Can a woman lead bentching/birchat hamazon?

Question: Can a woman lead birchat hamazon if there are men that partook in the meal? Can they lead it if the men leave?
Comment: See http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/3873/woman-and-zimun-what-is-the-requirement - possible dupe.
Comment: how many people are there?
Comment: Looks like a dupe to me. Interesting to note that implied in the cited halachot (answer) to the linked question is the general notion that men and women are allowed to eat a meal together in the first place.
Comment: The preexisting question sounds like it's asking what a woman should do if a _zimun_ is taking place. This one sounds like it's asking whether she can start one.
Comment: Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/26825/
Answer: The ביאור הלכה in סימן קצט ד"ה ויוצאות says from the יד קטנה that a woman may not lead the zimun on behalf of men who are מחויב. Moreover he writes that the women must hear the zimun from a man, implying that three women at such a meal could not form their own zimun, following the rules of division of zimun found in סימן קצג סעיף א. However the מ"ב ס"ק יח quotes the גר"ז that the regular rules of division would apply and three women can choose to form their own zimun if they do not want to participate in the men's zimun. In שער הציון אות ט he rules in accordance with the latter opinion.
Accordingly: If there are three women and less than ten men, they may form and lead their own zimun which will be of no consequence to the men. If there are less than three women and more than three men OR three or more women and ten or more men, the women must listen to a man lead the zimun. There is no indication in these sources that the men's presence has any effect in the former case, though as in all cases, if there are three men there the women must find some way to discharge their obligation in zimun.


Time entanglement in photon pairs

Question: I'm studying nonlinear optics and in some processes, for example, Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion or Spontaneous Four Wave Mixing, photon pairs are created and they say that the photons are energy and time entangled. I understood the energy entangled part, which comes easily from energy conservation, but I don't understand why there must be also time entanglement, the only reason I found is experimental, they perform coincidence measure and it can be seen that there is a zero delay between the photons' arrival. Is there a more theoretical explanation for the time entanglement?
There was a similar question here, but I find the explanation with  Feynman diagrams not satisfactory.
Comment: I would think timing is the reason perfect correlation is so hard to accomplish. Timings not just about simultaneous emission but also equal distance traveled.
Comment: @BillAlsept synchronizing the photons is not difficult. Not sure what you mean by perfect correlation.
Answer: Energy is conserved in the crystal in SPDC, so (global) energy conservation requires simultaneity of three events: (1) annihilation of the pump photon, (2) creation of SPDC photon #1, and (3) creation of SPDC photon #2. Without a projective measurement of the time at which the SPDC event occurred, emission at times $t_1$ and $t_2$ are indistinguishable, when $\lvert{t_1-t_2}\rvert<t_c,$ the coherence time of the laser. For indistinguishable events, the amplitudes add, so we expect the single-pair term of the full SPDC state at time $t_0$ to be proportional to $\int_{t_0-t_c}^{t_0} dt \lvert t,t\rangle$ (there are other terms as well, corresponding to emission of no pairs as well as emission of more than one pair). Here $\lvert t_s,t_i\rangle$ is the two-photon state corresponding to emission of photons #1 and 2 at times $t_s$ and $t_i.$
This is an entangled state, in Schmidt-decomposed form.
Regarding the experimental evidence you mentioned, note that simply observing simultaneous detections does not prove that the state is time-entangled. At best this shows that the state is classically correlated in time. For example, it does not rule out the possibility that (the single-pair part of) the state is described by a density matrix proportional to $\int dt \lvert t,t\rangle\langle t,t \rvert$, which is not entangled. There are other experiments that demonstrate time entanglement.
Comment: Thanks for the answer! I understand your argument, but I have a follow up question. I agree that for the global energy conservation the three events you mentioned must happen simultaneously, but due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, energy conservation can be temporarily not valid, so those three events can happen a slightly different time. For your argument to hold this time difference has to be less that the laser coherence time, is it the case?
Comment: The short answer is no, the laser coherence time is not relevant to that question and can be far longer than the time interval between emission of the two photons. My understanding is that the three events are truly simultaneous when they do occur -- can you give me a reference on this temporary violation of energy conservation?

Time entanglement in photon pairs


Is number of abilities limited in dota 2?

Question: From DOTA 2 wiki I read that the hero Shadow Fiend has 6 abilities, Broodmother has 7 abilities, and Invoker has 14 abilities in total. Is it true that if a hero in DOTA 2 has 6 abilities or more, then we are only allowed to choose 4 of those abilities ?
Answer: As a general rule of thumb, each hero has 4 abilities - 3 basic abilities and 1 ultimate ability. Every hero has at least 3 basic abilities and 1 ultimate ability.
Some heroes, such as Shadow Fiend and Broodmother, have sub-abilities. These are associated with 1 or more of the basic abilities. For example for Shadow Fiend, Shadowraze (Medium and Far) are associated with Shadowraze (Near), and for Broodmother, Destroy Spin Web is associated with Spin Web. Technically speaking Broodmother only has 5 abilities, since Poison Sting and Spawn Spiderite aren't her abilities but are the Spiderites'. Troops created by your abilities may have their own abilities, separate from the heroes.
Invoker is a very unique hero in that his ultimate ability, Invoke, can create up to 14 spells. I view these spells as abilities. However people generally refer to his basic abilites as "instances" and those sub-abilities as "spells." He can only have up to 2 spells at once aka 6 in total. He always has access to his instances and Invoke. He can also replace one of his spells with another one during the game, as many times as he wants. This is fairly complicated for a hero, and understandably Invoker is considered one of the hardest heroes to master!
So technically speaking, no you do not only choose 4 abilities when you have >4. For those heroes with extra abilities, you generally get them all at once, with Invoker being somewhat of an exception. But it's much easier to understand how they work if you play those heroes through a full game than reading on a wiki page.
Comment: So, for Invoker we can use all those 14 as many as possible for the entire game ?
Comment: Yes. Can use two at once, then use Invoke to change the spells, and use the new spells. And you can keep on using Invoke to get new spells and/or get back the old spells.


Vim plugin to enclose selected text in quotes/parentheses

Question: Are there any vim plugins to enclose selected text in quotes or parentheses? For instance, if I were to select a block of text in visual mode, and pressed a key combination or do a command, that text would be enclosed in parentheses/quotes.
Answer: I use surround.vim for this type of thing.  For example, visually select an area and type "<code>\s(</code>" and the visually selected text will be enclosed in parenthesis.  Change the ( to a double quote and it will use quotes instead.
Unfortunately surround has some slightly odd behaviors, and the help file is sometimes a little unclear, but I find it tolerable.
Answer: I've been maintaining a plugin that offers this kind of feature: lh-map-tools. You'll have to tune it though to specify bracket-like pairs you want to support.


Virtual Circuit Identifier

Question: In a Virtual Circuit Network how does a packet gets a VCI ? I read in Data Communication and Networking book by B.A.Forouzan that a packet with a VCI comes at a switch but there is no mention on how or who gives this VCI to
the packet. I have also read that VCI gets changed on passing through the
switch ? How is it done ? I am confused . Please help .
Answer: The Virtual Circuit Identifier (VCI) is used for reliably transferring packets by L2/L3 virtual circuits and allows higher level protocols to avoid dealing with the division of data into segments, packets, or frames.
The VCI is added by the intermediate routers/switches running protocols such as X.25, Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), GPRS, Multiprotocol Label Switching etc.
Less overhead is required, since the packets are not routed individually and complete addressing information is not provided in the header of each data packet. Only a small virtual channel identifier (VCI) is required in each packet. Routing information is only transferred to the network nodes during the connection establishment phase.
How it works differs protocol to protocol. Read this link to better understand how VCI changes at every hop and what if the network routers doesn't support any such protocol.
At transport layer TCP and SCTP are responsible for providing virtual Circuits.
Answer: That depends on the exact protocol. Each VC protocol has some mechanism for establishing a connection that results in either all parties learning the global VCI or each partner pair establishing the VCI used on their link.

Virtual Circuit Identifier


Facebook Unity Upload Image w/ Facebook Dialog

Question: We currently allow users to post images to their FB wall by using FB.Feed() with a URL of existing images on our CDN and we can include a description, a link, caption, etc.. The interface for posting the image is great because it's built by Facebook and gives the ability to choose who sees it (friends, me only, etc.).
We now want to allow users the ability to post images of their creations in the game, which obviously can't be pre-taken images on our CDN, and we'd prefer avoiding the route of uploading all the images to our CDN then using FB.Feed().
I know it's possibly to upload an image using FB.API() but this requires us building a custom popup to allow the users to type what they want to say for the message of the image rather than using the built-in popup from FB.Feed() and it doesn't give the options of who sees the post and as far as I can tell, it doesn't let us add a link, description and caption.
TLDR: Is FB.API() the only way to UPLOAD an image to a user's wall? If so, this requires  building a custom interface for it instead of using the built-in FB.Post() interface, right?
Thanks,
Colter
Edit: I didn't see this post until now, but it's a similar question but I want to know if there is the ability to add a description, link and caption to the image AND use the built-in FB interface.
Comment: There currently isn't a way to upload screenshots without FB.API().  It does sound like an interesting idea to have something like that for FB.Feed() though.
Answer: Copy/paste from Brian Jew's comment above:
"There currently isn't a way to upload screenshots without FB.API(). It does sound like an interesting idea to have something like that for FB.Feed() though."


