What do new Chinese speakers sound like to native Chinese speakers?

Question: Often when I hear Asians speaking English, it is quite easy to tell if it is their first or second language.
Their pronunciation of certain words and sounds such as the hard r's and hard and soft t's usually gives it away.
So, my question is, is that how we, foreign Mandarin speakers, sound to native Mandarin speakers?
I know that Chinese depends a lot on pronouncing the tones of every word correctly. Yet, when I speak Mandarin to my family, they still praise and understand me even though I know that I am getting certain tones wrong.
To clarify, do foreign Mandarin speakers sound as bad speaking Mandarin as foreign English speakers do speaking English?
Comment: 天不怕地不怕,就怕廣東人說普通話 So, when considering "foreign Mandarin speakers", you need to include native Cantonese speakers who actually mangled up Mandarin as much if not more than others. Try this -- https://youtu.be/rgldxnQeO3w :)
Comment: @Wayne I think the original (or better) version is 天不怕,地不怕,就怕老廣說官話.
Answer: Two things I want to say about tones.
1, Tones are not as important as they sound if the purpose is to get yourself understood.
You must have been told thousands of times that tones will affect the meaning of the words, and the example given is usually "ma1" (mom) and "ma3" (horse). However, most of the time, the meaning can be told from the context. Actually, I do have a Taiwanese friend referring to her mom as "wo3 de ma3", but we all know what she is talking about. I think that case is much more distinguishable than 四 vs 十 in some dialects. (not Cantonese level "dialect". I consider Cantonese as a different language. The dialect here is something like '河南话' which is not far from Mandarin. However, I was never able to tell 四 from 十 in '河南话'.)
2, Even if you get all the tones right, I will still be able to tell you are a foreigner
The key is the pitch (抑扬顿挫) of sentences, not the tones of characters. Some of my ABC friends speak Chinese very well, which is better than most second language learners. They sound to me like they are speaking perfect Chinese sentences in English pitches.
*, "Do foreign Mandarin speakers sound as bad speaking Mandarin as foreign English speakers do speaking English?"
If you consider it as 'bad', yes they do, but it is 'better' than most dialects sound to Mandarin speakers.
Well, I don't think it is bad as long as understandable.
Comment: Thank you! This helps a lot!
Comment: Regarding 2, there's no pitch accent in Chinese, only tones, right?
Comment: @JimmyYang You can understand it like this: 抑扬顿挫. I don't think there are fixed rules for that, but it is part of the expression.
Comment: "They sound to me like they are speaking perfect Chinese sentences in English pitches" - may I ask what you mean by this? Can you provide an example?
Comment: @MuchAppreciated25 It is like, if the words are written down, I will not tell if it is by a foreigner. The tones are also like 99% correct. But the pitch is raised in some unexpected positions. Pauses and accents can also happen at unexpected positions. Like English speakers tend to raise the pitch of yes-no questions, but it is not necessary for Chinese. I guess they learned that in classes, but I can tell when they are trying to hold that temptation intentionally.
Answer: I started this off as a comment but it was getting a bit longwinded so I'll just convert it to an answer.
This question is a bit subjective but I think there is a fair way to look at it.
Foreign Mandarin speakers are easy to sound much worse than most other speakers of second languages.
This is mainly due to what you alluded to in your question: tones. The majority of world languages are atonal - which makes acquisition of a tonal language, especially for adult learners, extremely difficult. If you listen to Korean's speak Mandarin you are very likely to hear tones that haven't even been invented yet in Chinese.
There are also certain initials and finals that some learners seem to perpetually struggle with. 学 /x-ue/ seems to be a particularly big one for Westerners who like to read it: /sh-ui/. Japanese speakers especially struggle with /-an/ at the end of words, often switching it to /-uan/. While most learners are just simply baffled by: /-üe/. And many learners mix up /-o/ and /-ou/.
Most speakers just aren't given the benefit of the doubt. I've seen decent speakers make simple mistakes, that may have been easily overlooked in other languages, met with rapid condescendence. Assuming that the speakers would rather just prefer to speak their native language, i.e.: switching to English; or putting on a "foreign accent" to match the speaker.
Aside from the actual nuts and bolts of the language there are lines of thought that just don't match up. For instance, I've also seen Westerners, person B, have this kind of intercourse:

A: 我昨天吃了麦当劳
B: 怎么样?
A: 什么怎样?
B: 吃麦当劳呗

This kind of non-linear thinking, often trips up native Mandarin speakers and leaves second language speakers sounding even more non-native. One way that could avoid confusion on the above example would be to repeat subject and then ask, "how was it?"
This is all quite ironic because most Mandarin speakers are not first language speakers. The majority of people grew up speaking topolects and dialects as their first language. As a result they can also struggle greatly with speaking "standard" Mandarin, as it is  promoted. Using the correct words, getting tones right, pronouncing initials and finals is just as difficult for many of these speakers. And of course, they will say things wrong and cause misunderstandings just like anyone else. But, there is a certain native air to their speaking that earns them the benefit of the doubt.
Comment: Thank you so much for taking the time to give me an in-depth answer. Yet, because I am only learning to speak Chinese and am not super interested in learning to read or write it too, I was not quite able to follow along in your examples. Having said that, I am assuming the short answer would be, yes, it is very easy/common for foreign Mandarin speakers to sound just as bad?
Comment: `Japanese speakers especially struggle with /-an/ at the end of words, often switching it to /-uan/.` Can you elaborate? There are several characters for which Japanese and Chinese sound near-identical, e.g. 三, 看, 板.
Comment: @dROOOze This is just purely anecdotal from observing acquaintances, but I've noticed often when 言 is on the end of a word they would pronounce it *yuan*. 語言 for instance would become *yu yuan*.


What is the difference between Genetic and Cellular Genetic algorithm

Question: Can someone explain to me what is the difference between Genetic algorithm and Cellular Genetic algorithm? All what I know is that in Cellular the individuals cannot mate randomly, they interact with their neighbors only. What are other differences between the two algorithms?
Comment: How is the somewhat detailed description here ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_evolutionary_algorithm ) not enough?
Answer: The difference lies in how mating pairs are chosen. There is quite a lot more that can be said but it mostly revolves around implementation.
The usual method is to select two individuals randomly and weighted so that the more fit individuals are likely to be chosen for mating.
In the cellular implementation, the individuals are connected in some way and are more likely to mate with closer neighbors while also taking fitness into account. The connection could be implied by placing individuals in a grid or it could be explicit by placing them on a graph. This tends to produce localized optimizations.
So, another key difference is how the problem is approached. If local optimization makes sense in the context of the problem then cellular algorithms are more suited. Otherwise, they can just waste time and in extreme cases, perhaps, always fail.


Appropriate breaker types for kitchen circuits

Question: We are updating our kitchen and I was just wondering if someone could tell me the code appropriate type of circuit breakers to use for circuits in the kitchen.
Comment: Gets a bit complicated. Are you asking in general or "small appliance circuits"? Also the type of circuit breaker is not an absolute - where GFCI is needed (which is the case for most kitchen receptacles) it can be in the breaker but it can instead be at the receptacles.
Comment: Would it be possible to tell me for both small appliance circuits and also just general outlet/fixture type circuits. Assuming that the outlets are GFCI.
Comment: While there are some general answers that can be provided, code varies by location. So if you could edit your question to indicate where you are located, that will help focus the answers.
Comment: I'm in the state of New York
Comment: For reference, the state of New York is currently using the 2017 NEC for electrical compliance.
Comment: Can you post photos of the labeling on the inside door of your electrical panel, or a make/model number for that matter?
Comment: I have plenty of information to work with; this was very helpful. Thank you everyone!
Comment: @RobIrwin Happy you've gotten some good info; if there was a specific answer below that helped you the most, please consider clicking the checkmark icon by its respective 'answer score' to indicate to future readers which one was the most helpful to you.
Answer: First the breaker must match your panel (Square D in a Square D panel; Eaton BR in a Challenger panel; sometimes it's tricky).
Then, the breaker must be the correct ampacity for the wire.  So if the wire is #14 use a 15A breaker.  Do not use a 20A breaker unless all wire in the circuit is known to be #12 copper or #10 aluminum.
If it is feasible for you to add new circuits to the kitchen, then there are a minimum number of circuits which must exist, and a few more we recommend for usability's sake. The Code requirements are slumlord minimums; exceeding the minimum makes a happier kitchen.

You must install at least two 20A receptacle circuits, which serve receptacles only, in kitchen countertops, rest of kitchen, pantry, dining area, breakfast nook etc.   These circuits can also serve small loads on a gas range (i.e. spark ignitors) and also a wall clock. The exhaust fan CANNOT be on this circuit.

Electric ranges and ovens can share a dedicated circuit (or not), and are subject to special/unusual math as to circuit ampacity.  Generally a 50A circuit/breaker is a safe choice, but the best choice is conduit between range area and service panel.  Connections MUST be 4-wire: using /2+ground Romex to power ovens has always been illegal.

Hardwired large appliances cannot be on the above circuits, and need their own circuit(s) as needed based on their ampacity (x 1.25 if the load might conceivably run 3 hours or more, so not microwaves nor disposals).  They can share circuits, but that "paints you into a corner" in the future, e.g. not allowing you to use a more powerful disposal because then disposal+dishwasher would exceed 20A.  Generally best to have a dedicated circuit for each.

Only recommended: Dedicated circuit for refrigerator, set up with a single socket (not the normal dual socket) and labeled "Refrigerator only".  No GFCI on this circuit!

