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17,093 | There are three problems with the setting of *Game of Thrones*:
1. Because if the continent of Westeros in the show (and books) are probably set on either a parallel Earth or a very Earth-like alien world.
2. But the problem is that we find out that there are roughly forty years of winter for every ten years of summer (it could be more or less) so this planet is obviously not Earth because it must have a very different orbit to our world. It obviously takes fifty Earth years to orbit their sun and the planet is only positioned for summer for a short period of that time.
3. But we see in the opening credits that Westeros is inside the shell of a planet and at the centre is their large mechanical artificial sun, I don't think the opening credits of the show show us what is literally happening, I think it's an artists representation, so it's good to bear this point in mind but safe to ignore it.
So any ideas?
---
I believe I have confused some people with this question, first of all the story tells us something along the lines of "The summers last years and the winters last lifetimes!" I'm not sure what the exact wording is, but whether the tilt of the planet or the distance from the sun or the atmosphere is responsible is irrelevant, I think we can agree that it's not Earth or at least not our version of Earth.
What I was hoping for was a little specific info on what this planet is for example, Lord of the Rings happens in a lost age in Europe, back when Elves, Hobbits and Dwarves shared the world with man, so we know Middle Earth, is Earth. Also we know Masters of the Universe happens on Eternia, Transformers happens on Earth and Cybertron so what planet does Game of Thrones happen on? | 2012/05/22 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/17093",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/6407/"
] | Look to the Stars
=================
In *The Sworn Sword* from the *Dunk & Egg* stories, Dunk looks up at the sky and spots a star which sounds remarkably like the '[North Star](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Star)':
>
> But there were clouds to the north, and the blue eye of the Ice Dragon was lost to him, **the blue eye that pointed north**.
>
>
>
---
There are many instances of the word 'earth' being used within the books to refer to the plane of their existence.
Examples
========
Says Melisandre of the looming doom of the Others' appearance:
>
> “It means that the battle is begun,” said Melisandre. “The sand is running through the glass more quickly now, and man’s hour on **earth** is almost done.
> *-A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Davos.*
>
>
>
Kraznys mo Nakloz says to Dany:
>
> The Unsullied are the purest creatures on the **earth**.”
>
>
>
and later...
>
> Tell her they are like Valyrian steel, folded over and over and hammered for years on end, until they are stronger and more resilient than any metal on **earth**.”
> *-A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Daenerys.*
>
>
>
Ygritte tells Jon:
>
> “The gods made the **earth** for all men t’ share.
> *-A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords, Jon.*
>
>
>
There are more examples, but you get my point.
---
Earth or earth?
===============
Please note the use of the un-capitalised version of the word 'earth' as opposed to 'Earth'.
**What is the difference?**
[Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/s05.html) states that when referring to the celestial body or planet as a *proper noun* then you need to either capitalise the word or use an *article* (the).
The word 'earth' is never capitalised in any of the examples (which I've found), but it *is* used with an article; note Ygritte's "The gods made **the** earth..." and Kraznyz's "...purest creatures on **the** earth..."
Whether is it specifically intended by the author (GRRM) to make this distinction I have no idea.
This could also be a hangover from the way he speaks when he refers to *his* plane of existence - as mentioned in [this article](http://grammarist.com/style/earth/):
>
> It can also mean the land surface of the world or the realm of mortal existence without becoming a proper noun.
>
>
>
So GRRM may have written 'earth' or 'the earth' to denote that that is how its inhabitants see the world; as *their* earth or plane of existence.
In fact he has recently stated that if you asked a Maester what planet they live in:
>
> He would probably call it Earth.
>
> Of course, it would not be that word, since he'd be speaking the Common Tongue, not English.
>
> But it would **mean** Earth.
>
>
>
> | OK in the most recent episode (which was season 4 episode 6) Small Council Grand Master Pycelle calls the now dead King Joffrey Baratheon "The most noble child the gods ever put on this good Earth!" He wasn't referring to soil he was referring to their world, which may not be our Earth but is still named Earth.
A few episodes prior Shireen Baratheon told Davos Seaworth not to pronounce knight "ker-nik-te" implying that the language they not on speak but read and write is English which is a language of the Earth we know.
It's reasonable safe to assume that Game of Thrones happens on an alternate timeline version of Earth. |
321,734 | Press the Attack is a new rune during this preseason's rune changes. It's effect causes enemies to take 12% more damage from all sources if you basic attack them 3 times.
Some champions have abilities that enhance their auto attack damage. For example, Vayne's passive does extra true damage if she attacks the same target three times. Ezreal's Q applies on-hit effects, so it's (kind of) a skill shot basic attack. Nasus' Q does more damage the more stacks he has. Etc. etc.
Does the extra damage from these "enhancements" get amplified by 12% on the third attack, or does that boost only start after Press the Attack has been triggered (fourth attack and onward)? | 2017/11/20 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/321734",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/145980/"
] | **As of patch 7.24 all bonuses apply on and after the 4th hit**
So I just tested this in the practice tool and the 12% bonus damage are applied on the 3rd hit for both the **initial attack and the bonus effect**.
The 12% damage taken increase will be applied **before** the damage.
For testing I used Siphoning strike (about 1.4k stacks) and Sheen on Nasus and I've also tested Kayle's E. Other attacks and effects should behave the same way. | An update to Jutschge's answer:
Since [patch 7.24](https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-724-notes), Press the Attack no longer applies the damage amplification to the 3rd hit, but rather after the 3rd hit. |
70,132 | >
> I'm looking for a name.
>
> Totally uncommon, yet strangely familiar.
>
> Starts with ein affirmation, ends with a metal.
>
> Middle is a vulgar intensifier.
>
> Extremely difficult in the language of banana.
>
>
>
What is my name?
Hint:
>
> Banana is a loanword.
>
>
> | 2018/08/20 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/70132",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41973/"
] | The name is
>
> Jafe :D
>
>
>
Starts with ein affirmation, ends with a metal.
>
> Affirmation is "ja" (means "yes" in German), and Fe is a metal (iron)
>
>
>
Middle is a vulgar intensifier
>
> af ("as f\*\*\*")
>
>
>
**Edit:**
I am intrigued by the last clue, but figuring anything out is difficult since
>
> we don't know *for sure* where the word "banana" came from - apparently it was originally an Arabic word, then integrated into a west-African language, and was finally introduced to us through Spanish and Portuguese :)
>
>
> | I guess that Eutherpy posted just correct answer but I think it has another solution:
>
> Justin
>
>
>
Affirmation:
>
> Just
>
>
>
Metal:
>
> Tin
>
>
>
What about vulgar intensifier?
>
> **U**nresolved **S**exual **T**ension
>
>
> |
70,132 | >
> I'm looking for a name.
>
> Totally uncommon, yet strangely familiar.
>
> Starts with ein affirmation, ends with a metal.
>
> Middle is a vulgar intensifier.
>
> Extremely difficult in the language of banana.
>
>
>
What is my name?
Hint:
>
> Banana is a loanword.
>
>
> | 2018/08/20 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/70132",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41973/"
] | The name is
>
> Jafe :D
>
>
>
Starts with ein affirmation, ends with a metal.
>
> Affirmation is "ja" (means "yes" in German), and Fe is a metal (iron)
>
>
>
Middle is a vulgar intensifier
>
> af ("as f\*\*\*")
>
>
>
**Edit:**
I am intrigued by the last clue, but figuring anything out is difficult since
>
> we don't know *for sure* where the word "banana" came from - apparently it was originally an Arabic word, then integrated into a west-African language, and was finally introduced to us through Spanish and Portuguese :)
>
>
> | To finalize @Eutherpy's answer, I just wanted to solve the banana business:
>
> It is hypothesized that banana came from the Senagalese/West African language [Wolof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolof_language).
>
>
>
And in that language,
>
> Jafe means [difficult](https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Wolof/Wolof%20Dictionary.pdf)!!
>
>
> |
70,132 | >
> I'm looking for a name.
>
> Totally uncommon, yet strangely familiar.
>
> Starts with ein affirmation, ends with a metal.
>
> Middle is a vulgar intensifier.
>
> Extremely difficult in the language of banana.
>
>
>
What is my name?
Hint:
>
> Banana is a loanword.
>
>
> | 2018/08/20 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/70132",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/41973/"
] | To finalize @Eutherpy's answer, I just wanted to solve the banana business:
>
> It is hypothesized that banana came from the Senagalese/West African language [Wolof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolof_language).
>
>
>
And in that language,
>
> Jafe means [difficult](https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Wolof/Wolof%20Dictionary.pdf)!!
>
>
> | I guess that Eutherpy posted just correct answer but I think it has another solution:
>
> Justin
>
>
>
Affirmation:
>
> Just
>
>
>
Metal:
>
> Tin
>
>
>
What about vulgar intensifier?
>
> **U**nresolved **S**exual **T**ension
>
>
> |
5,327 | I use a version control system (formerly subversion, now git) to write papers, which for me works very well and is convenient. A few times, I even worked with branches for different logical versions of a paper, such as versions submitted to different journals. However, I found branching of little use for paper writing. When I used different branches for different journal submissions, I found myself working only on the "latest" branch anyway, since I can anyway only submit one version per time, and, if it is rejected, will not continue to work on that particular version at a later time. I didn't find any other good use of branching in paper writing, and later skipped it completely.
Is there any advantage of working with several branches when writing a paper with a version control system? How should one organize the writing process in order to profit from such an advantage? | 2012/11/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5327",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890/"
] | I use HG, but it is essentially the same as GIT, in that branching is easy. I branch all the time when working with coauthors. The branches tend to be short lived and merged pretty quickly. Basically, I distribute a copy to my coauthors and each set of comments I get back form different branches. This lets me see each authors comments individually. I then work on merging the comments back into the main trunk. Sometimes the merge is easy and the branch is one commit long. Other times it might take longer if I need to work out something (e.g., math, model, or analysis) which might require a couple of revisions before it is ready to go into the main trunk. | Personally, I've never used branches (for papers), and would certainly *not* use branches for different chapters (WTF? like keeping different branches for different files in a programming project; except for the case when different collaborators edit different parts of documents, then - maybe), but maybe it may work for:
* arXiv/non-arXiv version (or e.g.: working version with notes vs release candidate) of a paper (the exact use-case of projects with some differences, from minor to e.g. also additional sections, see also [arXiv preprint and final paper differing by sections and appendices](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1864/arxiv-preprint-and-final-paper-differing-by-sections-and-appendices)),
* [Beamer slideshows](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamer_(LaTeX)) for different talks based an similar slides.
Related: [git + LaTeX workflow at SO](https://stackoverflow.com/a/6190412/907575) (so, use "advisor" branch):
>
> Branches are also extremely helpful if you are a graduate student. As any grad student will attest, the advisor is bound to have numerous corrections, most of which you don't agree with. Yet, you might be expected to atleast change them for the time being, even if they are reverted later after discussions. So in such cases, you could create a new branch advisor and make changes to their liking, at the same time maintaining your own development branch. You can then merge the two and cherry pick what you need.
>
>
>
;) |
5,327 | I use a version control system (formerly subversion, now git) to write papers, which for me works very well and is convenient. A few times, I even worked with branches for different logical versions of a paper, such as versions submitted to different journals. However, I found branching of little use for paper writing. When I used different branches for different journal submissions, I found myself working only on the "latest" branch anyway, since I can anyway only submit one version per time, and, if it is rejected, will not continue to work on that particular version at a later time. I didn't find any other good use of branching in paper writing, and later skipped it completely.
Is there any advantage of working with several branches when writing a paper with a version control system? How should one organize the writing process in order to profit from such an advantage? | 2012/11/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5327",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890/"
] | I use HG, but it is essentially the same as GIT, in that branching is easy. I branch all the time when working with coauthors. The branches tend to be short lived and merged pretty quickly. Basically, I distribute a copy to my coauthors and each set of comments I get back form different branches. This lets me see each authors comments individually. I then work on merging the comments back into the main trunk. Sometimes the merge is easy and the branch is one commit long. Other times it might take longer if I need to work out something (e.g., math, model, or analysis) which might require a couple of revisions before it is ready to go into the main trunk. | In principle, branches seem like a good idea. A potential use case would be:
* working on a draft of a paper
* as we get close to the conference deadline, putting the paper in the conference format and reducing to the prescribed size
* finding typos in this version and fixing them
* merging the typos back into the "main version"
In practice, I've never done this, because I'm not organized enough. Also, svn is not as friendly to this workflow as git is, for other reasons. |
31,312,940 | Can we include static variable in header files.
If yes,Can other files can access it ?
Can we include static function in header files and use it in another files.
Can we pass static variable as function arguments ?suppose some function is there in header file header.h :
fun(static int a,static int b) | 2015/07/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31312940",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4327691/"
] | You can declare static variable in header files but this variable scope will only be that \*.c file in which this header file will be included. | Any name declared in the global namespace with specifier `static` has internal linkage. This means that the name is visible within the translation unit where it is declared.
So if a header with a declaration of a name with static keyword is included in several translation units then each translation unit will have its own variable with such a name. |
31,312,940 | Can we include static variable in header files.
If yes,Can other files can access it ?
Can we include static function in header files and use it in another files.
Can we pass static variable as function arguments ?suppose some function is there in header file header.h :
fun(static int a,static int b) | 2015/07/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31312940",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4327691/"
] | Any name declared in the global namespace with specifier `static` has internal linkage. This means that the name is visible within the translation unit where it is declared.
So if a header with a declaration of a name with static keyword is included in several translation units then each translation unit will have its own variable with such a name. | 1. A static variable **can be defined in the header file.** But doing so, the result will be having a **private copy of that variable in each source file which includes the header file**. So it will be wise not to declare a static variable in header file, unless you are dealing with a different scenario.
2. **Same applies for static function.**
3. Trying to apply static to a function argument doesn't make much sense, so the **standard doesn't allow it** (§6.7.5.3/2: "The only storage-class specifier that shall occur in a parameter declaration is register.")
**trying to enter static variable as an argument type results in error.** |
31,312,940 | Can we include static variable in header files.
If yes,Can other files can access it ?
Can we include static function in header files and use it in another files.
Can we pass static variable as function arguments ?suppose some function is there in header file header.h :
fun(static int a,static int b) | 2015/07/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31312940",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4327691/"
] | You can declare static variable in header files but this variable scope will only be that \*.c file in which this header file will be included. | This is incorrect coding practice to use static variable in header files.
Also static limits the scope of variable to a file. So, static variable of file1.c can't be accessed from file2.c |
31,312,940 | Can we include static variable in header files.
If yes,Can other files can access it ?
Can we include static function in header files and use it in another files.
Can we pass static variable as function arguments ?suppose some function is there in header file header.h :
fun(static int a,static int b) | 2015/07/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31312940",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4327691/"
] | This is incorrect coding practice to use static variable in header files.
Also static limits the scope of variable to a file. So, static variable of file1.c can't be accessed from file2.c | 1. A static variable **can be defined in the header file.** But doing so, the result will be having a **private copy of that variable in each source file which includes the header file**. So it will be wise not to declare a static variable in header file, unless you are dealing with a different scenario.
2. **Same applies for static function.**
3. Trying to apply static to a function argument doesn't make much sense, so the **standard doesn't allow it** (§6.7.5.3/2: "The only storage-class specifier that shall occur in a parameter declaration is register.")
**trying to enter static variable as an argument type results in error.** |
31,312,940 | Can we include static variable in header files.
If yes,Can other files can access it ?
Can we include static function in header files and use it in another files.
Can we pass static variable as function arguments ?suppose some function is there in header file header.h :
fun(static int a,static int b) | 2015/07/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31312940",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4327691/"
] | You can declare static variable in header files but this variable scope will only be that \*.c file in which this header file will be included. | 1. A static variable **can be defined in the header file.** But doing so, the result will be having a **private copy of that variable in each source file which includes the header file**. So it will be wise not to declare a static variable in header file, unless you are dealing with a different scenario.
2. **Same applies for static function.**
3. Trying to apply static to a function argument doesn't make much sense, so the **standard doesn't allow it** (§6.7.5.3/2: "The only storage-class specifier that shall occur in a parameter declaration is register.")
**trying to enter static variable as an argument type results in error.** |
1,120,679 | I have a business object that compiles into a DLL that handles all calculations for my system for concepts such as eligibility, etc. The object also handles the connectivity to the DB via some wrappers around it.
Is there anyway to take this .NET DLL and use it as a datasource for a reporting services report (SSRS)? We don't want to have the logic in multiple places.
**EDIT**
What about exposing the functionality in a webservice in the web app itself and having the report connect to the web service? Anyone done this before? We are using asp.net MVC for our web app if that helps. | 2009/07/13 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1120679",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/55747/"
] | Your probably going to have to do this with the Report Viewer Control, as I have not ever seen an example using the reporting web service.
<http://www.gotreportviewer.com/>
Here is the section on using Object data sources:
<http://www.gotreportviewer.com/objectdatasources/index.html>
These can be conceptually similar to ViewModels in MVC, so you would have to build ReportViewModels™ to handle reporting requirements. | Not overly familiar with SSRS but I would imagine it would be able to consume XML web services.
If this is the case you could use the underlying data and logic and expose it as HTML for the web site and XML for SSRS. |
1,120,679 | I have a business object that compiles into a DLL that handles all calculations for my system for concepts such as eligibility, etc. The object also handles the connectivity to the DB via some wrappers around it.
Is there anyway to take this .NET DLL and use it as a datasource for a reporting services report (SSRS)? We don't want to have the logic in multiple places.
**EDIT**
What about exposing the functionality in a webservice in the web app itself and having the report connect to the web service? Anyone done this before? We are using asp.net MVC for our web app if that helps. | 2009/07/13 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1120679",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/55747/"
] | Your probably going to have to do this with the Report Viewer Control, as I have not ever seen an example using the reporting web service.
<http://www.gotreportviewer.com/>
Here is the section on using Object data sources:
<http://www.gotreportviewer.com/objectdatasources/index.html>
These can be conceptually similar to ViewModels in MVC, so you would have to build ReportViewModels™ to handle reporting requirements. | There are two ways to get your data to the report: WebServices and Custom Data Processing. there is an excellent book to get you started: <http://prologika.com/Books/0976635313/Book.aspx>
After reading the related chapters I was able to easily use both techniques. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | This could also be related to air crew duty hours.
Duty hours are limited to ensure the crew is getting enough rest to work safely . The hours logged include time spent sitting in the airport waiting for the departure time or on standby waiting to be assigned to a flight. If part of the crew is near their duty time limit, departing early might prevent calling in a standby person to allow completing the flight legally.
If it's near the end of a month in which there have been a lot of weather delays, the airline company may be in a situation that there is no one remaining to call in and their next choice is cancelling flights because they can't legally start them. If they can get the flight off early enough to land within the limited duty hours then they don't have to cancel a later flight. | I run into this quite frequently on the YQR-YYZ (Regina, Saskatchewan-Toronto Pearson, Ontario) route. My strong suspicion is that it's due to frequent delays in Toronto. Sometimes due to congestion or weather, you may not be able to land when you expect and can be delayed in the air while awaiting clearance. Also, the taxiing can sometimes take awhile depending on which runway you use to land, so wind direction and congestion (which affect runway choice) can elongate the wheels-on-the-ground-to-plane-at-the-gate time.
Of course, sometimes wind conditions can slow you down en route, too.
The sooner you're in the air, the more likely you can be at the gate at the scheduled time, irrespective of what's going on at the destination, and when the destination is a busy airport, that's important. (When the departure airport is a quieter one, it seems a lot easier to get into the air early. I've been in the air as much as 20 minutes early flying out of YQR, on jets as large as an Airbus 319.)
So... passengers should expect it. The departure time is an estimated time, but it can change out of circumstance, necessity, and convenience. And of course, as mentioned by others, arriving at the destination early is never a bad thing, especially if you have a meeting to attend or a connecting flight to board. The worst case scenario is that you're stuck in the destination airport longer and the originating one shorter. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | My retort would be "Why wouldn't they try to do this?". Nobody is likely to be unhappy about arriving earlier than expected. I doubt anybody particularly enjoys waiting in an airport departure lounge and would complain about having their time cut short. So why not try to get everybody on the plane early, depart early and get to your destination early? If nothing else it means a slightly shorter work day for the flight crew.
Sometimes this is caused by unexpected [slot restrictions](http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/atfm-slots) at the destination due to oncoming weather. In such situations they calculate the cost vs benefits of an early departure. In this specific case only 1 already-checked-in passenger was missing and was easy to trace.
