What did the Early Christians Believe About the Trinity Before the Gospel of John?

Question: I think Christianity today is extremely Johannine, meaning very dependent on the teachings of the Gospel of John.
In my studies, I came across the fact that most Christian communities of the late first and early second centuries only had one gospel to listen to during meetings (not read, since few knew how to read).
This raised a problem for me, since without the Gospel of John, the rest of the gospels and the Pauline epistles are not sufficient to teach the Trinity.
Does this mean that the early Christians did not believe in the Trinity? I have been reading the other gospels and do not find the concept of Trinity being taught in them.
Comment: Since you appreciate scholarly sources for answers, would you be kind enough to give a scholarly source for this claim: In my studies, I came across the fact that most Christian communities of the late first and early second centuries only had one gospel to listen to during meetings.  Really?
Comment: This does not appear to be a genuine question but is a statement of opinion inviting agreement.
Comment: The discovery of certain papyrus fragments dated around AD 135 require the gospel of John to have been written, copied, and circulated before then. And, while some think it was written before Jerusalem was destroyed (AD 70), AD 85—90 is a more accepted time for the writing of the gospel of John. Also, the theology of Romans(written c. 57) is every bit as developed as than in John (source NIV Study Bible notes).
Comment: If you are including scholarly sources in pursuit of biblical revelation you will be led away from truth not toward it. Most have a trinity bias and this is not found in scripture, except where the text has been amended for their case - like 1 John 5:7 and various other places.
Comment: Does this question & answer help?  https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/80269/why-does-the-apostle-john-write-far-more-clearly-about-the-deity-of-christ-than
Comment: Lesley, thank you, but it does not help. I think I will post another question instead.
Comment: Lesley, thank you for your first comment. Source: Page 3 https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/gp/gp5_traditions_bauckham.pdf      The earliest Christian communities only had one or another gospel book. After the Gospel of Mark, until the next gospel was written, the communities only had Mark to read. Once the next gospel was written, it would be first available to the community where it was written, and slowly to other communities. John was written last, and until it was written, it was not available to any community to be read. Hence,  communities only had one or another gospel to read.
Answer: 1) First to establish a date for the Gospel of John
Papyrus p52 puts the date in the first century.  The traditional date is in the 90's, but these is a tendency to date the Gospel in the 70's before the fall of Jerusalem, but after Peter's death.
Here is more evidence for the authenticity of the Gospel of John.  The two words for love in John 21:15 has long been debated.  The second word that Peter used is the verb whose noun form means friend.  Sometimes people bring up that Jesus most likely spoke these words in an Aramaic influenced Hebrew rather than Greek, followed by dismissing the difference.  However, Samuel Olyan wrote in Friendship in the Hebrew Bible:

Although the biblical text has no word for "friendship," there are a number of words for "friend." Most common is rēaʿ and related nouns such as rēʿâ, raʿyâ, rēʿeh, and mērēaʿ, each apparently derived either from a root r ʿ h or a root r ʿʿ, both meaning something like "to associate with" or "to affiliate with," suggesting a voluntary dimension to friendship." (Olyan, S. M. (2017). Friendship in the Hebrew Bible. (J. J. Collins, Ed.) (p. 4). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.)

What is interesting about this root is one of it's homonyms means to feed sheep, and is the verb used to translate such in John 21:15 in the Syriac (Aramaic) Peshitta and Hebrew translations of the New Testament.  Thus, Jesus made a play on Peter's words.  This play on words is too striking to be coincidence.  Not only does it substantiate the authenticity of the account, but also the historicity of the resurrected Jesus.
Here's more evidence that Jesus uses play on wordsa:

... (Lk 16:11, my translation). This text exhibits a play on words in Aramaic, which was the language Jesus spoke at home. He says:

<code>If you have not been amin [faithful]
in the unrighteous mammon [your material possessions]
the amuna [the truth]
who will ja'min ith kun [entrust to you].
</code>

The root amn, which appears in the word amen, is used here four times.
--
Bailey, K. E. (2008). Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (p. 379). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

It was a tool to help his disciples remember.
2) Christian belief before the Gospel of John
Paul's letter to the Galatians and 1 Corinthians, as well as Acts 15, show that theology among the church was not well established in the first century.  In Galatian Paul struggled with those who taught Christians must keep the Law of Moses.  This was settled in the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15.  In 1 Corinthians Paul confronted divisions in the church at Corinth.  In 1 Corinthians 15 he dealt with Greek philosophy of the spirit being set free from the body at death creeping into the church so that they did not accept the bodily resurrection.
Many of the letters in the New Testament show the church's struggle for orthodoxy.
Part 1 established the authenticity of the teachings of Christ.  The early church believed the teachings of Christ.  There was variation of belief in the early church, but because John based his gospel strongly on the Christ's teachings, which he quoted extensively, there is no reason to believe the the Apostles and the core of the church didn't believe what John's gospel contains.
Answer: They believed the doctrines that were in the Gospel of John!
A head-on repost to the teachings (concerning the four gospels) of Dr Bart Ehrman would be "The Case for Jesus" by Dr Brant Pitre.  Dr Pitre was a student under Dr Ehrman who came to see the absurdities of Ehrman's views.
I think you need to read the synoptic gospels more carefully.  There is plenty in them to show that Jesus knew he was God manifest in the flesh, not least in his forgiving sinners all their sins.
When he was accused of blasphemy in various situations he never tried to reason with his accusers that they were misunderstanding him.  If he was not claiming to be God in the flesh, he could have corrected the misunderstanding of his enemies and perhaps escaped crucifixion.
If you want more confidence in the gospels from a scholarly source then you must read "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses" by Dr Richard Bauckham: it doesn't get much more scholarly than that.
But give the synoptic gospels another read first, it may save you a lot of bother.
That when the Messiah comes he would be God is found in the OT - for instance Isaiah 9:6 "He shall be called... the mighty God"; "the Lord shall suddenly come to his temple" (Malachi 3:1) (the temple is God's, so the Lord spoken of is God).  Jesus is called the Saviour, but "besides Jehovah there is no Saviour" (Isaiah 43:11).
And then also, the Letter to the Hebrews was written when the Temple was still operating as is shown by chapter 13 verse 11, we have an alter, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle, which is in the present tense - they are still serving in the Temple in Jerusalem.  He calls it a "tabernacle" to stress the temporary nature of the Temple.. its purpose is finished and its function is coming to an end.  But clearly the Letter to the Hebrews was written before the Jewish Rebellion at the end of which the Temple was destroyed, never to be rebuilt.
With the date of when it was written in mind we can see that the early church had very clear teaching about the divine nature of Christ:

Christ is the heir of all things;

Christ is the brightness of the glory of God;  a mere creature could not possibly be the brightness of the infinite God;

Christ upholds the whole Universe by the word of his power; no creature could do this;

Christ he sits down at the right hand of God the Father - compare this with Isaiah 42:8 my glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven images;

God the Father gives command to the angels: Let all the angels of God worship Christ. Let them angels proscuneo/ worship Christ as did the wise men from the East (Matt 2:11) and many others.  But we are forbidden to worship any except God (Rev 22:9).

And finally, the Father speaking to the Son calls the Son "God", saying: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

One of the clearest statements of the Trinity is found, not in John's Gospel, but in Matthew's:  Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:19-20).
First, it is in the name (singular) of these three persons that we baptize; and, second, how can Jesus promise to be with you always even to the end of the world unless he is God, omnipresent?
There is plenty in the writings of Paul concerning the Trinity and the deity of Christ. Perhaps most famous is his statement God was manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) which some argue was part of a doctrinal statement of faith of the early church.  For a scholarly investigation of what are the original Greek words - whether it says "God" in 1 Tim 3:16 in the original - read John Burgon's 70 plus pages on the verse in "The Revision Revised".
Finally, I guess in reading the work of some "scholar" you say you came across a "fact" concerning the early church.  If I were you, I would be more wary of these "facts" of scholars who know so much about the early church.
Luke's Gospel was written even earlier than 1st Timothy, as evidenced by comparing 1 Timothy 5:18 with Luke 10:7.  Yet most, even scholars, would agree that Matthew's Gospel and Mark's Gospel were written before Luke.
Comment: "To be honest, it sounds as if you do not want to believe the Bible, but are rather looking for a confirmation to dismiss it." I am looking for a scholarly discussion from a historical point of view, but I think I came to the wrong website for that. Thank you for trying to help. I appreciate it.
Answer: This would really do best as a comment, but since nobody has approached it yet: early Christians were the first protestant Jews.
I'm a Jewish convert to Catholicism.
The Jews in Jesus's time listened to the Talmudic scholars, who taught the Pentateuch literally, the rabbis, and the listeners thought "I like eating pork - it's yummy and cheap." And "nobody but nobody is going to tell my daughter that she's in a state of shame because she's nourished enough to menstruate," and other encouraging tidbits.
By the way, Jews are literate. They have always been literate - at least the men. Reading from the Torah (Pentateuch) is a rite of passage, and the men must go through it to marry, own property, etc. They are literate in Hebrew because that's the language of thr Torah. It may have been their second language behind Aramaic or even Greek, but that's a giant can of worms.
The Jews of Jesus's day were probably most similar to today's American/European Jews. They tried not to stand out, they gathered for Passover and ate matzohs, they prayed the Psalms, read from the Pentateuch and Prophets on a yearly cycle, and they celebrated the holidays from the Pentateuch (succot/booths). They learned prayers from antiquity, and they already believed in the Holy Spirit (the "spirit of God" from Genesis 1:2, literally ruach ehlohim). Ehliahu, Elijah the Prophet, still announces the coming of the Messiah (it's just not Jesus).
Forgive my lack of reference, Jesus was presented as the "Jewish messiah." It was probably several generations before those that sloughed Judaism aside for Christ laid their Jewish habits to rest. Of course, Christians took the entire Hebrew bible with them, so there may have been fewer differences - between Jews that stayed with Judaism versus those that followed Jesus - than we appreciate.
As for the gentile conversions, I don't really have any information on that.


