the word applies to concrete things: two-sided coins and two-sided paper.

Having two aspects or characters.

This is the more indirect, figurative definition, where the sense of the word applies to characteristics of a person, markets, or problems.  The implication is that those things with two-sidedness have a more complex nature than what is presented on the outside.
Adding '-ness' creates the noun form.

What is the meaning of "two-sidedness"?


Open an IPA file from the command line

Question: I am using an OSX box to run a bash script to extract an iOS IPA file so that I can use otool and nm to extract details about the app for vulnerability analysis. The ipa files are already decrypted, because I am doing grey box analysis as part of scheduled testing.
The command line has no problem with the ipa file itself, using unzip, but then inside the Payload folder there is a compressed archive witht he same name as the ipa file without the extension that Windows and Linux can extrace with the unzip command, but OSX cannot. You can, in Finder, right click and show contents, but I do not want to perform this step. I am writing a script, so I want to do it from a Unix command.
How does one open this archive in iOS? I can script the extraction in Windows or Linux, but cannot run otool or nm there.
I have tried:

Directly addressing the archive as a folder, where I get a "this is not a directory" error.
Using unzip, where I get a "cannot find this archive" error.
Using the open -R command, which opens it successfully in Finder, but that doesn't allow the rest of the script to  open
Answer: Never mind. The internal folder in question has a .ipa extension that I missed.

Open an IPA file from the command line


Why 10 year treasury yield expectation note priced in bond prices?

Question: A lot of large firms are predicting that the 10 year treasury yield is going to rise. My question is that if such prediction has any substance, shouldn't the current 10 year yield rise accordingly, as people anticipate the higher rates? Shouldn't the current 10 year yield the best prediction of its future value?
Answer: Loosely speaking, we use forward yields, not spot yields, to identify the market's estimate of yields in the future.  Right now, the forward yields are higher than the spot yields, because the yield curve is upward sloping.  So the market is not necessarily inconsistent with the analysts' predictions.
Comment: There is a lot of literature devoted to whether forward rates are a good estimator of future interest rates.  Many authors think that the slope of the curve is partly due to expectations of rate movements, and partly due to risk premium of longer bonds.  The question seems far from settled.  My feeling is that forward rates are better than spot rates as a predictor, in the current environment at least.
Comment: that is for sure one effect. Now let's look at the forward rate. Do you think the current forward is the best forecast of future forward rate of the same time period?


Is the Messiah mentioned in the Torah?

Question: The coming of the Messiah is a fundamental part of Judaism. But is it even mentioned in the Pentateuch? I've never studied any Perashah that talks about this. And if it isn't, why is it so important?
Comment: see rashi on gen 1:2. it's one of the first things hinted at
Comment: without the coming of the messiah, history is just a chain of events leading nowhere. the belief in the messiah is the belief that God has total control over history and that it is going towards a goal. without this, one can claim God's plan "failed" and the jews are damned forever or the like.
Comment: The second half of the question is possibly a dupe of http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/32006/8775.
Answer: From Rambam, Hilchot Melachim uMilchamot 11:

....
  The Torah testified to his coming, as Deuteronomy 30:3-5 states:
God will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you. He will again gather you from among the nations... Even if your Diaspora is at the ends of the heavens, God will gather you up from there... and bring you to the land....

....

Reference to Mashiach is also made in the portion of Bilaam who prophesies about two anointed kings: the first anointed king, David, who saved Israel from her oppressors; and the final anointed king who will arise from his descendants and save Israel in the end of days. That passage Numbers 24:17-18 relates...

....

