First-to-use vs First-to-file trademarks

Question: As I understand it, first-to-use ownership of a mark trumps first-to-file. If that is true, why spend money on getting a trademark for your business name?
Comment: Those rules vary by country. Are you in the US? Or soem other country? In some countries no trademark is protected unless it is registered, although that is not the case in the US.
Answer: Because a Registered trade mark give statutory rights while an unregistered one only gives common law rights
For example, for australia, a summary of the differences can be found here:

Enforcing an Unregistered Trade Mark
An unregistered trade mark has limitations in the level of protection it can provide to its owner. For an unregistered trade mark, any right to ownership of the trade mark needs to be proven. It is easier to confirm your enforceable rights to exclusively use a registered trade mark. This is because your rights immediately arise once it is registered.
According to the common law, a substantial level of evidence will be needed to demonstrate an unregistered trade mark's use. The owner of an unregistered trade mark often needs to prove that a reputation has been established, and their level of protection will only correspond to the area where they have established that reputation. A registered trade mark, on the other hand, provides protection Australia-wide.

For example, in my business I would have no trouble proving a reputation for my goods and services is Sydney. I would have no chance of proving it in Melbourne or Brisbane or even in Wollongong or Newcastle so anyone can use my common law trade marks for the same goods and services outside Sydney and I couldn't stop them.
Comment: In the U.S. there is the intermediary option between registration and non-registration to file a state trademark, which provides no presumptions of validity but provide good evidence of date of first use in an entire state, and puts the world on notice as to your claim of trademark rights discouraging others from attempting to register it in a way that conflicts with your claim.
Answer: A trademark shows the court that you have created and registered something if you have to enforce it through the courts.
If you went to court just saying a trademark is yours, anyone could do it for any trademark.
Comment: This is contrary to the law pertaining to unregistered trademarks in both the U.S. and Australia and in many other jurisdictions as well.
Comment: No offense, but the other answer literally says about the same thing. How is this contrary then? "For an unregistered trade mark, any right to ownership of the trade mark needs to be proven."
Comment: Proof of "use of the mark on goods in commerce" is sufficient to show ownership of a non-registered trademark in the USA, if not also in other countries that recognize the right to enforce such things.


Powering Raspberry Pi Zero from a USB Power Bank

Question: I want to purchase a USB Power Bank, one of the tiny portable ones, to power my Pi Zero, I need it to last at least 12 hours, but preferably 15 hours, for a comfortable safety cushion of time. My Pi would not be using WiFi and would only be using a USB sound card and a USB camera. The processor would be at 75-100% almost all the time. This link shows the power consumption of the Pi Zero, which at max is 800mA. So what size power bank would I need to purchase?
Comment: Depends on the power consumption of the additional peripherals. Other than that, what's the question? 800 mA * 15 h * safety factor >= 12.000 mAh
Comment: Nice find with the power consumption stats by the way.
Comment: In other words a huge one.  Also, many power banks seem to be "marketing" rated by the amp-hour capacity of their cell at the ~4v cell voltage - conservation of energy means you will have a lower amp-hour capacity available to draw after conversion to the higher 5v USB rail even with perfect DC-DC conversion, and the conversion is of course not perfectly efficient.   You may want to look at something more like a large gel-cell and an efficient buck regulator.  Even better, try to find a lower power consumption solution to your task, or a platform amenable to sleeping and use that.
Answer: For power saving tips:
Have a look @ Raspberry Pi Zero - Conserve power and reduce draw to 30mA
http://www.midwesternmac.com/blogs/jeff-geerling/raspberry-pi-zero-conserve-energy
Comment: While powersaving is of course a good and valid point (e.g. no HDMI in this application). Comparing idle values however are of little use here - after all the Pi has some work to do and just idle around all day ;)


Can you pin a symbol or layer to the bottom of an artboard in Sketch?

Question: I'm working with a footer symbol and I want it to always stay pinned to the bottom edge of my artboard, so when I lengthen or shorten my artboard when I'm adding content, it stays pinned to the bottom, but doesn't resize. It seems like there's a way to do this type of thing within a symbol, but not with layers or symbols on the artboard. I'm using Sketch 64.
Answer: You can achieve this with the following steps.

Create a footer symbol with the container bigger than the footer itself. The footer has to be pinned left, bottom, right and fix height inside of the symbol :

Insert the symbol in the Artboard, make it the size of the Artboard, check Adjust content on resize. Then, you can lock the footer symbol not to be bothered with :

This way you don't have to do any manual resizing
Answer: The only way I can think about it would be something like this:

Create a symbol with the piece you want pinned to the bottom
Add the symbol to your artboard, and set your artboard to "Adjust content on resize"

By doing this when you resize the artboard the symbol will automatically resize keeping the pinned element on the bottom. The downside to this is it will resize everything else on your artboard as well.
Otherwise, you could:

Create a symbol with the piece you want pinned to the bottom
Add the symbol to your artboard, turn OFF artboard "Adjust content on resize"
Manually resize the symbol every time

This is the approach I take most often. I have a symbol with header and footer in it, header pinned to top, footer pinned to bottom. Then I resize in the artboard whenever my artboard size changes.


Does the item level in Team Fortress 2 affect the particular item?

Question: I notice that most weapons other than the original weapons have a level above 1.  Can this number be different from player to player (or even item to item in the backpack of one player) for the same item?  If so, does it have any effect in game?
Answer: Most items have a set number -- before the Scout update introduced the Sandman, no item went higher than level 10.
About the time of the Spy / Sniper update, there was a glitch in the random drop system, and normal weapons (that usually have a fixed level number) were generated with a random level between one and one hundred. This has since been fixed, so if you see, to use one of my own items for example, a level 56 Dead Ringer, that means the item is very old. (And now with the latest patch, you'll never see a non-vintage oddly leveled item)
On the other hand, hats will always have a random level. This means nothing, but certain levels are certainly more valuable for trading, for pure sentimental value. (1, 100, 69, 42, etc.)
The singular exception to all of the above is the new Dueling Badge medal misc item, which actually "levels up" as you kill folks during your duels. A level 100 dueling badge works out to 1000 kills (Might be off a factor of ten) during duels, and likewise the rarity of the badge itself (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) is based on level increment. 0-25,26-50,51-75,76-99,100, etc.
In no case does the level of an item have any effect on gameplay.
Comment: "random level between one and one hundred." between zero and one hundred you mean.  I know someone with a level 0 Sandvich.
Comment: Incidentally, hats also have random levels.  That hasn't changed, but you can't see that level in game, only through an external website like tf2items.
Comment: @Powerlord, check the first sentence in the third paragraph. :)
Comment: Due to recent updates, the third paragraph is not entirely true. There are plenty of hats that have levels that all of its kind will share (the Level Three Chin for example, will always be Lv 3).


How to listen for change in a collection?

Question: I have to check for changes in an old embedded DBF database which is populated by an old third-party application. I don't have access to source code of that application and cannot put trigger or whatever on the database. For business constraint I cannot change that...
My objective is to capture new records, deleted records and modified records from a table (~1500 records) of that database with a Java application for further processes. The database is accessible in my Spring application though JPA/Hibernate with HXTT DBF driver.
I am looking now for a way to efficiently capture changes made by the third-party app in the database.
Do I have to periodically read the whole table and check if each record is still unchanged or to apply any kind of diff within two readings? Is there a kind of "trigger" I can set in my Java app? How to listen properly for those changes?
Answer: There is no JPA mechanism for getting callbacks from a database when the data changes.
The only options is to build your own change detection. Typically you would start by detecting which entities were added, removed, and which still exists. For the once that still exist you will need to check if they are changed, so the entity needs an equals() method.
An entity is identified by it primary key, so you will need to get the set of all primary keys, once you have that you can easily use Guava's Sets methods to produce the 3 sets of added, removed, and existing (before and now), like this.
List<MyEntity> old = new ArrayList<>(); // load from the DB last time
List<MyEntity> current = new ArrayList<>(); // loaded from DB now

Map<Long, MyEntity> oldMap = old.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(MyEntity::getId, Function.<MyEntity>identity() ));
Map<Long, MyEntity> currentMap = current.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(MyEntity::getId, Function.<MyEntity>identity()));

Set<Long> oldKeys = oldMap.keySet();
Set<Long> currentKeys = currentMap.keySet();

Sets.SetView<Long> deletedKeys = Sets.difference(oldKeys, currentKeys);
Sets.SetView<Long> addedKeys = Sets.difference(currentKeys, oldKeys);
Sets.SetView<Long> couldBeChanged = Sets.intersection(oldKeys, currentKeys);

for (Long id : couldBeChanged) {
    if (oldMap.get(id).equals(currentMap.get(id))) {
        // entity with this id was changed
    }
}


Multiple selections on filter web part

Question: I have a text filter web part on my web part page which is connected to a list. I was trying to figure out if there was a way to pass multiple choices to my list using the filter. For example I am filtering on a column called "Team" and the values include Finance, Accounting, IT, HR, etc. I can only pass once choice at a time, but I would like to filter by at least 2 values at once.
Answer: You can use choice filter and In the advance settings of this filter, enable multiple values.

Multiple selections on filter web part


What could be the reason for slowness in force.com Ide?

Question: I am using force.com IDE and I am facing extremely slowness in saving a file to the server. It seems to take too much time to save apex classes or visual force pages that i need to cancel the operation and do it second time which works. Any suggestions on this please?
Thanks
Buyan
Comment: What kind of organization are you using? Saving a file to your production instance is effectively a deployment, and will run all your tests every time.
Answer: Yes, the Force IDE and Force Eclipse plugin are notorious for being slow. There are various options to create a faster workflow:

If you have OSX and like SublimeText 2 check out MavensMate: https://github.com/joeferraro/MavensMate-SublimeText - amazing force integration and great speed
In any environment you could use Ant for deploying and retrieving items from your environment, you can google how to set it up. This will probably be the fastest way to deploy code.

Good luck
Comment: It's subjective, but I'm convinced there's a major speed advantage to MavensMate over the official IDE.
Comment: Have you been able to configure SublimeText to connect to Salesforce to edit classes and triggers? I am a huge fan of this editor but the way I use it to edit VF, Class and Trigger is copy the code from SublimeText and paste it into the SFDC browser and save. Curious to know if were able to connect the editor to SFDC like eclipse?
Comment: You should be able to do that with the MavensMate plugin and SublimeText 2
Answer: The slowness of the force.com IDE is due to overhead that comes along with using Metadata API, which the Force.com IDE is written on top of.  In addition to this overhead, the Metadata API also requires polling to get results back, which adds a small delay.
Newer IDEs such as ASIDE.IO or Mavens Mate are significantly faster because they are using the Tooling, Apex, and Partner APIs to save code to server.  Additionally, there is a rewrite of the Force.com IDE underway that should alleviate the slowness.
Answer: This is a fairly common complaint observation. An operation that might typically take seconds (less than a minute) will seem to go on indefinitely.
It can occur with saving files, running unit tests, deploying to servers, refreshing meta data etc..
Firstly, check that no other admin actions are currently occurring in the Org that might block the action. E.g. running unit tests.
One option is to just grin and bear it until the IDE plugin is refreshed with the Tooling API  and hopefully improves the situation.
You could look to alternative methods of working with Apex, such as the Developer Console or another third party tool.
I haven't had much luck, but there is a Force.com IDE Log Viewer in Eclipse (Help > Show Force.com IDE Log). It might provide some more clues as the why the IDE is hanging.
Answer: There isn't going to be much you can do about this.  The time to compile apex classes and visualforce pages affected by the server load, the distance between you and the instance, and the complexity of your orgs.
I've seen some worst case scenarios where saving an apex class took up to 5 minutes.  However, this was an extreme case where an org had FinancialForce installed and each compile required the back in server to query all apex classes regardless of whether they were referenced.  They had a fix targeted for Winter '13, so if you're having saves that take that long you may want to contact Salesforce support.
Answer: Checking out less metadata in Eclipse is what I have done in past to get speed improvements during file SAVE operation. I posted this long back, and still works well for me:
http://www.tgerm.com/2010/03/fast-save-refresh-force-ide-eclipse.html
Answer: (Help > Show Force.com IDE Log) is the right place.
Only thing is its not showing the detail errors as its shows in the Salesforce.com editor.
So, try editing the file directly on Salesforce.
This happened for me when my edit has actually caused an error.
Its a general Salesforce behavior not to save the files when there is any validation error.
Answer: I use force.com ide strictly for editing and testing. When it comes to deployment even saves to my sandbox I use ant. Force.com IDE was ridiculously slow at times to save even a small file to salesforce. Ant works consistently fast and even when it's slow it's still considerably faster than force.com ide


What is your maximum stack size when shoving?

Question: Is there a general rule when shoving in a sit-and-go? in short stacked situations, how many big blinds would you put in the middle and why?
Comment: 20 BB or less is typically a push fold situation.
Answer: It really depends. Under 15BB is almost always a push or a fold. In early position you can shove up to around 18BB. In late position you can shove up to around 20BB. Blind versus blind you can shove up to around 25BB. But these are just general guidelines. You certainly shouldn't shove your entire range for example blind versus blind when you have 25BB, but you could do it with a part of it. It all really depends on the other stacksizes, the payouts, how comfortable you are playing post-flop with certain hands. If you have an insane edge over your opponent it makes sense to not shove sometimes. Great hands should sometimes be trapped, etc.
Note: if there are no antes in play, you shouldn't shove as much big blinds. Around 10BB is usually a push or fold situation. If the antes are huge you can shove more big blinds.
Answer: It really depends on the type of sng you're playing and the stack of your opponents. It does not make sense to shove your 10BBs when the table average is 6BBs.
If you're playing a normal sng with a standard slower clock I feel it's pretty correct to play as you would a MTT for your shoving range. However I think you should be a small bit tighter with your range here as it's a SNG so it's often only worth while to win. I.E. your chips have more value because they matter more. Obviously this depends on the structure of the game, but many card rooms I've dealt in have a two place structure for a 10 man sng, with an 80%/20% or 70%/30% split for the payouts.
Given how valuable your chips are, and even if you have 10-15BBs range and our say 4th out of 4, you don't always have to shove because your stack has playing power and can hurt other players. Often a stop and go can be really good move in these situations. I.E. make a bet, with the hope of being raised so you can shove.
Another situation to factor in is the turbo and hyper turbos, again it doesn't make sense to just have an arbitrary figure in your head of "ok I'm on 10BBs I shove". My main point is that I feel in a SNG where the object is to get all the chips to make it worthwhile, you can be tighter on your shoving range because your chips have that much more value.
Better advise to give you rather that giving you a number of xBB would be the following:

Be aware of what the average stack is
Be aware of what your stack represents even if you're behind the average stack (someone losing against your stack could mean they lose so they should be much tighter on calling you)
Be aware of the damage and pressure your stack cause and apply to opponents (similar to point 2)
Be aware of the type of sng (turbos and hyper turbos greatly change what is correct shoving sizes and ranges)
Be aware that a shove might be less scary than a min raise, especially when you have a stack of like 8BB to 10BB when average stack is like 20BB to 25BB (i.e. your min raise is screaming to be raised so you can jam)

The point I'm trying to make is you shouldn't be applying a general rule to a unique situation, analyse what's happening in the game, analyse the impact your stack can cause and make informed decisions from then.
Comment: I agree with Emphyrio. It does for sure make sense to shove 10BB when your opponents have 6BB. Also, how do your rules affect the maximum amount of BB you shove? You only say be aware of this and that, but not if you should be more tight, or more loose because of it.
Comment: That's my point, there is no maximum amount of BBs. You cannot apply general rules to unique situations. If it makes sense to shove by your logic go ahead and shove. The conclusions you reach from the advise I'm giving is your own conclusion. You're correct, for sure it does make sense to shove 10BBs into a player on 6BBs, that's not what I said, I said when the average is 6BBs. You're essentially gambling when a 10BB stack could and likely is the chip lead.
Comment: Of also for the record, I think it's really great you both have different opinions and answers here. It's really nice to see a question with several answers and some discussion. And believe me I'm not saying the numbers you've provided are wrong, they very well maybe the correct sensical sizing for a shove, but again my point is be critical and think of what makes sense rather than applying a generic rule to 100% of your situations.
Answer: I disagree  with seeveral things in Grinch's post : the fact the average stack is 6BB has no impact on wether you should min raise or open shove your 10bb stack. It only impacts your range, which should be tighter because of $ev.
 The only valid possible reason to just minraise with 10bb or less effective stack would be to exploit very weak opponents. Otherwise against roughly decent players, push or fold is optimal.
 If the effective stack (ie taking into account the potential callers stack size but also the antes) is 13bb or less then push or fold is optimal strategy, except against players who fold too much and 3 bet only nuts, or against players who would get induced to shove too loose by a min raise or a limp and other similar purely exploitative reasons.
 Between 13 and 18bb effective ante included, it s hard to say what is best and which part of the range should be shoved vs which part just opened with small raise. Above 18bb effective, open shoving starts to get silly.


Power 5v from l298n to 5v pin arduino

Question: im using the l298n module, and 3x 18650 batterys (near 12v total), and supplying 12v to the 12v pin of the l298 module. Can i use the 5v pin of the module to power the 5v pin of arduino? Or i need a second power supply just for the arduino? Any tips?
Comment: The L298 is a H-bridge driver, not a voltage regulator. It might be, that your L298 board has also a voltage rgulator on it. Please provide a link to that board. The datasheet mind say, how much current you can draw from it
Comment: https://www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=L298N%20MODULE It has a 12v pin, ground and 5v pin
Comment: The chip has a Vss pin for the lpgic power supply. But that is not an output. The 12V will not be regulated down to 5V by this chip
Comment: I checked the 5v pin with a multimeter, and it is 5.23 volts and powered the arduino, the problem is that i dont know if it is safe or not, in my picture, the third screw withouta tire is the 5v output.
Comment: From the [amazon link](https://www.amazon.com/Qunqi-Controller-Module-Stepper-Arduino/dp/B014KMHSW6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=L298N+Dual+H+Bridge+Stepper+Motor+Driver+Controller+Board+Module&linkCode=sl2&linkId=a8878551cf2d33142531d7734f38fe18&qid=1580505154&s=hi&sr=1-1) in the description of the linked video: "This module has a built-in 5v power supply, when the driving voltage is 7v-35v". The module has a voltage regulator. You won't get better answers, until we get a datasheet of that module with the information or at least the part number of the voltage regulator used on it.
Comment: That is something, that you can even do yourself. Look at the components on the board. Search for the voltage regulator. Look if there is a part number written onto it. Then google the datasheet. When you found it, you can look in there for the maximum output current. I would guess, the voltage regulator is the flat black IC in the middle, right besides the pins of the big L298 chip.
Comment: @JonathasMoreira 5.23V is perfectly safe
Answer: Power the arduino from your batteries via the Vin (barrel Jack) use the arduino to supply the 5V to the L298 module and connect all the grounds together. That should do it.
Answer: The L298N is a chip, and the link you provided in the comments is to the chip, not to a full H-bridge module with voltage regulator and other components. We don't have any way to answer your question about your particular set-up without more info.
If the module you have uses a voltage regulator to provide clean 5V to its solid state chips, but does not use it to drive the motors, and it provides enough extra current to drive your Arduino then you might be able to get away with using it to feed your Arduino. If the H-bridge module uses the output of it's 5V regulator to drive the motors then I would not recommend using it to power your Arduino, since as the motor is switched on and off it will cause the voltage from the regulator to bobble. At the very least you would need a reservoir capacitor across the 5V rails near the Arduino to smooth out the 5V supply.
Comment: Here is the module im using https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ikmDMW6tEw. I have a 1n4007 diode (https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/872064/CHONGQING/1N4007.html) too, maybe it can help? Im afraid of inverse current, but im very noob at time to understand how things works better.
Comment: I'm not going to watch a 14 minute video to figure out what module you're using. What is the model number of the module? Do you have a data sheet?
Comment: No problem bro, you can do anything with your time, relax. I cant find the datasheet of the module, just know that use the chip l298n, and it is a very common module, but whatever, i will power my arduino with the 5v of the module. Thx
Comment: If you are going to ask questions about a specific module based on the L298n, you need to provide information about that specific module. We're trying to help you, but you need to post questions that provide enough information. Otherwise just delete your question and don't waste your time (or your readers'.)
Comment: It is simple, i have no idea how provide you the information about that specific module, the datasheet is somewhere so far away from me and i just cant find it, cause too dumb or noob to provide it. However, I endeavored to find a video that  has some information about the module, if that was not enough for you to help me, I ask you to simply ignore it and leave it to other people who can help. Thank you.

Power 5v from l298n to 5v pin arduino


Are there any references in mythology/folklore to a concept similar to teleportation?

Question: The earliest mention of teleportation that I can find is a mention of "matter transfer" in 1877, but I'm wondering if there's a concept similar to it in folklore. I found something about pukwudgies being able to appear/disappear at will, but couldn't find any actual myths relating to this. Can anyone help?
Comment: You would need to distinguish it from both invisibility and very rapid motion, which is the sort of distinction that folklore rarely makes.
Answer: In Japanese mythology there is the term 縮地 shukuchi, composed of:

縮 : to contract, to shorten
地 : earth, location, distance

Shukichi is a collective term for various mythical techniques of rapid movement. The term is used in mythology, but can also be found in texts on Daoism and Buddhism. It is also a popular ability in several manga and anime.
The related term 縮地脈 suōdìmài denotes the power of teleportation attributed to some xians. Those possessing this ability were believed to be capable of moving vast distances in a single step.
Answer: What about Hermes in the greek mythology? His appearances and disappearances are somewhat different from those visions the gods projected simulating their presence, right?


What is the meaning of "short selling" or "going short" a stock?

Question: Can someone please explain the meaning of 'shorting' a stock with an example?
Comment: Short sell has mathematically the similar to buying negative stock, in exactly the same way that when you owe someone money, you have negative money.
Comment: I believe the term "short" comes from the popular phrase "I'm a little short..." which means you don't have enough money to pay for something.

In most cases, it implies the person will agree to sell you something even though you don't have enough money right now, and you can pay them for it later.

So in the case of stocks, they let you own the stocks without you paying for them at the time of the transaction. This implies they are giving you financial credit to get something now and pay for it later, similar to a credit card purchase.
Comment: Could anyone elaborate on the etymology of the words. What is the metaphore behind "short position" and "long position"? Is "long position" meaning you are holding the stocks for a long time, expecting long growth?
Answer: Rich's answer captures the basic essence of short selling with example.
I'd like to add these additional points:

You typically need a specially-privileged brokerage account to perform short selling.  If you didn't request short selling when you opened your account, odds are good you don't have it, and that's good because it's not something most people should ever consider doing.  Short selling is an advanced trading strategy.  Be sure you truly grok selling short before doing it.
Consider that when buying stock (a.k.a. going long or taking a long position, in contrast to short) then your potential loss as a buyer is limited (i.e. stock goes to zero) and your potential gain unlimited (stock keeps going up, if you're lucky!)
Whereas, with short selling, it's reversed: Your loss can be unlimited (stock keeps going up, if you're unlucky!) and your potential gain is limited (i.e. stock goes to zero.)
The proceeds you receive from a short sale – and then some – need to stay in your account to offset the short position.  Brokers require this.  Typically, margin equivalent to 150% the market value of the shares sold short must be maintained in the account while the short position is open.
The owner of the borrowed shares is still expecting his dividends, if any.  You are responsible for covering the cost of those dividends out of your own pocket.
To close or cover your short position, you initiate a buy to cover.  This is simply a buy order with the intention that it will close out your matching short position.
You may be forced to cover your short position before you want to and when it is to your disadvantage!  Even if you have sufficient margin available to cover your short, there are cases when lenders need their shares back.  If too many short sellers are forced to close out positions at the same time, they push up demand for the stock, increasing price and deepening their losses.  When this happens, it's called a short squeeze.
In the eyes of the public who mostly go long buying stock, short sellers are often reviled. However, some people and many short sellers believe they are providing balance to the market and preventing it sometimes from getting ahead of itself.
[Disambiguation: A short sale in the stock market is not related to the real estate concept of a short sale, which is when a property owner sells his property for less than he owes the bank.]

Additional references:

Short (finance) at Wikipedia
Short Selling: What Is Short Selling? at Investopedia
Comment: @Chris Are there any costs involved with short selling?
Comment: @joetaxpayer : Wouldn't the guy also charge a fee for lending you the stock?
Comment: Excellent answer.  I'd summarize the comments (relevant to the U.S. in 2020) is that you pay a commission if you are not trading at a no commission broker.  You also pay a borrow fee to the broker (brokers share the borrow fee it if the shares are loaned from another broker) and the size of the borrow fee depends on the difficulty of borrowing (amount of shares available to borrow).  If one is short the shares on the ex-dividend date, you pay the dividend to the lender as payment-in-lieu which means that the lender loses qualified dividend status.
Comment: Similar commission as when selling a stock you own. Also, as mentioned, if it's a dividend paying stock you must pay the dividend to the guy who lent you his stock to short.
Comment: @Joe E - only for shares that are tough to short. There's a small number of shares that are either so closely held or highly shorted already, that brokers will pay a monthly fee to the guy they borrow from, in some cases far higher than a dividend.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer Excellent clarifications! The fee for borrowing the stock is often what makes a short selling strategy uneconomic. Often the best stocks to short for arbitrage set-up's cost too much to borrow.
Answer: This is a gross simplification as there are a few different ways to do this. The principle overall is the same though.
To short a stock, you borrow X shares from a third party and sell them at the current price. You now owe the lender X shares but have the proceeds from the sale. If the share price falls you can buy back those shares at the new lower price, return them to the lender and pocket the difference.
The risk comes when the share price goes the other way, you now owe the lender the new value of the shares, so have to find some way to cover the difference. This happened a while back when Porsche made a fortune buying shares in Volkswagen from short sellers, and the price unexpectedly rose.
Comment: The third paragraph is incorrect.  You have borrowed the shares from the lender in order to sell (short) them and all you owe him is the return of his shares not "the new value of them" (ignoring dividends if short on the ex-div date).  The new value of the shares comes into play when you buy the shares on the open market from a third party.
Answer: The reason for selling a stock "short" is for when you believe the stock's price  will decrease in the near future.
Here is an example: Today Exxon Mobil stock is selling for $100 per share. You  expect the price to decrease so you want to short the stock.  Your broker borrows the  shares from someone who owns them (in house or from another brokerage firm) which are then transferred into your account.  You then sell them and receive the proceeds  from the sale. Since you borrowed the shares, you will need to return them to the lender at some time in the future.
Let's say you borrow 10 shares @ $100 and you sell them at the market price of $100.
You'll receive $1,000 in your account. A few days later, the share price has decreased to $80. Now you can buy 10 shares from the market at a total cost of $800  and you return those shares to the lender. Since you originally took in $1,000 and you just paid out $800, you have a  profit of $200.
Answer: The 'normal' series of events when trading a stock is to buy it, time passes, then you sell it. If you believe the stock will drop in price, you can reverse the order, selling shares, waiting for the price drop, then buying them back. During that time you own say, -100 shares, and are 'short' those shares.


Practical applications of the Fantappiè transform

Question: The Fantappiè transform of function $f(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n)$, $x_1 \geqslant 0, \ldots, x_n\geqslant 0$, is defined by the formula
$$
     (\Phi f)(y) = \int\limits_{\mathbb R^n_+}  \frac{f(x_1,\ldots,x_n)}{1+x_1 y_1 + \ldots + x_n y_n}dx_1\ldots dx_n,
$$
where $\mathbb R^n_+ = \{ (x_1,\ldots,x_n) \in \mathbb R^n \mid x_1 \geqslant 0,\ldots,x_n \geqslant 0\}$. I know some practical applications of Laplace and Mellin transforms ─ two other integral transforms defined on functions on $\mathbb R^n_+$. I know also that modification of Fantappiè transform, the so called Cauchy-Fantappiè transform, is used for some purposes in complex analysis. But what are the practical applications of the Fantappiè transform? Was it used somewhere in mathematics besides complex analysis (I mean the Cauchy-Fantappiè transform)?
Answer: Here a Fantappie transformation it used in investigating the moment problem - as well as proving some unexpected results in geometry of non-convex polyhedra:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.3193


Telegram does not recognise account after being offline for almost a week due to battery failure

Question: On Sunday, 13th September 2020, the battery of my Motorola Moto G5 broke down and I ordered a new one. Today, on Friday, 18th September 2020, it finally arrived and it works just fine. Several errors, however, occurred:

I have lost some of my contacts and only had the chance to recover some of them by importing an old VCF file that was not very up to date anymore. This, at least, brought back some contacts in WhatsApp. (Does anyone know why many of my contacts were lost after such an incident and some were not?)

But when I opened Telegram, I was asked to set up a new account. Even when I reinstalled Telegram, I am still asked to do this. I am, however, able to log on the Telegram web app. (Telegram sends me an SMS instead of an in-app text message.) There, I am able to see all the chats that are stored on Telegram's cloud servers and also the contact names of people who are now not in my address book anymore, are displayed correctly. (Why is that? Is there a way to recover my address book via Telegram?)

What shall I do? Can I just "re-register" at the Telegram app with my phone number and see my cloud chats again on my phone? What error occurred there?

Edit: One thing just came to my mind. Can I just log off my phone via the web app and then just try to "register"/log on to my Telegram account via the Telegram app on my phone? Would this work and prevent data loss?
Answer: Ok, I think I was able to solve the problem. Telegram just logged me off the phone app. I was able to log back in and now I can use Telegram as before.


Dark Matter gamma-ray flux from hadronic annihilation channels?

Question: For a project I am currently reading into indirect detection of Dark Matter via gamma-rays from DM subhalo's. I understand that there is a possibility of DM annihilating with each other in these subhalo's to produce the gamma-rays. However, whilst reading a certain article they mentioned hadronic annihilation channels ($b\bar{b}$ & $\tau^+\tau^-$ in this case) producing a DM gamma-ray flux. I am not quite sure what is meant by this. Does DM possible decay into a bottom & anti-bottom quark which then annihilates to produce gamma-rays or do they mean something different?
Comment: why don't you give a link with the statements so people do not have to guess what they are. They are probably talking of specific annihilation Feynman diagrams for the proposed WIMP particles ( wimp+antiwimp--> into bs +bbars
Comment: https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.03503, Its in the first 6 lines of section 2.2
Answer: The link is referring to   WIMPS and models them as the constituents of dark matter:

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are hypothetical particles that are thought to constitute dark matter. There exists no clear definition of a WIMP, but broadly, a WIMP is a new elementary particle which interacts via gravity and any other force (or forces), potentially not part of the standard model itself, which is as weak as or weaker than the weak nuclear force, but also non-vanishing in its strength. A WIMP must also have been produced thermally in the early Universe, similarly to the particles of the standard model according to Big Bang cosmology, and usually will constitute cold dark matter.

In general, particle physics has particles and antiparticles, and the same will be true for WIMPs. It is assumed that in primordial times an equal amount of particles and antiparticles were generated at the end of inflation, in this chronology and before the formation of protons ( when baryon antibaryon asymmetry becomes evident,this is still one of the problems with the standard model) The models for WIMPS are speculative, but they are within the quantum field theory, ones that describe elementary particle interactions  using Feynman diagrams, and thus able with certain hypothesis to estimate their crossection for scattering and annihilating on each other and generating the usual standard model of physics particles. In fig6.1  there is a generic Feynman diagram of how the weakly interacting WIMPs can be produced and interact with strongly and electromagnetically interacting particles.
Wimps because they interact weakly do not form usual matter but remain as halos around clusters of galaxies and galaxies, but they do interact and these interactions modeled give the gamma rays that might be detected .

Does DM possible decay into a bottom & anti-bottom quark which then annihilates to produce gamma-rays or do they mean something different?

Decay means a particle, even at rest, can go into other, smaller mass particles , its mass is larger than the sum of the masses it decays into. If it is a WIMP, depending on the model, it is a very slow process, that is what the  W (eak) stands for. Scattering interaction may statistically be much more probable in the dark matter density, and that is what the models use.
If you substitute DM annihilation  for decay,  yes, then the tau has a channel decaying to a pi0 , which will give two gammas. Something similar is true for the b.
These decays are used in the models that try to predict gamma distributions from dark matter halos, and also the subsequent usual interactions of the decay products , electromagnetic and strong,once the b and taus have been created.
Comment: So you mentioned substituting DM annihilation for decay in the second last paragraph, but does that mean the product of DM annihilation in this case would be bottom quarks (or taus) instead of photons?
Comment: @Smitty depending on the model used for the WIMPS, which would be an extension of the standard model, there will be all the possible decay channels hadronic and electromagnetic quark+quark_bar , lepton +lepton _bar. The b and tau are interesting because they have gamma producing channels. it depends on the model, which will give the probabilities of coupling to the various flavors ,  which will make them dominant in the annihilation diagrams.
Comment: Ah I see, thanks, I was not yet familiar with annihilation producing products that were not photons


According to the Bible, is cremation an acceptable Christian practice?

Question: I have heard some people speak against cremation for Christians, because of the ties it has to some eastern religions.  But what does the Bible actually say about cremation, or any other burial practices?
Comment: What "eastern religions" does cremation have ties with?
Comment: @SeanMcMillan: I don't know. I just know I've heard it associated with them, as a reason not to cremate. [This meta question](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/677/eastern-religions) discusses problems with the term "eastern religions," and I agree... but since the association isn't mine, I think it's appropriate to leave it in the question.
Answer: There is nothing in the Bible that specifically deals with what to do with the bodies of the deceased.  Cremation does not appear to be a part of any burial customs of God's people in biblical times.
Joseph (Jacob's son), in faith, gave instructions to the Israelites to carry his bones back to the Promised Land when God would give Israel that land centuries after he died.  With his role in Egypt, he may have even been mummified according to Egyptian customs.
We also know that Jesus was not cremated, and His body did not see corruption.
It seems that the biggest issue with cremation is that it actively destroys the body rather than passively surrendering it to natural processes.
Comment: Is it a problem that the body is destroyed during cremation?  One could argue that those who are close to the center of nuclear explosions would likewise be "cremated".
Answer: tl;dr - no.
While it is true that there is no explicit instruction given in scripture on whether cremation is acceptable or not; however, there are numerous positive examples of either burial or interrment being the normative practices in both Old and New Testaments. Further, some of these passages strongly imply that to die and be buried is superior to dying and not being buried:

[Judgement prounounced against Jeroboam] ... 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me.
10 "'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!'
12 "As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good... 1 Kings 14 NIV [emphasis added]

Additionally, there is one clear example in the scripture of the cremation of remains that is in an extremely negative (ie contra-indicated for normal circumstances) context:

...16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
17 The king asked, "What is that tombstone I see?"
The people of the city said, "It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it."
18 "Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord's anger. 20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem... - 2 Kings 23 NIV

Just in case you missed it, Josiah's righteous rampage involved the defilement of altars on the "the high places" by cremating human remains on them.  The remains of the prophets referred to in 1 Kings 13, while in close proximity to the defilement of the altar at Bethel, were ordered not to be "disturbed" in this way, rather they were "spared".
While it could be argued that these references occur in a particular cultural milieu and the underlying connotated pairings of (burial/interment,blessing/reward) and (scattered/devoured/cremated remains,cursing/judgment) make sense in that cultural context, but are no longer (or at least not as) applicable in modern cultural contexts; if we are purely focusing on what the bible says about this particular matter, it certainly doesn't provide any support for the idea of it being an "acceptable practice", on the contrary, it seems to be a contra-indicated practice.
Answer: Don't cremate
The idea comes from the concept that whatever happens to our bodies in this life will impact our bodies for eternity:

Matthew 18:9 (NIV)
  And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Here, Jesus clearly states that if we are blinded, we will be blinded once we enter heaven.
Cremate, if you want
The argument for cremation says that Jesus was probably using hyperbole when he said this, since other passages show that there will be no blindness in heaven:

Isaiah 35:5 (NIV)
  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
     and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Also, even though this body is completely destroyed, we will be given an eternal one:

2 Corinthians 5:1
  For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Comment: By the logic of your 'Don't Cremate' argument imply that then when we get to heaven, most of us would also remain old and feeble? I was born with a cleft-palate; so would I and others with defects also be hindered by them in heaven? I think you have it right when you suggest Jesus is using Hyperbole in Matthew 18 to say that we should cut ourselves off from the things in our lives that cause us to sin at all costs. I think this makes more sense.
Comment: "if we are blinded, we will be blinded once we enter heaven" - We enter God's kingdom when we put our faith in Christ, not when we leave the Earth. I understand "enter life" as something that happens immediately to us, that we have "eternal life" while on the Earth as a believer in Christ. Certainly we would suffer the loss of an eye for a time if we took this literally. I don't see any evidence for or against the loss being permanent, and continuing in heaven.


Credit card used while booking

Question: I have an Alitalia flight from Munich, Germany to Delhi, India and I booked it using an online agency. I did not use my credit card for the booking and paid using my friend's credit card. Do I still need to carry the copy of the credit card and the authorization letter to the airport even when I booked the flight from a third party? I cannot find the information on the Alitalia website.
Comment: How did you pay? Your question isn't very clear
Comment: I paid using my friend's credit card, I have updated the question.
Answer: The Alitalia website clearly states that:

Attention: in order to ensure protection against frauds, you might be
  asked, by authorized personnel, to show the credit card with which the
  ticket was purchased.  Failure to exhibit the credit card, in original
  or in copy (if you are not the holder of the card with which the
  ticket was purchased), could result in not being allowed onboard.
Source

So in case, the purchase was from their website you are supposed to carry the card or a copy + authorization letter. Since you made a purchase using an online agency, this may not be required unless the agency communicates the method of payment or card requirement to the airline (which rarely happens).
I would suggest that to be on the safe side make a copy of the card blocking all of the card number digits except the last four and get an authorization letter. The letter can be handwritten, typed, scanned etc as long as it is signed.
Comment: Thank you for the answer. Do you know if anything changes when the payment is done using the debit card and not the credit card? (just curious as the source only states credit cards)
Comment: No change, I have used my debit card to purchase tickets for family and gave them a copy + authorization letter. Works ok.

Credit card used while booking


How can I handle a cricket problem without using pesticides?

Question: I have a problem with crickets eating my seedlings and young plants.  I have found very little information on keeping crickets away, as this doesn't seem to be a problem for most people.  Without resorting to synthetic chemical pesticides, how can I keep crickets from eating my young plants?
Comment: Is it possible that you have [earwigs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earwig), not crickets?  They're somewhat similar - but you need to do very different things to be rid of them.
Comment: Nope, definitely crickets - they chirp and everything and I've seen them all over some of my plants.  The one resource I was able to find that was appropriate to my area of the country described them as "field crickets," though that seems to be a rather large subfamily.
Comment: Ed makes a good point -- you can do a ["soap flush"](http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/lh039) to detect/identify crickets.
Answer: This article talks about prevention:

Mow tall grass and weed flower beds. Crickets love tall grasses. If you have tall grasses near or around your house, it's best to keep them trimmed low. Crickets also live in debris. They are attracted to moist, shaded debris, like grass clippings.

Prevention is important because if you kill them (through whatever method mentioned below), they'll just come back unless you destroy their habitat.

Entomopathogenic nematodes are one method of control. Shop for "nematodes" and read the label to verify that crickets are targeted by the particular type of nematode in the container. If you have mole crickets, Steinernema scapterisci will kill them. (See this article for sources.)
Pyrethroid is a natural (though still toxic; and often only available commercially as a synthetic) poison that may be effective against crickets. Check the label.
If you shop around, you'll find cricket bait available that is listed as suitable for organic production. I presume these are "safer" pesticides. Note that, at least on the websites I found, they are not available in several states.
Some of what you find on the internet says that "natural predators" will control crickets: birds, toads, etc; you should encourage these predators into your garden. The U Florida extension service article linked above says this isn't effective.
Comment: Hi bstpierre! The EDIS publication you linked to appears not to be available at that site. It looks like it may still be accessible, though. I wanted to let you know in case you want to take a look. Thanks!


Deconvolution of shifted gaussian function in the frequency range

Question: I have a signal defined as
$$A(t)\cdot\exp\left(-i\omega_0t\right)$$
with $A$ the envelope function and $\omega_0$ the carrier frequency. I would like to transfer this signal into the fourier space and back, but need a large amount of points in time to accurately resolve the carrier frequency (the larger the time window, the more points are necessary). To circumvent that issue I intend to use a different strategy by using
$$F(A(t)\cdot\exp\left(-i\omega_0t\right))=\widehat{A}(\omega)\star\delta\left(\omega - \omega_0\right)$$
After the amount of points necessary to resolve $A$ accurately is significantly smaller than to resolve $\omega_0$ that significantly speeds up my calculation. Nevertheless, to apply the inverse Fourier transformation with the original amount of points used for the transform from $A(t)\rightarrow\widehat{A}(\omega)$ I have to "deconvolve" this function again by convolving it with
$$\delta(\omega + \omega_0)$$
but would require having negative frequencies. Is that even possible? If not, are there other ways to "shift" the function back, such that I can use fewer points for my FFT?
Answer: It is naive, but you didn't tell why you don't use $s(t) = A(t) \cdot \exp(-i \omega_0 t)$, and calculate $A(t) = s(t) \cdot \exp(i \omega_9 t)$...
I named your signal $s(t)$ here.
Other not so naive things.
You mention number of points, so I assume you are discretizing the signal. And your Fourier transform is a finite length DFT. In that case the Fourier transform will have alias, if you sample rate is enough to capture all the information in $A(t)$ then you can simply calculate $S(\omega) = DFT(s(k T_s))$, and the $A(\omega) = S(\omega + \omega_0~ \textrm{mod}~ F_s)$. Where $T_s$ is the sampling period, and $F_s$ is the sampling frequency, thus $s(k T_s)$ is the k-th sample of your signal.
Comment: I am not entirely sure if I understand everything correctly, thus I have to ask for clarification. Concerning your point 1: I have an equation for $A(t)$ and the equation for $\exp(-i\omega_0t)$, and therefore I can separate those two parts. I am not sure why I should use $s(t)$ in that case? Concerning 2: What is $s$, $k$ and $T_s$?
Answer: Most importantly, applying a shift in frequency, which the OP is proposing to do, will have no effect on the number of points needed to achieve a desired frequency resolution. The frequency resolution is given by the total number of samples alone and is finest when no further windowing is applied and results in a bandwidth (as the equivalent noise bandwidth) that is the reciprocal of the time duration of the signal:
$$f_b = 1/T$$
Where $f_b$ is the equivalent noise bandwidth in Hz and $T$ is the time duration of the signal in seconds.  When the signal is sampled at $f_s$ Hz, this results in a bandwidth of $f_s/N$ where $N$ is the total number of samples.


When will we get a newsletter?

Question: Every site that I know of has a weekly newsletter- except GFH SE. For those who don't know, a newsletter normally contains the top questions from this week, the top two from the last week, and any recent unanswered questions. The newsletters are generated automatically, so I don't see any reason we shouldn't have one. I was wondering when will we get one. I looked at the newsletter list, but we're not there. When will we get one?
Comment: I'll look into when automated newsletters start coming out for a site. There's no need to bring this up to MSO at this time.
Comment: It's been over three weeks and still no newsletter.
Comment: Now that we have a newsletter - this is the way I know to start getting it - There is probably an easier way, but this works - click on your name, then network profile, then subscriptions to add the newsletter.
Answer: Sorry about the delay here. Newsletters have to be manually setup, apparently, and especially with recent weather, it was something that rather slipped the mind to bring up.
There is now a Genealogy Newsletter. Additionally, we have configured this for future sites so that it is now automatically setup ~7 days after public beta starts. Thanks to Emmett for setting it up and also doing the automation!
Comment: Yes, the newsletter is now there, but it is not yet listed among the newsletters. I presume it takes a day or so to get listed. But if you type into the search box: "genealogy", then it will show up in the search results and you can subscribe. Also, I saw it as an "ad" in the right column of a question page at GFH Q&A.
Comment: It popped up immediately for me. It's listed in the "life" category.
Answer: Now that I have "discovered" the Newsletter page (thanks @Luke), it seems the most accessible way for a casual user to decide whether a particular site is for her. The list of good questions is clean and far less intimidating (for a non-member) than the standard front page.
Which I believe is an argument for having the newsletter available early in the beta. If members are promoting the site, then a link to the latest newsletter would be a good introduction.
Answer: I agree with the sentiment that we should have a newsletter. We should also continue to refine our 'about' and our 'faq' (other places newbies go since it's on the header), as well as make the 'brochure' mentioned in Q1259 and do the publicity recommended in Q1210.
For those already active, don't forget you can 'subscribe' to tags and it will send you mail summarizing q&a activity on those tags. Tags also each have their own info page, and we need to flesh out those pages as well since newbies might have particular interests like Germany or DNA or ...

When will we get a newsletter?


Does Core Data exist on the iPhone? Or how would you save Data on the iPhone?

Question: Lets say I make an App that enables users to make short notes and write things down.
Is there Core Data on iPhone OS too?
Or how else would you save that data in iPhone?
Comment: have you seen this url http://stackoverflow.com/questions/443223/data-store-for-a-mac-iphone-hybrid-app
Answer: No. Core Data, and Cocoa Bindings, as well as Objective-C Garbage Collection are all missing from the iPhone.
Update: As mentioned below, Core Data is available with iPhone OS 3.0.
Answer: If you can wait for iPhone OS 3.0, Apple's preview movie lists Core Data as one of the new features in 3.0.
Answer: SQLite is generally the preferred storage method if you have a lot of data. You can code the SQL classes by hand, or there are a number of nice third-party solutions.
For smaller amounts of information, you can easily store data in a file using NSCoding and NSArchiver.
Answer: I'll reiterate the above, but you could have a look at OmniDataObjects which provides Core Data-esque functionality and runs on the iPhone.
Answer: If you have to do some ordering or querying on the saved data, the best solution is SQLite.
Otherwise you can use serialized data. NSDictionary and NSArray provides -writeToFile methods to write serialized (in xml format) data to file.
Marco
Answer: depending upon the complexity, you can save your data on sqlite database, plist files, or even create your own xml files and save them on iphone file system (usually in the documents directory)
if you dont anticipate too many reads / writes / complex lookups then stick to plist files or xml files
however anything more complex, go ahead with sqlite.
if you do go ahead with sqlite then i would suggest you to use FMDB - a cocoa wrapper for sqlite, this saves you tons of repetitive code
Answer: Data saving on the iPhone is not much different - write the data to a file (like a plist). As far as I know, there's no iPhone Core Data.


What's the difference between Brightness / Contrast / Color Balance / Gamma Correction & Saturation?

Question: Can someone explain the differences between these 5 terms, as if I were 5 years old?
Comment: A good way to find out these things is to fiddle with the sliders. Move a slider to the far left, observe changes... then move it to the far right and observe changes.
Comment: I dont think it can be explained to a 5 year old. I mean for a layman "Gamma correction" is brigtness and brightness is something they should ignore.
Comment: This is a graphic design site, we're here to answer questions to people aspiring to be professionals not 5 year old kids. Maybe 15 year old.
Answer: NOTE : I'm not photo scientist who knows every properties deeply thus this answer contains the explanation according to my sense! I might be wrong somewhere :)
Well all terms are based on different base like terms "Brightness" and "Contrast" are based on visual perception of "LIGHT" (which is ray itself and contains many physical values like wavelengths and etc) while terms "Saturation" and "Color Balance" are based on "COLOR" which also depend on light!.

Brightness

Science says that our eye can only see something if it reflect any kind of light rays! if object will not reflect anything then our eye will consider it as black color! so same goes for images! brightness stands for the value of the light reflected; to test it just adjust slider to the max and you can see now your most of the part of image will be looking like its reflecting the light and therefore most of part of your image will be white

Contrast

now i don't think contrast can be defined in some proper language but to make it easy to understandable i'll tell it : contrast it the relative different between brightness of different objects!
now what did i just said??  well basically contrast is comparative value as I think like assume you have two fruits! apple and strawberries in this case if you will put white lamp on both fruits which is placed together you'll see raspberry is more shiny then apple; in same case if you'll put different colored light like some yellowish black then there might be condition when your apple will look like it's more colored so basically the contrast is the visual difference between two objects reflexive brightness and color!

Saturation

The best way to understand this term is to take example of saturation word from chemical science. basically in chemistry the term "saturation" stands for quantity of specific element in specific object. same rule can applied for the color as well. you can define saturation as the quantity of specific color (only primary colors) in any image so if you'll increase the value of saturation all of the color shades will be start turning towards it's primary color like if there is dull red (brownish) color then upon increasing saturation too much will result your color into red!

Color Balance

this is so easy and experimental term to understand. if your color model is rgb then color balance is only about changing saturation of Red; Green and Blue separately ! thus if you want more red color in your image just increase Red slider!

Gamma Correction

now this is the term which is hard to explainable because even I can't define it but as far as i understand it is like changing darkness in brightness and contrast; I means if gamma will increased then i think the both brightness and contrast will be increased and it'll seems like image gotten bright and clear and if you decrease it then the image will be seems like dull! but still I'm not much clear on this term!
Hope this helps you to understand the terms! and after all you don't have to learn definition at all as joonas and jooja said in comments just adjust sliders and experience and learn ! Best Regards :)
Comment: Gamma adjusts the color so that it pushes middle values either towards bright or dark. It  would be easy to explain with color curves. This is what most people should be adjusting, along with color balance.
Answer:
Brightness shift colors from dark to bright or vice versa. See "gamma correction".
Unless you actually need to move the white or black point to compensate for athmospheric haze. Or you actually have unused colors at the end of the spectrum. You should not be using this slider mostly since clipping will destroy your image.
Gamma correction, is actually what people do want to adjust when they want to make the image brighter (not brightness). Gamma correction redistributes the colors so that black and white stay the same but colors in between move to either light or dark edges. Name comes form the function used for this compression.
Contrast works similarly to gamma except it pushes darks toward dark and brights toward bright or vice versa if you lower contrast.
Color balance adjust each color channel nseparately. So that your overall color changes. Use it to remove unnatural color casts (or create them).
Saturation makes the colors stronger or weaker. So increasin saturation makes red more red and blues more blue..., neutral colors stay neutral.


Can I ask about the cursing?

Question: I want to ask about swearing language in Ukrainian. I've heard that it's overflown with Russian cusses and wanted to ask if there's such a thing  as a Ukrainian or, perhaps, West Ukrainian cursing at all?
Comment: Personally I can recall "холєра" from Ukrainian curses (basically it's a name of a disease - cholera). However there may be lots of other words I'm not aware of.
Comment: My question is if i can ask it on the main site, not on meta.
Comment: @P.Vovk  Even though your first question was shut down I have a feeling that the main site would benefit from such questions. BTW, have you checked out "Українська мова без табу. Словник нецензурної лексики та її відповідників. Леся Ставицька"?
Comment: @s0nata I think the site benefits from me being on it in general hhh but I feel like they'll ban me soon, everyone is aggressive (IT guys, I suppose).

I've heard about the book, but I didn't really check it out.
I've found it scanned on http://padaread.com, is it OK, have they granted free access to it at Harvard?
Answer: I think you can, however try to avoid "too broad" questions (like "give me the full list of curses" etc.)
Many linguists think that expelling curses from the dictionaries during Soviet times was wrong, because it is a part of a language.
For example, during 1903-1909 3rd edition of Dahl dictionary was released which contained many swear words added by the editor, professional linguist Иван (Ян) Александрович Бодуэн де Куртенэ (see here). This edition of the dictionary was never printed again during Soviet times.

«Лексикограф не имеет права урезывать и кастрировать "живой язык". Раз известные слова существуют в умах громадного большинства народа и беспрестанно выливаются наружу, лексикограф обязан занести их в словарь, хотя бы против этого восставали и притворно негодовали все лицемеры и тартюфы, являющиеся обыкновенно большими любителями сальностей по секрету…»
Comment: I agree with you, @Artemix. As long as it is specific and about the Ukrainian  language, it should be fine.
Comment: In addition to this answer, one doesn't need to mask the swear words with asterisks or what. Provided that we discuss the linguistic aspects of the language, not blame on someone. :)
Comment: Thanks, i'll wait for one more person to approve and then ask it on the main page
Comment: @s0nata very well, i'll think of the articulation and post it.
Thanks to both of you, guys.
Comment: @bytebuster I've asked a question about it, but it was "too broad". I think it was you who said it's too broad and suggested to close it.
I don't know what exactly to ask, even though I think it's a very interesting topic.
Comment: @P.Vovk, it was too broad because it asked for an open-ended list. Everyone would answer you a *subset* of such list. It has nothing to do about masking the swear words with asterisks.
Comment: @bytebuster I know, I know, everyone is way too logical here.
Comment: @P.Vovk maybe you can ask for a resource on this topic? If you find something non-clear there you then can ask again here for the more details.
Comment: @Artemix Sonata has given me a hint: http://padaread.com/?book=54260&pg=9, so I'll maybe do what you're saying me to do.

It would be silly though, to ask about each separate word, as it is silly to ask about all of them in general.
Comment: @P.Vovk Very fundamental book. However the site is not recommended to visit without adblock of some kind. My tablet was bombed with suggestions to install .apk files or to "improve performance" on each new page.

Can I ask about the cursing?


Can I use GPL license, if my program uses libraries with MIT and MPL licenses?

Question: I'm working on a program in the Rust programming language. My program uses libraries (called crates in the Rust's ecosystem) with various licenses, like MIT Apache 2.0 and MPL-2.0. Can I use GPL if I build binaries with libraries with such licenses?
Comment: Are they statically linked or dynamically linked?
Comment: They are statically linked.
Comment: @LucasRamage It does not matter how they are linked in this case. Typically the type of linking you use only becomes a licesing issue with LGPL and only if you want to make your own program closed source rather than GPL.
Comment: @Brandin, true but I was still curious about how the project was being built.
Answer: The X11/MIT license, the Apache 2.0 license, and the Mozilla Public License 2.0 are all compatible with the GNU GPL version 3, which means you may include code licensed under those various licenses in a larger work that is licensed under the GPLv3.
The MPL 2.0 and X11/MIT license are also compatible with the older GPLv2 license, but the Apache 2.0 license is compatible only with GPLv3. If you use GPLv2 material in a way that requires to license your work under the GPLv2, you may not include other material licensed under Apache 2.0 in that same work, but you may include MPL 2.0 and MIT-licensed material.
If you merely want to license your own work under the GPL and do not use GPL-licensed material from anyone else, you can create an exception to use other code licensed under any terms you like. In that case, your GPL-with-exceptions license is incompatible with any other GPL-licensed code. Downstream recipients can elect to remove the exception, thereby gaining compatibility with other GPL-licensed code but losing compatibility with whatever normally-incompatible code you allowed via your exception.


Where in the guitar fretboard do you play the composition

Question: I am relearning guitar by myself with the help of the web.
I have studied music theory and started to sight read.
When I have easy sheet music for the guitar (Ode to Joy for example), I tend to play in frets 5-8, because I am very comfortable with the notes in that area, when I try to play frets open-3, I get confused.
I know it is all about practice, but is there a rule as to where middle c is in the guitar? low e string, 8 fret? or A string 3 fret?
Comment: Middle C is B string, 1st fret (or G string, 5th fret). The two locations which you gave result in the same note, an octave below middle C.
Comment: so since the guitar sounds an octave lower than it reads, should I play as per the notes on the treble clef as represented on the fretboard, i.e, middle C on A string 3rd fret or should I play everything one octave higher (middle C G string 5th fret)
Comment: The way the notes are written on the stave is irrelevant. Middle C is as I indicated, but apparently will be written an octave higher. I don't think that the actual octave is that important.
Answer: That's the beauty of the guitar, same note in multiple places.
As a rule of thumb the position ideally suited for sight reading a piece would be the position that covers most of the range in the song.  So you would scan the piece and search for highest and lowest pitch.  If you're lucky you can get in all in one position.
That doesn't mean that's the best way to play it.  Pieces often sound better with open string voicings and will require shifts.  Most well written classical pieces have the fingering and position notated so it shouldn't be a mystery.
There is a logic to learning sight reading in different positions and I would highly recommend getting William Levitt's books on modern guitar 1-3.  His approach is not the only way to do it and I would not recommend forgoing all others but Levitt's approach is very logical and he covered all positions in all keys with a good set of exercise and etudes.
A classic book on classical guitar is Carcassi.  That goes over every key that can be played in open position, in open position with scale exercises, progressions, and songs.  Even though it is classical technique I highly recommend all guitarists work through this text.  Much is it is repeated in Mel Bay's books 1-7.
So, in short, you can play your piece anywhere that covers the range but you may want to play around to find the best sounding and best feeling position.  And shifting is likely to be a good idea.
Answer: Where notes are played on guitar are often a choice of the player. Fatter strings will give a more mellow sound, thinner less so. The further up towards the dusty end you play, the closer the frets are, which can be good - or bad.
Mixing open strings with fretted can result in tone changes which may not be good - except when the open notes are an accompaniment to the melody, and are easier to sustain, open so no finger needed. Using vibrato isn't easy with open strings, though!
Multiple places to sound the same note means essentially knowing your way round the fretboard, so you can make the choice. My students are expected to play 5 or 6 note phrases in several different places; it helps them to move around, and hear the often marked difference in tone, and also to end on a particular finger that is advantageous for the next phrase. So, fingering becomes an essential part of 'which string/fret shall I use?' It's well worth finding different ways to play the same tune. At some point in a concert, Brian May broke a string. The solo was still played, because he knows his way round, and just moved everything so that string wasn't even used.
Certain notes have even more than the expected six different places to play, interestingly...


Useless natural accidental?

Question:
Why is that natural accidental placed on that G? Does the slur extend the sharp on the previous measure to the next one? That wouldn't make sense for the bass though.
Answer: This is known as a Courtesy Accidental.  The purpose is to clearly indicate to the reader that a note that was given an accidental in a previous measure will return to the pitch indicated in the key signature in this occurrence, which is especially helpful for sight reading.  It is called a Courtesy Accidental because the convention is that an accidental from a previous measure does not carry over into the next but as a courtesy, the accidental is placed there to remind the reader/player to return to the pitch indicated by the key signature.  This can be done with any type of accidental.
The Courtesy Accidental is also included in the bass basically for the same reason.  Advanced sight readers essentially get used to keys/tonalities and can use this to more easily read dense music, so when an accidental appears in one clef, a Courtesy Accidental is placed in the other clef to make sure the reader returns to the key signature.  This "cross-clef" Courtesy Accidental can also be useful in preventing ambiguities that may occur in more modern pieces that might actually have a G in one clef and a G# in the other.
Comment: AKA "cautionary accidental".
Answer: I notice that sometimes too. My theory is that the measure before always has the note sharped or flatted. I haven't found one otherwise, and it's true here (in the measure before, G is sharp). The natural is there to remind you that in the key signature that note is natural. I would just ignore it.
Comment: Absolutely. After two bars of G sharps, a sight reader could easily mis-read the whole of bar 4 as the single "chunk" of information "E7 chord" with G sharps, not "Em7 chord" with G naturals. Note, the chance of that mistake might be affected by what *follows* bar 4 (since good sight reading involves looking ahead!) but of course your question didn't show us bar 5..

Useless natural accidental?


ISS Induced Spin during Altitude Correction Boost

Question: Since the entire structure of ISS is not perfectly symmetrical and that the thrust vector produced during firing up of Soyuz thrusters/engines during altitude correction, is not perfectly aligned with the centre of mass of ISS, does such manuevers induce a slight spin to the station, which might be later corrected by attitude stabilising thruster?
Comment: What is Earth's Terminator? Is it kind of a fixed point?
Comment: The astronauts keep the crosshairs centered on the Earth's terminator visually; one controlling pitch while the other controls yaw, while a third astronaut counts to 39 seconds. (humor!) https://i.stack.imgur.com/wJ1sq.gif
Comment: This is quite an interesting question by the way, I'm looking forward to a serious answer.
Answer: ISS reboosts are typically done by Progress logistics resupply vehicles, not Soyuzes.
The Progress provides three-axis control during the reboost burn by firing its attitude control thrusters.  There are no significant residual rotational rates after a properly executed reboost.

The  Service  Module  provides  control  in  all  three  axes
  (although  its  roll  control  is  not  particularly  efficient),
  and  a   Progress  or  an  ATV  at  the  SM
  -Aft docking port can provide control in all three axes as well.

Although no further flights of the European ATV are planned to the ISS, the referenced paper gives an idea of the relative magnitude of propellant used during reboost for altitude raising vs. attitude control.

Three  ATV  vehicles  -  Jules  Verne  (2008),  Johannes  Kepler  (2011)  and  Edoardo  Amaldi  (2012)  –   together  performed  a  total  of  25  maneuvers
  to  provide  67  m/s  of  ISS  reboost  at  an  expense  of  8400  kg
  of  propellants.   Attitude control propellants  during   these
  reboost maneuvers accounted for an additional 1926 kg.

Source "On
-Orbit Propulsion System Performance of ISS Visiting
Vehicles"
Answer:
Do such manuevers induce a slight spin to the station, which might be later corrected by attitude stabilising thruster?

This is not done after the fact. It is done while the spacecraft is firing its thrusters.
Any spacecraft, not just the ISS, is subject to cross coupling where thrusters fired to produce a desired force also result in an undesired torque. Cross coupling where thrusters fired to produce a desired torque also result in an undesired force also occurs.
The ability of the spacecraft to counteract these undesired torques and forces while the thrusters are active is one of the key aspects investigated during the design phase of the spacecraft. The spacecraft control system must be able to counteract these undesired rotational and linear accelerations at all times.


How do I loan money as a non-resident Indian (NRI)?

Question: I am a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) and want to send approx $10,000 as a loan to my father's account in India as a contribution for a new home purchase.  How do I set this up as a loan so if he wants to return this money to me I can get it in $$ without any tax implications here in the US when I get it back?
Comment: If it was _inside_ the US, I'd suggest looking up "family loans". Basically, as long as you set a specific duration for the loan, keep the correct records, and charge at least the IRS's minimal interest rate for the term of that loan (or more accurately, as long as you pay taxes on at least the minimal interest rate for the term of that loan), it's a fairly straightforward process. But I have *no* idea whether or how the international aspect of your situation will affect this.
Comment: The easy part is getting the money (INR equivalent of $10K (in US dollars?) to India and your father. The harder part will be getting the money back (in US dollars) when your father repays the loan, and especially if, as is most likely, he repays the amount in INR.
Comment: Thanks for response, yes I am needing help on the international aspect, like how do I bring back $$ when repaid in rupees from India.
Answer: You do not need to set this up as a loan. Try finding an Indian student. He is eligible to get cash (using a travel card, may be) from India tax-free. As long as it doesn't exceed the i-20 amount, he will not have any problems. Since, $10,000 is very small amount, the student shouldn't be having any problem.
Comment: What if the student just disappears with the $10,000?


70s science fiction story about JFK assassination

Question: I am hoping someone can help me remember the name of a 1970's science fiction short story (maybe a novella) about the JFK assassination.  What I remember most about the story is that it loops back on itself, so that at the moment the fatal bullet strikes, Kennedy finds himself back at the beginning of the motorcade--or maybe the beginning of that day.  I used to read a lot of Harlan Ellison, but I know it wasn't one of his stories.  Not much to go on, I know, but I would be grateful if anyone can help me track down the story. Thanks!
Answer: Could you be thinking of J. G. Ballard's "The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race"? I don't believe it loops, but it is connected to Ellison in that Ballard submitted it for 'Dangerous Visions', but the agent (who found the story appalling) never forwarded it to Ellison, causing some friction between the authors. It later became part of Ballard's "The Atrocity Exhibition".
Answer: Found it!  The Destruction of the Temple, by Barry N. Malzberg
Comment: Please add some information explaining why you think this is the answer.
Comment: I stumbled upon http://www.scifan.com and found the title while browsing through works published in 1974. The Amazon link shows the edition I owned, with (surprise!) glowing praise from Ellison on the cover.


Mental stress inducing task

Question: Mental arithmetic stress test is used widely to induce mental stress in laboratories. Can this test induce stress to those who are really good at mental calculation or enjoy mental math?
Answer: Stress is a very broad term. For instance, I'm doing tests on listening effort using pupillometry. Pupillometry measures pupil diameter which is correlated to stress. More stress means larger pupils. Effortful listening is also a form of stress and hence indeed also evoke a pupil response.
I'm focusing on cochlear implant (CI) users, and these folks even have a lot of trouble understanding speech, especially in noise. But even in total silence (no background noise, normal 65 dB speech) they need to mentally focus on the task at hand. Hence they have large pupil responses even under optimal listening conditions.
However, normal hearing (NH) folks show, on average, also a substantial response in silence, although smaller than CI wearers.
To extrapolate these findings to your case by drawing the parallel between NH listeners (math proficient) and CI users (math deficient), I can assure you that even mathophiles  do show a stress response, even for relatively simple math assignments.
Comment: @StevenJeuris - I know that it may be only loosely related, but there had been no answer for 2 months. But feel free to downvote, as it isn't really referenced either.
Comment: Mmmm. I'm not fully convinced you can extrapolate from these findings, but definitely related!
Comment: I simply stuck with no vote.
Comment: For what it's worth, I chatted to a stress researcher the other day who swears by public speaking as their go-to stressor, reliably gets a good physiological stress response from most people while also ethical/easy to administer. YMMV re valence. What's the intended meaning of stress here? Skydiving, overwork, or phobias all seem like reasonable matches to the word 'stress' but it's probably useful to distinguish between them. Mental math seems more likely to be 'increased load / distraction' rather than 'sweaty palms',  either of those could be interesting, just for different reasons.

Mental stress inducing task


Word for supporting something that is harmful or not beneficial to you

Question: If a person supports a group of people based on their own perception of that group. When in truth by supporting them they bring hardship on themselves whether it is physically, emotionally, or economically. Could even be supporting a political party that doesn't in truth cater to them.
Comment: The ultimate, very tragic example of this is [drinking the Kool-Aid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid). In metaphorical use, it doesn't necessarily imply that you bring hardship on yourself, but it does suggest that you're not being as critical as you ought to be.
Comment: @Morton That Kool-Aid is terrifying...
Answer: Self-defeating
adj.
Injurious to one's or its own purposes or welfare.
Alternatively, you could say that supporting something that is not beneficial to you is counterproductive.
Answer: Supporting something based on a false perception, and not in earnest would be dissembling.

Dissemble (?), v. t.
  1. To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. [1913 Webster]
Answer: If you are justly compensated for the trouble, it's called:
work

if you are not compensated:
volunteer

or if the members believes that their personal hardship is justified for the greater good then they are in:
a communion

Those are words with more or less neutral connotations.
If you're looking for a word with negative connotation, a group that tricks its flowers into following philosophies that are not beneficial to themselves is in a:
a cult


operating system not found

Question: I reformatted and deleted partitions in my hard drive using mini tool partition wizard but before I formatted it runs in three Windows,XP Vista and 7, then I try to install Windows again and  operating system not found, I want to install again  Windows 7, or Ubuntu later if possible, we have 2 PCs with the same brand and model here, I try to put the other hard drive and it works very well, it means the problem is in my hard drive which I reformatted, which is the easiest way to to solve OS not found?
Answer: Do you have any driver disks with your PCs? Did you try to add SATA driver manually?
Since you have 2 identical PCs, you always can clone hard drive of healthy machine. But make sure that cloning direction is right: I am always confused with Norton Ghost dialogues which one is source which - destination...
Answer: The easiest way to solve "OS not found" is to install an OS.
The not so easy way is to install a bootloader (GRUB works well), and point it to the OS's you cannot find.
Comment: i try to installed windows 7 but it did not works, but still no operating system found

operating system not found


Checking if full node is running

Question: I just followed the instruction to run full node in Ubuntu using the below bitcoin.org link.
https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#ubuntu-1610
How do I verify if the full node in PC is active and running? Thanks!
Answer: One easy way to check if your node is active and running and reachable by nodes is to head over to bitnodes and use the IP address of the machine running bitcoin core (or if you are on a home network, you'll need to find out your public IP address, which can be found by visiting What is My IP) and enter it into the "Join the Network" tool. Remember that your node will only accept incoming connections once it is fully verified, which can take a bit of time.
If you struggle with getting incoming connections to work, give the Networking Configuration section of the Running a Full Node docs a read.
Comment: Assuming you have a testnet node, do you know if bitnodes still works?  So far it seems like it does not.

Checking if full node is running


Implying Gender In Finnish

Question: I'm not sure if this is the place to ask this as this is more of a "curious" question instead of a research specific question, if that makes sense(which I guess all research starts from curiosity). Anyway, I was speaking to a friend of mine who is Finnish and I only speak a little of her language. I want to learn it, so, every so often, we'll have very basic-level conversations in Finnish as a way to help me practice. Anyway, she told me that she was talking about me to a friend of hers and that this friend had found me "interesting" and wanted to get to know me. I had to specifically ask what gender the friend was to know whether or not I would at least be curious because, unless I'm still very noob in my Finnish, nothing she said even remotely implied his gender. So I guess my question is, in languages where gender isn't implied by the 3rd person pronoun, without specifically having to state that the person being referred to is male(or female), how exactly could you gather someone's gender from a simple sentence like "My friend is interested in you" in Finnish? Or is it impossible for most Uralic-type languages? I'm aware that the sentence isn't even gender-specific in english, but in english we could/would use a 3rd person pronoun("he") as a way to say "the friend I'm referring to is male by the way..." somewhere later on. In Finnish, the 3rd person pronoun is the same for males and females(gender-neutral or genderless). Kaveri ystävä could be used, maybe(I'm not entirely sure)? If not, then miesystävä is the way to go, huh?
Btw, I'm also interested in how other genderless/gender-neutral languages handle things like this :D
Comment: You just don't specify the gender. Hundreds of languages around the world lack gender marks. If you ask me, I find indo-european languages unbearably focused on gender. In Spanish, to say "I'm tired" you have to specify if you identify as a woman or a man. In Czech, the same applies to something like "yesterday I ate apples". There's no escaping it. Personally, I find the lack of gender marks liberating. Olen väsynyt, söin eilen omenoita ja sukupuoleni on tuntematon! Eikö tämä ole kaunis?
Comment: I do agree and I do find specifications for gender in such languages unnecessary, but I do love the simplistic approach to gender that is found in English. The fact that the only time gender is ever implied in English is when you use certain pronouns and/or certain nouns(brother, sister, etc.) brings an easier story telling approach to me. I can communicate more information to a subject, if necessary or expected, without necessarily needing to say more words :D "he" has wrapped up in it both the information of maleness and personhood, and I don't have to state it separately.
Comment: But ofcourse, for some, i completely understand the liberation it must bring to not have your gender assume such relevancy in conversation :3 It is beautiful, in the way that languages are so nuanced that in some tongues, your gender makes up the whole context, whereas, in others, it doesn't and it's fine either way. Gender is assumed differently from Spanish to English to Turkish. How cool is that? :D
Comment: It feels simple to you because you grew up with it - you hardly have to think about it at all, it's all natural to you. To a Finnish speaker, not having to worry about gender would be the natural way of thinking, and the English way of having to imply gender everywhere would feel incredibly cumbersome - they'll constantly have to think "Wait, was the doctor a _he_ or a _she_?" even when it was completely irrelevant to what they're saying, and they'll need years of practice before they can do it naturally.
Comment: @jick of course, as I would never assume it wasn't natural to them otherwise. You could say that for every native speaker of any language; that their way of approaching communicating information is always the most "simple" or "natural". Even though gendered thought is not absent in Finnish, but rather, needing to attach an unfamiliar and separate 3rd person pronoun to either sex would seem "unnatural", as the one their familiar with has no such function in their native tongue :) I actually grew up speaking Japanese and learned English :D
Comment: *they're ;-; I couldn't edit it. Sorry
Comment: You're a native Japanese speaker and you like English pronouns? Then you must *really* like them! :D
Comment: I said I like them because of their easy approach to story telling xD Not to say Japanese isn't just as effective as English when it comes to the same thing, only that English, in my opinion, is a bit more "simplistic", for lack of a better term lmao I guess I'm thinking of it with more of a "writer/poet's" mind XD
Answer: It is very common that people cannot imagine languages which have extra ways of talking about the universe, or don't require you to specify some fact, compared to how it is in their mother tongue. Some languages require you to specify whether the action took place just moments ago or did it happen yesterday; some languages don't have any means of inflecting verbs for "present" or "past" or "future", and it is often a puzzle to the student, how do you get along if you always have to specify / can't specify when this happened.
So it is with gender, or other noun classification schemes. Some languages require you to indicate whether the referent is animate, versus inanimate, some do not. Some require you to distinguish singular, dual and plural, others only singular and plural and some don't mark number at all. But every language has some way of expressing any fact about the world, you just have to pick the right set of words. Saying "cat" versus "cats" is one conventionalized way of expressing the number of things involved, but in any language you can say "cat" and "many cats(s)". You can say "male cat" and "female cat". Finnish has words for "boy" and "girl", "man" and "woman", so if you have to communicate "him", you can use an extra word. The question is, when is it really necessary to provide that information?
In languages that require you to specify gender on 2nd person pronouns, you simply have to specify that in choosing your word for "you". The way to "get around" the grammatical requirement is to say something like "We like you-fem. or you-masc". In languages that don't allow you to specify gender on 2nd person pronouns, you just say "you", unless you want to circumlocute and say "you, either being a man or a woman". Practically speaking, people don't usually talk that way, but if necessary, you can elaborate with additional words to add to subtract information derived from the grammatical system.
As far as I know, the lack of gender marking on pronouns is a fact about all Uralic languages.
Comment: Thank you for this answer :D I would say its pretty necessary in the context of my example, as I would have been pretty disappointed to meet said friend and they were a woman xD But it could just be my fascination with gender as a social category that I find it interesting how it's communicated to us if we aren't face to face with the referent first-hand. The different approaches to communicating gender in different languages was always pretty cool to me. Somehow, some way, there's always a way to, as you said, express a fact about the world. Gender is never largely uncommunicated.

Implying Gender In Finnish