My assumption would be that the last call didn't mean they were about to refuse boarding, just that they only had a few passengers left to board and wanted to try to get them on board. If you'd taken 20 minutes to get to the gate they'd probably have still let you on, but don't count on it and if there is ever an announcement related to your flight don't ignore it just because you still have plenty of time before departure.
I should note that none of this is from experience on the airline side of things, just my experience as a traveller so there are likely more informed answers to be had. | This could also be related to air crew duty hours.
Duty hours are limited to ensure the crew is getting enough rest to work safely . The hours logged include time spent sitting in the airport waiting for the departure time or on standby waiting to be assigned to a flight. If part of the crew is near their duty time limit, departing early might prevent calling in a standby person to allow completing the flight legally.
If it's near the end of a month in which there have been a lot of weather delays, the airline company may be in a situation that there is no one remaining to call in and their next choice is cancelling flights because they can't legally start them. If they can get the flight off early enough to land within the limited duty hours then they don't have to cancel a later flight. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | My retort would be "Why wouldn't they try to do this?". Nobody is likely to be unhappy about arriving earlier than expected. I doubt anybody particularly enjoys waiting in an airport departure lounge and would complain about having their time cut short. So why not try to get everybody on the plane early, depart early and get to your destination early? If nothing else it means a slightly shorter work day for the flight crew.
Sometimes this is caused by unexpected [slot restrictions](http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/atfm-slots) at the destination due to oncoming weather. In such situations they calculate the cost vs benefits of an early departure. In this specific case only 1 already-checked-in passenger was missing and was easy to trace.
My assumption would be that the last call didn't mean they were about to refuse boarding, just that they only had a few passengers left to board and wanted to try to get them on board. If you'd taken 20 minutes to get to the gate they'd probably have still let you on, but don't count on it and if there is ever an announcement related to your flight don't ignore it just because you still have plenty of time before departure.
I should note that none of this is from experience on the airline side of things, just my experience as a traveller so there are likely more informed answers to be had. | Short answer, because they can. The airline makes their own schedule and can change it whenever they want. Departing and arriving early has more upside than downside.
Keep in mind, you must be at the gate *at the original Boarding Time*. Meaning, yes, if Boarding Time is 10:15, they can start boarding at 10:00 if they want and make last call at 10:16. If a passenger is not present at 10:16, they can close the flight and depart. This is rare, but possible. Point being, the only time that matters is Boarding Time, especially if the flight is delayed.\*\*
There are two notable exceptions to this:
1. Slot Controlled airports where the destination airport gives departure clearance. This is however relatively easy to get moved up.
2. Gate space at the destination.
\*\*In some cases, such as a remote stand, they load the bus once, at boarding time. So if everyone makes it through by 1016 and you're no where in sight. The bus, and your plane, are gone. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Short answer, because they can. The airline makes their own schedule and can change it whenever they want. Departing and arriving early has more upside than downside.
Keep in mind, you must be at the gate *at the original Boarding Time*. Meaning, yes, if Boarding Time is 10:15, they can start boarding at 10:00 if they want and make last call at 10:16. If a passenger is not present at 10:16, they can close the flight and depart. This is rare, but possible. Point being, the only time that matters is Boarding Time, especially if the flight is delayed.\*\*
There are two notable exceptions to this:
1. Slot Controlled airports where the destination airport gives departure clearance. This is however relatively easy to get moved up.
2. Gate space at the destination.
\*\*In some cases, such as a remote stand, they load the bus once, at boarding time. So if everyone makes it through by 1016 and you're no where in sight. The bus, and your plane, are gone. | I run into this quite frequently on the YQR-YYZ (Regina, Saskatchewan-Toronto Pearson, Ontario) route. My strong suspicion is that it's due to frequent delays in Toronto. Sometimes due to congestion or weather, you may not be able to land when you expect and can be delayed in the air while awaiting clearance. Also, the taxiing can sometimes take awhile depending on which runway you use to land, so wind direction and congestion (which affect runway choice) can elongate the wheels-on-the-ground-to-plane-at-the-gate time.
Of course, sometimes wind conditions can slow you down en route, too.
The sooner you're in the air, the more likely you can be at the gate at the scheduled time, irrespective of what's going on at the destination, and when the destination is a busy airport, that's important. (When the departure airport is a quieter one, it seems a lot easier to get into the air early. I've been in the air as much as 20 minutes early flying out of YQR, on jets as large as an Airbus 319.)
So... passengers should expect it. The departure time is an estimated time, but it can change out of circumstance, necessity, and convenience. And of course, as mentioned by others, arriving at the destination early is never a bad thing, especially if you have a meeting to attend or a connecting flight to board. The worst case scenario is that you're stuck in the destination airport longer and the originating one shorter. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Short answer, because they can. The airline makes their own schedule and can change it whenever they want. Departing and arriving early has more upside than downside.
Keep in mind, you must be at the gate *at the original Boarding Time*. Meaning, yes, if Boarding Time is 10:15, they can start boarding at 10:00 if they want and make last call at 10:16. If a passenger is not present at 10:16, they can close the flight and depart. This is rare, but possible. Point being, the only time that matters is Boarding Time, especially if the flight is delayed.\*\*
There are two notable exceptions to this:
1. Slot Controlled airports where the destination airport gives departure clearance. This is however relatively easy to get moved up.
2. Gate space at the destination.
\*\*In some cases, such as a remote stand, they load the bus once, at boarding time. So if everyone makes it through by 1016 and you're no where in sight. The bus, and your plane, are gone. | Weather can be an issue here. If planners are aware of an oncoming storm, it makes sense to get planes out before it hits the airport, or to get planes down a window between weather systems.
In the extreme case of this, you have [Delta flight 431](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/09/13/heres-the-story-behind-that-viral-video-of-delta-flight-431-and-its-race-with-irma/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b6765ceb6202), and balls of solid stainless steel from the entire team to put a 737 down the gap between an outer arm of the hurricane and the core. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | My retort would be "Why wouldn't they try to do this?". Nobody is likely to be unhappy about arriving earlier than expected. I doubt anybody particularly enjoys waiting in an airport departure lounge and would complain about having their time cut short. So why not try to get everybody on the plane early, depart early and get to your destination early? If nothing else it means a slightly shorter work day for the flight crew.
Sometimes this is caused by unexpected [slot restrictions](http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/atfm-slots) at the destination due to oncoming weather. In such situations they calculate the cost vs benefits of an early departure. In this specific case only 1 already-checked-in passenger was missing and was easy to trace.
My assumption would be that the last call didn't mean they were about to refuse boarding, just that they only had a few passengers left to board and wanted to try to get them on board. If you'd taken 20 minutes to get to the gate they'd probably have still let you on, but don't count on it and if there is ever an announcement related to your flight don't ignore it just because you still have plenty of time before departure.
I should note that none of this is from experience on the airline side of things, just my experience as a traveller so there are likely more informed answers to be had. | Weather can be an issue here. If planners are aware of an oncoming storm, it makes sense to get planes out before it hits the airport, or to get planes down a window between weather systems.
In the extreme case of this, you have [Delta flight 431](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/09/13/heres-the-story-behind-that-viral-video-of-delta-flight-431-and-its-race-with-irma/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b6765ceb6202), and balls of solid stainless steel from the entire team to put a 737 down the gap between an outer arm of the hurricane and the core. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Short answer, because they can. The airline makes their own schedule and can change it whenever they want. Departing and arriving early has more upside than downside.
Keep in mind, you must be at the gate *at the original Boarding Time*. Meaning, yes, if Boarding Time is 10:15, they can start boarding at 10:00 if they want and make last call at 10:16. If a passenger is not present at 10:16, they can close the flight and depart. This is rare, but possible. Point being, the only time that matters is Boarding Time, especially if the flight is delayed.\*\*
There are two notable exceptions to this:
1. Slot Controlled airports where the destination airport gives departure clearance. This is however relatively easy to get moved up.
2. Gate space at the destination.
\*\*In some cases, such as a remote stand, they load the bus once, at boarding time. So if everyone makes it through by 1016 and you're no where in sight. The bus, and your plane, are gone. | This could also be related to air crew duty hours.
Duty hours are limited to ensure the crew is getting enough rest to work safely . The hours logged include time spent sitting in the airport waiting for the departure time or on standby waiting to be assigned to a flight. If part of the crew is near their duty time limit, departing early might prevent calling in a standby person to allow completing the flight legally.
If it's near the end of a month in which there have been a lot of weather delays, the airline company may be in a situation that there is no one remaining to call in and their next choice is cancelling flights because they can't legally start them. If they can get the flight off early enough to land within the limited duty hours then they don't have to cancel a later flight. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Short answer, because they can. The airline makes their own schedule and can change it whenever they want. Departing and arriving early has more upside than downside.
Keep in mind, you must be at the gate *at the original Boarding Time*. Meaning, yes, if Boarding Time is 10:15, they can start boarding at 10:00 if they want and make last call at 10:16. If a passenger is not present at 10:16, they can close the flight and depart. This is rare, but possible. Point being, the only time that matters is Boarding Time, especially if the flight is delayed.\*\*
There are two notable exceptions to this:
1. Slot Controlled airports where the destination airport gives departure clearance. This is however relatively easy to get moved up.
2. Gate space at the destination.
\*\*In some cases, such as a remote stand, they load the bus once, at boarding time. So if everyone makes it through by 1016 and you're no where in sight. The bus, and your plane, are gone. | Going early when possible can pre-compensate unexpected delays later, which would otherwise delay the plane's next flight. For example, if something breaks down as it's landing and needs unscheduled maintenance. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Weather can be an issue here. If planners are aware of an oncoming storm, it makes sense to get planes out before it hits the airport, or to get planes down a window between weather systems.
In the extreme case of this, you have [Delta flight 431](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/09/13/heres-the-story-behind-that-viral-video-of-delta-flight-431-and-its-race-with-irma/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b6765ceb6202), and balls of solid stainless steel from the entire team to put a 737 down the gap between an outer arm of the hurricane and the core. | I run into this quite frequently on the YQR-YYZ (Regina, Saskatchewan-Toronto Pearson, Ontario) route. My strong suspicion is that it's due to frequent delays in Toronto. Sometimes due to congestion or weather, you may not be able to land when you expect and can be delayed in the air while awaiting clearance. Also, the taxiing can sometimes take awhile depending on which runway you use to land, so wind direction and congestion (which affect runway choice) can elongate the wheels-on-the-ground-to-plane-at-the-gate time.
Of course, sometimes wind conditions can slow you down en route, too.
The sooner you're in the air, the more likely you can be at the gate at the scheduled time, irrespective of what's going on at the destination, and when the destination is a busy airport, that's important. (When the departure airport is a quieter one, it seems a lot easier to get into the air early. I've been in the air as much as 20 minutes early flying out of YQR, on jets as large as an Airbus 319.)
So... passengers should expect it. The departure time is an estimated time, but it can change out of circumstance, necessity, and convenience. And of course, as mentioned by others, arriving at the destination early is never a bad thing, especially if you have a meeting to attend or a connecting flight to board. The worst case scenario is that you're stuck in the destination airport longer and the originating one shorter. |
112,965 | It happened to me just one time, I don't know how common it is. I wonder why it can happen.
I was hanging at duty-free shops before a flight from Germany to Turkey. I heard the *last call* announcement 40 minutes before the departure time and my name was explicitly mentioned. When I went to the gate, boarding had been completed except me. Normally that airline closes the gate 20 minutes before the departure.
The pilot announced that he was talking to the control tower to take off earlier than planned. At the end we couldn't take off earlier, but I didn't understand why they tried to do this. | 2018/04/12 | [
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/112965",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com",
"https://travel.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | My retort would be "Why wouldn't they try to do this?". Nobody is likely to be unhappy about arriving earlier than expected. I doubt anybody particularly enjoys waiting in an airport departure lounge and would complain about having their time cut short. So why not try to get everybody on the plane early, depart early and get to your destination early? If nothing else it means a slightly shorter work day for the flight crew.
Sometimes this is caused by unexpected [slot restrictions](http://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/atfm-slots) at the destination due to oncoming weather. In such situations they calculate the cost vs benefits of an early departure. In this specific case only 1 already-checked-in passenger was missing and was easy to trace.
My assumption would be that the last call didn't mean they were about to refuse boarding, just that they only had a few passengers left to board and wanted to try to get them on board. If you'd taken 20 minutes to get to the gate they'd probably have still let you on, but don't count on it and if there is ever an announcement related to your flight don't ignore it just because you still have plenty of time before departure.
I should note that none of this is from experience on the airline side of things, just my experience as a traveller so there are likely more informed answers to be had. | I run into this quite frequently on the YQR-YYZ (Regina, Saskatchewan-Toronto Pearson, Ontario) route. My strong suspicion is that it's due to frequent delays in Toronto. Sometimes due to congestion or weather, you may not be able to land when you expect and can be delayed in the air while awaiting clearance. Also, the taxiing can sometimes take awhile depending on which runway you use to land, so wind direction and congestion (which affect runway choice) can elongate the wheels-on-the-ground-to-plane-at-the-gate time.
Of course, sometimes wind conditions can slow you down en route, too.
The sooner you're in the air, the more likely you can be at the gate at the scheduled time, irrespective of what's going on at the destination, and when the destination is a busy airport, that's important. (When the departure airport is a quieter one, it seems a lot easier to get into the air early. I've been in the air as much as 20 minutes early flying out of YQR, on jets as large as an Airbus 319.)
So... passengers should expect it. The departure time is an estimated time, but it can change out of circumstance, necessity, and convenience. And of course, as mentioned by others, arriving at the destination early is never a bad thing, especially if you have a meeting to attend or a connecting flight to board. The worst case scenario is that you're stuck in the destination airport longer and the originating one shorter. |
386,611 | I am struggling with using Kirchhoff's rule in circuits with Inductors. Looks like if you have an inductor, we have Electric field (E) that is created using a time varying magnetic field and that E is non conservative and hence you will have to use Faraday's and not Kirchhoff's rule. I get that. But when you use Faraday's rule, Electric field within inductor is taken to be zero as it has zero resistance. I don't get the connection of zero resistance and zero electric field.
Below is link where Prof Lewin uses Faraday's law. I get everything in this video other than why E should be zero within the inductor
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZN0AyNR4Kw> | 2018/02/15 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/386611",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/31058/"
] | >
> Looks like if you have an inductor, we have Electric field (E) that is created using a time varying magnetic field and that E is non conservative and hence you will have to use Faraday's and not Kirchhoff's rule.
>
>
>
You should not be thinking about E field when analyzing an inductor. There will be an EMF across the inductor, due to the magnetic field through the coil. But this EMF is not related to an E field in the wire (and this is why I am calling it an EMF and not just a "voltage", which might be confused with an electrostatic potential difference).
You can certainly apply Kirchoff's laws to circuits containing inductors, provided the other requirements defining lumped circuits apply, and all the important magnetic fields are confined to the inductors, rather than interacting (significantly) with the wires joining the circuit. The "voltage" difference across the inductor will depend on the rate of change of the current, rather than the instantaneous value of the current as it does with a resistor.
>
> I get everything in this video other than why E should be zero within the inductor
>
>
>
Practically, the E-field will not be exactly 0 in the wires of the inductor. But if we need to model its effect, we'll usually do that by including a separate series resistor element in our circuit model, rather than by including the E-field effect in the resistor model. | The electric field is always zero inside the thickness of an ideal conductor (check out my answer [here](https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/377977) to see why). Now for an inductor, which is usually shaped as a solenoid, the electric field *inside the wires* of the solenoid (so on the surface of the cylinder) is zero (assuming it's an ideal conductor). The induced electric field you're talking about does not occur inside the wires of the solenoid, but in the "hole" inside (the inner volume of the cylinder). |
127,832 | I am looking on page 9 of the [TI CC8520 Documentation](http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cc8520.pdf) and I see that there are some capacitors and inductors around the antenna with labels such as C306. What does that mean? How can I know the values of these components? | 2014/09/05 | [
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/127832",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/users/43846/"
] | You may be able to run the microcontroller (μC), motor, solenoid from a single power source1. That's probably the first approach that you should try. Make sure to include back-EMF diodes for motor and solenoid.
1 Of course, you need to generate the appropriate supply voltages from that power source. I assume that you understand this.
Solenoids and motors can in fact generate voltage spikes, which may cause problems for the μC. For example, spikes can cause a brownout. (Such spikes are a type of conducted interference. The term "noise" is often used for such nuisances. More rigorous definition of noise [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_%28electronics%29).) Whether you will encounter these problems or not depends on the size of the coils and the capacitance between the supply rail and ground in your circuit.
Here's a [related thread](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/67768/7036), where someone ran into problems with spikes generated by a solenoid valve.
**edit:**
Here's a [detailed answer](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/66309/7036) in another related thread.
Here's a [page on EMI suppression for motors](http://www.beam-wiki.org/wiki/Reducing_Motor_Noise). | When people talk about "power supply" they mean one of two things:
1. power source
2. power regulating circuit
What is meant by having two power supplies is not using two batteries but having two separate independent power regulating circuits.
---
Noise refers to voltage that changes rapidly (and usually randomly). The reason motors solenoids make circuits noisy is that they generate back-EMF which creates temporary voltage spikes in the circuits. In the case of motors the spikes are periodic. |
11,148,867 | I've been researching this question for the last few weeks and have had no success trying to connect to Google through OAuth1 OR 2.
I have a client that needs a separate Calendar for each of the homes they are building. On creation of a new home in the database, I want to create a calendar and save the Id of the created calendar.
What options do I have to do this?
It seems like the only way is to have the user get redirected to Google and login to add a calendar... I want to use a static Google account and simply create the calendar that way, without having the annoying "Login to google" screen. | 2012/06/22 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11148867",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1359986/"
] | Google api lets you to do whatever you need with a Calendar using their provided libraries. Let's take a look: [Google Developer: Instantiate Google Calendar](https://developers.google.com/google-apps/calendar/instantiate) | This SO posts discusses that. Specifically pay attention to the line in the accepted answer where it is mentions the process for adding a new calendar is similar to adding an event.
[SO: Google Calendar API Selecting and creating Calendars](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1534373/google-calendar-api-selecting-creating-calendars)
I also came across this tutorial which may be helpful in terms of other actions on the calendar once it has been created.
[IBM Developer Works: Integrate your PHP Application with Google Calendar](http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-googleclndr/) |
1,036,387 | This question is rather conceptual and I just need some clarifications.
Let's say on your linux server you've something like ufw installed or windows firewall on windows server. And you have layers of networking devices like routers in between which will have their own firewalls. Why do you still need a hardware firewall as part of your infrastructure? | 2020/10/04 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/1036387",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/444207/"
] | Not that long ago, typical designs forced all traffic through one big firewall as a security control. That is an advantage: by being at the Internet gateway, the network team can enforce a security control even if they don't manage every device. By necessity, such a firewall needed to be big with expensive custom hardware.
Now, it is possible to categorize traffic based on threat and importance, and distribute the packet filters. Perhaps send YouTube traffic direct to the Internet, it is already encrypted and possibly not mission critical. And in the data center or cloud, a distributed firewall on every compute host scales up the filter capacity, making improved segmentation possible. Both ease off on the demand for enormous hardware firewalls at the perimeter.
Also, open source software on commodity hardware has changed some of the big firewalls into software products. 25 Gb Ethernet is cheap, why not run the firewall on a server like other services? Vendors will still sell hardware appliances, especially on the large size, but the argument that their hardware is magic might not be as compelling.
Certainly you would want a defense in depth approach to security. Many components to consider: end point security agents, strong user authentication, network segmentation, encrypted data in transit, host level firewalls, perimeter firewalls, updating software on all the things. But merely the fact that a firewall has a special sauce ASIC in it doesn't necessarily define it. | As far as I am concerned its a matter of belt and braces. A hardware firewall helps to keep the bad guys out of your network. UFW and the like help you keep the bad guys out of your server if they do get onto your network. Generally routers are routers first and foremost and firewalls a distant second. They are better than nothing, but not a substitute for a proper firewall. |
5,109,958 | I found out randomly that when browsing an SVN repository from a web browser (f.inst. <http://svn.myserver.com/>) you can append the query parameter `?r=5` to the URL to get files from that revision. So I was wondering: What more can you do from the browser?
It would be great if I could read change-logs or compare revisions right in the browser without the need to install a subversion application.
The SVN server is a Windows server with XAMPP and subversion installed, using WebDAV modules and something like that (I'm no pro)
Thanks for any information, I couldn't find anything about this on Google | 2011/02/24 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/5109958",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/388916/"
] | From the browser Subverson itself doesn't offer anything else that I am aware of.
