Meaning of the word "snood"

Question: What does actually snood mean when someone says, 'He is a snood arm wrestler. He eats more than he trains, but he's beaten some of our toughest guys.'
Does it mean that person who's called snood arm wrestler is kind of lazy to train hard and has some extra weight?
Link to the video, I've heard that word there, at 54 second
The video is available only in USA.
Comment: I never heard the word used for anything except the (extra fine) length of fishing line between the hook and the main line (which is heavier, and more visible to the fish). Apparently it's also a woman's head/hair band, and sometimes a general-purpose meaningless pejorative noun. Perhaps akin to *nerd, dork*, so perhaps someone used it to mean *"This guy has no chance of picking up girls, so he puts all his energy into geeky activities such as arm-wrestling"*. Mostly it probably means whoever you heard using the word doesn't know or care much about how other people use English.
Comment: Please edit the video link into your question. It sounds to me like he's saying, "He's'n'ood arm wrestler" and probably means "He's a good...."
Comment: @FumbleFingers I know Snood as [something else entirely](http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/snood/screenshots/gameShotId,109350/).
Comment: Maybe I didn't get it right, maybe there're some homonyms which sound similarly, but have different meaning, I'm not sure...
Comment: You're the second person who thinks so, probably you're right)
Answer: The video doesn't use the word "snood". The actual transcription should be:

MAN 1: Turbo
MAN 2: He's new to arm-wrestling.
MAN 1: He eats more than he trains... but he's beaten some of our toughest guys.

The accent makes it a little hard to pick out that MAN 2 says arm-wrestling and not arm-wrestler because he chops off the "ing" sound to make a very "redneck" style wrestlin'. Likewise, the "to" is actually pronounced tuh or ta and the "he's" is very short and barely has the "he" portion. Altogether it sounds like:

eeznooh tuh ahrm rasslin'
'e's new ta' arm-rasslin'
he's new to arm-wrestling

"Snood" doesn't have a relevant meaning in this context and the speaker absolutely says "arm-wrestling" instead of "arm-wrestler".
Comment: FWIW, I lived in Texas for a few years. This is a fairly light "redneck" accent that can be found all over the southern United States. More info can be found on Wikipedia: [Southern American English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_American_English)
Comment: MrHen, you was absolutely right. Yesterday I watched the full episode of the show and the same guy said similar phrase about Turbo 'He's new to this sport'.
Answer: For the benefit of anyone who clicked this question actually looking for the meaning of the word snood: in my experience (and confirmed by Wikipedia), while it is a neck covering that can be raised over the head by women and/or motorcyclists, it can also be used to refer to a hairnet which is specifically used to cover a beard, in food production.
Comment: Avoiding wearing one was the main reason I opted to shave during my teenage years when I worked part time at a deli, rather than try to grow out my [bum fluff](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/69380/word-for-young-mustache), for which I came to be most grateful in later years. Men really ought to shave for the first five years that they need to if they want to grow anything like a beard or moustache.
Comment: This is exactly the meaning of snood. I owned several snoods to protect my ears and head in cold weather. They were elegant looking and secure compared to a hat and scarf combination. Good answer!
Answer: According to the "urban dictionary" it's just more-or-less meaningless substitute for "bad/unpleasant".
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snood
The work also has several other meanings which do not apply here. For example, it's the flap of skin on a turkey's beak.
Another distinct possibility (purely conjecture) is that the speaker intended to say "good" and due to regional accents or slip of the tongue said "snood" (or something like it) instead.
Comment: @Lumberjack I have a theory... they said "good"... or they meant to - and they just stuffed it up a bit.
Comment: Yeah, there is a bunch of various meainings, including "The ballsack thing that hangs off a turkey's face", I guess "bad/unpleasant" or in other words "snoob + rude" (how it's describes on urban dictionary) is more appropriate, but still makes me doubt...
Comment: @Lumberjack Some guy above said something like a "dork"; that seems fairly OK as well. I have my doubts too - perhaps you could tell us precisely where in the world you heard this - it might be regional slang.
Comment: I've heard it in promo-video of reality show. Maybe I got it wrong, but 2 friends of mine hear the same sound (word).

I got a link btw, but it works only within USA...
http://youtu.be/bcTZlhmOkk0?t=54s
from 54 second
Comment: Good theory, these guys are from South of the USA, I've noticed they have special way of spelling some words =)
Comment: @Lumberjack I'm an on-and-off listener of infowars (Texas) and I can imagine AlexJ causing a similar confusion with his diction (very strong accents and lazy way of speaking). Not sure there's anything else I can do... all the best :)
Comment: I'm very greatful to you, my friend, thanx!)
Answer: After listening to the video several times, it sounds to me like the speaker says, "He's'n'ood arm wrestler," in heavily accented American English. I doubt that this is the word snood; more likely it simply means "He's a good arm wrestler" with a bit of an accent or quirk of speech. It's also possible that he tried to say, "He's an ... arm wrestler" and stumbled over the words because good doesn't start with a vowel.

Meaning of the word "snood"


Taking an air-gun in my checked luggage - will I have any problems in India going through customs?

Question: I am going to India 25th November from Europe. Should I take my air gun with my luggage (check-in baggage). In India will there be any problem with customs?
Comment: Which airline, and from which city to which city, and do you have any stopovers where you have to pick up your luggage?
Comment: my traveling airline air Astana Tbilisi to Delhi stopovers at Almaty(Kazakhstan)
Comment: And is your luggage checked through there? I got caught out, when I flew through Almaty as I didn't realise I'd have to recheck my luggage, and you can't get a visa on arrival.
Comment: Since an air gun fires projectiles (and likely looks like the real deal), a customs officer may argue that it's a firearm. That's an argument you will *never* win. Firearms fall under the category of restricted goods in India, and import is strictly prohibited (there are some excemptions, but they won't apply; see [FAQ #8](http://www.cbec.gov.in/trvler-guide_ason11June2014.pdf)). Failing to declare the item may lead to serious penalties. Depending on the mood of the officer (and any priors etc), confiscation of the gun and a fine are not unthinkable.
Comment: Raghav are you able to carry Air pistol with you ? any issues at Mumbai Airport while declaring it in custome ?
Answer: Indian Customs Policies
Importing Firearms in India
The import of firearms in India is strictly prohibited, unless you fit the three requirements detailed below, taken from this site:

Importing Air Guns/Pistols
Air guns and air pistols are not firearms, per se, and therefore are subject to a different regulation. In particular, the import policy as defined by the Indian Foreign Trade Policy, the import of such goods follows a restricted policy. This means that there are conditions you have to meet in order to be able to import air guns/pistols.
Quoting from the ITC Import Policy, Chapter 93: ARMS AND AMMUNITION; PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF:

However, import of 0.177 bore air guns and air pistols will be free for shooters registered with Rifle Clubs or District/State/National Rifles Association. Free import of 0.177 bore air guns and air pistols will also be allowed to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for supplying the same to the eligible State Rifle Association / Clubs and to the eligible shooters. NRAI shall be required to keep appropriate account of the imported weapons.

So the point is, you can import air guns/pistols of 0.177 bore only if you are a member of an Indian Rifle Club or Association. In any case, you will have to fill in the relevant paperwork.
Moreover, the Mumbai Airport Customs web page is even more precise:

Import of Arms, Air Guns and Air Pistols:

Import of 0.177 bore Air Guns and Air Pistols (which are otherwise Restricted as per Foreign Trade Policy) is allowed to shooters registered with Rifle Clubs or District/State/National Rifle Association and to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) for supplying the same to the eligible State Rifle Association / Clubs and eligible shooters subject to the condition that – the purchase/user of these items has a valid "user licence" from the competent local (Indian) authority under the provisions of existing Arms Act, 1959.
Import of arms of permissible bore is permitted to "renowned shooters"* for their own use against an  import licence issued by DGFT  and a valid user licence from the competent local (Indian) authority under the provisions of existing Arms Act, 1959.

*"Renowned Shooter" means a person who has participated in a National Shooting Championship in an Open Men's Event or Open Women's Event or Open Civilian's Event whether through Qualifying Tournament or Wild Card Entry conducted in accordance with the rules of the International Shooting Union, and has attained the Minimum Qualifying Score prescribed by the National Rifle Association.

Air Guns/Pistols in your Carry-On Luggage
For completeness' sake please note that TSA regulations clearly state that air guns/pistols are not allowed in carry-on luggage. They have to be checked-in, which is what you correctly mentioned you would do in your question:

I think it is safe to assume that other security handlers across the world will implement similar policies. You could always check the individual regulations for yourself.
Answer: You need to fill a "registered baggage" form at the check in desk and declare at the time of check in that you are carrying a gun in your baggage. The check in staff will get you to fill a form.
All airlines charge a fee for carrying firearms and they will charge you the same fee for an air gun too. The charges differ from airline to airline and if you have a connecting flight within India then you would also need to pay them the handling charges.
You will need to go through the red channel when going through customs and pay the duty on the item because it is not exempt. The price on the bill wont matter and nor would the item being old be of any relevance. You will be charged duty as per their own list and whatever price they have for your gun in their own list.
Having said all the above, You can buy an air gun in India at reasonable prices. If it is some specialized gun that you don't mind spending $100-150 + customs duty on top of what you have paid for the gun already then go for it.


Why is the Sun's density less than the inner planets?

