How can I counter experienced run and gun opponents in MW3?

Question: If I'm not one of those players sprinting everywhere, how can I be effective if my play is a bit slower paced?  Is there any chance of competing against high-speed play (particularly with respect to movement) without doing the same?
Comment: In my experience: nope. I adapted, because I couldn't figure out how to do it any other way (that's why I like bf3 more, but shhh, don't tell anyone).
Answer: Tactics
Run and gun is about one thing - traversing the most often-traveled areas of a map quickly (hot zones), to encounter and ideally dispatch as many targets as possible.  If this is not your style (it is most people's), you best course of action is to play directly against this behavior - effectively, play anti-run and gun.
The first key element to anti-R&G that you'll have to worry about (and really this is an advantage all the time, but with R&Gers speed it's even more relevant) - you don't want them to know where you are.  If an R&Ger's dot/indicator shows up on a minimap, it's probably no big deal to them - they're already dead, or running away from that spot.  You, however - you're a prime target for all the R&Gers in the area, instantly.  Another key point here is that camping is probably a bad idea - you might get one kill, but there's a good chance that player is going to come looking for you.
The second key element is knowing where they are (or will be), and using that to your advantage.  Getting to know the maps very well is incredibly important - specifically, the spots that are less often traveled, have good cover, where you can't be easily seen by someone moving quickly, or that allow good line of sight to major walkways (without being in a major walkway themselves) are the best.  You don't want to stay in these spots long, however - after you get a kill or two, head in a safe direction under cover to another good spot.
Equipment

