how do i block people from outside by web server from seing what technologies im using such as apache and/or php?

Question: i am running a test server locally that is also broadcasted (for education purposed) on a mac and i ran a software called acunetix (www.acunetix.com) and from another computer and it was able to detect the technologies used on the server. how can i block anything from viewing this information?
Comment: ps: would anyone know an alternative to acunetix that can be ran on a mac?
Answer: What information exactly are you trying to block ?
If you are talking about the server's signature, such as
Server: Apache/2.2.9 (Debian) PHP/5.2.6-1+lenny3 with Suhosin-Patch mod_ssl/2.2.9 OpenSSL/0.9.8g

This is easily removable in httpd.conf by setting the following parameter
ServerTokens Prod
ServerSignature Off

Also, is it likely that PHP sets a header to expose its version, such as
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.2.6-1+lenny3

Which you can remove in your php.ini using the following parameter
expose_php = Off

But that won't block complete information gathering from softwares like acunetix. Those software are designed to gather any information they can from the HTML code your website returns down to the TCP Windows size of the network communication between the scanner and the server (not talking about domain and DNS queries, and so on). Information gathering is an entire field of computer security.
Answer: My answer to this question on Stack Overflow may be of some assistance.
It's important to realise that even if you cover all of the more obvious publicly visible signs of your implementation, it will still be possible for a sufficiently determined person to determine what environment is running. One possible way to do this would be to use TCP fingerprinting to determine a possible OS, and then to start exploring exploits based on that.


How to overcome fear of answering/asking questions in big class

Question: Maybe it's because I'm a very shy person, but whenever I am in a big classroom setting (lecture), I am too afraid to raise my hand and ask questions or answer questions in class. It's really odd to me how some people can just do it so naturally. Recently, I've been trying to participate more in class, but after I say what I want to say, I completely zone out due to the pressure. So when my professor asks me something again, I tend to almost freeze. There's also the knowledge that there's a lot of smart students in the room, which adds to the fear of getting humiliated. Is there a way to overcome this?
Comment: ... Or you could try joining a theater cub or [Toastmasters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toastmasters_International). Severe cases of public speaking anxiety might need some therapy, which has a high success rate.
Comment: "There's also the knowledge that lot of smart students in the room, which adds to the fear of getting humiliated". I bet you are one of the smart students. Read about imposter syndrome. Also, often others have the same question and same hesitation to ask and are really thankful if someone asks. "It's really odd to me how some people can just do it so naturally." Like all things that appear natural, practice helps. "Is there a way to overcome this?" Yes, there are ways. One suggestion is to start small, i.e., ask many questions in smaller classes to develop the habit. ...
Comment: In the worst case, what do you think what would happen when you ask a question in a big and crowded classroom ?
Answer: There are several difficulties you're dealing with:

It is genuinely not easy to formulate and ask a good question. You know how they say that a good question is more than a half of the answer. That's why it is so important to learn how to ask a question and how to split a question in several smaller questions.
You usually do not have a lot of time in class as the lecturer tends to move on quickly. It is harder to come up with a good question in limited time.
Other students are also present and you may feel that they are "smarter" and they are "judging" you. Whether this is true or not, is another question (spoiler: it's probably not true), but the perception makes it harder to act.

Now, what can we do about it? My suggestion is to decouple the problems. First, start by learning to ask a question outside of the classroom setting.

As soon as you have a question in a class, write it down on paper. After the class, re-read it, and try to find the answer yourself. Try also to re-formulate the question in a more clear, concise and answerable way.
If your professor offers office hours, attend them and ask your question in person. Talking to your professor one-to-one will help you both to learn the subject and to learn how to communicate more efficiently. It will also improve your confidence and build a good relationship with your professor.
When you are ready, ask more questions in class. Write down professors' answers and (if you have time) note your own reaction. Hopefully you will find it easier to ask questions as you do it more often. If not, meet your professor and discuss your questions again.
Comment: I don't agree with this answer, because I think the asker's problem is lack of confidence, not lack of quality questions.  What they need is practice with public speaking.
Comment: There is more than one way to work on your confidence. You can practice to be talk and look confidently, generally. Or you can recognise that what they talk or ask about makes sense and gain more specific confidence through this.
Answer: Nobody asks questions, or speaks about anything in public, naturally.  Everyone has to learn.  The best way to develop public speaking skills is to practice.  You can practice speaking in a room by yourself, and you can practice in front of a group of people.  As @roland mentioned, Toastmasters is an organization that will help you practice.  Ask your professors for other opportunities.
Now I have to stop writing this answer and go practice my conference talk.
Comment: You can "play a role" of a confident, extroverted, person, until you become one. Acting is actually helpful as you can "imagine" that it is someone else doing this, so it doesn't work on  your psyche. _Fake it till you make it_, can actually be good advice for some.
Comment: ...as long, of course, as *faking something* agrees with your personal values and ethics.
Answer: This is what you "see":

This is what the lecturer sees:

Can you see the person who is talking? They are standing near the door, wearing a black shirt. So you see, in the lecturer's viewpoint, you are just a dot in another hundred dots. After you have finished talking, their attention is not on you anymore. And even when you are talking at them, they are not fully listening to your words. In their and other students' minds, there is always a topic much much more important than you: themselves. You are insignificant in their life, let alone your fear.
Whenever I have an anxiety like this, I always try to put myself into other's perspective, and see how unimportant I am in their eyes. At that time, I suddenly realize this:

Wait, what exactly am I fearing at? Nothing. NOTHING. I just assume that everyone is looking at me carefully, while in fact they are just busy on their problems. They don't even know that I fear at them. I make up an illusion, and then I fear of it. This is silly.

At the time you can see how silly your fear is, then not only it will disappear like it never exists, and but also a sympathy for their problems will take place instead. Sometimes in my imagination I think that I cut off my fear with the sharpest sword I have. I really like the feeling of having my fear cut off and my mind become crytall clear again. It makes me feel courage.
If you are interested in how I visualize the distortion we make in our minds, so that you can cut down your fear regardless the context, check out my article: A theory of perspective. Skip to the section "Communication and perspective-taking" if you don't have time.


Sikuli IDE or Eclipse/JAVA for windows based application?

Question: I am trying to prepare a POC using Sikuli. Can any one suggest me what is the best approach to use Sikuli for a windows based application ? Should I use Java with Eclipse or the Sikuli IDE itself?
Answer: Last time I've used Sikuli, I concluded the following: Sikuli IDE's one (and almost only) benefit was that it interpreted image paths as images allowing for a nicely looking code mixed with actual images. The IDE though missed a lot of features other IDEs offer from out of the box.
How to use Sikuli together with other IDE's documentation page mentions NetBeans and Eclipse, but I would first try Intellij IDEA IDE from JetBrains.
Answer: I think the best option is using sikuli with any programming language.
Benifits

learning sikuli is not difficult (To run basic sikuli programme you need to learn only a few methods like click, find)
You can learn more about sikuli and java when you coding sikuli with any programming language.
Answer: I don't really think there is much of a difference for a proof of concept.  The IDE might be easier to set up.  But the IDE would be limited if you decided to move forward using Sikuli.  A full featured programming IDE, like Eclipse, or intellij, would give you the benefit of static code analysis, auto-completion, debugging capabilities, version control tools, plugins, dependency management, etc.
All of these would be desirable if you end up integrating Sikuli with other automation frameworks or libraries.
Answer:
...for windows based application?

Sikuli was already mentioned. Just to add another option: For screenshot-based Windows desktop automation there is also SeeShell. Unlike Sikuli, it is not cross-platform, but optimized for Windows which brings a deeper platform integration. So if one only needs to work on Windows, it can be a good option.


Styling secondary (side) menu in Joomla 3

Question: To confirm, I need to edit the side menu without changing the main menu style... but do not know where I can do so - or do I need to create a new class (I made a new class in the module itself, then styled it in template but it won't change the line-height, I was only able to set the font size for some reason)
http://dev.addrenaline.com/acces/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=132
Answer: You're almost there... by adding a left-menu class to your module as you've done you can target any element inside the module with this selector, e.g.:
.left-menu p {
  /* styles apply to paragraphs inside your module only */
}

The reason why your line-height style isn't working is because you have to apply it to your list items, not the entire div. This should work:
.left-menu li {
  line-height: 155%;
}


Buying a mortgaged house

Question: If someone owns a house that is not paid off (still mortgaged), can someone buy it by taking another mortgage? What kind of offer would be most sensible? I assume that in this case the current owner of the house would want to make a profit.
Comment: @smith "The owner wants to sell the house at a higher price than what he paid for." - well, of course he (and everybody else with a house to sell) wants that! But unless you want to make the owner a charitable donation, that is completely irrelevant. Your price offer should be based only on what the house is worth *to you.*
Comment: You would probably do well to get yourself a realtor.  They'll help you decide if the home is worth what the seller is asking.
Comment: The owner wants to sell the house at a higher price than what he paid for. And he is still under mortgage. 1) I am not sure if I can get a mortgage to buy a house already in mortgage and 2) how much money makes sense to offer in such case i.e. On top of the original price of the property
Answer: Just as a renter doesn't care what the landlord's mortgage is, the buyer of a house shouldn't care what the seller paid, what the current mortgage is, or any other details of the seller's finances.
Two identical houses may be worth $400K. One still has a $450K loan, the other is mortgage free. You would qualify for the same value mortgage on both houses. All you and your bank should care about is that the present mortgage is paid or forgiven by the current mortgage holder so your bank can have first lien, and you get a clean title.
To answer the question clearly, yes, it's common for a house with a mortgage to be sold, mortgage paid off, and new mortgage put in place. The profit or loss of the homeowner is not your concern.
Comment: What is the house worth? That's the most you should offer. Is the house listed for sale? It's for the owner to tell you the price he'd like to sell it for, not a stranger on SE. Consider, you want to buy a share of stock that trades at 100. Why do you care that I paid 140? You shouldn't pay me over 100. The original price has no bearing on the current price, or on the price you get whet you try to sell it in 7 years.
Comment: Yes. You look at similar sales nearby. You normalize for size, adjust for condition, apply a bit of common sense, and should arrive at a fair price.
Comment: The owner told me I can do an offer. I know I don't want to offer more than 15% more than the original price but I also don't want to do an offer that could be considered too low. I want to figure out what could be the amount the owner has in mind
Comment: You are right. I was wondering if there is a "formula" to figure out the amount
Comment: A realtor, specifically one that is acting as the buyer's agent will get you a fair price.  Also, the mortgage lender will most likely require an appraisal.
Comment: A buyers agent will expect payment from the buyer, and given how quirky this situation appears, may not get any closer to a deal. I wonder, why isn't the seller starting by giving a price. Even a too high price is a starting point . Even a too low offer is a starting point.
Answer:
If someone owns a house that is not paid off...can someone buy it by taking another mortgage?

