Is it possible to have Novell NCP on top of IPv6?

Question: Is it possible to configure NetWare Core Protocol to run over IPv6?
Answer: NCP is a generalized communications protocol, and it currently rides primarily upon IP -- IPX has long been deprecated even by Novell. As such, it does indeed support IPv6. The primary platform for NCP is no longer Netware but Netware's successor product Open Enterprise Server (OES) which provides proprietary Novell services (such as NCP) as an add-on product to SuSE Linux Enterprise Server.
There is documentation for using IPv6 with Netware (confusingly labeled as OES in Netware's last iteration) at http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes/pdfdoc/ipv6/ipv6.pdf
Documentation for IPv6 on OES 2 and 11 would start with the documentation for dealing with IPv6 on SuSE Linux versions 10.4 and 11.1.
Answer: NCP is not IP protocol, it used IPX as underlying protocol which does not deal with ip addresses (IPv4 or IPv6). Probably it's possible to make some ipx tunnel over ip protocols, but I'm not sure about this.


How are micro-finance banks able to offer interest rates so much higher than traditional banks?

Question: Recently while browsing on google I came to know that there are few small-finance banks which offer great returns with the high amount of interest rate up to 7% and fixed deposits up to 9-9.5%. like Fincare bank offers interest rate up to 9% on FD of 2-3 years. Can anyone tell how and why is it possible, since major players in banking are not offering such a huge interest rate?
Answer: Microfinance institutions work with unbanked segment. Give small loans in rural areas at high interest rates of 25%. This is still cheaper to individuals else they go to local money lender who charges 100% interest.
They can then afford to give a higher interest rates to depositors.
This is a risky segment to bank with and one should be cautious about how much to invest.
Some Cooperative Banks also similar rates.
Answer: It is difficult to comment specifically on this bank, but retail outlets as well as banks sometimes attract customers with a "loss leader".  That is they might lose money on a specific product to attract customers who will then buy products that are more profitable.
With banking, customer acquisition, has a cost.  A bank can choose to pay for advertising how they are the best and try to convince customers to open accounts on that merit; or, they can do a little less advertising and spend money giving away items to new customers.  Which has more impact?  A traditional euphemism for this situation, that originated in the 1950's here in the US, is that one gets a free toaster for opening up a checking account.  Since that time banks have gotten creative and some give strait cash back for opening accounts.
The goal of this bank might be to be bought out by a bigger bank to enrich the founders.  In order to be an attractive take over target, they might want a lot of money on deposit.  How better to attract that money, but by offering high interest rates?  Sure they might lose money in the short run, but they will probably make it back (and much more) in the long run.
Comment: It is perhaps relevant that Fincare appears to be based in India, where – from other questions I've seen on  PF&M – they tend to have higher interest rates than is typical in the UK/Europe/US, but comes with a higher risk due to currency fluctuations.


How to measure quality and quantity of DNA?

Question: I would like to mesure DNA. I quantify the concentration with Qubit fluorometer, but I would like to know also quality of DNA. I try BioAnalyzer (Agilent),but without success. Bioanalyzer measure DNA samples from 100 to 7 000 bp (12 000 bp). Problem is that my DNA is not sheared, I would like to quantify whole mouse DNA. Have you any idea? Thanks!
Answer: You can run your DNA sample on agarose gel to see, whether you have significant degradation.
If you are interested in contamination, you can make a standard photometric analysis to assess the 260/280 and 260/230 ratios and absorbance at 320 nm on NanoDrop or even something similar to Eppendorf's BioPhotometer.
In case RNA may be an obstacle for some down-stream procedures, with Qubit you can also measure separately DNA and RNA concentrations and then decide if you have too much RNA and it's worth treating your sample with RNase.
Comment: I run DNA on gel...but I need some number for comparison...NanoDrop is probably the best option in my case :) Thanks!


Where can tag proposals go?

Question: Where should tag proposals be made?
(I want to suggest dupli or duplivert)
Comment: "Creating the new tag 'dupli' requires at least 150 reputation. Try something from the existing tags list instead."
Comment: you add a tag, like any other tag, then submit the post. Then you click into the new tag and add an excerpt, which is then vetted by moderators.
Comment: i'm not opposed to the tag, if you can write a concise excerpt for the tag wiki (and a longer description..if you feel strongly about it). I will add the tag to a post if you link it here.
Answer: This is meta, anything about the site can be posted here if you are unsure or just curious, so you can post those here in the future and the community will respond.
Once you have the privilege to create tags, you can do so if you think your post is unique enough to merit a new tag.
Don't abuse this though, we keep strict tabs on the tags already in the system and as they are added. Often times you might find that your new tag can be generalized under a broader tag or the other way around. That being said, you can also just leave a comment under your post suggesting that the tag be added and someone with the privilege will add it if it's necessary.
Additionally, you are not obligated to do so, but if you create a new tag, again, feel free to create the tag wiki for it.
Answer: If you take a look at the awesome new Privileges page, you'll see Create tags, awarded at 150 reputation. With this privilege, you can create new tags simply by adding them to a question.
If you do not have the reputation to create a new tag, you can just leave a comment on your question asking someone with enough reputation to add the tag to your question for you.
There's even a badge for creating a tag used by 50 questions.

Where can tag proposals go?


Drag and Drop document in a library with multiple content types associated

Question: In a library with multiple Content type assigned how can I choose the CT in the document if i'm using drag and drop? How can I change the CT in case there is a CT associated per default?
Comment: Click "Edit properties" on the list item, then on top of the form that opens you have a drop-down for selecting content type
Comment: What happens if I have a Custom form? How could I show that dropdown? What's the SharePoint internal name for that element?
Answer: Drag and Drop is for only uploading the files into the documents library with minimal effort. It cannot help you to add meta data to the documents while doing so. You should be editing each file to add meta data to the document separately. Default content type will be applied while drag and drop.
Let me know if you have any questions.


guidelines for wiring an office

Question: Does anyone have a link for recommended network wiring for office space? Runs per wall plate, wall plates per room, that sort of thing.
Answer: If you're willing to spend a little money, you can get the "bible" for cabling installers: The "Information Transport Systems Installation Methods Manual" from BICSI. It's $129.00, but it's got an unbelievable amount of detailed information.
If you're worried about legal compliance, check with your local electrical or building inspector. Most states don't classify "low voltage data cable" under electrical inspection guidelines, but you may have fire inspection-releated concerns.
Here are my personal takes on cabling:

Run more cable than you think you're going to need. The wire is cheap, the installation labor is not.
Use well-labeled wall plates with some kind of documented labeling standard. It shouldn't be complicated, but it should be documented.
If you can, create an as-built drawing. It will help you (or the next guy) when problems come up.
No matter where you put wall plates, users will put bookcases, desks, 1000 pound safes, etc, in front of them. Try and get in touch with the office space-planning people to see where good wall-plate locations would be.
If you're still using traditional non-IP telephones, coordinate with your voice vendor to run a single cable plant for everything if you are able. You can plug RJ-11 jacks into RJ-45 wall plates. Some people say that it's not a good thing to do, but I've seen it done for years w/ no ill effects.
Run more cable than you think you're going to need.  >smile<  Having to put switches in offices because you add IP phones, network-printers, and an Ethernet-attached camera where you thought that only a PC was going to be located is no fun.
Comment: It's amazing how many 1000 pound safes suddenly appear in front of wall plates.  Heh heh... "What do you mean you need me to move these concrete-lined fireproof file cabinets so you can make my new printer work?"
Comment: Desks with "vanity panels", in our case.  Why they need to stop the wall seeing their legs is a mystery to me...
Comment: +1 for point 4 - very, very true.
Comment: As it happens, I'm looking at doing the voice stuff as well (I don't know if VOIP will be in the picture).
Comment: From experience: using an RJ-45 jack (8 contacts) to hook up an RJ-11 telephone plug (6 contacts) works, but it can bend the fist and last contacts on the jack far enough that it then won't work for Ethernet.
Comment: For the non-IP phones find a place that makes RJ45 to RJ11 cables to run from RJ45 wall plates to old phones, and from RJ45 patch panel sockets to the RJ11 patch panels going to the old PBX. This way the wall cabling was more useful when we did switch to IP phones, and gave us the option of re-patching any wall outlet to be any phone number or an ethernet port. Another option is that the same crimping tool for RJ45 cables usually has the ability to do RJ11 as well, and you can just make your own, it's normally only the centre 2 wires that are needed for phone, sometimes the centre 4 wires.
Answer: For a typical high-tech office with less than 50 people, run 3 CAT6 cables to every office or workstation and terminate them as RJ45 walljacks.  Make them all home runs back to your server room.
If you are using IP phones, terminate them all to RJ45 patch panels in a 2-post rack with your switches.  If you aren't using IP phones, terminate 1 out of each group of 3 to a BIX patch panel.  If you convert to IP later, it will be a simple matter or reterminating them to RJ45 patch panels.
Get a floor plan and number all of the walljack locations.  Get it printed big, laminate it, and post it by your patch panel with a dry-erase marker.
Insist that your contractor test them with some sort of signal tester and not just a tone test.  We found that about 1% of our runs were unusable for Gigabit Ethernet.  Luckily, we have enough spare runs that we just left them broken and negotiated a 1% refund.
Comment: The signal testing is important. I worked at a place where we had some dodgy data-cabling because they were electricians, not data-cablers. For weeks after we moved in, they were coming back regularly to re-terminate or re-run cables.
Comment: @lukecyca: How did you perform signal testing?
Comment: As I said, we didn't get them properly signal tested.  They "tested" them by running a tone on the first pair, which is a crude method normally used for tracing telephone lines.
Answer: ...from my personal experiences:
General info:
- the standard wallplate I use, has 2 RJ45-ports
- I recommend Cat.5e or Cat.6 cabling (a question of budget)
  (should work with a wide range of services - Gbit/Phones/Extenders)
- Terminate all ports from the wallplates on a patchpanel in your techroom
- I tag the patchpanels with letters A,B,C,etc. - so I can tag the ports
  at the wallplates with A1, A2, etc. - this makes the wireplan independent
  of organizational changes
- make a floorplan with all ports on it (see other post above)
- if the wiring is done by an external company, etc. let them make a test
  protocol for every port, to prove that they all work perfectly (see other post)

Officeworker: needs 4 Ports
- 1 for PC/Workstation
- 1 for Phone (analog, digital or VoIP)
- 1 for additional Laptop
- 1 spare (e.g. local Networkprinter)

Programmer/Techguy: needs 6 Ports
- 1 for PC/Workstation
- 1 for Phone (analog, digital or VoIP)
- 1 for Laptop/2nd Workstation
- 1 for testing (to set up the new Laptop of HR, etc.)
- 1 for multipurpose (admin-network, second phone, etc.)
- 1 spare

Room/Office:
- amount of people how will work there (see above)
- ports for central Networkprinters, Copiers, Faxes, etc.