Does the estimated transaction volume on Blockchain.info exclude exchanges?

Question: Does the estimate of transaction volume provided on Blockchain.info exclude the major Bitcoin exchanges? According to this paper: https://siepr.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/17-033_1.pdf
(see pg. 17) it does but I do not see this information written anywhere on blockchain.info's website (or anywhere else).
Answer: The paper uses Blockchain.info's estimated transaction volume as input data. This data would not include off-chain transactions, it is only the transactions made public on the blockchain.
Centralized bitcoin exchanges make use of off-chain transactions, to execute trade orders between their users, etc. This off-chain data may be made public by the exchange, but from my skim through this paper it appears that data is outside the scope of the paper.
Quote from page 17 of the paper:

We rely on Blockchain.info because this site provides an estimate of transaction volume excluding the major Bitcoin exchanges, and we believe their list of addresses associated with Bitcoin exchanges is more complete and accurate than ours. Blockchain.info also makes use of heuristics to remove change.

I'm actually a little confused by this, as it seems to imply that any data relating to a bitcoin exchange's addresses has been excluded, but I see no such mention of that on blockchain.info's website. Whether this is a typo on the authors' part, or the authors misinterpreted the dataset as actually excluding exchange addresses, I am unsure (ie. not just the off-chain tx data is exlcuded, but the on-chain txs to/from the exchanges themselves, as well as internal on-chain txs completed by the exchange).
As the authors mention, the blockchain.info site also removes change addresses from their reporting. I think it is worth mentioning that blockchain.info can only guess at which output is a change address, there is no way to be certain about this measure.
Comment: Thanks @chytrik for your thoughts. I interpreted this statement on p. 17 in the paper to mean that all on-chain tx data involving the addresses of major exchanges is excluded from the blockchain.info estimated transaction value data. I agree, however, that there is no reason to think that this is true. And yes, maybe the authors were referring to off-chain transactions.


There is a way to instance two rigid body objects with hinge constraint between then using AN?

Question: I want to make several instances (clones) of a simple rigid body setup: two rigid bodies linked with a hinge constraint. Each one of the instances need to bend by the hinge in its proper individual way. Using the particle system, I managed to make it, but the problem is that all instances behave like the source setup.
In Cinema4d it is very simple, just set up the bodies and hinge and put it into the cloner or emitter object and it is done.
Is possible to solve this problem using Animation Nodes ? (I managed to clone the rigid bodies but the hinge constraint does not work)
Comment: You can achieve this with the help of animation nodes and particles here is a similar tutorial link: youtube.com/watch?v=G1ysjPeLKSQ
Answer: When you instance the object using the Copy Full Object option of the Instancer node, you are copying the constraints of the source object to all instances. And the constraints data for all instances will be the same. So all you have to do in this case is to update the data of the constraints. Consider the following example where we instance a group of cubes having a Damped Track constraint, after instancing, all cubes point to the icosphere because it is the target.

What we can do now is instance the icosphere and set the instances as the targets of the constraints of the cubes. The Object Attribute Output node can be used.


Is there a StackExchange place where I can ask questions about non-mainstream physics?

Question: I have some ideas about sub-quarks and sub-leptons and the structure of them. I can't ask this question on the PhysicsStackExchange place because the only questions you can ask there are about mainstream-physics. Can I ask them anywhere, or just talk about it in a cozy chatroom, with a cup of tea? I couldn't find a tag so I put on the discussion-tag.
Comment: Related: https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4538/2451 and links therein.
Comment: around the internet there is a large amt of energy directed into "alternative" physics but so far there is no center for it except, unf, (nearly solely?) vixra! it appears there is little cohesion among the participants internet-wide. however, SE chat rooms are generally quite open and there has been substantial discussion of alternative physics over the years in different rooms, but also it can conflict with the room moderation at times. the h-bar room for this site has been lively/ active for years and has broad scope. https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/71/the-h-bar
Comment: That'll do! Thanx.
Answer:
I have some ideas about sub-quarks and sub-leptons and the structure of them.

Stack Exchange sites are not places to share ideas. I generally wouldn't read too much into your word choice, but the fact that you say "ideas" instead of "questions" does suggest that Stack Exchange is not the place for the kind of post you may want to make, regardless of whether the topic is within the scope of any SE site.
That being said, I don't believe there is any site where non-mainstream physics is on topic. But I can't officially speak for other sites.
It would be fine to bring up your ideas in chat, just make sure that you're not too pushy. In the long run you may be best off finding another site outside the SE network that is oriented more toward sharing non-mainstream ideas.
Comment: I understand. So I can't ask questions which refer to non-mainstream physics at the whole tack? Well, of course, I **can** ask such a questions, but most of them will be closed (off topic), I guess. I was confronted with it many times.


private key vs seed

Question: I made an extra account in Metamask for my GF, I kept Account 1 for myself and I gave only the private key of Account 2 to my GF. I kept the seed words only to myself.
Since then, she has dumped me and wants my blood. Is it possible for her to access my ETH in Account 1, now that she is gone??
The funny thing is that I have access to her ETH in account 2
Answer: No she can't access your account 1. Because account 1 and account 2 have different pk(private key), but u only gave her account 2 pk so she can't use it to access acount 1.
The reason you still have account 2, because she can't change the pk it is link to the account, but u gave her the pk so that mean u already own it in metamask. So unless you delete the metamask wallet you still have the account 2 pk and u can do anything with it like transfer all the money to account 1.

private key vs seed


Is there any android app or software that allow me to create my own chess puzzle so I can solve or study it later on?

Question: I want to improve my tactics skills; is there any Android app or software that allows me to create my own chess puzzle so I can solve or study it later on?
Answer: LiChess or Chess.com have apps accessible to Android, in which you can find an analysis board and study from there. You can save the boards as well until further use.
Plus, there are a lot of features, such as finishing game with computer, analysis from engine etc.
Comment: Thanks, any app i can use offline?
Comment: The app works offline for both of them. However, you can't play any live chess.
Comment: I also can not open chess puzzle too
Comment: I believe puzzles should work. If this answer helped you, could you approve it?
Answer: I recommend my own chess puzzle editor https://www.apronus.com/chess/puzzle/editor.php
On this long page with many links https://www.apronus.com/chess/puzzles/ you can get an idea for what kind of puzzles my editor can create.
Comment: Thanks, this is free right? I'll try it later
Comment: It is free for personal use. You can create puzzles and save them as links.


How would I go about making obfs4 a standalone proxy for usage with OpenVPN or other programs?

Question: OpenVPN + obfs3 is a popular combination for censorship circumvention, but it's getting slow nowadays. Obfs4 works great with tor, but Yawning Angel seems to not have enough time to make obfs4 spliceable with OpenVPN, so I'd like to do it myself. How would I go about doing this?
Answer: obfs4 and obfs3, among others, are "pluggable transports", and the protocol they speak to Tor is well specified. You could write a program / script to implement that protocol in order to use any pluggable transport for your own purposes.
Shameless plug: I have written a Python 3 program that takes a pluggable transport binary and creates a standalone TCP tunnel, which can then be used to tunnel OpenVPN. The documentation is not done yet, but the code works.
Answer: obfs4proxy gets most of its settings via environment variables (and couple of them via socks5 authentication fields in client mode).
There is too much going on to post here but to get a better understanding, you might take a look at my blog post on this subject.
I have also developed a Bash script to make obfs4proxy work with openvpn in Linux which is available here: obfs4proxy-openvpn


What printing process is better to avoid t-shirt logo damage?

Question: I don't like tshirts whose logos melt when you iron them, or crack if you put them in the dryer for too long.
What do you call the printing process where the logo becomes part of the shirt itself, and is less susceptible to damage?
Answer: I believe what you are referring to is heat transfers from off the shelf that use an iron on graphic which is designed for personal usage.
There is also sublimation printing which still uses heat to transfer and typically the graphic is digitally printed on a special film:
Sublamination Infographic Process:

DTG (direct to garment) uses spray on ink and typically a heat press to assure dried ink.
DTG Printing Inforgraphic:

All printing techniques are subjective to damage but if you are looking for the best print quality and life screen printing is typically suggested over them all.  Screen printing doesn't fade as much as DTG printing but there are pros and cons for them.  If you have a full color or technically anything over 3 colors some professional shops can create accurate color results for shirts with screen printing but it is hard.  Also, to add to that some shops require a min. to screen print because the setup is intuitive and not usually worth doing a run of less than 25.
Screen Print Infographic:

I believe these were originally found on Pinterest but per someones comment they were created by Row Apparel

digital printing
sublimnation
screen print

Location of infographics.
Answer: Screen printing definitely sounds like what you're looking for. In addition to what's already been said, another aspect you should take into consideration is the type of ink used for the prints.
For t-shirts, the two most popular types of inks are water-based and plastisol inks. Water-based will typically have a better penetration of the fabric, which will help it feel as if it's "part of" the shirt. If you run your fingers over the print, it should feel soft. Plastisol has less penetration and tends to sit on top of the fabric and will give the print a different texture than the rest of the sure. It will have a "plastic-like" texture to it and have a heavier feel.
Since plastisol is usually easier to work with for the printers, it's often cheaper. Before having prints done, verify with your printer what type of ink is being used if the texture is important to you. It also doesn't hurt to ask for a sample print so you know exactly what you're getting. Don't expect a sample with your artwork; an overrun from a similar job would be fine so you can gauge the quality.


