Loan repayment help

Question: My dad got a loan against his house for $40k and let me borrow 10k. The terms were that I would pay him back the $10k I borrowed.  I have since paid $16,800 and my dad says I still owe another $5,800. I pay $400 a month and have been doing so for 42 months. My dad hasn't paid since the beginning of the loan. I understood that he would pay the monthly minimum of $400 and I would pay $400 and my payment would be principle payment. Well I have been the only paying and only $100 goes to the principle. I truly think I have paid my part. Am I wrong for not wanting to pay anymore?  How do I tell my dad I am done paying?  Don't want this to cause trouble between us.
Comment: It's not clear what your exact terms were. You need to specify them for us to understand your question. Also, can you please clarify what question you are asking. Are you asking if you have paid back the loan, or are you asking how to discuss this with your father? The latter would be better suited to a relationship forum.
Answer: You have paid $16,800 or 42 payments of $400 so far.
If I plug $10000 loan value, $400 payment, and 42 for payoff time, I need to crank the interest to 32% to solve the payback.
I would tell your father that you are have to have paid what you have paid so far, but you borrowed just $10,000, and even at 18% annual interest to a credit card, 42 payment of $323 would have paid this zero. If you've been making all the payments, he can easily see the balance owed is all his. You didn't mention the rate, but keep it simple. If it was 5%, 3.5 years * 5% * $30K = $5250. I am certain his balance is less than that (The $35K total).
Nothing is clear, except that he is expecting that you will pay the interest on all $40K, which is what is resulting in a crazy rate.
We can add this post to the list of warnings on getting involved with any relative in a financial matter.
Answer:
Am I wrong for not wanting to pay anymore?

If you are asking if you have fulfilled your end of the agreement, and you agreed to pay back $10k interest-free, then it's obvious that you have paid back the full loan plus 68% of the principal in interest.
However, it seems like there's more going on than that:

I understood that he would pay the monthly minimum of $400 and I would pay $400 and my payment would be principle payment. Well I have been the only paying and only $100 goes to the principle.

It sounds like you expected to borrow $10k then pay back $10k, no extra conditions or interest. From what you say, it sounds like he is taking your payment and using as his monthly payment for the loan and wants to continue this until the principal on his loan is paid down $10k to $30k. This is likely since the first payments of a loan often contain a much higher percentage of interest than principal. If this is the case then you have essentially been paying the interest for the whole loan and your father expects you to continue to do so until $10k of principal is paid.

How do I tell my dad I am done paying? Don't want this to cause trouble between us.

Whether it was intentional, accidental there was a big miscommunication between you. People are naturally very defensive about money, especially when there's family involved. If you choose to confront him about the miscommunication then there will be trouble. If you think it's worth it to confront your father then do so very carefully. For most people an extra $12,600 is a significant sum, but keep in mind that relationships are priceless and tend to last much longer than money.
Comment: Just paying money you don't owe doesn't solve the relationship problem. Rather it creates a problematic dynamic in your relationship that may last for the rest of your lives.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer, I think you misunderstand me. That quote is talking about his expectations for the loan, not the reality of it which, you are right, absolutely did include a lot of interest. I personally believe that full repayment with 60% interest to a family member would be more than sufficient, but I cannot advise him to confront his father.  That's his decision.
Comment: Well, "no extra conditions or interest" isn't quite right. He paid $16K, 60% interest over the 4 years. I think he's done.
Comment: Yes. Completely misunderstood.
Answer: I cranked the interest rate up to 24%, compounded monthly.  This is a ridiculously high rate.  At $400 a month, your loan was still paid off in only thirty-six months, after paying $14,400.  Even at that ridiculously high interest rate, you have already overpaid $2400.
The other side is that your father may feel that you agreed to this.  He gave you $10,000, and you are paying him the $40,000 principal that he borrowed.  It's unclear how well he explained this when you started the loan, but it's consistent with your explanation.

I understood that he would pay the monthly minimum of $400 and I would pay $400 and my payment would be principle payment.

You seem to have a different understanding of which principle is involved.  He seems to be asking you to pay the entire principle of the loan while you seem to have thought that you were getting an interest free loan.
Paying $40,000 for a $10,000 loan is not fair.  That's an interest rate of 47% with an APR of 58%.  That would be illegal in many places.  And that's assuming that he doesn't expect you to pay the whole loan.
You might try talking this over with another family member.  Your mother, one of your father's siblings, etc.  It may be easier for someone else to point out to your father that this is an unreasonable arrangement and unfair to you.  Also, it may be easier for you to convince someone other than your father.
If all else fails, consider Judge Judy.  He could sue you for $5800 (the amount he says remains on the loan).  You could sue him for $3000 (the amount you overpaid at 18% interest).  Judge Judy decides who actually pays whom.  Then if he loses, he's mad at her not you.  Their show pays travel costs and likes to highlight life lessons, e.g. don't make bad loan deals with family.
Comment: Judge Judy? Really? With relatives like this, the relationship is already an issue. We have questions here where parents are lending to children interest free. Passing the loan rate (i.e. same rate as Home Loan) to the child is fair, more than an extra percent or two is pretty unfriendly.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer  And having Judge Judy point that out is a neutral third party.  We're looking at the loan from the perspective of normal interest, and it's obviously unfair.  It's not as clear to me that this seems unfair to the father.  We don't know what conversations were had at the time, what he offered, and what was finally agreed.  Expressing that this is unfair without having it come from the aggrieved party turns it from two people with their own positions into an arbitration with a neutral party.  The neutral party could be another family member, but we don't know if that's feasible.
Answer: The biggest issue for your situation is that:

I understood that he would pay the monthly minimum of $400 and I would pay $400 and my payment would be principle payment.

Apparently he either did not understand it this way or was unable to uphold his end of the bargain and is deciding to screw you over.

A fair reconciliation?
What is the interest rate of the HELOC?
Did you and your father agree to a maturity date?
A HELOC is a revolving line of credit so money can be borrowed as often as you need it. I sure hope he is not continuing to borrow from it and making you pay for it.
Presuming the full $40K was drawn at once and never a penny more then it really, really sounds like your payments are absorbing the brunt of the interest on the full $40K.
For comparison, paying minimum payments (about $400) on a 15 year mortgage at 8.8% will take almost 6 years to get the principal below $30K; BUT the interest paid will be over $18K
Anyways, after 15 years the entire loan will have costed $72,173.06
For fairness sake, assuming you both agreed to minimum payments, 25% of $72,173.06 is $18,043.27 which would take 45.11 months to pay off at $400/month
Looking at a 30-year amortization schedule will make you sick to your stomach so I'll let you check out those figures for yourself. Hint, it will cost YOU $36,063.08 based on my "fairness" calculation from above.
http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/amortization-calculator.aspx

As for "How do I tell my dad I am done paying?"
Get the cold hard numbers from him and ask to see the loan terms and conditions. You must know the interest rate or else you will not get far. Play with the amortization calculator and make a strong case for yourself. If the numbers are on your side, great! If not then be prepared to continue paying until a "fairness" point has been reached.
Comment: Thank to everyone who took the time to help me out with this question. I finally talked to my father and he agreed that I was done with the loan.

Loan repayment help


Kodak ESP Aio prints good on Ubuntu 12.04, butnothing finds the scanner. Any ideas, please?

Question: My Kodak ESP 3250 prints great on Ubuntu 12.04, but nothing finds the scanner. Tried xsane and Libre Writer to no avail. Need all the help I can get. Only other printers I have to use are, ugh, Lexmarks.
Thank you
Answer: just spent some time poking around, starting to git clone the "sane backends" and then wondered if they were already present...hooray,it seems in 12.04 quantal the sane backends are already there. I was able to find my scanner's conf file in /etc/sane.d/
I specifically have a Kodak AiO ESP5250
I did need to open & edit the kodakaio.conf file
FIRST even tho it said autodetect for network was enabled, i needed to uncomment the line for my ESP5250 network connection
and
SECOND i also needed to change my ip address to reflect what my printer said on its little control panel (under "network settings"->"view network configuration"->IP address) my scanner said 192.168.1.7, instead of the prepopulated/default of 18.104.22.168 that was there
hope it helps
Answer: Here are instructions for installing Kodak Aio sane backends on Sourceforge.net. If you follow the instructions closely you should be fine.
Comment: @Frank249942 Did those instructions work out for you?


Is it possible to enable TRIM for an external SSD?

