Can parents pay kaffarah for their children if they break an oath?

Question: As-salaamu 'alaykum I've got a question. If a child breaks an oath can their parents pay kaffarah for them?
Comment: Do you mean break an oath?, and it also depends whether the child is baligh or not.
Comment: @AbduRahman what if the children are baligh? Can parents pay for them or on their behalf?
Answer: There are two types of oaths; binding oaths and idle oath
Binding oath
When you swore the oath you meant to swear an oath, in whole or in part, i.e., you meant to swear a binding oath. In this case you have to offer kafaarat yameen. A binding oath is one which a person swears concerning something in the future, that he will do something or not do something.
If all or some of your oaths were binding, then you have to offer kafaarat yameen. As Allah says:

...He will impose blame upon you for [breaking] what you intended of oaths...[al-Maa'idah 5:89]

Does one have to offer it once or several times? That depends on the content of the oath. If all your oaths had to do with the same thing, then you have to offer expiation only once. But if you swore oaths concerning a number of things, such as saying, "By Allaah, I will not eat today" and "By Allaah, I will not drink today" and "By Allaah, I will not travel today", then you have to offer expiation for each of these things if you did it. If you ate and drank and travelled then you have to offer three expiations. If you swore one oath concerning a number of things, such as if you said, "By Allaah, I will not eat or drink or travel," then you have to offer expiation once for doing one or all of these things. (op. cit., p. 266).*
Idle oath
When you swore the oath you did not mean to swear an oath as such. This comes under the heading of idle oaths. The scholars differed as to the precise definition of idle oaths (laghw al-yameen). The most correct view is that the idle oath includes the following:

That which the speaker utters unintentionally, such as when a man says, "No, by Allaah, I will never go" or "Yes, by Allaah, I will go." This is the view of the Shaafa'is and Hanbalis.

When a person utters an oath thinking that he is speaking the truth, then he realizes that it was not true. This is the view of the Hanbalis.

Where the one who swears the oath thinks that the one concerning whom it is sworn will not go against him, then he does go against him. By the same token a person does not break his oath if he swore that another person would do something by way of honouring him, not by way of compelling him. He said: Because it is like a command; a command is not binding if it is understood to be by way of honouring, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded Abu Bakr to stand in the row but he did not stand. See Majmoo'at al-Rasaa'il al-Fiqhiyyah by Shaykh Khaalid al-Mushayqih, p. 234.

But if all or some of your oaths were idle oaths, then the majority of scholars have stated that no expiation is required for breaking an idle oath, because Allaah says:

Allah will not call you to account for that which is unintentional in your oaths.
[al-Baqarah 2:225]

Expiation of Binding Oath
If someone breaks a binding oath, they must pay Kaffarah, which can be payed by

Feeding ten poor people
Dress up to them(poor persons)
Releasing a slave
Fasting three days (Only_if_you_are_incapable_of_above_three_options)
Giving Money (Hanafi_fiqh)

As Allah says

... He will impose blame upon you for [breaking] what you intended of oaths. So its expiation is the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave. But whoever cannot find [or afford it] - then a fast of three days [is required]. That is the expiation for oaths when you have sworn. But guard your oaths. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be grateful. [al-Maa'idah 5:89].

Amount of food for feeding ten poor people
With regard to feeding a needy or poor person, it is sufficient to give a mudd of rice and the like, according to the majority of scholars. That is equivalent to approximately 750 grams. The Hanbalis differentiated between wheat and other foodstuffs; one mudd is sufficient in the case of wheat, but with regard to foodstuffs other than wheat, it is essential to give half a saa, which is approximately one and a half kilograms(3.24/2=1.67). Please search half a saa for more infomation.
Quality of Clothes for Ten Poor People
So, it is permissible for you to take ten items of clothing and give them to reliable associations or individuals so that they take charge of distributing them among the poor and needy, with each person being given one piece of apparel. A man should be given apparel that is appropriate to be worn during the prayer, and a woman should be given apparel that covers her entire body. The trousers here are not enough, according to the majority of scholars apart from the Shaafi'i scholars, for they are not usually regarded as complete pieces of apparel.

Can parents pay kaffarah for their children for breaking an oath ?
There is no kaffarah on non-baligh children, neither are their parents obligated to pay kaffarah on behalf of their baligh-children, Kaffara-yameen can be paid by any adult Muslim. If you want to pay Kaffarh yameen on behalf of someone, you can do that.
Although If you swear an oath to your children or anyone else with the aim that they should do something or do not do something, and they go against your wishes, then you have to offer expiation for breaking an oath (kafaarat yameen). The sin of breaking of the oaths is upon you.
It is always better to ask a mufti, fatwa_sites and the like for these types of questions.

References:

The number of expiations depends on the number of oaths
She swears oaths to her children then they go against her wishes. Does she have to offer expiation?
In the case of expiation for breaking an oath (kafaarat al-yameen), is it acceptable to give a food basket or a "Ramadan bag"?
Is it permissible to pay kaffara [expiation] on mother behalf from the money she left?


"Confirmation parents' meeting" or "confirmation parents meeting"?

Question: If a meeting is for a group of parents run by a Church, for example, would it
be "Confirmation parents' meeting" or "Confirmation parents meeting"?
Comment: Does the meeting belong to the parents in some sense, or is it merely composed of them?
Comment: its composed of them with a non-parent leader
Answer: I think that if you want to be very correct, use the apostrophe.  But if you get the vibes that the apostrophe might put some of the parents off, it's okay to leave it out.


Baking makes repetitive patterns

Question: I am struggling to bake a material that I can then export into software for game creation. Whenever I bake my texture, the baked texture is completely uniform - baking removes the randomness of the pattern created by the normals texture. The color of the material bakes perfectly fine, just not the normals.
I assume this is because my UV map looks like only one rectangle in the photo below. I don't know anything about UV maps, could someone tell me where I could look to make my UV map encompass the whole object or is there something else I should be doing to prevent this uniformness?
Thanks!

Bake settings and textures
Comment: Hello probably your unwrap is incorrect, check the UV Editor
Answer: It looks like you have one box object somehow instances to form a row of boxes (or duplicates but sharing the exact same UV space), and your material maps the texture across instances?
If so, what you see is normal. Your instances all share the exact same UV space. Hence once the textures are baked as per the UV, all differences across instances go away.
If you want to avoid that in baking, you need to turn these instances into real objects and edit their UVs to not overlap.
The way to do so dependa on how you made it in the first place, so please [edit] your question to explain it if you need further help.

Baking makes repetitive patterns


How to fix spacing in address tab in my account page

Question:
How to I fix the spacing problem for the address section? Thanks in advance.
Answer: This is actually a CSS question. But it is hard to give an answer, since we don't see the source code that creates the page. (And it could be a plugin or theme issue, and we don't know that either.)
If it is a page created by a theme or plugin, then you need to contact the theme or plugin support site; that's not a question for this place.
It may be as simple as changing a CSS style (which you could see by using your browser's Development tools, or looking at the generated page code), but again, not enough information to give a definitive answer.


Linker error (2028) when migrating project from VS 2005 (XP) to VS 2008 (Windows 7)

Question: I am migrating a solution from Visual Studio 2005 (Windows XP) to Visual Studio 2008 (Windows 7). The solution contains several class libraries (dlls). These libraries are written in C#. One library (named "SDEWriter"), however, is written in C++. This library is a CLR project and links to external libraries written in native C. I don't have access to the C code.
Compiling and linking the project in VS 2005 went fine. But in VS 2008, I get the following linker error:
*error LNK2028: unresolved token (0A00000E) "extern "C" long __stdcall SE_error_get_string(long,char *)" (?SE_error_get_string@@$$J18YGJJPAD@Z) referenced in function "public: static bool __clrcall SDEWriter::SDEfuncs::Error(long,class std::basic_string,class std::allocator >)"*
What is interesting: when I make "SDEWriter" a static library (lib) instead of a dll, everything works fine!!!
Some additional information about the "SDEWriter" project properties:

Common Language Runtime Support: Old Syntax (/clr:oldSyntax)
Additional Include Directories: path to the include folder of the external C header files
Additional Libary Directories: path to the external libs
Additional Dependencies: all required external libs

I have searched this site and the web, but I haven't found a solution. I would be very glad if anyone could help! Thanks a lot in advance.
Barbara
Answer: this would have been impossible for you to solve. It was an ESRI problem. See: ArcGIS forum thread


Excel 2007/2010 Table Object Running Total

Question: How do I calculate a running total in an Excel 2007/2010 table object? If you don't know what a table object in Excel is please DO NOT respond with a "=[the cell above] + [the cell adjacent]" type formula as I have found no way to actually do this in a table.
Answer: Figured it out. Here is what I did.

Added a column called "Row Number" which had the formula "=ROW(1:1)" and it auto copied down.
Created a new column called "Number Attrited YTD" and set formula to "=SUMIF([Row Number],"<="&ROW([@[Number Attrited]])-1,[Number Attrited])"

This worked as expected. If the data gets resorted it will throw off a YTD count but my data stays sorted by month so this is not an issue.
Comment: While this solution works, be aware that it will get really slow on big tables, as every SUMIF will look into the full table column...
Answer: Seems simpler to use something like =SUM(x$y:xy) where x represents the column to be accumulated and y the row of the start of data in the table (and where formula should be placed).
Answer: The formula you provide in your question can work of you use a named range! Insert a named range with the name manager: Say you have selected A2, go to the Name Manager and insert a new name. Call it CellAbove, scope it to your current worksheet and provide the formula =A1 (make sure that you have no $!).
Now you can enter the follow formula: =IF(ISTEXT(CellAbove),0,CellAbove+[@adjacentCell])!
Of course this also works without the name, only replace CellAbove with the normal, non-table way reference for the cell above, eg E1, when you enter the formula in E2...


