I'm trying to remember a book I read in the mid to late 90's (but which I think was written in the 60's or 70's) in which the hero was a spy that got captured by his rivals, blinded and put in a prison.  There he somehow manages to build a device that allows him to see what nearby animals can see, with a dial to select between animals.  He uses this to attempt an escape.  I don't remember much else except that the planet that captured him had a strict Lutherian communist economic structure in which the local currency was something like 'an hour', representing precisely the amount of time you worked to get that amount.  Anyone remember the author and title of this book? I never owned a copy. I lived in a shared house at the time and I no longer have contact with the house mate that leant me his copy to read.
I read a story once about a man who escapes from his pursuers by doing an uncontrolled jump into hyperspace. If I'm not mixing my stories up he was blind but could see through the eyes of other sighted people/animals nearby. He was able to see through his pet but it dies and he thinks he's finished - he's blind and lost in hyperspace but there's a rat on board which he eventually catches by turning off gravity and then he can see through the rat's eyes. He works out how hyperspace operates and can hop back to where he came from.   Can anyone remember the name of the story and the author? I enjoyed it when I was a kid and would like to read it again.
How long can a temporary suspension be? I ran into a user profile that states:  This account is  to cool down. The suspension period ends on Apr 27 '24 at 7:54  At first, it seemed like a somewhat longish suspension period.  Referring to  reveals:  Depending on the severity of the problem behavior — and at the complete discretion of the moderator — your account will be placed in timed suspension for anywhere from 1 to 365 days.  This indicates that temporary suspensions can last upto a year.  Additionally, the  doesn't give any other information about the timed suspension other than the link to the wiki above. I am keen to know whether the example above (wherein the account has been suspended until 2024) is a one-off case or is it a case of documentation being obsolete? Is there any good reason that an empty set of round brackets (parentheses) isn't valid for calling the default constructor in C++?  MyObject  object;  // ok - default ctor MyObject  object(blah); // ok  MyObject  object();  // error   I seem to type "()" automatically everytime. Is there a good reason this isn't allowed? How to determine the class of a generic type? How do you minimise hand washing between every step to keep tools clean? Say you cooking beef steak:  You have to unwrap the beef from its packaging, lay it down, get blood on your hands, wash hands, sprinkle salt, wash hands, grind pepper, rub the seasoning into the beef, wash hands, grab the tongs etc..  Is it normal to wash hands after every step or is there a trick to avoid getting all the tools dirty?  If you watch TV, they don't ever wash as much as I do. Possible Duplicate:          On Windows I am able to switch between keyboard layouts by pressing Alt+Shift. Is there a similar keyboard shortcut in Ubuntu? ISP blocking port 25 My ISP has started blocking port 25 so I can not send email through my dedicated server any more.   I have several options:   Send email through the SMTP server provided by my ISP. Any problems with this? Setup mu server so that it receives email on another port instead of port 25     No one else sends email through my server so it should be OK. How do I do this on a Linux server? Buy a static client IP - these are not being blocked so far.   Which one is preferable? Does the faction of your armor/clothes affect character interactions in Skryim? Cannot delete directory with Directory.Delete(path, true) I'm using .NET 3.5, trying to recursively delete a directory using:  Directory.Delete(myPath, true);   My understanding is that this should throw if files are in use or there is a permissions problem, but otherwise it should delete the directory and all of its contents.  However, I occasionally get this:  System.IO.IOException: The directory is not empty.     at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)     at System.IO.Directory.DeleteHelper(String fullPath, String userPath, Boolean recursive)     at System.IO.Directory.Delete(String fullPath, String userPath, Boolean recursive)     ...   I'm not surprised that the method sometimes throws, but I'm surprised to get this particular message when recursive is true.  (I know the directory is not empty.)  Is there a reason I'd see this instead of AccessViolationException? Short story about a woman that travels to other planets. Read online recently. She just manages to live long enough to embrace new technology Baked beans still firm after soaking and hours of cooking Need to draw a flowchart as in the image below with some arrows I have problem with the feed back from bottom block to on top of top block. Can anyone help? Can an html element have multiple ids? Existence of irreducible polynomials over finite field Let $F$ be a finite field. How do we prove that for each $n \in \mathbb{N}$ there is an irreducible polynomial of degree $n$?  