What is the best way to merge friend lists on Facebook?

Question: I have a few Facebook friend lists that should really be one; they overlap (some friends are in many of the lists, some not) and have similar names. I'd like to merge these into one list. What's the easiest way to do that?
Answer: This is not possible anymore. A couple of years ago you could just choose the option "merge lists" in the drop-down-menu in the upper right corner of the list (See this post from 2011). But this is not possible since Facebook revamped the lists in 2011.
Old lists (lists created before 3rd quarter of 2011) should still have the possibility to be merged into the new list format (ReadWrite talks about this option here), but as I do not have any of those lists, I cannot verify that for you.
As the possibility to merge lists have been removed, the best way is now to keep the biggest list, and add persons individually. It's a pain, but there's no other way. Sorry.
Answer: Use Facebook Graph API /{user-id}/friendlists edge to read the list id, then use /{friendlist-id}/members edge to read its list of members and save it into a text editor.
Join the two results into one, then use the same API to either create a new list or update one of the two lists with the new members.
Comment: I just started working on a script for this here: https://github.com/andrewferrier/facebook-friend-list-merge. It seems that the `/members` API is deprecated, though, so I've given up for this since it seems it might not last long. Others could take up the mantle if they wish, pull requests will definitely be gladly accepted...
Comment: Do you have a small sample script?


How to connect to the production environment in SharePoint with Visual Studio

Question: What privileges should be set up to connect with the Visual Studio with Production Enviroment. Now I'm writing my code at SharePoint Foundation, but after it I want to migrate all to the production enviroment.
Answer: You're not supposed to deploy straight from Visual Studio to the production environment.
The proper way of working (AFAIK) would be to build packages in your development environment, then deploy the .wsp files on the production environment using PowerShell. In the case of sandboxed solutions, you can do it with the SharePoint UI instead.
Answer: As far as I know you can only remotely deploy Sandboxed solutions if you use Visual Studio 2012.
For Farm solutions you would have to publish a WSP file and manually add this to your production environment either by using PowerShell or Central Admin.
Apps for 2013 can also be remotely deployed.


What to do against hangovers?

Question: Occasionally, I catch myself having a beer or two too much. Which of course can cause hangovers. I was wondering what one can do to prevent this? Or what can be done if it's already too late.
Comment: I appreciate your dedication. I am having a party soon, so I hope your work is done by the end of the week!
Comment: This is a well know problem in our field of business. I've been trying to solve this problem for years. Right now me and my team are investigation this issue. When we find a solution we will let you know as soon as possible. I suggest to stop drinking until we have found a solution.
Comment: Some people just drinng another beer in the morning. But it is for case when you don't need to go for a work.
Comment: The only preventative measure that works consistently: drink less.
Answer: Drinking less is the obvious solution.
But you can also reduce the causes:
One cause for a hangover are the metabolic products of the fusel alcohols (unwanted alcohols) in your drinks. First your body metabolizes the ethanol and then the fusel alcohols. That's why drinking alcohol helps against a hangover as if gives the body some more ethanol to work on and thus reduces the toxins of the fusel alcohols. That's why a Bloody Mary is a well known hangover cure.
So try reducing the amount of fusel alcohols you consume by choosing high quality drinks that have less of them.
Another cause is dehydration and lack of electrolytes. So start hydrating yourself before, while and after you consume alcohol. And to keep the water in your body, make sure, you add enough electrolytes to bind the water. In russia and other slavic countrys there is a culture of eating salty (electrolytes and increasing thirst), sour (helps making you thirsty) and fatty (proteins and delays alcohol absorbtion) food along with drinking. In a way it's like having a hangover breakfast while drinking.
All of this can be done when you wake up with a hangover: drinking some alcohol as "hair of the dog" (this will reduce the symtoms but increase the time you feel them but won't fix anything!), eating a rich breakfast, drinking lots of water (tea, juice, ...) and maybe pop a blood-thinner like ASS (Aspirin).
Answer: One time in the past an old friend of mine suggested something cleverly simple:
Drink lots of water before going to bed and you won't have as much of a hangover.
Really, it is that simple. It works for me since then.
To have an even smaller hangover, drink in between three drinks, one glass of water (here in Germany you can get tap water for free in pubs).
The effect is really impressive.
I already experimented with spirits and beer and sometimes a mixed beer like "Radler" in between can help, too.
Try it out and tell me if it works for you too.
Comment: I've heard (and it worked for me) vitamin B and water before going to bed. I've had too much to drink and never had what people describe as a hangover.
Comment: I'll try that and let you know! Thank you for your response.
Comment: @JoeTaxpayer Do you take the vitamins in form of a fizzy tablet? Or do you recommend eating an apple for example?
Comment: I've always used the vitamin in pill form. Never tried anything else.
Comment: Two options seem to work well for most people: drink one to two litres of water before sleeping, or have a glass of water after each alcoholic drink. Both of these approaches have been strenuously field tested for accuracy by a few dozen people I know with positive outcomes.
Answer: Isotonic sport drinks do it for me, hangovers have a lot to do with dehydration - it's a good way to rehydrate :) Vitamin C is good too, and lots of it - Berocca is amazing for hangovers. If it's a bad hangover, the best way is to drink loads of water, like 4 liters. Will soon go away after that! Bloody mary is the best way but that's a dangerous road to go down!
Answer: Hangover is the manifestation of poisoning by the intermediate product of alcohol decomposition : aldehydes.
Asian people as well as some blue eyed blond people have harder time decomposing those in harmless molecules. Aldehydes have also a link to the taste of the beverages as they contain some.
Producing the molecule that breaks down aldehydes require lots of water, but most alcoholic beverages are diuretics, meaning that drinking more water will make aldehyde deshydrogenase production a bit higher.
So drink water and have a balanced diet to lessen the effects of hangovers.
Also, smoking reduce the speed of action of aldehyde deshydrogenase since the reaction required oxygen.

Macgregor S., Lind P. A., Bucholz K. K., Hansell N. K., Madden P. A. F., Richter M. M., Montgomery G. W., Martin N. G., Heath A. C., Whitfield J. B. (2008.) "Associations of ADH and ALDH2 gene variation with self report alcohol reactions, consumption and dependence: an integrated analysis", Human Molecular Genetics, 18(3):580-93.
Xiao Q, Weiner H, Crabb DW (Nov 1996). "The mutation in the mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) gene responsible for alcohol-induced flushing increases turnover of the enzyme tetramers in a dominant fashion". The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 98 (9): 2027–32.
Comment: Blonde hair and blue eyes with no hangover problems. I agree with all alcohol being a diuretic but no idea asians and people like me were affected more than others. A source for that statement would be appreciated.
Comment: @Dirty I'll go fetch em (it is not all the blue eyed blond hair persons, they are just more likely to)
Comment: @Dirty updated with the names of the documents and of the associated researchers (PS you could have found it on Wikipedia too)
Answer: No sugar in your mixed drinks. Diet everything or water. I drink vodka and diet tonics and haven't had a hangover in ages. If you get a hangover from beer then I recommend trying higher quality beers
Answer: It basically counts on "how bad" your hangover is. But these are the things I usually do.

Drink a glass of cold coke.
Pure black coffee - If you can't drink it black, try to just add sugar to it.
Milk/Tea with milk.

Some people don't suggest any Milk based/Cream based drink - but what can I say, these work for me. Give it a try though.
Answer: I  am a thin girl so I should not be able to drink like I can but I have secrets to my success. I  make sure to drink plenty of clear fluids the day of or before. Always drink beer before liquor. I don't like to eat a bunch before I start drinking but rather save the feasting for the end of the night.

What to do against hangovers?


Science or technology related resources to learn French

Question: So, I want to learn French quicker, and I figured that I don't really listen much... I mean, English is easy to learn, you just read it and listen to it all the time through the Internet, TV shows, movies etc. But French? I'm particularly interested in Science Documentaries and Lectures, Cartoons and Technology podcasts. I just need something to listen to while I do other things, to start recognizing the patterns of the language...
Comment: If you're into maths and physics, I strongly suggest you to study in French books. There are many French books on every topic in maths, for every level : France has a strong tradition in maths. If you like hard puzzles (level undergraduate), you could take a look at exercice books. I can advise you some if you tell me your math level and the topics you're studying.
Comment: [Canal Académie](http://www.canalacademie.com) is an  Internet radio that has highly academic podcasts (with transcripts) but for subscribers (short extracts available free of charge). They have an agreement with [CAVILAM](http://www.cavilam.com/) that produces [specific podcasts](http://www.canalacademie.com/apprendre/) for learners of French.
Comment: What is your current level ? Are you an absolute beginner or do you already have some bases ?
Comment: Do you have any hobbies ? a particular field of interest ?
Comment: Level: B1. Hobbies: Math, Physics, Piano, Books. Sorry for not mentioning them...
Comment: Well... I guess maths and physics will have technical terms that *might* make it difficult. I tried to watch "Dr House" in English (as I often do with TV shows and movies) and got bored of all the medical terms.
Comment: I was actually more interested in novels/movies/lectures in France that have to do with those subjects, cause if I study in both French, English and Greek(my mother-language), I'll probably get confused.
Comment: @Antoni4040 Could you edit your question and its title to precise your interests? As is the question is a bit too broad for FL.SE
Comment: If you're interested in other topics as well, fine, but please make it a different question.
Answer: Let me at least try to give some pointers (I will append if I find more ideas)...
First, replay TV (some sites might check your geographical origin, but a proxy might fix it).
Arte (French-German channel) has Arte+7 replay with many kinds of documentaries, sometimes related to scientific issues, as well as a recurring one, X:enius revolving around scientific/societal subjects, which you might enjoy.
Also try France 4 (for documentaries and cartoons, most for kids, some a little more mature) or France 5 (many documentaries) on Pluzz.
I also found Lapin.org with comics strips, it has XKCD in French but also other stuff.
You could take a look at "FUN" (please don't laugh, it's actually France Université Numérique :-\ ) for some MOOCs, they have many subjects, hopefully you could find some of interest.
Answer: If you are interested in sciences and have a correct level, I higly recommend Sur les épaules de Darwin, a weekly science radio broadcast. It is intended for neophytes, so technical vocabulary is always explained. It gets a bit lyrical sometimes which may or may not be an issue, but the speaker has the best voice I know, is always very clear and the broadcasts are always entertaining.
If you are interested in Maths, check out Denis Guedj's books, in the same vein.