Fixed header position in bootstrap 3 modal

Question: I want to use a fixed header in my Bootstrap modal, however if I set .modal-header as position:fixed it scrolls along with the moda content. How do I create a trully fixed header in BS modal?
Comment: You kind of want to go back to the old modals from Bootstrap 2.  In the new one, the whole `.modal` scrolls, so setting the `.modal-header` to fixed won't work.  You'll need to stop the modal scrolling, set a height on the `.modal-content` and have that scroll instead.
Answer: Instead of trying to make the header fixed, just fix the height of the body and make it scrollable. That way the header (and footer) will always be visible.
You can easily do this using the CSS3 vh unit together with calc. Both vh as calc have pretty good browser support (IE9+).
The vh unit is relative to the viewport (= browser window) height. 1 vh is 1% of the height and 100vh means 100% of the viewport height.
We just need to substract the height of the modal's header, footer and margins. It's going to be difficult it that dynamic. If those sizes are fixed, we just add all the heights.
Set either the height or max-height to calc(100vh - header+footer px).
.modal-body {
    max-height: calc(100vh - 210px);
    overflow-y: auto;
}

See the jsfiddle
Comment: Thank you! this should be set as the answer!
Only having issues adjusting the height of the modal now but will probably fix that soon :)
Comment: If you happen to be using LESS and having problems with this, see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11972084/less-aggressive-compilation-with-css3-calc.
Answer: Here's a simple trick.
Let me assume that i have to fix the div with class "fixedHeader"
Simple Jquery Way:
$('.modal').scroll(function() {
     var a=$('.modal').scrollTop();
     $('.fixedHeader').css('top',a+'px');
});

CSS
.fixedHeader {
    position:fixed;
}

Whatever i have answered above is for normal bootstrap using jquery.But if someone is using angular bootstrap for the modal then
Angular
$timeout(function() {
    angular.element('.modal').scroll(function() {
        var a = angular.element('.modal').scrollTop();
        angular.element('.fixedHeader').css('top', a + 'px');
    });
}, 10);
/*Put the above in modalinstance controller*/
/*timeout is necessary as you want to run the function after the modal is loaded or sometimes it may be unable to find the class '.modal' */

CSS
.fixedHeader {
    position:fixed;
}

Make sure you have jquery dependency installed in both cases.
Answer: My solution may seem a little silly, but it details the steps I took to solve this problem for my use case.
I tried something like ritz078's answer, but what I found was that it did not work well on iOS when scrolling, since Safari likes to do things its own way.
So, my solution was to duplicate the bit of code I wanted to affix and place that duplicate code outside of the modal altogether in its own hidden wrapper:

        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

Modal title

Then I used JS to 1) make the duplicate code visible after I scroll through the modal a bit, 2) close the duplicate code whenever I click out of the modal, and 3) restore functionality to the duplicate modal's close button:
$('#myModal').on('scroll', function() {
    var threshold = 60;

    if ($('#myModal').scrollTop() > threshold) {
        $('.fixed-header').addClass('affixed');
    }
    else {
        $('.fixed-header').removeClass('affixed');
    }
});

$('#myModal').on('hide.bs.modal', function (e) {
    $('.fixed-header').removeClass('affixed');
});

$('.fixed-header button').click(function() {
    $('#myModal').modal('hide');
});

The challenge here is matching the modal's styling (particularly its width and margins), but this solution lets you scroll the modal freely on iOS without looking funky, which was my goal.
JSFiddle (forked from Jasny's answer to show how it's different in scope from his answer)
Answer: As per my comment, this was actually an improvement in Bootstrap 3.  Allowing long content and having the whole modal scroll, not just the 'content' of the modal.
You can override it with something like this, but it's not as nice functionality.
.modal {
  overflow: hidden;
}

.modal-body {
  height: 300px;
  overflow: auto;
}

Demo
Comment: Thanks, but actually I want to use this BS improvement alongside a fixed header. I'm using modals as a quick product viewer and when user select options, prices change. I want to use header to inform user of changes in final price, so they don't get surprised when ends scrolling.
Comment: You can't have a whole modal scrolling and have a fixed header on that modal. The header would have to be outside the modal.
Answer: In javascript add a class to modal:
windowClass: 'framework-modal'

In css adjust o modal-body:
.framework-modal .modal-body {
    max-height: 600px;
    overflow: auto;
}

Answer: In Body content
CSS:
body{
    overflow:hidden;
}


Filling a 200 V capacitor from a 12 V battery

Question: I understand that AED (defibrillators) use a 200 V capacitor with a small amperage. I am wondering if it is possible to fill this 200 V capacitor using a 12 V car battery? If you could, you could create the rest of the AED in a box and use any car's battery to power it. Every car on the road would be a source for an AED.
Comment: AEDs have a battery, and generate the high voltage from it.
Comment: I would go as far as saying your average AED battery on the market is using 12 V battery internally. Given their long shelf life, non rechargeable lithium should be the only option but stacking then to a 12 V configuration should be realistic.
Comment: really, no one makes a 12v AED already?
Comment: really, engineering is simple in this case compared regulatory. before you try to design/make/try/use your own make sure it's legal and safe first.
Answer: a 200 V capacitor with a small amperage
Capacitors do not have "amperage", they have "capacity".
Good capacitors (low ESR) are capable of delivering a high current (until it is discharged). How much current and how long depends on that capacity and ESR.
Sure, an AED could be built into every car. But having the 12 V available is not a sufficient reason. All houses have mains voltage, it can also be used to power an AED. The reason why we would not want to have an AED in every car is cost. The cost is not the power source, not the electronics to make 200 V from some battery voltage and also not the 200 V capacitor but the electronics needed to safely revive the patient !
Also, when you need an AED you want it right next to the patient. So an AED which can operate stand alone, I mean, no wires, uses its own power source, is much more useful. So AEDs almost without exception use non-rechargable Lithium batteries. These have a long shelf-life (hold their charge for a long time) so they will work when they're needed. You want that when people's lives depend on this. With a Lithium battery it would only need to be replaced every 5 years or so.
An AED is very rarely used so that 5 years is needed to guarantee that that battery is OK, not to power a 200 V capacitor. Charging a capacitor takes less than a minute. Do you have a camera with a flash ? Do you sometimes need to wait for the flash to charge ? There's also a 200-300 V capacitor in the camera which needs to be charged. Keeping it at 200 V all the time is not energy efficient and not needed.
Comment: According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator modern AEDs tell you what to do (no training required) and indeed stop the heart so that it can "find it's own rhythm" again. So that would mean no CPR is required. Maybe you're thinking of the Defibrillators used in ambulances, hospitals etc. I see AEDs in supermarkets these days but only shop personnel is allowed to use them. There are however models anyone should be able to use (according to the manufacturer).
Comment: Safety Note in addition to your comments... a Defibrillator does NOT "Restart" the heart.  It stops it.  Using a defibrillator actually causes a flatline, and manual (and proper) CPR is required to re-establish a heart rhythm.  Just using a defibrillator will kill someone.  They aren't toys, magical or for the untrained.
Comment: AED's only detect the defect in rhythm, and determine if they can safely provide a corrective shock to stop the defective rhythm.  CPR is still required in more than 85% of the cases.  The chances of the heart restarting from CNS oxygen starvation is between 0 and 10%, but granted, it is possible.
Answer: You just need a boost regulator capable of supplying 200V or a flyback converter capable of the same.


What do the Vedas/shastras and Hindu Texts say about disputes? Is it worth getting into any disputes?

Question: I am interested in the teachings of Hinduism. I have a lot of questions, and there are still very few answers. Disputes of different types are found at every step of life. What is the right thing to do? Help me by providing references of scriptures regarding disputes?
Comment: Assume by 'disputes' you refer to 'argumentation'. Nyaya school. One of the only books to survive to the modern era is the Bhasa Pariccheda by Visvanatha-Nyaya-Pancanana. Good introduction to Indian argumentation history and methods here - https://archive.org/details/IndianPhilosophyACriticalSurvey   also here - "A History of Indian Philosophy" by Dasgupta - https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism
Answer: In the light of Nyaya Darshana
Terms related to styles of debating,
सम्भाषाप्रकाराः

vada - Arguing for truth
Jalpa - Arguing constructively as well as destructively for victory  vitanda - merely destructive
.argument
hetvabhasa - fallacious reasons
chala - quibbling,
jati -specious and unavailing
objections
nigrahasthana vulnerable points .A Primer of Indian Logic , S Kuppuswami Sastri

Types of debates
vada

प्रमाणतर्कसाधनोपालम्भः सिद्धान्ताविरुद्धः पञ्चावयवोपपन्नः पक्षप्रतिपक्षपरिग्रहः वादः ।।१.२.१।।(Nyaya sutra 1.2.1)
Vadin and PratiVadin(opponent) support and condemn by means of proofs and reasonings - neither of which is quite opposed to the main doctrine (or thesis), and both of which are carried on in full accordance with the method of reasoning.
The principal aim of a wholesome Vada is to resolve the conflict and to establish 'what is true'

Jalpa(Dispute)

यथोक्तोपपन्नः छलजातिनिग्रहस्थानसाधनोपालम्भः जल्पः | १.२.२(Nyaya sutra 1.2.2)
Vadin is thoroughly convinced that he is absolutely right and the other (opponent – Prativadin) is hopelessly wrong. The first party to the debate is dogmatically committed to his own thesis, while the other party takes a rigid contrary position (Pratipaksha) on a given subject and sometimes, even at the cost of truth.
each discussor comes to the table with a preconceived notion that he is right and the other is wrong, the purpose of the discussion is not to discover or establish the truth but to establish one's own position or thesis, and to prove the opponent wrong and convert the other to one's own camp.Therefore, there is hardly any knowledge that gets established in these discussions.

vithanda

सः प्रतिपक्षस्थापनाहीनः वितण्डा ।।१.२.३।।[
(Nyaya sutra 1.2.2)
The contending parties in a Jalpa have a position of their own that they fight hard to defend...In Vitanda, the disputant has neither a position of his own nor is he trying to defend any specific thesis. He merely tries to derange and humiliate the other party to the debate...In Jalpa, the aim of the contenders is to make the rival accept their thesis, by whatever means...In Vitanda, the focus is to tarnish credibility for the opponent...

जल्पसाधनानि ॥ Different Means of disputation
Chala

Eg. 'The boy has "navakambala" (possessing a new blanket), the opponent can unfairly object and  say that, 'The boy is  possessing nine blankets' since 'nava' means 'new' as well as 'nine'. This is called as 'chala'.Here the connotation is exploited.

