Should I start working if background check didn't finish?

Question: I am in a bad situation where I have a wonderful job offer which I accepted but shortly after they told me that I have to do a background check. I've never done one before and they told me not to worry. Two weeks later and it's still not ready. I know now that I will have discrepancies between listed job titles and actual ones. There are good reasons for that. One of them is that my contract listed a different job title so that I pay less taxes. Another one was because I made it more specific to the job I was doing. Then there is the third one which ended very badly between me and the employer. I actually had to quit to preserve my sanity. I have serious reasons to suspect that this employer talked badly about me to the company doing the background check. There are only two weeks more until my official start date and I'm terrified that it won't finish in time and I don't want to join a company until my background check is not cleared. Meanwhile, I received another job offer which is good but not as good as the first one. And I am in the process of finishing anther interview and perhaps get another offer. I feel like I am in limbo. My instinct is to just accept another job offer and decline the first one I accepted if the background check doesn't finish in the next 7 days. I am so stressed out. What should I do? I don't want to lose all the good opportunities that I have and be without a job in a few weeks.
Comment: @FrancescaMorati Perhaps you shouldn't expect to reap the benefits of a certain title for tax purposes *and also* the benefits of a totally different title that you didn't actually have for purposes of getting a new job, even if it's your "real" title. If freeform job titles are the norm in your country, then that shouldn't be an issue on your CV-- but that doesn't seem to be the situation you expect. Also, technically legal != impressive and reasonable in all situations.
Comment: "so that I pay less taxes" Tax evasion/avoidance will probably be a red flag to most places, come up with a better way of explaining this. Don't lie!
Comment: The general attitude around background checks on Workplace is that they're *very serious* and any discrepancy can get you in trouble. However, in practice, there's a whole spectrum. While you never want to purposefully lie, and in the future you should absolutely take steps to make your titles accurate, it's not automatically damning to have an "issue" like a mismatched title come up in a background check. Some employers simply won't care or may not even check titles. Others will care a lot. That makes it hard for us to tell you what to do because we don't know what your employer will do.
Comment: What country??? You should also edit your question and improve flow. The wall of text is hard to read since it is missing breaks.
Comment: There is no way to fix discrepancies. I can't remake my older contracts as this is not practiced in Europe. The other two companies don't have background checks. They are extremely rare in Europe and only some US companies have them.
Comment: *"One of them is that my contract listed a different job title so that I pay less taxes"* could be a hard one to explain, not sure what countries tax based on job title.
Comment: it's not tax evasion! It was totally lawful in the country that I worked for people who were listed as Computer Programmers to pay less taxes! All people who worked as DevOps or Qa preffered to be integrated as Computer Programmers on the contract instead of their specialization. As long as you were using code in your work, the companies would have the right to list you as computer programmer even if you weren't doing strictly that. My God! If Americans expect laws and customs to be exactly like in America, maybe they shouldn't open companies overseas.
Comment: @FrancescaMorati cuts both ways doesn't sound a pleasant place to live
Comment: @Upper_Case sorry but I don't agree with you. This is the only situation that I encountered in more than 10 years of experience and most likely the only one because no one practices such things in Europe. In Germany for example, it is illegal to even disclose information about current or past employees. Since I have zero interest in moving to the US and there are plenty of companies in Europe, I don't have to model my career according to American expectations. American companies should adapt to us and our laws and culture.
Answer:
I am in a bad situation

Yes... it perhaps isn't quite as bad as all that.

I know now that I will have discrepancies between listed job titles and actual ones. There are good reasons for that.

I'm not going to lie and I hate to be harsh but that's not great. Fundamentally you lied on your CV and that's never good, it can bite you in the behind and it can bite hard. How hard will depend on how good those reasons are.

One of them is that my contract listed a different job title so that I pay less taxes.

Oh dear. You had a falsified contract to cheat on your taxes - I'm not going to judge you personally here. It's no skin off my nose - but with my hiring manager hat on you don't come off well here. If this one gets queried with you just be prepared to take it on the chin, explain what you did and that you know it wasn't smart but that you have learned better now.

Another one was because I made it more specific to the job I was doing

This is pretty reasonable, as long as you accurately described your role and duties on your CV then this isn't a huge deal in my experience.

Then there is the third one which ended very badly between me and the employer. I actually had to quit to preserve my sanity.

It's unfortunate but things like this happen. If the employer has spoken negatively about you (unlikely as a background check doesn't usually entail references - more a confirmation of employment) then it's not necessarily a deal breaker. Loads of people have an employer in the past that might speak poorly about them.
At this point I think the tax-dodging one is the biggest thing that would set my alarm bells ringing and I think if any of these are going to sink you it's this one. But there's nothing you can do about that now - the best thing is to wait and see. Keep the other opportunities going until you hear back from the background check. It's not unreasonable to give the employer a heads up that you'll need to know the outcome of that by a certain date or know what the plan is for you starting. It's by no means a certainty that it's going to go against you. Good luck!
Comment: Thanks for the answer. Just to make things clear, the third one is not a lie - the job title, only the fact that the employer might talk badly about me. I will update the outcome once I have the results.
Comment: @FrancescaMorati That makes more sense! Did wonder if I'd gotten the wrong end of the stick on that one.
Comment: it was a law in the country that I was working in at that time and frankly speaking I care more about the money and what I do in the job than what is written in the contract. Nobody in Europes asks you for previous work contracts.
Comment: got to wonder how just changing the job TITLE on a contract has you pay less in taxes. The pay associated with the contract is the important thing there...
Answer:
I know now that I will have discrepancies between listed job titles and actual ones. There are good reasons for that.

That's fine. I used to list official titles in my resume in parentheses, but now that I'm doing my own hiring, I've learned that they're nothing more than distractions. It's common for official job titles to have nothing to do with the actual job.
If the discrepancy is major, it's usually best to mention it and explain such reasons in an interview. Major discrepancies are things like outright different fields (resume says "Security consultant", paperwork "Arc welder"), doing management work with an engineer's job title (happens a lot), or anything substantially misleading.
If it's a minor discrepancy, e.g. "Developer" vs "Engineer", you can just mail an expanded resume for HR, after you've been accepted, that includes all your official titles, the full names of all workplaces and education institutions, and other minutiae. Most large companies have you fill in a separate document, "job application", for exactly that reason.
It's probably best to send such an expanded resume for the background check at this point, listing official job titles.

I actually had to quit to preserve my sanity. I have serious reasons to suspect that this employer talked badly about me to the company doing the background check.

This is unlikely to be a problem.
Background checks are done to verify that 1) you haven't lied in your resume, 2) you aren't a criminal, 3) there isn't any problem of a similar caliber that would make it illegal or impossible for you to do your job.
They are not, generally, about checking references and recommendations. That is done before setting your job start date. At this point, the employer is convinced that you're good, as long as you haven't lied.
If you were fired from that job, it could've been a deal-breaker to your new employer. Since you've quit, even if it was on bad terms, it's not likely that there will even be a talk.
The usual background check question goes like this: "Hello. I'm Jane from company X. Has Francesca Morati has worked at your company as a Junior Teapot Penetration Tester between June 2017 and August 2018?"
Comment: @jwenting In my experience, listing a different job title would not be a lie, **if** it's been explained and the duties performed match the title on the resume. It of course depends on what the discrepancy is. Resume="Software developer", paperwork="Engineer" is perfectly reasonable, while "Security consultant" vs "Arc welder" would call for some serious explanation.
Comment: I didn't lie on my resume. Listing the job title as the one which is in my contract would have been a lie since I was actually doing something different. It's really hard for me to understand American mentality. If your contract says C Developer but you actually work as DevOps, why would listing the second one be a lie?
Comment: @jwenting actually, I believe background checks are to see if you are attempting to defraud the employer or pose a risk of doing fraud in the future. Fraud is using deceit  to obtain something of value. If you make a claim that does not increase the value of your position then you have not committed fraud or shown any indication of doing that in the future. So if you say you were a "Cook" when your actual title was "Chef" it's not a lie in this context. If you say you were the "Head Chef" it's fraudulent. In my industry there are like 10+ possible titles for every job.
Comment: well, he did lie on his resume... And yes, a background check will contact those companies to verify that the data provided on the resume is actually correct and quickly discover those lies. Not good at all for a first (or second, or third) impression.
Comment: @FrancescaMorati I agree with you here - it's not a lie. It's still very preferable to send in an expanded resume after you've been accepted for the job, that is fully bureaucratically correct. Makes it easier for the HR to check everything that wasn't worth mentioning in the "advertisement" version that gets you the interviews. Most large companies have a separate document, "job application", for exactly that reason.
Answer:
... I have a wonderful job offer which I accepted but shortly after they told me that I have to do a background check.

