How to shoot a party scene with few people?

Question: I have about 7 people and need to give the feel of 20. I'm using a long lens, any tips or solutions?
Answer: I agree with @DrMayhem, but I have a few things to add.
You only need one or two establishing shots that show the whole group.  The audience will continue believing that you're in a room full of people after you show it to them once.  For the establishing shot(s), you can shoot the same people, wearing different clothes & accessories, in front of a green screen.  Make sure the lighting and the height of the camera will match with the lighting and camera height in your party setting.  When shooting the group in front of the green screen, position them closer to the camera.  Then shoot the same people again in the actual party setting, farther from the camera.  In post-production, layer the green screen footage of the people over the actual party setting, and it will give the impression of twice as many people.  You can also do 2 "layers" of green screen footage, with the same actors 5-10 feet farther away from the camera, in front of the green screen (and wearing different clothes, hats, glasses, wigs, etc.).
For the rest of the scene, you can use medium and close-up shots.  Include people on the edges of the shot, and passing through the shot, and behind the main actors, to make the audience feel as though there's a whole party going on outside the frame they're looking at.
For the end of the scene, you may want to show the establishing shot (green-screened) again, to "bookend" the scene.
The scene's audio will help "sell" the illusion. Layer additional voices (not more than the number of party-goers!) and various party noises.
I did a cheaper version of the green screen trick in the middle of YouTube video, to make a conference room look full of people even though I only had 3 actors. The establishing shot only lasts for a second, and the action draws the viewer's eye away from the fact that the "people" in the chairs around the table are actually just still pictures I overlaid in post.  Here's the link if you want to see the vid.  The effect shot comes shortly after the 32-second mark, but it's more convincing if you start watching at 0:32 (or at the beginning).
Answer: I came up with another idea. This works if there is one main character in the scene.  Let's call him/her Chris.
1) Start with an exterior shot of the house where the party is. Party sounds emanate from it (muffled of course). It sounds as though there are 20-30 people in the party.
2) Start in one room of the house, with the camera on Chris.  Chris walks through the other 5 people in that room who are busy partying, then passes through a doorway.
3) In another room (the kitchen?), Chris walks through 5 "more" people partying. It's actually the same 5 extras.
4) In the final room where the scene will take place, Chris pushes through 5 "more" people partying and finally starts the conversation with the other person in the scene.
In each of those rooms, the party-goers are disguised.  They're wearing different costumes, wigs, hats and glasses.  Some are on high heels; some are squatting to appear shorter.  The camera only catches the sides of faces and the backs of heads, so no full faces are recognizable from shot to shot.  And in each room, the audio is layered to sound like there are 4 times as many people in the room.
Answer: I have 3 possible options:
You can do this in post-production.
Alternatively, if you can keep a tight shot (ie head and shoulders of one or two foreground individuals) you can use your other cast members in the back/foreground - as layers. As long as you don't stray outside that area, you should be able to imply a few layers of party goers.
And my preferred option - ask some folks to be extras. Round up a bunch of friends/acquaintances who may do it for free/couple of beers/small amounts of money.


What's the point of signing "SEE ID" on the back of my credit card?

Question: I remember in college that we were told to not sign the signature strip on the back of the card, but instead to write "SEE ID", meaning see the signature on our driver's license. Is this a valid security practice that I should still be doing?
Answer: Writing "see ID" on the back isn't a good practice nor recommended by any credit card company.  The space for a signature on the back is for you to sign that you agree with the credit card company that you authorize the purchases and will pay back debts incurred by the card, not to allow the merchant to use as a reference for your signature.  Technically if you don't sign it (e.g., if you write "see ID"), your card isn't valid and the merchant could refuse to accept it at all, with or without ID.
Even if comparing signatures was the purpose of that space, as a practical matter either it would be useless.  Our signatures on those electronic things or on receipts generally look nothing like whatever is scribbled on our cards.  No one ever compares signatures to what's on the card.  They also don't read whatever you have written instead of a signature.
My wife has always written "see ID" on her cards and doesn't care that it's wrong on every level.  Clerks never ask for her ID.  In fact, I believe they are not supposed to.
Comment: I did both, sign and say "Ask for photo ID." Occasionally someone does so, but...
Comment: Electronic signatures are actually matched on criteria other than appearance, I believe.
Comment: @keshlam Let's be clear about what we are saying.  There is such a thing as an "electronic signature," which is a cryptographic proof of something's origin/identity.  That's not what we are talking about here.  We are talking about the signature pad on a credit card machine.  Those are not there to verify your identity and are not matched against anything.  You can just write a circle, a squiggle, an X, or someone else's name.  Doesn't matter.  By writing something you enter into an agreement with the CC company, just like signing the back of your card. That's it.
Answer: The goal is to ask folks to validate your identity using something a bit harder to forge than a signature. Driver's licenses and other government-issued ID often carry a photo and have anti-forgery measures designed into them, and the potential legal consequences of forging one of those (if anyone goes to the trouble) may be more severe than for simply forging a signature.
But many stores ignore this request; many, in fact, don't bother checking the signature at all. So it isn't at all clear this actually decreases the risk of a stolen card being used. And the protections on credit cards limit how much the cardholder is liable for, so outside of the annoyance factor the risk is really to the store more than to the cardholder.
It's a reasonable idea, it just doesn't work as well as expected.
Comment: I love it when the clerk flips it over like they are looking at the sig panel then hands it back to me. Never even noticing the See ID there. Just going through the motions
Comment: @Eric , they are probably checking if it is a real credit card. You often get advertisement (snail-)mails with dummy credit cards that look like real on the front but are blank on the back.
Comment: @Aganju - if it isn't a real card then the transaction would be denied (or wouldn't even get that far), so there's no need for a clerk to try to determine if the card is real. I would guess they're going through the motions of checking the signature as Eric suspected.


Should I buy a dedicated microphone for recording?

Question: I am currently using a blue Snowball microphone for most of my recording, although I mainly only use it to talk to other people. When recording stuff like guitars and vocals is it better to buy a microphone that is more meant for that as well as an audio interface which can be quite expensive, or is it better if I just continue using this blue snowball which seems to have been fine for me so far?
Comment: What kind of recording are you doing?
Answer: If you want to improve your sound quality in recordings then yes, you do need to get a dedicated microphone, and ideally get an audio interface.
The standard workhorse mic is the Shure SM58, both on tour and in studios. It's relatively cheap and incredibly robust, and can be used for vocals, acoustic instruments, mic'ing up speaker cabs and even drums - although there are microphones for each of these specific use cases that are better for that purpose, none are as good across everything.
But you may not need it. If you are happy with the sound you currently get, then stick with it unless you have a reason to upgrade.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Comment: Having been spoiled with a U87 for years, I was really surprised last week when I had to record a live vocal on camera for an audition piece, so had to dig the SM58 out. It only took the tiniest bit of shaping before I was happy with it. I'd quite forgotten how useful they can be... & I got the gig, new movie starts filming this week :-))
Comment: Awesome! Best of luck with that!
Answer: Getting a better quality mic and an audio interface would certainly improve the sound quality of your recordings. But whether or not you need to improve the quality of your recordings is really up to you to decide. If your recordings are just for yourself and you're using them as a way to log your progress, or to critique your own playing, etc. then the mic you currently have is fine as long as you're happy with it.
However, if you are recording songs with the intention of releasing them to others like online or locally then you should strongly consider upgrading your recording equipment.
Comment: Thank you. The one last question is, would upgrading have a significant difference?
Comment: Yes, absolutely. Even when you already have decent equipment upgrading to higher end (usually more expensive) equipment can still improve the quality significantly. Professional studios put a lot of money into microphones, mic preamps, interfaces, effects, etc. for that very reason. Every one of these things will add to the overall quality of your recordings. It just depends on how far you want to go with it and what kind of a budget you have.
Comment: Will using [this mic that I found](https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Professional-Broadcasting-Recording-Microphone/dp/B00XBQ8UGG/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=andrhuan01-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=464c7c6be0c095f9f4cb3831b5aac603&creativeASIN=B00XBQ8UGG) improve it a lot?
Comment: I've never heard of that brand, but I found some comments regarding it and it sounds very questionable as the quality control on them appears to be pretty terrible. A user on gearslutz said he got a great one and ordered a 2nd but that one was terrible, returned it and the 3rd one was also terrible: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/1163897-opinions-about-neewer-microphones.html How much are you looking to spend for the interface and mic?
Comment: I bought one of those just so I'd be armed for the million questions you see about them. btw, you can get them even cheaper than that, I paid £11, free posting. They're often called BM-800 & are all made in the same factory, whatever name is on them. You *must* get a proper balanced mic cable & phantom power unit to get them to work properly. After that, they're surprisingly good for a tenner, but they'll win no awards. Dr Mayhem's recommended SM58 industry standard workhorse would be a better bet, imo.
Answer: The Snowball isn't disasterously bad.  But there's no point in swapping it for another 'dirt cheap' microphone.   Your next step up might be the Samson CO1U (if you want to stick with a USB mic) or the CO1 plus an audio interface. THere are others to look at too at that price point.
But be aware that the price of competent audio gear keeps falling.  And the difference in sound between 'competent' and 'top class' may be less than you imagine (or hope).   More than ever 'It ain't about the gear'.


Does Babylon's wonder count for scientific structure victory points?

Question: In 7 Wonders, do the science symbols on Babylon's wonder mat count for victory points? Say I've built the second level of the A side and I have no other science symbols. Do I get one point for each of the three symbols and seven for the 1 set of three symbols?
Comment: Regarding your question about the "set of three", as a general rule any card with yellow `/` between the symbols means you choose ONE of them, you don't get all of them.
Answer: Babylon's A second stage (or B's third stage) allows you to get one scientific symbol of your choice at the end of the game, if you have built it. If you do, it counts for the scientific points. It works exactly like the Scientific purple card "Scientists' Guild".
Example: you have 4 "Gear" green cards and build Babylon's 2nd stage. You can convert it to a 5th "Gear" at the end of the game and earn a total of 25 points for 5 same green cards.
Comment: Yes. Page 8: "*The Hanging Gardens of Babylon; at the end of the game, the player gains an extra scientific symbol of their choice. Clarification : the choice of symbol is made at the end of the game, when counting victory points, and not when this stage of the Wonder is built.*"
Comment: Is this specified in the rules? I found them slightly unclear.