Jathi

It means an unfair reply based on a false analogy. For instance: If one argues, 'Sound is non-eternal, because it is an effect like a pot,'. Another person objects to it saying that sound must be eternal because it is incorporeal like the sky. This objection is a kind of jāti since there is no universal relation between the incorporeal and the eternal.Swami Harshananda

Hetvabhasa

For Eg. All bipeds are rational. Swans are bipeds. Hence, swans are rational.' The conclusion of this inference is false because the hetu(major premise of syllogism) given (that all bipeds are rational) is itself an ābhāsa, illusory or unreal.
Swami Harshananda

Nigrahasthana

If any party in a debat fails to understand or misunderstands his own or the other party's statement and its implication, he is brought to the point at which he has to admit defeat.
Swami Harshananda

What is the right thing to do?
Vaadha is ideal, yet ..

तत्वाध्यवसायसंरक्षणार्थ जल्पवितण्डे वीजप्ररोहसंरक्षणार्थ कण्टकशाखावरणवत्
(Nyaya Sutra 4.2.50)
Sometimes Jalpa and Vithanda  like covering of thorny branches that protect the germination of a seed,is used for the purpose of defending ones determination to get at the truth,


Is it possible for a star to orbit a planet?

Question: Is it possible for a red dwarf to orbit a gas giant?
OR
Has this happened and it is just assumed that the gas giant is orbiting the star?
Answer: Neither statement is true, just like the statement that the "Earth orbits the Sun" is not strictly speaking true.
In truth, if we are talking about a system with two masses, what happens is that they both orbit their common centre of gravity. Whether we perceive that one object orbits another is really just a question of their mass ratio. In the example shown below, the smaller, less massive object might be said to orbit the larger object and follows the red path. However, the larger object also executes a smaller circular orbit shown in green, with the same orbital period. Both objects actually orbit the centre of the picture, which is the centre of gravity of the system.
In many cases - e.g. a planet like Earth and a star like the Sun or a satellite around the Earth, the mass ratio is so small, that it does make sense to make the approximation that one object orbits another.
Answer: Pretty much by definition, no.
In order for "object A" to orbit "object B", "object B" needs to be substantially more massive than "object A".  In order for your red dwarf to orbit something, that "something" needs to be more massive than a red dwarf.  With the current composition of the universe, that "something" will be mostly hydrogen, and once you reach a certain level of mass (about 90 times that of Jupiter), you can't prevent nuclear fusion from starting.  The definition of "planet" is a bit fuzzy, but everyone agrees something lit by nuclear fusion is a star, not a planet.
This could theoretically change in the distant future, when there's enough non-hydrogen mass around for stellar-scale rocky bodies.
Comment: This answer is wrong, and should not be accepted.  The answer by Rob is correct.
Comment: There's still probably roughly a 2 Earth radii limit to rocky planets, much more than that and there is not much likelihood of it forming in an area where it doesn't attract a large amount of gas.
Answer: Well, technically, a planet and a star orbit each other. In that sense, yes. If a gas giant is orbiting a red dwarf, then the red dwarf is also orbiting the gas giant. Always.
If you quibble that it doesn't count if the star doesn't move much, I throw the quibble back by pointing to Jupiter and Sol. The barycenter of the system is outside the sun, and that means the sun's orbit is not exactly tiny. (Smaller than Jupiter's orbit, but now we're no longer talking absolutes.)
I can see how it might be possible for a gas giant to out-mass a red dwarf. The gas giant could be really a protostar, on its way to becoming a red dwarf, but not there yet. That would mean the gas giant would have to be a lot younger than the star, meaning that they formed separately and one of them captured the other.
Alternatively, the red dwarf could be a gas giant that got heated by some external source, say by a nearby normal star. -- No, scratch that. External heating would keep it from contracting, and its core would never become hot and dense enough to initiate fusion. -- Unless the red dwarf was a gas giant that swallowed a neutron star or black hole.
All pretty unlikely, but not downright impossible. And in astronomy, whatever is not prohibited is mandatory. It it can happen, it has.
Answer: Simply said if a star would orbit a planet, the planet would become the star and viceversa. Hm... never seen that. But who knows. The universe is so vast and the physics we know only covers an insignificant percent of all phenomena in the universe. You just imagined that, so in another universe this is true. It is your universe!


What does cleanliness have to do with vines in John 15?

Question: In John 15, Jesus uses the image of a vine to discuss his relationship to his Father and to the disciples. But suddenly in verse 3 he says "Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you." Then he goes on talking about the vine. Verse 3 seems like an interruption in the main thrust of the passage.
Comment: Why did you not tell us which Bible you're working with?

Why did you not trouble to Post the whole relevant passage?
Answer:
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.- John 15:2-3

From Thayers Greek Lexicon:

to cleanse, of filth impurity, etc
1a) to prune trees and vines from useless shoots
1b) metaphorically from guilt, to expiate

The word translated "clean" in the next verse is from the same root as purge.  Jesus might just as easily have said, "Now ye are purged through the word that I have spoken unto you."
It is a matter of translation word choice.  The lesser metaphor, pruning a branch for the health of the vine, pointing to the greater metaphor, cleansing a soul for the building of the Church.
Comment: Nice. I'm marking it as the answer.
Comment: I upvoted this answer but also included my own, which I had already composed for the duplicate question.
Answer: NIV and other translations tell us that the Greek for "he prunes" also means "he cleans." If we consider the context, it
seems to be the case that Jesus is not speaking about "cleaning" in the sense of washing or purification but in the sense of creating a clean vine, which has been properly pruned to ensure more efficient fruiting. Thus, many translators render "cleaned" as "pruned" here, and this does make good sense.

The above comparison of an unpruned vs. a pruned grape vine demonstrates the sense in which Jesus spoke here.
Comment: So, from both verses that would be: *and every branch that bears fruit, He **cleans** it so that it may bear more fruit.  You are already **clean** because of the word which I have spoken to you.* The words are very similar in Greek!
Answer: Consider a grape vine: the grapes of the vine must be harvested (purgeth, from verse 2) in order for more grapes to be able to grow.  He is telling His disciples that they too have been harvested "through the word which I have spoken unto you", and unless they follow what He has spoken to them, they will not be able to produce any additional "fruit".  Out with the old to make room for the new, so to speak.
John 15:1-5

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Comment: +1 for introducing *harvesting*; I've never seen that from any others before. IMHO "clean" is about the "take", not the "prune". But, "harvesting" is relevant and very much implied, even while not direct. Great insight!
Comment: Yeah, glad to have you join our site! The issue with finding which definition is to ask what context the word is used in. That is part of careful, objective hermeneutics that we never perfect.
Comment: @Jesse Your encouragement is most refreshing!
Comment: @Jesse Thanks very much!  I had to double check after other answers appeared, but "expiate" (or, 'purge' as is also a definition) does make it qualify I believe.  Thanks again for the kind words!
Answer: This is a likely reference back to both "He takes away" and "prune" from v2. So, both verses in context:
John 15:2-3 (NASB emphasis added)

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Prunes & Clean
...We could be looking at a translation inconsistency with prune and clean:

prune (v2 kathairei/καθαίρει, verb, Strong's 2508)
clean (v3 katharoi/καθαροὶ, adjective, Strong's 2513)

If we translated both as "clean", we would get this...

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

...or...

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already pruned because of the word which I have spoken to you.

...while different to us in English, to the disciples in Greek, both English translations would have both sounded much the same and carried almost the same meaning.
Takes & Clean
If clean (v3) points to prune (v2), then the next question is whether takes (v2) implies punishment. But, that is not addressed until v6...
John 15:6 (NASB)

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

..."branches" not abiding in the vine are not vine branches at all! They are invasive weeds, which Jesus talks about elsewhere in the parable of weeds (Mt 13:24-43).
"Branches not abiding in the vine [because they are weeds]" could actually explain the debated meaning of the wedding guest who arrived without wedding clothes and was thus cast out (Mt 22:11-13). What on earth is a non-grape-vine branch doing on top of a real grape vine!? Probably the same thing a so-called "wedding guest" is doing at a wedding without the free clothes provided by the wedding: burglary or such mischief.
Clean: Taken & Pruned
This gives us three types of branches:

Vine branches not bearing fruit: taken (v2, for health)
Vine branches bearing fruit: pruned (v2, for more growth)
Non-vine branches: gathered and burned (v6, for burning)

1 & 2 from v2 become clean in v3.
Number 3 is not a reference to number 1, as we could think reading in English. So, "burning" of v6 is not "clean" of v3 contrasting in v2. No, "clean" in v3 is discussing something good about v2, which has no burning.
So, in all likelihood, v3 "you are already clean" probably means the disciples had already gone through any stages of "take" or "prune" from v2.
From the Believer's Bible Commentary1

John 15:2 ...Exactly what the Lord does to the unfruitful branch depends on how the Greek verb airo is translated. It can mean "takes away" as in the King James tradition (also translated that way in John 1:29). Then it would refer to the discipline of physical death (1 Cor. 11:30). However, the same word may mean "lifts up" (as in John 8:59). Then it would be the positive ministry of encouraging the fruitless branch by making it easier to get light and air, and hopefully, to bear fruit.
...Even such vines need to be pruned or cleansed. Just as a real vine must be cleaned from insects, mildew, and fungus, so a Christian must be cleansed from worldly things that cling to him.
John 15:3 ...Just as the Savior had been talking to them, His Word had had a purifying effect on their lives. Thus, this verse may refer to justification and sanctification.

Since "takes" (airó/αἴρω, Strong's 142) can mean have either a positive or destructive meaning, v3 clarifies that "takes" carries the positive "for cleansing purposes" variety of meaning.
That's why we have "clean" (katharos/καθαρός, Strong's 2513) in v3.
This is another commentary giving teaching this as encouragement and good thing...
From BibleRef.com:

Jesus inserts this comment to clarify the "dead branches" reference: it is not to Christians somehow losing salvation or falling into damnation. Jesus is explicitly reassuring the disciples that they are not among the dead branches.

1. MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer's Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.; p. 1549). Thomas Nelson.
Comment: Note the English cognate, [catharsis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis).
Answer: Verse 3 may seem like a detour from the conversation about the vine and branches, but it's actually very much connected (like the branches).
Jesus uses the metaphor of the vine and branches to illustrate intimate relationship between himself (the vine) and his disciples (the branches). Jesus focused on what the disciples needed which was to remain connected to Himself to bear fruit.

