Solder won't stick

Question: I am trying to make an LCD shield from my Arduino and am having problems trying to got the solder to stick to the Freetronics protoshield PCB. I have cleaned it as best I can.
I am using a decent Proxxon soldering bolt with solder that has worked good for me in the past. How can I get it to stick?
It won't bond to the PCB, only the wires.
Comment: Two questions: What are the characteristics of a Proxxon soldering bolt (Wattage, temperature control, tip - I've never heard of the brand before and Google isn't giving me much), and precisely what kind of solder are you using (Tin/lead ratio, lead free, no-clean, flux concentration and activation level)?
Comment: 60% mix 0.8 mm solder the bolt i can't remember the spec's of it EL12 proxxon at 310C heat, has been good in the past think it is time for an upgrade though. I have a flat chisel type tip on it
Comment: Googled it....looks like that won't be a problem.  I didn't know what "soldering bolt" meant, and was concerned that you were using some 25W non-temp controlled firestick.
Answer: Flux! (One word answer)
[Appendix:]
Cleaning the board with, say, alcohol or Windex won't be enough-you're not really worried about finger greases here.  What you're worried about is oxidation.  Solder bonds to metal, but not metal oxides.  Gold doesn't oxidize readily, but other compounds found on circuit boards, like copper and nickel, do so readily. I assume that your solder has a flux component, but stubborn joints often need a little more flux than what is embedded in your solder (usually <5%, probably closer to 2%).  A flux pen should be a part of every soldering tool set.
The ProtoShield product uses a gold-based plating system, and claims features like "The PCB surface is gold-plated for maximum durability" and "Gold plated PCB: solders easily and very resistant to corrosion." However, that's not the whole story.  Gold is great because it doesn't oxidize readily, but it has the problem that it dissolves in solder, and then reacts to form compounds mainly AuSn4, which weaken the solder joint.
Joint weakness is a problem primarily for processes which put the gold on in thick layers  - "Immersion gold" - because there's more gold to dissolve and form those intermetallics which weaken the joint.  This would be a concern if you were using surface mount connectors, or something which did not go through the board, but the sheer bulk of your solder joint should make this less problematic.  If you're reworking the joint, make sure you have it quite clean, as the residue is damaging to your joint.
The dissolving property is a problem for plating processes which put the gold in a very, very thin layer - "ENIG", or electroless nickel immersion gold - which means that all of the gold dissolves in less than one second, and you're really soldering to the thicker nickel plating below, and using the gold to protect the nickel, like galvanized steel.  This is gaining popularity in big production systems, which rarely need to do rework, and the reduced need for flux from plating with gold makes the process easier.   The gold will be gone if you try to do rework, so you'll need to use flux with your solder on the nickel surface (which isn't that big a deal).   I'm guessing that this is your problem.
Comment: Flux is a magical substance, it's really incredible how much of a difference it makes. I recommend "clean-free" varieties that come in a pen-like dispenser so you can dab it on easily.
Comment: @vicatu - What no-clean flux do you recommend?  I've always preferred Kester's RMA flux pens (which are not no-clean).  Contrary to their name, no-clean fluxes do leave some residue (Less than RMA, but still present).  The no-clean seems to refer to the increased difficulty in cleaning it off!  I prefer to ignore the flux on my experiments and hacks and to clean presentation boards0 well, rather than making every board mostly clean and struggling with the ones that have to look good.
Comment: I will get some flux i have been meaning to add it to my kit for a long time now, but no good electronic shops around me in Melbourne closet that would even sell flux is Jaycar and i am not a fan
Comment: Sorry, I'm from the USA (It's 3:30am...), and I'm not familiar with Australian electronics shops, so I can't recommend anything.  However, littlebirdceo and mad_z, the site admins, are both from Sydney and have an online electronics store which sells flux pens!  (I know that's not real close to Melbourne)
Comment: @reemrevnivek, don't quote me on this, but I think this is the one I'm currently using http://www.newark.com/itw-chemtronics/cw8400/lead-free-flux/dp/29K6229. If you're worried about making your board shiny, you can always give it an alcohol bath.
Answer: Heat! (One word answer)
A classic reason solder won't stick to something is because you're not getting it hot enough. My interns come to me with this problem all the time.

Make sure the tip of the iron is nice and shiny. Touch some solder on it, and it should melt almost instantly.
Put a nice little blob of solder on the tip of the iron.
Press the blob of solder into the metal to be soldered.
Initially the solder won't be too keen, but when the metal reaches the right temperature, the solder will suddenly be attracted to it, and you'll see it move slightly.
Now that the pad has reached temperature, you can touch the solder anywhere on the pad and it should melt almost instantly. I often add solder this way so I know I'm adding it to a nice hot pad.

Hugo
Comment: The solder and soldering iron should be applied to the joint simultaneously.
Comment: @Leon - That's one way of doing it, but this method also works, especially now with better solder compositions.  This method is, in my experience, superior for working on small stuff with thick solder, when you want to precisely control the amount of solder applied.
Comment: The flux will burn off, and a dry joint is likely to result.
Comment: HEAT was the answer i connected a TEMP sensor to my old bolt was lucky to get 100 degrees out of it
Comment: @Hugo - I didn't think this would be a problem, given that the board in question was a protoboard.  If the problem was soldering to a ground or power plane, that would be different.
Comment: The flux will burn off the blob if you leave it too long, but that doesn't really matter. You're only using the blob to get good heat transfer to the part. You then add *more* solder, which contains the flux.
Comment: @Leon - not if there's flux on the board!
Comment: I have tried both solder on the iron 1st and also the what i call normal way of iron to joint add solder wait for join to heat then apply normal amount. I will have to get some flux. As I have used this iron a lot in the past and the solder i am using has been good in the past as well its 0.8 mm diameter 60% mix
Comment: I changed to a old cheap bolt and it worked properly so I will need to check the temp on my good bolt, its time for a new one anyways
Comment: Hmm. My one word answer would have been FLUX. (but glad you solved your problem!)
Comment: Flux was Kevin's one word answer. Practically every time I see someone failing to solder something, it's because they're not managing to conduct heat from the iron tip to the pad. It's often because the tip is oxidised.
Answer: There has already been some great advice given so I'll provide some extra info about the surface finish on the ProtoShields (and all the other PCBs that Freetronics has done so far) and the reasoning behind the decision. Unfortunately there's no one "best" PCB surface finish and all finishes have both good and bad points, so it's a matter of making a decision based on trade-offs that are most appropriate for the intended use.
Our PCBs use an "ENIG" surface finish, as @reemrevnivek guessed. That's "Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold", and consists of an underlying layer of nickel with a thin layer of gold over the top. The gold layer is very thin and not intended to provide the main structure of the track, it just acts as a protective coating for the nickel to prevent it tarnishing before it's soldered. Gold is extremely resistant to corrosion so ENIG has several upsides: it can be touched with bare fingers without tarnishing, has a very long shelf life, and the pads / tracks are very flat and square-edged (important for fine-pitch SMD). One downside is that it takes a bit more solder to complete a joint because the surface hasn't yet been pre-tinned, and because there isn't an existing layer of solder to melt against the iron and increase the initial contact area (hence increasing the rate of heat transfer) it can take an extra second or so to get the joint hot.
The most common surface finish you see on PCBs is called "HASL", or "Hot Air Solder Levelling". HASL boards are dipped in molten solder and then the excess is cleaned off using hot-air knives to leave behind the thinnest possible layer of solder. The solder itself then protects the underlying track from corrosion while making it extremely easy to solder, because the whole pad is pre-tinned. It's generally the cheapest finish available and a great choice for general-purpose boards. One downside to HASL is that even after the hot-air knife has cleaned off as much excess as possible, the meniscus of the solder will still cause the edges of pads to be slightly rounded. That makes surface-mount parts not sit down quite as flat as they would on an ENIG board.
So you'd expect that for a board like a prototyping shield the obvious solution would be to go for HASL. But there's a catch. We're trying to stick to RoHS-compliance as much as possible, which would mean we couldn't use regular HASL: it would have to be lead-free HASL. Lead-free solder has a higher melting temperature than regular solder so if we went with lead-free HASL it'd be a pain for customers who don't have lead-free equipment. We'd probably end up with lots of complaints from customers using regular solder and soldering irons who have trouble getting the lead-free solder hot enough.
Another possible finish is "immersion silver", and it provides an amazingly good finish but has a terrible shelf life. For boards intended for machine assembly immediately after manufacture, silver is a great option. The problem is that it tarnishes quickly and is adversely affected by touch, so it's no good for boards that are intended for distribution to hobbyists for (potentially) long storage and hand assembly.
In the end we settled on ENIG because of the benefits of long shelf life, tarnish resistance, RoHS-compliance, and easy soldering compared to other surface finishes. My personal experience with it has been excellent and I haven't come across any particular problems so far, but of course I'm not an expert on PCB manufacturing and I'm very happy to take advice on better ways to do things.
Over the last 6 months I've had a little over 2000 ENIG-finished PCBs fabricated, of which just over 1000 were assembled by pick-n-place machines, about 600 were shipped as bare boards to customers, and several hundred of the rest were hand-assembled by me personally using either reflow-soldering in an oven or using a soldering iron. Out of all those boards this is the first time I've ever heard of any problems soldering to them, so it's possible you were just unlucky enough to receive a board with a flawed finish. If there's something wrong with the finishing process from our PCB manufacturer I'd really like to know about it, so if you're still having problems with that board I'd really appreciate it if you could post it to me so I can inspect it. I'll cover the postage and of course I'll send you replacements free of charge. You can contact me personally at firstname.lastname@example.com to make the arrangements.
Comment: It sounds like there was nothing wrong with your PCB, it was Ashley's soldering iron.
Answer: Hand soldering. Heated surfaces must be clean to reduce surface tension.
The tips should be cleaned daily with solder and sponge, keep tip on tight.
Surface, if oxidized, must be cleaned (abrasive) and fluxed.
If a large ground plane is connected to a solder joint or heat sink or shield.... then more heat is needed to reach the melting point.
Applying small solder to the tip to make surface liquid reduces thermal resistance and speeds up component heating, and then apply more solder as required quickly.
General purpose irons are 15-25 W.
Shields or large ground planes need more power or mass to tip to heat up the surface faster.
Comment: I suspect that a large ground plane was my issue.  Hot air gun on the ground plane to warm a large area then iron to the junction.  Last time i tried to solder i don't think large ground planes were a thing
Comment: Yes at one time with brass SMD shields we had to use micro-gas blow torch. ( different from Arduino "shields" in reality , physics says you need heat, anti-oxidant flux and clean surfaces to stick solder, miss any one and it can fail.

