Is it possible to recruit more templar/skimishers/reapers?

Question: I've been playing for a few hours, and I've only gotten one of each.  Is it possible to get more?
Comment: I have not played enough of it yet, but I believe you can get a special mission to get another one. Those missions are rare though. I believe there was something about it in one of the streams prior to launch, but I can't quite remember what.
Answer: I was finally able to get another Reaper through a covert action.  As far as I've seen, that's the only way to get new faction-units.
Answer: You can get one extra faction soldier from the first resistance faction that you contact by using a covert action that requires high influence in that faction.
With the WotC tutorial on you always encounter the Reaper faction first making it only possible to get an extra Reaper.
I read this in another thread that said that a dev had said it during a livestream and it seemed correct my first full run of the game so I believe it to be true but if you find proof otherwise, please tell me.
Comment: Is that a more or less educated guess or taken from some reference?
Comment: I read it in a thread somewhere that a dev said this during a livestream and it was correct during my first full run in WotC and I had high influence with all factions quite a while and only got a 2nd reaper(first met faction). It also seems to be correct with your first run and the other answer in this thread so it was an educated guess I was almost certain of. Although I can not find a foolproof source now so I will change my answer to reflect that.
Comment: How does one start a campaign without meeting the Reaper first? I thought this was a story mission, not a tutorial option (as I avoided the actual tutorial with Jane Kelly, yet I still played the Outrider/Mox meeting mission)
Comment: When you start a new game you can choose if you wish to enable/disable "Lost and Abandoned" which is the Wotc tutorial/introduction.
Answer: I'm almost finished with my first WotC run — which I really dragged out until November with a completely empty Avatar Project progress bar. I've got exactly four faction soldiers, the three initial ones from making contact and one additional Reaper from a covert op, I think it was simply called "Recruit Soldier". Since it was my first WotC run I did actually look out specifically at every turn for faction soldiers but alas, I got only the one extra.
I had two seemingly random faction missions, but those only allowed me to get more regular soldiers, so maybe that were just a new kind of regular new resistance mission types even though they were not introduced the same as the usual ones.
There might be an resistance order giving you Skirmishers. Unfortunately, I won't be able to figure out if these guys permanently join XCOM or just work in the mission for you as it is already deep in November and XCOM is really armed to the teeth already.
Comment: The "ADVENT units" that join you are just normal rookies.  They appear randomly on missions.
Comment: You can get a similar card from the Repears, and a rookie resistance member will randomly fight besides. you. That one is better as they will be using a plasma rifle if you researched it. They also aim better. The Skirmishers card is hardly worth it, only saving grace is that the defector has a grenade, while the resistance member does not.
Answer: The expansion originally only allows you to recruit one additional faction soldier from the faction you first start with.
You can remedy it by use of this mod: Recruit Multiple Heroes From All
The author has a number of other "mods" that are actually fixes to the game, which I, personally, recommend. For example he also has a fix for the "Brutal" ability of the Hunter. The fix makes it so every attack reduces the current will of your soldiers, instead of the maximum as it is in the original expansion at this moment.
Comment: Are you sure it's a bug?  It sounds like it was intentional.
Comment: Yes, you are right this one doesn't look like bug. Since there are other bugs the author of that mod fixes I assumed this one was, too. I have no idea what they were thinking with that limit, though.
Answer: I have been playing the same game for quite awhile. I have everything researched and have done countless missions and have full influence with all the factions. All I have acquired is an extra reaper. So I truly believe it is only possible to get one extra soldier after the first three from other factions. If you find another way to recruit more please let me know.
Answer: If one of your faction guys gets captured you get a mission to replace him if you save the captured one now you have two


Best playing style for MTT's

Question: When I read the question Quantifying the amount of luck required to win a tournament and the answer to that question I started thinking about different playing styles. Could this method of calculating required luck to win be used to pinpoint the most effective style of playing? If so, has anybody done just that?
Answer: This question is way too general in my opinion. You are asking if you can optimize tournament play by reducing variance. That itself is sub-optimal. So in essence, no.
Comment: what do you mean by "that itself is sub-optimal"?

Best playing style for MTT's


Elevation of Atmosphere differ?

Question: Does the atmosphere depth (or how high the air molecules from the ground) of Earth or Mars differ gradually or can there be plumes of atmosphere that reaches into space? If I were able to travel a perfect circle around the equator would the atmosphere differ in elevation?
Comment: I *think* they are asking whether the height, and density gradient, of a planet's atmosphere is constant (ish) all over or whether the atmosphere may reach much higher in some places than others. I think the earth / Mars thing is a red herring. But I'm not sufficiently confident that this is the intent to edit the question. @muze, could you clarify please?
Comment: do you mean variance of atmospheric density with altitude?  It's not clear what you are asking.
Comment: @Muze: You might this question & answer, posted on SE Space Exploration relevant to your question: [Is there a calculation for determining the thickness of a planet's atmosphere?](http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/19119/is-there-a-calculation-for-determining-the-thickness-of-a-planets-atmosphere)
Comment: @SimonW if i were able to travel a perfect circle around the equator would the atmosphere differ in elevation?
Answer: The atmosphere has various layers.  Going upwards they are - troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere. (There are "pause" layers between, like tropopause, stratopause etc.) The density gets less and less and the exact height to the top of the exosphere is difficult to determine because the gas is so thin. However, we normally talk about the height of the troposphere which varies from about 7 to 10 km at the poles to about 18 km above the Equator. The reason it is higher at the Equator has to do partly with centrifugal force being greater there. For example, if a jelly-like sphere is rotated it starts to bulge outwards in the central, faster moving region.  Even the solid Earth itself bulges at the Equator due to centrifugal force.  See this blog post for details.
Answer: The atmosphere, as a whole, is approximately in hydrostatic equilibrium. This means that the gravity of the earth holds the atmosphere to the earth, preventing its escape, though few molecules may escape every so often.
Mathematically, this can be described by $$\frac{dP}{dr}=-\rho g$$ where P is the pressure, $\rho$ is the density, and $g$ is gravity. Using the Ideal Gas Law $$P=\rho R T$$, where $T$ is temperature and $R$ is the gas constant for air. Assuming that the temperature in the height of a column of the atmosphere is averaged ($\bar{T}$) an equation for the average height of the atmosphere can be found $$P(r,\phi,\lambda)=P_0(\phi,\lambda)exp(-\frac{(r-r_0)g}{R\bar{T}(\phi,\lambda)})=P_0(\phi,\lambda)exp(-\frac{gz}{R\bar{T}(\phi,\lambda)})$$
where $r_0$ is the radius of the earth,$P_0$ is the surface pressure, $r=z+r_0$, where $z$ is the height above the earth's surface, $\phi$ is the latitude, and $\lambda$ is the longitude.
To Summarize:
As the average temperature of the atmosphere increases, the height of the atmosphere will generally increase. This means that the height of the atmosphere will generally be the lowest near the poles, but highest near the equator. There are certainly exceptions to this rule, but this generally works. If you were to go around the equator, it will likely not be a "perfect circle" since the average temperature would have to be exactly the same.

Elevation of Atmosphere differ?


Handing out resumes during a seminar/workshop/yearly event?

Question: I will be attending a bi-annual event as a potential employee (I'm currently a junior in college).  I will be carrying my resume with me to pass out to potential employers if it is requested.  My question is...should I just hand them the resume?  Should I put each resume in an envelope?  If so, should it be in a letter sized envelope or would it be okay to fold it for this occasion?  Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Comment: Is this event a job fair? Or are you giving out unsolicited resumes?
Answer: I'm going to assume this is a carer/job fair event.
Do not put your resume in a envelope. You are going to be going up and talking with potential employers. When talking with them, you want to refer them to your resume. They will also want to read through it on the spot. Having your resume in an envelope will just slow down the process.
Things I would suggest you do (if you're in North America):

Get a LinkedIn account. I know a few companies that will ask to connect to you via that. And honestly, it can't hurt.
Print enough resumes.
Look at the companies attending, and do some research into the ones you're most interested in. Seek them out first when you get there.
Comment: You probably want a notebook or a folder or something like that and put your stack of resumes in that so you can easily pull one out when asked.
Comment: Why do people still encourage printing out resumes? Use bluetooth or wifi to transfer it to the recruiter's device: http://nrecursions.blogspot.in/2015/10/do-recruiters-still-need-to-ask-for.html


To make Gluten free pancakes, can I just substitute regular flour with Gluten free flour?

Question: Will a normal pancake recipe work with Gluten free flour, or do I need to add other ingredients as well?
Comment: @Aaronut Why the tag "quickbread"? It's not a food term relating to pancakes?
Comment: @TFD: Sure it is. Pancakes are a type of quickbread, and this question is equally applicable to many if not most other quickbreads (waffles, muffins, etc.)
Comment: @Aaronut North American term, not in Oxford dictionary... :-)
Answer: It depends on what you mean by gluten-free flour. If you are buying a gluten-free flour mix that it labeled for all-purpose use then you should be able to substitute that and get a reasonably good result. Substituting straight rice or almond flour in a standard recipe will not work well, because the mixes have a blend of ingredients designed to make it perform similar to flour.
It may take some recipe/flour experimentation to get it as close to what you are used to, but will definetly make something edible. There are also various almond-flour based pancake recipes which work well.


Rotation of Fluid in a Cylinder

Question: Question:
See what I tried below and verify if I'm wrong. I need help here.
Answer: You just need to get the height of the paraboloid (air) in the cylinder. Knowing that the volume of the paraboloid is half of the cylinder of the same height,
$$H_{paraboloid}=2*H_{cylinder}$$
where $H_{cylinder}$ is the height of air when it is not rotating, $0.2\ m$, therefore $$H_{paraboloid}=0.4m=y$$
substituting the value in the equation,
$$y=\frac{\omega^2x^2}{2g}$$
where $x=0.1\ m$, (radius of paraboloid) and $g=9.81\ m/s^2$, you will get
$$\omega=28.014\ rad/s = 267.51 rev/min$$

Rotation of Fluid in a Cylinder


Unknown used space on hard drive

Question: There's an unknown space that is used on my hard drive. I've already use DaisyDisk and OmniDiskSweeper but both haven't detected anything.
Comment: What do you mean with "unknown space"? The 852.1 MB? Some disk space is allocated to the file system itself! On a virgin 64 GB HFS+ volume about 157 MB are occupied by it.
Comment: how can i delete it?
Comment: Please ask questions in your "question" but not in the comments...
Answer: If you don't have any data on the drive, then format it. The data is probably a malfunctioning HFS+ journal.
If you do, it is either a HFS+ journal, or some cached data. It could also be the .Trashes folder. If it is, try clearing the trash with the drive plugged in, or just type sudo rm -rf "/Volumes/DriveName/.Trashes".