Question: The density of the Sun is $1410~\frac{\text{kg}}{\text{m}^{3}}$ and Mercury's is $5430~\frac{\text{kg}}{\text{m}^{3}}$, but shouldn't the Sun be denser? Because when the Solar System was forming, there was a big disk of debris, and depending on the density of the debris it went closer or further from the centre, which then formed the planets, but the Sun is in the centre, and it's less dense than Mercury, why?
Answer: The sun isn't the same density all the way through.
According to MSFC's solar interior page, the core density at the centre of the sun is a whopping 150,000 kg/m$^3$. Surrounding it the radiative zone is around 20,000 - 200 kg/m$^3$ (already less dense than water). Eventually at the edge is the convective zone - the density at the part that we see is much less dense than our own air...
So although the Sun's average density isn't very remarkable, the core is the densest place in the solar system.
(Sun cross section from Wikipedia.org)
Comment: @Nayuki: Wow, you can't just go from "It's hydrogen" to "it's less dense than rock". That's nonsense. Hydrogen under standard conditions (1atm, 293K) is less dense than air. Hydrogen under conditions outside of the core is still much denser than air. See Andy's answer. Dare to follow the links.
Comment: Additional note: Outside of the sun's core, most of the outer shells are simply hot hydrogen gas. We know that hydrogen is less dense than the materials in solid planets, and the high temperature further decreases the density.
Comment: I'm not sure if this actually answers either of two questions
Comment: This is another good point. I considered mentioning it myself, but I decided instead to explain why the average density was so low.
Comment: @Nayuki: _"the high temperature further decreases the temperature"_
Answer: Fusion inside of a star affects the sun's density (which does not happen with a planet). It produces an outward pressure that balances against the attraction of gravity, thereby reducing the density as long as the star is burning. Once a star the mass of the sun is no longer able to sustain fusion, what is left is a white dwarf which is in fact much denser than Mercury.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/142023/discussion-on-answer-by-called2voyage-why-is-the-suns-density-less-than-the-inn).
Answer: The density of matter depends not only on its composition, but also on temperature and pressure.  It's not meaningful to say that substance A is denser than substance B without specifying the conditions under which the comparison is being made.
For a simple everyday example, at room temperature (and pressure) water is significantly denser than air.  But heat them both above 100 °C, and the water evaporates and actually becomes considerably less dense than air, even at the same temperature and pressure.
(By the ideal gas law, the density of different gases at a given temperature and pressure is approximately proportional to their average molecular mass.  The molecular mass of water is only about half that of diatomic oxygen and nitrogen, which are the main components of air on Earth, and thus water vapor is only about half as dense as air at the same temperature and pressure.)
The surface temperature of Mercury is less than 1000 °C (and the interior temperature should not be much greater), and it mostly consists of metals and silicate minerals (i.e. rock) that are solid or liquid at those temperatures.  The Sun's temperature, meanwhile, is over 5000 °C at the surface (photosphere), and a lot hotter deeper inside.  If you could heat Mercury up to the same temperature as the Sun, most of the rocks and metals it consists of would evaporate, and would become a lot less dense.  So a lot of the density difference simply comes down to the fact that Mercury is a lot cooler than the Sun, and thus able to stay solid.
Another reason why the Sun is less dense than Mercury is that the Sun contains a lot of lightweight hydrogen gas (which has both a very low molecular weight and a very low evaporation point), while Mercury has almost no hydrogen at all.  The main reason for this is that the Sun's heat and the solar wind have effectively blown away any hydrogen and other volatile low-density substances that Mercury might once have had (or that might've existed in its general area while the solar system was forming).
The Sun itself can retain hydrogen due to its enormous gravity (but even so, it loses about one billion kilograms of it per second; that's basically what the solar wind I mentioned above mostly is).  Mercury, however, is much smaller, and thus its gravity isn't strong enough to hold onto its own hydrogen so close to the Sun.
(Basically the same thing happened to Venus, Earth and Mars, which is why these inner planets didn't turn into huge balls of hydrogen gas like Jupiter and Saturn did.  However, Earth and Venus were both big enough, and located far enough from the Sun, that they could hang on to other slightly less volatile substances like water and air.  Mars is located even further from the Sun, but is also a lot smaller than Earth, which is the main reason why it today has only a very thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide, and very little if any water.)
Comment: Excellent unique point about the hydrogen being blown away by the solar wind. Because one would indeed expect the solar system  during formation behaving along the lines of a single entity like a planet: lighter elements should tend to be on the outside, and hence the sun being composed of more heavy elements. Or maybe all bodies should be of similar composition. The solar system cannot be understood without understanding its history.
Answer: I'd say the most important answer is because the volume of stars is counted differently than for (inner) planets.For the former, most of the gas surrounding the dense core is counted. The latter don't have significant enough amounts of it.
This is even more pronounced with larger stars.
VY Canis Majoris: "With an average density of 0.000005 to 0.000010 kg/m3, the star is a hundred thousand times less dense than the atmosphere of Earth (air) at sea level. It is also undergoing strong mass loss with the outer layers of the star no longer gravitationally bound"
Yeah, less density than the air outside the ISS, and still a part of the star's volume.
 The star is farting gas like nobody's business, and a huge part of that still counts into its diameter. The Sun is no different.
Obviously we're not using the same metric, so there is no point comparing the values.
Comment: You make an excellent point -- what we see as 'the sun' in visible light (the photosphere) would've been considered atmosphere on a planet, and not have counted as part of the volume for computing the density of the planet.
Answer: All the other answers address the density of the sun, but I feel that none of them actually addresses the OP's misconception. OP seems to think denser material should sink, but this is not the case. Thus Pluto is denser than Uranus, but orbits further out. There is nothing strange about this.
The reason is that orbital energy is conserved indefinitely unless there is some kind of interaction. A planet feels "weightless" just like an astronaut in a space station, because it is in freefall towards the centre of mass of the solar system. Unless it interacts with another body, matter, regardless of its density, will continue to orbit at the same distance from the centre of mass of the solar system, as a consequence of conservation of energy.
Density only becomes an issue when objects come into physical contact, and a body receives a push from another body.
Thus in an orbiting spacecraft, dense objects just float around "weightlessly" and do not "fall" to the "bottom." Both the air and the objects in the spaceship are experiencing gravity, but they are falling at the same rate, so they do not push each other.
When the spacecraft is on the ground, the Earth's surface pushes up on the spacecraft, and prevents it from accelerating towards the centre of the earth. Under these circumstances, the denser objects, if unconstrained, will fall towards the floor of the spacecraft, displacing the less dense air. When they hit the floor, they receive a push from it, preventing their continued fall.
In space objects do not push each other by physical contact, so density makes no difference. A trillion tons of iron and a trillion tons of silica may have different volumes, but they have the same mass, therefore so long as their interactions with the rest of the solar system are purely gravitational, both will behave identically.
On the other hand, matter that has coalesced into a planet, sun, or moon will become stratified by density. In the case of a moon or rocky planet this is almost entirely due to the denser materials sinking and forcing the more voluminous ones to rise. In the case of the sun or a gas giant the core will also be denser due to compression. In addition to contact forces, friction is also present. Note also that friction is necessary for orbital decay: without it satellites will orbit at the same height indefinitely.
Answer: Simple answer. The sun is mostly hydrogen with an atomic weight of 1. Mercury is mostly (70%) metal such as iron (with an atomic weight of 55). Iron has a head start on density. For hydrogen to equal iron in density, 55 hydrogen atoms would have to be compressed in the space of a single iron atom. This happens in the core of the sun, but not in the entire sun.


How can I easily tell if a cellphone camera sensor or lens is damaged?

Question: How can I easily tell if a cellphone sensor or lens is damaged?
Comment: Damaged in what way?  Do you have a specific problem?
Answer: wipe the lens and take some pictures closeup and far away and see how they look.
To check of the plastic lens parts are warped by heat, take an image of a checker board and see if the warp is smooth pincussion or barrel .
Sensor damage is easy to see by just snapping images.
For minor defects, Take an image of a clear sky or white wall and check the smoothness.
Comment: Especially i want to know that how the sensors or lens will misfunction due to damage caused by focussing it to direct sunl or taking the photos of mid day sun.
Comment: does it have moving parts or focus to infinity?
Comment: It has autofocus
Answer: If you have focused on the Sun or on a spotlight for long, you will end up sensor pixels burnt out. This is easy to test. Make these two photos:

Put a paper tissue in front of the lens (working as a light diffuser) and make a photo in a well lit room. You should have a homogenous light gray image.
Cover the sensor well, so it sees complete darkness. Make another photo. This should be a black image, with some thermal noise.

Now, do the following for each image:

Take the image to Photoshop,
create another layer,
pick the light gray or black color value,
fill the new layer,
do a Substract operation on the new layer.
Then if you do threshold, and if you see values above e.g. 10 or below -10 or so, you have a burnt pixel. (You will see some distribution, as the light gray may be a bit not homogenous, and the black image will have noise, so that is why you need thresholding. The offending pixels will be way off (e.g. showing up as red pixels in the black image - been there, seen that).

It is easy to find those ones:

after thresholding,  you basically end up with some single pixels not matching the rest of the image. Make a copy of this image layer, and now
do a Gaussian blur of e.g. 20 pixel - this creates a 20 pixel circle around the failing pixels
do another Threshold. The circles will be well visible now.
Find their centers
Those are the failing pixels. Check them carefully. If they are not false positive, they are the actual failing pixels.

The lens itself will not be damaged from extended exposure to sun. The glue there will not necessarily like extended UV exposure, and increased heat, but if it seems to work, focuses, etc. then it works.


Is OAuth 2.0 access token sufficient to complete PayPal payment

Question: I am trying to explore on the OAuth2.0 api provided by paypal. After gaining the OAuth access token, I am trying to find if that can be used for payment authentication.
Can anyone suggest some thoughts on this?
Answer: Yes, but you need to use it in conjunction with the Permissions API to allow users to grant permission for your application to make API calls on their behalf.


