What are the most appropriate types of degrees (or kinds of schooling) that a would-be successful writer should aim to obtain?

Question: What kinds of schooling should a teenager, trying to decide on a college, consider, if she is looking to grow to become a successful writer?
Answer: There are about 1,000 times more English majors in the US than there are jobs in anything such a degree could prepare you for.
If you are one of the few who will make a living from writing, you are talented enough that you can afford to major in something else and pursue your writing as a minor, or through electives, or outside university altogether.
If you are one of the many who will not make a living from writing, you must have more in-demand skills so that you can work a 9-5 (or less) and leave time for your writing, instead of working two jobs trying to scrape by on a burger-flipping salary and never having time to write.
In other words, unless you are going to teach, don't be an English major.  It's probably not best for you or for your writing career.
Comment: +1 for **any degree that isn't writing-related**. Do *courses* and *practice* and *read lots of books* for the writing skills; study things that are *interesting* and *make money* at university.
Answer: From talking to people in the classes I took the following 3 creative writing programs came up repeatedly:

Sarah Lawrence College
University of Iowa
Columbia University

I never had the money or time to go back for an creative writing degree but I found a lot of good teachers at the Gotham Writers Workshop.  They also have online classes.
From experience the two things that have helped improve my writing the most were:

Write a lot (one of my teachers recommendation was write 10 pages a week no matter what) - probably the single best piece of writing advice I ever got.
Find a workshop where every member is required to give feedback and it should be in the form of:

One good aspect about your work.
On aspect that needs improvement.
They can only judge your work - not you.

Hope that helps.
Answer: Look at it in another way. Don't let your desire to write choose what your education will be. Let your education define what your writings will look like. Just remember that every single person has a different knowledge, and the more specific or broad this knowledge will be, the better his writings will be covered with interesting details.
I am a master of mathematics and the logical consequence of the field helped me a lot. No. A lot. In the art of writing.
You should choose whatever you've always wanted, it is really hard to gain useless knowledge. Even the meanest sociology has its beauty and could be adopted manywhere. Get a great knowledge in the one field, let it bring money to you, and then write. And then begin to study other fields. You can start with reading the wikipedia's "did you know" list every couple of days (they even had a feed for the topic once, but now it's gone somewhere). If you'll find the power of knowledge exciting, you'll finish with the academic books in your hands.
Answer: I don't think it matters what degree you have. What matters is whether you know how to write and can give editors what they need.
My only degree, a BBA, is in accounting. My writing career began after 8 years as an auditor and financial analyst. I took two creative writing courses in college -- that's the only formal training in writing that I ever got. Yet I still managed to build a very good career as a writer.
Degrees don't matter. Skills do.
Answer: If this particular teenager is looking to be educated in writing, a bachelors of arts in creative writing, or English with a writing concentration, or something along those lines (different schools call the major different things) would teach her many of those skills.  A major in English literature on the other hand would give her even more time to read lots of great writers.  The writing part of a literature degree focuses more on criticism than on creative writing, however.  A writing degree will have some reading to it, but less than a literature degree.
For even further schooling, this aspiring writer could get a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in writing.  As far as I know, there is no PhD in writing.  An important thing to consider is that a master's degree in a liberal arts subject such as writing is often of dubious value economically - whatever the value to her writing.  It is improbable that the MFA program will pay for itself by giving her a better salary from her writing.  However it may provide opportunities that she would not otherwise have had.  It's just not likely.
A writing degree is of course not necessary to being a successful writer.  Since many writers do not support themselves from their writing, this young teenager may look to gain skills from her college education that can allow her to have a day job while she finds her feet as a writer.  Even if she does not want to do this, in general the aspiring writer should focus on the liberal arts in the oldest sense - a focus on getting a broad education and seeing how different disciplines interact.  The more knowledge this young woman can draw on, the richer her imagery and metaphors will be.  The tasks of a liberal arts education will also help to broaden and stretch her mind to give her a richer mental life from which to write.


How can I protect my hardwood floors from water damage?

Question: I just bought a home with hardwood floors everywhere, including the bathrooms.  While this is nice, I worry that they will be damaged by constant exposure to water.  Is there anything I can do to protect them, besides high quality bath mats?
Comment: A few drips here and there are not going to destroy them.  If your shower constantly floods the floor that's a different story
Comment: @SteveR Wouldn't that be an answer?
Answer: We also have a wood floor in our bathroom. I placed a plastic bathtub mat on the floor in front of the shower and then placed a bathmat over it. After 17 years, we have some damage to the floor, but mostly in the areas just outside of the mat area.
Comment: Hi Aleta, welcome to DIY.Stackexchange.com!  Thanks for the answer, it's hard to find 17 years of experience!
Answer: Wood constantly moves by expansion and contraction which varies with humidity and moisture.  There is no "sealant" that I know of that would prevent this natural movement and the cracks between the planks from opening and closing as a result.  Wax will protect the surface finish, but make them slippery unless you use a non-slip formula.
The only recourse is to use bathmats (as you've already identified) and wipe up the floor if you should splash water on them.  Just be careful with the combination of cloth bathmat and waxed floor.  Also be careful of leaving rubber backed bath mats on the floor finish.  Some may change the sheen of the floor (dull it) and leave an outline of the mat/rug.
Answer: Keep a good coat of wax on them. Clean up water ASAP
Comment: also ensure all cracks down to the subfloor are filled with a waterproof filling ASAP
Answer: This is a good one. I find that rather than just getting a bath mat, it might be best to get a large piece of rubber that can be placed under the mat to keep it in place. It may also help to cover your floor with a strong varnish or something like wax, this can help keep the floor better for longer and protect from thing like water.


What would make my gravity increase?

Question: I have a cider that i have been fermenting for almost two weeks.  I took a reading about four days ago and it was 1.005, we decided it was about time to bottle.  Then last night when we got around to bottling i took another reading and it was 1.018!  This is before i added the priming sugar.  I cant figure out what would have made the gravity go back up after getting down to 1.005?
Answer: Unless you added sugar or evaporated water, a misreading is the only answer I can come up with. Always make sure to spin your hydrometer to ensure there are no air bubbles forcing it up higher.
Any chance your dog knocked in a pound of DME? :)
Answer: Most likely user error with a small difference possible due to temperature and/or dissolved co2 floating the hydrometer. It's also possible that there is a density gradient, though it seems less likely after 2 weeks of fermenting.

What would make my gravity increase?


Converting closed form to recursive and recursive to closed form

Question: Please explain to me how to convert this to closed form:
$$P_n = 1.75P_{n-1}, P_0=40.$$
And how to convert these into recursive form:
$$
\begin{align*}
Y &= 5.4x-27, \\
Y &= 3800\cdot1.04^x.
\end{align*}
$$
Answer: We will begin to calculate, to see what is going on.
We have $P_0=40$.  Therefore, by the given recurrence, $P_1=(1.75)P_0=(1.75)(40)$.
Important: Don't plug $(1.75)(40)$ into a calculator!  In fact, to prevent the temptation, I will write instead $P_1=(1.75)P_0$.  We want to be always aware of the structure of our answer, and plugging numbers into a calculator tends to hide structure.
What is $P_2$?  by the recurrence, it is $(1.75)P_1$.  But $P_1=(1.75)P_0$, so
$P_2=(1.75)(1.75)P_0$.  For convenience write instead $P_2=(1.75)^2P_0$.
What is $P_3$?  By the recurrence, $P_3=(1.75)P_2$.  But from our expression for $P_2$, we get $P_3=(1.75)(1.75)^2P_0$, which is $(1.75)^3P_0$.
Maybe compute a bit further. Or not.  It is I think clear that the same reasoning will give $P_4=(1.75)^4P_0$, and in general $P_n=(1.75)^nP_0$ for any non-negative integer $n$.  So we conclude that
$$P_n=((1.75)^n)(40).$$
Now let's look at your $Y=5.4x -27$.  Presumably the intent is that $x$ is a non-negative integer. In order to bring out the analogies with the first problem, I will write $n$ instead of $x$.  So $Y=5.4n-27$.  Note that $Y$ depends on $n$.  Bring out this dependence by writing instead
$$Y_n=5.4n -27.$$
Note that $Y_0=-27$.  What is $Y_1$?  It is $5.4$ more than $Y_0$.  So $Y_1=5.4+Y_0$.
What is $Y_2$?  From the formula, it is $(2)(5.4)-27$.  Note that this is $5.4$ more than $Y_1$.  And what is $Y_3$? It is $(3)(5.4)-27$, which is $5.4$ more than $Y_2$.  It is clear that $Y_4$ is $5.4$ more than $Y_3$, and that in general $Y_n$ is $5.4$ more than $Y_{n-1}$.
We reach the conclusion that $Y_n=Y_{n-1}+5.4$, with $Y_0=-27$.
We could proceed slightly more abstractly.  Note that $Y_n=5.4n-27$ and that $Y_{n-1}=5.4(n-1)-27$.  Subtract.  After a bit of algebra, we get $Y_n-Y_{n-1}=5.4$, or equivalently $Y_n=Y_{n-1}+5.4$.
Finally, we look at the equation that you wrote as
$$Y=3800(1.04)^x$$
Again, I imagine $x$ is supposed to be a non-negative integer.  I will keep the $x$, though I am tempted to replace it by $n$.  But definitely, "$Y$" is not good, we should write it either as $Y_x$ or $Y(x)$, to make explicit the dependence on $x$.
So we have
$$Y_x=3800(1.04)^x$$
Now look at my discussion of the first question you had.  What was the answer to that?  And what was the question?  In our current problem, the question looks like the answer to the first problem we dealt with.
Or more directly, we have from the given equation that $Y_0=3800$.  Can you see that to get the "next" $Y$, you multiply the current $Y$ by $1.04$? So $Y_x=(1.04)Y_{x-1}$.
Comment: (Just pointing out two typos, but you're missing a $ about halfway through and you have a comma pretending to be a decimal at the very end.)
Comment: @El'endia Starman:  Thank you for pointing out the typos. Hope I have fixed them. I am typo-prone.  This is aggravated by the fact that many of my posts are too long.
Comment: Yep, you got them.
Answer: For the first part: write out the first $P_i$s without evaluating them, and see what you get.
For the second part: see how to $Y$ changes from $x = z$ to $x = z + 1$, and turn your findings into a "recursive form".


