Sync books from iBooks on Mac with iBooks on iPhone

Question: This task should be very easy to solve, but still, I can't do it.
I have downloaded a epub book, dragged it to iBooks app on Mac. Then I go to iTunes, click on iPhone and go to Books tab. I can see some books in Sync section, but they are different from those I see in iBooks app on Mac. No way to sync that single book with my iPhone.
So, my question is: what am I doing wrong? Is there any way to do that without killing virgin and summoning Devil? Because to me all this sync issues seem to be a black magic.
Answer: In short, the iBooks application and its behavior were kind of a big surprise to everybody. Before I opened it, Mavericks seemed great.
The iBooks application seems positioned to deal only with purchased (DRM) books. This includes your ePubs and PDFs. It wasn't announced, but it seems to be the case. Also the iBooks application on the desktop isn't intended to be the means to sync to your iDevices. When you sync your device, the iTunes "Books" selections will come from the new iBooks application.
All of your not-purchaed ePubs and PDFs that you used to store and sync in iTunes, well now you have to use something else, like Calibre. Whether or not this continues to be the case is unknown. It's possible that the new iBooks app is an attempt to distance Apple from non purchased books.
I spent a day putting all my non-purchased books into Calibre and it works fine. It's not seamless with the syncing, especially if you used to do it over WiFi. For the moment that capability is not available. Calibre has multiple methods for copying to devices, and you will definitely need to do a little digging in the documentation.
So for the moment, you have two separate methods of syncing books: iBooks and iTunes for purchased, and Calibre (or whatever) for non-purchased.
When you start iBooks for the first time, your iTunes books will be transferred to a folder buried out-of-sight. Most of the ePub metadata will be in the ePub file, but not so for PDFs. If you were lucky you copied your stuff out of iTunes before using iBooks. I wasn't so lucky.
BTW, any PDFs that are music booklets (or in my case, sheet music) can stay with the album in iTunes. However they are media type "Music".
Answer: It is possible to sync notes/annotations of 3rd party EPUBs using iBooks for Mac & iBooks for iOS, but the EPUB files themselves do not sync. Weird, but true.
(1) Keep your 3rd party EPUBs centrally in Dropbox, so it can be "accessed" from any Mac or iOS device. (You can also host these on a private web-page on your LAN. I use papaya app from lightheadsw.com for this.)
(2) Open the EPUB on each Mac and iOS device, from the Dropbox folder. This creates a copy of the EPUB in each of the iBooks apps.
(3) Last read position, highlights & notes that you make on the EPUB on any Mac or iOS device will be synced across all other devices -- provided you've signed into iBooks store using the same Apple ID on all these devices. And you've checked the sync bookmarks/notes setting in iBooks.
Points to note:

iBooks doesn't sync data using your iCloud account, it does so using the "store-linked" apple ID. Think of iBooks as an extension of iTunes. It doesn't behave like Pages/Keynote/Numbers etc which use iCloud for documents sync. it behaves like iTunes Match which uses your store account for ratings/metadata sync.
The EPUB itself is not synced by iBooks - only the highlights/notes are synced. When you insert the same EPUB into iBooks for Mac and iBooks for iOS, it tries to match the EPUB against notes/annotations stored in the cloud, and if there's a match, then notes will show up on that device. Thus, it's important to take the exact same EPUB and open it on iBooks on Mac, iPhone, iPad for notes sync to work. Think of an EPUB as read-only, including the filename, and that you need to manually insert it into every copy of iBooks.
Answer: Why bother just use the kindle app. Send to kindle allows syncing non-drm books across up to 5 devices, puts a copy in the cloud for viewing as well. It's not as nice an app, but does the trick.
Answer: I just moved the epubs to my dropbox and opened them in iBooks on my iPhone as the books tab doesn't seem to appear in iTunes when I sync my iPhone. Its a round about way but it works.
The other trick that worked on my iPad, which had the books tab in iTunes while syncing, was to select "sync all books" and it will show all the books be they epub, purchased or non purchased, pdfs etc in iBooks on the iPad.
Though why the same trick won't work on my iPhone is beyond me since on the macforums it seems to work for others. C'est la vie or rather C'est la Apple!!
Answer: Note that the answers on this question are obsolete because more recently, Apple has allowed non-DRM (i.e. non-iTunes-purchased) files to be synced between different iBooks instances using iCloud Drive.
See my question+answer for a basic description of how to do this: PDF added to iBooks on Mac does not sync to iCloud Drive or my iPhone


network problems with one wired computer causing slow or crashing internet

Question: i have dsl service and am pretty computer savvy.  here goes. its a weird one.
i have two hard wired computers to a c1000a centurly link modem/router"wireless also" combo unit, also we use one wireless laptop, and have 3 phones that tap into the wireless along with one tablet that uses the wireless also.
problem is, one computer that is hardwired when the cat5 wire is plugged in, will make the internet extremely slow for the whole network and sometimes even completely crashing it, forcing me to unplug the router/modem to reset it to get the internet back on, this computer is one i built just this last christmas for our daughter and the problems started some time after that was hooked up, not sure how long after.
i used to install some network wire and put on the terminations and such so i just happen to have a cat5 cable tester that tests all eight wires from end to end, by hooking a receiver to one end of the wires and the main tester to the other end, it tests good.  also i have checked that wire physically from one end to the other for any physical damage and there is none, this wire goes straight from the router to the pc, there is no wall jack, just a hole drilled under the carpet at the edge of room, so just one straight wire, maybe 50 foot max.  it was a new wire i made from a spool.
funny thing is, even if the computer is shut all the way down, if that cat5 is hooked up, we have these problems, if you unplug the cat5 from the pc, problems are gone, completely.  i have tried the laptop on that wire, turning its wireless off, and that works fine too and doesnt cause any network issues, so the wire is fine along with the port on the router..its the computer, be it hardware or software, that is the question.  i has windows 7 64bit on it.  pretty fresh install, no malware or anything almost positive, we monitor her usage on it quite closely.
any ideas what it could be, my guesses would be either bad network port, which is part of the motherboard, its not a separate card, or something really messed up with a network setting in it, although it's all stock, didnt set up anything special with it for network access, just simply installed windows and hooked up to the ethernet port.
my ideas on how to troubleshoot this, since the wire works good with other computers and i am certain it is good, is to try a standalone network card or get a wireless adapter for it and see if the problem goes away.   i cant think of any network settings to check that would cause this sort of problem...
Please help with any ideas, i have never had one quite like this, especially since the computer can be shut all the way down, and still cause the problems.
Comment: Is there a firmware update for your router/modem?
Answer: I have a theory.  Try unplugging the computer, but leaving the CAT5 cable in.  If that fixes it, it means that the connection is still live (this is used for things like Wake On LAN).
Personally, it sounds as if you have too many devices on your router.  Home routers really are built cheaply.  They generally use the worst possible components they can in order to get a working device.  Heavy usage on these really limits the life of the device.  It is quite possible that your issue is related.  Even though there are a certain number of ports and such, it is possible it really can't hold that type of load.
--EDIT--
You might consider buying a better home router.


Print quality: possible Z wobble

Question: The printer I am using is an Artillery Sidewinder X1. In the photos attached you can see that I am having a lot of inconsistency between layers.
The problem has never gone away and I always thought it was Z wobble but now I'm not so sure it is because we have tightened everything up, making sure everything is stable and tight.
Is this Z wobble or is it something else. Could it be the filament? Does it have anything to do with the slicer settings?
Comment: that marks are due heating problem vs quality filament vs speed printing. I had the same few years ago.
Comment: Thanks for putting me on the right track. I will look into those three things and post an answer if I fix it.
Comment: For me this also look like overextrusion and heat- notice the drops in the middle of boardside's lower part. Also, corners (booth, bow) seems emphasized - and if it's not filament (too much + too hot = pressure) then maybe too little jerk?
Answer: No, this is not Z-wobble, Z-wobble is usually characterized by a repetitive distortion, from the supplied images this repetitive pattern is not observed. A Z-wobble pattern is typically caused by the lead screws, or the Z drive where carriage follows the X/Y motion of the lead screw nut.
A typical image of Z-wobble on a Benchy would look like:

Your print doesn't look that bad for a low-end 3D printer.

Print quality: possible Z wobble


How do I pick the right ATC channel to listen to my flight?

Question: I'm trying to listen to my flight's ATC communications (flying United out of SFO). What is the difference between ramp, ground, and departure channels? Ground and departure have multiple frequencies, so I'm wondering which ones I should listen to for my flight?
Comment: What are you using to monitor the channels with?  Some stuff may be digitally transmitted, so you might not even hear it.  If you don't know your flights call sign, you may not pick on stuff intended for your plane. Some stuff may have shortened frequencies, such as the use of ".9" vs "121.9", so you could miss those too.
Answer: As you would have noticed, it's not published which frequencies your flight will use. So it requires dedicating some time on your part (to some, it's time well spent).
The terms

Ramp control: For the big airports, those frequencies are typically not staffed by FAA controllers, but airport/airline employees handling a section of the airport ground where the planes park and push back.$^1$ Also see: How do terms apron, ramp, tarmac, taxiway, parking area, gate, hardstand relate to each other?

Ground: For the big airports, there may be more than one, say one for the northern part of the airport, and one for the southern. Figuring out which runways are used when (time of day; winds) will make it a bit easier. Ground handles ground movement, anything that is not ramp or runways.

Tower: Same as ground, there may be more than one, and this one is for runways (taking off and landing).

Departure: This varies wildly, even for a single airport, it will change depending on the winds, time of day, and traffic load. It may even be combined with arrival/approach. This is the airspace around the airport outside the tower's jurisdiction, which connects to the en-route/center controllers.

Figuring it out

Find out from which gate/terminal you'll board.

Start listening to all channels days ahead and try to find your flight. You can search for archives of recordings too (there is no need to free up your schedule).