Is trimming the hair below the bottom lip allowed?

Question: I follow the Hadith where it is said to "Leave / grow the beard and trim moustache". I have hair growing right below my lower lip; some brothers have a big hairless gap there either they don't grow hair there or have shaved / trimmed it. Is this allowed? I heard that that area isn't actually the beard so you can remove.
Answer: According to this fatwa, there are two opinions, the strongest of which is that it isn't considered part of the beard and therefore shaving it is permissible.


When was The Doctor born?

Question: He's supposedly half human on his mother's side, which would indicate she was likely to have given birth to him during Earth's recorded history. When was The Doctor (from Doctor Who) born?
Comment: This also presumes he really is half-human on his mother's side, which is a highly controversial statement that most Whovians tend to ignore...
Comment: Any Doctor-related question that asks "When" should simply be answered 'Yes'.  It's easier that way as 'when' is relatively pointless when discussing someone who doesn't so much 'travel' in time as 'sprint'.
Comment: I'm not asking how old the Doctor is. I'm asking when he was born. That sounds screwy, but not really. :)
Comment: How could we know, we cannot even agree if he [come from the future or the past](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/15301/does-the-doctor-come-from-the-future-or-the-past).
Comment: He was born a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.  We don't have more precise details.
Comment: possible duplicate of [How does the Doctor know how old he is?](http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/2879/how-does-the-doctor-know-how-old-he-is)
Answer: As with all Doctor Who questions, the canon answer is "who really knows?".
Aside from the fact that we can't trust anything The Doctor actually says, there have been at least three completely contradictory explanations for where he "came from" over the course of the show. Which one you consider canon is mostly a matter of which one you like better, though my impression is that most Whovians go with the first one.
Born On Gallifrey
Based solely on his dialog on the TV show, The Doctor is a full-blooded Gallifreyan that was born some unknown number of centuries ago, on Gallifrey. Word of God (TVTROPES WARNING) say that we've actually seen his mother on-screen -- the elderly woman that appears to Wilfred, and with Rassilon, in The End of Time was intended to be his mother, though any on-screen confirmation was removed. (The closest we get was Wilfred asking about her and The Doctor pointedly not answering.)
Based on this, we have no idea when he was born, but we can get a good estimate if we ignore a few outlying details (like the way they judge figure skating). Comments by The Doctor, Romana, and even the human-form Tardis put the doctor at something around 900 years as of the last season of the program, and around 200 when he first stole a Tardis and went travelling. He grew up and spent his teenage years on Gallifrey, starting Time Lord training at age of eight.  We've even seen his Gallifreyan cradle from when he was an infant.
We have no idea what year it was on Gallifrey when he left the planet, or even if Gallifrey uses our limited, human understanding of time. (Even humans these days know that "time" is not a fixed quantity, but is measured relative to the observer.) Either way, according solely to the television-show-canon, he was not born on Earth at any point during Earth's recorded history. The first time we know him to be on Earth was in the 1950's as The First Doctor, though he was on Earth at least as early as the destruction of Pompeii as The Tenth.
Half-Human
Exactly once, in The Doctor Who movie, the Eighth Doctor makes a comment that he is half-human on his mother's side. Unfortunately, this becomes a crucial plot point in the movie; he only managed to "save the day" because this statement is true. So we cannot just write that line off as typical Doctor deception.
Other than the movie, however, there is absolutely no evidence that it's true, and plenty of on-screen evidence that it's false. (There's also no evidence that The Master is half-lizard, for that matter.) Most fans just tend to write off any contradictions from the movie as non-canon and ignore them.
Sewn Together
If you read the last few Seventh Doctor's New Adventures books; particularly Lungbarrow and Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, you learn that Time Lords aren't born at all. They are infertile, due to some ancient cataclysm, and Rassilon set up a series of Looms that literally weave together new Time Lords fully-formed. According to this theory, The Doctor doesn't even have a mother. Lungbarrow claims that The Doctor abandoned his House and his cousins about 700 years earlier, which more or less matches the time frame that The Seventh Doctor would have been on-screen.
Unfortunately, this contradicts a ton of on-screen references, particularly any time The Doctor talked about having or being a child. According to the TARDIS Index file entry on Looms, there is an Eight Doctor Adventure (which I've never read) where he addresses this inconsistency by saying that he remembers being loomed as well as being born, but knows that one of the two is just a dream.
Comment: @MikeEdenfield The fact that the link in your comment called "Canonicity in Doctor Who" now leads to a "404 Not Found" page is actually quite accurate.
Comment: ya. btw. the new link is: http://www.paulcornell.com/2007/02/canonicity-in-doctor-who
Comment: I don't think the american Fox made-for-tv movie should be canon. I ignore it. God was it bad... if I had watched that before I watched Tenant, I would never have watched another episode, period.
Comment: I would agree without hesistation *if* 1. it hadn't been produced by BBC and BBC America as well as Fox, and 2. we hadn't seen Paul McGann's face more than once on TV as the Eighth Doctor.
Comment: See also: http://www.paulcornell.com/2007/02/canonicity-in-doctor-who.html
Comment: Doesn't the _first_ doctor (William Hartnell) travel with his granddaughter?  That kind of shoots the theory that they aren't born, does it not?
Comment: You assume that when he calls her his granddaughter he's being honest, and using it in the biological sense, and doesn't mean 'second generation after mine from the looms' or some other such nonsense.
Comment: @MikeEdenfield That seems like a bit of a stretch :)
Answer: We don't know.  We know what he says his age at various points (this wiki page has a good list, complete with references to the episodes they were mentioned in) but, as Steven Moffatt (the current Doctor Who showrunner) pointed out:

The thing I keep banging on about is that he doesn't know what age he is. He's lying. How could he know, unless he's marking it on a wall? He could be 8,000 years old, he could be a million. He has no clue. The calendar will give him no clues.

We also don't know that his mother gave birth to him in Earth's history, given she would have been involved with the Time Lords and hence may well have given birth to him on Gallifrey or on some other world altogether.  It may have been before humans walked on two legs, or after the Earth's destruction as seen in the new series.  It has never been revealed in the series.
Answer: For the time lords, all realities exist as long as they don't create a paradox.  Which reality the Doctor is referring to depends on which reality he's perceiving at the moment, much in the same vein as Schrodinger's cat.  However, time is mutable for a time lord, so unlike most other beings, the simultaneous realities of the Doctor's past snap back once the moment of perception passes; i.e. he stops thinking about it.  This allows for different versions of his history to be true at the same time.  It's also why he makes seemingly contradictory statements or at times appears not to know which answer to give.  He's trying to translate his perception of time and reality to people who view time as linear and reality as a singular event.  As a side note, the paradox factor keeps the number of realities in check so that they're reduced to a manageable size, instead of being infinite and beyond the ability of a finite being to comprehend (though because of their vast intelligence, time lords are able to comfortably exist within the framework of multiple realities, which is a feat only one human being has ever accomplished; that is, of course, Clara Oswald).
Boo-ya!
Comment: Any canon evidence for this at all, or is it just wild speculation?
Comment: Just wild speculation I guess.  Dr. Who canon seems much like the English language: different expert sources often disagree with each other.  Based on many, many different pieces of information surrounding the Doctor and the time lords, I squeezed out a theory that might explain the various contradictions.  My own Grand Unified Theory of Dr. Who so to speak.
Comment: I think including the most relevant pieces of information that led to your conclusions in the answer would go a long way. As would breaking it up so it's not such a huge chunk of text.
Answer: I personally think it would possibly be somewhere in the far future, as The Timelords say in The End OF Time that they had 'billions of years' but it also could be in  the    Past.
Comment: So what you're saying is, you don't know. Got it.

When was The Doctor born?


Timelapse for sticky notes

Question: SO the idea is to create a wall of sticky notes. At this event every time someone enters they have to write something inspirational on a sticky note on the wall. And then stick it. Now I want to make a timelapse video for this. But I'm not sure how timelapse works. What time frames should I keep? How often to take the picture, and then I know when I tried making a clouds timelapse my camera (600D Canon) would not focus, even on manual. And therefore wouldn't take the picture. Any ideas?
Comment: This is several questions, and fairly open ended.  Have you researched the topic at all?  Best to read up then come back and ask about specific questions or issue you're having.
Comment: As far as frames, a good way to start is to work out how long you will be shooting (say an hour), and how long you want the video to be (say 30 seconds).  For 30 seconds at say 30 frames per second, you need 900 shots, over an hour, which is one every 4 seconds I think
Comment: If the image is only changing when a new note is put up, you only need one shot after each note is put up. If you want to capture people moving in and interacting with the wall, then you'll want a shot every certain interval. One "expensive" way I've done this in the past is to just video the entire event and then edit the video to playback at whatever speed I needed to get the exact run time I wanted. Most video cameras today can easily fit 8 hours or more video on one card - you can reduce the quality if you know you're just going to speed it up. Uses GIGs of space, but simple to do.
Answer:
But I'm not sure how timelapse works.

A time lapse movie is simply a sequence of photos taken over time, usually at regular intervals.

What time frames should I keep?

All of them, unless there are reasons to throw some away. For example, if you continue taking photos throughout a day, all night, and into the next day, you might decide to toss the night ones if you can't see much or very little is happening. That will of course produce a noticeable jump in the movie, much like a cut from one scene to another.

How often to take the picture

That's up to you. What's the target length of the movie, the number of frames per second, and the real period of time covered? For example, if you want to compress 8 hours into 1 minute, you'd calculate:
<code>60 seconds at 24 frames/second = 1440 frames needed
8 hours * 3600 seconds/hour = 28800 seconds to cover
28800 seconds/1440 frames = 20 seconds/frame
</code>
So for this example you would set your camera to take 1 frame every 20 seconds. I don't think the 600D has a built-in intervalometer, so you might need to buy one of those.

when I tried making a clouds timelapse my camera (600D Canon) would not focus, even on manual

If you set your camera on manual focus, it should take a photo no matter where you set the focus. If you're having trouble in this respect you may need to ask another question with more information, or just check your owners manual.
For time lapse movies you'll probably want to set your camera on manual focus and leave it at the same setting throughout.