How do I connect my Nikon D5100 to a Mac with the Picture Control utility?

Question: When I want to work with "picture control utility", I conect the camera by USB to Mac and select Control Utility, select import pictures, then appear a message telling "use a memory card reader or configure the camera mass storage usb " and I don´t know how to do that.Which is the way to do the configuration on nikon D5100 (mass storage USb)?
Cheers !!!
Answer: The Picture Control Utility is not compatible with low-end DSLRs (e.g. the D3?00 and the D5?00 lines), since it involves use of the function to copy Picture Control presets between the camera and the card – which was not included on these models.
However, the ViewNX software which also came in the bundle supports applying Picture Controls (default or made with the Utility) to RAW files.
But what is your goal? The question as asked suggests that you are trying to import photos to your computer: any software supporting the PTP protocol will do, such as Nikon Transfer 2, most image organizers such as iPhoto, Aperture and Lightroom, or even Apple's stock Image Capture.
(Current consumer grade Nikon DSLRs can't be set to the MSC mode mentioned in the error message you got where they appear as a generic SD card reader containing image files rather than a camera that can be remote controlled and from which images can be retrieved, but this is ultimately unrelated to the inability to install the Picture Controls you made on the camera)


only allow ip from australia

Question: i want to only allow website visitors from australia.
has anyone done this before?
Answer: You are looking for GeoIP data to base your restrictions on. There are lots of resources for this kind of thing around.
However, this is not foolproof and can be circumvented, for example by people using a proxy in Australia.
Answer: Try a service such as http://www.maxmind.com/ or http://hostip.info/
They can tell you where a user is located.
Answer: to be honest I have tried this, and it has never been a good idea. Even with a paid maxmind database I have had verified locals not being able to access the site. Several reasons come to mind, they maybe using a secure proxy to filter content or whatever.
If you are doing this for a limited set of visitors (like employees of a company) or to reduce possibility of attacks from outside source then yes its a workable solution.
In all cases, for production WWW I have had to eventually remove the country specific filters.

only allow ip from australia


What is the strong nuclear force between proton and neutron in deuteron?

Question: The nucleus of deuterium, called a deuteron, contains one proton and one neutron. What is strong nuclear force between them?
Comment: I'm having a hard time interpreting this question. Do we want the magnitude of the force. That's hard because it is hard to characterize the distance variation (but the binding energy is well measured at about 2.2 MeV). Or is there something else?
Answer: The solid state analogue of the force between a proton and a neutron is the Van der Waals forces between the molecules.
These forces are overflow forces from the central charges and the magnetic fields of the electrons and nuclei which comprise the electromgnetic environment of molecules. These are dipole and higher pole forces that can be attractive or repulsive creating the chemistry and solid state of the world around us.
The problem with nuclear forces is that in contrast to just electric and magnetic dipoles and quadrupoles etc, we have three colored quarks  interacting with three colored quarks plus a large number of colored gluons in the sea.
You can think of each color as a type of charge which will have its colored analogue of electric and magnetic fields. The complexity is enormous and the forces cannot be approximated simply as the case with electromagnetic forces.
Fortunately we have the quantum mechanical shell models which do not have to enter into the quark details and which work very well and precisely for nuclear physics problems, the analogue of the Van der Waals calculations.
Answer: There's a good explanation of nuclear forces at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_force. The key thing to understand about them is it's really a force between the quarks that make up the proton and the neutron, so calculating the force is exceedingly complicated.
Despite much Googling I couldn't find a graph of the force between the proton and neutron in deuterium, but the binding energy (mentioned by dmckee in his comment) is actually pretty low. In fact it's so low that the first excited state of the nucleus isn't bound.
For a rough comparison I calculated the energy required to bring two protons to about the distance between the proton and neutron in a deuterium nucleus (I use $10^{-15}$m as the distance) and got a value of 1.4MeV, which is roughly the same as the binding energy in the deuteron. However the nuclear force is much shorter range than the electrostatic force, so while the potential energy is comparable the force due to nuclear forces will be much stronger than the electrostatic force.


Parsley: flat-leaf or curly?

Question: How do I know whether I should use flat-leaf or curly-leaf parsley? I'm interested mostly in their uses as ingredients, but guidance on usage as garnishes is also welcome.
Answer: Flat-leaf (also called Italian Parsley) and curly parsley can be used interchangeably but most chefs prefer flat leaf as it usually has a more distinct taste.  That is going to be up to you and your preference.
Curly parsley provides a more unique and visually interesting look when you're talking about garnishes but putting a sprig of parsley on a plate is what would be called a "non-functional" garnish.  Aside from adding a bit of green it serves no purpose as very few people I know will pop it in their mouth and eat it.  You're better to sprinkle with chopped parsley or herbs that can help enhance/accent the flavor.
Curly parsley is also visually appealing used in a parsley salad due again to the ruffled edges.
I usually use flat-leaf if available, then curly if flat-leaf isn't available.  Under no circumstances (except if you just need a touch of green dust) do I recommend using dried parsley.  Clippings from the underside of yor lawn-mower probably have more flavor.  Same goes for dried chives.
Comment: I find that the Simply Organic dried parsley has pretty good taste. Not sure what they do with it, but it's green where every other dried parsley I've seen is mostly brown/yellow.
Comment: Has anyone seen or heard of "Litehouse" brand of Freeze-Dried herbs?  A friend of mine recently told me about them and she thought they had a much more vibrant taste than other dried herbs.  It's a product produced in Germany but imported through a company in Idaho.  She found them in a store in North Carolina but can't find them locally here in Savannah, GA.
Answer: I personally can't tell the difference in the taste.
I feel that flat-leaf is easier to chop but YMMV.
Lately we've had curly. We can store this in the same glass as cilantro (as per these instructions) and easily tell the 2 apart -- which I find very convenient.
Answer: Flat parsley is more for Southern European cooking and has a stronger taste.
Curly parsley is more for Northern European cooking - British cooking in particular. For example it is perfect for cod is parsley sauce. It's much milder and less bitter in its raw form.
Answer: Frankly, I think the difference comes down to texture.
If I'm not cooking it, I always use the flat parsley,  as I find the curly to have a very harsh, rough mouth feel to it.
Other than that, I don't think it matters.

Parsley: flat-leaf or curly?


Problems Using CloudFlare On Blogger

Question: Here's the situation.  I got a TLD for my blogger blog and set it up using the instructions from blogger. Blogger asks to:
Add two CNAME records. For the first CNAME, where it says Name, Label or Host enter "www" and where it says Destination, Target orPoints To enter "ghs.google.com" . For the second CNAME, enter "NHRILA4K2RJG" as the Name and
"gv-GQMUMYGHAMJWECXFLJXVXABIV23C55JIPNIAVD5IGFSXT653O5GA.domainverify.googlehosted.com."

I did that on my domain host, and everything was working smoothly.
Here's the things that happened:

Typing myblog.blogspot.com in the address bar brought me to my new
address www.mynewaddress.tld
Typing my newaddress.tld brings me to
www.mynewaddress.tld Now, I went through the instruction to setup
CloudFlare and did everything as required.

I saw that CloudFlare is active and working on my TLD www.mynewaddress.tld, however, when I am typing the blogspot address, i.e. myblog.blogspot.com, it's showing a notice that the blog is not hosted on blogger and that I should click "yes" to get redirected to the new website.  However, the blog is still on blogger.
I think the problem might be with this particular CNAME record Google asks to create, which I did not find imported to the CloudFlare nameservers:
For the second CNAME, enter "NHRILA4K2RJG" as the Name and
"gv-GQMUMYGHAMJWECXFLJXVXABIV23C55JIPNIAVD5IGFSXT653O5GA.domainverify.googlehosted.com."

So I create that CNAME and added it to the CloudFlare panel.  My question is - is that what will help Google determine that my blog is still hosted on Blogger?  If so, should I turn off CloudFlare for that particular CNAME record or turn it on?
Any help is very much appreciated :)
Answer: You may want to keep CloudFlare off on that record temporarily (gray cloud) so that Google can verify it correctly (we have seen similar issues with other services). You should then be able to re-enable (orange cloud) after it has been verified.
Answer: There is no issue with CF. Its just that you are trying to open a blogspot domain blog when its actually redirected to your own domain blog. So just use your own domain. that's it.

Problems Using CloudFlare On Blogger


How can complex polynomials be represented?

Question: I know that real polynomials (polynomials with real coefficients) are sometimes graphed on a 3D complex space ($x=a, y=b, z=f(a+bi)$), but how are polynomials like $(1+2i)x^2+(3+4i)x+7$ represented?
Comment: Is your $x$ real or complex ?
Answer: For good ways to visualize many things related to complex variables, take a look at this wonderful book by Tristan Needham.
If your "$x$" is real, then $x \mapsto (1+2i)x^2 + (3+4i)x + 7$ is a mapping from the real numbers to the complex plane. In other words, it's a parametric curve in the complex plane, with $x$ being the parameter.
If your "$x$" is complex, then $x \mapsto (1+2i)x^2 + (3+4i)x + 7$ is a mapping from the complex plane to itself, which can often be visualized as a deformation of some kind.
Anyway, look at the book. It's very good.
Answer: This is a $2 \times 2$ graph, it can't be done "completely". But you can show some "slices" of the data, e.g. the real and complex components along the real line (or some other line of interest), or perhaps magnitude and angle. Or do something like a velocity field. It depends on what is to be shown.
Whatever is done, a graph is a visual rendering of something, designed to make people understand. Always keep that in mind.
Comment: So each before could represent the output complex value at each complex input?
Comment: @KevinOrr Not at all inputs (except for the velocity field). But again, you have to decide what you want to show.
Answer: Plotting $P(z) $ and $P:\mathbb{C}\rightarrow\mathbb{C}$, if you want to use a cartesian coordinate system give a 4D image because the input can be rappresented by the coordinate $(a,b)$ where $z=a+bi$, and the output too.
So the points (coordinates) of the graph are of the kind
$$(a,b,Re(P(a+bi)),Im(P(a+bi)))$$
and they belong to the set $\mathbb{R}^4$ (set of 4-uple of $\mathbb{R}$).
I think is impossible for evry human to watch a 4D plot on paper, but if you do a 3D plot with an animation, the timeline is your 4th dimension, and you can see how the 3d plot changes when the time (4th variable) changes.
I hope that is correct. At least this is how i represent in my mind 4D objects.
ps:I apologize in advance for any mistakes in my English, I hope that the translator did a good job :).


