I was ask by my daughter, "May you tell my brother to call me"? Is this the correct way to    ask this question?
Which word to use when we ask for help?  Some conditions:     We know that the person asked is able to do it. We don't know if the person asked is able to do it.
What is the best way to remove accents (normalize) in a Python unicode string? I have a Unicode string in Python, and I would like to remove all the accents (diacritics). I found on the web an elegant way to do this (in Java):  convert the Unicode string to its long normalized form (with a separate character for letters and diacritics) remove all the characters whose Unicode type is &quot;diacritic&quot;.  Do I need to install a library such as pyICU or is this possible with just the Python standard library?  And what about python 3? Important note: I would like to avoid code with an explicit mapping from accented characters to their non-accented counterpart. I have some files on my Unix machine that start with    --   e.g. --testings.html  If I try to remove it I get the following error:  cb0$ rm --testings.html rm: illegal option -- - usage: rm [-f | -i] [-dPRrvW] file ...        unlink file   I tried   rm "--testings.html" || rm '--testings.html'    but nothing works.  How can I remove such files on terminal? G-test vs Pearson's chi-squared test What is the easiest way to make a backup of an entire hard disk I got myself a dell laptop from the local computer store. Its a used machine with Windows Vista Home Basic on it. I want to load Ubuntu Desktop 10.10 though so I can do perl development. BUT I want to keep a copy of the entire harddrive with the dell utility partition and Windows Vista in case I want to go back. I was thinking I could image the drive but I not sure what to use, I don't have Ghost or anything, Someone had told me about Clonezilla. Would that work for me? Is it hard to use? Also I want to burn the data to a DVD or something more storable than a harddisk. Is $0\,\mathrm{m}$ dimensionless? Is $0 \, \mathrm m = 0 \, \mathrm s = 0 \,\mathrm {kg} = 0$? How do we define $[0 \, \mathrm m]$?  I once was given an assignment where I was asked to deduce and write down some physical quantity. It turned out that this quantity was $0$ in one unit or another, so I decided to drop the physical units because I figured that it didn't matter anyhow.  But I got to thinking:  If $0 \, \mathrm m = 0$, then we could add units of different dimensions (an operation not normally defined) like so: $5 + 0 \,\mathrm m = 5$.   Does $[ \cdot ]$ map $0 \, \mathrm m$ to both $0$ and $L$? Is there an established regime of thinking about physical quantities as an abstract algebra? Perhaps as a vector space where formal sums such as $5 \, \mathrm m + 10 \, \mathrm s$ are allowed? Would it be improper to drop the units of measurement of $0 \,\mathrm m$ like this in an academic paper? NSDate Format outputting wrong date Please make the multiple comment timer less annoying (non-resetting etc.) As a little feature to prevent comment spam, you can only enter one comment every 15 seconds. That's a very reasonable limitation, since you very rarely have a good reason to write comments that quickly. I've only seen it twice at all, I think, but both times it was extremely annoying.     Only 1 comment allowed per 15 seconds; timer reset.   The reason is that every time you hit the limit, the 15 seconds begin anew. You have no indicator that tells you when you are allowed to comment again, and if you hit enter after just 14 seconds, you're back to zero. Yesterday, I went through four cycles of not quite 15 seconds, counting in my head, before I got a myself a coffee and tried again afterwards.  I suggest that you do one or more of the following (in decreasing order):   Make the counter non-restarting Add a visible countdown Make it clearly visible that you can't comment right now You can actually increase the waiting time, if it is clearly visible and there is no unnerving invisible countdown. Actually, just remove all comment fields after one comment, and tell the user to reload the page. Just please don't have UI elements that look like they would work, but feel like they are trolling you. How to get back to a site when viewing one of its questions When viewing a question on a site which I don't use (I never registered on it), I can't figure out how to get back to the list of questions of the site.  See this example  from the Stack Exchange Android app. Where should I click to see the list of questions? (I chose Mathematics Educators because it's the most recent site, it is very likely that most users don't have an account on this website)  Here is a random example:    When viewing a question, I don't know how to view the list of questions. This site can't be found in the sidebar since it's not in my Your Sites list. The top menu containing the site's title only opens the sidebar. What is the best way to represent show and hide in icons? I have a web page that has a list of columns of information.  All columns have names and then some of the columns have items in them.   I want to have an icon to represent   Hide all empty columns Showing all columns   All of the icons i see for hide look like "delete" so i want to see if there are any representations of "hide" icons that don't look like delete.  