Take notes of the other flights as well, and where they park. Some flight tracking websites show the planes that are parked on the ground (playback/archive functions exist on some as well).

Use the 4-letter ICAO airport code, in this case KSFO, to search for free parking charts. Plenty of flight simulation groups release custom made versions of those charts, but of course they are of no value for real flying. Note: FAA charts are public domain, but as far as I know the ones with the parking stands are not published.

Get the rest of the charts, and combined with the above, start learning how the airport operates.

Easy way 1
If your flight will receive its flight clearance by voice radio (computerized/data clearances are taking over) on the delivery frequency, just listen closely and start switching frequencies to match those given to the pilots (e.g., United xxxx, contact tower on xxx.xxx). If not, once you catch your flight on a frequency, start frequency-hopping with them.
Easy way 2
If United still offers "Channel 9", just cheat: How was I able to just plug in my headphones and listen to ATC and pilot chatter?

$^1$ https://www.nap.edu/read/24668/chapter/15
Comment: United still offers "Channel 9," but only on [those aircraft](https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/922470-consolidated-channel-9-availability-discussion-thread-merged-8.html) that have IFE systems that support it (and only if the crew hasn't switched the feature off; it's at the captain's discretion, but sometimes they'll turn it on if you ask nicely). At this point, it looks like that's just some of the 777 and 767 fleet, plus the 28-seat businessfirst transcontinental p.s. aircraft. So it's possible, but not that likely.
Comment: It's very disappointing that the (US) airlines no longer offer the "Channel 9" service. I used to love listening to it as a kid.
Comment: Did it inspire you enough to start flying?
Answer: In order after you're seated, I would choose (assuming you can find and listen to them):

Company ops/ramp (possibly specific to your airport sector ie. where
you are on ground)
SMC (may have another name), but 'Surface movement
control' which allocates pushback instructions, and taxiway
allocations to your departure runway
Tower to hear runway approval/cleared for takeoff, and SID if allocated
Departures after takeoff to confirm your routing in the terminal area
En-route control - occasional messages as you follow your flight plan
Arrivals at the other end to receive STARs or vectoring instructions
Tower for clearance to land
SMC for taxiway guidance
Airline Ops for instructions towards gate, connecting gate info (crew and pax). Airline Ops may also receive engineering follow ups required after arriving at gate.

There's a lot of channel changing to do all this!


Powering RPI 3 and using relay from same source

Question: I want to build something of a smart home device such as a smart switch /outlet for example that controls something like a light. However, I don't know what the wiring should be Like, if it's possible. The main power source will come from an outlet in the wall, after that, how can I use it to power the RPI at the right voltage, and use it with a relay to power a light. Thanks
EDIT:
All the tutorials I have seen use some sort of separate power supply for the pi (don't usually show, but could be laptop or from wall plug) which is used to control a different power supply (the power for the smart plug). I want to know how I can use one power supply for both?
Comment: Just be careful of any high voltages.  I like @OyaMist's power relay.  With a RPi, you would have enough HW and power to run a HUE hub emulator and integrate it w/Alexa to turn on/off you lights with Alexa voice commands.
Comment: Using a RPI 3 for this is like using a hammer to drive a pin into a pin cushion.  You sure you want to throw this much computing power at a smart switch?
Comment: @st2000 I know it seems overkill, but this is just because I only have a pi and want to test it out
Comment: What do you think will prevent you from using the same power supply for both? What kind of relay do you plan to use?
Answer: The RPI 3 requires 5 volts to operate.  This is normally supply using the RPI 3's micro USB port.  As the RPI 3 has the ability to run faster on multiple processor cores, it is stated here to get a power supply equal to or lager than 2.5 amps.
The GPIO pins of the RPI 3 do not supply enough current / voltage to drive most common relays directly.  You will need to amply the signal first.  Alternatively, there are many solid state relays which can be driven directly by a processor.  Perhaps you can find project with goals similar to yours by searching for "Raspberry Pi" and "solid state relays".
Comment: Please see edit @st2000
Comment: The RPi 3 computer requires more power then a standard USB 2.0 port is required to supply.  As I said, it is recommended to use a power supply equal or larger then 2.5 amps.  The USB 2.0 standard only requires a USB port to supply 0.5 amps.  Likely you will be able to find a relay board with an interface compatible with a RPi.  That is, a 5 volt board with 3 volt logic control ports.  That is what I would look for.
Answer: I use my Raspberry Pi to control my grow lights using a power relay
This is a great way to control line voltage with a Pi and lets you do all sorts of fun stuff on your pi. for example, I use the Pi for timing the daily light cycles.
I do discourage designing your own power line relay. If you make a mistake, you risk severe electrical shock to yourself and others.
Instead, please consider using a relay to turn on a 12V LED light strip. This lower voltage is much safer and will allow you to automate, for example, under-counter kitchen lighting. Cool, right? It will also allow you to power your PI and the light with the same 12V power supply. All you need is a commonly available DC-to-DC buck converter such as the LM2596 to convert the 12V to 5V to power the Pi via extension header pins 2&4. The LM2596 is adjustable--be sure you are providing 5V before hooking it up to the Pi or you will have dead Pi.
The following relationships hold in the proposed circuit. The components are commonly available and affordable.
<code>line voltage (e.g., 117V) -> LED Driver -> 12V
12V -> LM2596 -> 5.2V -> Pi
12V -> LED light strip
</code>
For specific information on circuits, you can consult SE Electronics
For specific information on regulations regarding voltages subject to wet contact, search for "voltage wet contact NEC".
Comment: The whole point of what I'm trying to do is to basically make my own power relay device with pi
Comment: Got it. Edited answer to propose a better match for your project.
Comment: I appreciate your edited answer thanks. I would just like to confirm, when u say from the same power supply, do you mean coming from one plug, and not two different plugs on the same power line (one plug for pi, one for light etc.)?
Comment: Excellent comment. I've edited the answer with a conceptual flow of the power.
Comment: It is not a proven fact that "people will die" if a mistake is made, it is merely a risk that can be mitigated down to no-risk. Don't frighten OP, he has already not stuck a fork into an electrical outlet.
Comment: I was a bit dramatic. Edited.
Answer: You probably don't want to power relays and a Pi from the same source. It's not a big no-no, just a tip. Try to keep the Pi free from anything except its own powersource, which is noisy enough.
Get 5/12V relays (auto shops carry quality 12V relays), PC817 optocouplers, 2N2222A signal transistors or 2N7000 MOSFETs, a few 4.7Kohm pulldowns if using FETs, 2N5819 schottky diodes, some PTH board, 0.5mm solid core wire.
The PC817 optocoupler IR LED switches perfectly at 3V3 with a 1Kohm resistor.
Then apply the following formula:

Do not have shared ground between the relay power supply, and the return ground to your Pi. Keep relay power source competely separate, the only connection should be made via the optocoupler, which can withstand a nominal 5000V_RMS.
Ensure there is a 1.5-2mm groove between NC, COM, NO relay paths by scoring the glassfiber with a boxcutter, then cover these with hot glue. The occasional spark is a fire hazard. Embed your relay board in a safe enclosure (not directly in contact with metal), use a cut piece of rubber to insulate. I use 5mm from an auto shop.
For 25$ you can build a staggering amount of such relays. Adafruit really should stop pretending their products are not made in Asia. You local autoshop will have relays of a quality you cannot even buy from Adafruit:/


Two simultaneous notes for singing?

Question: I was studying a sheet music for chorus and accompanying piano and have seen a notation that I didn't know how to interpret. There are several parts of the score that shows two simultaneous notes (tones for the same syllable), or a chord, for the voices to execute. Well, to my knowledge it is impossible for the human voice to execute chords... Can someone explain what this means? How do I know which of the notes to perform?
(note the staffs for soprano and tenor)
Comment: Simple answer would seem to be (although I don't know this piece) that different singers are required. You don't need to sing a chord, you just need a choir :-)
Comment: This might be interesting to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9Qh709gas
Comment: I'm sure the answers have it right in this case. That said, if I recall correctly the bass solo recitative in the fourth movement of Beethoven's 9th does have two note "chords" notated at some points (at least in editions I've seen, not sure about the manuscript). I've read those are meant to be alternative notes to sing if one can't hit the highest notes.
Comment: The other answers have it with the suggestion that you'll need multiple voices for each part. Or several Lalah Hathaways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJIgTLe0hc
Comment: This type of note is known as a vocal chord.
Answer: This is actually not uncommon.  You perform all of them!  In this example, the soprano section splits into two parts. Half of the sopranos sing the top note, and the other half of the sopranos sing the bottom note. At the same time, the tenor section splits into two parts. First and second soprano, first and second tenor. Therefore in this short example there are 6 vocal parts, not 4. In a typical choir, each member will already be assigned to sing the first (higher) part or the second (lower) part within their section whenever the parts are divided. Often the higher and lower parts within each section will even sit on separate rows. Therefore choirs already know how to handle this division of parts.
Comment: If you don't know which part you should sing with, ask your choral director: deciding that is part of their job.
Comment: You may think of a choral arrangement as S. A. T. B., four parts. But this is an example of S. S. A. T. T. B., six parts. Much choral music is in eight parts, or S. S. A. A. T. T. B. B. Such pieces are labeled that way at the top of the first page of the sheet music, to alert the choir that the sections will be sub-divided.
Comment: Or sing the part that feels more comfortable for your voice and that those around you are singing, and pray your musical director does not ask you to sing the other one!
Answer: This is called divisi (abbr. div.). It is used not only for choirs, but for instrumental music as well and is very common. Just as an example, the 3rd movement from Mozart's 40th symphony in G minor:

The instruction tells the musicians to split into groups, each playing a different line. The lines can move in parallel, but can also be completely different.
Let's look at the score.
The horns staff (in green) is for 2 horns1 and is written in divisi for the 1st horn  (top line) and 2nd horn (bottom line). You can see that the parts move in parallel and near the end of the page they merge again. When merging, the editorial options are either the double-stem note as shown above, or the reverse instruction for divisi, called unis. (short for in unison).
The 2 oboes and 2 clarinets2 (in red) have a divisi which is not parallel - the top line holds a note while the bottom line jumps, then they switch - the bottom line holds a 3/4 note while the top line descends. They then merge.
It's also possible for the parts to intersect and cross. One line can start low and rise, while the other starts high and descends, resulting in the 2nd part being above the first.
For choir, the divisi is usually parallel and kept simple, as in your case. In the above instrumentation it is clear for the players who plays which part, but if you have many singers in the choir then your conductor must assign (split) who sings which line in the part.
1Usually you would have 1 horn in G and 1 in Bb, but here Mozart decided that he doesn't need one in Bb.
2The clarinets part is a special addition by Mozart. The lines were taken from the oboe part.