Is that really good for the body to eat a lot of small meals instead of three regular meals?

Question: It is often explained that bodybuilders eat many small meals a day to have a regular intake of calories and macronutrients.
I wonder if this is really good for the digestive system to have a full digestion process running all the time and if there is an optimal amount of meals ?
Answer: The short answer is, no it's not strictly better, but...

While eating 6 meals over 3 meals is technically not a requirement, it's all about the nutritional value you actually consume. What I mean under that:
It is all about the amount of micros and macros that you actually consume within the 3 meals as opposed to the proposed 6.  However, with an average human, who recently started regularly working out and is living off 3 meals, chances are, he/she is usually under-eating in terms of calories and other nutrients, so you need to start eating more, that however proposes an issue to most people, even thought they won't initially realize.
Why it's recommended to eat 6 meals as opposed to 3:

You will not be used, to eating that much food. If you simply increase portion size, you will often feel sick and even nauseous from eating a meal, that is often twice the size you would regularly eat prior. On the other hand, if you eat 6 meals a day, your portion sizes will be relatively small, making it much easier to digest
Your body will crave more food, given you recently started working out, your body will need more fuel. If you even accidentally under-eat with 3 meals, you will often crave more food - not large enough for another full meal, just something the right size - oh right... unhealthy snacks!!
Being new to dieting, you often will miscalculate portion sizes, micros and macros early on. Nothing to be ashamed of, it happens, issue is, if you increase portion sizes rather than eat more often, this can cause spikes in your blood sugar levels given you've over-eaten a certain condiment.
Energy levels  - given your body has more constant intake throughout the day, it gets better at distributing the consumed energy throughout the day, rather than having to store and save what you hoard from the 3 meals. In result, you will feel more energized and potentially even happier throughout the day.
Motivation - this last point is subjective - but at least personally speaking, when I used to wing it and eat 3 meals, I often could keep up with my diet plan and daily calory intake, however after a month or two, I had trouble keeping up and slowly but surely gave up on diet plan altogether. At least personally speaking, I find it much easier to stick to a diet if you have strict eating times (for example I even set alarms) - this way I always make sure to eat the right portion, without craving food throughout the day and can easily stick to my goals.

That being said, if you feel like you are disciplined enough to eat 3 meals a day and successfully stick to your diet plan, then there's no reason for 6 meals. But to a novice athlete, it usually helps a lot to divide your meals into a more realistic/achievable plan.
Also one last note, 6 is not some magical optimal number.
It can be 5, it can be 7. depending on how often you have time to eat or even feel like eating. In the end, it's all about what you consume (nutritional quality) and in which quantity (calories, protein, carbs, etc.)!
Answer: Meal timing is generally going to be important for sport competitors, but not so much for everyone else. For everyone else, only daily values matter. Individuals will find that certain eating patterns are more useful for them in reaching their goals.
Eating six times a day isn't problematic for the digestive system, nor is eating once a day. Your food choices have the potential to cause problems though (for example too much sugar, spice, volume, or something else all at once). Something else to keep in mind is how strenuous activity impacts a full stomach, most people don't perform well on a full stomach as it usually takes an hour or so to settle.
Answer: I believe there are two main reasons in favour of more regular, smaller meals:

There's less chance that at any point you are starving your body of nutrients that it needs for growth and recovery.

For example, suppose you ate just one meal in the morning containing all your daily calories. Even if the meal has a good balance of macronutrients (protein, fats, carbs), your body can only hold onto this for a few hours, before converting it to fat or excreting it. If you don't train until the evening, you won't feel the energy benefits of that meal when you train and it will be hard to get the most from your workout.

Eating small, healthy meals regularly will keep you feeling full and helps to avoid snacking on bad foods.

I know if I skip my mid-morning protein shake, by 11 am I'm craving food and might resort to crisps or chocolate as a snack. This unbalances my macros and makes my diet less healthy. Of course, with willpower you can avoid snacking, but if your body tells you its hungry, then better to provide it with some small amount of good calories than nothing at all.


Euler-Lagrange Dynamic model

Question: I'm working on a masters thesis and need to calculate Mass inertia matrix ($M$), Coriolis/Centrifugal matrix ($C$), and the gravity matrix ($G$) in the equation $M\ddot{\theta} + C\theta + G = \tau$ (to get the dynamic model).
I'm trying to calculate PD control in matlab, but I'm unsure if I need to calculate $M$, $C$, $G$ for every orientation of the robot as it moves.
I assume so, but I don't want to code it and then find out I didn't need to.
Please advise.
Comment: You have to compute them. Have a look at this [example](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/11400/constrained-second-angle-double-pendulum/11444#11444) and [this](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/9967/how-to-further-understand-the-computed-torque-model-controller/9977#9977).
Answer: You haven't included a diagram of your robot, so I don't know how big or complex these matrices are to calculate, but I would argue that you might not need to constantly recalculate the values if your controller isn't sensitive to the parameter changes.
At the master's level, I would hope you have a good grasp on dynamics and kinematics and would be able to know what the "best" and "worst" case scenarios are for loading on your joint(s). For example, an arm that is fully extended would provide maximal torque to a shoulder joint, and arm that is curled up would provide the minimal torque to the shoulder joint.
Calculate your matrices at the nominal or average use case, then calculate your gains for that case. Then, calculate your matrices at the minimum and maximum use cases and compare performance with the nominal gains. This is referred to as a sensitivity analysis.
If you can prove that there is a "negligible" difference in performance between the min/max cases when you use the nominal control gains, then you're in the clear. If you fail this test (if there is a "non-negligible" difference in performance) then you need to calculate the system parameters in order to maintain satisfactory performance.

A couple notes:

Be careful with PD control - the integral term I is what eliminates steady-state error. Derivative control is highly sensitive to noise.
If you're going to go through the effort of modelling the system ("plant"), then you may want to consider using a more advanced control mechanism like a state feedback controller.
On that note, also be careful with the state feedback controllers - they are for use with Linear, Time-Invariant (LTI) systems. LTI means that your model must be linear and the only thing that is allowed to change with respect to time is the state vector. I would suggest you look at LQR control for nonlinear systems.
Finally, with regards to calculating the new matrices with every orientation, I would suggest you read more about Jacobian matrices. The Jacobian is basically a vector of vectors (matrix) that gives the mathematical expression for how a particular value changes when the underlying parameters change. It's a matrix of partial differentials, and you can use it to find how each of your control matrices changes when things like the joint angles change. A change of XX percent on a particular joint causes a YY percent change in your matrix, etc.
Comment: One can also design a controller for the system linearized at some point and then use something like a Lyapunov function to check stability for all other states.
Comment: @fibonatic - true, but there's an ocean between stability and desired performance.

Euler-Lagrange Dynamic model


Playing a video using VLC

Question: I have a model B Pi and have installed the newest version of VLC. When I try to play a ten-second video file (.avi format) the VLC window opens with the orange logo then after few seconds it turns all black and the window is closed automatically. What may be causing this and how do I solve it? Alternatively are there any suggestions for another video player to try?
Answer: Use omxplayer which is already installed on the Pi and performs much better, because it uses the GPU. It is actually the core of the RASPBMC Media Centre.
NOTE omxplayer runs from the command line.
Comment: +1, newer builds have support for subtitles and multiple audio streams. In my experience, it plays most .mkvs without a hiccup.
Answer: https://github.com/brainfoolong/omxwebgui-v2
Above is the link so that you could have a Graphical User Interface (GUI) with OMXplayer. Wonderful!!

Playing a video using VLC


Is ISAAC considered secure as a cryptographic random number generator?

Question: The ISAAC site claims it is secure, but I wasn't aware of any trusted 3rd party sources that verified its security.
Answer: I had a short look at the page - it contains only some implementations, no specification.
The page ISAAC and RC4 from the same author contains some theoretical elaboration about ISAAC and its relatives IA and IBAA, but I'm not sure if this can be called specification.
Non-existence of a formal specification is a major drawback for anything which claims to be a serious cryptographic algorithm, and might be the deciding reason that nobody really looked at the security of this primitive.
So my recommendation would be to use other, better documented algorithms instead, if security is of importance (and not only speed).
Comment: Hi could you elaborate on "other, better documented algorithms"? Any suggestions for non experts?
Answer: It's actually fairly good.  Unlike the previous post it was actually published in Fast software encryption about 15 years ago.  It's still being looked at actively and has held up fairly well.  The best attack against it was done by Auasson in 08.  The major issue is on the way which it is initially seeded.
ISAAC has been partially superseeded by ISAAC+ to deal with some of the issues Aumasson pointed out.  It still works fairly well.
For random number generators you can't really "verify" you can say it looks pretty good.
Comment: note, the difference is only that the first output is biased, the isaac+ algorithm is to simply discard the first set of output after initialization, and the bias goes away. (which is actually done in the reference implementation on the website iirc)


Could airliners fetch data like AoA and speed from an INS?