Timelapse for sticky notes


Legality of carrying spent ammunition

Question: Recently I was visiting my grandfather and we went gun shooting, I shot a barret .50 caliber rifle and some other automatics and were able to keep a few of the casings as a keepsake. Is it legal to fly home with it in a carryon or must I put it in a bag on the top of my luggage?
Comment: This [answer](http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/30325/airport-security-what-if-i-carry-an-item-with-traces-of-explosive/30377#30377) to a different question seems relevant nonetheless. It does not get into the legality and it's not clear whether this applies to the US as well but it's apparently not a problem at all in Europe.
Answer: There is no bullet, powder or primer, therefore you are not carrying ammunition. Tapered brass cylinders are not on the prohibited list. Baggage x-ray won't care in the slightest - you can put 20 live 50BMG rounds (and the rifle) in your checked baggage and they won't care (assuming the USA).
(If you really check an M-82 they might care a lot, but in the "can we try it?" sense)
They have a legitimate case against novelty keychains that appear to be a fully-loaded round, but anyone can tell that a spent case is ok. For comparison, I have taken an empty 500ml thermos on plenty of flights. Liquids are not allowed, aluminum flasks are.
I would just arrive extra-early, don't check your bags (yet), and carry them to security. If they refuse, you can go back to your suitcase. Bit more complicated if you are traveling alone.
Comment: @John:  AFIAK legal but we've been at security itself (not merely standing in line) ~20 minutes when a sloppy TSA agent triggered a positive swab.  (I think the source was contamination on their side, not anything we were carrying as no culprit was ever found.)  We were on a very long connect that time, no big deal, but if time were tight it could be a problem.  (And I think the agent was unhappy we didn't give a hoot how long it took.)
Comment: You can put the live stuff in your bag if it's declared.  If they see firearms on a bag not declared to contain them that's another matter.  Anyway, I wouldn't carry on spent ammo--while it's nothing but brass cylinders it's going to have residue.
Comment: @LorenPechtel wouldn't they swab the brass casings and search a little more in your bag? Its not illegal to have that residue on you, they will just check you more throughly right?
Answer: Even if it is legal (which I don't know, and would likely depend on both the state you're flying from, the state you're flying to, possibly any state you're making stopovers as well), I'd not put it in my carryon because of the way the TSA is almost guaranteed to overreact.
Putting it in your hold luggage is less likely to cause them to go ape, but you still run the risk of having them break open your luggage and going through it.

Best you can probably do is send it home as a small parcel using something like FedEx or UPS (and be sure to comply with whatever rules they have for sending munitions through them).
Comment: Even before 9/11, just having set of steak knives in my luggage (not even in carry-on) made them to ask me to open it. If it was logical, TSA would do it differently.
Comment: @PeterMasiar yes, and these days they no longer ask. They just get out a crowbar and pry open the suitcase (or a knife if it's soft skinned).
Answer: I recently tried to carry unused cartridge cases in my hold luggage and the declaration at the check-in desk said that the unused cases had to be treated in the same way as live ammunition and carried in a separate locked hard-sided case checked in as hold luggage. Returning to United Kingdom from South Africa, Johannesburg - O.R.Tambo International Airport flying Air France. Not sure if this is an international ruling or one particular to South Africa.

Legality of carrying spent ammunition


Problem with PPA upload. GPG signature: Verification failed 3 times

Question: I'm trying to upload a package to ppa, but I get the error message (it is in the end of this post). I've created the ppa and tried to upload a signed package and I got the error. I thought that this is because I don't have my ssh key in the settings, so I've added one. But the problem is still here.
What should I do to upload my package to ppa?

bessarabov@bessarabov-note:~/tmp/delete_after_2011-05-08$ dput ppa:bessarabov/star libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1_i386.changes
Checking signature on .changes
gpg: Signature made Sun 08 May 2011 01:36:39 PM MSD using RSA key ID 79B2238B
gpg: Good signature from "Ivan Bessarabov "
Good signature on /home/bessarabov/tmp/delete_after_2011-05-08/libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1_i386.changes.
Checking signature on .dsc
gpg: Signature made Sun 08 May 2011 01:36:24 PM MSD using RSA key ID 79B2238B
gpg: Good signature from "Ivan Bessarabov "
Good signature on /home/bessarabov/tmp/delete_after_2011-05-08/libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1.dsc.
Uploading to ppa (via ftp to ppa.launchpad.net):
  Uploading libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1.dsc: done.
  Uploading libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1.tar.gz: done.
  Uploading libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1_all.deb: done.
  Uploading libsql-easy-perl_0.02-1_i386.changes: 1k/2k550 Changes file must be signed with a valid GPG signature: Verification failed 3 times: ["(7, 9, u'No public key')", "(7, 9, u'No public key')", "(7, 9, u'No public key')"] : Permission denied.
Note: This error might indicate a problem with your passive_ftp setting.
      Please consult dput.cf(5) for details on this configuration option.                                                                                bessarabov@bessarabov-note:~/tmp/delete_after_2011-05-08$
Comment: Could be a bug/problem on launchpad itself:  https://answers.launchpad.net/launchpad/+question/152715 (see comment #2).
Answer: The problem is solved. After adding my OpenPGP everything is ok.
More details on the discussion https://answers.launchpad.net/launchpad/+question/156588


Stop my photos from getting onto Facebook?

Question: How can I stop photos of me from getting onto Facebook or Google Plus? I am not a user of social networks and do not want my photo on these networks. I am very concerned I may be added by friends or family and tagged. Is there any way a non-user can find out if their photos are on any of these sites other than a legal warrant?
Comment: If you're not a user of the service, you can't be "tagged". That's not to say that your name couldn't be used in the image caption/description.
Answer: There are about 250 billion photos on Facebook at the moment. How could you possibly find if you are in any of them if you are not a user (i.e. you can't see them)? The only possible way (and by possible I mean moon shot) would be to run these photos through some kind of image-recognition algorithm, that should be provided by Facebook itself — not available to the public, to my knowledge.
The only way, in my opinion at least, would be for you to create an account and use it to reject any attempt to get tagged. But this, of course, requires for you to become friends with the people that could potentially tag you.


Why was this question closed?

Question: Will a metal detector detect gold?
The close reason indicates that questions here are expected to relate to scientific skepticism. Yes, these reasons are quite canned, but that makes no sense; the only reason I can think of to close this is that it belongs on Physics instead. If stuff like this is off-topic here, well and good, but I'd like to understand why.
Comment: Perhaps because there's no notable claim made in the media or elsewhere, nor any common folklore, that a metal detector will not in fact detect metal.
Comment: Since asking this meta question, I came across [this](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/806/how-notable-does-a-claim-have-to-be-for-questions-about-it-to-be-considered-on-to). The reasoning behind this closure is apparent now, voting to close this meta question. (Although I disagree with the reasoning here, I'm not a regular enough user of Skeptics to feel comfortable arguing this.)
Answer: Sorry about that, Fabian should have left a comment explaining to you why your question was closed. We discussed it amongst ourselves, and we decided we had to close it in the name of consistency even though it lead to an amazing answer.
The claim is just not notable enough. We have to do this, otherwise everything can be shoehorned into  Skeptics questions for as long as it is worded as "a friend told me that..." and that is bad.
If you do find a place claiming that metal detectors can detect gold, feel free to edit your answer and flag it. I will gladly reopen it. The answer is  pure gold.
Comment: Will do! No hard feelings about the closure; I'm quite aware that closing a question is not final.
Comment: Isn't that commercial site I linked to a place claiming the metal detectors can detect gold.  And nice play with words. :)

Why was this question closed?


Does CiviRules extension work on 4.6.x

Question: Title says it all really. Just trying to verify if there are known breakages, or if we just need to update the Extension info page
Answer: We're using it on 4.6.x sites too and are in the process of adding extra things such as the ability to allocate campaigns. If theres anything in particular you'd like to do but cant maybe drop into a wiki or on the issues list in github.
Answer: I have installed CiviRules on 4.6.8 without incident and have built some Rules to cover situation of when a contact gains a Membership then add them to a Group. This all seems to work. There are Conditions I need which don't exist but fundamentally I am not seeing anything broken wrt the Extension.
Comment: CiviRules aims to share an engine, it was never our ambition to create all required conditions.
Answer: Yes, we are using CiviRules on 4.6.x without incident thus far (see https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/a/4873/105 for an example of how). It's very helpful. It didn't have exactly the condition/action combo we needed, but using it in conjunction with other features of core CiviCRM, we made it work for us.
Answer: Doesn't seem to work with any of the event triggers (create,change,delete) across versions 4.6.x and 4.7.x
This error message comes up.
Sorry but we are not able to provide this at the moment. One of parameters (value: ) is not of the type Integer
Have you had any issues with the event triggers petednz?
Comment: It would help if you make your comments or ask your questions in one place? So we can help you? (duplicates at http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/12715/civirule-error-on-create-event and https://github.com/CiviCooP/org.civicoop.civirules/issues/90
Comment: Hi Erik,  1 question was asking about a function that didn't work. I found 2 questions asking about issues with civirules with 4.6.x and 4.7.x and I answered them with the current issue I am having as I have cross tested on both versions. So other people who are installing civirules who are after similar functionality are aware. I have also created an issue log on the official github repo so the ext creators are aware of the issue. I didn't really see this as duplicating as github is a separate platform, and I am answering questions on stockexchange. I'm sorry if its come across like that.

Does CiviRules extension work on 4.6.x


In Automation how can I automatically update web object identifier values (xpath, id, name, etc) as UI changes sprint by sprint?