Solder won't stick


ubuntu on tonbux 10 inch tablet

Question: I am a big fun of ubuntu.  I recently bought a tonbux tablet 10 inch with android.  I have tried to install ubuntu on it but I don't seem to be able to unlock the device, has anyone tried this before on a tonbux tablet?
Answer: First of all, verify that your tablet is supported by Ubuntu touch, check this.
Then, check this tutorial to unlock and install Ubuntu on your device
Comment: Thanks Mohamed.  I managed to root the tablet with kingroot (although it was freezing the tablet,) after many re-runs it eventually rooted it.  Next problem was to boot the tonbux tablet in bootloader.  After many tries I found somewhere information that the A10 allwinner won't allow bootloader.  Eventually I gave up and ended up buying a nexus 7 2013 wifi, now I have installed ubuntu touch on my nexus and quite happy :)
Answer: It looks like it is not, this is a cheap tablet I bought from amazon at an affordable price of 70GBP, quite surprise it is not even yet a work-in-progress.  Anyway, if anyone has tried this before please let us know.

ubuntu on tonbux 10 inch tablet


Cannot find where to assign users to territory

Question: I have created a test territory and want to assign a user to it now. In the Salesforce guide it says I should go to the Territory detail page and add a user to the related list. I cannot find this. Where can I find the territory detail page? When I look at the territory page layout, there seems to be no User related list or Manage User button.
Tia.
Comment: Never used Territories yet .... But verifiy this one --- Setup->Territories ->User Territory Associations->Fields ---- Do you find "User" lookup here ?
Answer: First goto --setup --> left quick search type Territory --> Click on Territory Models click on Territory Models
You can see all the Territory Models --> Now click on View rule link
Now you can see all the rules,

Now if you click on Rule name you can see Assigned Territories
Click on Assigned Territories
Here you can see the user assign to territory
Comment: Hello, for some reason my assigned territories list is empty. Really strange because I click on view rules next to my territory, so I would think it is assigned to it?
Comment: first you need to create territory.
Comment: click on setup-->Territory Models--> there you can see all the Territory Models   now click on  View Hierarchy- Click territory
Comment: @Lily you able to create territory?


How can I change the size of the Mozilla Firefox screen?

Question: I accidentally made Firefox take up the whole screen but it is not in full screen mode. How do I shrink it back down so I can see other open windows?
Comment: Can you provide a screenshot?
Answer: You can also use Alt+LeftMouseButton and drag to move almost any window on a screen so that the controls (close, minimize, maximize) appear in your view.
Answer: Press Alt+Spacebar together and a menu will appear. Then press the appropriate key for "restore" or "resize".
Answer: Move cursor to the top left of your screen. There you should see an X, -, or box. Click on the - sign to shrink the screen down. The box maximizes the screen and the X closes Firefox.
Answer: Press F11 and you can see fullscreen changed to normal window.
If that is not working may be firefox is not is not responding. Press ctrl+shift+t and a terminal will show up. and type the command killall firefox. When you open firefox again it will be in normal size. Hope this helps.
Comment: The question explicitly mentions that Firefox is *not* in fullscrean mode.
Comment: but he can try that. It happened to me too. There was no title bar to close firefox and it was in full screen. I tried F11 no change. And killed the process and restarted. That is the best in this situation.
Answer: First you check u in full screen or not click the maximize button, go to top or corner browser if it is in full screen you cant not able edit it if it is not in full screen u can see the re-sizer arrow using that you can re-size it .


When does Jane Eyre return to Thornfield Hall after she runs away?

Question: Towards the end of the movie, Jane Eyre, she runs away from her fiancee's house after discovering he is already married.
However, she returns after realising her love and inability to be without him.
How long is she away from Thornfield Hall and Mr Rochester before she returns?
Comment: Does this answer satisfy you? If not, what sort of information would you like to see?
Answer: This timeline is what you are after:
To quote some specific dates:

1829
  July:
  Thursday, 23rd: The wedding; Bertha is revealed; Jane runs away
  in the night
  Friday, 24th: Early in the morning, Jane boards the coach
  Sunday, 26th: Jane arrives at Whitcross, spends the night in the heath

So she leaves on the 23rd July, 1829

1830
  June:
  Thursday, 3rd: Jane arrives at the Rochester arms, goes to Thornfield,
  returns to the inn and hears what has happened; before dark she
  arrives at Ferndean and reunites with Mr. Rochester.

So she returns on 3rd June, 1830
So to answer your question:
It is 316 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 10 months, 12 days including the end date
Note:
I've taken these details from the book, not the movie - I am logically assuming, even if the movie isn't explicit, it is following the same timeline.


How do you find SQL Server version/edition without SSMS installed?

Question: How do find out which edition is installed without having the management studio installed?  I have a server that functions as a license manager for another software.  Upon investigation of a high RAM usage alert, I found that the sqlservr.exe process is taking up almost 2 GB of RAM.
I looked through the program menu and found that the configuration manager was installed, otherwise, it is pretty bare bones.  I clicked on properties of the EXE file and found 10.50.1600.1, but there is no place that I've found that states whether it is Express, Dev, STN, ENT, etc.
If I had to guess, this is an express edition, but I wanted to know if there is an obvious tell-tale sign.
Update:
@Bob - The file tells me what I know, not the edition.
@valo - I get the following error when I run that command and I did verify named pipes was enabled:

HResult 0x35, Level 16, State 1
  Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [53].
  Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0 : A network-related or instance->specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not >found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured >to allow remote connections. For more information see SQL Server Books Online..
  Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0 : Login timeout expired.

@thomas - I noticed the Stock Keeping Unit Name before I asked the question, but that seemed too easy, I guess my initial suspicion was correct.
Answer: You can try the command line tool:
C:\>sqlcmd -S [SERVER] -d [DB_NAME] -E -Q "SELECT @@VERSION"

Answer: If the SQL Server service is running (which based on your description, it is) check the SQL Server error log. You don't need SSMS installed to do this as it is just a text file. File location may vary depending on how it was installed, but Books Online shows the default location here.
The first entry in the log should contain the version/edition information.
Edit: Despite the comment in the question above, this most certainly does tell you the edition:
2014-06-08 00:05:00.050 spid158      Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (SP1) - 11.0.3381.0 (X64)

Aug 23 2013 20:08:13

Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation

Enterprise Edition: Core-based Licensing (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.2 <X64> (Build 9200: )

Answer: This can be done through WMI (accessed through PowerShell in my below example).  All I'm doing is looking at a property ("SKUNAME") of the SQL Server service, via the SqlServiceAdvancedProperty class.  Note, there are a few environment-specific variables that would need to be set accordingly at the top of the code.
$ComputerName = "YourComputerName"
$ServiceName = 'YourEngineServiceName'
$PropertyName = "SKUNAME"

# retrieve the most current version of the ComputerManagement namespace
#
$ComputerManagementNamespace =
    (Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $ComputerName -Namespace "root\microsoft\sqlserver" -Class "__NAMESPACE" |
        Where-Object {$_.Name -like "ComputerManagement*"} |
        Select-Object Name |
        Sort-Object Name -Descending |
        Select-Object -First 1).Name

if ($ComputerManagementNamespace -eq $null) {
    Write-Error "ComputerManagement namespace not found"
}
else {
    $ComputerManagementNamespace = "root\microsoft\sqlserver\" + $ComputerManagementNamespace
}

# get the property and its value
#
Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $ComputerName -Namespace $ComputerManagementNamespace -Class "SqlServiceAdvancedProperty" |
    Where-Object {
        $_.ServiceName -eq $ServiceName -and
        $_.PropertyName -eq $PropertyName
    } |
    Select-Object @{Name = "ComputerName"; Expression = { $ComputerName }},
        ServiceName,
        @{Name = "PropertyValue"; Expression = {
            if ($_.PropertyValueType -eq 0) {
                $_.PropertyStrValue
            }
            else {
                $_.PropertyNumValue
            }
        }}

Likewise, this same information can be found directly in the SQL Server Configuration Manager tool.  Once you open it up, right-click on your SQL Server service and go into Properties.  Then click on the Advanced tab and look at the Stock Keeping Unit Name key.  There will you find what edition you are using.
Comment: Using the SQL Server Configuration Manager tool did the trick for me. Instead of using the **Stock Keeping Unit Name** (which just said "**Express Edition**"), I cross-referenced the **File Version** with this table: https://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.com/
Answer: Quick Answer
Just run the following:
{InstanceHome}\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe -v [-s InstanceName]

NOTE ABOUT SQL Server Express LocalDB: LocalDB can only be determined by the
existence of the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\{SQL Server Version: 110, 120, etc}\LocalDB\Binn
   Running "sqlserver.exe -v" doesn't help as it reports as being "Developer Edition", and
searching the Registry it reports as being "Express Edition".
This method always works, unlike the other solutions which won't work when:

you don't want to write a program (for example, PowerShell)?
the Client Tools haven't been installed (required to use SQLCMD.EXE)?
There is either no SQL Server log file, or there is no log file that contains any start/restart events?
SQL Server is not running (hence SELECT @@VERSION; is not an option)?