Question: If I understood what an inertial navigation system (INS) is, it should be able to calculate speed and orientation of the aircraft.
If this is possible, why do airliners solely rely on sensors to measure speed and angle of attack (AoA)?
Comment: Since your title references AoA, the body of your question should too-- since this would arguably be more challenging to derive purely from INS, than the other items you mentioned.  (Consider what happens to AoA in a sudden encounter with mountain wave lift for example.)  Note that AoA and "orientation" are not the same.
Comment: The "inertial" part of the INS is just another sensor.  The "system" part of the INS blends ALL sensor inputs to come up with the most accurate navigation solution...
Comment: @quietflyer I agree. I took the liberty to add it to the question in the body.
Answer: An INS gives your speed & orientation in space, but without reference to what the airmass that you're flying in is doing.
The Pitot tube and AOA sensors give speed and pitch orientation in relation to the local airmass, only.
An indicated airspeed of 60 knots, measured by the Pitot tube, may correspond to a stationary aircraft pointed into 60 knots of wind, or an aircraft moving 30 knots over the ground into a 30 knot headwind, or 60 knots of groundspeed in still air, or some other case.  The wings fly (and stall) relative to the air, not the ground, so measurements of air data are vital.
Comment: Drift will impede the speed values over time, so INS data can be relied on for short-term uses only.
Answer: The question mentions Speed and Orientation which are broad terms that could include:
Group1:
(Air Data sensor + computation)
IAS - Indicated Air Speed
CAS - Calibrated Air Speed
EAS - EquivalentAir Speed.
TAS - True Air Speed
AoA - Angle of Attack
(HDG(M) - Magnetic Heading)^^
Group2a      :
(Inertial/Rate sensor + computation)
GS - Ground Speed
HDG(T) - True Heading^^
TRK - Track
FPV - Flight Path Vector
and
Group2b
(also, Inertial/Rate sensor + computation)
ATT - Attitude (Pitch, Roll, Yaw)
We use the above data for 2 basic purposes:
(i) AIRPLANE FLIGHT & PERFORMANCE dependent on Group1 and Group2b data.
(ii) NAVIGATION dependent on Group2a data.
Some of what you state is possible, and already in use, using Inertial/Rate sensors coupled with computing modules, e.g. INS-like systems or AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference Systems)
^^ The one prominent example of this, is the Heading (HDG). Inertial/Rate sensor systems have the property called gyrocompassing, ie their behaviour, as governed by the laws of physics, applied to the rotation of the Earth about it's axis,  causes them to automatically align with True North as well as sense the Latitude at their geographic position. Thus the Magnetic HDG displayed on primary flight instruments in the cockpit is actually a synthetic Magnetic HDG provided by applying magnetic Variation from a database locally kept within the Nav Database or the AHRS itself. Such system architecture has done away with Magnetic compass/coil based master/slave systems etc.
Group1 parameters, represent the aerodynamics based flight of the airplane. Why use derived data rather than directly measured, proven and reliable systems, to fly a HDG, ALT and SPD? It is possible to derive a Group1 parameter such as the the AoA, by knowing the Relative Airflow, Pitch ATT from Group2a&b and the wing angle of Incidence. But this is (for want of a better word) a 'contrived' method of obtaining AoA when simple AoA sensor vanes are available and positioned by the the very airflow we seek to know about. The 2 main uses of AoA is to validate the pitot/static Speed data, and provide high AoA alerts. At the present 'state of the art' it is not practical, and it serves little purpose to substitute Air/AoA sensor Data with Inertial derived data except as an alternative in case of an ADC/AHRS system failure. Though we must note that with the advent of 'big data' and 'AI', ie Intelligent systems, this could change. Also, in recent history (last 2 decades), the failure of Group1 type system has proved fatal.
For the record, on some current airliners, when the Baro (Static sensors) measured Altitude is deemed unreliable, a GPS derived Altitude is available for display.
Answer:
If I understood what an inertial navigation system (INS) is, it should
be able to calculate speed and orientation of the aircraft.

In reading some articles about the 737 MAX I found out it is possible to derive AoA from other sensors but it will take more than the INS to get enough data to calculate this.  AoA sensors tell the crew how the aircraft is moving through the air.  Knowing where you are, the speed and direction relative to ground, and the position of the various control surfaces, is not enough to know AoA.  It's going to take some measurements of the air movement as well.  I don't know precisely what is the minimum required for this but an educated guess would be air pressure and air speed.
INS will tell you position and movement in relation to the ground, not in relation to the moving air.

If this is possible, why do airliners solely rely on sensors to
measure speed and angle of attack (AoA)?

Part of the problem is that getting a new computer certified by the FAA is really hard.  It's simply easier to get redundant sensors certified than the computers needed to calculate this information.  This makes sense on some level because if we are to assume that hardware fails then how are we to know a calculated value is any better than a measured value?
As I recall Boeing has used AoA sensors on both sides of the aircraft, up near the flight deck, for some time now to provide redundancy.  AirBus has used three for a long time, two near the front like Boeing and the third closer to the tail.
With Boeing there's an AoA disagree warning if the two sensors are outside of an allowed error margin between the two.  While it is certainly helpful to know when the AoA reading can no longer be trusted it is more helpful to know what the AoA measurement should be.  This is why AirBus has three sensors, a single sensor failure will not leave the crew without this information.  With two sensors and a disagree warning the crew cannot know which reading to trust.  With three sensors and a disagree warning then the two that agree can be trusted.  If all three disagree then it's the same problem with two and one not working.  This is not good but as I understand it not something to declare an emergency over, AoA measurement is not considered critical to safe flight.
The FAA, Boeing, and apparently a well trained crew, consider AoA information "nice to know" as opposed to critical to flight.  This is why the FAA only requires two AoA sensors and an alarm that the reading is not reliable.  Airbus, and some airlines, consider an AoA reading important enough that there are three AoA sensors on AirBus aircraft and this information is available to the crew.  Boeing has AoA information available to the flight computer but it is not available to the crew unless the airline asks for that information to be displayed.
Because of the 737 MAX crashes it sounds like all future passenger aircraft will be required to have AoA available to the crew, and triple redundant sensors.  AirBus already has three AoA sensors so they likely have little or nothing to do to comply with this requirement.  It will be interesting to see how Boeing complies.  I suspect all 737 MAX aircraft will have three AoA sensors before allowed to return to flight.  Other Boeing aircraft could have another AoA sensor added or they can have a "virtual" AoA sensor by using information from other sensors and calculating the AoA value.  At least one Boeing engineer thought it possible and beneficial to have a virtual AoA sensor when the investigation into the 737 MAX MCAS problem was going on.
What it comes down to is that the FAA, airlines, and flight crew all know that hardware can fail.  Even if we assume software is flawless it depends on working hardware to function as it should.  Whatever sensors that could be used to calculate AoA could fail so there would have to be some redundancy somewhere to detect this failure and still provide critical information to the crew.  If we were to consider AoA critical to flight then having at least one AoA sensor would be wise to verify the calculated value.  Having two AoA sensors means one AoA sensor can be lost and still have a verified calculated value.  Having three AoA sensors means not needing to calculate the AoA value, it means having a way to verify each against the others.
Aircraft have had two of every flight critical sensor for a very long time.  This left the crew with confidence in their measurements so long as everything agreed.  Because some of this information overlaps it's generally possible to find which sensor is wrong if there is a single sensor failure, or no two sensors of the same kind fail.  With a capable enough computer the process of eliminating a failed sensor can be automated, but the computer can fail too.  This means two flight computers and three of some sensors.


How can I measure the performance of my stovetop pots and pans?

Question: Am I looking for the ratio of burnt dishes to fine dishes? Well-cooked to not? My general happiness? When should I replace a pot or pan? I am unsure where to begin.
Answer: I second Joe's advice.
Your pans may be too thin, that would make your dishes burn easily.  You can test your pans with a simple experiment.  Place a thin layer of water in your pan (an eighth of an inch, or just enough to cover the bottom).  Turn on your burner to high.  If you have an electric stovetop let the burner glow before placing the pan on the burner.  Watch how the bubbles form in the pan.  If they are uneven over the bottom, you have hot spots.
This photo is actually uneven heating from the burner, not from a bad pan, but it shows the idea:

you have hot spots.
If your pans have hot spots you need to stir more often and maybe lower the heat from what the recipe calls.  Pans with thicker bottoms and made with good electric conductors (copper or aluminum) have fewer hot spots.
Then there is what I call the Remick Maxim.  Three years ago when I decided I would learn to cook better, I went through many cookbooks and asked a lot of people for advice.  A great friend (a French restaurant level cook) told me the best advice he ever got was from the actress Lee Remick, a good cook herself.  She said: "the secret to great food is to cook it in low heat."  Best advice I got on cooking.
Comment: I like the Remick Maxim. A+.
Answer: Cook something in a relatively thin layer on the bottom. See if it is obviously hotter in some places than others. Or see if you're constantly cleaning burned food off of some places and not others.
The major selling points of pricey pots are heat distribution and nonstick. You already know if you want more nonstick, so what you want to look for is heat distribution.
Comment: Nonstick may not be an advantage for all applications, but it definitely adds cost! To test heat distribution, you can dust flour across the bottom and see how evenly it browns. Or better yet, if you have an infrared thermometer, put a thin layer of oil on the bottom of the pan, heat it up, and see how much variation you get across the pan. More than 20 or 30 degrees will affect your ability to get an even sear or saute...
Answer: This seems like it would be a difficult thing to objectively measure. I personally have never done that. However, I will offer some nerdy ideas and suggestions. These are approaches I would actually try myself if I ever had the time or inclination.
First, I think bmargulies suggestion to try cooking things is a good approach. The intent is to see if there are hotspots. However, I think you might be better off with objective measureable results.
I'd suggest getting a hand-held infrared thermometer (e.g. Fluke 62 Mini Infrared Thermometer [I haven't personally used this]) and measuring different things.
Some ideas:

