Why do we use 'the' for non specific nouns? For example: Read the Bible. I'm not talking about a specific Bible. Also reading a bible would mean any bible. Which is not what I wanna say Why can't we just skip the article and say. &quot;Read bible&quot;
Using "the" instead of "a" for something that isn't a specific object I've been curious about this for a while.  Generally, one uses "the" if they mean a specific object ("The copy of Lord of the Rings I bought yesterday") instead of any object that fits a description ("I have a copy of Lord of the Rings").  However I've seen "the" used in some cases where the phrase doesn't refer to a specific object. I've noticed it mostly being about technology, such as "This game requires the Classic Controller" (seen on some Wii Virtual Console games). While saying "This game requires a Classic Controller" seems to be correct as well, using "the" doesn't feel wrong either.  The controller's page on Wikipedia also uses "the":   What is the rule that allows the use of "the" in this context?  I presume it has something to do with "Classic Controller" being a proper noun.
How exactly does curved space-time describe the force of gravity? I understand that people explain (in layman's terms at least) that the presence of mass "warps" space-time geometry, and this causes gravity. I have also of course heard the analogy of a blanket or trampoline bending under an object, which causes other objects to come together, but I always thought this was a hopelessly circular explanation because the blanket only bends because of "real" gravity pulling the object down and then pulling the other objects down the sloped blanket. In other words, to me, it seems that curved space wouldn't have any actual effect on objects unless there's already another force present.   So how is curved space-time itself actually capable of exerting a force (without some source of a fourth-dimensional force)?  I apologize for my ignorance in advance, and a purely mathematical explanation will probably go over my head, but if it's required I'll do my best to understand. I have functionality on a cloud page that depends on the cloud page url. I know how to Requestparameter(), but how do I get the entire url using ampscript or SSJS? How to identify whether a file is normal file or directory Ok, so at my school, everybody was supplied with a Macbook Pro. I set up the Messages app and it was all great until the county decided to block it. Now, instead of receiving text messages on my phone they go to my Mac. I have no idea how to fix this because I can't open the Messages app. Please help?! I'm told by smart people that $$0.999999999\ldots=1$$ and I believe them, but is there a proof that explains why this is? Why does Ubuntu 14.04 LTS use a non-LTS kernel version? Let $T$ be a self adjoint operator on a finite dimensional inner product space. And let $4$ and $5$ be the only eigenvalues of $T$. Show $T^2-9T + 20I = 0$ .  proof:Let $T$ be a self adjoint. And let $4 , 5$ be the only eigenvalues of $T$. Then $Tv = 4v, Tv = 5v$ for some $v \neq 0$. Then $Tv = 4v, Tv = 5v$ if and only if $(T-4I)v = 0, (T-5I)v=0$.  Then $ (T-4I) (T-5I)v=0$ implies $(T^2 -5T -4T + 20I^2)v = 0$, implies   $(T^2 -9T + 20I)v = 0$, so we have  $T^2 -9T + 20I = 0  $. Can someone please check this? if it's not correct, could I please have some help on it? Thank you Basically, I want to have a single operator which can do multiple things, based on some attributes values.  class MyPanel(bpy.types.Panel):     # (...)     layout = self.layout     row = layout.row()     row.operator("my.button", text="Button text")  class MY_BUTTON_OT_Button(bpy.types.Operator):     bl_idname = "my.button"     bl_description = "Button description"     bl_label = "Button"     foo = bpy.props.IntProperty()     bar = bpy.props.BoolProperty()      if bar:         # Do something with foo     else:         # Do something else :P   I know how to set one attribute, like so:      row.operator("my.button", text="Button text").foo=5   But what about multiple arguments? I tried several things that didn't worked, like (e.g.):   With setattr(): row.operator("my.button", text="Button text").setattr(foo=5,bar=True)   With a custom method setVal() in the operator class: row.operator("my.button", text="Button text").setVal(foo=5,bar=True)   Maybe I must use a single EnumProperty? I hope to avoid this, so my question is: Is it possible to pass multiple custom arguments to set attributes in an operator class? And if yes, how ?  