Free 2d floor planning software?

Question: I'm looking for some offline (not web-based) downloadable floor planning software that's free for designing a 2d floor plan (I don't really care whether it can be visualized in 3d).  It should be something like the old offline version of Home By Me (their new online-only version is not acceptable) - except that their version required you to save to Facebook and I'd like to be able to save these models to hard drive.  I'd also like it to auto-calculate the area of rooms.  Another piece of software (non-free though) that produces the kind of diagrams I want is EDrawSoft Floor Plan Maker.
Answer: I came across some software called Sweet Home 3D and tried it out, and it seems to do pretty much exactly what I want!  Despite the name, the floor plans are created in 2D and then rendered in 3D, but the 2D plan looks fine and room areas are auto-calculated!
Comment: Worth to mention that it works cross-platform, so it can be used on Linux or MacOS as well. Only requires a Java runtime (JRE) to be present.
Comment: Be aware that SweetHome 3D comes with a pitfall: drawing walls accurately is close to impossible in the base version. There is, however, a plugin called Advanced Editing (available on the forum), which allows for precise editing of walls. If your building includes some "odd" walls, then this plugin is pretty much necessary.
Answer: Live Home 3D has Free version for Windows that can be installed from the Microsoft Store. The app is pretty powerful, though very easy to start and get needed result. When a room is complete the app automatically indicates the room area on the floor plan.

The app doesn't stop on floor plans, if you want to play with it a bit more you can automatically create 3D model of your house from the floor plan you created. And then walk around it in 3D.
Comment: Welcome to [softwarerecs.se]! Please note that you must [explicitly state](/help/promotion) that you are affiliated with this product.
Answer: As others have mentioned, Sweet Home 3D is built for exactly this purpose. It is written in Java and thus available on the major desktop platforms; it is also on the repositories of some Linux distributions. This tool is built for the very purpose of creating floor plans and offers advanced features such as 3D rendering of your floor plan.
If you choose that route, you may also want to get the Advanced Editing plug-in for it (see the instructions for a download link and installation), as the wall drawing functionality in the base version is sufficient only for a visual impression. If your plan needs to be to scale, then the plugin is pretty much required.
Dia has some functionality for floor planning, including measurement lines. It is OK for drawing a 2D floor plan but lacks the advanced features of a purpose-built tool. Also, it hasn't been updated in some time (the last preview release is some six years old).
Otherwise, your best bet is probably Inkscape (or any vector drawing tool of your choice): Create a drawing as large as the building (or the rooms you are interested in), and draw rooms and walls at a 1:1 scale. When you need to print it or embed it in another document, you can still scale it down as needed. Main drawback: no automated measurements, you will have to add those by hand.

Free 2d floor planning software?


Limit widget to certain sidebar?

Question: I have multiple "sidebars", but not all of them are the same size. Not all widgets fit in all sidebars (for example, I have a "footer sidebar" where the client can place custom widgets, but they are wide, and don't fit at all in the "real" sidebar). I want to give an indication when a widget is placed in a sidebar where it would not belong (change the header text color, for example). What would be the best way to do this?
Answer: There is a widget_display_callback hook, which you can use to override the widget based on the sidebar and the widget (return false when inappropriate):
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-includes/widgets.php?rev=15590#L180
Comment: It hides it on the front side only. You can then use it to conditionally echo something like "Sorry, wrong sidebar. Please place this widget somewhere else." and then return false to bail. There isn't any hook to do the same in the admin area. I tried to talk Andrew into committing similar functionality for the widgets screen, but he was adamant that I ought to be using CSS and JS to manipulate the DOM instead. (I needed this stuff for my widget contexts plugin, which are irrelevant in some sidebars.)
Comment: But this only hides the sidebar when you display it on the front side? Or does it also affect the admin area?
Answer: I solved it using some CSS, similar to my trick to highlight my own widgets. The sidebar drop areas are div's with the class widgets-sortable and they have the id of your sidebar. Your widgets are div's with class widget, and and id of the form widget-[global_counter]_[widget_key]-[widget_id]. You can combine these to highlight correct or wrong combinations.
For example, I have a sidebar called footer that should only contain wide widgets. These widgets are recognizable because their ID includes -wide-. I want these in green, and all other ones in red with a strike through.
add_action('admin_print_styles-widgets.php', 'print_widget_hint_style');
function print_widget_hint_style()
{
    echo <<<EOF

EOF;
}

Answer: I'd probably define my own widget areas that get whatever widgets are put into it in the admin area, and only put that widget area in a specific location in the theme.
Comment: I do that, and I have widget areas called "footer" and "sidebar" that I use in the specific location in the templates. But the footer is much wider than the sidebar, so widgets made for the footer don't fit in the sidebar. That's why I would like an indication when you drop a "wide" widget in a "small" widget area. Or is there something I'm missing in your answer?
Comment: Nope, didn't miss anything. My next suggestion, although it'd take a bit more work, is to create your own widgets to use in your specific spot. All the predefined ones are going to be in the core files. That way you can control their width and whatnot.

Limit widget to certain sidebar?


How should I prune this overgrown pear tree?

Question: I have a pear tree, which is very zealous. Whatever it decides to do, it does in excess. First in the spring it sends out all sorts of new branches--all of them vertical. I snipped them off after they grew a few feet, but they merely resumed their skyward climb for 10 feet! Then the pear tree flowered and produced tremendous amounts of fruit. All the branches bent over more than a bow and arrow bends. Some of the branches literally snapped under the weight. What can I do to help this poor tree?

Comment: Have you looked at questions in the [tag:pruning] tag? Specifically, [How should I prune an overgrown peach tree](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/q/1345/) is very relevant, given the state of the tree from your pictures. You'll also find the the answer to [this question on cherry trees](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/q/1430/) helpful in reducing the height of your tree. The points under "Pruning" in the answer to [this question](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/q/509/) will also help you. Let me know if any of these (or all) helped answer your question fully and we can mark it as such
Comment: I looked at the linked articles without coming across a way of dealing with the incredibly tall, long, and spindly branches which grow each year.
Comment: Thanks, at least now we know what's lacking in those answers. Perhaps folks answering this can take into account your comment above and address it in their answers :)
Answer: If you are fertilizing this tree, I'd recommend that you stop, it doesn't seem to need any more!
From what I can tell from the photos, it looks like this tree doesn't get full sun -- it looks like there are other trees that might be slightly shading it. This could cause some of the vigorous vertical growth that you see -- it's trying to get up into the sun. (I say this more for understanding than for anything you can do about it, short of cutting down some of the competition...)
In your circumstance, you want to do a summer pruning rather than a winter (dormant season) pruning. The dormant season pruning will stimulate more vigorous growth, when your goal should be instead to open the tree up to let more light in. Just don't prune too late in the season -- since any pruning will stimulate growth, you don't want fresh green growth to be exposed to winter chill. It's best to do it in early/mid summer so that the new growth has a chance to harden off before winter.
Your goal should be to establish "scaffold" branches (these are the main, roughly horizontal branches). There should be about 4-6 distributed evenly around the tree, about 4' in height vertically from one scaffold to the next. (Imagine that you have four scaffold branches at a height of 6' pointing north-south-east-west, and then another four main branches at a height of 10'. I just picked 6' and 10' out of the air -- use what works for your tree.)
If you are trying to control the height, you can cut back the central leader to just above the top scaffold.
When you do have to remove lateral branches, cut them back to the trunk. (Using the scaffold example mentioned above, imagine that there's an extra lateral branch pointing northeast at 6' high, and it's 5' long. Don't just cut it back to 3' long, cut it back where it comes out of the trunk. If you don't prune it all off, it will just keep growing with several extra small branches pointed in that direction, and they'll interfere with the scaffold branch. It looks like you have a few lateral branches that have done exactly this.)
The general pruning advice given in Mike Perry's answer is good, though I'd recommend removing any downward-facing branches. These don't help anything, and they're more likely to break when loaded with fruit.
An addition to the tools he lists there, you might also consider a pole pruner. This is a long, telescoping handled (12-16' or so) pruner to reach tall branches. It has a pruning saw attached to the end. It also has loppers on the end with a rope that you pull to close the shears. Just don't stand under the branch that you're cutting!
Lastly, don't worry about it too much! I've seen apple and pear trees that have been rather neglected that still look good and produce more fruit than a family (or two or three) can possibly use. And in my experience they're resilient in the face of pruning mistakes...
Comment: @JoeHobbit Personally I wouldn't waste your money on those "chemical"  tree spikes. My personal take on feeding (fertilising) trees: [None of my fruit/nut trees are flowering](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/1689/none-of-my-fruit-nut-trees-are-flowering/1706#1706) & [How and when to plant young grafted fruit tree?](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/1115/how-and-when-to-plant-young-grafted-fruit-tree/1118#1118) & [What time of year to mulch/feed trees?](http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/2305/what-time-of-year-to-mulch-feed-trees/2306#2306)
Comment: Thanks for pointing out the shade and fertilization issues. It is in a clearing but there are some tall trees on the south side which do shade it some,  and we have been fertilizing it annually up till now. (the picture was taken from the north, so the trees on the south side are visible)
Comment: @JoeHobbit What have you been "fertilizing it annually" with?
Comment: @JoeHobbit: If it were me, I'd probably skip the fertilizer next year and see how it goes. If they slow down too much, you can fertilize with half the amount the following year. Or put down compost as described in Mike's answer.
Comment: There are these "fruit tree fertilizer" stakes that I pound into the ground: 2/3 per tree. They look like this: http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/public/0wFR_ONwtTkr5AVxhwuHOiTqL7GJJWS3SxkgDIaxfHMVFxLwfZkNDrDOwNe6C1bmcsNguOIrMN-3whjDmdaFFiAG7Frh8yFD5TCeXvZpnsakEW1u8KO9WQvqlFyny50ysyPY2B8-U4wVzQNmWC7PcZ2XeeLHQka9MoT8xyN_WiVhYRg-1wwIw-czthOKH4okY9aUTv08VK3IptqXRMMwvce59DL6cyWP5WYPGDzEv1wJ0PObq8WP_n2nUFrsj_jbAYTekyvmo9VagtVDkzGkFNV6fOaZPSx0Tgho9P-SngMqGKnBJ0aJIY1UaAuTfQZnHZ8B
Comment: BstPierre, would you prune the tree at all this winter? or would you wait until early summer?
Comment: @JoeHobbit: I would wait until early summer. Pruning now would be a bad idea -- you don't want to possibly trigger growth going into winter for fear of winterkill. And you don't want to do late winter pruning for fear of stimulating lots of extra growth.
Answer: To go along with the information already given by "yoda", the below University Extension Office articles should fill in any missing gaps (eg Vertical shoots, branches that develop each each year):

Pruning Mature Apples and Pears
Pruning & Training Apple & Pear Trees
Training & Pruning Fruit Trees
Fruit Trees: Pruning Overgrown Deciduous Trees (free PDF download)
Fruit Trees: Thinning Young Fruit (free PDF download)
Pruning the Home Orchard (direct link to PDF)

If after reading those articles you still have any questions unanswered please let us know so we can try our best to address them...