Similarly, with regard to the cities of refuge, Deuteronomy 19:8-9 states: 'When God will expand your borders... you must add three more cities.' This command was never fulfilled. Surely, God did not give this command in vain.
There is no need to cite proofs from the works of the prophets for all their books are filled with mention of this matter.
Comment: The cities of refuge isn't proof to a Messiah, only to a reestablished Jewish sovereignty in Israel (eg. Sanhedrin). Rambam is using that verse to show that there will be some eschatological change.
Answer: Two references that come to mind are Bereshis 49:10 (This comes in the section in which Jacob is giving out the blessings to his sons near his death. In the blessing to Judah he says "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him will be a gathering of peoples.")
and Bamidbar 24:17. (This is the section where Bilaam is giving blessings after Balak hired him to curse the Jewish people. The final "blessing" is given without being prompted, and in it he states this line "I see it, but not now; I behold it, but not soon. A star has gone forth from Jacob, and a staff will arise from Israel which will crush the princes of Moab and uproot all the sons of Seth.")
These might not be completely fool-proof since they are somewhat open for translation, but these are understood to be referring to Moshiach. There is also the end of the curses which speaks of Hashem returning the blessings.
Now, although it is indeed considered a fundamental belief in Judaism it is different from other fundamental beliefs. At first glance it shouldn't have made it onto the list of principles in the first place. Understanding the nature of how to perceive God is a principle because it defines our whole perspective and relationship with God. Also, erring about the nature of God is itself close to idolatry. But why would awareness of a Moshiach make a difference?
The Abrabanel, in his Rosh Amanna ch.14 discusses this and gives three reasons for its inclusion in the list of principles of faith.

As part of the reward and punishment system it is indeed a basic and necessary foundation of Jewish belief.
So much has been spoken of why bad things happen to good people and that triggers the attitude that God doesn't pay attention to the actions of this world. The concept of a rectified era of Moshiach fixes this issue.
Just the fact that the prophets have spoken so much about it makes belief in it necessary.

Therefore, it is understandable that the Torah did not emphasize it since it is not inherently a foundation of Judaism, although it is indeed important to know and believe in it.
Comment: The way the Targum Unklos and Rashi translate this is that Shilo is a reference to Moshiach. The verse is saying that it won't leave Yehuda until Moshiach comes. When the tabernacle was in Shilo the kingdom had not yet gone to Yehuda.
Comment: i don't understand how Genesis 49:10 is a good source. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, as long as men come to Shiloh; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be." People stopped going to Shiloh, so Judah lost his scepter. Therefore it can't be referring to Mashiach. You can divide the verse up and say it hints at Mashiach, but at face value it negates the idea of Mashiach
Comment: @Aaron The verse doesn't say "to Shiloh" לשילה; it says "Shiloh" שילה. It also doesn't say "men". Whatever translation you are using is fudging the details a bit (not that what the OP quotes in the name of Rashi is Pshat...).
Answer: No.
The Messiah is not mentioned at all. The Messianic concept is also not mentioned at all. It's hard to find sources for a non-existence in something. It's like asking if there are any radioactive ninja turtles in your lemonade, what answer can you give other than "No." ? Anyways, if you read the Torah from beginning to end you will not find anything Messianic.
Lots of people will point out that you could interpret some things to be hints for the Messiah or the Messianic age, but it's not something inherent to the plain meaning of the text.
Source: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/mashiach.htm
Answer: Yes. The introduction of the concept is brought in VaYikra 4:3. It is first introduced in the context of representing the entire Jewish people and helping to re-establish their connection with HaShem.
Comment: I don't even know what you are claiming, but I suppose adding a source to your claim always helps.
Comment: @YaacovDeane could you please explain further what you are talking about or at least let us know where this is talked about?a sicha, farbrengen, maamar?
Comment: @Double AA: You  may not appreciate the comment. But the Lubavitcher Rebbe made that association to the "Kohen MaMoshiach" of VaYikra in one of his talks. It's not my chiddush.

Is the Messiah mentioned in the Torah?


What happened in Rome, when the western empire "fell"?

Question: I mean everybody knows that the western Roman Empire fell about 476 A.D. But what happened in Rome itself then? Did Romans keep living their day to day lives? Were there riots? I find it hard to find out anything about it.
Comment: Have you read the Wikipedia page on the [fall of Rome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Western_Roman_Empire)?
Comment: It's called *the fall of* or its *decline*. It was not felled in a single blow on some arbitrary date. What happened in Rome for several hundred years *while* it was falling.... ?
Comment: I will suggest to you *The Dark Ages* by Charles Oman as background material.
Answer: By 476 the city of Rome had not been the center of the Empire for a long while. Diocletian, picking up the pieces after the crisis of the third century, made a point of snubbing Rome compared to the "actual" imperial capitals, which he considered more important. Moreover the sackings Rome experienced in the fifth century certainly depleted its riches and resources. From the Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 14, page 378:

Despite considerable imperial and Ostrogothic attempts to
  sustain it, Rome gradually shrank through the fifth and sixth century to a tiny
  proportion of its former size; not only was there no longer the government
  money to sustain it, but it also inevitably lost out from the shrinking overseas
  holdings of its senatorial aristocracy.

Doubtless the Roman Senate still sitting in Rome (now no more than an anachronistic relic) was the theater of some speeches, but the historians of the time deemed them of so little consequence that they don't even mention them. But even beyond Rome, in the imperial capital of Ravenna, and all the other lands nominally under the suzerainty of the west Roman empire, the news would have been of little consequence. This passage of the Cambridge Ancient History (vol. 14 page 25) is illuminating:

Since the empire's financial base was simultaneously decreasing, the idea of
  empire quickly became meaningless. The centre no longer controlled anything anyone wanted. In consequence, the late 460s and 470s saw one group
  after another coming to the realization that the western empire was no longer
  a prize worth fighting for. It must have been an extraordinary moment as the
  realization dawned on the leaders of individual interest groups, and upon
  members of local Roman landowning élites, that, after hundreds of years of
  existence, the Roman state in western Europe was now an anachronism.

and ibid., page 27

A subordinate commander, Odoacer, organized a putsch, murdered Orestes, and deposed Romulus, derisively titled Augustulus, on or around 4 September 476. He then sent
  an embassy to Constantinople which did no more than state the obvious. There was no longer any need for an emperor in the west.

Also, from Christopher Wickam The Inheritance of Rome (a book on Early Medieval Europe that I heartily recommend to those interested in that neglected period)

Italy is actually the region of the western empire which lived through least change in the 470s, for Odovacer ruled much as Ricimer had, at the head of a regular army. Italy did not experience an invasion and conquest until 489–93, with the arrival of Theoderic the Amal and his Ostrogoths, and Theoderic (489–526) ruled in as Roman a way as possible, too.

In addition to what I wrote, the "fall of the Western Empire" is a bit of a misnomer. It was not, at the time, perceived as a change in political order: all the lands formerly in the Roman Empire were still under the nominal authority of the Emperor in Constantinople. The West versus East division was, at least on paper, only an administrative one, and the two Emperors had theoretically been coequal heads of state, with the same authority on every component piece. The situation on the ground was very much different, but Odoacer mantained the polite fiction of being the "viceroy" of the Emperor in Italy and even recognized and minted coins in the name of Julius Nepos, the nominal new Western emperor. The loss of authority of the Roman Empire over what were formerly its Western lands was a slow and gradual process, and while 476 is a convenient date (the last year in which a sitting emperor resided in the Italian peninsula), it's quite arbitrary.
Other dates that could be reasonably advanced for the loss of imperial control of Italy  are 572, when most of Italy was conquered by the Lombards, a power that did not recognize even the nominal suzerainty of the Emperor, or 751 with the fall of the Exarchate of Ravenna, or even 1130, when the Empire lost its last Italian possessions in Southern Italy[1]. The date of 476 is convenient to write on school exams, but its significance shouldn't be overstated.
[1] Personal note: If I were asked to chose one date for the end of the Western Roman Empire, gun to the head, I'd lean towards 751 because the fall of the Exarchate had all kind of consequences (most importantly the Pope deciding to throw his support behind the Frankish Carolingians), while 476 was not even the last time that the whole of Italy was under direct Imperial control (that'd be 572).
Comment: @vsz - Rome's decline took longer than most empires exist, period.
Comment: This is a great answer. For anyone interested in this period, I recommend the "Fall of Rome" and "Tides of History" podcasts, which talk a lot about the late Roman Empire and the 500s.
Comment: So basically by the time the western Empire fell, Rome was already like Detroit for a long time.
Comment: It might also be worth mentioning that by 476, Gaul, Hispania, and  North Africa had already passed beyond control of the Western Empire, meaning Italy was pretty much all that was left, hence Odoacer claiming the title of King of Italy.
Comment: @chepner This is true, although I suspect a sufficiently strong central government in Ravenna would have been able to reverse that (cfr. the action of Majoran twenty years prior, or the *de facto* control that Theodoric had on Spain a few decades later). The biggest problem was the shrinking of the tax base, that made the Roman system of government unsustainable
Answer: It is hard to describe what really happened: we only know what is written in the documents of that time which reached us, and they are not very abundant. There is a very nice book
(fiction) by Pascal Quignard, On Wooden Tablets: Apronenia Avitia (translated from the French, original title: Les Tablettes de buis d'Apronenia Avitia, Gallimard, 1984).
In it the author describes the life of a person at that time, and it seems to reflect very well our present knowledge on what really happened.
To state it shortly: nothing happened. People probably hardly noticed the event that we call "the fall of Rome". The reason is that the fall of Rome was a gradual process which lasted for more than a generation. Nothing that dramatically affected the life of most people happened in this particular year 476. The sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 made apparently more impression.
Comment: I think I will take a look at "On Wooden Tablets". Thanks a lot!
Answer: Also, unlike other empires that fell, Rome splintered into other kingdoms, hence the largely latin-influenced cultures, which exists today (except for the Ostrgoths and Visigoths - they didn't accept the new policy and were persecuted), so a "fall" would not be the most accurate term.
Also, the Roman Empire transformed into a political power after Constantine gave up his seat of power to what became the Roman Catholic system (countries still pay some kind of homage to this system, regardless of their mainstream religion - very fascinating).  So it appears the Roman empire got even bigger than it was, as opposed to it falling.
A transformation is a better suited description.
Comment: Actually, the formation of the papal state is way more complicated than that. Arguably, the pope started to actually gain power only after the Lombard invasion, when he became the de facto head of the Duchy of Rome. The Catholic Church as we understand it began with Charlemagne, when the Carolingians decided it could be an effective way of culturally unify their possessions.
Comment: @LangLangC It seems to me that this answer is saying that the Roman imperial system turned into the Roman Catholic church. If this is indeed what the answerer is saying, let's just say that I disagree strenuously with this gross oversimplification (it is true that in many places the bishop filled the power vacuum left by the civil government, but this is more "replacement" than "transformation")
Comment: @LangLangC Yes they certainly did extend their power wayyyy more.
Comment: Do you mean that to read "Also, the Roman Empire transformed from a political into a spiritual power" (after all the Catholic Church and their pontifexes extended the reach of the 'power of Rome' quite a bit further than the caesars who held the office of that name before) @DenisNardin I am a bit puzzled how you came to read "Papal state" into this. Can you make that criticism clearer?


What is the correct scientific term of having a short-term or long-term mindset (in the field of health and healthy lifestyle)?

Question: For research on changing lifestyle behaviours to prevent future disease, I am looking for literature on what the influence is of having a short-term versus a long-term oriented mindset. However, I cannot come up with the correct term for this and therefore do not manage to find useful scientific literature.
Any suggestions? Perhaps even recommendations of literature?
Comment: Consideration of future consequences.
Answer: One search term that might be useful is temporal discounting.
Here's a relevant Psychlopedia article, and a relatively recent paper that may have some useful references for navigating the literature.
Answer: Based on Josh' answer, I eventually ended up with 'delay gratification' and planning to use the Delay Gratification Inventory to measure this in participants.
Hoerger M, Quirk SW, Weed NC. Development and validation of the Delaying Gratification Inventory. Psychological assessment. 2011;23(3):725-738. doi:10.1037/a0023286.


Cooking a large pork roast in a slow cooker

Question: I need to cook a 9 pound pork roast in a crock pot/slow cooker. How long do I need to cook it? I have a recipe for a 3-4 pound roast; is there any way to adjust it for a larger roast?
Comment: Invest in a meat thermometer.  Without knowing what type of pork roast, the shape of it, fat content, the temperature of your slow cooker, etc. we cannot give you an answer to this.  You should never time the cooking of meat from a "recipe" anyway.  You must always check temperatures.  Especially for pork.
Comment: There seems to be a black hole in my memory when it comes to this topic. I am convinced that, within the last 2-3 weeks, we had such a question about scaling a slow cooker recipe. I wanted to close as a duplicate, didn't find the original question, and left a comment asking if somebody can find it. Now I can't find neither an old "original" question nor the question I commented on recently :( If somebody else remembers similar questions, please point them out.
Answer: If you cut the nine pound roast into three equal three-pound sections, each should heat to recipe specs.
Comment: Welcome to Seasoned Advice! I would suggest you improve upon your answer by adding more detail, or suggesting alternatives.
Comment: @Phrancis : what does he need to add?  Do we have to explain why dicing potatoes makes them cook faster than a whole potato, too?  Although, I should mention that although it'll speed up the cooking, it might not be the exact same time, as it'll take longer to get up to temperature initially.
Comment: I just felt it was not really a well-researched answer is all. Plus, depending on the type of roast, that may not be very feasible. (if it has a bone in like a shoulder roast, that would require a bone saw)
Comment: I didn't see much need for extensive research, as the OP asked a simple question, and I tried to provide a simple, intuitive path to the answer. In terms of a bone-in shoulder roast, the bone doesn't bisect the entire roast; it generally "floats" in one end, therefore the roast can still be relatively easily divided. Of course, you now have one out of the three sections that has different properties than the other two, but given the forgiving tolerances in long, slow, and moist cooking techniques, I don't think it will have to much influence on the final result.
Answer: TL;DR: Never use cooking time as a measure for meat doneness.
Why? Well it's pretty simple. According to the CDC:

What is trichinellosis?
Trichinellosis, also called trichinosis, is caused by eating raw or undercooked meat of animals infected with the larvae of a species of worm called Trichinella. Infection occurs commonly in certain wild carnivorous (meat-eating) animals such as bear or cougar, or omnivorous (meat and plant-eating) animals such as domestic pigs or wild boar.

There is no accurate way to know the doneness of your large roast judging by the time. With scary infections like Trichinellosis you don't want to risk it for your family.
Instead:
Invest in a meat thermometer! You can get a digital thermometer at most grocery and general stores, and online. They are inexpensive, many read temperature practically instantly, and some types you can even leave the thermoter in the meat while it cooks. Those normally have a digital display that is connected to the thermostat probe with a heat-safe wire.
Again, according to the CDC page above:

For Whole Cuts of Meat (excluding poultry and wild game)

Cook to at least 145° F (63° C) as measured with a food thermometer placed in the thickest part of the meat, then allow the meat to rest for three minutes before carving or consuming.
Comment: Some newer crockpots have probes so you can tell them to cook to a given temperature ... but you shouldn't but one of the digital controlled ones if you live in an area with inconsistent power, or if you think you might need to leave it unattended for more than 12-16 hrs.
Comment: Didn't know that, pretty neat!
Answer: I agree with using a thermometer, but a 9 lb, Boston Butt bone in, is about 8 to hours, make sure it is completely thawed and trim as much fat as you can before cooking
Comment: That is 8 to 10 hours


What are multiallelic genes?

Question: Is there a clear detailed description for multiallelic genes? Are they simply genes that are more than two alleles?
Comment: are you talking about multiallelic traits?  if not, maybe add a citation for us to see the original usage of the term.
Answer: More than two alternative forms (alleles)of a gene in a population occupying the same locus on a chromosome or its homologue is known as multiple alleles.
Multiple alleles arise due to mutations of gene.A gene can mutate several times by producing a series of alternative expressions.Different alleles in a series show dominant-recessive relation or may show co-dominance or incomplete dominance among themselves.
In Drosophila,a large number of multiple alleles are known.One of them is the series of wing abnormality ranging in size from normal wings to no wings.The normal wing is wild type.The extreme expression with no wings I.e is just stumps is due to one allele 'vg',in homozygous condition .
For reference.
http://eagri.tnau.ac.in/eagri50/GBPR111/lec04.pdf

What are multiallelic genes?


What is push/pull processing?