WebSVN - <http://www.websvn.info/> - is a popular repository viewer for Subversion. Gives you the functionality you are looking for. Its a PHP app so should be easy for you to install along side the Subversion repository. | All "web browsers" can do HEAD, GET, and POST requests. Some can do OPTIONS, PUT, DELETE, TRACE and CONNECT. To use SVN under XAMPP and WebDAV, you need something that can do PROPFIND requests.
Your WebDAV server responds to HTTP GET requests, using the SVN plugin to get data and directory listings from your SVN repository. If you want to get properties like Size, Date, Comments and everything else, the SVN WebDav plugin expects HTTP PROPFIND requests.
You can get plugins for some browsers that allow you to type random HTTP requests, or to do WebDav requests, or to do specific SVN webdav or svn: protocol requests. I'm not aware of a 'web browser' that includes native support for HTTP PROPFIND. |
828,768 | I have a gaming headset that I use with my PS4 and would like to run music from my laptop into the audio line while using it with the PS4 as well.
The headset just plugs into the 3.5mm jack in the controller.
The headphones have separate mic and audio lines and I bought a small adapter for that, but I was wondering if I could also run music from my laptop into the audio line so I could quietly play background music but still hear the game sound and chat above all.
This pertains to a Logitech G230 headset if that makes a difference. | 2014/10/20 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/828768",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/381432/"
] | Yes you can combine 2 audio sources into one. Usually that's done in a mixer, but if you really only want to add 2 audio lines together and don't care too much about audio quality, [a Y cable like this](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00APEI7OC) should be lightweight enough to work with your setup. Make sure you get a cable that has the male and female parts the right way around, and that you don't get a stereo splitter, or a cable that just separates audio in from audio out - it's easy to buy the wrong thing. | Audio Source combination is possible by using some small gadgets. Without gadgets, it may not be possible. To Combine Two Audio Sources Into One Headphone, some mentioned gadgets you may need like this
1. Rolls Mixer
2. Y Splitter Mini Stereo (2 to 1)
3. External USB Stereo Sound Adapter
4. Multiple-input Headphones
5. Dual Headphone Jack
6. Audio Mixer 2 Input 1 Output
7. 2 Optical Inputs into 1
You will feel real happiness when you can combine two audio sources into one headphone successfully.
Information Source:
<https://swipeonidea.com/combine-two-audio-sources-into-one-headphone/> |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | **Prince-in-waiting likes the situation!**
If you are dead set on "prince dies" you make it work by having many princelings in a family. One of these immediately takes over for the family not on the death of the old one, but when the old one loses and is condemned.
If a given losing prince refuses to accept his demotion from prince to sacrifice, there are people in his court who are eager for him to accept his fate - his heirs / brothers, one of whom is at that moment the new prince, according to the king. Revolution risks everything, and sending an older no-longer-a-prince brother off to die risks little. The military would prefer not to fight 4 other houses and so it is an easy decision for them too.
This system falls apart if a given prince does not have an heir. Solution - princes from each families line reside safe in the capitol. These princes may or may not be next in line for the throne, but they could be. This is the system of the Romans - raise the children of your enemies as Romans. Then when they go back to rule their people, they will in theory be sympathetic to their overlords.
---
**Substitute prince.**
A given prince might try to dodge his fate (if he were pretty certain to lose) by ceding the princedom to some elderly half brother stand-in, drafted into rulership from civilian life and expected in short order to lose and die. The new prince holds his head high and takes it like a man for his country. Unless by chance his champion turns out to be a lot better than anyone expected... | Some ways this was handled historically
Marry the families
------------------
In medieval world, the blood ties were really important. By marrying into them or them into your family, you could get strong bonds that reduce the chance of them rebelling against their kin. This was not uncommon to do in back in the day. The emperor could marry a daughter or cousin to each family, for example, or take some of their female members to marry to males of the empire dynasty. This can *by itself* is not a bad thing but usually it additionally seals a pact between the two families to help each other.
The downsides starts with giving a family a potential claim to the empire. While marrying would *normally* pacify an enemy, it could backfire and incite them into action to try and grab the throne. This is also quite common in the medieval times. It can be a potent hook for a story if needed or an element to be removed if unsuited - perhaps in your world people value family ties even more.
Another downside is incest and inbreeding - the two families have incentive to keep marrying into each other, so perhaps the daughter of the emperor has a child which is married to the emperor's son's child. Again, common in the medieval world to marry cousins. Over several generations this can lead to [your version of the infamous Hapsburgs](https://www.ranker.com/list/habsburg-dynasty-inbreeding-history/melissa-sartore).
Take hostages
-------------
This sounds way more dramatic that it actually was but it was still a common practice in the medieval days. When we talk about "hostages" it's not usually somebody locked in a dungeon or tower - they were more like honoured guests. In fact, children could be sent to the capital (and this the emperor) to get a better education which the emperor would see to. However, as it happens if the child's family rises up, then the emperor still has the child at his mercy. If your firstborn son, or even *all your male descendants* were in the capital, that could be a very compelling reason **not to** threaten the emperor.
However, as I said, it's not just threats - being in the emperor's favour is a good thing - your children get education they probably can't get anywhere else. And included in the package is knowledge of how the empire operates, first name basis with the current or even *future* emperor and key figures in the administration. That gives you, as an underling, a very good way to get things from the empire - money, troops, favours. After all, your child can speak on your behalf to exactly the people who can arrange that. When your child succeeds you, they have a very close tie with the administration that they can still use to help the family.
All in all, a "hostage" isn't a bad deal and was rightfully used in the past. It could even be used between different states - they would regularly exchange hostages with each other to ensure peace and further help out diplomacy. After all, if your neighbour's kid grows to know your culture and you personally, they are less likely to harbour enmity.
However, this can also backfire [Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_I_of_Bulgaria#Recognition_as_Emperor) was educated in the court of the neighboring Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire) but *used* his knowledge of how the empire operates to [start a war against them](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine%E2%80%93Bulgarian_war_of_913%E2%80%93927). Interesting to note Simeon negotiated being given the Roman (Byzantine) title of "caesar" after the war. The slavonic way to pronounce it resulted in the title "tsar" (alternatively spelled "tzar" or "czar" but its different transliterations of the same root). So, in effect Simeon became *an emperor*. His grand goal was to become the ruler of both Bulgarians and Romans (Byzantines) but ultimately didn't achieve that. However, being recognised as caesar was the road to that. Just reinforces how the "hostage" solution could be used against an empire.
"Bribes"
--------
People can be loyal but loyalty can be bought. The emperor could pay..."extra" to key personnel to be loyal. That doesn't mean pay the families - if the emperor pays the *generals* under the families, then the family doesn't have much leverage to lead a rebellion. Although diverting some cash their way can also keep them satisfied. At any rate, the idea is to keep administrators and generals happy with the emperor, so they wouldn't just turn sides. Even if somebody gets the throne, that doesn't mean everybody underneath them would support them, after all. It's probably in the best interest of individuals to support the new emperor but then again they could just want the old one back. And cash is a good incentive.
Another incentive is the two points from before - give the most prominent generals brides from the imperial bloodline and/or take and educate their kids in addition to cash and they can be quite invested in the well-being of the empire's bloodline and position. After all, their *own* position now depends on it - a new emperor can mean that they are not kin with the top dog any more.
Generals are the obvious choice but don't forget the other administrators. Tax collectors would be *vital* to the empire's prosperity. Don't think about some intimidating guy from an office coming to steal the poor peasent's income - think of a guy who knows the locals and their plights. The locals already know and trust him, they also supply whatever tribute (probably coin, but could also be goods - depends on the setting) that goes to the empire. Without that guy, you'd have the former - a government agent trying to shake the locals for their earnings. This is way less effective and a good way towards a rebellion. A decent empire would recognise that preferring the latter. So, keeping the local tax collectors and other administrators complacent is preferable.
Speaking of the Byzantine empire, giving "gifts" to various key figures was a regular thing. They were pretty much bribes but more official as in, given out officially by the emperor. Annually (usually), there would be an event at the capital where powerful and influential people from across the empire would gather and would be given literal sacks of gold - dressed up as being "for accomplishments". It also served establishing and maintaining ties between the emperor and these people.
By this point, you may think "can this backfire?". The answer is that yes, it can. So, in the theme of the Byzantine empire, on the extreme end of "pay for loyalty" we have the [Varangian guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard) - Norse who were were the paid bodyguards of the emperor. They were utterly loyal...to the *emperor*. Which led to a somewhat famous example when there was a coup against the current emperor and the Varangians "switched sides" supporting the usurper. They were loyal to the one who pays them and supporting the "loser" doesn't pay, after all.
On the other end we have the eastern part of the empire. Administratively called "Armeniacon" it's present day eastern Turkey and parts of its neighbors. The territory was quite hard to control for many reasons but it all boiled down to the emperor needing to be in the really good graces of the Armeniacon leader. Yes, that is the correct phrasing here - the core of the problem is that were Armeniacon to "defect" and join the empire's eastern neighbors that takes a huge chunk of territory and thus tax and troops away. The nature of the terrain is that it's really hard to attack directly, so winning the territory back would be very hard. Marriages, bribes and favours liberally flowed to the current leader there to keep them in line. Which also meant that the Armeniacon leader would have a lot of political power. Having their *support* could spell the doom of one emperor and the rise of another. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | The question seems to imply that the gods are not in fact real, or at least are 'hands off.' If they're not the problem is trivial.. have the gods be godly.
Otherwise it would probably be best to have a series of mechanisms, indeed if they weren't 'artificially' created, supporting cultural assumptions and practises would likely evolve anyway, assuming the system survived long enough.
Firstly, appeal to the esteem of the church. If the church is popular amongst the people, going against it's ruling may make retaining power untenable even were an immediate or military victory achieved.
Secondly, allow rebellion. There's no way no prince ever (assuming a continuous policy for hundreds of years, long enough to 'span a globe') decided he wanted to save his own skin. Use these instances as historical 'cautionary tales' to contemporary Princes and Families. Some may have fled as individuals, with wives or children or alone, and gone into hiding. Some may have attempted to raise rebellions. However successful those rebellions might have been, if the Empire remains extant it(and it's agents, including the Families) will want to paint them as utter failures(if only to prevent the chaos and bloodshed involved in putting down another.)
Thirdly. Collateral. Hostage taking has been mentioned, but consider that an entire bloodline is allowed the privilege of being held in esteem and allowed to rule on the Emperor's behalf and potentially take the Imperial throne. Just as in the modern day if a company breaches a major contract once, people will be less willing to trade with it, so in terms of aristocratic lineage must the same be true. Punish the entire family.
Setting the Stage. Have sermons/dogma that directly addresses what personal and professional flaws one might (must!) own to challenge not only the word of god and their priests but risk the peace and prosperity of the entire empire for their own advancement. This will not only paint a picture(ready) in the minds of the public as to the vices of any Prince who rebelled but also perhaps influence the Prince's and Families thinking also.
Stewardship. It's easy to waste resources, there must be a mechanism for Princes and their Families to fail outside of the Selection, otherwise one would not need for the Princes to rebel as the public would rebel under bad management. Historically, for a family to rise to prominence it would normally only take one or two individuals of note in a generation, but it's just as easy to fall from grace as it is to rise, rich men make rich enemies...and a lot of people want your position. For noble families to remain in power requires that they develop and/or maintain the ability to manage the affairs of their state. Orderly management on the scale of one fifth of a planet.. this is clearly more about delegation and the management of people than any professional discipline. Fomenting an attitude that would allow a Prince to rebel and maintain support across such a vast reach would not be plausibly hidden.
Bodyguards/Secret Service. The personal guards of the Prince and their family may be taken from Imperial forces, such allows for the creation of two way trust (though others might see it different, if the thing you're trusting is far off and abstract it will seem unimportant or nonexistent ,trust cannot develop. If however a person has immediate and obvious power over you and does not abuse it.. then trust can develop.
Maintain some consistency in the tests or give forewarning (perhaps take the tests from prior acts of the gods or religious verse) randomness will always benefit somebody 'unfairly,' and being able and willing to prepare for known challenges might be considered a valuable trait, as opposed to just being good at what luck happens to throw at you.
Give the church and/or the empire and/or the individual princedoms resources which the others do not wish to be without, rebellion and/or war would limit or end access to that resource. If one of the royal families has a monopoly on military naval construction for example, a Prince preparing to challenge global naval supremacy could hardly go unnoticed. | Give them some secret (new every time) slowly acting poison, which does not hinder the selection trials, and only the winner gets the antidote. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | **Prince-in-waiting likes the situation!**
If you are dead set on "prince dies" you make it work by having many princelings in a family. One of these immediately takes over for the family not on the death of the old one, but when the old one loses and is condemned.
If a given losing prince refuses to accept his demotion from prince to sacrifice, there are people in his court who are eager for him to accept his fate - his heirs / brothers, one of whom is at that moment the new prince, according to the king. Revolution risks everything, and sending an older no-longer-a-prince brother off to die risks little. The military would prefer not to fight 4 other houses and so it is an easy decision for them too.
This system falls apart if a given prince does not have an heir. Solution - princes from each families line reside safe in the capitol. These princes may or may not be next in line for the throne, but they could be. This is the system of the Romans - raise the children of your enemies as Romans. Then when they go back to rule their people, they will in theory be sympathetic to their overlords.
---
**Substitute prince.**
A given prince might try to dodge his fate (if he were pretty certain to lose) by ceding the princedom to some elderly half brother stand-in, drafted into rulership from civilian life and expected in short order to lose and die. The new prince holds his head high and takes it like a man for his country. Unless by chance his champion turns out to be a lot better than anyone expected... | Make it so each prince can command their own army, but the army they command is at an opposite end of the empire from the lands they actually control. This, while confusing, prevents any prince from consolidating military power in their home territory and using it against the emperor. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | Louis XVI managed to control semi independent royal families really well. Unfortunately he ignored the populace which led to his demise.
He used the palace of Versailles as a carrot to attract royal families from the provinces.
His method was to entice lords to come to the palace of Versailles by holding lavish celebrations (parties) all year long. If the lords are in Versailles having fun, they won't be fomenting rebellions.
To earn the king’s favor it was necessary to spend time in the royal residences and stick to etiquette. A constantly hovering presence was rewarded with financial allowances, gifts, accommodation in the best rooms of the Palace of Versailles, and regular invitations to the best celebrations and ceremonies.
On the contrary, not coming to Versailles to attend the King's celebrations was frowned upon. | Make it so each prince can command their own army, but the army they command is at an opposite end of the empire from the lands they actually control. This, while confusing, prevents any prince from consolidating military power in their home territory and using it against the emperor. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | If I remember correctly, in ancient Japan all the daiymios had to send their sons to reside in the Shogun's castle, where they were held as hostages, as a warranty for the underling's fidelity. The practice was called [Sankin-kotai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankin-kotai), thanks to Jay Carr for pointing to the reference.
The emperor can use a similar system. Each family has to give their heirs into the complete control of the emperor. Rebelling to the emperor and his designation results into the beheading of the family itself, as all of the heirs will face death.
Be faithful and you lose just one member. Betray, and you lose all your descendants. | Louis XVI managed to control semi independent royal families really well. Unfortunately he ignored the populace which led to his demise.
He used the palace of Versailles as a carrot to attract royal families from the provinces.
His method was to entice lords to come to the palace of Versailles by holding lavish celebrations (parties) all year long. If the lords are in Versailles having fun, they won't be fomenting rebellions.
To earn the king’s favor it was necessary to spend time in the royal residences and stick to etiquette. A constantly hovering presence was rewarded with financial allowances, gifts, accommodation in the best rooms of the Palace of Versailles, and regular invitations to the best celebrations and ceremonies.
On the contrary, not coming to Versailles to attend the King's celebrations was frowned upon. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | If I remember correctly, in ancient Japan all the daiymios had to send their sons to reside in the Shogun's castle, where they were held as hostages, as a warranty for the underling's fidelity. The practice was called [Sankin-kotai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankin-kotai), thanks to Jay Carr for pointing to the reference.
The emperor can use a similar system. Each family has to give their heirs into the complete control of the emperor. Rebelling to the emperor and his designation results into the beheading of the family itself, as all of the heirs will face death.
Be faithful and you lose just one member. Betray, and you lose all your descendants. | **Change Who can Participate in the Trials**
The death trials still doesn't seem like a fair deal, like you’re the head of a family you train for years, just for that one rich family to hire the best mercenary in the world to curb stomp you. If I was one of prince’s I would rebel just so I would not get killed and install an elective Imperium like the Holy Roman Empire (like it’s a one in five chance to win and if you lose you die). It would also make your empire unstable as well; you kill off every head of state EVERY TIME your emperor dies (also I would be pissed if my dad got killed and the new emperor was responsible).
What would be better if you still want a holy death trial is open it up to any volunteer (could be just nobles and or commoners) so anyone who wants to risk it for the biscuit can, instated of forcing a select few to do so. Like well-known champions get sponsored by the families and if they win then they will carry favour with the next emperor. Could open up a lot of possibility’s for story telling as well, like a minor noble becomes a candidate and everyone did not see it coming or a rare sight an actual prince does the trials and every is like wow.
if i was a prince i would be cool with that and if my son or i "volunteered" then it would seem far more holy then force us to do so. i would not be so pissed if he or i lost because both would have known what they were getting themselves into |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | If I remember correctly, in ancient Japan all the daiymios had to send their sons to reside in the Shogun's castle, where they were held as hostages, as a warranty for the underling's fidelity. The practice was called [Sankin-kotai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankin-kotai), thanks to Jay Carr for pointing to the reference.
The emperor can use a similar system. Each family has to give their heirs into the complete control of the emperor. Rebelling to the emperor and his designation results into the beheading of the family itself, as all of the heirs will face death.
Be faithful and you lose just one member. Betray, and you lose all your descendants. | Give them some secret (new every time) slowly acting poison, which does not hinder the selection trials, and only the winner gets the antidote. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | If I remember correctly, in ancient Japan all the daiymios had to send their sons to reside in the Shogun's castle, where they were held as hostages, as a warranty for the underling's fidelity. The practice was called [Sankin-kotai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankin-kotai), thanks to Jay Carr for pointing to the reference.
The emperor can use a similar system. Each family has to give their heirs into the complete control of the emperor. Rebelling to the emperor and his designation results into the beheading of the family itself, as all of the heirs will face death.
Be faithful and you lose just one member. Betray, and you lose all your descendants. | Because there are five viceregal-level families, the system might be stable even if the four losing princes unite to save their heads. They could salvage their legitimacy within the imperial system by recognizing the winner as a titular ruler, but make the emperor have little more power than the other four viceroys.
As Tom Kratman explained in his Carrera series, a balance of power among five roughly-equal powers is the most stable that can be expected. If four powers gang up on one, one of the four is likely to defect. If three powers gang up on two, the two are likely to be strong enough to resist the three.
---
Chapter 26 of Kratman's *[Come and Take Them](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1451639368)* discusses one fictional power's view of a possible five-power balance-of-power. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | If I remember correctly, in ancient Japan all the daiymios had to send their sons to reside in the Shogun's castle, where they were held as hostages, as a warranty for the underling's fidelity. The practice was called [Sankin-kotai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankin-kotai), thanks to Jay Carr for pointing to the reference.
The emperor can use a similar system. Each family has to give their heirs into the complete control of the emperor. Rebelling to the emperor and his designation results into the beheading of the family itself, as all of the heirs will face death.
Be faithful and you lose just one member. Betray, and you lose all your descendants. | Make it so each prince can command their own army, but the army they command is at an opposite end of the empire from the lands they actually control. This, while confusing, prevents any prince from consolidating military power in their home territory and using it against the emperor. |
137,182 | This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the king who has absolute authority over the empire, these families operate semi-independently and control their realms directly, as well as their own security forces and economy. The king holds all secular power by law. However, his right to rule is given to him by the gods, with priests of the theocracy speaking on their behalf.
The selection process of becoming king is administered by the priests themselves in order to prove the future king's worthiness. A series of trials are conducted in which the heads of the five families compete against each other. These contests vary with each selection process, and these princes can participate themselves or elect a champion from their realm to compete on their behalf. The winning prince of these contests is then elected to the position of emperor, and rules until he dies. The four losing princes are ritually sacrificed to the gods. This system is meant to prevent any disputes between rival families as to who is the rightful ruler, and to keep the empire stable.
However, it is possible that a prince or several princes may simply not accept the results. They may lead their families into open rebellion to avoid their honorable fate of being sacrificed for the good of the empire. This is unacceptable, for it would tear the empire apart with various wars.
