Physics Problem Solving

heather

12:23 AM

@S007, you like it? Awesome!!

I'll finish it up and then show you and @Mew the final product. =D

heather

2:12 AM

@Mew, @S007, above is my final draft; I hope it is fairly clear where the design aims for things to go without everything being filled in. If you have any ideas about font or anything like that, please let me know. The red square is meant to be the avatar for whatever user. Chat is accessed at the top. The boxes are for votes, answers, and views, respectively, with the box green if there is an accepted answer.

Also, I probably would add a description to the right of the question title that is one sentence of the overall question, and maybe remove the tags, I'm not sure about that. Please tell me what you guys think!

Anonymous

6:31 AM

@heather I quite like the final draft. What software did you use for the design ?

Sanya

12:24 PM

@heather so cool :)

Mew

1:01 PM

Hi guys

Thanks for those great ideas

heather

@S007, you are probably going to laugh, but Google Drawings. It was an absolute pain.

Mew

I"ll be changing the site layout in the next 24 hours

heather

@Sanya, thanks!

@Mew, okay, do you need the font names, or the background image, or anything like that?

Mew

CAn you please sened through the backgroudn?

heather

Yep, one moment...

it is faded like it is in the design

Mew

1:05 PM

Thanks

thwat is the source of the image?

heather

hmm, let me look real quick

@Mew, I'm sorry, I can't seem to find it again. I know I didn't remove a watermark or anything...I'll keep looking. In the meantime, do you want the fonts I used?

Mew

yes please

heather

@Mew, okay, so I used Merriweather for the minor text and Bree Serif for the titles. Moving through the page, the heading is completely Merriweather, the title is Bree Serif, the buttons are Merriweather, the "Recent Questions" is Bree Serif, and everything else below that is Merriweather. You might want to switch the question titles over to Bree Serif, I'm not sure.

Mew

cool thanks

It is important to know the source of the image to ensure it is creative commons and not copyright

heather

yeah, I'll keep looking into it

should have it soon

darn @Mew, I must not have noticed this when originally searching, because I found it somewhere else, but there's a watermark on this image...one moment

Mew

1:17 PM

@heather, unfortunately it's a stock iamge

we wont' be able to use it unless we buy it

heather

oh, gosh, the shutterstock thing has you paying $29 for 2 images =( Unless you wanted to pay that...

darn, I can't believe I didn't notice that.

@Mew, sorry, do you want me to start over again, or...what is the plan?

Mew

that's a shame it's a really nice image

@heather, don't worry you don't need to do anything more the site will have a nice fresh new design in 24 hours :-)

heather

@Mew, I just like that design, and so I wish that we had a magical $29 somewhere, you know =P but seriously though, how are you going to design it?

(I mean what background, etc)

Mew

@heather, I should have more specifics tomorrow, it's currently 11PM here but in the morning I'll be working ont he desing

heather

@Mew, do you think it would be possible to design my own version of that background? Like, the same general idea, but different enough so that it wouldn't be copyrighted?

Mew

1:22 PM

I don't think it will be necessary

I"ll show you my design tmr

heather

okay

Mew

thanks for the design and fonts and ideas

the $29 image is seally interesting and fitting image

alright gtg to bed now

laterz

heather

okay, see you! have a good night

Anonymous

1:51 PM

@heather @Mew This is the source scrapbook.com/store/re-rc-267.html

Anonymous

I've searched the whole internet and that's ^ the only source I found :-P

heather

@S007, it is discontinued...I also found it on shutterstock.

Anonymous

Is it really stock ?

Anonymous

@heather Can you give the link on shutter stock ?

heather

@S007, here

Anonymous

1:56 PM

Well, unfortunately it is :( ...hopw Mew finds another theme

Anonymous

But the idea was good especially the transparent screen

heather

what I might do is recreate the image slightly differently on my own, so it has no copyright

Anonymous

@heather And google drawings :-P ? I'm laughing really....you've done a lot of hard work :)

Anonymous

@heather Can you ?

Anonymous

How ?

heather

2:00 PM

@S007, I have a nonzero chance of being able to. First, I'm also using this terrible online photo editor alongside google drawings for some of the stuff google drawings can't do (like darkening the background).