Yes, but I'm not sure why you think the buyer would need to take another mortgage to buy it. If someone sells their home for X dollars, then the buyer needs X dollars to buy the house. How they get that money (use cash, take out a mortgage) is up to them.
During the closing process, a portion of the funds generated from the sale are diverted to pay off the seller's loan and any leftover funds after closing are pocketed by the seller.

What kind of offer would be most sensible? I assume that in this case the current owner of the house would want to make a profit.

The amount that the house is sold for is determined by the market value of their home, not by the size of the mortgage they have left to pay off. You make the same offer whether they own their home or have a mortgage.
Comment: @smith Determining the market value of a house is the job of a realtor, but I can give you some general advice: look at what similar houses in the area are selling for. Also look at what the house last sold for and what has changed in the house since then (home improvements or depreciation). Make an offer lower than what you're willing to pay since they can always counteroffer, but not low enough to offend them.
Comment: @DilipSarwate I am of the opinion that more details will result in more confusion in this case. However, you have more experience than me so I will defer to your opinion.
Comment: @DilipSarwate Hence the contract. If you want to split hairs about logistics then yes, the seller's mortgage will be paid off at the time of closing with some of the funds from the sale being diverted directly to the lending institution to avoid problems like the ones you mentioned, but I did not think these details were relevant to answering the question.
Comment: I know the price they paid for the house. They told me to make an offer. How can I figure out an amount that is reasonable in the following sense. I am willing to offer up to 15% more at most. Is there a way to know if this amount is high enough to be of interest to them?
Comment: How do I know what the market value is?
Comment: @DilipSarwate although i happened to disagree with it this time, I appreciate you taking the time to help improve my answer. Thank you for your input.
Answer: Pricing a house
Go on a website that has real estate listings.  Find similar homes in the same neighborhood and list out the prices.  Once you have prices, pick out two with different prices and call the realtor of the more expensive listing.  Tell that realtor about the other listing and ask why their listing is more expensive.  Compare their answer to the home that you are considering buying.
For example, they may say that their house has a newly remodeled kitchen.  Does the house you are considering have a newly remodeled kitchen?  If so, then use the higher priced listing and throw out the cheaper one.  If not, use the cheap listing and throw out the expensive one.
Or they might say that the expensive house is in a better location than the cheaper house.  Further away from traffic.  Easier to get to the highway or public transportation.  If so, ask how the location compares to the house you are actually considering.  The realtor will tell you if the listings are comparable.
When I talk about "similar homes," I mean homes that are similar in square footage, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms.  Generally real estate sites will allow you to search by all of these as well as location.
Practical matters
After all this, the potential seller may still turn you down.  If he really wanted to sell, he'd have suggested a price.  He may just be seeing if you're willing to overpay.  If so, he could turn down an otherwise reasonable offer.  How much he is willing to take is up to him.
Note that this would all be easier if you just bought a house the normal way.  Then the realtors would do the comparables portion of the work.  You might be able to find a realtor or appraiser who would do the work for a set fee.  Perhaps your bank would help you with that, as they have to appraise the property to offer a mortgage.
Buying a mortgaged house
You asked if you can buy out a mortgaged house with a mortgage.  Yes, you can.  That's a pretty normal occurrence.  Normally the realtors would make all the necessary arrangements.  I'm guessing that a title transfer company could handle that.
Comment: +1 The realtor shouldn't be touching the finances, that's for the Lawyers.
Answer: Based on what you asked and your various comments on other answers, this is the first time that you will be making an offer to buy a house, and it seems that the seller is not using a real-estate agent to sell the house, that is, it is what is called a FSBO (for sale by owner) property (and you can learn a lot of about the seller's perspective by visiting fsbo.com). On the other hand, you are a FTB (first-time buyer) and I strongly recommend that you find out about the purchase process by Googling for "first-time home buyer" and reading some of the articles there. But most important, I urge you

DO NOT make a written offer to purchase the property until you understand a lot more than you currently do, and a lot more than all the answers here are telling you about making an offer to buy this property.  Even when you feel absolutely confident that you understand everything, hire a real-estate lawyer or a real-estate agent to write the actual offer itself (the agent might well use a standard purchase offer form that his company uses, or the State mandates, and just fill in the blanks). Yes, you will need to pay a fee to these people but it is very important for your own protection, and so don't just wing it when making an offer to purchase.

As to how much you should offer, it depends on how much you can afford to pay. I will ignore the possibility that you are rich enough that you can pay cash for the purchase and assume that you will, like most people, be needing to get a mortgage loan to buy the house. Most banks prefer not to lend more than 80% of the appraised value of the house, with the balance of the purchase price coming from your personal funds. They will in some cases, loan more than 80% but will usually charge higher interest rate on the loan, require you to pay mortgage insurance, etc. Now, the appraised value is not determined until the bank sends its own appraiser to look at the property, and this does not happen until your bid has been accepted by the seller. What if your bid (say $500K) is much larger than the appraised value $400K on which the bank is willing to lend you only $320K ? Well, you can still proceed with the deal if you have $180K available to make the pay the rest. Or, you can let the deal fall apart if you have made a properly written offer that contains the usual contingency clause that you will be applying for a mortgage of $400K at rate not to exceed x% and that if you can't get a mortgage commitment within y days, the deal is off. Absent such a clause, you will lose the earnest money that you put into escrow for failure to follow through with the contract to purchase for $500K.  Making an offer in the same ballpark as the market value lessens the chances of having the deal fall through. Note also that even if the appraised value is $500K, the bank might refuse to lend you $400K if your loan application and credit report suggest that you will have difficulty making the payments on a $400K mortgage.  It is a good idea to get
a pre-approval from a lender saying that based on the financial information that you have provided, you will likely be approved for a mortgage of $Z (that is, the bank thinks that you can afford the payments on a mortgage of as much as $Z). That way, you have some feel for how much house you can afford, and that should affect what kinds of property you should be bidding on.
Comment: What is a written offer to you? E.g. If I email the owner and ask him "hey I was thinking of the house. Would X amount make you interested in talking about selling it to me?" Is this a formal offer?

Buying a mortgaged house


Is there going to be an official stance of using keystrokes to answer?

Question: In several different questions some people answer with keystrokes. Will a official stance be taken on this? Some users say that it is not OK others disagree. What should be done about this?
Here is an example, for clarification.
Comment: 2 things: First, the mods don't form the consensus single-handedly. 2. "I different question some people answer with keystrokes." ??? what's that mean?
Answer: No, unless a programming language is used.
There are several programming languages that can be used to encapsulate keyboard input. VBA is one, and Ducky Script is another. Solutions written in these languages can be compared objectively to solutions written in other languages, whilst retaining the skill of finding key combinations. In addition, Ducky Script programs can be deployed on an actual USB "keyboard".
Comment: Please don't post answers you don't agree with. (you've posted 2 inherently conflicting answers) Let the people who actually choose that side make an arguement for it.
Answer: Yes, but no special treatment.
This means that (for example) if your solution displays a pop-up box saying "Are you sure that you want to delete this file?" and the challenge asks for deletion without output, your solution will be invalid. It also means that if three files, a folder and a symbolic link are required for your solution to run it's not valid for challenges where this won't be the case.
Answer: What is a programming language?:

A purported programming language should be accepted as such if and only if it is capable of addition of natural numbers and primality testing of natural numbers.

If it can add and check for primality, then it's okay.
Can Windows add with keystrokes? Win+R and type "calc". Then type the expression. It can do all arithmetic like that.
Can Windows check for primes? Theoretically, yes. The windows calculator is capable of binary arithmetic, and it has both AND and NOT. An infinite string of them is turing complete, and we don't have any limits on how long a submission can be.
Therefore, Windows keystrokes is programming language, if only in the sense that's it's capable of utilizing a turing complete shell (the calculator).
Comment: I do not think that what you have provided is a proof of Turing completeness.  I also don't know why you are bothering with the calculator when windows has a command prompt which is probably Turing complete.
Comment: @WheatWizard ... I am a dumbass. Oh well, it still counts IMO.
Comment: I'm not convinced that it's possible to interpret my answer to that other meta question as saying that "Windows keystrokes" are a programming language, but I'm quite certain that it wasn't my intent to include any system which requires a human to form part of the interpreter, and without a human you cannot implement a primality tester with calc.exe because you won't know when to stop execution.


What is the Biblical basis for 'term eldership'?

