What are the roles of supports in team fights?

Question: I know the support in lane are used as sustain for the ad carry, but what role do the offer in the later game in team fights?
Answer: EARLY-GAME

Usually the support stays with the AD Carry at bottom lane.
They are there because a lot of reasons

They don't kill minions, letting the AD Carry farm faster and Gear up
They make the support for the ad carry, so the AD Carry can be more
offensive. (Slow the opponent, heal the ally, buff the ally, etc)
As support, they usually take full responsibility for warding their
lane. Letting the AD Carry gold for gear only.

MID-GAME

They buy more wards than their teammates. So they can ward more of the map (How do I ward properly in League of Legends?), also they usually buy Oracles so they can hunt down enemy wards (Jungles also usually buy oracles, because for a Jungler it's easier to walk around looking for enemy wards).
END-GAME

At this point your function is to keep your group alive as much as you can. Make the opponent lose their focus and stop attacking your allies (knocking up, silence, stun, etc). Keep Warding and if possible keep an Oracle activated.
NOTES:

To be a good support, you need to:

Learn to ward as much as you can (also, where you should be warding)
Keep a good sync with your AD Carry. Some people are more aggressive
others are more defensive, try to learn which one is your partner, and
try to follow him.
Stay tuned in with your team, especially your lane partner and your
jungler.
You don't need this or that summoner spell (People tend to think
that CV or Heal is a must have for a good support, and that is not the
real deal). Try and learn, CV is amazing tool for Jungle invading, so
if you and your jungle have a good sync, you can get this, and make a
living hell for the enemy jungler. Heal is usually taken by the Carry,
but some prefer two heals (carry + support) or even none (I usually
play lulu with exhaustion, for better chasing)
If you fall behind, don't blame yourself too much, a good support is
not so good without a good partner (jungle and/or your lane partner)
Remember, the jungler and you must have a good synergy, he will be
warding a lot, so try not to make you or him waste a ward (double ward
happens sometimes, be careful)
You don't have to be Janna, Soraka, Taric or Sona to be a good
support. Lulu, Leona and a lot more (like my favorite, Galio) are
great supports, if they are played and mastered.
Gold Mastery and Gold Runes are very important. Remember you are not
farming minions, and you still need to buy your gear, oracles and wards.
Comment: I Didn't include Gear for support, because it change a lot, even without changing your support champion. Sometime you can get a good item for AP team (Will of the ancients) but in the other you got more def (Frozen Heart)
Comment: Note the changes with season 3, specifically with gold: since you get a recharging healing item, and most of all, a reserve of wards which recharges each time you come back to the fountain, your gold is much less necessary for this area. Also, new masteries reward aggressive play (pickpocket earns you 3/5 gold per hit on a champion).
Comment: In general, S3 is emphasizing what was true already for supports earlier: you shouldn't spend your time sitting in the bush, healing your ad carry. Your job is also to poke, zone out the enemies as much as you can.
Answer: It really depends on the support your playing. For example soraka's main job stay alive, silence, and heal. Taric- stun, stay alive, heal with the high cd heal. And Janna who has a shield, knock up, dis-engagement, and slow. Most of the time as a support you should be getting aura items like wota, shurelyas, randuins, starks, etc. These items are only active when you stay alive so you should stay alive as much as possible. Really supports excel in early game and mid game.
What role do they offer in late game in team fights?
Like I said it depends on the support your playing, all supports bring something different into team fights. But all in all they bring; survive ability, aura's that give more armor, mr, AD, attack speed, and Ap. There are also active items that slow down the attack speed and speed of enemies and speed your own team up. They bring crowd control; slows, knock ups, stuns, silences, etc. All in all all support have different skills so they bring different things to team fights.
Answer: The general rule of support characters is to keep your allies alive. And this is done, well, by supporting them.
Early game,
you don't want your carry to die. First because it give other team advantage in gold plus free farm while the carry is dead, and second because you generally will have difficulties to defend alone against two (you are too fragile, or you can be ignored)
Your next role is to allow your carry to farm as much as possible. You can do that by zoning the enemies out, healing shielding, ... To stay alive you also need to ward accordingly to the situation.
If you can also offer some kill to your carry thanks to your crowd control, or by baiting one champion, this is good too.
Mid/late game,
you will be able to roam more. This is ideal time for warding. It's also the beginning of team fights. For those fights, you need to learn/know who's gonna be the focus of the enemy team and try to protect it. This is not a general rule, sometimes it's better to keep your abilities for other champions (for example, champion with stealth can generally take care of themselves, a good Tryndamere will pop his ultimate and escape). Most of the times, you will have a tank in your team. He should not be your priority target. He normally has good built-in sustainability and even if he will get the focus in the first seconds of the fight, a good team will prioritise one of the carry. You want to protect your damage dealer at all cost, cause they will win the game for you.
Remember, you have to save allies at your life cost if necessary, but you should do it reasonably. Do not save someone that's going to die no matter what.
If you are a support champion with crowd control, use them to disrupt enemy attack. Janna can scatter enemies in multiples groups allowing your team to put their grasp on one isolated champion, thus giving a 1 kill advantage to the team.
Let's talk summoner spell and stuff.
First heal and CV
If your champion can heal with skill, you would generally drop heal spell. I took this spell when I was unsure about the champion I was playing. Now, I never take it. This can, however be a good spell. It gives more sustainability in lane and can save in some situation. But in my opinion, it's not worth a good crowd control spell or a flash. The best use you will have of the heal, is to take enemy by surprise when they think they can kill you. You can use this usually early or mid game. After that, you need your partners to be able to use the small time you give them to kill other champions or you will die anyway.
Now the CV.
I never ever go out without it. Why this? because you always need it. Even if you don't know your jungler or your team is bad. CV helps you save lifes, control the map, spy, control crowd and kill. It saves your life when you can check location before going their. If you spot 5 champions in ambush you win. You can then control the map. By knowing where the enemies are, you can ambush them, you can defend key points (baron, dragon). It helps spying by getting a view on champions that are warding, allowing you to get some oracle or pink ward to get that out. It helps sometime to control crowd. When revealed by CV, its not uncommon for enemies to scatter. If you can take advantage of this, free kills for your team. And you can also kill with CV, how so? What are CV useful for: negating fog of war and bush stealth. I once killed a enemy champion because he was going back home teleporting in bushes. Hopefully there was a minion wave here. CV helped my negate the stealth of the bushes, allowing the minions to see the enemy porting back, and directly attack him. Interrupting him I then just had to catch him on my way back from the river.
Items.
Well this is difficult. Usually, teamates want you to get auras. Good teamates will ask you to get the auras items they don't get themselves. So first, look what your team don't have. Try to avoid getting Will of the Ancient if someone already has it. Second think. What will helps the team more? MR, attack speed reduction, spell vamp?
tl;dr

save lifes (protect damage dealer, buy time)
disrupt enemy team
help control the map
get items your team need
Answer: My advice, your ultimate as a support can make or break a teamfight.Use it wisely.
You also need to be able to pay attention to not get targeted easily and save your summoners spells to disable the one targeting ur ad carry or allow him to do more damage.
Comment: You may need to expand a bit more on your answer.
Answer: They generally provide support through their abilities such as Shurelya's Reverie and Randuin's Omen. They also should support other characters if they have shields to help tank towers or stuns to help start team fights.
Comment: Don't forget the heals! As a kog'maw player I love a good heal.


Courant algebroids which are not exact

Question: Does somebody have some interesting examples of Courant algebroids which are not exact? By exact I mean one which is of the form $TM\oplus T^\star M$ with the standard bracket twisted by a closed 3-form $H$.
Thank you!
Answer: To add another example which hasn't already been mentioned, suppose that a Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ carries an $\operatorname{ad}-$invariant non-degenerate symmetric 2-form, $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle$, then $\mathfrak{g}$ is a Courant algebroid (this example already appears in Liu-Weinstein-Xu's original paper). When $\mathfrak{g}$ is semi-simple, then the killing form works.
Now suppose that $\mathfrak{g}$ acts on a manifold $M$ and all the stabilizers are coisotropic (with respect to the quadratic form on $\mathfrak{g}$), then $\mathbb{E}:=\mathfrak{g}\times M$ is also a Courant algebroid (where the anchor is given by the action map). These examples occur frequently in nature, see: http://arxiv.org/abs/0811.4554 and http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.1525.
Answer: The answer depends on what you mean by ``interesting."
For example the paper "On the Geometric Structure of Hamiltonian Systems
with Ports" by
Jochen Merker, J Nonlinear Sci (2009) 19: 717–738
DOI 10.1007/s00332-009-9052-3, may be considered as dealing with interesting examples of Courant algebroids. The algebroids there are not of the form $TM\oplus T^*M \to M$.
Grützmann's thesis (arXiv:1004.1487 [math.DG]) maybe another good place to look.
Answer: A very interesting class of non-exact Courant algebroids are transitive Courant algebroids. A transitive Courant algebroid is a Courant algebroid whose anchor map is surjective. A beautiful way to construct this class of Courant algebroids is via generalized reduction. Given a principal $G$-bundle $P$ with vanishing first Pontryagin class, its generalized tangent bundle $TP\oplus T^{\ast}P$ carries a canonical structure of an exact Courant algebroid endowed with a lifted $G$-action. The procedure of generalized reduction allows to construct a Courant algebroid $E$ with underlying vector bundle
$E = TM\oplus ad\, P\oplus T^{\ast}M$
over $M=P/G$. $E$ is the transitive Courant algebroid obtained by generalized reduction. You can check Severa's letters to Weinstein for more information. This procedure was then further investigated by Bursztyn, Cavalcanti and Gualtieri. Just if your curious, transitive Courant algebroids recently found an elegant application in Heterotic String Theory: the equations of motion of Heterotic Supergravity can be written has the Ricci-flatness of a particular metric-compatible generalized connection on $E$. You can check:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.4294
for more details.

