Why does the eastern teaching of no-self be so difficult to accept, as an actuality and not as a weird claim, by western thought?

Question: In West, self is seen as a precious concept, central to everyday life decisions.
On the opposite, Western stretches the illusory nature of a permanent entity. It seems to be there such an huge difference, and the understanding of it seems difficult, producing the most emotional reactions. Why is it so, if there are no any scientific prove of the existence of a permanent self, except in religions?
Comment: Can you say more/provide more examples? Which "emotional reactions" are you referring to? Where is the "no-self" concept claimed to be "weird"?
Comment: From my experience, that is hardly a unique reaction to Eastern ideas. Internet forums are basically a mechanism for gathering unhinged, emotional responses to ideas.
Comment: Sure. I'm referring to reactions I use to see in social networks and forums. For example, if some question arises questioning the existence of a separate self, or thinker, ou doer, it would probably receive a negative feedback.
Comment: You are right, it is doesn't happen only with Eastern ideas, but I think we have to agree that the non-existence of a self is something difficult to accept. What do you think?
Comment: Might we persuade you to either supply an example or alter the question to be more functional / answerable for an SE? As written, it seems to be asking us to speculate as to motives and claiming something about the Western account of self that would be difficult to support in contemporary philosophical literature...
Comment: There are constant reoccurrences of this as an extreme form of Christianity, from "The Cloud of Unknowing" to Cathar communism or some Monastic rules.  I think these indicate it is not difficult to come by this notion, in the West, or even to take it quite seriously and base your whole life on it.  *It is difficult to have power if you hold it.*  It may just be that normal people have not ever outnumbered the privileged in the West to the same degree that they have at various points in the East, and that holding on to personal power therefore occupies a greater share of our common experience.
Comment: Self, refers to the thing that is "me"... if self does not exist, I do not exist... so what is the purpose of buddhist practice? I do not exist, so there's nothing that needs help. Now you may say, self exists, but "permanent self" does not exist. So I will die in this moment, and another I will appear... who will die... again what is the purpose of buddhist practice? There is nothing that needs to be saved...  I suspect the whole problem is just an issue of translation... self probably refers in english to something more akin to 'ego' or 'personality'...
Comment: maybe it is a weird claim, and your "as an actuality" thing is just how it is most readily made sense of day to day etc.
Comment: I'm not making it an answer because I have no references, but I have found that the Eastern approach to an eternal self is a self which is eternally changing but remains identifiable, while the Western approach to an eternal self is a self which is eternally static.  The emotional reactions from the West appear to me to stem from just how mightily hard it is to discuss having an eternally static self when everything else seems to change.
Comment: @CortAmmon not sure; the hindu atman meant to be "unchanging", and i think, with moksha, all there is?
Comment: the question is a bad one anwyay, i would downvote it. it's a sociological question, based on at best a psychological observation, at worst a misunderstanding of the philosophical literature
Answer: Noting a specific definition of self, akin to ego.
ref. Basic Facts of Existence, III. Egolessness

The diverse renderings chosen by the individual authors for the key
  term anattaa or nairaatmya (Skt.) have been retained. Hence it should
  be understood by the reader that egolessness, soullessness,
  impersonality and not-self all stand for the Pali term anattaa
  (Sanskrit: anaatma or nairaatmya).

In this context, being selfless or non-egocentric is quite unmysterious.  By not being egocentric or selfish one simply does not prioritise one's own needs or importance over the needs of others.
Why this should have been so hard to discover shows that there are plenty of confused ideas around, not least due to misinterpretation of sublime sutras like the Diamond-Cutter.
Vagrakkhedikâ or Diamond-Cutter XXII & XXIII

'What do you think then, O Subhûti, is there anything which has
  been known by the Tathâgata in the form of the highest perfect
  knowledge?' The venerable Subhûti said: 'Not indeed, O Bhagavat, there
  is nothing, O Bhagavat, that has been known by the Tathâgata in the
  form of the highest perfect knowledge.' Bhagavat said: 'So it is,
  Subhûti, so it is. Even the smallest thing is not known or perceived
  there, therefore it is called the highest perfect knowledge.'
'Also, Subhûti, all is the same there, there is no difference
  there, and therefore it is called the highest perfect knowledge. Free
  from self, free from being, free from life, free from personality,
  that highest perfect knowledge is always the same, and thus known with
  all good things. And why? Because, what were preached as good things,
  good things indeed, O Subhûti, they were preached as no-things by the
  Tathâgata, and therefore they are called good things.'
Answer:
On the opposite, Western stretches the illusory nature of a permanent entity.

As far as I know, there is the permanent entity thought in the "eastern thoughts" too, such as 輪廻転生。
Since I do not know the corresponding English word, I looked up the dictionary, and there in the link, there I found already one example.

At the root of Indian society, there is the principle of Rinne Tensho (all things being in flux through the endless circle of birth, death and rebirth, or the circle of transmigration) in Hinduism.

Even in our country, the Zen master Dogen, describes such as

我々人間は、生まれ変わり死に変わり、世を変え所を変えて、その一生一生において功徳を積み累ね、遠い未来において、釈尊のような最高の人格を完成する、そのような存在であるというのだ。

-- Translation --

We human being are such existence to die and reincarnate, change the world and place to be born and produce and gain the virtue in each life, and in the forecoming future, will attain to be at the height of Buddha.

Here, unfortunately and on the contrary to your claims, there is a "self" even in so-called "eastern thoughts" and "permanent self".
Answer: Your question reminds me of the Korean nun Daehaeng, who I read about in Park's Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism. She emphasised that son (zen) is grounded in our teartment of others. Wikipedia says e.g.

She exhorted people to work on letting go of thoughts such as "I,"
  "mine," and "I did," as well as to be careful to interpret events
  positively. In addition, she warned about getting caught up in blaming
  others for the things one experiences. Instead, she said, understand
  that we've had a role in creating everything that we experience. So if
  we can handle them wisely, if we can entrust them to our foundation,
  even those will change and move in a more positive direction.
She didn't emphasize fixed periods of sitting meditation, nor did she
  encourage the systematic study of hwadus(kong-an). She wanted people
  to get used to listening inwardly and discovering what they needed to
  do at any particular time to brighten their own hearts, as opposed to
  getting caught up in other's fixed forms and traditions. To this
  extent, she taught people to take the issues of their own daily life
  as the material of their spiritual practice, and to practice
  entrusting that to one's inherent Buddha-nature.

Different Buddhists will have different interpretations of their beliefs or doctrines, but it is not just in the West that words like "fixed" or "permanent" occur. To answer your literal question, it may be because we in the West have to rely more on scholarship, as opposed to general religious practice, to embrace the religion; and the cult of individualism in the West.
Answer: Why does the eastern teaching of no-self be so difficult to accept, as an actuality and not as a weird claim, by western thought?
In the West, the word "self" has a different cultural and philosophical meaning than in the East. It's subtle, but because the process of reasoning through the idea of "no self" is so nuanced, it is very important that one has the right idea when thinking through things. Unless someone learns the Eastern idea of "self," and the subtle way it's different from the Western idea, then they will necessarily have a hard or impossible time trying to accept "no self." It would be like trying to hammer a nail in with a piece of tape -- it fails, because the wrong tool is being used for the job. In this case, the tool is the idea of "self."
In West, self is seen as a precious concept, central to everyday life decisions. On the opposite, Western stretches the illusory nature of a permanent entity. It seems to be there such an huge difference, and the understanding of it seems difficult, producing the most emotional reactions. Why is it so, if there are no any scientific prove of the existence of a permanent self, except in religions?
First of all, you are mistaken when saying, "there [is not] any scientific [proof] of the existence of a permanent self, except in religions..." There is a law in physics called "conservation of energy" and it states that energy is neither created or destroyed, it is merely transformed.[1] This is science, and what it essentially means is that the substance of the universe, on a base level, is the same as it's always been, it is simply its appearance which changes as a result of various combinations, interactions, etc. The energy that makes up the atoms in our bodies were once in plants and animals, and so on, back through time. This is not religion, it is scientific fact.
You may wonder what this has to do with the idea of "self." Well, in Vedanta (sometimes taken as a religion, though often said to be a philosophy), there is the notion of the Atman (individual self) and the Brahman (the universal self, or universe). One is taught that the Atman is part of the Brahman, that they are made of the same thing, and it's a mistake to see them as different. This can be compared to how a wave of the ocean may seem separate even though the wave is just the ocean:

"Like waves arising in the sea,
  this universe springs forth, into
  its show of many changing things." [2]

