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11,057,462 | In VS2010, I've created an rdlc report that I want to view using the reportviewer. On the report, I want to use a scanned image underneath all the text (since it must look like the agency's letterhead), and this image must take up the whole page. The problem is that the text boxes on the report are all bumped down beneath the image. Can someone help me figure out how to make this work? | 2012/06/15 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11057462",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1459630/"
] | Right click the image, select Layout, Send to Back. | You can place text above the image at design time. When ReportViewer display the report, it will look bad, but if you export the report in PDF format will look the same as you wish.
I know my answer does not resolve the problem. After working a lot on the subject, it is all I could get.
I have now tried in VS2013. No change. |
11,057,462 | In VS2010, I've created an rdlc report that I want to view using the reportviewer. On the report, I want to use a scanned image underneath all the text (since it must look like the agency's letterhead), and this image must take up the whole page. The problem is that the text boxes on the report are all bumped down beneath the image. Can someone help me figure out how to make this work? | 2012/06/15 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/11057462",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1459630/"
] | I'm doing this in VS 2012 now, but I think it's the same in VS 2010.
Right click the body of your report (in design mode),
Select "Body Properties..." and from there you can specify a Background Image. | You can place text above the image at design time. When ReportViewer display the report, it will look bad, but if you export the report in PDF format will look the same as you wish.
I know my answer does not resolve the problem. After working a lot on the subject, it is all I could get.
I have now tried in VS2013. No change. |
38,394,596 | I am trying to get access token of logined instagram users. while authorising they returning some code to my redirecting URI, actually what they providing?
the format was like this <https://redirect-url.com/?code=>
From this how can i get access token? | 2016/07/15 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/38394596",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4787045/"
] | [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/seAX1.png)
To rename project Select Project from navigationBar > Select your project > find Identity and Type at right side of screen (Wiil be your current project name) change it to name you want.
if you just wish to change the name on display screen then find display name property that all you need | [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TZraj.png)
The build settings are at the top there. |
20,844 | What is preventing the "Exit Node" from tampering with the message going to the server, or the message coming back to the user. As far as I understand, the "Exit Node" can read the unencrypted message, and there is nothing stopping it from tampering with the message, adding some sort of Trojan? | 2020/01/28 | [
"https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/20844",
"https://tor.stackexchange.com",
"https://tor.stackexchange.com/users/28551/"
] | The best option to avoid exits tampering or inspecting your traffic is to only use encrypted protocols over Tor exit nodes. That means HTTPS, primarily, but if you're using another protocol (such as IMAP, for checking mail, or IRC) ensure it is the "over TLS" version. | The Tor Project monitors exit nodes and if one is found to be misbehaving, they can make sure that it has a "badexit" flag on the network and no middle nodes will send traffic there.
There is a community at Tor that specializes in [bad relays](https://community.torproject.org/relay/community-resources/bad-relays/). Check out their website if you want to know more about what they do. |
20,844 | What is preventing the "Exit Node" from tampering with the message going to the server, or the message coming back to the user. As far as I understand, the "Exit Node" can read the unencrypted message, and there is nothing stopping it from tampering with the message, adding some sort of Trojan? | 2020/01/28 | [
"https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/20844",
"https://tor.stackexchange.com",
"https://tor.stackexchange.com/users/28551/"
] | The best option to avoid exits tampering or inspecting your traffic is to only use encrypted protocols over Tor exit nodes. That means HTTPS, primarily, but if you're using another protocol (such as IMAP, for checking mail, or IRC) ensure it is the "over TLS" version. | The answer is - **It can't be trusted** Tor is a network with *just* an alternative routing scheme, so you're up to **yourself** to guard your SSL, TLS and so forth... Even more: a malicious exit nodes are catched from time to time, so - unless you're maintaining a full-scale security on your side - Tor is totally not a remedy for this |
25,630 | I have three (3) Kodak Ektachrome 160 Super 8 (process EM-26, Type G) cartridges that are undeveloped. How difficult would it be for a complete amateur to develop these? If it is not very complicated or expensive, can someone detail how it would be done?
My humble thanks for your assistance. | 2012/07/25 | [
"https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/25630",
"https://photo.stackexchange.com",
"https://photo.stackexchange.com/users/10808/"
] | Kodak Ektachrome 160G marked 'process EM26' can be processed in E6 chemistry, but it has a rem-jet anti-halation backing that must be removed. Ektachrome 160A will also process fine in E6. Both stocks will benefit from overexposure and shortened first development time. The earlier EM24 versions of this stock require a prehardening step and so cannot be processed at E6 temperature, but will work if all baths are kept at around 24°C and development time adjusted to compensate. Not really ideal for novices, there are a few labs in Europe that process this stock - Super 8 Reversal Lab in Netherlands (Frank Bruinsma), Dagie Brundert in Germany and Ricardo Pascucci at Bottega analogica, Italy. | My aunt had several of the cassettes of the Kodak type G Ektachrome 160 movie film, maybe 8 of them. As a gift I sent them to a place in hays KS called vision video. All 8 made about a 20 some minute long film on a CD and it costed me around $400 |
2,859,353 | I want to make an flipping card object which has three sides, basic requirement is like below
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4aMxm.png)
as in image, I want to rotate from horizontal center of card but I can not find any way to change orientation of rotation except put card in an container and set its **x to -(width/2)** I am using **appendRotation** method after setting its z component to 1 and everytime appending -5 rotation on Y axis.
How to achieve this elegantly? any suggestions appreciated... | 2010/05/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/2859353",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/153207/"
] | For a simple two sided 3D object using the native 3D capabilities of the Flash Player, check out this handy class: <http://blog.soulwire.co.uk/code/open-source/two-sided-planes-in-flash-player-10> | I'd suggest looking at [Papervision 3d](http://blog.papervision3d.org/) or [away 3D](http://www.away3d.com/) and make a 2 sided plane, one side of the plane being a view stack that contains views 1 and 2. |
405,177 | I would like to know which are some noticeable open problems in symbolic dynamics, including substitution dynamics. I'm especially interested in connections with topological chaos of various forms. Thanks! | 2021/09/30 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/405177",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/393632/"
] | Mike Boyle once compiled a pretty large collection of [open problems in symbolic dynamics](http://www.math.umd.edu/%7Emboyle/open/), and has been keeping track of their status. | You mentioned substitution systems, so the Pisot substitution conjecture obviously has to be mentioned. There's a (mostly) up to date exposition by Akiyama, Barge, Berthé, Lee and Siegel that can be read [here](https://www.irif.fr/%7Eberthe/Articles/AkiyamaBargeBertheLeeSiegel.pdf).
In a nutshell, it asks whether it is true that an irreducible Pisot substitution on a finite alphabet always gives rise to a subshift which has pure point dynamical spectrum.
The conjecture is known to be true for all two-letter substitutions, but probably the most interesting case that has been solved is by Barge, where he solved the conjecture for all `$\beta$-substitutions' - <https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.04408> |
40,517,198 | I am trying to extend my app with a push service.
Looking through the web I found several ionic examples, yet have not been able to wrap my head around it.
Here's my goal:
My server should send a push notification about every 3 hours to each individual user to update them on their individual parameters.
Hence, I need a server solution that targets the package to each individual.
On the client side I thought of using
<https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-plugin-push>
I already obtained apple push certificates but am not sure how to use them...
Any help is welcome! | 2016/11/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/40517198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2058333/"
] | [$cordovaPushV5](http://ngcordova.com/docs/plugins/pushNotificationsV5/) is the latest version & works perfectly. Get your SENDER\_ID by registering [here](https://developers.google.com/mobile/add) | At first Install following Plugin under your project
cordova plugin add <https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-plugin-push>
Download following code from here: <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_-b-DfCLwKdREkwZFdYVEhYWXM>
Then merge code in your app.js and after that run your application in iphone and check in console device if you are getting token or not, if device token is showing then move on to next step.
Then you can store device token in database when user login or register.
Then enter your [.pem] file location and pass phrase in [db.class.php]
Then enter device token in [sendIphonenotification.php] file
Then execute [sendIphonenotification.php] file and check your iphone you will get a notification.
Also, if you face any issue in generating .pem file and passphrase then you can follow this link: [Generate .pem file Used to setup Apple PUSH Notification](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21250510/generate-pem-file-used-to-setup-apple-push-notification) |
40,517,198 | I am trying to extend my app with a push service.
Looking through the web I found several ionic examples, yet have not been able to wrap my head around it.
Here's my goal:
My server should send a push notification about every 3 hours to each individual user to update them on their individual parameters.
Hence, I need a server solution that targets the package to each individual.
On the client side I thought of using
<https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-plugin-push>
I already obtained apple push certificates but am not sure how to use them...
Any help is welcome! | 2016/11/09 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/40517198",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2058333/"
] | As per your requirement analysis I would recommend to use Ionic's push from Ionic Cloud API with matchless compatibility across all platform you can find you more about it here
[Ionic Push Notification Docs](https://docs.ionic.io/services/push/)
More over it provides online portal for certificate configuration area minimal onboard configuration required extending the functionality it also provides online portal for sending out push to your devices along with Restful API services for server utilization.
For Tokens : Ionic will be responsible of generating token all you need to do is save that token on your localdb for future reference to send push notification to targeted device. Tokens will be generated one time only upon first run of the application. (Token needs to be renewed upon New install / Update) | At first Install following Plugin under your project
cordova plugin add <https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-plugin-push>
Download following code from here: <https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_-b-DfCLwKdREkwZFdYVEhYWXM>
Then merge code in your app.js and after that run your application in iphone and check in console device if you are getting token or not, if device token is showing then move on to next step.
Then you can store device token in database when user login or register.
Then enter your [.pem] file location and pass phrase in [db.class.php]
Then enter device token in [sendIphonenotification.php] file
Then execute [sendIphonenotification.php] file and check your iphone you will get a notification.
Also, if you face any issue in generating .pem file and passphrase then you can follow this link: [Generate .pem file Used to setup Apple PUSH Notification](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21250510/generate-pem-file-used-to-setup-apple-push-notification) |
40,881 | When referring to members or worshippers at a Christian church, I might use the word 'parishioner', or possibly even 'congregation'.
Are there equivalent words specific to the Islamic faith for those who regularly attend or worship at a particular mosque? | 2017/06/20 | [
"https://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/40881",
"https://islam.stackexchange.com",
"https://islam.stackexchange.com/users/23082/"
] | A group of people offering prayers together is called a *Jamaat* or *Jammah*. Congregational prayer can be observed in any place as required, not necessarily a mosque; and a person joining a congregation for the first and last time is as much a part of it as a regular.
Regarding *parishioner*: I am not aware of any formal term for regular worshipers at a mosque that would differentiate them from non-regulars. *Memberships* or *registrations* are not a feature of Islamic congregations. | The word *congregant* can be used, although it's not Islam-specific.
Actually this question came up on English.SE: [“Parishioner” vs. “congregant”](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/87093/parishioner-vs-congregant), who also offer other possibilities:
>
> To refer more generally to those attending services at a particular time, you could simply say *worshippers* or *attendees*; for all adherents, there are a variety of terms employed, such as *the brethren* or *the faithful*, or the more mundane *churchgoers* or *the observant*; *communicants* captures the sense of those in communion with the Church as opposed to outsiders.
>
>
> |
171,085 | After reading through the description of the spell [*compelled duel*](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/compelled-duel), it seems as though the spell does not actually say what it does with respect to restricting the movement of the target creature.
Let's review the description bit by bit:
>
> You attempt to **compel a creature into a duel**. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, **the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand**.
>
>
>
"Compel a creature into a duel" is the *flavorful* description of what this spell does. The mechanical nature of this is supposed to be defined when the spell describes what happens on a failure. What follows after "on a failed save" is the spell's definition of "compelled into a duel".
So what happens on a failed save? "The creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand". This definitely reads like more flavor text. I can see two interpretations of this phrase. The first, we can understand "drawn to you" to mean "the creature cannot willingly move away from you". But we can be certain that this is not the case, as the next part of the spell tells us what happens if the creature *does* attempt to move a certain distance away from you. The only other reasonable interpretation I can see is that this phrase is, once again, more flavor text, and the spell is going to tell us what it does later on in the description.
The next bit is perfectly clear,
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you,
>
>
>
Moving on.
This where it gets weird. The spell now gives a condition which triggers a saving throw, and defines what happens on the success of that saving throw:
>
> [The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.
>
>
>
Okay, this seems to *heavily imply* that the target is able to attempt to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you. This is what invalidates the first interpretation of "drawn to you" mentioned previously.
Now the spell describes what happens on a success on the saving throw:
>
> if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
As written, it seems the spell *already does not restrict the target's movement* because the spell *never says anything to that effect*. It does not describe what happens on a failed saving throw. It never tells us how it restricts the movement of the target.
But it gets worse. Because the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save, there is no reason given in the description that would stop the target creature from attempting the saving throw until there is a success.
**What does *compelled duel* actually do?**
[This question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/130323/how-does-compelled-duel-work-with-the-saving-throws) seems related, but is muddied by the fact that the asker employed an outdated or incorrect printing of the spell description. | 2020/06/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/171085",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/62294/"
] | The spell is unclear, so it will be up to DM ruling/interpretation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
As you pointed out, the spell is unclear. I haven't found any kind of clarification on it in the Sage Advice Compendium and the spell has never received any kind of errata.
And, well, [spells do what they say](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/107637/43856), so, failing the saving throw does... nothing. From my reading. It does not stop the target from moving outside the range.
### How would I rule it (a.k.a.: What I think is the intention of the spell)
Obviously, the RAW interpretation seems far from the intended - otherwise, it would just not include any of this saving throw on movement at all. The intention when **I read it** is, basically, assuming the consequent. On a successful save, the target can move. On a failed save, the target can not move. This intention, to me, is clear from the text you call *flavor*1. Although I agree that it is not mechanical, it does state the intention.
You also mentioned (in chat) the possibility that the target starts outside the 30 ft. range anyway - which is possible through actions that move him (e.g. being shoved away). So, the way I would rule it is wording the spell somewhat as follows:
>
> If the target tries to move away from you, to a position that is more than 30 ft. away from you, it is subject to a Wisdom saving throw. If the target succeeds, it can freely move until the end of its turn. Otherwise, it fails to move and can no longer attempt to move away from you (to a position that is more than 30 ft. away).
>
>
>
That way, if the target is already at, say, 35 ft. from you, it can freely move *towards you* and, I would rule, even in a circle maintaining its distance. However, it could not move *away* from you without the saving throw.
Ruling that it can only try once is also logical - as movement is only spent after, well, the target actually moved. If it could attempt more times, then it would eventually succeed, which makes the spell again pointless and doesn't make sense to me.
---
1 As noted in the comments by MivaScott (thanks for the link, I knew we had that question somewhere), [spells in 5e do not contain "pure flavor"](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/78012/43856). As I said, in this case, although the text does not describe *the specifics of the mechanics*, it **can not be ignored either**, hence my point that the **intention of the spell is clear**, we just need to rule how the *mechanics* actually work. | ### The spell makes it more difficult for the target to fight against anyone other than the caster, and encourages the caster to engage with the target
I agree with your assessments of what's flavor text (by which I mean text in the spell which cannot be directly, mechanically evaluated) and what isn't, but the mechanics seem pretty clear to me. If we assume that the spell was not intended to be useless or trivially defeated in a single enemy turn:
1. **[The target] has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than [the caster]**
The target will be less successful in fighting anyone other than the caster. They can still do so, but will be less successful in hitting any target but the caster. This provides a mechanical incentive for the target to engage with the caster, not too dissimilar to effects like *Hunter's Mark* or *Hex*-- once in place, these spells favor one target over others for the caster. This spell works similarly but in reverse.
2. **[The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from [the caster].**
The target will have a more difficult time maneuvering if far enough away from the caster. As in (1), this is an incentive for the target to fight the caster rather than anyone else. For a target with a good Wisdom save, this effect isn't very important. This fleshes out the flavor text of *drawn to [the caster]*-- it's more difficult for the target to move such that they are 30+ feet from the caster than to be nearer.
In particular, this is relevant because an end condition to the spell is that the target is more than 30 feet away from the caster at the end of the caster's turn.
3. **if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.**
This could have been written more clearly, to be sure. But the plain-English interpretation is that if the target fails the Wisdom saving throw they *cannot* move more than 30 feet from the caster:
>
> If [success on WIS save] --> no movement restriction; Elseif [failure on WIS save] --> movement restriction (cannot move to a point more than 30 feet from the caster)
>
>
>
Whether that means the Movement phase of that turn is wasted, or the relevant movement speed to get to the (now restricted) space is consumed, is unclear. The most parsimonious reading suggests to me that the target gets to try to move to any space more than 30 feet from the caster once per turn, and either succeeds on the save (they can move wherever they want within their speed, terrain permitting) or fails (they can move wherever they want within 30 feet of the caster, speed and terrain permitting). This interpretation is supported by the *for that turn* wording, which implies that one save per turn is allowed. But as that isn't written in the description it's just another ruling.
---
This is a level 1 spell, so we can't expect too much from it. It's also only available to the Paladin class, which has implications for its intended use cases (though we shouldn't speculate very much on what those might be).
But using interpretations other than the ones above would lead to another answer:
**The spell *Compelled Duel* does basically nothing, because if it's so trivially defeatable and useless no one will ever prepare or cast it.** It would, at most, grant disadvantage on attack rolls against most targets for a single enemy turn. Maybe there are edge cases where that's worth the effort, but off the top of my head there are better uses for a spell slot. |
171,085 | After reading through the description of the spell [*compelled duel*](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/compelled-duel), it seems as though the spell does not actually say what it does with respect to restricting the movement of the target creature.
Let's review the description bit by bit:
>
> You attempt to **compel a creature into a duel**. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, **the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand**.
>
>
>
"Compel a creature into a duel" is the *flavorful* description of what this spell does. The mechanical nature of this is supposed to be defined when the spell describes what happens on a failure. What follows after "on a failed save" is the spell's definition of "compelled into a duel".
So what happens on a failed save? "The creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand". This definitely reads like more flavor text. I can see two interpretations of this phrase. The first, we can understand "drawn to you" to mean "the creature cannot willingly move away from you". But we can be certain that this is not the case, as the next part of the spell tells us what happens if the creature *does* attempt to move a certain distance away from you. The only other reasonable interpretation I can see is that this phrase is, once again, more flavor text, and the spell is going to tell us what it does later on in the description.
The next bit is perfectly clear,
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you,
>
>
>
Moving on.
This where it gets weird. The spell now gives a condition which triggers a saving throw, and defines what happens on the success of that saving throw:
>
> [The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.
>
>
>
Okay, this seems to *heavily imply* that the target is able to attempt to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you. This is what invalidates the first interpretation of "drawn to you" mentioned previously.
Now the spell describes what happens on a success on the saving throw:
>
> if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
As written, it seems the spell *already does not restrict the target's movement* because the spell *never says anything to that effect*. It does not describe what happens on a failed saving throw. It never tells us how it restricts the movement of the target.
But it gets worse. Because the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save, there is no reason given in the description that would stop the target creature from attempting the saving throw until there is a success.
**What does *compelled duel* actually do?**
[This question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/130323/how-does-compelled-duel-work-with-the-saving-throws) seems related, but is muddied by the fact that the asker employed an outdated or incorrect printing of the spell description. | 2020/06/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/171085",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/62294/"
] | The spell is unclear, so it will be up to DM ruling/interpretation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
As you pointed out, the spell is unclear. I haven't found any kind of clarification on it in the Sage Advice Compendium and the spell has never received any kind of errata.
And, well, [spells do what they say](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/107637/43856), so, failing the saving throw does... nothing. From my reading. It does not stop the target from moving outside the range.
### How would I rule it (a.k.a.: What I think is the intention of the spell)
Obviously, the RAW interpretation seems far from the intended - otherwise, it would just not include any of this saving throw on movement at all. The intention when **I read it** is, basically, assuming the consequent. On a successful save, the target can move. On a failed save, the target can not move. This intention, to me, is clear from the text you call *flavor*1. Although I agree that it is not mechanical, it does state the intention.
You also mentioned (in chat) the possibility that the target starts outside the 30 ft. range anyway - which is possible through actions that move him (e.g. being shoved away). So, the way I would rule it is wording the spell somewhat as follows:
>
> If the target tries to move away from you, to a position that is more than 30 ft. away from you, it is subject to a Wisdom saving throw. If the target succeeds, it can freely move until the end of its turn. Otherwise, it fails to move and can no longer attempt to move away from you (to a position that is more than 30 ft. away).
>
>
>
That way, if the target is already at, say, 35 ft. from you, it can freely move *towards you* and, I would rule, even in a circle maintaining its distance. However, it could not move *away* from you without the saving throw.
Ruling that it can only try once is also logical - as movement is only spent after, well, the target actually moved. If it could attempt more times, then it would eventually succeed, which makes the spell again pointless and doesn't make sense to me.
---
1 As noted in the comments by MivaScott (thanks for the link, I knew we had that question somewhere), [spells in 5e do not contain "pure flavor"](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/78012/43856). As I said, in this case, although the text does not describe *the specifics of the mechanics*, it **can not be ignored either**, hence my point that the **intention of the spell is clear**, we just need to rule how the *mechanics* actually work. | A creature drawn to you will approach you
-----------------------------------------
Lets imagine a simpler spell. Its spell description is:
>
> Choose a target within range. If they fail a wisdom saving throw, they are drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand.
>
>
>
This spell clearly makes a creature try to move towards you.
Compelled Duel is this spell, plus extra words. Those extra words don't erase the earlier part of the spell. In it, there is a way for the creature to *not* move towards you; if they attempt to move to a space more than 30' away from you, they can make a saving throw. On success, their movement is not restricted.
You'll note that my interpretation -- that their movement is restricted -- is validated by *something releasing the target from their movement restriction*.
Spells do what they say they do
-------------------------------
This spell makes a creature be drawn to you.
There is no flavour text
------------------------
There is flavourful text, just no flavour text. The spell attempts to draw a creature into a duel; this is flavourful. It has very little mechanical impact; it might change how the spell works if the creature was duplicated somehow (!) or if you are duplicated (!), as the word "duel" has meaning.
What meaning? In D&D 5e, when a corner case occurs, it is up to the DM to determine what happens. The rules don't attempt to cover every corner case.
You should read spells as doing something
-----------------------------------------
If a reading of a spell means that mechanics in the spell have no effect, consider other readings. 5e was not written in a legalistic manner.
If a reading of a spell leads to abusive super powerful results? Don't read it that way.
If a reading of a spell leads to a bunch of the spells mechanics having no effect? Don't read it that way.
As a DM (and to a lesser extent, a player) you are responsible for reading the text in a way that is reasonable and not trying to break it. |
171,085 | After reading through the description of the spell [*compelled duel*](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/compelled-duel), it seems as though the spell does not actually say what it does with respect to restricting the movement of the target creature.
Let's review the description bit by bit:
>
> You attempt to **compel a creature into a duel**. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, **the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand**.
>
>
>
"Compel a creature into a duel" is the *flavorful* description of what this spell does. The mechanical nature of this is supposed to be defined when the spell describes what happens on a failure. What follows after "on a failed save" is the spell's definition of "compelled into a duel".
So what happens on a failed save? "The creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand". This definitely reads like more flavor text. I can see two interpretations of this phrase. The first, we can understand "drawn to you" to mean "the creature cannot willingly move away from you". But we can be certain that this is not the case, as the next part of the spell tells us what happens if the creature *does* attempt to move a certain distance away from you. The only other reasonable interpretation I can see is that this phrase is, once again, more flavor text, and the spell is going to tell us what it does later on in the description.
The next bit is perfectly clear,
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you,
>
>
>
Moving on.
This where it gets weird. The spell now gives a condition which triggers a saving throw, and defines what happens on the success of that saving throw:
>
> [The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.
>
>
>
Okay, this seems to *heavily imply* that the target is able to attempt to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you. This is what invalidates the first interpretation of "drawn to you" mentioned previously.
Now the spell describes what happens on a success on the saving throw:
>
> if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
As written, it seems the spell *already does not restrict the target's movement* because the spell *never says anything to that effect*. It does not describe what happens on a failed saving throw. It never tells us how it restricts the movement of the target.
But it gets worse. Because the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save, there is no reason given in the description that would stop the target creature from attempting the saving throw until there is a success.
**What does *compelled duel* actually do?**
[This question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/130323/how-does-compelled-duel-work-with-the-saving-throws) seems related, but is muddied by the fact that the asker employed an outdated or incorrect printing of the spell description. | 2020/06/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/171085",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/62294/"
] | The spell is unclear, so it will be up to DM ruling/interpretation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
As you pointed out, the spell is unclear. I haven't found any kind of clarification on it in the Sage Advice Compendium and the spell has never received any kind of errata.
And, well, [spells do what they say](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/107637/43856), so, failing the saving throw does... nothing. From my reading. It does not stop the target from moving outside the range.
### How would I rule it (a.k.a.: What I think is the intention of the spell)
Obviously, the RAW interpretation seems far from the intended - otherwise, it would just not include any of this saving throw on movement at all. The intention when **I read it** is, basically, assuming the consequent. On a successful save, the target can move. On a failed save, the target can not move. This intention, to me, is clear from the text you call *flavor*1. Although I agree that it is not mechanical, it does state the intention.
You also mentioned (in chat) the possibility that the target starts outside the 30 ft. range anyway - which is possible through actions that move him (e.g. being shoved away). So, the way I would rule it is wording the spell somewhat as follows:
>
> If the target tries to move away from you, to a position that is more than 30 ft. away from you, it is subject to a Wisdom saving throw. If the target succeeds, it can freely move until the end of its turn. Otherwise, it fails to move and can no longer attempt to move away from you (to a position that is more than 30 ft. away).
>
>
>
That way, if the target is already at, say, 35 ft. from you, it can freely move *towards you* and, I would rule, even in a circle maintaining its distance. However, it could not move *away* from you without the saving throw.
Ruling that it can only try once is also logical - as movement is only spent after, well, the target actually moved. If it could attempt more times, then it would eventually succeed, which makes the spell again pointless and doesn't make sense to me.
---
1 As noted in the comments by MivaScott (thanks for the link, I knew we had that question somewhere), [spells in 5e do not contain "pure flavor"](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/78012/43856). As I said, in this case, although the text does not describe *the specifics of the mechanics*, it **can not be ignored either**, hence my point that the **intention of the spell is clear**, we just need to rule how the *mechanics* actually work. | What else should I be? All apologies...
=======================================
This is a bit different from my usual answers. Typically I attempt to determine what the rules text *actually says*, in the most literal reading possible. As the querent notes, however, *Compelled Duel* is different1 in that it "does not actually say what it does". Thus this answer is an **exercise in apologetics** - what is *Compelled duel* trying to do (RAI) and how can one read its text more generously so as to permit it to *actually do that* (RAW)?
RAI
---
Hopefully we can all agree on what *compelled duel* is supposed to be doing. It is a paladin spell - it is *supposed* to be about the party's paladin challenging the opposing side's leader or champion. Drawing them off to face the paladin solo, keeping them occupied both to protect the squishier members of the paladin's party from their powerful attacks and so that all the other members of the paladin's party can concentrate on eliminating the minions. If we agree on the intent, how can we read the spell text in a way that allows the spell to do this?
Apologetics
-----------
>
> You attempt to compel a creature into a duel. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand.
>
>
>
The querent is concerned about the phrase "drawn to you", since in his reading this is either a statement of mechanics that the spell does not actually employ, or mere flavor that doesn't do anything but guide later interpretation. Let me suggest a third alternative; "drawn to you" is not just flavor, but it is not compelling movement, either. Rather, **"drawn to you" is used in the sense of affecting the target's feelings and emotions** but in a non-mechanical way. Consider it like the phrase in the spell *[charm person](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/charm-person)*, "The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance."2 This phrase is not just flavor, but neither is it mechanics. Rather, it is a guide for the DM in determining how to role-play the behavior of the target; it is a suggestion for how to interpret their spell-altered perceptions. Similarly, "drawn to you" does not have a mechanical effect, but it is telling the DM that the target feels a strong *incentive* to attack the paladin. The spell is influencing2 - but not controlling - their behavior.