Unknown used space on hard drive


Why Does My iMac Wake Itself Up?

Question: I have an early 2009 24" iMac. Lately, when in sleep mode it will occasionally wake up for around ten seconds with the screen off, then go back to sleep. Wake on LAN is turned off so I can't figure out why this is happening!
Comment: Take a look inside Console.app which could reveal some helpful information.
To open it press Cmd+Spacebar and enter "Console".
When this happens again, select the last, then copy those by pressing Cmd+C and paste them here by pressing Cmd+V.
Answer: There are a number of possible reasons, and the system actually logs the cause of each 'wake from sleep'.
Open a terminal and enter:
syslog | grep -i "wake reason"
(or, on Sierra or newer log show | grep -i "wake reason")
This may take some time to return a result, but when it does, you should get a series of lines that look something like the following:

Jan 24 08:52:19 hostname kernel[0] : Wake reason: OHC1

Here are the possible 'Wake Reason' codes (lifted from OSXDaily)

OHC: stands for Open Host Controller, is usually USB or Firewire. If you see OHC1 or OHC2 it is almost certainly an external USB keyboard or mouse that has woken up the machine.
EHC: standing for Enhanced Host Controller, is another USB interface, but can also be wireless devices and bluetooth since they are also on the USB bus of a Mac.
USB: a USB device woke the machine up
LID0: this is literally the lid of your MacBook or MacBook Pro, when you open the lid the machine wakes up from sleep.
PWRB: PWRB stands for Power Button, which is the physical power button on your Mac
RTC: Real Time Clock Alarm, is generally from wake-on-demand services like when you schedule sleep and wake on a Mac via the Energy Saver control panel. It can also be from launchd setting, user applications, backups, and other scheduled events.

Happy hunting!
Comment: ```syslog``` is now ```log show```
Comment: It was OHC, it turns out. It's very peculiar, as when I put it to sleep then press the keyboard to wake it, it shows EHC. So I assumed OHC referred to the bluetooth mouse, but switching that off didn't fix the problem. However, unplugging the keyboard fixed it. Not ideal having to unplug the keyboard each time but it's better than nothing. Thanks!
Comment: Glad that this was of help to you. You might want to consider trying a different keyboard for a while to see if the problem persists.
Comment: The only other one I have is a bluetooth one, but I'll give it a try :)
Answer: A common reason for random wake-ups is network accesses.
If you go to System Preferences>Energy Saver, there you will see an option saying "Wake for network access". If this option is enabled, then your sleeping Mac will be able to wake-up for network accesses. For example, when you initiate a screen sharing from another Mac on your local network.
Anyway, this is all okay BUT when this option is enabled it's also documented on Apple's site that it will cause random wake-ups by just running the hard-drives but not starting up the screen; and it will go immediately back to sleep.
Also @macaco have putten it beautifully that you'll probably get a code for this reason.

Why Does My iMac Wake Itself Up?


La - pronounces as a soft Ля or hard Ла?

Question: I have been hearing many times the pronunciation of La and some other sounds and don't understand yet, is it soft or solid? I don't know how to represent better this sound in English but if you in Ukrainian or Russian it sounds excellent - soft "ля" and solid "ла", you can check it via google translator. So, how does "La", not " L'.. " or "Le", exactly "La" should sound?
Comment: The categories don't correspond exactly, but I believe it's closer to what you would call a "solid" (or "hard") L. Like in English, the exact articulation can certainly change depending on surrounding sounds. Compare *lame*, *le*, *lion*.
Comment: "ля" and "ла" have somewhat different vowels in Russian, as well as different consonants. Are you sure you're not comparing the vowel of "ля" with *La* rather than, or in addition to, its consonant?
Comment: @PeterShor I was talking about the whole word "ла" and how does it sound. But, seems the question is over, "ла" is the way I should pronounce La, as understood
Comment: Well ... "ла" is certainly much better than "ля", but because of [vowel allophony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_phonology#Allophony) in Russian, neither one of them gives a perfect French pronunciation. The answers just deal with the soft or solid "l" (definitely a solid "l") and not the vowel.
Answer: In French every L is pronounced as what you'd call a solid L.
The google translation vocalization is pretty accurate for the French la.
Note that as a French I've heard many times foreigners mispronounce words, but never la.
Comment: "La Fontaine" should be pronounced as "Ля Фонтэн" or "Ла Фонтэн" (just listen it via g translator)?
Comment: 2nd one. As I said, solid L.
Answer: According to the page Comment prononcer les consonnes russes, the soft L can be heard in French.
Lèvre IPA [lɛvʁ] is reported to have a hard L and liège IPA [ljɛʒ] a soft L. Effectively, the position of the tongue during the L part is different when we pronounce these words.
The /j/ seems to affect the way the previous L is pronounced, which becomes slightly palatalized (in French, mouillé).
As there is no /j/ in La Fontaine, the /a/ in la then keeps the L hard.
However, Ла Фонтэн is unlikely to perfectly represent the right pronunciation given the fact there are no nasal vowels in Russian (here on is [ɔ̃]), but I guess for Russian ears, identifying this sound is as challenging as for ours dealing with soft and hard consonants.
When I ask GT to say in French "La Fontaine", the L is quite unnatural but more or less acceptable.
When I ask it to pronounce in Russian "ля фонтэн", the L is similar but the a is wrong, sound too close to a French e like Le Fontaine.
When I ask it to pronounce "ла фонтэн", the L is very wrong but the a is closer to the French one.
It's getting more interesting when I ask GT to pronounce :

ла ла ла ля ля ля

Neither of the sequences are really acceptable, and the wider gap affects the vowels. On the other hand, the French la la la la la la is correctly reproducing the standard French pronunciation of the last four "la".
So if I trust GT, I'm afraid the Russian phonology isn't able to come near the French LA sound.
After switching from Russian to Ukrainian, ла ла ла sounds closer to the French pronunciation.
Comment: The problem is that, if You play the prononciation of "La Fontaine" in French via g translator it will sound exactly as "ля фонтэн". G translator pronounces it not correctly?
Comment: I'm far to consider them to "exactly" match. See my updated answer.
Comment: Actually there is no difference between *"ла"* or *"ля"* in Ukrainian and Russian(don't know why g translator spells it so). **Ла** sounds 100% same to English **LU**xury. Seems L in English always hard - love, complain etc


Sump pump running almost constantly under bedroom

Question: I just bought a house and had it inspected before buying.  The inspector was very thorough: down to the bolts on the door locks locks.  He went into every nook and cranny.  He took pictures all over the crawl space his inspection covered 78 pages in detail but oddly enough, he made no mention of a huge sump pump in the corner on the crawl space.  It's right under my bedroom and every night I wondered what the neighbor was doing with a constant humming every 5 minutes.  Then one day standing out side on a dry day, about 3 or 4 gallons of water comes gooshing out the drain pipe.  I got curious and crawled under the house.  It's very clean, white clean crawl space and found in the corner a Triplesafe sump pump system with Battery back up and now I'm very concerned, I don't know what recourse I have.  The sump pump turns on about every 5 minutes for about a minute.  It is dry under the house but can't this pump burn up or something? How deep is he well that it is connected to?  How in the world could the inspector miss this?
Comment: Welcome to StackExchange. Unless you have a specific home improvement question to address, legal advice is not the intent of this community. Of course the pump can burn out, some day it will. Wasn't a sump pump disclsoed on the disclosures agreement? Its hard for the owner to say "no" but its not impossible they said "unk" and that could be true indeed (some people just miss or forget things), including home inspectors; tehy're human. Just take down the date on any labels, be mindful of keeping the well clean, and test the battery every year at least.
Comment: Thanks, I have looked into maintaining the pump both on my own and having a professional check it out once a year, and I tryting to find out of there is a stream running under my house, but don't know where to look?
Comment: Your home has exactly what it should for a dry basement and peace of mind. What's the question?
Comment: if it pumps and water comes out then it's not dry. The sump may be the collection point of various drains, make sure the outlet of the pump doesn't drain back to the sump.
Comment: What country and region is this located in?  Are you in an especially wet area e.g. near a body of water?
Answer: Make sure that your home owners insurance covers water damage from a sump pump  failure if the pump fails and damages an area of your house. A couple years ago, mine failed during a long wet spell and I called my insurance company and was told that even though I was covered from every other water disaster, a sump failure was not covered. (This disaster for me fell under the heading, "crap, that is how my insurance company classifies a loss as mine alone"). My finished basement flooding cost me a bundle and nothing was covered.
Answer: You typically can only get back what you paid the home inspector for his service.  In other words, this is your problem now, you can forget about the inspector.  The sump pump isn't your issue here.  The problem is the water.  Stop the water and you stop the noise and wear and tear on the pump.
One thing you should make sure of first is that there is a check valve on the outlet pipe.  Since noise is an issue, you'll want a 'quiet' one.  If you don't have one of these, a lot of the water can drain back from the pipe into the sump well so you'll end up pumping the same water more than once.  If you don't have one, adding one can reduce the frequency of running it.
Aside from that, you need to find sources of water.  Check your usage for one.  Is it especially high?  If you can see the meter, is it spinning even when no water is being used?  What's the drainage like from the roof?  Are neighboring yards draining to yours?
If this pump is pulling from the water table, you might be out of luck with resolving the constant running.  Putting in soundproof insulation under your bedroom may be the only option.
Answer: It may be that the built-in coarse screen filter on the intake of your sump pump is severely clogged.
That's exactly what I experienced on mine. After pulling the pump out and cleaning it, the pump ran for a much shorter time.


Can a player rotate from the back line after the serve and become a blocker?