Running Dell R710 or R5400 on Windows 7

Question: Is it possible to run a Dell R710 or R5400 on Windows 7 instead of Windows Server 2008? My Dell rep was unsure about the RAID controller. I have some processing services that I really need to move my custom processing from an i7 Desktop into a Dual Xeon rackmount but my developer doesn't want to have to test against Windows 7 and Server 2008.
Answer: The R5400 is just a workstation in a rack mount case.  Windows 7 is fully supported by Dell and they offer drivers for both x86 and x64 versions.
The R710 isn't explicitly supported by Dell with Windows 7, but its very likely that the 2008 R2 drivers will work just fine under x64 Win7.  The 2008 x86 drivers will also probably work with the x86 version.
Answer: Here's the link for the R710 drivers:
Possibly some of the Server 2008 drivers may work for Windows 7... I would start with the R2 stuff first.
Answer: Drivers could be an issue for the R710.  The Dell folks will likley be little help.  Can you not run a Windows 7 VM of some type to do the Win 7 testing.  We often run a VM on Server 2008 to test.  There will be some extra overhead but might do the tests you require.
Failing that all you can do is try the install and see what happens.

Running Dell R710 or R5400 on Windows 7


Is it possible to convert mysql binlog from statement format to row format?

Question: The mysql server online is of version 4.1, which doesn't support row-based binary log. Nevertheless, I need the row-based binlog. Can I use the binlog generated by old mysql and import it into another mysql of higher version that supports row-base binlog to get the row-based binlog?
Answer: You cannot convert a binlog to another version, but you import its SQL as long as have mysqlbinlog for version 4.1.
Simply do the following:

Run MySQL 4.1 version of mysqlbinlog against the MySQL 4.1 binlog, saving output to stmts.sql
Install MySQL 5.x with these in my.cnf

log-bin=mysql-bin
binlog-format=ROW

Login to MySQL 5.1 and run source stmts.sql
Run SHOW BINARY LOGS;

When done, the binlogs you see should be row-based.
Give it a Try !!!
Why can't you just convert ? The BINLOG Magic Number gets displaced with later versions.
I wrote about before

Nov 30, 2012 : How can you monitor if MySQL binlog files get corrupted?
Feb 04, 2011 : MySQL master binlog corruption

Every time you restart mysql, the next empty binlog is created. Each version of MySQL has a different size:

MySQL 5.6 : 120
MySQL 5.5 : 107
MySQL 5.1 : 106
MySQL 5.0 : 98

In light of this, generating binlogs from scratch is the best way to go.
UPDATE : Thanks to Michael's Comment, you have to preload the data the binlog came from into the MySQL 5.1 Instance.
Comment: major caveat: the instance of the newer version of MySQL would need to have the exact dataset in place that you had on the 4.1 server at the starting binlog position, before you could replay old statement logs into it and generate useful row events out of it... row-based logging can only be generated by actually inserting/updating/deleting the actual rows of data on the new server, and if they aren't identical then the process won't work at all or will generate meaningless results.
Comment: @Michael-sqlbot DOH !!! I forgot to preload the data !!!


What is the range of information gain ratio?

Question: I am wondering what the value range of information gain ratio is. I guess it is [0,1] but am not too sure about it.
Comment: Why would you say [0,1]?  If the numerator is greater than the denominator it would be greater than 1.
Comment: Exactly - but can the numerator be greater? This is the question.
Comment: This site repeats my assumption as a fact: http://pythonhosted.org/ibmdbpy/feature_selection.html
Answer: tl;dr
Intuitively, the information gain ratio is the ratio between the mutual information of two random variables and the entropy of one of them. Thus, it is guaranteed to be in $[0,1]$ (except for the case in which it is undefined).

In the context of decision trees, let's denote:

$Ex$ is the set of training examples
$X$ is a randomly chosen example in $Ex$
$a$ is some feature
$A$ is the value of $a$ of $X$
$C$ is the class of $X$
$IG(Ex,a)$ is the information gain for splitting according to $a$
$IV(Ex,a)$ is the information value (aka intrinsic value) of $a$
$IGR(Ex,a)$ is the information gain ratio for splitting according to $a$
$H(Y)$ is the entropy of $Y$ (for any random variable $Y$)
$I(Y;Z)$ is the mutual information of $Y$ and $Z$ (for any two random variables $Y,Z$)

Then, by definition:
$IG(Ex,a)=H(C)-H(C|A)$
$IV(Ex,a)=H(A)$
$IGR(Ex,a)=\frac{IG(Ex,a)}{IV(Ex,a)}$
Thus:
$IGR(Ex,a)=\frac{H(C)-H(C|A)}{H(A)}$
First, if $H(A)=0$, then $IGR(Ex,a)$ is undefined. An example for such case is when $A$ is constant.
Now, let's assume that $H(A) \ne 0$.
As wikipedia mentions:
$I(C;A)=H(C)-H(C|A)$ and $I(A;C)=H(A)-H(A|C)$.
From the definition of mutual information, we can deduce that it's symmetric.
Thus, $H(C)-H(C|A)=I(C;A)=I(A;C)=H(A)-H(A|C)$
Therefore:
$IGR(Ex,a)=\frac{H(A)-H(A|C)}{H(A)}=1-\frac{H(A|C)}{H(A)}\le 1$
(The $\le 1$ is given by the non-negativity of entropy.)
We can also show that $IGR(Ex,a) \ge 0$, as explained here, and so it holds that $0 \le IGR(Ex,a) \le 1$.


Is it ok to lift locked armrests on aisle or window seats?

Question: While reading this question, I came across a little trick, of how to lift up the locked arm-rests in window and aisle seats. Though I always wondered why they were locked, knowing that little trick now makes me wonder is it legal to lift locked arm-rests. Would it get me into any trouble with the cabin crews or the airline?
Comment: PLEASE NOTE: There is a [Meta discussion](http://meta.aviation.stackexchange.com/q/2933/69) about the suitability of this question.  Please refer to that discussion for the Meta issues surrounding this question rather than comment here.
Comment: @egid A passenger could knowingly move the armrest out of its locked position just before takeoff—while the cabin crew were watching, thus necessitating their intervention—but, based on any information we currently have in this or the linked supposed duplicate question/answer, that passenger has not performed any illegal action.
Comment: @Firee This doesn't answer your question, but I have frequently moved the isle armrest to the full upright position both during flight and after shutdown; as I recall, my actions have never received any notice of the cabin crew.
Answer: I'll have a go at this, but this answer applies only to the US.
First, is it legal? As far as I can see, yes. There are various regulations (e.g. 14 CFR 121.317) about specific items that passengers have to be briefed on and comply with instructions on. They include smoking, seatbelts, emergency exits, screens and tables etc. But there's no explicit mention of armrests and I didn't see any generic clause like "any other equipment" or whatever. So in the absence of any explicit or general regulation that says you can't, I would say you can.
Second, will it get you "into trouble"? Maybe. As the answer to a related question shows, the FAA doesn't want armrests to become an obstacle to evacuation and they advise crew members to make sure that armrests are locked down for takeoff and landing. Many airlines I've traveled on have an announcement about the armrests, even if there's no regulation that requires it. If the crew ask you to put your armrest down and you refuse then the 'best' thing that can happen is that they decide you're rude but not dangerous and let it go. But if you refuse repeatedly and they decide you're being confrontational or unlikely to follow other instructions then 14 CFR 91.11 would apply:

No person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a
  crewmember in the performance of the crewmember's duties aboard an
  aircraft being operated.

Under that regulation, if the crew decides you're "interfering" with their duties (which include keeping you and everyone else safe), you'll probably get a police escort off the aircraft, especially if alcohol is involved.
But having said all that, I don't think this is a big deal at all. The FAA's concern seems to be about armrests that get stuck at an angle, not about ones that can be fully lifted. I've often seen passengers put up their armrests and I've never heard a crew member comment on it, but if they do ask you to lower them, arguing about regulations would probably be a bad idea.
Comment: At least in the UK, it is illegal not to comply with a lawful instruction given by a cabin crew member. "Lawful instruction" means one which itself is not illegal, nor would cause you to do something illegal. Thus, even though armrests might not be specifically mentioned, if a crew member instructs you to raise or lower it, that instruction is lawful and you commit an offence if you do not comply. Regarding the OP, I've never heard any instructions to do anything with armrests other than for take-off and landing so, if you raise it, and lower it when instructed, you are doing nothing wrong.
Comment: `But having said all that, I don't think this is a big deal at all.` : I think that summarizes it properly. Personally I never heard announcements to put the armrests back in position, though I never saw anybody move it in the first place. So many times I wanted to move it, in order to get up and give way to my co-passengers who wanted to use the loo. Am itching to try it the next time I fly on April 4th.


UML Class Diagram for the sprints

Question: I am making a simple class diagram for the project management techniques using the Scrum methodology, where projects are made of releases and releases are made of different sprints. All I want to know is, is this Class diagram is correct for this management techinique. If not then what I am missing please help me out to figure out this Class diagram.
Comment: Sprints methodology? You mean Scrum? What is the goal? Are you making a tool for Sprint management or are you just trying to visualize the Sprint cycle in a UML diagram?
Comment: Do you mean a sprint backlog?  Has the product backlog being groomed?  Is this for a specific project or is this a 'one size fits all diagram'.  Releases seems to fall under waterfall methodology.  Although Scrum is used in my organisation in conjunction with Waterfall releases i.e code drop to live.
Comment: From an UML perspective, all your arrows with a black diamond are the wrong way around and the link between feature/sprint should probably have no diamond (or hollow diamonds on the links to feature).
Answer: This is interesting and I would say that it is an excellent start!  I see this exercise that you are doing to be valuable and potentially an excellent way to describe scrum to developers.  Since you are talking about Sprints, I am guessing you are using scrum, if that assumption is wrong please let me know.  Here are some points that might help you improve the UML Diagram:

I like to think of Releases as a collection of features, not sprints.  With a release you can release one or more features, or even one or more bug fixes and no new features.
It is difficult to make the assertion that Releases are composed of sprints because you could theoretically have a release mid sprint if you are releasing a critical bug fix.
Depending on the software you use, you can break the backlog up into objects as well.  In JIRA, the backlog is composed of Epics, which are composed of Work Items (that can be stories, spikes, bugs, etc).
In TFS, Epics are composed of Features, which are composed of Work Items (User Stories or Bugs) and Work Items are composed of Tasks.
You can also add objects to the Project object for your Team.  The Team Class would consist of a Product owner, a Scrum master, one or more developers/testers, perhaps a designer and a BA.