Advice, observations from looking at those 2 photos you've posted:

Remove limbs that cross (rub against each other) ie Remove one of the limbs, so that two limbs aren't rubbing against each other.
Relieve the weight on some of those "downward" branches by shortening them.
Remove (cut-out) some of those "downward" branches.
Reduce the height so it's in scale with the overall shape of the tree (this will need to be done over the course of a few years).
Thinning the fruit each year will greatly help reduce the overall stress on the branches ie Will prevent the branches from sagging too much under the weight of the fruit.
Before wintertime arrives, cleanup the "orchard floor" ie Rake up all the leaves and pick up all the fruit from the ground underneath the tree(s), doing so will help prevent diseases from overwintering in the ground under the tree(s).

It looks like you have a good size "tree ring" (cleared area) around the base of the tree(s), once you've finished clearing that area (and the surrounding area) prior to Winter, lay down a 2inch (50mm) thick layer of mulch. Personally I would use good quality compost, start approx 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150mm) away from the trunk of the tree(s) and work out to the edge of the "tree ring". Using compost as a mulch in this situation has the added benefit of feeding the tree(s) naturally and slowly. Then add a fresh 1inch (25mm) layer every year after you've cleared the "orchard floor".

Some "general" tree pruning advice:

First, decide on the height and shape you wish to finally achieve, keep in mind this may take 3 or 4 years to achieve on mature, overgrown trees.
Never prune off more than ⅓ in a pruning season (per year).
Keep the tree balanced ie Don't prune one side "heavily" & the other "lightly".
Only prune at the correct time of year (for your tree).

Exception to above point: Remove damaged limbs immediately.

Remove limbs that cross (rub against each other) ie Remove one of the limbs, so that two limbs aren't rubbing against each other.
Nowadays it is not considered necessary to treat the cuts with any kind of sealant. This is especially true if the cuts are made correctly, the tree should be able to heal itself naturally.

Appropriate pruning tools for trees:

Pruning shears, up to 1inch (25mm) diameter.
Lopping (long handled) shears, up to 2inch (50mm) diameter.
Variety of hand saws, from 1inch (25mm) up to 4inch (100mm) diameter.
Chainsaws, from 2inch (50mm) up to felling giant Redwoods, Sequoias. Best left to the pro's when using this dangerous power-tool.

For an excellent resource on how to prune trees, take a look at the following document from the US Forest Service:

How to Prune Trees (free PDF version available at bottom of that page)
Answer: What I did on a apple tree in this type of trouble was cut off the thinner branches, leaving the vigorous sturdy shoots. Then I topped them off at the third main lateral. This slows the tree down and increases the height. Also try to keep the branching thin and airy, and keep the branches that slant down trimmed off to improve the structure.


What other bodies in the solar system are most likely to contain forms of life?

Question: There have been many candidates stated as potential habitats for life outside of Earth, but what are considered to be the most likely to harbor life?
Comment: Fun fact: Apollo 12 retrieved Surveyor 3 camera that was later established contained bacteria that had been dormant for years on the Moon, and still alive. The camera was presumably contaminated prior to launch with Streptococcus Mitis. This was later challenged that the sample was contaminated in laboratory, but this never really accounted for the fact that only a single bacterial species was cultured out of the sample, and that it showed signs of stunted mitosis like irradiated sample from the Moon would. So in a sense, there is highest likelihood that the Moon contains some local life. :)
Comment: Woah, I have never heard that. Very interesting. Simple bacteria are amazing in their resistance and ability to live in extreme environments. So are Tardigrades.
Answer: For my money, I'd go with Jupiter's moon Europa. First, it has a thin oxygen atmosphere, and oxygen, as we've found, is not something normally found hanging around by itself. Given any chance, it bonds with natural "oxygen sinks" like iron and silicon. Europa has quite a bit of silica as well, and yet there's free oxygen in the atmosphere.
We have deduced from our own planet's geology that the relatively abundant oxygen in our air is in fact a byproduct of early anaerobic microorganisms, which respirated in a similar way as modern plants; taking in the abundant carbon dioxide, and producing excess oxygen more or less as waste. With anaerobes being the dominant life form on this early Earth, the only consumers of oxygen were chemical; iron deposits, the water oceans, etc. Once those "oxygen sinks" were filled, atmospheric oxygen built up to toxic levels tfor the dominant anaerobes, causing the Great Oxygen Catastrophe, the largest mass extinction event in Earth's history.
So, we're pretty sure that a planet with a significant percentage of diatomic oxygen in its atmosphere means that there was some active process to produce it, and the one we like best is life.
Also importantly, its surface, composed mostly of water ice, is very smooth and regular. This means several things of significance. First, it means the ice most likely formed when a layer of liquid later froze, meaning that Europa was, however briefly, in the "Goldilocks" temperature band (most likely a result of its own residual heat). Second, the fact that the ice is still smooth and hasn't been noticeably chewed up by meteorite impacts and exposure to low pressures over hundreds of millions of years, along with features like the Conamera Chaos which are indicative of movement of plates of ice over the surface, like our own mountain ranges are a result of tectonic shifts, both point to a liquid ocean under the ice. Where there's liquid water, there is the potential for life.
Comment: According to the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)#Atmosphere), "Unlike the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, Europa's is not of biological origin. The surface-bounded atmosphere forms through radiolysis, the dissociation of molecules through radiation." The surface pressure is only about a trillionth of Earth's. Follow the link for more details.
Answer: Technically all planets except Mercury might host life and almost all spherical moons and "dwarf planets" too. As for my opinion, I'd go with that order:
1.) Europa
Jovian moon Europa is covered by a water ice crust beneath which there is a subsurface liquid ocean which might harbor life near volcanic plumes on the ocean's ground. Europa's ocean reportedly contains more liquid water than the Earth's oceans altogether. Thus Europa has the most clearly liquid water of all celestial bodies in this system obviously. It is hot enough near the plumes for life to survive there.
2.) Titan
On the largest moon of Saturn, methane-based life is likely on the surface or in the methanic seas while carbon-based life might be possible in Titan's subsurface water ocean. Contrary to Europa however Titan is not assumed to contain subsurface volcanoes. I rather believe that methane-based life is very likely on Titan.
3.) Enceladus
Another moon of Saturn, same situation as Europa. However, Enceladus is much smaller, less massive, less dense and has a very low gravity (surface acceleration is 0.114 m/s² or 0.012 g). Europa has a more Earth-like interior.
4.) Ganymede
The biggest moon of Jupiter has layers of subsurface liquid water where life is possible. Its orbit still is close enough that its subsurface oceans get tidally heated by Jupiter and maybe there's an internal source of heat within Ganymede.
5.) Mars
The red planet has water ice polar caps. Some vales on Mars reach an atmospheric pressure beyond the triple point of water so that liquid water is possible outside at the correct temperatures. These temperatures are reached at certain times of the Martian year, Mars is barely in the habitable zone.
6.) Callisto
Same situation as with Ganymede but I doubt its subsurface oceans get enough tidal heating from Jupiter. Callisto is much farther from Jupiter than Ganymede. But perhaps there is life and maybe heat from another source within Callisto.
7.) Venus
Extremophile organisms might exist in the upper atmosphere of Venus where the air pressure and temperature are Earth-like.
As for other spherical moons, most of them likely have subsurface water oceans so life might exist there too. The only moon on which life obviously cannot be possible is Jupiter's Io and perhaps the Earth's Moon though certain astronauts and probes found organisms on the Moon that may or may not hail from the Earth.
The four gas giants might host extremophile organisms in their upper layers just like Venus.
Comment: "almost all spherical moons and "dwarf planets" too"? All those larger moons and smaller planets without an atmosphere might host life? Without liquid water?
Comment: @Uwe If you've read my entire answer you'd find out I am referring to their subsurface water oceans.
Comment: You did not discuss any dwarf planet.
Comment: @Uwe Same situation as on many moons but we dunno enough dwarf planets and their interior. I can only speak of Ceres, Pluto and Eris. Vesta probably has no possibility of life, but I wrote "almost". Most KBOs might be able to host life I think.


Is it possible to interact with a local application in a Google Chrome extension?

Question: I have begun using Google Chrome as a primary browser, but I miss my Evernote extension, which can clip a web page directly to the local Evernote application. Is it possible for me to write an extension in Chrome that can do this?
Answer: Yes it is possible, through NPAPI, but your local application should be prepared for external communication. Code running in an NPAPI plugin has the full permissions of the current user and is not sandboxed or shielded from malicious input by Google Chrome in any way.
All this is described here:
http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/npapi.html
Comment: Thanks. It wasn't clear from the extension overview that NPAPI was what I was looking for, but that's exactly it.
Answer: To avoid the NPAPI way, another idea would be to communicate with a custom local http server binded to localhost and send requests to it.
Disclaimer: Never tried it but theoretically it should work.
Answer: I don't think chrome allows this, simply because it would be dangerous to let plugins have extended priviledges, they even run in an extra, low-rights thread and only communicate with chrome itself through pipes.


Why is the concept of Divine judgement not given much importance in Hinduism?

