Alternative for 'setting the heather on fire'

Question: I have a thing for idioms and one such idiom I regularly use is 'to set the heather on fire'. It fits well whenever referring to doing something sensational. Now, is there any alternative to this? Any other idiom or word which comes close to meaning the same?
Comment: What exactly is "to set the heather on fire" supposed to mean idiomatically in the first place?
Comment: It seems to be an idiom local to Great Britain, see also _setting the Thames on fire_.  The Scottish sheep farmers (apparently) burn the heather off regularly so that grass can grow.  I found arguably more results for _setting the heather alight_.
Comment: A friend of a friend on Facebook just wrote this (she is talking about books): "The one I'm reading now is not setting the heather alight."
Answer: It's a pretty antiquated and uncommon turn of phrase - popularised if not actually coined in Walter Scott's 1818 novel Rob Roy. But (UK) Chambers Dictionary still includes the definition to set the heather on fire - to create a disturbance or a sensation.
Today we usually say set the world on fire (or maybe the also uncommon sets [one's] hair on fire, for things which only disturb/excite one or a relatively small number of people).
Answer: To set the heather on fire is to generate great energy or excitement, and fire is the quickest way to do it in other expressions as well. The excited or energized people could themselves be set on fire: The proposal has set New York's chattering classes on fire; or The blogosphere is afire with the news about Breitbart. They can also be fired up, pumped up, all abuzz, or any other word or expression for having one's passion aroused.
If you want to emphasize the effect rather than the affected, you could say the causative agent is causing a stir (mildly) or hitting a nerve (jarringly). It may be making waves, ruffling feathers (causing mild discomfort), or rocking the boat (disruptively drawing attention).
Answer: I've never heard the phrase "set the heather on fire" before either. (Though as we speak, a nature preserve that borders my property is being set on first as some sort of environmental measure. They promised not to burn down my house in the process.)
If you mean "sensational" in the sense of "causing widespread interest and excitement", like might be caused by a radical new invention or a political movement, then "set the world on fire" is a closely-comparable phrase. Another would be "turn the world upside down", though I think that's getting antiquated. Or "upsetting the apple cart".
If you mean "sensational" in the sense of "acting wild", like a wild party, then "paint the town red" is a common American idiom. Also "running amok".
Comment: Paint the town red comes close, I think.
Answer: I've never heard the idiom setting the heather on fire, and if I did I would probably take it to mean 'clearing the ground for something better', since I do know that landowners and forest wardens sometimes deliberately burn patches of old heather to encourage new shoots, buds and other wildlife-friendly growth.
But if OP wants 'doing something sensational', you could try on a roll, nailing it (for solving a specific problem), or firing on all cylinders.


Client hosting on Amazon EC2 with Cloudfront for content

Question: I have a server on Amazon EC2 with a few different clients. It is a Plesk server. Most of them use WordPress. Is it possible to store their WWW data on a cloudfront account while retaining the server settings and everything else on the EC2 instance?
Answer: Cloudfront is a CDN.  It will pull content from your EC2 server (or any other server) to multiple geographic locations around the us.  Its only purpose is to speed up your site.  It really only works properly for static content.  (JavaScript, images, CSS).   You can't move all your www data from EC2 to Cloudfront.
If your www data is all static, (which in the case of WordPress it is not) then you can use another Amazon product (Amazon S3, simple storage) to store your complete site.  Amazon S3 allows what it calls website buckets.  You can also put Cloudfront in front of S3 to speed up those buckets.
The only thing I can think of which would take some scripting is to write a script that downloads your WordPress site (spiders it), and copies all assets to s3.   Then you put Cloudfront on top of s3.  This would probably make things perform quickly, since you are not exactly running PHP for every request, but would take away the instant update WordPress.   This would be similar to what a reverse caching proxy does.  The bottom line is you really cannot get rid of EC2 or some other hosting account if you want to have WordPress running with its intended functionality.


What's the minimum number of players necessary for a Dread game?

Question: I've just finished reading the Dread manual. While it suggests 5 or 6 players as a "normal" group, and also suggests making a number of pulls before starting for every player missing from that number, I wanted to know what, in your experience, is the minimum number of players necessary for a good game. Can one play with one host and two players, for example?
Answer: You absolutely can--I think the best games of Dread I've played all had 2-4 players--but it affects game length and tension in very computable ways. The game gets much slower with fewer people, so it extends the story and the GM can't come out swinging right away. More like Japanese horror than a slasher, if you like.
This suited our group's needs, as it gave us time to have more involved character interaction, draw out the tension, and explore bigger maps so to speak, but I think it requires a higher level of co-operation (in terms of making the game run smoothly, not necessarily in-character cooperation) and prep-work from all parties involved. We're a pretty backstory-heavy playgroup, and it's easier to spend a lot of time on each character's hangups with a small group and more time like this.
I will note also that we usually ignore the injunction to make pulls for the number of players missing, again because we like drawing out the game and taking the time to dwell on atmosphere (Think Silent Hill--lots of time spent wandering through creepy environments, probing the characters' psyches, etc). I think the optimal Dread group size depends more on the type of horror you like than on the mechanics.
Comment: +1. This answer describes the situation perfectly.  I usually plan my games for 4-5, but have had good success with only 3 players (one of whom hated playing Jenga and basically never pulled!)
Answer: .You could play with only 2 players, but part of the appeal of the dread system is that it mirrors horror films where the level of tension and violence escalates as people are picked off one by one. The mechanic of pulling more tiles for each player dead seems to encourage a group of the size they recommend. Likewise, dead players aren't supposed to "chat" with ones still alive. The first time the jenga tower goes down it'll be just you with the remaining player while the dead player sits out.


Splitting vector into equal smaller parts using QGIS

Question: How do I divide a shapefile with many tiles into a lot of smaller tiles using QGIS?
I am searching for a smart solution, because manual edits are out of questions
Answer: Using QGIS you can quickly divide a given shapefile up into regular rectangles as you've shown in your example.

Load the original shapefile;
Use Vector|Research Tools|Vector grid and create a grid of polygons the same extent as your shapefile, with the right distance between divisions ('parameters') selected (100 in my example image below);
Intersect the two layers (Vector|Geoprocessing Tools|Intersect), with the first layer as the original shapefile and the second as your vector grid. The output will be your shapefile chopped up by the boundaries of the vector grid.
Answer: I am assuming that the grid you refer to is a spatial grid of some regular size - 1x1 km or similar. These grid objects (squares) will then have some reference number (eg square_id). Your other data set, the zones, is the one you would like to see combined based on the attributes in the spatial grid. This way you end up with the zones being split in smaller (gridded) pieces retaining both the zone_id and the spatial grid reference attributes.
The intersect functionality does this job. It is available both from within ArcGIS and QGIS. The user documentation for ArcGIS explains it excellently, although the functionality is also supported by QGIS.
Answer: A plugin has been created and can be installed in QGIS. polygon divider
You need to define the area need and the corner you would like begin the split from.
Answer: You can create a regular grid using the Vector Grid tool.  Just specify the feature(s) you want to use for the extent, and the size of each grid cell you want to use.  You may have to make sure the python plugins are enabled and the ftools plugins are installed.  Then, you might use the intersect tool as suggested by @ragnvald.
The only problem with this approach is that the tiles will not be numbered in a column/row format.  Instead, they will be numbered in the order they are created, usually one row at a time from northeast to southwest.  If this doesn't fit your needs, try creating a raster version of the data using the rasterize tool.  Rasters essentially store data as a georeferenced matrix with a fixed spacing between rows and columns.  This data model might make it easier to set up your routing, but you may have a hard time making sure your original data translates in a meaningful way.
There are a number of established techniques for routing on rasters, such as cost paths and flow direction/accumulation (usually treated in hydrology tools).  SAGA GIS has more options for these types of analyses, plus better tools for rasterization, but the interface is a little less straightforward than QGIS.
Answer: Generating a vector grid is one aspect to this, if I understand you question correctly.  If you want to literally split the other features (ie: roads with a grid to have the roads as grid sections) you will want to intersect the road later with the newly created grid layer.  This will create sections based on a grid cell.  If that collection of roads (which has been divided based on the grid cell) needs to be a single file to itself, then you could perform a split by attribute to a new layer (this function is available in QGIS as a vector plugin, and it will use a attribute value, ie GRIDID, and parse all records in the attribute table with the same GRIDID to its own shapefile.  This can be done in batch, making it possible to split up many files like this).


Double key lime pie filling and increase from 9" to 10" shell, new baking time?

Question: I want to double the key lime pie recipe and put it in a 10 inch pie crust instead of a 9 inch pie crust. How much do I have to increase the baking time? The pie has a graham crust.
Answer: Since you increased the thickness, you likely need to reduce the baking temperature somewhat (perhaps 25 degrees?) and bake longer. My best guess would be 25-50% longer, but you'll want to just start checking for doneness sometime around the original baking time. It should be mostly set but still a bit jiggly. If the crust is cooking too fast you can also cover the edges with foil to keep it from browning too much or burning.
Answer: The amount of time the filling needs is determined by the thickness of the filling. Going from 9 inch to 10 inch increases the area with (10/9)^2-1 = 0.23 = 23% .
I would therefore suggest to make 25% more filling (this will result in the same thickness of the filling) and use the same baking time as you normally use for your 9 inch pan.
Comment: unfortunately I doubled the recipe and it filled the 10 pie shell to the top, so now I don't know how long to bake it?
Answer: The thing about recipes with baking times, whether they are for pies, cookies, poultry, or whatever is that the predicted time is only a best estimate on the part of the author.  They are a guideline to get you started--but there should be a test or indicator to let you know when the item is truly done.
In the case of the pie, the recipe author cannot know what type of pie dish you are using, how thick your crust is, what temperature oven is exactly, or what temperature the ingredients were when they went into the oven.  All of these things may affect the actual time it takes your pie to finish.
Key lime pies are essentially custard pies.  Most custard pies should be cooked to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, at which time the filling will appear mostly set, but still quite jiggly in the center.  Martha Stewart's recipe, for example, says "bake until the center is set but still quivers when the pan is nudged."
You should be fine if you use these tests to determine when your pie is really done.  Since your pie is quite full, you can probably start checking around the original guideline time.
Good luck and enjoy.
Answer: I just made the same pie--10" with double key lime filling--and I had the same question you posed.  I baked mine 15 min at 350, then reduced the temp to 325 and baked it til the internal temperature was 145°F, which is what I read it should be on another site.  (I think that took about 10 more minutes of baking.)  The crust was browing a bit too much and covering the crust edges with tinfoil was a challenge to do without nicking the custard, so next time I make this pie, I'll bake it the whole time at 325 and use the internal temp as a measure of when it's done.