So what I'll do is take the original image, create a square that is just the color of the faded original image, then figure out how to put the text on top...

(any ideas appreciated for the last part)

@S007, also, I don't recommend using google drawings for this kind of stuff, it is really terrible =P

Anonymous

I'll tell you something. Don't have to do any more site design. Just find another non-copyrighted image. Give the image to Mew to put it as a site background in transparent form. That's all.

heather

yeah, but that's no fun =P

Anonymous

After we get a background we just have to superpose the text and the buttons

heather

and anyway, I liked that photo

so I'll give it a whirl

Anonymous

Personally I'm very scared of using copyrighted materials without buying them....so.....

Anonymous

2:06 PM

Maybe if you can make it look radically different

Anonymous

Then we can use it :-P

heather

yeah, that's what I'm doing

first step, done, I've got a square of color =)

now how to add some drawings here...hmm.

Anonymous

Good luck with that ^ :-)

heather

yup...I'll let you know when I have results.

In the meantime, I'll keep adding questions to the site.

Anything else big that I need to work on?

Anonymous

No....you've done lots of "big work" already :-P

Anonymous

2:09 PM

Yeah show me when done

Anonymous

:-D

heather

okay =D

Anonymous

2:29 PM

wow..we are getting several questions from new users...yay!

Anonymous

But I don't have time to answer them all

Anonymous

:-P

ACuriousMind

2:54 PM

@heather @S007 Copying SE questions like here without having settled on a content licence is potentially troublesome, since the SE cc-by-sa licence restricts the possible licenses the content it can be copied for can have. Also, if you copy the post, you must clearly state you copied it, saying it's "based" on the question does potentially not satisfy the "attribution required" by SE.

heather

@ACuriousMind, okay, so I need to say it is copied even if I made some changes?

Content licence...should I just stop copying questions for now?

ACuriousMind

@heather It might be better to work out the organization of your site first, yes. (I'm not a lawyer, nor an SE employee, so my word here is not binding, mind you)

@heather In particular, I would recommend that you take the things Emilio said in his "legal" part seriously, both regarding the form of the attribution (link to question and userpage) and this:

> In addition to these attribution requirements, you also need to comply with the Share-Alike component of the license. You can sell the content if you wish, but whenever you make the content available to other people it needs to be under the CC BY-SA license or a compatible license. Please make sure to take the time to understand this license before re-publishing any SE content - it's good for you, your site, your users, and the internet as a whole.

[emphasis mine]

heather

@ACuriousMind, okay, should I hide that content for now?

ACuriousMind

@heather Yes, otherwise I'll have to ask an SE employee to take a look at it and I genuinely have no idea what the outcome of that would be

heather

@ACuriousMind, okay, I'll hide it right now, sorry about that.

ACuriousMind

3:04 PM

@heather no worries, setting up a site is a bit more involved than one might think at first sight

heather

@ACuriousMind, okay, I think I've got it cleared up, I'll double check with @S007 and @Mew.

heather

4:08 PM

@S007, hello, did you see the above conversation?

Anonymous

@heather Yeah, I hid all the questions copied from SE

Anonymous

I just had put two of them there because for some strange reason latex was not working

Anonymous

but i guess @Mew can see the hidden posts too

Anonymous

so better keep them hidden

heather

@S007, we need to read EmilioPisanty's answer a bit more carefully, I think and discuss it with @Mew. If only we were a part of the SE network, then all of this would be significantly less complicated.

I might add as an aside that i talked with Dilaton

He said he'd talk to their main site developer. We might be able to get a script that allows us to properly transfer over questions/answers.

Anonymous

4:12 PM

@heather I think we should stop allowing questions on the site for the time being. It is becoming increasingly difficult to answer questions by new users without making our site policies permanent...moreover I am having to answer most of the questions...and I am not getting much time.....we need to gather more expert users....

Anonymous

@heather That sounds good

heather

@S007, I think we need to have focused conversation with @Mew and figure out exactly what we need to do to get things going.

Things are getting complicated legally, as well as just the technical site building stuff we need to do.

