Fan Fiction: a crutch or a good start?

Question: Writing is writing, but I am not confident enough to take on creating a whole world from scratch.  Will writing fanfic or writing in other shared world spaces be beneficial, or will it simply allow me to get into some bad habits?
Comment: A *related* question would be: Does getting your start writing fan fiction cast a pall on one's reputation as a writer?
Comment: I actually don't write in other people's universes because I don't feel up to the research task of keeping things canonical! At least if you are the one making it up as you go along you only have to watch out you don't paint *yourself* into a corner.
Comment: Retagged per meta discussion: http://meta.writers.stackexchange.com/questions/8/is-a-tips-tag-worthwhile/9#9
Comment: Worldbuilding is the fun part! Why let somebody else do it (unless you're getting paid to fill in the blanks)?
Answer: As long as you approach it with good writing practices and treat it as you would your own real writing project, it can help you practice the art of putting words on paper.
What it will not prepare you for, however, is world-building, which is the other half of the battle when you write, and is just as important as your ability to write.  You can be a brilliant wordsmith, but without a story to tell and a world to tell it in, your talent is wasted.  At the same time, you can have the most compelling story ever conceived, but if you don't know how to put it in words, there's not much you can do with it.
In short, writing fan fiction only partially prepares you for the "real deal".
Comment: I'd probably say "original" instead of "real", but, yeah.
Comment: It's like writing practice, but the effort might be better spent writing an original story. I won't knock Fanfiction, I think it's awesome and there are a number of amazing stories told in other peoples worlds but I agree with the idea it's not quite the full experience.
Answer: In general, I feel that fanfic is a crutch that keeps a lot of people from honing their craft and moving on to original fiction.  After years of NaNoWriMo and some side work with an editor, I've only seen one person start with fanfic and graduate to doing their own, thoroughly original work.
It's like they're just too scared to ever leave their comfort zone, and why wouldn't they be?  The fanfic community tends to do its own thing, not overlapping much with other types of writing, so it's easy to feel like a big fish in a small pond -- to go from there to being a guppy in the ocean of original fiction is probably a jarring experience to say the least.  Plus, if you are writing fanfic, we all know you aren't writing for publication, so it's not like not getting published would be a failure you might have to cope with.  By not trying, you feel like you can't fail.
Now, I said "in general" at the beginning, and I meant it.  Here's the exception:
Once something has found its way into the popular consciousness, and simmered there awhile, it can be the basis for a new work that, if not original fiction per se, is at least legitimate and useful fanfic.  Some examples that come to mind are the Disney retelling of classic fairy tales, Wicked (a retake on the Oz world), and Treasure Planet (not sure if this is Disney or not, but it's a resetting of Treasure Island in the future, in space, with a cyborg).
The difference here is that instead of creating fanfic of Harry Potter, Twilight, or some other thing fresh off the presses (which in addition to the issues above does not make you look like you are serious about your craft) -- the authors took something that has had a generation or two (or more) to sink in, and instead of trying to ride the coattails of other storytellers, the authors have used the archetypal status of the characters as a tool for their own craft, playing on our preconceptions.  Or, the work has been made more accessible to a new audience:

Adults who have read the original Alice in Wonderland see the Disney cartoon in a different light than children seeing the cartoon for the first time.
I'm not sure Wicked even makes as much sense if one is not at least conversant in the original Wizard of Oz.
Treasure Planet was mostly an update, both for new cultural norms in how we tell stories to children (not that my son doesn't get to hear the originals, but I know we aren't the norm) and because I'm not sure a kid born in the age of GPS units, Coast Guard cutters, satellite beacons, etc. is likely to find the same danger factor in Treasure Island that someone born in the book's time would have.
"Well, thanks for stranding me on this deserted island, but I have a SPOT with me, so I'll just turn on the emergency beacon and tweet to all my friends about what a traitor you are.  The Coast Guard will be here to get us before I run out of Snickers bars."  -- Yes, I can tell my little one that there were no Coast Guard, satellites, GPS, or Snickers back then, but he won't really grok it until he's older.
Comment: I would add that there is a blurry line between fanfic and "canonical fiction". For instance there are several Sci-Fi lines "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" come to mind where almost every book is by a different author. They are not fanfic, simple because they are getting paid to do it, but at the same time they are not creating an original world.
Comment: Kudos for sharing the originals with your son. We also talk about the context of stories, originals -vs- adaptations (especially Disneyfied), and such with our son.  It might not be the norm, but I also believe it to be a good practice.
Comment: I've seen many people go from writing fanfic to original fic. A lot of people use Fanfic to hone their actual writing before moving on to learning how to world build and character build. But it's like anything - there are those who are good and those who suck.
Answer: The problem with fan fiction is that it will always be tied down to the source material, and can't really become more than what it is. They're a sidetrack rather than a stepping stone.
Okay, to reword that first paragraph:
If you are going to draw from a source material, be aware that you are creating a branch of the source material. You're creating something that is anchored in someone else's fiction. As HedgeMage illustrated in her answer, sometimes this is a good thing in specific cases, but in general "fanfic" use it leads to bad habits.
If you find yourself having trouble creating your own fiction, ask yourself what it is specifically about this source material that you like. It won't help to wholesale copy characters/settings/etc from a source, but it's certainly okay to find inspiration from the elements that compose your favourites.
If you're having trouble world building, perhaps you can draw inspiration from real world locations. Every fictional city/street/country draws something from one or more counterparts in the real world.
Comment: "If it's fan fiction, it'll never be original." That's completely incorrect. I've read quite a few novels that were originally fanfics the author wrote and then modified to be original.
Comment: "The problem with fan fiction is that it will always be tied down to the source material, and can't really become more than what it is." Not really. If the writer puts enough work in it and it's not based heavily on a Sci-Fi or Fantasy world, it can be modified to become an original piece. I've known quite a few  writers who wrote something as fanfic and modified the character's names and all that and made it original fiction.
Comment: If it's fan fiction, it'll never be original.
Comment: "not based heavily" being the key phrase there. How heavily it's based in the original source is how far you've dug yourself into a hole. The deeper it is the harder it is to dig yourself out of it again.
Comment: Although I don't mean to say that all sourcing from other material is bad. HedgeMage's answer contains examples of things that draw from other material without going into the "fanfic" territory.
Comment: Also, HedgeMage is female.
Comment: @Ralph fixed, thanks. But even when modified, there is still a connection to the original source. If it can be modified enough "to be original", the author probably has enough skill to just create the original story directly. Attempting to move from fanfic to original story is a lot messier than creating an original story from scratch that draws inspiration from the source.
Answer: I know many people who started out writing fanfiction and then turned this into the basis of a professional career. Off the top of my head, both Paul Cornell and Una McCormack both started by writing fanfic and are now professional authors.
Unfortunately it can be all too easy to spend all of your time there. If you think you'll enjoy it, write fanfic by all means. You'll certainly learn lessons from it and be able to take that knowledge forward into your later, original work.
I'd urge you, though, to remember what your aim is, and that's to write your own worlds.
Fanfic can be a great training ground for a writer; but it can also be a seductive echo chamber. Good fanfic, like good everything, is rare, and will receive a lot of praise. And leaving the nest can be a harsh experience if you're used to praise in the fanfic world, and find that you need other tools in your writer's toolbox to make it on the outside. Many people never write anything other than fanfic, and that's fine, but from your original question it seems you're aiming for something more than that.
At some point you'll need to start writing original stories anyway. Whether you decide to write fanfic to get some experience first or not, I'd urge you to start on your own work sooner rather than later.
Answer: It is not a crutch. Writing is writing.
As Jeff Atwood put it:

The process of writing is indeed a
  journey of discovery, one that will
  last the rest of your life. It doesn't
  ultimately matter whether you're
  writing a novel, a printer review, a
  Stack Overflow answer, fan fiction, a
  blog entry, a comment, a technical
  whitepaper, some emo LiveJournal
  entry, or even meta-talk about writing
  itself. Just get out there and write!

If fanfiction is what gets you writing, then write. It doesn't mean you have to do it for the rest of your life! But whatever you are interested in doing enough to get you writing is good.
As a parallel, my mother wanted to discourage me from reading comics when I was a kid, but my father argued that anything which got me reading--even if it was reading with pictures--was a good thing.
People here have variously argued that fanfiction is a crutch, that it is limiting. But that is silly. It's limiting in the sense that you couldn't go and sell it, but other than that, it's an art form like any other. Some people here claimed you couldn't do world-building with it; that is wrong, because you can always build on top of the existing world the fandom is set in. You can always add characters to the ones already in the fandom, and you can always take the characters in a direction that was not obvious from the show, so good character building is also possible.
In short, there is nothing you can do in any other form of fiction writing that you can't do in fanfiction, and any skills you hone while writing the latter will help you in the former.
Answer: I have encountered numbers of excellent fanfics out there which could stand out on their own, and be excellent works by themselves if the author just didn't constrain himself into the pre-created world.
I'm not saying that you should always create your own worlds, but when you're confident about your work and people start to appreciate it, it might be a good time to whip up your own universe and make a recognition for yourself.
Comment: Some people are content just writing fanfics. I know several published authors who write fanfics for fun. It gives them a chance to practice their writing or to experiment with new techniques without having to worry about publishing it or how well it'll sell.
Answer: It's a crutch.
The scariest thing about writing is the idea that nobody will like (or even understand) the stories and characters you create. Writing fanfic is an attempt to dodge that risk by using stories and characters that are already well liked and well understood instead.
The problem is that you never learn anything without taking a risk, and so by hiding behind other peoples' characters fanfic writers stunt their own development.  The way you learn how to write good characters and compelling stories is by writing bad and boring ones.  The things you do wrong give you insight on how to do it right.  But this never happens in fanfic, because you always have that world's established tropes to fall back on.
In other words, to tell great stories you have to be willing to fail completely, and fanfic writers aren't.
Answer: I agree with most of the answers here: put all that effort and creativity into your own work, instead of standing on someone else's. Aside from that, some authors get very upset at the idea of other writers taking their creations and putting them into stories.
Answer: In theory I have no problem with fan fiction, however the fact that the fan fiction community's standards are absymally low is enough to dissuade me from ever associating my work with them. Using another writer's characters, setting, and themes is perfectly reasonable though and has been used by professional and accomplished writers throughout history. I would just avoid categorizing anything as "fan fiction."
Answer: I think many write fan-fiction simply because they're inspired by a universe someone else created. I have no doubt it can be a crutch, but it doesn't have to be.
Perhaps you should ask why you're writing. If it's simply because you enjoy writing or because you want to explore a universe, then fan-fiction can be a great outlet.
Answer: Someone asked in reddit whether fan fiction can be "taken seriously". Here's what I said - much of the same points as others are saying:

Go ahead and try. Simplest advice I can give is just that.
But if you really want to get ahead with writing, go ahead and try some more stuff.
The only big problem with fan fiction that I've seen is that you're always in someone's shadow. Here's the Great Author, there's the Fan. And the Fan has to make a choice: Are they going to remain a Fan forever, or try becoming an equal to the Great Author. And the Great Authors are just fine with someone else becoming as famous and awesome as they are, but they're not cool with them doing that with their intellectual properties. Hence, fan works are likely doomed to obscurity. Fans tend to stay in their place, whether that's appropriate for them or not. In a more sane world, open universes would be the norm and fans would always be equal to other people writing stories based on those universes, but we're not living in such a world.
This isn't to say that writing for someone else's universe would be too bad in principle. It's just like writing things based on real world and history: it may need interesting research work to make your story fit with the rest of the established world.
And as far as trying stuff goes, designing worlds from scratch isn't very difficult - and can be quite rewarding.

And as far as not having confidence trying to design worlds from the scratch goes: The dirty secret of world design is that a) it's really not that difficult and b) it's almost criminally fun when you get started. And like characters, the milieu will just keep growing when you tell the tale - it's useless to design everything in advance.
Answer: I think fanfic can a very good training ground. They have provided characters, settings and most importantly audience. That lets you focus on hone your other skills.
The biggest advantage is that it has a built in audience that tends to review what you've done. You get feedback and that is the most valuable thing you can get.
Think of it as a form of deliberate practice. You can practice dialog with existing characters or describing existing settings and so on. You can even create new characters and settings and insert them into the story.
Comment: I think the built-in audience is absolutely key.  I started in fanfic and got hundreds of comments on my stories, some that were simple encouragement, and others that were really useful as I learned to refine my style.  I`m now writing original stuff for money (fifth e-book out today from Dreamspinner Press!), and I really MISS the feedback from fanfic.  I mean, it`s great that people will pay money for my stories, and that`s feedback of a sort, but there really isn`t the sense of community any more.
Answer: I think fanfiction is a great start if you enjoy writing. There's nothing you can gain from writing completely original stories that you can't gain from writing fanfic. As for no confidence in creating your own world, with fic, you can build on that confidence. You could try putting some of the characters in a world not mentioned in canon, an AU, which would improve world building. Also, you could create original characters in the story. Once confidant doing that, you could tell the fanfic from the OC's point of view about the main characters. These are things that won't hurt a writer to learn.
Comment: "There's nothing you can gain from writing completely original stories that you can't gain from writing fanfic." Building your own, completely original world and characters, perhaps? Yeah, there are ways to make fanfic less dependent on the original universe, but it's barely fanfic at that point. IMO the entire point of fanfic is to play with beloved characters and settings.
Answer: Fanfic can help you learn writing skills if you treat it as a professional project.  If you strive to make it the best it can be, then you will have learned something while doing it.  Good luck!
Answer: When you are first attempting to write fiction, fan fiction is a good way to practice.  It gives you existing characters and a world setting so you can focus on drama (or comedy), characterizations, writing sentences that make sense, and creating a story others can understand.
Please note, your first attempts will suck and will most likely (and deservedly) end up in the trash can. Expect to spend a few thousand hours writing crap before you produce anything worth showing to others.
After you have cut your teeth writing some fan fiction, you should ask yourself a question and be honest: Are you writing for the fun of it, or because you want to create something publishable (or at least something others will take seriously).
If you want your writing to be taken seriously, then quickly leave fan fiction behind.  Good writing requires mastering a wide variety of skills, such as creating interesting characters from scratch, building your own world with its own mythology, and so forth.  Fan fiction won't help you in those areas, except perhaps as initial inspiration.  Relying too much on fan fiction will retard those skills and make it harder for you to branch out into other areas.
Answer: It's a crutch if you don't make it solid enough to stand on it's own. Write good stories that can be read in any context and you'll be able to mitigate that.
Don't let yourself get stuck in niche fanfic cultures. Don't write stuff that requires people having read every other fanfic on the forum to understand. And don't let fanfic be the only type of story you ever write.
Understand that you're just choosing the constraints and backstories of your world. People that write non-fantasy use the real world as their source material. It's not a crutch for them, it's a choice.
Answer: I am a bit of an amateur writer and I have always considered fan fic to be the bottom of the barrel. The people who write it are generally those who have obsessed over some one else's work. They may re-arrange the concepts and plot, but they are creating nothing really new. Most are also so inept at writing that in truth they detract from it.
As some one else mentioned, world building is a large portion of writing fiction. Without those skills, you are ruining your own potential as an author. Honestly you should take the time to write completely original short stories. Share these stories with a few friends to get their honest impressions, then toss them aside and work on another. After a few months, once the story is old and mostly forgotten, re-read it yourself, and re-write it.
Answer: I don't know if Fanfic is a crutch or useful practice, but it is fun. For me, writing fanfic is one of the ways I enjoy a book. So I'd do it whether it's useful or not.
That said, can writing fanfic be useful?

Fanfic allows you to engage in "what if" scenarios: what if Frodo and Sam were lovers, what if Draco Malfoy was secretly good, whatever. (I'm deliberately choosing infamous examples here.) "What if" scenarios are useful for when you write your own stuff too: when you're stuck, you can ask yourself "what if this happens", when something doesn't work you can go "what if this happens instead of that." Such flexibility is necessary to arrive at a good story.
You (hopefully) learn to realise the limitations and the conventions of the characters and the world: when a character is acting "out of character", when whatever doesn't exist in this world, when Captain Kirk can't die because the world will change its basic laws just to keep him alive. In turn, you can then learn to realise the limitations of what you write, and consciously use them, or avoid making them.
You can learn to recognise when you're writing something that's objectively bad, but for one reason or another really fun for you. For example, you might have inserted yourself as a Mary Sue who goes on to save and marry the main hero of the franchise. Having learnt to recognise this bad practice, you can keep it to your drawer stash and away from material you try to publish.
Utilising all the above, a fanfic story can be good. You can use the established and widely familiar world to draw attention to something, in which case the fanfic aspect becomes a strength of the story rather than a weakness. For example, in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eliezer Yudkowsky deconstructs the whole Harry Potter series by stressing multiple logical failures in the original and suggesting how smarter characters should have acted. He is also quite funny in the process. This is achieved by asking "what if Harry Potter's aunt and uncle were nice Oxford professors instead of schmucks" (point 1) and by noting the limits of Rowling's world (point 2).
Answer: Doesn't it all depend on whether you intend to show anyone else this fanfic? If you write a story using someone else's characters or world just for your own private practice, surely that is useful for you and does no harm?
It might help to avoid worries over creating worlds, characters, or even a plot, if you just use an established starting point you are familiar with, and write from there as practice.
True, you won't get any practice at creating characters, but that is just one of the many facets you need to work on.

Fan Fiction: a crutch or a good start?


My molly is nipping at one of the cherry barbs in my tank. What should I do? The barb is losing colour

Question: This has never happened before. My fish are in a 20 gallon (76 liters) tank, they've been fed the exact amount every day, and none of them have had problems before (other than another incident with my - now moved - pearl gourami). This came relatively out of nowhere and I'm decently new to owning fish. Should I buy another tank? What can I do to keep the molly from acting out?
Comment: Welcome to Pets :) Have you tested your water quality recently? If so, what are the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
Comment: Add more information, like how many fishes are in the tank, if you have plants or other refuges and with this i can help u :D
Answer: Look for a fish breeding box as a temporary solution. You can get a small plastic container with holes in that will sit in the tank and give one fish his own private space without requiring a second tank set up. Personally, I'd isolate the trouble maker and give the injured one time and comfort to relax and establish territory (if they do that).
I used to use a cheap breeding box to give my fertile female goldfish a break. I wasn't breeding them, but they used to get pushed around a lot when they were fertile, for about a day every two weeks for a few months in summer.
Answer: Separate them immediately! If a fish is losing pigment then it is getting damaged terribly.
My grandparents are big fish people, they also said this is bad. The fish may require more food, so first move it to a different tank, but feed it more as a last resort.


How can I see the review status of an edit?

Question: A few days ago I suggested an edit to a question (Terminal bell without a PC speaker to correct a wrong path). Can I see the review status? The place in the review queue? I may have made the edit as anonymous user.
Answer: You can always see the status of all your edit suggestions.

Go to your user page (e.g., click your name at the top of the screen, on the main site).
Look down to the horizontal list of tabs, which looks like this:

Click the ACTIVITY tab. Some more tabs appear under it. Click SUGGESTIONS.