Yamaha FZ6 S2 - dead after key duplication

Question: I've only had my used 08 bike for a week - first bike. It came with only a master key which I used to ride 2 days ago and I left the ignition in lock position. Today I had a copy made in the local hardware place. They ordered a blank, cut the key and copied the transponder codes. Tonight I tried it in the ignition, It unlocked the barrel but after that the bike was dead. Then I tried the master key. Still dead. I'm planning on getting the breakdown out tomorrow but I'm wondering - is it possible the duplicated key can have somehow blown the bike immobiliser system so is gone into lock down of some kind ? Or think it's pure coincidence and most likely battery/fuse? very worried I've screwed something.
 Thanks!
Comment: Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! Have you actually checked the battery for power? That could be a big first step in diagnosis.
Comment: On most Japanese bikes, there is a second lock position that switches lights on, just after the normal lock position. If you did this, you probably emptied the battery, so like @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 says I would start by checking the battery voltage.
Answer: Hiya yeah thanks I think I must've cranked the barrel all the way to the P position.  After leaving the battery to charge overnight I'm back up and running. Plus the new key works to boot!


Editing shared Dropbox Folders

Question: I have created a dropbox folder that is shared with my sister. She needs to move the files from various folders as well as delete files (ie edit folder content). Can she do this and/or how do I give her access to do so?
Answer: If you share a folder you and all the people you share it with automatically have equal rights for adding, deleting and modifying its contents.
The only difference between the owner and users who joined the folder is, that only the owner is allowed to unshare the folder or to kick out members. Depending on the chosen options, he may also be the only one allowed to invite new users.
Note that changes are only shared for the contents of the folder. If someone renames or moves the shared folder itself this change is only applied for this particular user.

Editing shared Dropbox Folders


Transactions are verified by miners. What happens when the last BTC has been mined?

Question: Let's say we're X years in the future and we the last bitcoin has been minted. Since you can no longer incentivize mining new nodes of the blockchain, how will transactions continue to be verified?
Comment: possible duplicate of [The End of Mining](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/1226/the-end-of-mining)
Answer: You can still incentivize mining new blocks with transaction fees. So the premise of the question is false.
Comment: @LeftoverSalad There is, of course, a fair question about how well that will work. For example, right after someone finds a block, all the "juicy" transactions will be taken. There may be reduced incentive to mine until more high-fee transactions build up. This is especially true if people conserve electricity by shutting down mining equipment when the reward is too low.
Comment: Are these transaction fees from some given pool? What if a pool decides to not have transaction fees?
Comment: @LeftoverSalad The transaction fees come from transactions. Each transaction can include a fee that goes to the miner who includes that transaction in a block and miners do not have to include transactions in blocks they mine if they don't want to.
Comment: Ah, that's what I wasn't getting! Marked as answered.
Comment: That would lead to less than 1 block per 10 minutes and thus a decrease in difficulty. And/or it may lead to people paying a higher fee as to keep the incentive to mine high enough. It's a completely free market mechanism, very transparent and with low barrier to entry for new players (miners).


How to count empty accounts?

Question: Is there a way to count empty accounts using geth ? I just want to be able to track current DDOS cleanup process.
Comment: I believe there is, due to the fact that Vitalik is posting updates on progress. Check some of his recent comments to see.
Answer: Pretty sure this is breaking some kind of Stackoverflow rule, but I'm going to go ahead and try!

When you have a database mindset you have a list of accounts
<code>id    username    email
1     ramvi       email@example.com
3     0x8000      email@example.com
</code>
How many accounts are there? Easy, two! But for open blockchains there is no such list. Instead any account that can exist already exist, but with a balance of zero. If you send ether to an account "that doesn't exist" it will still work, and it will look to the world like that is an active account.
Why is this
You don't register anywhere when you create an Ethereum account. You just generate a public-private key. You don't tell anyone. So I could have been creating key pairs all the time while writing this, generating thousands of accounts, but you would have no way of knowing. Only if I use an account, will it be possible for other's to understand that it exsist.
So what is an account? It's just the cryptographic key pair.

How to count empty accounts?


Defining a user defined CRS to a layer in QGIS modeler and then reprojecting it

Question: How do I get the QGIS modeler to recognize and use my USER DEFINED CRS in proj4 format?
I have a user defined CRS with the authid USER:100024.  Its parameters in proj4 are "+proj=utm +zone=18 +ellps=clrk66 +datum=WGS84 +towgs84=-11.0584,163.8703,190.541,0,0,0,0 +units=m +no_defs +wktext".  Manually I can set my user defined CRS on a given layer (right click layer in TOC, 'Set layer CRS' to 100024) and then save to EPSG:2959 (NAD83 UTM18N) and get a valid return of point coordinates.  This works fine.
The problem I'm running into is in trying to replicate this behaviour with a QGIS model.
From the modeler template I first use the "define current projection" on the source layer (where I select USER:100024 from the CRS window).
Second, I run a "reproject layer" to EPSG:2959 on the defined projection from step 1.
But this does not work, the coordinates area about 4m off what they ought to be.  It seems to ignore the defined proj4 layer paramters (unlike when I do it manually).  In fact, when I verify the properties on the source layer it defaults to WGS84 (which sort of makes sense because it's not an official EPSG code) instead of 100024.
Comment: You may be confusing the system by using +datum=wgs84. It can't be on WGS84 because you're giving a transformation for a local datum to WGS84. Plus using Clarke 1966 for the ellipsoid. What's the datum really supposed to be? NAD27? Or ATS77? Try dropping the +datum statement at least.
Comment: to mkennedy : Dropping the +datum statement doesn't seem to do it either, but it still works manually.  In answer to your question our source data is all in NAD27 but was given a shift (for reasons still obscure to me) sometime in the mid seventies when the operation began (mining company).  The +towgs84=-11.0584,163.8703,190.541 parameters were given to us by a surveyor to compensate for that shift when converting to NAD83.
Answer: I solved the issue by using a pyqgis python script in QGIS instead.
Call and exectute the QGIS projection selector within the script.
Assign the User Defined crs number to a variable (important because different QGIS instances will generate their own crs number).
Set the active layer crs to the selected crs.
Reproject the active layer using the QGIS reprojection algorithm.
<code># https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/227899/how-can-i-set-the-project-crs-to-an-existing-user-defined-coordinate-system-with
# https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/109235/how-to-make-crs-transformation-of-a-qgsvectorlayer?rq=1

# following 2 parameters are for script user input window
##myLayer=vector
##outLayer=output vector

# import modules
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from qgis.core import *
from qgis.utils import *
import processing
from qgis.gui import QgsGenericProjectionSelector

# use the projection selector window to select your User Defined crs
projSelector = QgsGenericProjectionSelector()
# when running the script, open the projection selector window
projSelector.exec_()
# assign the selected crs to the crsID variable
crsId = projSelector.selectedCrsId()

# apply the crsID to the coordinate ref system
target_crs = QgsCoordinateReferenceSystem()
target_crs.createFromId(crsId, QgsCoordinateReferenceSystem.InternalCrsId)

# use following line if you want to set the canvas crs to the target_crs value
#iface.mapCanvas().setDestinationCrs(target_crs)

# select the active layer in canvas TOC and apply the selected crs
myLayer = iface.activeLayer()
myLayer.setCrs(target_crs)

# run the reprojection algorithm
processing.runalg('qgis:reprojectlayer', myLayer, 'EPSG:2959', r"I:/NAD83_transformation/feb16_2018/new_2959_shape_from100024.shp")
</code>


bare metal crypto library

Question: I am writing an application that will be run on bare metal, i.e. it will not run on a kernel and therefore cannot invoke system calls. There will also be no C runtime. Is there a crypto library I can use in such setting (or do libraries like crypto++, libsodium, etc. depend on C runtime)?
Comment: LibSodium doesn't need any dynamic memory allocations, but it uses a few standard library calls, like `memmove`. But those should be pretty easy to write by yourself. The biggest issue is how you want to generate secure random numbers. @SEJPM Since field arithmetic is often hardcoded for ECC, they don't need malloc. Symmetric crypto generally doesn't need it either.
Comment: Bare metal = no `new` and no `malloc`? I'm pretty sure the cryptography libraries require those functions.
Comment: @CodesInChaos, well I can't make a statement for libsodium, but Crypto++ *requires* CRT, as (un)aligned allocation functions are neccessary. [CodeRef](https://github.com/weidai11/cryptopp/blob/master/secblock.h)
Answer: I'm going to assume that you only need the most standard capabilities and nothing fancy, so at most things like standard authenticated encryption primitives and thelike. No secret sharing, no format preserving encryption and no password based key derivation or other fancy password hashing schemes.
So if you do indeed only need the basic schemes there are potentially three libraries that would fit your needs:

Cryptlib. Cryptlib is a per-node paid library that has a wide range of hardware support and from what I understand should be able to run on embedded devices as well. So if you want something with commercial support then this is your best option (and you probably should ask them before using whether it fits your specific needs). Also note that opposed to other libraries, Cryptlib has support for common high-level constructs like CMS and PGP.
BearSSL. BearSSL is the other really interesting choice. It has been designed and programmed for low-memory embedded devices and requires only a very minimal set of functions from the compiler, which is just memcpy, memmove and strlen and a few definitions. It does not make any syscalls at any point. However the downside is that you probably won't get commercial support and it's still technically in alpha, so the API may change on any version, but it's worth keeping in mind in the long-term. On the upside it supports all the cryptography a standard TLS library needs and it's all fast and constant-time which may be just enough for you.
mbedTLS. In theory mbedTLS should be the middle-ground between BearSSL and Cryptlib here, however I haven't properly assessed it so I can't say anything more than "it's out there and might be worth further evaluation".

bare metal crypto library


Why doesn't Wit's Breath make the colors around him richer?