Two simultaneous notes for singing?


Can whatsapp messages be an evidence?

Question: Please first read this question
She sent me messages over whatsapp,
Is those messages are valid in Indian and Canadian courts?
Answer: If you show that you received a message through WhatsApp that looks like it was sent by some person, then this is to some degree evidence that the person sent that message. Obviously they can claim that someone used their phone, or that someone forged the message and so on.
The contents of the message may be hearsay. Just because someone sends a message doesn't mean the message is true. On the other hand, if someone sends a message saying "I'll kill you", that's not evidence that they were trying to kill you, but it is evidence that they threatened you.
Comment: ... or that *you* forged the message.  But all of these can also be said of letters.  I would expect any court to accept WhatsApp messages to the same extent that they accept letters.
Answer: You can see a number of instances of WhatsApp messages being used as evidence in Canadian courts by searching CanLII for 'WhatsApp'.
Answer: Whatsapp messages are as admissable as messages from any other service, but if you are thinking of admissing Whatsapp messages to a court of law, I would strongly recommend you make a backup of that message. Either through screenshots or some kind of backup function.
This is because in some cases Whatsapp will allow the other person to alter and remove messages even on your device. Even if it doesn't allow for this right now (it currently allows for this in group chats but not one-on-one conversations), there is no telling if a new update won't introduce this functionality. Whatsapp tends to indicate when alterations or deletions from third parties have happened, but it will still be a PITA, if not impossible, to recover the original messages.

Can whatsapp messages be an evidence?


How is mustard made?

Question: I'd like to make mustard soon. What's the basic process to start with?
Answer: Mustard is one of those simple condiments to make, and is fun to experiment with. At it's most basic mustard is two ingredients:

Mustard Seed
Liquid

There are endless variations from there.
Mustard seed comes in white, yellow, brown and black variations. I suggest buying whole and grinding them yourself using either a mortar & pestle or coffee/spice grinder. (Don't use a coffee grinder that you use for grinding coffee! You'll end up with mustard flavored coffee).
Liquids can be water, vinegar, wine, or even beer. Using vinegar/wine will help it last longer than water or beer would.
Once you've fine ground (of course there are coarse ground varieties too) your mustard simply mix it with the liquid until it is the desired consistency.
Additional ingredients can be added to taste. Honey, turmeric (gives yellow mustard its color), sugar, etc. are all possibilities.
Update: I forgot to mention that mustard needs time for the flavors to mix. This can take anywhere from a few hours to weeks. A fresher mustard tends to be hotter, but an aged mustard can often taste "better" with a slight loss of that initial heat. Refrigerated mustard will keep it's heat longer. Also note, mustard made with water should definitely be refrigerated and consumed quicker than others.
Comment: What does "heat" mean, spicyness? Also, why wine conserves the mustard?
Comment: I feel the need to comment that grinding is *an option* (but you need to leave plenty of space and liquid for dry mustard seed to swell in the liquid) as I often make unground (seedy) mustard rather than even cracking it. The mucilage is impressive ;-)
Answer: There are tons of recipes for the mustard, but there are few important tricks to know:

water temperature:the colder the water the hotter the mustard
vinegar amount: as water increases the hotness, the vinegar does the opposite. You can balance the hotness level by using more or less vinegar.
wait for 3-4 days to judge your mustards taste, because it's really not good in the beginning.
I always have good results by using honey, apple vinegar, eggs and himalayan salt
Enjoy!
Answer: I haven't made mustard yet there are tons of recipes to do this. For example at food.com here they have lots of recipes listed.
The first recipe returned on the site combines all the required ingredients, lets it sit in the fridge overnight then mixes it in the blender.
Good luck!
Comment: -1: This answer doesn't really bring much to the table.
Comment: He wanted to know how to make it... there are recipes at the link that tell him how.
Comment: I (half) agree with @hobodave.  There's nothing wrong with copying the recipe from your link and then sighting the source where you found it.  @hobodave I think the response is in the same context as the question.  The question is very general and doesn't describe what it is to be use for.
Comment: I'm surprised you're getting "flamed" for this, but it's actually not a bad thing (that you're getting flamed)
Comment: It's still pretty weak as far as content goes. Answers should have more to them than "there's lots of stuff here, go read". You also hadn't added the second paragraph of your answer at that time. If you fleshed out your answer more I'd consider removing my downvote.

How is mustard made?


Installing ubuntu on uefi enabled PC

Question: Wait. this is not just another question on running ubuntu alongside windows 8!
I have asus n56VJ notebook that comes preinstalled with windows 8.
My final aim is to have ubuntu with windows 8,which i havent been able to make progress on, but thats not my question.
So i decided to have ubuntu as the sole OS on the notebook.. and decided to use the whole hdd for ubuntu. but when the setup progresses.. and the installer goes of to partition the hdd.. i get the following error:

/dev/sda contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.
  However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it
  should. Perhaps it was corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't
  understand GPT partition tables. Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table,
  and are now using an msdos partition table. Is this a GPT partition
  table?

This is the same error that i was getting with gparted when i was trying to install ubuntu alongside windows 8.. BUT why am i not able to have only a single OS.. i dont want this GPT mess. i know its advanced tech.. but its no good if i cant put an OS of choice on my $1000 m/c.
i have disabled secureboot, fast boot, without which i couldnt even boot my ubuntu usb bootable disk.. so in effect i am booting the hdd in legacy mode and i dont want any part of GPT (the reason why chose to partition fully and give ubuntu the full space with no other partitions on the hdd.)but still the error says /dev/sda contains GPT signatures? and that too on a hdd which had all unpartitioned space?
Whats going on? how can i install ubuntu on my notebook?
Comment: i forgot to mention.. i am trying to install 12.10.. also tried with 13.04 same result!
Answer: Via Gparted format the disk, then create a new partition table.

Installing ubuntu on uefi enabled PC


Does Caffeine Affect Our Memory?

Question: There is a claim that drinking coffee right after learning something helps you remember what you learned up to 24 hours later. Is it true? If it is, then how it effects the memory?
Comment: I use to know this, but i am having trouble recalling it now.  Where did i put my cup of joe?
Answer: There was an episode of myth busters they were testing is it better to stay wired or tired and the outcome was you cognitive skills improve when you are wired on caffeine.
Now I don't know about memory but I am sure all the answers you are going to receive will be highly subjective...but the above mentioned episode is the closest thing to a scientific answer we will ever get IMO.
Comment: Welcome, @OverD! You can make this answer even more helpful by adding links to Myth Busters webpages or other references. I went looking and found this scholarly article before finding the episode you mentioned. It's an in-depth study but not quite about memory: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2007.00665.x
Comment: @Jerry101 than for the welcome. I tried extensively to find a link but myth busters aired for 15 years and many of those years where pre YouTube era and finding that episode is no simple task.
Answer: A preliminary search seems to reveal no definite answer. One study on rats had them complete train/learn a water maze and some were given caffeine at different stages: pre-training, post-training, and none at all.

Post-training administration of caffeine improved memory retention at the doses of 0.3-10 mg/kg (the rats swam up to 600 cm less to find the platform in the test session, P£0.05) but not at the dose of 30 mg/kg. Pre-test caffeine administration also caused a small increase in memory retrieval (the escape path of the rats was up to 500 cm shorter, P£0.05). In contrast, pre-training caffeine administration did not alter the performance of the animals either in the training or in the test session. These data provide evidence that caffeine improves memory retention but not memory acquisition, explaining some discrepancies among reports in the literature. [1]

Which agrees with your hypothesis that caffeine helps memory retention. However, some other studies on humans claim no or negative correlation between caffeine and memory retention ([2], [3]), albeit they had small sample sizes.

Does Caffeine Affect Our Memory?


Would AlphaGo Zero become perfect with enough training time?

Question: Would AlphaGo Zero become theoretically perfect with enough training time? If not, what would be the limiting factor?
(By perfect, I mean it always wins the game if possible, even against another perfect opponent.)
Answer: Assuming you mean a mathematically perfect player, similar to what we can achieve trivially in Tic Tac Toe, then the answer is "maybe". The underlying reinforcement learning algorithms that it uses do have some convergence guarantees, but there are some caveats:

Theories of convergence that apply to value and policy functions learned by RL assume unrealistic timescales and decays of learning parameters. If you have actual infinite time and resources then it is possible to explore all board states and learn their values accurately. But then, if you have those resources at your disposal, a brute-force search would work too.
Using neural network approximations to true value functions can put bounds on how well value functions are learned, as they rely on generalisation, and are characterised by an error metric. The values that they calculate are in fact guaranteed to not be mathematically perfect, and in part that is by design (because you want learning from similar states to apply to new unseen states, and as part of that need to accept the compromise that most state values will be slightly incorrect). This is especially true of the fast policy network used to drive Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS).
Running longer MCTS during play improves performance at cost of spending more time per move decision. Given infinite resources, MCTS can play perfectly, even from very crude heuristics.

