changing colors of files/dirs in linux ls

Question: I use putty with a black background and was wondering if there was or is a way to change the colors of the dirs which are dark blue.
i noticed
DIR_COLORS.xterm
and
DIR_COLORS
do they play this role?
Answer: PuTTY uses its own colour specs for emulating X terminals. It is under the Window -> Colours category in the main configuration window you get on startup. In the section 'Adjust the precise colours PuTTY displays' you can edit entries in the 'Select a colour to adjust' box. The usual directory colour, for example, is ANSI blue. I find this too dark, so I lighten it to (74,74,255).
To enable colours in a standard bash session under most distros (and certainly Debian-like things such as Ubuntu,) first test for the existence of the dircolors executable, then look for a local override .dircolors. If found, run dircolors with the local file and if not use the system defaults.
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
   test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
fi

The -b flag means emit Bourne shell compatible colourisation rules. To alter the colours themselves, you will need to provide an X11 resource file with the overrides you want. Put this in ~/.Xresources and add lines like *xterm*color12: #1e90ff. This will get merged into your X resource database on next login. You will need to experiment to see which colour gets mapped to which file type.
Answer: It depends on the version of Linux your using, for example on Ubuntu you edit the Bash File while on others you edit the DIR_COLORS.
CentOS/RHEL/Fedora
Step 1 - Copy the DIR_COLORS to your home folder or skip this for all accounts.
cp /etc/DIR_COLORS ~/.dir_colors

Step 2 - Edit the DIR_COLORS (If you copied it to your home folder, otherwise just vi dir_colors
vi ~/.dir_colors

Step 3 - Find
DIR 01;34     # directory

Step 4 - Replace with (Change the 33 with the color you want)
DIR 01;33     # directory

You may need to do this in the Xterm file as well, but generally that is more local.
Ubuntu
Step 1 - Ubuntu Backup the Bash File First
sudo cp .bashrc .bashrc-backup

Step 2 - Then nano the Bashrc File
sudo nano .bashrc

More help for Ubuntu users can be found here.
http://help.ubuntu.com/community/CustomizingBashPrompt
Comment: For Ubuntu, you shouldn't use `sudo` to edit your own .bashrc.  That said, the guide you linked just covers colorizing the prompt, not `ls`.  It appears that Debian-type distros don't use `~/.dir_colors` for `ls`, they use the `$LS_COLORS` environment variable which can be setup with a little program called [`dircolors`](http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/dircolors-invocation.html)
Answer: You can modify .dircolors.xterm, for instance, using the following codes...
In your case, if you want a different directory color, change from "01;34" to something like "01;31".
# Below are the color init strings for the basic file types. A color init
# string consists of one or more of the following numeric codes:
# Attribute codes:
# 00=none 01=bold 04=underscore 05=blink 07=reverse 08=concealed
# Text color codes:
# 30=black 31=red 32=green 33=yellow 34=blue 35=magenta 36=cyan 37=white
# Background color codes:
# 40=black 41=red 42=green 43=yellow 44=blue 45=magenta 46=cyan 47=white
NORMAL 00       # global default, although everything should be something.
FILE 00         # normal file
DIR 01;34       # directory
LINK 01;36      # symbolic link
FIFO 40;33      # pipe
SOCK 01;35      # socket
BLK 40;33;01    # block device driver
CHR 40;33;01    # character device driver
ORPHAN 01;05;37;41  # orphaned syminks
MISSING 01;05;37;41 # ... and the files they point to

Answer: I had the same issue using PuTTY on Windows to connect to a linux box. A quick fix is to use the Saved Session feature of the PuTTY UI. From the PuTTY startup screen:

Open the "Session" tab: Enter a session name in the "Saved Sessions" text box
Open the "Window" > "Colours" tab: under the "Select a colour to adjust" select box, choose "ANSI Blue". Click the "Modify" button.
Select a lighter color.
Open the "Session" tab: make sure your new session is selected and click the "Save" button

Now, when you want to connect again, you can select your Saved Session and Load it. Your colors will be preserved.
If you are connecting to the same box repeatedly, I prefer the other answers. I would rather edit a config file than use the UI. However, I have found this useful when I need to connect to a new machine only a few times.


Get the text within a dialog box

Question: What Windows API function can I use to get text within a dialog? For example, if I had the handle of an error message dialog, how could I get the displayed error message?
Answer: If I correctly understand your question, your problem is very easy. Open Spy++ from the Visual Studio Tools menu. Then press Ctrl + F to receive a dialog for finding windows. Drag & drop the "Finder tool" on the control inside the dialog box from which you want to read the text; look at properties of the window, the field "Control ID" is what you need.
If you have a handle of the Dialog Window (HWND hDlg) you should use the GetDlgItemText function (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms645489(VS.85).aspx)
UINT GetDlgItemText(HWND hDlg,
    int nIDDlgItem,
    LPTSTR lpString,
    int nMaxCount
);

to read the text. As a nIDDlgItem parameter you should place the identifier of the control. It is the value which you have found using Spy++.
Answer: Dialog boxes don't actually contain text - they contain other controls which contain the text. You must enumerate or otherwise find the appropriate child window of the dialog box, and get its text with GetWindowText.

Get the text within a dialog box


Debugging issues that work on one server, but not another?

Question: I have an asp.net application that works on the development server.  On the production server, it is failing though.  If I set the connection string in web.config to point to the production database, it still works, so does this mean that it is a server issue that is causing the problems and if so, what are some techniques for debugging this type of issue.  Also, what is the best way to debug intermittent session errors?  Is there some sort of session management in IIS?
Answer: Look at:

permission settings
config/environment settings
expected installed apps
dependencies
firewall settings
compare with development server & investigate the differences

The problem could be caused by a one or more of a wide set of things.
(Also maybe pop the question on SeverFault)
Answer: Sounds like it might be a good time to check the event logs and start testing your app in pieces.  (you do have layers right :)  You might also check to see if you have code access security turned of in your dev environment.
Their out stack traces or app logs there isn't much I can say that wasn't covered by slashmais


More design patterns?

Question: I study GoF Design Patterns book and have Martin Fowler's PoEAA book in list. (I also have Judith Bishop's book which I personally do not like.) But there are more patterns, such as Delegation pattern. What is its origin? Are there other patterns not mentioned in these books? Are there other "must read" books or online resources on this topic?
Comment: Are "design patterns" what they call copy-and-paste programming these days?
Comment: I believe copy&paste programming is antipattern.
Answer:
What is its origin?

Origins of Design Patterns
I did some research a while back and made some notes on the origins of design patterns. The below is a copy/paste from my personal notes I gathered at that time.
Initial Influence
The influence for design patterns in software engineering comes from a man named Christopher Alexander, a building architect (Houses not Software). He was well known for his theories about design and published a book in 1977, A Pattern Language. In this book Christopher Alexander discussed the idea of patterns as they could be reused and applied to complex and repetitive engineering tasks.
The move to software development
The work of Christopher Alexander, influenced Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham who applied that concept of classification of patterns to software development and introduced their work at the OOPSLA conference in 1987.
The Gang Of Four
Probably the most known source for design patterns and software development is the book: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. The authors of this book are better known as the Gang Of Four who are Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides.
This book was the first design pattern book comming to press and was first made public at the OOPSLA conference in 1994.

Are there other patterns not mentioned in these books?

I have not read all the books you mentioned but when I did the PluralSight course on design patterns they have covered a lot, see list below.

Adapter Pattern
Bridge Pattern
The Builder Pattern
Chain of Responsibility
The Command Pattern
Composite Pattern
Decorator Design Pattern
Event Aggregator
Facade Pattern
Factory Patterns
Flyweight
Interpreter Pattern
Iterator Pattern
Lazy Load Pattern
Mediator Pattern
Memento
Model View Presenter (MVP) Pattern
Model View ViewModel (MVVM) Pattern
Null Object Pattern
Observer Pattern
The Prototype Pattern
Proxy Pattern
Repository
Singleton
Service Locator Pattern
State Pattern
Strategy Pattern
Template Method
Unit of Work
Visitor Pattern
Answer:
Are there other patterns not mentioned in these books?

Definitely.  The GoF patterns are kind of the grandaddies of it all, and fairly general, but you can have domain-specific patterns too.  Like Fowler's PoEAA, as you mentioned.  Or design patterns for embedded systems.  But also more domain-specific than that, like Fowler's book on Analysis Patterns, which has financial and health care related patterns.  Or patterns for avionics systems, like in the link available here at the Hillside Patterns Catalog.

What is its origin?

If you mean what is the origin of the Delegation pattern, I dunno, but someone has asked a similar question here.

Are there other "must read" books or online resources on this topic?

The amusingly-named "PLoP" conferences (Pattern Languages of Program Design) are the first place a fair few patterns are aired I believe.
There's a PLoP journal as well: Transactions on Pattern Languages of Programming.
I found Design Patterns Explained to be quite useful in explaining some of the original thinking behind the Gang of Four patterns.  It's an explanation as opposed to a reference.
In addition to the PluralSight catalog mentioned elsewhere, NetObjectives have some great resources on patterns (and principles in general), particularly their series of webinars.
Comment: I'm not 100% sure about all individual patterns but the base for most, if not even all, did not originate with the GoF. Christopher Alexander's book (mentioned in my post as well as in a post on the thread you linked) could most likely be the person who conceived those patterns or at least they original variations. Most likely the majority of patterns are not originated within the software but the construction or similar industry. Ken Beck and Ward Cunningham's paper on that subject also pre-dates GoF. Since then off course new patterns might have been designed unique to software architecture.
Comment: Oh and don't get me wrong please, your answer is perfect +1 from me anyway :), I just wanted to highlight that others have documented the concept before and suggested it to software architecture pre GoF. However, yes, GoF were the first to formulate the patterns in a  book and yes, probably came up with a lot of variations for software architecture. It is, as you say, the grandaddy :)
Comment: @FrançoisWahl Yep absolutely.  Alexander's book was definitely the main inspiration for the idea of software design patterns.  I think they say as much in the GoF book, definitely in the Design Patterns Explained book anyway.  I always just assumed that the inspiration was the *idea* of patterns though, and having a pattern language, not necessarily the patterns themselves.  That would be interesting.  Like you say as well, noone really invents a pattern, they just happen to be the first person to formally document what a lot of people are already doing.
Answer: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software and The Design of Everyday Things are very good books. I especially recommend the former for its intuitive read.
Comment: Incidentally, thanks for the "side effects" link about doing one's homework on Stack Overflow. Well worth the read. :)
Comment: :) OP deleted that post. This is the link for others to read: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4161475/counting-and-generating-perfect-squares
Answer: I think "must read" is terribly subjective, but I really learned a lot on the topic of design patterns from Head First Design Patterns. That said, 'Head First' books have a typical style in writing (I think I've heard someone describe it as goofy..) that might not suit everyone, for me it worked. I especially found it to be a bit more lightweight and easier to read than the aforementioned (albeit very good indeed) 'Gang of Four' book.