How did Wanna Cry get past Antivirus Programs

Question: For those who had windows computers when the WannaCry virus hit, how exactly did the virus bypass antivirus programs. I have tried to read some papers about this, but I don't understand how exactly that windows hole helped the virus evade antivirus software. Is this just a matter of people not having antivirus software, or did this virus somehow evade that?
Answer: Antivirus software usually detect malware threats in two ways:

signature-based detection
heuristic detection

Antivirus software products did not have a virus definition or signature for WannaCry since it had not been seen before (previously undetected threat) being a newly created malware. So it escaped all signature based detection.
Heuristic detection relies upon observing active execution of a binary. For example, if an antivirus observes a virus scanning for and modifying or appending executables on a system, it would flag the binary as possible malware or suspicious. The way WannaCry works is by accessing specific crypto libraries on Windows (for the process of generating keys and subsequent encryption) and then scanning for common document file types such as DOCX, XLSX, JPG etc to encrypt. The antivirus heuristics engine fails to detect this as a typical malware infection. They will possibly add heuristic capabilities to stop ransomware as it is executing by observing its behavior some time in the near future. For example: https://www.wired.com/story/shieldfs-ransomware-protection-tool/
Also, as you mentioned, it is possible that a lot of users who got hit were not using a properly updated and effective Antivirus solution. If they were big on updating software, they would have updated their Windows OS and had a patch for MS17-010 Eternal Blue vulnerability.
Answer: Bypassing AVPs might be simple regardless of what is widely believed
The problem with "traditional anti-virus" is that they do not detect exploits   or in memory malware which was the case of Wanancry. The SMB "hole" as you described it, was used -via EternelBlue (the exploit)- to execute remotely and in memory the piece of malware. This means:

It is almost impossible to protect against new malware that will use
  the  EternalBlue exploit to propagate except when using
  next-generation endpoint  protection with memory scanning capabilities
  and exploit detection. Traditional  anti-virus without premium
  features or configured by default will not block the  EternalBlue
  exploit.

Herer is a typical Wanancry execution flow:
Comment: Hello, your answer gave me some new information, as I was already aware of heuristic and signature based detection(sorry for not mentioning that in the question). However, can you elaborate on what endpoint protection with memory scanning is. Are there any papers? I am trying to understand the techniques to combat the virus in the first place. Thanks!
Comment: I know what endpoint detection is, but I am confused as to how memory scanning capabilities are useful here
Comment: I've found no paper on this but this is *I think* related to the detection of heap spraying, stack pivots, ROP attacks and memory permission modifications in addition to the detection of fileless piece of malwares...


What oil has a smoking temperature high enough for broiling?

Question: Lately we have been broiling vegetables in the oven with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on them, but we keep setting off the smoke alarm in the kitchen although the vegetables come out deliciously. What oil has a high enough smoking temperature to be appropriate?
Comment: Maybe a silly question, but how sure are you that the oil is what's smoking?  That is to say, when I am broiling something, sometimes I'll get smoke - not from what I'm making, but from old oil or the occasional bits left on the baking stone or fallen through the rack to the bottom of the oven, or if there were stains on the pan (oil baked on, mostly) that might scorch and smoke even if the pan is clean enough to cook on.  If you're not tasting burnt oil on your cooking, maybe the first step is to give everything a thorough cleaning and see if that will help prevent the smoke?
Comment: Tray is smoking when we pull it out.
Comment: Ah, I see.  You might get some results adding a silicone mat or parchment to the bottom of the tray (bare metal will likely get hotter than your vegetables, so any oil sitting on the pan will likely smoke more) but other than that, I guess Catija's answer covers it.  Or else roast with very little oil (a high smoke point neutral one), and drizzle a bit of olive oil when you pull it out just for the flavor.  Happy cooking :)
Answer: If you like the taste but not the fire alarm, either turn on your hood/vent or disconnect the fire alarm while cooking. If the flavor isn't burned, changing the oil will likely change the flavor as olive oil has a distinct flavor that is missing in other oils.
If this isn't a solution for you, choose any neutral, high smoke point oil you like. Canola is  popular choice for most vegetables. It has little flavor and a decently high, 400°F/205°C, smoke point, somewhat higher than olive oil's 325-375°F/165-190°C.
For a really high smoke point, try safflower (510°F/265°C), or even light olive oil (465°F/240°C), though you may have the slightly lower soybean or peanut oils (450°F/230°C) in your kitchen already. The chart lists peanut as "neutral" but I tend to feel it has a flavor and it has the added issue of being a no-go for people with peanut allergies.
If you have the time, you might also consider clarified butter (450°F/230°C), which should be delicious with vegetables.
Comment: Would a mix of canola and olive oil give the flavour without so much smoke?
Comment: People who are allergic to peanuts can typically consume peanut oil. https://www.foodallergy.org/allergens/peanut-allergy says:  "The FDA exempts highly refined peanut oil from being labeled as an allergen. Studies show that most individuals with peanut allergy can safely eat peanut oil (but not cold-pressed, expelled or extruded peanut oil – sometimes represented as gourmet oils). If you are allergic to peanuts, ask your doctor whether or not you should avoid peanut oil."


Adding further rows into a subject line in an email in Outlook 2010

Question: Is it possible to add further rows into the Subject line in an email?
Answer: Sorry Fay,
From what I understand, the standard for email defines the ability for a subject header to be a maximum length of 998 characters, or, split over multiple lines (78 characters for each line max) using a technique called "folding".   However, MS Outlook 2010 doesn't seem to allow for this feature and imposes a 255 character (1 line) limit for the subject header.  From what I can tell, there doesn't seem to be any settings regarding this in options and copy/pasting content with CRLF seems to only paste the top most line. My guess is that this one done to maximise compatibility with other email readers.
I've found a reference to the proper RFC from this stackoverflow.com thread: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1592291/what-is-the-email-subject-length-limit.
The direct link is here: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2822.html (Section 2.1.1).
An alternative solution to your problem might be to use custom forms in Outlook, which you can use to some extra fields to email messages, but I think for this to work your mail server would need to be MS Exchange Server.


Hide duplicate entry title

Question: I am using Divi, which introduces the Post / Page title as "h1.entry-title." And, I'm also using Open Menu plugin, which also introduces their custom post type Page title as "h1.entry-title."
So, I want to hide the Open Menu h1.entry-title only, because I don't need duplicate titles.
I'm trying to target the specific Open Menu entry-title by adding he div ID in the CSS rule, but it's still hiding both and not one over the other.
Should I just add a filter to the child theme in functions.php to filter it out? I'm not a dev, so I don't write PHP. Not sure what to write to filter that out.
Answer: You can hide open menu entry title by adding below css code in custom css section.
<code>.openmenu > h1{ display:none }
</code>

Hide duplicate entry title


How can they tell the difference between NPCs and humans?

Question: How can they identify whether a student is an NPC or not? Is that because they act differently than NPCs? But what if the student doesn't remember anything (amnesia) and does everything and accepts everything as normal? In that case, can they tell the difference?
Comment: I believe NPC's wore different clothing.
Answer: The only way for them to know that someone is human is if they deviate from how an NPC does stuff and if they don't recognize persons who have recently arrived in the Afterlife.
Basically if you live like an NPC then you must be an NPC. Hinata actually thought Ooyama was an NPC because Ooyama acted so normally that he was like an NPC which is why Hinata gave him a nickname of "Villager A" in their first meeting (he only calls Ooyama by that name in his thoughts). However, when Hinata had a good conversation with Ooyama, Ooyama said something about dying which showed that he was a human who died.
Yurippe knew Hinata was human because he would always go to the school roof (if memory serves right) which is not something an NPC does.
When all hell breaks lose in the campus and a person dismisses it as something normal, then that person is an NPC because anything weird that they see is supposed to be normal (at least, they think it's normal).
tl;dr
They act differently. Yes. They will still act differently (like by being curious). They can't tell the difference if they can't observe or experiment if the person will act how a non NPC would act.
For more info, read the light novel.
Answer: There is one important dissimilarity the other answers didn't cover: the NPCs forget things they were told the next day, as revealed in volume 5 of the Angel Beats! Heaven's Door manga.

It should be noted that the NPCs do retain a record of the past activities done by the humans, as Yuri and her SSS comrades were denied participation in the Christmas party because they were labelled as problem students for causing a ruckus at the swimming competition. Also, the NPCs don't forget what they have experienced, like the principal was aware that he had been held as a hostage many times in the past.


How to pronounce the "的" in "他妈的"?