Does anyone have statistics on percentage of people that use search feature on a website as opposed to the navigation bar

Question: I was interested in knowing percentage of people that use search feature on a website as opposed to the navigation bar. Has search bar become more powerful than the traditional navigation bar for finding data on the site? Has the "sitemap" become obsolete?
I know it might be a subjective question but if someone has statistics on this or a white/technical paper, that will be great.
Answer: Every site is different. I manage a site that gets over 100k visits a month and we get about 2k searches over the same period of time.  The amount of searches done is really a function of how many pages you have in your site, how easy your navigation is, how well you search works, and if you have long tail searches like people checking a government site for a specific law or document from hundreds of thousands.
Answer: If you're running an e-commerce site, try having a broken search function sometime and read the feedback. I don't have statistics at hand, but I can tell you that a lot of people use the search as the first attempt at going direct to an item, rather than go through the category navigation, even when the category navigation has the same two click to product result.
The only sitemap I do anymore is sitemap.xml, for large sites a user sitemap is TMI and has to be condensed down to a simple directory which is better set up as a supplemental navigation element anyway so it doesn't get hidden.
Answer: Just my 10 pence worth but last year I attended a day of workshops on usability and accessibility in which a blind user talked us through how he viewed the web. He ignored access keys, sitemaps and the navigation and went straight for search. He then viewed the website through the search results.


How long should I bake a whole sweet potato for?

Question: How long should I bake a whole sweet potato in the oven for versus an 'ordinary' potato of the same size?
Answer: There is no real difference in the timing - a good hour, hour and a quarter in a hot oven does the trick.
Comment: They will go very mushy if cooked as long as potatoes, fine if you like them like that?
Answer: There are many varieties of sweet potato that have quite different cooking times
Many cultures have diverse ideas of what "done" is, some have it quite firm, some have it mushy
In general for your average sized sweet potato you should only need 50% to 75% of potato cooking time using the same method and weight
Answer: It depends on what your preference is or what you are cooking. If I want a firmer texture, roasted or sliced I shoot for 30 minutes give or take.  If I want a soft texture, mashed potatoes or soup then I will cook them around 45 minutes.  Of course it will always depend on the width of the sweet potato.  If I am cooking both potatoes and sweet potatoes, I will fist put the regular potatoes in the oven first, then 20 min later add the sweet potato. To test, pierce with a fork not a knife.


What is yeast's fermentation (life), cycle in brewing?

Question: Hopefully, I asked that correctly, once the yeast is pitched within a number of hours it begins to consume the fermentable sugars in the wort, create CO2, etc. once fermentation is completed, if I'm correct, it begins to "clean up" undesirable chemical components, I understand some yeast do this quickly, some not, what would be an approximate period of time for the clean up to be completed?  Following that process does the yeast just go dormant and settle to the bottom of the fermenter. Please feel free to correct my understanding as need be, thanks.
Answer: Yeast goes through an aerobic (oxygen consuming) and anaerobic (non-oxygen consuming) life cycle in your fermenter. The first phase is the one in which the yeast multiplies and becomes fruitful. During this time, very little CO2 and alcohol are produced, but sugars and proteins are getting consumed. The cells are spending all their time making more cells.
Once all the oxygen is gone, the yeast switch to anaerobic metabolism. This is the phase where the majority of sugars are consumed and basically all the alcohol and CO2 are produced.
As the yeast begin to run out of fermentable sugars (e.g. small sugars) and fermentation comes to an end (a relative term here), they become more and more desperate to find food. This is when more complex metabolic pathways are activated and some "scrubbing" can take place. This is also what you would typically refer to as the secondary and conditioning. Basically, the yeast are beginning to starve and are trying to eat less and less palatable sources of energy including some of their own wastes (e.g. diacetyls).
I'm not aware of any really firm data on what "enough" time is in this last phase. Basically, it's part of the art of brewing. You want to have enough time in the secondary to let your flavors mature and part of that is the yeast searching for food. Part of it is other obscenely complicated organic chemistry (read: black magic). For many beers, this is a week or two. Typically, the higher the OG, the longer you will want to condition.
Answer: Yes the yeast does go dormant and starts to settle. If you add more sugar it is possible for the yeast to reactive and start fermenting again.
This is what happens during secondary fermentation.
Hope this helps


Wordpress Bug on IIS ? Problem when uploading image on IIS 7

Question: When I upload image, I can preview it, but once it's uploaded, It's broken in post, I'm obliged to go to the directory and go to security to add NETWORK SERVICES the right to access the picture.
How to fix this ? Is this a bug ?
Answer: You are encountering an improperly configured server. Please consult the Wordpress manual on how to setup wordpress on a windows server system.
AFAIK - but I'm not a windows server expert - you must configure the upload directory that the user executing the PHP Wordpress application is able to access files therein for reading, writing, creating and deleting.
Normally it's possible to configure the needed rights on the parent directory and the same rights will be distributed to the files created therein.
Additionally you can consider to run Worpdress on a *nix based host, that's for which it has been written for and which it bests supports.
If you have problems getting it to run and you don't want to switch to linux for your host, you should consider making use of the Microsoft Port of Wordpress.
If you have general questions how to configure a server, please think about asking your question at Server Fault.
Answer: It wasn't a problem of IIS Server it was a Wordpress Bug. By upgrading Wordpress it didn't happen again.
Comment: Hi, I am having the same issue without luck. Just installed a fresh WP 3.3 with a fresh DB.  Any idea what could have caused this?


Practical applications for a Bose-Einstein condensate

Question: What are the main practical applications that a Bose-Einstein condensate can have?
Comment: It is not really clear what do you mean under "practical". Is it something like "mobile phones"? Or, maybe, "learning new stuff about Nature"?
Comment: Both of them. I want to know how Bose-Einstein condensate can help us to lern new staff about Nature and how it can help in technological field. For example I read that it can help to create quantum computers, is that true?
Comment: Among other possible uses, yes @Andrea. Another nice application is to use BECs to study models of analog gravity.
Answer: I assume you mean the relatively recent phenomenon of Bose-Einstein Condensation in dilute atomic vapors (first produced in 1995 in Colorado). The overall phenomenon of Bose-Einstein Condensation is closely related to superconductivity (in a very loose sense, you can think of the superconducting transition in a metal as the formation of a BEC of pairs of electrons), and that application would trump everything else.
The primary application of atomic BEC systems is in basic research areas at the moment, and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. You sometimes hear people talk about BEC as a tool for lithography, or things like that, but that's not likely to be a real commercial application any time soon, because the throughput is just too low. Nobody has a method for generating BEC at the sort of rate you would need to make interesting devices in a reasonable amount of time. As a result, most BEC applications will be confined to the laboratory.
One of the hottest areas in BEC at the moment is the use of Bose condensates (and the related phenomenon of degenerate Fermi gases) to simulate condensed matter systems. You can easily make an "optical lattice" from an interference pattern of multiple laser beams that looks to the atoms rather like a crystal lattic in a solid looks to electrons: a regular array of sites where the particles could be trapped, with all the sites interconnected by tunneling. The big advantage BEC/ optical lattice systems have over real condensed matter systems is that they are more easily tunable. You can easily vary the lattice spacing, the strength of the interaction between atoms, and the number density of atoms in the lattice, which allows you to explore a range of different parameters with essentially the same sample, which is very difficult to do with condensed matter systems where you need to grow all new samples for every new set of values you want to explore. As a result, there is a great deal of work in using BEC systems to explore condensed matter physics, essentially making cold atoms look like electrons. There's a good review article, a couple of years old now, by Immanuel Bloch, Jean Dalibard, and Wilhelm Zwerger (RMP paper, arxiv version) that covers a lot of this work. And people continue to expand the range of experiments-- there's a lot of work ongoing looking at the effect of adding disorder to these systems, for example, and people have begun to explore lattice structures beyond the really easy to make square lattices of the earliest work.
There is also a good deal of interest in BEC for possible applications in precision measurement. At the moment, some of the most sensitive detectors ever made for things like rotation, acceleration, and gravity gradients come from atom interferometry, using the wavelike properties of atoms to do interference experiments that measure small shifts induced by these effects. BEC systems may provide an improvement beyond what you can do with thermal beams of atoms in these sorts of systems. There are a number of issues to be worked out in this relating to interatomic interactions, but it's a promising area. Full Disclosure: My post-doc research was in this general area, though what I did was more a proof-of-principle demonstration than a real precision measurement. My old boss, Mark Kasevich, now at Stanford, does a lot of work in this area.
The other really hot area of BEC research is in looking for ways to use BEC systems for quantum information processing. If you want to build a quantum computer, you need a way to start with a bunch of qubits that are all in the same state, and a BEC could be a good way to get there, because it consists of a macroscopic number of atoms occupying the same quantum state. There are a bunch of groups working on ways to start with a BEC, and separate the atoms in some way, then manipulate them to do simple quantum computing operations.
There's a lot of overlap between these sub-sub-fields-- one of the best ways to separate the qubits for quantum information processing is to use an optical lattice, for example. But those are what I would call the biggest current applications of BEC research. None of these are likely to provide a commercial product in the immediate future, but they're all providing useful information about the behavior of matter on very small scales, which helps feed into other, more applied, lines of research.
This is not by any stretch a comprehensive list of things people are doing with BEC, just some of the more popular areas over the last couple of years.
Comment: Thanks for your excellent answer. I know in optical lattice, people can control the lattice spacing by changing the wavelength and the angle of interfering laser beams, and control the onsite interaction by Feshbach resonance or tuning the lattice depth. But can yo please tell me how to control the particle density in experiment? Thanks!
Answer: Bose condensation is interesting, because it is a quantum mechanical effect, that often results in macroscopic objects with unusual properies.
First of all Bose condensation is believed to be responsible for such phenomena as superfluidity and superconductivity. I don't think that I should explain technological and, well, "cognitive" importance of those.
But I guess that you are mainly interested in the Bose condensate -- a cloud of atoms of ordinary (some gas) but very cold matter in come optical/magnetic trap. Physics of these is a rapidly developing area right now, so my information can be not the most up-to-date.   I know that people were thinking of making:

some time/frequency standards with it
some unusual chemical compounds/alloys with it (ultracold chemistry)
use those clouds as high-resolution alternative for molecular beam epitaxy