Question: In Agile methodologies, UI changes rapidly and its very tough to maintain automated regression suite.
Is there any approach, with which we can update it automatically or at  least minimize the maintenance efforts.
Answer: IMHO, if your UI changes so often that your tests become utterly redundant over a single Sprint - which I am assuming is a 10-15 day period, then the actual issue lies with your UI developers rather than the QA/Testing team. Your UI team should focus on how to minimize the extent of impact of their changes. Completing a project, on time, with good quality, is dependent of the whole team - not just the QA team. If one team is poor in their implementation, then sooner or later, it is going to impact the overall quality of the product delivered.
Nevertheless, changing UI - even if it is not that frequent poses difficulties for testers, particularly, who are trying to write automated e2e tests, or tests in general using tools like Selenium, which rely on the underlying HTML for their implementation. Here are a few practises you can follow to minimize the changes that you do in your codebase -

Use Page Object Model - There are like hundreds of article on the web regarding how POM can be beneficial when it comes to rapidly changing environments. You can follow the POM principles, which would radically reduce the amount of changes that you need to make in your codebase once changes from frontend are done.
Rely on Good Locators - When I say good locators, then I put emphasis on using a lot less of brittle locator - for example absolute xpaths or even Xpaths in general. The good people of SQA community have answered this in a very detailed way here. Implementing these really helps your codebase (I have added these to my framework and it does wonders.
Relying Less on UI for Testing - Don't just utilize the UI for smoke testing if the UI / Application / Workflows change drastically and very often. Most of the time it is also helpful to test certain functionalities by calling WebServices without any Web-UI
Answer: First of all follow the Page Object Model architecture to least the efforts. For reference follow the https://www.guru99.com/page-object-model-pom-page-factory-in-selenium-ultimate-guide.html
Further QA testing companies while automating a test case or scenario prioritize the use the identifiers in order id > class > name > CSS and then least priority will be Xpath. Xpath should not be used as priority because whenever there are changes in the UI Xpath of the locators always changes.
Also the locators should be stored in variables, So that whenever there are changes in values of locators the locator should be updated only in variable and it can be used in different functions. like e.g.
loginButton = Login; //here we are using id for Login
getDriver().findElement(By.id(loginButton)).click();

We should avoid the use of locators directly in functions like
getDriver().findElement(By.id("Login")).click();
isElementPresent(By.id("Login"));

In this case we have to update the value of login button twice, So we should avoid the scenario.
Now
loginButton = Login;
getDriver().findElement(By.id(loginButton)).click();
isElementPresent(By.id(loginButton));

In the above example we simply have to update the value of loginButton and it will be reflected and can be used in both the functions.
Answer: Even if UI changes, there is no reason to change IDs and names of element which are moved around or CSS styling changes.
And if your GUI designers are making changes like that (renaming existing items), your (QA) manager needs to talk to dev manager.
It is a business decision: such changes will break existing test, and efforts will have to be spent to fix such tests. If business decides such make-work is waste, developers will have to stop making such unnecessary name changes. If business decides it is important for creative freedom of GUI designers: such freedom has a cost. Even if not paid by GUI developers, it is paid by company as a whole, by QA which will be fixing old test instead of creating new ones.
Of course it assumes best practices like naming conventions, Page Object etc.
Answer: Have the UI devs run the tests as they make their changes.
You'll need to set up the systems, people and processes so this can be done easily and smoothly.  I recommend have QE's (Quality Engineers) on code review for any test changes so that they can advise on writing good tests with Page Objects, etc.


Fedora 16 to Fedora 17 post-upgrade tasks

Question: I have just successfully upgraded from Fedora 16 to Fedora 17 using the Preupgrade tool. One of the post-upgrade steps suggested here is to "remove unsupported packages".
The guide says to run package-cleanup --orphans to obtain a list of said packages and then yum remove each one.
Rather than blindly do this I thought I'd check to make sure that this wouldn't unintentionally remove any needed dependencies. For example, ModemManager-0.5.3.96-1.fc16.x86_64 is the first package in the list. When I run:
yum remove ModemManager-0.5.3.96-1.fc16.x86_64

I see that it also wants to remove a number of dependencies that look like valid Fedora 17 packages:

=======================================================================================
 Package                     Arch     Version                       Repository    Size
=======================================================================================
Removing:
 ModemManager                x86_64   0.5.3.96-1.fc16               @updates/16  952 k
Removing for dependencies:
 NetworkManager              x86_64   1:0.9.4.0-7.git20120403.fc17  @anaconda-0  6.7 M
 NetworkManager-gnome        x86_64   1:0.9.4.0-7.git20120403.fc17  @anaconda-0  1.3 M
 NetworkManager-openconnect  x86_64   0.9.4.0-7.git20120612.fc16    @updates/16  274 k
 NetworkManager-openvpn      x86_64   1:0.9.3.997-1.fc17            @anaconda-0  679 k
 NetworkManager-pptp         x86_64   1:0.9.3.997-1.fc17            @anaconda-0  467 k
 NetworkManager-vpnc         x86_64   1:0.9.3.997-1.fc17            @anaconda-0  474 k
 anaconda                    x86_64   17.29-1.fc17                  @anaconda-0   12 M
 evolution-NetworkManager    x86_64   3.4.1-2.fc17                  @anaconda-0   14 k

Transaction Summary
=======================================================================================
Remove  1 Package (+8 Dependent packages)

If I do yum list NetworkManager I see:

Installed Packages
NetworkManager.x86_64         1:0.9.4.0-7.git20120403.fc17        @anaconda-0
Available Packages
NetworkManager.x86_64         1:0.9.6.4-1.fc17                    updates

I also notice that none of the dependencies listed by yum remove are in the orphaned package list.

Is it safe for me to go ahead and remove these "orphaned" packages?
Do I have to remove these orphaned packages (I'm not short on disk space)?
Answer: In this case it would be acceptable to use rpm to uninstall those packages
#rpm -e ModemManager-0.5.3.96-1.fc16.x86_64 --nodeps

After you have removed all of the unwanted packages, clean up the rpm database with the following commands
#rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__db*
#rpm –rebuilddb
#yum clean all
#rm -rf /var/cache/yum
#yum makecache

Comment: @midnightsteel, `yum erase package` deletes the package and everything that depends on it, as it should. The `--nodeps` option to rpm tells it _not_ to check for it, and recommending it to newbies is irresponsible. The steps to clean up the RPM database are completely unneeded.
Comment: Thanks. After adjusting my google-fu I found this: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_use_PreUpgrade and this: http://fedorasolved.org/Members/fenris02/post_upgrade_cleanup which helped. I also discover that doing `yum update` right after the upgrade cleared out virtually all of the packages reported by `package-cleanup --orphans`.


Has someone ate the gum-gum fruit before Luffy?

Question: I know Shanks found it but Devil Fruit do reappear after the person who ate it dies. So is it known if anyone ate the Gum-Gum Fruit before Luffy?
Comment: Maybe Gold D Roger ??
Answer: Shanks knew about the fruit from the "Devil fruit encyclopedia" (悪魔の実図鑑).
Oda answered this in the SBS Volume 45:

D: Hey, Odacchi! I got a question! About Devil Fruits!! If Kaku and
  Kalifa said they wouldn't know what their Devil Fruit were until they
  ate it, how come Shanks knew what Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Mi was before
  he ate it?? Tell me! Tell me now!! Pleeeease tell me!!! P.N.
  Shirogitsunekko
O: Well, I think I'll eventually get to explaining more about Devil
  Fruits in the main story, but you see, there's a book of Devil Fruits.
  It has info about all kinds of fruit names and abilities, but few of
  the fruit can actually be identified by their shape. In the case of
  the Gomu Gomu no Mi, there was a picture and everything, but for Kaku
  and Kalifa, they were talking about how they wouldn't know until they
  had finally eaten the fruit. That was in Volume 40.

Since it was in the book, we can conclude that someone must have already eaten the fruit before.
Comment: Good job; great first answer.  I'd read that but completely forgot!  Now you assume that the only way to know what a particular fruit does is for someone to have eaten it before.  This is not necessarily true.  But yeah, you are probably right.
Answer: Probably but we do not know.  We have not seen any other reference to someone else with that power. We do not yet know the origin of devil fruits enough to know if new unique standard fruits can naturally form. We do not know if detail where Shanks obtained the fruit.
Shanks was aware of the name of the devil fruit immediately after Luffy ate it.  It is possible he could guess the name of the fruit from it's appearance, from a brief display of Luffy stretching (various ways based on source material), or from some exotic method of obtaining the fruit (aka Vegapunk).  Far more likely, however, he knew the name because someone else once possessed that power.
As with your other question there are fan theories but those are not on topic.  We do not know if I am right and definitely do not know who that person could have been.
Comment: By the way, if you can correct me on any of my statements... that would be pretty cool cause I'd like to know the answer to your question too.
Comment: Gonna have to watch the anime/read the manga to find out exactly when he said its name vs when luffy stretched, but from what I remember, it definitly seemed like he knew its name before Luffy ate it. If we look at the CP9 2 that ate fruits at Ennies Lobby, their powers were unknown until after eating, which implies its impossible to know what fruit it is until after it is eaten. Since they do reincarnate as a new fruit when the wielder dies, Someone else had to have eaten it first, identifying its name, and then died, at least if Shanks really knew its name first.
Comment: @Ryan the anime scene is on YouTube. I rewatched and adjusted the answer. Shanks said the name of the fruit just after Luffy ate it and stretched for the first time. Seemed like he knew what it was.
Answer: No we don't. Though the anime and manga have multiple adaptations of how Luffy obtained and ate the fruit the cannon of the franchise does not mention if there was a gum-gum user before Luffy.
A lot of information about Devil Fruits, their origins and purposes slowly unveils through different key characters and details about the story which is why the devil fruit is a key plot device.
Right now I'd go as far as to speculate that we will possibly learn the answer to your question as the poneglyphs are further explored in Luffy's current quest for Rafftel and the struggle against the Yonko.
Comment: Why would they say that on the polyeglyphs? It is more likely to be revealed by Shanks or one of his men.
Comment: I think because the glyphs hold the lost history someone in that history may have known more about the devil fruits. I think if shanks knew it would have been brought up by now since we've seen him several times.
Answer: Most likely there were many. Some people like to think that it's a special fruit that was once used by someone really strong like Roger himself. I feel like that would've been mentioned already and more importantly I like the idea that Luffy is the first to use his devil fruit in such impressive and innovative ways.
Answer: For me, i think that shanks know about this DF. But it's not a special or something. Oda mentioned that he wants to make luffy a character that will not make the audience bored. So he gave the gomu gomu no mi to him as you can see he can stretch and make fun about his body but at the same time, he can be a battle genius to utilize his DF to full potential in combat. Its 2 in 1. Being a battle genius using DF and haki combined is based on character, Not the fruit itself. Which means that if someone in past already ate this fruit. He/she probably can't do what luffy do with the fruit now. Thats make this fruit not special at all. So the conclusion is, gomu gomu no mi is just a regular fruit but it become a strong fruit because of the user know how to use it properly.
Answer: Recent revelations seem to indicate/foreshadow that the Fruit is somehow special. My best guess is that someone important must have had it before, and it might be Joyboy himself. I don't particularly like this theory, and the Gomu-Gomu no mi might be connected to something else entirely, but the consensus among the manga-reading community seems to be that it is definitely special somehow.