Example 1
If you only have a single Instance installed, you do not need to use the -s switch:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn>sqlservr.exe -v

Returns:
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      Logging to event log is disabled. Startup option '-v' is supplied, either from the registry or the command prompt.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - 11.0.5343.0 (X64)
        May  4 2015 19:11:32
        Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
        Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.2 <X64> (Build 9200: )

2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      (c) Microsoft Corporation.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      All rights reserved.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      Server process ID is 3824.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      System Manufacturer: '{CompanyName}', System Model: '{ModelNumber}'.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      Authentication mode is MIXED.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      The service account is '{AccountName}'. This is an informational message; no user action is required.
2015-08-01 11:40:11.63 Server      SQL Server shutdown has been initiated

Example 2
If you have multiple Instances installed on the machine, you need to also use the -s switch to specify which Instance you are interested in, else it can intermix version info:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.SQLEXPRESS2014\MSSQL\Binn>sqlservr.exe -v
       -s SQLEXPRESS2014

Returns:
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      Logging to event log is disabled. Startup option '-v' is supplied, either from the registry or the command prompt.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      Microsoft SQL Server 2014 - 12.0.4213.0 (X64)
        Jun  9 2015 12:06:16
        Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
        Express Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.2 <X64> (Build 9200: )

2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      UTC adjustment: -4:00
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      (c) Microsoft Corporation.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      All rights reserved.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      Server process ID is 1712.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      System Manufacturer: '{CompanyName}', System Model: '{ModelNumber}'.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      Authentication mode is WINDOWS-ONLY.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      The service account is '{AccountName}'. This is an informational message; no user action is required.
2015-08-01 12:01:13.13 Server      SQL Server shutdown has been initiated

Additional Information
The quickest, easiest, and most reliable way to determine version information of a program is simply to request that information from the program. Most programs (*.COM and *.EXE) have a command-line switch / flag / parameter / option / dealy-ma-bob that will display help and/or version information.
Depending on the program itself, the command-line switch will be prefixed with one of the following:

[nothing / nada]
-
--
/

And, again depending on the program itself, the command-line switch will be one of the following:

Most common:

v
version

Sometimes included in the general help info:

?
h
help

{ SQL Server examples shown above }
The command-line utility SQLCMD.EXE, on the other hand, uses the -v switch to pass variable values into the SQL script, so it only displays version info in its general info display:
C:\>sqlcmd /?
Microsoft (R) SQL Server Command Line Tool
Version 11.0.2100.60 NT x64
Copyright (c) 2012 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

usage: Sqlcmd            [-U login id]          [-P password]
  [-S server]            [-H hostname]          [-E trusted connection]
  ...
  [-v var = "value"...]  ...
  ...
  [-? show syntax summary]

NotePad, however, only has a very limited set of command-line switches, and none of them display version info.

Alternative, no-fuss methods:

Check the registry:
Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\{VersionNumber}\Tools\Setup
Name: Edition

If you know the version number (e.g. SQL Server 2012 = 110, SQL Server 2014 = 120, etc), you can the Edition for it specifically by running the following at a command prompt:
REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\{VersionNumber}\Tools\Setup" /v /e /f Edition

Returns one entry similar to the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Setup
    Edition    REG_SZ    Developer Edition

If you what to see the Edition for whatever happens to be installed, run the following at a command prompt:
REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server" /s /v /e /f Edition

Returns one or more entries similar to the one shown above and the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11E.LOCALDB\Setup
    Edition    REG_SZ    Express Edition

Check the installation log:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\{SQL Server Version: 110, 120, etc}\Setup Bootstrap\Log\{date_time}\Detail.txt
For the string "IsExpressSku":
(03) 2014-09-05 16:53:44 SQLEngine: --EffectiveProperties:    IsExpressSku = True


The resource cannot be found - User Control in a MasterPage

Question: I wanted to add a user control to a MasterPage. I added the control to a VS Solution and deployed it. Then I opened the MasterPage via SharePoint Designer and added the following code:
<%@ Register TagPrefix="uc0" TagName="LanguageChecker" Src="~/_controltemplates/Project/UserControls/LanguageChecker.ascx" %>
Now when I open a page that uses this .master I get the following error:

Server Error. The resource cannot be found.

When I looked at the page sorce it said:

The file /_controltemplates/Project/UserControls/LanguageChecker.ascx
  does not exist.

Of course it doesn't. The file path is missing the Site Url in the beginning.
I looked and found some possible problems. The only one that caught my attention was: SharePoint Designer might remove the "~/" from registration of the User Control in the master. I opened the designer again but the ~/ is there. I want to see the file itself, to check if the ~/ exists in it.
However the MasterPage has been added via the SharePoint Designer and I do not know where to look for the actual file. Is it on the Hard Drive?
I tryed to find the user control by it's Url(full, correct) and it's there.
I am using SharePoint 2010
Answer: If this is 2013 the path should be:
<%@ Register TagPrefix="uc0" TagName="LanguageChecker" Src="/_controltemplates/15/Project/UserControls/LanguageChecker.ascx" %>

So, remove the ~ and add /15 to the Src.
Your user control should be added to the Mapped folder CONTROLTEMPLATES in VS


Emacs: Dired the files under the current directory whose name matches a regular expression?

Question: I want something like find-name-dired, but with a regular expression instead of a shell wildcard.  Any ideas?
Answer: You can do what you ask if you use Dired+.

First, use M-+ M-i, to insert all of the subdirectories here and below into the current Dired buffer - that is, all directories under the current Dired directory.
Next, use % m, to mark all files and directories whose names match a regexp you enter.
Next, use C-M-*, to open Dired on just the files and directories that are marked.

You can also do this another way using Dired+, without bothering to insert descendant subdir directories into the ancestor Dired buffer:

Use M-- M-+ % m to mark all files here and below that match the regexp.
Use M-- M-+ F to open all of the marked files here and below.

Prefix key M-+ has "here-and-below" keys/commands that are similar to commands that act only on the files listed in the current Dired buffer.  The commands are essentially the same as those without the prefix key: M-+ % m is the "deep" version of % m, M-+ F is the "deep" version of F, and so on.
(The negative prefix arg (M--) tells these commands to ignore any markings of subdirectories themselves, in this Dired buffer and any Dired buffers for descendant directories.)


Hypothetical Pythagorean triple generator

Question: Let's say that I have a working Pythagorean triple generator for all integers greater or equal to 3. It generates primitive and non primitive pairs, and it's a one variable equation having to do with elements of the a term in a right triangle, not a case by case problem.  I would post it here, but I would like to get credit for making it, and am afraid someone will take it. If I have something like this, would others consider it useful, and if so, what should I do with it?
Comment: +1 for having the drive to work it out yourself. That said, I don't think there is much *new* credit left to claim about Pythagorean triples. See for example [Pythagorean Right-Angled Triangles](http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Pythag/pythag.html) for a quite extensive collection of Pythagorean calculators.
Comment: Wow... that is, indeed, a rather exhaustive collection D:
Comment: Should I just publish what I have come up with, and see if someone has already found this?
Comment: Barely related, you can generate a primitive Pythagorean triple for any given ratio $R=\frac{area}{perimeter}$ using Euclid's formula where $(m,n)=(2R+1,2R)$.
Answer: The short answer: knowledge in mathematics is formally shared with the community through publications. You may be interested in this question; and this one, to a lesser extent.
Regarding credit: Unfortunately (for you), generating pythagorean triples— primitive or otherwise— is a very well-studied problem, and it's unlikely that what you have is new. [It maybe goes without saying, but for completeness: the Wikipedia page does not represent a comprehensive list of methods known for generating triples.]
At best, you may have an algorithmic improvement; that is, your method may be able to generate the first $n$ triples (ordered by norm or something) faster than other methods. But I couldn't find the state of the art on this kind of problem with a simple google result, and so you're not going to know  if this is the case for your method without (1) a serious analysis of your own method, and (2) a nontrivial literature search.
[ Or, of course, you could outsource that work (e.g. to MSE), but for that you would need to provide at least a technical description of your method, and it seems like you are not willing to do this. ]
Comment: FWIW: The set of pythagorean triples naturally forms a two-parameter family. But it is possible to write any two-parameter family as a one-parameter family, so this is not necessarily a guarantee of novelty.


How do I use Grease pencil fill tool so that it doesn't bleed out of an area?

Question: I am using grease pencil on version 2.8 from 12-16-2018.
I try to use the fill tool but the fill does not stay inside the lines or does not do anything it bleeds out to the whole area, is there too many lines of my drawing for it to handle?

I have tried increasing the leak size, adding the fill on the same layer that the line layer, making a simple closed shape to fill but nothing works. am I missing something? thanks for your help!
Answer: Firstly, make sure you have a material setup that has the "Fill" option enabled (ticked) and that its Alpha is set to any value above "0". Then, if it keeps bleeding off, while still in Draw mode, hold down ALT and draw 'invisible' lines to cap any gaps in your line work. Then just click to fill.
If the problem persists, I've found that you'd need to be on the same layer and select the strokes via Object mode. However, I did run into an issue where the fill will not line up with the stroke in the same 3D space.
Alternatively, if you don't need the fill as a separate object, you can adjust your material and just enable the "Fill" option. You can select individual strokes with edit mode and assign a specific material to whichever stroke you've selected.


Can I use a ThunderBorg is a dual motor controller on an Arduino UNO R3

Question: I am new to Arduino and Electronics and am thinking of making a 6 wheel drive all terrain platform similar to the MonsterBorg pi, but I want to use an Arduino instead of a Raspberry pi  to control the motors. The motors I intend to use need to be powerfull.
Any advice on what would be shield or motor controllers I should use would be a great help.
Comment: First select the motors and the batteries. Find the stall current of the motors. Then find a motor driver (or motor controller) that can handle the voltage and the stall current. The motor driver can be more expensive than the motors. Pololu has many motor drivers. A common mistake is that someone buys big motors and a tiny motor driver, for example motors with 60A stall current and a motor driver of 0.6A.
Comment: Hello Jot, Many thanks for this it has been very useful information.
Answer: Hello,
You have many possibility for drive one or more motor.

Transistor(1 motor)
L293D(2 motor backward and forward or 4 motor just forward)
L298D (like L293D but he support more Amp and Vol
L293D Adafruit shield(4 motor)
...

Here is an example for L293D:
enable PWM(0-255), inputs digital(0-1).
Motor1 : Input1, Input2, Enable1,2
Motor2 : Input3, Input4, Enable3,4
<code>void motor1RotationDirection(int input1arg, int input2arg){
    digitaleWrite(input1, input1arg);//  LOW  |  HIGH
    digitaleWrite(input2, input2arg);//  HIGH |  LOW
                                     //Forward|Backward
}

void motor1speedRotation(int speed){
    analogWrite(enableMotor1, speed);
}    //for motor2 is the same.
</code>
Comment: I have already use l293D for project.
Comment: Many thanks for the prompt reply and the resource list. I think these will be of a great help.