Question: Divine judgement and the concept of the soul going to either heaven or hell based on actions on Earth is present in many religions. But this concept is conspicuously absent in Hinduism - rather rebirth is given more importance. What are the reasons for this?
Comment: No one can escape Karma. One has to get the phala for his Karma. So maybe one can consider the law of Karma to be the judge. Also heaven or hell is not permanent. Hence it does not need a judge to grant green cards. Natural law of Karma will do its work and send people from heaven back to earth if needed.
Answer: "But this concept is conspicuously absent in Hinduism" Nothing is farther from the truth.  The Garuda Purana describes in great detail how Yama the god of death judges each soul based on Chitragupta's listing of the person's good deeds and bad deeds:

The sinful man cries when he hears the mingled wails of "Oh, Oh," and having heard his cry, those who walk about in the city of Yama....  He, having gone to Chitragupta, reports the good and evil deeds. Then Chitragupta tells it to [Yama] the King of Justice.  The men who are Deniers, O Tārkshya, and always delight in great sin; these are all, as is proper, well-known to the King of Justice.   Nevertheless, he asks Chitragupta about their sins. Chitragupta, although he is all-knowing, enquires of the Śravaṇas....   These report to Chitragupta everything that is said and done, openly and secretly, by men.  These followers of the King of Justice know accurately all the virtues and vices of mankind, and the karma born of mind, speech and body.
To the man who pleases them by austerity, charity and truthful speech, they become benevolent, granting heaven and liberation.  Knowing the wicked actions of the sinful, those truth-speakers, relating them before the King of Justice, become dispensers of misery....  Then, by command of Yama, Chitragupta speaks to all those sinners, who are crying, and bewailing their karmas, "O, you sinners, evil-doers, polluted with egoism, injudicious, why ever did you commit sin?"  ...  The King of Justice, seeing them standing motionless like thieves, has fitting punishment ordered for the sinful.
Then the cruel messengers, having beaten them, say, "Go along, you sinner, to the very dreadful terrifying hells." ... "Oh, forgive my faults" -- with suppliant hands, those most. sinful people, helpless, implore the messengers.... "Forgiveness of faults is done by the Lord Hari Īśwara. We only punish miscreants, as we are ordered."

So make sure you pray to Lord Hari (Vishnu)!
By the way, this doesn't mean there's no reincarnation; later on the Garuda Purana says "Those who are very sinful, having passed through dreadful hells produced by their great sins, are born here upon the exhaustion of their karma."  And similarly concerning good people it says "The righteous man having enjoyed heaven, is born in a stainless family."
You should also know that the goal isn't ultimately to enjoy Devaloka (heaven) or to be reincarnated as something good.  Rather, the goal of existence is to escape this Samsara, this cycle of birth, death, reward and punishment in the afterlife, etc. and to attain Moksha, or union with the gods.
Comment: How is moksha union with god while some say it's union with your true self the atman or with vaishnavite prespective it is unification with the ultimate parabramhn lord Shri Hari or Lord MahaVishnu which is higer than any god.
Comment: @Yogi Well, from a Vaishnava perspective Vishnu is certainly the supreme being and is higher than the other gods, but he's still a god himself.  As the Shatapatha Brahmana of the Yajur Veda says, "Vishnu is the most excellent of the gods." http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/4036/36
Answer: It is because Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma based on eternal truths and reincarnation is truth not divine judgement. Saying God judges people is ascribing lowly human qualities to God. Because God doesn't judge anyone. It is our own karmas which judge us and accordingly our next incarnation is decided by our own karmas.
Comment: The gods absolutely judge us according to our karma; see my answer.  And that is not ascribing any lowly qualtiies to them.
Answer: Hinduism perhaps have most extensive answer regarding what happens after death. The soul may take one of the three paths- to the devaloka, to the pitraloka, or to various narakas. Later they would be reborn in manushya loka as various animals, or plants, or as humans. Everything is government by Karmic law.
In Bhagavad Purana and Manu Smriti some general guidelines regarding what kind of karmas give what kind of results have been given.
Some descriptions are here -
1. Manu Smriti 12th Chapter, Manu Smriti Chapter 4, Verse 87-90.
2. Srimad Bhagavata Purana: 5.26. The chapter is dedicated to 28 types of Narakas.
Garuda Purana is another source.
Comment: You should cite sources (you should give specific citations and or quotes from the Bhagavata Purana the Manu Smriti).
Comment: Check the chapters I have mentioned!


Do I need a transit visa for Canada if I have a Canadian Travel Document and am transiting from Canada?

Question: I'm a protected person in Canada and I am traveling from there to Egypt for the summer. I will be departing from Ottawa and transiting through Toronto before heading to Egypt. I will be using my Canadian Travel Document to travel. Will I need a transit visa when I reach Toronto?
Answer: No. You do not need a transit visa for a domestic flight.
Comment: Nor is there any situation where someone with a Canadian refugee travel document would ever need a Canadian transit visa.
Answer: You do not need any visa to enter Canada, because you have the Canadian travel document itself.
Further, you don't need any document to enter Canada because you are already in Canada.
And you don't need any sort of international travel documents for a purely domestic flight.
You do need the travel document to return to Canada after your trip to Egypt.
Comment: ... but will need some official provincial or federal government-issued picture id - such as driver's licence, health card or passport - to board the Ottawa-Toronto flight.


What happened to the Rama Setu after Ramayana?

Question: Lord Rama constructed the Setu from Indian mainland to then Srilanka with help of the vanara army. After the death Ravana, what happened to the stone bridge?
Comment: It's still there!
Comment: yes you can see the rama setu bridge photo captured by nasa in google and I have a similar question that why it is in under water now and when did it sink into water and what is the reason ?
Comment: @Sakthi It sank because of the rising sea levels, many small islands have submerged in water. This could be due to the global climate change
Answer: According to Kurma Purana, the bridge will exist as long as the earth is there.
In the 21th chapter of the Purva Bhaga of Kurma Purana, Ramayana is narrated in brief.

With the mere look at the Rameshwara Linga, all the sins of a person
  are washed out. There is not a slightest doubt about it. Till the
  mountains are there on earth and the earth remains, the bridge will
  continue here. I shall stay here in invisible form. The baths taken
  here and the charities performed at this place shall remain without
  decaying. The Sraddhas performed here also won't decay and will be
  everlasting. (50-51)
Answer: Present day Sri Lanka was not Ravana's Lanka.
Was Ravana's Lanka not the present day Sri Lanka?
Further,  according to the Ocean God, who assured Sri Rama, that the bridge being constructed would allow the passage to Him and the vanara-s assisting Him.

विधास्ये येन गन्तासि विषहिष्ये ह्यहम् तथा |
  न ग्राहा विधमिष्यन्ति यावत्सेना तरिष्यति || २-२२-२८
  हरीणाम् तरणे राम करिष्यामि यथास्थलम् |
"O, Rama! I shall make it possible to see that you are able to cross over. I will arrange a place for the monkeys to cross me and bear with it. As far as the army crosses me, the crocodiles will not be aggressive to them."
अयम् सौम्य नलो नाम तनुजो विश्व कर्मणः |
  पित्रा दत्त वरः श्रीमान् प्रतिमो विश्व कर्मणः || २-२२-४४
"O, excellent man! This one, named Nala, a glorious person, is the son of Vishvakarma; who was given a boon by his father and is equal to Visvakarma."
एष सेतुम् महाउत्साहः करोतु मयि वानरः |
  तम् अहम् धारयिष्यामि तथा हि एष यथा पिता || २-२२-४५
"Let this greatly energetic monkey build a bridge across me. I can hold that bridge. He is just the same as his father."

So the bridge got constructed by Sri Rama would be in place, as long as He and his army passes over it, ie., it will remain intact for their to and fro journeys. There after it will collapse.
Sri Rama performed the return journey by Pushpaka Vimana and hence the bridge would have been collapsed immediately thereafter.


What denominations use the Revised Common Lectionary?

Question: What denominations use the Revised Common Lectionary? And in those denominations, is there typically a copy of the RCL in the pews? Does anyone using it read from other translations or always from the NRSV that is printed in the hard copies?
Comment: Is this a list question? (And [my copy of the RCL](http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0687361745) is just a table of references; there are no texts included. We used the NIV for the readings.)
Answer: Speaking from the Episcopalian perspective, I can say that, a.) We use the RCL and b.) The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) includes a copy of the RCL references as well as a lectionary for the daily office readings. And the BCP is in the pews for sure.
As stated, a lectionary is often simply a list of scripture references. But it can certainly include the readings.
Answer: The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) uses a variation of the RCL (there's an article about it, along with the lectionary at: http://www.lcms.org/resources/worship/lectionary )
The Lutheran Service Book (LSB) used by the LCMS has the lectionary printed in the front with the Scripture references for each Sunday of the Church year, as well as for feasts and festivals.  During service, the lectionary texts are either printed in a bulletin and placed in the pews or (as in my congregation) we just use the pew Bibles.


Unable to open CD

Question: I have just moved from Windows to Ubuntu. Before I uninstalled windows I put some documents that I needed on a CD. Once I had installed Ubuntu I put the CD in to get the files back. But all I get is the message...
Error mounting /dev/sr0 at /media/chris/UDF Volume: Command-line `mount -t "udf" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,umask=0077" "/dev/sr0" "/media/chris/UDF Volume"' exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: block device /dev/sr0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sr0,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

People are not going to migrate from windows if Ubuntu can't even do a simple task like open a CD without this meaningless error message.
Comment: Well as the error suggests, sometimes usefull info is found in the syslog. Can you open a terminal and post the output of: `dmesg | tail` here?
Answer: Here is something you can try:
code:
gksu gedit /etc/fstab

then add this code after the last line in fstab
code:
/dev/sr0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

Comment: tried but I get another error

    Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 1:
    helper failed with:
mount: mount point /media/cdrom0 does not exist
Comment: /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
Answer: try to make /media folder writable by
sudo chmod 777 /media

Answer: /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
worked like magic as I had already existing /media/cdrom
created by sudo mkdir /media/cdrom

Unable to open CD


What is good karma? What is bad karma? Who defines it?

