Services to monitor and report if a web site goes down?

Question: Are there any services that will monitor a web site and report if it goes down, or experiences unreasonable response time? Which are reputable and recommended?  How does the service notify you when your site is having problems?
Answer: I would recommend http://www.pingdom.com.

You can use pindom to monitor HTTP,
and various other services, you can
get it to send you alerts by email,
text, even DM you on Twitter.
You can also choose the level of the checks every 10 minutes 5 mintutes etc.
They will can also give you a report which you can link to on your website, which would give you an uptime report

A more server level service is http://www.serverdensity.com/. Which requires you to add a script to server, but will give you real-time graphs or MySQL, Apache etc. Server Density also allows you to monitor HTTP and TCP for that you won't need to install anything at all and you'll still get graphs and alerts for the monitoring of websites.
Comment: I use Pingdom, and it's great. There's an iPhone app with Push notifications, so you don't need to spend money on SMS
Comment: Server Density does now include website monitoring and can give you alerts based on the site status and response time from different locations around the world.
Answer: I use UptimeRobot and have been very pleased. It's pretty basic monitoring (does an URL that you specify respond with 200OK and in a reasonable amount of time?), but it's free, and they offer alerts via email, SMS (via email gateways, which are sometimes delayed), and Twitter.
I recently had an outage while I happened to be using the server, and I was notified within 4-5 minutes. I'm definitely pleased with the service, considering what I'm paying for it. ($0)
Comment: I agree, and offline detection is very precise (checked every 5')
Answer: Server-side monitoring software:

Nagios (FOSS)
Stashboard (FOSS)
Whiskerboard (FOSS)

Site monitoring services:

Uptime Robot (free)
Service Uptime (free)
site 24x7 (free)
monitor.us (free)
Pingdom
Are my sites up?
HostTracker
Gomez
servermojo
New Relic
Server Density
OpManager

Remote monitoring/testing software:

Selenium Remote Control (FOSS)
mon (FOSS)
Alchemy Eye (desktop)
up.time
Easy Network Service Monitor (desktop)
First Alert Service Monitor (desktop)
Answer: aremysitesup.com is an easy solution, with a free option. I use it for my personal blog.
Comment: Now (5 Mar 2014) only 15-day trial is free.
Comment: They must have changed that. They had a fully free option when I posted that.
Answer: Server Mojo it's not free, but they have a continuous going on offer for 30 bucks / year for monitoring 1 site/domain.
The monitoring is excellent because they don't only check for the server header 200 success, but you can also check for a keyword whitin your page, in this way it tests each time the server uptime and also if the page was really given out completely and if the PHP engine is running.
BTW: i love their leitmotiv: "RED is BAD!"

UPDATE March/2012: STAY AWAY from Server Mojo!!! After trying their service for almonst one year (i paied), I discovered they have no support at all, I received false downtimes signals, and now looking also at their forum (last updated in April/2011) I think they are dieing or something anyway is not working out.


Converting speech audio to telephone audio

Question: I am trying to train a machine learning algorithm on telephony speech audio. However, there isn't really enough data for this anywhere that I can find. My solution is to just use speech audio from Youtube videos. How can I convert audio from a Youtube video to audio that simulates telephony audio?
Comment: why is this tagged machine-learning?
Answer: Band-pass filtering with cut-off frequencies of 300 Hz and 3400 Hz should result in a good approximation. Try with a Chebychev filter or order not more than 6.
Then you may need to downsample your audio to 8000 samples per second, which is the standard for telephony.
P.S. The actual cut-off frequencies (especially the 3400 Hz) may be different according to different sources. I'll edit this answer when I find the official ITU recommendation.
Answer: I did this once using two phones and by making and actual call. The calling phone had a good quality headset pushed against its microphone, and the audio was played through the headset. The audio was recorded from the headphone output connector of the receiving phone. The drawback is that the following things may be hard to replicate if someone wants to repeat the experiment later:

Placement of the headphones with respect to the calling phone
Adjustment of the headphone volume control
Choice of the phones (affects microphone acoustics, microphone choice and internal filtering and gain control etc.)
Condition of the calling phone (dust/dirt may affect the microphone)
Phone network

You can hear the result in the male voice starting 4:38 here. It was a basic GSM network and random phones we used in 2011.
Or, you could try exporting the audio file as GSM 6.10 WAV in Audacity.


Can one make a living just by working through Elance, Freelancer, oDesk, etc?

Question: I just starting using Elance and Freelancer. I was wondering if freelancers generally use these platforms to help them make ends meet, or if some freelancers actually make their entire living with jobs obtained there?
Comment: No not yet because first you need to get a few positive ratings (pretty much like a seller on eBay), otherwise most employers will skip you. Hence the first weeks/months require a bit of determination.
Comment: My clients pay me through oDesk, but I usually contact the client outside of oDesk (or in my most recent case, I was contacted by a client personally). The side-effect is that if I want to go ahead and use oDesk for finding work, I already have ratings
Comment: and which is against the T&C of Odesk.
Comment: Out of interest as someone who has just started have you had any success yet? I haven't ever gone for it but have considered it.
Answer: Geographically, it depends on where you are.  I'm based in the US and answering from that point of view.
I've been a full-time freelance UX designer since mid-2012.  I began by looking for projects on Elance and oDesk.  I was requested for several projects before I made my minimum rate public.  Over several months, I probably wrote about 5-10 proposals which took a lot of time to put together.  Each proposal had a fair rate of, at the time, $50-60 an hour.  (My rates are now higher.)  That's a fair rate for designers in my area (I'm currently in the Washington, DC, metro area), which I had verified with other designers via a question I asked on Quora.  I wasn't charging too much for someone who was first starting out.
Yet I wasn't winning any of these projects either.  Some of these projects seemed to be posted by the clients as a way to not hire anyone yet but just explore the possibilities and find out who they could hire for the job.
The tipping point for me, however, came after I wrote a long, detailed proposal (which took several full days to write) on a project where I met the job description's requirements very well.  The rate I bid was either $54.89 or $58.89 an hour; it's been over a year, so I don't remember which.  I thought I could get the project.  What happened?
The client hired not one but two freelancers for the job.  Between the two of them, they didn't have the skills that the job description asked for, let alone my skill set.  But they were bidding only $2-3 an hour.  That rate is impossible to live on in the US, where the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and some jurisdictions are higher than that.  (As of this writing, there are also currently proposals to raise the minimum wage.)  If working for $2-3 an hour as a designer doesn't sound like a problem, consider this: if I'm working for that rate and I go to a fast food restaurant in the US, the person taking my order is making 3-4 times as much per hour as I am and doesn't have nearly the skill set that I do.
So as a design professional, I had to answer this question: How would I get work that actually paid me in line with my credentials (bachelor's degree from a top university in the US, 5 - now close to 7 - years of work experience, almost 2 years in UX design) and gave me a rate that I could live on?  And what would I advise others to do if they live in other countries where the cost of living is much higher than what most oDesk/Elance/... projects can pay?
The solution was this: I stopped looking for work from these bid sites.  I picked an industry and learned how to do prospecting.  And, while I've unfortunately had to do a lot of free work over the past year to build my portfolio, I have had more than enough work over the past year.  I got most of that work from one prospecting email.
The prospecting course I took was Warm Email Prospecting, offered about once a year through International Freelancers Academy.  (Full disclosure: I am a student of this class, but I'm not affiliated with the group that offers it.)  I'd recommend subscribing to IFA's email list to find out when the class will be offered again.  The course costs hundreds of dollars, which isn't cheap but it is a good investment for freelancers who don't have a background in selling or prospecting.  As freelancers, selling and prospecting are skills that we need to have on the side to run a profitable business.
What picking an industry will get you is domain expertise.  That will let you charge a higher rate than you would get working for just anyone who would give you a project.  Why?  You would be able to speak that industry's language and understand their business and their company's specific problems better than someone who only brings the technical skills.
Once you have picked an industry, make a list of companies in that industry which could use your skills.  Many job openings or opportunities for freelance work are not made public.  It is better to know - or find out about - specific people you can contact at the companies.
Answer: There are both scenarios.
Ones will earn their living via Elance, odesk, guru, freelancer and other similar sites.
Other will use those sites to find a good client and then start working for him only.
Answer: I have been working as a freelancer since year 2009, Well sometimes it is hard to get a job there on Odesk/Elance. There are tons of people now, what you would do for someone in 500 dollars, another person may do the same task 10 times better than you at a very low cost. You can't just rely on freelancing sites. Few days ago all was well with me  but all of a sudden I wasn't getting jobs on Odesk, so expect for the unexpected, I know some people who are doing very well but

it all depends how good you are, the luck factor and lots of things.

I love working as a freelancer because I don't like to go to the office and money of course - If you would work hard I am sure you will earn a lot more than your friends who go to offices.
Also,

If you are from the developed countries, I think you are gonna
  struggle to get job because for me and most of the people from
  developing countries for them Even 1 dollar is a lot of money, if I
  work 8 hours a day I may have 14000 bucks by the end of the month
  which is quite Okay to me.
Answer: I know some talented developers who make a living through those sites, but they live in low-income countries like Chile or the Ukraine. Those sites attract businesses that want cheap labor and it's very hard to distinguish between someone who's good and someone who is merely "productive" (i.e., turning in the completed work on time, but it's an absolute mess).
Comment: Don't the feedback mechanisms on those work-bid sites expose the absolute messes, @ovid ?
Comment: Martin: in theory, yes, but in reality, if you're a business person and someone hands you a steaming pile of ones and zeros that, nonetheless, appears to do what you want, how would you know? By definition, many people who try to hire programmers at those sites have no idea how technology works.
Answer: It depends on what you do.
I run a start-up and my company is primarily focused on providing services to our clients.
But, it is very essential that in this age of strict competition in all the IT fields , it is essential that you come up with your own product as well which would sell in the market.
I suggest you to build a base using Elance or Odesk till the point to have a stable income from your client.
After that, do some market research and go directly into products and start coming up with products of your own.


Cat6 shielded cable or no?

