What sorting algorithm is this?

Question: Update: OK I see it's a bubble sort, but is it less efficient because it doesn't stop when there's no swap on a particular run? It runs until first is null.
Hi, I have a sorting algorithm as follows. My question is, which sorting algorithm is this? I thought it was bubble sort, but it does not do multiple runs. Any idea?
Thanks!
//sorting in descending order
struct node
{
    int value;
    node* NEXT;
}
//Assume HEAD pointer denotes the first element in the //linked list
// only change the values…don't have to change the //pointers

Sort( Node *Head)
{
    node* first,second,temp;
    first= Head;
    while(first!=null)
    {
        second=first->NEXT;
        while(second!=null)
        {
            if(first->value < second->value)
            {
                temp = new node();
                temp->value=first->value;
                first->value=second->value;
                second->value=temp->value;
                delete temp;
            }
            second=second->NEXT;
        }

        first=first->NEXT;
    }
}

Comment: There's a pair of nested while loops; that's going to do multiple runs.
Answer: Let's make the algorithm clearer:
Sort {
   first = head;
   while (first ≠ NULL) {
      next = first.next
      while (next ≠ NULL) {
         if (first.value < next.value)
            swap first.value and next.value
         advance next
      }
      advance first
   }
}

This is a very inefficient implementation of insertion sort.

Example run revealing the insertion sort characteristics:
5 → 2 → 3 → 1 → nil
^   ^
f   n [swap]

2 → 5 → 3 → 1 → nil
^       ^
f       n

2 → 5 → 3 → 1 → nil
^           ^
f           n [swap]

1 → 5 → 3 → 2 → nil
^               ^
f               n

1 → 5 → 3 → 2 → nil   // insert the minimum value 1 to the beginning of the sublist
    ^   ^
    f   n [swap]

1 → 3 → 5 → 2 → nil
    ^       ^
    f       n [swap]

1 → 2 → 5 → 3 → nil  // insert the minimum value 2 to the beginning of the sublist
    ^           ^
    f           n

1 → 2 → 5 → 3 → nil
        ^   ^
        f   n [swap]

1 → 2 → 3 → 5 → nil  // insert the minimum value 3 to the beginning of the sublist
        ^       ^
        f       n

1 → 2 → 3 → 5 → nil  // insert the minimum value 5 to the beginning of the sublist
            ^   ^
            f   n

1 → 2 → 3 → 5 → nil
                ^
                f

Comment: Hii Kenny.. In bubble sort we always compare adjacent elements in the array [1,2] [2,3] [3,4] but here we are comapring [1,2][1,3][1,4] .. and so on..

I don't think that it is a  variation of bubble sort .. rather looks more closere to selection sort
Comment: @kenny.. we should not just consider the swap but we should also look at which two elements we are swapping .. adjacent or rnon adjacent. As this forms the basis for bubble sort .
Comment: OK I see it's a bubble sort, but is it less efficient because it doesn't stop when there's no swap on a particular run? It runs until first is null.
Comment: @Top: I've reanalyzed and yes it's indeed not bubble sort, but doesn't look like selection sort either.
Comment: so can we name it as top-kenny sort :P
Answer: This is a kind of a hybrid between a 'classic' bubble sort and a selection sort - but closer to the classic bubble sort.
In the classic bubble sort, the inner loop swaps adjacent pairs as it walks the list/array.
In the classic selection sort, the inner loop keeps track of the largest value it finds in the remaining portion of the list, and swaps it with the first value in the portion of the list that the inner loop is currently considering.
The sort as posted in the question is like the Selection sort in that the swap is always performed with the first value in the sub-list that the inner loop is considering.  It's different from the Selection sort (and is similar to the classic Bubble sort) in that it performs a swap whenever it finds a value larger than the current first member of the inner loop's sub-list.
However, it's different than the classic Bubble sort in that it's not swapping adjacent pairs.  In the classic Bubble sort, when the inner loop has finished working a round, the largest element of the list has filtered to the bottom of the list, but in this variation, the smallest element has filtered to the top of the inner-loop's sub-list.
I'd label this more a variation of the classic Bubble sort rather than the Selection sort because the performance characteristics of the sort in the question are the same as the classic Bubble sort (O(n^2) comparisons and O(n^2) swaps), while a Selection sort has O(n) swaps.
But, one other difference between the classic Bubble sort and this one is that a classic Bubble sort is stable, while the sort in the question isn't. Consider the following list of items when run through the sort. Only the numbers are used in the comparison - the letters are used just to distinguish between the elements that have the same rank.  The diagrams show the swap operations performed (in the interest of brevity, the comparisons aren't shown):
3.a  3.b   3.c   2.a   2.b   1.a
 ^                ^
 +----------------+

2.a  3.b   3.c   3.a   2.b   1.a
 ^                            ^
 +----------------------------+

1.a  3.b   3.c   3.a   2.b   2.a
      ^                 ^
      +-----------------+

1.a  2.b   3.c   3.a   3.b   2.a
            ^                 ^
            +-----------------+

1.a  2.b   2.a   3.a   3.b   3.c

Note that at the end of the sort, the relative position of items 2.a and 2.b have changed, indicating a non-stable sort.
Answer: This is pretty much bubble sort. Bubble sort performed on a linked list where the values are swapped. The checks node!=null is to confirm whether the end is reached or not.
Answer: Insertion sort
It's very similar to a bubble sort, except that instead of wapping adjacent pairs of items, you move the smallest item to the head of the list, and then the next smallest item into the second position, and so on.
Answer: Its similar to selection sort. In selection sort we find the min value in the list and swap with the first element and repeat the same for other elements in the list. But there we are not swapping after finding the min element, instead everytime we find an element smaller than the first element ( in the first pass) we swap it with the 1st element.

What sorting algorithm is this?


Fallout 4 saves are scrambled up in the load list xbox one...how do I fix it?

Question: Ok so...I cant make it to lv 25 to upgrade my deliverer to its fullest potential....and it's because every new save I make vanishes to the bottom of the list or somewhere besides the top...not only that it won't show my level on all of the saves exept when you press continue (only shows what's at the top of the load list) and now I don't know which save is a recent save because everything in the load list is scrambled up...how do I fix this on fallout 4 xbox one? I've already tried scrolling and overwritting over the 1st save at the top of the load list
Answer: This happens to me if I play offline, because the date on the Xbox is wrong. It has also happened due to daylight savings time going forward or back.
I don't think there's any way to fix the existing saves.
You could prevent it by making sure your date is correct on your Xbox.
You could replace the bad saves by loading them with the correct date/time, saving, and then deleting the bad save.
As a workaround, I recommend you look at something distinctive (preferably in third person view with your character in the shot) before saving. This will make it easier to identify the saves, even though you can't name them.
Answer: I never just choose to continue anymore. I always select the load game option.At times my saves have been out of order. Now whenever I am about to save I try to position my character so that something somewhat memorable is onscreen.  A  screenshot  is  captured  whenever  the  game  is  saved. I use the picture to remember the location of the save. More often I look for the game time logged during the save. The save showing the most game time is my most recent save.
Comment: But is there a way to fix the issue? ..my Xbox one is somewhat slow in loading all of the saves in the load list making it hard to scroll for the right save file..it freezes up for a couple minutes then finally loads the save
Comment: My game also seems to lag momentarily when I scroll. I know of no way to guarantee that when you choose continue the correct file will be chosen. The most fool proof way, in my opinion, is choosing the save with the most game time shown. That should be your most recent game with the most progress. Just take your time scrolling through the list and delete some saves if they definitely are of no more use.
Comment: I'm getting skyrim special edition..and taking a big break from fallout 4. .at least my new vegas game doesn't do this...hopefully it won't screw up fallout new vegas to put it's DLCs in late..while it's full of like 12 different knows bugs and glitches :(


Is it not opinion based?

Question: This question looks opinion based to me. Even placed a close vote to it but community looks acceptable to it. Just want to see if it just got ignored or this kind of question are acceptable?
Comment: I guess it it had never happened it would be somewhat opinion based, but as it happened (several times indeed) its not opinion.  As @NapoleonWilson states - its not a great question, but that doesn't necessarily make it closable.
Answer: This question is not so much opinion-based as it is overly broad or speculative and has inspired some invaluable example-answers (along with more valuable and elaborate answers, though). Still I didn't close-vote since I wasn't entirely sure and the community seemed to be content with it.
But I also cannot see in which way this would be opinion-based. It asks a pretty objective question, even if the trivial answer would just be "Well, of course this is possible, why shouldn't it? Oh, and here's a nice example".
Comment: @AnkitSharma Of course we still have to pick the correct reason and for me *"opinion-based"* just isn't one. The question is not good, I agree, but it isn't opinion-based in my opinion. Maybe one could even rephrase it to make it better.
Comment: I would be happy with the question if it was rephrased a little bit to invite less example answers, but I am not sure how to do this without changing the original intent.
Comment: Might be in hurry to close that question, i am just searching for a valid reason. Opinion based came first to me but as a whole i don't think that question is good enough.

Is it not opinion based?


Deploying a package through puppet from URL

Question: How can i install a package through puppet by using the URL of the .tar.gz of the package on centos 6 client. Is there any native support in puppet without installing anything extra on the puppet master.
Answer: So you want to run a wget? This is an example pulling a rpm file and installing it. I also create a file in "/etc/firstruns/" so that it wont run every time. "creates" says: "Hey, I create this file when I'm done... so if it's already there, I don't need to do it!". You can also just specify the path in the command. The path parameter is not necessary. Feel free to add the deletion of the rpm too.
exec { 'wget':
  path      => [ "/bin/", "/sbin/", "/usr/bin/", "/usr/sbin/" ],
  command   => "/bin/wget <URL> && rpm -ivh <RPM>",
  cwd       => '/tmp/',
  creates   => '/etc/firstruns/p1.done',
}

I can only assume I'd get smacked for not proper practices, but hey, it's an answer :D


Need printer driver for samsung ML-1210 compatible with Mac OS X 10.11.6

Question: I use Mac OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan) and I would like to find and install a printer driver for an old samsung ML-1210 printer.  Can anyone help?  If yes, please tell me in simple terms, because I am not computer savvy!
Answer: It's unlikely you will find a printer driver for this model printer.