Question:
Who defines 'good' or 'bad' karma - like this is bad and this is good?
It depends on time or generation?
Is there any book, Veda or any other holy book, where it's defined?
Comment: Hinduism SE defines it.
Answer: The only absolute is Brahman, there are no absolutes in this world. An action which may be good karma for you may be bad karma for another, and vice versa. As an example, killing a human normally leads to bad karma. However, as seen by the example of Arjuna in the Gita, a warrior's duty in a war is to kill - and for Arjuna to avoid killing will only lead to bad karma for him.
The 3 gunas - sattwa, rajas, and tamas, and what types of actions are associated with each guna are defined at length in the Gita, especially Chapters 2, 3, 14, and 16.
Comment: @Sagar The highest is chanting the name of God or the mantra in the mind alone. Next is chanting by moving the lips but no sound. The last is chanting His name with sound. But all three give good karma, there is no bad way to chant His name. Even chanting His name and the mind wandering off to bad thoughts is still good karma. As Krishna says in the Gita (6.40): "O Partha, there is no destruction for him either in this world or the next; no evil, My son, befalls a man who does good."
Comment: @swamiji : chanting god's name has 3 aspects: 1. Just doing uchhara by mouth (shriram-shriram-shriram) 2. Just remembering god's name in mind. 3. Uchhara with his rememberance.. Does all 3 aspects gives good karma to human?
Answer: Who or What defines which karmas are good and which are bad?
Its mostly the holy scriptures that determine the nature of karmas. Our own inner conscience also should be able to judge in many situations if not in all situations. Further, our elders also help us in determining what's good and what's not. The advices of our parents and elders are nothing but the knowledge which were brought down from one generation to the next and finally to us.
What are the bad karmas & what are the good ones?

Manu Smriti 12.3. Action, which springs from the mind, from speech,
  and from the body, produces either good or evil results; by action
  are caused the (various) conditions of men, the highest, the middling,
  and the lowest.
12.5. Coveting the property of others, thinking in one's heart of doing harm to others , and adherence to false (doctrines), are the
  three kinds of (sinful) mental action.
12.6. Abusing (others, speaking) untruth, detracting from the merits of all men, and talking idly, shall be the four kinds of (evil) verbal
  action
12.7. Taking what has not been given, injuring (creatures) without the sanction of the law, and holding criminal intercourse with another
  man's wife, are declared to be the three kinds of (wicked) bodily

The Daksha Smriti (chapter 3) also lists the following 9 virtuous deeds and 9 evil deeds:

Good deeds: Sandhya adorations, bathing, recitation of the Homa, Vedic study,
  adorations of the Deities, adoration of the Viswadevas, hospitable
  treatment extended to the guests, according to one's own might, proper
  allotment of food for the departed Manes, Deities, human beings, the
  poor, the helpless, the ascetics, the father, the mother and the
  preceptor, these are the nine [sacred] works.
..................
Bad deeds: Iniquitous deeds are, again, [the following : ] Falsehood, knowing
  another's wife, taking forbidden food, knowing a woman who should not
  be known, drinking what should not be drunk, theft, committing injury,
  doing works not sanctioned in the S'ruti, transgression of a friend's
  duty, these are nine improper deeds. One should avoid them all.

..............
Does the definition change with Yugas?
Mostly NO. But there is a thing called Yuga-Dharma. So sometimes small alterations take place according to the nature of the age we live in.
As, an example, i quote the following verse from Parashara Smriti's chapter 1:

" In the Krita sin is incurred by one who converses (with a sinner) ; in the Treta by one who touches (the sinful man) ; in the
  Dvapara by taking the sinner's food ; in the Kali by a (sinful) act
  (alone).

So, while talking to a sinner is considered as an evil act in the Satya Yuga it is not so in the Kali Yuga. So, some rules do change like that with time but most of them don't.
Comment: This is THE answer. I do not know why this OP did not accept any answer!! The Dharma-Sasras ARE the highest authority in determing such things and are above the other scriptures exceppt the Vedas
Comment: @Partha Thanks and Yes, most people are not aware of the PURPOSE of different scriptures
Answer: Many Hindu scriptures discuss morality. I am posting some excerpts from Mahabharata where Vidura speaks about it.

Vidura on Gates of hell
Great fear springeth from these three crimes, viz, theft of other's
  property, outrage on other's wives, and breach with friends. These
  three, besides, being destructive of one's self, are the gates of
  hell, viz, lust, anger, and covetousness. Therefore, everyone should
  renounce them.  [Udyoga Parva, Section 33]
Vidura's advice on how to act
Do not, O Bharata, set the heart upon means of success that are unjust
  and improper. A man of intelligence must not grieve if any purpose of
  his doth not succeed, notwithstanding the application of fair and
  proper means. Before one engageth in an act one should consider the
  competence of the agent, the nature of the act itself, and its
  purpose, for all acts are dependent on these. Considering these one
  should begin an act, and not take it up on a sudden impulse. He that
  is wise should either do an act or desists from it fully considering
  his own ability, the nature of the act, and the consequence also of
  success. [Udyoga Parva, Section 34]
Vidura on forgiveness
There is one only defect in forgiving persons, and not another; that
  defect is that people take a forgiving
  person to be weak. That defect , however, should not be taken into
  consideration, for forgiveness is a great power. Forgiveness is a
  virtue of the weak, and an ornament of the strong. Forgiveness
  subdueth (all) in this world; what is there that forgiveness cannot
  achieve? What can a wicked person do unto him who carrieth the sabre
  of forgiveness in his hand? Fire falling on a grassless ground is
  extinguished of itself. And unforgiving individual defileth himself
  with many enormities. Righteousness is the one highest good; and
  forgiveness is the one supreme peace; knowledge is one supreme
  contentment; and benevolence, one sole happiness. [Udyoga Parva,
  Section 33]

Vidura on the importance of controlling one's speech

To control speech, O king, is
  said to be most difficult. It is not easy to hold a long conversation
  uttering words full of meaning and delightful to hearers. Well-spoken
  speech is productive of many beneficial results; and ill-spoken
  speech, O king, is the cause of evils. A forest pierced by arrows, or
  cut down by hatchets may again grow, but one's heart wounded and
  censured by ill-spoken words never recovereth. Weapons, such as
  arrows, bullets, and bearded darts, can be easily extracted from the
  body, but a wordy dagger plunged deep into the heart is incapable of
  being taken out. Wordy arrows are shot from the mouth; smitten by them
  one grieveth day or night. A learned man should not discharge such
  arrows, for they do not touch the very vitals of others. [Udyoga
  Parva, Section 34]

Vidura on Kindness

Ablution in all the holy places and kindness to all creatures – these
  two are equal. Perhaps, kindness to all creatures surpasseth the
  former. [Udyoga Parva, Section 35]

Vidura on how to treat others

That which is antagonistic to one's own self, should
  never be applied in respect of another. [Udyoga Parva, Section 39]
Answer: According to Sri Krishna, Karma is neither a sin nor virtue.The Karma depends on the purpose behind it.If the purpose is for the benefit of the society or to uphold Dharma then it is good.If the purpose behind karma is to cheat others then it is bad.
For Example:If knife is stabbed to stomach to kill is adharma,whereas when the doctors cut the stomach is dharma because purpose of doctor is to save a person from death,but in 1st case,the purpose was to kill a person.
Comment: Welcome to Hinduism SE. Answers on this site should be detailed enough to solve the questioner's doubts and also should be backed up by proofs from Hindu scriptures like Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, etc. So, please edit your answer to provide more details and proof from scriptures in order to make it more reliable.
Answer: In Sanatana Dharma, we usually speak of five karmas - Nitya Karma, Naimittika Karma, Kamya Karma and Nishiddha Karma and prayaschitta karma. Nitya Karma includes Sandhyavandanam, Agni Karyam, Deva yagnam etc which are compulsory activities. Naimittika Karma are those which depends on Time (Kaalam) and Space (Desa) like festivals etc. Kamya Karma is one which is performed desiring something like yagnas, daanas etc. Nishiddha Karma are those which are prohibited like sleeping at sun rise and sunset, etc. Prayaschitta Karma are those prescribed as compensatory.
If we talk of Paapa and Punya, we can define many ways, but simply stating Punya is one which takes you towards God and Paapam is one which takes you far from God.
As far as who decides which is to be done and not to be done, Veda is the only authority to determine. This is said by Bhagvan himself in Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 24 as "Let the Sastras be your authority in ascertaing what ought to be done and what not to be done (Sastra here means Veda)".
Dharma is living according to Vedas. Dharma has no Kaala Dosham i.e it does not change with time. Do not take this in wrong sense. Being obedient to parents is one's duty irrespective of which time you live in. Speaking truth is dharma all the time, where as karma depends on time -  Sleep is to be done at night, Aswamedha yagna is prohibited in Kaliyuga etc. Doing proper Karma (through body, mind and speech) at proper time can be roughly stated as Dharma.
Answer: I don't know whether I'm eligible for answering this question. But I've been boggled by this question for long time. Reading BG and various answers on this forum, I narrowed down to following simple things:

Good karma is remembering God. This is absolute. This will always be good karma.
A good karma is doing the RIGHT thing given a particular situation in the name of God, without expectation of results.
This RIGHT thing is not absolute. It changes with the situation. Killing a person for selfish desires is bad karma. But as we see in BG, Arjuna to avoid killing his brothers will only lead to bad karma for him. So in this particular situation, killing was actually a good karma.
Comment: 'Reading BG and various answers on this forum' - You need to cite specific verses from BG and some of those other answers in support of your answer.
Answer: Who defines 'good' or 'bad' karma - like this is bad and this is good?
    It depends on time or generation?
You have very good answers about moral, good and bad.
Is there any book, Veda or any other holy book, where it's defined?
There is a group of texts called dharmaśāstra which are vedic and speak about this, but more prominent are Dharmasutras.
You can read about that on here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma%C5%9B%C4%81stra
But I will give a complement answer, as Patañjala Yogasutras says about karmas

PYS IV.7 karmāśuklākṛṣṇaṃ yoginas-trividhamitareṣām
karmas are not white nor dark (meaning good nor bad) for yogi, but for everyone else are of 3 kinds (meaning good, bad or mixed)

and to understand better, after that he says

PYS IV.8 tatas-tad-vipākānuguṇānām-evābhivyaktirvāsanānām
from those (samskaras) only get manifested those tendencies which are necessary and suitable for the fructification of those karmas

All these are in a context where karma just means action, that action make an impression on mind and are stored in karmashaya as samskaras.
So if you behave in some way believing you are the doer, you are impress, you get impressions (samskaras) and then you will have result of karma (result of your actions) good or bad or mixed according to what you did, and how you felt about it
But yogis do (should do) actions with the actitud "I'm not doing" (as karma yoga of Bhagavad Gita) or Sri Ramakrishna speaking "I am the machine You are the operator". So there is not impression on his minds, that is why it is said: "karmas are not white nor dark"

The world is neither good nor bad. The mind creates good and evil - Swami Sivananda, Riddle of Evil

http://sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=1514
Answer: As per Sadhguru,

1. Who defines 'good' or 'bad' karma - like this is bad and this is good?

As discussed here, Karma is neither good nor bad. It is the accumulation of paths one took in their life's journey till now which affects their future.