By recognizing this, one can begin to identify not with the small set of atoms that compose one's body, but as part of the universe, and so, as the universe. By identifying oneself in this way, the notion of "self" becomes dependent not upon one's own individual life (which will pass), but on the life of the universe as a whole (which will live on). So, there is, in a sense, permanence. It is all in how you define it. While it is true that one's individual mind, thoughts, preferences, and body will cease to exist, the substance they're made of will continue on, and by identifying with that, by choosing to call that "self," a sense of permanence does exist. This is entirely supported by science.
In regards to your asking why people have emotional reactions to the idea of "no self": when you say "self" to someone in the West, it can mean "life." Here is a definition from an American English dictionary: "...a person's essential being..."[3] Asking someone who feels that "self" is their "essential being" to give that up, is like asking them to commit suicide.[3] It is understandable that people will be emotional when proposing such a thing. There are many nuances to the meaning of "self" in various Eastern philosophies, and these definitions are not the same as they are in the West. If you still believe that there is no permanent "self" and seek to convince other people of this, it would serve you well to define "self" as you mean it, so that they don't take what you're saying as insulting.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy
The Astavakra Samhita, 15.7, http://www.advaitin.net/Ananda/Ashtavakra.pdf
"self," American English Dictionary
Comment: The Atman is not the "individual self". Atman is often translated into English as *Self* with a capital *S* to distinguish it from the psychological *self*. The Atman has nothing to do with what is traditionally understood in the west with the world *self*. It is transcendental to it. In particular there can be no no-Self, since Atman is understood to be imperishable. there can only be no-self, whatever that means — probably detaching oneself from the belief in a substantial psychological *self*, by way of meditation.
Comment: typo above: the world *self* = the word *self*
Answer: The notion of self is fundamental to the notion of freedom. Freedom, in essence, consists of following one's own desires, not someone else's. This explains why politicians in the West talk about such "trivial" stuff like health care, unemployment, poverty, security, whereas politicians in the East talk about great things like glories of the state, national dream, national humiliation, national interest, etc.  My first impression of American political discourse was that powerful American statesmen were preoccupied by the kind of topics that preoccupy housewives. In the West, the purpose of the Government is to serve the individuals; in the East, the individuals are supposed to serve the state. Underlying the conflict between self and no-self is the conflict between freedom and slavery.
The notion of self is also essential to compassion and empathy. The ability to understand or share the feelings of others presumes analogy: What is undesirable to oneself is very likely to be undesirable to others. In other words, one needs to feel for himself first before he can imagine how others feel. It does happen very often that self-respecting people also spontaneously respect others; and what is undesirable to themselves - be it loss of property, privacy or dignity - they do not want to inflict on others. On the other hand, those who were brought up in no-self philosophy, while instinctively holding themselves dear in the subconscious but consciously despise the notion of self, end up being more enthusiastic in preaching no-self to others than to themselves, and, not infrequently, use fine phrases such as karma, yoga and religion to justify the infliction of cruelty upon others. Love of power is a human instinct; sadistic pleasure is also a human instinct; no-self philosophy creates harmony between holders of power, who are desirous to indulge in the love of power and sadistic pleasure, and those who have to put up with bullying.
Being selfish does not necessarily imply lacking concern for others. Some saints, whose feelings are very expansive, actually have very selfish motives: Robert Owen tried to improve industrial workers' living condition because he wanted to relieve his own sympathetic pain.
The no-self doctrine is not totally rejected in the West; the struggle between freedom and slavery transcends national borders. Depending on how regimented an organization is and how desirous the holders of power are to enjoy power, such demands as "selfless service," "leave your ego outside," or "practice yoga in day-to-day business" do circulate at workplace. In the West, the holders of power may find no-self doctrine useful to cultivate obedience in their employees, but they fail to realize that the price of such convenience is a generation of degenerates who have neither the instinct for freedom nor the ability and will to defend themselves - this is no fiction - Tibet and Mongolia used to be powerful and energetic.
In this age of organizations, self-respect is even more important. Simply by standing his own ground, the individual is also helping others to defend their living standards.
Comment: I am sorry to say, but this seems to me to be dogmatic opinionated BS with no references. For example, in some eastern philosophies and religions, compassion to others is what one finds in said emptiness or no-self: "The antidote for attachment is emptiness, and the remedy for emptiness is compassion." - [The Royal Seal of Mahamudra](https://www.amazon.com/Royal-Seal-Mahamudra-Realization-Coemergence/dp/1559394374). Compassion is what happens when you actually start to listen to others (with all your senses) rather than to the endless noise that your ego (self) produces as you stare at them.
Comment: @nir see quote http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1288960
Comment: @nir This partially explained why India had small pox epidemic as late as 1974: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/26525/did-gandhi-call-vaccination-a-barbarous-practice
Comment: @GeorgeChen The OP's question refers to "no-self". It is very specific concept arising from the concept of anattā. If you don't know what the OP is referring to but you respond discussing the western concept of "self" are you having the same conversation? Are you addressing her question? Or are you talking past her question with something else that wasn't asked?
Comment: @JohnAm We are not discussing "self-consciousness" here, but the concept of "no-self". The concept of no-self has absolutely nothing to do with self-consciousness except in discussion of raising the level of consciousness awareness of the attributes of sense and their objects and the causal connections one can make between processes and products (actions/non-actions and results). If you would like to ask a separate questions let's do so by opening a new one. That allows for less people getting confused by discussion irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Comment: @JohnAm Propositions have truth values not concepts. If you do not understand a concept one has to learn it before one can make meaningful statements about it.
Comment: This addresses more a defense of western notions of self, than the OP's question of the eastern idea of no-self.
Comment: Sounds like someone's ego is offended in a no-self way.
Comment: @GeorgeChen I was not attacking anyone, just making an observation. I do not see anywhere here an address of the concept of no-self. Just a western idea of self and a defense of your conception of it. Please let me know if I've overlooked it.
Comment: @ClearMountainWay - If you are not sure what self means, how can you ask "please let me know?" What do you mean  by me?
Comment: @ClearMountainWay - if you mean different things, choose a different word for it already. Why do you have to usurp the meaning of a perfectly good word and corrupt a perfectly good language?
Answer: The most basic answer to this question is that it presents a threat to the ego, which lives from the endless quest to control the world and secure itself with comforting narrative (confabulations) about existence.
The buddhist concept of no-self is very simple: it is the idea that the thing one calls "self" is no more than the minds artificial construction of a narrator for the five aggregates (skandhas) of form (or matter or body) (rupa), sensations (or feelings, received from form) (vedana), perceptions (samjna), mental activity or formations (sankhara), and consciousness (vijnana).
No-self (anattā) and emptiness (sunyata) are concepts that represent the Heraclitian nature of existence, meaning empty of intrinsic existence and nature. It is the mind that gives self and form permanence and specific "natures". And much as Hume saw in the breakdown of internal and external impressions the mechanisms of the formation of habit, buddhist thought breaks down experience to its fundamental components as a way to free mental representations of false impressions about the of one's existence and causal attributions we make of the external world.
But ironically, from a western (abrahamic) perspective, one may not see such a concept as being something promoting of freedom. The very idea of letting go of the self provokes anxiety for many, so the idea of non-self implies for them a void/nothingness, which is not at all what the concept of Anatta refers to. Anatta is not so much a non-existence. It is more a concept of non-adding-to.
This Thanisarro Bhikku quote sums it nicely:

Emptiness as a mental state, in the early canons, means a mode of
  perception in which one neither adds anything to nor takes anything
  away from what is present, noting simply, "There is this." This mode
  is achieved through a process of intense concentration, coupled with
  the insight that notes more and more subtle levels of the presence and
  absence of disturbance

While he's using the term "emptiness" here, suññatā, it is the very same principle only applied to the activity of the skandas (the breakdown of mental and sensory experience that one calls and considers a solidified "self").
Perhaps another parallel one could make is with constructivism and the contemporary reaction to the "Death of Man" in the work of Foucault. By deconstructing the idea of an ahistorical, autonomous subject as sovereign originator of meaning, untainted by his own particular historical and socio-political context, he made a lot of people upset. Self ideas are the most sacred ones we have. I think it's perhaps only natural that the challenging of them (whatever ones socio-cultural background) be somewhat sensitive.
I'm not sufficiently familiar with the use of the concept's use in Hindu/Vedic thought to comment on it, but in buddhism it is applied to literally everything as a means to combat the human tendency to cling to representations and ideas.


Brewing beer from tropical ingredients

Question: What's the best reading material for a starter who would like to brew good tasting beer from tropical ingredients?
Comment: Can you define tropical ingredients?  Do you mean tropical fruit or something else?  You might be better off listing exactly what you want to brew with as sometimes people have specific recommendations based on the grain/fruit/adjunct/hop in question.
Answer: "Experimental Homebrew" by Denny Conn and Drew Beechum
(Denny I'll provide my webmoney# shortly, so you could transfer the commissions :) )
Answer: The usual answer to this question is the book "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels.
But this is not a beginners' book on brewing.
For new brewing advice, "How to Brew" by John Palmer is very good.
My answer, assuming you mean brewing with tropical fruit: make a beer, then in the last stage of fermentation (after 1 week say) add chopped fruit into the fermenter.  This is a somewhat safer time, since the beer is already low-oxygen, and low-pH. This helps protect it from infection from micro-organisms on the fruit.
Any since "tropical" typically indicates a high ambient temperature - don't brew beer unless you can keep the temperature under 20C (around 18C is better).  Beer fermented at ambient summer temperatures in the tropics is difficult to get a pleasing result.

Brewing beer from tropical ingredients


How do I import bookmarks into Tor Browser?

Question: How do I import bookmarks to Tor Browser? I did it before, but they are gone and now I cannot find the "import bookmarks" function I used last time.
Comment: The correct answer is: Ctrl+Shift+B to open the Bookmarks Manager / "Library" window. From there you can import/export.
Answer: Do the following steps one by one:

Click on the Bookmarks icon (the clipboard icon not the star icon) next to the location bar
Select Show all Bookmarks
Click on Import and Backup menu in the new window
Select Restore
Click on Choose file from the submenu, and select the file where you previously exported your bookmarks to.

You are done.
Comment: In my case there is no clipboard icon, but replacing step 1 with clicking the "burger" menu (3 horizontal lines) and selecting Bookmarks is an equivalent step.
Comment: there is no show bookmarks in TOR
Comment: Missing step 0, to create the backup/export in your normal browser so you can import it.
Answer: Beside the answer provided by guest, you can use Firefox Sync to sync your bookmarks from another TorBrowser or Firefox browser on the same device or on another device. You can access it from the menu icon in the toolbar, choose Options, and then choose Sync from the top of the new window. You can configure your Sync options there and add your device to your Sync account.
Comment: The above answer 2 seems to be totally wrong as there is no icon of any sort next to the location bar. Are there any other answers to this problem? Ahhh!!!! After as lot of faffing around I finally discovered that there is a "bookmarks manager" hidden away which is found by opening the settings selecting bookmarks then clicking on Bookmarks Toolbar. If only that had been mentioned previously...
Comment: Please keep in mind that the other 2 answers were probably valid when they were posted almost 2 years ago. I don't remember exactly, but Firefox did have a major UI overhaul in 2015 with the Australis update, and many things were moved around.
Comment: Using Firefox Sync to get bookmarks into Tor is not a good idea because by default more than bookmarks will be synced. In particular: settings and add-ons are synced from your Firefox installation which could destroy the anonymity given by Tor, or could mess up you Firefox settings!