Question: I have an iMac from 2011, Mac OS X 10.6.8, and an SDD in a FW800/USB3 case.
Which interface can let me enable TRIM: USB2, USB3, FW800 or Thunderbolt ?
Comment: The interface you use to connect the external drive to your computer has no bearing on TRIM support and other ATA commands. Furthermore, your computer has neither USB 3 nor Thunderbolt. Hence, I've removed that segment of your question so your question is better-focused.
Comment: It's my question, I know better what I want to know so you don't edit it especially if you don't know what you're talking about.
Comment: @CajunLuke, the mid-2011 iMac should have Thunderbolt - it was part of the refresh, wasn't it? (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4619.) However, you're right - TRIM support doesn't depend on the interface.
Comment: @JW8 Facepalm. For some reason I thought they'd been released this year, so I thought the 2011 models were too old. You're correct: the 2010 models wouldn't have TB, the 2011 models do.
Answer: I realize this question is over 4 years old, but I'm adding a comment because this page was the first hit for a Google search on the subject and some of the comments are outdated whereas others were plain wrong.
Apple added native TRIM support in OS X 10.6.8 but only for Apple OEM SSDs. To get around that restriction, software such as Cindori's TRIM Enabler allowed TRIM to be used on 3rd party SSDs. Later, OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) introduced a security requirement called kext signing which prevented TRIM Enabler from working without completely turning off kext signing. Then in OS X 10.10.4, Apple introduced a "trimforce" command which enabled TRIM on 3rd party SSDs without turning off kext signing. (I have sources but Stack Exchange won't let me post more than 2 links)
Contrary to many of the comments here, the interface DOES matter. The vast majority of USB enclosures do not support TRIM, but allegedly there are some that support it such as the JMS 578 USB bridge controller (source: http://bbs.pceva.com.cn/thread-125643-1-1.html). All five of the USB 3 enclosures / docks I have support it. Firewire supposedly supports TRIM, but I haven't tested it. Most Thunderbolt enclosures should support TRIM, and I currently have TRIM enabled on a SanDisk Extreme SSD in an Akitio Thunderbolt 2 enclosure. I used the trimforce command in terminal to enable it.
In order to check if your enclosure supports TRIM, you'll want to go to Apple > About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > SATA/SATA Express > and look for "TRIM Support" under the enclosure specs. If TRIM Support is not listed, your enclosure most likely does not support TRIM. If it is listed but says "No", you can try turning TRIM on by using the trimforce command in terminal. Just open Terminal and type "sudo trimforce enable". Once your computer restarts, check System Report again to see if TRIM Support changed to Yes.
Finally, TRIM does matter, even for modern SSDs with sophisticated garbage collection. I experienced this firsthand when my SanDisk SSD started slowing down as it got older before enabling TRIM on it. There's a good, but somewhat outdated article about it here: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/ask-ars-my-ssd-does-garbage-collection-so-i-dont-need-trim-right/
Comment: All good information, but I notice that the TRIM Support indicator is only listed for SATA devices - meaning only SATA and Thunderbolt.  Do you know if macOS will run Trim over USB or FireWire at all, even with a compatible enclosure?
Answer: According to OS X Daily, TRIM is enabled for all Apple SSDs, but not for third party drives. The article claims that a third party utility, Trim Enabler, turns on TRIM for third party drives as well. More details can be found on the developer's page. Note that this utility isn't officially supported by Apple, so you should back up before installing the utility.
The interface of the external drive shouldn't matter for TRIM support (USB 2, FW800, or Thunderbolt). However, please note that Macs did not begin to natively support USB 3  until June 2012- with your 2011 iMac you'd be using USB 2 with one of those drives.
Comment: TRIM on OS X should *not* be enabled haphazardly. It has known issues with SandForce-based drives and may not be of any benefit with others. Apple does not enable it for a reason and it's not to sell more of their SSDs.
Comment: Strictly speaking, it's not "effectively" USB 2, it **is** USB 2.
Comment: @CajunLuke, indeed you are right. I meant to say that the USB 3 drive would be treated as a USB 2 drive - the drive can't take advantage of the benefits of USB 3.
Comment: The author of Trim enabler says that he doesn't think it could be enabled on an external SSD, that it depends on Apple - meaning that the interface DOES matter.
Comment: @user2113, can you provide a reference to that? I don't see it...
Comment: @JW8 I can't, it's from a private communication.
Comment: @user2113, no problem - just checking to see if I had missed anything on the program page. Didn't see any disclaimers about external drives there.
Comment: What do you mean "Macs do not natively support USB 3"?  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5172
Comment: @OldPro In early 2012, there were no Macs that supported USB 3. In June 2012, the latest Macs finally added USB 3 support (see http://applesliced.com/ask/do-macs-have-usb-3-0).
Answer: Yes, you can enable TRIM on an external SSD. I own a Lacie Rugged USB/Thunderbolt 128 GB drive and I enabled it with TRIM Enabler. I am using it as a boot drive.
I do not know if it is smart to enable TRIM but I could not find any posts where it would stand that TRIM can harm your external SSD.
But for any case, I have multiple backups of my SSD drive.
Comment: Indeed you can, but it doesn't mean that the TRIM feature is used.
Comment: Thanks, never thought about that. How can you find out if TRIM is used?
Comment: I don't know, maybe by looking at how the data is stored, the sectors and blocks (I'm not familiar)
Comment: I think that would do it, too. But did not find any appropriate scripts yet.
Answer: I have a Crucial 960gb m500 ssd that I put into a G drive thunderbolt/usb chassis a couple of years ago for time machine and random manual file backup.
It seems to have started slowing down recently with "preparing backup" msg that last for a couple of hours before doing the backup. I ran trim force with the drive attached via thunderbolt, My osx system report now says that trim is enabled
for this device. I'm waiting and seeing if it makes a difference!


Are all highly shock sensitive chemicals highly temperature sensitive too?

Question: I found that some highly shock sensitive explosives like lead azide, mercury fulminate have a relatively high auto-ignition temperature. I want to know if it's a general property or not and why so? Doesn't shock sensitivity means that the molecular bonds can be broken easily by supplying only a small amount of energy?
Answer: Yes -- but only to a degree
I assume you are talking primarily about explosives. All explosives are sensitive to both shock and heat to some degree. They are also sensitive to friction and spark. In most jurisdictions, as part of the regulatory approval process for new explosives the initiation sensitivity to each of these stimuli is determined with standardised tests.
In general, the lower the activation energy of the decomposition reaction, the greater the sensitivity to all stimuli. However, there is no simple relationship between sensitivity to different stimuli. Comparing two explosives, one may be more sensitive to impact than the other, but less sensitive to heat; a third may be less sensitive to either heat or impact, yet very sensitive to friction.
These sensitivities are not only a function of the chemical nature of the explosive, but also its physical form, purity, and the other ingredients in a composition. For example – not surprisingly! – addition of oily or greasy ingredients, even in small amounts, tends to reduce friction sensitivity. Most famously, liquid nitroglycerine is extremely shock sensitive, but is greatly desensitised by adsorption into a porous medium.
Again, for some important crystalline primary explosives the heat sensitivity is more or less fixed, but the shock sensitivity depends on the particle size distribution.
Answer: Shock and heat sensitivity are only weakly related
The shock sensitivity of an explosive is the degree to which a physical shock can set off an explosion in the compound. The heat sensitivity is the equivalent for heat. Both of these properties depend not just on the chemistry of the explosive but also its physical form and the device that contains it. This is because the physics of an explosion depends on how fast shock waves propagate in the substance. Whether heat alone triggers an explosion depends on whether heat can initiate a shockwave.
There are some explosives that are exquisitely sensitive to shock like nitroglycerine as a liquid. But even liquid nitroglycerine can be burned without triggering an explosion (not, to be sure, an experiment I'd recommend as a class demonstration).
Useful explosives should not be either too heat or shock sensitive or they will be impractical in real world uses. Many usable explosives are not very heat sensitive as a matter of design. For example, TNT can be melted by steam making it easy to fill munitions. C4 plastic explosive can be set on fire without risking an explosion (and was widely used as a source of cooking heat in Vietnam).
And excess shock sensitivity is also undesirable in useable explosives which is why Nobel made so much money from finding a way to tame nitroglycerin by absorbing it in clay. Modern explosives need fairly strong shocks to set them off so the accidental explosions are minimised.
The lack of a simple relationship between thermal and shock sensitivity is an indication that explosive properties are more complex than just having a compound where some bonds are easy to break. The difference between something that burns easily and an explosive involves not just the bonds but whether a physical shock wave can propagate through the material with enough energy to break more bonds. Heat alone will often not initiate such a wave, which is why many explosives can be safely burned.


