Is there a rule as to when I use "more" in a sentence or "-er"? For example, "I think it would be more fun/funner if we stayed home tonight." I know the correct usage in this sentence but is there a general rule to follow?
Which one of these adjectives is correct? I can see that both of them are being used, I'm just not sure which one is grammatically correct. Are there any general rules to follow as to the use of one against the use of the other?
How do I create my own URL protocol? (e.g. so://...) I have seen:   http://www... ftp://blah.blah... file://blah.blah... unreal://blah.blah... mailto://blah.blah...   What is that first section where you see http and the like called?  Can I register my own? I'm new to modelbuilder and python. I have used modelbuilder to iterate through all rows in a shapefile (Points), process them, and produce a seperate output shapefile for each row.  The filename is generated using an inline variable (I think that is the correct terminology).  i.e. all output files have identical filenames except that the value of the PointID from the original input file is appended to the filename to enable them to be distinguished.  This works fine.  I've also written a python script to take the above output files from the model one at a time and do additional processing.  At present the input filename is hard coded into the script (i.e. I have to edit the script to change the input filename each time I run it).  Again this works fine while just processing a single file. However, I want to integrate the model and the python script so that I can run the script for each row in the original feature class automatically.  My question is therefore, how do I replace the hard coded name of the input file with a variable in the python script and how do I pass the filename to the script. I am trying to find ways to quantitatively describe the shapes of various polygons. For my project, these polygons represent lakes, rivers, lagoons, and parks. So they can be almost any shape. One easy metric is to calculate perimeter vs. area, which is at best an only slightly useful metric. But I would also very much like to be able to say something about the 'roundness' of a polygon. Or how 'compact' the shape is on a map.  The only way I can think of doing this easily is to calculate the area of each polygon in relation to a bounding box for that polygon (which I already have). But this seems like a poor solution.  So now I am thinking of something more like this - take the centroid of the polygon, add on a series of buffers of increasing areas (say 50%, 100%, 150%), then compare how much overlap there is between each buffer and the original polygon. A perfect circle will have perfect overlap at 100%, and I can use the 50% and 150% buffers to judge how much and in what way each polygon differs.  But even that feels cumbersome, and like a poor workaround for what somebody else has probably already figured out far better.  For reference, at a minimum I will need to be able to look at the resulting indices for the shape of various polygons, and be able to make an educated guess as to their source (River? Reservoir with dendritic shape? Lake/Lagoon? Park?) For a given inner product space $V$, I would like to prove the inequality $$\|\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y}\|^2 + \|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}\|^2 = 2(\|\mathbf{x}\|^2 + \|\mathbf{y}\|^2).$$  We see that $$\|\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y}\|^2 + \|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}\|^2 = \langle\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y}\rangle + \langle\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}\rangle,$$  which by linearity $$=\langle\mathbf{x},\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y}\rangle + \langle\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}+\mathbf{y}\rangle + \langle\mathbf{x},\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}\rangle - \langle\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}\rangle.$$  I've been trying to figure out how to go about this proof using linearity in the second argument of an inner product, but my textbook does not say that linearity necessarily holds in the second component. If it does, how would I go about the rest of this proof? If not, should I be potentially using some aspect of conjugate symmetry to prove this statement? Strange set notation (a set as a power of 2)? I am not very well versed on set theory or syntax, but I thought I knew the basics.  However, in a book about databases I am reading now, the author uses $2^x$ to signify "a set of $x$."  For example, $2^{\text{dogs}}$ is a set of $\text {dogs}$, etc.    The author never really explained this or why he does it, I just picked up the meaning from context.    I am not sure why the exponent operator is used, nor am I sure what the number $2$ has to do with it.  The sets being represented are NOT powers of $2$ (in size)... they come in all sizes.  Is this a valid notation?  I have not seen it anywhere before... Exercise $7$, page 51 from Hungerford's book Algebra.     Show that $N=\{(1),(12)(34), (13)(24),(14)(23)\}$ is a normal subgroup   of $S_{4}$ contained in $A_{4}$ such that $S_{4}/N\cong S_{3}$ and   $A_{4}/N\cong \mathbb{Z}_{3}$.   I solved the question after many calculations. I would like to know if is possible to define an epimorphism $\varphi$ from $S_{4}$ to $S_{3}$ such that $N=\ker(\varphi)$.  Thanks for your kindly help. Do greenhouse gasses make the world habitable? An ageing gent says he does not accept this statement:  It's a fact that greenhouse gases, predominantly water vapour, keep the Earth  from being hostile and cold; that CO2 albeit in trace quantities is also a  greenhouse gas and therefore helps keep the planet warm...   I know no more about why he rejects this statement - maybe it is that water vapour alone would do the job. The gent in question has a first class degree and a doctorate in physics.    