Question: I'm planning on running cat6 solid cable throughout many areas of my house. The best way for me to get from the basement to the second floor is through a pvc pipe my builder installed with the house that runs to the attic. I have already used this pipe to run electrical wire up to the attic so I could install my outside flood lights.....thinking ahead before I order everything will I need shielded cat6 since it is running up this pipe with the other electrical wires? Am I setting myself up for a lot of interference if I don't use shielded cat6 and grounded keystones or can I just get the wall rated riser cat6 and regular keystones?  Thanks in advance!!!!
Comment: It's against electrical code.  Low voltage/media wiring can't share the same conduit or boxes as electrical wiring.  See Ed's answer.
Comment: I don't think you can run low-voltage wiring in the same conduit as line-voltage wiring, shielded or not.
Comment: In almost every residential case, the answer is "no", you don't need shielded cable, I've only seen it make a difference in industrial situations where there's huge electrical loads like arc furnaces and 500+ HP electric motors. Shielded cable is much more difficult to run - it's stiffer and has more stringent bend radius and pull strength limits, it's easy for an inexperienced installer to damage it -- one sharp bend can break the shield *and* crimp the twisted pair cables, making it much worse that a non shielded cable. The twisted pairs give a lot of noise resistance even without a shield.
Comment: Any reason why?  Is it a fire hazard or something like that?
Answer: Some areas code do not allow data in the same conduit with power unless the data cable has the voltage rating of the power in that run.
 If you do run shielded,  ground on the supply end do not ground on both ends this is how industrial plants run comm wires when in close proximity to 480V lines.
Comment: Curious why they don't allow it?  Fire hazard? Interference?  So if I do run this line ground the shielded on the router end keystone, not where it is going into my equipment, correct?
Comment: @Bobby Safety and common sense - low-voltage wiring should be in a separate conduit, which  pretty much guarantees that you'll never find mains voltage on the low voltage wiring, which is not designed for mains voltage (nor are the places it connects to.) When you stick them in the same pipe, fault conditions that could cross-connect the two become much more likely, even if you personally find that inconceivable. The NEC finds it quite conceivable and thus forbids it. The NEC is written by the NFPA, so you could assume it's a fire hazard, yes.
Answer: According to the National Electrical Code. You can only run communications circuits in conduit with electric power conductors, if they are separated by a permanent and listed barrier (800.133(A)(1)(d)Ex.1, 830.133(A)(1)(f)Ex.1).
With some communications circuits, you can run them in the same conduit if all the conductors are capable of handling the maximum voltage in the conduit (800.133(A)(1)(d)Ex.3).
This is to reduce the chances of electric power circuits energizing communications conductors. i.e. to reduce the chances of a a short-circuit between a mains voltage conductor, and communications conductors. You wouldn't want to be punching down a network cable, and suddenly get jolted with 120-240 volts. If a fault were to occur, running mains voltage through a communications conductor could result in dangerous heating.

National Electrical Code 2014
Chapter 8 Communications Systems
Article 800 Communications Circuits
800.133 Installation of Communications Wires, Cables,
  and Equipment.
(A) Separation from Other Conductors.
(1) In Raceways, Cable Trays, Boxes, Cables, Enclosures
  and Cable Routing Assemblies.
(d) Electric Light, Power, Class 1, Non–Power-Limited
  Fire Alarm, and Medium-Power Network-Powered Broadband
  Communications Circuits in Raceways, Compartments,
  and Boxes. Communications conductors shall not be
  placed in any raceway, compartment, outlet box, junction
  box, or similar fitting with conductors of electric light,
  power, Class 1, non–power-limited fire alarm, or mediumpower
  network-powered broadband communications circuits.
Exception No. 1: Where all of the conductors of electric
  light, power, Class 1, non–power-limited fire alarm, and
  medium-power network-powered broadband communications
  circuits are separated from all of the conductors of
  communications circuits by a permanent barrier or listed
  divider.
Exception No. 3: As permitted by 620.36.

Article 830 Network-Powered Broadband Communications Systems
830.133 Installation of Network-Powered Broadband
  Communications Cables and Equipment.
(A) Separation of Conductors.
(1) In Raceways, Cable Trays, Boxes, Enclosures and
  Cable Routing Assemblies.
(f) Electric Light, Power, Class 1, Non–Powered Broadband
  Communications Circuit Cables. Network-powered
  broadband communications cable shall not be placed in any
  raceway, cable tray, compartment, outlet box, junction box,
  or similar fittings with conductors of electric light, power,
  Class 1, or non–power-limited fire alarm circuit cables.
Exception No. 1: Where all of the conductors of electric
  light, power, Class 1, non–power-limited fire alarm circuits
  are separated from all of the network-powered broadband
  communications cables by a permanent barrier or listed
  divider.

Cat6 shielded cable or no?


Coexistance of haram and makrooh

Question: Is it possible for a deed, thing, thought etc to be both makrooh and haram at the same time?
Background.
Comment: In case of [link rot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_rot) the question still stands.
Answer: Makrooh means Which is disliked (by Allah and his Rasul (Messenger))
and "Haram" means Strictly prohibited.
So, if a thing, thought or action is Haram, it is automatically also Makrooh.
But, if a thing, thought or action is Makrooh, it is not necessary that it will be also Haram. Most of the time, when we say an action is Makrooh, it is intended as lesser than Haram.
Allah knows best.
Comment: Logically I would disagree. Consider this, `foo` can be attributed to be `x` when it's `== 1` and `y` when it's `> 1`. Now, say, `foo = 3`, which is `1(the requirement for foo to be attributed as x) + 2` then `foo` only be attributed as `y`, and not implicitly/"automatically" as `x`.
Answer: I think Anwar's answer has some good basics, but maybe he didn't explain his point well.
One could say for every deed and everything there are levels in shari'a which are placed between the two opposites: halal and haram.
Halal only means that something is allowed or permissible without explicitly explaining what we could call "the level of permission".
Haram means that something is forbidden, prohibited or illegal. So in this case we have a red line and a definite level this means if you do this you did something illegal if you went further you are still illegal ...
Now the levels are (this is only a simple scale starting with haram):
Haram > makrooh > mubah > mustahab ~ mandub
Here ">" could be replaced with "better" or equal, but in shari'a it is always understood as "better". And "~" could be understood as equal or more or less equal.
Note that makrooh, mubah etc. are levels of halal. Also note that mubah is one of the synonyms of halal in Arabic language, but in terms of fiqh only means that something is allowed and therefore it's level is less than something which is recommended.
As you asked about makroh it means: that it is frowned upon. This means doing it wouldn't be a sin but leaving it would be better. in Arabic language makrooh includes the root kariha كره which means hate, so something makrooh is hated so from a linguistic point of view there's a clear tendency to haram.
As I'm not aware of the shi'a fiqh so I must say that in some sunni madhabs there are statements about things being makrooh, which based on sahih hadiths should be perfectly fine (halal) this means at least mubah not makrooh. And especially those scholars who use the "Prohibition of evasive legal devices" often declare something halal as makrooh or haram if a reason or tendency to commit a sin through this is observable due to the practice of the people. As a matter which is considered as makrooh can be considered as something leading to haram or a sin. I think if you need information on how a ruling is concluded you can find a good explanation in Battle of Karbala's answer.
Now to your question I think from a linguistic perspective anything haram is makrooh, but anything makrooh is not haram. From a fiqh perspective we must do a clear cut, so anything which is makrooh is not haram per se. But if it leaded to haram based on the above mentioned rule it can be declared to be haram. For the special comment which is the background of your question I think a scholar may in his elaboration of a fatwa make a distinction of what is makrooh in an act or deed and what is haram usually if there's something haram he would deduce that the whole matter is haram. But of course if we put a (bad) deed or matter under a "microscope" we can find makrooh aspects and haram aspects beside mubah and maybe even mustahab aspects... so a coexistence isn't excluded in single parts of a deed, but a general view of the deed would give a definite fatwa about it!
Most examples for this usually come from ahadith which lead to different interpretations or verdicts depending on specific conditions:
For example a hadith saying that our Prophet () kissed his wives while fasting may lead to the following conclusions:

kissing the wives while fasting is permissible for Muhammad () only! So it would be haram for anybody else (I don't know of any scholar saying so)
kissing the wives while fasting is permissible for older men only! So it would be haram for younger men (this view is actually held by some scholars), but halal or at least makruh for others.
kissing the wives while fasting is permissible for any man as long as it doesn't cause arousal to him! So it is halal, but the easier a person gets aroused the more this moves from makruh to haram.
etc.
Answer: No. one deed cannot be both. Because Makrooh is permitted (although is discouraged but anyway is permitted and has no sin or punishment) but Haram is forbidden and doing it has sin and punishment. It is contradiction that an action be both Makrooh and Haram because one deed cannot be both permitted and prohibited.
But sometimes one deed is not clearly mentioned as Haram or Makruh in Quran and Hadith. So it needs investigation in Hadith resources to be determined. So it is possible two different scholar have different view. For example one scholars says according to my research (Ijtihad) it is Haram and another scholars says according to my Ijtihad it is Makrooh. And this difference in Ijtihad is mostly because of different views on authenticity of a hadith. One scholar may consider a hadith authentic and another consider it weak.
In fact both cannot be correct. But the followers of each scholar (Marja) should obey the fatwa of his own Marja. It is like when two doctor have different view about one patient. One doctor says surgery is needed and another says surgery is not needed and no one can determine who is correct because no one has the knowledge higher than them. The only one with higher knowledge is Imam Mahdi a.s. who is currently at Occultation and we do not have easy access to him.

Coexistance of haram and makrooh


Is storing session data in the DMZ ok in an n-tier enterprise web application?

Question: Say I have a standard multi-tier web application with web servers in the DMZ and multiple services only accessible from an authenticated web app. Also let's suppose the web app uses server-side sessions.
I'm interested in the community opinion - do you think it would be ok to store web app session data in some kind of a database still in the DMZ, or should that data be in a proper backend database, encapsulated by a service? (By database in the DMZ I mean any kind of database, SQL, NoSQL, or even the filesystem of the web server like for example PHP does this by default.)
I understand it's all about what I want it to be protected against.