And, of course, the most bizarre application people consider is a quantum computing. I know that people managed to make those traps as small as 1cm. And that they made number of clouds in one trap, "interacting" with each other through spin entanglement: see e.g. here.
Answer: More recently, they have been proposed as an array of inexpensive gravity wave detectors.
Answer: it will be good for making very sensitive measurement instruments and maybe making tiny structures, like they use in computer chips.
Comment: A very general and unsupported answer like this may be seen as "not useful" by some other users meaning that you are at risk of picking up a few down votes here. Adding an explanatory link or a detailed justification would be a big help.


hypergeometric proof

Question: I've been looking at hypergeometric probability problems and came across this equation. Can someone explain to me why $\sum_{j=0}^{n-1}\frac{\binom{M-1}{j}\binom{(N-1)-(M-1)}{(n-1)-j}}{\binom{N-1}{n-1}}=1$? Take into consideration that I am using $N, M, n$ as parameters where there are $N$ total objects with $M$ "special" or unique objects, and $n$ is a selection sample.
Comment: johhny and @Graphth, would you care to take a look at [this answer/question](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/a/3809/7850)?
Answer: You can prove it combinatorially.  First multiply both sides by $\binom{N-1}{n-1}$.  You can do this because that does not depend on $j$.
For simplicity, let's say there are $M-1$ special objects and $N-1$ total objects.
The right hand side counts the number of ways to choose $n - 1$ things from $N - 1$ things.
$$\binom{N-1}{n-1}$$
Now, the left hand side counts the same thing
$$\sum_{j=0}^{n-1} \binom{M-1}{j}\binom{(N-1)-(M-1)}{(n-1)-j}$$
But, the left hand side splits it up into cases.  When you select $n-1$ things, you will get $j$ of the $M-1$ special objects, as well as $(n-1) - j$ from the rest of the set, which has $(N-1) - (M-1)$ objects in it.  Now, $j$ ranges from 0 to $n-1$.  So, add up all these counts to get the left hand side.  That is, you could get 0 objects from the M, or you could get 1 object from the M, ..., or you could get n-1 objects from the M.  So, to count the total number of ways to do the selection, you need to add up these possibilities.
If you want things to match up with what you're saying, then it would be
$$\sum_{j=0}^{n} \binom{M}{j}\binom{N-M}{n-j} = \binom{N}{n}$$
The explanation would be exactly the same, except there would be $N$ total objects, $M$ special objects, and you're choosing $n$ of them.  It's simpler this way because there are none of the $-1$'s.
Answer: There is a group of $N-1$ kids, of whom $M-1$ are male. You choose at random a group of $n-1$ kids. The generic term
$$\frac{\binom{M-1}{j}\binom{(N-1)-(M-1)}{(n-1)-j}}{\binom{N-1}{n-1}}$$
in your sum is the probability that exactly $j$ of the chosen kids are male.
You are summing these probabilities from $j=0$ to $j=n-1$, that is, over all conceivable outcomes for the number of males. The sum of these probabilities must be $1$.
Remark: The calculation remains correct even if, for example, the number $M-1$ of males is a fair bit below $n-1$. For we use the standard convention that $\binom{M-1}{j}=0$ if $j>M-1$.

hypergeometric proof


Is it possible for a LG paladin to adventure with a N wizard that practices necromancy, using the undead for good?

Question: I was playing with the idea of my N wizard starting to dabble in animating dead, but there is a conflict because of my LG paladin. I'm in the school of thought that mindless undead such as skeletons and, depending on how they are portrayed, zombies are not by nature evil, but rather traditionally those who summon them are usually evil. But I want to hear others' thoughts and reasons. Thanks!
Comment: Can you specify which game ruleset you're talking about here, is it D&D 3.5?
Comment: its primarily 1st edition. Is there a difference?
Comment: I don't know enough about the earlier editions, but it's possible!
Comment: Is it addressed in the later editions?
Answer: I don't think the evil nature of the spell is too much of a problem.  It should add conflict to the party for sure - the Paladin should oppose evil acts.  Habitual, unrepentant use of evil necromancy may eventually drive a wedge between the characters and split the party.
More immediately, the paladin may feel obligated to seek legal recourse on behalf of the disturbed dead.  Desecration of a corpse and slavery may be against the law.  The paladin may need to bring the wizard to justice.
Evil necromancy could be lawful. If the paladin is high-enough level, he could just turn undead to destroy anything the wizard tries to animate.  "I won't abide evil necromancy, so don't even try!"  Assuming doing so isn't considered destruction of property.  If the meat shield is busy undermining what the wizard does instead of hacking at enemies with that +5 holy avenger, the bad guys have more chances to hurt the fragile wizard.
The context of the spell could temper the paladin's response.  Animating your slain henchmen to haul loot from the dungeon crawl two weeks back to town is not the same as animating the slain donkeys to do the same.  Animating dead henchmen before combat to eventually serve as meat shields is not the same as animating slain enemies during combat to win the day and banishing them afterwards.
I don't have AD&D 1st edition rules handy, but the OD&D Rules Cyclopedia says "Lawful clerics must take care to use this spell only for good purpose.  Animating the dead is usually a Chaotic act."  If lawful clerics can use it for good, paladins should be no different.
Gail Z Martin has a good necromancer in The Summoner and other Chronicles of the Necromancer books.  Aragorn uses the dead men of Dunharrow against Sauron's allies in The Return of the King.  Other literary examples escape me for the moment.
Answer: If you're playing 1e, then this is completely up to the DM to announce whether the Paladin's God would judge the Paladin for permissiveness or tolerance. Like others here, I would definitely think alot of this has to do with the God of the Paladin. More importantly, and bluntly, it would depend on the player playing the paladin. If that player insists it will be an issue, then it's an issue. That's part of the blessing and curse of the earlier editions. The players act out the character's prejudices, and to what extent they exist.
In my games, the Paladin is usually a paragon, but that doesn't necessarily make them a party millstone. If the paladin is a devout of the God of War, then they're much more likely to accept the raising of enemy dead bodies (Not souls, mind you) for battle. If the paladin serves the God of the Nature, a he**uva lot less tolerant.
Also, WHAT is being animated? Would YOU (and I mean you personally, not another player) think there was evil in the animation of small children? What about if you animated a dead beetle? Isn't dead, dead? What if a pC or NPC animated some orcs? Now, what if they animated the orcs so the Ranger could practice with his bow, and wants a moving target? What if a player character, or NPC, animated their own freshly dead wife, because they couldn't bear to totally seperate? Would a paladin slay them on sight, or shake their head in pity?
I would offer that it's a very fine line for the party to walk, but it can be worked out.
Answer: As Maldrak says; This will depend on the laws of the country/system where your wizard is planning on raising an army of the dead; one way around this is to ensure that the "victims" of your raise dead (and suchlike) spells are willing to be used as such - which isn't likely.
However working within the system and a local mortuary will likely pay dividends; along with the "undead donor card" ("Upon my death I wish to be raised as a minion of the necromantic army") if the mortuary can get an agreement whereby the locals are paid for their corpses and they are then used for "medical experiments" and "necromantic research" then they may even line up to hand over the bodies, depending on the local superstitions.
Alternatively bribe a suitably high level official to change the law (eg "Undead may be used in times of war and national emergency").
Ultimately, however, this will depend on the Paladin as much as the law, their religion will dictate their actions as much as the local laws.
Answer: I guess it depends on the setting, primarily. More specifically, on the ethos of the god of the paladin, which is up to the DM mostly.  Alignment and beliefs have, as far as I know, always been highly debated and controversial topics of D&D worlds (let alone our real world :)) - god only knows (but which god?) what really lawful and good and chaotic and evil means. :) Just think of what people are capable of doing in the name of goodness (fully believing in their righteousness) that their adversaries, whom they of course consider evil, see as evil.
So, if in your campaign the god the paladin serves considers raising undead from fallen enemies (like orcs, for example) to protect the faithful okay, then it's okay. Of course, the very same god may severely frown upon disturbing the corpses of its own followers. All in all, I'd say you have to work these details out with your DM - or, in case you're the DM, the heavy lifting is up to you, you'll have to detail and describe the exact views of the deities involved.