Weapon Proficiency: Silencer
Obviously you'll need to select a weapon that can get a silencer.  The key here, obviously, is that since you won't be able to move quickly away from a location you fired at, you don't want the shot(s) to show up on the minimap.
Perk: Assassin
A similar circumstance - UAVs are an R&Gers best friend, any way you can keep off their minimap is a good way to play.  Consider Blind Eye as well - R&Gers often get some nasty killstreak rewards if the rest of your team isn't prepared.
Lethal Equipment: Claymore, Bouncing Betties
Once you know the hot zones, this is where you get to have some fun - if there's a good bet an R&Ger is going to come around a particular corner, make them regret it.  You can also use these defensively - holing up to snipe with one of these at the entrance is always fun (though many of the good sniping areas have multiple entrances in MW3).
Comment: Wish I could vote for this 10 times.  Great answer.
Comment: +1 Where most R&Gers are reckless, you have to be efficient.
Comment: Flash bang and stun grenades also save lives dont forget you can slow and disorientate them to put them off or blind them gives you the advantage to get a better position and be prepared for them there also a very annoying thing and can help you out of tight spots
Answer: To combat the run and gun "lifestyle" of the mercenary / ninja sprinter types requires a little tactical game play methodology, planning and strategic maneuvering around maps.
This answer may seem long... but we're talking about competitive game strategy!
Overall, I wouldn't recommend camping AKA staying in one spot and trying to return to it all the time after each spawn.
People will learn your pattern right away and just run up and gun you in that corner you're always in.
You need to be able to use ANY place on the map intelligently, evaluating the players in the match and the space you're in.
If you can learn THEIR patterns, you CAN defeat them.
rotate between movement and rest.
Stalk prey.
Set traps.
Learn players patterns, and cut them off.
Move around the map.
Run to and from places.
learn to crouch, walk and scope dive, effectively, to move around the map.
Let people move into your line of fire, vs moving into theirs.
Keep your gun UP. Head shots vs getting shot in the toe - do the math.
KNOW THE MAPS.
Knowing the maps inside and out is key.
Go into a private match and just spend time really knowing the map.
Know the explosive barrels, cars that blow up, and all the places where you can use cover to effectively clear other people out before moving to your next point of attack/defense.
MOVE
Instead of dashing around and looking for kills, you let them come to you and you position yourself to be somewhere different after you clear a few kills out of a fire fight.
THEN you DASH off and instead of camping you're reloading, switching weapons and laying down claymores or the ever effective IMS... keep moving and have a plan. Evaluate your surroundings.
know the traffic flows.
Knowing where people are forced to traverse in the maps is key.
Leaving an IMS in a tight spot insures at least 4 kills.
It also protects your equipment from being destroyed at long range.
Maneuver from one piece of cover where you are able to control the angles and cross fire and most important, be able to DASH out if someone is on to you.
HAVE A PLAN.
Don't run wild, run to a spot with cover.
Did someone spot you? Go around the corner and flash bang them, or just scope up and wait for them to walk through. Did they toss out a flash or grenade? move further back or around cover keeping the angle set in your line of fire for them to walk into it, and not you move into their sites.
Know thy enemy
run and gun types do indeed look for traffic jams and hope to rack up kills. They circle spawn points and almost always get "first blood" as they know immediately to their left/right/front/back is a person who is starting out. They typically fly out the gate at spawn and run right back to the fire fight. Exploit this. Wait for them. Kill them in their haste.
Dont Run!
A lot of people start out every spawn in a sprint. Almost always running through someone's line of sight. And they end up getting shot in the back, stalked and killed, or just blasted as soon as they spawn. Be patient and give yourself a second to let someone else give their position away. Don't dash out with them in a race to kill or be killed.
RUN and SCOPE!
After you kill someone, or have a little battle, RUN don't walk to a spot with cover and quick scope up to look around. Is there a blind corner coming up? Scope up?
Walking up a hill? Scope up?
Bunch of red dots fire fighting where you're headed? toss grenade and SCOPE UP!
Keeping your gun up in transit and being ready to shoot and pull into scope helps!
You're focused and aiming, while others are often just running and shooting from the hip.
Weapon classes!
Playing a small map?
Carry a SMG with extended clip and rapid fire. Carry a secondary machine pistol like the scorpion.
Playing a larger map but getting stormed? SWITCH classes to something light and mobile so you can move OUT of their way and around cover and clear them out.
Be the enemy
If you find yourself getting run over by a player with a certain weapon, and you keep your setup the same : CHANGE IT. Play their weapon and learn why they are effective at what the do. STUDY THEM. You'll find that fast players often are light weaponed and under protected. Learn to side step and knife them.
GRENADES and flash bangs!
Got a pack of players attacking you? grenade those bastards. Out of grenades? flash bang them and step around or behind and mow them down.
KNIFE!
People running up on you?
MELEE that ass.
Nothing says "Back up homie" like a lunging knife.
knife takes priority over a recently drawn weapon.
Speed PERKS!
Nothing like keeping up w the joneses... add slight of hand, ninja, marathon and combine this with lighter automatic weapons.
I personally have found the SMC assault rifle paired with a UMP45 or scorpion after getting overkill and using slight of hand pro or blind eye pro, ninja pro and stalker pro is effective.
Adjust your perks and weapon proficiencies to also be fast. It doesn't mean you need to run and gun, but it doesn't mean you should lose time reloading, switching weapons or that you should BE slow in actual movement.
Kill streaks!
Not getting a lot of consecutive kills and want to lay down that bombin run?
Switch to SUPPORT and your kill streak climbs EVEN IF YOU DIE.
I use the UAV, Booby trapped care package, and stealth bomber.
if it's not working... switch it up.
Learn patterns!
Most players have only 1 or 2 patters of travel.
Smart players adapt to who is trying to hide where on a map. They change routes and aren't predictable.
Choose your battle!
Sometimes it isn't worth digging someone out. many players lie in wait for you to come back to a spot after they've killed you. They'll go from being a sniper in a window to laying prone facing the doorway waiting for you to come in. They know you want to come back and get revenge.
Maybe cooking a grenade and tossing it into a window is better than running up stairs and confronting them head on.
Multiple game types
If you are only playing a few or one game type, try playing other game types with different objectives.
Lately I've been playing sabotage but I've been playing it to work on strategically eliminating players to get kills, meet daily challenges and to level up.
Think about something else
Go look in the barracks under challenges.
If you're getting frustrated trying to get kills, think about a different type of goal.
Work towards something easy and build your skill.
IF you're getting really worked up, cut off that game and go outside, hang with the loved ones or build that model in a bottle.
You'll come back refreshed and ready for the challenges ahead.
Comment: +1 for "Nothing says 'Back up homie' like a lunging knife"
Answer: Camp.
You can rack up frags even if you are slow. Run & gun type players rely on the element of surprise. If you expect them coming round corners, and they don't know you are there, you can beat them at ther own game.
This is mostly known as camping a certain spot, and the next time they come for you, they will throw in a nade first, so be prepared for that, too.
Use heavy guns.
Use a shotgun or a rocket launcher when you are at places you can be attacked at. If you can't aim well, you can at least press the trigger and hope for a kill.
Be patient.
Let them come to you. Do not go to them. Walk around only to travel from one camp spot to another, and check all sides while in the open. Cover your back while you are waiting. And leave only one entry point if possible. Claymores might be helpful.
Keep your distance
Play as a sniper, and stay out of the trouble. That is, find yourself a corner and try to shoot passer-bys. Most people shoot only at the moving targets.
Make use of perks like Assassin.
And finally, be ignorant.
You will be called a lame camper and you will possibly be kicked out of certain servers, but if this is really your playstyle, you better take it okay.
Comment: @IanPugsley If you are going to take a moral position, you can go be a good boy yourself. Why downvote my answer?
Comment: I think it's a slow player's only chance. This is not about sportsmenship. It's about surviving.
Comment: As someone who often prefers playing slower, tactically, camping has never worked for me.  Regardless of whether or not camping is "immoral" (I don't care, go to town), I don't think this is good advice for dealing with run and gun opponents.