Measure heat distribution and try to find hot spots. A good pan will have an even distribution, and should have no strong hot spots.
If there are hot spots, how much hotter are they?
Timing how long it takes the pan to reach a specific temperature, given a specific flame setting.
Turn off the heat source once the pot is at temperature and measure how well it retains heat. Does it cool evenly? I surmise this is likely to be related to the previous ideas.
Comment: +1. IMHO every cooks needs measuring cups and spoons, a digital scale (so one can zero repeatedly), and a fast infrared thermometer. I use my Fluke all the time.
Answer: @Harlans's flour trick works, but the problem is in looking at it afterwards, as it might get stirred up too much to give a good picture.
I would think a crepe would be a good test -- you'd be able to flip it out and get a good picture of how the heat was across the bottom of the pan.  An omelet might work well, as well, but they both sometimes have problems with sticking.
You could also try a thin layer of water (maybe 2cm or 3/4"), and put it over high or medium high heat, and watch to see which areas are bubbling.
Answer: +1 to the flour trick. An IR thermometer would be nice to test the temp of your pans, but for evenness the flour trick is best. Although I am curious about how hot they actually get--just not $85-curious.
Here are my results with the flour test:
My cast Iron pan has a huge hot spot right in the center. I tested 3 different levels, high (9), medium (5), and low heat (3) on an electric range. The high heat had the greatest hotspot and the coolest edges. The lowest setting heated more evenly but took a long time to heat up, 25+ min. Cast iron conducts heat poorly and unevenly but retains it. I also believe the hot spots occur because the high sides sap heat away from bottom's outer edge. It would be interesting to compare a the pan to a griddle.
My stainless steel pan with the aluminum sandwich core heated very evenly on medium (5). I only tried one setting. Yes, there were minor variances, but nothing compared to the cast iron pan. Also, it heated much faster. Overall I was really impressed by the pan's ability to heat quickly and evenly.
The photos speak for themselves.
This is the cast iron on 3, 25+ min vs. stainless w/alu core, ~8 min.
Edit: I tried to post images but I can't because I'm a "new user". I wish SE would let me carry my Stack Overflow credits into other forums. I'll try to post images once I have the 10 points. :(
Comment: perhaps instead of thinking of it as a huge hot spot, you could think of it as "cold edges" and, since it's a large pan, cook things in the middle of it?
Answer: New answer to an old thread since commercial conditions have changed:
The actual heat distribution in a cooking vessel (in combination with heat source) can be well examined with a thermal imager - technology which was hardly commercially viable ($1000+) to the curious enthusiast in 2010, but has gotten more affordable looking at it from a 2017 standpoint (especially devices using existing smartphones as platforms, available below $200).


How sexual relations with multiple partners affect us? What are after effects of promiscuity?

Question: I want to know how promiscuity affects us? How it binds? What are the after affects of making many sexual partners?
Answer: In his 1st sermon, the Lord Buddha taught:

Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by
  delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving
  for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for
  extermination.

Therefore, the more sexual partners, which is interactions based on lust, the more suffering.
Buddhism teaches to relate to people with non-harming (ahimsa), loving-kindness (metta) & compassion (karuna). Therefore, there is absolutely no place in Buddhism for the recommendation or endorsement of sexual promiscuity, because sexual promiscuity is a behaviour (kamma) rooted in lust.
MN 9, which is about Right View, states:

And what is the root of the unwholesome? Greed (lust) is a root of the unwholesome; hate is a root of the unwholesome; delusion is a root
  of the unwholesome. This is called the root of the unwholesome.

The Dhammapada states:

Verse 202: There is no fire like lust.

In Buddhism, if a person needs to have sex due to strong natural urges, a person should establish a relationship based on loving-kindness & compassion.
In the Pali suttas, there are no teachings about how to engage in sex because all of the teachings are about how husbands & wives should behave in the more important compassionate & loving ways. For example, in AN 4.55, it is taught when a husband & wife are complete with virtue & love towards each other, they will naturally enjoy whatever sexual pleasures they desire.
In conclusion, Buddhism describes the world of promiscuity as the 'animal world', as follows:

... the world would have fallen into promiscuity, as with goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, dogs, and jackals. AN 2.9

Therefore, Buddhists that tell other people that sexual promiscuity is "OK" are teaching the path (magga) leading to animal birth (tiracchāna-yoni-gamanīyā), as follows:

And what is the cause of defilements? Ignorance is the cause of defilements.
And what is the diversity in defilements? There are defilements that lead to hell, those that lead to the animal womb (tiracchānayonigamanīyā), those that lead to
  the realm of the hungry shades, those that lead to the human world,
  those that lead to the world of the devas. This is called the
  diversity in defilements.
And what is the cause of kamma? Contact is the cause of kamma.
And what is the diversity in kamma? There is kamma to be experienced in hell, kamma to be experienced in the realm of common animals (tiracchānayonivedanīyaṃ), kamma
  to be experienced in the realm of the hungry shades, kamma to be
  experienced in the human world, kamma to be experienced in the world
  of the devas. This is called the diversity in kamma.
https://suttacentral.net/en/an6.63
Comment: Please try to find more.
Answer: Generalisations can be made for men & women.

For men:
(i) difficulty remaining faithful in relationship due to habit of wanting other women on sight
(ii) loss of trust & being shunned in an ordinary community if becoming a habitual predator
(iii) always searching for a sex partner
(iv) unhappiness & loneliness when without a sex partner
(v) lack of virtuous development in how to care for people.
(vi) lack of morals to impart to any children
(vii) similar results to any addiction, as described in the Pali suttas, namely:

(ii) increase of quarrels,
(iii) susceptibility to disease,
(iv) earning an evil reputation,
(v) shameless exposure of body,
(vi) weakening of intellect.
(vii) he is ever thinking:
(a) where is there girls?
(b) where is there women?
(c) where is there porn?
(d) where is there sex?
(e) where is there young women?
(f) where is there mature women?
Sigalovada
Sutta
Note: points (vii)(a) to (f) are an adaptation

For women:
(i) loss of natural bonding instinct
(ii) however, often, no loss of reproductive instinct but loss of genuine love towards eventual marriage partner due to instinctual attachment to a former often first partner
(iii) loss of tolerance & strength needed to maintain a family
(iv) loss of ability to control a man (important in Matugama-samyutta)
(v) difficulty in maintaining marriage
(vi) major loss of instinctual wisdom & morality needed to bringing up children
(vii) become sexual needy & servile (rather than having natural self-control)
(viii) highly probably of needing anti-depressants when older
Pali Buddhism particularly focuses upon sexual impurity of women for such reasons. For example:

Dhammapada  242. Unchastity is the taint in a woman.

The Mātugāma Saṃyutta highlights the importance of morality in women.
In nature, the basic instincts towards moral expectations are mostly found in women. When women lose their moral compass, the world, including its men, become lost.
This is why Buddhists such as the Dalai Lama make many discrete statements about the importance of the role of women in creating a good world but few explain the truth about these matters. Most Buddhists are concerned with 'political correctness' & recruiting 'leftists' to Buddhism.

Since
women are more inclined to be compassionate, their role is more
important in creating a more peaceful society that the world aspires
to achieve," said Dalai Lama.
Comment: This is perfect answer from Point of view of Buddhism.
Comment: Is any of this answer a direct quote from the Sigalovada Sutta? Is "difficulty remaining faithful in relationship due to habit of wanting other women on sight" a quote, or (conversely) based your own experience?
Answer: Only the people in a marriage or in a relationship is covered by the third precept.
If you use your common sense it appears multiple partners could create a lot of health problems and psychological problems perhaps monetary problems.My personal opinion is it is not a good idea.
Answer: I want to know how promiscuity affects us?
It can be a good effect if one is honest with everyone involved (and they agree) and not doing it from greed. If you are breaking a contract (marriage or a monogamous relationship) then of course this will have a bad effect because you are lying and doing it through greed not natural love inclination.
Also, even if you are honest and everyone is OK and you are doing it from greed, from a strictly Buddhist point of view it is bad.
How it binds?
It does not bind... nothing has a binding effect except you yourself.
What are the after affects of making many sexual partners?
Possible STDs, complicated life, and also self-exhaustion and no transmutation of jing to chi of energies... lots of effects.
Answer: I personally don't care a hoot what religion says about sex. It has no place in my love life.  You only need to look to the rampant hypocrisy within Christianity/Catholicism to realise that the ones moralising about sex don't practice what they preach.   My view is enjoy it while you can but be cautious and stay as safe as possible. I've had countless casual encounters over my life and I don't regret any of them.


The meaning of different parts in the naming of glucose

Question: There are two main types of glucose, $\alpha$-D-(+)-glucose and $\beta$-D-(+)-glucose.
Can anyone please explain what is $\alpha$,D or (+)?

So (maybe by permutation and combination), how many types of glucose are there?
Comment: A highly related question: http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/7308/whats-the-difference-between-alpha-glucose-and-beta-glucose
Comment: @CurtF. It would be better to consult meta before introducing a new tag to a whole lot of questions. I personally did not see any benefit in the new tag. The community might disagree with me on this, so please go ahead and post to meta about it.
Comment: Sorry I did not realize the protocol.  I probably won't write a post on meta because I did not maintain my own separate records of the posts tagged, and without those posts to display, I can't make a good argument for the tag.  I don't feel like re-searching through old questions to find the ones I already found.  I guess we won't have a "carbohydrates" tag here after all, at least not any time soon.
Answer: Glucose can exist in the open form or cyclic form.

In the open form, there are only two types, D-glucose (illustrated in Fischer projection above) and L-glucose which is the mirror image of the above.
Experimentally, D-glucose rotates plane polarize light clockwise, hence the symbol "+", and L-glucose rotates plane polarize light counterclockwise, hence the minus symbol.  For more information on the meaning of + versus - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrorotation_and_levorotation
In the cyclic form, there is an additional chiral center, so there is alpha (where 3 OH groups are on the same side of the ring) vs beta (where 2 OH groups are on each side of the ring) as ilustrated in the drawing of the question.
Each of alpha and beta have a D and an L form, so there are 4 types in the cyclic form.
So in summary, there are only two types in the open form, but 4 types in the cyclic form.
Comment: No, it just happens to be that way in this case.  For glucose, D experimentally is + and L experimentally is -, but for other molecules it can be reversed.  Read more about this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirality_(chemistry)
Comment: So if "D" and "(+)" have the same meaning why do we have to write both of them? Or is there something like "D-(-)" ?
Comment: It's worth noting that in aqueous solution the forms interconvert fairly rapidly.  So for D-glucose, or D-(+)-glucose if you prefer, three species are interconverting: the open chain D-glucose, the cyclic $\beta$-D-glucopyranose, and the cyclic $\alpha$-D-glucopyranose.  (Glucopyranose is a name that expicitly indicates the six-membered ring closed form of glucose.)