Question: Some churches who appoint elders do so for a term (3 years is typical from what I have seen).  Other churches ordain elders for life.  Is there a Biblical basis for ordaining elders for a term?
Comment: I doubt there's a specific Biblical basis for this--but I don't think there's any prohibition of it, either. The Bible, IMO, is quite permissive and forgiving of many of these sorts of "details." It tends to focus on more important things--like loving each other--than on things like internal organizational politics.
Comment: @Flimzy I kind of tend to think that there are some verses that apply directly here.  Also could it be that there is a valid negative argument here.  No terms are ever given for any Biblical offices.
Answer: Some people in the Bible who had leadership roles held those roles for life. For example, the Old Testament kings and the New Testament apostles apparently held leadership roles for life. Others held temporary posts, like the Judges. I don't recall any place in the Bible where someone held an office for a fixed amount of time, as is common today. But as Flimzy says, nothing in the Bible says that any office must be for life or for a specific term. (Well, except "husband" and "wife", if you think of those as offices.) At least, I can't think of any.
Answer: In my tradition, which is Swedish pentecostal, the traditional view is that you are an elder for life. This used to be said with reference to Romans 11:29 <code>...Gods [...] call are irrevocable</code> (NIV). That is however not very good hermeneutic. That passage refers to the calling of the people of Israel. Maybe you could argue that this also refers to Gods call for every person that belong to him through the faith of Jesus Christ. But you can't say that this speaks about the calling for a certain service in the church.
I would'nt say that there are a good biblical basis to say that you are an elder for life time. But I would say, and that is an personal opinion, that the texts (specially in the pastoral letters) takes the service to be an elder very serious. And it wouldn't be true to the seriousness of this service to let it rotate for every three years or something.
Comment: I agree that the service of being an elder should be taken seriously, but I'm not sure that rotation is necessarily detrimental to that.  In my tradition (Baptist) some churches have paid pastors as their only elders and others have unpaid lay elders in addition to their paid pastors.  Asking a layman to commit to serving as an elder for the rest of their life while earning a living at a full time job is asking a lot (unless the responsibilities are light and then it not a very serious service).  I'm in favor of rotation for lay elders to give them a break.
Comment: You made a great point that I have to spend some time thinking about. Thanks! :-)


Do we hate iblis or only his bad actions? Is it strictly forbidden to hate someone as a creature including ibliss? Is all hatred illness of heart?

Question: I have read in a article  {{https://abuaminaelias.com › beware-...
Purification from the spiritual disease of hatred in Islam | Faith in Allah الإيمان بالله}} that hatred is an illness of heart. And even the non believers we don't hate them as persons but only their bad actions. And he has instructed us to love his creatures like the love for the wife even when she is christian. The love for kinship etj.... My question is:  Does this include iblis,  dajjal and the most evil creatures? In other words we don't hate iblis (on the contrary we love him) but only hate his bad actions? And we love him as a creature of Allah just like we love our Christian wife as a creature of Allah even though she commits shirk.
Answer: There are Muslim sinners and there are Kuffar. As for the latter, if we are to follow the literal meaning of various verses of the Koran, they are to be hated not loved.

60:4 We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you
  animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone
58:22 You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day
  having affection for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if
  they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their
  kindred.

Iblis and Dajjal would definitely fall into this.
Answer: According to me , i find ,as a person we should not hate any other person (which you already know) even not the non believers , those who are doing wrong etc but only hate their bad deeds because they can change anytime , any time Allah can guide them , so we should not hate any person but their wrong doing
But we know (with 100% surety that shaitaan is open enemy of Allah , and he wont ever come back , instead will invove other people against Allah , so hating here is not wrong but instead right , (because you are hating him for Allah's sake)


What Is The Minimum Size Of A Planet To Harbor Human Life?

Question: What is the minimum size of a planet that could harbor human life? You get to decide what the atmosphere is, but I'm reasonably sure that O2, CO2, and H2O are necessary components of the atmosphere. Assume the planet's surface is flat. I'm not sure what the soil and rocks the planet are made of, even though I know that plays a role in the planet's ability to harbor an atmosphere. (And the atmosphere must be hospitable to plants as well, or else everyone is going to die.)
Comment: You're interested in volume, then, not mass?
Comment: Yes, more specifically, surface area
Answer: The retention of gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water depends on the mass and radius of the planet, via its surface gravity. It also depends on the effective temperature, something we can calculate easily. I'd like to quote from an earlier answer of mine:

The planetary equilibrium temperature:
  $$T = \left(\frac{L_{\odot}(1-a)}{16 \sigma \pi D^2} \right)^{\frac{1}{4}}$$
  We can approximation that $L_{\odot} \approx L_{\text{Sun}}=3.846 \times 10^{26}$. As another approximation, $a=0.3$. We also know that $\sigma=5.670 \times 10^{-8}$. Plugging this all in,
  $$T = \left(\frac{3.846 \times 10^{26}(1-0.3)}{16 \times 5.670 \times 10^{-8}\pi D^2} \right)^{\frac{1}{4}}=9.85856 \times 10^7 \times D^{-\frac{1}{2}}$$
  At $D_V$, $D_E$, and $D_M$, this comes out to
  $$T_V=299.986 \text{ K}$$
  $$T_E=254.547 \text{ K}$$
  $$T_M=207.515 \text{ K}$$

Next, we can use a chart to figure out what gases will be in the atmosphere. First, however, we must calculate escape velocity.
Seager et al. (2007) proposed a mass-radius relationship for terrestrial planets.
$$M\approx\frac{4}{3}\pi R^3\left[1+ \left(1-\frac{3}{5}n \right)\left(\frac{2}{3}\pi R^2\right)^n\right]$$
Here, $n$ is a parameter that depends on the composition of the planet. If we assume a planet composed mainly of silicates (like Earth), then $n\approx0.537$.
Escape velocity is given by
$$v_{\text{esc}}=\sqrt{\frac{2GM}{R}}$$
Plugging in our expression, we have
$$v_{\text{esc}}=\sqrt{2G\frac{4}{3}\pi R^2\left[1+ \left(1-\frac{3}{5}n \right)\left(\frac{8}{3}\pi R^2\right)^n\right]}$$
Let's go to the chart I mentioned earlier:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia user Cmglee under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
At each of the three distances (now temperatures), we have the following requirements to keep all of the gases at the orbital radii of Venus, Earth, and Mars:
$$\text{Venus:}\approx4\text{ km/s}$$
$$\text{Earth:}\approx3.5\text{ km/s}$$
$$\text{Mars:}\approx3.25\text{ km/s}$$
Using Wolfram Alpha, I get
$$\text{Venus:}\approx177\text{ kilometers}$$
$$\text{Earth:}\approx162\text{ kilometers}$$
$$\text{Mars:}\approx154\text{ kilometers}$$
These numbers are substantially low. They result in part from complicating factors that drastically affect the temperature of the planet, including non-uniform albedo and potential greenhouse effects.

Non-quantitative summary
The main feature of a habitable planet is its composition: the composition of its atmosphere and the planet itself. Certain compounds must be present for human-like life to survive. These compounds can only exist at certain temperatures at certain surface gravities, or else they will escape the planet.
I used a chart and a mass-radius relation, as well as some assumed constants, to get various values for the radius necessary to keep some basic compounds (oxygen and carbon dioxide), assuming a silicate composition. The values differ based on how far away the planet is from its parent star. Note that the planet should remain in the circumstellar habitable zone. The three distances given here are near the inner edge, middle, and outer edge of the Sun's habitable zone.
Comment: Um, I'm reasonably sure that is a great answer, but could you write a summary? I kind of just read science science math math math science, three numbers equal to scientific variables. Some of us aren't quite as smart as others.
Comment: @XandarTheZenon Sure. Being concise is not my strong suit. I'm busy at the moment, but I'll condense it later.
Comment: Thanks HDE, also, I know this is a little off topic, but why do people do the @insertname when addressing people?
Comment: @XandarTheZenon It "pings" them, sending a message to their inbox. People are always automatically "pinged" by comments on their own post, but not on other people's posts.
Comment: I see, this makes sense.
Comment: @XandarTheZenon Summary added.
Comment: @HDE226868 something's hinky here. D is the orbital distance. how can that be in Km?
Comment: @SerbanTanasa Oh, I was using $D_V$, for example, to indicate the result of my calculation for the radius of a hypothetical planet at the orbital distance of Venus, not the orbital distance itself. I edited to make the labels clearer, and also updated my calculations, which seem a bit screwy, although I can't find an error.
Comment: That gas retention chart is interesting particularly when it comes to the Galilean moons, Io could theoretically hold an atmosphere rich in CO2 for billions of years yet only has a trace atmosphere, Ganymede being just above the Oxygen/Nitrogen plot should be able to hold an atmosphere of those gasses, Mars is higher up there on the chart but the solar wind blew away the Martian atmosphere over billions of years.
Comment: Also for the miniumum escape velocities for a planet to hold a N2, CO2 and H20 atmosphere, is that over billions of years or only a few million? 3.5 km/s seems too low to be over a billion years or up to Earth's current age. Such a planet would be less than Mars's size and have no magnetic field, though if it orbited a gas giant maybe it could JUST hang onto it?
Answer: This depends mainly on two factors: size of the planet, and density. Assuming that the planet is composed largely of osmium, the densest stable element (with an atomic mass of 190), and not nickel (atomic mass 58.7), the planet's core would be significantly less than the 2400 km ball of molten nickel and iron under our feet.
A good estimate for the core size might be around 2.56 times smaller than the Earth's core, or 2/5 of the size of the Earth, 960 km in diameter. The crust, however, would need to be about 1300 km thick (to put this into scale, the crust is usually about 45 km thick on Earth) and not very dense at all, so that humans could survive at a relatively comfortable gravitational level of about 2 gravitational forces.
This brings the total diameter of the new Earth to around 3500 km, sans atmosphere.
Disclaimer: I am not a physicist, nor am I Randall Munroe, author of xkcd. However, utilizing equations and Wikipedia, I have come up with this answer for you.
Comment: Can you show the steps you used to get to these figures? Thanks!