Question: Can a player rotate from the back line after the serve and become a blocker? Or is the designation of backline player at the time of the serve?
Answer: A back-row player (one of the three players in the back row at the time of the serve, including the server) is not allowed to block.  If they do, it is a blocking fault and results in a point for the other team.
From the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2013-2016, Rule 14.6 (Blocking Faults):

14.6 Blocking Faults
  14.6.2 A back-row player or a Libero completes a block or participates in a
  completed block.
Answer: No, he can't. It's a fault and the point is given to the other team.
Also, a back-row player can complete an attack in two ways:

at any height from behind the front zone if at his/her take-off, the player's feet didn't touch or cros the attack line
from the front zone if at the moment of the contact a part of the ball is lower than the top of the net.

FIVB Rules


Wikipedia integration issue - need to finally sort this out 101

Question: Sorry guys, I've been running a mock asking questions on how to integrate wikipedia data into my application and frankly I don't think I've had any success on my end as I've been trying all the ideas and kinda giving up when I read a dead end or obstacle. I'll try to explain what exactly I am trying to do here.
I have a simple directory of locations like cities and countries. My application is a simple php based ajax based application with a search and browse facility. People sign up and associate themselves with a city and when a user browses cities - he/ she can see people and companies in that city i.e. whoever is a part of our system that is.
That part is kinda easily set up on its own and is working fine. The thing is that My search results would be in the format i.e. some one searches for lets say Beijing. It would return in a three tabbed interface box:

First Tab would have an infobox containig city information for Beijing
Seond would be a country tab holding an infobox of the country information from CHina
Third tab would have Listings of all contacts in Beijing.

The content for the first two tabs should come from Wikipedia.Now I'm totally lost with what would be the best way to get this done and furthermore once decide on a methodology then - how do I do it and make it such that its quite robust.
A couple of ideas good and bad as I have been able to digest so far are:

Run a curl request directly to wikipedia and parse the returning data everytime a search is made. There is no need to maintain a local copy in this case of the data on wikipedia. The other issue is that its wholly reliant on data from a remote third location and I doubt it is feasible to do a request everytime to wikipedia to retrieve basic information. Plus considering that data on wikipedia requires to be parsed at every request - thats gonna surmount to heavy server loads.. or am I speculating here.
Take a Download of the wikipedia dump and query that. Well I've downloaded the entire database but its gonna take forever to import all the tables from the xml dump. Plus consider the fact that I just want to extract a list of countries and cities and their info boxes - alot of the information in the dump is of no use to me.
Make my own local tables and create a cron[I'll explain why cron job here] script that would somehow parse all teh countries and cities pages on wikipedia and convert them to a format I can use in my tables. However honestly speaking I do not need all of the information in the infoboxes as is infact if I could just even get the basic markup of the infoboxes as is - that would be more than enough for me. Like:

Title of Country | Infobox Raw text
I can personally extract stuff like coordinates and other details if I want.
I even tried downloading third party datasets from infochiumps and dbpedia but the dataset from infochimps is incomplete and didn't contain all the information I wanted to display - plus with dbpedia I have absolutely no idea what to do with the csv file I downloaded of infoboxes and am afraid that it might also not be complete.
But that is just part of the issue here. I want a way to show the wikipedia information - I'll have all the links point to wikipedia as well as a nice info from wikipedia displayed properly all around BUT the issue is that I need a way that periodically I can update the information I have from wikipedia so atleast I don't have totally outdated data. Like well lets say a system that can check and if we have a new country or new location it can parse the information and somehow retrieve it. I'm relying on categories of countries and cities in wikipedia for this here but frankly all these ideas are on paper, partially coded and its a huge mess.
I'm programming in PHP and MySQL and my deadline is fast approaching - given the above situation and requirements what is the best and most practical method to follow and implement. I am totally open to ideas - practical examples if anyone has done something similar - I would love to hear :D
Answer: A couple things I can think of:

Just display the wikipedia data in an iframe on your site.
Use Curl to get the html from wikipedia, then use a custom stylesheet to style it and/or hide the parts you don't want displayed.

Trying to actually parse the HTML and pull out the pieces you want is going to be a giant pain, and is most likely going to have to be custom for each city.  Better off getting something simple working for now then going back and improving it later if you decide you really need to.
Comment: You can propose ur two solutions as 2 answers so it is easier to vote up
Comment: The iframe idea I doubt would work as I need to just display the infobox part of an article in the search results for that city or location. I heard that wikipedia restricts external requests or so - how true is that and what kind of restrictions are there on wikipedia with respect to grabbing information in this manner.
Answer: How about using one of the Wikipedia Geocoding Webservices
There are several available where you can pass in e.g. postalcode and country to a short article summary and a link to the wikipedia article.
If that would be enough.
Answer: I'd suggest the following

Query the city from wikipedia when it (the city) is created in your DB
Parse the data, store a local copy with the timestamp of the last update
on access, update the data if it is necessary. You can display the old one with a watermark saying it is ... days old and now updating. Then change to the freshly aquired one when the update is done. You've said you are using AJAX, so it won't be a problem

It would minimize the queryes to wikipedia and your service won't show empty pages even when wikipedia is unreachable.
Comment: Actually the thing is that I would need a list of all the cities that are available on wikipedia to begin with - I'm counting on using categories which have grouped cities on one page. However the question is that how can I extract selected information from wikipedia like when you say query the city how do I do that considering we're talking about thousands of entries.
Comment: All the answers have been great - I'm using your concept by retrieving all the select xml exports of the articles I want and running a script to parse from the exported files for the infobox - so far its working like a charm. Thanks everybody
Answer: Have a look at DBPedia it contains nice extraction of Wikipedia data in CSV format.


What Linux server distro is best for a dedicated webserver and a file server?

Question: I just wanted to know which Linux server distro is most compatible/stable for a dedicated Web Server and a separate dedicated File server. And also please suggest me for a file server what would be best (in a sense of performance, security, and stability) solution ie. FTP, SAMBA etc.??
Comment: The one you know how to lock down.
Comment: It's highly subjective. I'd use Debian because I'm most familiar with it, it has a large user base, and it's well documented. Where do you plan on serving files to?
Answer: Your question is both vague and highly subjective. Having worked with most of the popular Linux distros, I've yet to find a single distro which is 'perfect' for any particular need. You should rather approach this topic from a different angle.

With which Linux distros are you familiar enough to be able to set up the system yourself and provide its ongoing support? You should not choose a distro purely on the basis of recommendation by others if you are not able to provide support for this distro.
How many other people within your organisation are available and skilled enough to resolve potential issues should you be unavailable? If there is nobody else available, what is the cost and response time associated with outsourcing this support to an external party if required to do so in your absence?

I'd like to expand on 3 of your points:

Performance: For most purposes, performance is largely dependent on hardware. In some specialized scenarios it may be worthwhile to use a custom-compiled distro such as Gentoo. I have some remarkable use-cases where going the Gentoo route has seen stark performance increases. However, the steep learning curve for Gentoo combined with the mostly minimal performance increases makes it a bad choice for generic environments or environments in which there are no skilled sysadmins available. The standard range of server distros will provide adequate performance in a generic environment: Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat, Debian.
Security: I would argue that security consideration is a moot point in choosing a distro, since the security of a system is largely configuration-dependent. An exception to this is when looking at distros which have long development cycles such as Debian, where major security updates to software may not see the light of day for a long long time if you stick with the standard repositories. The level of security of the system is directly proportional to your knowledge on the workings of the distro and the packages which you will be using.
Stability: Stability is mostly package-dependent; some distros are known for using packages which are still experimental or not yet well tested. Debian is a great because of its strict adherence to long-term stability, but Ubuntu is not (in terms of stability of individual packages, not the OS itself).

The short of it is that you should choose a distro which you are comfortable in configuring and using on a long-term basis. If you only have experience in using a single distro, then stick with that. If you want to start using a new distro, first stick it onto a test server and get comfortable in using it for a few months.
Comment: Gentoo has a steep learning curve but i consider it important to at least do a generic install in order to understand more about Linux. if you are planing to pursue a career in linux related business or if the server requires high up-time the experience will help you correctly configure the server and also how to fix problems when/if the arise. To me Gentoo taught me a golden rule about life "Anything is possible" and what made me pursue a career in IT. it also taught me everything i know about Linux. i was 16 at the time but it took me 3 months and 25 something attempts to install :)
Comment: I normal use Debian based distros.. So I am going to stick with it. Thanks for the clear explanation.
Answer: I think this is too subjective a question. Most server Linux distributions may be used as web and/or file servers. It depends on your needs, perhaps you should elaborate more on those.
For a file server you can give some appliance distributions a try, like:
http://www.openfiler.com/
Personally I would use Debian or CentOS for both functions, but again - it's a matter of taste mostly. Use what you know best as you'll do a better job then, the objective differences are minimal in my opinion.
Comment: Thanks you for your opinion!! yes openfiler is great but I just want to use free and open source softwares only.
Answer: You could use Debian or Ubuntu Server, or if you want an enterprise distro with also commercial and technical support you can use RHEL or SUSE.
Answer: The most important is you get used to with one distro and explore more of it,because from one distro to another has its own uniqueness that can't be seen in a very short time
For example, I have used Ubuntu and focus on using that distro along with debian for the last 6 years, and yet find something surprising everyday, you must hands on everyday using different one particular distro that you feel comfortable with


What happens with /etc/fstab when using an initramfs?

Question: I have a simple embedded setup as follows: x86 target, kernel and root file system built using buildroot. Syslinux is the bootloader configured to boot with an initramfs which points to a .cpio file generated from the buildroot generated root file system. My system boots and works as I am expecting, but I am confused as to what happens with the entries contained in /etc/fstab. I would like my system to be able to mount the /var directory as a partition on an attached compact flash device for various reasons (mainly because I want to be able to store and run an application on the compact flash and additionally store log data here). Is it possible to use an initramfs and yet mount /var on device outside of RAM? If that is the case, is /etc/fstab the correct place to configure this?
Answer: Any directory path can have any (valid) volume mounted to it. Whether or not <code>/etc/fstab</code> is the correct place to put it depends on whether or not your embedded setup even uses it.
Comment: Thanks for your answer. Is there an easy way for me to find out if /etc/fstab is being used by my setup? I am not an expert in linux unfortunately.
Comment: Nope. You'll need to investigate the startup scripts to see how they use `mount` to bring filesystems up.
Comment: @mathematician1975 I dare say the easy way to find out is to add something to `/etc/fstab` and see if it works.
Comment: @IgnacioVazquez-Abrams Ok I will try that. Thanks very much for your help.