Question: We know from Warbreaker that people with large amounts of Breath make colors richer around them, and that to achieve Perfect Pitch one needs enough Breath to reach the second Heightening. In Words of Radiance, Wit is tuning an instrument and says "perfect pitch makes this so much easier than it used to be." This indicates that Wit had achieved the second Heightening and should make the colors around him richer. Why doesn't he?
Comment: Remember how Vasher could hide certain things?
Comment: Hmm, maybe he does but people not familiar with the effect don't notice. Or maybe he can suppress it - he's _really_ good in hiding. Or maybe among his various powers there's something that neutralizes this effect...
Comment: But Denth didn't keep Breath because he couldn't hide it and he was one of the 5 scholars
Comment: Denth could hide his divine breath and normal ones can be hidden easier by storing in objects.
Comment: But if they were in objects he wouldnt have perfect pitch
Comment: Hoid presumably has access to a lot of things.  I was thinking maybe a coppercloud with allomancy, but Brandon never thought if that would work apparently, so I doubt that was his intention. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/367/#e11635
Answer: Hoid has some mixture of mechanisms to prevent it, most likely based on abilities that have only been hinted at so far.
This is what I can find from Brandon on the subject:

mooglefrooglian:
Why is Hoid's color aura from his Breaths not noticed by anyone on Roshar? Are the characters just not used to noticing that sort of thing, or does he not have one?
Brandon Sanderson:
There are a mixture of reasons. Not the least is Hoid's control over investiture.
uchoo786:
Would someone with breath be able to notice his aura on Roshar? E.g. Vasher?
Brandon Sanderson:
Various methods of detecting investiture would still work, depending on how good a job Hoid is doing of suppressing his.
source

So it seems like Hoid is at least taking some form of active measures to prevent it.  Of the mechanisms we know of, it's not clear which could be used here.  Something like a coppercloud could technically work, according to Brandon, but given that he says he had never thought of it until that point suggests that was not what was done here.
But Hoid is extremely invested and well-versed in investiture and it's usages.  It's very difficult to speculate on how Hoid can do a lot of the very special things he does, and this just seems to be one of them so far.
This next part is pure speculation, but there is one ability we know Hoid would have at this point that should, in theory, be capable of suppressing the purely visual aspects of his aura.  This would be the Lightweaving that existed on Yolen, presumably pre-shattering, which we can confirm Hoid does have access to:

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]:
Can you tell me something about Hoid that nobody really knows?
Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]:
So, I get asked this enough that I've run out of the easy facts. So usually, I have to RAFO that, just because rattling them off is really hard to do, the random facts ones. I used to be able to 'em, like early, I'm like, "This, that." But now, what do I say that won't be a spoiler? That's not known by anybody?
Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]:
Let me ask you this. Is Hoid basically collecting these different Investitures from all the different planets?
Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]:
You have definitely seen him trying to do this on multiple worlds. You have seen evidence of him using Breaths and Allomancy, and you have seen him do something like Lightweaving that he calls Lightweaving, and you have also seen him try to get AonDor and fail. That's in the extra bonus scene in Elantris.
source

It should be easy enough for him to stop any regular Joe walking by from seeing the colours around him more vivid.  Stopping someone capable from recognizing that he's highly invested with breath would be a bit more involved.  For that, I would imagine Hoid probably puts a lot of work into hiding how invested he is, probably not through any one means.
Comment: Excellent answer, but there is also a scene in WoR (I believe it's one of Shallan's flashbacks, but I can't recall which), in which Shallan *does* notice the color aura around him. Perhaps he has to learn how to do it, a la Vasher? I apologize for not being able to provide a better reference than that-- I'm away from my books, and searching Stormlight for references can be painstaking anyways. And now that I think about it, it might have been Vivenna anyhow...


HP DL 380G7 Raid swap drives

Question: disks 0 and 1 are raid redundant (OS)    and the remaining 6 drives are in raid 5 I believe.  i would like to pull out disks 0 and 1 and install new drives to build a new OS.  I need to be able to reinsert the old drives and reboot back to the original OS. (swap)
I had a serious problem in the past attempting this.  does the raid require (look for) the drives based on a serial number or something?  just dont want to lose data.  thanks
Answer: You can do this, but the caveat is that you don't want to make drastic changes to the drive locations.
Why do you need to reinsert the old disks?
If you're looking to just use the server to install an OS, remove all of the disks and only insert what you need to install the new OS.
If you're trying to install a new OS and eventually want to use the other six disks with the OS once it's built, remove all of the disks, but keep them in order. Install the new OS and insert the six disks into the system after the OS is built.
Answer: Yes, HP RAID controllers store their array data on the disks themselves. This means you can take all of your disks, throw them into a brand new controller and the arrays will detect and rebuild themselves.
What this means for removing all the disks from one array and replacing them with brand new ones, I can't say unfortunately. But it does mean that putting your old drives back in should bring the array back online.

HP DL 380G7 Raid swap drives


Formatting Design For Screen Printing

Question: I'm launching a clothing company soon, and I have a design in illustrator that I must send to my screen printer. I am mainly an artist, so I drew the design. But I feel like the file is very sloppily formatted and the printer needs better to print. For example, the design has a finger over lips. I drew the lips first, then the finger on top, leaving the lips under it. Is there a way to simply combine alike colors as one object, but have them still stay in the correct placement behind/in front of things.  Thanks!
Comment: The printer will handle that ok. And doing the merging does have some serious drawebacks for on screen previews.
Answer: Expanding artwork then clicking the Merge button on the Pathfinder Panel will "unite" objects with similar fills that touch, and remove any underlying objects.
More info on Pathfinder operations here: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/a/28129/3270
Beyond this, it's difficult to provide any further suggestions without seeing artwork and how exactly it's constructed.
Answer: Ouch... The recommendation will probably be a little late for the original user, but here I go.
There are two main methods of printing an image: Color selection or color separation.
The problem is not that you send an object finger over an object lip. That is not important.
The important thing is that you need to define if those lips are going to use a combination of magenta and yellow formed by little dots, a solid red with solid white highlights and solid black on the shadows; different shades of red, etc.
Printing a specific design is not only making a design and sending it to the printer. You need to think and generate it exactly as you want it to be, so you need to look those details on other existing prints.

Formatting Design For Screen Printing


Low volume mixed signal electronics production (hardware test, calibration, flashing) automation

Question: I am designing a mixed-signal board with microcontroller that will need flash memory programming for its firmware, (self-)testing, and documentation for the final production steps.
I know there is a whole branch of the electronics manufacturing industry just around testing (ATE), but I have not yet found a simple list of steps and options for the basic process, just to get started and figure out the simplest, low cost way of automating this for a small scale.
Let's start with the essential flashing of the micro:

Connect device to programmer (PC+Software)
Click "program" button to flash firmware
Disconnect device

How would one simplify this to minimal human involvement like

Insert device
Remove device

? Likely with

a test jig and spring-loaded probes (pogo-pins) for the connections.
a method for the computer to detect the device (switch, or retry until successful connection to MCU was established).
a human-machine interface (audio, visual via PC or on test jig)

The machine IO could be as "simple" as another microcontroller board (say Arduino) connected via serial port (UART/RS-232). Then the PC software might have to be customized to control the process (IO and Flasher software).
Of course for flashing alone there are several options (vendor specific link, JTAG, bootloader).
Next of interest would be automated testing and calibration of the device. Of course, this is very specific to the hardware. The necessary equipment could be generalised as

power supply
signal generator (reference voltage / signal)
measuring device (multimeter, oscilloscope)
loads (sinks, sources)
interfaces

Instead of using self-test or IO routines on the hardware (separate testing firmware or test routines part of production firmware), low-level tests could be run by external control host via hardware Boundary scan / JTAG.
Depending on the circuit, this might be simplified to self-testing with a passive jig that mostly acts as a loopback device.
In any case, a general sequence for test/calibration might be:

apply signal
measure signal
[calculate / store calibration parameters]

For instance, outputs could loop back to (multiple) inputs via the test jig.
Analog signal calibration requires a reference that could be external. Signal switching might be required if using a reference with inputs (ADC) and outputs (DAC), e.g.

apply external reference voltage to input
calibrate input
switch output to input
self-calibrate output (adjust until output is same as reference)

Alternatively an external comparator could be used with the reference voltage for feedback (requiring an input and a routine to search for the correct output value).
Of course, off-the-shelf test equipment with control interfaces are available and allow direct setting/measurement of analog signals to calculate calibration values.
Writing the calibration data to the device or attached memory requires corresponding data structures/addresses used by the firmware.
The data could be written directly to memory where possible (flash memory limitations e.g. erase cycle, block size) or embedded into firmware/eeprom image before writing final production firmware.
Alternatively, if the firmware has a calibration interface, this could be used to transfer/update these values after flashing once the device is running.
As for ID and documentation, if no hardware ID is present in the devices, one might be generated by the test environment and written to the device.
Firmware and product information could be written to database and sent to label printer for physical ID on the device.
Of course, any solution is always a trade-off and can only be approached further based on the details of the test requirements.
I'd be interested in further ideas or pointers to accounts of implementations.

Also see:

Optimizing product tests?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-circuit_test
Answer: many free ARM programmers (ST-LINK utility, Jlink etc) have  the automatic mode. I usually use ST-LINK utility + pogo pins. When the device is connected ST-LINK utility detects it, programs the flashes, sets the option bits (memory protection for example) and asks for the device disconnection - then waits for another one. Even doing it manually you can program 100-200 devices / hour.
Calibration is more difficult as you need to have

Calibration utilities in your software - often with the signalling on the pin when the calibration is ready.
Software on the PC side - usually I write my own programs for it. So it sets the calibration data and waits for the confirmation from the device, sets anothewr ones and so on. The signaling pin does not have to be dedicated - you just need it during the calibration. Only pad for the pogo pin is needed.