The difference between AlphaGo Zero and a more traditional game search algorithm is to do with optimal use of available computing resources, as set by available hardware, training time and decision time when playing. It is orders of magnitude more effective to use the RL self-play approach combined with the focused MCTS as in AlphaGo Zero, than any basic search. At least for similar puzzles and games, it is more efficient than any other game playing technique that has been explored. We are likely still more orders of magnitude of effort away from a perfect Go player, and there is no reason yet to suspect that this will ever become practical, and Go become "solved".
Answer: We cannot tell with certainty whether AlphaGo Zero would become perfect with enough training time. This is because none of the parts (Neural Network) that would benefit from infinite training time (= a nice approximation of "enough" training time) are guaranteed to ever converge to a perfect solution.
The main limiting factor is that we do not know whether the Neural Network used is big enough. Sure, it's pretty big, it has a lot of capacity... but is that enough? Imagine if they had used a tiny Neural Network (for example just a single hidden layer with a very low number of nodes, like 2 hidden nodes). Such a network certainly wouldn't have enough capacity to ever learn a truly, perfectly optimal policy. With a bigger network it becomes more plausible that it may have sufficient capacity, but we still cannot tell for sure.

Note that AlphaGo Zero does not just involve a trained part; it also has a Monte-Carlo Tree Search component. After running through the Neural Network to generate an initial policy (which in practice turns out to already often be extremely good, but we cannot tell for certain if it's perfect), it does run some MCTS simulations during it's "thinking time" to refine that policy.
MCTS doesn't benefit* from increased training time, but it does benefit from increased thinking time (i.e. processing time per turn during the actual game being played, rather than offline training time / self-play time before the evaluation game). In the most common implementation of MCTS (UCT, using the UCB1 equation in the Selection Phase), we can prove that it does in fact learn to play truly perfectly if it is given an infinite amount of thinking time. Now, AlphaGo Zero does use a slightly different implementation of the Selection Phase (which involves the policy generated by the trained Neural Network as prior probabilities), so without a formal analysis I can't tell for sure whether that proof still holds up here. Intuitively it looks like it still should hold up fine though.

*Note: I wrote above that "MCTS doesn't benefit from increased training time. In practice, of course it does tend to benefit from increased training time because that tends to result in a better Network, which tends to result in better decisions during the Selection Phase and better evaluations of later game states in the tree. What I mean is that MCTS is not theoretically guaranteed to always keep benefitting from increases in training time as we tend to infinity, precisely because that's also where we don't have theoretical guarantees that the Neural Network itself will forever keep improving.
Comment: The final performance is not only limited by the network capacity, but also by the ability of the training algorithm to find a good (or very good, or the global) minimum; SGD and variants tend to get stuck at saddle points or in non-optimal minima, in which case additional training time doesn't necessarily help.
Answer: Yes AlphaGo Zero could become undeniably perfect.
It has won 100:0 against AlphaGo Lee (which won 4:1 against 18-time world champion (human) Lee Sedol) and 89:11 against AlphaGo Master (which won 60 straight online games against human professional Go players from 29 December 2016 to 4 January 2017).
From the official AlphaGo website:

"AlphaGo's 4-1 victory in Seoul, South Korea, in March 2016 was watched by over 200 million people worldwide. It was a landmark achievement that experts agreed was a decade ahead of its time, and earned AlphaGo a 9 dan professional ranking (the highest certification) - the first time a computer Go player had ever received the accolade.".

From AlphaGo's webpage: "AlphaGo's next move":

"We plan to publish one final academic paper later this year that will detail the extensive set of improvements we made to the algorithms' efficiency and potential to be generalised across a broader set of problems. Just like our first AlphaGo paper, we hope that other developers will pick up the baton, and use these new advances to build their own set of strong Go programs.
...
Since our match with Lee Sedol, AlphaGo has become its own teacher, playing millions of high level training games against itself to continually improve.".
Comment: Could AlphaGo be generalised to solve real life problems?


Show more not tell implementation in writing?

Question: What does this mean? If I have to SHOW more about a particular traumatic event which happened to me, I would probably not be able to recall the chain of events because I was in a panicked state of mind at the time of incident and there were just too many things happening around and all the people experiencing a lot of emotions which is firstly difficult to understand and then remembering them till we note them down in our journal. But keeping in mind, there are so many autobiographies that are published with so much detail and full of show, not tell events. Do authors/writers actually focus on some particular details of their everyday life? If yes, which parts? I have read a question which is similar(Writing techniques or exercises to improve ability to show rather than tell?) and it has some great tips but I still feel it doesn't answer my question. This is to ask about the art of observing/perceiving things so they would come naturally to me while I describe an event without forget the details.
Comment: I thought it would stand to mention that many autobiographies out there were not _entirely_ written by the person for who the biography is concerned.  The difference between any ol' biography — e.g. Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mine, and John Nash — and an autobiography — e.g. Lindsey Stirling and The Only Pirate At The Party — is that the autobiography is initiated and driven by the subject.  Ergo, many autobiographies have assistance writing their manuscripts, and occasionally said manuscripts are entirely ghostwritten.
Answer: If the moments of that events are jumbled and chaotic, then write it down that way.

crashing sounds oh my god what just is that smoke? people running my heartrate starts to spike the ground is thrumming my legs are jelly I
  need to get out of here push you idiot get out of my way that is smoke
  what's burning need to run I need to run

You can remember what led up to that point, and learn about what happened afterwards, and use that new information to impress a more rational timeline on the events. But report what you felt in that moment, what you thought, however fragmented.
Also, someone writing an autobiography has had time to research, compare notes, talk to other people, consult diaries, and so on. It's not like the book pours out of the writer's head fully formed and perfect like a transcribed newsreel.
For the future: carry a notebook with you wherever you go. Practice being observant. Sit on a bench and watch the world go by. Observe the clouds, the sunlight, the traffic. Find a park, take off your shoes, and walk barefoot. Pay attention to the sensations. Write these things down. This will start to teach you the disciplines of observation, memory, and iteration (putting things into words).
Answer: Use your imagination. I mean, your imagination should be informed by experiences you've actually had and remembered, but you expand and explore and combine these experiences using your imagination, not your memories.
By 'imagination' I don't mean wild flights of fancy. Don't throw a unicorn into a car crash scene just because your imagination takes you there.
But disciplined use of your imagination would allow you to, for example, remember a time when you were afraid but not so petrified that you lost your memories, and then amplify on that memory to fill in the details of your scene.
More controversially: You should also remember that your readers may not be expecting truth so much as 'truthiness' (to borrow from Stephen Colbert). There are certain expectations in fiction, especially genre fiction, that feel almost more true than reality to many readers. Our fictional heroes are more heroic than real-world heroes, our fictional villains more villainous. You want to be careful that you aren't going too far and creating cartoon characters, but you also want to be aware of the conventions of your genre that you will either subvert or support with your writing.
So at the extreme: if you have a heroic character in a car crash, even if reality suggests that character would be dazed and disoriented and useless, your genre hero probably won't be, unless you're setting up a deliberate subversion of reader expectations.
At a more moderate level: readers expect writing to be more coherent than reality. Writers clean up dialogue all the time (if you don't believe me, read an actual trial transcript and then a fictional version of a trial and see the difference!), we structure narratives in a more satisfying way for fiction (how often do real-world scenarios wrap up with a dramatic climax and satisfying denoument?) and, yes, we describe situations which, in real life, would almost certainly be indescribable by participants.
And we do that by using our imaginations.
Answer: This is a common thing if you forgot the details. Its human tendency of mind. You can not recall whole things and feelings until or unless you live them. In your case you lived them but due to your tough situations you are unable to recall them completely. There are many people in everyday life who undergoes situations like you. You can observe them and relate with those incidents which happened to you. As @lauren said about observation, you need to be good observer. Observation is the key to live the moments which even not happened to you. Start observing things. So just close your eyes and observe your breath first :)
Answer: "Show Don't Tell" is an axiom of fiction writing.
Here is a short example of why.
Example of Telling

Bob was feeling sad.

Example of Showing

Bob picked up the newspaper, read the headline and his head dropped
  beneath his shoulders.  He rubbed at his eyes as tears dropped onto
  the paper.

Narrative Versus Exposition
The first one is a narrative voice where someone tells you what is happening and how a particular character feels.  This is a much easier way to write and generally takes fewer words.  However, your readers will have difficulty seeing what you are writing and it is generally more boring to read.
Exposition - Exposing the Actions of Characters
The second one takes more words, because you have to show the character taking actions.
However, the second example also takes more active reading since the reader will decide what he thinks about how the character feels.  Obviously, in this case I mentioned that tears were flowing and the reader is most likely going to get the idea that the character is sad, but this type of writing does allow more subtle cues to how the character feels.
Books Versus Movies
Think about the way you learn who a character is and what she is feeling in a movie.  In 99.9% of the movies there is no internal narration going on telling you that Bob is very sad.
Instead you have to watch and see the actions of Bob on screen.
Self or Others
This leads us to why this is an axiom for fiction writers and not necessarily the best when writing personal essays.
If we are watching or reading fiction then we should probably just watch the character's actions and determine how the character feels.  It is a better kind of reading experience since it takes more active involvement.
Essay?
However, if you're writing an essay, you may want to say things out loud, like,

I felt very sad. I was overwhelmed when my girlfriend dumped me.

However, again, notice that the narrative -- versus exposition of showing your actions -- is kind of boring.  If instead you show your girlfriend dump you and then show yourself picking up a glass vase and hurling it across the room, everyone reading knows you are feeling upset and you haven't had to speak those exact words and it probably has more dramatic impact.