Is my ablution still valid?

Question: I recently shifted to European country and for my surprise there are no bidet or Muslim showers, so I was told that people use toilet paper. Given that, does one ablution break or does one have to do it again (sometimes your out of house). Is there any fatwa for it about cleanness and ablution?
Answer: Islamic way to clean yourself after relieving from nature call is that water is best in that case. But in case of necessity, where there is no water available, then you ca use toilet paper (as suggested by scholars of islam) as cleaning one self with stone too is allowed (after passing stool or urine). So toilet paper should not be an issue.
For proper details of this ruling,you can goto this link: http://islamqa.info/en/59928
Answer: There's nothing in Quran and reliable hadiths that indicates the breaking of Wudhu if one doesn't properly cleanse himself after defecating.  You do your best to clean yourself.
You can even wet a whole bunch of toilet paper and keeping them in the bathroom while you go, and use them when you finish.
You can carry an empty water bottle or similar things around with you. No effort is wasted.
Try to find different ways to doing things.  Don't allow yourself to be limited.
But it doesn't break wudhu if you find out you didn't clean yourself properly.

Is my ablution still valid?


"It's the people who love you >you're the hardest on<."

Question: In this sentence, the middle part "--who love you" is an attributive clause which depicts "the people", but how to explain the latter clause?
Is it an emphatic sentence? Could someone explain the whole sentence in a detailed way? Much thanks.
Answer: A similar sentence: "It's what we have we don't cherish."  I think it's what's known as "cleft sentence".  The latter part is a dependent clause.  Rewritten as a regular sentence it would be "You're the hardest on the people who love you".  You can take any simple sentence that has an object and rewrite it as a cleft one by starting with "it is/was".
The last part is usually connected by "what", "which", "that" or "who/whom", but such a word can be omitted, like in your case.
Comment: People say the pronoun"that/who" should not be omitted in any emphatic sentences, for example: it was he who went there. In this sentence if "who" is omitted, then "it was" should be omitted also. Is that right? Then back to the original post, you mean there should be a "that" in the latter clause, and could be rewritten as " it's the people who love you that you are the hardest on", I think here in this sentence the "that" shouldn't be omitted ....
Comment: I do not know what "emphatic sentence" is, sorry.  "It was he who went there" is a cleft sentence that, if converted to simple one, reads "he went there".  The 'who' is a necessary connecting word and cannot be omitted.  As to the 'that', it can be omitted often.  In a spoken language it is fine.  See the [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleft_sentence) article and the examples it gives.
Comment: Oh yes! That's exactly cleft sentence. Thanks for pointing it out. And I've check the link. I noticed one sentence which might be of help to me: "It was because he was ill (that) we decided to return." (the sentence is listed in the link) , he uses brackets which indicates the "that" could be omitted, but here comes the question: we now find there are two sentences but there aren't any conjunctions in between the two sentences. "It was because he was ill" and " we decided to return". They are two sentences, should there be any conjunctions?  It does puzzle me...
Comment: and in your example " it's what we have we don't cherish". Should there be a "that" which makes a complete cleft sentence? Like," It's what we have that we don't cherish."


How do I fill in missing faces?

Question: I am kind of new to blender and I was working on a player model. I ran into a problem where I dont have faces on the arm pit. I dont know how to fill them in...
I am really sorry if this is a dumb question.
Comment: Try this: Select a few vertices, and press f on your keyboard.
Comment: Can also select all the outer vertices of the missing face, right click, then "new edge/face from vertices"
Answer: There's multiple ways so let me explain them to you because things like these can really speed up your workflow

You can select any number of vertices (at least 3) and press 'F' to create a face between these vertices.

As you have probably already figured out, quads are the faces you want to go for so ideally you want to select 4 vertices to create a face.

Alternatively you can select two opposing edges to speed things up.

In your example you have like a row of unfilled faces, so you can just select the top edge of the last face before the missing face and press 'F'. Blender recognizes the pattern based on the surrounding faces and fills the next one it. This only works if you have one row of missing faces (in other words: have faces on 3 of 4 sides).

Another technique that's really handy is the grid fill. I think there's no shortcut for this out of the box so just hit F3 to open the search bar and type in "Grid fill". This is especially helpful if you need to connect multiple faces that would result in a grid. An example: a cube that doesn't have a top face and is subdivided 3 times on the sides. Select the edge loop of the top and use grid fill to create top faces based on the subdivions of the sides.

Hope that helps, happy blending!

How do I fill in missing faces?


Can I leave Match Chat?

Question: Is it possible leave Match Chat?  I'm only interested in using voice/text with my own team.  I glanced at the options menu, but I didn't see anything obvious.
Answer: Yes. During a match, press P to bring up channel settings. Click on the filled speech bubble next to "Match" to remove yourself from match chat. You can also remove yourself from team chat or voice chat in a similar fashion.
The settings will persist across matches, so you don't have to do this every time.
Comment: I will note this isn't permanent.  You have to do this once each time when you start Overwatch, but it will persist the entire time you play as the answer states.
Comment: And that explains it.  I thought that menu only controlled voice options.  Thanks!
Answer: You can also press Ctrl+Shift+C to hide the chat. It also persists for the entire session.
To show the chat again either press Ctrl+Shift+C again or Enter.

Can I leave Match Chat?


Using Mean Squared Error in Gradient Descent

Question: I've recently been writing linear regression algorithms from scratch to gain an understanding of how the maths behind it works (something that was a bit of a black box beforehand), and so I got around to differentiating the cost function. Without realising it I used the Squared Error for the cost function - the MSE but without dividing by the dataset length. Is there any benefit (faster approach of the minimum or other) to using the Mean Squared Error over just summing the squares of the error?
Comment: You need to checkout different Gradient Descent techs like batch, stochastic , Then different type of algos like Nesterov, Adding Momentum etc..
Answer: No, it is exactly the same. Optimizing a function and the same function divided by a constant is equivalent, both in the analytical and the numerical sense. You will get exactly the same optimal parameters.
Comment: I dont agree with @DavidMasip it will not be same when you are using different values of gradients.Actually our overall training is based on how we are calculating the gradients.So taking a mean gonna land us on different place of training and it has many other reasons why we are using mean here!
Comment: Thanks for the answer. I finished the gradient descent algorithm, and I did find that if I used the non-mean SE, I needed to use a lower learning rate. I'm guessing that this is because the cost function was amplified, so the derivative was also amplified, and therefore was more likely to overstep?
Comment: Exactly, if the cost function is the double then the step size should be the half.
Answer: As the gradients are calculated from the loss, it is different. Depending on the batch size the learning rate should be lowered when using tf.reduce_sum or other summary method. Both can yield a successful training, however there is one catch.
Batch sizes sometimes may vary because the last batch is smaller or maybe you vary your batch size just for fun (provided you have built your graph with this possibility). In this case reduce_sum will cause fluctuating loss values instead of just decreasing. You want to avoid this.
TLDR: avoid reduce_sum and use reduce_mean for linear regression, although with a higher learning rate.
Just for reference a four parameter Linear regression:
$$y = b_0 + b_1*x_1 + b_2*x_2 + b_3*x_3$$

batch size of 100 and a 0.01 learning rate for GradientDescent yields a MSE of 16.93 in 100 epochs
batch size of 100 and a 0.0001 learning rate for GradientDescent yields a SSE of 1693.31 in 100 epochs

which is exactly the same, and also yields the same parameters (bias & weights), with random-seeds locked.


NLB configuration

Question: I have an NLB configured for two web servers. The NLB is a software NLB configured on Windows Server 2008 R2. The web servers are IIS servers. For a request of 5000 users, all my requests are going to one web server. So when does NLB send requests to other server. Also how do I configure NLB for sticky sessions ?
Answer: NLB will distribute the load according to the chosen filtering mode & affinity settings for your NLB cluster. If you've set "Single" filtering mode, all traffic will go to a single server. If you've selected "Multiple host", the affinity decides which host will receive the traffic of recurring users. If you've chosen Single/Class C affinity, all users from the same IP / IP class C range will hit the same server (beware proxies & internal network topologies in this case).
Furthermore, even in multiple host mode, you can choose a distribution factor under the port rules so one server may be at 100% while the other is at 0%.
I've got a short video on my blog on how to setup a simple NLB cluster that shows the filtering mode & affinity settings:
http://improve.dk/blog/2008/03/08/using-network-load-balancing-for-availability-and-scalability
Answer: Where do the requests come from?
NLB usually balances requests based on the client IP address (although this can be configured), so, if f.e. you're stress-testing it from a single machine, or if you have a reverse proxy which doesn't pass on the original caller IP, your requests will always be handled by a single server.
Answer: Comments from Mark S. Rasmussen helped in configuring NLB properly. Now how showuld we configure sticky session on NLB?

NLB configuration


What about Miller Indices of planes passing through origin?