Courant algebroids which are not exact


Remembering past lives

Question: Why do we not remember our past lives?
If it is possible to recollect one's previous lives by deeply concentrated thought,is it not possible for us to visit the hermits living in Himalaya area and verify the truth of doctrine of rebirth?
Answer: Why do we not remember our past lives?
It is a protective mechanism, kind of like how when you enter REM sleep your body paralyzes you to avoid hurting yourself. Similarly most of our chakras are in a semi-open, unpurified state because the full power of it can be harmful to ourselves and others. Many spiritual powers remain dormant. (I would not rely on the explanations of famous modern teachers because most of them are just intellectuals and have not put the prerequisite solitude and focus to attain realization... and sometimes they have to make publicly acceptable comments to avoid attack.)
If it is possible to recollect one's previous lives by deeply concentrated thought?
Yes. By entering the 1st jhana, one can even recall one's past lives. The below passage from MN 36 indicates Buddha went to 4th jhana before doing so, recalling many more. I would refer to the book Mind Experiment by Bavo Lievens for references on Buddhist texts, as well as beautiful Buddhist cosmology and how to go about doing this. Go to page 80.
Here is an excerpt from MN 36:

"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished,
  rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to
  imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my
  past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth,
  two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand,
  many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many
  eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name,
  belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food,
  such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life.
  Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a
  name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my
  food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life.
  Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my
  manifold past lives in their modes & details."
Answer: There are some persons, who probably in accordance with the laws of association, spontaneously develop the memory of their past birth, and remember fragments of their previous lives. Such cases are very rare, but those few well-attested, respectable cases tend to throw some light on the idea of a past birth for those who doubt the scriptures. Disciples of the Supreme Buddha believe that there are countless past existences. The most valuable evidence Buddhists cite in favour of rebirth is the Buddha, for He developed a knowledge which enabled Him to read past and future lives. Suttas record that prior to Siddhattha Gotama's Enlightenment, he had gained the three-fold supernormal knowledge. One of which is the rRecollection of his own past lives (pubbenivasanussati-nana). Following His instructions, His disciples also developed this knowledge and were able to read their past lives to a great extent.
Even some Indian Rishis, before the advent of the Buddha, were distinguished for such psychic powers as clairaudience, clairvoyance, thought-reading, remembering past births, etc. So are the experiences of some modern dependable psychics and strange cases of alternating and multiple personalities. In hypnotic states some relate experiences of their past lives; while a few others, read the past lives of others and even heal diseases.
How are we to account for great characters like Panini, Kalidasa, Homer and Plato; men of genius like Shakespeare, infant prodigies like Pascal, Mozart, Beethoven, Raphael etc.? Heredity alone cannot account for them. "Else their ancestry would disclose it, their posterity, even greater than themselves, demonstrate it." Could they rise to such lofty heights if they had not lived noble lives and gained similar experiences in the past? Is it by mere chance that they are been born or those particular parents and placed under those favourable circumstances?
A Western writer once said: "Whether we believe in a past existence or not, it forms the only reasonable hypothesis which bridges certain gaps in human knowledge concerning certain facts of every day life. Our reason tells us that this idea of past birth and Kamma alone can explain the degrees of difference that exist between twins, how men like Shakespeare with a very limited experience are able to portray with marvelous exactitude the most diverse types of human character, scenes and so forth of which they could have no actual knowledge, why the work of the genius invariably transcends his experience, the existence of infant precocity, the vast diversity in mind and morals, in brain and physique, in conditions, circumstances and environment observable throughout the world, and so forth."
It should be stated that this doctrine of rebirth can neither be proved nor disproved experimentally, but it is accepted as an evidentially verifiable fact. The cause of this Kamma is avijja or ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. Ignorance is, therefore, the cause of birth and death; and its transmutation into knowingness or vijja is consequently their cessation.
Answer: For adults
For adults, they can not remember because it is very far over you can remember it.
Take it easy. Don't look too far, just in this life, you have forgoten everything in your 1-2 years old period already.
For babies
For babies, Take it easy. Just see the  amnesia-patient, it is the same but the reborn is worse than amnesia because reborn-human has an amnesia which is caused by loosen brain, not just damage, also has an amnesia which is caused by psychological trauma, which is caused bad environment in mother's stomach, too. So the babies loose whole of their past life memories.
In very advance theory, abhidhamma, babies can not remember because all of their memory-organs [saññāya āyatana] have change to very weak and none ability, similar to the old paralysis-man's  organs. Also, they have to live in stressful stomach that has 37 °C temperature for at least 7 months, without vision. This is called kammajja-vāta [moving/changing form  that arise by kamma] in suttanta-pāli tradition.
Kammajja-vāta is one element of kammajja-rūpa [form that arise by kamma]. All organs arising at the beginning moment of life, especially human organs, are very weak, loose every ability, walk/see/listen/etc, from the past life.
Mind and it's factors, such as saññā (memory factor), arise depend on those kammajja-rūpa which is a elements of purejāta-paccaya (pre arising cause) in paṭṭhāna, the 7th canon of abhidhamma. If this paccaya, sense-organs, so weak, saññā that arise at these sense-organs also weak too. Then saññā cause of sati (mindfulness, recalling ability mind's factor) by the definition "sati thirasaññāpadaṭṭānā". So the babies loose whole of their past life memories.
Theravāda recalling skill practice
In theravāda tradition, you can recall it by jhāna-based ñāṇa, such as pupbenivāsānussati-ñāṇa or paccayapariggaha-ñāṇa. This tradition still going on at pa-auk monastery and some Burmese monastery.
Answer: I have heard monks such as The Dalai Lama speak their opinion about the 'reality' of past lives yet these teachers also state they cannot remember their own past lives.
Regardless, just because a person tells us they remembered their past lives does negate what they are saying may not be true. That person might possibly be deluded (i.e., clinging to the sense objects of mental formations as being 'self'; just like clinging to a dream that occurs in sleep as being real). Either way, another person cannot verify past lives for us since we ourselves cannot verify what the other person is saying.
In the oldest Buddhist scriptures (Khajjaniya Sutta), it is stated the Buddha did not remember 'past lives' (despite many Buddhists believing this & mistranslating words to mean this). Instead, the Buddha recollected the myriad times in the past (before he was enlightened) where his mind ignorantly clung to things as "I", "me" & "mine".
Here, it is explained when a meditator recollects 'past abodes' (pubbe nivāsa), what is recollected is only the five aggregates (body, feeling, perception, mental formations & consciousness) and that this recollection is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.'
Similarly, in scriptures such as MN 36, 'past abodes' (pubbe nivāsa) is mentioned with previous 'births' ('jati'). The word 'birth' means the conceptual birth of the view of 'beings' ('satta' - SN 12.2) or 'self-identity' (MN 44). SN 23.2 and SN 5.10 state 'beings' ('satta') is a mental state or wrong view; that in reality; there is no 'being' ('satta') to be found.

Why now do you assume 'a being'? Mara, have you grasped a view? This
  is a heap of sheer constructions: Here no being is found.
Just as, with an assemblage of parts, The word 'chariot' is used, So,
  when the aggregates are present, There's the convention 'a being.'

So when it was said the Buddha recollected his previous 'births', this was also the recollecting the myriad times in the past (before he was enlightened) where his mind ignorantly clung to things as "I", "me" & "mine".
There are many videos on YouTube by Ajahn Brahm about past lives, where he claims he gives evidence of their verification. I recommend watching these or similar videos.
Comment: Do you have a source in which Ajahn Brahm states that he cannot remember his own past lives?
Comment: The blog you linked only has other people disagreeing about whether Ajahn Brahm talks freely about experiencing past lives or not. No good evidence to support the claim in your post that says he could not remember past lives. Everything I've read from him or heard him say leads me to believe that he has had past life experiences, though it is true I have never heard him openly discuss one, perhaps, as was noted in the blog you linked to, because doing so is forbidden conduct for a monk. If you cannot find a source to back up your claim, I suggest you remove it.
Answer: Buddha did remember all of his countless past lives, please refer to JATAKA.
If you practice meditation and reach samadhi, you will be able to see your past lives, but not everyone can see all of their past lives like buddha did. Please watch the proves of reincarnations.
Published on 8 Feb 2013
Some children can remember exact & verifiable details of their prior life they never could have come to know in this their current child life. These details can be objectively and independently confirmed. Remarkably & quite biologically enigmatic: Some of them have birth marks and birth defects at very same locations as the lethal injury causing their often abrupt and violent past life death. Eg. Born with 5 missing fingers after a prior life accident where they were cut off... Birthmarks at the exact location where they got gunshot wounds in their prior life, which could be confirmed from the autopsy report of their deceased individuality. Furthermore: Some can speak a language they never have learnt in this life (xenoglossy) corresponding to their past life language & nationality.
They can in some cases remember names of siblings and other family members in their past life family who they never have met in this life...
The pioneer in this research was the late Dr. Ian Stevenson.
He founded The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA.
A presentation of him is here.

Remembering past lives


How do I find the UUID of a file system?

Question: I'm running Ubuntu, and want to find out the UUID of a particular filesystem (not partition). I know I can use e2label /dev/sda1 to find out the file system label, but there doesn't seem to be a similar way to find the UUID.
Comment: Note that the title used to be "How do I find the UUID of a partition".  That question only makes sense when using a GPT partition table. [Here's an an answer to that question](http://serverfault.com/a/607402/158759).
Comment: Thanks for all the answers, I'm sure I will use them all in different circumstances.
Comment: Related: *[What is UUID, PARTUUID and PTUUID?](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/375548/what-is-uuid-partuuid-and-ptuuid)*
Answer: Another command that might be available and also works quite well for this is 'blkid'.  It's part of the e2fsprogs package.  Examples of its usage:
Look up data on /dev/sda1:
topher@crucible:~$ sudo blkid /dev/sda1
/dev/sda1: UUID="727cac18-044b-4504-87f1-a5aefa774bda" TYPE="ext3"

Show UUID data for all partitions:
topher@crucible:~$ sudo blkid

/dev/sda1: UUID="727cac18-044b-4504-87f1-a5aefa774bda" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb: UUID="467c4aa9-963d-4467-8cd0-d58caaacaff4" TYPE="ext3"

Show UUID data for all partitions in an easier-to-read format:
(Note: in newer releases, blkid -L has a different meaning, and blkid -o list should be used instead)
topher@crucible:~$ sudo blkid -L

device     fs_type label    mount point    UUID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/sda1 ext3             /              727cac18-044b-4504-87f1-a5aefa774bda
/dev/sdc  ext3             /home          467c4aa9-963d-4467-8cd0-d58caaacaff4

Show just the UUID for /dev/sda1 and nothing else:
topher@crucible:~$ sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sda1