Ok, enough text for now, have fun...
Comment: These days, the price difference of Cat6 vs 5e is pretty small.
Answer: There's a lot of good advice here, but one thing I didn't see stressed enough is to leave extra cable in the wall behind the wall plate. You never know when, for some unforeseen reason, the wall plate will need to be relocated or the jack re-terminated. If you have an extra foot or two of cable neatly coiled up and tied behind the wall, this is an easy task. If the termination behind the wall plate has merely a few inches of spare cable, this may require a whole new run or simply make the task impossible.
Also, I'm going to go against the grain here and recommend no more than 2 jacks per workstation. Anyone who needs more than that is almost certainly sufficiently technical that a small 4-8 port Gb/s hub installation neatly mounted under or above a desk is unlikely to be a nuisance.
Comment: On the 2 ports bit: I'll agree in most cases. However, one case where having more port is really nice is where you need them on different networks. I worked as a assistant network admin for a while and it was really nice being able to drop my extra port into whatever VLAN I wanted.
Comment: On the 2 ports topic, there are pros/cons for having more or not. While having more does give more options and can save having to pull more cables through later, it also provides difficulties, such as requiring bigger racks to hold more patch panels and switches. On the other hand the difficulties with only having 2 often arise when management wants to re-organise where workstations are, and how many of them there are.
Answer: I just wired a new office suite for my company, and based on past experience we did most of the work ourselves.  Here's what we did:

Worked out where the desks would be going now and might go in the future.
Ran Cat6 cable to each location, and where we had the walls open anyway, put in conduit to make any future upgrades easier.
Installed twice as much Cat6 as we expected to need.
Located wall plates at the same height as power outlets, more for tidyness than any building code reason.
Used keystone wall plates, with twice as many spaces are there were RJ45 jacks to go in now.  Keystones are great, and in a pinch you can run additional cables and add jacks while a user is still plugged in to one of the other jacks!
Bought managed gigabit PoE switches. I know they're more expensive, but so is buying an unmanaged 10/100 non-PoE switch now and having to ditch it next year.  If you're going for VOIP, you'll need these anyway.
Wired everything back to a patch panel, including lines to be used for phone or fax, so there are no conversion costs later.
Comment: #3 yeah, #5 they are nice. #6 hardware's not my problem :D #7 No kidding!! :)
Answer: In consultation with our wiring contractor, we did two runs per wall plate and there were two wall plates per room.  This was just for network, we left our phone wiring as it was when we upgraded the network to Cat6.  If I were doing it new, I'd use the same wiring for phones and I'd probably go with 3 runs per wall plate.  2 would save a bit of money, but I'd want the flexibility to have phone+2 network connections active on one plate.
Comment: ironic, your "new" setup is /exactly/ what I put in a home office at my parents house.
Answer:
Runs per wall plate, wall plates per room, that sort of thing.

Who's using these offices?  If the offices are full of programmers, IT pros, and other technical sortss who are each going to want to wire their desktop, laptop, maybe an additional Mac or Linux box, plus some non-computer gegaws that need a network connection you're going to need a lot more ports than if we're talking about lawyers or accountants with one computer apiece.
Comment: "Office space for let 50 cents" -- apologies to Roger Miller. It could be just about anyone.
Comment: For programmer/system admins/etc, just buy a gigabit switch and problem is solved.  If they need more than a gigabit to the main office network (really?  You have a cluster in your office?) then you can use a more expensive switch with 10GB uplink ports.
Answer: Settle on a wiring standard.  I tend to prefer 568-B but at the end of the day it doesn't matter which method you pick...just pick one and stick with it.
Edit:
I just thought of another small tip.
If you can try to pull the longer runs first.  This isn't always practical but this will result in less wasted wire.
Answer: This is going to depend on what type of office how big are there multiple places the desk could go?  What type of user will be using it.  Will there be a separate network for VIOP.  If you can start to answer some of those questions things should become clear fairly quickly.

guidelines for wiring an office


I can't change the mirror in the software center

Question: In order to change the mirror we're using for updates, the procedure is to open the Software Centre, and go to Edit->Software Sources. There I can see the option "download from" and when I click it, the list of countries and servers appeared. I try to change it, but the problem is "choose server" button is disabled and can't be used. So, the only option for me was to click on "cancel" button or to close the window which means I gave up. What is the problem here, why I can't change the source for update and how to do that?
Answer: After you get to the country you want, you need to click on the little arrow to the left of the country name. That will open up the list of servers available int that country.
Here is a screenshot of the United States list opened, note the arrow on the left is pointed down as the list has been opened.

All you would need to do is to click on one of the listed servers and then box will be enabled and you can choose the server.
The Software Sources has a built in feature that will test all the servers and select the best one for your location.  That will allow you to use the best server for you without having to test everyone manually.  If you look at the upper right hand corner of the screenshot, you will see the button Select Best Server.  Just click that and the test will start and find you the best server.  This can take a few minutes so let it finish.
After either method of changing your server, you will need to update your package list with the info on the new server.  To do that just open a terminal and run:
<code>sudo apt-get update
</code>


Am i still hopeful for Allah's forgiveness after this sin?

Question: Salam i want to ask a question. I have been doing masturbation for 7 months and now i have left it Alhumdulilah and Alhumdulilah i also did tawbah and promised Allah i will never do that sin and and will leave it..but i just sometimes feel that i may not be forgiven because i heard that it turns your hands pregnant in the afrerlife please tell me is there any hadith that says that this will happen? And i am not even 16 and i got super scared after i heard this and that's why i sometimes think i am not worthy of forgiveness please i do not want this punishment in the afterlife please tell me will Allah forgive me? I prayed Salat al tawbah and promised never to return to it will Allah forgive?
Answer: Allah the Almighty is all-forgiving, there isn't a sin he will not forgive if you repent for that sin. The hadith you mentioned is non-existent and is spread to make people scared. But remember Allah and if you were to die whilst masturbating.
Comment: Thank you my friend


Lexmark pro205 printer

Question: I'm trying to setup up my printer but when I search for the make and model for my Lemark Pro205 it's not showing up.  I tried to do it from the terminal but no luck either. Can you please assist me?
Comment: Is [this answer](http://askubuntu.com/a/179967/72212) any help?
Answer: I have a 32-bit Ubuntu version 12.04 and I successfuly installed LEXMARK Prospect PRO 205 printer.
This is the way how.
Suppose that you allready have CUPS installed in Ubuntu (it is there by default).
Download driver from lexmark support page:
- 32-bit Postscript Printer Description (PPD) for CUPS-based and OpenOffice Printing with Debian-based packaging
Install a driver with Ubuntu software center.
Add a printer with CUPS web based administration:
"http://localhost:631/admin"

Lexmark pro205 printer


A Question Concerning Consensus and Hadith

Question: Say that there was a question concerning Shariah law brought about in the 8th century AD. Every scholar rules that the law follows by the opinion, X. However, today we find a lost manuscript, a hadith that says that the law actually follows the opinion of Y. As a Muslim, which are you required to follow: The opinion X (which was the consensus) or the opinion Y (which is what the old hadith says)?
Answer: A hadith is only taken into consideration when deciding upon a ruling when it comes with a solid chain. In this case, a long-lost manuscript will have no chain whatsoever. There is no way to establish that the last person in the isnad mentioned in the manuscript actually wrote it. So in a sense, the question is moot. It's not going to happen.
Now, if one assumes for the sake of argument that it was somehow possible to definitively establish the chain for this hadith and it went back to the Prophet (saws), you will still be split as to what to do with this hadith. The traditionalists who insist on sticking to a particular madh-hab no matter what will most likely not accept this hadith or the new ruling because it is not coming from within their tradition. They will err on the side of caution and established tradition rather than going out on a limb for this "new" discovery. The scholars who are less attached to singular madhahib and seek the strongest sunnah in any particular matter may consider this hadith, but it's doubtful, again because it's just safer to stick to well-established tradition.
Answer: If a situation like this did occur, the hadith must be looked at to see if it's authentic.
If the hadith is proven to be authentic, then it's taken and applied despite what scholars have ruled.
The hadith takes precedence, because it's considered part of our religion.
Scholars, their sayings, and their consensus are not religion.
In fact, consensus is something that was never part of Islam, it was actually added by scholars themselves despite there being no Quranic backing.
Answer: Scholars, their sayings, and their consensus (ijtehad)  is not religion. They are to be taken as "good advice". It was done by the scholars in the situations, where they thought, no direct instruction is found from the Prophet (PBUH) himself.
If later on, such a direct instruction is found, and you are convinced that it is from Prophet (PBUH) and it is relevant to the same matter for which some scholar has given his opinion, then, as a muslim, it is your duty to follow what the Prophet (PBUH) has said.
There is no sanction in Quran and Hadith that anything can be added in the religion by any consensus. In fact, it goes against when [Allah says in Quran][1]

This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.