More design patterns?


ppc avd manager and android sdk

Question: I have a non Intel PowerPC G5 running 10.5.8. I downloaded Eclipse and installed Android SDK and tools and also installed a plugin using "install software" in the help sectionof eclipse.
I have the latest sdk and tools and attempted to use the command line to correct this error I
receive when clicking "android" in the tools folder of adt bundle- mac for x86_64
"users-imac-g5-2:~ owner1$ /Android/adt-bundle-mac-x86_64/sdk/tools/android ; exit;
SWT folder '/Android/adt-bundle-mac-x86_64/sdk/tools/lib/ppc' does not exist.
Please export ANDROID_SWT to point to the folder containing swt.jar for your platform.
logout
[Process completed]
Now, I downloaded Soylatte. I am unable to start the emulator, AVD and would like to know what command I need to use to get swt_jar connected to ANDROID_SWT
Or is this a Java issue and I need to install an older Android SDK?
When I go in to the SDK and click one of the emulators.
I get this
Last login: Tue Feb  5 00:49:38 on ttys000
/Android/adt-bundle-mac-x86_64/sdk/tools/emulator64-x86 ; exit;
users-imac-g5-2:~ owner1$ /Android/adt-bundle-mac-x86_64/sdk/tools/emulator64-x86 ; exit;
-bash: /Android/adt-bundle-mac-x86_64/sdk/tools/emulator64-x86: Bad CPU type in executable
logout
[Process completed
Comment: The Android SDK only supports x86 and x86-64.
Answer: You are installing software intended for a different architecture (x86_64) which is incompatible with PowerPC and thus it won't work.

ppc avd manager and android sdk


I want to change the Calendar "add" new event on a overlaid calendar to a different calendar

Question: I have three calendar views that overlay onto one calendar so I can change colors based on a column choice.  But the "Add" button that is available on the overlay calendar opens the "New Event" for the overlay calendar, not the source calendar.  Is there a way to change the "Add" button so it re-directs to the source calendar?
Answer: Overlays simply point to "Views" even if they are on the same calendar. Perhaps you could try using one calendar with the 3 views and have the overlays on the 'default' calendar view (4 calendar views in total). You can still use the categories to make the 3 views work with filtering. This way the "add event" button is tied to the same calendar as it is by default. One last trick is to do a reverse filter on the main view so you don't see duplicate entries for the event plus the overlay.
Comment: Thanks.  I didn't know you could overlay a calendar's own views onto itself.  I thought you had to overlay a different calendars views.


Where is Nanda Parbat meant to be?

Question: Many significant events in the TV series Arrow have taken place in Nanda Parbat, the home of the League of Assassins. My question is, according to the DC comics, where is Nanda Parbat meant to be located, and is that contradicted by anything from the TV series, given how quickly Team Arrow and others seem to be able to travel there?
Comment: Is there really a need for a Nanda Parbat tag..?
Comment: I have found several assertions that Nanda Parbat is in the mountains of Tibet; however, these are not sourced, and I don't have ready access to the source material.
Comment: @DangerZone Since it bothered you enough to want to comment on it, I deleted it.
Comment: I feel like I vaguely remember Malcolm Merlyn or someone mentioning the location of Nanda Parbat. Hopefully someone jumps in with a screenshot, script reference, or YouTube clip with the location rather than vague, confilcting Wiki entries.
Answer: According to most recent DC comics, it's located somewhere in the Himalayan mountains:
Answer: Pulled from Wikipedia:

Patterned after the fictional Shangri-La and the real Nanga Parbat in
  Pakistan. Nanda Parbat is a hidden city nestled high in the mountains
  of Tibet; it is said to be a place of healing and enlightenment

From the Arrow Wiki:

Nanda Parbat is a city hidden beneath the Hindu Kush mountain range.

Also from the Arrow Wiki:

The Hindu Kush is a mountain range in Pakistan Asia. It is home to the
  hidden city Nanda Parbat.

So there is some division among sources. I always heard it was in Tibet. That's at least where the League of Shadows operated from in Batman Begins.
Comment: For what it's worth, this is not the first time that Arrow, and DC Comics, have created fictional locations based on real ones. Corto Maltese, which shared its name with a Season 3 episode, is an entirely fictional country in South America.
Answer: I actually descend from an area near the Himalayan mountain range. I can tell you the area seems to be culturally ambiguous since it's a mountainous range. It doesn't really belong to any of the neighboring cultures, India, Pakistan, China, Tibet and so on. The surrounding cultures all travel through the area though, and leave their influence so it's not far fetched that a secretive group operating out of there has the combined martial traditions of Arab Assassins, Indian Thugs and Chinese Ninjas, and are multilingual among these cultures.
Comment: Thank you for your post, it provides interesting and useful information. However, I suggest that you edit your answer to specifically address the original question which was "according to the DC comics, where is Nanda Parbat meant to be located, and is that contradicted by anything from the TV series, given how quickly Team Arrow and others seem to be able to travel there?"
Comment: very true. Well according to DC it's in the himilaya region which is where the real nanga parbat is anyways. They would have to be using Jets provided by Argus to be travelling so fast to and from there.

I see where this question is coming from. They go more into detail to their ventures between Lian Yu and Star City then they do with Nanda Parbat.
Answer: Well, the location was based upon the real live Nanga Parbat, a mountain in the Astore region of Pakistan, which is in the Himalayas.
The original Nanda Parbat also had nothing to do with the League of Assassins/Shadows. Rather, it was the sanctuary of Rama Kushna, the entity who empowered Boston Brand as Deadman. It was a place where people sought refuge and respite from spiritual foes (see Richard Dragon's time at Namda Parbat, for example).
I think it's connection to the League of Assassins is mostly from Batman Begins.
Comment: Sooources, we need some sooources *vocalizes*

Where is Nanda Parbat meant to be?


Enlarging polygons only on two sides using ArcGIS Desktop?

Question: I want to enlarge a line of polygons only on the sides but I only found tools like "scale" or "buffer" which extend the whole polygon and not only widen them. The problem with scaling or buffering is that there's an overlapping of the polygons.
Comment: Do your polygons always have four corners/vertices?
Comment: this is a great question. I cannot think of way to do this without the use of python or postgis though. My initial thoughts from a scripting perspective would be to convert polygon to lines, break up the lines into 4 sections, and if a line isnt sharing a boundary with another line buffer it how ever big you want it
Answer: You can achieve what you are asking by processing this using some rasters tools

Create a unique number ID starting from 1 for each polygon.
Convert your polygon dataset to a raster using the Polygon to
Raster tool, value field should be the numeric ID field you created
in step 1. Set cell size to be small, I used 1m.

Polygon dataset converted to a Raster

Run the Expand tool (in Spatial Analyst > Generalize). Set the number of cells for your distance, so in my example 50 cells is 50m. For Zone values add all your unique ID numbers. The tool interface only allows you to enter one value at a time, so you may want to script this whole approach instead of adding them in all manually. Also thinking off the top of my head you may be able to connect a list to this parameter in a model builder environment (un-tested that idea).

Here is the raster expansion with the original polygons draw on top. As you can see their boundaries are honored whilst expansion has occurred outwards
The arrows point to areas that are clipped, this is because the environment setting Extent was not big enough to allow expansion. I had took the extent of the polyline dataset. I left this in deliberately so you could see its affect. So you need to tweak your processing extent, will take a bit of trial and error.

Convert your raster back into polygons (if required) using the value field which will be your unique ID. You could then join data to that from your original polygons.
Answer: I think you can't find specific solution between regular tools in ArcGIS, But If you have "Mapping And Charting Solution" extension I think you would be able solve your problem by Extend Polygon Sides, this tools is a part of ESRI Production Mapping, Based on ESRI documents I hope you can solve your problem if polygons are approximately rectangle. I'm going to paste a screenshot of document note here.
another tools is "Increase Polygons Area" but it seems this tools would be useful for irregular polygons
Increases the areas of polygons until they meet a minimum size or larger. You can optionally limit the features to be enlarged based on whether they intersect another feature class.
I found some fields in "Increase Polygons Area" tool window, and then I guess this tools can solve this problem.


Is there an alternate version of Tarkovsky's "The Sacrifice"?

Question: I watched "The Sacrifice" on YouTube.  The credits showed the original actors, so this was not a remake.  Yet it did not have the famous fixed-camera burning-house scene.  In this version the camera panned around on and off the house as it burned.  I know I saw the original version many years ago where the camera did not move for several minutes.  What gives?
Comment: It is a bit difficult to understand what your question is. Are you saying that in one version, the camera is fixed on the house while in another version, the camera pans around the house but is not fixed. And you wan't to know why in the 2nd version this choice of cinematography & editing was done? Is that your question?
Comment: Based on [**Wikipedia's detail**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sacrifice#Filming) I think it likely that the OP's memory is faulty and no such **absolute** fixed camera shot exists.
Answer: There is no alternate version, the one you saw is the only version.
I believe you are mixing this scene in The Sacrifice with the burning house scene in The Mirror which has a fixed-camera shot:
Answer: There is no alternate version, only the one you saw with the camera panning around on and off the burning house.
Comment: Unable to find corroboration for (a) my interpretation of descriptions I have read (b) my memory, I must conclude I have misinterpreted them and generated a false memory to support this, a discouraging result.  Sorry for wasting your time. If I knew how to delete this question I would have.


The loop for file renaming doesn't work right

Question: There are 32 *.dds files in a folder:
pic-0.dds, pic-1.dds, pic-2.dds,...,pic-31.dds

I'd like to rename them to be:
015040.dds, 015041.dds, 015042.dds,...,0150471.dds.