That shows all the edit suggestions you've submitted. You can view the stauts of any one of them by clicking where it says suggested edit in the entry. (If you click the name of the post you edited, it will bring you to that post rather than to the page for your suggestion.)
It doesn't matter that you can't review other people's edits yet. Anyone--even people who are not logged in--can view the status of any suggested edit, if they have the link to it. (For example, here's one of my old suggestions.) And the links are all listed in your list of suggestions.
(There's other ways for low rep or anonymous users to find suggested edits--but for the purpose of checking your own edits, this should be sufficient.)
Answer: For suggested edits you make while logged in, you have a profile subpage for that.
You can see any edit once it has been approved or rejected. IIRC if only a preliminary accept or reject has been cast, it is not visible to you.


Change site logo for specific content type and page

Question: How to add different logo images for specific content type and page. It want to be dynamic.When user add content, user want to select logo
Answer: Do not know weather this method fulfill the requirements but you can take a look. As Drupal 8 creates a block for logo. You can create separate block for each content type and depends on visibility condition you can show.
Answer: Create a dynamic View Block and use that as your logo block.

Add image field to your content type
Create a View Block in /admin/structure/views/add

In View, for Fields, add your Image
Click on Advanced (far right), for Contextual Filter add ID .Provide default value, Content ID from URL. (Note: The view preview will go blank, which is normal, since the View edit page does not have a Content ID.)

Go to blocks (/admin/structure/block), and add the View block to a region. For Visibility settings select the content type that you want this to appear in.
Answer: create multiple custom blocks with logo image and display with page the page you need.
Comment: Thankyou @ananthakumar. I implemented this in my project. Working fine
Answer: Add your logo field to your specfied content type, then create a custom page template for that specified content type, get and add logo field URL to page template variables and use it on page twig file.
if you want more details tell me I provide it for you.
Comment: @steniya you're welcome, inform me about your achievement


Over-the-counter prices of pharmaceutical drugs in the United States

Question: I'm looking for a data set containing the over-the-counter prices of pharmaceutical drugs by pharmacy in the United States.
Answer: It seems that this data has some business value and, hence is often available only at a cost. If a non-free solution is sufficient for you, you could try it here and here.
If it's important for you that the data comes free, you might be able to scrape it of this website which contains information for many drugs and pharmacies all over the United States but has the disadvantage that these online prices need not necessarily be in line with over-the-counter prices as there are sometimes discounts on the website. Still a good source with a lot of information.
Answer: GoodRX has an API that you can use, easier than scraping. GoodRX Developer API


How to transfer files during computer move?

Question: I'm buying a new laptop and still have lots of videos, pictures, pdfs, and code etc on my old laptop. At least 30-40 gb. What's the most effective way of transferring these?
Comment: possible duplicate of [What is the easiest way to connect two computers?](http://superuser.com/questions/226160/what-is-the-easiest-way-to-connect-two-computers)
Answer: Passport HDs are very cheap right now.
Answer: External hard drive or network transfer via crossover cable. If the computer is already networked to a router in your house you could just set up file sharing on the old laptop and transfer from it to the new one.
Comment: An external hard drive is the easiest way to transfer files. There are some settings to setup in Windows that can prevent the user from seeing the computers.
Answer: I would just connect it up using a crossover cable, or via a switch to set up a quick and dirty internal network. Change the settings so that the new laptop can access files on the old one, and set the folders you want to share over the network. Then just download the data over.
Comment: A crossover ethernet cable let you connect directly between the 2 computers. Or two normal ethernet cable to connect the two laptops via a network switch of some sort. After that, it's just settings on the OS (and switch).
Comment: what do i need to setup a network? an ethernet cable?
Comment: If you use a crossover calble, Windows and Mac OS will setup temporary addresses for you if the IP configuration is on automatic (DHCP), so you don't even have to assign the IP address manually. Just type \\computer-name and you should see the file shares.
Answer: If the time it would take to copy isn't an issue, then I'd put both laptops on a network and use SyncBack (it's free) to copy the files from one to the other. I don't what you have in terms of networking, but wirless is one route or has been suggested, a Cat-5e coverover cable will do. There's an example on the Microsoft site on how to configure Vista for it for example (you don't mention what OS you're using, I'm assuming Windows).
Alternatively you could buy an external USB drive and copy them onto the drive from the old drive, then from the drive onto the new laptop. That would be slightly quicker than network transfer.
Answer: The transfer may be much faster using an external hard drive casing, especially if the new laptop PC has an e-SATA port (and the HD casing as well of course), than any solution involving an ethernet cable. Basically, external drives connected via e-SATA operate at the same speed they would in a internal setting. USB2 is much slower, but I've read USB3 was supposed to have similar performance to e-SATA (I'm not up-to-date on this).


Cygwin - Repo with Separate Git/Working Dir Doesn't Work

Question: Since I've switched to OS X and Vim, I've found it easiest to manage all of my 'dotfiles' (all of my configuration files and miscellaneous scripts) with Git. Having already set up my dotfiles in a repo following this tutorial, I figured it would also be easy enough to migrate all of my settings into my Cygwin setup on my Windows partition.
Already having the repo setup on Github, I simply clone'd the repo, and moved all of the files over to my home directory, making it a mirror of my OS X home directory. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to use the actual repo any further within Cygwin.
The problem is that I cannot use my dotfiles repo with git within Cygwin. The setup is unique from most normal git repos, in that the working directory and the git directory are in different locations. Specifically, the working directory is $HOME (/Users/kyle on OS X, /home/kyle in Cygwin), and the git repo is $HOME/.dotfiles.git. So, if I wanted to get the status of the repo, for example, I would type the following command (which I alias to reduce typing, of course):
git --work-tree=$HOME --git-dir=$HOME/.dotfiles.git status -uno

While this works fine on OS X, this refuses to work within Cygwin. Regardless of whether or not I use my alias, or whether or not I substitute $HOME by hand, I get the following git error:
fatal: Not a git repository: /home/Kyle/dotfiles/.git/modules/.build/git

I don't understand where this error comes from, but the path /home/Kyle/dotfiles was the original location of the git repo when I initially cloned it. Additionally, it's important to note that the repo relies heavily on submodules. If specifics are necessary, the repo in question can be found on GitHub. The commands I ran to setup the repo in Cygwin can also be found within the Readme file.
Answer: I figured out the issue. If you have a git repo with submodules, then move the contents of the repo, then things begin to break.
Basically, you should try to run git submodule init and/or git submodule update. Otherwise, you'll get a cryptic error like mentioned in the question.


Gaining Hjerim with a peace treaty

Question: Is it possible to gain Hjerim if you negotiate a peace treaty in the "Season Unending" quest without taking sides?  The wiki says that in order to gain Hjerim, you must complete certain quests for either side of the civil war (either the Fort Neugrad mission or the Defeat the Stormcloaks mission).  However, if those quests never occur, can you still become Thane of Windhelm and gain Hjerim?
Answer: The peace treaty is only until the dragon threat is dealt with, you will be able to complete either the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloaks storyline after completing the main quest, and Hjerim will be available as usual.
Answer: Gaining the Hjerim is easy though. You can do that but you NEED the do the quest "Blood on Ice?" I think thats what you call it. This house is very glitchy and if you do not finish this quest properly then the murderer will still be in your house, and he can take things. He also cannot be killed.

Gaining Hjerim with a peace treaty


Button text in table column - 'Open' or action name?

Question: I need to decide which version will be more intuitive:
Ver. 1 - action name in heading and open buttons:

Ver. 2 - empty heading and action name on each button:

Is it a big difference between these two options?
Answer: Questions like this are bound to generate a lot of opinion-based answers. It's very specific and it will be hard to give an academically correct answer to it.
Obviously, the two versions don't differ that much. The impact on the user experience is hard to tell. However:
In Ver. 1, the layout communicates "There is an Overview for each item. Open it here".
In Ver. 2, the layout communicates "Get an Overview of this item here".
The Ver. 2 can perhaps then be considered more straight forward, since the user can se the button and realize what it is with out going via the header to figure that out. Also, if the list of items is long, the header might be scrolled of canvas and thereby hidden making the Open-buttons make less sense; The Overview-buttons are not relying on support from another element.
The following is a very subjective though:
I really don't like repeating a button on every row in a table. I don't think it look's good and generally, the buttons are screaming for way to much attention. I don't know if it's applicable here, but I would any day of the year make the item itself clickable instead and let that provide the overview.
Either:
1) make the item name itself look clickable, like in the image below snipped from Google analytics:

2) make the whole row clickable (the on-hover symbol will tell the user and it can be enhance with a light on-hover bg-effect, if we're not talking about touch devces that is).
3) add a symbol, like the ( i ) or a small, more discrete textlink that acutally says Overview in relation to the name if the item.
Comment: Good idea with rows as links. Simple and easy to implement. I like it, thanks.
Comment: Is it even worth an upvote? Or a "Correct answer"? :)


Juju and MAAS: ERROR No matching node is available - with Ready nodes

Question: I have four nodes in the "Ready" state, and I am still getting the following error when trying to bootstrap:
ERROR No matching node is available.

The server is running 13.04 with Juju 0.7.
I have been walking through the instructions on the MAAS site: http://maas.ubuntu.com/docs/juju-quick-start.html
I also tried following the instructions to install the latest version of Juju (1.10.x) as described on https://juju.ubuntu.com/get-started/, but then I ran into some other errors, including "error: no tools available" when trying to bootstrap and "use of closed network connection" when trying to sync-tools.
How can I get a simple MAAS + Juju setup going for testing?
Answer: You may have hit bug 1064291. This occurs if you have machines that aren't amd64 or have less than 512M of memory. The workaround is to bootstrap with constraints turned off:
juju bootstrap --constraints "arch=any mem=0"

If this works for you, please mark the bug as "affects me too".