How would I prevent this from happening? | 2019/01/20 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/137182",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/52361/"
] | **Prince-in-waiting likes the situation!**
If you are dead set on "prince dies" you make it work by having many princelings in a family. One of these immediately takes over for the family not on the death of the old one, but when the old one loses and is condemned.
If a given losing prince refuses to accept his demotion from prince to sacrifice, there are people in his court who are eager for him to accept his fate - his heirs / brothers, one of whom is at that moment the new prince, according to the king. Revolution risks everything, and sending an older no-longer-a-prince brother off to die risks little. The military would prefer not to fight 4 other houses and so it is an easy decision for them too.
This system falls apart if a given prince does not have an heir. Solution - princes from each families line reside safe in the capitol. These princes may or may not be next in line for the throne, but they could be. This is the system of the Romans - raise the children of your enemies as Romans. Then when they go back to rule their people, they will in theory be sympathetic to their overlords.
---
**Substitute prince.**
A given prince might try to dodge his fate (if he were pretty certain to lose) by ceding the princedom to some elderly half brother stand-in, drafted into rulership from civilian life and expected in short order to lose and die. The new prince holds his head high and takes it like a man for his country. Unless by chance his champion turns out to be a lot better than anyone expected... | **Change Who can Participate in the Trials**
The death trials still doesn't seem like a fair deal, like you’re the head of a family you train for years, just for that one rich family to hire the best mercenary in the world to curb stomp you. If I was one of prince’s I would rebel just so I would not get killed and install an elective Imperium like the Holy Roman Empire (like it’s a one in five chance to win and if you lose you die). It would also make your empire unstable as well; you kill off every head of state EVERY TIME your emperor dies (also I would be pissed if my dad got killed and the new emperor was responsible).
What would be better if you still want a holy death trial is open it up to any volunteer (could be just nobles and or commoners) so anyone who wants to risk it for the biscuit can, instated of forcing a select few to do so. Like well-known champions get sponsored by the families and if they win then they will carry favour with the next emperor. Could open up a lot of possibility’s for story telling as well, like a minor noble becomes a candidate and everyone did not see it coming or a rare sight an actual prince does the trials and every is like wow.
if i was a prince i would be cool with that and if my son or i "volunteered" then it would seem far more holy then force us to do so. i would not be so pissed if he or i lost because both would have known what they were getting themselves into |
44,757,389 | I have this settings:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddcI8.png)
In XCode interface builder, I have added constraints. Now the red one between "S...gs" button and right "large" button is set to "greater than or equal", but it gives me error about missing constraint for position X. If I cnage this constraint to "equal" error is gone. What is wrong here?
EDIT:
Maybe its "conflicting" with some other constrains I have. I am adding full storyboard settings for the view controller
(Plus there are also some "programatically" added constraints during execution, but those should not affect XCode storyboard)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NdzNN.png) | 2017/06/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/44757389",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1130231/"
] | An inequality constraint is not enough for Auto Layout to know exactly where to place your wide button. As I can see, you haven't specified neither a trailing constraint nor a width constraint for your wide button, so Auto Layout does not know where to put it. Try adding a trailing constraint from the wide button to the superview and you should get what you want. | Try to set search button width constraint to greater or equal to 0 |
44,757,389 | I have this settings:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddcI8.png)
In XCode interface builder, I have added constraints. Now the red one between "S...gs" button and right "large" button is set to "greater than or equal", but it gives me error about missing constraint for position X. If I cnage this constraint to "equal" error is gone. What is wrong here?
EDIT:
Maybe its "conflicting" with some other constrains I have. I am adding full storyboard settings for the view controller
(Plus there are also some "programatically" added constraints during execution, but those should not affect XCode storyboard)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NdzNN.png) | 2017/06/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/44757389",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1130231/"
] | Add both the constraints in storyboard (equal to & greater than or equal to). And check the option "Remove at build time" for the **equal to** constraint
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oCiop.png) | An inequality constraint is not enough for Auto Layout to know exactly where to place your wide button. As I can see, you haven't specified neither a trailing constraint nor a width constraint for your wide button, so Auto Layout does not know where to put it. Try adding a trailing constraint from the wide button to the superview and you should get what you want. |
44,757,389 | I have this settings:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddcI8.png)
In XCode interface builder, I have added constraints. Now the red one between "S...gs" button and right "large" button is set to "greater than or equal", but it gives me error about missing constraint for position X. If I cnage this constraint to "equal" error is gone. What is wrong here?
EDIT:
Maybe its "conflicting" with some other constrains I have. I am adding full storyboard settings for the view controller
(Plus there are also some "programatically" added constraints during execution, but those should not affect XCode storyboard)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NdzNN.png) | 2017/06/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/44757389",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1130231/"
] | As it shown up, there is no real error. Xcode reports it as an error, but at runtime on a real device it works as expected. | Try to set search button width constraint to greater or equal to 0 |
44,757,389 | I have this settings:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddcI8.png)
In XCode interface builder, I have added constraints. Now the red one between "S...gs" button and right "large" button is set to "greater than or equal", but it gives me error about missing constraint for position X. If I cnage this constraint to "equal" error is gone. What is wrong here?
EDIT:
Maybe its "conflicting" with some other constrains I have. I am adding full storyboard settings for the view controller
(Plus there are also some "programatically" added constraints during execution, but those should not affect XCode storyboard)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NdzNN.png) | 2017/06/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/44757389",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1130231/"
] | Add both the constraints in storyboard (equal to & greater than or equal to). And check the option "Remove at build time" for the **equal to** constraint
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oCiop.png) | Try to set search button width constraint to greater or equal to 0 |
44,757,389 | I have this settings:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddcI8.png)
In XCode interface builder, I have added constraints. Now the red one between "S...gs" button and right "large" button is set to "greater than or equal", but it gives me error about missing constraint for position X. If I cnage this constraint to "equal" error is gone. What is wrong here?
EDIT:
Maybe its "conflicting" with some other constrains I have. I am adding full storyboard settings for the view controller
(Plus there are also some "programatically" added constraints during execution, but those should not affect XCode storyboard)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NdzNN.png) | 2017/06/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/44757389",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1130231/"
] | Add both the constraints in storyboard (equal to & greater than or equal to). And check the option "Remove at build time" for the **equal to** constraint
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oCiop.png) | As it shown up, there is no real error. Xcode reports it as an error, but at runtime on a real device it works as expected. |
83,715 | I have a search function that lists different search forms under links: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lg3vX.png)
Each link goes to a form with slightly different parameters eg:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k8t5z.png)
and
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3XCo.png)
All forms contain a common 'title' field and, as you can see, some forms have other parameters overlapping.
This method of searching seems very inefficient. It seems much more logical to have a single search screen.
My question: what would be a better way of organising this search? Would an approach which surfaced the ubiquitous keyword field and offered advanced scoping options be a better way forward, or is the current method just as usable? | 2015/08/27 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/83715",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/4701/"
] | Both are perfectly valid options, so a lot of it will come down to the feeling you want a user to have when being greeted by the site:
You are right that just the first name is a very personal approach. This is the sort of thing you find with a lot of voice assistants on phones; not only do they simply refer to you by your first name, they can also be customized. It makes the user feel like they have an honest connection to what is actually just a machine.
If your site is for professionals who need to get work done, it may be a good idea to keep it detached and professional. It can help establish a mental barrier that the place a user is now (your site) is a place for getting things done. | To me this is depending on two factors:
**The target group:**
* For older / more serious customers I would probably go for Hello [First Name] [Last Name].
* For younger / less serious customers I would probably go for Hello [First Name].
**The websites goals:**
* For some sort of sales website I would probably go for Hello [First Name] [Last Name].
* For some sort of community website I would probably go for Hello [First Name]. |
83,715 | I have a search function that lists different search forms under links: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lg3vX.png)
Each link goes to a form with slightly different parameters eg:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k8t5z.png)
and
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3XCo.png)
All forms contain a common 'title' field and, as you can see, some forms have other parameters overlapping.
This method of searching seems very inefficient. It seems much more logical to have a single search screen.
My question: what would be a better way of organising this search? Would an approach which surfaced the ubiquitous keyword field and offered advanced scoping options be a better way forward, or is the current method just as usable? | 2015/08/27 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/83715",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/4701/"
] | Both are perfectly valid options, so a lot of it will come down to the feeling you want a user to have when being greeted by the site:
You are right that just the first name is a very personal approach. This is the sort of thing you find with a lot of voice assistants on phones; not only do they simply refer to you by your first name, they can also be customized. It makes the user feel like they have an honest connection to what is actually just a machine.
If your site is for professionals who need to get work done, it may be a good idea to keep it detached and professional. It can help establish a mental barrier that the place a user is now (your site) is a place for getting things done. | Using first name and last name (in English at least) sounds a little crazy.
I have very rarely heard people use that format in real life, it generally only crops up in the movies with science fiction robots/aliens and Soviet-era Russians (do Russians typically do that these days? I have no idea).
Real world occasions with that format...celebrities of course....more down to earth...when a peer group has 2 girls named Anne and has to distinguish between them? Perhaps on occasion when people in a company are referring to upper management (out of respect? because he is a far away figure far more connected to the lives of pro sportsmen than themselves? To avoid CEO Darren Green being mixed up with Darren Brown, the intern?)
In the modern English speaking world I would very much say to go for first name only. I have worked on systems for some very serious major companies and the standard order with them these days is that everyone gets their first name. Nobody gets "Mr Jones" anymore; though as mentioned upper management may get the full name treatment, albeit not to their face.
Mr/Mrs/Ms/Whatever surname....well there you have the problem of there being so many different possible titles. And it all sounds rather artificial and fake. Modern society tends not to like the fake hierarchy this seems to indicate.
Things are different in other countries of course. In Japan you call even your closest co-workers surname-san (unless they are foreign), in Thailand it is Mr. Firstname. But we're on about an English system so lets use English conventions.
Irrelevant to the question but worth mentioning of course is that this name should be come to naturally. If somebody is logged into a system that has a perfectly good reason to know their name. Don't prompt "Enter your name please", "Thanks Jane" purely to add 'personalisation', the Starbucks trend to superfluously throw about somebody's name for pop-psychology reasons is quite the annoyance. |
83,715 | I have a search function that lists different search forms under links: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lg3vX.png)
Each link goes to a form with slightly different parameters eg:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k8t5z.png)
and
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/F3XCo.png)
All forms contain a common 'title' field and, as you can see, some forms have other parameters overlapping.
This method of searching seems very inefficient. It seems much more logical to have a single search screen.
My question: what would be a better way of organising this search? Would an approach which surfaced the ubiquitous keyword field and offered advanced scoping options be a better way forward, or is the current method just as usable? | 2015/08/27 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/83715",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/4701/"
] | To me this is depending on two factors:
**The target group:**
* For older / more serious customers I would probably go for Hello [First Name] [Last Name].
* For younger / less serious customers I would probably go for Hello [First Name].
**The websites goals:**
* For some sort of sales website I would probably go for Hello [First Name] [Last Name].
* For some sort of community website I would probably go for Hello [First Name]. | Using first name and last name (in English at least) sounds a little crazy.
I have very rarely heard people use that format in real life, it generally only crops up in the movies with science fiction robots/aliens and Soviet-era Russians (do Russians typically do that these days? I have no idea).
Real world occasions with that format...celebrities of course....more down to earth...when a peer group has 2 girls named Anne and has to distinguish between them? Perhaps on occasion when people in a company are referring to upper management (out of respect? because he is a far away figure far more connected to the lives of pro sportsmen than themselves? To avoid CEO Darren Green being mixed up with Darren Brown, the intern?)
In the modern English speaking world I would very much say to go for first name only. I have worked on systems for some very serious major companies and the standard order with them these days is that everyone gets their first name. Nobody gets "Mr Jones" anymore; though as mentioned upper management may get the full name treatment, albeit not to their face.
Mr/Mrs/Ms/Whatever surname....well there you have the problem of there being so many different possible titles. And it all sounds rather artificial and fake. Modern society tends not to like the fake hierarchy this seems to indicate.
Things are different in other countries of course. In Japan you call even your closest co-workers surname-san (unless they are foreign), in Thailand it is Mr. Firstname. But we're on about an English system so lets use English conventions.
Irrelevant to the question but worth mentioning of course is that this name should be come to naturally. If somebody is logged into a system that has a perfectly good reason to know their name. Don't prompt "Enter your name please", "Thanks Jane" purely to add 'personalisation', the Starbucks trend to superfluously throw about somebody's name for pop-psychology reasons is quite the annoyance. |
26,873 | So I've been looking into non-violent communication (NVC) lately and I came across [the following](https://www.cnvc.org/what-nvc/articles-writings/anger-and-domination-systems/anger-and-domination-systems):
>
> Jackal Parent: Say you are sorry
>
>
> Jackal Child: I’m sorry
>
>
> Jackal Parent: You’re not really sorry. I can see from your face you are not really sorry.
>
>
> Jackal Child: (begins to cry) I’m sorry.
>
>
> Jackal Parent: I forgive you.
>
>
>
Along with the general idea of right/wrong being part of a domination culture that runs counter to the goals of NVC.
Apologies were baked into the culture I grew up in. Whenever I cause harm to someone (intentionally or not), I apologize. And when harm is done unto me, I *expect* an apology, and get upset when I do not receive one. Reading that article has made me come to realize that the latter is not constructive.
But it's also made me think about the former: I wonder if, given that as a species we tend to internalize behaviours we experience, the act of apologizing is part of making an environment where apologies are 'normal', and, consequently, 'expected'.
I wonder whether the act of apologizing itself can contribute to a domination culture, and if as such, I should change my behavior to where I avoid admitting wrong (due to the NVC outlook that right/wrong are unimportant/nonexistent) and instead try to jump straight to fixing whatever problem came up. To me that seems counter-intuitive, but I don't know if that's just a result of how I've been raised.
**What place do apologies have in non-violent communication? Is apologizing counter to non-violent communication?** | 2021/03/12 | [
"https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/questions/26873",
"https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com",
"https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/users/32623/"
] | >
> ... in an office environment or while talking to friends ...
>
>
>
I think you have 2 very different settings and backgrounds here. I never had a problem with family, friends and acquaintances, but I had to train and train (and repeat) again when I had to talk to people in an office or [giving a presentation](https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/questions/1087/how-can-i-calm-myself-down-when-giving-a-presentation/1095#1095). That's why I'll focus on the professional part. And when you succeed in one, most of the time, you can't miss the other one anyway...
First, it's important to know / learn about the [importance of eye contact during a presentation](https://virtualspeech.com/blog/importance-of-eye-contact-during-a-presentation) and learn some [tips for making eye contact](https://www.presentationtraininginstitute.com/tips-for-making-eye-contact-with-your-audience-while-you-speak/). You can also read about [how to overcome eye contact anxiety](https://www.verywellmind.com/how-do-i-maintain-good-eye-contact-3024392). (I give very few links, as there are so many you can easily find, some being very useful, some much less, you need to sort this out...).
My only tip, the one I practiced, was to move my eyes following the rythm of the sentences. For instance: when you read for yourself, in your head, you may not "act", and just keep a neutral tone. No matter what you read, the words will do the job. But when you "read" for someone else, you want the words to be "real", and you want the tone that you use to convey the idea behind the words: frightning? loving? joy? pain? sadness? Try to do the same with your speeches to colleagues. Make ideas come to life using the appropriate tone. Slightly emphasize what needs to be, use a quick 1s pause after a punchline or an important fact. Let people catch the idea.
So, when I had to talk to teammates, I would make sure I evenly split the time of eye contact. One idea or sentence to each one of them, more or less. The sentence being directly said to the person, with eye contact. It's like reading a book to children. In your case, talking to adults, you sure don't need to emphasize. And make sure you don't, as it may be seen as patronizing.
If you have people sitting at a table, in front of you, with a 180° angle point of view, split this big area. 3 or 4 smaller areas, filled with 2 or 3 people. Then, talk to these 2 or 3 at the same time, then, move to another area and repeat. This way, people feel like they are important without being singled out. When on a stage (watch videos of great teachers or tycoons giving a presentation and see how they move, learn their body language), you should move from left to right, and back, with small stops. When you can't walk or move, do the same with your eyes and look at them; just like if they were taking turns, one on one.
Practice, and practice again. Keep in mind what you have to say, the idea you want to convey to these people, and "read" it to them. Tell them the story you wrote. Once I realized I was able to do that, I was much less nervous, and much more efficient. | My "theory" on eye contact comes from doing presentations and teaching classes. My first few attempts at such were pretty bad, where I was much in the same state as the OP, not knowing exactly how to proceed with eye contact.
The thing to focus on is **why** we make eye contact. It gives us the non-verbal feedback, the visual cues. We've all had the experience that someone is talking, looks at us and says something like "do you have a question?". They are reading our appearance and seeing a puzzled look.
So based on my experience, what I learned to do was to periodically scan over the people I'm talking to, making brief eye contact. But it's not based on a schedule, it's not "every n seconds I will change focus". Instead, as I feel it's necessary to make sure that I'm being understood, I'll look at faces and try to gauge understanding. It's useful to also pause a bit at that point, just to give people a bit of time to digest. |
50,907 | I'm dealing with my art director to redesign one of my website and more specifically the header of one of those. My websites are in web responsive and i'd like to know if there is any specification for the size of the font? | 2014/01/24 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/50907",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/39610/"
] | Recommended font size for paragraphs in web is at least 16px (somewhat depending on which font you're using, serif fonts suffers from poor readability in lower res).
A good rule to follow is to let the H1 header be 1.5em in size, meaning 150% the size of your paragraph font. So if your paragraph font is 16px then let the H1 header be 24px.
Note that the font specs are also affected by browser preferences.
[You can read more about it here](http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2011/11/29/the-perfect-paragraph/). | Not knowing specifically which typographic element are you asking about (page title, navigation, company branding/logo etc) I would echo AndroidHustle's comment and advise that you do not go below 16px for your smallest size. This 'should' hold up on both mobile and desktop but ultimately you will need to test thoroughly on various devices.
More from this old smashing magazine link here:
<http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/07/16-pixels-body-copy-anything-less-costly-mistake/>
>
> "16-pixel text on a screen is about the same size as text printed in a
> book or magazine; this is accounting for reading distance. Because we
> read books pretty close — often only a few inches away — they are
> typically set at about 10 points. If you were to read them at arm’s
> length, you’d want at least 12 points, which is about the same size as
> 16 pixels on most screens"
>
>
>
and some other general guidance from iA on text sizes:
<http://ia.net/blog/100e2r/> |
9,313 | The manifold pressure gauge of the Japanese [Ki-61](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Ki-61) has values which go from +40 to -40. I know this has to be relative to *something* since negative pressure can't exist (you can't get more vacuum than a vacuum), but I'm not sure what it's relative to.
**Why did the manifold pressure gauge on the Ki-61 have negative values?**
 | 2014/10/25 | [
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/9313",
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com",
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com/users/167/"
] | Disclaimer: I do not know if my answer is correct, but I think it is plausible.
The Ki-61 engine was the [Kawasaki Ha-40](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Ha40), a Japanese version of the [Daimler-Benz DB 601 Aa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler-Benz_DB_601) turbocharged inverted-V inline engine, so I would assume that the engine instrumentation was inspired by what was used in Germany at that time. Manifold pressure was measured in ata (Atmosphäre absolut, close to 1 bar), which is multiples of the standard atmospheric pressure. The picture below shows the manifold pressure gauge of the Me-109 G, which used the DB 605 A. This was derived from the DB 601, and the manifold pressure gauge has a range from 0.6 ata to 1.8 ata.
The [DB 601 A had a maximum manifold pressure at sea level of 1.35 ata](http://www.deutscheluftwaffe.de/archiv/Dokumente/ABC/b/Me%20109e/Bf109%20e%20Handbuch.pdf). This lets me assume that the Ha-40 was also turbocharged to 1.35 ata, which is 1.368 bar. The critical altitude was probably only 3700 m. The regular DB 601 A had a critical altitude of 4500 m, which was reduced in the DB 601 Aa export version to 3700 m. I could not find a direct reference for the critical altitude of the Ha-40.
At the 11,600 m service ceiling of the Ki-61, the atmospheric pressure is 206.6 mbar. Now we need to factor in the ram pressure gain of approx. 20% at 300 kts TAS, and with the 2.14 compression ratio needed for a critical altitude of 3700 m, this would translate to a manifold pressure of 530 mbar or 0.522 ata. If the Kawasaki engineers raised that to the 2.37 compression ratio of the original DB 601 A, the manifold pressure at 11,600 m could even had been 578 mbar or 0.570 ata.