Question: For Miller Indices of planes if we encounter a case where the plane passes through the origin then I have heard that the only remedy can be arrived by shifting the origin to a different point.However I do not understand whether or not I am supposed to change the index of the other planes whose origin was not passing through the previous origin.Please give me a bit of justification for the case.
Comment: Miller indices are not a property of planes at all. Rather, it is a property of _systems_ of parallel planes.
Comment: Or, put slightly differently, all lattice points are the same, so moving the origin to another point changes nothing.
Comment: @IvanNeretin Does that mean that I have to change the indexing of the planes that I have already named with a separate origin?
Comment: What is meant by symmetry of planes/directions in Miller Indices?For cubic it says that the principal directions are symmetric while for tetragonal it excludes the one perpendicular to the basal plane...Something similar is for the planes as well.Please describe this as vividly as possible.
Comment: Symmetry is another thing altogether. You'd better ask a new question to that effect.
Answer: Since a comment does not allow the inclusion of a picture, perhaps this way is helpful:
Have a look at the following picture, derived from an illustration about the Miller Indices on wikipedia.  It depicts a simplified situation of a unit cell which may occur if your crystal is of the cubic lattice system, i.e., the three vectors defining the unit cell are orthogonal to each other, and all are of same length. In the drawing, the author choosed $\vec{a_1}$, $\vec{a_2}$, and $\vec{a_3}$ for the unit cell's dimensions.

Not only the plane closest to the coordinate system's origin drawn is a valid Miller plane, equally so the second, farther one drawn.  For each set of Miller indices $(hkl)$, the corresponding Miller planes are parallel to each other.  The distance between these planes depends both on the indices, as well as on the symmetry of the crystal.
Since a crystal consists of many unit cells adjacent to each other, it is perfectly reasonable to draw Miller planes either in "positive direction" along vectors $\vec{a_1}$, $\vec{a_2}$, and $\vec{a_3}$ -- as shown here -- or in opposite direction along $-\vec{a_1}$, $-\vec{a_2}$, and $-\vec{a_3}$ with the same set of $(hkl)$.


What does it mean to 'receive outright'?

Question: What does the following statement mean: "after accounting for levels of market volatility, we favor receiving outright in 6-month forward-starting 2-year swaps."? Specifically, what does "receiving outright" mean? Is there a way for you to receive only the forward points? Thanks in advance!
Answer: Receiving outright simply means receiving the fixed rate versus LIBOR on the 6 month forward starting 2 year swap.  The term 'outright' is unnecessary here - it is probably being used to compare with a potential strategy of receiving the fixed on a 6 month forward starting 2yr swap versus paying fixed on a spot starting 2yr swap.
Answer: I've heard this phrase thrown around in the Forex market. There is a locked-in exchange rate and delivery date in these cases.
In terms of companies, large purchases are made from foreign business that utilize outright forward contracts to cover costs. For instance, when a US company buys materials from a Mexican supplier they could be required to make a payment for half of the total value of the payment and the other half in about six months.
In order to minimize currency risk exposure, a spot trade is used to cover the first payment. An outright forward is then used to lock in the exchange rate and the agreed-upon rate can be used in six months.
Comment: In FX outright refers to the actual purchase (or sale) of the currency, as compared to a swap where you agree to buy the currency on one date and sell it on another. Outright trades can be outright spot or outright forward (which is sometimes abbreviated "outright" and more commonly "forward").


Help creating a name for a series

Question: I am writing a series and need help creating a name for them. An example of what I am looking for would be something like Cassandra Claire's Mortal Instruments or Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. My series is about the conflict between angels and demons and breaking the forged stereotypes about them. A young girl is abruptly thrust into this world when a demon who is illegally trying to earn wings, throws her life off balance and returns a year later needing her help to complete his search. She will learn that demons are not the monsters we think and angels are not the flawless creatures we see them as. She becomes wrapped up in a feud much larger than herself as the war between the world above and the one below enters her life and she discovers that the stories are always written by the victor, but the victor is not always the rightful hero.
Comment: Actually I just read the synopsis and realized I had read those books, just failed to recognize the name when you said it. My book is very different from those, but I can see where I may seem there is similarities.
Comment: Just FYI, this sounds a great deal like *Daughter of Smoke and Bone* and the sequels (which I didn't finish, so I don't know where it ends up vs. your stories). https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Smoke-Bone/dp/031613399X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471567539&sr=1-1&
Comment: Thank you for telling me this. I haven't read those books, but I will look into it to make sure it wont be an issue.
Comment: Voting to close this as it's basically asking what to write, not how to write or choose a title.
Answer: I firmly believe that you should use a working title while you write and only try to find the publication title when writing and revisions are completely done.
Usually the title to a popular novel is decided by the publisher anyway. The title is part of the marketing and tuned to your target audience. If you write popular fiction, leave finding the right title to the marketing department of your publisher.
If you write literary fiction, you should still wait until you know what your story will be. While you write, you don't know yet how the story will evolve, and any title you try to give prematurely might not fit the final form.

I have taken many of my titles from the final sentences of my (literary, not popular) works. Writing the ending, I realized what I was writing about.
An approach recommended for popular fiction is to write a log line and condense that further into a title. (The purpose of the log line is the elevator pitch. See How to distill a plot into a logline?)
Answer: After a quick google search I found this website with tips on how to get started on creating name ideas for a book. Also, you could name your book after a key theme in your book i.e demon wings as the story centers around the demon who wants to earn his wings.
I find that book and essay titles come to me after writing a first draft and picking out themes that run through the book and playing around with words related to the theme. Maybe try putting related words into a hat and picking a few out at random to create a combination until you find one you like? I can't tell you what to name your story. Just give you advice, and there is plenty of it on google.
Comment: @Bethrbt no problem, just remember to have fun with it!
Answer: The format would matter first and foremost. Is this a series of books ala Harry Potter...or something "serialized" where the reader only is given the story one bit at a time over time? For extended novels I think a dramatic title is warranted  say...."the Dark and the Damned" or "The Wizened and the Wicked." For something serialized you would want something brief...preferably a single word say "Tartus" or "Black Anthem" and then "rote" from there. Since the Battle between Good and Evil never ends there really is no "end" to the amount of story to be told and being it is told purely through the Mind's Eye I would say just write and then see if a title jumps out at you.
Answer: Since your book is about a young girl coming to understand the world they way it is (which sounds much like a coming-of-age story for a teen or pre-teen, or perhaps a coming-to-adulthood story for an MC in their 20's); I suggest you focus on a metaphor for learning or transition. The Twilight series is for a character metaphorically transitioning (from girl to a woman in love) and invokes a physical transition that was particularly apt for a vampire story.
Your story seems to be an education/transition story also (no problem, a million stories are, including my own). Key words are Understanding, Awakening, Education, Discovery, and so on. Seasonal transitions work, Springtime, Fall, Winter. Negative transitions: Destruction, War, Death. Positive transitions: Birth, Redemption.
Look for poetic and interesting words to talk about transition that also resonate with some element of your story. I am not making specific suggestions, this site is not for telling you what to write, but how to write. So there is a compass direction for you, a way to think about your series title.

Help creating a name for a series


Where can I watch live commentary and live matches between Grandmasters?

Question: I want to watch live matches between GMs. In India here are no TV channels that provide me these matches.
Answer: Chess24 has a lot of live transmissions of tournaments. Often even with live commentary and always with computer evaluations (though those can be turned off).
Answer: Sometimes Lichess hosts events. They also usually have links on the homepage to Twitch streamers varying in rating.
Answer: Sometimes twitch.tv hosts the live games for some tournaments. Depending on which tourney is streaming, the commentary can be particularly good.
Comment: I've been watching Amazingoid on twitch for years. He's got great commentary and interacts a lot with viewers. Always a good show!
Answer: The youtube channel for the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis had some pretty enjoyable, interesting, and informative coverage of the Grand Chess Tour - 2015 Sinquefield Cup  last week. They also have some similar coverage posted from a few previous tournaments, but I mostly go there for the lectures.
Answer: I sometimes watch on ChessBomb. It is only the games, no video. The games are analysed with stockfish (or other engine) and sometimes by a GM. Also there is commentary by members.


How bad is topping out a suspension fork?

Question: I recently got a relatively cheap department store bike to bring to college, since it will see a lot of wear and will be kept in the elements. However, whenever I lift the front wheel (as in to get on a curb or start a wheelie), the fork tops out (by top out I mean, when I lift up, it reaches the most extended position, as opposed to bottoming out, reaching the most compressed position on an impact. This happens many times a day. Is this something I should be worried about eventually breaking the fork? Will it significantly limit the life of the bike?
Comment: How could the fork possibly _not_ top out when you're doing a wheelie? If this was a problem, most mountainbiking wouldn't be possible...
Answer: I wouldn't worry about it. If a suspension fork bottoms out, it can hit the end of the compression with a substantial amount of force, but if it "tops" out the impact force is limited to whatever force the compressed air or spring can supply. This will most likely be pretty limited, unless you hear a loud thunk when the fork decompresses.
It's not impossible that it affects the lifetime of the bike, but it seems unlikely. But you should do regular maintenance on the fork just to be sure. If the construction that stops the stanchions from over-extending fails, the front wheel will fall off and that will most likely cause a crash.
Answer: Without knowing more about the construction of the fork it's hard to say for sure.
I would offer a guess that your fork slamming into its lowest position on your fork will not make it break any sooner than the fork would have if it didn't bottom out. Expecting a department store bike to be durable is unrealistic. A department store bike going through the kind of general care you describe shortens its lifespan even more.
It does make for an unsettling ride when it slams into position.
It might be best to avoid wheelies.
If it's annoying enough you could look into replacing the fork with one that is solid or one where the suspension works.
Comment: The question is about topping out, not bottoming out.
Comment: @VladimirFГероямслава thank you.  I have corrected my wording.


Monitor open sde connection

Question: How can I monitor the open ArcSDE database connections without sdemon? I need to see at any time how many sessions are consumed from my app and if they are related to ArcGIS. I use Oracle 10.2.
Comment: Would you prefer 'the sdeamon' to be "the ArcSDE application server daemon" or "sdemon" (SDE-MONitor)?
Answer: Esri deprecated use of the ArcSDE application server (giomgr and gsrvr processes) in favor of exclusive Direct Connect connections at 10.2 (there are no 10.3 application server binaries).  ArcGIS 10.1 and 10.2 added a number of tools to replace the deprecated tools like sdemon, and 10.3 added more.  The Do This, Not That! – Alternatives to using SDE command line tools blog post presents a number of options for using Desktop and/or Python to perform tasks which previously involved command-line tools, including this capability for Desktop and the ListUsers arcpy request, both introduced at ArcGIS 10.1.