Looks curdled, but it wasn't - my bad alfredo

Question: I made some alfredo sauce (evoo, heavy cream, homemade pesto, Parmesan cheese) and decided to throw in some chopped tomato. Instantly, it separated. Was it the acidity of the tomato or the extra water coming in from the tomato? How can I get tomato in my alfredo, is it at all possible?
Comment: Wouldn't that make it a rose, rather than an alfredo?
Comment: Ok Ok, it's not alfredo anymore... :-p
Comment: Yeah, I have added a homemade sauce as well before, which is why i was leaning more towards the water than the tomato acids...
Comment: how sour were the tomatoes?  I wonder if you denatured some proteins with the acidity
Answer: Emulsions aren't necessarily all about oil vs. water. Alfredo sauce is actually an emulsion of cream and butter, both of which contain varying amounts of both water and fat, and in many cases, if you bought them from a supermarket rather than a farm, also a fair amount of emulsifiers.
Any emulsion is going to be temperamental and not respond well to sudden changes in dispersion. The most important thing to do with one is incorporate new ingredients slowly! If you just dump in a bunch of watery tomatoes, or anything else with enough liquid (water or fat), it's almost certainly going to separate.
Even if you incorporate very slowly and thoroughly, if you upset the balance too much, it might still break. There's no way to know the exact amount you can add without experimenting, unless somebody else has already documented it (not likely).
Sometimes, if your emulsion just creams (see my related answer about mayonnaise), you can restore it to its former glory with sufficient agitation. If it's actually broken then you're in trouble.
Anyway, my advice to you would be - if you want a rosé sauce, then make a rosé sauce, don't waste a lot of time and perfectly good Reggiano cheese trying to start from an Alfredo recipe. I've made a great many tomato and/or pesto cream sauces and the general rule with these (including Alfredo) is that you always start with any oil and vegetables (garlic, tomatoes/paste, etc.), then add your seasonings, then add the cream and slowly reduce it. You don't need or want butter at this point, its flavour will be completely overwhelmed by the other ingredients and it therefore just adds instability.
You might also want to consider using sun-dried tomatoes for a stabler and probably tastier result; they essentially classify as a solid as far as emulsions are concerned, so it's not much different from incorporating pepper or dried herbs. You could just make a regular pesto cream sauce and whisk in some sun-dried tomatoes near the end.
Answer: First of all, if you put olive oil, pesto and tomatoes in it, it's not Alfredo anymore.
I've cooked cream and tomato sauces before, and never had this problem. It might be the extra fat (the olive oil and the pesto) that causes the emulsion to break. Or maybe you reduced the cream too much.
Comment: You should add the cheese last (this rule applies to many other things, including risotto). So yeah, it might help. And adding the tomatoes at the start will help to incorporate them into the sauce, so that's a good idea too.
Comment: hmmm... it  was fine before i added tomatos, I'll try it again and maybe introduce the tomatos a little earlier, before i add the cheese?


Are patents required to be put online?

Question: This is a kind of random question but are patents once there granted required to scanned and put online to allow people to check for past art? Or do companies like Google pay to have this done?
Answer: Patent authorities such as the USPTO publish applications 18 months after filing and patents upon grant. You can access patent documents directly from the various patent authorities. Websites such as Google Patent and The Lens generally make it a bit easier to access these publications. I don't know if they pay for access, but I doubt it as the information is public and The Lens in particular is non-profit.

Are patents required to be put online?


Is there a book about the history of linear programming?

Question: Is there any book about the history of linear programming? I would like to know more about the persons involved in the beginning of the field. I know about Kantorovich, Dantzig and Von Neumann, but I'm searching for a book that organizes the history in a chronological narrative and reports about the people involved but not as famous as the previous three.
Comment: I take it that you have already searched online for ***history of linear programming***? There are lots of articles.   A search on **Google Scholar**  also yields plenty of results. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=1%2C5&q=history+of+linear+programming&btnG=
Answer: I suggest having a look at the following book:
Grötschel, M. (Ed.). (2012). Optimization stories. Dt. Mathematiker-Vereinigung.
The book has a number of chapters and in particular a chapter titled "Linear Programming Stories" which can interest you.


I can't Save Illustrator file as PDF

Question: So I'm designing a 219" x 100" wall banner in Illustrator. Trying to save it as a PDF and keep getting an error box - "The dimensions of this page are out-of-range"
I have no crop marks or tools going... Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Any ideas?
Answer: There is rarely need to work at 100% scale when working in large format, for exactly this reason. Large format print work is generally printed at a much lower resolution so you can work at scale (i.e. lower size / higher resolution).
For example, 20" × 10" at 300 PPI is exactly the same as 200" × 100" at 30 PPI.
As always, talk to your printer (the person, not the machine) and find out what resolution artwork you need (if you're working entirely in vector then it doesn't really matter) and work at a more reasonable scale. You can find more relevant info here:

I need to print an image at a certain size. What dimensions and resolution should I use?
Answer: You're trying to save it as something too big for the PDF export capacity of Illustrator.
Try scaling down the image to a size that's (lots) smaller, and exporting that.
Since most of your artwork seems to be vector based, this should be fine. You might get some banding in the gradients, though.
Answer: Found a fix that should be suitable for this. I was working on 211.2" x 60" (17.6' x 5'). I also, received "The dimensions for this page are out of rage" when trying to save as PDF for print. It is true that the adobe illustrator export capacity is 200 inches. I tested this by working with a blank canvas set to 198" and 200" and 201". Cheers to 198" working. But this does not resolve the issue because who really wants to scale down any of their art.  What worked for me was simple. With my illustrator file closed I right clicked opened with Adobe Acrobat Professional CC 2017. Then, File save as PDF from within Adobe Acrobat Pro. Reopened the standalone PDF of my 17ft billboard and all the artwork was intact. Zoomed in on vector text and shapes 600% zoom with crisp clear lines.
Answer: I just ran across the same problem, but after scrolling through my many artboards I discovered a microscopic artboard had been created inadvertently and that's what was causing the issue.  Once deleted I could export to pdf.  Just in case the solutions above don't work, it's worthwhile checking to ensure you don't have an artboard that you didn't mean to create.
Answer: I have had that problem in the past as well. From a production standpoint, I would recommend scaling down 30-70% and working on that scale, exporting it, and sizing up at a lower resolution on Photoshop when your artwork is ready for production. I have had experiences in which my Printers had very specific instructions for export and conversely I've had Printers who have been very vague about how they want artwork prepared.
To reduce the room for error I always do a little in-house print test when I am about ready for production. I print the banner at 100% on letter or tabloid (meaning I will only capture a small part of the banner) and tape it on the wall. I stand in real time however far away from the wall as I anticipate the final artwork will be viewed at and see if I like the product. This allows me to adjust my artwork even before I see a proof from my printers. I highly recommend this especially for newer designers who may not have a good grasp of what resolution works best at which scale.
Hope that helps,
Louise
Answer: I found a possible solution. I had a teeny tiny artboard that was accidentally created with the artboard tool. It was just a few pixels wide. Once I found it and deleted it - all saving errors were resolved! Hope that helps someone :)
Answer: This is a good solution if you have Actobat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBhbSz4Uhpw
Comment: Hi Shige, welcome to GDSE! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, [it would be preferable](//meta.stackexchange.com/q/8259) to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
Answer: I have found that when that error comes up it is directly related to the size of the Artboard. If you go too close to the edges, width wise, it says that. So keep your artwork to the same size but change your artboard size, it will only affect what your preview looks like. Hope this helps!

I can't Save Illustrator file as PDF


SharePoint and MS Project Resource Integration

Question: I am trying to come up with an asset management solution, and it has been suggested that Project's Team Planner might be what I need.  I have looked for other ways to do this, but right now it appears that the best option is to find a way to use a Project file to manage employee and equipment scheduling.  I am at a loss, though, as to where to start.  I have seen many references to using a project task list from SharePoint to track my projects, but what about tracking resources?  I have several SP lists, such as Employees and Equipment, that all need to be tracked, but I have no idea how to go about this.  I realize this is fairly broad, and I wish I could be more specific, but I don't know enough about how the software works together to be able to give a better description.  Any help is very much appreciated.
Answer: The Project Team Planner looks like a feature of Project 2010 Professional that can sync SharePoint which would connect Project with SharePoint.  I don't have the system setup to help you with how it works or comment on its effectiveness.  As to how you manage existing resources in SharePoint with Project.  It really depends on the complexity of your needs.  If you only have a few people, resources and projects then Project and the Team Planner with a little SharePoint organization might be enough for you.  If you are dealing with a lot of projects then you might consider Project Server Project Server Link.
Another option might be to use a third-party SharePoint product like a Project Site Template from BrightWork Template Link.  Though you would not have any direct connection to Project
or Project Management Central from Bamboo.
Hope this helps you.
Microsoft Project 2010 Team Planner View & Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Demo
http://www.microsoft.com/global/project/en-us/RichMedia/demos/keystone/player.html?course=teamplanner
Project 2010: Introducing the Team Planner
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/08/project-2010-introducing-the-team-planner.aspx
Project 2010: Introducing Sync to SharePoint
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/19/project-2010-introducing-sync-to-sharepoint.aspx
View your team's work with Team Planner
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project-help/view-your-team-s-work-with-team-planner-HA010373239.aspx
Project Server 2010 with SharePoint Server 2010 architecture (overview)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff686783(v=office.14).aspx
How to Use the Team Planner to Assign Resources
http://ntrajkovski.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/how-to-use-the-team-planner-to-assign-resources/
Project 2010 Product Guide
http://download.microsoft.com/documents/France/Office/project/project-client-user-guide.pdf
Comment: Thanks for the response!  Very thorough.  As for using 3rd-party templates and such, I am not able to do this due to corporate regulations- no code (3rd-party or otherwise) can be put on the server.  As for number of projects, it's reasonable- essentially we have 60 people and around 200 pieces of equipment that are sent around the world for various stretches of time, and we want to use Project to track where they are and when.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the links listed solve this problem- they simply allow you to sync the project tasks, whereas my primary concern is resources.
Comment: I think I understand you better now.  Maybe this article would provide more help.  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project-help/use-project-with-sharepoint-HA101805393.aspx


In what occupations did Aristotle consider virtue impossible to acquire?