You don't have to do anything.  The company tendered an offer with no contingency for a background check, you accepted and they are now trying to change the terms after the fact.  Had you not already started the background check process, you'd have been more than justified in declining to participate.
If you're still willing to go to work for them after that kind of a faux pas and they continue to insist on a background check, tell them to write you a new offer with the contingency and a token increase in salary.  (The increase is because they've just asked for more from you without giving anything in return.)  If they won't and you walk, they'll have to eat the costs they've incurred up to this point, including the background check.  That may make them think twice about keeping it hidden when making offers in the future.
If you haven't contractually bound yourself to work for this company, I would continue pursuing your other opportunities.  Companies insist that candidates bring their "A" game to the table and candidates should expect the same from companies.  There are plenty of others who won't make the same mistake.
Comment: Asking for a salary increase seems asking for cancellation of the opportunity. It causes the hiring manager and HR a whole of hassle.
Comment: @onnoweb That's exactly the point.  The company caused the candidate, _who'd already accepted a written offer_, the hassle of having to go through a background investigation that wasn't a contingency.  The company loses the opportunity to have a good candidate as an employee.  Leaving a contingency out of an offer is incompetent at best; I don't believe in encouraging that kind of behavior by rewarding it.  OP has other opportunities, and if the company wants them that badly, they'll put forth the effort or drop the requirement.  Candidates and employees don't exist to make HR's lives easier.
Comment: @Blrfl I also felt the same, that they should have disclosed this extra process earlier before I accepted the offer
Answer: Depends on the type of background check.  A security clearance is a deep check that can involve investigators talking to people in person. In many industries, people in management have connections to people at all of the other companies and can easily do their own check on you.
In my experience (non security clearance) the background checking company will ask for more specific details if they run into an issue and that's your opportunity to explain stuff.
Changing a job title is not a big deal if it is an industry standard title for what you actually did and it doesn't imply that you were at a more senior level than you were. Long ago I would explain everything in my resume with stuff like: "Job Title (Industry Standard Title)" but after your resume starts getting long you want to simplify/shorten things so I switched to standard titles. I passed background checks just fine.
I believe background checks are to see if you are attempting to defraud the employer or pose a risk of doing fraud in the future. Fraud is using deceit to obtain something of value. If you make a claim that does not increase the value of your position then you have not committed fraud or shown any indication of doing that in the future. So if you say you were a "Cook" when your actual title was "Chef" it's not a lie in this context. If you say you were the "Head Chef" it's fraudulent.
For dates, I once worked at a company twice for a total of maybe 18 months with a 2 year gap in the middle.  I combined the two and wrote "(2 contracts, approx. dates)" and gave a start date like 2001-2003. I did this to simplify my resume (again). Plus I honestly couldn't remember the exact dates as it was more than 10 years ago.  Did not have any issues with this on my background check. Of course they contacted the contracting agencies and maybe the client company too.
Anyhow, hiring managers are always rounding dates up. You write 1/2020-10/2022 months and they will see "around three years". Major job listing companies actually do this rounding for them in candidate reports. So obviously you don't actually have to be exact on dates if you can't really remember them. On the other hand, adding too much on is bad for sure. I guess it could be about percentages too. Being off by 4 months on a 3 year job isn't the same as being off by 4 months on a 5 month job.
Some former employers only report the dates you worked and your title. Some also give salary. It's going to be way more complicated to lie than not to as you'd have to keep all of the lies straight for decade(s) and hope nobody ever asks the right question to catch you which could happen any time.
Answer: I think "listed as a general Computer Programmer, but worked as a more specialized type of computer programmer" is probably not even going to come up as an issue on the background check.   I have had titles with various wording on my resume vs my 'official' title from time to time (because I have had the company word things slightly differently on the offer letter vs my other paperwork and caused confusion, because of a change in title wording that didn't actually change my job responsibilities, etc.).
In general a new employer will be able to figure out that "Software Test Engineer" and "Software Developer in Test", or whatever minor discrepancy it may be, is materially the same position.  In my experience this won't even cause a blip on the radar, let alone cause you serious problems.
If there's a big difference in the title you listed and the work you were actually doing it may be a good idea to send an updated or more detailed resume that will clarify that, but just the fact that your former employee consolidated all the computer programmers of any kind into a single title and you gave a more specific descriptive title on your CV should not be a red flag.


Is 1-(1-Methyl cyclopropyl) carbocation [1] as stable as Cyclopropyl Methyl Carbocation[2]

Question: Does the extra Methyl group interfere with the exceptional stability of Cyclopropyl Methyl Carbocation?
Answer:
As you can clearly see in the canonical structures,
The extra methyl group stabilizes 1 by positive inductive effect. Hence 1 is more stable than 2


Cannot update Android ADT using remote site or zip archive

Question: Android manual: http://jayxie.com/mirrors/android-sdk/sdk/eclipse-adt.html#InstallingADT
I have followed the steps in the Android manual to update and troubleshooting ADT, but all without success.
I cannot access Android SDK and AVD manager, as it says "Location of the Android SDK has not been setup in the preferences".
I downloaded the zip version to install it manually, but then I get this error:
<code>Cannot complete the request.  See the error log for details.
"Android DDMS" will be ignored because a newer version is already installed.
"Android Development Tools" will be ignored because a newer version is already installed.
</code>
I also tried installing new software using Eclipse with the website url:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
But then a problem occurs:

An error occurred while uninstalling session context
  was:(profile=SDKProfile,
  phase=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.engine.phases.Uninstall,
  operand=[R]com.android.ide.eclipse.adt 10.0.0.v201102162101-104271 -->
  [R]com.android.ide.eclipse.adt 16.0.1.v201112150204-238534,
  action=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.touchpoint.eclipse.actions.UninstallBundleAction).
  Error while loading manipulator. Error while loading manipulator.

I have Eclipse 3.6.2 installed on my macbook, with build id: M20110210-1200.
I installed a newer version of Eclipse, but was not able to open it.
When I double clicked on the Eclipse program, it appears very shortly in the dock below and disappears after. Therefore I need to use the current Eclipse version.
Answer: @Yanny try  downloading new version Juno.& then do the following steps.It worked fine for me
Help--> Install new Software-->Available software sites--> Click this site http://download.eclipse.org/releases/juno
Make sure that Show only software applicable to your environment is clicked & install all of them.This will fix your problem. It worked well for me.But I am using Windows 7


App check unwanted enforcement on Firebase callable functions

Question: Without having changed anything in my Firebase callable functions code, but having re-deployed them, now they suddenly start rejecting all function invocations from my app with the error shown below. I would like NOT to use App Check until I am ready to make the changes needed. How do I stop my callable (https.onCall) Firebase functions from rejecting invalid App Checks, and instead only reject invalid Authentication?
Failed to validate AppCheck token. FirebaseAppCheckError: Decoding App Check token failed. Make sure you passed the entire string JWT which represents the Firebase App Check token.
    at FirebaseAppCheckError.FirebaseError [as constructor] (/workspace/node_modules/firebase-admin/lib/utils/error.js:44:28)
    at FirebaseAppCheckError.PrefixedFirebaseError [as constructor] (/workspace/node_modules/firebase-admin/lib/utils/error.js:90:28)
    at new FirebaseAppCheckError (/workspace/node_modules/firebase-admin/lib/app-check/app-check-api-client-internal.js:187:28)
    at /workspace/node_modules/firebase-admin/lib/app-check/token-verifier.js:82:19
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:97:5) {
  errorInfo: {
    code: 'app-check/invalid-argument',
    message: 'Decoding App Check token failed. Make sure you passed the entire string JWT which represents the Firebase App Check token.'
  },
  codePrefix: 'app-check'
}

Callable request verification failed: AppCheck token was rejected. {"verifications":{"app":"INVALID","auth":"VALID"}}

The code rejecting all requests due to invalid App Check is super simple:
const functions = require("firebase-functions");
const admin = require("firebase-admin");
admin.initializeApp();
exports.example = functions.https.onCall((data, context) => {
  return "test";
}

Package.json:
"engines": {
    "node": "12"
},
"main": "index.js",
"dependencies": {
  "firebase-admin": "^9.10.0",
  "firebase-functions": "^3.14.1"
},

Comment: This looks like a bug:  https://github.com/firebase/firebase-functions/issues/967
Answer: I had the same experience. The docs say that you are supposed to check like this[1]:
  if (context.app == undefined) {
    throw new functions.https.HttpsError(
        'failed-precondition',
        'The function must be called from an App Check verified app.')
  }

But, this is not the case in my experience, the App Check starts to be enforced immediately the moment you add App Check to your app.
EDIT:
moreover, even without doing any check in my code, I can see this in the logs whenever I call one of my functions:
Callable request verification passed {"verifications":{"auth":"VALID","app":"VALID"}}

So it seems App Check happens automatically, at least in Callable Functions. If you want to bypass AppCheck in one of your functions, you might want to try an HTTP function instead (not Callable).
[1] Source https://firebase.google.com/docs/app-check/cloud-functions
Comment: Yes this was also exactly what I noticed, and thought I could make use of that exact functionality. Contrary to the documentation, it seems all the checks in reality are done automatically before the cloud function is even executed
Comment: @thamey see my edit I found out a bit more info by checking the function logs.
Answer: From protocol specification for https.onCall:

Optional [Header]: X-Firebase-AppCheck: The Firebase App Check token provided by the client app making the request. The backend automatically verifies this token and decodes it, injecting the appId in the handler's context. If the token cannot be verified, the request is rejected. (Available for SDK >=3.14.0)

My guess is that calls to your callable function contains an invalid App Check token.
If you haven't configured DeviceCheck or/and App Attest attestation providers on your project but have included the App Check library on your client, your client code may be including a dummy App Check token when calling your function (full details on this github issue).
Firebase team is working through changes to make the experience less confusing. Please follow along in http://github.com/firebase/firebase-functions/issues/967 and https://github.com/FirebaseExtended/flutterfire/issues/6794 for status.
Answer: My problem is the same when I run the app on an emulator, after running on a real device is running without any problems. That's what happens to me.