It's not listed anywhere on Samsung's support site
I found a review of the printer from 2001 making it about 20 years old
A service manual I found online confirms that as it's copyrighted in 2001 (page 79)
The specs found on C|Net lists Mac OS 8 as a supported OS and the latest release was 1999.
The most recent Mac printer driver I was able to find was for Snow Leopard (10.6.8) for the PowerPC Mac; you have an Intel Mac.

However, there may be some hope...

Though the printer specifications list the only emulation as "PrintThru" (I've personally never heard of it) it was quite common for printers to emulate "HP LaserJet".  It can't hurt to try that generic driver.
Since it supports Linux, You can try a generic CUPS driver.  I found this article How to install the Samsung ML-1210 printer on Mac OS X Lion (and higher). It uses an open source driver (not supported/provided by Samsung).
Keep in mind this article is from 2011 making it 9 years old. It is technical, so you'll want to get someone local to assist.  It's not feasible for us to test since we don't have access to that printer.

Bottom line... I'll be the first to applaud your efforts to continue using "useful" equipment, but there comes a point of diminishing returns and if getting a printer working will cost more in time, labor and lost productivity than the price of new one, it's time to go shopping.
As a buying tip, I suggest you stick with familiar names like HP, Lexmark, Xerox, etc. because you ensure the widest range of compatibility for the longest time.  For instance, I have a HP 2025dn (from 2008) that not only has current drivers, but emulates HP (obviously), PCL and PostScript.  If your printer can emulate any of these, you can get it to work.  Look in either the printer specifications page or in the user manual for confirmation.
Comment: Wait, a PowerPC driver for Lion? PowerPC is only supported through Leopard, Snow Leopard with Rosetta. Are you sure it's not a Universal Binary?
Comment: @JMY1000 - you're right.  I meant to say Snow Leopard.  Thanks for the catch
Answer: I have the same exact printer and I use it with multiple OSs.
With Linux and Windows it gets recognized instantly and you can print without problems.
With Mac (Big Sur) there is NO WAY to get it working (even GutenPrint does not provide drivers for ML-1210 but only for ML-1250).
So you have 2 solutions, and I've tried both of them:

install a WinXP/7/10 virtual machine on your macbook and print from there (a clean installation will boot in few seconds from OSX)
set up a local Linux server with CUPS that will allow you to print from literally any device. I've tried with Mac, Win, Android and iOS, and printed flawlessly.

Currently I am using the 2nd solution as I've finally decided to have a local/home server.
Answer: The advice by Allan to use a generic Samsung diver is a solution, but also I agree with his post to buy a new printer. Can you even find the cartridges for your prehistoric printer?
Personally I would not bother and buy a new printer, cost about 50-100 bucks.
Answer: Should be availabe, right here:
https://samsung-driver.net/samsung-ml-1210-driver-download/
Comment: That site may be genuine but:
1. The installer is dated 2004 and won't run on Mojave (probably PPC).
2. I get really agressive spammy pop-ups telling me to download Flash and MacKeeper, which is seriously worrying.
Comment: This is how people get viruses.  It's not the mfg.'s site and these people are storing drivers and maintaining a website for you to get things for free?  Even if the owners of the website aren't nefarious and only hope to make money from ads, those people placing the ads can't be trusted.  Did you see the popups? MacKeeper is malware!  **Get your software, drivers, etc. only from trusted sources.**


Shipping Homemade Mozzarella

Question: I would like to ship homemade mozzarella. I'm considering purchasing a vacuum packaging system to preserve it for the 2-3 day trip. Is this recommended? If not, are there any alternatives?
Comment: Are you also planning to ship it with dry ice or some other form of cooling?
Comment: What are the outside temps where you're living right now? What are the temps where it's going too? If you're in the 30's - 40's F. Then I wouldn't be worried about it. If higher or lower than that, then it's all relative.
Comment: You say "a vacuum packaging system to preserve it". If you believe that vacuum packaging preserves food, you are missing some very basic knowledge in food safety. My suggestion is that you take a proper course in food safety, it may even be required by the local authorities if you are setting up a business.
Answer: Mozzarella needs to be refrigerated, outside the fridge it has a limited shelf life, see our generic question: How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?
So shipping without some means of cooling will result in an unsafe product, look into shipping methods for perishable products. Your local mail or parcel carrier should be able to assist you.

Shipping Homemade Mozzarella


How can I connect an active subwoofer to my mixer recording set-up?

Question: I have a Kustom 7250 I bought from a church that I am connecting to my Seinburg interface that is connected to my Acer desktop computer. I have 2 passive speakers, a small fender amp I am using as a monitor, and a Sony SAW subwoofer that only has a single input. How can I hook all of that together and record as well as listen live? Is it possible and what DAW would you recommend?
Comment: What do you want to listen to? The output of the mixer? Or the output of the computer? In your situation it seems more useful to have the speakers hooked to the output of the computer.
Answer: I had a similar issue, and ended up with a cheapo graphic EQ with a separate sub output. In my case it was the Behringer Ultrahraph Pro, but any similar will do.
In my setup the computer and ant instruments go into the interface, the interface outs are connected to the EQ which then sends left and right to my amp, and the sub out to my sub.


luabind: cannot retrieve values from table indexed by non-built-in classes

Question: I'm using luabind 0.9.1 from Ryan Pavlik's master distribution with Lua 5.1, cygwin on Win XP SP3 + latest patches x86, boost 1.48, gcc 4.3.4. Lua and boost are cygwin pre-compiled versions.
I've successfully built luabind in both static and shared versions.
Both versions pass all the tests EXCEPT for the test_object_identity.cpp test which fails in both versions.
I've tracked down the problem to the following issue:
If an entry in a table is created for NON built-in class (i.e., not int, string, etc), the value CANNOT be retrieved.
Here's a code piece that demonstrates this:
#include "test.hpp"
#include <luabind/luabind.hpp>
#include <luabind/detail/debug.hpp>

using namespace luabind;

struct test_param
{
    int obj;
};

void test_main(lua_State* L)
{
    using namespace luabind;

    module(L)
    [
        class_<test_param>("test_param")
            .def_readwrite("obj", &test_param::obj)
    ];

    test_param temp_object;
    object tabc = newtable(L);
    tabc[1] = 10;
    tabc[temp_object] = 30;

    TEST_CHECK( tabc[1] == 10 );              // passes
    TEST_CHECK( tabc[temp_object] == 30 );    // FAILS!!!

}

tabc[1] is indeed 10 while tabc[temp_object] is NOT 30! (actually, it seems to be nil)
However, if I use iterate to go over tabc entries, there're the two entries with the CORRECT key/value pairs.
Any ideas?
BTW, overloading the == operator like this:
#include <luabind/operator.hpp>

struct test_param
{
    int obj;
    bool operator==(test_param const& rhs) const
    {
        return obj == rhs.obj;
    }
};

and
module(L)
    [
        class_<test_param>("test_param")
            .def_readwrite("obj", &test_param::obj)
            .def(const_self == const_self)
    ];

Doesn't change the result.
I also tried switching to settable() and gettable() from the [] operator. The result is the same. I can see with the debugger that default conversion of the key is invoked, so I guess the error arises from somewhere therein, but it's beyond me to figure out what exactly the problem is.
As the following simple test case show, there're definitely a bug in Luabind's conversion for complex types:
struct test_param : wrap_base
{
    int obj;
    bool operator==(test_param const& rhs) const
    { return obj == rhs.obj ; }
};

void test_main(lua_State* L)
{
    using namespace luabind;
    module(L)
    [
        class_<test_param>("test_param")
                .def(constructor<>())
                .def_readwrite("obj", &test_param::obj)
                .def(const_self == const_self)
    ];

    object tabc, zzk, zzv;
    test_param tp, tp1;
    tp.obj = 123456;
    // create new table
    tabc = newtable(L);
    // set tabc[tp] = 5;
    //         o     k   v
    settable( tabc,  tp, 5);
    // get access to entry through iterator() API
    iterator zzi(tabc);
    // get the key object
    zzk = zzi.key();
    // read back the value through gettable() API
    //              o     k
    zzv = gettable(tabc, zzk);
    // check the entry has the same value
    // irrespective of access method
    TEST_CHECK ( *zzi == 5 &&
                 object_cast<int>(zzv) == 5 );
    // convert key to its REAL type (test_param)
    tp1 = object_cast<test_param>(zzk);
    // check two keys are the same
    TEST_CHECK( tp == tp1 );
    // read the value back from table using REAL key type
    zzv = gettable(tabc, tp1);
    // check the value
    TEST_CHECK( object_cast<int>(zzv) == 5 );
    // the previous call FAILS with
    // Terminated with exception: "unable to make cast"
    // this is because gettable() doesn't return
    // a TRUE value, but nil instead
}

Hopefully, someone smarter than me can figure this out,
Thx
I've traced the problem to the fact that Luabind creates a NEW DISTINCT object EVERY time you use a complex value as key (but it does NOT if you use a primitive one or an object).
Here's a small test case that demonstrates this:
struct test_param : wrap_base
{
    int obj;
    bool operator==(test_param const& rhs) const
    { return obj == rhs.obj ; }
};

void test_main(lua_State* L)
{
    using namespace luabind;

    module(L)
    [
        class_<test_param>("test_param")
            .def(constructor<>())
            .def_readwrite("obj", &test_param::obj)
            .def(const_self == const_self)
    ];

    object tabc, zzk, zzv;
    test_param tp;
    tp.obj = 123456;
    tabc = newtable(L);
    //         o     k   v
    settable( tabc,  tp, 5);
    iterator zzi(tabc), end;
    std::cerr << "value = " << *zzi << "\n";
    zzk = zzi.key();
    //         o     k    v
    settable( tabc,  tp,  6);
    settable( tabc,  zzk, 7);
    for (zzi = iterator(tabc); zzi != end; ++zzi)
    {
        std::cerr << "value = " << *zzi << "\n";
    }
}

Notice how tabc[tp] first has the value 5 and then is overwritten with 7 when accessed through the key object. However, when accessed AGAIN through tp, a new entry gets created. This is why gettable() fails subsequently.
Thx,
David
Comment: did you ever resolve this issue? I already have this problem when using int values as keys for tables e.g. local testTable = { [10]="green", [9]="orange", [8]="yellow" } - if i use strings instead of numbers as keys - it works fine - i give this table as a param to a C++ function and i get the cast error too
Answer: Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on luabind. It's entirely possible I've missed something about luabind's capabilities.
First of all, what is luabind doing when converting test_param to a Lua key? The default policy is copy. To quote the luabind documentation:

This will make a copy of the parameter. This is the default behavior when passing parameters by-value. Note that this can only be used when passing from C++ to Lua. This policy requires that the parameter type has an accessible copy constructor.

