Automating the ability to "follow" posters

Question: So social media websites allow people to "follow" each other.  There are some people who post answers that are of considerable quality and its sometimes hard to keep track when there is a particularly good answer, is there any thought at stack exchange to give people the ability to "follow" each other?
Comment: If so inclined, you could just look at their profiles periodically.
Answer: Yes, this has been brought up many times on MSO and you can read there all about why it won't be implemented. Basically, Stack Exchange is a Q&A site, not a social network. (For the details you may have to read through the comments in the linked question.)
Comment: @ChrisWhite the point is that Stack Exchange should be about the content, not about the people. Anything that leads people to focus more on the authors of posts than their content is pushing the site toward social-network territory, which should be avoided.
Comment: Thanks. Although its kind of silly logic to equate the ability to sort good posters and social networks.  Its not a feature that is really solely for social purposes. But thanks for the link.
Comment: Is it just me? Reading through those suggested comments made me *want* the feature, especially when seeing how most of the objections were logically unsound, equating "trusted user" with "facebook" for reasons I cannot understand. Typical MSO kneejerk reaction to change. ::grumble::
Comment: @ChrisWhite exactly, on MSO they always react in such and similar declining ways to feature requests that would be very usefull for and appreciated by many users of the different sites. Conversely to suggestions about setting up new policies, rules, constraints, controll mechanisms, punishments, etc they never implement useful features common people ask for :-/ :: gruuuuuuumble ... ::
Comment: @David Z: why do we have nicknames then? Or even user numbers? Also, why do we have a profile page if not to make certain users look more expert than others in their field?
Comment: I suppose you could check on StackApps and see if someone has written an app or script that will let you follow people.
Comment: Thanks, one can always work around user their browser to, but it would be nicer to have something you could link to your profile in case you couldn't get to your normal computer.
Answer: I recommend getting or making a third party extension instead of asking Stackexchange to provide an additional feature. For example, I wanted to hide other peoples reputation and my own reputation when veiwing stackexchange/stackoverflow etc. and I solved this using a tampermonkey script. You might even ask someone to make you a script if you don't know how to make one, probably you could ask in stackoverflow or something. Enjoy!
Comment: They don't want to clutter up the UI (user interface) by adding lots of additional things.
as a side note, third party extensions are useful on many other websites like Facebook. In some sense you can get whatever you want from a website but instead of asking the website to change you need to make a third party extension that changes your user experience.
Comment: Thanks again Raindrop!
Comment: welcome! I decided to put it as an answer instead of a comment because it seemed more suited as an answer. I really recommend getting a third party extension (or just asking it on stackoverflow perhaps?) though I don't know if stackoverflow would reject that kind of question. Maybe you could ask it on stackoverflow chat or on superuser
Comment: I honestly hadn't put that much thought into it.  My feeling is that its something that should be pretty straightforward for them to implement, so I figured I'd ask, not realizing that it was such a source of debate.  I could explore coding myself, but I have other coding priorities that would take precedence to be quite frank, so if I had the spare time I would probably not focus on this too much. I just thought it would be a nice feature.
Comment: thanks again for the helpful comments!


What is a portrait lens?

Question: I hear this term used pretty often. Does it refer to a specific focal length? Or very low F-number? What does a lens need to have in order to be considered "portrait lens"?
Comment: You can find a great article on the 6 best portrait lenses by the British Journal of Photography at this link http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/technical-report/1934957/portrait-lenses I was made in Jan 11, so is fairly up to date
Answer: Generally speaking a portrait lens is a moderate telephoto (for 35mm film, maybe something in the range of 85mm to 135mm) with a moderately wide aperture (again for 35mm film, f2 or so).
As to why telephoto, a longer lens allows the photographer to fill the frame with the subject's face/shoulders without the apparent distortion of features you would get from being close to the subject with a wide angle lens. Telephoto and a wide aperture also helps reduce depth of field.
Note -- it isn't unheard of to use 180mm and 200mm lenses (35mm film) to take portraits, this tends to flatten the features a bit which can be an agreeable effect.
Comment: Brian Peterson (popular photography author) said he actually prefers a 200-300mm for portraits even!
Comment: Which is a good reminder that in Photography any convention or rule of thumb is just advice and shouldn't be taken as the final word.
Answer: The lenses I see most often used for "portraits" (and by that I mean traditional ones without wacky dramatic wide angle effects) are 85mm prime, 100mm prime, and 70-200mm zoom. Fast lenses do often work better, but it's a two-edged blade: You have to nail your focus if you open up, so watch for that. Additionally, if you are used to a moderately-wide to somewhat-telephoto like a 24-105mm or something like that, you'll need to get used to the amount of room it takes to shoot with a telephoto.
Comment: Totally right about nailing the focus. I've shot with an 85mm f1.2 before all the way open, and you have to be deathly accurate, otherwise you'll find yourself having focused on the tip of your model's left nostril.
Answer: The term "portrait lens" doesn't explicitly define a specific type of lens. That is, lenses aren't generally listed as "portrait lenses". Rather, portrait lenses are a subgroup of lenses that all have and produce desirable characteristics when used for shooting portraiture.
As others have mentioned, most lenses that fall into the "portrait" category have wide apertures and are in the mid-focal range (24-105mm) (though it isn't uncommon to use telephoto lenses from further away and zooming in). Beyond that, what a lens can produce is really just at the mercy of the photographer's own creativity.
It all depends on what you're attempting to achieve in a portrait. Prime lenses (fixed-focal length) with a low F-number (wider aperture) are fantastic for head shots and mid-shots (I call them busts...mid-chest and up). Telephotos are great for full body shots (further away from the subject, zooming in).
There are a wide array of affordable lenses for portrait photography, with the most popular and affordable being the "Nifty 50" that some have mentioned and is a favorite around here. It's about a $120 lens that is 50mm f1.8 which will allow for fantastic depth-of-field  for closeups and busts. If you're looking into getting into portraiture, this is a phenomenal lens to start with.
Answer: Just about any lens can be used as a portrait lens, but the attributes you typically look for include:

[ed] Normal to near-tele focal lengths (depending on crop factor) - this helps people appear similar in shape and proportion to the way we see them.
Good bokeh - this helps separate subject from background.
Clarity and sharpness - although some photographers prefer a soft-focus look, it's always nice to have the ability to control that deliberately, rather than having it as a lens "feature".

These attributes make prime lenses popular candidates for portraits.  As long as you're controlling the setting of your shot and you don't need to switch focal lengths rapidly, you don't need the flexibility of a zoom lens, and it's tough to beat the optical speed and sharpness of a prime lens (especially if you factor in budget).
Comment: I thought portrait lenses where more in the short telephoto+ range.  More like starting around 80mm (you can get away with 50mm on a crop sensor).  *So that you can compress features.*
Answer: My personal favourite is a Sigma 28-105mm f2.8 easy to use and with short depth of field for snappy portraits.
On a technical point there's also a payoff between lens length, subject distortion, and the room required to work in.
A short lens used close to the subject can produce a distorted 'big nosed' image. A long lens will produce a flatter image but at the expense of needing to be a long way from the subject thanks to the minimum focus distance and so needing more room to work in.
This is why I like the 28-105 because my studio (AKA front room) is of limited size making 200mm lenses impossible to use. The fixed aperture means that there's no increase in depth of field when zooming in, leaving nice sharp images.

What is a portrait lens?


How to maintain your pitch when looking for other traffic in the pattern?

Question: I am a student pilot and I fly in a desert region where turbulence often changes the pitch and airspeed of my aircraft.  I am having an issue maintaining pitch while scanning for other aircraft in the traffic pattern (I lose sight of the horizon while scanning).  I might scan for 2-3 seconds and by the time I bring my eyes back to the horizon my pitch has changed 10 degrees and I have lost 5 knots of airspeed.  My flight instructor then scolds me for not holding my airspeed.  Is there a way to scan for traffic while still maintaining reference to the horizon?
Comment: @Tanner Swett:  I guess I mean that I am not looking directly at it.  I suppose I just need to learn how to use my peripheral vision which is probably not very good since I sit at a computer all day.
Comment: When you say that you "lose sight" of the horizon, do you mean that it's literally no longer in your field of view at all, or do you mean that you're no longer looking directly at it?
Comment: I got my license about six months ago. My problem is that when I am not paying attention ( trying to change frequency or trying to get the GPS to do something etc), I always end up turning and going off course. This after 100 hours of flying. Holding altitude/pitch is for some reason not a problem. I think the stability depends upon the plane. Is there an option to fly a different plane?
Answer: When starting out as a pilot you are normally overwhelmed by all the tasks you need to do. Most of these tasks become second nature with time and experience. Here are some tips you could try.
Make sure the aircraft is trimmed correctly for the manoeuvre so that you do no need any force on the controls to keep the aircraft straight and level. Sometimes you can create your own turbulence because you did not trim correctly but then fight the controls.
Listen to the air noise. You could easily pick up from the change of air noise if the aircraft is loosing or gaining airspeed. A ten degrees pitch change will cause an airspeed change you will pick up by ear. Remember you are flying VFR so looking outside at the horizon to judge your pitch is very important. Flying the correct power setting and maintaining the correct pitch will help you a lot in flying because the aircraft will settle at a certain speed all by itself.
Maybe schedule your flying lessons when the air is more stable and turbulence is minimum. As you gain experience you will be able to handle the turbulence better.
Also try another instructor. Maybe another instructor might be able to understand your weakness and strengths better and handle the situation differently.
Ask many opinions from other pilots in the area. You will find that there are more than one technique sometimes. Just find the one that works for you.
Answer: Start by trimming the plane so you need minimal input to hold a current pitch.  Try to practice that a bit to really get it right.  Practice at different attitudes.. climbing, descending, and level flight.
Also, your cross check needs to be as fast as required to maintain control of the aircraft.  That means every 2-3 seconds is too slow.  Until you get the trim settled out, I would speed up the crosscheck.  While you are scanning outside, just come in to your instruments for a quick peek, then back outside.  Do that cross check cycle more often.


