Relationship between chord progression of backing track and scale of solo

Question: I've started improvising guitar solos over some backing tracks like this one, and the videos always start by stating the chord progression and then saying which scale you can solo in for it to sound good with the backing track. What I can't figure out is: what is the logic that lets you get from the chord progression of the backing track and to the scale of the solo, and vice versa? For example, if I have the chord progression Am-C-E-F, what pentatonic scales could I use to solo on top of it.
Answer: TL;DR: Find the home note and home chord.
Do not play random notes from a single scale
First of all, two bad ideas you should try to get rid of:

Bad idea #1: Select notes from a scale randomly.

Bad idea #2: Use one single scale for the whole song regardless of what's happening in the backing chords.

The scale you should think about often changes with the backing chord progression throughout the song. In your example progression Am-C-E-F, during the E chord you can play a G♯ note and it will create a certain effect, but over the F chord you'll most probably want to avoid G♯ except as a short passing note, because it will conflict with the harmony. Over E it will support the harmony, and over F it will fight against it! Know your chord tones.
Then to the actual question: how to get a scale. It's actually quite simple.
Find the default reference scale
Ask yourself these two questions:

Question 1: What is the home note, i.e. tonic? What is the note that the song is centered on and feels like a home base, and a natural ending for the song. In your example, I think it's A. (could be C as well)
Question 2: What is the home chord, is it a major or minor chord? In your example, I think it's A minor. (might be C major)

If you know these two, you get your basic, normal, regular, default scale.

If your home note is A and the home chord is a minor, i.e. A minor, then your basic reference scale is A natural minor. Notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, G

If your home note is C and the home chord is C major, then your basic reference scale is C major. Notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B

It is immensely beneficial to see this as the normal default situation. The vast majority of Western music culture assumes a diatonic scale on the home note as the default reference. In music notation, the default scale is indicated by a key signature, and deviations from it are marked with accidentals.

Knowing the basic reference scale, you know the set of diatonic chords derived from that scale.
If your scale is A natural minor, the basic diatonic triad chords are: Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, G. If your scale is C major, the basic diatonic triad chords are: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim. (i.e. all the same chords, because A minor and C major have the same key signature!)
Find deviations from the default scale in the chords
Look at the chord progression and see if there are any chords outside the default set of diatonic chords. In your example there is the E major chord, which has the special G♯ note. Your diatonic notes are C, D, E, F, G, A, B. No accidentals i.e. sharps (♯) or flats (♭) in those note names, but G♯ has a sharp, so it's a special case you have to take into account.
Here I've written out the chords of your example progression. As you can see, on the E major chord there's a G sharp note that needs to be specially marked, because it's a deviation from the default scale.

Let's take another example. Suppose it's in Am i.e. A is the home note and Am is the home chord. Our example progression is: Am - C - D - F - Dm - Em - D - Am. You see D major chords ... a D major has an F♯ note, which is not diatonic in your home scale A natural minor! So, whenever the D major chord is playing, you'll know that you have to change your scale. You could change it in other places as well, but at least over the D major chords, an F natural (without ♯) note will probably fight against the backing chords. If you want, you can see the D major as fitting the A Dorian scale, but you can also see it as A natural minor but with the F temporarily sharpened.
What about the pentatonic scales?
Pentatonic scales are used for two reasons. (1) they can sound bluesy and jazzy, and (2) you can "cheat" a little by restricting your playing to harmonically more ambiguous notes, and thus avoid having to know what's happening in the backing chords. And if someone says you're cheating, you can always say you do it because of the bluesy sound, not because it's easier.
In your example progression, you can play notes from the A minor pentatonic scale (A, C, D, E, G) and quite well even a G natural on the E major, and it will sound bluesy (because then there are both a minor and major third for the E chord, which is one of the basic blues tricks). Furthermore, you avoid playing the F and B notes, which can be harmonically sensitive and clash with the backing chords. Just like the G♯ can clash.
Finding the appropriate cheat code scale is easy:

if the key is X minor, then you use the X minor pentatonic scale
if the key is X major, then you use the X major pentatonic scale

The minor and major pentatonic scales actually have the same notes. In your example, they would be A minor pentatonic, or C major pentatonic. If your goal in music is bad ideas #1 and #2, then either scale will get you going.
Comment: From what I've read, "bad idea #1" applied to a major scale is pretty much *the* definition of pandiatonicism.
Comment: @Dekkadeci Can you give some examples for that meaning of pandiatonic? I checked some videos from Youtube returned by a search for "pandiatonic", and none of them seemed to be random at all. What I found had chords and melody lines freely floating between different modal feelings, but at each given moment there was some modal feeling. Definitely not playing random notes over a functional chord progression. The OP here is asking about playing over an existing chord progression.
Comment: I am going with the definition of pandiatonicism in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandiatonicism.
Comment: @Dekkadeci That definition isn't talking about playing random notes over a regular functional chord progression. If you have an actual example piece that supports your interpretation of the definition, please post.
Answer: It's probably more useful to know why to use which, rather than which to use.
As a basic, with Am and C in the sequence, Am pent. and C maj. pent would be a good choice. As it happens, they're exactly the same notes! The pents work well, as they leave out the two notes which can be awkward to fit in: the 4 and 7 of maj. pent., or the 2 and 6 of min. pent.
The E and F are slightly more problematic, as they are one semitone apart, meaning there won't be many common notes. In fact, there's E, and A, and that's it !
So, one safe bet would be to use E maj. pent over E, and F maj. pent. over F. No great surprise there!
Now let's look at common notes between Am pent. and E maj. pent. A and E again. However, if a Blues tinge is needed, there's D (m7 of E) and G (m3 of E) that are available in Am pent. I'll let you work out what's common between Am pent. and F maj. pent!
We could go deeper, and say that just because a note isn't in an appropriate scale doesn't mean it can't be used. All twelve notes are available (and those 'in the cracks' for guitarists and sax players for a start), but you specifically ask about pents. And while some notes from one scale aren't oficially usable (!) they will add some colour to anyone's playing - used intelligently.
And - don't think of scales as much as a bank of notes from a scale. A lot of players fall into that trap, and their playing consequently sounds scalar.
Comment: I especially like what you've said in your last paragraph. So often us guitarists, particularly early in our learning, see scales as patterns/shapes applied to different positions on the fretboard. So when we go from one scale to another, we tend to completely abandon the first and shift entirely to the next. This can be daunting, physically inefficient, and lacks musicality. By parsing out the scales' uncommon notes, and establishing a "bank" of common ones, options are simplified, note changes more efficient, and we better play what our ears like to hear, not where our hands feel safe to go.
Answer: A pentatonic scale is just a normal 7-note one with the two 'wrong' ones taken out.   What we used to call the 'avoid notes'.  But restricting yourself to those 5 notes just means you'll play something that doesn't sound wrong, not something interesting.
Look at all the available notes (and that's ALL of them!) and think what their place would be over a C major chord.    Obviously C, E and G won't jar.   D and A are fairly neutral, there's no place they particularly want to go.   But F and B are far from neutral - F has a strong tendency to move to E, B to C.   So, if you want to emphasise the C major chord, stick primarily to C, E and G, also allow D and A,  (Hey! We've found that pentatonic scale!) avoid F and B.   (Another way to look at it is to avoid notes a semitone away from a chord note.  Same result.)
But don't just run up and down those 5 inoffensive notes.  Hit one of the 'wrong' ones just for the pleasure of resolving it to a 'right' one.  (Or don't - leave it hanging!)


What's the difference between apt-get and aptitude?

Question: I don't get why there are two different programs in a minimal install to install software. Don't they do the same thing? Is there a big difference? I have read everywhere to use aptitude over apt-get but I still don't know the difference
Answer: aptitude is a wrapper for dpkg just like apt-get/apt-cache, but it is a one-stop-shop tool for searching/installing/removing/querying.
A few examples that apt might not supply:
$ aptitude why libc6
i   w64codecs Depends libc6 (>= 2.3.2)
$ aptitude why-not libc6
Unable to find a reason to remove libc6.

$ aptitude show libc6
Package: libc6
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 2.9-4ubuntu6
Priority: required
Section: libs
Maintainer: Ubuntu Core developers <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Uncompressed Size: 12.1M
Depends: libgcc1, findutils (>= 4.4.0-2ubuntu2)
Suggests: locales, glibc-doc
Conflicts: libterm-readline-gnu-perl (< 1.15-2),
tzdata (< 2007k-1), tzdata-etch, nscd (< 2.9)
Replaces: belocs-locales-bin
Provides: glibc-2.9-1
Description: GNU C Library: Shared libraries
 Contains the standard libraries that are used by nearly all programs
 on the system. This package includes shared versions of the standard
 C library and the standard math library, as well as many others.

Comment: not to mention:
$ aptitude changelog bash
Comment: Other tricks that `aptitude` knows that even latest `apt` cannot do: `aptitude search '~i linux'` searches for packages with `linux` in name or description that are installed; `aptitude search '~o'` lists obsolete packages (installed packages that are no longer provided by any repository); `aptitude search '!~M ~i'` shows packages that are not marked as automatically installed; `aptitude search '~i lib.*-dev'` shows installed development libraries and you can replace `search` with `markauto` or `unmarkauto` to mark these packages as automatically or manually installed.
Answer: mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -h | tail -n 1
              This aptitude does not have Super Cow Powers.
mikeage@linode ~$ apt-get -h | tail -n 1
                   This APT has Super Cow Powers.
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude moo
    There are no Easter Eggs in this program.
mikeage@linode ~$ apt-get moo
         (__)
         (oo)
   /------\/
  / |    ||
 *  /\---/\
    ~~   ~~
...."Have you mooed today?"...
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -v moo
There really are no Easter Eggs in this program.
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -vv moo
Didn't I already tell you that there are no Easter Eggs in this program?
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -vvv moo
Stop it!
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -vvvv moo
Okay, okay, if I give you an Easter Egg, will you go away?
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -vvvvv moo
All right, you win.