This is a fun looking and also useful project. Please share the final result with us when you are done!
Comment: My happy pleasure!  If I ever need to explain scrum to developers again I will try to use this technique.  Thanks for the really great idea!
Answer: While I think this is a really cool exercise, I think it may be doomed to be perpetually inaccurate. Of course, I'm not an expert in UML, so I'll explain why and you can see if that helps.
There is one set of relationships around the work and another set of relationships around how the work gets done. These are loosely coupled through the backlog.
For the work to do, you would have a project, which is made of releases. After this the exact names change a lot depending on your tool but each release probably has some epics which are composed of user stories. The backlog is an abstraction for presenting the work-to-do set of objects to those doing the work. I'm going to set aside scaling frameworks for a moment and just talk about Scrum, so that "do-the-work" diagram would have a team, which has members including a Scrum Master, Product Owner, and a group called the development or delivery team which has members of its own which may or may not be developers (obviously if it's software, some almost certainly are).
The backlog really presents the whole of the work-to-do set of objects, but it's important to understand that it connects at the team level, not at the developer level. Scrum allows the team to determine its own internal strategy for completing the work.
As I said, I don't know if this is possible to represent in UML.
Comment: I feel it is a bit strong to say that it is "doomed to be perpetually inaccurate", although I do see your point.  I prefer to think of it as something that, in a very Agile-y way, can be constantly iterated over and improved.  Also, your point about the team-centric nature of scrum is well taken.  Perhaps it is better to say that the UML diagram can be made more accurate on a team by team basis, customizing it as necessary to fit their internal strategies?  Anyway, thanks for the contribution!
Comment: It may be a bit dramatic. What I meant is just that I don't know if it is possible to represent this in UML, and so you might be stuck using a representation that, while roughly close, doesn't accurately describe the way the team interacts with the backlog.

UML Class Diagram for the sprints


How to flash a BIOS when only a Windows binary is provided?

Question: I want to update the BIOS on Toshiba QOSMIO-G30. The exe file that I downloaded from the manufacturer web site is supposed to be Operating System independent! Yet using Wine I could not execute the file to FLASH System BIOS. Is there any way to update the BIOS in Ubuntu?
Answer: I would highly recommend not flashing a BIOS with an .exe using Wine.  Flashing a BIOS can potentially turn your computer into a large paperweight if something goes wrong.
Some manufacturers (I know Dell does for example) have alternative BIOS upgrade methods for Linux.
However if Toshiba does not offer any Linux compatible options, your best bet is to:

Determine if you really need to do the update.  If you aren't having any problems with the BIOS currently and don't require any new features from it you can probably safely ignore the update.
If you do require the update, either create a DOS boot disk (Mitch's answer links to a good how-to for doing this), install DOS/freeDOS etc. onto a new partition, or -gulp- install Windows.  If you have an extra old hard drive around you could also install this hard drive, put windows on it, flash the BIOS and then switch back to your hard drive with Ubuntu on it.
Comment: @KhaledMusleh In addition, it's probably related to this. - http://askubuntu.com/questions/85318/how-can-i-get-my-intel-integrated-graphics-to-be-recognized-in-system-info
Comment: @KhaledMusleh I would suggest you make a new question specifically about your graphics card with all the information about your card and what you have tried.  Nvidea does not make a different linux driver for every different card, so the name would not be the same.  Enabling the recommended Nvidea driver on the blacklist will likely fix your problem.
Comment: Thank you very much adempewolff . i followed the bug link above and installed the apt and now i have a wonderful crystal clear screen. thanks again.
Comment: Thanks for the response . there is not good reason why i should update the bios now . I thought it might help in recognizing the graphic card since Ubuntu does not! otherwise everything is functioning OK. I agree that  Mitch's recommendations seem  to be the best way out.
Comment: @KhaledMusleh It is very unlikely (if not impossible) that updating the BIOS will help Ubuntu recognize your graphics card. If you haven't already, open `jockey` (Also know as `Additional Drivers`) and see if you can enable a driver for your graphics card.
Comment: I tried many time all the different graphic drivers supplied by ubuntu that can run 3D but none works . even in  all versions of ubuntu. i found out that there is a similar card on the black list but not the same . the GT version is on the black list but not my card which have the same name-nVidia GeForce Go 7600.
Answer: This site explains how to go about doing a BIOS update under Linux.
Quoted from the same site:

So you've finally made the move to a Windows-free computer, you're
  enjoying your brand new Linux OS, no Trojans/viruses, no slowdown,
  everything is perfect. Suddenly, you need to update the BIOS on your
  motherboard to support some new piece of hardware, but typically the
  motherboard vendor is offering only DOS based BIOS flash utilities.
  You panic! Fortunately, this problem is easy to solve...
Below are the steps to follow:
Step 1: Download FreeDOS boot disk floppy image
Step 2: Copy your BIOS flash utility and new BIOS image to the mounted
  floppy disk image
Step 3: Burn a bootable CD which will emulate floppy device for use
Step 4: Reboot, flash, reboot, enjoy your new BIOS

Source: linuxinsight.com
Comment: after many times of tries i think your choice is probably the best way to solve the problem. however after reading the DOS based BIOS flash method i find it difficult for me to do.
Comment: Take you time reading it, and I`m sure that you can do it.:)
Comment: I will try to read carefully the steps and evaluate if it is worth the risk . than you Mitch
Comment: Unfortunately the BIOS image is larger than the 1.44Mb disc image. :-(
Comment: That's fine. because you\re creating a bootable CD, and not a floppy.
Comment: I find this FreeDOS method frustrating despite being familiar with the CLI. It just feels too easy to get it wrong and because DOS is not a familiar environment, it's not easy to remember all that needs to be done. Plus I've never seen anyone spell it (this method) out in clear terms, and that too is frustrating.
Answer: Flashing using only GNU/Linux
(No floppy disks, No CDs, No DOS, No FreeDOS, No Win*)
Explanation
Usually there are two files:

a binary file which includes all the data (firmware) which is going to be transferred to the motherboard's rom chip,

a binary file which is an executable utility and is used to make the actual transfer of the firmware to the motherboard, plus some checks.

Manufacturers may combine these two binaries into one self extracted compressed executable file (.exe which is like a .zip file).
In this case a GNU/linux user can unzip the .exe file and extract the firmware file. Then using the flashrom utility can flash the new firmware to the motherboard.
I have tested this procedure using a Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (rev. 1.3) and an .exe file which included F10 firmware revision.
The procedure
To make a backup of the old firmware:
flashrom -p internal -r backup.rom -o backuplog.txt

To make the writing of the new firmware, replace Z8MAD2H3.F10 with your new firmware:
flashrom -p internal -w Z8MAD2H3.F10 -o writelog.txt

To revert from an unsuccessful writing, if you completed the backup at the first step:
flashrom -p internal -w backup.rom -o restorelog.txt

Comment: And no laptops either according to the man pages
Answer: That's not going to work.
Depending on the tool provided by Toshiba, you must either:

run the exe file on a real Windows
create a DOS boot disk

If Toshiba is providing an exe file for the second option, you can try creating a FreeDOS image to run the file. I found a description for Gentoo how to do that.
Comment: thanks for the respond . I will try the second option because the instillation programs that come with the computer do not work!
Comment: I meant windows can not be installed even a retail version of window could not recognize the 2 HD on the laptop. the only OS that works with the laptop is UBUNTU. I am hoping that if i update the BIOS then I might be able to run 12.04 3D !
Answer: There is no such thing like OS-independent binary executables. As "exe file" probably means "a file whose name ends in .EXE", that's most likely either a Windows Portable Executable or an MS-DOS executable.
BIOS upgrade are really supposed to be something low-level you can do with a simple system, such as MS-DOS or FreeDOS.
So the first step here is to check whether the executable is an MS-DOS executable or a Windows executable. If it is a windows executable and it does not run under Wine, try to see if it is somehow extractable using an archiving tool (sometimes unzip may be able to help here), so you get the flash image and maybe MS-DOS flash tools (it would not be the first time MS-DOS tools are packaged inside a windows-only installer).
With no flash tools, there are generic flashers like Uniflash that are worth a try. If you want to run it and it is windows only, a good choice is probably to get a Windows Preinstallation Environment live CD, which has the basic system and will be able to run the flash tool, but unfortunately that requires a Windows license.
If you're lucky and you get a set of MS-DOS tools, just grab some FreeDOS live CD or floppy image and boot into FreeDOS to use the tools (although you will need to have the tools in a separate floppy/pen/CD). If you are even luckier, you may get a ready-to-boot disk image (as many people pack floppy images inside floppy image writers, that's possible, too).
Comment: Thanks for the response njsg. the file is win/DOS program. since i can not re-install windows from the discs that comes with the laptop and even a retail windows version could not recognize the 2 HD on the lapto, then the only option left is to use the DOS OS.
Answer: If you don't have a Win-10 copy, and if you don't want to download a 5 Gb tryout version and install it, a Win-10 based rescue disk will do it. For example, this one allowed me to run the windows .exe file provided by HP. I used directly the "update the installed BIOS".
Simplier than the Free DOS solution, in my opinion.
Answer: Many modern laptops and system don't actually use the EXE files directly to update the BIOS, but instead ask that you write the file to a USB flash stick and boot into the BIOS with that inserted.
Answer: Disconnect your Ubuntu system drive, connect an old spare or used drive, install Windows on it, and do the BIOS update (if, as Pilot6 explains, if you absolutely, positively, have to update the BIOS). Then, disconnect the old drive, put your Ubuntu OS drive back on, and you're ready to go, secure in the knowledge that Windows did not corrupt Linux (which happens often, sadly).