2. Does it depend on time or generation?

No, it affects every individual based on the way one handles the situations they face in their life. As Sadhguru stated, one can't get rid of it but can divert the stream of it by acting differently than their tendencies.

You have acquired certain tendencies over the years, depending on the impressions you have accumulated. These can be transformed entirely. If you do a certain amount of inner work if you implement certain inner technologies— irrespective of your current tendencies, your past experience of life, your genetics, your environment—you can completely rewire yourself in a short span of time!

Sadhguru. Inner Engineering (p. 42).

3. Is there any book, Veda, or any other holy book, where it's defined?

If not Vedas or any holy book, one can consider reading the upcoming book Karma by Sadhguru.
Answer: What I actually think is There actually doesn't exist anything like good Karma or bad Karma.
Karma is just an action which you knowingly or unknowingly set in to motion. Nothing is good or bad.
Example :
Suppose you have a bucket ,and there are 2 well or say some small water bodies.
Well A has fresh clean water,
opposite to that Well B has dirty and smelly water.
Its your whole decision from which well you want to draw water from.
If you decide to draw water from well A you will get fresh water.
But on the other hand if you decide to take it from the well B you will get dirty water.
Deciding and drawing water from well is your karma and you will get water according to your decision. You know which water is good for you and which is not.
All you needs clam mind to figure it out.
Anything that you do is your responsibility.
There was a beautiful example I have heard :
There is was a boy whose father was on the verge of death and his fathers wish was that his son should pour water in his mouth spoon by spoon. So the son decides to full fill his fathers wish,giving him water spoon by spoon.
Unfortunately some bandit attack their village , and they start kidnapping the young girls, so all the men start trying to save those girls.
NOW its the decision of the boy to complete his fathers wish or to save those girls.
He will face the consequences according to his decision.
No one but the boy himself is responsible for deciding his Karma.
What you have set in action you have to face the consequences its the law of nature,if you think its good/bad that's your earthly perspective nature doesn't care about your perspective. Its as simple as.
As you sow so shall you reap.
Comment: 'There actually doesn't exist anything like good Karma or bad Karma.' - You should cite sources for such statements. See [Guidelines for new users answering questions](http://meta.hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/125/2995).
Comment: This was not a quote ,but was just my thinking. I have edited it as you said. @sv.


When playing a scale for a solo do you play only within that octave on the fret board?

Question: I have been playing guitar for roughly over a year now, for the most part self-taught, and have just recently started learning scales, however I am very confused on how the different notes that are contained within the scale relate to each other all over the fret board. Say the A minor scale; A B C D E F G. Am I limited only to play within a certain area of the guitar say from fret 5 on the 6th string to the 7th fret on the 4th string? I have attempted a few patterns of the CAGED method but I would much rather not get stuck inside of "the box". I know all the notes on the fret board up till the 12th fret moderately well and can find them without trouble, I just don't understand what I should do with the scales I've memorized and how I can piece the different octaves of a scale together to create an improvised lick or riff. How can I play and learn scales without having to forfeit my musical creativity to a box pattern?
Comment: You can solo in whatever way you want. When you play solo you create a melody and fill the song with emotions. You can often take chords and different intervals while soloing. Don't play just in one position if you wish to get an interesting and rich melody. Watch how David Gilmour, Gary Moore, Joe Satriani play. You can often go odf the scale or play in different scales. You can play one note per bar or a couple of notes. All this is your personal choice.
Comment: I often while improvising create a lick that i replay a few more times. A riff is something different. I wouldn't say that it's possible to play a riff in the solo, especially if there alreafy is a riff being played. You can also experiment with note duration and playing techniques.
Answer: For soloing, you would want to look into the pentatonic scales, which consist of only 5 notes. There are 5 box shapes across the entire fretboard. Just a note here, major scales and natural minor scales are the same exact thing, the only difference is the root note. You should have a look at relative minors and majors for this, in short, the A minor scale is the same exact scale for C major, the only diffirence is the root note which will A and C respectively.
You are defintely not stuck to one box shape. It is very common to move between diffirent box shapes up and down the neck. For as long as you know where every note on the fretboard is and the notes of the scale you are playing, you should be fine.
In addition to the pentatonic scales, it is really a good idea to learn the 3 notes per string method as well. This is really helpful when playing licks. There are 7 basic shapes which is also spread out across the entire fretboard, so again, you can move across more than one shape when soloing.
I'm also self-taught, and uses a lot of tutorials from guitarjamz and guitarlessons365 found on youtube to learn stuff like this. Between those two guys, they have really good video tutorials on the pentatonic scales and pentatonic runs up and down the fretboard, as well as the 3 notes per string method. I really would recommend having a look at that
Answer: The scales you have learned are probably one octave. All they are is a group of notes that sound well in sequence - any sequence, depending on the chords they're played over. They have been put in that order because it's the sort of thing humans do. However, when you solo, you're not going to play just up and down those scale notes, you're going to miss a couple, play some twice, go up and then down before reaching the top note of that scale. You will even go above that top note, so it's worth extending your scales to two octaves and more.
In the 'boxes', you'll be able to get two octaves from bottom to top, easily. What you need to do to address your question is find the next note of a scale higher on a particular string, instead of what you've learned - moving back towards the nut and up a string.So, in the long term, you'll be able to run up and down scales, not necessarily in a 4 fret box, but up above it whenever you want. This way, you'll find other 'boxes', because, after all, that's the way guitars are designed to work!
Using this knowledge, you'll then be able to slide in and out of boxes, on the same string. Think about it, if you only know one box, some notes are slideable, but others certainly are not. That's where the next box (either side) comes into play, so to speak.
Comment: The way I see it, which octave you are in is less important than the actual note you are playing. The scales shouldn't be viewed as just patterns, each note has its own role to play. Learn about the intervals. Though you should learn all the patterns: boxes, three note per string, single octave, so that you don't have to think about where the notes are, they just come naturally. Short version though, once you learn the single octave version of a scale, you can just go A,B,C,D,E,F,G, then you are back at A an octave higher (for A-minor). Then you can just go up again to the next A and so on.
Comment: So are you saying rather than staying on the little box of an octave that I mentioned in my question: which would be A B C on the 6th string and D E F on the 5th string and so on to G and A on the 4th string, I could go up to the A on say the 3rd string and play notes within that octave as well? Basically I guess what I'm trying to ask is do I have to play with a pattern system like the 3 notes-per-string method to be able to do basic improvisation even if I know where the octaves of a scale end and start all across the fret board? Thank you for your answer too it is very much appreciated.
Comment: @Charles - yes, of course you can, but on guitar, the notes will have the same names again (obviously), but the pattern will be different. On piano, it's straightforward - learn one octave, you've learned them all for that key.
Answer: I would give the CAGED system another try. I felt like you and was somewhat trapped in the minor pentatonic box for years but actually the entire CAGED system lets you break out of that and shows you where the "right" notes are all over the fretboard. As others have said, it's generally easiest to start with the major/minor pentatonic scales, because as the name implies, there are only 5 notes in each octave, rather than 7 in the diatonic scales. Plus they are very common in rock, pop, and blues, and can get you pretty far.
The common 5 patterns of the CAGED pentatonic shapes all have two notes per string, and let you shift from position to position seamlessly. For instance, in E minor, you have the typical minor pentatonic shape starting with the open E string. Then you can move up a position to the next shape (see position 2. You'll notice the left half of the second position box lines up with the right half of the open poistion box. So it's all the same notes, just different places to play them. So using this you can walk up and down the whole fretboard, using the boxes or jumping from one to the other, and it's really anything but limiting once you get all the 5 shapes down.
Then there are the symmetrical lead patterns and these are really my favorites because they are symmetrical, so really easy to remember, and they let you move up and down the neck (and connect the box shapes) really easily.
If you look at Lead Pattern 1, it will be the minor pentatonic if you start with the 3rd finger on the 4th fret in the diagram. And Lead Pattern 2 will be the major pentatonic when starting on the 2nd fret with the 1st finger. But either one can be used for major or minor, it just depends on which notes you start on. Same for the boxes. With the Position 1 Box it's E minor pentatonic if you start on the first note. But the Position 2 box is G major pentatonic if you start on its first note (3rd fret low-E string in the diagram).
To more directly answer your question, you should learn as many patterns and different ways to play the scales that you can. Or you can just pick out all the right notes. For example, with Aminor, you can just use all the natural notes (A,B,C,D,E,F,G). So you don't even need to know the shapes since you know where all the notes are on the fretboard, you can just pick them out. But the shapes/patterns let us turn off that part of our brain that has to make calculations, and lets get into the flow of the music a bit more.
My favorite versions of the diatonic scales are the 3-note-per-string shapes. Especially the Ionian or major scale, which is very symmetrical and E/A strings are the same, D/G are the same, and the notes on B/E are all the same. The Aeolian (minor) and Mixylodyian (major variant) are also very useful for rock/pop.
One really important thing though that it took me entirely too long to learn, is that all of those notes in the scale are not equal. You can't just pick them at random and go up and down (well you can, but it won't sound as good). You need to learn about the intervals, and how they relate to chords. When to play the minor 3rd, or the dominant 7th for example. Learning arpeggios helps with this, because those are the "key" notes you want to focus on in most cases, the root, 3rd, 5th and sometimes 7th of a scale. Those are the notes the make up most common rock/pop chords, and they are always stable choices for the melody/soloing.
As a guitarist, you can't really avoid "shapes" or "boxes", since a lot of what we play is arranged in those terms. The key is to know where the boxes are, and also how they relate, and what the feel of each note within it is.
Comment: Sure. The way I see it.. you have to learn the patterns at some point. Either it's one octave scales that you extrapolate out, or pentatonic boxes, or 3-notes-per-string.. but eventually you have to train your fingers/muscle memory to learn the scales. I don't think you can really play by just picking out each note as you go, though I haven't tried. But as I said, the boxes were limiting for me at first because I only knew the one, but once I learned all 5, and the lead patterns to connect them, I just see it as a useful way of mapping out the fretboard, not as a prison to keep in locked in.
Comment: I will attempt to learn more of the CAGED method but the way the patterns are presented is somewhat overwhelming, and I've heard that it's a method that hurts your musical creativity rather than helping because it does turn off the the calculating part of your brain in favor of the muscle memory. I'll still give it a shot though because your explanation on the CAGED system is far better than any of the hundreds of articles I've looked up on it so thank you greatly for your answer.


can an object in a sequence diagram send a message call to the user?