Good workflow for software development with scrum and continuous integration

Question: I'm studying an approach to understand better how the continuous integration workflow fits better in a software development company with the scrum method.
I'm thinking something like this:

Would that be a nice workflow?
Answer: You're some of the way there, but I'd expand your diagram somewhat:

Basically (if your version control will allow it, i.e. if you're on hg/git), you want each developer/dev pair to have their own "personal" branch, which contains a single user story they're working on. When they complete the feature, they need to push into a central branch, the "Release" branch. At this point, you want the dev to get a new branch, for the next thing they need to work on. The original feature branch should be left as-is, so any changes that need to be made to it can be made in isolation (this is not always applicable, but it's a good starting point). Before a dev returns to work on an old feature branch, you should pull in the latest release branch, to avoid weird merge issues.
At this point, we've got a possible release candidate in the form of the "Release" branch, and we're ready to run our CI process (on that branch, obviously you can do this on each developer branch, but this is fairly rare in larger dev teams at it clutters up the CI server). This might be a constant process (this is ideally the case, the CI should run whenever the "Release" branch is changed), or it might be nightly.
At this point, you'll want to run a build, and get a viable build artefact from the CI server (i.e. something you could feasibly deploy). You can skip this step if you're using a dynamic language! Once you're built, you're going to want to run your Unit Tests, as they are the foundation of all the automated tests in the system; they're likely to be quick (which is good, as the entire point of CI is to shorten the feedback loop between development and testing), and they're unlikely to need a deploy. If they pass, you're going to want to automatically deploy your application to a test server (if possible), and run any integration tests you have available. The integration tests may be automated UI tests, BDD tests, or standard integration tests using a Unit Testing framework (i.e. "unit" tests that require more state).
By this point, you should have a fairly comprehensive indication of whether the build is viable. The final step I'd normally setup with a "Release" branch is to have it automatically deploy the release candidate to a test server, so your QA department can do manual smoke tests (this is often done nightly instead of per-checkin so as to avoid messing up a test cycle). This just gives a quick human indication of whether the build is really suitable for a live release, as it's fairly easy to miss things if your test pack is less than comprehensive, and even with 100% test coverage it's easy to miss something that you can't (shouldn't) test automatically (such as a mis-aligned image, or a spelling mistake).
This is, really, a combination of Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment, but given that the focus in Agile is on lean coding and automated testing as a first-class process, you want to aim to get as comprehensive an approach as possible.
The process I've outlined is an ideal-case scenario, there are many reasons why you might abandon parts of it (for example, developer branches are simply not feasible in SVN), but you want to aim for as much of it as possible.
As for how the Scrum sprint cycle fits into this, ideally you want to have your releases happen as often as possible, and not leave them until the end of the sprint, as getting quick feedback as to whether a feature (and build as a whole) is viable for a move to production is a key technique for shortening your feedback loop to your Product Owner.
Comment: I agree with a lot of what you say, but I (personally) would try to encourage people together in the same branch whenever possible.
Comment: At the risk of this turning into a flame war, I believe that problems due to merge conflicts are frequently exaggerated (although I concede that they do exist). Furthermore, I believe that the move to DVCS tools (though warranted by other considerations) should not be justified purely on the basis of avoiding merge conflicts - In anything other than an open/community development effort, these are symptomatic of poor communication and coordination in the development team. Switching to a DVCS only masks a deeper and more significant problem with team communication.
Comment: I still strongly believe in the necessity of a "daily" (trunk) repo that developers commit to as they work. Integrating your work continuously is what Continuous Integration is all about, after all. For me, branching is something that is done as a last resort - not because of the danger of merge conflicts, but because developers loose track of what the other is doing, and start working in silos. It is about teamwork, communication and human factors, not the limitations of the tools that we use. To do continuous integration, you need continuous communication, which branching fails to support.
Comment: @WilliamPayne I'm not going to debate the relative merits of DVCS vs. VCS with you (at least not via the comments), there are significant benefits to using a DVCS if you get the right workflow, whereas with a more traditional workflow a VCS will do a sterling job (in my experience). I will tell you, however, that since switching to a DVCS my team has experienced significantly quicker development turnaround and more robust deployments. The end-of-project merge hell that many people still experience to this day has been almost completely removed from our development process.
Comment: @WilliamPayne Realistically, if you're using a DVCS people are never in the same branch (unless they're literally working on the same machine), since you "branch" every time you clone. The equivalent "Branch" to what you'd have in a standard VCS is the merge branch you will have per-feature (so Dev B and Dev C could work on branches of Branch C then check into Branch C as they are done, if they were both working on the C feature). The benefits of having more branches is less time spent fixing merge issues, since merging in HG/Git is almost completely painless, but a push/pull race is not.
Answer: Conceptually yes.  A diagram isn't capturing a lot of important points though like:

unit testing
incremental commits
staging gets deployed to often, production usually doesn't.
Answer: You may want to draw a wider system for the diagram.  I would consider adding the following elements:
Show your inputs to the system, which are fed to the developers.  Call them requirements, bug fixes, stories, or whatever.  But currently your workflow assumes the viewer knows how those inputs are inserted.
Show the control points along the workflow.  Who / what decides when a change is allowed into trunk / main / release-branch / etc...?  What codetrees / projects are build on the CIS?  Is there a checkpoint to see if the build was broken?  Who releases from CIS to staging / production?
Related to the control points is identifying what your branching methodology is and how it fits into this workflow.
Is there a Test team?  When are they involved or notified?  Is there automated testing being performed on the CIS?  How are breakages fed back into the system?
Consider how you would map this workflow to a traditional flowchart with decision points and inputs.  Have you captured all of the high-level touch points that are needed to adequately describe your workflow?
Your original question is attempting to make a comparison, I think, but I'm not certain on which aspect(s) you're trying to compare.  Continuous Integration has decision points just like other SDLC models, but they may be at different points in the process.
Answer: I use the term "Development Automation" to encompass all automated build, documentation generation, test, performance measurement and deployment activities.
A "development automation server" therefore has a similar, but somewhat broader remit than a continuous integration server.
I prefer to use development automation scripts driven by post-commit hooks that allow both private branches and the central development trunk to be automated, without requiring additional configuration on the CI server. (This precludes the use of most of the off-the-shelf CI server GUIs that I am aware of).
The post-commit script determines which automation activities to run based on the content of the branch itself; either by reading a post-commit configuration file in a fixed location in the branch, or by detecting a particular word (I use /auto/) as a component of the path to the branch in the repository (with Svn)).
(This is easier to set up with Svn than Hg).
This approach enables the development team to be more flexible about how they organise their workflow, allowing CI to support development on branches with minimal (close to zero) administrative overhead.
Answer: There is a good series of posts on continuous integration up on asp.net that you may find useful, it covers quite a bit of ground and workflows that fit with what it looks like you're after doing.
Your diagram doesn't make mention of the work done by the CI server (unit testing, code coverage and other metrics, integration testing or nightly builds), but I assume that's all covered in the "Continuous Integration server" stage. I'm not clear on why the CI box would be pushing back to the central repository though? Obviously it needs to get the code but why would it ever need to send it back?
CI is one of those practices recommended by various disciplines, it isn't unique to scrum (or XP) but in fact I would say it's benefits are available to any flow even the non-agile such as waterfall (maybe wet-agile?). For me the key benefits are the tight feedback loop, you know pretty quickly whether the code you just committed works with the rest of the code base. If you're working in sprints and having your daily stand-ups then being able to refer to the status, or metrics from last nights build in the CI server is definitely a plus and helps focus people. If your product owner can see the status of the build - a big monitor in a shared area showing the status of your build projects - then you've really tightened up that feedback loop. If your development team are committing frequently (more than once a day and ideally more than once an hour) then the chances that you'll run into an integration issue that takes a long time to resolve are reduced, but if they do it's clear to all and you can take whatever measures you need, everyone stopping to deal with the broken build for example. In practice you'll probably not hit many failed builds that take more than a few minutes to figure out if you're integrating often.
Depending on your resources / network you may want to consider adding different end servers. We have a CI build that's triggered by a commit to the repo and assuming that builds and passes all it's tests then it's deployed to the the development server so devs can make sure that it plays nicely (you could include selenium or other UI testing here?). Not every commit is a stable build though, so to trigger a build to the staging server we have to tag the revision (we use mercurial) we want to be built and deployed, again this is all automated and triggered simply by committing with a particular tag.
To go to production is a manual process; you can leave it as simple as forcing a build the trick is knowing which revision / build you want to use, but if you were to tag the revision appropriately then the CI server can checkout the correct version and do whatever is needed. You could be using MS Deploy to sync the changes to the production server(s), or to package it up and put the zip somewhere ready for an admin to deploy manually... it depends on how comfortable you are with that.
As well as going up a version you should also consider how you might deal with failure and go down a version. Hopefully it wont happen but there could be some change made to your servers that means that what works on UAT doesn't work on production, so you release your approved version and it fails... you can always take the approach that you identify the bug, add some code, commit, test, deploy to production to fix it... or you could wrap some further tests around your automated release to production and if it fails those then it automatically rolls back.
CruiseControl.Net uses xml to configure the builds, TeamCity uses wizards, if you're aiming to avoid specialists in your team then the complexity of the xml configs can be something else to bear in mind.
Answer: First, a caveat: Scrum is a pretty rigorous methodology. I have worked for a couple of organisations that have tried to use Scrum, or Scrum-like approaches but neither of them really came close to using the full discipline in its entirety. From my experiences I am an Agile-enthusiast, but a (reluctant) Scrum-skeptic.
As I understand it, Scrum & other Agile methods have two main objectives:

The first is to provide an explicit mechanism for managing risks and
the ongoing discovery of risks.
The second is to provide a structured mechanism for stakeholder
communication, requirements discovery and requirements management.