Anonymous

@heather The problem is three of us hardly come online at the same time. But yeah I will try to talk to him. BTW I think it will be better to stop allowing questions for now. We need to deal with the legal and technical issues first

heather

@S007, I agree. How about this. This is the weekend so it'll be easier because I don't have school. We can set up a time we all are on for a in-depth conversation about everything.

Then we'll be able to get some stuff done.

Anonymous

Yeah fix a time

Anonymous

4:16 PM

when will you be online ?

heather

Definitely until an hour and 15 min from now today, probably after that as well for a while. Tomorrow I'll be on until 7pm CST (-5 from UST) I mean, I have almost no limitations on when I'll be on.

Anonymous

I will be online for 4 hours from now..lets see if mew comes

heather

So I guess, 7pm CST tomorrow is when I'm off, and 6-7am CST tomorrow is when I get on, 8:45pm CST tonight is when I'm off.

So let's see, Mew said earlier that he was going to bed, one moment

Anonymous

@heather Oh, yeah it is night already in Australia

heather

So when will it be morning in Australia?

ergh, there's different time zones across australia.

Anonymous

4:22 PM

6 am CST....that means 4 pm in india...i will be there for 10 hours after that

Anonymous

ok that's good

Anonymous

@Mew will wake up in say 6-7 hours from now

Anonymous

so yeah maybe tomorrow we can talk (morning at your place and eve at mine)

Anonymous

damn the timezone XD

heather

Okay, so let me think, morning tomorrow, I'll make sure to wake up early tomorrow, and then I'll get on, we can all talk and start getting serious here

(I know, timezones = so stupid)

Anonymous

4:26 PM

Well good...lets see :-)

Anonymous

Should i block new questions for now or let it be ?

heather

I'd let it be...we don't want to make users grumpy with us and move away, that's just bad. Just let it operate, don't answer questions, just keep an eye on moderation and that's it

Until we have some hard decisions made as a team, I almost think anything we do separately would make an already complicated situation more complicated

Anonymous

@heather Yeah I agree. Let us talk tomorrow then. I am going offline now. Have a good day :)

heather

@S007, okay, have a good day! =)

DanielSank

6:17 PM

Hi, everybody.

heather

6:34 PM

stackoverflow.blog/2010/07/area-51-asking-the-first-questions/…

@S007, the above link might be useful.

Anonymous

6:48 PM

@DanielSank Hello

Anonymous

@heather How about using CC license for our website ? creativecommons.org/share-your-work

heather

@S007, as an aside, I achieved victory with the background!

one moment and I'll upload it

Anonymous

@heather yes show !

heather

@S007, what do you think?

I used a photo from here

Anonymous

Is it paid or free ?

Anonymous

6:55 PM

@heather

heather

oh, darn

I thought it was free

it tricked me

well now that I know how to do it I can just find another real quick, there's really nothing special about that photo

@S007, but that is sort of what it will look like, how is it?

Anonymous

Yes the theme is excellent...all that is needed is a non-copyrighted image

heather

stupid shutterstock

I'll find another image one moment

Anonymous

But wait...dont find a picture with just too many equations scribbled please

Anonymous

It looks awkward

Anonymous

6:59 PM

The previous one was better

Anonymous

:-P

heather

does that last photo look awkward?

yeah, I know the first one was best

Anonymous

yeah the photo looks awkward :-P the second one

heather

okay

I'll keep that in mind

I just feel like I'm so close and then some site is like, haha, nope, copyrighted. =P

Anonymous

search for "free wallpapers" :-)

Anonymous

7:01 PM

and then type in physics

Anonymous

see the results

Anonymous

:-D

heather

good idea =D

@S007, you think this one'll look alright?

or is it too equation-y?

Anonymous

no not getting that feeling :/

Anonymous

isn't it ?

heather

7:05 PM

no? okay.

how about this one, @S007?

I just can't seem to find any as good as the first.

Anonymous

Can we just keep something simple like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Starsinthesky.jpg

Anonymous

or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

heather

those are more astronomy, though...

Anonymous

I mean really do we need equations scribbled on the background or just keep it very simple ?

Anonymous

I like the designs of stack exchange sites with a very simple design

heather

7:13 PM

yes, and I think the original background was simple enough, and I'm trying to find something like that.