When one thinks of a field of operators in QFT, is it reasonable to think of a matrix being associated with each point in space time?

Question: Is it correct to visualize operators existing as matrices parameterized by spacetime coordinates in the context of QFT?
Answer: If you mean that QFT operators are matrices $M_{ij}$ whose indices $i,j$ are really points in space (or spacetime), so that the operator is really represented by the function $M(x,x')$, then the answer is No. The actual matrices corresponding to QFT operators are much much larger than that.
An object expressed by $M(x,x')$ is pretty much equivalent to operators in ordinary quantum mechanics of a single particle:
$$M(x,x') = \langle x| \hat{M} |x'\rangle$$
The function $M(x,x')$ knows everything about the operator $\hat{M}$ because we have evaluated all matrix elements of this operator with respect to a basis - in this case, the position eigenvector basis. (It is just space, not spacetime.)
However, quantum field theory has a much larger Hilbert space. Instead of the simple functions above, you may imagine that an operator is expressed by the following functional:
$$M[\phi(x,y,z),\phi'(x,y,z)] = \langle \phi(x,y,z)|\hat{M}| \phi'(x,y,z)\rangle$$
Note that the object on the left hand side is a functional - it is a function whose two arguments are functions of 3 variables themselves - field configurations of a Klein-Gordon field, in this case. Again, the left hand side knows everything about the operator $\hat{M}$ that acts on the Hilbert space of the Klein-Gordon quantum field theory. The formula above chose a specific basis - a "truly" continuous basis of field configurations of $\phi(x,y,z)$.
However, this prescription may make the operators of QFT look more complicated than they really are. Any operator in any quantum mechanical theory may be specified by its matrix elements with respect to any basis. And there are usually more intuitive bases. In particular, in free quantum field theories, a simple-to-imagine basis is the Fock space basis.
$$|0\rangle, a^\dagger_{i}|0\rangle, a^\dagger_{i} a^\dagger_{j}|0\rangle, \dots$$
It's the vacuum and all of its excitations by an arbitrary number of creation operators that add particles into any state. In this way, the Hilbert space is represented as an infinite-dimensional harmonic oscillator. The transformation "matrix" from the continuous basis of the field configurations to the Fock space basis may be found by copying the same transformation for a normal harmonic oscillator infinitely many times and taking the tensor product. (You don't have to mechanically repeat the same work infinitely many times, so this prescription may sound more intimidating than it is.)
If you meant that the quantum fields $\hat{F}(x,y,z)$ are operators and for each $x,y,z$, then the answer is almost Yes. They're operator distributions - that generalize operators much like the distributions such as the delta-function generalize the concept of a function. However, they're damn large matrices. They're matrices expressed with respect to a basis - for example one of the two bases above. But if this paragraph captures what you meant, then you were just asking whether operators are matrices. Indeed, at least morally, they are. But this fact is true in any quantum mechanical theory and isn't specific to QFT.
An operator contains a lot of numbers and may always be represented as a matrix. However, the values of the matrix elements always depend on the basis you chose - sometimes in ways that can't be recognized quickly. However, there is something physical about each operator that doesn't depend on any basis: you may "feel" an operator. You may learn many of its properties. Some of them are more easily understood in one basis; other properties naturally lead to another basis. So it's useful to think about operators in a more general way than matrices in a particular fixed basis - because the latter viewpoint usually discourages one from gaining the insights that are more obvious in another basis. One shouldn't forget that the transition from one basis to another is just a "trivial" linear algebra that doesn't contain any special "physics" knowledge.
Comment: @lumo: that rocks
Answer: Given that a quantum field is a field of operators and given that you can think of operators as (possibly infinite) matrices acting on a Hilbert (or, better, Fock) space, your assumption is correct. However, I wouldn't call it "visualizing" as I find operators more tangible than Matrices.
Answer: I'm not quite sure if you're asking the same question in the title of your post as you are in the body of your post. But the answer to the question in your title is yes, you can think of an operator field as having a matrix associated with each point in space. That's what a field is, after all: a mapping that associates some value (in this case, an operator, which can be represented by a matrix) with each point in space.
However, keep in mind that there's a subtle difference between an operator and a matrix. An operator is an abstract entity that has some defined action on quantum states. There are various ways to describe the action of that operator, and giving the matrix representation in a certain basis is just one possible way. For example, in the basis $\{|1\rangle, |2\rangle, |3\rangle, \cdots\}$, the particle creation operator can be represented as
$$a^\dagger = \begin{pmatrix}0 \\ 1 & 0 \\ & \sqrt{2} & 0 \\ & & \sqrt{3} & \ddots\end{pmatrix}$$
but the same operator can also be represented by its action on a generic basis state,
$$a^\dagger|n\rangle = \sqrt{n+1}|n+1\rangle$$
among other ways.
The point is, the operator itself is something more than any of these representations. So don't get stuck thinking that one operator corresponds to just one particular matrix. If you have an operator field, then sure, you can choose a particular basis and use that basis to create a matrix out of the operator at each spacetime point, and then you'll have a matrix at each point, like you were talking about. But you could choose a different basis, and have a different matrix representation at each point, but it'd still be the same field. You could even do certain things without picking a basis at all, and in that case you wouldn't have any matrices at all. You'd be working directly with the operators themselves.
Comment: Thanks, abstraction is admittedly not my strong suit, I tend to think in terms of absolutes.  I can think in terms of matrices better simply because I can think in terms of spreadsheets and different heirarchies in a filing system.  I am a sad creature of excel.
Comment: @Humble: sure, that's reasonable. I'm a little like that myself, so I think of different matrices which are related by a similarity transform as being essentially the same thing.


How is it possible to lose coolant, if the coolant system in a car is a closed loop, and there are no leaks?

Question: I have confusion as to why people need to top off their coolants from time to time. How is that a phenomenon if the cooling system is supposed to be a closed loop? I understand that if there were leaks, then losing coolant is apparent, but if there are no leaks, how is it possible? I thought that if it was a closed loop, you should not lose a single drop of coolant.
Comment: There is no such thing as the perfectly closed loop... at least not with the flimsy materials and imperfectly crafted objects that exist in a car engine.
Comment: I assume you mean cars and it's age in general terms.  Older cars can obviously have different issues with this than newer ones.
Comment: I just took my 2008 Pontiac G6 in for this "gurgling"...water pump toast!
Answer: It's not a totally closed system 100% of the time on most cars that I've seen, but let me explain in detail.
The overflow vents to outside air and you can lose some to evaporation over time.  The way that could happen is that on most cars the reserve overflow tank is not pressurized.  What happens is if the pressure builds up too high in the radiator cap, it opens and releases coolant to the reserve tank.  At that point, while the radiator cap is open there is some pressure to the reserve tank and could be a lot if the car is overheating, but at that point, it's also not a totally 100% closed system either, albeit temporarily, as it's letting out coolant to the reserve tank.
In my thinking this could account for a small amount of coolant loss over a years time.
Water pumps can weep coolant, but not always present or easy to see.
A hose that appears fine, yet under pressure could weep out small amounts of coolant, like from a clamp that isn't fully tightened.
I recently had this happen, a "T" connector was breaking right at one of the connection points and was leaking a small amount of coolant.  I could smell it, but not find it, until it finally gave out.
Also, if you have an older radiator cap that may need replacing, it could be slowly losing coolant.
So my point is you have to factor in the age of the car and the fact that lots of cars have plastic parts in them now, even in the cooling system like I said, which I think is a bad idea.
Comment: Don't forget a head gasket leak.
Comment: So, I still can't clarify that having an overflow reservoir would technically classify it as an open system. @Paulster2, you said in this other link  ---> https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/21403/how-does-the-coolant-disappear that it is (..."unless the entire system is sealed (no overflow tank)"), and then you mention that it isn't ("...if it's not a closed system (ie: no overflow reservoir")), and then alephzero said having one still makes it a closed system, so which one is it?
Answer: It's not...
There must be a leak somewhere. There are quite a few spots where you can have small, almost unnoticeable, leaks.
Every hose connection in the cooling system is a potential leak as are all the gaskets. There could also be leakage at the pump shaft and at any valve. None needs to be more than a tiny bit to add up over a year or two.
On my Jetta there appears to be maybe 200 ml between the low and high marks on the reservoir - 0.5 ml per day would have me down almost 400 ml in a couple of years. I don't think a leak of that size would be noticeable at all - especially if it were at the pump and a couple of hose connections.
Answer: It might be worth checking your head gasket, the testing kits are usually pretty cheap and easy to use. The only reason for saying this is that head gasket leaks aren't always very obvious, in some instances, they wont make noticeable smoke out the exhaust.
Other than the (in most cases kinda unlikely) head gasket leak, some older cooling systems can loose some fluid after a while where the water in the fluid evaporates out of old seals and loose radiator/ res caps.
It will be worth covering all your bases with it. But at any rate good luck :)


Force window to appear on a select screen

Question: Is there a way to make a window in OS X Lion always initially appear on a select screen? So that when the window appears, it'd automatically appear on the screen I select?
Answer: If by screen, you mean desktop, I think this is how you can do it:
Go to the desktop you want.
On the doc, right click (or control-click) the item you want to appear on a certain screen.   There should be a menu with "options" on it.  Select options, and from the submenu select "this desktop".
Return to any other desktop and verify, that if you were on, say 'desktop 2' when you selected 'this desktop', the options will have 'desktop 2' checked.
Then if you click the app on the dock from whatever desktop, your desktop will switch automatically.  Results may not be the same when you open the app with some different method.  For example, when I tried from a terminal window "open -a Bean"  it opened Bean in the right desktop, but did not swithch automatically.  When I tried to open Firefox with open -a, basically nothing happened (apparently).
(I'm on Lion 10.7.4, but as I recall this also worked in a similar way on earlier distributions.)
Comment: Thanks but by screen I meant a physical display.