Also, not all hadiths were collected and compiled in the time of our four great scholars. So it is possible that some hadith did not reached a scholar and he gave his opinion about it. Later on, people found out that there is a saying of Prophet (PBUH) about that matter.
One of these scholar has himself instructed that "if you find anything said by me against Quran and Sunnah, then smack it against the wall" (loosely translated)


From local tiles to WMS via Mapproxy

Question: I have any local tiles (seed via Mapproxy) of any local area. May I configure mapproxy that I can use a local tile directory on my computer as a source  and get the output then WMS ?
I've already configured mapproxy.yaml which has this lines:
services:
demo:
  wms:
    srs: ['EPSG:3857', 'EPSG:4326', 'EPSG:3395']
    # image_formats: ['image/jpeg', 'image/png']
    md:
      # metadata used in capabilities documents
      title: MapProxy WMS Proxy
      abstract: This is the fantastic MapProxy.
      online_resource: http://mapproxy.org/
      contact:
        person: Your Name Here
        position: Technical Director
        organization:
        address: Fakestreet 123
        city: Somewhere
        postcode: 12345
        country: Germany
        phone: +49(0)000-000000-0
        fax: +49(0)000-000000-0
        email: email@example.com
      access_constraints:
        This service is intended for private and evaluation use only.
        The data is licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
        (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
      fees: 'None'

layers:
  - name: Testing tiles
    title: Testing tiles
    sources: [osm_cached]
caches:
  osm_cached:
    grids: [gmaps_grid]
    sources: []
    cache:
     type: file
     directory_layout: tms

grids:
  gmaps_grid:
    tile_size: [256, 256]
    srs: EPSG:3857
    origin: nw

But cannot see the results, just empty page whout scrolling
Please explain should I use cache->directory_layoutORdirectory? If so how does it look?
Answer: Accordingly MapProxy documentation sources parameter of caches section is mandatory, but as I can see you use empty list. You should point source of your cache. If you are planning to use your source only during the seeding process - option seed_only may be helpful.
Comment: Thanx, Denis I'll check your suggestions.

From local tiles to WMS via Mapproxy


Is it OK to live without knowing how the program you created works?

Question: I mean, there are really useful libs that can solve problems when you are stuck and do not know how to solve this or that with your knowledge of programming language you use... For example, Boost for C++ or JQuery for JavaScript or Spring for Java... They solve problems in seconds and you do not really care how they did it (despite that they are written in the very same language you are programming in)... So I wonder am I alone in using libs while not being capable to write solutions for my problems from scratch or is it standard practice?
Comment: @jerluc: standard libraries are often far better developed and supported than any one organisation's code. For example, boost's shared_ptr is considered a "must have" by everyone in industry that I've come into contact with and various other pieces of code provided by boost have allowed the project I work on to focus on the details of the problem and not spend time working on some less important stuff that's already been done. You can experience problems down the line, so you should be selective of the libraries you pick, but generally they're good. "Not developed here" syndrome is bad though.
Comment: Have you __ever__ programmed scalable programs? Honestly, no library is perfect 100% of the time, and bugs are bound to happen. Now if that bug happens to reside in one of the many external libraries you're using, and 2 years down the cycle of development you start running into problems, and what do you know? It's one of those libraries you're using! So to be frank: no it makes no sense to use libraries as quick fix (at least not for enterprise-level software, etc) because they become somewhat of a limitation the further down the line you go.
Comment: They don't solve problems of individuals, they are just a solution for common problems in the related areas.
Comment: so is it OK not to know how to solve common problems in the related area and say "just use ***(your favorite lib here)" it would fix it not getting into how they actually did it?
Comment: @TZHX I suppose I should be more definitive in saying that what I stated applies mostly to libraries which may do such things as wrapping what could be considered "boiler-plate" code. It makes sense to trust the "invented wheel" by not writing IO wrappers (when libraries are available for such wrappers), but it doesn't make sense to trust a "somewhat round wheel", or in other words, a library that does some sort of black-box magic and works for what you need it for at that moment.
Answer: Is it ok not to understand how to solve the problems yourself, and use libraries instead?
In the general, no, it's not.
A library can save you the (hard!) work of figuring out how to solve a problem, and then debugging the solution, and then, maintaining it. But, if you're going to use it, you'd better make sure you understand how it works - why the solution actually solves the problem. You don't have to know how to invent cars, and engines, and robots that build car engines, if you're working as a mechanic - but you'd better understand how the parts work, what they all do, and how they fit together!
This is the reason why you will see many people become very specialized - many times only learning how to work with a single language, a single platform, a single framework and set of libraries.
That being said, there's only so much you will have time to learn. Sometimes you've got to take shortcuts - take them, but know they are shortcuts. Maybe you only read enough about a library to know you could figure it out, if you had the time. Or maybe you only figure out the two functions that you actually need to call, and only enough to make the calls correctly. That's a shortcut, which will come at a price - usually later, when someone (maybe an older, and more experienced, you) has to fix the code.
Answer: Yes - and we all do it!
Let's take, for instance, a very simple bug I was fixing in some Mac-related graphics code. The code around the bug involved several steps:

First, an Objective C method allocates a pixel buffer using malloc(), and attaches that to its Objective C object.
Later, something happens, and a C routine sends a message to the Objective C object and retrieves the pixel buffer.
The C routine compresses the pixel buffer contents using jpeglib, and sends it out over a TCP/IP connection.

There's an awful lot going on there! Here are a few things:

A dynamic memory allocator to implement malloc(), which assumes memory is physically contiguous and linearly addressable.
The underlying Darwin kernel virtual memory system to map both fragmented physical RAM, and disk space (which is a different physical device from the RAM), into something that appears to the dynamic memory allocator like it's physically contiguous and linearly addressable RAM.
Objective C's object system
The Mac OS runtime messaging system, and the way it interacts with Objective C objects
The jpeglib library's implementation of the JPEG lossy raster image compression standard, which uses a discrete cosine transform algorithm
The userspace networking routine for sending out the data, which calls through the various TCP and IP protocol implementations, which in turn calls into the OS kernel. Then depending on what you've got turned on for your networking, it may call a driver for the Ethernet port, a wi-fi chip, or more unusually a USB or Firewire driver.