I DM a (vengeance) paladin who doesn't make use of the spell. But I am also a player in a game where another player has a Crown paladin who gets *compelled duel* as an Oath spell and makes frequent use of it. **What my DM does** is simply have the spell 'work' on any brute creatures that fail their save. They are drawn to attack the paladin - so they do, having no reason not to. These are the same kind of foes that are otherwise indiscriminate in their attacks and which would normally be attacking the nearest opponent with little regard for tactics. More intelligent foes under the spell would still feel drawn to attack the paladin, but can recognize this urge for what it is and still make decisions in a logical manner - 'ok, I can attack the paladin normally, or another target at disadvantage, what makes sense to do now'?
Turning to the actual mechanics of the spell:
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you, and must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you; if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
It starts with the simple disadvantage to attack anyone but the paladin, which is clear, and concludes with the more opaque effect on movement. The target can freely approach the paladin from any distance, and they can likewise circle the paladin, moving but maintaining their distance. If they try to get further away than 30 feet, though, then the spell imposes a mechanical effect; they must make a Wisdom save, with success indicating that their move is unrestricted. As noted by the querent, "the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save", at least not explicitly. But we can tease that out. First, because the spell tells us that this effect is triggered by an "attempt" to move further away; if it is an attempt, then *it has to be possible to fail*. Thus failing the save here means that the target *cannot* in fact move away. If success on the save means that the target's move is unrestricted, then it follows that failure on the save means that it *is restricted*, and restricted must mean that cannot move farther from the paladin.
Admittedly the phrase "each time it attempts to move" is odd, since as [HellSaint](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/171086/23547) points out, the target could simply keep attempting to move away until it succeeded on the save, since there is no movement cost to the attempt. However, note that a successful save here means the movement is unrestricted "that turn" and that the spell lasts up to a minute. Thus it seems reasonable to conclude that a failed attempt to move away precludes another attempt for the remainder of "that turn". To reconstruct what the spell is trying to say, then, it is something like:
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you. Also, the first time on each turn that it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you it must make a Wisdom saving throw; if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn, but if it fails, it is unable to move to that space or or any other space that is more than 30 feet away from you for the remainder of that turn.
>
>
>
This attempt to read the spell in a way that actually supports its intent concludes two things. First, "drawn to you" is to be understood as a non-mechanical influence on the target's motivation that requires DM adjudication for a role-playing outcome. Second, the mechanical effect on movement is such that a single save to move away may be made each turn, with failure restricting the target's movement options to only those that don't place it further away from the paladin.
---
1Starting, of course, with its name. *Compelled duel* does not compel anything, and what it does affect mechanically is movement, not selecting opponents.
2And note that *compelled duel*, like *charm person*, is a spell from the school of enchantment, which by definition seeks to "magically entrance and beguile other people and monsters" and which affects "the minds of others, **influencing** or controlling their behavior." |
171,085 | After reading through the description of the spell [*compelled duel*](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/compelled-duel), it seems as though the spell does not actually say what it does with respect to restricting the movement of the target creature.
Let's review the description bit by bit:
>
> You attempt to **compel a creature into a duel**. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, **the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand**.
>
>
>
"Compel a creature into a duel" is the *flavorful* description of what this spell does. The mechanical nature of this is supposed to be defined when the spell describes what happens on a failure. What follows after "on a failed save" is the spell's definition of "compelled into a duel".
So what happens on a failed save? "The creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand". This definitely reads like more flavor text. I can see two interpretations of this phrase. The first, we can understand "drawn to you" to mean "the creature cannot willingly move away from you". But we can be certain that this is not the case, as the next part of the spell tells us what happens if the creature *does* attempt to move a certain distance away from you. The only other reasonable interpretation I can see is that this phrase is, once again, more flavor text, and the spell is going to tell us what it does later on in the description.
The next bit is perfectly clear,
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you,
>
>
>
Moving on.
This where it gets weird. The spell now gives a condition which triggers a saving throw, and defines what happens on the success of that saving throw:
>
> [The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.
>
>
>
Okay, this seems to *heavily imply* that the target is able to attempt to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you. This is what invalidates the first interpretation of "drawn to you" mentioned previously.
Now the spell describes what happens on a success on the saving throw:
>
> if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
As written, it seems the spell *already does not restrict the target's movement* because the spell *never says anything to that effect*. It does not describe what happens on a failed saving throw. It never tells us how it restricts the movement of the target.
But it gets worse. Because the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save, there is no reason given in the description that would stop the target creature from attempting the saving throw until there is a success.
**What does *compelled duel* actually do?**
[This question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/130323/how-does-compelled-duel-work-with-the-saving-throws) seems related, but is muddied by the fact that the asker employed an outdated or incorrect printing of the spell description. | 2020/06/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/171085",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/62294/"
] | ### The spell makes it more difficult for the target to fight against anyone other than the caster, and encourages the caster to engage with the target
I agree with your assessments of what's flavor text (by which I mean text in the spell which cannot be directly, mechanically evaluated) and what isn't, but the mechanics seem pretty clear to me. If we assume that the spell was not intended to be useless or trivially defeated in a single enemy turn:
1. **[The target] has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than [the caster]**
The target will be less successful in fighting anyone other than the caster. They can still do so, but will be less successful in hitting any target but the caster. This provides a mechanical incentive for the target to engage with the caster, not too dissimilar to effects like *Hunter's Mark* or *Hex*-- once in place, these spells favor one target over others for the caster. This spell works similarly but in reverse.
2. **[The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from [the caster].**
The target will have a more difficult time maneuvering if far enough away from the caster. As in (1), this is an incentive for the target to fight the caster rather than anyone else. For a target with a good Wisdom save, this effect isn't very important. This fleshes out the flavor text of *drawn to [the caster]*-- it's more difficult for the target to move such that they are 30+ feet from the caster than to be nearer.
In particular, this is relevant because an end condition to the spell is that the target is more than 30 feet away from the caster at the end of the caster's turn.
3. **if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.**
This could have been written more clearly, to be sure. But the plain-English interpretation is that if the target fails the Wisdom saving throw they *cannot* move more than 30 feet from the caster:
>
> If [success on WIS save] --> no movement restriction; Elseif [failure on WIS save] --> movement restriction (cannot move to a point more than 30 feet from the caster)
>
>
>
Whether that means the Movement phase of that turn is wasted, or the relevant movement speed to get to the (now restricted) space is consumed, is unclear. The most parsimonious reading suggests to me that the target gets to try to move to any space more than 30 feet from the caster once per turn, and either succeeds on the save (they can move wherever they want within their speed, terrain permitting) or fails (they can move wherever they want within 30 feet of the caster, speed and terrain permitting). This interpretation is supported by the *for that turn* wording, which implies that one save per turn is allowed. But as that isn't written in the description it's just another ruling.
---
This is a level 1 spell, so we can't expect too much from it. It's also only available to the Paladin class, which has implications for its intended use cases (though we shouldn't speculate very much on what those might be).
But using interpretations other than the ones above would lead to another answer:
**The spell *Compelled Duel* does basically nothing, because if it's so trivially defeatable and useless no one will ever prepare or cast it.** It would, at most, grant disadvantage on attack rolls against most targets for a single enemy turn. Maybe there are edge cases where that's worth the effort, but off the top of my head there are better uses for a spell slot. | A creature drawn to you will approach you
-----------------------------------------
Lets imagine a simpler spell. Its spell description is:
>
> Choose a target within range. If they fail a wisdom saving throw, they are drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand.
>
>
>
This spell clearly makes a creature try to move towards you.
Compelled Duel is this spell, plus extra words. Those extra words don't erase the earlier part of the spell. In it, there is a way for the creature to *not* move towards you; if they attempt to move to a space more than 30' away from you, they can make a saving throw. On success, their movement is not restricted.
You'll note that my interpretation -- that their movement is restricted -- is validated by *something releasing the target from their movement restriction*.
Spells do what they say they do
-------------------------------
This spell makes a creature be drawn to you.
There is no flavour text
------------------------
There is flavourful text, just no flavour text. The spell attempts to draw a creature into a duel; this is flavourful. It has very little mechanical impact; it might change how the spell works if the creature was duplicated somehow (!) or if you are duplicated (!), as the word "duel" has meaning.
What meaning? In D&D 5e, when a corner case occurs, it is up to the DM to determine what happens. The rules don't attempt to cover every corner case.
You should read spells as doing something
-----------------------------------------
If a reading of a spell means that mechanics in the spell have no effect, consider other readings. 5e was not written in a legalistic manner.
If a reading of a spell leads to abusive super powerful results? Don't read it that way.
If a reading of a spell leads to a bunch of the spells mechanics having no effect? Don't read it that way.
As a DM (and to a lesser extent, a player) you are responsible for reading the text in a way that is reasonable and not trying to break it. |
171,085 | After reading through the description of the spell [*compelled duel*](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/compelled-duel), it seems as though the spell does not actually say what it does with respect to restricting the movement of the target creature.
Let's review the description bit by bit:
>
> You attempt to **compel a creature into a duel**. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, **the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand**.
>
>
>
"Compel a creature into a duel" is the *flavorful* description of what this spell does. The mechanical nature of this is supposed to be defined when the spell describes what happens on a failure. What follows after "on a failed save" is the spell's definition of "compelled into a duel".
So what happens on a failed save? "The creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand". This definitely reads like more flavor text. I can see two interpretations of this phrase. The first, we can understand "drawn to you" to mean "the creature cannot willingly move away from you". But we can be certain that this is not the case, as the next part of the spell tells us what happens if the creature *does* attempt to move a certain distance away from you. The only other reasonable interpretation I can see is that this phrase is, once again, more flavor text, and the spell is going to tell us what it does later on in the description.
The next bit is perfectly clear,
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you,
>
>
>
Moving on.
This where it gets weird. The spell now gives a condition which triggers a saving throw, and defines what happens on the success of that saving throw:
>
> [The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.
>
>
>
Okay, this seems to *heavily imply* that the target is able to attempt to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you. This is what invalidates the first interpretation of "drawn to you" mentioned previously.
Now the spell describes what happens on a success on the saving throw:
>
> if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
As written, it seems the spell *already does not restrict the target's movement* because the spell *never says anything to that effect*. It does not describe what happens on a failed saving throw. It never tells us how it restricts the movement of the target.
But it gets worse. Because the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save, there is no reason given in the description that would stop the target creature from attempting the saving throw until there is a success.
**What does *compelled duel* actually do?**
[This question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/130323/how-does-compelled-duel-work-with-the-saving-throws) seems related, but is muddied by the fact that the asker employed an outdated or incorrect printing of the spell description. | 2020/06/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/171085",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/62294/"
] | ### The spell makes it more difficult for the target to fight against anyone other than the caster, and encourages the caster to engage with the target
I agree with your assessments of what's flavor text (by which I mean text in the spell which cannot be directly, mechanically evaluated) and what isn't, but the mechanics seem pretty clear to me. If we assume that the spell was not intended to be useless or trivially defeated in a single enemy turn:
1. **[The target] has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than [the caster]**
The target will be less successful in fighting anyone other than the caster. They can still do so, but will be less successful in hitting any target but the caster. This provides a mechanical incentive for the target to engage with the caster, not too dissimilar to effects like *Hunter's Mark* or *Hex*-- once in place, these spells favor one target over others for the caster. This spell works similarly but in reverse.
2. **[The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from [the caster].**
The target will have a more difficult time maneuvering if far enough away from the caster. As in (1), this is an incentive for the target to fight the caster rather than anyone else. For a target with a good Wisdom save, this effect isn't very important. This fleshes out the flavor text of *drawn to [the caster]*-- it's more difficult for the target to move such that they are 30+ feet from the caster than to be nearer.
In particular, this is relevant because an end condition to the spell is that the target is more than 30 feet away from the caster at the end of the caster's turn.
3. **if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.**
This could have been written more clearly, to be sure. But the plain-English interpretation is that if the target fails the Wisdom saving throw they *cannot* move more than 30 feet from the caster:
>
> If [success on WIS save] --> no movement restriction; Elseif [failure on WIS save] --> movement restriction (cannot move to a point more than 30 feet from the caster)
>
>
>
Whether that means the Movement phase of that turn is wasted, or the relevant movement speed to get to the (now restricted) space is consumed, is unclear. The most parsimonious reading suggests to me that the target gets to try to move to any space more than 30 feet from the caster once per turn, and either succeeds on the save (they can move wherever they want within their speed, terrain permitting) or fails (they can move wherever they want within 30 feet of the caster, speed and terrain permitting). This interpretation is supported by the *for that turn* wording, which implies that one save per turn is allowed. But as that isn't written in the description it's just another ruling.
---
This is a level 1 spell, so we can't expect too much from it. It's also only available to the Paladin class, which has implications for its intended use cases (though we shouldn't speculate very much on what those might be).
But using interpretations other than the ones above would lead to another answer:
**The spell *Compelled Duel* does basically nothing, because if it's so trivially defeatable and useless no one will ever prepare or cast it.** It would, at most, grant disadvantage on attack rolls against most targets for a single enemy turn. Maybe there are edge cases where that's worth the effort, but off the top of my head there are better uses for a spell slot. | What else should I be? All apologies...
=======================================
This is a bit different from my usual answers. Typically I attempt to determine what the rules text *actually says*, in the most literal reading possible. As the querent notes, however, *Compelled Duel* is different1 in that it "does not actually say what it does". Thus this answer is an **exercise in apologetics** - what is *Compelled duel* trying to do (RAI) and how can one read its text more generously so as to permit it to *actually do that* (RAW)?
RAI
---
Hopefully we can all agree on what *compelled duel* is supposed to be doing. It is a paladin spell - it is *supposed* to be about the party's paladin challenging the opposing side's leader or champion. Drawing them off to face the paladin solo, keeping them occupied both to protect the squishier members of the paladin's party from their powerful attacks and so that all the other members of the paladin's party can concentrate on eliminating the minions. If we agree on the intent, how can we read the spell text in a way that allows the spell to do this?
Apologetics
-----------
>
> You attempt to compel a creature into a duel. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand.
>
>
>
The querent is concerned about the phrase "drawn to you", since in his reading this is either a statement of mechanics that the spell does not actually employ, or mere flavor that doesn't do anything but guide later interpretation. Let me suggest a third alternative; "drawn to you" is not just flavor, but it is not compelling movement, either. Rather, **"drawn to you" is used in the sense of affecting the target's feelings and emotions** but in a non-mechanical way. Consider it like the phrase in the spell *[charm person](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/charm-person)*, "The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance."2 This phrase is not just flavor, but neither is it mechanics. Rather, it is a guide for the DM in determining how to role-play the behavior of the target; it is a suggestion for how to interpret their spell-altered perceptions. Similarly, "drawn to you" does not have a mechanical effect, but it is telling the DM that the target feels a strong *incentive* to attack the paladin. The spell is influencing2 - but not controlling - their behavior.
I DM a (vengeance) paladin who doesn't make use of the spell. But I am also a player in a game where another player has a Crown paladin who gets *compelled duel* as an Oath spell and makes frequent use of it. **What my DM does** is simply have the spell 'work' on any brute creatures that fail their save. They are drawn to attack the paladin - so they do, having no reason not to. These are the same kind of foes that are otherwise indiscriminate in their attacks and which would normally be attacking the nearest opponent with little regard for tactics. More intelligent foes under the spell would still feel drawn to attack the paladin, but can recognize this urge for what it is and still make decisions in a logical manner - 'ok, I can attack the paladin normally, or another target at disadvantage, what makes sense to do now'?
Turning to the actual mechanics of the spell:
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you, and must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you; if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
It starts with the simple disadvantage to attack anyone but the paladin, which is clear, and concludes with the more opaque effect on movement. The target can freely approach the paladin from any distance, and they can likewise circle the paladin, moving but maintaining their distance. If they try to get further away than 30 feet, though, then the spell imposes a mechanical effect; they must make a Wisdom save, with success indicating that their move is unrestricted. As noted by the querent, "the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save", at least not explicitly. But we can tease that out. First, because the spell tells us that this effect is triggered by an "attempt" to move further away; if it is an attempt, then *it has to be possible to fail*. Thus failing the save here means that the target *cannot* in fact move away. If success on the save means that the target's move is unrestricted, then it follows that failure on the save means that it *is restricted*, and restricted must mean that cannot move farther from the paladin.
Admittedly the phrase "each time it attempts to move" is odd, since as [HellSaint](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/171086/23547) points out, the target could simply keep attempting to move away until it succeeded on the save, since there is no movement cost to the attempt. However, note that a successful save here means the movement is unrestricted "that turn" and that the spell lasts up to a minute. Thus it seems reasonable to conclude that a failed attempt to move away precludes another attempt for the remainder of "that turn". To reconstruct what the spell is trying to say, then, it is something like:
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you. Also, the first time on each turn that it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you it must make a Wisdom saving throw; if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn, but if it fails, it is unable to move to that space or or any other space that is more than 30 feet away from you for the remainder of that turn.
>
>
>
This attempt to read the spell in a way that actually supports its intent concludes two things. First, "drawn to you" is to be understood as a non-mechanical influence on the target's motivation that requires DM adjudication for a role-playing outcome. Second, the mechanical effect on movement is such that a single save to move away may be made each turn, with failure restricting the target's movement options to only those that don't place it further away from the paladin.
---
1Starting, of course, with its name. *Compelled duel* does not compel anything, and what it does affect mechanically is movement, not selecting opponents.
2And note that *compelled duel*, like *charm person*, is a spell from the school of enchantment, which by definition seeks to "magically entrance and beguile other people and monsters" and which affects "the minds of others, **influencing** or controlling their behavior." |
171,085 | After reading through the description of the spell [*compelled duel*](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/compelled-duel), it seems as though the spell does not actually say what it does with respect to restricting the movement of the target creature.
Let's review the description bit by bit:
>
> You attempt to **compel a creature into a duel**. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, **the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand**.
>
>
>
"Compel a creature into a duel" is the *flavorful* description of what this spell does. The mechanical nature of this is supposed to be defined when the spell describes what happens on a failure. What follows after "on a failed save" is the spell's definition of "compelled into a duel".
So what happens on a failed save? "The creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand". This definitely reads like more flavor text. I can see two interpretations of this phrase. The first, we can understand "drawn to you" to mean "the creature cannot willingly move away from you". But we can be certain that this is not the case, as the next part of the spell tells us what happens if the creature *does* attempt to move a certain distance away from you. The only other reasonable interpretation I can see is that this phrase is, once again, more flavor text, and the spell is going to tell us what it does later on in the description.
The next bit is perfectly clear,
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you,
>
>
>
Moving on.
This where it gets weird. The spell now gives a condition which triggers a saving throw, and defines what happens on the success of that saving throw:
>
> [The target] must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you.
>
>
>
Okay, this seems to *heavily imply* that the target is able to attempt to move to a square more than 30 feet away from you. This is what invalidates the first interpretation of "drawn to you" mentioned previously.
Now the spell describes what happens on a success on the saving throw:
>
> if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
As written, it seems the spell *already does not restrict the target's movement* because the spell *never says anything to that effect*. It does not describe what happens on a failed saving throw. It never tells us how it restricts the movement of the target.
But it gets worse. Because the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save, there is no reason given in the description that would stop the target creature from attempting the saving throw until there is a success.
**What does *compelled duel* actually do?**
[This question](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/130323/how-does-compelled-duel-work-with-the-saving-throws) seems related, but is muddied by the fact that the asker employed an outdated or incorrect printing of the spell description. | 2020/06/26 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/171085",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/62294/"
] | A creature drawn to you will approach you
-----------------------------------------
Lets imagine a simpler spell. Its spell description is:
>
> Choose a target within range. If they fail a wisdom saving throw, they are drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand.
>
>
>
This spell clearly makes a creature try to move towards you.
Compelled Duel is this spell, plus extra words. Those extra words don't erase the earlier part of the spell. In it, there is a way for the creature to *not* move towards you; if they attempt to move to a space more than 30' away from you, they can make a saving throw. On success, their movement is not restricted.
You'll note that my interpretation -- that their movement is restricted -- is validated by *something releasing the target from their movement restriction*.
Spells do what they say they do
-------------------------------
This spell makes a creature be drawn to you.
There is no flavour text
------------------------
There is flavourful text, just no flavour text. The spell attempts to draw a creature into a duel; this is flavourful. It has very little mechanical impact; it might change how the spell works if the creature was duplicated somehow (!) or if you are duplicated (!), as the word "duel" has meaning.
What meaning? In D&D 5e, when a corner case occurs, it is up to the DM to determine what happens. The rules don't attempt to cover every corner case.
You should read spells as doing something
-----------------------------------------
If a reading of a spell means that mechanics in the spell have no effect, consider other readings. 5e was not written in a legalistic manner.
If a reading of a spell leads to abusive super powerful results? Don't read it that way.
If a reading of a spell leads to a bunch of the spells mechanics having no effect? Don't read it that way.
As a DM (and to a lesser extent, a player) you are responsible for reading the text in a way that is reasonable and not trying to break it. | What else should I be? All apologies...
=======================================
This is a bit different from my usual answers. Typically I attempt to determine what the rules text *actually says*, in the most literal reading possible. As the querent notes, however, *Compelled Duel* is different1 in that it "does not actually say what it does". Thus this answer is an **exercise in apologetics** - what is *Compelled duel* trying to do (RAI) and how can one read its text more generously so as to permit it to *actually do that* (RAW)?
RAI
---
Hopefully we can all agree on what *compelled duel* is supposed to be doing. It is a paladin spell - it is *supposed* to be about the party's paladin challenging the opposing side's leader or champion. Drawing them off to face the paladin solo, keeping them occupied both to protect the squishier members of the paladin's party from their powerful attacks and so that all the other members of the paladin's party can concentrate on eliminating the minions. If we agree on the intent, how can we read the spell text in a way that allows the spell to do this?
Apologetics
-----------
>
> You attempt to compel a creature into a duel. One creature that you can see within range must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your divine demand.
>
>
>
The querent is concerned about the phrase "drawn to you", since in his reading this is either a statement of mechanics that the spell does not actually employ, or mere flavor that doesn't do anything but guide later interpretation. Let me suggest a third alternative; "drawn to you" is not just flavor, but it is not compelling movement, either. Rather, **"drawn to you" is used in the sense of affecting the target's feelings and emotions** but in a non-mechanical way. Consider it like the phrase in the spell *[charm person](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/charm-person)*, "The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance."2 This phrase is not just flavor, but neither is it mechanics. Rather, it is a guide for the DM in determining how to role-play the behavior of the target; it is a suggestion for how to interpret their spell-altered perceptions. Similarly, "drawn to you" does not have a mechanical effect, but it is telling the DM that the target feels a strong *incentive* to attack the paladin. The spell is influencing2 - but not controlling - their behavior.
I DM a (vengeance) paladin who doesn't make use of the spell. But I am also a player in a game where another player has a Crown paladin who gets *compelled duel* as an Oath spell and makes frequent use of it. **What my DM does** is simply have the spell 'work' on any brute creatures that fail their save. They are drawn to attack the paladin - so they do, having no reason not to. These are the same kind of foes that are otherwise indiscriminate in their attacks and which would normally be attacking the nearest opponent with little regard for tactics. More intelligent foes under the spell would still feel drawn to attack the paladin, but can recognize this urge for what it is and still make decisions in a logical manner - 'ok, I can attack the paladin normally, or another target at disadvantage, what makes sense to do now'?
Turning to the actual mechanics of the spell:
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you, and must make a Wisdom saving throw each time it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you; if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn.
>
>
>
It starts with the simple disadvantage to attack anyone but the paladin, which is clear, and concludes with the more opaque effect on movement. The target can freely approach the paladin from any distance, and they can likewise circle the paladin, moving but maintaining their distance. If they try to get further away than 30 feet, though, then the spell imposes a mechanical effect; they must make a Wisdom save, with success indicating that their move is unrestricted. As noted by the querent, "the spell never tells us what happens on a failed save", at least not explicitly. But we can tease that out. First, because the spell tells us that this effect is triggered by an "attempt" to move further away; if it is an attempt, then *it has to be possible to fail*. Thus failing the save here means that the target *cannot* in fact move away. If success on the save means that the target's move is unrestricted, then it follows that failure on the save means that it *is restricted*, and restricted must mean that cannot move farther from the paladin.
Admittedly the phrase "each time it attempts to move" is odd, since as [HellSaint](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/171086/23547) points out, the target could simply keep attempting to move away until it succeeded on the save, since there is no movement cost to the attempt. However, note that a successful save here means the movement is unrestricted "that turn" and that the spell lasts up to a minute. Thus it seems reasonable to conclude that a failed attempt to move away precludes another attempt for the remainder of "that turn". To reconstruct what the spell is trying to say, then, it is something like:
>
> For the duration, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you. Also, the first time on each turn that it attempts to move to a space that is more than 30 feet away from you it must make a Wisdom saving throw; if it succeeds on this saving throw, this spell doesn’t restrict the target’s movement for that turn, but if it fails, it is unable to move to that space or or any other space that is more than 30 feet away from you for the remainder of that turn.
>
>
>
This attempt to read the spell in a way that actually supports its intent concludes two things. First, "drawn to you" is to be understood as a non-mechanical influence on the target's motivation that requires DM adjudication for a role-playing outcome. Second, the mechanical effect on movement is such that a single save to move away may be made each turn, with failure restricting the target's movement options to only those that don't place it further away from the paladin.
---
1Starting, of course, with its name. *Compelled duel* does not compel anything, and what it does affect mechanically is movement, not selecting opponents.
2And note that *compelled duel*, like *charm person*, is a spell from the school of enchantment, which by definition seeks to "magically entrance and beguile other people and monsters" and which affects "the minds of others, **influencing** or controlling their behavior." |
3,948,584 | I'm working on an application that is joining two projects in two different courses in my Software Engineering degree:
SWE 490: Component Based Software Engineering
SWE 344: IP and Client Server programing
Here's what's my application about :
**Client Side (Desktop Based)**: Main function is to capture the webcam video and stream it to the server.
**Server Side (Web Based)**: Main function is to receive the streamed video from the client and display it on the website in real time.
**Brief Description of the application :**
The users will be able to monitor their Webcams remotely by streaming their webcams output to a remote server that is accessible via the web. The system will also serve as a motion detection system (if activated by the user) to notify the users via email if any motion has been detected on their webcams. In addition the system also allows users to schedule recordings and watch them online through live streaming.
---
I'm preparing a proposal for the project and I've made some initial plans for the system structure that is represented below :
**Client Side Components (Desktop) :**
**Server Side Components (Web Server) :**
**My Question :**
My main issues are with the real time video streaming (sending and receiving components) as this is a new topic for me.
I know I can program a socket and send the captured videos as a stream of bytes to the main server, but **what I'm concerned about is how am i going to display the received stream on the web browser at the server side**.
My situation is similar to [**this question**](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3359789/video-capturing-uploading-processing-streaming-back-net-c) except that it's for video streaming and not image streaming.
**I've been reading some articles and it seems like it can be done using Silverlight and I'm hoping someone can point me to the right direction.**
**Your opinions on the project in general are more than welcomed.** | 2010/10/16 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3948584",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/385172/"
] | I know it's in VB.Net, but [this article](http://www.codeproject.com/KB/audio-video/CamCommunication.aspx) may be a useful reference guide.
P.s. you misspelled Quartz in your diagram ;) | I agree that Silverlight should probably be your first stop.
You can start here:
<http://www.silverlight.net/community/samples/silverlight-samples/video-chat-35809/>
[EDIT: 28/02/2014]
Okay so this is obviously no longer valid, you can stop down voting it already ... |
363,363 | I am looking out for a good open source Reporting tool/framework for windows based application (WPF).
The database I am using is sql server 2005.
The typical reports format which I am interested is for e.g. Trial balance, balance sheet, etc (typical banking / finance reporting application).
There should be good support for charting as well.