One can assume that $F = \mathbb{F}_{p^m}$ where $p$ is prime. If $n \ge |F|$ then I can construct an irreducible polynomial, namely  $ p(x) = 1 + \prod_{j=1}^{|F|} ( x - a_j )$  where $a_j$ are all the field elements. It is clear that $p(x)$ has no roots in $F$.  This trick doesn't work for $n &lt; |F|$. A counter-example: Let $F = \mathbb{F}_3$ and $p(x) = 1 + (x-1)(x-2)$, then $p(1) = 1$, $p(2) = 1$, $p(0) = 1 + (-1)(-2) = 1 + 2 = 3 = 0 \pmod 3$.  I know there is a way to count them using the Möbius function $\mu(n)$ but I want a proof without it that just shows existence. Full Wi-fi/ethernet signal but no internet Force "portrait" orientation mode Partitions of $n$ into distinct odd and even parts proof Let $p_\text{odd}(n)$ denote the number of partitions of $n$ into an odd number of parts, and let $p_\text{even}(n)$ denote the number of partitions of $n$ into an even number of parts.  How do I prove that    $|p_\text{even}(n) - p_\text{odd}(n)|$ is equal to the partitions of $n$ into distinct odd parts. Show that the number of partitions of $n$ for which no part appears exactly once is equal to the number of partitions of n for which every part is divisible by 2 or 3. Show that the number of partitions of $n$ for which no part appears more than twice is equal to the number of partitions of $n$ for which no part is divisible by 3. My wife wants a 4th baby, but I don't My wife wants a 4th baby, but I don't.  We have been talking about it for the last few days (talking strongly).   I have raised points such as:   We will get less time to spend with our current kids. The age gap between the first and the last will be too wide. It will cost more money. She will be out of work longer. We will need a bigger house. And we don't even have our own house yet (we are still renting). We will have to start again. Sleepless nights, nappies, feeding, new cot, car seat, etc etc.   She says:   She feels like she is missing something. She has always wanted a large family. Things will be the same regardless of having 3, or 4 kids. She agrees that money will be tighter, but wants to push through it.   Our current kids are 9 months, 2 years, and 4 years. We are young married couple (25), and I have a fairly decent job.  What would be the pros and cons of having another child?   How can we rationally talk to the other about having/or not having another child?  And what should we do if we cannot agree? Minimize multi-variable function one variable at a time I am wondering if I can minimize a multi-variable function one variable at a time. In other words, is it true that:  $min_{x_1,x_2} f(x_1,x_2)=min_{x_1} min_{x_2} f(x_1,x_2)$ How to disable internet search results in start menu post Creators Update? It  to disable internet search results in start menu searches before the Windows 10 Creators Update, but I've just clean installed a new Windows 10 Pro image and that setting is gone. Is there some way to disable it through editing the registry/etc? Apache SSL VirtualHosts on a single IP using UCC/SAN certificate I need to host several Apache virtual hosts with SSL from a single IP.  Now - I understand that because SSL wraps around the HTTP request, there's no way to know which host is being requested until a public key has been sent to the client first. This essentially breaks the possibility of SSL virtual hosts using a standard SSL certificate.  I have obtained a Unified Communications Certificate (UCC), otherwise known as a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) certificate. This allows me to serve the same certificate for multiple domains.  I would like this to be the certificate served by Apache for any SSL request - and then have Apache resolve the virtual host as usual, once the encryption has been established.  How should I configure Apache for this? I have tried to research how this can be done, but all I can find are quotes which say that it is possible, but no specifics:    wiki.apache.org/httpd/NameBasedSSLVHostsWithSNI     While Apache can renegotiate the SSL   connection later after seeing the   hostname in the request (and does),   that's too late to pick the right   server certificate to use to match the   request hostname during the initial   handshake, resulting in browser   warnings/errors about certificates   having the wrong hostname in them.   serverfault.com/questions/48334/apache-virtual-hosts-with-ssl     Incidentally, it is possible to have   multiple SSL-secured named virtual   hosts on a single IP address - I do it   on my website - but it produces all   sorts of warnings in the Apache logs,   and certificate warnings in the   browser. I certainly wouldn't   recommend it for a production site   that needs to look clean.   -David Jul 31 at 4:58   www.digicert.com/subject-alternative-name.htm     Virtual Host Multiple SSL sites on a single   IP address. Hosting multiple   SSL-enabled sites on a single server   typically requires a unique IP address   per site, but a certificate with   Subject Alternative Names can solve   this problem. Microsoft IIS 6 and   Apache are both able to Virtual Host   HTTPS sites using Unified   Communications SSL, also known as SAN   certificates.     Please help.