I'm trying to use the following script:
#!/bin/bash
j=39;
for i in *.dds;
do let j+=1;
mv $i 0150$j.dds;
done

I obtain that pic-0.dds is renamed to 015040.dds, but then it goes wrong, namely pic-1.dds isn't renamed to 015041.dds and so on.
I'd like to have an universal script for other renaming, for example:
pic-40.dds, pic-41.dds, pic-42.dds,...,pic-53.dds

to:
0191.dds, 0192.dds, 0193.dds,...,0204.dds

Answer: The problem is pic-*.dds sorts the files asciibetically, not by the number after the dash.
One possible way to fix that is to insert a 0 after the dash to the files named pic-{0..9}.dds. Then listing the files asciibetically will be the same as sorting them by the number and everything will work.
You can do that by using a loop similar to the one you already used:
for f in pic-?.dds ; do
    mv "$f" pic-0"${f#pic-}"
done

The ${f#pic-} is a parameter substitution, the # sign tells the shell to remove the string pic- from the beginning of the variable $f's value.
Answer: There's no need for a shell for loop, you can use perl rename for this.
The perl rename utility is also known as file-rename, perl-rename, or prename, depending on your distribution. It is not to be confused with the rename utility from util-linux which has completely different and incompatible capabilities and command-line options. Perl rename allows you to use any arbitrarily complex perl code to rename files, but is most often used to do simple sed-like s/search/replace/ operations on filenames.
For example:
$ rename -n 's/pic-(\d+)\.dds$/sprintf("015%03i.dds",$1+40)/e' *.dds
rename(pic-0.dds, 015040.dds)
rename(pic-10.dds, 015050.dds)
rename(pic-11.dds, 015051.dds)
rename(pic-12.dds, 015052.dds)
rename(pic-13.dds, 015053.dds)
rename(pic-14.dds, 015054.dds)
rename(pic-15.dds, 015055.dds)
rename(pic-16.dds, 015056.dds)
rename(pic-17.dds, 015057.dds)
rename(pic-18.dds, 015058.dds)
rename(pic-19.dds, 015059.dds)
rename(pic-1.dds, 015041.dds)
rename(pic-20.dds, 015060.dds)
rename(pic-21.dds, 015061.dds)
rename(pic-22.dds, 015062.dds)
rename(pic-23.dds, 015063.dds)
rename(pic-24.dds, 015064.dds)
rename(pic-25.dds, 015065.dds)
rename(pic-26.dds, 015066.dds)
rename(pic-27.dds, 015067.dds)
rename(pic-28.dds, 015068.dds)
rename(pic-29.dds, 015069.dds)
rename(pic-2.dds, 015042.dds)
rename(pic-30.dds, 015070.dds)
rename(pic-31.dds, 015071.dds)
rename(pic-3.dds, 015043.dds)
rename(pic-4.dds, 015044.dds)
rename(pic-5.dds, 015045.dds)
rename(pic-6.dds, 015046.dds)
rename(pic-7.dds, 015047.dds)
rename(pic-8.dds, 015048.dds)
rename(pic-9.dds, 015049.dds)

This captures the digits in the pic-*.dds filenames and adds them to 40 to construct the final filename.  The s/search/replace/ substitution operation uses perl's /e modifier to cause it to execute the right-hand-side replacement as perl code.  The sprintf function is used to make sure that the calculations are formatted as 3-digit wide zero-padded strings (%03i).

this will work regardless of the order it sees the filenames - it doesn't use an incrementing counter, it extracts the existing number from the pic-(\d+).dds$ filenames and adds 40.
filenames that don't match that pattern are NOT renamed
perl rename will NOT overwrite existing filenames (unless you force it to by using the -f option).

Note that the -n option in the example above makes it a dry run, so it will only show what it would do without actually renaming any files. Remove the -n, or replace it with -v for verbose output, when you've confirmed it does what you want.


freenas - using other partitions

Question: I am repurposing my old dell with a 650gig HDD on it.  I installed freenas and everything installed fairly easily.  I setup a shortcut to the freenas but it says I only have 5MB available.  How do I get the other 649.5gigs to be shown?
Answer: I figured out my issue.  When I had 5mb I was mounting to the wrong partition (1).  When I redid the mounting I did it to partition 2 and now I have 632 gigs!

freenas - using other partitions


How to show output of an SQL query in Sharepoint 2013 web part?

Question: Is it possible to use the SQL query that I have written and outputted to a web part through JS and display it as a table in a SharePoint 2013 web part?
Answer: You can't directly query a database in JavaScript. Among other things it would expose the connection details. You have two options:

Build a server side .NET web part.
Build a secure web service, hosted somewhere in your network, and call that from your JavaScript.


Largest possible bat

Question: Quite simple really. How large can a bat grow before it is too big to fly. I would like a bat with a similar external and internal structure to a real bat just scaled up. I am willing to accept changes to the wing to body size ratio as I assume that bats can't get that much bigger than they currently are by simple scaling up due to the square cube law.
Comment: this Earth or somewhere else? if you can mess up the atmosphere a bit, then you will be able to launch a Quetzalcoatlus-size bat with little problems.
Comment: Currently the planet is Earth with different animals and no humans although this might change in the future.
Comment: Don't be so quick to accept one answer!  Wait at least 24 hours, for people in different timezones to read the post.  It discourages more answers and cross-fertilization of ideas.
Answer: The worlds largest bat, the Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, weighs in at a wingspan of 1.5-1.7 meters and a weight of only 1.5-2.6 lbs. But with these estimates, we can absolutely do better.
Introduce Argentavis, the largest bird ever to exist weighing in at an impressive 154-159 lbs with an estimated wingspan of 23 feet! Doing fancy math and applying the square cube law we get a bat size of 8.85-14.21 lbs for a bat with an equal height to Argentavis. But you know what they say, go big or go home.
Behold the king of evolutions air,Quetzalcoatlus, weighing up to an estimated 550 lbs with a theoretical wingspan of 10 meters (32 feet 10 inches), this was the largest animal to ever fly. Again scaling up the Golden-crowned Flying Fox using the square cube law we get a bat of equal size should weigh in at around 39.6 pounds, now while this seems odd, keep in mind 2 things.

Mega bats, such as the Flying Fox, tend to fly much the same as Quetzalcoatlus is theorized to, mostly gliding with short burst of energy to increase height.
Mega bats are known to weight a lot less than they appear, as I said before, the Golden-Crowned Flying Fox only weighs at most less than 3 pounds!

Now how you're going to keep a bat this size alive is another manner as it will need to almost always be eating food very high in calories and fat, but I'll let you save that for another question.
Comment: Looking at your numbers it seems to me that you are decreasing wing loading as you increase wing span. Is there a reason for this? Am missing something? It's completely possible I'm being a twit, but from some rough estimates I did, it looks like the aforementioned bat has a wing loading of ~2.5kg per m2. Whereas your 10 metre wingspan looks like a wing loading closer to ~1.1kg per m2.
Comment: @MyrddenWyllt my math may be wrong, feel free to edit it if you feel I have erred.
Answer: I'm assuming by your question, you're trying to re-create something like the man-bat from the Batman series. If I'm wrong here, please correct me.
I've been researching and found that the largest current bats that exist are the Giant golden-crowned flying fox species native to the Philippines.
Bearing in mind that this bat has a wingspan longer than most humans are tall and that if this image is to be believed, then it's fair to say it's pretty big anyway.
Now, onto your question, could they get any bigger? In all honesty probably not any time soon.
Not only do we have the square cube law to take into account as you previously mentioned in your question, but you've also got the dynamics of the Planet to take into account.
During the age of the dinosaur, scientists think that the composition of the atmosphere had much more Oxygen than we do right now and that that contributed almost proportionally with the size of the dinosaurs.
Since the Industrial Revolution, we humans have been introducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, we're slowly killing off the trees that produce oxygen and the corals in the seas (which are made of carbonaceous material) adding more carbon dioxide into the system.

TL:DR - Probably not until we either stop polluting or die off.
Comment: To be honest a bat with a 1.7 metre wingspan is larger than I assumed possible.
Comment: I just want to point out that we haven't been 'introducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases' since the age of the dinosaurs. I don't think you can pin that solely on humans.
Comment: @DaaaahWhoosh No, you're right. Only since the industrial revolution. Sorry for the mis-interpretation, it wasn't my intention to say from the moment the dinosars died away as that wasn't the intent there.
Answer: TrEs-2b gave a very good answer. I'll just add in a bit of bat physiology which might explain why modern bats don't get as big as giant pterosaurs.
Bats are warm-blooded. Their wings are made of living membrane through which blood flows. This means that bat wings are great for shedding heat when the bat gets too hot: a huge surface area to do just that. But conversely they are rubbish at retaining heat when the bat gets too cold.
All the really big bats live in the tropics. Something the size of a fruit bat would chill itself to death in the likes of Canada or Norway as heat leaked away from its wings every time it flew. Even the microbats (microchiroptera) have to take measures to avoid the cold: hibernating or migrating away.
So make it a fruit bat (megachiropteran or megabat) type of bat, and have the climate of the place it lives exactly right for getting huge yet staying not too hot and not too cold. Of course, the megabats don't have sonar - you don't need echolocation to catch fruit. So if you want a bat with sonar, those are out.
Now obviously the pterosaurs also had naked membrane wings and DID get enormous. So they cracked the staying warm problem.
Comment: Actually, pterosaur wings aren't as simple as you think.  They were more likely solid sheets of skin strengthened by actinofibrils, fibers spaced closely together. The wing membranes also contain a thin layer of muscle, fibrous tissue, and a unique, complex circulatory system of looping blood vessels.
Answer: Even though I can't give an estimation of factible size for a bat. There is a problem with an important function of bats if you make them grow, the function of their radar.
Bats have a radar which works using sound, so if you increase the size of a bat, then the radar lowers its frequency. Therefore, even if the bat can fligt, probably it cannot find food, unless it changes its diet.
The second problem would be the diet, a bigger bat needs to find preys bigger as well, otherwise it will waste too much energy to find more small preys.
Comment: Why would the frequency lower? Couldn't the relevant organs and structures stay the same size?
Comment: Not all bats use echolocation. So this really isn't an issue. See my answer above. That bat doesn't use it at all
Comment: we don't know its diet, so there is no reason to rule out the size just because of radar malfunction.
Comment: Consider that dolphins & whales use ecolocation quite well, and in the same frequency ranges as bats.