AngularJs: upload mutiple files from different sources

Question: I am trying to upload two different files, an image and a pdf file, each from a different input as follows:

     Image
     <input type="file" accept="image/*" ngf-select="" ngf-multiple="true"  class="form-control" id="img" name="img" placeholder="Image" ng-model="libraries.library.img">

{{libraries.error.img[0]}}

     Document
     <input type="file" accept="application/pdf" ngf-select="" class="form-control" id="document" name="document" placeholder="Document" ng-model="libraries.library.document">

{{libraries.error.document[0]}}

In the services file, I am sending it using the following:
store: function (library) {
       console.log(library);
       return  Upload.upload({
       url: 'api/libraries',
       method: 'POST',
       fields: {name: library.name, location: library.location},
       file: [library.img, library.document]
         });
       },

But when I try to fetch the files at the server side as follows:
return $_FILES;

I keep getting:
[] No Properties

However when I change file to
file: library.img

meaning, I pass only one file, it works.
I am using ng-file-upload with AngularJS and the server side is Laravel
Any idea to solve this issue allowing both files to be sent to the server?!
Comment: What browser are you on?
Comment: Multiple files should work in html5 browsers. You might need to change your server code. To verify that it is working see the network tab of your browser and request content to verify that both files are being sent to the server in the request body.
Answer: I've had the same issue, and I was able to fix it by giving the JSON object for each file a different name (drawing inspiration from here). If I did not rename the objects, the server would receive the correct number of files but all of them would be identical. So if you were to apply this, your code would be:
store: function (library) {
   console.log(library);
   return  Upload.upload({
   url: 'api/libraries',
   method: 'POST',
   fields: {name: library.name, location: library.location},
   file: [library.img, library.document]
   fileFormDataName: [name1, name2]
     });
   },

I believe the names can be anything as long as they are unique. However, you now have to process the objects separately on your server side. I am not familiar with how you might do that in PHP, but on my Rails back-end, I can collect all of the files by their class:
files = params.values.find_all { |value| value.class == ActionDispatch::Http::UploadedFile }

Then I simply assign each file to the appropriate attribute of my model.


つ at the end of a number

Question: I just recently started to learn Japanese and I am a bit confused with some numbers. For example, what is the difference between 七 (なな) and 七つ (ななつ). Is there no difference? Is it just another way of saying it?
Comment: Apparently you haven't been told about counter words: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word
Comment: @Earthliŋ
"Used as part of the indigenous Japanese numbers" Does this mean that it is always used when counting.
Comment: When counting objects/days/whatever, yes. Determining the correct counter can be difficult, but つ is a generic counter that may be used to count many inanimate objects, which is why it's usually the first counter for objects people learn. Also see http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/28026/1628.
Answer: つ is a counter word (for generic inanimate objects), so that

七 (なな) "[the number] seven"
  七つ (ななつ) "seven [objects]"

Similarly you have

七日 (なのか) "the seventh [day of the month]"
  七本 (ななほん) "seven [longish objects]"

and many many more.
Depending on the counter, the numbers may not be based on the native Japanese numbers (hito, futa, mi, ..., nana, ...), but on the Sino-Japanese numbers (ichi, ni, san, ..., shichi, ...), as in

七時間 (しちじかん) "seven hours"

When the numbers (like 七) count something, you use a counter word. When you talk about the number as a number (e.g. in telephone numbers), you use the number without the counter word.

つ at the end of a number


How should I poach an egg?

Question: What's the best method to poach an egg without it turning into an eggy soupy mess?
Answer: I have tried many techniques but what gets the best results for me is dropping them directly in water and vinegar. Complete method below:

Take eggs out of fridge early and leave to reach room temp. It is okay to leave them out of fridge overnight if cooking for breakfast.
Fill pan with water - I use frying pan with minimum depth of 4cm.
Add splash of vinegar to help the egg coagulate.
Bring water to boil then reduce heat until you can see a few tiny bubbles rising from bottom of pan.
Crack 1st egg into ramekin of some sort - I use a narrow tea cup.
If cooking one egg:

Stir the pan very slowly from the outside and then gently slide egg from ramekin into middle of pan.
NOTE: Do not make a rapid whirlpool in the center of pan - the centrifugal forces will pull the yolk towards the side of the pan creating a yolk sack with whites left in the middle of whirlpool.

If cooking many eggs:

Gently slide egg from ramekin near outside edge of pan with following eggs near edges of pan. Use a spoon to push escaping whites towards egg after sliding in for a couple of seconds until it starts to coagulate.

Cook for about 3-4mins for runny, longer for harder yolk.
If eating immediately:

Use a slotted spoon to lift eggs onto a plate with 2 layers of paper towel. Make sure to drain excess water - you may like to shake slotted spoon a bit.
Place a paper towel over eggs and press down gently to soak up excess water.
You should be able to pick up your perfectly poached egg with your hands and show your friends how pro you are.

If cooking lots or eating later:

Remove eggs with slotted spoon and place into bowl of cold water.
You may quickly heat them up in hot water when ready to use.

This is my morning routine twice a week - with english muffin, butter, bacon, rocket/spinach salad and hollandaise sauce.
Comment: This gets my vote because it includes what I think is the most important detail. The water should be at the barest simmer, otherwise the rolling of the boil will cause the whites to fall off the yolks.
Answer:
I fill a tall frying pan (or pot) with water.
Add some white vinegar.
Let it come to a boil
Add the eggs. Don't make it too overcrowded
Take it out with a flipper or a spoon with holes when they look done.
Comment: I make a whirpool in the water before dropping the eggs.
Comment: Surely the problem with whirlpools is you can only do one egg at once.
Comment: I've never gotten whirlpools to work well for me...  I also use a spoon to gently dump the egg in the water.
Comment: I use this method as well as the whirlpool. I just use a spoon to add the eggs. That way the eggs maintain their shape more.
Answer: Personally, I cannot stand the taste of vinegar in a poached egg.
Here is the method that I use with perfect results every time:

In a covered saute pan, bring water to a full boil. Add about a teaspoon of salt to the water. The salt performs the same function as vinegar: keep the egg whites from scattering and you ending up with poached yolks.
Break the eggs by twos into a small dishes. So two eggs each for four people, eight eggs, four small prep bowls.
Be sure to prep all other ingredients that will go with the eggs so that they are ready slightly before the eggs: Toast? Plan to toast the toast and butter the toast and plate the toast so neither eggs not toast are ready first. Toast gets dry; eggs get hard. All wrong... Hollandaise also should be prepared to be ready at the same time as the eggs so it does not separate.
Once you all ready to "pull the trigger" because you have planned the plates and the other ingredients and the water is boiling and the cover is ready -- Poach the Eggs! Here is how:

Turn off the heat on the pan;
Quickly but carefully lower each bowl to the water, tip the eggs gently into the water from the bowl;
Cover the pan;
Time the eggs:

For really soft eggs, about 3 minutes.
Larger eggs or firmer eggs, 4 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon or slotted spatula to gently lift the eggs from the water. Hold for a second to drain, touch the bottom of the spoon / spatula to a paper towel to dry.

Put eggs on the toast or the other preparation.

Enjoy!
Answer: Take some microwave plastic wrap and place it in a ramekin; push the plastic into the corners and lightly oil the inside with a brush. Gently break a fresh egg into the centre of the plastic lined ramekin, then gently pull up the sides of the plastic wrap and tie it off with string or a plastic band. Place the pouch in boiling water for (depends on your eggs) minutes. Open the pouch and you have a perfect poached egg.
Comment: Heating plastic wrap in direct contact with food can cause chemicals from the plastic to ["migrate" into the food](http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-microwave-dioxin2.htm). You may or may not be concerned about this.
Comment: yeah no yucky vineger taste :)
Answer: Just to add to the other answers ... the fresher the egg (properly free range helps too) the better the shape and firmness of the result, whatever technique or trick you use.
Answer: You can buy some things (in the UK, maybe not in the US) called poach pods which I use, and work a treat. They're £5 for 2 (or about $8) I guess. They don't take up much room when stored as they stack:- Green poachpod® 2 Silicone Egg Poaching Pods.
Comment: Yep, I bought these in the US, and they work for me
Comment: Julia child recommends putting the eggs in boiling water for 10 seconds, then crack them into these things (though hers are recommended to be perforated metal); see Page 82-83 in Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home by Julia Child and Jaques Pepin.
Answer: To be perfect honest, I'm a fairly big fan of microwaving eggs in lieu of poaching. There are little plastic gadgets you can get that you break the eggs into. You can microwave them either to hard or soft boiled levels, and they end up as nice, symmetrical mounds. The only trick is not to microwave on too high a power, or the yolks might explode! In that case, the result is a bit exploded in texture, but because the eggs are in the plastic gadget, at least you don't have egg all over the inside of your microwave!
Comment: I actually poach in a microwave using a bowl of boiling water that I heated up first (in the microwave). Works nicely.
Answer: Heston Blumenthal seems to have a good way to do this and get "the perfect egg every time", and it actually looks pretty easy.

Use a fresh egg. Fresh eggs have a firmer albumen which helps the poached egg form (fresh eggs sink in water, because an air bubble is produced over time)
Avoid direct heat in the pan: Put a plate upside-down at the bottom
Get the water to 80°C
Use a straining-spoon to remove any water albumen from the egg (even fresh eggs have a little), and drop into the water
Cook for 4 Minutes

(Watch on YouTube)
I haven't had a chance to try this technique yet, but it seems pretty straightforward, and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
Answer: Boil a reasonably large pan of water with a small pinch of salt, then take it off the heat.  Crack the eggs gently into the water so they lie separately from each other.  Leave them for about three minutes and they're done.  Voila!
BTW: I don't stir the water as I fond this can make the white separate from the yolk.
Comment: I believe that adding salt to the water causes a reaction in the egg proteins making them more rubbery.
Answer: Use a small pot with hot water from a kettle or water boiler, add small amount of vinegar (helps to keep the egg together) then wait until you see small bubbles. No need to swirl the water, just add the egg and don't let the water boil vigorously. Wait until cooked to your preference.
Answer: A technique promoted by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is as follows (Based on Heston Blumenthal's technique):

Start with the freshest egg you can
Crack the egg into a fine mesh strainer and swirl until all the loose egg white is drained off.
Bring a few inches of water to about 180 degrees Fahrenheit
Lower the egg into the water with the fine mesh strainer. Give it a shake to make sure it releases from the strainer and roll it out with the strainer.
Flip the egg periodically, and cook for about 3-4 minutes

You can see a video of him performing this technique here.
Answer: A sous vide technique to produce poached egg-like results by cooking the eggs in the shell due to Chefsteps is described below:

Heat up your water bath to 147 degrees Fahrenheit (64 degrees Celsius)
Put your eggs (in the shell) in the water bath for 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours.
Crack the eggs into a slotted spoon and let the loose white drain, and serve.