Kite like a man achievement

Question: I can't figure out how to get this achievement, it's very vague and can't find much online about it!
Answer:
 "Kite Like a Man - Kill
  a tank only with damage from the
  original Survivors."

It's an achievement you can get only in "The Passing".
On the finale, the survivors from the original Left 4 Dead are helping you with shooting infected. The point of this achievement is to have them kill the tank, and them only shooting him.
Answer: One of the easier ones. Gnoupi summerized it best.
Just one addition:
Draw the tank to yourself and run around the generator until he dies.
If he attempts to throw a rock, just stay right behind the generator and crouch.
Answer: When you get to the last map of The Passing on Campaign Mode the original survivors will be protecting you in a limited area near the generator.  When a tank spawns if you confine your movement to that area to help the tank stay within range of the original survivors and don't damage the tank yourself then you will get the Kite Like a Man achievement.

Kite like a man achievement


Relating the Color of meat to doneness

Question: I want to know more about how to correlate the color of meat to its level of doneness. How do I recognize how cooked my meat is based solely on color?
Comment: (cont.) a somewhat different question, which does not ask for a list of sources about the knowledge you want, but for the knowledge itself. I'm afraid that many users may still dislike the question, because it is based on a false assumption. With their downvotes, they are not trying to punish you, they are signifying that they would like to see less questions like this one on the site - probably forgetting that a beginner has no way of knowing that such a question does not make sense from a culinary point of view. We have written a lot about doneness, you can search for those questions.
Comment: I think this is too broad a question.... What type of meat, what cooking method, external color or internal color, what type and/or how long was it aged....?
Comment: I voted down as too broad. I know a few techniques to tell doneness, but none of them involves color, as that is highly arbitrary. Don't think there has been an academic paper on this either, as, again, it is highly arbitrary.
Comment: Too broad, I think.
Comment: Up vote, not because I want to know the answer and especially not because I think the answer to said question would affect my life in any way. Why then? Because it's got to be one of the strangest questions I've ever seen and made me laugh. (a bit like a joke that's so bad it's funny). What's wrong with just poking you're meat? Can't beat a good index finger pike.
Comment: I don't think that fits the criteria of "too broad". This would be the case if a reasonable answer cannot be expressed in a form shorter than a small book. Had the question been "what color signifies what doneness", we could leave it open, but the answer would be the short sentence "there is no practically useful correlation". But the question asks about reference materials or a reading list, which is off topic under the "no list questions" rule. I will edit it into the acceptable form to avoid closing - this is an exception where an edit is allowed to change the original meaning.
Comment: Hello Keith, and welcome to the site. We have found out that some kinds of question don't work well with our format. One rule is that a question should be able to be answered by a concise and objectively true answer. "Give me a list of books good for X" (or other lists) doesn't work, because there are no objective criteria to decide that somehow the 2-3 books suggested by one user are "the right answer" and a few other suggestions are not it. Normally, such a question would have been closed. I know that this is very unpleasant to new users who don't know our rules yet, so I made it a (cont.)
Comment: Hear hear, though I'd guess the answer is now... If it's blue it's raw if it's grey it's ####ed and anywhere between is personal preference on whether or not to call it... Cooked.
Comment: Which is also an open ended answered left down to opinion. Except for chicken and Turkey...
Comment: I withdrew my downvote and ventured an answer :)
Answer: As much as I don't like how broad and strange this question is, I will venture an answer.
TL;DR:
You can't in most cases. Not by color.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

Cooking method can make color vary widely. Take chicken or pork, for instance; cooking it in liquid will make its color like the liquid, frying will make it brown-ish, grilling will make it charred, and smoking will make it red-ish or brown-ish, depending on what wood you use.

Marinades and seasoning will tend to color the meat as it absorbs the seasoning. The longer it marinates, the bigger color difference. That color usually carries over into the cooked meat.

Different cuts of meat color differently. Compare for example ground beef vs. steak vs. check roast.

Here are some ways you can tell meat doneness reliably:
For thicker cuts of meat, like a pork loin roast, chicken, turkey, etc. the best method is to use a meat thermometer. They are inexpensive and you can find digital and analog models in many grocery stores in the kitchen utility section. Here is a guide to help with safe cooking temperatures.
For thinner cuts of meat, like steak, pork chop, hamburger, boneless chicken breast, etc. there are a few easy ways:

Make a small cut in the thickest part of the meat, and apply a little pressure onto the meat and look at the color of the juices. For white/pink meats, the liquid should be clear when it is done. Pink/red liquid indicates it is not well done yet. Red meats are a little different, red liquid indicates rarer meat, and brown liquid indicates more doneness. This is the only way you can use color to check doneness.

Press the meat slightly with your finger and use this handy little trick to check doneness using your hands. I recommend using a plastic/rubber glove when you touch the meat, for food safety and mitigate the chances of a burn to your finger.
Answer: tl;dr: You don't.
Here are a few of the problems with trying to judge doneness based solely on color:

Depending on the size and shape of the meat, the exterior color may or may not be any sort of indication of the internal temperature, which is the important part.  A large, squarish roast cooked at a high temperature might be beautifully browned on the outside and totally raw inside.
A collary to this is that in order to judge interior color, you must cut into your meat.  If done with insufficient resting, this can result in all your lovely juices escaping and leaving you with several pounds of leathery awful.  If you haven't quite hit your desired doneness, then you've now changed how the meat will cook by cutting in.
The desired color will differ depending on the type of meat.  A pink beef steak is excellent.  A pink chicken breast is a no-no.
Starting color can vary between even the same cut of meat from different producers.  There are some local producers here that produce lovely blood-red steaks, and others that look rather sickly and dark pinkish at best (I buy the former).  Different starting conditions means different ending conditions even though they might be equally done.
Color is difficult to judge reliably under different conditions.  What looks lovely and medium-rare in your brightly florescent-lit kitchen might appear rather different in my dimmer, incandescent-lit one.  Or maybe you've got a big window and medium-rare looks different at high noon than it does at midnight (midnight steaks are the best, you guys).

Instead, get an instant-read thermometer and use temperature to determine doneness.  This is an indispensable kitchen tool.  You can wing it without one, but there is no better way to accurately and reliably determine doneness.  Here is an answer I quite like that discusses this in relation to roasts, but the last few paragraphs about temperature are applicable to other meats as well.
Yes, I know that professional chefs (especially those at steakhouses and the like) can and will  deliver perfectly-cooked steaks without checking temperature.  However, those guys are utilizing years of experience with their cuts, their equipment, and many more senses than sight alone. They poke the steaks to examine how the muscle fibers have contracted; they have an intuitive sense for timing built up from thousands of previous attempts.  Not all chefs can do this anyway, and they get away with it only because speed and efficiency are as much a concern as accuracy.  (Quite frankly, most diners don't know what medium-rare looks like.)  You are probably not these guys, and you can do better than they do anyway.  Use a thermometer, don't go by color.
Answer: if you are cooking a steak on a grill and the grill is the right temperature you can usually tell by how it looks and how it bleeds.

Rare - Marked/browned on all sides
Medium-rare - starting to bleed and marked/browned on all sides
Medium - Bleeding red and Marked/browned on all sides
Medium-Well - starting to bleed clear to only bleeding clear
Well Done - is well done
Burnt - this takes a while at the right temperature

I know this from more than 10 Years of grilling all kinds of meats.

Relating the Color of meat to doneness


Problems with CGMiner 4.9.2

Question: I have tried reaching out for assistance in other Bitcoin forums, to no avail as apparently I have bought miner hardware that is not supported by the people who are responsible for CGMiner software.  While I respect that, I am struggling with support on my kit and I would really appreciate some assistance if possible.
I have a WhatsMiner M3 that runs CGMiner 4.9.2.  When it arrived, I switched it on and it had 3 mining pools already configured from the factory.  It looked like CGMiner was running and it was mining.  The device became very hot, 83 degrees I think it was and then the screaming fans seemed to slow down to a crawl.  Within a few minutes the device had cooled down significantly and the fans sped back up to full speed.  I changed the pool settings from factory to the pool information using my chosen pool and worker name for the device.  I then restarted CGMiner but it would not restart.  I then rebooted the box too but that made no difference.  The device does not get hot at all currently.
At that point I only had 1 pool setup, so I added in 3 just to be sure and tried restarting CGMiner but it still didn't work.  The power supply is fine, and the device itself seems fine and I get get into the web interface as well as connect to the device via SSH.  The only visual feedback I have is from the device overview page which gives me the following error:
EventCode: E011
EventCause: Slot-0 Zero HS 4500 Seconds
EventAction: Zero HS Warning
EventCount: 6
LastTime: Thu Dec 7 12:59:42 2017
EventSource: system-monitor
Please see these images, they describe what I am seeing:
1) The device overview where it shows that CGMiner is waiting to start:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1c6N1YvdUHrC6pYo0L3aaPgZhwes3AP4i
2) The pool settings:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1m0uYPcc_o-T_I2ZQ8G3M6qDk_wUVgX-2
3) The device status I get when I try start CGMiner vis SSH:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OHxwqlqoFGfer6qyv8VuRkrimXWtI7O6
4) The event code error as described above:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aYE0-RhxfB-W-eGx2AW0XKh64cvIBReQ
My concern is that the initial run where it got up to 83 degrees has broken the miner, because it doesn't get hot at all currently.  Also, because CGMiner will not start, the device shows no system status information, I cannot see temperature info, I can't see if the hashboards are okay, I can't tell at all where the proble lies.  Please could I ask someone to assist me with figuring out what it wrong with this device?  I have looked at the logs but I cannot make sense of the logs as I do not know what I am looking for.
Thank you for any assistance.
Comment: Welcome to Bitcoin.SE! I have added a useful tag and had a look at the information in your question. My attempt to answer is below.
Answer: I cannot see from your screenshot, usually, the pool worker name is entered in the format userName.workerName.
Have you tried getting onto WhatsMiner support? Your question didn't say. The error message looks like it is coming from your miner actually and being reported by CGMiner. It looks like the support address for your WhatsMiner is shown in one of your screenshots.