How to stop task e-mail notification for SharePoint 2013 Designer Worfklow

Question: How do I stop a SharePoint 2013 workflow task from sending a notification to the task assignee. When a task is created it, sends an automatic notification to the task assignee. Can we stop the notification?
Comment: What do you mean it sends e-mail to person who assigned task. Or do you mean that the person who got task assigned *should not* receive email notification at all?
Comment: I mean task is assigned only. no need to send notification to anyone.
Answer: I couldn't find any options in SharePoint Designer when assigning task to a user but there's a setting on the task list that can be changed.
If you go to task list settings -> Advanced settings, you should have "E-mail notification" setting. Check if your list has this part set to Yes, then change and test if that works for you.
Answer: I believe the below is what you're looking for.

Right-click the task action in SPD
Go to 'Properties'
Set 'WaiveAssignmentEmail' to 'Yes'

That should do it - cheers!
Comment: This stops the workflow from sending any Task emails at all ... I just want it to send one email instead of 2.
Answer: Please follow the following steps.

GoTo SharePoint Designer
Open your Approval Process/Approval workflow
Click on Change the behavior of single task (Under Customization section)

Find for "Email task notification to Workflow Context:Initiator"
(You can delete these kind of Email Actions from all the stages i.e when task expires, deleted, completes etc..)

Delete this step
Save --> Check for Errors
Publish the workflow.

Above steps will help you out. Please try and let me know.
Comment: This solution is working on SharePoint workflow 2010 but I am looking for SharePoint Workflow 2013.
Comment: @MohitSikhwal Yes you are right. This solution is for SP Workflow 2010. Sorry for the confusion.....


Can the alkyl-oxygen bond in lactones be cleaved in an SN2 reaction?

Question: I understand that nucleophiles typically attack the electrophilic carbonyl carbon of the lactone and open the ring through a nucleophilic acyl substitution. Has there ever been the case where the nucleophiles open the lactone ring by attacking the carbon adjacent to the oxygen (not the carbonyl oxygen) via a SN2 reaction instead? Is there a preferred pathway for certain nucleophiles to take and why so?
Answer: Yes, it is possible. If you consider the chemistry of a four-membered lactone (a β-lactone), it is able to act as an alkylating agent, as nucleophiles can attack the C–O bond in an SN2 fashion.
One example is in the synthesis of a series of β-substituted amino acids (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985, 107 (24), 7105–7109). An intramolecular Mitsunobu reaction of Cbz-protected serine 1 forms the β-lactone 2 which is then opened by a variety of nucleophiles. Here, benzylthiolate is used as an example, giving N-Cbz-S-benzylcysteine 3 as the product:

The authors note that:

Only relatively "hard" nucleophiles like ammonia and methoxide attack the carbonyl to give acyl-oxygen cleavage. In earlier reports serine β-lactones were used mainly for synthesis of seryl peptides by attack of amines at the carbonyl. However, with ammonia as the nucleophile, simply altering the solvent [from MeCN to THF] inverts the 3:1 amide/amine ratio.

The following article has a wide selection of more examples (see references 6–8): J. Org. Chem. 2002, 67 (14), 4680–4683.
Answer: The reactivity you describe also occurs in α-lactones. The most common example is the diazotization of amino acids, followed by nucleophilic ring opening (e.g. Org. Synth. 1988, 66, 151):

The reaction proceeds with overall retention of configuration, via an initial SN2 displacement of N2 by the carboxylic acid, followed by a second SN2 ring-opening at the α-carbon by the nucleophile (here chloride).
See also Organic Chemistry (2nd Ed), Clayden et al., p 875.


Photoshop: how to reduce the size of a PNG for web use

Question: I have a PNG file that is 2042 x 1250 and is 6.1 MB. When I open with Photoshop and do "Save As > PNG 24" and choose the compressed file size of the two options (the other being no compression) I still get an image that is on the order of a few MB, which, since it is going to be a web asset, I would like to be in the KB and not the MB's. How do I go about intelligently compressing this image to a ballpark range of a few thousand KB?
Comment: Use file -> save for web instead and choose png 24 from the list of file formats (JPG is usually default).
Comment: What makes you think a file can be compressed as much as you want? You may want to switch to JPEG and tinker with the Lower Quality settings.
Answer: The geeky details (you did not ask for)
Some image formats, such as JPG, support Lossy Compression. When a Lossy Compressed image is saved and then rendered back, the image is not 100% exactly as you designed it but just "close" to it, sort of a sketch. Some of the original detail is lost. Since there is no expectation of accuracy, the Lossy Compressed images have the luxury of storing little information about the original design, resulting in small files. They even allow you to specify how accurate the result should be: the less accurate the result needs to be, the smaller the file is.
On the other hand the PNG format, by design, supports Lossless Compression. This means that after the image is saved in a file, when it is rendered back all the pixels are rendered exactly as you designed them without losing any detail. This is great, but unfortunately it means that it has to store a lot of information to render the image perfectly, resulting on big files.
The PNG does its intelligent thing to optimize the information it needs before saving it into a file but you cannot specify, like you do with JPGs, how compressed or accurate you want the file to be. The result is as is and you have no control on how big the file will be.
Some suggestions
Having said that, there are a few things you could do to try to get a smaller file.

Big areas of flat colours compress better than complex patterned areas. See if you can simplify your image.
Do you have a lot of negative space around the image? Try to trim it down to a minimum.
Are you using transparency? If not, consider saving the image as a JPG instead.
If you can't save it as a JPG for any reason, but aren't using transparency, then untick "transparency" from the saving options. This will shave a bit of bites from your final result.
Consider cutting the image in parts and composing it in the final HTML, like some sort of puzzle. You could save the parts that require transparency as PNGs and the other parts as highly compressed JPGs. The total result should be less heavy.
Use a PNG compressing tool (e.g. https://tinypng.com/). Mind you, these tools use a lossy algorithm. They try to simplify your image in order to be able to save it as a smaller file. They do reduce the size of your file dramatically but the end result might loose too much detail. You can always try them and judge the result depending on the application.

If you share your image, I can give you some suggestions.
Comment: TinyPNG converts to 8-bit PNG which looks like a GIF.
Comment: @Heanz. True. It converts to 8-bit. But It is not a GIF, though. It supports alpha transparency. In my experience, I have never noticed the difference between the full blown PNG and the one they produce.
Comment: @cokcypup For logos that my be true, but for a human face, no way.
Comment: @Heanz  i have never used for human faces but I use it regularly for cosmetic packaging photos. I can't tell the difference in those. Still, my comment about alpha is correct. The GIF format does not support alpha transparency.
Answer: Try adding a Posterize adjustment layer to the image and reduce the number of colors. I find you can still retain high quality and reduce the file size through this method.
Comment: Works like a charm!
Answer: A 6.1MB PNG is far from the KBs range, so Cokypup's suggestions would would best.
For other PNGs you may create, the best way to save them out for web use to be save in Photoshop with "Save for Web" rather than "Save As". Photoshop's "Save for Web" does some optimization that'll dramatically reduce file size.
Then I would follow that up using a compression tool for PNGs such as Tiny PNG
Tiny PNG uses a lossy compression like you would when saving out a JPG. It dramatically reduces the file size, and as you can see through the example on the site, the lossy compression it performs is barely noticeable.
Comment: _Barely noticeable_ depends heavily on the image you are feeding through the algorithm I've found, use with caution and never overwrite your original file.
Comment: Its converting to 8-bit and that looks like a GIF on colorful pics.
Answer: probably goes without saying, but many people forget to set their resolution at 72 pixels/inch for web assets.
Image>Image size>set resolution to 72 ppi.
Comment: that has no effect on images used for web, only the size in px


How much cooler space is required for transporting an elk?