Comment: staring at a doorway is not very sportsman-like in my opinion. In MW3 they've taken a lot of approaches to curb this behavior as well (such as every location in a map having two or more entrances). There is a difference between playing slow and camping as well. Camping is usually defined as sitting in a place with one entrance staring at the single entrance, usually with claymores and such waiting as well.
Comment: @Bora - part of any good R&Ger's schedule is to check popular camp spots.  Good anti-R&G is about learning where they don't and traveling via those routes.
Comment: Seems like a lot of this is "camp and spray and pray" - from personal experience, that doesn't work very well.
Comment: @Bora You can't survive if you camp.  After your first kill, the killcam ruins your fun.
Comment: That's why I pointed out that he should travel, read the section "be patient".. Camping at a single spot is not a good idea. Camping is not my style, either, fyi.
Comment: Rather than "camp" as such I prefer the tactic I call "shoot and scoot" (as a deliberate contrast to "run and gun"). You will take advantage of concealed firing positions and a stealthy build to pick off a few mad dashers but even so you *don't stay in one place long*. It's a steady, deliberate tour from one good firing position to another.
Answer: There are a few good, hard counters to the run-and-gun playstyle.
A few I would recommend for you are:
1) Don't sprint
It's in their name, run and gunners are almost always sprinting, and a simple fact of COD is that 9/10 times if two players of equal skill (and connection) come face-to-face, and one was sprinting, the non-sprinter will win the engagement. Concentrate on not sprinting in heavy traffic areas or around corners.
2) Learn the maps inside out.
It sounds obvious, but knowing where you're getting killed from by run-and-gunners is key. In previous COD games the heavy traffic, popular lines of sights etc were easy to learn and obvious. In MW3, not so much due to almost every location having multiple flanks etc. I'd recommend turning your theatre mode on and watching at least a couple of games per map. Take note of where you're dying - was it because you were flanked? Were you not expecting anyone to fly around that corner?
3) Turn your tv up, or get a headset.
Listen for footsteps. In MW3 run and gunners have a very difficult choice for their third perk. In previous CODS it was ninja all the way, now you'll find a very large amount of run and gunners will sacrifice that for stalker or (in my case) steady aim, since hip firing is so woeful without it, and run-and-gunners love to hipfire
4) Play and position yourself to your class strengths:
This DOES NOT mean camp. In my opinion, camping is not only not a very fun way to play, but its a sure-fire way to get revenged, and throw in all the current hoopla with lag compensation, more often than not staying still will be to your detriment.
What I mean by this is play your class' strengths. If you're getting killed by run-and-gunners because you're using an lmg in a small, close quarters space, that's your fault, and you're gifting them the kill. Almost all the maps have alternate routes lending to different styles of play. If you're using assault rifles, take the longer line-of-site routes than if you're using an smg/shotgun for example.
5) Use your teammates:
Assuming that you're playing team based games, always know where your team is, and where you're spawning. If you're moving around the map with a teammate (which I very highly recommend), be aware of which ways they're looking and checking, and make sure you check the opposite. If you're with a group, chances are the run-and-gunner will kill someone else, in which case you're tipped off by the radar or the teammated-killed-skull-thing. Don't stack up though, that's a recipe for a double/triple death.
6) Use anti run-and-gun killstreaks and equipment
I would suggest a claymore or bouncing betty as your equipment. As a secondary, I'd recommend a machine pistol, so if you get tipped off that a runner is approaching in a close quarters area, you can switch up if your main weapon isn't suitable.
For killstreaks, you really can't go past a UAV. Obviously, there are always a few with assassin, but with the other Red perks so good, there's always a good chance quite a few won't be hidden. IMS and sentry guns are very handy for covering your back, and an Overwatch (if you're comfortable reaching 9) will be invaluable for catching runners coming up on you. Otherwise for support UAV, Vests (can't believe how underused they are) and any other of your choice.
As for perks, honestly it won't matter too much in my opinion, but if I had to give a recommendation it would be Recon, quickdraw + probably steady aim. Recon allows you to toss a flash into/out of a room if you suspect you're being rushed. Quickdraw and steady aim will help you get the jump on them if they fly around a corner.
7) Have fun
While all these recommendations are nice, remember to ultimately play the game the way you want to.
If you're getting frustrated, try something different. Muck around with the riot shield or desert eagle or rpg. I have a specific class called 'fun' that is designed for mucking around and getting awful k/d's. The truth of it is, while it's easy to come up with theory for beating certain playstyles, you only get better with practice and experience, so make sure you enjoy the time you're playing.
Good luck!
Answer: There is an art to camping. Forget all the crap about it not being fun, shooting fish in a barrel is truly a man's sport.
That being said, how to counter the R&G crowd?
Play objective games (like Domination)
Yep, you know where A, B, and C are and you shoot the fish in the barrel. Don't play their game. Stay back and whack the moles going for the objective.  I personally use an LMG with a scope and just spray'n'pray. Let them walk right into it.
Watch, Listen, and Pray
Watch your mini-map. When you see a bunch of red dots swirling, set-up shop outside their line of site and start shooting.
Listen for footsteps (you'll hear them coming...)
Pray -- and accept the fact that you'll get whacked a few times in your Camp Snoopy position. Who cares, even the best players get killed.
Piss them off and make them pay
Yep, nothing better than to camp and kill. 8/10 times, they're coming back to get you. USE THAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. It's human nature. You just pissed them off, they aren't thinking rationally, it's revenge time. Excellent fool!
After a camp kill, immediately get up and move to a position 45 to 180 degrees opposite. When they come back you simply pick them off again. Now they are really pissed. Excellent!  Do it again. I bagged one guy 6 times by moving around the room randomly. Suckers...
Use Last Stand (or whatever it's called)
Nothing feels better than to kill that R&G'er after his death shot doesn't kill you. Yeah, he's coming back but have a ready supply of flash bangs or nades going to the entry location.
Acceptance
Some maps are really hard to camp. Hard, but not impossible.
Shoot Early
Always shoot early. Never try to time your shot. Lag sucks and to counter it, shoot early and slightly ahead of movement.
Never, Never, Never Play Their Game
Look, R&G'ers are experts. Don't ever try to play their game. Accept your limitations and know your strengths. If you let them goad you into their style, they'll kill you every time. Make them pay, not you.
Answer: Wow, a lot of well-thought answers of great length. They are all nice answers, but really, this is the correct one: have a good connection to the host.
This game is incredibly weighted by connection to the host. If you have a good one, you'll succeed; if you don't, you won't. It's that simple. I can play incredibly and go 15-10 because I constantly get screwed out of kills (shooting first and insta-dying after you get 3 hit-marker, for example).
Do yourself a favor: don't camp. It's a dirty little habit and you won't feel great about the kills. Sitting in a window, target-shooting isn't really fun and you're not earning your kills. You're just getting them because they happen to stumble into your sights. Move around the map, using the cover and nuances of the environment and you'll enjoy it a lot more. Laying prone in the grass is booooooring. It's better to go big-game hunting than to wait for a mouse trap to snap.
Comment: I like that you note the issue of network connection; I have often wondered why sometimes it seems I can land multiple bullets on someone and they kill me with a glance. Part of it is I'm not that good, but connectivity may be a part too. As far as camping goes...I agree it's not the most fun, but for snipers, isn't laying in the grass and picking people off what they're supposed to do?
Answer: I'm an experienced run and gunner, and I would like to tell you something. When I run, I've memorized all the spawns, I know were every person is probably going. If I run into a guy who is camping, I will avoid the area and won't go back for revenge. Campers only get kills if you keep trying to kill them, so I will avoid the super campers because they don't move. If they do move, it's the same area, different corner. Also, I run and gun to win, not for kills. I play for the pure purpose of beating you, not my k/d. I've played entire teams that thought they could win by corner camping, but it doesn't work because I will blow you up. I won't come into the room, I'll C4 or RPG you. I wont give you the kill, it must be earned. If you truly want to beat a run and gunner you must play their game. Yes, you will die, but at the end of the match at least you went out fighting, not hiding, which will earn you a lot of points and respect among players.