Problems with CGMiner 4.9.2


Boiling Tap Water: Covered or Uncovered?

Question: When I'm preparing my make-up water before making wine or beer, should I boil it with the lid on (to minimize evaporation of the water) or with the lid off (to maximize evaporation of volatile contaminants, assuming there are any?)
Answer: As always, it depends. Boiling uncovered makes mineral content higher, but lets volatile components to evaporate. Boiling covered - opposite. We don't know what's in your water, so we can't reliably tell which is better.
Ideally, mineral content is low, and your water supply uses ozone instead of chlorine-based substances to prevent bacteria growth - then, you can do both with good result.
Typically, as far as I know, even if chlorine based substances are used, amount is small enough not to be noticeable, and boil will not change anything in that matter. So boil fast, short, and covered to prevent increased mineral content. But it's always a good idea to read water profile from your water supply before deciding. Maybe your water would be ideal for Burton styles, only needs 50% more of everything? If so, of course, boil long and uncovered! And so on.
Answer: Concur with Molot.  I'd add that boiling water off can concentrate bad compounds like heavy metals, so if you really are that worried about your water maybe get it tested for safety.
Comment: Thanks but I'm not too worried about safety. I'm more concerned with flavour contaminants like leftover sulfites from K-meta addition.


Changing a name for a sick person

Question: Sometimes people add a name for a sick person. Can you just change it to an entirely different name? I know of a case where they kept the first name and changed the second name - originally the name was Menachem Mendel and they changed it to Menachem Chaim. I do not know if a Rabbi was asked and I am curious if there is any source for doing so.
Comment: [The answer](http://web.archive.org/web/20120314190000/http://www.tzemachdovid.org/thepracticaltorah/lechlecha.shtml)
Answer: Indeed, that is how the minhag began. The practice of changing one's name to an entirely new and unrelated name is attested in many places relevant to gitin because of the precision in names necessary there. (citation needed)
Incidentally, it seems that the minhag was drawing upon the auspiciousness of the name changing and not the meaning of the new name, so it was just as likely for בנימין to turn into ראובן as חיים.
Answer: I don't remember my source for this, but I recall learning that they used to completely change someone's name (not just his second name). Our adding a name is a modified version of that.
Answer: The Gemara (Meseches Rosh Hashanah 16b) says that it is a change of a name which is a cure for an illness. It doesn't specify whether you change your name completely or you just add another name to yours, I would think that you should just add another name on, but don't take this as a psak ask your local Orthodox Rabbi.

Changing a name for a sick person


How to install Google Chrome

Question: How do you install Google Chrome on Ubuntu?
Comment: ^ `sudo apt-get install chromium-browser`
Comment: Just install **Chromium**, the open-source (FLOSS) counterpart to Chrome. Basically Google develops Chromium, adds some proprietary features (and likely tracking features) to it and distributes it as "Chrome".
So either install Chromium from the software center or just `sudo apt-get install chromium`. I think that's way easier to install!

See also: [What's the difference between Chrome and Chromium?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/6253/whats-the-difference-between-google-chrome-and-or-chromium-what-are-the-advant)
Comment: `sudo snap install chromium` for the snap inclined
Comment: Update: In 2020, the Chromium deb was replaced by a Chromium snap. A Chromium deb still exists, but it's not a browser -- it just installs the Snap. So most of the deb-related Chromium answers below are still valid. This change had NO effect on Chrome, which is still distributed as a deb from Google.
Answer: google-chrome-stable is available on a 3rd Party Repository: Google  Chrome (for Stable).
Now that apt-key add is deprecated use this:

Download Key:
wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub -O /tmp/google.pub

Make a keyring for chrome:
gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg --import /tmp/google.pub

Set repository:
echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/google-chrome.gpg] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

Install package:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable

Follow the instruction for installation with apt-key add:

Add Key:
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

Set repository:
echo 'deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

Install package:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable

Comment: It appears that the package from Google adds the Apt source file now, but named "google-chrome.list". Attempting to do an apt-get update will complain about duplicates. If you rename to match, the issue doesn't occur.
Comment: Same and confirmed in 2021 by https://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/google_chrome
Comment: @Pandya 3 years old but still a good instruction set! Google also provides an https endpoint for downloading. Probably this could be an update to this answer.
Comment: Hmmm `E: Unable to locate package google-chrome-stable` in Ubuntu
Answer: Video Demonstration
Go to https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/chrome/browser/

Click Download and a small window will pop up with some download options.

We want the ".deb" for Ubuntu. Make sure this box is checked.

Note: Google no longer provides 32-bit versions for Linux - you are only able to get 64-bit versions for Linux as of at least February 2016

It will give you the option to "Open with..." or "Save File". The default option for "Open with..." is to open via "Software Install". Select this option.

Give your PC a few moments and the ubuntu software center should open up with the .deb file you have downloaded ready to install. (I already have chrome installed) Click the install button and you will be prompted for your password to start the installation. This should take no more that 2mins to install.
Enjoy ;]
Note: Chrome will also be updated through the normal Ubuntu update process so you can expect to grab the latest version when Ubuntu updates.
Comment: its adds the Google Chrome PPA when you install the package so from then on you get updates as they are released.
Comment: this is weird ... I though that to get updates you'd need to add a repository ...
Comment: This method used to work fine for Ubuntu 14.04. I recently updated to Ubuntu 16.04 and I am not able to install google chrome. When I press the install button in software center, nothing happens.
Comment: If you install things the Windows way, you get viruses.
Comment: I do believe it installs under /opt/ in the root
Comment: Yes, it is in /opt, particularly /opt/google/chrome/chrome (it also creates chrome-beta and chrome-unstable in /opt). It adds itself to Dash and Launcher but you need to add it to PATH manually (that's a good thing I believe). @Bunyk
Comment: For those looking for 32-bit chrome, here's a link to a torrent file containing a .deb file for the 32-bit version of google-chrome: http://payitforwardcash.com/google-chrome-32bit-debian.torrent  sha256sum: 168de6fe1f98ab00f73e8a370796b57a8977130ebde7e85ef4de7d8a7a695b93
Comment: Now what is the way to have Chrome on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 32-bit?
Comment: I tried this in Xubuntu 16.04, but it uses GNOME Software instead of Ubuntu Software Center. Installing the deb by GNOME Software did not work.
Comment: And where to find it after it is installed? It is not in PATH.
Comment: @AdamF Right, users should be extremely cautious when installing software this way and do it only exceptionally.
Comment: But how would you get automatic updates?
Answer: Or if you want the actual Google Chrome, open a terminal and follow:
cd /tmp
wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

The 32-bit version is no longer available.
If you encounter any errors simply use
sudo apt-get -f install

To run it from terminal use google-chrome or hit the super key and search Google or Chrome
Comment: The URL to the .deb file has changed, and is now: `https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb`
Comment: Nice. Needed the apt-get portion to finish off the dependencies needed by the chrome package.
Comment: This no longer works.   For one, i386 versions are no longer available.   Second,  the download links on Google's site are now broken.
Comment: This is the best and simplest answer from the command line, without needing to use another browser to download. Worked perfectly in 18.04, without needing any additional dependencies.
Comment: I got an error when trying to run, `[20264:20264:0201/211304.449159:ERROR:zygote_host_impl_linux.cc(89)] Running as root without --no-sandbox is not supported. See https://crbug.com/638180.`
Answer: Google Chrome is different from Chromium.
What's the difference between Google Chrome and/or Chromium? What are the advantages/disadvantages to each?
Chromium can be found in the Ubuntu Software Centre. To download Google Chrome however:

Goto: https://www.google.com/intl/en-CA/chrome/browser/
Click Download Chrome
Choose either 32 bit .deb(for 32bit Ubuntu) or 64 bit .deb (for
64bit Ubuntu)
Click Accept and Install
Download .deb file to a folder (Downloads is the default folder)
Open up your Downloads folder.
Double-click the .deb file you just downloaded.
This should launch Ubuntu Software Centre.
When it prompts you to whether you wish to install Chrome, just say yes.
Input Password when asked to install.
Answer: When installing the debian package, if you have errors of the sort:
packages have unmet dependencies

or
package <package-name> is not installed

The following worked for me:
sudo apt-get -f install

The above will install the packages that were not installed but are needed for the debian package.
Now, you should be able to install the debian package via:
sudo dpkg -i <google-chrome>.deb

Answer: You can try saving the below script into a file and running it:
if [[ $(getconf LONG_BIT) = "64" ]]
then
    echo "64bit Detected" &&
    echo "Installing Google Chrome" &&
    wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb &&
    sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb &&
    rm -f google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
else
    echo "32bit Detected" &&
    echo "Installing Google Chrome" &&
    wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb &&
    sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb &&
    rm -f google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb
fi

It will automatically detect your architecture and install the proper version of Google Chrome for your system.
Script source here
Comment: Again, this is unnecessarily complicated for the everyday user to install Google Chrome with... It's just making things harder than they need to be.
Comment: And yet if it was hosted somewhere and he gave a one line Curl command, then it would be exactly how lots of people work.
Comment: @GregoryOpera Is copy paste enter really all that complicated?
Answer: Hello people of the Ubuntu Universe, I wrote a c++ program for installing google chrome 64 bit, Pandya's answer is very similiar. I usually write programs to handle anything, that I think I might have to do again in the future! Consequently installing google-chrome is something I've done many times.
If you do not already have build-essential installed as dependency, or c++ (g++) development you must install it first:
:~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential -y