Recommended: More than two Kitchen countertop receptacle circuits.  One per countertop receptacle is ideal. That is because 2 cooking appliances (typically 1500W each) are typically too much for 1 circuit (2400W).  This makes it easy for the chef to arrange appliances so they don't trip breakers.
Answer: The kitchen counter tops require 2ea 20 amp circuits the circuits have to be GFCI protected I prefer using normal breakers and putting A GFCI receptacle in the first position for each then if there is a fault you may hear it and can reset it without going to the service panel (if GFCI breakers are used the reset will be at that location). Additional devices may require more branch circuits but 2 circuits is the minimum. Dishwasher, compactors, built in microwave all have additional requirements but you did not specify anything other than kitchen.
If my customers want to go cheap I put the kitchen refrigerator on one of the small appliance branch circuits and it is not GFCI protected but all the others are (receptacle protection not breaker in this case).
Check your state code as individual jurisdictions have different rules (my state doesn't require GFCI for built in dishwasher but the national code requires GFCI) knowing the rules for your area can save a lot of problems.
Answer: You need at least two 20A breakers/circuits for the countertops as well as dedicated for dishwasher and food disposal (depending on you local code and if load doesn't exceed 80% of the total circuit capacity, those can be on the same 20A breaker). They also must be GFCI protected circuits. You can ether use 20A GFCI breaker or GFCI receptacle. Here is a good read for you
Answer: Looks like NY State is 2017 NEC, City is 2008, so State you will need to use AFCI breakers, city normal 20A breakers will be acceptable. A city outside of NYC may also have revisions.
Small Appliance Branch Circuits (that serve countertop surfaces) are required to be 20A. The Code book says the two or more SABC's "shall serve all wall and floor" receptacles in kitchen, dining, pantry, and similar areas and not serve other areas. Some on this site will argue dining receptacles can be 15A circuits, I don't see how they get that.
NEC 2017 has is an exception that allows additional 15A circuits for outlets that are for dedicated appliances, the 2008 exception for applies to refrigeration outlets only.
Sharing appliances on circuits gets confusing and hard to generalize. For instance a fixed in place limitation of 50% would allow two receptacles to feed a two 9A fixed in place appliances to share a 20A circuit, but an 11A and 4A can't share a receptacle circuit. Less amps, but you can't do it. So to generalize is hard.
Also you asked about breakers, not gfci, but 2008 only kitchen countertop receptacles required gfci protection, the 2017 edition also requires within 6' of a sink, no fridge exception.


How many Edain were left at the end of the First Age?

Question: When the Edain awoke in Hildórien and trekked all the way across Middle-earth into Beleriand, there were presumably tens of thousands who didn't fall under Melkor's deception and service, who were welcomed by the Sons of Finarfin in Nargothrond. Many of these Edain fought with the Host of Valinor in the War of Wrath by this point numbering in the hundreds of thousands but then they faced extreme casualties and by the time Númenor was raised there weren't as many as before the war. So how many Edain survived at the end of the First Age?
Comment: Are you looking for an order of magnitude number, or a specific citation from JRRT's notes?
Comment: Tolkiens notes if you can find the info
Answer: Less Than 14,999
The Peoples of Middle Earth talks about the migration of the Edain to Númenor.

The legends make no guess at the numbers, and the
histories say little. The fleet of Elros is said to have contained
many ships (according to some a hundred and fifty vessels, to
others two or three hundred) and to have brought 'thousands' of
the men, women, and children of the Edain: probably between five thousand or at the most ten thousand.

(emphasis added)
Whilst being vague and confirming that there is no concrete numbers an estimate of 5,000 to (an upper limit of) 10,000 Edain travelled to Númenor.
The Peoples of Middle Earth also suggests that this is the best part of the surviving Edain. It just took some time for them all to get there:

The legends of the foundation of Númenor often speak as if all the Edain that accepted the Gift set sail at one time and in one fleet. But this is only due to the brevity of the narrative.  In more detailed histories it is related (as might be deduced from the events and the numbers concerned) that after the first expedition, led by Elros, many other ships, alone or in small fleets, came west bearing others of the Edain, either those who were at first reluctant to dare the Great Sea but could not endure to be parted from those who had gone, or some who were far scattered and could not be assembled to go with the first sailing.
[...]
But the whole process of migration appears in fact to have occupied at least fifty years, possibly longer, and finally ended only when Círdan (no doubt instructed by the Valar) would provide no more ships or guides.

But some must have stayed behind if Círdan was instructed to stop, implying some were still crossing piecemeal.
Therefore it can be fairly safely assumed that the majority of the Edain travelled in the first great fleet of Elros, with the remainder arriving in the following fifty years.
We can extrapolate from this that more than 5,000 Edain survived the First Age, as this was the lower limit of the main fleet to somewhere slightly over 10,000, the upper limit of the main fleet plus the stragglers.
If we take majority to mean greater than 50%, then we could suggest that no more than 14,999 Edain survived the First Age.
Comment: Well, it suggests there was more than that.
Comment: @Mithoron I would say it suggests after 50 years not many more were crossing and therefore the top limit of 10,000 that dos cross wouldn't have been exceeded in any meaningful way


Javascript injection in email address as username?

Question: Is it possible for a valid email address (something that would work  if used send to gmail, for varying definitions of valid (the email would be received not the exploit)) to contain javascript that could be exploited if rendered and the output is not sanitized (properly encoded)? if so please provide an example.
Comment: Valid emails cannot include javascript code, but your application input field might be vulnerable to injected code.
Comment: @schroeder right, I'm just trying to figure out if there's a way to craft an email address that would send, but could be used for an exploit if rendered. Just pen testing our app, about to log some other vulnerabilities I've found.
Comment: it's not really a problem of inputs but outputs, I've come to an enlightenment, sanitizing inputs isn't really the goal. You want to sanitize outputs, SQL injection is about sanitizing what is sent to the SQL server. Javascript Injection is about sanitizing what is sent to the browser. I want to craft a malicious input to see if any one of 50 outputs does not sanitize it properly. (no I'm not saying don't validate your inputs)
Comment: you need to include this perspective in the question so that we understand what you are trying to achieve
Answer: I would say that theoretically (and practically, depending on your sanitation function), yes, the local part of an email can be used in XSS attacks.
The problem is that email addresses are complex and may include a number of special characters. Additionally, email addresses offer features such as comments and quoted strings, which allow even more special characters.
XSS in Local Part of Email Address
[I'm using the informational rfc3696, because it's a lot nicer to read than the official rfcs.]

The exact rule is that any ASCII character, including control characters, may appear quoted, or in a quoted string.

So a valid email address would be:
""@example.com

You can test its validity here. This is obviously not secure.
Further Possibilities
Even without quoted strings, an attacker can at least get close:

Without quotes, local-parts may consist of any combination of
alphabetic characters, digits, or any of the special characters
! # $ % & ' * + - / = ?  ^ _ ` . { | } ~

This is already enough to enter a javascript context, eg:
email me

via:
firstname.lastname@example.com

The problem here is that ( is not allowed, but I would not be comfortable printing this to the enduser unencoded. At the very least, a user could change the style: foo'style='color:email@example.com.
You can also place the payload inside a comment of the local part, so possible restrictions of your email provider do not apply, eg: ("")email@example.com, where firstname.lastname@example.com is your email address (here, the same rules as above apply - < and > can only be inside quoted strings; additionally, you cannot have ( and ), even in quoted strings).
And this is just about the local part. The domain part gives an attacker additional attack vectors.
Proper Defense
This is why XSS prevention should not be about filtering, but proper encoding. All dangerous characters (in most contexts - but not all -  these are at least ', ", <, and >) should be HTML encoded when send to a user, no matter what filter was applied beforehand.
Comment: can you combine the quoted with the unquoted? wondering if you can write something like `xenoterracide+""@gmail.com`
Comment: @xenoterracide not like that. What is allowed are local parts that contain quoted and unquoted parts separated by periods, so eg `xenoterracide.""@gmail.com`. Comments are also allowed with quoted strings, eg: `(xenoterracide)""@gmail.com`.
Answer: Further to Tim's excellent answer, Gmail implement a Content Security Policy to prevent any script that manages to bypass their filters from rendering in supported browsers.
So yes, while an email address can contain tags ""@example.com I would be surprised if Google were not correctly encoding it, and as said they have the CSP to protect users if they were not. Having said that, there was a recent bug in the Gmail app in Android which allowed from addresses to look like they were spoofed at first glance.


Recipe for finding non-conservative electric field in general case

Question: I know that Faraday's law gives a recipe for finding the EMF over a closed loop. But, other than through symmetry arguments, I have not found a way discussed in my textbooks on how to find explicit functional form of the non-conservative field. Would there be a basic law which we can use the to find the non-conservative electric field of general set up? Similar to how we can integrate coulombs law to find electrostatic fields of general set ups.
Comment: What about the answer "Maxwell's equations" doesn't sit well with you? Do you have a specific system in mind?
Comment: I am not very familiar with how to solve PDES especially ones involving the vector operators.. so I was checking if there was some more elementary recipe one could use
Answer: Consider Faraday's Law in Differential Form:
$$ \nabla \times \vec{E} = -\frac{\partial \vec{B}}{\partial t} $$
This is basically a set of 3 coupled partial differential equations, which could be solved to get the non-conservative electric field.
But for Generality we could in theory find the electric field by inverting the curl operator: (provided we know the magnetic field $\vec{B}$.
$$ \vec{E} = (\nabla \times)^{-1} -\frac{\partial \vec{B}}{\partial t}$$
Check this paper to find the closed inverse operator:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/0804.2239.pdf
So yeah, there is a sort of general methodology for finding the non-conservative Electric Field, but that being said, I feel it would be much more easier to figure out the Magnetic Vector Potential $\vec{A}$ from the current densities and then know that the non-conservative component of the Electric field becomes:
$$\vec{E}_{nc} = -\frac{\partial A}{\partial t}$$
P.S Feel like this question came from a person who is just taking his first courses in Electrodynamics in which case none of what I said above may make any sense. Just know that the laws of electromagnetism that you study will be rewritten more elegantly in the form of Maxwells Equation which when done will give you differential equations relating the Electric, Magnetic fields to currents and charges. And you could solve these equations to find the Electric and Magnetic Fields. (easier said than done)
Comment: @Buraian To be clear, you cannot "invert the curl." If you're handed a divergenceless field $\vec Y$ and asked to find some $\vec X$ such that $\nabla \times \vec X = \vec Y$, then (assuming your domain is $\mathbb R^3$) you can do so; however, this $\vec X$ will be highly non-unique.   Furthermore, when it comes to E&M even this procedure only makes sense if you've been handed $\frac{\partial\vec B}{\partial t}$, but in general you need to solve for $\vec E$ and $\vec B$ *simultaneously*. In other words, Faraday's law only provides a constraint that $\vec E$ and $\vec B$ must satisfy.
Comment: Certainly, I have tried to read griffiths but I didn't do further than the polarized material chapter. I'll choose the best answer after seeing the other answers which maybe posted. Very cool that you can invert curl btw