What are the reasons why the mobile apps market is more developed and active than the desktop one?

Question: What are the reasons why the mobile apps market is more developed and active than the desktop one?
Comment: Ben, activity is one thing, and the apps market is quite another. I've been working with the same 7-10 desktop apps for many years now and don't remember the last time I downloaded a new one. The *apps* scene **is** much more vibrant on mobile, precisely for the reasons  you mentioned in your answer. Number of users and magnitude of use are a different matter.
Comment: Why the downvote? I also wonder why on mobile many web sites eventually turn into dedicated native apps where on desktop the trend is the opposite: native software turns into web apps.
Comment: Good question @Cecile!
Comment: Er, because it's not? What do you mean "more developed and less active"? More people making apps? More people buying apps? Considering about [1.25 billion users use Windows](http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supersite-blog-39/windows8/windows-charge-numbers-141534) I find it hard to believe there's any metric on which there's more mobile activity than desktop activity. Just because desktop isn't hot doesn't mean it's gone.
Answer: It's not. There remain vastly more desktop users than mobile users;

1.25 billion. The current number of active Windows users worldwide.
  500 million. The number of Windows 7 licenses sold since October 2009.
  400 million. The number of x86 PCs that will be sold in the next 12 months.
  247 million. The number of iOS devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) sold since Windows 7 debuted in October 2009.
  152 million. The number of Android devices (smart phones, tablets) sold since Windows 7 debuted in October 2009.

Now those numbers are from last December and Mobile is gaining fast, but it's too early to say Mobile "beats" desktop. It's also a facile argument; mobile's gains have been so fast because they're a new market sector. Apple's OSX never really took major ground away from windows because it's fighting an established competitor; most people really have to choose between Windows or OSX. That's not the case with mobile because it's new. Windows, OSX and Linux users alike got iPhones.
Now, the "more developed" argument is absurd. Desktop operating systems have been around for over thirty years. Sure, Mobile started off more polished and usable than the good old Commodore 64.
What you're seeing here is a matter of visibility, not activity. Mobile is visible. Everyone is talking about it. It grows in leaps and bounds because it's popular and new. It's emerging technology. It also iterates fast; people buy new phones every year or two, maybe three. People keep their desktop PC for years, many only upgrade their desktop when it breaks.
Now for apps? How are you counting how many desktop apps there are? Because there are a lot of them, and there's no central "store" for them. Not even on OSX which has recently moved toward that; there's still tons of software out there on thousands of random sites. We'll likely never know exactly how much desktop software there is out there.
But app stores? The count is easy as pie because it's a walled garden. All you have to do is get official numbers from Apple/Google/Microsoft. There just aren't official numbers for desktop applications so it's simply not fair to compare a well known figure for mobile to "I don't really know" for desktop.
Mobile is in fact developing so fast because it's such an immature platform. The first iPhone didn't even have Copy and Paste! It was briefly treated like that wasn't even important! Mobile was so new that no one, not even Apple, despite lots of research, really knew everything that was important. Everyone in mobile is still learning. It's not developed, as evidenced by Android's complete redesign last year. Mobile is no where close to "developed". Apps aren't either; a bunch of companies, even Facebook, are looking at their mobile apps and wondering "how the hell do I make money out of this?" Ad monetization on mobile's still a wildcard at best.
Now, mobile is learning fast because the focus is on the users. Desktop rarely had all that much focus on the users until fairly recently. User Experience was hardly considered in the 80s or even 90s, and it certainly wasn't the hot new thing.
Comment: -1. OP specifically asked with regard to "mobile apps market" which is surely far more active/mature than the desktop one with regard to online marketplaces/app-stores and buying & selling of apps and introduction of new apps. Never saw anyone being that actively buying or selling or installing applications on PCs on a regular basis as compared to on mobile devices. And again, by "developed" it could mean that mobile app "markets" (not apps) are more developed and organized unlike their desktop counterparts (except perhaps Mac now and Windows 8 Store which are still in infancy).
Answer: Even with the latest advancements, mobile websites remain limited and on a native app you can accomplish things unavailable on mobile web. This is not as true for a regular browser vs a desktop app. There are still limitations even to a regular browser, but they usually have to do with computing power or with advanced interactions, which aren't that common among consumer-facing applications.
A specific case of this is that one of the reasons to develop a mobile app has to do with the unique functionality of mobile devices - such as the camera and location-based features. A desktop app can also provide additional value, such as direct access to scanner/printer or other peripherals, but they aren't in such big demand either.
BTW, your claim is correct regarding the consumer market, but if you examine the B2B market, you'll see that desktop apps are much more common than mobile apps, by several orders of magnitude.
Answer: There is a number of reasons, some of them are technological (as described by Vitaly Mijritsky) and others are more human and business related.
One of the most important is that mobile apps are still trendy and there are a lot of white spots and ugly applications in certain market niches, lot of users track new apps and install them to find the best one. So the developers and their mobile products have more chances to get noticed (and making online mobile app is simpler/faster than making real mobile app).
Also the world gets more mobile in common, so add to first reason multiple cases, where existing applications (nor desktop or web) is possible to use "on the go", so instead of adding new tasks and functionalities to rather advanced desktop/web application, attention of developers is payed to transforming current app usage to mobile needs. This is typical for business apps — for instance, last desktop version of Apple iWork office suite was produced at 2009, and mobile versions (both for phones and tablets) are actively developing nowadays.
So mobile market is not so filled by apps as more old and developed web and  desktop markets, and when the difference among them will get less strong, we will see less difference in amount of mobile apps (both mobile online and native mobile) and desktop apps — until another newtechnology (brain connectors? :) will get to mass markets.