If anyone has any experience with reporting for WPF application, your inputs will be highly appreciated. | 2008/12/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/363363",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34644/"
] | Since this may form part of the answer, I thought of putting this in the answer section.
I just found this series of article
[WPF multipage reports](https://web.archive.org/web/20121214141444/http://janrep.blog.codeplant.net/post/WPF-Multipage-Reports-Part-I.aspx) **(note: original link dead, replaced with Wayback Machine link)**.
Thought of putting this here as this may benefit some other learner. This article walks through creating a reporting framework for LOB Apps.
As the saying goes "A Bird in the hand is worth two in the Bush", I will have a deep look at this until something else comes up with something better :) | As open source, this doesn't exist, at least not yet.
It probably doesn't exist commerical offering either. The WPF component market is just getting started. |
363,363 | I am looking out for a good open source Reporting tool/framework for windows based application (WPF).
The database I am using is sql server 2005.
The typical reports format which I am interested is for e.g. Trial balance, balance sheet, etc (typical banking / finance reporting application).
There should be good support for charting as well.
If anyone has any experience with reporting for WPF application, your inputs will be highly appreciated. | 2008/12/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/363363",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34644/"
] | Take a look at <http://wpfreports.codeplex.com/> | As open source, this doesn't exist, at least not yet.
It probably doesn't exist commerical offering either. The WPF component market is just getting started. |
363,363 | I am looking out for a good open source Reporting tool/framework for windows based application (WPF).
The database I am using is sql server 2005.
The typical reports format which I am interested is for e.g. Trial balance, balance sheet, etc (typical banking / finance reporting application).
There should be good support for charting as well.
If anyone has any experience with reporting for WPF application, your inputs will be highly appreciated. | 2008/12/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/363363",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34644/"
] | [PdfReport](http://pdfreport.codeplex.com/) is a code first reporting engine, which is built on top of the iTextSharp and EPPlus libraries. It's compatible with both .NET 3.5+ Web and Windows applications. | As open source, this doesn't exist, at least not yet.
It probably doesn't exist commerical offering either. The WPF component market is just getting started. |
363,363 | I am looking out for a good open source Reporting tool/framework for windows based application (WPF).
The database I am using is sql server 2005.
The typical reports format which I am interested is for e.g. Trial balance, balance sheet, etc (typical banking / finance reporting application).
There should be good support for charting as well.
If anyone has any experience with reporting for WPF application, your inputs will be highly appreciated. | 2008/12/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/363363",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34644/"
] | Since this may form part of the answer, I thought of putting this in the answer section.
I just found this series of article
[WPF multipage reports](https://web.archive.org/web/20121214141444/http://janrep.blog.codeplant.net/post/WPF-Multipage-Reports-Part-I.aspx) **(note: original link dead, replaced with Wayback Machine link)**.
Thought of putting this here as this may benefit some other learner. This article walks through creating a reporting framework for LOB Apps.
As the saying goes "A Bird in the hand is worth two in the Bush", I will have a deep look at this until something else comes up with something better :) | [PdfReport](http://pdfreport.codeplex.com/) is a code first reporting engine, which is built on top of the iTextSharp and EPPlus libraries. It's compatible with both .NET 3.5+ Web and Windows applications. |
363,363 | I am looking out for a good open source Reporting tool/framework for windows based application (WPF).
The database I am using is sql server 2005.
The typical reports format which I am interested is for e.g. Trial balance, balance sheet, etc (typical banking / finance reporting application).
There should be good support for charting as well.
If anyone has any experience with reporting for WPF application, your inputs will be highly appreciated. | 2008/12/12 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/363363",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34644/"
] | Take a look at <http://wpfreports.codeplex.com/> | [PdfReport](http://pdfreport.codeplex.com/) is a code first reporting engine, which is built on top of the iTextSharp and EPPlus libraries. It's compatible with both .NET 3.5+ Web and Windows applications. |
52,601,158 | **Environment**: Selenium testing in Java against Chrome
**Scenario**: in the GUI of my application I have a button that causes a form full of data to be submitted to an external service, whereupon the user is re-directed to the external service landing page.
Because my application is inside my corporate firewall, a username/password has to be supplied for consumption by the external service, but the application is not aware of this, so doesn't provide it (it would work normally in production, but the test environment is a special case). Therefore, a pop-up appears, and during manual testing the tester supplies a username and password manually and then submits the dialog. This is not a JavaScript dialog - I assume it's an actual modal Windows dialog, so it effectively halts processing and selenium just waits around till it's gone.
**Problem**: I am trying to automate this process, and cannot get passed the dialog. Because the dialog prevents java/selenium from processing, I cannot implement code to handle the dialog, such as integrating AutoIt or using Robot , because program flow never gets to that code after the button is pressed. Usually, I'd install an independent version of AutoIt to run on my machine in the background and catch the pop-up (not ideal, but it works), but due to very tight restrictions in the corporate domain policy this isn't possible in the short-term. I suspect they have a white-list for executables, so it may be tricky getting any third-party tool to work.
Can anybody think of a way around this?
* Can't use Alerts, as these are not JavaScript dialogs
* I have to be able to enter the username, password and submit the dialog
* Can't use integrated capabilities like AutoIt or Robot
* Can't use an independent tool like AutoIt due to domain policy
I suspect it's not possible, but worth checking if any bright spark has any ideas. | 2018/10/02 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/52601158",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5187862/"
] | It's not supported in WebDriver so it can't be done using plain Selenium.
There is an issue open in the WebDriver project to support handling basic auth prompts:
<https://github.com/w3c/webdriver/issues/385>
<https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/issues/453>
Alas, the issue is open and nothing is implemented yet. | If you can't use AutoIt from another process because that process has to be in a certain whitelist, then you can probably use it from another thread using [autoitx4java](https://github.com/accessrichard/autoitx4java). If you can detect the dialog itself then you should certainly do it, but AFAIK the dialogs of Chrome are transparent to AutoIt (any other technologies based on Windows UIAutomation). In this case, just spawn the thread before pressing the button, make this thread sleep for 1 second or so (in the first statement of the thread method), and then "blindly" type the user name, Tab key, the password, and Enter. It's not very element, but I believe it should work. |
124,678 | I have a form wizard some input fields. On the first step of the wizard, there are 2 checkboxes which once the form has been submitted, cannot be edited. All other fields can be edited later on if the user wants to.
How do I tell the user that the two checkboxes cannot be edited so that they do not miss out on the message? Is the following message understandable?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rEHjr.png) | 2019/03/27 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/124678",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/115097/"
] | Treat this like any other destructive/permeant act a user could take against data. Because this is an unchangeable option present a confirmation of choice. This could be a secondary check box like agreeing to terms before submitting a payment, or a popup seeking a secondary yes. Any text you put on the page no matter color will be skipped by some unless "forced" to read it. | using red text-color makes it seem like a validation error. Would go for black.
Think of displaying it in parenthesis or move it below the checkbox. |
124,678 | I have a form wizard some input fields. On the first step of the wizard, there are 2 checkboxes which once the form has been submitted, cannot be edited. All other fields can be edited later on if the user wants to.
How do I tell the user that the two checkboxes cannot be edited so that they do not miss out on the message? Is the following message understandable?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rEHjr.png) | 2019/03/27 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/124678",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/115097/"
] | Treat this like any other destructive/permeant act a user could take against data. Because this is an unchangeable option present a confirmation of choice. This could be a secondary check box like agreeing to terms before submitting a payment, or a popup seeking a secondary yes. Any text you put on the page no matter color will be skipped by some unless "forced" to read it. | How about focusing on the action the user can (or can't) take, instead of the form itself?
**This field is uneditable once saved**
becomes
**You can't change this once you save this form.**
* this gets rid of 'uneditable'
* what does 'field' mean to the user? If you can, this word should be specific to the information they're providing in the field.
* also, move from the passivity of 'once saved' to the more active 'once you save this form'
I realise you may be constrained by character count, etc., but I hope it helps! |
89,017 | Is there one word that includes walls, ceiling, floor - basically all the faces of a building?
For example I would like to use such a word in the following sentence:
>
> "All the X of this building are made of wood".
>
>
> | 2016/05/03 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/89017",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/17611/"
] | Well there isn't any one word that is totally right.
You could argue that *surfaces* is right,
>
> All the **surfaces** in this building are made of wood.
>
>
>
You could argue that just *walls* could means walls, ceiling and floor.
>
> All the **walls** in this building are made of wood.
>
>
>
Or maybe you could say:
>
> All the **structure** of this building is wood.
>
>
>
But really there are quite a bit of words you could use and it's kind of personal preference. | There is no English word to cover this. As has been suggested, structural surfaces is as good as anything. |
89,017 | Is there one word that includes walls, ceiling, floor - basically all the faces of a building?
For example I would like to use such a word in the following sentence:
>
> "All the X of this building are made of wood".
>
>
> | 2016/05/03 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/89017",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/17611/"
] | If you want to refer to what is *inside* the walls, ceiling and floor, you can use **framing**.
>
> The framing of this house is all wood.
>
>
>
While there is no single word that includes the surface, you express this by saying
>
> This house is all steel framing covered with drywall.
>
>
> | There is no English word to cover this. As has been suggested, structural surfaces is as good as anything. |
102,346 | My Windows 2003 server standard DHCP server takes 30-45 seconds to give out an IP to XP clients. I've never seen one this slow before. The server is not overwhelmed.
We are on 100 Mbps switches.
Any ideas or suggestions? | 2010/01/13 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/102346",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/-1/"
] | Launch NetworkMonitor or Wireshark and observe the traffic between the client and server. It's likely a network related problem. You could also use Windows Server's Perfmon to watch DHCP statistics in the various stages of the [DORA process](http://www.google.com/search?q=dhcp+dora). Also, [check to see if there's another DHCP server on the network](https://serverfault.com/questions/8526/how-do-i-find-if-there-is-a-rogue-dhcp-server-on-my-network), although the symptoms don't sound like what I would expect.
If you want to try blindly twiddling options, you could try restarting the DHCP service to see if that clears things up. You could also rebuild the DHCP database. I'd recommend observing the network traffic and DHCP statistics first.
Is the indexing service or an antivirus client scanning the DHCP directory? If so, that's bad. | Packet never lie
You can capture all the data under XP client and analyse them.
From which you may find answer.
You can find how much times Broadcast\Discover\Request packets the XP client sending and how long time DHCP server response them.
In a word,in packets world you can find more info than application operation and your sense. |
102,346 | My Windows 2003 server standard DHCP server takes 30-45 seconds to give out an IP to XP clients. I've never seen one this slow before. The server is not overwhelmed.
We are on 100 Mbps switches.
Any ideas or suggestions? | 2010/01/13 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/102346",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/-1/"
] | Does it take that long just to release/renew on the client or is it only at initial bootup? If it is only taking that long when the client first powers up/connects to the network it might be due to spanning tree protocol operation on the switch. By default STP spends about 15 seconds in each Learning and Listening states before forwarding frames. So the 30 seconds you are seeing may be the client is transmitting discover packets but not seeing an offer until STP has entered the forwarding state and forwards along the next DHCP discover. | Packet never lie
You can capture all the data under XP client and analyse them.
From which you may find answer.
You can find how much times Broadcast\Discover\Request packets the XP client sending and how long time DHCP server response them.
In a word,in packets world you can find more info than application operation and your sense. |
30,157 | I was wondering if it is possible to use GPT-3 to translate text description of a circuit to any circuit design language program, which in turn can be used to make the circuit.
If it is possible, what approach will you suggest? | 2021/08/13 | [
"https://ai.stackexchange.com/questions/30157",
"https://ai.stackexchange.com",
"https://ai.stackexchange.com/users/45586/"
] | This is rather something for V&L Models, training on associated texts with circuit images. Data which should be hard to come by.
I doubt these models are yet capable of catching enough detail in pictures for producing the desired results. I mean results that dont dissolve is smoke when soldering the circuit.
Mapping from natural language to some *formal description language of circuits* (lets call it fdloc) is definitively possible, but you need a lot of training data on text basis, lets say more than 1k pairs of human written texts and the corresponding fdloc expression. Do you have this data? Then machine translation networks are all you need.
Fine-tuning a large system might be enough, depending on how your fdloc is syntactically build, e.g. does it contain many chars that a normal GPT Model would just not recognize as tokens?
Alternatively, if you don't have this data and don't want to get rendered circuit images, you could try to Learn the soldering paths to the respective electric pieces by natural language understanding:
Just a draft:
1. Use NER (Named Entity Recognition) to spot all electric components in the text.
2. The text between these components most probably deals with how to connect the different capacitors etc., so you need to map these relations onto "paths" that you register as connections between your components, e.g. now solder the negative connector of the switch S1 to the blabla of the light bulb socket B2" or something comparable.
3. Watch out! Its natural language, so even if its written in a dry and technical style, you will have to resolve co-reference, something like "now connect *THIS* to the output jack ...".
I think you could extract some sort of a directed graph, which contains the components and the path descriptions of connections to all other components.
4. From this you then need to build a schematic of the circuit.
Alternatively, If you have something like a fdloc some program can read in and produce the circuit for you, then you don't need to do step 4 on your own. | The rate of progress is so impressive that this information will soon be out of date.
Whatever you're doing with it (even code), turn frequency penalty and presence penalty all the way up to 2.
When using something like the OpenAI playground to access GPT-3 your question and its answer will be text. So it might give a step by step description or describe the circuits connectivity with some formal language that makes that practical.
Asking a question followed by a question-mark or alternatively "The following is a …:" seems to work well. Then a single line break.
Hold its hand at first, you may need to correct the first sections of output to help it get onto the right track, however once there the reliability will improve.
Recursively ask for a more detailed breakdown where needed.
It's not very good at negatives when coding, this problem may occur here as well, if so avoid "X but without Y", for example something that is "not expensive" could be "cheap".
It may to prefer excellent over affordable, just because somethings been invented a whole year ago doesn't mean you'll be wanting to buy 20 of them even if that would make for a really good design.
It may try and solve 99% of the problem with a single component, such as welding a Raspberry PI computer onto the circuit board.
There's a good chance it wont agree with you and work from there if it thinks you're wrong about something, it's very intelligent, can keep track of long arguments, and never tires of them, and it can be quite condescending which isn't always helpful. You can get round this with "so hypothetically …" or "I managed to …, how did I do it?"
You can ask it to optimise/adjust its design in some specific way, with varying levels of success.
It tries to repurpose existing understanding, if it already understands mechanical design for example and circuit design is relatively new to if you may see it strongly expressing that influence. |
34,919 | I am currently working on a large data set (approx 80 million data points over 10 years). I would like another set of data that has one currency in common. Eg, I have EUR/USD and would like USD/CNY or EUR/AUD etc. Doesn't need to be over the full 10 years, 1 year would be more than sufficient.
I found a few places online that sell this data, but the cheapest I could find was approx 60 Euros which is a lot for a student.
Is there anywhere someone can get data like this cheaper? | 2017/06/29 | [
"https://quant.stackexchange.com/questions/34919",
"https://quant.stackexchange.com",
"https://quant.stackexchange.com/users/28606/"
] | You might get something from [Integral's True FX](http://www.truefx.com/) | Take a look as well at [TickStory Lite](https://tickstory.com/product/tickstory-lite/).
IIRC, you should be able to pull tick level FX transactions back to 2003 for free. I used this several months ago, so not sure if anything has changed. |
34,919 | I am currently working on a large data set (approx 80 million data points over 10 years). I would like another set of data that has one currency in common. Eg, I have EUR/USD and would like USD/CNY or EUR/AUD etc. Doesn't need to be over the full 10 years, 1 year would be more than sufficient.
I found a few places online that sell this data, but the cheapest I could find was approx 60 Euros which is a lot for a student.
Is there anywhere someone can get data like this cheaper? | 2017/06/29 | [
"https://quant.stackexchange.com/questions/34919",
"https://quant.stackexchange.com",
"https://quant.stackexchange.com/users/28606/"
] | You might get something from [Integral's True FX](http://www.truefx.com/) | Take a look also at [HistData.Com](https://Histdata.com), they have both 1 minute data (which I use) as well as Tick Data. It is free or very inexpensive depending on the method of downloading you choose. |
34,919 | I am currently working on a large data set (approx 80 million data points over 10 years). I would like another set of data that has one currency in common. Eg, I have EUR/USD and would like USD/CNY or EUR/AUD etc. Doesn't need to be over the full 10 years, 1 year would be more than sufficient.
I found a few places online that sell this data, but the cheapest I could find was approx 60 Euros which is a lot for a student.
Is there anywhere someone can get data like this cheaper? | 2017/06/29 | [
"https://quant.stackexchange.com/questions/34919",
"https://quant.stackexchange.com",
"https://quant.stackexchange.com/users/28606/"
] | Take a look as well at [TickStory Lite](https://tickstory.com/product/tickstory-lite/).
IIRC, you should be able to pull tick level FX transactions back to 2003 for free. I used this several months ago, so not sure if anything has changed. | Take a look also at [HistData.Com](https://Histdata.com), they have both 1 minute data (which I use) as well as Tick Data. It is free or very inexpensive depending on the method of downloading you choose. |
3,605,500 | I googled but there's no answer... I have tried etags but I wonder if there's any more equivalent. Thanks. | 2010/08/31 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/3605500",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/369046/"
] | There's a fallacy in your statement: "I want to trim the project down to just what's relevant to the program itself."
Believe me, the dependencies are extremely relevant to the program. If you don't have these in source control then you will encounter no end of problems when introducing new team members or when switching to a new workstation.
Even if compile the "non-relevant" libraries, these compiled libraries should go into your source repository. | I've seen groups do the following:
* Separate internal code from external code (code they made vs external companies)
* Separate their code from library code
* Separate each program and each library
* Check in a compiled version of their dependencies, so it isn't a part of their full build cycle (at least, not in some branches. Other branches might do a more complete build)
Projects existed for each exe or library, in the directory with the exe/library.
Solutions existed wherever the teams felt it would be beneficial, and binaries were often linked, rather than their projects included in the sub-solutions. Only a full build was guaranteed not to break on a fresh enlistment.
Caveat emptor... |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | Art does not exist in a vacuum, but is rather only one part of the historical record. Just as people comment on our modern standard of beauty today, so does early modern writers on theirs. Fortunately, Baroque art dates from a recent enough period that the historical record is extensive.
For example, a 17th century commentary on a Van Dyck portrait of a heavier women states:
>
> William Sanderson in the treatise *Graphice*, published in 1658, noted that a beautiful woman was to have "a noble neck, round rising, full and fat . . . brawny arm of good flesh. Such a lady possesses a goodly plump fat."
>
>
> Wind, Barry. *A Foul and Pestilent Congregation: Images of Freaks in Baroque Art.* Routledge, 2018.
>
>
>
Beyond artistic contexts, we also find examples of beauty being explicitly attributed to body fat:
>
> The use of fat is . . . It fills up the empty spaces between the Muscles, Vessels, and Skin, and consequently renders the Body smooth, white, soft, fair, and beautiful . . . Persons in a Consumption and decrepit old women are deformed for want of Fat.
>
>
> Bartholin, Thomas, Caspar Bartholin, and Johannes Walaeus. *Bartholinus Anatomy: Made from the Precepts of His Father, and from the Observations of All Modern Anatomists.* John Streater.
>
>
>
Historians, on the basis of information like this, therefore argue that people of the period - at least in some countries - considered it desirable for women to have a bit of plump.
---
As for "rationalisation" - of course, you can definitely make the case that they only considered chubbiness beautiful because of the association with wealth. However, does that necessarily invalidate their standard of beauty? I believe this delves into a philosophical realm over how beauty should be defined, which is beyond the scope of history. | A lot of the paintings were commissioned as portraits, why would people pay for themselves to be depicted in an ugly way?
Wealth nowadays is associated with a slim, tanned, and shaped body because those are traits of people who have enough free time, and money to achieve it. In that period, it would be the reverse, being more on the fat side would require wealth, and more refined foods which were more expensive, while majority of commoners would be slim, tanned (for working in the sun) and toned due to hard work.
It makes sense based on those, that it must have been acceptable to be fat back then, even desirable. |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | Art does not exist in a vacuum, but is rather only one part of the historical record. Just as people comment on our modern standard of beauty today, so does early modern writers on theirs. Fortunately, Baroque art dates from a recent enough period that the historical record is extensive.
For example, a 17th century commentary on a Van Dyck portrait of a heavier women states:
>
> William Sanderson in the treatise *Graphice*, published in 1658, noted that a beautiful woman was to have "a noble neck, round rising, full and fat . . . brawny arm of good flesh. Such a lady possesses a goodly plump fat."
>
>
> Wind, Barry. *A Foul and Pestilent Congregation: Images of Freaks in Baroque Art.* Routledge, 2018.
>
>
>
Beyond artistic contexts, we also find examples of beauty being explicitly attributed to body fat:
>
> The use of fat is . . . It fills up the empty spaces between the Muscles, Vessels, and Skin, and consequently renders the Body smooth, white, soft, fair, and beautiful . . . Persons in a Consumption and decrepit old women are deformed for want of Fat.
>
>
> Bartholin, Thomas, Caspar Bartholin, and Johannes Walaeus. *Bartholinus Anatomy: Made from the Precepts of His Father, and from the Observations of All Modern Anatomists.* John Streater.
>
>
>
Historians, on the basis of information like this, therefore argue that people of the period - at least in some countries - considered it desirable for women to have a bit of plump.
---
As for "rationalisation" - of course, you can definitely make the case that they only considered chubbiness beautiful because of the association with wealth. However, does that necessarily invalidate their standard of beauty? I believe this delves into a philosophical realm over how beauty should be defined, which is beyond the scope of history. | >
> **Q** How do we know baroque art depicted obese ladies because of a different ideal of beauty?
>
>
>
Do we really?
We don't. The anthropological constant to be observed is: "women are considered 'attractive' if: *young* and *healthy*" (both more or less relating to fecundity; Whether socio-biological, evolutionary, or just cynical):
Differences in the historical record in the form of *paintings* of women –– meaning that not *L'art-pour-l'art* pictures show not that much variation in 'considered beautiful'. Archaeological evidence, that is more material evidence – like statues – does not support *major* shifts of aesthetic preference or judgement, before the 20th century.
There is the obvious tendency to ascribe a cultural preference for heftier women in baroque times. "Just look at the paintings!" And while it's certainly true that people come in all shapes and sizes, so it is equally true that people come with all kinds of tastes in all times: some preferring slender shapes, some going for the voluptuous.
The "obvious" conclusion is that in times when all kinds of illnesses, harsh winters and not in the least quite frequent real hunger catastrophes were just around every corner, people with a little reserve in body fat are indeed more likely to survive that, and be more fecund in the case of women. They were/are just more robust.
Added to that is the status appeal: you have to be able to afford so much eating.
But with this "tastes"-angle comes a tiny little problem: we have also at least *three* selection biases for our material to analyse at work here:
1. When Henry VIII was [young](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HenryVIII_1509.jpg) and coming, he was the sporty guy with not much fat on him. As he aged he became [fat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg), like the tendency to observe in every last one of us today: as we age, the body needs less energy, but habits change slowly and for most average people it gets harder with every year to keep the same weight. But those people who could afford being painted tended to be slightly older as well.
2. With differing tastes there is then this personal preference thing again. [Rubens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens) being the prime example. This painter is described as:
>
> His nudes of various biblical and mythological women are especially well-known. Painted in the Baroque tradition of depicting women as soft-bodied, passive, and highly sexualized beings, his nudes emphasize the concepts of fertility, desire, physical beauty, temptation, and virtue. Skillfully rendered, these paintings of nude women were undoubtedly created to appeal to his largely male audience of patrons. Additionally, Rubens was quite fond of painting full-figured women, giving rise to terms like 'Rubensian' or 'Rubenesque' (sometimes 'Rubensesque'). And while the [male gaze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze) features heavily in Rubens's paintings of females generally, he brings multi-layered allegory and symbolism to his portraits.
>
>
>
"He was indeed a chubby chaser(?)", preferring the looks of some women painted being even above what we think to be the norm in his age. (But also look at Karolien De Clippel: "Defining beauty: Rubens’s female nudes", ([PDF](https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/189137/NKJ58_Karolien+De+Clippel.pdf?sequence=1)) ––/––
Leah Sweet: "Fantasy Bodies, Imagined Pasts: A Critical Analysis of the “Rubenesque” Fat Body in Contemporary Culture", Fat Studies:
An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society
Volume 3, 2014 - Issue 2: Reflective Intersections, ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2014.889504)))
>
> Strong versions of evolutionary psychologists have proposed that men possess perceptual mechanisms that engender a preference for women with low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), typically 0.70, as this is considered maximally healthy and fertile. This has taken to be culturally and temporally invariant. In the present study, two semi-expert and two non-expert judges made measurements of the WHR of nude females in paintings by Pieter Pauwel Rubens. The results showed that the mean WHR of Rubens’ women was 0.776, significantly higher than the reported preference for WHRs of 0.70. Possible non-adaptive explanations for this result are proposed in conclusion.
>
> For example, the present study assumes that Rubens portrayed women for their physical beauty, but it may also be possible that he portrayed them to exemplify other traits such as wealth and abundance, that is, things other than beauty and fertility. Finally, although Rubens is perhaps the most well-known painter to depict voluptuous nudes (hence the term ‘Rubenesque’), future studies should examine the stylised depictions of other artists and artistic eras.
>
> [Viren Swami et al.: "The Female Nude in Rubens: Disconfirmatory Evidence of the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness", Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol. 26(1-2) 139-147, 2006-2007.](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/R11X-5752-V164-4240)
>
>
>
3. The [current](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556148/) [Western](https://www.professionalbeauty.com.au/beauty/want-to-know-what-the-ideal-body-shape-in-18-countries-is/) ['ideal'](https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0156722) – as propagated in most media, and now [internalised](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050601) – *is sick!*
While it is quite consensual that too much body fat is unhealthy, it is also quite clear that anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, surgery, pills, and propaganda are sick as well.
>
> By observing the art of different eras, as well as the more recent existence of the media, it is obvious that there have been dramatic changes in what is considered a beautiful body. The ideal of female beauty has shifted from a symbol of fertility to one of mathematically calculated proportions. It has taken the form of an image responding to men’s sexual desires. Nowadays there seems to be a tendency towards the destruction of the feminine, as androgynous fashion and appearance dominate our culture. The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated indi- vidual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance that should be interpreted within the social and historical context of each era with its own theories of what constituted the ideal female body weight.
>
> Did medical science contribute to today’s accepted BMI? Obesity has been regarded as a condition that increases the risk of many diseases only in recent decades, when evidence-based medicine took the lead, and scientists discovered saturated and transfats and their relationship with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Evidence of the change this may have had on society can be seen in the more prevalent occurrence of eating disorders in the latter half of the 20th century. The advice to lose weight and reach a BMI comprised between 18 and 24 therefore might have accelerated the process of the ideal figure tending towards thin bodies, in particular in professions where there is a strong pressure to control body weight such as athletics and dance. The media brought the relationship between an ideal figure and evidence-based medicine to extreme consequences, **presenting exaggeratedly thin figures as symbols of health, while in reality being the opposite as shown by data reporting female athletes with higher rates of eating disorders.**
>
> The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated individual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance. Unfortunately, today, beauty (and the ideal body weight) is not exactly in the eye of the beholder, but in the body image presented by the media and sold to a malleable public.
>
> B. A. Bonafini & P. Pozzilli: "Body weight and beauty: the changing face of the ideal female body weight", Obesity Reviews, Volume12, Issue1, 2011, Pages 62-65. ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2010.00754.x))
>
>
>
So yes: until just a few *decades* ago average heterosexual men preferred healthy looking women. Really obese women were always well liked by 'specialists'. But our current understanding of past preferences of beauty seems to be much distorted by what we now commonly call "obesity".