Code review guidelines for CSS, JS and HTML

Question: I have been asked to create guidelines for review CSS, JS and HTML. I know there are coding guidelines for JS but I don't know any about HTML and CSS. To review JS I will certainly follow those guidelines and mention them. But what about CSS and HTML? Apart from logical errors and indentation issues, are there any specific things I need to check when I review markup and or CSS?
Comment: this was just on HN today, might be a good place to start. http://taitems.github.com/Front-End-Development-Guidelines/
Answer: Some things to look for:

Is structured information identified using the appropriate HTML tags? H1-H6 for headings, UL/OL and LI for lists, etc?
Are no legacy HTML tags (, , , ) used?
Does the site use the least amount of markup possible?
Is style information externalized to CSS files?
Is all Javascript externalized? including event handlers?
Do CSS class names refer to the function in the page (img-caption), and not form (bold-red) or content (pink-elephant)?
Are images in the appropriate format (PNG or JPEG, depending on the type)?
Have minimized versions of Javascript libraries been used?
Optionally, have all locally-developed Javascript and CSS files been minimized?
Does the HTML / CSS validate?
Has YSlow (or similar) been used to check/optimize performance?
(mostly) [SEO] Is the site accessible with Javascript turned off?
[SEO] Is the most relevant content found at the top of the HTML?
Comment: I just found Steve Saunders' book on faster websites. Its quite helpful and some points mentioned by you are good.
Answer: One of important elements of a good style in HTML is progressive enhancement. This means that HTML layout will render good even without CSS or JavaScript. Then, once JS/CSS are processed, it will look better (e.g. old-style HTML <select> dropdown will become animated).
This also has to do with non-intrusive markup. Instead of Hello one would use
Hello
.
Same with JavaScript. Instead of <button onclick="javascript:alert('a');">Clickme</button> one would specify a button class/ID and target it from JavaScript. It also makes your markup code easier to maintain.
Answer: Validate that the least amount of markup is used to accomplish the task.  Make sure markup is semantic as well, don't use  when a  tag does the same exact thing and gives more information.  Validate that spans aren't being made block elements and vice-versa.
Additionally, alex brings up a great point in a roundabout way.  Make sure nobody uses classnames like "red-colored-big-font", because approximately 20 seconds after it's deployed for real somebody is going to change it to a small blue font.  I have actually seen this CSS:
.arial12pt { font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; }

Everything in your markup should be describing what the page is, not what it looks like.  I definitely agree about progressive enhancement, but again in a roundabout way.  The page has no requirements to look anywhere close to the same with CSS as without it.  Don't try to make them look the same, because you'll end up back in table-land and spacer.gif.
Answer: As far as HTML goes, I always make a point to have hierarchies and indentation in my files.  For example, if I have a bunch of divs:

       Blah Blah Title

I suppose that's fairly obvious to most who create layouts and templates, but more often than not I just see garbled HTML that has no structural hierarchy whatsoever, making it difficult to read for another person. I guess coming from a more CS background, this is something that sticks in my mind. The same goes for CSS as well. Let's say you're styling a div:
#whatever{
    background-image: url('blah.gif');
    color: #FFF000;
}

Indentation makes it a lot easier to read through quickly when you're used to another language mixed in like PHP/Ruby/Whatever. Again, it depends on how you work best, but when others read my HTML, I like to make it really organized :).
Also, as said above, it is always a great idea to name your CSS classes and ids relevant names to your layout, especially when it gets hairy (much like naming variables and methods in other languages). Something else to watch out for is the dreaded "guess and check" of margins, paddings and other alignment issues. Something I often try to avoid is putting negative numbers in my margins and paddings. It can get confusing if you did not make the layout yourself and if you want to come back to it later and modify it, you might have to overhaul it. In my opinion it is always a good idea to not try anything hokey or "kludgy" in CSS, even if it looks nice; there's usually a better way to do it, even if you have to restructure your CSS!
Answer: For Javascript I would always want it to validate with JSLint, i can think of so many bugs that JSLint catches that not using it is just crazy.
Answer: I came across this standards document that I rather liked. I'll also echo what was said about progressive enhancement. In general, if someone else writes the HTML/CSS, you should be able to look at it later down the line and be pleasantly surprised how not-bad the markup is and should be able to make simple style tweaks easily and efficiently.


External List from External Content Type: missing and/or error

Question: I've created an ECT w/ Read List and Read Item operations using SharePoint Designer, saved it, and given myself permissions. The ECT's external data source is a WCF service.
When I try to create an External List using the browser, the ECT does not appear in the External Content Type Picker.
When I try to create an External List from the ECT in SharePoint Designer, I'm shown the following error:

Could not save changes. No Finders available in the View Group
  associated with the SpecificFinder (Read Item) operation 'FindWidget'
  on Entity (External Content Type) with Namespace =
  'http://widgetserver', Name = 'Widgets'. The list cannot be created.

How can I create an External List based on my ECT?
Answer: My ECT's Read List and Read Item operations returned columns whose type were complex. Once I changed the return columns to all be simple/native/value types, I was able to create an External List based on my ECT in either the browser or SharePoint Designer.


How can we count lines in an n-x-n rectangular array?

Question: Is there a formula for the number of lines that contain exactly two points through an n x n rectangular array of points?
Comment: see also my answer here: http://mathoverflow.net/q/240098/39495
Answer: (Updated in response to comments below:)
I wrote a short Python program to count lines in small grids, which gave me enough data to search OEIS and find the answer at A018809.
Here is the code; the only real trick is to do everything in projective coordinates rather than staying in the Cartesian world.
# Count lines through exactly two points in an n*n grid of points

# dictionary mapping lines to the number of times they occur
lines = {}

def meet((a,b,c),(d,e,f)):
    """Line through two points or point on two lines."""
    return ((b*f-c*e,c*d-a*f,a*e-b*d))

def same(l1,l2):
    """Do these two triples represent the same line?"""
    return meet(l1,l2)==(0,0,0)

def add(l1):
    """Update the number of times line l1 has been generated."""
    if l1 == (0,0,0):
        return
    for l2 in lines:
        if same(l1,l2):
            lines[l2] += 1
            return
    lines[l1] = 1

for n in range(1,8):
    lines = {}
    for a in range(n):
        for b in range(n):
            for c in range(n):
                for d in range(n):
                    add(meet((a,b,1),(c,d,1)))
    goodlines = 0
    for line,count in lines.items():
        if count == 2:
            goodlines += 1
    print goodlines
Comment: This sequence is the number of lines through at least two points.  I think the original question asked for the number of lines through exactly two points.
Comment: As a side note, you could have gotten this result by searching for (Exactly 2 points grid) in the OEIS, but not by searching for (Exactly two points grid).  Annoying that the search works this way.
Comment: Oops, you're right. Shouldn't be too hard to modify my program to detect and eliminate duplicate lines...
Answer: Maybe it would be easier to count the number of lines in nxn which pass through more than two points.
That's equivalent to asking how many 2ix2j rectangles there are in nxn, where i and j are relatively prime, except that it would overcount the lines that pass through 3 or more points.
Let R_k = the number of ki x kj rectangles in nxn, where i and j are relatively prime.
The number of lines passing through at least three points in nxn is R_2 - R_3.
Answer: For $n \geq 3$ the gradient of these lines must be non-zero and finite.  So it should be possible to give an answer expressed as a sum over all gradients which are reduced fractions $q/p$ with $-n \leq q \leq n$, $\\,q \neq 0$ and $1 \leq p \leq n$.
For a given gradient $q/p$ you could count the number points $(x,y) \in \{1,2,\ldots,n\}^2$ that satisfy:

$1 \leq x+q \leq n$,
$y+p \leq n$,
$x-q \geq n+1$ or $x-q \leq 0$ or $y-q \leq 0$,
$x+2q \geq n+1$ or $x+2q \leq 0$ or $y+2p \geq n+1$.

The first two dot-points ensure that there is a second point $(x+q,y+p)$ on the line.  The second two dot-points ensure that there is not too many points on the line -- that is, it ensures $(x+2q,y+2p)$ and $(x-q,y-p)$ are both not in $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}^2$.
To give it as a formula, the number of lines that contain exactly two points in $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}^2$ is \[\sum_{-n \leq q \leq n} \sum_{1 \leq p \leq n} \chi(q,p) |B_{q,p}|\] for $n \geq 3$, where $\chi(q,p)=1$ if $\gcd(q,p)=1$, and $\chi(q,p)=0$ otherwise, and $B_{q,p}$ is the subset of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}^2$ for which the above four dot-points are satisfied.
This should have $O(n^4)$ time complexity (which is not great, but it's better than most formulae I typically deal with).


File hosting service that encrypts files without failure

Question: The first service that everyone will think of is Dropbox, which I love dearly and will continue support (1 year for me and syncing strong).
I read on Dropbox Blog as well as other sources that there was an authentication bug that allowed temporary access to an account without the correct password. It seems to be under control now and I bear no malice to Dropbox and their team. Failures and bugs are inevitable, I can deal with that.
As it stands Dropbox is very lightweight and simple for getting files across various devices. Thus, as incompetent as I am, I think I might continue placing semi-sensitive info up there in my box. I know that I can encrypt files into an image but I am sure this will choke the partial file changes. I know I can buy hosting as well, but this does not take care of multiple devices.
How can I encrypt my files on Dropbox to be protected from failures that leave authentication open? (i.e. is there a way to add a second layer without making it too complicated? I need to explain this to my family as well)
or
Where can I host files that will be encrypted and in the event of a failure in the system, the files stay encrypted?
Of course, the service must match what was mentioned above

Multiple Devices: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android (In my case: Windows,Mac,iOS at least)
Sharing among users (this will be hard after all those friends I have referred to Dropbox)
Files always available from the website
Revisions on files with history
Preferably 1-2 GB free (Though I don't mind premium services)
Not complex (Simple UI, Simple workflow)
Preferably IP listing (with timestamp) of every access of the service
Comment: Related: http://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/12491/is-there-an-encrypting-dropbox-wrapper
Comment: Still losing out on the [partial syncing](https://www.dropbox.com/help/8)
Answer: You're going to have to relax atleast couple of those restrictions. Security + Sharing + Multiple devices + Easy - I doubt any service exists which meets all of your criteria.
Having said that, SpiderOak is probably the closest that comes to meeting your requirements.
Answer: Checkout WUALA https://www.wuala.com/en/
5GB Free and mostly the same functions as dropbox, but completely encrypted all the way.


How can I get my non-fiction book reviewed by professional reviewers?

Question: I had my book reviewed by people who are interested in the topic of the book. Now I am interested in reviews by professional book reviewers. What is the appropriate way - directly approaching potential reviewers or submitting the book details somewhere online?
Comment: Without knowing what type of professionals you are interested in having review your book, it's hard to answer your question.
Comment: I mean people who review books for a living. It should be part of their job.
Answer: I have no direct experience in getting professional reviews, but I've been reading about the topic lately. Here's my understanding:
Some major newspapers and magazines do book reviews; most have public submission guidelines. Typically, as described on this page for the New York Times, the submission is expected to be from a publisher a few months before the book is published.
You or a publisher's publicist can also contact book reviewers directly. Jacqueline Deval, in Publicize Your Book, describes such a submission as including either a letter to the reviewer or a press release, and a copy of the book itself.
A third option is to contact someone you think would be interested in your book and ask that person to write a review and submit it to a publication in the same area as the book. (I've been asked to do this, for example.)
My impression is that it's hard to get prominent reviews of a book without doing a lot of legwork, unless you're already well known. But it seems to be doable.
Answer: You need to follow a lot of blogs by other professionals in the field. Comment on their blogs, reply to their tweets, engage with them. This way you will build credibility, and the other professionals will get to know you.
Once your name has some "brand" awareness, then you can ask others to review your book. It would help you if you review books by others too.
Of course, this whole process may take a few years, as it takes years to build credibility. Unless you are well known in your field, you may not get many reviews from professionals.