Largest possible bat


Create superflat map in Minecraft with trees, grass, etc

Question: As of the latest Minecraft snapshot (12W40A), it is now possible to create superflat worlds with structures such as trees and grass. I still haven't found out how to create a superflat world with this setting - where is the option for this?
Comment: Not only with that; abandoned mines too. Truly, a massive mine located entirely above the surface of the world is a sight to behold!
Answer: You can add structures such as trees and grass (and others) using the Customize interface. As of 12W40A, you have to use More World Options.... From there, set the World Type to Superflat, then click Customize and then Presets. You'll be presented with a box that lets you share presets. The format for these presets can be found on the wiki.
To create a superflat world that also generates trees, flowers, and tall grass, use the following preset:
2;7,2x3,2;3;decoration

This will generate a world with a layer of bedrock, two layers of dirt above that, and then one layer of grass above that. Trees, flowers, tall grass, and so on will be generated. The trees will be fairly spaced apart.
Note that villages cannot be generated here, since they only generate in plains or desert biomes, and the Extreme Hills biome used to add the trees, flowers, and tall grass does not allow villages to spawn.
However, structures such as Abandoned Mineshafts and Strongholds can still be generated. Simply add ,mineshaft, ,stronghold, ,dungeon, etc. at the end of the preset. There are various parameters that can be added, such as ,mineshaft(chance=0.1). These parameters are detailed in the wiki.
If you want more trees, you can change the 3 to a 4 to use the Forest biome. This will generate trees far more densely.
Comment: @DECGWP hm? I already put in a link, unless you're talking about a different article. It's quite possible that a new, more relevant article has been written; I haven't really kept up with Minecraft.
Comment: Nevermind, my iphone must have not properly loaded the link, thanks for clearing that up!


Create a folder loop with user prompts

Question: I'm sorry if this is a very basic question, but I cannot find out how to do this for the life of me. I'm trying to create a loop to create folders with user prompts until the text command "end" is input. For example, I would input the folder name for my semester as "Spring 2019" and then create sub directories for each class. Every article I find for loops shows me how to create a loop on a set amount of folders, but nothing that will stop with an input. Can anyone point me in the right direction, unfortunately I have nothing to even start with so any help is appreciated.
Comment: I'm not good with scripts, but I would base this on a `while` loop, and test the input variable for the word 'end'  This article [https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/bash-while-loop/](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/bash-while-loop/) explains the process, and has an example using a file read.
Comment: You can `break` from a `while` loop based on the result of a [case statement](https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuide/TestsAndConditionals#Choices_.28case_and_select.29)
Answer: Following script read folder name and create it in a loop. You can exit entering empty folder name, or Ctrl-C. It will also create nested folders if input like "aaa/bbb/ccc".
<code>#!/usr/bin/env bash

while true; do
  read -p "Folder name:" input
  [[ -z "$input" ]] && break
  mkdir -p "$input"
done
</code>

Create a folder loop with user prompts


Vapour pressure in an enclosed container with liquid at normal conditions

Question: Can vapour pressure happen in an enclosed container with liquid at normal conditions?
I guess the answer is yes, but I don't understand why some liquid on the liquid surface may process sufficient kinetic energy to escape into gas phase.
Comment: Does the liquid initially fill the entire container?  Is that what you're saying?
Comment: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/59541/is-a-liquid-in-a-container-always-in-equilibrium-with-its-vapour
Answer: The kinetic theory of gases is based on the idea that particles are moving randomly. Even if all particles started motion with exactly the same speed, as they interact with each other and the walls of the container their velocities would become randomized. The kinetic energy of particles at a given temperature is an average; some particles are moving much faster, and can escape from a liquid. These faster-moving particles, removed from the liquid, leave the liquid a bit cooler. Thus, evaporation puts a liquid into a gas and chills the liquid.
For a more complete explanation, see this video.
Answer: Yes, there is vapour pressure in a closed container.
The molecules in a liquid or gas don't all have the same energy: some have a little, other have a lot. There is a distribution formula in thermodynamics to describe that range of energies (in ideal gases its is called the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution; liquids are a bit more complicated). The average energy of a molecule in a liquid isn't enough to get a molecule into the gas phase, but a proportion of the molecules have higher energies than that and they will have enough energy to escape the liquid phase.
The same is true for the molecules in the vapour, but in reverse. Some of them don't have enough energy to be in the vapour phase and they will end up back in the liquid. In equilibrium the number of molecules leaving the liquid equal those returning to it.
As temperature rises, a higher proportion of the molecules in the liquid have enough energy to escape and the vapour pressure rises.
The key to understanding this is realising that the average energy of the molecules is not representative of all the molecules. In reality energy is distributed unevenly with some molecules having more and other having less. When you realise this, there is no mystery why some have enough to escape the liquid.


Solr Document Tagging

Question: I am working with Solr and my need is to tag documents that are indexed based on the content that resides within the documents. I am thinking of using KEA for extracting key phrases. So i wanted to know is there any way of integrating KEA with Apache Solr and give the  required solution. Thank You in advance.
Answer: I think the best way is writing an UpdateRequestProcessor. I did that using MAUI, which is basically a kea++ and it has been pretty easy.
more information here: http://wiki.apache.org/solr/UpdateRequestProcessor
I strongly suggest you the UIMA integration too

Solr Document Tagging


sequence of monotone measures

Question: I have a sigma-algebra F on X and  a monotone sequence of measures on F, meaning:
$$ \mu_n(A)\leq \mu_{n+1} (A) \forall A \in F $$
It should hold that $ \mu_1(X) <\infty $
I want to show, that $$\mu=lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \mu_n$$ is a measure on F.
How can I do that?
Answer: The first step is easy:
$$\mu(\emptyset)=\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \mu_n(\emptyset)=0.$$
Sigma-additivity is a bit more involved. Let $(A_k)_{k\in\mathbb{N}}\subset F$ be pairwise disjoint and put $A:=\cup_k A_k$.
Now let $f_n:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow [0,\infty]$ be $f_n(k)=\mu_n(A_k)$. Then $f_n\leq f_{n+1}$ and therefore $\lim_{n\rightarrow}f_n=f$ pointwise and $f:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow[0,\infty]$. Furthmore let $P$ be the counting measure on $\mathbb{N}$. Hence applying the monotone covergence to the integral with respect to the counting measure yields
$$\mu(A)\leftarrow\mu_n(A)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty \mu_n(A_k) = \int f_n\, dP \rightarrow \int f\, dP = \sum_{k=1}^\infty \mu(A_k). $$
Comment: Can I do that without using integral theorems?
Comment: @ Steven33 You need some kind of theorem, that allows you to switch the limits, i.e.  $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\sum_{k=1}^\infty \mu_n(A_k) = \sum_{k=1}^\infty \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}\mu_n(A_k)$. This is typically an application of an integral theorem. So my bet is that you probably can show it without explicitly using such a theorem but you would probably prove this theorem in the process.
Comment: We aren't so far in this subject. I am not allowed to use such theorems. But thank you very much for your elegant proof:)
Answer: Here is a first-principles approach: if $\{A_k\}$ is a sequence of pairwise disjoint sets then for any $n$ you have
$$\mu_n \left( \bigcup_k A_k\right) = \sum_k \mu_n(A_k) \le \sum_k \mu(A_k)$$
so now take the limit as $n \to \infty$:
$$\mu \left( \bigcup_k A_k\right) \le \sum_k \mu(A_k).$$
For the other direction again let $\{A_k\}$ be a sequence of pairwise disjoint sets and fix an index $m$. Then
$$\sum_{k=1}^m \mu(A_k) = \lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{k=1}^m \mu_n(A_k) = \lim_{n \to \infty} \mu_n \left( \bigcup_{k=1}^m A_k\right) \le \lim_{n \to \infty} \mu_n \left( \bigcup_{k=1}^\infty A_k\right) = \mu \left( \bigcup_{k=1}^\infty A_k\right).$$
Now let $m \to \infty$ to conclude
$$\sum_{k=1}^\infty \mu(A_k) \le  \mu \left( \bigcup_{k=1}^\infty A_k\right).$$
Comment: Thanks Umberto. You didn't need any theorem:)

sequence of monotone measures


Awaiting AE assignment to Under Review?

Question: I have submitted a paper to a very reputed publication of electrical engineering via ScholarOne.The status of my paper changed from "Awaiting AE assignment" to "Under Review" directly. Does it mean that is under the review of editorial office? Could it change from Awaiting AE assignment to Under Review directly without AE being assigned ?
Comment: Could not find answer at above link. My question is, what does change of status directly from "Awaiting AE assignment" to "Under Review" imply ?
Answer: It probably just happened quickly. This is peer review - it's not a well oiled machine. Take pride in knowing you passed the first benchmark and keep your fingers crossed R1 and R2 are kind. R3 is always a wildcard.  :)
Comment: Does your answer imply that reviewers have been assigned and it is past the desk reject hurdle ?  Paper is submitted via ScholarOne

Awaiting AE assignment to Under Review?