The most plausible explanation for the numbers on the manifold pressure gauge now would be percentage over rsp. below 1 ata, the static pressure at sea level. Since it is more important to not overstress the engine at low level, the +40 upper limit fits well to the maximum 1.35 ata setting. This fits also well with the static value of 0, meaning 1 atmosphere. At high altitude the compressor would run at maximum setting anyway, and the scale here is for informing the pilot about available power, and would not cover the lowest values close to maximum altitude.
I could not find a performance chart for the Ha-40 or the DB 601 A, and the nearest Google dug out for me is the performance chart of the DB 601 E below. Please note that this engine had more performance (2700 RPM and 1.42 ata manifold pressure for takeoff; the DB 601 A used 2400 RPM and 1.35 ata) and a higher critical altitude of 4800 m:
 | The Zero value is the standard reference point for Japanese Manifold Pressures which is 750 mm Hg Absolute Pressure.
The Ki-61-I series aircraft was equipped with the Ha-40 engine which was not an exact copy of the DB 601Aa but derived from it.
The normal maximum Manifold Pressure was +240 mm Hg which would be
240 mm + 750 mm ==> 990 mm Hg
or 38.98 inches Hg on a more familiar scale.
The maximum Manifold Pressure available for Take-Off (1 minute limit in the original DB 601Aa but not known in the Ha-40) was +330 mm.
So.... a scale of +- 40 centimeters makes pretty good sense for a Manifold Pressure Gauge.
* Ivan. |
188,916 | I have submitted a paper and both reviewers stated that the work is very well-written, novel, very well-done etc., and asked only some very easy questions. After I sent the revised version, on the same day both reviewers completed their review report (I could see the status on the tracking system). So based on the previous positive comments, and the short time for them to complete the second review, I assumed they accepted the article. It has been 2 weeks now and still the editor did not send us their decision. I am giving birth in a couple of weeks and I really need to handle this before my due date. What should I do? Is it wise to send them an email stating the reason I am in a hurry for the editor's decision? | 2022/09/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/188916",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/162847/"
] | Two weeks is plenty of time to make a decision, so feel free to nudge the editor (especially since "I am giving birth soon and won't be available for a while" is a reason most people will empathize with). | >
> I am giving birth in a couple of weeks and I really need to handle
> this before my due date
>
>
>
First: congratulations!
Second: do not let being a mother completely define you. You will still be a scientist, although with a seriously impaired agenda (don't worry, it is really so, it would be stupid to claim otherwise and it will be even more stupid to discriminate you on that basis).
Third: even if the paper is accepted tonight, it is quite likely the paper will still require minimal editing and input from you for the final version in 3/4 weeks. You may still find the time to do that or you may delegate one of the co-authors to do that, maybe prepare them to be able to work with the processed data and the needed plotting scripts?
All the best for your future! |
215,016 | In the sentence below, what does "one" refer to in "one pushing the other"? Does it refer to the girls or to the cars?
>
> On the way into town one day I noticed a couple of young girls working their way along the lines of cars waiting at a busy junction, one pushing the other.
>
>
> | 2019/06/17 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/215016",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/97109/"
] | In English, the phrase *"one pushing the other"* can only refer to two things, the *"one"* and *"the other"*. If there were more than two things, the phrasing should have been *"the others"* or *"pushing one another"*. Thus, it cannot refer to the lines of cars, which clearly contain a lot more than two cars.
It must be that one of the girls was pushing the other, although it's not entirely clear how (maybe in a wheelchair; maybe not). | >
> on the way into town one day I noticed a couple of young girls working their way along the lines of cars waiting at a busy junction, one pushing the other.
>
>
>
One girl is pushing the other girl. As we know nothing else about the girls, "one" just means one of the girls -- the one pushing. |
215,016 | In the sentence below, what does "one" refer to in "one pushing the other"? Does it refer to the girls or to the cars?
>
> On the way into town one day I noticed a couple of young girls working their way along the lines of cars waiting at a busy junction, one pushing the other.
>
>
> | 2019/06/17 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/215016",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/97109/"
] | In English, the phrase *"one pushing the other"* can only refer to two things, the *"one"* and *"the other"*. If there were more than two things, the phrasing should have been *"the others"* or *"pushing one another"*. Thus, it cannot refer to the lines of cars, which clearly contain a lot more than two cars.
It must be that one of the girls was pushing the other, although it's not entirely clear how (maybe in a wheelchair; maybe not). | >
> On the way into town one day, I noticed a couple of young girls working their way along the lines of cars [which were] waiting at a busy junction, one pushing the other.
>
>
>
This is perhaps a little ambiguous. In general, I would assume that the clause relates to the most recent subject in the sentence, unless there is a reason to think otherwise. Therefore I would assume that the cars were pushing one-another.
A reason you may read it the other way, is if there was some punctuation as follows:
I noticed a couple of young girls **, who were working their way along the lines of cars waiting at a busy junction,** one pushing the other. |
149,284 | Right now, it says 2 days remaining - does it reset at midnight in my current timezone according to the iOS time? i.e. Does it end on Mon. Jan 6 at 12:00:00 AM EST?
Still have 12 more levels to decorate and I don't think I'm going to be able to get enough droids to hit that in time. I have the Imp. Bux to summon enough of them, but I'm really close to the final elevator so I'm a bit torn. | 2014/01/04 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/149284",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/65163/"
] | Two devices or more must be connected to the same WiFi network. One of the users must host the server, and the other ones will have to connect to it. | You can download the multiplayer server by getting multiplayer pe then one of them makes a password then everyonelse has to know the password to be able to play together. |
38,659,473 | I'm looking for a way to add a timestamp in every file that is uploaded to an S3 bucket, Amazon-side. There is, of course, an option to do this client-side before the upload, but I don't think this is as nice and clean as it would be to have some script to run in the bucket itself everytime a new file is uploaded. I didn't find anything in the docs, though. | 2016/07/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/38659473",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3334049/"
] | There is **no capability** within Amazon S3 to change the Key (filename) of a file based upon upload time.
Given that your desire is to **avoid name conflicts**, some choices are:
* Use a **unique GUID or a timestamp** to name the file when uploading. This will avoid naming conflicts.
* Upload the file to Bucket A, then use a **Lambda function triggered on ObjectCreation to copy the object** to Bucket B with a unique name based on timestamp | You can try with a lambda function handling the ObjectCreated event. See [this tutorial](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/with-s3-example.html).
Not sure that works though. |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Maybe [Turnkey LAMP Stack Appliance](http://www.turnkeylinux.org/lamp) fits your needs. | [openSUSE Rescue](http://opensuse.org) is only 591 MB. It comes with the Xfce environment. It does
not come with APT, but does include the similar [zypper tool](http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_Rosetta). |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Ubuntus JeOS was beeing build for exactly your purpose.
<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JeOS>
as single iso until 8.04
Now part of the server iso. Just select "install minimal virtual machine" in the install menu. | [openSUSE Rescue](http://opensuse.org) is only 591 MB. It comes with the Xfce environment. It does
not come with APT, but does include the similar [zypper tool](http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_Rosetta). |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Ubuntus JeOS was beeing build for exactly your purpose.
<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JeOS>
as single iso until 8.04
Now part of the server iso. Just select "install minimal virtual machine" in the install menu. | Have a look at ArchivistaVM, it is only about 100 MByte (with Xorg + Firefox), or 72 MByte without GUI:
<http://www.archivista.ch/en/pages/support/download.php>
Zip-File without GUI (same password) <https://www.archivista.ch/avtest5.zip>
It works completely in RAM, startup time is about 15 or 20 seconds, there is a cluster mode (drdb), but at this time, the documentation is not yet fully available in English. |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Well for light DE you could try lubuntu.
If you just want something light, then use the Ubuntu minimal install and build from there | [openSUSE Rescue](http://opensuse.org) is only 591 MB. It comes with the Xfce environment. It does
not come with APT, but does include the similar [zypper tool](http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_Rosetta). |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Ubuntus JeOS was beeing build for exactly your purpose.
<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JeOS>
as single iso until 8.04
Now part of the server iso. Just select "install minimal virtual machine" in the install menu. | Well for light DE you could try lubuntu.
If you just want something light, then use the Ubuntu minimal install and build from there |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Maybe [Turnkey LAMP Stack Appliance](http://www.turnkeylinux.org/lamp) fits your needs. | Have a look at ArchivistaVM, it is only about 100 MByte (with Xorg + Firefox), or 72 MByte without GUI:
<http://www.archivista.ch/en/pages/support/download.php>
Zip-File without GUI (same password) <https://www.archivista.ch/avtest5.zip>
It works completely in RAM, startup time is about 15 or 20 seconds, there is a cluster mode (drdb), but at this time, the documentation is not yet fully available in English. |
158,396 | Does someone knows a small linux distro that comes with apt package?
I tried puppy linux and dsl, but I didn't like any of those.
I am looking to setup a LAMP into a virtual machine with a small linux, and I am looking for a distro with apt because i am familiar with the package, and it would be easier for me to setup and upgrade a server. | 2010/06/30 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/158396",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/40705/"
] | Have a look at ArchivistaVM, it is only about 100 MByte (with Xorg + Firefox), or 72 MByte without GUI:
<http://www.archivista.ch/en/pages/support/download.php>
Zip-File without GUI (same password) <https://www.archivista.ch/avtest5.zip>
It works completely in RAM, startup time is about 15 or 20 seconds, there is a cluster mode (drdb), but at this time, the documentation is not yet fully available in English. | [openSUSE Rescue](http://opensuse.org) is only 591 MB. It comes with the Xfce environment. It does
not come with APT, but does include the similar [zypper tool](http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman_Rosetta). |
123,514 | I have this observation of mine, that good (usable) user interfaces on the web are usually at their best upon the launch of the web site and some time after that, and then, as soon as the business behind the web site becomes successful (if it does become such on the first place), the great UI gets gradually ruined over the course of the success of the business (especially if that is an online business amassing a sufficient number of users to make it either a monopolistic or oligopolistic player). Do you have any observations confirming or refuting mine? | 2019/02/01 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/123514",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/8032/"
] | Disagree. I think Amazon, for example, has done a pretty good job in terms of improving the information architecture (IA), search and personalization of their interface over the years. I suppose this is the kind of "monopolistic" company you're referring to? It is true that IA often gets more bloated as companies add more elements to their nav over time. But this can be kept under control with careful organization and user research techniques such as card sorting. | ### Classic Small Business vs. Big Business Attitude
I have had a theory for many years about this. It is **NOT** specific to "Web Interface." In fact, the typical small business will have a minimal web presence and therefore may not have much of a "Web Interface" to speak of at all. Now my theory:
All businesses starts small. Most either stay small or fail. A very small percentage become big businesses. For an example, compare how many small grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. there are (though admittedly not as many as there used to be as many have been swallowed up by bigger companies or closed due to competition from bigger businesses) compared to large grocery store chains or pharamacy chains, each of which can include hundreds, even thousands of stores. So there is actually a relatively small group of big businesses to compare.
In my personal experience (yes, opinion based), there are companies within each industry that have managed to take the "ideal" small business attitudes regarding customer service (personalized, "customer is (almost) always right", easy returns), employee treatment (not so much salaries as benefits, flexible time off, high morale), community involvement (e.g., supporting charities) and other factors. **A high-quality web interface is simply the latest of those "customer oriented" factors.**
There are other companies that have managed to grow large, either based on those same attributes but "losing" them along the way at some level, or purely on price competition (where, depending on the market and other factors, people will buy **despite** poor customer service), government sanctioned near-monopoly (whether by government regulations, shaky patents or other methods) or other methods to become **REALLY BIG** without those cherished small business attitudes. At a certain level, a business can become "too big to fail" and survive for a relatively long time despite these problems, including (in the modern era) a web interface that is far below expectations. (Though for anyone who thinks a business is truly "too big to fail" can simply look at the downfall of Sears after over 100 years as a leader in US retail.)
In fact, I have actually seen some big businesses with fairly decent web interface, but unable to compete successfully against other online retailers due to other factors, and with all of the other problems mentioned above conspiring against them, in the long-term, in the bricks & mortar world.
While I won't list my personal opinions as far as which big companies fall into each of these categories, as that is arbitrary and subjective (except of course that *my* answers are the right ones!), I think most people who do a lot of shopping at multiple large stores of a particular type (department stores, home improvement, grocery, computers/electronics, pharmacy), can come up with a categorization of which ones have a "small business attitude" based on multiple factors, including web interface.
The end result is that "quality web interface" is only one of many factors and does **NOT** necessarily change (for better or for worse) with the growth of a business. |
123,514 | I have this observation of mine, that good (usable) user interfaces on the web are usually at their best upon the launch of the web site and some time after that, and then, as soon as the business behind the web site becomes successful (if it does become such on the first place), the great UI gets gradually ruined over the course of the success of the business (especially if that is an online business amassing a sufficient number of users to make it either a monopolistic or oligopolistic player). Do you have any observations confirming or refuting mine? | 2019/02/01 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/123514",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/8032/"
] | I see little to support your theory, and plenty to contradict it.
Interfaces tend to get more *complex* over time as a company grows, but that is generally because the functionality that interface needs to support also grows more complex over time. Small companies do one thing, so their website can be simple. Large companies do many things.
Complexity is orthogonal to the *quality* of the interface -- if anything, more complex interfaces give more opportunities for good UX design to happen. There's a tremendous amount of functionality squeezed into Amazon's homepage, for example, which would have been completely overwhelming in their early UX design.
For many of the truly large-scale websites it's not really possible to make a fair comparison between their original design and their current one; the truly [godawful appearance of (for example) Youtube, Facebook, Google, and Amazon at launch](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html) can mostly be blamed on the limited capabilities of the web at the time -- and, honestly, the comparatively limited skills of the web design community in the olden days. (I should know; I was one of them.)
But it can be instructive to go through archive.org and watch websites designs evolve over time; you can really see how the rough edges get honed off and incremental improvements get made. Just to take a couple of (very different) examples -- I'm not going to try to critique the entirety of their designs, just focus on one aspect in each case:
* [Amazon circa 2006](https://web.archive.org/web/20060828103636/http://www.amazon.com:80/) had a triply-redundant "browse" sidebar, "See all 34 product categories" tab (itself a compromise after years of gradually-increasing-in-number individual tabs), and product category pulldown menu. [A few years later](https://web.archive.org/web/20090301060209/http://www.amazon.com/) they'd got rid of the tabs; and a [few years after that](https://web.archive.org/web/20120401000415/http://www.amazon.com/) tucked the sidebar out of the way. By 2014 or so the category pulldown and search field had merged into a [tidy unified control](https://web.archive.org/web/20150430234153/http://www.amazon.com/).
* Stack Overflow has had a relatively stable functionality set throughout its lifespan; its design evolution has been more about incremental improvements than about major redesigns. It launched with [comically amateurish typography](https://web.archive.org/web/20090302022136/http://stackoverflow.com/). It took [several years](https://web.archive.org/web/20130301075248/http://stackoverflow.com/) for them to start figuring out that not *everything* needed emphasis; over the [next few years](https://web.archive.org/web/20150630203926/http://stackoverflow.com/) the typography gradually [evolved towards readability.](https://web.archive.org/web/20160701200653/http://stackoverflow.com/)
I could go on, but you get the idea. It's a worthwhile exercise to go through the history of pretty much any site you may think of; sometimes there are missteps and unfortunate trends, but generally it's difficult to find an example of a major site buried in its own cruft (imho that's more the territory of small-to-midsized businesses that let the developers or marketing teams do the UX design by accident, or of companies that allow monetization or major changes of business plan to take over the UI.)
(I should clarify that I'm in no way saying this is *universal* -- designs don't *always* improve over time; sometimes companies do make missteps, outsource to the wrong design agencies, fall for fads or trends, etc. I'd say it's *generally* true that interface quality tends to improve over the long term.) | ### Classic Small Business vs. Big Business Attitude
I have had a theory for many years about this. It is **NOT** specific to "Web Interface." In fact, the typical small business will have a minimal web presence and therefore may not have much of a "Web Interface" to speak of at all. Now my theory:
All businesses starts small. Most either stay small or fail. A very small percentage become big businesses. For an example, compare how many small grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. there are (though admittedly not as many as there used to be as many have been swallowed up by bigger companies or closed due to competition from bigger businesses) compared to large grocery store chains or pharamacy chains, each of which can include hundreds, even thousands of stores. So there is actually a relatively small group of big businesses to compare.
In my personal experience (yes, opinion based), there are companies within each industry that have managed to take the "ideal" small business attitudes regarding customer service (personalized, "customer is (almost) always right", easy returns), employee treatment (not so much salaries as benefits, flexible time off, high morale), community involvement (e.g., supporting charities) and other factors. **A high-quality web interface is simply the latest of those "customer oriented" factors.**
There are other companies that have managed to grow large, either based on those same attributes but "losing" them along the way at some level, or purely on price competition (where, depending on the market and other factors, people will buy **despite** poor customer service), government sanctioned near-monopoly (whether by government regulations, shaky patents or other methods) or other methods to become **REALLY BIG** without those cherished small business attitudes. At a certain level, a business can become "too big to fail" and survive for a relatively long time despite these problems, including (in the modern era) a web interface that is far below expectations. (Though for anyone who thinks a business is truly "too big to fail" can simply look at the downfall of Sears after over 100 years as a leader in US retail.)
In fact, I have actually seen some big businesses with fairly decent web interface, but unable to compete successfully against other online retailers due to other factors, and with all of the other problems mentioned above conspiring against them, in the long-term, in the bricks & mortar world.
While I won't list my personal opinions as far as which big companies fall into each of these categories, as that is arbitrary and subjective (except of course that *my* answers are the right ones!), I think most people who do a lot of shopping at multiple large stores of a particular type (department stores, home improvement, grocery, computers/electronics, pharmacy), can come up with a categorization of which ones have a "small business attitude" based on multiple factors, including web interface.
The end result is that "quality web interface" is only one of many factors and does **NOT** necessarily change (for better or for worse) with the growth of a business. |
178,949 | No matter what the TERM variable is set to, vt-100, xterm, xterm-color the terminal does wierd things, like force a carriage return after 80 characters, and only address the upper left corner of the screen.
It's very odd.
Curses is well named it's been the irritation in my side for 25 years of nix development. | 2010/08/22 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/178949",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/-1/"
] | This is a complex issue, and there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. In fact, there are two questions here: what to synchronize, and how to synchronize it. There are many factors at play: convenience (having it all happen automatically), expressivity (how finely can you tune which files get synchronized), robustness (if you accidentally create two versions of a synchronized file, will you notice), resilience (if you have two versions of a synchronized file, how do you merge them back), availability (what happens when the Internet isn't working optimally), ...
What to synchronize
-------------------
* **System configuration**: Just don't bother. The things you're most likely to change at the system level are likely to be specific to one computer (e.g. tuning your laptop's battery life/performance compromise). Installing a package is easy enough that automatic synchronization of installed packages wouldn't buy you much. (But if you install a program manually as opposed to through the packaging system, it falls under “user configuration”.)
* **User configuration**: This is a thornier issue. There is definitely a gain in synchronizing your customizations. However many programs store their data in such a way that you can't simply keep the same configuration file on both machines, even when the program version is the same. For example, most browser preferences should be synchronized, but there's little point in synchronizing the browser cache.
Some programs have configuration files that support conditional settings, for example to select different window sizes or different keyboard shortcuts on the laptop and on the desktop. Then you just write a slightly more elaborate configuration file and synchronize it.
Some programs have a built-in synchronization mechanism, and it will be a lot simpler to set up than whatever generic mechanism you otherwise use. Firefox in particular has extensions to synchronize the relevant bits of a profile.
* **Personal documents**: They should be synchronized. This one is a no-brainer.
* **Large data**: Ideally, you'd be able to access all your data from anywhere. But the size of a typical music or movie collection often means you have to keep a small, usually changing selection on your laptop.
How to synchronize
------------------
* **Dropbox**: [Dropbox](http://www.dropbox.com/) is an online synchronization service. It's the preferred synchronization method on Ubuntu. It's online (all data goes via Dropbox's servers), you can't just plug your laptop into your desktop if you don't have an Internet connection.
Dropbox has a number of advantages that often make it the best solution: it's got a friendly GUI, it's very easy to set up, it doesn't require that the two machines be online simultaneously, synchronizing more than two machines is seamless. The downsides are minor for many people but can be a show-stopper: you need Internet connectivity, you need to trust Dropbox not to go bust, there is a limit on data size (currently 2GB for free).
* **Unison**: Unison lets you synchronize directories on two machines. It requires connectivity between the two machines, so you can synchronize your laptop with your desktop at home even if your ISP is down. If you have intermittent Internet connectivity, you can use both Unison and Dropbox on the same files.
* **Distributed version control**: If you have some files under version control, there is no point in synchronizing them. Synchronizing the repositories with a general-purpose mechanism is possible but a recipe for trouble. The right tool is a distributed version control system (bazaar, darcs, git, mercurial, ...). | it's not the system part that needs syncing in your case (it also makes no sense since they are in fact two different pieces of hardware... it would just break your system sooner or later)
what you want to sync is probably only your /home folder (which keeps your application configuration files) or some parts of it (i.e. desktop folder or you could make "mysyncfolder" (to keep the files you want to sync) or something like that)...
check [dropbox](http://www.getdropbox.com/), it's probably the best solution for your needs |
312,136 | I'd like to know if there's a general rule of thumb wheter to enable gzipping for PDF files or not. I use NGINX but I think this would be helpful for Apache users as well.
Thanks. | 2011/09/16 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/312136",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/83157/"
] | This is just my opinion, but I think that zip-compressing PDF files is not a good idea.
PDF files will almost always use some kind compression internally, FLATE is used in general for text content inside pages, and lossy-compression is in general used for images (PNG, JPEG, JPEG2000 are common for color images and CCITT or JBIG2 are commonly used for gray-scale and monochrome). Re-compressing your files once more will provide little gain (if any) in terms of space and it will reduce the usability of the system as a whole. | If your PDF files are mainly text based (few to no images) and your server has a lot of traffic accessing the same document *and can handle the compressing* , then yes, mod\_deflate or mod\_gzip is a good idea. If you're unsure, try it out first, and if the performance goes down, just undo it. I've been serving all content except images and video with mod\_deflate for over a year now, and it's cut my bandwidth to under half (Lots of text documents and scripts). Also consider looking into a cache system if not already, as this will really reduce the workload on the server. |
61,360 | I recently began learning sight singing from Robert Ottman's book.
I've gotten to the point where you should sing simple melodies, with the biggest interval between 2 notes being a major second. The book says that if you have the major scale in your head it should be easy to sight sing these melodies, but I can't.
Are there any exercises I can do to stick the major scale in my head that would make me progress in this situation? | 2017/08/25 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/61360",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/39912/"
] | I suggest you sit at a piano, and slowly play a major scale, but just before you *play* each the note you *sing* the pitch you think you're about to hear.
If you're feeling more ambitious you can do the scale notes out of sequence - but again try to sing the note before you play it. If you find certain intervals hard you can concentrate on those, repeating until you start to feel more confident.
Moving on from single notes, you should also try singing a run of notes from the scale, say the first or last four or five notes, and then check with the piano to see whether you sang the right notes or not. | I'd head straight for the eponymous song 'Do a Deer', from the Sound of Music. Another would be 'Scales and Arpeggios' from the Aristocats. |
61,360 | I recently began learning sight singing from Robert Ottman's book.
I've gotten to the point where you should sing simple melodies, with the biggest interval between 2 notes being a major second. The book says that if you have the major scale in your head it should be easy to sight sing these melodies, but I can't.
Are there any exercises I can do to stick the major scale in my head that would make me progress in this situation? | 2017/08/25 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/61360",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/39912/"
] | When it comes to basic building blocks like the major scale, it's often best to learn it by playing it on a piano or other instrument until you can mimic the sound yourself.
As for repertoire, the opening of ["Joy to the World"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5hj518Iugk) is a great *descending* major scale. Try singing this before the beginning of every Ottman exercise to get yourself into the key and to start conceptualizing the major-scale space. | I'd head straight for the eponymous song 'Do a Deer', from the Sound of Music. Another would be 'Scales and Arpeggios' from the Aristocats. |
61,360 | I recently began learning sight singing from Robert Ottman's book.
I've gotten to the point where you should sing simple melodies, with the biggest interval between 2 notes being a major second. The book says that if you have the major scale in your head it should be easy to sight sing these melodies, but I can't.
Are there any exercises I can do to stick the major scale in my head that would make me progress in this situation? | 2017/08/25 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/61360",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/39912/"
] | I suggest you sit at a piano, and slowly play a major scale, but just before you *play* each the note you *sing* the pitch you think you're about to hear.
If you're feeling more ambitious you can do the scale notes out of sequence - but again try to sing the note before you play it. If you find certain intervals hard you can concentrate on those, repeating until you start to feel more confident.
Moving on from single notes, you should also try singing a run of notes from the scale, say the first or last four or five notes, and then check with the piano to see whether you sang the right notes or not. | When it comes to basic building blocks like the major scale, it's often best to learn it by playing it on a piano or other instrument until you can mimic the sound yourself.
As for repertoire, the opening of ["Joy to the World"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5hj518Iugk) is a great *descending* major scale. Try singing this before the beginning of every Ottman exercise to get yourself into the key and to start conceptualizing the major-scale space. |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | I used to be a coder, too (PHP, Ruby, Javascript, etc). But my main thing was design. And I used to have the same wish as you: I wanted to think of fiction writing as "designing" a story. But later on, I understood that, even though they share some similarities, they are different kind of thought processes. It was only when I accepted that that I figured out how to be a better writer.
So I don't think you can code or design a novel. You can only *write* a novel. | I find this an annoying question. You appear to have no idea, what you yourself mean by the words you use. You paste words together and then try to come up with a second-hand meaning for that undefined term. Code my nutrition. Sounds interesting. What could that mean?
Good thinking means you have an idea and you try to realize it, not you have a name and try to fill it with meaning.
Since "code" in relation to computation means "To put into the form required by a code" ([OED](http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/35581)), we can come up with the following answers to what your phrase might mean:
1. **Creation:** Software to create literary texts has been around for decades. The linguistic structures of text are well known, and programmers have developed algorithms that create artificial text (both prose and poetry) at least as early as the sixties. Google something like "computer generated writing", which will come up with interesting results such as this one: <http://singularityhub.com/2012/12/13/patented-book-writing-system-lets-one-professor-create-hundreds-of-thousands-of-amazon-books-and-counting/>.
2. **Analysis:** Computational analysis of literary text is equally old. The purpose is to discover text-linguistic structure and elements. See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_linguistics> |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | Not quite algorithmic, but there are quite a few books on story structure that you may find interesting. If you're like me, understanding how and why stories work can provide you some sort of framework out of which you can build a story.
It's about movies, and half of the people here will hate me forever for daring mention it, but I found **Save the Cat** very useful ([http://www.amazon.com/Save-Cat-Blake-Snyder-ebook/dp/B00340ESIS](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00340ESIS)) | What about interactive novels - e.g. [Visual Novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel), a genre rather popular in Japan?
You can certainly *code* these. Western world knew these as "text adventure games" but they usually featured a map of locations between which you could go. Visual Novels, OTOH, read like a book, with points where you make a decision. They are more similar to "Make your own adventure" books, but frequently surpass these in means of complexity by strides, most complex of them often containing thousands of decision nodes, many of them implicit - not obvious to the player, but resulting from prior choices. |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | I think you can "code" a novel, at least in terms of creating an algorithm for writing.
>
> al·go·rithm
>
> ˈalgəˌriT͟Həm
>
> noun
>
> 1.
> A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, esp. by a computer.
>
>
>
Basically an algorithm is a set of rules you need to follow to get something done right. I believe it is perfectly within the scope of an "algorithmic" thought process to define steps to writing a novel.
First off, you need to set a scope for the novel, setting, where you want to go with it, etc. Then you need to develop characters, locales, history, etc. Then you need to detail those things. And finally you need to get from start to finish. (Sounds simple, eh?)
Example might be:
High fantasy setting, scope could be end of the world scenario, and you want a hero to save the world.
Developing characters, you need a hero/heroine. I want a sidekick for him/her. Evil badguy. Etc, etc. Develop some locales, little country village where hero is from, big city, etc.
Develop history, 500 years ago the evil was defeated but not for good, thousands of years ago there was an advanced civilization, etc.
Detail these things. My heroine's name is Elisa, she is the daughter of the Mayor of Middlebrook, a small village on the edge of a vast forest. She is slim and petite, light brown hair and green eyes. She is adventurous and always getting into trouble. She finds out she has control of magic, and decides she needs to go on a journey to find out how to use it. Her boyfriend, Rice, decides to follow her to protect her. Rice is a tall, lanky kid with tousled brown hair, people think he is goofy and isn't a serious person. He is deeply devoted to Elisa, though, to the point that he leaves his parent's farm to follow her when she goes to the capital city of Camelot. Camelot is ruled by a Queen Guinevere. Etc, etc...
Getting from start to finish. Elisa and Rice make their way to a larger village on the road to Camelot. A local witch senses her magic ability and tries to capture her so she can drink her blood and steal her power. Elisa manages to kill the witch using her magic, but collapses from the shock of the power. Rice manages to carry her out of a burning building and out of town before the townspeople notice anything. The witches sister senses something is amiss and manages to find the trail and follow them. After several more close calls, Rice and Elisa manage to kill the second witch. They are nearly to Camelot now, and are awed by the sight. After getting to the city, Elisa starts asking after a Magician to teach her to use her powers. She meets Merlin, who agrees to teach her. Merlin tells her to meet him somewhere at a certain time. When she shows up with Rice, they are ambushed, and Rice is thrown in prison. Elisa is taken into the palace, where Merlin resides as the Royal Magician. He tells her of his plan to use her blood at the full moon to summon a Balrog, which Merlin will capture in a soulstone and use the Balrog's power to become the most powerful Magician in the world. Rice, with the help of a cunning mouse, manages to escape the dungeon, and he manages to find where Elisa is. Elisa, meanwhile, has managed to figure out how to use her magic to escape her bonds, and she is planning on how to overpower Merlin. Rice bungles into the room, and Merlin attacks him. Elisa tries to save Rice by attacking Merlin, but she is too late. She manages to kill Merlin, but at great cost. Her boyfriend Rice is dead at his hands.
Anyway, that is a real quick thing showing how you take a formula/algorithm and break things into smaller parts, and then even smaller details. This will not help you automatically write a story with a computer, but it is a formula you can use to write a novel yourself. | What about interactive novels - e.g. [Visual Novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel), a genre rather popular in Japan?
You can certainly *code* these. Western world knew these as "text adventure games" but they usually featured a map of locations between which you could go. Visual Novels, OTOH, read like a book, with points where you make a decision. They are more similar to "Make your own adventure" books, but frequently surpass these in means of complexity by strides, most complex of them often containing thousands of decision nodes, many of them implicit - not obvious to the player, but resulting from prior choices. |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | I used to be a coder, too (PHP, Ruby, Javascript, etc). But my main thing was design. And I used to have the same wish as you: I wanted to think of fiction writing as "designing" a story. But later on, I understood that, even though they share some similarities, they are different kind of thought processes. It was only when I accepted that that I figured out how to be a better writer.
So I don't think you can code or design a novel. You can only *write* a novel. | What about interactive novels - e.g. [Visual Novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel), a genre rather popular in Japan?
You can certainly *code* these. Western world knew these as "text adventure games" but they usually featured a map of locations between which you could go. Visual Novels, OTOH, read like a book, with points where you make a decision. They are more similar to "Make your own adventure" books, but frequently surpass these in means of complexity by strides, most complex of them often containing thousands of decision nodes, many of them implicit - not obvious to the player, but resulting from prior choices. |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | Thirty or more years ago, a computer program named [Racter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racter) "wrote" a very interesting book called *[The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446380512/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=dalehemer-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0446380512&adid=1SPQQDER225G5K44S4EQ&).*
The programmer plugged in a variety of sentence, paragraph, story, and poem templates, and a bunch of words and the relationships among them. Every time he ran Racter, he got a different pseudo-random story.
Then the programmer selected the ones that were worth putting in a book.
Mostly the stories and poems were delightfully weird. This is my favorite:
>
> More than iron, more than lead, more than gold I need electricity.
>
> I need it more than I need lamb or pork or lettuce or cucumber.
>
> I need it for my dreams.
>
>
>
Very eerie, that one.
Racter also had a short story published in *Omni* magazine.
There was also Gahan Wilson's delightful "[Science Fiction Horror Movie Pocket Calculator](http://buzzdixon.com/writing-2/the-gahan-wilson-sci-fi-horror-movie-pocket-computer/)," a flowchart for generating stories.
I used that to learn programming. My favorite story was
>
> Earth falls into the sun and nearly everybody dies.
>
>
> | A novel is usually a story of people trying to solve problems in their lives. Writing a computer program that could realistically describe people who have problems and what they do to solve it seems to me like an “AI-complete” problem—a computer that can do that would be a human-equivalent intellect in its own right.
(I suppose you could compose a story of a polyamorous community whose characters’ quest for the ideal arrangement of partners is isomorphic to the four-color map theorem, and then come up with a scheme for translating a proof of that theorem into a novel. That would be... an interesting intellectual exercise, but I’m not sure it would be a book to take to the beach.)
A more intriguing—and potentially soluble—question would be: what new apps would make it easier to write novels? |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | I think you can "code" a novel, at least in terms of creating an algorithm for writing.
>
> al·go·rithm
>
> ˈalgəˌriT͟Həm
>
> noun
>
> 1.
> A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, esp. by a computer.
>
>
>
Basically an algorithm is a set of rules you need to follow to get something done right. I believe it is perfectly within the scope of an "algorithmic" thought process to define steps to writing a novel.
First off, you need to set a scope for the novel, setting, where you want to go with it, etc. Then you need to develop characters, locales, history, etc. Then you need to detail those things. And finally you need to get from start to finish. (Sounds simple, eh?)
Example might be:
High fantasy setting, scope could be end of the world scenario, and you want a hero to save the world.
Developing characters, you need a hero/heroine. I want a sidekick for him/her. Evil badguy. Etc, etc. Develop some locales, little country village where hero is from, big city, etc.
Develop history, 500 years ago the evil was defeated but not for good, thousands of years ago there was an advanced civilization, etc.
Detail these things. My heroine's name is Elisa, she is the daughter of the Mayor of Middlebrook, a small village on the edge of a vast forest. She is slim and petite, light brown hair and green eyes. She is adventurous and always getting into trouble. She finds out she has control of magic, and decides she needs to go on a journey to find out how to use it. Her boyfriend, Rice, decides to follow her to protect her. Rice is a tall, lanky kid with tousled brown hair, people think he is goofy and isn't a serious person. He is deeply devoted to Elisa, though, to the point that he leaves his parent's farm to follow her when she goes to the capital city of Camelot. Camelot is ruled by a Queen Guinevere. Etc, etc...
Getting from start to finish. Elisa and Rice make their way to a larger village on the road to Camelot. A local witch senses her magic ability and tries to capture her so she can drink her blood and steal her power. Elisa manages to kill the witch using her magic, but collapses from the shock of the power. Rice manages to carry her out of a burning building and out of town before the townspeople notice anything. The witches sister senses something is amiss and manages to find the trail and follow them. After several more close calls, Rice and Elisa manage to kill the second witch. They are nearly to Camelot now, and are awed by the sight. After getting to the city, Elisa starts asking after a Magician to teach her to use her powers. She meets Merlin, who agrees to teach her. Merlin tells her to meet him somewhere at a certain time. When she shows up with Rice, they are ambushed, and Rice is thrown in prison. Elisa is taken into the palace, where Merlin resides as the Royal Magician. He tells her of his plan to use her blood at the full moon to summon a Balrog, which Merlin will capture in a soulstone and use the Balrog's power to become the most powerful Magician in the world. Rice, with the help of a cunning mouse, manages to escape the dungeon, and he manages to find where Elisa is. Elisa, meanwhile, has managed to figure out how to use her magic to escape her bonds, and she is planning on how to overpower Merlin. Rice bungles into the room, and Merlin attacks him. Elisa tries to save Rice by attacking Merlin, but she is too late. She manages to kill Merlin, but at great cost. Her boyfriend Rice is dead at his hands.
Anyway, that is a real quick thing showing how you take a formula/algorithm and break things into smaller parts, and then even smaller details. This will not help you automatically write a story with a computer, but it is a formula you can use to write a novel yourself. | A novel is usually a story of people trying to solve problems in their lives. Writing a computer program that could realistically describe people who have problems and what they do to solve it seems to me like an “AI-complete” problem—a computer that can do that would be a human-equivalent intellect in its own right.
(I suppose you could compose a story of a polyamorous community whose characters’ quest for the ideal arrangement of partners is isomorphic to the four-color map theorem, and then come up with a scheme for translating a proof of that theorem into a novel. That would be... an interesting intellectual exercise, but I’m not sure it would be a book to take to the beach.)
A more intriguing—and potentially soluble—question would be: what new apps would make it easier to write novels? |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | Thirty or more years ago, a computer program named [Racter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racter) "wrote" a very interesting book called *[The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446380512/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=dalehemer-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0446380512&adid=1SPQQDER225G5K44S4EQ&).*
The programmer plugged in a variety of sentence, paragraph, story, and poem templates, and a bunch of words and the relationships among them. Every time he ran Racter, he got a different pseudo-random story.
Then the programmer selected the ones that were worth putting in a book.
Mostly the stories and poems were delightfully weird. This is my favorite:
>
> More than iron, more than lead, more than gold I need electricity.
>
> I need it more than I need lamb or pork or lettuce or cucumber.
>
> I need it for my dreams.
>
>
>
Very eerie, that one.
Racter also had a short story published in *Omni* magazine.
There was also Gahan Wilson's delightful "[Science Fiction Horror Movie Pocket Calculator](http://buzzdixon.com/writing-2/the-gahan-wilson-sci-fi-horror-movie-pocket-computer/)," a flowchart for generating stories.
I used that to learn programming. My favorite story was
>
> Earth falls into the sun and nearly everybody dies.
>
>
> | If by "code a novel," you meant "write computer code that makes a novel," then it is (sort-of) already being commonly done, in two different ways. One type is called computer games, and they have become quite sophisticated, both as code and as (partly interactive) novels. The other type is called "CGI animation," and is used to make movies.
But in these two types, the computer code is completely hidden from the consumer, who would have zero interest in it. Besides which, you don't *read* computer games and movies. Besides, I'm pretty sure you know about those two types! So perhaps you are asking instead if there is computer code that the consumer actually reads, and which is also a novel. If you could pull that off (successfully), you'd deserve both a Nobel and a Pulitzer! But, alas, the set of your target audience would be the intersection of the set of literati and the set of geeks. That does not bode well for sales. :-) |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | I think you can "code" a novel, at least in terms of creating an algorithm for writing.
>
> al·go·rithm
>
> ˈalgəˌriT͟Həm
>
> noun
>
> 1.
> A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, esp. by a computer.
>
>
>
Basically an algorithm is a set of rules you need to follow to get something done right. I believe it is perfectly within the scope of an "algorithmic" thought process to define steps to writing a novel.
First off, you need to set a scope for the novel, setting, where you want to go with it, etc. Then you need to develop characters, locales, history, etc. Then you need to detail those things. And finally you need to get from start to finish. (Sounds simple, eh?)
Example might be:
High fantasy setting, scope could be end of the world scenario, and you want a hero to save the world.
Developing characters, you need a hero/heroine. I want a sidekick for him/her. Evil badguy. Etc, etc. Develop some locales, little country village where hero is from, big city, etc.
Develop history, 500 years ago the evil was defeated but not for good, thousands of years ago there was an advanced civilization, etc.
Detail these things. My heroine's name is Elisa, she is the daughter of the Mayor of Middlebrook, a small village on the edge of a vast forest. She is slim and petite, light brown hair and green eyes. She is adventurous and always getting into trouble. She finds out she has control of magic, and decides she needs to go on a journey to find out how to use it. Her boyfriend, Rice, decides to follow her to protect her. Rice is a tall, lanky kid with tousled brown hair, people think he is goofy and isn't a serious person. He is deeply devoted to Elisa, though, to the point that he leaves his parent's farm to follow her when she goes to the capital city of Camelot. Camelot is ruled by a Queen Guinevere. Etc, etc...
Getting from start to finish. Elisa and Rice make their way to a larger village on the road to Camelot. A local witch senses her magic ability and tries to capture her so she can drink her blood and steal her power. Elisa manages to kill the witch using her magic, but collapses from the shock of the power. Rice manages to carry her out of a burning building and out of town before the townspeople notice anything. The witches sister senses something is amiss and manages to find the trail and follow them. After several more close calls, Rice and Elisa manage to kill the second witch. They are nearly to Camelot now, and are awed by the sight. After getting to the city, Elisa starts asking after a Magician to teach her to use her powers. She meets Merlin, who agrees to teach her. Merlin tells her to meet him somewhere at a certain time. When she shows up with Rice, they are ambushed, and Rice is thrown in prison. Elisa is taken into the palace, where Merlin resides as the Royal Magician. He tells her of his plan to use her blood at the full moon to summon a Balrog, which Merlin will capture in a soulstone and use the Balrog's power to become the most powerful Magician in the world. Rice, with the help of a cunning mouse, manages to escape the dungeon, and he manages to find where Elisa is. Elisa, meanwhile, has managed to figure out how to use her magic to escape her bonds, and she is planning on how to overpower Merlin. Rice bungles into the room, and Merlin attacks him. Elisa tries to save Rice by attacking Merlin, but she is too late. She manages to kill Merlin, but at great cost. Her boyfriend Rice is dead at his hands.