Field Values Are Not Getting Saved

Question: I have a action function in <ActionSupport> that populates the field values depending on the picklist value selected. When I select the option from the picklist the fields gets populate & get save properly.
It's a form of 400 fields, so to save the partially filled form I'm bypassing the javascript validation using immediate="true"
But if I enter other details in other input values & try to save the partially filled form, it doesn't give any error & the records gets save, but only the populated value is saved, the other details that I've entered is not getting saved.
Answer: as u have used immediate="true" values which you are filling in field will not get posted to server.
In this scenario you have to pass values using apex:param
or
Create JSON and then post it to server and then parse the JSON and save the values.
Comment: On populate function I have around 10-15 fields that are getting populated, after that still I have around 300 fields that need to be filled on that vf page as an input, so when I enter input in those fields it doesn't get save.

Field Values Are Not Getting Saved


What does the amino acid found in the atmosphere of Venus mean?

Question: An amino acid is a part of DNA, but it has only been found on Earth. Is the amino acid maybe from one of the space vehicles that has orbited, scanned, or surveyed Venus? How can a part of DNA survive in the dense, sulfuric acid-filled atmosphere? Scientist's haven't been able to determine what organism it's from, but it hasn't been brought to Earth yet. Could this be from the water that covered most of Venus billions of years ago? Did some type of life start to evolve before all the water evaporated? I'm kinda new to this site and have always wondered about this, so thanks to anyone who has an answer!
Comment: Hi Jenny, welcome to astronomy.se. Could you link a source/discovery paper to the discovery you're referring to? Otherwise people might not know what you're talking about. There have been recent claims about a Phosphine discovery on Venus, I am not aware of any claims of amino acid finds. Be aware that also Glycine, a simple amino acid, has been found on meteorites and in interstellar clouds, hence does not necessarily imply findings of life.
Comment: Glycine is aminoacetic acid. It's not even chiral. This biochemist is *not* impressed. -BTW, amino acids are *not* part of DNA. DNA codes for amino acids, but the DNA has an entirely different structure than amino acids.
Comment: I found [arxiv:2010.06211](https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.06211) with the title *Detection of simplest amino acid glycine in the atmosphere of the Venus*. Is that what you are refering to? Is it about [glycine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycine)?
Comment: Related answer: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/46539/phosphine-yes-but-where-are-the-organic-compounds-on-venus/46573#46573
Answer: An amino acid is any acid that has an amine in it. They are not necessarily found in proteins. They can be found in conditions similar to deep space, for example:

In a laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, the team of astrobiologists shone ultraviolet light on deep-space-like "ices," simulating conditions that are commonplace in interstellar space. Deep-space ice is common water ice laced with simple molecules. The team subsequently discovered amino acids, molecules present in, and essential for, life on Earth.

Amino acids are really simple molecules, that could arise from a number of abiotic reactions. Do not be impressed if they are found on a barren planet, for they have been found in meteorites before:

Murchison contains common amino acids such as glycine, alanine, and glutamic acid as well as unusual ones such as isovaline and pseudoleucine. A complex mixture of alkanes was isolated as well, similar to that found in the Miller–Urey experiment. Serine and threonine, usually considered to be earthly contaminants, were conspicuously absent in the samples. A specific family of amino acids called diamino acids was identified in the Murchison meteorite as well.

I'll personally only be impressed when at least a protein or sequence of DNA/RNA is found outside Earth. Then we can speculate about life out there. I do believe it exists - I just think we are getting too excited now with stuff that may not necessarily be biotic.
Comment: "They are not necessarily found in DNA or proteins" -- They're not found in DNA at all, of course, but they are found in proteins, since they're the building blocks of proteins.
Comment: @PeterErwin I suck at chemistry xD
Answer: People got very stirred up a few months ago about claims of a very clear (fifteen sigma) signature of phosphine in Venus's atmosphere. Other scientists reexamined those authors claims and found that that their very clear signature was clear as mud; that their evidence did not even pass the two sigma threshold, let alone a fifteen sigma threshold. (Two sigma is good enough for the social sciences. Five sigma is good enough for the physical sciences. Fifteen sigma essentially means nobody can reject this.) We do not yet know which is correct, the claims or counterclaims. What it does mean is that more investigation is needed.
The claims of the discovery of signatures of glycine in Venus's atmosphere has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It has only been pre-published on the arXiv, Detection of simplest amino acid glycine in the atmosphere of the Venus. Pre-publishing on the arXiv is a very low bar. Passing peer review (which this article has not yet done) is where science starts. Passing peer review does not mean the evidence is solid. It means that some scientists think the claims in the article they reviewed appear to be plausible.
It will be time to get excited if the claims of the discoveries of phosphine and glycine do turn out to be true. But for now, the best thing to do is to wait for science to follow its slow methodical business.


Are questions of the type "which countries this legislation happens" on topic in Law SE?

Question: I would like to know in which countries certain legislation happens. Some SE might consider questions asking for a list of things to be "too broad" or off-topic, but in this case the set of options is limited to around 200. Are these kind of questions on topic in Law SE?
Comment: How do you get 200? 196 countries + 50 states in the US (plus military and maritime law) + 7 States in Australia (plus military and maritime law) + 3 countries in the UK (plus ...) + 29 states in India + 12 provinces in Canada + 34 provinces in China + 32 states in Mexico + ... I would guess you would be looking at closer to 1,000+ when you go through them all
Answer: Some "list" questions are allowed as community wikis.  (They have to be community wiki to avoid proliferation of partial answers.)  But this is a very difficult type of question for several reasons:

There are far more legislative jurisdictions than there are countries.  For example, just in the U.S. there are many subjects of legislation that are left to states, and even smaller jurisdictions (counties, townships, associations...).
Depending on the law in question, the answer could be subject to frequent change.  E.g., there are communities and websites dedicated to trying to keep track of what the current laws are on one specific subject like audio recording or concealed carrying firearms, and that's just in the 50 United States!
This has been tried before: When you read about law on Wikipedia you will often find attempts to list countries that have implemented a specific legal measure, and the variations in how they have done so.  I don't think I have ever seen a list or page that claims to be exhaustive.  Most often a legal principle will be described and then the current law in just a few major countries will be detailed.


Detecting malicious behaviour

Question: Reverse Engineering is clearly a 'gray'-area with law. Thus this is why I wonder, what to do when you detect a string of questions or a single questions that is clearly leading to mal-behaviour.
Comment: And something legal in a country might be illegal in another. Also, it's not always easy to determine if a behavior is malicious: it depends on the intent.
Comment: This is true, also we are not lawyers. As SE is not a Forum you can't PM a Moderator about your concerns.

I for one, would like a formal statement about this.
Comment: What exactly do you mean by "mal-behavior"? Any specific examples? BTW, to "PM" mods, use the "flag" link.
Comment: @IgorSkochinsky Actually, chat would be preferable for "PM"s as flags may not always be appropriate to express an *opinion*.
Comment: I [posted an answer on A51](http://discuss.area51.stackexchange.com/a/10926/70968) regarding a similar issue with the TOR proposal. That answer largely covers the same ground.
Answer: I posted an answer on A51 regarding a similar issue with the TOR proposal. That answer largely covers the same ground.
Basically, unless a question itself is mentioning or linking to something that can be construed to be illegal or immoral, then moderators may act on it. However, in most cases, questions may not directly imply an illegal activity and it would be more a matter of judging intent.
Intent is, quite rightly, not mentioned at all in the TOS, and hence, moderators or users cannot reasonably act (delete) on the basis of perceived intent alone (You are however free to comment and downvote as needed). In such cases, the post is treated as normal and we defer to the Community Team's decision, if at all the situation so demands.

Just to be explicitly clear, everybody is welcome to comment, clarify and vote on such questions howsoever they feel, to bring out the intended use case/scenario. Moderators however, cannot unilaterally act (delete, close) against such posts for reasons of possible intent.

Detecting malicious behaviour


Were there any well documented self taught musicians who struggled to adjust to conventional written music methods?