I don't know anything about music, how should I start

Question: I have 0 knowledge about music and didn't have any access to music theory or any instruments in my life. What should be my pathway to have the basic ideas?
I would love some good book recommendation about music theory. I would prefer books that assumes the reader has good mathematical background but lack any experience in music.
Comment: What exactly do you want to achieve? Do you want to learn theory to learn playing or singing an instrument? Do you have a favourite style of music you like to listen to and that you wish to be able to analyse in future? While you could start just anywhere, it might help to understand where you want to go to, to find a good and fitting educational path...
Answer: Decide which instrument you want to play and can afford, then understand that it doesn't happen over night or over a fortnight and requires daily practice. We can not recommend books but I would say finding an instructor who is knowledgeable is 100 times better than a book I tried teaching myself with books and charts for 10 years and learned more in one year of music class than the previous 10 (Maybe I'm just slow). Even YouTube is a good resource.
Learning to read music is like learning to read anything else: you can't start of reading Shakespeare and tongue twisters. Similarly, do not start out trying to learn your favorite Bach or Mozart piece. Everyone here will have different advice but don't be discouraged by a lack of progress, it takes years to comprehend the world of music but once you do it is an amazing gift indeed.
Comment: Thank you for fast and elaborated response. I can afford instruments but for the place I live in currently, I can't afford any instructor. But, if you can recommend some youtuber who make video for newbies, it would be a great help. And I wanted to read books to know about music theory's basics like harmony, tone, how to read or write the symbols.
Answer: You should probably learn music theory first, maybe like a book from your nearest music store? Or maybe a private teacher? Just don't go on untrusted sites, even YouTube may have some incorrect material. If you practice that then it may be hard to break those bad habits.
Comment: Thanks for your informative response. Can you recommend some popular books about music theory for beginners please? I would prefer books that assumes the reader has good mathematical background but lack any experience in music.
Answer: There are many books about "music theory", but you're going to have a hard time reading them if you really "don't know anything about music". Now, the question is: do you really know nothing? My take is, you actually do know quite a bit. You know at least implicitly about rhythm and pitch, you can feel variations between instruments and so on. Mathematical background may be important but cannot really replace a good understanding of "what is going on" (at least based on my shallow studies on the matter).
I quote others, find an easy instrument (piano and guitar are nice to start with) to get the ropes of musical notation and accidents, and start from there. My music theory teacher suggested me to read the Dubois books as they are rather dry and "to the point", even if not accurate. If you manage to, it may be better to find some music theory teacher near you to get past the first milestones to avoid getting stuck. A decent number of websites (depending on your geographical location) may offer music graduates ready to teach you for a modest fee.
Always remember to pair theory with analytical listening, and possibly find someone more knowledgeable than you to double check ("I found this section of the 6th Symphony to be really uplifting but I don't know why: let's see what John thinks about it"). Taking a well-known masterpiece and analysing it over and over to discover more and more relations (and it's here that math starts to repay your work) will teach you at least as much as reading great books.
Comment: Thanks for this informative answer. I will try to follow them
Answer: I would start with piano. There are tons of free apps or free "Online Piano"-websites. And piano combines so much of music! Another idea would be the drums to learn rhythm. Just listen to music you like and try to play along the basics like the bass drum and the snare.
You need a little bit of theory and praxis background, but there are tons of websites or videos on YouTube out there to understand these basics.
I don't know any good sources because I never searched for that. I just skipped through this video here and thought it's not that bad. Maybe a little to much to start with. Just use a picture of a keyboard while you watch the video. A picture like this:

This image is from this video, wwhich would be a good start.:
Comment: thanks for this informative answer. I will try this the moment I can get my hand on a piano.


How can I get my 16-month-old to stop gagging himself, and (sometimes) vomiting?

Question: I know he's doing it to get attention - particularly at the dinner table, or when we're out. But he'll stick one hand in his mouth until he starts gagging, and giggles when my wife tells him to stop. If we ignore him, he does it until he vomits, giggles, then does it again. Holding both hands frustrates him, of course, and only works until we let go.
Comment: Is it possible (please keep an open mind here) that he's *not* doing it for attention, but that it's a self-stimulating activity that he enjoys? "Look!", he giggles, "Look at the power I have over my body! Isn't it *amazing?!!* Adults tend to think kids have ulterior motives for doing relatively benign things. It's *possible* he simply enjoys his agency.
Answer: I'm still not certain if it's anything that we did, or if he just got bored of it, but I managed to convince my wife to join me in just ignoring him when he does it, and the practice has basically ceased. He still occasionally makes a gagging noise while in his high chair in order to get our attention, but he hasn't done it while shopping in quite a while, and I think he's making the association that doing it generally results in his food going away (on the off chance that it actually is something in the food making him gag), which he of course doesn't like.
Answer: The way to handle things they do just to get attention is, yes, by ignoring it.  Eventually, he will realize he's not getting a reaction out of you, so he'll figure out something else that gets a rise out of you, lol.  Just clean up after he vomits and try as best as you can not to make a big deal about it


What is Pikablu, and how can I get him?

Question: I've heard a lot of rumors about Pikablu, is he real or not?
If he's real, where can I find him? Do I need cheats to get him?
Answer: As you can see from this page, Pikablu was a rumored pokemon, which wound up being Marill (#183), the evolution of Azurill (#298). You will see in the comments at the bottom:
"For months prior to the release of Pokémon Gold and Silver, Marill was often incorrectly referred to as "Pikablu", likely because of its slight resemblance to Pikachu. "
Comment: @Emerica. Nope he can't. [You have to have 15+ rep to up-vote](http://gaming.stackexchange.com/privileges/vote-up)
Comment: Thanks for the ansert, i wish i could vote you up but i dont have the rep yet
Comment: @MaartenKuilman I do it for you then =)
Comment: @MaartenKuilman I am pretty sure you can upvote answers to your own question regaurdless of your rep. Also np, thats why we're here. :)
Comment: Marill is #183, not #298.  (Azurill was introduced the generation after Marill & Azumarill.)
Comment: @jwodder Ahh yes, you know what they say about assumptions... Thanks!
Answer: Pikablu is not a real Pokemon. As the bulbapedia article explains, before the second generation of Pokemon games (Silver and Gold) was released, images of Marill were released and fans called it Pikablu.
Answer: It's Marill.
I believe Pokémon the First Movie Trading Cards are the source of confusion. The first release of "Peacemaker Pikachu" card (before GSC was released) mentioned Buru (Snubbull) and Pikablu (Marill). The error was corrected in the release after GSC release (well, mostly, it misspelled Snubbull anyway).
On the scan below, I show the difference between two versions. The top one is the original version from which Pikablu comes. The second was released after GSC, and it fixes Pikablu error (but somehow it still misspells Snubbull).
Considering that it's the only instance where Marill's name appears before GSC release, it's easy to assume that Pikablu is actually Marill's name.

What is Pikablu, and how can I get him?


Some assistance, please

Question: I am not disputing the closure of my question on end-of-humanity SF and politics, but how could I edit it so that it falls within the rules of this Exchange? Seems I'm not the only one interested, it has four upvotes and one person favorited it.
Answer: I believe you can just go to the question and edit it, like you would a question that was open. If I'm not mistaken, this would automatically queue it for review by a moderator to see if the edit made it pass muster.
On a personal note, I think your last paragraph, "are there any scholarly works..." is what prompted people to vote to close, since it made it seem like an open ended list question. However, if you reworded it to focus on the penultimate paragraph, it can be a very interesting question - "What effect did nuclear fears have on the science fiction of the early cold war?" is a great question. Might still be a bit too broad, but interesting.
Comment: Not necessarily review by a moderator, it just puts it in the standard reopen queue for anyone with 3k rep.
Comment: Yes, it is definitely the open-ended list part that was the problem. If what you really want is a list of works that contain the same theme, then you'll have to ask it somewhere else. Chat can be good for this.
Comment: I've edited it, hope it's acceptable now.
Comment: @EugeneSeidel In all honesty, I think the edit made it worse.  Calling for people's opinions tends to send up red flags on the SE platform.  I'm going to edit out the last sentence for you, but feel free to roll-back or edit it further if you disagree.
Comment: @Beofett OK, thanks.

Some assistance, please


can you add subdivision surface modifiers to specific vertex groups

Question: i want to make parts of my model seem more smooth but others i want to stay flat.
Answer: No, you can't use Vertex Groups for Subdivision Surface modifier.
What you can do is select region you want to have smoother and use W > Subdivide Smooth.
Be aware that this method will create ngons and/or tris (when Quad/Tri Mode is checked).
Comment: In 2.83 and later (and possibly earlier), The process is to right-click and then click subdivide and change the "Smoothness" setting to 1
Answer: As far as I understand you can not do that, but you can use the knife tool to make cuts on the surface,
to access the tool touch the k or in the t menu on the left side of your screen in edit mode.
also remember that if two sides are very close to each other it will give the illusion that  the area is flatter
here I leave you an image as an example


git-svn fetch authorization failure

Question: I'm trying to clone an svn repository with git, but I get an authorization failure on the fetch step.  I'm only trying to get the trunk of the project currently:
$ git svn clone svn://some/repo --trunk=svn://some/repo/trunk/project/ --username afoglia .
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/afoglia/projects/new_repo/trunk.git/project/.git/
Using higher level of URL: svn://some/repo/trunk/project => svn://some/repo
W: Ignoring error from SVN, path probably does not exist: (160013): Filesystem has no item: File not found: revision 100, path '/trunk/project'
W: Do not be alarmed at the above message git-svn is just searching aggressively for old history.
This may take a while on large repositories
Authorization failed: Authorization failed at /home/afoglia/.local/stow/git-1.7.7/libexec/git-core/git-svn line 3099

I've tried fetching only the most recent revisions, and that fails with the same message.
git is successfully accessing the repository in the first step; I can see the counter of revisions incrementing as it approaches the first revision with this directory.  So I don't know why there is a failure.  Note that the layout is multiple projects under a single trunk directory, and I only have permissions to read that project and below.
I'm unfamiliar with Perl, but line 3099 is an unless with a different die message, and the string "Authorization failed" is nowhere in the script.
Also, I had to install git under my own account, and compile and install svn as well, so this might be the result of a missing perl library.  (But I have successfully cloned an unsecured svn repository, so it's not something obvious.)
Answer: First, --trunk accepts subdir, not absolute url. Next, you should provide --parent to get the most revision only. Try this way
git svn clone --username afoglia --parent svn://some/repo --trunk=trunk/project/ project-git

If it doesn't work try this way
git svn clone --username afoglia --parent svn://some/repo/trunk/project/ project-git

Comment: sorry, try `git clone -r HEAD` instead of `git clone --parent`
Comment: git svn clone doesn't like the "--parent" option.  `Unknown option: parent`.  So I tried doing an `git svn init` (which works) and then `git svn fetch --parent`.  That fails with the error `fatal: ambiguous argument 'HEAD':...`, which makes sense because with nothing fetched, git has no HEAD from which to get the parent.  Also, I had first tried trunk with the subdir trunk/project.  There was no difference.  I switched to the full URL (which the man page explicitly says is supported) in unlikely case the two-level trunk subdir was the cause.

git-svn fetch authorization failure


How does a condiment become Fleishig?

Question: Ive seen people label their ketchup or mustard or other condiments in their home as either meaty or milky or parve. How does a condiment's kosher status get changed?
Comment: Offhand, a common scenario - take a spoonful of mustard, spread it on cooked meat; now the spoon is full of meat fat and meat pieces, and the spoon goes back into the mustard again for the second spreading. The jar of mustard is relatively small that after a few spreadings, it probably has the meaty taste, to the point where, perhaps, the meat is no longer less than 1/60 in volume?
Comment: Just a comment, it might be a way of keeping organized and avoiding problems, for example, using a meat knife to remove mustard, then using the same mustard in a dairy situation.
Comment: they also may have used it during cooking (zeia-steam) which is an issue that is why some people have different spices for both.
Answer: It's just a good practice as often kids may touch the ketchup bottle to the hamburger/pizza/mac&cheese when spreading ketchup on it, or their hands are messy. Stuff like that. (Especially if they have two refrigerators, you keep a bottle in each!)
Shulchan Aruch talks about separate salt cellars, but that's because people would dip their bread, cheese, or meat into the cellar, leaving behind little bits of meat. The commentaries there discuss, and reject, the idea that a salt shaker would really be milchig or fleishig.
Comment: RE: ketchup EWWW
Comment: Where can that be found in Sh"\`A?