The first (risk management) objective is achieved through iterative development; making mistakes and learning lessons quickly, allowing the team to build the understanding and the intellectual capability to reduce risk and move towards a reduced-risk solution with a low-risk "austere" solution already in the bag.
Development Automation, including continuous integration, is the most critical factor in the success of this approach. Risk discovery & Lesson-learning must be fast, friction-free, and free of confounding social factors. (People learn MUCH faster when it is a machine that tells them they are wrong rather than another human - egos only get in the way of learning).
As you can probably tell - I am also a fan of test-driven development. :-)
The second objective has less to do with development automation, and more to do with Human Factors. It is harder to implement because it requires buy-in from the front end of the business, who are unlikely to see the need for the formality.
Development Automation can have a role here, in that automatically generated documentation and progress reports can be used to keep stakeholders outside of the development team continuously updated with progress, and information radiators showing build status and passing/failing test suites can be used to communicate progress on feature development, helping (hopefully) support the adoption of the Scrum communications process.
So, in summary:
The diagram that you used to illustrate your question only captures part of the process. If you wanted to study agile/scrum and CI, I would argue that it is important to consider the broader social and human-factors aspects of the process.
I must end by banging the same drum that I always do. If you are trying to implement an agile process in a real-world project, the best predictor of your chance of success is the level of automation that has been deployed; it reduces friction, increases velocity & paves the road to success.


exchange server 2003 on hyper-v

Question: are there any plans (by MS) for hosting exchange server 2003 on hyper-v?
Comment: Maybe you should clarify a bit more: what do you mean by "hosting"? Do you want to know if MS itself runs exchange 2003 on Hyper-V and is selling this to customers (hosting), or do you yourself want to run exchange 2003 on Hyper-V?
Answer: We moved our Exchange 2003 to a Hyper-V VM, and the speed increased dramatically. Of course the old hardware was a Poweredge 2650 with a 5 disk RAID5 and the new server is a Poweredge 2950 with a six disk RAID5, so the speed increase is down to the far better disk subsystem on the new server. Nevertheless, it is a lot faster!
Our main reason for using a VM is that we mirror the VM files (using a shadow copy) every night so if we lost the server for any reason it would take five minutes to boot the mirrored copy.
JR
Answer: Microsoft's recommendations re: running Exchange 2003 in a virtualized environment are here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx
Microsoft does not indicate that that "support" Exchange 2003 running on Hyper-V. (Indeed, they only "support" running Exchange 2003 under Virtual Server 2005 R2 or later.)
Given that Exchange 2003 is a major version behind the current release of Exchange (soon to be two versions behind when Exchange 2010 goes RTM), I think it's unlikely that a lot more will be done by Microsoft to extend "support" for Exchange 2003 into other virtualized environments. I can't speak for Microsoft, of course, but I think it's a fair guess.
I haven't tried to run it under Hyper-V, but I suspect it will run fine. You'll suffer loss of IO performance as any application would in a virtualized environment. With Exchange 2003, which is especially IO hungry (moreso than Exchange 2007), this is a distinct disadvantage over running it on the "bare metal", so you need a good reason to be running it in virtualized environment.
Answer: I've run Exchange 2007 in a Hyper-V guest ever since the release of Hyper-V - and have not run into a single problem with it.  My server was fairly small though, so I didn't have to worry about the IO when I made the decision to virtualize it.  If you're planning on running a bigger implementation, I'd make sure that you put some thought into how you are going to manage the disks for your VM - since that's where your biggest bottleneck will likely be.
Answer: Im just in the process of going from VS2005 to Hyper-V R2 tonight. So we'll see how it goes. In regards to taking a VSS copy of the server we are looking at using SCVMM R2 to do things like that. Would that be what your using John?
Comment: Migration was a success and the VM is flying now. We had the Exchange box under high load 80% - 90% CPU utilisation all day every day due to an email archiving product. Not only did this drop to 50% CPU utilisation but it was moved from a RAID 10 array to a RAID 5 array. So overall a great success.
Answer: I echo Evan here. It can run in a virtualized environment just fine, but you have to want to do that for a reason. We have an entire Exchange 2007 environment running on a VMWare ESX cluster, and it works for us. But the cluster nodes also host a bunch of other services as well. It can be done.
Answer: John,
Can you tell us how your VSS backup for Exchange 2003 is setup? What backup process/program are you using?
I work for a non-profit and we're in the process of testing Exchange 2003 on Hyper-V R2 running on a Dell R610 connected to a Datacore SanMelody server (hardware is PowerEdge T710 running Windows 2008 x64).
thanks,
Carlton.

exchange server 2003 on hyper-v


Summoning monsters for their DPS potential

Question: For the summon monster spell, which monster should be selected at each level for

pure dps potential
tanking ability

?
Related: What is the full list of monsters that can be summoned with the Summon Monster spells?
Answer: Speaking as an experienced summoner, this misses the point of summoning completely.
The beauty of summon spells is that you can choose what to summon on the fly.
Listen closely to this secret of D&D - there is no such thing in the game as "straight DPS."
If you want to calculate average damage against some imaginary AC assuming full attacks, go to all the summon monster statblocks and do it yourself, it's self explanatory, you don't need us to do it for you. What Summon Monster 1 creature has the highest DPS? The eagle.  Best tanking (assuming you define that as hp)? The pony.  Best combination? The dolphin.  Of course, the dolphin isn't of much use on the land, and a pony doesn't tank worth crap against flying opponents. And thus you have the crux of the problem.
Most "best DPS" and other such optimization discussions are based on artificial scenarios that have jack to do with real adventuring situations.  The strength of a summoner is in bringing the right thing to the battle at hand.  You'll want that fire beetle when there's something mind-affecting around.  For every situation there are more optimal movement types, attack types, etc. Many choices are effective DPS zero or tanking ineffective in many circumstances regardless of the exercise of taking the average of their damage dice.
Therefore any answer to this question that lists a monster is frankly not only wrong but is causing you to play your character in a sucky way.  Don't do it.  You have to know ALL the summons at a given level and use the one whose strengths and weaknesses fit the situation.
Allow me to cite the time I was fighting an invisible flying lich behind a wall of force (Caution, spoilers for Rise of the Runelords).  I summoned one of the objectively crappiest monsters possible at that level, a musteval guardinal.  But as a burrowing critter than can see invisible and fire magic missiles, it could get to him, see him, and damage him, and designate him as a target for the rest of the group.  DPS by the stat block about 2.5; DPS in reality "dead lich in one round."  DPSing with summoning is like being Doctor Who and deciding your sonic screwdriver is a mace and you're going to try to smack people with it. It misses the point by somewhere around a mile.
Comment: +1 for expressing the point of summoning: "Well, I can't help in this situation, but I know someone who could..."
Comment: +1 wonderfully put. It wasn't until I played a decent thaumaturgist that I really grasped the versatility of the summoner and quit viewing the stat blocks in Summon Monster as useful/useless. They have so much more value than min/max, it's situational.
Answer: This is a very open-ended question. I honestly think the best you'll get are links like the one from @mXyzplk.
Having done some basic summoning, the biggest problem with DPS/tanking, is that summoned creatures are a couple of levels weaker than the caster / party. This means they tend to be useless against the party and often under-powered against the party enemies.
At 9th-level, you can summon a Large Elemental (Summon V). But that's only a CR5 monster. In other words, that's a monster that can easily be handled by a party of 5th-level characters. But you're 9th level and your opponents are CR9s.
For perspective, that's equivalent to summoning a Large Air Elemental with 68 hp into a fight where your opponents are a small group of Greater Air Elementals with 123 hp. Your guy has to roll a 17 just to hit and if he's lucky he gets 1d8+4 damage against a monster with 123 hp and DR / 10. In other words, he can basically be ignored.
Honestly, this is the pattern for most of the summon spells. The creatures you summon are generally no good at DPS or tanking. Their attack rolls and HP and relatively minimal. If you just want more creatures on the board, they can basically act a meat shields and eat up some combat actions and get in the way.
The real key for summoning is to bring in something useful for the situation. Maybe you summon a wind elemental to interfere with vision or screw up somatic components of a spell. Maybe you bring in a lion to scare the local indigenous tribe, maybe you summon a couple of small creatures to give flanking to your Inquisitor or cover for you Rogue, etc.
But don't count on summoned creatures being dominant in combat. Especially when Protection from Evil/Good/Law/Chaos become readily available on cheap wands.
Answer: Well, as others have already pointed out, this isn't the best question, but take a look at the Lantern Archon, for an example of why:
It has 2 1d6 attacks per round, for an average of 7 damage if they hit.
It hits on ranged touch at a +3.
But assuming someone throws down some bardic music for +4, and throws down this as a level 4 spell? You suddenly got a lot of low level attacks, that now has +7 to hit, and +4 to their damage.
And SM IV gives you d3 of them. That means that you will get on average 4 attacks, and they will do on average d6+4 for 7.5, or 30 dmg/rnd if they hit.
Oh, and they have DR10/evil, and can teleport at will.
Yet, if you're a Bard and can throw down that spell, you should consider getting d4+1 eagles instead, since they each get 3 attacks.
Or going for wolves.
Perhaps you're a caster cleric and a Hound Archon would be better suited instead? Casting it nets you a decent level 5 fighter and a free aura of menace and a circle of protection from evil, as well as something with scent and darkvision if that's necessary.
Those along with crocodiles and wolves are the standard go-to monsters if you don't need anything spectacular.
But really, you should go through the summons list yourself and pick a few favourites, and take your Bestiary down to your library to photocopy those pages. Your GM will thank you for that a hundredfold.
Comment: Welcome to the site. Your answer, while interesting, doesn't seem to specifically address this question. Would you edit it to discuss tanking ability and pure dps potential?