Considering an attacker only having access to the application UI, it almost doesn't matter (see at the bottom) as long as there is no session-related vulnerability in the application, but if there is one, session data is breached anyway.
Considering an attacker already having access to the web server with the user running the web app (eg. OS command injection in the web app), he would be able to either read the database in the DMZ or connect to the session service using the application credentials.
For an attacker already root/admin on the web server it's also the same.
From a management perspective, IT ops for the DMZ and a secure zone would typically be the same people.
Considering an attacker having gained some level of access to something else (not the web app) in the DMZ, it could be easier to access other servers, like the one containing the session data for this web app. This would be even more of a concern with a session store like Redis where authentication is not a strong point. But what if there is nothing else in this infrastructure apart from this application in question?

So what would be the benefit of putting session data behind a service? What would justify the additional cost, complexity and performance penalty?
For example having the session database in the DMZ, I could think of the threat of misconfiguration of the infrastructure that allows somebody from outside network level access to the session database.
Also some unrelated vulnerabilities in the web application might result in the breach of session data, especially if it's on the web server itself, like for example a simple local file inclusion could then be enough. But this risk can be mitigated in other ways in some environments (the application process itself doesn't necessarily have to have access to the session database files directly - or it could simply be a separate database, not on the web app).
So would you accept such an application as properly n-tier and reasonably secure in this regard, or do you think this idea is flawed and session data should be handled the same as any other application data?
Answer: Ultimately, this comes down to the level of risk you are prepared to carry. To assess that, you need to understand the impact of each risk being realised.
In this case, if there is relatively little impact if the session data is breached - which is to say that an attacker couldn't use the session data to mass exfiltrate personally identifiable data or create costly errors - then you are probably OK to keep it in the DMZ with the application.
If the session data would give access to credit card or other financial information, addresses, medical data, ... - especially for multiple users, then I'd say that was a significant risk and I would want to see it better secured.
Comment: I understand your point, and I kind of agree, impact is very relevant. However, the impact of losing session data to an attacker is the same wherever that data is stored. The question is whether the *likelihood* is much different. But of course you'e right, the *risk* of storing very sensitive data there is probably higher - but how do I decide if the risk presented by the additional complexity (and also consider things like DoS against a session service here) is lower or even higher than a simple solution in the DMZ? Doesn't sound straightforward, and I was wondering what you people think.
Comment: sesion data must be reachable from the DMZ, if the web-server is compromised, how can the session data be protected?


How can I configure my iPhone to show my contacts photos full screen when they call or I call them

Question: I used to see my contacts' photos full screen when they called or when I called them now I only see a thumbnail when they calling and when I call them.
Answer: Have you synced your address book with GMail?
It usually does it.
It was found earlier that if you add photo to the contact through iPhone it will display them full screen. And if you add it from address book app from a mac it will display them small.
Now I heard syncing contacts to iCloud will do just the opposite i.e. it will force all the contacts to be displayed full screen. Though I did not try.
Try to sync to iCloud if you can and report back.
Comment: Sync to iCloud does not change anything
Answer: It depends from where you selected the picture: only pictures selected from the Camera Roll will be displayed fullscreen.
Answer: I just chatted with Apple support.  This is a change that was done with the last update.  They said there is no work around to fix it, but said to please go to Apple Feedback on their site and let them know you want the FULL SCREEN pics back.  The more people that complain, the more of a chance there will be that they will change this!
I, for one, can hardly even see the tiny little pic icon that they changed it to! When the pics were full screen, they were easy to see, even if you were even a few feet away from your phone!  PLEASE SUBMIT FEEDBACK so they will change it back to the old way.
Comment: This is what should be done, respect @April F
Answer: If you sync your contacts with your Gmail contacts this procedure causes your contact photos to become thumbnails.
To restore them to full screen photos.

Delete the contacts photo
Insert the contacts photo again

Do not sync to Gmail contacts again else the problem will occur once more
Answer: Mine did the same thing. I had to go under "iCloud", then "Settings" and turn on my contacts and re-insert my contact with the pic. Then it started coming up full screen when they called.
Answer: It's simple, choose a contact, click on edit, then edit photo, again from options select edit photo then click on choose.


How can Antivirus differentiate between a Trojan and a normal remote desktop application software?

Question: RAT (Remote Access Tool, e.g. Sub7) are considered malicious by Antivirus software. How can it distinguish between such patches and a client application for commercial  software like NetSupport School?!
Answer: Despite outrageous marketing claims to the contrary, antivirus software is not smart. Antivirus does not recognize "types" of software, as in "mmh... this looks like a tool for RAT". There are strong theoretical reasons why this sort of detection is, in all generality, impossible to achieve, and correspondingly very hard to do in practice.
What antivirus does is to look up the software they see (which is, ultimately, a sequence of bytes) in a big database of "known evil software". The antivirus vendor works hard, every day, to include in that database malware which has been observed in the wild -- i.e. most malware you are likely to encounter, but not Net support school software, which the human antivirus vendor are deemed "not evil".
Comment: To add to this, sometimes they may recognize common methods to try and hide from antivirus. If you had benign software, but wrapped it up in a way that virus's usually do, it may be flagged.
Answer: Most of the time the vendor who develop the IT support tools work with the AV companies in order to white list their remote administration tools.
The behavior detection a.k.a the hueristic engine of AVs are marketed by the antivirus companies as a super genius mechanism of detecting trojans and other malware even if there is no signature available. Technically hueristic engine is nothing more than DLL hooking for detecting when processes call VirtualAlloc(), VirtualProtect(), GetProcAddress(), LoadLibrary() etc.
Therefore, from an antivirus point of view, there is no difference between a legitimate remote administration tool or a malicious one. The code for both of them is almost the same. The only thing the AV looks for is to see if the software is in the allowed application list. If it is, then it is allowed. Otherwise, the tool will be flagged as suspecious/malicious.
Comment: this is an incredibly good answer
Answer: Afaik based on whitelisted signatures. I hazard a guess based on Teamviewr (they like to know pretty much about the manufacturer of the AV).
Answer: Some anti-virus will distinguish RAT from NetSupport tools. It depends of the type of the detection mechanism that the anti-virus is using.
If the anti-virus is using a signature-based detection, it should distinguish a RAT from NetSupport since it is looking for specific lines of code. This type of protection depends on the quality of the signatures in the database. If the virus is not in the database, the virus won't be detected.
If the anti-virus is using a heuristic-based detection it will look for suspicious application behavior, thus it may not distinguish a RAT from NetSupport tools.


Cleaning Tzitzis

Question: What have you found to be the best way to wash tzitzis (i.e. easiest, least likely to invalidate, and most clean)?
Answer: A few suggestions:

Tie your own tzitzis using the thick tallis strings.
When possible, try to hand wash them. Try not to get the braid and strings wet at all.
If washing them in washing machine, wrap the entire braid and strings in aluminum foil.
Hand wash wool tzitis in Woolite
When you first get/make tzitzis, dip ends of strings (each separately) in no-fray glue (available at any sewing supply store)
Comment: If you wear P'til Tekhelet, do NOT use Woolite. It is known to have the effect of reversing the bonding process of the Tekhelet on the wool! I personally wouldn't use it even on the Beged for fear of some of it getting on the strings.
Answer: I would buy a new pair once or twice a year.
Comment: no problem. honestly, I don't wash them. for whatever reason, they seem to get worn out before they get dirty or smelly. I wash all my other clothes regularly, but the tzitzis never seem to be a problem.
Comment: Well, if you wear them over a undershirt (t-shirt) and you are not a "shvittzer" then I totally hear that.
Comment: I know you meant because they get worn out. I was just joshing and did not mean any offense!
Comment: Mine are like $200 a pair! And they get dirty quickly, as I wear them on top of my shirt.
Comment: @NoachmiFrankfurt thickest menuputz lishmah on a knee-long beged.
Comment: And never wash them?!?
Comment: @NBZ, how are yours that expensive?
Answer: Since I'm using a cotton beged, I use the washing machine, and I put the tzitzis in a delicates bag. Then I hang the tzitzis to dry. Using this method, the tzitzis tend to outlive the beged.
I haven't figured out what do do with a wool beged. I have three that have been essentially ruined by the washing machine -- the fabric has shrunk and become very itchy.
Comment: Dry cleaning works
Comment: If you don't have a delicates bag, you can also use a sock.
Comment: I bought a wool beged which was advertised as machine washable on the delicates cycle. I wash it in a delicates bag using the regular cycle. It seems to be holding up. I haven't measured it to see whether or not it's shrunk.
Comment: Note added a year later:  By now, it's shrunk a lot.  It might fit a child now.  I think it's time for me to replace it.
Answer: I haven't had a lot of success, but the best results are when I tie  the ends of the tzitzis and wash them tied in a pillow case. This probably would work better with a nicer washing machine with a good gentle cycle.  I usually hand wash, but will this will keep the garment "clean" it doesn't do much for making it look "clean".
Answer: Cotton beged here too.
I put each corner's strings in a plastic baggie and rubber-band it shut.  When it works well, the strings just get a little wet -- enough to clean them, not enough to destroy them.  But it's labor-intensive.  To remove the baggies, I usually just cut the rubber band.
Then hang dry.  The strings will be all tangled up -- DO NOT TRY TO UNTANGLE THEM WHEN WET!!  (Way too fragile.)  First let everything dry -- then untangle.
Answer: I've found that the most reliable way to keep tzitzit untangled is to hand-wash them, and hang dry.  Putting them in the dryer will most definitely tangle them.
I've found that when they do get tangled, they can be safely untangled while wet. I have found that to be easier than when dry.
Answer: Great trick for keeping zizit from tangling.
My wife takes my cotton begged zizit and washes with other clothes, buy she has a great trick for making sure the actual zizit strings don't get tangled.
She takes the four zizit and puts them inside a sock, then makes a knot of the sock, with the zizit inside and tosses it in the washing machine with everything thing else. We hang dry our clothes so I don't know if this will work for the dryer.
Regarding my talit gadol, I just got it back from the dry cleaning. It was cleaned but it came back all frayed and the zizit are unraveling and it is all wrinkled, I have a feeling they washed it in a machine and didn't dry clean it. I'm very upset and I sent it back for them to iron out at the very least. Now it looks like an old wrinkled rag. Thoe beautiful knots going around the edges of the talit gadol are unraveled and not tight like they used to be which reminds me of an old talit. It's only 5 years old....
Answer: I just bought this in Israel (it helps to keep the tzitzis from being tangled, similar to the sock method mentioned in one of the answers, but this allows the water to reach the strings so that they get cleaned well too):
Comment: Just hit me when looking at this. Roll the strings around a hair curler!
Comment: Water can pass through a sock perfectly well. And so I don't see why this "Magen Tzitzit" device is any better.
Comment: @gavriel It's called FringeGuard in English and is available online. http://tzitzit.tallit-shop.com/magen-tzitzit-fringeguard/ Disclosure: I own the webstore in the link.
Answer: As far as detergent that wont turn the wool strings yellow, go with dishwasher detergent. Also borax is good.