Killing ants without killing the grass

Question: The front lawn of the house we rent is infested with ants. Can I use laundry detergent (liquid) to kill them without damaging the grass? I know dishwashing liquid will kill the grass, but will laundry detergent, too? I currently use to kill them with the smell from the shared septic tank which overflows when it's raining but the rain dilutes it until it doesn't kill anything.
Comment: Mia, why would you want to kill ants in your lawn?  The don't hurt anything and go nicely with a lawn's ecology?  And I have to tell you, 'the tide comes in and the tide goes out and then the tide comes back in again and again'.  I am being so philosophical this morning, grins.  Ants will come back no matter what you do.
Comment: I just read Bamboo's link but I disagree that they hurt the roots of your grass.  They are definitely aerating your soil and topdressing at the same time.  Take a broom and just sweep the mounds into the grass.  I assumed as did Bamboo that you have warm season grasses as in the article.  Where do you live?  Do these ants sting?  To control ants there are always more ants in the neighborhood that will take their place.  I have ants galore in our soils, even ones that bite and sting but they are part of our property as well as the neighbors.  And we all get along fine...let us know more, ok?
Comment: They bite. I paint and I garden, I even like to relax in the garden just reading a book or eating lunch. None of this is possible unless I want to end up covered in ant bites. Not just me, my husband and daughter are allergic to the wretched things and we had several doctors visits last summer as a result. We are sitting on one huge ant hill, out the front, out the back and out the side. They don't come inside but they sure as heck make the outdoors unusable.
Comment: http://fireant.tamu.edu/  Well, that sure changes the paradigm for me.  Major ugh.  Like all of these other sites talking about ants, try killing them, even the queen and they will be right back.  I was contemplating a idea, kinda weird, but the idea of putting a blanket down or having a picnic on our land is a no go.  I've seen these trampolines made into a hanging soft patio with pillows, fixed tables and an easy to let down rain cover for downpours.  Beautiful colored fabrics that move in a breeze, steps made from a few boulders...just an idea.  I'm watching this question closely.
Comment: Need some tall trees or lessons on levitation, grins!  'Collars' on the attachments so the ants don't find your floating patio.  But for an artist?  Sure make a nice place to concentrate.
Comment: http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/ant-argentine-control/  Check out this site, I am liking this Reeves person so far.  Sounds sound?
Answer: Yes, it will kill grass if you use it neat. You can try a 3% solution of dish soap mixed with water and sprayed on the area, that might kill the ants but shouldn't harm the grass. There are other suggestions in this link https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/insects/how-to-control-ants-in-lawns.htm
Answer: Mix Dawn and water, 1 teaspoon per quart. Amazing insecticide, and a great spritz on dishes before a wash. Won't kill plants but they might notice.
My all-purpose plant soap is 1 gallon water, 4 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons Dawn, as per the Cornell Formula. It won't hurt your plants and doubles as a fungicide, but it might lack the oomph you need.
As others have said, ants aren't necessarily a bad thing. Fire and carpenter - I can see banishing these from your yard. Worse comes to worse, find the nest and pour Dawn directly in, then hose it to make it runny enough to flow in. (Had to do this once with a nest of aggressive fire ants).
But regular old garden/field ants - they're welcome around the house.
In my area, the only ant nests that are noticeable are fire ants.  Identify your cohabitants - that's step one. If they're carpenter ants (unlikely) - hey don't worry, you're renting!  If they're fire - Dawn them and flood them. The damage to grass is insignificant - and who knows what your landlord will use to get rid of them? Better a biodegradable solution than Ortho Home Defense or a visit from an exterminator.
Answer: My sister-in-law used to "sweep" her front lawn with a straw broom and a bucket of water with a capful of original green Palmolive dish soap...she had no problems with insects and she also had the best looking - and greenest - lawn in the neighborhood!

Killing ants without killing the grass


What's the difference between "debate" and "argument"?

Question: These words seem to have similar meanings, possibly with different connotations.
Comment: It depends on the context. The OED has seven definitions of 'debate' ten of 'argument', when both are used as nouns. A good dictionary should provide an adequate answer.
Comment: Did anyone else instantly think of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y when they read this question?
Comment: It depends how loud you're shouting.
Comment: [debate](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/debate?q=debate) vs [argument](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/argument?q=argument). If these definitions do not satisfy your curiosity, please explain why in the body of your question.
Answer: The difference is that argument usually has a more negative connotation to it. It implies a possible quarrel, people talking over each other and impoliteness.
Example:

My wife and I had an argument last night. The neighbors called the cops, that's how loud we were. I was so ashamed.

Debate, on the other hand, is usually a conversation between people expressing two sides of a certain topic in a polite and respectable manner.
Example:

I found out my son was drinking more than enough at a party, so I got worried, but I sat down with him, we had a debate and I believe he understands he shouldn't repeat what he did. He is quite intelligent, so we understood each other easily.
Comment: In practice I think most people would use the word *discussion* in your second example. Which in any case would simply be a euphemism for *I gave him a lecture / good talking-to*, since it's unlikely the son spent much time expostulating the advantages of excess indulgence, to be weighed up against the disadvantages set out by the father.
Comment: @FumbleFingers: sounds OK, do you have a proposal for an improvement of my answer?
Comment: Hmm. Tricky. How about *Politicians habitually and vociferously disagree with members of other parties, but they rarely engage in the kind of reasoned debate that would help voters to understand and decide for themselves about the issues on which they disagree*. Too verbose, I know, but at least it's a context where *debate* would fit. Mind you, once you include the word "reasoned", the two words become synonyms anyway!
Comment: Or how about: *My wife and I had a debate about where to go on vacation this year. I wanted to go to the Bahamas but she won the debate when she reminded me the kids have been begging to go to Disney World.*
Comment: @Josh: Personaly I'd swap your *had a debate about* for *discussed*, but there's still the problem that *won the debate* could just as easily be *won the argument*.
Comment: Guys, I have set my answer to community wiki, so feel free to edit it.
Comment: @FumbleFingers yes, I agree discussion might be better there... I was just trying to stick close to your original.
Answer: This is a problematic question as the words are not clearcut in most peoples minds, but there are cues, and distinctions to be made.
Debate on wikipedia:

Debate or debating is a formal method of interactive and
  representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than
  logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and
  factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or
  rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion. Though logical
  consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to
  the audience are important elements of the art of persuasion, in
  debating, one side often prevails over the other side by presenting a
  superior "context" and/or framework of the issue, which is far more
  subtle and strategic.

Argue on wikipedia:

In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone
  of something, by giving reasons or evidence for accepting a particular
  conclusion.[1][2] The general structure of an argument in a natural
  language is that of premises (typically in the form of propositions,
  statements or sentences) in support of a claim: the
  conclusion.[3][4][5] Many arguments can also be formulated in a formal
  language. An argument in a formal language shows the logical form of
  the natural language arguments obtained by its interpretations.

Thus a debate is:

More formal
More intellectual
Normally concerns factual events, or theories
Concerned with persuading the opposing party to an alternate viewpoint

To argue however is not the same as an arguement. Nor is the logical definition of 'argue' the same as what is commonly referred in public. One can argue the case of XYZ say in law or physics, or one can argue on the street ( in which case bickering would be a more appropriate word ).
For example Alice had an arguement with Bob where she accused him of paranoia, would not be considered a debate. Here Alice argues the point that Bob has paranoia. One can argue at a debate, and an argument, but an arguement is not a debate.
Arguments are thus:

Informal
Usually personal, though not always
Not always concerned with the factual correctness
Can be about things both parties are aware of, thus no opposing viewpoints, e.g. a row between a man and wife who have cheated on each other, would not be a debate, as they are both aware and agree that adultery took place.