a question about Kirillov model of unitary representations over GL_n(R)

Question: Let $F$ be either a p-adic field or real number field. $GL_{n-1}(F)$ embeds into $GL_n(F)$ on the left upper corner, let $P_n(F)$ be the mirabolic subgroup of $G_n(F)$ consisting of matrices with the last low like $(0,0,...,0,1)$. So we have inclusions $GL_{n-1}(F)\subset P_n(F)$.
When $F$ is p-adic, let $(\pi,V)$ be a generic irreducible admissible smooth representation of $GL_n(F)$, with its Whittaker model $\mathcal{W}(\pi)$. It is well known that for any $W_v(g)\in \mathcal{W}(\pi)$, the restriction map sending $W_v$, as a function of $GL_n$, to $W_v|_{GL(n-1)}$ ,
is injective, and from here we obtain the Kirillov model of $\pi$ as a space of functions on $GL_{n-1}$ .
My question is that when $F=\mathbb{R}$, and $\pi$ is unitary, in which case we also have Kirillov model for $\pi$, but I'm not sure if it comes in the same way as we described above in p-adic case. I don't know the exact reference containing the proof that $\pi$ has Kirillov model, and thus have no idea how it comes.
Another question is that when $F=\mathbb{R}$, $\pi$ a generic smooth irreducible admissible, is it still true for any Whittaker function $W_v$ of $\pi$, the restriction of $W_v$ to $GL(n-1)$ as above is injective, which implies we again have a Kirillov model for $\pi$.
Any answer, comment and reference are appreciated.
Answer: I happened to glance through Cogdell's "L-functions and Converse Theorems for GL(n)" (in Sarnak/Shahidi "Automorphic Forms and Applications), which cites Jacquet and Shalika's "On Euler Products and the Classification of Automorphic Forms I", available from Jacquet's website, as answering your question in the affirmative (see Section 1.3): the map $\xi\rightarrow W_\xi|_P$ in injective (where $P$ is the mirabolic subgroup), moreover, the Kirillov model (of a generic irreducible unitary representation), defined as the space of restrictions of Whittaker functions, is isomorphic to ${\rm Ind}_N^P(\psi)$ as representations of $P$.


Find out ROM version

Question: I just got a Galaxy Nexus and I want to revert it back to it's original condition for starters ( I'm talking about the software ). I noticed I have ClockworkMod installed, does that mean I have a custom ROM installed?
Comment: Is it Nexus S or Nexus 4G?
Answer: ClockworkMod is a custom recovery software. If you want to revert to the original ROM, then you can download the official ICS ROM for nexus and flash (install) it if you donot have a backup taken previously of the phone. And AFAIK, you can still root your phone again on ICS and then the phone will again be at your command (you can even install custom APKs). Also you can try a file manager like, Astro File Manager which I personally haven't used it but you can get it from marketplace and use it to install non-market apks by simply transferring the apk over usb to sd card and tap on the apk.
Comment: no I don't, the main reason I'm looking to do this is because atm I'm on Jelly Bean and apps crash pretty often. Also, if I go back to the stock ROM I won't be able to install custom .apks, right?
Comment: I am very sorry...clockworkmod is not a ROM, I got confused with cyanogen mod...I am editing my answer accordingly
Comment: Ok, I am still a bit confused, thank you for the help nevertheless.
Answer: It is possible to have CWM installed while running stock ROM. The simplest way for me to identify is to check your kernel version.
Answer: Generally, but not all the time, the presence of CWM which is a custom recovery, suggestively implies a custom ROM is present. But, having a custom recovery as CWM far outweighs the normal recovery that is found in the majority of handsets, some are limited, some are crippled.
You can easily flash another ROM such as ICS, or CM9 which is available to download. Hence I would highly suggest to leave CWM in there for a simple reason - to enable backup/restore of the ROM.
Judging by your previous comments in other answers above, it sounds like a unstable Jelly Bean ROM made its way into your handset.
Go to CyanogenMod site and get the download for either one of Nexus (crespo) or a Nexus 4G (crespo 4g) (crespo is a codeword given as the name of the handset). Whichever one is it you have, make sure you have the right version.
After downloading it, push that across to the SD-card, and use CWM to flash it for you. Be sure to wipe cache/data before hand. Yes, you will lose everything you have on that unstable Jelly Bean ROM. And then you should be back into the stability of the CM9 ROM.

Find out ROM version


IIS 6.0 vs IIS 7.0

Question: My client has most of the applications in .NET, he is changing his hosting provider, now he is asking for advice whether he should use the Windows 2008 with IIS 7.0 or good old Windows 2003 with IIS 6.0
What advantage does 7.0 offer over 6.0?
Answer: .Net is native in IIS7 rather than being an ISAPI filter. That gets you pipelining and greater configuration control via web.config. Another consequence is that URL permissions applied in web.config apply to all resources and not just ones mapped to the ASPNET ISAPI filter as in IIS6. As a consequence, if you want to use ASPNet MVC, it is much easier in IIS7. You are also able to combine HttpModules with non-.NET technologies like PHP. For example, you can use a .NET URL authorization or Microsoft's URL Rewrite Module with something like PHP and it will work just fine.
Answer: II7 run .net apps faster than 2003. In addition there are more features avilable to the developer.  Stackoverflow might be of more help there but
From http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/04/02/iis-7-0.aspx
1) You can now use ASP.NET Forms Authentication, Membership/Roles, and any other feature for all requests to the server (for example: .htm, .php, and .jsp files)
2) You can now easily re-write the URL of any web request and/or modify the request in interesting ways
3) You can replace or extend any existing IIS feature using VB or C# (for example: you could remove the built-in directory listing module and plug-in your own).
Administratively I've found IIs7 to be much easier to manage over iis6
Answer: IIS7 is the biggest update to IIS in a long time, and includes many fundamental changes.  By and large this is a good thing, as the new version is much faster, more reliable, more modular, and generally just better.
However, that comes at a price.  An application that's set up using IIS6 may take a little extra configurationt to get working as expected in IIS7.  You'll have to decide if that risk is worth the benefit.
Answer: That would be a no-brainer for me: IIS 7. I just say two words: Integrated Pipeline.
Here is an interesting Microsoft TechNet article: Top 10 Performance Improvements in IIS 7.0.
Answer: Another consideration that you may want to take into account is what sort of Apps your client will be running in the future. Currently it's much easier to develop an ASP.Net MVC application to run on IIS 7 as opposed to IIS 6. In a nutshell it just requires some custom IIS configuration to get it to work, but it is an extra step that needs to be done whereas with IIS 7 it'd just work.
All other things being the same, I'd go for Server 2008/IIS 7 simply due to the more recent updates.
Another thing you might want to consider is how long the server will be deployed. If you're thinking longer-term, that's be another plus for 2008. (As 2003 will be EOL'd much sooner than 2008..)
Answer: We've been running IIS7 for a while now and I would recommend it.  Distributed, delegated configuration is huge.  For each web site you create, you have configuration settings in web.config.  You can delegate change control on a site-by-site basis and a feature-by-feature basis to people.  That way, you can give some configuration control to developers over the site they are working on without giving them access to other sites and without giving them access to the IIS manager (like you have to do in IIS6).  There are also some very nice features out of the box like URLScan and the new integrated diagnostics.
On the downside, the new manager UI takes a little bit of getting used to if you've been administering IIS6 for a while, but overall it's a small price to pay.

IIS 6.0 vs IIS 7.0


Clips that hold plug wires onto coil pack?

Question: On my 1999 Saturn SL2, there are clips that are supposed to hold the ignition/plug wires in place onto the coil pack and the bolt that goes through it may play a role in grounding the circuit.  One of them is missing.  There's corrosion on the pack where it's missing, so it's apparently important.  What is that part called, and can you buy replacements anywhere?
Comment: Can you post a picture of the offending part? That may make IDing it easier.
Answer: I'd say check at a dealership parts counter, except that Saturn dealers don't exist anymore.  I thought I heard something about Saturn having their own parts system separate from what all the other GM divisions used, but I can't find anything to confirm/deny that at the moment.  You could try the parts counter at a Cadillac/Chevy/Buick/GMC dealer.  Taking some donuts wouldn't hurt.  If you're lucky they can ID the part and possibly even order it if there are any to be had.  If nothing else, maybe they can get you a part number you can use to find what you need from a vendor of NOS parts.
Answer: Best answer is a GM parts counter as @Mark answered.  Depending on the exact design/configuration you may be able to secure it with a ziptie.  I broke the clip for the power transistor plug on my Mitsubishi, but was able to thread a ziptie through it to keep it secure.


How can I prevent grout from sticking in the small dimples in tiles?

Question: I have installed a glass/natural stone tiled backsplash. I used a darker grout but when I cleaned the excess grout off,all of the holes and dimples in the stone tiles were filled with the grout and I can't clean them out.It looks awful.Would a sealant have stopped this from happening or would a lighter colored grout have worked better. Luckily I only did a small area so I can re-tile that area but I need to get it right next time.
Answer: If you really want to prevent any grout getting stuck in the dimples of the tile you need to mask it off. Yes- I know.. every single tile? Unfortunately, yes.
Style and beauty is hard work.