Question: In going on an elk hunt, how much space do I need to store the quarters and meat for transportation home?  Obviously this depends on the size of the animal but how much cooler space should I plan on?
Comment: even when restricting to north american elks, there are several subspecies, and with the difference between males and females it means you can be looking at a range of 1-4x the weight, so that's a bit broad, isn't it?
Answer: Your going to want to debone it to pack it most efficiently into the coolers, otherwise the quarters are going to be too big and awkward to fit into the coolers and they are really heavy.
Once deboned, place 20-25 lbs of meat into double bagged garbage bags for easier handling.
From experience, something like a single 150 to 200 quart cooler will be enough, but you won't be able to lift the cooler. If you got two coolers it would probably take two full size adults to lift them. You could also put the bags in and take them out one at a time for easier handling.
Answer: Per this video, it is recommended to have about 170 qts (160.88 litres) of cooler space for one elk.
How Many Coolers to Get Your Elk Home, Randy Newberg explains?
You can also use a medium sized freezer in your trailer instead of buying coolers.  A cow elk filled up just about half of a 10 cu ft (0.28m cubed) freezer and kept things cool just fine.  This also allows you to hook up a generator to it in case you have issues with getting ice.


When to sharpen crampons?

Question: When do I know that I need to sharpen my crampons?
In documentaries, I have seen people filing their crampons.
Comment: @BenCrowell On second thought, I retracted my close vote since the other question seems more about the *how*, not about the *when*. (And the answers go in the same general direction.)
Comment: Possible duplicate of [How to take care of steel crampons?](http://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/5276/how-to-take-care-of-steel-crampons)
Comment: This question should focus on one point, either "When to sharpen" or "How to sharpen". Probably the first one, as the second is well covered in the linked question.
Comment: I don't claim this is "the" right answer, but I sharpen mine at the end of every season, and for me I think that's plenty. It may depend on what kind of climbing you do and how much. If you climb in mixed conditions and spend a lot of time walking or climbing on rock in your crampons, they'll get dull faster. If for any reason you have to jump down onto a rock surface while wearing crampons, that is very damaging to them, and may even break a tooth.
Comment: Oh, my bad, I should have taken a look at the question before posting. I've edited (removed) the part about "How to..", so lets just stick to "When" part of it. Thanks guys!
Answer: I usually sharp my crampons when I am expecting icy conditions, that means glare ice. Especially when you go steep and need front point technique, you need to rely on those points - all your bodys weight. If your front spikes are too coarse, you need much more energy to bring them secure and stable into the ice. Besides that, the ice will splinter and break which is possibly dangerous (especially on thin ice).
This is in general the same for your other ice climbing gear, namely ice axes and ice screws.
If you are just "glacier hiking" and maybe (indeed this is very likely on most alpine tours) also having rock contact with your crampons, I won't sharp them at all. The more frequently you sharp the gear, the faster you need to replace the front points/spikes.
And yes, filing is the common way to sharp your gear, there are instructions online, like e.g. here or with video here
Comment: @mattnz Like I wrote I think it's mainly about front points. And it's only important to have sharp points in steep, icy terrain. You should know beforehand if you go steep, so you know when to sharpen your crampons.
Comment: As long as you don't over sharpen, I disagree with the point about not sharpening because you are worried about wearing them out. I would rather buy new crampons than find myself unexpectedly on hard ice with blunt points. I would especially hate it if my headstone read "....If only he had sharpened his pointy bits...."
Answer: According to Will Gadd, you should sharpen your crampons and ice tools after every use.
If you spend just a minute or two after each trip–sometimes you won't even need a minute, just give them a look over and a couple passes with the file to take off a couple burrs–then you're never going to have to worry about dull points. Regular maintenance also ensures that your gear wears evenly, if you wait too long between sharpening, then you're going to be dealing with really dull points and spend a lot of time trying to fix them back up.
It's better to give them a couple strokes with a file after each use when you're putting them away, rather than spend an hour trying to restore them. You'll spend less time sharpening in the long run.
Comment: Strongly agree -  no self-respecting chef would ever let their knives go blunt - why would an ice-climber compromise the safety of their most important tools? A quick touch up is easy - restoring very blunt tools takes much more skill and patience.
Comment: @Tullochgorum this of course is true if you are a professional ice climber (I am cooking but I am not a chef too). But then you also have no issues to replace your gear very regularly. If you plan to go ice climbing (aka going steep with the need to use front points) then I second the opinion and I also file regularly then.

When to sharpen crampons?


Can Mac App Store Apps be "sideloaded"?

Question: The issue I am facing is bandwidth is very expensive where I live, I pay by the MB so if I need to install Final Cut on 10 different computers it would be murder to download it 10 times, is it possible to install on one computer and then move the files over and just pay for it on the other computer without having to get the files again? Or is the installation tied to a computer? Thank you.
Answer: You can copy/paste the application from one Mac to another, they will run as they are self-contained (no files required in other locations).
You may not even need to login to the App Store to run them. I had to install Xcode and Final Cut Pro on a very restricted network environment where the App Store is blocked, the apps ran fine.
Licensing is an issue if you use the apps in a non-personal environment (businness, education). Download and install work the same way.
Answer: Technically, side loading is fine. Most applications require you to be signed in to the store to run the app, but you certainly don't need to download 10 copies of the same app if you are using the same account.
License wise, this is fine for personal use since one copy of an App is licensed for use on all of your personal-use computers. You would want to get an OK from Apple for commercial use as you are expected to have one license per computer or person.
Answer: I think the technicalities lie in how the developer chooses to package their apps.  Each download has a signature/receipt file as part of teh download bundle.  This should be tied to your Apple ID as part of the purchasing process, so as long as the other computers have access to this ID then copying will work fine.  It is possible if I recall correctly to have a receipt file that doesn't require even this level of authentication, and some apps once downloaded can be freely distributed regardless of where is came from - I think most devs have sorted this one out to be honest, but you sound like you are good to go with a legit download and access to the same ID.
Answer: You can:

enable the Debug menu of the App Store
Show Download Folder…
download, and perform a carefully timed copy of the download (timed to occur before the download is purged from that area).

Volatile items in this area may include things that are installers (not the installed results of an installer).
Related, and not limited to Lion: Does the Lion App Store have a debug menu?

Another volatile area:
/Library/Updates
I'll test to figure out the relationship between the two areas. Maybe:

all App Store downloads go first to the downloads folder
then downloads that will be used for updates are moved temporarily to /Library/Updates
Comment: Could you elaborate what gets stored in the "Download folder" - How is that different than what gets shoved into /Applications at the end of the download and verification?

Can Mac App Store Apps be "sideloaded"?


Should I put a collar on my indoor cat?