Question: How usually native chinese speaker pronounce the "的" orally in "他妈的"? Is it "Ta Ma De" or "Ta Ma Di"?
Comment: Can you please provide some more context?
Comment: 你他妈的给我滚出去 (note: it's just an example)
Comment: In your example, 他妈的 is used as a swear word, meaning F***. Therefore, `Ta Ma De` is the correct pronunciation. In fact, even if it is used in other non-swearing contexts (meaning _His mom's_), it is normally pronounced as `Ta Ma De` as well.
Comment: I think the Di use is just a slang use or sometimes people try to put some humour into the swearing. Should be De
Answer: The only correct answer is "TA MA DE".
This is the equivalent version of "F**K" in Chinese. I never hear people pronounce as "Di".
Thinking it in other way, it will be too soft and feminine if it's pronounced as "Di". It supposed to be strong and speak with hatred.
Comment: This is the correct answer
Comment: @Sherlock Actually one other correct answer would be, if you are at this level, then do not say 他妈的 at all.
Answer: "他媽的" is a brief form of "他媽的屄(bi)", where 屄(bi) is a noun, meaning = woman's sex organ (may be offensive for somebody)
So the pronunciation of 的 here should be /de/ in neutral tone.
Answer: Should be De, although 的 can also be pronounced as Di, but it has a different usage, such as 的確, 目的.
Answer: The 的 has two kinds of pronunciation, De and Di. Different pronunciation is used for different cases.
In 他妈的, the 的 is pronounced like: De, which makes the whole thing: Ta Ma De.
I never hear people say Ta Ma Di.
In case you didn't know, 他妈的 or 他麻痹(Ta Ma Bi) means Mother F**ker in English.
Hope this helps!
Answer: De and Di and both accurate.  Di is more colloquial.
Comment: What do you mean? I would say this expression is very colloquial in itself, so saying that one pronunciation is more colloquial makes little sense to me.
Answer: De or Di would both work depending on the regions of China.
Comment: Please elaborate more...
Answer: In my region, Shandong Province, it's pronounced as tE ma de

How to pronounce the “的” in “他妈的”?


What are these kinds of typography called?

Question: While talking about typography, we are often presented with beautiful graphics made with types and all. Although I find them very creative, I personally don't have a knack for those. I rather prefer simple words, sentences, and paragraphs organized and aligned with hierarchy and space distribution, in digital or print media. It's amazing how sober and beautiful pure texts can be on a humble piece of invoice or newspaper. See the examples for a clearer idea. My question is: are these also part of typography or do they have some other name? I would like to know and read more about these but I can't begin before I know what I'm looking for.
Answer: Designing how a page should look is usually called layout and is not usually considered a part of typography but typography is often considered a necessary skill to do a good page layout.
Page layout requires a good sense of composition. Normally one would be required to compose not just text but also graphics, photographs, background color and/or images etc.
In modern software development the job title of someone doing this is usually just Graphic Designer or UI/UX Designer. In traditional print it would be Graphic Designer or Art Director.
Using pure text without any background or colors is just one style of layout. If you want to specialize in layouts you will be expected to also handle colors. However, do note that choosing not to use colors or having very minimal use of colors is one way of handling colors and there are well known designers who work mostly in black and white.

You mentioned being interested in reading more about the topic. Googling "page layout design" is a good way to get started but there is a lot of noise and "what is layout" types of articles on the internet so finding really good content is not easy. I'd suggest (if you're not in lockdown) going to a book store and browse the Art/Design section. As in a lot of things related to art, most of the things you'll find tend to be examples of other people's designs rather than theory. But that's just how art works: you take inspiration from what you see.
Comment: I totally agree with the part about learning from examples rather than theory. In page layout there are only so many "knobs to turn" (font, leading, margins, formats, columns, lines etc.). All different layout styles come from the endless different combinations of those. So if you know the basic tools of the toolbox, you can easily recreate any style you see.
Answer: I would say overall the samples are all Minimalism, 2.
Using the least amount of objects possible to convey information in an interesting manner.
(Someone missed the fact that "design" is misspelled in one of the samples -- ouch!)
Answer: No specific name, just different ways of flowing content into documents, all under the broader field of editorial design.
Comment: I guess it does. Editorial design has been around long before websites have, but generally speaking it serves the same purpose in both print vs digital.
Comment: Interesting. Does the term "editorial design" apply to the flow of the content on digital media? Because as I see it, it can be applied far beyond just "editorials". This is visualization of information hierarchy.
Answer: It's a branch of typography called layouts. The key concept here is the use of grids which is a technique for inducing alignment, hierarchy and balance in design using whitespace.
If you're interested more, please head to this website:
Thinking With Type . It's based upon a classic book by Ellen Lupton.
You can see similar examples of what you shared here.
Hope it helps!
Answer: If you are able to go to your public library they should have books on layout and design. You can probably search their catalog online. If you are interested in print, as opposed to web based, layout you are looking for books in the vicinity of 686.2.
Hint: Searching the catalog will probably bring up mostly web based design books. Search for "typography layout".
Answer: What are you looking for is "grid based layout design" - This kind of focus on graphics is mainly appreciated in the editorial world  (look for "Editorial Graphic Design" ) - so related to publications/printing for obvious reasons. In Italy I also have heard it being called Swiss style even though "minimalism"- as I see it being called here- is very well appreciated in higher level graphic schools all over europe.
Lately with the wide support for grid systems on web pages (go check css grids and bootstrap)  things are starting to get more interesting in the digital enviroment too tho, so is no more confined to printing.
Usually what is considered the "Bible" of the modern grid based layout is the book from the late 70s/early 80s :
"Grid Systems in Graphic Design/ Raster Systeme Fur Die Visuele Gestaltung"
of Josef Müller-Brockmann, a swiss graphic designer.
You can easily find it online, btw, so if you like the style go and check it cause it's interesting.


Having issues getting solr search facets to appear on non-search pages

Question: I'm using the solr search integration module with facet api on drupal 7 and I'm having issues getting the facets to show on non-search pages. I've checked the box for non-search pages and added a few different paths but nothing appears on those pages in the regions that I assign the facet blocks.  It seems that the blocks are not receiving any data to populate and I don't know why. Any incite on what I'm doing wrong would be greatly appreciated.
Comment: +1 this is something I want too - see the background and approach that I am considering in my answer below.
Answer: This is also something I want whereby the search facets are visible alongside a content type.
This problem applies to search facets in general (e.g. for those who don't use solr but use 'database search' - a "poor man's" version with less demanding requirements, suitable for shared hosting.)
Facets are generated from search results - so on a page with no search results the facets will not appear. That appears to be the design, as explained here:
Show facet filter even if there is no result
There are several possibilities that you (and I) could consider:

How do I allow facets on my full content display page? - here
the answer is not to display faceted search on a content page /
non-search page but rely on breadcrumbs to link back to a search page
My preferred approach (not yet implemented): is to put search results
on the same page as the content. These search results will be the
same as those that one clicked through before the content page. In
other words, the same list of results that contained the link to the
content item are displayed on the page of the content item itself.
These will of course be focused search items ("drill down"ed)
results. These would serve a purpose for the user as "related" and
follows convention - if you look at this site
drupal.stackexchange.com you'll see related results. But we would
probably want to display them in a smaller space, using a different
view with theming and the view could restrict the number of items
shown.


Peat moss substrate for Cactus and Lemons

Question: I am growing cactus, lemons and some strawberry in pots. I just bought this peat moss from my local store to fill the pots with it(only with this) On top of it it says tree and vegetable. Is it okay to use for lemons and cactus aswell ?
Answer: For your lemons and strawberries this will probably do (use pots with drainage holes though), but for cacti it is advisable to use something else (with better drainage capacity, and less peat). You can buy special cactus potting soil (e.g., Pokon), it contains more sand or gravel of some kind to encourage proper drainage. You can also make your own cactus substrate, you can find many recipes on internet. But if you don't have too much cacti, the easiest is to buy special cactus soil at the garden center. I usually buy cactus soil in bags of 5 L, and I mix some perlite into it (like 20-30%), just for the extra drainage.


Does Allah punish people on this earth?

Question: I heard from Nouman Ali Khan that Allah only punishes the people in the world when there is a prophet with them and they abandon the prophet. I am not clear about Allah punishing people in this world, so are earthquakes, tsunamis etc punishment or just trials ?
Answer: And Lut said:

No one before you has gone as crazy as you are. You leave your women and go to the men.

And according to this story, Quran states:

We rained fireballs onto their heads
  And according to another verse from Quran:
  We sent strong winds to the sinful Hud generation

And Quran tells:

We punish them in this world and in apocalypses.
Comment: Please share the verse numbers too when quoting the Quran. It makes reference easier.
Comment: I understand Allah punished people in the past but I am talking about now. Does Allah punish people on the earth after Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H has gone?

Does Allah punish people on this earth?