What is the direction of charge transfer between Aluminum and aliphatic amines physisorbed on top?

Question: Is there dipole formation upon physisorption of an aliphatic amine to an aluminum substrate? What is the charge transfer direction? What if the aluminum substrate is clean, surface oxidized or covered with -OH groups?
What if aluminum is replaced by other types of metals, such as Au and Ag?
Answer: Amines could bond to the aluminum surface via a Lewis acid-base reaction between the electron rich amine nitrogen and the electron poor Al atom on the surface (perhaps formed by loss of a surface hydroxyl group as hydroxide ion). The direction of charge transfer would be from the amine nitrogen to an aluminum atom. The resulting "Lewis salt" would have a partial positive charge on nitrogen and a partial negative charge on aluminum (like an aluminate ion or an amine-aluminum chloride adduct).


How do users with huge reputations acquire them?

Question: Not a very edifying or dignified question, but I'm curious: do they spend every waking hour on ELU, painstakingly earning 10 points here and 15 points there? Or do they just strike lucky with an answer which brings them thousands of points?
Comment: [High-scoring answers](http://english.stackexchange.com/search?tab=votes&q=is%3aanswer) | [High-scoring questions](http://english.stackexchange.com/search?tab=votes&q=is%3aquestion)
Comment: I feel the same combination of awe and despair that I felt as a conker-playing 11 year-old, when my "fiver" faced a "seventy-niner".
Comment: Some very high-rep users (Barrie England, Robusto, RegDwight, tchrist, etc.) get to that position by posting high-quality answers, but I probably did it by being around for a long time and posting a lot of "okay" answers. If anyone knows how to get the relevant info out of a data query here, I think it's pretty certain my "average score per answer" will be lower than any of the users I've specifically mentioned.
Comment: I think that this formula yields the average number of upvotes you've earned per answer: [Your total current reputation score + Total special bonus awards you've awarded to others + (2 × Total number of downvotes you've issued to others) + (2 × Total number of downvotes you've received) – Total special bonus awards you've received – (15 × Total number of accepted answer bonuses you've received) - (5 × Total number of upvotes you've received for questions asked) - (2 × Total number of accepted answer bonuses you've awarded to others)] ÷ Total number of questions you've answered.
Comment: @SvenYargs ... +1500 for any SWR question answered using a thesaurus.
Answer: Very few high reputations at EL&U are built on what amount to slot-machine jackpots. Indeed, the 200-point daily limit for reputation is designed to prevent someone from gaining many hundreds of points from a single answer in a brief period of time. A timely, well-received answer may pile up 40 or 50 upvotes in a day, but only the first 20 of those votes (assuming that the answerer hasn't received any other votes that day) will contribute toward the answerer's overall reputation.
It's true that certain questions—specifically, single-word requests—draw lots of viewers and hence lots of upvotes for a good (or obvious but early) answer. So I suppose that you could specialize in single-word request answers and—if you were good at them—rack up points pretty quickly. But most answerers here simply focus on the questions that interest them for one reason or another, and let the points fall where they may. Eventually the sheer volume of answers that a person submits will translate into a fairly large number of points, even if (as in my case) the answerer's upvotes-to-answers ratio is quite low.
As for spending every waking hour on EL&U, there certainly is something intoxicating about researching and answering questions here and then seeing the slow drip, drip, drip of upvotes accumulate. But I can stop any time I want (famous last words).
Comment: There is also a feedback effect I have observed. High-rep users post *many* solid answers that are often unappreciated at the time (and often *really* good questions). As their rep accumulates, their old answers acquire new cachet and hence additional votes.
Comment: @andy: Absolutely. I still believe my question [*What exactly is an "adverb"?*](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/75491/) would have been summarily closed as General Reference if it hadn't been for the "cachet/credibility" of my rep.


"Have you ever worked in a ..." vs. "Have you ever been working in a ..."

Question: Which one of these sentences is right, the perfect simple or the perfect continuous?

A: Have you ever worked in a factory?
  B: No, never!

or

A: Have you ever been working in a factory?
  B: No, never!
Answer: The first answer is correct because the first speaker, let's call him Bob, wants to know something about the second speaker's life experience, whom we shall call Alice. For example,

Bob: Have you ever lived in Madrid?
Alice: No, never!

Bob wants to know whether Alice at some point in her life lived in Madrid. Maybe she has Spanish relatives, maybe she is a bohemian and has lived in several different cities in her lifetime, whatever the pretext, Bob wants to know about Madrid. At this stage, he is not interested in knowing "when" she lived there, only if she did. He must, therefore, be fairly certain that Alice is not currently living in Madrid.
Now, Bob asks Alice a second question, using the PRESENT PERFECT again.

Bob: Have you ever worked in a factory?
  Alice: No, never!

The structure of the question is the same, Bob is asking about a specific situation that Alice may or may not have experienced at any time up to 'now'. Alice replies that she has never worked in a factory, it is an experience which she didn't have in the PAST. Had she replied differently

Alice: Yes, I have! (= I have worked in a factory)

This would mean that Alice, at a specific point in her life, worked in a factory. But Bob wouldn't know 'when', so he might inquire further with any one of the following questions, using the SIMPLE PAST:

Bob: When was that?
  – How long did you work there?
  – Where did you work?
  – What was the name of the factory? etc.

On the other hand, if Alice is currently working in a factory, she might reply:

– Actually yes, I do work in a factory
  – Actually, I am a factory worker.
  – Didn't you already know? I work in a factory.
  – Funny you ask me that, I'm actually working in a factory at this moment.

In which case, Bob could dig deeper, using the PRESENT PERFECT CONTINOUS construction, and ask Alice

How long have you been working there?

The PPC is often used in questions asking about the duration of an action or situation that is perceived to be temporary in nature, it is preferred when the speaker wants to emphasize the continuation of an activity, but the Present Perfect can also be used if the speaker interprets the situation or act as being more permanent.

Bob: "How long have you worked there?"
Alice: "Ever since I left school."
  – "Since I was 16."
  – "For about twenty years."
Answer: These tenses are easy to understand if you think of a timeline. When you speak is 0 or now or the present. So, today, now, you say: Have you ever worked in a factory? Yes/No. It's general, in the past, at no specific past time up until the "moment of speaking".
There is no need to use /been working in a factory/ unless you are trying to say:
Have you been working in a factory WHEN your child became ill? The /have been working/ implies some ongoing past event on the timeline.
Example: Have you ever been riding a bicycle when it started to rain? The have been + ING is usually for a continuous action up to the point of another action that is a simple past action.
That said, both the sentences are technically grammatical.
Have you ever been working in a factory on a Sunday before [spoken to you on a Sunday while you are working].
Comment: Present perfect is in general not used in narrative structures, or in consequent events in the past. "Were you working in a factory when your child became ill?" would therefore be a much better way to say it.
Comment: @Random Dude I have taught English for many, many years. Look at the other answer: "Both tenses are used to express that an action began in the past and is still going on or has just finished." Clearly wrong. Narrative structures? The question is not about "narrative structures".  It's about whether one can say or write the two sentences. But I guess some people have no imagination. Have you ever been concentrating very hard when.....
Answer: Question 1 is the correct answer:
Have you ever worked in a factory? No, never
Both tenses are used to express that an action began in the past and is still going on or has just finished. In many cases, both forms are correct, but there is often a difference in meaning: We use the Present Perfect Simple mainly to express that an action is completed or to emphasise the result. We use the Present Perfect Progressive to emphasise the duration or continuous course of an action.
 Here are examples:
Have you ever worked in a factory?
Or
Have you  been working in the factory all the day ?
Check this, what you are looking for is at question 4, you will find the answer as well.
http://www.englishdaily626.com/verbs.php?020
Comment: No, have you ever [past participle] is not used to express an action that is still going on. It expresses an action that is finished, that was in the past and that is an unspecific time in the past. Have you eaten cheese on Mondays? (just in the past, not specific).versus Did you eat cheese **last** Monday. (specific)


Increasing the number of instant results in a Lookup field

Question: I have a lookup field in my Contact records that lets you choose a shipping address that is related to the Contact's Account.I applied a filter to this lookup field so it only displays addresses that are related to the Contact's Account record so you don't have to type anything into the lookup field, you can just click on it and select one of the instant results.
Here is an example of the issue I'm having:
If an Account record has 10 related addresses, the lookup field in the Contact record only displays a maximum of 5 instant results, which causes you to have to type in the Account ID to show all of the address records for that account. This obviously defeats the purpose of the lookup filter.
Is there any way to increase the number of instant results that are displayed for a lookup field?
Answer: AFAIK, there are no settings that allow to fiddle lookups the way you want.
Comment: Is there any way of accomplishing this using Apex?