But you can use the wide masking tapes and then just try to grout as cleanly as possible. Do not smear the grout allover the tile. Keep to the area you want to grout. Possibly apply grout with a grouting tool then smooth it with a sponge; washing it regularly.
Once its all dr peel the masking tape away. Viola.
Answer: Don't Float it!!!!
The worst DIY advice anyone ever gave me was to use a float to spread grout across my rough stone (porcelain replica) tile.  It took me over 70 hrs with a putty knife (I rounded the edges on 3 actually), a wire brush (actually 5 of them), and acidic grout haze remover just to get it looking presentable again.
Fill a masonry bag, or empty caulking tube with grout and just dispense what you need to fill the voids as you would silicone sealant.
If there's a budge, wait until the grout sets up then use a putty knife to scrape the excess away (preferably while it's still a little soft, but not sticky)
Also, you may find the caulking gun technique is actually more effective than floating as it's easier to avoid air bubbles.
Or combine this with a bit of masking and a silicone bead finisher for the best results!
Answer: Two coats of sealer on the face of the tile is not too much for grout release. Try not to overseal the empty lines where the final grout will go.
If it's very porous, like travertine, you could prefill the faces with a near match grout and let it set. Then seal the face before doing the dark grout lines. This will add 3-4 days for most sealers.
Answer: Well it is too late now but maybe this will help people in the future.  I use a heavy mixture of palmolive dish soap and warm water.  I wipe the tiles twice right before grouting.  The second pass I leave the soap suds on.  Give it 5-10 mins to dry up a bit.  Then grout.
There is a huge difference in what will come off after it is soaped.  You will always get a little to stick especially with travertine...  If you do, you really need to try to remove most right after grouting.  This can be tedious but you can use a dull knife and rag if you are within an hour or two.
Comment: Humm, to be extra cautious, do you think I could run a hard bar of soap over the surface to fill all to voids?


Caloric intake for fatty trying to gain muscle

Question: OK, I'm 6 foot tall and I weigh 215 pounds. Based on my weight when I was younger (I'm in my late thirties), I'd say I'm about 25 to 30 pounds overweight (fat) now. I started lifting about three weeks ago, and I'm already seeing a slight increase in strength, tone and size. My question is this: Because I'm already a little overweight, can I keep my caloric intake the same for a while? Would the amount of calories I consume go more toward muscle production rather than the accumulation of fat now that I'm working out? I'd hate to gain more fat in an attempt to feed newly developed muscle. I'm sure I will have to boost calories at some point in the future if my muscles continue to grow, but, for now, am I good?
Answer: That depends on how much (and to some extent what) you're eating now.
Generally speaking, you'll gain muscle if you're eating "at maintenance" or slightly above (usually, around 100-200 calories). However, you could be eating way more if you don't know what your maintenance calories are to begin with.
There are a number of different ways you can calculate your calorie needs, and a dozen different calculators online (here's one using the Harris Benedict formula). For your size, that calculator puts your requirements at about 2300 for a sedentary lifestyle. If you're eating about that, you should be fine for the most part, just make sure you're actually eating about there (people are notoriously bad at estimating how much they actually eat, so it's a good idea to spend a couple of weeks measuring and tracking your food).
Additionally, you'll want to take a good look at your diet. While you may be seeing muscle gains now, that's likely "newbie gains," which will taper off pretty quickly. If you want to continue to gain muscle (and lose fat during "cut" phases), you'll need to adjust your diet accordingly. You probably won't get far if you're living off of pasta and potatoes. Make sure you're getting enough protein, first and foremost - between .5 and 1g per pound of lean body mass, depending on how much you're working out, and don't go crazy on the carbs (remember, you're a lifter, not a runner, you don't need tons of quick-access energy).
From there, you'll want to monitor not just your weight, but your body composition (your body fat percentage), to make sure that the gains you make are, in fact, muscle. There are a number of ways you can do this, with varying degrees of accuracy, but for the most part, the important part is consistency in its numbers (ie - if a measurement is 5% high, as long as its 5% high all the time, it can still serve as a way to track progress). As your weight and body fat percentage changes, you'll want to revisit your calorie needs calculator to make sure that you're still on target, as you may need more (or less!) to sustain your body.
Comment: What would be a good quantity of carbs a day for this case?
Comment: @JustDoIt -- whatever serves your goals, generally speaking. Many people do great with very few carbs (and, in fact, the old school power lifters would often nearly eliminate carbs during cuts), while others prefer more. Bulk vs cut can affect it, as well, if you're experienced, as can the presence of insulin resistance if you're a newbie.


Do users prefer polls that come up with the option to answer straight away? or a notification that a new poll exists with a link to go vote?

Question: When checking a live sports match online, e.g. in match centres; are there any UX insights on whether users prefer polls that come up with the option to answer straight away? or a notification that a new poll exists with a link to go vote?
What would be that variables that affect that decision?
Comment: Related: [Should current poll progression be shown before or after casting a vote](http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/30504/show-the-current-votes-before-or-after-voting)
Answer: From my experience(on a news related website), the user will prefer a link rather than be presented with a poll which they may not want to take part in.
Using a link could result in a lower conversion rate, however I would surmise that the quality of data may be higher as the users have consciously decided to take part in the poll.
Answer: I think people want to take action as soon as possible. In the same time the user probably does not want to lose its focus just for your poll, or does not want his whole screen used by a poll they don't intend on filling anyway. An alternative could be to use a progressive disclosure where you offer people to answer a question, and if they accept, you keep them where they are and expand the prompt to show the question, then close it.
Answer: If it's a web site I use regularly I don't usually mind filling in a poll (single question) or survey (many questions).
What does annoy me is that the popup "Would you like to take a poll/survey?" gives me only 2 options:

Take it right away, now.
Don't take it.

What I'd like is a 3rd option, "I'll take it, but later" as the poll/survey wasn't the reason I came to the site. I've yet to see suh a poll/survey that allows me to easily pick it up later, I click "No" and then there's no way to get to it, if I really want to take it, I usually revisit the site in a different browser to trigger the popp again.
If it's a single-question poll, I've seen them done in-line without any popup, kinda like an ad on the right-hand-side of any stackexchange site.
It's always there, easily accessible and always available with no popup.


Amateur Stargazing (30 degrees N)

Question: When I look at the sky I easily recognize Orion, The Big Dipper, and the North Star (in relation to the Big Dipper). Besides these (and the moon^^), what easily identifiable (unaided eye) astronomical objects should I look for? (Latitude = 30 degrees North)
Answer: You will be able to see a good portion of the ecliptic and therefore the other planets will make an appearance throughout the year.
Unaided you should be able to see Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, Mercury (close to the sun) with ease when you know where to look.
Have you tried a program like Carte du Ciel? (freeware) which maps the night sky for you.
Also there is M31 the Andromeda galaxy to see if you can get somewhere dark and the band of the milky way is pretty prominent even in suburbs.
Have fun!
Answer: Let's take a look tonight around 10 p.m. Daylight Time.  Look straight overhead and you will see the three bright stars which form the Summer Triangle. Vega is the brightest in the small constellation Lyra, looking like a small parallelogram. Deneb marks the head of the Northern Cross, or the tail of the Swan, Cygnus. Finally Altair marks the eye of Aquila, the Eagle. South of Aquila is the constellation Sagittarius, which looks more like an old-fashioned teapot.
Answer: Cepheus is easy to find. It's a square next to Cassiopeia (which is also pretty easy), and it contains the interesting Delta Cephei.
Answer: In the summer, at your latitude, you should be able to easily recognize Scorpius as a, well, scorpion-shaped constellation and, right behind it, look for the "teapot" of Sagittarius.
In the fall, you should be able to see the big cross of Cygnus flying south for the winter.
Opposite from the Big Dipper is Cassiopeia, which may look like an "M" or a "W" depending on time.
Answer: The basic principle in learning the constellations is to start with the ones you know, and use those to guide you to the ones you don't know. Once you know the basic patterns of the constellations, you can then "fill in the blanks" by learning what's contained in each constellation.
For example, you recognize Orion sitting there in your southern sky. Within the constellation you've got two first magnitude stars at opposite corners: Betelgeuse above to the left, Rigel below to the right. In between are the three stars which form the Belt, and down from these hang the three stars which form the Sword.  The middle star of the Sword is actually a nebula, the Orion Nebula, one of the brightest in the sky. To the naked eye, it may look a little blurry; even the smallest binoculars will show its nebulosity clearly in a dark sky.
Use Orion's belt to point you to other constellations. Follow it down to the left to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, in the constellation Canis Major. The Milky Way runs right through this constellation then continues up to the left of Orion into Gemini, marked by two bright stars Castor and Pollux. Follow Orion's Belt up to the right, and you get to the bright red star Aldebaran, located in the middle of a large star cluster called the Hyades. A little to the right is a smaller brighter star cluster, the Pleiades. Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Pleiades are all part of the constellation of Taurus, the Bull.
Similarly, use the Big Dipper to locate the fainter stars of the larger constellation of which it is part, Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The Big Dipper forms the body and tail of the Great Bear. In a dark sky, you can see its triangular head to the right of the "Bowl" and its long triangular feet below the Bowl. The stars of the Handle form an arc. Follow this arc away from the Bowl and it "arcs" towards "Arcturus" a bright star in the kite-shaped constellation of Bootes. The middle star of the handle, if you look closely, is actually a double star, used by the ancients as a test of good eyesight. Can you see that the brighter star, Mizar the Horse, has a tiny rider named Alcor?
That's the sort of stuff I talk about when I give sky tours. The key to it all is that all the stars maintain the same positions to each other all the time. The sky rotates, but Orion's belt always points to Sirius and Aldebaran, and the handle of the Dipper always arcs to Arcturus. Once you learn these basic geometric arrangements, they will never let you down.
Once you've learned the basic patterns of the constellations, look for the interlopers, the bright planets, usually brighter than  any of the stars beyond them. Just after sunset, Jupiter and Venus are shining brightly in the west, but moving apart quite rapidly. Mars is rising in the east, close to Regulus in Leo, followed a few hours later by Saturn, close to Spica in Virgo.
Answer: If you can see Orion, you should have no trouble finding the Pleiades, and they can't really be mistaken for anything else in the sky.
If the sky is not too dark, or your eyes poorly dark-adapted, they may initially appear as just a dim blur, covering an area roughly comparable to the Moon's disk, but even on a moderately dark night they'll easily resolve to a cluster of individual stars, the brightest of them looking a bit like a miniature Big Dipper:

With even modest binoculars, a lot more detail will become apparent.  Also, while looking with binoculars in that general direction, go take a look at Orion's sword, whose middle "star" is actually the Orion nebula; while you need a telescope to really observe the nebula in detail, distinguishing it from a star is just possible even with the naked eye, and easy with binoculars.