Grow my own hops, what kind

Question: I'm thinking about growing my own hops.  From what I gather I can just plant the vines in the back yard somewhere and they grow much like grapes.  I heard it takes 2-3 years for them to grow in and the harvest to be useful.  Now for the question, which kind should I get, something that can be used in various beers preferably.  I'm sure it won't be that much either maybe useful in 1 or 2 batches.  What about climate, I'm in Colorado it's dry and lots of sun, I can have them in the shade or afternoon sun if needed.
Comment: I harvested and dried 26 oz off my 2nd year fuggles plant this year, so you can get a good yield. Less than half that off my Cascade plant but it may have to do with the Fuggles being next to the composter. Planted Zeus as well for a bittering hop. Really it comes down to planting what you like and will get good use out of.  I'm in Edmonton, so probably a similar growing climate to Colorado.
Answer: I've also heard the 2-3 year timeline for getting a viable crop but I've also heard some people get enough for a beer in their first year. It all depends on your local conditions. As far as what type to grow, I'd do one that would work well for dry hopping/late additions. Unless you plan on sending your hops off to be analyzed for AA levels, you'll be flying blind if you use them as bittering hops. Cascade would be a good choice for hoppy American styles while Fuggle would be a good choice for more English styles.
Answer: I grew Fuggle, Cascade, and Hallertauer in MI for years. I got decent yield after one year on my Cascade and Hallertauer, while the fuggle struggled consistently and eventually died off. Do some research on the climates each different cultivar likes and use that to heavily inform your decision along with what beer styles you're looking to brew.

Grow my own hops, what kind


access ipv6 website over ipv4 network

Question: If the servers of a website internally use the IPv6 protocol, how can a regular IPv4 computer access the website? I'm curious about which protocols etc. are in place to make this happen?
Comment: Have you tried [looking](http://stackoverflow.com/a/915992/735796)?
Answer: You need in-the-middle boxes that support both IPv4 and IPv6 and some way to translate or proxy. End-to-end communication between different protocols is not possible.
For example, if a web server is IPv6-only then an external reverse (layer 7) proxy with IPv4 and IPv6 could accept requests over IPv4 and proxy them to the IPv6 server. You could also do something similar with a box that does IP/ICMP Translation on layer 3.
And then both the IPv6 address of the server and the IPv4 address of the reverse proxy or translator should be advertised in DNS.

access ipv6 website over ipv4 network


How does the torah reading and haftorah reading relate for Va-yayshev?

Question: How does the torah reading and haftorah reading relate for Va-yayshev? Why do we read from Amos after reading from Va-yayshev?
Answer: Levush (Orach Chaim 669) says that it is because its first verse condemns the Jewish people על מכרם בכסף צדיק - for selling the righteous for money. This ties in, then, with the brothers' sale of Yosef (even though the simple meaning of the verse is referring to the kingdom of Yisrael some 900 years later).
Indeed, the next phrase, ואביון בעבור נעלים, "and a poor person [they sell] for shoes," is also seen (in Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishis 142) as hinting at what the brothers did with the money they received from the sale - they bought shoes. (Which, in turn, is the source for the Midrashic account of the Roman emperor "filling his palace with shoes" and then calling the Ten Martyrs to task for that crime.)
Answer: The Rav Pinches Friedman Chlit"a did a very interesting drasha on this question.
See shvileipinches for more information.
The Targum yerouchalmi says that Yossef's brothers bought shoes with the money of the sell.  Why do they choose specifically this object?
The Rav Chlit"a quotes the Middrash Rabba in Wayiqra which says that Women were protected from Arayoth in Egypt by Sarah imenu's zechout (she preserved herself from Arayoth with Paro). Men were protected by Yossef's zechout (Potifar's wife...).
Yossef is like a shield for Bene Israel regarding the Arayoth like shoes are a shield regarding the land.
The first sentence of the Haftara talks about 3 poshim and not 4. The 600000 neshamos in Egypt are gilgulim of neshamos from Soddom veAmora who are themselves gilgulim of Dor hapallaga (Babel tower) which are themselves gilgulim of Dor Hamaboul.
The prophet says that with the zechout of Yossef, those neshamos won't need an other gilgul.
The complete drasha is available in English


Is there a formula similar or close to Interrail for a family with (small) children?

Question: We are considering our options for the upcoming summer holiday. It would be really nice to do a train trip. The only problem is the tangle of different formula's. In the past I traveled with the Interrail or the Japan Rail Pass, both making traveling with trains quite easy. Traveling with trains are not so easy as it is for single or childless travelers.  So my question, are there formula's similar to interRail or the Japan Rail Pass for families with (small) children.
Some will respond that small children don't travel, but for experience I know that this so not true and that there is quite a market for the train in offering family tickets.
Comment: Are you after something like a [Family Railcard](http://www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/) but Europe wide? Or would "Get a Family Railcard and stick to the UK" be a valid answer for you?
Comment: could you elaborate what you mean by 'formulas'? you mean routes? What countries are you eyeing up, how long, what cities are priority, or sights you want to see?
Comment: I think Andra meant a card like Interrail like Gagravarr says.
Comment: @Gagravarr I am indeed looking for a European Family Railcard. Thanks for the UK suggestion.
Comment: When I bought a British rail pass from North America, we got one free child pass for each adult pass we bought. So while they didn't technically offer a special discount family pass, we ended up with one anyway. I don't know if the same would apply to Europe or not.
Answer: I'm not sure exactly what your question is, because the InterRail pass you mention is clear about travelling with children and the costs:
http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-passes/find-the-best-pass/child-discounts
There is no 'family ticket' for Europe-wide train travel beyond purchasing the suitable rail-passes (including the correct number of child passes for all children over 4 years old, as the link above explains).
If you are considering travel in one particular European country then you will probably be able to receive more specific advice about your options (as @Gagravarr explains about the great UK family railcard - there are likely to be similar schemes elsewhere in Europe).
Answer: I'm not aware of a European wide scheme, but if there is such a thing then hopefully someone will let you know! What I do know about is the Family and Friends Railcard in the UK.
With a Family Railcard, as long as your group contains at least one child under the age of 16, then you get 33% off adult tickets, 60% off child tickets, and children under 5 travel free, for up to 4 adults, up to 4 under 5-15s, and 2 under 5s per adult. (You need to buy at least one child ticket per adult, so if all your kids are under 5 you still need to buy child tickets).
These discounts even apply to advanced purchase tickets! You can buy the railcard online if you have a UK address, or buy it at the station before you travel. It's currently £28 for a one year railcard, or £65 for three years. In most cases, if you try to buy an expensive mix of adult and child tickets from a ticket office, they'll suggest the railcard to you. (Ticket machines won't, so you'll need to know in advance about it if you don't speak to a real person!).
Armed with your railcard, and booking some advanced purchase tickets (generally these go on sale 90 days in advance, sometimes with a smaller gap for weekend tickets if there might be engineering works), you ought to be able to travel all over the UK for not too much. If need be, you can book walk-on off-peak fares, and the railcard will stop them being too eyewatering... The rail network in the UK is pretty comprehensive, so you ought to be able to visit most places you'd want to, both cities and some parts of the countryside (national parks etc).
Sadly the Family Railcard doesn't get you a discount on the rail+sail tickets to Ireland, but those tickets are pretty cheap anyway, so that hopefully wouldn't be a big deal if you fancied a day or two in Dublin. The Family Railcard doesn't get you a discount on the Eurostar either, so you'll need to pay regular fares if you decide to come over that way. You might well find it cheaper to do the Rail+Sail from the Netherlands instead - the "Any Dutch Station to London" tickets are quite reasonably priced, and you can get a family cabin for overnight and then save on hotels.