Tips for achieving ideal burn chart

Question: For a planned sprint, it is hard to see the Actual burn chart close to the Ideal even though the required amount of points have been met. Is there anything specific to keep in mind to achieve an almost ideal burn chart at the end of the sprint?
Comment: Why do you care about having the "ideal burn down chart", instead of focusing on ensuring that you are delivering the most value to stakeholders?
Comment: @ThomasOwens Curiosity for perfection
Comment: Again - why? What value does it add to you, the team, or the organization, to have a burn down chart that looks "ideal"? What do you hope to accomplish by trying to have an "idea" burn down chart?
Answer: The first thing to acknowledge is that the ideal line is ideal in the mathematical sense, not in the qualitative sense. In fact, if I ever saw a burndown that matched the ideal line, that would be a massive red flag for me.
That said, certain burndown profiles can be indicators of problems and we can look at those.
Risk: Work not completing until late in the sprint is risky. The longer I pile up work, the more likely it is that an unexpected event like an outage, weather, integration problem, etc pushes those 9.5 days of work over the line and out of the sprint.
Cover-ups: When we take on that level of risk, teams often work extra hours or push things into the next sprint "in the shadows" to make it look like the work was done. This reduces transparency and leads to a long list of other problems.
Cutting Corners: Another tactic for finishing everything on time is to cut corners. Planned automated testing doesn't get done or code review gets skipped. This comes back to haunt us in quality problems later.
Reenforced Silos: A frequent cause of work spanning the sprint is that all work is taken on at once. People take tasks for themselves and everyone works separately. This intuitively feels more efficient, but loads of research has shown that the opposite is true. You actually get more done by ganging up on work items.
Output focus over value focus: Just like the last one, splitting up tasks amongst people often leads to a focus on individuals getting tasks done rather than delivering value, which usually requires multiple people to coordinate on a single effort.
This are all possible issues that could be happening in the team when you see burndown charts far off of the ideal line. Not are certain. The burndown chart is just meant to trigger a conversation, not explain anything by itself.
So what can you do to improve it? Well, asking yourself if you're having any of the problems above can help. For example, if you worry about output over value, you can ask the product owner to only express needs from the user point of view. For example "I wish I didn't have to re-enter duplicate information each time I fill out this form." The team can rally around this problem and work together to implement the solution. This will have multiple people working on it for a few days, then it's done. A side effect is that having a sprint full of these will cause the burndown to reduce each time one of these needs is met.
Also, a lesson from Lean: small batch sizes. Break things up into small value deliveries. Scrum says we have to get to a releasable increment every sprint, but many experienced teams return to a releasable increment every few days or even more frequently. Small steps allow for more rapid pivots.
Comment: Thank you, i liked the last part about releasable increment every few days, never thought about it so assertively.
Answer: Some things that I have found to help are:

Smaller stories / tasks - the smaller they are, the easier it is to get them to done earlier in the sprint
Maintain high quality - bugs are the arch enemy of a smooth burndown
Automated regression tests - running automated regression tests in continuous integration usually reduces the number of bugs that get found towards the end of a sprint
Careful planning - try and avoid bottlenecks (particularly around testing)
Take less work in to the sprint - avoid over-packing the sprint so that the team rushes at the end
Reduce external dependencies - difficult to get a smooth burndown if you have to rely on work that is outside of your control
Avoid a waterfall sprint mindeset - get the team thinking in terms of work being completed in small chunks regularly throughout the sprint

Tips for achieving ideal burn chart


If I stop fermentation early does the sugar left in juice still turns into Co2 after bottling

Question: I am trying to understand a little bit about science process between Fermentation (when sugar is turned into alcohol) and Priming (when fermentable sugar is turned into).
I have done several batches of cider now and notice that every time fermentation transforms all sugar in juice into alcohol making it Very dry. Therefor i was thinking of stopping fermentation process early when there is still some 20% of natural sugars left in juice, but the question is: If I stop the fermentation and there is still 20% of sugar will the sugar left not just be turned into Co2 in priming process and thus make the drink more carbonated but still fully dry?
I guess the bottom line is- is there a way to preserve natural sweetness and not turning it into alcohol in fermentation or Co2 in priming process?
Answer: Priming is really just another word for fermentation, sometimes called secondary fermentation.
If you stop fermentation when 20% of sugar remains, you normally do this by killing the yeast. This means it will not ferment further in the bottle.
On the other hand if you bottle it with 20% of the sugar left and some active yeast, you'll generally find fermentation continues. This typically leads to your bottles exploding! It is actually somewhat tricky to get a carbonated, but not fully fermented, product in basic homebrewing. You might try different yeasts but at least in my experience, this only slows things down. If sugar remains, it will eventually get fermented unless you pasteurise or ensure the temperature is kept low enough.
This is one reason that commercially, drinks are force-carbonated. They kill the yeast and stabilise the drink, then artificially carbonate it in the bottle using CO2.
Comment: Thanks @Mr.Boy, This is very helpful.
Comment: What do you mean by: "keep the drink very carefully chilled"
Comment: @Philippe I mean that if you cannot maintain a consistent low temperature, it _will_ start fermenting and this can be dangerous. It needs to stay in a temperature controlled environment really.


Let client handle Django translations

Question: Apologies in advance if the question has been asked before, couldn't find something similar.
So I have a Python Django (version 1.9.1) project with PO and MO files for translations. The client would like to easily edit them. Problem: each time we need to send them all PO files, they edit them with PO Edit software, send them back, we compile to MO files. Then we eventually commit & push the changes to a master branch with git. Then once we deploy to production, the last git version on master (containing the last PO MO files changes) is deployed to the client's server.
So I'm wondering if there is an existing system that allow to make this whole process automatic? Trying to not reinvent the wheel.
Basically the client would log into an admin interface, make some changes to sentences that can be translated, click a button, and that's it. It seems difficult to do that with the underlying PO MO file system though.
Answer: Sure.
Django-Rosetta might do what you want, though you'll probably want to "checkpoint" the translations created by your customer every now and then by committing them to your repo.
Comment: Thanks for your answer!

Let client handle Django translations


Static equilibrium (possibility)

Question: In a problem related to static equilibrium, there is a ladder leaning against the wall supposed to rotate about a point. Why are we not assuming it to slide down in a way similar to that in the real case?
Comment: If the ladder is in static equilibrium it will not rotate. The sum of the moments and sum of the forces about any point are zero. If the  ladder slides down, static equilibrium requirements are not being met. Hopefully in your practical life ladders aren't typically sliding down while you're on them.
Answer: 1) when it slids down, the bottom must move also, and can be messy to write down the relation between the two motions
2) Any istantaneous motion of a rigid body in a plane can be described as a rotation around some point (this point go to infinity for rectilinear motion)
3) with the rotation you can write easily the ladder motion
Comment: The OP submitted a new question putting numbers on it. It says the wall is smooth. Otherwise, you're right that with friction on the wall it gets messy because you will have redundant vertical reactions (wall friction and floor reaction) which makes the problem statically indeterminant.
Comment: I agree, to solve the static problem the ladder doesn't move, so we do not need any rotation and we can solve it just by sum of forces. I guess the rotation comes from textbooks that continue by describing the falling motion, how much it accelerates, for which the rotation description is useful

Static equilibrium (possibility)


How to create a .emacs.d repository

Question: I am trying to create a github repo of my .emacs.d/ for a group of students. Basically, I have two choices: A) simply take a "git snapshot" of my entire ~/.emacs.d/ including all the packages in elpa/, or, B) figure out how to just have an init.el in .emacs.d/ that, upon the first Emacs start, will go out and get all the packages . . . and the next time know not to because they're already there. How can this be done?
Comment: I would certainly vote for B) and use the package use-package to do what you want.
Comment: So true: A) is the fall-back when you can't figure out B).
Comment: to figure out B) see https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package I think the documentation is really good.
Comment: Is the question "Which is better, A or B?"? (Is that opinion-based?) Or is the question "How to do B?"? (In which case why even mention A?) The question is unclear. So far, we have an answer to "A or B?" (saying nothing about how to do B), and we have another answer for "how to do B?" (and saying something about how to do A). Please clarify the question, or it might be deleted because unclear.
Answer: I'll always argue in favour of option (A) -- tracking the entire1 config.  It gives you a config with all packages in a known and working state; a config which you can confidently reproduce in that same working state on other machines almost instantly by cloning a single repository, without any concerns about the upstream status of anything.
Relying on upstream sources means you are risking a broken configuration, so if that risk is unacceptable, then don't create those dependencies.

1 You'll likely want to .gitignore certain files and directories at the top level of ~/.emacs.d rather than committing literally everything (for example you wouldn't commit thumbs which contains cached image thumbnails for the local filesystem), but it's easy enough to inspect all the top-level items and decide whether or not you should add them to the repository.
Comment: This is a good point, and although I now better understand the whole `package` and `use-package` environment, I think I'll go with A). However, I'll have to separate out all personal ancillary cruft like personal file references.
Comment: @147pm Maybe you are better of with a whitelist:
`# Ignore everything
/*
# except those
!.gitignore
!/elpa`
Answer: You would do that with the package, use-package, which will, if ensure is set to t, do exactly what you're wanting it to do; look for the package on your system and install it if it's not on your system. If the package is already on your system, it will know not to go searching for it.
Your question here covers that bit: Melpa packages aren't being added
Here is the github repo for the use-package package: https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package
The README contains detailed information about how to use use-package

Regarding setting up a repository that will keep your configuration files .emacs.d/ directory without all the extras such as auto-save, the elpa/ directory, etc., you would want to set up a .gitignore file that sets your repo to only track your config files themselves.
This is a snippet from my .gitignore file for my emacs folder in my dotfiles repository:
# Ignore EVERYTHING in .emacs.d, then whitelist specific files/directories

emacs/.emacs.d/*
!emacs/.emacs.d/init.el

If your .emacs.d/ folder is the entire repository, you might only need something like this in your .gitignore file:
*
!init.el

The * says to ignore EVERYTHING, meaning don't track anything with git
The ![file] says to specifically track that file (effectively negating the effect of ignoring everything in the previous line, but just for that one file)