Hops: Buy vs. Grow

Question: Is it worth it to grow my own hops or should I just buy them somewhere?
Answer: Growing and using your own hops exclusively presents two definite setbacks in brewing: variety and proportions.
When you grow your own, you're generally limited to a single variety of hops which limits the hop flavors in the beers you make. Some hops contain a lot of alpha acids are are great as bittering hops (e.g. magnum), while others impart things such as citrus notes, spiciness, and great floral aromas. Buying hops gives you the ability to perfect your hop schedule by choosing additions that add different things to the beer.
Growing your own hops also means you'll be adding whole hops cones or whole leave to your beer rather than pelletized hops. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; whole-leaf hops are great for dry-hopping, but pelletized hops are much easier to measure and give you greater control of your beer's bitterness and the other flavor/aroma notes mentioned above.
Of course, if you've got the space and are considering growing some hops, then by all means, do it! You can always brew a nice IPA with them, and if you end up using more than you intended to, just let the beer mellow a bit over time. There's nothing preventing you from growing some hops and buying hops for other beers as well. If I had the space, I'd certainly grow some myself, but I'd still buy pellets from my LHBS for many of my beers.
Answer: There is satisfaction, and frustration, in growing hops.  I personally have 6 hop varieties growing.
Problems:

variable yields.  Your local weather will have a huge effect on what variety you can grow, and what yield you get.  Some sources list between 1/2 to 2 pounds of dried hops per vine.  I've never been able to get anywhere near that, even though my vines grow to 20 feet.
Repeatability.  You'll only have a rough idea of the alpha acid content of your home grown hops; and this can vary year to year.  If you have a favorite recipe it will be hard to duplicate the bittering from batch to batch.

Upsides:

Wet hopping.  It's becoming more popular to make 'wet hop' ales, ie, beers that are using fresh picked, non-dried hops for their late additions and dry hopping.  If you grow your own you'll have a ready supply of hops during harvest season.
Satisfaction-  the fuzzy warm feelings of goodness you get out of growing your own and making something with it.

Unknown:
Economics.  Is it cheaper to grow your own?  That depends.  How much watering will you have to do? How much does water cost you? How much is your time worth?  They don't require meticulous care, just watering and occasional checking for pests, and some early pruning work at the beginning of the season.
Comment: I'm most interested because of the fuzzy-warm feelings.  Even with the increased hop prices, unless you're brewing hundreds of gallons of beer, I don't think the price of buying hops would surpass the time and labor of growing hops.  Kudos on growing so many varieties! I think a community wiki with hop growing tips and resources would be really great
Answer: If you enjoy gardening and have a good climate for hops, it is definitely worth it. There is something extra special about having a homebrew made with homehops.
That said, you will probably not have enough to supply yourself throughout the year, unless you have a much bigger yard than I do. My general habit is to make a wet hop beer once a year around harvest time (late August/early September for me) using the fresh hops right off the vine for late/finishing hops. I'll use store bought for bittering. If I have enough, I'll dry and use remaining hops for later batches.

Hops: Buy vs. Grow


Apple Official iOS Development Certificate

Question: Are there any official certification programs by Apple for iOS App Development?
Comment: I have an Apple Swiss army Jackknife that I got for answering technical questions during a long gone era at Apple. No frameable "Certified Developer" certificates or the like. Never seen any.
Answer: There are no iOS certifications currently listed on the Apple Developer web site.
The de-facto industry standard base-level certification is getting at least one non-trivial native Objective C (or Swift) app that you've developed approved by Apple into the iOS App store.
Answer: Apple does now seem to offer a Swift Certification through CertiPort. Info can be found on the Apple developer site here  and on the Certiport site here.
Answer: Apple has hyperlinks to all of the topics they do provide certification for off of this page.  At this time it is only Mac OS X IT-related and 'Pro Apps', meaning Apple apps used by creative professionals/iWork.
Answer: I am not aware of Apple-sanctioned certifications for software development. From the Apple Certifications page there are only two tracks - IT and Creative. Becoming an Apple Developer gives you access to Apple material such as Tech Talk and WWDC sessions, but there is no official certification path as far as I can tell.
I have read wonderful things about training at the Big Nerd Ranch and at the Pragmatic Studio, but I haven't experienced these courses myself (yet). Both of these places are well regarded in the community and while they do no not offer certifications per se, they still seem like terrific alternatives for training. Hope this helps.
Comment: I know this is an old post, but you might want to update because it looks like Pragmatic Studios might've dropped iOS - there is no mention on the page you link to and iOS seems to only be mentioned in past events and recommended books...
Answer: While not available initially, Apple has recently partnered with a widely recognised, 3rd party training provider LearnQuest. LearnQuest claims to be an Apple Authorised Global Training Provider.
Clicking the Find a course button on Apple Training website directs to the Apple Authorized Training Schedule page on LearnQuest's website.
The App Development Training Program mentioned on LearnQuest lists the following training paths as of this writing:

Introduction to Swift 4.
Introduction to the iOS 11 SDK.
App Development with Swift 4.

All three of them are classroom courses. These courses are targeted towards Software Developers, Software Architects and Technology Consultants.
Note: The hyperlinks mentioned in the answer direct to the courses available in the current country of my residence. You may need to switch to the desired country page on LearnQuest's website.


How do I delete wine-staging-i?

Question: I am trying to remove wine and all of its remnants. When I use    dpkg-query -l '*wine*'    it tells me I have rc wine-staging-i version 1.9.10 with i386 architecture installed, but when I try to remove it outputs    E: Unable to locate package wine-staging-i    . I am running ubuntu 14.04 on a samsung chromebook with an intel processor. I'm sure it's obvious, but I'm super new to all of this and have no idea what I'm doing. I just trial and error-ed myself to this point. I apologize for any formatting or phrasing errors.
Comment: As a new user, you might want to use a package manager with a graphical interface, such as Synaptic (or even Aptitude in a console), rather than the command-line utilities. Other people may have a more direct answer to your question.
Answer: Simply type in sudo apt-get remove wine and let it uninstall wine. If there is a package in your machine that is truly installed called wine-staging-i simply type in sudo apt-get remove wine-staging-i and it will remove that package.
If it claims that wine-staging-i is not apparent on your machine... it means it isn't.
You can also use Systemback - A free program for Ubuntu 14.04 that allows you to backup your files, and even restore your system.
Try restoring your system to a point it was before you installed Wine.
Also, type in sudo apt-get remove playonlinux - A lot of users install PlayOnLinux carelessly alongside Wine, so please remove that as well (Optional).
Comment: I have tried a variety of combinations of apt-get purge/remove combined with everything from 'wine-staging-i' to 'wine...' and it tells me it can't locate it. For other programs like playonlinux, it outputs 0 upgraded, installed,removed, etc. I just want to be sure it's gone because I have to reinstall wine, and I don't want them to interfere with each other.
Comment: Reinstalling wine will not interfere with anything. Just simply do `sudo apt-get install wine` and it will reinstall it.
Answer: I had a similar problem.
1st, Please note that "WINE" is a completely different program from "Wine Staging."   In fact they each have their own versions  & updates.
With that in mind, 1st check to see exactly what WINE you have installed.
[from terminal]
WINE --version
In my case I had:
wine-2.21 (Staging)
To REMOVE it:
sudo apt-get --purge remove wine-staging
General rule of thumb:
If you see elsewhere (as I've seen) instructions on removing "WINE" or other Linux programs, ju substitute "WINE" or "WINE-staging" depending upon exactly what you have.

How do I delete wine-staging-i?


Why is distribution voltage 480V but equipment is usually only rated for 460V?

Question: In the US, distribution voltage is usually 480V. However, most industrial equipment is only rated for 460V. Why is this the case?
Comment: Is it *usually* 480V?
Comment: Yes. From what I have seen. The supply panels usually have a 480V rating sticker on them. I once read equipment is rated at 460V because the voltage loss between the distribution transformer and the equipment is taken into account. However I can no longer find any literature to support this.
Comment: Have a look [here - Mains electricity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity). Section on _Voltage levels._
Answer: The feeder wires that deliver power have a small resistance/reactance.   When a current flows through them a percentage of the source voltage is lost to the wires.   So the voltage at load will be less.   120V at panel, but 115V at loads.  If the voltage is higher than 115V, it is just better efficiency.
Electric codes set maximum loss to feeders.  It's how we size wires for installations.
In your case, 480V at source, 460V required by load (nominal ratings) and a maximum of 20V lost to the wires.
It's just Ohm's law applied to a series circuit with a small resistance (wires) and a large resistance (load).
Comment: I think this might be a more accurate answer
Comment: Afterall, Ohm's Law is a law.  At 120V, 3% maximum voltage drop (for Canada) means 3.6V maximum will be lost to wires (116.4V).  We round this down to 115V.  Actual voltage will be between 115V and 120V depending on current and distance load is from source.  So your equipment is rated for 460V utilization from a 480V source. 3% would give you 14.4V to wires.  Actual voltage will be above 460V, but below 480V.  The concept of the power company raising voltage to increase consumption is not really viable when you realize what is involved in the power system.
Answer: This is exactly the same situation as regular 120 Vac Mains voltage. Although North American AC Mains voltage is often called 110 Vac or 115 Vac or even 117 Vac, the actual voltage as specified by the power utility is 120 Vac.
That's because the power utility tries really hard not to exceed 120 Vac at your power outlets. Doing so causes incandescent lamps to burn out faster and causes resistive loads to consume more current than they would at a lower voltage such as 115 Vac.
The 480 Vac Mains is treated exactly the same way. Maximum voltage is supposed to be 480 Vac but nominal voltage is set to 460 Vac.


DVD not working on Windows Media Player

Question: I've made a DVD with Adobe Encore and it play fine on VLC, other media player, and my DVD player connected to my TV. The only exception is Windows Media Player, which give an error about a wrong region code (that I have double checked on encore and I know is valid)
How do I fix this? there is come info software to see the region code of a DVD and a DVD player, so I can check the DVD player on my computer? I'm going nuts there.
Answer: Go to My Computer or Computer, and right click on any optical drive, then choose Properties.
Go to the Hardware tab and double click on the optical drive you want to choose.
Find the Region tab and you should be able to change it there.
Comment: This is an heavy change (you have only 5). My dvd reader is set to "no region" and other dvd works fine with it. I need to make my dvd working with media player "out of the box" :(
Answer: At the end i had to completely rebuild the dvd from scratch, but at end it worked fine.