Cleaning Tzitzis


What does the Sm5Ge4 orthorhombic structure look like?

Question: I see tons of papers referencing this structure but none show what it looks like.
Answer: You can look at the $\text{Sm}_5 \text{Ge}_4$ crystal structure at Materials Project here.
Answer: In Crystal structure of Sm5Ge4, the structure is described as orthorhombic with $a = 7.75\,\mathring{A}$, $b = 14.94\,\mathring{A}$ and  $c = 7.84\,\mathring{A}$, having four $\ce{Sm5Ge4}$ units per unit cell. The authors further denote:

The structure is conveniently described in terms of three layers which occur along the $b$ axis. Layer $G$ contains $\ce{Ge}$ atoms only; layer $S$ $\ce{Sm}$ atoms only Layer $C$ is a combination of $G$ and $S$, but with the roles of $\ce{Ge}$ and $\ce{Sm}$ interchanged. Layer $C$ serves as a mirror plane in $Pnma$, but only as a quasi-mirror plane in $Pn2_1a$. [...]

(Personally, I find it a bit irritating that this article from 1967, which seemingly is the original reference, is not directly cited on the Materials Project page.)


How would you call the act of buying a used product in order to resell it?

Question: Say you work in a company that buys and sells mobile phones. Customers bring you used mobile phones so that you buy them, repair them if needed, then resell them with a margin. The act of selling is a "sale", as far as I can tell, no problem there. But what about the act of buying ? Would you just call it a "purchase", or is there a more specific word when you buy a used product ?
Answer: I would call this "flipping":

To buy and resell (a house, for example) in a short period of time for a profit.

It's commonly, but not exclusively, used when talking about people buying and re-selling houses. You could certainly say, "She's been making money flipping smartphones on eBay."
Answer: Often companies that sell refurbished items will have a trade-in program where the seller may get cash for their used item, although usually they get store credit like at Amazon or GameStop.
These programs are usually for customers of a company that sells both used and new products of the same types. So, a customer who wants a new phone can bring their old one and trade it for some credit toward the new model.
Sometimes the customer can get cash they could spend anywhere, like when I trade in books at Half Price Books. The amount of cash is usually less than the amount of credit you could get toward other products that the store sells. This is meant to encourage you to spend the money at the same store you traded in your used item.
I realize this isn't exactly what you're asking for, because "trading in" is something the seller of the item does, not the buyer. The buyer would accept a trade-in. If the company just buys used items for cash, the actual transaction doesn't have a special word; it's just buying.
There may be special words for how the company finds the used items to buy though. For example, there is a reality TV show called American Pickers that Wikipedia describes as a show that "follows antique and collectible pickers Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, who travel around the United States to buy or "pick" various items for resale, for clients, or for their own personal collections."
Answer: "Reseller" seems to be used relating to this activity: see here and here
Answer: I guess there is not a single word for this. You could say that you "buy a refurbished product", but I can't think of anything shorter than this.
Comment: In this example, you are buying a phone that is **not** refurbished.  Furthermore, "repair them if needed" doesn't really fit the bill for refurbishment, which means making something look new again.


Can a person with Type 1 Diabetes get a medical and learn to fly?

Question: A friend of mine has had Type 1 diabetes most of his life, and has it well under control.  How does he go about finding out if he can get his medical and learn to fly?
Comment: @arcfrostt Thanks, but this question is tagged faa-regulations.
Comment: if not limited to US you might check out [link](https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/11/07/alberta-man-becomes-first-canadian-with-pre-existing-type-1-diabetes-to-fly-a-commercial-plane.html)
Answer: As far as the FAA is concerned your friend can get a medical, but he will need a special issuance medical, will only qualify for a third-class medical, and will be prohibited from operating aircraft outside the United States.
In addition there are some specific requirements to obtain the special-issuance medical for insulin-dependent diabetics, and monitoring requirements before and during flight which must be adhered to.
The FAA has a page of guidance for Aviation Medical Examiners that deals with insulin-dependent diabetes which your friend should review (and be prepared to discuss with their AME).
Diabetes.org also has a page on Diabetes and FAA Certification, and AOPA's medical folks would be a useful resource to help ensure that the special issuance medical goes through without any hiccups.
Comment: I haven't reviewed all of the links that you posted, but can all Type 1 diabetics be approved, or are there conditions?  (A list of qualifying/disqualifying conditions would be good here for future visitors!)
Answer: Things change.  Recently an airline captain who is insulin dependent, flew with a First Class special issuance medical.  At this moment, there are six airmen in the US who have First Class special issuance for insulin dependent diabetes.
I suggest that your friend may want to re-investigate his obtaining a medical.
The guidance for third class is here:
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/dec_cons/disease_prot/diabetes_insulin/initial/
Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) special issuance is available for all classes of medicals:
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/dec_cons/disease_prot/diabetes_insulin/initial/
CGMs are devices which have a sensor on the body which reads the glucose level, and the patient / pilot can adjust the insulin they get based upon readings from the monitor.  Insulin can be added by injection or by an insulin pump.  Many CGM will sound an audio alert and even send messages, should a patient have declining blood glucose.  The primary safety of flight concern is that low glucose can cause loss of consciousness and can impair judgment. Utilizing CGM devices mitigates that risk, and the FAA has refined their approach to diabetes, most notably with respect to First and Second Class medicals.
The new US FAA policy reflects what some other countries have had in place for some time.
Answer: The main problem in Type-1 DM is that anything that increases the body Glucose consumption may yield a potentially obtunding and sometimes deadly too low blood Glucose levels (Hypoglycemia in medical terms), this may come from a physical exercise while on the usual Insulin dose, and also from the mental stress from piloting, that may increase the Glucose consumption and lead to the catastrophic event of a loss of conscience, a blackout, or death while in command of an airplane. Automated Glucose monitoring devices that act mimicking the Pancreas islet cells function, measuring in a continued real time blood glucose levels, and releasing Insulin to the blood in accordance, are under strong research by many, but as in both T-I and T-II DM, (DM may be considered a mainly self-managed disease), the race is against the long term complications from poor, too high or too unsteady blood Glucose levels control, a too low blood Glucose level is an immediate life-threatening situation. People suffering T1DM must acknowledge that some activities are too dangerous for them and in certain circumstances for those close to them, at least in the current state of the medical arts, and thus, T1DM patients better refrain from engaging in some types of risky activities. Acting as an Airplane pilot is one of it.
Comment: Very little of this answer is actually answering the question, and your answer seems to contradict the FAA source voretaq7 cites. Do you have any evidence that it's unsafe to specifically fly aircraft?
Comment: It may contradict voretaq7, but Everything he says is true, however.


Installing Kali Pi using all available storage space?

Question: Is there any way to install kali linux for raspberry pi using all space that is available on the micrSD card initially or do you HAVE to go back later and resize partitions in order to utilize the full space of the microSD card? I know raspi-config allows you to expand to use full sd card, however there is nothing of the sort for kali.
Comment: You will have to do it manually i guess. Here is a simple guide. http://elinux.org/RPi_Resize_Flash_Partitions
Comment: @dastaan: Would you mind adding that as an answer?
Comment: @Jacobm001 Added.
Comment: I installed Kali on a 16 Gig card. The minimum ARM install from Offensive Security is less than 4G. After running apt-get update; then the "tasksel" command, I was given further auto install instructions for: Top 10 tools, Wireless Tools, etc. All installed with no problem or requirement for resizing petitions.
Answer: Kali linux for Pi can be found on this link : http://docs.kali.org/kali-on-arm/install-kali-linux-arm-raspberry-pi with instructions to follow in order to make it work on Rpi.
As far as, re sizing partition(s) is(are) concerned, you will have do it manually. You can follow this guide. It's pretty straight forward. I used it while re sizing my Ubuntu rootfs. This works for any linux distro pretty much .Link : http://elinux.org/RPi_Resize_Flash_Partitions

Edit:
One of the alternate solution could be grabbing raspi-config package from raspbian repo and install it on Kali Pi since both are debian based distros, it should work out of the box. Again, I've not tested it but it should work in theory.
Here are the steps :

wget http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/r/raspi-config/raspi-config_20150706_all.deb
sudo gdebi raspi-config_20150706_all.deb

Raspi-config utility should get installed by following these steps.
Try running sudo raspi-config to check.
Hope it helps.
Comment: using raspi-config destroyed my partition table, it showed in gpart that I was using all of the space however when i rebooted I still only showed having 29mb free in file manager. I lost everything I had just done setting up, oh well. I have decided on next go round I will try using gpart to resize the partition...
Comment: @user32950 That's interesting. I was able to make it work on my ubuntu just fine.


Can you use only malted wheat to brew?