                               /----\
                       -------/      \
                      /               \
                     /                |
   -----------------/                  --------\
   ----------------------------------------------
mikeage@linode ~$ aptitude -vvvvvv moo
What is it?  It's an elephant being eaten by a snake, of course.

Answer: The official tool that is currently used within the Debian installer and recommended in the release notes is aptitude.
Aptitude offers a curses interface (when run without any parameter) and a command line interface that can do almost everything that apt-cache/apt-get does. It also has a better dependency resolver that let you browse between multiple solutions. Even when using the command line version, you can interact with the proposed solution and give supplementary orders or hints (like installing or removing a package that is recommended by another one).
But aptitude is based on the libapt library (it's not a direct wrapper of dpkg) and as such it depends on the apt package so you can't have aptitude installed without apt-get (which is also in the apt package).
$ dpkg --status aptitude| grep Depends
Depends: libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6-4.7, [...]
$ dpkg --status apt|grep Provides
Provides: libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6-4.7
$ dpkg --search /usr/lib/libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6.so.4.7 /usr/bin/apt-get
apt: /usr/lib/libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6.so.4.7
apt: /usr/bin/apt-get

To learn more on how apt/dpkg/aptitude interact you can check the diagram made by Daniel Burrows (aptitude's main author). Another diagram presents the information stored by the various package management tools: A map of the apt and dpkg state files.
You can also read my article apt-get, aptitude, … pick the right package manager for you
Answer: aptitude remembers which packages you deliberately installed and which have been automatically installed to satisfy dependencies. Upon removal of a package aptitude will remove those automatically installed packages to keep your system tidy. apt-get isn't that smart.
aptitude will quickly become an indispensable tool once you use different repositories with different versions of a package. Imagine you are working with backports.org or unofficial repositories like debian-multimedia.org. Then aptitude will show (at the bottom of the details page of a certain package) the available version number and allow you to select one.
If you get into a situation where programs conflict due to such usage of unofficial repositories you will see a "Broken: ..." display on the top. You can type l~b (limit / flag / broken) and just get a list of packages that conflict with each other. Makes it much easier to resolve the conflict manually.
Furthermore you can use "l" to limit the package list. Imagine you are looking for packages that start with "openoffice" then press "l" and type "^openoffice" (it's a regular expression) and you will see just those packages. Choose a "flat package list" from the menu and you will get reach your goal quickly.
The complete handbook is very large, offering you many more filters and possibilities. Even if you don't know them aptitude is a handy replacement for apt-get and you can use it with common parameters like:
aptitude install ... (install or upgrade a package)
aptitude remove ... (remove the binary portions of a package but preserve your /etc configuration)
aptitude purge ... (remove the package completely including your configuration)

Comment: Actually, as of Lenny, apt-get also tracks packages installed only as dependencies of something you explicitly asked for. I use aptitude myself, but `apt-get autoremove` now removes packages that were installed as dependencies of a package that has since been removed.
Comment: Nowdays you can also use just `apt` and it can do a mixture of stuff that `apt-get` and `apt-cache` used to do. For example, `apt search foo` will list packages that contain `foo` in name or description. `apt install foo` will install package called `foo` if available and `apt policy foo` will list currently installed version and all available versions of package `foo`.
Comment: The `aptitude` can still do more than `apt` but plain `apt` is often much faster.
Answer: Aside from providing a pretty console UI when you run aptitude with no arguments, it combines the various apt-* commands (and dselect) into one utility..
To search for a package and install it, using apt-get:
apt-cache search somepkg
apt-get install somepkg

..but with aptitude it's the same command:
aptitude search somepkg
aptitude install somepkg

aptitude does have some additional features, like aptitude changelog somepkg and things like holding packages (to stop them being upgraded) - nothing you couldn't achieve via other commands/methods, it's just more unified and nice to use.
Comment: too bad it does not have an "apt-cache policy" equivalent.
Answer: as you know when you install a package if it needs other packages (dependencies) they will be downloaded and installed too. aptitude tracks, at the moment of install, the packages that come with the installed one so when you remove the latter aptitude will ask you for the removal of the other (now unused) "orphaned" dependencies. apt-get will keep them in your system silently if you remove the "main" package.
it looks like the latest versions of apt-get has a similar functionality:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/aptitude
Comment: `aptitude` or `apt` does not in fact keep list of packages that were installed as dependencies for any given package. It simply tracks if a package was installed manually or automatically. And if a package has been marked as automatically installed and no other package Depends or Recommends it, it will be removed with `apt autoremove` or `aptitude dist-upgrade`.
Answer: The biggest difference is that aptitude is designed to be interactive where the apt tools are better suited for scripting work.  You can use the latter, i.e. the apt tools, interactively just fine with a lot more effort to get the same results that aptitude provides.  If you had to settle on just one tool or the other for some reason then you need to decide how much effort you want to put into your package management.
Answer: One of the serious advantages of aptitude is its ability to calculate dependencies. Firstly it can handle complicated inter-dependencies without intervention by yourself, which often apt-get fails on. But if you don't like the solution it has presented you (and it will score its own solution to demonstrate how good it thinks it is), you can ask it to go away and come up with another solution to resolve the conflict.
It really does do some awesome package management.
Answer: The biggest difference is: type "aptitude" without any parameters.
It gives you a Text based user interface, you can use keybord to search/navigate etc. see information on dependencies, reverse dependencies, all available versions of a package, and you can do any package manager operation on them from that screen.
You can press "g" to review the changes, modify the package additions and removals if necessary, and apply all pending operations.
A great visual way of package management over an ssh connection or plain old terminal.


Agency versus story

Question: What are good ways to reconcile a desire to allow the user to have freedom of choice and have their choices affect the world, with the desire to be able to have a story without the player 'ruining' it?
Answer: One relatively easy pattern I've seen several games use to a varying degree of success is to have the player change something about themselves instead of something about the world.  Red Dead Redemption is a good recent example of this.  Basically the idea is that you try to structure your player's goals in a way that they can choose to do "good" vs. "evil".  The end result is mostly the same (or if it's different the difference doesn't affect much outside of the little area of the world).
The way the player feels like the world is changing is then solely due to the semi-emergent behavior of the NPCs reacting to the player given his notoriety.  You set up your NPCs to say random things to the player and have good and evil player chit-chat banks.  You might even go so far as to start structuring the major quests' wording depending on how good/evil the character is.  Maybe you set up some kind of ancillary "faction" system where if the player starts down one path they can reinforce it with a separate (but smaller and therefore more maintainable) set of quests to accomplish.
Of course it doesn't have to be good/evil.  You could do stealth/action, or whatever kind of choice dichotomy you set up for your player.
Comment: IMO, most of this describes Fable to a tee.
Comment: This can be dangerous narrative-wise though since it can lead to the main character feeling disjointed from the story or the actions they take in scripted events or cutscenes seeming counter-intuitive to the character they've built. I've read about this being an issue in Red Dead Redemption specifically. Not saying that this is inevitable just something one may want to look out for.
Answer: Why is linear vs. nonlinear narrative something that has to be "reconciled"?
Some games tell great stories. The two most oft-cited memorable moments, the death of Aerith and the death of Floyd, were both completely out of the player's control and happened in non-interactive cutscenes (or equivalent). Nothing wrong with this.
Some games let the player tell their own stories. The Sims series takes this to a rather extreme level, and the series has done quite well for itself, thankyouverymuch. Sure, a lot of the stuff players make is worthless... Sturgeon's Law and all that... but the flip side is that you've got a few real gems in there from really creative players, expressing things that just couldn't be done in a linear game.
Some games split the difference, giving the player a choice of several paths or stories, so you can think of this less as something where each game lies along a continuum with "fixed, hand-designed experience" on one end and "player-driven sandbox" on the other. Some players prefer one, or the other, or anything in between. So I think the real question here is: what kind of game do you want to make along this continuum, and how do you make it the best game you can?
Answer: Writing branching story-lines is effective but time consuming and doesn't account for player autonomy to do random things. Players will enjoy the ability to change the story but will still know they are on a planned path. Mass Effect is a good example of this.
Separate story elements from player autonomy like Red Dead Redemption as Tetrad pointed out. This makes it difficult to allow players to change the story and is very "Theme Park" design.
Honestly playing a game where you could ruin the story would actually be kind of fun, but you would have to have an appropriate response from the game for doing that though.
It all comes down to how well you plan out your story.
EDIT
Game Career Guide just released this article on Nonlinear Narrative.
Answer: Out of all the "systems" I've seen, new and old, implemented in games, I think Morrowind got very close to achieving a solid balance of freedom coupled with a reason to play the game.
That is, an extensive, entertaining, epic main-quest and lots of side-quests. And the main-quest actually meant something... as say, compared to Fallout3, yawn.
For example, Borderlands could have been something very special if they had realized this. Oh, and in Morrowind, you could easily ruin the "story." Bug or Feature? :-)
Comment: what did you do for the rest of the game if you ruined the story?
Answer: Look at Deus Ex and the Ultima series for examples of games that have a strong storyline but give the player plenty of leeway on how to achieve their goals.
Answer: Ever try playing a Way of the Samurai game? Your decisions change how the world reacts to you as well as change the story. The caveat though the usually use active time constrains and short time for each play through this way they can minimize the variations available.
Comment: Way of the Samurai? no I'll have to check them out.

Agency versus story


How can I find my performance rating?