3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

These words are not an interruption but rather an integral part of the message.
Jesus is not speaking about physical hygiene. That would be rather funny here. Rather, He was talking about spiritual purity. Jesus is saying that the disciples have already been cleansed through His teaching (the word) and the truth He has imparted to them.
Later in John 17:17 we read: New King James Version

17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

We also read in Ephesians 5:26 New King James Version

26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water
by the word,

The idea of spiritual cleansing through the word of God is consistent with other teachings in the New Testament. By abiding in Jesus's words, the disciples are made spiritually clean and equipped for fruitful service in God's kingdom.


What exactly is temporary worker?

Question: I can't find a definition for this word, but aren't all workers technically temporary? Do English speakers use this word often or another word that has a similar definition?
Comment: No, all workers are not temporary. A temporary one would be employed on the understanding that it was only for a short period.
Comment: It is a common phrase among English speakers in the USA, well, common when you're discussing employees and hiring decisions. It's a convention. Yes, all employees are temporary -- nobody works forever, but people don't like to be reminded of that, I suppose. :)
Comment: In the UK a 'permanent' job is one where you can probably stay until you reach retirement age, and a temporary job is one where you know the date you will finish (for example three months after starting). Of course nothing is truly permanent (we don't live for ever), and you can lose a 'permanent' job if you are fired for a legal reason, or the company fails.
Answer: If you want to see this word in the dictionary here it is.
https://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=temporary
Unfortunately, it is not a term that is registered in the dictionary. However, it did come up in this translation from Spanish, with a definition in English (look below to see the alternatives.

Employment on short-term contract
Temporary job
Temp job
Temporary employee

Are all used to refer to these. It specifically means, that a person who is only hired to do a job for a shorter than normal period of time. For example, when someone is ill and have to take a couple of weeks off work, the person who takes their place would be a temporary employee.
Comment: Often, a "temporary worker" (or a "temp", colloquially) is not even an employee of the company that needs the work done.  They work for a "temp agency" that hires them out to the company that needs the "temp work" to be done.

What exactly is temporary worker?


Wordpress: how to debug a 404?

Question: I've a category with actually 30 articles.
when switching from page 2 to 3 i got a 404 !
It's setyup for 10 articles per page. so at page 3 there are really items to display.
If I remove an article, page 3 goes well
If I add an article, tot 31, page 3 works and also new page 4 works well
I cannot undeerstand what's the problem. And of course I need help to understand how to debug, I've no idea of internal routing strategy of wordpress, so I don't know which php file inspect ..
Answer: I am not quite sure I understand the details, but in general: the way I would do it is change the URL scheme of WordPress and remove URL rewriting
(Set "ugly" links:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks
)
Then go to your database and see if the pages you're trying to access actually exist (the table is called wp-posts, compare the id field to what you get in the GET variable p).
Answer: The code you're looking for is likely in the category.php file.  Or at least that's the start of the codepath you should be digging through.  If you're getting a 404, my guess is that the paging functions are not setting up the URL correctly. When looking through the links to different pages in this category, is one of them noticeably different (in structure) from the others?
Answer: This won't answer the OP's original pagination problem, but it might help someone with a 404 caused by something else. In my case, I had added a new taxonomy to a custom post type, and while I could see the archive page in development (actually taxonomy.php was being called in the back-end), I was getting a 404 in production.
The fix was simple: I just needed to update the permalink settings. I didn't actually need to change them; I just needed to visit the permalink page and press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. I think this regenerates something internally in WordPress. My taxonomy pages now show in production as they did in development.

Wordpress: how to debug a 404?


Replacing Schwinn Rim spokes

Question: I need to replace my rim spokes for Schwinn 28" men and women's bikes which size do I order? and where can I order them? thanks
Comment: Also, replacing spokes (especially if you're replacing a lot of them) requires quite a lot of skill and knowledge. I'm not trying to insult you but I think it might be beyond the level you're at, based on the way you asked your question. It might be best to take your bike into a bike shop for this repair.
Comment: @DavidRicherby: It may be cheaper to buy a new wheelset or depending on the price of the bike (BSO?) it may even be cheaper to buy a whole new bike Than having a wheel rebuilt since it's highly skilled work.
Comment: As I understand it, it depends on many variables: how the spokes are arranged, how deep the rims are and so on. So I don't think it's possible to answer your question without much more information, beyond saying to measure the spokes you have (there may be multiple lengths) and order those. Specific shopping recommendations are off-topic here.
Comment: You need to measure the existing spokes.  There used to be some decent "spoke finder" apps on the web, but haven't seen one in about 10 years.
Comment: The lazy way is to take out one of the unbroken spokes, and measure it.   If you can't measure it, take the unbroken spoke to a LBS and ask for "one of these please" or however many you need.
Answer: The easiest way to find the correct length is to measure the existing spokes. Note that the front and rear typically use different lengths and rear has different lengths on left and right side. If there is a disc brake in front, the different sides may have different lengths too. The nipple threads are usually same size, but the middle of the spoke may be thinner, again the easiest way is to use a vernier caliper to measure the thickness.
Shopping questions are frowned upon here, so I'll just leave a hint that spokes are available in most specialized bicycle stores, both online and brick and mortar. You can sure find one.
Replacing the spokes is not very advanced skill but takes some patience at first. There are many instructions online, read at least one set before doing anything and decide whether this is something you want to attempt.

Replacing Schwinn Rim spokes


Are there non-magical utility arrows?

Question: I come from playing Pathfinder, which has a laundry list of mundane arrow varieties you can stick in your quiver. Is there an equivalent list of arrows in 5E? If so, where can I find it?
Answer: There are 2 types of "special," non-magical arrows in the core rules: silver arrows and adamantine arrows. These arrows overcome the damage resistance and/or damage immunity of the target. (Arrows aren't special here, the above is true for daggers, etc.)
There's no list, exactly, but here is where you'd find them:
Silvered weapons are described p. 148 of the Players Handbook. Silvered weapons are expensive but generally available.
Adamantine isn't mentioned in the Players Handbook, and there's no "set price" for them. Although Adamantine Armor is a magic item, the (DM Guide, p 150) the Monster Manual mentions "nonmagical weapons that aren't adamantine" (MM, p. 140, etc.) in several places. It's left to the DM as to how these might be acquired.
There are no other special arrows, like whistling arrows, etc., specified in the core rules. (But the rules don't exclude them either, so as ever, talk to your DM.)
Update: Xanathar's Guide to Everything, published since this answer was edited, lists a price for adamantine weapons as 500GP + the value of the normal item.

The adamantine version of a melee weapon, or of ten pieces of ammunition costs, 500 gp more than the normal version, whether the weapon or ammunition is made of the metal or coated with it.(page 75)
Comment: Here's the D&D Beyond link, for reference: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/xgte/dungeon-masters-tools#AdamantineWeapons
Answer: The simple answer is no. 5e ranged weapons use standardized ammunition varieties by default, meaning there is one "arrow" under the ammunition category, the damage and range of which is entirely dependent on the bow from which it is fired. Arrow variants designed for utility would need to be improvised.
Answer: If you use a poison vial, you can apply poison to your arrows.
If you fight something with paralysis or other types of stuff like that from naturally occurring fluids on the animal/monster you could augment some of your arrows if you are proficient with a poisoner's kit, though you'd have extract and store the liquid and make the vials in your downtime. Also if you fail to extract the poison safely you get poisoned.
This post has more on Poisoner's Kit:
How does crafting poisons work?
Answer: There are none already in D&D 5e, so adding these kinds of arrows is at the DM's discretion. (This freedom to invent things is why I find RPGs so much fun.)
Talk to your DM and agree on something that works for your group. In our own game I argued that a high-end armory might sell a bodkin arrow (made to pierce plate armor).  We agreed on 1 gold per arrow (vs. the 1 gold for 20 normal arrows listed in the PHB), and each arrow has +1 to hit against armored or naturally armored foes.  Not completely overpowered, but still a useful, if potentially expensive, option.
Comment: I modified this post a bit to highlight what seemed to be the answer part of the post, since otherwise it could easily be read as being merely an tangential anecdote. Since this is a Q&A site, it's important for posts to clearly answer the question. I added some things that it only implied before, slightly adjusted the order to emphasise the answer part, and explicitly framed the anecdote as an example of using your answer with your group. Please look over the end result and let me know if I've added any errors. Thanks!

Are there non-magical utility arrows?


Find file in directory from command line

Question: In editors/ides such as eclipse and textmate, there are shortcuts to quickly find a particular file in a project directory.
Is there a similar tool to do full path completion on filenames within a directory (recursively), in bash or other shell?
I have projects with alot of directories, and deep ones at that (sigh, java).
Hitting tab in the shell only cycles thru files in the immediate directory, thats not enough =/
Comment: Possible duplicate of [How do I find all files containing specific text on Linux?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16956810/how-do-i-find-all-files-containing-specific-text-on-linux)
Answer: find /root/directory/to/search -name 'filename.*'
# Directory is optional (defaults to cwd)

Standard UNIX globbing is supported.  See man find for more information.
If you're using Vim, you can use:
:e **/filename.cpp

Or :tabn or any Vim command which accepts a filename.
Comment: Is there anyway to do this in the current directory without typing it out all the way?
Comment: Here's an attempt at making an alias out of it for searching current directory `alias ff="find . -name "`. Usage: `ff Rand*` `ff exactname.c`, etc.
Comment: @Bryan Oakley, Thanks for the edit, but it overwrote my addition about Vim!  I reworded the directory argument in my answer.  Thanks.
Comment: Thanks for the vim tip. That's one useful I still didn't know :P
Answer: If you're looking to do something with a list of files, you can use find combined with the bash $() construct (better than backticks since it's allowed to nest).
for example, say you're at the top level of your project directory and you want a list of all C files starting with "btree". The command:
find . -type f -name 'btree*.c'

will return a list of them. But this doesn't really help with doing something with them.
So, let's further assume you want to search all those file for the string "ERROR" or edit them all. You can execute one of:
grep ERROR $(find . -type f -name 'btree*.c')
vi $(find . -type f -name 'btree*.c')

to do this.
Answer: I use ls -R, piped to grep like this:
$ ls -R | grep -i "pattern"

where -R means recursively list all the files, and -i means case-insensitive. Finally, the patter could be something like this: "std*.h" or "^io" (anything that starts with "io" in the file name)
Answer: When I was in the UNIX world (using tcsh (sigh...)), I used to have all sorts of "find" aliases/scripts setup for searching for files.  I think the default "find" syntax is a little clunky, so I used to have aliases/scripts to pipe "find . -print" into grep, which allows you to use regular expressions for searching:
# finds all .java files starting in current directory
find . -print | grep '\.java'