How to determine the end of a meditation session without a clock?

Question: I have a clock, it just is distracting having to look at it every few minutes.
Comment: I keep an alarm to ring after 20 mins. In the mean time I don't think of the clock. The alarm tone is the sound of a Tibetan gong and it doesn't startle me when it goes off :)
Answer: If you have a smartphone, consider using a meditation timer app for keeping track of sessions. Simple ones like Meditation Helper (Android) or Meditation Timer (iPhone) are free and do the simple job of keeping the time, ringing a bell when finished. This cen perhaps let you just focus on the meditation for the entire session.
Note: I only have experience with the Android Meditation Helper, which is why the link is provided. It has reminders and a log, quite simple.
UPDATE regarding the use of timers and bells:
Using a meditation timer can be beneficial, especially for beginners, where hearing repeated bells at intervals (starting out as frequent as 2 minutes, increasing to 5, then 10, and so on) can work as a reminder to gently return to the meditation object. However, there is a point where the bells become a hindrance, where they may disturb a deeper meditation, so the recommendation is to phase out the use of the bells.
Meditate for as long as you can, each time. Only if you have limited time for a setting, then use the bell as a reminder. The app works well for this, where you can first set the bells at intervals, then to end the session. If you only look at the meditation timer (locking the screen during meditation) after the meditation session has ended, you can use it to evaluate the session. You may find that sometimes a 30 minute meditation can be challenging, and other times you're surprised to find that an hour and a half passed while in deep meditation.
Comment: I specifically do *not* meditate for as long as I can. The reason is that I'm trying to build a habit, and there is evidence (e.g. http://tinyhabits.com) that forcing oneself to stick to a modest goal to start with (even when you feel you could do more) has advantages. Totally personal thing, I think. I just wanted to point out that for some people, baby steps work better. (Also, B. Alan Wallace points to Tibetan traditions which encourage starting with several shorter sessions gradually becoming fewer longer ones). For timers: I use https://insighttimer.com)
Comment: @Tommy fully respect that view. In the perspective I am working from, the focus is on *being kind* to oneself (the body, the mind, the experience), first and foremost (developing *Metta* is part of that), then using methods that do not rely on goals (goals tend to get clinged to, and evaluated with success/failure, which can be unhelpful). However, even with this view, starting out short is good (being kind to when the mind wanders, when not trained enough to sit longer, and so on).
Answer: The best way I've heard to a) keep track of time b) without a clock (or timer) was related to me by my 91-year-old teacher who said in the old days they used to use incense sticks; once the incense stick was finished, they would switch from walking to sitting. For shorter sessions, you could cut the sticks in half, etc. Of course, it still means you need to open your eyes every so often during sitting.
I often suggest meditators just to look at the clock every so often; it's not really that big of a deal with insight meditation, since the concentration is momentary anyway. It can be a good exercise in patience watching how often your mind wants to check and see if you're finished yet :)
Eventually, as someone said, your mind can estimate pretty well how long you've been sitting and you'll find yourself checking the clock (or incense stick) just when it's time to finish.
Comment: Trying to think of a good SE-class question that would allow you to elaborate on "...with insight meditation...the concentration is momentary" ...
Answer: Having to look at a clock every few minutes really defeats the purpose!
Have you ever tried telling yourself to wake up at a certain time before you sleep? I can tell you from personal experience that it works.
My meditation teacher asks us not to use any clock. She asks us to train ourselves to emerge from meditation at specified time without external help. I haven't really tried it yet (except for waking up from sleep), and the teacher will always ring the bell in our group sitting despite her advice :).
After all, one of the jhana mastery is the ability to remain in jhana for exactly the pre-determined length of time.

A meditator should first master the lower jhānas, before they can go into the higher jhānas. There are five aspects of jhāna mastery:

Mastery in adverting: the ability to advert to the jhāna factors one by one after emerging from the jhāna, wherever he wants, whenever he wants, and for as long as he wants.
Mastery in attaining: the ability to enter upon jhāna quickly.
Mastery in resolving: the ability to remain in the jhāna for exactly the pre-determined length of time.
Mastery in emerging: the ability to emerge from jhāna quickly without difficulty.
Mastery in reviewing: the ability to review the jhāna and its factors with retrospective knowledge immediately after adverting to them.
Answer: I use a wind-up kitchen timer. Because it is low-tech, it works better for me than a smartphone app, which has a subtle distracting effect due to being an open-ended device. I do make sure to have no clocks in sight. In the zendo we used to have a giant pendulum clock, which ticked loudly and chimed every 15 minutes. That had its charm too :)
Another way to keep time is to count breaths on phalanges of hands, with the thumb. 3 phalanges times 4 fingers makes 12. 12 on one hand times 12 on the other makes 144 (breaths). This is about 25-30 minutes, depending how you breath.
Comment: Using phalanges is a great idea
Answer: I use the meditation timer app and its very useful!
I usually have meditation time set for an hour, and a mild bell to ring every five minutes, every few bells or so ill switch to walking or sitting. I'm still trying to solidly make it a full five minutes of absolute mindfulness without drifting off or zoning out but... maybe next time... hah.
but yeah, after it goes off a few times you'll lose track and then its just a reminder and/or starting point or you can set it to go off anywhere from every one minute to 2, 3,4,5,6... etc all the way to 24 hours (or not to go off until the time is up)
so yeah, i second that recommendation!
Answer: I can only say what helps me. I usually have recorded tracks of music playing (like chanting to Quan Shi Yin, Amitabha, or loving-kindess chanting) and I stop when the track is over. I have tried using a bell, but, for me, often the anticipation of the bell might as well be as distracting as looking at a clock.
Answer: At first I did what you are trying to avoid and checked the clock on the wall.  Then I used an electric kitchen timer; this was effective, but the alarm was  unpleasant.  Thus I switched to the pre-installed timer on my Android device for a while and did fairly well, but it does not have the ability to set up multiple meditation periods.
Now I'm using an Android app called Zazen Meditation Timer.  I chose it because it required no special permissions, where all the others I investigated required permissions which I did not think a meditation timer needed and which I did not want to grant.  It allows the user to set up different meditation "sessions" (e.g. weekday 20 minute sit, weekend hour & one half sitting and walking).  Each session can have different periods (e.g. 30 minutes sitting, 15 minutes walking, 30 more minutes sitting).
Some sources sell dedicated meditation timers.  Many can be easily found on the World Wide Web via the search engine of your choice.
Edit to mention a couple things I initially forgot:
I also have a CD I got during a retreat.  It features gongs, bells, and other summoning sounds, followed by a starting bell.  There there are 20 minutes of silence, followed by a bell to mark the end of a 20 minute meditation period.  It has other chants, gathas, etc. and then another 20 minute meditation period, followed by some ending chants.
Also, while a lot of the things you'll find searching for "meditation" on Youtube are lengthy musical pieces that may be more appropriate as background music, there are guided meditation sessions, if that's what you're seeking.
Answer: If you burn incense sticks, you can train your mind to pick up the smell of cold ashes when the stick has finished burning.
Answer: Best is to use Adhitthana. Initially this might not be perfect but over time it becomes accurate. When you sit make a strong determined though that you will meditate for a particular time period.
Comment: Some links http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/Determination_Determines.htm http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhi%E1%B9%AD%E1%B9%ADh%C4%81na
Comment: I can't find what you're referring to when you say 'Aditana'-- do you have a link to a definition?
Answer: To refer to the traditional way that time is kept:

"The best way I've heard to a) keep track of time b) without a clock
  (or timer) was related to me by my 91-year-old teacher who said in the
  old days they used to use incense sticks; once the incense stick was
  finished, they would switch from walking to sitting. For shorter
  sessions, you could cut the sticks in half, etc. Of course, it still
  means you need to open your eyes every so often during sitting."
  --this answer

The act of not timing your sitting is a profound one. It's not like the Buddha timed his sittings when he attained Enlightenment!
After nourishing himself the Buddha himself literally said "I will not get up from this Bodhi tree until I attain Awakening! Let my bones break and my flesh rot before I shall arise."
And then he entered the 1st jhana, 2nd jhana all the way to 4th and then experienced the 4 formless absorptions one by one and then attained Awakening.
He did not time his sittings except taking a bit of a break when he was truly exhausted and he opened his eyes to look at the night sky to take a bit of a rest.
And like magic, right then, he Awakened.
[Similarly Zen practitioners and other "hardcore" practitioners do not time their sittings... and they tended to Awaken when they took a bit of a rest and their Buddha Nature spotaneously opened to them, their skandhas dropping away giving them a strong taste of Awakening.]
Thus, the ultimate "inorganic" method is your own physical exhaustion, your own body telling you it is time to take a break from your arduous efforts!
Nonetheless, You can use other similar methods that are "organic" and do not use digital devices: tea kettle boiling, the birds starting to chirp in the morning as you push your meditation on in the early morning, etc.
Also your question is an important question because we all need to do an electromagnetic detox! We are all heavily dependent on our devices and are sleeping, reading, and practicing in a pool of EMR. I definitely notice a huge difference when I wear my crystals than when I am not.
Many of us experienced times when we go to a garden or some greenspace, far away from wifi connections and our mind completely clears and it feels the bliss of concentration is close at hand. It is also much easier to think about one's own life and contemplate in such an environment, also due to having less electronic devices subconsciously yelling and calling us in hundreds of ways.
Answer: The best thing to do is just do it as long as you feel it. Once your mind starts emerging, you're done. I've never understood people who try to turn it into a marathon, seeing how long you can go. That's totally counterproductive. Once you feel like getting up, get up.
Alternately stare at a clock. That might sound like a joke, but you've got to stare at something. The tension and tediousness of staring at a second hand going round and round is bound to be useful in breaking through to release.
I don't recommend listening to music. That also defeats the purpose. Also, don't overthink it. Make sure you're not using the question of how to time your sessions as an excuse not to do them.
Answer: I use an APP called Meditation Helper.  It is very useful. I has a nice bell sound. You can program the total time and also interval times.
I also like the "reminder" function that you can program, the App will remind you to meditate every day.


"Island" kitchen sink vent

Question: I was told that I needed a 3" drain pipe to self vent the sink. I have searched all over to see how to plumb 1 1/2"  drain pipe into a 3" pipe with no luck. a picture is worth a thousand words. Working with Arkansas code...tnx
Answer: You'll use a 3" x 3" x 1-1/2" PVC DWV Sanitary Tee. It's important that you use a sanitary tee, and that you fit it in the proper orientation.

