I want to know what the use of hats in Stack Exchange is.
What exactly is a hat?  I have seen a lot of people arguing the significance of hats and the limited edition hats. I know the hats are sort of linked to the Winterbash stuff, but what exactly is a hat, what does it do, how do I get one?  Is there a full list of hats?
Should I upgrade to the "mainline" kernels? Using Laptop Screen as a monitor Reset post score to 0 on migration Create element in pdf that doesn't print to paper NULL values inside NOT IN clause This issue came up when I got different records counts for what I thought were identical queries one using a not in where constraint and the other a left join. The table in the not in constraint had one null value (bad data) which caused that query to return a count of 0 records. I sort of understand why but I could use some help fully grasping the concept.  To state it simply, why does query A return a result but B doesn't?  A: select 'true' where 3 in (1, 2, 3, null) B: select 'true' where 3 not in (1, 2, null)   This was on SQL Server 2005. I also found that calling set ansi_nulls off causes B to return a result. Should we MAC-then-encrypt or encrypt-then-MAC? Most of the time, when some data must be encrypted, it must also be protected with a , because encryption protects only against passive attackers. There are some nifty encryption modes which include a MAC (, ...) but let's assume that we are doing old-style crypto, so we have a standalone encryption method (e.g. AES with CBC chaining and PKCS#5 padding) and a standalone MAC (e.g.  with SHA-256). How should we assemble the encryption and the MAC?   MAC-then-Encrypt: Compute the MAC on the cleartext, append it to the data, and then encrypt the whole? (That's what  does) Encrypt-and-MAC: Compute the MAC on the cleartext, encrypt the cleartext, and then append the MAC at the end of the ciphertext? (That's what SSH does) Encrypt-then-MAC: Encrypt the cleartext, then compute the MAC on the ciphertext, and append it to the ciphertext? (In that case, we do not forget to include the initialization vector (IV) and the encryption method identifier into the MACed data.)   The first two options are often called "MAC-then-encrypt" while the third is "encrypt-then-MAC". What are the arguments for or against either? "The Struts dispatcher cannot be found" error while deploying application on WebLogic 12.1.3 Can I look at the upgrade log after a distribution upgrade? I've upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 and did it . I didn't look at the "packages to remove" section before clicking next - I've done Ubuntu upgrades many times and assumed it was just the normal set of obsolete library packages etc. But I do tend to watch the terminal text go by and see what it's doing, and I saw it removing a number of packages I wanted. I guess these are packages that aren't on the CD that can't co-exist with the new Ubuntu.  Anyway, I want to find which packages have been removed. So does the update log get saved somewhere?  Then I can start doing some grepping on it and then reinstall the packages I did want. The problem is, it seems when I enable a disabled module, the module's schema version in the system table is automatically updated to the latest version supplied by hook_update_N.  So my current module with the schema version -1 is modified to 7106 when I enable the module, and no hook_update_N functions are run.   So when I come to the next step of running database updates, no hook_update_N functions are run because the module thinks it's already the correct version.  The only method I can see is to manually set the module version in hook_enable, however I'll then need to update the module code to remove the hook_enable to make sure it doesn't run if the module is ever re-enabled in the future, so obviously this approach is a bit dirty.  I'm hoping there's a better solution? Is there any way to include an animated GIF directly in either PDFLaTeX or XeLaTeX? I realize the animate package can include animations in a PDF, but it doesn't support animated GIFs and you have to split them up manually into EPS or PNG files as far as I can tell. How to show $x_1,x_2, \dots ,x_n \geq 0 $ and $ x_1 + x_2 + \dots + x_n \leq \frac{1}{2} \implies (1-x_1)(1-x_2) \cdots (1-x_n) \geq \frac{1}{2}$ How to show  $x_1,x_2, \dots ,x_n \geq 0 $ and $ x_1 + x_2 + \dots + x_n \leq \frac{1}{2} \implies (1-x_1)(1-x_2) \cdots (1-x_n) \geq \frac{1}{2}$ Commenting out multiple lines of code, specified by line numbers, using vi or vim I have learned from  that it is possible to use vi/vim to comment out a specified range of line numbers.  For example, suppose I have the following bash script:  #!/bin/bash  This is my very very great script   Now suppose that I want to comment out line numbers 6 through 8 (which contain the words very, very, and great) using the # comment character.  In vi/vim, I can simply type :6,8s/^/# to obtain the following:  #!/bin/bash  This is my #very #very #great script   which comments out lines 6 through 8.  