Identify a short story where two astronauts on an orbiting platform are having a dispute
Short story about a crew finding an ancient alien ship filled with tons of artifacts from their society
I have a long sequence of hex digits in a string, such as      000000000000484240FA063DE5D0B744ADBED63A81FAEA390000C8428640A43D5005BD44   only much longer, several kilobytes.  Is there a builtin way to convert this to a bytes object in python 2.6/3? I wanted to know if there is difference in terms of charging the battery when a MacBook Pro 16" is connected to two monitors via USB-C, both with Power Delivery capability.   In this specific case I am talking about the LG 27UK850-W monitors. The MacBook Pro 16" will be connected via USB-C to both of them and use them as external monitors. Since both can charge it as well, will the MacBook Pro  charge faster while being connected to both or will just one monitor be able to deliver the charge at a time? Gaps between arrows and labels "print()" is producing undesired output in Visual Studio Code Custom command does not reference a label created with a previous custom command I'm designing an algorithm to do the following: Given array A[1... n], for every i &lt; j, find all inversion pairs such that A[i] &gt; A[j]. I'm using merge sort and copying array A to array B and then comparing the two arrays, but I'm having a difficult time seeing how I can use this to find the number of inversions. Any hints or help would be greatly appreciated. How do I change the default application for unknown file types? Ever since installing Bless Hex Editor, all unknown files and text files automatically open with Bless instead of gedit. How do I change it back? I don't want to have to manually associate files with gedit, I just want gedit to be the default if there's no other application set up to open the file.  Solution: modify ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list  [Default Applications]  - text/plain=bless.desktop - application/octet-stream=bless.desktop + application/octet-stream=gedit.desktop I know that there are questions asking like "intersection of a infinite collection of sets" and I can understand that the answer for that one is a null set, but I got a question here, in which all sets are finite and nonempty. Please take a look at the pic below.  It's a True/False question.  What I'm confused about is that the "infinity" sign in the interception. Since all sets are finite, does it mean that there are many sets in the chain are the same? (because the symbol used is for subsets not for proper subsets). Please give me some hints how I should think about this question.  Thank you If I'm standing at the equator, jump, and land 1 second later, the  Earth does NOT move 1000mph (or .28 miles per second) relative to me,  since my velocity while jumping is also 1000mph.   However, the Earth is moving in a circle (albeit a very large one),  while I, while jumping, am moving in a straight line.   How much do I move relative to my starting point because of this? I  realize it will be a miniscule amount, and not noticeable in practise,  but I'd be interested in the theoretical answer. My neighbor keeps complaining about my music. How to soundproof my apartment? I live in an old apartment building and the walls are thin. This is a problem because I love to listen to music -- sometimes at odd hours of the night. Yes, I can be an asshole in this way. But my neighbor bangs against the wall even when I'm being perfectly reasonable (his bedroom seems to share a wall with my living room). And it's not just the low frequencies that get to him. He knocks against the wall even when I turn the subwoofer off on my speakers, which are located on the opposite wall.   This is kinda unacceptable. This is my home! What can I do so that I can live in it the way I want? I have spent a whole day trying to solve the following problem. Please help if you know how to do this.  I am using natbib (\usepackage[sort&amp;compress,square,comma]{natbib}), and my current citation style looks like [1-4], [5, 8-9].  What is the easiest way to change the citation style to [1]-[4] and [5],[8]-[9]? Homeomorphism of the real line-Topology Name of component on output side cable of a DC power adapter? If we have a complex scalar $\phi$ we know that the gauge-invariant interaction with $A$ is given by $A^\mu J_\mu$, where $J$ is the Noether current of the $U(1)$ symmetry of the Lagrangian $$ J_\mu\sim \phi^\dagger\partial_\mu\phi-\phi\partial_\mu \phi^\dagger \tag{1} $$  If we have a real scalar instead, $J=0$ and the field doesn't couple to $A$: real particles aren't charged.  