Having a look, I do not see "[obese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity) ladies":
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4aLBG.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xRiJc.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RD43d.jpg) (Rubens & his wife!)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VqXMv.jpg) [Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Marchesa_Brigida_Spinola-Doria)
>
>
>
Shoot me, but I believe 'the Aliens' reading it, would tend to agree, that quite recently, the meaning of "obese" seems to encroach on what we once thought of as normal and healthy:
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbhjO.jpg) [(Jake Rosenthal • January 20, 2016
> The Pioneer Plaque: Science as a Universal Language)](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2016/0120-the-pioneer-plaque-science-as-a-universal-language.html)
>
>
>
Now compare the to:
>
> [Aphrodite or 'Crouching Venus' Second century AD
> Marble | 125 x 53 x 65 cm (whole object) | RCIN 69746](https://www.rct.uk/collection/69746/aphrodite-or-crouching-venus):
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIS7Q.jpg) or
>
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eT320.jpg)
> [Aphrodite Kallipygos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Callipyge) "The Venus of the beautiful buttocks"
>
>
>
If the original model for that would be laser-scanned and then 3-D-printed while calculating here insurance-premium based on BMI: then you know that StackExchange policy probably prohibits commenting on it, but I am certain that you have made up your modern mind on that?
>
> To begin with I accepted the conventional, though actually little examined, view that standards of beauty change from age to age. In human affairs much does change - ideologies and institutions, economic and social systems, class structures, the role and status of women; my own study of the evidence compelled me to the conclusion that, relative to these, **beauty** (in the western world that I am qualified to write about) **has changed little.** That is why I call it a 'relative constant', a 'relative universal'. To be honest I am not greatly impressed by the oft-repeated accounts of African tribes prizing fatness, South American ones lip plates, Burmese ones necks stretched and ringed like a snake - in these examples the admiration is for symbols of wealth and status, not beauty. Indeed the whole subject is bedevilled by an elementary failure to distinguish between fashion and beauty.
>
> [Arthur Marwick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Marwick): "[It. A History of Human Beauty](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-history-of-human-beauty-9781847250506/)", Hambledon and London: London, New York, 2004, p IX;
>
>
> |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | Art does not exist in a vacuum, but is rather only one part of the historical record. Just as people comment on our modern standard of beauty today, so does early modern writers on theirs. Fortunately, Baroque art dates from a recent enough period that the historical record is extensive.
For example, a 17th century commentary on a Van Dyck portrait of a heavier women states:
>
> William Sanderson in the treatise *Graphice*, published in 1658, noted that a beautiful woman was to have "a noble neck, round rising, full and fat . . . brawny arm of good flesh. Such a lady possesses a goodly plump fat."
>
>
> Wind, Barry. *A Foul and Pestilent Congregation: Images of Freaks in Baroque Art.* Routledge, 2018.
>
>
>
Beyond artistic contexts, we also find examples of beauty being explicitly attributed to body fat:
>
> The use of fat is . . . It fills up the empty spaces between the Muscles, Vessels, and Skin, and consequently renders the Body smooth, white, soft, fair, and beautiful . . . Persons in a Consumption and decrepit old women are deformed for want of Fat.
>
>
> Bartholin, Thomas, Caspar Bartholin, and Johannes Walaeus. *Bartholinus Anatomy: Made from the Precepts of His Father, and from the Observations of All Modern Anatomists.* John Streater.
>
>
>
Historians, on the basis of information like this, therefore argue that people of the period - at least in some countries - considered it desirable for women to have a bit of plump.
---
As for "rationalisation" - of course, you can definitely make the case that they only considered chubbiness beautiful because of the association with wealth. However, does that necessarily invalidate their standard of beauty? I believe this delves into a philosophical realm over how beauty should be defined, which is beyond the scope of history. | This aesthetic relativism is also confused by the fact that for most of the history of Western art, women weren't able to model so the artist often just changed male bodies (from his/her model) into female bodies by adding breasts or extra fat or whatever.
Here's a source: <https://renresearch.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/men-with-breasts-or-why-are-michelangelos-women-so-muscular-part-1/>
Which references Gill Saunders' *The Nude: A New Perspective* (1989) |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | Art does not exist in a vacuum, but is rather only one part of the historical record. Just as people comment on our modern standard of beauty today, so does early modern writers on theirs. Fortunately, Baroque art dates from a recent enough period that the historical record is extensive.
For example, a 17th century commentary on a Van Dyck portrait of a heavier women states:
>
> William Sanderson in the treatise *Graphice*, published in 1658, noted that a beautiful woman was to have "a noble neck, round rising, full and fat . . . brawny arm of good flesh. Such a lady possesses a goodly plump fat."
>
>
> Wind, Barry. *A Foul and Pestilent Congregation: Images of Freaks in Baroque Art.* Routledge, 2018.
>
>
>
Beyond artistic contexts, we also find examples of beauty being explicitly attributed to body fat:
>
> The use of fat is . . . It fills up the empty spaces between the Muscles, Vessels, and Skin, and consequently renders the Body smooth, white, soft, fair, and beautiful . . . Persons in a Consumption and decrepit old women are deformed for want of Fat.
>
>
> Bartholin, Thomas, Caspar Bartholin, and Johannes Walaeus. *Bartholinus Anatomy: Made from the Precepts of His Father, and from the Observations of All Modern Anatomists.* John Streater.
>
>
>
Historians, on the basis of information like this, therefore argue that people of the period - at least in some countries - considered it desirable for women to have a bit of plump.
---
As for "rationalisation" - of course, you can definitely make the case that they only considered chubbiness beautiful because of the association with wealth. However, does that necessarily invalidate their standard of beauty? I believe this delves into a philosophical realm over how beauty should be defined, which is beyond the scope of history. | The idea that, taken across the entire range of media and works, art from any given period represents a society or culture's ideal for how anyone - male or female - should appear has no real basis in fact.
It is vastly more likely - especially in any time frame where we know the names and personalities of the artists being discussed - that any given work represents an example of what *the artist* considered *technically* interesting or challenging, or important in some other way by the standards of his craft or in the judgment of his contemporary artists. This was true even in portraiture.
Three centuries of artistic technical fascination with chiaroscuro *alone* should show us this. Artists chose bodies, poses and themes which allowed them to explore the interaction of light and shadow and the human body; and they did so for technical (and aesthetic) reasons that only rarely had anything to do with depicting ideals of physique.
For most of the history of representational art across all cultures, in fact, there was little attempt to make the figures depicted realistic in any way - "beautiful" or not. Nobody would argue that Greek sculptures from the Geometric or Archaic periods represent the cultural ideal of male and female physical beauty of the time, or that medieval weavers of tapestries or illuminators of manuscripts were attempting to depict the perfect human form. |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | A lot of the paintings were commissioned as portraits, why would people pay for themselves to be depicted in an ugly way?
Wealth nowadays is associated with a slim, tanned, and shaped body because those are traits of people who have enough free time, and money to achieve it. In that period, it would be the reverse, being more on the fat side would require wealth, and more refined foods which were more expensive, while majority of commoners would be slim, tanned (for working in the sun) and toned due to hard work.
It makes sense based on those, that it must have been acceptable to be fat back then, even desirable. | >
> **Q** How do we know baroque art depicted obese ladies because of a different ideal of beauty?
>
>
>
Do we really?
We don't. The anthropological constant to be observed is: "women are considered 'attractive' if: *young* and *healthy*" (both more or less relating to fecundity; Whether socio-biological, evolutionary, or just cynical):
Differences in the historical record in the form of *paintings* of women –– meaning that not *L'art-pour-l'art* pictures show not that much variation in 'considered beautiful'. Archaeological evidence, that is more material evidence – like statues – does not support *major* shifts of aesthetic preference or judgement, before the 20th century.
There is the obvious tendency to ascribe a cultural preference for heftier women in baroque times. "Just look at the paintings!" And while it's certainly true that people come in all shapes and sizes, so it is equally true that people come with all kinds of tastes in all times: some preferring slender shapes, some going for the voluptuous.
The "obvious" conclusion is that in times when all kinds of illnesses, harsh winters and not in the least quite frequent real hunger catastrophes were just around every corner, people with a little reserve in body fat are indeed more likely to survive that, and be more fecund in the case of women. They were/are just more robust.
Added to that is the status appeal: you have to be able to afford so much eating.
But with this "tastes"-angle comes a tiny little problem: we have also at least *three* selection biases for our material to analyse at work here:
1. When Henry VIII was [young](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HenryVIII_1509.jpg) and coming, he was the sporty guy with not much fat on him. As he aged he became [fat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg), like the tendency to observe in every last one of us today: as we age, the body needs less energy, but habits change slowly and for most average people it gets harder with every year to keep the same weight. But those people who could afford being painted tended to be slightly older as well.
2. With differing tastes there is then this personal preference thing again. [Rubens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens) being the prime example. This painter is described as:
>
> His nudes of various biblical and mythological women are especially well-known. Painted in the Baroque tradition of depicting women as soft-bodied, passive, and highly sexualized beings, his nudes emphasize the concepts of fertility, desire, physical beauty, temptation, and virtue. Skillfully rendered, these paintings of nude women were undoubtedly created to appeal to his largely male audience of patrons. Additionally, Rubens was quite fond of painting full-figured women, giving rise to terms like 'Rubensian' or 'Rubenesque' (sometimes 'Rubensesque'). And while the [male gaze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze) features heavily in Rubens's paintings of females generally, he brings multi-layered allegory and symbolism to his portraits.
>
>
>
"He was indeed a chubby chaser(?)", preferring the looks of some women painted being even above what we think to be the norm in his age. (But also look at Karolien De Clippel: "Defining beauty: Rubens’s female nudes", ([PDF](https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/189137/NKJ58_Karolien+De+Clippel.pdf?sequence=1)) ––/––
Leah Sweet: "Fantasy Bodies, Imagined Pasts: A Critical Analysis of the “Rubenesque” Fat Body in Contemporary Culture", Fat Studies:
An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society
Volume 3, 2014 - Issue 2: Reflective Intersections, ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2014.889504)))
>
> Strong versions of evolutionary psychologists have proposed that men possess perceptual mechanisms that engender a preference for women with low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), typically 0.70, as this is considered maximally healthy and fertile. This has taken to be culturally and temporally invariant. In the present study, two semi-expert and two non-expert judges made measurements of the WHR of nude females in paintings by Pieter Pauwel Rubens. The results showed that the mean WHR of Rubens’ women was 0.776, significantly higher than the reported preference for WHRs of 0.70. Possible non-adaptive explanations for this result are proposed in conclusion.
>
> For example, the present study assumes that Rubens portrayed women for their physical beauty, but it may also be possible that he portrayed them to exemplify other traits such as wealth and abundance, that is, things other than beauty and fertility. Finally, although Rubens is perhaps the most well-known painter to depict voluptuous nudes (hence the term ‘Rubenesque’), future studies should examine the stylised depictions of other artists and artistic eras.
>
> [Viren Swami et al.: "The Female Nude in Rubens: Disconfirmatory Evidence of the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness", Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol. 26(1-2) 139-147, 2006-2007.](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/R11X-5752-V164-4240)
>
>
>
3. The [current](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556148/) [Western](https://www.professionalbeauty.com.au/beauty/want-to-know-what-the-ideal-body-shape-in-18-countries-is/) ['ideal'](https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0156722) – as propagated in most media, and now [internalised](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050601) – *is sick!*
While it is quite consensual that too much body fat is unhealthy, it is also quite clear that anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, surgery, pills, and propaganda are sick as well.
>
> By observing the art of different eras, as well as the more recent existence of the media, it is obvious that there have been dramatic changes in what is considered a beautiful body. The ideal of female beauty has shifted from a symbol of fertility to one of mathematically calculated proportions. It has taken the form of an image responding to men’s sexual desires. Nowadays there seems to be a tendency towards the destruction of the feminine, as androgynous fashion and appearance dominate our culture. The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated indi- vidual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance that should be interpreted within the social and historical context of each era with its own theories of what constituted the ideal female body weight.
>
> Did medical science contribute to today’s accepted BMI? Obesity has been regarded as a condition that increases the risk of many diseases only in recent decades, when evidence-based medicine took the lead, and scientists discovered saturated and transfats and their relationship with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Evidence of the change this may have had on society can be seen in the more prevalent occurrence of eating disorders in the latter half of the 20th century. The advice to lose weight and reach a BMI comprised between 18 and 24 therefore might have accelerated the process of the ideal figure tending towards thin bodies, in particular in professions where there is a strong pressure to control body weight such as athletics and dance. The media brought the relationship between an ideal figure and evidence-based medicine to extreme consequences, **presenting exaggeratedly thin figures as symbols of health, while in reality being the opposite as shown by data reporting female athletes with higher rates of eating disorders.**
>
> The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated individual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance. Unfortunately, today, beauty (and the ideal body weight) is not exactly in the eye of the beholder, but in the body image presented by the media and sold to a malleable public.
>
> B. A. Bonafini & P. Pozzilli: "Body weight and beauty: the changing face of the ideal female body weight", Obesity Reviews, Volume12, Issue1, 2011, Pages 62-65. ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2010.00754.x))
>
>
>
So yes: until just a few *decades* ago average heterosexual men preferred healthy looking women. Really obese women were always well liked by 'specialists'. But our current understanding of past preferences of beauty seems to be much distorted by what we now commonly call "obesity".
Having a look, I do not see "[obese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity) ladies":
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4aLBG.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xRiJc.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RD43d.jpg) (Rubens & his wife!)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VqXMv.jpg) [Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Marchesa_Brigida_Spinola-Doria)
>
>
>
Shoot me, but I believe 'the Aliens' reading it, would tend to agree, that quite recently, the meaning of "obese" seems to encroach on what we once thought of as normal and healthy:
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbhjO.jpg) [(Jake Rosenthal • January 20, 2016
> The Pioneer Plaque: Science as a Universal Language)](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2016/0120-the-pioneer-plaque-science-as-a-universal-language.html)
>
>
>
Now compare the to:
>
> [Aphrodite or 'Crouching Venus' Second century AD
> Marble | 125 x 53 x 65 cm (whole object) | RCIN 69746](https://www.rct.uk/collection/69746/aphrodite-or-crouching-venus):
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIS7Q.jpg) or
>
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eT320.jpg)
> [Aphrodite Kallipygos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Callipyge) "The Venus of the beautiful buttocks"
>
>
>
If the original model for that would be laser-scanned and then 3-D-printed while calculating here insurance-premium based on BMI: then you know that StackExchange policy probably prohibits commenting on it, but I am certain that you have made up your modern mind on that?
>
> To begin with I accepted the conventional, though actually little examined, view that standards of beauty change from age to age. In human affairs much does change - ideologies and institutions, economic and social systems, class structures, the role and status of women; my own study of the evidence compelled me to the conclusion that, relative to these, **beauty** (in the western world that I am qualified to write about) **has changed little.** That is why I call it a 'relative constant', a 'relative universal'. To be honest I am not greatly impressed by the oft-repeated accounts of African tribes prizing fatness, South American ones lip plates, Burmese ones necks stretched and ringed like a snake - in these examples the admiration is for symbols of wealth and status, not beauty. Indeed the whole subject is bedevilled by an elementary failure to distinguish between fashion and beauty.
>
> [Arthur Marwick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Marwick): "[It. A History of Human Beauty](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-history-of-human-beauty-9781847250506/)", Hambledon and London: London, New York, 2004, p IX;
>
>
> |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | A lot of the paintings were commissioned as portraits, why would people pay for themselves to be depicted in an ugly way?
Wealth nowadays is associated with a slim, tanned, and shaped body because those are traits of people who have enough free time, and money to achieve it. In that period, it would be the reverse, being more on the fat side would require wealth, and more refined foods which were more expensive, while majority of commoners would be slim, tanned (for working in the sun) and toned due to hard work.
It makes sense based on those, that it must have been acceptable to be fat back then, even desirable. | This aesthetic relativism is also confused by the fact that for most of the history of Western art, women weren't able to model so the artist often just changed male bodies (from his/her model) into female bodies by adding breasts or extra fat or whatever.
Here's a source: <https://renresearch.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/men-with-breasts-or-why-are-michelangelos-women-so-muscular-part-1/>
Which references Gill Saunders' *The Nude: A New Perspective* (1989) |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | A lot of the paintings were commissioned as portraits, why would people pay for themselves to be depicted in an ugly way?
Wealth nowadays is associated with a slim, tanned, and shaped body because those are traits of people who have enough free time, and money to achieve it. In that period, it would be the reverse, being more on the fat side would require wealth, and more refined foods which were more expensive, while majority of commoners would be slim, tanned (for working in the sun) and toned due to hard work.
It makes sense based on those, that it must have been acceptable to be fat back then, even desirable. | The idea that, taken across the entire range of media and works, art from any given period represents a society or culture's ideal for how anyone - male or female - should appear has no real basis in fact.
It is vastly more likely - especially in any time frame where we know the names and personalities of the artists being discussed - that any given work represents an example of what *the artist* considered *technically* interesting or challenging, or important in some other way by the standards of his craft or in the judgment of his contemporary artists. This was true even in portraiture.
Three centuries of artistic technical fascination with chiaroscuro *alone* should show us this. Artists chose bodies, poses and themes which allowed them to explore the interaction of light and shadow and the human body; and they did so for technical (and aesthetic) reasons that only rarely had anything to do with depicting ideals of physique.
For most of the history of representational art across all cultures, in fact, there was little attempt to make the figures depicted realistic in any way - "beautiful" or not. Nobody would argue that Greek sculptures from the Geometric or Archaic periods represent the cultural ideal of male and female physical beauty of the time, or that medieval weavers of tapestries or illuminators of manuscripts were attempting to depict the perfect human form. |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | >
> **Q** How do we know baroque art depicted obese ladies because of a different ideal of beauty?
>
>
>
Do we really?
We don't. The anthropological constant to be observed is: "women are considered 'attractive' if: *young* and *healthy*" (both more or less relating to fecundity; Whether socio-biological, evolutionary, or just cynical):
Differences in the historical record in the form of *paintings* of women –– meaning that not *L'art-pour-l'art* pictures show not that much variation in 'considered beautiful'. Archaeological evidence, that is more material evidence – like statues – does not support *major* shifts of aesthetic preference or judgement, before the 20th century.
There is the obvious tendency to ascribe a cultural preference for heftier women in baroque times. "Just look at the paintings!" And while it's certainly true that people come in all shapes and sizes, so it is equally true that people come with all kinds of tastes in all times: some preferring slender shapes, some going for the voluptuous.
The "obvious" conclusion is that in times when all kinds of illnesses, harsh winters and not in the least quite frequent real hunger catastrophes were just around every corner, people with a little reserve in body fat are indeed more likely to survive that, and be more fecund in the case of women. They were/are just more robust.
Added to that is the status appeal: you have to be able to afford so much eating.
But with this "tastes"-angle comes a tiny little problem: we have also at least *three* selection biases for our material to analyse at work here:
1. When Henry VIII was [young](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HenryVIII_1509.jpg) and coming, he was the sporty guy with not much fat on him. As he aged he became [fat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg), like the tendency to observe in every last one of us today: as we age, the body needs less energy, but habits change slowly and for most average people it gets harder with every year to keep the same weight. But those people who could afford being painted tended to be slightly older as well.
2. With differing tastes there is then this personal preference thing again. [Rubens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens) being the prime example. This painter is described as:
>
> His nudes of various biblical and mythological women are especially well-known. Painted in the Baroque tradition of depicting women as soft-bodied, passive, and highly sexualized beings, his nudes emphasize the concepts of fertility, desire, physical beauty, temptation, and virtue. Skillfully rendered, these paintings of nude women were undoubtedly created to appeal to his largely male audience of patrons. Additionally, Rubens was quite fond of painting full-figured women, giving rise to terms like 'Rubensian' or 'Rubenesque' (sometimes 'Rubensesque'). And while the [male gaze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze) features heavily in Rubens's paintings of females generally, he brings multi-layered allegory and symbolism to his portraits.
>
>
>
"He was indeed a chubby chaser(?)", preferring the looks of some women painted being even above what we think to be the norm in his age. (But also look at Karolien De Clippel: "Defining beauty: Rubens’s female nudes", ([PDF](https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/189137/NKJ58_Karolien+De+Clippel.pdf?sequence=1)) ––/––
Leah Sweet: "Fantasy Bodies, Imagined Pasts: A Critical Analysis of the “Rubenesque” Fat Body in Contemporary Culture", Fat Studies:
An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society
Volume 3, 2014 - Issue 2: Reflective Intersections, ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2014.889504)))
>
> Strong versions of evolutionary psychologists have proposed that men possess perceptual mechanisms that engender a preference for women with low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), typically 0.70, as this is considered maximally healthy and fertile. This has taken to be culturally and temporally invariant. In the present study, two semi-expert and two non-expert judges made measurements of the WHR of nude females in paintings by Pieter Pauwel Rubens. The results showed that the mean WHR of Rubens’ women was 0.776, significantly higher than the reported preference for WHRs of 0.70. Possible non-adaptive explanations for this result are proposed in conclusion.
>
> For example, the present study assumes that Rubens portrayed women for their physical beauty, but it may also be possible that he portrayed them to exemplify other traits such as wealth and abundance, that is, things other than beauty and fertility. Finally, although Rubens is perhaps the most well-known painter to depict voluptuous nudes (hence the term ‘Rubenesque’), future studies should examine the stylised depictions of other artists and artistic eras.
>
> [Viren Swami et al.: "The Female Nude in Rubens: Disconfirmatory Evidence of the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness", Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol. 26(1-2) 139-147, 2006-2007.](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/R11X-5752-V164-4240)
>
>
>
3. The [current](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556148/) [Western](https://www.professionalbeauty.com.au/beauty/want-to-know-what-the-ideal-body-shape-in-18-countries-is/) ['ideal'](https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0156722) – as propagated in most media, and now [internalised](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050601) – *is sick!*
While it is quite consensual that too much body fat is unhealthy, it is also quite clear that anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, surgery, pills, and propaganda are sick as well.
>
> By observing the art of different eras, as well as the more recent existence of the media, it is obvious that there have been dramatic changes in what is considered a beautiful body. The ideal of female beauty has shifted from a symbol of fertility to one of mathematically calculated proportions. It has taken the form of an image responding to men’s sexual desires. Nowadays there seems to be a tendency towards the destruction of the feminine, as androgynous fashion and appearance dominate our culture. The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated indi- vidual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance that should be interpreted within the social and historical context of each era with its own theories of what constituted the ideal female body weight.
>
> Did medical science contribute to today’s accepted BMI? Obesity has been regarded as a condition that increases the risk of many diseases only in recent decades, when evidence-based medicine took the lead, and scientists discovered saturated and transfats and their relationship with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Evidence of the change this may have had on society can be seen in the more prevalent occurrence of eating disorders in the latter half of the 20th century. The advice to lose weight and reach a BMI comprised between 18 and 24 therefore might have accelerated the process of the ideal figure tending towards thin bodies, in particular in professions where there is a strong pressure to control body weight such as athletics and dance. The media brought the relationship between an ideal figure and evidence-based medicine to extreme consequences, **presenting exaggeratedly thin figures as symbols of health, while in reality being the opposite as shown by data reporting female athletes with higher rates of eating disorders.**
>
> The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated individual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance. Unfortunately, today, beauty (and the ideal body weight) is not exactly in the eye of the beholder, but in the body image presented by the media and sold to a malleable public.
>
> B. A. Bonafini & P. Pozzilli: "Body weight and beauty: the changing face of the ideal female body weight", Obesity Reviews, Volume12, Issue1, 2011, Pages 62-65. ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2010.00754.x))
>
>
>
So yes: until just a few *decades* ago average heterosexual men preferred healthy looking women. Really obese women were always well liked by 'specialists'. But our current understanding of past preferences of beauty seems to be much distorted by what we now commonly call "obesity".
Having a look, I do not see "[obese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity) ladies":
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4aLBG.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xRiJc.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RD43d.jpg) (Rubens & his wife!)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VqXMv.jpg) [Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Marchesa_Brigida_Spinola-Doria)
>
>
>
Shoot me, but I believe 'the Aliens' reading it, would tend to agree, that quite recently, the meaning of "obese" seems to encroach on what we once thought of as normal and healthy:
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbhjO.jpg) [(Jake Rosenthal • January 20, 2016
> The Pioneer Plaque: Science as a Universal Language)](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2016/0120-the-pioneer-plaque-science-as-a-universal-language.html)
>
>
>
Now compare the to:
>
> [Aphrodite or 'Crouching Venus' Second century AD
> Marble | 125 x 53 x 65 cm (whole object) | RCIN 69746](https://www.rct.uk/collection/69746/aphrodite-or-crouching-venus):
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIS7Q.jpg) or
>
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eT320.jpg)
> [Aphrodite Kallipygos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Callipyge) "The Venus of the beautiful buttocks"
>
>
>
If the original model for that would be laser-scanned and then 3-D-printed while calculating here insurance-premium based on BMI: then you know that StackExchange policy probably prohibits commenting on it, but I am certain that you have made up your modern mind on that?
>
> To begin with I accepted the conventional, though actually little examined, view that standards of beauty change from age to age. In human affairs much does change - ideologies and institutions, economic and social systems, class structures, the role and status of women; my own study of the evidence compelled me to the conclusion that, relative to these, **beauty** (in the western world that I am qualified to write about) **has changed little.** That is why I call it a 'relative constant', a 'relative universal'. To be honest I am not greatly impressed by the oft-repeated accounts of African tribes prizing fatness, South American ones lip plates, Burmese ones necks stretched and ringed like a snake - in these examples the admiration is for symbols of wealth and status, not beauty. Indeed the whole subject is bedevilled by an elementary failure to distinguish between fashion and beauty.
>
> [Arthur Marwick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Marwick): "[It. A History of Human Beauty](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-history-of-human-beauty-9781847250506/)", Hambledon and London: London, New York, 2004, p IX;
>
>
> | This aesthetic relativism is also confused by the fact that for most of the history of Western art, women weren't able to model so the artist often just changed male bodies (from his/her model) into female bodies by adding breasts or extra fat or whatever.
Here's a source: <https://renresearch.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/men-with-breasts-or-why-are-michelangelos-women-so-muscular-part-1/>
Which references Gill Saunders' *The Nude: A New Perspective* (1989) |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | >
> **Q** How do we know baroque art depicted obese ladies because of a different ideal of beauty?
>
>
>
Do we really?
We don't. The anthropological constant to be observed is: "women are considered 'attractive' if: *young* and *healthy*" (both more or less relating to fecundity; Whether socio-biological, evolutionary, or just cynical):
Differences in the historical record in the form of *paintings* of women –– meaning that not *L'art-pour-l'art* pictures show not that much variation in 'considered beautiful'. Archaeological evidence, that is more material evidence – like statues – does not support *major* shifts of aesthetic preference or judgement, before the 20th century.
There is the obvious tendency to ascribe a cultural preference for heftier women in baroque times. "Just look at the paintings!" And while it's certainly true that people come in all shapes and sizes, so it is equally true that people come with all kinds of tastes in all times: some preferring slender shapes, some going for the voluptuous.
The "obvious" conclusion is that in times when all kinds of illnesses, harsh winters and not in the least quite frequent real hunger catastrophes were just around every corner, people with a little reserve in body fat are indeed more likely to survive that, and be more fecund in the case of women. They were/are just more robust.
Added to that is the status appeal: you have to be able to afford so much eating.
But with this "tastes"-angle comes a tiny little problem: we have also at least *three* selection biases for our material to analyse at work here:
1. When Henry VIII was [young](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HenryVIII_1509.jpg) and coming, he was the sporty guy with not much fat on him. As he aged he became [fat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Workshop_of_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_Portrait_of_Henry_VIII_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg), like the tendency to observe in every last one of us today: as we age, the body needs less energy, but habits change slowly and for most average people it gets harder with every year to keep the same weight. But those people who could afford being painted tended to be slightly older as well.
2. With differing tastes there is then this personal preference thing again. [Rubens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens) being the prime example. This painter is described as:
>
> His nudes of various biblical and mythological women are especially well-known. Painted in the Baroque tradition of depicting women as soft-bodied, passive, and highly sexualized beings, his nudes emphasize the concepts of fertility, desire, physical beauty, temptation, and virtue. Skillfully rendered, these paintings of nude women were undoubtedly created to appeal to his largely male audience of patrons. Additionally, Rubens was quite fond of painting full-figured women, giving rise to terms like 'Rubensian' or 'Rubenesque' (sometimes 'Rubensesque'). And while the [male gaze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze) features heavily in Rubens's paintings of females generally, he brings multi-layered allegory and symbolism to his portraits.