Question: Granted, it officially would not be beer (dunno what it would be called), but as a cereal grain that is maltable and grindable, it seems that it should also be pretty brewable.  I'd be interested in making something like that just to try it... but googling has turned up nothing on it, so I'm curious as to why that is.
Comment: A beer brewed with 100% wheat or wheat malt would still be called "beer". The use of 100% wheat in beer was not unusual in parts of Europe for so-called "white beers", as opposed to "red beers" made from malted barley, until World War II, as per the book *Brewing with Wheat* by Stan Hieronymous.
Comment: I was wondering the same thing. I have hundreds of pounds of old food storage, and wondered if I could out it to some good use. I found this step by step to malting wheat. The man also put a recipe he tried at the bottom. Good luck. I'll let you know how mine turns out. Let me know if you try this and how it worked for you. Here is the link: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/easy-wheat-malting-picture-guide-322877/
Answer: A similar question was asked here on the BN forum.  It all boils down (no pun intended) to whether the wheat malt will have enough diastatic power to convert itself.
The answer to that is a little confusing to me so far.  The charts at the Home Brewing Wiki here give diastatic power as percentages, but other references I've found use Lintner or Windisch-Kolbach units.  Below °L is "degrees Lintner", not Lovibond.
According to most of the sources, a malt needs a diastatic power of approximately 35 °L or 106.5 °WK to be considered "self converting".  Taking a look at Breiss' wheat malts, they claim 190-200 °L for their "high enzyme" wheat malts, which is higher than the 6-row!
So find out the diastatic power of the particular malted wheat you want to use.  If it's > 35 °L, you should be in business for some mashing action.
Comment: +1 I believe 60 °L is a minimum for self-converting, although I see wikipedia disagrees with me!:-D With typical malts (particularly in Europe) around the 100-120°L mark, I figured that's where the 50% upper limit on adjuncts comes from, (60% if you can add some 6-row or higher enzyme malt.)
Comment: cool! It may require a bit more effort than the barley as @Hopwise suggested, but with the RIMS component I'm building and a false bottom I'm thinking I might be able to pull it off... interesting novelty factor.
Comment: Isn't the OP talking about using unmalted wheat?  That's the way I read it.
Answer: 1) It would be beer. Beer is an alcoholic beverage made from grain, it doesn't have to be made from barley.
2) The most important thing to remember about wheat is that it has no husk. No husk = no filter bed for your grain when you lauter. No filter = stuck mash. It is possible to lauter an all-wheat mash, but it takes a very long time and is tricky. This is basically why no one does it.
Edit: A book that talks about all-wheat brewing is The Brewer's Apprentice. In it, a German wheat-beer brewer talks about the percentages modern breweries use, and how older breweries would make beers from 100% wheat. He's pretty dismissive of the practice, saying "They must have had a lot of time to lauter." (that quote's from memory, so I'm paraphrasing).
Comment: Oh I just wanted to try it as a lark; I have no intention to regularly do something like that.  As for the beer definition, fair enough, I was thinking Reinheitsgebot standards, which are certainly not binding except to some purists.
Comment: @JeremyHolovacs: The Reinheitsgebot only allowed barley, hops, and water—not even yeast was a permitted ingredient. So virtually any beer made today would violate the standard, even with a small amount of wheat.
Answer: Yes, you can brew a beer from 100% malted wheat. It will absolutely convert. The Weyermann pale malted wheat is 200+ °WK (Windisch-Kolbach units, which converts to ~ 62° Lintner).
That said, Weyermann recommends...
"Recommended Quantities: Up to 80% in Bavarian-style Weizenbiers, up to 50% in North
American pub wheat ales, up to 7% in Altbier and Kölsch"
You will need a lot of rice hulls if you go with 100% wheat to help with lautering, but I'd go ahead and try it if the fancy takes you.
If you do it, I'd be interested in the results.
Answer: I'm thinking you can. I was wondering the same thing last month. I had 7.5 lbs. of white wheat malt on hand and mashed it by itself. I used the brew in a bag method since I was concerned about a stuck sparge. Worked great.
Answer: A few years late but for future reference. I see most have answered the question with correct info regarding enzymes but there are ways. But really it boils down to this (no pun intended) using only malted wheat will make the beer very white pale, with a very dry finish, the mash will have little flavour aside from a soft flour like taste. The proteins are smaller than barley and hard to filter but settle well after long conditioning, Hop aroma may be muted by then. If you wanted too go ahead, make the beer acidic like a Berliner weisse, and ferment with a fruity yeast like Brewferm's Witbier yeast. The soft flavour of wheat is great to add fruit concentrate to. Beware a big never ending frothy head if carbonation level is too high.
Answer: I'm guessing from your title you're interested in using non-malted wheat to contrast with using malted wheat? If so, then yes, that's often done in brewing.
For example, a Belgian Wit typically contains around 40-50% flaked unmalted wheat. And some English beers use torrefied (puffed) unmalted wheat as ca. 10% of the grain bill to aid in head retention and add.
Looking further afield from wheat, some of the big brewers use plain rice rather than malt to lighten the body since rice is almost completely fermentable and produces little color or body, just alcohol. It's also a lot cheaper than malted grain so it lightens their check book too.
All of these come under the heading "cereal adjuncts". Is it possible to make a beer with just unmalted cereals? Fortunately not, or it wouldn't be beer as we know it, more like rice wine. (And for that, you would need to add amylolytic enzymes to break down the starch.)
One of the main side-affects of malting grain is that additional enzymes are created in the grain. When the malt is mashed, the amylolytic enzymes break down the starch into mostly fermentable sugars, and some non-fermentable sugars. Malted barley contains plenty of these enzymes, enough to convert it's own starch plus other starches added to the mash, such as cereal adjuncts. But, there is a limit - with the best enzymatic malts, you can use about 40% grain and 60% adjuncts and still get full conversion of the starch, but that's as far as it will go. Trying to use even more cereals will leave starch in the beer, or require the addition of more enzymes (as is done when making rice wine.)
Comment: No what I was interested in is brewing exclusively with malted wheat, no barley at all.
Comment: I understood that after reading some of the other answers, maybe you could have phrased it "can I brew a beer with just wheat malt?". That would have been less ambiguous.
Comment: Sorry for the confusion
Comment: Oh, no worries. I should have also asked in a comment what you really meant.
Answer: I know this is way old but I wanted to add that with Brew In a Bag (BIAB) you can easily do 100% malted wheat since you don't need a bed to set up in the lauter tun. They have a slightly different flavor than 100% barley beers, but nothing crazy and if you roast some malted wheat to give you some darker flavors, you probably can't tell the difference!
Comment: @Makyen Hey if someone did the housekeeping around here it wouldn't be a problem would it? It was clearly spam and had 7 votes to clear it and had been sitting there for several days. Just clean up the mess please.

Can you use only malted wheat to brew?


Seeking climate and related sciences textbook recommendations

Question: I will be starting a Master's program in data science soon and my eventual hope/goal is to do climate-related data science work. I did an independent study for one semester in college on the mathematics of climate and it inspired me to want to learn more and possibly pursue climate research as a career path. The two main textbooks I used for that class were Mathematics of Climate (Hans Kaper and Hans Engler) and Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics (John Marshall and R. Alan Plumb). My undergrad major was applied math, so my knowledge is limited mainly to content in those two books. In hopes of obtaining more background knowledge on environmental and climate sciences, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend textbooks that I could self-study before I start the program, so that I could potentially do a climate-related final project. I'm hoping to gain as wide a range of knowledge as I can during the next couple of months, so I welcome suggestions on anything (whether textbooks or other resources) that might be useful or just plain interesting! I will also mention that any books that include data assimilation would be superb. Thank you!
Comment: This is free to download this month: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-94-007-5757-8
Comment: It's a bit dated now... but this book gets into some real good examples about the energy consumption calculations involved with fossil and renewable energy.  http://www.gci.org.uk/Documents/Global-Warming-the-Complete-Briefing.pdf
Answer: There are loads of books. I will refer you to one of my previous answers which can apply to the meteorological aspects of climate. An additional classic for climate is Physics of Climate by Peixoto and Oort.
Answer: "The Warming Papers" edited by David Archer and Raymond Pierrehumbert is good for historical context.  It is basically a collection of classic journal papers, starting with Fourier and Tyndall, but it also covers key papers on climate modelling, ice cores and the carbon cycle etc.


How many layers does the movie Inception involve?

Question: In the third layer, there is a mountain and they ski down it and all, but after that, do they enter the fourth layer of dreaming or do they enter limbo? Is Cobb the only to enter and does he/do they do it by killing themselves or using their technology?
Comment: http://www.infographicsblog.com/inception-infographics-which-is-the-best-inception-infographic/
Answer: There are four layers, the last of which is called "limbo". Cobb and Ariadne enter the limbo layer using their technology (not by killing themselves) to get Fischer Jr. and Saitor out of it.
The link on CinamaBlend has an illustrated guide.
Comment: wasn't there perhaps another? when cobb has ariadne fall in the state after the mountains, wouldn't cobb have gone further in to get to saito? i say this, because that level was very chaotic, whereas the level where cobb finds saito is much calmer
Answer: There are three levels plus limbo - the raw dream space.

The Yusuf in Car level
The Hotel Room level
The Snow battle level where Fischer meets his dad and Saito dies.
Limbo: Where Cob and Ariadne fight Mal, and Cobb stays back to find Saito.

There is a beautiful site dedicated for this one purpose: http://inception-explained.com/
Answer: It's unclear in the sense that, at the end, it is suggested that what viewers have interpreted as the "real" reality may also be a dream.  [Recall that the penultimate action of Cobb is to spin the little top before going out to his kids, before he or we see if the top falls.  A falling top indicates the "real" reality. We do see that top start to wobble, but Nolan cuts it off to make a philosophical point.]


How can I expand the number of special characters I can type using my keyboard?

Question: I am aware that when I press ⌥ or ⇧⌥ on my Mac, I can type a variety of special characters. I also know that I can insert special characters using the character palette. Is there a way to expand the number of special characters I can type while using the keyboard? I am particularly interested in solutions that work in Lion and Mountain Lion.
Comment: I like that this is a short, general question that aims at a canonical answer as opposed to a one hit - "How do I get a  (bug eye emoticon) to replace the ® (option R) key"
Comment: Can you give us specific examples of the actual "special characters" you need to use? There are many keyboard layouts available to type many different languages or groups of languages. Which ones are you concerned with?
Comment: @WheatWilliams ones like ⌘⌥⌃⇧⎋⏏⌫↑⇡
Answer: Custom text entry key bindings
OS X has a very nice text editing system, which you can extend using Key Bindings. You can, for instance:

Set up special characters to be entered when you press a certain key command.
Insert more than one character at once.
Include navigation commands and change the selection.
Use multi-stroke key bindings — this is how I type the ⌃⌥⇧⌘ characters.

To set this up, you just create the file ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict and put your customizations there. This article describes the steps in detail.
Here's a list of the default key bindings, and here's Apple's official guide to the text system and key bindings.
Diacritics
If you're just looking to be able to type more diacritics, and you use a U.S. keyboard, consider using the  ABC – Extended keyboard layout:

This allows you to type such characters as oòôȯóöơōṯțőo̊ɵỏọţǒŏõǫȏṵṷȍ. You can enable it from the Input Sources section of the Keyboard system preferences.
"Press and hold"
You can type many special characters by holding down a similar key on your keyboard:

(It turns out this can be customized, if you're up to the task! All it takes is to edit a plist file.)
Text replacements
If you have specific phrases or characters you'd like to use, you can also set up custom substitutions for them by clicking "Text Replacements" under the Keyboard settings:

(On older macOS versions this used to be in the Text section of Language & Text preferences.)
Character viewer / Emoji & Symbols
You can open the Character Viewer and browse through the entire Unicode character set (and you can also browse characters by category):

In Sonoma this window is easily accessible in most applications under the Edit menu, or by pressing fn or  (the "globe" key). If you've configured the  key to start Dictation or switch between input sources, then you can bring up the Character Viewer using fn+E or +E. Previous systems used ⌃+⌘+space (and before that ⌥+⌘+T).

In the Keyboard settings, you can configure what pressing the  key does:

SF Symbols
SF Symbols is an icon set developed specifically for Apple platforms. These icons/characters will only render correctly on a Mac or iOS device, and even then not necessarily in all places (for example, on the web: ). However, if you're okay with those limitations, you can drag & drop or copy & paste symbols out of the SF Symbols app:

Under the hood, these are implemented as Unicode characters from the "private use" ranges:
Answer: In addition to simply using the press-and-hold method included in @jtbandes answer, it is also possible to customise the list of options that you are presented with when you hold down a key.  In the example below I configured the "Q" key to show a list of special character codes corresponding to the Mac keyboard:

To do this, you need to be comfortable editing a plist file.  If you are not sure what a plist file is, this may not be a suitable procedure to follow, just in case you hit problems.
I used TextWranger, but if you have Xcode you can use Plist Editor, or any other tool that can open and read the plist formatted files.
The first step is to navigate to the following location.  You may need to make your Library folder available depending on how you choose to get there:
/System/Library/Input Methods/PressAndHold.app/

Right click on this file, and select show package contents, and head on over to ./Contents/Resources/Keyboard-en.plist - choose the keyboard file relevant to your locale if you are using a different keyboard layout.
I took a copy of this file and dragged it over to my desktop for editing.  Also, for sanity, take a copy of the entire press-and-hold.app bundle in case you ruin everything.  Editing the file, you can see a series of statements that look similar to the following:
<key>Roman-Accent-a</key>
<dict>
    <key>Direction</key>
    <string>right</string>
    <key>Keycaps</key>
    <string>a b á â ä æ ã å ā</string>
    <key>Strings</key>
    <string>a b á â ä æ ã å ā</string>
</dict>

In the example above, when holding down the lower case 'a' key, you will get the following alternatives.  I included 'b' in the list also.  After making the changes and saving the file, I dragged the file back into the press-and-hold bundle into the correct place, and authorised as administrator to allow the copy to complete.  To make this available, you need to log out/in to reload the plist.  Now just press and hold the key(s) you modified, to see your new list.
You can put anything you like in the alternatives list, just leave a space between each one, and don't bother going above 9 entries if you are a keyboard shortcut junkie, as you cannot select one of the alternatives by typing '10' without just getting '1' instead, even though the numbers above 9 still get listed...  Note that as per the above image, you can include unicode characters, emoji, and indeed anything that you can find in the special character palette that is also included in @jtbandes answer
    <key>Roman-Accent-Q</key>
<dict>
    <key>Direction</key>
    <string>right</string>
    <key>Keycaps</key>
    <string>Q ⌃ ⌥ ⇧ ⌘ ⎋ ⏏ ⌫ ↑ ⇡ ↖ ⇞ ⇥</string>
    <key>Strings</key>
    <string>Q ⌃ ⌥ ⇧ ⌘ ⎋ ⏏ ⌫ ↑ ⇡ ↖ ⇞ ⇥</string>
</dict>

For preference, rather than ammend existing entries, I simply tested keys for ones that had no existing alternatives and made a fresh statement in the plist file for those keys as per above.  But be careful to check for duplicate statements for the same letter, as likely only 1 will work.  Try to keep them in alphabetical order for sanity.
Keys q/Q/z/Z are good options for fiddling with, having no pre-existing alternatives for that particular locale/keyboard that I used.  This can give you up to 36 'slots' for  creating custom shortcuts to unusual characters.  You can have a set of Emoji, a set of Keyboard characters etc etc on any key you like.  Likely other characters are also currently free of alternatives, and perhaps using a non-alphanumerix key like ` or @ or ¬ or ~ would be a good choice if you are filling the alternatives list with more non alphanumeric characters, but I don't know currently how you would identify them in the plist - would <key>Roman-Accent-~</key> work?  I have no idea, I didn't test that.
Note, take a copy of the plist somewhere, I have no idea if this will be overwritten on subsequent OS updates etc, and it would be a pain to remember what you did and repeat it next month when 10.7.4 is out etc.
It's possible that you can replace with more than a single character also.  I didn't try this either.  But is anyone fancies adding this  to the k assignment, I'd be interested to see what happens :)
Comment: You can also put combining diacritics in the .plist, which opens new options for creating accented characters in general.  http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-way-to-make-custom-keyboard-layouts.html
Answer: If you enable the "Unicode Hex Input" keyboard, you can enter any special character, knowing their Unicode code.
For example, if I press ⌥, and I click on 2, 2, 0, and 0, while keeping ⌥ pressed, I get ∀ (the FOR ALL Unicode character).
Comment: At least in Yosemite (possibly before), this UI is found in Language and Region -> Keyboard Preferences -> Input Sources -> (+ Button lower left) -> Other -> Unicode Hex Input.

Naturally it'll probably be somewhere else in El Capitan.
Answer: You can design a custom keyboard layout, which will appear in the input source list next to U.S. and Dvorak and Turkish and all that. You can arbitrarily change what character(s) are produced for any key with any combination of modifiers, and multi-character combinations (which in this context are known as "dead keys", such as Optione which makes acute accents, but can be much more general than that).
Ukelele is a free program for editing keyboard layouts. I use a keyboard layout of my own design, which notably adds dead keys for typing mathematical symbols and Greek letters (without switching to a Greek keyboard layout).
Answer: I incorporated Stuffe's excellent pop-up key solution into my own workflow (adjusted to include the keys I care about)and am extremely pleased with it.
Seeking similar functionality on iOS, I also created a set of TextExpander snippets which I can access from my iOS devices or any Mac to which I sync my TextExpander settings. (I currently use DropBox to do so.) This is arguably faster than editing the plist file when I first "take control" of a new machine, and is less intrusive on Macs that I'm just borrowing.
Below is my list of snippet shortcuts followed by the character (or entity) that it expands to:
,,via   ᔥ
,,ht    ↬
,,kb   %|
,,cmd   ⌘
,,alt   ⌥
,,opt   ⌥
,,ctl   ⌃
,,esc   ⎋

Answer: There are some important gotchas with the other solutions posted here. I'll explain them, and offer an alternate solution that avoids these issues.
For one, symbol and text substitution entries only work in Cocoa apps. If you want a truly system-wide solution that works in all applications, this is not an option.
Also, apps like KeyRemap4MacBook are great, but relying on them means you have to keep the app running in the background all the time, which may not be what you want.
Custom keyboard layouts to the rescue
Luckily, remapping keys can be done in a way that will work for any type of application, and without any additional software!
Mac OS X has supported .keylayout files since version 10.2 (Jaguar). You can create your own keyboard layout, or rather, tweak the default one you're using right now. Simply remap a keyboard combination you never use (for me, there are plenty of those) to the ² and ³ symbols, and that's it.
In my custom QWERTY keyboard layout, I can simply press ⌥ + ⇧ + 2 to enter ², and ⌥ + ⇧ + 3 to enter 3. (My custom AZERTY layout has these mappings, too.)
How to create a custom keyboard layout
To create new keyboard layouts or modify existing ones, I'd recommend Ukelele.app. It has an option to create a new keyboard layout based on the one that's currently in use.
After you've created your custom layout, there's no need for the application anymore — you certainly don't need to keep it running in the background.
How to install a custom keyboard layout

Copy the .keylayout file to the Keyboard Layouts folder within ~/Library (if you want to install it only for the current user) or /Library (if you want to install the layout system-wide).
Reboot (if you installed the layout system-wide), or log out and log in again (if you installed it for the current user only).
Enable the new keyboard layout via System Preferences › Language & Text › Input Sources.

How to make a custom keyboard layout the system default
Optionally, you could make the custom keyboard layout the system default by running the Setup Assistant with root privileges. This way, it will be used for the login screen, and any new user accounts you create will default to this layout as well. Note that this can only be done for keyboard layouts in /Library/Keyboard Layouts (i.e., layouts that have been installed system-wide).
sudo rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone; sudo "/System/Library/CoreServices/Setup Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Setup Assistant"

You will have to create a new user account in order to complete the Setup Assistant — but don't worry, you can delete the new account afterwards.
Adding a custom icon to the keyboard layout
OS X will use the following default icon for your custom keyboard layout:

This icon will show up in the preference pane, and in the "Input menu" in the menu bar.
To replace this with your own icon, create a 16×16px image, and save it in .icns format in the same directory as the keyboard layout itself, using the same file name (only the extension differs). For example, my custom QWERTY layout is named qwerty.keylayout, so if I wanted to use a custom icon, it'd have to be named qwerty.icns.
Answer: SOME IMPORTANT KEYS:

⇪ Capslock
⇧ Shift
⌃ Control(this is the one you are looking for)
⌥ Option (Alt, Alternative)
⌘ Command
␣ Space
⏎ Return
↩ Return
⌫ Delete back
⌦ Delete forward
⇱ Home
↖ Home
↸ Home
⇲ End
↘ End
⇞ Pageup
⇟ Pagedown
↑ Up arrow
⇡ Up arrow
↓ Down arrow
⇣ Down arrow
← Left arrow
⇠ Left arrow
→ Right arrow
⇢ Right arrow
⌧ Clear
⇭ Numberlock
⌤ Enter
⏏ Eject
⌽ Power
⎋ Escape
⇥ Tab forward
⇤ Tab back


Is there any software to create logs of when someone installed/uninstalled programs?

