General DU newbie questions..

[interestedparty]

How do you insert the smiley face and other graphics
into your messages?

How many posts do I need to have to finally be
able to nominate for greatest page? There have been
soooo many that I wanted to see front and center.

What does it mean to "kick" a post? How do you
that?

When is it necessary to explain why you've edited
your post?

I know these are newbie questions. I've had an account
for awhile, but I'm just now really starting to post
messages on DU.

Btw, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that
links to the NY Times articles posted in DU don't seem
to work, and yet those same links work when linked
from outside of DU? Maybe it's just me.

[bigwillq]

1. Welcome to DU!

Kick means to bump a thread to the top of the page.

Edit: Just so people know what u edited.

No one knows how many posts u need. It's kept a secret. Seriously.

[aePrime]

2. Welcome

How do you insert the smiley face and other graphics into your messages?

DU changes certain text to smilies. There's a "Smilies lookup table" link when you post that will give you a list of them.

How many posts do I need to have to finally be able to nominate for greatest page? There have been soooo many that I wanted to see front and center.

That I don't know.

What does it mean to "kick" a post? How do you that?

It puts the thread back at the top of the rotation. It's as simple as responding to a post.

When is it necessary to explain why you've edited your post?

Never! :) It's just courtesy so that people know what changed.

I know these are newbie questions. I've had an account for awhile, but I'm just now really starting to post messages on DU.

Welcome! :hi:

Btw, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that links to the NY Times articles posted in DU don't seem to work, and yet those same links work when linked from outside of DU? Maybe it's just me.

Never noticed, but there's a possibility that NY Times blocks referrals from DU.

[Tallison]

15. What's with the equation in your sig?

Got into an infinity divided by infinity discussion the other day...

[aePrime]

17. Strictly speaking

it's not an equation. It means the partial derivative with respect to x. I just like calculus :).

You can't really divide infinity by infinity, but we can look at the limit of x / x as x approaches infinity. You can picture the limit in your head, or more formally, use L'Hospital's rule to see that it's 1.

[Tallison]

19. Does infinity always equal infinity?

(This liberal arts major loves this stuff)

[aePrime]

20. It depends

It depends on the branch of mathematics, really. In calculus, when we let a number go to infinity, we mean the infinity on the real number line, so infinity always "equals" infinity (to abuse the term equals here).

However, in set theory, there are different "sizes" of infinity. One set of infinite elements can be larger than another set of infinite elements. The different infinities are represented by the Hebrew letter aleph ().

Aleph-null is the smallest infinity, representing the size (cardinality) of the natural numbers.

So, a nearly intuitive way to think about this is that there are an infinite number of integers. There are also an infinite number of real numbers, but there are "obviously" more real numbers than integers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_number

These different infinities were discovered by Georg Cantor. He was obviously brilliant, but not appreciated in his time. It is little wonder he spent the remainder of his life in a mental institution.

[smbolisnch]

3. Welcome!

I see your questions have already been answered! :hi:

[AirmensMom]

4. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[hippywife]

5. Welcome to DU!

When you reply to a post, click on the smilies lookup table link just above the subject line. Then click on the smiley you want to insert. It will insert them wherever your cursor is sitting.

The NYT articles are working fine for me but I'm a registered member so that could be the difference if you're not.

[interestedparty]

6. Thanks everyone.

I appreciate the warm welcomes and the much
needed info.

Ahh..so *that's* how you do it. :loveya:

Thanks a bunch guys.

[Outer_Limit]

7. Welcome, from another newbie :)

[tyedyeto]

8. Welcome

And check your options to make sure that you have 'smilies enabled' so that you can use them.

[tjwmason]

9. Welcome to D.U.

other folk have covered your questions - so I shall just say how charmed I am to meet another newbie. :hi:

[swimboy]

10. Welcome, interestedparty, to DU!

B-)

[Clintmax]

11. Welcome to DU, Interested!

:hi: From Captain Clintmax of the Morning Crew! :rofl:

[sniffa]

12. no sniffa question?

tsk tsk

weLcome to DU. :hi:

[southlandshari]

13. I have a sniffa question.

But then I'd have to lock this thread.

:evilgrin:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

14. NY Times has a free membership you need to subscribe to see any

stories. The Op/Ed articles by the popular op/ed writers are now a pay subscription so you can't see those unless you have paid.

[Rising Phoenix]

16. welcome to DU

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[RetroLounge]

18. Welcome to DU

:hi:

RL