In most of the cases of 'arguments', one could substitute another word such as row, tiff, bickering, and various other words. Where debate is concerned, one could use the word arguement, but not words such as row or bicker.
Debate has method. Argument does not necessarily.
Answer: Perhaps I'm being a Humpty-Dumpty here, but I see the distinction differently from others around here.
A debate is a contest of winning in front of an audience.
An argument is statement of facts and inferences drawn from those facts.
Perhaps my intended meaning can be better specified as making an argument to distinguish it from the more popular connotation of having an argument. That still leaves me prejudiced about debate, however, since I still see wooing an audience as the primary desideratum.
Answer: Within the American legal system, two processes are linked inextricably:  debate and argument.  If you read any published opinion of any court within the U.S. federal legal establishment you will discover how crucial and far-reaching the two processes are.
In American jurisprudence, an argument is simply a line of reasoning judges use to arrive at a decision or ruling.  After they decide a case, the judges issue a ruling, commonly called an opinion.  Since within a panel of judges the majority determines the outcome of the case, one of the majority judges writes the opinion, after which the government publishes it and the general public is free to scrutinize it.
The doctrine of stare decisis ("the decision stands") is foundational to judges' decision making.  As they formulate their arguments—again, their lines of reasoning—that culminate in their decisions, judges are required to respect past judicial decisions, constitutions (federal and state), statutes, and rules and regulations, both past and present.
The notion of stare decisis obviates the need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, every time a new case arises.  Keep in mind, however, that judges are not necessarily bound to rubber stamp past decisions.  After all, no two cases are identical.  The cast of characters and circumstances change from case to case.  Despite obvious similarities there may often be not-so-obvious dissimilarities, called distinguishing facts.  Consequently, when you read any published opinion of our nation's highest appeal court, the U.S. Supreme Court, you detect a virtual debate that has already taken place between the deciding judges in the present case and the deciding judges from past cases.
Of the Supreme Court's nine justices a majority of only five is required to make the final ruling stand.  The justices therefore debate with each other about what that ruling should be.  Despite their differences, however, all of them have this in common:  they have already "debated" with the law as it already stands (i.e., stare decisis).  Each judge, if she has done her job well, has compared and contrasted the present case with past cases, looking for facts (analogous and disanalogous), examining arguments, and balancing her own arguments with those of both her fellow judges in the present and judges from the past.  She then either agrees or disagrees (completely or partially) with them and makes her own tentative decision.  Subsequently, the second debate begins, but this time it takes place between judges in the present, who may or may not agree with each other's decisions.
<code>As this debate unfolds, one judge may agree with another judge's decision but may disagree with the way he arrived at it.  Another judge may disagree with another judge's decision, period, and then marshal his arguments against the opposing arguments point by point.  After an often spirited exchange of arguments, the justices vote and the majority ruling stands.
</code>
Since the judge responsible for writing the majority opinion has already exercised his due diligence by debating justices past and present (virtually and up-close and personal, respectively), he is then free to state the reasons for his decision.  His decision can be only one of three:  he can concur with, or affirm, the lower court's decision; he can overturn the lower court's decision; or he can remand the case to the lower court for retrial.
Before issuing her opinion, however, the thinking process of the judge might proceed along these lines:  "I agree with the decision Judge Smith made in a landmark case from 1879, in which he concluded ___.   However, I do so for different reasons.  For example, I argue that ___, rather than ____.  Nevertheless, I agree with Judge Smith's decision, and rule accordingly in this case that the lower court erred in convicting the petitioner standing before us today.  I therefore overturn the lower court's decision."
Can you see how the debates and arguments go hand in hand?  Because of stare decisis the opinion-writing judge, as with all his fellow judges, is required to look back to previously made decisions but is obligated neither to agree with them nor to disagree with them.  He is free to use similar or dissimilar arguments and come to the same or different conclusions, based on his own powers of deduction.
The above process then repeats itself with each new case.  Imperfect judges make the best decisions they can, balancing what has been decided in the past with what needs to be decided in the present.  The process is not without its flaws, but it is certainly better than the vast majority of other methods of judicial decision making extant today.
Answer: Both words are used to describe conversations in which two (or more) sides take opposing views. As Irene notes, "debate" is normally used to describe conversations about social and political issues, while "argument" is used to describe personal differences. "Senator Smith and Senator Jones had a debate about fiscal policy", but "Senator Smith and Senator Jones had an argument about who should get the bigger office."
Also, "debate" implies a reasonable, civilized expression of opinion, while "argument" implies hostility, raised voices, etc. It is not uncommon to hear, "The candidates' debate turned into an argument", meaning that instead of rationally discussing their differences they started yelling at each other and calling names. Thus, you could say, "Senator Smith and Senator Jones argued about fiscal policy." But you wouldn't normally say, "My wife and I had a debate about how much she spent on clothes", except in a joking way.
Answer: Both words suggest exchange of opposing views and disagreement. They do have similar meanings, but the word "debate" is used for formal situations eg social or political debates. You don't refer to a family argument as a "debate" (actually, I've heard this once, but it was an exaggeration meant to make us laugh).
Answer: If you've ever had to study and participate in a formal debate, there is one underlying and  irrefutable aspect to it which may or may not also be used in an argument, but which is necessary and fundamental in a debate: when you debate, you listen to your opponent for the sole purpose of formulating a counter argument. And that is all.
Comment: I disagree. There are things that one can do in a debate beyond reacting to the opponent, like coming up with new scenarios.


What is the biblical basis for restitution?

Question: What is the New Testament Biblical basis for making restitution? I've read the story of Zacchaeus, and it's not completely set in stone as to what the structure is. The biggest question I have is if you've tried making restitution and the involved party won't accept your offer, should you do it anyway or is that "dishonoring" in any way?
Comment: I think you might need to narrow this down just a hair. Are you talking N.T. or O.T., or how they relate to each other?
Answer: The basis for making restitution is an Old Testament idea that is explicitly reiterated in the New Testament by Jesus.  When asked to summarize the law (the same law that he said he came to fulfill, not to abolish), Jesus uses an interesting formulation.  He said,

He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]"

(This is in both Matthew and Luke)
In using this formulation, he was clearly drawing from Leviticus, a book we know he was thoroughly intimate with. (Not only here, but when he was tempted, etc...)  In using this formulation, he is explicitly pointing out that sin is sin against God and your neighbor, and as sin, it must be paid for. There are offerings, mentioned in Leviticus which come into play.
The OT basis for restitution
The biblical basis for restitution stems primarily from levitical law, and specifically, Leviticus 5 - 7. Leviticus 6, in particular looks to both the reasoning and the implementation of returning that which was taken, plus extra, to both the one offended and to the Lord against whom also the offender has sinned:

6 [a]The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 "When someone sins and offends the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit, a security,[b] or a robbery; or defrauds his neighbor; 3 or finds something lost and lies about it; or swears falsely about any of the sinful things a person may do— 4 once he has sinned and acknowledged his guilt —he must return what he stole or defrauded, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost item he found, 5 or anything else about which he swore falsely. He must make full restitution for it and add a fifth of its value to it. He is to pay it to its owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt.
6 Then he must bring his restitution offering to the Lord: an unblemished ram from the flock according to your assessment of its value as a restitution offering to the priest. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt."

Restitution is a fairly simply property idea in law - a thief (however he took it) - should not be allowed to keep what he took, otherwise it makes a mockery of property rights.  Furthermore, the purpose of the law to is keep people from sinning against their neighbors as well as the Lord, so on the one hand, you don't want an incentive to sin, and on the other, you want clear consequences.
The Levitical approach, you will note, deals with both halves of the crime.
First, the victim gets his property back, plus profit (20% to be precise).  Not only does the thief not profit, he loses.  I find it interesting that the 20% "penalty" is equal to "two tithes," namely one for the Lord, plus one for the neighbor.
Restitution for God is required
In addition to the victim's payment, however, restitution demands a sacrifice.  The linkage between the restitution offering and the sin offering is explicitly the same. As it says in Leviticus 7:

The restitution offering is like the sin offering; the law is the same for both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it.

The idea in making the parallel explicit is that it highlights that sin is sin against both your neighbor and the Lord.  After David got Uriah killed so as to cover up his affair with Bathsheba, David makes an interesting statement:

Against you, you only, have I sinned
      and done what is evil in your sight;
  so you are right in your verdict
      and justified when you judge.

Now, I'll admit, I tend to think that David also sinned against Uriah, but the point is that David realizes the Lord is equally a party that need be satisfied for this sin.
Human forgiveness is optional. God's forgiveness is what counts
So, why do I keep hammering home the idea that one must "Love the Lord ... and Love your neighbor?"  Because, quite simply, forgiveness comes from the Lord.  If he has been satisfied with your attempt at restitution, you are forgiven. When you sinned, you sinned against two. If the greater one forgives, the lesser one's forgiveness isn't really that relevant. Sure, its nice if you can make up - but the sin was against the Lord, not your neighbor.
I doubt, for example, that Zaccheus was able to return an exact accounting for the extra taxes he swindled in a precise 120% return to each individual that he had wronged. Logistically, accountingwise, pridewise (on the part of the victims) - it would have been daunting. But as Zaccheus proclaimed that he would give restitution, surely the Lord the was pleased.  That's the point.
Restitution is an outward manifestation of an inward desire for repentance. It is a sign before God and man that the heart has changed. God forgives, man benefits. Both are offended, and the bigger one is clearly reconciled.
Comment: Excellent answer! Trivial point: You don't know that Zaccheus DIDN'T keep sufficient records. The Romans were very bureaucratic, so as the taxes were collected for Rome he might well have kept detailed records. Would he have had columns for "Actual tax due", "Tax I really collected", and "Difference = amount I stole"? Maybe not. But he might have kept records for the Romans of what he claimed to have collected and separate records for himself of what he actually collected. The idea of "two sets of books" has been around for a while. Not an important point, just chatting.
Comment: Another trivial point: Zacchaeus said that he was going to restore not just 120% but 400%. (Luke 19:8)
Answer: Christ himself says that we should try to come to an agreement with anybody who has anything against us (Matthew 5:23-24)

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that
  your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before
  the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come
  and offer your gift.

Paul says, in Romans 12:18:

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

The big part here is the "if possible" and "so far as it depends on you."
If you've tried to make restitution, and somebody has not accepted your offer of restitution, they've not accepted for one of two reasons:

First, they might be too angry to accept your offer of restitution.  In that case, sometimes they just need time and space to forgive you.  Sometimes, they may never forgive you.  While that's unfortunate, some people prefer holding a grudge to forgiving.  It's not the place of the one owing restitution to force the hand of the one sinned against to forgive.  Forgiveness must come from the heart, and some people just can't, or won't do it.
They may be forgiving you, but they might not be willing to accept your gift of restitution, as an act of grace on you.  They understand that you've taken something from them, but they're more concerned about the relationship than the thing they've been deprived of, and, in an effort to show grace, they refuse the repayment.

