Which Master degrees offer the most web application security courses?

Question: I need some information about universities that offer Master degree in Information Security with an emphasis on web application security Specifically things like web application penetration, code review course, defending web applications, etc.
Comment: How are you setup for travel? Are you looking for programs in specific countries, states/provinces, distance learning.... ?
Comment: I prefer Europe, but it does not matter really. Thanks!
Answer: I think your best bet is to build your own master's - I don't know of any programs with that specific focus.  My strategy would be to hunt down universities that are strong in both Info Security and Software Engineering, and then work out a program with your adviser that combines the two.
I could be closed minded, but IMO, you're not going to get enough material specifically on web app security to form an entire degree.  You're going to have to branch out either into web app development or general Info Security.  Also, in terms of careers, you probably need more than just web app security and either being a solid web app developer, or an overall InfoSec guy with a strength in web apps will give you a broader base for the job hunt.
Answer: You asked about Master's, and the quality of a PhD program doesn't always reflect on the quality of Master's programs, but with that caveat, I've dealt with top-notch security researchers from Berkeley, Stanford, and Brown.  I've heard that Princeton has a good program too, but I have no personal experience with anyone from there recently.
Answer: Look for programs listed under titles like "Information Security" and "Computer Forensics". That is, essentially I think, what you want. There aren't so many masters programs offered in these fields that it'd be impossible to filter them manually to try and find which school(s) have a lot of stuff on Web Application security.
In any case, the more 'general' security knowledge is going to help a lot in a web application sense. Everything is very much related, and concepts in one area can be applied to those in another.
I know off-hand that RPI, RIT, and Carnegie Mellon (all in the United States) all have masters programs in a 'security' field. I believe the Imperial College of London (England) has programs that are applicable as well.
Comment: Computer Forensics probably has very overlap with what Bahi is looking for, I'm afraid.
Answer: In the UK there are many universities with degrees and master's degrees in information security. Royal Holloway and Westminster are very well respected in this regard, but to be honest I think you will just need to search yourself, as @Beth said.
Answer: Depends on what you are looking for i.e. 4 years undergrad with hons or postgrad 1 year with masters?
Abertay offers an ethical hacking course, it is still young (5 years) but its ok, I did my postgrad there. It is a mix of modules the best being the ethical hacking module, involves hacking windows/networks/web sites etc. you spend about a week studying something eg 1 hour lecture on port scanning and everything involved in it, additional reading then 2 hour practical lab about how to do it etc. Then next week you move onto something else, unless its a bigger topic (which port scanning was, 2 weeks).
You study a range of topics and you should pick one topic you enjoy the most and study it eg if you want to do web security get the web application hacker's handbook and focus on that while studying other modules.
As for the masters project its self you need to have a good idea, you cant just test a web app and write a report about how easy it is to hack.


A good bicycle trailer I can order

Question: I would like to purchase a bicycle trailer, to take bottles to the depot and pickup stuff from the hardware store from time to time. What is a good one to get?
Answer: For what you are asking about I would recommend buying a used kid trailer (for about $50 - $150), cutting off the fabric and adding some kind of floor/bin.  Interestingly enough most child trailers are rated for up to 100 pounds were as the BOB trailer is only weighted for 75 (if I remember correctly).
The only advantage of a BOB or Extra wheel trailer is that they single wheel trailers.  This means they can handle faster cornering and are narrower for roads.  They also cost basically the price of a new bike.
See here: Converting kid trailer to cargo trailer
Comment: I like the idea of stripping down a kid trailer and revamping it, I probably can find one on craigslist.
Comment: +1 for the single trail feature. It is very important depending on where you are going to ride.
Answer: Burley is pretty much the first and still a very respected brand.  They make a variety of trailers.
The other major alternative is BOB.  They make a single-wheel bike trailer that is good for narrow trails and paths or twisty streets.
Note that there are three main attachment schemes.  Most of the Burleys attach to the left rear axle and have a trailer "tongue" that reaches around the left side of the bike.  This prevents making hard right turns.  The Burley Travoy attaches with a clamp on the seat post and has no serious turning limitations.  The BOB trailers attach to both sides of the rear axle, but the trailer "tongue" is jointed so that turning radius is not seriously affected in either direction.
Answer: I would take a look at Surly Trailer Ted, although I think it is a bit weird in its bike-attachment part.
BOB trailer (as mention in a previous answer) could be a good choice.
Finally, Extrawheel is always worth taking a look (their site is a bit ugly, but the product is great!)
Comment: I'm thinking of getting the Surly, I've contacted a dealer and they carry some in my area. Thanks!
Answer: Since you're in Canada, you might want to consider a Wike trailer (made in Guelph).  Either the flatbed or the shopping model would fit your needs.
The shopping trailer is very similar to their kid trailer, which we have and like a lot.  The wheels come off and it folds flat very easily, you can get a front wheel and use it like a shopping cart, and it holds a lot of weight.  (They say 100 pounds, we've had more than that in ours.)  I'm usually the one pulling the trailer with our kid, and haven't ever had a problem with making hard right turns with the left-side trailer tongue.
Answer: I would go for a carry freedom, I used the Y frame for a 700mile touring trip and it was brilliant.  It's a simple flatbed trailer which would be adaptable to your purpose.  Totally overbuilt and always felt really solid. The whole trailer flat-packs as well which is handy for storage.
I would warn against single wheel trailers for your purpose as you'll make the bike more difficult to deal with at low speeds because there will be the extra weight trying to pull it over.  Also it'll put more stress on the back of your bike as the weight will be distributed 1/2 and 1/2 with the one wheel trailer instead of 1/3 bike - 2/3 trailer as with two wheel trailers.  The comment above about handling is probably not an issue because I had my trailer up to 40mph and never had any problems.
http://www.carryfreedom.com/products.html

A good bicycle trailer I can order


Is there any country(former colony) in the world that obtained independence and then again tried to join its colonist ruler?

Question: Is there any country(former colony) in the world that fought for/obtained independence and then again tried to join its colonist ruler?
I guess an African country did so.
Can anyone tell me?
Comment: The [Saarland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saarland) was never really 'independant', but it was on the way. The ['Europäisches Saarstatut'](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abkommen_zwischen_den_Regierungen_der_Bundesrepublik_Deutschland_und_der_Französischen_Republik_über_das_Statut_der_Saar) planned 1954 to create an european independant area, but a  plebiscite voted for a union with Germany.
Comment: What do u mean as "join its colonist ruler"? Do u mean only rejoining as a colony or to become a part of the metropoly's state or join some kind of union?
Answer: Scotland was "ruled" by Edward Long Shanks, then under Robert the Bruce became free. In 1707, Scotland opted to join with England. The group chosen to discus the acts of union were chosen by a pro union Duke of Queensberry, and were mostly pro union.
Another case I remember reading was about Eadric Streona. He was a traitor for both the English and the Danes. He joined Knut against the English, then joined the English against the Danes in the battle of Battle of Assandun. During that battle, he deserted and joined the Danes again, securing their victory. When England was under Knuts thumb, Knut, who knew the Eadric was not trust-worthy, had him executed. This example might not be what you are looking for, because Eadric didn't switch sides because of a scene of loyalty or necessity, but rather for monetary and power gain. Also, Eadric wasn't a king of a country, but rather the Alderman of Mercia, the equivalent of an earl. (earl came into use after Knut appointed Jarls, but the English couldn't pronounce Jarl, and so said earl.) On the other hand Mercia was still very much a separate entity, and an earldom was very much a sovereign power thanks the the decentralizing effect of feudalism.
Comment: Scotland was no colony.
Comment: Scotland is a poor example because by 1707 it was no longer independent.
Comment: That Scottish example is totally illegitimate.  Edward I and Edward II invaded Scotland and (ultimately unsuccessfully) attempted to colonise it and turn it into a province of England. The Union of 1707 was/is a union between Scotland and England as equal partners in a political union - similar to the former Yugoslavia.  Scotland is absolutely not a colony of England and never has been.
Answer: A textbook example of this occurred in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia in 1979.
The country had been effectively independent for 14 years. A whites-only government had unilaterally declared independence from Britain in 1965.
But in December 1979, as part of the deal by which transition to majority rule was to take place, the Rhodesian parliament voted itself out of existence. Power was handed back to London and an old-style colonial governor (in the considerable shape of Lord Soames) was despatched to Africa to take over.
The flag of British Rhodesia reverted to the Union Flag (with Rhodesian arms) instead of the flags (predominantly the green-white-green tricolor) which had been flown by the de facto independent states of Rhodesia and (briefly) Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
It was always intended to be a temporary arrangement, to allow for free and fair elections to take place. The elections were held a few months later and independence was duly celebrated in Zimbabwe in April 1980.
Answer: Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba are Netherlands Antilles islands which have rejoined the Netherlands following the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles as a country. The other 3 Antilles islands have opted for nationhood, although still as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Answer: Some time after the unification of China by Qin, Ren Xiao and Zhao Tuo were sent to colonise the barbarian region of Nanyue around present day Guangzhou. Zhao Tuo succeeded Ren Xiao around the time when revolts began to occur against Qin, eventually signalling Nanyue's independence by declaring himself King and raiding surrounding provinces. When Liu Bang reunited China, the diplomat Lu Jia persuaded Zhao Tuo to submit to Han, although he retained his title of King. However, after Liu Bang's death, his widow Empress Lü cut off trade in iron goods with Nanyue, as a result of which Zhao Tuo declared himself Emperor of Nanyue, dispatching troops to attack Han and sending bribes to nearby chiefs to encourage them to switch allegiances. Empress Lü sent troops to attack him but disease led to the failure of the mission. After Empress Lü's death, Emperor Wen took the throne. Once more, Lu Jia persuaded Zhao Tuo to submit to Han, renouncing his title of Emperor and returning to being King.
Answer: In 1860 the Dominican Republic, some 15 years after independence and in turmoil, asked to be readmitted to the Spanish Empire. It seems that debts and the threat of invasion prompted the request, which was readily agreed to by the Spanish.
The relationship quickly broke down and the territory was soon in revolt. Spain was unable  to reassert control and within five years the country was again independent.
Answer: The British colony of Newfoundland became a mostly independent dominion in 1907.  In 1933, facing crushing dept in the Great Depression, Newfoundland seems to have become mostly a British Colony again while ruled by the Commission.
In 1948 the citizens voted in a referendum to become part of Canada instead of continuing under Britain, or regaining independence.  Some wanted to join the United States but Britain and Canada kept that off the ballot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador[1]
Persons more expert on Newfoundland history may want to confirm or deny or clarify my impression that an independent Newfoundland agreed in 1933 to become some sort of British possession again.