A video of this process is here.
You can also use their egg calculator to see what other time+temperature combinations look like.
Answer: I've tried the vinegar and the swirling water technique... I didn't have much luck. The following 2 have worked for me, but both have negatives

Make sure the water is nearly simmering
Crack the egg into a small cup so it's easy to pour
Tilt the pan of boiling water, so when you drop the egg in, it sinks to the depth. This seems to allow all the whites to settle together
Carefully put the pan back on to a gentle simmer
Sadly, it makes it very hard to cook more than 1 (I've managed 2 max)

The other way we've had some luck is

Part fill the pan of water
Add tall chef rings so the tips of the rings are out of the water
When the water is nearly simmer, or just simmering, add the eggs into the rings
Careful when removing the eggs and rings, as this can be a pain and the eggs have on occasion stuck to the ring

How should I poach an egg?


Which places would require hiking boots?

Question: What type of hiking do you need to be doing where you absolutely need hiking boots? I'm looking to do some hiking in SE Asia and South America, but won't have room in my pack for boots. What reasons and terrain would I absolutely need to have boots for where shoes wouldn't suffice?
Comment: I just realized maybe not all people would think what is a shoe vs what is a boot the same way. For the context of hiking footwear I would say if it's higher than the ankle and provides support in that area, it's a hiking boot. If it's made out of tough material and has a chunky grippy sole but doesn't specifically provide ankle support, it's a hiking shoe.
Answer: It's true you might not actually need hiking boots but you have to decide.
Personally I didn't like the kind of backpackers that seemed to have all the expensive brand name gear whether they needed it or not. Felt a bit phoney to me when I was younger. So while others had $200 brand name hiking boots I had my cheap supermarket sneakers. I also felt the blingy stuff looked like $$$ dollar signs to potential thieves.
I'm not a serious hiker but I wore plain old sneakers all over the world in my travels for twenty years, including climbing volcanoes and in snow.
This finally changed a bit when I took up hitchhiking last year. I had a heavy pack and spent a lot of time on the edges of roads which were often crumbly or wet or had a steep camber. A couple of times I came close to twisting my sneakers off my feet! Then I found myself near a cheap chain outdoor gear shop on the edge of some Polish city while they had a sale on.
For about $22 I got a decent pair of cheap non brand name non blingy functional hiking boots that are perfectly practical, that I knew wouldn't last forever, and that nobody would bother to steal.
Quechua hiking boots are definitely something I would buy again. They got me from Poland to Armenia, back to Frankfurt, up and down Korea and Japan a couple of times, and now from Istanbul to Albania and have finally started to let in a bit of water a year and a bit later. That's great value for me! I no longer carry sneakers travelling at all.
I always wear my bulky stuff while I'm actually moving about. My jeans and my biggest shoes or hiking boots and the smaller stuff in the pack. When I'm at a city or beach the big stuff stays in the room and I'll wear the shorts and flipflops.
Comment: I disagree Ginamin. I've had the same pair of 200 dollar hiking boots for over ten years now and I've worn them through just about every type of terrain. I would pretty much never buy cheap shoes, there's nothing more miserable than getting wet feet or blisters. Skimping in most areas is fine but the one area where it's really worth paying for quality is your shoes.
Comment: @victoriah I would argue that it is a misconception that expensive means good quality. Some of the quickest to wear items I've ever owned were the most expensive of the type. Finding a cheap pair of boots that fit and are made of good material is not that hard.
Comment: Hence you have to decide. On my first trip to Europe I thought I was smart buying a pair of Doc Martins that would be tough in all conditions and smart enough to go out in. They were the most painful blister causing and expensive footwear I ever bought. They may have even shrunk in the cold! They also weren't hiking boots but not skimping in that case cost me much pain and much wasted money despite the very high quality. You have to weigh up your own needs and priorities and you have to decide for yourself. Can you get away without hiking boots? Yes. Are good hiking boots worth the money? Yes.
Comment: I concur, cheap is the way to go. Expensive ones just get torn up anyway.
Comment: I was planning on wearing some type of shoes everywhere, like you said. I suppose I could buy hiking boots in whichever country I am in if I really need them...
Answer: After many miles put on my old sneakers, I wear hiking boots whenever and wherever I travel now. There is nothing so miserable as getting a hole in the sole of your sneakers in a snow storm. Now, I always wear a pair of brown leather hiking boots that have some class when I travel, so I can wear them to dinner or on a hike.
I have another set of boots that lace up nice and high that I use for climbing the craggy types of mountains such as the Pacific Asian mountains, Andes, Rockies, Alps, etc. Mountains like a Appalachians, you can probably get away with a running style shoe, bit I would highly advise against it.
Generally, you need solid ankle support if you are hiking... especially in a location where you don't know how to get help.
I would say either find a way to get boots into your pack, or ditch your shoes for a pair of socially acceptable hiking boots so you don't need to fit an extra pair or footwear in your travel bag.
Comment: Won't be going anywhere with snow, but sounds like you recommend hiking boots for any type of traveling. When it's a 100 degrees F in Asia, you'd still recommend wearing hiking boots around?
Comment: You never know when you will need to start hiking. I've been booted off buses before in Indonesia and had a long hike in front of me... I never intended to hike at all on that trip. And yes, I live in Asia and whenever I travel I wear boots and I bring a pair of flip-flops for hostel wear.
Comment: +1 for ankle support - the most important thing!
Answer: There are two main things that good hiking boots do (and most regular shoes don't):

They have well-profiled and extremely sturdy soles that won't slip or break
They support your ankles so they won't twist

So the more uneven and rocky the terrain gets, the more you need hiking boots. I'd say that's pretty much it.
Answer: It depends on how much ankle support you personally need and how heavy your pack is.  If you regularly go hiking in sneakers in rough terrain with a backpack, and don't roll your ankles, then you probably won't need hiking boots.  If that's not you, then bring a pair of hiking boots.


How do I delete my account and all questions?

Question: I wish to delete my account and questions as I do not want to waste anyone's time answering my posts. The links I have to get support to do it do not work. Please advise. Regards
Comment: Consider that the only question you've asked is "What OS should I try on my system".  Neither here on Ask Ubuntu nor on Unix and Linux our sister site are those questions 'suitable' questions for the site - they only generate lists of solutions "Try {INSERT_DISTRIBUTION_HERE}".  This alone is *not* a case of "I am not a suitable member" and more a case of simply not understanding how the site works (please read the Help Center, and https://askubuntu.com/help/dont-ask and https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic specifically)
Comment: https://askubuntu.com/help/deleting-account
Comment: Also https://askubuntu.com/help/what-to-do-instead-of-deleting-question
Answer: In response to an answer to your only question asked on the main site, you wrote:

The two responses I have received here have convinced me that I am not a suitable member of this elitist club and I will retire graciously and apologise for taking up your valuable time

If you still feel that way, the simplest option would be to just not visit the site any more.


Do transmutation spells change the type?

Question: When I use a spell like Form of the Dragon, does my type change? Would I get the type dragon (and lose the type humanoid) for the duration of the spell? I ask, because I want to know if changing form can grant immunity against spells like dominate person.
Answer: No, polymorph subschool spells don't change your type.
The Polymorph subschool describes the effects that all spells of that subschool have unless explicitly stated otherwise. It describes a number of things the caster gains from the transformation, including such things as movement types, resistances, and senses. One thing it does not explicitly give you is the Type of the creature you are changing into. Therefore, since it's not telling you that you get it, you're not getting it, unless the specific polymorph subschool spell you're using explicitly states otherwise.
Answer: No.  In Pathfinder, the Polymorph subscbool only grants you the specific abilities listed in each polymorph spell:

While these spells make you appear to be the creature, granting you a +10 bonus on Disguise skill checks, they do not grant you all of the abilities and powers of the creature.  Each polymorph spell allows you to assume the form of a creature of a specific type, granting you a number of bonuses to your ability scores and a bonus to your natural armor. In addition, each polymorph spell can grant you a number of other benefits, including movement types, resistances, and senses. If the form you choose grants these benefits, or a greater ability of the same type, you gain the listed benefit.

That being the case, you only gain the benefits specifically granted by form of the dragon and do not gain the dragon type or the abilities associated with the dragon type.
Answer: Polymorph effects (normally) don't change your creature type.
This (unwritten) rule causes a lot of confusion on how things should actually work in Pathfinder, but has been confirmed many times by the devs, as seen here, by James Jacobs (Creative Director):

If a Aasimar used Alter Self to turn into a Human, would it then be able to receive the benefits of Enlarge Person? If so, would it also be able to be affected by Charm Person or Dominate Person?
Although when you use a polymorph spell to change shape you do so into a creature of a specific type, that doesn't actually change your actual creature type. So...nope!
James Jacobs

And here, by Jason Bulmahn (Lead Developer):

Stardust is correct. Polymorph spells do not change your type.
Jason Bulmahn

Normally it is assumed it changes your creature type, but polymorph spells and effects usually list things that do change while under that effect, like gaining new abilities or losing some, but creature type is never listed under those changes. So, even if a human polymorphs into a dragon, they are still a creature of type humanoid(human). As such, you are still vulnerable to Bane weapons that targets humanoids, but safe from Bane (dragons) weapons.