In the former situation, there's really nothing you can do.  You're up against a hard heart, and the best thing for you to do may simply be avoiding that person.  There's no grace there.
In the latter situation, accepting the grace is the right thing to do.  There's no way that we can possibly repay God himself, so he offers us grace.  Some people choose to extend that grace to others, because of the grace they themselves have been given.
As for giving restitution when someone is refusing, I think that comes down to the individual situation.  Some people may take it as dishonoring, some may not.  If in doubt, I'd say it's a good move to love the person the way they've asked to be loved.  If they refuse any restitution, honor their wishes and don't give the restitution.
In this situation, loving a person the best has more to do with how they want to be loved than with how you want to love them.
Answer: Briefly, we know from Scripture that:

God's desire is that you repent from your wickedness and follow Him
Following Him includes loving your neighbor
God is concerned about the heart first and foremost

Seeking to make restitution is evidence of a truly repentant heart; the true value is in the motivation leading to the action more than the action itself.  A person sincerely seeking to make restitution is a person who is:

Willing to give up those things he once valued more than God's ways
Seeking peace with his brother in love

If you repent and seek to make restitution, and the other person refuses you and chooses to hold your sin against you, that is on them.  You can't force love and peace on others... to try would be foolish.  If your heart is sincere, God sees it, and that's ultimately what He cares most about.  In love, the most you could do at that point would be to pray for them.
Comment: Sorry no references yet - gotta jet.
Answer: Restitution is made not just to another person, but also to God.
I wish I could explain in my own words, but it's explained so well in the Catechism that I simply feel like quoting-
(comments in italics are mine)

"Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order
  to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation
  of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice
  requires as much (this means one doesn't need to be told by God to
  do this, but it's written in our consciences (Rom 1:15); it is natural law). But
  sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his
  relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it
  does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin,
  the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing
  something more to make amends for the sin: he must "make
  satisfaction for" or "expiate" his sins. This satisfaction is also
  called "penance".
The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the
  penitent's personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It
  must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the
  sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy,
  service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all
  the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help
  configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all (1
  John 2:1-2). They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ,
  "provided we suffer with him" (Romans 8:17).
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much
  ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do
  nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the
  cooperation of "him who strengthens" us (Phil 4:13). Thus man has
  nothing of which to boast, but all our boasting is in Christ (1
  Cor 1:31, 2 Cor 10:17, Gal 6:14). . . in whom we make satisfaction
  by bringing forth "fruits that befit repentance" (Luke 3:8).
  These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to
  the Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father."
Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraphs 1459-1460)
Answer: Restitution is mending a broken spirit caused by sin against a fellow being, which results in anger, pain, hate, which love has been far gone in this action. Jesus Christ redeeming the sins of our first parents and he died in this cause, which is why his doctrine was based on love. Which is in the scripture: love your neighbor as yourself; a precaution against the sins that we will continually commit as we were born unto sin. Christ simply advised that we must flee from sin as forgiveness comes from God so that our sins may be forgiven. Restitution is a tool for which repentance is foremost, then acknowledgment, acceptance for the broken spirit. Then we hope that God has granted us mercy.
Comment: Welcome to the site. We are glad you decided to participate. Please see [What this site is about](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1379/what-christianity-stackexchange-is-and-more-importantly-what-it-isnt/) and [How this site is different](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1808/how-we-are-different-than-other-sites/1809#1809) to help you learn how the site works. Also see the [help] and take the [tour] to learn the site functions. I hope to see you post again soon.
Comment: This question is what the community calls a "Biblical Basis" question. This means that the asker wants answers that show how Christians use the Bible to support a specific position. Please see the [Types of questions that are within community guidelines](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/q/3409) for reference.
Answer: Restitution conveys the idea of justice, of man making right the wrong done to a fellow man. Atonement though similar to restitution is the innocent party accepting the judgement due to the guilty one.When Adam sinned God drove him away from the garden (separation from God)Jesus reconciled man back to God by His atoning sacrifice, this doesn't cancel restitution, it conveys the message that if God could forgive us our trespasses, we ought to do the same. God initiated restitution, we ought to do the same.
Comment: Welcome to the site. We are glad you decided to participate. Please see [What this site is about](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1379/what-christianity-stackexchange-is-and-more-importantly-what-it-isnt/) and [How this site is different](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1808/how-we-are-different-than-other-sites/1809#1809) to help you learn how the site works. Also see the [help] and take the [tour] to learn the site functions. I hope to see you post again soon.
Comment: I don't think you're answering the question, which is "what is the biblical basis for restitution?" That means the question wants to know how the bible is typically used to defend restitution practices.
Answer: Restitution  is Jesus Christ puchasing back to us all that the devil has stolen from us . I used the word purchase because he paid a huge price to achieve this; his blood. There are alot of sins that man commits against God and man which he can not restitute for.ex:A young girl  aborted a 5month old pregnancy, a man that murder an only child of a widow, a tanant tha carelessly burnt down a building of a landlord etc.
Come on lets face it! No man can restitute fully for his sinful actions. Be it taken life , possesions or taken someones self estime. All these are why Jesus came to do the full pay back time.
But most importantly the law has been fullfilled and done away with.(Rom.3:19&20); (Rom.7:6) ( Gal.2:21) We live in and  by trusting Jesus to make us what he talks about .He is the one that  took all that had been stolen from us back from the devil. Not you nor me . We will live in Peace with our fellow brothers and God by the gift of rightouseness which was given to us freely by Jesus. This spirit of rightousness super naturally causes us to live right.(Rom.2:4),(Rom.5:1,7-21).
Comment: Hi, and welcome to Christianity.SE! I like how you begin with the cross as the basis for restitution, but you may want to take a look at the [about] page and [what we are](http://meta.christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1379/what-christianity-stackexchange-is-and-more-importantly-what-it-isnt). Do you think you could edit this to stay on topic a bit more and answer the question more directly (what in the New Testament tells us to make restitution with others?)?


Views: How do you view the query?

Question: How do you view the query that a 'View' is using to gather data from the database?
Answer: Go to admin/structure/views/settings, check Show information and statistics about the view during live preview and then Show the SQL query checkbox that will appear below.
Answer: If you want to see a preview of the query being used when viewing the view as opposed to editing it you can use hook_views_pre_execute():
function MYMODULE_views_pre_execute(&$view) {
  dpq($view->build_info['query']);
}

The dpq() function is provided by the devel module so you will need to have that installed for this to work.

Views: How do you view the query?


Does everyone believe in trial by combat?

Question: In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire trial by combat is a very common way of trial. But in the events of A Song of Ice and Fire this way of trial has been found wrong many times. One example is Tyrion found guilty even when he didn't murder Joffrey. So does everyone believe in trial by combat (that it is blessed by god so that the right person emerges victorious)? Or is it just a way for the stronger persons to escape their penalty?
Comment: It's a religious thing. The idea is that the god(s) will grant victory to whoever deserves it, so presumably a character whose religious beliefs (or lack thereof) did not include such a "protection clause" would not subscribe to the validity of the trial by combat. Don't remember whether that ever comes up in the books though.
Comment: King Tommen clearly doesn't, he abolishes it.
Comment: @Paul D. Waite Is this on the book?
Comment: @the-profile-that-was-promised: not sure, I've not read the books. In the show I think he does it before Margery and her brother are put on trial, while under the influence of Jonathan Pryce's character.
Comment: @user14111 He wouldn't be as self-serving as that! He's a Lannister! They're super-honourable!
Answer: There's not enough evidence in the books to say whether everyone believes in trial by combat (or at least, everyone who believes in the Seven; I think it's an Andal thing, at least in this form, perhaps people who follow the Old Gods have something else). What we do know is:

It's an old tradition. Most people aren't going to speak out against an old tradition.
Any noble who thinks they're likely to lose in a regular trial has the right to demand trial by combat instead. Therefore it's in the interest of the ruling class to preserve this option.
It's meant for cases where the facts aren't immediately clear. Therefore it's going to be hard to say "Look, the trial produced the wrong result!" We know that Tyrion didn't kill Joffrey, but it's not that clear-cut to the characters.
It's not really about the facts anyway, it's about the will of the gods, which is mysterious. That is, if I'm accused of stealing a bagel, and then I win my trial by combat, it doesn't mean I didn't steal the bagel; it means that either the gods approve of me stealing the bagel, or else they have some other punishment in mind for me, that they will take care of. So for someone who's a believer in the Seven, the trial literally can't produce the wrong result. If it seems wrong, well, so do a lot of things that happen in life and the gods are responsible for those too.


Is it possible to publish page with anothe Page Template using Core Service or something similar?

Question: I need to do some new functionality which allow users to select some feature in Page Metadata and with this check selected the Page should be published with another Page Template (this Page Template includes another code and another extension).
Is it possible to do that with Core Service, via Templating, Anguilla Framework or some develop in the Event System?
Thanks in advance.
Comment: Yes, it is possible. I would create a custom page with intuitive custom controls that invoke Tridion functionality via the Core Service. IMO having one page's metadata control another page and its template could get pretty confusing for the editors.
Answer: I'm definitely a fan of feature-based CMS development or design where your editor's selection can adjust backend or website functionality. Your content model seems like a familiar approach, though some background could help.
After working in product development, I'd also recommend:

Going for the basics, or templating in this case. Based on the editor's selection change what you render.
Putting code where you want to maintain it (templating or views if you render in delivery)
Validating your end-to-end solution with users, developers, and however you handle support

If possible, I'd really consider if the user could just change the template themselves.
Here's why I wouldn't recommend the other approaches as a first choice, at least without a good reason to adjust the approach.
GUI Extension
GUI extensions are excellent for adjusting your editor's experience but your logic is already covered by the editor's selection and any templating or view logic you develop.
It also depends on how much you want to maintain such code.
@Nickoli's recommendation for a Custom Page could indeed help for configuration and might be easier to maintain and upgrade. But I'd only consider the Core Service if you're changing other items in the CMS, especially since Custom URLs already give you access to a script that lets you manipulate fields selections in a given form view.
Event-System
Perhaps you might change the selected template when the editor selects a specific keyword, but the change won't be as clear to the user ("why did the template change?") and I can see problems having to revisit this for every new "feature" and adjustment.
If you really need to change the rendered output, it makes sense to put that logic with whatever renders your output (in Content Management or Content Delivery). Automation through the Event System seems like overkill in this case.
Finally, it'll also depend on what you're willing to build and maintain while balancing the current use case against potential changes.
Comment: Thank you for your answer Alvin, it helps me a lot!! Finally we consider the best approach is to duplicate the Page to change the Page Template because if you change the Event System to do that, the editors couldn't see with what Page Template the page has been published and for System Administrators would be really difficult to control what pages are in the File System compared with the Page published in the CME.
Comment: Cool! Nice to hear you have something that works for you, admins, and editors. Cheers!


Transaction Log Shipping doesn't use the latest transaction log

Question: I have setup transaction log shipping between two servers every 15 minutes, this is on SQL Server 2008 R2.  The problem is that when the logs are being restored on the secondary server, it always uses the second-most-recent log file rather than the most recent one available.  I suspect this is because the restore happens at the same time the backup occurs on the primary server.  I thought I could use the "delay" option to get around this, but it doesn't seem to do the trick.  What am I missing?
Comment: You can change the restore frequency to be more frequent on secondary server, but then it wont keep up with the 15 min frequency of backups on primary server. Out of curiosity, what problem do you see with that ? Logshipping will pick up the logs (.trn and not the .wrk files) to restore.
Comment: that's an interesting idea, so theoretically, i could change the frequency of the restore of the second server to 5 minutes, so that it always falls at the 15 minute mark.  I'll give that a go and report back.
Comment: Msg from Job ::: 2014-05-23 17:00:15.68 Could not find a log backup file that could be applied to secondary database 'VisionTLOG'. :::

So this must mean that my timing is too exact and the log isn't yet available.  Is there any way to get the schedule to "delay" a minute or two before starting the restore job?
Comment: Changing the restore schedule to more frequent does the trick.  Though it seems cumbersome for the server to constantly check for new logs.  Wish the delayed option worked better.