Anyway, that is a real quick thing showing how you take a formula/algorithm and break things into smaller parts, and then even smaller details. This will not help you automatically write a story with a computer, but it is a formula you can use to write a novel yourself. | If by "code a novel," you meant "write computer code that makes a novel," then it is (sort-of) already being commonly done, in two different ways. One type is called computer games, and they have become quite sophisticated, both as code and as (partly interactive) novels. The other type is called "CGI animation," and is used to make movies.
But in these two types, the computer code is completely hidden from the consumer, who would have zero interest in it. Besides which, you don't *read* computer games and movies. Besides, I'm pretty sure you know about those two types! So perhaps you are asking instead if there is computer code that the consumer actually reads, and which is also a novel. If you could pull that off (successfully), you'd deserve both a Nobel and a Pulitzer! But, alas, the set of your target audience would be the intersection of the set of literati and the set of geeks. That does not bode well for sales. :-) |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | I think you can "code" a novel, at least in terms of creating an algorithm for writing.
>
> al·go·rithm
>
> ˈalgəˌriT͟Həm
>
> noun
>
> 1.
> A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, esp. by a computer.
>
>
>
Basically an algorithm is a set of rules you need to follow to get something done right. I believe it is perfectly within the scope of an "algorithmic" thought process to define steps to writing a novel.
First off, you need to set a scope for the novel, setting, where you want to go with it, etc. Then you need to develop characters, locales, history, etc. Then you need to detail those things. And finally you need to get from start to finish. (Sounds simple, eh?)
Example might be:
High fantasy setting, scope could be end of the world scenario, and you want a hero to save the world.
Developing characters, you need a hero/heroine. I want a sidekick for him/her. Evil badguy. Etc, etc. Develop some locales, little country village where hero is from, big city, etc.
Develop history, 500 years ago the evil was defeated but not for good, thousands of years ago there was an advanced civilization, etc.
Detail these things. My heroine's name is Elisa, she is the daughter of the Mayor of Middlebrook, a small village on the edge of a vast forest. She is slim and petite, light brown hair and green eyes. She is adventurous and always getting into trouble. She finds out she has control of magic, and decides she needs to go on a journey to find out how to use it. Her boyfriend, Rice, decides to follow her to protect her. Rice is a tall, lanky kid with tousled brown hair, people think he is goofy and isn't a serious person. He is deeply devoted to Elisa, though, to the point that he leaves his parent's farm to follow her when she goes to the capital city of Camelot. Camelot is ruled by a Queen Guinevere. Etc, etc...
Getting from start to finish. Elisa and Rice make their way to a larger village on the road to Camelot. A local witch senses her magic ability and tries to capture her so she can drink her blood and steal her power. Elisa manages to kill the witch using her magic, but collapses from the shock of the power. Rice manages to carry her out of a burning building and out of town before the townspeople notice anything. The witches sister senses something is amiss and manages to find the trail and follow them. After several more close calls, Rice and Elisa manage to kill the second witch. They are nearly to Camelot now, and are awed by the sight. After getting to the city, Elisa starts asking after a Magician to teach her to use her powers. She meets Merlin, who agrees to teach her. Merlin tells her to meet him somewhere at a certain time. When she shows up with Rice, they are ambushed, and Rice is thrown in prison. Elisa is taken into the palace, where Merlin resides as the Royal Magician. He tells her of his plan to use her blood at the full moon to summon a Balrog, which Merlin will capture in a soulstone and use the Balrog's power to become the most powerful Magician in the world. Rice, with the help of a cunning mouse, manages to escape the dungeon, and he manages to find where Elisa is. Elisa, meanwhile, has managed to figure out how to use her magic to escape her bonds, and she is planning on how to overpower Merlin. Rice bungles into the room, and Merlin attacks him. Elisa tries to save Rice by attacking Merlin, but she is too late. She manages to kill Merlin, but at great cost. Her boyfriend Rice is dead at his hands.
Anyway, that is a real quick thing showing how you take a formula/algorithm and break things into smaller parts, and then even smaller details. This will not help you automatically write a story with a computer, but it is a formula you can use to write a novel yourself. | I used to be a coder, too (PHP, Ruby, Javascript, etc). But my main thing was design. And I used to have the same wish as you: I wanted to think of fiction writing as "designing" a story. But later on, I understood that, even though they share some similarities, they are different kind of thought processes. It was only when I accepted that that I figured out how to be a better writer.
So I don't think you can code or design a novel. You can only *write* a novel. |
9,528 | I have a few interests, and among them belong fiction, math and computer science, and so naturally I like to imagine/think about the possibility of a piece of fiction living in the intersection of these fields. I wonder, what does it mean to "code a novel"? Is there already such a thing as algorithmic fiction? | 2013/11/23 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9528",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/6309/"
] | A novel is usually a story of people trying to solve problems in their lives. Writing a computer program that could realistically describe people who have problems and what they do to solve it seems to me like an “AI-complete” problem—a computer that can do that would be a human-equivalent intellect in its own right.
(I suppose you could compose a story of a polyamorous community whose characters’ quest for the ideal arrangement of partners is isomorphic to the four-color map theorem, and then come up with a scheme for translating a proof of that theorem into a novel. That would be... an interesting intellectual exercise, but I’m not sure it would be a book to take to the beach.)
A more intriguing—and potentially soluble—question would be: what new apps would make it easier to write novels? | What about interactive novels - e.g. [Visual Novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel), a genre rather popular in Japan?
You can certainly *code* these. Western world knew these as "text adventure games" but they usually featured a map of locations between which you could go. Visual Novels, OTOH, read like a book, with points where you make a decision. They are more similar to "Make your own adventure" books, but frequently surpass these in means of complexity by strides, most complex of them often containing thousands of decision nodes, many of them implicit - not obvious to the player, but resulting from prior choices. |
294,179 | I would like to give feedback to moderators that take action I consider unproductive.
We have all come across popular questions/comment that we would like to up/down vote but that a moderator has locked. The list is pretty long, actually.
Is there such a thing a voting mechanism for moderator actions? The platform would probably benefit from this kind of feedback. | 2015/05/13 | [
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/294179",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/294702/"
] | There is no way to vote directly on moderator actions. Moderators perform thousands on actions on the site every day. It just would not scale to expect people to vote on these actions.
Other potential problems with your idea:
1. Some moderator actions have justifications that depend on knowing private information. It would not be possible to make these actions public without violating privacy.
2. If moderators had *every single action* micromanaged by the community, I'm quite certain no one would volunteer to be moderator.
3. Such a voting mechanism *could* become a venue to pester moderators. Currently if you are really certain a moderator acted out of bounds, you can come to Meta to air your grievances. This is a really good thing because if someone is 100% wrong about whether the moderator acted correctly, they'll get community feedback about it. Conversely, if the person is right, the community will support them. Also, the pressure of bringing up the issue in public acts as a deterrent to those who would like to complain about every little thing. | You found Meta.SO. That is the location where you can discuss such issues, and as you see there's already a vote option there. The direction may perhaps appear inverted: if you post on Meta, you'll be upvoted when people agree with you, but downvoted when people agree with the original moderator decision.
That said, I don't see a big need to vote on closed questions. |
294,179 | I would like to give feedback to moderators that take action I consider unproductive.
We have all come across popular questions/comment that we would like to up/down vote but that a moderator has locked. The list is pretty long, actually.
Is there such a thing a voting mechanism for moderator actions? The platform would probably benefit from this kind of feedback. | 2015/05/13 | [
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/294179",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com",
"https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/294702/"
] | There is no way to vote directly on moderator actions. Moderators perform thousands on actions on the site every day. It just would not scale to expect people to vote on these actions.
Other potential problems with your idea:
1. Some moderator actions have justifications that depend on knowing private information. It would not be possible to make these actions public without violating privacy.
2. If moderators had *every single action* micromanaged by the community, I'm quite certain no one would volunteer to be moderator.
3. Such a voting mechanism *could* become a venue to pester moderators. Currently if you are really certain a moderator acted out of bounds, you can come to Meta to air your grievances. This is a really good thing because if someone is 100% wrong about whether the moderator acted correctly, they'll get community feedback about it. Conversely, if the person is right, the community will support them. Also, the pressure of bringing up the issue in public acts as a deterrent to those who would like to complain about every little thing. | Rather than commenting on the feature request itself, I'll comment on some appropriate action to take when you disagree with any moderator action.
---
Come to the meta. Post about the situation. Include relevant links (the question, answer, comment, edit, whatever). Explain what actions had been taken before the moderator got involved. Explain what actions the moderator took. Explain what actions you feel should have been taken, and *really, really* put a lot of effort into explaining why you think the moderator's action was wrong.
And remember to make it all about the specific action and not about any of the users taking any of these actions.
---
What will happen?
Well, other users might explain to you why your opinion about what action should have been taken is wrong, maybe even citing evidence of the problems your sort of action might cause.
Or the moderator who took the action may show up and explain their actions.
Either of these may satisfy you (perhaps there's an element of the story that you aren't aware of).
Alternatively, also, the moderator may come and admit that their actions were wrong and reverse their own action themselves (because you sufficiently convinced them).
And there's always a chance that other moderators could step in and overrule the standing decision. Please note that this isn't a mark against the moderator who made the decision... it's just changing the end result. All of the moderators are human, and all of them have made mistakes. |
28,406 | I was just reflecting on the fact that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French all evolved from Latin, the language spread across that area by the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. (Romanian too, I suppose.)
Yet although Greece was firmly a part of the Roman Empire, Latin never took root there, it seems, as the Greek language is quite distinct from the Romance languages. The same is true for the territories above Greece-- that whole region east of the Adriatic aside from Romania.
Why is this so? | 2016/04/21 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28406",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/3496/"
] | Suspect it was because Greek already had well established literacy whereas other regions you name were much less literate. The Latin alphabet was based on the Etruscan alphabet which was in turn based on the Greek alphabet.
If you were going to rule the Greeks you were going to have to do it in Greek.
To those areas you name Romanization brought both the Latin language and the alphabet.
To the extent that Spain for example was already literate was due to colonies of other nations... there were Greek and Carthaginian colonial cities/trading centers in Spain where they wrote in the the tongues of their colonizers. | The old Greek empire, meaning the empire of the Macedonians, the empire created by Alexander spoke Greek widely and had many Greek colonies. The entire city of Alexandria, which was founded by Alexander and became the center of learning in the Western world for 500 years was entirely composed of Greeks and Greek-speaking people. The political control of Rome did nothing to change this. |
28,406 | I was just reflecting on the fact that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French all evolved from Latin, the language spread across that area by the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. (Romanian too, I suppose.)
Yet although Greece was firmly a part of the Roman Empire, Latin never took root there, it seems, as the Greek language is quite distinct from the Romance languages. The same is true for the territories above Greece-- that whole region east of the Adriatic aside from Romania.
Why is this so? | 2016/04/21 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28406",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/3496/"
] | Greek states were very much culturally superior to Rome at the time of conquest.
This was recognized even by the Romans themselves. A well-educated Roman had to read and speak Greek. There was absolutely no reasons to introduce Latin in the Greek states. All science, philosophy and much of the literature in the Roman empire was written in Greek. | The old Greek empire, meaning the empire of the Macedonians, the empire created by Alexander spoke Greek widely and had many Greek colonies. The entire city of Alexandria, which was founded by Alexander and became the center of learning in the Western world for 500 years was entirely composed of Greeks and Greek-speaking people. The political control of Rome did nothing to change this. |
28,406 | I was just reflecting on the fact that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French all evolved from Latin, the language spread across that area by the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. (Romanian too, I suppose.)
Yet although Greece was firmly a part of the Roman Empire, Latin never took root there, it seems, as the Greek language is quite distinct from the Romance languages. The same is true for the territories above Greece-- that whole region east of the Adriatic aside from Romania.
Why is this so? | 2016/04/21 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28406",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/3496/"
] | Well, one must remember that Latin, was the primary and central language of the Roman Empire-(though the Greek language was a close runner-up, particularly among the Nobility and Patrician related classes). Latin's linguistic influence was far more widespread in countries to the North and West of Rome, due in great part to the continuity of the Greek language in lands to the East and South-(though to a limited extent) of Rome.
Although the Romans had conquered the near entirety of the centuries old and diverse Greco-Hellenistic imperial zones, the strength and continuity of the Greek language lived on in the various academic institutions, though had also continued, in many cases, within the larger institutions of everyday society. In other words, the Greek language, even under Roman colonial occupation, still retained its elite and preferential status, continuity, indispensability.
Comparatively speaking, the Romans had greater cultural freedom and autonomy in the more underdeveloped lands to its West and particularly, to its North. Much of the WESTERN Roman empire was a primitive backwater and thus, for the Romans, it not only provided them with the ability to pave better roads and bridges, but also to pave an uniquely autonomous cultural and linguistic legacy and continuity. | The old Greek empire, meaning the empire of the Macedonians, the empire created by Alexander spoke Greek widely and had many Greek colonies. The entire city of Alexandria, which was founded by Alexander and became the center of learning in the Western world for 500 years was entirely composed of Greeks and Greek-speaking people. The political control of Rome did nothing to change this. |
28,406 | I was just reflecting on the fact that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French all evolved from Latin, the language spread across that area by the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. (Romanian too, I suppose.)
Yet although Greece was firmly a part of the Roman Empire, Latin never took root there, it seems, as the Greek language is quite distinct from the Romance languages. The same is true for the territories above Greece-- that whole region east of the Adriatic aside from Romania.
Why is this so? | 2016/04/21 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28406",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/3496/"
] | Suspect it was because Greek already had well established literacy whereas other regions you name were much less literate. The Latin alphabet was based on the Etruscan alphabet which was in turn based on the Greek alphabet.
If you were going to rule the Greeks you were going to have to do it in Greek.
To those areas you name Romanization brought both the Latin language and the alphabet.
To the extent that Spain for example was already literate was due to colonies of other nations... there were Greek and Carthaginian colonial cities/trading centers in Spain where they wrote in the the tongues of their colonizers. | Well, one must remember that Latin, was the primary and central language of the Roman Empire-(though the Greek language was a close runner-up, particularly among the Nobility and Patrician related classes). Latin's linguistic influence was far more widespread in countries to the North and West of Rome, due in great part to the continuity of the Greek language in lands to the East and South-(though to a limited extent) of Rome.
Although the Romans had conquered the near entirety of the centuries old and diverse Greco-Hellenistic imperial zones, the strength and continuity of the Greek language lived on in the various academic institutions, though had also continued, in many cases, within the larger institutions of everyday society. In other words, the Greek language, even under Roman colonial occupation, still retained its elite and preferential status, continuity, indispensability.
Comparatively speaking, the Romans had greater cultural freedom and autonomy in the more underdeveloped lands to its West and particularly, to its North. Much of the WESTERN Roman empire was a primitive backwater and thus, for the Romans, it not only provided them with the ability to pave better roads and bridges, but also to pave an uniquely autonomous cultural and linguistic legacy and continuity. |
28,406 | I was just reflecting on the fact that Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French all evolved from Latin, the language spread across that area by the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. (Romanian too, I suppose.)
Yet although Greece was firmly a part of the Roman Empire, Latin never took root there, it seems, as the Greek language is quite distinct from the Romance languages. The same is true for the territories above Greece-- that whole region east of the Adriatic aside from Romania.
Why is this so? | 2016/04/21 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28406",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/3496/"
] | Greek states were very much culturally superior to Rome at the time of conquest.
This was recognized even by the Romans themselves. A well-educated Roman had to read and speak Greek. There was absolutely no reasons to introduce Latin in the Greek states. All science, philosophy and much of the literature in the Roman empire was written in Greek. | Well, one must remember that Latin, was the primary and central language of the Roman Empire-(though the Greek language was a close runner-up, particularly among the Nobility and Patrician related classes). Latin's linguistic influence was far more widespread in countries to the North and West of Rome, due in great part to the continuity of the Greek language in lands to the East and South-(though to a limited extent) of Rome.
Although the Romans had conquered the near entirety of the centuries old and diverse Greco-Hellenistic imperial zones, the strength and continuity of the Greek language lived on in the various academic institutions, though had also continued, in many cases, within the larger institutions of everyday society. In other words, the Greek language, even under Roman colonial occupation, still retained its elite and preferential status, continuity, indispensability.
Comparatively speaking, the Romans had greater cultural freedom and autonomy in the more underdeveloped lands to its West and particularly, to its North. Much of the WESTERN Roman empire was a primitive backwater and thus, for the Romans, it not only provided them with the ability to pave better roads and bridges, but also to pave an uniquely autonomous cultural and linguistic legacy and continuity. |
168,096 | >
> It's 4 am \_\_ the clock.
>
> It's 4 am \_\_ my watch.
>
>
>
Which preposition is to be used? | 2018/05/31 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/168096",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Both are grammatically correct, but it depends on the situation which one would be appropriate.
Generally speaking, we use the plural with everything except one, and **no** counts as not one.
>
> **No students** were present.
>
>
>
There are, however, two exceptions. The first is if there could only possibly be one or zero. For example, when talking about the moon, we use the singular:
>
> There was **no moon** last night.
>
>
>
So, if there were a university committee which normally had one student representative, it would be OK to say
>
> There was **no student [representative]** present
>
>
>
The second is when we want to be emphatic: we can use the singular to emphasize that there was **not one single...**. So, if the teacher was disappointed to find that no student turned up, he or she could say
>
> Not one single student was present
>
> **No student** was present
>
>
>
Here is an idiomatic expression that is a good example of the use of the singular for emphasis:
>
> to [leave **no stone** unturned](http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/idiom-to-leave-no-stone-unturned)
>
>
>
Here is an example using almost the same phrasing as the question:
>
> While **no student** was allowed to leave the schoolhouse, representatives of the press and other news media, on invitation of the school authorities, were permitted to enter the classrooms to observe the proceedings. [We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and About Students - *James B Raskin, 2008*](https://books.google.co.id/books?id=B0N1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA149&dq=%22no%20student%20was%20allowed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi69uWmy7HbAhVJfCsKHWM8CdwQ6AEIRjAF#v=onepage&q=%22no%20student%20was%20allowed%22&f=false)
>
>
> | Both are correct in US and British English. If one student was expected, or at least one student was required to be present, you might choose to use 'no student was present', and if more than one student was expected, you could use 'no students were present'. However, this is not a strict rule, and you can use either. |
168,070 | We're planning on resurfacing our deck this summer. As preparation I got an inspector to take a look at the substructure to make sure it is still in good shape. The good news is that for the most part it is. However, he recommended that 5 of the 4x4 vertical support posts be replaces with 6x6 posts instead. The 4x4s aren't failing but they are attached to the beam incorrectly (just with lag bolts, as in the "wrong" example [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f4LisZBCTk)) and they are about 6 feet high. It's more about future-proofing than an imminent safety issue.
I called around for quotes and the first contractor I talked to basically said it can't be done and I need to tear down my deck and start over. This surprised me. There are videos all over youtube with people doing this. The process seems straightforward enough:
1. Dig/pour new footings
2. Jack up the deck with temporary vertical posts
3. Add the new ones
4. Cut out the old ones.
Am I missing something?
As an alternative, I've considered just adding 3 more 4x4 posts and attaching those to the beam (and retrofitting the old ones) with [these](https://www.midlandhardware.com/747826.html?dfw_tracker=14396-747826&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqIXd_saK4wIV0MDICh31HQOyEAQYBCABEgLJNvD_BwE)
Thoughts?
Screen grab of the relevant section of the inspection report:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4fCGy.jpg) | 2019/06/27 | [
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/168070",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/users/103267/"
] | I could ask you to sketch your deck out with dimensions to calc out the beam reaction on the posts, but just shooting from the hip here to save all of us time: there's probably nothing wrong with using 4x4s, especially if they're only 6' tall, spaced that closely, and not also supporting a roof.
If they're leaning or warping badly, then correct the lean or replace with another 4x4.