Do you understand all the details of how all those things are actually implemented? I sure don't! I doubt there are very many people on the planet who do - maybe even none. So I just don't worry about it.
But it's a good thing to be curious, and to learn at least a little bit about the libraries and tools you use. When I first started programming, I knew compilers and operating systems couldn't be magic, but they sure seemed that way to me. By indulging my curiosity about those things, I've learned an awful lot and had a great career so far.
Comment: If I were to understand all the code I use routinely, I'd need to understand data compression including JPEGs, geometrical data representation including everything in The Nurbs Book, the intricacies of the PDF and U3D formats, and much more.  I've got references on everything, but I'm never going to have all of this down pat.
Comment: I must admit that I do not always understand in detail every building blocks I am using to write working code, but I feel unhappy when this happens. Understanding, or at least knowing that if I need to, I can understand the base components, makes the life much easier. I am glad I know how an allocator works, what principles are used to compress a JPEG image, how TCP/IP works, how virtual memory might be implemented, how a CPU does its work, etc. Having all these low level details abstracted away is good, but not having access to the details feels really bad...
Answer: Once computerworld.com.au asked Bjarne Stroustrup "Do you have any advice for up-and-coming programmers?"  And he answered "Know the foundations of computer science: algorithms, machine architectures, data structures, etc. Don't just blindly copy techniques from application to application. Know what you are doing, that it works, and why it works. Don't think you know what the industry will be in five years time or what you'll be doing then, so gather a portfolio of general and useful skills. Try to write better, more principled code. Work to make "programming" more of a professional activity and less of a low-level "hacking" activity (programming is also a craft, but not just a craft). Learn from the classics in the field and the better advanced textbooks; don't be satisfied with the easily digested "how to" guides and online documentation - it's shallow." Hope it will clarify your doubts about what is required for a True Programmer and what is Necessary for anyone to be one.
Comment: +1  - I think it's important to note that -- while I 100% agree with Stroustrup -- the OP shouldn't get the idea that this means he should reinvent the wheel on every single thing he does.  The main reason why Computer Science education involves implementing the String class and MergeSort and other algorithms is so that when we use the libraries available in our language of choice, we'll understand what goes on under the hood.  Deal with enough libraries with a good understanding of the foundations, and one can pretty much predict what is under the hood of library X, Y, or Z.
Comment: Frankly, I know a whole lot about algorithms, machine architectures, data structures, and lots of other things.  This doesn't mean I understand what each of our third-party libraries does precisely, or even all the theory behind it.  I think this is all good advice, but it doesn't translate into having to know everything about your app.
Comment: Coming form the man who needs several dozens of paragraphs to thoroughly analyze, justify and explain why the particular brand and flavor of tea piqued his interest, whilst completely forgoing the point of the initial question. BUT, I *still* love him!
Answer: I find the main reason we use libraries is to not "reinvent the wheel" all the time, abstracting the problems they intend to solve. You could try to solve the problems yourself, but that would take longer time.
However I do feel that we also need to know or guess how the problem is solved by the library. This is usually documented in the library´s user documentation and with open source software, you could always look at the code yourself.
Also we usually solve problems by abstracting the difficult parts anyway, so why isn't it ok?
Answer: The libraries are there to provide solutions to common problems. You need decide if they solve the particular problem that you are solving. They are NOT a substitute for not knowing how to solve a problem. For example, suppose your application requires a hash table,  you should have enough knowledge to understand what problem a hash table is solving. You should be able evaluate the performance of the library you are using to decide whether or not it will work in your application. I believe using a library to cover for inadequate technical knowledge is not the correct use case. The decision to use a library should revolve around whether or not using library will speed up development and provide a tested and reliable solution. The decision to use a library should not revolve around the programmers inability to solve a given problem.
Comment: That would mean that, for my current project, I'd have to know the details of the PDF and U3D specs.  For a certain grad school project, I'd have had to know a lot about certain linear programming algorithms (simplex would have been hopeless for my case).  If it were necessary to understand exactly what a library is doing in order to use it, I'd never get anything done.
Comment: I am not claiming that you need understand all the details of the implementation. But should know what to expect from the result. Take the hash table example again. If you are seeing poor performance then how do start evaluating the reason. The first thing I would start thinking about is the collision rates amongst my keys. If you have no idea how something works then how can you even start hypothesizing about reasons something is not doing or not performing the way you expect?
Answer: Up to you, really.
The best you understand the tools you are working with the better you can take advantage of them.
For example, I rarely use jQuery, but when I have to I know what to take advantage from it, and how can I make it coexist with other frameworks like Mootools.
Also, soon I'll adventure into gamedev with UDK, and I'm sure the more I understand about it the more I will be able to bend it to my evil will, but I could also just follow no-brainer tutorials. I choose the first, just a little extra time and brain cycles and I'll get better and easier results.
Answer: It's important to know your realm, and your part of the process.
For example, say you are using an image processing library.  Do you really need to know all about gaussian blurs, transformations, and color spaces?  No.  But you do need to know why you are using the library in the first place.  Or a framework's sorting function.  Do you need to know the actual sorting algorithm used?  In most cases, no.  But you do need to know why you need the data sorted.
On the other hand, if you are writing a compiler, you darn well better know how a compiler works, since thats your part in the process.
Certain frameworks like jQuery abstract away a lot.  Do you need to know how exactly they are working?  No.  But having a strong, fundamental understanding of what the library is doing will be very beneficial to you as you write code because you will understand better why the framework is made the way it is, and be able to use it to its full potential.
Answer: Upon my experience: since you can't eliminate the library-dependence, you and your team should know enough to solve the problem.
As programmers, we have little time, so we must choose the one which has highest priority. The problem must be solved, as fast and gentle as possible. Only this reason makes "learning all about things work" somewhat redundant.
The things I want to add here is "dependence". As a community, we are all dependent to others. We stands on the Giants to build our application: Java, .NET, API... And we trust the Giants about their work; because it works for so many people. If you have a problem about the framework, or API, there's a good chance that others have faced it somewhere, and there's a solution/work around.
The only problem here: maybe, somewhere, in a restricted criteria the Giants collapsed. For example, flash is not supported in some OS, and there's many things we couldn't do without it. This possibility is more than zero, but in this case we have little things that we can do. Only in these cases, the knowledge about "what is behind the hoods" proves useful, as it point out where the problem truly is and may create a big work-around; but I am not sure the time we invest really worth it.
To cope that possibility, I think there's a solution: because most of programmers can easily catch the "surface working" of a library, and only sometimes we really in need someone who is very well-understanding: let divide the team to do that. Trying to comprises a team that each one has experted about 1,2 useful libraries/tools/"skill set" that involved: one has good experience about jQuery, one has specialize with database, ... This will help much in minimizing risks.
Answer: Another point of view is security. When you use a library of which you don't know the exact inner workings, then you make assumptions about what's exactly happening. Each failed assumption may open an attack vector for a malicious attacker.
When calling a Quicksort, then you should be aware about the worst case behaviour. Else an attacker may be able to inject worst case data and to perform a DoS.
When calling a compression library, then you should be aware that when some data compresses to less bytes, then there must be data that "compresses" to more bytes than the original. So when your assumption is that the output buffer only needs the size of the input data because it compresses [to less bytes], then there is a buffer overflow waiting to happen.
You should know enough fundamentals about the things you're going to do, to be able to prove your assumptions true. Else the library should explicitely take care for this, e.g. throwing an exception when the provided output buffer is not large enough.
Comment: Allocating fixed-size buffers for *anything* is a buffer overflow waiting to happen.  Much better to use a language that supports dynamic arrays and let the callee manage its own buffers.
Answer: It's OK to not understand everything you use as long as you are sure it works. Once you are bitten by a bug in the lib then there's time to see how it works, why it works and why it doesn't. Of course you are always welcomed and encouraged to look under the hood even if you don't have to.
One of the hard things in programming is overcoming temptation to solve all the problems by yourself.
Answer: It is ok but it is dangerous. As general practice, one should know working of what he has developed.
Answer: Kinda...
It's fine as long as you get the general gist of what the library or framework is trying to do. As for the internal parts and what not then, no. Take the pragmatic approach. It works, it did what I want it to do, alright.
The point is to not get boggle down with bunch of small details and just implement your damn idea already.
I guess, the point is, you ain't going to know everything. Seriously, you have so little time to investigate everything, because it'll distract you from your main goal of creating that idea of yours. Little by little, perhaps, you can set a side some free time on the weekend to read up a chapter or so on the subject.
But don't try to figure everything out, unless you have lots of free time... Look at it this way. The reason for programming languages is the shield us from doing assembly code, the reason for assembly code is to shield us from doing 1's and 0's. I don't think you need to know every fine details of the mechanism behind it, but just know the general gist of it. Like a garbage collector, I know it going to deal with my pointers/memory, I don't care what magically neat algorithm it uses, I just know it works (for what I need) and it doesn't do any else. Maybe the con of it but meh. Unless of course you're in the field where you have to deal with it. Then you wouldn't be asking this question anyway cause it's part of your job haha.


Accessing a shared USB printer outside the domain?

Question: I have a setup with a Windows XP Professional computer joined to a domain. This computer has a USB printer installed, which is in turn shared. I can use this printer from other computers fine, as long as they are in the same domain. I cannot however add this printer on a computer outside the domain. It get's found when browsing, but won't add. Is this something that is possible to accomplish?
Answer: You may need to add a local user account (or accounts) to the workstation and grant them permissions to use this printer.
Answer: Is File and Print sharing enabled on the non-domain machine?
Can you see the printer by opening up Windows Explorer and typing \\computername into the address bar.  If so, right-click on the printer and select 'connect.'


Is there a difference in image when using a two different combinations of exposure time and diaphragm?

Question: My camera, aimed at a motionless object, is mounted on a tripod. Do I get a different image by changing exposure time and the diaphragm in such a way that the total amount of light coming in stays the same?
Comment: also related: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/13454/in-what-way-does-shutter-speed-affect-a-photo?lq=1
Comment: also related: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/49/what-is-aperture-and-how-does-it-affect-my-photographs
Answer: It depends on what is on your picture. Short vs long exposure obviously gives different look if shooting moving objects. Even tree in modest wind can be a moving object if exposure is long enough. Or a cloud. And aperture determines the depth of field, so if you have some objects outside of the focusing plane, they will look more or less blurry depending on the aperture number.
The aperture also somewhat impacts image quality. Wide open lens may show some optical aberrations and very narrow aperture (like f/16 or f/22) may introduce some blur due to light diffraction.
Answer: As you mentioned that the total amount of light (eg exposure) would stay the same, the main difference you will see is in the depth of field. A smaller aperture (bigger f number) will give you a deeper depth of field - that is more things are (or more of the main subject is) in focus. For subjects with a light source you may also start to see a star-burst effect with a smaller aperture. Other than that if you are compensating the aperture changes with an opposite shutter speed change you will keep the same exposure.
The 3 main things you have at your disposal to alter the exposure are shutter speed, iso and aperture. They have the following effects (in a nutshell):

Shutter speed - mostly effects motion, can have effect on saturation (long exposures)
iso - mostly effects graininess of final image
aperture - as mentioned, depth of field control, also some other effects like star burst from bright sources which is more pronounced on long exposures.

You can alter one of those to change the exposure or multiples of them to keep the exposure the same but achieve a different result in your image.
Answer: Yes!
That's why the "program shift" is the first non-automated thing you should learn.  Let the camera suggest an exposure, but then use the knob to switch between equivalent exposures, to fit your artistic aims.
Knowing how these affect the picture is the first thing to learn. Examples: change the aperture to ensure enough depth of field or throw the background out of focus; adjust speed to freeze the action or show motion (a waterfall will show very different images fast and slow).
So, learn what the effects are, in principle.  Then use "program shift" to apply those ideas. Take multiple shots with different (equivilent exposure) settings, not just to see which you like best but to further get a feel for what they do.
You mentioned motionless in particular.  So, if the shutter speed doesn't matter to the resulting image, the affects of the aperture still will.
Shooting products for sale or food we've cooked, I have that situation. So I use a low ISO setting and furthermore use a cable release cord, so I can use whatever shutter speed balances the equasion, even if it's very slow.
For the aperture,  I'll use the sharpest setting for that equipment.  Then also take additional shots with smaller apertures to ensure the depth of field is enough or as a failsafe in case the focus was a bit off.
Consider a slice of cake with the bulk of the cake behind (another example). Trying each different aperture and letting the speed be whatever it takes, you can see the difference in how sharp is the cake in back when the focus is on the slice in front. Or, if the depth becomes too shallow (large aperture) the slice might not all be in focus, as it's a few inches front-to-back.
Try it.  A non-moving subject and tripod is ideal for seeing that yourself.  Take a shot with each different aperture setting you can, and look at them.


Are there any existing foreign language teaching texts from the Ancient Near East?