DVD not working on Windows Media Player


What is the difference between add_action and add_filter

Question: I just want to know what is the difference between the add_action and add_filter. I just could not get it enough in the documentation of wordpress. Can anyone explain it more broader and simpler. Thank you in advance.
Answer: add_action
add_action is what you use to create a trigger "hook" – when something happens, do-something-else.
add_Filter
add_filter is used to "hook" data change/replace  – where there is [some-code], change it to some-other-expanded-code.
add_filter ( string $tag, callable $function_to_add, int $priority = 10, int $accepted_args = 1 )
Hook a function or method to a specific filter action.
WordPress offers filter hooks to allow plugins to modify various types of internal data at runtime.
A plugin can modify data by binding a callback to a filter hook. When the filter is later applied, each bound callback is run in order of priority, and given the opportunity to modify a value by returning a new value.
Comment: can add_action use this function?     `function twentynineteen_nav_menu_social_icons( $item_output, $item, $depth, $args ) {
 // Change SVG icon inside social links menu if there is supported URL.
 if ( 'social' === $args->theme_location ) {
  $svg = twentynineteen_get_social_link_svg( $item->url, 26 );
  if ( empty( $svg ) ) {
   $svg = twentynineteen_get_icon_svg( 'link' );
  }
  $item_output = str_replace( $args->link_after, '' . $svg, $item_output );
 }

 return $item_output;
}`


Simple, consistent N. Am. phone validation/reformatting everywhere?

Question: If we want to put in some validation and reformatting for phone numbers to make sure they conform to N. Am. standard for 10 digit numbers, is there a simple way to catch this for everywhere a phone number is entered or edited (including edit in place), rather than having to search and deal with each form separately?
Comment: I want to plug https://github.com/JohnFF/UK-Phone-Number-Validator here, as it's written by a friend and former boss and we use it, but it's UK only.
Answer: There's an extension that does precisely this: https://github.com/cividesk/com.cividesk.normalize
It used to be in the extensions directory, but it's gone now for some reason.  It uses libphonenumber, and it formats international numbers appropriately based upon the country in the address.
Comment: skimming that extension's code it appears it does batch normalization of the phone numbers, but does NOT do it on data entry with feedback to user. FWIW, my guess is that it's not in the extensions directory since Nicolas does not want to have to provide support to users for it.
Comment: It'll do it as you enter contacts one-by-one, but only after submission, so there's no visual feedback of what it'll become.
Comment: So if there is an input error of 9 or 11 digits, or 10 digits starting with 1 or 0, the garbage will get into the system. :(
Comment: I agree, not ideal at all.  It could definitely stand improvement.
Answer: I'm not sure where exactly phone input fields are built (is it always Phone.php?). But if building phone inputs can be patched to add type="tel", you could then put JS in the footer of all Civi pages to scan for that input type and run your required logic against it.
Answer: FYI Civi already does one pass at normalization behind the scenes - whenever a phone number is entered or updated, a numeric-only version of it (stripped of all punctuation and spaces) is stored in the phone_numeric field in the database. This is the field that is used for search.
It doesn't enforce a certain number of digits, but thought you'd want to know that this calculated field exists.
Comment: Mmm, might be quite helpful, since we can use it to format the data on presentation if number of digits is 10.
Comment: Is there a way to use the phone_numeric field in a report?
Comment: Yes it's available in SearchKit if you make your report that way.
Answer: Rather than trying to solve it at the form level, you could use hook_civicrm_post() to look for a 'Phone' object. From there, doing a phone number reformat by talking to libphonenumber is pretty straightforward. I've built a little Node app that exposes it as a service; if that helps I could chuck it onto GitHub. There is also a PHP port of that library.
I realize it's not ideal as we are cleaning up after the data comes in rather than bringing it in pristine, but it's a smaller dev effort for something workable.


having problem in usb connection

Question: I am using Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon mobile with Android version 4.2.2. I tried to connect my device to a PC via USB cable and through the cable the charging process is on but it doesn't show the notification and it is not working with media transfer. I installed all the drivers like Samsung Kies, adb driver, usb driver, but still I can't connect. I tried the process with developer options too, and nothing happened. Please help me. Do I need to download any APK files for the device?
Answer: If you don't get a notification on the phone, it means there's no USB connection. The most likely cause for this is that the cable you're using is not a real USB cable, but only has the power wire inside the cable, with the data pins not connected to anything. Devices that use USB to charge sometimes come with such cables instead of real USB cables because they're cheaper to make. Physical damage to a normal USB cable (e.g. by shutting it in a door or under heavy furniture) can break the data connection but still leave it able to supply power.
Try using another USB cable and see if the notification appears. If that doesn't work, then probably the problem is caused by a damaged USB port, either on your phone or on your PC. Try a different port on your PC. If the port on your phone is physically damaged, all you can do is take it to someone who can repair it.
Alternatively, you might not need to use USB at all. There are many apps that can transfer photos, contacts, or other data between your phone and PC over Wi-Fi, without needing a USB connection.
Comment: How do I distinguish between real USB cable and the one with only power wire inside it?
Comment: @AjaySinghNegi One works and the other one doesn't. In theory, power-only cables shouldn't have the USB logo on them because they're not USB cables, but those cheap manufacturers don't always care about that.

having problem in usb connection


What happened to scrolls in 4e?

Question: I'm still learning the 4e system, and I'm trying to find out what happened to scrolls.  I loved scrolls back in my 1e days because it let players experiment with spells they normally wouldn't want to memorize or were not available to them.  They also made a great addition to treasure without having a permanent impact on the game.  Are rituals supposed to fill this role?  I haven't ever seen a player try to cast a ritual.
Comment: Rituals can be very useful, and I'd recommend your players check them out. Mine make quite a bit of use out of informational rituals like divinations and Comprehend Languages. Tenser's Floating Disk has been used in clever ways, and Sending is vital for any campaign which calls for long-distance communication.
Answer: The rules allow for consumable items, and magic items, so single-shot items you call "scrolls" could be allowed. I know I'm planning on having them - even if I have to house rule them. Each would be either a single-use ritual scroll (mentioned explicitly on page 134 of the Rules Compendium, or page 298 of the PHB) or a consumable magic item-scroll which is equal to a daily-use power at either a higher level of mastery and/or from a different class. More importantly, I'm creating consumable magic items with effects that aren't currently in existing powers.
I've had many an AD&D game session take an amazing turn - like when when the cleric is incapacitated, the party is on the ropes, but the fighter whips out a scroll of Healing God's Blessing (something I made up). I'm not giving up that ability for players to surprise me and especially my monsters.
Comment: You can also reskin the consumables. For example- the Dragonfire Tar consumable is a thing you throw at someone that sets them on fire. But you could also call it/describe "Scroll of The Efreet's Kiss" and use the exact same mechanic. Except now it's a scroll.  You can reskin anything this way- healing potions, potions of frost resistance, etc.
Comment: Yup! That's what I was going for too - thanks for the addition!
Answer: Largely the old scroll system from 3.5 and 2.0 is gone.
Rituals are basically like any non-combat spell/effect that takes longer than a round to cast.  Ritual scrolls are what's left of the old scroll system.  Their usage seems to vary on the type of players and DM involved, since they are in the gray area outside of combat/skill check activities.
Comment: Could some of the feats be re-skinned into one shot scrolls and used in combat?  I think that would be interesting and flavorful.
Comment: Hmm, that is an interesting idea, but the problem is how do you create the scrolls, how much do they cost, and what is their availability.  Also only some feats would fit correctly, others might not fit such a system.  But the dm can do whatever they want, right?
Comment: I've been wrestling with the mechanics of how scrolls with a power source other than arcane come into existence.  For example, if someone wanted to create a scroll that had an effect with a martial power source, would that be created by a wizard type with access to martial power or do you just abstract away the power source when creating a scroll?  I wouldn't necessarily need a way for PC's to create their own scrolls but I would like something that makes sense to explain how they exist.
Comment: Martial scrolls could contain instructions for a complex stance or routine that is too difficult to memorize (kind of like martial powers).  The ink could be the blood of the author's enemies.
Answer: Scrolls for getting more spell variety for combat are gone, because D&D 4e character creation is about making choices and having limited power.
All classes are created equal and balanced one against the others. This does not mean that a PVP encounter between single characters would be balanced, but a PVP between parties might (if both parties have the same optimization level). Everyone is supposed to shine in its own role and leave other people shine as well.
The variety of available powers is part of this balance, at least combat-wise. Classes just don't get the chance to spend some resources in advance in order to have a higher number of encounter or daily powers later. Some magic items do similar things, but they are limited in what they can do. In the first batch of 4e books, when item-generated powers had a number of daily slots based on character level, this mindset was painstakingly clear. Now that items are only limited by their rarity, I feel like some of the original intent has been lost (the Essentials line, after all, was an attempt to regain some of the D&D 3.X editions audience, breaking the AEDU model and reworking this item thing).
Scrolls as you know them still exist for rituals, i.e. out-of-combat spells that (at least at the beginning of the game) had no effects on combat.

What happened to scrolls in 4e?


