What are the limits on the area affected by an Alarm spell?
Does "no larger than" imply shapability?
Let $(A,+,\cdot)$ be a unity ring with the property that if $x \in A$ and $x^2=0$ then $x=0$. Consider the set $M=\{a\in A | a^3=a\}$. Prove that:      a) $2a\in Z(A)$, $\forall a\in M$, where $Z(A)$ denotes the centre of the ring $A$;   b) $ab=ba$, $\forall a,b\in M$.   My attempts revolved around the fact that an idempotent element in a reduced ring is central. So, since for $a\in M$ we have that $(a^2)^2=a^2$, it follows that $a^2\in Z(A)$, $\forall a\in M$. The next thing I wanted to use in order to solve a) was that $Z(A)$ is a subring of $A$, so if I had proved that $(a+1)^2 \in Z(A)$, $\forall a\in M$, then we would have reached the desired conclusion. However, I couldn't prove this and I honestly doubt that it is true. Another idea that I had was to prove that $M$ is a subring of $A$. Of course, this didn't work out because I cannot even prove that $M$ is closed under addition. Again, I don't know if this is true and it most likely isn't. As for b), I think that a) should be of use, but I don't know how. It is a well-known problem that a ring with $x^3=x$ for any $x$ in that ring is commutative, but since $(M,+,\cdot)$ is almost definitely not a ring, this doesn't help. EDIT: Is there any chance that this question is simply wrong? I tended to believe this before asking it here too, but since nobody has made any progress on it until now I am even more inclined to think so. How do I check if a list is empty? For example, if passed the following:  a = []   How do I check to see if a is empty? Unable to install any updates through update manager/apt-get upgrade I have been running Ubuntu 12.04 for the past few weeks. I recently tried to download and install some files through the Update Manager. It located a few files, downloaded them, but then failed to install them. It gave the error:  installArchives() failed: (Reading database ...  (Reading database ... 80% dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:  reading files list for package 'libasn1-8-heimdal': Input/output error   I tried using apt-get upgrade but a similar error was produced:  Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree        Reading state information... Done The following packages will be upgraded:   icedtea-6-jre-cacao icedtea-6-jre-jamvm openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless   openjdk-6-jre-lib 5 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/34.6 MB of archives. After this operation, 1,024 B of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... 80% dpkg: unrecoverable fatal error, aborting:  reading files list for package 'libasn1-8-heimdal': Input/output error E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)   Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.  Edit: Here's some extra information that may be useful. My original problem was that the Ubuntu Software Centre would not open. I found that the Update Manager and Synaptic Package Manager also failed to open. They all gave an error along the lines of:   "installArchives() failed: dpkg: error: reading package info file '/var/lib/dpkg/available': Input/output errorError in function:"   After much googling I seemed to fix that problem as the package managers would open again. When I then tried to download and install any updates from the Update Manager I got the error at the beginning of this post. I was able to install Ubuntu 12.04 using the alternative version of the image, (64 bit) but when I start the system it tells me the GPU  locked up, and instead presents a text only screen.  I understand that this site is not for bug reports, but at the same time, I know that there are some versions of the installer than have to be compatible with my graphics card (Nvidia GTS 360M).  I assumed that the mere fact that the alternative installer ran was an indication that I could get some sort of graphical interface running after the install.  Is there some way of getting some type of graphical interface running on my machine? Even better would be is there a way to get the rest of the system running as normal (i.e. GPU up and running)?  If an internet connection is required to download driver support or something similar, directions for how to configure a wireless connection with WPA2-Personal protection from the text-only interface (bash).  Any help would be appreciated.  Note: I was able to find  which tells me that the card is supported.  Note 2: In the install software stage of the install, I was unable to install anything (no internet connection)  Update: The exact error message is [8.591394] [drm] 0000:01:00.0: GPU Lockup - switching to software fbcon  Update 2: If I try to install with the regular version of Ubuntu, the screen goes staticy. This also happens if I install with Wubi (distasteful I know) and then try to use Ubuntu.  Update 3: I've tried xforcevesa, nomodeset and xforcevesa nomodeset as my wubi boot options.  Update 4: Thanks to jokerdino, I can now connect to the internet, so internet tools would now be a possibility. Enclosing Page Numbers using the `Backref=Pages` Extension of `Hyperref` Static nested class in Java, why? natbib and hyperref create by default two links to the bibentry in the reference section|chapter of the document:   \begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib} @book{author08, title = {{A Title}}, publisher = {Alpha}, year = {2008}, author = {Author, A}, address = {London} } @book{buthor90, title = {{B Title}}, publisher = {Bravo}, year = {1990}, editor = {Buthor, B}, address = {New York} } \end{filecontents}  \documentclass{article}  \usepackage{natbib} \usepackage{hyperref} \hypersetup{colorlinks,citecolor=red}  \begin{document}  \noindent citet: \citet{author08}, \citet[see][p. 20]{author08} \\ citep: \citep{author08}, \citep[see][p. 20]{author08}  \bibliographystyle{plainnat} \bibliography{\jobname}  \end{document}     In order to avoid two links to the bibliography (one for the [author] and one for the year [year], respectively), I took  to an older question and added it to my preamble.  \usepackage{etoolbox} \makeatletter  \pretocmd{\NAT@citex}{%   \let\NAT@hyper@\NAT@hyper@citex   \def\NAT@postnote{#2}%   \setcounter{NAT@total@cites}{0}%   \setcounter{NAT@count@cites}{0}%   \forcsvlist{\stepcounter{NAT@total@cites}\@gobble}{#3}}{}{} \newcounter{NAT@total@cites} \newcounter{NAT@count@cites} \def\NAT@postnote{}  % include postnote and \citet closing bracket in hyperlink \def\NAT@hyper@citex#1{%   \stepcounter{NAT@count@cites}%   \hyper@natlinkstart{\@citeb\@extra@b@citeb}#1%   \ifnumequal{\value{NAT@count@cites}}{\value{NAT@total@cites}}     {\ifNAT@swa\else\if*\NAT@postnote*\else%      \NAT@cmt\NAT@postnote\global\def\NAT@postnote{}\fi\fi}{}%   \ifNAT@swa\else\if\relax\NAT@date\relax   \else\NAT@@close\global\let\NAT@nm\@empty\fi\fi% avoid compact citations   \hyper@natlinkend} \renewcommand\hyper@natlinkbreak[2]{#1}  % avoid extraneous postnotes, closing brackets \patchcmd{\NAT@citex}   {\ifNAT@swa\else\if*#2*\else\NAT@cmt#2\fi    \if\relax\NAT@date\relax\else\NAT@@close\fi\fi}{}{}{} \patchcmd{\NAT@citex}   {\if\relax\NAT@date\relax\NAT@def@citea\else\NAT@def@citea@close\fi}   {\if\relax\NAT@date\relax\NAT@def@citea\else\NAT@def@citea@space\fi}{}{}  \makeatother     Which gets me almost where I want to be, but leaves me with two issues I would like to be solved:   while \citet includes pre- and postnotes in the link, \citep doesn't. How can \citep be changed to include postnotes? is there a way to color the brackets and commas that are typeset in black in the unmodified first example also in black in the modified second example without removing them from the link? How do I connect to a MSSQL database using Perl's DBI module in Windows? How do I connect to a MSSQL database using Perl's DBI module in Windows? Why (in relatively non-technical terms) are Calabi-Yau manifolds favored for compactified dimensions in string theory? How do I install Komodo Edit? New to linux, help me install this program Komodo-Edit-7.1.0-10496-linux-x86_64  I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 64bit. I have an existing trigger which converts leads into peron accounts if the company name is blank.  Trigger AutoConvert on Lead (after insert) {      LeadStatus convertStatus = [           select MasterLabel           from LeadStatus           where IsConverted = true           limit 1      ];      List&lt;Database.LeadConvert&gt; leadConverts = new List&lt;Database.LeadConvert&gt;();       for (Lead lead: Trigger.new) {           if (!lead.isConverted &amp;&amp; lead.Company == null) {                Database.LeadConvert lc = new Database.LeadConvert();                String oppName = lead.Name;                 lc.setLeadId(lead.Id);                lc.setDoNotCreateOpportunity(true);                lc.setConvertedStatus(convertStatus.MasterLabel);                 leadConverts.add(lc);           }      }       if (!leadConverts.isEmpty()) {           List&lt;Database.LeadConvertResult&gt; lcr = Database.convertLead(leadConverts);      } }   I need to also write a trigger that stops records from coming into Salesforce if that email already exisits in a contact or an account (we use person accounts).  The issue is how do I get it working with the existing trigger (I need it to run before the trigger that converts it into a person account is run).   Is there a way to combine the two or add the functionality to create the record only if the email address doesn't already exist as a contact in the org? bash: warning: shell level (1000) too high, resetting to 1 I am using postgreSQL, postGIS and pgrouting. Now I am really confused on how am I going to find the shortest path between multiple points.   I know how to find it between two points through dijkstra but I am confused how to accomplish the same result with more than two points.   I have done some research and found this:    But still I did not understand if its the right way and how to install it. Why must a computer have a BIOS? The  software is built into the PC, and is the first code run by a   PC when powered on ('boot firmware'). When the PC starts up, the first   job for the BIOS is the power-on self-test, which initializes and   identifies system devices such as the CPU, RAM, video display card,   keyboard and mouse, hard disk drive, optical disc drive and other   hardware. The BIOS then locates boot loader software held on a   peripheral device (designated as a 'boot device'), such as a hard disk   or a CD/DVD, and loads and executes that software, giving it control   of the PC.[2] This process is known as booting, or booting up, which   is short for bootstrapping.   Which requisites determine that a computer system must have a BIOS installed on it?  Why can't the Operational System actually do all of the BIOS work? How to check internet access on Android? InetAddress never times out Feature Request: Could 7.5K users have the privilege of proposing synonyms without the 5 upvotes per tag requirement?  (in other words unrestricted synonym suggestion)  Background: I would like to be able to suggest tag synonym suggestions.  I do not however, have the required , but someday I will.  Yet many 2.5K users do not have the requisite 5 upvotes in each tag in order to propose synonyms.  I realize that this  for low-rep users.  But could it be made available to users with 7,500 rep?  At this level, they've clearly demonstrated an understanding of the Stack Exchange site.  Note: I'm not requesting the ability to create synonyms -- merely synonym suggestions.  I believe this privilege is currently only available to moderators? (and  )  Lastly, please note that  clearly demonstrates the breadth of simple synonym suggestions which could be made (almost every Stack Exchange site has some), but many haven't even been suggested yet. In the comedic music video  there are many clips of vintage scifi films, some of which I recognize.  This one however, of a large blue floating holographic head talking to some kind of military installation does not look at all familiar.  Does anyone recognize this film? How can I convert audio from MP4 or FLV video files to mp3? Is there an application that allows me to extract the audio from a MP4 or FLV video file and store it as an MP3 file for use in a portable media player? When is "self" required? Can Cycles renders be done from the command line? It seems that Cycles is mainly built in the form of Python scripts (as far as I can tell). Is it still possible to use Cycles to render a .blend file from the command line?