(and failing, I know =P)

Anonymous

which original background ?

heather

The very first one, that was on shutterstock, and therefore copyrighted

Anonymous

oh yes

heather

yeah

i just want to find something like that

Anonymous

I don't think we will get one like that for free...btw that was not very costly...maybe we can buy it

DanielSank

7:17 PM

Where's the site hosted? Where's the code? etc.

It's great that you guys have something up and running.

heather

we could buy it or I could just draw something similar but different and then take a photo of it and process the image such that it looks right, and then use that @S007

Anonymous

@heather yeah that sounds legit ;-)

Anonymous

@DanielSank physics.qandaexchange.com/?qa=

heather

@S007, is that sarcastic?

or no? I can't quite tell

DanielSank

@S007 Yeah I saw the site. Where's the code etc.?

Anonymous

7:19 PM

@heather no :-D

Anonymous

@DanielSank what code? Btw that is a prototype... the site has'nt been made still

heather

@S007, ah, okay. Here, let me see if I have some paper in my bag (I'm not at home...)

DanielSank

@S007 What is quandaexchange?

heather

@DanielSank we made it up =P

Anonymous

q and a exchange

Anonymous

7:20 PM

@DanielSank

DanielSank

So where is that page being served from?

heather

@Mew would know...

DanielSank

ah

heather

@S007, do you know?

Anonymous

@DanielSank a private sever owned by mew

DanielSank

7:20 PM

Ah

I see.

heather

@DanielSank, sorry, I'm not up on some of those technical details =)

DanielSank

cool

Anonymous

@DanielSank we are having a hard time with legal issues :-p

DanielSank

@S007 Oh?

heather

yeah, it is kind of crazy.

Anonymous

7:22 PM

@DanielSank we need to find a non-copyrighted picture for the background and then set up the site policy and obtain a creative commons license

Anonymous

and so much more

heather

basically, we have to figure out how to legally transfer questions from Physics.SE over to our site, and vice versa, comment that we're doing so w/o getting banned from Physics.SE (!) and create our own site policy.

it's nuts.

Makes me wish I was a lawyer so I understood half of what we have to do.

DanielSank

@S007 Picture for a banner or for a whole background?

heather

whole background

DanielSank

Consider not using a full background picture. That's so 2001.

@heather Why do you need to copy them?

Just advertise the site (even via community ads here) and wait for people to populate it.

If you want to seed the site with interesting content, just ask and answer your own questions.

heather

7:24 PM

@DanielSank, it is more like the equivalent of migrating on-topic questions from there to here.

DanielSank

@heather I think you might be overthinking this.

heather

@DanielSank, to be absolutely honest, I probably am.

DanielSank

My un-asked-for advice: Get the side working first and see how people use it.

Don't worry too much about the artwork.

If you provide useful help for people they'll come even if the CSS is from 1995.

heather

that seems like a good idea to me =)

Anonymous

@DanielSank You are right to some extent but the problem is everyone keeps asking questions and I am the only one answering :-P

heather

7:27 PM

the only problem there is, Mew is the only person who has the code. So really, all we can do is try to help find bugs in the site, which we've done, and try to help in the few ways we can, and it seems that graphics at this point is the only way we can do that.

ACuriousMind

@DanielSank The first full CSS specification was only completed in 1996 ;)

DanielSank

@heather Ok fix that problem first. In my experience, if the code isn't in a publicly accessible code repository (or at least accessible by you all), the project doesn't have legs.

heather

@S007, we aren't getting that many questions.

DanielSank

If you host the code somewhere that others can see, then you get free help, bug reports, criticism, and advice.

heather

that is true

Anonymous

7:29 PM

@heather I never said we are getting too many questions...lol :-P

Anonymous

@DanielSank Where ?

heather

@S007, and most of the questions are answered, is what I meant.

@S007, github is a good place.

DanielSank

If you don't do this, then you are guaranteed to spend the next six months rediscovering every single bug, design flaw, architectural issue, and every other mistake ever discovered in the history of web development.

THAT is a scary thought :)

heather

That is indeed a scary thought! =)

DanielSank

Yeah, github FTW.

Anonymous

7:30 PM

@heather We need to tell this to @Mew

heather

@S007, yes, I'm also checking something real quick - part of me wonders if he already posted it on github.