Question: Source: Thomas Morris PhD (Yale). Philosophy For Dummies (1999 1 ed). p. 87.

There are some occupations in which it is impossible for a man to be virtuous.
  — Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)

To which occupations was he referring?
Comment: Answer offered.
Answer: Not exactly what Aristotle says ...

Politics,1278a :  As there are several forms of constitution, it follows that there are several kinds of citizen, and especially of the citizen in a subject position; hence under one form of constitution citizenship will necessarily extend to the artisan and the hired laborer, while under other forms this is impossible, for instance in any constitution that is of the form entitled aristocratic and in which the honors are bestowed according to goodness and to merit, since a person living a life of manual toil or as a hired laborer cannot practise the pursuits in which goodness is exercised [emphasis added].

An alternative translation of the sentence is :

"it is impossible to pursue the things of virtue when one lives the life of a vulgar person or a laborer".
Comment: And such wonderful examples of honorable people they were, the aristocracy.
Answer: Money-making

According to Aristotle, legitimate trade consisted
   of providing needs essential for the "good life."
   Barter was an acceptable means of trade, but profit
   making seemed absurd. Aristotle held that those who
   sought a profit were despicable characters lacking in
   proper virtues. After all, one who made a profit had
   only two options, to hoard the money or to spend it
   on excessive wants and desires. Thus, to Aristotle,
   this line of work seemed to be unvirtuous and
   even despicable. (Denis Collins, 'Aristotle and Business', Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 6, No. 7 (Oct., 1987), pp. 567-572: 572.

To spell this out in more detail (references are to Aristotle's Politics except for 'EN' = Nicomachean Ethics):

Aristotle introduces money as a development of exchange, and he sees this
   as evolving through four forms. The first (i) is barter or the exchange of
   commodities without money (1257al5-30), which we can represent as C-C.
   Barter is inconvenient because the acts of sale and purchase are fused into a
   single act. Money came into existence in the first place, he says, in order to  make this sort of exchange easier (1258b4-5), by allowing the sale (C-M)
   and the purchase (M-C) to be separated in time and place (EN., V,
   1133bl0f). This gives (ii) the second form of exchange, natural chrematistike (1257a30-41), which may be represented as C-M/M-C, or for short C-
   M-C. Once people have become accustomed to this, Aristotle says, another
   form of exchange arises, (iii) unnatural chrematistike, in which people can
   come to market, not with surplus goods they have made or grown which
   they want to exchange for things they need, but with money. Their aim is to
   get money by buying goods and selling them for a greater sum (1 257b 1-40);
   it can be represented as M-C/C-M, or M-C-M for short. This is justly
   discredited, he says, because it involves 'people taking things from one
   another' (1258blf). (iv) The fourth form is usury (obolostatike), the lending
   of money at interest, M-M, or 'the breeding of money from money', which
   he says is the most hated sort and with reason (1258b 1-8). (Scott Meikle, 'Aristotle on Money', Phronesis, Vol. 39, No. 1 (1994), pp. 26-44: 26-7.)

Aristotle and banausia [manual labour]

[I]n the De Philosophia of his transitional phase, where
   he gives the name of wisdom (sophia) to each of the five stages he
   distinguishes in the growth of civilization: first, the introduction of
   work and of the techniques required to satisfy the most pressing
   needs of ordinary life; second, the introduction of the arts of
   refinement and elegance; then, the creation of laws, the study of
   nature, and finally, the contemplation of the first cause. Labour and
   technical skills, then, are already held to be sophia. Later, in the
   first chapter of the Metaphysics, Aristotle expresses this concept
   more clearly, distinguishing two elements in labour: the invention
   and supervision of the technique; and its actual execution. He
   considers those who direct the work to be more gifted than those
   who merely carry it out mechanically, never stopping to think of the
   reason for what they do. (Rodolfo Mondolfo and D. S. Duncan, 'The Greek Attitude to Manual Labour', Past & Present, No. 6 (Nov., 1954), pp. 1-5: 4.)

Such 'mechanical work', of which those who do it never stop 'to think of the reason for what they do', stymies the development of virtue. Some remarks of Julia Annas are helpful here:

Humans are equipped by mere nature to  develop virtue, but do not do so unless habit is directed by reason to
   produce a rational direction of one's life and employment of external
   goods. In the context of the Politics we also need to remember the
   thesis that humans are by nature politika (πολιτικά) - social and political beings. For it is only when habit is directed by reason to produce dispositions to engage socially, culturally, and politically with
   others in a form of society (one which Aristotle identifies with the polis) that humans achieve the goal of natural development. (Julia Annas, 'Aristotle's "Politics": A Symposium: Aristotle on Human Nature and Political Virtue',  The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Jun., 1996), pp. 731-753: 736-7.

Aristotle assumes that, for the manual worker, habit cannot be directed by reason to produce a rational direction of one's life and employment of external goods. The conditions of life of the banausos, the class of manual labourers, is such that this class has neither the leisure, the education, nor the command of external goods to acquire the ethical and intellectual virtues outlined in the Nicomachean Ethics, III-VI.


When will all 45 billion coins be in circulation?

Question: I cannot find any accurate information with what speed and based on what formula the coins which are not in circulation will be in circulation and when (approximately) all coins will be in circulation.
Answer: The formula is quite complex, but at a high level it's an exponential decay like Bitcoin.
Up to 0.3% of the remaining reserves may be mined at each epoch (5 days), however it depends on various factors such as how many blocks were mined, so currently the average is closer to 0.2% per epoch.
At 0.2% per epoch, that corresponds to 13.59% of remaining reserves mined every year:
<code>1 - (1 - 0.002)^(365/5) = 0.1359
</code>
So assuming 0.2% per epoch, it would take roughly 16 years (from genesis) for 90% of the supply to be in circulation, and 32 years for 99% to be in circulation.
Comment: So each year the percentage of minted coins is less because the transactions are more (they cover the rewards for the SPOs and the delegators)?
Comment: This is just what's coming from the reserve, transaction fees are in addition to that and are independent AFAIK.


Should I Use a Limit or Stop Limit Order to Sell a Position Once It Reaches Price Objective

Question: I have a position in stock options in my account at Schwab and I want to submit a GTC order to sell half the position when it reaches my price objective (or better). It seems that I can submit either a GTC limit order or GTC stop-limit order and it will essentially accomplish the same thing. Am I wrong?
Answer: Not exactly the same:

a limit order executes in the first trade at or above your limit;
a stop limit order executes in the first trade after the first trade at or above your limit. This trade could be higher or lower than your limit, and it could be higher or lower than the first trade.

For liquid securities with typically incremental movements in the price, there will be little difference, but it could mean a lot of difference if the security is illiquid or the price jumps around a lot.
Answer: I would consider the possibility of using  a trailing stop order.  It would protect gains and allow the trade to remain open, enabling additional profit if the security continues to move in your favor.


How to remove purgeable spaze in Mojave

Question: I'm having some problem with my mac (MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)). I freed some spaces by deleting some folders but when I analyse mac HD I get the following:
Available: 79.29 GB (44.52 GB purgeable)

Installing windows 10 on bootcamp still returns the error "not enough space" so I started looking at tutorials on how to get rid of that "purgeable" space. I have tried everything, enabling store optimisation, apple cloud, disabling everything, nothing worked.
I stumble upon a tutorial that suggested to create fake files to fill the hard disk and then remove them (with iCloud disabled).
The problem is that the command suggested in the tutorial:
mkfile -n 10g ./test

Doens't work, it creates a file, but if I analyse the file:
Size: 10,737,418,240 bytes (4 KB on disk)

So it should occupy 10 gigs but in reality it occupies almost no space at all.
What can I do to get rid of that space?
Answer: Try using a tool like CleanMyMac, they usually have an option around the lines of "Remove System Junk".