Question: I have a very strictly indoor cat, that has tried to dart outside a couple of times and sometimes succeeded, only making it to the edge of our patio before we caught him. My absolute worst nightmare is him getting lost. We have him microchipped and stamped. Should we have an ID tag on a collar for him too? If so, how can I get him warmed up to the idea of having a collar? He has been neutered.
Comment: Just my opinion, but I would put a collar on any of my pets... cat or dog.  What if someone finds your lost cat and decides to adopt it and never takes it to the vet.  Better safe than sorry!
Answer: You have a microchip, so presumably you live in a part of the world were it is reasonable to expect a lost cat will be scanned, by either the local vet or rescue.  Only you can decide if a collar is appropriate for your cat.
Putting a collar on a cat has risks. see Collar Hazards & Cat Collar Injury (a couple random picks from google there are lots more)
Cats are territorial and not likely to run off and get lost ref, Dogs on the other hand do get lost and a collar can help them find a ride home.
Personally I think, the risks of adding a collar to cat who is always indoors and micro chipped are greater then the risk of the cat getting lost and not finding a ride home.
You don't say if your cat has been altered.  If he is not neutered, I would get that done which should decrease the desire to go out.  If spay/neuter alone does not alter the behavior I would look for other ways to modify the desire.  An indoor house pet (of any species) who suddenly finds themselves outside alone, is going to have significantly more dangers then just finding their way home.
Comment: Old-style collars are a definite no-no, but the modern "safety" collars that come apart when pulled on too hard are fine.  I use the two-finger rule (being able to easily slip 2 fingers under the collars) as the sizing guide.
Comment: My experience with the safety collars is that they get lost easily. I have two indoor-outdoor cats and tried to put collars with name tags on both of them. They usually only lasted a few days before the cats would get them off and manage to lose them. I eventually gave up on collars.
Comment: Seconded, I have 3 identical black cats, and I have lost track of how many safety collars they have lost around my village in the past year... They are currently collarless after losing their last set within 24 hours of me buying them :/ It can get expensive, but I would still recommend the safety collars because at the very least it does the job of preventing them from getting stuck somewhere.
Answer: Yes, you should put an orange collar on your strictly-indoor cat to mark him as an escaped convict. Check out The Kitty Convict Project
While having your kitty micro chipped is awesome, many lost kitties never get reported or brought in to the shelter to be scanned as outdoor cats are so common.
While this project is still catching on, the orange collar will help indicate that your kitty isn't supposed to be outside. You can even add small tags or embroidery on the collar so your neighbors can return her without having to go get his chip scanned.
If you do decide to get her a collar, please ensure it's a breakaway safety collar.
Comment: Getting people to just start doing it is a start :)
Comment: Sorry keshlam, but if we don't let people know about it, then it won't catch on. Once we start doing it, other people will be like "why do so many cats have orange collars?" Then maybe the SPCA will catch on! I have also seen this featured in Catster (formerly Cat Fancy) which is a popular cat magazine. So it is catching on more than you think it is.
Comment: If you're getting a colar anyway, it might as well be orange. Also I report as at least one person who learned about it here and is getting an orange one now
Comment: Interesting concept, but the number of cat owners who know about it is vanishingly small and the number of non-cat-people is negligible. Nothing wrong with trying it, nothing wrong with publicising, but I don't expect it to do any good until you sell the SPCA organizations on the idea so there can be a real national campaign.
Answer: We have tried putting harnesses on our cats, then immediately taking them outside on a lead.
That way they are excited about getting to see what's out there and not really paying any attention to lead/harness.
After a couple of minutes, we bring them back in and take their leads off, leaving them with their harnesses on for extended periods of time so that they can get used to them
Comment: Sounds good. It also builds the lesson "no outside without harness", which is a good idea. My previous cat understood that rule about collars. (Current set are well-behaved indoor cats; I haven't tested but they _might_ be trustable with an open door.)
Comment: This is great, but doesn't really answer my question. I want to know if I should put the collar on in the first place, what benefits does this have?
Answer: I'd try initially applying the collar during an extended petting session, while the cat is effectively sedated... Just tried an around-the-neck grip on both of mine, who are curled up on me, and I think I could get away with it as long as I continued the massage thereafter. Not sure how they would react upon waking, though further distracting with a treat might distract them long enough to get past the initial surprise.
Then again, I've always deliberately gotten cats used to having paws handled and similar indignities precisely so they'll trust me on other things.
Answer: Personal opinion really is the answer to this question, but you have done the responsible thing and had the cat microchipped, which would be the first thing a vet or rescue centre would check. I have worked in a rescue centre for a number of years, and have seen some horrific injuries sustained to cats because of collars, ranging from dislocated forelimbs, split open armpits, jaw injuries and fatalities. I personally do not agree with using them, as these risks, though small, can have severe consequences for the cat in an accident, yet a microchip will always be looked for if the cat is found as lost.
I always advise people if they choose to put a collar on their cat to go for a loose 'quick release' buckled collar, so if any kind of accident occurs, the collar will simply snap off if the cat struggles, keeping it safe.
Comment: Wow, I did not know that collars could do that to a cat.
Comment: It's obviously a very rare event, but can be pretty nasty.

Should I put a collar on my indoor cat?


How to get sock marks off legs quickly

Question: I have to wear boots with socks all day for work and then when I want to go out at night and wear a skirt with bare legs, I have lines from my socks around my ankles.  Has anyone found a way of making them fade faster?
Comment:  Reminder: If you have an answer to this question, please post it below. Comments do not have the feature to properly vet and vote on your information. Answers saying "I don't know, but maybe..." only make that situation worse, so answers are not allowed in comments. Thanks.
Answer: No hacky answer here I'm afraid - I know from experience (having the same trouble) that there isn't a way of removing those marks other than waiting for the body to do it naturally - depending how old you are, that can take a couple or three hours or overnight. What you could do, though, is buy different socks with a longer, slouchy top to allow for expansion, so when your legs swell as the day goes on, no marks from tight socks are showing. Alternatively, wear light or medium support tights beneath the trousers and put the socks on over the top on days when you know you'll be wanting to wear a dress or skirt later. Check, though, that the socks you're wearing aren't simply really tight at the top anyway - some are tighter than others.
I did resort to cutting through the top band with a pair of scissors on tighter pairs, angling the cut towards the foot of the sock - but the sock then tends to disappear downwards, bunching up under your foot as the day goes on if you're wearing boots, not always, but often.
Comment: Your loose socks idea reminded me of the "sock suspenders" that Sean Connery wore in one of the James Bond movies. I couldn't find a picture of that, but here's a picture of sock suspenders: http://cdn.styleforum.net/8/8e/350x700px-LL-8e3f3ee9_Stayups2012-05-10006.jpeg
Comment: How very unattracive they are! And they'd leave marks too, just higher up, under the knee...
Comment: They're called garters. Garter belt for women's gear.
Comment: @Stan - not in the UK they're not, garter refers to a quite different bit of kit, sometimes worn by women for entertainment purposes....originally intended to hold up stockings but these days worn singly, essentially a highly decorative covered stretch of elastic...
Comment: @Stan - and suspender belt (or if you're from the North, sussie belt) not garter belt, not that it matters, just as a point of interest. More important you don't describe sock suspenders as garters, you'd get some very funny looks in the UK!
Comment: Well THAT explains it. : ) @Bamboo thanks, I enjoy your posts and find them informative and beneficial.
Answer: I've not actually tested this, but I was told by a relative that you can make these sock marks disappear quicker by rubbing moisturiser on it - the same apparently works for when you get a pillow crease on your face when you wake up in the morning (although this is again untested by me - I have enough permanent creases that one temporary one doesn't matter...!)
Answer: Have a hot bath and rub the area with your hands/sponge. The heat and friction will get circulation going and the imprints will be less.
Answer: Try socks made for diabetic patients.
I got a pair and I love them because they are comfortable, have no rubber elastic or other constricting stretchy stuff in them. I found them at local drug stores, in the pharmacy section of super markets, and super store chains. They must be available online, too. They are inexpensive enough to try a pair.
They come in different colours and kinds from thick sports socks, socklets, and men's dress calf-length. None need garters to stay up.
They won't leave marks as the normal ones do. I think you'll be satisfied.
Ideally, you could get socks that were sized for your feet and your calf size separately. Unfortunately mass produced sock size templates do not accommodate all the different variations of human bodies.

How to get sock marks off legs quickly


Bulletproof Coffee: how to blend butter well

Question: When making Bulletproof Coffee, is there a good way to blend the butter or coconut oil well to prevent the oil floating?
Comment: It might actually help to use a non-dairy creamer, just for the emulsifiers.
Answer: I have been drinking Bulletproof coffee since 2012 now, so made a few of them. Originally I made a BIG mistake of just stirring butter in the coffee with coconut oil or MCT Oil. You can see how horrible the oil slick looked with an old video I did years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rap-spa3RfI
What I have found is that you basically need a high speed blender. Vitamix or Blendtec are two brand names Dave has suggested. My wife and I use one called Magimix and it revolutionised how the coffee looks and tastes. So speed is the key. I haven't found a difference by adding the butter or oil in a certain order or way into the blender.
Comment: @IvanKapitonov thanks just stumbled across it yesterday and love all the Q&A's I'm seeing :)
Answer: I think there are 2 questions here. The first is why oil and water don't mix. The second is why oil rises, as opposed to sinking or staying in place.
First question. There is an old saying in chemistry that like dissolves like. What this means is that a substance tends to dissolve in another substance if the molecules of the 2 substances have similar electric dipole moments. Think of an electric dipole like you think of a magnet. The magnet has a north and south pole, and south end of one magnet is attracted to the north end of another magnet, and vice versa. The electric dipole has a positively charged end and a negatively charged end. The magnitude of the positive charge can be greater than that of the negative charge, or vice versa. The difference between the magnitudes of the 2 charges and the distance between them determines the moment or strength of the dipole. In general, dipoles with similar strengths dissolve in each other more readily than dipoles with very different strengths. Oil (as in hydrocarbon-based oils) and water have very different dipole moments, so oil and water do not readily dissolve in each other.
The second part of the answer has to do with a force called the buoyancy force. This is the force that causes some objects to float in water. Suppose you want to dissolve 1 cubic cm of oil in water. For this to happen, the oil has to displace 1 cubic cm of water. The buoyancy force on the oil is equal to the weight of that 1 cubic cm of water. Oil is less dense than water, so 1 cubic cm of oil weighs less than 1 cubic cm of water. Therefore, the upward buoyancy force on the oil, which is equal to the weight of water displaced, is greater than the downward force of gravity on the oil, also known as the weight of the oil. This inequality of forces causes the oil to rise in the water. If the oil were denser than the water, the oil's weight (the downward force) would exceed the buoyancy force (the upward force), and the oil would sink in the water.
Answer: The times I have made it, I have used a blender (something similar to a bullet).  You won't ever get it completely mixed in, and it will separate, but you can get a pretty good dispersal to start by using a high powered blender.
Answer: While I haven't fallen in love with BPC, I've played around with it while testing out some of our most recent product releases at the coffee company where I work. It's true that you need a higher speed blend than you can get by simply stirring the coffee.
That said, I've had excellent results with my Kitchenaid stick blender, similar to this one. Depending on the texture you're looking for, you can blend it shorter until the butter seems suspended in the coffee, or longer until it's light and frothy. The two most important things in my experience are very hot coffee (you don't want it congealing before you drink) and good grass-fed butter.
Answer: Saw a YouTube video somewhere that said mix collagen powder into the keto coffee to prevent oil / butter from rising to top.
Comment: Kevin, welcome and thanks for your contribution! Could you expand this a bit? For example, how much collagen should be added to a cup of coffee? Let me also point you to the [tour] and our [help], especially [answer], where you will find more information about how the site works.