Question: I need to make a sequence diagram and I'm not sure how to represent user input.
Is it correct to have a message be sent from an object to the user asking for user input or should all objects be passive and only be operated by the user?
Answer: from UML Basics
The sequence diagram is used primarily to show the interactions between objects in the sequential order that those interactions occur...
so yes, it is perfectly valid to represent the sequence step 'ask the user for something'; each arrow does not necessarily correspond to one specific message
Answer: What kind of system behavior are you trying to model?
In the system you are trying to model, do you intend that the system be able to pop up a dialog box (for example) whenever the Cyber Spirit moves it, requiring the user to break state and deal with the system's demand?  If so, then it would seem to me that adding a "User Interface" object to the sequence diagram, and then sending messages to that object (and expecting replies from it) would be a perfectly valid way to model it.
It also has the advantage of making the user interface visible in the model, telling whatever sucker in Bangalore takes over after you get downsized out that there is a user interface development task and here are all the messages and replies it must handle.


page navigation in Kitchen Sink navigation

Question: I have developed an application based on the kitchen sink design in sencha touch 1.
In that for a list on itemDisclosure I need to navigate to another js page having a menu.For example if it is a employee list, by clicking on particular employee I should get a different page having a menu of salary details,*leave details* etc.
    demos.List = new Ext.Panel ({
layout : 'fit',
    cls: 'demo-list',
    items: [{
        width: Ext.is.Phone ? undefined : 300,
        height: Ext.is.Phone ? undefined : 500,
        xtype: 'list',
        store: demos.ListStore, //getRange(0, 9),
        itemTpl: '
{firstName} {lastName}
',
        onItemDisclosure: function(record, btn, index) {
            Ext.Msg.alert('Tap', 'Disclose more info for ' +  record.get('firstName'));
             ---- From here I want to open a new page ----
             ---- I am following Kitchen Sink architecture -----

            }

    }]
/*}]*/

});
i have to navigate to the employeeMenu.js
Can anyone help me out for the same?
Thanks in advance..
Answer: Animesh ,you have to add the employeeMenu in items,like below
items: [{
        width: Ext.is.Phone ? undefined : 300,
        height: Ext.is.Phone ? undefined : 500,
        xtype: 'list',
        store: demos.ListStore, //getRange(0, 9),
        itemTpl: '
{firstName} {lastName}
',
        onItemDisclosure: function(record, btn, index) {
            Ext.Msg.alert('Tap', 'Disclose more info for ' +  record.get('firstName'));
             ---- From here I want to open a new page ----
             ---- I am following Kitchen Sink architecture -----

            }

    },{employeeMenu}]


Best way to dissolve caramelized sugar

Question: I have a chocolate syrup recipe that calls for around 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water. I have found that the recipe turns out better if I caramelize the sugar. However, when I add the water to the caramelized sugar, the sugar immediately hardens (due to the temperature difference, I assume). I have tried boiling the water, which helps, but the problem still exists(the melting point of sugar, according to wikipedia, is 320F, so there is still a significant temperature difference). Stirring until the hardened sugar dissolves is tedious and often leaves me with small, undissolved chunks. Is there a better way to dissolve caramelized sugar without it hardening?
Answer: Walk away.
No, really - it works.  Once you add the water to the sugar, it will likely harden and clump up (I don't know how to stop that happening).  But once it does, you can just walk away, and leave it to sit till it cools down.
A lot of the sugar will just dissolve on its own, given time and enough water to dissolve into.  Some mixing (occasional stirs as or after it cools) will dissolve some more.  And at the last, when most of it has dissolved, you can gently start heating the pan up again, stir it around, maybe bring it to a boil for a bit, maybe add a bit more water and heat some more to get at those last undissolved chunks...
It's sugar, in water.  It will dissolve until the water's saturated.  It takes time to dissolve on its own, and that's annoying if you want to use it right away - hence measures like heating, or stirring, or crushing the dried caramel to stir into water that way.  But it really works just as well, and is less tedious, just to give it some of that time and let it dissolve away.
I did this when making a caramelized burnt-sugar syrup, and it worked.  Adding the water was pretty spluttery at first (the caramelization had to be stopped pretty fast), but I did notice the caramel hardening to the bottom of the pot once it had settled a bit.  I gave it a few stirs, and walked away to take care of something else - and by the time I got back to it, most of the lumps were well on their way to dissolving.
Comment: That's also how you clean up the caramel pan afterwards. Just fill it with water and come back in a few hours. It doesn't even need to be hot water. Sugar, even caramel, really, REALLY wants to dissolve in water. (So much so that it'll suck water right out of the air if there's any humidity at all, which is why caramel becomes sticky.)
Comment: Also boil the water first and add a lid on the pot as fast as possible after adding the water. That should help to keep the temperature above boiling for longer which should help.
Answer: Random things to try:

Add the molten caramel to the hot water (not the other way around), slowly, stirring vigorously as you add it.
Allow the caramel to cool (in a heat-proof plastic bag, or on a marble slab as in candy making, or even on parchment paper), then crush it. Put in cold water, heat while stirring (similar to melting granulated sugar)

I'm pretty sure the second one will work (assuming the caramel becomes hard; if not melting syrup should work fine too); the first one might, it's probably quicker though at a higher risk of burns...
Comment: Excellent suggestions- increasing the surface area of the sugar to make it dissolve faster. I think this requires some experimenting to see if they will save effort.
Answer: You can caramelize the sugar without melting it. Perhaps that will give you the results you are after. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/05/dry-toasted-sugar-granulated-caramel-recipe.html
Comment: Very clever approach
Comment: The way I always made caramel/water mixtures was to melt the sugar dry and then add the water. When melting the sugar, there is always a period of time when it is still crystalline but starts being browned a bit like in the picture. But the caramel flavour would be pretty weak if you stopped at that point and added water.
Answer: Put the water in with the sugar and boil them together.
Comment: If the water was added gradually as the sugar caramelised it should be possible to get a very liquid caramel. Most caramel calls for some water to be added to the sugar before you start to heat it anyway, it's just a matter of slowly increasing that so the sugar dissolves but still caramelises.
Comment: @derobert Nope... a syrup can reach far higher temperatures than 212°F ;)
Comment: How do you then explain syrups (especially inverts) taking on a nice golden hue and a more complex flavor if you cook them long enough, even if they don't hit "officially sanctioned caramel temperatures"? What could also be tried is creating caramelization at the surface (blowtorch?) and stirring that back into the syrup.
Comment: But the sugar will never caramelize that way- until you boil out all the water and then you are back where you started.
Comment: I had never added water before caramelizing, but I see that you are right and several recipes call for small amounts. I will try that next time.
Comment: The water added before caramelizing in some recipes is just to help conduct heat as the sugar melts (to avoid burning the sugar). It is gone by the time the sugar reaches 213°F.
Comment: I finally got around to trying this. The sugar did not start to caramelize until all of the water was boiled out. What _did_ work, was adding the water _very_ slowly and stirring vigorously.
Comment: @rackandboneman you're right there, and of course any good candy making reference will tell you the percent water left vs. temperature... Of course, it's gone by the time you hit caramel.
Answer: Don't caramelize the sugar first.
My chocolate recipe calls for equal amounts of water and milk, and to get the sticky-effect (that I presume you're after by caramelizing your sugar) just boil it for as long as possible.  Adding milk instead of water will have the milk boil and if you're not careful it will overflow.  But if you keep a close eye on it, and keep at it it will eventually just be bubbling, and with the steaming reducing the watery-ness, it will become nice and thick.
Comment: It's the flavor rather than the consistency that the caramelization improves.

Best way to dissolve caramelized sugar


Where is the Manipura Chakra located?

Question: I read in different sources about different locations of the manipura chakra. Two finger-width under the navel, secondly the navel and thirdly the solar plexus with is two or three finger width above the navel. Do different traditions locate it differently or how does the term work?
Comment: The chakras, according to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda are not actually located in the physical body. Yogic concepts can be correlated with the anatomical, but the charkras do not exist in an ordinary person, but exist in the subtle planes and are only made viable when the sushumna has opened. The manipura corresponds with the coeliac or solar plexus.
Comment: `http://www.tantra-kundalini.com/manipura.htm` and also please check `https://mychakras.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/third-chakra-navel-chakra-manipura-chakra/`
Comment: You maybe interested in my answer here ... http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/2641/reference-to-the-7-chakras-in-hinduism/13742#13742
Comment: @SwamiVishwananda : Given that the solar plexus is in human located at a different place than the navel, why do people like Tezz say that it corresponds to the navel?
Comment: Read Tezz's answer carefully. It says specifically subtle body, not gross body. This is a tremendous misunderstanding among Westerners who identify themselves with the gross body only and think that the chakras are in the gross body and are active. They are not in the gross body and neither are they active until the sushumna has opened. It is no small thing to get the sushumna to open.
Answer: Manipura is present in Solar Region. It is also known as Nabhi Chakra. Nabhi in Sanskrit means Navel. But as the location of Chakra is in backbone region of subtle body, hence Manipura Chakra is present just at back side of Navel in the region of backbone (in the subtle body).
But the entire Navel region is in the range of Manipura Chakra.
Srimad Bhagvatam also calls the Manipura Chakra by the name Navel Chakra.

कृत्वा समानावनिलौ जितासना सोदानमुत्थात्य च नाभिचक्रतः ।
  Then she carried the life air upwards and placed it in the position of equilibrium near the Nabhi Chakra/ Navel Chakra [Manipura Chakra.] (S.B. 4.4.25)

Guru Gorakhnath who is incarnation of Lord Shiva also calls Chakra present in Navel region is called Manipura in Goraksha Shataka:

तं नाभिमण्डलं चक्र प्रोच्यते मणिपुरकम् ।
  Chakra present in Navel region is called Manipura.