Question: I've noticed that in tournaments grandmasters are given a performance rating for how they played in that tournament. Can this be applied to individual games and how can I see mine when I play a game?
Answer: Under FIDE rules, the performance rating is calculated by taking the average of your opponent's ratings, and then adding a factor from a table based on performance.  Let's say you played 5 games, against people rated 1380, 1390, 1400, 1430, and 1900, and had 3 wins and 2 losses.  You scored 60%, or 0.6.  According to the table in section 1.49 of this document, in this case your performance rating would be adjusted upward by 72 points.  The average of your opponent's ratings was 1500, so your performance rating would be calculated as 1572.
The downside to this method is that the ratings averaging can be skewed by one opponent with a very high or low rating.  If you changed the 1900 opponent in the above example to a 2900 opponent and decreased the wins to 2, the performance rating would increase to 1628, even though you performed worse.  If you instead changed the 1900 opponent to a 1000 opponent and increased the wins to 4, the performance rating would go down to 1560, even though you performed better.
The USCF ratings estimator calculates performance rating by calculating how a player at a particular rating would be expected to do against the given opponents, and comparing it to the actual result.  In the example above, a player rated 1563 would be expected to score 3 based on those opponents, so that's the performance rating.
The downside to this method is that there's not just a simple formula you can figure out in a few seconds.  The upside is that it's less prone to being skewed by one very high or low rated opponent.
Answer: Performance rating doesn't make sense for a single game, it only makes sense if you play a bunch of games (at least 4 or 5) in a chess event. For example, in a round robin tournament with 4 players, where every player plays twice against every opponent (with White and Black), every player plays 6 games in total, and the performance rating will give useful information.
To compute your performance rating, for every game of the event you add the opponent's rating + 400 if you win, you add your opponent's rating if you draw, and your opponent's rating - 400 if you lose. Then you divide by the number of games you played.
You can compare the performance rating with your own rating. If the performance rating of the event is higher than your own rating, it usually means you performed better than expected during the event. If it is lower than your rating, you performed worst than expected.
This is only meaningful if the opponents and you have a relatively close rating. If some player's rating differ from your own more than 400 points, the results of the comparison are usually not so meaningful.
Comment: Your method will give an estimate of the performance rating, but that's not how it's calculated.
Comment: Don't you mean that performance rating *isn't determined by* a single game? "Doesn't make sense" is inaccurate. Indeed, the principal stated purpose of a performance rating is to forecast the outcome of a single game yet to be played! Statistically, given a large enough sample of games played by other persons, nothing prevents one from imputing a rating to a new player who has played exactly one game—whether imputing it merely from the game's outcome or, in principle, imputing it based on a move-by-move analysis. The last, it seems to me, is a problem someone's Ph.D. dissertation might tackle.

How can I find my performance rating?


What does it mean if country X has a higher GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) than country Y?

Question: I understand the implications of having a higher/lower GDP at market exchange rates. I also understand what PPP measures.
But, what does a difference in GDP, at PPP, indicate in terms of differences in levels?
Answer: I like this explanation from Callen (2007), published in the IMF's F&D, their quarterly magazine.  For measuring consumption in a country, PPP is probably the way to go, but international economic and financial power is probably better measured with market rates.

PPP versus market rates
So which method is better? The appropriate way to aggregate economic
data across countries depends on the issue being considered. Market
exchange rates are the logical choice when financial flows are
involved. For example, the current account balance represents a flow
of financial resources across countries. It is appropriate to use the
market exchange rate to convert these flows into dollars when
aggregating across regions or calculating the global current account
discrepancy. But for other variables, the decision is less clear cut.
Take real GDP growth. International organizations use different
approaches. The World Bank uses market-based rates to determine the
weights in its regional and global aggregations of real GDP, whereas
the IMF and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
use weights based on PPP rates (although the IMF also publishes a
global growth aggregate based on market rates in the WEO). Each
methodology has its advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of PPP
A main one is that PPP exchange rates are relatively stable over time. By contrast, market rates are more
volatile, and using them could produce quite large swings in aggregate
measures of growth even when growth rates in individual countries are
stable. Another drawback of market-based rates is that they are
relevant only for internationally traded goods. Nontraded goods and
services tend to be cheaper in low-income than in high-income
countries. A haircut in New York is more expensive than in Lima; the
price of a taxi ride of the same distance is higher in Paris than in
Tunis; and a ticket to a cricket game costs more in London than in
Lahore. Indeed, because wages tend to be lower in poorer countries,
and services are often relatively labor intensive, the price of a
haircut in Lima is likely to be cheaper than in New York even when the
cost of making tradable goods, such as machinery, is the same in both
countries. Any analysis that fails to take into account these
differences in the prices of nontraded goods across countries will
underestimate the purchasing power of consumers in emerging market and
developing countries and, consequently, their overall welfare. For
this reason, PPP is generally regarded as a better measure of overall
well-being.
Drawbacks of PPP
The biggest one is that PPP is harder to measure than market-based rates. The ICP is a huge statistical undertaking,
and new price comparisons are available only at infrequent intervals.
Methodological questions have also been raised about earlier surveys.
In between survey dates, the PPP rates have to be estimated, which can
introduce inaccuracies into the measurement. Also, the ICP does not
cover all countries, which means that data for missing countries have
to be estimated.
Comment: Thanks. So would you say the GDP at PPP quantifies the value (or _level_) of a country's material well-being (as proxied by consumption)?


Where did my question go?

Question: I asked a question previously on Math.SE.  Halfway through the question, I realized that I might have found a solution.  So I deleted the question, tried the solution; it didn't work.  Now I wish to restore the question so others can try answering it -- but, it's gone.  It's not even in my record of Posts.  How can I restore it?
Similar post.
Comment: Obviously the following suggestion I have to offer will not help you *with this particular post*.  But it is better not to delete a question, before checking out your solution.  E.g., you could have posted, within your question, your solution attempt.  Users here are very good at finding errors, and posting an attempted solution helps them know what you know, and what you might not fully understand.
Comment: [This one?](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/3940410/factoring-an-integral)
Comment: I think you could have found it via the [deleted recent questions link](https://math.stackexchange.com/users/recently-deleted-questions/48061) at the bottom of the "Questions" tab of your profile (visible only to the profile owner and moderators).
Comment: See also: [Is there any way to see my deleted questions or answers?](https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/13948)
Comment: @amWhy My habit is to, not waste people's time if I can find a solution myself.  Because as a rule of thumb, if I post, people look at it, and then my solution does not work -- they will not look at it a second time.
Comment: @DanielFischer Yes, thank you.  I will go ahead and edit and un-delete it now.  Is there a reason it doesn't show up in my history of posts?  Maybe I'm not looking in the right place?
Comment: @DanielFischer Ah, OK; didn't look there.  Will look there if this happens again.  You should probably post this as an answer, in case others have a similar issue in the future.
Answer: One can find one's own recently (last $60$ days) deleted posts via a link

recently deleted questions/answers

at the bottom of the "Questions" or "Answers" tab of one's profile. (This link is only visible to the profile owner and moderators, it's nobody else's business. The link above uses the Id of the Community ♦ bot, it won't work. Replace the "-1" with your own user number – or go via your profile.)
If the post has been deleted for longer, and your reputation is below $10$k(1), you cannot locate it yourself (unless you find a link e.g. in your browser history). But if you ask nicely and provide enough details to make the search not too difficult, you may convince a moderator to locate it and provide you with a link to the post.
(1) Users with $\geqslant 10$k reputation can search for their own deleted posts with the search parameter "deleted:1" (or "deleted:all" to find the posts matching the other search parameters whether deleted or not).
Comment: The link you posted is broken...
Comment: I used the user-Id of the Community bot. Replace the "-1" with your user-Id.
Comment: @JohnOmielan Good point, thanks.

Where did my question go?


How to Create a Solid Team (Software Developer)

Question: I'm a young software developer that wants to create a solid team with my friends, does anyone know about how to create a solid team according to your experience?
Answer: You should keep in mind that "to create a team" is not a one-time action, it's a process. You should worry much more about how "to keep a team alive". There are two things you should be focused on: vision (already mentioned by Geo) and motivation of your team members. In other words: what you want and what they want. Once they are effectively aligned you are on track.
This blog post may help on the motivation problem: What Motivates Me as a Programmer
Comment: +1 for "keep a team alive".  That is so important yet so often overlooked.
Answer: I've heard once that you shouldn't mix business with pleasure.  In other words, if you want a solid team, you need to select the best people for the job.  If you're limiting your search space to only your friends, then you're limiting yourself to local optima instead of global optima.  This means that, unless your friends are the best of the best, then you're not going to necessarily have a solid team.
With that said, you can still have a dedicated team of your friends.  The plus side is they probably won't stab you in the back, and you will have rapport with them.  There may be more unity in the team because of your friendship.
However, it's absolutely imperative that you have a contract.  A contract is a beautiful way to resolve disputes.  Contracts can instantly sooth the flames of a fire that could otherwise get immediately out of control and cause not only your team to dissolve but your friendship as well.
Finally, as Geo pointed out, having a vision and a goal is important as well.  Good luck!
UPDATE:  Here are some helpful articles on starting a business with friends that emphasize some of the points I was making as well as adding a few others:

Business With Friends
How To Do Business With Friends
Starting a Business With a Friend
Advantages and Disadvantages of Starting a Business With a Friend

I don't want to discourage you too much.  These types of partnerships can work.  But I also think many people jump into these types of partnerships without a full grasp of all of the challenges and pitfalls that can easily be avoided by making sure there is a plan in place and an avenue for resolving disputes.
If these things are taken care of, the business can be profitable and extensible.  But without a plan, the chances of success aren't good.  I worked with some contractors where 4 of them were friends.  Halfway through, my client said she could only get in touch with one of them and work slowed to a crawl.  Apparently, the 4 of them all got into a big fight and refused to work together anymore.  The one guy remaining only knew a little PHP, so my client went through other avenues and dropped those guys.
Comment: I disagree. With entrepreneurship especially, the most important thing is working with people who **you can work with.** Even if they don't have skills, the trust and rapport goes farther in the long run.
Comment: I made an update.  I've seen things go bad with friends before.  I'm not saying it can't be done, it just should be done with the same level of professionalism as anything else.
Answer: Eko, have a vision.  Everyone  want to accomplish something, if you have a group of friends and you want to create a solid team, you need sell them the idea.  Also, make sure you acknowledge their strengths and your weaknesses, by establishing clear roles for each member of the team.
With a vision (where you want to get) and roles (who should do what). Now the only thing left is the what, and you are set.
Answer: Being friends is a great start. To build a team, though, you need to have

a shared vision
a leader to keep things moving
consistency in completing work and shipping product.