Not sure if my Idea infringes on current herbal remedy patent?

Question: I am working on an Herbal remedy, and thought I should get a patent. I found an existing patent in 2008, that has a combination of very different herbs for the same remedy. We may have some cross over on minor combinations, However these formulas have been around for hundreds of years in Eastern medicine. Not sure if I am infringing on the other patent because we are trying to accomplish the same remedy?
Answer: Many different inventions share a common goal. Goals are not patentable, but ways of achieving goals are. Of course, what you are claiming (either a composition of matter or a method of treating a condition) must be novel and non-obvious in light of everything that has gone before including the hundreds of years of Eastern medicine, and must have been invented by you.


What were the driving factors in the falling out between Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax?

Question: Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created the hobby together when they wrote D&D.  But later on they had a falling out - what caused that?
(We don't need minutiae, just the biggest factors)
Answer: Gygax felt that the 'work' side of the whole affair counted far more, but Arneson felt that his 'spark of life' was of paramount importance. The debate continues after their passing; Gygax's fans claim he was cheated, and Arneson's fans claim he was neglected by both history and Gygax.
To understand these conflicting points of view, review the early history:
Dave Arneson contributed crucial concepts which (according to the eventual legal ruling) changed the existing (and common) game form into a unique new one. The previous emphasis on wargaming (with miniatures) changed into roleplaying (with wargame mechanics and terminology, also using miniatures).
Gary Gygax devoted his life to this new type of game. First he collected all the ideas and added lots more of his own. Then he wrote everything down, co-founded Tactical Studies Rules (with Kaye & Blume), and published. He stayed with it through rough early days, wrote even more (Greyhawk etc.), 'rode the tiger' as D&D took off and generated unexpected amounts of revenue, and paid the costs in Stress on himself, his marriage, family, and friends.
Arneson continued his life elsewhere, and did none of the above. Hence, Gygax felt that Arneson was but one of many contributors, and felt that the revenues should go to those who built the company and fueled the D&D 'boom'... himself first and foremost.
In the eventual legal ruling, the "Spark of Life" -- the thing that changed a clever but unremarkable game (the pre-D&D 'Greyhawk' wargame campaign) into a unique and special thing -- came from Arneson. The judge(s) agreed that without Arneson's contribution there would not have been a Dungeons & Dragons game at all.
Comment: Great explanation from someone who was pretty close to the principals involved...
Answer: There have been a number of historical articles written about it (the best one in my opinion is Paul La Farge's Destroy All Monsters—but there are lots of others) But I really think the issues were money, who got credit for what, and the fact that these guys were not located in the same area—distance leads to difficulty in communication, and Gygax was trying to run a business as well as be a creator.
And to top it off: they had different styles, as just as DMs have different styles today. Blackmoor had "holy water fire hoses" and turnstiles outside the dungeon—he had a very whimsical style. Gygax had his own "Greyhawkian" style.
Also, it's really hard to maintain long, creative, collaborative relationships when you have two especially talented people. You might as well ask what drove Lennon and McCartney apart.
At the end of the story, I find myself doubting there was anything specific that caused a falling out other than the situation itself.
Answer: When I asked Dave about it, He cited creative differences and Gary stealing all the credit as major issues, but fundamentally, it was Gary trying to avoid paying him royalties that was the real rub. That was back in 2004 or so.
Answer: My impression is that the two gentleman had different attitudes and goals towards the market and Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax wanted to run a game company while Arneson was more laid back. The two attitude didn't mesh. You can read some of what went on starting in this Dragonsfoot thread. Mind you it from the point of view of Tim Kask and Gary Gygax.
After reading this and other accounts the whole thing strikes me simply as two people with two different attitudes towards the game and what to do with it. Gygax wanted to do what it took to make D&D a commercial success, Arneson was more laid back. Neither was wrong but they were incompatible attitudes and lead to later conflicts about division of royalties. And years later they reconciled and went their separate paths.
Answer: Some good points have been made. I would say it came down to credit, and direction. Credit, in that for years there were arguments about who did what first, with both sides having their own followers and adherents.  Direction, in that EGG was obviously motivated for a more commercial product; while Dave didn't seem to be pushed in that direction (besides First Fantasy Campaign, and Adventures in Fantasy, Dave really never released anything RPG-wise on his own until a few years before his death). Plus if you read up on the history of the game there is never much evidence both these guys were bosom buddies to begin with, so it's not like it was a huge stretch to imagine they were looking at their creation from totally different directions and got cross-wise.
Comment: It doesn't help that, in the early days before TSR brought Dave on to staff, long distance phone calls were very expensive and they were not close (distance wise) so that the "grow apart" would accentuate due to distance.  Don Kaye, in contrast, and Brian Blume were local.
Answer: I talked about this some with Jon Peterson of Playing at the World. His characteristically primary-source-driven perspective - hopefully not distorted by my hearsay account - was that, during the months Arneson was employed at TSR, you can see him putting out regular issues of his Napoleonic fanzine (presumably composed on company time and produced using company equipment), while it's hard to identify things that were his unique contributions to TSR's work at the time. Jon's take was that Arneson wasn't all that into this fantasy thing; it was something he'd dreamed up that others became more enthusiastic about, just like (according to David Wesely) Dave Megarry became very excited about the idea of delimited choices in a dungeon environment during the first Blackmoor session that took place in an underground setting and ran with that ball (in Dungeons of Pasha Cada, later to become Dungeon!) in a way Arneson might not have.
However Playing at the World did make me realize that Gygax and Arneson were in cahoots for longer than I'd thought. They both seem to have been the most prolific and ambitious members of their respective scenes, and in addition to their collaboration on Don't Give Up the Ship and Arneson's use of the Gygax/Perren Chainmail rules for Blackmoor combat, Dave also used Gary's Diplomacy variant to handle the strategic level of that Napoleonics campaign, in which Gary (and other Lake Geneva folks) were regular players.


How to adjust GUI to screen resolution ?

Question: I've created a GUI for my XNA game and now I'm stuck with a problem. My GUI element positions are designed for a max resolution of 1920x1080, and if I try changing it to 640x480 they disappear from the screen. What I can change to keep them there?
Comment: http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/34/how-do-you-approach-resolution-independence-in-raster-based-graphics-content
Answer: You can do several things:
-Make your GUI resolution indepentent, scale and position everything based on relative screen positions, this is often a lot of work.
-Render your GUI to render target A of a fixed resolution (720P is often chosen), render your game to the screen, get the texture from render target A and render it upscaled/downscaled over the screen (make sure alphablend is turned on). This way you can work with fixed distances and still have it play nice with all sorts of resolutions.
Make sure to test your approach on a lot of resolutions and beware of mixing aspect ratios. Also mind the text, when downscaling too much it might become unreadable.
Answer: When positioning your GUI elements, use variables for the X and Y positions, that will vary depending on the size. Setting these positions to an equation like the one below is call relative positioning or relative space.
X = ScreenWidth / 5 - 5
This would put image at a X of one fifth of the ScreenWidth, with a 5 pixel offset. When developing really tight GUI's even the offsets can be relative.


How can I improve the line break handling in the WYSIWYG editor?

Question: I always find myself in HTML mode in the editor to try and get simple things like breaks between paragraphs to show up right (using

). Is that normal? Is there a better editor out there that I could use?
Answer: What happens is that TinyMCE converts every double line break in the HTML source to

 and vice versa. It will actually strip away any
 you manually enter in the HTML source after you save, because when the post's content is rendered,
 and
 will be added.
The auto-
 replacement only works when you're rendering a post's content with <?php the_content() ?>, if you output $post->post_content directly, it won't go through the same formatting hooks and will look plain and without line breaks or paragraphs.
If what you want is lots of
 tags in the rendered markup, you should probably find a better solution based on CSS and the use of the margin or padding CSS properties.
Comment: +1 the finest and correct way is with the possibilities of css; the markup is not for the view of a linebreak
Comment: +1 from me as well because there should be no such thing like breaks between paragraphs in HTML. Add space with CSS.
Answer: I agree with some of the above posts, as direct answers to the question (which assumes continued use of the WYSIWYG editor). But after trial, I have to recommend at least reconsidering, and switching to the HTML editor.
Assuming you're still with me (you're considering it as an option), there's more. "Ah," you say, "HTML editor still adds line breaks and generally messes with me!" True, which is why you need to remove the auto-p filter. For good measure, since I switch to as pure HTML as possible, I take out the texturizer, which handles things like curly quotes.
Go to your theme editor. Go to the "Theme Functions" (functions.php) file. Add the following:
remove_filter ('the_content', 'wpautop');
remove_filter('the_content', 'wptexturize');

But I also add this if I'm planning to use post/page excerpts:
remove_filter ('the_excerpt', 'wpautop');
remove_filter('the_excerpt', 'wptexturize');

Hope that helps! And frankly... I've never tried the disabling of filters alongside the visual editor! Maybe it actually DOES help in that regard as well!
Answer: I recommend TinyMCE Advanced as well, I prefer to have more control over the HTML code that is user editable on the site. There's an option Stop removing the P and BR tags when saving and show them in the HTML editor which will do the trick, it's unticked by default so once installed you need to go into the settings and enable it. Another advantage is the ability to show / hide various aspects of the editor so you can remove buttons that end users might potentially play around with and try to be 'creative' with their content formatting! A lot of the unwanted options are on by default so you need to go in and remove the options you don't want.
Answer: In short: yes. That's normal.
No there are no better editors out there.
You might try TinyMCE Advanced and see if it helps.
Also, if you use backticks (`) on this site, it'll escape your html:

Answer: I use the Disable WPautop plugin, which, as expected, disables the wpautop function.  That might be useful, depending on your situation.
Answer: The reason you're having trouble is because WordPress prefers to use  tags, which are more semantic than line breaks.