PIC32MX230F256D pinout

Question: I wanted to do a little project with the µC mentioned above (TQFP-44 package). I looked into the datasheet, obviously. But there are multiple names for the pins which aren´t the voltage supply. How can I determine how the pins are labeled? Or does this depend upon the application of the µC?
Answer: It's pretty typical in microcontrollers today that each pin has more than one function it can be configured to implement.  I'm not familiar with Microchip's scheme, but they'll have designed it so that the chip has some basic functionality coming out of reset -- then it's your job to write the software so that a given pin does what you want it to.
There's two directions you can go.  You can use the manufacturer's tools, or you can closely study the datasheet, figure out how the chip works, and configure the thing yourself in software.
Most manufacturers also have wizards built into their tool chains that let folks who don't want, or can't, wrap their heads around doing the work in bare metal make the chip work.  Usually these wizards don't work as well as they should, and don't play well with a mix of "wizard-generated" and "programmer generated" content, so I tend to not use them.
I usually take the opposite tack*, and closely study the datasheet.  I can't speak for Microchip, but there's always some combination (sometimes large) of registers and/or register bits that can be configured to get a pin to function in a specific way.  Some manufacturers are very good about thoroughly documenting this sort of functionality (i.e., ST), and some (i.e., Atmel) are horrible.  I can't speak to Microchip's documentation, unfortunately.
* but I started in the 1980's, when a microcontroller with a couple of dual-purpose pins was really fancy, so I got ushered into this whole scheme gently, over a long period of time.
Comment: Thanks for the quick reply. So I found out that there is the MPLAB X IDE which I can use then to realize my project.
Answer: The labeling of the pins can be quite hard to understand if one is not familiar with the abbreviations and feature MCU (can) have. The actual "work" the pin does depends on how you set certain registers or maybe even fuses. Just for starters you dont have to worry about them too much. As you continue through the datasheet and explore the features you will come about the pins that change from their "normal" behavior depending on the settings.
Some pins you need to know as they are important for flashing (putting the software on) the chip are:
Vcc, GND,
Reset,
MISO Master In Slave out,
MOSI Master Out Slave in.
Dont worry to much how they work, the programm used for flashing does.
Also try to stay away from the jtag pins. They can be a hassle if you use those ports in your programm and did not disable jtag. Those pin normale have the names of :
TMS, TCK, TDI, TDO.
And to at least answer one of your questions. Yes they depend on the application of the uC
Comment: I can't speak to the Microchip parts, but as soon as you repurpose a JTAG pin you can't use it for programming or debugging.  This is, at best, a hassle, and if you don't take precautions you essentially brick the processor by remapping them.
Comment: Some MCU have JTAG enabled per default, which could throw one off when you use them, but they dont do as objected, was what I wanted to point out.

PIC32MX230F256D pinout


How to get rid of frequent nesting by pigeons?

Question: I have a duct area adjacent to my bathroom window which is unapproachable - almost 2.5 meters down.  Every month pigeons intrude into that space and lay eggs, and their shit generates a filthy smell. My son is also allergic to dust. I can not close the window as that's the only fresh air window feasible for bathroom. Since my flat is at 5th floor and this duct area is approachable only by fire-safety lift, it costs me about 2000 bucks for each cleaning every two months. I can not install a grill or mesh because it's a society controlled area and also may need to used for emergency repairs in my absence.  Can anyone help me with any tactic that can scare the pigeons and prevent their entry into the space - some buzzer or other tactic?
Comment: Related: https://diy.stackexchange.com/q/92086/38002
Comment: Does this answer your question? [How can I repel pigeons from roosting on my apartment balcony?](https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/20651/how-can-i-repel-pigeons-from-roosting-on-my-apartment-balcony)
Answer: A picture might help us to imagine it, but if it's reachable even with a long pole, you might be able to get pigeon spikes glued in there.
If you have to pay guys to get up there to clean it, they could maybe do the install too, once it's clean.
Random google online store with selection.
If it needs access then maybe a clip-in grille instead.
Answer: There are laser devices that claim to repel birds, but at $US350, I'd not buy one without guarantee of full refund if not effective. You can also hang old metallized CD and DVD from thin cords if there is a spot they can catch and reflect sunlight into the duct.
Why would anyone object to a coarse, lightweight mesh, such as this or this? You should include a photo of the situation for more ideas.
Answer: I had a problem with pigeons. I have tried artificial eagle, stickers on the glass, balloons with eyes, specific sprays. Nothing helped.
The last and only solution was to put a net over my balcony. It was done by a professional company which put it tightly.
Finally I was able to leave on holidays without worry that pigeon family will create a house in my balcony.


Install Receptacle in damaged drywall

Question: I have a receptacle box that needs to be reinstalled. While replacing one of the cables running to the box, the drywall became damaged. With this level of damage, is my best bet to cut out and replace a large section of the drywall (10in by 16in) between the two adjacent studs and make a receptacle cut out in the new piece of drywall? Is there another way that is any easier, what provides enough support for the box?
Comment: Can you relocate the box to a stud and then repair the existing  box location?
Comment: The current location is next to a stud on the left, but since this is a "old work" box, it attaches to the drywall with wings. I'm just not sure about having those wings try to secure the box given the current condition of the drywall where the wings would make contact.
Comment: I prefer stud to stud repairs for many things but it's just about a must with an old work box. You could install a construction box and have about 1/2 the area to repair but that could be more work / take longer than a stud to stud patch.
Comment: It looks like the major damage is at the top-left? The top wing would make contact at the top-right. It really looks like you should be able to re-install the box without issue in the current drywall. You may need to get some self-leveling plates for your device and an over-sized wall plate to cover the damage. This is not much worse than the holes cut by some drywall installers on new drywall.
Answer: Don't "attach to drywall" if a stud is available.
Seriously.  You can have some pretty large insert/remove forces on a socket - 10 or 20 pounds.  Drywall is chalk covered with paper. It is simply not made to bear that, and the goofy "wings" that grab-the-drywall boxes use won't hold up to the strain.
If it was a switch, maybe not so bad... but for a recep, no, definitely use any means necessary to screw into that stud with a box capable of that.
I would go for a steel box because it will attach well to screws with no risk of tearing out... and then use wood screws with either a 90 degree ratchet screwdriver, or a hex head screw and a wrench.  Royal PITA, once, and then the job is done first-rate and you never have to sweat it again.
Now that we're not using it for attachment, that drywall damage is just an "oops". Cover that with an  extended cover plate, which are widely sold for just that purpose.
Answer: With drywall repairs, larger is not harder (really, within anything like reason) and certainly a "stud to stud" repair is easier/faster than fiddling with supporting a patch between studs, much less a patch that's supporting a box. Mostly, you'll be waiting for mud to dry.
Unless there's some particular reason/need to retain the particular box, you could also move the box to a stud (unless there's a reason not to) and replace with a "new work" box - or install a hunk of wood between studs to support a new work box out between studs if the location can't be shifted 8 inches or less one way or the other.
Since you'll have a large area opened for the patch, you have access for installing a "new work" type box.
Comment: Yes, a new work box, why I asked about the stud. +

Install Receptacle in damaged drywall


Only serve requests to a specific domain?

Question: I'd like to only server requests that are made to a specific domain and just drop everything else or give it 404. Would prefer to see it done through nginx but would of course like the best solution.
Answer: When you setup Nginx, set your "server block" to be specific rather than general. This one would only pick up traffic going to www.domain1.com.
http {
  index index.html;

  server {
    server_name www.domain1.com;
    access_log logs/domain1.access.log main;

    root /var/www/domain1.com/htdocs;
  }
}

Where as this one would pick up all traffic to port 80.
http {
  index index.html;

  server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    server_name _; # This is just an invalid value which will never trigger on a real hostname.
    access_log logs/default.access.log main;

    server_name_in_redirect off;

    root  /var/www/default/htdocs;
  }
}

More info:
http://wiki.nginx.org/ServerBlockExample
Comment: Awesome thanks a lot for the talk through. The default config I copied from had a listen 80; in there and when I removed it everything worked as expected. Thanks again for this!


Virtualbox failed to install after upgrade to 15.10

Question: samip@samip510:~$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox
[sudo] password for samip:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libgsoap7 libvncserver1 virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-qt
Suggested packages:
  vde2 virtualbox-guest-additions-iso
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgsoap7 libvncserver1 virtualbox virtualbox-dkms virtualbox-qt
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 6,970 kB/21.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 92.7 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://np.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily/multiverse virtualbox-qt amd64 5.0.4-dfsg-2 [6,970 kB]
Fetched 2,245 kB in 4min 1s (9,282 B/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libgsoap7:amd64.
dpkg: warning: files list file for package 'unity-scope-virtualbox' missing; assuming package has no files currently installed
(Reading database ... 205331 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libgsoap7_2.8.22-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libgsoap7:amd64 (2.8.22-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libvncserver1:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../libvncserver1_0.9.10+dfsg-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libvncserver1:amd64 (0.9.10+dfsg-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox.
Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox_5.0.4-dfsg-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox (5.0.4-dfsg-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-dkms.
Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox-dkms_5.0.4-dfsg-2_all.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox-dkms (5.0.4-dfsg-2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package virtualbox-qt.
Preparing to unpack .../virtualbox-qt_5.0.4-dfsg-2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox-qt (5.0.4-dfsg-2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.4-1) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (225-1ubuntu9) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.3-1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.2~bzr0+15.10.20150627.1-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu3) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.58ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libgsoap7:amd64 (2.8.22-1) ...
Setting up libvncserver1:amd64 (0.9.10+dfsg-3) ...
Setting up virtualbox (5.0.4-dfsg-2) ...
insserv: script virtualbox: service vboxdrv already provided!
insserv: exiting now!
update-rc.d: error: insserv rejected the script header
dpkg: error processing package virtualbox (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of virtualbox-dkms:
 virtualbox-dkms depends on virtualbox (>= 5.0.4-dfsg-2); however:
  Package virtualbox is not configured yet.
  Package virtualbox-4.3 which provides virtualbox is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package virtualbox-dkms (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of virtualbox-qt:
 virtualbox-qt depends on virtualbox (= 5.0.4-dfsg-2); however:
  Package virtualbox is not configured yet.
  Package virtualbox-4.3 which provides virtualbox is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package virtualbox-qt (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.21-0ubuntu4) ...
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                          No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                    Processing triggers for systemd (225-1ubuntu9) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 virtualbox
 virtualbox-dkms
 virtualbox-qt
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Answer: Whenever we install a newer major release of Virtual Box (e.g. 5.0.x) over an older release (e.g. 4.3.x) we have to remove the old version (including its kernel modules) before we can proceed.
For some reason this did not happen on your system where you still had the 4.3. kernel modules loaded.
To remove a previous VirtualBox installation we can issue:
sudo apt-get purge virtualbox*