>
>
>
"He was indeed a chubby chaser(?)", preferring the looks of some women painted being even above what we think to be the norm in his age. (But also look at Karolien De Clippel: "Defining beauty: Rubens’s female nudes", ([PDF](https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/189137/NKJ58_Karolien+De+Clippel.pdf?sequence=1)) ––/––
Leah Sweet: "Fantasy Bodies, Imagined Pasts: A Critical Analysis of the “Rubenesque” Fat Body in Contemporary Culture", Fat Studies:
An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society
Volume 3, 2014 - Issue 2: Reflective Intersections, ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2014.889504)))
>
> Strong versions of evolutionary psychologists have proposed that men possess perceptual mechanisms that engender a preference for women with low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), typically 0.70, as this is considered maximally healthy and fertile. This has taken to be culturally and temporally invariant. In the present study, two semi-expert and two non-expert judges made measurements of the WHR of nude females in paintings by Pieter Pauwel Rubens. The results showed that the mean WHR of Rubens’ women was 0.776, significantly higher than the reported preference for WHRs of 0.70. Possible non-adaptive explanations for this result are proposed in conclusion.
>
> For example, the present study assumes that Rubens portrayed women for their physical beauty, but it may also be possible that he portrayed them to exemplify other traits such as wealth and abundance, that is, things other than beauty and fertility. Finally, although Rubens is perhaps the most well-known painter to depict voluptuous nudes (hence the term ‘Rubenesque’), future studies should examine the stylised depictions of other artists and artistic eras.
>
> [Viren Swami et al.: "The Female Nude in Rubens: Disconfirmatory Evidence of the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness", Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol. 26(1-2) 139-147, 2006-2007.](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/R11X-5752-V164-4240)
>
>
>
3. The [current](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556148/) [Western](https://www.professionalbeauty.com.au/beauty/want-to-know-what-the-ideal-body-shape-in-18-countries-is/) ['ideal'](https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0156722) – as propagated in most media, and now [internalised](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050601) – *is sick!*
While it is quite consensual that too much body fat is unhealthy, it is also quite clear that anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, surgery, pills, and propaganda are sick as well.
>
> By observing the art of different eras, as well as the more recent existence of the media, it is obvious that there have been dramatic changes in what is considered a beautiful body. The ideal of female beauty has shifted from a symbol of fertility to one of mathematically calculated proportions. It has taken the form of an image responding to men’s sexual desires. Nowadays there seems to be a tendency towards the destruction of the feminine, as androgynous fashion and appearance dominate our culture. The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated indi- vidual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance that should be interpreted within the social and historical context of each era with its own theories of what constituted the ideal female body weight.
>
> Did medical science contribute to today’s accepted BMI? Obesity has been regarded as a condition that increases the risk of many diseases only in recent decades, when evidence-based medicine took the lead, and scientists discovered saturated and transfats and their relationship with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Evidence of the change this may have had on society can be seen in the more prevalent occurrence of eating disorders in the latter half of the 20th century. The advice to lose weight and reach a BMI comprised between 18 and 24 therefore might have accelerated the process of the ideal figure tending towards thin bodies, in particular in professions where there is a strong pressure to control body weight such as athletics and dance. The media brought the relationship between an ideal figure and evidence-based medicine to extreme consequences, **presenting exaggeratedly thin figures as symbols of health, while in reality being the opposite as shown by data reporting female athletes with higher rates of eating disorders.**
>
> The metamorphosis of the ideal woman follows the shifting role of women in society from mother and mistress to a career-orientated individual. Her depiction by artists across the centuries reveals this change in role and appearance. Unfortunately, today, beauty (and the ideal body weight) is not exactly in the eye of the beholder, but in the body image presented by the media and sold to a malleable public.
>
> B. A. Bonafini & P. Pozzilli: "Body weight and beauty: the changing face of the ideal female body weight", Obesity Reviews, Volume12, Issue1, 2011, Pages 62-65. ([DOI](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2010.00754.x))
>
>
>
So yes: until just a few *decades* ago average heterosexual men preferred healthy looking women. Really obese women were always well liked by 'specialists'. But our current understanding of past preferences of beauty seems to be much distorted by what we now commonly call "obesity".
Having a look, I do not see "[obese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity) ladies":
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4aLBG.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xRiJc.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RD43d.jpg) (Rubens & his wife!)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VqXMv.jpg) [Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Marchesa_Brigida_Spinola-Doria)
>
>
>
Shoot me, but I believe 'the Aliens' reading it, would tend to agree, that quite recently, the meaning of "obese" seems to encroach on what we once thought of as normal and healthy:
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RbhjO.jpg) [(Jake Rosenthal • January 20, 2016
> The Pioneer Plaque: Science as a Universal Language)](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2016/0120-the-pioneer-plaque-science-as-a-universal-language.html)
>
>
>
Now compare the to:
>
> [Aphrodite or 'Crouching Venus' Second century AD
> Marble | 125 x 53 x 65 cm (whole object) | RCIN 69746](https://www.rct.uk/collection/69746/aphrodite-or-crouching-venus):
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pIS7Q.jpg) or
>
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eT320.jpg)
> [Aphrodite Kallipygos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Callipyge) "The Venus of the beautiful buttocks"
>
>
>
If the original model for that would be laser-scanned and then 3-D-printed while calculating here insurance-premium based on BMI: then you know that StackExchange policy probably prohibits commenting on it, but I am certain that you have made up your modern mind on that?
>
> To begin with I accepted the conventional, though actually little examined, view that standards of beauty change from age to age. In human affairs much does change - ideologies and institutions, economic and social systems, class structures, the role and status of women; my own study of the evidence compelled me to the conclusion that, relative to these, **beauty** (in the western world that I am qualified to write about) **has changed little.** That is why I call it a 'relative constant', a 'relative universal'. To be honest I am not greatly impressed by the oft-repeated accounts of African tribes prizing fatness, South American ones lip plates, Burmese ones necks stretched and ringed like a snake - in these examples the admiration is for symbols of wealth and status, not beauty. Indeed the whole subject is bedevilled by an elementary failure to distinguish between fashion and beauty.
>
> [Arthur Marwick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Marwick): "[It. A History of Human Beauty](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-history-of-human-beauty-9781847250506/)", Hambledon and London: London, New York, 2004, p IX;
>
>
> | The idea that, taken across the entire range of media and works, art from any given period represents a society or culture's ideal for how anyone - male or female - should appear has no real basis in fact.
It is vastly more likely - especially in any time frame where we know the names and personalities of the artists being discussed - that any given work represents an example of what *the artist* considered *technically* interesting or challenging, or important in some other way by the standards of his craft or in the judgment of his contemporary artists. This was true even in portraiture.
Three centuries of artistic technical fascination with chiaroscuro *alone* should show us this. Artists chose bodies, poses and themes which allowed them to explore the interaction of light and shadow and the human body; and they did so for technical (and aesthetic) reasons that only rarely had anything to do with depicting ideals of physique.
For most of the history of representational art across all cultures, in fact, there was little attempt to make the figures depicted realistic in any way - "beautiful" or not. Nobody would argue that Greek sculptures from the Geometric or Archaic periods represent the cultural ideal of male and female physical beauty of the time, or that medieval weavers of tapestries or illuminators of manuscripts were attempting to depict the perfect human form. |
50,562 | I've often heard that the obesity of women in baroque art signs that such women were the ideal of beauty. How could we know that? And how could we know it wasn't just "cultural rationalization" of a standard physical appearance of higher classes? | 2019/01/10 | [
"https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/50562",
"https://history.stackexchange.com",
"https://history.stackexchange.com/users/14601/"
] | This aesthetic relativism is also confused by the fact that for most of the history of Western art, women weren't able to model so the artist often just changed male bodies (from his/her model) into female bodies by adding breasts or extra fat or whatever.
Here's a source: <https://renresearch.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/men-with-breasts-or-why-are-michelangelos-women-so-muscular-part-1/>
Which references Gill Saunders' *The Nude: A New Perspective* (1989) | The idea that, taken across the entire range of media and works, art from any given period represents a society or culture's ideal for how anyone - male or female - should appear has no real basis in fact.
It is vastly more likely - especially in any time frame where we know the names and personalities of the artists being discussed - that any given work represents an example of what *the artist* considered *technically* interesting or challenging, or important in some other way by the standards of his craft or in the judgment of his contemporary artists. This was true even in portraiture.
Three centuries of artistic technical fascination with chiaroscuro *alone* should show us this. Artists chose bodies, poses and themes which allowed them to explore the interaction of light and shadow and the human body; and they did so for technical (and aesthetic) reasons that only rarely had anything to do with depicting ideals of physique.
For most of the history of representational art across all cultures, in fact, there was little attempt to make the figures depicted realistic in any way - "beautiful" or not. Nobody would argue that Greek sculptures from the Geometric or Archaic periods represent the cultural ideal of male and female physical beauty of the time, or that medieval weavers of tapestries or illuminators of manuscripts were attempting to depict the perfect human form. |
1,132,412 | I need to know is the ways of tracing the person's IP from the email if you have all the permissions and technic stuff you need... It's hard to find information about IT security and its actual realization, so I wonder, how all the IP tracing with providers, proxies, and other things work...
If someone knew where I can find a lot of information about this subjects or have some actual experience please help me to figure this out...
I need to know all the ways and security measures that can help with this... | 2016/10/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/1132412",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/649641/"
] | There are a lot of different ways to find the IP address of the sender of a specific email message, depending on the mail server that's used.
If you use **free email hosting** like gmail, hotmail or Yahoo!, chances are that you won't find the original sender IP since it's filtered out by the mail provider. Even if they do keep the IP (I assume they do, but can't know for sure), the chance that you'll get it by asking them is very small.
If you use **Company mail** such as Exchange the sender IP (as in, the IP that connected to the mailserver) will most likely be logged. The problem is that this is often another mailserver IP, unless it was sent by someone using the Exchange server as SMTP server.
Most **shared hosts** keep email logs where they, too, can find the sender IP. This will again be the IP that connected to the SMTP server, so chances are it's anoter mailserver instead of the actual sender's IP. Again, if the sender used that server as SMTP server, their actual IP should be in the logs.
**TL;DR:** unless you have access to the mailserver that the sender used to send their message, the chances of you finding their IP are pretty slim. If you have access to the SMTP server used by the sender, you should be able to find their IP in the logs of your mailserver. For example, [here](http://www.exim.org/exim-html-current/doc/html/spec_html/ch-log_files.html) is some information regarding the logfile locations for Exim (a pretty popular mail server program) | If you are using Outlook, right-click the message in the inbox and select *Message Options*, it will show this box that includes all the IP addresses of the message:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LNFWW.png)
If you are using Gmail right-click and select *Show Original"* and you will find this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NlS9B.png) |
1,132,412 | I need to know is the ways of tracing the person's IP from the email if you have all the permissions and technic stuff you need... It's hard to find information about IT security and its actual realization, so I wonder, how all the IP tracing with providers, proxies, and other things work...
If someone knew where I can find a lot of information about this subjects or have some actual experience please help me to figure this out...
I need to know all the ways and security measures that can help with this... | 2016/10/07 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/1132412",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/649641/"
] | There are a lot of different ways to find the IP address of the sender of a specific email message, depending on the mail server that's used.
If you use **free email hosting** like gmail, hotmail or Yahoo!, chances are that you won't find the original sender IP since it's filtered out by the mail provider. Even if they do keep the IP (I assume they do, but can't know for sure), the chance that you'll get it by asking them is very small.
If you use **Company mail** such as Exchange the sender IP (as in, the IP that connected to the mailserver) will most likely be logged. The problem is that this is often another mailserver IP, unless it was sent by someone using the Exchange server as SMTP server.
Most **shared hosts** keep email logs where they, too, can find the sender IP. This will again be the IP that connected to the SMTP server, so chances are it's anoter mailserver instead of the actual sender's IP. Again, if the sender used that server as SMTP server, their actual IP should be in the logs.
**TL;DR:** unless you have access to the mailserver that the sender used to send their message, the chances of you finding their IP are pretty slim. If you have access to the SMTP server used by the sender, you should be able to find their IP in the logs of your mailserver. For example, [here](http://www.exim.org/exim-html-current/doc/html/spec_html/ch-log_files.html) is some information regarding the logfile locations for Exim (a pretty popular mail server program) | This is simply not always possible.
Quite a few leading mail servers (Office 365/Microsoft Exchange) in their default configs will show you the IP address of the sender and server (for example, if you have on premise Exchange, you will see your machines internal IP and the server's external IP).
If a company uses an on premise server, you will always see the IP of the server, but, they may block the headers that show the end user.
As above, an example is Gmail/Google Mail on custom domains - you can always see the Google server address, but, they block the end user details.
In addition, please remember that an IP address is not good enough to tie a message to a person. |
2,100,143 | There is a number of unit test frameworks for most of the languages, but I haven't come across a unit test for GNU make. It has [conditionals](http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#toc_Conditionals), loops (the $(foreach ...) statement), and allows to write pretty sophisticated code. The examples might be things like BSD ports, GARNOME, and OpenCSW GAR.
There's also [a debugger](http://gmd.sourceforge.net/) for GNU make. However, I've never come across a unit test framework for it. Is there anything like this in existence? | 2010/01/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/2100143",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/121850/"
] | Unit-tests usually assumes that the language has some form of mechanism for modularization, which GNU make really doesn't have. What would be the "units" you would be testing? Individual targets? How would you set up the inputs/outputs of each test?
Also, since makefiles are executed during build, one could argue that the makefiles "test themselves", leaving little room for explicit "makefile test suites" to do any good. | The makefiles for Perl, PHP, Python, GHC and GCC (amongst open source projects I could think of off the top of my head and had lying around on my machine) all have 'test' targets, which I think would make interesting reading. |
2,100,143 | There is a number of unit test frameworks for most of the languages, but I haven't come across a unit test for GNU make. It has [conditionals](http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#toc_Conditionals), loops (the $(foreach ...) statement), and allows to write pretty sophisticated code. The examples might be things like BSD ports, GARNOME, and OpenCSW GAR.
There's also [a debugger](http://gmd.sourceforge.net/) for GNU make. However, I've never come across a unit test framework for it. Is there anything like this in existence? | 2010/01/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/2100143",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/121850/"
] | I would also see the build itself as the integration-test.
Usually problems with the build pop up early, especially if you have a working continous integration setup. In our case we have all possible build-paths run regularly run on our ci-servers (the software is constantly built and deployed).
As far as I remember if there was a problem with a build-script ci showed us a crash instantly, for instance because tar-ball could not be built, or application couldn't be started due to missing artifacts.
For above reasons, I think trying to unit-test the build-files itself involves too much effort, which could be spent better in setting up or extending continous integration. | The makefiles for Perl, PHP, Python, GHC and GCC (amongst open source projects I could think of off the top of my head and had lying around on my machine) all have 'test' targets, which I think would make interesting reading. |
2,100,143 | There is a number of unit test frameworks for most of the languages, but I haven't come across a unit test for GNU make. It has [conditionals](http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#toc_Conditionals), loops (the $(foreach ...) statement), and allows to write pretty sophisticated code. The examples might be things like BSD ports, GARNOME, and OpenCSW GAR.
There's also [a debugger](http://gmd.sourceforge.net/) for GNU make. However, I've never come across a unit test framework for it. Is there anything like this in existence? | 2010/01/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/2100143",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/121850/"
] | There is one in my bookmarks; I haven't used it, so cannot tell how well it works.
<https://sourceforge.net/projects/munit/files/> | The makefiles for Perl, PHP, Python, GHC and GCC (amongst open source projects I could think of off the top of my head and had lying around on my machine) all have 'test' targets, which I think would make interesting reading. |
77,798 | I want to install hardwired, under-cabinet lighting, but I need some guidance on what kind of devices (transformers/drivers/adapters) I need to complete the project. I know very little about electricity and even reading some of the electrical answers on this site (like [this one](https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/18225/what-do-i-need-to-install-led-strip-lighting)) have my head spinning so I'm hoping somebody can just tell me what I need. Here is my situation:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k3XwU.png)
The rectangles (A-F) are my wall kitchen cabinets. The yellow wires (1-5) are the wires already setup (connected to a wall switch), on a single circuit, carrying 120VAC. **1 connects to 2, which is connected to 3 and so on.**
I want to use something [like this](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003AKCT5G).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/i77L4.jpg)
However, my difficulty is most of these LED under cabinet light solutions on Amazon seem to be assuming that you have one set of cabinets, where you can link all of your lights in a perfect row, and one plug that you will then plug everything into. I don't have that. I have 5 120VAC lines, and one of those lines (#5) needs to have 2 lights interconnected (for cabinets E and F) on that one line (why it was setup like this is another story).
So if I were to buy the light kit above (or something similar), please tell me what [else] I need such that;
1. I can plug a single LED strip (or puck) into the 120VAC lines on cabinets A, B, C and D
2. I can plug two LED strips (or pucks) into the 120VAC line on cabinet E
*In case it matters, the scenario illustrated here is slightly more simplified then my actual setup. In my actual setup, there are two more cabinets. One touching cabinet 'F' (call it cabinet 'G'), and another cabinet which is stand-alone just like cabinet A (call it cabinet 'H'). So there are really 8 cabinets, and 6 lines coming out of the wall, but I didn't include them in the picture to try to simplify the scenario. I add them here incase it matters (for voltage/wattage/amperage/gigawatt consideration).*
*Also note, I'll probably have somebody else do the installation, but I still want to know what I need so I have it ready for whomever does the install.*
---
**EDIT: It has come to my attention that I can run 12V DC current on Romex. So is there anything wrong with setting up a transformer at line #1, to convert the current to 12V DC continuing down the line to points #2-5? That way all I need is one transformer at cabinet A. Assuming the transformer can handle the load of all the LEDs total wattage, is there anything wrong with this approach?** | 2015/11/11 | [
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/77798",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/users/7023/"
] | You can use any of those materials, or none of those. Waterproof paper (properly installed such that water is prevented from penetrating the repair seams) and wire mesh alone, with no substrate, may be just fine.
An important part of the job that you do not mention (and is not apparent in your picture) is the waterproof paper/membrane. | The simplest way to stucco the opening is to use cement board only because you'd be saving several steps by not having to apply each successive layer. Looking at your photo it appears that you have at least 3/4 inch of depth from the stud edge to the existing stucco surface. If you install 1/2 inch cement board over 30 # felt you just need to float a 1/4 inch finish coat. And Bryce is correct about creating a rough edge to finish the new stucco too. It make the repair less obvious and less chance of any hairline cracks appearing. |
77,798 | I want to install hardwired, under-cabinet lighting, but I need some guidance on what kind of devices (transformers/drivers/adapters) I need to complete the project. I know very little about electricity and even reading some of the electrical answers on this site (like [this one](https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/18225/what-do-i-need-to-install-led-strip-lighting)) have my head spinning so I'm hoping somebody can just tell me what I need. Here is my situation:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k3XwU.png)
The rectangles (A-F) are my wall kitchen cabinets. The yellow wires (1-5) are the wires already setup (connected to a wall switch), on a single circuit, carrying 120VAC. **1 connects to 2, which is connected to 3 and so on.**
I want to use something [like this](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B003AKCT5G).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/i77L4.jpg)
However, my difficulty is most of these LED under cabinet light solutions on Amazon seem to be assuming that you have one set of cabinets, where you can link all of your lights in a perfect row, and one plug that you will then plug everything into. I don't have that. I have 5 120VAC lines, and one of those lines (#5) needs to have 2 lights interconnected (for cabinets E and F) on that one line (why it was setup like this is another story).
So if I were to buy the light kit above (or something similar), please tell me what [else] I need such that;
1. I can plug a single LED strip (or puck) into the 120VAC lines on cabinets A, B, C and D
2. I can plug two LED strips (or pucks) into the 120VAC line on cabinet E
*In case it matters, the scenario illustrated here is slightly more simplified then my actual setup. In my actual setup, there are two more cabinets. One touching cabinet 'F' (call it cabinet 'G'), and another cabinet which is stand-alone just like cabinet A (call it cabinet 'H'). So there are really 8 cabinets, and 6 lines coming out of the wall, but I didn't include them in the picture to try to simplify the scenario. I add them here incase it matters (for voltage/wattage/amperage/gigawatt consideration).*
*Also note, I'll probably have somebody else do the installation, but I still want to know what I need so I have it ready for whomever does the install.*
---
**EDIT: It has come to my attention that I can run 12V DC current on Romex. So is there anything wrong with setting up a transformer at line #1, to convert the current to 12V DC continuing down the line to points #2-5? That way all I need is one transformer at cabinet A. Assuming the transformer can handle the load of all the LEDs total wattage, is there anything wrong with this approach?** | 2015/11/11 | [
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/77798",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/users/7023/"
] | The important part is breaking out the old stucco to create a rough edge, and expose the wire to tie into. Sheath what you have with wood. Slip new paper (two layers of grade D in the USA), under the old, and wire.
Now an alternative is to cut cement board in the shape of the old window and caulk the edges. But here you'd want to recess the cement board to make an architectural statement, as it would not be possible to hide the repair.
Ask yourself what happens if (when) water gets into that space. Consider a weep screed for the bottom. | The simplest way to stucco the opening is to use cement board only because you'd be saving several steps by not having to apply each successive layer. Looking at your photo it appears that you have at least 3/4 inch of depth from the stud edge to the existing stucco surface. If you install 1/2 inch cement board over 30 # felt you just need to float a 1/4 inch finish coat. And Bryce is correct about creating a rough edge to finish the new stucco too. It make the repair less obvious and less chance of any hairline cracks appearing. |
11,258 | I asked this question earlier: [What "religions" did previous Buddhas practice?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11241/what-religions-did-previous-buddhas-practice/11244)
Now I'm wondering if any teachings from earlier (or later) Buddhas have been passed down to our time. And if not, why? | 2015/09/02 | [
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11258",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5849/"
] | In Theravada tradition, a Buddha appears in this world only after the teachings of the previous Buddha completely vanishes. It is also mentioned that the teachings of a Buddha will survive after his parinibbāna only if he teaches the Vinaya pitaka. | There is no evidence external to the Buddhists texts that Gautama ever existed, late references to the Buddha as Viṣṇu in some Purāṇas are part of a move to assimilate the Buddha into Vaiṣṇavism (not before the 8th Century CE). My unpublished article on The Buddha's supposed names, for example, shows that these names were made up some time later for an audience familiar with and probably immersed in Brahmanical culture norms: [Siddhārtha Gautama: What's in a Name?](https://www.academia.edu/4866512/Siddh%C4%81rtha_Gautama_Whats_in_a_Name)
For the lineage of past Buddhas there is no evidence at all, except for some texts composed by Buddhists to support the assertion. The only people who take these texts as anything like history are religious Buddhists. They have precisely the same status as other religious texts which claim to have knowledge beyond the human sphere. We have to take these texts alongside, say, the Genesis chapter in the Bible as myths specific to a time and place. To take them literally is naive at best.
The consensus of scholars is that the stories about the past Buddhas are part of a myth which seeks to make Buddhism seem more authentic to the Iron Age Indian audience by making it seem to be a lineage of teachings. This story exists in tension with the idea that Buddhism is an entirely new teaching. A key article in this line of thinking is Richard Gombrich's 1980 article "[The Significance of Former Buddhas in the Theravadin Tradition](http://www.ocbs.org/richard-gombrich-library-ocbsmain-148/40-richard-gombrich/181-1980-the-significance-of-former-buddhas-in-the-theravadin-tradition)" (online courtesy of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies).
>
> "[The Buddha] differed from [Brhamins] in his failure to authenticare his position by reference to a long line of teachers. Sages proclaiming bold ideas in the Upaniṣads at least presented their credentials by listing their teachers, their geneaology in sacred lore, all the way back to omse mythical culture hero such as an inpsired reciter of the original Veda. The fabrication of such a genealogy for the Buddha, however, present insuperable problems... [because he had no teachers]."
>
>
> "The Buddha's authentication could therefore only be mythological. It is here that we find the fundamental raison d'etre for the doctrine of previous Buddhas. A model lay close at hand, in Jainism... that the analogous Buddhist doctrine of previous Buddhas was influenced by Jainism seems much more likely than that the Jains borrowed their doctrine from the Buddhists." (Gombrich p.64)
>
>
>
Another article to read, if you can get hold of it is, Naomi Appleton's [The Multi-life Stories of Gautama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira](http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/BSR/article/viewArticle/14035). Buddhist Studies Review. Vol 29, No 1 (2012) [Link is to abstract]
Note also that the lineage lists found in the *Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad* list many men named *Guatama*. It was a high status Brahmin name dating back to the Ṛgvedic period (ca 1500-1200 BCE). It's highly likely that the Chan/Zen lineages that link Chan patriarchs back to the Buddha are also fabrications for the same reasons. On this subject see John McRae's book *Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism*.
Given this, We would not expect such mythic figures to have passed down actual teachings. The teachings we have probably date from a period some centuries after the putative life of the Buddha. However as the other answers to this question show, stories were fabricated and authenticated to make this lineage seem plausible. Gombrich discusses most of these texts in his article.
The Mahāyāna Sukhāvativyūha Sūtras purport to be teaching by or about Amitābha Tathāgata, who lives in another universe than out one, but is able to intersect with our universe at the point of death and guide a being to be reborn in his universe where enlightenment is very easy. A number of other Pure Land sūtras explore similar themes. |
11,258 | I asked this question earlier: [What "religions" did previous Buddhas practice?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11241/what-religions-did-previous-buddhas-practice/11244)
Now I'm wondering if any teachings from earlier (or later) Buddhas have been passed down to our time. And if not, why? | 2015/09/02 | [
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11258",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5849/"
] | Yes, the historical Buddha is said to have related teachings of other Buddhas; one that stands out is the [Amagandha Sutta](http://www.softerviews.org/AIM/amagandha.html), which relates the teaching of Kassapa Buddha. Another is MN 81, which relates some aspects of Kassapa Buddha's life, and some words of Kassapa Buddha:
>
> “The king thought: ‘The Blessed One Kassapa, [51] accomplished and fully enlightened, does not accept from me a residence for the Rains in Benares,’ and he was very disappointed and sad.
>
>
> “Then he said: ‘Venerable sir, have you a better supporter than I am?’—‘I have, great king. There is a market town called Vebhalinga where a potter named Ghaṭīkāra lives. He is my supporter, my chief supporter. Now you, great king, thought: “The Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, does not accept from me a residence for the Rains in Benares,” and you were very disappointed and sad; but the potter Ghaṭīkāra is not and will not be so. The potter Ghaṭīkāra has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. He abstains from killing living beings, from taking what is not given, from misconduct in sensual pleasures, from false speech, and from wine, liquor, and intoxicants, which are the basis of negligence. He has unwavering confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, and he possesses the virtues loved by noble ones. He is free from doubt about suffering, about the origin of suffering, about the cessation of suffering, and about the way leading to the cessation of suffering. He eats only one meal a day, he observes celibacy, he is virtuous, of good character. He has laid aside gems and gold, he has given up gold and silver. He does not dig the ground for clay with a pick or with his own hands; what has broken off riverbanks or is thrown up by rats, he brings home in a carrier; when he has made a pot he says: “Let anyone who likes set down some selected rice or selected beans or selected lentils, and let him take away whatever he likes. He supports his blind and aged parents. Having destroyed the five lower fetters, he is one who will reappear spontaneously [in the Pure Abodes] and there attain final Nibbāna without ever returning from that world.
>
>
> (*from Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Bodhi, trans*)
>
>
>
There are probably others I can't think of off-hand, but they all would have to have come from the current Buddha, since the interval between Buddhas is invariably so vast as to not allow for any trace of the previous Buddha's teachings to remain.