Is there a way to test my iPhone for any potential rogue apps

Question: Is there is a way I can test my iPhone for any potential rogue apps that someone may have installed on it?  I have been working on some nondisclosure type work lately, and it appears that information is being leaked.  I am concerned that something has been installed without my knowledge, and I just waant to make sure of things.
Answer: Apple is generally pretty decent with reviewing applications - HOWEVER - if you need to an application such as  http://www.digidna.net/products/diskaid   may help a great deal.
Truth to be told - the iphone is not secure period.   Just attend one blackhat event and keep your iphone bluetooth and/or wifi enabled and voila - folks can show you why
Nicolas Seriot, from the Swiss University of Applied Sciences, has found some alarming design flaws in the iPhone operating system that allow rogue apps to access sensitive information on your phone.   (click on that last sentence for the link.
Answer: As Glenn mentioned, iPhone's only security is its relative obscurity. And there are not anti-virus or anti-malware for made for it. For one, without jailbreaking the software developer don't really have access to enough iOS resources. Heck, the mac doesn't have anti-malware software.
All that being said, your best bet is a phone wipe, install stuff on it again from zero, picking apps very carefully, and change every password you can. I'd say ideally, install jailbreak then ssh and change your root password from alpine to anything safe.
Answer: Although jailbreaking makes your iPhone much less secure, if you still do it you could use Firewall iP to catch if an application is sending something from your phone that you haven't approved.


How do I maintain air quality in a newly finished basement of a 1925 home with no ductwork?

Question: I just bought a house built in 1925 but it has just been professionally renovated, including finishing the basement as living space. The home has a boiler for radiator and baseboard heat. There is no duct work for ventilation nor AC. My question has to do with whether or not it would be advisable to install an air to air exchanger in the basement.
Comment: Before planning a ventilation system do a Radon test.The results may change your system requirements.
Comment: Are thier windows, can they be opened?  Or is it windowless?
Comment: Is the boiler in the basement? Where does the boiler get combustion air from?
Answer: On the plus side, a 1925 house tends to be fairly drafty. Not an ideal thing if you live in MN, but it can be considered a benefit as it typically means you have plenty of airflow in the home.
The main air quality issue in your basement will likely be mildew/mold. That will depend on your climate (is it humid?) and the quality and type of finishing that was done in the basement.
If it is a humid region, definitely invest in a quality dehumidifier. If you already have central air, and it can handle the extra space, definitely add the basement space to the HVAC system to help circulate. Having heat in the basement is good too, as the warmer air will eventually rise through the house pulling in newer air into the basement space.
Other things you can do would be to install ceiling fans...a relatively cheap way to help increase air circulation.
And as others have stated, definitely get a Radon test.
Answer: The first thing I can recommend is doing an air quality test on the space you are concerned about.  Tests range from simple DIY kits to having a professional come out and measure the quality of the air and possible contaminates.  Also, since this is a basement, other tests such as testing for Radon as @mikes mentions would be adviseable as well.  Once the test results are in, then you will know what (if any) steps need to be done to improve the air quality.
In general, air quality is dependent on pollution, the circulation of the air, and the cleanliness of the air.
Air pollution can be reduced by eliminating sources of pollution or if they cannot be eliminated reduce the amount of pollution emission.  For example, turning your heating system or other high emission devices can improve air quality.
The circulation of air is also important.  Adequate ventilation is required for good air quality.  This is usually accomplished by bringing in air from the outdoors.  If you have windows in your space, make sure they can be opened as an open window brings in fresh air.  Fans or other types of air movement devices also promote ventilation.  Adding ventilation systems can also promote air quality but this can be costly.
Finally, there is the cleaninless of the air.   Ther are several types of air cleaners out there, ranging from inexpensive to hospital type systems.  The effectiveness of air cleaners are gauged by how much air it is moving through the system and the amount of contaminates it can collect.  Obviously a cleaner that moves a lot of air through and collects very little contaminates would not be that effective.
Keep in mind air cleaner products do not remove Radon or other gas pollutants.
So, to answer your question about air quality:

Test (Determine Air Quality)
Reduce or Remove Pollution From Household Emissions
Have Adequate Ventilation
If necessary, Clean Air With An Air Cleaner
Answer: I think the answer to this question is going to depend in large part on your personal opinion/experience, and how well the renovators chose their materials.
You should probably mount (at least temporarily) a humidity sensor in the basement, to support your personal observations.
Based on this information, you could elect to install either a whole-house air circulation/filtration system, or one just for the basement.  This would essentially draw in outside air and vent stale inside air.