We may have to reboot to unload the old kernel modules. After that we should be able to re-install the newer version from the repositories:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox

The latest releases with bugfixes can also be installed by adding the official Oracle repository to our sources. I recommend to do so.
Comment: This still results in errors for me (Ubuntu 20.04)
Comment: The error is still there. For some reason it tries to install kernel 5.4 instead of 5.8.
Answer: I had this very problem and tried all the solutions and none of them worked!
But i saw this solution and it surprisingly worked! apparently the problem was because of my kernel version, and when you update the kernel, dkms module can be installed properly during installation of virtualbox.
So all you have to do is remove all the virtualbox packages:
sudo apt-get remove virtualbox virtualbox-4.* virtualbox-5.0

Then update kernel:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install linux-generic

Then reboot your system:
And then install virtualbox:

get the installation deb file fro virtualbox.org site and install it

I hope it works for you as well.
Answer: found the perfect solutions for this bug
cd /var/lib/dpkg/info/

sudo rm virtualbox*

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get autoremove

Should solve it. I did this in ubuntu 15.10 64bit.
Regards,
Hashim Neves
Comment: This seems to be no different than the prior two answers, other than the `cd /var/lib/dpkg/info/` which does nothing for the process.
Comment: there is also auto-remove and I am not sure it is the same
Answer: I had faced the similar issue. In my case I was trying to install i386(32 bit) version of virtual box in Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit system. Then i downloaded AMD64 (64 bit) version and it worked fine. So make sure you are using appropriate version of virtual box.


Using gulp-uncss on a Wordpress site

Question: Is it possible to use gulp-uncss with Wordpress? If yes then what would be the procedure to make this work?
Answer: Hey ok I finally figured this out and it seems pretty easy.
I followed along multiple articles like MandsatWork suggested.
Basically I combined a simple tutorial on using gulp-uncss (on a simple non-Wordpress website) with a grunt Uncss tutorial.
I wrote a whole tutorial on doing this step by step here: http://uplifted.net/programming/remove-unused-css-wordpress-using-gulp/
So the basics:
1) You should have gulp and gulp-uncss in your project directory already (If not go do it!)
2) In your gulp.js file write the gulp task to uncss - It should look something like this:
<code> //Include Gulp
   var gulp = require('gulp');

//Include plugins
  var uncss = require('gulp-uncss');

//Rename is included to rename the uncssed file
  var rename = require('gulp-rename');

//Uncss task
 gulp.task('uncss', function() {
//Where the bloated CSS lives
 gulp.src('lib/bootstrap/css/bootstrap.min.css')
   .pipe(uncss({
         html: [
                'http://wordpress[dot]dev/','http://wordpress-gulp[dot]dev/page-1/'
                ]
               }))
   //Add a suffix to avoid confusion
   .pipe(rename({suffix: '.clean'}))
   //The destination of new uncssed file
   .pipe(gulp.dest('lib/bootstrap/css/'));
</code>
That's how you do it at it's most basic. If you have many pages I recommend using Grunt Sitemap Generator plugin for Wordpress in https://gist.github.com/lgladdy/10586308
Install it using it's instructions and then go to yourwordpresdomain.com?show_sitemap
Copy the array and paste it's content here:
<code> .pipe(uncss({
         html: [
 REPLACE THIS URLS ====> 'URL-1/','URL-2/page-1/'
                ]
               }))
</code>
Then just run gulp uncss :)
Comment: gulp-uncss breaks my drop down of my bootstrap navigation. Did you encounter any similar problems?
Comment: Hey, so I am new at Node and grunt and I am trying to understand exactly how I can do this. I am using filezilla to move files around. Do I simply add gulp and gulp-uncss  in my child theme?
Comment: @LoveAndHappiness From the Uncss docs... "UnCSS only runs the Javascript that is run on page load. It does not (and cannot) handle Javascript that runs on user interactions like button clicks. You must use the ignore option to preserve classes that are added by Javascript on user interaction."

Using gulp-uncss on a Wordpress site


Accessing network shares from a service

Question: I am creating a service that needs to run on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, 2008 & Vista. The service needs to access a network share as part of its processing. For XP and beyond the service can be running as the Network Service account but what's the equivalent in Windows 2000?
Answer: In Windows 2000, there are no built-in principals with the required privileges, and you'll need to use a regular user account for this purpose (it does need to have the 'run as a service' privilege enabled, of course, but that's handled automagically when entering the account credentials through the service control manager user interface).
Using a named account is always a good idea, BTW: although using 'Network Service' is very convenient when deploying your service (since no user interaction is required), the network share the service connects to will also need to have access rights applied to it.
This is where you'll likely run into issues, since granting those access rights to 'Network Service' isn't very granular. In order words: not just your service, but every other service running under those credentials will have access to the share. When using a unique account to begin with, this issue is avoided.

Accessing network shares from a service


Poisson's equation in regions

Question: Suppose I have two regions in space. Region 1 and region 2.
In Region 1 I have a bunch of charges, and in region 2 I have no charges.
Is it true that Laplace's equation is satisfied in region 2?
Comment: [Laplace's equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laplace%27s_equation#Electrostatics_2)
Answer: Yes, indeed. The electrostatic potential $V$ satisfies
$$\nabla^{2}V\left(\vec{r}\right)=-\frac{\rho\left(\vec{r}\right)}{\varepsilon_{0}}$$
so in a region $U\subset\mathbb{R}^{3}$ in which $\rho=0$, one also has
$$\nabla^{2}V\left(\vec{r}\right)=0$$
Note, however, that it doesn't mean you can always do something with it. For example, most theorems on Laplace's equation will require $U$ to be a connected open subset of $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ (with the topology induced by the Euclidean metric). So taking for instance $U$ to be a bunch of discrete points with no charges won't help you so much.
Answer: The Poisson equation is a differential equation. Any differential equation on $\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ can be written in terms of a differential operator $\mathfrak{D}$ mapping functions on $\Omega$ to functions on $\Omega$ as
$$\mathfrak{D}f=j$$
where $j$ is what sometimes is called a source term. When $j = 0$ the equation is homogenous.
The differential equation is an equality between functions. But equality of functions is pointwise equality. Thus when $f$ is a solution, $\mathfrak{D}f(x) = j(x)$ for all $x\in \Omega$.
In particular if $\Omega'\subset \Omega$ then $\mathfrak{D}f(x)=j(x)$ for all $x\in\Omega'$.
Now if $j(x) = 0$ if $x\in \Omega'$ this means that restricted to $\Omega'$ $f$ will satisfy $\mathfrak{D}f=0$ which is the homogenous equation associated to $\mathfrak{D}$.
Your is just the particular case $\mathfrak{D}=\nabla^2$ with $j(x)=\rho(x)/\epsilon_0$ and with $\Omega'$ the region $2$. The potential is a solution to $\mathfrak{D}\Phi=j$ and thus in $\Omega'$ the potential satisfies Laplace's equation
$$\nabla^2\Phi=0.$$

Poisson's equation in regions


Can I travel to Greece if I've overstayed my trip in Romania?

Question: I am a U.S. citizen that travelled to Romania and overstayed my visit by about 12 days. I filled out paperwork to exit the country and was only given a warning because it was my first time overstaying. I am now back in the states and want to take a short vacation for a few days to Greece with my boyfriend. Will I run into any trouble? I know Romania isn't a part of the Schengen zone, but will Greece see that I've overstayed my trip to Romania and not let me enter? What about if my flight lands in another country first to transfer to Greece?
Comment: See also http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/52816/will-i-be-refused-a-visa-if-i-previously-overstayed-in-a-different-country
Comment: How long have you been in the US? What will you do after your short holiday? Can you establish that?
Answer: What could happen is that the border guards see the Romanian stamps in your passport and decide that you are an unreliable traveller because you have previously shown your willingness to skirt the rules. They could then ask you to provide more details about your plans and/or ultimately rule that you were not able to establish you have a valid purpose for the stay (as a valid purpose obviously does not include overstaying and that's what you would be suspected of planning).
Transiting through a third country does not make any difference, legally (but if you transit elsewhere in the Schengen area, you might very well be denied entry then and there and sent back immediately, which would prevent you from even reaching Greece). Spending a longer period of time in your country of usual residence or having some documentation to show what you want to do in Greece and for how long might help. Going to visit your boyfriend (is he a Greek resident?) might theoretically play against you as you might tempted to overstay again to stay with him.
On the other hand, even a previous overstay in the Schengen area does not make it legally mandatory for border guards to deny entry (and technically isn't a motive to deny entry either, border guards have to evaluate your current intent and circumstances and base their decision on that, at least formally). It's also entirely possible that they don't notice or care all that much so it's impossible to predict that you will definitely be denied entry. However, Greek border guards are possibly somewhat more likely to notice Romanian stamps thasn stamps from any random country in the world because as part of its preparation to enter the Schengen area, Romania has to apply the same rules and uses stamps very similar to standard Schengen stamps.
Comment: @JonathanReez In practice I suspect it might. There are plans to have some Schengen-wide database of entries and exits but that's still not the case and Romania isn't even in the Schengen area so as far as I know the stamps are the only things that could raise questions in this scenario.
Comment: Would getting a fresh passport help OP?


five-point algorithm produces several solutions. How to check the real one?