Thank you Kin!!
Answer: Converting my comment to answer:
can change the restore frequency to be more frequent on secondary server, but then it wont keep up with the 15 min frequency of backups on primary server. Logshipping will pick up the logs (.trn and not the .wrk files) to restore
Comment: Hi there, I did more testing and found a better answer.  When you setup the restore schedule on the secondary server, instead of starting the daily schedule at 12:00:00, start it at 12:02:00.  SQL calculates this as 17, 32, 47, and 02 of every hour when using 15 minute interval.  This way, your secondary database's restore job matches the primary database's backup schedule duration.
Comment: You would need to adjust this offset to accomodate for the approximate time it takes to perform each log backup.
Comment: @MBartolomeo you have to do some testing on what works in your environment. To be frank, we use log-shipping for all our PROD databases and till today, I didn't have to modify schedules of restore jobs (we run it every 1 mins). Logshipping just works fine.


Why is font smoothing disabled on academia?

Question: With my current setup: Google Chrome, OS X Yosemite, a 27 inches 2560x1440 monitor, somehow the font used on academia -- and probably other -- is not using sub pixel font smoothing. It is not legible. Is there a justification for this ? I don't feel like diving into CSS and custom style right now, so if there is a quick fix,  I would like to know it.
Answer: My suspicion is that this is not an Academia issue, but a browser or Yosemite issue. If I examine the same page in Safari or Google, I get a very different appearance than when I try to view the site in Firefox (for instance). I personally find the text in Firefox easier to read, as it is "heavier" and stands out better against the background.
Comment: Confirmed. Safari and Chrome on OS X won't smooth fonts. However Linux Chrome and OS X Firefox do smooth fonts.


How to verify and generate a report ADA compliance in a website

Question: We have a requirement that a particular website need to be tested for ADA Compliance and we need to generate a report with non compliance and solution to fix that. Any help how to process this verification.
Answer: Unfortunately, I don't think it's as easy as running a website through a tool and have it tell you whether it's ADA Compliant or not. Take a look at W3's article on 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines requirements (success criteria) and techniques' - you'll need to go through each of the requirements and test for compliance that way.
The article below was taken from a Digital Marketing Agency called Wakefly that was returned from a Google search of 'ADA compliance' (which I hadn't heard of until now!)

The ADA encourages the use of the Web Content Accessibility
  Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) as a guide on how to make your site
  accessible.

WCAG is organized as 12 guidelines under 4 principles (POUR):

Perceivable: Web content is made available to the senses – sight, hearing, and/or touch.
Operable: Interface forms, controls, and navigation are operable.
Understandable: Content and interface are understandable.
Robust: Site should work in all environment.

These guidelines and principles conform to WCAG compliance (success criteria) in one of three levels:

Level A (must satisfy)
Level AA (should satisfy): Makes sites accessible to people with a wider range of disabilities, including the most common barriers
Level AAA (may satisfy): Most demanding    level of WCAG compliance
Answer: This chapter from official ADA website would probably help you. This is Website Accessibility Under Title II of the ADA.. They state accessibility problems and possible solutions. You can use this as asepcification for your testing.


Did Jabba let slave Leia sleep?

Question: Did Jabba let Leia sleep? Because when Luke enters, she appears to be be sleeping but I'm not sure if she's just lying down.
Answer: Actually, with all due respect for Richard, Jabba did let Leia sleep while she was at his palace. She just didn't happen to be sleeping during that particular scene in the film. During Boba Fett's short-story in Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Leia is sent to Fett's room by Jabba as a "gift," with the instructions "enjoy her." Fett, not being a rapist, allows Leia to sleep in his bed while he sleeps in a nearby chair.
That short-story is criminally underrated, by the way; everyone should check it out if given the opportunity. Fett's later direction is nothing like Keys Moran's brilliant characterisation. It is widely considered by other Star Wars authors to be the best Star Wars short-story. Yes, that includes Timothy Zahn's work.
Comment: I'm not seeing how Richard's answer implies that Jabba didn't or wouldn't let her sleep, just that (yes, as you said) she was awake in that scene.
Comment: You know, you're right. I must have misread it.
Answer: She's just lying down, as you can see from the attached video clip

According to the original script, Jabba is sleeping and Leia is "lying in front of him"

Jabba is asleep on his throne, with Leia lying in front of him.
Salacious sits by Jabba's tail, watching it wriggle. Leia is now
dressed in the skimpy costume of a dancing girl; a chain runs from a
manacle/necklace at her throat to her new master, Jabba the Hutt.
Threepio stands behind Jabba as Bib comes up to the gangster slug.

In the official George Lucas/ James Khan novelisation, Luke senses Leia's pain "immediately", suggesting that she is wide awake when he arrives;

The lieutenant and the Jedi Knight approached the throne. Luke saw
Leia seated there, now, by Jabba's belly. She was chained at the neck
and dressed in the skimpy costume of a dancing girl. He could feel her
pain immediately, from across the room - but he said nothing, didn't
even look at her, shut her anguish completely out of his mind. For he
needed to focus his attention entirely on Jabba.
Answer: Most likely, since in real life, sleep deprivation is deadly and there is no reason that it is any different in universe.
However, there is no canon reference for Leia sleeping. Everything found by Richard doesn't have her sleeping. Unless germane to the plot, it would make for a boring scene.
Answer: Jabba must have let her sleep during her days with him.  Yes, I said days, because - there is substantial evidence to show that Leia spent at least one full day and two full nights with him.  Said evidence includes the fact that her slave outfit fits her as neatly as if it were made in Hollywood - the modeling process of which would take time that simply couldn't happen in one night, but I digress.  Coupled with that is the fact that Leia went from being disgusted at Jabba's repulsive appearance while wearing a full suit of armor and clothing, to immediately running to him on his throne and pushing herself up against him while in a state of undress (on the Sail Barge), without even flinching; that shows she had spent enough time with him to begin getting used to being close to him - something which could easily have come with sleeping very close to him.  Ergo, when Luke arrives, Leia is quite relaxed and rested...because Jabba let her sleep beside him.
Comment: "the modeling process of which would take time that simply couldn't happen in one night" — so they can build a moon-sized, planet-destroying space station, but they can't do a quick 3D scan and print job?
Comment: And Leia doesn't exactly run up to him for a warm embrace. He pulls on her chain and she falls towards him.
Comment: Jabba has other slave girls, like [Oola](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Oola). There is probably a storeroom/stash of outfits in different sizes for newly acquired slaves.

Did Jabba let slave Leia sleep?


Schengen visa extension

Question: I am from India and I have applied to a vocational school in Berlin. I have been accepted and invited to an interview which is a part of their admission procedure. Upon my total acceptance, I intend to study there for one year. What visa should I apply for? I am not sure if I should apply for a schengen visa or a national visa. Can I extend the schengen visa once I am accepted? Are schengen visas and student visas the same?
Answer: Whenever you want to travel to Germany for study purposes, you have to apply for the appropriate German Visa, related to the purpose of your travel and stay there – studying.
There are 3 (three) types of German Visas for study purposes:
1 - Language Course Visa (Visa for Language Learning) – is the perfect option for those that want or need to learn the German language in Germany.
2 - Student Applicant Visa (Visum Zur Studienbewerbung) – if you want to study in Germany, but are still trying to find the right program or you still haven't got the confirmation letter from your University.
3 - Student Visa (Visum Zu Studienzwecken) – if you have already been accepted to a German university.
Comment: Where can I find the student applicant visa form ? Or is it the same as schengen student visa ?

Schengen visa extension


Combinatorial interpretation of ${i\choose n}$, where $i^2=-1$

Question: At MIT all departments have numbers, and math is 18. Last year MIT
math majors produced a tee shirt that said ${i\choose 18}$ ("I choose
18") on the front, and on the back
   $$ \frac{34376687+1499084559i}{14485008384}. $$
With the more natural denominator $18!$ this is
   $$ \frac{15194495654000+662595375078000i}{18!}. $$
This suggests the question: for any $n\geq 1$ find a "nice"
combinatorial interpretation of the real and imaginary parts of
$i(i-1)(i-2)\cdots (i-n+1)=f_n+ig_n$. It is easy to express $f_n$ and
$g_n$ as certain alternating sums of Stirling numbers of the first
kind, but I don't consider this "nice." The $g_n$'s seem to alternate
in sign beginning with $n=5$. The $f_n$'s alternate in sign up to
$n=17$ and then seem to alternate in sign beginning with $n=18$. It is
curious that $i(i-1)(i-2)(i-3)=-10$, a real number. One could ask the
same question with $i$ replaced by any Gaussian integer $a+bi$. One
can also ask about the asymptotic rate of growth of $f_n$ and
$g_n$. Clearly $f_n^2+g_n^2\sim C\cdot (n-1)!^2$, so one would expect
$f_n$ and $g_n$ to be roughly of the size of $(n-1)!$.
Comment: The asymptotics can be obtained from the complex Stirling's formula.
In particular, the $f_n$ and $g_n$ will *usually* alternate in sign, because
${i \choose n} \left/ {i \choose n-1} \right.$ is $\frac{i+1}{n} - 1$
which is nearly $-1$, but there'll be infinitely many exceptions
(the next two are $g_{82},g_{83}>0$ and $f_{396},f_{397}>0$).
I don't know of combinatorial interpretations, but do recognize that
the identity $i(i-1)(i-2)(i-3) = -10$ is related with the identity
$\tan^{-1}\frac12 + \tan^{-1}\frac13 = \frac\pi4$ that yields the
earliest polynomial-time algorithm for computing $\pi$.
Comment: Thank you for not asserting that "This begs the question:" which is too useful a phrase in mathematical discussion to sacrifice to common usage. http://www.cafepress.com/begthequestion.38045148
Comment: Not really relevant to this question, but if $a$ and $b$ are integers and $\binom{a+bi}{k}= c+di$, where $c$ and $d$ are rational, then every prime dividing the denominator of $c$ or $d$ is congruent to 2 or 3 modulo 4.
Comment: Thanks, Chandan, I have fixed the typo. If we consider $i$ as an indeterminate, then the coefficients are the Stirling numbers of the first kind, explaining the connection with these numbers.
Comment: One idea would be to promote the identity $(a^2 + b^2)(c^2 + d^2) = (ac - bd)^2 + (ad + bc)^2$ to a bijection, then apply that bijection $n$ times. The minus sign is problematic...
Comment: As a prelude to this, it might help to consider i as an indeterminate, and look at the coefficients of the polynomial which would be the numerator of the expression.  Gerhard "That Might Provoke Combinatorial Insights" Paseman, 2012.12.13
Comment: Even if we know the asymptotics of this expression that doesn't seem to give us a combinatorial interpretation, or at least now how i would define a combinatorial interpretation. @QiaochuYuan's idea would be interesting to see through...
Answer: Asymptotics:  Lets look at the quantity
$$S(n)=(-1)^{n}(n+1)\binom{i}{n+1}=i\prod_{k=1}^{n+1}\left(1-\frac{i}{k}\right).$$  It's just your binomial coefficient above with the $(-1)^{n+1}$ factored in, and an extra $n+1$ so it factors nicely as a product.