How does a condiment become Fleishig?


Is it necessary to get The Memoir Pages?

Question: I'm in sequence - 4 ( I think that I am in S-4) ,   and want to start collecting the DNA Fragments / The Memoir Pages , I was browsing through the Internet and found that people got in the Hagia Sophia without doing anything in particular. But I can't find the Hagia Sophia , so is it necessary to get the memoir pages ??
Comment: Necessary for what? Completing the story? No. Getting all Achievements/Trophies? Yes.
Answer: The Memoir Pages are a collectible as many others. They count towards the side objectives and are therefore required for 100% synchronization; nevertheless they do not provide an ingame benefit. So feel free to collect them once you have beaten the game and decide you want to complete it fully.
Answer: The memoir pages unlock the Hagia Sophia level. Once you have all ten pages, a new icon will appear on your map, and that is how you get into the Hagia Sophia.
If you complete the Hagia Sophia level, you are rewarded with the Ishak Pasha armor. This is the strongest armor in the game. (Stats are equal to those of the Master Assassin armor).
None of this is required to complete the game, but I believe it is required for 100% sync: the Hagia Sophia level has "100% sync" requirement. (You have to finish it in 6 or 8 minutes, IIRC).


Dump only the Stored Procedures in MySQL

Question: I need to dump only the stored procedures : no data, no table creation. How can I do this using mysqldump?
Comment: +1 for this question because there are many developers in the DB world that like cataloging stored procedures outside of MySQL in version control software that would like to do this (I'm not a fan of doing so, myself)
Comment: In my case this command give me an error `mysqldump: Got error: 23: "Out of resources when opening file"` I had the `--single-transaction` option to resolve this error. And if youy only want the routine, you can add -`-no-create-info` to avoid the create table statement.
Answer: This should do it for you:
mysqldump -h yourhost -u username -p -n -d -t --routines --triggers --all-databases > MySQLStoredProc.sql

  -n, --no-create-db     Suppress the CREATE DATABASE ... IF EXISTS statement
                         that normally is output for each dumped database if
  -h                     host replace yourhost with name of host
  -u                     username, replace username with username
  -p                     when added will ask for password.
                         --all-databases or --databases is given.
  -d, --no-data          No row information.
  --triggers             Dump triggers for each dumped table.
                         (Defaults to on; use --skip-triggers to disable.)
  -R, --routines         Dump stored routines (functions and procedures).
  -t, --no-create-info   Do not write CREATE TABLE statements that create each
                         dumped table.

CAVEAT
It would be much better not to separate the stored procedures from the database so that specific stored procedures will be created in the database it was meant for. The same goes for triggers. This would be preferrable:
mysqldump -h... -u... -p... -d --routines --triggers --all-databases > MySQLStoredProc.sql

Comment: I tried this and had to add the '-t' option to not get the create table statements.
Comment: Forgot that one, too bad I can't upvote comments. I updated the first mysqldump command to include it. The second one should be left out to associate every trigger to its base table. Thanks again, @DTest !!!
Comment: No problem. In my case, I just wanted stored functions/procedures for a specific database, and not triggers. So it worked out well


Are there stars with an average density greater than the central density?

Question: Are there likely to be stars for which the average density is greater than the density at the centre? Intuitively, I would say not, as density tends to decrease outwards, but ideally I would appreciate a clear mathematical justification for this.
Comment: Not an answer, but this may be helpful; look for *Hydrostatic Equilibrium* in [Equations of Stellar Structure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_structure#Equations_of_stellar_structure) and in [How Stars Work](https://www.astro.caltech.edu/~george/ay20/Ay20-Lec7x.pdf)
Comment: @AtmosphericPrisonEscape The question is about the *central* density, which could in principle be zero (e.g. for a hollow object). Of course, no *star* is going to be like that…
Comment: How would the average of anything be larger than the maximum value over which it is averaged? What am I missing here?
Comment: @PeterErwin: Ah yes, if you assume that the maximum can be somewhere else than in the center, the question make sense.
Answer: $$\frac{dP}{dr} = - \rho g,$$
is the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium, where $\rho$ and $g$ are the local density and gravity, $P$ is pressure and $r$ is the radial coordinate. This can be rewritten as
$$\frac{d\rho}{dr} \frac{dP}{d\rho} = -\rho g.$$
Since $\rho$ and $g$ are positive numbers, the pressure gradient is negative.
For all types of matter $P = f(\rho)$, such that $dP/d\rho$ is also positive (i.e. pressure increases with density).
Thus $d\rho/dr$ is negative and the density increases towards the middle.
Note that you ask about real stars, where the energy transport is by radiation or convection and the equation of state is that of an ideal, perfect gas. Two well-known results are that $P \propto \rho^{4/3}$ in radiative zones and $P\propto \rho^{5/3}$ in convection zones. So in both cases, pressure increases with density, regardless of what is happening with the temperature.
If instead we consider degenerate stars (either electrons or neutrons), then they tend to be isothermal, because of excellent thermal conductivity. But still $P \propto \rho^{\alpha}$ with $4/3 < \alpha < 5/3$ and $dP/d\rho$ is positive.
So it is impossible to construct a star with a density inversion using standard stellar equations of state and heat transport mechanisms.
EDIT: It might be possible to invent an equation of state that could result in a density inversion, requiring $dP/d\rho<0$. For example you might consider a situation where a sufficiently negative temperature gradient might counterbalance a positive density gradient.
i.e. if $P = f(\rho, T)$ then
$$ \frac{dP}{d\rho} = \frac{\partial P}{\partial \rho} + \frac{\partial P}{\partial T} \frac{dT}{d\rho}$$
and $dP/d\rho<0$ if
$$ \frac{dT}{d\rho} < -\frac{\partial P/\partial \rho}{\partial P/\partial T}$$
Comment: The real problem with radially-increasing $\rho$ is that absent sufficient viscosity, it immediately spurs convection which reduces the temperature gradient until density is radially-decreasing.
Comment: @leftaroundabout It is not bogus to claim that P is a function of density. It is obviously not ONLY a function of density (an ideal gas being a case in point). However, I see your point and will think about it. In real stars convection zones have $P\propto \rho^{5/3}$ and radiative zone have $P \propto \rho^{4/3}$ independent of any consideration of the temperature.
Comment: Sorry, but asserting $P = f(\rho)$ for "all types of matter" is just bogus. Case in point, you may have water in your cup at atmospheric pressure with $\rho \approx 1000\:\mathrm{\frac{kg}{m^3}}$. But put that water in an enclosed steam kettle and bring to the boiling point, pressure will increase drastically without $\rho$ increase – on the contrary it _decreases_. $P = f(\rho,T)$ is closer to being true. So your argument would only hold true if $T$ were constant or increasing with radius, which is not at all true either.
Answer: Not as a steady state, for sure. If there happen to be a part less dense than its surroundings it would just float to the surface.
This is called buoyancy and the math is basic enough.
Stars don't have solid parts and cannot sustain a state different from the hydrostatic near-equilibrium.
Then again, some transient event like supernova Ia explosion may create inverse density distribution with a void in the center, but I am not sure it is a legitimate star anymore at this point (AFAIR Ia explosions leave no dense remnant).
Comment: Apart from "solid parts" or viscosity, magnetohydrodynamic forces can also stabilise a non-hydrostatic density configuration. I think this doesn't happen in stars themselves, but it does happen in space plasma all around.
Comment: @leftaroundabout I think you should write an answer. Your comments are quite valid and you might be able to put something together more comprehensive and succinct. I have paused at present (too busy) before reproducing a whole load of stuff about stability against convection.
Comment: @leftaroundabout affect yes, stabilise no because these phenomena are dynamic in nature. Sun spots are non-hydrostatic, yes (the whole convection is not hydrostatic by definition, but the spots are even less so). Now that I am thinking about it, there are stars that have convection in their cores so they do have some density variation  there. Then again, the convection is extremely efficient mechanism for heat exchange and the goal put in the OP (density less than the average) is unthinkably high.
Comment: Not to say that it is, but in principle considering different composition of layers one can imagine a lot of combination in which equilibrium exists so that a heavy layer is "floating" above an ignited and active core. No to say it happens, again I want to be clear on this. Pure gymnastics.
Comment: @Alchimista that's how the convection happens. But the density variation is tiny and limited by the adiabatic gradient (or slightly off, depending on the convection efficiency). Then again, our lovely Sun's average density is ~1.4 and in the core it is 100+. The Sun doesn't have a core convection, but other main-sequence stars that do have one can't be extremely different. You need quite a deal of disturbance in order to create a less than 1.4 bubble in a 100+ density core. That's what the supernova events are for (and they happen in even denser star cores).
Answer: A density increasing with distance from the center is impossible for a star in hydrostatic equlibrium, regardless of the temperature profile (assuming the ideal gas law holds). In fact, the density has to decrease faster than $1/r$, and it has to decrease 2 powers faster than the temperature (e.g. for an isothermal star it would have to decrease like $1/r^2$). This is straightforward to prove from the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium for a self-gravitating gas sphere. Equating the pressure force on an atom with mass $m$
$$\frac{1}{n(R)}\frac{dP(R)}{dR}= -\frac{Gm}{R^2}\int_0^R n(r) 4\pi r^2 dr$$
where $n$ is the number density , $P$ the pressure and $G$ the gravitational constant.
For an ideal gas we have
$$P(R)=n(R)\cdot k\cdot T(R)$$
with $T$ the temperature and $k$ the Boltzmann constant.
Inserting this into the first equation gives
$$\frac{k}{n(R)}\cdot [T(R)\frac{dn(R)}{dR}+n(R)\frac{dT(R)}{dR}] =-\frac{Gm}{R^2}\int_0^R n(r) 4\pi r^2 dr$$
If we now represent the radial dependence of the density and temperature by power laws in the form
$$n(r)=n(R_0)\cdot \left(\frac{r}{R_0}\right)^p$$
$$T(R)=T(R_0)\cdot \left(\frac{R}{R_0}\right)^q$$
we get the following equation
$$k \frac{T(R_0)}{R_0^q}\cdot (p+q)(3+p)\cdot R^{q-1} = -\frac{4\pi Gm\cdot n(R_0)}{R_0^p}\cdot R^{p+1}$$
We see the following from this: since the $R$ dependence on the left and right hand side must be identical, we must have
$$q-1=p+1$$
that is
$$q=p+2$$
Also, since the right hand side is always negative, the left hand side must be as well, which means we must have
$$(p+q)(3+p) = 2(p+1)(3+p) <0$$
i.e.
$$-3<p<-1$$
In other words, the number density must decrease faster than $1/R$ but slower than $1/R^3$. And it must decrease two powers faster than the temperature ($p=q-2$). Otherwise the star could not be stable.
We also see from this that the temperature could in principle increase from the center outwards (i.e. q>0) (ignoring the question how this could be achieved in practice), but it must increase more slowly than linear (q<1), so the pressure (density times temperature) still decreases going outwards.
Comment: You can't just assume the perfect gas law (though your analysis is probably ok for that case).
Comment: @ProfRob You implicated yourself the ideal gas law in your own answer by implicating a negative temperature gradient could counterbalance a positive density gradient. As my basic analysis shows, this is not possible. If you want to consider deviations from the ideal gas law (which still would need to be justified) you just have to multiply some additional factors to the power indices p and q above. In any case, the OP wanted a clear mathematical justification for the answer, which I think I have given here. Anything more would imply some degree of speculation.
Comment: White dwarfs are not governed by the perfect gas law.