Position of suggested edit in the review queue

Question: Is there a possibility to see which position my suggested edit has in the review queue?
Comment: @Bugs FYI, the phrase is "bear in mind". It's like [bear with me vs bare with me](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1269/is-it-bear-or-bare-with-me). I like to have an open mind, but... ;)
Comment: :0 We need urgently an edit function for comments! ;)
Comment: @MikeMcCaughan whoops, I got that wrong. Big time! Let's just move on quietly like it never happened :)
Comment: @Rekshino yes my 5 minutes is up unfortunately...so for 4 hours I've been giving off the wrong vibe...
Comment: Good question but in all honesty I'm not even sure if there is an order as such. Bare in mind that each reviewer would effectively have their own queue to work through and so the position of your suggested edit would be different for each reviewer.
Answer: No, because there is no such thing as a position in the queue. Which item is shown to a reviewer is more or less random, at least for suggested edits (unlike the Close Vote queue which does have a certain ordering).
(source: if you have >2K reputation, visiting https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits a couple of times should convince you that it's random)
Comment: It's called a *queue*, but it's implementation is more like a *set* in that there's no FIFO or LIFO.
Comment: I don't think it's always random. If there are edits related to Swift or iOS (I've added these tags to my favorites), I see them first.
Comment: @Rekshino: It's unlikely that it will be approved/rejected within a few seconds, but it's certainly possible that one person will review it soon. I've reviewed something 4 hours after it was approved, and then my next edit to be reviewed was something that had been submitted just seconds before. It really does seem to be mostly random.
Comment: @FelixSFD seems to work, at least for the first few Suggested Edits. Then I get other topics as well, even though there are more Suggested Edits within my favorite tag. The same behaviour is observed for Low Quality Posts, but not for the other queues. Interesting stuff!
Comment: I feel like the randomness is part of what is causing the review queue to constantly get full. Instead of suggestions right away getting seen by the next 3 (or more) reviewers, and then moving out of the queue, you end up with a lot of suggestions, each with 1 approve/reject, and it takes longer for a suggestion to get enough votes to be marked as approved or rejected.
Comment: @FelixSFD here https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/289860/213575
Comment: Really random? Can it be, that if there are ~300 entries in the queue and I put my suggestion in it, it will be reviewed next seconds? I see, that reviewer can skip an edit suggestion, and take the next one, but so far it is a queue, there are a position of an entry in it(at least in general queue), otherwise it is a bag or another container.
Comment: @Rekshino (almost) instant approval most likely happens through either the OP accepting the edit outright, or someone with >2k reputation seeing the edit pending (either in the queue or on the post itself) and using the "improve edit" option.
Comment: @FelixSFD that makes sense - I have no favourite tags so I don't know about this. I haven't seen a reference for this behaviour - this isn't caused by the filter by any chance? E.g. there seems to be no reply to [this answer](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/197051/295232) and related links.
Comment: @Glorfindel No, I've not set any filters in this queue. (BTW: I could reproduce it a few seconds ago. Opened the queue and the first post was about Swift)
Comment: @Braiam Nice. Thanks! :-)


Would Sasuke awaken 2nd Rinnegan if he in some case accept arm with Hashirama's cells

Question: Im asking this because Madara got both of them when he implanted Hashirama's cells in his body.Would it work for Sasuke too?
Answer: what Madara did was combine the chakras of Indra and Ashura, he already had the chakra of Indra since he was a reincarnate and added Ashuras chakra by attaching Hashirams cell(who was a reincarnate of Ashura). Meaning he essentially combined those chakras to become more or less like the six path. But in the case of Sasuke he gained the other half of the chakra from Hagromo directly so he already has the missing part to become the six path. Therefore he cant awaken a second reningan, i.e he has already gotten Hashirams cell when he got his missing arm attached(that was made from Hashirams cell)
Comment: Could you elaborate more on this answer? I see the link but am not convinced with your evidence.
Comment: I think Sasuske didnt accepted arm
Answer: I'm not 100% sure if it would because Madara awakened his rinnegan because at the time he and Hashirama were the incarnates of Indra and asura. But now it's Naruto and Sasuke who are so if Sasuke got a Hashirama arm he wouldn't have the necessary blend of chakra to awaken the second rinnegan
Comment: Please include relevant sources/references to support your answer.


Loan to son - how to get it back

Question: A few years ago, we loaned our son money to start a business, which did not flourish.  Yep, we know now it was a bad idea.  But now, we owe $54k on our equity line, which he is only paying interest on. Question: should we pay it down with savings and deduct from his inheritance?  His young family with two young toddlers needs every dollar they make
Comment: My rule of thumb: Loans to friends/family should be considered a gift, that if they pay it back is a bonus. In many situations loaning money forces you to eventually chose between your money and your relationship, which is a lose-lose proposition.
Comment: If you loaned him money to start a business, you're not just a lender, you're an investor. Like the saying goes "If you borrow $5,000 from a bank and don't pay it back, you have a problem. If you borrow $5,000,000 from a bank and don't pay it back, the bank has a problem."
Comment: I strongly recommend that you and your son both read The Richest Man in Babylon, particularly the Gold Lender and Camel Trader chapters. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Richest-Babylon-George-Clason/dp/0451205367?tag=leefalin-20) This doesn't answer the question (which is why I left it as a comment), but it will prevent you and your son from getting into issues like this in the future and may also help you both get out of your current predicament.
Comment: @corsiKa: That depends. If I get a bank loan to start a company, it's a loan, not an investment. Did the father expect to get ten times his money back if the business really went off?
Comment: @gnasher the point is that the bank has a lot of money. They can loan the small amount and not worry about their financial solvency if the business tanks. So they run the numbers mostly with a credit score. Sure they also look at business plans and market research, but usually the deciding factor is existing credit and collateral. If the bank is going to loan an amount that makes them seriously concerned if they get it back, they usually take a much more active role (putting an adviser on the board is common among investment firms.)
Answer: I think you've made a perfectly valid suggestion, and, if your son is struggling somewhat financially now, one that may be very welcome. If you agree to forgive the debt at this time in lieu of a similar amount forgone in future inheritance, it will eliminate the never ending interest-only payments, free up $200+ a month for you son on a tight budget, and improve your own credit score once you pay off the credit line.
It's also, in my opinion, a good idea to be open about this in advance with your other children heirs so that everyone will understand what is expected during the eventual probate.
My paternal grandfather was the recipient of a great deal of financial largess from his wealthy mother during her life, and it was fully understood by him, her, and his siblings, that in exchange he would not share in her estate when she passed. He didn't, there were no problems, and he and his siblings stayed close for the rest of their lives.
Comment: **Mandatory disclaimer**: talk to a lawyer! If you don't, there might be unexpected complications about this in the future!
Comment: Yes, very important, if you don't have a will, the state has one for you. Even with a will, a probate court decides where your money goes. Bypassing probate is easily done with directives on life insurance, annuity contracts, and investment accounts, but not so easily done with real estate and other property. You definitely need to see a competent estate attorney.
Answer: I started a business a few years ago.  At one point it wasn't going so well and my father "loaned" me an amount not too dissimilar to what you've done.
From a personal perspective, the moment I took that loan there was a strain the relationship.  Especially when I was sometimes late on the interest payments...  Unfortunately thoughts like "he doesn't need this right now, but if I don't pay the car loan then that is taken away" came up a few times and paying the interest fell to the bottom of the monthly bill payment stack.
At some point my wife and I finally took a hard look at my finances and goals.  We got rid of things that simply weren't necessary (car payment, cable tv, etc) and focused on the things we needed to.  Doing the same with the business helped out as well, as it helped focus me to to turn things around.  Things are now going great.
That said, two of my siblings ran into their own financial trouble that our parents helped them on.  When this happened my father called us together and basically forgave everyone's debt by an equal amount which covered everything plus wrote a check to the one that was doing fine.  This "cleared the air" with regards to future inheritance, questions about how much one sibling was being helped vs another, etc.  Honestly, it made family gatherings more enjoyable as all that underlying tension was now gone.
I've since helped one of my children.  Although I went about it an entirely different way.   Rather than loan them money, I gave it to them.  We also had a few discussions on how I think they ought to manage their finances and a set of goals to work towards which we co-developed.  Bearing in mind that they are an individual and sometimes you can lead a horse...  Given the current state of things I consider it money well "spent".
Comment: Great example of a balanced approach to addressing family financial issues, and lessons learned along the way. Kindness can be expressed in different ways, sometimes as forgiveness and sometimes, as its absence, like when parents ground their child for breaking the curfew. It may seem harsh at the moment but pays dividends over time, the child having learned to keep his word and not violate parental trust. Money is like water: as soon as it accumulates, it begins searching for cracks through which to escape. Our desires, like gravity, tug and pull unfailingly, tempered only by self-discipline.
Answer: As per JohnFx's comment above, consider whether it's worth more to you to just write this off. If not, if you feel that your son will be able to consider this without taking it personally, or you're willing to risk that relationship, then talk to him about it. Lay out the reasons why you need the money. If there are other children, it might be a simple matter of fairness to them. Based on your idea of deducting the money from his inheritance, I assume that the value you're docking from his inheritance will go somewhere else. Offer alternatives. You say that you can't take any money from him now, but letting him know that he can pay you in the future in lieu of loss of inheritance might be worthwhile. Be prepared with an idea of what to suggest if he says he can pay you some amount of money. Figure out what might be an acceptable payment plan and how to handle it if, at some point, he can't make payments for a time.
This is a potentially ugly situation, and I can't guarantee that it will turn out better, but the more you prepare for the questions he's going to ask, the better off you're going to be.
Answer: Seems fair.  I think this is a real subjective thing.  Financially lets get rid of that line before interest rates get too high.  Maybe have him pay you the $200 he is paying towards the interest each month.
Answer: He's paying the interest and you're paying the principal. If you're making minimum monthly payments, you'll still be doing the same thing 25-30 years from now. I think Parker's advice was very, very good, but I'd like to add to it a little of my own. Whatever dollar amount your son is sending to you as payment, encourage him to continue doing that. Only instead of paying you, have him put that money into a savings plan of some kind. You mentioned that he's struggling now, yet able to come up with approximately (my best guess) $200/mo. I guarantee you that if he puts that $200/mo back into his pocket, he'll still be struggling every month yet have nothing to show for it. My suggestion changes nothing in his daily life, yet gives him $2400 at the end of every year.
I was in a somewhat similiar situation as your son, only to the tune of $13,000. About 20 years ago, I got a loan and bought a new truck in which to use to go back and forth to work every day. The first 5 months the payments to the bank went as planned. Then my wife announces that "we're" pregnant. So my parents figured it would be best to just pay off my loan to the bank, avoiding any further interest charges, and take that truck payment and put it away for a rainy day. At 33 y/o, with my first child on the way, I finally started saving some of my money. It was good advice on their part because the rainy days came! They never asked me to pay them back, however I did offer. I've been tucking away $300-400/mo in the bank every month since then because I just got into the habit. Good thing I did too. In the past 10 years I've had to bury both of my parents, one sister and two wives and I'll tell ya, one thing that was comforting was the fact that I had the money. The little truck I bought 20 years ago is now my son's. It has around 260,000 miles on it now. When he trades it in for a newer vehicle, I will probably loan him the money and have him make payments to me rather than the bank. I, too, am not one to pay interest if I can help it. If he defaults, he's my son. I just won't buy him another vehicle! Or maybe he'll get into the same habit of saving money the same way I did. Like JohnFx said, money loaned to family should be regarded as a gift, otherwise you'll end up losing your money AND your family member! Hope some of this helps you make your decision.
Answer: A few ideas.