Without these things, you can quickly become a bunch of guys who talked about starting a rock-band in their garage, but never quite put it together to make an album : )
Answer: I don't think its a great idea to do this with friends for a start - it often ends up badly. Best to start a new team with people that fill the skill set you require with responsabilities and roles set out clearly from the off.
This will be no mean feat as you need to find such people that are willing to carry you (as you say you are a young software developer - suggesting not much experience). You might find it better to get more experience, especially using the contract market - move about a bit sector wise, make contacts and learn the ropes on the business side (after all as a private dev team you will need to pitch for contracts against other mature teams).
It is not an easy task - been there several times and each time ended up going alone in the end in each case. It's a lot to carry, dev work and the business side on top - add management to that and its crippling (and not overly financially beneficial either as a lone contractor can top a part dividend of a team anyway - and pay a lot less tax into the bargain).
Good luck!


Why are my jalapenos turning brown?

Question: Why are my jalapenos turning brown?  The plant looks healthy.  The fruit turns brown after it is about inch and a half from tip to stem.
Comment: Could you upload a couple of photos, one of the plant and one of the peppers themselves?  It could be a disease [as suggested](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/a/7627/26), or it could simply be that they're ripening.
Answer: It may be blossom end rot, does it look like this: http://www.caes.uga.edu/applications/publications/files/html/C938/images/Figure7.jpg ?
If it is, blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium to the plant.

Have you had your soil tested?  It might show that you need to increase the calcium in the soil.  There are plenty of organic fertilizers that are aimed for tomatoes & vegetables that will contain calcium.
Have you been over fertilizing with high nitrogen fertilizers?
Are you watering enough?  Water is needed to bring the calcium up through the roots.

You can check out this publication http://www.caes.uga.edu/publications/pubDetail.cfm?pk_id=7801 for more information.
Answer: I have never had BER with peppers but with tomatoes I find it helps to pinch off the first few flowers of the summer to give the plant a chance to develop a good root system before attempting to support fruits.  As suggested above good watering practices can also be a factor.

Why are my jalapenos turning brown?


What is the shelf-life of home-made tomato sauce?

Question: My husband made home-made tomato sauce two years ago that we still have on the shelf.  It's stored in air tight mason jars and smells fine.  Can we still eat this?
Comment: Were the jars vacuum sealed in any way when you put them in the jars? Was the vacuum still there when you opened them?
Comment: Homemade tomato sauce CAN last two years, it doesn't mean or guarantee however that this particular jar is good.
Answer: I would be very wary of that sauce, despite its good smell. For full disclosure, I am extremely conservative when it comes to food safety and shelf life, but here is some information that I found compelling:
WRT to average time any commercial tomato sauce can last on the shelf, a quick answer can be inferred by using this site:
http://www.eatbydate.com/vegetables/fresh-vegetables/spaghetti-sauce-shelf-life-expiration-date/
It states that commercial sauce has a shelf life of about 1 year past the "eat-by" date. Your sauce, of course, has no such date, but assuming an eat-by date of about 1 year past bottling is probably pushing it. So, even a commercial product is probably on the edge of your 2 year scenario.
From a home-preparation POV, if you used the boiling-water method to preserve the sauce, I would say no, don't eat it. The pH associated with most spaghetti sauces (~5.0) is rarely low enough for the boiling-water method to be workable. Pressure-canning is an option (and if your sauce had meat or any meat products in it pressure canning is the ONLY option). If you pressure-canned, then I still think you're on the edge, but it's less scary to me.
Here's a link to a good article on that subject.
http://foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-why-you-cant-can-your-familys-tomato-sauce/


Why did Darth Vader reveal to Luke that he is his father?

Question: In my opinion, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are different. In Return of the Jedi, Luke says, "I've accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father". Then Vader says, "that name has no longer any meaning for me." But the question is: in The Empire Strikes Back, why does Vader reveal to Skywalker that he is his father?
Comment: It was a tactic to unsettle Luke emotionally, to make Luke even more vulnerable to manipulation by Darth Vader. It was a tactic to bring Luke over to his side.
Answer: He wants to give Luke a reason to join him...

Here is the full scene:

Whether Vader wanted to have Luke help him depose the Emperor is up for the debate, but intent was clearly to turn Luke to the Dark Side.
Vader and the Emperor had a conversation about Luke, the threat he represents, and what can be done about it.
Comment: I was really hoping at least one of these would be the Robot Chicken sketch.
Answer: To sway him to the Dark Side
Directly after informing Luke of his parentage, Vader turns off his lightsaber and attempts to persuade Luke to join him.

"Search your feelings," Vader said, sounding like an evil version of
Yoda, "you know it to be true."
Then Vader turned off the blade of his lightsaber and extended a
steady and inviting hand.
Bewildered and horror-stricken at Vader's words, Luke shouted, "No!
No!"
Vader continued persuasively. "Luke, you can destroy the Emperor.
He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me and together we can
rule the galaxy as father and son. Come with me. It is the only way."
The Empire Strikes Back (novelization)

Presumably Vader felt that Luke would be more receptive to a peaceful approach from a family member than by threats of violence from the Emperor's enforcer. This is borne out by Vader's telling Luke that they can "rule as father and son." Vader also knows that Luke never knew his biological parents. He loved the parents who raised him (his aunt and uncle), but Vader might well have suspected that knowing his biological father would have a certain appeal to Luke.
The revelation further serves to shake Luke's faith in Obi-Wan, and by extension everything he has been taught as a Jedi:

Luke's mind whirled with those words. Everything was finally beginning
to coalesce in his brain. Or was it? He wondered if Vader were telling
him the truth—if the training of Yoda, the teaching of saintly old
Ben, his own strivings for good and his abhorrence of evil, if
everything he had fought for were no more than a lie.
The Empire Strikes Back (novelization)

It also helps set up a feeling of inevitability. The son must join the Dark Side, as the father did. As Palpatine says:

Palpatine looked at Endor, then back at the lightsaber in his hand.
'Ah, yes, a Jedi's weapon. Much like your father's.' He faced Luke
directly.
"By now you must know your father can never be turned from the dark
side. So will it be with you."
Return of the Jedi (novelization)
Answer: Lucas worried that children would not trust this revelation (point 14) unless it was confirmed by a trusted character.

 14. Yoda was to sit this one out, but he was added after consultation with child psychologists made George Lucas decide he needed an independent character to confirm Darth Vader's claim that he is Luke Skywalker's father. Now you know why Yoda doesn't do much for the rest of the movie.

Hence the inclusion of these lines:

Luke: Is Vader my father...?
Yoda: Your father he is.

As you can see, it was considered likely that Vader's revelation would be taken as a trick, designed simply to turn Luke to the dark side.
In truth, Vaders revelation was the truth, designed to turn Luke to the dark side.

The reason why Vader thought that this revelation would be so effective is because Vader himself values his family connections.
Luke was Vader's last living connection to Padmé, his wife.
Anakin Skywalker joined the dark side and became Darth Vader in order to save Padmé's life.
The cutscene from the Lego Star Wars video game of The Empire Strikes back displays Vader holding a picture of him and Padmé.

This suggests that Vader still loves Padmé, and might possibly care for his son on some level. Remember, when Padmé tells Anakin she is pregnant, he says:

Anakin: Are you all right? You're trembling. What's going on?
Padmé: Something wonderful has happened. Ani, I'm pregnant.
Anakin: That's... wonderful news. This is the happiest day of my life.

Vader was unaware that his child (well, children) had even been born. Learning that his son was alive would probably have reawakened the "good" in him.

Luke: There is still good in him.

Darth Sideous suspects that Luke's weakness also lies in his family. He instructs Vader to wait for Luke on the forest moon of Endor.

Darth Vader: He will come to me?
The Emperor: I have foreseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing. He will come to you and then you will bring him before me.
Darth Vader: As you wish.

This proves to be a good tactic. Luke does indeed attempt to spare his father's life, stating multiple times that he does not wish to fight him.

Luke: I will not fight you, father.
Darth Vader: You are unwise to lower your defenses!

Luke is also convinced that, rather than destroying vader, his father is redeemable, and can be turned back to the light side of the force.

Luke: Your thoughts betray you, Father. I feel the good in you, the conflict.
Darth Vader: There is no conflict.
Luke: You couldn't bring yourself to kill me before and I don't believe you'll destroy me now.

However, revealing the family connection only made Luke more determined to save his father.

Darth Vader: The Emperor has been expecting you.
Luke: I know... father.
Darth Vader: So, you have accepted the truth?
Luke: I have accepted that you were once a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker, my father.

It also strengthened the bond between Luke and Vader, whilst clouding the emperor's powers.

Darth Vader: A small rebel force has penetrated the shield and landed on Endor.
The Emperor: Yes, I know.
Darth Vader: My son is with them.
The Emperor: Are you sure?
Darth Vader: I have felt him, my master.

Ultimately, there are two answers:

**In-Universe: Vader may have initially planned for the revelation to be a crippling blow, designed to (hopefully) sway Luke to the dark side, or at least incapactitate him enough to transport him to the Emperor.

But he revealed it at a time when Luke was helpless anyway- Luke was dangling over a chute, weaponless, defenceless and injured. Vader did not have to reveal that info to Luke at that time, except- as seen in the photo taken from the Lego Star Wars clip- out of love for Padmé (and possibly for Luke).

Out-of-Universe: The scriptwriters were able to prepare for different potential endings in advance, whilst keeping the suspense.

As we know, the story ended up as a tale of redemption- the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, returned to the dark side, and saved his son's life. However, the set up would easily have allowed for an entirely different ending- one in which Luke Skywalker turned to the dark side. This was actually an idea they toyed with:

 'His last lines were going to be "Now I am Vader. Now I will go and kill the [Rebel] fleet and I will rule the universe."'