Kneading apple strudel dough

Question: My instructions for kneading strudel dough include slamming the dough against the floured board a few times during kneading.  What is the purpose of slamming the dough?
Comment: Getting any aggression out? I'll wait to see what the strudel experts say, but other than weird edge cases like beaten biscuits where you are actually trying to damage the gluten strands, kneading is what you make of it, and the recipe-writer might have liked slamming it, or their recipe-writer or instructor did, etc...
Answer: I suspect that there isn't a functional reason per se. It's just a description of what the kneading motion becomes when you have a lot of dough in your hands.
If you're making a small batch, then you can just fold the dough repeatedly. But if you're working with dough made with 2-3 kg of flour, novice bakers are prone to taking it easy, leaving the dough lying on the table and kinda massaging the sides a bit. This won't knead the dough properly.
The real kneading of a large batch of dough requires the appropriate large movement. You have to grab enough of dough with your right hand, stretch it sufficiently, and fold it over the half you're supporting with your left hand. You have to repeat this several hundred times before it's done, so it's best to do each individual fold quickly. You're kinda throwing the right edge of the dough against the table, to the left of the left edge. The combination of picking up enough dough on the right side, stretching it far enough before folding, and doing this with speed, is what produces a resounding smack at the end of the folding motion.
When you knead a small batch, say 500 or 750 g of flour, the motion naturally transforms. Now you're more pushing the dough to the right with the ball of your right hand. No slamming occurs.

There is also a kneading technique where you heave the whole dough ball in the air, slam it and do a kneading movement from both sides. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbBO4XyL3iM&t=185s.
Again, I don't think that the slamming does something beneficial to the dough. Try imagining doing this motion, while you're moving your hands quickly and energetically, and at the same time ensuring that the dough has a soft and gentle landing on the table. It would be quite awkward. Instead, what you do is to move your hands first up, then down, then fold from the sides. The downward motion of your hands, especially when combined with the drooping of a heavy batch of very soft dough (not visible in the video, as the batch is small) would automatically produce a slam. So this is what the motion feels like to the baker, and that's how it gets described and taught.
Comment: Thank you for your detailed information.   I appreciate the time you took to respond.

Kneading apple strudel dough


Can Buddha be insulted by disrespect?

Question: I found a video about Leshan Giant Buddha and was watching it with my family. In that video some workers were cleaning the statue's head while walking on it (it is a giant statue) - and my family members were surprised that people walked on Buddha's head, because to them that looked disrespectful. I replied that it's not a real problem, because Buddha does not have attachment to respect and would not feel insulted. Was I wrong or is this correct? The Buddha would never cling to such concepts like respect and feel insulted, right?
Comment: He's dead so I can't really see how he could be insulted
Comment: Canonically after he became enlightened he refused to participate in insults -- [here is a good sutta](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn07/sn07.002.than.html) about that, and about anger too. Also, canonically, whether the Buddha is alive or dead is unanswerable -- e.g. the body dies yet the body is not the Buddha. People often associate the Buddha with the Dhamma, saying that the Dhamma is the Buddha's Dhamma-body.
Comment: @ChrisW I thought it was an unanswerable question because such questions made no sense. The Buddha said that there was no Tathagata, because that name was just an useful conventional label. The Buddha (a being) is therefore just a conventional figure of speech, and we cannot said that it is alive or dead.
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores In [this sutta](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.006.than.html) someone makes an assertion and the Buddha denies having declared that because the thought that the Buddha exists and/or doesn't exist after death would only occur to someone who is fond of the "aggregates" and doesn't see their cessation; ditto "becoming", etc. In [this sutta](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.008.than.html) the reason for asserting is assuming aggregates to be the self. I like [this one](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.086.than.html).
Comment: @ChrisW Thanks for those suttas! I was thinking of https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.001.than.html and https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn23/sn23.002.than.html . (Sorry for those long links, but I don't know how to create an hyperlink in SE).
Answer: The answer comes in the Akkosa Sutta below. Even if someone insults him or speaks to him in a hurtful manner, he doesn't accept it i.e. react to it. And so it goes back to the originator.
However in the case of the Giant Buddha Statue, perhaps they have no choice but to walk on its head in order to clean it. The Buddha statue is not the Buddha himself. It's only a symbolic representation.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying
  near Rajagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' Sanctuary. Then the
  brahman Akkosaka Bharadvaja heard that a brahman of the Bharadvaja
  clan had gone forth from the home life into homelessness in the
  presence of the Blessed One. Angered & displeased, he went to the
  Blessed One and, on arrival, insulted & cursed him with rude, harsh
  words.
When this was said, the Blessed One said to him: "What do you think,
  brahman: Do friends & colleagues, relatives & kinsmen come to you as
  guests?"
"Yes, Master Gotama, sometimes friends & colleagues, relatives &
  kinsmen come to me as guests."
"And what do you think: Do you serve them with staple & non-staple
  foods & delicacies?"
"Yes, sometimes I serve them with staple & non-staple foods &
  delicacies."
"And if they don't accept them, to whom do those foods belong?"
"If they don't accept them, Master Gotama, those foods are all mine."
"In the same way, brahman, that with which you have insulted me, who
  is not insulting; that with which you have taunted me, who is not
  taunting; that with which you have berated me, who is not berating:
  that I don't accept from you. It's all yours, brahman. It's all yours.
"Whoever returns insult to one who is insulting, returns taunts to one
  who is taunting, returns a berating to one who is berating, is said to
  be eating together, sharing company, with that person. But I am
  neither eating together nor sharing your company, brahman. It's all
  yours. It's all yours."
Answer: We have giant Buddha statues in Sri Lanka too. But nobody walks on the head to clean them. There are respectful ways to do it if you are smart enough.
I have heard this ridiculous argument many times - "The Buddha wouldn't get upset. Therefore it is ok." The Buddha didn't get upset even when Devadata tried to drop a rock on him. The Buddha didn't get upset when Cinca Manavika falsely accused him  of making her pregnant. That doesn't mean such actions are not wrong and not bad Karma.
The Buddha will never get upset whatever you do. That is not the point. The point is if your actions are disrespectful, it is bad Karma for you. It's important to keep in mind that being disrespectful does not require the other person to become upset.
Comment: How is it disrespectful if were talking about cleaning a statue? What if the intentions are pure? What if walking over the head is the easiest and fastest way to keep that part clean? Is it not attachment to form if we keep such levels of emotional attachment to a symbol, whatever that symbol represents?
Comment: @Swapnil Hi! I'm pretty sure your intention is not to insult or disrespect the Buddha. Also, we're not talking about the Buddha, but about a statue. If you see my reply to ChrisW's comment, you'll see that even when the Buddha was alive the concept "Buddha" was just a conventional one (as someone said, "there is not enlightened people, only enlightened behavior"). So, it does not follow that we could talk about the Buddha's destiny after death, because it doesn't make sense. But, to be clear, I don't think someone could be angry after death ("when death is, I am not; when I am, death is not").
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores Thanks for attention , Our intention is not to insult but cleaning.  So I also asked if he hadn't cling to such feelings.
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores So he didn't got insulted even when he was alive, so what about after death. Are you saying that?
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores Thanks now I got exactly what you mean by death. Thanks a lot.
Comment: @Swapnil Just in case, that last quote I wrote in parenthesis is not from the suttas, but from a greek philosopher called Epicurus. The teachings taken from the suttas tell us the there's nothing to be called as "I", "me" or "mine"; there is a body and there are mental processes, but nothing as a fixed essence or permanent core to be equated to a true identity. That, in synthesis, is the principle of Anattā (not-self). So, the quote from Epicurus is not completely compatible with Buddhism. Kind regards!
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores Thank you for all information and efforts.
Comment: 'Easy' and 'fast' are not goals to achieve when doing something respectfully and with care.
Comment: @SankhaKulathantille Neither you can assume that if you do something on the "easy way" you are being disrespectful. The quid of the matter is somewhere else: can we talk about respect when talking about actions directed to objects? Or should we talk about respect for the feelings of the people who are attached to those symbolic objects? Kind regards!
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores I wasnt arguing that doing something the easy way is disrespectful. I was saying that 'Easy' is not a goal to achieve, when there is a need to carry out a task respectfully. Your comments seem to suggest that it is ok to compromise respect for the sake of ease.
Comment: @SankhaKulathantille Not at all! Respect should be given when due. But I don't believe in respect to inanimate objects. I think 'respect' is an attitude born from empathy towards other's feelings and conditions, but here we're talking about a statue. For me, it does not matter if it's a Buddha figure. And even if you feel you should respect an inanimate object, I don't think standing over it's head should be taken as disrespect. The Buddha taught us about cutting attachment to form, and try to apply that in this case. Kind regards!
Comment: @BrianDíazFlores The statue is meant to represent the Buddha. Respect has nothing to do with attachment. You seem to believe that respect requires attachment. If what you are saying is true, you wouldn't hesitate to use a toilet paper with your mother's face and name printed on it since it's just ink and not your mother. Or you wouldn't have a problem with someone advertising a brothel with your wife's picture since the picture is just an inanimate object :)
Answer: Agree with what you said. They are only statues and not attached to Buddha. Actually, his teaching is about having the wisdom to understand this idea. No one can insult you as long as you have the ability to stay calm and not getting attached to the feeling of insult. Same with Buddha...
Answer: This is not disrespecting Buddha. As people who have quoted above in their replies are Buddhist teachings by Buddha himself.
It is the intention that matters.