Or a 3" x 1-1/2" PVC DWV Reducer Coupling

Venting island fixtures can be difficult, since you obviously can't simply install a vertical vent pipe.  The Family Handyman has a good article on How to Plumb an Island Sink
You'll notice the article provides two methods, either you provide a separate vent line, or you use an air admittance device (AAV). The AAV method is only going to be accepted in some areas, so check with your building department before going that route.

As for which way to install a tee.  If you're installing a straight tee, there's no wrong way.  If you're installing a sanitary tee, you'll have to pay attention to the direction of water flow.
Let's say you have a sanitary tee like this

If the flow is down like this...

You can have water flow in like this...

If you have the tee like this...

It's upside down, and you can't have water flow in like this...
Comment: Tnx, I have both of these fittings, but I would still like to see how to put them together so the inspector won't reject the work...he doesn't like the fact I'm not a plumber and is sure to comment on the job.
Comment: So the question is "How do I join PVC fittings?", is that correct?  Do you have PVC primer and glue?
Comment: Or is your question even more broad, and should be "How do I plumb a drain from an island kitchen sink, and tie into a 3" drain?"?
Comment: Please...I know how to glue materials together. You know that T fittings can be glued inverted, right. I didn't until an inspector trashed a lot of my work (mostly vent lines) saying I had inverted T"
Comment: ...with the p-trap directly above it? Or would he want to see the 3" tee keep going vertical with a cap and the p-trap entering from the side of it?

"Island" kitchen sink vent


Who was the father of Vali?

Question: I would like to know that who was the father of Kishkindha King Vali & how did he get the boon the while fighting, his enemy's half of the power will go to Vali ?
Answer: The father of Vali was Indra. In this chapter of the Bala Kanda of the Ramayana, Brahma tells the gods to have children with Vanaras, so that there will be powerful Vanaras to help Vishnu's incarnation Rama who is about to be born:

Let mighty and guise changing helpmates be procreated to that truth abiding and valorous Vishnu who is the well-wisher of all of us.  Let monkey-shaped progeny equalling Vishnu's valour be procreated from the physiques of prominent apsara-s and gandharva-s, from the girls of yaksha-s and pannaga-s, and also thus from the bodies of kinnaraa-s, she-vidyaadharaa-s, she-riksha-s and she-monkeys, and they shall be wizards of miracles and audacious ones, in travel they shall have air's speed, bestowed with intellect they shall be the knowers of ideation, and with their divine physique they shall be ineliminable, they shall be endowed with all the assaultive aspects of all missiles, and they shall be untiring in their efforts, like you who thrive on amrita, the ambrosia, unmindful of thirst and hunger.

So then Indra and Surya both have children with the same Vanara woman:

Indra procreated the lord of vanara-s, namely Vali, who by his physique is like Mt. Mahendra, and the highest humidifier among all the humidifiers, namely the Sun, procreated Sugreeva.

Now as far as Vali having a boon to take half of his enemy's strength, as far as I know that has no basis in Hindu scripture.  The Kishkindha Kanda mentions Vali having a pendant keeping him alive, but it doesn't describe its power:

That superb and gem-studded golden pendent given by Indra sustained that monkey chief's lives, resplendence and brilliance.

Also, the translator says this:

Rama is aware of the boon given by Brahma to Vali aahuuya vaalinam brahmaa dadau varam anuttamam | pratiipavarti nobhuuyaat artha balam arindama ||
Summoning Vali, Brahma gave an unexcelling boon... any combatant will loose half of his strength to Vali shall he confront Vali.

But again, I don't think it's mentioned in Hindu scripture.
Comment: like the link http://www.valmikiramayan.net/utf8/baala/sarga17/bala_17_frame.htm is there any website for Mahabharatham?
Comment: @NagaVemprala Yeah, here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm
Answer: Rksaraja, the king of all monkeys was the father of Vali and Sugriva. This info is provided in Uttara Khanda of Valmiki Ramayana, Canto 36, Verses 37 onwards. Just like Hanuman was born with amsa of Wind god to Kesari and Anjana who were Vanaras, Vali (Amsa of Indra) and Sugriva(amsa of Sun god) were born to the suzerian King of all Vanaras called, Rksaraja. After the death of Rksaraja, Vali became the suzerian king of all vanaras and Sugriva was appointed as the prince. From, childhood Sugriva and Hanuman developed unwavering and unwarying friendship, just like the friendship of wind and fire.
Comment: No, Surya and Indra were the fathers of Sugriva and Vali.  See my answer above for a quote from the Bala Kanda.  And here's what the Uttara Kanda says: http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/src-vrm:ram7-42 "And Surya too journeying arrived there. They both simultaneously espied that female form and were possessed by desire. What more, their whole body, as soon as they saw her, was moved and the firmness of the mind shaken.  Thereupon Indra begot on her a son named Vali for he originated from her hairs and Surya begot on her another son, who was named Sugriva for he originated from her neck."
Comment: @Keshav - Though Indra and Sun are also father of Vali and Sugriva, respectively, there Vanara father was Rksaraja who was the Sovereign king of all Vanaras. Please read the canto 36 of Uttara khanda which provides this info.
Comment: By the way, do you know anything about Yamunacharya's lost work, the Kashmir Agama Pramanya (as opposed to the regular Agama Pramanya discussed in my question [here](http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/6912/36))?  What were the "Kashmir Agamas" defended in that work, and what is their relation to the Pancharatra Agamas?
Comment: @Keshav- Please check the book "Contribution of Yamunacharya to visistadvaita" by Narsimhachary. The author does provide some information about this lost work " Kasmir agama pramanya"
Comment: Unfortunately, I don't have access to Narasimhachary's book.  In any case, I just posted a question about the Kashmira Agama Pramanya here: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/7422/36 So tell me if you have any information about what the Kashmira Agamas are, their connection to the Pancharatra texts, their connection to the Ekayana Shakha of the Shukla Yajur Veda, etc.

Who was the father of Vali?


What is the difference between albergo and hotel

Question: Since I'm not a native Italian speaker, I don't exactly know what the difference between hotel and albergo is.
Would you mind telling me the difference, please?
Answer: The first difference is that "Albergo" is an Italian word and "Hotel" is a French/English imported word. You won't find many Italian words starting with H and the ones you can find are normally imported.
The second difference is a consequence of the first: Albergo is used more by older people. You might know that between the two world wars Italian were "warmly encouraged" to avoid "foreign" words ...
The third is more practical and has already been explained above: often an Albergo is a simpler place. A Hotel often enjoys a 3, 4 or 5 star classification.
Once there may have also been some difference in taxation. Our Tuscan restaurant in Genoa was a "Trattoria" also because my grandparents wanted to save a little money in taxes. I hope that doesn't apply any longer, but in this Country you never know.
Answer: In addition to Elberich's answer, I'll also add - but be aware that this might be a bias of mine, possibly due to regional usage (Italian has quite a lot of regional variations) - that Hotel is more often used in proper nouns (possibly due to delusions of grandeur on the part of the management). So you might use both in a sentence:
<code>Staremo in albergo, all'Hotel Edelweiss.

We're going to lodge at Hotel Edelweiss.
</code>
(You can say "staremo in hotel", but at least in Tuscany you usually say "stare in albergo").
Answer: There are no differences in meaning and usage, albeit 'hotel' is somewhat often related to luxury buildings.
Comment: I am a native Italian speaker, and Elberich has the right of it.
Comment: Thank you. I would be glad if native speakers gave their opinion.
Comment: Yes, "albergo" is a name for normal lodges, non really luxury ones. Hotel  is used to indicate both a luxury lodge or a normal lodge, whose owners decided to call it with an international naming.
Answer: I think the level and luxury of the place is not connected at all with the use of "Hotel" or "Albergo", that are in my opinion synonyms.
"Hotel" is more recent in Italian language, so "Albergo" is used more by older people because the French/English word "Hotel" wasn't used so much in Italy in the past. By the way: this word derives from the Latin word "Hospitium" that in Italian took different branches:

"Ostello", place to spend a night, like "Youth Hostel" = "Ostello della Gioventù".
"Osteria", a small restaurant or place where mainly offer wine.
"Ospizio", house for elder people.
"Ospedale", place to cure ill or injured people.

You can say "Albergo a 5 Stelle di Lusso" and no one will look at you like you said something wrong.


bash file recovery?

Question: I think I messed up my bash file /bin/bash when trying to create my first script, it displays a message saying "process completed" and locks my terminal, if I switch to another shell e.g sh, then it's fine, is there a way to restore the contents of bash file or anything like that, i don't have a backup as I never managed to use time machine.
Thanks for the help
Answer: The problem likely is with one of the three following files all located at the root of your home directory: .bashrc, .profile, or .bash_profile. Try this:
1) While in an sh session, navigate to your home directory if you are not already there (type in cd ~).
2) Run the command ls -al and determine which of those files (.bashrc, .profile, or .bash_profile) are present in your home folder.
3) It is likely the file which is causing the problem is the last one you were editing or is linked to by one of the three previously named files. Either move or change the file name of one of those files in of your home directory. If you are not sure which file you were working with, I would start with .bashrc.
Example command to move .bashrc: mv .bashrc bashrc.bak
4) Once you have moved or changed the file name of one of the previously listed files, try opening a new bash session. If the session launches successfully, then you know which file needs to be edited further. If the bash session does not launch, restore the file back to its original location. If no one file appears to be the cause, try moving or changing the file names of all named files.
5) Make a backup of the file which is causing problems.
To resolve the "process completed" message, you will need to troubleshoot the script looking for return or exit statements which may be written incorrectly. If those are not present, you may have to go the route of commenting lines of the script out to determine where the problem is. To comment a line out, add a # character to the beginning of the line.
During this last step, you will need to move a copy of the offending file back to its original location. To make things easier, I would probably open the file using TextWrangler or from nano or vim in another sh session to make changes.
(Note: TextEdit and XCode will also work. However, to open the file, you will need to issue a command such as "open -a TextEdit.app ~/.bashrc" to open the file because the Open File Window does not allow for opening files whose names start with a period.)

bash file recovery?