Power Draw of a Small Transformer

Question: I couldn't find the answer to this anywhere so, how can you tell what the power draw, in amps, of a transformer is knowing the input voltage and turns on primary and secondary.
Comment: The input power will depend primarily on the output power consumed by the load.
Comment: Can the input power go over the maximum load for the transformer, saying it is drawing too much, making it overheat?
Comment: Yes, it can....
Comment: At full design power Ip~= Vp/Zload effective ~= Vp/( Zload x (Ns/Np)^2) . At "idle" the transformer draws "magnetising current. This is largely "wattless" current as the load is mainly inductive = reactive, so actual watts dissipated mainly relate to I^2Rcopper copper losses and core magnetisation hysteresis losses. When loaded the load can exceed the design load if you connect a load larger than the designed one :-) - ie yes - you can breal it if you do silly things.
Answer: If the secondary is unloaded then you just have an inductor, the primary. As an inductor for (say) a power transformer, it will have an inductance of maybe 10 henries. At 50 Hz, 10 henries has an impedance of 3142 ohms and, on a 230V AC 50 Hz supply, will take 73.2 mA RMS.
This is current but it certainly doesn't imply any power because current through an inductor (in an AC scenario) lags the voltage applied by 90 degrees and this makes the average power zero.
However, there are some losses that consume power such as "eddy current" losses. A power transformer core is made from laminations and laminations are used to stop the big iron core acting as a shorted turn. Laminations are insulated from each other but each laminate will have a small eddy current circulating and this represents a small power loss.
Core saturation is another problem - there are only so-many ampere-turns than can be tolerated before core saturation losses become intolerable.
As for the rest of the power dissipated in a transformer, this is usually just the copper losses i.e. the current flowing through the wires causes heat but, this is only usually noticeable when a secondary load is taking output current.

how can you tell what the power draw, in amps, of a transformer is
  knowing the input voltage and turns on primary and secondary.

Well, you need to understand what power is being taken by the load - this can be reflected back to the primary and is part of the story. Those amps flowing through both windings produce copper losses so measure the wire resistance for each winding and, knowing the secondary current you can predict that loss. For eddy current losses, measure them with an open circuit secondary - apply only enough primary voltage to make a decent estimation then scale up for the full primary voltage (this avoids confusion with saturation losses).
Once you have eddy current losses predicted at the full primary voltage you can calculate power loss due to core saturation - measure the total power (secondary open circuit) and subtract predicted eddy current losses.
Answer: All transformers draw a little current (a percent of full power or so) when there isn't a load connected. This is the energy that is lost magnetising and reverse magnetising the transformer core. This can be really hard to model and is often measured empirically instead. But as this is usually only a few percent of full rated current, most people don't worry about it that much.
Comment: Current and power should not be used interchangeably in this context, since AC power is a complex subject. An unloaded transformer is basically a reactive load; active power is only a small fraction of apparent power. In other words, losses in an unloaded transformer are far less than the product of voltage and current.
Comment: Yes, you are absolutely correct, serves me right for writing that late at night

Power Draw of a Small Transformer


How do I ask / inform my supervisor that I need to take a day off?

Question: I just recently got a job as a research assistant over the holiday (which will later turn into an unpaid independent study project). Before hiring me for the job, my supervisor asked me if I would be taking a week off for vacation during the holidays. I told him no. However, for Christmas, I recieved (as a gift) tickets for an afternoon weekday show of an expensive stage production. The show is about an hour and a half from where I live so I would need to take most of the day off. I will be informing my supervisor via email about this. How do I inform him/phrase the email?
Comment: "Hi Alice/Bob, can I take a day off on ?"
Answer: XX,
I was just given a surprise gift -- tickets to a show in YY City.  It would be thrilling to go -- any chance you could spare me on Thursday?  Because of the distance, it would mean missing the whole day.  However, I'm free all day Saturday.  If you like, I could come in then to make up the time.
(however you like to sign your name)
Please feel free to adjust this as needed.  For example, you can make the tone less breezy and more formal if you want to.
Answer: There is no answer for your question. It totally depends what kind of relationship you have with your supervisor. In my case I have very friendly relationship with supervisor and a text message is enough to inform him about this kind of minor issues.
Comment: My guess is that if it were that simple for the OP, s/he wouldn't have asked.... // Glad you hear you have this level of comfort with your advisor!


Linq to SQL / C#: How to Order By using property in cross reference table with lambda expressions

Question: I am trying to order a list of products based on the zindex property of the cross reference table with the category table (in this case called 'Chassis'), but I get the following error:
Cannot order by type 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[System.Int32]'.
The following is the method I am using:
public IQueryable<E_Product> Product_GetList_ByChassisId(int chassisId)
{
    return dc.E_Products
        .Where(x => x.Deleted == false)
        .Where(x => x.Published == true)
        .Where(x => x.E_Product_Chassis
            .Any(c => c.ChassisId == chassisId && c.Deleted == false))
        .OrderBy(x => x.E_Product_Chassis.Select(c => c.Zindex));
}

I understand the .Select method returns an IEnumerable, but being a many-to-many relationship, x.E_Product_Chassis does not allow simple selection of its properties (e.g. x.E_Product_Chassis.Zindex).
Any help would be very appreciated...
Answer: FirstOrDefault(), Min(), Max() -- use one of these functions to select the appropriate z-index out of the set.
public IQueryable<E_Product> Product_GetList_ByChassisId(int chassisId)
{
    return dc.E_Products
        .Where(x => x.Deleted == false)
        .Where(x => x.Published == true)
        .Where(x => x.E_Product_Chassis
            .Any(c => c.ChassisId == chassisId && c.Deleted == false))
        .OrderBy(x => x.E_Product_Chassis.Min(c => c.Zindex));
}

Comment: "FirstOrDefault(), Min(), Max()" ... or any other method of returning a scalar value from a collection.  Just wanted to note that these aren't your only selectors.


Is it possible to retrofit white blood cells with neural network technology to fight infection?

Question: I have been toying the idea of fusing our white blood cells which search and destroy malicious foreign bodies with artificial intelligence to fight various disease causing pathogens, my worry is that nano machine is just too small to house A.I. otherwise with machine learning that mimics our brain function those white blood cells can easily and accurately identify suspicious activity and intervene quickly before damage can be done. Is this feasible in the near future or impossible due to too many engineering challenges ahead?
Comment: How do you propose to keep the body from rejecting the nano machines in the first place? You would have to turn off the white blood cells to do this before hand.
Answer: First off, white blood cells operate autonomously and in small nodes, not collectively like an organ. If you were going to have them act under intelligent guidance, you would need a central control area (call it a symbiont) with intelligence that detects threats and operates under a program to eliminate them. With modern gene therapy, it's not so far-fetched.
-It would be bioelectrochemical, biochemical and/or biological, communicating with/controlling the subunits (call them nano-whites) with hormonal-type signals to seek out cancers, parasites, viruses, and pathogenic bacteria an coordinate strategies. A small computer could even be installed - the symbiont would control the immune response to the implant, so there would be no rejection.
-A symbiont would rely on a lot of the same strategies that our immune system does (initially), but would coordinate the response more efficiently and would (hopefully) be smart enough to avoid auto-immune responses.
-If the symbiont were somehow connected to an external input (a wireless bio-powered receiver, for example) then you could transmit the code for a new virus, and the symbiont could be ready for it before the person even encountered the illness. As scientists devised new engineering strategies to deal with disease, they could upload these to the symbiont, who could then custom genetically engineer nano-whites to new tasks.
-A symbiont could be programmed/grown to recognize an original central body plan for the individual and coordinate nano-whites and stem cells to lay down new extracellular matrix and regrow/regenerate old/damaged organs or even lost limbs.

This level of input would come at a potentially terrifying cost. Inputs could tell the symbiote to recognize yourself as foreign, or attack/modify specific parts of your body (remove impulse control, modify memories(?), convert you into something not-human, etc. all ordered externally. Imagine a government increasing the expression of a gene controlling religiosity, or altering sexual orientation post-developmentally, or manufacturing new stem cells to slowly start converting you into an extraterrestrial? What if the nanites were a "gift" of aliens curing disease while quietly conquering us? The possibilities are endless.
Answer: The immune system already has a kind of AI built in. It learns via exposure and reacts to reexposure based on what it learned before. But I think individual cells might be too small to host an intelligent network. WBC only live a fortnight and a half or so: engineering a neural network into something that's only going to last a short while might be a waste.
What you might consider is using nano machines to rewrite the WBC construction subroutines at the genetic level and the antigen expression subroutines systemically. You'll want to enhance the "I'm a safe self-body-part" antigens that all body cells exhibit in the presence of WBC. Kind of like a national ID card. This ought to decrease the possibility of pathogenic mimicry.
In addition to enhancing the native immune response, you might consider keeping the AI outside the body and using it to engineer a small, easily implantable, easily extractable, organ whose cells express "I am self" to the immune system, but are designed to produce and release at intervals a suite of known antigens from an external library.
This wouldn't confer super immunity at first sight of a new pathogen; but it would ensure improved immunity against anything known and in the library.


Is it possible for words to have a meaning other than how they are used?