Question: Were there any well documented self taught major musicians who struggled to adjust to conventional written music methods? By self taught I mean learning, for example, by ear and making up songs but not knowing what conventional musical notes or scales were being used; they would learn and decipher notes, scales, chords, etc. by ear first.
Comment: A joke: "How do you get a rock guitarist to turn down his volume?" A: "Put sheet music in front of him"
Comment: This seems just a list type question.
Comment: So maybe they had people convert their music into the conventional written form for them, or they just took the time to learn it themselves. Do you know of any specific rock musicians that had that issue?
Comment: What would constitute good documents in your opinion?
Comment: Does Paco di Lucia playing the Concierto de Aranjuez count? He couldn't read notes.
Answer: I wouldn't say that he struggled, but it is well-known that Jimi Hendrix couldn't read music and that he didn't know music theory in any formal sense. The following is an interesting quote from the autobiography of Miles Davis (p. 292):

When I called back home from the studio to speak to Jimi about the music I had left him, I found out he didn't read music. There are a lot of great musicians who don't read music - black and white - that I have known and respected and played with. So I didn't think less of Jimi because of that. Jimi was just a great, natural musician - self-taught. He would pick up things from whoever he was around, and he picked up things quick. Once he heard it he really had it down. We would be talking, and I would be telling him technical shit like, "Jimi, you know, when you play the diminished chord ..." I would see this lost look come into his face and I would say, "Okay, okay, I forgot." I would just play it for him on the piano or on the horn, and he would get it faster than a mother******. He had a natural ear for hearing music. So I'd play different shit for him, show him that way. Or I'd play him a record of mine or Trane's and explain to him what we were doing. Then he started incorporating things I told him into his albums. [...]
Answer: Perhaps Elvis Presley?  "I don't know anything about music.  In my line you don't have to."
Comment: I wouldn't be surprised if he was initially self taught, because I've heard  that his music was so unique at the time.
Comment: I'm guessing that at the time, most pop musicians were self taught, so it would go for lots. Also depends whether one includes vocalists, who at the time rarely wrote down the actual music they sung. Elvis played guitar, but probably didn't record with it - I don't know.
Comment: @tim Elvis certainly recorded at least some tracks with his guitar. There are plenty of photos of him in the studio: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/8d/3b/35/8d3b3582009f92c1da60ea3e45e6a3e5.jpg
Answer: Vangelis could not read music (at least during his formative years).
He composes entirely by ear, and he refused formal piano lessons as a child, instead teaching himself how to play keyboards.
Answer: Frank Zappa was completely self taugth (he completely distrusted the education system to the point where he didn't even send his children to school, teaching them at home).
Already an acomplished musician, he learned music notation by himself when wanting to develop more complexly orchestrated (e.g. metal section) pieces. Eventually he could (and did) wrote complete orchestral scores, some of which were recorded with the LSO (under his own direction) and others by Pierre Boulez and his Ensemble InterContemporain.
I'm not sure though about how much "theory" (e.g. tonal or atonal harmony, etc.) he was familiar with. My impression is that he did not follow that route and he composed all his music by "feeling", the notation being a mere vehicle to convey the music to performers. But I don't have any definitive sources one way or the other.
Comment: He was clearly aware of various streams of 20th century theory - there is a 12-tone string quartet in the middle of *Brown Shoes Don't Make It* on the Mothers' *Absolutely Free* album.


My son wants to learn to ride a motorbike. How can I discourage him?

Question: I'd prefer my son doesn't get his motorbike licence because I think it is dangerous. How can I convince him otherwise?
Note: He's 18 years old, but still living at home.
Comment: I think instead of convincing him otherwise, you should help him do so in the safest way.
Comment: @MiloB At this point your son is an adult and responsible for his own actions. The only thing you can do is influence him the same way you would any other adult, which is a different subject. I suggest reading 'How to win friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie.
Comment: Make sure he has a good helmet and leather gear. And that he doesn't drive without them. In that regard you can really put your foot down.
Comment: My two cents: It's not dangerous. Riding a car is far more dangerous.
Answer: I'm assuming that you have no actual say in the matter because he has some degree of independence.
You are right in that riding a motorbike does put you at more risk of an injury accident (if you want to know what types of injuries, this article covers them off: http://www.driverknowledgetests.com/resources/common-injuries-motorbike-riders-suffer/).
Unfortunately, our brains don't finish developing until we're in our late '20s and that causes us to take risks. There's also the excitement and freedom of owning a motorbike; a certain rebellion that's taking place. Your son will know it is dangerous and that you don't like it, but he probably can't internalise the risks in relation to him, i.e. he could be confident nothing bad will happen to him. He may be trying to assert his independence from you through this.
So, in terms of convincing him otherwise the questions you need to ask yourself are:

Is there any way of offering him something better? E.g. can you help
him into a car learner licence rather than a motorbike learner
licence.
Are there any rational arguments you can propose which would have a
greater meaning to him. E.g. if he doesn't get a motorbike licence
then you will help pay for a gap year
Is there a friend or relative that you know who has access to
someone who has been injured badly in a motorbike accident?
Is there anything your son does where a motorbike would be way less
convenient than a car, e.g. a certain hobby, or you live in an area
where it rains a lot?
If your son has a girlfriend or boyfriend, are they going to want to
ride on the back of a motorbike (even when it's raining)?

If they don't work you can try the scaring approach (information about injury risks, etc), or you can try to get him to empathise with your feelings about the situation.
If there really is no chance of changing his mind then the best resource to check out is Transport for NSW's Ride to Live website here http://ridetolive.nsw.gov.au/. Make sure he gets proper instruction from a good driving instructor and make sure he purchases proper safety equipment - no riding in t-shirt and shorts because tarmac will shred his skin like a cheese grater if he comes off.
Comment: I don't agree with a "scaring" approach, which is likely to be perceived as overprotective parent silliness. Many countries have similar "safe riders" courses which will provide an impartial perspective on the dangers as all as ways to prevent or mitigate the dangers, so I would go with a class before a lecture about safety. Otherwise an excellent overview of the options!
Answer: The most important thing to bear in mind here is that he's 18- he's not obligated to do what you want in any way, shape or form. Sure, you may not like that he wants to get a motorcycle, presumably because you're concerned about the risks involved rather than anything else.
Ultimately though, this is his decision- you shouldn't be trying to discourage him, but enable him to make the best, educated decision possible under the circumstances. You're his parent, not his master.
It's your responsibility to help him, guide him and educate him if he'll listen, not to make that choice for him.
I can speak from experience- I started off by getting a CBT and riding a Moped, exchanging that for a 125cc Motorcycle after about a year, before progressing after several years to getting a drivers license and using a car. I enjoyed all three, with only one incident of coming off my 125cc which was entirely down to bad weather and loss of control on leaves. Do I regret riding it at all? No. Did I get injured? Not badly enough to visit a hospital.
If he decides that a Motorcycle is what he wants, despite you showing him the facts (i.e Motorcyclists have more fatalities, are generally injured more frequently in collisions/accidents, weather is a larger factor when riding etc) then the best you can do is encourage him to ride safely.
When he goes to his Motorcycle training sessions, the trainers do actually know their stuff, they will recommend you to attend extra sessions if they think that's what you need and they won't put you in for a test if they don't think you're ready. You need to also actually pass the tests as well, so he won't be thrown on the road like a loose cannon- they need to be confident that he can ride correctly.
Also, in the UK, for example, after passing your two Motorcycle tests to hold a full license, you can attend an extra session or two which cover in further detail other helpful tips and tricks when on the road. They also cover how to cope with different weather as well as going more in-depth with techniques for braking etc to make you an even safer rider (as well as lowering your insurance premiums from some insurers!).
I enjoy driving, I enjoy Motorcycling- it's only fair to let him make the choice himself as one day he may change his mind himself, so let him do that. Once he does get on a bike, he could find that it's really not for him and take it no further than getting the license, or just a few lessons- you simply don't know. On the other hand, he could really enjoy it- but you can't determine how safe, good or bad a rider he'll be- that's down to him.
There's a lot of people out there that drive horrendously, just as there are Motorcyclists, each of whom are responsible for us basing our opinions on the other- for my part, both sides can be complete idiots- but then so can pedestrians and cyclists. Provided that he's passed and has his license- he can do the best he can and you can only support him in his decision where you can.
As a thought, you could even attend the lessons he takes, as traditionally the first several sessions tend to occur on a contained, isolated track and not on the road, until the instructor is confident that you're safe to go on the road (and yes, they will prevent them going on the road if they aren't. I know, as for my first CBT I had to come back the next day as I wasn't good enough!). That way you can be there to also educate yourself on the subject and perhaps lessen your worries.
Answer: My whole family (including me) rides, so I'm pro-having fun on a bike, but I'm right with you on this. Do you have any friends who ride? It would be awesome if you could "require" him, in whatever way makes sense for your relationship, to take the motorcycle safety course available in your area, and to be "sponsored" by an experienced rider. Those two things have done the most that I've seen to improve individual riders' safety, including making sure they're included in a group of riders who maintain a pro-safety attitude.
Oh, and make sure he has to pay for his own insurance--which he absolutely has to have. No question there. If he's in the U.S., at least, he probably won't be able to afford it, even if he can get approved, which is iffy at best.
Answer: Do you know the book called "Flow" by Csikszentmihalyi.
People feel flow when they feel the task is challenging and they can do it if they put effort. They say that it is the secret of happiness.
So, your child probably feels that motorcycle gives him flow. You as a parent want to protect him. It is fair enough. But the message he gets that "you are not skillful enough to ride this". So he thinks that you do not trust him enough, you want him to get bored, or undermine his abilities.
So, even though you want to protect him, try to find a way that he finds flow in other activities or talk and ask  about his skills and how can he implement his skills in other parts of life.
Answer: It's late, but here's my opinion.
To be honest, 18 years old is okay and you shouldn't worry much unless your son have some condition. I learned how to drive a car in a country where often streets are narrow, etc when I was in middle school. I never had an accident and I was taught to prioritize safety.
Answer: Simple. You can't convince him otherwise if it's something he really wants. You could try to bribe him with "I won't help you buy a bike, but I will a car". That might help. You could try to attach punishment to it ("you can't keep it here!" or "Won't pay for your school if..."), but that is a way to operate that seems guaranteed to damage your relationship. And you can (and should) certainly voice your concerns and let your position be known. The problem is that your son is old enough to be treated as an adult, and we generally don't coerce adults without there being resentment.
Look, my mum hated my motorcycles. But at 17 I was earning enough to buy, maintain, and insure it, and a car an an apartment too - so I had the economic freedom to steer my own life. At that point, its not like she had much say over it and she understood that too. I knew she didn't approve. Lots of aspects of my life she didn't approve of back then. And, in retrospect, she was right on a bunch of them too. But we had a good relationship where we could disagree without it being personal. On bikes, we talked statistics, mortality, the costs (insurance on two wheels was stupidly expensive). But I was feeling cool and manly, and wanted to ride. So I did.
So prepare yourself for NOT talking him out of it, or at least not for long. I don't mean don't try, but you are at that age where your relationship is shifting from parent-child to an adult mentoring one where your advice is still heard and respected but not always heeded. And that's tough on both of you. But by all means - bribery is a good option. "I know you're at the age where you need personal transportation, and I know bikes are cool, but understand that - as your parent - the statistics on bike accidents scare me. Now, the choice is yours, but I'm willing to help you buy a cool car if that will keep you off of two wheels for a while."
Word of warning: if he has friends on bikes - you're probably sunk. Riding is a social activity - and no I don't mean in the "biker gang" sense. But you either ride or you don't, and if you don't then you are cut out of a part of conversations and activities at an age when social acceptance is still a huge deal.
And if it's any consolation, I will hate it if either of my kids want to ride. I will hate it even as I keep my '56 BSA GoldStar out in the shed waiting for me until I'm done paying for my kids college tuitions at which point I will start riding it again. 17 years its been parked, and with spring weather I'm feeling the itch of a long ride up a winding country road. About 10 more years and I can take that ride. I can wait. I have a bit more patience than I did when I was seventeen...