My question is, is it possible to type a similar one liner that will remove the # comment character from lines 6 through 8 (but not any other commented lines in the file)?  Having said this, I realize that there is some debate about whether I am actually using vi or vim.  In practice, I open a file script.sh with the command vi script.sh.  Also, when I type the command which vi, I obtain /usr/bin/vi.  Nevertheless, when I simply type vi and press Enter, I obtain this:  ~                              VIM - Vi IMproved ~ ~                               version 7.2.330 ~                           by Bram Moolenaar et al. ~                 Vim is open source and freely distributable ~ ~                           Sponsor Vim development! ~                type  :help sponsor&lt;Enter&gt;    for information ~ ~                type  :q&lt;Enter&gt;               to exit ~                type  :help&lt;Enter&gt;  or  &lt;F1&gt;  for on-line help ~                type  :help version7&lt;Enter&gt;   for version info   which seems to suggest that I'm actually using vim.  I am accessing a remote Ubuntu Linux cluster using SSH from my PC.  I am not using a Ubuntu Linux GUI. Dataset collapsing/reducing How can Finder empty Trash more quickly than "rm -rf /Volumes/Foo/.Trashes/501/*"? The "Trash" of a 16-GB usb2 flash drive had 3.4-GB of data. I emptied it as such:     $ cd /Volumes/FooDrive/.Trashes/501   $ rm -rf *   This took over 5-seconds. That seemed pretty long. So, as a test I just decided to empty the Trash of all of my drives via Finder. Other drives: 2-TB usb3 500-GB usb2 16-GB usb2 250-GB ssd  I measured the size of the Trash as such:       $ du -ch /Volumes/WhateverDrive/.Trashes   There was 15-GB in the Trash of the 500-GB drive, and 5-GB in the Trash of my other 16-GB flash drive. I didn't measure the other drives.  Finder appeared to take much less than 5-seconds to empty the Trash for all those drives.   Does Finder really empty the Trash so much more quickly than /bin/rm? How?   Does Finder just make the "clicking sound" (signaling the trash is empty) before the Trash on all the drives is really empty? Evaluating a sum involving binomial coefficient in denominator I came across the following sum: $$\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^k}{(2k+1)^2}\frac{4^k}{{2k \choose k}}$$    I thought that this can be evaluated using the expansion of $\dfrac{\sin^{-1}x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}$ but I couldn't make any use of it. Then I tried to use the following: $$\frac{1}{(2k+1)}\frac{1}{{2k \choose k}}=\frac{\Gamma(k+1)\Gamma(k+1)}{\Gamma(2k+2)}=\int_0^1 x^k(1-x)^k\,dx$$ but this didn't help either and now I am stuck.   Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!    EDIT:  The sum originated from the following definite integral:  $$\int_0^{\pi/2}\tan^{-1}(\sin x)\,dx$$ I updated LyX to 2.3.0-1, and found that LyX was displaying all the "-" characters in Math Mode as "\lyxminus". No such problem occurs when entering outside of Math Mode. LyX also seems to have no problem compiling to TeX, and the PDF output looks normal.  I removed and re-installed LyX, and this issue was still there.   Does anyone have any ideas on what might be going on? I am using Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya.  Note: I previously saw this question ask about the same thing, but the author appears to have deleted their post: Numerical partial derivative What is the difference between "twenty-four-hour shift" and twenty-four hour shift"? Just read somewhere about this puzzling puzzle:  What is the difference between:   I'm doing a twenty four-hour shift tonight. I'm doing a twenty-four hour shift tonight. I'm doing a twenty-four-hour shift tonight.   I know number 1 is 20 x 4 hours. Number 2 and 3 is the same as far as I know. Is this true? Does the rotation of the earth dramatically affect airplane flight time? Say I'm flying from Sydney, to Los Angeles (S2LA), back to Sydney (LA2S).  During S2LA, travelling with the rotation of the earth, would the flight time be longer than LA2S on account of Los Angeles turning/moving away from our position?  Or, in the opposite direction, would the flight to Sydney be faster since the Earth turns underneath us and moves Sydney closer?  ===   Please ignore jet stream effects and all other variables; this is a control case in an ideal environment. By "dramatically" I suppose I mean a delay of 1 hour or more. When needing to ask a professor about something important and potentially delicate, what is an appropriate way to phrase the question or write the email?  Examples include:   Requesting a recommendation letter Asking for exceptions to policy (e.g., ignoring a course prerequisite, rescheduling an exam) Asking if you can do research with them, join a group, get into a program Scheduling a meeting, exam, or defense Letting them know about a change of plans Letting them know about a life event affecting your work or studies (e.g., wedding, funeral, sickness, vacation)