Ubuntu installed via Wubi fails to boot after Windows 7 is run

Question: Original posting started Sep 21:
I am trying to use the Wubi installation process to create a Ubuntu 12.04 / Windows 7 dual boot setup on my Windows 7 machine (Dell Inspiron 17R).  The installation initially works fine, and I am able to load Ubuntu several times after selecting it from the boot menu.  However, when I boot into Windows 7 it seems to corrupt the Ubuntu boot process, because after running Windows 7, Ubuntu won't boot on the machine.  It is still listed as an option in the boot menu, but when it is selected, the machine does one of the following:

hangs at the load-screen and says that Ubuntu is preparing to run for the first time (although it isn't the first time the OS has been loaded)
hangs with a black screen and does nothing

I have uninstalled Ubuntu and then reinstalled it (using Wubi) three times.  Each time Ubuntu initially boots okay (including rebooting the laptop into Ubuntu several times.)  However, whenever I switch over and boot into Windows 7 it breaks the Ubuntu installation.  Windows 7 continues to boot and work fine without issues.
I have successfully installed Ubuntu using Wubi onto a different Windows 7 machine before without problems...it seems that there is something different about this laptop configuration. I am not sure how to debug the issue. I see no error messages during the Ubuntu boot process when it hangs and am not sure how to debug this.
Updated Info:
I made some progress on this issue, but am now stuck with a broken bootloader.  I was able to get the Ubuntu installer to install version 12.04 on the system, but at the moment the boot process is not working and right at boot it hangs and says: "BOOTMGR is missing"  The most recent boot debug info I have is: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1218834.
Here is what I did:
1)  Turned off Intel rapid start technology in the Windows control panel on the taskbar, but leave RAID 0 setup with the Intel tech in the BIOS.  After reading into this a bit, I believe the setup on this system is fakeRAID/ software RAID/sataRAID where BIOS makes the 2 SATA drives look like RAID to the OS.  According to Intel, linux should support this (http://download.intel.com/design/intarch/PAPERS/326024.pdf) and the preferred mechanism is mdadm in linux rather than the dmraid approach which is now only in bug-support mode by the Intel people.  I want to keep this feature active to maintain a good performance of Windows 7 while also setting up a dual-boot environment.
2)  Inside windows, using their disk management tool, I shrunk the windows partition by 30 GB to free up space for Ubuntu.
3)  I (temporarily) disabled the Intel Rapid Start feature using the taskbar controls inside Windows 7.  I did not disable the feature in the BIOS and left the BIOS configured with sataRAID active.
4)  It was possible to boot the computer into Ubuntu 12.04 using a LiveCD installed on a USB stick.
5)  Next, confirm that the partitions looked the same from within Ubuntu as they did when I looked at them inside Windows 7 from the disk manager tool.
6)  Install Gparted package and use it to configure the partitions in prep for Linux install.  Created 1 extended partition subdivided into three logical partitions (swap, root, and home)
7)  Ran the Ubuntu installer, used the manual partition control rather than the automatic option for installing Windows 7 and Ubuntu side-by-side.
8)  When the machine rebooted, it went straight into Windows 7 without any sort of grub2 menu.
9)  Boot into Ubuntu from liveCD USB stick, install boot-repair and use it to try and fix the boot loader process.
10) The boot process now starts up Ubuntu 12.04 okay, but there was no option to load Windows 7.
11) Install boot repair and try to force it to load Windows 7 first (although, admittedly, not to clear on how best to try this.  I tried to get it to refresh the MBRs.)
12) On reboot the computer says "BOOTMGR is missing" and hangs…no grub2 menu
Now I'm not sure how to proceed.  I think the partitions are setup okay and I actually have Ubuntu 12.04 installed okay and Windows 7 installed okay, too, but how do I get a grub2 menu setup that will allow me to select between the two OSes?
--Final update on Oct 25:
So, after a lot of pain investigating this, I gave up and installed Linux onto an external USB hard drive, thus keeping the RAID setup across the internal HDD and SSD independent of the Linux installation.  From inside Windows it was possible to configure the boot menu to give an option to boot linux off the external USB drive.
This RAID hardware configuration doesn't seem to be supported by the wubi installer, standard Ubuntu ISO installer/Live CD, or the alternative Ubuntu ISO installer.
A few notes on what partly worked and didn't work:
After booting into Ubuntu using the Live CD, it is possible to use 'dmraid -ay' to activate the RAID0 partitions, and it is possible to use gparted to partition them.  If the installer is then subsequently run, it is able to see the partitions and proceed with installation, however, it is unable to install the boot loader at the end, and I was not able to resolve that.  Also, fundamentally, it seemed like the dual-boot setup was unstable.
Apparently mdadm is actually preferable to dmraid for managing RAID arrays.  However, when I tried to uninstall dmraid and install mdadm, mdadm was not able to see these RAID arrays, whereas dmraid had been successful.  When I tried to get mdadm to recognize the RAID setup, it says that it doesn't support RAID0 on 1 device.  Perhaps there is something unusual about how the Intel fakeRAID is setup in this setup.
Anyway, after wrecking the boot loader (tried using boot repair program in Ubuntu) and reinstalling Windows multiple times, this should work well enough.  (The Windows setup is my primary OS, and Linux is secondary so I don't want to take the performance penalty of disabling the fakeRAID setup.)The windows installer needs me to manually provide the HD controller drivers for it to work right, too, so I think this is a fairly new type of configuration.  Maybe a future version of the Ubuntu installer will be able to work with this kind of system.  For now running off an external drive will work okay.
Some potentially useful links:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installing_with_Fake_RAID#Load_dmraid
http://blog.neolocus.com/2012/04/ubuntu-12-04-lts-and-soft-raid-with-mdadm/
Comment: Found a similar post on this issue where someone has the same laptop: http://askubuntu.com/questions/178635/ubuntu-install-cant-find-hard-drives  The HDD is setup with RAID controller...apparently Ubuntu installer doesn't support some of that functionality.  Am investigating that now.
Answer: You must completely shutdown Windows before booting the Wubi Ubuntu. (Windows hibernation causes such problems).
Comment: Tried this, but doesn't seem to help, unfortunately


Conditional Probability

Question: A company has 2 plants A & B producing computers. There are 40 employees in A and 15 in B. 4 employees are randomly selected to fill out a benefits questionnaire.
A. what is the probability that none of those are selected from plant B?
B. What is the probability that all 4 of the selected employees are from planet B?
For A I did (40 4) being that only plant A employees are being selected from. For B I did (15 4) because all the employees are soley from plant B. I am not sure if this is the correct way to go about this problem?
Comment: You say a sample of 4, so the probability that all 5 come from plant B is a typo, or not?
Answer: In order for no employees to be selected from B, you can only select A people. Find all of the probabilities and multiply them together.
(40/55) x (39/54) x (38/53 x (37/52) x (36/51) will give you the probability of only A people.
For them all to be selected from B, the probability is (15/55) x (14/54) x (13/53) x (12/52) x (11/51), as the time you are selecting the second person, there should only be 14 left proided you piced someone from B the first time. The third time, there should only be 13 left in be, providd you picked B the other 2 times. Etc, etc, etc.

Conditional Probability


Which Thief-Style Striker Build is Simplest to Master?