As you can see here, this offers further in-Universe implications. Luke was drawn to the power he would gain from ruling the Universe. Not only is this part of the speech that Vader gives to Luke-

Vader: Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son

but it is also part of the speech that Anakin gave to Padmé.

Anakin: No. Don't you see? We don't have to run away anymore! We no longer have to hide our love for each other. I am more powerful than the Chancellor, I... I can overthrow him! And together, you and I can rule the galaxy! We can make things the way we want them to be!
Comment: Also, the Lego Star Wars is not part of the accepted Star Wars canon although there are better sources (such as the new canon novelisations) that confirm that Anakin is still very much taken with Padmé, right up to the end of his life.
Comment: re: The first point, Lucas was confirming that **Yoda** was in the film to confirm Luke's identity, not Vader. You might also want to point out that the source of this article is the 2004 DVD commentary; http://totallyawesomemoviesofthe80s.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-jedi-1983.html
Answer: Maybe at that point his past self had no meaning for Vader, but he knew family and friends clearly had meaning for Luke. It's a weakness that'd be foolish not to exploit, so he used it to shake Luke's trust in Kenobi and manipulate the impulsive and hotheaded boy into joining the dark side.
(The plan probably was to kill Darth Sidious at same point and make Luke his apprentice,  but who knows.)
Vader was pretty certain he could predict Luke's reactions (and he was partly right, after all Luke walked straight into a trap to save his friends).
So why not play his trump card? Vader almost had him. He threw Luke completely out of balance. From the script, when Vader prepares for boarding the MF :

Luke realizes that Vader's ship is very near.  He feels resigned to
  his  fate.  He senses that he is beaten, more emotionally than
  physically.

He felt betrayed by Obi-Wan, he kept moaning
"Ben, why didn't you tell me?".
If then Vader had him, there's a good chance Luke would have become corrupted.
Answer: He wanted Luke to join him to overthrow The Emperor and rule the galaxy together. Had he not revealed it, Luke would've been more difficult to control. He just didn't count on him jumping into a deep dark pit rather than surrendering.
Answer: There is no contradiction; in ROTJ he means he no longer identifies as the Jedi he once was, which the name Anakin represents. But that doesn't mean he denies that he's the same person biologically that he always has been. In Empire, he refers to the biological bond he shares with Luke, which is a matter of genetics and has nothing to do with his previously being a Jedi.
Comment: Does this answer the question of why (motivation-wise) Vader revealed to Like that he is his father, though?
Comment: @Adamant from the way he phrased the question as well as the length of it he seems to be asking a contradiction between the movies, not asking for his motivation in the  Empire reveal.
Comment: @Adamant if he is asking what you think he is asking then three sentences out of four in his question don't belong.
Answer: An attempt to throw the force further out of balance
In Star Wars canon, whenever the force is out of balance, there is a chosen one who is automatically strong with the force that is something of an attempt at universal homeostasis. However, if Vader was able to control Luke, the new chosen one, and his powers, the Dark side would gain even more power over the light than it already had. I agree that Anakin and Vader are different people, so I think Vader is using this as emotional extortion only to further his own purposes.


How are algorithm patents enforced?

Question: It surprised me to learn that algorithms can be patented. If that's the case, why aren't famous algorithms like Dijkstra's algorithm patented? More importantly, how would they be enforced - wouldn't you need to look at the source code of all suspicious programs?
Comment: An abstract algorithm -- such as Dijkstra's algorithm -- cannot be patented (in the US or most other jurisdictions). On the other hand, a specific application of an algorithm -- e.g., a machine that performs a particular chemical transformation on a product by means of a set of computer instructions -- is likely patentable (subject to other considerations, such as novelty and non-obviousness). See Diamond v. Diehr (1981) and more recently Bilski v. Kappos (2010) and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International (2014).
Answer: I think you've hit on a good point for those considering pursuing patents. Before investing large sums of money on patenting, it is important to figure out how you will identify infringement.
Often, product data sheets, technical specifications, user guides, administrator guides, white papers, case studies and/or other technical and marketing literature are of use, but other times the under-the-hood details are unavailable and reverse engineering and/or discovery is required to confirm infringement.
In general, I recommend considering at least the following factors in connection with performing a cost/benefit analysis before pursuing a particular patent:

Likelihood of use by others
Ease of detecting infringement (e.g., reverse engineering, marketing materials, product specifications)
Novelty and breadth of coverage
Likelihood the invention will be used in current/future product(s)/service(s) of the patentee
Useful life of the invention ("stop gap" vs. foundational)
Cost of patent application(s) - preparation and prosecution
Extent to which the invention is in an emerging field of technology
Importance of the particular product(s)/service(s) in which the invention is used
Importance of the invention to the particular product(s)/service(s) in which it is used (e.g., does it affect the consumer's buying decision?, are there reasonable non-infringing alternatives?)
License or cross-license potential
Availability of trade secret as an alternative (e.g., is the invention exposed to the outside world?)
Importance of a patent in strengthening the overall patent portfolio
Importance of a patent to fundraising activities (e.g., venture capital or other investors may require IP protection before considering investing)
Answer: Mathematical / Algorithmic / Abstract Concept patents, AND/OR methods for calculating / performing them are only available in a limited number of territories (but the list includes the: USA, JPN, KOR, AUS, SGP), most jurisdictions expressly forbid any attempt to patent or copyright a purely abstract concept or algorithm.
Anyway numerous famous algorithms have obtained a US patent, or have outstanding applications covering their calculation eg.

Lempel–Ziv–Welch
RSA
BMI (methods for calculating: sliderule, central processing unit...)

How are algorithm patents enforced?


How can I estimate how much elemental Damage over time I'll cause?

Question: The hardest part of playing Siren is figuring out exactly how much Elemental Damage you're dealing with Damage Over Time (DOT) effects. They're complicated. I'd like to put together a formula to judge about how much damage per second I'm doing over a period of time. I know all the stats that go into DOT, but I can't quite piece it all together into a function.
What I really want to know is how much DOT damage will happen over a given Length of time, given DOT damage, DOT % (per shot), Rate of Fire (chances to add DOT). I don't care about bullet damage, that's easy to work out. And yes I know any estimation will be overly optimistic, but so are simple bullet damage DPS stats.
First we have the damage per second listed on the gun. This damage in reality is going to be affected by level of target - attacker then multiplied by the multiplication factor as noted in this damage table. We're going to ignore all of that as those multipliers can be added after our equation. We'll call this DOT damage.
Second we have our chance to add a Status Effect DOT. This is made up of the value on the gun plus the value added from skills, plus the Badass Rank bonuses, plus any relevant  Percentages are combined additively, though the value is always 0 if the gun's effect chance is 0. We'll just call this combined chance DOT %.
Third we have the DOT length which I spell out here; 5 seconds for fire, 2 for Shock, 8 for Corrode. We'll call this DOT Length. Each DOT lasts only this long, so DOT stacks will constantly be added and expire after this time has been reached for the first stack.
Fourth we have Rate of Fire; the bullets hitting the target per second. We'll go ahead and assume 100% of the bullets hit the target since this is a theoretical measure.
Finally we have the Length of time the target is under fire, from the first bullet's impact to the last. This is what we'll divide total damage by and how we'll know
So putting it together we have DOT Damage multiplied by the current number of stacks, stacks expiring by DOT Length after they start and spawning by (Rate of Fire multiplied by DOT %) for period Length. The stacks starting and stopping is the hardest part. I'm not sure if that can be modeled, but a measure using something like "average stacks at any given time" would be acceptable.
I have all the pieces (if I'm missing something just ask, I probably know it), I just can't figure out how to put them together considering DOT expiration. If anyone can put together a formula for all this that would be a very valuable resource for Sirens everywhere. Can this be modeled?
Answer: As you said, these are all the pieces already. If what I'd figure is your question it's easy to answer:
"How much damage would I do if I fire for $Length time?"
$Length * $RoF = X rounds
X rounds * $damage = gunDamage
X rounds * $DOT% = avgDotAmount
DoTs are smart in this game, they all have their separate timers and can stack independently from one another. This makes the damage as intuitive as possible:
dotDamage = avgDotAmount * ticks(element)
totalDamage = (gunDamage + dotDamage) * multiplier(element)
As this was far too easy to answer, I can only assume your question would be like
"When can I stop firing, knowing that my DoTs will kill the enemy?"
To which the answer would be "Never, unless the target isn't currently affected, then keep firing."
To us human player at least; for all the data is there in the fountain of numbers that spew from the target you are perforating with bullets. Would we be perfect computers, we could see when a new dot starts ticking(it wouldn't have a previous tick before it) and thus know exactly how many ticks are left. Being human, all we can say is "it's on fire" or "it's not on fire." This makes knowing for SURE your target is going to die impossible, the best one could do is make a normal distribution  graph(wiki) with the probabilities if your target will die.
If that's really what you'd want, I could run it through some model, but it's still gonna be a pretty useless graph.  Input the specific gun and skills you're using, and you could get a graph with probabilities mapped vs dotDamage. Even if you could watch that while shooting things, you can only guess how much health your target has left.
If instead, and my final guess, the question would be "How much do I overkill?" that amounts to the same, as that is also "Amount of dotDamage still to be done."


Where does the energy for repulsion in charges come from?