Question: Wittgenstein's language game concept holds that the meaning of a word can only be derived from its usage. However, some philosophers contend that some words have meanings other than that implied by their usage. What evidence is there to this effect? Wittgenstein, however, repudiated the idea that language is separate from reality. Language and action are interwoven.
Comment: Surely words mean whatever people take them to mean.
Comment: Words have meanings based on how they *were* once used, but are not anymore, and there are multiple language games played by different communities giving them different meanings based on how they *are* used ("substance" in chemistry and in philosophy mean different things). There are non-Wittgensteinian conceptions of meaning that would attach ["compositional" meanings](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/compositionality/) to some compound words even if they are not (so far) used by anyone. This is how people neologize by attaching prefixes and suffixes to existing words, for example.
Comment: there is the difference between langue and parole, the latter meaning use as opposed to rules of language. i tend to think of the signifier as arbitrary, but that may be slightly hyperbolic, if only becasue you do need to be understood
Comment: Adding to Conifold's point, words can be used in ways that are quite different from their meanings, e.g. in metaphors, or when saying something ironically, or perhaps within a joke. Once a word has a conventional meaning, speakers can exploit the convention to convey something else.
Comment: Wittgenstein (*requiescat in pace*) himself, perhaps in sagacious anticipation of such queries, goes out of his way to furnish us with at least one *explanans*. No?
Answer: Meanings of words are attributed to them by humans. One consequence is that you can never be sure whether the meaning of a word intended by the person who utters or writes it is the same as the meaning assumed by a person who reads or hears it. A case in point is the word usage which appears in your question. I cannot be sure whether you intended it 1) simply as a synonym for use, or 2) in the narrower sense to denote the way in which words are normally used. Another is the word meaning itself- are you limiting its scope to indicate 3) the kind of meaning that is defined in dictionaries, or are you including 4) the wider significance a word might have? For example, 'Birkenhead'  might be taken to mean the name of a town in Merseyside, but the word could have all kinds of connotations to a person raised there. The word 'askmplet' found carved on a tree might have no dictionary meaning, but it would still convey the meaning 'someone carved this'.
If you meant 2) and 3), then clearly words can have meanings that are not the same as their dictionary meanings. On the other hand, if you meant 1), 3) and 4) then the answer is no- words have no meaning outside the meanings attributed to them by people.
Comment: +1. I like the categorization of "use" here. I was implicitly assuming something along 4 in my answer but veered into can we know vs does it happen.
Answer: Every word at some point had to acquire its current meanings. But the question is which came first? Did meaning come first and then we apply a word to it so we can refer to the meaning. Or did we just notice that a sound we randomly babbled happened to be correlated with some external object or some concept that was near the speaker at the time? Clearly the former makes more sense but linguists would probably know for sure.
I don't understand how we can know a word can has a meaning if it has never been used that way. How would you establish that such a word has acquired that meaning?
Even saying "Term X now has a new meaning Y" would count as a usage of the word, hence go back to the usual definition.
An argument for "hidden meaning agnosticism" could be structured as such:

[Premise] A word X has meaning Y iff such a mapping between X and Y has existed at some point in time.
[Premise] Not all mappings between words and meanings are externalized via writing or speaking.
[Premise] People cannot know each others mappings between words and meanings unless they are externalized.

Therefore, if there are meanings other than those expressed in written or spoken language for a given word X, we cannot know it.


Check for a directory inside a subdirectory dynamically

Question: I have a bunch of domains which points to the same directory "public_html" on my host.
There is a .htaccess file in the main folder that locally redirects each domain to a particular folder with the same name as %{HTTP_HOST} mod_rewrite variable. (eg: redirect www.domain.com to public_html/www.domain.com/)
This is the content of the .htaccess:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond /%{HTTP_HOST}/#%{REQUEST_URI} !^([^#]+)#\1
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [L]

I'm having a problem when it comes to the Directory Slash directive.
If I try to access a folder in the domain url without the forward slash like http://www.domain.com/folder, the mod_dir applies the DirectorySlash and externally redirects my request to http://www.domain.com/www.domain.com/folder/
I tried applying a 301 redirect AFTER the domain directory redirect like this:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^(.*[^/])$ $1/ [R=301,L]

But for this to work, I would have to be able to check if the %{REQUEST_FILENAME} exists inside the %{HTTP_HOST} 'folder'. I even tried the following, for no success:
RewriteCond /%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^(.*[^/])$ $1/ [R=301,L]

How can I check, Dynamically, if the %{REQUEST_FILENAME} is a directory, which would be inside a directory with the same name as %{HTTP_HOST}?
Thanks in advance
Answer: If you work with -d you need to provide an absolute filesystem path. So try this:
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} -d
RewriteRule ^(.*[^/])$ $1/ [R=301,L]


Organic malt sources

Question: Aside from Northern Brewer, where on line can I find organic malt?  I can usually get organic base malt at my LHBS, but sources for crystal and other malts seem to have largely dried up.
Answer: The Weyermann BIOLAND organic specialty malts might be out of stock everywhere.  Distributor BSG has several websites, on their BSG craftbrewing site they list 13 Weyermann organic base and specialty and caramel malts, but on the BSG handcraft site they list just pils, rye and Vienna.  BSG has a Find a Retailer page, too, so you could call around.  Maybe BSG would answer an email or phone call asking whether they expect one of their retailers might have stock.
Good luck.

Organic malt sources


Ubuntu, how to install OpenCV for python3?

Question: I want to install OpenCV for python3 in ubuntu 16.04.  Fist I tried running sudo apt-get install python3-opencv which is how I pretty much install all of my python software.  This could not find a repository.  The install does work however if I do sudo apt-get install python-opencv this issue with this is that by not adding the three to python it installs for python 2 which I do not use.  I would really perfer not to have to build and install from source so is there a way I can get a repository?  I also tried installing it with pip3 and it could not find it either.
Comment: I don't think you can install opencv on python 3.x directly the way you would for python 2.x. You should follow this short [guide](http://www.pyimagesearch.com/2015/07/20/install-opencv-3-0-and-python-3-4-on-ubuntu/) or [this](https://github.com/rainyear/lolita/issues/18) to help you get through an installation from git
Comment: Ok just wanted to make sure.  I am doing the source install right now.
Answer: Well this will be a lengthy answer, so let's start :
Step 1: Install prerequisites :
Upgrade any pre-installed packages:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Install developer tools used to compile OpenCV 3.0:
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake git pkg-config

Install libraries and packages used to read various image and videos formats from disk:
$ sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev libtiff5-dev libpng-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev libv4l-dev

Install GTK so we can use OpenCV's GUI features:
$ sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev

Install packages that are used to optimize various functions inside OpenCV, such as matrix operations:
$ sudo apt-get install libatlas-base-dev gfortran

Step 2: Setup Python (Part 1)
Let's download pip , a Python package manager, installed for Python 3:
$ wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
$ sudo python3 get-pip.py

Let's use our fresh pip3  install to setup  virtualenv  and virtualenvwrapper :
$ sudo pip3 install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper

Now we can update our ~/.bashrc  file (place at the bottom of the file):
# virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper
export VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3
export WORKON_HOME=$HOME/.virtualenvs
source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
$ source ~/.bashrc
$ mkvirtualenv cv

Step 2: Setup Python (Part 2)
we'll need to install the Python 3.4+ headers and development files:
$ sudo apt-get install python3.4-dev

OpenCV represents images as NumPy arrays, so we need to install NumPy into our cv  virtual environment:
$ pip install numpy

Step 3: Build and install OpenCV 3.0 with Python 3.4+ bindings
$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv.git
$ cd opencv
$ git checkout 3.0.0
$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib.git
$ cd opencv_contrib
$ git checkout 3.0.0

Time to setup the build:
$ cd ~/opencv
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE \
    -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
    -D INSTALL_C_EXAMPLES=ON \
    -D INSTALL_PYTHON_EXAMPLES=ON \
    -D OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH=~/opencv_contrib/modules \
    -D BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON ..

Let's start OpenCV compile process :
$ make -j4

Assuming OpenCV 3.0 compiled without error, you can now install it on your system:
$ sudo make install
$ sudo ldconfig

Step 4: Sym-link OpenCV 3.0
If you've reached this step, OpenCV 3.0 should now be installed in /usr/local/lib/python3.4/site-packages/.
Here, our OpenCV bindings are stored under the name cv2.cpython-34m.so
However, in order to use OpenCV 3.0 within our cv  virtual environment, we first need to sym-link OpenCV into the site-packages  directory of the cv  environment, like this: (Be sure to take note of cv2.cpython-34m.so)
$ cd ~/.virtualenvs/cv/lib/python3.4/site-packages/
$ ln -s /usr/local/lib/python3.4/site-packages/cv2.cpython-34m.so cv2.so

Notice how I am changing the name from cv2.cpython-34m.so  to cv2.so  — this is so Python can import our OpenCV bindings using the name cv2 .
Step 5: Test out the OpenCV 3.0 and Python 3.4+ install
$ workon cv
$ python
>>> import cv2
>>> cv2.__version__
'3.0.0'

Hope that helps. Also, credit to  Adrian Rosebrock on his post. It worked for me as a charm.
Comment: This installation is incompatible with cuda 8. Use latest cv2 repo if you have cuda 8.
Comment: So I installed it and it seems to be working.  The only issue I am having is that PyDev in eclipse does not seem to be able to find cv2.  I can import cv2 and run it fine but I find it annoying that I can't use the auto-complete ctrl+Space feature in eclipse while coding.  I looked into the `/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages` and noticed that there was only a .so file for cv2 rather than a folder containing python files like the other libraries in the package.  Is there any way to get python files for cv2 so it will integrate nicely with eclipse?
Comment: it looks like solved [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6070423/adding-python-modules-to-pydev-in-eclipse-results-in-import-error), also, please mark your question as answered if the answer did solve your original question. Thanks.
Comment: Well I actually got it to work by adding cv2 to forced built-ins in pydev.
Comment: I did this for CUDA 8 and have this issue for Ubuntu 14.04 https://github.com/opencv/opencv/issues/8036 Please have a look
Comment: Thank you. I worked for me. But I had to replace
_$ ln -s /usr/local/lib/python3.4/site-packages/cv2.cpython-34m.so cv2.so_
with
_$ ln -s /usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/cv2.cpython-34m.so cv2.so_
to make it work.
Comment: tried 'make -j1' instead of 'make -j4'. It shows the cores. j1 was working for me but not j4
Answer: I found this:
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/opencv-python
OpenCV on wheels

'Unofficial OpenCV packages for Python.'