How close are store bought broths and stocks to the real thing?

Question: Many of the sauces I wish to make require broth or stock. I quite fear the preparation which requires lengthy cooking and dedicating more precious storage space for the finished ingredient. Is using store bought broth or stock a good alternative? How close does it come to the real thing?
Answer: There's a great deal of variation in the quality of the pre-made stocks you get from different sources, so there's no clear-cut answer. Here's the types you might find:

Stock cubes: these are dehydrated stock, or sometimes just chemicals meant to taste like it. It's the lowest quality option. There's a lot of variation here, I've found some brands (knorr for example) to be better than many others, but still not close to the real thing. I rarely use these
Stock powders: similar to cubes these are loose rather than cubed powder stocks. The advantage of them over cubes is they dissolve much faster
Gels: these are more recent, they are super-concentrated stocks in a gel format. They come in little mini tubs, you peel the lid off and squeeze/spoon the contents out. I'm not sure these have made it over the pond to the US yet. They are IMO much better than cubes or powders and closer to the real thing, and I use them more often than any other alternative
Canned/bagged stock: Most of the time these are concentrated, there's a lot of variation in quality between brands. They have a long shelf life, and don't require refrigeration
Fresh stock: you can sometimes find fresh stocks in the refrigerator section of the supermarket, or at a butcher/specialist food store. These are the best alternative but can be expensive

Personally I rarely make stock, and when I do I use it right away. When I need to strengthen the flavor of a broth, or I need stock I use knorr stockpots (one of the concentrated gel products), or if I only need a little flavor, I spoon of powder. There are a few cubes rattling around my cupboards for emergencies too.
Comment: In [Serious Eat's DIY pot noodle article](http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/diy-instant-noodle-cups-food-lab.html), they mentioned "Better than Boullion" ... I've never used that one, personally.  I tend to use boullion as a sort of flavored salt when cooking, rather than as a replacement for stock or broth.  For broth, I tend to stick with the ones in aseptic packaging (cartons like paralat milk) vs. the canned stuff.  I haven't seen bagged.
Comment: Regarding stock cubes / powders: For chicken, [this](http://www.npo.nl/keuringsdienst-van-waarde/12-11-2015/KN_1673133) is the ultimate truth about most modern cubes/powders (in Dutch only, sorry). The most popular varieties don't even have chicken in them, or in quantities of less than 1%. The flavor is achieved through other chemical processes, which (and this the best part) *people now have come to associate with how chicken stock ought to taste*, labeling the _real_ stuff as "bland", "not tasting like chicken", "lacking the distinct smell and taste of roasted chicken".
Comment: There's also jars of paste in the US that can be fairly good.
Comment: @Joe Yup that's one of the pastes I was thinking of. ATK recommended it as well I think. It seems good to me too, and I tend to prefer it over cartons since it takes less space, you can make small amounts, and you can make it more concentrated (including mixing it into something already containing water).
Comment: errrr, just because there is variation in pre-made industrial stock quality, does not mean that there is no answer if they ALL differ from home made real stock. The may vary, but they are ALL hugely inferior to the real thing. Some are just more inferior than others.
Answer: All excellent information, but can I answer bluntly: none of them come even CLOSE to the real thing. Once you use fresh stock, you will never, ever go back. Really. Making stock is easy, cheap, and as said above, unattended time. Stock forms the base of the kitchen, once you have it, you will notice the taste of everything you make improve so much. Get some bones (most butchers will give the away for free, just become friends) cold water, bring to boil, throw away the dirty water, start again with fresh water. This saves you the trouble to skim the grey foam, which is the white blood cells and other bitter tasting substances. It is also much more effective as skimming. And it results in a clearer, better tasting stock. When you do it, you will see what I mean straight away. I even rinse the pan
Add onions and celery, and basically all the cut-offs of all your vegetables. pepper corns, bay leaves, unpeeled garlic cloves, whatever you like. You dont need to peel the onion. The fuller the pan, the better the stock.
On your storage problem: two solutions. Big restaurants do not store, they just have a big pan boiling night and day. Small scale: after a hours or a night of slow boiling or so, remove bones and veggies. Cool. When fat is solid, remove and use this for frying: fried taters, etc.
Now boil down the broth, really down to say 20 percent.  You have a demi glace now. Put it in ice cube trays, and freeze. When frozen, remove, and put in bags. You have now concentrated fresh stock that takes up no space, and you can use in any quantity you require.
Please try it. Again: NOTHING comes close to the real deal.
Comment: The question here was how close storebought things come, not how to make stock. And I'm not sure that a sweeping generalization of not even close is really that helpful; there's a huge range, and plenty of things are reasonably close, especially when you're using them in something where you taste other things way more than the subtle stock flavor. I'm not saying it's wrong to choose to only use homemade stock - go for it if you want - but I'm not sure this is really a great answer to the question that was asked.
Comment: @ToddWilcox In my opinion, non-saltiness is one of the big advantages of home made stocks. They can be reduced without becoming too salty. They can be added to other ingredients that already bring enough salt. If you do need to add salt later, it dissolves easily in hot stock.
Comment: Thank you for clarifying. It wouldn't hurt to update your answer with more details on why this is done and what exactly you do mean (for those unfamiliar with it).
Comment: I think it is, sorry. I think any other answer to this question other than: "not even close by a mile" is an incorrect answer or slightly elusive answer. If you think some alternatives come reasonably close, well, de gustibus non est disputandum, but I havent found them, and I doubt they exist. Fresh stock is the one thing that makes good restaurant food so delicious.  And because the worries  of the OP  were work and storage capacity, I addressed those too. I think my answer, together with GdD's answer is the complete answer to this question.
Comment: Do you not add salt at any point in that process?
Comment: @PatriciaShanahan Isn't one of the problems that it makes tasting difficult? I seem to recall reading or being told that unsalted stock just tastes awful.
Comment: @Lilienthal I like the taste of a really good stock even without salt, but I'm trying to limit my salt intake generally, so I'm used to a low level of saltiness. In any case, one could easily add a little salt to taste it.
Comment: @PatriciaShanahan True. I think I'm recalling this from advice that some chicken/vegetable stocks can taste bitter when unsalted. Or that they taste bitter when overcooked and salting can help balance out the bitterness.
Comment: But I was talking about boiling down.If you add salt, the result will be so salty it will be difficult to freeze (and easy to oxidise). Better to salt the finished product (soup or sauce or whatever) to taste when finished.
Comment: You are gonna need a lot of ice cube trays for this...
Answer: Quality varies.  I have yet to find a store bought equivalent to homemade, but there are adequate products.  It would be worth it to purchase a few samples and find one you like.  I would look for something with little to no salt, as it is better to control for that yourself, in your final product.  Having said that, making stock yourself, particularly using a pressure cooker is easy, and can take as little as 30 minutes.  Strain and freeze.  Without a pressure cooker, the process takes longer, but it is mostly unattended time.
Answer: The problem is: Bought stocks tend to have a long ingredients list, and create a "shadow recipe" effect easily - important or problematic ingredients get carried into the dish via some bought product that they were arbitrarily mixed into, confusing recipe writers, learners, recipe followers alike.
For example, a lot of vegetable stocks carry turmeric and arbitrary, sometimes counterintuitive herbs and spices, which you would either want or not want in a dish.
Talking of dried vegetable stocks, they create a paradox: The type that is fortified with some umami source (yeast extract, HVP, MSG...) matches that description of a mixture of things that do not need mixing unless it is meant as a condiment or ready to eat product, the type without (unless it uses eg plenty of mushrooms as a umami source that you would include in a homemade vegetable stock) in the end is more of an aromatic/spice salt than a functional stock.
One thing that is occasionally worth doing, if using such stocks, is boiling a big kettle of water and making and tasting a cup of each brand you have, and taking notes about the differences.
(Recently developing a strong opinion on things recently that are mixed from what needs not mixing, especially if not by a well recognized recipe, and are meant as an ingredient...)
Comment: Many stocks hold up surprisingly well to brutal reduction. Especially when you keep the ingredient list as simple as possible eg: Turkey bones, water. Add the other stuff after you pull your small container of concentrate out of the freezer.
Comment: Exactly.  And may I add: put a home-made stock in the mix too, and draw your own conclusion. I am hundred percent sure no one will want to expose their food to industrial chemical "stocks" ever again..
Comment: Homemade stocks can become a storage issue though, unless you brutally reduce them they take quite some fridge/freezer space... I bet one could usefully fill a lowboy fridge with micro-stocks, and reduce produce waste in the same course of action, but space....
Comment: Maybe. Lets have a calculation. Lets take it big.  You make 1000 litre stock, reduce to 20 percent, so now 200 litre lefts. That fits in a space of 0.5x0.5x0.80m. Make it 25 percent more if you want portions. That is not a lot for the backbone of a kitchen, is it? In any half decent restaurant in france chef would cut your hands of if you even tried to use something else... Anyway, with these numbers you probably would want to use a dedicated eternal stockpot..
Answer: Nothing compares to well made home cooked stock.  Almost all commercial stock flavors, cubes, boxed stock, better than pastes, College, Kitchen, Rachael, etc., come from one manufacturing plant. The basic difference is the salt content.


Appium tests fails until rebooting IOS devices or appium tests fails due to webdriveragent getting uninstalled by itself- Any solutions?

Question: My appium tests are passing before I checked it in and after I checked in the Jenkins code. However, after a few runs the appium tests starts failing and can't install the app on the ios devices. A reboot would fix it and sometimes if not I have to reboot the computer as well as the ios device. Sometimes the webdriveragent gets uninstalled by itself and I have to manually install it again. I didn't uninstall it though. Has anyone encountered this in Appium IOS automation? How did you solve this or worked around this problem?
Thanks.
Answer: Added this in BeforeClass:
<code>Runtime.getRuntime().exec("/usr/local/bin/idevicediagnostics restart -u "+udid).waitFor();
Thread.sleep(60000);

capabilities.setCapability("newCommandTimeout", 2000);
capabilities.setCapability("wdaConnectionTimeout", 500000);
capabilities.setCapability("wdaLaunchTimeout", 120000);
capabilities.setCapability("wdaStartupRetries", 4);
capabilities.setCapability("wdaStartupRetryInterval", 20000);
</code>
Settings this seemed to help!