Replacing a SRAM Force hydraulic caliper with a new one

Question: I'm replacing my SRAM Force hydraulic caliper with a new one, I've drained the old one so there's no fluid in it. When replacing the caliper with a new one how can I put fluid into it? Should I just do a classic bleed or are there special steps to follow for new caliper installation? thanks
Comment: I believe that sharing model of the new one would help, it's not like SRAM manufacturers only one, right? Also, don't they have an installation manual on their website? Or you have some problems understanding it? No shame in the latter, but knowing what exactly you are struggling with would help people give you useful answers.
Comment: I'm changing SRAM Force Caliper with a new SRAM Force Caliper. only the caliper.
Answer: This SRAM video on replacingthe hydraulic hose involves removing all the fluid from the system - the situation you are in now. At the end it says to bleed the brake then links to the standard SRAM bleed process, so presumably that's what you need to do.
The standard bleed process is designed to displace all the old fluid with fresh, so the lower syringe must contain enough fluid to fill the system. I think I'd repeat the steps for removing air bubbles a few more times than SRAM suggests to make sure the system is filled properly and there is no air left in the system. If the lever feels spongy you can of course repeat the bleed process.


Problem books for concept building in applications of Riemannian and other geometries to mechanics

Question: As a student of physics I have learned solving Euler equations for rigid bodies by solving examples and exercises in self-contained books rather than understanding the proofs of Euler equations (I know this is not an ideal approach to skip theorem-proofs and right away dive into solving problems).
But I like studying solved problems in books and internalize ways to solve new problems I may come across. Eg. I effectively learned how to draw free body diagrams by studying them for some solved examples.
Similarly I have understood applying Lagrange formalization to problems by studying solved problems. Whereas given a new system I can apply the Lagrange principle to find the governing equations of motions easily, I may have to look at a textbook several times to derive Lagrange principle using calculus of variation.
Recently problems in mechanics are solved by taking help of Riemannian geometric and semi-Riemannian tools and also topological abstractions. I am more interested in the application of a theory to concrete problems rather than proving a theory.
Are there books there with several solved and unsolved examples on how to apply all these new techniques to actually solve problems in real life like newton's $F=ma$ does? After searching through several books, it was found most stress only on the rigor of formalization and proof of facts rather than applications.
Answer:
Schaum series Differential Geometry will solve part of your problem.
Search "problem book in riemannian geometry" on google and it should bring out something useful.
Also see V.I. Arnold's books.


.Context.tt Error when splitting Entities and POCO Objects

Question: I followed this tutorial http://www.allenconway.net/2013/01/separating-entity-framework-poco.html for splitting my Entities and POCO into seperate projects. But every single time I get an error in my .context.tt for my DbSet Objects:
<code>Error   3   The type or namespace name could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
</code>
I have changed the namespace for the .context.tt
I tried adding a using statement as well.
I also added a reference as well.
any idea how I can resolve this ?
Answer: I had referenced the projects backwards. Make sure you have the correct references.


How many 10-bit binary sequences begin and end with the same bit?

Question: Can you please teach me how to solve this? There are other similar questions that I have, but I don't understand how to solve them. Another question is: How many 10-bit binary sequences contain an odd number of 1s?
Answer:
They can either end with $0$'s or $1$'s (2 choices). The remaining 8 bits can be either $1$ or $0$ ($2^8$ choices), so you have $2^9$ different possibilities.
Exactly half of them. The total amount of possibilities is $2^{10}$, so half of this is $\frac{2^{10}}{2} = 2^9$.


How to archive mail in Outlook 2016 with a shortcut?

Question: Outlook 2016 has removed support for AppleScript. I used to use a script to move my mail to the Archive folder on Ctrl-A. How do I restore that functionality?
Answer: One could also do the following:

In the Outlook Menu Messages, look for the Move > option.  See if there is a Archive (provider) menu option.

Much like this:

That being the case, mapping a key to it can be done in the  Keyboard preferences.

Go to System Preferences
Select Keyboard
Select the Shortcuts tab
Click the Plus sign button and create an Application Specific shortcut.  (Preventing system wide use)
Type in the Menu option from Outlook exactly as it appears in the menu.
Type your preferred shortcut

Now, go back to Outlook and test it.
Answer: This reply contained detailed instructions and a script. Both have been moved to https://github.com/proski/MacOutlookArchive and greatly reworked.


How to examine the heap and stack of an RTEMS application using gdb?

Question: Is there a way to know exactly the address range of both the heap and the stack on an RTEMS application by using gdb? I know there's info proc mappings on Linux, but I don't think RTEMS has a /proc to begin with. Using x to examine memory would be great but I need to know the address range of both.
I know there are some tips in http://www.rtems.org/wiki/index.php/Debugging, but they themselves admit those are really crude estimates.
Answer: I have also tired to figure out same things one week back.But i came a cross that it totally depend on the Os and the implementation of the code.As gcc compiler takes 8mb of memory for stack and the range of there address will keep on changing as u compile it again and again.So u have to know where it store whether in contiguous stack or a stack where blocks are interleaved with heap blocks in memory.follow the link u will find some hint
http://gribblelab.org/CBootcamp/7_Memory_Stack_vs_Heap.html
Answer: For the heap you can investigate the Heap_Control structure (defined at cpukit/score/include/rtems/score/heap.h) and the two variables, RTEMS_Malloc_Heap and _Workspace_Area. In particular you seem interested in the Heap_Control.area_begin and Heap_Control.area_end fields. The _Workspace_Area can be part of the heap or a separate memory region, and it holds the kernel data structures. The RTEMS_Malloc_Heap points to the Heap_Control describing the traditional C program heap.
For the stack, you can look at the Thread_Start_information structure (defined at cpukit/score/include/rtems/score/thread.h) contained in the Thread_Control associated with the thread whose stack you want to examine. You can get a pointer to the executing thread with the _Thread_Executing macro.


Disable halt, poweroff, reboot, shutdown

Question: we have a RHEL 5.5 admin server, all the team member from same project can access as root via sudo, from this admin server we login all servers as root. now we need to block/disable such halt, poweroff, reboot, shutdown & init0.
Any suggestion.
Answer: He either is root or he isn't - whilst technically you could limit him, as root, he can always undo whatever you do.. so, kind of pointless and you are best off just telling him not to do it!


Contacts have disappeared since iOS 7 update, and iCloud is not available

Question: After updating to iOS 7, all my contacts have disappeared and iCloud is grey in my settings, i.e. not live. I keep getting a notification asking for me to accept Terms and Conditions of iCloud, but when I click, it goes to the grey iCloud in settings. How can I sort this out?
Answer: Go to Settings>General>Restrictions>Accounts, set this to Allow Changes.
This should render your grey iCloud settings useable again.
Answer: Try and delete and add the iCloud account.
System Preferences -> Internet Accounts -> Select the iCloud account and press the " - "
Next step, add the iCloud account by pressing the " + "


How to remap the "Send tweet" hotkey?

Question: In Mountain Lion there is a "tweet sheet" when sharing from either notification center or an app. The default hotkey for "send tweet" is CMDShiftD. I'd like to use something like CMDRETURN. Is there a way to remap this?
Answer: You can use Spark to set custom keybindings for nearly anything in OS X. You can set up a shortcut to execute an AppleScript and use the following script:
<code>display dialog "Tweet?" default answer "" buttons {"OK"} default button 1
set mytweet to text returned of result

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Notification Center"
        click menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1
        click button 1 of UI element 1 of row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of window "window"
        keystroke mytweet
        keystroke "D" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke space
    end tell
end tell
</code>
Source: TUAW

How to remap the "Send tweet" hotkey?


Can I make idli without rice?

Question: I want to avoid rice due to my diabetes. So can I make idli only with urad dal? Currently, I am using rice rava and urad dal in the same proportion and the idli comes out nice. Thank you
Comment: Welcome to the site. If you do a search for idli without rice there are many recipes to choose using all lentils or other pulses, why don't you look at those and if you have specific questions about the recipe? At this point your question looks like a recipe request, which is off topic on this site.
Answer: You can also do it with Yellow/green Moong Dal or Millet. I used this recipe before - it's a mix pf Urad Dal and Millet https://masalachilli.com/proso-millet-idli-no-rice-idli-recipe/
Comment: I agree with this suggestion - plain yellow mung dal alone ferments nicely and makes pretty good idlis

Can I make idli without rice?