Question: Researching nearby companies providing E-6 processing, I noticed some offer push/pull processing. What is it and when would I want it?
Comment: E-6 is one of the standard development processes for slide films. There were a number of slightly different processes over the years; E-6 was the last in the series. In the Kodak world, it was used for Ektachrome slides, and most competitive slide films (like Fuji's Velvia and Provia) were also E-6. E-x films incorporate the dyes in the emulsion; the K-x films (Kodachrome) had the dyes added during processing, which made the process too complex for a minilab.
Comment: Pardon my ignorance, but what is E-6 processing?
Answer: The ISO rating of a film is determined by the exposure required to produce a negative (or positive, in the case of slides) with a particular contrast level when the film is developed according to a standard recipe and process (time, temperature, etc.).
Simply put, "push processing" is developing a film for longer than normal; "pull processing" is developing it for less than the normal amount of time.
There are a number of different reasons why you might want to push or pull film. One of those reasons is that sinking feeling you get when you realise after removing the film from your camera that you've shot the whole roll (or at least the last few shots) at the wrong ISO. Pushing or pulling may be able to salvage usable shots. But that's not the ordinary reason for push/pull.
Push processing is often used with high-speed film to shoot at very low light levels. It's not so much that pushing is the best way to go about things, but it's often the only option since the film speed you need simply doesn't exist. You are forced, therefore, to underexpose and overdevelop the film you can get in order to capture the image you want.
Push processing tends to increase grain (or the size of the dye clouds in a colour picture), so it is often used (again with high speed film, which tends to be grainy to begin with) to produce a "grainstorm" effect in an image, giving the picture a sort of pointillistic and "artsy" feel.
When photographers specify a push or pull of less than a full stop, it's usually because they've tested the film and found that it gives the contrast (and, perhaps, the saturation or detail) they want with something other than the ISO standard method. (Pushing and pulling are core components of the Zone System; the idea being that you know the film and its response to developers well enough to get the contrast and tonality right on the negative so that you don't have to monkey around with paper contrast.) I might find, for instance, that shooting ISO 100 chromes at an exposure equivalent of 64 (a 2/3-stop overexposure) then processing for a 2/3-stop pull might be the best way to tame the high contrast in my landscapes on sunny days, and doing the opposite might add some sparkle and contrast on overcast days with flat light.
Comment: the more i learn about this stuff, the more i value the analog work people produced, and the crazy steps it involved, when nowadays we can just mindlessly push sliders around in the computer. amazing stuff!
Answer: A little basic googling revealed several pages dealing with this.
https://web.archive.org/web/20061231070635/http://www3.telus.net/drkrm/push-pull.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_processing
https://web.archive.org/web/20090830033733/http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Support/Technical_Information/Processing_Information/push.htm
Essentially they are techniques for getting decent photos from film that has been exposed at the wrong ISO.

What is push/pull processing?


Is sufi a sect like shia, sunni?

Question: In India most of the muslims converted were through sufi saints. But all these people became either shia or sunni. How? Is sufi a separate sect like shia or sunni?
Answer: I got this from a website:
Existing in both Sunni and Shia Islam, Sufism is not a sect, as is sometimes assumed,but a method of approaching or a way of understanding  Islam which strives to take the regular practice of the religion to the "supererogatory level"through simultaneously "fulfilling ... [the obligatory] religious duties" and finding a "way and a means of striking a root through the 'narrow gate' in the depth of the soul out into the domain of the pure arid unimprisonable Spirit which itself opens out on to the Divinity."
Answer: Sufi's in Turkey are generally Hanafi. (Based on experience). So they are sunni.

Is sufi a sect like shia, sunni?


Can not install elementary OS alongside Windows

Question: I used rufus to burn a usb to make it into a bootable usb for elementary OS 5.0 Juno with which I was hoping to be able to dual boot elementary OS 5.0 Juno with my already existing windows 10. However, when I boot into the usb and select Install elementary OS it show a screen where it shows  some sort of error, something about "couldn't read" for like 2 seconds and goes away then nothing happens. I tried the other options as well but nothing worked. Do you know what I should do?
Comment: That destroyed my USB
Answer: I used usb-startup-creator available in xubuntu to create an install-usb for elementary os this week. Worked perfectly!
Or maybe check the bios/uefi/secureboot settings of the laptop. Sometimes laptops are protected to prevent installing other os's than windows...
Comment: Like @giel mentioned, I'd check the BIOS/UEFI/Secure Boot options, but make sure that you understand the implications of switching the settings around for your particular device, and make sure you're confident you know how to switch it back to the original settings before making a change—just in case you run in to problems booting back into your Windows environment post-changes.

Since elementaryOS is built on Ubuntu, the latest versions do support devices with UEFI and Secure Boot enabled, so in theory I think most modern devices should work out of the box.
Answer: Download the iso directly from Elementary OS website. Get rid of the rufus. Download balena etcher, install it and run it to make bootable stick using the usb drive and downloaded iso file. Turn off fast boot in power management in Windows. Make in Windows disk manager empty space for Elementary OS, but do not format it. During the installation just select this empty space to tell Elementary OS to install there. So as far as I remember it is not the first automated installation, not the third option with the manual partitioning but the second which allows to install Elementary OS alongside with Windows.
Comment: Sometimes I have issues with different USB boot disk creation tools, so it's good to be familiar with various options such as Rufus, UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer, balentaEtcher, etc.)
I agree with @Sysadmin, definitely give balentaEtcher a try if you haven't already. Lately, I've had the most consistent success with it. https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Answer: check the integrity of the ISO you downloaded, it could be that your elementary ISO is corrupted or maybe your USB is faulty
Comment: I have tried that