Attempting to install netgear N300 Wireless USB Adapter on Ubuntu without a present internet connection

Question: Hello Linux/Ubuntu world out there. I don't have internet presently on the desktop I am trying to install the USB wireless adapter on. This seems to be the problem, which if the hardware would work would theoretically fix the problem. I can NOT access the internet via anything but wireless. I am presently on my laptop searching for answers while trying to install this little device. So any advice will have to take that into account.
Now I have tried so far, using WINE which does not want to work, I have tried Windows Wireless Drivers which doesn't want to work, I have tried Software Sources, Other Software and it will not acknowledge the cdrom as a repository stating errors like E:Unable to stat the mount point /cdrom/ -stat (2: No such file or directory) However I can open the CD icon on my computer and access and browse the files. The computer can read the CD. I can read the CD.
I've tried just plugging it in and seeing if the computer will automatically recognize the hardware, and go from there. That does not work either. I have tested USB port to just verify that the USB port works. It does. My laptop recognizes the hardware, and would easily install the software if I prompted it to. The difference is that my laptop is Vista, and I HATE Vista.
Any tips, tricks?
Edit command lsusb: Bus 008-004  with various ids Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub (basically recognizing my mouse, keyboard, and the netgear is connected) and then for the command arch: I get i686
What does this stuff mean?
I know the equipment is not bad, I just don't know how to make them communicate with each other.
Second Edit:
This is what the package says: N300 WNA3100,
This is what the terminal says: Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0846: 9020 NetGear, Inc.
That is all it says. There is nothing following after that.
Answer: OP Posted:

I FIGURED IT OUT! I installed the driver: bcmwlhigh5.inf, using ndiswrapper (don't ask me what version, I don't know) to check stats and window wireless drivers to install I was able to get the device working and communicating! That is awesome.


Is there a standard method for quantifying mean-reversion for use in directional trading?

Question: Assuming a directional strategy (no pairs or spread trades) is there a "standard" method for quantifying mean-reversion? Should auto-correlation, variance ratios, hurst exponent, or some other measure be preferred in all cases, or are there advantages to each given the context?
Answer: There is no standard method and many techniques can work well, including simple time series z-scoring.  I'm many cases, I would recommend using the simpler approaches unless the added complexity can be justified.
However, the challenge with all techniques is the proper calibration, which is very much context sensitive.  The parameter selection needs to be guided by the characteristics of the specific security and investment horizon.  Furthermore, should the parameters themselves be dynamic?  Nearly all processes are driven by non-stationary distributions.  The amount of leverage used may also be an important consideration.
Comment: What do you mean by "simple time series z-scoring"? Thanks
Answer: As usual, no standard method.
You can maybe test for unit root over a rolling window, but as usual (again) you are going to be lagging. It will all depend on your choice of window and of the persistence of mean reversion in the market you consider.


Yeast and Hop Longevity

Question: I picked up the ingredients for an IPA when I was getting the ingredients for a Milk Stout a while ago.  The plan was to have everything at the ready so I could make the IPA shortly after the stout.  Well, the Stout was made, but as is often the case, time conspired against me and I've not gotten to the IPA yet.  It's been about a month now, and I'm wondering if the yeast and hops I've got are no good now.  I don't recall the specific brand/strain of yeast, but it's a wet pack with an interior nutritional pouch (still intact) which you're supposed to rupture and mix prior to pitching.  The hops are pelletized and still in their sealed pouches, and everything is in the same bag I brought it home in at the back of the refrigerator.  More generally then this case though, I'm wondering what are considered acceptable hold times for these items when kept under refrigeration.
Answer: I've used Wyeast smack packs as old as 3 1/2 years and they worked fine.  Just keep it cold in the fridge til you're ready to use it.  And, for your own sake, make a starter with it.  See mrmalty.com for instructions.  Keep the hops in their original packing in the freezer til you use them and they'll stay good for years.
Answer: You're good.  I'm sure everything is still fine.  You did the right thing by keeping everything cold.  Before you brew, you can pop the pouch in the yeast and let it warm to room temeperature and it will swell, this will let you know that the yeast is viable.  I usually pop mine and let it sit out for 24 hours or so.  I personally, would brew with out any concerns.
Comment: Great, thanks!  I'll (hopefully) get a chance to give it a shot before Christmas.
Answer: Wyeast says that the activator packs are good for up to 6 months after the production date.  Northern Brewer guarantees the packages for up to three months after production and will replace any packs that fail to inflate.  The inflation of the package is your viability test for the yeast, if it inflates you should have viable yeast.  For certain strains it can take a few days to fully inflate but most will be fully inflated in less than 12 hours.
Comment: The hops should be fine.  You can store them in the freezer for extended periods but they are fine at room temp for a few weeks.
Comment: great! and I assume the hops than are probably OK as well?

Yeast and Hop Longevity


OS X Server DNS management

Question: I have an OS X 10.6 Server running, which has PHP, Apache, MySQL, and DNS running on it. I want to take the DNS management out of the Server Admin App. I know that the DNS configuration files (the ones BIND uses) are plain text files (which have to obey some rules, obviously).
The main reason for this is because I wanted to setup DKIM for one of my domains, and I had to add a TXT record to the subdomain pm._domainkey.example.com. Server Admin did not let me add that subdomain, because of the "invalid" underscore character.
I searched for web based DNS management tools (the ones that I would install on my server and would allow me to manage my DNS records), but I couldn't find any good ones. (There were a couple that I managed to install, but they didn't see the configuration that I already had setup in Server Admin). Now I'm looking into editing the config files directly, but I don't know where they're located.
This is a test / development server, so messing it up wouldn't be such a disaster. I know "I shouldn't do this", but I want to :).
Thanks for your help.
Answer: /var/named/zones is where the zone files should be kept per this thread.
I looked around for a good example of a how the structure should be and actually the best I found on quick review was on wikipedia.

OS X Server DNS management


How can I search for documents in Unity?

Question: I would like to hit the super key, start typing a document name and have that document just show up.  It seems like this is something Unity should do. Am I mistaken or have I somehow corrupted something?
Comment: When 12.04 comes out we might get something called a Heads Up Display. Have a look - http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/939
Answer: Looks like by default unity only returns searches for recently opened files and folders.  This is pretty archaic considering real-time queries have been done on operating systems dating back decades.  I guess the man power and/or OS power is just not up to par for real time queries.
Answer: The Dash files lens will only return results for files that have been previously opened. As far as folders it will only return those that contain at least one previously opened file
If desired you can still use the old gnome search tool, look in /usr/share/applications for it, (Search for Files) & if desired add to launcher or add thru a launcher icon quicklist
Answer: The super key will pull up the dash, then click on the find files section, then start typing in your file, it will find all files.  I have not tried to just search generic and see if it would find a file that way or not.  I know it finds applications, I usually use the main search function to find programs, not files.  I hope this helps you out.


How to detect tells online?

Question: I know there ara some tips to detect tells while playing live, but how can you do it while playing poker online? What should I look for?
Answer: Firstly, I'm using my words very precisely here as this area is rife with poor distinctions and that itself is due to the subject material.
"Tells" are what I consider traits that are outside of what you should consider "Game Mechanics" or (GM). GM's are all the explicit things you'd see that are non-player specific and intrinsic to the workings of the game, i.e. bet-sizing, bet-type, position, stack sizes, game-type, etc. The distinctions are subtle in many cases. Certainly, some of these can be considered when discerning player tendencies but they are distinct due to a critical factor.
Tells are relative and implicit. Game mechanics are objective and explicit.
People like to play the amateur behavioural psychologist because it's fun. They see an article about a micro-expression, and now everytime they see someone twitch they think it's a bluff. That twitch is only relative to a baseline of actual information.
I doubt anyone could tell you that they can provide solid evidence about the timing of someones bets online. They might have nipped to the toilet for all you know! At BEST, they're unreliable.
Without being dismissive of your question, because it's absolutely valid (upvote), you'd be better off spending your time learning the truly tangible elements of poker. Game theory, and the hard landscape concerning the fundamental maths will serve you better than spending time on the ethereal vagaries of "soul reading".
Good luck.
Answer: In online poker the only tells you can get are:

timing tells
when a player start talking in the chat (the poker site usually don't allow it when someone is all-in to make it more difficult to cheat)

You should treat bet sizing as a FACTOR of the hand, and consider it and keep it in mind in EVERY hand, not handle it like a tell. Tells can help you win the hand, make better decisions, and are necessary to notice. Sometimes they can get you huge advantages, but USUALLY you can make optimal decisions without them.
So, when someone make quick calls, usually it's a tell (it's not a tell though, if someone always makes quick bets); on draw heavy boards, a quick call is a draw most of the time. When someone waits an extremely long time before they raise, usually they have a big, nut-type hand.
When someone makes a bet and starts talking, they are trying to make you either call or fold, but it's a general good rule that players who are bluffing try to avoid paying the other players attention, so it (might be) more likely that he wants you to call. (Again, if he talks a lot anyway, this could have no meaning at all.)
It can be a tell also if someone never makes quick bets and now he made one; this could mean he already planned the hand, before the card came, or he had such a hand he doesn't need to think at all (maybe the best or worst hands can be these types of hands in situations).
These are the types of tells you look for in online poker. But be aware! A quick change in the players behavior doesn't always mean something, if you don't know what the opposite thing means with this player. And it's obvious but when someone says "I have to pee" obviously it has nothing to do with the hand (except that you can steal his big blind on the other table :D)
Oh and I almost forgot, you shouldn't always rely on timing tells because connection issues can cause them too...
Answer: For the most part, you shouldn't rely on online tells, because they can be fairly easily faked.
That said, there is one tell that translates to online play: bet size. Obviously it will vary by player, but if you pay attention you may find that min-bets and pushes say something about the size of the player's hand.
Comment: bet size is not a tell, it's a factor.
Tells are specific, small informations, that can you get to make the best decision in the hand BEYOND the exact informations what you can see anyway.
and live tells can be faked too...
Answer: When playing fast games online (~ 30 seconds of decision time), the time a person takes to decide can be a tell-tale sign. Of course, general lag, and intentionally long pauses make this an inexact science, but on average, if a person takes too long to make a decision (longer than 2/3-rds of the clock), chances are they are unsure of their choice.
As mentioned by William, the other tell-take sign is the size of the bet, and that is somewhat driven by the game interface (i.e. how easy is it to bet double, for example), etc.
Comment: I try to avoid giving much consideration to decision time, as a lag often means simply that someone is multi-tabling. Granted, a FAST decision can imply someone already knows what he wants to do..
Comment: That's why I specify that this tactic only works for fast games, where both very fast and very slow reactions are informative, and the speed, on average, forces fast decisions.
Comment: the game interface indeed can make a difference... trying to raise exactly 3x the big blind, for instance, can take a long time when you don't want to raise 2x or 4x and they are just a tick either on a fidgety slider.
Comment: Is 30s really considered "fast" for an online game?
Answer: The best thing i'd tell you is to install some software that can give you information about the player. Like "Poker tracker" or "Holdem Manager" it has a poker hud which can give you statistics of what that player played over the hands you saw. This way you can know how that player plays and predict a situation.
Lets assume a player 3 bets you and you check your tracker and see over the last 100 hands you have form him he only 3 bet 5 times out of 100 hands, this way you obviously can put him on QQ ,KK or AA pretty easly
I'm not saying this is a tell im just trying to say that this is almost better than finding one.
Cuz someone who bluffs when taking 20 sec could be considered a tell at some point and in real situation (he only went to kitchen to take a beer thats why those 20 sec) and than you loose money because of that.
From a point of view statistics reflect the players style and are only abused at higher lvls like 5/10$ limits or higher.