Amateur Stargazing (30 degrees N)


Can't access Amazon S3 bucket after mounting using s3fs

Question: I have been trying to mount an Amazon S3 bucket as a OSX volume using the s3fs command line tool (installed from Homebrew). The issue is that although I run the s3fs command as per the instructions (here, for Mac-specific, or here more generally), and it returns no errors, when I attempt to cd to the mounted volume the I get the following error:
mkdir /Volumes/s3

sudo /usr/local/bin/s3fs mybucket /Volumes/s3
Password:

cd /Volumes/s3
cd: error retrieving current directory: getcwd: cannot access parent directories:
No such file or directory

The install went off without a hitch, and all dependencies appeared to have installed correctly, so I don't think that that's an issue (obviously, I could be wrong). I also know that I can't simply mount the volume, as it is not in a file system native to OSX.
I know that s3fs isn't terribly well-documented for Mac users, but perhaps somebody here has some experience getting this to work. Thank you in advance.
I am using OSX Lion 10.7.4.
Answer: You may not have permission to see that folder. Use sudo -i to become root and then try again.


Can't access board that I created

Question: I created a board a few days ago called SCP Website Development. When I click to access it, I get this error message up:

Board not found.
  This page may be private. If someone gave you this link, they may need to invite you to one of their boards or organizations.

Other people in the organization are able to access it. Any ideas?
Answer: Try clearing your browsing data (cookies, cache, etc.).
If that doesn't work, try clearing your DNS cache. Here are some instructions.

Can't access board that I created


Developing Flash games on the Wii

Question: Has anyone used WiiFlash for developing Flash games? Any pointers on how to begin developing games for the Opera channel for the Wii?
Answer: Keep in mind that the Internet Channel (Opera browser) uses Adobe Flash Lite 3.1; Basically Flash 8 with some Flash 9 features.
I would perhaps target the Wii but make the game accessible to any browser.  Best of both worlds.  Think of it more like a regular browser on an ancient machine using the Flash 8 plugin and you shouldn't have too much trouble.
I've never used WiiFlash but it might be interesting for testing locally; If you have a Wii already you'd be better off setting up a local webserver and pointing the Wii browser to that local address for testing.
If you were ever going to do a 3D game you'd have to drop Flash entirely and go with Unity3D or some similar engine.
Answer: The WiiFlash project was for using the wiimote on PC/Mac games. I think you want to look at the MarioToo project for creating wii browser games. To be honest though, why bother? You've got a much bigger audience to target with Flash by going for the general PC/Mac/Linux audience.
Comment: Well, you know, you sometimes just want to tinker with things ;-)
Answer: As @Iain mentioned, that is not why the WiiFlash was made.
You will be using actionscript 2.0 to make Flash Games for the WII.
There is a title out there on this subject:Nintendo Wii Flash Game Creator's Guide
HTH
Answer: For Wii games, you might want to check out Unity. It's pretty easy to work with and has portability to the Wii that you can buy.
Answer: Just like any other Flash game, just play test it a lot on the Opera channel to make sure that it fits that rather than your browser. Please note that a Flash game can not detect all buttons and swings...

Developing Flash games on the Wii


How to block HTTPS site using RHEL Squid?

Question: I want to block HTTPS sites using Linux Squid server. How can I do this?
Comment: Not enough information. Please elaborate. How does your network connect to the internet? Are you behind a firewall?
Answer: You want to block any and all HTTPS sites?  You need to do this with a firewall on your router.  Blocking it in Squid won't prevent people from circumventing it unless the firewall on your router also blocks it.  If your router blocks it than what squid does is irrelevant.  Better yet, set the firewall to block all outgoing TCP connections except for port 80 for pretty decent control of your network.  If your simply looking for a way to control who can use HTTPS, then it makes sense to use squid.  You can set up a firewall rule so only Squid has HTTPS and require anyone else to go through Squid with the hope that they might get HTTPS.  Regardless, any kind of true filtering will require cooperation with the router on your network.
Now, if you do want to use Squid to help regulate HTTPS, you want to control who has access to the HTTP CONNECT method.  HTTP CONNECT is nothing more than a simple way to tunnel through a proxy server like Squid.  Squid has no real control and cannot participate in any kind of caching or modification of a SSL/TLS connection such as HTTPS outside of controlling which hosts and ports it can connect to.  This is done through the acl and http_access directives inside squid.conf.  Look at your local squid.conf file for some examples and basic documentation.  Beyond that, get familiar with the standard Squid documentation that is already provided for you.


Sharepoint 2010 and Entity Framework

Question: I'm a relatively new asp.net developer now in the process of making transition to become a Sharepoint 2010 Developer.
I would like to know is it possible to use Sharepoint 2010 with newly created database which use Entity framework as the ORM mapper.
Could anybody please provide me the architecture on how to do that.
Thank you in advance.
Answer: Congratulations! You are a new ASP.NET developer and already you are making the move to become a Sharepoint 2010 Developer!
It is time to leave behind the world of ORM's and embrace the SharePoint object model. First you will need to decide whether a separate database is the right approach, as opposed to storing information in a SharePoint list, for example. The latter is ultimately stored in a database, but it is one which you will not be touching directly, only through the SharePoint object model. Generally a custom database is recommended if the are complex relations between tables, or there is a very large amount of complex data, or if the database already exists.
If you have decided that you will be using a database you can get to that using custom code as before. You could even use an ORM. But a better solution is to use the Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint. This will allow you to interact with your database and surface it in SharePoint without writing any code. Or you can use the object model or write your own connectors. Here's an introduction.
Answer: No, is is not. SharePoint stores information in lists and document libraries. Those are stored a SQL Server database but its tables should never be accessed directly. Only SharePoint Web services or client object model should be used to access the data.
Answer: EF is not usefull here, but exists specially sharepoint ORM's:
For auto generated entity classes you can use Linq To Sharepoint (SPMetal)
For hand written POCO entities you can try using SharepointCommon ORM

Sharepoint 2010 and Entity Framework


Indexing the line bundles over a Grassmannian.

Question: As is well known, the line bundles over *CP*$^1$ are indexed by the integers. My question is how are the line bundles over *CP*$^n$, $n > 1$, and *Gr*$(n,k)$ indexed? Moreover, do there exist any other interesting classifications of line bundles over spaces (I remember something about Atiyah and elliptic curves)?
Comment: Tagging this question with both algebraic-geometry and differential-geometry is potentially confusing, since it isn't clear which category you want to work in. Fortunately for the Grassmannian, every smooth complex line bundle is algebraisable, but for more general complex varieties, this is not the case.
Answer: Algebraic line bundles on a smooth variety $X$ are classified by the Picard group $Pic(X) = H^1(X, \mathbf O_X^*)$. This is an exercise in Hartshorne's book, basically every line bundle is mapped to it's gluing cocycle.
The group $Pic(X)$ is also equal to the group $CH^1(X)$ of divisors modulo rational equivalence. The map sends a line bundle to it's first Chern class.
Now for a projective space Picard group is $\mathbf Z$ generated by $\mathbf O(1)$.
Picard group of a Grassmannian is also $\mathbf Z$. I believe that the generator is a pullback of $\mathbf O(1)$ for a Plucker embedding $Gr(n,k) \subset \mathbf P^N$.
One can prove it as follows: both $\mathbf P^n$ and $Gr(n,k)$ are algebraically cellular, meaning that they consist of pieces isomorphic to affine spaces: for $\mathbf P^n$ this is obvious, and for $Gr(n,k)$ the cells are Schubert cells.
For such varieties Chow groups coincide with cohomology groups and are generated by cells (it's like computing cohomology of CW complex without cells of odd dimension).
Since there is only one cell of complex codimension 1 for projective spaces and Grassmannians, we get $Pic(X) = H^2(X, \mathbf Z) = \mathbf Z$.
EDIT:

Actually, a projective space IS a Grassmannian. :)
As other people commented, the generator of the $Pic(Gr(n,k))$ is the n'th wedge power of the canonical vector bundle of rank n.
Comment: The n-th wedge of the tautological n-bundle _is_ the pull-back of $\mathcal{O}(-1)$ by a (some might say _the_) Plucker embedding.
Comment: Yes, thank you for this comment.
(Also someone told me that "Russian English" is immediately recognized by weird use of articles a/the. We just don't have them in Russian.)
Comment: generator of the picard group is not the pullback of $\mathcal{O}(1)$. For example take Gr(2,4). its degree 2 hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^5$. So the pulled back bundle is actually twice the generator.
Answer: Algebraic line bundles over generalized flag varieties of semisimple groups should be classifiable by characters of the Cartan subgroup of the group modulo the Cartan subgroup of the semisimple part of the parabolic subgroup.  This is because all line bundles over a generalized flag variety are equivariant with respect to the semisimple group action, so they correspond to the characters of the parabolic subgroup (see David's answer).  For a Grassmannian Gr(n,k), my guess is that line bundles are indexed by the integers, the generator line bundle being the k-th exterior power of the tautological k-dimensional bundle.  I hope better educated people would come up with references and/or corrections to the above.
Answer: As a compact homogeneous Kahler manifold the Grassmannian is a coset space of the general linear group by a maximal parabolic subgroup. Homogeneous line bundles over the Grassmannian are in a one to one correspondence with the character representations of the maximal parabolic, which are indexed by one integer. According to the Bott-Borel-Weil theorem, the space of holomorphic sections of the line bundle carries an irreducible representation of the special unitary group SU(n). In the case of the Grassmannian Gr(n,k), these representations correpond to Young tableaux with k rows. The integer characterizing the line bundle is just the number of columns in this tableaux.
Answer: First of all: this is from the "differential-geometric point of view"
If you want to "classify" vector bundles chern classes are a very helpful tool. Well, it can happen that two bundles are "different" but the chern classes coincide, but if the Chern classes of a pair of vector bundles do not agree, then the vector bundles are different.
In the case of line bundles, the only non-trivial chern class is the first chern class and it turns out that the first chern class is a complete invariant which classifies complex line bundles. (In other words: there is a bijection between the isomorphism classes of line bundles over a topological space $X$ and the elements of $H^2(X;\mathbb{Z})$)
But note: line bundles can have equivalent first Chern class, but different holomorphic structures. In this case, see the posts of Evgeny,Ilya...
Smooth real line bundles are classified (in the same way) by the first Stiefel-Whitney class. As in the complex case, the only non-vanishing Stiefel-Whitney class is $w_1$.
For references see: Wikipedia: Line bundle
Wikipedia: Chern class
Wikipedia: Stiefel-Whitney class
Milnor, Stasheff, Characteristic classes (google books link)
Answer: If your question is about complex line bundles up to an algebraic isomorphism, such bundles are classified by [the group of divisors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisor_(algebraic_geometry) for any algebraic variety. There is also only one definition of the group of divisors for smooth varieties, as in your case.
It's not hard to see that group of divisors of $\mathbb P^n $ is generated by a hyperplane $H$. The key observation is that a variety defined by a homogenous polynomial of degree $n$ is rationally equivalent to $n$ copies of $H$ (because you can deform the coefficients of polynomial so that it becomes just $x_1^n = 0$).
Therefore the complex line bundles on any $\mathbb P^n$ are classified by integer numbers: $\mathcal O,\  \mathcal O(1),\ \mathcal O(2)$ etc.