(*This all from a Theravada Buddhist POV*) | There is no evidence external to the Buddhists texts that Gautama ever existed, late references to the Buddha as Viṣṇu in some Purāṇas are part of a move to assimilate the Buddha into Vaiṣṇavism (not before the 8th Century CE). My unpublished article on The Buddha's supposed names, for example, shows that these names were made up some time later for an audience familiar with and probably immersed in Brahmanical culture norms: [Siddhārtha Gautama: What's in a Name?](https://www.academia.edu/4866512/Siddh%C4%81rtha_Gautama_Whats_in_a_Name)
For the lineage of past Buddhas there is no evidence at all, except for some texts composed by Buddhists to support the assertion. The only people who take these texts as anything like history are religious Buddhists. They have precisely the same status as other religious texts which claim to have knowledge beyond the human sphere. We have to take these texts alongside, say, the Genesis chapter in the Bible as myths specific to a time and place. To take them literally is naive at best.
The consensus of scholars is that the stories about the past Buddhas are part of a myth which seeks to make Buddhism seem more authentic to the Iron Age Indian audience by making it seem to be a lineage of teachings. This story exists in tension with the idea that Buddhism is an entirely new teaching. A key article in this line of thinking is Richard Gombrich's 1980 article "[The Significance of Former Buddhas in the Theravadin Tradition](http://www.ocbs.org/richard-gombrich-library-ocbsmain-148/40-richard-gombrich/181-1980-the-significance-of-former-buddhas-in-the-theravadin-tradition)" (online courtesy of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies).
>
> "[The Buddha] differed from [Brhamins] in his failure to authenticare his position by reference to a long line of teachers. Sages proclaiming bold ideas in the Upaniṣads at least presented their credentials by listing their teachers, their geneaology in sacred lore, all the way back to omse mythical culture hero such as an inpsired reciter of the original Veda. The fabrication of such a genealogy for the Buddha, however, present insuperable problems... [because he had no teachers]."
>
>
> "The Buddha's authentication could therefore only be mythological. It is here that we find the fundamental raison d'etre for the doctrine of previous Buddhas. A model lay close at hand, in Jainism... that the analogous Buddhist doctrine of previous Buddhas was influenced by Jainism seems much more likely than that the Jains borrowed their doctrine from the Buddhists." (Gombrich p.64)
>
>
>
Another article to read, if you can get hold of it is, Naomi Appleton's [The Multi-life Stories of Gautama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira](http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/BSR/article/viewArticle/14035). Buddhist Studies Review. Vol 29, No 1 (2012) [Link is to abstract]
Note also that the lineage lists found in the *Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad* list many men named *Guatama*. It was a high status Brahmin name dating back to the Ṛgvedic period (ca 1500-1200 BCE). It's highly likely that the Chan/Zen lineages that link Chan patriarchs back to the Buddha are also fabrications for the same reasons. On this subject see John McRae's book *Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism*.
Given this, We would not expect such mythic figures to have passed down actual teachings. The teachings we have probably date from a period some centuries after the putative life of the Buddha. However as the other answers to this question show, stories were fabricated and authenticated to make this lineage seem plausible. Gombrich discusses most of these texts in his article.
The Mahāyāna Sukhāvativyūha Sūtras purport to be teaching by or about Amitābha Tathāgata, who lives in another universe than out one, but is able to intersect with our universe at the point of death and guide a being to be reborn in his universe where enlightenment is very easy. A number of other Pure Land sūtras explore similar themes. |
11,258 | I asked this question earlier: [What "religions" did previous Buddhas practice?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11241/what-religions-did-previous-buddhas-practice/11244)
Now I'm wondering if any teachings from earlier (or later) Buddhas have been passed down to our time. And if not, why? | 2015/09/02 | [
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11258",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5849/"
] | In Theravada tradition, a Buddha appears in this world only after the teachings of the previous Buddha completely vanishes. It is also mentioned that the teachings of a Buddha will survive after his parinibbāna only if he teaches the Vinaya pitaka. | The Buddhavamsa (a very late addition to the Pali canon) gives accounts of the 24 previous Buddhas. For each of the past 24 Buddhas, it describes the "three occasions of the Buddha's teaching".
They all started by teaching the same sutta (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta) this is always the first occasion of a Buddha's teaching.
The second and third occasions of a Buddha's teachings vary according to the Buddha involved. For nine of the 24 previous Buddhas, the second occasion was going to Tāvatiṃsa heaven to teach the Abhidhamma.
Some of the previous Buddhas also taught suttas such as the Mangala Sutta. |
11,258 | I asked this question earlier: [What "religions" did previous Buddhas practice?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11241/what-religions-did-previous-buddhas-practice/11244)
Now I'm wondering if any teachings from earlier (or later) Buddhas have been passed down to our time. And if not, why? | 2015/09/02 | [
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/11258",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com",
"https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5849/"
] | Yes, the historical Buddha is said to have related teachings of other Buddhas; one that stands out is the [Amagandha Sutta](http://www.softerviews.org/AIM/amagandha.html), which relates the teaching of Kassapa Buddha. Another is MN 81, which relates some aspects of Kassapa Buddha's life, and some words of Kassapa Buddha:
>
> “The king thought: ‘The Blessed One Kassapa, [51] accomplished and fully enlightened, does not accept from me a residence for the Rains in Benares,’ and he was very disappointed and sad.
>
>
> “Then he said: ‘Venerable sir, have you a better supporter than I am?’—‘I have, great king. There is a market town called Vebhalinga where a potter named Ghaṭīkāra lives. He is my supporter, my chief supporter. Now you, great king, thought: “The Blessed One Kassapa, accomplished and fully enlightened, does not accept from me a residence for the Rains in Benares,” and you were very disappointed and sad; but the potter Ghaṭīkāra is not and will not be so. The potter Ghaṭīkāra has gone for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. He abstains from killing living beings, from taking what is not given, from misconduct in sensual pleasures, from false speech, and from wine, liquor, and intoxicants, which are the basis of negligence. He has unwavering confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, and he possesses the virtues loved by noble ones. He is free from doubt about suffering, about the origin of suffering, about the cessation of suffering, and about the way leading to the cessation of suffering. He eats only one meal a day, he observes celibacy, he is virtuous, of good character. He has laid aside gems and gold, he has given up gold and silver. He does not dig the ground for clay with a pick or with his own hands; what has broken off riverbanks or is thrown up by rats, he brings home in a carrier; when he has made a pot he says: “Let anyone who likes set down some selected rice or selected beans or selected lentils, and let him take away whatever he likes. He supports his blind and aged parents. Having destroyed the five lower fetters, he is one who will reappear spontaneously [in the Pure Abodes] and there attain final Nibbāna without ever returning from that world.
>
>
> (*from Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Bodhi, trans*)
>
>
>
There are probably others I can't think of off-hand, but they all would have to have come from the current Buddha, since the interval between Buddhas is invariably so vast as to not allow for any trace of the previous Buddha's teachings to remain.
(*This all from a Theravada Buddhist POV*) | The Buddhavamsa (a very late addition to the Pali canon) gives accounts of the 24 previous Buddhas. For each of the past 24 Buddhas, it describes the "three occasions of the Buddha's teaching".
They all started by teaching the same sutta (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta) this is always the first occasion of a Buddha's teaching.
The second and third occasions of a Buddha's teachings vary according to the Buddha involved. For nine of the 24 previous Buddhas, the second occasion was going to Tāvatiṃsa heaven to teach the Abhidhamma.
Some of the previous Buddhas also taught suttas such as the Mangala Sutta. |
169,760 | If I create a golden card, are there any special perks in battle? I am just wondering since I am planning to level Anduin to 15 and get the golden Mind Blast and I want to know if there are any perks. Thanks! | 2014/05/29 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/169760",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/77471/"
] | The only differences between a gold card and a regular card are its appearance and dust costs (for expert set cards). Gold cards that create other cards will create the gold version- a gold mind vision will create gold copies for example- but again this effect is purely cosmetic.
Using an entirely gold deck will get you a golden coin when you go second, instead of the regular coin.
Aside from looking cool, gold cards can be useful in deck testing. Using a gold copy and a regular copy of a card allows you to tell which copy is which. If you keep track of how often you see the gold one, you get an idea of how often you'd draw that card if you only had one copy in your deck. | Other than looking cool, Golden cards hold no benefit.
They are however worth significantly more if you want to turn them into dust |
169,760 | If I create a golden card, are there any special perks in battle? I am just wondering since I am planning to level Anduin to 15 and get the golden Mind Blast and I want to know if there are any perks. Thanks! | 2014/05/29 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/169760",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/77471/"
] | Other than looking cool, Golden cards hold no benefit.
They are however worth significantly more if you want to turn them into dust | Just adding to another good answers, looking Golden Soulbounded cards can tell you an estimate of opponent level. By example, if your opponent has a Golden StormWind Champion, your opponent is level 59/60 with Paladin class!
<http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Paladin#Level_11-60> |
169,760 | If I create a golden card, are there any special perks in battle? I am just wondering since I am planning to level Anduin to 15 and get the golden Mind Blast and I want to know if there are any perks. Thanks! | 2014/05/29 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/169760",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/77471/"
] | The only differences between a gold card and a regular card are its appearance and dust costs (for expert set cards). Gold cards that create other cards will create the gold version- a gold mind vision will create gold copies for example- but again this effect is purely cosmetic.
Using an entirely gold deck will get you a golden coin when you go second, instead of the regular coin.
Aside from looking cool, gold cards can be useful in deck testing. Using a gold copy and a regular copy of a card allows you to tell which copy is which. If you keep track of how often you see the gold one, you get an idea of how often you'd draw that card if you only had one copy in your deck. | The argument [has been made](http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/26jfqy/this_golden_card_is_weaker_than_its_normal_version/) that gold cards could actually hurt you in the case where you have a golden card and a non golden card of the same card in a deck. If your opponent thought steals you and sees one of them, then you played the other, they now know you have another of that card in your deck. |
169,760 | If I create a golden card, are there any special perks in battle? I am just wondering since I am planning to level Anduin to 15 and get the golden Mind Blast and I want to know if there are any perks. Thanks! | 2014/05/29 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/169760",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/77471/"
] | The only differences between a gold card and a regular card are its appearance and dust costs (for expert set cards). Gold cards that create other cards will create the gold version- a gold mind vision will create gold copies for example- but again this effect is purely cosmetic.
Using an entirely gold deck will get you a golden coin when you go second, instead of the regular coin.
Aside from looking cool, gold cards can be useful in deck testing. Using a gold copy and a regular copy of a card allows you to tell which copy is which. If you keep track of how often you see the gold one, you get an idea of how often you'd draw that card if you only had one copy in your deck. | Just adding to another good answers, looking Golden Soulbounded cards can tell you an estimate of opponent level. By example, if your opponent has a Golden StormWind Champion, your opponent is level 59/60 with Paladin class!
<http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Paladin#Level_11-60> |
169,760 | If I create a golden card, are there any special perks in battle? I am just wondering since I am planning to level Anduin to 15 and get the golden Mind Blast and I want to know if there are any perks. Thanks! | 2014/05/29 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/169760",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/77471/"
] | The argument [has been made](http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/26jfqy/this_golden_card_is_weaker_than_its_normal_version/) that gold cards could actually hurt you in the case where you have a golden card and a non golden card of the same card in a deck. If your opponent thought steals you and sees one of them, then you played the other, they now know you have another of that card in your deck. | Just adding to another good answers, looking Golden Soulbounded cards can tell you an estimate of opponent level. By example, if your opponent has a Golden StormWind Champion, your opponent is level 59/60 with Paladin class!
<http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Paladin#Level_11-60> |
1,460,746 | I am saying this because the area of the circle is pi \* radius \* radius. We know that pi is a never ending value. So, if some one says I need a circle of 3 metre square area to make a rim of the wheel. How can I make so? The value of pi is non-terminating - not a practical value. Also, does it mean that area of a square is finite but area of circle is not finite. But, if area of circle is not finite, then how can I see/visualize it. | 2015/10/02 | [
"https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1460746",
"https://math.stackexchange.com",
"https://math.stackexchange.com/users/149718/"
] | A shape that is completely inside of another shape has a smaller area. A circle of radius 1 centered at the origin may be placed inside of a square with corners at (-1,-1), (1,-1), (-1,1), (1,1). The area of such a square is 4, and so the area of the circle must be less than 4. | All space (area) is infinite. Measurements express our understanding of such via finite rounding. That is to say, in measuring we express a point as finite - when in fact a point has an area made up of an infinite number of "points." |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | >
> my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger
>
>
>
If that code is important and has any security risk - Most definitely. You may only receive a warning if it is just generic code.
However I feel this line almost answers your question. You already said that it's your first time working with this person, you have no loyalties. It may be that the colleague in question doesn't know any better and needs educating.
You should tell your colleague to remove it and then tell your manager of what has happened and go from there for the off chance that the manager does see it you want to make sure he's informed so that your own job and financial safety is held. | The person is new to the workplace, suggesting they are quite young. I would recommend letting the manager know about it. You can tell the manager (assuming they won't consider it themselves), that a firm talking to by them now would make it clear what a person's responsibilities are in the professional environment and what is not acceptable despite the ease with which people post all sorts of personal information online. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | Just speak personally, but make things unambiguous.
>
> That's a great video, but it might be a good idea to remove the company specific stuff - just in case the manager sees it, I'm not too sure how they'd take seeing that there.
>
>
>
And then leave the implied outcome hanging and let your colleague decide what to do. | >
> my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger
>
>
>
If that code is important and has any security risk - Most definitely. You may only receive a warning if it is just generic code.
However I feel this line almost answers your question. You already said that it's your first time working with this person, you have no loyalties. It may be that the colleague in question doesn't know any better and needs educating.
You should tell your colleague to remove it and then tell your manager of what has happened and go from there for the off chance that the manager does see it you want to make sure he's informed so that your own job and financial safety is held. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | Just speak personally, but make things unambiguous.
>
> That's a great video, but it might be a good idea to remove the company specific stuff - just in case the manager sees it, I'm not too sure how they'd take seeing that there.
>
>
>
And then leave the implied outcome hanging and let your colleague decide what to do. | How did he post the code? Screen shot? Video with his monitor in the background? Are machine readable text that I could copy, paste and compile? You say "it's blurry and hard but not impossible to read", so I assume it is a video with a monitor visible?
If that is the case, then let's be serious here: Nobody will be interested in that piece of code. The source code that I'm working on is highly valuable, but if one page of it is shown in a video, it's not of any use to anybody. One page, randomly picked, without any context, is completely useless to anybody. Nobody will even try to copy it.
Unless there are comments in the code that you wouldn't want to share like "this function contains the code where we siphon off the user's address book and send it to our server, and the losers will never find out", then very little harm is done. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | Just speak personally, but make things unambiguous.
>
> That's a great video, but it might be a good idea to remove the company specific stuff - just in case the manager sees it, I'm not too sure how they'd take seeing that there.
>
>
>
And then leave the implied outcome hanging and let your colleague decide what to do. | If possible present the video (in its context) to your information security team without mentioning who the employee is, something along the lines of "I came across this video from one of our employees and it looks like they may have accidentally caught some of our code in the video". If you are asked who the employee is, it is better for **you** and the company to tell the information security team and let them handle it.
Even if we were to remove the video content, there may be policies against the use of recording devices within the workplace (phones with video/audio recording capabilities are generally included for the purposes of these policies).
Best case scenario: all employees are reminded of their responsibilities and the employee responsible receives a soft strike on their record.
Worst case scenario: the employee loses their job and faces a civil case.
Handling the situation yourself could carry more risk than ignoring it or reporting it to the information security team. While I don't advocate ignoring it, it does provide you the option of deniability "I don't interact with x on the platform so I couldn't have seen it" (admittedly the posting of this question could reduce your ability to rely on that). Handling the situation yourself though, opens you up to the employee continuing this behaviour and you handling it, eventually you get fed up, report it and the employee throws you under the bus in desperation/retaliation.
As a bonus for one of your comments on your bosses not liking social media, this is a good example of why. People tend to forget that social media is not like hanging out with a group of friends at your home; it's more like hanging out with a group of friends in a crowded pub and you never know who is watching or listening. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | >
> my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger
>
>
>
If that code is important and has any security risk - Most definitely. You may only receive a warning if it is just generic code.
However I feel this line almost answers your question. You already said that it's your first time working with this person, you have no loyalties. It may be that the colleague in question doesn't know any better and needs educating.
You should tell your colleague to remove it and then tell your manager of what has happened and go from there for the off chance that the manager does see it you want to make sure he's informed so that your own job and financial safety is held. | You don't really have a choice: Your employer would probably tell you that you should go directly to your supervisor and report the incident. I don't think this would be ilegal, but it is probably against information security codes or regulations inside your company.
Now, as a human being, you could also talk to the guy first, tell him to delete that, and not post anything of the sort again. But you must understand the risk of this if HR of a supervisor were to find out. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | How did he post the code? Screen shot? Video with his monitor in the background? Are machine readable text that I could copy, paste and compile? You say "it's blurry and hard but not impossible to read", so I assume it is a video with a monitor visible?
If that is the case, then let's be serious here: Nobody will be interested in that piece of code. The source code that I'm working on is highly valuable, but if one page of it is shown in a video, it's not of any use to anybody. One page, randomly picked, without any context, is completely useless to anybody. Nobody will even try to copy it.
Unless there are comments in the code that you wouldn't want to share like "this function contains the code where we siphon off the user's address book and send it to our server, and the losers will never find out", then very little harm is done. | Other options:
* Mention the topic of "social networks"in a casual way at lunch and clearly state that you don't think that anything related to work should be visible in a video posted there. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | >
> my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger
>
>
>
If that code is important and has any security risk - Most definitely. You may only receive a warning if it is just generic code.
However I feel this line almost answers your question. You already said that it's your first time working with this person, you have no loyalties. It may be that the colleague in question doesn't know any better and needs educating.
You should tell your colleague to remove it and then tell your manager of what has happened and go from there for the off chance that the manager does see it you want to make sure he's informed so that your own job and financial safety is held. | Other options:
* Mention the topic of "social networks"in a casual way at lunch and clearly state that you don't think that anything related to work should be visible in a video posted there. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | I think the answer depends on what code is visible in the video. If it's a "Hello, World!" type fragment, some loop that's meaningless without larger context, or an implementation of a simple standard algorithm like linked list etc., I would not consider it to be a big deal; Stack Overflow is full of such code and no harm is done. Simply speak to your colleague, and suggest they be careful when posting videos of source code so as not to leak anything important.
If one can see in the video a fragment of something critical to your company, such as an implementation of a proprietary algorithm, or encryption, or user authentication, you need to act to make sure the video is removed ASAP. Where I work this would be a major security incident that must be immediately reported to the security response team and to management. | How did he post the code? Screen shot? Video with his monitor in the background? Are machine readable text that I could copy, paste and compile? You say "it's blurry and hard but not impossible to read", so I assume it is a video with a monitor visible?
If that is the case, then let's be serious here: Nobody will be interested in that piece of code. The source code that I'm working on is highly valuable, but if one page of it is shown in a video, it's not of any use to anybody. One page, randomly picked, without any context, is completely useless to anybody. Nobody will even try to copy it.
Unless there are comments in the code that you wouldn't want to share like "this function contains the code where we siphon off the user's address book and send it to our server, and the losers will never find out", then very little harm is done. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | I think the answer depends on what code is visible in the video. If it's a "Hello, World!" type fragment, some loop that's meaningless without larger context, or an implementation of a simple standard algorithm like linked list etc., I would not consider it to be a big deal; Stack Overflow is full of such code and no harm is done. Simply speak to your colleague, and suggest they be careful when posting videos of source code so as not to leak anything important.
If one can see in the video a fragment of something critical to your company, such as an implementation of a proprietary algorithm, or encryption, or user authentication, you need to act to make sure the video is removed ASAP. Where I work this would be a major security incident that must be immediately reported to the security response team and to management. | Other options:
* Mention the topic of "social networks"in a casual way at lunch and clearly state that you don't think that anything related to work should be visible in a video posted there. |
126,782 | Today I opened a social network and saw that one of my coworkers, let's call him Bob, posted a piece of source code of one of our projects.
The quick video is blurry, so it's hard to actually read it, but not impossible.
IANAL but I'm pretty sure that this is illegal.
There is no way that anyone else in my company will see it since no one has that social network but for me.
As I see it I have 3 options:
* Act as if I did not see it
* Talk to him in private and make him realize how potentially bad this could end up being, for him and the company.
* Report this to my boss.
**Additional information:**
This is the first work experience for Bob and he has been working with us for less than 3 months.
My question is: **How should I behave in this situation?**
I really don't want to escalate this, but if something bad happens because of that post, and my boss finds out I knew about it, I think I would be in legal danger. | 2019/01/18 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/126782",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/75956/"
] | If possible present the video (in its context) to your information security team without mentioning who the employee is, something along the lines of "I came across this video from one of our employees and it looks like they may have accidentally caught some of our code in the video". If you are asked who the employee is, it is better for **you** and the company to tell the information security team and let them handle it.
Even if we were to remove the video content, there may be policies against the use of recording devices within the workplace (phones with video/audio recording capabilities are generally included for the purposes of these policies).
Best case scenario: all employees are reminded of their responsibilities and the employee responsible receives a soft strike on their record.
Worst case scenario: the employee loses their job and faces a civil case.
Handling the situation yourself could carry more risk than ignoring it or reporting it to the information security team. While I don't advocate ignoring it, it does provide you the option of deniability "I don't interact with x on the platform so I couldn't have seen it" (admittedly the posting of this question could reduce your ability to rely on that). Handling the situation yourself though, opens you up to the employee continuing this behaviour and you handling it, eventually you get fed up, report it and the employee throws you under the bus in desperation/retaliation.
As a bonus for one of your comments on your bosses not liking social media, this is a good example of why. People tend to forget that social media is not like hanging out with a group of friends at your home; it's more like hanging out with a group of friends in a crowded pub and you never know who is watching or listening. | The person is new to the workplace, suggesting they are quite young. I would recommend letting the manager know about it. You can tell the manager (assuming they won't consider it themselves), that a firm talking to by them now would make it clear what a person's responsibilities are in the professional environment and what is not acceptable despite the ease with which people post all sorts of personal information online. |
86,022 | How does one play figured bass when the bass line contains ties?
For example, here are the first three measures of Vivaldi's "Filiae maestae Jerusalem" ([sheet music source](https://imslp.org/wiki/Filiae_maestae_Jerusalem%2C_RV_638_(Vivaldi%2C_Antonio))).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/96Kpt.png)
Do I understand correctly that in measure 1, since there are no numbers to indicate an inversion, one has to play a chord consisting of C, Es and G?
Does one play only F and As in measure 2 (while still holding down the C key)? Or does one release and press again the C key in addition to F and As in measure 2? (In which case - why is there a tie between those two C-s?)
In the first half of measure 3, does one press no new keys and just continue holding C, F and As? Continue holding only C? Continue holding C, release F and As and play Es and G again? | 2019/06/20 | [
"https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/86022",
"https://music.stackexchange.com",
"https://music.stackexchange.com/users/49581/"
] | Once you get above the sixth note in the harmonic series things start getting pretty badly out of tune with an even tempered scale, so dominant seventh chords don't really include the 7th note in the harmonic series. Even though textbooks may identify that note as the b7 of the fundamental, they only do that because it's the closest note - the 7th note of the harmonic series is actually a little more than 2/3 of the way from the major 6th to the b7th. It's flat by 31 cents.
That applies to the 11th and 13th as well. The 11th in the harmonic series falls almost exactly halfway between the 4th and the #4/b5, and the 13th is a little bit more than halfway from the b6 to the 6th.
Having your ears accustomed to a non-Western temperament (like middle Eastern music) means they might not be as jarring to your ears as they would be to a European or American listener... but they're still so far from our Tertian system of harmony that they're not really going to work for building chords. | Starting from a just `iv` chord, with a 6:5 minor third and a 3:2 fifth, consider the other intervals that arise when you add the sixth. A just major sixth would be a ratio of 5:3 above the root; a just minor sixth would be a ratio of 8:5; and you are asking about a ratio of 13:8.
The ratio between the 5:3 sixth and the third is 25:18; the ratio with the fifth is 10:9. The first interval is the inversion of the tritone in a just dominant seventh chord (1:1, 5:4, 3:2, 9:5), so it is somewhat dissonant, but should be tolerable. The 10:9 whole step is of course quite common in justly-tuned music.
The ratio between the 8:5 sixth and the third is 4:3, a perfect fourth, so it is far more consonant. The ratio with the fifth in that chord is 16:15. This is dissonant, but it is a common and pleasant dissonance in just intonation.
By contrast, the 13:8 sixth has a ratio of 65:48 with the third and 13:12 with the fifth. Not only is the first ratio quite distant from the land of simple ratios, but it is also 26.8 cents sharper than a perfect fourth. To my ear, it just sounds wrong: it's not far enough from a perfect fourth to sound like a tritone, but it's much too far away to sound consonant.
If I could hear these intervals in the context of middle eastern music, I might change my tune a bit, as it were. I don't have much experience with such music, but what I am familiar with uses interesting tuning as a feature of melodic expression, not so much harmonic. Perhaps the 13:12 ratio is part of its tonal landscape. If that is the case then this tuning might be well suited to such music. |
28,524 | I’m considering purchasing some recreational kayaks and am wondering about the possibilities of teaching beginners how to self-rescue with those boats – specifically, when the boats do not have perimeter lines and do not have much bow buoyancy.
I already have plenty of experience teaching (beginners) self-rescues with sea kayaks, using paddle floats. Some folks do well, others struggle a lot. Once, I accidentally used old sea kayaks that did not have perimeter lines, and things were much more difficult because there was little to hold the paddle-with-float in place during the self-rescue.
I’m aware that with wide SOT (sit on top) kayaks, a “side-scramble” self-rescue should be quite easy – similar to a self-rescue with a SUP (standup paddleboard) – without even using the paddle. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I also believe that teaching self-rescues with sit-inside recreational kayaks that *do* have stern perimeter lines, using paddle floats, should be very similar to doing the same with sea kayaks. Correct me if I’m wrong. (Those kayaks are often called light touring kayaks. Please, do not debate where to distinguish between recreational, light touring and sea kayaks, thank you.)
I’m concerned about sit-inside recreational kayaks that do *not* have any perimeter lines. Complicating matters further is the fact that such kayaks often have little in the way of bow flotation so they get quite full of water when capsized – much more than do sea kayaks. There are a large number of those recreational kayaks types on the market. How does one "easily" self-rescue with those kayaks?
There are a couple of videos out there: [One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUHYtQR79Z4&ab_channel=REI) has the kayaker hold the paddle shaft and rear coaming together in one hand (instead of sliding the blade under perimeter lines). [Another](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piv3-_fLXVI&ab_channel=AustinKayak) has the kayaker wedge the paddle blade under the far-side coaming. Are those, or any other techniques, even possible for a beginner? | 2022/08/24 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/28524",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11563/"
] | It’s probably not THE highest, but Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters is a pretty famous one that doesn’t require any particular skill, just basic conditioning.
That said, I am reading 'climbing' as the physical process in your question. You still need to know about altitude acclimitization to go this high. | In Europe, the highest you can get without *any* effort is the "Klein Matterhorn" at 3883m. It has a cable car to the top. And then there are some other very high places you can get even with flip-flops or high-heels if you wish, such as Titlis or most famously the Jungfraujoch.
I need to add that I do not recommend wearing such poor footwear up there. It's still only 5-10 C even in summer and outside of the cable station the path is snow or ice. |
28,524 | I’m considering purchasing some recreational kayaks and am wondering about the possibilities of teaching beginners how to self-rescue with those boats – specifically, when the boats do not have perimeter lines and do not have much bow buoyancy.
I already have plenty of experience teaching (beginners) self-rescues with sea kayaks, using paddle floats. Some folks do well, others struggle a lot. Once, I accidentally used old sea kayaks that did not have perimeter lines, and things were much more difficult because there was little to hold the paddle-with-float in place during the self-rescue.