727cac18-044b-4504-87f1-a5aefa774bda

Comment: On newer versions of Ubuntu the equivalent command for `blkid -L` is now `blkid -o list`; the `-L` option has been changed to `-L label` to look up a device that uses the specified label.
Comment: Excellent, I never knew about `blkid`; I've always just done `ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid`. On Gentoo, `blkid` is in `sys-apps/util-linux`
Comment: On my Ubuntu computer, I don't need to use sudo.
Comment: Just typing `blkid`, got me exactly what I wanted, but not quite what I asked for. ( I'm accepting it anyway, because I am sure I will use it often )
Comment: @aculich I've updated the answer to included the recent syntax for `blkid`.  Thanks for mentioning it.
Comment: Heh, I like the option given by @AdmiralNemo
Comment: Warning: Be sure to run blkid as root (use sudo), so you get the current UUID for each connected device, and not an old one from blkid's cache.
Answer: For GPT Partitioned Disks Only
On a GPT formatted disk each partition is assigned a GUID, which is a form of UUID, though probably not what the original poster was referring to. Therefore this answer is probably less helpful to the original questioner. Nevertheless I believe there's an important distinction to be noticed.
To get the GUID of partition 1 on GPT formatted disk /dev/sda, as well as its partition label and so on:
sudo sgdisk -i 1 /dev/sda

or all with:
ls -l /dev/disk/by-partuuid

To boot with the root of the file system being on a certain partition you would use the Linux kernel parameter syntax of:
root=PARTUUID=87654321-4321-4321-abcd-123456789012

In this case, you can specify just the beginning of the UUID—enough to be unique. This parameter is more primitive and can be understood by the kernel earlier in its boot process.

There's a difference in semantics between these:
A disk holds partitions, a partition holds a file system, a file system holds directories and files. For some setups and operating systems there are more layers.
The GUID UUID and associated label refer to a partition, but not the partition's contents. A new partition on the same disk, or a partition on a new disk will have a new GUID UUID. The same partition could hold one file system one day and another on a different day. It only exists for GPT-formatted disks, but not for legacy partitioned disks. There usually aren't anymore utility here than specifying root=/dev/sda1 or root=8:1.
The other current answers refer to the UUID of a file system in some containing partition. If the file system is copied, as a whole, to another partition or hard disk that value remains the same. This UUID is useful in finding a moved file system. Therefore this is probably more pertinent to most people. Linux kernel parameter root=UUID=87654321-4321-4321-a567-123456789012 refers to this.
I believe root=LABEL= and root=UUID= are implemented by early userspace, the init code I saw the other day on my system translated these parameters to /dev/disk/by-uuid and /dev/disk/by-label (links I believe are created by udev in userspace on my system).
[1] devt_from_devname()
Comment: Correct usage appears to be `-i1` or `-i 1`, as opposed to `-i:1`, with sgdisk 1.0.1.
Comment: @CharlesDuffy thanks for finding that error. I've edited the answer to correct it.
Answer: The script-clean way to do this which works on any type of filesystem is:
lsblk -no UUID <device-containing-FS>

Or, given the mountpoint (or any file within it):
lsblk -no UUID $(df -P <file> | awk 'END{print $1}')

The output is the UUID, the whole UUID, and nothing but the UUID.
Comment: It's better than `blkid` in the answer  from @christopher-cashell, because you don't need to become root. For a mount point or a file better do: `lsblk -no UUID $(findmnt -n -o SOURCE --target )` .
Comment: @marcz That fails on btrfs subvolumes: `findmnt -n -o SOURCE --target ~` gives: `/dev/mapper/vg_svelte-home[/@home]`
Comment: Right @tom-hale, `lsblk -no UUID $(findmnt -n -o SOURCE --target  | cut -d[ -f1)` should get rid of the subvolume when present.
Answer: The easiest way to do this for ext2/ext3/ext4 is:
/sbin/tune2fs -l /dev/sda1

Comment: This will work provided your filesystem is formatted as ext2, ext3 or ext4. Most filesystems are one of these but not all. It will also not work for swap partitions. See my answer for a universal way.
Comment: This results in my case into `Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.`
Answer: The recommended way to do this is to do
sudo vol_id -u /dev/sda2

For more on using UUIDs, see this article (from Ubuntu help, but it should work for any Linux distribution using UUIDs).
As noted in comments to this question, vol_id may not be in your path. On Ubuntu, it is in /sbin, so the above will work.
For Fedora, it appears to need:
sudo /lib/udev/vol_id -u /dev/sda2

Comment: **vol_id** has been dropped from Ubuntu as of Karmic (9.10) so isn't useful or relevant anymore. It went through a lot of contortions to get there as **vol_id** was at one point built to replace **blkid**.
Comment: This doesn't work on my Fedora 10 laptop.
Comment: This is a much better solution than mine. Eddie, vol_id is located in /lib/udev. mish, could you edit your answer to prefix the full path in front of vol_id? /lib/udev isn't in root's path by default on any distribution I'm aware of.
Comment: "/lib/udev/vol_id /dev/sda2" appears to work.  Few people will have /lib/udev in their path.
Comment: On my Ubuntu computer there is a symbolic link from `/sbin/vol_id` to `/lib/udev/vol_id`
Comment: Even though this is exactly what I asked for, `blkid` would have been more useful, when I went to edit `/etc/fstab`.
Comment: *Why* is it the recommended way? Why is it better? Who recommends it?
Answer: This seems to work for me:
sudo dumpe2fs /dev/sda1 | grep UUID

Answer: Assuming you want the UUID for sda1, you could try something like this:
for v in /dev/disk/by-uuid/* ; do echo "`readlink $v`: $v" | grep ../sda1 | cut -d\: -f2 | cut -d/ -f5 ; done

Adjust sda1 accordingly. To get the UUIDs for all partitions, drop the 'greps' and 'cuts', a la:
for v in /dev/disk/by-uuid/* ; do echo "`readlink $v`: $v" ; done

Sample output for sda1 on my desktop:
[mihailim@home ~]$ for v in /dev/disk/by-uuid/* ; do echo "`readlink $v`: $v" | grep ../sdb3 | cut -d\: -f2 | cut -d/ -f5 ; done

dc8c49f1-e2dc-46bc-ba02-013f26c85f70

Please note that this solution, while more contrived than the udev->vol_id one, does not require root privileges, will work on any post-2005 or so kernel, and relies on tools present in any Linux distribution which are by default in the path for any user.
Comment: This will work on any computer running a recent enough devfs.
Answer: The simplest and best way to find the UUID of a filesystem:
blkid /dev/sda1

Comment: Does this add anything to the accepted answer?
Answer: You can also use this to print all the UUIDs:
for disk in /dev/disk/by-uuid/*; do
    basename "$(readlink "$disk")"
    basename "$disk"
    echo
done

or this arguably simpler command, replacing sda1 with the device you'd like to search for:
disk=sda1
find /dev/disk/by-uuid -type l -exec sh -c "readlink {} | grep -o $disk && basename {}" \;

an adaptation of the second method to print all UUIDs:
find /dev/disk/by-uuid -type l -exec sh -c 'basename $(readlink {}); basename {}; echo' \;

Answer: ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid | grep `lsblk | grep "/" | awk '{print $1}'` | awk '{print $9}'

The above seems to work on most (all I have found) Linux systems over many years.  It may have flaws, I don't know.  I would prefer to get the serial number but ... this is the UUID of the root filesystem.
If anyone has a way to get the serial number without needing to be root (as mine is) and not installing "unusual" packages that are different in different versions of Unix I would appreciate it - always can learn something.  And I am aware I am mixing things - the is the root file system UUID, not a disk.
The purpose, BTW, is to generate a unique number per machine that cannot be modified (like a disk serial number and like MAC addresses once were long ago).
It is used for encoding of software to a single machine.  MAC address was fine until they allowed them to be virtual ...  some sleazy customers have simply set their MAC address to a constant (on different networks of course) and avoided paying me.
In AIX there is a single call to get one number that identifies the machine.  It does not care if the hardware changes or software updates occur so I have no idea how they do it ... If the motherboard changes, then the number changes, so I think they hide it there.  And that is beyond rare.
Comment: Something seems to be missing near *"the is the root file system"*.
Comment: OK, the OP has left the building - *"Last seen more than 5 years ago"*
Answer: You can use the following to get the UUID for a particular drive,
sudo vol_id -u /dev/sda1

Answer: You can use the following to get the UUID for a particular drive,
sudo vol_id -u /dev/sda1

or you can use this to list all UUIDs for the attached media,
ls /dev/disk/by-uuid

Comment: No longer applicable as of Ubuntu 9.10 as **vol_id** has been removed.
Answer: sudo grep swap /etc/fstab
## Output like:
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
# UUID=34e3f31b-16ec-4c84-8f4d-339f38d04a3b none swap sw 0 0

sudo lsblk -f -l| grep SWAP
## Output like:
sda6 swap 34e3f31b-16ec-4c84-8f4d-339f38d04a3b [SWAP]

Comment: An explanation would be in order. For example, what is the conclusion? How does it answer the question? What is the gist? Please respond by [editing (changing) your answer](https://serverfault.com/posts/1116758/edit), not here in comments (***** ***** ***without*** ***** ***** "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today).


What algorithm is used in linear regression?