Question: The various cultures of the Ancient Near East spoke a wide array of languages and we know that there was plenty of communication between cultures. We even have a language like Akkadian that served as a lingua franca between many different cultures. Diplomats, and others, must have received training in foreign languages. Do we have any written grammars from the Ancient Near East used for such teaching? Dictionaries? Explanations of points of grammar? Even exercises used by students?
Comment: Since Sumerian was a scribal language of the Babylonian Empire at a time when it was also a dead language then, yes, there were grammatical texts. They are not quite what we would expect of a written grammar, but there are vocabulary lists, parallel paradigms and so on. Really quite developed. See, for instance https://www.amazon.com/Sumerian-grammar-Babylonian-theory-Studia/dp/B0006ELMFM
Comment: @user207442: I doubt they had any notion of linguistic categories. That came when people started studying both Europan and Indian languages in the 17th century, noticing similarities. Ancient people did often have formal grammars, though. Latin being probably the most well known example. I don't know how, if at all, they taught each other foreign languages. It's quite possible that you only learnt it by going there and using it. Language schools seems unheard of before Latin Grammar schools in the 16th century.
Comment: @FrancisDavey Your comment would be a good answer. Looks like what I'm looking for.
Comment: Well, there's the Rosetta Stone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_stone ) . It probably wasn't intended for teaching languages when it was made, but it certianly served that purpose in modern times when it was found.
Comment: @T.E.D. There are lots of bilingual texts from the ancient world. But I'm curious about how various ancient people thought about their neighbour's languages and whether they had anything technical to say about linguistic differences. Were they even aware of notions like linguistic categories? Or was their linguistic knowledge all implicit? Indian scholars where writing about grammar long ago.
Answer: Well, written language was, at the time, an economic tool primarily. It was used to record business, political and liturgical transactions, and to cary on a conversation at a distance through correspondance. The things we use it for, instructive texts (such as language instruction courses) and recreational reading, developed much, much later.
But! There are ancient documents that are meant to instruct scribes in how to learn and teach writing itself - one such is detailed in this online book. (Begins on page 181 "How did they learn Cuneiform?" by Niek Veldhuis). These were word lists, lists of kings, and snippets of seemingly unrelated text, meant as a "primer" for the neophyte scribe to copy.
Comment: Changed the answer to indicate that what he was looking for probably didn't exist and why - but offered something similar that may be of interest to someone looking into how early written languages were taught.
Comment: This answer seems to misunderstand the question. It's not about learning to write, it's about learning a second language.
Answer: SHORT ANSWER
There is evidence of the use of dictionaries and dialogues but we should not imagine that the resources available came anywhere close to matching the vast array of second language learning materials that are available today. It is also highly likely that what are today known as authentic materials (objects, texts etc which people encounter in their daily lives) were widely used.
Authentic or 'real world' materials, although by definition not designed specifically for classroom use, have been increasingly used in language teaching since the traditional grammar translation method has sharply declined in popularity. Thus, in key areas, the main teaching methods used today (most of which focus heavily on 'real life' situations, often using everyday objects) more closely resemble learning experiences of the ancient Near East than methods which were popular just 100 years ago.

DETAILS
The (practical) need to learn another language probably stretches back into pre-history and certainly took place in Mesopotamia.

As early civilisations discovered and conquered other lands, the need
  to communicate with speakers of other languages arose. Historians have
  found evidence that second language teaching took place among the
  Sumerians from around 2700 BC

Source: Freda Mishan, Designing Authenticity Into Language Learning Materials
Hiroshi  Yonekura (pdf download), citing Renzo Titone's Teaching foreign languages : an historical sketch, notes that "...textbooks which are considered to have been used about B.C. 2500 were discovered." When the Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadians, what was probably the first bilingual lexicon or dictionary was created.

Sumerian-Akkadian lexicon. Louvre Museum [CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
However, as Mishan states,

Much of this early language learning and teaching in colonial contexts
  then and later (for example, in the Egyptian and Roman Empires) may be
  said to have been authentic in spirit, in that the language was
  usually acquired in non-classroom situations and without specially
  prepared language materials. It was usually done via direct contact
  with native speakers, either through sojourns in foreign parts or, as
  was common among the Romans, through the employment of a
  Greek-speaking tutor or slave

These 'sojourns abroad', though, are also common today; so too is the practice of hiring native speaker tutors, especially in countries such as Japan and Korea.
There is also evidence of language teaching materials used by the Romans. Eleanor Dickey, Professor of Classics at the University of Reading, states

Two thousand years ago, when the Romans ruled a vast empire whose
  inhabitants spoke all sorts of different languages, many of those
  inhabitants wanted to learn Latin. So they signed up for Latin
  classes, where they learned using textbooks containing little
  dialogues about everyday life. These dialogues are in some ways
  remarkably similar to texts used today to teach modern foreign
  languages

"An ancient Latin textbook as it appeared in the fourth century AD (reconstruction)." https://www.latinitium.com/blog/latin-classes-during-the-roman-empire


Travel with a baby from Eindhoven to Maasbree in the Netherlands

Question: We are flying from London into Eindhoven in the Netherlands and then traveling to Maasbree (about 40 minutes by car) for the weekend. A friend has arranged for a taxi but we'll have a baby with us and we don't have a car seat. Are there taxis available with car seats? Is there other transport to consider? Would it be possible to borrow or hire a car seat either in the Netherlands or in London? Or is there a better solution?
Comment: I don't think we have taxis with car seats available in the netherlands.
Comment: @Jacco - That's what my dutch friend said!
Answer: Public transport is comfortable and easy in the Netherlands, and a good way to experience the country. You will need to change several times, which is always a bit of trouble with a baby, but it won't be worse than going through the airports. Do mind how far your destination in Maasbree is from the bus stop — though it might be easier to arrange a bike with a baby seat than a car!
You can find a complete itinerary on the 9292ov journey planner. The most likely itinerary is bus 401 from Eindhoven airport to Eindhoven station, then a train to Venlo and a bus to Maasbree. The journey time is about 1:30. That is admittedly significantly slower than driving. The trains from Eindhoven (platform 2) to Venlo run every half-hour. See the NS website. You can book in advance and print tickets at home. The tickets are valid for one day (for a single journey), so you don't need to figure out the exact time in advance.
On the bus, you pay with an electronic purse on a dedicated smart card (similar to London's Oyster Card), the OV-chipkaart. Buying an OV-chipkaart can be a little difficult without a Dutch banking card; hopefully you can get one (per person) at the airport, but I can't find any confirmation.
From Venlo, bus 61 or 62 brings you to Maasbree.
Comment: +1 Good answer and thanks for the links. I've selected this as the accepted answer despite going a different route.
Answer: You could get a taxi from Eindhoven airport into the city centre, and then catch a train to Blerick. It would then be another short taxi ride to get to Maasbree. Perhaps this is an option?
Comment: We'll actually be in Blerick/Venlo for part of the weekend. Is it possible to get a taxi with a car seat? Or is it like in London where you can roll a pram into a black cab?
Answer: We ended up borrowing a car seat. In asking around to find a place we could hire one, we found a friend that could loan us one for the weekend. This turned out to be the best option as we can travel with the arranged taxis with the rest of the group. I just want to add these options as an answer.

Borrow from a friend - Ask friends or at baby groups. There is a good chance of finding a car seat especially for a short trip.
Freecycle - A group of people that give and get stuff for free. Children's items are commonly exchanged as they are typically outgrown before they are worn out.
ebay - There were plenty of car seats listed on ebay with some less than £10.


How did Celine Dion learn to sing in perfect English?

Question: Celine Dion is from Quebec, a predominantly French-speaking province in Canada. English is not her native language, yet in her songs her English is perfect. Is this because she grew up speaking the language or some kind of language training?
Comment: A general question about famous pop singers would not be self-evidently out of scope, I think.
Comment: Welcome to Language Learning.SE! This question seems to be too broad since it asks about an open set of factors that affected an undefined group of people. There can be literally a million of different reasons, including that quite often, even the people who never speak a word in English can memorize the lyrics of a certain song so that it *looked* like they have no accent at all.
Comment: We do have questions such as [How did Cardinal Mezzofanti learn foreign languages?](https://languagelearning.stackexchange.com/q/2282/800), so it should be possible to rephrase your question in a way that makes it acceptable for this site. For example, how did Celine Dion learn to speak English without an accent?
Comment: Canada is a bilingual country and even in Quebec there is some exposure to English language, and it is certainly part of the curriculum at school.
Answer: In 1989, Céline Dion was sent to École Berlitz to work on her English. Also, she has written quite a few albums in English, that must definitely have improved her accent!


Where is the most effective spot to item farm?