State and Average Local Sales Tax Rates 2000-2010

Question: I am looking for historic data on State and Local Sales Tax Rates (not tax revenues, but actual rates) for 2000 to 2010. I thought such data could be easily available, however I only managed to find the following information for 2017:
 https://taxfoundation.org/state-and-local-sales-tax-rates-midyear-2017/.
I need similar data for 2000-2010. Surprisingly, neither IRS nor Census Bureau seem to provide historic sales tax rates.
Answer: This data is actually very challenging to get, as there is no federal regulation requiring the reporting or mandating the collection of state and local sales tax rates.  A company that does business nationwide has only a few choices: have a team that combs through legislation, looking for tax changes; or hire a service that does this.
This data is also challenging to interpret.  Will having this data actually answer your questions?
Part of the problem is that state and local taxes are invented by state and local politicians, and subject to all the weirdness that politicians can devise to benefit their cronies.  In Minnesota, "essentials" are not subject to the state tax.  This means that grocery store food is not taxed, because it's essential; but the same food bought "prepared" is taxed.  (Strangely, toilet paper is taxed, even though everybody I know considers it to be essential.)  For some reason lost to history, clothing is not taxed (meaning the Mall of America doesn't generate sales tax revenue commensurate with its size.)  And that leads into another discussion of what constitutes clothing in Minnesota?  An apron does, but a kitchen towel does not - so what rate do you collect on that kitchen gift collection?  Safety equipment is taxed at a different rate, so the oven mitt can add another dimension to the problem.  In Pennsylvania, the problems are different, but similar:  sporting goods are not taxed, but clothing is.  So how do you classify swimwear?
This means that just claiming that "Minnesota has a tax rate of 6.825%" doesn't mean that the state has an effective tax rate of 6.825% when you consider everything sold.  If you're going to understand the effective tax rate, consider looking at it as a percentage of the amount of tax collected compared to the total of the goods sold at retail.  This might actually be an easier number to derive, as each state should publish their sales tax revenue.
Edit:
Since there is no home for all the data, one option is to search for it by each state/state's localities. This essentially adds 50x the work, but is doable under certain circumstances.
A quick search provided me with California, and Indiana's on the state level. Having a templated email asking for this data (that you don't find online) from state/local makes the mass emailing less tedious.


A property of incidence matrix of a graph

Question: Let $G$ be an oriented graph with incidence matrix $Q$, and let $B:=[b_{ij}]$ be a $k\times k$ sub-matrix of $Q$ which is non-singular. Can there exist two distinct permutations $\sigma$ and $\sigma^\prime$ of $1,\ldots ,k$ for which both the products $b_{1\sigma (1)}\cdots b_{k\sigma (k)}$ and $ b_{1\sigma^\prime (1)}\cdots b_{k\sigma^\prime (k)}$ are non-zero ?
Comment: The answer seems to be almost trivially yes -- clearly $B$ may contain a zero, and if it does, then the two permutations just have to map one index such that this zero is included in the products, and can differ arbitrarily on all other indices. Am I missing something?
Comment: @joriki: Exteremely sorry, I made a typo; I wanted to ask whether the products are non-zero, fixed.
Answer: If a set of columns of the incidence matrix of an oriented graph is linearly independent,
then the corresponding edges form a forest. Suppose we choose $k$ columns,
and then choose $k$ rows from these to form a non-singular matrix $M$.
Claim: there is a column of $M$ with exactly one non-zero entry in it. For
otherwise each column contains a $1$ and a $-1$ and so the sum of the rows of $M$ is zero.
Since $M$ is invertible, this is impossible.
Note that any two permutations with nonzero products must both use this entry of $M$
Note also that if we delete from $M$ a column with exactly one nonzero entry,
and also delete the row that contained it, the resulting $(k-1)\times(k-1)$
matrix is still non-singular. The result follows by induction on $k$.
Answer: MORE EDIT: The edit was wrong, the matrix I wrote down is singular. Nothing worth looking at here.
EDIT: let $Q$ have a submatrix $$\pmatrix{1&0&0&-1\cr-1&1&0&0\cr0&-1&1&0\cr0&0&-1&1\cr}$$ The submatrix is nonsingular, and you can find a permutation that gets all the $1$s, and a different permutation that gets all the $-1$s, and the products will be equal and nonzero.
Please ignore what follows.
Maybe I don't understand the problem, but if $$Q=\pmatrix{0&1&1&0&1\cr0&0&1&1&0\cr0&0&0&1&1\cr0&0&0&0&1\cr0&0&0&0&0\cr}$$ then $$\pmatrix{1&0&1\cr1&1&0\cr0&1&1\cr}$$ is a non-singular $3\times3$ submatrix, and $b_{13}b_{24}b_{35}=b_{15}b_{23}b_{34}=1\ne0$$
Comment: I think the $b$s should be $q$s, or the indices should go from $1$ to $3$.
Comment: I think you are assuming $G$ is undirected but I mentioned $G$ is a directed graph, then each coloumn (which corresponds to edges) must have exactly one $1$, one $-1$ and rest zero
Comment: Sorry, you wrote "incidence matrix", but I hallucinated "adjacency matrix". I'll try again.
Comment: @joriki, you're right.


Practicing guitar for 10 minutes on every 50 minutes work cycle

Question: I was lucky to bring my guitar at work. I work 8 hours a day, work for 50 minutes,
and walk around for 10 minutes break.
Right now, I'm using the 10 minutes break to practice guitar standing. Does this kind of practice work? Practice for 10 minutes then another after 50 minutes of work?
Comment: Lucky you!  I wish I could play my axe at work (for any time period at all).
Comment: Seriously, that's an awesome job that allows you to bring your guitar to practice.
Comment: It is a very good way to practice.
Comment: Where do you work :p
Answer: I think it's a great way to practise. You haven't got time for boredom or tedium to set in. In 10 minutes, as long as the guitar is in tune and you can just get on with it with no interruptions,and you have little tasks to complete in the given time,it's got to work.Longer sessions are hopefully available at some point in the week, but short practices usually work well. I say usually, as not everyone can pick up the guitar and get straight on with playing. It might take 5 mins to shake off what they did last, and another 2 or 3 to focus on the new task. For them it won't work - 2 or 3 mins to practise !  If you have several different mini-tasks it will be better than trying to, for example, learn a whole song in the 80 mins you give yourself. Scales for 10 mins. Chords for 10 mins, make up a new chord sequence for 10 mins, etc. If you are trying to learn a whole song, don't keep going back to the beginning at the next 10 mins. Good luck.
Answer: Congratulations! You got a great job.
Practicing guitar isn't good if you doing that just twice a week or even once a week. It even better if you do that everyday in just 10 minutes. Or you can try something like "gym" do. Something like: Monday is for chords, tuesday is scales, wednesday I'm having fun, thursday is picking.
Perhaps, try to remember what you did with your guitar at the office (maybe scales while opening the net) in your home, and take practicing again at home for several minutes (10 minutes like what you do at the office is good).


How can I avoid getting loud picking sounds on a distorted electric guitar?