Question: I usually hear about "ordinary least squares".  Is that the most widely used algorithm used for linear regression?  Are there reasons to use a different one?
Comment: @hxd, barring any special structure in the design matrix, these are all $O(mn^2)$ algorithms, differing only in the constant factor. The decompositional approach is a good habit inherited from the tradition of numerical linear algebra.
Comment: @hxd, and that's why my answer was tailored to be an exposition of the algorithms involved. If you have questions not covered by this thread, consider asking a new question.
Answer: To answer the letter of the question, "ordinary least squares" is not an algorithm; rather it is a type of problem in computational linear algebra, of which linear regression is one example. Usually one has data $\{(x_1,y_1),\dots,(x_m,y_m)\}$ and a tentative function ("model") to fit the data against, of the form $f(x)=c_1 f_1(x)+\dots+c_n f_n(x)$. The $f_j(x)$ are called "basis functions" and can be anything from monomials $x^j$ to trigonometric functions (e.g. $\sin(jx)$, $\cos(jx)$) and exponential functions ($\exp(-jx)$). The term "linear" in "linear regression" here does not refer to the basis functions, but to the coefficients $c_j$, in that taking the partial derivative of the model with respect to any of the $c_j$ gives you the factor multiplying $c_j$; that is, $f_j(x)$.
One now has an $m\times n$ rectangular matrix $\mathbf A$ ("design matrix") that (usually) has more rows than columns, and each entry is of the form $f_j(x_i)$, $i$ being the row index and $j$ being the column index. OLS is now the task of finding the vector $\mathbf c=(c_1\,\dots\,c_n)^\top$ that minimizes the quantity $\sqrt{\sum\limits_{j=1}^{m}\left(y_j-f(x_j)\right)^2}$ (in matrix notation, $\|\mathbf{A}\mathbf{c}-\mathbf{y}\|_2$ ; here, $\mathbf{y}=(y_1\,\dots\,y_m)^\top$ is usually called the "response vector").
There are at least three methods used in practice for computing least-squares solutions: the normal equations, QR decomposition, and singular value decomposition. In brief, they are ways to transform the matrix $\mathbf{A}$ into a product of matrices that are easily manipulated to solve for the vector $\mathbf{c}$.
George already showed the method of normal equations in his answer; one just solves the $n\times n$ set of linear equations
$\mathbf{A}^\top\mathbf{A}\mathbf{c}=\mathbf{A}^\top\mathbf{y}$
for $\mathbf{c}$. Due to the fact that the matrix $\mathbf{A}^\top\mathbf{A}$ is symmetric positive (semi)definite, the usual method used for this is Cholesky decomposition, which factors $\mathbf{A}^\top\mathbf{A}$ into the form $\mathbf{G}\mathbf{G}^\top$, with $\mathbf{G}$ a lower triangular matrix. The problem with this approach, despite the advantage of being able to compress the $m\times n$ design matrix into a (usually) much smaller $n\times n$ matrix, is that this operation is prone to loss of significant figures (this has something to do with the "condition number" of the design matrix).
A slightly better way is QR decomposition, which directly works with the design matrix. It factors $\mathbf{A}$ as $\mathbf{A}=\mathbf{Q}\mathbf{R}$, where $\mathbf{Q}$ is an orthogonal matrix (multiplying such a matrix with its transpose gives an identity matrix) and $\mathbf{R}$ is upper triangular. $\mathbf{c}$ is subsequently computed as $\mathbf{R}^{-1}\mathbf{Q}^\top\mathbf{y}$. For reasons I won't get into (just see any decent numerical linear algebra text, like this one), this has better numerical properties than the method of normal equations.
One variation in using the QR decomposition is the method of seminormal equations. Briefly, if one has the decomposition $\mathbf{A}=\mathbf{Q}\mathbf{R}$, the linear system to be solved takes the form
$$\mathbf{R}^\top\mathbf{R}\mathbf{c}=\mathbf{A}^\top\mathbf{y}$$
Effectively, one is using the QR decomposition to form the Cholesky triangle of $\mathbf{A}^\top\mathbf{A}$ in this approach. This is useful for the case where $\mathbf{A}$ is sparse, and the explicit storage and/or formation of $\mathbf{Q}$ (or a factored version of it) is unwanted or impractical.
Finally, the most expensive, yet safest, way of solving OLS is the singular value decomposition (SVD). This time, $\mathbf{A}$ is factored as $\mathbf{A}=\mathbf{U}\mathbf \Sigma\mathbf{V}^\top$, where $\mathbf{U}$ and $\mathbf{V}$ are both orthogonal, and $\mathbf{\Sigma}$ is a diagonal matrix, whose diagonal entries are termed "singular values". The power of this decomposition lies in the diagnostic ability granted to you by the singular values, in that if one sees one or more tiny singular values, then it is likely that you have chosen a not entirely independent basis set, thus necessitating a reformulation of your model. (The "condition number" mentioned earlier is in fact related to the ratio of the largest singular value to the smallest one; the ratio of course becomes huge (and the matrix is thus ill-conditioned) if the smallest singular value is "tiny".)
This is merely a sketch of these three algorithms; any good book on computational statistics and numerical linear algebra should be able to give you more relevant details.
Comment: Nice explanation!
Comment: @hxd, off the top of my head: Monahan for computational statistics, and Golub/van Loan for numerical linear algebra.
Comment: @bhan, I am assuming the "economy" (or "thin") variant of QR decomposition, where $\mathbf R$ is square and $\mathbf Q$ has the same dimensions as the design matrix. Something for you to do: look up the difference between "full QR" and "thin QR".
Comment: @J.M. any recommendations on " good book on computational statistics and numerical linear algebra"? really want to learn more.
Comment: @J.M. Really like your answer, would like to improve it by covering more methods, such as LU, Cholesky, and iterative methods such as gradient decent?
Comment: Had you looked through my post, @hxd, you'd have seen that I already covered Cholesky. LU is not really used to solve least squares problems, as it does not exploit the structure of the problem. I haven't ever heard of gradient descent being used for least squares; if you have info on this, do write a separate answer.
Comment: @hxd, for *nonlinear* problems, sure. Optimization methods are an expensive way to solve a *linear* problem.
Comment: How do you compute `R^{-1} Q^T y` if A is not square? Do you drop the zero rows in R?
Answer: Regarding the question in the title, about what is the algorithm that is used:
In a linear algebra perspective, the linear regression algorithm is the way to solve a linear system $\mathbf{A}x=b$ with more equations than unknowns. In most of the cases there is no solution to this problem. And this is because the vector $b$ doesn't belong to the column space of $\mathbf{A}$, $C(\mathbf{A})$.
The best straight line is the one that makes the overall error $e=\mathbf{A}x-b$ as small as it takes. And is convenient to think as small to be the squared length, $\lVert e \rVert^2$, because it's non negative, and it equals 0 only when $b\in C(\mathbf{A})$.
Projecting (orthogonally) the vector $b$ to the nearest point in the column space of $\mathbf{A}$ gives the vector $b^*$ that solves the system (it's components lie on the best straight line) with the minimum error.
$\mathbf{A}^T\mathbf{A}\hat{x}=\mathbf{A}^Tb \Rightarrow \hat{x}=(\mathbf{A}^T\mathbf{A})^{-1}\mathbf{A}^Tb$
and the projected vector $b^*$ is given by:
$b^*=\mathbf{A}\hat{x}=\mathbf{A}(\mathbf{A}^T\mathbf{A})^{-1}\mathbf{A}^Tb$
Perhaps the least squares method is not exclusively used because that squaring  overcompensates for outliers.
Let me give a simple example in R, that solves the regression problem using this algorithm:
library(fBasics)

reg.data <- read.table(textConnection("
   b      x
  12      0
  10      1
   8      2
  11      3
   6      4
   7      5
   2      6
   3      7
   3      8 "), header = T)

attach(reg.data)

A <- model.matrix(b~x)

# intercept and slope
inv(t(A) %*% A) %*% t(A) %*% b

# fitted values - the projected vector b in the C(A)
A %*% inv(t(A) %*%A ) %*% t(A) %*% b

# The projection is easier if the orthogonal matrix Q is used,
# because t(Q)%*%Q = I
Q <- qr.Q(qr(A))
R <- qr.R(qr(A))

# intercept and slope
best.line <- inv(R) %*% t(Q) %*% b

# fitted values
Q %*% t(Q) %*% b

plot(x,b,pch=16)
abline(best.line[1],best.line[2])

Comment: Is there a reason for using inv from fBasics when it's just a synonym for solve?  Wouldn't it be better for the answer to not require a dependency on external packages if it is unnecessary?
Comment: Load the fBasics package. http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/R/library/fBasics/html/matrix-inv.html
Comment: I get an err `could not find inv`?!
Comment: @George I love the clear answer, However, I think the original question was asking algorithms, and QR is just one of it. How about LU, SVD, Cholesky decomposition? Also, in R, the method for `lm` is QR, there are reasons for that, could you explain why?
Comment: @GeorgeDontas Note that it might be that $A^T A$ isn't invertible. As explained in [this answer](https://stats.stackexchange.com/a/363874/215801), one way to deal with that is removing from $A$ columns that are linear combinations of other columns.
Answer: The wiki link: Estimation Methods for Linear Regression gives a fairly comprehensive list of estimation methods including OLS and the contexts in which alternative estimation methods are   used.
Comment: Doesn't address the question (the page doesn't even mention QR)
Answer: It is easy to get confused between definitions and terminology.  Both terms are used, sometimes interchangeably.  A quick lookup on Wikipedia should help:

ordinary least squares
lnear regression

Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) is a method used to fit linear regression models. Because of the demonstrable consistency and efficiency (under supplementary assumptions) of the OLS method, it is the dominant approach.  See the articles for further leads.
Comment: Ordinary least squares is an estimator. There are a variety of  algorithms for computing the estimate: usually some sort of orthogonal matrix decomposition, such as QR, is used. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_methods_for_linear_least_squares
Comment: Right, that's why I consider OLS to be an "algorithm" used in linear regression...
Answer: I tend to think of 'least squares' as a criterion for defining the best fitting regression line (i.e., that which makes the sum of 'squared' residuals 'least') and the 'algorithm' in this context as the set of steps used to determine the regression coefficients that satisfy that criterion. This distinction suggests that it is possible to have  different algorithms that would satisfy the same criterion.
I'd be curious to know whether others make this distinction and what terminology they use.
Comment: By algorithm, I mean roughly the software implementation used for fitting a line to model the mean of a distribution.
Answer: An old book, yet one I find myself repeatedly turning to, is
Lawson, C.L. and Hanson, R.J. Solving Least Squares Problems, Prentice-Hall, 1974.
It contains a detailed and very readable discussion of some of the algorithms that previous answers have mentioned. You might want to look at it.
Comment: If you read this old book, you should also be looking into Åke Björck's *[Numerical Methods for Least Squares Problems](http://books.google.com/books/?id=ZecsDBMz5-IC)*, which has stuff not discussed in Lawson/Hanson. The routines included in the Lawson/Hanson book are [available from Netlib](http://netlib.org/lawson-hanson/).


Methods for seasoning wooden spoons?