And for "show" the only thing i see is an eye graphic which doesn't seem very intuitive to me.  Does anyone have any recommendations for good "hide" and "show" icons? Imagine your college buddy is now running a multi-billion dollar company, while you're still stuck at the same white-collar day job 5 years after graduation. You chat with him and want to express the idea that you're happy for him and fancy having his lifestyle--something like "I wish I could buy a yacht and cruise around the world like you do; I'm glad you're doing really well!"  Basically, it's the feeling of envy when you take out the resentment from it. Is there a word for it?   (I thought about "admire", but found it too strong and broad) Allow cancelling of stars from message Currently, the only way to cancel stars in a chat transcript is when the chat-message is visible in the chatroom's sidebar.    However, in a fast-moving, multi-star chatroom, the window of opportunity to cancel can be short, and rapid changes in starring can quickly make this impossible to do in a timely way.  We use stars as markers in moderator chat events (where the Community managers disseminate important information to the moderator teams) as well as for town halls during elections.  Feature request: Allow mods/room owners to cancel stars from the chat message menu box, including in the transcript. UK visa refusal on V 4.2 a + c (and sometimes 'e') Many of the UK visa refusals we see here share a common pattern and the prevailing reasons refer to V 4.2 (a) and (c).    I do understand that, while the applicants may describe very different individual circumstances, there's a consistent pattern and, broadly, fall into specific categories:    Credibility (lifestyle, lack of ties, visit history, lies &amp; omissions) Funding (insufficient funds, provenance of funds, funds parking) Sponsorship (family, friends, employer)   Question: What most commonly triggers a UK visa refusal where V 4.2 (a) and (c) are given as the grounds?  Secondarily: Given that there is a clear pattern, to what extent are these refusals predictable? Does sponsorship make a difference? Is there a set of personal circumstances, however abstract, where a refusal is all but guaranteed? For example, why do those we see here on TSE who sought entry for the PLAB or British Army appear to be refused with a common theme? Is there a uniform shortcoming or is it just discrimination?   PLAB: What is about applications for a visa, for the purpose of sitting the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) exam, that seem to invite refusals. After all, the test is given so that international medical graduates can show that they qualify to practise medicine in the UK. The first part, PLAB 1, can be taken in centres outside of the UK. However, PLAB 2 can be taken only in the UK. Why can't you can't get a visa just to sit the exam, promising that you'll leave immediately after?    British Army: Since Commonwealth citizens are eligible to apply online to join, even those who don't reside in the UK, why is it so difficult to get a visa just to attend an interview to see whether you are suitable? Even with an invitation from the Army, such visa applications seem to be unsuccessful. Isn't a career in the British Army a valid reason?     Lastly:  After such a refusal, what approaches would increase the chance of a successful application? Capitalization of names that begin lowercased, at the beginning of a sentence Does "until [date]" mean "before that date"? Python Argument Binders How can I bind arguments to a Python method to store a nullary functor for later invocation?  Similar to C++'s boost::bind.  For example:  def add(x, y):     return x + y  add_5 = magic_function(add, 5) assert add_5(3) == 8 I'm having problems with an exercise from Apostol's Introduction to Analytic Number Theory.     Given $x$ and $y$, let $m=ax+by$, $n=cx+dy$, where $ad-bc= \pm 1$. Prove that $(m,n)=(x,y)$.   I've tried to give a proof, but I suspect it's wrong (or at least not very good). I would be very thankful for any hints/help/advice!  My proof:     We observe that since $ad-bc= \pm 1$, $ad=bc \pm 1$, and $(ad,bc)=1$.   Now, $(a,b) \mid m$ and $(c,d) \mid n$ but      $$(a,b) = ((d,1)a,(c,1)b)=(ad,a,bc,b)=(ad,bc,a,b)=((ad,bc),a,b)=(1,a,b)=1.$$      Similarly, we determine $(c,d)=1$. So, $1=(a,b) \mid m$ and $1=(c,d) &gt; \mid n$. But $(x,y)$ also divide $m$ and $n$. Since $(x,y) \geq (a,b)=(c,d)=1$, this implies that $(x,y)=m,n$. Hence   $(m,n)=((x,y),(x,y))=(x,y)$. Accessing the web page's HTTP Headers in JavaScript "Open in terminal" not working on nautilus as root When using natilus as root, open in terminal used to work as using with any user. However, when I press open in terminal when using nautilus as root now, it does nothing.  How to solve it?  The error:  GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_set_data: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed Let $u$ be an integer of the form $4n+3$, where $n$ is a positive integer. Can we find integers $a$ and $b$ such that $u = a^2 + b^2$? If not, how to establish this for a fact? Let $x,y,z\ge 0$, show that $$\dfrac{y}{xy+2y+1}+\dfrac{z}{yz+2z+1}+\dfrac{x}{zx+2x+1}\le\dfrac{3}{4}$$  I had solve $$\sum_{cyc}\dfrac{y}{xy+y+1}\le 1$$ becasuse After some simple computations, it is equivalent to  $$(1-xyz)^2\ge 0$$