In pratice, what this means is that luabind will create a new object (called "full userdata") which is owned by the Lua garbage collector and will copy your struct into it. This is a very safe thing to do because it no longer matters what you do with the c++ object; the Lua object will stick around without really any overhead. This is a good way to do bindings for by-value sorts of objects.
Why does luabind create a new object each time you pass it to Lua? Well, what else could it do? It doesn't matter if the address of the passed object is the same, because the original c++ object could have changed or been destroyed since it was first passed to Lua. (Remember, it was copied to Lua by value, not by reference.) So, with only ==, luabind would have to maintain a list of every object of that type which had ever been passed to Lua (possibly weakly) and compare your object against each one to see if it matches. luabind doesn't do this (nor do I think should it).
Now, let's look at the Lua side. Even though luabind creates two different objects, they're still equal, right? Well, the first problem is that, besides certain built-in types, Lua can only hold objects by reference. Each of those "full userdata" that I mentioned before is actually a pointer. That means that they are not identical.
But they are equal, if we define an __eq meta operation. Unfortunately, Lua itself simply does not support this case. Userdata when used as table keys are always compared by identity, no matter what. This actually isn't special for userdata; it is also true for tables. (Note that to properly support this case, Lua would need to override the hashcode operation on the object in addition to __eq. Lua also does not support overriding the hashcode operation.) I can't speak for the authors of Lua why they did not allow this (and it has been suggested before), but there it is.
So, what are the options?

The simplest thing would be to convert test_param to an object once (explicitly), and then use that object to index the table both times. However, I suspect that while this fixes your toy example, it isn't very helpful in practice.
Another option is simply not to use such types as keys. Actually, I think this is a very good suggestion, since this kind of light-weight binding is quite useful, and the only other option is to discard it.
It looks like you can define a custom conversion on your type. In your example, it might be reasonable to convert your type to a Lua number which will behave well as a table index.
Use a different kind of binding. There will be some overhead, but if you want identity, you'll have to live with it. It sounds like luabind has some support for wrappers, which you may need to use to preserve identity:

When a pointer or reference to a registered class with a wrapper is passed to Lua, luabind will query for it's dynamic type. If the dynamic type inherits from wrap_base, object identity is preserved.


Is "coupling" related only to code, or can the term be applied to software components and architecture?

Question: For example, when discussing a build or deploy process, and making sure it is independent of the IDE. Is this "coupling", or is that considered Separation of Concerns, or something completely different? The general concept is to introduce the least number of variables into a process or architecture, so that when a failure occurs, the difficulty in identifying the possible points of failure are reduced significantly. Is there another definition for that?
Answer: Something completely different.
Coupling is code.
Independent tools are just independent tools.
Microsoft has lead me to believe that independent tools are a bad idea.  They tell me that one vendor's integrated tool suite is a good thing.
Answer: I would characterise coupling as being something which relates to runtime system stability or system change.
When considering stability, coupling comes into the picture if the failure of one component causes the failure of other components. For example if two software components are communicating directly over a TCP connection, then the failure of one component means the other cannot do its work. The whole system is down. If I decouple by allowing the two components to communicate via a message queue (for example) then each component might continue to work independently in the absence of the other (assuming this makes sense in the application).
When considering system change, coupling comes into the picture when a code change in one module means I have to go and change code in a large number of other modules.
The example you give with build/deploy tools is a form of coupling, but not really what people have in mind when they consider architectural issues such as runtime and code coupling.


XML file vs instance variable for storing a dictionary

Question: I want to make a dictionary that stores some values I want to use within my code. Would it be better to use an instance variable to hold the dictionary, or an XML file to hold the dictionary, or perhaps another way of storing the dictionary? The dictionary currently has 15 elements and I am constantly extending it.
Comment: Questions that include terms like "better" must also *state your specific criteria for being "better,"* without resorting to tautologies like "best practice."
Comment: XML is an *exchange file format*. You cannot use that within your program. But you can employ a library to create C# classes from an XSD and fill them with the XML file content.
Comment: do you mean load the values from an xml file when you start the program? I think it will depend on how you are using the values
Comment: @RobertHarvey thanks, I meant as a software developer what would make it most convenient for other people to read them?
Answer: So you read the file when the application starts to hold settings?
I would use XML as I think it is easier to serialize to disk.
You can write a wrapper so it behave like a Dictionary.
With only 15 items you are not going to have speed issues.


Simple Question: Does High Bandwidth usage affect Speedtest.net Results?

Question: In an office building with 20-some employees, our internet service sometimes drops to about .3 Mbits/sec from 5 Mbits/sec. I use speedtest.net to test the speed. When the speed drops, how can I tell the source of the issue?  Namely, are my speedtest results affected by employee streaming/downloading/etc, as opposed to an ISP problem?  Would I need a virtually quiet network to accurately test speed?
Answer: To answer your first question, yes high bandwidth use will affect speedtest.net results. And yes, you would be best to wait until a time of low traffic to get a better/more accurate reading of your maximum possible speed.
Another metric of maximum possible speed would be (assuming you are connecting via ADSL) the line sync speed as reported by your modem. Although it may not be as accurate, this would allow you to find out the maximum without having to wait until low bandwidth periods.
In terms of determining the source of the internet traffic, you will need to use some mechanism to examine the traffic going between your LAN and the internet. There are a number of ways you could do this, depending on what you have available:

You could issue "show ip flow top-talkers" from your router, if it is a Cisco IOS router and you have Netflow configured properly. This is probably the easiest way to determine who is using the most traffic, and where it's going.
You could examine the NAT translations table on your router (assuming you use NAT), to show you which internal IPs have the most translations. This would give you a rough idea as to where your bandwidth is going. But it's hardly the best indicator.
You could setup a mirror port on your LAN switch, to mirror traffic to/from the router, and then use a packet capture utility such as Wirekshark to analyse the traffic.
You could setup a PC as a bridge to sit between your router and your LAN, with internet traffic passing through it, allowing you to again run a packet capture utility and analyse it to find the culprit(s). NOTE: In this case, you risk slowing down your internet speed while you do the capture. This would be best left until after-hours if done.

Cisco 'Top Talkers' Example Config
<code>! Configure top-talkers
ip flow-top-talkers
 top 100
 sort-by bytes

! Configure NetFlow on the appropriate interface on the router
interface Vlan1
 ip flow ingress
 ip flow egress
</code>
Answer: If your router or switch has SNMP functions, it's useful to simply monitor traffic on the interfaces with a simple SNMP reporting tool running on your computer - then you will see the traffic that is going on. If you have a 5Mb connection and it's flowing at 5Mb, you might well have a hard time getting more than 0.3 in edgewise to speedtest - but you'd know that 5Mb was flowing somewhere, so it's not an ISP problem. If nothing is moving and you can only get 0.3Mb to speedtest, then you might have an ISP problem.
If your switch(es) do SNMP, then you'd also know where (on your network) it's flowing to. SNMP capable switches allow tracking the culprit (or legitimate user, if the company is doing things that eat bandwidth...) down to the port level without needing to do detailed analysis - if ports map directly to computers, you can then choose whether you want to talk to the person, or do detailed analysis from that point before talking to them. There are many complex and/or expensive SNMP reporting tools, but for a small office simple and free ones may be adequate, at least to get started.


SAS Expander Drive Compatibility

Question: To my knowledge a SAS Expander reports the hard drives transparent to the Host or Raid Controller.
If I want to use 4k native drives (4kn), do the Expander also have to be capable of 4kn drives or is it enough if the Host Controller is capable of 4kn drives?
Specifically, it is about the LSI Logic SAS X28 Expander (3Gb/s) built in the Supermicro SuperChassis 933E1-R760B.
Is it possible to use a 6Gb/s or a 12Gb/s SAS Controller with this expander or are there any limitations? Normally SAS should be backwards compatible.
Speed is here not the issue.
Answer:
do the Expander also have to be capable of 4kn drives or is it enough
  if the Host Controller is capable of 4kn drives?

Just the controller is enough.

Is it possible to use a 6Gb/s or a 12Gb/s SAS Controller with this
  expander or are there any limitations?

Sure, why not.

SAS Expander Drive Compatibility


What is the difference between sheen, lustre and gloss

Question: I have referred to dictionaries, all of the three words express the meaning of something having a smooth and gentle brightness on its surface. So whether they are interchangeable or have subtle distinctions in there?
Answer: Yes all the three are related to brightness and light but there is a subtle distinction between all the three. The very basic meanings of the following:
Sheen a soft lustre on a surface.
Lustre a gentle sheen or soft glow.
Glow to give out steady light without flame.
Lustre and Sheen refer to the state or quality of shining by reflecting light where as Glow can also refer to give off light from heat or to emit light as if heated.
Comment: Thank your for your answer. As you said, glow is sort of shed from fire, but what I got from dictionaries is gloss is different from glow. Do you have any idea of the distinctions when coming to gloss.@Sri9911


How can I make background image changed as time goes?

Question: It is found that Ubuntu background has multi images changing as time passes.
I want to make one for my own.
May I?
HELLOVENUS, Fantagio.
Answer: Variety is a tool which can do this (and much more) pretty easy!

since it is not in the default repositories you can install Variety via terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) by the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peterlevi/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install variety

Answer:
Download the script from HERE.
Create a new folder in your home partition, let's call it "earthwallpaper" and put the script you just downloaded into this folder.
Open a terminal, navigate to the folder you created at step 2 and make the script executable:
~/earthwallpaper
chmod +x changer.sh

Go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications and select "Add", in the name field enter "Earth Wallpaper" and in the command field, enter:
/path/to/changer.sh

Changing /path/to with the path to were you copied the changer.sh file you downloaded at step 1.
Now, each time you start your computer, the script which updates your wallpaper will automatically run.