Question: Any tips for seasoning wooden spoons?  I found a couple different methods on the web but they vary quite a bit.  What I've done so far is to sand the new spoons starting with 280, then 320, and finally 1000 grit sandpaper.  Then I put it in water to raise the grain and sanded some more with 1000 grit.  I repeated the last step 4 times and the spoon is nice and smooth.  Is there a final step to season the spoon?
Comment: I have never seasoned a spoon. Nor do I know anyone who has.
Comment: I imagine you'll end up with a really nice spoon, you could probably eat with it without getting splinters.
Comment: To those who notice: yes, it is quite counter-intuitive to change the tag from "seasoning" to "seasoning-pans". But for disambiguation reasons, we use the pure "seasoning" only for adding spices to food (see also the tag wiki). Maybe we should have a discussion about renaming the seasoning-pans tag, seeing that there are other items that can be seasoned for use.
Comment: @rumtscho I'd keep the tag as is, as "seasoning" usually refers to a hot process on metal.  Treating wooden chopping boards (for example) is normally described by other names, like simply "oiling" (though using linseed oil, which polymerises at room temp,  could  conceivably be called seasoning.
Comment: @ChrisH Interesting. I am accustomed to using "seasoning" for other materials too, such as wood or (unglazed) clay - but always for kitchen utensils; if I were to treat a desk with linseed oil, I would indeed call it "oiled". In that sense, seasoning (the noun) is the patina that utensils gain with use, and the verb is the (slow or forced) process of creating it. I agree that nowadays, the metal case is the most frequently discussed one, but I would see that as merely the prototypical case, not as a reason to exclude the other cases.
Comment: @rumtscho I guess a straw poll via meta could sort out the variation in usage if we wanted to improve the tags
Answer: I cannot imagine that sanding and buffing a wooden spoon would have any useful culinary applications, although I suppose it might feel smoother to the touch.
Generally when you season something wooden for food preparation, the purpose is to create a protective layer to avoid warping or impregnation.
If I really wanted to season a spoon, I would season it the same way as a wooden cutting board: Use a food-grade mineral oil and rub it in thoroughly with a cloth or paper towel, then repeat as necessary after it is dry.
Like hobodave, however, I have never done this nor heard of it being done.  The cost of a wooden spoon is probably less than the cost of the mineral oil you'd need to season one.  If your spoon starts to warp or take on strange odours, just buy a new one.
N.B. I can think of one exception, which is if the spoon takes on a fuzzy texture when you get it wet.  In that case, sanding it would be done in the context of raising the grain.  But once again, it's extremely rare that you'd need to do this with a cooking utensil - this is a far more common requirement for homemade (i.e. DIY) wood products.
Comment: @TFD: You have to be careful with linseed - if it's the boiled type then it's actually toxic.  But any food-grade oil that won't go rancid is fine.  The key phrase here is *food-grade*.
Comment: @TFD - Linseed won't go rancid.
Comment: Warp?  They still work fine for stirring when they're warped ... it's cracked that you have to be careful with, as you can't clean out the crack.  If it's a wooden spatula, you can cut it down, but that's about it.
Comment: @Joe: You're technically correct. Semantics - cracking is usually preceded by warping. Besides, a warped spoon can still stir but it might not do a very good job of actually holding anything, if that's what you need it for.
Comment: @TFD the reason you don't use a vegetable oil is that they will eventually go rancid and get yellow and sticky. For what it's worth, I always season all my wooden utensils with a mineral oil made for cutting boards, and they are gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to use, feeling nice to touch and cleaning up with water and the barest of soap.
Comment: Why a mineral oil? Surely a vegetable oil would be more appropriate like flaxseed oil (linseed oil - a traditional wood rubbing oil in Europe etc)
Answer: I seasoned a set of wooden utensils that I bought rough.  Here's what I did:

Sand with progressively finer grits up to about 1000 grit
Wash VERY well to remove sawdust
Melt paraffin wax in a double boiler and repeatedly soak in the wax, allow wax to drip off and utensil to cool, and then soak again

Eventually this built up a nice layer of food-grade paraffin embedded into the utensils, which made them repel water and stains MUCH more effectively.  Unfortunately, I much must confess that it would have been cheaper in time and money just to buy a set of properly finished utensils.
Answer: As just an old Arkansas hillbilly that likes wooden products I've been making cook spoons and dishes/platters. I have used Walnut, Pecan, Hickory, and Cherry so far. I have found that the fruit woods have alot less "fuzzing" after washing but all need periodic attention. I've used bacon grease, olive oil, cooking oil, peanut oil and they all work about the same. I havn't tried the heating your oil approach (except for the bacon grease-more of a viscosity thing for me) The maintenance of your spoons and dishes is a labor of love for those who actually make the items...kind of the same reward a hunter gets from cleaning his/her guns.
Answer: I am in favor myself of using a flaxseed oil to season the wood for a few reasons, 1) it is food safe 2) It is actually food 3) it is the ONLY edible drying oil that I am aware of (i.e. an oil that will dry out on its own when exposed to air.) and when I have used it on cast iron it IS TOUGH! It can take an accidental cycle in the dishwasher after it has a few layers! (Though I dont recommend it. Why start ALL OVER again?)
I am trying heating it to accelerate its drying effects as done on cast iron. 1 problem though. It thins on heating so all of the seasoning done thus far comes dripping out. I unfortunately have neither the right size container to hold at least 1/2 of the spoon or enough flaxseed oil to do it that way nor something heat proof up to 500-550 degrees. (which is the temperature for cast iron). If I did though I would surely do it. Flaxseeds durability has EASILY outperformed anything I have seen thus far.
Bon Appetit,
Tim Danielson
P.S. I just tried this. I found that at about 525-550 the wood I had (cherry wood) started to get burn marks (only in the areas where it contacted the pan). I found something that showed it could have been lowered to 450. I Since flaxseed apparently polymerizes at 450, I would try that. I heated it, pre seasoned on a cookie sheet, to 550. I believe 450-500 would be a better range than what I did and would have similar results.
"re: DougRisk
I think the basic premise is that by that temperature (and more so by the 450-500 deg temps called for in this seasoning process) any flaxseed oil is polymerized to an extent that it cannot go rancid.
When I tried out the method initially under Canter's instructions, I certainly didn't notice any rancid taste or smell. The problem was just that the seasoning was too slow to build and didn't form an especially great non-stick surface even after 7 coatings.
Permalink | Reply
By cowboyardee on Sep 14, 2011 07:49 AM" @ http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/807107
Comment: Oh this is an FYI, this oil has been used for centuries by artists. To an oil painter they would refer to it as Linseed Oil! (I dont advise using linseed as it is not processed to the same food standards as the edible version, Flaxseed.)
Answer: Skip the mineral oil (petroleum product) and use something more culinary, like olive, coconut, flax seed, or beeswax (you need a heat gun or oven to force beeswax into the wood).
Olive oil go rancid? Sure. But it is safe and it doesn't smell impregnated in the wood. Not significantly, and it won't "off flavor" anything.
Comment: Food grade mineral oils are especially sold for that, they are non toxic and they do not go rancid.

Methods for seasoning wooden spoons?


Is it possible to hijack X server of a process?

Question: Is there a way to SSH to a machine and forward the X of already running process to my SSH client (as if I launched this process via SSH with X forwarding)?
Answer: No. Not in a standard X server.
There are a pile of research projects out there that are trying to accomplish this, but none have produced code that has been incorporated into the x server project.
This is a duplicate question. see: "Detach" and "Reattach" xterms across X sessions?
Answer: Unfortunately, no, it is not possible with the current X.org server (it would have to be something that is supported by the original X server on the remote machine). The problem is that the X server stores a lot of state and there is no way to transfer that state to the new server.
However, if it is possible to setup something like Xpra on the remote machine ahead of time (e.g. set it up to run on login), then it is possible to redirect the clients later.


Girl keep testing my commitment even when its been a year since we got together. How do I convince her?

Question: I have been with this girl a year now. She is well behaved, caring and all. But every once in a while she try to test my commitment.
For example she if I come up with some plans for weekends, she would deliver NO straight away. If I try to convince her she would happily join me, else she would later complaint I didn't try to convince and my love is fading.
Sometimes she goes to her hometown and would say I am not coming back, then I have to say something nice and then she would say that she's joking and she cant wait to come back. (Just to see how I react).
I am sick of this constant doubting and not sure what to do.
Comment: @user3169 - I can assure you that "most" women certainly *don't* insist on it. Relationships are built on trust, nat constant passing of tests.
Comment: @user3169 I think if you hold that kind of attitude towards your partner (and their gender), you're just not ready to get into a serious relationship yet.
Comment: Anyway, rather than asking us "How do I convince her?", how about asking her "How do I convince you?" when these kinds of situations happen? Not about doing things your way (or her way), but about your undying commitment to her." What would she say?
Comment: @user3169 : Have asked her so many times. And If she wants to test me why can't she ask me straight questions. I am more than happy to tell her everything she wants to know.
Nothing wrong with her testing. But I am worried how long and how many times I have to explain her same things. Also why its only girls that feels the need of testing. After all we all have bad past experiences. But we try not to let them alter our approach to the current experience.
Comment: Why do you call her a "girl" - how old are you? Where are you? When you come up with plans for the weekend do you invite her or tell her?
Comment: @anongoodnurse What I am trying to say is that we really need her side of the story. Maybe she is insecure and needs constant reminders of his commitment, or she likes to toy with him, among others. She is probably aware of her reasons, but a communication breakdown is hampering a resolution.
Comment: @VDevD Regarding your comment above, it seems like your reaction "(Just to see how I react)" may be a key point. Could you describe your reaction if it is roughly the same each time? As for "why its only girls that feels the need of testing", it is because women have more at risk in a relationship. I would add some explanation, but that is a completely different topic.
Comment: @user3169 I dont agree with you when you say women have more at risk. We all risk our everything when we commit to someone. I believe everything that I have belongs to her.
Comment: OK, but as I said I didn't want to pursue that, since it is a different topic (you could ask it as a separate question). But to get back to your question, I think some key points need to be added: 1. "(Just to see how I react)" What is your reaction typically? Not just words but attitude and actions, too. 2. Based on your wording (she try to test my commitment) I suppose you don't think she should do this? Why? 3. Could you describe your relationship better that "I have been with..."? I think you need to address these points in your question.
Comment: How old are you?
Answer: You should probably sit down and have a long talk with her since :

I am sick of this constant doubting and not sure what to do.

Here are some points of perhaps why she did so :

She had bad experience in her previous encounter (commitment related), thus being insecure.
She is possessive.
You are behaving suspicious, or your commitment is just not above her expectation.