Question: Having beaten the main story quests of the game, I'm now running around mopping up side quests and preparing for a second playthrough of the game. I was curious where some of the best item farming places are in the game so I can deck out my character before starting playthrough 2.
Comment: You can farm the gold loot chest in the Sanctuary fast-travel room if this exploit still works for you (if you're on PC and haven't gotten the update, for example): http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/84699/how-do-i-obtain-more-golden-keys-for-golden-chests
Answer: The best bosses to farm for items are BNK3R, Warrior and Terramorphous. You can't fast travel to these locations, so what you need to do is kill the boss, quit out of the game and then restart the game. The boss will be back and you'll be right at their front door instead of having to run the respective gauntlet before each boss.
Note that Orange/legendary drops are extremely rare except from certain bosses (even then orange drops are absurdly rare. Killed BNK3R 20 times this weekend and got squat). Farming is an effective way to get purple/blue weapons from any boss, but you'll need to target your farming if you want the legendaries.
Also note that Terra always spawns at level 52, so if you aren't level 50, don't bother. See also my guide on killing the crap out of Terramorphous. Similar to the advice in that question, The Bee is an effective way to farm any boss; it used to be insanely easy, now it's just significantly helpful. The Bee has been nerfed (more specifically Amp Shields in general) so the boost is less significant for multi-projectile weapons, so if you're using the Bee, try a single bullet per shot, high rate of fire weapon like a Spinigun instead of a shotgun.
BNK3R in particular is easy to farm for Assassins since the Bore skill is bugged for him and sometimes he'll take repeated hits from it (with increasing damage) and die in very few  hits (or one).
However, regarding farming before playthrough 2...Don't farm before playthrough 2. Actually you need to be in playthrough 2.5 (e.g. complete playthrough 2) to get the best items possible. Don't farm until your level is maxed out; unlike Borderlands 1, damage follows an exponential scale in Borderlands 2. This means almost immediately after playthrough 1, orange level 30 guns are total crap compared to green level 35 guns. Ditto even up to level 45 guns. Everything is crap until you hit the level cap, just play normally until then and don't worry about farming.
Comment: I find that The Warrior only dropped legendaries the first time I killed him on any play-through with a character. Haven't tried the BNK3R yet though, since he's lower.
Comment: @Domenik that's because first time you kill warrior you have 75% chance to get an orange and then 5% after you kill him in playthrough and save.
Comment: As of the patch last week (12/11), the Bee has been nerfed to the point that Terramorphus cannot be easily killed with it equipped.
Comment: @aviangentile I meant to update my Terra guide based on that, forgot this answer referenced it. Thanks for the tip
Answer: In the wildlife exploitation center, if you haven't received the mission from Tannis, is the mission "Doctor's Orders". DO NOT collect any of the echo recordings. Instead fight your way to where the 2nd echo is (just after the super badass loader ambush) and in the room where the recording is there are 4 boxes. Opening each box without grabbing any echo recordings will almost always yield 4 loot midgets/loaders. Killing these at higher levels can yield aprrox. one legendary gun per 4 loot midgets/loaders. I myself after 4 runs on this location have received the corporate bitch, the impetuous hellfire, the vengeful ker blaster, and the 2 for 1 gunnerang. In my opinion it is the most effective farming method.
Answer: I'd say my favorite looting spot is The Fridge. There are several bosses there, Laney at the beginning for the gub, then enter "the rats maze". At the othe end you can kill smash-head for Sledge's shotgun. Then follow the path until you find a elevator.
Go up to "the Rakcave" and and kill Rakkman for the gunerang. Then jump down, head back towards the beginning, but this time (from the start point) head right, go down stairs and Kill Shorty for the last orange gun. 4 legendaries here!
Answer: Best way to get loot to me is to farm the Warrior a certain way. You and a buddy (you as the host) have the Final mission to "End This" and you head to heroes pass and kill Jack and Warrior. What you do is have your friend join with this active, kill Jack and Warrior and use lonar beacon bomb to blow the Warrior up. This gives a higher Orange loot drop rate than normal. It ONLY works with the mission active.
Any way, you kill the Warrior and Jack and if there is an orange weapon, have your buddy or whoever is not the host pick up and save and quit. Open your dashboard or find a way to quit without saving and then come back and do it again.  Note that you do not get Orange loot every time but I'd say you have at least a 7/10 chance of getting one every time you do this.
I later duplicated the loot I got and ended up with my friends having all the same orange loot. This included the Conference Call Slag, Shock, and Fire damage. The Sham shield. The Leech grenade mod fire. And the Volcano, all at level 50.
Answer: The best farming you can do after finishing game is to kill warrior multiple times and hope for rare drops.
first you need to travel all the heroes pass again, once you are at warrior go and fight him, its you die you will re-spawn near save point don't jump down you can easily snipe him from the top of stairs without getting hit.
Once you killed it go loot all the stuff, don't leave the map save and quit and continue. you can fight warrior again as many times you want.
All the other places you wont get better loot, and soloing terramorphus in the first play-through is quiet impossible.
Answer: I have found two orange weapons from trying to kill the black queen - I got them from killing the two men up by the church. There is a shortcut you can take up on the side of the hill, if you don't want to run all the way from the back of Ellie's. These two guys will start appearing after you complete the mission for Mordecai about the secret stash of weapons. The guys are extremely easy to kill if you have electric, fire, and corrosive weapons. The guy who kicks the church door open drops the veruc assault rifle, while the Hyperion agent can drop  the Lyudia/White death sniper rifle.
Answer: I farmed both the Warrior and Bunker and they both have crap, IMHO that is, on my way to Terramorphus. I had better luck when I played Zero, now I'm playing Axton and have got nothing but crap the whole game. The only good thing is having two turrets
Answer: i killed jack and the warrior in playthrough one. ( i'm level 35 right now)and when i went back to the red chest at the end of heroes pass (right before the vault of the warrior) i'm farming level 34 purple and e-tech gear there. also easily maxed out my 500 eridium.
i just run through heroes pass with my deception and toss a few homing grenades aheasd at key pointsgrenades and make it to the chest w/o having to fight anyone. then step into the vault, step back, save and you respawn right at the red chest with no enemies around.
but until i beat jack and the warrior, the chest was only giving level 30.
Answer: i farm the super chests in opportunity.  there are 2 easy ones to get and once u learn the route to run its so quick and easy...I was averaging a e tech weapon every six boxes or so and purps and blues too...I do this at level 50 for max level gear drops....go and look up on youtube the video for farming the super chests in opportunity and you can learn the route
Comment: Rather than telling us to go look on youtube, how about you describe your route, and link to a video showing it?
Answer: I farmed loot midgets near the second beacon for Doctor's Orders in the Wildlife Reserve.  Got at least 6 legendaries and one legendary grenade mod.  Without a doubt the best farming place with time and location taken into consideration.  Loot midgets are plentiful as long as Doctor's Orders is still active.  Do not pick up the second beacon, just raid the boxes, chests, and lockers, save / quit, rinse and repeat.
Comment: This is not easy to read. You might consider not typing with Caps Lock on.


Suggest books in calculus to improve problem solving skills

Question: Suggest some books to cover the topics of calculus taught in first year of under graduation so that I can improve my problem solving skills in it ( I've knowledge of calculus and pre calculus of high school level).
Also recommend books for real analysis and algebra of the same level (Mainly to improve problem solving skills but also to build a strong foundation of theory and applications and stuff).
Comment: You might try to have a look at similar questions - you can fine several such questions when you search for
[calculus+problems](http://math.stackexchange.com/search?q=[reference-request]+calculus+problems) and
[calculus+exercises](http://math.stackexchange.com/search?q=[reference-request]+calculus+exercises) among the question tagged (reference-request). And also related links which MSE tried to generate should be useful.
Comment: I recommend to activly participate here! I wonder if this will not improve your problem solving skills...
Answer: If you are looking a book which has plenty of exercises on basic calculus, you could try B.P. Demidovich: Problems in mathematical analysis (originally Demidovich: Zbornik zadac i uprazneni po matematicheskomu analizu, there are translations to several languages). Even Russian edition might be good for you - for computing problems, like calculating a limit, a derivative, an integral you do not need understand the text of exercise.
You can probably find it online, e.g. try searching for: demidovich zbornik djvu or Демидович Сборник задач djvu or demidovich problems djvu and similar searches (you can try pdf instead of djvu).

I very much like the selection of exercises in this book.
Kaczor, W. J.; Nowak, M. T. Problems in mathematical analysis. I. Real numbers, sequences and series.
Google Books MR1751334
This book has two more volumes (II. Continuity and differentiation and III. Integration). There exists English, French and Polish edition.

Many interesting problems on real analysis are in
Rădulescu, Teodora-Liliana T.; Rădulescu, Vicenţiu D.; Andreescu, Titu. Problems in real analysis. Advanced calculus on the real axis. Google Books, MR2514007.
Although I am not sure whether this is at the level you're aiming for. (But you asked about real analysis in your question, too.)
Comment: +1 for the great classic calculus problem book in Demodovich. Worth hunting down and photocopying-it's rare and insanely expensive now to buy,sadly. Here's hoping for a low priced Dover edition someday.
Answer: You might try Bluman, "Problem Book for First Year Calculus", Springer-Verlag 1984.


What to do about my toddler who suddenly started screaming when I mention bathing or give her a bath?

Question: I have an 18-month-old daughter. She loved having a bath from birth, and now all of a sudden she screams her head off when I mention bath or give her a bath. It's really stressing me out. I don't know what to do.
Comment: Can you elaborate on your question a little bit? How old is she? Did anything happen recently that might have caused her to be scared of bath time? (slip and fall, choking on water, soap in the eyes?) How are you introducing bath time to her? Are you pulling her out of an activity to take her to bath? She may need a gentle warning "It will be bath time in 10 minutes so we should start cleaning up your toys and get your pajamas ready."
Comment: Related: http://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/4059/why-is-my-baby-suddenly-screaming-in-the-bath?rq=1
Answer: We had something like this for a while but when our son was a bit younger. He also had a similar kind of phobia with sand closer to your daughter's age.
What helped for us was to find some new ways to make it fun so he was too interested to worry about being afraid. Could you try getting some new bath toys to get her excited? Or let her take one of her favourite non bath toys with her - plastic is obviously easier to dry off after and not get ruined.
With the sand phobia, it helped when our son discovered he could do stuff with it - move it around, make shapes, put it in containers etc. He also enjoys this kind of play with water - pouring from one container to another, pouring over a toy. You could try this from outside the bath to get her interest. It will help her to have positive feelings associated with the bath and bathroom.
Another thing which helped but may seem odd was taking him swimming. Our local pool has a nice warm kids pool and I think being able to go in together and see other kids enjoying helped him to enjoy the water again. They also had some toys in the pool which helps.
Finally, once you do manage to tempt her back to the bath, be very careful for a while about doing anything that might upset her, like splashing water on her head or getting it in her eyes. You don't have to do this forever, just until she feels more comfortable and gets her confidence back.
Answer: Did not mention if you were giving her the baths in a normal tub but that is what I assume.
I can offer 3 alternatives but I would guess the last one wont work at this time:

Take a shower with her. It's harder to wash their hair (water can't be kept out of their face) but that can be done separately.
Be with her in the bath, get in first.
We used a big (around 60L) transparent container bin. The size of a bathtub was too much (space or water, not sure).

We didnt need to do it for long either, once they were confortable in the bin and got used to playing in the water they were ready for the normal one.
Answer: I hate to bring this up, but it has to be said.  Especially because other question(s) have been asked with similar characteristics and just pointed back to this one.  Any drastic change in behavior can also be a sign of abuse.  This does not mean that any time there is a change in behavior like this that there was abuse.  There could be a totally innocent explanation for this - kids will sometimes develop a phobia very quickly for some reason that is completely beyond us.  But sometimes it is abuse.  If there has been a baby-sitter or someone else involved in bath time, and especially if the child has also started displaying some fear of that person, then you need to look into this.  But again, don't jump to conclusions, it could be something else entirely, and I hope and pray it is something else.
Comment: It would be helpful to express your reason for the downvote, so I can correct the problem in this post or any future ones.


wp_dropdown_pages() in theme admin page

Question: Scratching my head on this one.
I have a theme option page, where I need the user to select a page to show at X location.
I am using wp_dropdown_pages() to list my pages, and they show.
But, I can't seem to be able to save the data/option and make sure the correct option is selected.
Page list displaying correctly
<code>$args = array(,
'echo'             => 1,
'selected' => $home_galleryselect,
'name'             => 'home_galleryselect');
 wp_dropdown_pages($args);
</code>
function to update
<code>function theme_options_validate($input) {
$input['home_galleryselect'] = (int) $input['home_galleryselect'];
return $input;
}
</code>
Help!
thx
Answer: grrr.really annoying, 2hrs and then i found it myself
<code>$args = array(
'echo'             => 1,
'selected' => $home_galleryselect,
'name'  => 'theme_option[home_galleryselect]');
 wp_dropdown_pages($args);
</code>

wp_dropdown_pages() in theme admin page


Why moscato sweet?