Question: So we have some players in our group who play 4e for the "Role" play aspect, not the "Roll" play aspect.  They have a firm grasp on the "general" flow/rules and whatnot, but generally don't spend much time on learning their character's "crunch" powers and/or figuring out useful powers/itemization/etc.  Are there any Striker builds for Roguelike classes that are very "fire and forget"/"pick up and play" friendly?  That is to say, that they perform well enough, but do not require setting up intricate combos or remembering specific geographic setups to do so?
Comment: Are you using the Essentials books at all? The classes in them are designed for players just like that.
Comment: @Jadasc: even in Essentials the classes don't play themselves; there's still a player involved that has to learn and understand the character's abilities to get a decent effect out of them.
Answer: The essentials thief is quite simple to play as long as you remember to get Combat Advantage.  I think it's one of the most powerful strikers (damage per hit) in the game--but a no-brainer to play.
There is a feat available that give the thief combat advantage whenever the thief has partial concealment (amazingly easy to get).  Another gives the thief cover whenever he is in difficult terrain.
At that point the thief just becomes a point and shoot doll that generally only misses on a 1-3 or so--often just 1--and does about 20-30 pts of damage per hit.  (The high hit rate assumes a 20 dex and is due to that, a couple class features, one free reroll and the constant CA)
If that's too complicated for your players, have them take the feats and at-wills that make it easiest to get CA and then don't make them apply them--just always assume the thief has CA and gets the extra 2d6 (I run a thief in a weekly game and in the past few months I don't think I've had to make a single attack without CA).
Then all they have to think about is that once per combat they get a free reroll when they miss and if it hits they get another 2d6 damage (Backstab).
As far as damage per combat I've never seen anything like it.  No conditions, no thought, just damage.
As time goes on they can learn the at-will tricks one at a time--they aren't necessary but make the character at least slightly interesting to play.  You could even add a little "twist" in one of your combat that causes a thief to repeatedly use one of the tricks like the one that lets you climb walls...
I actually don't like the character--I'm a controller guy--but our game is often just 3 people and the thief can be played without requiring any time or attention at all.
Comment: +1 Good call on all the ways to get CA with feats. Welcome to the site, mate!
Comment: Which feat is it that gives CA for having cover?
Comment: @GWLlosa Partial Concealment--Hidden Sniper.  Which means I'm almost certainly wrong about it stacking with Wilderness Skirmisher--Hmph. Also makes it much harder to get in daylight--inside it shouldn't be too hard because it's usually dim light.
Comment: Although since blocking terrain blocks line of sight, wouldn't that also conceal?
Answer: The best "fire and forget" class is the Essentials Slayer: all they have to do is Melee Basic Attack. While there are optional extras there, the core of the class is in the MBA. Unfortunately, their use of huge weapons makes for a poor "rogue" build.
The closest "fire and forget" class that has a thiefy feel is the Executioner Assassin. They sneak, their striker-damage always applies, and they have exactly one encounter power. The poisons can be a little tricky, but they're quite ignorable if necessary. Beyond that, there are some "lazy" poisons that simply provide bonus damage on every hit. This is my recommendation for pure fire-and-forget thief.
The Thief has elements of "fire and forget" if designed correctly.
1) Combat advantage can be a little tricky. However, if you describe it as stabbing them while their back is turned, the idea of flanking doesn't take too much effort to master. (And, if they're unwilling to master it, this may not be the game for them. This isn't a snarky aside, D&D doesn't suit everyone.)
2) The thief is quite a lot more "jump in and play" than the Rogue. Give him "Tumbling Trick" and "Sneak's Trick" Tumbling trick should be used to get around battles. Ignore the strength bonus extra damage. Sneak's Trick has many excellent RP applications.
3) All the feats should be (as Schwab characterizes them) Lazy Feats. They should perform a 1-off modification of the character's numbers and then get out of the way. That way, the only conditional the player needs to worry about is combat advantage, and the only way they need to worry about getting it is through flanking.
While the thief is more complex than the Executioner, a properly built thief can be remarkably simple and rewarding to play.
If they want to play a ranged thief, Give them Ambush trick and make sure they use it every turn. While gaining combat advantage against people inside the "melee furball" is rather more difficult, the "go pick off isolated targets" is an effective combat strategy that the ranged thief can perform par excellance
Answer: I found an archer ranger can be rather "rogue-like" and be fairly easy to play. You could role play hunter's quarry to be more of an "aimed shot", making it "sneak attack-ish", in nature. Being a martial character as well helps to cement in that it's not the ranger of old editions that was more nature oriented but more suited to just ranged combat. I had a few friends play ranged rogue's in 3e and the ranger seems fairly easy to translate over as a ranged rogue.
As for fire and forget, you pretty much need to throw out hunter's quarry on a target and start firing! You can pump up damage with different feats without much trouble and there isn't really anything tricky to getting lots of damage output out of a ranger, even with at-wills with the help of Twin Strike.
The only thing that wouldn't be "rogue like" is that the ranger doesn't have thievery as a class skill so it's a bit harder to disarm traps. However, unlike some people, I don't view the rogue as merely the "trap protection/disarmer" member of the party.
I personally had fun roleplaying a rather roguelike ranger in a campaign not too long ago and had a blast. We had too many melee already so I went with the ranger and didn't have any trouble still acting like the rogue of the party.
As a side note, you probably could do it with a two-blade ranger as well but I've only personally tried it as an archer ranger.


Signifying to user that field is editable

Question: I have a grid that has a bunch of data. Some of the fields are editable and cause a postback updating the data. What are the best ways to show that to the user?
i.e. Is there a best practice for how to make a distinction between editable and non-editable from a UI perspective?
Answer: I usually keep my editable fields white and non-editable fields grey (or monochromatic colors if not white fields, light-color: editable and dark-color: non-editable).
Comment: I chose to go this route, though Charles' idea is also a good one.
Comment: This option will not pass accessibility tests. If another option is available (like box vs. text as Charles proposes), do not rely on color only.
Answer: Yeah, there is a best practice - make editable fields look like text boxes and non-editable fields look like text. There's a reason that those two UI elements have distinct looks.
Comment: I like that idea (for text boxes) but how does that work for a grid. Does this mean that your grid _must_ use a border for those cells that are editable? I'm thinking of grids where there borders are off and rows are indicated using an alternate row color.
Answer: I opted for adding a text-muted fa-pencil icon floated to the right of field.
Source: https://webapphuddle.com/inline-edit-design/
Answer: Typically I have a grey background and white editable field. When the field is not editable I set it's background to the same grey (which technically is the same as transparent,, but the user doesn't care about that.. They just see that it is the same).
Answer: Text boxes are great in simpler layouts, where the primary use of the element is editing. In a grid where the control is repeated indefinitely, they (like buttons or other controls) will increase visual clutter. This is a problem since one of the reasons we use grids is to provide us with overview.
I really like designs where editable fields are very neutral-looking, like any interface text, but upon hovering they switch to a state that shows they can be edited. This could be achieved using a color, or an icon, that is only visible upon hovering. Upon clicking, you enter the actual edit mode. Jira's web app is an excellent example of this approach.
Comment: You need to keep in mind that anything relying on hover won't work if someone is using a touch device
Comment: Also, if you are moving the mouse to keep track of where your attention is, the hover effect will cause flickering. Not a great deal if few cells are affected, but then you could use the text box approach as well.
Answer: Best practice is generally using inputs for editable content and plain text for non-editable content. You can make the inputs subtle, so they don't create so much clutter even in somewhat heavily populated grid.
If the clutter caused by the exposed inputs is too high, you have option of using controls shown on hover (edit action icon) or transform the plain text to input field on hover (works for one line content, with caution even for multi line content).
However, in terms of providing editable clue only on hover, you should ask yourself what is the primary context of use. If it's mobile touch devices, then you can't rely on hover and you have to expose the edibility right away (again, either using icon for edit action, or exposing input field).
Answer: This may reveal a personal bias but I also tend to prefer some kind of "focus visual" that indicates to a user which field they are on. A soft background or border are ways to accomplish this.
Comment: You are more talking about indicating current focus, whereas the question is about showing which fields are editable on the whole form.
Answer: Text box for the web. Users will be able to distinguish that the field is for text input. Focusing on the first text field is preferred, if possible. This field may be bordered with a thin blue with a cursor in the field or simply highlighted with a border.
For mobile bring up a keyboard. If you can have the first item selected with a blinking cursor do so. Graying out remaining fields is okay.


How does one "Toddler-proof" hotels while away from home?

Question: With the holidays fast approaching, I was wondering about toddler safety mechanisms for families that are traveling.  Bind drawstrings, open outlets and the typical safety concerns might be an issue.  Hotels that aren't generally, "baby-proofed."  With airline restrictions as they are (and even before said restrictions) it isn't like you can instal latches and bring all safety devices along.  That just isn't realistic.  Are there specific questions to ask when booking hotels that can help ensure a safer stay?
Answer: There might also be drawers and closet doors to open, and just maybe a hard corner on a table --  but generally, as GdD says, hotel rooms are pretty safe. I'm guessing the reason is a mix of insurance safety, and theft prevention. There simply isn't a lot to move around or pick up.
The biggest problem is more likely the matter of the baby monitor's poor radio reach; you can't sit in the hotel lounge while the baby sleeps on the third floor. I found an iPhone app that runs on my wife's phone which we leave in the room. It listens, and in case there is a configurable noise level for a configurable duration, it starts a phone call to a configurable number -- which would, in my case, be my cell phone.
But better than an app is to just live on baby's terms for the few days you are traveling -- early to bed, early to rise.
As for questions to ask:

Some hotels offer cribs, either for free or for rent.
They might also have a hotel wireless phone system that doubles as a baby monitor.
Access to a water boiler and/or a microwave would also be useful.
Ask for a room near the escalator and/or fire escape. The former will help you get to the room fast if you're in the lounge. The latter will help you get out faster.

Ask for these things when you book, and when you check in.
Answer: Hotels are generally pretty safe to begin with, they have to be for insurance reasons. The only issue with most hotel rooms is that the bed has no guards and your child could roll off of them, so ask them if they have bedguards available.
Answer: You can't bring everything, but you can bring the most important things. If you know your toddler is tempted by outlets, you may wish to pack a handful of plug protectors to cover the most visible ones.
If you know your child likes to escape, you may wish to call the hotel and find out what sort of doorknobs are in the hotel room and bathroom. They may or may not be ones that work well with doorknob covers, but if they are, you can certainly throw one or two in your suitcase. Keep in mind you may be able to use security latches that already exist on the door (such as to prevent intruders) to your room/suite that may also work to prevent toddler from escaping, so this may be overkill.
But for the most part, hotel room don't have that much stuff in them, and they're so small that you can supervise them easily, so it doesn't end up being that dangerous. That said, I wouldn't leave a toddler alone in a hotel room, but I wouldn't worry too much.
You may also ask about ammenities or supplies they have for toddlers, such as travel cribs/cots (usually a pack'n'play), baby monitors, toddler snack food, whether any lounge areas have toys, etc.


Why can't Diffie-Hellman be used for signing?

Question: I understand that signing is often a case of hashing data and then encrypting the hash with the private key. What properties keep Diffie-Hellman from being useful for this?
Answer: Actually the presentation of digital signatures as "encryption with the private key" is a misleading historical way of explaining RSA signatures; but it really works only for RSA. For such a scheme to work, you need the asymmetric encryption algorithm to be a trapdoor permutation, so that the space of encrypted messages is the same than the space of decrypted messages.
Most asymmetric encryption algorithms are not trapdoor permutations. This does not mean, however, that it is not possible to reuse parts of an asymmetric encryption algorithm to design a digital signature scheme.
Consider Diffie-Hellman. It is not an asymmetric encryption scheme; only a key exchange algorithm (a key exchange algorithm can be viewed as an asymmetric encryption algorithm in which you do not get to choose what is the encrypted message you send). From DH, we can build an asymmetric encryption scheme, and this is what ElGamal is about. An ElGamal public key is much similar to a DH public key: given fixed public parameters which describe a group $G$ of size $q$ and a generator $g$ of that group, the ElGamal private key is an integer $x$ (smaller than $q$) and the public key is $g^x$. To encrypt a message $m$ with the public key, the sender:

chooses a random $y$ modulo $q$;
computes $g^y$;
computes $s = (g^x)^y$;
sends $g^y$ and $m*s$ to the private key owner (this assumes that $m$ can be mapped to a group element, and back).