I suggest it would wise to consider what lesson is learned as a result of any resolution of a financial issue. Is it a lesson of responsibility and of the importance of keeping one's word, or of getting away with whatever happens (poorly planned business) with no adverse consequences. "No" consequences (e.g. forgiven loan) is also a consequence, and it sends a message.
Sounds like paying the loan from your savings automatically means it's deducted from inheritance, since the savings are part of that inheritance. This may seem like a square deal if we ignore inflation. Assuming Today the $54K is worth much more than, unless it is adjusted for inflation, the same $54K will be worth (i.e. will allow to buy) a few decades from now, when the inheritance materializes.

So this option means your son is foregoing a significantly smaller financial loss in the future in exchange for foregoing his debt completely today. This is like borrowing $54K from a bank now, and only having to forego the same amount decades in the future when it is in fact worth much less. What borrower would not be happy with such arrangement, and what lender would do it? Only one's own loving parents :)

Interestingly, one approach nobody has suggested is for you to legally transfer the $54 debt onto your son's family, since in fact it is now HIS debt. For instance, he could take an equity line on his house (if he has one) and use it to pay down your debt, then start paying off his equity line. There are probably other options also. Why not? Because they "need every penny." In the real world, one's needs are not a valid excuse for financial irresponsibility. In the real world needs are adjusted in line with capabilities that take into account one's financial obligations. If your son becomes a legal owner of the $54K debt, he will have to learn to adjust his family's spending and lifestyle to accommodate both the principal and interest payments. This will teach him many valuable lessons:

(re)balancing his checkbook;
being responsible for his financial decisions and obligations;
not making financially burdensome decisions (e.g. starting a family and having children) until he can afford it in light of his other financial obligations;
honoring his parents by assuming the responsibility for his own (risky) financial decisions, rather than transferring the responsibility for his mistakes onto the parents.

You are in charge of what life lessons your son will walk away with from this situation. Good luck!

Loan to son - how to get it back


Was getting a computing science degree easier 10 years ago

Question: I am currently a 3rd year computing science student at a Canadian University. I find it quite challenging, and extremely interesting. One thing  that i have noticed is that each person i speak to that took a class 3 or so years ago learned much less than i did in the same class, and people who are taking 1st year classes are doing more than i remember doing in my 1st year classes. Is this just me remembering stuff bad, or do you believe that getting a computing science degree was easier 10 (or even 5) years ago?
Comment: I think it was harder ten years ago- if I went back and did my degree with the knowledge I have now I would have found it far easier :)
Comment: What are the courses you are attending to ? what are the courses the people you talk to attended ? Do you have a speciality ? Consider also that almost no universities (not only in Canada) give the same courses, even if they deliver similar diplomas. So it is as much a question of when, as a question of where.
Comment: maybe this is attributable to the Flynn effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect) and we're all getting smarter, therefore they teach more as time goes on.
Answer: I don't know if it's harder or easier, but definitely different.
I'm only a couple years out, but I've noticed that current students appear to me to have a more abstracted knowledge base, but lack fundamentals which cause them to falter on simple tasks.
It's the whole 'calculator debate': "They can do higher order math using a calculator, but can barely multiply without one."1
1 I'm not advocating the truth of that particular debate, just using it as a reference point in understanding my point.
Answer: Things change.  30 years ago, in computer graphics class, if you could light up a dot on a screen, you were doing good.  Today, recursive ray tracing in C++ is a routine undergraduate programming assignment - and the images some of the kids produce are IMPRESSIVE.
Teaching methods change.  30 years ago, the introductory numerical methods class taught methods, and spent a little time on how to derive them, but not much on serious, detailed analysis.  A few years ago, when I had the opportunity to retake the class, I discovered that it was now a SERIOUS math class: it could have been subtitled "Applications of Taylor's Theorem to Error Analysis".  (I enjoyed the class the first time.  I had a WONDERFUL time in it the second time.)
Your perspective on what is easy or difficult changes.  A few years ago, I sat in on a vector calculus class, partly as something to do that summer, while unemployed and job-hunting and waiting for my formal university readmission to come through, partly to gear up for tensor calculus.  I was surprised at how easy it was for me.
Comment: 30 years ago there wasn't likely to have been a computer graphics class... (I graduated in '85)
Comment: I dunno.  In 1986 or so, in a *high school* Comp-Sci class we used LOGO to do a visual monte-carlo area-under-the-curve equation solver.  Weird fun!
Comment: @Murph, that probably makes the dot-on-the-screen comment accurate! I graduated from Purdue in '91 and did some pretty cool stuff in X11 my senior year, but that was a senior-level course, and X wasn't even around 10 years before that.
Answer: I think the only difference between now and the past is who is getting the degree.
When I graduated in 1990, most of us were in it because we had an affinity for computers.  I suspect that that's no longer true, and that a larger percentage now are in it for the good career and salary.  I don't think intelligence plays much part in it.  I do think that the kids in school today have probably used a computer for more years than those of us back in the late 80's.  But you either get computers or you don't.
Comment: +1. Good career and salary is now having higher priority than affinity for computers.
Answer: Interesting question.  You don't really classify why you think this or what empirical evidence you're using to come to this conclusion.
There was a period of time 95-05'ish or so where I believe that most CS graduates did not have the same level of problem solving, practical algorithms and language understanding that those that came before that time.  With no bias nor cause, I attributed this to the mass introduction of Microsoft platforms into the University vs. the more time-shared systems.
I once helped with a mandated summer practicum where students spent quite literally weeks converting a 16-bit number to ASCII output.  First, they didn't think about using something like  sprintf(), but second they didn't really understand 2's compliment or what ASCII even meant.  Growing up in the FidoNet world, I just couldn't fathom how they didn't know ASCII.
We evolve though, and there are some seriously good languages now and CS certainly ain't the hip thing to do anymore, so our statistical population of CS majors is probably a little less diluted?
Answer: Well, at least at my university, almost all CS courses have been recently reworked, sometimes very heavily, to deal with parallelization. In quite a lot of cases, parallelization is relatively difficult, so I imagine that most of the new versions of the CS courses are more challenging just because of this.
While there are plenty of other things affecting the difficulty of modern CS classes, parallelization is probably the most visible, at least for me.
Answer: I have no idea whether things are easier or harder now than they were 10 or 25 years ago.
But I do know that my particular institute of learning (Imperial College, London) is not going to have let things slide...
The problem with computing is that things are still changing at a staggering rate - when I did my degree (82-85) there was very little notion of "objects", now OO is fundamental. Design Patterns was published in '94 -  the things it addresses were in many cases not yet Phd theses then - yet now you'd hope they're fundamental (those patterns that have not further evolved) to a good course.
You will remember best that which you're doing now, your school should be developing its course continuously - and above all it should be teaching you to think not (just) to code (teaching you a mental/philosophical framework that allows you to write good code, not simply teaching you the mechanics of particular languages).
Answer: I guess it depends on your school.
I graduated with a compsci degree pre-Netscape, and I've kept in contact with my university over that time. In most cases, they still use the same textbook for the same course and have the same syllabus... only the textbook edition has changed.
Which makes sense, considering that the school is heavy on computing theory, and not "applied software engineering". There hasn't been a lot of advancement in numerical methods et al during the last 10 years, that would apply to undergrads anyway..
Answer: Good question.  Given that I graduated 13 years ago, I do remember a lot of what I took pretty well, so I could likely compare some things but there are a lot of differences.  There are some advances in the field that encourage a shift to some degree in terms of what courses should there be and how should this all flow.  Another side is that the administrators of the program may try to improve things by adding another course here or there.
If you look at what Waterloo has today and what I took, there are more than a few differences.  Man-made things tend to evolve and why shouldn't university programs be like that?  In my day, this is the break down of my CS course run: 2 first-year(130/134), 2 second-year(246/241), 6 third-year(340/342/351/354/360/370) and then 4 fourth-year(464/466/486/487).  Now, there were also a bunch of Math courses there too, but 2007-2008 lists 5 courses at the second year level, in addition to some other changes and that was only a few years back.  I'd have had to take a different 4th year course as I didn't take any 4th year courses involving programming directly.
Would it be harder today?  I don't think so, but there are more than a few other changes that would also impact things as in my day there was Grade 13 in Ontario high schools that was very similar to first year university in some subjects.
Compsci.ca may be a good place to ask this if you want to compare Canadian schools as the creators are from Canadian schools and some alumni may have had their degrees from years back.
Comment: Some of the UW courses have gotten easier compared to what the class of 2006 took. Some just got structured better and thus allowed more information to be conveyed in the same amount of time.
Answer: For the question from the topic