Hercules to COM<->USB adapter - is it possible?

Question: I have a 486 (also another 286 mainboard) with a Hercules card, the plug is the same as RS-232. Is it possible to connect the output with serial port USB adapter and simulate Hercules-compatible monochrome display on a modern PC?
Comment: Welcome to Retrocomputing Stack Exchange. I recommend that you read the [tour], just so you know how the site works (e.g. you shouldn't post follow-up questions as answers). I would expect that you wouldn't be able to do this purely in hardware, but you would almost definitely be able to create an adapter with an Arduino or a custom hardware board with programmable logic.
Answer: Unfortunately, Hercules plug, while being the same DE-9 plug/socket as "small" RS232, is completely electrically incompatible - other than using the same connector type, there is absolutely nothing in common between the two interfaces. You can damage the card, monitor or RS232 port/converter if you try connecting RS232 with the Hercules port.
So, no, neither USB-to-RS232 converter, nor genuine RS232 is going to help you here.
I don't know what you can do to create a display for your 486 (other than getting an ISA VGA card in place of your Hercules), but RS232 is definitely not the way to go about it.
Answer: If you mean the original Hercules graphics card (picture further up), it had a video port and a parallel printer port.
Neither can be connected to a RS-232 serial port in a sensible way. And even if you could, there's no way you can simulate a graphics card over an RS-232 connection: The graphics card can be only controlled via the ISA bus.
If you want to simulate a Hercules card on a modern PC, you can do this with emulator software like dosbox.
Comment: I think the OP is asking about reading the output from the Hercules card on a modern PC, not simulating a graphics card. That is to say, the 486 runs software displaying via the Hercules card, connected somehow to a modern PC which acts as a Hercules monitor. (No doubt possible, but not with a serial-to-USB RS-232 adapter.)
Comment: It makes sense if the OP doesn't have a Hercules monitor, or simply wants to display the Hercules output on a modern screen, or wants to capture the Hercules output...
Comment: @StephenKitt: That wouldn't make much sense. What should be accomplished by by having the modern PC read the image (it can't do much with it except display it), instead of directly connecting it to a monitor? But OP should clarify ... and since, no matter what he wanted, RS-232 doesn't work, it's probably moot, anyway.
Comment: @StephenKitt: I think it's much more likely that the OP just saw the port, thought (wrongly) "oh, it's RS-232, can I do anything with it?", and asked. But as I said, OP should clarify.
Comment: @dirkt: One could do screen captures of software which only runs on vintage hardware.
Answer: The Hercules / MDA plug is indeed the same physical as the RS-232 serial port (although 25 pin serial was also used) but the signals are very different. It's absurdly expensive to use this signal for anything these days as the only usage left is industrial but converters and even LCD monitors exist.
At one time, MDA to VGA/DVI boxes existed and I found a product called usb2isa which allowed plugging ISA cards into modern PCs via the USB bus but these seem to be not available any more.
Answer: A serial port (let's say 38,400 bits per second), besides being electrically incompatible with Hercules, is far too slow to handle the video bandwidth (720 bits x 348 bits x 50 frames per second = 12,528,000 bits per second).
Hercules is essentially an MDA-compatible monochrome card, and a GBS-8219 converts MDA to 800x600 VGA, so with that all you need is a USB video capture card that supports VGA input. But I think it will be cheaper to connect the GBS-8219 directly to a VGA monitor.
Or a Raspberry Pi supports up to about 14-20 MHz on its GPIO pins, so maybe you can write something to read the Hercules signal and display it on screen, then connect to it from your PC with VNC. Which, by the way, you could do through a USB serial adapter by running a SLIP server on your PC, but that would be silly.


How much did the Chinese Summer Palace cost to build?

Question: According to Wikipedia, Empress Cixi embezzled 30 million taels of silver from the modernization of Qing Navy to build the Summer Palace.  What is 30 million taels of silver equivalent to in modern USD?  Was the Summer Palace funded entirely by navy funds, or did it cost even more?
Comment: Anecdotally, I once read somewhere that CiXi included a lake with some sailboats as part of the palace package and said something like, "I didn't gut the navy, I just put it on royal grounds."
Comment: book announcement: this [book](http://www.amazon.com/Empress-Dowager-Cixi-Concubine-Launched/dp/0307271609) (to be published in October 2013) may contain the answer ...
Comment: When you effectively run a government that doesn't operate under Rule of Law, can redirecting its funds really be considered "embezzlement"?
Comment: @T.E.D. Sure, embezzled might not be the appropriate term if the government can legally do anything it wants.  Use the term "diverted" if you want.
Answer: With a little research: 1 Tael is equivalent with 37.5 or 33.9 or 37.8 g of silver, depends on region where it was issued.

The local tael also took precedence over any central measure, so the
  Canton tael weighed 37.5 grams, the Convention or Shanghai tael was
  33.9 g (1.09 oz troy), and the Customs or Hǎiguān (海關) tael 37.8 g (defined as 11⁄3 oz avoirdupois, about 1.22 oz troy)

Let's do the math: 30 million of taels are between 1017000 and 1134000 kilograms of silver. The wikipedia doesn't say the purity, but I found an another source from JSTOR which declares it was pretty pure, between .944 to .989 so if we count with 96% of the silver value, it will be accurate. The final lower sum is: 690 USD x 1017000 = 701 million USD, the higher is 690 USD x 1134000 = 782 million USD.
It is a huge sum of money with physical value today.
Take a note: this estimation is roughly implemented into current currency system. The value itself depends on current price of silver, which worth less compared to gold today than it worth several hundred years ago, so the actual objective value can be different.
Comment: @ChickenGod In 1897, the price of silver was [USD 0.60/oz](http://commodityhq.com/2012/a-brief-2000-year-history-of-silver-prices/). Assuming similar prices in China, the silver would have cost USD 24M back then. [This random calculator](http://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php) states that this amount would be worth around USD 666M of today's dollars. This is in the same ballpark as CsBalazsHungary's final figure.
Comment: @ChickenGod I afraid you won't get definite answer. Maybe a more accurate. The reasons: 1. the monetary system is completely different nowadays. 2. silver's amount and population is different today. 3. silver-gold value ratio is different. 4. there was no industrial use of silver (exc. jewelry) which alters the price. So if you ask the price in modern USD, you can get only estimations like I gave you.
Comment: Thanks for the answer!  However, I'm not looking for what the silver would be worth today.  I'm looking for what the silver would be worth back then in terms of today's USD, if such a metric is possible.  Nevertheless, your answer is very helpful!


According to Viśiṣṭādvaita, how does Ātman relate to Brahman?

Question: Apart from understanding the relationship between Ātman and Brahman, I'm also interested in the prescribed techniques & modes of realising and sustaining this understanding. please assume no access to qualified Guru.
Comment: Related: [The Theory of Relation as per Visistadvaita Philosophy](http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/12500/277)
Answer: So from what I understand there are 3 major schools of Vedanta: Advaita (pantheistic), Vishistadvaita (panentheistic), and Dvaitadvaita (dualistic).
In the past I have researched Advaita-Vedanta but recently I've become interested in learning more about Vishistadvaita, for I've always been pretty drawn to "panentheistic" philosophies, and Vishistadvaita sounds very panentheistic to me - The Universe exists in Ishvara and Ishvara in the Universe (Atman), but ultimately Ishvara transcends the Universe as well. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Vishistadvaita seems like a "middle ground" between Advaita (everything is literally pure Brahman), and the dualism of Dvadiata. By the way, please correct me if anything I've said is wrong.
God has two modes of being, as cause and as product. As cause, he is in his essence qualified only by his perfections. As product, he has as his body the souls and the phenomenal world. There is a pulsating rhythm in his periods of creation and absorption. For Ramanuja, release (moksha) is not a negative separation from transmigration, or a series of rebirths, but rather the joy of the contemplation of God. This joy is attained by a life of exclusive devotion (bhakti) to God, singing his praise, performing adulatory acts in temple and private worship, and constantly dwelling on his perfections. In return, God will offer his grace, which will assist the devotee in gaining release.
Vishishtadvaita flourished after Ramanuja, but a schism developed over the importance of God's grace. For the northern, Sanskrit-using school, known as the Vadakalai ("Monkey") school, God's grace in gaining release is important, but a human individual should make the best possible effort, as a baby monkey must hold fast to its mother. This school is represented by the thinker Venkatanatha, who was known by the honorific name of Vedantadeshika ("Teacher of Vedanta").
Well, you should start off with the Sri Bhasya by Ramanuja. If you want to get into a little bit of Visishtadvaitic theology, you should read the BG commentary by Ramanuja as well.
These are the references I can give for books.
Brahman alone exists, but is characterized by multiplicity - is the key concept of qualified dualism.
Ishvara (denoted by Vishnu-Narayana) is the Supreme Cosmic Spirit who maintains complete control over the Universe and all the sentient beings, which together also form the pan-organistic body of Ishvara. The triad of Ishvara along with the universe and the sentient beings is Brahman, which signifies the completeness of existence. Ishvara is Parabrahman endowed with innumerable auspicious qualities (Kalyana Gunas).

Shukla Yajur Veda 32.3

Ishvara is perfect, omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal, independent,
    the creator of the universe, its active ruler and also its eventual
    destroyer.

He is causeless, eternal and unchangeable — and is yet the material and the efficient cause of the universe and sentient beings. He is both immanent (like whiteness in milk) and transcendent (like a watch-maker independent of a watch). He is the subject of worship. He is the basis of morality and giver of the fruits of one's Karma. He rules the world with His Maya — His divine power.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.7.4-14

He who inhabits water, yet is within water, whom water does not know,
    whose body water is and who controls water from within - He is your
    Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal.
He who inhabits the sun, yet is within the sun, whom the sun does not
    know, whose body the sun is and who controls the sun from within - He
    is your Self, the Inner Controller, the Immortal.