Question: Is there any available application that would monitor all the logs of the installation and uninstallation of software. I want to know this because someone uninstalled one of my programs and I want to know what particular date it happened.
Comment: Which operating system?
Answer: Since there is no mandatory, universal software installation and removal system in Windows, there is no good way to do this type of thing.  You may try Windows Reliability Monitor, which may list that type of information, but that doesn't cover everything, I'm sure.
The fundamental problem is that if someone can uninstall software, they're an administrator.  If they're an administrator, they can erase their tracks pretty easily.  Consequently, unless you have something like a network level inventory system which logs this type of thing, you're going to have a hard time designing something which will offer any type of guarantee of accuracy.


Why is Khal Drogo willing to give Viserys an army in exchange for Daenerys?

Question: In Game of Thrones, why is Khal Drogo willing to give Viserys an army in exchange for Daenerys? Until she is almost poisoned, he seems to have no real interest in the Iron Throne or the Targaryen dynasty, considering how she has to beg him to cross the Narrow Sea. Why didn't he just marry a native Dothraki woman?
Comment: I don't think Drogo was *ever* going to honor the agreement to provide Viserys with an army.
Comment: @AnkitSharma, more like she was rare and exotic.
Comment: Because she is beautiful?
Answer: To answer the question directly Drogo never intended to keep the deal with Viserys, at least that's how it is portrayed. He only appeared to want to marry Dany.
He's not willing to give Viserys the army, that might have been the initial deal but as you see throughout the series Viserys gets increasingly angry that Drogo has not given him his army yet.

VISERYS: When do I meet with the Khal? We need to begin planning the invasion.
ILLYRIO: If Khal Drogo has promised you a crown, you shall have it.
VISERYS: When?
ILLYRIO: When their omens favor war.
VISERYS: I piss on Dothraki omens. I waited 17 years to get my throne back.
Game of Thrones, Season 1 Episode 1, "Winter is Coming"

Of course Drogo appears to have promised Viserys a crown and not an army; though the army was needed to get the crown. We find this out when Viserys finally gets it.

Viserys Targaryen: Tell him I want what was bargained for or I'm taking you back. He can keep the baby. I'll cut it out and leave it for him.
Khal Drogo: (speaks Dothraki)
Viserys Targaryen: What's he saying?
Daenerys Targaryen: He says yes. You shall have a golden crown, that men shall tremble to behold.
Viserys Targaryen: That was all I wanted. W-what was promised.
Game of Thrones, Season 1 Episode 6, "A Golden Crown"

Of course Drogo only actually promises the army when Dany is almost killed and he promises this army to his son, not really to Dany.

Khal Drogo: Jorah the Andal, I heard what you did. Choose any horse you wish, it is yours. I make this gift to you.
And to my son, the stallion who will mount the world. I will also pledge a gift. I will give him the iron chair, that his mother's father sat upon. I will give him Seven Kingdoms. I Drogo, will do this. I will take my Khalasar west to where the world ends and ride wooden horses across the black salt water as no Khal has done before.
Game of Thrones, Season 1 Episode 7, "You Win or You Die"
Comment: That's all well and good, but the question still stands why he agreed to the deal in the first place, no matter if he's keeping to it or not.
Comment: Unless your point is that he *never* intended to keep to the deal and thus didn't lose anything from it compared to just marrying a normal woman. If that's the case, you might want to point that out a little clearer. (Still, the question remains what interested him in Daenaerys in the first place to go to such lengths.)
Comment: @NapoleonWilson Well because he wanted to marry her? And there's a major difference between "agreeing" and agreeing. He only ever said he would but never had intentions of doing so.
Comment: Also, because Dothraki had never crossed the Narrow Sea & were never willing nor interested to do so. So, only a fool(like Viserys) would believe that he would charge with a Dothraki horde behind him IN AN OPEN FIELD
Comment: @NapoleonWilson I think it's explained a bit more in the books that it is the show but I don't quite have the time right now so will edit when I can.
Comment: Well, your first paragraph already helps a little.
Answer: Tossing my thoughts into the ring:
Kahl Drogo wed Daenaerys because it increased his stature as a Kahl. No Kahl before him married someone who was in line to rule over a kingdom. If the Targaryan family did indeed return to the Iron Throne, by virtue of marriage, Drogo's influence, wealth, and power would increase exponentially. And yes, she was a rare beauty with her fair skin and white/blond hair.
Answer: There's a few facts from the book that make the whole thing a bit clearer.

 It is revealed that Varys and Illyrio have raised and trained someone called  Aegon Targaryen, who would be the direct son of Rhaegar Targaryen, with a better claim to the throne than either Viserys or Daenerys. This plot has been ongoing since the fall of King's Landing, and the death of the Mad King

In addition, consider the following facts:

Khal Drogo appears to have no intention of ever going West, and shared typical Dothraki beliefs on the sea and the lands across the sea.
No real support was given to Daenerys or Viserys. Most of Dany's "education" comes from Viserys himself. Very little actual resources are provided to the pair.
It is unclear that Viserys was ever respected by the Khals. Daenerys definitely had no actual authority except through indirect association with Drogo, until "Dragons happened".
Everyone believes Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar, was killed during the Sack of King's Landing. Everyone is aware that Viserys and Daenerys lived, and escaped to Essos.
The prospect of Daenerys having a male child is one that causes many Lords to fear that the realm with bleed, as she could raise a generation of rebellions in order with the Blackfyres - who were only releases extinguished as a threat after like a century.
Viserys does not speak Dothraki. Illyrio does. Illyrio treats with Khal Drogo on behalf of Viserys, and Illyrio benefits immediately as a result of the transaction selling Daenerys.

Given that, it is entirely plausible that Khal Drogo never agreed to give Viserys an army, or invade Westeros. He may not even be specifically lying to Viserys, or deceiving him, as we do not know the terms Khal Drogo made with Illyrio, and almost never communicates directly with Viserys. The one interaction I can think of is the actual crowning. Even after Viserys leaves to follow the khalasar to Vaes Dothrak, all his communication is filtered through Daenerys and Jorah Mormont.

The one time Dany tries to convince Khal Drogo to go West, he responds in the negative. "The earth ends at the black salt sea", "No horse can cross the poison water". He doesn't even pretend to awareness of a deal to invade Westeros, but it is never directly asked either.
Jorah Mormont reassures Viserys and Daenerys, but he was handed to them by Illyrio. He could be fully aware that there was never a deal to invade Westeros.

I think the underlying conclusion we are meant to achieve is that Viserys and Daenerys are somewhat of a False Flag operation. Westeros would be focused on the visible threats that they know of, expend resources to worry about and counter those threats, and be far less likely to be prepared for the real threat when it strikes.
It's when Robert sends an assassin, almost killing Daenerys, that Khal Drogo makes his sacred promise. He has now been personally affronted.

This is a little more murky in the show, but the personal benefit to Illyrio still checks out, and that makes all the points except the book spoiler relevant enough.


What are the differences between difficulties in Megaman 2 for the iOS?

Question: In Megaman 2 for iOS, there are two difficulty levels: classic and new. What are the differences between these two modes.  I think Classic seems to have less forgivable controls, although I can't confirm this.
Answer: Classic mode is the original NES game and has the original controls as they were on the NES.
New mode is a modified version of the game with "more forgiving" controls, as stated in the app description. In this mode, the bosses and enemies are not as strong and the player takes less damage. There is an auto-fire option, as well as the ability to exit a level in the pause menu, return to the title screen, and select another one.
Answer: If it's NES Mega Man 2, bosses take half damage in the harder mode, along with some more subtle changes.
But I assume that it's not a difficulty level, rather a "pick your game" where Classic is the NES game and "New " is something different.
Comment: I recall something saying that it was a new difficulty level. There is a link to the game above and there is a free demo if you would like to do some research.


Is it required or advised to sterilize bottles?

Question: So we've been sterilizing our bottles with a microwave steam bottle sterilizer. Is this at all required? What risks might exist if we don't bother?
Comment: Related question:[Is it necessary to boil the water for baby formula in Switzerland?](https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/24168/is-it-necessary-to-boil-the-water-for-baby-formula-in-switzerland).
Answer: The current scientific consensus is:
No.
It is not necessary to sterilize bottles, not even for newborns.
The only exception are bottle teats made of rubber - the rubber can become porous over time, so occasional sterilization is recommended. However, most bottle teats are made of silicone, which is not affected.
The primary safety measure to take with milk bottles is to not let them sit for too long, because harmful germs do develop if the milk is not fresh. However, if the milk is fresh, sterilizing the bottle does not make a difference.
Caveat:
This assumes the bottles are thoroughly cleaned just like regular dishes, and that they are cleaned with safe drinking water, such as tap water in most developed nations. If there is no access to safe drinking water for cleaning this answer does not apply.

Source:
"Säuglingsernährung und Ernährung der stillenden Mutter - Handlungsempfehlungen" ("Nutrition of babies and of breastfeeding mothers - practical guidelines"), published in Monatsschrift
Kinderheilkunde, October 2010. Original publication (paywalled), alternative source (free to read).
This is a comprehensive document on nutrition, jointly authored by multiple physicians and nutrition experts from hospitals, research institutes and German government institutes.
It has a paragraph on hygiene:

Hygienische Aspekte.
Das  hygienische Hauptrisiko liegt in der Vermehrung
  gesundheitsgefährdender  Bakterien,  wie Escherichia coli und
  Salmonellen. Es wird entscheidend  von  den  Standzeiten  der
  zubereiteten  Milchnahrung  beeinflusst. Deshalb sollen
  Milchnahrungsreste entsorgt und nicht wieder aufgewärmt werden.  Dies
  ist  die  entscheidende  hygienische Vorsichtsmaßnahme. Ein Auskochen
  bzw. Sterilisieren der Flaschen und  Sauger bringen keinen weiteren
  Vorteil. Dies stellen alle Fachorganisationen fest (DGE, DGKJ, FKE).
Gummisauger werden im Gegensatz zu Silikonsaugern porös. Deshalb
  sollten sie Deshalb sollten sie aus Sicht der Experten/-innen hin und
  wieder ausgekocht  werden.