Question: Whenever I hear solos from professional guitar players, in songs, for example, I never hear a loud noise of pick hitting the strings, even when the guitar is heavily distorted.  I just learned a solo on my electric (with a tube amp), which requires heavy distortion. I use a hard pick (jazz III) and the sound of picking the string is very apparent. Is there something I can do with my setup to avoid this or at least minimize its prominence? Btw, I use the natural amp distortion with a Gibson Les Paul. Thank you!
Comment: I would say Jimmy Page is a notable exception to the notion that you don't hear pick noise during solos of famous guitarists. As he is one of my idols, I have actually worked to get *more* pick noise into my sound on occasion.
Comment: Contrary to what you have written, many famous guitarists actually make a feature of the pick noise. One of the most famous for this is Brian May, who uses a coin.
Comment: I do a lot of palm-muting when playing with distortion, in order to stop the other strings from ringing out and interfering with the sound. So that is not an issue. However, it seems that the more I focus on the picking noise, the more prominent it becomes. I've tried holding the strings in place (by lightly muting them with my left hand), and focusing on picking with my right; picking angle does not seem to change the picking noise all that much.
Answer: Several issues come into play here. I use Jazz III picks, and I am of the opinion that for fast playing, hard picks should be used. There is a possibility that you are using too much gain, or extreme EQ settings which amplify the unwanted noises. Even so, using used picks will produce more noises, since they get a jagged edge. Most important though, is to minimize the area used when picking. Ideally just the tip of the pick should hit the string. This will reduce the possibility of these sounds, since less of the pick is interfering with the string.
There were special practice picks for the purpose of playing with just the tip of the pick, Stylus I think they were called. Don't know if they, or similar things are available still, but try to be aware of how much of the pick is used for producing the tone at any rate.
Answer: When I first started playing the electric guitar seriously, loud pick noise used to be a big problem for me, to the point of obsession (you tend to hear more when you're annoyed with it).
Then it gradually disappeared. I think it was all about my bad picking technique; I probably used to hold the pick with too large of an angle. Now I have the ability of controlling the pick noise by changing the angle. More noise when I want more noise and less noise when I want less noise.
By the way, I don't agree with scrowler's answer. I find that soft picks actually make more pick noise (which is actually very good for certain types of music). I'm playing right now and my .60 mm Planet Waves definitely makes more noise than my .98 mm Jim Dunlop Delrin 500. For reference, the latter is my favorite for lead work; I love its sharpened edges.
Answer: Hard picks are often the culprit here. You should try using a softer pick. Pick size vs tonal quality doesn't matter as much with distortion as with jazz tone for example, you really can get away with hitting a string quite softly and still getting adequate volume. I think the pro tone you're referencing is a combination of picking softly (not necessarily the pick thickness) and making sure your pick hand palm is controlling the strings from the bridge so as to block any excess output from other strings.
FYI I've played a heavily distorted version of Jesus Christ Superstar with a 3.5mm gypsy jazz pick and you can get away with it as long as you're careful with your pick when you hit the string, but it's much easier to achieve consistent results with a softer pick.
Answer: I used to have this when using hard plastic picks, but I swithced to the Dunlop nylon type (.60-.72 mm).
Even the thicker ones are ok because the material itself isn't hard, so there's less chance of it causing a racket as it hits the string.
As others have stated, skilful picking will get around it. For me, I normally put the pick away when aplying a solo and use my fingers, thus sidestepping the issue entirely.
But if I do use a pick, the Dunlop ones help a lot.
Answer: I had the same problem and discovered my bridge pickup was too close to the low E string so my palm was pressing the low E string against the pick up every time I picked the high e or b strings.
Answer: It's rather simple. Reduce the Volume knob on your guitar which is meant for your pickup to a limit wher you cannot hear sliding sounds. Then recompensate turning your amplifier gain a bit harder
Answer: First I would say try a more rounded pick and see if it helps you achieve the sound you want.  I personally never got used to the pointy edge of a jazz III.
For a thick rounder pick I'd recommend tortex .88  It might help, and if it doesn't you only spend 50 cents!.
Secondly, the absolutely hands down best way to improve the "sound production" aspect of your playing, is play an acoustic.  You hear every sound your hands make and it causes you to naturally refine your technique to something a little more elegant.
Whenever I have a student who's got an ugly right hand thing going on (and by ugly I mean no real nuance, and the pick sort of "catching" the strings rather than plucking them) 90% of the time they're a mainly or exclusively electric player.  If you have the option on playing an acoustic a bit, then I promise it will help.  Just play a few folk tunes or scales that aren't a challenging standard for you  so that you can focus on the quality of the sound you make.  Experiment with different ways of playing and find what works for you
ps.s I firmly disagree with people who say the answer is a softer pick.  This is just my opinion, but I think you should learn to use a hard pick even if you then choose not to.  You are so much more versatile, a thin pick is a short cut to an easier playing style, but you lose depth.
Comment: Electric players can get some of the same effect by practicing with good headphones. Lots of subtle noises become obvious in the headphones.
Answer: One method I have found that works quite well when at high gain is to turn the tone knob down some on your guitar, and then compensate by turning the highs up on your amp or EQ.
 Most of the pick scratching and snapping sounds are high frequency, so it lessens them quite a bit by not letting them get to the signal chain in the first place, instead of trying to compensate for them afterwards.  It's always good to remember to start with your guitar, because too often we don't use the knobs to our advantage.
All that being said, there is no substitute for proper picking technique, and they key to reducing pick noise in that regard is simply getting into the string only as much as you need to sound the note, and avoid picking at an angle if you want to reduce pick noise in a certain situation.  Pick parallel to the string.
I don't find that pick type matters nearly as much as these things.  Older picks will often make more noise, however.  Just choose a pick that you can control best in doing what you're wanting to do.  I use heavy picks, and most people do prefer heavier picks as their technique and control improves.
Answer: I have the same problem, with both LPs and Strats. I like the feel of Fender extra heavy small (jazz) picks, but the problem is horrible with the extra heavys.  For me it's bad when playing loud, whether I'm using distortion or not.  A compression box seems to help, but I also think practicing at high volume is helping me modify my string attack to reduce that loud "click" (for lack of a better term}.  Jimmy Page likes Herco nylon picks, which are about the same as Dunlop nylons.  I have a few full size of both Herco and Dunlop in various thicknesses, so I'm trying those now.  But you have to give a pick a good long trial... at least I do.  It takes me a while to get used to a different pick.  With the nylons (Herco or Dunlop), there's a ridge around the edge that bugs me; I take it off with 320 grit wet or dry sandpaper.  It only takes a few strokes.  Finally, turning down the treble at the amp seems to help, but there's the problem of muddy stage sound when you roll the highs off too much - not good in a solo!!  I read this thread with great interest and would be interested in more suggestions!
Answer: I play classical as well, so I shape and sand my fingernails to a glass like finish with 12000 grit sand paper, and they sound really nice, now I have the above mentioned problem and I polish my picks the same way I do my nails and it helps allot. I agree with not using very much pick at all and working on the angle you attack the string. I used to use very little pick but in the last 10 years I have had long right hand fingernails and cannot play as close to the string as I want, would chew up my nails in an hour, so forced to focus on other areas to help with noise, all the above mentioned plays a factor, some more than others. Try and change little by little too get what's causing your issue
Answer: few things you can try here, a noise supressor pedal can help eliminate the pick noise but too much can cause you to lose sustain. also see if you can lower your pickups a little and use more volume and eq from your amp to get the tone you need and may lose. most of the time you don't lose enough to notice unless you bottom out the pickups. a pickup too close will pick up all the noise from your strings and pick. And. I Play lead so i use 88mm and larger picks. i sharpen the pick to a point so that i have to keep my fingers closer to the end and i get a crisper tone from my strings.
(it also keeps you on your toes when tremelo picking (shredding)).
25 years onstage playing rock and blues
Answer: One of the things I found was that I didn't have the problem until I changed brand and quality of my strings. Literally, it showed that I had been play sloppily and was not using my gain and eq stages properly. It is all about relearning.