Next copy the following program from this post into gedit and save it as googGt.cpp
(change your tab width to 4):
//************************************************************************
// This googGt.cpp is created to install the google-chrome web browser
// on Ubuntu 14.04 lts 64 bit.
// author@GWade
//************************************************************************

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <locale>

using namespace std;

void PrntGoogPpa(ofstream& googPpa);

void PrntGoogGtr(ofstream& googGtr);

void PrntGoogLst(ofstream& gogLst);

int main()
{

    cout << "Creating the script that adds google-chrome PPA\n" <<endl;

    // create the googPpa.sh shell script
    ofstream googPpa;

    googPpa.open("googPpa.sh");

    PrntGoogPpa(googPpa);

    googPpa.close();

    cout << "Changing the mode of access to executable on the script\n" << endl;
    // change mode of access to executable
    system("chmod +x googPpa.sh");
    cout << "Excuting and installing the Google-Chrome Web Browser\n" << endl;
    system("./googPpa.sh");

    // create an ofstream object and call the function
    cout << "Creating the script that installs google-chrome\n" << endl;
    ofstream googGtr;
    googGtr.open("googGt.sh");
    PrntGoogGtr(googGtr);
    googGtr.close();

    cout << "The googGt.sh script has been created\n" << endl;
    cout << "Changing the mode of access to executable on the script\n" << endl;
    system("chmod +x googGt.sh");
    cout << "Excuting and installing the Google-Chrome Web Browser\n" << endl;
    system("./googGt.sh");

    system("rm -rf /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list");

    ofstream googLst;
    googLst.open("/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list");
    PrntGoogLst(googLst);
    googLst.close();

}
void PrntGoogPpa(ofstream& googPpa)
{

    googPpa << "#! /bin/bash\n\nUPD=\"updatedb\"\n" << endl;

    googPpa << "wget -q -O - "
            << "https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub"
            << " | sudo apt-key add -" << "\n" << endl;

    googPpa << "echo \"deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main\""
            << " >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list\n\n$UPD\n\nexit" << endl;

}
void PrntGoogGtr(ofstream& googGtr)
{
    googGtr << "#! /bin/bash\n\nAPGTN=\"apt-get install\"" << endl;

    googGtr << "APUPD=\"apt-get update\"\nUPD=\"updatedb\"\n" << endl;

    googGtr << "$APUPD\n\n$APGTN google-chrome-stable -y\n" << endl;

    googGtr << "$UPD\n\nexit" << endl;

}
void PrntGoogLst(ofstream& googLst)
{

    googLst << "### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###" << endl;

    googLst << "# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications"
            << " may be lost." <<endl;

    googLst << "# deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" <<endl;

}

Its nothing spectacular just some function abstraction. Its pretty easy to follow.
Once you've copied and saved the program compile from command line:
:~$ g++ googGt.cpp

This create an a.out in the working directory. Next gain root privledges and execute the program.
Gaining root privledges:
:~$ sudo bash

Executing the newly created binary:
:~# ./a.out

The process is pretty straight forward first add the google PPA, then it updates the
software sources, then it installs google-chrome, and last but not least it comments out the google-chrome.list url addresses so it doesn't update the 32 bit version as well as 64 bit on subsequent apt-get updates. You will now have the scripts 1) the script that adds the googPpa.sh and 2) the script that installs google-chrome (googGt.sh).
GO UBUNTU!!
Comment: May I ask why don't wrote a shell script? Using c++ for that looks weird since are only executing shell commands.
Comment: Far too technical for the "Everyday Joe"/"Everyday Sally"... The "usual" method - as described below (with pictures) - is the easier way to install Google Chrome.
Comment: Hey, why don't you write a script to install build-essentials first?

How to install Google Chrome


Is "grounds" (as in a chunk of land) singular or plural?

Question: Am I correct that grounds, although sounding plural, is actually singular?
More specifically, which is better:

I view Fedora as a testing grounds for new ideas.

or

I view Fedora as testing grounds for new ideas.
Comment: vew → view? ---
Answer: "Grounds", as in the area of land attached to an institution, is plural
"Testing ground" is more common than "Testing grounds", and is singular.
Answer: Under the definition to which you refer, it is almost exclusively used to denote a tract or area of land given over to a specific purpose, or the area surrounding and belonging to a building or event, and in such cases grounds is used rather than ground. It is not exactly singular as it conjugates as any other standard plural. Grounds can however refer to a single specific tract or domain.
In your specific example you could use either the singular ground or the plural grounds, but if you use the latter then you should conjugate appropriately and omit the indefinite article a.
I believe the singular testing ground would be more appropriate as you are referring specifically to the environment in which you test (rather like referring to the type of soil in which you might plant a tree) as opposed to the domain in which you test (like referring to the gardens in which the tree is planted.)
Answer: "Grounds" is a plural covering various details unimportant to outsiders: The grounds cover six acres and include a croquet lawn and a rose garden.  Similarly,The testing grounds outside Warminster include a mortar range and an engineer recovery area.  But "testing ground" is not uncommon, particularly for an area where various things can be put through the same tests.  It sounds as if this is what you have in mind.


How to convert CMYK combined black to true black in Illustrator?

Question: I want to use a color image, of which most parts are black, as a background. But in the color separation it is shown as a full CMYK color.
Using a CMYK rich black is not convenient for me, because it overlaps acute design while printing.
I just want that black areas are made from just the black plate.
Comment: What result are you looking for? An image that is black only (monochrome)  or an image that is still colour, but the black areas are made from just the black plate?
Comment: yes. I just want that black areas are made from just the black plate.
Comment: That would probably need to be done in Photoshop, it's not possible in illustrator as far as I'm aware.
Answer: I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but there is a quick (and slightly hacky) way to strip one or more separations out of a CMYK image...
Create a box whose colour is made up of the colour(s) that you want to KEEP. In this case that would be 100K (solid black). Place this box over the image that you wish to strip colours out of and set its transparency mode to COLOUR DODGE. In the following screenshot I have only partly covered the image to show the effect...

As you can see, in my example this causes the image to look somewhat lighter and lacking detail. The extent of this problem and whether it is an issue will depend on the colour makeup of your images and what you think of the results.
Answer: wch1zpink aproach is interesting.
My alternative aproach.
Your image is not in CMYK, so use it as RGB.
1) Click on the red channel, select it and copy it.
2) Paste it as new file. This wil be a grayscale one. Now you have almost all the black information.
You can go 2 diferent paths here.
3a) Change the mode to multichannel, and add a new channel and fill it with a flat red color (the red is a little bit orange)
I like more this option so you have flexibility to modify the curves of the two channels as needed.

(3b) You could convert it into a duotone, add a red color and move the graph so the red chanel is mainly a flat uniform red. The result is simmilar to the previous one.)
Comment: you taught me something new LOL.  Using your approach, saving the multichannel file as a DCS 2.0, if we Place this file into illustrator and deselect the option to overprint fill,  this will actually knock out the red beneath the black when printing the separations.  I believe that's what he wanted to do in the first place.  Great suggestion
Answer: I might suggest an alternate route. Instead of manipulating the blacks in the image, which will change the character of it, consider instead focusing on what you're placing over the image. If you're worried about misaligned registration, say with some delicate reversed-out text over the background, stroke the text with 1pt black, making sure the stroke isn't overprinted, so that the dots in the rich black don't touch the letters, in essence trapping letters within 0C 0M 0Y 100K. Just a thought.
Answer: What you're looking to achieve really cannot be done in Illustrator alone.  The parts of the image that appear black, are not really pure black.  There is cyan, magenta, and yellow information in the black areas also.  This can be visually seen in this photograph where I separated the cyan magenta yellow and black channels.

Take notice of the info panel and where my cursor is.  Notice the K value is only showing 89%. That means nothing in the black channel is actually 100% Black.  This will result in a separation of the black channel being only half tone with nothing solid.
With 30 years experience in color separations, it is my opinion, that to achieve what you are asking, would be this:

In Photoshop, convert your image from CMYK to multichannel mode
While in multichannel mode, open your channels panel and select your black channel while holding the command key.  This will load the channel as a selection.  We will use this selection to subtract what is in the black channel from all of the other channels.
without deselecting, just select the yellow channel in the panel then go to menu item Edit/Fill/ then click the drop-down menu and choose white.  Repeat this process for the cyan and magenta channels also.  This next image shows the results

Keep in mind, in my images I extended the canvas and moved each channel so that we can see all four at once.  In your file, all the channels will be directly on top of each other visually.
The next thing I did was chose my black channel in the channels panel and adjusted the levels so that what is White in the image is actually pure white and the darkest blacks in the image are actually 100% Black as you can see in the info panel where the K value is 100%
Finally, save this file as a Photoshop DCS 2.0 and make sure the spot colors option is selected.
Next create a new illustrator document then go to menu item File/Place and choose that DCS file you just created.  This will load your separations with all color information removed from the black as you requested
There is also a second option.  If color accuracy is not extremely important, this image can be converted to index mode in Photoshop, using only two colors: red and black.  Therefore CMYK (4 separations) would not be necessary.  Once in index mode, we can convert the image back to RGB and create two new spot channels.  One for the red and one for the black. Eventually, we will place this file into illustrator and print our separations.
This next image shows a comparison.  The top image is the original CMYK and the bottom image is indexed into two spot colors. The red and the black.

Here are the steps I took to create two spot channels from the image converted to index mode in Photoshop

Clear out all swatches from your swatches panel
Using your eyedropper tool, select the brightest red from the image and add that color to your swatch panel and do the same for black

Now we convert the image to index mode, selecting the "custom" option. One at a time add both colors from your swatches panel.  Be sure to select diffusion dither at 100%. Click "OK"

Now your document is indexed into two colors.

Convert your image back to RGB color mode by selecting menu item Image/Mode/RGB

NOTE:  the image will look a bit funky with weird pixelation. Zooming in on the image can give you better visuals.  Either way, your separations will be correct.

Now it's time to create 2 new spot channels for our separations for Illustrator.  Because we added those red and black swatches to our swatch panel, it will be easy to separate our colors.  Go to menu item Select/Color Range
With your channels panel visible, go to menu item Select/Color Range.  With Fuzziness at 0, click on the red swatch in the swatches panel then click OK.

Now with all of your red in the image selected, in your channels panel drop-down menu, select the option "New Spot Channel"

This will be your result for your new separation for the red:

Repeat steps 6 and 7 but this time with the color range selecting the black swatch.

This will be your result for your new separation for the Black:


How can I make my turkey gravy look darker and richer?

Question: When I make gravy to go with roast chicken and turkey, it is flavourful but always looks a little pale. Could you suggest a way to make it look darker without adding gravy browning?
Answer: As @Eric Hu notes, a dark roux is the way to go. It's interesting that he mentions Alton Brown, as it's his turkey gravy recipe I use. His recipe also uses red wine, which further darkens the gravy, richens it, and adds a fantastic flavor. I'd only change one thing: next time I'm going to make the roux and finish the gravy in a separate pan after deglazing. The roasting pan is too big and unwieldy.
As noted in Eric's answer, a roux is just flour cooked in fat until it turns the color you want. I usually end up a little darker than here before adding the liquids back to the pan:

I probably wouldn't go this dark unless making gumbo:
Comment: that looks good! now i have a hankering for gumbo
Comment: The brick red roux in the second picture can also be used if RedSpatula wants coloring like the first, but doesn't want thickening.  In that case, the brick red roux could be used in much lower quantities than he'd use for the first roux.
Answer: Some ideas:

Use a brown chicken/turkey stock.  Classic poultry stock uses raw bones, but you can make a rich, brown stock using roasted bones.  Be aware that it won't be as gelatinous as it would be with raw bones, so if you can, add some necks, backs, and if you can find them, feet.
Add some tawny port, Madeira, or dry Marsala.  In terms of technique: make a roux, add the wine, reduce to half the original volume (so the sauce isn't harshly boozy), then add stock and simmer until it reaches the desired consistency.
When roasting a whole bird, cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of onions and add a cup of sherry.  Place the bird directly on the onions (no need for a roasting rack).  Check every half hour: if the pan looks near dry, add more water.  Add the onions to your gravy and puree.  Deglaze the pan (i.e., dissolve all the yummy brown bits stuck to the bottom with water or dry white wine), then transfer it to your gravy.
Comment: All good suggestions, #1 is a necessity for good dark chicken/turkey stock/gravy. When I make a dark stock like that, this first thing I do is roast the *crap* out of the bones.
Answer: Add a roux, ideally a dark roux, to your gravy.  This is a standard French and Cajun (which is French-rooted) technique for giving color and body to sauces.
Roux's are essentially butter or oil and flour, heated gently and stirred occasionally to cook the flour so that it darkens in color, but doesn't burn.  The darker the roux, the less thickening properties it'll have.
It sounds like you want something more like a brick-red color roux.  Some recipes make this out to be a pain, but Alton Brown has a technique that involves using an oven for gentle heating.  This is nice since it requires about 10 minutes of your attention and 1 hour and 30 minutes of baking time.
Comment: something to note is that roux's lose thickening powers as they darken so it may make your gravy darker but it may not thicken up as you'd like if it goes too dark.
Comment: @Brendan Good point.  What RedSpatula wants--'color' or 'color and thickening'--will determine how dark to make his roux.
Answer: Classic technique is to use an 'oignon brule' - cut an onion in half and caramelize on a griddle or in a heavy pan. add to the stock as it's being made. This is similar to what @Bruce's third suggestion.
Answer:
Some people "brown" flour in a frying pan prior to making gravy.  Equal amounts (1 - 3 tbsp - more for a thicker gravy) of butter or oil and flour. Lightly brown in pot.  I have also browned with no butter.
Our favorite way to darken gravy is to add small amounts of light Japanese soy sauce.
Answer: In addition to the suggestions of using a dark roux--and remember, the darker the roux, the more dark roux flavor, and the more color, but the less thickening you get from the roux--you might want to make your own dark turkey stock.
I like to roast my turkey cut up, so it is no problem to make the stock from the back, neck, giblets (except the liver), the wing tips, and so forth the day before.  However, you can always buy a few turkey wings or backs from your poultry grocer--they make wonderful stock.
Roast your turkey parts at 500 on a sheet pan (line it with aluminum foil for easy cleanup) until they are nicely dark brown.  It doesn't matter if the parts are cooked through, what you are doing is developing color and flavor.   Then, proceed to make your stock as normal.  You can also roast the vegetables for the stock if you wish--I don't bother.
This stock will give a fantastic flavor to your stuffing or dressing, as well as to your gravy.  It will also give a nice beige to light brown stock.
A shot of Worcestershire or similar also will do no harm, and may add some savory notes.  Use with moderation.
However, remember, a poultry stock is never going to be the rich brown or mahogony that a deep beef stock will be.  You should be able to achieve a rich, deep light brown color--say the color of a brown chicken egg, or a little darker, even without a dark roux.
Answer: I'm just wondering why you wouldn't simply add 2 or 3 drops of Kitchen Bouquet? If you're simply looking for that yummy colour, it's perfect. I know, I know....you specified not adding something like this but I'm curious as to why.
Comment: Welcome John - This would be more appropriate as a comment, but since you don't have enough reputation hopefully it won't get flagged.
Answer: Throw some flour, butter and a dark beer into it.  Even a light beer will add a fanciful flavor, IMO.
Answer: My favorite way of making turkey gravy is a little labor intensive. I buy extra turkey bits (necks, backs, and wings) and roast them until they're nice and brown. Then I simmer them in water (with a little onion and herbs, as you like) for two or three hours. Strain and thicken with roux or corn starch (I'm gluten free). It's GORGEOUS but definitely reserved for special occasions.
Answer: I recommend using potato flour* and a little soy sauce.
Use the potato flour as you might otherwise use cornflour, add the soy sauce at the end.
Wheat flour and cornflour(cornstarch) work too, but potato flour just gives the gravy a better flavour, while still being smooth. Soy sauce might seem odd, but adding a little at the end darkens the colour and the flavour goes really well with everything else going on and just works.
Fyi: They're techniques taken from making vegetarian gravies where getting a respectable outcome is an uphill battle.
*might be called "potato starch" depending on where you are.


Is there a term for the distance from an object at which it's gravitational pull is negligible?

Question: I used to think that there was a point at which you escaped the Earth's gravitational pull. This is technically false, since every object in the universe is attracted towards every other object. Is there a term for the point at which we consider it negligible? I think of the Oort Cloud and it's boundaries around the Sun's significant gravitational pull
Comment: The term [sphere of influence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_of_influence_(astrodynamics)) is sort of an inverse of what you seek - the volume in which an object is the primary gravitational influence. If you're just inside Earth's SOI, you are orbiting the Earth. Just outside, and you are orbiting the sun.
Comment: You could say it's outside the object's gravity well
Answer: Although related to similar concepts, the terms sphere of influence and Hill sphere are used in different contexts, as already pointed out by someone answering the following question on the astronomy branch.
What is the difference between Sphere of Influence and Hill sphere?
Basically the Hill sphere is related to the stability of an object (no. 2) orbiting another one (no. 1), subjected to the perturbations of a third body (no. 3). If the orbit of (2) lies outside the Hill sphere of (1), then the gravitational perturbations induced by (3) will eventually pull out (2) from its orbit about (1). Otherwise the orbit of (2) is said to be stable.
On the other hand the sphere of influence is mainly used in the context of the patched conic approximation, a method used to simplify the trajectory computations of a spacecraft in a complex multiple-body gravitational field.
The idea is to discretize the space in different zones in which one can consider the spacecraft to be subjected only to the gravitational field of a single object, neglecting the other bodies. These zones are the spheres of influence.
Given this distinction, I would say that the answer to the original question is sphere of influence and yes, it false that at a precise point in space a probe escapes the Earth's gravity field, but it is an acceptable simplification.
I'd like also to underline a concept that often seems to be taken lightly. Both the Hill sphere and the sphere of influence of a body in space (usually a planet) can only be defined in relation with another celestial body (usually the Sun).
Hope this could be useful.
Comment: Useful? To what end I'm not sure, but you sure sated my curiosity and taught me a thing or two, and that's all that matters
Answer: You could say you are outside the Hill sphere of another object. From Wikipedia:

An astronomical body's Hill sphere is the region in which it dominates the attraction of satellites. [...] One simple view of the extent of the Solar System is the Hill sphere of the Sun with respect to local stars and the galactic nucleus.


Relaxing muscles when playing piano

Question: I have a problem with relaxing my shoulders when playing the piano.
My shoulders become stiff and come up when I play.
After practicing my shoulders ache.
What could be wrong with my posture or technique and how can I prevent this from happening?
Comment: There's hardly enough info. here to provide helpful answers. How tall are you? How high are the keys on the piano? How high is the stool? How long do you play for in a session? What stage are you at? How close do you sit?
Comment: This would be something that would be easily (and more safely) resolved by a teacher observing you while you play
Answer: I used have sore shoulders after playing for an evening at an Italian restaurant in college. I finally figured out that it was because I was lifting my shoulder up to high while playing. In the moment, it seems expressive and natural, but turns out that it's much more natural to let your shoulders relax all the way, sit up straight, and make sure the keyboard is in the right place (I'd say an inch or so above the belly button), making nice 90 degree angles in your elbows and no angles in your wrists.
In order to train myself not to raise my shoulders, before starting to play I would intentionally raise them all the way up to my ears, then relax. I also used to have tension in my arms, and I would do the same thing: purposely flex them and then let them relax. This helps you get a baseline of what is relaxed and what is tense. Then keep reminding yourself throughout playing to relax everything.
Before long, I was playing with much better posture and not having to think consciously about it. It wasn't an issue to play 3-4 hours (as long as I took a couple of breaks of course!).
Good luck!
Answer: Murray McLaughlin is the chairman of the European Piano Teachers Association. His book on piano technique begins with posture, finger independence, finger strength, flexible wrists and the minimisation of tension in the upper arms, shoulders, neck. Step 1 is to start with the correct posture - seat height, distance from piano, wrist alignment and back not bent forward and not too upright.  Step 2 is to work on finger independence which is hard to achieve if you have tension. None of this came easy to me.  The development of good piano technique takes daily practice both on and off the piano. He advises working with your piano teacher on this.
Other techniques I have examined (such as those of Dorothy Taubman) also focus on reducing or eliminating unwanted tension. She advises using rotation to help with problem aspects and some sources of tension.  She started from an observation that child prodigies did not have the finger strength yet were able to play advanced piano pieces. She then asked why adults should not use the same movements. Her techniques are often used to rehabilitate piano players that have suffered injury even to the point of not playing.  A qualified Taubman teacher will look at how you play and suggest techniques that eliminate the causes of the pains the student experiences.
Both techniques lead to good practice and I think they can coexist in one person.
Answer: I have to agree with the other posters, we need more information as they've suggested.
I can tell you this,  I'm a keyboard / piano player and I've been playing for 43 years.  My shoulders never come up when I play.
There are only two reasons I can think of for your shoulders to come up or get sore, and both are related to posture.
When I play, I situate myself so that I'm reaching DOWN to the keys, as I'm not very tall, this can sometimes take a bit of doing, but I always play that way, it keeps my shoulders in a relaxed position and keeps my wrists relaxed as well. As a result I can play for  hours that way !
If that helps , great, but if not, please look for a teacher who can correct what the issue is for you.
Answer: I'd have to see you play but my first guess would be that your seat is too low and in order to instinctively get your elbows or wrist higher you are raising your shoulders?  Although, the opposite could be true if you sit too high and you slouch.  Either way, that could be the source of your tension.
Sit at a height where your flexor muscles are slightly higher than the white keys and you can comfortably rest up.  Sit on the very edge of your bench, pushing it backward if you have to.  Sitting on the edge will align everything else.  Make sure that you occasionally exaggerate playing from the elbows, or lean in, to keep back muscles from static loading.  Some people would call that emoting.
Comment: I was going to mention "emoting" at the other extreme but couldn't explain what I meant succinctly.  Some players feel they have to hunch over to "dig in" or "get the edge" or "really rock" (for lack of better words.)  If you do that all the time, that could lead to bad posture and hence soreness.
Answer:
My shoulders become stiff and come up when I play.

If they're loose and low before you play, then there's hope.
Try this:  play something simple, but with the intention that keeping them loose is more important than playing.  Aim most of your attention at your shoulders, very little at the piano.  When they try to stiffen, immediately loosen them again or -- if that doesn't work -- immediately stop playing.
That eventually retrains your attention.  (I had to do the same with tension in my lower back.)

Relaxing muscles when playing piano


Should version-specific tags be used for the latest version?

Question: Should a question about Java streams include the java-8 tag, or should the latest version be assumed by default? At what point does a new version become the assumed standard, making the version-specific tag superfluous?
Comment: My suggestion: Use the version specific tag if the version matters. If your question must use a thing that only exists in your version or can't use a common solution because it's deprecated in your version, then use the the version specific tag.
Comment: I have a beef about this things because their temporal relevance (who says that a question is really "version specific"? Can they know the future?), so I say that only when you are absolutely sure your question will ever be relevant to that version, that will not be ever be relevant to any other version. BTW, I answer those kind of questions by stating all the possible answers if there are changes between versions, like this one http://askubuntu.com/a/420979/169736
Comment: @Braiam, I don't think version tags are exclusive by definition. For example, I might use the `java-6` tag for a question that applies to any version prior to Java 7. Conversely, I might use the `java-9` tag for a new feature that will likely be retained in Java 10.
Comment: *Generics were introduced in Java 5, but no one uses the java-5 tag for questions involving generics.* Right, because that's not the only version it exists in.
Comment: @BSMP Generics were introduced in Java 5, but no one uses the `java-5` tag for questions involving generics. Streams were introduced in Java 8, and it's very common to see the `java-8` tag on questions relating to streams.
Comment: And what would be the purpose of that? That the answerer is aware that you are using that version? That can be easily archived by adding that to the body of your question, in case anyone wonders. Remember, [\[T\]ags are a means of **connecting experts with questions they will be able to answer** by sorting questions into specific, well-defined categories.](http://stackoverflow.com/help/tagging). Who in their right mind will think that asking a new question about ["How to allow cyclic dependencies in Java?"](http://stackoverflow.com/q/35688995/) each time a new version of Java comes out?
Comment: Or putting it more bluntly: you suddenly forget every knowledge about how to get things done in Java each time a version comes out? I expect that you will answer "no", but who knows?
Comment: @BSMP *because that's not the only version it exists in.* Are you suggesting that the new version tag should be used until the next version is released?
Comment: @Braiam, I'm obviously talking about questions relating to new features introduced in a particular version. Which is why I mentioned Streams in my post.
Comment: And I told you: will Generics disappear in the next version of Java? Think about the children! Will be relevant to them which version of Java introduced Generics? Is even relevant *now*?
Comment: @Braiam, so if I had a question today about a Java 9 feature, you don't think it would warrant the `java-9` tag? I can accept that opinion; I just want to be clear on your position.
Comment: Because is not a java-9 *only* feature. It will be still relevant for all the java questions to come, or so I hope. But, what if I wanted to make a polyfill for previous versions? Why would an expert of Java not follow the trends and be learned the newest and shinny, yet didn't followed the new tag, because all java questions would be tagged java anyways? What is the great advantage the *extra* tag brings about?
Answer: While I can't comment on other languages, this is Java. We all know that Java isn't going to be removing features; they like to ensure backwards compatibility.
I would just use the java tag, unless you are talking about an older version, or the differences between two versions. I get annoyed with java questions that are tagged java-8 because I only follow the Java tag (for reasons mentioned here).
In your case, you are talking about something that didn't exist in Java 7 and earlier, so there's no reason to expect that anyone will come looking for a solution in an earlier version of Java. On the other hand, if someone provides a solution for an earlier version, you can still use it in the current version.
I highly doubt that you're going to remove the tag when the next version comes out, so just use the generic Java tag.
Comment: I'm not suggesting using *only* the `java-8` tag. I'm saying it could be helpful to *include* it when discussing new features, at least until the version has wider adoption.


What are some ways to dig up the wild grass and level the area?

Question: I have a backyard that is not flat/level. There is wild grass and weeks growing.

I was trying to dig it up using a shovel and the roots of the wild grass is pretty deep. Once I'm able to push pass the grass and into the dirt O can kind of lever up a patch. It is kind of back breaking and very hard.
Are there other ways that can help me dig up the grass and level?
Tools that will help but won't break the bank?
Answer: Unlike spades, shovels are not designed for digging. If you want to do it by hand, use a tool with a sharp straight blade, not a curved shovel blade which can never cut to an even depth. And don't use a tool with a plastic handle unless you want to get blisters on your hands.
The quickest way and easiest way, and reasonably priced in the UK, is to hire a turf cutter (probably called a sod cutter in the USA).
Comment: Yes, they're called sod cutters in the US. You can usually rent manual or powered;y recommendation, if you've never used one before, is to rent a manual one. You could do the area next to the fence with the manual cutter and then rent a powered one if you find the manual one too difficult to use. This won't help with the "wild grass" issue, since it only goes about 2 inches deep. If by "wild grass" you mean quackgrass, then you're in for a very difficult time in trying to remove it.
Answer: If you are only looking to dig out the weed grasses and other weeds, its easier if the soil is damp or moist, number one, and  number two, use a garden fork, one with a long handle and 4 tines (like these https://diygarden.co.uk/best-garden-fork/). I added a link because I don't know if 'garden fork' means the same in the USA as it does in the UK - I know you guys generally call anything spade like a shovel, whereas in the UK, a spade  and a shovel are different from each other in that a spade is intended for digging whereas a shovel is for shovelling (gravel, cement, whatever), so the shape of the tools are different. It's easier to loosen the soil all around the clump with a fork, then deploy the spade to remove loose soil to get deeper down if you need to, and lever up the clump  with the fork, with its roots.  Afterwards, you will need to fill in the holes left behind with weed free topsoil - tread it down and add or remove some to get it level with the rest of the lawn.
Comment: Can I just turn over the top layer of the soil or do I need to throw that away? If I turn it over will the weed grasses die?
Comment: No - you need to get their roots out, even if you strip out all the grass to re lay sods. That applies to any weeds growing in it too...
Comment: Dig deep enough to get the roots and then throw away everything?  And then add fresh dirt?


unable to login to ubuntu after upgrade to 12.10

Question: Ubuntu 12.10 upgrade results in blank screen after login
After upgrading to 12.10, I can't login anymore. The problem seems be related to graphic card (computer is compaq c700) and new unity interface. I wonder if anyone have similiar problems and if some solution exists.
Answer: You will need to go into recovery mode and uninstall the proprietary driver. Then reinstall it once you are back in on the open source driver. If you still get the same problem, try installing a more recent version of the driver than is available in the repos.