Claim: We have that
$$S(n)=\sqrt{\frac{\sinh{\pi}}{\pi}}e^{iC_{0}}e^{-i\log n}\left(1+O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\right),$$
  where
$$C_{0}=\frac{-\pi}{2}-1+\int_0^\infty \frac{\{x\}}{1+x^2}dx =\arg(\Gamma(i))\approx
-1.872.$$

In particular, the angle moves around the circle like $\log n$.
Application to your question:  The above claim shows that
$$f_{n+1} = (-1)^{n+1} n! \sqrt{\frac{\sinh{\pi}}{\pi}}\cos(-\log n+C_0)\left(1+O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\right)$$ and $$g_{n+1} \sim (-1)^{n+1} n! \sqrt{\frac{\sinh{\pi}}{\pi}} \sin(-\log n+C_0)\left(1+O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\right).$$
In particular, the ratio $g_n/f_n$ can be made arbitrarily large or small.
Proof of the claim: We first note that the size is
$$\sqrt{\prod_{k=1}^{n}\left(1+\frac{1}{k^{2}}\right)}=\sqrt{\prod_{k=1}^{\infty}\left(1+\frac{1}{k^{2}}\right)}+O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right).$$  To evaluate this product, recall the Weierstrass product for the Gamma function $$\left(\Gamma(z)\right)^{-1}=ze^{\gamma z}\prod_{k=1}^{\infty}\left(1+\frac{z}{k^{2}}\right)e^{-\frac{z}{r}}.$$ From this it follows that $$\frac{1}{|\Gamma(i)|^{2}}=\frac{1}{\Gamma(i)\Gamma(-i)}=\prod_{k=1}^{\infty}\left(1+\frac{1}{k^{2}}\right).$$ Using the identity  $$\Gamma(x)\Gamma(-x)=-\frac{\pi}{x\sin\left(\pi x\right)},$$ we now have that $$\frac{1}{\Gamma(i)\Gamma(-i)}=\frac{-i\sin(i\pi)}{\pi}=\frac{\sinh(\pi)}{\pi},$$ which gives rise to the $\sqrt{\frac{\sinh(\pi)}{\pi}}$ term. Moving on to the evaluation of the angle, by looking at each triangle, and noting that the argument is additive when multiplied, we get that the argument equals
$$-\sum_{k=1}^{n}\tan^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{k}\right).$$
The negative sign arises since we are working in the fourth quadrant.  By looking at the Taylor series for $\tan^{-1}$ we see that the above is $\log n+O(1)$, however, I would like to compute this argument more precisely, and obtain the constant. Lets compare our $\tan^{-1}$ series to the harmonic series.  Rewriting things in terms of a Riemann Stieltjes integral, and using summation by parts, we have that
$$\sum_{k=1}^{n}\tan^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{k}\right)=\int_{0}^{n}\tan^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{x}\right)d\left[x\right]=[n]\tan^{-1}(1/n)\int_{0}^{n}\frac{\left[x\right]}{1+x^{2}}dx. $$
Pulling out the main term with the identity $[x]=x-\{x\}$, the above equals
$$\int_{0}^{n}\frac{x}{1+x^{2}}dx-\int_{0}^{n}\frac{\{x\}}{1+x^{2}}dx.$$
Since the first integral evaluates to $\frac{1}{2}\log(1+x^2)$, we have that $$\sum_{k=1}^{n}\tan^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{k}\right)=\log n +1-\int_0^\infty \frac{\{x\}}{1+x^2}dx +O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right).$$
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Noam Elkies for pointing out that $$\prod_{k=1}^\infty \sqrt{1+\frac{1}{k^2}}=\frac{1}{|\Gamma(i)|}=\sqrt{\frac{\sinh(\pi)}{\pi}}$$ in the comments.
Edit: Fixed the constants appearing.  Interestingly $$\Gamma(i)=\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{\sinh{\pi}}}\exp\left(i\left(\frac{-\pi}{2}-1+\int_0^\infty \frac{\{x\}}{1+x^2}dx \right)\right).$$
Comment: A closed form for $C_1 = 1.91731...$ is $1/|\Gamma(i)| = \sqrt{\frac{\textstyle\sinh\pi}{\textstyle\pi}}$.
Comment: Thanks for the edit and acknowledgement.  One correction:
it's the product over $k\geq 1$ of $\sqrt{1+\frac1{k^2}}$,
not of $1+\frac1{k^2}$, that's equal to
$1/|\Gamma(i)| = \sqrt{\frac{\textstyle\sinh\pi}{\textstyle\pi}}$.
Comment: @Noam D. Elkies: Thank you for pointing this out. I have updated my answer and added a proof.
Answer: There is no need to reinvent the wheel by estimating
$\prod_{k<n}(1+\frac1{k^2})$.
The asymptotic formula for $f_n + i g_n$  follows readily from
Stirling's approximation (as I already noted in my comment to
the original question), and indeed the same is true for
the asymptotics as $n \rightarrow \infty$ of $w \choose n$
for any $w \in {\bf C}$; the answer is simply
$$
\phantom{*0000000000000000000}
{w \choose n} =
 \Bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1n\bigr)\Bigr) \frac{(-1)^n}{\Gamma(-w)} n^{-w-1}
\phantom{0000000000000000000}(*)
$$
(and the $O(1/n)$ can be refined to an asymptotic series in powers of $1/n$).
Note that this gives zero precisely for the values $w=0,1,2,3,\ldots$
for which $-w$ is a pole of $\Gamma$, which are also the $w$ for which
${w \choose n} = 0$ for sufficiently large $n$.
For $w=i$, we recover the observed behavior:
$\Gamma(i)$ is a complex number of absolute value
$(\pi / \sinh \pi)^{1/2}$ [in general
$$|\Gamma(it)| = (\Gamma(it)\Gamma(-it))^{-1/2} =
\left(\frac \pi {t \phantom. \sinh \pi t} \right)^{1/2}
$$
for real $t \neq 0$],
and $n^{-w-1}$ is a complex number of absolute value $1/n$ that goes
once around the origin when $n$ increases by a factor $e^{2\pi}$.
Thus each of $\lbrace f_n \rbrace$ and $\lbrace g_n \rbrace$
alternates in sign outside an infinite sequence of exceptions
that's asymptotically a geometric sequence with common ratio $e^\pi$.
To prove $(*)$, write
$$
{w \choose n} = \frac{(-1)^n}{n!} \prod_{k=0}^{n-1} (k-w)
= \frac{(-1)^n}{n!} \frac{\Gamma(n-w)}{\Gamma(-w)}
= \frac{(-1)^n}{n\Gamma(-w)} \frac{\Gamma(n-w)}{\Gamma(n)}.
$$
Now we understand $(-1)^n/n$,
and the factor $1 / \Gamma(-w)$ is constant,
so we're left with $\Gamma(n-w) / \Gamma(n)$.
We apply the following form of Stirling's formula:
there exists a constant $\varpi>0$ (known to equal $2\pi$,
but we shall not need this) such that
$$
\Gamma(z) = \bigl(1 + O(|z|^{-1}\bigr) z^z e^{-z} \sqrt{\varpi/z}
$$
holds as $|z| \rightarrow \infty$ in the right half-plane,
where $z^z = \exp (z \log z)$ and $\sqrt{\varpi/z}$
are defined using the principal branches of $\log z$ and $\sqrt z$.
This gives
$$
\frac{\Gamma(n-w)}{\Gamma(n)} = \Bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1n\bigr)\Bigr)
  \frac{(n-w)^{n-w} e^{-(n-w)} (\varpi/(n-w))^{1/2}}
    {n^n e^{-n} (\varpi/n)^{1/2}}
$$ $$
 = \Bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1n\bigr)\Bigr)
\frac{(n-w)^{n-w}}{n^n} e^w \left(1-\frac{w}{n}\right)^{-1/2}.
$$
Now the last factor is $1 + O(1/n)$; the factor $e^w$ is constant;
and
$$
(n-w)^{n-w} = (n-w)^{-w} (n-w)^n
= \Bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1n\bigr)\Bigr) n^{-w} (n-w)^n.
$$
So we're left with
$$
\frac{\Gamma(n-w)}{\Gamma(n)} =
\Bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1n\bigr)\Bigr) n^{-w} e^{-w} \left(1 - \frac{w}{n}\right)^n
= \Bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1n\bigr)\Bigr) n^{-w}.
$$
This completes the proof of $(*)$ (and the cancellation in the last step
leads me to suspect that even this use of Stirling is more complicated
than necessary).
Comment: So ... it seems Stirling's approximation has a relation to Stirling numbers (of the first kind) ...
Comment: Thanks for sharing this answer. It is much cleaner, and it made me realize I previously have an error in the calculation of the constant $C_0$. (Also, it certainly looks much nicer to write
$S(n)=\frac{1}{\Gamma(-i)}n^{−i}\left(1+O\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\right).$)