PattyM

The many exoplanets detected so far have been found through two methods. Monitoring the star's brightness and detecting the dip when the planet comes between the star and the line of sight from Earth. The second is similar, watching for a shift in the home star's spectrum.

Presumably those whose orbit is more or less parallel to what we see.

It would seem that these methods would not work if the planet's orbit is perpendicular to the line of sight.

If the above is true, those detected so far must be a minority of possible planets. Is there a way to estimate the number of stars with planets?

Last month the Supreme Court heard arguments in Obergefell v. Hodge, a case which might determine if states have the right to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples.

Its widely expected that the court will decide against the states that have these marriage restrictions.

But so many decisions have been 5-4 votes. Its quite possible that the court could come down on the state's side.

If that should happen, what happens afterwards? There will be protests, of course, but after most of those, then what?

I've been using Firefox for well over a decade and love it. Lately though, it has developed an irritating habit I have never heard of much less experienced.

When I open the browser it comes up with my home page just like its supposed to. But if I open a second tab what shows up is an Ask.com search page.

Is there a setting somewhere to set the background for additional tabs? It used to open with a history display...

Thanks for any help.

Sometime recently I managed to download something called K9-MacOptomizer. So far I have not been able to remove it.

Computer: MacBook Pro.

OS: Yosemite

This thing starts up whenever I power on the computer and I have to Force Quit to stop it. It claims to be a tool to repair and clean up the Mac.

Its hidden somewhere on Mac. It is not in the Applications folder or the system folder.

There are removal instructions on the author's site but they tell me to go to a nonexistent folder in the System Preferences folder.

Anybody have a clue as to how to get rid of this piece of crapware?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Reading the Q&A here it seems clear that those least capable of understanding issues are the most eager to express their views.

Once upon a time - just a couple of years ago - there were a number of very good webcomics with transsexual main characters. Venus Envy was probably the best of these. It is defunct as are most of the others that show up in a Google search.

As far as I know, the only trans webcomics that are currently updating are Rain, The Princess, Khaos Komic, and Eve's Apple.

The question is, what other webcomics with transsexual main characters are out there? Ones that update frequently, especially.

You know, you who claim the name of Jesus are really Pharisees. Because of you the name of Christ has become associated worldwide with narrowness, bigotry, and hatred. Who do you think would come to such a Christ?

You self-righteous haters are not bringing the "unsaved" to salvation but are actively driving people AWAY from it. Think on that a bit. Do you truly believe that you will not have to account for your actions when people you driven away have died without God's grace?

Break out your concordance and look up what Jesus said about Pharisees. Then look at your own life and actions. See any similarities?

Take a look at Matthew 25:32 - 46, the parable of the sheep and the goats. If you live the way Jesus said to do then you are a Christian. But when you turn your back on the hungry, ill and homeless then you are a Christian in name only. And remember that for all your church going and prayers you are following the letter of the law but ignoring its deeper meaning you are nothing but Pharisees.

Matt 9:11

Matt 16:5-12 - Verse 11 and 12 especially.

Matt 23:13 - 15

Mark 2:16, since you seem to think gay people are all sinners.

Mark 8:15

Luke 5:30

And here is a verse I like: Luke 11:39 Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter but your inward is filthy. I presume that you get the metaphor?

Clean up your own life, follow the deeper meaning of Jesus teachings and then you will be living as a Christian.

Oh, and before you quote scripture back at me remember that "a text our of context is a pretext"

Why do you "Christians" show the world hate and not love?

Not just the merely silly but the absolutely, mind boggling, completely idiotic questions.

My favorite so far was a guy who asked if semen is kosher.

Your turn now!

As anyone who has been reading the news online knows by now that a contestant in the Miss Universe Canada pageant has been disqualified. The reason Jenna Talackova was ejected is that she was born male.

In the US a company refusing to hire someone who is black because of race would be guilty of race discrimination. Similarly discrimination by sex, religion or any of a dozen other factors will be a ticket to legal troubles.

In Canada is discrimination by sex illegal? Can the Miss Universe company discriminate against Ms Talackova on the basis of her sex at birth? The Miss Universe pageant is a privately owned company which will be a factor.

Is there a way to turn off Yahoo's spell checker? Its annoying to be told that I have misspelled something because that word is not in Yahoo's dictionary.

Also: can I get rid of the REALLY annoying, and thoroughly idiotic "You have a lot of punctuation" message?

I made the MTF change in the 80s with surgery in 1987. All documentation was changed a long time ago except for my birth certificate. The problem is that I was born in New York City which has its own public records bureau - and its own rules.

Every few years I try to change my birth certificate but always receive a list of demands that far, far exceed any reasonable need. For example they want the operative record of the SRS. Not the surgeon's letter. They are quite clear on that. No, they want the complete description of the surgery that the surgeon prepares for medical records. What they seem to want is the one that says something like "The patient was placed in such and such a position. An incision was made from..." and so on. There are other requirements too.

Even if Dr. Seghers is still alive I have no way to contact him. Plus even if he is still alive he is unlikely to still have that sort of report from 23 years ago.

Has anyone managed to change their documents with NYC? Ideally I would like a new birth certificate specifying my correct name and sex.

As an alternative are there any organizations in NYC that give help in this area? If necessary I'll go with legal representation but would prefer to avoid that for financial reasons.

Besides this one, that is.

The dumbest I've noticed was someone who wanted to know if semen was kosher.

The proxy sites Google turns up are either no longer valid, won't work with a Mac, or want an excessively expensive for the service (30 GBP = $45 US per MONTH!)

I've tried going direct and through a number of so-called "proxy" sites which have not worked for me. The direct URL is ITV.co.UK