By having a long and serious talk, you will discover the  root cause of the problem. (natural behavior, bad experience etc). Do tell her that you are getting tired of this "You have to show commitment to prove that you are committed" game.
Here are some points you can mentioned during the long talk :

Constant doubting hurts the relationship.
You need her support and trust.
Any action that can increase and gain her trust than being suspicious.

Guy are not that good at showing our love(personal opinion) but that does not mean we do not commit or we do not care about the relationship. So approach her and communicate as relationship is not just one-sided input, is about giving and receiving.
Answer: What you do depends on how much you want to remain in a relationship with this person. Do you want to stay if it never stops? Because it might not.
This isn't just done for fun; some of it is insecurity, some may be an attempt to control you, and some of it is a mild form of abuse.

Sometimes she goes to her hometown and would say I am not coming back...

Why would anyone do this? It is very unkind.
Good relationships are based in part on trust. Relationships without trust sometimes look like yours. If she doesn't trust you after a year, why is she still with you?
If you've never given her a reason to doubt you, and you want this relationship to continue, tell her that you're concerned by her lack of trust and ask her what she expects from you that would help her feel less insecure (maybe there is something you're not doing that she needs.) If she reveals that you're not (x) enough (e.g. x = affectionate), and it's reasonable, give it a go. If (x) is unreasonable, and you can't see yourself ever doing that, it's time to let her know that she will never be happy in the relationship.
Comment: And likewise, if doing X succesfully doesn't change the behavior, it's also time to go.
Answer: Different people have different ways to communicate love. Regularly communicating love to your partner is part of what a relationship is about.
She doesn't need to doubt your love for her for it to feel great that you demonstrate your love for her. Gary Chapman invented the concept of the five love languages:

Gift giving.
quality time.
words of affirmation.
acts of service (devotion).
physical touch.

Different individuals communicate their love with a different language and also want to hear that their partner communicates love in a certain way.
In the examples, you listed she wants words of affirmation. You might gift her flowers every week but receiving gifts isn't enough for her to know she's loved and thus it's not enough for her.
Afterwards, she sets up situations that pressure you into saying words of affection, to feel loved by yourself.
A key to a good relationship is to understand how your partner wants you to communicate your love to them and also giving your partner an idea about how you want them to communicate that they love you.
Comment: Could you provide OP and future readers the link to the *Gary Chapman* you refer to please? I think it'll be very helpful ;) Thanks. (and it you don't like the edit I made, feel free to roll it back)
Comment: When you say "gift flavors", do you mean flowers or like perfume or something? (I guess the former?)
Comment: @Erik : Yes, I meant to write flowers.
Answer: It really depends on the level of it happening.  If it's a lot, then where I am from that is called "playing games".  Testing someone who doesn't know (at least not formally) that they are being tested, isn't a healthy dynamic for a solid relationship.  You clearly aren't enjoying it.  It is something you need to be clear with her that you do not like.
There are smaller ways women might do this though, common ones.  She might put on a dress and ask how she looks.  She likely wants you to tell her she looks amazing.  Most don't want to hear that it's unflattering or that you hate that print or color.  It is a reasonable side step for you to say something like, "You look great but the blue one looks amazing on you".  That assumes there is a blue dress you do in fact like more.
The 5 love languages was already mentioned so I won't repeat that part.  From what you describe it sounds like she is someone who require words of affirmation to feel loved.  Some people can easily blow that off as thinking it's trivial, that you "stroking their ego", etc.  If you love someone though, it is important to show them your love in a way that makes them feel loved.  If that is words of affirmation, then you have to find a way to get yourself accustomed to speaking things to them that make them feel noticed, feel good, tells them how you feel.  If you don't, you can risk them feeling unsure of your feelings, rejected even at times, and uneasy about where they stand with you.
And then there are actual insecurity issues.  I cannot know whether that is what is going on based on not knowing her at all, but you might be able to ascertain that.  If someone is deeply insecure, they can be a bottomless pit, so much so that no matter how many times or ways you tell them you love them (and mean it), they will forever need more.  It's what I personally think of as an emotional vampire.  I have only dated one and it was exhausting.  It also got worse the longer we were together, not better.  Overall I really did like him and we may have had some future, but I couldn't keep up with his need to be constantly reassured that I was invested, and as time progressed he also added in strange jealousies that started to spread to any person I was close with.  He could be jealous of how close I was to my sister and wanted to know if I tell her things I don't tell him.  What you describe didn't sound like that, but I thought I would put it out there because sometimes such minor things can be linked to deeper more troubling behaviors.  Sometimes it can simply be that we really haven't demonstrated to them our love in a way that makes them feel special.  It's not something I can say one way or another about strangers, but you certainly could figure that out by knowing her the way you do.


Why does a T-tail produce a pitch-down moment in sideslip?

Question: Here is something which I did not find in any book, but confirmed in several wind tunnel and flight tests: A T-tail causes a strong nose-down moment in sideslip. This can even be observed in a potential flow analysis, so no fancy viscous effects should be required for an explanation. But I have never understood why it happens. I would even have an explanation for a pitch-up, but the pitch-down really has me puzzled. Does someone here know more?
Comment: FWIW I can't say I've experienced any kind of strong pitch-down moment until slipping *very* aggressively in the T-tail Katana. There was one time where there was a sudden pronounced pitch-down, but to be honest, that felt more like flow separation from the stabilizer. I suppose it's possible that humans simply tend to compensate without noticing, there is a lot of moving going on when entering a slip after all. Perhaps it's only noticeable in a wind tunnel where you can keep everything else constant?
Comment: any correlation with the airfoil selected / incidence of the horizontal surface?
Comment: Fairings in the intersection area do modify the magnitude of the effect, but it shows up also in simple potential flow codes which use a flat surface for a wing (vortex at 1/4, control point at 3/4, two trailing vortices per panel). As for the incidence - my data is only for a trimmed configuration, so I have no data on different incidence angles.
Comment: @falstro: The pitch-down moment should build up slowly with sideslip, so you will just pull a little with moderate sideslip angles. Depending on the static stability, if you use a tape measure or ruler to measure stick position in flight, the effect should be detectable.
Comment: @PeterKämpf Does it also happen for a normal tail, just less strong? Or doesn't it happen at all with normal tails?
Comment: @ROIMaison: It does not happen with the regular tail position at the fuselage, but I have no data on horizontal tails halfway up (think Dassault Facon).
Comment: I'm thinking something along the lines of increased suction over the rudder on the left side (seen from the front) and increased pressure on the right side.
On the left side the suction cancels out with the increased pressure on the bottom of the elevator, whereas on the right side the increased pressure of the rudder amplifies the increased pressure of the elevator.
As pressure increases with $V^2$, the amplification would be stronger that the reduction, leading to a nose down force.
I'm not quite sure if this reasonable, but it might give people an idea
Comment: The endplate effect of an T-tail will make it a stronger in the case of T-tails, perhaps the presence of the fuselage completely prevents this effect for normal tails.
Comment: I have experienced this pitch-down effect in a Schweizer 1-36 sailplane.
Answer: I've found some useful research here: E.C. Polhamus. Some factors affecting the variation of pitching moment with sideslip of
aircraft configurations. Technical report, NACA T.N. 4016, 1958.
The image shows the situation for high angles of $\beta$:

At large angles of sideslip with swept horizontal
  tails, the loading will probably not be antisymmetrical mainly because
  of the difference in lift effectiveness of the leading and trailing portions
  of the horizontal tail caused by the difference in their effective
  sweep angles. This would result in a net lift induced on the horizontal
  tail which is a function of sideslip and tail height. This possible
  effect of tail height is illustrated in sketch 9 for large positive sideslip
  angles:

Interesting to see is that the model has no wings, so we can rule out any causes related to wings, in case people were thinking in this direction.
I putsome more thought into it, and I drew these diagrams, which helped me understand the things being said in the paper.
The blue pluses and minuses are the resulting velocities caused by the horizontal velocity as a function of the sideslip ($V_{\beta}$).
The red distributions are the forces on the elevator as consequence of this $V_{\beta}$.
This component creates an increased velocity over the left side of the rudder, and a decreased velocity over the right side of the rudder.
If there's no sweep, the effects are equally strong, and no effect on the lift is present (denoted by the top two images)
However, if there's sweep, the effect on the left side is less strong, whereas it is stronger on the right side (indicated by the two tails in the bottom row).
In a T-tail, this stronger influence is acting on the lower side of the tail. As it is a minus (meaning a relative reduction in velocity), it will lead to a reduction in suction on the lower side, or an upward force, causing a pitch down.
In a normal tail, the minus will act over the upper surface. It causes a deceleration of the flow over the elevator, thereby reducing the lift it generates. This causes a pitch up movement.
Comment: Polhamus only has an explanation for swept horizontal tails (which is simple and convincing). However, I found the effect even in unswept tails, so I am still not sure why it happens. OTOH, your answer is clearly the best  so far, so I accept it.
Comment: @PeterKämpf, I found a question which might help solve the problem [here](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/42378/why-did-the-f-104-starfighter-have-a-t-tail?rq=1), [direct link to image](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yEDWs.jpg). For a T-tail the resultant force in side slip is left and up [=producing nose down]. whereas for a 'normal' tail it's left and down [=nose up].
Answer: Loss of aerodynamic lift of the horizontal tailplane (downward force) causes the aircraft to pitch down.
A disruption of airflow over the low pressure side of an airfoil has a greater effect on the airfoil's ability to create lift than a similar air flow disruption to the high pressure side of an airfoil.
On a conventional tail, the wind shadow of the vertical stab affects the high pressure side of the horizontal tailplane (the top surface) which is not as aerodynamically sensitive.
On a t-tail, the wind shadow of the vertical stab affects the low pressure side (lower surface) of the horizontal tailplane which is the aerodynamically sensitive side causing a greater loss of effectivity of the tailplane.
Comment: What disruption? If the effect shows up in potential flow codes, there is no separation involved. The effects on the windward side should compensate for those on the leeward side of the vertical, so in total the effects should cancel each other. And the whole thing happens also at higher AoA when the tail creates positive lift. I'm not convinced.
Comment: What disruption?!? you slip the aircraft, block the flow over the tailplane with the vertical stab and you say "what disruption?"
Comment: This is a rather drastical description for sideslip. The effect is linear, growing with sideslip angle well before any separation occurs. Again, it shows up in fully linear potential flow. If you still think this involves "disruptions", please reconsider.
Comment: Basically you are having a vertical fin that is lifting so one side of the fin has low pressure and the other has high pressure. So, there is compression in one side of the fin affecting expansion on the horizontal plane and you have expansion of the vertical fin affecting also expansion on the horizontal fin. The "distortion" or the "effect" of compresion over expansion is bigger of the effect of expansion over expansion. Netly there is lower downforce on the horizontal plain leading to pitch down.
Answer: From the test pilot notes of the F-104: the centre of pressure changes with vertical position of the tail. One of the reasons for implementing the T-tail on the F-104 was to create a more desirable sideslip-roll coupling, however the upward shift in centre of pressure also creates a nose-down pitching moment with sideslip.
Comment: Wouldn't the pressure on one side be balanced by an equal amount of suction on the leeward side? The pressure and suction on the vertical add up, resulting in a strong sideslip-induced rolling moment, but both should cancel on the horizontal tail, so the pitching moment is still a mystery to me. Also, the pictures imply a nose-up pitching moment change in case of a low tail in sideslip, but that does not occur. For a low tail, suction and pressure do balance, after all.