Installation was painless for Ubuntu 16.04
pip3 install opencv-python

Check the installation
python3
Python 3.5.2 (default, Nov 17 2016, 17:05:23)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import cv2
>>> cv2.__version__
'3.2.0'

Not sure why this wasn't mentioned. Perhaps it is newly available?
Comment: It was painless, but when I call imshow() OpenCV says that the function is not implemented and that I need to rebuild the package.
Comment: For me it also required sudo apt-get install -y python-qt4
Comment: In server (headless) environment I also needed to run: apt-get install libglib2.0-0 to make it work
Comment: this seems to be unable to install opencv version2 series.
Answer: Assuming that you installed Python3.x, I resolved it using the following:
1: Install side packages required for OpenCV with Ubuntu (only validated for: Ubuntu 16.04):
apt-get update
apt-get install -y libglib2.0.0 libsm6
apt-get install libxext6
apt-get install -y libxrender-dev

2: Install OpenCV on python3.x:
pip3 install opencv-contrib-python

Answer: Ubuntu 18.04 and later
In Ubuntu 18.04 and later Python 3 bindings for the OpenCV (Open Computer Vision) library can be installed from the default Ubuntu repositories with the following command:
sudo apt install python3-opencv

The Open Computer Vision Library is a collection of algorithms and sample code for various computer vision problems. The library is compatible with IPL (Intel's Image Processing Library) and, if available, can use IPP (Intel's Integrated Performance Primitives) for better performance.
Comment: This should be the correct answer, virtual env mentions is not part of the OP
Answer: Using conda inside a python3 environment:
First install conda in a python3 environment and activate it if you haven't yet:
conda create --name py3k python=3
source activate py3k

Now you can install opencv in the conda environment:
pip install pillow
conda install -c menpo opencv3=3.1.0

To import in Python:
import cv2

Comment: I have been trying different solutions for hours. I kept getting an error with cv2.imshow(). Now I've tried this and it finally works. Thank you!
Answer: The popular suggested solution worked miracles for me, where sudo apt install of opencv failed to install properly. Another note on step 4 (which may make life easier for others). It seems simple now but it took me quite a while to troubleshoot (because I am new to this).
Step 4a: Run the following code to find out where the cv2 file is installed. Your filename may also be slightly different. Just because you can't find it where the OP said it would be, that doesn't mean the installation did not work.
> $ find /usr/ -iname cv2.*
> /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cv2.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so

Step 4b: SymLink OpenCV 3.0 as above
> $ cd ~/anaconda3/virtualenv/lib/python3.8/site-packages/
> $ ln -s /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/cv2.cpython-38-x86_64-linux-gnu.so cv2.so

Comment: This is brilliant! Thank you.
Answer: This is because you have multiple installations of python in your machine.You should make python3 the default, because by default is the python2.7
Comment: You just need to set the default python in cmake/OpenCVDetectPython.cmake:
    set(PYTHON_DEFAULT_EXECUTABLE "${PYTHON3_EXECUTABLE}")
Comment: Well I don't think that is the issue.  Why can't I just install it for python3 like I have done with every other library.
Answer: After ubuntu 18.04, use
sudo apt install python3-opencv

Careful, autostart Anaconda enviroment may cover normal apt installation, which took me hours to find. put it down here in case some newbie like me find it not working.
Answer: sudo pip3 install opencv-python opencv-contrib-python

Comment: It's unsafe to use `sudo` with `pip install`. Use a virtual environment instead.


How would I make the back of this chair?

Question: I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out how to create the back and bottom part of this chair (not the legs, just the outline of the chair). I thought about doing some extruding from creating the bottom but then I got very confused on how to create the circular backing and its seams. I'm still learning each day and this chair might be too advanced for where I am I guess but any pointers would be appreciated!
Answer: You can begin with a 60 vertex cylinder, make an inset:

Extrude a quarter of the border faces:

Move up some vertices to make the bumps:

Push a bit back the whole top:

Create some edge loops to round the shape and to prepare the seams:

Select all and make a Mesh > Symmetrize:

Some additional edge loops:
Comment: This is so helpful! Thanks so much! If I wanted to make the last two bumps on either side ends more curved out (like in the photo) would you know how to then make that happen? Would I just need to add some loop cuts and extend them manually? I hope I'm making sense!
Comment: I've edited my answer, yes add some edge loops, the back will be a bit tricky but don't hesitate to create separate meshes as there are seams you don't have to make it with one unique mesh
Comment: thanks for clarifying! I'm going to try and practice it a bit more as mine isn't turning out like how yours is, I think I'm just stuck on the back getting disfigured and some other things. I really appreciate your help!


What's the difference between السَمَا and السماوات?

Question: I saw that in the Holy Quran there are two forms for 'sky': Samawat السماوات and sama السَمَا. What's the difference between them?
Comment: Singular and plural of the same word.
Comment: Because singular is related to the sky we know, while plural refers to all skies/heavens which Allah created. Allah explicitly quoted 7 of them.
Comment: Yes, I understand it, but for what? I believe it isn't just because. Is it?
Comment: I don't get what you mean to say please elaborate!
Comment: I'll elucidate it. Why does it mention sometimes the singular form of the sky while sometimes it mentions the plural form of the sky. It's just a matter of style?
Comment: Thank you! this is the answer I looked for.
Answer: In my earlier comments I made the following things clear:

سماوات (Samwaat) or السماوات (as-Samawaat)

Is the plural of:

سماء (Samaa') or السماء (as-Samaa')

So far so good. Then I made the following claim that needs to be verified:

Because singular is related to the sky we know, while plural refers to all the skies/heavens which Allah created. Allah explicitly quoted 7 of them.

In the qur'an the plural form was mentioned 190 times. While the singular was used 120 times.
Meanings in Arabic
First we must be aware that the term Samaa' in both its singular or plural version, refers to either mainly to the sky/heaven we know or the heavens or universe/cosmos/outer space or even clouds or rain or roof/top in almost all the cases in which it is mentioned in the qur'an. The most correct meaning can rather be deduced form the  context.
Not that the noun smaa' comes from the verb:

سما smaa, يسمو yasmu

Which means going upwards, climbing, raising, increasing etc. and has the corresponding noun:

السمو

Which refers, to height, highness ...
In fact if we made a check for example here, we may find that my statement about the plural is clear and can easily be confirmed. however in case of the singular the matter must be verified case by case. A much more correct statement is that it possibly refers to a different sky or heaven than that we know if the context  suggest it being one of the other heavens. Maybe a hint to identify the sky we know is that it is often mentioned beside the term al-Ard "the earth" in the same verse or context (19 times in the qur'an for singular out of 191 times in which either singular or plural was mentioned beside the earth) .
Usage in the qur'an
If further we get granular with the term, we could make many distinctions between the use of these terms in the qur'an (according the following article on islamweb):

as a top or roof or ceiling (of a building for example) as it is stated in (22:15):

Whoever should think that Allah will not support [Prophet Muhammad] in this world and the Hereafter - let him extend a rope to the ceiling, then cut off [his breath], and let him see: will his effort remove that which enrages [him]?

as the clouds in many verses such as:

And We have sent down rain from the sky in a measured amount and settled it in the earth. And indeed, We are Able to take it away. (23:18)
He created the heavens without pillars that you see and has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it should shift with you, and dispersed therein from every creature. And We sent down rain from the sky and made grow therein [plants] of every noble kind. (31:10)

as the rain in:

And O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in showers and increase you in strength [added] to your strength. And do not turn away, [being] criminals." (11:52)
Have they not seen how many generations We destroyed before them which We had established upon the earth as We have not established you? And We sent [rain from] the sky upon them in showers and made rivers flow beneath them; then We destroyed them for their sins and brought forth after them a generation of others. (6:6)

as the sky or heaven itself (it is the most used meaning):

[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. (2:22)

as the heavens of Jannah and Jahannam in the following two verses:

[They will be] abiding therein as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except what your Lord should will. Indeed, your Lord is an effecter of what He intends.(11:107)
And as for those who were [destined to be] prosperous, they will be in Paradise, abiding therein as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except what your Lord should will - a bestowal uninterrupted. (11:108)

One could even be more granular and find out that the term samaa' was used in contexts that:

describe building,
going upwards and climbing,
express the ultimate top,
refer to clouds,
as a source of living and rizq,
as rain,
as what we call the troposphere,
as a reference to the solar system,
as different layers within the troposphere,
expressed with more than one meaning,
as the roof or ceiling of a house,
as the sky/heaven in a general meaning,
as something that has doors.

See also this article.
Comment: Thank you! are the numbers 120-190 accurate or approximately?
Comment: This is the information I've got if you check corpus qur'an says 310=120+190.
Answer: Understanding Ism اسم  = Name (to produce specific sound or specific pronunciation)
Asmaa اسْمَاءَ = Names, plural or listen
Al Asmaa الْأَسْمَاءَ = The Names
Samaath سماعات  = speakers or head phones and or listening.
Estameeh استمع  = to listen with full concentration.
Sameeh سَمِع = The listener (to understand what is pronounced)
Ismail إِسْمَاعِيلَ = heard by God or prayer heard.
Samaa سمَا = The great gathering or the collection of humans, that produces sounds because of murmuring.
Specialty of Adam AS over other creature…
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا 2:31 and taught Adam all the science/power/use of "The Sounds" (names).
(After creation) educated / loaded Adam, with science/power of sounds or art of naming 55:4.
Updated Adam with power to speak or communicate with each other using fine sound or languages as medium of communication.
Samaai سَّمَاءِ = skies or elevation or ceiling, singular
Sama'vaath  سَّمَاوَاتِ = Plural of Skies, The Space, that produce sound like Hoooooooooo or Allahoooooo
ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ۚ 2:29 Then He took control of sky/ceiling and made them 7 skies/ heavens.


Virtual PC 2007 or Hyper-V for personal desktop use?

Question: I'm running Vista on my laptop, but would like to virtualize Ubuntu so that I can boot it from time to time for my personal use (e.g. running code, testing Linux programs). I tried this with Virtual PC 2007 (I allocated 1G of RAM for Ubuntu), and it was very slow. Should I try Hyper-V instead? (Note: I know very little about virtualization, so I'm not sure this is the type of use that Hyper-V is intended for.)
Answer: I'm using the free Virtual Box and that's worked fine for me.
Answer: To run Hyper-V you'll have to install Windows Server 2008 I believe.
I'm running Win2008 now and I can tell you having tried it Hyper-V is a bit slow, it has only limited graphics support.
Hyper-V
Slow needs Windows Server 2008, is a proper hypervisor (ie it sits underneath Windows (including Server 2008). It's a version 1.0 so treat as such. It being Microsoft's flagship virtualisation solution though it has a bright future. But at the moment steer clear. Magic Version 3 I think. It's also considerably behind the competition.
Virtual PC
I use this a work, but haven't virtualised Ubuntu with it. I think it's reasonably decent, XP guest runs quickly enough.
VMWare Server
Well made software current market leader. For me it just worked, though the management interface is a little heavy. Very good product would recommend it. Had no problems running 3 Ubuntu instances (2 server 1 gui) and a XP machine.
This is the bar against which to measure the others in my opinion.
Sun Virtual Box
I'm typing this now in a Ubuntu GUI running inside of Virtual Box on my Windows Server 2008 machine. I'm amazingly impressed with it, it's blisteringly fast, sound works had to install the tools package to get a decent screen resolution, but it was all really easy. It's definitely worth a look. Haven't tried it on Vista but I'm sure it'll work.
Running on Intel Quad Core, 4Gb Ram with Windows Server 2008 x64.
Answer: I like VMWare Workstation.
Answer: Virtual PC 2007 should be adequate for personal desktop use?  Hyper-V has processor requirements that you would have to consider before using on your desktop.
Comment: I know that Hyper-V requires an AMD64 CPU with the Intel/AMD virtualization extensions.  Am I missing anything?
Answer: I think i will switch back from Hpyer-V to Virtual PC / VMWare, or maybe even to Vista, because of the sluggish UI.
Only after removing the Hyper-V role, the system became more responsive. I had delays of up to 30+ seconds on logon/logoff, lock/unlock computer and other tasks.
It'seems to be a issue with "Video performance may decrease when a Windows Server 2008-based computer has the Hyper-V role enabled and an accelerated display adapter installed".
Please see also this discussion on MS Connect:
Hyper-V made the machine unusable : SUPER SLOW.
PS: Yes, i tried every tweak mentioned in Convert your Windows Server 2008 to a Workstation.
[Using Hyper-V for web developement on Windows Server 2008 x64 standard edition on a Intel Core i7 with 6GB Ram and a ATI Radeon HD 3400.]
Answer: If you don't need to have both Windows and Ubuntu running at the same time, you could try Wubi, the Windows-based Ubuntu Installer, a program that installs Ubuntu into a set of files on your Windows disk and sets you up to dual boot, without having to repartition or anything like that.  The most recent version(s) of Ubuntu come with Wubi on the CD.
Answer: I've had really poor results doing Linux under Virtual PC 2007.  VirtualBox has been much better for me.
Answer: Not so sure about linux but with windows you can get noticeable performance improvements if you run the VHD from an external hard drive.
Answer: I consider VMWare the best solution with the best support for devices like USB.
If you use vmware player (free) in combination with a website that generates your VMWare image ( http://easyvmx.com/ ) you have an excellent free working solution.


An expression for a person who is very good at sports

Question: Can I say this kind of person is a sporty genius?
Answer: A sporty genius is not idiomatic, at least not in the sense you intend.   "sporty" doesn't refer to athleticism  but to style, and "genius" is not usually used in the context of athletic ability, except perhaps to describe an athlete's play-making ability, where strategy is involved and the player has to see opportunities. That said, a genius at sports would be probably be understood to mean that the person is a very talented athlete and can play a number of sports well, or possibly any sport whatsoever because of their prodigious natural ability, just as a genius at baking would probably be understood to mean that the person can make a wide variety of delicious baked goods and perhaps understands all there is to know about flours and altitude and humidity and temperature and how they combine to affect the finished product.
Answer: A sporty genius would be a genius who is sporty - Alan Turing was a mathematical genius and also a long-distance runner. He could be called a sporty genius.
Better could be a "sporting genius", it suggests someone who is clever at playing - "He is not the fastest player, but he reads the game better than anyone - a true sporting genius."
You might use "virtuoso" (more often used for musicians), "prodigy" (early developer) or "master"(also suggests seniority), or slightly more casually "wizard", but with "sporting" not "sporty".
Answer: A word that would fit is athlete. An athlete can mean someone who is in good form but if you combine it with good- as in good athlete it means someone who is pretty good at all sports they play.


Is there any way to use Windows 7 multitouch from Java?

Question: I'm aware of MT4j and the Windows 7 Multitouch Interop Library, but neither of these seem to be what I'm looking for: the MT4j code is pretty terrible and not well-documented, and the Win7 library seems to be a .NET assembly (and thus not able to be used natively by Java). Is there anyway to be able to get WM_TOUCH messages in Java? Or is it possible to actually use the Win 7 interop library from within Java?
Answer: Sorry, but you can't. There's only a kind of workaround...
Touch2TUIO is a open source command line tool, that can native Windows 7 touch messages translate/forward to the TUIO Protocol (so you could use them in Java or any other language). Still in development, but on most hardware already usable (and its open source - so everyone is free to make changes/improvements to it). It's not exactly, what you're looking for, but maybe the only solution now...
Touch2TUIO: http://dm.tzi.de/research/hci/touch2tuio/
Answer: What do you mean by pretty horribly code and not well documented? I built a huge MT4J application and have used the API of the MT4J latest versions and have had no problem with it.
Perhaps you could suggest some improvements on the documentation and/or API of that library. From my own experience I can tell you it's a worth multitouch framework to try.
In the Java world is the only one I know of by the way.
Comment: Hmm? But not with the mentioned Windows 7 Touchevents, or didn't you?
Answer: JavaFX 2.2+ perfectly supports multitouch for win7


Is Challenger Deep really the deepest place in the ocean?

Question: We have all been told at some point that the Mariana Trench is the deepest place in the ocean, but is that really true? More than 80% of the world's oceans are unexplored, so couldn't there be a much deeper place?
Comment: I have removed the non science aspects of the question. If they reappear I will vote to close the question. Atlantis & the possibility of aliens in the deep have nothing to do with earth science, neither are questions relating to humanity on what may be found - which are predominantly matters of personal opinion or speculation.
Answer: Short answer : yes
Challenger Deep was discovered by (and named after) HMS Challenger in 1875. This was the world's first true oceanic scientific voyage. They took a LOT of soundings but compared to the size of the oceans they were merely lots of pin-pricks. So your doubt would have been well founded in the pre-satellite era.
Nowadays bathymetry is measured using ship sonar, and satellites (typically radar to measure the sea surface to measure gravity). The latter would definitely identify potential candidates on a global scale - there aren't any.
Comment: An article and blog on the BGS website, https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/deepest-points-of-the-indian-ocean-and-southern-ocean-revealed/  ,might be of interest as a example of how scientists approach the problem with modern techniques
Answer: All of the deepest locations are in subduction zones/trenches, where one tectonic plate is being dragged under another one. The greater the angle of subduction the greater the potential for depth of a trench associated with the subduction zone. The deepest zones have subduction angles greater than 70 degrees.
The angle of subduction for the Mariana Trench is the steepest known so far. Such angles only occur where "Earth's oceanic crust and lithosphere are old and thick and have, therefore, lost buoyancy".
The oceanic crust of the Mariana Trench is from the Jurassic age and is among the oldest crusts on Earth.
For an ocean trench to be deeper than the Mariana Trench its geology would need to be of similar age.


What does the Node.js `--nolazy` flag mean?

Question: When I use --nolazy, I can finally debug asynchronously with IntelliJ, as breakpoints stop at the correct place. But I can't find any docs on --nolazy...
What does --nolazy mean?
Answer: To let anyone know, if you debug node js (especially remote debug) and use async type coding which you kind of have to as this is the nature of node, you will to run node with the flag of -nolazy
node --nolazy --debug-brk sample1.js

this will force V8 engine to do full compile of code and thus work properly with IntelliJ and WebStorm so you can properly place breakpoints in the code and not have to use the ;debugger; string which v8 looks for...
hope this helps someone, sure helped me :)
Sean.
Comment: Note that the flag `debug-brk` is no longer supported. Instead use the new flag `inspect-brk` or `inspect-brk=9229` where 9229 is the port number on which you want the debugger to start.
Answer: As others have said, you can see command line options for v8 with
node --v8-options

There, you can see a listing for --lazy:
--lazy (use lazy compilation)
      type: bool  default: true

v8 uses a fairly common way to describe booleans - prefix the flag with no to set to false, and use just the flag to set to true.  So --nolazy sets the lazy flag to false.
Note: node uses a slightly different convention - there, you use the no- prefix (note the dash) to set bools to false.  For example, --no-deprecation is a node flag.
Answer: refer to:
https://vscode-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/editor/debugging/
For performance reasons Node.js parses the functions inside JavaScript files lazily on first access. As a consequence, breakpoints don't work in source code areas that haven't been seen (parsed) by Node.js.
Since this behavior is not ideal for debugging, VS Code passes the --nolazy option to Node.js automatically. This prevents the delayed parsing and ensures that breakpoints can be validated before running the code (so they no longer "jump").
Since the --nolazy option might increase the start-up time of the debug target significantly, you can easily opt out by passing a --lazy as a runtimeArgs attribute.
Answer:
Problem: when you want to set breakpoints in ides to debug js codes in nodejs, some breakpoints doesn't work.

Reason: On start, node parses the code lazily, it means it doesn't see the full code. so it doesn't see all of the breakpoint.

Solution: Use --no-lazy option to turn of the node's lazy behavior.

( Ps: i tried to explain it easily and it may not be so accurate. )
Answer: Run
node --v8-options

it will show you all available flags.
btw: closest flag I have found for you is
--lazy

means lazy compilation, which I believe is obvious by name


How can I save progress on GTA V without access to cellphone?

Question: I can't bring up my phone so am forced to play the prologue every time I start play - I don't drive very well yet so don't get very far in my first mission, making this a real issue. When can I bring up the phone to get out of having to run through the prologue?
Comment: Here's some piece of advice: Make sure you set aside enough time to complete the prologue. Should you fail the driving part, don't worry; just get out of your car and have the police kill you. Select "Retry" and you'll be in your car against. Should you fail too many times, a new option "Skip" will appear. Once you're done with the prologue, the game should automatically save your progress; I'd still recommend using the quicksave feature (the one you were talking about, using your cellphone)
Comment: correct me if I'm wrong, but you HAVE TO finish the prologue and get to LS before you can save the game manually. So in your case I'd say... Play this first mission(robbing of the bank, right?) until you finish it
Comment: @FrankTill if you have trouble driving the car try changing the camera you are using. I find the one from inside the car the easiest for highspeed driving (I love it when using choppers too but it's not good for landing). Also, make sure you slow down a bit during turns (by briefly releasing the right trigger) and take advantage of Franklin special ability to slow down the time while driving.
Answer: There is no way to save the game using the phone if you are not in Los Santos yet (and that's very early in the game btw). Or if you have not passed your first Franklin mission yet.
Comment: @FrankTill - Just get better at driving.  The ENTIRE GAME will require you to improve your ability to control a car.  Franklin has the driving special so use it.
Comment: Thanks - I get through the prologue pretty quickly after all these tries but I don't get very far into the Franklin mission before I crash. I don't mind starting that over (and over and over) because I really am just learning to drive in the game but I hate having to re-do the prologue every time I shut down the console. :)


Function of ferrite core in the induction cooker coil?