Exchange Server 2003 Shared Calendar

Question: I have created 2 users on exchange server 2003 and shared the calendar between them and i am able to see the shared calendar details when i click the calendar folder option.
I then tried creating a new calendar appointment  but when click on scheduling to see the schedule for other user i am getting the vertical lines for 'No information' avaliability.
Let me explain you the senerio i installed E2K3 on Win Server 2003 on a virtual machine in a specific domain then i installed E2k7 on Win Server 2008 64 bit machine i was able to send and receive mails from E2K7 but was unable to send and receive through E2k3 later found that drivers required for Networks are longer working on E2k3 machine, tried trouble shooting it but could not make it. we then installed E2k3 on another machine in domain and here we were able to send and receive mails but now shared calenders are not working, Schedule+Free Busy Folder is Empty without any subfolder in ESM.
Can some one please help me out in getting the shared calendar details
Thanks and Regards,
Haseena
Answer: You probably need to make sure Outlook is publishing free-busy information.
See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197712
Comment: Hi can you please suggest some good sites where i can find a deep data related to free-busy calender sharing in exchange.
Comment: Hi thanks for your help but nothing worked out.

Exchange Server 2003 Shared Calendar


Are Kickstages exclusive to Rocketlabs Electron Design?

Question: I've recently come across rocketlab's upper stage called kickstage which is the final deploying stage for their dedicated launch service. Is this just a fancier name for an upper stage? Have there been any previous concepts of kickstages for the upper stage designs? Is this considered a stage?
Comment: @uhoh I am aware, but I wanted to know if kick stages were part of the microlauncher staging method, or there existed other cocnepts rebranded as kick stage by Rocket Labs. Thanks
Comment: I see. Thanks for clarifying that. I appreciate it.
Comment: slightly related [What is Rocket Lab's new Curie "Kick Stage"?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/24657/12102)
Comment: People often/usually add "related's" for future reference, if someone finds and reads this question, they may be interested in reading further on the same/similar topic. By leaving a "related"comment the other question appears in the Linked section to the right, and also *this question* now appears in the Linked section on the other page, so traffic is directed both ways. I add the word "slightly" to make it *even clearer* that it's not an answer.
Answer: "Kick stage" or "apogee kick motor" is a loosely defined term for the last stage of a satellite launcher. Frequently it's the stage that puts the satellite into its final orbit. The term is not specific to RocketLabs.
It might be developed independently of the rest of the launcher; for example a given launcher might be able to launch large payloads directly into low Earth orbit, or put smaller payloads into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) (that is, an elliptical trajectory going from LEO to geosynchronous altitude), and a "kick stage" attached to the payload could put it into the final geosynchronous orbit.
Comment: I like your answer to [CZ-5 plus YZ-2 put SJ-17 in GEO - third stage or separate spacecraft?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/18939/12102)


My Y axis is inverted! How do I fix that?

Question: When I play Black Ops 2, it seems that my xbox controller is inverted. Example: if I press up, my character looks down and vice versa. It was not like this before. Does anyone know how to reset the controller back to its original settings?
Answer: Go to your Options and find "Look Inversion," then set it to "disabled."
Answer: I think you set the controls to inverted, practically every shooter has this feature. Simply go to the options menu and turn it off there.


Fixing fret buzz on Bass guitar, coming from the fret itself

Question: My bass guitar has had some terrible fret buzz lately. The buzz is coming from the fret itself, not the head or anything. I tried differing the amount of pressure on the left and right hands. It will buzz when I pluck, pick, slap, pop, and tap.
Comment: any particular fret? if its fender style you may have a ski jump going on at the dusty end
Answer: A drop or something may damage the instrument, meaning something slips or falls out of place and fret buzz develops.
As Dr Mayhem and Wheat Williams mention, heat/moisture content/new and different strings/slipping nuts/slipping saddles can all contribute to fret buzz.
(Wheat has a great answer on the effects of car temperature fluctuations on an instrument, if you are interested)
As a solution for the moment until you find a source of the problem, I suggest raising the action at the bridge. You may have to adjust intonation if you do this. If your neck has a bow, you may have to adjust that also, because if you raise action on a bowed neck, fretting at higher frets can become more difficult than usual.
Help on intonating/setting action on the electric guitar, but can be transferred to electric bass as well.
Hope this helps!
Answer: You need to look at whether your set up has changed. If you are using a different gauge of strings the neck curve will have changed and you will need to adjust your truss rod to bring the curve back to ideal.
Alternatively, frets wear down over time which can lower the height of the strings. This is usually more noticeable at a particular fret.
Another possibility is that the nut or bridge is too low- nuts can wear down, so you may need a new one.
We have a few questions on set up, truss rods etc.
Comment: My strings haven't been changed in a while. Could that help it?
Comment: Well, it could, but that probably isn't it. Have a look at http://music.stackexchange.com/q/1053/104 and http://music.stackexchange.com/q/2577/104 to see if they help as well.
Comment: If your instrument went through a wide temperature swing, such as leaving it in a hot car, that could also cause the neck relief/bow to change as well.


Is is possible to generate centrifugal gravity by doing donuts?

Question: With the correct rocket setup would it be possible to thrust around in a circle, like you would do donuts in a car, to generate centrifugal gravity?
Answer: Thrust won't generate gravity, but it will produce acceleration which may be indistinguishable from gravity to an occupant. Yes, it's possible to simulate gravity by having a spaceship constantly thrusting to travel in a circle, but it would be an awful waste of fuel.
Rotating a large object, or pair of objects connected by a tether, to simulate gravity is more efficient because, once started, it will continue to rotate with no further input of energy.
Comment: @fectin It's the "just spin faster" part that becomes problematic...
Comment: Also, while you *can* create artificial gravity by rotating the craft, you really need a large craft (torus shaped) or quite a long tether to get meaningful amounts of artifical gravity.  The large craft scenario would mean ships immensely larger than anything we have yet constructed for space.  The long tether is more practical but is tricky to get working without disrupting the orbit of the vehicle (and maintaining stability).  It's also something you'd need to un-do before re-entry and any docking ships would need to match your rotation (if a space station).
Comment: This all adds complexity and fuel requirements.  All that said, most of the reason we send people to space (now) is to do microgravity experiments so any space-station implementation would need to have a rotating (gravity) section and a non-rotating (microgravity) section *and* a convenient way for astronauts to move between both areas without injuring themselves, damaging things, or just plain getting disoriented.  As such, there hasn't really been a lot of effort put into actually making such a system, even though it's perfectly tractable on-paper.
Comment: It is noteworthy that some of a "donut" movement would continue as well without further energy consumption. Part of the continuous thrust during a car donut exercise is needed to overcome friction (which is absent in space) and to prevent linear acceleration (which is undesired during the car trick but may actually be advantageous in a spaceship). The resulting movement after engine stop would be some tumbling in the original reference system but some rotation in the inertial system of the ship's center of mass.
Comment: @J... large just means the gravity at your head is more similar to the gravity at your feet. If that doesn't matter you can just spin faster.
Comment: J your not creating gravity. Your creating a Normal force by rotating the astronaut (Or in this case the driver) around an axis. Because its a force which pushes the body it *feels* like gravity, but it is absolutely a different force. I suppose you could call it 'artificial gravity' but I really dislike that term, as it confuses people into thinking its a type of gravity, when it definately is not
Answer: For a space based object, there is absolutely no problem with the energy need - you can get that from solar panels, RTG (fission heat to electricity via thermoelectric effect). Each comes with a different set of tradeoffs, but they all work now in one spaceship or another (Mars rovers, satellites, deep space probes, ...).
What you can't have in space is reaction mass (as in Newton's action and reaction). Even the most mass-efficient thruster (electrically accelerated ion thrusters) use up their fuel - and in deep space you can't get any more (except for the - currently theoretical - Bussard Ramjet).
Also, any practical gravity (let's say half Earth gravity) is high in terms of fuel burn rate. I didn't find fuel burn values, but the trans-lunar injection was a 350 seconds burn for 3 km/s delta-v, or about one gravity. The fuel flow was (according to this page: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/499245main_J2_Engine_fs.pdf) about 530 lb/sec, or 250 kg per second. In monetary terms, that's more than half a million dolar per second - but the real issue might be one of availability not one of cost (rockets can only lift so much).
So, while the theoretical answer to your question is yes, the practical one right now is no.
Answer: Sure, though I can't think of a reason you'd want to do that. Burning the engines in any direction produces acceleration that feels like gravity. Given the tremendous cost of bringing more fuel, if you're in a spacecraft you are probably trying to get somewhere.
Spinning in a circle gets you nothing. There isn't a tether or similar to supply the centripetal force, so you'll be supplying it with the engines. And after you've spun around in a circle your net change in velocity is zero.
More likely, you'd just burn prograde or retrograde, in a straight-ish line, turning only to keep the ship aligned with your orbit. Besides using fuel to get you to where you are going rather than burning in circles, the occupants will be more comfortable as they won't need to deal with significant Coriolis forces.