How to setup MySQL replication with minimal downtime

Question: Basically we have a large MySQL database and we're looking to do replication to a slave (master slave setup). Do you guys have any step-by-step guide on how to do this with MINIMAL downtime on the database? Backing up the database and transferring the backup to the slave server (even through a private network) takes like 40 minutes or so. Quite a long downtime.
Answer: I assume you use InnoDB as a storage engine. If so, you need to turn on bin-logging. If it's not on now, you need to restart MySQL after modifying my.cnf. It is the only downtime, after which you can take dump of the database with binlog position without blocking the database:
mysqldump --skip-lock-tables --single-transaction --flush-logs --hex-blob --master-data=2 -A

Based on this backup, restore data on the slave. After this, you can follow any MySQL replication tutorial and let slave catch up/run together with the master.
Comment: what would happen if some tables are not using innodb ? And would the above backup be still valid if I use --databases to dump a subset of the databases instead of -A ?
Comment: if some tables dont use innodb the backup might be inconsistent. see here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/7461466/104398 ; backup will not contain those skipped databases. if you set up replication based on such backup and dont filter what's replicated - your replication will break as soon as there's some operation on omitted databases.
Comment: Ok, I converted my remaining myisam tables to innodb and made sure that only the databases I want are replicated/backed-up.
Answer: to start a replication you need a consistent copy of your database on the slave
are your tables myisam or innodb backed? to find out issue
show table status

and look at the 'Engine' column
if all the tables are innodb than you can do zero downtime setup using mysqldump --single-transaction and importing that into the slave
if the tables are myisam there will have to be downtime as you have to lock the tables for writing while they are being copied. mysqlhotcopy is the tool to help you with that.
alternatively, if you are using LVM (logical volume manager), you can stop the database, take a LVM snapshot in a few seconds and start the db again. Then you can make a consistent copy from the snapshot.
Answer: In order to setup the slave you will need to take a data snapshot and record the binary log position. Backing up the database should not cause downtime although it will cause reduced performance, but your already backing up the database anyway right? You may find the backup needs to lock some tables and this may cause lockups on your application, really need to look at how it is implemented for that.
Can you snapshot the disk? That would reduce downtime considerably if you can do a hotbackup.


How to make a circular set of verticies square

Question:
Is there any way to take my circular vertices, and make them square so that they match my cube? I want it to be a cone with a circular base and a rectangular top.
Comment: Are you aiming to merge the cube and cone, or do you want a cone with a circular base and rectangular top?
Comment: cone with a circular base and rectuangular top
Answer: After subdividing the cube/square to match the circle subdivisions number (with W-->Subdivide) you may try to join vertices using the Bridge Tool. Select the vertices with Alt+RMB as pictured below, hit Spacebar, type 'bridge edge loops' and then dissolve the newly created edgeloop. Select it with Alt+RMB, then hit X-->Dissolve Edges. At the very end select the vertices of a square, hit Spacebar, type Grid Fill and set up the settings as pictured below.
Answer: I'd suggest creating such a cone by starting with a cube and using the subdivide and circile tools:

Add a cube.
Select the bottom face.
Subdivide 3 times (don't worry about the Ngons above, we'll take care of them later). Use the specials menu (W > Subdivide) or the Tools shelf.
Use the Looptools > Circle tool to turn the base into a circle (W > Looptools > Circle). If you don't see the Looptools activate the addon through the User Preferences Window (CtrlAltU > Addons Tab).
Select the top face and scale down as much as you need.
Select the central faces (everything except the top and bottom faces).
Triangulate (CtrlT)
Comment: Thank you, that seems to be exactly what i want. Since i want to 3D print this later, do you know a way to change the exact measures that appear when creating a mesh, i.e the radius and depth of meshes / objects?
Comment: You can use the object dimensions to control the base size (X and Y dimensions) and the overall height (Z dimension). After you get these right, you'll need to do a bit of math to get the top cap right (more about that here: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/1674/how-to-get-selected-edges-length/1676#1676).
Answer: subdivide your cube until you have the same amount of verticies as the circle has and then you can snap the verticies from the circle to the right verticies on the cube.
Comment: You're right. After subdividing the cube to match the circle subdivisions number he may also try to join vertices using the Bridge Tool and then dissolve the newly created edgeloop.
Comment: Would you kindly expand on how that process goes? I know where Subdivide is but i'm having problems using blender.


whose gravitational pull is more stronger , Neutron Star or Black hole?

Question: We know neutron star is very densest in the universe and it weighs the thousand times of our Sun. And Black hole having strong gravitational pull not even light can escape From it . So , whose gravitational pull is greater ?
Comment: The gravitational pull is dependent on the mass of the object.  Black holes are usually more massive, but if you found a neutron star and a black hole with the same mass, they would have the same pull.
Comment: If you have another question **research it first** then ask as another question if you can't find the answer yourself.
Comment: A neutron star cannot weigh thousands of times that of our sun.   They peak at a bit over 3 solar masses after which they are thought to become black holes.
Comment: @Phiteros that is an answer.
Comment: @RobJeffries Yeah, but I was feeling lazy and didn't want to go to the effort of typing out a full answer like James K did.
Comment: Guys what you think about temperature of newtron star is it hot?
Answer: The black hole has greater pull.
If you stand beside a massive object (planet, star, black hole or anything else with mass) you will feel a gravitational pull, and unless you do something about it you will start to accelerate towards the object.
So the gravitational pull (or more precisely the gravitational acceleration) depends on two things: How massive the object is, and how far you are from its centre.
Neutron stars are all between about 1.2 and 3 times the mass of the sun, any larger and they become black holes. Objects that are believed to be black holes are know with masses of about 4 times the mass of the sun. A black hole can be of any mass, there is no known way for smaller black holes to form.
Now if you fix the distance (say 150 million km), then the gravitational pull depends only on the mass of the object. A neutron star can be at most about three times the mass of the sun, black holes are nearly all larger than that, so the gravitational pull of the black-hole is greater. But if you find a way to make a small black hole, then it would have lower mass and so less gravitational pull, at the same distance.
You can also look at surface gravity. Black holes don't have a proper surface, but you could use the event horizon instead. Here the answer is easy: The gravitational pull becomes infinite at the event horizon (from a certain point of view), Neutron stars have very strong, but not an infinitely strong pull so the gravitational pull of a black hole is greater than a neutron star.
Comment: If you have another question **research it first** then ask as another question if you can't find the answer yourself.
Comment: what's on the center of galaxies?
Answer: Gravitational pull is determined by only two things: mass and distance.
The greater the mass, the greater the pull. The shorter the distance, the greater the pull.
At the same distance (measured to the center), objects with the same mass will exert the same gravitational pull, no matter what they are. A black hole, a neutron star, a normal star, a giant marshmallow - they all pull the same at the same distance if their masses are the same.
The only difference is this: normal stars are quite fluffy and bloated, you can't get too close to their center because pretty soon you'll run into their surface, and that's where the formula for the pull changes. So the maximum pull from a normal star is not too big, simply because you can't get "close enough" to the center.
Neutron stars are much more dense. You can get a lot closer to their center before you hit the surface. So at the same mass, a neutron star lets you get closer so as to generate a greater pull.
Black holes are the most dense of all. In theory you could get arbitrarily close to the center, because the BH is all in the center (sort of, not really, probably). So at the same mass, a BH could theoretically generate the greatest pull.

Black hole having strong gravitational pull not even light can escape From it

It's complicated:
What is a singularity? What is at the center of a black hole? Specifically regarding space-time
Answer: Neutron Stars and Black Holes are the most dense things in the entire universe. Neutron stars come about when a star collapses and has a supernova. As this happens, the core is smashed with all of the weight of the star put into a single point. Because of the immense pressure, the protons in the core turn into neutrons. This in turn creates a super dense and super heavy dead core of the star it once was. Now even though neutron stars have some of the most immense densities in the entire universe, black holes have them beat. Black holes come when extremely large stars compress their cores so tightly the density of the point hits infinity which creates a black hole.
Hope this answers your question.
Comment: This does not answer the question.  You're just rehashing what the question said.


Why is MCMC needed when estimating a parameter using MAP

Question: Given the formula for MAP estimation of a parameter

Why is a MCMC (or similar) approach needed, couldn't I just take the derivative, set it to zero and then solve for the parameter?
Comment: Great question!
Comment: The amount of likes under this question speaks volumes about the lack of clarity behind some texts describing the details of use of Bayesian methods, especially in publications on application of statistics in some other field.
Answer: Most posteriors prove to be difficult to optimize analytically (i.e. by taking a gradient and setting it equal to zero), and you'll need to resort to some numerical optimization algorithm to do MAP.
As an aside: MCMC is unrelated to MAP.
MAP - for maximum a posteriori - refers to finding a local maximum of something proportional to a posterior density and using the corresponding parameter values as estimates.  It is defined as
$$
\hat{\theta}_{MAP} = \text{argmax}_{\theta} \, p(\theta \, | \, D)
$$
MCMC is typically used to approximate expectations over something proportional to a probability density.  In the case of a posterior, that's
$$
\hat{\theta}_{MCMC} = n^{-1} \sum_{i=1}^{n} \theta^{0}_{i} \approx \int_{\Theta}\theta \, p(\theta \, | \, D)d\theta
$$
where $\{\theta^{0}_{i}\}^{n}_{i=1}$ is a collection of parameter space positions visited by a suitable Markov chain.  In general, $\hat{\theta}_{MAP} \neq \hat{\theta}_{MCMC}$ in any meaningful sense.
The crux is that MAP involves optimization, while MCMC is based around sampling.
Comment: No, instead of coming with the analytical solution, one can use an iterative algorithm to come up with the solution (i.e. if the log posterior is concave, you can use Newton's Method, for example).
Comment: MAP refers to finding parameter values that (locally) maximize a posterior.  It doesn't matter how one gets those parameter values: solving for maxima analytically, using a numerical routine, automatic differentiation, etc.
Comment: You state that posteriors prove to be difficult to optimize analytically, which is the case in MAP. So is MAP only possible if the posterior can be optimized analytically and if this is not the case one has to resort (for example) to an MCMC approach?
Answer: If you know which family your posterior is from and if finding the derivative of that distribution is analytically feasible, that is correct.
However, when you use MCMC, you are likely not going to be in that type of situation. MCMC is made for situations in which you have no clear analytical notion of how your posterior looks like.
Comment: I think this is slightly misleading: MCMC is typically *not* used for finding the MAP estimator (outside special cases like an MCEM algorithm).
Comment: I've never heard of using simple MCMC to find the mode of the posterior distribution (technically, it could be done, but this is extremely inefficient). Since we typically can evaluate a function that is proportional to the posterior distribution, maximizing this will be equivalent to maximizing the posterior distribution. Out of the box optimizers will work just as well on this as any frequentist likelihood problem (which is to say, sometimes you will need to specialize them).
Comment: I do not disagree with you in principle. But, MCMC can be and is used to simulate the posterior *distribution*. And once you have done that, you can sure find the mode of that distribution, aka the MAP. Which is, I believe, what the OP had in mind, so I am not quite sure why my answer would be misleading.
Comment: Yes, however, is MCMC the method of choice when dealing with MAP if there is no analytical way to optimize the parameter?
Comment: @Dänu You probably don't want to use MCMC (to be pedantic, a Markov chain) to find maxima.  An optimization algorithm should work better.
Answer: MCMC is not needed (or suggested) in order to compute a MAP estimate. In general, you won't be able to solve for the root of the MAP objective's derivative. However, you can use numerical optimization to approximately maximize the objective. As noted, MCMC is a sampling method, whereas MAP estimation is an optimization problem. MAP estimation only requires us to be able to evaluate the (unnormalized) posterior distribution at a given $\theta$, and only gives us one piece of information about that posterior. By approximately sampling an intractable posterior, MCMC methods allow us to learn all information about the posterior distribution.