Chit is the world of sentient beings, or of entities possessing consciousness. It is similar to the Purusha of Samkhya system. The sentient beings are called Jīvās and they are possessors of individual consciousness as denoted by "I". The scope of Chit refers to all beings with an "I" consciousness, or more specifically self-awareness. Therefore, all entities which are aware of their own individual existence are denoted as chit. This is called Dharmi-jnana or substantive consciousness. The sentient beings also possess varying levels of Dharma-bhuta-jnana or attributive consciousness
The jivas possess three different types of existence:

Nityas, or the eternally free Jivas who were never in Samsara.
  Muktas, or the Jivas that were once in Samsara but are free.
  Baddhas, or the Jivas which are still in Samsara
Comment: Nice answer, brother
Answer: According to Vishista advaita, individual atmas are many in number, and have a sarira-sariri relationship with the Supreme Brahman. (yasya atma sariram - To whom atma forms the body - Subala Upanishad/Brhadaranyaka Upanishad). The Supreme Lord is still advaita, i.e., one without a second, but what makes Him visishta is He is present along with the prakruti and atmas as His body. He is the sariri, or the possessor and the individual atmas and prakruti form His body (sarira). This relationship is called seshatva-jnanam, or knowledge of being the sesha (part) of the seshi (whole).
The prescribed techniques and modes of realizing seshatvam and sustaining this understanding are stated in the Bhagavad Gita. Two popular techniques for realizing this are karma yoga and jnana yoga, and of the two, Krishna favors karma yoga since it is more practical for one who is conditioned to work in a specific way. According to the karma yoga, one must perform one's prescribed duties according to the Vedic injunctions. Such performance should be devoid of three conceptions - that you are the proprietor (sanga), that you are the controller (kartrutva), and that you are the enjoyer of that work (phala). The work should be done simply as a worship of the Supreme Person with the understanding that the injunctions enjoined in the scriptures to different people are His will and by enacting His will, He will be pleased. By this, the Supreme Brahman will be pleased and He will free one from previous sins which stand in the way of sustaining this understanding. By such annulling of sins, one's mind becomes peaceful. Once the mind becomes peaceful, the senses will be controlled. In such a state of mind, it is possible to get to the stage of sthita-prajnata or sustained understanding of this relationship. (This is the essence of the second and third chapters of Bhagavad Gita). To develop further however, one must advance into bhakti yoga, for, only by bhakti one can reach the Supreme.  There are also Sampradaya specific ways, for instance, just chanting certain mantras can help one realize this and sustain this understanding, and for knowing these, one should approach a Guru. Any other way of knowing these may not give good results.


"Don't walk. Run." tag

Question: In the spirit of JeffE's frequent answer, do we need a "Don't walk. Run." tag. It really is such a simple and great answer and I could imagine wanting to easily find all the questions about things that should be run away from.
Comment: I'm not sure it's in the spirit of SE tags, but I like the idea :)
Comment: In the end this can cover everything in academia, if the advice was followed by enough people this would lead to lots of people running (probably in circles, while screaming) with no certain direction until they fall out of academia (for the good or for the bad). I think we would also need a tag: "Keep calm and ___" to compensate.
Answer: I like JeffE's "Don't walk. Run." phrase too.
However, it is not a good candidate for a tag as:

it describes an answer, not a questions,
it is a subjective, meta-tag.

On the other hand, IMHO adding a tag like personal-conflicts or interpersonal-issues would be beneficial.
Comment: I think "[tag:abuse]" would be a better choice for tag.
Comment: I agree (except for the first sentence).  I like JeffE's "Don't walk. Run." comment.  But I don't see the relevance of making it a tag.
Comment: Also, wouldn't we then have to delineate "Don't walk, run.", "Don't walk. Run." and "Don't walk. RUN!!!" tags?
Comment: @JoelReyesNoche Sorry, I meant "I like [...] _phrase_ too.". Clarified.

"Don't walk. Run." tag


What is the plural form of "magic"?

Question: Wiktionary claims it is "magics", from how I read its page, but e.g. Ask.com claims it has no plural form. Considering that Wiktionary also claims that it is "usually uncountable", are there only certain situations it has a plural form in?
Comment: @nnnnnn: Most of those people seem to be either fantasy authors who are too cool to spell anything the same way as anyone else, or people who claim to be able to use various magicks themselves.
Comment: @NathanTuggy - Yes I know. I was trying not to let my opinion of those people show through too much, but...well...my opinion of them is low. I enjoy fantasy novels, but I dislike when authors use non-standard spellings for standard concepts. Still, "magicks" with a "k" is common in certain circles.
Comment: Some people say "magicks" with a "k" (which is supposed to differentiate between stage magic and "real" magic).
Comment: The Wiktionary link is irrelevant since no actual usage examples are given.
Comment: Some words, like "water" have both unquantifiable forms (e.g. "that's a lot of water") and quantifiable forms (e.g. "there are many waters").
Comment: @nnnnnn "Magicks" is probably from the Middle English "Magik" or "Magike". It's used by people who want their text to seem deliberately arcane or ancient.
Answer: If you're referring to the idea in general, it's not countable. There's nothing to count. "Someone who practices magic", "friendship is magic", or "magic powers this device" would all fit this pattern.
However, if you're referring to some specific kind, it's countable. So "the magics of necromancy and enchantment" is legitimate: it's referring to two different but related things. (Similarly, "the peoples of England and Scotland" refers to each separate group of people, and "the monies allocated were spent primarily in two ways" does the same thing for "money".) This is not a very common usage, though, since for most purposes there's really no reason to make a distinction between different kinds of something that's imaginary anyway.
Or here's another example:

Ain's machine was built under the Black Spike surrounded by deep water, a work of genius tainted by madness. They had called it the Sixth Magic. No matter its power; it was flawed and unclean from the beginning. Mael's last accomplishment was supposed to elevate the magics above the stain of Ain's madness.

(Source: The Seventh Magic)
Comment: Do you have a reference for using "magics"? I would still use *magic* since each of them could be mass nouns.
Comment: @user3169 Consider if there are two different stories that each have completely different magics with different internal logic, different capabilities, different ways they're acquired, and so on. Unless there's a single word that describes the ways they differ, you have no choice but to use a plural. You can't say "different types of magic" because they don't differ only in the type of magic they are, they differ in other ways too.
Comment: @DavidSchwartz: Good point. I suspect (without having read much of the book) that my last example is such a case.
Answer: Alan and Nathan have both answered this, I'm only adding some references
Magic is, indeed, an uncountable noun.
However, an instance of magic is singular and so has often been made plural with the addition of an S.
Kipling writing in Strand Magazine in 1906

What's that for—magic?' said Una... 'One of my little magics,' he answered. - sourced from the OED

Another example from the OED

...you keep bumping into these small magics — things people would like to believe, just as we'd all rather like to believe in haunted houses and water witching

As for the other conversation about magick or magik- it pre-dates the now standard spelling
Chaucer, back around the turn of the 14th century

Clerkes eke, which konne wel Al this magik naturel..thrugh which magik To make a man ben hool or syk.

Shakespeare himself was a bit of a fan of Magick (all from 1st folio spellings c1623)

Magick Verses haue contriu'd his end. - Henry VI part 1
There's Magick in thy Maiestie - Winter's tale
And plucke my Magick garment from me - The Tempest

And, an example in the plural...

Bring your Magicks, Spels, and Charmes, To enflesh my thighs, and armes. From Robert Herrick's Hesperedes
Answer: The plural form of magic is magics.
Magic is usually used as a mass or non-count or uncountable (pick a term) noun, so it will usually be used in the singular.
Sometimes words we think are only used as a mass noun, such as money and imagination can be used as count nouns, so it cannot be said  that you'll never see magics.
Magical arts is a close equivalent.
Answer: In most common usage "magic" is an uncountable noun. Using the word "magics" generally implies a context of a specific religious/fictional belief-structure that has internally-defined concepts of different kinds of magic
For example: As an outsider witnessing a group preforming four magic-rituals I would probably refer to the four rituals collectively as "magic". A member of the group might refer to the first three rituals as "spirit magic", but they may refer the four rituals as "magics" if they believed the fourth ritual to be a distinct class of "earth magic". The next day I might say "They showed by their magics", but using the word "magics" implies that they told me they were "magics", and that I am speaking from the internal viewpoint of their belief system, although it does not imply that I share their belief. I am merely speaking in a specific context of their beliefs.

What is the plural form of "magic"?


How to diagnose Firefox freezes

Question: How can I find what is causing Firefox to periodically freeze?
Comment: @Hello71: Just for the records: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8724/how-to-deal-with-google-questions
Comment: different os's different techniques, whats your os?
Comment: Try using a different profile, see if it freezes. (Google "create new firefox profile")
Answer: The most common reason for Firefox 'freezing' for a short amount of time is an extension compatibility problem.
The first thing I'd suggest is disabling all your current extensions and perhaps even your plug-ins. Then see what happens. If you find everything works, just re-enable your extensions/plug-ins one by one and test.
Answer: Are there any sites that you notice are up when it freezes?
Try running the NoScript plugin which may stop Firefox from freezing.
Answer: By freezes you may be referring to flash video freezing for a second or so. That's a known Firefox bug relating to how it periodically saves the list of open tabs.
Answer: Firefox without extensions should be stable. Disable all extensions to see if this is a problem of the extensions or interaction with your system or programs.
To disable all extensions, you may fun Firefox with <code>--profilemanager</code> parameters.
If this helps for the freezes, enable the plugins one by one, and see which one causes the problems (restarting each time).
Answer: Maybe your resources are depleted.
Possible solution:

Try an add-on called AFOM, a memory recovery tool for Windows Firefox.
Try to install StatusBarEx to see how many resources are used. Normally Firefox won't use more than 200 MB of RAM.
Use Windows Task Manager to check how much free RAM left. If less than 50 MB, consider upgrading RAM or close other unnecessary programs / services.