Log out and log back in. Running the script creates a new wallpaper called world_sunlight_Wallpaper.jpg in your ~/.gnome2 folder. We need to set this as your wallpaper. This picture is constantly updated by the script, thus making the image dynamic. To do this, open Nautilus, toggle the text-based address bar and type:
~/.gnome2

Which will open the hidden .gnome2 folder from your home directory. Now, on your desktop, right click and select "Change Desktop Background" which will open the Appearance dialog. Having both the Appearance dialog opened and the ~/.gnome2 folder, drag and drop the world_sunlight_Wallpaper.jpg file from Nautilus, into the Appearance dialog (Background tab). That's it. Now you just have to keep the terminal opened so that the script will continue to update the world_sunlight_Wallpaper.jpg wallpaper in real-time.

References:

webpd8.org
Stack Overflow


Can "than" be used at the beginning of the sentence?

Question: I am reading "Eureka - A prose poem", but I find that a strange sentence (for me):

"Than the persons" -- the letter goes on to say -- "than the persons
  thus suddenly elevated by the Hog-ian philosophy into a station for
  which they were unfitted -- thus transferred from the sculleries into
  the parlors of Science -- from its pantries into its pulpits -- than
  these individuals a more intolerant -- a more intolerable set of
  bigots and tyrants never existed on the face of the earth.- "Eureka - A prose poem" | Edgar Allan Poe

I do not understand the meaning of "than" in this sentence, especially in "than these individuals a more intolerant". Can "than" be used at the beginning of sentence? What is "than these individuals a more intolerant" exactly meaning?
Answer: I believe this flourish is a sentence inversion. A simpler construction of the sentence would be

A more intolerable set of bigots and tyrants never existed on the face of the earth than the persons thus suddenly elevated by the Hog-ian philosophy into a station for which they were unfitted


A Question related to energy losses in superconductors

Question: When we look at a superconductor, the conductivity is infinite.  And when we apply a potential difference across the ends of the superconductor, the electrons have to start accelerating because there is no resistance. But once electrons start accelerating, they must produce electromagnetic waves which can lead to power losses. Then why is it that books mention that there are no power losses in a superconductor?
Comment: I'm no expert, but I suspect that at least part of the explanation is the same as that for why electrons don't radiate away their orbital energy as they "orbit" in an atom.  Quantum electrodynamics is a strange beast and on the scale of an electron, classical "electromagnetic waves" is not always a useful or correct way to think about what is going on.  With any luck, someone who took more than an undergrad quantum mechanics course will come along and give a real answer.
Comment: Also, I believe that there are some tiny but noticeable energy losses in a superconductor.  Superconducting magnet coils in particle accelerators have to be aggressively cooled while in use to prevent them warming themselves above their superconducting temperature. Again, I don't remember the details, but someone surely does.
Answer: There are losses in the situation you describe, as electromagnetic radiation is radiated away. These are not resistive losses, however. That is to say, no energy is lost to heat.
Once you remove the potential difference, however, the current persists. It is in this situation that there are truly no losses. The current remains without any applied potential, and does not decay over time.
Comment: So is it a current without potential difference? Looks like Maxwell's equations would not work there, right?
Comment: @Xfce4 Maxwell's equations don't require there to be a potential difference for there to be a current. Thee very simplest problem in magnetostatics is an isolated current, which has a magnetic field but no electric field and thus no potential difference.
Comment: Doesn't a contradiction occur between Faraday's Law and Ampere's Law in the case of $0V$ ($0\vec{E}$) and $I \neq{0A}$ ?
Comment: @Xfce4 No. Why would you think it does? In the steady state, Faraday's law gives $\nabla\times\vec{E}=0$ (since the magnetic field is time-invariant) and Ampere's Law gives $\nabla\times\vec{B}=\mu_0\vec{J}$. Meanwhile the other two give $\nabla\cdot\vec{E}=0$ and $\nabla\cdot\vec{B}=0$.
Comment: Ok. I rushed into it. I can delete the comments if you wish.
Answer: Superconductivity comes from a condensation of Cooper pairs into a super-fluid state. Cooper pairs are composed of two electrons which are bonded by some attractive forces (the origin of the force depends of the materials, but in classical superconductors, the force is electron-phonon interactions). Cooper pairs are bosons (at large scale) even though they are composed of two fermions. That is why they can "condense" in a single quantum state. You can see this like a Bose-Einstein condensation that happens at low temperature and where all particles behave the same and are strongly correlated.
This single quantum state is the ground state of a many-body system with interactions between particles, the particles here are at their minimal energy value (they cannot go lower). Thus, the particles cannot radiate energy even though they are accelerated or decelerated. The analogy with a super-fluid is that the electrons acts like they are a liquid with absolute zero viscosity (this is why there is no resistivity at that point). Technically, once the electrons in a superconductor starts flowing, they can flow like this for eternity even without any applied voltage (experiments were done to test this idea and could only result in a lower boundary for the current lifetime).


If the creditor goes bankrupt, am I still required to pay back the principal I owe?

Question: If I borrow money from a credit union (and make monthly payments) and the credit union goes bankrupt, am I still required to pay the money back?
If the organization is bankrupt, to whom would I be making the payments?
Answer: Yes, you are.
When someone is bankrupt their assets are being sold to satisfy the creditors. Your note is an asset, and will be sold. You'll be making payments to the entity that buys it.
Answer: You still owe the money because there is a high probability that some other organization bough the account and assets of the failed creditor.  That means they will have bought your debt.  I have to assume there is language in your note that explains that they might sell your debt.
But what should one do if they don't know who bought the entity?  You can't pay a non-existent entity, but if you don't have an address, how can you pay the new owner of the debt?
First step, is to assume there will be a new owner.  A government, a company, an individual; somebody will buy that debt.  Read the news and see if you can't figure out what other entity owns your note.  You might have to contact them to enquire about where to send payment.  Keep records of any such contact.
If you put in an honest effort, but just cannot figure out who owns your note, I'd suggest continuing to make regular on-time payments.  But put your payments into a new bank account that you open just for this purpose.  So when the new owner of the debt does come calling, you'll have reasonable proof you were attempting to pay.  You simply settle up from the special account.  Any reasonable company will just take the money, and if anybody gets unreasonable and you have to appear in court, you have a paper trail indicating your attempts to honour the debt.
You'd have to consult a lawyer if nobody comes asking for the money.  There are probably statutes of limitation, but I wouldn't count on that ever happening.


My family vs. my family

Question: Is there any lingual way to differentiate between the family that I'm a child of and the family that I am a parent of? (I.e., the first family consists of my parents, my siblings, and me; the second one consists of my spouse, my children and me.)
Comment: There's no word, you just have to explain: my parents and siblings (or my family when growing up) vs my spouse and kids.
Comment: Your immediate family are those whose consanguinity coefficient is ½: parents, siblings, children.  The rest are not immediate family, but extended family.
Comment: If you are discussing both of them together, you can refer to them as *my parents' family* and *my family*, respectively.
Answer: From a similar question I posted that I think received a better answer than this one did.

The family you were born into is called Birth Family and the family
shaped by (after) marriage is referred to as Conjugal Family.

Thanks Eilia!
Comment: I think this is a useful answer. It's not _required_ that you do this, but you can make this post into a community wiki, which is the standard for this kind of 'someone-else-said-it' post. Either way, it's good that you've posted this here.
Answer: There is a commonly used term, nuclear family that means

a couple and their dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit.

Depending on the characteristics of the speaker, nuclear family might mean different things.
If the speaker were a person who did not have a significant other (spouse, domestic partner, baby mama or papa, etc.) and had no offspring, a reference to nuclear family would probably indicate his or her siblings and parents. However, if such a person were an adult living alone, she or he probably would not use the phrase, since it is most commonly used in reference to a familial group that usually lives together.
If the speaker had a cohabiting significant other, with or without offspring, nuclear family would most likely refer to them collectively (unless the speaker were reflecting to earlier, pre-affiliation and gestational times). However, some people would not describe cohabiting adults as a family unless there were some societally endorsed affiliation.
Finally, I believe that most people would consider a widow and her children (or widower and kids) a nuclear family. Many would consider a divorced, custodial parent and children to be nuclear, although that may vary based on social views and purpose of discussion.
In contrast, there is the concept of extended family that means

a family which extends beyond the nuclear family to include grandparents and other relatives.

This obviously can be much, much broader and is generationally indeterminate, encompassing all of the relatives listed in the question.
Having said all this, I am not aware of unambiguous terms that distinguish, without more context, between me, my sibs and parents and me, my squeeze and offspring.
Comment: This doesn't really answer the question: the nuclear/extended distinction is different from the distinction that the question is about
Comment: +1 for thoroughness. I'd give another +1 for clever use of 'squeeze' if I could...
Answer: There is a specific term for the family into which you were born: family of origin. It has emerged in the mental health field, for example, here and here.
Comment: Redundant adjectives can imply they are no longer true - consider "my first husband" when you're still married to him - and whenever I hear "family of origin" it always has a connotation of "who I no longer consider to be my true family because I have a way better one now"
Comment: @KateGregory the term doesn't carry any implications for me (also I don't see any redundancy). What would you call the family in which you were raised?
Comment: I would either use a time marker (when I was growing up, my family...) or refer to the people (my parents and siblings) if I thought "my family" was ambiguous, which it often is.
Answer: @JAM is right about 'family of origin.'  (It does not mean one's 'original family', as contrasted with one's 'new' family.)  It does have a clinical feel, though.
"Me and my brood" is a slangy way to refer exclusively to the second group: you and your spouse and children.  It's interesting that the spouse is implicitly included (a quick google search will verify this.
From a lexical standpoint, I can't think of anything else.
From a pragmatic standpoint, I would usually go for adverbial or metaphorical expressions in the kinds of cases when the constrasting expressions you are looking for seem necessary.  For example, "Under my parent's roof, a kid couldn't sleep over on weekends; under our roof, the kids won't stay at home on weeknights."
Finally, I think you used the word 'lingual' when you mean 'lexical'.

My family vs. my family


How do I get to the Windmill?

