Is it possible to get a US visa if I have no travel history?

Question: I am a Nigerian and I received an invitation from my uncle to visit him. I am applying for a US visitor visa. I have been rejected 3 times when I was single. Now I am married with a child, but have never travelled outside of my country before. What are my chances of getting the visa?
Comment: The "rejected 3 times" part is **much** more significant than the "no travel history".
Comment: Welcome to travel.stackexchange!
Comment: Thank you for your response, presently, I have a new passport which has my husband's surname. Can the number of times I applied show up on my new passports?
Answer:
Is it possible to get a US visa if I have no travel history?

Yes. My first travel experience was as a visitor to the USA from Ghana which has a pretty similar profile to Nigeria in many respects including immigration statistics to western countries.
That said, your chances of getting a USA visa as your first travel experience after three successive rejections are very very very slim. On average, Nigerians have a 44.95% adjusted refusal rate when they apply for USA visitor visas, which is already on the high side. Without knowing (nor needing) any more information about you except what you provided here, I would say your probability of refusal is much higher than the average, maybe two times worse.
My advice to you is to build a travel history in a systematic manner then after a few years you can apply for a USA visa.
Comment: Thank you for your help. The invitation sent to me is scheduled for 9th of January 2019 and am scared of my chances of getting the visa because I don't know how to build traveling history within the short time
Comment: @2rayo: Well, that's not going to work anyway. A sudden, large increase in the number of trips you take, without a good explanation why, could be considered a red flag more than anything else. A pattern of annual 1-2 week vacations is much more logical.
Answer: According to what I've seen by many friends and family members applying U.S. visa, the most important thing they check is ... ties to your country or country of residence compared to reasons to stay in the U.S.
Having a stable job in a big company for several years is a big plus to get USA visa. Travel history also have a positive factor, especially traveling to developed countries. Family ties are important too but other than your spouse and your kids, I think other family does not weigh in much for your visa application.
Comment: What is the motivation for you to return to Nigeria and have you provided this information in your visa application? Also having a home/house that you own, the job, the wife, the children are all factors. From a South African.
Comment: Yes, am now married and have a 1year old child also working in a reputable organization and I also have a small business I do after working hours
Comment: @2rayo Your wife and child are going with you?
Comment: I'm the wife, my husband and baby are not going, the invitation is for me alone
Comment: Family staying behind can be interpreted in two ways: as a reason for OP to go back to her country, or as immigration threat, because if OP will stay as immigrant (illegal, seeking asylum etc), she'll try to bring child to join her. I don't know any way to guess what immigration officer will think about that.


I need to amend my approved Schengen visa to an earlier date of entry

Question: A Schengen visa was issued to me by Greek Embassy valid from Aug 25, 2014 up to Oct 10, 2014. When my relative from Spain knew about it she sent me an invitation and asked if I can come earlier by Aug 12, 2014. What can I do?
Answer: Not much, I am afraid. Schengen visas can only be extended in very limited cases (basically if you can't leave or if you have serious personal reasons to stay longer). You could apply for another visa from Spain or have the Greek visa annulled and reissued with different dates but all this seems very complicated and uncertain. Even if that was possible, the time you have to get this sorted out is extremely short.
What you can in any case do is plan your trip a bit differently, perhaps leaving Greece earlier and going to Spain then or something like that. Your current Greek visa would still be valid for such a trip, as long as you do also go to Greece, see Can I travel to Spain using a Greek Schengen visa even if I don't want to stay in Greece at all?


Probability and the many-worlds interpretation

Question: If I toss a coin, then according to the many worlds interpretation of QM, in half those worlds I'll get a head. If I then toss again, then in a quarter I will have got two heads.
And so on. There will therefore be some extreme worlds where I always get heads. What happens to the normal distribution of probabilities say in a world where I always get a head, you always toss a six on a die and all electrons are spin up? Similar extreme outcomes of will not happen in only one world, but an infinite number. In these worlds the normal distribution of events will not occur. What an I missing about the many-world interpretation of QM?
Comment: To a large extend, tossing a coin is a classical procedure. If we do not look at the coin nor compute the whole procedure with extremely accurate initial condition, the result in QM language should be $| \mathrm{Side A} \rangle \langle \mathrm{Side A} |  + | \mathrm{Side B} \rangle \langle \mathrm{Side B} |$. If we look at the coin or compute the whole procedure with extremely accurate initial condition, we know the result is one side. There is no measurement problem involved.
Answer: Without entering the quantum mechanics of the situation, we can see that each toss is a new world. The next toss is another world, so the series of  heads do not add in the way you think to make a world of all heads.
Each world deserted by each new toss will have the usual probabilities of heads or tails.
A world of all heads is possible with sequential tossings making a history of all heads, but not in the way  you think:

There will therefore be some extreme worlds where I always get heads

The "always get heads" assumes that you have freedom to keep tossing in the same world. You can only "always have gotten heads" in one world line.
The many worlds interpretation is just mathematics made visual, in my opinion.
Of course to even register that such a world line exists innumerable numbers of worlds will have been created so as to have the history in your world line that such a world existed ! Thinking mathematically is much simpler.
Comment: `You can only 'always have gotten heads' in one world line.` Wouldn't it be infinitely many world lines? E.g. there's a world where he always got heads and I always got heads, a world where he always got heads and I always got tails, a word where he always got heads and I've never flipped a coin because I lost both of my hands in a freak accident...
Answer: Your observation is correct. If tossing a coin were a quantum measurement, in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics (MW), there would be a branch of "worlds" in which the outcome was always heads.
This would not violate anything we know about probability or quantum mechanics. The full ensemble of worlds would have the expected binomial distribution of outcomes. e.g. for two coin tosses, there would be one world with $HH$, two with $HT$ and $TH$, and one with $TT$. The probability that "you" live in the $TTT\ldots$ branch is exactly equal to the probbility of there being a single Universe in which you toss a coin and see $TTT\ldots$ You wouldn't be able to infer anything about the Universe/MWI if you saw $TTT\ldots$, other than that you had witnessed something remarkably unlikely.

I will add a few comments regarding MWI and the most important aspect of probability in the MWI. This discussion is all a bit misleading without them.
The "branching of worlds" is an macroscopic phenomena that emerges around the time that a pure state is significantly de-cohered. It cannot be understood from the microscopic theory, from the bottom-up.
In the MWI, there is no collapse of the wavefunction, just unitary evolution of the wavefunction by Schrodinger's equation. The MWI doesn't contain a Born rule for probabilities!,
$$
P_a = |\langle a | \psi \rangle|^2
$$
That's very problematic. The branching occurs around the time a pure state has decohered, such that the basis states don't interefere. There is one branch per basis state. e.g.
$$
|\psi\rangle = \frac35|\phi\rangle + \frac45|\chi\rangle
$$
would not result in 25 Universes, 9 in state  $|\phi\rangle$ and 16 in state $|\chi\rangle$, but two branches, one $|\phi\rangle$ and one $|\phi\rangle$. The correct probabilities do not emerge from the branching.
Probability in MWI is an outstanding problem. There have been attempts to derive the Born rule and arguments that it emerges, but I'm not sure whether any solution is widely accepted even in the MWI community.
Comment: Could you have a look at [this question](http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/147257/2540). I think your added comments are relevant there and might produce an answer.
Answer: As far as I am aware, we are only able to speculate about these other "Universes" in the sense that they represent an aggregate of potential (indeterminate) wave functions relating to what events may occur in the time direction known as "future". Or might have occured in the "past" but didn't in this universe. Every time you toss a coin and look at it, that wave function collapses and you are able to determine which universe you are in. Each added toss of the coin adds to the number of collapsed wave functions - and thus potential alternative wave functions which did not occur in this universe.
Reversing time's arrow would seem to decrease the number of alternative possible wave functions, and thus decrease the number of "Universes".
Assuming that you are not an expert coin tosser and can engineer tails every time through skill, then any random distribution of toss sequences can occur, including a lifetime of tails or a normal distribution of tails V's heads, as you say, not forgetting that an infinite run of heads lies within the normal distribution, albeit at a probability approaching zero. You may discover that you live in the world where you decide never to toss a coin again, that mere decision will not collapse the wave function of any possible future toss, as you may change your mind, and take up the old hobby again.
Answer: What you are missing is that it is not a viable strategy to get the probability by counting worlds. The only viable way of calculating the probability in MWI is the Born rule. See this paper especially section 9:
http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.2718.