Question: Recently I'm in love with Moscato wine. It is very sweet. Is it real wine? Attached is the brand I consumed.
Answer: Winemakers can make either a dry wine or sweet wine.
If the winemakers want to make a sweet wine, they must artificially halt the fermentation process by either increasing or decreasing the temperature in the fermentation tank to a certain level in which the yeasts cannot survive. Manipulating the temperature kills the yeast (well, actually they lay dormant) and it allows natural sugar to be left in the wine. The high sugar concentration of the grape plays a role, too.
There is a second way to artificially halt the fermentation process, it is called fortification. Winemakers will add alcohol during the fermentation process to a level in which the yeasts cannot survive, also leaving natural sugar in the wine.
And by the way, Moscato is purposefully made in a sweet style which is why it is always sweet.
I hope this helps.
Comment: Your description of making sweet wine is wrong. There are several ways to make sweet wine. These are the methods: Late harvest picking where the grapes are too sweet to ferment completely, adding sugar or grape juice and then sterile filtering, adding sulfites (mutage) to kill the yeast, adding alcohol to kill the yeast. The most common these days is sterile filtering.

Raising the temperature to kill the yeast is rarely done since you will basically be cooking the wine.

Moscato is probably done through sterile filtering during fermentation and then artificially carbonated.
Answer: Moscato is a sparkling white wine made in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is made with Muscat (Moscato) grapes. They are fermented naturally until they hit 5.5% ABV and then the wine is run through a sterile filter to preserve the sweetness and stop fermentation. It's then artificially carbonated and put in a bottle. It's meant to be an dessert wine because of this sweetness. Also known as Moscato d'Asti and there is a similar wine made nearby simply called Asti.
Comment: as far as I am aware, it's not artificially carbonated.
Comment: Maybe they are using the Charmat process but I doubt if they are doing méthode Champenoise in the bottle. They have to sterile filter it outside the bottle.

Why moscato sweet?


"Electronic Engineering" in German?

Question: How would you say Electronic Engineering in German? I've looked it up and it appears in some places just as "Elektronik", but it is like the "engineering" part there is missing. I'm just a beginner so I don't know much about the language so maybe that translation is correct.
Comment: I can speak German, but have no idea about the subject of Electronic Engineering. Linguee gives two translations: http://www.linguee.de/deutsch-englisch/search?source=auto&query=Electronic+Engineering
Answer: Electronic engineering is a subfield of electrical engineering (Elektrotechnik). In Germany, usually people who do electronic engineering  are called Elektrotechniker or Elektroingenieure (if holding a university degree).
Elektroniker are usually people who just have a vocational training and install/repair radios, TVs, etc.
Elektronik usually only refers to plain "electronics", i.e. electronic circuits or elements.
Comment: Just to add a reference: The wikipedia articel about [Electrical engineering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_engineering) is in German about [Elektrotechnik](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektrotechnik)
Comment: To add another data point: University majors for electrical engineering are usually called *Elektrotechnik* in Germany.
Answer: You would say Elektronik. The translation you found is indeed correct.
Comment: Electronic is an adjective in English, so the equivalent adjective in German would be *elektronisch*. *Die Elektronik* is not an adjective in German, however. In fact, academic subjects are normally like the above word. If you were studying German, you would refer to German as *Germanistik* and not *Deutsch*.
Comment: And how would just "Electronic" be translated?

"Electronic Engineering" in German?


Free tabletop rpg suggestion

Question: Does anyone know any simple tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons available for free? I just want to try out this type of game with my friends to see whether it's worth spending time/money on.
Comment: This is an older question, it's been flagged and I think it's safe to say it doesn't meet our [guidelines for game recommendation questions](http://meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/1070/are-game-recommendation-questions-on-topic). It sadly runs afoul of [not really understanding how large the RPG world is](http://meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/1475/how-to-deal-with-questions-that-just-dont-understand-the-scope-of-the-rpg-lands).
Answer: There are thousands of role-playing games in many genres, and hundreds (at least) of free ones.  So in general, there's lists like the Free RPG Blog that catalog them all.  Fantasy, science fiction, cyberpunk, horror, superheroes, artsy stuff, etc.
If you specifically want something like Dungeons & Dragons, the successor to D&D Third Edition, called Pathfinder, has its rules free online. There are also "clones" of entire old editions of D&D available online; here's a list of retroclones - OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, and Swords & Wizardry are all pretty popular.
For the latest edition of D&D, Fourth Edition, there are some quickstart rules and a free adventure to try on the Wizards Web site.
Answer: There are LOTS of free RPG's.
There are several ways to find them.
RPGNow and DriveThruRPG
RPGNow and DriveThruRPG (same company, two interfaces) has a number of Free RPG's.
Finding them, however, is getting tricky. The key is to search for the term "Quickstart"... and see if one shows you the genre you want.
RPG Geek
RPGG has a list of Free RPG's. Click here to go to page 1
Some games I'll Recommend

D&D Clones - these games are actually old D&D rules restated (avoiding the copyright issue). In my order of preference:

Dark Dungeons - This is the same rules as my favorite D&D edition. It's simple, and the book is VERY complete, well written, and free in PDF. If you like it, you can also buy a commercially printed version.
Labyrinth Lord - D&D clone intended for beginners. Free version has no artwork inside, but the game is very playable.
Basic Fantasy - Good set of beginning rules.
Swords and Wizardry - 1st edition D&D mechanics presented in a clear and readable format. Not a modern game design, but still very workable.

D6 System - Excellent game system, with several core rulebooks in the bundle. All were once commercial releases,now free because the owner decided he had a case of real life interfering with supporting them right. D6 Fantasy is suitable for D&D like play, but is mechanically not compatible with D&D modules. The system is simple, easy to learn, and readily adapted to a variety of settings.

d6 Fantasy Core Rules - While this is in the budle above, the supplements are not. It's very D&D like.

D6 Fantasy Creatures Lots of Critters to throw at players.
D6 Fantasy Locations Lots of maps and adventure Ideas…

D6 Space This is the same game system that West End used for Star Wars… It's in the bundle above, too… but again, the supplement isn't. All they did was strip out the Star Wars references.

D6 Space Ships Expanded space craft rules and lots of samples.

D6 Adventure This is the same system as the others, adapted for "Modern" (19th-21st Century) adventure settings, like Indiana Jones or Dirty Dozen. Also included in the above bundel.

Tunnels and Trolls Free Rulebook This is a combined abridged rule set, solo adventure (to get a feel for the mechanics) and GM adventure for you to run for your victims (read as: players). It's fully playable, and good enough for running through many of the commercial solo adventures for the game. Simple, fast, fun.
Danger Patrol - pulp sci-fi action in the same light as Jason of Star Command or the old B&W Saturday Movie Matinee Sci-Fi serials (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, etc).

Commentary
Any of the ones I've listed, and many that are not, are good systems. Each is a different style of play. T&T, D6, Basic Fantasy, Dark Dungeons, and Labyrinth Lord also have advice for new players. Danger Patrol doesn't, but has rather clear rules.
Answer: If you want something like D&D but free, take a look at Dungeonslayers. It's a game designed for traditional, straight-up dungeon plundering and monster battling, but with a system based on modern design sensibilities. For your first taste of roleplaying it's a good bet, and it's well-supported enough with supplements that you could stick with it for as long as you like.
Answer: GURPS Lite
GURPS Lite is a condensed version of the GURPS basic set.
GURPS is a well-supported RPG with a long history and tons of material an knowledgeable community members out there. It operates on a different paradigm from D&D (any edition) or its imitators. Let me explain:
A class-and-level system is basically the one D&D invented 30+ years ago. Many games, including most computer RPGs, have copied this system. It offers classes, which are like professions, and your character attains new levels as you progress. In essence, the game tells you, "You can be a Fighter, a Wizard, or a Thief, pick one."
A point-buy system like GURPS works differently. Instead of choosing a prefabricated character, you build one. Instead of telling you to pick a type of character from a list, GURPS asks, "What kind of character do you want to play?" You'll spend points to make your character smart, fast, strong, and healthy in varying proportions. You'll spend points to make him familiar with swordplay, or helicopter piloting, or lockpicking. You can decide what skills are important to the character you're making, instead of taking someone else's template.
Another difference is that for d20-based system or a similar system, success at tasks is based on a target number chosen by the Game Master (GM). If you have a lock to pick, the GM has to decide how hard it is and choose a target number. The player rolls a die and hopes that the number on the die plus his skill in picking locks exceeds the target.
In GURPS, most tasks have their difficulty set by the game system itself. If there is a lock to be picked, the GM doesn't have to set a target number - the player rolls 3 regular dice and hopes that their total is less than or equal to his skill in lock picking. This is nice because a new GM has enough to manage without being responsible for deciding how hard every action is, too.
I hope you and your friends find something you like!
Answer: You can actually try D&D for free.  Wizards of the Coast has sample adventures, premade characters, and quick start rules available.  You'll still need some basics, though, like dice, a gridded map, and tokens to use for miniatures.
Comment: If the questioner does not want to spend as little money as possible: Dice rollers on the internet are usually free (and there is an app Dungeon Dice, I believe, that is free at the AppStore), map(s) can be made by drawing a 1 inch grid on either regular or graph paper and photocopying it 10 (or 30) times, and tokens can be substituted with Lego people, Dice, Coins, etc.
Answer: A relatively recent addition to the crowd, Warrior, Rogue and Mage may be what you want. The core book contains all the data you need to start a Fantasy game right away. And there's already a nice range of supplements in both fluff and crunch categories. All there for your downloading.
Comment: I second this recommendation. Warrior, Rogue and Mage easily combines the requirements of free, quick, and easy to learn.
Answer: I would recommend getting the Basic RolePlaying QuickStart, available here. It's simple and straight forward, with percentile skill systems being quite intuitive for almost anyone.
Answer: I've checked out Labyrinth Lord which is a nifty re-make of the original Dungeons and Dragons. I've also played Warrior, Rogue, and Mage which is a decent, and fairly simple game. I'm pretty sure Pathfinder had a free electronic version of their game out somewhere. It's essentially the latest revision of 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons and is quite popular.
You could also try typing in "Free RPG" and setting price to lowest on RPGnow.com or Amazon Kindle and see if something good comes up. You'll probably have to weed out a lot, though. Chris' RPG Compendium and Wikipedia's list of all RPGs might be handy, too.