Devi Bhagvtam in this chapter talks about Nadi and Chakra in detail

There are the 350,000 nâdis in this body of man; of these, the principal are ten. Out of the ten again, the three are most prominent. The foremost and first of these three is Susumnâ, of the nature of the Moon, Sun, and Fire, situated in the centre of the spinal cord (it extends from the sacral plexus below to the Brahmaradhra in the head at the top where it looks like a blown Dhustûra flower). On the left of this Susumnâ is the Idâ Nâdî, white and looking like Moon; this Nâdî is of the nature of Force, nectar-like. On the right side of the Susumnâ is the Pingalâ Nâdî of the nature of a male; it represents the Sun. The Susumnâ comprises the nature of the all the Tejas (fires) and it represents Fire.
  31-41. The inmost of Susumnâ is Vichtrâ or Chitrinî Bhûlingam nâdî (of the form of a cobweb) in the middle of which resides the Ichchâ (will), Jñâna (knowledge) and Kriyâ (action) S'aktîs, and resplendent like the Millions of Suns. Above Him is situated Hrîm, the Mâyâ Vîja Harâtmâ with "Ha" and Chandravindu repesenting the Sound (Nâda). Above this is the Flame, Kula Kundalinî (the Serpent Fire) of a red colour, and as it were, intoxicated. Outside Her is the Âdhâra Lotus of a yellow colour having a dimension of four digits and Comprising the four letters "va", "s'a", "sa", and "sa". The Yogis meditate on this. In its centre is the hexagonal space (Pîtham). This is called the Mûlâdhâra for it is the base and it supports all the six lotuses. Above it is the Svâdhisthâna Chakra, fiery and emitting lustre like diamond and with six petals representing the six letters "ba", "bha", "ma", "ya", "ra", "la". The word "Sva" means "Param Lingam" (superior Male Symbol). Therefore the sages call this "Svâdhisthân Chakram. Above it is situated the "Manipura Chakram" of the colour of lightning in clouds and very fiery; it comprises the ten Petals, comprising the 10 letters da, dha, na, ta, tha, da, dha, na, pa, pha. The lotus resembles a full blown pearl; hence it is "Manipadma." Visnu dwells here. Meditation here leads to the sight of Visnu.
Comment: Are you saying that were the chakra's are located is not part of the basics of arrangement of the Chakra's? That I need to know other basics before you can tell me what you mean navel region and the boundaries of the navel region?
Comment: @Christian first you should know basics of arrangement of Chakra in body to know it... if you want to discuss you can come here... http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/38640/discussion-on-vedanta-and-philosophy
Comment: Can you be more precise what you mean with the navel region? Where are the boundaries of it?
Comment: @Christian whole Navel region is boundary of Manipura... but the place through which Kundalini pass through Manipura is through Sushumna Nadi which is present in subtle region of backbone...ie. just opposite to navel...
Comment: I don't know what "whole Navel region" is supposed to mean. How many centimeters (or finger-widths) above the navel does the "whole Navel region" start. Does it go up to the [solar plexus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celiac_plexus)?
Comment: If you want to just energize Manipura Chakra and not for Kundalini Awakening then you can just meditate on whole Navel region... if you want Kundalini Awakening you can start from Muladhara which is in Perinium region... then you will yourself know where the other Chakras are when Kundalini ascends from Muladhara...
Answer: Manipura Chakra is exactly located at Nabhi (Navel) but in Subtle body along the Spinal cord. All Chakras are located in Straight line (in Subtle body).
Om Swami describes method to identify seven Chakras in body in his book Kundalini: An untold story.

Here is how to identify the location of chakras in your body. Use your
  right hand if you are right-handed and left hand if you are
  left-handed.

Place the little finger of your hand on the navel. Your navel is the solar plexus or the manipura chakra.
Stretch your hand fully upwards and see where the tip of the thumb touches. This is your heart plexus or the anahata chakra.
Place your little finger exactly where your thumb touched on the heart plexus and stretch your hand fully once again to see where the
  thumb touches now. This is your throat plexus or the vishuddhi chakra.
Once again, put your little finger exactly where your thumb was and move one full hand-measure up. Your thumb is now touching your
  brow plexus or the agya chakra.
Place your little finger where you just found your brow chakra and stretch your hand fully again. Your thumb will be now touching your
  crown chakra or Sahasrara.
Go back to the navel. Put your thumb on your navel, stretch your hand and go one full hand measure down. Your little finger is now
  touching your sacral plexus or svadhishthana chakra.
Place your thumb where your little finger just was and stretch your hand fully downwards one more time. Your little finger is now
  touching your root plexus or muladhara chakra.

Make sure to take your hand measure from the tip of your little finger
  to the tip of your thumb. Just like if you stretch your arms, the
  distance from the tip of one middle finger to the other is same as the
  height of your body, the distance between one chakra and the other is
  exactly one hand. Only your hand can accurately pinpoint the location
  of your chakras.
Comment: The sentence "Your navel is the solar plexus" is plainly wrong given the meaning of those words in English. It's factually as sensible as saying that your nose is located where the mouth is. Those are two different points.
I don't know what's meant with the naval region. The naval + a 5 cm radius? Something else?
Comment: The words navel and solar plexus as used in the English language refer to different points. A source that says that the two are the same is either plain wrong or means something different than what the words usually mean in English.
Comment: @Christian Do you want center of Manipura Chakra and radius and its location relative to solar plexus? Manipura Chakra is located in Navel Region.

Where is the Manipura Chakra located?


Can I just fit a cassette with more gears with the same derailleur?

Question: I've got a Boardman Road Sport which I use for commuting and doing reasonable length rides during the week etc. I have Shimano Claris as my rear derailleur and so is some of my groupset. I would like to upgrade my cassette to an either 9 or 10 speed to give me a greater variety of gears. To do this do I need to change my rear derailleur from 8 speed to Shimano 105 or something similar? Or can I just change my cassette? Do I also need to change my shifters as well?
Comment: I thought this was asking about a replacement cassette with a larger diameter, ie lower gearing.  So I edited that into the title.  If its not right please use revert, or used edit to clarify further.
Answer: If you want to change your cassette to something with more gears, then you will need to replace the rear shifter and possibly the rear derailleur.  A cheaper option would be to get a wider range cassette which still has 8 gears.  You'll have bigger jumps between the gears, but you'll have a bigger range of gears.  With a wider range cassette, you may need a new rear derailleur with a longer cage.
Comment: Seconded: Most modern "road" bikes have a ridiculous amount of gears for a range which isn't actually all that wide: Even a good old 10-speed can have a similar range to that of many modern 20-22-speeds.
Answer: You can upgrade to as much as 1 speed up from what you have, as long as the rear derailler supports it. To see what your derailler supports, you could have a look at velobase and search after your derailler model. For extra speeds, usually, the most important part is the rear derailler. It does all of the heavy lifting when changing gears. That means that if your derailler's max stretch is not able to encompass the extra cog, you won't be able to shift to that gear and you'll have a dead cog. Also, the length of the shifting cable will possibly need to be changed too.
Comment: Requesting a link is perfectly reasonable: it makes much more sense for you to spend ten seconds editing your post than to have everybody who reads your post spend ten seconds finding the website you're talking about. And the issue isn't the length of the cable but, rather, the amount of cable movement that the derailleur translates into shifting one cog. The cable itself isn't an issue (you don't buy "ten-speed gear cables" or "eleven-speed gear cables"; heck, you don't even buy front or rear -- you just buy a gear cable). The big issue is the indexed shifter.
Comment: It would be more useful to include a link to "velobase", assuming it's online. I would have thought how much cable the shifter pulls would also be important - perhaps you could also explain why it's not?
Comment: First off, what's with the attitude? Secondly, google velobase, I'm sure it will pop up. Thirdly, looks like i was off, velobase is for vintage gear, at least as much as i saw. Lastly, I never mentioned cable was not important. In fact, reading through my comment reveals that right on the last sentence. Too bad you didn't bother reading.


Remote management using WMI XP PC's in a work group

Question: Is it not possible to remotely manage XP sp2 PC from another XP sp3 computer using WMI where both of  PC are in a work group? I have run wmimgmt.msc right click WMI control the connect to another PC. I have also used WMI Tools which I downloaded. I have Administrative account on the remote computer. I tried everything I found on the net
including:

Remote enabled WMI on the remote computer
It must not be firewall issue as I tried everything including disabling it ( the firewall).
Gave my account  all permissions to the root and root\CIMV2 names paces on the remote computer
Created the same administrative account( Same user name and password) on local computer (not remote) as suggested by some people on the net.
and others

But I keep getting error like

Access denied
The RPC server is not available

I set up security event log on the remote computer and I got the clue that the account requesting is not my account . This way I guess that it not possible to manage my PC this way but I should set up my network so that both PC's are in the same domain. But I don't want this to happen now.
Is my guess right? If not what is wrong with me?. I am a newbie in this area.
Comment: any solution and sample code ?
Answer: Sorry everybody. I answer the question my self.
It is possible. The problem I was having was not creating the accounts correctly


Sync photos to iTunes without erasing everything?