Question: How do I get to the windmill (presumably the dungeon where I will obtain the Pendant of Wisdom)? Link can't swim, and the island doesn't seem to be connected to anything. I know I'm missing something obvious here, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.
Answer: You need to go to Zora's Domain, and you can get there without swimming. Merge into the wall near the Zora who says he can't swim, and that will get you around the deep water and from there, Zora's Domain is nearby. Once you get there, go in and talk to the Zoras, who will ask you to do something for the Zora Queen:

 You will have to get the Smooth Stone that the man you meet outside Zora's Domain stole (he will be in Kakariko Village, after you talk to the Zoras)

Once you accomplish that task, you will be rewarded with the flippers that allow you to swim.
Answer: As you presumed you will have to learn to swim which to link means,get Zora's Flippers.
She can be found in Zora's domain.
Here is more detailed guide
Answer: If you are playing 3DS find the witches house behind the eastern palace. Right by it is a person who can't swim. Merge in the wall behind him then go to the other side. Follow the path until you see someone come out of the waterfall and run you over. Go in the waterfall and ask about their problem. Then go to the village and head to the shop. If there is no new merchandise, (but if was at the shop when I played), find the guy that ran you over and get the stone back. Go back to the waterfall and give them the stone. You'll be rewarded with some flipper that will allow you to swim. Then cross that log and go to the waterfall. Done!
Answer: to get the pendant of power and wisdom using a glitche all you have to do is go to the outside of maiamai cave you can then merge into the wall. As soon as you re-emerge shoot a grapple hook towards where the entrance of the cave is. It should clip through the wall and grab an invisible pole. This allows you to explore the map. It is possible to reach the end of the game like this but to get the pendants you should head right until you see a chest, if you open it it will give you a red rupee. after that you should be able to open it again to get some monster guts. It will allow you to open it three times but on the third you will die for some unknown reason. When you respawn at your house you will be constantly receiving rupee to give you infinite rupees and you should have all the pendants. You will also have an item that looks like a potion that is called 'metadata01' However if used it will crash the game.
Comment: I tried this, but never got the hookshot to hook onto anything. I searched for stories of this glitch elsewhere, but didn't find any. This is probably made-up. Plus it only answers something peripheral to the question.

How do I get to the Windmill?


My browsers display math formulae in Wikipedia pages in Latex format rather than compiled form

Question: For some time I have noticed that formulas in the Wikipedia pages are shown in LaTeX format rather than compiled form.
I have checked with different browsers like IE, Firefox, Chrome.
In all browsers same problem.
This happens quite often though not always.
Answer: This is something to do with your preferences. You can change them (under the Math section) to the method of rendering that you prefer.


Koppen-Geiger climate classification in R

Question: Are you aware of any R library that does the Koppen-Geiger climate classification, once the necessary input gridded (rasters, netcdf etc.) data are provided?
Answer: I have not seen anything that allows you to provide the underlying gridded data and then preforms the classification. However, there is the kgc package that identifies the Koeppen-Geiger Climatic that a given [x,y] coordinate pair resides in. You could coerce your raster into a SpatialPixelsDataFrame object and then iterate through the @coordinates slot to find each zone and then assign it to the corresponding row in the data.frame residing in the @data slot. The index would be the same for both slots.


Is it possible to keep Boone as a companion and become idolized by Caesars Legion?

Question: I want to unlock the legions safehouse to get the lucky shades but I've already recruited boone. I want to keep him so I can get all the companions but I don't know how I can gain enough fame with the legion to get the safehouse key. I'm playing on a ps3 in hard core mode, so no console trickery will work. Is there any way to accomplish that?
Answer: Boone will not follow you if you have a positive reputation with Caesar's Legion, however this can be rectified by killing Legion soldiers to get a mixed reputation (assuming you don't want to play as a Legion guy).
You can get infinite Legion reputation by selling NCR dogtags at Cottonwood Cove, which can be taken from dead NCR soldiers or pickpocketed from live NCR soldiers.
Comment: Do you know how positive you can get before he leaves? I didn't see it mentioned in the wiki. I only need to liked to get the safehouse key, nothing more.
Comment: @PhillipGooch no, I don't. Keep in mind he'll start shooting when he sees Legion, so you'll need to leave him behind while you raise your Legion reputation in any case.
Answer: You gain fame with the Legion by doing missions for Caesar, or by killing NRC soldiers & Rangers.
Unfortunately having a positive Legion rating will make Boone hate you, which obviously will cost your Spotter perk. Once you are liked enough by one side over the other it is very difficult to switch this around, as most of that group will attack on sight.  You can however try wearing armour of the faction you wish to gain influence with, and so long as you avoid guard dogs you should make it to key NPCs.
You can gain easy NCR influence by trading Legion ears to the NCR, and gain Legion influence by trading in NCR dogtags.
Here is a link to a Fallout NV wiki, I have also put the important text in bold here:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Craig_Boone

Craig Boone, despite leaving the military, is still an NCR soldier at
  heart; he refuses to work with a terrorist against the NCR and will
  not tolerate the Courier working with Caesar's Legion. In fact, if the
  player enters the Fort with Boone, all Legion members will become
  immediately hostile, regardless of the player's previous standing with
  them.


CNAME as different domain name

Question: I've a query with regards to CNAME record, can I have a CNAME as different domain name? Ex. I've a website example.com, can I create a CNAME with example.net? So, irrelevant of what end user types (either example.com or example.net) they should always reach example.com
Answer: Two issues collide here.  The first is can a CNAME point to a different domain, to which the answer is yes, that is perfectly acceptable.
The second, though, is that in the case of your example, you cannot use a CNAME at all, because you cannot use a CNAME at the apex (aka root) of a domain.  foo.example.net can be a CNAME; example.net cannot.
Comment: @Brennen It also needs to be mentioned that `ALIAS` and `ANAME` are *not* record types defined by the standards. They are custom behavior in certain server implementations.
Comment: This may be dangerous to suggest to inexperienced admins, but there are `ALIAS` and `ANAME` records which can be attached to the root domain and provide *similar* behavior to a `CNAME`. With that said, *make sure you know what you are doing* before deploying these types of records.
Answer: If you're just trying to redirect example.net web site visitors to example.com , that's what you should do. Point example.net A DNS record to example.com's IP address. After that, you have a couple of options;
-Create a new website on your host that accepts example.net visitors and redirect them using HTML/Javascript in your index page , or using your server's redirection capabilities.
-On your single website, check to see if visitors' URL matches example.net and redirect them to example.com using Javascript in your index page.
Pick one.
Comment: Does it change the URL tho? If it's something like "Host headers" in IIS, URL will stay "example.net" .
Comment: Or you could just use a ServerAlias and not have to worry about all the coding and redirects.

CNAME as different domain name


Why does water make a liquid film?

Question: Cut a narrow slit in a thin sheet of opaque material.  Immerse the sheet in a liquid,
such as water. After removing the sheet from the liquid, you will see a liquid film in
the slit.  The question is: why does water make a liquid film and not stay where it was originally?
Comment: Perhaps you should consider this in the light of your other question. I get the feeling that you are studying the subject for the first time, so I will suggest that these questions may be related. Also, may I direct you to [our advice on asking basic questions](http://meta.physics.stackexchange.com/questions/714/how-do-i-ask-homework-questions-on-physics-stack-exchange) so that we will answer them?
Comment: I agree with dmckee that the questions are related. I am giving you a +1 to the question so you can have points and be able to comment.
Comment: Related question by OP: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/44304/2451
Answer: Molecules of water (H2O) are polar, they are small electric dipoles. In the interior of a volume of some liquid water (pure), the molecules can arrange themselves to minimize the electric fields.  At a surface or edge of the volume the fields would have to be un-accommodated or interacting with the material with the slit. Sounds like one pole or the other is attracted to the material and the slit is sufficiently narrow that molecules can form bridges across.
Solutes dissolved in the water could change what you observe.

Why does water make a liquid film?


Alienware 17 + Ubuntu 14.04

Question: Unable to CD boot Ubuntu 14.04 on (new) Alienware 17. My guess is graphics card issue. AMD Radeon R9 M290X. Any advice? Thanks.
Comment: Could you give more information as to what you have tried, what happens, what you have tried to reslove this, other hardware details etc?
Comment: Similar problem with this HP Pavilion 17.  Would not boot a live CD but allowed an installation (after disabling UEFI boot).  Needed to boot into a terminal and install AMD drivers to get it to boot into the display manager.
Answer: Try typing in
<code>vga=normal nomodeset
</code>
in the command line just below the menu asking if you want to Try Ubuntu without installing"...  The focus of the cursor is already in the command line so back the cursor up before the
<code>--
</code>
and type in the extra commands above.  It forces the linux kernel framebuffer to load normal vga mode.  I know I have seen a table of all the available values you can specify for vga mode but I cannot remember where I saw it. Setting it to "normal" worked for me when all other settings did not. Upon more research the nomodeset does this:

Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to not load video drivers and use BIOS modes instead until X is loaded.

So use both.  I found after much digging that this was a graphics issue.
-Steve  (noob Ubuntu user)

Alienware 17 + Ubuntu 14.04


Isometric contraction in PNF

Question: Amidst the set of stretching techniques labeled Proprioceptive Muscular Facilitation, there are isometric contractions. Why does isometric exercise stretch muscles?
Answer: TL; DR: It reduces the inhibitions of the muscle that produce the resistance to the stretch, allowing a further range of motion (ROM) than previously. So it doesn't really stretch the muscle, it reduces the tendency of the body to resist the stretch.
Expansion: PNF stretching is a fairly advanced, intense stretching technique that uses isometric contractions while the muscle is in a near maximal stretched state. This contraction is held for anywhere from 3-20 seconds, although one study suggests that there isn't really any difference between shorter and longer intervals in the stretch.
The mechanism is not really understood, the main theories currently is that if affects the stretch reflex, reciprocal inhibition and autogenic inhibition.
The stretch reflex is due to a muscle spindle (nerve receptor), that when a muscle is stretched suddenly, it sends a signal to the brain to contract the muscle. The greater the stretch, the more forceful the contraction. If you increase the ROM of the muscle, you are less likely to fire the stretch reflex. (As an aside, when the doctor whacks your knee with the hammer to see it twitch, that's the stretch reflex in action).
Reciprocal inhibition - Agonist/antagonist muscles are muscles in opposition to each other such as biceps/triceps, hamstrings/quadriceps, etc. When an agonist muscle contracts, the spindle sends a message to the brain for the antagonist to relax. It is suggested that this mechanism is altered by PNF stretching.
Autogenic inhibition - The golgi tendon organ fires when tension increases in the muscle, either due to contraction or to stretch, causing the agonist muscle to relax. This would override the tendency of the muscle to tighten under stress and relax, enabling a further ROM.
For additional reading, here is an writeup on PNF stretching discussing the various possible mechanisms of action, along with varying techniques of PNF (Contract/Relax, and Contract/Relax/Antagonist/Contract). It also has quite a few cited studies that are good reading. The writeup also addresses the gate-control theory which I am not familiar with.

Isometric contraction in PNF


Making paths in Ant script relative

Question: I am creating Ant xml file while generating the runnable jar of plugin.
As it is having all absolute path I want to make it relative. Because I want to add creation of jar as hudson job and automate it.
I am new to Ant scripting. So could anyone help me out.
Few lines in the files look like below.
<code><Target>
<zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="D:/00Tools/Catch_Plus_1.10.0/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.core.contenttype_3.4.100.v20110423-0524.jar"/>
        <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="D:/00Tools/Tools_1.10.0/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.app_1.3.100.v20110321.jar"/>
        <fileset dir="D:/casdev/ffm-mks1/sw-tools-development/tools/plugins/com.xyz.tools.support/bin"/>
        <fileset dir="D:/casdev/ffm-mks1/sw-tools-development/tools/plugins/com.xyz.tools.extlib/bin"/>
        <zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF" src="D:/casdev/ffm-mks1/sw-tools-development/tools/plugins/com.xyz.tools.extlib/core/dbloggerclient.jar"/>

</Target>
</code>
I want this to be relative to my hudson job.
Answer: Set the optional ${basedir} property of the project element and put your paths in relative to the basedir.
Besides, use  to check the properties.

Making paths in Ant script relative


Twig 2.0 error message "Accessing Twig_Template attributes is forbidden"

Question: Since upgrading to Twig 2.0 I get the error message Accessing Twig_Template attributes is forbidden. The referred line contains either an {{ include }} or a macro call.
Comment: in my case I forgot to include macros in template.
Answer: In Twig 2.0 {{ import }}'ed macros are not inherited to child templates anymore, see https://github.com/twigphp/Twig/issues/2336
Solution: You need to import the required macro(s) in every single .twig file.
If the error is showing up on a line containing {{ include }} or {{ extends }}, you have to look into the template that's being included/extended, and import the macro there.
Answer: If you have a lot of Twig files using your macros, it might be easier and less error-prone to define global Twig Functions through a Twig Extension. This way you don't need to import the macros in every file (which will probably be fixed in a future Twig version).
For instance, when I had
{% macro error(message, dismissible=true) %}
   {# Error display code #}
{% endmacro %}

I now have defined in a Twig Extension called UtilitiesExtensionthe following Function :
    public function getFunctions()
    {
        return array(
            // ...
            new \Twig_SimpleFunction('error', array($this, 'error')),
        );
    }

    public function error($message, $dismissible = true) {
        return $this->twig->render('patterns/utils/error.html.twig', [
            'text' => $message,
            'limit' => $dismissible,
        ]);
    }

You then need to replace your macro calls with the function names; note that you cannot use dots in function names.
This solution is clean as Twig Macros are supposed to be the equivalent of PHP Functions. Of course this should be adapted to your needs.


Confusion in Lorentz Transformations

Question: In Carroll's GR book, he develops the general condition rotation matrices satisfy in order to be Lorentz Transformations:
\begin{equation}\eta=\Lambda^T\eta\Lambda\end{equation}
Which seems natural. Going further into actually writing actual expressions for the transformations, he shows a "boost" in x-direction:
\begin{equation}\Lambda^{\mu'}_{\ \ \ \ \nu}=\left[
    \begin{array}{cc}
      \cosh\phi & -\sinh\phi &0 &0  \\
      -\sinh\phi & \cosh\phi&0&0\\
0&0&1&0\\
0&0&0&1
    \end{array}
 \right]
\end{equation}
Which he just threw in there, and used to latter recover the usual expression for Lorentz Transformations, by representing the coordinates:
\begin{align}t'=\ &t\cosh\phi-x\sinh\phi\\
x'=-&t\sinh\phi+x\cosh\phi\end{align}
Which I don't really see how it follows from the Rotation Matrix descripted. So: Why does that RM represents a "boost" in x-direction, which makes it something that recovers lorentz transformations in the usual form, and how does that transformation law in $x$ and $t$ follow from the RM?
Comment: What you call the usual expression for Lorentz transformation is simply the matrix multiplication of $\Lambda$ with the column vector $(t,x,y,z)^\top$. Was that the question ?
Answer: First af all, the matrix you just reported isn't a "canonical" rotation matrix, in the sense that the rotation is performed in spacetime and not in the Euclidean space, as we are used to. For this reason the rotation is said to be an hyperbolic rotation and it represents a boost along the $x$ direction because that's simply what boosts are: a rotation in spacetime, where time and spatial coordinates work together. If the form presented isn't satisfactory enough, you can always relate the rapidity $\phi$ to the well-known Lorentz factor $\gamma$ by using the relation (remember that Carroll uses natural units, for which $c=1$):
\begin{equation} \phi = \tanh^{-1}{v} \, .\end{equation}
Lastly, the transformations you wrote simply derive from the fact that the 4-vector $x^\mu=(t,x,y,z)$ behaves in the following way under a Lorentz transformation:
$$
x'^{\mu}= \Lambda^{\mu}_{\, \,\nu}x^{\nu}
$$
so that
$$t′= t\cosh{\phi}−x\sinh{\phi}$$
$$x' = -t\sinh{\phi}+x\cosh{\phi} $$
is the immediate resul of matrix multiplication.

Confusion in Lorentz Transformations


One-handed backhand in tennis

Question: What are the fundamentals of a one-handed backhand? What grip should I use? How should I position, and what should the technique be like during the stroke?
Answer: I've always played with a OHBH. It seemed more natural to me, and I thought it looked cooler too. I naturally was able to slice the ball, but getting good topspin on a OHBH always eluded me until I heard someone say:
"Look through the racket when you make contact".
In other words, when you make contact with the ball, look at the ball through the string bed of the racket instead of looking at the ball in front of the racket. This can be done with an eastern or "extreme"-eastern backhand grip, index knuckle at bevel 1 or 2, respectively.

This will force you to hit a little out front, enabling you to follow through with your arms in an "open wing" position like Wawrinka.
If you're looking for a slice or backspin OHBH you kinda have to look at the ball from the front or side of the racket, as seen in the following image:

Slices and chips can be done with continental grip.
I think that's the best advice regarding the OHBH, anything more is harder to explain through text. Most of the time when I tell these things to people I hit with, things start to click afterward.
Also see this article: http://www.revolutionarytennis.com/federervisiontechnique.html
Answer: I am a one hand backhand player who was forced to use two hand grip for lessons back in the old days. I find that the technique is practically the same, the only difference is whether or not you use your non-dominant hand. The position of your dominant hand should be the the same in both one hand and two hand backhand. You should still turn, hit follow through in the same manner.
Of course if you do not know two handed backhand, everything I just said makes no sense, so in that case please let me know so I can explain it better.

One-handed backhand in tennis


Unique carbons on long carbon chains

Question: If we have a long carbon chain like octane for example, do we determine if a carbon is unique by just looking at the immediate surrounding atoms of each  carbon (in this case 3 unique carbons), or do we need to take into account the symmetry of the whole molecule (many more unique carbons)? Edit: This is for NMR purposes
Comment: It depends on why do you need that in the first place. For the purposes of most chemical properties, all CH2's are pretty much the same; from the NMR point of view, they are different.
Comment: oh yeah forgot to add that this is for NMR purposes
Answer: In general, the problem is a mathematical one. What you are asking for is the 'equivalence classes' of the atoms under the symmetry group. As pointed out in the comments, this may or may not be chemically important.
One simple way to divide the atoms into equivalence classes is to use Morgan numbers. The algorithm is particularly simple:

Label the atoms with their degree (so terminal carbons are "1")
Update each atom's label by adding the labels of the neighbouring atoms
Repeat until the number of different labels is constant

So, for a linear hydrocarbon, the labels start out as [1, 2, 2, ..., 2, 1] and update to [3, 5, 6, 6, ..., 6, 5, 3]. After a couple more rounds, you get a pattern of labels like [a, b, c, d, d, c, b, a].
This works reasonably well, although there are more complex algorithms for determining non-equivalent atoms. As you have worked out, the atoms beyond the immediate neighbourhood are necessary.
Comment: Thanks for the feedback, also I forgot to note that this is for NMR purposes
Comment: would what you  said still hold true for NMR purposes? Thanks
Answer: If you don't look just at the closest neighbors, but see what the whole groups at each atom are, you see that in the case of octane, there are 2 carbons with one heptyl, 2 carbons with one methyl and one hexyl, 2 carbons one ethyl and one pentyl, and 2 carbons with one propyl and one butyl; i.e. 4 different carbon atoms (each one twice).
Comment: Thanks for the feedback, also I forgot to note that this is for NMR purposes

Unique carbons on long carbon chains


Find all integers $(x, y)$ such that $1 + 2^x + 2^{2x + 1} = y^2$

Question: Find all integers $$(x, y)$$ such that $$1 + 2^x + 2^{2x + 1} = y^2$$
So I basically used $$ f(x) = 1 + 2^x + 2^{2x + 1} = y^2$$ and created a table from 0 to 20. I got two pairs of integers: $$(0, \pm2)$$ and $$(4, \pm23)$$
I want to know if there's another method or if there are any other pairs of integers, or a generalisation.
Comment: https://www.artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/2006_IMO_Problems/Problem_4
Comment: Maybe useful$$1 + 2^x + 2^{2x + 1} = y^2\\2.2^{2x}+2^x+1-y^2=0 \\like\\ax^2+bx+c=0\\2^x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}=\frac{-1\pm\sqrt{1-4(2)(1-y^2)}}{4}\\ \Delta=8y^2-7=q^2$$
Comment: before anyone closes this without looking at the link above, while this problem does seem to come from the IMO in 2006 the linked page doesn't have a correct answer (only answer fragments that the page admits are faulty). As such, the OP seems justified in searching for a correct answer... Though it would be much better if the OP explained this himself/herself
Comment: This can be rewritten as $(2^{x+2}+1)^2-8y^2=-7$. So you want a solution to $u^2-8y^2=-7$ for $u$ one more than a power of $2$.
Answer: $1 + 2^x + 2^{2x + 1} = y^2 \\\implies 2^x(2^{x+1}+1) = (y+1)(y-1)$
$x<-1$ gives a non-integer LHS (no solutions)
$x=-1$ gives LHS $= 1$ with no solutions for $y$
$x=0$ gives LHS $= 3$ and $y=\pm 2$
For $x>0$,  $y$ is odd so put $y=2k+1$ and $2^x(2^{x+1}+1) = (2k+2)(2k) = 4k(k+1)$ which is divisible by $8$ so $x\ge 3$ and $2^{x-2}(2^{x+1}+1) = k(k+1)$.
Clearly we cannot have $k=2^{x-2}$ or $k+1=2^{x-2}$ so we need $(2^{x+1}+1)$ to split into (odd) factors $r,s$ such that $2^{x-2}r = s\pm 1$.
Then $|r|<8$ otherwise $2^{x-2}|r| > (2^{x+1}+1)$. Also $2^{x-2}r^2 = sr\pm r$ so $|r|=3$ is the only viable choice and $2^{x-2}9 = (2^{x+1}+1) \pm 3$ gives $2^{x-2} = 4$ i.e. $x=4$ (and $y=\pm 23$) as the only other solution.
In summary: the only solutions $(x,y)$ are $(0,\pm 2)$ and $(4,\pm 23)$, those you found.
Comment: @Kamal : First case implies $8k+1=k+1$, the second $8k+9=k$, which clearly are both not possible. Both are conclusions from $[2^{x-2}](8\cdot [2^{x-2}]+1)=k(k+1)$.
Comment: @Kamal : Generally, you split both factors, $ab=(a_1a_2)(b_1b_2)=(a_1b_1)(a_2b_2)$. However, from the first factor you get only powers of $2$, and one of the resulting factors has to be odd, so any finer factorization has to come from the second factor.  Now you want to identify $(k,k+1)$ either with $(ab_1,b_2)$ or with $(b_2,ab_1)$, which requires $|b_2-ab_1|=1$.
Comment: can you please explain me the last part of your proof starting from:
Clearly we cannot have $k=2^{x-2}$ or $k+1=2^{x-2}$...
Thanks in advance.
Comment: @Lutz, thanks for giving me time to reply. I have one more question if this does not bother you. why we split $(2^{x+1}+1)$ into odd factors such that $2^{x-2}r = s\pm 1$ with r must be $|r|<8$? I did not get how he came to the last expression. thanks again.
Comment: thanks a lot @LutzL for your beautiful explanation.
Comment: **Note** For the record, this is essentially the same as the [official IMO 2006 P4 solution](https://olympiads.win.tue.nl/imo/imo2006/solutions.pdf)


iPhone Credit Card Payment

Question: I am trying to understand what is the best way to implement a credit card payment flow into a native iPhone app. From what I see on the market, most of the apps use a WebView to process the payment. I haven't found examples of native implementation of it. What are the drawbacks of a native solution? Is either one of these solutions PCI compliant?
Comment: Just use a payment processor like PayPal
Comment: I can't. I need to offer Visa, Mastercard and all the most important circuits for the payment. Moreover, the website doesn't use paypal and that would be a significant difference in the UX.
Answer: Using a WebView makes a lot of sense.

You have to be connected to the Internet anyhow.
Performance is not an issue.
There's lots of already written and well tested web-based payment processors.
Many people (and you specifically) already have a web-based payment processor in place for non-mobile uses.
More secure since as much as possible is on your servers rather than in the client.
Apple less likely to demand you use the built-in payment systems (with their cut).

PCI is not really optional, so if someone has a working business based on payment from iPhone via WebView then it's going to be possible to meet PCI.

iPhone Credit Card Payment


no www redirects to front page

Question: I recently taken over a Drupal site to maintain and work on the design bit. I'm having an issue where if I enter a page on my site without the www prefix, I get directed to the front page. You should of course end up on the correct page anyway, maybe with the www prefix added.
I'm checking the .htaccess file and there i noticed this part:
<code> # If your site can be accessed both with and without the 'www.' prefix, you
 # can use one of the following settings to redirect users to your preferred
 # URL, either WITH or WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix. Choose ONLY one option:
 #
 # To redirect all users to access the site WITH the 'www.' prefix,
 # (http://example.com/... will be redirected to http://www.example.com/...)
 # uncomment the following:
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
 RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
 #
 # To redirect all users to access the site WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix,
 # (http://www.example.com/... will be redirected to http://example.com/...)
 # uncomment the following:
 # RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC]
 # RewriteRule ^ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
</code>
As you can see I did comment out the first two rows so I thought this would correct this issue, but no, I get no change at all. Anyone got any idea about what could be wrong?
I also noticed this lines, which mentions a index.php redirect. But I can't really understand if this causes my problem.
<code> # Pass all requests not referring directly to files in the filesystem to
 # index.php. Clean URLs are handled in drupal_environment_initialize().
 # RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
 # RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
 # RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
 # RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</code>
There seems to be no 404 page but every wrong adress get redirected to the front page.
Answer: Try using this old method
<code>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [L,R=301]
</code>
Replace example with your domain name.
Still if you have the problem check your Redirects in Hosting Control Panel or you can contact them to support this.
Comment: Thanks for your input. Turns out some kind of alias had to be turned on in the server settings. I didn't do it myself otherwise I would have posted the solution here.

no www redirects to front page


Grounding Plexiglass

Question: I have a sheet of plexiglass that has metal strips (Aluminum) that will be connected through wires to an Arduino. The Arduino is grounded but the metal strips are not. The metal strips will rest on top of plexiglass. I'm wondering how I could ground the metal strips? Is there a material I can place under the metal strips that I can attach ground to in order to reduce interference/cross talk (between the Aluminum strips)?
Comment: Welcome to EE.SE! Your question is a bit confusing and I think you will get much better advice if you tell us _exactly_ how you are using this device and how it is connected to the Arduino. Why do you _want_ to ground the strips? Will the device still function if the strips are grounded? In particular, if you have wires connected to the strips, why can't you ground those wires?
Comment: Consider interlacing grounded strips with the ungrounded sense strips, and calibrating out the background capacitance they cause.
Comment: @JoeHass thanks for the feedback. i'm building my own capacitive sensor. no it doesn't really work without the ground - unless the object it is detecting is connected to ground. But i was hoping to not connect the object it is detecting to ground - that would not look nice. I'm not sure why grounding the object it is detecting worked :S I'm also not sure how i can get the same outcome, without grounding the objects that the capacitive sensor is detecting... I thought maybe if i properly grounded the Aluminum strips it would work? any ideas?
Answer: I'm assuming that you want to use each of the aluminum strips as some sort of input, and to have them pulled low by default. If that's the case, connect each strip to one of the GND pins of the arduino with a 10kohm resistor (or something in that ballpark), one resistor per aluminum strip. This will pull each strip low while still allowing a high signal to be applied through them.
Comment: yes. i'm building my own capacitive sensor using Aluminum strips. The problem is, if i touch the grid, it works fine - but this is because i'm grounded. However, if i place another object on my capacitive sensor (that is not grounded) it does not work. I was looking for a way to have the capacitive sensor somehow grounded properly (the Aluminum strips) such that the objects that the capacitive sensor is detecting does not need to be directly grounded. any ideas?

Grounding Plexiglass


Refresh Google Cloud SQL MySQL server SSL certificate without downtime?

Question: If I connect using SSL to a Google Cloud SQL 2nd gen MySQL server, the certificate is self-signed and it appears that the certificate only lasts 1 year. Before the year is up, I can refresh the certificate using gcloud sql instances reset-ssl-config [INSTANCE_NAME]. At this point a new certificate is generated and is immediately put into use at the MySQL server.
Unfortunately, this will result in downtime because I will have multiple different MySQL clients deployed whose --ssl-ca configuration would have to change as soon as the new server certificate is generated. Furthermore, the documentation indicates that all the client certificates are revoked too at the same time!
Is there any way to avoid client-side downtime on Google Cloud SQL MySQL when the server certificate is refreshed? For example, is it possible to generate the new server certificate without enabling it immediately, so that clients' --ssl-ca can be updated, and then start using the new certificate once the clients are all ready?
For comparison, as described in a letter from the RDS team, Amazon RDS does not use self-signed certificates for the MySQL server. Instead, it uses a certificate (with a host name that validates with --ssl-verify-server-cert) and a certificate authority whose certificate lasts for 5 years. Before the CA certificate expires, Amazon publishes a certificate authority file that contains both the old CA certificates and the new CA certificates (since the mysql client's --ssl-ca file can contain multiple trusted CAs certs). Once all clients trust the new CA cert and you are ready, you can swap the RDS MySQL server's certificate from a cert signed by the old CA to a cert signed the new CA without any downtime.
Comment: I am a Cloud SQL engineer... We launched certificate rotation this past year, see the docs: https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/configure-ssl-instance#rotate
Comment: I think that you answered your own question. Go AWS.
Answer: The Cloud SQL service does not have a method for clients to upgrade the cert without downtime currently. I've taken the note and made a Feature Request to Google's Public Issue Tracker to implement the feature in Cloud SQL in the future.
There's no method to pre-fetch the CA data that would be used to update the cert so that the client could be prepared in advance.


How should I approach a recruiter once you got an interview call via internal referral?