Update: see also the answer by Evgeny who explains the same things as me, but better.

Grassmannians have a cell decomposition into Schubert_cells where each cell is just  an affine space $\mathbb A^l$. This particularly simple structure means that divisors up to rational equivalence will be the same as algebraic cycles up to rational equivalence and the same as topological $H^2$. Moreover, it will be generated by cells in complex codimension one.
Now it's an exercise to find out from the definition of Schubert cells that there's only 1 cell with this property. To see it, fix a flag $(F_i), F_i\in V$. Then the cell is given by the conditions
$$  \text{dim}\\, V\cap F_{n-k-1+i} = i \quad \text{for}\ 0\le i\le k$$ for subspaces $V$ of dimension $k$.
Therefore the bundles on $Gr(n, k)$ are also numbered by integers.


n-widths and  Kolmogorov's entropy

Question: Most of the authors of research papers in compressed sensing use  n-widths and Kolmogorov's entropy extensively, which are kind of hard for me to understand. Any suggestion on books  or expository articles about these will be highly appreciated.
Comment: Nvm the edit - it's null.
Answer: You can try An Introduction to Kolmogorov Complexity and Its Applications by Ming Li and Paul Vitányi, it's an excellent book.
Answer: Not quite what you asked for, but possibly useful if you haven't yet read it, is Baraniuk et al, A Simple Proof of the Restricted Isometry Property for Random Matrices. This was one of the most readable introductions that I found when I was learning about CS.
For the basics of Kolmogorov Complexity you could do worse than Cover and Thomas, Elements of Information Theory.
Answer: Nothing can surpass the Li and Vitányi book in both readability and comprehensiveness,
but that is a significant undertaking, and you might need alternatives.
"A Short Introduction to Kolmogorov Complexity" by Volker Nannen, true to its title, is only 7 pages long. The Wikipedia page on Kolmogorov Complexity is quite good.
Gregory Chaitin's Exploring Randomness is a fun, quirky, personalized view of the field, emphasizing his own work and LISP programs. Caveat: his philosophical musings are quite controversial.
In fact, reading the balanced Notices of the AMS review of his book by Panu Raatikainen might serve as a useful introduction to the area.
Answer: The book that is my reference (and also the reference I found in a lot of excellent papers on the subjects) is the book by Pinkus:
n-Widths in Approximation Theory, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1985)
Answer: I would also recommend "Nonlinear Methods of Approximation" by V.N.Temlyakov.

n-widths and  Kolmogorov's entropy


Can I auto-configure a second wireless access point?

Question: My house is just a little too big to get good wireless access in all corners.  I'd like to add a second access point.  I can do this, but I have to manually configure this second AP to have the same keys, etc.  Is there any way I can get this second access point to get its configuration from the primary one?  What would this be called and what sort of hardware or firmware do I need to do this?
Answer: If they're just APs (and identical), and not wireless routers, you should be able to save the config from the first, import it into the 2nd, and just change the AP's IP.
If they're different devices, you'll have to manually configure the 2nd one, I'm afraid.
Answer: What you look for is one of Wireless Distribution System or Universal Wireless Repeater.
Not all routers suport this though.
It is not uncommon to look for models that support and install DD-WRT or any other of the open-source firmware.
There are however a few routers that support WDS. You should be able to find a good list in the Wikipedia entry: WDS on WikiPedia
You might also like to read about Universal Wireless Repeater here
Answer: I agree with getting a range extender/repeater.  If possible, try to buy one that is the same brand as your router.  We seem to have had issues with DLink repeaters working with Linksys routers, but if we stick with Linksys it works fine.
Or....seems like I have recommended this alot lately.  If you have another router, try running DDWRT on it in repeater mode.
Answer: Larger companies use this kind of configuration when they want to have a common configuration.
It can be thought of essentially a central access point with multiple 'antennas' on the network. However, this is comparatively very expensive.
For a home setup, if you have two APs as the same model, you could write a script to run on a host on the network that automatically pulls the config via the network from the first AP, tweaks a few values (IP address, name, etc.) and pushes it to the second device.
However, unless you change parameters often, it's probably easiest just to configure the second device manually.
Answer: Since it is non industrial application and your range is not a huge one, I suggest to use a range extender instead of new AP. It has a higher transmitting and reception power so you can get more range than standard wifi.
WiFi Range Extender


Electro Magnetic Waves can cause matter displacement?

Question: After watching this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1jIjx0XF_U
The experience is made with a speaker that generates a sound wave or mechanic wave. Can you use this to establish a link to HAARP which I believe uses ELF EM radiation?
Thanks
Answer: I have not watched the video. But the answer of the question in the title is "yes". Electromagnetic waves carry momentum with it and it can impart momentum to an object. An object at rest in a reference frame can get some momentum from the em waves and start moving unless the object has infinite mass.
Edit: I have watched the video and completely agree with Georg. It is complete crackpottery.
Answer: Electromagnetic waves cause matter displacement, but also almost certainly could not trigger earthquakes .
Most electromagnetic waves will be absorbed by the surface of the solid earth or, if high frequency enough by turning solid into liquid and plasma long before it can reach any metastable point in the tectonic plates to trigger an earthquake. The electromagnetic interaction with matter is too strong. It is the extremely low frequency, ELF waves that the video talks about that can penetrate without transmitting their energy into heat in the first meters. Part of their energy is turned into vibration of matter, as also seen in the video.
These ELF waves have many uses but it seems to me that the event the geologist observed was a coincidence. Earth tides, which displace the solid ground by something like 40cms every day would have already triggered metastable locations.Here is a publication connecting earthquakes with tides, so we see that gravitational waves can trigger earthquakes by the rising and falling of the solid earth, earth tides ,  maybe it was high tide when the geologist observed the correlation to his ELF probe.
The energy from vibrations induced by an ELF probe so that it could trigger stronger earthquakes would need to be locally very high, and also focused at the trigger area ( the location of the rock in the video). Certainly designing such a "weapon" on purpose would be futile.
Answer: Dear Luis, in principle, the answer to your question is Yes. Electromagnetic fields carry both energy and momentum - and one may experimentally demonstrate how photons are able to push extraordinarily thin pieces of foil (and make them rotate).
However, the attractive video you included is highly unlikely to correspond to the reality because of the energy conservation. To find out whether the theory in the video is possible, you need not just the Yes/No question whether electromagnetic fields may move objects - they can - but also the quantitative questions e.g. "how much energy you need to cause an earthquake".
Just to get an idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale

The Japanese earthquake released energy equivalent to the detonation of 336 megatons of TNT which is 1.41 EJ - or 1.41 times $10^{18}$ Joules. You may calculate it is 392 terawatt-hours. One kilowatt-hour costs about 10 U.S. cents in America so you need to pay about 39 billion dollars for the electricity if you want to use electromagnetic phenomena to create a similar earthquake.
I am assuming you will have no losses. This argument is impossible to avoid because of the energy conservation law. So don't expect to be able to produce measurable earthquakes with your microwave oven.
Comment: this argument is wrong as far as the crackpottery of that former oil geologist is concerned. To trigger something does not need to supply the energy of the event.
Comment: Yup, I fail to see your point, potential energy can be transferred, hence balancing the energy transfer
Comment: Well, if you happen to send the energy in a smart way so that you will ignite the earthquake, be my guest. In reality, the comparison goes in the opposite way: you would need a higher energy to trigger the earthquake. That's why a bigger earthquake usually triggers smaller ones rather than the other way around.
Answer: So I'm curiously studying the HAARP weapon idea.
I agree that you do not need to supply all the energy to release it. But it has to be a noticeable amount, right ?
HAARP produces 3.6 Megawatts of power. Some do claim 3.6 Gigawatts. But all my research so far points to million.
392 Terrawatts. For my mind I'm going to say 360. To keep it easy
10 % is 36 Terrawatts
1% is 3.6 Terrawatts
0.1% is 360 Gigawatts
0.01% is 36 Gigawatts
0.001% is 3.6 Gigawatts (highest possible but not likely )
0.0001% is 360 Megawatts
0.00001% is 36 Megawatts
And
0.000001 is 3.6 Megawatts,
So HAARP emitting 100% of its rated power.  Not counting the loss of interaction in the ionoshpere ( to create the mirror effect ). Not counting the loss on the way down to the ground with theair ( this will be a small amount honestly ). Not counting the loss while traveling in water ( this is a very noticeable amount ) not counting the loss due to traveling through rock ( I can't see how you can ignore this amount ) can only give 0.000001% of the needed energy to cause this devestation.
Thoughts?
Comment: I'm not exactly sure what you're calculating.