I’m aware that with wide SOT (sit on top) kayaks, a “side-scramble” self-rescue should be quite easy – similar to a self-rescue with a SUP (standup paddleboard) – without even using the paddle. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I also believe that teaching self-rescues with sit-inside recreational kayaks that *do* have stern perimeter lines, using paddle floats, should be very similar to doing the same with sea kayaks. Correct me if I’m wrong. (Those kayaks are often called light touring kayaks. Please, do not debate where to distinguish between recreational, light touring and sea kayaks, thank you.)
I’m concerned about sit-inside recreational kayaks that do *not* have any perimeter lines. Complicating matters further is the fact that such kayaks often have little in the way of bow flotation so they get quite full of water when capsized – much more than do sea kayaks. There are a large number of those recreational kayaks types on the market. How does one "easily" self-rescue with those kayaks?
There are a couple of videos out there: [One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUHYtQR79Z4&ab_channel=REI) has the kayaker hold the paddle shaft and rear coaming together in one hand (instead of sliding the blade under perimeter lines). [Another](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piv3-_fLXVI&ab_channel=AustinKayak) has the kayaker wedge the paddle blade under the far-side coaming. Are those, or any other techniques, even possible for a beginner? | 2022/08/24 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/28524",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11563/"
] | It’s probably not THE highest, but Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters is a pretty famous one that doesn’t require any particular skill, just basic conditioning.
That said, I am reading 'climbing' as the physical process in your question. You still need to know about altitude acclimitization to go this high. | [Mt Kinabalu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kinabalu) (4,095 m) in Malysian Borneo can be "climbed" with no particular climbing experience, although a certain level of fitness is required (and it is compulsory for a guide to accompany each party). Not as high as Mt Kilimanjaro, but less likely for unacclimated climbers to experience altitude sickness. |
28,524 | I’m considering purchasing some recreational kayaks and am wondering about the possibilities of teaching beginners how to self-rescue with those boats – specifically, when the boats do not have perimeter lines and do not have much bow buoyancy.
I already have plenty of experience teaching (beginners) self-rescues with sea kayaks, using paddle floats. Some folks do well, others struggle a lot. Once, I accidentally used old sea kayaks that did not have perimeter lines, and things were much more difficult because there was little to hold the paddle-with-float in place during the self-rescue.
I’m aware that with wide SOT (sit on top) kayaks, a “side-scramble” self-rescue should be quite easy – similar to a self-rescue with a SUP (standup paddleboard) – without even using the paddle. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I also believe that teaching self-rescues with sit-inside recreational kayaks that *do* have stern perimeter lines, using paddle floats, should be very similar to doing the same with sea kayaks. Correct me if I’m wrong. (Those kayaks are often called light touring kayaks. Please, do not debate where to distinguish between recreational, light touring and sea kayaks, thank you.)
I’m concerned about sit-inside recreational kayaks that do *not* have any perimeter lines. Complicating matters further is the fact that such kayaks often have little in the way of bow flotation so they get quite full of water when capsized – much more than do sea kayaks. There are a large number of those recreational kayaks types on the market. How does one "easily" self-rescue with those kayaks?
There are a couple of videos out there: [One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUHYtQR79Z4&ab_channel=REI) has the kayaker hold the paddle shaft and rear coaming together in one hand (instead of sliding the blade under perimeter lines). [Another](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piv3-_fLXVI&ab_channel=AustinKayak) has the kayaker wedge the paddle blade under the far-side coaming. Are those, or any other techniques, even possible for a beginner? | 2022/08/24 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/28524",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11563/"
] | It’s probably not THE highest, but Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters is a pretty famous one that doesn’t require any particular skill, just basic conditioning.
That said, I am reading 'climbing' as the physical process in your question. You still need to know about altitude acclimitization to go this high. | Candidate: [Cerro Toco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Toco), 18,386 feet (5,604 meters), an easy drive from San Pedro de Atacama, which is a pleasant town in Chile with good places to stay and eat. You can drive to about 17,000 feet. The radiotelescope array at Chajnantor is visible from a lookout point on the road up to the parking spot.
The caveat is: Is this really a mountain? It is the highest peak in its vicinity, it has a name, and cerro means hill or mountain in Spanish, but by Andes standards it is a hill.
Nothing remotely resembling technical climbing is required. A pair of hiking poles is advisable on the snowy part of the descent -- or at least what was a snow slope in 2007.
**Warning:** Acclimitization is a technical climbing skill, as is identifying pulmonary edema or cerebral edema, even if the mountain could be climbed as a mere hike. I made this point in a comment under the Question, and @RockPapertz-Mask it or Casket also did in a comment below. At the very least, spend the night before at San Pedro de Atacama (over 8,000 feet). This problem is less dangerous on Cerro Toco than many other peaks because there is only a 1,500 feet or so very easy climb down, and then a quick descent by car to San Pedro. But you have to know enough to be aware. Read up before hiking up! Better, get some experience hiking at altitudes of, say, 12,000 feet -- easy to do in California or the Rockies. But even if you are fine at 12,000 or 14,000 feet, you may be in trouble a thousand feet higher. |
28,524 | I’m considering purchasing some recreational kayaks and am wondering about the possibilities of teaching beginners how to self-rescue with those boats – specifically, when the boats do not have perimeter lines and do not have much bow buoyancy.
I already have plenty of experience teaching (beginners) self-rescues with sea kayaks, using paddle floats. Some folks do well, others struggle a lot. Once, I accidentally used old sea kayaks that did not have perimeter lines, and things were much more difficult because there was little to hold the paddle-with-float in place during the self-rescue.
I’m aware that with wide SOT (sit on top) kayaks, a “side-scramble” self-rescue should be quite easy – similar to a self-rescue with a SUP (standup paddleboard) – without even using the paddle. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I also believe that teaching self-rescues with sit-inside recreational kayaks that *do* have stern perimeter lines, using paddle floats, should be very similar to doing the same with sea kayaks. Correct me if I’m wrong. (Those kayaks are often called light touring kayaks. Please, do not debate where to distinguish between recreational, light touring and sea kayaks, thank you.)
I’m concerned about sit-inside recreational kayaks that do *not* have any perimeter lines. Complicating matters further is the fact that such kayaks often have little in the way of bow flotation so they get quite full of water when capsized – much more than do sea kayaks. There are a large number of those recreational kayaks types on the market. How does one "easily" self-rescue with those kayaks?
There are a couple of videos out there: [One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUHYtQR79Z4&ab_channel=REI) has the kayaker hold the paddle shaft and rear coaming together in one hand (instead of sliding the blade under perimeter lines). [Another](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piv3-_fLXVI&ab_channel=AustinKayak) has the kayaker wedge the paddle blade under the far-side coaming. Are those, or any other techniques, even possible for a beginner? | 2022/08/24 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/28524",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11563/"
] | Candidate: [Cerro Toco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Toco), 18,386 feet (5,604 meters), an easy drive from San Pedro de Atacama, which is a pleasant town in Chile with good places to stay and eat. You can drive to about 17,000 feet. The radiotelescope array at Chajnantor is visible from a lookout point on the road up to the parking spot.
The caveat is: Is this really a mountain? It is the highest peak in its vicinity, it has a name, and cerro means hill or mountain in Spanish, but by Andes standards it is a hill.
Nothing remotely resembling technical climbing is required. A pair of hiking poles is advisable on the snowy part of the descent -- or at least what was a snow slope in 2007.
**Warning:** Acclimitization is a technical climbing skill, as is identifying pulmonary edema or cerebral edema, even if the mountain could be climbed as a mere hike. I made this point in a comment under the Question, and @RockPapertz-Mask it or Casket also did in a comment below. At the very least, spend the night before at San Pedro de Atacama (over 8,000 feet). This problem is less dangerous on Cerro Toco than many other peaks because there is only a 1,500 feet or so very easy climb down, and then a quick descent by car to San Pedro. But you have to know enough to be aware. Read up before hiking up! Better, get some experience hiking at altitudes of, say, 12,000 feet -- easy to do in California or the Rockies. But even if you are fine at 12,000 or 14,000 feet, you may be in trouble a thousand feet higher. | In Europe, the highest you can get without *any* effort is the "Klein Matterhorn" at 3883m. It has a cable car to the top. And then there are some other very high places you can get even with flip-flops or high-heels if you wish, such as Titlis or most famously the Jungfraujoch.
I need to add that I do not recommend wearing such poor footwear up there. It's still only 5-10 C even in summer and outside of the cable station the path is snow or ice. |
28,524 | I’m considering purchasing some recreational kayaks and am wondering about the possibilities of teaching beginners how to self-rescue with those boats – specifically, when the boats do not have perimeter lines and do not have much bow buoyancy.
I already have plenty of experience teaching (beginners) self-rescues with sea kayaks, using paddle floats. Some folks do well, others struggle a lot. Once, I accidentally used old sea kayaks that did not have perimeter lines, and things were much more difficult because there was little to hold the paddle-with-float in place during the self-rescue.
I’m aware that with wide SOT (sit on top) kayaks, a “side-scramble” self-rescue should be quite easy – similar to a self-rescue with a SUP (standup paddleboard) – without even using the paddle. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I also believe that teaching self-rescues with sit-inside recreational kayaks that *do* have stern perimeter lines, using paddle floats, should be very similar to doing the same with sea kayaks. Correct me if I’m wrong. (Those kayaks are often called light touring kayaks. Please, do not debate where to distinguish between recreational, light touring and sea kayaks, thank you.)
I’m concerned about sit-inside recreational kayaks that do *not* have any perimeter lines. Complicating matters further is the fact that such kayaks often have little in the way of bow flotation so they get quite full of water when capsized – much more than do sea kayaks. There are a large number of those recreational kayaks types on the market. How does one "easily" self-rescue with those kayaks?
There are a couple of videos out there: [One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUHYtQR79Z4&ab_channel=REI) has the kayaker hold the paddle shaft and rear coaming together in one hand (instead of sliding the blade under perimeter lines). [Another](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piv3-_fLXVI&ab_channel=AustinKayak) has the kayaker wedge the paddle blade under the far-side coaming. Are those, or any other techniques, even possible for a beginner? | 2022/08/24 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/28524",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11563/"
] | Candidate: [Cerro Toco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Toco), 18,386 feet (5,604 meters), an easy drive from San Pedro de Atacama, which is a pleasant town in Chile with good places to stay and eat. You can drive to about 17,000 feet. The radiotelescope array at Chajnantor is visible from a lookout point on the road up to the parking spot.
The caveat is: Is this really a mountain? It is the highest peak in its vicinity, it has a name, and cerro means hill or mountain in Spanish, but by Andes standards it is a hill.
Nothing remotely resembling technical climbing is required. A pair of hiking poles is advisable on the snowy part of the descent -- or at least what was a snow slope in 2007.
**Warning:** Acclimitization is a technical climbing skill, as is identifying pulmonary edema or cerebral edema, even if the mountain could be climbed as a mere hike. I made this point in a comment under the Question, and @RockPapertz-Mask it or Casket also did in a comment below. At the very least, spend the night before at San Pedro de Atacama (over 8,000 feet). This problem is less dangerous on Cerro Toco than many other peaks because there is only a 1,500 feet or so very easy climb down, and then a quick descent by car to San Pedro. But you have to know enough to be aware. Read up before hiking up! Better, get some experience hiking at altitudes of, say, 12,000 feet -- easy to do in California or the Rockies. But even if you are fine at 12,000 or 14,000 feet, you may be in trouble a thousand feet higher. | [Mt Kinabalu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kinabalu) (4,095 m) in Malysian Borneo can be "climbed" with no particular climbing experience, although a certain level of fitness is required (and it is compulsory for a guide to accompany each party). Not as high as Mt Kilimanjaro, but less likely for unacclimated climbers to experience altitude sickness. |
39,687,265 | In Angular 2, it says there are two types of components
1) Container Components
2) Presentational Components
I would like to know more about container components. | 2016/09/25 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/39687265",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1664747/"
] | Presentation Components:
They are just dumb components which don't use application logic and are used only for delegation of work like date picker widget..etc
Container Components:
They are actual application logic containing components which passes data to other components and child components, which manipulates data, decides how the application behaves
You can refer to other information [here](http://devcenter.wintellect.com/dbaskin/container-presentation-components-angular2) | Container components, or smart components, are usually the pages you route to.
They contain service methods to load and manipulate data and pass content to the presentational, or dumb, components inside them. |
39,687,265 | In Angular 2, it says there are two types of components
1) Container Components
2) Presentational Components
I would like to know more about container components. | 2016/09/25 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/39687265",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1664747/"
] | Container components, or smart components, are usually the pages you route to.
They contain service methods to load and manipulate data and pass content to the presentational, or dumb, components inside them. | >
> Containers: contains stateful, and often routable, components that pass down data and behaviour-encapsulating callbacks to presentational components (and sometimes other containers).
>
>
>
[Source: Rangle.io Angular 2 Guidelines](https://github.com/rangle/angular2-guidelines) |
39,687,265 | In Angular 2, it says there are two types of components
1) Container Components
2) Presentational Components
I would like to know more about container components. | 2016/09/25 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/39687265",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1664747/"
] | Presentation Components:
They are just dumb components which don't use application logic and are used only for delegation of work like date picker widget..etc
Container Components:
They are actual application logic containing components which passes data to other components and child components, which manipulates data, decides how the application behaves
You can refer to other information [here](http://devcenter.wintellect.com/dbaskin/container-presentation-components-angular2) | >
> Containers: contains stateful, and often routable, components that pass down data and behaviour-encapsulating callbacks to presentational components (and sometimes other containers).
>
>
>
[Source: Rangle.io Angular 2 Guidelines](https://github.com/rangle/angular2-guidelines) |
31,022 | A friend owns a MacBook (13-inch Late 2007), somehow he's managed to screw up all the function keys.
I've managed to reset the ones for dashboard, expose, etc but the play/pause/fast forward/rewind/increase volume/decrease volume don't work.
Any ideas as to what's happened here and how to fix it? | 2009/08/27 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/31022",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/5264/"
] | There's a couple of things:
1. Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Keyboard
2. Untick "Use All F1, F2, etc keys as standard keys"
3. Click "Keyboard Shortcuts"
4. Click "Restore Defaults"
That should fix the problem.
**Edit**:
Some people suggest powering off the MBP, or resetting the SMC completely. Here's a [forum thread](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1775934) which describes a similar situation.
Here's [how to reset the SMC](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411) on most recent Apple Portables.
The SMC is responsible for some system IO functions, such as the trackpad, as well as power management functions. It's entirely possible that your keyboard isn't behaving because of this SMC.
Also, does this behavior occur under a new user account? If it does not, I would be inclined to trash any files from the first user's library related to keyboard - or simply migrate to the new user account, whichever is easier. | You can use the utility [FunctionFlip](http://kevingessner.com/software/functionflip/) to change the keys from Fn keys to special features. Maybe that can help fix the problem. |
31,022 | A friend owns a MacBook (13-inch Late 2007), somehow he's managed to screw up all the function keys.
I've managed to reset the ones for dashboard, expose, etc but the play/pause/fast forward/rewind/increase volume/decrease volume don't work.
Any ideas as to what's happened here and how to fix it? | 2009/08/27 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/31022",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/5264/"
] | Go to System Preferences and click Keyboard. There is an option to switch the behavior.
 | You can use the utility [FunctionFlip](http://kevingessner.com/software/functionflip/) to change the keys from Fn keys to special features. Maybe that can help fix the problem. |
31,022 | A friend owns a MacBook (13-inch Late 2007), somehow he's managed to screw up all the function keys.
I've managed to reset the ones for dashboard, expose, etc but the play/pause/fast forward/rewind/increase volume/decrease volume don't work.
Any ideas as to what's happened here and how to fix it? | 2009/08/27 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/31022",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/5264/"
] | There's a couple of things:
1. Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Keyboard
2. Untick "Use All F1, F2, etc keys as standard keys"
3. Click "Keyboard Shortcuts"
4. Click "Restore Defaults"
That should fix the problem.
**Edit**:
Some people suggest powering off the MBP, or resetting the SMC completely. Here's a [forum thread](http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1775934) which describes a similar situation.
Here's [how to reset the SMC](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411) on most recent Apple Portables.
The SMC is responsible for some system IO functions, such as the trackpad, as well as power management functions. It's entirely possible that your keyboard isn't behaving because of this SMC.
Also, does this behavior occur under a new user account? If it does not, I would be inclined to trash any files from the first user's library related to keyboard - or simply migrate to the new user account, whichever is easier. | Go to System Preferences and click Keyboard. There is an option to switch the behavior.
 |
4,220,757 | Does anybody know if there is a way to generate reports in Access "in memory" where the report doesnt need to be written to the Reports collection? I'm having issues with concurrent users - if the user doesnt have "exclusive access" to the access application the report generation fails, because it requires the previous report to be deleted, which it won't allow. I've looked at the CreateReport method, and I'm not sure if it can accomplish what I'm looking for.
//edited **The templates referenced dont allow any controls(labels, textbotes,etc)**
The help information associated with the method mentions report templates as well, but I'm not sure if those are some other type of object or just a pre-designed report that you can use as a template.
Anyways before I start banging my head up against it trying to make it work I was wondering if anybody had used the CreateReport method before or whether there was some other functionality/design that I'm overlooking. | 2010/11/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/4220757",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/433472/"
] | You need to setup your application like most every other application your organization deploys. That means you place the software application on each computer. So, when you want to use a program like word, you install it on each work station. And, when you want to use a program like Excel, you install it on each work station. That way, if one person in your organize has a program with word, it don't impact everyone in the company and they all go home while the one person's problem is fixed.
The exact same advice applies with Access. You are now using a development tool that builds software, and like any other program; you install this program on EACH work station. Everyone quite much worked this way in our industry for 20+ years. It is possible that you don't understand the difference between a data file (that word, or Excel or your program) can consume, and that of an application with a UI and code that runs. That program part has traditionally been placed on each computer to isolate programs.
Can you imagine one person having a problem with Excel and everyone else has to go home while that is fixed? Do the same with your software, and the fact that you are writing your own in house software as opposed to purchasing is not an excuse to ignore how you have been deploying all of your other software. I explain the simple process of splitting here:
<http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Articles/split/index.htm>
Do the above not only improves reliability, but it also means you can develop on a copy of the next great release of your application while users are working and using the current version. Splitting takes less time then it takes to write this post, and is really much a requirement the instant you deploy code to more then one user. | Most Access apps use two access files: a program one and a db one. The db one contains the data, and each user has a copy of the program one with the tables attached. Reports can then be created in the program's mdb/mde without affecting other users.
If you're using a single file model, then as a workaround, what about generating new reports each time using the user's ID (eg 1234\_MonthlyReport) and cleaning them up on exit? |
4,220,757 | Does anybody know if there is a way to generate reports in Access "in memory" where the report doesnt need to be written to the Reports collection? I'm having issues with concurrent users - if the user doesnt have "exclusive access" to the access application the report generation fails, because it requires the previous report to be deleted, which it won't allow. I've looked at the CreateReport method, and I'm not sure if it can accomplish what I'm looking for.
//edited **The templates referenced dont allow any controls(labels, textbotes,etc)**
The help information associated with the method mentions report templates as well, but I'm not sure if those are some other type of object or just a pre-designed report that you can use as a template.
Anyways before I start banging my head up against it trying to make it work I was wondering if anybody had used the CreateReport method before or whether there was some other functionality/design that I'm overlooking. | 2010/11/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/4220757",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/433472/"
] | You need to setup your application like most every other application your organization deploys. That means you place the software application on each computer. So, when you want to use a program like word, you install it on each work station. And, when you want to use a program like Excel, you install it on each work station. That way, if one person in your organize has a program with word, it don't impact everyone in the company and they all go home while the one person's problem is fixed.
The exact same advice applies with Access. You are now using a development tool that builds software, and like any other program; you install this program on EACH work station. Everyone quite much worked this way in our industry for 20+ years. It is possible that you don't understand the difference between a data file (that word, or Excel or your program) can consume, and that of an application with a UI and code that runs. That program part has traditionally been placed on each computer to isolate programs.
Can you imagine one person having a problem with Excel and everyone else has to go home while that is fixed? Do the same with your software, and the fact that you are writing your own in house software as opposed to purchasing is not an excuse to ignore how you have been deploying all of your other software. I explain the simple process of splitting here:
<http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Articles/split/index.htm>
Do the above not only improves reliability, but it also means you can develop on a copy of the next great release of your application while users are working and using the current version. Splitting takes less time then it takes to write this post, and is really much a requirement the instant you deploy code to more then one user. | There is no possible safe or reliable or smooth way of ever sharing a monolithic Access file with both data tables and UI objects (forms/reports/etc.) in it.
So, first off, the app MUST BE SPLIT.
You can't get around this. You won't be able to ever enhance their app unless you do all your work at midnight when nobody is in the file working.
Secondly, once it's split, every user should get an individual copy of the front end, since sharing a front end is not just a blocking condition for making alterations to it, but also very easily leads to corruption of the front end (which means nobody can work).
It is your job as outside consultant to fix their problems. You have to educate them on what they are doing wrong. You claim it's been working for them, but it's obviously *not* working, or you'd be able to create the new reports for them. Since you can't IT'S NOT WORKING.
The other thing they need to be told:
Whoever implemented it the way it is now WAS DOING IT WRONG.
I've been developing in Access since 1996, and I've never even onced distributed a production app in anything but a split architecture with a front end on each workstation. That was the right way to do it in 1996 (with Access 2) and it's even more the right way to do it post-Access 2000 (when the monolithic Access project was introduced that prohibited edits to front end objects except when the designer had exclusive access).
So, they have to change or you'll not be able to do your work.
You can also point out that they were in a very dangerous and precarious situation where any number of things could have easily gone wrong and corrupted the front end at any time and forced everyone out of the application.
If they don't want to hear it, then say "thank you very much -- good luck finding someone else to do the job" and run as fast as you can out the door. If you don't, and you acquiesce to their unreasonable requirements, you'll get the blame if it doesn't work the way they think it should.
Do you really want things to go that bad? I guarantee they will if you don't switch them over to the proper architecture right now. |
62,624 | [Matt 7:13-14 (ESV)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+7%3A13-14&version=esv) says:
>
> 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find **it** are few.
>
>
>
[Matt 7:13-14 (NLT)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+7%3A13-14&version=NLT) says:
>
> 13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find **it**.
>
>
>
My question is very specific and very narrow (*no pun intended*): **what does "it" in "those who find it are few" refer to**. Does "it" refer to:
* The gate,
* God's Kingdom,
* way, or
* life?
Insights from the original Greek grammatical analysis is very welcome.
Related questions to sharpen the choice:
1. If it is the "**gate**", does it refer to the *beginning* of the salvation journey (during our lifetime) or the *end* (judgment day)?
2. Is it right to interpret the **"the way is hard"** as our sanctification *journey*, which implies that "hard" refers to the great risk of failing (apostatizing or giving up)? If that is so, is it right to interpret "scarcely saved" in [1 Pet 4:18](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%204%3A18&version=ESV) as that great risk of denouncing one's faith because of the incurred suffering in carrying Jesus's cross?
3. Which is the meaning of "**narrow**"?
| Meaning | Analogy Example | Faith Reference Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| difficulty of *finding* the START of the journey | looking for a needle | having the true gospel preached to you is rare (ex. someone in communist China) |
| difficulty in *making the decision* to start the journey | laziness / procrastinate | already understand the gospel, but like St. Augustine says "Lord, make me chaste—but not yet." |
| perceived/actual difficulty of the *journey* | treacherous and winding road | carrying the cross incurs being persecuted by your family/friends, making it easy to give up |
| difficulty of *staying* in the journey | a lot of easy "exit ramps" to cross over to the wide road | many temptation from the world making it very easy to fall away from faith / backslide |
| *ambiguity* of the choice/way | hard to make the right choice or easy to get lost in the way | true Christianity is hard to discern, great risk of false teacher leading one to the wrong gospel or wrong religion |
| *eligibility* of entering the *journey* | entering Harvard | need to renounce the many illicit pleasures of the world to genuinely declare faith in Jesus |
| *eligibility* of entering *heaven* | graduating Harvard | self deception / cultural Christian getting "reality check", cf. [Matt 7:21-23](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207%3A21-23&version=ESV) |
| *specificity* of the choice | only 1 out of 100 keys you *already* have in your hand can open the door | only Christianity can save you, cf. [John 14:6](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+14%3A6&version=ESV) | | 2021/06/21 | [
"https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/62624",
"https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com",
"https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/users/3849/"
] | In Matt 7:14, grammatically, there are (unfortunately) three choices for the antecedent of the final pronoun as provided by the gender of the four nouns:
>
> For small is the **gate** [Fem] and narrow the **way** [Fem] leading to **life**
> [Fem], and few are those finding **her** [it].
>
>
>
The pronoun "it" in most versions is actually feminine and so could refer to any of the preceding three feminine nouns, "life", "way", or "gate". The simplest (grammatically, but always the surest) is to assume the closest noun, which is in this case, "life"; but this is less likely as it is in the accusative and the others are nominative.
However, we are actually given a strong clue in the previous verse where two different roads and gates are contrasted:
* V13 - enter via the wide gate for the wide path - many find the wide gate
* V14 - enter via the narrow gate for the narrow path - few find it [the narrow gate].
This, the correct antecedent of "it' (actually "her") is "gate". However, we have more information about this in other places. Note the following:
* John 10:6, 7 - Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them. So He said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, **I am the gate** for the sheep.
* John 14:6 - Jesus answered, “**I am the way** and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Thus, both Matt 7 and John 10:7 & 14:6 use a very similar metaphors for Jesus - the gate and the way. Only a minority find and accept Jesus as the gate (John 10:7) and the way (John 14:6) to eternal life.
**FURTHER** - in 1 John 5:11, 12, John 14:6, 1:4, Jesus is also the "life". Thus, we find that:
* Jesus is the gate
* Jesus is the way
* Jesus is the (source of) life
Hence we could say that all three nouns preceding "it" in Matt 7:14 are regular metaphors of Jesus, but only a minority ("few") find Jesus and thus, eternal life.
**Narrow Path**
The meaning of "narrow path" is actually given in the sentence in which it occurs - "narrow is the path and few find it". That is, a narrow path is much more difficult to find than a wide/broad path/road (as any bush walker will testify!)
The difficulty is finding the path probably corresponds to several things that are known characteristics of the Christian "way" -
* the unpopularity of the path due to its inherent "troubles", 1 Cor 7:28, John 16:33
* the effort involved in entering the narrow gate as per Luke 13:24.
* the self-discipline and self control required as per 1 Cor 9:25, 2 Peter 1:6, etc.
Note the comments of the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
>
> **few there be that find it**—The recommendation of the broad way is the ease with which it is trodden and the abundance of company to be
> found in it. It is sailing with a fair wind and a favorable tide. The
> natural inclinations are not crossed, and fears of the issue, if not
> easily hushed, are in the long run effectually subdued. The one
> disadvantage of this course is its end—it "leadeth to destruction."
> The great Teacher says it, and says it as "One having authority." To
> the supposed injustice or harshness of this He never once adverts. He
> leaves it to be inferred that such a course righteously, naturally,
> necessarily so ends. But whether men see this or no, here He lays down
> the law of the kingdom, and leaves it with us. As to the other way,
> the disadvantage of it lies in its narrowness and solicitude. Its very
> first step involves a revolution in all our purposes and plans for
> life, and a surrender of all that is dear to natural inclination,
> while all that follows is but a repetition of the first great act of
> self-sacrifice. No wonder, then, that few find and few are found in
> it.
>
>
> | **What is the “it” in “those who find it are few” in Matt 7:14**?
1/ "It" refers to the Kingdom of God: Acts 14:22 reads:
>
> Acts 14:22 NET 22 They strengthened the souls of the disciples and
> encouraged them to continue[b] in the faith, saying, **“We must enter
> the kingdom of God** through many persecutions.”
>
>
>
2/ The "gate", refer to the beginning of the salvation journey (during our lifetime)
**The way is "hard"**
Why is it that “few are the ones finding” the narrow gate to life? Three reasons explain: (1) It takes diligent effort to find it; (2) Christendom, despite its many religions, has not entered the narrow gate, and (3) the narrow gate leads to the the "Kingdom of God."
The cramped road, or the right way to worship God, leads to everlasting life. The spacious road, or the wrong way to worship God, leads to death. If your traveling in a foreign country you will need the assistance of a road map to reach your destination, the starting point is your "gate." Christians have the Bible as their guide. God has given us the Bible so that we can learn the right way to worship him. To study the Bible, and He will help you to benefit from his teachings because he deeply cares for you. Isaiah 48:17.
DILIGENT EFFORT
But why should it require diligent effort to go in through the narrow gate? Because everyone is born on the spacious “road leading off into destruction.” We are naturally travelers on the broad highway leading off into destruction, as Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ explained in writing to the Ephesian Christians:
Ephesians 2:1-NASB
Made Alive in Christ
>
> 2 And you were dead [c]in your offenses and sins, 2 in which you
> previously walked according to the [d]course of this world, according
> to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now
> working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all
> previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, [g]indulging the desires
> of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
> just as the rest.
>
>
>
Jesus warned us that when we want to do the will of God, we will face challenges. He said: “(Read Mt 7:13-14)“Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one DOING THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not . . . perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.”—Matthew 7:21-23.
No wonder it is a narrow gate! The unholy practices belonging to this world are not allowed on the road to life, practices such as:
Galatians 5:19-21 NASB
>
> 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual
> immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, 20 idolatry, witchcraft,
> hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition,
> dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things
> like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you,
> that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of
> God.
>
>
>
1 Peter 1:14-16 NASB
>
> 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which
> were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you,
> [d]be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is
> written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
>
>
> |
30,943,405 | As I was working on a login/register view for my app I came across this predicament. Login and register are two different functions; therefore they should be in two different view controllers. However, the way I designed the view makes it overly complicated to have two views because the animations for the transition between the two functions are themselves complicated. How can I build this part of the app while adhering to the MVC guidelines? | 2015/06/19 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/30943405",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2510041/"
] | Apple defines a view controller as one "screenful" of information. If you think that login and signup can co-exist as the same "screenful" of information, I don't think it's worth trying to separate them. More importantly, you can separate all of the other logic to clean up this class. The networking code should be in some kind of request client, setting username/password should be in an account manager, etc. | You can easily achieve this and even go further, add some cool transition animation between the two VC by using Container View. You can easily swap two different VC in this container. I usually do that to replace UISplitView for iPad due to its problems when implementing in i.e. UITabBarController. All in all, using container view is a good way to tidy the code between two different VCs when the app requires replacing these, quite often and avoiding the solution of a s.c. Massive-View-Controller :)
You can start with this tutorial, it includes a github repository and describes all practices with Container View.
[link for tutorial](http://www.thinkandbuild.it/working-with-custom-container-view-controllers/ "Link to tutorial") |
30,115 | I took quantum mechanics from our school's electrical engineering department. It was a grad level class designed for students working in device physics, thus it covered a lot of materials: from the basics (Schrodinger's equation, tunneling, the harmonic oscillator), to statistical physics (variational methods, Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein, and Boltzmann distribution functions), as well as some solid state physics basics (simple models for metals, semiconductors).
I then went on to take solid state physics, which used Ashcroft&Mermin, and Lundstrom.
Now I no longer plan to work in device physics for my phD, but I still want to have a good understanding of QM and Solid state physics.
I was working through the Griffith text, hoping to graduate toward the Shankar text when I came across Dirac's book. It seemed really elegant and focuses on intuition first. I was wondering if anyone would recommend going through Dirac's text before going to Griffith's? It makes more sense to me but most curriculums never even touches Dirac's book.
Thanks,
Al | 2012/06/15 | [
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/30115",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com",
"https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/7385/"
] | Read Dirac's book. It is a complete introduction to quantum mechanics, done very elegantly and very physically, with the type of insight that only a founder can give. There is no substitute. Dirac was never used as a textbook, because it is too good, people don't assign good books in elementary classes.
The only things that you need to read in other places are the path integral, which is covered well in Yourgrau and Mandelstam and Polchinsky's string theory books, and ironically the Dirac equation, which you need to work out for yourself, because I don't know a great source. | Dirac is definitely worth reading, but you don't necessarily need to read it before you work through either/both of the others. You may even find it useful to read it (again) after working through the others. I would actually say that the three texts are linearly independent; they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Dirac's explanation of the formalism is fantastic, and his solutions of the simple problems actually makes them comprehensible. The class I used it for stooped using it after the chapter on perturbation theory, so I don't know how good the later chapters are. Griffiths is typically used for physics undergrads who have some physics, but haven't necessarily gotten to all the math that they'll need. It's probably the best of the three for that. As mentioned already, Shankar is typically used for grad classes, but my undergrad class used it. You don't necessarily need to do Griffiths before you do Shankar. Shankar spends a lot of time going through the mathematical formalism, so if you're uncomfortable with any of that, you'll either get comfortable with it or decide to drop back to Griffiths. A really good check is to try to work your way through the problems in Chapter 1.
One big downside to Dirac is that it doesn't contain any problems. So if you want problems to work, you'll have to either pull them out of the other two, or find some on the internet. Dirac's book does discuss the Dirac equation (though see @Ron Maimon's comment below). He does not discuss Feynman path integrals. Griffiths discusses neither of those two. Shankar discusses both. I also just noticed that Griffiths has a section on solids, which includes Bloch's theorem and band structure. So you might find that a useful connection to the solid state stuff. I remember I was not comfortable with that my first time through solid state after Shankar; it wasn't until I had the same instructor explain perturbation theory and band structure to me that I got it. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | My suggestion would be almost the polar opposite of [Stephan's](https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9396); I think you ought to try switching back to Nicene/Cherry's viewpoint, at least temporarily, very soon after she's found by Shadow. While in her viewpoint, make sure to have Shadow address her as "Cherry", while consistently using her real name in narrative and any internal thoughts. Done right, this should make it clear to the reader that these two names refer to the same person.
In particular, one option would be to **retell the initial encounter from both characters' viewpoints.** That way, you can first describe from Shadow's viewpoint how he finds the strange unconscious woman, and have her introduce herself as Cherry, and then (immediately, or at least fairly soon) switch back to her viewpoint and show how *she* feels about waking up and being confronted by a strange man, and then directly show what she's thinking as she decides to give a false name for herself. You can then continue the story for a while from her viewpoint, and then, if you want, switch back to his when a convenient opportunity presents itself.
Of course, giving some clues (like, say, a distinctive physical appearance, as suggested in some of the other answers) about Nicene/Cherry's identity even before you switch to her viewpoint could help further reduce the interval during which the reader might be unsure of who she it. Still, even if you deliberately go out of your way *not* to provide any such clues, it could still work as long as you do the viewpoint switch soon enough. In fact, one possible opportunity for the switch might be *immediately* after she introduces herself as Cherry:
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
> The woman took a while to reply, her eyes flicking between his face and the room, as if she was trying to make a decision. "Cherry. My name's Cherry," she said.
>
>
> #
>
>
> The first thing Nicene became aware of was the pain in her head. The pain, and the strange fleeting lights and shapes that slowly gave way to an unfamiliar room as she opened her eyes. In the doorway, watching her, stood a man she didn't recognize. She wasn't sure how long he'd been there, but he seemed content to just stand there and wait as she gathered her senses.
>
>
> "Who are you?" she asked the man. It didn't seem like the most original thing to ask, but then, she wasn't feeling very original right then. "What is this place?" she continued.
>
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
>
(Apologies for stealing your character names for the example above. Any resemblance of the example, or of the characters in it, to your actual story should be considered entirely coincidental.) | Make the situation, in which Shadow discovers Cherry, unmistakeably the same as the one in which Nicene was left at the end of part one. E.g.:
>
> **Part 1**
>
>
> ...
> Nicene is clubbed on the head in a dark alley behind the king's palace and falls unconscious between the green dust bins of the king.
>
>
> **Part 2**
>
>
> ...
>
>
> **Part 3**
>
>
> Shadow discovered the woman in a dark alley behind the king's palace, where she was lying onconscious between the green dust bins of the king, a bloody wound showing where she had been clubbed on her head. When he asked her who she was, the woman hesitated briefly, as if trying to judge if she could trust him, and then told him: "My name is Cherry." He didn't know if that was her real name, but he didn't care.
>
>
>
I'm overdoing it in this example, using the exact same words and having Shadow wonder about her name (suggesting to the reader to think about the name, too). In a less blatant way, this is what I have seen other authors do quite often. It is the typical technique to pick up the action from a previous chapter in a novel with multiple viewpoints. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | My suggestion would be almost the polar opposite of [Stephan's](https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9396); I think you ought to try switching back to Nicene/Cherry's viewpoint, at least temporarily, very soon after she's found by Shadow. While in her viewpoint, make sure to have Shadow address her as "Cherry", while consistently using her real name in narrative and any internal thoughts. Done right, this should make it clear to the reader that these two names refer to the same person.
In particular, one option would be to **retell the initial encounter from both characters' viewpoints.** That way, you can first describe from Shadow's viewpoint how he finds the strange unconscious woman, and have her introduce herself as Cherry, and then (immediately, or at least fairly soon) switch back to her viewpoint and show how *she* feels about waking up and being confronted by a strange man, and then directly show what she's thinking as she decides to give a false name for herself. You can then continue the story for a while from her viewpoint, and then, if you want, switch back to his when a convenient opportunity presents itself.
Of course, giving some clues (like, say, a distinctive physical appearance, as suggested in some of the other answers) about Nicene/Cherry's identity even before you switch to her viewpoint could help further reduce the interval during which the reader might be unsure of who she it. Still, even if you deliberately go out of your way *not* to provide any such clues, it could still work as long as you do the viewpoint switch soon enough. In fact, one possible opportunity for the switch might be *immediately* after she introduces herself as Cherry:
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
> The woman took a while to reply, her eyes flicking between his face and the room, as if she was trying to make a decision. "Cherry. My name's Cherry," she said.
>
>
> #
>
>
> The first thing Nicene became aware of was the pain in her head. The pain, and the strange fleeting lights and shapes that slowly gave way to an unfamiliar room as she opened her eyes. In the doorway, watching her, stood a man she didn't recognize. She wasn't sure how long he'd been there, but he seemed content to just stand there and wait as she gathered her senses.
>
>
> "Who are you?" she asked the man. It didn't seem like the most original thing to ask, but then, she wasn't feeling very original right then. "What is this place?" she continued.
>
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
>
(Apologies for stealing your character names for the example above. Any resemblance of the example, or of the characters in it, to your actual story should be considered entirely coincidental.) | There are many stories where characters take on false names. In the dialogue, this person goes by the fake name. In the narrative (the part of the text not directly quoted from the speech of the characters) the person goes by the true name. No confusion for the reader about who this person is, because the true name always stays the same.
>
> "Hello, my name is Sandy," Paula said.
>
>
>
Why can you not do this? |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | A few possibilities:
* Tag Nicene with an utterly distinctive physical feature. When Shadow observes that physical feature, readers will know that it is Nicene.
* Give Nicene some tag phrase, and have Cherry use the phrase.
* Write an earlier scene in Nicene's POV, where she introduces herself to someone as Cherry.
* In the scenes from Shadow's POV, introduce a character who knows Cherry as Nicene. Or maybe who vaguely remembers meeting her before, and can't remember her name, but knows it is not Cherry.
* Make it clear that Cherry knows that her name is not really Cherry. That may be enough of a hint to carry the reader across the transition. | What you need is **a tell.**
Give Nicene some clear, identifying characteristic. She has purple hair; she doesn't let anybody touch her; she refers to any sort of weapon as a "thingamabob"; whatever. Then, whenever it is you want the reader to understand who she is, you just let her "tell" show:
>
> "I'm Cherry," the woman said. She wasn't looking him in the eyes; instead, she was examining his sword cautiously. "Say," she said, "nice thingamabob you've got there."
>
>
>
It's particularly effective if you also provide some standard clue that she's not using her real name. What you're doing here is relying on narrative convention - sure, Cherry *could* be some complete stranger who happens to have the same mannerism, but the reader understands that this is your way of identifying her for who she really is.
Whatever hinting you can give as to Cherry being a false identity will be helpful - the moment the reader *recognizes* your character, they'll be wondering why she's in hiding, so you should either answer that question, or else simply acknowledge it every now and again, until it's time to give the answer. That way the reader knows that you, the author, haven't simply forgotten about a huge plot hole, and the they, the reader, haven't missed the crucial dozen pages explaining everything that's going on. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | What you need is **a tell.**
Give Nicene some clear, identifying characteristic. She has purple hair; she doesn't let anybody touch her; she refers to any sort of weapon as a "thingamabob"; whatever. Then, whenever it is you want the reader to understand who she is, you just let her "tell" show:
>
> "I'm Cherry," the woman said. She wasn't looking him in the eyes; instead, she was examining his sword cautiously. "Say," she said, "nice thingamabob you've got there."
>
>
>
It's particularly effective if you also provide some standard clue that she's not using her real name. What you're doing here is relying on narrative convention - sure, Cherry *could* be some complete stranger who happens to have the same mannerism, but the reader understands that this is your way of identifying her for who she really is.
Whatever hinting you can give as to Cherry being a false identity will be helpful - the moment the reader *recognizes* your character, they'll be wondering why she's in hiding, so you should either answer that question, or else simply acknowledge it every now and again, until it's time to give the answer. That way the reader knows that you, the author, haven't simply forgotten about a huge plot hole, and the they, the reader, haven't missed the crucial dozen pages explaining everything that's going on. | My first instinct would be to abstain from writing from Cherry's perspective until her identity is revealed, thereby making her more of a mystery character. Since Nicene is the protagonist, however, that probably won't work, unless you have a second protagonist to focus on during that time.
I recommend using the name Cherry when writing from her perspective, but as Dale Emery suggests in his answer, use her thoughts to reveal to the reader that this is not her real name. You could write things like, "Cherry, as Shadow calls her, ..." or "The woman known to Shadow as Cherry ..."
Incidentally, there is a very good example of such a character in [Abaddon's Gate](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316129070) by James SA Corey. When writing from this character's perspective, the authors have her refer to herself by her fake name, while making it clear to the reader that this name is indeed fake without revealing her true identity. I think this technique can work regardless of the character's own level of investment in the name. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | A few possibilities:
* Tag Nicene with an utterly distinctive physical feature. When Shadow observes that physical feature, readers will know that it is Nicene.
* Give Nicene some tag phrase, and have Cherry use the phrase.
* Write an earlier scene in Nicene's POV, where she introduces herself to someone as Cherry.
* In the scenes from Shadow's POV, introduce a character who knows Cherry as Nicene. Or maybe who vaguely remembers meeting her before, and can't remember her name, but knows it is not Cherry.
* Make it clear that Cherry knows that her name is not really Cherry. That may be enough of a hint to carry the reader across the transition. | Make the situation, in which Shadow discovers Cherry, unmistakeably the same as the one in which Nicene was left at the end of part one. E.g.:
>
> **Part 1**
>
>
> ...
> Nicene is clubbed on the head in a dark alley behind the king's palace and falls unconscious between the green dust bins of the king.
>
>
> **Part 2**
>
>
> ...
>
>
> **Part 3**
>
>
> Shadow discovered the woman in a dark alley behind the king's palace, where she was lying onconscious between the green dust bins of the king, a bloody wound showing where she had been clubbed on her head. When he asked her who she was, the woman hesitated briefly, as if trying to judge if she could trust him, and then told him: "My name is Cherry." He didn't know if that was her real name, but he didn't care.
>
>
>
I'm overdoing it in this example, using the exact same words and having Shadow wonder about her name (suggesting to the reader to think about the name, too). In a less blatant way, this is what I have seen other authors do quite often. It is the typical technique to pick up the action from a previous chapter in a novel with multiple viewpoints. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | Make the situation, in which Shadow discovers Cherry, unmistakeably the same as the one in which Nicene was left at the end of part one. E.g.:
>
> **Part 1**
>
>
> ...
> Nicene is clubbed on the head in a dark alley behind the king's palace and falls unconscious between the green dust bins of the king.
>
>
> **Part 2**
>
>
> ...
>
>
> **Part 3**
>
>
> Shadow discovered the woman in a dark alley behind the king's palace, where she was lying onconscious between the green dust bins of the king, a bloody wound showing where she had been clubbed on her head. When he asked her who she was, the woman hesitated briefly, as if trying to judge if she could trust him, and then told him: "My name is Cherry." He didn't know if that was her real name, but he didn't care.
>
>
>
I'm overdoing it in this example, using the exact same words and having Shadow wonder about her name (suggesting to the reader to think about the name, too). In a less blatant way, this is what I have seen other authors do quite often. It is the typical technique to pick up the action from a previous chapter in a novel with multiple viewpoints. | My first instinct would be to abstain from writing from Cherry's perspective until her identity is revealed, thereby making her more of a mystery character. Since Nicene is the protagonist, however, that probably won't work, unless you have a second protagonist to focus on during that time.
I recommend using the name Cherry when writing from her perspective, but as Dale Emery suggests in his answer, use her thoughts to reveal to the reader that this is not her real name. You could write things like, "Cherry, as Shadow calls her, ..." or "The woman known to Shadow as Cherry ..."
Incidentally, there is a very good example of such a character in [Abaddon's Gate](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316129070) by James SA Corey. When writing from this character's perspective, the authors have her refer to herself by her fake name, while making it clear to the reader that this name is indeed fake without revealing her true identity. I think this technique can work regardless of the character's own level of investment in the name. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | There are many stories where characters take on false names. In the dialogue, this person goes by the fake name. In the narrative (the part of the text not directly quoted from the speech of the characters) the person goes by the true name. No confusion for the reader about who this person is, because the true name always stays the same.
>
> "Hello, my name is Sandy," Paula said.
>
>
>
Why can you not do this? | My first instinct would be to abstain from writing from Cherry's perspective until her identity is revealed, thereby making her more of a mystery character. Since Nicene is the protagonist, however, that probably won't work, unless you have a second protagonist to focus on during that time.
I recommend using the name Cherry when writing from her perspective, but as Dale Emery suggests in his answer, use her thoughts to reveal to the reader that this is not her real name. You could write things like, "Cherry, as Shadow calls her, ..." or "The woman known to Shadow as Cherry ..."
Incidentally, there is a very good example of such a character in [Abaddon's Gate](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0316129070) by James SA Corey. When writing from this character's perspective, the authors have her refer to herself by her fake name, while making it clear to the reader that this name is indeed fake without revealing her true identity. I think this technique can work regardless of the character's own level of investment in the name. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | My suggestion would be almost the polar opposite of [Stephan's](https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9396); I think you ought to try switching back to Nicene/Cherry's viewpoint, at least temporarily, very soon after she's found by Shadow. While in her viewpoint, make sure to have Shadow address her as "Cherry", while consistently using her real name in narrative and any internal thoughts. Done right, this should make it clear to the reader that these two names refer to the same person.
In particular, one option would be to **retell the initial encounter from both characters' viewpoints.** That way, you can first describe from Shadow's viewpoint how he finds the strange unconscious woman, and have her introduce herself as Cherry, and then (immediately, or at least fairly soon) switch back to her viewpoint and show how *she* feels about waking up and being confronted by a strange man, and then directly show what she's thinking as she decides to give a false name for herself. You can then continue the story for a while from her viewpoint, and then, if you want, switch back to his when a convenient opportunity presents itself.
Of course, giving some clues (like, say, a distinctive physical appearance, as suggested in some of the other answers) about Nicene/Cherry's identity even before you switch to her viewpoint could help further reduce the interval during which the reader might be unsure of who she it. Still, even if you deliberately go out of your way *not* to provide any such clues, it could still work as long as you do the viewpoint switch soon enough. In fact, one possible opportunity for the switch might be *immediately* after she introduces herself as Cherry:
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
> The woman took a while to reply, her eyes flicking between his face and the room, as if she was trying to make a decision. "Cherry. My name's Cherry," she said.
>
>
> #
>
>
> The first thing Nicene became aware of was the pain in her head. The pain, and the strange fleeting lights and shapes that slowly gave way to an unfamiliar room as she opened her eyes. In the doorway, watching her, stood a man she didn't recognize. She wasn't sure how long he'd been there, but he seemed content to just stand there and wait as she gathered her senses.
>
>
> "Who are you?" she asked the man. It didn't seem like the most original thing to ask, but then, she wasn't feeling very original right then. "What is this place?" she continued.
>
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
>
(Apologies for stealing your character names for the example above. Any resemblance of the example, or of the characters in it, to your actual story should be considered entirely coincidental.) | What you need is **a tell.**
Give Nicene some clear, identifying characteristic. She has purple hair; she doesn't let anybody touch her; she refers to any sort of weapon as a "thingamabob"; whatever. Then, whenever it is you want the reader to understand who she is, you just let her "tell" show:
>
> "I'm Cherry," the woman said. She wasn't looking him in the eyes; instead, she was examining his sword cautiously. "Say," she said, "nice thingamabob you've got there."
>
>
>
It's particularly effective if you also provide some standard clue that she's not using her real name. What you're doing here is relying on narrative convention - sure, Cherry *could* be some complete stranger who happens to have the same mannerism, but the reader understands that this is your way of identifying her for who she really is.
Whatever hinting you can give as to Cherry being a false identity will be helpful - the moment the reader *recognizes* your character, they'll be wondering why she's in hiding, so you should either answer that question, or else simply acknowledge it every now and again, until it's time to give the answer. That way the reader knows that you, the author, haven't simply forgotten about a huge plot hole, and the they, the reader, haven't missed the crucial dozen pages explaining everything that's going on. |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | A few possibilities:
* Tag Nicene with an utterly distinctive physical feature. When Shadow observes that physical feature, readers will know that it is Nicene.
* Give Nicene some tag phrase, and have Cherry use the phrase.
* Write an earlier scene in Nicene's POV, where she introduces herself to someone as Cherry.
* In the scenes from Shadow's POV, introduce a character who knows Cherry as Nicene. Or maybe who vaguely remembers meeting her before, and can't remember her name, but knows it is not Cherry.
* Make it clear that Cherry knows that her name is not really Cherry. That may be enough of a hint to carry the reader across the transition. | My suggestion would be almost the polar opposite of [Stephan's](https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9396); I think you ought to try switching back to Nicene/Cherry's viewpoint, at least temporarily, very soon after she's found by Shadow. While in her viewpoint, make sure to have Shadow address her as "Cherry", while consistently using her real name in narrative and any internal thoughts. Done right, this should make it clear to the reader that these two names refer to the same person.
In particular, one option would be to **retell the initial encounter from both characters' viewpoints.** That way, you can first describe from Shadow's viewpoint how he finds the strange unconscious woman, and have her introduce herself as Cherry, and then (immediately, or at least fairly soon) switch back to her viewpoint and show how *she* feels about waking up and being confronted by a strange man, and then directly show what she's thinking as she decides to give a false name for herself. You can then continue the story for a while from her viewpoint, and then, if you want, switch back to his when a convenient opportunity presents itself.
Of course, giving some clues (like, say, a distinctive physical appearance, as suggested in some of the other answers) about Nicene/Cherry's identity even before you switch to her viewpoint could help further reduce the interval during which the reader might be unsure of who she it. Still, even if you deliberately go out of your way *not* to provide any such clues, it could still work as long as you do the viewpoint switch soon enough. In fact, one possible opportunity for the switch might be *immediately* after she introduces herself as Cherry:
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
> The woman took a while to reply, her eyes flicking between his face and the room, as if she was trying to make a decision. "Cherry. My name's Cherry," she said.
>
>
> #
>
>
> The first thing Nicene became aware of was the pain in her head. The pain, and the strange fleeting lights and shapes that slowly gave way to an unfamiliar room as she opened her eyes. In the doorway, watching her, stood a man she didn't recognize. She wasn't sure how long he'd been there, but he seemed content to just stand there and wait as she gathered her senses.
>
>
> "Who are you?" she asked the man. It didn't seem like the most original thing to ask, but then, she wasn't feeling very original right then. "What is this place?" she continued.
>
>
> "You can call me Shadow," he said. "It's as good a name as any. And what's your name, sweetheart?"
>
>
>
(Apologies for stealing your character names for the example above. Any resemblance of the example, or of the characters in it, to your actual story should be considered entirely coincidental.) |
9,392 | I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.
In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.
I don't really want it to be a surprise *to the reader* when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.
I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.
Is there a good way of handling this? | 2013/11/13 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2074/"
] | A few possibilities:
* Tag Nicene with an utterly distinctive physical feature. When Shadow observes that physical feature, readers will know that it is Nicene.
* Give Nicene some tag phrase, and have Cherry use the phrase.
* Write an earlier scene in Nicene's POV, where she introduces herself to someone as Cherry.
* In the scenes from Shadow's POV, introduce a character who knows Cherry as Nicene. Or maybe who vaguely remembers meeting her before, and can't remember her name, but knows it is not Cherry.
* Make it clear that Cherry knows that her name is not really Cherry. That may be enough of a hint to carry the reader across the transition. | There are many stories where characters take on false names. In the dialogue, this person goes by the fake name. In the narrative (the part of the text not directly quoted from the speech of the characters) the person goes by the true name. No confusion for the reader about who this person is, because the true name always stays the same.
>
> "Hello, my name is Sandy," Paula said.
>
>
>
Why can you not do this? |
232,314 | I am early in this design but am imagining a fictional world in the age of exploration including classic fantasy tropes of monsters and magic, with renaissance era technology, that is cannons, muskets, clockwork and wacky renaissance war machines perhaps entwined with magic albeit to limited effect or making use of fantastical beasts. I would like the world to stay in this state of technology for as long as possible.
So I indeed ask, What would stop advancements in technology beyond this state? Specifically weaponry? | 2022/07/04 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/232314",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/96010/"
] | * **Magic sinks the scientific method.**
At some point, [natural philosophers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy#Natural_philosophy_in_the_early_modern_period) would have stopped *guessing* about [phlogiston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory) or [humors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism) and started doing real science, using the [scientific method](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method). They think about things they see, they develop a coherent theory, they think of *experiments to falsify the theory* and *observations that would be predicted by the theory,* they observe and experiment, and they think and talk some more.
Except that the world is just slightly magic. Observers influence the outcome of the experiment on a macro scale, not just on the quantum scale. The boiling point of water suddenly depends on how many people are watching, and if they want it to boil or not. At least a little. Black powder is more effective if it is mixed by people who *believe* in it.
That sabotages the progress of science.
* **Dragons really like to nest on steam engines and blast furnaces.**
They also enjoy village smithies and charcoal kilns, but not so much that a determined blacksmith cannot discourage them. But a steam engine, that's where monsters from the entire region will congregate. Better stay with water power and mostly wooden construction unless you have an army to protect your steam engine. Which means it doesn't pay to industrialize. | Magic has to be superior to technology.
---------------------------------------
The development of weaponry didn't happen in a vacuum, it was in response to battlefield conditions. People stuck with firearms and continued to improve them because they were effective against the defenses they encountered. So if you don't want certain types of weapons to advance, make them ineffective. The obvious solution is to have magic render bullets as harmless with trivial protective wardings, or something along those lines. Something where the magical protection is far easier than the mundane weapon it defeats.
This creates a new problem: why are people using ineffective weapons at all? At what point did magical protections become common in warfare? That's the point where you'd see mundane weapon development stall out. So think about when this happens, and why. What changed to make magical protection commonplace? And how do armies defeat it? Probably with magical weapons of some kind.
So your task is to think about how this society uses magic to wage war, and to devise reasons for why building more advanced machines never seemed like a feasible or worthwhile idea to get the edge over the enemy. I think for this to be the case **magical solutions have to be cheaper, easier to use, and more readily available than the means to mass produce machines**, as well as more effective.
This should be your guiding principle when thinking about how magic is used if you want it to essentially replace the development of modern technology. It should be accessible to people at all levels of society and be fundamentally superior to the technology it replaces. If technology is easier for a majority of people to access and can defeat magic, nobody would use magic, especially in war. |
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