Question: If I bring together 2 objects with the same charge, they repel. But even after the repulsion has taken place, there is no loss of charge in the objects. Where does the energy come from then?
Answer: An object situated within the gravitational field of the Earth experiences an attraction toward the Earth's center of mass. Raising an object above the Earth's surface (ie. increasing the distance of the object from Earth's center of mass) increases the object's "potential energy." Once you let go of the object, that potential energy is converted to kinetic energy as the object accelerates back down to Earth (conservation of energy).
The solution to your question is similar to this example, but it involves a different kind of potential energy. Rather than a gravitational potential caused by the object "wanting" to fall toward the center of the Earth (but being prevented from doing so), particles of like charge located near one another "want" to repel. If they are somehow prevented from doing so, they too will possess a potential energy called electrostatic potential.
Electrostatic potential is due to the repulsive property of electromagnetism when dealing with particles of like charge (as opposed to the attractive property of gravity in the previous example) which increases as the distance between these particles is decreased. If the particles are no longer restricted, their electrical potential energy will be converted to kinetic energy and the particles will move rapidly away from one another. The energy that causes the particles to repel doesn't "come from" anywhere, it simply changes state from potential energy to kinetic.
Hope this helps answer your question. If you want a more specific/mathematical explanation, I suggest googling "Coulomb's Law"
Answer: The repulsion between any 2 charged bodies is always there. There is no such thing as repulsion has taken place. It is an observed effect in physics and is always there so long as the charges are present in a close proximity. This observation called for a logically consistent explanation, which led to the discovery of maxwell's laws and classical electrodynamics.
A Question like where does this energy come from does not have satisfactory answer within the scope of physics. It is meaningful to ask IMHO, How do we know that there is energy in the repulsion between 2 charged bodies? This energy can be converted into other forms such as performing mechanical work, using an appropriate device. Or vice verse one can use energy stored in other forms to bring charges closer.
Answer: The short answer is that the energy belongs to the geometry of the charges, not the charges.  When the geometry changes, the energy changes, and the lost potential energy gets converted to kinetic energy.


Difference between camcorderProfile.videoFrameWidth/videoFrameHeight and Camera.Parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes()

Question: I want to create a video only recording app on HTC Thunderbolt, and I am trying to find a high quality setting to record. I am very confused which setting to choose the size from.
1. CamcorderProfile.videoFrameWidth/Height
2. Camera.Parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes()

I read the value from the device. Here they are:
1. CamcorderProfile.get(CamcorderProfile.QUALITY_HIGH) returns:

   videoFrameWidth: 720
   videoFrameHeight: 480

2. Camera.Parameters.getSupportedPreviewSizes() returns:

   Camera supported preview width = 800 height = 480
   Camera supported preview width = 640 height = 480
   Camera supported preview width = 640 height = 384

Now if I use the value from
1. By calling MediaRecorder.setVideoSize(720,480), I got an error when I try to start recording. (E/MediaRecorder(4446): start failed: -16),
2. By calling MediaRecorder.setVideoSize(800,480), it works fine.

I am very confused which setting to use. In addition, there are 2 other functions
3. Camera.Parameters.getSupportedPictureSizes()

4. Camera.Parameters.getSupportedVideoSizes()

I don't understand the relationship between those functions, and which one to use for what purpose. Do you have any ideas?
Thanks,
Howy
Comment: "preview" is the live preview video you can see, "video" the one you can record and "picture" if you take still images
Answer: In Android API version 11 and above, there is a function called getPreferredPreviewSizeForVideo().
So the right thing to do is to use that API to query the preview size, use that preview size, then record based on that size.
It seems that API version 10 and below do not have such a thing, therefore, Android camera is deeply fragmented.


Trouble with responsivitizing my twentythirteen header

Question: I'm using the twentythirteen theme and trying to get the header to adapt to screen resolution.
I've uploaded several image files with the required resolutions, and changed my custom-header.php source code according to what is suggested here.
The website, www.ensemblepourviroflay.org/wp/ (can't link more than twice with newbie account), does not seem to be displaying any of the images, at whichever resolution. I have pasted the content of my custom-header.php file here.
I would appreciate it if a kind stranger would have a look.
Comment: Please **edit your question** to include all relevant code, *in the question*.
Answer: I think the paths to your images specified in custom-header.php aren't correct. You can use home_url() to specify this path if necessary, eg


Help passing a complex object via a JSNI call to get around static scope

Question: So I've got a GWT app and I'm trying to invoke a function to change the app's view from an outside button.  Normally this is called with as "this.internalFunction('string')".  The problem is that JSNI works via static methods and so the object in question is lost.  The solution: pass the app's object itself to the JSNI call and invoke that object's function calls from there!  The problem to the solution: this doesn't work.  :(
Class looks something like this:
package blah.package;
public class Foo implements A, B {
    public native void initChangeFunc() /*-{
        $wnd.jsChangeView = $entry(this.@blah.package.Foo::doSomething
            (Lblah.package.Foo;)(this));
            //Pass this to the function call to do calls on app object
    }-*/;
    public void doSomething(Foo obj) {
        //Change view here.
        obj.internalFunction("parameter");
    };
    public void internalFunction(String param) {
        //Do stuff with param.
    }
}

On module load, call initChangeFunc() and access jsChangeView() on the page itself.
Compile errors suggest that the compiler can't find blah.package.Foo, and that's because my parameter type signature (the Lblah.package.Foo part) is wrong.
[ERROR] Line 64: Expected a valid parameter type signature in JSNI method reference

Answer: First thing's first, try not to break the line calling Foo::doSomething, and check to see if it helps.


Why is 快樂 after 新年

Question: Why are there some adjectives after nouns, but when translated to english the adjective appears before the noun.
Comment: Come on, guys, there's no need to downvote this :)
Comment: adjective 快乐 functions predicatively in 新年(元旦、节日、生日、新婚) 快乐, more examples of sentences with adjective as predicate: 屋里热,外面冷,个子高/矮,NP 快乐 may be thought of as "may NP be happy!"
Answer:
Noun is placed after adjective in both English and Chinese.

For example:
'Fast car' = '速度快的汽車'
'good person' = '好人'
'lazy cat' = '懶貓'
'happy new year' is no exception, it means 快樂的新年. But it only apply when 'new year' is treated as the client noun for the adjetive.
When we say "happy new year" as a blessing or greeting to someone, we actually meant "(wish you) to be happy in the new year

"(一個) 快樂新年" = "(a) happy new year"
新年 is the client noun of the adjective 快樂

~

"(祝你)新年快樂" = "(wish you) being happy in the new year"
the omitted noun 'you' is the client noun of the adjective '快樂'

It is not the new year that is happy
It is you who are happy

[Noun + verb 'is'] is  placed before the adjective in both English and Chinese.

Example:
the car is fast = 這車很快
the person is good = 這人很好
the cat is lazy = 這貓很懶
the new year is happy = 新的一年很開心
wish you are happy  = 祝你快樂
wish you are happy (in new year) = 祝你(在新年)快樂

as a greeting, "新年快樂" means (祝你在)新年快樂
Answer: I agree with Tang Ho, but I'd like to also add my way of explaining, so that more than one way of explaining might make it easier to understand.
In English, there are attributive and predicative adjectives. Attributive adjectives modify a following noun, it is the noun's attributes. For example, fast car. Predicative adjectives appear after the noun, but needs a verb before it, for example,the car IS fast.
It is the same in Chinese. When we say in Chinese, 早上/下午/晚上好 (good morning/ afternoon/evening), the 'good' comes after the time of day because what you are really saying is "The (time of day) [is] good" (you would not add the term for 'is', 是, here). So when you say "新年快乐", you are really saying "the new year is/will be happy", ie, may you be happy in the new year. Note, when Tang Ho said

It is not the new year that is happy
It is you who are happy

That is true. But I can also say that the new year is happy, but not in the way you think. I said that when you say "新年快乐", you are really saying "the new year is happy". What I mean is, 'happy' is an adjective that describes it, not an emotion the new year feels, ie the new year is not alive and does not have feelings. Like, 'the atmosphere was happy' = a happy cheerful atmosphere, not 'the atmosphere was alive and felt very happy.
You can also say "祝你一个快乐的新年" which literally means "Wish you a happy new year". Here you are bestowing another person a thing (a new year) and also specifying what kind of 'thing' it is (a happy one), and is an attributive adjective. You can also use this for good morning etc, "祝你一个好的早上". The key is to add the possessive article 的,to show that something possesses the adjective/attribute or direct object.
Answer: well, "新年快乐"是一个"名词+状语"的结构,其重点是后面的"快乐",其表达的意思是祝福 (新年)快乐。
如果你说成"快乐新年",那么,这是一个adj+noun的结构,是想说明这是 (一个)快乐的新年。
well, "新年快乐"is a "noun +adj"structure, the key point is "快乐", it express the bless of you would have a new year happily.
if you say"快乐新年", then, it is a structure of "ajd+noun", it would express "a happy year".
ps,看到你们问的这些问题,感觉你们对中国的语法真的很讲究,就如我在学习英语一样。但是对于以中文为母语的人,好像都没有去思考过这些问题,自然而言就这么说了。
ps, when I saw the questions you asked, I feel that you are seriously in Chinese grammar, just like I study English. While as native speaker in China, we have little time to think of it, though we we were young, we took sometimes to study grammar, but few of us really take grammar seriously.