My question is: what if we took $$ J_\mu\sim \phi\partial_\mu\phi \tag{2} $$ to couple $\phi$ to $A$? The interaction is Lorentz invariant and renormalisable, but it is not gauge-invariant, which is probably a bad thing. At what point would this theory break down?  This is probably very naïve, but I think that the Feynman rules for this theory are straightforward. So I guess the theory makes sense at least perturbatively. The theory is probably flawed at a more fundamental level, but I cant't seem to find where (some kind of gauge anomaly perhaps?) Is a comma necessary in "What’s funny, is …"? In the sentence     What’s funny is Cat’s dry humour.   Wouldn’t it be better to put a comma after “funny”:     What’s funny, is Cat’s dry humour.   This question entails a (at the time of writing) heated discussion in the . High-end compact camera with swivel screen and running on AA batteries I'm looking for a new compact camera that:   has a  is small enough to be mountable on a  and, runs on AA batteries. good flexibility   Requirement (3) stems from the fact that I may be hiking in the wild for weeks on an end, with no opportunity to change a Lithium-Ion battery. If another solution permits me to take thousands rather than hundreds photographs on full charge, I may consider that as well.  Additionally, it would be nice (but not essential) to have:   the ability to handle high dynamic range a viewfinder physical buttons — I live in a cold climate, and don't like to use touch-screens   The upper price range for compact models is still good for me, and I don't mind a pricerange of €400–€800 (but I don't mind cheaper either, if still of good quality).  I've been the happy user of several models in the , but now my PowerShot A650 IS has died. Starting from , it seems requirement (3) kills of many cameras: the , (might also fail (2)), the , the , the ... Although enough models meet requirements (1), (2), and (4), as well as the (non-essential) additional features I listed, it seems in the past 5 years, cameras have moved away from using AA batteries. What camera models still exist that meet my requirements?    Last photograph taken with my Canon PowerShot A650 IS, taking on Christmas Day 2012 in the Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. Is a 1st-level spell cast using a 4th-level slot a 1st-level spell, or a 4th-level spell? As the title says: Is a 1st-level spell cast using a 4th-level slot a 1st-level spell, or a 4th-level spell? Logitech SetPoint software button remapping My Logitech G5 Laser mouse has 9 buttons but it's SetPoint software only allows 5 of them to be used as "mouse buttons" and the remaining 4 can only be assigned special windows functions (Forward, Back, Cruise Up, etc) or Keystroke Assignments.  Many of the games I play will take up to 10 "MOUSE BUTTON" inputs for in-game actions but wont recognize the remaining 4 buttons even when assigned keystroke assignments.  Is there a way to make these last 4 buttons "Generic Buttons" as well as buttons 3,4,and 5? (1 is left click and 2 is right click).  My other question is if the above is not possible, maybe I can use AutoHotkey to remap keystrokes as assigned by my SetPoint software to mouse button commands?  If so how? Agreement With Compound Subjects Joined by And I was surfing the internet the other day when I found this phrase: Instead your precious time and attention is wasted. To my ears, it sounds wrong. But I'm not a native English speaker, so I consulted with a number of them, and some of them said that it was "is" because the adjective modifies only the noun "time" and not "attention". Others said it "is" because that's just how it is. But I still believe it should be "are". Any help is appreciated. I understand the proof that  $$Var(aX+bY) = a^2Var(X) +b^2Var(Y) + 2abCov(X,Y), $$  but I don't understand how to prove the generalization to arbitrary linear combinations.  Let $a_i$ be scalars for $i\in {1,\dots ,n}$ so we have a vector $\underline a$, and $\underline X = X_i,\dots ,X_n$ be a vector of correlated random variables. Then $$ Var(a_1X_1 + \dots a_nX_n) = \sum_{i=1}^n a_i^2 \sigma_i^2 + 2 \sum_{i=1}^n \sum_{j&gt;i}^n a_i a_j \text{ Cov}(X_i,X_j)$$  How do we prove this? I imagine there are proofs in the summation notation and in vector notation?