Does Hagia Sophia belong to Muslims?

Question: Please make it clear.
There must be a solid response.
According to the Holy Quran
and Sunnah of our beloved prophet Muhammad s.a.w
may ALLAH peace and blessings be upon him
Ameen.
And also Historical .
Because it is very painful and it might also disrespect other religious communities and hurt there feeling also .
Comment: From the point of view of jurisprudence if it was conquered by force then it became the property of the Muslims, it was totally at their discretion what to do wit it. It would be different if it was annexed by a treaty. This site is not for political activism.
Answer: Constantinople was conquered by force and fighting to the end (فتح عنوة). When this happens to a city, whatever is in it becomes spoils of war - the Muslims gain lawful ownership over it.

فكلوا مما غنمتم حلالا طيبا
So consume what you have taken of war booty [as being] lawful and good
— Quran 8:69

The same applies to immovable property such as buildings, the Quran recounts that the Muslims gained ownership over the settlements of the Banu Nadir, Banu Quraizah and of those at Khyber, which happened through conquest and becoming booty:

وأورثكم أرضهم وديارهم وأموالهم وأرضا لم تطئوها
And He caused you to inherit their land and their homes and their properties and a land which you have not trodden.
— Quran 33:27

So to answer your title question Yes, Hagia Sophia belonged to the Muslims, because it is a part of what they gained through war.

Could the Muslims remove the church, such as by converting it to a Mosque?
According to Islamic law, it is permissible to do so in an area conquered by force. Ibn Taymiyyah (see مسألة في الكنائس page 122-124) notes that there is no difference of opinion on the permissibility of removing churches on territory conquered by combat, rather there is difference of opinion on whether it is obligatory to do so.
That is logical because the Muslims have gained absolute ownership over these buildings and so they may dispense with them as they please. Rather it could be argued that they may be blameworthy for allowing their belongings to be used for kufr and shirk.
There is also specific evidence for this: The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ conquered Mecca and took over the Kaabah for the Muslims exclusively, whereas beforehand it was used by the idolaters as their major temple and place of pilgrimage. Similarly he commanded for a Mosque to be build over a temple at Taif and over a Church. And there are also several other examples which you can find in seerah regarding what was done with the temples of the idolaters. Similarly Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and Harun al-Rashid are reported to have taken churches.
That is notwithstanding that there are also many examples of where churches were allowed to be retained in the lands conquered during the time of the Prophet ﷺ and the sahaba, such as can be found in the cities of Shaam.

Some people hold a misconception that the terms of agreement that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Umar ibn al-Khatab made with the Christians is applicable here. The error in this reasoning is that those people had been annexed peacefully by a treaty, whereas these people had to be fought and subdued via force. The laws are very different for these two cases.
It is in the case of surrender by treaty (فتح صلحا)  that the inhabitants become ahl al-dhimma, their properties are granted protection and it is illegal to interfere with their churches, rather the Muslims are responsible for their defense. This exactly was the matter with Jerusalem as its people surrendered to Umar ibn al-Khatab and it was a condition in the treaty that their churches would not be harmed. This case is for those who avert war and agree on a truce:

فإن هم أبوا فسلهم الجزية فإن هم أجابوك فاقبل منهم وكف عنهم
If they refuse, then ask them to pay Jizyah. If they respond, then accept it from them and refrain from (fighting) them.
— Muslim

Whereas the other case is when they are subjugated by the fighting (فتح عنوة) after refusing Jizyah and choosing war. Here their properties become booty and (depending on the madhab) it is left at the discretion of the Imam to act according to what serves the interest of the Muslims: whether to be benevolent and let them retain their properties or to to distribute them among the soldiers or to use them as an endowment for the Muslims.
Reference: معابد الكفار وأحكامها في بلاد المسلمين
Comment: mmmm nah this isn't correct, ignoring that those verses aren't connected to the issue, there are two things here that have been mixed up. The first is that after the conquest of Mecca, the prophet (saw) said "no two religions are allowed in the Hijaz" - see https://abuaminaelias.com/expel-jews-christians-arabian-peninsula/ .This only applied to the Hijaz though. Apart from that, the protection of churches etc. is guaranteed by definite text from the Quran, sunnah and 'ijma of the sahabah. See https://www.dar-alifta.org/foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=3520&text=jihad.
Comment: @secretsquirrel Kindly improve your research and read up on works on fiqh. Some madhabs (e.g. the Shafis) hold that it is actually obligatory to demolish places of worship which have been conquered by force, and e.g. the Hanafis hold that they must be made into homes and not be allowed as places of worship. What I have written is not *incorrect*. See e.g. https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/111093/
Comment: I've given you references; you haven't given *any*
Comment: @secretsquirrel See the islamweb link
Comment: yeah, quoting from that "this is not permissible to happen in it something from the sale and the churches" - which i guess means the opposite of what you're saying; I'm also guessing that "opened the testimony by force and approved them on their temples It was not destroyed by them" also confirms that. He isn't saying, they were destroyed, he is saying "if they were allowed to be destroyed they would not exist now"
Comment: @secretsquirrel I cant really have a discussion with you if you are going to think that using google translate is acceptable.
Comment: Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/110971/discussion-between-umh-and-secret-squirrel).
Comment: @secretsquirrel I've added some translations in the chatroom linked above.
Answer: Aya Sofia belongs to the Ummah. It was not taken by force, or appropriated unjustly from the Christians - it was bought and paid for with the personal funds of Sultan Muhammad al-Fatih, may Allah have mercy on him, who then left it to the ummah as a waqf, and the actual purchase document still exists :
That's why it is allowed to be converted to a mosque - the patriarch of Constantiople sold it and the building had nothing more to do with Christianity since then. This purchase was at the heart of the recent court case in Ankara, as the link shows.
In Islam, it is forbidden to take over other places of worship by force. Umar ibn Al Khattab RA refused to even pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchure  for fear of setting a precedent where Muslims would take over other places of worship.
But this does not apply to Aya Sofia because it was sold to the Muslims by the Christians. Compare that to the Alhambra in Al Andalus or the Babri mosque in India which were taken by force and converted to a church and Hindu temple respectively.
Comment: Obviously, sold after a military defeat could not be a truly voluntary act. And where did the Sultan get his vast wealth from other than appropriating from the public treasury?

Does Hagia Sophia belong to Muslims?


how to change transparency of a layer by a brush (GIMP)

Question: I want to change transparency of a layer where the transparency can be changed by a brush
ex: increase top layer transparency by 50% when I draw a line over a place.
what I'm trying to do is have streaks of color over a black of white copy of a image. the streaks are also custom brushes that look like paint brushes even with semi transparency parts of it so it would have to be with a brush.
I also have other uses for future projects after I learn this skill so a general solution or instruction on how to do so is wanted.
something that could be using this technique elsewhere on the internet could be someone showing the image with a transparency brush over a first sketch.
Answer: You can do this with layer masking. It's a commonly used technique in raster image editing software such as GIMP, Photoshop or Krita, etc.
Basically you would set up two layers, one with your colour image on the bottom, and the black and white image on a layer on top.
To add a layer mask to a layer in GIMP, click on the Layer Mask icon in the layers panel. Then choose "White (fully opacity)" in the Layer Mask dialog, then hit Add

Select the white layer mask in the Layers Panel. Then you can paint on the mask with a brush.

If you paint on the layer mask in black, it will make that area fully transparent, revealing the colours in the layer below. If you paint in white, it will make that area fully opaque. If you paint on it in 50% grey, it will make that area 50% transparent.
Answer: Generate a layer mask which contains all transparency info of the layer. When you add a layer mask you get an opportunity to initialize the mask with existing layer alpha (=all cumulated transparency data)
An example: A layer with solid fill and a couple of strokes with the eraser. Layer > Mask > Add layer mask dialog is opened and option transfer the alpha channel is selected:

In the next image the fill color is again solid red, but all transparency is now in the layer mask (see the grey X):

Now you can select the mask icon and paint to the mask. Paint full black for full transparency or paint full white for 100% opacity. Paint grey for something between. Paint with transparent brush and let the brush have some blending mode other than normal for relative results. To be effective this needs knowledge of the blending modes.