Free tabletop rpg suggestion


Applied Chords - can ( I / III ) be a valid formula for an applied chord?

Question: I have a 7th chord: A-C#-E-G , in the key of F# minor and would like to symbolize it using the Functional Chord symbol: ( I 7 / III ). Would it be correct to identify it this way ? Using the root quality chord symbol I have simply named it A7 . So can Functional Chord symbols include
I7/III  or the triad I / III   ?
Comment: Where does this chord move? If it goes to D, it's a V7/VI.
Comment: This stand-alone question was loosely found in a Harmony Text."Identify this applied chord." Staff states F#minor ; notes from base up are C#, A, E , G natural. I answered as ( I 65/ III ). Would Richard agree?  { 6 in numerator and 5 in denominator ; a first inversion 7th chord} A7/C# as my root/quality symbol.Using inversion of III7 would change the given G natural to a different G#  ( since the key signature has 3 sharps )
Answer: Based on a follow-up comment to the original question, the intended answer is almost certainly V65/VI. The textbook asked to identify the applied chord, and at this point, the only applied chords will be a V(7)/x or viio(7)/x. Later in your studies you may encounter IV/x, or even what we call extended tonicizations, which I discuss here.
As such, this A7 chord (with C♯ in the bass), which is dominant of D, would be V65/VI, because D is VI in the key of F♯ minor. (Similarly, it would be V65/IV in A major).
I would advise against writing iii7, which would suggest a G♯ as opposed to a G♮ in the chord.
Comment: @Thomas Having I in the numerator is exceedingly rare, and in my experience is only used in extended tonicizations (mentioned in the link in my answer). If it's I of *x*, then instead of writing 1/*x*, just write *x*. It would be a bit like specifying you have 10/1 of something, instead of just saying 10.
Comment: @Tim For a textbook exercise specifically asking to identify an applied chord, I would say it has to be a V/VI. But in a real-world scenario, if it doesn't go to VI, it may not be functioning as V/VI.
Comment: Sir Richard : Could an applied chord ever have a "I" in the numerator as in "I65/III" or is your answer "V65/VI" the one and only acceptable answer to my question, in the key of F# minor, ( with a denominator between I and VII )  ? Thank you !
Comment: Even if it doesn't go to D (VI), it would still be called V?VI, wouldn't it - as it's supposedly a secondary dominant, and they don't always need to move to the chord they apparently aim at. Is that true?
Answer: It's not needed. III7 is sufficient. Normally, applied chords are  V/ or vii0/ or maybe IV/ or a pair like ii-V/. The point is that one is locally adding a V chord to tonicize another chord. Common (in a major) is V7/V7 (D7 in C). In minor, V7/V does occur but more common is V7/III (Bb7 in C major). Unless acting as a temporary dominant (or maybe subdominant), there no need for the / notation. I should point out that the sequence (in C) of C7-F is often written V7/IV. It was common in 1930s popular music: C7-Fm-D7-G7 was a common turnaround and analyzed as V7/iv-iv-V7/V-V7.
Comment: It's just a common "color" chromaticism. That pattern is sometimes called the "Montgomery Ward" turnaround. It also puts a chromatic run of G-Ab-A (notes, not chords) inside the C-Fm-D7 chord sequence. The minor subdominant seems to go back a long way.
Comment: wrt the common turnaround analyzed in your last sentence : in key of C = I , then F=IV is normal but iv=Fm is not normal in the key of C ( in my mind , at this time ). So how can we rationalize the use of iv = Fm in the key of C ? Any more idea ?
Answer: In key F♯m III is A major. III7 (A C♯ E G ) will generally lead to VI. So it would be called (in key F♯m) III7. There's no need to call it V7 anything else, so it'll be III7.
Comment: In the key of F#m the note G is sharp. I was given a G natural in my question which asked to identify the applied chord. The four notes given from the bass up are : C# , A , E , G natural.
Answer: The answer to this textbook exercise is most likely V65/VI ; and a I/III formula for an applied chord is very rare. Thanks to all !


Setting to change IE behavior of remembering the passwords when opening the same url in different window

Question: I have windows XP with SP3 on my system. My current IE version is 8.
Now for some product testing, I want to log-in 100 users to a website one after other. My problem is IE8 remembers the passwords, so when I log-in to the website and open the same url in some other window, I am already signed in with the previous username and password. What setting do I need to change so that this doesn't happens? Or is there any other web browser that doesn't behave like this? I tried Google Chrome, Opera and Mozilla Firefox.
Answer: If you need only one account at time, just try logout before you try another account.
But if you need simultaneously more accounts, you should each account open in different browser.
Comment: I want to log-in 100 users one after another and keep them logged in.
And I am automating this thing, so I cant use another browser. I have to use same browser and different window
Answer: Use a browser with private browsing. Most often, sites "remember" your login through cookies, not passwords (unless you're talking about plain HTTP authentication, in which case the browser does remember the password for each connection). Either way, I would recommend Google Chrome (Ctrl+Shift+N for new "private" window). This will not have the passwords or cookies from any previous windows.


To what extent does China control Hong Kong's highest courts and ordinary courts?

Question: To what extent does China control Hong Kong's highest courts and ordinary courts? Some people have suggested that the chief executive of Hong Kong needs to be approved by China and thus it has some level of control over him; however true that might be, the next natural question is does it apply to the courts in Hong Kong and are there avenues through which China can exert its influence over them?
Answer: By far, Hong Kong's judiciary seems mostly independent.
Hong Kong's judiciary have ruled both for and against the government, and there is no clear political trend that can be observed from those rulings. Both the Hong Kong government and the Central People's Government's Hong Kong Liaison Office, as well as pan-democratic legislators and activists, have criticized or complained about Hong Kong's judiciary, but only seldomly so.
Therefore, it is not clear to me that Hong Kong's judiciary is "controlled" by either faction, and surely not by Beijing.
It is well-known that barristers in Hong Kong (the community from which most judges are appointed) generally have pan-democratic political leanings, but most of them generally support the Basic Law, so they do not have a particularly strong incentive or tendency to depart from the text and spirit of the laws.
Comment: Do you have any sources for any of this?
Comment: @divibisan Most of this comes from my personal experience with the legal sector in Hong Kong, but I can try to find some sources that back up those claims...
Answer: I can answer just on the Commonwealth Non-Permanent Foreign judges, all Caucasian from Common wealth countries Caucasian as of today on HK's highest court – HKCFA.
Cap. 484 Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance

5.
  Constitution of the Court
(3)
  The Court may as required invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on the Court.
16. Hearing of appeals
(1) Subject to subsection (4), an appeal shall be heard and determined by the Court constituted as follows—
(a) the Chief Justice or a permanent judge designated to sit in his place under subsection (2);
(b) 3 permanent judges nominated by the Chief Justice; and
(c) 1 non-permanent Hong Kong judge or 1 judge from another common law jurisdiction selected by the Chief Justice and invited by the Court.


A Nim variant: Number of stones

Question: Alice and Bob play the following game. There is one pile of $N$ stones. They take turns to pick stones from the pile, Alice will play first. In each turn, a player can only pick $k$ $(a \le k \le b)$ stones, the player who takes the last stone wins. With what property of $N$, will Alice win?
Comment: Well have you worked out a few simple examples to see what general pattern might hold?
Answer: For the game as described, Bob wins if $0 \le N \lt a$ as Alice cannot move.  Alice wins if $a \le N \lt a+b$, as she can leave Bob something in the range $0$ through $a-1$.  The pattern recurs modulo $a+b$, because whoever is winning can make sure two moves remove exactly $a+b$ stones.  So Bob's winning positions are $0 \le N \pmod {a+b} \lt a$ and Alices are $a \le N \pmod {a+b} \le a+b-1$
Answer: For any given $a$ and $b$, the set of $N$ for which Alice wins is determined by some congruence conditions on $N$ - in other words, it's a periodic set (with some period depending on $a$ and $b$). For example, if $a=1$, then Alice can win if and only if $N$ is not a multiple of $b+1$. (Her strategy is to leave a multiple of $b+1$ stones for Bob every time he has to play.) This paper has some discussion and examples in more general situations.
Comment: link is not working
Comment: Thank you for your answer and the paper link.

A Nim variant: Number of stones


Bitcoin-qt and lost local blockchain files

Question: For some reason I've lost all data in my .bitcoin directory except the wallet.dat file. Now bitcoin-qt shows 0 balance, and it's 5 years behind sync. Is this possible to restore coins in this case?
Answer: If the blockchain files are gone, then your Bitcoin client has no way to match up the keys in your wallet with the transactions in the blockchain. Remember the balance is not stored in the wallet, but the keys in the wallet can be matched with transactions in the blockchain to calculate your balance.
Fortunately, the blockchain files are public and the same for everybody so you now just have to wait for them to download. It may take quite some time (days or more). You could try downloading a torrent of the blockchain to speed up the process, but this is optional.
Comment: In other words, since you still have `wallet.dat`, you still have your coins, and once you have synced the blockchain you will be able to see them.  This would be an excellent time to make sure your `wallet.dat` is backed up.
Comment: I have moved wallet.dat and sync is completed. Though still balance is 0 coins...
Comment: Where did you move wallet.dat? That wasn't part of the answer. If you move wallet.dat somewhere else then your Bitcoin client won't read it and you will have 0 balance.