Impact score doubled overnight. A bug?

Question: My impact score more than doubled today from around 54k to 139k.  I don't see how this could be possible.  Surely it must be a bug?
Comment: Were any of your answers moved to a high-viewcount question, but did stay eligible? Did one of your answers on a question break into the top 3 there (perhaps because one was deleted)? That might give you that much easily.
Comment: My score went up 2k in the past few days which is not abnormal. Doubt it's a bug
Comment: [This question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19482970/python-get-list-from-pandas-dataframe-column-headers) gives you 84k impact, I'm betting this is it. It was edited a few days ago.
Comment: @DavidG 6 months to get 54k, and then 85k because a question gets edited?  BTW, is that a moderator tool to see the viewer impact per question?
Comment: You were given an upvote on there yesterday, perhaps that caused some cache to update? No secret, I just ran a SEDE query: http://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/395423/my-impact?UserId=2411802
Answer: Yesterday you gained an upvote on this answer. You can see this in the timeline view. The rules for impact state that an answer needs the following to count:

Answers - Views of the parent question for answers that are:

Non-deleted AND
Score > 0 AND
Not self-answers AND
Also meeting one or more of the following criteria:

In the top 3 answers OR
Is the Accepted Answer OR
Score at least 5 OR
Has at least 20% of the total vote count

Due to the upvote your answer met the criteria "Score at least 5", hence your impact jumped by a little over 84k.

Impact score doubled overnight. A bug?


Sync Daedalus with a local testnet node

Question: I have set up a Cardano development environment and build a node which is fully synced to the testnet network.
How can I make my Daedalus wallet use/point to that local testnet node instead of synching again to the online/main testnet?
Answer: To anyone who may need a similar setup, I got this working after many trials. From my local cardano node, I copied the contents of the db directory into the chain directory of the Daedalus wallet.
I then updated the configuration file topology.yaml to use localhost in the addr parameter.
It works and I can receive tAda from the  testnet faucet.
Answer: Daedalus is a full node itself, this mean that he doesn't connect to an external node to sync the blockchain.
As the official website says:
"Daedalus is a full node wallet. This means that unlike light wallets (e.g.Yoroi, Adalite etc.) Daedalus downloads a full copy of the Cardano blockchain and independently validates every transaction in its history."
Here I found a Reddit Link where a similar question was made.
Comment: Well true, Daedalus is a full node, but on a fresh install ,it needs to connect to the Cardano network to sync to the latest blocks. What I was trying is to get it to use my local node which has already synced.

Sync Daedalus with a local testnet node


Is forgiving someone an issue in Buddhism and what does it mean?

Question: In most religions forgiving each other or by God is very common but is in Buddhism forgiving something wiht any value? If so what does it really mean, what does it effect and how is it done?
Answer:
Hatred is, indeed, never appeased by hatred in this world. It is appeased only by loving-kindness. This is an ancient law.

Source: Dhammapada Verse 5 Kalayakkhini Vatthu
In Buddhism forgiveness is between one another than by an external agency. Having said this no external agency is behind Karma. It is only your tainted or pure mind. And once done the results follow.

All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil mind, 'dukkha' follows him just as the wheel follows the hoofprint of the ox that draws the cart.

Source: Dhammapada Verse 1 Cakkhupalatthera Vatthu
... similarly for good deeds good results follow ...

All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness (sukha) follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.

Source: Dhammapada Verse 2 Matthakundali Vatthu
Following highlights no external agency can affect Karma than the mind itself:

This is explained in the Pathama Mahanama Sutta, by the simile of an earthern pot filled partly with gravels and stones and partly with fat and butter. By throwing this pot into water and smashing it with a stick, it will be seen that gravels and stones quickly sink to the bottom while fat and butter rise to the surface of the water. Likewise, when a person who has established himself in the five wholesome dhammas of faith, conduct, learning, charity and insight dies, his body remains to get decomposed but his extremely purified mental continuum continues in higher states of existence as birth-linking consciousness, patisandhi citta.
In the concluding suttas are expositions on the Middle Path, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Path of Eight Constituents.

Source: Guide to Tipitaka - 6. Samyutta Nikaya by Professor Ko Lay
Answer: A purpose of Buddism is to be without 'defilements' -- Wikipedia introduces Kleshas (Buddhism) as,

Kleshas (Sanskrit: kleśa; Pali: kilesa; Standard Tibetan: nyon mongs), in Buddhism, are mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions. Kleshas include states of mind such as anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, depression, etc. Contemporary translators use a variety of English words to translate the term kleshas, such as: afflictions, defilements, destructive emotions, disturbing emotions, negative emotions, mind poisons, etc.

I would add verse 3 and 4 of the Dhammapada to the verses which Suminda's answer already quoted:

"He abused me, he ill-treated me, he got the better of me, he stole my belongings;"... the enmity of those harbouring such thoughts cannot be appeased.

"He abused me, he ill-treated me, he got the better of me, he stole my belongings;"... the enmity of those not harbouring such thoughts can be appeased.

If you feel hurt by someone and will not "forgive" them, then you would retain feeling hurt and enmity.

So perhaps you should take it for granted that "not harbouring such thoughts" is desireable.
One more thing is that, further to the above, I think it's difficult to hurt an enlightened person.
For example they might have a different view about what "my belongings" are, what "me" is, whether you can "get the better of me", and so on.
So assuming that you will forgive people, perhaps the process of forgiveness (or "how it is done", as you asked) might be informative (enlightening): for example, you might learn what kind of clinging, clinging to what, allowed you to feel hurt in the first place; or you might learn further compassion for whoever was in a situation where they hurt you.

Lastly, some people say that the Vinaya isn't interesting to (doesn't apply to) lay people, but I think it's interesting because it details rules about how to live together in society.
I guess that according to the Vinaya, "forgiveness" isn't entirely one-sided i.e. the "injured" person isn't the only one who participates in the forgiveness process ... for example the wrong-doer too is also supposed to confess what they did wrong; and a wrong-doer who won't cooperate might be banished.

P.S., sometimes people want to know how reliable a statement is.

I think the first statement above (which quotes the Dhammapada) is fairly reliable.
The second (that you might learn something from the process of forgiving someone, i.e. learn what you did that allowed you to feel hurt in the first place) is my opinion.
The third (about forgiveness and confession within the Vinaya) is not reliable, and is based on my superficial reading of the rules and not based on actual experience.
Comment: You focused on somenone who is hurt but what in case if you self are the cause of problems.


Why I can not trade coins stored in cold wallet?

Question: There are two kinds of wallet hot wallet and a cold wallet. Ideally, people keep minimum balance for trading in a hot wallet and most of the coins are stored in cold wallet. I am wondering why coins in the cold wallet are not tradable?
Answer: The very point of a cold wallet is that it's less easily-accessible to provide additional security guarantees. By storing and interacting with your private keys offline, there is a smaller attack surface for bad actors trying to gain access to your private keys. By removing that friction, you're making that cold wallet a hot wallet by definition.
Answer: The word "cold" describes that activity of the account. Or more accurately, the lack of activity. No activity - it's cold.
Hot, being the opposite, meaning there is activity.
In the context of crypto wallets, a cold wallet is a wallet that has its private key(s) stored in of the following fashion:

Air gapped machine (no internet access)
Paper wallet (printed private key)
Hardware wallet
Any medium that is not easily accessible

Without access to the private key, one cannot send ether or tokens out from that account.
They can, however, receive ether or tokens as only the wallet's public address is needed to be the recipient.

TL;DR: Private key is needed to send or trade tokens. Cold wallets do not have an easily available private key to sign, or approve, outgoing transactions.
Answer: Actually, coins on a cold wallet machine CAN be traded ( I'm talking about a dedicated computer here). A transfer can be generated on a connected machine, giving a transaction ID, basically a large number. This can be transferred by some medium to the airgapped machine with the cold wallet (a QR code is the most secure way). You then sign the transaction with your private key and generate a new, signed code. This signed code is transferred back to the connected machine which then broadcasts the transaction to the blockchain. It's secure because your private key never leaves the cold wallet, which is airgapped.


How semi-permanent hair dye stays in place?

Question: Semi-permanent hair dye washes off after several months. What mechanism(s) keep the dye in the hair? (I assume it's not primary chemical bonds, otherwise it would be permanent)
Answer: According to this: http://questions.sci-toys.com/node/72, hair dyes work by creating pockets within the hair. The colored dye molecules then get stuck in these pockets - requiring multiple washes to escape. Short term hair dyes use larger dye molecules so that they cannot get stuck in the hair. On the other hand, longer term dyes actually react with you hair to stay in there for an extended duration of time. For the most part, all of these hair-dye interactions are the result of intermolecular forces.
Semi permanent hair dyes tend to be small compounds that get stuck in your hair. This means that they are not permanently bound to your hair, but they will require a lot of washes to escape. I hope this helps!
Answer: Hair is built as a structured, layer design architecture.  To keep the dye (semi)permament in the hair, the colour altering dye has to be installed below the top layer.

One route to achive this by using reactive dyes, that upon contact with the keratine (that exhibits thiol-groups, $\ce{R-SH}$) indeed to form chemical bonds with the dye, the later -- for example -- decorated with sulfonic acids ($\ce{R-SO3H}$) or its salts.  See, for example, patent US3415606 (A)
A second route consists of using two solutions that contains fragments of the dye -- aiming that the dye molecule are created by these two (or more) components in the inner of the hair, but once created (within the hair) too large to escape the hair by simple washing.

These processes may assisted by alteration of the pH value: in basic media (i.e. high pH value), the inner of the hair becomes accessible as the "covering shingles" of the cuticula open.  In slightly acidic medium (i.e. at low pH-value), the hair's cuticula closes.
Anyway, the dyes have to be applied again and again.  Beside the natural reason (the continuously delivered hair), the dyes -- exposed to day light -- degrade and fade.  Indeed, lightfastness is one of the parameters tested regularly for these dyes.


why when my car's engine is warm it need long start for turning on?

Question: when my car's engine is cold, it turning on immediately. But when it is warm an turn it off, then after 20 or 30 minutes need long start for turning on. where is problem?
my car is peugeot 405 made in 2001 with magnet mailer ecu.
I replace the rpm sensor but nothing changed.
Comment: We need more information to be able to answer this - what car is it, what year, which engine does it have.
Comment: Welcome to mechanics.SE!  We're glad to see you here.  This problem is rather broad: what have you tried and what tests have you done?
Answer: It sounds like the car is unable to maintain sufficient pressure in the fuel rail.
Have a look at this answer for more details on potential causes for hot start problems.
The reason why this happens only for hot starts is because the fuel is more likely to vaporize as temperature increases. In order to avoid vaporization problems the fuel lines are expected to be pressurized during a hot start.
Comment: Also check the fuel line itself.  If it is too near a hot spot and lost some sort of shielding, when you turn the engine off, no more fuel is flowing and the heat could cause the fuel in the line to bubble kind of like a vapor lock.  You will have to crank until the bubble clears.
Comment: May be due to fuel pressure sensor malfunction?
Answer: There is not enough information as others have indicated, however, the most likely cause is that the vehicle has a bad sensor that is telling the computer that the engine is warm when it is not so it doesn't enrich the mixture sufficiently. No choke is used on these cars.
If the car is real old '70s or before, the mechanical choke would cause this type of problem because it would stay hot while the engine needed more choking to start. Or the choke would stick. This is for info only - this vehicle is a 2001.
Comment: Bad sensor, or some vehicles need to have the ecu updated to resolve this problem.
Comment: Yes, to ECU possibility. Blackbeagle and Zaid suggested that fuel will be vaporizing and/or vapor locking. The temperature should be lower than that by 20 - 30 minutes. Also if the OP tests by turning the key on, then off then on again and attempting to start, the engine should start immediately if low pressure is the problem, but has not experienced any run-time issues. The most likely is that the temperature is being read incorrectly and the fuel mixture is too lean. I don't see how the RPM sensor would have any effect either.
Answer: The rpm sensor was a good candidate.
I would consider the following tests:

Start it warm with opened fuel filler flap.
Clean the contacts of every temperature sensor and the crankshaft position sensor (Plugging them out and in several times).
Does the exhaust fume smells like petrol? (Attention: Health hazard!).
Spray start-pilot while starting the engine. Does the engine start?
Are the spark plugs wet afterwards? Could you post photos of your spark plugs?


Is there a mental illness that almost completely stops you from thinking?

Question: I know the title seems insane, and this is most likely impossible, but is there a mental illness that almost stops a person from thinking? By thinking I mean the "talking in your head" thing. I'm not looking for a mental illness that makes them unconscious, but rather a mental illness that keeps them conscious and almost stops them from thinking. I have been saying this a few times, but I feel like it's false, since thinking is a person can't stop thinking if they are alive and conscious(right?). A more realistic question is: "is there a mental illness that causes one's thinking abilities to severely decline?"
Comment: It might depend on what theories of consciousness you subscribe to, but I think for most you will not be able to separate "thinking" from "consciousness". If one is conscious they are by some definition *thinking*.
Comment: I once heard this phrase: "Habit kills thinking."
Comment: Welcome to Psychology.SE. What makes you think there may be a mental illness which can make you stop thinking or severely decline to near non-existence? What have you read on the subject?
Comment: I don't know, I tried researching it and I guess I googled it in a certain way that it showed me results. When I tried googling it again it didn't show anything. Either way, being a science enthusiast, it seems a bit insane saying people can get a mental disease that almost completely hinders them from thinking. I really only joined Psychology SE to ask this question (probably not the best idea), but I want to get answers. Like I said, maybe a better question would be is there a mental illness that hinders/deranges your thoughts.
Comment: That's the answer I wanted. Yeah, that would make sense. I am by no means a  psychologist, so I don't know all the facts, but I can see the point of "if one is conscious they are by some definition thinking".
Comment: Related: [How does a language deprived person think?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/10579/7001)
Comment: Huh, I was going to ask that later. Cool.
Answer: Thinking is mainly supported by the frontal lobes (although the ARAS – the Ascending Reticular Activating System – is essential for its arousal and other cortical areas are essential for its sensory inputs and other associative functions, such as language, spatial orientation, and emotion, which are closely associated with thinking). So, anything that affects the frontal lobes can affect the thinking.
But frontal lobes never stops function if one is still conscious – neurons in the frontal lobes will keep firing as long as  there's a stimulation from the ARAS. So, to literally stop thinking (or all neurons in the frontal lobes stop firing) in still-conscious people is impossible.
However, frontal lobes can be interfered to the degree that the thinking is significantly impaired or retarded and the person seems to stop thinking. This can happen in a varieties of conditions, such as:
Psychological: severe emotional overload (e.g., by a sudden loss of something so precious, an unexpected devastating event, or an overwhelming rage), schizophrenia in some stages (e.g. catatonic stage), severe depression
Pharmacological: overdosage of antipsychotic, sedative, or other psychoactive drugs
Pathological:

all metalbolic derangements (hypoglycemia, hyponatremia, hypercalcemia, etc.)
some medical conditions (hypothyroidism, hypocorticolism, hypothermia, etc.)
frontal lobes disorders: frontal lobe tumor, infarction, hemorrhage, encephalits, dementing diseases
other causes: post- cerebral contusion, post-ictal stage

At some stages of the above conditions, either before the patients lapse into coma or after they emerge from coma, the patients will appear dazed, muted, unable to think, and unable to respond. That is, apparently, they seem to stop thinking in these conditions.
References:

Wikipedia. Frontal lobe

WebMD. What Is Encephalopathy?

Roger F Butterworth. Chapter 38. Metabolic Encephalopathies. Basic Neurochemistry: Molecular, Cellular and Medical Aspects. 6th edition.

Wikipedia. [Delirium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium
Comment: I'd say restricting "thinking" to the frontal lobes or even PFC is...controversial, at best. Clearly, brain damage elsewhere (whether permanent by lesion or temporarily induced by seizure, TMS, or brain cooling) impacts cognition. There are certainly theories of cognition/consciousness in which PFC plays a central role, but the evidence for these is lacking.
Comment: Are you saying that thinking is centred within the **whole** of the frontal lobes or is it in a part of the frontal lobes, say the prefrontal cortex?
Comment: @ChrisRogers  No, I didn't try to be specific because which exact part of the brain does the thinking is not the question here, so I just say that "thinking is mainly supported by the frontal lobes" for the op to get a general idea. As I've pointed out - ARAS and other parts of the brain (including even the cerebellum, as shown by current evidence) take part in the complex process of thinking too. But, if you want to be more specific about where in the frontal lobe the thinking mainly occurs, I agree with your hint that it is mainly in the prefrontal cortex.
Comment: @BryanKrause I think we're saying the same thing here. Thinking function is not restricted to the frontal lobes/PFC. That's why I mention other cortical areas and even the cerebellum in the answer and comment above. But to say that every part of the brain participates in thinking (or any other particular function) equally is obviously wrong. The brain hasn't evolved that way. It has evolved to have specific areas for specific functions.
Comment: And for thinking, it's evident that the frontal lobe plays the major role in this function. For example, clinically, for the same size lesions, a large tumor, hemorrhage, contusion, etc. in the frontal lobe affects thinking more than when they are in the occipital, parietal, temporal, cerebellum, or elsewhere in the brain.
Answer: Thought blocking is a common phenomenon in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. The patient experience a short stopping of all thoughts, they report that all thoughts disappear for a short while (seconds, rarely more than 20-30 seconds or so in my experience). This has been described in the psychopathological literature at least since the publication of Fish's Clinical Psychopathology in 1967, but presumably a lot earlier.
I'm not aware of other psychiatric or otherwise pathological conditions in which patients remain conscious and report the loss of thoughts. There are some conditions, as listed by user287279 above, and while it's plausible that there might be a loss of verbal thinking in severe cases of some of them, I have never heard patients report this, neither during the condition nor after recovery.
Answer: Well, dementia.
Consciousness is mostly affective. Affective consciousness and emotional response (albeit changed) is preserved in dementia. Cognitive tasks progressively become nearly impossible. Thoughts, if they arise, become unpronounceable or impossible to communicate. In other psychiatric disorders that disrupt thinking - such as major psychoses - some kind of thinking is preserved, even grandiose or very persecutory delusions have some internal logic and mostly can be communicated.
Comment: I am having a problem with this answer where I believe that dementia does not stop you from thinking at all, and the thoughts do not become unpronounceable or impossible to communicate. Cognitive tasks become impossible? Hmmm. Can you please provide some reputable citations to back your claims?
Comment: So, essentially, thinking cannot be stopped, but thinking can become so deranged that it is meaningless?
Comment: Dear Chris, please provide some reputable citations that back your claim instead.


2 Peter 1:10 - "be all the diligent to confirm your calling and election.." - What does it mean and why?

Question: Text: 2 Peter 1:10 (ESV) -
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Answer: Jesus ended the Parable of the Wedding Banquet with a warning in
Matthew 22:14

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Peter took heed of that and wrote about it in his epistle.

2 Peter 1:10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This passage exhorts believers to reassure their eternal life and rewards.
How?

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

By practicing these qualities one will never fall and eternal life and rewards are secured. These are the multifaceted horizontal expressions of the vertical calling and signs of one being chosen.
Answer: There are many cases in the the NT of people being lost after accepting Jesus, other than the example quoted in 2 Peter 1:10 -

1 Cor 9:27 Paul says he disciplines his body to keep it under control so that after preaching to others he does not become a castaway/disqualified.  That is, Paul believed that it was possible that he could lose his way and become lost.
1 Cor 10:12 also contains a stern warning from Paul, "If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall."
1 Tim 6:10, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils.  It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Heb 2:1-3, We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.  For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?
Similarly, Heb 6:4-6 also teaches that some "who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit…" can fall away.
Heb 10:26: If we(!) deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left
Heb 10:29: How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them and who has insulted the Spirit of grace.  This verse clearly shows that it is possible to be sanctified and subsequently lost.
Heb 10:35: Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward.
Heb 10:36: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised.
Heb 13:9, "Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace …"
2 Peter 2:21, "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them."
2 Peter 3:17 contains a very stern and sobering warning to be on guard that we do not fall from our secure position.  Verse 14 contains a similar warning.
Gal 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Jesus' parable of the 10 virgins contains two classes of people called "wise" and "foolish".  All were invited to the wedding; All were virgins symbolising purity, see Rev 14:5; All had lamps, ie, lights symbolising Christ as the light of the world, John 1:4, 9, 8:12, 9:5, Matt 5:14-16; All, at least initially had oil - but this is the crux of the parable - five virgins had enough oil and five did not have enough because they complained that their lamps were going out.  In the NT oil represents the gift of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18, Acts 10:38, 2 Cor 1:21, 22, 1 John 2:20).  Thus, Jesus teaches that some who are called and have been given the Holy Spirit (see also Heb 6:4-6) can still be excluded from the Kingdom of God.
Jesus' parable of the vine (John 15:1-8) says two interesting things: (a) that branches (connected to the vine of Jesus) that do not bear fruit are cut off (v2); and (b) the bearing of fruit is to prove that we are Jesus' disciples.
Jesus' parable of the sower, or perhaps the parable of the soils (Matt 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, Luke 8:4-15) contains several classes of people (soils) who start out well in the Christian life but lose their way.  The conclusion is also significant: "by their constancy bear fruit". (Luke 8:15)
Jesus' parable of the banquet (Luke 14:16-24) contains a very good example of people rejecting the call (or "election") of God as well as God having to ask some people more than once and begging them to the wedding banquet.  Jesus' conclusion is, again, significant, "not one of those men who have been invited shall taste of my banquet."  In the parallel passage of Matt 22:1-14, Jesus concludes by saying, "For many are called, but few are chosen."

Thus, it appears that it is possible to lose on'e salvation as Eze 18:21-28 also teaches - the wicked can reform and be saved, and the righteous can apostatize and be lost.  Rom 11:17-21 discusses the warning that people who had been grafted into the "olive tree" of the Christian community could be broken off if they were unfaithful.
To make one's calling and election sure, we have much instruction in the NT:

But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.  1 John 3:2, 3
But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.  Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall.  2 Peter 1:9, 10.

Notice the developing pattern, the saved person continues to make the decision to be one of the elect or pure by keeping separate from the world:

Only let us live up to what we have already attained.  Phil 3:16.  This text tells us to act in accordance with our decision to follow Jesus and to be one of the "saints".
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  1 Tim 6:11, 12.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  Rom 6:4.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Rom 12:1, 2.
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.  2 Cor 7:1.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.  Eph 4:15, 16.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Phil 3:13, 14.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  Col 2:6, 7.
Epaphras ... is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.  Col 2:12
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  2 Peter 1:3, 4.
Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 3:17, 18

Note the consistent pattern in scripture – continue the decision made at conversion to be sanctified (set apart) for Christ.


Traffic consumption between switches for CCTV systems

Question: I have 5 Cisco switches (two SG500, two SG220, and one 2960 where the other switches are connected) used for camera surveillance connected to each other using optical fibre. I need to monitor the traffic generated between the switches.  As I am not allowed to install any software on my NVR, I need to know the console commands, or if I can monitor it from another PC with any auxiliary software. Any suggestions?
Comment: Most people do this wtih MRTG (etc.) via SNMP.
Comment: `show interface` tells you traffic load
Comment: the switch is not generating the CCTV traffic, the DSP/video encoder is.
Comment: Did any answer help you? If so, you should accept the answer so that the question doesn't keep popping up forever, looking for an answer. Alternatively, you could provide and accept your own answer.
Answer: Option 1. One way is to simply use a bandwidth calculator for the cameras in use and quantity of streams. Most 720P (1.3 mega pixels) at 7 fps (frames per second) only use about 2mb/s.
Option 2. To actually monitor the switches one method is to enable SNMP and monitor the interfaces. I use PRTG but there are others. I'm not recommending it specifically. You could choose others. I'm just familiar with this. They have 100 sensors for free. Each monitor point for example a switch port, cpu, ram, fans, is considered a sensor in PRTG. The setup wizard will even scan and auto add sensors. You may need to delete some to get it under 100 at that time if you use the auto scan network feature. If your only interested in one switches interfaces just manually add that switch and do an auto scan on it.
To enable the basic SNMP required in the Cisco switches or even routers use the commands below (below the descriptions)
Line 3 enables a read only (ro) community with your choice of name. Most use the name public.
Line 4 creates a read write (rw) community name. This isn't needed for most snmp to simply read information.
Line 5 is the access control list that identifies the ip address that allowed to use the snmp. Notice the number 100 on lines 3 and 4. That's the ACL number in line 5. The ip address in the ACL should be the SNMP server like PRTG as an example. You can add more to the list of required.
enable
configure terminal
snmp-server community myCommunityNameGoesHere ro 100
snmp-server community myCommunityNameGoesHere rw 100
access-list 100 permit 10.10.10.10
exit
copy run start (saves to nvram)

Option 3. If you just need raw numbers you can do show interface g1/0/52 for example and get some numbers.
Option 4. If you can get a copy of Cisco Network Assistant (CNA) (deprecated) or other Cisco monitoring software that could be an option. They can also graph bandwidth while your on the software but no history like PRTG.
Answer: It appears from your question that the 2960 is the "core" or central switch.  The most straightforward answer is to create a SPAN port on the central 2960 and feed it into your other PC.  Then you can use a tool like Wireshark to look at the data.
! Monitor source is all the ports connected to your other switches
monitor session 1 source interface Gi0/1, Gi0/2, Gi0/3, Gi0/4
! Monitor destination is your PC that's capturing the data
monitor session 1 destination interface Gi0/24

Comment: The OP could do some homework and investigate using snmp with software such as mrtg, what'sUp gold, nagios, icinga, opennms, etc...
Comment: Don't forget Cacti.
Answer: You can enable snmp on the switch you want to monitor and use a grapher like PRTG or Cacti to look at your traffic.


Is there a way to bulk print the documents in the document library

Question: I would like to know if there is a quick way of printing bulk of documents from a sharepoint document library. I know that there is a way to print atmost 15 files from "open Windows Explorer" -> select all the documents -> right click and click print. But my committee members need a solid button that does that features. Is this impossible??
Answer: This PowerShell iterates through a library (folders included), downloads a local copy, then prints to the default printer on the machine it is executed on.
Swap $destination, $webURL and $listUrl parameters as needed.
<code>######################## Start Variables ########################
$destination = "C:\\"
$webUrl = "https://sharepoint/sites/sitename/"
$listUrl = "https://sharepoint/sites/sitename/Shared%20Documents/"
##############################################################
$web = Get-SPWeb -Identity $webUrl
$list = $web.GetList($listUrl)

function ProcessFolder {
    param($folderUrl)
    $folder = $web.GetFolder($folderUrl)
    foreach ($file in $folder.Files) {
        #Ensure destination directory
        $destinationfolder = $destination + "/" + $folder.Url
        if (!(Test-Path -path $destinationfolder))
        {
            $dest = New-Item $destinationfolder -type directory
        }
        #Download file
        $binary = $file.OpenBinary()
        $stream = New-Object System.IO.FileStream($destinationfolder + "/" + $file.Name), Create
        $writer = New-Object System.IO.BinaryWriter($stream)
        $writer.write($binary)
        $writer.Close()
        Start-Process -FilePath ($destinationfolder + "/" + $file.Name) -Verb Print
        }
}

#Download root files
ProcessFolder($list.RootFolder.Url)
#Download files in folders
foreach ($folder in $list.Folders) {
    ProcessFolder($folder.Url)
}
</code>
Source: http://yalla.itgroove.net/2013/03/print-all-documents-in-sharepoint-library-powershell/
Comment: This would require permissions to run PowerShell on the server and special permissions on the SQL database. End users typically don't have that kind of access.
Comment: Their are ways to deal it, I.e make a schedule task and call it from sharepoint or other console application.
Answer: Custom Sharepoint Solution can be created to achieve that. User can click the documents(pdf) they want to print using checkbox than you can try to merge all of that documents into a master pdf file and print it.
Another Idea Would be opening your document library in Windows explorer mode and If you highlight a group of Word.docs only, or a group of Excel.xls docs only, you DO get a Print option that lets you group-print them.
Comment: The OP is aware of the Windows Explorer option -- and the limitation to 15 documents only. Please read the question.


Generating function of a regular language

Question: It is well known that the generating function of a regular language $L$, i.e. $\sum n_kz^k$ where $n_k$ is the number of words of length $k$ in $L$, is rational, i.e. a quotient of two polynomials $P(z)/Q(z)$. Suppose that $L$ is the language accepted by some finite automaton $\mathcal{A}$. How to find the polynomials $P, Q$ given $\mathcal{A}$? Is there a simple procedure and proof?
Comment: This is implicit (and maybe even explicit?) in Cannon's proof that the growth function of a hyperbolic group with respect to any generating set is rational. He constructs an automaton for the growth function whose state set is the set of "cone types" and then uses this fact to complete the proof.
Comment: @Lee: Cannon refers to the known result that I mentioned in my question. By the way, was it first established by Cannon for all hyperbolic groups or only for fund. groups of compact hyperbolic manifolds? I thought that the result you mentioned was first proved by Gromov in "Hyperbolic groups". Anyway, my question is not whether it is true (it is in every book on automata theory and in Wiki), but how to find $P$ and $Q$ given an automaton.
Comment: @Mark: About Cannon versus Gromov, Cannon's 1984 paper "The combinatorial structure of cocompact discrete hyperbolic groups" preceded the theory of word hyperbolic groups as laid out in Gromov's 1987 monograph on the subject. Gromov cites Cannon's paper when he sketches out the proof of the general result for word hyperbolic groups.
Comment: @Lee: I was wrong indeed, Cannon does not refer to the known result and proves it "from scratch". Of course, his automata are somewhat specific (deterministic with one input state of in-degree zero). But that is not a big problem I think.
Answer: Start by making a deterministic finite automaton $M$.  Now $n_k$ is the number of walks of length $k$ from the starting state to an accepting state, so $\sum n_k z^k$ is the sum of some entries of $(I-zA)^{-1}$, where $A=(a_{ij})$ is the integer matrix in which $a_{ij}$ is the number of transitions from state $i$ to state $j$. The entries you need to add are the $(k,\ell)$ entries where $k$ is the starting state and $\ell$ is an accepting state. To get this as a rational function, write $(I-zA)^{-1}$ using Cramer's rule.  The denominator (before cancelling of any common factors) is the determinant $|I-zA|$. The numerator is the adjugate of $I-zA$, whose entries are cofactors, which are also determinants.  So in total, if there are $m$ accepting states, you get a sum of $m$ determinants divided by one determinant, and all these determinants are polynomials in $z$.
Comment: I just wrote the same answer while you were typing.
Comment: It looks like all three answers are similar. Thanks to you all! My main problem was how to reduce the number of input states to 1, but that is OK.
Answer: Cannon does more than just refer to result that you ask for, he sketches the proof out. His proof is couched in the notation that he has set up for his application to hyperbolic groups. But it is easy enough to unravel the notation and express the proof in general.
Label the state set of the automaton as $0,\ldots,N$ where $0$ is the start state. Consider the transition matrix whose $i,j$ entry is the number of directed edges from $i$ to $j$ in the automaton. The growth function we want is the power series $f(x) = \sum n_k x^k$ where $n_k$ is the number of directed paths starting at $0$ of length $k$ and stopping at the terminal states of the automaton. For simplicity I'll assume every state is an terminal state; otherwise one just has to change the notation. With this assumption, $f(x) = f_0(x) + \ldots + f_N(x)$ where $f_i(x)$ is the growth function whose $k^{th}$ coefficient is the number of directed paths from state $0$ to state $i$ of length $k$. Cannon then writes a linear recursion for these functions: $f_0(x) = 1$ (the interpretation is that there are not actually any directed edges ending at the start state); and
$$f_j(x) = x \cdot \sum_{i=0}^N b_{ij} \cdot f_i(x), j=0,\ldots,N
$$
He explains how to express the coefficients $b_{ij}$ as functions of the entries of the transition matrix. Then he writes "It is a routine problem in linear algebra to solve (these equations) for $f_0, f_1, \ldots, f_N$ and $f$", which I interpret as rewriting the equations in vector form $F = x B F$ where $F$ is the column vector whose entries are the functions $f_0(x),\ldots,f_N(x)$ and $B=(b_{ij})$. So we get $(I - xB) F = (1;0;...;0)$ and this can be solved for $F$.
Comment: Thank you! This may be what I want.  I'll look at Canon's paper.
Answer: This is of course a special case of the Chomsky-Schutzenberger theorem that unambiguous context-free languages have algebraic generating functions.  Restricted to a regular language it is like this.  Assume the automata has state set $1,...,n$.  Let $1$ be the initial state for convenience. Let A be the adjacency matrix of the automaton, let $e_1$ be the standard unit row vector and let $c$ be the column vector which is the characteristic vector of the terminal states.  Then it is easy to see that the generating function is $$f(t)=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}e_1A^nct^n = e_1\left[\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}A^nt^n\right]c= e_1(I-tA)^{-1}c.$$   Now using the classical adjoint formula for the inverse, you get that the denominator is $\det(I-tA)$ and the numerator is what it is.
Comment: For deterministic we assume 1 initial state but for unambiguous you can have more. A good example of an unambiguous automaton is the flower automaton associated to a finite code. The fact that you have a code guarantees the automaton is unambiguous but if 2 code words have the same first letter then it is not deterministic.
Comment: Just be be clear, it must be a deterministic automaton.
Comment: It should be what is called an unambiguous automaton. This means each word has at most one accepting run. In that case e_1 should be replaced by the characteristic vector of the initial states.
Comment: I think that often in the definition of finite deterministic automata, we assume that there is only one input state. It does not matter but in this case it is convenient to assume that.
Answer: This is basically equivalent for finding an unambiguous regular expression for the language.
This MO answer explains how to do it, given an DFA $\mathcal A$.
The rest is easy:

replace $\emptyset$ by $0$
replace $\epsilon$ by $1$
replace any symbol with $x$
replace concatenation with multiplication
replace $\cup$ with $+$
replace Kleene star with $1/1-f(x)$.

Source: this paper.
Comment: Aren't you are looking for what is known "transfer matrix method" in enumerative combinatorics?

see e.g. Sect.4.7 in vol. 1 of R.Stanley book [Enumerative Combinatorics](http://www-math.mit.edu/~rstan/ec/ec1/)
Comment: Yes, this is how it is always done. But the question is how to find $P$ and $Q$ directly, without going through regular expressions. There is an approach using semirings, but that seems to be complicated too. For example one can try to consider for every alphabet symbol $a$ the $a$-incidence matrix of the automaton, and use these matrices somehow.
Comment: @Dima: Thank you for the reference.
Comment: +1 for the reference to the transfer matrix method.  See Theorem 4.7.2 in Stanley, which gives information about the numerator of the rational function.  Also, as a warning to others - the paper referred to by Gejza Jenča doesn't give any information on how to actually find an unambiguous regular expression from a given regular expression.  Eppstein's answer under the MO link is clearer.
Answer: Please see http://algo.inria.fr/flajolet/Publications/books.html ,the book Analytic combinatorics's first several chapters.


Dutch citizen with USA B1/B2 visa: invalidated after Iraq visit?

Question: I have obtained, as a Dutch citizen, a B1/B2 visa for the USA recently and plan to travel for business to Iraq in the coming weeks. Would the visit invalidate my 10 years valid B1/B2?
Answer: You would no longer be eligible for an ESTA but I know that is not the question.
Your visa is still valid just be prepared for extra questioning, be honest about why you went and take evidence of the business you went to do and why you went. They may not even ask you unless they spot the Iraq visa in your passport, even then they might not be bothered. Just do not lie if they ask you if you've visited Iraq.
It would only affect an ESTA because it would invalidate some of the questions you get asked when applying. The questions on a B1/B2 visa don't ask if you have visited any of the countries that stop you getting an ESTA.
Comment: It's funny how the USA applies extra scrutiny towards the state that they basically created. "Why did you go to Iraq?" "I dunno, why did you?"


How to redirect one domain to another (wildcard) without inheriting the back links?

Question: I want to redirect my old domain to a new one. Im running a blog and I need to use wildcard redirect so all the posts will be redirected accordingly. But I don't want to inherit the backlinks in those posts. I want a fresh site! How to do this?
Comment: "the backlinks **in** those posts." - The backlinks **to** those posts? Can you just clarify what _you_ mean by a "backlink"? Backlinks are links to your pages from other sites - yes?
Comment: So, the only reason to redirect is to speed up the indexing of your new site?
Comment: @w3d No... I have a site. I want to redirect it to a new domain. Changing the domain name.
Comment: But... "without inheriting the back links"?
Answer: Webmasters that have been hit by Google's algorithms or Google's evil penguin update attempting to get out of the penalty by registering a new domain and then redirecting the old to new will be left disappointed. Sadly its not a case of simply redirecting all visitors from old to new because that would defeat the objective of the punishment they have enforced.
All SEO Friendly Redirects Pass Juice
There is not form of redirecting without passing link juice across since a 301 and even a 302 will pass the links across and eventually the penalty that will occur when the Algorithms catch up (This has been tried and tested thousands of times by blackhatters).
Cloaking is Bad Okay!
You could look at the option of redirecting using a cloaking method either a PHP method or a JavaScript that Google is unable to read however this also breaks Google's ruling under cloaking.
Ideal SEO Friendly Options

Wait for the penalty to be lifted... takes donkeys.
Redirect all URLS on the old domain to the root i.e http://www.example.com/we-have-moved/ With a nofollow link something like Click to go to the new site
Comment: What is "takes donkeys"?  Is that a British slang?
Comment: Ya, means takes ages ;)
Comment: Then I guess I won't down vote you for stealing farm animals. :-)


What materials are good for mashing/boiling container

Question: What material are good for mashing/boiling. I think stainless steel and copper are good, what about aluminum and enamel?
Answer: Both are fine, my pans are all aluminum as Stainless on that size is hard to find and expensive over here.
If you would cook on it you can brew on it.
Just be careful with what you use to clean them, John Palmer has some tips
Answer: I also want to share some points:
Both Stainless steel and copper have good conductivity, copper has a higher heat conduction. On other hand stainless steel has long life and stainless steel also has good corrosion resistance.
During CIP (Acid and base solution cleaning) of kettle stainless steel shows good response.
These days the majority of food grade equipment is made of stainless steel.
One more point, Stainless steel is stronger than copper.
The most important consideration is cost, definitely stainless steel will be cheaper than copper.
Answer: I would strongly discourage aluminium. For frying pans it's acceptable, because it does not react with fats. For mash tun I wouldn't accept it. It reacts with acids easily. Especially in hot environment and over long time. It is only safe cold, for non-acidic foods. That's why all aluminium soda cans are lined inside. Anodized aluminium is better, because only hard oxide is in contact with food.
For details about drinks with aluminium, I advise reading http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/en/aluminium.pdf and similar documents.

Behavioural impairment has been reported in laboratory animals exposed to soluble
  aluminium salts (e.g. lactate, chloride) in the diet or drinking-water in the absence of overt
  encephalopathy or neurohistopathology. Both rats (Commissaris et al., 1982; Thorne et al.,
  1987; Connor et al., 1988) and mice (Yen-Koo, 1992) have demonstrated such impairments at
  doses exceeding 200 mg of aluminium per kg of body weight per day. Although significant
  alterations in acquisition and retention of learned behaviour were documented, the possible
  role of organ damage (kidney, liver, immunological) due to aluminium was incompletely
  evaluated in these studies (WHO, 1997).

Copper has similar problems, but because it is far less common, accumulating significant dose is harder. Traditional copper cookware was covered with tin on the inside, because it was known since middle ages that not covered copper causes bad health when used daily.
Stainless steel is ideal, because it's hard to dissolve any traceable amount in water, and even if, some amount of iron, carbon and chrome are acceptable and even needed - I remember reading that most "first worlders" don't ingest suggested dose of chromium anyway.
Enamel is good, because it is inert. If damaged, enamel iron will just give iron to solution - flaw in beer, but not an health issue.
Comment: https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/1055/brewing-with-aluminum-pots and https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/483/aluminium-boil-pots-heresy-or-not seem to disagree with your opinion on aluminum.
Comment: @Robert And World Health Organization and European Union seems to agree. Guess who have bigger research budgets. Your choice who you will trust.
Comment: Note the rate of consumption in that study: 200 mg of aluminum per kg of body weight per day. That equates to a 150 lb. human ingesting about 13.6 g of aluminum per day. At that rate you would consume an entire Update International 10-gallon aluminum pot in less than eight months. And impairment only occurred at doses exceeding that amount. Aluminum is safe for cooking (and thus brewing). US National Institutes of Health: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002461.htm
Comment: @bughunter at that rate changes are visible in organisms that cannot communicate. It does not exclude possibility of changes with lesser consumption. And of course we all know that USA is far more reckless when it comes to food and water safety. They even still use lead pipes and allow lead to leak to drinking water supplies! So USA calling something to be safe has no meaning for me.
Comment: I don't really care if you're convinced; you're free to believe whatever you want to believe. For the benefit of anyone who might stumble upon this thread later, I'll point out that the study you cited investigated the effects of aluminum in drinking water. It is irrelevant to this discussion, as indicated by this quote from the study itself: "The use of aluminium cookware, utensils, and wrappings can increase the amount of aluminium in food; however, the magnitude of this increase is generally not of practical importance."


Book translation from English to Portuguese

Question: I have a 200 page manuscript which I need to translate from English to Portuguese.  I am looking for the best software application authors use for this purpose.
Comment: Possible duplicate of [What software applications are used for translating a book?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9661/what-software-applications-are-used-for-translating-a-book)
Comment: Related question: [What software applications are used for translating a book?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/9661/26)
Answer: Translation is best done by humans. There is no software available to push a button and Make This Portuguese, and even if there is, word-for-word translation simply can't capture the nuance and meaning of idioms and language-specific phrasing. Saying someone "has horns" in European countries means something very specific which doesn't exist in English, for example.
Translation services are a big deal. There are entire companies which do just this, and you should vet and review even their work and not assume it's right.
Comment: Shoot, even within the English language, I have a hard time some times understanding my friends in Scotland and New Zealand.  Some things just cannot translate because it's not a part of our slang as you said.
Comment: A machine-translated version would be worse than useless as a starting point for an actual translation. It's very hard to edit sense into something that makes no sense; it's much easier to just start with the original and translate it all correctly.
Comment: I understand it perfectly but my thinking here is that I really need to obtain a piece of software that would "coarsely" translate my book and then pass it on to a Portuguese speaking expert that would "totally edit" it instead of having it totaly translated by a human before Editing and designing.
Comment: I have the same issue.
Comment: if that's all you want, you can throw it into Babelfish https://www.babelfish.com/ or Systran https://store.systran.us/lp/storeSystran?Langue=en_US, but since your translator would have to have the original ms to compare against anyway, you aren't saving any labor or brainpower.


My unity pannel on cairo dock doesnt work

Question: I just upgraded my Ubuntu to 13.04 and installed mac theme from Noobslab and installed Cairo Dock. The problem is when I log in I only find Cairo Gnome and I need Cairo Unity Pannel.
Please Respond,
 Micro
Answer: There is no more cairo+unity panel, because now the top panel can't be used outside of Unity.
A possible solution: make another dock at the top and place there the usual applets (clock, Indicators, logout, etc)