How Do Common Pathfinding Algorithms Compare To Human Process

Question: This might border on computational cognitive science, but I am curious as to how the process followed by common pathfinding algorithms (such as A*) compares to the process humans use in different pathfinding situations (given the same information). Are these processes similar?
Comment: Humans can use the A* pathfinding algorithm... I mean, an algorithm is just a technique, right? I don't think there's any algorithm a human being couldn't perform. I suppose what I'm trying to get at is that you should probably be a lot more clear in terms of what constitutes "the process humans use in different pathfinding situations". I don't think anybody could give you a meaningful answer until you say how humans actually do it... which is probably problematic in the general case, and it seems to be difficult here as well.
Comment: There are studies of human behavior in such situations: a reasonable answer might point to actual studies of how humans do pathfinding.
Comment: Humans really don't do very well with million-node graphs, especially given as adjacency lists, but $A^*$ works just fine.  (In other words: How humans do _what_ exactly?)
Comment: Also, please explain shortly what A* does and/or link to a reference. And: welcome!
Comment: @Patrick87 Certainly humans CAN do any algorithm, but that's not a very interesting question.  What I was trying to get at was how pathfinding algorithms compare to the techniques used by humans when left to solve a problem on their own (without prior knowledge of pathfinding algorithms).
Answer: Humans tend to choose not strictly optimal, but close to shortest solutions. So you'll need to look at fuzzy (approximate) algorithms, not at A*.
The closest algorithm to human thinking I've aware of is a Contaction hierarchies on par with a Reach pruning algorithm. When I need to find a path between A and B on the map, I do a quick overview, taking into account if there is crossing river or something else and looking for some general ways and then adding details that could shorten path.
Comment: Can you say the latter approach is shortest paths only that you start on a rough approximation of the graph and refine the graph as you go along?
Comment: @Raphael Yes, actually it is description of what *Contaction Hierarchies* (there is also a preprocessing step, that takes graph and collapses it into hierarchy with different details level)  do and simultaneously of what I'll do as a human being
Answer: Here you are a number of considerations. The first two are taken from the wonderful PhD by Andreas Junghanns (now back to Industry in Berlin, Germany and happy to count him among my friends :) ):
Breadth-First Search: If you are just standing in front of a furniture and something valuable (say a coin, or a ring) falls and goes beneath the furniture, so that you cannot see it, then you wave your hand slightly starting from the point where you saw the object dissapearing. If you do not find it you go a little bit further and proceed this way until either you find it or you loose your patience. That is exactly breadth-first search in action: first, you consider all the unknown locations at depth 1, then at depth 2 and so on.
Depth-First Search: when looking for something that is remotely located to your surroundings you never choose the aforementioned algorithm and instead you commit to a direction. An example is Cristobal Colon committing to the west when seeking a route to the Indians. Well, he was wrong but we know that nowadays. Imagine Colon trying a breadth-first search and moving along a spiral from Burgos where the contract between the Reyes Católicos and Colon was signed. Instead he pointed to a given direction without ever backtracking.
Another example from one of my professors at the University (José Cuena, who already passed away) regards bidirectional search: engineers, when building tunnels in mountains start from both ends simultaneously and end when they meet somewhere in the middle. The reason is simple, if they start just from one end it is very likely that there will be a huge deviation in the other end. Starting from both ends simultaneously minimizes the deviation in the meeting point.
Now, even in the case of A$^*$ let me recall the same considerations I make to my students:

The open list is just the list of open possibilities awaiting to be considered. All humans do this though we are not as good as computers remembering things.
The closed list just serves to avoid circular reasoning or continuing reasoning from a point that we already considered before. This happens if you are reasoning at loud voice and you repeat something. Then, someone will realize and will immediately tell you "hey man, you already said that before"

A very interesting question somehow addressed by others is whether humans can run any algorithm and (even more interesting from my point of view) whether these algorithms (or, in general, the way we build Artificial Intelligence) mimic our natural intelligent procedures.
Comment: The paper mentioned by Carlos can be read here:  https://svn.sable.mcgill.ca/sable/courses/COMP763/oldpapers/junghanns-01-sokoban.pdf
Answer: Have you watched a child learning to navigate a room? You have to tell them, "Go around the table. AROUND".
Human path planning is a grab bag of heuristics, some innate and some learned. Lookahead is probably fixed to a small number, certainly not a general recursion like A*.
Comment: This answers contains only speculation.


Are you cleared to next altitude when you get "direct" while flying SID?

Question:
Let's say you just took off from the TACOMA airport and were flying ATOME TWO DEP. ARRIE transition. The Seattle tower instructs you "direct to ZUMBI" and to contact Departure, and you contact Departure and report "Departure, N1234, passing 2000, direct ZUMBI." If departure just replies "N1234, Departure, Radar contact," are you cleared to the next altitude of KIMSH (at or above 10000ft) or should you maintain 9000 until Departure gives you higher?
Comment: What was your original clearance from Clearance Delivery or PDC? Climb Via? Climb and maintain XXX? Climb via except maintain XXX? Specify that, please.
Comment: @Ralph J The clearance was Climb Via
Answer: As an example, say you receive an IFR clearance from clearance delivery prior to departure such as: "N1234 cleared to Los Angeles Airport, ATOME TWO DEPARTURE, ARRIE Transition, Q-One Forty-five, climb via SID, Squawk 2252, etc." Then, after passing 2000 ft. if the tower controller instructs you to "proceed direct ZUMBI" then he/she (controller) should issue you an altitude assignment because you are being taken off of the lateral path of the SID.  In the alternative the controller could assign an altitude by using the phraseology (or similar) "N1234 proceed direct to ZUMBI, climb via the ATOME TWO departure." The "climb via" verbiage in this sequence is the equivalent of assigning an altitude.
After switching frequencies to the radar controller he/she should instruct you (for example) "after ZUMBI climb via SID" (assuming that ATC wants you to meet the KIMSH restriction and climb to the published Top Altitude of 15000 ft).
Here is some information from the ATC Controller's Handbook 7110.65W, para. 2-6-4, g. 2 and the associated Note: (Air Traffic Controller's handbook, 7110.65W)
(Although the reference paragraph and note, as it is published in the controller's handbook, is an example when a deviation around weather is necessary, the principle underlying my explanation is the same (there is just not an example similar to the circumstances you describe in your question).

When approving a weather deviation for an
  aircraft that had previously been issued a crossing
  altitude, including Climb Via or Descend Via
  clearances, issue an altitude to maintain along with
  the clearance to deviate. If you intend on clearing the
  aircraft to resume the procedure, advise the pilot.

NOTE−
After a Climb Via or Descend Via clearance has been
  issued, a vector/deviation off of a SID/STAR cancels the
  altitude restrictions on the procedure. The aircraft's Flight
  Management System (FMS) may be unable to process
  crossing altitude restrictions once the aircraft leaves the
  SID/STAR lateral path. Without an assigned altitude, the
  aircraft's FMS may revert to leveling off at the altitude set
  by the pilot, which may be the SID/STAR's published top or
  bottom altitude.

Also, from the FAA's Pilot/Controllers Procedures & Systems Integration Workgroup FAQs regarding "Climb Via" procedures, here is an applicable Question and Answer (FAQs Climb Via):

Q.
  I'm on a climb via clearance and the controller vectors me off the procedure.  Do I continue to "Climb Via?"
A.  NO.  You are laterally and vertically off of the
  procedure.  The controller will issue an altitude to
  maintain and provide a further "expect" clearance.
  Note: Request an altitude to maintain if the
  controller does not provide one

The main point is that a clearance to fly a SID that contains a Top Altitude and verbiage that includes "Climb Via" assumes that you will fly the lateral route as published, thereby committing you to meet the altitude restrictions.  If you are taken off of the published lateral routing ("cleared direct" to a fix somewhere down-range on the SID) the controller needs to issue you an altitude assignment since you (while proceeding direct to ZUMBI) are no longer on the published SID lateral route. In the alternative the controller could assign an altitude by using the phraseology (or similar) "N1234 proceed direct to ZUMBI, climb via the ATOME TWO departure." The "climb via" verbiage in this sequence is the equivalent of assigning an altitude.
From the NBAA Access Committee briefing regarding "Climb Via" procedures:
(NBAA Climb Via Briefing) showing ATC Phraseology when being cleared direct to a fix on the SID.

Pictorial display from the NBAA briefing (see link above) of pilot/controller responsibilities and phraseology when being cleared direct to a (down-range) fix on the SID after departure:

If the controller did not issue me an altitude instruction ("maintain," "climb via," etc.) upon taking me off of the SID I would have asked for one.
Here is a link to the ATC Controller's Handbook (7110.65W) so you can review the reference noted above. Also, here is a link to a FAQ's publication regarding Climb Via Climb Via FAQs
Comment: @lemonincider - I've added some information to my answer showing procedures briefed in 2014 to the NBAA regarding "climb via" and the requirement to receive  "climb via" phraseology as the altitude assignment when taken off of the SID and being cleared direct to a down-range waypoint/fix. This briefing is posted on the FAASafety.gov website.  I've included the link in my answer.
Comment: This answer is incorrect as applied to the OP. If vectored OFF the procedure then yes you need a new altitude clearance. But in the OP's case, you still have waypoints on the procedure ahead of you that you are cleared to. The climb via clearance still gives you what you need. It's only when you have no SID/STAR points  ahead of you on your clearance (as in, a vector) that your cleared altitude is now in limbo & needs to be explicitly assigned by the controller. Reread your examples - they are both vectors, not shortcuts.
Comment: @Ralph J - I have added more to my answer that may clarify my point.  Specifically, if the controller takes you off of the published SID routing by clearing you direct to a down-range waypoint/fix, the controller can issue an altitude clearance by saying (for example) "...cleared direct ZUMBI, climb via the ATOME TWO departure."  The verbiage "climb via" in this case is an altitude assignment. But, instructions for the aircraft to go off of the SID (even to a SID fix down-range) needs to include altitude instructions.
Comment: I don't have much experience flying IR in the States, but at least in my country S Korea, the controllers normally give "direct" to the pilots flying SID or STAR without any instructions on altitude, and the pilots, at least as far as I know, take it to mean "continue fly SID or STAR after the fix directed to." So yes, Ralph J's answer corresponds to my IR experience, but the instruction confuses me whenever I get it, because I myself believe the altitude instruction needs to be included.
Comment: @lemonincider-There is a difference between ICAO and U.S. "Climb/Descend Via" procedures. See this reference: http://www.internationalflightresources.com/climbdescend-faa-vs-icao-explained-revised-sep2017.  I guess some nuances in the verbiage used in the AIM and U.S. ATC handbook, and other references requires further explanation because there are frequently similar questions on various aviation forum platforms. For me, if I am given instructions to depart the SID, even cleared to a down-range fix (on the SID), I want to be clear on what altitude(s) I'm expected to adhere to. Just my opinion.
Comment: @lemonincider See my edits to my answer below, rather than dragging out the discussion in comments.
Comment: So, the clearance direct to ZUMBI does **not** take him off of the SID since it is actually a fix on the SID, which makes most of your answer not relevant....
Comment: @Lnafziger How does that not take him off the SID?
Comment: @TomMcW That waypoint is part of the SID!
Comment: Your additional information improves this answer greatly!
Comment: @Lnafziger But if issued a "proceed direct" then you are leaving the SID.
Comment: The only thing unclear to me from the NBAA example is the reason for the FL230  restriction at MUCKI. The restriction at MUCKI happens to be the same as the max for the whole procedure. In the OP example,  if not restated by ATC does the crossing restriction of <9000 at ZUMBI still apply or is that canceled and defaults to 15,000?
Comment: @TomMcW - In the NBAA example, once you are at MUCKI just be at or below 230, then continue climb (if not there already) to Top Alt of 230. In the OP, the controller should say "Proceed direct to ZUMBI, climb via the ATOME Two departure." Then the aircraft will be at or below 90 at ZUMBI, cross KIMSH at or above 100, then continue climb to the Top Alt of 150. The "climb via" phraseology is an "altitude assignment/instruction" meaning follow all altitude restrictions (if there are any) until reaching the Top Alt.
Comment: @TomMcW Yes, to another point on the SID....  Which is the crux of the question.
Answer: Given the clarification in the comment, that the initial clearance was to Climb Via the SID...
You're still cleared climb via, even with the turn direct, so not above 9 until past ZUMBI, but as soon as you are past that fix, climb up to 15, making sure you're at or above 10 at KIMSH.
To address some things in the comments for the other answer:
When you're cleared OFF of a SID or STAR that you'd been climbing/descending via, you're in a no-man's-land of ambiguity: can I immediately climb/descend unrestricted to the top/bottom altitude as published, or does the controller need me to stop at something prior to that altitude -- perhaps to maintain separation with other traffic?
In the case of the OP's question, you still have the (only) hold-down point in front of you: ZUMBI at 9.  There was nothing before that would keep you from climbing straight up to 9, so why stop any sooner than that after the direct?  And, after ZUMBI you'll still be on the SID routing, which gives you a climb to 15, so nothing changed there either.
As for what the controllers ought to be doing, maybe they need to give you an altitude clearance with every shortcut no matter how inconsequential, but if they don't there is no ambiguity in what the pilot still needs to be doing here.
Getting vectored off the procedure (or, potentially, a shortcut that bypasses ZUMBI) is an entirely different story: you absolutely need to query the controller if he doesn't state an altitude clearance in that case. If he needs you to go no higher than 9 until past the line of arrivals that cross the departure path near ZUMBI, he should make that clear. Or if nobody is on that arrival path & you're good to climb unrestricted right now, he should tell you that as well.  But in the OP's question as stated, this isn't ambiguous. The shortcut mentioned doesn't bypass, nor introduce, any altitude restrictions.
Comment: Do you have a reference for this?


American equivalent for British chocolate terms

Question: When the British recipe calls for plain chocolate do they refer to cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, cooking squares, or Nestle style chips?  Is it unsweetened, semi-sweet, or bitter?
Comment: related: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/784/67
Answer: The closest US equivalent to British plain chocolate is semi-sweet. If a recipe calls for, say, 5oz of plain chocolate, it will mean chocolate in bar form (unless chips are specified of course).
Obviously if the chocolate is for melting it doesn't matter what form it comes in.
Cocoa powder and chocolate syrup mean the same thing in Britain as they do in the US, incidentally.
Comment: In my experience chocolate chips are often not proper chocolate. Quite often they are 'compound chocolate', a mix of vegetable fat and cocoa amongst other things.
Comment: There can be a difference for melting between chips & bar ... I have a recipe that calls for using the heat of a bar cookie to melt the chocolate, and if I use chips, it just never works right ... I've tried with mini chips and different brands, but I don't know if it's something with the temper, an additive / different formula that throws it off, or something else I haven't controlled for (I've only used chips when doing it in the winter, I know, as I've only done it 3 times that way, so the ambient temp might've been different)
Comment: @Joe What is a bar cookie? I know what a "bar cookie" is (a cookie in the shape of a bar), but not this "I have a recipe that calls for using the heat of a bar cookie to melt the chocolate".
Comment: @Thomas : it's baked in a pan in a large sheet, then cut into pieces after cooking.  In this case, once it comes out, you top it with chocolate, let it melt, then press in chopped nuts and let the chocolate firm up to attach the nuts.
Comment: @@ElendilTheTall well, thanks to that info I will be buying dairy milk bars from now on whenever I'm baking :) Hahahaha
Answer: British plain chocolate would be broadly equivalent to the US bitter-sweet chocolate.
Bitter or unsweetened dark chocolate has high cocoa solid percentage and little to no sugar added.
Bitter-sweet has about 70/30 cocoa solid/butter to sugar ratio.
Semi-sweet has about 50/50 cocoa solid/butter to sugar ratio.


Is Mumble encryption end to end?

Question: Is it possible for a Mumble server operator to monitor or record users' conversations? Or are Mumble conversations encrypted end-to-end?
Answer: Mumble's home page states it uses public-key cryptography. This is done by using the TLS protocol, which is mentioned in the FAQ.
With public-key cryptography, the private key is always known by the server. Thus, a Mumble server administrator indeed has access to the private key - usually in the form of a X.509 certificate - which can be used to decrypt the TLS handshake to derive a session's symmetric cipher key. This key is used to encrypt and decrypt all data transmitted over the connection. In other words, an administrator certainly is capable of decrypting all traffic.
Also, nothing stops a server administrator to log and record communication on the server.
Comment: Note that Mumble servers being able to read/view your stream has nothing to do with using public-key cryptography and everything to do with the protocols being used. They decided to just encrypt the communication to and from the server (which I consider reasonable, given how you can just host your own server). If they decided to add end-to-end encryption they would still use public-key cryptography, as it is a necessary building block of basically every protocol that does not rely on a pre-shared secret (and those are bad for usability).
Comment: Only old crappy SSL implementations let you decrypt the handshake with the private key.  Any modern handshake should use Diffie-Hellman.  A Mumble server knows the session key of course.  And the serer's private key would let you MITM the handshake.
Answer: Adding to Stevens correct answer:
http://mumble.sourceforge.net/FAQ#Is_Mumble_encrypted.3F
chat is indeed TLS encrypted and voip via OCB-AES but both channels are only server-client as opposed to end-to-end, i.e. the server (operator) has in principle access to all clear text and voice running through the server.
Hence I run my own server (setup is really easy), see
http://mumble.sourceforge.net/Running_Murmur

Is Mumble encryption end to end?


Link information between spreadsheets in iPad using Numbers

Question: Could you link to data in one spreadsheet from another using Numbers for iPad?
Answer: No - there isn't an URL scheme or addressing scheme to make that sort of link.
This isn't something that even works on the Mac version of Numbers so at least there is parity across the OS in this case.
Answer: Just digging into Numbers on iPad myself. A very useful way spreadsheets can be linked is via cell references. Perhaps this answers your question.
I see the following in the Numbers documentation, in the section Data and functions: Types of arguments and values:
"If a reference is to a cell in another table, the reference must contain the name of the table... For example, [in Table 1 a cell could have a formula] =Table 2::B2.
"If the reference is to a cell in a table in another sheet, the sheet name must also be included ... =SUM(Sheet 2::Table1::C2:G2. ... Note the double colons."
This is familiar to users of Excel, as far as it goes; I see now that it only works within files and not between them.
HTH
Comment: This only works inside one physical file though, not between files.
Comment: Yes, that's what I found. It is easy to make the link between tabs in the same spreadsheet but not possible between two spreadsheets...


Storage Array monitoring

Question: I am new to monitoring & managment world, would like to configure storage arrays for monitoring and management pupose. can any one help me to understand basics of configuring monitorig for storage arrays or point to the link where i will get information. i got some information that it can be done through maps or smp but not sure how to do it.
Answer: Generally storage arrays offer either SNMP or alertmail based monitoring, either directly from the array of via any centralised management machine. There's usually nothing too storage-specific about these methods but obviously the MIBs/messages will be storage specific.
Comment: Thanks Chopper, can you point me to any site where I can get informaion how this can be done using SNMP
Comment: Oh that depends on the array, if it's EMC their site will have details, same for HP, NetApp, Hitachi etc. There's a decent-enough SNMP explanation on wikipedia but that's not vendor or storage-specific.

Storage Array monitoring


Ground water is almost every where, then how do mines and other holes are digged so that ground water doesn't drain into it

Question: Water finds it way to the lowest point because of gravity.
So if we dig a mine or something same, then how we take ground water in account, so that it doesn't fill in.
Comment: Indeed, the first steam engines were developed for pumping water out of mines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcomen_atmospheric_engine
Comment: yes mines do leak and part of how this is solved is to use pumps to get the water out of the mine,an other solution is to freeze the area where the water enters the mine to stop the flow and then pump concrete into the fractures to seal it off(freezing the rock was used during the construction of a underwater road tunell close to where i live,the oslofjord tunnel in norway it still leaks 36 metric tonns of water an hour)the same solution can be used in mines.
Comment: Even today the Cornwall tin mines are notable for the remains of the boiler houses for the steam pumps.
Answer: We pump it out. Open and closed pit mines usually have pumping installations to get the water out.
Look up Mine dewatering on Wikipedia.
There have also been numerous accidents in the past where mines were flooded (YouTube: Turkey mining accident: 18 workers trapped after underground water floods mine), and when left alone many abandoned mines will fill up with (ground) water.
Sometimes these are nice diving objects.
Or (as Trond Hansen commented) we try to prevent it from coming in in the first place, by using cement, grout or bulkheads to 'plug the holes'.
If you are really interested:
Mine Water: Hydrology, Pollution, Remediation by P.L. Younger, S.A. Banwart, R.S. Hedin.
Design of Water Holding Bulkheads for CoalMines by V.S. Mutton and A.M. Rememnikov
Comment: Here's a nice example of a flooded open-pit mine on the edge of a desert: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Anaconda_Copper_Mine_Nevada.JPG/1280px-Anaconda_Copper_Mine_Nevada.JPG
Comment: Pumping water out of mines is very common and a problem. Mine water is generally very corrosive so design of piping and pumps is not trivial.
Comment: In coal mines much of the water is in the coal . As that water drains from the coal , natural gas is then released from the coal requiring good air circulation to avoid explosions.
Answer: Your assumption about water that reach the lower point in mines is correct, in fact in the older mines that develop let's say in a mountain they dug a lower level tunnel that collect all the water of the mine, this tunnel can run several miles like one in Sardinia (Italy) that reach the sea at 14 Km.
This method have the obvious limitation that you cannot go under this bottom level, so you reach a point when you have to pump water out to your daring tunnel.
Mine shaft also have a deeper bottom to collect water, in older mines with a relative low water income they run a "bucket" in the bottom of the shaft to take water as in a normal well.
In the modern times you have always the need to collect water in a point where you have installed your pump, and you do this digging some ditch along the tunnel for example.
Water can be very dangerous because digging tunnels you can encounter large mass of water, this happen for example during the dig of many tunnels that go trough Alps.


How to effectively dry/clean the inside of water bladders?

Question: After using water bladder, how to dry it thoroughly besides simply pouring out the water content so any remnant of water inside it is cleanly eliminated?
Comment: Are you having problems when rinsing out your water bladder with clean water and just hanging it out to dry?
Comment: It tends to collapse and not ari very well @hillsons
Comment: Here is a few videos on how you can clean your hydration pack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7KZlSuc0t0

And a further list of other ways to clean the bladder and straw
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+clean+and+dry+hydration+bladders
Answer: I clean my drinking system with lots of hot water then sterilise it using baby bottle sterilising tablets. Once it is clean, I don't dry it - I store it in the freezer. :-)
Additionally, I don't use anything but water. People I know who use powdered drinks or sugar solution tell me the black mold grows really quickly inside the drinking tube and valve.
Comment: Freezer! Great idea.
Comment: That is a neat idea, but I'd guess you need to handle it carefully while frozen as the plastic may become more brittle.
Comment: +1 For the freezer. If you don't want to use any chemicals, use vinegar - it kills 99% of all molds.
Answer:
Drain all the water out of the tube
Remove the tube from the bladder and the bite valve and hang it up
Bend a metal coat hanger in half (make sure no sharp edges are exposed)
push the coat hanger into the bladder and hang the coat hanger up

You can also buy airers but the coat hanger works just as well.
From a cleaning point of view you just need baby bottle steriliser and some brushes. The clean the inside of the tube you can by specialist brushes, they're a brush on the ned of a flexible wire.
Answer: I bought a water reservoir cleaning kit for about $7 from Walmart.
Disclaimer: I haven't used it yet (I only got it a month or two ago. I haven't gone on a longer hike where I wanted to go to the effort of filling a water reservoir, instead of just bringing a little bottle).
Outdoor Products Hydro Cleaning Kit
It came with a cleaning brush for the tube and one for the reservoir itself, but most importantly for this question, it comes with a little coat hanger type piece of plastic (similar to Liam's method above). You fold up the coat hanger thing, then push it into the reservoir and let it pop back into shape, then hang it up. Before, I always ended up going to a lot of effort to try to balance the reservoir with the hard opening vertical and the rest of the bag flat, so some air could get in. It would always flop flat after a few hours, or someone closing a door in the next room, etc. I'm looking forward to not doing that.
Comment: Glad you have something as Walmart. Deuter e.g. sells those cleaning kits for their Camelback very overprized. So I won't buy them.
Answer: I drain mine thoroughly, hang/suspend it with the open end down, and stick an empty paper towel tube stuffed with paper towels into it to keep it open. I've found that if I only use water, and let them air dry promptly, I never have a problem.
I only use filtered water in my bladder.
If I feel I want to clean them, I use a warm white vinegar water solution and rinse and flush that way.
Comment: Good answer, I have a canteen that is is 20 or 30 years old and draining to dry has worked fine.
Answer: take a fish tank pump or air mattress pump and run a plastic tube into the bladder.  It circulates air and takes about 30 minutes.  For the tube itself, I remove the bit valve off the end and swing it around to get the centrifugal force to get most of the water out--then I use the pump--takes about 5 minutes.
Comment: I just tried this but the pump seems to put out so little air I doubt it will do anything. What size/type of pump works for you?
Answer: When I need to wash a drinking water bottle, canteen, bladder, etc.  I fill it part way with warm water, and add table salt.  This particularly effective for areas that have growth or contaminates and can not be effectively scrubbed.  Add lots of salt, to the point of saturation (when shaken salt still settles to the bottom), Shake well.
Most anything that grows well in drinking water gets killed by high levels of salt.  The additional salt works as an abrasive to remove build up.  You can let it sit for a couple of hours, or overnight.
Rinse well and hang upside down to air dry.  For soft sided containers you may need to use a clean item to keep it from collapsing as mentioned in this answer by M Kenyon II


Why do the Dead attack Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in the movies?

Question: There are many (in my opinion) strange additions in the Lord of the Rings movies that weren't in the book. One I'm having trouble understanding is when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli get attacked by the oathbreakers at the Stone of Erech. These ghosts have been waiting to be released for thousands of years, so why would Peter Jackson and company have them try to kill the one person who could release them from their misery? In the book, they were eager to fufill their oath. Is there an explanation in the behind the scenes footage in the extended editions other than just "we wanted to add suspense?"
Comment: They didn't know Aragorn was the 'one' until he revealed himself as the heir of Gondor
Comment: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Lord-of-the-Rings-Return-of-the-King.html
Answer: Ok, the part about they're 'trying to kill the one person who could release them from their misery' was technically not true.

"The dead do not suffer the living to pass."
  "You will suffer me."
  "Hahaha"
  "The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead. And the dead keep it." "The way is shut. Now you must die."
  "I summon you to fulfil your oath!"
  "None but the king of Gondor may command me!"

So you see, they didn't know that Aragorn was Isildur's heir and the only one who could release them yet. They thought he was just some random guy who wanted to pass through and, like they do for anyone else who tries to enter, they want to kill him.
It's only after Aragorn proves that he is the heir of Elendil and Isildur with Anduril (previously Narsil, the only weapon that could affect the ghosts) and with his words that they agree to fight.
The difference between the movie and the book is that in the book, Aragorn already displays the standard Arwen made for him, brought by Halbarad, so such a challenge and scene as shown in the movie would be unnecessary. The standard already displays the tree and stars of the kings of Gondor, but in the movie, he had to prove he was the heir first, so Anduril being able to affect the ghosts was very significant.
Comment: @Allan Ah hahaha, I don't think they did. At least, I don't think that was their intent. You see, if really those skulls were meant to kill him, why would the ghost king suddenly turn up out of the blue to say they would fight? I think that skulls scene was there to show that the ghosts accepted Aragorn and would fight for him, after which, he would release them, and they would be at peace. So, they destroyed their own 'gateway' because they knew they wouldn't need it anymore, but they still don't want anyone to use the path.
Comment: As to why they didn't just agree with Aragorn and tell him politely to get out of the way first: suspense and awesome skull scene possibility XD
Comment: I guess this is the best answer I'm going to get, though. I think this scene was ridiculous, but it doesn't look like Jackson has an excuse.
Comment: But after he proves that he is the heir of Isildur, they try to kill him with a ridiculous amount of skulls.
Comment: but if it doesnt make any sense, it doesn't matter if it looks cool and adds suspense.
Answer: Although the ghosts did not attack any member of the group, the feeling JRR Tolkien relays through Gimli's point of view clearly shows the ghosts have no love for living trespassers.
Would Aragorn not have made the claim of his birthright and his "rendez-vous" call to the summoning stone, they could have died by insanity or other means (as seen for the remaining skeleton of an old Rohirrim king that sought gold and glory).
It is unclear if the ghosts in the book sensed anything about Aragorn's lineage, but they certainly responded to his summoning words.
More likely, Peter Jackson wanted something more "dynamic" than a simple ride through the tunnels and meadows.


How do I find the right Guru?

Question: How can we trust someone and accept him as Guru? Can we know or assess the spiritual level of a person? Are there any references for choosing one?
What should we do if we realize that the guru we chose wasn't the right one in terms of knowledge?
Comment: Right guru will come to you, we cannot find guru.. till than as per uddhav gita we need think every being as guru ant to brahma we learn one or many qualities from each being and know how god works inside them.
Comment: Also, my answer to a related question here might help you: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/7893/how-to-tell-if-your-guru-is-god-realized
Answer: As per the scriptures, a right guru must be fulfilling two important qualities:

Srotriya : He must be well versed in all the sashtras, i.e. Vedas, Puranas, Philosophies, etc. (master in theory)
Brahmanistha: He must himself have realized God and stays fixed in Him. (master in practice)

So the scriptures say as below:

tad vijñānārthaṃ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyam brahma-niṣṭham [Mund. Up. - 1.2.12]
-To know That (God) he (the seeker) goes to a guru who is well versed in scriptures and situated in Brahman (God realized) .
tasmād guruṃ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
  śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṃ brahmaṇyupaśamāśrayam [SB - 11.3.21]
Maning
  Therefore, the seeker approaches a good and noble guru who is skillful in the knowledge of the scriptures and the supreme and who having taken the shelter of Brahma stays satisfied in Him.

After following a guru for few years if you find you are not improving or he is not the right person, then the only thing you should do is to stop following him and without any ill feelings towards him, just try to find someone else.
Technically one can do a lot of things after he finds himself cheated or a prey to the media hype, but he should focus upon continuing his development rather than getting revenge minded and focusing on someone else's ruin. Those negative feelings will only degrade him further instead of helping him move up.

Finding guru is actually a subjective thing. Even while one guru may work for a seeker, he may not be good for another one. And again, how would you know if he is God realized? Any one may show some cheap miracle or some spiritual power and can act as a guru. So it is generally said that it is not the student who finds the guru, it is the guru who finds the student. For example, Vivekananda first didn't accept Ramakrishna as his guru, even he mocked him. But later upon more interaction he felt his divinity and accepted as guru. So without properly analyzing it is very hard to find out who is a true guru and who is not. It is  because true saints even act opposite to their nature sometimes. So from my experience I would say if one has faith in God and genuine interest, then eventually he will find the right guru even if he falls prey to others many times.

Update
Adding more info regarding changing guru upon pbvamsi's suggestion. The thing about changing guru is that, it should be done only when its necessary and required. So I said one can change guru when he is not finding any improvement after following him.
Because not all gurus are perfect or of the same caliber and qualification, one may not find perfection by following only one guru. So the scripture says knowledge cannot be stable through one guru alone:

na hyekasmādgurorjñānaṃ susthiraṃ syātsupuṣkalam [SB -11.9.31]
   - Not through one guru knowledge becomes steady and complete.

There are also real life examples when a guru sends his disciple to someone else for further improvements. Also the other thing is that, one guru may be perfect in yoga but doesn't know about devotion. So a student have to change his guru if he wants to learn devotion, knowledge or something else like it. So there is provision for changing guru. But only when it is necessary and required. If one finds a guru who is perfect and satisfies the above mentioned two conditions, there is no reason for someone to change guru. Moreover, in that case changing guru will break ananyata (complete surrender to only one) and the student cannot proceed further.
So your saying that a guru cannot be changed is right and true, but only when one has accepted the guru as one's true master and the guru also has accepted him as his dear disciple. In those cases, the guru and disciple become one soul in two bodies. Guru and shisya relationship is the most noble, divine and pure of all. It is one bond that never breaks. So before one has found his true guru, he can change many others. But once he has found him, there is no change.
Comment: request you to recheck your saying that we can change guru or request you to provide authentic reference on this. Only for that reason i've provided extended answer to your's accepted answer.  Spiritual guru/sadguru cant be changed!
Comment: @pbvamsi ok, added more info.
Comment: thanks for the convincing edit. Worldly gurus who teaches worldly science/art can be changed any no of times but when it comes to spiritual guru, one has to wait till he finds the spiritually enlightened guru. If one is truly interested, guru will enter at right time!
Comment: Are there any gurus who is of the cadre of 'Adi Sankaracharya'?
Answer: Adding few points to jabahar's answer:
There is no privilege to change Guru in the disciple's lifetime. One has to take enough time in choosing a right Guru. Infact it is not the student who finds the guru, it is the guru who finds the student. Based on one's strong determination, he may get the right Guru.
Few references to add are:
(1) Once a disciple came to Narasimha Saraswathi and begged Him to accept him as disciple showing the anger of his current Guru as the reason, but Narasimha Sarawathi explained what kind of Guru one will get and sent him back to his Guru.
(2) Once Indra left Bruhaspathi and approached Viswarupa to be as his Guru. Later Indra approached Dattatreya and pleased Him to be his Guru! Dattatreya explained the Guru principle and denied to accept Indra as His disciple. He said there is no chance to change Guru and taught him to approach Bruhaspathi again.
So before choosing a person as Guru one can test Him multiple times but after choosing Him as Guru there is no chance to change! Even if disciple stops following, He will uplift disciple's life, He will follow disciple in all the lifes to come(reference is Bhadrasheela's story in Datta Purana). But if one denies his own Guru then no one can save him.
After one makes stong determination, he will be privileged to meet many sadhus. With whom one's heart becomes peaceful and experiences sat-chit-ananda (true bliss eternal), in whose presence one gets courage and will power to solve all problems(a feeling that they will get solved by themselves), in whose presence all the worries & sorrows are forgotten, above all in whose presence one feels he is my savior, my relative, such a person can be approached as Guru.
Comment: I doubt the claim that one can not change one's Guru. Sri Yadava Prakasha was Guru of Sri Ramanuja. Ramanuja disagreed with Yadava Prakash and the disagreement led to murder attempt on Ramanuja by his Guru. Later on, however, Yadava Prakash accepted Sri Ramanuja as his Guru!
Comment: the Guru-disciple relation is one-to-one few happenings cant be generalized to everyone! Guru is formation of love & knowledge. All Gurus are same and there is only one in the universe. But for them who are in maya, there are some practices laid to be followed which helps one to enhance one's own spiritual level! Guru Geetha is the only prominent, very widely accepted reference which I know teaching the guru principle, I just reworded it with my understanding as the answer!
Answer: I am only adding to Be Happy's answer. I am in agreement with most of his answer. My points are in addition to his. First, the third qualification of the guru is sinlessness. The guru should be above any moral approach. This includes brahmachari.
Second, one cannot change gurus. As Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says in the The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Appendix A: Keshab at Dakshineswar, available here http://www.belurmath.org/gospel/index.htm) -

[Sri Ramakrishna] "One must not look on one's guru as a mere human being: it is Satchidananda Himself who appears as the guru. When the disciple has the vision of the Ishta, through the guru's grace, he finds the guru merging in Him.
"What can one not achieve through simple faith! Once there was an annaprasana ceremony in a guru's house. His disciples volunteered, according to their powers, to supply the different articles of food. He had one disciple, a very poor widow, who owned a cow. She milked it and brought the guru a jar of milk. He had thought she would take charge of all the milk and curd for the festival. Angry at her poor offering, he threw the milk away and said to her, 'Go and drown yourself.' The widow accepted this as his command and went to the river to drown herself. But God was pleased with her guileless faith and, appearing before her, said: 'Take this pot of curd. You will never be able to empty it. The more curd you pour out, the more will come from the pot. This will satisfy your teacher.' The guru was speechless with amazement when the pot was given to him. After hearing from the widow the story of the pot, he went to the river, saying to her, 'I shall drown myself if you cannot show God to me.' God appeared then and there, but the guru could not see Him. Addressing God, the widow said, 'If my teacher gives up his body because Thou dost not reveal Thyself to him, then I too shall die.' So God appeared to the guru-but only once.
"Now you see, because of faith in her guru the disciple herself had the vision of God and also showed Him to her teacher. Therefore I say, 'Even though my guru frequents a grog-shop, still to me he is the embodiment of Eternal Bliss.'
"All want to be the guru, but very few indeed want to be the disciple. But you know that rain-water doesn't collect on a high mound; it collects in low land, in a hollow.

So the question becomes what if one has determined he has taken a guru with a low character? One should then worship the guru from a distance. To do worship does not require interaction or to be in the presence of the person. One can go and mingle with others who one may determine are on a more sattwic path. If, after doing such for a while, one still wants to take another guru, then the test of the guru should be done rigorously and the fact of having already take another as a guru should be explained to the new guru upfront for his advice.
Comment: With due respect to Swamiji, is "morality" even a requirement in Hindu tradition, what is moral today might not be moral tomorrow or wouldn't have been moral yesterday ? What if the Guru's purpose is to cause a "shift" in society, his/her actions might seem "immoral" by society standards in that "yuga" ?
Answer: First, understand the meaning of the word Guru in Sanskrit tradition, Guru has to be a realized being. It's not possible for ordinary beings to know if a person is realized or not.
So the safest bet is to know how integrated the person is to Shastras and their Guru parampara. Although, there are many great exceptions like Sri Ramana Maharshi who don't have a Guru parampara and don't have a successor.
A Guru has to be evaluated on the 4 parameters:

ShastraPramana: The original scriptures of the tradition of the Guru parampara. Are the teachings and claims made by Guru backed by Shastras ? How integrated the Guru is to those Shastras? Are the disciples encourages to read and follow those original scriptures?

Apta Pramana: If the Shastras work then there must be other Gurus i.e. realized masters in the present and past who would have "realized" the experience mentioned in Shastras and would have written commentaries based on their self-realization. (Think of them like experiments that have been replicated by other "experts" based on the original publication (shastras))

Atma Pramana: The self-experience of the Guru itself. Are they in sync with the Apta Pramana and Shastra Pramana i.e. Is Guru able to replicate the results specified by Shastras and do they correlate the results with other publications?

Sakshi Pramana: The experience of disciple itself. Can the experience of disciple itself conform to the results recorded as the result of ShastraPramana, AptaPramana, and AtmaPramana.

This system is a very vigorous system of evaluation. It is often very very difficult to find a Guru who passes the 4 parameters listed above. But if you find one who passes on all counts immediately go to him/her.
Till one finds such a Guru it's best to follow an Acharya who is integrated to Shastras. Every Kriya suggested by the Acharya has to be backed up the "Shastra" and insist on producing the original Sanskrit verse.
For eg, if one has to bend the body in a certain way for Yoga it has to be based on the original Sanskrit verse. If one has to put certain material into Homa, it has to be specified in the Sanskrit verse.
Thankfully, there are many traditional Acharyas who follow the Shastras and more than glad to produce the original Shastras.
Even among Gurus, there are different Gurus who can "transmit" different areas of Shastras. When the Guru thinks the disciple is ready and has nothing more to add then Guru sends the disciple to the "next" Guru. This process goes on till the disciple is sent to the Sathguru. (Sathguru, as per Shastras, is a very specific Sanskrit term)
References:

http://books.nithyanandatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/12/NithyanandaYogaMobileRelease-Reduced.pdf (Page 7)

Sastra Praman, Apta Pramana, and Atma Pramana: A Dialogue between Swami Nithyananda and Rajiv Malhotra http://hinduismnow.org/blog/2017/02/26/sastra-praman-apta-pramana-atma-pramana-dialogue-swami-nithyananda-rajiv-malhotra/

"A Discussion with Nithyananda: on God vs. Sadashiva, Why Wear Gold, Attacks against Hinduism & More" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNAHZpRl3go ... original video of the transcript in 2
Answer: This is from Kularnav Tantra about characteristics of Kaula guru, but it can still help in identifying real Guru. The characteristics of a true Guru is told by Lord Shiva. It is as follow:

"O Paramesani! And the Guru himself, is one who is clean of apparel;
charming; endowed with all features;
perfect limbed;
knowing the truth of all Agamas, the application of all Mantras;
bewitching the world;
sweet looking like a god; happy countenance, easy of access;
clean;
He is the one who dissipates delusion and doubt;
Knows the meaning of gestures;
Who is wise and knows the pros and cons;
Whose attention is directed within though the look is outward;
Who knows all;
Knows place and time;
In whose command lies Siddhi(fulfilment);
Knows the past, present and future;
Capable of check and sanction;
Capable of piercing inwardly;
Instructing quiet, compassionate to all creatures;
To whose control are the movement of his senses;
Conqueror of six enemies of desire, anger, greed, delusion, jealousy,
pride;
Foremost highly solemn, knows the distinction between the fit
receptable and unfit;
Is equal minded to Siva and Vishnu;
Good;
Condemns the doctrines of the unawakened;
Stainless;
Ever content;
Independent;
Endowed with the powers of Mantra;
Lover of good devotees;
Steadfast;
Merciful;
Speaks with prior smile;
Dear to devotees;
Ever generous;
Deep, superb practicant;
Enthusiastic in the worship of his chosen deity, the Guru, the eldest,
the Sakti;
Given to blameless ritual of three types;
Regular, specifically occassional and voluntary;
Devoid of anger, hate, fear, pain, ostentation, egoism;
Engaged in the practice of this science(vidya);
Acquiring dharma and the like;
Content with what comes by itself;
Distinguishing between good and bad;
Unattached to women, wealth, bad company, vice etc.;
With a feeling of oneness with all;
Free from dualities;
Constant in observance;
Not over-eager;
Without self desire and partiality;
Able;
Not selling mantra, yantra and tantra for the sake of money or
learning;
Un-attached, without doubts, with decided views supremely confirming
to Dharma, equal in praise and criticism, silent, without preference,
free from disease.
O My Beloved! These are the characteristics of a Guru."

From Kularnav tantra, chapter 13, verse 50.

As i said earlier, this was about guru of Kaula sampraday, but you can relate. If you find one with these qualities them they are fit to be your guru. As it says, when the disciple is ready, Guru comes himself.
Answer: Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev has talked about right Guru in detail in one of his YouTube discourse. Here is dictation of the same; emphasis added:

Where will you search and how will you know who is satguru and who is not satguru? You have no way to judge, isn't it? So, "how do I seek something?" You just seek. You simply seek, "I want to know." The more you become, "I do not know," the deeper your seeking is, isn't it? Seeking does not mean seeking something. Seeking means, seeking that which you do not know. If you have to seek, you should not make any assumptions, isn't it so? …
If a vacuum of "I do not know" happens within you, satguru will happen to you. You don't have to search, because you don't know how to search. If you search with your intellect, naturally you will search for that kind of person with whom you are most comfortable, isn't it?
See, if you seek a friend, what kind of friend do you seek? Do you seek a friend who punctures your ego every day? You seek a friend who nourishes you ego every day, isn't it? Yes or no? If somebody punctures your ego, he becomes your enemy, isn't it? So, even if you seek a guru, you will only seek with this context—and that kind of guru, who comforts you, is no use to you. …
(However,) if you are seeking a guru for liberation, then, if you sit with him, you feel threatened. You want to run away from him, but at the same time you don't want to leave him for a moment. If you constantly feel threatened by him and at the same time you want to be with him, he is a good guru for you. If you are very comfortable with him, he's not a good guru for you. You must be constantly uncomfortable with him. At the same time, you long to be with him. That is a good prescription for you.
Comment: Yes I too think people here are worried about things that should matter the least. Possible too that Jaggi Vasudeva's quote you have used is the reason for downvotes.
Comment: @Rickross Thank you for responding. I bothered to take dictation of something that was only spoken and not written... This damned site. People are rewarded for writing answers without sources while an entirely sourced answer is punished. Honestly, I think it was actually downvoted because some members have a disdain for Sadhguru Vasudev (I am not a huge fan of him either, but few give Westerners any attention, so what can we do?)
Comment: May be the fact that the answer does not have your own texts at all. The whole is made of a blockquote.
Comment: What is the problem with this?
Answer:
The pre-requisites before accepting a guru involves:
Examining whether he exemplifies what he preaches.
Knowing the spiritual powers of his guru.
Scrutinising the spiritual enlightenment of his disciples.
If a guru fails to deliver his disciples from the torments of rebirth,
then he cannot be called a true guru.

Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami

Reference is here
For your last question, consider this.
If your wife was not good at cooking or doing daily chores, but is helpful would you change her, probably not! But if she was seeing other people would you leave her? Probably yes!
Guru should not be doubted once you have put faith, although if anything is done which is prescribed against our Shastras you should gracefully let him go, you are not wedded or no vow has been taken which you have to fulfill for life! Never in the history of Hinduism has anyone ever taken a vow of never leaving Guru under wrong circumstances. Infact, there is no mention that you can't.
So, one should probably accept the bad decision of one's own self/circumstances and find the true one without losing faith.
I would Suggest HH Mahant Swami Maharaj. You can scrutinize him with any of the  accepted answers above, he fulfills those all requirements and attributes!
Moreover, one would also be able to see 32 virtues of a Sadhu if one inspects carefully in Him as Described in Bhagwat.
One of his Disciple is Mahamahopadhyay Sadhu Bhadreshdas who wrote a Bhashya after 1200 years and came in the category of Acharya Shankar and Ramanujacharya. These people are living and accessible!
Youtube Video Links are mentioned here.
Mahamahopadhyay Swami Bhadreshdasji is awarded 'Darshan Shastra Sarvabhaum'
Felicitation by 40+ Universities in Bengaluru
HH Mahant Swami Maharaj can be found in this video

How do I find the right Guru?


Can we get a "Belongs on StackOverflow" as a closing reason?

Question: Once in a while someone pops up with an objective "help me with my code" question like this one. I think it'd be nice to have a mechanism to migrate these to StackOverflow. Thoughts?
Comment: Related: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/new-question-migration-paths/ probably we don't get it because we are beta or the algorithm needs refinement.
Comment: I agree with Anna, a lot of questions belong on stackoverflow or have already been asked and answered there
Answer: Not until the site leaves beta, and then we'll have to provide evidence of open questions that should be migrated and closed questions that should have been migrated.
To that end - if anyone comes across a question that fits the bill, edit it into this answer so we don't have to do it all at once.
Stack Overflow

Pyton + GTK.Menu - show the menu at a certain position [closed]

jQuery $.Post quirk [closed]
mod_security + apache + geoip block != 404
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12566/how-to-name-a-single-purpose-class-and-method-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12426/what-methods-can-be-employed-for-using-composition-over-inheritance-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12271/how-i-do-versioning-for-an-web-application-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/225848/transform-class-text-to-my-domain-name-without-http-and-www

Server Fault

In NameBench results, what is TO and other questions? [closed]

Super User

How is Linux not prone to viruses or that kind? [closed]

https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12839/what-monitors-have-larger-than-hd-resolution-size-is-less-important-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12584/how-would-you-make-a-qwerty-keyboard-more-programming-friendly-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12565/best-out-of-box-linux-distro-for-general-programming-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/12375/what-mouse-model-or-brand-do-you-like-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/11895/recommendation-electronic-reader-closed
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/11577/running-javascript-on-the-command-line-closed
Comment: Cool. Thanks, Chris.
Comment: Isn't that "Inherit an Interface" question a subjective sort of programmer terminology question?  At least I believe it was asked in that vein.  If it doesn't belong you might as well add the "Proper Pronounciation of Delphi" and "SQL" questions to your list.
Comment: @Peter - not "my" list but "our" list. If you disagree edit it out.
Answer: Now that the site is no longer in beta, there is a direct migration path to Stack Overflow.


What happened to "it" as a subject in old Spanish?

Question: I realize that "it" is excluded in Spanish (for the most part) and is not used today. "eso" and "esto" do not mean the same thing nor do él and ella. But what was the old Spanish word for "it" before "it" dropped out of existence ?  I want to say I read some where that it is "lo." "lo" makes sense to me because "ce que" in French is "lo que" in Spanish. What happened to it (no pun intended) in ancient Spanish ?
Answer: I don't know exactly what you mean, there is an equivalent word for "it" in Spanish: ello (from Latin illud).
According to the Cambridge Dictionary
it

used as the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or preposition, to refer to a thing, animal, situation, or idea that has already been mentioned

According to the D.R.A.E
él, ella, ello

pron. person. 3.ª pers. m., f. y n. Forma que, en nominativo o precedida de preposición, designa a la persona, el animal o la cosa de
  los que se habla, por oposición a quien enuncia el mensaje y a su
  destinatario

The part that I've highlighted is practically a word-by-word translation.
The "n" in "m., f. y n" means neutral, it applies when the referenced element have got no specific gender.

But maybe you're talking why "It is raining" is translated as "Está lloviendo". What did happen with the "it"? I'm no Latin expert but I think that we have inherited that. The word "it" didn't dissapear from Medieval Spanish, it wasn't even there. There is no need in Spanish to explicitly mark the subject with a pronoun because that information is already present in the verb tense, like in Latin.
Comment: I'm far from an *expert*, but I can confirm that Latin used subject pronouns rarely, usually only for emphasis. So *illud* (or the more common *hoc*) weren't used very often—but then neither were *ego* ("I") or *tu* ("you" s.) or *hic* ("he") or *haec* ("she"). They would be redundant with the subject indicated by the verb's conjugation (which, like Spanish, tended to use *-o* for first-person singular and *-s* for second-person singular, though third-person singular was *-t*.
Answer: It in Spanish can be either él, ella, or ello, except when connected to a verb in which case it can be any of lo, la, and arguably le.
As a subject, though, él and ella are restricted to animate subjects (such that La mesa está allí.  Ella es alta is incorrect, but La mujer está allí.  Ella es alta is fine).
Notice that even when used with animate subjects, the use of él/ella is fairly redundant.  They're really only used to disambiguate when you have two differently people of different genders that could reasonably be the subject, or for some particular emphasis.  In the case of ello, which always refers to a general thing that cannot be sourced to a single concrete noun, there is generally enough context to not confuse the sentence with an animate subject.  Likewise for inanimate objects.
Furthermore, unlike French, which generally only preserves endings in writing, but not speech, the pronouns aren't needed because the endings are still very much preserved in speech.
Ultimately the reasoning is probably multiple in nature: well-preserved endings, obvious contextual clues, and other ways (as you mentioned with the demonstratives) to distinguish if absolutely necessary.
Comment: *Él* and *ella* are very occasionally used with non-animate subjects (indeed most often when there's personification, but not always) e.g. [*"... las flores son un regalo de Dios. Ellas nos traen color y alegría."*](http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/pronoun1.htm)


What is the justification for censoring my tags?

Question: Why is it important to insist that nobody sees my tags? It's bad enough that you insist on telling me what I'm allowed to write. What's the intention behind removing my categories?
Comment: Maybe you could speak to the positive case *for* adding the tag. Is it meaningfully applicable to a lot of existing questions? Is there significant classificatory value here, and how...?
Comment: By the way, it would have been a possible way to start a meta discussion on the introduction of a new tag, explaining why you deem this tag to be an important improvement and tool and when to apply it as well as when not to apply it. Tags are - as everything else here - governed by community decisions, not by the caprice of individuals. So if you want to participate, change, contribute, and improve, you should try to convince other users by argument. Quite pedagogical an experience for a lot of new users, btw.
Comment: You do not have to credit yourself, you were asked to explain the benefits and criteria of adding this specific tag. HOT is an educational concept, not a philosophical one. You may have worked in that field for some time, but concepts and tags helpful to **you** are not necessarily helpful for **others**. And if tags do not fulfil their purpose, they should not be used. So, what Joseph asked you for is showing some amount of pedagogical skill by making **others** understand why and how this tag should be used. Instead, you imply others were dumb and post papers with bad English and statistics.
Comment: @Rortian: I am a fallibilist. And as a good pragmatist, I tell you what the rules of this community are, what will work, and what won't. One may creatively think about how fire does not have to be hot, but one will nevertheless burn one's hand when touching it. The touchstone of fallibilism and pragmatism is reality, which is notoriously resistant against change. One of the (often misunderstood) pioneers of pragmatism (and modern education), John Dewey, was most clear about that.
Comment: @Rortian: Exactly, discussing reality is moot (one of the points of Dewey). You have to *do* something in order to have (and change) *experience*. I did not imply that reality is static, but that there are limits of action that are beyond action **and** language at a given time, even if they are fluid eventually. That being said, I can only tell you the rules and procedures that I cannot change. The StackExchange community [as a whole](https://meta.stackexchange.com/) can. Both lamenting about the rules or about people that *have* their privileges to enforce these rules and do so is moot.
Comment: When I said "insist" I meant that my higher-order-thinking tag was removed, replaced, and removed again. It's my interdisciplinary academic specialization.
Comment: Ummm, perhaps someone (such as I)  might reasonably believe that if I ask a question then you ought to answer it?
Comment: Joseph, I have no intention of arguing with anyone who's an expert in a different field, who's in authority, or who already claims to know the truth. I give you credit for authority on this site, so I'll say something , listen to your response, and then I'll have no recourse because I'm a subject in this realm. It's an extremely disadvantaged position for me.
Comment: When I was awarded the privilege to create tags, I didn't realise all of the stringent limitations, and I protest the censorship at this level. My reasoning is philosophical, and I've already explained it. There's hardly any opening for anything that hasn't previously been deemed fixed, authoritative, appropriate, moral, correct and acceptable by a small group of people who have agreed on what those things mean and what they imply.
Comment: I've worked at university level for five decades on developing higher order thinking, and studied pedagogy on the subject at university and doctoral level since 2000. It refers to the process (my definition, but I didn't invent the subject!)  of *developing deeply coherent sets of ideas about complex subjects*. Searching on Google produces "About 355,000,000 results (0.62 seconds)". Here are some references:
Comment: https://www.thoughtco.com/higher-order-thinking-skills-hots-education-3111297
https://cetl.uconn.edu/critical-thinking-and-other-higher-order-thinking-skills/
https://www.cdl.org/higher-level-thinking/
https://www.cdl.org/higher-level-thinking/
Comment: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.4983886   http://www.handyhandouts.com/viewHandout.aspx?hh_number=497&nfp_title=What+is+higher-order+thinking%3F+Why+is+it+important%3F
Comment: ...[sigh]... ...
Comment: Now will you please answer my questions? [wondering]
Comment: lol thanks for the tip, @PhilipKlöcking. " you should try to convince other users by argument".  Is it clearly obvious to you that I was ignorant of that sagacious bit of advice? Geez, Fella. As for your other recommendation, I'm sure that it's clearly obvious to you that you know the right way for other people to do things. I understand what it's like to have very strong opinions and beliefs! I simply don't allow myself to be so attached anymore, because I learned that it's a very bad way to think with regard to learning. Fallibilism is preferable for that.
Comment: I think that the standard for fallibilism is openmindedness and the touchstone for pragmatism is ethical utility, and I don't see how you've been "good," but that must be because you're absolutely right and I'm not. Believing that 'reality' is static seems mistaken to me, but Dewey's remark notwithstanding it's impossible to discuss reality because it's too big and it's beyond language.
Comment: [sigh] You haven't addressed any perspective but your own. People have difficulty understanding anything but what we know, and we can't learn anything which contradicts what we know until we're open to understanding other alternatives. I understand what you've said, I understand other stuff, and I understand that you've done the best that you could. Oh, well...
Answer: The way that you've been using higher-order-thinking
makes it look like a meta tag.

The reason meta-tags are a problem is that they do not describe the content of the question. They describe some other aspect of the question, like the author's skill level, or the author's motivation for asking it, or generally what "kind" of question it is (poll, how-to, etc.).

Higher Order Thinking is not a sub-field of philosophy. In fact it's not even specific to philosophy at all. While Higher Order Thinking would be an appropriate tag for questions about pedagogical theory and for comparing various teaching methods (perhaps on sites like Mathematics Educators), it is against Stack Exchange best practices to use it on questions because you want the answers to be engaging in HOT. A higher-order-thinking tag would then be a meta tag, because it's about how people approach the question, not the content of the question itself. And after all, don't we want people to be thinking well for all questions? Anything you could legitimately add to every question probably doesn't belong.
Answer: Short answer: The justification is that there is no such thing as "your" tag
StackExchange is based on the self-government of the community. Everything you do here can be evaluated by other community members and may also be rejected because everything should be done for the betterment of and in agreement with the community. Nothing here is "your" content, it is a contribution to a joint effort to create a Q & A database that is as concise and objective as possible.
Therefore, if you disagree you have to discuss and offer arguments for your point, which includes an openness to dissenting arguments. Otherwise, the result is not a discourse but a mere exchange of standpoints. You may want to consult Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action about this difference.
Long answer
1. Every privilege comes with duties.
Yes, you gained the privilege to create tags. Privileges are not the same as a right to do as one likes, there are rules for using them. These state, among other things (bolded in quotes mine):

When should I create new tags?
Most common tags already exist on a mature site. You should always favor existing tags; only create new tags when you feel you can make a strong case that your question does cover a new topic that nobody else has asked about before on this site.

This makes clear that tags should always be topic-related. This is made even more clear in another point:

However, note that:

on some sites, new tags will be automatically culled and removed from the system if they are not used by at least 1 other question in a 6 month period.
meta tags, tags that cannot stand alone as the only tag on a question, are not allowed.

Please create new tags responsibly!

In other words: It is a critical and justified response to the creation of this tag to ask whether it can stand on its own here. Is HOT a philosophical topic that can solicit a number of on-topic questions on this site? Or is it rather a meta-tag that may stand in relation to many topics, but is not a philosophical topic itself?
2. Accordingly, it is your duty to make a strong case for your tag
Instead of simply doing something and wondering why people disagree, you will have to seriously consider the rules and arguments of the community. Ideally, you should do this first, here on meta:
If you think that the community can benefit from the use of this tag, offer arguments. Educate others how and in which contexts it is a philosophical topic and when to properly apply this tag. Answer to the objection that it cannot stand on its own as the topic of an on-topic question.
Comment: @Rortian: You have not addressed the concerns offered to you so far. You have demonstrated that this is a popular concept in (US-American) education. You have tried to make a case that this site would benefit from using HOT in questions and answers to improve critical thinking and meta-skill development when consulting this site. I do not even disagree here. Yet, the quotes **from the community rules** make clear that tags should be topic-related, not method-related (these would be meta-tags). BTW Moderators are elected and I do not flatter myself for being elected as the sole viable candidate
Comment: @Rortian: Concept, method, or theory do not make a difference (and are IMHO labels for practices that cannot be independently from one another) as long as it is not the topic of philosophical literature. Show me the philosophers who discuss HOT (as opposed to pedagogics who discuss philosophy in the context of HOT) and I will happily stand by your side when defending this as a tag. A tag that I will nevertheless only defend in the context of literature that explicitly discusses this concept/method/theory.
Comment: @Rortian: To close this case, you will not change Philosophy.SE to follow contemporary educational concepts. It is deep within the site's purpose and code to be what it is. Whether this is "good" or "bad" for learning philosophy is irrelevant. Philosophy as a subject within which HOT is taught and learned does have its merits, which is why philosophy is introduced as a subject for first-graders in Ireland.  Still, this kind of *doing* philosophy has no place on this site. I do probably know and understand more about myself and what you write than you think, it's just irrelevant here.
Comment: In my experience, the likelihood that I would ever live up to the expectations of people who are attached to their beliefs and in positions of authority is zero. That attitude doesn't allow for people to express themselves in any way which hasn't previously been deemed acceptable. It's a way to operate within safe and comfortable limits for people who intend to control other people. Many people enjoy that lifestyle. You speak to me as if you know that I'm ignorant and you tell me to offer arguments as if I haven't. Nice work, not.
Comment: Well, I don't think about your understandings at all, only your utterances. And yes, what I understand is irrelevant to your already-considerations.
Answer: If the authority or authorities here claim that a topic isn't a topic then it's not a topic.
The omnipotent Oz has spoken; my perspectives on bias and pretension have been squashed. Oz is also omniscient. Of course it's impermissible to peek behind the curtain!
It's (almost) lovely how bias and authority combine so beautifully to overpower reason.
The notion of normativity is appreciated by relatively few people, and it's a very complex philosophical matter. People who don't understand it very well (who does?) seem to believe that rules should apply strictly to people's actions according to the perspectives of expert authorities. They might not recognise that being an expert on what the rules are is different from being an expert at considering how they ought to be interpreted, applied or developed!

"'Normativity' may have at least two senses: first, a nomophoric sense, if one refers to implicit or explicit rules (of various kinds); second, an axiological sense, if one refers to values." L. G. Faroldi
"Yet a third kind of engagement with normativity concerns the very sources of normativity itself. An attempt to vindicate or debunk the implicit normativity of some specific ethical claim will ultimately face the question of what could support claims to normativity in general. Here we find a fertile debate between Humeans, who seek to ground practical normativity in instrumental rationality, and Kantians, who argue that practical reason necessarily includes formal constraints that extend beyond means/end coherence...Philosophical discussion of normativity is by no means restricted to ethics, however. Epistemology has an irreducibly normative aspect, in so far as it is concerned with norms for belief. And the idea that meaning is implicitly normative has sparked some of the most exciting discussions in recent philosophy of language." REP
"Primitive normativity thus is what distinguishes the behaviour of the speaker who uses her terms with understanding from that of the parrot, or automaton. Using a term with understanding requires more than just being disposed to use it a certain way, Ginsborg argues; it requires understanding that it has a certain meaning. If a speaker for instance uses 'slab' to mean slab, she needs to grasp or recognize that it means slab (2012, 135). Ginsborg's ambition is precisely to provide necessary and sufficient conditions for what it is to have this understanding." SEP
"John Rawls (1971) has argued that toleration—even of intolerance—is a constitutive part of justice (derivable from what Rawls calls the "liberty principle" of justice), such that failure to be tolerant would entail failure to satisfy one of the requirements of justice. Rawls emphasizes, however, that genuine toleration need not lead to utopia or agreement, and that it is substantially different from a mere modus vivendi, that is, simply putting up with one another because we are powerless to do otherwise. According to Rawls, true toleration requires that we seek to bring our differences into an 'overlapping consensus,' which he claims will be possible due to an inherent incompleteness and 'looseness in our comprehensive views' (2001: 193)." IEP

I haven't asked anyone to change any rules and I won't. My job is to inquire and to learn, and to support others in doing those things. You've made it clear that inquiry here must be about objective discourses (as if interpretation is irrelevant) rather than about understanding how philosophical discourses apply in practice to our actions. That's simply a series of meaningless debates. What people think or understand is irrelevant. Imo that process defeats the purpose, and drastically degrades the value, of the project 'philosophy.'
Naturally, my considerations have been ruled irrelevant by the Q&A experts. Not wrong, merely irrelevant! My inference is that people who want to learn should use other methods. Discussion is allowed in the chat rooms, so that opportunity hasn't been stamped out right? If my job can be enacted there, and if anyone is deeply committed to learning by inquiring into open questions which are relevant to human activities other than academic self-stimulation, I'll be open to discussing complex questions in the fields of philosophy, psychology and education. I'll visit other rooms to see if anyone is openly inquiring and learning useful stuff. I'll be happy to focus on other priorities...
Best wishes
Comment: I think it is telling that this is all about how you are the only expert for how rules should be and understanding the application of philosophical thinking. The only expert here that can get the only job that matters done. It's been you who wrote about humility? Yes, the ideal discourse sets its own rules in a democratic, critical, and evaluative fashion. Dewey said this, Habermas reintroduced the thought some forty years later (1981). Normativity as inherent to language and how this implies power and possible abuse of it (Foucault). Thing is, it is **you** who agreed to the Terms of Conduct.
Comment: Firstly, watch your tone. If you really have an academic record you should know how important a civil tone is and how to keep it despite disagreement. Secondly, you have been asked to offer a piece of philosophy (e.g. in a book or paper) that discusses HOT as its topic. The question still is whether it is a topic in philosophy as defined in the help center.  Not any critical inquiry in psychology, pedagogy, cognitive science, everyday life or other sciences is philosophy and thus treats a philosophical topic. Otherwise, all people with highly developed cognitive skills would do philosophy.
Comment: Your links do not show that they are synonyms. The only paper within your links that uses both (by Rosenthal) explicitly uses HOT as a synonym, but at the same time does not at all appeal to the educational concept, but uses it merely in the more general sense of awareness and cognitive processing of one's cognitive states and functions (i.e. metacognition). Glossing over this difference seems misplaced to me. So, while metacognition indeed is a common topic in philosophy, the educational concept of *specific sets* of HOT skills and the corresponding taxonomies is yet to be shown to qualify.
Comment: "If the authority or authorities here claim that a topic isn't a topic then it's not a topic." Please understand: no one here has said HOT isn't a topic. Ask a question about it, and the tag will be appropriately applied to it.
Comment: "no one here has said HOT isn't a topic".. nor that it is, not that I've heard. Isn't that why people were arguing against my view on it? Isn't that why I was justifying my perspective? Why else would people be baiting me? So, is it an acceptable tag or isn't it? [wondering]
Comment: [Metacognition](https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/metacognition/v-1) is a synonym for HOT. It's the core principle of HOT...(https://philpapers.org/s/%2AMetacognition)
Comment: *you should know how important a civil tone is and how to keep it despite disagreement* I know lots of stuff about that, and I don't like your tone either, PK. However,  I don't see the relevance of our opinions about such picayune stuff. If I'll ever actually  violate the local rules of netiquette according to your opinion then I'll be informed, is that correct?
Comment: http://www.nicholasshea.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Shea_Concept-metacogn_final_Jan19.pdf
Comment: https://monoskop.org/images/9/90/Foucault_Michel_Archaeology_of_Knowledge.pdf


Can drywall with ripped paper be repaired?

Question: I damaged some drywall when doing demo in a bathroom.   Some of the paint peeled back and exposed the paper, which ripped off of the drywall.   Can I do a thin coat and sand?  please help, already have enough drywall to replace!
Answer: Short answer:  Yes.
Long answer:  How

Use a utility or x-acto knife to cut away enough of the paper that you get a nice clean edge that isn't pulled away from the underlying gypsum.
Use a very small amount of joint compound and a 6" putty knife to apply a nice thin coat of joint compound over the damaged area.  Don't use too little - a little too much is easy to fix, too little isn't.
Allow to dry until it's firm to the touch.
Use a clean damp sponge to smooth the surface of the patch down to a nice clean finish.
Let dry completely.
Prime!!!  Always prime fresh joint compound or the paint won't stick.
Touch up with existing paint color.
Comment: If the damaged area is small and not deep, light weight Spackle is a good repair material and dries in 20 mins. Apply it exactly like Evil describes. If the area is larger, joint compound is best.
Answer: For product, I highly recommend using lightweight joint compound with dust control. It's easy to work with  and won't cover the world in dust. And if you need, wall texture spray as needed to match your wall texture.


How do I let specified non-subscribers post to a GNU Mailman mailing list?

Question: How do I let a few specified non-subscriber email addresses post to an otherwise closed GNU Mailman mailing list?
Answer: I finally figured out how to do this!
Go to the list's Privacy Options, click on Sender Filters, then add the emails to the option called accept_these_nonmembers.
Answer: I'm not familiar with Mailman itself, but an external workaround would be to give them a dummy address to send to that will auto-forward to the list on their behalf. The dummy account can be a 'Subscriber", and restrict incoming mail to only accept from your desired contributors.


Oil in coolant none in oil

Question: I have a 2003 F150 with a 5.4 engine. It started running rough and I noticed oil in my coolant. I checked the dipstick and it is clean. I was just a little low so I added oil. When I removed the oil filler cap on the valve cover it was like a milk shack, but nothing in the oil pan itself. I am a loss I have had blown head gaskets before on other vehicles but nothing like this. Any advice?
Answer: The white emulsion on the inside of the oil filler cap is caused by 'under bonnet thermals'. If the PCV is under performing then the fumes and humidity from the engine crank case are cooled and solidified by cold air entering the engine compartment. The cold air cools the cam cover/rocker cover and causes the emulsion on its inside.
Significant amounts of oil in the cooling system is symptomatic of a leak between the oil galleries and the cooling system galleries. The head gasket is one of the usual suspects but the list extends to the oil cooler, engine block cracks, head assembly cracks.
If you feel up to it drain the engine sump of oil into a suitable container and check the oil for water contamination. If there is no contamination you can always put the OK oil back into the engine.

Oil in coolant none in oil


Is it possible to prevent a user from installing iOS 6?

Question: We have a number of Apple iOS 5.1.1 corporate-owned, Wifi-only devices with internal applications that aren't ready for iOS 6. Is it possible to prevent a user from upgrading their device to iOS 6? The only solution that I've found so far is to block network access to Apple servers...but I'm not sure I have a complete list of hostnames.
Answer: I'm afraid not sorry.
That said the vast majority of iOS apps are either 100% compatible between v5 and v6 or need a simple recompile with the XCode 4.5 to be ready, and dev releases of v6 have been available for 4-months+. So it's a shame that your devs didn't put the effort into fixing the root-issue, it would've save you having to go out of your way to find a workaround.
Answer: You may have some luck with OS X Mountain Lion Server as it does provide some policy management over iOS devices with the configuration profiles feature.  I have not tried it, but for $20 USD from the App Store, it would certainly seem to be worth looking into it if you have a large number of corporate iPhones to manage.
There were also rumours of RIM adding iPhone, Android, Windows smart phone support in BES, but I'm not sure whether that was ever rolled out or not and what version of BES (BPS, etc.) that applied to, if any.