Was getting a computing science degree easier 10 years ago

No, now there are lot more colleges which offer very rudimentary CS courses giving away BSc with little effort.
Now if you're asking about getting degree from same university, YMMV. Most definitely curriculum has changed, some courses are dropped, some merges, some expanded, some are new.
Also the advances in tools change a lot. What was 10 year ago really hard task, requiring lot of knowledge, no can now be done with a single click with right tool.
Answer: It's different because the technology has changed. I don't think it is any harder or easier, just different.
Answer: Computer science degrees are driven by the IT industry. Universities will churn out the type of students that companies demand (for the most part).
Things like parallel programming and mobile development are starting to come to the fore.
And don't forget as time goes on universitys get better at teaching their courses. The first class to take a particular module are basically the guinea pigs and as the years go on the university learns what's good, what's bad, what's useful and what's not. They can adapt their course.
Answer: Steve Brookes has a very interesting blog about a new course in functional programming that he taught last spring to freshmen at Carnegie Mellon.  This is a very different approach than when I attended CMU ten years ago.  I believe Object Oriented programming is now an optional course.  They're putting much more emphasis on verification and parallel algorithms in the new CS curriculum.  I'm not sure whether this new curriculum is easier or harder, but it's definitely different.


Where can I learn to draft online?

Question: I'm new to MtG and I really want to go to Friday Night Magic, but I've never done a draft before.
Are there online resources with good advice for what to pick and when?
Comment: If you've seriously never drafted at all before, commit BREAD to memory, stick to it, remember you will need some actual creatures to win at some point.  It's not time to worry too much about memorizing set-specific pick-orders at this point.
Comment: Welcome to the world of MtG drafting! You're in for a lot of fun. Check out some draft videos on youtube and you'll get the hang of the basics fast. I recommend devoting some time to read up about "Mana curve". Good luck and enjoy!
Comment: Note that BREAD, while a good intro, is merely a starting point: http://lrcast.com/limited-resources-64-breaking-bread/
Answer: I would recommend http://www.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/. They have videos of expert player drafting and playing, which are a great (and fun) way to learn. Luis Scott-Vargas set reviews on the same site are also great (e.g. http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/magic-2014-set-review-artifacts-and-lands/).
Answer: Not really an answer to your question, but useful information:
There are lots of draft simulators online. You can try out drafting strategies and see what kind of cards you end up with, giving you some insight on whether or not that strategy will actually work.
http://draft.bestiaire.org/ (no sign up, draft against computers)
http://tappedout.net/mtg-draft-simulator/ (requires sign up, but you can draft against other humans)
Answer: Arthur,
1st:  Go here:  Draft Magic  Lots of card "Spoilers" here.  Set overviews, and strategies.  There is a lot of video content on this website.
2nd: Take the time to read the following article.  Booster Draft 101 B. R. E. A. D.
The concept was mentioned in a comment by Affe.  The article referenced has a great description of each step, which I will summarize here:
B (Bombs) - Creatures, or cards that allow you to take control of the game, or win outright.  These are game changing cards, and are usually pretty obvious.  They tend to be rare.
R (Removal) - Cards that remove threats effectively, especially the aforementioned bombs.
E (Evasive/Efficient) - Creatures that are difficult to block/kill, or creatures that pass a "Vanilla test".  Which is to compare their casting cost and power and toughness to a plain 2/2 for 2 mana, 2/2 for 3 mana, or 3/3 for 4 mana.  Does the card have a better (more stats for less mana) ratio than the "Vanilla" examples?  If it does, then it's probably more efficient, unless there is some other downside.
A (Aggressive/Card Advantage) - Creatures you can attack with (article suggests 14 to 18 creatures in a consistent draft deck)  This will depend on the set.  Card advantage cards would be cards that allow you to have more cards than the opponent, so cards that let you draw cards, or discard opponents cards.
D (dregs) - This refers to cards you would use in very specific situations to counter something.  A card you would put in a sideboard.  Maybe a card that destroys all plains, or a card that removes all blue creatures from play, or destroys all artifacts.
Anyways, I hope this helps.  Go read!  Then I would recommend going to a draft and having fun!  Before the draft starts you should ask other players about cards to look out for in the set you'll be drafting.
I have found that a mixture of talking to friends, and reading articles about sets, and draft strategies really helped my draft skills a lot.

Where can I learn to draft online?


Information about the Kingdom of Raja Dahir of Sindh?

Question: I am trying to find some information about the Kingdom of Raja Dahir of Sindh. For example, how much area did his empire constitute and where was it generally located? If anyone could also provide a map that might indicate some of this information, that would be particularly helpful.
Answer: As the Wikipedia article itself says, King Dahir was the ruler of the Sindh, and some areas of Punjab, the territories that now lie in Pakistan.His capital was at Alor, which is now in Sind province of Pakistan. There are no maps showing the kingdom's borders, since they are not completely known till now.
Comment: Wikipedia article is not reliable because it states Hussain (Grandson of Muhammad) was on his way to Sindh which is amusing. Hussain was going to rouse Iraq in rebellion against Umayyads, not to exile. But other than that, Dahir's Kingdom is correctly stated to be in Sindh which bordered Umayyad Eastern Border in Baluchistan region of modern day Pakistan
Answer: Just from researching the subject on Internet it is easy to see that the subject is very much charged with nationalist and politic agendas. Also if some detailed maps existed, exactly for the reign of Dahir they could not be undisputed, since there are obviously no scientific measures at that dates, also most of the historic references of Dahir are related to the Arab conquest and Dahir's defeat:
For example this book is saying:

During the reign of the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiyah I (661-80) the Arabs
  launched a successful series of offensives against Sindh, Al-Hajjaj,
  the governor of Iraq, appointed Muhammad Kasim as the commander of his
  armies in Sindh and made elaborate arrangements to ensure the success
  of the campaign. Al-Hajjaj ordered 6,000 Syrian warriors to join
  Muhammad's forces. After further preparation, Muhammad advanced into
  Sindh and toward De-bal, the capital of the Hindu ruler Dahir, which
  he captured after a brief struggle. He then moved on to the banks of
  the Indus, where Dahir confronted him on the opposite bank in 712.

Here you can find a map regarding that conquest in that timespan.
Same book as the link above:

From their newly established bridgehead, an Arab army, led by Muhammad
  bin Qasim, the governor of Iraq's son-in-law, launched attacks against
  Sind in 712, and Multan in 713, both of which were successful. King
  Dahir of Sind, a poor ruler who was already experiencing internal
  administrative troubles, was unable to defend his realm against the
  Arab onslaught; he perished in battle and his kingdom was absorbed by
  die Arabs.

I am sure you can find more if you research a real library. For example for Europe I saw atlases from a lot of periods, and and amazed at how often borders change in relatively few years after the fall of empires also in this case probably the fall of Gupta Empire.
Only this much I could help.
Comment: Your first book is wrong. Muhammad Bin Qasim was not even born in reign of Muawiyyah I.  Also, invasion of Sindh occurred in reign of Caliph Walid I, not Muawiyah I. Your own quotes contradict you. As you say, Muawiyah I ruled 661-80. Ibn Qasim attacked in 712 AD.


Should answers which are not forward compatible be edited for compatibility, or new answers created for new versions?

Question: Recent OS X updates (SIP) have rendered some old solutions (especially scripts) broken. Should old answers be updated, or new questions answered in their own right?
Answer: The old solutions are not broken; the new operating systems are :-)
The posted solutions are still quite valid for computers running the operating systems for which the answers were written. I don't see any reason to break the answers for people running Panther or Tiger or Leopard or Snow Leopard or Lion or Mountain Lion or…
If one wanted to edit additional information into the answers to make them compatible with these newfangled operating systems that aren't named after cats, I suppose one could do that, but don't break answers that work fine for the systems for which they were intended.
Comment: That's more or less my thought, though I guess my question was incomplete. Should the new solutions be added to the original answer, or new answers created in new questions for the new OS?
Comment: Either one sounds like a good plan to me.
Comment: Perhaps a quick copy/paste then to keep one question answer as a reference and mark the other one answered
Comment: @agentroadkill I like what daniel said here. Also, if the existing question and answers are great, it's better to edit/curate it. If there are problems with the old question (no user to accept an answer, problematic length-too long, asks several questions, rambles and especially if the answers are off-track mostly) - better to make a new question and link in the body explaining that 10.11 seems to be the time when whatever "broke"
Answer: If there is a clearly-winning, correct answer which only changes at for instance El Capitan, my inclination would be to just add something along the lines of
"Edit: after El Capitan you need to do this instead/as well"
which preserves the original & updates for newer systems and also keeps the right answer for all occasions at the top of the list.
It also keeps the rep points accruing for the person who actually got the right answer in the first place; it wasn't their fault El Capitan broke their elegant solution.


Is it permissible to make and watch TV programs with living creatures in them?