Enabling SSL on Apache2 causes address already in use error

Question: My server works just fine on a normal Apache2 install. Now, I'm trying to install subversion on this server using a guide I found on the net called: Installation of Subversion on Ubuntu, with Apache, SSL, and BasicAuth.
However I get the following error:
(98)Address already in use: make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:443

When I do grep -rH 443 /etc/apache2/ I get results in two files: ports.conf and sites-enabled/default-ssl
I tried it both with and without that last Listen 443 commented out, here's ports.conf:
NameVirtualHost *:80
Listen 80

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    NameVirtualHost *:443
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_gnutls.c>
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

#Listen 443

And the first few lines of default-ssl
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile /this/isnt/relevant/probably.pem
        SSLProtocol all
        SSLCipherSuite HIGH:MEDIUM

And netstat -an --inet | grep 443 returns nothing.
Any ideas?
Answer: I fixed it myself when I commend these lines out in ports.conf
<IfModule mod_gnutls.c>
    Listen 443
</IfModule>


Windows 7 click icons nothing happens

Question: After I boot my computer and open a program, it works fine, after the system sits for a period of time and I try to open another icon (any and all of them), the blue busy wheel just spins and nothing happens.
Answer: Perhaps you have a problem with your computer's hard drive or RAM.
Use the memory test built-in to your computer's BIOS (do you see something like: "Press F10 to enter BIOS setup" near the beginning of the computer's boot sequence? Well, press that key!  Check out the resulting menus -- don't blindly change anything you don't understand, though!
Or, download a copy of "memtest" ( http://www.memtest.org/ )  on a different computer, and either write it to a thumb drive, or burn it onto a CD, then boot your computer from that, and follow the instructions shown.
Check the hard drive -- here are some reasonable instructions:  http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/guide-to-using-check-disk-in-windows-vista/
After these steps, you'll at least be able to rule out problems with your hard drive and RAM.

Windows 7 click icons nothing happens


What mortar should be used for flagstone?

Question: I once read about a mortar that starts as a powder I could put in between my flagstones, and then just wet it down and it would harden in place.
Do you know what this product is?
Answer: First of all, a caveat:

We only use this dry grouting method with freshly buttered joints, where find that there is sufficient moisture from the 'proper' mortar to initiate setting of the dry mix. Dry mix into dry joints rarely, if ever, produces a good joint

From http://www.pavingexpert.com/pointing.htm#dry
A basic dry mix is 4:1 sand to cement.  That's by volume, not weight.  I'd try to find a fine sand, and preferably sharp cornered.
You may be able to find a premix at your patio/garden center.
The problem here is that all cement compounds require a significant amount of water to cure, and your joints will need water from the bottom as well as the top.  You might be better off using a wet mix and just taking the time to apply it carefully.
Answer: No special mix is required. It is a technique called dry grouting.
To use this the surface MUST be dry and done during a sunny day.

The 4:1 mortar mixture is mixed dry - no water is added at all, and it is essential that the sands and cement are thoroughly mixed together in the dry state before scattering onto the dry paving surface, and then using a soft brush to sweep the mix into the joints.
Some people will try to fine mist of water (with like some kind of plant bed sprinkler system mist spray nozzle) over the area but this can cause splashes in the joins.
Concrete inherently absorbs moisture from the air and the grout will harden over time.

You must realise though that this is rarely used because the outcome is not very pretty, using stains in the mix can cause stains on your flagstones too and is really only used straight after your flagstones are put down or there is enough ground moisture to help the mix set.
Answer: I have used
Polymeric Sand in this way.
For pavers, you sweep it into the joints, wet it and it hardens in place.
This has worked well to prevent weed growth and washout from water, but it does not obstruct ants from tunneling. They seem just as capable of prying this glue/sand apart as regular sand.


How can you use follower items?