Question: I wondering what is the function of ferrite core in the induction cooker coil? (In the other word why there are no ferrite core in traditional induction heater?)
Comment: Increase the inductance for the driver?
Answer: It's a shield. These blocks are on downside, so it diverges the field to upside that it heats only the pan and not the electronics under.
Answer: There are flux concentrators used in "traditional induction heaters."  Flux concentrators are commonly used in heat treat applications, and are used on the back side of the coil like in your photograph.
The flux concentrator provides a low reluctance path for the magnetic field. This lowers the coil inductance, thus lowering the Q of the coil and load.  The net effect is then a higher efficiency for heating.


Difference between Fermi and Riemann normal coordinates

Question:
What is the difference between Fermi normal coordinates and Riemann normal coordinates?
Which one of them is related to the vanishing of the Christoffel symbols?
Answer: Take a future-directed timelike curve $\gamma= \gamma(\tau)$, $\tau$ being the proper time along $\gamma$ in the spacetime $M$. Assume that   $p = \gamma(0)$ is the initial point of $\gamma$.
Fermi coordinates adapted to $\gamma$ are constructed this way.
Consider an orthonormal  basis of $T_pM$ with $e_0$ parallel to $\dot{\gamma}$.
Transport the basis $\{e_a\}_{a=0,1,2,3}$ along $\gamma= \gamma(\tau)$ making use of Fermi-Walker's transport. The basis  $\{e_a(\tau)\}_{a=0,1,2,3}$  at each point $\gamma(\tau)$ is still orthonormal with
$e_0(\tau)$ parallel to $\dot{\gamma}(\tau)$ and is non-rotated (in a precise sense related to the decomposition of Lorentz transformations into pure transformations and rotations) with respect to the initial basis, this is the physical meaning of Fermi-Walker's transport.
Finally construct a coordinate system in a open tube $T$, a  neighbourhood of $\gamma$, emitting all spacelike geodesics through $\gamma(\tau)$ with initial tangent vector $\sum_{i=1}^3 v^i e_i(\tau)$, for every $\tau$.
A point $q\in T$ has coordinates
$\tau(q), v^1(q), v^2(q), v^3(q)$ where $\sum_{i=1}^3 v^i(q) e_i(\tau(q))$ is the only vector whose associated geodesic reaches $q$ for the value of its parameter $s=1$ and $\tau(q)$ is the only time along $\gamma$ for that this geodesic reaching $q$ exists.
If $\gamma$ itself is a geodesic, then Fermi-Walker's transport becomes the standard parallel transport and Fermi's coordinates become standard Riemannian coordinates adapted to $\gamma$. In this case, using these coordinates in a neighbourhood $T$ of $\gamma$, we have  $\Gamma_{ab}^c =0$ exactly on $\gamma$.  This property is not valid for Fermi's coordinates however when $\gamma$ is not a geodesic.
A modern reference on the subject is http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9402010 where also rotating coordinates are discussed.
Comment: I am confused by answer. Because wiki said that Fermi coordinate is adapted to timelike geodesics $\gamma$ and you said that when $\gamma$ is a geodesic then it becomes the Riemann coordinate. Then they are the same thing by your answer and wikipedia's definition. I think Fermi coordinate is a generalization of Riemann coordinate such that the Christoffel symbol vanishes not only at a point but along the whole geodesic.  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_coordinates
Comment: In my answer I refer to Riemannian coordinates **adapted** to $\gamma$ which means that the Christoffel symbols vanishes along the curve (it must be a geodesics). This type of coordinates is known since long time before relativity and Fermi's work!  Fermi coordinates instead are strictly related to relativity and concern the transport of a non-rotating frame along a timelike curve, that is another idea with some overlap with that of Riemannian coordinates. My impression on the wikipedia page is that it is written into a bit sloppy way.
Comment: I also think  that there  are different viewpoints on the terminology in the literature.
Comment: @ValterMoretti nice reference! Did you notice that the author keeps calling Enrico Fermi as M. Fermi?  :-)
Answer: Riemann normal coordinates (or just normal coordinates for short) are the "granddaddy" of the different normal coordinate constructions:
The Riemann normal cordinate system is a system of local coordinates that is errected around a single point of the manifold (in General Relativity, with its space-time manifold, a point is usually called an event).
As coordinate lines, one takes all the geodesics (time-like, null, and space-like alike ;-) ) that intersect this point. The coordinate transformation from the Riemann coordinates to the (arbitrary) background coordinates then follows from a Taylor-series solution ansatz of the corresponding geodesic equation. Its Taylor coefficients can be written in terms of partial derivatives of the Christoffel symbols.
One then demands that -- as seen from the Riemann normal coordinate system -- theese geodesics all look like straight lines, i.e. that they be (albeit unphysical) local inertial coordinates. If one now take the above coordinate transformation in Riemann coordinates, one finds that for this, all quadratic and higher Taylor coefficients must vanish in Riemann coordinates. The 1st-order Taylor coefficient is given by the Christoffel symbols,  the 2nd-order one by its 1st partial derivative, and so on. This vanishing of the Taylor coefficients then yields the coordinate conditions of the Riemann normal coord. system:  The Christoffel symbols and all their higher (symmetrised) derivatives vanish.
Fermi normal coordinates are a slight extension of the construction of Riemann normal coordinates in order to have a local inertial coord. system that is able to describe also physical observers, who always follow time-like world-lines (i.e., they will always move through space-time along their local time-like directions even when they are stationary).
With Fermi coordinates, one expands not only about a single point, but along a whole time-like curve, which is then the world-line of some observer. This is the crucial difference between Riemann and Fermi normal coordinates. In Fermi coordinates, one thus performs a spacial-only (i.e. 3-dimensional) Riemann coordinate expansion, outwards from and orthogonal to the central world-line, i.e. only along the space-like geodesics that intersect the world-line orthogonally (they are orthogonal to the four-velocity, which is the tangent of the central world-line).
So, since Fermi coordinates are based on (a continuous family of spacial-only) Riemann coordinates, they both "have" vansihing Christoffel symbols. More precisely: in Riemann coordinates, the Christoffel symbols vanish, along with all their first and higher (symmetrised) partial derivatives.
In Fermi coordinates, since they involve spacial-only Riemann expansions, only the spacial (lower indices) Christoffel symbols vanish. Correspondingly, at the second and higher orders of the expansion, it is also their totally symmetric first and higher spacial partial derivatives, that are zero.
Now, wether the non-spacial part of the Christoffel symbols also vanishes, depends on wether the central world-line of the construction is also a geodesic, or not.
If it is a geodesic, then also the non-spacial Christoffels vanish (in this case its tangent, i.e. the four-velocity, is parallel transported and the observer following that geodesic world-line is inertial, or freely falling).
Conversely, if it is not a geodesic (which means that the observer following the world-line is non-inertial, i.e. he is accelerated and/or his spacial basis vectors are rotating), then the non-spacial Christoffels will not vanish, since they are related to his four-acceleration and rotation.


What do they call the players stacks of chips? Like his bank or somethin'

Question: This is such a dumb question, I know, but I've looked through several glossaries and have not found the answer. Each player has his pile of chips next to him that he uses for play. What do they call that?
Answer: You literally said it in your question :). It's most often referred to as their stack. Many will also just simply refer to them as their chips either.
Answer: Another one is literally in your question - PILE  because that's what it is.

Scot make a pile playing poker.


Is there a way to unify Stack Overflow and these specialty sub areas?

Question: Can I monitor it all on one home page and have questions posted to the widest audience? And receive and browse replies in one place?
It's too many channels otherwise.
Answer: Kinda sorta.
The regular way is simply opening multiple tabs. This also keeps the real-time feature alive ("x new questions").
The alternative, if you're going for the broad approach, is looking at the real-time feed. However, this includes all changes, and is for all sites.
If you only want to look at specific sites or tags, you can do so using filters. You can set up specific tags or even entire sites to see in there. You can also look for tags globally (some tag on every site), or tags on specific sites (some tag on some specified sites).
Like I said, using the filters do unfortunately break the real-time updates, so you'll have to manually refresh it to see changes.
Answer: Not really. They're distinct sites, with distinct audiences, scopes, and moderation styles. There's even folks annoyed with other site posts leaking over from Hot Network questions.  Lets break this up into several problems - since some are more mitagable than others.

So I can monitor it all on one home page

Most sites have RSS feeds for questions and in theory you could monitor it all from an RSS feed reader.

have questions posted to the widest audience.

Most SE sites are vaguely insular and have different, sometimes overlapping scopes

receive and browse replies in one place

Notifications are unified and you can check those from any site. Alternately, while not actively maintained, the Android and ios Stack Exchange apps work well for that.


Which font is better to optimise the speed of my website designed on WIX platform?

Question: I have developed a website using WIX platform. The loading speed is very slow it takes around 6-10 seconds to load a speed. Few things I can not optimize since wix uses many third party applications and do allow any changes. I was trying to use the best font which will enhance my loading speed and helps in reduce bounce rate.
Currently using Camphor family fonts, I am planning to use Roboto and Lato now. Will it help me to increase performance?
Comment: Why do you think one custom font is going to be faster than another?   If you want a fast site, don't specify the font used and let the browser use their default that doesn't need to be downloaded.  From what I have seen, Wix sites get slower and slower the more pages you have.   For site speed, it is best just not to use Wix.
Comment: "The loading speed is very slow it takes around 6-10 seconds to load a speed." Did you do a comprehensive study (starting with the developer tools in your browser that should be able to display the list of queries made, their schedule and time for completion) that explain why you arrived at your conclusion? Also easy way to test, just copy your page, edit it to remove all remote fonts use, and see how fast it loads.
Answer: No, they shouldn't affect the speed. Even if you use every single font on Wix, there will be no speed change. However, if you upload your own fonts, they will slow the site down, so be careful.
There's this thing called font-face, which is a CSS thing. This embeds the font in the HTML. Wix embeds all their fonts in the HTML, so this could be what slows it down.
However, if you upload your own fonts, you will get a slower service because there's more fonts.


The "+" token button is not showing in the "Tokens Tab" on my "MetaMask'

Question: The "+" token button is not showing in the "Tokens Tab" on my "MetaMask'.  It says :There was a problem loading your token balances."  Any and all help is appreciated.
Answer: To force a retry, click the "sent" tab and then "tokens" again. This error is usually the result of a network error, and should clear up easily.