Making bracha when passing by a bakery

Question: I've heard before that one should make a bracha when passing by a bakery that has a pleasant smell of what's being baked. What is the source for this halacha? What is the custom in this, do we yes make a bracha or not? If not (and the halacha says yes to) then why not?
Answer: In Mishna Brurah 216:54... The discussion is brought (see Shulchan Aruch and Rama) whether a bracha is said when one smells hot bread and what nusach is said (rayach tov...bpeiros ...bpas) it seems since it is a safek we try not to intentionally smell breads or cakes for pleasure in order to take ourself out of a safek which is at hand.
Comment: Why are you quoting the Mishna Berurah when this is all in the Shulchan Arukh? I don't see where the Mishna Berurah adds anything of relevance to this question...
Comment: Because he holds not to make a bracha
Comment: See Mishna Brurahs 54,55,56.56 says even if you smell don't make a bracha

Making bracha when passing by a bakery


Is it illegal to keep an encrypted version of illegal data?

Question: If I encrypt copyrighted data to which I have no right with a private key known only to me, am I infringing the copyright by holding only the encrypted version?
Answer: Mere possession of copyrighted material does not infringe any of the copyright holder's exclusive rights.1
This conclusion is echoed by Jay Dratler:

Nothing in copyright law prohibits the mere possession of an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work.2

From the Fifth Circuit:

The copyright owners not only had no interest in the tangible video cassettes that contained copies of the works, but they did not have the exclusive right to possess or authorize possession of video cassettes containing copies of the works.3

From the Tenth Circuit:

The Copyright Act, however, says nothing about an exclusive right to possession of a copyrighted work.4

Possession may be used as evidence that you copied the work, though.

courts have held that when two works are so strikingly similar as to preclude any reasonable possibility that the defendant's work was independently created, access may be presumed. Any circumstantial evidence of copying (i.e., proof of access and probative similarities, including the presumption of access created by striking similarities) can, however, be rebutted.5

The fact that your copy is encrypted doesn't change the copyright infringement analysis, but it may be an investigatory hurdle.

1. 17 U.S. Code § 106
2. Jay Dratler, Cyberlaw: Intellectual Property in the Digital Millennium 2-83 (2000)
3. United States v. Smith 686 F.2d 234 (5th Cir. 1982)
4. Khandji v. Keystone Resorts Management Inc. 140 F.R.D. 697 (D. Col. 1992)
5. Jason E. Sloan, An Overview of the Elements of a Copyright Infringement Cause of Action - Part I: Introduction and Copying, American Bar Association (last visited Dec. 7, 2016).
Answer: Did you copy the copyrighted information? Yes.
Therefore, prima facie, you have committed a copyright offence. Depending on how you use it, you may avail yourself of a fair use/dealing defence.


Can you find Pokémon without moving?

Question: I only have internet in and around my house. It says there's like 9 Pokemon by me but I can't see them at all. Is it possible to find them without moving far from my house?
Answer: It is sort of possible, but not very efficient
You can try placing the app in "Battery saver" mode. This causes your avatar to wander around a little bit due to GPS measurement inaccuracies, even if you don't move. The wandering can trigger very close Pokemon and even allow you to spin pokestops when you wander into their range.
The movement is fairly random, so wandering will not be as efficient as intentionally moving around based on the nearby pokemon tracker. It also counts for hatching eggs but is very slow with that too.
Comment: It does count for eggs, but it's pretty slow as well.
Comment: Are you sure battery saver mode has any impact on GPS accuracy? The consensus on reddit seems to be that it only turns off the display when the phone is held upside down.
Comment: The wandering is not caused by the Battery Saver mode
Comment: @QuestionMarks While i sit at my desk, my avatar stands in one spot in normal mode and wanders in battery saver mode. Turning battery saver mode off will make my avatar run back to the proper spot. It might not be due to GPS inaccuracies but I don't have any other explanation for why it wanders within a short radius only in battery saver mode.
Comment: @Riley I have not seen the wandering happen outside of battery saver mode.
Comment: Quick test seems wandering is about the same.
Answer: It'a possible if you use nothing but Incense but would be very costly, not at all worth it in any way.
Answer: I have the app running while I'm at home watching TV and not moving.  In one day I've caught Nidoran, Spearow, Rattata, Weepinbell, Gastly, Pidgey, Staryu, Weedle, Psyduck, Exeggcute and Venonat by sitting still.  So yes, you can catch them doing nothing.
Note: for some (not all) of them, I fired off an Incense.
Answer: If you're going to do this, just pop the app open every five minutes or so -- minimizes battery drain. Whenever you get the white spin of death, just close and reopen the app to reset it. Pokemon will wander across your path occasionally, and it's easy to catch a few this way when you're stuck inside.
Of course, you should figure out how far your internet extends, so you can do a little circuit when you can to somewhat extend your catching area. The more area wifi you have access to, to better, but you should look into purchasing a pre-paid data plan so you can go out into the wild.
Answer: This is only anecdotal, but my avatar seems to wander much more when I have bluetooth turned on than when I turn it off.  I keep location services on in highly accurate mode, to use a combination of wi-fi and GPS, so it may be coincidental.
There are a couple of apartment complexes behind my office, and several folks in the office have wi-fi on their phones, so wi-fi location finding may be causing the wander.  But it does seem to happen more with Bluetooth on.  She wanders around the entire office building, and back and forth between two of the apartment buildings behind me.  I'm leveling up and hatching eggs much faster now, but I'm also out of pokeballs because there are zero nearby stops for me to load back up.
Answer: In short, yes, you can catch Pokemon without moving.
However, if you are in an area that does not frequently spawn Pokemon, you will have a hard time catching anything good or on a regular basis. If you want to catch a lot of things with minimal effort, drive to a park or mall and sit somewhere (bench, coffee shop, etc). You will see much better spawns than you would at your house (assuming you don't live in the middle of the downtown area of a major city).
That said, sometimes rare Pokemon randomly spawn in very odd places. I leave Pokemon Go running all day at work and I have caught a Snorlax and multiple Scyther without getting up, though that is over the course of 2+ months.
Really, it's all dependent on where you choose not to move from.
A side note: the Pokemon that you see as being "Nearby" (now "Sighted") are somewhere within 200 meters of you. There is currently no way to know how close or what direction the Pokemon are in, though. The mall is probably your best bet for lowest effort and greatest reward, since there will be numerous spawns all around you.

Can you find Pokémon without moving?


'I have no idea why do I like him so much' or 'I have no idea why I like him so much'

Question: As far as my knowledge goes, 'why' in this case functions as a relative pronoun introducing a clause. I am just unsure whether it is grammatically accurate or at least acceptable to phrase the second clause in a question form (with the do verb coming after the relative pronoun). Which one is actually the correct form? And if one of them were incorrect, could anyone explain to me why?
Answer: The second phrasing is correct "I have no idea why I like him so much.".
The reason is that the statement "I like him so much" is the target of the preceding clause "I have no idea why". (Standard) English usage doesn't allow joining statements and questions in this way. In essence, an implied conjunction has been elided from the sentence, which could read as:

I have no idea why[, but] I like him so much.

or

I have no idea why [it is that] I like him so much.

In practice of course, your (second) phrasing is much more likely than either of those above, which are a bit stilted unless you are looking for a subtle change of emphasis.
Answer: English inverts word order (or inserts "expletives" like "do") for questions in a main clause, but it never does so in subordinate clauses.
The reasons offered in linguistics classes are complex (involving a part of speech called "complementizers"). Carnie explains it well, but you need to read the whole book.


Blender Hair Dynamic not working with both force field and collision

Question: I am new to blender Hair Dynamic, and I am trying to create a hair that would react with the world.
I have made the sample file and it does not work.
I tried all tutorials I can find, and I don't know what I have missed.
Please help me with this and tell me what's going on.
Here is the link to my file:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1H7VsX17Ny1vikSTvEBbntGN6-iNDRAwS
Answer: So, I have fiddled around with my model, and I saw one post says that before certain version the Hair won't collide with itself.
My understanding is it should be able to collide with it self now, but somehow mine didn't.
(someone save me on this part pls)

I made a new mesh, used collision(as in image), and I achieved some collision but some hair is still going through.
note that the thing will now have any collision if it is hided (the eye button). I hope this helped those have the same problem with me.
(And please post better solution if you have one.)


In the eyes of the law, is a crime committed by a child too young to be charged, actually a crime?