Off flavor of kegged Wheat beer

Question: I brewed an AG wheat beer and used WLP351 as the yeast for this. Let it sit in the primary for near two weeks (66°F/19°C) and I did do a secondary on it for about another weak to try and decrease the sulfur smell. The sulfur seemed to have been gone so I kegged and force carbed/cold crashed for a week. Pour a glass and it now has a very overpowering yeasty/sulfur smell at the nose of the beer but finishes great. Any ideas on how to get rid of this? I have been venting off the keg that has not seemed to help at all. Thinking about removing it and let it come up to 70F and letting it sit for a week then try again? Thanks!
Answer: I had the same problem with 351. I stick with 380 now, the sulfur clears much quicker. For my hefe with 351, the flavor eventually went away, but it was in a secondary, not a keg. I think you should do what you're thinking: bring it to room temp and vent it regularly. Maybe give it a good swirl to get any yeast back into suspension.

Off flavor of kegged Wheat beer


Installing old version of preview

Question: I recently upgraded to Mac OSX Mountain Lion and everything is running great. However, I liked the outlay of notes in PDF much better in the old Preview (Preview 5.0.3). I was wondering if there was anyway that I could get the old version back and overwrite the new version?
Answer: You can try this guide at your own risk.
But just go to the View menu and you'll see there are many ways to customize how PDFs can be displayed.
Answer: On my Mountain Lion Mac, I still have a Snow Leopard HD where I sometimes boot.  It has Preview 5.0.3.  So I tried running Preview 5.0.3 under Mountain Lion.  I just get the message that it cannot run under this version of OS X.

Installing old version of preview


Programmer performance : based on location, timings

Question: Do programmers perform better when working from office or from a location of their choice? Also do they work better with fixed timings compared to flexible hours?
Comment: It really depends on the person.  Some people are more suited to the flexibility than others.  You need a high degree of self-discipline to make it work.
Comment: @Fred : because he's very old and likes to ask me questions as "How do you delete a row in an EXCEL file?" or "My printer doesn't work!" (tried to put it on? errr.. no...). And because part of my job is support for students and PhDs, which is exactly the reason why I can't really work at work.
Comment: What did those you asked in person say?
Comment: How many are viewing this question while "working" from home?
Comment: @Fred : I (could) see it at work. What's the difference?
Comment: @JorisMeys: You could, but your stipulation tells me you are much less likely to.  What does that say about how you work from home vs. how you work from an office (or similar)?
Comment: @Fred: It's almost 10PM here, so I'm not allowed in the office any more ;-) But honestly, I do more in less time when I work at home. It's just that the boss doesn't like it...
Comment: @JorisMeys: Why does your boss hate you being more efficient?  I didn't mean to imply that everyone is less efficient at home because they would view sites like this, I just thought it a worthwhile observation that those at home are more likely to do that – but doing so can be good instead of bad.  I've learned a lot from SO and many other places that way.
Answer: Programmers work better when they are happy. If working from home or having flexible hours is important to some developer then allowing him/her to do that will make them happier and will probably increase their productivity or performance. If those thing don't matter to the developer then it will have no effect.
Answer: All of those essentially boil down to personal preference.
I much prefer flexible hours but going to the office. Some of my coworkers prefer fixed hours but working from home. A few go to the office for fixed hours as well. Another guy works from home very strange hours, and usually only for meetings are his whereabouts known. We are all very good performers, because we have the flexibility to work for what works best for us individually.
As I said, I prefer working at the office, but that doesn't apply to everyone.
Answer: There's a theory on motivation out there that if you focus on the performance of meaningful work (like writing high quality code, and being accessible to coworkers to help with problems and agree on design decisions) instead of on fairly meaningless details - like where the work is done (home/office), when the work is done (flextime) or how long it takes to do the work (timecards), that the people who do this type of work will be both more motivated and more productive.
That said - the focus on the value and nature of the actual work may dictate scenarios that necessitate core hours, colocation, or other rules.  It depends on the corporate culture, the circumstances of the individual programmer, and the nature of the project.  For every case where added flexibility is a performance enhancer, I could probably come up with a counter example where in certain specific cases, it that same point of flex would have a negative impact overall.
The good news is - there doesn't have to be a one right answer.
Answer: This depends highly on the individual programmers involved, and the need for collaboration, teamwork and mentoring.
I've seen teams fail because the programmers all worked different hours in different places, and couldn't keep on the same page or share knowledge quickly by ways such as instant whiteboard meetings in the hallway, talking over cubicle walls, pair programming, etc.
I've also seen teams perform poorly because programmers who who liked to code all night were expected to come in for too many morning meetings after a long commute, and ended up too sleep deprived to get in the groove and meet schedule.
If you have management flexibility, I suggest varying the routine near the beginning of a project, and find an unbiased observer to estimate if any type of routine seems to help or hinder the team on average.  If the programmers are employees in a competitive market for their skill sets, you also have to include job satisfaction in any decisions.
Answer: I definitely work better from home and the reason is the simple fact that creative insights seem to occur to me at the most unlikeliest times: in the shower, in a dream!!, listening to music etc.  This almost never happens to me in the office!! Also I prefer to work half-naked which obviously wouldn't go over well at the office.  I final reason is that I can smoke which in my case definitely increases my productivity!!
Comment: Smoking kills your creativity and then as you step away in a shower, in a dream, your oxygen levels begin to increase creating euphoric solutions to the most complicated problems humanity has ever faced.
Answer: It also depends on the commute. For example, I like going to the office because at home I have too many distractions. But if traffic makes my commute home a 1 hour+ ordeal every day, then just the thought of getting back home makes me angry. Also the fact that I only live 5 miles from work but still can't go by bicycle (crazy city traffic) really frustrates me. I tried walking a couple of times but there are some really shady neighborhoods that are very dangerous. This is why I like my really flexible hours :)
Answer: I prefer at home with flexible hours because I don't think sitting at a computer for 8 hours straight (with lunch thrown in there for a short break) is healthy. I like to get up and move around every so often and do something non-work related which you can't really do in an office. Also, sometimes I want to stretch out, lay on the floor or something for a little while since my back tightens up sometimes and you can't do this at an office. Overall I just feel more relaxed and focused at home.
Answer: The answer here, for me, is directly related to programmer motivation, and depends both on the people you're working with, and on the type of work that you are doing.
Is your software development team intrinsically motivated? Do they have significant reason to perform well in isolation? Do they find themselves happier, more self-actuated, when given the freedom to choose where and when to work? Are they experienced/talented enough to be able to perform without assistance and supervision from those around them? Is the work easily divided into chunks that can be worked on independently of time and location? If you've answered yes to most/all of these questions, they you're looking at a team/person/project that will likely benefit from flexible hours, and flexible location. Your team will get together when and where is appropriate, and produce better and more quality work.
If, however, your team is extrinsically motivated (say, they are highly paid hourly contractors working on a boring project), are not invested in the project/company, are inexperienced or not particularly talented, are working on work which depends on heavy, regular, interaction with other team members or clients - then you're looking at a team/person/project that will most likely produce better work when mostly working out of an office, with pre-argeed on fixed hours.
All of this, though, comes with a caution: decisions on how to reward, compensate, and motivate your employees are more of an art than a science. Programmers are not unusual in this sense, and there is a large enough variety of work places and conditions to make generalizations difficult. There are general guidelines you can follow, but you've got to be on the ball and know when and how to adjust them, and for who. Maybe your team all works during core hours in the office, but you arrange for them to work part time from home for the first year of their newborn's life, because for that temporary period it's the best call for your team.
Answer: Working from home is painful, working in an overcrowded office is a horror (excepting unlikely cases when an openspace is full of extremely disciplined and considerate people).
My productivity grows when I can start my work at midnight and continue until I want to stop. (Yes, meetings, phone-calls, and another pleaures prevent me from doing it this way. What about this?)


Leshrac the Malicious

Question: I am just wondering, is there some tips for Leshrac the Malicious, the guy seems to have powerful skills, but if I choose to increase the intelligence (for mana) he is too weak, increase the strength the regeneration of mana too slow, if the agility (no mana reg neither too much blood)
Comment: You need to give us more specifics. Are you playing him as a support in the lane (Helping the carry farm safely) or are you playing him as a main farmer (either solo mid, or in a dual stun lane as main farmer generally)
Answer: OK so here's the thing with Leshrac...
First of all usually you don't need to add skill points in the lightning skill, or at least early game you don't... your skill points should go into Diabolic Edict and Split Earth(in this order). You can even skip the ultimate at level 6.
OK so now that the skills are clarified, let's talk about how to actually play with this hero... The idea is that is better to go on a side lane than mid lane, because on the middle the distance between your tower and the enemy tower is relatively small. And this matters because over the years, what I've come to see as the best strategy when playing Leshrac is wait for the moment when there are a few creeps or the creeps are low hp and then stun the target, move next to him and cast Diabolic Edict. The thing with Diabolic Edict is that you need to isolate your target and stay near him.
As for what items to buy.. at the beginning you need some strength because you are very low hp, some hp and mp regen...
good items on leshrac are bloodstone, aghanim, shiva, guinsoo, heart, travel(or in early game you can make arcane boots and dissemble then when building the bloodstone)...
hope this helps
Answer: I think aghnams scepter is the choice you want to make to get all those attributes. But thats mid game item you can think of blood stone too which is much easier to make it in chunks. What you can do in the early game is to get some hp to survive in the lane which you get by bracer and mana potions. You should use your skills wisely to not get out of mana, some people just spam the skills to but its better to use them to kill if you have fragile heroes in your lane.
I can recommend some links for full guides
dota2 video guide here
and a dota good guide here
Answer: Cheap / effective
Magic Wand,
Bracer,
Drum,
Arcane boots,
Ghost Scepter
Bigger Items
Aghanim's Scepter, Bloodstone, Scythe of Vyse, Black King bar
In competitive games, it is normal to see a semi-carry Leshrac rushing black king bar first. Part of playing Lesh is to understand mana usage and conservation. Just practice a lot and watch pros play leshrac, and you will see there is a balance between using spells to farm creeps and spells to attack heros. Also look for how the toggle on and off their ultimate form.

Leshrac the Malicious