English translation (by me, no guarantees):

Hygiene aspects
The main hygiene risk is the growth of harmful bacteria, like
  escherichia coli and salmonellae. This is largely determined by the time
  the milk is left to stand. Therefore milk leftovers should be disposed of,
  and not reheated. This is the most important hygiene precaution. Boiling
  or sterilizing the bottles and teats does not provide an additional
  advantage. This is the consensus among all professional organizations
  (DGE, DGKJ, FKE).
Rubber teats, unlike silicone teats, can become porous. Therefore the
  experts recommend to boil them from time to time.
Comment: While I completely accept the evidence you've provided, as an interesting aside, I had heard before that the standard advice in Germany is that there's no need to sterilise.  Here in the UK the advice is that all equipment *must* be sterilised. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/making-up-infant-formula.aspx Go figure! I would point out that the Germans seem to be surviving their lax attitudes very well! ☺
Comment: Hi sleske - welcome to the site.  Thanks for such a thorough answer!
Comment: @ctokelly: Yes, interesting difference. According to Wikipedia's [Baby bottle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_bottle#Cleaning_and_sterilization) article, the NHS recommends sterilization, while WebMD.com says it is not necessary.
Comment: @ctokelly - put that in an answer!
Answer: No, it's not required. Lots of children are born into dirty surroundings and still survive.
Yes, it's advised for newborns and infants because they have not yet built up enough immune resistance. Baby bottles, teething toys, and other objects that the newborn/infant puts in the mouth can be sterilized to reduce any unnecessary burden on the child.
Once the kids start sucking on all kinds of non-sterilized toys, non-toys, stroller wheels!, etc. you can stop sterilizing.
While you are still sterilizing, be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully. It's very easy to contaminate a newly-sterilized set of bottles with a thoughtless hand movement.
PS: When we were expecting, we were lured into the fear trap and bought a brand-new Philips sterilizer. We could probably have found the same used for much less, or even a kit that can be used in the microwave like you mention. Fear can help people open their eyes and do a little basic research (good), or it can sucker them into spending more than they have to (silly).
Comment: Any evidence to support your opinion?
Comment: Well @Dan you already saw the link that ctokelly provided. My answer (four years ago...) is based on personal experience and the advice we have received from infant health care workers.
Answer: Babies take a while to build up resistance to infection, so sterilising bottles, at least for the first few months, is definitely recommended. Milk is a very good food not only for babies, but for bacteria so you want to get bottles clean, and then sterilised!
Answer: On a daily basis, sterilization is not necessary, particularly if these things are washed with soap and hot water shortly after use.
However, when someone in the home gets sick, the bottles, nipples, pacifiers and mouthy-toys should be sterilized. Also any items left unwashed for a while (like the pacifier tied to the stroller) could use sterilization from time to time.
It was easy for me to sterilize because we had an electric dishwasher, which gets hot enough for long enough to kill bacteria. We put the nipples and small items in a special basket, and it worked like a charm.
Answer: I use bottle to feed my baby. My doctor advised me to sterilize the bottles on daily basis.Because it is not possible to create a totally germ-free environment so sterilizing baby bottles is very important otherwise bacteria, viruses and parasites can gather and make baby ill. Continue it for one year so that the baby will start producing their own antibodies and be resistant to harmful germs and bacteria. If it is possible continue it until your baby stops using them.
I use electric steam sterilizer for sterilizing.
Comment: Yes I agree. If your pediatrician advised you to sterilize daily, do it. Water differs in cleanliness place to place. Living in a 3rd world country like me this is necessary as we are not assured of the cleanliness of our water. Nipples are resistant to high heat, considering it is sterilized in 10mins in an electric sterilizer it will be used in a the long run.


Can you update to macOS 10.14 (Mojave) without converting to APFS?

Question: At WWDC 2018 macOS 10.14 or macOS Mojave was disclosed.  I am currently on macOS Sierra (10.12) and am looking forward to upgrading to macOS Mojave once its released.  I was wondering if it will be possible to update to macOS Mojave without converting to APFS, similar to this trick from OS X Daily on how to upgrade to macOS High Sierra (10.13) without converting to APFS with the command /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --converttoapfs NO.
Comment: Be sure to vote to close for quality reasons and not just because the topic is a beta build. https://apple.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2707/what-happened-to-the-beta-ban Also realize that people will likely honor NDA so this may sit unanswered (which is fine) or answered with speculation (which isn't fine, but isn't something we can patrol with 100% efficiency but people can vote on)
Comment: From what I read elsewhere this might need an extension: "Can you *run* Mojave from HFS+ and properly *update* it"?
Comment: @bmike Thanks! Didn't know there was a ban originally or that the ban was lifted. I guess this is fine question then. Also if people do break the NDA will there answer/comment be removed?
Comment: Nobody can answer for sure until Mojave is officially released. Even if the feature is (or is not) in some betas Apple can change this anytime.
Comment: Wow 2,500+ views with 4 upvotes and 1 upvote for answer (me)? Come on people. If you find helpful please mark the question **and the answer helpful**.
Answer: No
(at least it's not possible in beta 1)
--converttoapfs isn't a recognized option in startosinstall.
Comment: @JBis I guess you can mark this as answer by now.
Comment: Interesting that there  is the '--eraseinstall' option which notes that it requires APFS... I'm guessing that it is either a mistake, APFS is optional in the GUI workflow or it no longer attempts the upgrade by default.
Comment: @JBis I guess you can mark this as answer by now (2).
Answer: Currently it seems very difficult, but doable to upgrade to Mojave, but not directly.
Currently it seems very, very difficult, but doable to update (in) Mojave.
Similar to avoiding APFS conversion on High Sierra upgrade, only this time you need to go the clone route.
But there are a few catches to this.
Mojave will boot from HFS+, once installed on it.
The installer will convert the drive where it is being installed on, no matter what. The command-line option to skip conversion is gone. Apple really wants to enforce APFS adoption.
That means you need to install Mojave on a separate volume, which will then be in APFS format. Then you need to reformat your internal main drive that is the real Mojave target as HFSplus. Now clone the external volume to the target.
Reboot into Mojave –– and keep the external drive as a mule.
Since this is currently the real catch:
App Store app (fromerly Software Update) will currently not work when Mojave is booted from HFSplus. It will launch and update properly when running on APFS.
 That means on system updates you need to reboot your APFS mule, update there, then reclone the updated Mojave to your internal work drive (perhaps by inteligently excluding the /Users folder ?).
It is unclear what else might break by this method. It seems to run 'fine' in terms of functionality, and it seems to run even better thanks to HFSplus.
But the procedure is more than cumbersome.
Apple might do two things in the future:

Disable booting from HFS+ completely.
Enable updating while on HFS+

If you care for the latter, like I do, write to Apple that you want that feature. Fast, Urgently, It's Mandatory.
Comment: People have been successfully running macOS from ZFS boot disks for some time. I expect HFS will continue to be similarly possible, albeit in a hacky / fragile manner. https://openzfsonosx.org/wiki/ZFS_on_Boot
Comment: @LangLangC Again, this is not an answer to the question - this is a workaround/hack, and not an "update" to Mojave as you claim.  The answer is "No."  Perhaps you could start your answer with "No, there is no way to update without conversion, however, as a workaround, you can update with APFS intact and then clone to an HFS+ volume."
Comment: Strangely, if it is a workaround/hack that means "you can" then it *is an answer to the question!* If even oemb1905 says so, even not without misunderstanding, I am ever more confident.
Answer: Just follow this post https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/944-mojave-mbr-hfs-firmware-check-patch/, it works for me and I have the same setup just as you (10.12 preparing for upgrading to 10.14).
Okay here are the details regarding the link above:

Download the attachment named MBR-Auto-Method14-20181003.dmg from the link above (it requires you to log in, and registration is free).
Open the file you download and unzip OSInstaller.MBR.10.14.0.18A391 inside that DMG file.
Open Disk Utility, create a new partition at least 2.5GB. This will be used as MBR-installer boot disk later.
Open unzipped folder double click 14MBRinstallerMaker, input your password to access root. Now drag Mojave installer downloaded from App Store into the Terminal. After that, drag the new partition (MBR-installer boot disk) you created in step 3. And lastly, drag the partition you have installed macOS into the terminal. In this case, the installation would take place in the partition where your macOS installed. Namely, it would upgrade your macOS instead of new installation. Press any key to execute the creation of the installation process and bob's your uncle, fanny's your aunt! It should take you less than 10s to finish it if you were using SSD.
Now reboot your system and hold option key to boot in 1014MBR18A391. It will automatically finish the rest of the installation.
Comment: Firstly, welcome to Ask Different and thank you for your answer. :) Unfortunately, short answers such as this don't really provide enough detail or context to help many users. And, just providing a link isn't very helpful as it may no longer work in future. Instead, could you please edit your answer (there's an _edit_ link below it) to include a summary of the content you're linking to? This will make your answer more self-contained and help preserve it for other users in future.
Answer: YES but not an update... (and really not user friendly)
This is actually possible in a weird way, and App Store still works. (managed to install GarageBand, didn't test more complex software)
Here's the following steps that allowed to get a working Mojave on HFS (and clonable with DeployStudio

Get an external harddrive on which you're going to install macOS Mojave
Boot on the drive, finish the install, create an account
Restart, make sure everything is working (right now it will be in APFS)
Plug the external harddrive on a separate machine, and run the Paragon Software APFS to HFS converter (I know it's a third party software, but it's free, and it does the job pretty well)
Boot on the external drive (now in HFS format)
Use any imaging tool that works (DeployStudio for me) and copy the image on the target mac

And voilà ! You now have a working Mojave running on HFS formatted drive. As a bonus, you can even deploy the image with DeployStudio !
That might not be the most easiest way to do achieve it, but it does work. (and doesn't crash, so far ?)
Answer: It could be achieved by removing Harddrive/SSD and installing macOS externally with a USB to SATA cable.
Comment: is this tested or just theorized?
Comment: @Antonio
Install via USB-SATA-Adapter won't help. I just did this and it is APFS.
Comment: @MaxMustermann, it looks like this information is outdated