Question: with the recent JonBenet Ramsey documentary, many people now feel Burke was the killer.  Since he was only 9 yrs old, he could not be charged in Colorado since the minimum age was 10 yrs old at the time (under that age a juvenile cannot commit a crime, so no crime occurred??).  His parents were indicted as accessories (perhaps not the exact term) but never brought to trial.  Many wonder why - is it possible that due to shielding laws, no evidence against Burke could be introduced (due to his age or the fact he was not being charged) and therefore there was very little that could be presented in court?  Can an adult be an accessory to a 'non-crime' if Burke is completely shielded, and in essence no crime was ever committed in the first place?
Answer: In general, a guilty action also requires a mens rea, or guilty mind, in order to be guilty of a crime.  A child who is too young to form an intent to commit a crime cannot be guilty of a crime.  The toddler who finds a loaded gun and shoots someone isn't guilty of assault or murder because the toddler couldn't have formed the intent to commit the crime.
Under the more modern Model Penal Code definitions, Strict liability laws are applied regardless of intent, but negligent, reckless, knowing, and purposeful states of mind all require some level of intent, and again, a child is unable to form this intent.
The defense of infancy is a defense against the formation of a mens rea by a child's age.  In English common law, under the age of 7, infancy was a complete defense.  Age 7 to 14, infancy was a rebuttable presumption, and over 14 were presumed capable.  In the US, some laws set different ages, as corrected in the comments, CRS 18-1-801 states that "No child under ten years of age shall be found guilty of any offense."
Comment: Colorado does not rely on English common law; as OP correctly notes, they set the minimum age to 10 by statute. Also, the question was "can the parents be guilty as accessories," which may have a different answer than "can the child be guilty of a crime."
Comment: It's section 18-1-801.
Comment: Thanks for the clarification on the CO law.  Do you have the statute citation?  I took a quick look and couldn't find it.  As to your other point about the question asked, I was responding to this part of the question: "(under that age a juvenile cannot commit a crime, so no crime occurred??)" and a related question about evidence in court against Burke that was hard to decipher.  The last question is indeed about accessory liability, which I did not answer.
Comment: so is it possible the DA was unable to proceed against  the Ramsey's *at all* even if he really did want to, due to not having any ammunition? Since anything related to Burke's involvement would be inadmissible due to his age, and him being (presumably) the killer, that's a pretty big hole to fill with nothing.   I'm not sure if Catch-22 or Twilight Zone is more appropriate here if that's the case.
Comment: I don't believe that an inability to prosecute Burke would preclude trying the adults, depending on the exact facts of the case.  If the adults participated in the murder, then they may have primary criminal liability in some capacity, depending on the exact facts.  One advantage to might be that since Burke couldn't be charged with a crime, he can be compelled to testify because it wouldn't violate his fifth amendment rights against self incrimination.
Comment: Thanks for the pointer, cpast.  "18-1-801. Insufficient age. The responsibility of a person for his conduct is the
same for persons between the ages of ten and eighteen as it is for persons over eighteen except to the extent that responsibility is modified by the provisions of the "Colorado Children's Code", title 19, C.R.S. No child under ten years of age shall be found guilty of any offense."
Answer: the crime is still committed; the law itself does not define the crime as pertaining only to a particular age group. its the difference between law breaking and law enforcement. just because you cant do the latter doesnt mean the former didnt happen.
Comment: I think the DA at the time mentioned the situation was "complicated"  which based on the age aspect is an understatement.  Even if he wanted to bring the Ramsey parents to trial, all the shielding for Burke would seem to render his case totally empty.  In the end Burke's age (by a few months) may have prevented the Ramsey's from spending a considerable amount of time in prison, especially if one did the actual strangling of a brain-dead JonBenet (A scenario involving just the ransom note and protecting Burke would seem to be far less punishable)
Comment: @jjbee - I doubt that it is always that simple. Suppose instead, that a child of nine shot, but didn't kill someone. Can the parent's be tried for some form of negligence, if they just stood by?


Is Wavelet Transform better than FT if I'm only interested in knowing the frequencies and not interested of when did they happen?

Question: I'm still in the first stages of learning about these different transformations. But one thing that came to my mind while learning about them is the question above. I learned that FT can only detect the frequencies in a signal without giving us much knowledge about when these frequencies happen. Therefore, WT came here to be a great solution. However, does WT do any better job than FT in detecting the frequencies, or is the time problem the only improvement?
Comment: FT is a frequency transformation, CWT and STFT are time-frequency transformations.
Comment: Yes, you are right! But If I read the frequency from a CWT plot, would it be more accurate from reading it from an FT plot?
Comment: @ I'm not sure they can be compared, since CWT gives you many measurements of the frequency, and FT only gives you one.  If the frequency is constant for the entire signal, FT would be more accurate because it covers more of the signal.
Answer: Since they seem more fashionable than Fourier transforms, some persons tend to overuse wavelets in contexts where they do not belong, or at least don't do a much better job.
For "knowing the frequencies", Fourier transforms are the correct tools to use first: it is so easy to badly select a wavelet transformation (including its shape and its sampling) that will give you outcomes difficult to interpret, and even erroneous information. To be more specific, among fast orthogonal transforms (DWT and FFT), due to the restrictions on dyadic wavelets, it is unlikely to have better results with wavelets than Fourier (because of shift-variance, aliasing and badly-shaped FIR wavelets).

does WT do any better job than FT in detecting the frequencies

It really depends on what you expect in detection, and the nature of your signals, and it often takes more than a transform. However, I would recommend to use wavelets or time-frequency tools if Fourier reveals not sufficient, or in parallel to address statonnarity, etc., but  not instead.


Rheumatoid arthritis and hormones

Question: If rheumatoid arthritis symptoms improve during pregnancy, why women are not treated with hormones?
Comment: Welcome to health SE :-). For future questions, it would be great if you included some of your own research into the question. Thanks!
Comment: Pregnancy is a state of alerted immunity, primarily so that the mother does not reject the developing fetus. A side effect of this is that some people with autoimmune diseases may improve.
Answer: Women are actually treated with hormones, just ones that aren't estrogen/progesterone/ect..
People with severe RA are treated with glucocorticoids in order to decrease T and B cell proliferation that further damage to the synovial joints. These hormones have long term health impacts (such as Cushing's disease) and should be used as a last ditch effort.
Hormones such as progesterone and estrogen, which are at elevated levels during pregnancy, may decrease T cell  and B cell proliferation to an extent, but they are not as efficacious as glucocorticoids. Furthermore, estrogen and progesterone are related to many other autoimmune diseases: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/775536_5
Here is information regarding estrogen's role in decreasing T cell proliferation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8955504
*Note: women who are young enough to conceive without medical assistance may still have a thymus. The reduction in thymus activity by estrogen may decrease RA symptoms. However, older women do not have a thymus and will not experience any effects like this from estrogen.

Rheumatoid arthritis and hormones


What makes something like water so hard to change its density?

Question: So I'm taking a compressible flow class soon, and I've been thinking beforehand about the topic. A substance like water can easily be pressurized, but its density doesn't change easily, meaning there has to be some microscopic force between molecules  in equilibrium with the pressure force. What force would this be though? Would it be Van der Waals force perhaps?
Comment: Hydrogen bonding is more likely, Van der Waals forces are comparatively weak
Comment: @Nic the correct answer is that given by starrise. Hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces have little to do with fluid incompressibility.
Answer: Two factors contribute to the incompressibility of liquids. The first is the electrostatic repulsion between the electron fields of neighboring molecules keeping the molecules from getting closer to each other without increasing force. The second is that intermolecular spacing is similar to that of solids made from the same material, due to intermolecular attraction and in turn due to some form of secondary bonding.
Note that no conventional material is totally incompressible, and greater hydrostatic force results in higher density. This is reflected in a material's bulk modulus, and the relationship between hydrostatic stress, bulk modulus, and volumetric strain. For example, water has a bulk modulus of approximately 3.12 GPa, meaning that an application of 3.12 MPa hydrostatic stress would result in a volume decrease of about 0.1%, and thus a density increase of close to the same amount. Other liquids have similar bulk moduli. For many applications this is a negligible change and can be safely ignored, and hence liquids are generally treated as incompressible.
Answer: For comparison, I found a table of some compressible liquids.  I don't know the original source.  Just look at Hg!
 BTW, I've seen notes indicating that liquid H and He are pretty compressible, but a quick search didn't turn up easily translatable data.
Comment: The Table is from engineeringtoolbox.com. I don't know where they source their information from.


use of the word holidays & vacations

Question: Is it necessary that we use the word 'holiday' with a festival or occasion? Can we say 'Easter vacations'? Or there must be the word 'holidays', not vacations?
Answer: I think it varies from a country to country. Also, some opine that holidays are declared by the authoritative body like offices, universities whereas vacations are customized, you may plan it any time. But then, that may not be the case in all countries.
As far as India is concerned, vacations, holidays both are in use, provided it is about festivals. We have Diwali vacations and Diwali holidays both. Even strange, vacations are from schools, and offices have holidays. That said, a son would have a Diwali vacation, and the father will enjoy Diwali holidays!
Hence, to answer, it depends on the regions. Let others may answer.
Worth to mention that searching on Ngram, the results of Easter holidays and Christmas holidays overweigh vacations.
When it is about some season, in India, vacation is more common. Say, Winter vacations. Winter Holidays don't go well.
Answer: In British English, the word vacation is not used at all.
So a holiday is either a state-regulated day off - Bank Holiday Monday, Good Friday etc, or equally it is the two weeks you spend in Benidorm  sunbathing & drinking sangria.
If you arrange to have a day off when you would normally go to work, then that's simply a day off [or week off, etc].
The UK also doesn't refer to such as Christmas as 'the holidays', it's just called Christmas or Xmas. The latter tends to be used by people trying to somewhat avoid the overt religious connotation, though there's no escaping it entirely.
There has been a move in recent years towards the term break, which is shorter than a holiday & might only be a weekend or Friday to Monday. I'm tempted to think this was pushed by advertisers trying to sell travel at under-exploited times, when the business travellers have all gone back home after their weekday travels.
So the 'City Break' was born.
Fly to Venice, Amsterdam or Paris on Friday night, spend 2 or 3 nights in a hotel, look round the city & be back in time for work.

use of the word holidays & vacations