Feature Event Receiver - older version of event receiver firing

Question: Sharepoint 2013
Steps to recreate issue:
1.) Following the steps from this blog... https://sharepointgotchas.wordpress.com/tag/httpmodule/
I started with an Empty SP solution. I created an HTTP module by adding a class to the project.
2.) I created a web application-scoped feature (call it F1) and event receiver (call it ER1) that would register the HTTP module upon activation of the feature. (Note: When I open the feature, there is nothing shown in the "Items in the Solution" and therefore nothing to move into the "Items in the Feature". I believe this is how it should work...? The httpmodule isn't part of the feature, it's just used by the feature event receiver when the feature is activated)
3.)I deployed the solution using VS2012.
4.)Then, I retracted and removed the solution using Sharepoint Shell.
5.)I opened the solution again, and I think I removed the feature (F1) from the solution.
6.)I created a new feature (F2) and a new event receiver (ER2), and added it to the solution.
7.)I deployed the solution again using VS2012. There is only 1 Event Receiver (ER2) in my solution.
The Issue: When I activate the feature in Central Admin > Manage Web Applications, I am expecting the code from ER2 to fire, but the code from both ER1 and ER2 is firing.
More details/code on the EventReceiver...
This was the first Event Receiver:
public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
    {
        SPWebApplication webApp = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWebApplication;
        SPWebConfigModification modification = new SPWebConfigModification("add[@name='HTTPMODULE1']", "configuration/system.webServer/modules");
        modification.Sequence = 0;
        modification.Type = SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode;
        modification.Value = string.Format(@"<add name=""HTTPMODULE1"" type=""Redirect.HTTPMODULE1, {0}"" />", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName);

        webApp.WebConfigModifications.Add(modification);
        webApp.Update();

        webApp.WebService.ApplyWebConfigModifications();
    }

This was the second Event Receiver (ER2), exactly the same as ER1 except the name of the HTTP module I am registering is different:
public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
    {
        SPWebApplication webApp = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWebApplication;
        SPWebConfigModification modification = new SPWebConfigModification("add[@name='HTTPMODULE2']", "configuration/system.webServer/modules");
        modification.Sequence = 0;
        modification.Type = SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode;
        modification.Value = string.Format(@"<add name=""HTTPMODULE2"" type=""Redirect.HTTPMODULE2, {0}"" />", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName);

        webApp.WebConfigModifications.Add(modification);
        webApp.Update();

        webApp.WebService.ApplyWebConfigModifications();
    }

Troubleshooting:
I have read and tried everything that I can find. It seems to be a common issue with not a lot of solutions that work.
If you link me to something, please refer to something specific in the link because chances are I've already read it.
I've tried doing a OWSTimer reset, an ISSReset, I've used gacutil to verify the assemblies are actually getting removed when they should be and re-installed when they should be. I have tried upgrading the feature instead of re-deploying.
I've tried deploying from VS2012 and from the shell.
I've used the Process Explorer tool, though I'm not entirely sure I'm using it correctly.
Actual troubleshooting steps:
1.) In Central Admin at the Web Application Level, I Deactivate the Feature.
2.) In Sharepoint shell, I run Uninstall-SPSolution -Identity MySolution.wsp and Remove-SPSolution -Identity MySolution.wsp
3.) I verify with Get-SPSolution that MySolution.wsp does not exist.
4.) I run gacutil /l with Developer Command Prompt for VS2012 and verify that MySolution does not exist in the GAC.
5.) I close Sharepoint shell and VS2012, and Central Admin.
6.) Process Explorer shows 0 results found when I do a Search for a DLL and search for MySolution.
7.) I reopen Sharepoint shell and run:
restart-service sptimerv4

I close and reopen the shell again.
8.) I search for IISReset from Windows Search and run that.
9.) I re-open the solution in VS2012, and re-deploy it.
10.) I run Get-SPSolution to verify that my solution exists and is installed
11.) I run gacutil /l to verify that my assembly is in GAC.
12.) I do another timer reset as above and reset IIS.
13.) I open Central Admin, Manage Web applications, and reactivate the feature.  The code from ER1 and ER2 is still firing.
14.) I use Process explorer and do another search for the DLL/handle. It shows 2 rows, 1 with a file and 1 with the DLL used by the w3wp.exe process, and I think this is correct.
Help. I'm losing my mind. What I want to happen actually happens - ER2 fires, but I don't want ER1 to fire.
Is there a way that I can see which event handler or dll is being referenced when I activate the feature? Can I get a trace or log file? How?
If I can't get this to work, I'm probably going to rollback, create a whole new solution and feature/event handler and go from there.
But I don't understand what's causing the issue.
Edit: My scenario is not exactly like the blog. I don't have a list, it's much simpler. There are no items in the feature. I just want the event receiver to add the http module to the web.config of the web application when the feature is activated, which it does in ER2. But it is also adding the first http module, firing code that I had written in ER1. In other words, I did this, but I have a different problem:
Activating a WebApplication Scoped Feature for a particular WebApplication
Answer: You can find the attached event receivers using PowerShell for the specific list
$oWeb = "https://webapp.com/sites/hr/subsite"
$oList = $oWeb.Lists["ListName"]
Write-Host $oList.Receivers | select Name
#$oList.Receivers[1].Delete();

Comment: There is no list. I should have mentioned that, will update. My scenario is not exactly like the blog. I simply want the httpmodule to fire on every request for that web application.
Now, if there is a way that I can get event receivers attached to the feature, that would be helpful...
Comment: In other words, the feature is empty. But I can still install it, activate it, and it still fires the event receiver. The problem is it's firing code from a receiver that I thought I had removed.


Wearing New Clothes in Three Weeks

Question: Can one wear new clothes during Three Weeks? Do pajamas and undergarments have the same rule?
Answer: There are 2 issues.  The first is the happiness of wearing fresh clothes.  This applies from Rosh Chodesh until after Tish'a b'Av (specifically 1/2 day on the 10th for Ashkenazim). Shulchan Aruch 551:6. Garments meant to absorb sweat are not worn for happiness, but to prevent being uncomfortable.  So the custom is to wear fresh pajamas and undergarments.  I don't know who talks about this for bein hametzarim, but one source is Aruch Hashulchan 389:7
During the three weeks we refrain from making shehechiyanu.  This applies to wearing new clothes which give you great simcha (like a new suit).  Shulchan Aruch 551:17.  We usually will not make a shehechiyanu on shirts and pants and certainly not PJs, but shehechiyanu is situation based so ask your rav.
Comment: So essentialy as long as I dont make a Shechiyanu normally it ok?
Comment: You are reffering to rosh Chodesh Av right?
Comment: It's OK for undergarments/socks/PJ's.  Keep in mind that laundering is still forbidden during  the 9 days even for these garments. Yes, the issue is from Rosh Chodesh Av, the start of the "9 days".  Plus, before Rosh Chodesh, all non-shehecheyanu new clothing is fine, too.

Wearing New Clothes in Three Weeks


Why is tracking getting less accurate after going past cached frames?

Question: I'm trying to track a video clip I filmed, and when I open it in Blender, I am able to cache 519 frames of the video. When I then track the markers I place in the movie, everything works fine, until it goes past frame 519 (i.e. past the part already cached), when the tracking on the start of the clip starts to get inaccurate. How can I prevent this?
Answer: From the information you have provided it sounds like you are attempting to perform your tracking on your actual movie file.
If that is the case you should export the entire movie to a series of image frames, then import that image sequence into the movie clip editor and perform your tracking on the image sequence.
Most movie file formats store their data, not as a sequence of fixed images, but as a description of the changes in the image since the last frame, and depending on the compression level used will discard some of that information.
For an insight into how complex this issue can become you may like to look at the story of the recovery of the lost video from the first ocean landing of SpaceX's recoverable Falcon 9 Stage 1.
Skipping backwards and forwards through movie files can produce decoding differences in the frames being viewed, and can result in inconsistent output, which in turn is compounded in this case as the movie file is continually being re-read from disk.
To break your movie file into an image sequence:

Open a new instance of Blender
Set the render properties for the project (frame size, # of frames, frame rate etc. to match the movie file)
Set the output format to an image format (.png is usually OK)
Set the output directory to a new directory to store these files
Switch to the video editing screen layout
With your mouse over the Video Sequence Editor window
Press Shift+A and select Movie to add a movie file (Navigate to it and select your movie file)
Make sure the strip is placed with the start frame on frame 1.
Render the animation (switch back to the default view, or press Ctrl+F12).

The image sequence produced can be used in place of the movie file in your tracking scene in exactly the same way - simply select all the frames in the directory, in place of the movie file.
Hopefully this solves your problem.
Comment: Thanks, I had thought of sequencing it and using the individual frames but was thinking of that as a workaround. But as it's best practice I shall press on with it. Thanks for the clear explanation.


How to display a date?

Question: At least for the United states, what is the best way to display a date (of just year month and day) to the user? What order? should the month be fully typed out, the acronym, or just a number?
Comment: In what context? If you're filing for a divorce it's going to be one format, but showing your birthday off on Facebook is likely to be another. Context is key here.
Comment: There's a list of stuff that's identified by the date it was made. It's an informal situation, and the user doesn't have to enter it in.
Answer: YYYY-MM-DD is the standard date format, but almost nobody knows it.
My personal preference for clarity is DD/MMM/YYYY with the month as a three-letter abbreviation.
If I were making an app, though, I'd use whatever format is standard on the user's device, as per locale settings.
Answer: It depends so much on context.  As JonW stated on a legal document will be different from an informal
You say list and date made.  If you want to compare dates then I find YYYY-MM-DD effective as sort by date goes from left to right.  A 4 digit year makes it clear that it is year.  And do 1 as 01 so  09 is left to right sort before 10.  And I even use fixed width font.
Answer: In the United States,  MM/DD/YY or MM/DD/YYYY are accepted norms.
US puts month first, where a lot of the rest of the world puts day first.
Comment: I'll never understand why `▄▂█` seemed more sensible than `▂▄█` or `█▄▂` :D Apparently it's because dates are read as "December 5th, 2014" but if that's the case then why are prices listed as 12.34$ and not 12$23¢?
Comment: @Mayo Ah, that makes sense. Now evolve, you silly Americans! :p I kid, I am aware that British English has some very bizarre oddities as well ^_^
Comment: @NiettheDarkAbsol - because when this format came around the year was "understood." So it goes month then day AND if year is required add the year. This made a lot of sense in the 19th C. It makes little sense now - but languages aren't designed, they evolve.

How to display a date?


Why is "Bonam Fortunam" the correct way to wish someone good fortune instead of "Bona Fortuna"?

Question: I remember being told this by a Latin teacher, but I have since forgotten the details. Why should I use the accusative case instead of the nominative here?
Comment: Hello, and welcome to the site! [Here is a relevant question](http://latin.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/difference-between-vocative-and-accusative-usage) that has an answer that may, in turn, answer your question.
Comment: Thank you, I missed that as I was searching for nominative and accusative. I forgot that nominative and vocative are the same in all but 2nd declension.
Answer: First, if you say "good fortune", the two words must have same case, number and gender.
Therefore bona fortunam is always wrong.
(This may have been a typo, but I wanted to make sure.)
The question is choosing between nominative (bona fortuna) and accusative (bonam fortunam).
When you wish something, accusative is more common than nominative.
Think of them as parts of complete sentences:

Bonam fortunam (tibi exopto)! — (I wish you) good fortune!
Bona fortuna (tibi esto)! — (May you have) good fortune!