How to detect tells online?


Is there a good tutorial on Google calendar?

Question: Is there a good tutorial overview on how to use Google calendar effectively?  I am most interested in using it to coordinate multiple calendars for family and work group members, as well as syncing with various devices.
Answer: Google's official resources are very helpful. Especially if you're having trouble with something in particular.
Just remember that the site was designed to be intuitive and not complicated. It shouldn't require an in-depth tutorial to get started. For me personally, I just started using it and whenever I had something I needed more information about, I just referred to Google's documentation.
Answer: There is series of video tutorials on YouTube on using it.


How do I prevent my dwarf from getting stuck on the wrong side of a wall?

Question: I dig my way to a small pool and flood an area to use as a farm. Now I'm told I want to wall it up before it rains and floods my fortress. I build a wall, but the dude who comes and builds it gets trapped on the wrong side of the wall. What can I do to avoid this?
Answer: Build(b->C->w) a wall on the side you don't want your dwarves trapped on, but suspend the construction before it's built(q->s). Then when the original wall is done, cancel the suspended wall(q->x).
Comment: Or, do as I actually did and just remove and rebuild the wall until the guy ends up on the right side...
Answer: the other approach is to plan your wall placements according to work orders. Your dwarfs will always want to stand next to the wall in this order: Top, Left, Right, Bottom. So. Build your top left walls first. all the other walls will be built from the inside the way you would hope.


Why a system should be at its lowest energy state for its stability?

Question: Every possible reaction in chemistry is to attain stability. In physics, the alignment of an electric dipole in an external electric field and in all other physical systems (at least those I study in high school) attains stability at the lowest energy state. But, why is it so?
Comment: Because the unstable states will simply destroy themselves.
Answer: To answer your question, you should first understand when is a system most stable.
Firstly it shouldn't have a tendency to move or change state, thus it should be under equilibrium conditions, i.e. the net Force should be zero.
We know that $$F = - \frac{dU}{dx}$$
Putting $F=0$, we get $$\frac{dU}{dx}=0 \tag{1}$$
Secondly, it should be able to maintain that equilibrium condition by itself. This can be tested by displacing the system by a small distance $\delta x$. If the force on the system then becomes opposite to direction of $\delta x$, we can say that the system has a tendency to restore back to its original equilibrium position.
An example of this would be a ball kept at the bottom of a spherical valley. Displace the ball a little towards the right, and the net force on it acts towards left, bringing it back to its original position. You will realise that I just described a stable equilibrium condition. What this proves is that it is the stable equilibrium condition in which the system is most stable.
From the above description we have that the small displacement $\delta x$ and net extra force $\delta F$ should be in opposite directions
$$\delta F = \frac{dF}{dx} \delta x + \mathcal{O}(\delta x^2) \approx \frac{dF}{dx} \delta x$$
which gives as stability condition
$$\frac{dF}{dx} < 0$$
which implies
$$-\frac{d^2U}{dx^2}<0$$
$$\frac{d^2U}{dx^2}>0\tag{2}$$
From $(1)$ and $(2)$ it is evident that the graph of $U$ should have a minima at stable equilibrium condition, i.e. The Potential Energy should be minimum when a system attains maximum stability.
Answer: Roughly:
Becouse $F=-\overrightarrow\nabla U$, with $U$ some potential energy (coud be an effective potential energy). Then, if you aren't in a minimum of potetial, your system isn't in equilibrium.
Edit:
Can you see that 1. and 2. are stables equilibrium?.
I chemistry your effective potential energy is some function called Gibbs free energy.
Comment: But, why is it that the lowest potential state corresponds to the state of stable equilibrium? Can you give an answer without using mathematical results for getting better intuition on the answer provided.
Comment: Minimizing Gibbs free energy under constant temperature and pressure is a standard result in thermodynamics textbook...
Answer: A system that is in thermal contact with it's environment will tend towards both a lower energy state and a higher entropy state. Basically, the energy of the system + environment is fixed, but energy will flow between the two until they are in a state of maximum entropy.
It might be more informative to ask why systems tend towards increased entropy. What happens is that all the states that the system+environment can occupy with fixed total energy have equal probability of being occupied. This is called the fundamental postulate of statistical mechanics. Now there are many such states for which the system has some particular energy $E$. The value of $E$ that corresponds to the greatest number of states is therefore most likely.
Answer:
I'll try to explain with the help of an classical example. Take the situations in the picture above. What you're interested in are the first to cases. The unstable state of equilibrium is such a state that when you slightly displace the ball, it departs from the original position. Being at the top of the hill, it has an excess of potential energy (may it be gravitational, electric, etc.) that can be converted into work. However, in stable equilibrium, displacing the ball it will always return to its original position. It was from the start in a state with minimum energy.
Comment: My question is not about the types of equilibrium.
Comment: Yes, but i used this example to show why a system is in equilibrium when it is in the lowest energy state.
Answer: Well, chemical reactions almost always require heat (energy) to take a place, and almost always release heat upon reaction, so by that logic state when elements is unable to keep reacting is a state with insufficient energy or, in other words, lowest energy state (or we  probably should say "lower energy state" then one that required for reactions)
Answer: Resolving (Decreasing) energy gradients to lower realized potential states is what drives every process on many levels including evolution.  www.intothecool.com  Here is a super cool paper that shows the process across universal, biological and socio-economic domains.  http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=185965
if you look around using a constrained google search for filetype:pdf you can find it free.
That being said the lowest potential state is likely a lattice at absolute zero with a perfectly isomorphic electromagnetic state.  Technically anything less than all matter reaching that state is subject to being just a local equilibria point awaiting a lower (more broadly contextualized) state i.e. ultimate heat death.


a complex borel measure, whose Fourier transform goes to zero

Question: I have $\mu$ a complex borel measure on $\mathbb(R)$, whose Fourier transform goes to zero as $ \xi$ goes to $ \infty$. I need to prove that $ |\mu|$(singleton) = 0.
Should I approach $\mu$ by a sequence of absolutely continuous (to lebesgue measure) measures in the weak star topology, or is there a simpler way to do this?
Comment: The setting reminds me of Wiener's lemma.
Comment: Where is $\mu$ defined? Is it on $\Bbb R^{n}$, on $\Bbb R$, or is on the $n$-torus.
Comment: on $\mathbb{R}$, sorry forgot to add it
Answer: Wiener's lemma/theorem says that
$\sum_{x \in \mathbb{R}} |\mu ( \{ x \}|^2 = \lim_{\lambda \to \infty} \frac{1}{2 \lambda} \int^{\lambda}_{- \lambda} |\hat{\mu} ( \xi ) |^2 d \xi$
for every finite Borel measure on $\mathbb{R}$ (the theorem is sometimes formulated for measures on the torus, or on $\mathbb{R}^n$ or some other locally compact abelian group. Unfortunately, there are also many unrelated theorems which go by this name).
From here you can just apply l'Hospital's theorem (or play with limits however you like) and get that $\mu$ has no atoms. The previous answers allude to this theorem. You can find it in Katznelson's "An Introduction to Harmonic Analysis", for instance.
Comment: Nice! I vaguely remembered something like this when typing my last post, but couldn't quite remember what the exact statement was.
Answer: I'll try to write my suggestions assuming you are working on $\Bbb R^{n}.$
Here's what I would suggest, although this doesn't constitute a full solution. Write
$$\mu=\mu_{a}+\mu_{sc}+\mu_{d}$$
where $\mu_{a}$ is absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure, $\mu_{sc}$ is singular with respect to Lebesgue measure, but non-atomic and $\mu_{d}$ is purely atomic.
We have to argue that $\mu_{d}=0.$ By Riemann Lebesgue, we know that
$$\widehat{\mu_{a}}(\xi)\to 0$$
as $|\xi|\to \infty.$
Write $\mu_{d}=\sum_{n}c_{n}\delta_{x_{n}}$ with $x_{n}\ne x_{m}$ for $n\ne m.$
Then
$$\widehat{\mu_{d}}(\xi)=\sum_{n}c_{n}e^{2\pi i \xi\cdot x_{n}}$$
and
$$\frac{1}{2^{d}T_{1}\cdots T_{d}}\int_{-T_{d}}^{T_{d}}\cdots\int_{-T_{1}}^{T_{1}}|\widehat{\mu_{d}}(\xi)|^{2}\prod_{j}d\xi_{j}=$$
$$\sum_{n}|c_{n}|^{2}+\frac{1}{2^{d}T_{1}\cdots T_{d}}\sum_{n\ne m}c_{n}\overline{c_{m}}\sin(2\pi (x_{n}-x_{m})T)$$
from here one can see that the above average tends to $\sum_{n}|c_{n}|^{2}$ as $T_{j}\to \infty$ for all $j,$ this makes it impossible for $\widehat{\mu_{d}}(\xi)\to 0$ as $|\xi|\to \infty.$
Now if one can do some analysis on $\widehat{\mu_{sc}}(\xi)$ as $|\xi|\to \infty,$ this may solve the problem.
In one dimension one can try to write $\mu_{sc}=dF,$ with $F$ a continuous function of bounded variation, it may be that some integration by parts trick works here but I'm not seeing it.
Answer: Zygmund (Trigonometric Series, Vol. 2, Section 16.4.19) considers the Fourier-Stieltjes transform
$$
\varphi (x)=\frac1{\sqrt{2\pi }}\int\limits_{-\infty }^\infty e^{-ixy}dF(y)
$$
and looks for conditions on $\varphi$, under which $F$ is continuous. If I understand correctly, this is equivalent to your question. The necessary and sufficient condition is
$$
\int\limits_{-\omega}^\omega |\varphi (\xi )|^2d\xi =o(\omega ),\quad \text{as $\omega \to \infty$},
$$
or, equivalently
$$
\int\limits_{-\omega}^\omega |\varphi (\xi )|d\xi =o(\omega ),\quad \text{as $\omega \to \infty$}.
$$
Both conditions are different from a mere decay of the Fourier transform at infinity.
Answer: I think I got a good one:
clealy, it's enough to prove $\mu$(singleton) = 0.
Consider the function $f_{\epsilon}(x) = \frac{1}{\epsilon}$ if 0 < x < $\infty$ and 0 otherwise.
Notice that as $\epsilon$ goes to $\infty$, the limit of the fourier transform of the function above is characteristic function of the singleton 0.
writing $\mu$(a) as an integral, DCT, duality relation, and a small change of variable magically does the trick.