How to remove purgeable spaze in Mojave


Ask for reference letter for applying graduate school, professor agreed, but no more follow up

Question: I am currently preparing for the graduate school application. I was asking for reference letter from one of my Math professor who knows me well. I took classes with him for twice, went to his office hour frequently, and we were talking to each other for many different things other than the class/grades. He was very caring and helpful all the time. I asked him if he will be willing to write me a ref letter for graduate school programs, and after nearly 2 weeks, I got an reply said yes, he will be very willing to. But he reminded me that he is a very slow people and I will need to remind him at least two weeks before the deadline. After that, I sent him about some supplementary materials such as my CV/personal statements to help him write the ref letter and ask if he will need more information from me, I have been waited for more than two weeks, and I repeatedly sent reminder emails for three times, but I still got not reply from him. I went to his office, but because of the pandemic thing, he was not there. I am so nervous and concerned and not sure what sure I do next? I was calling the Math department secretary to ask her to send an email to remind him to check the email, but I also did not get any feedback from him yet. Does anyone have any suggestion for me??? I will be really appreciate for that! Also, if I got reply from him, should I politely ask him to give me his phone number in case I might not be able to contact him through email again. I am not sure if this is polite but if he cannot reponde me in time in particular when the deadline gets closer, that will be very awful :(
Answer: I suspect that he knows of your concern and will come through, though at the last minute. But "repeatedly sending reminders" is also "being a bit of a pest". Most people will forgive you for that, but not all.
But, he has other things to do and needs to think about what to write on your behalf.
Phoning him will just make it worse, interrupting his schedule.
So long as he knows of the deadline you should be fine. A message a few days before the deadline wouldn't hurt, mentioning your eagerness to know.
But replying to constant reminders just slows down the process, so they are often ignored. It is a mistake to make him less efficient than he could be. Relax for a bit. There is little incentive for him to rush it unless the deadline is immanent.
Comment: Thank you for the advice! My current concern is that since he hasn't reply me back for any of the emails and I haven't sent him the invitations of reference letter from each schools, should I wait until at least he reply me? or should I directly let the schools send him the invitations?
Comment: It is hard to say from a distance. Perhaps he is waiting for the formal invitations. Is there a reason not to have them sent?
Comment: Maybe, no I can definitely just let the schools send the invitations, my concern is just since I will be applying 10-12 schools, so there will be around 12 invitations sent to him. Since I am not sure if he was being busy with dealing with other emails, I am not sure if now is the right time to send the formal invitations since I am worried that he probably will ignore them again... which is not a good thing.
Comment: If you've been "a bit of a pest" it is easy to ignore your mails. It is less likely that he will ignore formal invitations. But with a lot of schools you have to expect a single letter, rather than one tailored to each school.


Wrong jumper cable intallation

Question: I have a chevrolet captiva 2010 diesel model. The mechanic installed the jumper cables backward. My suv doesn't start anymore.(it doesn't crank) What could be the problem? What should I check? Thanks
Comment: Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! If the mechanic installed the cables backwards, tell him to fix it *at his expense*. What may be wrong  really depends on the symptoms of "won't start". Does it turn over but not sound like it's doing anything (crank no start) or not cranking at all? Give us a little more information as to what's going on.
Comment: There may be a *fusible link* blown that prevents power getting to the starter solenoid.  Does everything else work (headlights, radio, instrument cluster, etc) ?  Fusible links can carry very high currents, but are subtle in that they appear like just a normal piece of wire.
Comment: do you mean jumper cables ( as in jump start from another car ) or battery cables?  If you were jumping it presumably you had a bad battery to begin with, did you take care of that?
Answer: @Paulster2 is right in that more information would be helpful, but first of all, the problem is that you have a terrible mechanic. No proper mechanic should get the connections wrong for jumping a cap.
That aside, wiring your battery wrong is likely to kill the battery (essentially, you've shorted the battery, and it likely hydrolyzed the water in the battery). Simplest check is to swap the battery, or try jumping correctly from another vehicle. If it still doesn't start, you may have a bigger problem.
Comment: Check for a main fuse. If connected backwards it probably blew the fuse.
Comment: I don't think there's usually a fuse to protect the battery from overcurrent. It would have to be insanely large (ex. 200A+) to handle cranking. If he shorted the battery with jumper cables, it would have also bypassed any "main" fuses.
Comment: There are two 50 amp fuses in the under hood fuse box. Check those first. If they are ok, check the RAP relay in the fuse box inside the vehicle, relay 22. RAP stands for "retained accessory power". You can temporarily swap it with the defrost relay to see if it will start, but get the correct one if it works, and put the defrost relay back in their original position. Happy hunting!!
Comment: Honda had them for years, so I would at least give it a look. It doesn't protect the battery, just the components in the car from damage.
Answer: cars/trucks have a main fuse, if you trace the positive cable it will lead to the fuse box. you will probably see it going into two 50amp fuses or a 100amp fuse. if the fuse is not blown, then the wire going to it probably is... a simple volt meter continuity(beeping thing) test between positive battery terminal and the fuses will reveal where the wire is broken.

Wrong jumper cable intallation


How are Ethiopian Jews Jewish if their genes are so different?

Question: How is it possible that the Ethiopians who claim to be Jews are actually Jewish if their genetic makeup seems to be so different than the rest of the Jewish people?
Comment: I'm not sure where it is but there was an article I read a while back that says just the opposite, that there's several genes that we all share as Jews, including the Bnei Menashe.
Comment: highly related http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/432/759
Comment: I am far from knowledgable on this topic so take this with caution. DNA. results of most Ethiopian Jews who were TESTED show they belong to Haplogroups similar to their Sub-Sahara neighbors. The offspring of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba would have shown Near Eastern DNA but that information would be negligible over time unless their descendants bred with other Jews from the Levant. Inter-breeding with close relatives and inter-breeding with local converts would only strengthen their Haplogroup A and E DNA. In fact, it could created a separate sub-clade (sp?} entirely.
Answer: According to their tradition, they are descended from converts due to an affair with the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. Source So their genetic makeup really has nothing to do with them being Jewish or not (in fact it never does with any Jew!).
R' Moshe Feinstein wrote a letter about it in 1984.
I don't have the time to translate the entire letter, but pretty much he says that the Ethiopians should be accepted with open arms by the Jewish community if they go through an Orthodox conversion out of doubt.
Comment: What is the source for the letter?
Comment: By genetic makeup, I was referring to the DNA studies that seem to make it pretty clear that they come from the same source as all the neighboring tribes and have no connection at all to the Jewish people (unless they converted as a complete tribe many years ago)
Comment: @MarkA. And the answer was that the tribe converted.
Comment: I don't think rabbi Feinstein is hinting to the legend. I doubt he was familiar with whith Ethiopian folklore.


I want to learn bass guitar

Question: I'm a seventh grader and I want to learn how to play bass, and while I already have a guitar I need to learn how to play. I recently got invited to a friend's band because they need a bass player and he saw that I had one and know I don't know what to do, I really want to be in his band but I can't play. Can you help me?
Answer: This is a very broad question and for that it will be difficult to help.  Does your friend know that you can't play yet?  There's nothing wrong with learning as you go.  You say that you have a guitar and that your friend saw that you "had one".  I'm guessing that means you have a bass too.  Is that right?  The best thing you can do is take lessons somewhere.  If no other option exists look up some beginner lessons on line, you might find some free stuff on you tube.  But the best thing is to get a real instructor looking at your hands and guiding you on correct technique.  If the style of music is not too difficult you may be able to pick up a song quickly using TAB.  I guess the real question(s) is (are), do you want to do this, and does your friend think you already know how to play but you don't?  You need to be honest with your friend.
Comment: Yes, I do and thanks for the help I appreciate it. I didn't know that I want to play bass until last week.
Answer: It's quite often the case that bass players were guitarists in an earlier incarnation!
Quite straightforward - the four bass strings are each an octave lower than the bottom four strings on an ordinary guitar!
There are no chords to play (in mainstream), so even playing a 1 on 1 - root note on beat 1 of each bar - will get you started.
If you have a good ear, you can probably pick up what the bass plays in each song, and copy it, but it's in your interest to know what you're doing, so lessons won't go amiss. Leard about keys, and which notes make up arpeggios, and which notes will get played most in particular keys. Learn how patterns work on bass. Learn how to be a team with the drummer, listening to each other, and playing so you complement each other.
In my first group (I was 14), the bass had to use an ordinary guitar, so you have a head start!

I want to learn bass guitar


Is "come again?" inappropriate usage?

Question: I hear "come again" is an inappropriate alternative to pardon me or what did you say? Is that true only for certain native English regions or generally not the right way to ask?
Answer: I don't know about 'inappropriate', but it is certainly less formal than other ways of asking for somebody to repeat themselves. But I would also consider 'what did you say' as having the potential to cause offence, depending on context. Certainly many older English speakers will have grown up being frequently admonished by our parents: "don't say 'what', say 'pardon'".
In order from most 'polite' to most 'rude', I'd say these are the various ways of asking someone to repeat themselves.

I beg your pardon?
Pardon me?
Pardon?
Would you repeat that?
Come again?
What did you say?
What?
You what?
Comment: When I was growing up (middle class, North London) it was made clear to me that people like us didn't say "Pardon?". "What?" was rude, but "Pardon?" was 'common'.
Answer: Regional preferences and changes in popular idioms over time mean that there's no universal phrase that is guaranteed to work always and everywhere.
However, you can avoid these kinds of problems by not using idioms. If you're unsure of the appropriate idiom, you can express yourself in an unabbreviated way: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that/I couldn't hear you.  Would you mind repeating that?"
Answer: Having just done a quick Google search, I get the impression nobody really knows exactly how or when this usage first arose...

Come again? (idiomatic, informal)
Could you repeat that? Repeat that please.
   - a polite formula used when one has not heard or understood what has been said

Note that the usage is simultaneously informal AND polite. But it's very much a declining usage - as implied by the ELU question About the usage of term 'come again', where apparently because some people (particularly, younger Americans, I think) aren't actually familiar with it as a "natural" usage, they see potential sexual overtones (through the "coarse slang" usage to come = to reach sexual climax).

Personally, I still use the expression myself from time to time. But given the circumstances, I think I'd advise learners just to recognize that it still has some currency, but not to include it in their own "productive vocabulary".
It's difficult enough for learners to appreciate the finer points of "informality" and "politeness" at the best of times, and usually any given usage only falls into at most one of those categories. Given this one falls into both, it's simply not worth trying to figure out when and why you might choose to use it, rather than going with either "obviously informal" Eh? What? or "obviously formal" I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it, please?
Comment: I don't agree that it is polite — quite the contrary.
Answer: The Oxford Dictionary simply says

PHRASE
informal
  Used to ask someone to repeat or explain something they have said.