There are other options for both cases, but these should get the point across.
If you use the nominative alone, it sounds more like the observation "the fortune is good" than wishing anyone anything.
With accusative the intention is clearer and I find it more suitable anyway.
I suggest you also look at this earlier question about the accusative of exclamation.


Is giving money to relatives considered a tzedakah?

Question: Can giving money to my parents and relatives be considered as tzedakah?
Comment: Welcome aboard @user2040131. The answer to your question as presented is yes. You might want to give more detail about what you are questioning. It would be helpful to anyone in trying to provide a helpful, informative and correct answer.
Comment: This may be considered a very high level of tzedaka
Comment: [Welcome to MiYodeya](https://judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/a/3887/11501) and thanks for this first question. Great to have you learn with us!
Comment: See Yoreh Deah 251:3 which shows relatives come first
Comment: Are they poor? If so why do you think it might not count?
Answer: If your parents are in need then give them because Tzedaka is a Mitzva to everyone, but even if they dont need so much helping them is still a mitzva see Isiah 58,7:

הֲלוֹא פָרֹס לָרָעֵב לַחְמֶךָ, וַעֲנִיִּים מְרוּדִים תָּבִיא בָיִת, כִּי תִרְאֶה עָרֹם וְכִסִּיתוֹ* *וּמִבְּשָׂרְךָ לֹא תִתְעַלָּם
  Give to the hungry your bread, bring the poor to your house when you see the unclad cover them and from your flesh don't turn away

The Gemara Kesubos 86a explains from וּמִבְּשָׂרְךָ לֹא תִתְעַלָּם that there
 is specifically a Mitzva to help a relative even when they are not in need of Tzedakah rather just help that has a consequence of monetary value.
Answer: Asking a general question requires a general and detailed answer:

The idea of Tzedakah in the Torah is very broad and applies to practically all good deeds that are just (צדק) in the eyes of G-d and people - from learning Torah to keeping all the Mitzvot to. (see צדקה - ביאור for the list of Torah verses)
Traditionally, the Sages narrowed the use of this word down to the Mitzvah of helping the needy only (ibid). And so it appears in all Halachic books, see Rambam (Matnot-Aniyim)
The Sages did not define a needy very clearly, in terms of his income or lifestyle and whether the need is truly physiological (nothing to eat) or psychological (wants a better life).
From this, we can infer that giving money to any [Jew] can be considered a Mitzvah of Tzedakah as long as one is not obligated to pay: either as a debt (paying a loan or a salary) or a Halachic obligation (a fine, woman's Ketubah, supporting kids under age of 6 etc.).
To break down your question:

Regarding the parents, the Halacha concludes that one is not obligated to spend his own money on honoring the parents, therefore supporting them falls rightfully under Tzedakah.
Supporting the kids is a big Machloket, how much, for how long and how strong is one obligated to support them, so giving $5 to 5yo boy to buy lunch at school is probably NOT Tzedakah as he's obligated to feed him, but buying a $950 iPhone to a "needy" teenager might be.
Supporting the wife is an obligation and cannot fall under Tzedakah. So if you buy your wife a diamond ring, don't call yourself a Tzaddik!
Supporting in-laws and grandparents and more distant relatives is a true Tzedakah, as there's no obligation to do so.

The Mitzvah of Tzedakah is unrelated to one's intentions, so even if one does it to brag or expect a favor, it still counts as Tzedakah.
Comment: This is interesting but as always, sources would improve the answer. Also I thought there was no mitzva of tsedaka but it was a well-recognized minhag. I am pretty sure no one would qualify a 950$ iPhone as tzedaka no matter how much he wants it!
Comment: Re #3 - The Torah did, in a sense. In pasrhat *r'eh* it says that you should give the poor "sufficient fro his lacking." There is some story (I believe in the Gemarah) where a Rav sent his servant to give money to a poor person. The servant arrives and sees that the person has fancy foods on his table. The servant returns to the rav and complains that the other is, in fact, not poor at all. The rav gives the servant more money and tells him to return to the other as the rav said, "I didn't realize that he was lacking in the fancy food that he is used to eating." So, "poor" is not just "broke".
Comment: @mbloch I think Danf just answered you. BTW that's why I said "might" be. If we decide such a phone is a standard highschool equipment...


Which lineage (vamsa) does Rama belong to? Surya or Ikshvaku or Raghu?

Question: Rama, the son of Dasharatha is said to be a member of Surya vamsa. Along with it, it is popularly believed that he belongs to Ikshvaku vamsa and Raghu vamsa.
To which vamsa does Rama belongs to? Surya or Ikshvaku or Raghu?
Answer: According to Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 110, Rama belongs to solar dynasty (Suryavansa). And the other kings you have mentioned, i.e. Ikshvaku and Raghu also belongs to the same solar dynasty.

vivasvaan kashyapaaj jajne manur vaivastavaH smR^itaH |
  sa tu prajaapatiH puurvam ikShvaakuH tu manoH sutaH || 2-110-6
"From Kashyapa, Vivasvan(sun-god) was born. manu was the son of Vivasvan. Manu for his part, was formerly the lord of creation. Ikshvaku was Manu' s son."

From the above verse it is clear that Manu is the son of Vivasvan (Sun) and Ikshvaku is Manu's son. In the later verses the whole solar dynasty was described.

bhagiirathaat kakutsthaH tu kaakutsthaa yena tu smR^itaaH |
  kakutsthasya tu putro abhuud raghur yena tu raaghavaH || 2-110-27
"Of Bhagiratha was born kakutstha, from whom the Kakutsthas take their name. To Kakutsthas was born a son called Raghu, from whence spring Raghavas."

From the above verse it is clear that Raghu belongs to same solar dynasty.

shankhaNasya tu putro abhuut shuuraH shriimaan sudarshanaH |
  sudarshanasya agni varNa agni varShasya shiighragaH || 2-110-30
  shiighragasya maruH putro maroH putraH prashushrukaH |
  prashushrukasya putro abhuud ambariiSho mahaa dyutiH || 2-110-31
  ambariiShasya putro abhuun nahuShaH satya vikramaH |
  nahuShasya ca naabhaagaH putraH parama dhaarmikaH || 2-110-32
  ajaH ca suvrataH caiva naabhaagasya sutaau ubhau |
  ajasya caiva dharma aatmaa raajaa dasharathaH sutaH || 2-110-33
The fortunate Sudarshana was the son of Shankhana. Sudarshana's son was Agnivarna; and of Agnivarna was born Shighraga. Shighraga begot Maru and Maru's son was Prashushruva from Prashushruva was born Ambarisha of that great radiance. To Ambarisha was born a son named Nahusha who was full of valour. Nahusha's son was Nabhaga of outstanding virtue. Aja and Suvrata were the two sons of Nabhaga and it was Aja who begot the virtuous King Dasartha."

And so was the Dasharatha also belongs to solar dynasty.

tasya jyeShTho asi daayaado raama ity abhivishrutaH |
  tad gR^ihaaNa svakam raajyam avekShasva jagan nR^ipa || 34
"You are the eldest son of that Dasaratha, very well-known as Rama, the heir who can claim over the inheritance. O, King! Hence, take over your kingdom and look after your people there."

And so was the Rama belongs to the solar dynasty.


How could I improve this question?

Question: My Which git commit this codebase is derived from?
 question was voted down and I do not understand why. The problem is real, today I needed it again. It's coming up repeatedly. It's not trivial. The question IMO is clear. So... why the downvotes and how to improve it?
Comment: I don't have an idea what your mess looks like, maybe add the output of the git log? I don't understand why finding the commit it started from is important. It started with the first commit, right? But I understand you're looking for a *different* commit. That comes from a tarball? What is in the tarball? A local git repo? How about adding some steps that *replicate* a demo-mess with commits and all the other git magic and then explain which commit you expect to find.
Comment: The very brief question is a screaming mismatch with the comment "My problem is much more difficult".  It is not an uncommon strategy, nobody can reasonably vote to close as a duplicate and any answers are nothing but wild guesses, so you get a smorgasbord of approaches to chose from.  Doesn't work, you get none to choose from.  Possibly the least constructive way to contribute to the Q+A here.
Comment: @HansPassant I added a clarification. Is this better now?
Answer: It looks like you checked 'Answer Your Own Question' when you posted your question since there is an answer to that question posted by you at the exact same time the question was asked. This could have given the impression to many that you already knew the answer, but you are just providing the community with some knowledge on the issue.
Looking closer at your question, I don't see anything in it that warrants downvotes, as it's clear what you are asking, but it may be due to the answer you provided. The answer you gave looks like it's just providing additional information on what you've tried, in which case it should be appended to the question, and not given as an answer.
Like I said, I don't find anything wrong with the wording, I think it's clear what you are asking, and it's just finding the right people that know the answer. Consider adding a bounty to your question to increase its visibility.
Comment: What happened here is -- I was very happy I finally managed to cobble a solution together to a problem which reoccurs to me (and I suspected others) from time to time and wanted to share and I thought SO encourages sharing knowledge Q-A style.
Comment: @chx Absolutely! Knowledge Q&A style questions are of great benefit to the community, I was merely pointing out why some others may have believed the question to already have an acceptable answer.

How could I improve this question?


Why not have stop loss orders on all your stocks?