Monitor open sde connection


Chat Issue with Smartfox Server

Question: Hi I'm running the http://www.impactjs.com  game engine with smartfox to create a multiplayer card game. I've run into an issue with the public chat api.
I'm getting an error on line 158 of the API when i try to send a publicmessage request

TypeError: c[d].listener is undefined

Besides this everything else is almost fully implemented and all other API components are working great. Any smartfox experts out there?
Answer: Found the problem, It turns out the listener function for another event was out of scope

Chat Issue with Smartfox Server


How would water behave on a planet with no moons?

Question: My novel is set on a planet covered in 90% water with no moons. How would the lack of natural satellites effect the waves and wind?
Comment: It is rather difficult to answer a "hard science" question when so few details are provided
Comment: Silly question, how would the lack of orbitals make things act differently to earth. I need to describe them so knowing this would help me with my realism.
Comment: Throw in that the planet is earth like, with a Sun like star, and rephrase the question itself to ask how the oceans are different from earths specifically because of no moon, and you have a solid question, which is probably a duplicate of another question somewhere here.
Answer: In fact, it will have small difference, mostly with tidal forces reduced. They will still be there from the central sun, so the Tide will still be in effect for your oceans. However it will have way lower amplitude.
The tide does generate waves globally, bit with less differences between high and low they will be generated in less manner by this thing. But they will still be generated standardly by the wind and heat processes (so heat exchanges between cold and warm seas by streams and similar).
The wind is not affected a lot by moon (but yes, there are tidal proccesses for athmosphere as well!), it is mostly affected by heat changes (so day/night cycle), by surface heat (on desert you will have more warm air than in forest), and by Coriolis force, that is caused by the rotation of planet. The heat problem is that warmer air is lighter, so tends to raise up. This is the main part of the "wind generator", causing the athmospheric circulation.
The moon has way bigger effect on sea tide than sun, as popularly known.However, for example this article mentions that the tide effect on higher athmospere is way bigger from the sun than from the moon, so the lack of the moon will have smaller impact on athmosphere tides than on sea tides.
Answer: The lack of orbitals would have no effect on wind, water or anything. Because there's no orbitals to apply any effect to anything.1
1Well, that was almost too easy
Comment: @Ryan that seems to be two questions. The latter has been extensively discussed on a multitude of questions on here, why not do a quick search?
Comment: So not having orbitals is equivalent to having orbitals in regards to wind, water, and everything? we can get rid of our moon and have no consequences?
Comment: You must enlighten me then as to why OP asked the question. I assumed we only know in depth about one planets water cycle and how the moon affects its oceans (Earth). Hence op was probably asking what an earth like planet in an earth like situation would be like with 90% water coverage and no moon, Or basically, what would happen to the oceans if they rose to 90% coverage, and we lost our moon.
Comment: @Ryan if that assumption were to be correct then my answer had to be revised. But as of now the only thing stated in the question is about how *no* Orbitals affect water and wind on a Spheroid with 90% water coverage; reducing this to the simplest possible thing we have *How does nothing affect something* to which the logical hard answer will always be: *Nothing has no effect on something*
Comment: -1 This is a cute answer, but does not answer the question. OP is looking for the differences between a planet with orbitals and a planet without, specifically with relation to the water and the wind. So, yeah, the lack of orbitals wouldn't have an effect on anything, but what does that mean/look like?


How do I only show a certain about of a bitmap in an ImageView?

Question: This is for Android. I need to display a bitmap that is like a progress meter. I wish to display the first x amount of pixels from left to right. I don't want to scale the image down, I want to do something more like cropping. I know that I can reduce the size of the Bitmap programmatically but was hoping for a more elegant solution.
Comment: It might be possible to load & paint the entire image, then simply draw the 'white out' part of the progress bar on top of that.
Answer: I think this might help
How to make a progress bar use an image to show progress instead of using a color in Android
Also user- citizen conn posted his github solution for something similar, have a look at his link
https://gist.github.com/5c08cd2e99b1b572b497/83a00627dc68862b2c25aa27fc1ad346ad41ac6e


Is the Colt Demonic?

Question: Prior to Ruby's tampering the colt had a bluish glow to it, and afterwards similar to Ruby's knife it's wounds glow red.
Has the Colt become demonic?
Answer: The power to kill supernatural beings with The Colt seems to actually be focused on its bullets. It's possible (even likely) that a combination of the gun plus special ammo is needed for it to actually function, but a big deal was made about the ammunition that came with the gun. The color change is probably just due to Ruby's involvement in making the latest batch of ammo.
When the Winchesters first obtain the gun, it still has about half of its original 13 bullets that Samuel Colt made along with it. It's never specified, or even hinted, how he imbued the gun and those bullets with their power, apart from vague references to Haley's Comet. However, it seems logical that some existing supernatural force must have done it. (Its possible this was the source of it's inability to kill Lucifer -- whatever gave the gun its power may have been weaker than an archangel, but see below.)
Dean used the last of the original bullets to kill Azazel, after which the gun no longer worked to kill demons (or anything else a normal gun couldn't kill). That lasted until Ruby arrived and offered to "fix" the gun. Again, it's not clear exactly what she did to it, but it would have had to be one of:

Alter the gun so that normal ammunition gained special powers, or
Create additional special ammunition.

I haven't seen the episode in a while, but my impression was always that she did the latter. Either way, again, the power from the gun would have had to come from somewhere, and in this case we know that somewhere is Ruby. So the source of the gun's power has apparently changed from whatever blue-colored force it originally had, to the red-colored force that Ruby imbued it with. (It's also entirely possible that the gun's original power came from a demon, too, and Ruby just likes the color red better.)
It's not clear if the gun has lost any of its original potency -- in theory, the gun should now be unable to kill anything that Ruby herself lacked the power to kill. What this means in relation to Lucifer's statement that there are 5 things (himself included) that the gun cannot kill isn't clear. The list of things "stronger" than any demon, that were alive at the time, include all four archangels, Metatron, God himself (if you think he counts as "part of creation"), Death (if not all four horseman), and possibly Eve or the Leviathans, so the numbers are hard to add up. Lucifer could instead be speaking of the original gun+bullets, or be speaking in broader terms, but since we haven't seen the Colt in any episodes since he made that statement we may never know.
None of that, however, changes the basic nature of the gun, which is that it's an inanimate object with the capacity to kill any supernatural creature that is shot with a properly crafted bullet. It is possible that you could classify the gun or its bullets as demonic in the sense that the obtained their special properties from a demon, but the gun itself is neither good nor evil. As with all of the other weapons in the series, it is the user that determines the nature of the act
Comment: 4 archangels. Gabriel was still alive, hiding out as Loki. Raphael had already made an appearance (Castiel thought that he'd know where God was). Michael was in Heaven, vessel-less (soon to change), and Lucifer. Though, Lucifer never does confirm whether archangels are immune, or just him personally.
Comment: @John O - For some reason I thought that Gabriel has died already by the time Sam & Dean shot Lucifer but you're right that I had that backwards.
Comment: I truly hope he's still not dead. It wouldn't be difficult to bring him back. Maybe at the last second he discovered he couldn't kill his brother, and simply wanted Lucy locked back up... if he can make an illusion of himself, why not two? Raphael though... glad that piece of crap got water-ballooned.
Answer: No. The Colt is not necessarily a Demonic weapon. The pistol, considering its abilities, would seem to be, to use the roleplaying gaming parlance, considered True Neutral, since it can kill nearly any supernatural being of either good or evil persuasion. It will serve any master, good or evil and does not balk at killing either side.

The Colt is a hunter's legend; a singular gun made by Samuel Colt in 1835 for a hunter at the time. It has supernatural powers: when used with the supernatural bullets made specially for it, the gun can kill anything.
It is said to be able to kill nearly any Supernatural being. Lucifer says he is one of only five things that can't be killed by it.
It also acts as a key for the Devil's Gate in Wyoming, which opens a door to Hell. --Supernatural Wiki > The Colt

The description of The Colt does not define it as either good nor evil. How it achieves its powers is unknown. Considering the efficacy of its powers, it would have had to been imbued with its abilities by a Power; an Archangel, a major Demon at least as powerful as Crowley, Lucifer, or God, him/herself.
The Colt is a devastating weapon, apparently indestructible, and desired by both sides. The weapon, in its most ideal state, is best lost. Too long on one side or the other will only invite a catastrophic event as the weapon is hunted, found and eventually lost again.
Comment: The person using it. Likely it was a special effect to show the device has been in the possession of one side or the other, red for demonic, blue for angelic or at least not directly demonic.
Comment: Then what caused the colour change?
Comment: I would like to point out that rather than opening the door to Hell, Colt almost certainly designed the thing to *lock* the door to Hell. That a key meant to lock something up can also unlock it once more is an unfortunate and unintended side effect.
Answer: What we do know about the Colt is rather limited. It will kill anything that doesn't belong to a list of 5 invulnerable entities. One of these is apparently Lucifer, but whether it is him specifically or archangels in general is left an open question.
It seems unlikely that it is demonic in nature. Created by Samuel Colt (a hunter himself) we actually see him use it to dispatch demons. While it is conceivable that their magic might be turned against him, we see nothing in the entire run of the series that suggests this is so. Besides, while other powerful artifacts of an evil nature make a routine appearance, they always bring misery and misfortune with them. The Colt is unique in that its presence always seems to be neutral, or even forebode good luck. (One possible exception, in season 1 the hunter who has it is unable to protect himself from vampires with its use. But it's difficult to blame the Colt for that.)
As for the special effects, I do believe that there are budgetary concerns in the later seasons. If you go back and watch the first time the Colt is used on the vampire, or even on Azazel, while they do make a big deal of it the effects are also nicer and edgier... we can almost see an X-ray effect on the creature, and lighting effects outside of its body (suggesting that the supernatural effect of the weapon exists outside of the slain, in the universe itself almost). While they probably didn't want to waste 15 seconds of screen time each time they kill a new monster with it, the post-production on that must have been expensive enough that they refused to use it once more. Farming out a cheaper effect to another team, minor details can change.
Finally, I think it's relevant to talk about the other superweapons that the show eventually reveals. While the Colt can't kill Lucifer, an archangel's sword can. We've also seen Death's scythe, and though never confirmed it is suggested (by Crowley, who rarely seems wrong when it is important to him) that it might kill Death itself. Additionally, there are other Heavenly weapons that seem to have some effect on beings like Raphael (Aaron's Staff, Lot's Salt, etc).
Compare this to Ruby's "hell-forged knife": it can only kill demons (or presumably other beings that could be killed by a regular knife). Death isn't instant or automatic either, if the stab wound is placed poorly or only minor, the demon does not die. If we can assume that the hell-forged knife is demonic in nature, then it would suggest that demonic weapons are pretty low down on the list of powerful artifacts.
My best guess is that while Samuel Colt may have simply stumbled across esoteric magic with which to make the gun, it is very likely that either God or Death helped him to fashion it, making it a divine weapon. Though unless they do more backstory, we'll probably never know.
Answer: I think the bullets were made from melted angel blades. Remember when castile had the angel tablet and was traveling to different restaurants trying to escape the other angels? Crowley has an old German pistol with bullets made from a melted angel bkade, and when it hit an angel, it had the same effect as the colt, with the glowing and stuff. And an angel blade can kill demons and anything that's weaker or equal to an angel.

Is the Colt Demonic?


Creating a font for a new language

Question: Suppose somebody develops a new language, with totally new characters.
And a font for the same has to be created.
How does one do that?
Comment: They draw it. Then digitize it. Then lobby the computer industry to develop a new keyboard to use the new characters.
Comment: This is an interesting question, and I think drawing the characters and being able to type them are only part of it. I think the answer largely depends on how widely supported you need the language to be (e.g. an academic project running in a single lab vs (for argument's sake) suddenly discovering a hitherto unknown major civilisation who need to be communicated with?)
Answer: Creating a customized language font is not at all different from creating a standard font, as long as a standard keyboard can be used to write it:
Ad DA01 mentions, you can start by drawing your font and digitizing it using a tablet or re-drawing your curves with a scanner and software of your choice. Then you can use a program to convert your characters into a font.
ILoveTypography has a nice article on this: http://ilovetypography.com/2007/10/22/so-you-want-to-create-a-font-part-1/ There you can find a list of alternatives, methods and suggestions (there is also a part 2).
If your font has nothing to do with the current alphabets, then you will have to either create a new input hardware / software or use your language in a different way.
Answer: The first thing, you need to know about are Unicode's Private Use Areas (PUA). They provide code points whose usage is left at the discretion of the font creator. For example, it can be used to provide deco elements, provide fallback ways to access characters that are otherwise only accessible by OpenType features and similar or encode characters for existing languages that haven't been encoded yet. In particular, it can also be used for characters for totally new languages (or more precisely scripts) until they become included in Unicode – which will likely take a while.
So the first thing you should do, is to develop some convention for the users of your language on which characters from the PUA should be used for which characters of your script. If your script has features such as diacritics or ligatures, you might read into Unicode's current policies and adopt them¹. Unless your script has more characters than the first PUA (in the Basic Multilingual Plane), I recommend using it, as this ensures maximum software compatibility.
Creating a font for your script works like creating a font for existing script just that you create characters for the selected PUA code points instead of the code points reserved for existing scripts. And the best thing is: If you create other fonts for your script, you can easily switch a text between them and users of your language who want to render texts only need one font supporting it.
This leaves the problem of implementing a keyboard layout or other input methods for your script, but that's a problem you would probably face anyway and that's not so big an issue nowadays. The only way to avoid this is reusing code points for Latin (or whatever the standard script among the speakers of your language is), but I strongly advice against this, as it will create more problems than it solves on the long term.

¹ Which in case of the examples means: Use modifier characters instead of one character for each diacritical character and do not encode ligatures – let intelligent font features handle them.
Answer: Here's an article on a Klingon font (an artificial language) which covers this. http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/Fonts
Keeping in mind the actual design of the new language characters is trivial. It's just like a dingbats font. You design arbitrary characters and assign them to existing keyboard characters (unicode). Something like FontForge can help design the letters and create a font file out of them. http://fontforge.github.io/en-US/
As other people have pointed out, actually using the language appropriately is a whole other issue.

Creating a font for a new language


OS Freya only boots in recovery mode and doesnt hibernate

Question: I installed Freya as a dual-boot to Windows. First its not working anyway so I searched the posts and get Grub repaired by purging and fixing it with Boot Repair. That let me boot into Freya some time, but now after updating Freya it will only boot into Freya in recovery mode from grub menu. Same problem is when I told Freya to hibernate it doesnt wake up, shows a blank screen as when I try to boot normal from grub. Any idea whats going wrong?
Answer: Boot using the recovery option in your grub.
Then open a terminal window and type:
sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Add nomodeset to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:
It should now look like this
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

Save it with Ctrl+o then exit with Ctrl+x
Then update your grub using
sudo update-grub
Now you'll be able to boot without having to select the recovery option.


Can we carry three new smart phones in hand luggage to India?

Question: I bought two smart phones for my father and sister in Europe. Will the customs officer in India (Chennai) give any trouble if I carry two new unopened smart phones with the box in my hand luggage? Also, i'm a student, does this give me any advantage over it?
Comment: What is the value of the said smartphones?
Comment: @jwenting I am presuming that the OP doesn't want to pay the fee (because the OP specifically mentions being a student)...but then again I *might* be wrong.
Comment: @AdityaSomani so am I, or he'd not ask how to trick his way past customs, but the best way to get past customs without getting into trouble is to simply pay up. Honesty is best... And being a "student" has nothing to do with it, being cheap does.
Comment: @jwenting Being cheap too has nothing to do with it. :) It's called doing something illegal. Attempting to pass customs without declaring goods that must be declared is defined as *smuggling*.
Comment: 400 Euro,in INR approx. 33000,i have the bill too,:)
Comment: just declare them and pay the fee, no problem that way unless it were illegal to bring phones into India which to the best of my knowledge it isn't.
Comment: @JoErNanO yes, he's doing something illegal because he's cheap, too cheap to stay within the law. Just as is a gasoline thief, a shoplifter, someone who doesn't pay for his train ticket, or walks out of a restaurant without paying.
Answer: The situation is a little complicated and there a few things you must consider. First of all I'm going to tell you about all the legal prospects of this situation and what can happen if then open up your bags and find two packaged phones inside.
Take a look at this great answer already posted here. Now, since these are two packaged phones, despite being underneath your limit of Rs. 33000, they are items which can be re-purposed by anyone else which quite honestly is what you are doing here because of the fact that you are giving them to your parents. Even though you don't plan to sell them, you still won't take them back with you, so they are technically imported into the country.
Now, one second thought, you could take the phones out of the packages and put them either in your suitcase or your hand-luggage.
Now, is this fool-proof? Obviously No. And the reason it isn't is because you are importing things into the country and if they ask you to pay import duty on it, your only argument can be, "Hey these are for my own use!" Now, if the two phones are packaged, this argument is far less convincing. Otherwise they might let you thru without much issue.
Keeping this in mind, if the phones are in your hand luggage and are not packaged, you should be fine. If you decide to take them in your luggage without the packaging or packaging separately in different luggage or something, that would be pretty fine too! If you do decide to take them as packaged goods, that's up to your own risk.
Comment: if I were a customs official and I noticed 2 brand new looking phones in someone's luggage, without SIM cards, I'd be highly suspicious. Obvious sign that they're attempting to smuggle the phones into the country. Better just pay the import fees, declare them as you should, and save yourself the trouble.
Comment: @jwenting I'm not denying that, in the suitcase is also relatively dangerous. I'm not sure how this can be taken as a case of smuggling, many people carry two phones including me. I always carry a spare phone in my suitcase. As far as the two brand new looking phones go, this would happen if the luggage were to be opened, which I highly doubt in the case of two phones. Five phones, certainly. But again, carry on is the best bet!
Comment: Carryon is also X-rayed or searched on arrival in many countries (not sure about India) and the phones would be noticed. It should raise eyebrows.
Comment: Not in India in my experience but even if it is scanned, you may carry the phones on your body. I've seen several of my friends do it


Who is the rapist in the first scene of American Horror Story: Hotel?

Question: In American Horror Story: Hotel, Episode 1, we see a deformed figure rape a junkie in front of Hypodermic Sally. This seemed to be a semi-important part of the episode and perhaps the whole season, but thus far, it has not been revealed who this was, what they had to do with the entire plot, and their relation to Sally and the Ten Commandments Killer as well as part of the Hotel Cortez. Who is this and why did Ryan Murphy put this "character" in episode one? Why did they do this and what is the importance of this in terms of the plot? It has not been revealed and I was curious as to what people thought of this quite horrendous scene. Very few characters and scenes are "by accident." I'd like any fan input.
Comment: *"thus far"* So have you watched all the episodes? (Also, the season isn't over until next week...)
Answer: According to this interview with EW it is called the Addiction Demon as Ryan Murphy (co-creator of the show) says ""He is a representation of that and what people go through fighting addiction." Since both Sally and Gabriel (the victim) in that scene are drug addicts, the rape of Gabriel can be seen as a metaphor for what the drugs are doing to him. My guess is that Sally sees the Demon often (though it's not shown directly in the show).


My 2006 Pontiac Torrent main fuse box caught fire

Question: Put it out before there were flames and unplugged everything . Replaced the fuse box now passenger headlight won't go out and tail lights won't go out. Dash lights flicker and radio flickers i have interior over head lights but it still won't start . Any idea where to start or what might be wrong. This car is my lifelines and I can't afford a mechanic ... Thank you in advance for any advice
Comment: You clearly have one or more short circuits in the wiring.  A lot of the wiring will need to be replaced.
Comment: Welcome to the site. Sorry to say, but we won't have an easy or quick fix for you. The big question here is why was there a fire in the first place. Shorting electrical components can cause a fire. If you have not resolved what caused the fire in the first place, you are fighting a losing battle. Also, it sounds like some of the wire harness connected to the fuse box has been damaged by the fire's heat, causing short circuits. You need to take this to a mechanic.
Answer: Short circuit, loose connections and feeding high-consumption loads without proper fuses are perhaps the main causes of fuse box/wires smoke, melting and if out stopped, fire that can consume a car very quickly and up to its bones. You would need patience and a kind of CSI inspection to determine which wire or fuse in the fuse box was the principal cause of the the damage.
For instance, if a headlight's fuse was loose and because the headlights are a high-consumption load if they use ordinary bulbs, it is enough to heat the fuse socket with all it implies: heat will melt the socket, moving the wire connections, probably make them touch each other or touch ground, etc.
If you take a good look to the wires and the fuse box you may be able to find which was the principal one, because it will look more damaged than the other. This is a highly empiric way to check for what happened tho.
If you replaced the fuse box and some of the stuff are not working, you perhaps wrongly connected the feeding wires to these. Again, patience and check one by one. It is a good time also to check that all fuses, all connections and ground are properly tight (a loose one may reproduce your previous problem, also justifies your flickering radio). Check every connection, one by one, also put high-consumption loads to work and touch its fuse and wires to sense it they are getting hot. Heat is no good, if you can sense that then that part of the circuit is damaged, wire touching ground, wire having more than one load attached somewhere, etc.
However if you got such heat to almost get a fire, changing the fuse box will not suffice: you may need also to change the wires harness, not all of them but perhaps the ones involved and I would specifically change the one to the key.
Try to find your car's mechanics manual or its Haynes book, and use the electrics diagram to assist you.
Comment: Thank you so very much for the advice I can't afford a new car or mechanic so giving up isn't an option . i will just have to keep trying
Comment: Also the wire harnesses were replaced as well
Comment: replacing the harness without checking the source of the problem may not be good...if the problem was other than the harness itself, the new one would be cooked again.
Comment: I have the sane problem. Everything works proudly on my torrent after replacing the fuse box and harnesses. The only thing not working properly is the ignition system. I turn the key and get nothing at all. I have checked all connections with a multimeter and an getting 12 volts to main fuse box. However testing power wire going into ignition switch and no power to ignition switch. Could this possibly be the bcm.
Comment: Disconnect the wire from fuse box to the ignition key, disconnect it from the ignition key too, make a wire with connectors and temporally supply 12V to the ignition key. This should be a thick wire, like the original you will see there. Check if ignition works then. With that test you can define that the original wire is damaged and maybe it was the issue's source. IF that's the case, the solution may be installing that test wire permanently, together with the harness but connected to the fuse box or an inline fuse if the fuse socket for this is damaged.
Comment: Also: check the contacts in the ignition key module. If you got heat, one or more of the poles connectors there may have got moved away because the heat would melt the plastic they are inserted in. I had a problem with it once: the main contact pole moved just a mm away because heat...enough to put the whole system down. I replaced it after taking care of the issue's source (in my case, overrated headlight bulbs...car used 50/90w and they installed 100/130w!!!)


What is the formula in getting Outs?

Question: I've been reading about outs and its hard to tell what is the exact formula for getting them. Is there a formula for calculating outs? I want to add a functionality to my app where players can see their Outs.
Comment: Possible duplicate of [Calculating Poker Outs](https://poker.stackexchange.com/questions/4429/calculating-poker-outs)
Comment: Outs are simply the number of cards in the deck that will improve your hand. I suggest you go over to https://stackoverflow.com/ there are some things over there about programming various aspects of poker.
Comment: Outs aren't calculated, they're just counted. Each card that will result in a win is an out.
Comment: You just want the count or you want a list of cards.  If your app can determine the winning hand then you have most of what is need to determine outs.  Show what you have tried.
Answer: So there's a real mathematical way and there's a standard poker way.
There's two parts:
1) Counting potential "out" cards.
2) Calculating the chances of getting these "out" cards for each street left to deal.
Imagine a simple situation. You have 44 preflop, you 3xBB raise on button. A short stack goes Allin 15xBB. Everyone else folds.
Flop comes A, 2, 3.
So first step is counting potential "outs". One would imagine that it's likely 44 is no good in that situation giving the majority of a re-raise Allin probably contain a bigger pair and/or an Ace. You can basically imagine you need either another 4 for trips OR a 5 for a straight. This part of counting "Outs" is logic and guessing. The opponent could have KQ in which case you need no "Outs" or he could have AA or even 45, in which case you are pretty much drawing dead (barring runner runner 4, or 45 for a draw). For simplicity's sake, let's imagine either 4 or 5 will give you the win. So you have two 4s left and four 5s left. Keep in mind that in math/logic, what you don't see, you don't know. So you cannot pretend another player had folded a 4, because he could also have folded a Q, overall, what the other players might have folded DO NOT factor into the universal math calculation in poker odds.
2) Calculating Odds. So you have 6 "outs" (two 4s and four 5s). There are 47 cards that are still unknown to you (again, you do not guess what the opponent could be holding because in the long run, it does not matter). Your chance of getting an "out" on the TURN card is 6/47 = 12.76%. If you miss the turn, your chance of improving on the RIVER would be 6/46 = 13.04%.
Now most poker players of today's world use OTHER PEOPLE'S math because let's face it, there aren't that many mathematicians playing poker as we might think (because we have existing calculations and theories). So most poker player simply ESTIMATE the odds by doing "outs" x 2 percentage. So if you have 6 outs, your percentage of winning on TURN is approximately 6 x 2 = 12% (which is close to the actual math).
So in summary, for your code, use real math; but for real life, generally "outs times two" is a good enough estimate of win percentage.
Comment: Roughly 25% chance of winning if the opponent had an ace or better. Could be better to show the odds of winning the hand to rather than just the next card.
Answer: Outs are all cards, which will give you the lead. Unfortunately you do not know the hand(s) from your opponent(s) so you do not know which cards are outs for sure.
Example:
You hold 5s6s
Opponent TsJs
Flop 2sKsAh
You have 6 Outs, but you might think that you have 9 outs vs a pair (9 Spades, disregarding AsXs). If your opponent would hold 22/KK/AcAd you had to discount the As making it 8 outs.
Answer: Outs = The unknown cards left in a deck of 52 cards that if dealt will change a current poker hand's probability of winning or losing .

What is the formula in getting Outs?


Could be half brother?

Question: I recently received my DNA match from Ancestry we share 757 centimorgans shared across 35 DNA segments.  Could this be a half brother instead of 1st cousin like it predicts?  I have no history of my father.
Answer: There are reference values for determining relationship grade based on the amount of shared DNA. Please refer to http://thednageek.com/the-limits-of-predicting-relationships-using-dna/
I am totally sure that it is improbable that this person is half-brother. It should be half-uncle/nephew or 1st cousin.
If you are sure that you share direct paternal ancestor, it is good idea to check your yDNA. It will push you to buy Bigy or Y elite test for both.
If you suspect that you share direct maternal line, there is only option to test mtDNA.
Also it is very interesting if this person is X-Match to you. Chromosome X has different pattern of inheritance than autosomal DNA and may give you additional clues about relationship

Could be half brother?


Are political parties based on ethnicity democratic?