If you ultimately opt for OptionA - including your packages in your repository - you'll likely still want to use a .gitignore file as I've mentioned above (ignoring everything, then whitelisting specific files/directories). That .gitignore file might look something like this:
*
!init.el
!elpa/

...which means ignore everything EXCEPT init.el and the entire elpa/ directory.
Comment: It would help immensely to see some actual code of the `use-package` and `ensure` in action in your answer. This apparently is not connected to the ` package-selected-packages`, which is frustrating me greatly. From my other post you mentioned, I simply wasn't getting anything to work. I would also accept a link to some github that has what I'm talking about.
Comment: I actually just edited my answer to your other question with some sample code for `use-package`. I'm sorry, I forgot that you aren't notified of edits, only comments. (I'm still new to Stack Exchange). Almost all of my code is based on Harry Schwartz's files, found here: https://github.com/hrs/dotfiles/tree/master/emacs/.emacs.d
Comment: Here's a link to the `use-package` repo, which has detailed info about how to use it: https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package Note: I've also included it in my Answer (below the link to your other question) in case this comment is deleted.
Comment: I very much appreciate your efforts DerpKat, and I believe I understand my problem. I've been under the illusion that the `package-selected-packages` list was somehow involved in installing a packages if they weren't present. Actually, as you've been saying, it's the `use-package ... :ensure` that goes and get a package if it's not there -- and the accounting information is kept in `elpa/` somewhere (another post question). Still, I'd like to know if `package-selected-packages` gets used by anything, or if it's just FYI.
Comment: Emacs has its own built-in way of handling the installation and upkeep of packages. `package-install-selected-packages`, as of Emacs 25.1, is part of that. The package, `use-package`, in part, is to make that process easier. Here is some reading about what `package-install-selected-packages` does and why `package-selected-packages` exists: http://endlessparentheses.com/new-in-package-el-in-emacs-25-1-user-selected-packages.html

How to create a .emacs.d repository


Make forced line break in title of text widget

Question: I am using text widget in page, my title is too long and i want to make (Br)break in particular place, but i can not. After saving (br)break is gone, also tried (nbsp) but same result came. How to overcome?
Comment: May be this will help. [HTML is Widget title](http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/136788/custom-title-widget-html-encoding)
Answer: You can work around that by passing widget_title through a filter :
function custom_widget_title( $title ) {
    $title = str_replace( '__br__', '
', $title );
    return $title;
}
add_filter( 'widget_title', 'custom_widget_title' );

Now use __br__ in your widget title instead of
 and the code will replace it.
Note: You need to put the code in your theme's functions.php file.
Answer: You can't use an HTML in the title. Leave the title empty and put the title as part of the HTML of the widget. Apply specific CSS to the widget to make it look like a normal text widget.
Comment: it's for client purpose. Client change it dynamically, so it has to be in title of text widget.
Comment: If you have additional constraints you should specify them in the question. Anyway I fail to see the contradiction, if a client knows enough HTML to use the text widget then it should not be a big problem for him to have the title as part of the text. Inserting  in the title also requires some knowledge of HTML
Answer: Since post_title and post_name (url-part of the page) values  depends on each other I will not recommend you using HTML inside page titles. It may leads weird data generated
Title: "foo
bar";
Slug(URL): "/foobrbar";

, but you can create a meta_field to store HTML and output it.
1) Create a custom field HTML_TITLE_CUSTOM_FIELD_NAME and fill in with your HTML title data;
2) Update your template files changing the title output logic as on example:
<?php
   $html_title = get_post_meta($post->ID, "HTML_TITLE_CUSTOM_FIELD_NAME", true);
   if ($html_title) { ?>

<?php echo $html_title; ?>

   <?php } else { ?>

<?php the_title(); ?>

<?php } ?>


Titles for family

Question: What I've learned is Japanese refer to their family differently than they would refer to other peoples family. Like 'Haha' being mother, but also 'Okasan' is mother. However, everything I've seen in anime and manga they always refer to their family members using these titles like Otousan, One-chan and so on. Is this one of those instances where you can't trust the manga/anime?
Comment: Those lists may be useful: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/people#Referring_to_family_members ; https://www.omniglot.com/language/kinship/japanese.htm
Answer: Talking about your mother to other people, you say 母 'haha'. That is an exceptionally weird thing to call her to her face, though; in that case, you say お母さん 'okaasan'. Same goes for 父 'chichi' and お父さん 'otousan', 兄 'ani' and お兄さん 'oniisan', and 姉 'ane' and お姉さん 'oneesan'.
If you're young, or talking to close friends, then it can be permissible to use the 'o~san' words, but in formal situations you should probably use the others.
Comment: @BIG-95 Generally, older brothers and sisters will refer to their younger siblings by their names. In fiction you may see things like 「弟よ、逃げるのだ」as well.
Comment: Do you know if it is common to older brothers call their younger brothers as 弟 instead of 弟さん? In Naruto, sometimes Itachi seems to call Sasuke like that (I don't remember now). Since in this case Itachi was lying about himself and wanted to create a distance with his younger brother, would be that the reason to call him as 弟?

Titles for family


PVmove copies the data or move the data?

Question: I executed a pvmove command between 2 volumes but now I can see the data in both storages. So does pvmove copy or move the data ??
command executed in servers
pvmove /dm/dm-1 /dm/dm-0
Answer: pvmove will copy ( backup ) the data into the mirror with temp mirrorlv  in order to resume the activity if its interrupted in the mid and  move the data from one disk to new disk, once pvmove done   " lvdisplay -m lvpath" will diplay the maps of the LE on a new disk
pvmove -v currentdisk newdisk  will show the complete procedure what it is doing while execution .
Answer: pvmove copies the data, and also changes the LV to use the new location instead of the old one.
Note that the old physical volume (PV) is still attached to the VG, so if the PV is now unused by any LV's, you might want to remove the PV from the VG.
Comment: And, afterwards, you still need to remove the appropriate volume groups from the appropriate physical volumes.
Answer: Not sure if your command is right, but pvmove itself literally moves the extents from one device to another.


USB Headset simulation

Question: i am trying to validate the audio quality over different USB headsets. As you might know USB headsets have variety of audio aspects like number of channels, sample rates they support, bit depths etc etc. Instead of trying to purchase so many headsets to validate my device capability, i want to have some software on my PC simulating all different parameters and record the audio getting routed to PC from my DUT. Is it possible ? Is there any software or hardware capable of doing this ?
Answer: effort exceeds potential return. Just go to your nearest electronics store and audition a few headsets.

USB Headset simulation


For those accustomed to leaving a shamash lit, must the shamash be lit "l'shem mitzvah"?

Question: There is a custom brought by the Rema to leave an additional candle lit during the lighting of the Menorah at Hanukkah. Does this candle need to be lit for the sake of the mitzvah, or can one use a candle that is already lit  (assuming all other necessary requirements are being fulfilled (e.g distinction, etc.))?
Comment: What about turning on a lightbulb for this express purpose
Comment: Since the chanukkah lights cannot be used for any normal purpose (such as reading, seeing / walking through a dark room) the shamash is there not to help you light the other lights (though you could use it for that purpose) but so that you have a normal light to use. So you can use a designated shamash candle, or a match, or anything you like. We have oil menorahs and so you cant even use the shamash to light the others, everything gets lit with a bic bbq lighter
Answer: The point of the shamash is to have a light that is not lit for the sake of the mitzvah so that one is not "using" the chanukah lights. Thus it cannot be for the sake of the mitzvah.
Note that the Shamash is not lit for a mitzvah at all. That is, since it is lit only for the sake of not "using" the chanukah lights, it does not have a "mitzvah" and thus, any light left on in the room can be used. It is just easier and has become the custom to have a shamash attached to the menorah to ensure that this is done.
For example, if the electric light is left on in the room, that would be sufficient but it is possible that someone could forget and turn it off. Thus, the shamash attached to the menorah shows that you mean to have the "extra" light on.
Comment: I think he means "for the sake of the mitzvah [of having a shamash]"
Comment: @DoubleAA I hope that the additional note made clear what is meant.


quite pretty, rather pretty, very pretty in British English and American English

Question: I have a feeling that "quite pretty" doesn't have exactly the same meaning in British English and American English. For instance, in American English, "She's quite pretty" is considered as a compliment, and is close in meaning with "She's very pretty", whereas in British English, "She's quite pretty" has more or less the meaning of "She's rather pretty", "She's okay", but not "very pretty", which means that "quite pretty" is not "quite a compliment" in British English. What do British and American native speakers think? What would an Austalian or a Canadian think?
Comment: I'm British and I agree with your description of the British usage. Historically, it meant the same here as in the US, but, over time the meaning has evolved differently in Britain.  There are many phrases that have retained their 'old-fashioned' usage in America.
Comment: Longman Dictionary seems to agree with you: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/quite
Comment: Related:[Using "quite" with a noun](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/282614/using-quite-with-a-noun) and ["Quite" American vs British English](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/282673/quite-american-vs-british-english)
Comment: In British English *quite* can have almost contrary meanings depending on the spoken emphasis http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/282673/quite-american-vs-british-english
Comment: Some Americans say purdy and are proud of it.
Comment: Mari-LouA  I was tempted to answer on michael-timofeev's question: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/282673, but wanted to keep my reference to @Farid's comment (above) apparent.  To my mind Farid's comment would, as an answer, deserve the reputation points, and if he would post a very simple answer here or there with a link to the Longman Dictionary then I can (via bounty) send them his way.
Comment: @JohnMack I'm glad my comment helped you give a comprehensive answer to the question. Your answer deserves all the reputation points it gets.
Comment: That's right and most iinteresting. Accordind to the Longman dictionary: In British English, using  quite  suggests you are not very enthusiastic about something. In American English,  quite  is a stronger way of qualifying an adjective. In both British and American English, the way you say the word is important. In British English, if you say  It was quite good  and you put the emphasis on the  quite  , you mean it was good, but not very good. If you put the emphasis on good  , you mean it was very good. In British English, .
Answer: EL&U member Farid points the way in his comment earlier.  The Longman Online Dictionary (http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/quite) differentiates between American and British English usages.  Starting with American English usage:

quite
  1   (Especially American English) Very, but not extremely:
'The food in the cafeteria is usually quite good'; 'His hair is quite thin on top now'; 'Amy's at college, and she's doing quite well'; 'He's quite a good soccer player.'