Question: I have gotten some items that are of the type "follower". How do I equip those items? One example of this is called "the trinket". Nothing happens when I try to right click.
Comment: The follower must be level 18 to be able to equip the item.
Answer: You don't equip them. Your followers do.
Each follower (Templar, Scoundrel, and Enchantress) has a special equipment slot just for these types of equipment.  You can access these slots through the follower inventory screen.
The inventory screen can be accessed by clicking on the follower icon at the top left of your screen or hitting the 'F' key (by default) if you want to access the inventory of the follower you are currently using.
The inventory of followers you are not currently using can be accessed by dialog options with them in town.
Answer: You need to open your follower's inventory screen and equip it there.
Click on the portrait of your follower (if they are following you) or click on them in town (if not following) and open their inventory.
Once the inventory is open, you will be able to right click the item and it will equip to the follower's open slot.
Answer: Once you have your follower's inventory open, you can drag the item to the follower's trinket area (right clicking will just try to equip it to yourself), which is a big box to the right of their image and the left of their weapon.

How can you use follower items?


Regarding selecting a font on the provisional patent

Question: So, I decided to go with the Courier New font offered by Microsoft Word in writing my provisional patent. I am assuming that is the same Courier font suggested by the UPSTO? Anyway, I have written a full page and decided to export it to PDF. I have used the Foxit PDF reader and the document looked identical to the word document. Though, when I opened it using Adobe Reader which I am told is the software used by the people at USPTO the font was really thinner. It is readable but it is half the font weight of the Microsoft Word document. Should I be concerned how the text looks like in my provisional pdf file? I picked the courier font to be easy on the eye for me and the people who will read the file. Must I switch to another font? If I go with courier new font, will that affect my application in any manner?
Answer: It honestly doesn't matter at all. Nobody is going to look at your provisional. Or at least, not until you are trying to litigate a later non-provisional, but then the font choice is the least of your concerns.
As long as the text in your provisional is readable (and even the irritating-to-the-eye Courier New is readable), you'll be fine.
Comment: I thought Courier New was the one easy on the eye. Can you suggest another one?
Comment: @Kain It's fundamentally a matter of taste. But typically, proportionally-spaced serif fonts (for example, Garamond) would be regarded as more readable.
Comment: Thanks for the information. I think I will stick to Courier. I would have personally preferred to upload the word file instead of pdf once I am finished but they only accept PDF. I like the fact that Courier is far spaced myself. At least it will be easier for me to read :).
Comment: Although it may be true that "nobody is going to look at your provisional", it still should be legible, and preferably in English, so it can pass the required security review for a foreign filing license.  MPEP § 115.


Way to fix sharp tasting sauce

Question: I've made a sauce with some white wine (with cream & tarragon) but it's really sharp. Probably the wine was a bit old, or I didn't boil it off well enough - is there any way to fix it?
And what's the most likely cause?
Comment: Your suggestion was on point. My mushroom in red wine sauce was bold in flavor. I heated it up then simmer and its perfect. Thank you so much.
Answer: If "sharp" means too much alcohol left, bring it back to a simmer and cook off more of it, then adjust with more cream if needed.
If "sharp" means too acidic, your options are:
(1) add more cream and other ingredients to dilute the acid
(2) try to mask the acid with a bit of sugar
(3) I guess you could try to neutralize the acid with a very small amount of something basic, like baking soda. But that seems like a bad idea, it will probably taste terrible.
Comment: @Rincewind42: Sure, but I think the OP (like many of us) clearly preferred to salvage the sauce, rather than throw it away, go shopping, and start all over before having dinner.
Comment: Adding baking soda will react with any acid to form salts. So the food will taste bad. You're first suggestion of using sugar is probably best. Personally, I'd bin it an try again with a better wine. Always taste a wine before putting it into your dish. If the wine tastes bad then the resulting sauce will also taste bad.
Comment: I kept on cooking it - added some stock and a little more cream.  Tasted great - thanks :)
Answer: Baking soda works perfect it saved me many times :) but you need to be very careful with the amount it has to just a little bit. I'm adding no more than 1/4 of a tea spoon and it's enough for a saucepan with a dinner for two.
Answer: We tried this and had the same reaction with the cringing at the end. Per comments I added butter, half and half, garlic, onion powder, chili powder and at least now it's palatable!!! And I don't have to throw it away and all the fresh bread I just cut up to have with fondue that would go stale quickly.

Way to fix sharp tasting sauce