Question: Using stop loss orders seem to be a way to lower risk when you are highly exposed to the stock market. I understand selecting the stop price is very important. And ,that with a rapid drop you probably will not get your stop price. I usually have a few stops in and have been satisfied with the results. Of course I have had some where the stop is executed ,then the stock goes up several percent. This is all in an IRA so there are not tax consequences to  selling. And no fees.
Comment: I think the last sentence answers your question...
Comment: (now the 3rd-to-last sentence)
Comment: Traders are more apt to use stop orders (cut your losses and let profits run).
Answer: If you own stock XYZ (not a real stock) and it goes down is that a reason to sell? If you view the price of a stock to be a random walk, the fact it has gone down does not mean the pattern will continue.
I buy and hold stocks because I feel the company is in a good business and the price of the stock is cheap relative to what you are buying. As such, if the price of the stock falls (without a change to the fundamentals of the company) I want to buy more (assuming I have the money) not sell.
Therefore, I am not a fan of stop loss orders.
Answer: Here's an example from my own lived experience:
A couple of years ago, I purchased a number of shares of Tesla at about $300/share with the underlying investing thesis that the world was turning a corner with electric vehicles. I then watched it drop from $300/share to $160/share until it slowly climbed its way up to over $2000/share. Yeah, the drop was a huge gut-punch and maybe at the time I was really questioning my decisions but the fundamental thesis held true and I am sure glad I stuck to it. A stop loss would have neutered the fun ride I enjoyed going all the way back up and then some.
So the moral is that a stop-loss might help you in some instances and can provide a tactical tool in your overall investing strategy, but it shouldn't be the only tool. You don't know what the future holds. For all you know, your sell point is $0.01 above the bottom right before it blows up.
Comment: What a perfect anecdote, good one - and congrats
Comment: I don't think picking a lucky lottery ticket counts as investing.
Comment: @blacksmith37: If you don't like that particular stock, suppose you'd had stop orders on all your stocks this spring, when the market took a plunge?
Comment: It is difficult to calculate ; In March when most of the drop occurred , I made 17 sales and 24 buys - trying to pick a bottom.  I need to take a closer look at my trading pattern.
Answer: Why on earth would I set stop loss orders?
Right now, I have shares of SPY which are currently worth about $370 each. What would I do if the price went down? Well...

If the price went down to $350, I'd rather have the stock than cash, so I wouldn't sell.
If the price went down to $300, I'd rather have the stock than cash, so I wouldn't sell.
If the price went down to $100, I'd rather have the stock than cash, so I wouldn't sell.
If the price went down to $10, I'd rather have the stock than cash, so I wouldn't sell.
If the price went down to $1, I'd rather have the stock than cash, so I wouldn't sell.

The problem with selling after a loss is that, although it prevents you from losing more money, it prevents you from gaining more money, too! And in the stock market, gains happen more commonly than losses, which means that if I sell my stock, then the gains that I'm missing out on are greater than the losses I'm avoiding. That's bad.
That's why, so far, I've never put in a stop loss order.
Answer: Stop orders can be used for entry or exit and to protect an unrealized gain or minimize a loss.
In broad terms, its usefulness depends on who you are.  A value or growth investor  is likely to have little use for stop orders since for the most part, their outlook tends to be buy and hold.
For traders, trading capital is their lifeblood and it must be protected.  Risk management is their key to survival. One of the oldest market clichés is  "Cut Your Losses and Let Your Profits Run". Stop loss orders are an integral tool for achieving this.  They have their advantages and disadvantages but that's another discussion.
While I recognize the usefulness of stop loss orders for trading, I don't use them because I hedge my large equity positions.  The hedging is a built in hard stop that avoids the surprise loss of a large gap up or down through the stop's price or a concerted move against my positions like the market's 35% down move in March.


How to get engagement plans that current user is enrolled in?

Question: Sitecore Marketing Automation API defines how to enroll a contact in a plan, but doesn't mention how to get plans that current (or specified) contact is enrolled in. Is there an API for that?
Sitecore version 9.1.
Comment: What version of Sitecore
Answer: The plans a contact is enrolled in is stored in a built-in facet on the contact called AutomationPlanEnrollmentCache.
You can get the facet like this:
using (XConnectClient client = SitecoreXConnectClientConfiguration.GetClient())
{
    var contact = client.Get(
        new IdentifiedContactReference("Your Known ID Type", "Your Contact ID"),
        new ContactExpandOptions(AutomationPlanEnrollmentCache.DefaultFacetKey));
    var enrollmentCacheFacet = contact.GetFacet<AutomationPlanEnrollmentCache>(
        AutomationPlanEnrollmentCache.DefaultFacetKey);
}

The facet contains a list of all plans the user is enrolled in. The AutomationPlanDefinitionId is the ID of the plan.

I'm guessing that ActivityId defines which element in the plan the user is currently at, but I haven't done enough research into that to actually confirm this. The other properties on the facet should be self-explanatory :)
Answer: In older Sitecore versions this code used to work:
AutomationStateManager manager = Tracker.Current.Session.CreateAutomationStateManager();
var plans = manager.GetAutomationStates().Select(s => s.PlanItem);

I'm not sure if it still work in the latest but it should be a good place to start.


Wire a headphone jack into a head unit

Question: I have a tape deck in my car which only gets used to read one of those dummy tapes that feeds from a 3.5mm headphone jack. I have no use for a CD player and would not like (nor can I afford) a new head unit. I was wondering if there is a reasonably strait-forward way to expose some sort of auxiliary input for hooking up an mp3 player?
Comment: I realize this question is pretty old, but just in case someone else will look for a solution - there exist cheaply priced (~$20) FM radios and MP3 media players w/o a CD in a deck form factor. For those who do not need the CD player, this is a nice solution, and should be better than an FM modulator, as the audio is amplified directly from the digital source. No need for modulation and demodulation (also FM radio quality does not come close to CD quality).
Answer: What you need is an FM modulator -- a device that you install between your car antenna and the stereo. A device like this (I'm not recommending this particular device, just using it as an example):
http://www.amazon.com/Scosche-Audio-FM-Modulator-Universal/dp/B0007THIDQ
Then you can plug your MP3 player into the modulator and the signal travels straight into the radio! The setup looks something like this:
Comment: Well, I'll be, this was an unexpected answer. I never knew that such a thing existed. Makes sense, old TV peripherals used RF modulators.
Comment: Some of the fancier ones actually provide USB connections and otherwise for stuff like steering wheel controls for an iPod. These simple ones are pretty cheap; much easier than dropping bank on a whole new stereo.
Comment: I use one of these. A cheap one. Beware, they are rather susceptible to interference. I'd make sure you get one with enough power to drown out external radio sources on the frequncy you are using.
Answer: I had an old pioneer super tuner 3 and I thought about doing the same thing you were talking about in the original post, so that's what I did.  I popped the case open, tracked down the connectors for the head to the pcb, and it was pretty much a no-brainer as to which wires to use. You have ground, then you have power for the right and power for the left, so I soldered leads onto the pins that I thought were right and soldered the other end to a headphone jack and voila.  The only problem that needs worked out is that I rigged the mechanism to think there was a tape in there and it's stuck on fast forward, but the audio still comes through. The bass is a bit nasty. I'm not sure if it's picking up noise from the motor spinning.

Wire a headphone jack into a head unit


Tor won't open on mac, saying Firefox is running - but it isn't

Question: When I try to open the Tor bundle on a Mac, a box pops up and says "A copy of Firefox is already open. Only one copy of Firefox can be open at a time." But I don't have Firefox open.
Comment: Same problem: downloaded latest bundle for Mac (OS X Vers. 10.9.3), ran install, nothing much happens then error message pops up "Close Firefox - A copy of Firefox is already open. Only one copy of Firefox can be open at a time." I don't even have Firefox installed on my system! Thoughts?
Comment: I have the same issue and I don't have firefox installed at all. Never installed it on this computer -Macbook Pro running OSx 10.9.3 latest at the moment- but it still says a copy is already open.
Comment: I saw something about this on an Apple forum, but I can't find it now. As I recall, the problem is that the Tor browser folders aren't owned by the proper user, and/or don't have the proper permissions set. And so the folder appears locked, which normally means that Firefox is running.
Comment: Also see this question: https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/931/tor-browser-says-firefox-is-already-running?rq=1. The third comment to the first answer may be relevant.
Answer: I had exactly the same problem. I found out that it has not actually anything to do with another instance of Firefox (I don't even have it installed) it turns out that it has something to do with the files being locked when they are in you applications folder. To fix the problem just move the application into another folder (downloads or documents) and then open from there.
Comment: brilliant solution to the problem! i was having problems with this on my iMac and dragging tor browser to applications solved the problem. thanks elliot
Answer: The tor browser bundle is in a sense a modified version of FireFox. Due to this, when your computer is telling you only one FireFox can be run at a time, it's because Tor counts as a FireFox app.
Answer:
That may have happened because Firefox hanged or is taking to long to
close. Access your task manager and terminate Firefox's application.
That will loose you no data and will allow you to run Firefox again.
It's probable that it's just taking a bit longer to close, though, so
waiting a bit will probably fix the issue (like a few seconds).

You may also try to create a new profile.
See:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_missing_profile
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

There is also some suggested solution at Support Mozilla:

Launch My Computer or Windows Explorer.
Choose menu 'Tools' -> 'Folder Options'
Click the 'File Types' tab.
Scroll down to find 'URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol' (under the File Types column) and make sure it's highlighted.
Click the 'Advanced' button.
In the 'Actions' box make sure that 'open' is highlighted (click on it if necessary)
Click the 'Edit' button.
Uncheck 'Use DDE', click the Browse button and browse to Firefox.exe on your system, and click OK. [Updated for clarification, sorry about the earlier omission.] If you get a "file not found" message, browse to Firefox.exe and click OK.
The path to Firefox.exe should now appear in the 'Application used to perform this action' box.
Go to that 'Application used to perform this action' box, and add '-url "%1"' at the end, without the single quotes, so that it reads e.g. (on my computer at least) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -url "%1" - with the double quotes!
Click OK again.
Repeat the process with the file type 'URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy'