What is a realistic plague that could have wiped out the population of an island?

Question: Running a Steampunk campaign with some friends. The idea is that a massive a destructive plague wiped out the population of an island that was really technologically advanced. The plague needs to somehow still be around, as explorers and such have not successfully returned from the isle. The implication is that the plague was caused by the people on the island reached too far into the realm of science and technology with devastating consequences. What could have caused the plague? How could you combat it? What is the most interesting side-effect you could imagine for a plague?
Comment: Plague as in "contagious illness" or can it be something else?
Comment: The UK did some tests with Anthrax on an island, during WWII. It was quarantined until the '90s, when it was cleaned up.
Comment: Not too hard: you just need an illness with multiple stages (like malaria) that is only lethal when it infects humans, but can 'cycle' between the other stages, keeping it present in the environment.
Comment: Here's your reference: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/Zoonotic.cfm toxoplasmosis gondii is a good candidate for something like this. Perhaps they were trying to engineer a benign strain and failed?
Comment: You may want to focus the quesiton somewhat.  In particular, the last two questions start turning this substantially into "idea generation."  It's a fuzzy line, because clearly everything here is related to generating ideas, but setting up a question as "here's a setting for a scene... now tell me what could happen next" starts to push it into a class that is hard to answer in the stack exchange Q&A format.
Comment: A disaster isolated the island. Since they didn't bother to have a source of fresh fruit they all got [**scurvy**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy). There is still no fruit on the island, so the danger is still there, but are your heroes aware of how vital is to consume vitamin C regularly? Probably not, it's all steam, punk and guzzoline for those rev-heads... well, they'll find out the hard way after some time in the island!
Answer: We already have diseases that can infect humans but contain environmental components that remain present in their absence.
Malaria is the big one: It's very lethal to humans, but not to the mosquito carriers. This is one is getting very scary, as malaria is quickly becoming resistant to literally everything we can throw at it. But being a "3rd world disease," it isn't profitable enough for drug companies to focus significant resources on total eradication (though the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is trying.) Preventative measures are the cheapest method to directly lower the infection rate, but they don't entirely "cure" malaria (but I have heard tell about some really cool tech to help on that front). That said, I don't know whether malaria will remain for long in the environment without humans around to complete it's development cycle.
Toxoplasma gondii, also known as 'toxo,' is probably your best bet here. It's a protozoan that can infect virtually all warm blooded mammals (unlike malaria). Generally, it's benign overall (though there is some speculation on it's ability to alter human behavior via chemical imbalance) but can be dangerous in immunocompromised individuals (like babies, people with HIV, or chemo patients). It can be spread by contact with saliva and feces, most commonly from cats.
Plausible scenario: Either 'toxo' seemed a good fit for genetic engineering to handle a more dangerous threat, or it evolved to be expressed in the sweat glands or something similar that humans possess in abundance but not cats or most mammals. Animal trials (for the genetic engineering) wouldn't pick up this significant change in behavior, which would cause rapid spreading among human populations but keep it comparatively low in native animals. At this point, it just needs a long enough incubation period for the majority of the population to get infected before it's lethal effects start to show.
Comment: Wow! Thank You so much! It looks like i'm going to go with a genetically engineered toxo that could have been waterborne. Thank you so much for  your in-depth response!


Mitzvah for fathers to buy things for dating-age daughters?

Question: I heard that men whose daughters are dating have a mitzvah to supply them with things that will help them, i.e. dresses, jewelry, etc. Is there a source for this?
Comment: ap3, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks very much for the interesting question! We'd love to have you as a fully-registered member, which you can accomplish by clicking register/login, above.
Comment: You could improve this question by adding more information about where you heard of this concept.
Answer: The Talmud in Kesubos (52b) states:
מצוה דנלבשה וניכסה וניתיב לה מידי כי היכי דקפצי עלה ואתו נסבי לה
It is a Mitzva to clothe her, cover her, and give her something, so that men will jump at the chance to marry her.
The three things mentioned presumably refers to clothing, jewelry, and money.
Although the Gemara there says that it is a Biblical mitzva, see Ritva that the intention is rather a mitzva found in the prophets' writings and thus is only mDrabanan.
Answer: The Gemara in Kiddushin says it's a mitzva for a father to attempt to marry off his children. The Gemara then says, "for boys, that's easy. But how do I get someone to marry my daughter?" Answer: it's a mitzva to offer a nice dowry, to attract a boy to marry her.
This is codified in Shulchan Aruch and commentaries there; if I recall correctly, a young woman can sue her parents if they're making zero effort whatsoever to help her get married, but as long as they're making some effort, that's all that's enforceable. Similarly, if she meets a nice young man on her own and they like each other enough to gasp! get married without her bringing in any money, that's totally fine too. However, anything her parents do that would genuinely help her chances at getting married would be considered a mitzva.
In a world of bottom-line focused marriages, offering a nice dowry seemed to do it. If you argued today that what does it better is nice clothing, it wouldn't be unreasonable. The bottom line is, for a son or daughter, it's a mitzva to try and help them get married -- assuming they're trying themselves, and assuming it will lead to a happy marriage.
Comment: I like your conclusion.


Center tap vs. bridge transformer

Question: I'm designing a power supply to deliver 6V DC with a zener diode acting as the regulator. I found out that there are two types of transformers that can be used. They can be center tap or a bridge. In center taps, we will use 2 diodes, while in bridge, we need 4. What are the pros and cons of each type and which is best suitable for my purpose? I think it's worth getting to know the advantage and disadvantage of using one or the other.
Comment: Just a clarification: It's not a "bridge" transformer; it's just a regular transformer. It's the 4 diodes you use with a regular transformer that are called the bridge (short for full-bridge rectifier).
Answer: The full bridge has the disadvantage that you have two diode voltage drops, which may be up to 2 V. I don't think the cost of the two extra diodes will matter much.
I wouldn't recommend the center tap though: you have a lower voltage drop because only 1 diode conducts at a time, but you'll also use only half of the transformer. So where for the full bridge you could use for instance a 10 VA transformer for the center tap you'd need a 20 VA type.
The center tap should be avoided as much as possible. If the two diodes voltage drop for the full wave rectifier is a problem, you can probably use Schottky diodes.
Comment: "*So where for the full bridge you could use for instance a 10 VA transformer for the center tap you'd need a 20 VA type.*" That doesn't sound right. In the centre-tapped arrangement you are only using half of the secondary at any time so 10 VA should be fine. Am I missing something?
Answer: A center tapped secondary allows for more efficient rectification since there is only one diode drop in series with the output.  However, it requires a larger, heavier, and more expensive transformer since only half the secondary is used at any one time.
A single secondary winding allows for a cheaper, smaller, and lighter transformer, but there are two diode drops in series with the output.
A center tapped secondary is particularly useful when you want to make positive and negative supplies of the same magnitude with a common ground.  Now both halves of the primary are always working and you still get only the single diode drop in series with each supply.
A better way
The above answered your question directly.  However today using a transformer to directly scale down the wall power is rarely done.  Nowadays it's cheaper, lighter, and smaller to full wave rectify the wall power, then electronically chop that at high frequency to drive a transformer that produces the output voltage.  Due to the high frequency (could be 100s of kHz), the transformer can be physically much smaller for the same power level.  It also makes the output ripple much easier to filter, usually to the point that the rectified output with a reasonable size capacitor accross it can be used directly as the DC.  With feedback to the chopping circuit on the input, you can achieve regulation.  This is the basis for most common AC to DC switching power supplies.  The savings due to the smaller transformer outweigh the extra circuitry.
Comment: do you have any further links/references regarding today's scaling of wall power (the ones with high frequency, etc). its kinda new to me. thanks
Comment: @vvave: This is how most power supplies work.  There must be a lot of stuff written about AC to DC switching power supplies, although I haven't looked and therefore don't have specific links.
Answer: In my opinion, it depends on the power you are trying to achieve. For minimal power requirement, any of the two options will work just fine. Its like a compensation: while center tap will use just two diodes, it will require twice the power rating of the transformer a full bridge would use to achieve the same power output. The bridge however, uses a smaller transformer, but two extra diodes, resulting of course in more voltage drops (of course this goes without saying). Its a trade off between size and cost. For small power ratings, going the switch mode direction(as suggested above) is going to be a whole lot of added complexities. For higher powers however, I would recommend switched power supplies due to their higher efficiency and smaller size.
Comment: No, it does not require twice the power rating. Each half is only conducting half the time.

Center tap vs. bridge transformer


how do I connect two headsets with microphone to make a intercom kind of system

Question: Want to connect two headphones with mic so that two persons can talk over it as over a phone call.
Please Help.
Thank you
Comment: I'm going to suggest that this is more related to electronics than sound design. There is a stack for that... electronics.stackexchange.com
Answer: This is fairly easy IF you are wanting to use a maximum of two headphone / mic combinations.  We call this combination a "Headset".  You will need to build two identical circuits as follows:
Each headset's circuit contains a mic preamp and a headphone amplifier.  The preamp design depends on whether you are using a headset with a dynamic mic or electret mic.  The dynamic mic needs more gain but the electret mic needs a quiet bias supply.  Both of these things are easy.
The headphone amplifier doesn't need much gain but it does need to supply a bit of current to drive the headphone speaker.  I would also add a volume control to the input of the headphone amplifier so that you can adjust the volume.
To use these blocks, simply connect the mic preamp output of one headset to the headphone input of the other headset.  Repeat for the other headset.
You can use a shielded pair to connect the headset electronics to each other.  Shield is ground, one conductor is the talk for one headset, the other conductor is the talk for the other headset.
This is easy.  If I were doing this, I would use my ancient standard op-amps NE5534.  These are single op-amps but that is useful because of the  signal level differences between mic and headphone.
If you want to emulate a professional intercom system that has multiple stations, have a look at RTS / Telex intercom systems.  Both of these systems use what is called "bilateral current sources" (otherwise known as Howland current pumps) and are described very well in an old National Semiconductor app note.  The idea is that there is a standard termination resistor at one location in the system and each station provides talk audio via a current source.  This minimizes (but does not eliminate) the loading effect as stations are added or removed.


Did the "loss" of the American territories in the first third of the 19th century have any impact on Spanish intellectual discourse?

Question: The defeat in the war against the USA in 1898 and the subsequent loss of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines had an enormous, long-term impact on Spanish intellectuals (Generation of 98).
However, the much greater territorial loss in the wars of Spanish American Independence (1808-1833) did not get even a fraction of the attention, or didn`t it?
Comment: In "El Romanticismo Español", Ricardo Navas-Ruiz argues that the *idealization of the past* in the Spanish Romanticism was caused by the problems of their time, the 1st half of the 19th century. One of those problems (among many others) was the loss of the colonies. I think the book is only available in Spanish, though.
Comment: From the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_American_wars_of_independence  it sounds more like the colonies did not initially seek liberation, but then things falling apart in Spain later pushed the colonies into seeking independence.
Comment: Good question. Two reasons why Latin American independence was not a tremendous shock in peninsular Spain: the metropolis had been plundering colonial mining revenue in a manner that was, at least in retrospect, unsustainable; and one of the most proximate causes of the independence movements was the chaos of the Napoleonic invasion and resulting imprisonment of Ferdinand VII, which gave Spain plenty to worry about on the home front.
Answer: The loss in the first third of the 19th century of the American territories (Spain did not really have "colonies" in the way the British Empire had, the American territories were integral part of Spain) did not have any significant impact on Spain`s public discourse, because the American territories had never really had.
However, with the development of nationalist ideology and sentiment all over Europe in the course of the 19th century (as a result of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars), a rudimentary form of Spanish nationalism began to grow in the second third of the century. By the time nationalism had acquired a critical mass in Spain sufficient to influence public discourse, it was already firmly established in England, France and Germany.
By the end of the 19th century, nationalism was also in Spain the driving force of historical theory and had pervaded politics and literature, as it had done in the above mentioned countries decades before. Nationalistic nostalgia for a "fictional" Spanish Empire made the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippes in 1898 appear as a catastrophe for the nation.
Funnily enough, it was only after the American territories gained their independence that the relations between Spain and so-called Latin America started to gain momentum (emigration, trade).


What does "wish can stay longer yet too busy" mean?

Question: What does this sentence, "wish can stay longer yet too busy", mean in simple English?
What phrase does it use? The "can...yet" confuses me.
Answer: First of all, the sentence is ungrammatical as it's written.
In the original, wish can means I wish I could (or I wish I were able to), and yet is a conjunction similar to however, but, or still.
To both rephrase it, and better convey its meaning:

I wish I could stay longer; however, I'm too busy with other things, and I need to leave so that I can take care of them.
Answer: It sounds like something that someone texted you.  In texts it's common to leave out words, as long as the result can still be understood.  If written in normal, grammatical English it would be,

I wish I can stay longer but I am too busy.

That being said, the use of "yet" in your example is odd.  While "but" is a simple conjunction that indicates the following statement will be the opposite of the previous statement, "yet" implies a kind of a continuation of the statement in a different direction.  Examples:

I didn't want to lend him the money, yet since it's what a good friend would do, I gave it to him.
The sun hadn't set, yet we went to bed, exhausted after the long day.

In this case, it's either a trivial mistake, or else it implies much more than would be expected in this situation, for example:

I wish I can stay longer, yet (since we don't always get what we want and I am) too busy (I can't).
Comment: And [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_style) refers to this style as __telegraph style__ or __telegraphese__.


Can I extend my duration of stay in my UK visitor visa?

Question: I have applied for 6 months visitor visa and as the intended duration, I've given 2nd Aug - 14th August. My visa should be valid upto January. So can I extend my stay to 20th August after I get my visa (while booking my flights)?
Answer: You have a six-month Standard Visitor Visa expiring in January 2017. At the application stage you told them you wanted to visit for two weeks in August and you want to change it to three weeks in August.
That's fine. This does not result in an overstay because you're inside of the visa's start and end dates.
The only consideration is that you signed an agreement during the application stage where you agreed to notify them of significant changes. All other things being equal, going from a two-week visit to a three-week visit during the high season doesn't meet the reporting threshold; in other words, you're good to go.
You will still have a landing interview when you arrive so be sure to bring a return air ticket and your accommodation paperwork.
Comment: @CMaster it would be extraordinary; since the programme started in 4/2015 they haven't issued one for less than six months (to my knowledge). But if they did, it would entail a fresh application.
Comment: What if they get a visa with exactly 12 days, despite the hope of getting a 6 month visa?


Office 365 apps

Question: I am new to Office 365. Can any one tell me whether custom webparts (sandboxed) cabe be built as an app to sharepoint online? is yes the how a webpart can be published as an app ?
Answer: I would recommend you have a look at this! it outlines everything that you would need to know! it should also be a very good starting point! the sandbox solutions can be found near the bottom what goes into detail. Yes it a big read but it answers all your questions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg317460.aspx
hope it helps :)
Edit
Office 365 for developers download for VS2012 (download and install)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/apps/fp123627.aspx
Blog - someone who istalled the above to develp on VS
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Blogs/9745/installed-microsoft-office-developer-tools-for-visual-studio.aspx
How to: Install the Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime Redistributable

Install the .NET Framework 4.  • To download the .NET Framework 4, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=178957.

• To download the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, see
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=178958.

Run vstor40_x86.exe or vstor40_x64.exe to install the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime. Choose the setup file that matches your
  computer architecture (x86 or x64).

These setup files are available on the Visual Studio installation
  media, and they are also available for download at
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140384. The prerequisites for
  the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime are the same as the
  prerequisites for the .NET Framework.

Install the language pack for the Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime if you use non-English settings for Windows, and you
  want to see runtime messages in the same language that you use for
  Windows. If any end users run your solutions with non-English settings
  for Windows, they must have the correct language pack to see runtime
  messages in the same language as Windows. The language pack is
  available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140386.

If you need ClickOnce non-English language support during the
  deployment and installation of your solution, install the .NET
  Framework Language Packs. The language packs are available from the
  Microsoft Download Center.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178739.aspx
Office Development in Visual Studio
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d2tx7z6d.aspx
hope this helps :)
Comment: Ok. Thanks:) and one more thing I wanted to ask is I have installed VS 2012 ultimate and I have office 365 preview. I just cant see the office developer tools for visual studio 2010..i cant even see ay templates for sharepoint/office either
Comment: check out the edited answer for installing and configuring vs, the second link is documentation on hoto guides with office 365
Answer: Since your looking for developing a webpart for Office 365, you can follow this tutorial, it shows you everything step by step
office 365 webpart tutorial
Answer: I would not name web part as application and I never bother about sanboxing since it is impossible to have non-sandboxed apps in Office 365.
The easiest way for a newbie to develop a web part is to publish any Infopath form which then appear in list of available Infopath web parts. The latter you can see/use by navigating to or create in web browser to any web part ASPX page in Sharepoint online (Office 365) site > click Add a web part link >  Forms (under Categories) > Infopath Form Web Part > Add > Click here to open the tool pane link > in tool pane under List or Library: list box you will see the list of published Infopath forms

The easiest way to create and publish an Infopath form is to navigate in browser to any list in Sharepoint online site > click Customize Form on ribbon > in Opened Infopath Designer 2010 click Quick Publish button (on ribbon File > Info) ... after or without its editing
That's it, you have developed, published and used ("sandboxed") web part.

Office 365 apps


Why isn't azete aromatic?

Question:
I'm confused, because it seems like Hückel's rule is satisfied (two electrons from the nitrogen lone pair and four from the double bonds) and that the molecule should be aromatic. Where am I going wrong here?
Answer: The compound is anti-aromatic. While counting the number of π-electrons, you count the electrons which are delocalized over the ring. In this case the nitrogen lone pair is localised and does not participate in resonance. The nitrogen lone pair is in an $\mathrm{sp^2}$ orbital (red) which is orthogonal to the π system (blue):

So, the total number of π-electrons is only four: two from each double bond.
Please read this for a better understanding : http://www.chem.ucla.edu/harding/ec_tutorials/tutorial04.pdf
Answer: The rule for lone pairs in this situation goes like this:  you put one lone pair into the conjugated circuit if the atom otherwise has no pi bond into the ring.  Any other lone pairs after you've done that are localized in outward pointing orbitals.  Here the nitrogen already has a pi bond into the ring, so the lone pair is outward pointing and you can't get to the six conjugated ring electrons you wanted.
Comment: Even if sp hybridization were allowed it still would not work.  Pi orbitals can be conjugated into the ring only if they are properly oriented, and when you have only s and p valence orbitals to work with there is only one properly orbital per atom.  So if you have a pi orbital into the ring you're done.
Comment: Wouldn't a better explanation be that the nitrogen atom here with a pi bond can be either sp or sp2 hybridized, and in most cases, such as this one, an sp hybridization would cause too much ring strain, leading to an sp2 hybridization, which makes the nitrogen lone pair localized and thus unable to participate in conjugation? I don't see why theoretically _every_ nitrogen with a pi bond has to have it's lone pair in a localized orbital if something like ring strain is absent, though I'm guessing that's rarely (or maybe even never) the case practically.
Comment: Ahh, I get it now.

Why isn’t azete aromatic?


US travel - One passport Two valid ESTA

Question: traveling to US - I have a valid ESTA linked to my passport from a year and a half ago. About to travel in a months time again. When reading about the requirements for re-application, I saw that change of civil status is one of the requirements. Back in the day I lived with my partner - now we split and I live alone - so I decided it would be safer to re-apply (no changes in name). However Later I realized there is not even a field for civil status in the application, so now I have 2 valid ESTAs linked to one passport. Would this be a problem?
Comment: Have you actually confirmed that your first ESTA is still valid (https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov)?  I would expect that it was automatically cancelled by your application for a subsequent ESTA on the same passport.
Comment: Many thanks - it looks like it is actually what happened. I must have been checking it too soon / old window.  But now when I check it is expired.
Answer: Your first ESTA is probably no longer valid.  You can check at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.
See for example When my ESTA expires how do I renew my application?

You do not need to wait until your ESTA expires to re-apply.  You may do so at any time before, on or after the expiration date of your existing ESTA.  Should you receive the message "A valid, approved application with more than 30 days remaining has been found for this passport. Submitting this application will require payment for this application and will then cancel the existing application." you will simply continue with the application to begin your new application.  Your prior ESTA will be cancelled and replaced with your new application.

Even if your first ESTA was not cancelled because of some error in the system, it isn't your fault, and you should expect no problems to result from it.
Comment: The USA government is grateful for the extra $14. Every bit counts these days as USCIS is run on user fees.
Comment: @RoboKaren USCIS does not administer ESTA.  Do ESTA fees go into the USCIS budget?
Comment: Hahahaha. You're right. Was making a bad joke given the USA government is currently shut down.
Comment: @RoboKaren aha.  In fact, at [8 CFR 217.5(h)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/217.5#h) one can learn that $10 of the $14 fee goes to the Corporation for Travel Promotion, whereas the rest is an "operational fee" to cover the cost of "providing and administering the system."  Interestingly, the travel promotion portion of the fee is authorized only through September 30, 2020.
Comment: ha. I wonder which lobbyist or congressperson got that bit of pork into the bill.

US travel - One passport Two valid ESTA


Resources to learn about the AVR/RISC architecture

Question: I think I have used enough of the AVR series by atmel to say that I understand how to use it. I know somethings about how it actually works, but I would like to know more. Are there any good resources which describe the architecture of Atmega or RISC architecture in general? I know the datasheet has all this (and I really looooovvee the datasheet, its kinda my bible) but I need something little more simple than that. Any help?
Answer: Learn AVR assembly, it's the best practical way to learn about the architecture.
http://www.avr-asm-tutorial.net/avr_en/
Answer: Check out the white papers in the Other Docs section of Atmel's website: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/other_docs.asp?family_id=607#White_Paper .
A long time ago I read the one called The AVR Microcontroller and C Compiler Co-Design which explains why they think the AVR instruction set is well-suited for the C language. Some of the other documents there explain the AVR architecture or a series of chips in general.
Answer: AVR Freaks.
Comment: I know about the site, but I am looking for a much more concise way to learn.


Share folder between users

Question: I have created a folder in / that I would like to share between users in a certain user group on my system. After changing ownership of the folder from root to myself and changing the group permissions to "Create and delete files", I logged in as another user in the group and tested the folder. I was able to access the folder and one of its sub-directories, but permission to view/edit a file was denied. I could have changed the permissions on the sub-directory, but based on past experience I would have to do this each time a new file was added so others could view it. Is there any easy way to automatically make any file placed in this folder available to the specified group?
Answer: Yes, you can make the directory "sticky" for this, so that when files are created in it, they inherit the directory's permissions:
chmod +t dirname
See the file permissions documentation for more details.
However, when a file is copied into the directory (rather than being created anew there), it will still typically have its original permissions, since copying files generally retains their permissions.

Share folder between users


What is the shelf life of unopened jarred hollandaise?

Question: I have a jar of unopened Trader Joe's Hollandaise sauce that I forgot about in the back of a cupboard. It's definitely been there for over a year. There's no expiry date on it. Is it still safe to use?
Answer: So, it's in a glass jar? So it's pretty much mayonnaise made with butter instead of oil. As long as the vacuum seal is good, and the lid pops when you open it, you should be good. Modern shelf-stable products should last years in proper storage. The worst thing that could happen is the fat could become rancid, which is an aesthetic problem, not a safety problem. Taste it, and if you think it tastes good, go ahead and use it.
If the lid doesn't pop from releasing the vacuum, or it's pressurized and hisses like a bottle of soda, or there's discoloration/mold, or it smells weird, then discard it.


At which P/E ratio can a stock be considered overvalued?

Question: What's the "highest" P/E ratio that can be considered healthy?
Sure, someone can argue that company X has growth potential, but even that is limited.
For example: Netflix has currently a P/E ratio of over 200 which gives me shivers.
Comment: This is like asking: "At what speed can driving be considered unsafe?"
Comment: Are general questions about stock market strategy on-topic here?
Comment: I didn't know the abbreviation. So for reference, here's what wikipedia says: *The price/earnings ratio (often shortened to the P/E ratio or the PER) is the ratio of a company's stock price to the company's earnings per share. The ratio is used in valuing companies. Higher growth firms will have higher P/E ratios.*
Comment: @BasilBourque, it's finance and note the established tags `stocks` `stock-analysis` `stock-valuation`...So I'd say yes they are "on-topic.
Comment: @DKrueger, to which the answer may be "it depends on these other factors (road conditions, driver-experience, etc)". Does that mean the question is invalid? No. Maybe OP is searching for those "compounding factors."
Comment: @Dustin I didn't say the question was invalid. I simply offered an analogy as a way of thinking about the question.
Answer: It sounds like the asker is looking for a rule of thumb about P/E.  If only the market would be so kind as to have a simple rule of thumb.  It unfortunately depends on the time and the range you are looking at. For instance, looking at US Equities, from 2012-present, and looking at each PE value (i.e. thepe=2 finds all stocks with P/E between 2 and 3), we get the following:

That's a lot of lines!  Looking at the backtest table, I can see that most of the lines with P/E under 10 underperform those with P/E over 10, and the really terrible lines are the ones with very low P/E values.  So, lower isn't always better.  But that wasn't the question!  Are really high values bad?  Using the same type of chart, going by 100's, we get our answer:

OK, we now know that the extremes don't seem to beat the market, and that it is better to be in the middle.  Really high and really low P/E values signal trouble in this current market.  Only two questions remain:

In the middle, is there an idea band of values?
Yes, yes there is.  We break the band of 10-300 into two bands: reasonable (10-100), and high (100-300), for easy visibility.
Reasonable values go first (notice the "banding" as stocks sort into "value" stocks and "more expensive" stocks:

High P/E stocks go next:

These pictures tell us the trailing performance of portfolios of stocks having these P/E ranges.  We can see that the high P/E stocks can go higher, but can also lose money over the whole timespan.  The volatility is intense.  The lower, but still reasonable, P/E stocks are a safer bet.
Does this hold true if we go back further than 2012?  Is this an aberration of the current easy money policy, or some deep truth?  We put the same two charts, just going back further, and see if it holds true:

Notice the slope the lines have -- the sawtooth pattern with the lines on the left of each clump being taller indicates that lower P/E values were better.  As the time scale gets shorter and shorter, the effect goes away, but that's hard to see.  Hence the earlier pictures.  Still, notice there are no money losing portfolios here.
Now for high P/E values:

Wow!  That's some serious risk.  See the lines that went down?  Those are portfolios that lost money over the entire period!  You can either make a killing, or get killed.  It's a matter of luck, as you can see by the brown skyscraper surrounded by loss making portfolios on either side.

Finally, it is time for caveats and other brass tacks.  These portfolios are US Equities, rebalanced quarterly, with data from Morningstar.  Money losing companies are filtered out (they have no E for the P/E).  This analysis does include delisted companies, and all returns include the effects of dividends and splits, with dividends being assumed to be reinvested into the companies.  No trading costs or taxes were assessed on any the portfolios.  The analysis was done using Equities Lab. I am a founder of  Equities lab.
Comment: Done!   Sorry about that!
Comment: This answer is simply awesome and awesomely detailled. Thanks!
Comment: Never mind the stocks that fall in price; how many high-P/E companies have gone bankrupt? I don't have data, but I suspect the fraction of high-P/E companies going bankrupt is higher than that of low-P/E companies.
Comment: That's a good question!  If you ask it as a question on here, I'll answer it...
Comment: Please refer to https://money.stackexchange.com/help/behavior. You *must* disclose your affiliation *in your answer*.
Answer: This is entirely subjective. A P/E of 200 is probably not sustainable in the long run but who's to say it is unhealthy? Others might not see the metric as so ludicrous. We have seen a record number of share buybacks since the GFC (Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008), so that's probably contributory (as corporate governance and stakeholder theory in the U.S. incentivizes management to buy back shares) to such high P/E ratios across blue chip stocks. But that is only one small factor.
Investors also put more weight on other valuation metrics like EV/EBIDTA, FCF yield, the list goes on. I'm not discounting the importance of P/E ratios in fundamental analysis, but some people value other metrics more.
Edit: Tangentially related (because P/S ratio), but it would be remiss of me to leave out a quote from Scott McNealy (former CEO of Sun Microsystems) after the dot com bubble burst.

But two years ago we were selling at 10 times revenues when we were at $64. At 10 times revenues, to give you a 10-year payback, I have to pay you 100% of revenues for 10 straight years in dividends. That assumes I can get that by my shareholders. That assumes I have zero cost of goods sold, which is very hard for a computer company. That assumes zero expenses, which is really hard with 39,000 employees. That assumes I pay no taxes, which is very hard. And that assumes you pay no taxes on your dividends, which is kind of illegal. And that assumes with zero R&D for the next 10 years, I can maintain the current revenue run rate. Now, having done that, would any of you like to buy my stock at $64? Do you realize how ridiculous those basic assumptions are? You don't need any transparency. You don't need any footnotes. What were you thinking?
-Bloomberg, 2002
Comment: Note that the Bloomberg article is behind a paywall, but can be seen in full if you feed the URL to Google translate and click on "show original"
Comment: Thanks for your great answer. Unfortunately another answer fitted my need better, still thanks a lot!
Comment: That quote from Scott McNealy was awesome!
Answer: So the argument for these ultra high P/E companies is that at some point they can simply slow their rate of reinvestment and the net earnings will dramatically increase as a result.  At some point Netflix won't need to pile resources in to saturating the new content market.  At some point Amazon won't need to deploy new datacenters or delivery trucks or whatever.  I don't necessarily buy this argument, though the logic is pretty sound, and 3 digit P/Es are a major turn off for me.  50 is sort of where I draw the line in my individual trading account, though that's admittedly largely arbitrary...
Chipotle is a pretty good example of extreme growth projections, and an ultra high P/E, snapping back toward reality when there's some friction.
Answer: A P/E ratio of 10 to 15 is about what a steady sized company should have.
That said, a company can still be overvalued at 10.  Perhaps the company is not only not growing but shrinking.  Its current revenues are the best that it will ever have.
A P/E ratio of 200 is high.  But it is basically saying that people expect the company to grow earnings to be 15 to 20 times as large as they are now (so the P/E ratio would be 10 to 15).  If you don't think that the company has that kind of potential, don't invest.
Really, a P/E ratio for a growth stock is probably the wrong measure.  Because it is possible for earnings to be exceptionally small or even negative in the short term.  But the stock may have an upside.
A P/E ratio is more useful when evaluating a value stock.  Because the value stock does not have the same anticipation of an increase in future earnings.  So examining past earnings (which is what is in a P/E ratio), they are likely to be more predictive.
How can the price-to-earnings ratio mislead investors?
Just as a quick note, AMZN has more than quadrupled in price since that article was written and is now over $1500 per share.  APPL has not quite doubled.  Anyway, AMZN may be overvalued.  But if someone had avoided it in 2014 in favor of the more reasonably priced APPL, they would have only had half as much growth.
Answer: Simply said, PE ratio represent time required for investor to obtain their full investment back. It means that Netflix with PE 200 has 200 years needed to pay your investment, and I don't think It's price attractive enough.
Ideal PE should be below 15, but always there are some exceptions. Company with strong and wide moat with high CAGR can accelerate their earning thus shorten payback period is good investment.
netflix CAGR revenue around 27%, which is very outstanding compared to whole company in US (may be even in the world), market allows this wonderful business to have premium valuation. In my calculation, normal PE for Netflix is around 75 (PE 15 doesn't apply here)
conclusion:
pay attention to its brand, moat, business, industry, strategy, and examine their financial performance like ROE, CAGR, retained earning.
Answer: Historically a P/E ratio of 24 or more is considered overpriced, but as others have mentioned, it is subjective. Many in finance use price to sales, price to book, liquidation value, enterprise value or other methods to determine a reasonable price to buy a stock, and whether or not it is overvalued relative to its price. P/E is relatively subjective, but the rule of thumb is around 20-24 is expensive from most finance books/ research that I have looked at.
Answer: It depends on how much growth you can expect the company to have.  Low-PE companies should be the ones with little potential upside.  A public company could be losing money.  Then the earnings are negative.  But if it has a potential to significantly grow its market and realize economies of scale at a larger size, then its anticipated future earnings justify the price.
Answer: The P/E ratio is the ratio of the price today divided by the earnings today. This number can be very meaningless. Say the company has a single product that everyone know is on its way out. They are making money today, everyone knows they will make less money next year, and they won't make anything the year after. A P/E ratio of 10 would be overpriced, because we know the company's earnings will never be 10 times today's price.
Or you have a company in a very stable business. For the last 50 years, they made the same money every year, with no reason why that would change. A P/E ratio of 10 is the same as giving the company a loan with 10% interest, P/E ratio of 20 is the same as giving a loan with 5% interest.
And then you have companies who just start building up their business. Any penny they make gets invested immediately to increase the business. A business that makes 10 million and invests it immediately, making no profit, is as good as another business that makes 10 million and gives it to the shareholders. The first business can have a huge P/E ratio, and the actual ratio doesn't even matter (whether they reinvest 9.5 million or 9.9 million or 10.1 million makes little difference to the value, but a massive difference to the P/E ratio).
So you need to find out which category the business is in, or what amount of earnings you expect in the long term.
Answer: In general, the standard rule of thumb is that a PER over 24 is considered overpriced. As others have stated, however, many other mitigating/ exacerbating factors can be in play here, so don't arbitrarily apply this standard to all stocks.  Instead do some research before making an investment decision.


Books dealing with the g3 Queen's Indian

Question: What are the best repertoire or opening books, if any, advocating the g3 variation vs the Queen's Indian for White, in terms of analysis and verbal explanations of the main plans / ideas?
Answer: I will have to explore through some of the new (and older) literature on the Queen's Indian to give you better recommendations, but off the top of my head I recall at least 3:

Play the Queen's Indian by Andrew Greet: if I remember correctly the fianchetto variations are discussed somewhere at the end of his book. One plus about this book is that it's quite readable.
Starting Out: The Queen's Indian by John Emms: This is probably what you're looking for, there's an extensive study on the g3 variation (up to 70 pages almost). Also see his post here.
Queen's Indian Defence by Jacob Aagaard: I've heard good things about this one, but haven't read it myself, see chapter two. Apparently it contains numerous references to insightful games, for whatever variation that is covered in the book.

Finally, to browse through the known variations and played games, there are many websites that you can look through, but these two should get you started:

365chess
Queen's Indian (E15) page on chessgames
Comment: How about some sort of repertoire book with this line? Do you have The Kaufman Repertoire for Black and White?
Comment: I have the starting out Queen's Indian book. It goes over a bunch of different lines, with explanations of the ideas behind each line and illustrative games. For each line it also tells you if you need to know the theory or if you can get by using opening principles. Based on that information, you can just pick the lines you like and that will be your repertoire.
Comment: The Kaufman Repertoire covers the Grunfeld as the d4 defense for Black.


Are there any scriptures which prescribe any remedy against fear of suffering?

Question: I'm talking about the fear of suffering. Not particularly death. Personally, I had been through many sufferings in life and I'm still going through mental and physical sufferings. I really want to achieve something with my life. But I really couldn't achieve anything. I'm kinda living in a constant fear of future hurdles and sufferings. I just want to feel assured that future is going to be ok. But I know that it's impossible.
I know that everything is my prarabdha karma. And I have to live with it. What I truly want is atleast a bit of courage and work out something with my life.I just hope that I find some solace, peace and courage for overcoming my fear of hurdles.
Answer: Nārāyaṇa-kavaca is prescribed for fear. It is found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.8
, where instructions are given. Verse 5 says it is to be used "bhaya āgate", "in face of danger". It has the effect of "sādhvasāt sa vimucyate", "rid of fear" (verse 36) to those who meet its user. It frees the user from dangers (37), and the user is "mucyate sarvato bhayāt", "rid of all fear" (41).
Most importantly, Gita 2.40, tells us that "sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt", "Even a little effort in the righteous path [of yoga] will deliver you from great fear."


Differences between Explicit Commands vs. those explained by Chazal?

Question: What practical / halachic differences are there between mitzvos which are spelled out explicitly, and those stated generally e.g. ונשמרת מכל דבר רע, and תשבות, and ועשית הטוב והישר - which Chazal give specific applications?  Please include sources/מראה מקומות
Comment: Well, according to the Rambam, only the former make it into the list of 613 mitzvos. [Here are](https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/28054/1739) the practical differences.
Comment: @robev - thanks - according to the RambaM the Q turns into the subject of that post (613 vs. non 613 biblical requirements)- however that post didn't give any (non kabbalistic) answers (see my comment I just added there.).  In addition to others who do include it in the 613 (e.g. RambaN includes ונשמרת as #11) - the question is as stated - does being stated explicitly change anything?
Comment: Sidepoint: where did you see Ramban count ונשמרת? [By my calculations](https://thetaryag.com/rambam/ramban) he doesn't, [if I'm not mistaken](https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/96596/1739).
Comment: @robev - thanks for the links - Nice!.  In the שכחת לאוין section, RambaN (#11) (so it's not #11 of the 613, but #11 of those that we are forbidden to forget

השגות הרמב"ן לספר המצוות לרמב"ם שכחת הלאוין מצוה יא
המצוה האחת עשרה שנמנענו בצאתנו מחנה על האויבים מכל דבר רע כגון שפיכות דמים וזולתו מן העבירות הגורמות סילוק השכינה מן המחנה והוא אמרו יתעלה (תצא כג) כי תצא מחנה על אויביך **ונשמרת מכל דבר רע**
Answer: Although not practical right now, there is a difference in the fact that these mitzvohs that are explicit, the Tzedukim agree to them. In these instances, if Beis Din makes a mistake, they would not have to bring a korban as "every child knows it". While any Mitzvah that requires Chazal to interpet, they would bring a korban if they made a mistake. This is mentioned in Horayus 4A

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל אין ב"ד חייבין עד שיורו בדבר שאין הצדוקין מודין בו אבל בדבר שהצדוקין מודין בו פטורין מאי טעמא זיל קרי בי רב הוא

§ Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: A court is not liable to bring an offering unless it issues an erroneous ruling concerning a matter with which the Sadducees do not agree. The Sadducees do not accept the Oral Torah, and they interpret the Written Torah literally. The court is liable only for a matter that is not explicitly written in the Torah or that does not clearly stem from that which is written in the Torah. But with regard to an erroneous ruling concerning a matter with which the Sadducees agree, the judges are exempt. What is the reasoning for this exemption? It is a topic that you could go learn in a children's school. Since the matter the judges ruled upon is so obvious, their ruling simply exhibits ignorance, and is not deemed a ruling

It is also mentioned in a case of beis din mistakenly allowing someone to avoid the death penalty. Once they acquitted him, he cannot be returned to be retried. However if the mistake was something explicit in the Torah that the Tzedukim agree to, then he can be retried even after acquittal. This is brought in Sanhedrin 33B

ואין מחזירין לחובה: אמר ר' חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן והוא שטעה בדבר שאין הצדוקין מודין בו אבל טעה בדבר שהצדוקין מודין בו זיל קרי בי רב הוא

§ The mishna teaches concerning cases of capital law: But the court does not bring him back to be judged with a claim to find him liable. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: And this is the halakha only in a case where the judge erred with regard to a matter for which the Sadducees do not admit to its validity, i.e., he erred in a matter learned from tradition or established by the Sages. But if the judge erred in a matter for which the Sadducees admit to its validity, i.e., a matter that is written explicitly in the Torah, it is a topic that you could go learn in a children's school, and such an error negates the verdict and is reversed
Answer: An interesting question:
A specific mitzvah mentioned in the Torah would allow for many limmudim (exegesis). For example: Binyan Av etc... a general mitzvah either would not be possible or very difficult since it encompasses too much to argue a similarity to another mitzvah (though possibly it could generally be compared to other general mitzvahs).
I also don't know what is called general and specific. Presumably there is a delineation, but not placing a stumbling stone still can encompass a lot, though I presume this would be called specific.
תשבות mentioned many times comes to include or exclude a day to be similar to Shabbos or Yom Tov. Interestingly the Ramban on Parshas Emor (Vayikra 23:24) explains that there is a general rule to rest on shabbos (שבות), and the sages decided what is considered rest and what is not. This would include for example doing business on Shabbos (according to the Ramban a Torah law, though not equivalent to מלאכה, prohibited work). Also see Ritva 16a (ד׳׳ה ותניא ר׳׳ע). And so presumably any general law might have much more leeway given by Hashem to the sages in how it may be understood and applied.
A specific mitzvah can also be time bound and exclude many people, but a general will not (once again this depends on your delineation where a law is not general and specific and so the statement might only be true by definition then).
Answer: There is a גמרא in ביצה ל עמוד א and also in שבת קמח עמוד ב that deals with a concept מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיה מזידין, that we say if there are those doing something wrong, one shouldn't protest and inform them of the prohibition so that they will not intentionally violate the prohibition (of course this is where we don't assume that they will listen עי' תוספות שבת נה עמוד א). The רא"ש in ביצה פ"ד סימן ב quotes from the בעל העיטור that this is only said on what isn't explicit in a verse, but what is explicit in a verse you must protest without regarding that it may cause intentional violation of a prohibition. This is codified by the רמ"א in שלחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן תר"ח סעיף, ב בהגה.
There is a משנה למלך פי"ג מהלכות שגגות ה"ה בא"ד ד"ה אמנם, that is a very long piece, but in the middle seems to say דכל שאינו מפורש בתורה אין עונשין עליו, whatever is not explicit in the Torah that we don't give punishment on it.
The פתיחה כוללת of the פרי מגדים in חלק ראשון may be of interest.


Building from Source on MAC OSX 10.9 Error

Question: Hi i'm building Bitcoin from source and am having some problems. Curious if anyone would be able to help me.
When I try to make I get:
In file included from ./json/json_spirit_reader_template.h:9:
./json/json_spirit_value.h:20:10: fatal error: 'boost/config.hpp' file not found
#include <boost/config.hpp>
         ^
1 error generated.
make[1]: *** [rpcclient.o] Error 1
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

I try brew install boost and it's saying boost-1.55.0_2 already installed. Any ideas what exatly is going on?
Answer: I encountered the same problem and solved it by appending the following code to ~/.bash_profile file:
export CPATH=/usr/local/include


Finding patients who went under vasopressor use in MIMIC-III

Question: I am interested in exploring Vasopressor use in MIMIC-III. I googled Vasopressor some drugs. I also tried to identify the relevant itemid in the d_items table. I figured out that those Vasopressor drugs are also existing in the MIMIC-III. Those are "Isuprel","Nitroglycerine","Dopamine","Dopamine Drip","Levophed","Epinephrine-k","Phenylephrine","Epinephrine","Dobutamine Drip","Levophed-k","Epinephrine Drip","Nitroglycerin","Vasopressin","Lidocaine","Insulin","Nitroglycerine-k","Dobutamine","Milrinone","Norepinephrine".   I am wondering if it is reasonable to consider them all as vasopressor drug and to consider those itemid as vasopressor drugs in my research.
Answer: Insulin and lidocaine are not vasopressors - but the rest are. Determining which vasopressors to include is more determined by the research project rather than a global ground truth - sometimes you'd include inotropes, sometimes not, and so on.
Comment: Additionally, nitroglycerine is not a vasopressor. Isuprel is really used more as a chronotropic agent. And while epinephrine drip is certainly a vasopressor, it can also be given subcutaneously or as a push in the setting of a cardiac arrest or anaphylaxis, which may not be the use cases you are thinking about.
Comment: Good points all around!


How to get a link to a Google Translate translation?

Question: I was able in the past to do that, but I can't find how anymore.
Comment: Easily. Install Google translate app to your mobile device. Open web page in your mobile. Click  three dots in upper right corner of your browser - click Share -scroll until you find Google translate app. There you will have option to choose translate language and link above will be link on page with chosen translation which you can share.
Answer: All I had to do is to click in the "Translate" button and the URL was updated.
The instant translation doesn't update the URL.
The URL format is:
http://translate.google.com/#origin_language_or_auto|destination_language|encoded_phrase
or
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=auto&tl=destination_language&text=encoded_phrase

If you want to translate a webpage, use:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=auto&tl=destination_language&u=http://example.net

destination_language must be a language code, like en for English or pt-BR for Brazilian Portuguese. You can also set a value for sl (source language) instead of "auto".
Comment: Update these links to `https` to avoid browser security errors.
Comment: I have tried to use this answer, but failed: `https://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/web/all/top/BTmTopPage` - although the page translates fine when put into the url field manual. Am I missing a parameter?
Comment: Unsafe JavaScript attempt to initiate navigation for frame with URL https://translate.google.com/translate?... from frame with URL https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?... The frame attempting navigation of the top-level window is sandboxed, but the flag of 'allow-top-navigation' or 'allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation' is not set. Failed to set the 'href' property on 'Location': The current window does not have permission to navigate the target frame to https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?... at https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?...
Comment: What about [Bing Translate](https://www.bing.com/translator)?
Comment: If you receive the 'can't translate this page' error when using chrome, make sure that in language settings, the [option to translate pages](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/173424?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop) is enabled.   It is enabled by default, but I had turned it off in the past apparently.
Answer: Just go on Google Translate and paste the URL to translate in the left box. Select your target (and source) language and click on the resulting link in the right box.
You will be redirected to the translated website in the desired language. The URL can be shared with others to share the translated website.
Because the translation URLs are very long, I tend to shorten them with http://goo.gl/.
Comment: This no longer seems to work.
Answer: Here's another alternative that works if you wanted to share the link on Facebook for instance:
/translate.google.com/#origin_language_or_auto|destination_language|encoded+phrase+connected+with+plus+symbols
Example
http://translate.google.com/#auto/en/С+днём+рождения!
This link, when clicked would take you to the Google Translate page, auto detect the language, and translate it from Russian into English.  The "+" symbols are needed between the words in the phrase to be translated to insure that Facebook includes the entire phrase in the link.
For your convenience, here's a list of language abbreviations used by Google Translate:
The following table contains a recent list of languages supported by Google Translate.
No. Language Name   Native Language Name    Code

1   Afrikaans       Afrikaans           af
2   Albanian        Shqip               sq
3   Arabic          عربي                ar
4   Armenian        Հայերէն             hy
5   Azerbaijani     آذربایجان دیلی      az
6   Basque          Euskara             eu
7   Belarusian      Беларуская          be
8   Bulgarian       Български           bg
9   Catalan         Català              ca
10  Chinese (Simp.) 中文简体                zh-CN
11  Chinese (Trad.) 中文繁體                zh-TW
12  Croatian        Hrvatski            hr
13  Czech           Čeština             cs
14  Danish          Dansk               da
15  Dutch           Nederlands          nl
16  English         English             en
17  Estonian        Eesti keel          et
18  Filipino        Filipino            tl
19  Finnish         Suomi               fi
20  French          Français            fr
21  Galician        Galego              gl
22  Georgian        ქართული             ka
23  German          Deutsch             de
24  Greek           Ελληνικά            el
25  Haitian Creole  Kreyòl ayisyen      ht
26  Hebrew          עברית               iw
27  Hindi           हिन्दी                  hi
28  Hungarian       Magyar              hu
29  Icelandic       Íslenska            is
30  Indonesian      Bahasa Indonesia    id
31  Irish           Gaeilge             ga
32  Italian         Italiano            it
33  Japanese        日本語             ja
34  Korean          한국어                 ko
35  Latvian         Latviešu            lv
36  Lithuanian      Lietuvių kalba      lt
37  Macedonian      Македонски          mk
38  Malay           Malay               ms
39  Maltese         Malti               mt
40  Norwegian       Norsk               no
41  Persian         فارسی               fa
42  Polish          Polski              pl
43  Portuguese      Português           pt
44  Romanian        Română              ro
45  Russian         Русский             ru
46  Serbian         Српски              sr
47  Slovak          Slovenčina          sk
48  Slovenian       Slovensko           sl
49  Spanish         Español             es
50  Swahili         Kiswahili           sw
51  Swedish         Svenska             sv
52  Thai            ไทย                 th
53  Turkish         Türkçe              tr
54  Ukrainian       Українська          uk
55  Urdu            اردو                ur
56  Vietnamese      Tiếng Việt          vi
57  Welsh           Cymraeg             cy
58  Yiddish         ייִדיש               yi


does this drawing style have any particular name?

Question: can somebody please tell me whether this drawing style has any particular name?
where can i learn this drawing style?
This is certainly some hindu traditional drawing style, but i dont know whether i has a specific name. I would like to know if this drawing system has a specific name so that i can lear it.
i am referring to the pencil/pen like drawing, in this poster, which is mirrored on both sides at the top.
which drawing style is it?
Answer: Such artwork is generally called line art or line drawing. However, the style of art resembles traditional henna tattoo designs which are quite popular in India and elsewhere.  If you are just looking for something to google I suggest Indian henna tattoo designs.
Edit: After a little more research, I believe the Hindi term for these is mehndi, although most English speakers will probably not know this. I didn't known it until I googled it! Wikipedia says the art form originated in the Arabian Peninsula.
Comment: thank you...probably you are right...when i think about it again, there are some designs which resembles mehndi...mehndi is very common in india...i think arabs got it from india..you are very helpful..thanks again...let me do further research about it...
Comment: i am upvoting ur answer...thanks for taking time to help..
i was very much captivated by the design..

NB: since i have less than 15 rep points my up-votes are not being shown..


How can I get the aliens to start doing abductions again?

Question: I find it a lot of fun to pause my store progression at the Gollop chamber and just pass the in-game months fighting aliens, minmaxing my soldiers and experimenting with different teams; however I am finding that the game is missing something - I am no longer offered alien abductions to deal with. The Wikia site for the game says that abductions don't happen in countries with satellite coverage and stop altogether when most countries are covered with satellites, which is a good lead, but not nearly specific enough. What exact conditions stop alien abductions? Can I get alien abductions back after getting rid of them?
Answer: If you let a UFO go by without intercepting it, it's likely a battleship will come by later and shoot down a satellite.
If you have at least two countries uncovered by satellites, you'll get abduction missions.
So, you can wait for the aliens to shoot down two of your satellites and then abduction missions should start appearing again.
Comment: This is probably the only way to get them back. Disadvantage : when a satellite is shot down, that country tends to go into panic. So you may lose a few nations from the programme.
Comment: So, can abductions happen in lost countries? Shouldn't it be "Abductions can happen when you have two countries uncovered by satellites _and_ not withdrawn from the council."?
Comment: I haven't tried this, but could you also just destroy a sat uplink to lose sat coverage, instead of waiting for a shoot-down?
Answer: I can confirm this works.
I left one country (Egypt) in my home continent (Africa) without a satellite hoping to continue getting abduction missions. This didn't work however.
I then let a UFO escape and a Battleship turned up later and I left this alone too. It shot down the satellite over Russia.
Russia went up to a panic level of 5 because of this. Shortly afterwards however I got a Bomb disposal mission in Russia which reduced panic levels and then an UFO landing.
The next mission after that was an Abduction mission as you can see:

This leads me to think when playing Iron-man it may be worth leaving the remaining countries in your home continent without satellites. The extra cash, meld and rewards would be a decent boost. That is assuming they don't replace normal UFO missions which they may well do.


Being a non-native English writer how can i improve my English Writing style?

Question: I'm an Indian and trying to write a novel based on 2 sisters.
My problem is that i don't feel very comfortable with my english sometimes. How can i improve my english?
And sometimes i use the same words a lots of times which is not good i guess, for example the use of word English in this question itself. What alternatives can i use?
By the way i read a lots of english novels, watch movies and listen english songs as it is considered a good solution. I'm fluent in my english but just sometimes i feel i lack writing style a bit.
What can i do?
PS:-I'm just 20 so i guess i can't really be very mature but still i aspire to become a writer and that's all i want.
Comment: Hi Anvita! Welcome to Writers.SE, and best of luck with your writing! Part of how this site works is, we try to merge between different people asking the same thing - that means we don't answer the same questions over and over, and you've got a page all ready with responses. I'm going to mark this one as a duplicate; I hope the existing answers help!
Comment: Other related pages: http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/10701/how-to-master-literary-american-english-as-a-second-language , http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/10379/struggling-to-writing-in-english .
Comment: Hi! i'm new to this community. had no idea how things workor if the question has already been asked.
by the way thanks for the links.
Comment: That's absolutely fine :) Telling newcomers how the site works is a lot of what we do :) Welcome to the site, and happy writing!
Answer: Read and write in English as much as you can.  Use English exclusively in your life, if at all possible.
One of the greatest writers in the English language, Joseph Conrad (author of Heart of Darkness), was in his twenties when he learned English, and it was his fourth language.
Coming from another culture, you have an opportunity to bring an uncommon perspective to English language literature.  Good luck!
Comment: "Joseph Conrad"?  sure be the exception, Just need to be born in an intellectual environment, learn some English as a child as well as other European languages that are roots to English, become a British citizen, master the intricacies of the English language and literature during the next 16 years, then write a novel whose potential publisher judges as "uncertain whether the English was good enough for publication."


Are decoupling capacitors needed with battery power?

Question: Currently I run all my gadgets from batteries and don't use decoupling capacitors.  Are they generally needed/useful when drawing energy from a battery?
Answer: In broad terms, you should always use them. It is simply something that cannot hurt you to do, but could cause serious problems to ignore.
You have probably not seen any major problems with your batteries because they are placed relatively close to your chips and because they have an internal resistance to snub higher frequency signals.
This could still cause power concerns in higher frequency signals. If a Microcontroller runs at 20MHz then you are having 20e6 pulses of current pulled per second. This may not seem like a big issues, but when enough inputs change at once you may cause ground bounce or many similar problems that come with high inductance paths to ground.
The wikipedia article has some background if it helps.
 Little extra on decoupling capacitor terminology
The job of a decoupling capacitor is to "decouple" your devices power draw from the rest of the circuit. If a decoupling capacitor does its job you will only measure a DC power draw. They remove the AC wave.
There are different terms for decoupling capacitors.
The bulk capacitors act as large power sources that can supply power for periods of time, these are required for functionality. Without a bulk filter cap you will have to have time dependent current as your chip pulls power on it's cycle.
Bypass capacitors are often of lower value and are designed to terminate higher frequencies. As frequency reduces your impedance decreases for capacitors. A smaller value capacitor has a higher impedance. These small capacitors are the backbone of terminating higher frequency waves.
Decade capacitors are another term for bypass caps but the name implies more. If your bulk filter cap is .1uF then your decade caps will be .01uF and .001 and even .0001uF depending on what you are doing. Normally I only see 1 decade cap, but I have had to use 2 or 3 before.
Comment: F.Y.I, the reason for decade capacitors is the ESR of the caps decreases as the cap gets smaller. Therefore, if you have a situation which is very noise-sensitive, or draws very large current spikes, a 0.01 uf cap might be more effective than a 0.1 uf cap.
Comment: 0.01 uF is only more effective than 0.1 uF if the former has a smaller package (or some other mechanism for reducing inductance).  All else equal, a 603 0.01 uF will not perform any better than a 603 0.1 uF
Comment: Agreed, there is an impedance component also, but I would agree.
Comment: decade capacitors: http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/3879/frequency-dependence-of-electrolytic-capacitors
Comment: @ajs410 -- ...with the one caveat that the two in parallel reduce the *effective* ESR if laid out well (close, well stitched, wide feeder tracks, etc...)
Comment: Using decade spaced caps for decoupling is based on old analog circuit design principles, when things were working at much lower frequencies.  At higher digital frequencies, capacitor package inductance dominates frequency response.  Using decade spaced caps can actual hurt decoupling performance because of LC resonance issues that end up giving high impedance spikes.  I know of one study that found the best decoupling strategy for high speed digital PCBs is many distributed equal value capacitors, which had overall better performance than varied values because of LC resonance issues.
Comment: @ConnorWolf I doubt it, The main reason I think is ESL. I've had a look on many EMI capacitor datasheets, the ESR seems to get higher for smaller capacitance values, the ESL however gets higher, which has an small impact on SRF. To summarize, the smaller the capacitance, the higher the SRF, the better HF performances are.
Answer: Decoupling isn't about smoothing out power, decoupling is about suppressing the high frequency noise generated by circuits that generate high slew rate signals, especially logic circuits.
When a node changes through several volts in a matter of nanoseconds, it takes a brief slug of current to charge/discharge the capacitance at that node. If you have a bunch of IC's sharing supply wiring, the inductance in the supply lines means that those slugs of current going into one IC translate into supply voltage dips for the other IC's, and this can glitch things into unintended states.
The reason you stick a good high-frequency cap on every IC is to provide individually for these gulps of current, thereby 'decoupling' the supply demands of the ICs from one another.
Comment: @Nat Ryall - well, 'smoothing' is practically the same thing as decoupling, just at a lot lower frequency. Basically if you have a nearly constant load on a decent size battery, you probably can get away w/o bulk capacitance, BUT, if your system is going to switch on motors or relays, turn on a transmitter, or do anything else to suddenly pull in gobs of current, or even just fluctuate over a wide range, bulk capacitors are a good idea, for the same basic principle as decoupling.
Comment: I would add, this decision is mostly affected by the inductance and current. If you inductance gives a 500ohm load at the frequency you want to pull it at, but your current is still less then 500uA then your voltage drop can probably be ignored. If the drop is too much, you need to have caps to deliver high frequency power, and use your inductive power lines for currents closer to DC.
Answer: They're useful because devices drawing power can also cause ripples - not just the regulator.  For instance a microcontroller will draw more current on a clock rising edge and less otherwise.  This draw causes the supply voltage to be drawn down ever so slightly.  If everything is running off of the same clock it gets worse.  With a capacitor on the power pins there's a reserve available to minimize this ripple.  It's a good idea.
Answer: A battery has an internal resistance. The pulses of current drawn by microcontrollers and other digital logic can cause dips in the battery voltage. A bulk decoupling cap (10µF or so) across the power rails is necessary to prevent big dips causing problems. Don't forget small 100nF caps are also necessary on the Vdds of all digital logic ICs to provide a local current source. The inductance of traces on your PCB will make these necessary, or you may discover strange and unusual bugs are affecting your circuit.
Comment: I would suggest against learning that there is a set capacitance for things. I have used chips that need 10uF as a local current source.
Comment: A bulk capacitor AFAIK is placed near the power rails of the battery/power source and next to large groups of components; a decoupling capacitor sits next to the Vdd pins. Both are bypass capacitors.
Comment: Good point, but I would say 10µF is a bulk capacitor not really a decoupling capacitor.
Comment: What's the difference between "bulk capacitor" and "decoupling capacitor"?  Which is a synonym for "bypass capacitor"?
Comment: it is still attempting to decouple groups of components from other groups of components, and often larger current pull ICs have a bulk capacitor to themselves.
Comment: a bypass capacitor, bulk capacitor, and decoupling can all mean the same thing. When someone says bulk, they will in general be using it as a "power source". this is still a decoupling capacitor.
Answer: Every time a transistor changes state in a digital system, it takes a tiny bit of current to switch. Tons of the transistors in a logic chip or microcontroller are changing at nearly the same instant. When that happens, the power consumed by the chip spikes briefly. Bypass (or decoupling) capacitors help supply that power so that those brief load spikes don't cause the supply voltage on other chips to drop. (Especially since the other chips might be briefly needing their own surge of current at the same time.)
That's why you want very fast (small, low ESR) caps located near each IC, as close to the power pins as practical.
The big caps near the power supply provide the current to carry the load while the AC supply goes through 0V, and the small/medium caps near the supply help refill the bypass caps scattered all over the board.


How are "charter" and "passenger" flights defined in the AIDX standard?

Question: I'd like to know the difference between these flight types in the IATA AIDX standard; specifically, for use in fuel order notifications.
Comment: Does that relate to the "Standard Weight" for a pax, or the Airport Zone (GA, charter...). Do you have a specific document to look into?
Comment: The hyperlink points to a generic company homepage not to any relevant information. And what are "these flight types"?
Answer: I know this question is 3 years out of date, but I thought I'd answer anyway. My answer is only applicable to Aviation Info Data Exchange (AIDX) schema 16.1.
As far as I know, there is actually no item in the format specifying the type of flight. But most systems I've come across have some coupled business logic that will make an AIDX request with the form of SheduleRQ and push this to a database.
If the flight isn't in the database it will make a further PublicStatus request to determine if the aircraft info should be shown to the public.
This might be a work around at the moment, but soon enough (2023-2025) AIDX will be integrated into AIDM and with all luck, unacknowledged requests will be a thing of the past.


Does iTunes keep a sync-log file?

Question: My iTunes likes to periodically delete all my applications. I caught it 'syncing' my apps again today. Only a few apps were deleted, but I'd like to know which ones. Does iTunes store sync changes in a log file?
Answer: Per Apple Tech Support Senior iPhone Technician Christina, whom I just had the pleasure of working with (1/3/12 @ ~9:05am Central Time), iTunes does NOT keep any type of "log" file that can be located & viewed to assist you with troubleshooting.
Her suggestion was to use the "msinfo32" command (from either a DOS prompt, or the START-->SEARCH feature in Windows 7, you will also most likely need Administrator rights, but have not tested this to confirm) and then "dig through" the information.

Does iTunes keep a sync-log file?


Is 1mm acrylic (plexi) a good choice for photo framing glass?

Question: I would like to order custom frames from an online supplier and they come with 1mm acrylic (plexi) instead of glass.  The frames will be 16"x20" or larger.  Is the 1mm acrylic a good choice here? Some of my unknowns are is it rigid, sooth and completely transparent? Will it bow or show uneven reflections, etc.  Basically, is a suitable choice for framing of photos this size?
This particular glass has no UV protection or anti glare. It's a standard, entry-level product.  I would really appreciate actual experiences with this material.
Comment: Acrylic a good choice if treated well. Are you SURE it is acrylic? Could be eg Polycarbonate. Acrylic has excellent light transmission properties but is brittle - breaks more eaily than some. Long exposure (years) to bright light and weathering & mechanical abrasion etc can cause crazing of surface - good it in indirect light. More easily marked than som Not an issue if hing on wall. So - A' is less good tha P mechanically but excellent optically. A is used in concentrator photo voltaics at many suns intensity. P has ~= 5% light loss. A usually much less. vVen 10% is not discernible to eye.
Comment: I'd also be concerned about scratches. Plexi is much softer than glass.
Comment: FWIW, Plexiglas, Lucite and Perspex are all trade names for polymethyl methacrylate (acrylic).
Comment: i recently bought some picture frames from ikea (the cheapest ones) and they come with sort-of 1mm acrylic front. It comes protected on both sides by a peelable translucent film. It is very similar to glass on ordinary reflecting conditions, and hanging on the wall, i imagine it's not going to get too much scratches.
Comment: Thanks @RussellMcMahon - i think it is acrylic. The desciption provided on the site is "1mm acrylic (plexi)". 3mm optional.  Can you make your comment an answer?
Answer: Acrylic that thin is fine for small prints (11x14" or smaller) and tolerable for larger ones if you watch out for a couple of things:
Thin acrylic isn't particularly rigid, which means the front of your print gets less support than it will with glass.  This gets worse as the print gets bigger, and thicker material will bring some of the rigidity back.  You can make up for some of it with a sufficiently-thick (and stable) backing and enough of a lip up front to hold everything securely in place.  Inexpensive frames come up short on this, and support for the print at the edges and corners will wane over time unless you have a whole lot of clips along the inside perimeter.  Having your lab mount your prints on styrene will help with this, too.
If you intend for these frames to last awhile, I would recommend treating the outward-facing surface with a plastic cleaner and protectant such as Plexus or Novus Plastic Clean and Shine.  These will help the surface resist dust and smudges, cutting down on the need for cleaning and opportunities for scratching.
Once hanging on the wall, you can't really tell it from glass without touching it or getting up close enough to see how far back the print is from the surface.  I have a couple of posters in frames with acrylic that have been hanging for 20 years.  The material has done fine, but I have had the support problems mentioned above.
Comment: It should also be noted that Acrylic is not as good at filtering UV light than glass, and I don't believe acrylic survives as long itself in the presence of UV light (i.e. sunlight.) So above and beyond the simple rigidity and support concerns with Acrylic, your photos might not last as long (fade earlier.)
Comment: @Jakub: If transparency is your concern, then it's not so much that glass is not transparent, it's that it is reflective. You need to get multicoated glass to improve "transparency", or mitigate reflections. That is usually called museum glass, and yes, it's expensive, but it's also amazing.
Comment: Thanks @jrista - good point, although longevity and fading are not my primary concerns. This particular supplier also offers UV protected acrylic but according to what I've read this is at an expense of decreased transparency. Transparency is important to me (first impression); I've been framing with glass which often isn't transparent enough (good custom glass is also heavy and quite expensive) Weight is a concern as some of my framed photos are now so heavy I have to make sure I use adequate wall anchors - I almost feel it's unsafe for the buyers.


How to stop built-in flash from pre-flashing?

Question: Canon T2i keeps shooting pre-flashes; I have set the dial to "MAnual" (M)
Im trying to trigger another separate flash optically-wirelessly with the in-camera flash but preflashes cause it to go off prematurely
Comment: It's been a while but try in the menu to find something like *Flash Control* and select an option which is not E-TTL as TTL requires the pre-flash. There may also be yet another pre-flash for redeye reduction in which case you have to turn it off too. Again its in the menu but I don't recall exactly.
Answer: Setting the dial to M only affects the camera's exposure mode but does not tell the camera to also use manual flash mode any more than it tells the camera to use manual focusing mode. There are a couple of other options you need to check that could be causing the camera to emit the pre-flash.

Red-eye reduction. The camera fires a pre-flash to try and induce the subject's pupils to contract so less light from the main flash is allowed to enter the eye, bounce off the back of the inside of the eye and back out through the iris. Instructions for enabling or disabling red-eye reduction are found on page 65 of the T2i Instruction Manual.
E-TTL. Since you are optically triggering another flash without an E-TTL capable master flash, in the Canon system this means you are not using E-TTL to communicate with the off camera flash. But your camera has no idea the off camera flash even exists, since it is not in communication with it. If the flash mode on the camera is set to E-TTL then the camera is assuming the built-in flash is the only one and is going to fire a pre-flash to meter the reflectivity of the subject. Unfortunately, page 148 of the T2i Instruction Manual indicates that E-TTL is the only option with the built-in flash. To select Manual flash you must have a compatible external Speedlight attached to the T2i.

Since the T2i does not include a PC port (so you could disable the built-in flash and use the PC port to trigger the external flash via either a wired or wireless connection) the most practical workaround would probably be to use a cheap wireless trigger set (or the version with two receivers so you could use two off-camera flashes). By attaching the trigger's transmitter to the hot shoe, the camera should default to manual flash mode since it will not sense it as an E-TTL compatible flash. You may have to disable the built-in flash via the instructions on page 147 of the T2i Instruction Manual to prevent it from popping up. This may or may not prevent the hot shoe from signalling the transmitter when the shutter has opened.
Note that even though the flash sync speed of the T2i is 1/200 second, when using an off-camera flash via a wireless trigger you may have to reduce the shutter speed to slightly longer than the X-sync speed to insure the flash fires before the second curtain begins to close. If you see a dark rectangular area across the bottom of the picture, reduce the shutter speed to 1/160, 1/125, or even 1/100 second.
Comment: It's not so much the time of transmission, which is near instantaneous, as it is the time it takes the microprocessors in the transmitter and the receiver(s) to do their thing. That and the need for a 'minimum' length of transmission' for the receiver to validate the encoded signal from the transmitter. Even the simplest, cheapest trigger sets use a digitally encoded pulse to prevent other devices operating in the same frequency range from accidentally setting off the trigger.
Comment: "even though the flash sync speed of the T2i is 1/200 second, when using an off-camera flash via a wireless trigger you may have to reduce the shutter speed to slightly longer than the X-sync speed"  Is this because the time it takes for the wireless signal transmission actually counts and delays the flash actuations by milliseconds?
Answer: Is it a single preflash (which is undetectable unless you have a long exposure with flash set to second curtain) or a quick series of flashes?
There are already some answers here regarding red eye and TTL, but a quick series of flashes would indicate the flash is assisting the auto focus.  This will occur if you are trying to take a picture in a dark room where there isn't enough light for auto-focus to work.  This can be resolved by using manual focus.
Comment: It was indeed the autofocus. You answer has saved me a lot of trouble. I was playing (learning) with my flash mainly at night (Rebel T6i) and could not understand the pre-flash. Once I tried manual focus or in daylight the pre-flash didn't went off.
Comment: @PhotoByArtie How about accepting the answer then?
Comment: I would. But this isn't my question. The best I can do I already did, which was upvote. So... :|
Answer: In the same scenario, what I did is: AE-L, then the camera emits the pre-main flash flash, and I just used my hand to direct that flash away from the optical receiver. Then when you are actually capturing, only the main flash flashes. (AE-L is Auto-exposure lock. You have either this or a similar button on your camera.)
However, after doing flash triggering this way for awhile, I invested in a very cheap radio remote trigger, and that is much more comfortable to use.
Make sure you do not cover your built-in flash or put your hand on it, as the emitted power is considerable, and it can melt or burn pieces.


How to back sweeten an apple wine

Question: I'm going to brew an apple wine and would like this batch to be sweet. What is the best method to back sweeten an apple wine?
Answer: Impede the yeast activity with either sorbate or metabisulfite.  Then add the sweetener of choice in the bottling phase to taste.  Bottle from there.
Answer: I do ciders and Apple wines a lot.
Not being a fan of chemical inhibitors, I crash and fine out the cider to brilliant clairity before kegging to limit suspended yeast.
I usually have about 4.5 gallons of cider to rack and add 1/2 gallon of store bought preservative free juice (usually the same juice that was fermented) to top off the keg. Then keep it refrigerated.  This backsweetens to my taste and is the simplest imo if you keg.
Answer: You can try to add some Honey that has non fermentable sugars, this will make you cinder more alcoholic and more sweet.
Instead of trying to kill you yeast with chemical products you must try to add non fermentable sugars (dextrine).
Here read this link: http://www.cider.org.uk/part4.htm
I never make cinder, but for get more body and sweetnes in beer i mash at higher temp to get Alpha-Amylase generate more non fermentable sugars.
Answer: I put my cider in the fridge for 3 days than filter it into a keg, then add apple cider, and a roll of frozen concentrate from the grocery store.

How to back sweeten an apple wine


What would a video look like without the shutter separating frames?

Question: If the shutter wasn't in the picture, what would you get? Are there any examples of this available? I've searched, but couldn't come up with anything. Is this an impossible thing? Or are the results so unremarkable it's not worth showing? Would it just be a continuous blur of motion?
Comment: a lot of cameras don't have shutters, can you tell by the video? or are you asking only about film cameras?
Comment: @dandavis So perhaps I'm not understanding fully how shutters work, as I'm curious about digital. I thought the shutter was always in effect and needed to separate the frames of the video.
Comment: to greatly simplify, many cameras can just turn the sensor off between frames, clearing the last captured image and demarcating a new one. Early CMOS sensors needed time to be read and reset, during which additional light could interfere with readings. "electronic shutters" became possible as sensors gained the ability to buffer the capture and curtail input while streaming out the pixel data. CCDs could always do this. In short, we don't always need shutters and such video looks fine in well-designed systems.
Comment: @dandavis Ok, thanks. So is there an answer to what would happen if the sensor was not turned on and off and the shutter was not used? For stills, that's long exposure, but what would happen in video? Would it be a video that builds upon itself with motion? Like a long-exposure still in progress?
Comment: yes, if the buffer were not electronically reset-able, it would look like a print developing or an in-progress long-exposure. You can simulate that in PS by giving each frame a layer and blending them with "sum"
Comment: @dandavis I'm wondering why I can't find any video of this? I might not be entering the best search terms for it. Any suggestions?
Answer: The answer to this will differ based on if you are really talking video or film.
In either case, you'd have no control over shutter speed, which would mean you were locked at the exposure time of the frame rate you were shooting in.  This would greatly limit your exposure options which would either impact ISO/film grain or the depth of field or both.
With no shutter on film, the film would be exposing as it advanced and would thus be a streaked mess.  It would be stopped for a longer time than it's moving in most cameras, but you'd still be able to see the streaks distorting the image.
With no shutter on video, you fair a lot better.  Since the sensor itself isn't moving, you'd just have continuous scanning that wouldn't be that noticeably different.  Practically speaking, you still have an electronic shutter though because there is a blanking interval where the sensor has to read and dump charges, so there is going to be down time when the sensor isn't collecting photons and during this time, the "shutter" is effectively closed.  In fact, it's fairly common for video cameras to use a pure electronic shutter rather than a mechanical one.
Comment: It might be possible to have some sort of continuous live feed where every sensor was connected to a pixel on a display which would have no shutter. And if you had analog equipment that could handle the enormous bandwidth you could technically record it without samples. But why.
Comment: @stib you still have to choose a time to reset the photosite.  That would be, in essence, a shutter.  Otherwise the sites would all rapidly exceed their collection limit and you'd just have a white screen.  Or are you just talking about doing away with the collector all together and instead just have every photosite directly feed a screen through an amplifier with no actual collection?  That would be very, very noisy at a minimum as the collection is a necessary step to differentiating signal from noise.
Comment: Either way, we're talking a highly specialized device that individually links each photosite to an led or something similar in a display.  No existing display or sensor operates in this manor, so it would have to be completely custom fabrication.
Comment: Yeah, I'm not talking practical, I'm talking theoretically possible.
Answer: I think it would be unremarkable as to be not worth showing.
Knowing that motion pictures are just a regular sequence of still images, what separates frames is, well, holding the image frame still for the exposure time (which is somewhat controllable, but generally about half of the frame rate period). Yes, the shutter does blank the light from exposing the film or sensor for a brief period of time (or in the case of electronic shutter, blanking and resetting the sensor).
The excellent YouTube video How a Film Projector Works (only 9 minutes) by Bill Hammack, a.k.a. engineerguy, shows how a movie projector operates. I can't recommend this video enough (as well as all of his videos). There is so much information presented, incredibly clearly demonstrated.
Early in the video, note that the projector does not smoothly move the film strip past the lamp and lens. If that were the case, it would be a blur of information, and you could barely make out some of the film detail. Instead, the film frame is held stationary while its image is projected. Then, when the film is advanced, a rotating shutter blocks the lamp from projecting the image through the lens. I like to make the analogy of a stage play closing the curtains while the stage set is changed, then the curtains are drawn to display the new set. You didn't see the stagehands and props moving. You only get to see the placed sets.
The process of capturing film is almost exactly the same, only rather than using a lamp to project through a developed frame, light coming through the lens has to expose a stationary frame of film for a fixed period of time. In the projector video, note that a single frame is actually projected 3 times by use of a 3-bladed shutter wheel, in order to increase the flicker rate (apparent frame rate) beyond the flicker fusion threshold of about 60-70 flickers per second.
But in a film video camera, a single shutter wheel exposes the stationary image frame for (about) half of the single frame period. This is controllable by a sort-of variable-sized rotary disc shutter wheel. This control over the single-frame exposure time is known as the shutter angle. The reason to control the shutter angle is to allow for more or less motion blur to be recorded in the film frames.


Consequences of taking a break from training

Question: I'm taking a forced break (about 2-3 weeks) from weightlifting after several months of training. How much are my strength and volume going to drop and at what pace should I start training after coming back? Also is it beneficial to keep protein consumption the same (2g per 1kg) during the break or I should decrease it? Can I use this time to lose some fat and go for calories deficit without losing muscles?
Comment: Possible duplicate of [What's the time threshold for a drop in performance when taking a break from training?](http://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/3472/whats-the-time-threshold-for-a-drop-in-performance-when-taking-a-break-from-tra)
Comment: Seems like you might get part of your answer from http://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/3475/8039 or http://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/2773/8039
Comment: No changes will happen after a 2 or 3 week break.
Answer: Taking a couple weeks off won't hurt your strength and could actually be beneficial over the long run as it will give your body some really good rest. I like doing a small deficit when I have to take time off of lifting, you could expect to lose a few lbs over that time. Be aware if you do go on a deficit during your time off you will probably have to drop your weights a little when you come back to lifting. I recommend starting out a little light, like 5-10% lbs lighter than you were doing, and working back up to your old weights over a few workouts.
Comment: Good answer, but I'd talk more about a percentage decline that "10-15lb".


Can I publish a technical paper on more than one publishing sites?

Question: Can I publish my technical paper on more than one publishing sites? The paper content is the same while only the formats differ. I am the author of the paper.
Comment: Sounds like self-plagiarism to me, so no.
Comment: To expand on @dgraziotin's comment, sites like the arXiv would be considered repositories in this sense.  It's completely fine to post to several of them (if you're in a field like math/physics/CS in which posting to repositories is generally allowed by publishers).  As for academic journals, there are rare occasions in which a journal paper may be reprinted by another journal, but only with the knowledge and permission of everyone involved, and it's pretty rare.
Comment: You can, but you should not. Unless your paper is an open access paper under certain licenses like the Creative Commons and you want to post it on different **websites** or **repositories** (not academic journals).
Comment: @dgraziotin good point, but since the OP talks about changing formats I'm guessing academic journals are implied.
Answer: Short answer : No.
Long answer: Only under certain circumstances where you have explicit permission to do so. Be aware that even if you have permission to do so, there are many folks who take an extremely dim view of multiple publishing.
Comment: ok. Thanks @JohnPercivalHackworth for your comments.
Answer: The only formal process that I'm aware of is the reprint mechanism. You publish a piece of work. Sometime later, editors of a compendium or collection wish to take your article and reprint it. In that case, the original publishers have to approve this (as well as you of course).
More commonly, papers published in a peer-reviewed venue might also appear in a Ph.D dissertation in some form. Here again, there's some form of copyright approval needed for it to happen.