Can Buddha be insulted by disrespect?


What do I need to do that I can access google calendar on thunderbird?

Question: I tried to install the provider plugin for thunderbird, but it said my release was too old. I have the lastest release of thunderbird in the lucid archives.
Answer: For Ubuntu 10.10+
Installing the necessary components is just a matter of running:
sudo apt-get install xul-ext-lightning xul-ext-gdata-provider

This will install the Lightning Calendar extension and the Google Calendar provider.
For Ubuntu 10.04
Unfortunately, Lightning is not available in the Ubuntu repositories for 10.04 LTS users. If you are running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, you have 2 options:

32-bit users can install a version of Lightning compatible with Thunderbird 3.1 from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/lightning/versions/?page=1#version-1.0b2
You can install the latest stable version of Thunderbird, following the instructions in How do I install the latest stable version of Thunderbird?. The thunderbird-stable PPA also has a compatible version of the Lightning extension for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS users.

I would strongly discourage disabling the addons compatibility checker, as advised in another answer. The check is there for a very good reason, and disabling it could make Thunderbird unusable.
Answer: I just tried it out, and you'll need

Lightning
Provider for Google Calendar

To disable compatibility checking for extensions, open Thunderbird's preferences, switch to the "Advanced" tab and in the "General" subtab, start the config editor. (source)

Add a new boolean value via right click named
extensions.CompatibilityCheck.[VERSION]

set to false.
[VERSION] stands for your Thunderbird version, e.g. 3.1, if you're using 3.1 stable, 3.1a if you're using 3.1 alpha, or 3.1b if you're using 3.1 beta. (source)
Then you can just install your extensions.
Should the Config Editor be unavailable for any reason whatsoever, you can always manually edit ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/[somecharacters].default/prefs.js.
Add the following lines as necessary:
user_pref("extensions.checkCompatibility", false);
user_pref("extensions.checkCompatibility.3.0", false);

Comment: the default thunderbird does not seem to have this configuration option.
Comment: Updated. The indicated button is unavailable? Version `3.0.6+build2+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.10.04.1` from lucid-updates shows me this button. Alternatively you edit `~/.mozilla-thunderbird/[somecharacters].default/prefs.js` by hand.
Answer: You need the 'Lightning' extension for Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/)
 and the google provider plugin (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/4631/).
You can then ask the creation of a new "network" calendar, and identify it using the "private URL" that Google Calendar gives you (in the calendar's preferences).
Answer: if you have a fairly new thunderbird + lightning combination (or the standalone calendar program sunbird) you can use caldev to have a two-way sync.
for a detailed explanation and howto you can read this blogpost by aaron toponce


iPhone UIButton provide different inset values for highlighted state

Question: I want my titleLabel text move a little down on button tap (i.e. I want to give different inset values for highlighted and default states).
I have custom button background images and the button goes down in highlighted state image but the text on it stands at the same place so it gives a bad effect and looks like the text is seperated from button.
Is there any way to solve this?
Thanks in advance
Answer: The easiest way to do this is to put your text on the button's background image.
If you can't do that for some reason you can try to add IBAction on Button down and adjust button.titleLabel.frame.


Count of Salesforce batches used in the Org

Question: When I look at the "Monitor Bulk Data Load Jobs" link in my salesforce org, I see a count of batches consumed in the last 24 hours. An example is shown below.
Your organization has processed **821 batches** in the last 24 hours. Your organization can process 2,000 batches in a 24-hour period.

Is there a way to get this information by running a SOQL?
Comment: the object to query (if it were queryable -- not possible as of Winter 18) is `AsyncApiJob`
Answer: From this it doesn't seem like there's a way to query for Bulk Load jobs.
You can query the AsyncApexJob table for a count of records where the type is BatchApex, which is the only seemingly log of all things Batch
Select count(Id) from asyncapexjob where JobType='BatchApex' and CreatedDate > Yesterday

However this doesn't seem to include Bulk Data Loads
Answer: The snippet of code below gets the number of batches, and also the number of items in all batches:
List<AsyncApexJob> lstjobs=[
    SELECT
        Id,
        TotalJobItems
    FROM
        AsyncApexJob
    WHERE
        CompletedDate = TODAY
        AND JobType='BatchApex'];

Integer jobItemsCount = 0;
Integer batchesCount = 0;
for(AsyncApexJob async : lstjobs) {
    jobItemsCount += async.TotalJobItems; //Add the no of batches processed
    batchesCount++;
}

Comment: I tried it and it doesn't seem to work because of two reasons. 1) This doesn't seem to include bulk data loads as techtrekker mentioned in the below note. 2) CompletedDate = TODAY is not the correct where clause. It has to be a running 24 hour window. So, I tried CompletedDate >= System.now().addseconds(-86400) in a apex job and still the result was wrong because of #1.
Answer: You might have to use HTTP requests to get that info. See Bulk API for more info, this link looks particularly interesting.


How can i edit a follow path constraint with the graph editor?

Question: I made a follow path constrait with a curve, does it already have a linear interpolation so i can edit it on graph editor? i need the linear interpolation.
Comment: Are you using animate path button, or the offset parameter?
Answer:
When you use a follow path constraint the movement and select Animate Path, there are no keyframes, the movement is determined by a couple of parameters:
1-The number of Frames on the path animation and Evaluation Time of the curve the object is parented to. The default is to move the object through the complete length of the path in 100 frames.

2- A Generator Modifier in in the evaluation time that can be displayed the Graph Editor. The movement starting at 0 and increasing linerarly one unit in X (time) and one unit in (Evaluation time value)

So to determine the speed at which the object will travel through the path there are two options:
A.- Change the number of frames on the curves path animation parameter. Less frames will make the object travel faster across the path. More frames will make it go slower.

B.- Altering the slope of the curve on the generator. A steeper line will make the movement faster, a flatter will slow it down.
Answer: If you select the curve, you should be able to animate the evaluation time, in the graph editor =)
Comment: As long as you don't click the animate path button in the curve constraint...
Answer: If you use the Follow Path constraint but do not activate the Animate Path option. You can move your object using the Offset value, note that depending on your path's direction you might need negative values. That will create keyframes for the object's movement.

Then on the Graph Editor you can set the interpolation you want by pressing T (or Key->Interpolation Type) and selecting Linear.


Is it possible to make taste of raw oily salmon less pronounced?

Question: Some varieties of salmon like Oncorhynchus gorbusha are preferable to consume raw, they have great flavor even without any seasoning. Other varieties with dark flesh and high fat content when raw seem almost intolerable to me. Is to possible by some curing process to make their taste closer to neutral?
Comment: It sounds like you're describing sockeye salmon or possibly coho, which both have darker flesh. Sockeye, is also fattier & stronger tasting. I'm not posting this as an answer because it goes against your question's premise, but... You should consider cooking it if you want to make the taste less intense. Raw fish simply has a much more intense "fish" flavor compared to cooked fish.
Comment: I'm not clear on which salmon you're talking about that you dislike; I'm not that familiar with salmon with "dark flesh and high fat content".  Can you link to articles or pictures?
Answer: My suggestion would be if you don't like the taste don't buy the fish in the first place, however if you have bought fish and then found out it's too strong a flavor there are a few things you can do:

A squeeze of lemon: acidity is a well known and frequently used way to cut fatty, oily flavors
Sugar rub: coating the flesh with some sugar and letting it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour draws out moisture and the sugar will impart some flavor, just get rid of the excess before you eat it
Salt rub: similar to sugar you can do the same thing with salt, I do a mix

You could do a full cure as well but it seems overkill and isn't likely to do more than a shorter rub. I'd suggest starting with lemon and seeing if that helps, if it doesn't I'd be tempted to cook it instead of spending a lot of time and effort making it more palatable raw.
Answer: I work on a gillnet boat in Alaska for a few weeks each summer. Here are some tips:

Get the freshest fish you can. I know you asked about the curing process specifically, but it all starts here. Anything you do after this is just masking any off flavors. The older it is the more fishy and strongly flavored it becomes.
If you can find it get fish that has been pressure bled. This is a process that occurs on the fishing vessel immediately after harvest where the blood is forced out with pressurized brine. It increases shelf life and removes some of the less desirable flavors present in the blood. In the US pressure bled is available for sockeye (red), chinook (king), and coho (silver), but not pink (humpy) or chum (keta/dog). I'm not familiar with other species, such as Atlantic salmon, so I can't comment on the availability for those.
Remove the brown or gray colored flesh next to the skin. It is more strongly flavored.
In my opinion sockeye salmon has the strongest flavor, and chinook is usually the fattiest (and by far the most expensive). Coho is somewhere in the middle. Pink is mild flavored, and has the benefit of being the most affordable, but you might want to give chum/keta a try too. I've never tried other species such as Atlantic salmon, so I can't give an opinion on those.
I've never tried it, but I can't imagine farmed salmon tastes better than wild. Their flesh is dyed, they are fed kibble, and are mass confined in pens.
Since we are talking about raw salmon: never eat raw salmon that has not been frozen long or cold enough to kill parasites. In the US sushi restaurants do this and so should you if you make it at home. You don't want to get anisakiasis or fish tapeworm, and never feed raw, unfrozen salmon to your dog. But don't let this scare you: just properly handle your fish and you and your dog will be fine.
Comment: How is salmon that is used for sushi prepared to prevent anisakiasis or fish tapeworm?
Comment: @CrossRoads In the US it must be frozen first. I'll mention that in the answer.
Comment: Is that true for other fish also? I've had sushi at a few Japanese restaurants outside of the Boston, MA area and it has all been rather tasty. (whereas previously I had never had sushi, sashimi, etc., ever.)  I do like cooked fish as well.
Comment: @CrossRoads Yes, other fish as well are frozen first which is good because I've seen anisakis/pseudoterranova in halibut, cod, herring, and others too.