In BrE it is used in colloquial speech, but it can be said in a way to imply disbelief. For example

I just gave away our dog.
Come again?

I would not say "come again" at a business meeting.
Comment: I don't think it's very "natural" to use ***Come again?*** to signify shock / disbelief. We certainly do this with (highly stressed) ***Eh?*** or ***What!*** - the second of which is often transcribed with an exclamation mark rather than a question mark, precisely *because* it's not a question. But it just doesn't sound right to me to do this with *Come again?*, which pretty much *has* to be enunciated with "questioning" (rising) intonation.

Is "come again?" inappropriate usage?


Equal loudness curves: any good numerical approximation equations?

Question: What might be, if any, some good numerical approximation functions to the ISO 226 family of human perceptual equal loudness curves?  Is there a polynomial fit of reasonably low degree?
Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour.  Have you tried making a polynomial fit?  Can you post the data for one of the curves?
Answer: I believe that the actual standard (access to which of course must be purchased) specifies all the mathematics. I did find this one MATLAB file in file exchange:
ISO 226 Equal-Loudness-Level Contour Signal
If you're going to use it in a commercial applications though, the distribution license won't allow you to do so. Still, a good start if you don't have the standard handy.


Citizenship request with DNA tests results

Question: May a person who wasn't recognized at birth by the father (who is an Italian citizen) subsequently apply for citizenship on the basis of the DNA test results?
Answer: Possibly, if the result of the DNA test leads to change of the birth record in a Civil Registry (A.P.R.) of an Italian municipality stating that a Italian citizen is the father

the citizenship of the father will be known to the Civil Registry

For an adapted birth certificate issued outside of Italy, this would probably have to be verified by a responsible Italian authority (such as a consulate) before registration in Italy.
Based on the Italian Foreign Office Citizenship information quoted below, correct entries in the Italian Civil Registry seems to the best way to achieve citizenship based on descent.

Italian Citizenship
  Italian citizenship is currently regulated by Law No. 91/1992 (and related implementing regulations: in particular, Presidential Decree No. 572 of  October 12, 1993 and Presidential Decree No. 362 of April 18, 1994) which, unlike the previous Law, revalues the importance of individual intention in the acquisition or loss of citizenship and recognises the right to hold more than one citizenship at the same time.
The principles on which Italian citizenship is based are the following:

citizenship acquired for having Italian parents/ancestors ("ius sanguinis");
citizenship acquired for being born on Italian soil ("ius soli") in some cases;
the possibility of dual citizenship;
the declaration of willingness to acquire or renounce citizenship.

...
citizenship acquired for having Italian parents
  Article 1 of Law No. 91/92 lays down that a person acquires Italian citizenship when born of a father or a mother who are Italian citizens. Hence the principle of ius sanguinis - already enshrined in the previous legislation - is reaffirmed as a key principle for the acquisition of citizenship, while the ius soli remains an exceptional and residual case.
While explicitly stating that also the mother can transmit citizenship, the Article fully acknowledges the principle of equality between men and women as regards the transmission of the status civitatis.
  ...
  Hence the conditions required for such recognition are based, on the one hand, on the demonstration of descent from the subject originally having the status of citizen (the ancestor who emigrated) and, on the other, on the proof that there were no interruption in the transmission of citizenship (failed foreign naturalization of the ancestor before the birth of the children; absence of declarations of renunciation of Italian citizenship by further descendants before the birth of the next generation, thus proving that the transmission of citizenship did not stop).
  ...
  The recognition procedure develops with the following steps:
To ascertain that lineage started with an Italian ancestor (there are no limits of generations); to ascertain that the Italian ancestor retained Italian citizenship until the birth of the descendants. The lack of naturalization or the date of any naturalization of the ancestor shall be proven by a certificate issued by the competent foreign Authority. Descent from the Italian ancestor shall be proven by means of civil status documents of birth and marriage; said documents shall be duly legalized, if requested, and accompanied by an official translation. In this regard, it should be noted that the transmission of Italian citizenship through maternal lineage is possible only for children born after January 1, 1948, e.g. the date of entry into force of the Constitution. It should be certified that neither the applicant nor the ascendants have ever renounced Italian citizenship, thus interrupting the transmission of citizenship, through appropriate certificates issued by the competent Italian diplomatic and consular authorities.
The applicant shall submit the application accompanied by the required complete documentation designed to prove the requirements and conditions listed above.
The application shall be submitted to the Consular Office of the district in which the foreigner of Italian origin lives.
Loss of Citizenship
  ...
  Women who, after January 1, 1948, automatically acquired foreign citizenship as a result of their marriage with foreign citizens or as a result of their Italian-born husbands becoming naturalized citizens of other countries did NOT lose their Italian citizenship. Nevertheless, in order to maintain the civil status records in order, those women (or their descendants) shall express their desire to maintain said citizenship to the competent consular authorities through a statement of uninterrupted possession of citizenship.

Sources:

Italian Citizenship


Have you tested Check Point Endpoint Security or Disknet Pro?

Question: I have to secure the removable media devices that get connected to a system. The costumer has proposed to use Check Point Endpoint Security, (formerly Disknet Pro, I think) because they used successfully Disknet Pro in some projects in the past. I would like to have some feedback about this tool, its ease of use, ... Thank you!
Answer: Ease of use is not something you whant to put in the same sentence as CP Endpointsecurity (oops just did - but that´s ok?!). I´ve seen projects involving Disknet Pro go down because of the complexity.
For disk and device encryption I would recommend True Crypt. It´s not only opensource but pretty straight forward and works great for me and some of my clients (Diskencryption for 40+ Notebooks...)
Answer: Having worked as QA engineer for the Reflex Disknet Pro product, i would say that it does exactly what it says on the tin.
Ease of use however, once its set up and configured, its pretty straight forward but building encryption profiles for users based on different levels of access required is where most of your brain power will be required.
Answer: Ive been supporting Pointsec/Checkpoint Media Encryption and Full Disk encrypption for 3 years. Sure you can have a few machines that fail but you need good project management and know your supported drivers and hardware platforms in advance (early!)
I have lots of customers who now manage their own servers and deployments - checkpoint support are also very good and stand up to all the other major vendors (Cisco, Juniper) when it comes to support levels.


Nexus 4 problem with red light

Question: I have a Nexus 4, and I keep having to return it because of its red light of death. I usually am able to get back on my other phones with the same problem, but the new one I received just doesn't turn on with the red light incident. I was holding the power button for 10 seconds and the red light appeared and it was blinking. I had the same problems with my other returned phones, but this phone's light would disappear when I released my finger from the power button.
Answer: Normally, that red blinking light on a Nexus 4 means it's not getting enough power (the battery isn't charging, or is undercharged).
Try charging your phone overnight with a 2A charger.

Nexus 4 problem with red light


Can any land-based plane be made to land on water?

Question: Can any land-based plane be converted to a seaplane by installing skids? For example, is it possible to convert a Boeing 747 to one that is capable of landing and taking off on water using pontoons or planing hulls?
Comment: @Muze your questions are often unclear, ambiguous or invite many possibilities. They often sound like a general discussion rather than a precise, to-the-point question. Here at Stack Exchange, we look for questions that have a narrow scope and focus on one specific topic. I've edited this question (hopefully without distorting your meaning), but I'd encourage you to work on your question quality if you wish to keep your ask question privilege from being banned again.
Comment: What do you mean "a rise flying through rain"? Sucking in some rain water isn't even close to the amount of sea (salt) water being sucked in from an almost unlimited supply a few feet below the engine. Sea planes don't land on "skids". Sea planes have pontoons or planing hulls, but not skids.
Comment: Not if you are concerned with the effect of salt-water on otherwise untreated parts. There's a good reason that most sea-planes have engines that are fairly high from the water. This just won't work with jets and under-slung engines because they'll suck in sea-water. Put them on huge pontoons and now you have an easily capsizable airplane.
Comment: @kevin I will try harder. thanks
Comment: @RonBeyer it may suck in salt water but would it get a rise flying through rain? the skids could also be on the wings.
Comment: @RonBeyer fixed. thanks
Comment: [Any land-based plane can be landed on water if need be...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_landing#In_distress)
Answer: Well "any" is an awfully broad statement, but the answer is "Theoretically yes." -- You would just need floats that displace enough water to provide buoyancy for the aircraft at its maximum gross weight.
For a 747 that would be impractical: We're talking about a plane with a maximum takeoff weight in the neighborhood of 700,000-900,000 pounds depending on model and variant, and that would be an ENORMOUS set of pontoons. The form drag alone would be prohibitive, nevermind the structural work required to attach the pontoons in such a way that they won't be ripped off at takeoff speed in the water or blow off the plane in cruise flight.
For smaller aircraft it's certainly do-able: You can take a Piper Cherokee 180, remove the landing gear, and install floats (Piper kit #756-746) to make it into a seaplane:

Note the structural bracing for the floats, which attach both at the main landing gear point and the nose landing gear point to enable them to take the loads imposed by taxiing through water. There are also a bunch of additional seals and blanking plates installed as part of the seaplane kit to prevent the aircraft from taking on water.
Note however that just because something is possible doesn't mean it's a good idea, and the PA-28S is an example of that: The low-wing design of the Cherokee coupled with its single door on the right side makes the seaplane version an exercise in impracticality.
Comment: Really good answer, but the PA28s door is on the right side, not on the left side ;)
Comment: @pcfreakxx No, your OTHER left! (I fly one of these things so you think I'd know what side the door is on, but no.)
Comment: Me too and you can even see it on the first picture: It's the right side :D
Answer: You could, but why would you want to.
Yes, in theory, an 400,000 kg airplane like a 747 could be fitted with floats capable of displacing the 400 cubic meters of water required to keep it afloat, albeit with a decrease in performance.  It's not that unrealistic; if a 747 can carry a space shuttle on its back it stands to reason that it can haul a pair of floats as well.  As to whether current naval architecture can create a structure light enough for this yet strong enough to allow for water operations remains to be seen.
But since a 747 already has a 7000+ mile range and can reach any number of large terrestrial airports on a single tank of gas, there really is no need to fit the aircraft with floats for water operations.
Comment: yes, then again so do pontoons.  The point being that if a 747 can carry a large, heavy object like that outside of its aerodynamic envelope, it is reasonable to believe that it could operate with large pontoons for sea operations as well.
Comment: Nitpicking:  Didn't the space shuttle contribute lift as well as drag while riding on the 747?