Why is a pop filter necessary?

Question: I'm doing recordings for YouTube videos and would like to know whether a pop filter is really necessary. I, of course, care about audio quality, but I'm on a tight budget. Do I really need one? I'll most likely just be doing commentaries, not singing.
Answer: You need a pop filter if the mic is in a direct line in front of your mouth - whether you buy one, or stretch a piece of material over a frame in front, put a sock over it, whatever.
You don't need one if the mic is off to one side, so you can never breathe or 'pop' directly into it.
This would require lifting the high frequencies to compensate; so would depend on the room noise & acoustics.
Answer: It's worth noting that many mics actually have a pop filter built-in, in particular live vocal mics such as the SM58. Such filters generally don't work as good as a proper external lollipop-screen, meaning they take away more treble. (The main difference is, foam absorbs more sound than light fabric.) But for speech, this isn't actually such a big deal: most important is a distict midrange. Sure, nothing will sound as clear, full & transparent as a large-diaphragm plus pop screen, but if intelligibility is more important than sound-sweetness then such a dynamic mic might be a better budget-solution than a condenser you have to place further away, or some questionable pop-removal hack.
(However for music recording, I would always prefer condensers, no matter what it takes: in fact I still use my Behringer B1 with a sock over a frame made of bass-strings sometimes, when I've run out of mics for backing voices. It sounds reasonably good, although for a YouTube video the look would be hardly acceptable...)
Comment: +1 & definitely on the large diaphragm condensers with pop shield. Mine is the foot from a pair of tights stretched over a mangled coat hanger… I made in about 1983 ;)
Answer: They're not strictly necessary, but they're certainly preferable. But that doesn't mean you need to buy an actual pop filter! You can easily slip a sock or a cotton shirt over your mic and it'll have close-ish to the same effect.
Answer: Pop filters are necessary for anything voice related. It helps with sounds such as 'P' and 'B'; This is called plosives. Plosives is extra air going onto the microphone causeing a very annoying heavy breath/bass sound. If you care about audio quality and you want to be great at what you do, get a pop filter. You will not be disappointed.
Answer: For you they are not really necessary since you are just talking.
FWIW they are a nice way to keep dust, spit and other things off the mic element, which helps extend its life time. That being said mics like a SM58 have a built in one so another is not really needed. If you are using a mic with an element you can see I would put one on for protection just to be safe.
They are not that big of an expense and can usually be had for a few bucks if you are on a cheap budget. They may save you from buying a new mic down the line as well.
Comment: If anything it is more needed for talking since there won't be anything else to mask air pressure hitting the mic.  Singing tends to be more flowing and smooth where as speaking is often more punchy.

Why is a pop filter necessary?


How can I connect 2 laptops using bluetooth of ubuntu 11.10 & transfer files?

Question: I have used "hcitool scan" command but it can'nt find any address of other laptops but can detect phones . How can i connect 2 laptops ?
Answer: Make sure the other laptop is visible. Use the gnome or unity UI or if you don't have a desktop refer to this link- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1530253.
You can also make an adhoc network and then share the files.


What's the difference between chord inversions, open voiced triads and drop 2 chords on guitar?

Question: For guitar, I'm having a hard time trying to understand the difference between chord inversions, open voiced triads and drop 2 chords.. currently I'm trying to study the essential chords in Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry (1971) but the chords are just there without much explanation so I'm lost.
Answer: Chord inversion simply refers to which note is in the bass (i.e., the lowest note).  We start in root position with the root in the bass: for a C major chord, C is the lowest note.  If we imagine a simple C-E-G triad, then we can "invert" the chord by moving the C up an octave, getting E-G-C, with E (the third) in the bass.  This is first inversion.  We do this again to get G (the fifth) in the bass for 2nd inversion.  Seventh chords have a third inversion.  It doesn't have to be a block chord like this--any C major chord with the lowest note of E is in first inversion.
Open vs. closed voicing is how far apart the notes are.  Closed voicing is like what I described above--the notes are as close together as possible.  An example of an open voicing would be C-G-E, with intervals of a fifth and a sixth between the notes.
Drop 2 chords are a type of open voicing commonly used in finger style guitar.  Notes are fretted on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th strings, and the 2nd string is "dropped" from the voicing.  It leads to very convenient and effective jazz voicings.
Comment: I'm afraid your explanation of drop 2 voicings is wrong. They have nothing to do with fingerstyle guitar, and they're actually independent of the instrument. The "2" does not refer to the second string. Drop 2 voicings on the guitar (they can be played on any instrument) actually involve 4 adjacent strings. The "2" refers to the second note from the top which is dropped by one octave. So you take a close voicing, drop the second note from the top by one octave and you get a drop 2 voicing. E.g., G-B-C-E is a close voicing of a Cmaj7 chord; the associated drop 2 voicing is C-G-B-E.
Comment: So there are 4 ways to play a seventh chord on every set of adjacent 4 strings, that would give a total of 12 forms.. So I can make drop 2 voicing out of every form of the 12?
Comment: @Jason - sets of 4 adjacent strings: 6543, 5432, 4321. Drop 2 gives 431, so a note will have to be omitted from a full dom.7th chord. This is usually note 5. Thus the 7th chord will be voiced 1-3-b7, or 3-b7-1, or b7-1-3.
Answer: I agree with @MattPutnam's answer as far as chord inversions and close/open voicings are concerned, but I'd like to add an explanation of what drop voicings are.
First of all, there are no "drop 2 chords", there are only drop 2 voicings of chords. The concept of drop voicings is often applied to four part chords. A drop voicing is obtained by dropping one note of a close voicing by one octave. In a drop 2 voicing, the second note from the top is dropped by one octave. You also have drop 3 voicings, and drop 2-and-4 voicings. Drop 2 and drop 3 voicings are very common on the guitar because they can be played very easily (unlike most close voicings of four part chords).
As an example, take a Cmaj7 chord. One close voicing is (from low to high) C-E-G-B. You get a drop 2 voicing by dropping the second note from the top (the G) by one octave: G-C-E-B. On the guitar, this voicing is most easily played on four adjacent strings. Either on the top 4 strings:
X X 5 5 5 7
or on the middle four strings:
X 10 10 9 12 X
(of course it can also be played on the lowest four strings, but this is less commonly done).
The drop 3 voicing of the same original close voicing would be E-C-G-B (because the third note from the top is dropped by on octave). Drop 3 voicings on the guitar are usually played on non-adjacent strings. The bass note is either played on the low E or on the A string, and the other notes are played on 3 adjacent strings, either on D-G-B (if the bass note is on the low E string), or on G-B-E (if the bass note is on the A string):
X 7 X 5 8 7
12 X 10 12 12 X
Comment: Excellent answer...I would just note that in jazz arranging, drop-2 and drop-4 voicings are pretty common, and drop-3 voicings are much less so.  The reason for doing a drop voicing is to open up the spacing/stacking, giving more "air" or "openness" to the sound, as contrasted to tight cluster voicings that are dense and complex.
Comment: WHAT ABOUT INVERSIONS NOW WITH THE DROP CHORDS?
Comment: @marshalcraft: You might want to formulate a new question and wait for answers. I don't think this can be explained in any useful way in a comment.
Comment: I did not want to ask question to have said that it already exists.


Heroku console maximum runtime

Question: I want to run a several hour process over the a heroku run console connection. Is there a maximum runtime or log length that I should be concerned about? Would a rake task be better suited, or does it make no difference as the connection is the same?
Thanks
Answer: Heroku got back to me with the answer: 1 hour time limit on all heroku run items.
Answer: I don't know of any hard limit, but in general if you're running a long process in a remote console it's best to detach the process somehow, so the process won't be terminated if there is a connection issue.  This would also get around any actual limit in place.  Use screen if it is available on Heroku dynos, or else look into how to detach (not just background) processes in your shell.

Heroku console maximum runtime


To determine the novelty of the idea

Question: I'm trying to build a hexapod with several new capabilities and all the features used are not my original creation but the idea of combining them together to form a bot is my idea, and there is no bot that can do what mine does (as far as I researched). So will this be considered as novelty or just some new addon to the existing technology???
Answer: As some other answers have suggested, there are two major requirements that are relevant to your question. The two requiresments are: novelty and nonobviousness. (Nonobviousness is a U.S. term; in Europe this is referred to as inventive step.) To earn a patent, your invention must pass both tests. In your case, the invention passes the test of novelty because there is no single publication or no single device that describes/possesses every single feature of your invention.
Now let's consider the test of nonbviousness. Let's say your invention consists of components A, B, C, and D. The Patent Office finds a prior patent ("patent 1") that describes A and B together. They also find an earlier patent ("patent 2") that describes C and D together. If they get lucky, they'll find a third prior patent ("patent 3") that suggests combining B and C (or A & C, or A, B, & D, etc.). On the basis of patents 1, 2, and 3, the Patent Office will reject your patent application for being an obvious invention.
So what makes an invention obvious? All of the components making up the invention have been described in the prior patents, and there's a known reason to combine them together. But even if the Patent Office never finds Patent 3 (which suggests the combination), the Patent Office can still reject your application and make this argument that the invention is obvious. In place of Patent 3, the Patent Office can simply assert (and often does) that "it would be obvious for someone with an ordinary level of skill in this field to combine Patent 1 with Patent 2 because doing so would have an obvious benefit."
As a general rule, combatting nonobviousness rejections can be difficult, but they're certainly not impossible to overcome. There are many ways to approach this hurdle: you can defeat a nonobviousness rejection by showing that experts taught away from / discouraged the combination, by showing that the combination had an unexpected result, or by having an expert in the field submit an affidavit stating on record that it wouldn't have been obvious to combine Patents 1 & 2, etc. Consulting a patent attorney, patent agent, or patent expert is the best approach. The particular strategy worth pursuing depends on the facts of the case, and it's hard to be more specific than this without detailed information about the invention.
You do have something that might be beneficial as you and your attorney formulate a strategy: you have unique functionality. In most cases, unique functionality is not by itself enough to earn a patent. For example, if I discover that chairs can be used as fuel for nuclear fusion, then that's great, but it doesn't mean I'm allowed to go patent a chair. A new use or functionality for a device does not make an old device eligible for patent protection. But depending on the details, a patent agent/attorney might be able to write that unique functionality into the application as a structural feature (or tie it closely to a structural feature), which could improve your chances of earning a patent. This could be something to discuss with your patent agent or attorney.
In summary, the answer to your question depends on the specific facts of your case, but in general, attorneys do have a variety of ways to overcome obviousness.