Longman also lists some usages without attributing them to either side of the Atlantic:

3 Quite a lot/bit/few - a fairly large number or amount:
'He's got quite a lot of friends; 'Quite a few towns are now banning cars from their shopping centres.'
5 Not quite - not completely:
'They weren't quite ready so we waited in the car; 'I'm not quite sure where she lives.; Dinner's almost ready, but not quite.'
6 Not quite why/what/where etc - not exactly why, what, where etc:
'The play wasn't quite what we expected.'

Longman suggests that the following are more representative of British usage:

2  (Especially British English) Fairly, or to a small extent, but not very:
'The film was quite good, but the book was much better'; 'I got a letter from Sylvia quite recently'; 'I quite like Chinese food.'
4  (British English) Completely:
'I'm sorry. That's quite impossible'; 'What she's suggesting is quite ridiculous!'; 'I think you've had quite enough to drink already!'; 'That's quite a different matter.'
7 (British English) Quite a something/quite some something. - Used before a noun to emphasize that something is very good, large, interesting etc:
'That was quite a party you had.'; 'The engines make quite a noise.'; 'It's quite some distance away.'
8 (Especially British English) Quite a/some time. - A fairly long time:
'We've been waiting for quite some time now.'
9 (British English) Quite right. - Used to show that you agree strongly with someone:
'I refuse to do any more work.' 'Quite right. They can't expect you to work for nothing.'
10 (British English) That's quite all right. - Used to reply to someone that you are not angry about something they have done:
'I'm sorry we're so late.' 'That's quite all right.'
11 (British English formal) Quite/quite so. - Used to show that you agree with what someone is saying [= exactly]:
'They really should have thought of this before.' 'Yes, quite.'
12 (especially British English) Quite something - Used to say that someone or something is very impressive:
'It's quite something to walk out on stage in front of 20,000 people.'

Longman's Dictionary goes on to observe in relation to American and British English usages:

In British English,using quite suggests you are not very enthusiastic about something. In American English, quite is a stronger way of qualifying an adjective. In both British and American English, the way you say the word is important. In British English, if you say It was quite good    and you put the emphasis on the quite, you mean it was good, but not very good. If you put the emphasis on good, you mean it was very good. In British English, when it is used with adjectives like impossible or unacceptable, it means completely, and you put the emphasis on it. In American English, the emphasis is always on the adjective that goes with quite.

Please note that I have made some formatting changes to the Longman text in order to address the question here more clearly.  The text in the original format can be accessed at the link above.
It is interesting to consider how 'quite' came to take up this role in signalling emphasis, affirmation, calculation and approximation in language. My understanding is that 'quite' is related to 'quit', but not 'quit' in the commonly understood sense of 'resign', but in it's original (and now obscure) sense of 'calculate, balance, or close an account'.
The OED clearly attributes 'quite' to 'quit' but has nothing to say about the development of the word.

quite ▪ I.quite, adv.
  (kwaɪt)
  Forms: 4–6 quit, quyte, 5 Sc. quhyt, 5–6 quyt, 6 quyght, 6–7 quight, 4– quite.
  [f. quite quit a.]
  ▪ III.quite
  obs. form of quit a. and v.; white.

When we get to 'quit' in the OED we have to wade through the alternate sense of 'leaving' or 'resigning'.  I suggest in my response to EL&U question, How did 'to quit' evolve to mean 'to behave or conduct in a specified way'? that this is essentially the secondary sense, and that the primary sense relates to balancing and closing accounts.  Again the OED, in respect of 'quit':

II. 10. To repay, reward, requite (a person with some return for something done). Obs. exc. north. dial. (in phr. God etc. quite, white, twite).
13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 595 Þou quyteȝ vchon as hys desserte. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 524 We han well deserued hyt, Therfore is ryght that we ben quyt. c 1440 Generydes 6975 Thus quyte he them that were to hym so kynd. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 178 Syth he had done me one displeasure, I shall quite him agayne with two. 1576 J. Woolton Chr. Manual C i, Let vs not with like thanks quite almightye God for his greate benefyts bestowed vppon vs. 1599 Massinger, etc. Old Law ii. ii, When I visit, I come comfortably, And look to be so quited. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 448, I understand..how to quit you your own way.

So, whenever we say 'quite' we are essentially saying something like: 'by accounts', or 'by my calculation', or 'as the accounts say', or 'considering the balance', or 'as the sums tell us'.  Essentially the speaker is referencing an unsubstantiated external authority or body of knowledge or process of developing knowledge to give weight or qualification to an opinion or view that they hold personally.
It is no surprise that it is such a commonly (and carelessly) used word, given that as humans we are very fond of putting our opinions forward, and in the absence of certain knowledge, suggesting with the word 'quite' that the opinion (for better or worse) is not ours alone but references some 'higher' or 'wider' source.  One might imagine in future centuries the word 'quite' might have been replaced in this usage by 'wiki'.
Comment: Thanks a lot. The Longman Dictionary also seems to point out that "quite" with the meanining of "completly" is mainly British (quite true / quite impossible / quite so / I quite agrree). What do you think? Can we say "quite true" with the meaning of "absolutly / definitly" in AmE?
Answer: I guess it depends on the subjective value of the adjective, for something can be more or less true, or quite true, or something can be more or less pretty, or quite pretty.
However, an adjective such as "true" is less subjective than "pretty", for something is often considered as either true or not true, with no in-between gradient in the value of the adjective. In this case, "quite true", with the meaning of "completly true", seems to be mainly a British use. In the US, it would be more common to say "Absolutely!", "Definitely" or "For sure!', instead of "Quite true!" or "Quite so!".
For an adjective such as "pretty", it is easier to ascribe a continuous gradient or scale between what is not pretty (at all) and what is very pretty, with a lower norm (a little less than pretty) and an upper norm (a little more than pretty).
In this case "quite" upgrades moderatly the norm of "pretty" in British English, whereas it upgrades it to a value nearby "very pretty" in American English.
Nevertheless, the Longman Dictionary points out that in British English, if you say  It was quite good, and you put the emphasis on the    quite, you mean it was good, but not very good, but if you put the emphasis on good   , you mean it was very good.
The Longman Dictionary also points out that in Americant English, the emphasis is always on the adjective that goes with     quite, which is different in British English since you can put the emphasis either on quite or the adjective (with diffence in meaning : good, but not very good / very good).
Therefore, if you follow the indications of the Longman Dictionary, "quite good" can also mean something close to "very good" in British English, but only if the emphasis is on "good", whereas in American English the emphasis is always on "good" and it always means something close to "very good".
As far as the etymology, "quite" is cognate with the French verb "quitter", which means "leave" or "cease". It also gave "quiet" and "quit", when for instance you order to stop chatting, and that somehow you leave noise for silence as you ask to quit / stop the activity of chatting (Be quiet! Stop chatting!).
In "quite pretty", you bluntly leave the norm of what is pretty in American English, to reach a value close to "very pretty", whereas you barely leave the norm in British English (just a little better than average): in this case "she's quite pretty" is not such a compliment for a lady in Britain (pretty, but not very pretty), and the emphasis should be on the adverb quite, but it might as well mean "very pretty" if the emphasis was on pretty (to be verified).
In "quite true", you leave the field of what is not true, what could be true but to a lesser extent, or what could be not so true, to mean completly true or thoroughly true.
Comment: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/quite (here's the link that was given to me by one of the members. I was carefully reading it and I haden't seen your comment). Please, accet my apologies and be certain that I appreciate your help as well as your dedicated work. Rémi.
Answer: If I met a woman for the first time, who clearly wasn't attractive, and someone asked for my opinion I might say:

Well..., she's not bad-looking. (= she's quite unattractive)

If the woman was on the plain side...

Not bad, I suppose (= could be worse). Her legs are quite nice (= nothing to write home about).

If the woman is just out of her teens, but you could tell she's destined to be beautiful

She's quite beautiful, isn't she?

A young fresh-faced teenager

She looks quite pretty

Would the comments in brackets be the same for an American English speaker? I'm not sure, maybe or maybe not. According to Wikipedia and Macmillan, it appears that my She's quite beautiful is equivalent to their She's quite pretty, whereas Her legs are quite nice to an American speaker would mean they are indeed very nice-looking. I think the clue to understanding the speaker's meaning lies in their body language, facial expressions, and of course, intonation. All things quite difficult to render on the page.
Wikipedia says this on the BrEng and AmEng divide

Macmillan Dictionary has this succinct note

Differences between British and American English: quite
  In British English quite usually means 'fairly': The film was quite enjoyable, although some of the acting was weak. When American speakers say 'quite', they usually mean 'very': ♦ We've examined the figures quite thoroughly. Speakers of British English sometimes use 'quite' to mean 'very', but only before words with an extreme meaning: ♦ The whole experience was quite amazing.

The Macmillan blog also provides this example, and I find myself agreeing with them on this point.

If your American boss says your work is quite good, should you be pleased or a little concerned? In British English quite good only means pretty good or fairly good, but in American English it's much more positive. Quite good means very good, so you can give yourself a pat on the back.