Question: The recruiter sent me a job profile, for which I sent him my resume, but after 2 days later he responded that the employer thinks my profile didn't match the job description. In the meantime, I discovered my ex-colleague is working there. She mentioned about the job openings, and when I told her that I am interested, she connected me to the HR, who admitted that she can't get in touch with me because the recruiter already has, however she will make sure the director at least interviews me. Now, after this, within an hour recruiter got back to me saying that he fought really hard to get me an interview call. I am not sure who to believe. Can I still go via my ex-colleague's recommendation or should I go thru the recruiter?
Answer: The recruiter is obviously a lying bastard. That being said, there are possibly legal reasons why you can't go around him at this point.
There exist written communications between the two of you in which he advertises the job for you. There's a paper trail of him contacting the company with your resume.
If the company were to hire you without paying him his fee he will most likely be able to turn around and sue the company for breach of contract.
The company will absolutely not want to get involved with that. Had your contact been purely by phone the situation might be different. As things stand the best bet is to just go through him.
Later in the process, if you feel that he is misrepresenting you, or otherwise screwing your chances over, you may want to have a heart to heart with the hiring manager and tell him that you feel that the agent is not working in your best interest, and is probably lying to you. You might then ask them to simply pay him his fee and get him out of the way of the hiring process.
Comment: Depending on the contract, that last option may not be possible. I have seen contracts between recruiting agencies and their clients that guaranteed a minimum time where the employee would be contracted through the recruiting agency. One such contract actually forced me from a job because of a clause preventing the client from hiring me for one full year after working for said recruiter. However most such contracts that I have seen have been along the lines of "client will pay recruiter 25% of employee's salary for the next 12 months", which is easier (although not *easy*) to deal with.
Answer: You have to go through the recruiter.
Since they're the one who provided your name/resume to the client, the company almost certainly can not hire you any other way for contractual reasons.
The chances of the employer going around the recruiter are so slim as to be not worthy of consideration but even if they did, they could be forced to let you go if the recruiter finds out and the company doesn't want to pony up a fee.
You'd also be burning a bridge with a recruiter which is never fatal, it's also not a good idea to burn any bridges at all if you can avoid it.
Now, there's possibly a third option.  You could go around the recruiter for the interview and if the company wants to hire you, they could just go through the recruiter anyway.
Either way, when all is said and done you should have a conversation with someone at the recruiter's company because in my experience, they don't like recruiters to be lazy when it can cost them money.  I'd wait until it was resolved one way or another though.
Answer: There lies a possibility that your recruiter has a completely different contact than whomever you were contacting at the company. There's also the possibility that the recruiter has lagged in communication. For example, your call may have happened after the recruiter received an email declining an interview request.
In these situations, it's best to not assume that anything malicious is going on. You, the prospective employee, are the lifeblood of these agencies. Without hiring you, they don't make any money. Therefore I would approach this as a means of getting everyone on the same page: you, the recruiter, and the client.
Mention the referral to the recruiter, and tell them that the client company expressed interest. Conversely, the client company should be contacting the recruiter to inform them that they would like to interview you based on said referral. If things play out in your favor, all they would need to beyond that point is serve as a point of contact through the interview process. Less work for them is usually taken as a good thing based on past experience.
What if things don't go your way?
At least here in the USA, there is a beautiful competition between recruiting agencies. As a good example, I receive ~5+ emails from different agencies (and usually from multiple people within the same recruiting agency) every time a local company is hiring in my field. Aside from a few companies, most positions that open up will have multiple agencies attempting to fill a single role.
In this case, it might be possible to simply wait it out. When the role is filled, the recruiter might no longer have dibs on your resume to this company; leaving you free to apply directly to the company or any of the recruiter's competition for future positions. I have personally done this for scummy staffing agencies in the past.
There also lies the possibility that there are multiple recruiters within your recruiting agency. I have seen a recruiter more than happy to take a candidate from his colleague to fill a new position. Although this also carries the possibilities of burning bridges with that particular recruiter, so I wouldn't recommend it unless the opportunity presents itself such as someone else from the agency approaching you.


How can I get the full archive of information on Facebook

Question: How can I get the full archive of information on Facebook . I tried " Download a copy of your Facebook data" and I received only part of the information .I am not receiving messages deleted. Where is the problem ?
Answer: Ask Ars
Facebook:

confirmed that as long as you have not deleted the content yourself—or in the case of a message between two people, both people have not deleted it—the content should stay online indefinitely.

Not all content is retained and hence recoverable.


Is my toilet operating properly

Question: My toilet tank has the tube going to the overflow but the overflow doesn't go to the bowl so I assume it goes down the drain. Is this ok. the bowl still fills up at each flush.
Comment: Overflow tube carries water to the bowl there is no drain   Water only leaves the tank by way of the bowl.   During refill after a flush do you see water flowing into bowl?
Comment: No, Imediatley after flush the bowl fills up but not from around the rim or from the overflow, there is a hole at the front of the bowl and water comes out there. When I had  a problem with one toilet leaking  water continually after flushing I could hear it leaking and my pressure pump would stay on but nothing was going in the bowl so I can only assume it was bypassing the bowl and going directly down the sewer line
Answer: The overflow tube empties into the bowl. When the bowl water level rises to  certain point, water starts going down the drain. You can verify this by pushing your float down in a full tank. You'll notice that the level in the tank rises but the level in the bowl rises too. You can see water entering the bowl usually from the rim. Water can only get to the drain by going into the bowl first.
(Picture from Home Tips)
Comment: I agree it is the only way to fill the bowl. The method may not be obvious as most fill from the rim yours uses a less expensive method of filling at the trap.

Is my toilet operating properly


Is the whole idea of a dual-squeezable bottle have a patent or is it just this particular cap and this particular bottle?

Question: In reference to the patent: US20080121654
Is the whole idea of a dual-squeezable bottle have a patent or is it just this particular cap and this particular bottle?
Answer: The document you linked to is a patent application. The resulting granted patent is US7665631.
To answer your question, what the patent covers is described in its claims. In this case, there is only one independent claim:

A dual liquid condiment dispenser bottle, comprising:
a. a squeezable bottle having two separate chambers, defined by a flat wall
  dividing the bottle into two separate halves;
b. a dual valve housing
  with two rectangular slots or apertures, each rectangular slot or
  aperture positioned over one of said two separate chambers through
  which the condiments are to flow upon squeezing said liquid condiment
  dispenser bottle, said dual valve housing affixed to the top of said
  liquid condiment dispenser bottle by a press fit or mutually keyed or
  mated molded means;
c. two rotating valves, each one having a flexible
  locking tab that rides inside a mating groove inside said dual valve
  housing for the express purpose of retaining each said rotating valve
  in position to maintain alignment with a corresponding rectangular
  slot or aperture in each said rotating valve and said rectangular
  slots or apertures located in said dual valve housing;
d. a finger tab
  on each rotating valve to provide the external means with which to
  rotate each valve separately;
e. an external threaded portion molded
  on the exterior of the neck of the squeezable bottle; and
f. a cap
  having a threaded portion that corresponds to said external threaded
  portion on the neck of said squeezable bottle, said cap fitting over
  said dual valve housing.

As you can see, this patent is quite specific to the implementation described with a relatively long and complicated claim. To infringe on this patent you would need to implement each and every step in the claim.
This doesn't mean there might not be other patents that are generally relevant to dual squeeze bottles. This patent has four cited patents as prior art, although none are obviously about squeezable bottles. There are seven patents that cite this patent and may be relevant. This doesn't guarantee there aren't others. For instance, I've seen epoxy packaged in flexible pouches where there the two components are meant to be squeezed out to mix.


How could my cyborg live longer?

Question: I have created a world where the main character is a cyborg, a petri dish with neurons inside a machine, the problem is most neuronal cultures only live for weeks, 60 days or  up to 5 years, that's what all the articles I've read say. How could I prolong the life of my cyborg/neurons?
Comment: Maybe you need source of cells that don't die so quickly in a culture medium...
Comment: (a) The [tag:science-based] and [tag:science-fiction] tags are mutually exclusive (read their roll-overs), please pick only one. (b) You've not provided nearly enough detail for a reasonably objective answer. You need to explain your cyborg tech and specifically what biological conditions are trying to be preserved. (c) Let me be honest - you didn't ask with the detail you're expecting in an answer. Why do you need it? You appear to be handwaving the cybog tech, why not the life expectancy tech?
Answer: By building a structure that sustains the neural structures and keeps it active.
I dont know what articles you read since you didnt post them so I dont know what the problems were in those instances. But since those neural structures can function for years in humans (centuries in some other animals!) It should be possible to give them a framework where they last longer. The most likely culprits would be improper feeding (nutrients, vitamins, hormones etc) and being purposefully used. In biology "if you dont use it you lose it" is an important aspect to keep efficiency up and not keep feeding cells that dont serve a purpose. Neurons have a high plasticity, this is important in streamlining the brain's processes and switching tasks to things the brain is performing more often. So of the neurons arent used for specific neuron stuff they'll degrade naturally.
If you make sure the neurons can replicate (say stemcells are included that keep replenishing the neurons to facilitate their plasticity and natural death) and are properly fed and stimulated in their performance you can have a long lifetime for these cyborgs.
Answer: Nanomachines can be used to repair neuronal cells by replicating and lengthen the lifespan of neurons.
They are small robots that can be programmed to perform specific tasks. E.g. create artificial cells, repair cells or modify the DNA which could help prolong life.

How could my cyborg live longer?


Breadcrumb in drupal

Question: I want to breadcrumb in drupal8
that display as url as home / list page /  node page.
I just have in breadcrumb home > node page.
I use bootstrap breadcrumb.
Answer: Drupal 8 uses the page alias to build up the breadcrumb trail. Your "node page" would need to contain the "list page" alias to make it work e.g.
List page = /mylist
Node page = /mylist/mynode
If you want to use the menu structure then you could try this https://www.drupal.org/project/menu_breadcrumb
Answer: You can do it with theme_breadcrumb function. You just need to add you condition and return.In below example I am taking service node type page and list page which is created by views page and path is service.So my breadcrumb should be like this
Home>services>Service title

function theme_breadcrumb(&$variables){
 $path = \Drupal::service('path.current')->getPath();
 $path_args = explode('/', $path);
 $home_link = \Drupal\Core\Link::createFromRoute('Home', '<front>');
 $output = '';
if(($node = \Drupal::routeMatch()->getParameter('node')) && $variables['breadcrumb']){
$typeName = $node->bundle();
if ($typeName == 'service') {
$url_object = \Drupal::service('path.validator')->getUrlIfValid('service');
$route_name = $url_object->getRouteName();
$service_link = \Drupal\Core\Link::createFromRoute('Services', $route_name);
$breadcrumb = array();
$breadcrumb[] = $home_link->toString();
$breadcrumb[] = $node->getTitle();
$output .= '
' . implode('> ', $breadcrumb) . '
';
return $output;

   }
 }
}

Breadcrumb in drupal