Coated Strings—Gimmick, or worth the money?

Question: Never used them myself, but I had a friend who used to swear by the plastic-coated strings he bought for his electric to try and help keep them cleaner.  While I realize this probably does do something to minimize corrosion, it seems it doesn't do much to help with reducing grime overall, though.  Anyone else's experience bear out either way?
Comment: I have a friend who suffesr from eczema. Normal nickel strings make it flare up on his fingers whcih isn't too nice. Elixirs & similar seem to help. This isn't really an answer to your question (generally worth the money?) but it's definitely a plus for some people.
Answer: I can definitely attest to the fact that they last longer. I have very sweaty hands and I used to decimate acoustic guitar strings--we're talking a new set about every week and a half. Once I used coated strings I cut the change time to about a month. As to their tonal difference, I personally like darker sounding acoustics so it was a non-issue for me.
As for cost, a regular pack of light gauge Martin acoustic strings costs $4.99, and a pack of Elixers is $14.99 per pack. So, assuming we consume one pack of strings per week (let's say you have sweaty hands like me) then the total cost per month on average would be 4.99 x 4 = $19.96. Therefore, in order for it to be more cost effective to use coated strings they must last at least one month or longer. Your mileage may vary depending on the types of strings you choose to use and how long they last.
You'll also obviously be changing strings less frequently--so you'll save yourself a little time and trouble there. It takes me about 5 minutes to swap my strings out so it's not a benefit to me per say, but if you hate changing strings or it takes you longer you could realize this benefit.
Hope that was helpful!
Comment: Don't forget to factor in the time savings from less frequent string changes.
Comment: Agreed they last longer, +1. That said, I never use them, because to my ears they don't sound good at any part of their lifetime, and they sound worse as they age than uncoated strings do.
Answer: I have personally never used them, but I know of people who have. The plastic coating does indeed pretty much protect them from oxidation. A little bit of the grime you find on your fretboard comes from the sweat and dirt on your fingers, but a fair portion of it comes from the rust on the strings. Using strings that do not rust should therefore cut down on this a bit, as there is little to no rust/gunk going from the strings to the frets. Because of their texture, they should also be a little easier to wipe down.
From what I hear they are not as harsh as regular pure metal strings on the fingers, so are better for beginners. The plastic also cuts down the trebley 'twang' that some strings produce. But some people would say that that is what they are looking for.
Sorry I can't help more.
Answer: I used to use them all the time on my acoustic. However, I stopped when I tried out someone elses' with uncoated strings. The plain strings have a much brighter, more trebley sound, allowing each note played to stand out.
It is true that coated strings did not need to be changed nearly so often—they would maintain the same sound for much longer (maybe 6 months compared to 2 months, for light playing). But to my mind and ears, the sound they produced was not worth prolonging.
In terms of advantages, I have heard that a use of coated strings beyond longevity is for recording acoustics—to reduce the 'scraping' noise made when sliding the fretting hands into new positions along the fretboard.
Comment: I found exactly the same, but on my strat. they dulled the sound a bit too much. That plus the price = I only tried them a couple of times.
Answer: I'm a casual player, and I keep Elixers on my guitar for a couple of years at a time. They're much better at handling the dust and grime that settles on the strings when not in use. I think that a fresh set of Elixers sounds about like 3-day-old Martins or something--not as clean sounding as fresh non-coated strings, but not dead either. I probably wouldn't record with them, but I love them for the low maintenance.
Answer: As with most people above, my personal experience is that they never quite get the same "out-of-the-box" brightness/sparkle of a fresh new set of non-coated strings, instead they sound more like a set of new strings that's been "broken in", i.e. stretched and played for a couple of days. Some people may actually prefer that, depending on the brightness of their guitar.
HOWEVER, the difference in my view is that they will stick to that sweet spot for a lot longer than normal strings, thus making for a more consistent experience over a longer time period. You'll get a better, 10/10 sound out of conventional strings but that'll last only for a couple of weeks (depending on how much you play, obviously) whereas you'll only get a 9/10 sound out of coated strings but that'll last for more than a month.
Answer: Yes, they definitely last longer.
I always wash my hands with soap and water before playing if my hands feel even the slightest bit greasy.  Doing this and playing daily, a normal pack of strings lasts about a month or two before it begins to sound and feel rusty.  When I use coated strings, though, I can easily play for a year or more without the strings sounding dead to me, and I've never had one go rusty.
I should note that my ear isn't as good as many of the people here, so YMMV.
Answer: Coated strings not only last longer but reduce string friction and string noise.  If you are a jazz player utilizing walking bass lines, you will love coated strings.  I have found Elixir's to work the best for me.
Answer: I have not used long life acoustic strings but I have used electric ones. I have an electric guitar that I knew would not be used for a long period of time,so I stringed some nanowire elixr onto it.
That was something like 6 years ago, and they still look like new now. Started using it daily for about a month now and no signs of degrading. (I do wash my hands before playing a fresh set of strings)
Answer: I am a repair tech-luthier-continually changing strings on martins, gibsons, taylors, larrivees, ovations, u name it. On my own martin & larrivee I've tried them all.
My take: Elixer nano webs are near top of my list along with d-adario coated, tried roto sound & cleartone, both terrable , i love coated mangans & for non coated strings you cant beat pearce 80/20, elixer & dadario coated last forever( a lot longer). I change strings on acoustics much more than normal players & coated are my way to go! But last to mention is the contact-core ghs, very piano like but not coated, if pearce or ghs contact core would coat their sets, they may be the best! Experament! I do! Very disappointed with cleartones. I put pearce on glen campbells guitars-he loved them. My advise? Try everything!
Answer: My new Taylor came with Elixirs, and I'm still trying to make up my mind.   I've been using D'Addario phosphor bronze on all my acoustics for many years...
I was initially happy that the Elixirs did not turn my fingertips black when playing fingerstyle.  However, the coating wears off the treble strings rapidly and now they do it just as bad as any others...
The idea is sound; much of the deadness of old strings is due to accumulated dirt, skin-oil, etc. between the windings of the string.
The coating should keep the crud out.   However, it also adds a bit of mass...
Answer: I teach high school guitar ensemble classes and the coated strings last much longer, are easier on beginners' fingers and have a great timbre.  Elixirs are the way to go if you can afford the price, you will get much longer life out of them.  If you like a brighter sound, use the ones with the nano web coating, if you like a little darker sound, use the polyweb coating.
Answer: As a player who gigs quite frequently (atleast once a weekend), I choose to play coated simply on the means of longevity. I personally play D'addario medium bronze phosphorus. I can typically get about 2-3 gigs out of a set of coated strings compared to pretty much one gig out of uncoated. I personally am a pretty rough player too, so my strings do tend to go quicker. But in the sheer sense of ease - and less trips to Guitar Center - coated is the way to go. It really all depends on your style and how frequently you gig, or play at home. Get out there and try a few different kinds and you'll find what fits for you.
Answer: I just tried the D'addario coated strings on my 1967 D18. I put mediums on and I haven't played this guitar a lot
 since I put them on a month ago. They sound dead and I'm going back to the regular D'addario phosphor bronze which I have been using for many years and have them on my other instruments. The coated strings don't offer enough sparkle or treble which I want to hear especially from a warm woody D18.
Answer: They last longer. That's beyond any doubt. However, I don't like them. They don't have that edge that usual strings has.
Answer: I tried Exilirs on my electric guitar.  They cost about 3 times as much and lasted almost 3 times longer.
I didn't think they sounded as good as my usual strings.  (either Erine Ball or Gibson)  I tried Blue Steel when those first came out and didn't care for the sound of them either.
I wasn't saving any money using them.  It did save time though.
I bought a set of Elixirs for my acoustic.  I almost never play it so I'd like the strings to last as long as possible.


Is it a good idea to have MOT and Full service at the same time?

Question: Or is it better if we do them in two different places?
MOT Test = Ministry of Transport Test - an annual test carried out on vehicles over 3yrs old in the UK to ensure they are roadworthy (i.e. safe and meet emission standards)
Comment: What is MOT????
Comment: @jp2code The MOT certificate confirms that at the time of the test, without dismantling it, the vehicle met the minimum acceptable environmental and road safety standards required by UK law.
Comment: Oh, I see. This is a European term, then. Here in the US, we call them **Inspection Stickers**. :)
Answer: It depends how much you trust your garage!
If you want a 'proper' by-the-book MOT, the best places to go can often be council-run MOT centres. These are run for their own benefit (i.e. to test municipal vehicles), and don't offer any other services, so they are less inclined to try and con you out of other work like some less scrupulous garages have been known to do.
As Graeme says, some garages will offer you a discount if you get a service done at the same time as the test, but I am always wary of places that offer such things too cheaply. I have heard stories of cars coming back from a service in a worse state than they went (e.g. not changing the oil or filter on the basis that many customers wouldn't know the difference between new and old).
My advice would be to find a small, local, reliable garage (ask around your friend/neighbours/colleagues for recommendations) and build up a rapport with them. They might charge a bit more than a big chain (typically they will charge full price for the MOT for example, but will usually be a lot cheaper than a dealer for labour), but they will give you a much better service. As an example, I've had testers look over the car before starting the official test and point things out to me, or adjust things like headlamp aim, that would otherwise have failed the test. Especially useful when you have a lamp fail on the way to the test!
As for timings, I tend to have each done when it is needed. If they happen to coincide, so be it, otherwise I'll do them separately. Admittedly, I tend to do most of my servicing myself (much cheaper!), so arranging garage appointments is less of an issue. I find the cost of the MOT is fairly minimal compared to the other costs of motoring, so spacing that out isn't as important - Unless, of course, a lot of work is needed! It is good practice to make sure that the MOT isn't due at the same time as the tax however, as you'll inevitably end up rushing to get it done to get the paperwork in place!
Comment: Thanks :)
I've actually bought the car 2 month ago and have 6 month guarantee on it, that's why I'm thinking about having full service now (along with my MOT which is due now) - so if anything serious is wrong I can use my guarantee. What do you think about this?
Comment: I should say in the past two month I feel everything is very OK. Having this in mind does it worth spending £100+ for full service?
Comment: To be honest, I doubt anything major would turn up in a normal service. Did you get anyone to check the car before you bought it? That is generally a more reliable way of spotting major flaws.
Answer: This depends entirely on your budget rather than good practice.
Of course it is far more convenient to do the two together and there is a chance of a reduction in labour costs if they are done at the ame time by the same garage.
You may also need a full service at the time, in which case definitely, but if it is not absolutely necessary then I would say no.
If you have to look after the pennies then you may choose to do the service at another time due to the yearly cost.
It is wise to spread all annual costs of motoring over the year, such as Insurance, Tax, Service and MOT so that you always have the finance in place to be able to do this, otherwise you can end up without a car for a while


PS Vita Wi-fi and tethering

Question: I have an Android phone able to provide 3G data connection over WiFi Tethering, and I would like to know if the WiFi version of PS Vita is able to use it to play online and access leaderboard features or if instead is limited in some way by Sony firmware/hardware.
Answer: Using my phone as a wifi-hotspot had enabled me to access everything I've tried so far, which includes the store, friends, chat, trophies, and online scoreboards in-game.
I've yet to try a multiplayer game through it, but will test it later.
Using:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus
PS Vita Wifi
Tesco Mobile contract sim (UK)
Answer: While I haven't got a PSVita to test, I have used a multitude of WiFi devices (PSP, computers, iPads) with my Androids WiFi-tethering without any problem.
Since the phone will present itself as a regular WiFi hotspot, the only potential problem source is your provider (that may, or may not, block certain services).
Answer: This is not limited by Sony's hardware whatsoever. When your phone tethers, it acts as a Wi Fi hotspot and you are able to access all internet functionality like any other WiFi access point.
The only limiting factor is the speed; since you're accessing via your phone's 3G connection it's likely going to be slower and more unstable than a normal WiFi connection, but that depends on your connection strength, phone hardware ect. There is no limitation in the PS Vita hardware.
Comment: Nor software...
Answer: From what I understand, the Vita does not support ad-hoc tethering, but will connect to proper WiFi hot spots, which it seems some phones support and some do not (read more here).
I have a Droid X through Verizon.  I do not pay the monthly fee for tethering, but I do have a few tethering apps from the Market that work great with my laptop.  My Vita cannot connect to any of them.  I would love to find out what the difference between "ad-hoc" and "hot-spot" tethering is and if my phone is capable of the latter.
Answer: Tethering to an Android works perfectly on a PS Vita. I've tried using a Wifi and 3G (expired data plan) PS Vita and used Google Nexus One, Google Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus to test.
Running the Internet Connection Test shows that you can connect to the Internet and PlayStation Network successfully. I have a short guide here:
http://www.xtremepsvita.com/2012/05/22/3g-gaming-on-a-wi-fi-only-ps-vita-using-android-iphone/

PS Vita Wi-fi and tethering


Best place to learn Component Object Model

Question: I need to learn COM for my current project. I am a noob and I haven't been able to find good starting points for COM. I have been looking into MSDN and googling... I did find some interesting articles on codeproject.com, but I am not satisfied. Why do we use COM ? Why does it exist ? In what places does it exist ? ..... and so on .. So, will you please tell me where can I find answers to these questions ?
Comment: Why do we use COM? Mostly we try not to. In what places does it exist? Painful legacy codebases, generally.
Comment: If I remember correct, of the best 3 web articles on COM, 2 was on MSDN (some old magazine article) and 1 was on CodeProject... obviously there are hundreds of other somewhat useful ones, so it's like finding needle in haystack. (and thanks Google for returning only sites in the ".com" TLD when I search for "COM"...)
Comment: @carson actully i am developing a monitoring software where i need to fetch values of "COM" objects. Hence the new found Quest ..
Comment: @Carson63000 So true it hurts... going to go cry in a corner now.
Answer:
Firstly, COM is just like object-oriented programming. COM interface is an abstract interface.
COM has an advantage over each language's own built-in OOP in that you can have COM classes implemented in different languages and/or compiled by different versions of compilers, and they will still be able to inter-operate. This is called "application binary interface" (ABI)
COM uses reference counting. It might be annoying at first, but as soon as you learn about smart pointers, your life will be much easier and you will find that the concept of reference counting is very easy to understand.
COM uses a weird way of class casting, namely "Query Interface".

Learning the IUnknown is the first step.
A good COM interface that is suitable for beginner's study is the IStream interface. You may practice COM by implementing the IStream interface using many kinds of ways of storing data.

Added 2012/09/28:
After the COM mechanism was invented, people at Microsoft discovered that these mechanisms open the door to unusual programming tricks which are not orthodox OOP. At the lowest level, IUnknown.QueryInterface is just a method; it can do anything. These tricks make COM intimidating to learners, because they can invalidate the basic reasoning that can be borrowed from OOP.
The Microsoft documentation at MSDN spends a lot of time saying "COM is not ..." or "Make no assumption" explaining how these unusual tricks can break your code.
COM designers use Liskov Substitution Principle (the "L" in SOLID) to make sure their multiple interfaces and use of tricks do not invalidate basic OOP reasoning or program operation.
If your project does not use these tricks, it is okay to see COM just from the OOP point of view. If your project uses these tricks, you will need to see COM as self-modifying code.

 (Joke: We had to spend so much time with L that we typically ignore the four other principles.)
Answer: The main reason for COM is to provide an object oriented communications interface between an application and other applications and dll's that may live in different memory spaces, and between objects that may have different internal object representations.
Something to remember when learning COM is that at the time C++ was king and applications called dll's using C. There was no common ABI (as @rwong says) and COM was the microsoft solution.
It's probably worth having a look at Active Template Library (ATL) for visual studio which makes it a bit easier to use COM as well.
A couple of books I found useful back in the day
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-COM-Don-Box/dp/0201634465/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304946825&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-ActiveX-OLE-Developers-Technology/dp/1572312165/ref=pd_sim_b_4
hth
Answer: I originally learned about COM from the book Learning DCOM (DCOM is just an extension of COM, the book is mostly about COM). It's over ten years old and should be cheap if you get it used (since COM isn't exactly hot anymore, not even in the Microsoft world, even though it's still used for interop).
The main reason for COM to exist is to facilitate component-based development, which basically means that instead of linking libraries when you compile your code, you reference an interface (the description of how to communicate with an external component) and use some implementation of that when you deploy. It underlies most of Microsoft's own technology.
The system has support for some features that were cool before everything went managed (such as reference counting and self-description (through IDispatch)).
Answer: COM is a standard created in the 90's to allow different pieces of software to talk to each other. Most important is the binary standard that allows one piece of software create or bind to an object and then call into that interface. This allows you to do things like create a DLL in C++ which can be called by an ASP page (COM Objects), or create a control in Delphi which you can put onto a VB dialog box (ActiveX controls), or Excel worksheet. When you paste a picture into Word it uses COM too, embedding a separate application into word. Less popular is DCOM which is to call remote objects, there are usually simpler ways to do this.
So Com/ActiveX/DCOM was very popular 10 years ago with VB, VBA, C++/ATL, Delphi. Dotnet is much simpler though and C# has replaced most use of COM and VB etc
Still there are many COM interfaces in there which exist which you might want to call from a dotnet application or Java or C++. (You dont say)
If you need to call COM interfaces VB is the simplest way to do this. In Dotnet 4.0 C# has the dynamic keyword which makes it much easier to call IDispatch interfaces, which is probably a great solution you should look at.
If you need to know a lot of detail, you really need to use C++ and ATL, call the C APIs like CoCreateInstance. Avoid this if you can though as its old tech and isn't much use, stick with recommendations above.
I'm not sure what monitoring software you're looking at but its likely to be available via System.Management classes in dotnet.
Answer: The followings could be useful COM overviewM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uodiz25YNE
http://progtutorials.tripod.com/COM.htm

The first video talks about the general idea of creating Binary Components to reuse codes written in different languages (language-independent) and are in different machines (processes) (location independent/transparent). This technology is used in some Software Companies to integrate with other software (companies) instead of buying their software and embed them into their own or writing the codes from scratch in their systems.
This technology has three different versions (implementtaions):
OLE/COM/DCOM/ActiveX for C++ developers (ATL is used to make programmer's job easier)
JavaBeans/RMI/EJB for Java developers
CORBA/IIOP
Just think of it as a technology that comes handy when you have your software written in Java and you want to add a functionality to it that is already exist in a package but it is written in C++ and even perhaps is located in different machine not in your local machine. How do you call "new" , how do you make objects and call methods from them?
The following books that I have seen people who do COM coding have either of them in their bookshelves:

Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL 3.0
Inside Com
Essential COM


InfoPath Forms and autoprinting

Question: I am new to InfoPath Forms and have created my form but trying to add a link/button where user can select and it will autoprint. Is this an option??
Answer: Because printing is an action that takes place on a client machine, not in the browser, there is not an out of the box option for this. In order to create a "button" for this, you would have to custom code it and make sure you sign it and publish it with full trust. The best option is to create a button that takes the user to a print view where it is a simple form that will look ok to print on a black and white printer and then in the top of the page, tell them to press ctrl+p or use the browser print button.
Answer: Open your form in Design Mode, then go into Tools --> Form Options --> Browser.  Check the option to display "Print View".  This will give your users an option to print, although they will need to do it from the browser.
If that's not what you were looking for, you can also do what Lori suggested.
Access the "Views" from the Design Task sidebar.  Look towards the bottom of the screen and there's a link to "Create Print Version for This View..."
You'll need to do a copy/paste from the main form, and then format it for printing (black and white, etc.)
Once the view is created, you can show the Print View from a button rule.

InfoPath Forms and autoprinting


Why do red wines tend to be stored in green bottles and white wines not?

Question: It seems that all red wines are stored in green or occasionally other dark coloured bottles and white wines in clear or light coloured bottles.
Why is this?
Comment: Dolbz, see http://meta.homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/6/should-we-tag-questions-as-beer-brewing-or-wine-making
Answer: The commonly repeated belief is that green bottles are better at keeping sunlight out and whites don't need this because they are often refrigerated. I never put much stock into this since worldwide refrigeration was not always common and a most wine is stored out of sunlight anyway.
A few winemakers in Sonoma told me that it was tradition based on the reasoning that reds were stored in darker bottles to hide the natural sediment that came along with those styles.
I don't know which, or if either, is true, but I'll tend to believe the tradition story over the UV-blocking reason.
Comment: Unfortunately, the green wavelengths passed by the glass are exactly the wavelengths absorbed by the wine.
Comment: @Tristan hah brilliant. Can you provide a source for this?
Comment: @fear here is one study comparing the UV protection offered by different colors of glass: http://www.skspolytech.com/assets/Glass%20wine%20bottles%20and%20UV%20light.pdf
Answer: It's a combination of marketing and tradition. For better or worse you're average consumer expects white wine to come in a clear bottle.
This is not exclusive however, one example being Riesling which is traditionally bottled in brown glass.
Both white and red wine will change when exposed to light (Google "light struck wine" for plenty of interesting reading) but generally this is not as big an issue for white wine as it is usually drunk fairly young and stored cold.
Answer: The flavour of Red Wines deteriorates greatly due to the breakdown of the wine in the bottle when exposed to UV light. White wines don't have this problem as much as they are much more filtered and do not contain tannens, etc that break down this way. That's my understanding at least, I read something along these lines in the book "Making Good Wine" (ISBN: 9781405036016).
A quick google found a very technical study performed - and I'm sure there's a lot more supporting material than this!
http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/UV_wine_quality_May_08.8a4c4eb0.5388.pdf
Answer: I'm a designer specialising in wine packaging and I can say that, with the exception of 'great' wines, most decisions about glass are made on purely aesthetic or economic grounds.
Great wines that are always aged for long periods are stored in green or brown glass to limit the damage caused by light over time. Wines like the Grand Crus of Bordeaux which are predominantly red, the great whites (and reds) of Burgundy, Champagne, the reds of Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva, the great red wines of Tuscany, and the humungous Cabernets and Merlots of California. These are vintage wines which will live in their bottles for anything from between 5 and upwards of 50 years. Even though these wines are normally stored in wooden cases in dark cellars or temperature controlled warehouses, light damage over these long periods is a real possibility, hence the darkened glass. Of course, given the traditional nature of the product, traditional packaging is expected by the consumer, even though modern wine bottles can be coated with a UV filter so dark glass is now less relevant.
Wines which will be drunk quickly, in a year or two after harvest have no need of UV protection. You will still see whites in green glass, especially from 'classic' wine regions, and you will also see occasionally reds in clear glass, though in this latter case the glass will have probably been UV treated as even, though such wines will be drunk young, they will likely sit in full light on supermarket shelves for a while.
Answer: Light destroys wine. Simple as that. White wine doesn't last long anyway, so light doesn't get a chance to do much harm, red wine is harder to ruin but we also keep it longer. The way it happens is that UV sunlight actually causes a chemical reaction in the wine which ruins its taste.
Nowadays a lot of bottle manufacturers also make UVAG bottles. Generally, the darker the bottle, the better. Even though a red wine's tanins protect it from sunlight, because we tend to store red wine much longer, it is vital to protect it, especially from UV rays. The second best choice (after UVAG) is the brownish bottles, which are actually better than green.
Comment: It would be helpful if you could cite a source for your statements.
Answer: I was told that....wine in a brown bottle meant it was bottled in the autumn; and wine that was bottled in the spring is in a green bottle.
Comment: Interesting, but it would be nice to have a confirtmation of that, sources, etc.


Site feedback on answered questions

Question: I recently asked a question on 'form submission with a link' and received four answers. I cannot see on the site how to reply and say thanks to these people
Comment: you press add comment under their answers
Comment: If you want to regain your meta.stackoverflow.com account, you'll have to register your original SO account first and then also here and finally associate the both accounts with each other.
Answer: If you look to the left of my answer, you will see what looks like a "tick". If you press it, it will mark my answer as the answer to your question. This is the best way to say thank-you to people who have given you a good answer, such as this answer. Only you can mark a response as the "correct" answer.
Also, on the left above the tick, there is a number with an up-arrow and a down-arrow. Click on the up-arrow when you see a good answer. You can do this even if you didn't ask the question. This is like giving the answer a vote - "I think this is a good answer to the question".
Hope this helps.
Answer: You say "thanks" in a few ways.
Most importantly, when an answer comes up that is most helpful to you, you click the checkbox by that answer to make it the "accepted answer." This give you and the answerer reputation points, which is a great way to say "thanks." You can only do this for one answer per question, so make sure it's the most helpful one.
If you come across an answer you agree with, or was helpful to you, you can click the up arrow next to the answer. This again gives the answerer reputation points, and also helps the community find answers that are helpful and correct. You can do this on any answer in any question, but it's especially nice to upvote people who give you good answers to your question.
If you want to thank the answerer personally, you can leave them a comment by clicking the "add comment" link under their answer. This is also how you ask clarification questions for their specific response.
Finally, if several people have given helpful answers, you can edit your question with an update that thanks the answerers who have contributed to your question. You can also update with whether you solved your issue, which is gratifying for answerers to see.
Answer: Here's your current SO account: https://stackoverflow.com/users/533513/johncron
I don't see any recently asked questions other than this one. This indicates that you've another account with which you've asked the question in question. That your current account is marked as "Unregistered User" is enough evidence.
It means that the account tied to only a specific PC/webbrowser by a long-living cookie. If you want to regain the original account, then you need to come back to Stackoverflow using exactly the same PC/webbrowser as you've asked the question with and then register the account by OpenID. This way you'll be able to login using the same account from every PC/webbrowser in the world. You will then also be able to post comments on answers and mark the best one accepted.

Site feedback on answered questions


Probability that the ball is red

Question: There is a bag with N balls. Some of them are black and some are red. In the bag there can be 0 red balls or 1 red ball or 2 red balls or N red balls. It is given that each of these N+1 options is equally likely.
Now, I pick up P balls from the bag and found that R of them are red.
After this I pick up another ball from the bag, what is the probability that this ball is red?
Comment: Are you familiar with Bayes' Theorem?
Answer: Like Alex, I will assume sampling without replacement.
The probability of there having been X red balls out of N initially and R red were found when P were drawn is $$\frac{1}{N+1} \frac{\binom{X}{R} \binom{N - X}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}}$$  and, given that, the probability the next ball is red is $\frac{X-R}{N-P}$, which only makes sense (and is between $0$ and $1$) if $R \le X \le R+N-P$ so the result is:
$$\frac{\sum \left(\frac{X-R}{N-P}\right)\frac{1}{N+1} \frac{\binom{X}{R} \binom{N - X}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}} }{\sum \frac{1}{N+1} \frac{\binom{X}{R} \binom{N - X}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}}}$$
$$= \frac{\sum (X-R)  \binom{X}{R} \binom{N - X}{P-R} }{(N-P)\sum  \binom{X}{R} \binom{N - X}{P-R} }$$
where the sums are over the possible values of $X$, i.e. $\sum_{X=R}^{R+N-P}$.
Comment: Thanks, Henry! I now understand the question. Yes, the balls are sampled without replacement. That's why I think the probability of there having been X red balls out of N initially and R were found when P were drawn would not be $$\frac{1}{N+1} {P \choose R}\left(\frac{X}{N}\right)^R\left(\frac{N-X}{N}\right)^{P-R}$$ It should be $$\frac{\binom{X}{R} \binom{N - X}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}}\cdot \frac{1}{N+1}$$ as @Alex said.
Comment: @Rohit: Answer edited accordingly
Answer: Try using conditional probability : $\mathrm{Pr}$(($P$+1)th is red) = $\mathrm{Pr}$(($P+1$)th is red | $R$ of $P$ were red)*$\mathrm{Pr}$($R$ of $P$ were red)
Answer: This answer assumes you sample without replacement.
Denote $X_1$ the number of red balls before the first sampling. $X_1$ follows discrete Uniform distribution with parameter $\frac{1}{N+1}$ Now use Bayes law:
$P($sample $R$ red balls|$X_1$ red balls in the basket)$P$($X_1$ red balls in the basket)
For the conditional probability use Hypergeometric distribution:
$$
\frac{\binom{X_1}{R} \binom{N - X_1}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}}
$$
Hence, the probability to sample $R$ red balls in the first sample is
$$
P(S_1)=\frac{\binom{X_1}{R} \binom{N - X_1}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}} \cdot \frac{1}{N+1}
$$
After this we have $X_2 =(X_1-R)I_{R \leq X_1}$ red balls left in the basket (since obviously $R$ cannot be larger than $X_1$, hence the indicator function) . Using Bayes law again, the probability to sample one red ball ($S_2$) is
$$
P(S_2)=P(S_2|S_1)P(S_1)=\frac{(X_1-R)I_{R \leq X_1}}{N-P-(X_1-R)I_{R \leq X_1}} \cdot \frac{\binom{X_1}{R} \binom{N - X_1}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}} \cdot \frac{1}{N+1} \\
=\frac{X_2 I_{X_2 \geq 0}}{N-P-X_2 I_{X_2 \geq 0}} \cdot \frac{\binom{X_1}{R} \binom{N - X_1}{P-R}}{\binom{N}{P}} \cdot \frac{1}{N+1}
$$