We recognize Diffie-Hellman in the first three steps: $s$ is the "shared secret" resulting from using DH with the public $g^x$. The fourth steps simply "encrypts" m by multiplying it with the shared secret.
Here, the private key is an integer modulo $q$ and the public key is an element of group $G$, which could be, e.g., an elliptic curve. You cannot swap them and try to encrypt with the private key: encryption needs a group element, not an integer modulo $q$.
Nevertheless, an ElGamal signature scheme has been designed, but it really does not look like Diffie-Hellman. It rather looks like a computational zero-knowledge proof of knowledge of the private key. With $G$ being non-zero integers modulo a prime $p$, signature works like this:

hash message $m$ into value $h$ which you map to an integer;
choose a random value $k$ relatively prime to $p-1$;
compute $r = g^k \mod p$;
compute $s = (h-xr)/k \mod (p-1)$. The signature is $(r, s)$.

To verify:

hash message $m$ into value $h$ which you map to an integer;
verify that $g^h = y^r r^s \mod p$.

So there are modular exponentiations in there, but nothing which is really "just Diffie-Hellman". ElGamal signatures are called such because Taher ElGamal described that algorithm, not because of any specific link with the ElGamal encryption scheme (which is also called ElGamal because it was also published by ElGamal).
Remark: with RSA, when you verify a signature, to process (exponentiate) the signature value with the public key, and this yields $H(m)$ (the hash of the message which is signed), which you them compare with the expected hash value. This does not work so with other signature algorithms, in which the hashed message is an input to the verification algorithm; you cannot recover the hashed message from the signature and the public key alone. RSA signatures are said to be signatures with recovery because you obtain the hashed message out of the signature; ElGamal signatures (and its offsprings DSA and ECDSA) are just "regular" digital signature schemes. Having the "recovery" feature is a byproduct of RSA being a trapdoor permutation.
Answer: Well, signing "often" operates like that because that's what RSA does, and the vast majority of signatures are, in fact, RSA signatures.
In any case, it is not sufficient to "encrypt" the hash; what we really want to do is do a non-malleable encryption (where the attacker cannot modify the encrypted value to come up with the value he wants).
Now, Diffie-Hellman is a key exchange protocol, and so doesn't actually encrypt anything at all.  There is a standard way of turning a two-pass key exchange protocol into a public key encryption primitive; if we do that to DH, we come up with the public key primitive known as  El Gammal.
However, how El Gammal works is that it what is actually passed is a random number that the encryptor doesn't choose; the idea is that this random number is used as a key to protect the message being sent.  This works fairly well as an encryption primitive, however because this random number is used as a symmetric key, it doesn't provide any non-malleability properties (because the attacker can see that symmetric key; it would be used during the signature verification).
Answer: Each algorithm or technique has its purpose. DH provides a way to generate two numbers, one that can be called the private key another the pub key. The DH algorithm does not cover encryption i.e. how to use the key.
As Thomas and poncho point out in elegant detail, one can take inspiration from DH and come up with an encryption scheme. But then once can't still call it DH. The important thing to keep in mind is that encryption and key exchange are two different aspects/needs.
A good example is to think of a combination lock, just knowing the key (a 3 digit number) is not sufficient to open the lock. One needs to know the encryption scheme: turn left 2 times and get to first digit, then right once and then left again 3 times. They encryption scheme and the key are independent items.


Try out new compose experince in gmail

Question: How to get the gmail new compose experience if  'Try out new compose experience' is not available ?
Answer: It's already the default for users.

Gmail's new compose now default
You are busy people, so it's no surprise that an overwhelming number
  of you opted to try out Gmail's faster, simpler compose experience
  after it launched last October. In addition to telling us what you
  love about the new compose experience (like how much easier it is to
  multitask!) you've also been sending us helpful suggestions for what
  features you'd like to see added. As a result of your input, we're now
  ready to introduce the new compose experience as the default for
  everyone. We're looking forward to hearing what you think!
If you're already using the the new compose experience, you've
  probably noticed it's gotten a lot of upgrades over the last few
  months, from a new way to send files with Google Drive to
  much-requested features like pop-out replies. We've also added support
  for originally missing features like starring and labeling when
  composing and the Canned Responses lab.
The new compose will be rolling out to everyone over the next few
  days. You can learn more in our help center, or follow us on Google+,
  where we'll be posting more tips for using the new compose.

Source
Comment: ...unfortunately.

Try out new compose experince in gmail


How to make SharePoint 2010 Page compatible in IE 6.0?

Question: How to make SharePoint 2010 Page compatible in IE 6.0?
Has anyone worked on similar requirement???
Basically what all things to take care?
e.g. Ribbon control
If any one has any reference links/documents, please suggest.
Regards,
Ketan
Answer: Internet Explorer 6.0 is not supported in SharePoint 2010.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx
Answer: Here is what you could do, downgrade your site collection (the one hosting the search center) to SharePoint 2007 UI. This one might work with IE. Check Revert a SharePoint 2010 site to the WSS3.0/MOSS2007 Look after Visual Upgrade. I haven't tried to use it with IE6 so you will need to try this on your own.

To be honest, the days of IE6 are over. As a responsible consultant you should discuss this with your client or within your organization. It would be much better to upgrade browser to a never version of IE or some other browser than doing these nasty hacks to use SharePoint 2010 with IE6.
Answer: Ketan:
The best I can suggest is that you try redirecting requests from IE6.0 to your sites mobile client pages.  You will need to configure your sites to support mobile clients.
Dave,
Answer: We've been having the same conversations here, we are moving a site to SP2010 but still need to support some Users with IE6.  It's limited to only Published Pages, so the exposure is limited, although the issues may not be - especially if the cursory testing on our internal site with IE6 is an example of what Users will see there will be lots of "your software is incompatible" popups on many pages.  Some customers may not be able to upgrade browsers, due to internal tools they may need to use, so telling them that they must upgrade is not always an option.  FireFox does seem to run well with SP2010, so if IE6 upgrade is not an option, starting a conversation about multiple browsers may not be.  Otherwise you are stuck with the page compatible options already presented.
Answer: Many thanks for your response.
I am aware that IE 6.0 is not supported in Share point 2010, however i have requirement where i want to use only share point 2010 search center and rest of the portal is built on top of MOSS 2007, hence end user will be using IE 6.0.
Thanks,
Ketan
Comment: From what I gather to date, the only aspect at all which may be supported with Internet Explorer 6 are Publishing Pages where the markup has been carefully crafted to ensure compatibility.

SharePoint 2010 Search would run from a SharePoint 2010 Web Application therefore the base browser requirements are as that of Internet Explorer 6.

Also, Microsoft are phasing out support of IE6 (due to the age of the software and the overall cost of maintenance and compatibility). As such, any planning for any aspect of SP2010 must take browser version into account.


How do you choose a yeast?

Question: What characteristics do you look for in a yeast to pair with your recipe?
Is there a common reference?
Answer: There's a great reference for yeast and what characters they lend to beer that I use all of the time to figure out what flavors I want to incorporate into my brew from yeast.
BYO Yeast Guide
Back in another life, I was working on making a searchable yeast database, but that site is now mostly defunct and out of date.  I still use that little app occasionally, though.  I can't post two links in a post right now, so I can't give you a link.  Maybe someday.
Comment: Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it.
Also, you can add links with the "annotation style" outlined in this guide: http://homebrew.stackexchange.com/editing-help
Comment: Ah, so you can.  Here's the link to the tool I built a few years back.  Like I say, out of date, but still fairly useful.

http://www.thebrewguide.com/searchyeast.php
Answer: For me some styles showcase yeast like Belgians, Hefes, some English styles, etc.  Others showcase malts or hops and yeast shouldn't play much of a role.  For me I generally stick with some clean ale yeast like 1056 or Pacman for IPA's, Blondes, etc.  And then obviously for something like a hefe I choose 3068.
As I reference, if you car about style guidelines, look at the BJCP style guidelines for whatever your making.  They will usually mention what role yeast character should or should not play.
Answer: I normally brew "to style", meaning that when I make a beer I choose ingredients that match a particular style.  Right now I am drinking my Classic American Pilsner.  I drink enough beers to know, in general, the flavor characteristics I like in a beer and choose a yeast that produces them.
Brewing to style narrows your yeast choices.  When choosing a yeast for the CAP I reviewed the characteristics of the White Labs and Wyeast lager offerings.  I also listened to the Jamil Show's episode on the style.  From the flavor profile descriptions I choose a yeast that best suits my taste (and fermentation capabilities).
When not brewing to style, such as my Rye of the Hurricane recipe, I pick a yeast that compliments the flavors I want to get out of the beer.  I like British ales, so I often choose London Ale III from Wyeast.
Some good advice, which I have yet to follow, is to really get to know a single strain of yeast. Brew a number of recipes with a single yeast. That way you know enough to make it produce the flavors you are looking for rather than choosing a yeast for the flavors it produces.

How do you choose a yeast?


a c++ Google chrome event listener

Question: can anyone help me on how to connect to google chrome. i would like to build a standalone c++ application(probably a dll) that would list events done by the browser.Probably like the BHO implementation of IE.
can anyone give the first thing or steps to do about it?!
thanks alot:) help much appreciated
PS: i already have known that google chrome is supporting MSSA.
Answer: Via the AutomationProvider:
src\chrome\browser\automation\automation_provider.cc /.h

a c++ Google chrome event listener


Can I pre-cut sweet potatoes?

Question: I am planning on making a sweet potato gratin.  Can I slice the sweet potatoes the day before and keep them in the refrigerator?
Answer: If you want to do as much ahead of time as possible you have a couple of choices.
You can definitely peel the sweet potatoes the day before and store them under water, but I wouldn't recommend slicing them. If they are sliced thinly enough for gratin they're going to absorb a lot of water which will ruin the flavour. You can make the cream etc. mix up the day before though.
The alternative is to make the whole gratin up the day before and keep it in the fridge uncooked and covered. This will mean some of the cream is soaked up overnight and you'll get a very soft finish, but that might be what you want. Sweet potato doesn't hold as much texture as potatoes during cooking anyway so the difference might turn out to be negligible.
Answer: It might be best to do everything at once to maintain maximum flavour. Just make sure you actually use sweet potatoes.
Article on the yams against sweet potatoes
http://easyguyevo.hubpages.com/hub/Difference-Between-Yams-And-Sweet-Potato

Can I pre-cut sweet potatoes?