Why is 快樂 after 新年


harmony - singing F note on D major chord

Question: I am writing a piece of music where the song is in d melodic minor
and there is a place where I play a D Major chord on bass F# (D/F#) and I sing for a brief moment an F note and guitar also play f note for brief moments at the same time. is that ok? I have trouble understanding if it's possible to sing with this dissonance even though it sounds nice to me:).
Answer: In classical harmony, what you're doing is called a "simultaneous cross relation": playing chromatically related notes (F-natural & F-sharp in your case) at the same time.  An easily accessible example from early in the common hormonic practice is in Tallis' Spem in alium, where the choirs arrive at A major & the altos of choir 1 (or is it choir 2?)  leave the chord via a C-natural while the tenors in one of the other choirs are still holding the C-sharp. Spem dates from C16, & Tallis is one of the great names in the English choral tradition, so you're in great company.
Answer: Strictly speaking, the quality of a I chord in melodic minor is XmMaj so I'd say that the F came to you naturally to highlight the minor 3rd or #9 generally associated with that chord. Now playing a DMAJ in a melodic minor progression is fine as long as you like what it sounds like. Melody is also about building tension and all the tones do not have to be chordal tones or scale tones. In Take the A train there is a Db played over a G7 chord (the b5 of the chord, the blue note) and although it's not so easy to sing it sounds nice and can be traced back to Jelly Roll Morton. So if it's good for Jelly Roll, it's good for you! Your musical taste should be your guide here.
Comment: XmMaj more commonly known as XmMaj7. Spelled, in C  - Cm(maj7) - C Eb G B. but not a huge lot to do with a m3/M3 being played/sung together. Happens all the time in blues. the actual chord you're looking at is C7#9 - aka the Hendrix chord, but used well before his time. The A Train chord does not contain a P5, it's b5 anyway. Not the best explanation...
Comment: thanks a lot! great to know that. by the way what does XmMAJ means? i am not familiar with that name.
Comment: @Lovelshere, a minor-major chord: for example, in  the key of C in melodic minor, it has a minor third which is E flat and a 7th, NOT a b7, B. It's achord quality, just like  minor, major, diminished or whatever. X indicates that the tonic is not specified in my explanation.
Comment: Thanks to both of you... Tim i am actually not playing a 7th (c in my example) but actually a maj7 (c#) - DMAJ7. i understand i can choose to use either of them?
Comment: Your D will be classed as D7#9 - D F# A C  E# (no, not F).  There is no mention of a maj 7 (C#) in the question.
Comment: Of course there is: it is melodic minor harmony.
Answer: You have discovered the 'blue' note, or if you want to be more formal the D7(#9) chord (though we are required by the Theory Police to name it that way, we all know it's really a D7(b10)).  It's fine.  No long-winded justification required.
Comment: Ummmmmmmmmm... 7♭10? What? I realize you're baiting me into asking about the ♭10 nomenclature, but don't people who shortcut it usually think "♭3"?
Comment: No, because the major 3rd is also in the chord, an octave below.
Comment: In my experience, no one goes to the trouble of naming it a 10th, they would just call it a 3rd, regardless of octave. Do you know some people that do that?
Comment: When the major AND minor 3rds occur in the same chord no-one calls it C7(b3).  They often call it C7(#9).  I find C7(b10) more descriptive, even if it DOES buck the 'pile of thirds' chord naming system.  (So does C6, but no-one fusses about that.)
Comment: Yes, they do use 7♯9.  But I've never heard of anyone ever using 7♭10.
Comment: You've heard of me!   It's my little personal crusade.  I probably won't win, because the standard notation programs reject 7♭10 as an error.
Comment: Oh, okay. Good luck on that! :)


What Astras were used by Indrajit?

Question: I've read many differing stories, but exactly what Astras did Indrajit know how to use?
Comment: He knew how to use all different types of astras. He has the knowledge of unlimited astras which are in his quivers of unlimited astras and unlimited weapons. These were given to Indrajit along with many other equipment.I got this from "Yuddha Kandh" in the Ramayana.
Answer: To be really honest, it is very broad and long to name all the weapons which Indrajit knows how to use, but I will try to mention some of his most potent skills and powers as mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana. In Yuddhakanda chapter 80,
Indrajit obtains a capacity of going out of sight while fighting, and
he did so during his battle with Rama and Lakshmana.

स तु वैहायसं प्राप्य सरथो रामलक्ष्मणौ | अचक्षुर्विषये तिष्ठन्विव्याध
निशितैः शरैः [6-80-3]
Meaning: Indrajit with his chariot, reaching the sky and remaining invisible, struck Rama and Lakshmana with his sharp arrows.

Beside arrows as mentioned in above verse, Indrajit was capable of using missiles.

रावणिस्तु दिशः सर्वा रथेनातिरथः पतन् | विव्याध तौ दाशरथी लघ्वस्त्रो
निशितैः शरैः  [6-80-33]
Meaning:Indrajit for his part, who was a superior chariot-warrior
and who was swift in discharging missiles, rushed on towards all sides
and pierced Rama and Lakshmana with his sharp arrows.

Indrajit also know how to use sword. During his battle in war with Hanuman, he created an illusory image of Seetha, and killed her.

तमेवमुक्त्वा रुदतीं सीतां मायामयीं ततः || शितधारेण खड्गेन
निजघानेन्द्रजित्स्वयम् | [6-81-29]
Meaning :Having spoken thus to Hanuma, Indrajit
personally killed that illusory Seetha, who had been sobbing all the
while, with his sharp-edged sword.
Answer: He is a great astradhari. He knows the knowledge of many astras including that of the three ultimate weapons of the trimurti's Brahmanda Astra, Vaishnava Astra and the Pashupat Astra. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indrajit.
Comment: Do you have any other source beside Wikipedia? Wikipedia sometimes makes baseless  claims.
Answer: Indrajit is one of the best warrior and considerd as Ati-Maharathi in Ramayana. In Ramayana war He had defeated Laxmana twice and Lord Shri Rama Once. I will try to list some of the Astra's used by Indrajit in Ramayana war
1. Lord Rama and Laxmana Defated By Indrajit-:-
Indrajit Used weapon named Nagpash and left Rama and Laxmana unconscious.
2. Lakshmana and Indrajita last battle:-
Here indrajita used many astra's against laxmana. at the beginning of battle, Indrajit used Lord Yama's weapon. in the same battle he used **

Rudrastra
Maheshwarastra
Agneyastra

These are the weapons indrajit used in Ramayana war. But apart from these weapons Indrajit has

Pashupatastra
Brahmastra
Naryanastra

in his Armour.
Answer:
Indrajit played an active role in the great war between Rama and
  Ravana. He is considered as the only Atimaharathi class warrior ever
  born on earth as told in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas and the
  Vedas. He is one and only warrior who possessed the three ultimate
  weapons of Trimurti, i.e. Brahmanda astra, Vaishnavastra, and
  Pashupatastra. He acquired all kinds of celestial weapons from his
  Guru Shukra, Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. By defeating the Devas in
  the heaven he took their weapons and become the possessor of all kinds
  of divine weapons of deva, asura's and trimurti's.[1] Indrajit subdued
  both Rama and Lakshman, and later incapacitated Lakshman in their
  second encounter. Indrajit killed 670 million Vanara's in a single
  day, nearly exterminating the entire half man-half monkey
Not even Trimurtis Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva possessed the
  ultimate weapons of their contemporaries. Indrajit was trained under
  the guidance of Shukra and obtained all kinds of divine weapons of
  man, Devas, Asura's and Trimurti's. The weaponry is categorized mainly
  into two types. One is Shastra, a handheld weapon like sword, lance or
  mace. The other is astra, a projectile missile invoked by reciting
  hymns.
Meghanada was also an expert in magical warfare, sorcery and tantra.
  He was married to Sulochana, the virtuous daughter of the King of the
  Serpents, Shesha Naga
he fought fiercely and arrested both the brothers using his most
  nefarious weapon Nagapash (a trap made of a million snakes). Both the
  brothers fell on the ground breathless. They were rescued by Garuda on
  behest of Hanuman
Seeing his uncle Vibhishana at Lakshmana's side multiplied Indrajit's
  fury manyfold. He vowed to kill his uncle Vibhisana along with
  Lakshmana once and for all, letting loose the Yama-astra which he had
  been conserving for punishing Vibhishana's perceived treason.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indrajit
http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga85/yuddha_85_frame.htm

tena viireNa tapasaa varadaanaatsvayaMbhuvaH | astraM brahmashiraH
  praaptaM kaamagaashcha turaMgamaaH || 6-85-12
"By his penance,
  Indrajit obtained a weapon called Brahmashira, by way of a gift from
  Brahma and also horses, which are coursing at his will."

http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga80/yuddha_80_frame.htm

He proceeds to the battle-field and releases a flood of arrows towards
  Rama and Lakshmana, while himself remaining invisible in the sky. With
  a network of arrows, Indrajit creates a darkness in the sky and
  showers a multitude of steel arrows towards Rama and Lakshmana. Sharp
  golden shafts arrows are then released by Rama and Lakshmana. Struck
  by the arrows discharged by Indrajit, monkeys in hundreds fall down
  dead

http://www.valmikiramayan.net/yuddha/sarga81/yuddha_81_frame.htm

While Hanuman and his army are watching, Indrajit pulls Seetha by her
  hair and unsheathed his sword. Indrajit kills the illusory living
  image of Seetha, with his sharp sword.
   Lakshmana informs Vibhishana that on hearing the words of Hanuma
  saying that Seetha was killed by Indrajit, Rama fell into a swoon.
  Telling Rama the secret of conjuring trick practiced by Indrajit in
  killing an illusory image of Seetha, Vibhishana assures him of Seetha
  being still alive
Comment: Which site is this quoted content take? Add relevant links from those websites. Adding whole link to Yuddha Kanda or Ramayana would be confusing.
Comment: Indrajit possessed Brahmananda astra, Pashupatastra and Vaishnavasta but he was not the only one who possessed it. Parashurama, Vashishtra, Vishwamitra, Parashurama and Arjuna also possessed it. Yes. Indrajit is an AtiMaharathi of Ramayana but so is Rama and Hanuman

What Astras were used by Indrajit?


Is the reanimated Minato much stronger than when he was alive?