ACuriousMind

@DanielSank You sound as if you are under the impression that they're developing the code themselves; they're not, they're using the open source Q2A codebase with Github here

heather

@ACuriousMind, yes, but I believe @Mew is adding stuff too it.

maybe I'm wrong, but @Mew even said that he might post it to github, but then later changed his mind because he said it would be simpler for him to just do it, because admittedly I am not super experienced with most of the languages being used.

DanielSank

@ACuriousMind Yes but somewhere there's configuration specific to their site.

@heather People always say that and they're always wrong.

It's not simpler for him to keep the code to himself.

@ACuriousMind for example, where's the data storage?

heather

@S007, yeah, we need to get ahold of @Mew, sooner rather than later. When do you think he'll next be back on?

Anonymous

7:37 PM

@heather Tomorrow morning in Australia :-P

heather

let's see, last seen 5hrs ago, and then if we just say...hmm. If we're really lucky, maybe he'll be back on at 6pm.

@S007, right...=P

Anonymous

6 pm ? Which timezone ? :-P

heather

CST, my time, 5 hrs behind UST

(sorry, I don't know what timezone you are in)

Anonymous

that means 4 am at my place

Anonymous

I will be zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anonymous

7:39 PM

that time :-D

Anonymous

I am in IST

Anonymous

india has only 2 timezones

heather

Oh, I see. Huh, well, I'll see if I can contact him before I go to sleep. Either way, we can all talk on sunday, like we said earlier.

Anonymous

@heather that's best..

heather

@S007, okay. Well, at least we have some sort of plan now.

Which leaves us with the question: what should we do until then? =P

Anonymous

7:42 PM

these are the times I wish the earth was flat :-P

Anonymous

@heather Study physics :-D

heather

@S007, right? Time zones are the definition of a pain. =P

Well, I'll keep working on the background, I now know what I'm going to do for it. And then I can send it to @Mew to use. I'll try to catch him tonight.

And of course, I'll study physics =D

Anonymous

Yep, good luck with catching the cat ;-D

heather

@S007, thanks, have a good day/night/24 hr period =D

Anonymous

@heather One question I have. Are you a girl or a boy ? :-P Just ensuring because I've never seen a middle school girl interested in quantum computing and astronomy stuff :-D

heather

7:49 PM

@S007, I'm a girl, lol

Anonymous

Then I am flabbergasted...................................................................‌.................................................................

heather

And because you asked that question, I'm going to guess you're a guy?

Anonymous

................................................................................‌.................................................................................‌......................

Anonymous

LOL

ACuriousMind

@S007 And you would be less flabbergasted if she were a boy? That's a rather sexist and unhelpful attitude.

heather

7:50 PM

Oh, and how about I make you even more flabbergasted @S007, most of my friends are girls, and likewise, most of them are interested in science/coding/math like me.

=P

@ACuriousMind, this has indeed turned into a rather awkward situation.

Anonymous

@heather No, I don't mean to offend you but really from my experience among my friends most girls hate maths and tech stuff

Anonymous

Hey, take it easy

heather

@S007, I'm not offended at all.

Anonymous

I was just joking :-)

heather

It is just awkward, that's all.

(::shrugs::)

Anonymous

7:52 PM

No, its really nice to see that you love astronomy in middle school

Anonymous

and i saw your answers

Anonymous

they are great

Anonymous

:)

Anonymous

and yeah happy birthday :-)

heather

thanks

okay, I should probably get to work

bye

Anonymous

7:53 PM

Hey, wait a second. FORGET that awkward situation...okay ^ :-P

Anonymous

and bbye

heather

8:47 PM

@Mew, when you come back on could you please ping me? There have been some important things that have come up.

Stack Exchange

S007 has removed S007 from the list of this room's owners.

heather has added an event to this room's schedule.

heather has added S007 to the list of this room's owners.

DanielSank

9:47 PM

@S007 Why are you flabbergasted?

heather

@DanielSank, kind of my question =)

DanielSank

I really dislike the gender asymmetry in science. I started being more aware of it as an undergraduate college student.

heather

@DanielSank, I mean, I get that there's a gender asymmetry, but honestly, at the age I'm at, if you're interested in school/science/all that you're more likely to be a girl, in my mind. Or at least, from my very small data set it is more likely =P

DanielSank

@heather Yes this is a well known phenomenon. The shift toward the other direction starts in high school.