I am no expert, and this response is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney or legal expert to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Laws can differ dramatically from country to country, state to state, and technology field to technology field.
Answer: If the all the characteristics of your invention are not found in one prior art single document then your invention is considered new. However, it might not be considered inventive if the combination of all these characteristics  would be considered something straightforward to the skilled man in that technology area. As you might suspect this has to be seen on a case to case basis whether or not the combination of all the characteristics of your invention would be arise naturally when comparing documents from the know prior art. You can check the site of the USPTO or the EPO for more details on this matter.
Answer: Determining whether or not an innovation is novel is usually based on a novelty search.  This means performing a comprehensive search of the prior art, which includes not only existing products, but also patents, patent applications, and other published literature.
Many patents and applications never result in an actual product, so there may be prior art out there that describes your innovation without the actual robot ever being constructed.
Typically, combining known elements together is challenging to patent, unless there is a non-obvious inventive step required to combine them, or the combination yields some sort of unexpected result.
Comment: +1 Last sentence says it all

To determine the novelty of the idea


Why are Theo and Tabitha Galavan of different skin color?

Question: From the TV series Gotham, we know that Theo and Tabitha Galavan are brother and sister. But how can they be siblings when their skin color is so different?
Is there an explanation provided somewhere?
Comment: Who ever said they were _biological_ siblings?
Comment: @Tim - And actually, real biological siblings CAN have completely different skin tones. It's rare, but happens.
Comment: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3461832/First-identical-twins-different-skin-colour-born-UK.html
Answer: It is possible for siblings to have widely different genes including genes for appearance.
Suppose that a black person and a blonde Scandinavian have children.  Their children are likely to took mostly black because darker hair, skin, and eye colors are usually dominant over lighter colors.  But those children may have recessive genes for lighter colors.
Suppose that another black person and another blonde Scandinavian have children, that also look mainly black but may have recessive genes for lighter coloration.
Remember that each person has two sets of chromosomes, one set from the farther and one set from the mother. When that person's body makes reproductive cells, the chromosomes are mixed up to one single set of genes, some from the mother and some from the father.  And each single reproductive cell, egg or sperm, has a separate random mix of chromosomes.
And when a sperm cell fertilizes an egg cell the fertilized cell now has two sets of chromosomes, one from the father and one from the mother.
So if a child from one mixed relationship and a child from the other mixed relationship have children, about one quarter will have "black" hair color genes, two quarters will have mixed hair color genes, and one quarter will have blonde hair color genes.  And the same proportion for various other genes including other appearance genes.
So it would be perfectly possible for the two mixed race parents to have at least one child who looked black and at least one child who looks blonde, blue eyed, and pale skinned.  The more children they have, the more likely they are to have at least one of each of the extremes of appearance.
Thus it is possible for full or half siblings to have different racial appearances.
in the Disney TV series Pair of Kings 2010 to 2013 the protagonists were fraternal twins, one who looked "black" and one who looked "white".  No doubt their parents were both of mixed race.
And of course adopted siblings don't have to be of the same race.
There is even a phenomenon called superfecundation, where fraternal (not identical) twins have different fathers, which has ocassionally happened among humans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfecundation1
I remember a case in Germany where a women who had affairs with American servicemen gave birth to fraternal twins, one "white", one "black".
Answer: Maybe Tabatha is half white. They could be half siblings. They could have the same white father but different mothers. Tabatha's mom could be black.
Comment: Thank you for assisting the community. Ideas for framing an answer may include describing your sources along with a synopsis of what they said, and/or adding links to the resources and visuals you've found. I hope you enjoy participating.


Should all charred wood be replaced in a home fire restoration?

Question: My home was struck by ligtning and caught fire via the satcable going into the home; the vapour barrier became ablaze and started the home on fire;the fire company arrived and put the fire out. the structure that contained the wall insulation of now charred 2x4's was painted and vapour barriered by insurance. Is this legal as in my eyes I see this as crazy?
Answer: You would need to have an independent inspector (someone who does not do fire renovation) come out and look at it. If the wood is solid, then the insurance company did indeed go above and beyond by painting it with the "paint" product to seal in the smoke smell and the potential carcinogens. Really, if there was no true structural damage, wood didn't need to be replaced.
Disclaimer: I'm just some guy on the internet. Consult a qualified professional or your lawyer. I am neither.
Answer: It's really difficult for an outsider on the internet to answer this - we have no idea about the extent of the damage.  The legality of it can only be properly answered by a lawyer working in your jurisdiction, which I am not.
From an insurance companies point of view, obviously they are not in the business of writing huge checks for no reason so they will try to minimize how much they pay out.  That being said, if they fixed this incorrectly and the wall then failed causing even more damage, they would be on the hook to pay for the repair again, as well as the incidentals (hotel, etc.).  Considering this, their likely route is to spend as little as possible to fix it in a manner that minimizes long-term costs to them.  Lucky for you, this likely means they will do it safely.
If you have any doubts you should seek the opinion of an structural engineer and/or building inspector.  If they come back and say its unsafe or illegal, at least you will have proper documentation to fight the insurance company with.


Differentiate in ItemUpdated (ER) if file was edited or overwritted

Question: I've an ItemUpdated Event Receiver, and I need to make different operations depending if the file was updated throw UI or overwritted. Is there any internal field that reflects this 2 different behaviors or any other way to go?
Answer: in the ItemUpdating ER the value properties.AfterProperties["vti_contenttag"] is null when the doc is added, overwritting another one.
This could be a way to go, not the best for sure, but still a working solution...
Answer: I dont think there is a seperate flag for this, maybe you can use BeforeProperties and AfterProperties to achieve some workaround, like checking if only the version is increased and no other field has changed, you can consider this case as overwritten, not fullprrof not the best way but maybe one of the solutions


Preventing use of low gears while training

Question: I'd like to avoid using my two lowest gears while training for a hard and hilly cyclosportive. I am able to resist, but nevertheless do occasionally make a mistake. Is there anything I can do to safely physically prevent myself from using those two low cogs?
Comment: Just don't. Using too long gears on climbs can be counter-productive to your training and has little or no benefits.
Comment: @WaltoSalonen It seems the asker is trying to train for a ride that has more difficult hills than the ones available where they live. Riding in higher gears is often recommended in this sort of situation; indeed, I'm not sure I've seen anything else recommended. What do dyou suggest instead?
Comment: Note that using a harder gear may result in knee damage and other physical problems.
Comment: I have added these two cogs (well, a new cassette). I have ridden with the older cogs for years. Please treat this as a mechanical question.
Comment: @user2023370 People who think it's a bad idea aren't going to tell you how to do it. And, if somebody believes that it's a bad idea, "Don't do that -- it's a bad idea because XYZ" is a perfectly valid response. You might not care what they think but your question will be found by others who might be considering doing something similar.
Answer: You can probably turn the limit screw far enough in to prevent usage of at least the largest cog. Maybe even the second largest cog.
You could also stay on the larger chainring. Depending on your specific cassette and chainrings it's roughly equal to not using your three largest cogs.
All that being said, in the end cycling is about power output. Using hard gears doesn't automatically make you faster. Power is force (or more precisely torque) multiplied with rotational speed. Easier gears may allow you to pedal faster, resulting in the same power output over – possibly – a longer duration.
Comment: I think the point is that the asker is training for a ride with steep hills that will require high torque through the pedals even in their lowest gear. They want to practice applying that kind of torque while riding up hill but there aren't any steep-enough hills near where they live. The goal isn't to get up the local hills faster -- it's to get used to the stresses of riding up the steeper hills in the event.
Comment: Max torque throughout the pedal stroke is roughly twice average torque, and max is still lower than what one typically experiences while walking up stairs. In most cases, the adaptation the rider should focus on is as @Michael says: work on developing power no matter whether at high torque or low, whether at high cadence or low.
Comment: Staying in the larger chainring rubs on the changer, and it is still a little high. I like the limit screw idea - that's a quick change I can give that a try.
Answer: If you need to simulate riding steeper hills than you can train on, you can just use a cassette that doesn't have the lower gears.
For example, if your bicycle has an 11-28 cassette, replace it with an 11-25.
Also get a chain whip, a cassette lockring tool, and do the swap yourself.  This really isn't the kind of maintenance you need to pay someone to do - it's

take rear wheel off (which you should know how to do because you have to be able to address a flat tire while riding)
unscrew lock ring
remove cassette

Literally - that's all that removing a cassette consists of.  Given you'll have to swap the cassette back for the actual cyclosportive itself, you really don't want to pay for that work.
You will want to have someplace to put the dirty cassette when you're not using it - a plastic freezer-type bag works well.  You can even label it with the cassette specs (for example "10-speed, 11-28").  Also have a relatively long plastic zip tie handy when you remove the cassette so you can immediately zip-tie it together in the proper order before you put it in the plastic bag.
Comment: Or have a second rear wheel with different cassette (optionally also different tires) for a quick swap. Note that the rear derailleur may need adjustment after swapping the wheel or cassette.
Comment: Thanks. This is a fair suggestion, but I would rather leave things as they are in favour of this. Maybe I can get better at counting my gear changes :)