Probability that the ball is red


Jacobian and determinants

Question: Start with variables $(a_1, a_2, a_3, … a_n)$ and transform it to the system $(x_1, x_2, x_3, … x_n)$ where the xi's are the solutions to $x^n + a_1x^{n-1} + a_2x^{n-2} + a_3x^{n-3} +…+ a_n$. The Jacobian transformation seems to be $da_1 da_2 da_3 … da_n = J' dx_1 dx_2 dx_3 … dx_n$ where $J'$ is the square root of the negative of the determinant of $x^n + a_1x^{n-1} + a_2x^{n-2} + a_3x^{n-3} +…+ a_n$. Is this true? Is it well known?
Comment: What is the determinant of a polynomial?
Comment: "discriminant" must be the intended word (up to $\pm 1$).
Answer: Let the polynomial be $p(x).$ If you write down the Jacobian of the map which maps the $x_i$ to the $a_i$ (which are symmetric functions of the $x_i$), you will see that the columns just have the coefficients of $p(x)/(x-x_i)$ (in other words, the symmetric functions of all but the $i$-th variable). This determinant, as a polynomial in the $x_i$ will have degree $n(n-1)/2,$ and will vanish whenever two of the $x_i$ are equal, so it is a constant multiple of the product of $(x_i - x_j),$ for $i>j$ (which is a square root of the discriminant). Computing the constant is easy by induction.
Answer: You find a lot of information in:
Dmitri Alekseevky, Andreas Kriegl, Mark Losik, Peter W. Michor: Choosing roots of polynomials smoothly, Israel J. Math 105 (1998), p. 203-233. (pdf),
and in related later papers. The formula that you seek (or the inverse) is on page 7.

Jacobian and determinants


Number of positive integer walks from 0 to b.

Question: It is well known that the number of walks of length $m=2k+1$ starting at $0$ and ending at $0$ of step size $\pm 1$ and always nonnegative is the number of Dyck paths from $(0,0)$ to $(k,k)$ i.e. the $k^{th}$ Catalan number $C_k$.  The following seems like it should be well known but I have been having trouble locating it:  how many walks of length $m=2k+b$ are there starting at $0$ and ending at $b$ of step size $\pm1$ and always nonnegative?  Bonus points for a reference.
Comment: Are you familiar with the proof that the number of nonnegative paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2k,0)$ is $C_k$ that uses reflection through $y=-1$ ? This argument can be easily adjusted to show that the number of nonnegative paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2k+b,b)$ is $\binom{2k+b}{k}-\binom{2k+b}{k-1}$.
Comment: I am not... should that be easy to locate?
Comment: Look for "ballot numbers" or "Catalan triangle".  You will find the values in [OEIS A009766](http://oeis.org/A009766) and sequences linked there
Answer: In the latter part of this article, I use generating functions to show that the number of walks of length $2k+b$ starting at $0$ and ending at $b$ where no partial sum is negative is
$$
\frac{b+1}{k+b+1}\binom{2k+b}{k}
$$
Comment: Note that $$\frac{b+1}{k+b+1}\binom{2k+b}{k} = \binom{2k+b}{k}-\binom{2k+b}{k-1}$$ which is the [formula cited by tipshoni](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/165856/number-of-positive-integer-walks-from-0-to-b#comment381818_165856).
Comment: Do you know Raney's lemma?
Comment: @FrankScience: I [do](http://rsrch.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/raneys-lemma/) now :-)
Answer: Here's the completely elementary, though somewhat tricky, argument using reflection:
Let's try to count the number of paths starting at $(0,0)$, ending in $(2k+b,b)$ that are not nonnegative:
By reflecting through the line $y=-1$ the part of the path from $(0,0)$ until the first time it goes below the x-axis, we get a bijection between the non-nonegative paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2k+b,b)$ and all paths from $(0,-2)$ to $(2k+b,b)$, whose number is clearly $\binom{2k+b}{k-1}$.
So We get that the number of non-nonnegative paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2k+b,b)$ is $\binom{2k+b}{k-1}$, and since the number of all paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2k+b,b)$ is $\binom{2k+b}{k}$, we conclude that the desired number of nonnegative paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2k+b,b)$ is $\binom{2k+b}{k}-\binom{2k+b}{k-1}$ (which is indeed $\frac{b+1}{k+b+1}\binom{2k+b}{k}$)
Answer: Here's another proof.
First we consider the following conclusion, which is really George N. Raney's result in Functional composition patterns and power series reversion:
If $\langle x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_m\rangle$ is any sequence of integers with $x_j\le1$ for all $j$, and with $x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_m=l>0$, then exactly $l$ of the cyclic shifts
$$\langle x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_m\rangle,\langle x_2,\ldots,x_m,x_1\rangle,\ldots,\langle x_m,x_1,\ldots,x_{m-1}\rangle$$
have all positive partial sums.
It can be proved by a simple geometric argument (I don't know how to describe it in English, but you can see an algebraic proof in Concrete Mathematics by Graham, Knuth and Patashnik, EXERCISE 7.13).
Now it's easier to solve your original problem. First we add $+1$ to the beginning of each sequence, to make the partial sums positive (and each one with the partial sums positive can be deleted the first term to get a sequence with nonnegative partial sums, so it's bijection). There're $\binom{2k+b+1}{k+b+1}$ sequences with $k$ occurences of $-1$ and $k+b+1$ occurences of $+1$, and Raney's lemma tells us that exactly $(b+1)/(2k+b+1)$ sequences (Why? See next paragraph) have all partial sums positive. So the answer is
$$\frac{b+1}{2k+b+1}\binom{2k+b+1}{k+b+1}=\frac{b+1}{k+b+1}\binom{2k+b}{k+b}=\frac{b+1}{k+b+1}\binom{2k+b}k$$.
Explanation for $(b+1)/(2k+b+1)$: Construct $N\times(2k+b+1)$ array, where $N=\binom{2k+b+1}{k+b+1}$. Each line is just $2k+b+1$ cyclic shifts of the first term, and the first column is $N$ sequences with $k$ occurences of $-1$ and $k+b+1$ occurences of $+1$. Each row contains exactly one solution, so there're exactly $N$ occurences of solutions. Each solution appears exactly once in each column, so it appears exactly $2k+b+1$ times in the whole array.


Mizmor l'David (Psalms 23) at Shalosh Suedos

Question: There is a common minhag (custom) to sing Mizmor l'David at Seudah Shlishis, the third Sabbath meal. It is common to sing this song three times in a row and I was asked this Shabbos by a friend why this is so. None of my obvious points of references mentioned the reason, does anyone have a source and/or explanation (preferably "and")?
Comment: Your answer:
http://email@example.com/msg01947.html
Answer: Emunas Itecha 2 - Parshas Balak - Rabbi Moshe Wolfson Shlita says that similar to Succos where every day we go around the Bima once and on Hoshana Raba seven times on Shabbos we say Mizmor L'David once by each Seuda and three times by Shalosh Seudos, as Shalosh Seudos is Kollel all the Seudos.
Answer: I read in Yados Efraim that it has 57 words. 57 x 3 = 171. Koof , Ayin, Alef stands for 3 words. I forgot the words though
Answer: The source for my answer which follows below is from a Hebrew Book. The translation and shortening of the article is mine.
זמירון המקדש –הרב ישראל אריאל
All credit to Rabbi Ariel who states:
This Psalm, taken from Tehilim, summarizes by employing song and metaphor, the long journey of the Nation of Israel from the time of the exodus from Egypt, through the long exile of the Jewish people. The poet of the Psalm utilizes this description to portray the anticipation for the quick rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash, (the 3rd Temple).
The poet compares the Holy One to a Shepard, and Israel is presented as His flock.
The period of desert travel (following the exodus) was a long tranquil period in the life of the Nation of Israel. During this era, Israel received everything already prepared; manna– from the heavens, and water – from the spring of bitter waters, and also, the pillar of  cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night  served as protection from above. In the Psalm, this period is compared to green pastures, as the Shepard provides his flock with abundant food. He makes the flock lie down in tranquility in pastures of grass. And He leads them to water in places of peace and rest. According to the Midrash on 23:5, You spread a table before me is a table that is filled with manna and quail.
According to the Midrash, there is no craftsmanship that is as shameful as that of shepherding, as the shepherd spends his life trudging along carrying his staff and pack. Notwithstanding this depiction of a shepherd, David refers to the Holy One as Shepherd. How can that be? David relied on Yaakov who called G-d Shepherd as stated in Bereishit 48:15 … The G-d who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day, so too David refers to G-d as Shepherd.  – The Lord is my Shepherd I lack nothing. The "shepherd" is the most pleasant metaphor for a true leader, who worries about his flock, for the lone kid, and for the entire flock. Who is concerned that there is sufficient food and water for the flock and seeks to protect them from predatory animals.
In like manner, the period of exile is referred to a Valley of Darkness or Death, a period of testing for the Nation of Israel. How deep is their power of belief in the Holy One? And the poet attests to a strong belief as it is stated, though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness, I fear no harm, You are with me. And yes, occasionally the shepherd will strike his herd with his staff, and as the Midrash states that Israel refers to its tribulations during its exile as for the sake of the holiness of Your Name.
The poet ends his psalm by recognizing that all the trials and tribulations are aimed for the good., that the exilic period is a period of teaching and forging the nation. And in the end, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for many long years. And that House/Temple will be the third Beit Hamikdash which will exist for a myriad of time.
It seems to me, that the metaphors of Table implies eating and that is what we do at the Seuda Shilishit.
The 3 times is Kabbalistic I am sure and I hope to return with a source.
May we all be blessed as one holy Jewish nation to celebrate together in a rebuilt Beit Hamikdash, in our time, in its proper place on Har Habayit.


How can I see what files have synced and how do you restore lost files?

Question: Having looked through everything all I need to know is how does Ubuntu One work? How can I see what files have synced and how do you replace them on the computer if lost (restore).
Answer: You can login to Ubuntu One's website to view all of your synced files and folders between devices.
The Ubuntu One control panel provides the desktop experience, and on a new install of Ubuntu (or Windows etc) the control panel will show you the same folders that you have synced on other devices: selecting the checkboxes will download the folders locally and continue to sync them (restoring).