Nobody in my market is using carriage bolts on any new deck, I don't know why that YouTube guy was telling people to. If your beam was a 3 ply instead of a 2 ply, the 1" notch leftover on a 6x6 wouldn't really hold anything. Everybody uses metal post caps from Simpson or USP now.
This sounds like a lot of work to fix something that isn't broken, all based on a recommendation from a random home inspector. They're usually a jack of all trades, but master of none type of person. I've never had a positive experience with one, they mostly just repeat stuff they have heard and don't really understand.
Home inspectors have to find things to feel like they're doing their job, and if they don't overreact to minor things they might even be liable if something did fail.
Replace the beam/posts if you want, but if it was me I would add two treated 2x4s to each 4x4 and attached with galvanized 10d nails (8" on center, in 2 staggered rows 1.5" from the edge). One on each side, directly under each deck beam so you have a 2x4 supporting each deck beam and not just the carriage bolts. You'd end up with your 4x4 post looking like it's a 3.5"x6.5" post because of the two 2x4s you added to each one. | The 4x4’s would be adequate if they were attached ( and braced ) to the beam correctly, so no need to replace with 6 x 6.
Digging post holes is difficult enough but doing it under the deck will be a painful task.
Support the deck with a temporary beam that you can jack up just slightly once the posts and beams have been disconnected. I would then build supports for the old beam in a way that will allow it to be moved from side to side, kind of like tall sawhorses. Disconnect the old beam from the posts, jack your temp support beam ( and deck ) up 1/4 inch and slide the old beam over on there supports enough to allow you to work on the posts.
It appears your posts are set into the ground as apposed to being on a cement footer so you will need to cut them in place. You will need to cut the 4 x 4‘s to the correct height to fit under the beam, use a laser level or string level to mark all the posts at the correct height and cut the tops off ( do not forget to put treatment on them for weather proofing ).
Now you are ready to add Simpson column caps. ( [similar to these](https://www.strongtie.com/sdsscrewcolumncaps_columncaps/ccq-eccq_productgroup_wcc/p/ccq.eccq) )
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rzbXw.jpg)
Move your old beam back over, just to, but not directly on top of the posts, slide the column caps up onto the beam, slide them into place so the lower tabs are in line with the posts and then slide the beam over the top of the posts. Now you can lower your temp beam so the old beam is sitting on the posts and the brackets can be fastened. ( Make sure you beam is plumb.) I would also add joist brackets to secure the joists to the beam.
Remove all temporary bracing and **bobs your uncle**.
*I would also add cross bracing ( at an angle ) between the 4x4 posts for lateral support.* |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | Unfortunately you've already violated the cardinal rule about dealing with recruiting companies:
1. Never, under any circumstances, give a recruiter (or anybody else) that you do not personally know and trust your phone number.
These people are tenacious, and many of them won't take no for an answer. It's best to deal with recruiters on an e-mail only basis (or not at all, if you have that option), since at least an e-mail received at 7:00 am isn't going to wake you up and since it's easy to set up filters for recruiters that can't take a hint.
Once I made the mistake of posting a resume containing my phone number and e-mail address on monster.com. The next day my phone rang about 2 dozen times with calls from various recruiters. The day after that I took my posting down, but the calls continued for months afterwards. And years later, I am *still* getting a few e-mails every week from these people.
Anyhow, in terms of what you can do about it, your legal options will depend upon your location. In the U.S. there is a national 'Do Not Call' registry. I'm not sure how/if that applies specifically in the case of recruiters, as there are a [number of exceptions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_Registry#Exceptions_to_the_do-not-call_rule) that exist. You can check with a local lawyer and see if they can come up with any other options.
Or the next time they call you, just calmly inform them "Look, my phone number is on the national do-not-call list, and I have repeatedly asked your company to stop calling me. If you continue attempting to contact me against my wishes I will have no choice but to seek legal action against your organization." That ought to resolve the issue. | I've been a recruiter for almost 15 years, and hearing stories like this make doing my job much more difficult (gives the impression that ALL recruiters act like this, which they obviously don't). [aroth's note](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/3733/168) about not giving recruiters your phone number is one option obviously, but many recruiters will respect your desire for privacy. I almost always use email to contact candidates initially and for 'check-ins' occasionally, and generally only make calls when we need to discuss some specifics (beginning of the relationship requires screening candidates by phone, but once I know you pretty well we can handle most of our interactions via email).
I think in this particular situation, 'outing' the recruiter and company might be something that could get their attention (assuming you have some platform to do so). A recruiter's reputation is incredibly important, mainly because the recruiting industry has such a poor reputation overall that people simply assume you are unethical until you prove otherwise (guilty until proven innocent). I know I would be horrified if a candidate posted my name in a bad light to others in their network. That kind of thing might get their attention. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, user groups or professional organizations could all be places you could at least threaten to go public if they don't discontinue their actions.
The chances of you suing them or pressing charges that would actually hold them accountable are probably low, and they know that. The only real thing you can threaten is their reputation. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | First step - Check the recruitment companies privacy and/or communication policy.
Second step - For most Western Countries, there will be a Privacy Commissionaire who you can report them too (just make sure you have documented proof that you have requested them to remove your personal details/information from their records)
Third step - Search out and contact the Association body for recruitment/staffing firms (NAPS, ACSESS, REC, etc... and Better Business Bureau).
Fourth step - Draw up a 'Cease and Desist Letter' - would strongly recommend using legal guidance (it might cost but if you feel this strong then it shows you are serious). Each state/prov/country has rules, terms, conditions, and you want to make sure you include terms such as 'breach or privacy', 'harassment' and 'feeling threatened' and 'mental duress'.
Additionally, if you are connected to anyone from that company on social media sites - communicate your intention and desire to be removed from their system, and go as far as disconnecting from them, un-following them, and blocking them. | Is your resume posted on a job board such as Monster? If so, I don't think the recruiter **is** keeping you in their database.
I get a lot of calls from recruiters, including those I've sent my resume to in the past. They often say that they found my resume on a job board, not in their own database. (I can confirm that, based on the e-mail addresses I use in different resumes.)
I'm fairly certain that this company really does remove you from its list, but a few months later their agents simply **rediscover** you, along with many other candidates.
I suggest that your resume (at least, the one you put on the job boards) have only a Google Voice phone number. Not only don't you have to answer it, but the voicemails can be sent to you as e-mail, so you don't have to play them back. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | I've been a recruiter for almost 15 years, and hearing stories like this make doing my job much more difficult (gives the impression that ALL recruiters act like this, which they obviously don't). [aroth's note](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/3733/168) about not giving recruiters your phone number is one option obviously, but many recruiters will respect your desire for privacy. I almost always use email to contact candidates initially and for 'check-ins' occasionally, and generally only make calls when we need to discuss some specifics (beginning of the relationship requires screening candidates by phone, but once I know you pretty well we can handle most of our interactions via email).
I think in this particular situation, 'outing' the recruiter and company might be something that could get their attention (assuming you have some platform to do so). A recruiter's reputation is incredibly important, mainly because the recruiting industry has such a poor reputation overall that people simply assume you are unethical until you prove otherwise (guilty until proven innocent). I know I would be horrified if a candidate posted my name in a bad light to others in their network. That kind of thing might get their attention. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, user groups or professional organizations could all be places you could at least threaten to go public if they don't discontinue their actions.
The chances of you suing them or pressing charges that would actually hold them accountable are probably low, and they know that. The only real thing you can threaten is their reputation. | If it's really bad, and yes I know a lot of the big tech recruiters are, you do have a legal option. Find their corporate address either off of their website or from your local Secretary of State's Corporations Office and send them a "Cease and Desist" letter. You can find all sorts of templates online for these letters but essentially you are sending them a formal written notice to be removed from their list and to no longer be contacted by them. You also need to mention that failure to do so will require you to proceed with legal action. Also make sure you get a delivery receipt from the USPS.
Either way you can send a cease and desist letter on your own, often without the help of an attorney. Its much a kin to a warning letter. If they still contact you after 20-30 days of getting the letter thats when you either talk to an attorney or visit small claims court.
It sucks when it comes to this but if you are repeatedly called and "harrassed" this is fully within your legal right to pursue (in the US). Harrassment is a crime, regardless of how it happens. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | This sounds like a process problem and not just the typical behaviour of individual recruiters. The good ones never waste their time calling people with no interest. There are plenty out there who are.
Call their office and ask for someone higher up than a recruiter (manager, owner, partner, etc.). They obviously have a problem of not updating their databases. There needs to be some mechanism in their operations to prevent calling people who are not interested to the point you have to take such drastic measures. It sounds like they do a terrible job at this if they make any effort at all.
They're going to ask what recruiter called you; don't tell them. Here's another chance to point out the flaw in their systesm. Why can't they lookup who in their company called you? The goal isn't to punish the individual recruiters, but a company that has implemented poor policies and procedures.
I hate it when customer service people don't have the necessary information to do their jobs correctly and not waste my time. | Is your resume posted on a job board such as Monster? If so, I don't think the recruiter **is** keeping you in their database.
I get a lot of calls from recruiters, including those I've sent my resume to in the past. They often say that they found my resume on a job board, not in their own database. (I can confirm that, based on the e-mail addresses I use in different resumes.)
I'm fairly certain that this company really does remove you from its list, but a few months later their agents simply **rediscover** you, along with many other candidates.
I suggest that your resume (at least, the one you put on the job boards) have only a Google Voice phone number. Not only don't you have to answer it, but the voicemails can be sent to you as e-mail, so you don't have to play them back. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | I've been a recruiter for almost 15 years, and hearing stories like this make doing my job much more difficult (gives the impression that ALL recruiters act like this, which they obviously don't). [aroth's note](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/3733/168) about not giving recruiters your phone number is one option obviously, but many recruiters will respect your desire for privacy. I almost always use email to contact candidates initially and for 'check-ins' occasionally, and generally only make calls when we need to discuss some specifics (beginning of the relationship requires screening candidates by phone, but once I know you pretty well we can handle most of our interactions via email).
I think in this particular situation, 'outing' the recruiter and company might be something that could get their attention (assuming you have some platform to do so). A recruiter's reputation is incredibly important, mainly because the recruiting industry has such a poor reputation overall that people simply assume you are unethical until you prove otherwise (guilty until proven innocent). I know I would be horrified if a candidate posted my name in a bad light to others in their network. That kind of thing might get their attention. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, user groups or professional organizations could all be places you could at least threaten to go public if they don't discontinue their actions.
The chances of you suing them or pressing charges that would actually hold them accountable are probably low, and they know that. The only real thing you can threaten is their reputation. | This sounds like a process problem and not just the typical behaviour of individual recruiters. The good ones never waste their time calling people with no interest. There are plenty out there who are.
Call their office and ask for someone higher up than a recruiter (manager, owner, partner, etc.). They obviously have a problem of not updating their databases. There needs to be some mechanism in their operations to prevent calling people who are not interested to the point you have to take such drastic measures. It sounds like they do a terrible job at this if they make any effort at all.
They're going to ask what recruiter called you; don't tell them. Here's another chance to point out the flaw in their systesm. Why can't they lookup who in their company called you? The goal isn't to punish the individual recruiters, but a company that has implemented poor policies and procedures.
I hate it when customer service people don't have the necessary information to do their jobs correctly and not waste my time. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | I've been a recruiter for almost 15 years, and hearing stories like this make doing my job much more difficult (gives the impression that ALL recruiters act like this, which they obviously don't). [aroth's note](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/3733/168) about not giving recruiters your phone number is one option obviously, but many recruiters will respect your desire for privacy. I almost always use email to contact candidates initially and for 'check-ins' occasionally, and generally only make calls when we need to discuss some specifics (beginning of the relationship requires screening candidates by phone, but once I know you pretty well we can handle most of our interactions via email).
I think in this particular situation, 'outing' the recruiter and company might be something that could get their attention (assuming you have some platform to do so). A recruiter's reputation is incredibly important, mainly because the recruiting industry has such a poor reputation overall that people simply assume you are unethical until you prove otherwise (guilty until proven innocent). I know I would be horrified if a candidate posted my name in a bad light to others in their network. That kind of thing might get their attention. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, user groups or professional organizations could all be places you could at least threaten to go public if they don't discontinue their actions.
The chances of you suing them or pressing charges that would actually hold them accountable are probably low, and they know that. The only real thing you can threaten is their reputation. | First step - Check the recruitment companies privacy and/or communication policy.
Second step - For most Western Countries, there will be a Privacy Commissionaire who you can report them too (just make sure you have documented proof that you have requested them to remove your personal details/information from their records)
Third step - Search out and contact the Association body for recruitment/staffing firms (NAPS, ACSESS, REC, etc... and Better Business Bureau).
Fourth step - Draw up a 'Cease and Desist Letter' - would strongly recommend using legal guidance (it might cost but if you feel this strong then it shows you are serious). Each state/prov/country has rules, terms, conditions, and you want to make sure you include terms such as 'breach or privacy', 'harassment' and 'feeling threatened' and 'mental duress'.
Additionally, if you are connected to anyone from that company on social media sites - communicate your intention and desire to be removed from their system, and go as far as disconnecting from them, un-following them, and blocking them. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | I've been a recruiter for almost 15 years, and hearing stories like this make doing my job much more difficult (gives the impression that ALL recruiters act like this, which they obviously don't). [aroth's note](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/3733/168) about not giving recruiters your phone number is one option obviously, but many recruiters will respect your desire for privacy. I almost always use email to contact candidates initially and for 'check-ins' occasionally, and generally only make calls when we need to discuss some specifics (beginning of the relationship requires screening candidates by phone, but once I know you pretty well we can handle most of our interactions via email).
I think in this particular situation, 'outing' the recruiter and company might be something that could get their attention (assuming you have some platform to do so). A recruiter's reputation is incredibly important, mainly because the recruiting industry has such a poor reputation overall that people simply assume you are unethical until you prove otherwise (guilty until proven innocent). I know I would be horrified if a candidate posted my name in a bad light to others in their network. That kind of thing might get their attention. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, user groups or professional organizations could all be places you could at least threaten to go public if they don't discontinue their actions.
The chances of you suing them or pressing charges that would actually hold them accountable are probably low, and they know that. The only real thing you can threaten is their reputation. | Recruiters are scum of the earth. Here are some ways to get removed:
1. Go on an interview with a company you are not interested in, and be the biggest ass you can be and say the recruiter told you things, basically sully their reputation.
2. Have them change your contact info to a temporary #, which you will then abandon in a few months.
3. Get in touch with their legal team and request to be removed, inform them you are on the do not call registry and you have no relationship with co.
4. Retaliate. Sign up for every online newsletter/spam service you can using recruiters email. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | This sounds like a process problem and not just the typical behaviour of individual recruiters. The good ones never waste their time calling people with no interest. There are plenty out there who are.
Call their office and ask for someone higher up than a recruiter (manager, owner, partner, etc.). They obviously have a problem of not updating their databases. There needs to be some mechanism in their operations to prevent calling people who are not interested to the point you have to take such drastic measures. It sounds like they do a terrible job at this if they make any effort at all.
They're going to ask what recruiter called you; don't tell them. Here's another chance to point out the flaw in their systesm. Why can't they lookup who in their company called you? The goal isn't to punish the individual recruiters, but a company that has implemented poor policies and procedures.
I hate it when customer service people don't have the necessary information to do their jobs correctly and not waste my time. | Recruiters are scum of the earth. Here are some ways to get removed:
1. Go on an interview with a company you are not interested in, and be the biggest ass you can be and say the recruiter told you things, basically sully their reputation.
2. Have them change your contact info to a temporary #, which you will then abandon in a few months.
3. Get in touch with their legal team and request to be removed, inform them you are on the do not call registry and you have no relationship with co.
4. Retaliate. Sign up for every online newsletter/spam service you can using recruiters email. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | This sounds like a process problem and not just the typical behaviour of individual recruiters. The good ones never waste their time calling people with no interest. There are plenty out there who are.
Call their office and ask for someone higher up than a recruiter (manager, owner, partner, etc.). They obviously have a problem of not updating their databases. There needs to be some mechanism in their operations to prevent calling people who are not interested to the point you have to take such drastic measures. It sounds like they do a terrible job at this if they make any effort at all.
They're going to ask what recruiter called you; don't tell them. Here's another chance to point out the flaw in their systesm. Why can't they lookup who in their company called you? The goal isn't to punish the individual recruiters, but a company that has implemented poor policies and procedures.
I hate it when customer service people don't have the necessary information to do their jobs correctly and not waste my time. | First step - Check the recruitment companies privacy and/or communication policy.
Second step - For most Western Countries, there will be a Privacy Commissionaire who you can report them too (just make sure you have documented proof that you have requested them to remove your personal details/information from their records)
Third step - Search out and contact the Association body for recruitment/staffing firms (NAPS, ACSESS, REC, etc... and Better Business Bureau).
Fourth step - Draw up a 'Cease and Desist Letter' - would strongly recommend using legal guidance (it might cost but if you feel this strong then it shows you are serious). Each state/prov/country has rules, terms, conditions, and you want to make sure you include terms such as 'breach or privacy', 'harassment' and 'feeling threatened' and 'mental duress'.
Additionally, if you are connected to anyone from that company on social media sites - communicate your intention and desire to be removed from their system, and go as far as disconnecting from them, un-following them, and blocking them. |
3,732 | There is a particular recruiting company that continues to contact me. I have been unhappy with their performance in the past and have been clear that I am no longer interested in their services. I have had to inform them of this multiple times.
Whenever they contact me, I inform them that I do not want them to contact me further. They oblige for a few months, and then I get an e-mail or phone call from a different recruiter with the same company. Most recently, I expressed my frustration and insisted that I be completely removed from their database. Today, I received another e-mail from them after months of silence.
Is there any sort of legal grounds I can quote or anything else I can say or do to force them to *actually* remove me from their list of contacts and stop contacting me? | 2012/09/04 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/3732",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/2236/"
] | I've been a recruiter for almost 15 years, and hearing stories like this make doing my job much more difficult (gives the impression that ALL recruiters act like this, which they obviously don't). [aroth's note](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/3733/168) about not giving recruiters your phone number is one option obviously, but many recruiters will respect your desire for privacy. I almost always use email to contact candidates initially and for 'check-ins' occasionally, and generally only make calls when we need to discuss some specifics (beginning of the relationship requires screening candidates by phone, but once I know you pretty well we can handle most of our interactions via email).
I think in this particular situation, 'outing' the recruiter and company might be something that could get their attention (assuming you have some platform to do so). A recruiter's reputation is incredibly important, mainly because the recruiting industry has such a poor reputation overall that people simply assume you are unethical until you prove otherwise (guilty until proven innocent). I know I would be horrified if a candidate posted my name in a bad light to others in their network. That kind of thing might get their attention. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, user groups or professional organizations could all be places you could at least threaten to go public if they don't discontinue their actions.
The chances of you suing them or pressing charges that would actually hold them accountable are probably low, and they know that. The only real thing you can threaten is their reputation. | Is your resume posted on a job board such as Monster? If so, I don't think the recruiter **is** keeping you in their database.
I get a lot of calls from recruiters, including those I've sent my resume to in the past. They often say that they found my resume on a job board, not in their own database. (I can confirm that, based on the e-mail addresses I use in different resumes.)
I'm fairly certain that this company really does remove you from its list, but a few months later their agents simply **rediscover** you, along with many other candidates.
I suggest that your resume (at least, the one you put on the job boards) have only a Google Voice phone number. Not only don't you have to answer it, but the voicemails can be sent to you as e-mail, so you don't have to play them back. |
388,960 | I just recorded a video conversation using the 'screenshot' function on my mac. The idea was to record the video call, but also the audio of me and the other person talking... There was NO audio recorded!
How to record audio from the screen?! | 2020/04/20 | [
"https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/388960",
"https://apple.stackexchange.com",
"https://apple.stackexchange.com/users/355515/"
] | I came across the same problem when we went to online teaching after SARS-CoV-2 hit. I found a free workaround, but there are subscription services that work. I can't say for sure that this is the best way to do it (just best for right now?):
1. Open a web-conferencing app like Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc., and start a meeting without others.
2. Share your screen in the meeting, focussing on the video you want to record. Make sure you select to "Share computer audio" in this step.
3. Now open your preferred screen-recorder such as Screencast-O-Matic, Canvas Studio, Echo360, etc. (I don't know if the built-in recorder works), and record the shared web-conference video.
I hope this was helpful, but I look forward to better options if anyone has any! Good luck! | There is a option to record sound from the Build-in Microphone, as shown below.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIBKH.png)
This image was take from a 2013 iMac which has a jack for an external microphone. The sound quality is better using an external microphone. If your Mac does not have a microphone jack, then you could try using a USB microphone. |
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