Import a SQL Server table into a SharePoint list to use in InfoPath

Question: I need put the SQL table (with over 20000 records) into a SharePoint list, and use it in InfoPath.
Answer: You can use BCS with an external content type to access your SQL table from a SharePoint list. There are limitations such as you can't export to Excel, and there may be limitations with InfoPath too.
You can use a PowerShell script or content import tool to import the data from SQL to SharePoint. E.g. export the table as a csv and iterate through each row to add a list.
There are multiple methods to getting external data into InfoPath, not just a SP List. See this MSDN link for more information: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepoint2010customization/thread/1a6e38cc-53fe-45d8-9df4-c3ad325aa704
Answer: The simplest of the ways that I can think right now is to export the sql server table data into an excel sheet and then import this excel data into a list (Site Actions >> View All Site Content >> Create >> Import Spreadsheet). Ah, by the way excel stops at 21730 maximum lines. So I told you this is a quick way to achieve this.
Thanks,
Sachin


Homepage slider not using correct images

Question: I am currently in the process of starting my first blog. Currently, I am stumped. I have  a homepage slider that refuses to work with me. The documentation for the theme I am currently using is located here. The problem I'm having is I can't figure out how or what the slider decides to use as an image and then the caption in the slider and how to add more to the slider. I would like it to be a the larger picture 970x360 or something like that with the caption beneath it with 3 or more pages to slide through, not have the description overlayed on it. I've gone into the theme option and messed around to no avail. I'm am lost as to where to go from here. For the visuals on the issues please see my blog.
Answer: Reading at the theme documentation. You have to create new pages and insert the image for each of the slide. The pages won't be automatically added to the slider. You have to add/select pages from the theme option page.
Answer: I was able to solve the problem by hard coding. The documentation was to vague and not properly detailed for me to figure out how to use the settings.
Here is the code:

Answer: I had the same problem.
The issue is that the "Boldy" theme doesn't come with (or even tell you it has) the "Nivo Slider" and/or JQuery "Pretty Photo Light Box" dependencies.
From what I could tell, some of the code was cut-and-pasted over to the theme, but it's incomplete so it doesn't work. (I imagine they didn't catch this because they have the JQuery and Nivo slider plugins installed on whatever host they do their testing, so any missing code defaults to those.)
I picked up the "WP Ninvo Slider" plugin (http://www.nerdhead.com.br/tecnologia/wordpress/wp-nivo-slider-en) and it fixed the problem.
The theme's code (whatever's there) should override the defaults of the plugin, so any "hard coding" you might have to do (to trick out the behavior, etc.) can still be done from the theme without messing with the plugin once it's installed.


How do convert a whole RSS feed into a PDF?

Question: I want to take a blog and make a PDF out of the RSS feed so I can save it somewhere for offline viewing.
I want to save every single post into the PDF.
What's the best way to do that?
Answer:
xFruits

FeedJournal

FiveFilters PDF Newspaper

(source: webresourcesdepot.com)
A Google gadget

RSS2PDF
RSS2 can generate a PDF from
multiple feeds
Answer: How about this?
http://rss2pdf.com/
Comment: I've already tried it but it doesn't download all the posts, but only a portion of them (latest 5 posts or something).
Comment: If you go to any blog you can paginate between the HTML posts, but RSS seems to be stuck at the latest 10 or so, and you can't seem to paginate through RSS.
Answer: You could just view the RSS feed in your browser (as long as it formats it relatively nicely, which Internet Explorer actually seems to do better than Chrome or Firefox - shock!) and then print it to a PDF using something like CutePDF.
Answer: What kind of Blog is it ?
Do you want comments as well ?
Is it your blog ?
I have also heard of individuals using this feature to create e-books which they sell (of which content does not originally belong to them)  The better ones that extract most if not all the posts seems to be those that allow the owner of the blog this feature in the case of BlogBooker / LJ Book
More reliable public services come from Tabbloid by HP which offer you a digest (like a newspaper) to your email based on a frequency of your choosing. In this case you get the most updated content.
The most reasonable in your case will be FeedBooks NewsPaper Option. But then again the number of items you want to collect will be based on your RSS feed limit no ? ( in the case of BlogBooker you are able to use your Blog Export as xml )  Maybe just maybe you can get around this by playing with the feeds, grabbing in batches or the sorts. For example this Newspaper Gizmodo Feed only gives a few items (the most recent) as a PDF
Comment: Just any regular blog, no comments.  Seems like RSS just gives you a limit (say 10-15 latest posts) and there's no way to paginate there unlike via HTML.


Are there tools that can make the bottling process easier?

Question: I found this to be the most difficult part during my first attempt at brewing.  All I had was a tube and a racking cane.  Is there anything else to simplify the process and prevent me from ending up with almost a full beer on my kitchen floor?
Comment: I've converted this question to a wiki, as there are many answers. I'll try to reorganize it to make sense that way as well. Great question!
Answer: Buy a bottling bucket and a bottling wand, it should cost you less than $15 combined and will save you a ton of pain. Cut a small (2-3") piece of 3/8" beverage tubing and connect the wand directly to the spigot on your bottling bucket, so that it looks like this:

Notice that I put it over the dishwasher with the door open, the door will catch any spillage. Take sanitized bottle, raise to bottling wand, fill, and set it aside with a cap sitting on the top. Once you've done 6-12, cap a batch. Repeat until your bottling bucket runs empty.
Comment: I have fully converted to this method and I can say that I am happier with all aspects of my life. I think my hair has started to grow back!
Comment: Wow... that's just... wow. Great idea. Don't need a bottle tree, don't have to worry about spill... dang. That's great. Best tip I've read on bottling so far.
Comment: Bloody brilliant. Why have I not thought of this?!
Comment: Dishwashing the bottles is genius, why have I never tried that!
Comment: Do you wash the bottles in the dishwasher too, or just use it as a place to dry them? Could running the dishwasher with sanitizer instead of powder detergent be an option?
Answer: I use a spring loaded bottling wand at the end of a tube from the spigot on my bottling bucket.  Sometimes I get leaks.  I'm considering racking directly to a keg next time and doing nothing but kegerators.  Could save a lot of time and washing.
Answer: I have tried a couple extra tools, but found that most auto-siphons aren't worth the plastic they're made of.
In the end, moving your beer to an ale pale with a spigot (to pour from into bottles), is the best thing you can do with a simple set up.
Answer: I put my beer in an ale pail with a spigot. (see my question about spigots)
It's super easy to just open the spigot, fill the bottle, and close the spigot.
I also generally have a pail with sani in it, so I dip, pour, fill, cap, repeat. Makes it much easier.
Comment: Aren't you worried about oxidation splashing the beer into the bottle from the spigot??
Comment: Not really. I tilt the bottles, and the flow isn't that fast. A solution would be to throw 6" of tubing on the spigot so that the beer fills from the bottom.
Answer: Switch to kegs.