Question: I use five-point algorithm to calculate essential matrix referring to http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~hongdong/new5pt_cameraREady_ver_1.pdf.
Finally, I got 4 solutions after eliminating the roots of which imaginary part are non-zero of equation C(z) = 0. Is there any technique to determine the true estimate?
Answer: suppose you have got the four candidate solution.
as we have known, the five point we use to determine the essential matrix are all in front of both two camera.
therefore,
them you can triangulate just one of the five point using the four candidate solution, them there are only one candidate suffice that the point stay in front of both of the camera.
that candidate is the "true estimate".
for a more detail explaination and visualizaiton, you can refer to the book "Multiple view geometry in computer vision",second version page 259 9.6.3 https://www.amazon.com/Multiple-View-Geometry-Computer-Vision/dp/0521540518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487321676&sr=1-1&keywords=multiple+view+geometry+in+computer+vision
i hope this answer can help you.


Subtle Twist on the Monty Hall Problem---Does It Make a Difference?

Question: In the Monty Hall problem, when the host picks a door and reveals an goat, does it make any difference if he did not know which door the real car was behind, and he just happened to pick a door with a goat?
Comment: Short answer: Yes, this makes a difference (and it is the crux of the subtlety in this puzzle).
Comment: Why is this a duplicate?
Comment: yeah, this is not a duplicate but a question on a (very interesting) subtlety of the problem.
Comment: I nominate for reopening...its not about solving the usual monty hall problem. It's actually interesting.
Comment: See this  answer http://math.stackexchange.com/a/609302/ point 4. I still think this should be reopened.
Answer: Ok, ill turn my comment into a full answer:
Let $C$ be the event where you choose the car and let $G$ be the event that Monty Hall shows the goat. Then the probability that the other door has a car given that monty shows you a goat is:
$P(\neg C|G)=\frac{P(\neg C)(P(G|\neg C)}{P(\neg C)(P(G|\neg C) + P(C)P(G|C)}=\frac{\frac{2}{3}\times\frac{1}{2}}{\frac{2}{3}\times\frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{3}\times1} = \frac{1}{2}$, which is different from the original problem.
Intuitively, this is because Monty Hall is not really providing you with any additional information by showing you a goat (obviously he does if he reveals a car)
Answer: We can do this by computing conditional probability, and those numbers don't lie, but let me try to intuit more of the situation before I start doing numbers.
In standard Monty Hall, we can divide all contestants into two groups. Group A initially chose a door with a goat behind it, and Monty opened the other goat's door. Group B initially chose the car, and Monty randomly opened one of the other two doors and showed a goat. Up to this point in the game both groups had exactly the same experience; what's the likelihood I'm in Group A vs. Group B? There are twice as many contestants in Group A, so I'm twice as likely to be one of them, that is, $\frac23$ chance of Group A, $\frac13$ chance of Group B.
In modified Monty Hall, there are three groups of contestants. Group A initially chose a door with a goat behind it, and Monty then revealed the car. Group B initially chose a door with a goat behind it, and Monty then revealed the other goat. Group C initially chose the car, and Monty revealed one of the goats. I just saw a goat, so I'm not in Group A, but Group B and Group C had the same experience as I did up to this point; what is the chance I'm in Group B vs. Group C? Group C was one-third of all contestant to start with; Groups A and B were two-thirds of all contestants, but Monty showed a car to half of them and a goat to the other half, so the two groups are equal, one-third of all contestants in each. So, same number of contestants in Group B and in Group C. I have the same chance to be in either group.
Now we can compute the conditional probabilities in the usual way and confirm that both answers are correct.
Answer: This has been said in various ways in other answers/comments, but I think this is a clearer way to explain it that requires very little theory.
The most obvious difference is that sometimes when the host opened that door, the car would be there and the game would be over. This would happen 1/3 of the time. Also 1/3 of the time the car would be behind the door the player picked initially, and the other 1/3 of the time the car would be behind the door the player had the option of switching to.
If the question is "What is the probability of winning if you switch doors?" well it depends on whether you are including the instances where the contestant does not have that opportunity (on account of Monty opening the winning door by accident). If so the answer is 1/3. If, on the other hand, you are only looking at when Monty doesn't show the car prematurely (maybe the contestant gets to go again?) well then 1/3 out of 2/3 is 1/2.


Lost saved games and profiles on Xbox 360 after getting on Xbox live

Question: I was playing Skyrim and screen froze.  I turned it off and when I turned it back on all my saved games and game profiles were gone and only got the Xbox live home page.  There was no history of any of the games my family had been playing or their profiles.  I spent about an hour with support and am still waiting for an answer.  Any thoughts?
Answer: It almost sounds as though your system experienced a system halt and hard drive failure, Check the system settings under memory for a hard drive, if one shows up try creating a profile and save to it, if it accepts the save then I'm wrong. Otherwise your drive went bad, request a new one from microsoft if it is under warranty.


Can you see the other side of your own cards in uno flip?

Question: I have a question about uno flip. In uno flip can you see the other side of YOUR OWN cards.
Example:You are playing uno flip on the light side. You want to see YOUR OWN cards on the DARK side. Are you allowed to do that?
Answer: Yes. You can look at the other side of your own hand.
There's nothing in the rules, from what I see, that says you can't. So I definitely think you are allowed to do that.
From a practical standpoint, when you are dealt your hand, you'll see the dark side of your own hand while it's being dealt anyways.


Dual boot ubuntu 13.10 and windows 7

Question: I want to install Ubuntu 13.10 on my pre-installed windows 7 pc and I want a dual boot. I have no empty partition on my hard disk drive. I don't want to re-install windows 7. How should I do it? Please answer in steps. Also suggest the amount of space I should allocte to ubuntu 13.10.
Answer: You can install ubuntu using the Wubi installer. It will install ubuntu next to windows on the same partition without deleting it. You will be able to choose your preferred OS at boot.
The other option is to make a dedicated partition for linux if you have free space on your hard disk. You can make an unallocated space with the built in windows partition tool. Than you can boot the installation disk/usb drive and make a linux partition and install linux there. Linux will make you automatically the grub bootloader where you can choose which os you want to boot at startup. Although If you uninstall linux you will have problems booting up windows as grub will also be deleted, but it can be solved with a windows installation disk and a few line of commands.
But you don't need to uninstall windows either way.

Dual boot ubuntu 13.10 and windows 7


Does $\sum\limits_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n^p}, 1 < p < 2$ converge?

Question: I know $\sum\limits_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n^p}$ diverges when $p \le 1$ and converges when $p \ge 2$. How about $1 < p < 2$?
Comment: Converges, Integral Test.
Comment: It does. You also have the slightly better statement: $\sum_{n=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^a(\ln n)^b}$ converges iff $a > 1$ or ($a=1$ and $b>1$). (Such series are called Bertrand Series.)
Answer: By the Integral Test (note that the terms are monotone decreasing and positive), we may consider the integral
$$\int_1 ^ \infty \frac{1}{x^p} dx $$
Since $p > 1$, i.e. $p - 1 > 0$, we can evaluate the integral as
$$\left[\frac{1}{(1-p)x^{p-1}}\right]_1 ^ \infty = - \frac{1}{1-p} < \infty$$
Answer: The $p$-series converge for any $p > 1$. Observe that
$$ \sum_{n=1}^\infty 2^n \frac{1}{2^{np}} = \sum_{n=1}^\infty 2^{(1-p)n}
$$
By the Cauchy condensation test, $\sum_{n=1}^\infty n^{-p}$ is bounded by the above sum, and hence coverges.
Answer: Here's another cool test, the Cauchy Condensation Test:
Let  $(a_n)$ be a  nonincreasing sequence of positive numbers. Then $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} a_n$ converges if and only if $\sum_{n=1}^\infty 2^n a_{2^n}$ converges.
This is essentially a discrete change of variables (or substitution) formula, and as change of variables in integrals is a powerful tool, so is this test. The proof is very simple and follows from the monoonicity of the sequence. For example:
Harmonic series $a_n =n^{-p}$. Then $a_{2^n} =2^{-np}$, and
$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty 2^n a_{2^n} = \sum_{n=1}^\infty 2^{(1-p)n},$$
a geometric series, which converges if and only if $p>1$.
Another example. $a_n = 1/(n \ln^\alpha  n)$. Then
$a_{2^n} = \frac{1}{2^n n^{\alpha} (\ln 2)^{\alpha}}$. Therefore
$\sum_{n=2}^{\infty}2^n a_{2^n} = \frac{1}{(\ln 2)^{\alpha}} \sum_{n=1}^\infty n^{-\alpha}$.
By last example this converges if and only if $\alpha>1$.
You can continue and do more and more complex examples. Try
$a_n = \frac{1} {n (\ln n) (\ln\ln n ) \dots (\ln \ln \ln \dots \ln n)^{\beta}}$, when the number of iterations of $\ln $ is fixed and equal to $k$.
Answer: You already have two standard ways. Here is another, using comparison:
For $p>1$, we have
$$
\lim_{n\to+\infty}\frac{\frac{1}{n^{p-1}}-\frac{1}{(n+1)^{p-1}}}{\frac{1}{n^p}}= p-1\neq 0.
$$
Now, the positive series
$$
\sum_{n=1}^{+\infty} \Bigl(\frac{1}{n^{p-1}}-\frac{1}{(n+1)^{p-1}}\Bigr)
$$
converges (it is a telescoping series with terms tending to $0$, the sum is actually equal to $1$). Hence, by comparison
$$
\sum_{n=1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n^p}
$$
also converges.


Notating the diminished Scale

Question: For example in the C diminished scale: do I use a ton of accidentals or should I come up with some weird key signature that has something like a D# and use the C# as an accidental on the line of C?
Answer: The diminished scale has 8 pitches, but in our Western notational tradition, we have 7 note names. As such, when you're writing the scale, it's vital that you use all 7 notes names at least once, and only one note name twice.
In other words,

is not ideal because it repeats both the C and the A note names, and in the process omits B, destroying the very nature of the scale. Better would be

which replaces the second version of A with a form of B.
The logic involved here is the same reason we don't spell the C-major scale as

As for accidentals, composers have different practices:

If a diminished (=octatonic) portion is based on some tonic, often it will be spelled as similar to that overall tonality as possible. If it's loosely based in B♭ major, for instance, they'll use B♭s as opposed to the less-common tonic of A♯.
Some composers just plain always use flats, no matter what; others always use sharps.
Others will switch around depending on the circumstance and what instrument (especially transposing instrument) is playing at the time.

And in actual musical situations, you tend to want to follow the general rule that a chromatic pitch resolves in the direction of its accidental. In other words, instead of notating D♭ moving up to D♮, it's wisest to use fewer accidentals and notate that first pitch as C♯, because C♯ (a raised pitch) will want to resolve up (the direction of its accidental).

Regarding key signatures, I've seen a few practices:

Just use a blank key signature and add in all accidentals. In my opinion, this is most common.
If there's a central tonic in your octatonic section, you can use the key signature for that tonic and include any necessary accidentals when they appear. Which form of the octatonic scale you use will determine if it's cleaner to use the major or minor form of the key signature.
Or you could just invent an odd key signature, like one with F♯, C♯, D♯, and A♯ (notice there's no G♯). Even better, you can go the Bartók route and have different key signatures in each hand, which combined create an octatonic collection!
Comment: You're absolutely right - would you supply the notation for one or more diminished scales starting on a note other than C natural? The OP did specifically mention key signatures...
Answer: My composition professors eschewed key signatures in situations like this. One suggested to write in the accidentals before each note, using the most common sharps and flats (the first three of each.)  The other suggested to use sharps or flats depending on what was happening in the music, especially when writing for strings. He would say that if the line is ascending to use sharps, and if the line is descending to use flats. This is a bit oversimplified, but captures the essence of what he was saying.
Answer: I'd suggest you use the key signature of the major scale with the same starting note and then add accidentals. In the particular case you mention, C Major has no sharps or flats in its key signature.
There are two diminished scales starting on a C natural, depending on whether the first interval is a Tone or a Semitone.
C C# D# E F# G A A# C
C D D# E# F# G# A B C
If you just roll your own key signature which has a non-standard collection of sharps or flats (or a mixture of sharps and flats!) you will confuse the reader. The idea should be to unambiguously express your intent.
Comment: Can't help wondering, if it's a *diminished* scale, should the notes therein reflect that fact? So D# should be called Eb, F# Gb etc..?
Comment: @DarrenRinger - nice idea, but with *eight* separate notes, something's gonna give! Both thinking along the same lines! Maybe resort to German tactics...
Comment: Interesting - the wikipedia article on octatonics doesn't list your first choice.    Neither does Dolmetsch https://www.dolmetsch.com/defso.htm .  Do you have a reference which *does* include the first?
Comment: @Carl Witthoft, I believe the half-whole diminished scale  (C C# D# etc.) is mentioned in the wikipedia article.
Comment: @Tim the convention is usually simply to make each tone of a scale occupy a subsequent letter of the diatonic series.  Since we're dealing with an octatonic scale here and only have seven notes it appears the conventions are somewhat different.  Wikipedia mixes flats and sharps in its example, and completely skips some letters.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octatonic_scale

Notating the diminished Scale


How to get all products previously ordered by a customer?

Question: How can I get all products ordered by the customer, so I can put them in a array ?
Answer:
Get the customer ID from the customer object (or you can use the customer's email address).
Pull the order collection and join with the order items table and filter on the ID/email.
Call the toArray() method on the collection
Comment: Thanks @Fooman.  I know that exists, but the op did not specify what they wanted to do with the array or what information they needed in the array.  My original version allows them to pick and choose which data goes into the final array.  However, yours is more effecient


I used a BTC mining site and paid the fees but never got paid

Question: [Where I paid mining fees and never got my BTC][1]
the transaction from my wallett shows 150 confirmations. I am new BTC can anyone help with this so i can understand WTF happened and am I just straight effed on the fees i paid. Thanks for your time help I appreciate it. I used the following site http://getbtc.online/dashboard/ one puts in the amount to be mined, the miners mine it and then you pay fee. Afterwards it should deposit the selected BTC amount in your wallet. Mine never got deposited in has several hundred confirmation and i know my wallet address is correct. The miners got paid; This is the site I get after I click on the confirmations in the wallet. I hope this is better as I stated previously; I am new to this and not sure WTF is going on. https://btc.blockr.io/tx/info/c842cc71b4f5133896a6302e208179400d57a79e885b617c4e21489e708fe2d1
Comment: Thread here. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1819752.0
Comment: You fell for a scam.
Comment: Hi,
I've downvoted this question, because it is unclear what happened, how that differs from what you expected, and therefore especially what you're asking about in the first place. Besides that, the link is broken and it appears to have nothing to do with "transaction-fees". Please edit your question to give us a bit more to work with.
Comment: From the front page of the site: **"How it works our tool?"**
*Our software is a brand new tool that makes bitcoin mining more faster than any tool on the market.*.    That poor prose which does not actually provide information seems like a big warning sign.
Comment: You paid somebody to mine bitcoin, hoping that you will get more value from the bitcoin out than what you paid in, yes? Why would the person sell you the bitcoins at a lower rate, when they could just sell them themselves on the open market and make more money? This stinks of a blatant scam, it doesn't make sense..
Answer: To give this a clear answer, so it can stop being bumped:
You have been scammed.
You are not going to get paid, and it is very unlikely you will be able to recover the money you have sent.  Accept that your money is lost, and don't send them any more.


validation rule making a field mandatory only if created after specified date

Question: I want to make a field mandatory only on records created after a specified date.  So if the opportunity created date is prior to current date then field wouldn't be mandatory but if opp. created date is = current date or later then field is mandatory.  Is there a way to write that?
Answer: You can try validation rules like;
Error Condition :

AND (NOT( ISNULL(CreatedDate  ) ), (TODAY() > DATEVEALUE(CreatedDate) ), ISNULL(f2__c ) )
NOT( ISNULL(CreatedDate  ) ) : Will allow new records to be created without checking for f2__c
TODAY() > DATEVEALUE(CreatedDate)  : This will check records that are not created today.


how many datasources can coldfusion handle

Question: We have a coldfusion enterprise server with 2 instances. Each instance has 200+ data-sources to databases on one MSSQL server. This number will keep on growing. Now it seems that requests to a single data-source are getting slower even though the database is small. It is possible that requests get slower when CF has more data-sources?
Answer: Of course it's possible, I doubt there are many people with this kind of experience so we could just guess.
Personally I'd never make that many databases in SQL server, and that many datasources in CF. IMHO using db schemas would be much better solution, easier to maintain, administer and so on.
How's situation with memory? Could happen that huge amount of JDBC connections is choking the server. I'd check memory consumption first, SQL stats after to see data through-output and maybe later even SQL Severs performance settings, CF settings to see concurent possible JDBC connections, network settings and so on.
Again, just guessing and trying to give you a hint where to look.
Answer: There's more too it than just coldfusion. Each connection is about 4k, and each datasource can use multiple connections. So 200 DSN's might equal 300 or 400 connections (or 800 or 1000 when aggregated). The DB server itself uses the "tempdb" as a work space for handling requests. It expands this workspace to handle the traffic - but it is a shared resource in a way. So one DB can have an impact on another DB on the server.
I would:

Check the total number of connections on the SQL server (perfmon has some good counters for this)
Use server monitor to get a sense of the total number of connections on each instance.
Use network monitoring to determine what capacity the network connection on each server is using...

Of course it goes without saying that your databases need to be fine tuned to perform as well (indexed and optimized - with a good schema and backstopped by good query code). Creating a scalable solution requires all of these things :)
PS - it goes without saying you can contact me for more "formal" help. I'll be glad to chat about your problem.
Comment: Thanks for the hints. The sql-server has indeed a lot of connections (about 700 already) And many of the connections with a latency of about 200ms. So we're going to try another approach which would use only 1 datasource.
Answer: Are the datasources partitioned for a reason (e.g. different clients/customers, etc)? If this is really just a big application with a bunch of databases, you may be able reduce the number of DSNs through cross-database queries through a single CF datasource.
If the account CF is using to connect to SQL Server has read access to both databases on the server, you can do something like this:
SELECT field1, field2, field3...
FROM [databaseA].[dbo].Table1 T1
    JOIN [databaseB].[dbo].Table2 T2 ON ...
I've done this with State and Country tables that are shared across multiple DBs. Set the permissions carefully to prevent damage or errant updates.
Comment: Yes, for every customer we have a different separate database. We're going to try to use the distributed queries solution, so we can use only one datasource. Thanks for the answer. I'll let you know if this is going to work.


Token-based interactive system meaning

Question: Recently I enrolled to HCI course, and there was mentioned that WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) is a token-based interactive system. Does anyone knows what does token-based mean in WIMP system, since "token-based" was implied, because nonWIMP is (I guess) seen as non-token-based.
Comment: I have no idea what "token-based" should mean in this context. Can you provide a source?
Answer: Well, WIMP is a very old term, I'm a bit surprised it's still in use.
Anyways, you could say most digital systems using graphical interfaces are WIMP. As a matter of fact, the term used to replace WIMP is GUI.
With that being said, a token-based interactive system is a system that reacts to an user token (interaction). See an UML diagram below:

In this model, the system reacts in 2 ways: token-based or location aware.
As the name implies, location aware means the system reacts to user's location in an automatic way (for example, maps or apps that read your location).
In opposition to the above, token-based requires some specific interaction which results in a token sent to the system, hence the name.
If you need more information, you can read this research paper with examples (from which I extracted the UML model): Formal notation for modeling location-aware and token-based interactive systems

Token-based interactive system meaning