Thanks for your help. Brie Cheese and expiration date I have a Brie Cheese that has not been opened. It shows an expiration date that is 6 weeks ago. Is it still safe to eat? file /dev/* prints the description of a bunch of files as "block special (M/N)" and "character special (M/N)", where M and N are numbers. For example:  $ file /dev/null /dev/null: character special (1/3)   man file doesn't seem to document these, but refers vaguely to man stat, which seems to refer to these as major and minor device types. apropos 'device type' finds nothing. So what do these numbers mean? How to add something to PATH ? I have added like   PATH=$PATH:/home/example export PATH   and it works until I restart , after that when  I type env in PATH there is no /home/example. libsensors5 or libsensors-config upgrade problem Transforming the dummy values to be able to take logs I have a panel data model with double-log functional form. I have 4 variables, one of which is a dummy. What is the best way to transform the values of 0 for my dummy to be able to take natural logs (since you can't take logs from zero)? I have found 2 options so far, but I dont know which is the best (or perhaps there is a 3rd option).  1) Transform all the values of 0 into a very small value (0.00000000001) and then take the logs. I'm not sure this wouldn't still change the outcome of my model quite a bit. 2) Change the values of 0 into 1 and the dummy values of 1 into e (the base of natural logarithm). The log of this newly defined dummy then takes on the values of zero and one and the interpretation of my betas would remain the same. Beam size and material for 15 feet long swing I need to create a 15 feet span beam for kid swing (300 lbs load / 150 lbs and 2 swings assumption). One end will bolt to the tree (just for convenience).  What "treated lumber" lumber size and material I should use? Or is it better / cheaper to use metal pipe (from the plumbing department)?  I guess 4x8x16 or two (2) 2x8x16 would do it according to this website . But I do like a clean look of metal. My wife would concern about big piece of lumber running on top of the kid (that looks heavy visually). How to find windows 10 activation Key Where can it be find?  At activation panel i can only find option to change the activation key. The current key is not presented on this screen. I am trying to retrieve VersionData with a standard REST API call from a VisualForce Page a then upload it to a S3 bucket but end up with corrupted files. I believe this is an encoding problem on the client side as plain text or CSVs work like a charm. I can upload VersionData from Apex but there are heap and request size limitations so I need to send the data from the client.   This is the call and returned string, I tried changing mimeType and encoding on both sides (SF call and S3 upload) with no luck.   Any ideas how to properly process images or pdf files? Thanks a lot  THE PROBLEM IS NOW SOLVED  Files should not be treated as strings. I solved the problem by leaving jQuery's ajax as I did not succeed to request a response type. By switching to plain JS and making a GET call (XMLHttpRequest) with response type set to blob I received an Object, instead of a string. Base64 string can be then retreived using JS FileReader. How can I play mp3 files or videos? Why is there no option to login as root? Why does Ubuntu not allow the GUI users to login as root at the time of system start up like administrator in Windows?  Why they are restricting us to login only through the terminal? Can truesight see through a druid's Wild Shape? The rules for truesight state:     A creature with truesight can (..) perceive the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic   A druid player argued that since the druid is still a "humanoid" (not a "shapechanger"), and since , a creature with truesight should not see through it.  As the DM, I ruled against it because I believed the intent of truesight is to see through all kinds of shapechanging effects but I was still left wondering if I missed anything. I couldn't find anything about this in the errata either.  So, going by strict RAW, should a creature with truesight be able to see the druid's true form while a druid is using wild shape? Finding the maximum likelihood estimator (Theoretical statistics) Let $X_1, X_2, ..X_n$ represent a random sample from this pdf:  $$f(x|\theta)= \frac{3x^2}{\theta^3}, 0\leq x\leq \theta$$ (with 0 elsewhere)  Could someone explain how I would find the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of this pdf? I know I have to get the likelihood function L, then the log likelihood function, then differentiate, but I am getting lost in the calculations. Thanks!