Question: My understanding is that it isn't permissible within Islam to make images of living creatures, which comes under aniconism. As a result, this has lead to Islamic art dominated by geometrical patterns, calligraphy etc. Yet looking on Youtube, there are many programs made by Muslims with images of human beings in them, including documentaries, news reports of atrocities in Iraq etc. Is this permissible?
Comment: The matter of using human and animal imagery in Islam is a complicated one where there is very little consensus, especially in modern times. Though for the most part, photography and motion photography are considered permissible by most Muslims.
Comment: @SystemDown I've never seen any images used in a mosque, which appears to be the general consensus. It does seem strange that I've seen people taking photographs of one another inside and out
Comment: While photos and videos have made it's way into the everyday life of ordinary Muslims, it is very rarely seen inside mosques, where people tend to err on the side of caution (i.e. doing things the way they have always been done). I'm aware of only one *progressive* Imam who uses videos as part of his Friday sermons.
Answer: I appreciate that you are interested in Islam. But Sincerely I think this question is a little bit exaggerated. It looks like many people have just forgotten about the core of Islam and are just interested on some deep details (will I go to hell if I shave my beard? and questions like that). I don't have anything against people wanting to go deep into details but when at some point those details develop into a separation criteria between "good muslims" and "bad muslims" I can't tolerate it anymore. That is becoming unfortunately the case in my home country nowadays (Tunisia).
God gave us a mind to use in those cases and we don't need to wait for the approval of this or that imam or rely on the mood of some guy and his interpretation about such an irrelevant subject that doesn't have any impact on society.
Of course it must be harder without mastering the Arabic language but I think there is enough material in English out there to fetch and try to find out your conclusions and then compare to what other people think. You just never should accept something if your mind still tells you it doesn't make sense. Just keep digging. God won't punish us for pursuing our way toward the truth even if on that way you may become atheist or have strong doubts about every "assumed" truth in your religion.
My point now is that, without going deep into scripts and their interpretations, I think that artistic reproductions of living beings tend to be worshiped in the old time (sculptures etc) thing that might explain why such a thing was forbidden. However, Real reproduction of daily life or natures just shows it as it. And NOBODY can deny the usefulness of such technology in all domains (yeah maybe not porn :p ). Besides, we are nowadays in a world where you either keep your native religion or go atheist or agnostic. Really rare are the people who regress from their religion to an older one or who suddenly start worshiping an image or a sculpture. Of course consider this answer as a thinking of an average person born in a Muslim world and in no ways an absolute answer (does that exist anyway?)
An interesting point also is that Shiites don't mind hanging pictures of the prophet everywhere which is something totally unacceptable in Sunni world. I always try to think about Islam out of the box and put myself in a position thinking "If I wasn't born in a Muslim country, how would I think about that?". After living in 4 different countries, I really see things differently and feel like I'm out of this bubble I was born in. So also try to travel a lot and live for a while in different places (if not already done). Life behind a screen doesn't change you no matter how many articles or books you read.
Try also following this guy "Adnan Ibrahim" on youtube he has a lot of videos with English subtitles.
Especially this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC-ZlX9etRs
I hope you will find suitable answers to your questions.
Answer: There is a consensus among qualified scholars that static imagery, such as photographs and paintings of people, is not allowed. (Of course, Islam always makes exceptions for necessities such as security, medical purposes, etc). But other than that, you're correct, staying away from living imagery is why Islamic art is the way it is.
As far as videos are concerned - in my limited knowledge, while many scholars deem it impermissible, there hasn't been a unanimous consensus on videos - because of certain axioms and principles on which the rule is based. In my knowledge, there are some who have considered it excusable as far as useful education/information is concerned. But not for pointless entertainment.


shared hosting with multiple CMS

Question: Any suggestions on how to implement a shared web hosting cluster with multiple CMS? In our case, we have 2 web servers attached to shared storage. If we want to host Wordpress, Drupal, and Joomla sites, would it be more prudent to have separate clusters for each CMS or can they all be installed on the same shared volume and just let the 2 web servers (running Apache) take care of serving up the pages regardless of which CMS was used to create them?
Answer: your other question contains the answers to the first part of your question.
HA web cluster setup
While implementing drupal, wordpress and joomla all have their own performance issues, running them on the same cluster would be fine.  As load increases, add more CPU, split mysql to separate clusters, etc.

shared hosting with multiple CMS


keep focus when opening weblinks in browser from org mode

Question: Hi I'm heavily using the feature C-c C-o in org mode to open the links in org mode in my firefox. I have org lists with these links and I want to open a bunch of them and then go through this websites in the end. Currently after opening the links the focus switches to the browser tab and I need to go back to emacs myself. Is there a way to tell emacs not to switch focus to the opened browser tab?
Answer: I think this is determined by firefox itself and can't be easily fixed by Emacs.
Firefox-side solution
In about:config, toggle browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground from false to true.
See also this stackoverflow question
Outline of possible (ugly) alternatives

Tweak your window-manager to make Emacs reclaim focus.
In Emacs, define two new functions (and corresponding keybindings) that will i) add URLs to a queue, and ii) open all the queued URLs in Firefox. This would have the disadvantage of making the process more complicated, so I don't really recommend it.
Write a Firefox webextension that will communicate with Emacs via "Native messaging" and open the tabs in the background. (I think, but I'm not 100 % sure, that it would work — experimenting with the browser console, placing it in a different workspace to Firefox and executing browser.tabs.create({}) does not bring focus back to Firefox.)
Comment: I tried the firefox-side solution, the behaviour is not exactly what I want. The switch leads to the tab not coming to the foreground but firefox itself still does. So I still have to switch focus. The other solutions appear a little more complex to me as I'm not experienced in the proposed fields, but it sounds promising. I will put it my todo list ;)
Comment: Another idea is to use [xdotool](http://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool/).  It has the ability to bring windows in to focus.
Comment: Regarding the Firefox solution, that's weird — I had tested it (and just tested it again) and, in my case (Linux with XMonad), neither Firefox nor the tab came to the foreground, but it probably depends precisely on the details of the system.


Joomla error ($this->app) after upgrade

Question: I just upgrade my Joomla website from 3.1.1 to 3.3.6.
As found on https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/releases/tag/3.3.6 I downloaded Joomla_3.3.6-Stable-Update_Package.zip pack and uploaded all the files over my previous Joomla installation.
Unfortunately, I cannot login and the following error is displayed:
Fatal error: Call to a member function checkSession() on a non-object in /home/www/.../web/plugins/user/joomla/joomla.php on line 209
Line 209: $this->app->checkSession();
I did additional tests and it seems that all the "$this-app->..." command fail!
I opened the 3.1.1 joomla.php file and found another syntax:
<code>    $app = JFactory::getApplication();
    $app->checkSession();
</code>
Replacing the 3.3.6 syntax with this one solved my problem, but I can see that similar "calls" are done when logout, so I would need to change them as well.
It looks like the new syntax ($this->app->) is not working in joomla.php after upgrade to 3.3.6 and now I'm afraid similar errors can occurs in other scripts.
Does someone already get similar errors, is that a known problem with Joomla upgrade, how to solve this issue correctely?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Joel
Comment: Why would you do this?
Answer: Why on earth would you do this? For a long time now Joomla has had a built-in updater that does several things beyond just copying the files to the correct location, like updating the table definitions, adding new tables, data migration and removing old files.
My guess is that your database schema is now out of sync with the PHP. You'll have to role back to your backup as there is no clear way to say if records have been damaged etc.
Once you've restored your backup, use one of the methods described in the Upgrading from an Existing Version FAQ on Joomla's Doc's site.
As this question is about Joomla management and implementation details, you may get a better answer if you, try asking on the Joomla Q&A StackExhange site in the future.

Joomla error ($this->app) after upgrade


How do I downgrade Xbox 360 dashboard?

Question: I have an Xbox 360 Elite and I want to downgrade the dashboard version from 2.x to 9199. I tried putting <code>$SystemUpdate</code> (from the official $SystemUpdate9199.zip) folder into a FAT32 formatted USB and restarting the console with the USB stick inserted, but it didn't work. What else can I do?
Comment: Out of interest, Why?
Comment: @Diago: It's about JTAG.
Answer: There is no easy way of downgrading Xbox 360 Dashboard, since there are physical measures put in place to prevent just that (CPU e-Fuses blow when upgraded to prevent downgrade).
I heard there is a possibility of downgrading certain Dashboard versions by a timing attack, but that requires advanced electronics knowledge (and equipment) and definetly voids your warranty.
Answer: Basically what you have to do is JTAG your Xbox, then it will work. I'm no expert so double check on YouTube or something. I'm pretty sure, though!
Answer: Here's how you do it go to settings then click on storage then press LB RB X LB RB X And keep doing it until you get the dashboard of your likings

How do I downgrade Xbox 360 dashboard?


How do I defog the windows on a older truck

Question: My truck has no heater or A/C. Recently it's been unusually damp and foggy where I live. So now other than wiping the Windows down with a towel, I'm not sure what to do. The truck I'm driving is a 68 ford. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
Answer: I thought we had a duplicate, but can't find it, so here is what I have successfully used:

Thoroughly clean the inside of the windscreen
Dry with paper towels
Use a product like Rain-X anti-fog (there are various by different manufacturers, but this is what I use)

That will at least clear the windscreen. Now, to help stop it fogging up again you have some challenges.
In general, trying to keep the air cool and dry is your best bet, but without ac you can't fully do this. At best, try having windows open a little when driving - this will stop buildup of condensation from your breath.
Comment: Rory's answer is about as good of an answer as you can have in this situation. The biggest problem here is the lack of heater. You could at least get away with it. If the weather is ever below freezing, you are in serious dog-poop. Your breath will freeze to the inside of the wind shield, which is way tough to get cleared.
Answer: I recently heard you can fill a stocking or a sock with kitty litter and it will keep the moisture absorbed. At walmart you can get silica gel crystals by the pound, or maybe it's dessicant.