I hope it helps!
Answer: Firefox uses a lot of resources, and I would only recommend its usage to web developers for its great plugins and extensions. If you are not a web developer, use Chrome.
Answer: Periodically freeze? It sounds a little weird. Do you watch a lot of videos? Or visit sites with Java applets? Java applets cause it to freeze the most, especially if the applet is big enough to download.
Firefox keeps trying to run it, but it finds the applet hasn't been downloaded completely, hence it freezes. Once the download is over, the Java execution starts. On old machines Java is slow.
You haven't given any extra clues, so can't say anything specific.
And yeah, it can be also due to infinitely looping JavaScript code on some websites.
This usually happens when you visit a site made purely for Internet Explorer and try to mask as Internet Explorer using the UserAgentSwitcher addon; some JavaScript code also contain malware.

How to diagnose Firefox freezes


How to Design Nonlinear Phase FIR Filter?

Question: I've recently encountered a rather clever low-pass filter that appears to have been designed to sacrifice uniform group delay in the pass-band to get better frequency response relative to the filter length. What methods are available to design FIR filters that maximize frequency performance relative to length while allowing phase to become nonlinear (but still continuous) in the pass-band?
Comment: Making a FIR have non-linear phase, with the same number of taps, will not improve its frequency characteristics, while halving the number will only make it worse (it approximates the square of the magnitude). IIRs have (much) better frequency response and they're more varied. I would recommend sticking to IIRs if non-linear phase is not an issue, but that's just me.
Comment: Are you talking about filters with a *prescribed* non-linear phase (e.g., an approximately linear in the pass band, but with reduced delay), or don't you care about the phase as long as magnitude specs are satisfied?
Comment: @Matt As long as there are no discontinuities, any systematic phase response in the passband is okay, as it can be compensated for with offline prefiltering.
Answer: Although not a comprehensive list, the following are filter algorithms available in Matlab for designing non-linear phase FIR filters:
firlpnorm: Nonlinear phase equiripple or least squares, uses Lp norm: for equiripple filters p = infinity, for least squares p =2.
cfirpm: complex and nonlinear phase equiripple filters.
See the Matlab documentation for full details on how to design non-linear phase using these algorithms.
Answer: One way to make a non-linear out of a FIR means solving for the zeroes, keeping only the inside/outside ones, then rebuilding the impulse response, and all this with equiripple filters due to the method of adding a DC to the middle coefficient (this for both same-N, and half-N filters). But this can be extended to non-equiripple filters, as well, see Minimum phase FIR method, for example. My recommendation remains: IIRs are a better investment in terms of computing power, for the same, or better results, particularly since you, yourself, say that you will compensate the phase distortion afterwards. Of course, you have the last saying.
Answer: check this out: DSP Trick: Using Parks-McClellan to Design a Non-Linear Phase FIR Filter
if you need me to explain it, lemme know in a comment and i will come back and try to be explicit about it.


How to compile Torque 2D with TGB Platformer Kit on Mac OS X 10.7?

Question: I'm trying to recompile Torque-2d (or even Torque) with the TGB Platformer kit on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) using Xcode and it just doesn't compile. I tried following the instructions from the developer but it didn't work, it complains about some functions that are deprecated.
Answer: probably too late but the setting for it to work is:
SDK = MACOSX 10.4
compiler = GCC4.0 (will not work with 4.2, yet 4.0 is not available in newer xcode4 without hacking)
C language dialect = C99


troubleshooting SMTP

Question: I am trying to set up SMTP to deliver outbound messages on a server running Windows 2008 on Virtual PC.  When I try and create a test message, it just gets stuck in the queue.
I tried turning on a log file by going to admin tools -> IIS 6.0 Manager, then accessing the properties, and enabling logging, which says I can find my logfiles in a system32 subdirectory... but when I send out some mail that gets stuck in the queue, I don't see any logfile created at the specified location.  Any ideas how to go about debugging this problem?
Im a newbie to managing servers, so I'm not sure where I should be looking for logfile information, so please point me to any other locations with logfiles that will be helpful.  If you have any ideas what might be the actual problem, that would be appreciated as well.

Edit:
It may be because I am trying to set this up on my home computer, and my ISP blocks outbound email servers.  Is there a way to set up SMTP to just forward emails to my ISP?  For instance, should I add smtp.comcast.net as a domain name in the relay?  What are my options?
Answer: Have you added your host to the allowed relay list?

Check out this guide, it will help you set up logging for the SMTP virtual server as well as adding yourself to the list.

troubleshooting SMTP


How exactly does buying directly from Westvleteren work?

Question: Even if I managed to reserve some beer, it appears here that I need my own car, or at least one whose plate # I will know long in advance to pick up beer.  Has anyone done this?  What is the exact procedure?
Comment: Later today ill answer your question. Been there done that ;).
Comment: Thanks, all good answers. I know I am supposed to accept but it doesn't seem remember me . Phil, do you suppose you can always use your ID rather than license plate ( the issue is, can I do it in a rented car ) or is it because you were a repeat customer ?
Answer: I live in Amsterdam, and I have not personally been to Westvleteren but I have friends who have made the trip. It turns out that you have a few options:

You can call and make an appointment and IF you get an
appointment then you must drive there at the appointed time to pick
up your crate of bier. If you can't make it at the appointed time
then you lose out, and you must start the process all over again. I
forget how much bier this is for, but I think it is 24-48 bottles. Indeed when you make the appointment then you must supply your license place number which they use to keep track of you. They will not allow you to make 2 appointments with the same license plate number in a 60 day period. Additionally, the phone number you must call to get an appointment is always busy, I have heard of people using automatic redial for hours before they finally get through.
If you are in the area (again you will need a car, because there is no public transport, and biking there is unreasonable from most places.) You can pop in and there is a small shop next to the monastery where you can buy a 6 pack per person without appointment, and also with out a huge price markup. Of course while you are there you can also eat some good food, and buy other items that the monks make and sell. This is much less hassle, but you cannot get much bier, so it may not be worth trekking all the way out there specifically for this.  However if you are in the area already and you have the time to take a small detour then you should certainly pop in for lunch or dinner and get some tasty brew.
Finally if you are in the Benelux region you can sometimes find Westvleteren in local shops or cafes, however the prices range from 10-16 euros per bottle (in Amsterdam) which is a lot more than you will pay at the monastery. (However, beer bought at the monastery isn't meant for selling, it's meant for private consumption, it says so every time you buy some)
Comment: I have done this twice and I would like to add my thoughts: The most difficult part is the phone part to make the appointment. I tried it twice. The first time I called for a whole day (about 150 calls) before I finally have them. The seconde time my girlfriend and I called for a day and a half (about 250 calls) to have an answer. I suggest that you prepare yourself for that :)
Comment: Also, you can't chose which beer you will have, it depends on the week as Valentin Grégoire said : http://www.sintsixtus.be/bierverkoopactueel.htm You should try to have the 8 or the 12, the blond is more "classic" When you are there, try the In De Vrede Inn near the monastery, you may be able to buy some more. And I advise you to try their Westvleteren Paté wich is quite awesome :)
Comment: You have to wonder how much of the process is intentional in order to inflate their mystique, and consequently their demand. I've had a handful of Westvlet 12's, and it's barely distinguishable from Rochefort 10 which I can get my hands on pretty easily on the regular.
Answer: In addition to what Chris has answered, here are some nice to knows:
To see which beer is available at which time etc, look at this page:
http://www.sintsixtus.be/bierverkoopactueel.htm
In addition to the 60 days you need to wait for your license plate, also your phone number will be blocked once you made an order for the beer.
Callers with an anonymous phone number will be blocked automatically.
One crate of 24 bottles costs:

Trappist Westvleteren Blond      (5,8 vol.% alc.)    30,00 euro
Trappist Westvleteren Acht (dark)    (8 vol.% alc.)      35,00 euro
Trappist Westvleteren Twaalf (dark)  (10,2 vol.% alc.)   40,00 euro

The Trappist Westvleteren Twaalf is the dark beer that won several prizes and is world famous.
In my opinion, the Blond and the Acht are a bit overrated (opinion!!).
You could in fact go by buss, but that would be really complicated and almost impossible to do, so indeed it's better to go by car/taxi.
In the end, if you think it's not worth it, you could try the St. Bernardus Abt 12 beer. It's is brewed almost the exact same way and it tastes pretty much the same.
The Sint Bernardus Abt 12 is basically for sale throughout whole Belgium in every big grocery store (or beer/drink shop).
In addition to the abbey, you can also buy the beer in the café/restaurant nearby. However, depending which beer is left over, that beer will be for sale and you can only buy 1 pack of 6 bottles per person (if there would be any left!).
You could also just go there and sit and enjoy a Westvleteren there because they sell them there :).
You could also buy glasses and some other souvenirs at the café. They have a little shop.
If you have any questions in addition, please don't hesitate!
Comment: I wouldn't say Rochefort is similar to Westvleteren. In my opinion it tastes completely different. Good beer though!
Answer: Just returned  from the abbey after collecting some westy 12
Being as I was going in friends car the monk takes your name and used that instead of car reg is on his paperwork
The monk also asked me if my car reg was still the same! Must put car reg numbers to phone numbers from the last time we managed to get a booking . Clever monks
While there we collected another 12 bottles each from the inn they had all 3 for sale
And yes it is worth seeking out
We drove over 700mile round trip from UK to collect
Comment: Nice road trip! :)
Answer: Another thing to note is try and use a car if you are going for the simple six pack.  If you don't you can rent bikes from Hotel Palace? I believe in the center market. The hotel isn't open on Sundays.