HyperThyroidism

Question: I am 46 years old, female. My TSH levels are 8.10. Due to this, my skin is becoming wrinkled around the neck and I look older than my age. I also have excessive hairfall and reduced vision due to this. I have already consulted a dermatologist to reduce wrinkles. Besides that , any of your advices are welcome. Thanks in advance.
Comment: Unfortunately, this is more of a question and answer site, not really a discussion type site. I would advise you to keep doing what your dermatologist recommends, and see if he/she has any other recommendations for treatment supplementation.
Answer: If your TSH levels are too high, you have hypothyroidism.
Beneath hairloss other symptoms are listlesness, dry skin, feeling cold or  gaining weight easily.
The TSH should be between 0.4 and 4 (1).
The best would be to visit an internist/endocrinologist and start a L-thyroxine substitution.
If the wrinkles are because of the hypothyroidism, the substitution should solve the problem.
Why is a high TSH a marker of a Hypothyreosis?
Click here for an image of the thyroid hormone controll loop.
The hypothalamus constantly screens the bloodlevels of thyroid hormones. If they are too low, it releases TRH (thyreotropin releasing hormone). TRH stimulates the pituary gland to produce TSH (Thyrotropin or thyroidea stimulating hormone). An increase in TRH leads to an increase of TSH. TSH than stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 which finally becomes T3, the active thyroid hormone, in the tissue (the most conversion from T4 to T3 happens in the brain).
If there is a lack of thyroid hormone, the hypothalmus senses it and through increased TRH more TSH ist produced. However if the thyroid gland is insufficient and can't respond to elevated TSH levels with producing T4 there is no negative feedback, thus leading to a further increase of TSH levels. That's why high TSH levels indicate hypothyroidism. TSH under 0.4 is therefore an indicator for hyperthyroidism.
Hypothyroidism is usually harmless and is treated with L-Thyroxine (artificial T4) substitution.
Comment: I edited the sentence about L-Thyroxine.
Comment: L-Thyroxine isn't artificial T3, it is artifical T4. Artifical T3 is liothyronine, which is needed in a (possibly small) subgroup of hypothyroid patients. Although they usually mark hypothyroidism, elevated TSH concentrations may in very rare cases accompany hyperthyroidism (i.e. secondary hyperthyroidism). See the papers http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26635726 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27375554 for reference and methods of differential diagnosis.

HyperThyroidism


How do I hide guides in Photoshop?

Question: I am working with Photoshop and I was wondering if you can hide the guides temporally just like in Pixelmator?
Comment: Welcome to GD.  Please take a minute and review our help center at the top right to assist you in asking a question.  We always try to welcome new users but we also expect users to have a basic understanding of how some software works, professionalism and show effort in a question.  At this time your question is very basic and that is the reason why you're receiving downvotes from the community.
Answer: On a Mac, cmd + ;
On Windows, I think it's ctrl + ;
Comment: In Photoshop CC 2019, the menu item you missed is pretty well hidden; I missed it the first time, too. Pull down the View menu. About halfway down there is a Show Menu. Scroll down to that menu item and a submenu will pop up. Select or deselect the Guides menu item. As Vincent mentioned, the shortcut is Cmd/Ctrl ;, but I never remember something that obscure unless I use it a lot. Knowing where the menu item is hidden may help.
Answer: Control+H in Windows or cmd+H in Mac
Take your time and click through the menus, its not that difficult to find things like this without asking us. Could even google search but that's probably longer (and less productive) than taking 10 minutes to familiarize yourself with the menus.
Comment: I think 90 thousand views in 2018 proofs you wrong. You might reconsider how you answer. "It's not that difficult without asking us" shows some attitude you maybe want to get rid off.

How do I hide guides in Photoshop?


2000 Chevy 3500 Express strange MAP sensor OBD-II readings

Question: A 2000 Chevy 3500 Express 5.7 Vortek has always run fine but has a major problem with torque when towing uphill. By chance I stumbled across the MAP OBD II readings and they are way off.  It shows 9" at idle when the actual vacuum is 19-20, and at WOT it shows 28".  I found what voltages I should get off the sensor and it seems fine, 4.6vdc at WOT and 1.2vdc at idle.  I obtained a wiring diagram and checked the continuity of the sense wire going to the VCM. Zero ohms resistance and no short to ground.  Also checked the 0" vacuum with key on (but engine doesn't run with that plug off), but the 0" vacuum does give me 4.6vdc going to the VCM plug.  Do I replace the VCM?  Again, it seems to run fine but has always been low on torque. For instance, when towing a heavy load up my steep drive, there seems to be no difference when going from about 2/3 throttle to full throttle, except I can hear the sound in the TB change to a deeper tone. I also confirmed the odd readings with a different OBD II tool.
Comment: Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair!
Answer: A partial answer.  As for my actual vacuum readings vs. the VCM scanner readings.  It was recently just drilled into my head that like it says in the MAP, "A" is for "Absolute", like the air pressure they talk about on the weather report!  So the pressure reading is in reference to the ambient air pressure, not the same as a simple vacuum gauge.  Take the idle vacuum of 19 and the air pressure of about 28", subtract 19 (from the vacuum gauge) from the ABSOLUTE air pressure of 28", and you get 9".  Exactly what the VCM reads.
This doesn't fix the problem, but explains why the numbers on the vacuum gauge and the numbers from the scan tool did not match.


Why does a shuttlecock flip head down even when dropped head up?

Question: If a shuttlecock is dropped(not giving it any angular momentum wrt it's COM) head up(i.e. the heavier part up) without tilting it, it always falls head down(i.e. the heavier part down). This fact it's not consistent with conservation of angular momentum. Why is this so?
Comment: How do you drop the shuttlecock with the heavy end up, with **absolutely** no tilting ?  Not even at the sub-atomic level?
Comment: What do you think would happen if dropped in a vacuum and constant gravitational field?
Answer: Short answer: Air resistance pushes it to its stable configuration. If you dropped it in a vacuum, it wouldn't turn over.
Long answer:
As the shuttlecock falls, the air exerts an upward force on all parts of the shuttlecock. The net effect of all of these upward forces is a torque on the shuttlecock that depends on its orientation. There are two orientations in which there is no torque on the shuttlecock at all. The first is with the head facing perfectly straight up, and the second is with the head perfectly straight down.
The difference between these two equilibria is their stability under small changes in orientation. The orientation with the head facing up is unstable under small changes in orientation; any small rotation to one side increases the directness of the force on that side, meaning that the small rotation is amplified. In contrast, the orientation with its head facing down is stable. Any small rotation to one side deflects that side back toward the head-down configuration. So, when you drop it head-up, if you don't do it exactly perfectly (or if there is some miniscule air current on the way down, or if literally anything interferes with its descent in any way), it'll revert to its stable equilibrium, the head-down configuration.


How to get cropped thumbnail source for custom post type

Question: I need thumbnail image url with size 148*148px. I using custom post type for testimonials. I need just the image source like http://example.com/demoimage.jpg. It is possible to get cropped image source. 'add_image_size' doesn't solve my problem. I have some classes and some data attribute in my  tag. Please help
Thank You
Comment: Does your custom post type support thumbnails? If you use `add_image_size` to define the size of the thumbnail you need, every time you upload a new image it will be cropped/resized to the specified dimensions. You may need to regenerate the thumbnails for images previously uploaded. [Force regenerated thumbnails](https://wordpress.org/plugins/force-regenerate-thumbnails/) is a good choice to do it.
Comment: hi cybnet
Thanks for the information. It worked for me when I regenerated the thumbnails.
Comment: So, the answer you have marked is not the correct answer. You should unmark it to not confuse other people.
Answer: You should add your custom image size with this code:
add_image_size( 'my-test-image-size', 148, 148, true );

Then in your template file you can get cropped image using wp_get_attachment_image_src like this:
$attachment_id = ...;  // i.e. get_post_thumbnail_id()
$image_info = wp_get_attachment_image_src($attachment_id, 'my-test-image-size');
echo '';  // $image_info[0] contains url of cropped image

To be more precise... wp_get_attachment_image_src returns an array containing:

[0] => url
[1] => width
[2] => height
[3] => boolean: true if $url is a resized image, false if it is the original.
Comment: It worked when i regenerated the thumbnails. thanks
Comment: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_get_attachment_image_src
Comment: http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_get_attachment_image_src
Thanks for your answer krzysiek... I have already seen the article, and I am not able to deploy it, as it doesn't crop the image but adds height and width thats why I posted the question. Is there any other way to do this.


Android: Disable touch after double tap or long press

Question: I have created a GestureDetector to detect a double tap or long press. If either of them are triggered, I would like to disable any more touches. How can I do this?
Thanks!
Answer: Well there could be two ways to do this.
1. you have to implement onTouchListener along with a conditional variable say boolean. declare
Boolean isDouble = false; // your activity level variable

now when you have detected the double touch or longpress set it to true
isDouble = true;

now in your onTouchListener .
        view.setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() {
            @Override
            public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {
                if(isDouble)
                return false;

            }
        });

Other method may not work properly on some devices but it can work for your case.
view.setOnTouchListener(null);


ArcGIS Online: lines are not displaying correctly on Esri Map Viewer mobile app

Question: I have a polyline shapefile uploaded to my ArcGIS Online Web Map that displays correctly via the web map and web app, but incorrectly (random shards and missing segments) in the Esri "Map Viewer" for mobile apps. Any idea what could be causing this?
Comment: I know this is a little late to comment on this, but I was having the same issue (Kinda). I was trying to add a layer to my map of blueprints for schools. Each room in the school was its own polygon with attribute data. When I uploaded the shape file to ArcGIS Explorer online the square polygons were showing up as half squares (triangles) and what I ended up doing was the opposite of what you said. Instead of generalizing it I told it to stay the same and it worked. Thanks for the lead!
Answer: I seemed to have figured this out: on AGOL, when adding a layer from a file (shapefile in a zipped folder) to your web map, you should choose "generalize features for web display" instead of "keep original features". This is the only way I could get the line to display properly via the mobile app.


Reb Moshe Feinstein in the New York Times

Question: Reb Moshe Feinstein was once interviewed by the New York Times where he answered questions like how does Klal Yisroel  know who  is a Gadol? Does anyone know when it was, and does anyone know where I can get an archived version online if someone can link it  It would be a greatly appreciated or even how i could  go about getting it?
Answer: Many library systems have access to PDFs of the historical New York Times. The 1975 interview is an article from May 5, 1975, entitled: "Responsa: The Law as Seen By Rabbis for 1,000 Years", by Israel L. Shenker; pages 33 and 61.
I can see the PDF but as it's owned by ProQuest, I don't think I'm allowed to repost it. There's a picture of Rav Moshe answering a phone call in his study.
The article starts with some material about Rav Moshe, noting the old refrain that a new rabbi would get an ordination certificate and Rabbi Feinstein's number; it also mentions a volume published opposing him (ma'aneh le'igeret) and "handbills of defiance" in Satmar for one of his rulings. The article then goes into describing what responsa literature is and some of its history, then some description of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry's Holocaust responsa; then has some quotations with Conservative and Reform responsa experts on their views.
The only direct quotes from Rav Moshe in the article are, as you'd indicated:

You can't wake up in the morning and decide you're an expert on answers. If people see that one answer is good, and another answer is good, gradually you will be accepted.

And:

A rabbi who replies to people's questions works harder than a doctor dealing with a case of life and death. The doctor is responsible only to the patient, but the rabbi is responsible to God.

His obituary is March 25, 1986. He is described as:

... a towering scholar whose rulings guided the religious practices of millions of Jews around the world. ... Rabbi Feinstein, a short, richly bearded and well-groomed man ... His answer was usually accepted as law. ... His mystique was based on an intelligence and a command of Halakha ... that other rabbinic scholars found awe inspriring. He was said to have studied the 62 volumes of the Talmud ... more than 200 times ... Yet rabbis were also struck by what they described as a remarkable humility.
Comment: Can you post the link which Library did you access it from meaning how do i go about doing it? can you print it an scan it and put it up?
Comment: If you have a New York State driver's license, you should be able to use this: http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?section_id=4&page_id=208&subj=10
Comment: Many, many other libraries should have "electronic databases" including ProQuest Newspapers or ProQuest National Newspapers, Historical New York Times or something like that.
Comment: I tried looking on the NYT archives, and May is missing from the 1975 archives. http://spiderbites.nytimes.com/pay_1975/index.html
Comment: Link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/05/archives/responsa-the-law-as-seen-by-rabbis-for-1000-years-where-is-it.html?searchResultPosition=1
Answer: The original article is available online:
http://docslide.us/documents/ny-times-1975-article-about-r-moshe-feinstein.html
Comment: If your new here shalom Aleichem!
Comment: 404 error. Please update the link.
Answer: Here's a quote from the 1986 New York Times obituary about R' Moshe:

Typical of his modesty was this answer he gave in a 1975 interview as to how he had acquired his standing as a posek.
"You don't wake up in the morning and decide you're an expert on answers," he said. "If people see that one answer is good and another answer is good, gradually you will be accepted."

Here is the 1975 NYTimes article. (h/t to @Etan Berman for sharing it above)


How do I stop automatic Bluetooth streaming?

Question: When my iPhone connects to Sync in my Ford truck it automatically starts playing music on my iPhone. This kills the battery. Autoplay on the Sync system is off.
Answer: Turn off bluetooth on the phone.
Unpair the phone from the truck.
When you pair your device, the truck is seen as a remote control in addition to all the other functions so if the truck wants to play, the phone is right to start playing. There is no switch to disable one remote some of the time in iOS or to edit the capabilities of a paired device.
You might need to go to the ford dealer and see if they have a firmware update for your truck :-) Seriously - they either need to disable or let you better control the situation where the "remote" asks the phone to play music.
Answer: You should try quitting the iPod app.  In my experience, streaming starts because the app is running in the background but paused/stopped.  When sync occurs, the iPhone iPod app begins to play.
To quit the app, press the home key twice and you'll see all the the apps currently running.  Then press the red minus button to exit the iPod app.  I recently read that shutting down apps like this prolongs the battery life but YMMV.


Is dark energy evenly spaced throughout Universe?

Question: Are there certain parts of the Universe that are expanding faster than others? Is there anyway to definitively measure this?
Answer: If dark energy varied by location, then plots of 1a supernova brightness vs redshift should vary depending on which direction you look in the sky. AFAIK, that's not the case. For example, although coords are not accounted for, there's not a lot of scatter in this plot:

In the relationship between the distance and redshift of Type 1a supernovae, the data (points) agree with the equation in which light propagates through the expanding universe on the least-time path (solid line). Image credit: Annila. ©2011 Royal Astronomical Society

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2011-10-supernovae-universe-expansion-understood-dark.html#jCp
Comment: I think you are right, but I don't think that plot tells you much.
Answer: Good question but we can only see out a certain distance because of it's expansion. AFAIK acceleration of the universe will eventually reduce the distance we can see over time.
No one knows if the universe is infinitely large, or even if ours is the only universe that exists. And other parts of the universe, very far away, might be quite different from the universe closer to home.  The site http://skyserver.sdss.org/dr1/en/astro/universe/universe.asp give a good basic picture.
Comment: I am not familiar with the acronym AFAIK.
Comment: @JimmyG. AFAIK = As Far As I Know. At least, as far as *I* know.
Comment: @HDE226868  yeah i was going to use the recursive idea to reply to the OP but I thought it was such an terribly bad joke that I gave up.  You have **totally** no scruples in that regard :)   I put it in the answer box by mistake so it got dumped. all the best


Restore Sharepoint 2007 from backup files on fresh installations

Question: I want to restore SharePoint 2007 from backup files (taken through Central Administration Site) with fresh installations of database and application server. Is it possible or not??
Regards
Madiha
Comment: make sure you have the same patches. otherwise, it may generate issues in the content database
Answer: WHAT TO RESTORE ?
Firstly, we need to check, what all we need to restore.
When you do a fresh installation of database and application server, you will require to restore the content dbs, configuration db for Central Admin, the configuration setting changes in the Farm, like IIS settings, Email settings, Content Deployment settings,etc and other customizations made to web.config and web part deployments.
Features supported by Central Admin Backup
Now, when you say, backup taken from Central Administration, reading this msdn article helps you to identify what features would not be backed up. We can conclude that any configuration settings or Customizations won't be backed up.
Restoring only works with a fully stopped farm
And a backup of the configuration database and Central Administration content database should only be taken from a fully stopped farm for proper restore. If the configuration and Central Administration content databases of a farm become unsynchronized, you must re-create both databases by using the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or Psconfig command-line tool.
Other methods
You can use farm-level backups of a running farm taken with System Center Data Protection Manager to recover an entire farm, including the configuration database and Central Administration content database. Full Details here.
Also check out all other options for a successful Farm backup and restore.


firefox brand new "new tab page" - how to see/edit blocked/pinned items?

Question: While it's simple to pin/block a link-screenshot in the new beautiful tab page in firefox I see no way to edit the list of blocked/pinned items, does anybody know how to do it?
E.G. I blocked a page but now I woukld like to unlock, how to do it?
Thanks.
Answer: This is for FF17 on Windows, Mac/Linux users cf below
To unlock a blocked page quit Firefox, download sqlitebrowser at sourceforge.net (~6MB as of now, Windows only), use it to open chromeappsstore.sqlite in your "Profiles" directory. On Win Vista that's eg:
<code>[DRIVENAME]:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\
Firefox\Profiles\[ALPHANUMERICSTRING].default\chromeappsstore.sqlite
</code>
Switch to the "browse data" tab, open the edit view of the value corresponding to the "pinned links" key (double click on it). Replace one entry (eg a null) with
<code>{"url":"YOUR_URL","title":"YOUR_TITLE"}
</code>
apply changes, save changes.
There's a key "blocked links", too. Intuitively, deleting blocked urls from its value should help, but it didn't when I tried. The trick above is clumsy, but so far I couldn't google anything more elegant. I couldn't find anything useful searching Firefox' about:config tab, either. I found this solution when doing a string search for the blocked url in my profiles directory.
Mac/Linux users should find other sqlite browsers. When using the firefox addon SQLite Manager you would need to make a copy of the database file first and edit that. Afterwards quit Firefox and replace the old file with the new one.
Here's the bugzilla entry ("Bug 722234 - [New Tab Page] provide an option to undo remove a site "), status is assigned, not solved. On comment reads: "Currently, there is now way to undo removal of a site or resetting the page using the new layout."
Answer: There's an easier way to do it without downloading, especially for people who may not navigate computers very well. Mozilla does have a way to do it, they just label it poorly and it's a bit roundabout.
Make the page you blocked on your new tabs page a Favorite, then click and drag to an empty space on your new tab page and it will autopin.  The one downside is that if you unpin it the site will disappear again.  I was frustrated for weeks after I removed Google and there doesn't seem to be much help out there that's simple.
Answer: "Make the page you blocked on your new tabs page a Favorite"
What does that mean?  Bookmark?
I clicked the PIN icon on a couple and instead of pinning it, it seemed to completely remove that page from the New Tab selections altogether...and indeed, I see no way to get it back. Why would pinning something take it away!?  And they were pages I use many times every day; very disappointed.
And those that I clicked ARE in my bookmarks ('Favorites' is an IE term), but they have not reappeared as suggested above.
The  sqlitebrowser approach above is too complex and I can see it going awry trying to get all that right. Sad day here for me.

firefox brand new “new tab page” - how to see/edit blocked/pinned items?


What is the antonym (opposite) of "email"?

Question: What is the antonym (opposite) of "email" to refer clearly to "traditional mail" and not to email?
Comment: These are not "opposites".  Is a bus the opposite of a car?  *How do we refer to mail that is sent via the postal service and delivered by a human being?*
Comment: That's an alternative, not an antonym.
Comment: You should state your context.  Are you looking for an informal term or a formal term?
Answer: The Wikipedia entry for Mail has a few possible terms you could consider.
As an AmE speaker, I use the term postal mail to clarify that I'm speaking about physical letters and not electronic messages.
Answer: What about snail mail?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary
snail mail [informal humorous]

letters or messages that are not sent by email, but in the post

As pointed by Tᴚoɯɐuo, notice that this term is informal and mildly derogatory.
Comment: It should be pointed out that this is an informal, mildly derogatory term.   A law firm, say, wouldn't ask you to send them a duly signed document "via snail mail".
Comment: A more formal term for *snail mail* is *letter mail*. Or just *by mail* or *by letter*.
Comment: @Tᴚoɯɐuo You're right. I've updated my answer to highlight that point. Thanks!
Answer: While I agree with snail mail, an alternative when referring to large amounts of data is sneaker net. Rather than sending the data electronically, the data is copied to a disk or other medium and physically transported (presumably by someone wearing sneakers).
Comment: This is valid in a specific context, one which only a *very* small percentage of people will ever face.   I don't think OP is talking about this, just *traditional delivery of mail* as compared with *electronic delivery of mail*.

What is the antonym (opposite) of “email”?


Shed subpanel wiring

Question: I have a portable building about 50 ft away the house.  I had an electrician come run a feeder to a subpanel in the shed.  Looks like he tapped off of my Generac Transfer switch.  When I opened up the subpanel in the shed I noticed there are 2 hots and a small bare ground coming in.  Is there a reason why he did not run a Neutral?  I only paid him to run the feeder and I was going to run the 2 circuits in the shed to the subpanel (2 shop lights and 4 outlets).  Do I need to treat this subpanel as a Main?
Comment: Can you shoot some photos of the hookup on both ends?  The notion of not running a neutral is alarming, especially if it's a proper electrician.
Comment: Since the 1999 NEC code update 4 wire feeders have been required. Without a neutral you would be limited to only 240v loads. And since it is a separate structure a ground rod is required. What size are the wires feeding the sub, and what size is the main breaker feeding transfer switch? Are the lugs bolt style? With crimped ends?
Comment: I'll have to get some photos in the morning when I get home.
Comment: Yes, can we have photos of both ends of this feeder please?
Comment: I'll take actual photos tomorrow,  but the bottom photo is the same transfer switch I have.  The eletrician ran the feeder wire off of the lugs that are under the red cover and the small bare ground to that bar towards to top left where it says neutral bonded.  The top photo is the same box that is in the shed..  he has the 2 hot wires going to the terminals by the main breaker and the bare wire going to the bus bar towards the right..
Comment: We'll need the actual photos to solve this
Answer: Stop payment on the check
This guy is not a real electricion.  This work is a hack job, with shortcuts all over the place that are insanely dangerous, and have never been legal, ever.
I guarantee you no permit was pulled, either.  The inspector would not have signed off on this.
Subpanel connection pretends neutral=ground. Dangerous!
On the subpanel connection, the person is completely ignoring "Neutral is not ground" and doing something that was never legal, using the ground wire as neutral.  It will kinda sorta "work", but if anything goes wrong with that ground wire, it will electrify every ground in the shed, and possibly, in the house.  It's much worse than the old NEMA 10 killer.
No ground bars in the subpanel
Hello!  Neutral and ground need to be separated in the subpanel.  Ground bars are like $6, so this was a very cheap negligence.
I'll lay dollars to donuts there's no ground rod, either.
No disconnect in the shed
There's no main breaker in the shed - that's the usual way you install a disconnect switch for an outbuilding.
The panel is UNFUSED, WTH!!!!!
The feed cable to this subpanel has no fuses whatsoever.  Nothing will keep this cable or subpanel from exploding into flame.
This is just not giving a damn.  Negligence of staggering proportion.
The panel is double-tapped
Those lugs that the wires are hung onto -- are not made or rated for two wires.  You can only put 1 wire per lug.
This is the bare minimum rigging to get it to barely work.  I'd exepct this type of work in Kowloon City or Bangkok. Faked it and hoped you wouldn't notice. I would actually talk to the AHJ and warn that this clown is operating in your town.

Shed subpanel wiring


How do I disable comment auto approval?

Question: I have comments that are being auto approved in Drupal and I'd like to disable that.  I want to approve comments before they are published.
Comment: A better approach might be to only require approval of a user's FIRST comment. This can be done using https://www.drupal.org/project/comment_trust
Answer: If a comment is 'auto approved' as you call it, depends on the user's permissions. To change it, log in as administrator, go to /admin/user/permissions#module-comment and make sure that the 'post comments without approval' permission is not set for roles that are not allowed to post comments without approval.
Answer: In Drupal 7 authenticated (logged in) users have the 'Skip comment approval' property set by default. This can be changed at /admin/people/permissions/list#module-comment to put the comments in an approval queue, before they are published.

How do I disable comment auto approval?


Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Visa) - Age

Question: With the Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa, if I turn 31 next week, and pay for all the application today, once I get all my paperwork approved, will I be able to enter and re-enter the UK for the defined 2-year period of the Tier 5 Year Mobility Visa (as I will greater than 31 (32 and 33))?
Answer: Yes. You must be " under the age of 31 on the date your application is made." .
My emphasis
Guidance published here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-visa-applications-under-tier-5-youth-mobility-scheme
Comment: The document I linked to is the one to read. If the rule was "must be under 31 for the duration of the visa" then they would have said that instead. Actually, they would have said "under 29 on the date the application is made" if that was their intention.
Comment: So, despite being over 31, as long as I have the visa, I can enter the UK to work multiple time irrespective of my current age at the time? Would you be able to direct me to a document where it states so? Its just a very costly excercise...to apply for the visa and travel there

Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Visa) - Age


How to open Database in Mobile Safari from JS loaded from disk

Question: We have an iPhone application that is essentially a web site encapsulated in an app.  This app loads the HTML and JS files from the local disk and interaction is done in JS.
However, with iOS 4.2, the JS has started receiving "SECURITY_ERR: DOM Exception 18" when opening a database, and as a result, our app doesn't work at all.  The exact same file worked fine in prior versions of iOS and works fine when loaded from a web server.
Is there a way to configure iOS to permit JS running in a local file to access a database?
Thank you!
Kevin
Comment: To clarify, the JS is running in a UIWebView with html and js files stored locally.
Answer: I believe that you are exceeding the 5mb limit size for the Database.
At least that's the only way i can find to replicate that error message.

The browser normally prevents a
  runaway web application from using
  excessive local resources by setting
  limits on the size of each site's
  database. When a database change would
  cause the database to exceed that
  limit, the user is notified and asked
  for permission to allow the database
  to grow further.
If you know that you are going to be
  filling the database with a lot of
  content, you should specify an ample
  size here. By so doing, the user is
  only asked for permission once when
  creating the database instead of every
  few megabytes as the database grows.
The browser may set limits on how
  large a value you can specify for this
  field, but the details of these limits
  are not yet fully defined.

http://developer.apple.com/library/safari/#documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/SafariJSDatabaseGuide/UsingtheJavascriptDatabase/UsingtheJavascriptDatabase.html%23//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007256-CH3-SW2
Comment: I had the same problem. A 20Mb size was working fine in Chrome and on iOS 4.3, but on 4.2 I kept getting this error until I turned it down to 5Mb.
Answer: I guess I should answer this question since I did finally get an answer from Apple Developer Support confessing this to be a bug in iOS4.
The specific problem is when you load a webView using [webView loadData...].  When loaded this way, webKit does not allow access to databases.  If the same call is changed to use [webView loadRequest...] databases are permitted.
There is sample code to demonstrate the problem here:
http://code.google.com/p/iui/source/browse/sandbox/hybrid/HybridiUI/Classes/HybridiUIAppDelegate.m
The same bug, by the way, exists in Google Chrome, which also uses webKit.  When loading a web site from a local file in Chrome, databases and AJAX calls are forbidden, but when loading from a web server they are permitted.


Is there a reason why 午 and 年 look so similar?

Question: These words don't have meanings that are similar, but why do they look nearly identical? Is it just a coincidence?
Comment: toss in 牛 and now you've got yourself a conspiracy
Comment: Why do you think they look similar? Do western people and Chinese people really have an incompatible pictorial mindset? I feel that they look extremely different. I cannot feel any similarities. By the way, we do have similar Chinese characters, for example, > 己 self
>
> 已 already
>
> 巳 the sixth symbol of the Terrestrial Branches > 戌 the eleventh symbol of the Terrestrial Branches
>
> 戍 garrison
>
> 戊 the fifth symbol of the Celestial Stems > 土 soil
>
> 士 advisors, minister > 未 future
>
> 末 last
Comment: P and R look more like eachother tbh
Comment: [说文解字:年](https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E5%B9%B4),甲骨文字形,上"禾",下"人". Probably comes from some ancient calligraphy, if you check the "字源字形" section.
Comment: anyone who pretends like they dont see the similarity is being pretentious
Answer: Yes, this is a coincidence. Generally, if the modern shape is confusing, you need to go back further in time to look at characters' original shapes and purposes to make sense of what's going on. Also, the meaning noon for 「午」 is a phonetic loan; that is, the shape 「午」 represented a word that sounded similar to an unrelated existing word meaning noon, and the shape has nothing to do with the meaning noon.
「年」 originally depicted a person 「人」 carrying grain plants 「禾」 on their back, indicating the meaning harvest period > year; check out Is the character 年 (or its etymology) related to the mythical beast in Chinese mythology? for the glyph origins of 「年」.

Glyph origins of 「午」

時期字體
字形
參考資料

商甲

餘1.1合集13475

商甲

後2.38.8合集34621

西周金

作冊䰧卣集成5432

西周金

縣妀簋集成4269

戰國・齊金

子禾子釜集成10374

篆

午部說文解字

西漢隸

秦射42武威漢簡

楷

「午」 originally depicted a large wooden pestle used to pound or de-husk grainy foods such as rice. The word that 「午」 originally represented is now written as 「杵」, formed by adding semantic 「木」 (wood), and 「午」 forms or formed parts of other characters such as 「舂」 (picture of two hands 「廾」 using a pestle 「午」 and mortar 「臼」 > to pound, grind) and 「御」 (originally a picture of a kneeling person 「卩」 operating a pestle 「午」).
As mentioned earlier, 「午」 is a phonetically borrowed character for the word noon, as pestle does not have anything to do with noon.

There is a peculiar pattern across several older characters: blobs on a vertical line tend to expand outwards into horizontal lines, and this is a simplistic description of what happened to the shape of 「午」 as well. You may check out the following glyph evolution tables for comparison:

壬
十
土

References:

漢語多功能字庫
小學堂字形演變
國學大師

郭沫若《甲骨文合集》
中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》

宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定 漢・許慎《說文解字》
Answer: I can give you a general explanation of why many characters in Chinese look similar, but it is out of my reach to shed light on the details of this specific example.
The general reason comes because most literate individuals of Mandarin Chinese know and use between 3,000 and 4,000 different characters, but all of these characters are built by combining only around 200 components known as radicals. The situation is even more extreme as the 10 most used radicals appear in 10,665 characters (or 23% of all the dictionary entries).  Radicals often indicate the meaning of the character, known as the semantic compound, and / or the sound, known as the phonetic compound. In some cases, the original semantic or phonological connection has become obscure, even more as many characters have been modified and simplified over the years.
On practice, this means you will encounter many characters that look similar because they use the same radicals. The compositions of your example are (according to https://en.wiktionary.org):

午: 十 or 丿干.
年: 㐄 or 午 一丨 or 午丄.

Understanding the exact nature of the radicals might be difficult. In the wiktionary entries for these words you can find some explanations of their etymological origin. I suggest you look at them if you are interested.


Now that Monsters of the Multiverse is out, are variant Humans still relevant?

Question: I understand that an extra Feat is a big deal, but it seems to me that given the attributes changes put everything in line with V. Humans now, that feat isn't a big deal any more since most of the new races have things that are at least that good, but also tend to get another benefit or two as well.  Am I missing something?
Comment: Welcome to RPG.SE, nexquietus! You might want to take the [tour](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/tour) if you haven't already, and check out the [help center](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/help) for more guidance.
Answer: The power balance of Variant Human will always depend on the choice of feat.
Variant Human cannot be said to be strong or weak until you've made a choice of feat. It is usually referred to as a particularly powerful race because people generally assume one of the good feats will be selected, such as Sharpshooter, Sentinel, Crossbow Expert, Great Weapon Master, or Mobile, to name a few that are typically regarded as very good feats. If you choose an underwhelming feat when you pick Variant Human, then naturally, your racial choice will feel underwhelming. Be honest, have you ever considered selecting Weapon Master as your Variant Human feat?
Monsters of the Multiverse hasn't changed this. None of the newly revised races are so good that they make Crossbow Expert feel underwhelming in comparison. The good feats are still good, the underwhelming feats are still underwhelming. The diversity of choices provided by Variant Human giving access to a feat means it will always be a relevant option - from the powerful combat options to the interesting thematic choices. It provides access to themes and mechanics no other race can. So it will always be relevant.
Comment: At least 5e has avoided the mistake of feat chains—in 3.5e, even if your human feat was garbage, it could still be the best choice available, because it meant you go to the actually-good feats you wanted 3 levels sooner. Hard to overstate how significant that could be.
Answer: Solid, thoughtful answers above. I have a different take on it though, less to do with MoM changes. MoM made some other races more balanced and less likely to be banned (Yaun-ti for example). The variant human gets +1 to two different attributes of their choice, plus a feat. Presumably this is designed to make human a compelling racial option while thematically keeping with the idea that humans are very adaptable.
In my opinion, the more challenging question is did Tasha's actually weaken or negate variant human. Tasha's  Cauldron of Everything introduced Custom Lineages. Basically, a new non-racial option. With custom lineage, players can play any humanoid character (flavored to be like any other racial species), and get +2 to a single attribute, dark vision or a skill, and a feat. The downside to this, is if you take a custom lineage and flavor it as an elf hybrid, you get NONE of the elf special abilities or traits. This is a major downside. However, humans don't really have any special abilities. So a custom lineage human, technically isn't a human, but who cares. Your not giving up much mechanically. So it then becomes, is +2 to a single attribute, plus dark vision, a better version of human variant. I would say yes for some single  Attribute builds like a rogue, but variant human still has some use for multiple attribute builds like a paladin. Just my thoughts.


DNA shared by octopuses and modern humans

Question: What percentage of DNA do we share with octopuses? I tried looking it up but couldn't find the answer on the internet. Could someone enlighten me on the same? To make the question more specific, I am more interested in knowing how many genes humans share with octopuses, but answers regarding how different our shared genes are or even a metric of the entire genome alignment would be helpful.
Comment: Hi and welcome to Bio.SE! Where did you look it up already that wasn't satisfying? What sort of comparison are you looking for? For example are you looking for how many genes we share, or of the genes we share how different are they, or are you looking for a metric of the entire genome alignment?
Comment: I see the problem. There is a lot of sensational news stories calling them aliens, but very few quantifiable results! Good question.
Comment: @James, thank you! I did a simple Google search and did not find relevant results. Since they're three different questions and I'm obligated to keep this related to just one, for the purpose of this question, I'm looking for how many genes we share. However, I'd personally welcome answers regarding all the three degrees of analyses. Since expecting answers on all three fronts can perhaps be beyond the scope of this question, it'll be all the same to me if only the bit about how many genes we share is answered and I'm directed to different sources for further reading on the other two fronts.
Answer: Octopuses have more chromosomes and genes
Octopuses have 28 chromosomes, and 33,638 protein-coding genes (Albertin et al 2015).
Humans have 23 chromosomes, and 20,365 protein-coding genes (Uniprot).
Octopuses had an expansion of genes in only a few protein families
There is a large number of C2H2 zinc-finger proteins (C2H2 ZNFs) (~1800), interleukin-17-like genes (IL17-like), G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), chitinases and sialins paralogues in the octopus genome.
However, there does not exist a comprehensive analysis of orthologous proteins in the octopus that I can find.
This means that although we can say that there are thousands of genes we only observe in octopuses, there is currently no study comparing orthologues that exist in both humans and octopuses.


Why does my armature still not move my mesh?

Question: I'm brand new to this so go easy on me. I'm using Blender 3.1 with the cats extension and despite parenting, weight painting(some of it) and assigning vertex groups, the mesh still doesn't move with the armature when moved in pose mode despite following fine in object mode. It may be because the number of vertexes is so low or that the mesh is not continuous but I have no idea.
Comment: hello, please share your file: https://pasteall.org/blend/
Comment: I have attempted to upload the file on pasteall but it claims that the file is not a .blend file. Are there any other ways to share a .blend file?
Comment: use wetransfer, send it to yourself and share the link here  ;)
Comment: Thanks a bunch! https://we.tl/t-o3zxQEnoXl
Answer: In the Armature modifier, remove the selected vertex group (Body). But anyway there are some vertex groups missing in the mesh, for example the fingers, so the armature won't be able to control it correctly. So maybe remove the Armature modifier, join the head object to the rest of the body, shift select the armature, parent With Empty Groups, then switch the character to Edit mode, select each part and assign it to the good vertex group (select the vertices with L then go into the Object Data panel > Vertex Groups, select the group in the list and click on Assign). It should work fine.
Comment: Thank you so much!


AWS Lambda - Nested Lambdas Error Handling

Question: I am struggling with Lambda error handling . When I use call one lambda via Api Gateway , there is no problem. For example when a RuntimeException occurs, Api Gateway takes it and serializes to json string , so i am able to handle with this.
But I have no opininon how to deal with nested Lambdas error handling. For example we have three lambda L1,L2,L3.
L1 calls-> L2 calls -> L3
If there is an error in L3 . How can I handle it ?
I appriciate if any suggestion or external link.
Thanks in advance.
Answer: Part of it depends on how you are invoking your lambdas through each other...I assume you are using the SDK to invoke L2 from L1 and L3 from L2 and so on. Assuming this, you should be able to call your callback in L3 (with err) when there is an error and then expect to handle that in L2 in the callback of the function invoking L3. If L2's call to L3 returns with error != null, then you call the callback with err and configure L1 to handle. You basically pass your error up the chain by designing the invoking lambda to handle errors from the invoked lambda. Let me know if this helps...if desired, I can include some pseudocode or NodeJS sample code in a bit when I am at a dedicated computer.
Comment: Thanks for your help. Java Psuedo code will be super if it is possible.


Angular coordinates are unaffected?

Question: Why then is there no change in the angular coordinates in Schwarzschild metric? Why arent they unaffected by the mass?
Comment: @Photon that should be an answer!
Comment: Because the mass distribution is spherically symmetric (by assumption, this is what makes the metric Schwarzschild), so the spacetime curvature does not depend on the angle, only from the distance from the mass distribution.
Comment: Made it an answer. Was not sure if such a short explanation is worth an answer. :)
Answer: Because the mass distribution is spherically symmetric (by assumption, this is what makes the metric Schwarzschild), so the space-time curvature does not depend on the angle, only on the distance from the mass distribution.
Answer: One of the aspects of general relativity that beginners find hard is what we mean by coordinates. In GR coordinates are just a way of labelling points in spacetime and they don't necessarily correspond to anything real like distances and times that would be measured by an observer.
You've already asked about the Schwarzschild radial coordinate, $r$, and has been explained before this does not mean the distance to the centre of the black hole. We define the value of the $r$ coordinate at a point as the circumference of the circle centred on the black hole and passing through that point divided by $2\pi$. This isn't the same as the distance we would measure if we let out a tape measure towards the black hole, but that doesn't matter because $r$ is just a label. We can use the $r$ coordinate to calculate things like the length of that tape measure if we need to.
In this question you're asking about the $\theta$ and $\phi$ coordinates. You are quite correct that these coordinates are not affected by the mass of the black hole, but that's because we've chosen them in such a way that they are unaffected by that mass. In flat spacetime the circumference of a circle of radius $r$ is given by:
$$ s = \int_0^{2\pi} r\,d\phi  = 2\pi r $$
In the curved spacetime around a black hole the circumference of a circle of Schwarzschild radius $r$ centred on the black hole is also $2\pi r$, but remember that's because we defined our coordinate $r$ to make this true.
So the bottom line is that the $\theta$ and $\phi$ coordinates in the Schwarzschild metric are the same as in flat space because we've fiddled with the $r$ coordinate to make them the same. That is we've absorbed the curvature into the definition of the $r$ coordinate.

Angular coordinates are unaffected?


Antonym of black and white thinking (or splitting)

Question: Splitting is a type of cognitive distortion where one sees a situation from an all-or-nothing perspective. What could we call the type of thinking that is not based on extremes? Would "balanced thinking" work?
Comment: For me the opposite of seeing only two extremes is seeing nuance. "2. Expression or appreciation of subtle shades of meaning, feeling, or tone:" Balanced thinking would work too as well as nuanced. Interestingly, gradate is a word too, so gradated? You can check a thesaurus.
Comment: "Splitting" is the jargon of a particular profession. Are you looking for yet more jargon, or for a word or phrase that a lay person would use?
Comment: @Zebrafish I like "nuanced thinking" :-)
Comment: How about "scientific"?
Comment: @TRomano I may need a word for either context. I don't mind using different words for each. I've been researching the topic and have not found a "technical" term, though. The literature tends to be more prolific in labeling an issue than its opposite and more constructive option.
Answer: Spectral thinking (ie. relating to a thinking on a spectrum)?
Comment: Hi Post, welcome to EL&U. Is this your novel figurative expression, or is it a recognised phrase that will be readily understood? If it's the latter, please [edit] your answer to provide a published definition and/or examples. For further guidance, please see [answer] and take the EL&U [Tour]. :-)
Answer: Why not simply "thinking clearly"?
The very activity of thinking itself is already free of such biases. The biases arise from influences external (such as prejudiced beliefs, identification, etc.) to the thinking process itself. When you think clearly, you are said to think without letting those influences taint the thinking process.
Answer: Another term for "splitting" is "dichotomous thinking". A straightforward antonym of this would be "non-dichotomous thinking". This isn't a super common term, but it does turn up plenty of relevant results in Google, and it's quite clear on inspection what it means.
Answer: I suggest "critical thinking". Besides being a common phrase (with its own Wikipedia entry!) it captures the idea of reaching a conclusion based on analysis, rather than jumping to a conclusion because of whatever biases or beliefs we may have.


How to tell if a note is sharp or flat if there is no indicator piano

Question: I'm a Naruto fan and I'm trying to learn this one song called despair on piano but I can't tell where the sharp or the flat is.  On the video it shows where but on the sheet it doesn't which make it really confusing for me here is the link https://musescore.com/user/19985216/scores/5027703
if someone can help ill be really happy pls
Comment: What video? (And perhaps the video you're watching is in a different key than the written arrangement.)
Comment: "indicator" are you not including the key signature? there are no accidentals in the score.
Answer: There are no accidentals in the song, however there is there is a sharp on the F note line next to the clef, also called key signature. This means that every F note in the score, in any octave, is F#.
Below I marked several of those for you:
Comment: *Technically*, the notes of key signature aren't "accidentals". Accidentals are only the notes altered within the piece with individual sharps/flats/naturals. Thus, in the example, F# isn't an accidental because it is defined by the key signature. However, if somewhere in the piece an F-natural was notated, that one note would be an accidental.
Comment: @InternetChordDatabase Thanks, I tried to fix it.
Answer: This can be done using the "key signature" which is the Sharps or Flats symbols shown at the beginning of each staff between the clef symbol (treble or bass) and the time signature.  In your example, the key signature is 1 Sharp indicating the piece is writing in the key of G Major or E Minor.
Key signatures can be a range of 1 to 7 sharps or 1 to 7 flats (or none of each). Each permutation indicates a different key. There's a lot of theory that goes into them, but to answer your question of which notes are sharped or flatted you have to understand only 2 things.

The note-sequence of sharps or flats in all key signatures are always the same.

Sharps: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#
Flats: B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, D-flat, G-flat, C-flat, F-flat
In your example with 1 sharp, that sharp is F#. You can tell this because it is on the F line of both staffs.

Any note marked with a sharp/flat in the key signature will always be sharped or flatted for the rest of the piece (or until another key signature changes it). The only exception to this rule is when a note in the piece is specifically is notated with an accidental.

So, in your example, every F note in will be sharped (not just Fs indicated by the key signature). I don't see any altered Fs in your piece, but an example of that would be a "F-natural" somewhere in the piece where you would play a "F-natural" for that one note.
Answer: To keep it simple in music, there is a statement at the beginning of each line. In your sample, that is a sharp sign on the F line. That means every F note in that music must be F♯, unless cancelled by a natural sign, and that will only last for the bar it's in.
In the music shown there are no accidentals (♯, ♭, ♮) on any notes, so everything is on the white keys - except every F note will be played as F♯.
This piece is in key Em, and uses the natural minor scale notes, as it happens.Just watched a clip and it's in the same key - so the same F♯ each time.


How would one use the word preposition?

Question: I've always been interested in the word preposition and at times, had used it correctly. How would one use it?
Comment: Judging from the answer you've accepted, you're more interested in prepositions than in the term itself.
Answer: "Simply put, a preposition indicates a relation between things mentioned in a sentence."
For example, in the above sentence, between is a preposition. There's the noun "relation", and the noun "things". The word "between" introduces a relation between them.
Wiktionary defines "preposition" as follows:

A closed class of non-inflecting words typically employed to connect a noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word: a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word.

Merriam-Webster says:

Definition of PREPOSITION: a function word that typically combines with a noun phrase to form a phrase which usually expresses a modification or predication

If you are still not quite sure what that all means, there's a list of English prepositions over at Wikipedia.
Also, as Kosmonaut points out in his comment, prepositions usually come before the words they modify — hence the name, "pre" + "position". However, note that there are mechanisms in place that allow prepositions to be "detached" from the words they modify; see, for example, these questions:

How to combine in a sentence two verb + preposition pairs that have the same object?
When is it okay to end a sentence in a preposition?

You can browse the full list of questions tagged "prepositions" for further insight.
Comment: Also, it is called a *preposition* because it literally comes in the position before (*pre*) the noun it modifies (except in some special cases).  In languages where the same modifiers come after the noun (e.g. Japanese), these are called *postpositions* (at least by linguists).
Comment: @Kosmonaut: good point, I've incorporated (some of) it into my answer. (I haven't incorporated it completely, so that you don't have to delete it and can still get credit for it.)
Comment: Sounds good — I think your answer is quite thorough now!

How would one use the word preposition?


Washer malfunction/reset?

Question: Hello:I have a Whirlpool Thin Twin Mod # LTE5243DQA,it's about 5-7 year's old.  The washer suddenly stopped while in the rinse cycle with the
tub full of water. I "played" with the Load Size control and used the Reset, which for some reason started the washer.  Is this a sign of further problems, what course of action should I take to prevent a re-occurance?
Comment: I'm assuming there is a question in here somewhere but I just can't find it..
Comment: I was hoping from my description - that someone might be able to let me know what happened,
Comment: My mistake-the following was left out:  Is this a sign of further/future problems - what steps/actions should I take for preventing a re-occurance ?  Thank you.
Comment: Big guess but it could have been power problems that caused the washer to stop , a power bump this time of year is normal where I live so unless it regularly starts happening I agree with @jack
Answer: I think it's a little premature to try and diagnose a problem that at the time doesn't exist. There are a few micro switches, like the one in the washer door, that if not completely closed can stop the machine. Maybe a problem with the gear cam that will stop the machine at the same place each time. Is the Reset button a system reset or a load size reset? If a system reset, you might have corrected the problem like a reboot on a computer...
Monitor the operation of the machine and try to get some more information. Good luck.
Comment: Thank you for your reply - it is a Load Size Reset - I used it twice and the machine only operated while holding the control in the Reset position.  However, on the third try with the Reset the washer went back to normal operation.  I did try pushing down on the lid switch but nothing happened.

Washer malfunction/reset?


How do i open up gnome?

Question: I'm new to Ubuntu and i just downloaded 13.10. It shows that I have gnome downloaded or at least I think so cause it has a green check by it and an option to uninstall but how do I open gnome?
Answer: Log out. Click the Ubuntu logo next to your name, and choose GNOME from the list. If it is not there, you don't have GNOME installed.
Ubuntu uses several parts of GNOME though, so depending on what you're seeing as "GNOME" with the green check in the Software Center, it may not be GNOME as a whole. For example, gnome-terminal is a part of GNOME, and is installed in Ubuntu by default.

How do i open up gnome?