Is there a debate within the physics community over this or am I misunderstanding? How to normalize data between -1 and 1? I have seen the min-max normalization formula but that normalizes values between 0 and 1. How would I normalize my data between -1 and 1? I have both negative and positive values in my data matrix. What does a "CALLBACK" declaration in C do? I was looking through some code from the  library and came across a function declared like this:  LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)   Now, I'm a Delphi coder.  No hablo C muy bien, senor.  But I remember enough syntax from my college courses to read it like this:  Function name is WndProc.  Argument list is pretty self-explanatory.  Function return type is LRESULT.  But what in the world is that "CALLBACK" doing there?  In Delphi, any function can be used as a callback; you just need to pass the right type of function pointer.  Is there any particular reason why C doesn't work that way?  Or does it mean something different? Mathematica9: NDSolve slows down after repeated calls How does one prove the following limit? $$   \lim_{n \to \infty}   \sqrt{1 + 2 \sqrt{1 + 3 \sqrt{1 + \cdots \sqrt{1 + (n - 1) \sqrt{1 + n}}}}} = 3. $$ I accidentally removed my /etc/apt/sources.list file. Is it hosted by Canonical somewhere so I can re-add it to the system? It's a bit of an emergency, so I hope someone can provide a quick answer. I recently made my pen-drive bootable with Ubuntu 14.04. But I need to unboot my pen-drive now. I formatted my pen-drive once,But the size of the pen-drive still shows 2.25 MB. Whereas,this is an 8GB pen-drive. How can I get rid of this problem. I'm still using Windows 7. I want to change my thesis topic (to the extent that the ethos is still in tact) but my advisor does not agree. What can I do? I am doing a phd where my aim is to solve a problem A which is very interesting. My supervisor has got a lot of connections in a technology B and he claims to be an expert in B. I came to this group because of these accomplishments. But soon I realized that B is not really a great technology for A.   So in my phd proposal I proposed a method which encompasses B but is more general (say R). Now I realize that I do not want to use B at all because my preliminary results are not encouraging. In fact, I am inclined to use E as a base technique which does not have any impact on R.  But my supervisor, who is interested in only publishing in B  and frowns upon everything else (it was a nightmare to convince him to let me work on R) is dead against it. He says that he is an expert in B and his vision of the group is not inclined with me trying other things.  There are other professors in my university who have worked in E and could collaborate but my supervisor won't collaborate with people from outside his kingdom. I also know professors from outside my university who could help me if needed. I could knock the doors of school committee in order to  help me but that would create a lot of problems as my supervisor wields a lot of power and influence everywhere.    Another query is, is it ethical to collaborate with people outside the university (of course after letting my supervisor know) for my PhD work. My Masters supervisor would be happy to help me out.  Edit: After looking at comments, I am thinking that after all, it is MY PhD. Yes, I have spent 1.5 years, but 1.5 years is left. Why should I spend any moment of my life on something I find to be not exciting, particularly less exciting because it is forced on me. And in those 1.5 years I learnt to write well and also learnt 'A' which is important. Its not total waste. My supervisor has his agenda, and why should I give up mine to make him happy? His vision is fine, but he does not have the right to force his vision on me. Where did the practice of using apostrophes for possessive nouns but not pronouns originate? Where did the practice of using apostrophes for possessive nouns but not pronouns originate?  For example, possessive nouns (both proper and common) are written with a apostrophe before the final s:        Bill’s, not Bills   Sarah’s, not Sarahs   the bear’s, not the bears   the lizard’s, not the lizards      On the other hand, several possessive pronouns do not have apostrophes before the s:        his, not hi’s   hers, not her’s   its, not it’s   theirs, not their’s   ours, not our’s   yours, not your’s      When and where did this usage originate? Was there any technical advantage of this usage? What do I need to consider to choose between dSLR, mirrorless, or a compact as my first "serious" camera? Give moderators the option to select a deletion reason when removing posts Why can only some child meta sites host chat rooms? Is there any way to bypass this restriction? When I try to create a new  room from , and type "meta" in the "select a site" box, I see only 8 child meta sites. Any specific reason for this?  Update:  I just noted  (pointed out by ). The conclusion of the experiment there was:        This experiment suggests that only the meta sites, for which at least   one room already exists, are offered.   ...the distinction between beta sites and graduated sites is not sufficient to explain this.      So, if I'm reading it correctly, it is currently impossible to create a room hosted on those child metas which do not already have an existing meta room (smells like a bug!)? Or is there a way to bypass this restriction somehow?  I can think of several legitimate reasons as to why a site may choose to keep their main chat rooms and meta chat rooms separate. Killing off that freedom of choice, and that too non-uniformly, isn't a good idea. If this really is a  rather than  (for a good cause), then it should be fixed! How can we run a command stored in a variable? CDF of absolute value of difference in random variables