#finds all .java files whose name contains "Message"
find . -print | grep '.*Message.*\.java'

Of course, the above examples can be done with plain-old find, but if you have a more specific search, grep can help quite a bit.  This works pretty well, unless "find . -print" has too many directories to recurse through... then it gets pretty slow.  (for example, you wouldn't want to do this starting in root "/")
Answer: I use this script to quickly find files across directories in a project.  I have found it works great and takes advantage of Vim's autocomplete by opening up and closing an new buffer for the search.  It also smartly completes as much as possible for you so you can usually just type a character or two and open the file across any directory in your project.  I started using it specifically because of a Java project and it has saved me a lot of time.  You just build the cache once when you start your editing session by typing :FC (directory names).  You can also just use . to get the current directory and all subdirectories.  After that you just type :FF (or FS to open up a new split) and it will open up a new buffer to select the file you want.  After you select the file the temp buffer closes and you are inside the requested file and can start editing.  In addition, here is another link on Stack Overflow that may help.
Answer: http://content.hccfl.edu/pollock/Unix/FindCmd.htm
The linux/unix "find" command.
Answer: Yes, bash has filename completion mechanisms.  I don't use them myself (too lazy to learn, and I don't find it necessary often enough to make it urgent), but the basic mechanism is to type the first few characters, and then a tab; this will extend the name as far as it can (perhaps not at all) as long as the name is unambiguous.  There are a boatload of Emacs-style commands related to completion in the good ol' man page.
Answer: locate <file_pattern>
*** find will certainly work, and can target specific directories. However, this command is slower than the locate command. On a Linux OS, each morning a database is constructed that contains a list of all directory and files, and the locate command efficiently searches this database, so if you want to do a search for files that weren't created today, this would be the fastest way to accomplish such a task.


Are there closed curves for which acceleration is orthogonal to position?

Question: Can we find $\vec{f} : \mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^3 $ such that $\vec{f}(t) \cdot \frac{d^2 \vec{f}(t)}{dt^2} =0$ and $\vec{f}(0) = \vec{f}(T)$ for some $T >0$ ? Exclude the trivial cases. I want $\frac{d \vec{f}}{dt} \neq 0$ for some part of the trajectory.
Answer: Define $$x(t) = C_1e^t\cos t + C_2e^t\sin t + C_3e^{-t}\cos t + C_4e^{-t}\sin t$$ and $$y(t) = C_2e^t\cos t - C_1e^t\sin t - C_4e^{-t}\cos t + C_3e^{-t}\sin t$$ for some constants $C_1,C_2,C_3,C_4 \in \mathbb{R}$.
Differentiating twice yields $$x''(t) = -2C_1e^t\sin t + 2C_2e^t\cos t + 2C_3e^{-t}\sin t - 2C_4e^{-t}\cos t = 2y(t)$$ and $$y''(t) = -2C_2e^t\sin t - 2C_1e^t\cos t - 2C_4e^{-t}\sin t - 2C_3e^{-t}\cos t = -2x(t)$$
So if we set $f(t) = \begin{bmatrix}x(t)\\y(t)\\0\end{bmatrix}$, then $f''(t) = \begin{bmatrix}2y(t)\\-2x(t)\\0\end{bmatrix}$, and thus, $f(t) \cdot f''(t) = 0$, as desired.
If we pick $C_1 = 1$, $C_2 = 1$, $C_3 = -e^{\pi}$, and $C_4 = e^{\pi}$, we have $x(0) = x(\pi)$ and $y(0) = y(\pi)$. Then, $f(0) = f(\pi)$, as needed.
Finally, it is easy to see that $f'(t) \neq 0$ for most values of $t$.
Comment: ^No there is not. Note that $\dfrac{d^2}{dt^2}[\|f\|^2] = \dfrac{d^2}{dt^2}[f \cdot f] = 2f \cdot f'' + 2 f' \cdot f' = 2\|f'\|^2 \ge 0$. Hence, $\|f(t)\|^2$ is concave up with respect to $t$, and thus, $f(t)$ can only attain any particular value for two values of $t$. (Unless of course $f' \equiv 0$, which is a trivial case).
Comment: Thanks, but now I'm wondering if there is a smooth periodic motion that satisfies all the criteria as well. That is, $f^{(n)}(0) = f^{(n)}(T)$ for all positive integer $n$.


Can the President of the United States actively invest in the stock market?

Question: Can the President of the United States actively invest in the stock market? While I have heard of people often divesting in order to show that they wont profit from the fact they have insider information within the government, I see a lot of politicians still somehow owning stocks and profiteering from their positions within the government, so I would like to know if it is possible for a President to do so politically and legally speaking.
Comment: Related: [Can the president of the United States be guilty of insider trading?](https://politics.stackexchange.com/q/41302/19301)
Answer: Previous presidents have been obliged to put their investments into blind or at least arms-length trusts. The legal discussion around this centers on the "foreign emoulements clause":

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State

and constitutional rules on Presidential compensation:

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them

The paper notes that there are active lawsuits on this question. So it seems that the legal position is "pending decision by the courts", and the political question at the moment seems to be "yes", in that the President's party are unwilling to criticize or take action against it.
Comment: Previous President have voluntarily put their assets out of reach ( blind trusts), they are not required to do so by law.
Answer: Generally, every elected member of the government is expected to put their investment portfolios in blind trusts, so that they cannot actively profit from their position.
But, emoluments aside, requiring it would be a qualification for office in excess of those stipulated in Art. I & Art. II, and would be unenforceable.
It is a norm, though. And usually, public expectation, like revealing historical tax returns, for the sake of getting voters to support you, is enough.


If a foe's perception check beats your stealth check, do you still get CA against them?

Question: If a character is stealthing, let's say in total concealment, and its target perceives it by beating its stealth roll, then does the stealthing character have CA against the target?
Answer: No
You gain CA against a foe (via stealth) by being hidden from it.
From the Rules Compendium, page152, Stealth:

Opposed Check: Against the passive Perception of each target creature present. ...
Success: The creature becomes hidden from the target.

If you don't win the opposed check, you're not hidden. If you're not hidden, you don't get combat advantage.
Comment: If you are invisible you have [total concealment](http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/glossary.aspx?id=151). The RAW are: "Total Concealment (-5 Penalty to Attack Rolls): An attacker takes a -5 penalty to melee and ranged attack rolls against a target that has total concealment. The attacker can't see the target: It is invisible, in a totally obscured square, or in a heavily obscured square and not adjacent to the attacker." The important thing to note is the _or_ in that last sentence. Total Concealment does not equal invisibility, but invisibility does equal total concealment.
Comment: I completely agree.  The issue that arises is when 4e gets all wacky in its verbiage.  They say total concealment equals invisible somewhere and that invisible means you get CA.  Folks get confused that even if a foe is invisible if you roll perception and despite all those minuses you perceive them, you get no CA.  Incidentally, there is another issue that arises from your answer.  The unnecessary addition of the passive perception.  Either active or passive perception may be used and in either case if the perception score beats the stealth score the target is no longer hidden and has no CA.
Comment: Oooo Madrius that is a helpful distinction.  TY
Comment: glad to be of help!


LinqToSql - .Contains on multi-column primary key from an in-memory list containing the primary keys

Question: On a client i have an anonymous list containing a multi-column primary key previously selected from the DB.
Then i need to select all the records from the DB that equals the primary key list i have stored in the memory.
I think the below (simplified) example will give you an idea of what i am trying to archive and as you can see i already found a way, but i was hoping somebody had a better solution? :-)
.NET example:
Sub findKeys()
    Dim clientLst As New List(Of PriKeys)
    clientLst.Add(New PriKeys With {.p = 1, .i = 2})
    clientLst.Add(New PriKeys With {.p = 3, .i = 1})
    Using DC As New LTSQDataContext
        Dim p_lst = clientLst.Select(Function(x) x.p).ToList
        Dim i_lst = clientLst.Select(Function(x) x.i).ToList
        Dim concLst As New List(Of String) ' used for example 2/3
        clientLst.ForEach(Sub(v) concLst.Add(v.p & "|" & v.i))

        '1:  Wrong - returns row 1,1 (just had to try)
        Dim try1 = (From q In DC.TestTbl1s
                    Where p_lst.Contains(q.p) AndAlso i_lst.Contains(q.i)
                    Select q.p, q.i).ToList

        '2: Works! - but extremely slow as you can imagine
        Dim try2 = (From q In DC.TestTbl1s
                    Where concLst.Contains(q.p & "|" & q.i)
                    Select q).ToList

        '3: Works! - much faster that example 2, but requires double DB call, and returns unnecessary data.
        Dim try3tmp = (From q In DC.TestTbl1s
                    Where p_lst.Contains(q.p)
                    Select q).ToList
        Dim try3 = (From q In try3tmp
                    Where concLst.Contains(q.p & "|" & q.i)
                   Select q).ToList

        '4: Any better solutions ???
    End Using
End Sub
Class PriKeys   'Class to hold the clients primary key collection
    Private _p As Integer
    Public Property p() As Integer
        Get
            Return _p
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _p = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private _i As Integer
    Public Property i() As Integer
        Get
            Return _i
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _i = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

SQL test data:
CREATE TABLE TestTbl1 (p int, i int)
INSERT INTO TestTbl1 VALUES(1,1)
INSERT INTO TestTbl1 VALUES(1,2)
INSERT INTO TestTbl1 VALUES(1,3)
INSERT INTO TestTbl1 VALUES(2,1)
INSERT INTO TestTbl1 VALUES(3,1)

(i apologize if an SO solution for this particular issue has been posted, i just couldn't find it/or understand it)
Answer: When I've had dynamic where statements like this I've used LINQkit with great success.
http://www.albahari.com/nutshell/linqkit.aspx
You want to check out the predicate builder.