Please don't worry about it too much though. The situation is always improving.

heather

@DanielSank, I'm not worried, I'm just pointing out that it is especially unlikely for someone like me to be a boy at middle school age, which means there is less reason to be flabbergasted. =P

Besides, hey, the gender asymmetry means I might get an extra scholarship somewhere, so. =P

DanielSank

9:55 PM

@heather LOLOL omg that's such an awesomely positive perspective.

(It's so true, too)

heather

@DanielSank, besides, it is more fun to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, right? =D

DanielSank

Absolutely yes.

I have to admit though, the issue of women being underrepresented in science is important to me.

I experienced a bit of why this happens in college. It's pretty... disappointing.

We'd all be working on homework. If a guy figured something out, we'd all say "hey good job! That's really clever!". If a woman figured out something, the response was more like "oh, really? Where'd you find that in the book?"

::shivers::

That made me really sad.

Bleh. Anyway, I'm sure you'll be fine. You're smart and outgoing!

heather

@DanielSank, seriously? Huh, I didn't realize that actually happened (::moment of silence for the poor person::). Well, if it did, I might just say, "pg 243 on the third paragraph" and see them stare =P

Not really. I actually have a gift for getting red in the face really quickly in situations like that =)

DanielSank

@heather Hmmm. I see.

I don't blame you for that.

I think the only way to slowly fix this imbalance is to point it out firmly, but without anger, and for all the awesome brilliant women in the world to keep doing science well and encouraging others.

Anonymous

10:39 PM

@DanielSank @heather I was flabbergasted mainly seeing a middle school student studying such advanced topics like quantum computing and astronomy by herself which is evident by the answers she writes. Moreover, maybe your community is different but here in my country mostly I find girls do not like maths and tech topics a such (NOTE: I AM NOT TELLING THAT THEY ARE NOT TALENTED ENOUGH).

Anonymous

Maybe it is just a matter of nationality.

Anonymous

I was actually very happy knowing that

Anonymous

at such a age kids are participating in learning such topics

Anonymous

and pleasantly surprised knowing that she is a girl

Anonymous

And @DanielSank I absolutely agree with you that all over the world we find that there is an imbalance in the ratio of men and women in the field of science which is sad but that doesn't mean women are any less talented by any means

Anonymous

10:44 PM

All in all, @heather do continue learning whatever you like studying and excel in them :)...because you kids are the future scientists and technocrats of the world :)

Anonymous

@DanielSank Yeah and also another reason for getting flabbergasted is that my country is still quite backward in the education sector and still in the developing phase and still gender bias exists in my country (which is very sad) and maybe that is the reason why I do not find many girls here who are encouraged to take interest in science as such. But as I said, it is all a matter of time and maybe ethnicity.

Anonymous

P.S: Also, I just said whatever I said in a very jovial mood and did'nt think that it would end up like this. Once again I apologize if I hurt anyone. I never ever meant to hurt anyone. Sorry.

heather

11:21 PM

@S007, no, you're good. I guess I shouldn't have taken it quite so seriously. =)

Anonymous

@heather I literally got scared for sometime thinking that I had really pissed someone off at Stack Exchange

Anonymous

and was about to delete my account and resign from the mod post

Anonymous

I even filled up the form for my account deletion :-P

Anonymous

Thinking that my presence should not make anyone feel uncomfortable :-P

heather

@S007, I'm glad you didn't. I reinstated you for room owner.

Anonymous

11:26 PM

Well, that was a relief. XD

heather

Your presence doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. I just took what was meant jokingly more seriously than I should have. For that matter, I didn't get upset with you even when I did take it seriously, I felt more like joking about it. So we're definitely good. =)

Which is good, cuz we need you for Physics Problems Q&A.

Anonymous

Ok my pulse beat slowed down hearing that. :-P

Anonymous

Talk to you tomorrow then

Anonymous

When mew comes

Anonymous

bye :-)

heather

11:30 PM

@S007, see you