Question: In Naruto chapter 618, all the souls that are bound inside the shinigami of the shiki fuujin were pulled out by Orochimaru. It includes the souls of the four previous Hokages. Now, before his death, Minato was able to seal half of the nine tails chakra into his own. Does it mean that he is much stronger than he when was alive? Does he have any chance on using the kyuubi's chakra for himself just like what Naruto did?
Answer: The resurrected Minato is stronger than when he was alive, but that is due to the properties of Edo Tensei (unlimited chakra, near-unlimited stamina, and automatic regeneration of any damage taken).
Minato does not have Kurama's chakra inside him. The Yin-component of Kurama's chakra, sealed by Minato, is still inside the Shinigami's stomach. Shiki Fuujin does not seal the target's soul into the summoner's soul. They are both sealed together, but independently, in the Shinigami's stomach.
This can be confirmed since Orochimaru first recovered the soul of his arms and then the four previous Kage at once. If the Shiki Fuujin sealed the target's soul into the summoner's soul, he would have to first recover Hiruzen's soul, and then the souls of Hashirama, Tobirama and his arms from Hiruzen's soul.
Minato does seem to have Kurama's Yin part inside of him. As proven by the recent chapters. Which undoubtedly proves that he's much stronger compared to the way he was before his death.
Note: This answer is based on events seen till Chapter 623. The answer may become obsolete after subsequent chapters.
Comment: So that means that Yin-Kurama is now released somewhere? The Shiki seal was broken, after all.
Comment: It's not clear yet (to me, at least), but my pure speculation is that Kurama has a Yin-soul and a Yang-soul. Kurama's Yang-soul was sealed within Naruto (along with the Yang-chakra), while the Yin-soul and Yin-chakra is still in the Shinigami's stomach. With the Shiki Fuujin seal broken, it can be summoned using Edo Tensei.
Comment: Further, my guess is that once the focus shifts back to Madara's battle, he will realise that Kurama's Yin-chakra is missing within Naruto, and so summon Yin-Kurama with Edo Tensei. Unlike Obito, Madara wants to revive the Juubi perfectly, so he will need the Kyuubi's full chakra.
Comment: @MadaraUchiha do you really agree with resurrected Minato is stronger than when he was alive, but that is due to the properties of Edo Tensei (unlimited chakra, near-unlimited stamina, and automatic regeneration of any damage taken)? Then why did you used obito to bring you back to alive? Why was third hokage was able to defeat the first and second without much trouble?
Answer: No. The Shiki Fuujin seals the souls. That means that the chakra of the Kyuubi is sealed independently from the soul of Minato. If you revive a soul, you only revive the own soul, but not anything that was sealed inside his body.
Comment: Kurama's chakra has not been explicitly taken out and so is still inside the Shinigami's stomach, IMHO.
Comment: what about the chakra of the kyuubi? where is it?
Comment: @janbert: Maybe it's back to the kyuubi. It isn't clear, maybe it'll be clear in later chapters.


WCF service in Azure throws HTTP Error 500.0 - Internal Server Error

Question: I've been working on an Azure app, and added in a WCF service (something I've done successfully before).
It works fine in the stand-alone asp.net application (running in Cassini), but throws a 500.0 error when I try to call it in the AppFabric. I tried publishing it to Azure and hoping for the best, but it then throws a 404 error.
I've set the bindings to basicHttpBinding, no joy. To get round this, I've created a seperate WCF Web Role, which works OK, but I get firewall problems on some machines because it runs on port 8080.
I'm guessing it's something to do with the web.config - I saw a reference that adding <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/> to  <system.webServer> might fix it, but it was already present.
The "detailed error info" on the page is:
Module  IsapiModule
Notification    ExecuteRequestHandler
Handler svcHandler
Error Code  0x800700c1
Any ideas? I'm baffled!
cheers
Toby
Answer: Did you have a look at the WCF Azure Known Issues Page? Make sure that you can exclude anything that is listed there, this page already helped me twice.


Can an earthquake occurring within two plates trigger another earthquake in a far away plate boundary?

Question: Can an earthquake occurring between two plates, like the Pacific Plate and North American Plate cause any effect which would trigger an earthquake in a far away place like the boundary between the Eurasian and Indian Plates, as we know it is a mosaic of plates?
Comment: one indirect example could be this : http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n9/full/ngeo2212.html
Comment: I think there are statistical studies of all earthquakes over many years looking for correlation between distant quakes.
Answer: I guess that it is possible.
As mentioned by others, on top of static stress triggering, which is the effect of an earthquake in its vicinity (typically up to 2-3 rupture lengths away), another way by which an earthquake can trigger others is by dynamic stress triggering, which may have effects farther away but are hard to identify and measure.
So far, the only earthquake that seems to have demonstrated how dynamic triggering over long distances can take place is the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes. This earthquake had an unusual combination of characteristics: it was a very large strike-slip earthquake, it took place in oceanic crust (which allows surface waves to travel longer) and had a very large concentrated burst of Mw 8.4 - 8.5 with large slip over limited distance (I do not post sources since there are at least 3 apparently good studies with very different results, for example one study says that slip exceeded 80m locally (!)). These characteristics suggest that this earthquake was very efficient at radiating energy through the crust rather than towards the interior or through very fragmented crust.
So, what this earthquake showed, is that it is possible to speed up significant earthquakes (earthquakes that were almost ready to happen, but they were sped up up to 90 days). Still, it is only one case, the mechanism is not well understood, we are not sure why this earthquake seemed to have caused this phenomenon while other earthquakes with higher magnitudes did not show the same effects.
Concluding, while static stress triggering has only a fairly local effect, dynamic stress triggering may have a wider effect but we only have detected one such case, which could very well have been a coincidence or due to an unusual mechanism. So the answer to your question seems to be yes, but with doubts and in any case for very special earthquakes.
Answer: Without further qualification, sure they can. An enormous earthquake on one side of the world will shake the other side of the world, and if there's an incipient earthquake in a fault then that shaking could trigger it.
But, if you ask "is it common?", or "could an earthquake of X magnitude trigger another earthquake Y kilometers away?", then things get a lot more complex. My recollection is that I have heard of such triggering, but it was presented as a surprise, and certainly not a common occurrence.
Comment: A comment on why this was downvoted would be appreciated; the answer seems perfectly reasonable and helpful to me.
Answer: Most times it does not happen, but there are many factors involved and in part it depends on your definition of triggering.  As a general rule, earthquakes are considered to occur when the stress on one section of plate becomes too great and the plate slips, surges, or in some way moves to relieve the stress.   The plates though are large, relatively solid objects, so slippage in one location to relieve stress is likely to increase it in other locations, some close, some far away.  This increase in stress should tend to be spread out, and much less that what was built up and caused the quake as some of that energy is dissipate through the quake, but not all.  If another section of that plate, or potentially even an unrelated plate was at or near its stress limit also, sure, that added energy could be the straw that breaks it loose.
The added energy from one quake is not really likely to be the cause per say of another large quake in a seemingly unrelated fault, but it could be the energy that causes it to pass its tipping point, and thus considered a trigger.  The triggered quake could even be much large that the original quake.  The second quake was going to occur anyway.  The energy was already there and ready to be release, the jolt it got was simply the last push needed.
When two quakes occur, you will normally hear if you listen to reliable reports, statements that the two are not considered related.  That is normally the case, but each time the seismologists look at the patterns and make that call based on their opinions.  Sometimes they will decide they actually were related, but not often at least for large quakes.
Answer: I do not think that is possible. For one earthquake to trigger another earthquake at such large distances plates would need to be extremely rigid. Plates are far to ductile for stresses to be transported over such large distances.
In you specific example it seems even less likely. In your case stress would have to be transmitted over the entire pacific plate and then be transmitted over either the eurasian/pacific plate boundary or the indian/pacific plate boundary to be able to affect the indian/pacific plate boundary.
Comment: Dynamic waves can trigger small earthquakes at large distances. Also, over short time scales (seconds to minutes) the crust is effectively elastic. You can read about dynamic triggering in http://www.eaps.purdue.edu/freed/pdfs/9.pdf
Comment: In the example you give the stresses are indeed transferred over large distances but the earthquakes they trigger are still at the same plate boundary. The question is about other plate boundaries on the other side of the pacific for instance. Still interesting article.
Comment: Doesn't matter. As I said at short time scales everything is elastic so a boundary doesn't make a difference. In global seismic simulations the plate boundary is not treated any differently from the interior, i.e., they are considered elastic just as the rest of the plate.


Is there a trick to turn old bread into almost-new bread?

Question: Whenever I buy bread, it's flavor and texture is amazing in the first day. The bread is humid and soft. In 2 or 3 days, it gets hard. Is there some trick to renew the bread to a nicer state?
Comment: Your bread will take longer to get stale if you keep it away from direct sunlight and out of the refrigerator.
Answer: While it is never possible to restore bread to its fresh baked glory, toasting can help.
The main staling mechanism in bread is the re-crystalization of the formerly gelatinized starches, making the bread seem hard and dry.
Toasting heats the bread up, and helps the starches re-gelatinize, and so can help mitigate the staleness, although it is not a complete cure.
Comment: I usually put it in the oven on a backing sheet with a small container (over proof) of water.
Comment: Agree with Max: toast with water in the oven, and it is good to eat while still warm, reverts back to unpleasant upon cooling.
Answer: The trick I learned from my grandfather is harder to do these days because of the prevelance of plastic bags:

Heat your oven.
Wet down the inside of a paper bag.
Place the loaf of bread in the paper bag, and fold it over to seal
Place the paper bag in the oven.
Extract it before the paper looks like it's getting crispy.

As rumtscho mentions in his comment, once it cools back down, it can firm back up, but I find that it'll take longer than just warming it up in a dry oven.  (I don't know if it's an issue with extra heat being transfered in the water, so it takes longer to cool, or if there's something chemical going on).
And as I'll probably get questions about what oven temperature -- whatever temp you're baking everything else at.  If you're not cooking anything else, try 300F / 150C ... it's most important to heat it up to generate steam on the inside of the bag, but not so hot that the bag combusts.
(white paper bags are better than brown in my opinion, as you can see 'em starting to char a little bit to signal when to remove them)
Comment: This is exactly how I freshen up bread and bread rolls, but as @Joe says, it is getting hard to do because paper bags are becoming rare, except at farmer's markets and the likes. It will only freshen bread the once though and after it cools down, it would seem to be more stale than it was before. That is because the residual moisture has evaporated as steam, effectively recooking the bread. "Rejuvinating" bread this way also smells delicious -- like a bakery.
Comment: I should mention that you can remove 'em before the bag starts to char ... it's just that you really need to remove it if that starts to happen.
Answer: Bread actually gets stale because it has gotten too moist, not because it's actually dry as common sense would indicate. Put it in the oven at a low temperature for a while and it should be better.
Comment: Aren't they the same thing?
Comment: Oh, hahah, I miswrote that. The bread has become too moist when it gets stale. D'oh! Edited the original post.
Comment: This is incorrect.  If the bread gets moist, it will harbor mold and spoil.  Staling is a different mechanism.