Debian and LDAP for sudo

Question: I'm on debian and want sudo to use ldap instead of /etc/sudoers.  Anyone have exprience doing this?
Answer: Modern sudo has the ability to use ldap.  In my opinion, this is clunky and failureprone, but that's just my experience.  http://www.gratisoft.us/sudo/readme_ldap.html
I definitely prefer to use netgroups to expand local sudo configs instead of relying completely on ldap.  My rule of thumb is, if it's necessary to run the server, it should be local.  Only nonvital user accounts, etc go in ldap/nis/whatnot.
Comment: +1 for distinguishing between vital and non-vital accounts.
Answer: I don't think this is failureprone since you can have a local backup sudoers file, so even if your LDAP server is down you can still use SUDO on it to maintain it and so admins can restore the connexion to the LDAP server.
It is very simple to do, and you will prefer having one centralized sudoers file rather than many local sudoers when you have something like more 100 servers to manage.
In addition look at this, extract from the sudo website :
Using LDAP for sudoers has several benefits:

Sudo no longer needs to read sudoers in its entirety. When LDAP is used, there are only two or three LDAP queries per invocation. This makes it especially fast and particularly usable in LDAP environments.
Sudo no longer exits if there is a typo in sudoers. It is not possible to load LDAP data into the server that does not conform to the sudoers schema, so proper syntax is guaranteed. It is still possible to have typos in a user or host name, but this will not prevent sudo from running.
It is possible to specify per-entry options that override the global default options. /etc/sudoers only supports default options and limited options associated with user/host/commands/aliases. The syntax is complicated and can be difficult for users to understand. Placing the options directly in the entry is more natural.
The visudo program is no longer needed. visudo provides locking and syntax checking of the /etc/sudoers file. Since LDAP updates are atomic, locking is no longer necessary. Because syntax is checked when the data is inserted into LDAP, there is no need for a specialized tool to check syntax.
Answer: I was able to compile sudo with the option <code>--with-ldap</code> that allows it to use an LDAP directory. sudo source comes with a schema that can be loaded into LDAP and allow it to use the directory instead of /etc/sudoers
Answer: I presume you mean to say that sudo should use ldap ;)
Easiest way to do this is to grant sudo to a group via /etc/sudoers, and then control the membership of that group via ldap.
Comment: While that is one way to do it, I believe Joe was asking about how to have the sudoers file be in LDAP instead of read from the filesystem.
Comment: I put the LDAP (active directory) user or group in the sudoers file and it works well for me.  I don't think there is a straight forward way to get the sudoers functionality into the LDAP in a useable manner.
Answer: We tried putting sudoers in ldap, but found the easiest way to manage sudo (and access controls) was to combine ldap group membership with a centralized config management tool which could push acl and sudoers files to a server or groups of servers.
We use pam_access to control access to servers, and puppet to distribute files and enforce acls, but there are other config management tools like cfengine which would also work.

Debian and LDAP for sudo


Does the Baco Code require double 5/8 on the ceiling in a garage when there is living space above?

Question: Does the Baco code require double 5/8" 0n the garage ceiling when there is a living space above ?
Comment: Unless you're installing sheetrock in a [nuclear reactor](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996JNuM..229..155M/abstract), what is Baco Code?  What's your location?
Comment: I thought it was required on the walls but thicker on the ceiling , but it is required to isolate a living space from a garage.
Comment: Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Unfortunately, we'll need more info before we have any chance of helping you. Please [take our tour](//diy.stackexchange.com/tour) so you'll know how best to participate here.
Comment: 5/8 what, and what jPhi1618 said, what is Baco ?
Comment: Check with local code enforcement cuz guess what, in a city near me you would have to install *automatic fire sprinklers* in the garage.
Answer: In residential construction up through duplexes, 1-hour Fire rating (1 layer) is required on the garage side of the ceiling and walls when there is a living space on the other side.
When you have 3 units or more, then you MAY need 2 layers, depending on the size of the complex and type of construction.
For ceilings in 1 and 2 unit residential units: 1 layer installed on 2x lumber and/or I-joists correctly gives you "1-hour" construction. In order to obtain the "1-hour" designation 5/8" type-X gypsum board must be installed on joists at 24" on center (max.) fastened with Type W or S drywall screws at 12" on center along all supports, and then "rough" taped. (See ICC Table 721.1(3), item 21.)
Answer: I'm sure that you mean BOCA (Building Officials Code Administrators) rather than Baco. But I'm also sure that you probably need to adhere to the IBC (International Building Code)
You need (1) layer of 5/8" drywall and it needs to be mudded and taped to get the needed fire rating
Answer: I have never seen local code in my life requiring a double sheet of dry or more than 5/8".   Period.
To second this due to the weight of the 5/8" drywall there would be some innate issues installing it over the top of another 5/8" sheet.   It could be done but your screws not having framing for the first 5/8" is a recipe for failure.   So either this is the weirdest city in America or you are reading code wrong.
Note:  It is very normal to require 5/8" drywall on all adjoining walls.   Which means your ceiling would need to abide.
Comment: There are floor ceilings in the UL fire resistance database that use multiple layers of Type X or C...I'd look at those if you want an idea of how such a thing is done
Comment: @ThreePhaseEel - Are we talking residential?   This is a Home Improvement site.
Comment: Nothing says you *can't* use such an assembly in residential work (although it's far more common to see that level of detailing in multifamily)
Comment: @ThreePhaseEel - My point is that code doesn't exist in residential.   I am not saying you cannot stack drywall - I do it all the time.   I am saying if you do you are making it weaker especially ceilings.


Globbing vs wildcards

Question: What is the difference between globbing and wildcards, are they two terms for the same thing, or are they different?
Answer: Glob is an alternate name for "Pathname Expansion" as described in the dash (sh) or bash manual (ksh calls it "Filename Expansion"). It is clearly defined in the manuals.

After word splitting, unless the -f option has been set, bash scans each word for the characters *, ?, and [.  If  one of  these  characters appears, then the word is regarded as a pattern, and replaced with an alphabetically sorted list of filenames matching the pattern

Wildcard is a term for the same concept (one character is used as a pattern standing for several posible characters) but it is not so clearly defined. Wildcard characters are * and ? used in globbing.

An asterisk (``*'') matches any string of characters.  A question mark matches any single character.
Answer: Globbing is a practice of using wildcard characters like '*', '?', and '$', to trigger pathname expansion. Also, have a look at the Linux man page for globbing.
It is usually safe to assume that the shell environment you're working with supports globbing. Unless you're using FTP, or old style DOS, or some kind of shell that doesn't support pathname or Filename expansion. However, those wildcard characters ('[' is a wildcard in Linux) may have different meanings or operations in different contexts.
Comment: What is `$` in pathname expansion ?
Comment: DOS's shell, or CMD shell doesn't have to support globbing. The commands support them e.g. `DIR *.*`

Globbing vs wildcards


Variation of pressure of fluid in motion

Question: As we all know that for a static fluid, pressure increases as we go down from its free surface. What about fluid in motion?
Suppose I eject a jet of water in the air, parallel to the surface of the earth(assumed to be perfectly flat). Neglect the bending of water jet in the vertical direction as it flows in the flat direction. I am interested to know the variation of pressure along y direction. Is it same as that for a static fluid? Or something different? If someone can give me some hint or solve the problem explicitly it wolud be of much help.
Comment: It is atmospheric pressure.  You can't neglect the bending of the water jet because the downward acceleration balances the gravitational force, so that the jet is essentially in free fall.
Answer: Water in free fall has no pressure of it's own(neglecting air resistance). It takes the force of gravity pressing the water down against a "bottom" to create greater pressure with depth. Accelerating a glass of water upward will increase the pressure at the bottom, accelerating it downward will lower the pressure, just as we feel heavier or lighter on an accelerating elevator.


Freezing traditional Greek dishes

Question: I cook many authetic Greek dishes for Greek Easter. This year I have very little time to prepare. Can I make dishes like Moussaka, Dolmades, Spanakopita in advance and freeze them?
Comment: Moussaka and Spanakopita freeze like a charm; dolmades, hmm, not certain (because of the grape leaves)
Answer: Moussaka freezes fine, some would say it improves the flavor, and shouldn't damage the texture.
Spanakopita I would not freeze whole, you will likely lose all the crispness and texture from the pastry. You could make the filling in advance though, and then put the pastry on the thawed filling on the day and bake it. Just be sure the filling is completely thawed, and getting close to room temperature. Also, freezing may force water out of the filling, drain it out before you bake or it could get soggy.
Dolmades I'm not sure, I would expect they'd freeze fine, although you may get some sogginess. I'll defer this to another answer.
Comment: I worked at a Greek restaurant where we rolled the dolmades and froze them raw, then cooked them off a couple times a day. They froze fine.
Comment: It also occurs to me that we did the spanakopita ahead of time too. We did individual portions, baked them very light, and then crisped them in a convection oven to serve.
Comment: You can actually buy frozen spanakopita, too, so it must be possible!
Answer: I have put cooked Dolmades in the freezer on three different occasions because they are time consuming and I create a large batch each time. They need to be wrapped tight anyway and they came out just right. I heat them in the oven and once had left over (also frozen)  egg lemon soup (afgolemono) another time just some additional lemon water and another left over chicken boulian gravy. Idea is to serve them moist and not dry.In fact I think I will try microwaving them in future.
Answer: Today I made 6 dozen beef/lamb/rice dolmades cooked in beef broth/oliveoil and lemon juice. I placed waxed paper on a large baking tray, laid out dolmades to freeze and when frozen the next day, zip lock them loosely and put back in freezer. When wanting whatever number, remove individually frozen dolmades, thaw and enjoy . Works every time :)

Freezing traditional Greek dishes


Could the Sorcerer's Stone have extended Dumbledore's life in The Half-Blood Prince if it was not destroyed?

Question: When Dumbledore was cursed with Marvolo Gaunt's ring, could he have extended his one-year timer until death with the Sorcerer Stone if it was never destroyed in the first book?  Could he have lived longer? Could the power of the Elixir of Life have trumped the power of the curse on Marvolo Gaunt's Ring?
Comment: https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1699/are-questions-without-enough-data-unanswerable https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3014/should-all-questions-without-explicit-canon-answers-be-closed https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/11273/what-do-we-do-with-this-question-that-doesnt-have-a-current-answer https://scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/11329/are-answers-that-state-we-dont-know-acceptable
Answer: There's a line from Firenze in the first book that implies that Voldemort drinking from the Elixir of Life would bring him back to full strength and undo the curse from drinking unicorn blood.

"The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
Harry stared at the back of Firenze's head, which was dappled silver in the moonlight. "But who'd be that desperate?" he wondered aloud. "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"
"It is," Firenze agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else — something that will bring you back to full strength and power — something that will mean you can never die." (The Forbidden Forest)

There's obviously no canon answer to your specific question, but I think the implication is the Elixir would basically return you to full health even after an extremely nasty curse.
Also note how Firenze phrases it-- that you can NEVER die. Every indication from the books is that the Philosopher's Stone (or more accurately, the Elixir of Life) grants immortality, not just eternal youth.

The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it." (Nicolas Flamel)
"You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want!" (The Man With Two Faces)

That could be just be clunky writing from JK, but the implication I'm getting is that the Elixir of Life is closer to something like the river in Tuck Everlasting, which prevents death by any means at all.
So the answer appears to be that yes, the Elixir would have saved Dumbledore's life at least temporarily. But I think we also get ample evidence from the books that he never would have done so even if he had the chance.
Comment: Oddly, after the stone is destroyed, Dumbledore mentions how Flamel will now eventually die.  It's written something like " Flamel ensured he had enough remaining elixir to set his affairs in order before he and his wife would ultimately die, a fate with which they were quite content."  This suggests that the elixir will only keep you alive as long as you're drinking it.
Answer: The Stone had already been destroyed.

"As for the Stone, it has been destroyed."
  "Destroyed?" said Harry blankly.
(Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 17, The Man With Two Faces).

Nicolas Flamel was the only known creator of a Philosopher's Stone.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"
(Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 13, Nicolas Flamel).

Since Flamel was dead by the time Dumbledore's hand was affected by the Horcrux curse using a Philosopher's Stone was not an option. The only Stone had already been destroyed.
According to the timeline of the story, therefore, Dumbledore using a Philosopher's Stone to fight the Horcrux curse isn't possible. What would've happened in a what-if scenario is impossible to say.
Comment: Where is it given that Flamel was dead by the sixth book?
Comment: @cst1992 He dies at the end of book one when his Elixir of Life runs out (due to the Stone being destroyed).
Comment: That's what I'm saying. Is it possible to know if his stored Elixir is only upto the end of the first book?


Prevent extensions from logging to the Chrome console

Question: Is there a way to prevent Chrome extensions from logging to the Chrome console?
I have a number of extensions installed (Vimium, Stay Focusd, etc.) which all log their loading of JS assets as XHRs in the Chrome console. This makes it difficult to see what the page I am visiting itself is doing. As I use Chrome for debugging mostly, logs from installed extensions are rather interfering than helpful.
Answer: Try setting <code>-scheme:chrome-extension</code> as the filter in the network tab
example


Asking About Expressing Oneself Better

Question: Is it off topic to ask how to learn to express oneself in a near fluent manner without visiting a predominantly German-speaking country? I do believe it's possible. Browsing this website daily would be one invaluable resource for doing so.
Answer: Asking for an idiomatic expression for writing or talking is one of the finer points we love to see discussed here on German Language.
So, yes, I strongly believe that any such question is on topic as long as it meets other criteria we had defined (e.g. one question - one answer, enough context provided, ideally some own research included, no list-question, not too subjective).
Comment: I was wondering if I could ask the question in general, but this still answers my question :). Thanks.

Asking About Expressing Oneself Better


Enabling Caching in Cassandra Column family through hector-API?

Question: I am using hector-core1.0-5 from prettyprint for connecting to cassandra. Using this API I am able to create the keyspace. But I am unable to find the method which configures the "caching" property of column family. So as default it assigns "KEYS_ONLY" as "caching" value for all column families created. I wan to change this property value to "ALL" so that I can use both the key cache and row cache in cassandra.My cassandra version1.2.0. Anyone help me in finding the way to alter the "caching" property at the time a keyspace is created.
Answer: There is not support for get or set caching in ColumnFamilyDefinition interface. Hector community has to patch the code.
Answer: No idea about Hector as such. But we are using Playorm for Cassandra and it uses Caches like hibernate. Read more information at http://buffalosw.com/wiki/Caching-in-Playorm/.


Programming an LPC2148 in OSX

Question: Right now I'm using HyperLoad to program an LPC2148 through USB. HyperLoad is a windows program and I have a Mac so I have to open up a Windows virtual machine to use it. Is there a way to program it in OSX? I found a program called lps21isp, but I don't know how to use it. Also, don't I need a special driver for OSX so that it can communicate with the ARM7?
Answer: If you can some spare money (~$55) to buy a JTAG device (assuming you have JTAG on your board) and a fair amount of time to setup OpenOCD / GNU ARM toolchain / Eclipse IDE. This is definitely not for the faint of heart but it should give you a native OSX environment to work in. This blog post goes into the exact steps for setting it up. They use an ARM Cortex M3 but this environment is applicable to a majority of ARM families. I have a very similar set up in Windows using an LPC2148. I also found a lot of good info on LPC2148's on this site who developed for the LPC2148 using Linux.
Answer: lpc21isp can be used to pogram the chip via a serial interface. I assume your mac does noet have a seruial interface, so you could use an usb-to-serial converter (and a max232 hip to convert back to TTL level/polarity), or buikt one yourself from an FT232 chip. lpc21isp itself is available as C source. I could compile it on windows without any changes, I dunno whether it will compile on your system.

Programming an LPC2148 in OSX


How to properly update a feature branch from trunk?

Question: The Subversion SVN book says:

...Another way of thinking about this pattern is that your weekly sync of trunk to branch is analogous to running svn update in a working copy, while the final merge step is analogous to running svn commit from a working copy

I find this approach very unpractical in large developments, for several reasons, mostly related to reintegration step.

From SVN v1.5, merging is done rev-by-rev. Cherry-picking the areas to be merged would cause us to resolve the trunk-branch conflicts twice (one when merging trunk revisions to the FB, and once more when merging back).
Repository size: trunk changes might be significant for a large code base, and copying the differences files (unlike SVN copy) from trunk elsewhere may be a significant overhead.

Instead, we do what we call "re-branching". In this case, when a significant chunk of trunk changes is needed, a new feature branch is opened from current trunk, and the merge is always downward (Feature branches -> trunk -> stable branches). This does not go along SVN book guidelines and developers see it as extra pain.
How do you handle this situation?
Comment: Added SVNBook issue: http://code.google.com/p/svnbook/issues/detail?id=81
Comment: Updated my answer... If this does not help then I don't understand the question.
Comment: Updated once more for SVN 1.5
Answer:
From SVN v1.5, merging is done rev-by-rev. Cherry-picking the areas to be merged would cause us to resolve the trunk-branch conflicts twice (one when merging trunk revisions to the FB, and once more when merging back)

Then you are doing something wrong!
Let's see:
trunk    fb
 ---------\
 r1-10    |
 r11-20   |
 r20-30   |

Generally if you want changes done in 11-20, then best practice is to merge 1-20 to fb
and get everything there.
Then when fb is done, merge 20-30 and then copy fb to trunk (no merge!).
If you decide to merge only r11:20, ok, at end you will need to merge r1:10 and r20:30
and then copy fb to trunk.
There is no way you merge changes twice!
I assume that you probably do following:
copy trunk->fb
merge 11:20 -> fb.
merge fb-1:30 -> trunk !!!!! WRONG

You can't do this because you would merge 11:20 twice. You should always merge code in
one direction only.
Correct way:
copy trunk->fb
merge 1:20 -> fb.
merge 21:30 -> fb (now fb=trunk+feature)
copy fb -> trunk

Edit
So the correct steps are:

Create feature branch (FB) from trunk (copy trunk to feature branch with svn-copy)
FB_0=trunk_0

Work on FB.
FB_1=FB_0 + change_a

Merge all upcoming changes from trunk to FB.
trunk_1=trunk_0 + tr_change_a;
FB_2 = FB_1 + (trunk_1 - trunk_0) == trunk_0 + change_a + tr_change_a

Work on FB
FB_3 = FB_2 + change_b

Merge all upcoming unmerged changes from trunk to FB.
trunk_2=trunk_1 + tr_change_n;
FB_4 = FB_3 + (trunk_2 - trunk_1) == trunk_0 + change_a + change_b + tr_change_a + tr_change_b

At this point we have a feature branch that consists of all new features and
all changes in trunk. So we just copy the difference between two branches.
trunk_3 = trunk_2 + (FB_4 - trunk_2) = FB_4 = trunk_0 + change_a + change_b + tr_change_a + tr_change_b

Now FB deleted as trunk has all changes we need.
The last step is executed by:
svn merge /path/to/trunk@LatestRev /path/to/branches/fb@LatestRev .
svn ci

Or in ordinary language take difference between trunk and branch and put them to trunk
making them equivalent.

This pattern is described in http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/svn.branchmerge.commonuses.html#svn.branchmerge.commonuses.patterns.feature
Now if this does not work for you, then I don't understand the question.
Edit2: For svn-1.5
When working with svn-1.5 you can merge much simpler:
When you work on feature branch you just merge changes from trunk time to time:
$ svn merge /path/to/trunk
Solve conflicts
$ svn ci

It will line up your FB with all changes in trunk. At the end of FB you run this procedure
once more to make sure that everything is up-to date. The you go to trunk and run
$ svn merge --reintegrate /path/to/fb
$ svn ci

In the last one there should be no conflicts if you are working as shown.
Comment: Artyom, What do you mean by COPY FB to trunk? How can you copy something that is not a new item?
Comment: @Pavel Radzivilovsky See http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/svn.branchmerge.commonuses.html#svn.branchmerge.commonuses.patterns.feature , especially the "copy-merge" pattern. Also what SVN version do you use? One of good sides on SVN-1.4 that everything is done manually and you have to understand what does it mean. Read this section carefully and even make a dummy run to understand how this scheme works. Surely if you merging something twice you doing something wrong.
Comment: @artyom I understand the text, I don't know what are you talking about. You are doing something wrong is a great thing to say, but I told you exactly what I am doing and why (see the question)
Comment: @artyom this "copy-merge" pattern is not mentioned in the link you gave. Can you explain what you mean?
Comment: @Assaf Lavie, I'm not quite sure that we speak in same language. Looks like I didn't understand your question. If the link I suggested does not explain how to do it then probably I don't understand what you want and what exactly the issue.
Comment: @artyom, please read the question carefully. It deals with differences between feature branch and an unconnected working copy.
Answer: After research:
After many brainstorming sessions at visionmap, F2F discussions including Artyom, opening an SVN book case, etc - it looks like this is not possible to do. A feature branch is totally not like working copy. The only working way to update it is recreate a new branch, as described above.
Answer: We're an small company, so I don't known if our solution will apply to your situation. What we do is a rev-by-rev merging from trunk to the stable branch. We can do it in 2 different ways:
- Really needed fix, we merge just after committing to trunk
- Dangerous fix/change. We wait some days until the change is proofed in trunk and then we merge
With this continuous merging we avoid tons of conflicts.
My 2 cents.
Comment: Thanks, this is what we do (for stable branches). However, the whole question is about feature branches. I was opposing them when we were young, but as we grew they seemed inevitable. Reducing trunk noise seems to outweight any disadvantage of disconnected development.
Answer: Sadly  everything mentioned can be thought of as hacks.  Updating from trunk on a branch can lead to very serious problems when bringing it back into trunk and opens the possibility for the worst of all conflicts, tree conflicts. This is because directories are not treated as first class citizens. The best approach is to use Mercurial with the
SVN extension as your standard SVN client. It allows you to keep using SVN while getting the power of Mercurial's folder handling.
Then on the wworkstation side you can use a number of approaches which provides a array of features to suit many  situations over SVN's single one. You can use regular patching, patch queues, updating from a local copy of trunk without affecting the shared trunk and various other approaches.
This approach works around all of SVN's downn sides. I had tto switch to this approach because of similar circumstances. Even if you don't use this approach immediately you should at least give it a try ASAP.
Answer: I think I have to take up the cudgels for @Artyom here. I too think that if you have to

resolve the trunk-branch conflicts twice

something is wrong. And I think @Artyoms argument/solution is quite solid.
I believe one of the minor things @Artyom could have written clearer is that in the end where you "copy" fb to trunk you do not use svn copy but svn merge (or svn merge --reintegrate). This might be the reason you do not find the "copy-merge" pattern in Common Branching Patterns.
As I am struggling with understanding what you are doing up until now, I am unsure what else to say.
Here is what I hear:

Instead, we do what we call
  "re-branching". In this case, when a
  significant chunk of trunk changes is
  needed, a new feature branch is opened
  from current trunk, ...

Now you have a new branch (let us call it b2) that is equivalent to trunk, right? And where is the "significant chunk of trunk changes needed"? I assume in fb?

...and the merge is
  always downward (Feature branches ->
  trunk -> stable branches).

But as you just created b2 from trunk there is nothing to merge into trunk, no? And you are not merging changes from b2 to fb either (as this would be the same as merging trunk to fb...). So how do the "significant chunks of changes" get into fb? And once they are there, why would you want to merge them back to trunk (since this is where they came from in the first place)?
Actually the following links the section called "Tracking Merges Manually" and/or the section called "Merging a Whole Branch to Another" provided in the SVN 1.4 documentation (I know, you do not use SVN 1.4 but I believe it applies anyway) under Common Branching Patterns might help to clear some things up. These links are "missing" in the 1.5 documentation (probably because of the new --reintegrate option in merge).
You really seem to be merging the same changes twice and I really think you should not (need to) do that.
Comment: After creating b2 he is merging all the changes from fb to b2 and throws fb away, continuing to work on b2. The process can be repeated as long as you wish to stay up with the trunk, and then, eventually, you do a final merge to trunk.


cURL <- feature

Question: $ cat file | curl -F 'sprunge=<-' http://sprunge.us

So the output of echo gets passed as a POST parameter to cURL. Is this a cURL specific feature?
Comment: You can use `curl -F 'sprunge=<file' http://sprunge.us` instead.
Answer: - is commonly used to represent standard input and < is commonly used to
represent redirection from a file. I believe those syntaxes come from early
shells. Together, they imply taking in standard input and sending/redirecting
it elsewhere. The syntax is almost natural.
Looking at the cURL revision history,
the < syntax was added to cURL in mid-2000. The revision that added this
feature is available as Git commit 5b7a5046e6.
From the changelog,
Torsten Foertsch <torsten.foertsch at gmx.net> brought a set of fixes for
the rfc1867 form posts. He introduced 'name=<file' which brings a means to
suuply very large text chunks read from the given file name. It differs from
'name=@file' in the way that this latter thing is marked in the uploaded
contents as a file upload, while the first is just text (as in a input or
textarea field). Torsten also corrected a bug that would happen if you used
%s or similar in a -F file name.

There is no mention of the inspiration or origin of this feature.
The @- syntax was present in cURL in the earliest version of the source I
could find. From the first revision in late 1999,
/* postfield data */
if('@' == *nextarg) {
  /* the data begins with a '@' letter, it means that a file name
     or - (stdin) follows */
  FILE *file;
  nextarg++; /* pass the @ */

It's difficult to determine if it is cURL-specific. The syntax is common and
natural. The cURL feature with which it is associated is a base feature of
cURL. Tools similar to cURL are likely to implement some form if it.

The original question asked about
$ echo foo | curl -d 'sprunge=<-' http://sprunge.us

Here was my answer:
I do not believe that is a feature of cURL.
$ # Terminal A
$ curl --version
curl 7.31.0 (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.31.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1e zlib/1.2.8 libssh2/1.4.3
Protocols: dict file ftp ftps gopher http https imap imaps pop3 pop3s rtsp scp sftp smtp smtps telnet tftp
Features: AsynchDNS IPv6 Largefile NTLM NTLM_WB SSL libz TLS-SRP
$
$ echo foo | curl -d 'sprunge=<-' localhost:2222

$ # Terminal B
$ nc -l 2222
POST / HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.31.0
Host: localhost:2222
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 7
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

sprunge=<-

I couldn't find any mention of this feature in the cURL documentation. There is a similar feature though.

If  you start the data with the letter @, the rest should be a file name to
  read the data from, or - if you want curl to read the data from stdin.  The
  contents of the file must already be URL-encoded. Multiple files can also be
  specified. Posting data from a file named 'foobar' would thus be done with
  --data @foobar.
Comment: Sorry, I didn't copy the exact output. I ran it with the word `test` but tried to modify it to reflect the question. I've fixed my answer.
Comment: Yeah I could tell you were refining the answer, just pointing that stuff out. I liked your idea in using `nc` to test this. I always forget about little `nc`.
Comment: It's in my man page. Look for `-d`. I hope you don't mind, I didn't understand what the "sprunge=<-" was until I saw your answer and realized it was data being sent in the POST.
Comment: @slm: Thanks for pointing things out. I appreciate it.
Comment: Sorry, wrong command.
Comment: @WearetheWorld: I have adapted my answer.
Answer: Spying on curl with socat
The updated question regarding this command:
$ cat file | curl -F 'sprunge=<-' http://sprunge.us

Is doing several things. Using socat we can spy on the request like so in one terminal:
$ socat - TCP4-LISTEN:2222,fork | grep -E 'Content-Disp|msg'

Now in a second terminal we'll use your curl command to connect to our socat daemon. For the cat file we're going to use this as our sample file:
$ cat hello.txt
msg: hello curl

And when we curl:
$ cat ~/hello.txt | curl -Fblah=\<- localhost:2222

We see this in the socat output:
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="blah"
msg: hello curl

If we change the string from blah to a - we'll see the following:
$ cat ~/hello.txt | curl -F-=\<- localhost:2222

Result:
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="-"

So as we can see, the argument after the initial -F is the name of the form we want to submit against. The man page for curl mentions that-F` is for submitting a HTTP form where we want to specify the name:
 -F, --form <name=content>
   (HTTP)  This  lets  curl emulate a filled-in form in which a user
   has pressed the submit button. This causes curl to POST data using
   the Content-Type  multipart/form-data  according  to  RFC  2388.
   This enables uploading of binary files etc. To force the 'content'
   part to be a file,  prefix  the  file  name with  an  @  sign.
   To just get the content part from a file, prefix the file
   name with the symbol <. The difference between @ and < is then
   that @ makes a file  get  attached  in  the  post as a file upload,
   while the < makes a text field and just get the contents for that
   text field from a file.

The rest of the switches to the -F-= switch are connecting the STDIN input to this argument. <-. STDIN will contain a stream of the content coming in via the cat file |.
Comparing args - '-F-=<-' vs. -F-=\<-
These 2 notations are identical. Again we can use additional verbosity to see what's happening.
$ set -x; cat ~/hello.txt | curl '-F-=<-' localhost:2222; set +x
...
+ cat /Users/smingolelli/hello.txt
+ curl '-F-=<-' localhost:2222

Whereas the other method:
$ set -x; cat ~/hello.txt | curl -F-=\<- localhost:2222; set +x
...
+ cat /Users/smingolelli/hello.txt
+ curl '-F-=<-' localhost:2222

People like to use the first method because it saves them an extra character in typing it. But from curl's perspective, they're identical. All that -F-=\<- is doing is escaping the redirect so that curl gets to see it instead of the shell processing it.

Original Quesiton
The original question asked about this:
$ echo foo | curl -d 'sprunge=<-' http://sprunge.us

To which I answered:
When you use the switch -d to curl you're implying a POST, from the curl man page.
-d/--data <data>
     (HTTP) Sends the specified data in a POST request to the HTTP server,
     in the same way that a browser does  when  a user has filled in an
     HTML form and presses the submit button. This will cause curl to pass
     the data to the server using the content-type
     application/x-www-form-urlencoded.  Compare to -F/--form.

cURL <- feature