Question: Does a political party based on a minor (or major) ethnicity have a place in democracy ?
Comment: This question could need some more editing, especially the title is misleading versus the question body. I will not edit it for now, but wil revisit in 24h
Comment: @SvenClement ping! 24h passed many times since then :P
Comment: Isn't this a discussion question? It seems to be asking for opinion.
Comment: Actually I think it is a flaw on democracy if an ethnic minority is not represented well in the parliament. In Hungary we don't have any parties or strong political movements for gipsies, and we have serious issues because of their lack of abilities to represent themselves and state their needs collectively.
Answer: In my opinion Yes absolutely however it can be sign of deep social and cultural turmoil when this starts to occur on a large scale.
Political parties should form around a common set of beliefs, and if a particular minority ethnicity in a nation feels that its people are not being represented well or that this ethnicities values are going unheard then forming an ethnic party becomes a healthy democratic outlet for government activism.  This is much preferable to the alternative of ethnic minorities being ignored or shunned from politics, or for revolts, terrorism or full scale civil war to occur.
Because ethnic minorities are a minority by overall population, ethnic parties around minority groups generally must form coalitions with other minority parties that they share some similarities with to gain any type of meaningful power in the parliamentary system.  This encourages other ethnic parties as well as tradtitional parties to work closely and compromise with one another to achieve common goals.  This collaboration encourages good relations between different ethnicities in the same country.
Are Ethnic Parties preferred?  Probably not.  The best political party is one that is not exclusive based on race, creed, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation but then it is not always possible for an ethnic minority to be accurately represented in any other way.  It should be worrisome that minority groups feel that certain elements of the society or culture exclude them or do not closely represent them in any meaningful way.  The most worrisome would be if an ethnic party formed around the majority ethnicity as this can spell Majority Tyranny against minority groups in the country.
Based on the cultural makeup of the citizenry however, ethnic parties can make sense in the democratic process.
Comment: You seem to fail to address the issue of parties for the majority ethnicity.
Answer: Depends on what you mean by "have a place". In a true liberal democracy, people have freedom to associate by any principle they want, including the principle of belonging to a specific ethnicity, religion, ideology, sexual preferences or soccer team tastes.
However, if such party would advocate preferential treatment of certain ethnicity by the state, it should not be allowed to turn this advocacy into the law. The easiest way of doing this is to avoid electing such people into power and generally shunning them and shaming them out of the political scene. However, it is virtually impossible to ensure such party would not be able to prevail - ultimately, the people are the sovereign, so if most of the people want it, it will happen one way or another. However, such actions - i.e. preference of certain ethnicity by the state - are definitely incompatible with the modern democracy. Thus, for citizens that value the modern democracy it is prudent to avoid such parties by all means and ensure they never have a chance to gain any power.
Fortunately, in most current liberal democracies ethnic parties are mostly bothered with, in the best case, preventing ethnic discrimination, and in the worst case - trading votes for the parts of the budget directed to the projects they see to disproportionally benefit their ethnicity. As such, they do not pose much danger to the democracy.
Comment: @TriG I have never heard about any US institution that still discriminates negatively against persons protected by AA. Could you name an example of such institutions? Of course, there are racist individuals which may use their posts to discriminate against the policy, but those are dealt with as any abuse of the official capacity is dealt with. But official discrimination as far as I know is neither instituted nor tolerated anymore.
Comment: @TRiG As I said, it is known there are racists out there, and some of them might work for law enforcement too, unfortunately. However, to justify AA, one should point to the systemic discrimination that has effects comparable to AA itself, which AA is supposed to correct. While being harassed by a racist police officer is bad, I don't see how it can relate to AA - which is what we were discussing.
Comment: @DVK yes, AA is a racist measure which only can be supported by appealing to the ghost of past racial discrimination - which becomes harder and harder as time passes. US is reasonable good, but definitely not ideal democracy, and treatment of race is one of the biggest problems, due to  almost complete impossibility of rational public discourse on the topic and various groups having their political and monetary interest depending on continuing the current sorry state of affairs.
Comment: "Past racial discrimination" in the USA is less of a ghost than one might wish.
Comment: @StasM. I never actually mentioned official institutions. I was talking about society in general. But since you mention it, law enforcement routinely discriminates against ethnic minorities in the USA. It may not be actually codified in the laws, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Comment: "preference of certain ethnicity by the state - are definitely incompatible with the modern democracy." - Either someone forgot to tell Americans about that (Affirmative Action is indeed, a preference of certain ethnicity by the state), or you just called USA a NOT "a modern democracy" :)
Answer: I'm not aware of any political party that stands candidates everywhere in the world, so I guess, in one sense, every party is ethnically based.


Is DIY penetrating fluid safe for alloy wheels?

Question: I have an alloy wheel which is rusted onto the drum.  I have watched dozens of YouTube videos regarding making your own (more effective and less costly) penetrating fluid. I am very concerned, however, with damaging my alloy wheel.  One of the primary ingredients most recommend is Acetone - and I have seen references to various forms of alcohol (both "food grade" and toxic).  I am not a chemist, so are there any suggestions?  I would like to stay with DIY as I have other uses for such fluid.
Answer: May I suggest a Big Hammer?
Usually, alloy wheels separate from the drum just by using a hammer. I'm not sure about your situation, but the hammer trick has worked for me always. This is for cars that have been used regularly and the wheels have been changed regularly (I live in an area where using winter tires is mandatory during the winter).
I suggest using a hammer made from a soft material such as plastic or rubber, because metal hammers may damage the wheel if you hit the wheel hard.
Edit: Solar Mike correctly observed that hitting the tire sidewall with a hammer is a better option instead of hitting the rim. I have no reason to doubt his expertise, and when hitting the sidewall, you can use any hammer, no reason to limit yourself to non-metallic hammers.
I'm not so certain about the penetrating fluid. There is usually some oil in it, and you don't want oil near your brake parts.
There are other tricks as well: loosen the lug nuts slightly (DON'T REMOVE THEM!) and drive hard for an extremely short distance, accelerating and braking. I'm not comfortable with these other tricks, however, so I continue to use a hammer.
Comment: I always hit the tyre sidewall so as to avoid the possibility of damaging the wheel...
Comment: Well, i have had to remove stuck wheels on cars upto 30 tonne trucks, forestry equipment and agricultural stuff and the wheels have always come off without damage. Seen others who get to pay for damaging the rim though...
Comment: @SolarMike that's a very good strategy, but I believe the impact is better-transferred to the metal parts, which you want to separate, if you hit the wheel. The sidewall may cushion the impact. Still, your comment got my upvote.
Comment: Oh btw +1 for the hammer description - those ones I call "persuaders"...
Comment: A variation of the "persuader hammer" worked.  Per the suggestion of my local auto parts/service center, I squirted WD40 between the drum and the back of the wheel.  The tire boys suggested hitting the tire with my hand in a slightly upward motion - first at the twelve o'clock position and then at six; and if those didn't work go to nine then three.  The twelve o'clock shot did the trick!
Answer: From the chemical side, acetone, oils, alcohols and other solvents do not interact with metals under normal conditions. But some can dilute paint, which is especially true for acetone and cellulose thinner.
Alcohols and benzine are usually safe on a car.
Comment: Which alcohols?  I did a test run on a somewhat rusted but very dirty bolt with a 50/50 mix of  ATF and denatured alcohol; stirred it (since they don't mix well); let it sit for a while; then rinsed and it looks like new.


Find equilibrium price using excess demand function

Question: Consider an economy with two agents. There are two goods, x and y. Agents' preferences are Leontif ones as follows:
$u_1(x,y)=\min(x,4y)$ and $u_2(x,y)=\min(x,y)$.
Initial endowment for 1 is (2,4), for 2 is (4,2)
The problem asks me to use the excess demand function to find the equilibrium price and show that there are infinitely many equilibria with that price. The problem also asks what is the cause of such multiplicity of equilibria.
I tried this many times, but I always get that the equilibirum price is (1,-1/2), which is impossible.
Any help is appreciated.
Comment: It looks like you are missing the endowment. Fix some equilibrium prices. What happens when you double both prices?
Answer: Let $m_i$ be the market value of the endowment of player $i\in\{1,2\}$.
In optimum player $i$ spends everything such that $p_x x_i + p_y y_i =m_i$.
And because of the preferences in optimum also $x_1 = 4 y_1$ and $x_2=y_2$ holds.
You use that to get 2's demand as $x^*_2 = \frac{m_2}{p_1+p_2}=y^*_2$ and a similar bur slightly different formula for $4 y^*_1 = x^*_1$.
The excess demand would be this demand minus the endowment. The sum of excess demands is zero in equilibrium.
In equilibrium, $x_1^*+x_2^* =2+4$ and $y_1^*+y_2^* =2+4$, which you can both use to calculate an equilibrium price ratio. Any price combination with that ratio clears the market.
Comment: and the rest is homework ;)


Who are the Kaala-Veditha?

Question: Who are kaala-veditha? Is this is a class of humans or higher beings or is there a definite source for such information?
Comment: The only occurrence of the phrase Kaala Veditha I can find is in the Nama Ramayana, which [says](http://greenmesg.org/mantras_slokas/sri_rama-nama_ramayana.php) "Kaalaa-Vedita-Sura-Pada Raam" which means "I take Refuge in Sri Rama, Who was Made to Know His Divine Position by Kala when His time to depart arrived."  That's a reference to a story I discuss in this answer: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/2111/36 Is that what you're think of?
Comment: @Keshav, I looked at that reference. It is too literal. Isn't there a deeper meaning, such as those who are trapped by time or those who cannot escape time (or era).
Comment: The meaning is really straightforward - Veditha means "made to know".  So Kala-Veditha just means that Rama was informed of it by Kala.  And note that the verses of the Nama Ramayana tell the story of Rama in chronological order, so it's natural that it's in the last Kanda of the Nama Ramayana: http://kksongs.org/songs/a/agatamuniganasamstutarama.html
Answer: I am not sure if the term you have mentioned is Vedhita or Vidhata so hazarding an attempt to answer the question:

Kaal means time and Vidhata means organizer/arranger so basically the term refers to the gods of fate and there are two of those - Dhata & Vidhata.

Section LXVI of the Sambhava Parva of Mahabharat mentions their origin as follows:

And Brahman had two other sons, viz., Dhatri and Vidhatri who stayed with Manu. Their sister is the auspicious Lakshmi having her abode amid lotuses.

The Bhagvat Purana 1.4.1 also mentions the same:

Vashishth and his wife Arundhati begot seven Bramarishis like Chitraketu. Sage Atharva and his wife Chitti begot a son Taponishth. Great sage Bhrigu and his wife Khyati begot two sons- Dhata and Vidhata, and a daughter- Shri.

Therefore they are sons of Bhrigu and the grandsons of Brahma. The Mahabharat mentions them along with Varun as having attained salvation at the banks of Saraswati:

Again in the section where Jayadratha attempts to abduct Draupadi they are mentioned as divine beings at the level of Indra and Surya:
Comment: That's why I mentioned am not sure whether the OP is clear of what he is asking. He has asked about a class of beings while the term as mentioned in the comments is just an adjective for Shri Rama.
Comment: The question is asking something else. The question is about Kala Vedita and not Vidhata. See [comments](https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/7035/who-are-the-kaala-veditha#comment14129_7035) under the question.  The OP wants to know the meaning of kalavedita surapada raam which is a part of Nama Ramayanam. He wants to know who is Kalavedita not Vidhata.  So, a irrelevant and not an answer.
Comment: but it it is clear he wanted to know who are Kaalaveditas. Whether Kalaveditas are class of beings. The OP responded in the comments that he wanted to know about Kalavedita only not vidhata. If you are not sure, you ask more for clarification and not post an unsure answer. Vidhata and Kalavedita are not the same terms.
Comment: Well he never mentioned that in his comment whether that was really the case. If he responds in the negative I can delete the answer.

Who are the Kaala-Veditha?