What should you do if you are bitten by a rattlesnake?

Question: You should obviously avoid rattlesnakes if at all possible. But if you do get bitten by one, what should you do? What supplies can be brought ahead of time to allow for the best treatment, and what should you do if you have nothing other than standard gear for a day hike? How soon after a bite is medical care needed?
Comment: I wonder if it's not better to generalize and ask "What should you do if you're bit by a (poisonous) snake?"
Comment: @TimothyStrimple: Is the answer the same for all kinds of poisonous snakes?
Comment: I'd suggest it's not a duplicate because it's not the same for all snakes at all - the bite of a typical British adder is usually much less venomous and deadly than that of a rattlesnake.
Comment: possible duplicate of [What to do if you're bitten by an adder?](http://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/286/what-to-do-if-youre-bitten-by-an-adder)
Comment: The answer is the same for pit vipers, which include rattlesnakes, copperheads, and water moccasins. Bites from these snakes are usually not fatal even without medical attention, and in most (or many?) cases they don't use antivenin because the side effects might be worse than a minor snakebite. Also, sometimes pit vipers bite without injecting much or any venom. (This leads to some invalid claims of being immune to snakebites.)
Comment: Rattlesnake venom (for most species) contains neurotoxin, while Water Mocassin does not.  Copper heads are much more likely to dry bite (bite without injecting venom) than rattlesnakes.  That being said, the treatment is the same for the four major north american vipers.
Answer: When bitten by a rattlesnake:

keep the patient still.
keep the body part/limb bitten below the area of the heart.
do not constrict blood flow. Remove jewelry, other articles of clothing or any accessories that might restrict blood flow.
get to a hospital as fast as possible, if at all possible.
do NOT cut the bite and attempt to suck the venom
do NOT apply a tourniquet, this is related to constricting blood flow, one can lose a limb if blood flow is lost.

As for things to bring to prepare: an ounce of prevention is worth a lot.

wear long pants and even snake gaiters.
if you can't/don't want to wear snake gaiters, wear boots that are at least 8-10" tall, such as logger, hunting, or wildland firefighting boots.
best way is to combine tall boots and snake gaiters.
Answer: Medical care is needed immediately.  Get it quickly.  The Sawyer Kit is actually reported to reduce the severity of bites, but does not replace the need for care.  It may buy you some extra time though.
Running or other activities that drive your heart rate up aren't generally good.  It's kind of hard to keep the heart rate down because your first instinct is going to be "panic".  If you have more than one person, send the one who did not get bitten for help.  There's a bit of judgement needed here.  If it's two days to get help, leaving a bitten person alone is not a good option.
Keep the injury low, don't tie a torniquet, don't "cut" the wound to get venom out.
There's really no other good solution.
Comment: I believe extractors such as the Sawyer kit have been shown to be largely ineffective, and as such are no longer recommended by the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) or Wilderness Medicine Associates (WMA) in their Wilderness First Aid/First Responder courses.
Comment: LBell, when were those recommendations last updated?  I ask because last I knew, extractors in general were not, but the sawyer in particular was.  In either case I'd love to read an update if you have a link to share :)
Comment: Couldn't find anything publicly available, but I last re-certified my WFR 6 months ago, and don't remember a "sawyer exception" - but I could be mis-remembering, and don't have any way to confirm that at the moment. Sorry.
Comment: @LBell -- No worries.  I'll look into some more myself as well.


What is a good approach for embedding both textual and spatial features for document classification?

Question: I am working on a document classifier that can perform the classification based on the document structure as well. My plan is to get the word embedding as well as the word coordinates and somehow combine the two features and pass it through a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) to generate a graph embedding which I can then use to train a classifier. I was referencing this paper and they do data extraction by first getting the text embedding and image embedding and then combining them using elementwise addition. I was wondering what would be a good solution to combine both text features and positional features (x,y,height and width).
Comment: maybe a vectorised form of words (eg word2vec) makes the embedding easier?
Answer: When text is available as scanned image:

Divide your image into small grids.
Assign  each grid a row/column number like (i,j)
Now to your word vector append 2 more cells which are the row and column number of cell to which the word belongs.

When text is available as
Have the document in the form of html. Then have the embeddings for entire html DOM tree of that document, which would include both  tags and the actual text. This way html tags would be giving the spatial/positional information.
Comment: The documents I'm referring to are scanned images. I then run it through an OCR engine to get the text and their coordinates in the document. My question is, what is the best feature fusion technique to combine the word embedding and postions?
Comment: updated my answer above


About withdrawing manuscript

Question: I submitted my short manuscript four months ago to a math journal. I sent a tracking email about the status of my paper and I was informed that the editor has a problem with finding appropriate reviewer and asked me to send him the name of potential reviewers. Can I withdraw my paper, because it seems to me it takes a very long time and I need it too much to publish soon.
Comment: Of course you can withdraw your paper. You can do so at any time and for whatever reason you like.
Comment: Why not send a list of reviewers? Does your supervisor or colleagues have any ideas or suggestions? If they know of fast reviewers, it might be a better thing to stick it out with them
Comment: Unless you sent it to a journal in the wrong field, any other journal in the same field is likely to have similar problems with referees.
Answer: You can withdraw your paper at any stage before it's published, although the longer you wait the more annoyed the journal might get (you are using up their reviewer resources after all). After it's published, you'll have to retract as opposed to withdraw it.
Comment: Doesn't sound like there are any reviewers as yet according to the editor. Unless the editor has sent it to one and is struggling to find another reviewer. I just think changing ship now would end up being far lower and there is a risk of jumping ship to a predatory journal in the rush.
Comment: Sure, but 1) "should I change ships" wasn't what was asked, 2) there's no guarantee that changing ship will result in a faster review since the new journal can also have trouble finding reviewers, and 3) it's easy to avoid predatory journals - just submit to a subscription journal that doesn't have APCs.
Comment: Good point. Didn't know about APCs (article processing charge). For me is the spam and hassles that happen once your email is out there... It is very frustrating
Comment: I must add this note that I was informed that the editor in chief is himself handling the process and he told me it is not fit with editors's field!
Comment: The fact that the editor in chief is asking for help is a good sign. If you can find supportive reviewers, the journal will likely streamline things as much for you as possible I suspect.

About withdrawing manuscript


What is the difference between Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect 3 EN only?

Question: I recently bought the Mass Effect trilogy and when I redeemed it to my Origin Account, Mass Effect 3 appeared twice. In normal version and an EN Only version. What is the difference between the two?
Answer: Judging by the name, the EN only version only supports the English language.
Answer: I believe the difference is that one is the extended ending version (EN) and one is the original release version


How early can we travel within the EU with a US baby born in the EU?

Question: My wife and I are both US citizens planning on giving birth in possibly France or Switzerland while I am there for work. How soon and what is required for us to be able to travel with the new baby within Europe? Does the baby need a US passport before being able to cross country borders even if it's from one one EU nation to another? I am assuming yes, especially if it's to or from Switzerland or the UK.
Answer: Switzerland is in the Schengen area, so there are no permanent immigration checks on the Swiss land border or for flights to and from other Schengen countries.  There can be temporary or intermittent checks, however, so crossing the border without a passport is probably not a good idea.  Documentary requirements for crossing internal Schengen borders are not regulated by EU law, but many individual states require foreigners to have a passport or similar ID document.
When the child is born, you will want to apply for a consular report of birth abroad.  You should apply for a passport at the same time.
You will want to review the relevant pages of the US missions to Switzerland and France.
You will also want to approach the Swiss or French immigration authorities to find out whether the birth needs to be reported to them, or whether your child needs any documents to remain in the country as your dependent (for example, the French titre d'identité républicain.
Comment: Two additional points: Firstly, the UK is *not* in Schengen, and will require a passport.  Secondly, I live in Germany near Basel, and I can't remember the last time we were asked for our passports when we crossed into Switzerland (now we have a "local" number plate, we don't even get stopped for customs checks).  If you just want to pop into CH for some Migros yoghurt, or France to visit the hypermarché, I wouldn't worry about it.
Comment: @MartinBonner I didn't mention the UK because the assumption mentioned in the question is correct ("I am assuming yes, especially if it's to or from ... the UK").  The assumption about Switzerland, though, appears to stem from a lack of awareness that Switzerland has joined the Schengen area.  I agree that it's probably not something to worry about, and that most encounters with the police would end without trouble (as well as being unlikely to happen in the first place), but I wouldn't assume that they *always* would.