Low water pressure at toilets after main supply valve replacement

Question: Just replaced my main water valve that feeds the house. It's copper line and I used shark bite fittings. Kitchen sink, master shower and both toilets have very low pressure now. All other faucets are fine. Tried clearing the braided lines in kitchen sink. Got some sediment out but still nothing. What else can I do?
Comment: Debris/sediment. Flush everything and exercise all valves. Be prepared to shut off water supply to address additional leaks at old valves and fixtures.
Answer: Some toilet valves can be taken apart to flush the sediment out. Turn off the valve that supplies the toilet and flush it. This will allow the fill valve to depressurize. I have been able to clean two types. Both had some arrows / instructions, one you pushed down and rotated the top of the fill valve and it pulled straight up then slight turn the water on--this clears the stuff in the line (I found putting a glass on top allowed me to turn the water up and really clear the line).
The second type I have only had ~75% luck with they have 2 plastic clips that you slip a small screwdriver under and lift the cap same as above for flushing, but use caution the plastic breaks very easily and a valve replacement is needed. As for the other valve / tub, if it has a shower head or arrestor they need to be cleaned also. If it has washerless valves you may need to disassemble the valve flush and reassemble.
Answer: I'd blame the SharkBite, since that's all that changed. They reduce the pipe diameter dramatically. This doesn't affect pressure but could very well be affecting volume or replenishment of evacuating water. This would appear to be a drop in pressure for longer runs & higher outlets. Replace the SharkBite Ball Valve with a Compression Fit Ball Valve to see if that remedies the situation, it should.
Comment: The Sharkbite may be all that *intentionally* changed, but taking apart and reassembling plumbing causes all kinds of troubles by sediment and debris even when *nothing has been changed*.
Comment: Yep, you, J. Stan, Jimmy & Ed are quite correct on the simple debris stuff, but only the first singular fixture used would get the drop problem. However, no-one addressed how "everything at once" would suddenly have a drop. Only If, the Main & its supply-line were 3/4" & everything afterward was 1/2" would the Asker have no difference with the SharkBites. Just my experience & what I saw no-one else addressed from lack of knowledge. SharkBites are horrible creatures if they aren't used at just the fixture ends where the volume will be rightly reduced by the fixture or its supply lines anyhow.


Is this notice to update to Geth 1.6.6 via windows.net legitimate?

Question: A few days ago when opening Ethereum Wallet version 0.8.9 I received popup windows notifying me to update the Wallet to 0.8.10 and Geth to 1.6.6. Here is a screenshot of the latter:

This notice directs me to windows.net, but it appears github is the official repository and that the latest version is 1.6.7, not 1.6.6. Additionally, I am no longer receiving this notice, Ethereum Wallet > 'Check for Ethereum node updates...' has no effect, and Ethereum Wallet > 'Check for updates...' opens a window (after a brief waiting-animation) reporting, "No update found. You are running the latest version of Ethereum Wallet." However, I'm still using 0.8.9 according to Ethereum Wallet > 'About Ethereum Wallet'.
Is it simply not showing updates at the moment due to limitations (or blocked ports?) of the public business's hotspot that I am now checking at? (The notice appeared using a different non-public Internet connection.) Is windows.net an official download mirror for the Ethereum community?
Comment: Can't say why Ethereum-wallet is not showing updates. You can download the latest (currenty 0.8.10) from https://github.com/ethereum/mist/releases
Answer: The reminder and link is legitimate, if you go to https://ethereum.github.io/go-ethereum/downloads/# and check the download link, it refers to ...core.windows.net
Ethereum Wallet doesn't update to the latest geth version automatically as soon as it's available, so the recommendation might be a version off.


What was the first "revenge" movie?

Question: Payback. John Wick. High Plains Drifter.  These are a few movies which we could consider to be "revenge" movies, where the driving action behind the protagonist is to get revenge on the parties that wronged them.  What is the first movie, written as a movie, that could be considered a "revenge" movie?  I emphasize written as a movie due to that the first "revenge" movie could very well be The Count of Monte Cristo from 1908, but that was based on the book.
Answer: Red Heroine from 1929 would be an early example from Chinese cinema.
The film was based on popular Wuxia tropes, but as far as I know, not any specific, prior work.

What was the first "revenge" movie?


SharePoint 2007: what happens to hyperlinks when moving a subsite?

Question: If moving a site in SharePoint 2007 (using the Manage Content and Structure function) to a new location, do the internal links get corrupted?
I know that some links do tend to get broken in these kinds of moves, but if the links are only to files and folders within the site that is moved, what happens?
Do the links somehow understand the new location automatically - is it even relevant what the site collection is when the links are only inside the sub site in question?
Answer: Depends on the links and how they were originally generated.  SharePoint managed links, and relative links will work fine.  Hard coded links will break.


Which esxi server is a VM on?

Question: Is there a way to find which ESXi server a particular VM on? For instance, I am on rhel5.4 vm, with vmware-guestd daemon running. But I want to find the hostname of ESXi server on which this Vm exists?
Comment: @Chopper3 Can you point me to some of those? And what search terms/methods you used to find them? I've searched for similar questions and haven't been able to find anything. Thanks.
Comment: did you search for this answer here? it gets asked once a week
Comment: are you asking how to do it within the guest OS? It'd be easier to query all the ESX hosts looking for the VM...
Answer: I agree with Charles that there isn't any easy way to do this. If you are willing to change the configuration file of the VM in question on the host, you can write the hostname to it and then access it via a call from the vmware-tools (examples taken from http://communities.vmware.com/message/1479849#1479849). For example:
On the host:
vmware-cmd  /vmfs/volumes/4aa95d52-c297af51-90e2-003048d9586a/William-XP/William-XP.vmx setguestinfo machine.id $(hostname)

If you aren't sure what the location of the VM is, you can find it with
vmware-cmd -l

*Note: If you are using ESXi, then you will need to install the VCLI in a linux host somewhere instead of running vmware-cmd directly on the host.
On the guest (this cmd is for a linux guest):
vmware-guestd --cmd "info-get guestinfo.machine.id"

I know. It sucks that you can't just do something like `vmware-guestd --cmd "info-get host"', but maybe someday.
Answer: To answer your question, with ESX/ESXi there is no way to do this that I know of. I have seen other people do it via scripts, but all those scripts really do is call the VCenter and query for the host that said server name is running on. My question would be how you are setup, because if you are not running DRS/HA then you could just run BGInfo and add the host name as a line in your BGInfo config file. Assuming you are running DRS/HA this of course is not useful however.

Which esxi server is a VM on?


user cannot edit the page

Question: I have given the marketing role the 'create new', 'edit own' and 'delete own' permission for the Article content type however when I log in with that account the 'edit' button doesn't appear on the article page so that user cannot modify the page]1
Comment: In the screenshot you have edit own content checked, but edit any content is not. So is the marketing user the creator of the article?
Comment: I have unchecked 'edit any' because if another member of staff (also from the marketing role) logs in they can delete content that their colleagues posted! (content that isn't their own!) Is what I have done correct?
Comment: @testin1 that is correct, but what I am really asking is, did you make sure that the marketing user authored the article? check the author info for that article. If they are not the author, then they cannot edit.
Answer: Use this code may be it helpful
<code>if ($query == $user->uid && arg(0) == 'node' && is_numeric(arg(1)) && arg(2)== 'edit' ){

$query_path= db_query("select n.nid from {node} n
where n.nid =$nid")->FetchField();
 drupal_goto('node/'.$query_path);
}
</code>
place uid with your role id
Answer: While the query you posted is vague, you can follow few below checks to debug more on this issue:-
a.) Check if the logged in user has the role(Marketing) which you allowed to edit the content.
b.) Check if the node you want to edit actually belongs to that specific user.
c.) Try to access the url /node/[content-node-id]/edit manually and see if you are able to access the page. If so is the case then Check if your theme is supressing the tabs by any chance. Try by changing the theme to a different one and look for tabs.
Hope this helps :)

user cannot edit the page


Are teabags okay in a compost bin?

Question: I'm considering putting teabags into my compost bin but I'm not sure about the bag itself breaking down. Do I need to tear open each bag and only put the tea leaves in the bin or are the whole intact bags okay to throw in there?
Comment: it will be fine, I pull the staples out of mine, more for the worms sake than them not breaking down.
Answer: We throw them in whole. I've yet to see a tea bag survive the composting process intact. They're a worm attractant like coffee grounds and kitchen waste.
The bacteria and fungi in an established composting operation will attack just about anything. I had a piece of ground cloth get into the heap about three years ago. It keeps reappearing in the sieved material I toss back. I think it's got one more year before it's totally reduced, this year it was falling apart like it actually had rotted. Tea bags don't even begin to have the rot resistance that stuff has.
Answer: Totally OK to toss in whole tea bags as long as they are the traditional paper ones.  There are some bags that are made of synthetic material (nylon, perhaps) and those would be something I'd avoid throwing in mine.
The strings and staples are fine.  The string will break down quickly.  Over time the staples will rust, though it'll take some time but they are small so no worries.
I toss coffee grounds and their filters in too - it all breaks down.

Are teabags okay in a compost bin?