Question: My iTunes is empty, I just installed it, I've always used an iPod Manager to manage my iPod
How can I sync my photos without iTunes having to erase everything on my iPod since my iTunes is empty?
and I've got auto-sync disabled
Thanks
Comment: Given that this question is about interfacing an iPod with a computer (no idea if it's a mac or PC), this should qualify as computer related.
Answer: Your iTunes is complaining because the library persistent ID on the iPod is different than the library persistent ID in the iTunes Library. This ID is randomly generated when iTunes creates a new library (such as the first time you run it), and it prevents (for example) my iPhone from being automatically wiped and synced with my friend's iTunes content if I plug my iPhone into their computer to charge it; rather, the "Do Nothing or Wipe+Sync?" dialog pops up to prevent that.
What you need to do is:
(1) Quit iTunes
(2) Determine what the library persistent ID is in your iPod. Perhaps this is displayed in your third-party iPod manager? If not, you'll have to troll through the iPod_Control folder on the iPod and hexedit the database file on it to determine the ID.
(3) Hexedit the iTunes Library file (iTunes Library.itl on Windows, IIRC) and replace the ID therein with the one in your iPod
(4) Launch iTunes
Now that I've thought about it a bit more, this might actually cause the content of the iPod to be replaced with what's in iTunes without warning upon executing step 4. If you move your music from your third-party iPod manager into iTunes first, this shouldn't cause too much trouble, but to maintain your playlists and ratings (which would be crucial for me) you might want to use a tool like Senuti to pull everything out of your iPod and install it into iTunes. If you're going to follow this route, do NOT synchronize the library IDs as above.
Note that it will be a royal pain to keep alternating between your third-party stuff and iTunes, so pick one and go with it. (iTunes isn't that bad. Really.)
Answer: Sounds to me like your problem is not with the ipod but with iTunes. You say you just installed iTunes so did you install on a new PC and now you want to copy the files (music, photos) across? Or did you reinstall on same computer and lose your settings?
It is possible to move your iTunes library around on your computer or even between computers.
The link below explains details about moving your files around and then resyncing the iTunes library.
LifeHacker: Move iTunes library
If you follow these procedures you can get iTunes to recognise all your files again and not be 'empty'. You can then plus your iPod in and sync as you were before
If you don't have access to the files from your old computer then what you need is an iPod management app to copy the files off the iPod onto the computer. Once you have them on your computer add them back into iTunes and then you can sync again. There is a list on Wikipedia shows lots of free apps you can use for the copying back to computer. I can't post the link as I am new here but go to Wikipedia and search for "Comparison of iPod managers"
The only one I have used and could recommend would be Media Monkey which is also an awesome media library management program
Good luck
Answer: You can sync with multiple iTunes libraries with MultiTunes on a jailbroken device. Also if you transfer your old itunes library.itl and itunes library.xml file to your new library then your ipod can sync without being erased. If need be you can also transfer all your music movies and pictures ect off your ipod onto your computer then sync. Here is a guide with more information if you want to read more:
http://appducate.com/2013/01/sync-an-ios-device-to-multiple-itunes-without-erasing/
Answer: After iTunes pops up it will ask you if you want to erase and sync click no or cancel
Go down to your iPod name mine is Mike
So I click on Mike, then go down to manually manage Music and Videos
After you do that there should be an arrow next to your iPod's name click that and you'll see
Music
Movies
TV Shows.......
Answer: You can use SharePod for music and iPod Image Extractor for pics to copy the files from your iPod to your PC. Then add the files in your "new" iTunes and sync...


Ohmic and Non-Ohmic devices

Question: Why do some conductors follow Ohm's law and some do not? Isn't there any universal law that can explain the flow of current?
Comment: If you could be more specific, you would be more likely to get a helpful answer. The reason that a battery doesn't follow Ohm's law is very different than the reason a diode doesn't follow Ohm's law, which in turn is very different than the reason that copper under an extraordinarily high electric field doesn't follow ohm's law, etc. etc.
Answer: Physics does not contain any truly 'universal' laws yet.  Ohm's law like any other within physics relies on context for validity.  $V=IR$ is implicitly only valid in simple circuit theory, in field theory it has the form $J=\sigma E$ as seen in the wiki article.
Variations from Ohm's law are due to electrical properties of the conductor/medium under inspection.  The 'law' or equation to be used will be determined by pragmatic concerns of usefulness.
Comment: to respond, J=sigmaE is clearly more valid as it applies to both field and circuit theory, while V=IR only applies to discrete components in circuit theory.  It is a simplification for electrical engineering and requires context for understanding.  No there are no universal laws, the Theory of Everything and Grand Unified Theories are still pending.  'Electrical properties' is a short hand for those physical interactions mediated by/explained through electrodynamics.
Comment: Downvoted ... First, under almost all circumstances, $J = \sigma E$ if and only if $V=IR$. So neither is more or less "valid". Second, there are plenty of universal laws in physics. Third, "due to electrical properties" is not an explanation of anything.
Answer: Ohm's law is an assumption that the value of resistance for a resistor is independent of the magnitude and polarity of an applied potential difference. Many conductors, like a diode, depend on the polarity of the applied potential difference-- e.g. you must apply a positive or negative voltage to get a current to move across the conductor.
An ohmic resistor on the other hand, will have a current that is linearly dependent on potential-- so as a larger positive voltage is applied to the resistor, there will be a correspondingly larger positive current through the resistor. Since R = V/I in a circuit, if both V and I are scaling up or down at a constant, linearly proportional rate, R will be constant since the factors that scale the numerator and denominator cancel each other out... and this is what it is meant by a resistor to be ohmic.
Most conductors change their resistance as their temperature change, and like a diodes, some conductors have completely non-linear relationships between current and voltage. Because Ohm's law isn't really a law, a more consistent way to look at a material is to consider it's "instantaneous" resistance, or it's resistivity (a property of a material as opposed to a geometry of a material):
$\rho$=$\frac{E}{J}$
$\rho$ is defined as the resistivity --  this is given by the electric field, $E$, divided by the current density $J$, (the current per cross-sectional area). So intuitively, a material with a high resistivity has a low current density motivated by a large electric field (remember, e-fields are proportional to the force on a particle), and a material with a low resistivity has a large current density motivated by a low electric field...
In any case, the salient thing to take away from this is that Ohm's law is only a "law" because of historical reasons-- in reality Ohm's law describes a special subgroup of conductors that have a linear relationship between current and voltage, but there are many conductors which don't fit this constraint.

Ohmic and Non-Ohmic devices


Lemon cake has no flavor

Question: I have tried and tried numerous recipes for lemon pound cake.  None of them taste very lemony.  I tried adding extra lemons n lemon extract but no real difference.  The only thing to make it taste like lemon is the glaze. What am I doing wrong?
Comment: Have you tried adding lemon zest along with the lemons and extract? It's also available dried (called lemon peel granules in this form), which might make more intense taste if used with the other forms of lemon to sort of layer the flavor.
Answer: The 'lemony' flavour in a lemon cake is from the volatile oils which are present in the fruit's zest,(mainly nerol, limonene and citral). I would'nt advise adding actual lemon juice to the cake as it will disrupt the ratios in the cake recipe and ususally the tart, zingy flavour gets lost anyway after baking. To get a really lemony flavour whilst still using a pound cake recipe (using the creaming method) there are several things which would enhance the lemon flavour:

Adding finely grated lemon zest to the sugar, then blitzing  with a blender (to release the oils) and leaving to infuse. The sugar is simply a medium to infuse into
Melting the butter (using it as a 'quasi' solvent) and adding it to some more lemon zest to infuse. Then once cooled use it as per the recipe requires.
Add lemon extract too (we're trying to get as much flavour as possible into the cake!)

And if all else fails, you can always soak the cake in a lovely tangy lemon syrup and may be top it off with some lemony cream cheese frosting!
Comment: By "blitz" do you mean using a blender? If so, does using a blender on a mixture of something finely grated and something which comes in small crystals really make any difference?
Comment: @PeterTaylor Yes, with a blender. All blitzing does is release the natural oils, and the sugar is just another medium for them to infuse them into.
Answer: I know of three ways to add extra lemon flavor to recipes:

Add lemon pudding like this copycat recipe for Starbuck's lemon poundcake:
Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake Copycat Recipe
Use frozen lemonade concentrate instead of lemon juice
as Marge suggested, add grated lemon rind.  Fresh is good, dried is more intense.

My mother's cherished lemon-nut bread recipe, which uses dried grated lemon peel, actually requires the bread to be wrapped and refrigerated overnight to "cure" the flavors after it is baked.
Comment: @sebiddychef, the curing period comes after the cake is baked. Excellent observation - I'll edit my answer.
Comment: The 'curing's' a great idea, but I worry that for pound cake recipes that include chemical rising agents, after a night in the fridge they may not have any rising left in them
Answer: This post is years old but I added 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice per 200g of flour and it turned out amazing. Super pronounced lime flavor. The recipe asked for 1/3 cup of buttermilk or sour cream but I didn't have any. Hope it helps.
Answer: Here are a couple of ideas:

Add some limoncello to the batter
After baking and initial cooling: Apply a lemon sugar syrup. Use a skewer to make holes in the cake. Pour over the lemon syrup.
Use lemon curd as a topping

Here is an example of a recipe with lemon syrup.
Answer: Lemon emulsion is especially designed for baking as it won't "bake out" like a juice or flavoring.  If you are using an Lemon Extract, be sure it is all natural and has no added sweetener, like corn syrup.  I found baking emulsions on line from a company called Lorann Professional Kitchen and the size was 4 oz....not a pint or quart like most bakery supply
Answer: Boyajian lemon oil... Only use a few drops. Won't affect the recipe texture. Pure flavor. Probably find at Whole Foods, New Seasons, etc. My Costco has it also.
Answer: The strength of that lemon twang comes from the essential oils of the lemon and the acid in the lemon (which is why the icing is sooooo GREAT!). Unfortunately the acid will all be reacted and evaporated out by the time you finish baking anything. However, the oils will not have evaporated or reacted with the air.
The oils predominantly come from the zest or skin. The most effective way to get the strongest lemony flavour in baking will be to use a juicer to completely strip all the oils out of the entire lemon, then boil it down to a thick syrup. The skin is very bitter, but with some sugar you should be able to bring out a great tangy lemon flavour. Remember, chocolate comes from a very bitter substance too but we love eating it all the time! =D
You will end up with a very intense lemon syrup for use in various baking. Make sure to practice your baking mixtures a couple times to get the consistencies correct. The thickness of the syrup should help a lot not to water down any recipe you are following, rather than just adding lemon juice (which, like most fresh produce, has heaps of water in it).
Comment: err... I think it'd take a heckova lot of peels for a juicer to work, a single lemon peel might or might not produce a full drop (assumed, I admit). I think there's too much dry bulk and too little liquid for a juicer, might have better luck with an oil extractor like for sunflower seeds.  Even then it'd take literal pounds of just peels to get enough oil for boiling down (?!).  Did you mean to juice the whole lemons, and boil down the juice whatever oil might be extracted from the peel during juicing?  And if so, do you find it gives a better result than directly zesting lemons into a recipe?
Answer: Lemon cake does have flavor. All you need to do is just probably add more lemons and sugar.
Comment: Are you suggesting that adding sugar will add flavor, or just to add lemon juice and balance it with sugar? (It's really the zest that matters for flavor.) I'm not sure if you're trying to say anything that the other answers didn't already say.
Answer: Add lemon curd to your cake mixture
Comment: Could you explain how to do that without otherwise affecting the recipe. Do you blend the curd into the batter? Add it to the pan as a filling while pouring the batter? Marble it into the batter?

Lemon cake has no flavor