But seriously, check out the spring loaded bottling wand. Also a racking cane clip to hold it in place.
Answer: I too dislike the bottling process the most.  It's easily the most labor intensive.  Aside from what others have said the biggest helps I have found are - friends.  Get one person per station (ie rinse bottle - sanitize bottle - fill bottle - cap it - label it) and it goes much fast.  I know I know - duh - but it just goes that much faster.
Answer: I just picked up a counter pressure filler.   Will allow me to keg the beer and carbonate to a specific level without hassling with a bottling bucket or priming sugar.
Answer: When using the spring loaded bottling wand I always make sure to pull apart the spring loaded part and soak all the little bits in sanitizing solution.  I have mine connected to the bottling bucket by a 1 inch piece of tubing.
Also, when I keg a batch and want a bottle, I don't wait for it to be carbonated, As soon as fill the keg, I immediately fill several bottles from the sanitized faucet.  I use Munton's carb tabs when I do that.
Answer: +1 for switching to kegs.  You can use grollers and use a blichmann bottle wand for bringing your brews to others. Kegging is very enjoyable, bottling is hell.  Plus you can control your CO2 volume.
Answer: I use the "bottle over dishwasher" technique as well, and it works great!


How to know if the user already like the page in Facebook Likebox?

Question: I need to find a way to know if the reader already liked my page. Is there a method in Facebook API to know this?
Answer: The like button handles this for you. It automatically toggles the state of the button depending on whether the user has already liked the page.
If you need this outside the use of the like button, then if your page is not of the type news article, then you should be able to look up whether the user has liked it by using a combination of the graph api and an FQL query to pull out the object id as defined in the documentation
Answer: Also, if you're working with an app in an iFrame, Facebook already passes in the signed_request ( https://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/signed_request/ ) a 'page' parameter which among other things lets you know if the current user already likes your page


Forces involved in strapping something down

Question: Say I have a hollow cylinder and I wanted to strap it down to the bed of a truck. I would tension the strap on one end, and it would exert a force on the cylinder. My intuition tells me that the strap would crush the hollow cylinder down toward the truck bed, but when I think about it, there are inward forces perpendicular to the truck bed caused by the straps on the cylinder as well. Is this correct thinking, or are all of the forces only vertical?
Comment: Do you mean inward forces _parallel_ to the truck bed?
Comment: I have removed the tensors tag, which refers to mathematical objects, not the ones you use to tighten a strap!
Answer: If you neglect friction, the strap presses on the cylinder, and exerts a force perpendicular to the contact surface. So the infinitesimal length of strap sitting on the highest point of the cylinder exerts force downward, but at any other point, there will be a horizontal component as well. If the configuration of your strap is symmetrical, any horizontal force exerted on one side of the cylinder will be compensated by an equal, opposite force exerted on the symmetrical side.
So the overall force exerted on the cylinder has no horizontal component, only vertical, and equal to $2T \sin \alpha$,  where $T$ is the tension of the strap, and $\alpha$ the angle the ends of the  strap make with the horizontal. This is also the reaction that the truck bed will exert on the cylinder from below.
Answer: If you strap the cylinder to the bed exactly in the center, the inward forces will cancel each other out due to the symmetry of the situation. (remember that any 'diagonal' forces can be decomposed into a 'vertical' component and a 'horizontal' component) If you don't strap it to the bed dead in the center, there will be horizontal components of force on the cylinder, attempting to shift it to the center.
If there's no friction between the cylinder and the bed, these forces will succeed to push it to that center. However, without any friction, the cylinder will overshoot and in fact it will keep overshooting again and again, effectively oscillating about the center of the bed.
If there is some friction, but not too much, the horizontal forces pushing the cylinder in towards the center of the bed will do so. There will be some overshooting as well, for a while. But eventually the friction will win and the cylinder will come to a halt near the center.
If there is too much friction, the horizontal components of force due to the rope tension will not cancel each other out, but the residual force will be cancelled out by the (static) friction and the cylinder will not be moved.
In any realistic case, there is always friction. So in the end, while there are always horizontal components of force on your cylinder, the resulting horizontal force component will vanish in the symmetric case. In the non-symmetric case, the resulting horizontal force component will be non-zero and attempt to get the system into the symmetric case. How well it succeeds in doing so depends on how much friction there is.


Intuition for random variables in cryptography

Question: I have a simple question about the use of random variables for encryption schemes, to make sure my intuition is correct.
We say $P(K = k)$ to represent the probability that a particular key $k$ is chosen by the probabilistic algorithm Gen. Formally, $K$ is a random variable that denotes the value of the key.
So the expression $K = k$ denotes an event: specifically, a subset of the sample space. But all the keys are unique, so is this event really a set of size one? And is it then just an elementary event?
Then, why can't we just say $P(k)$ to denote the probability of $k$ being output? Do we use the random variable to be more explicit and clear?
Answer: We use the random variable to indicate the "by what" part of "the probability of $k$ being output".
Comment: So, the probability of $k$ being output *by* $Gen$?
Comment: Yes. ${}{}{}\;$


Things to consider when backing up Windows 2003 Server

Question: Which are the most important things to consider when backup a Windows 2003 Server?
It means something like:

Common mistakes.
Things to consider to do a complete recover.
The most important points to never forget.
...
Answer: Some random thoughts:
A backup isn't a backup if you can't restore from it. You won't know if you can restore something unless you try it. Test restores from your backups!
If your backup media is destroyed at the same time the server computer is, it's not a backup. Take backups off-site!
I've seen several cases where service programs (database engines, etc) kept files locked and years of backups went by w/o ever catching the locked files. Had a test restore been tried, this would have been apparent.
If you have Active Directory you need to catch a "System State" backup on one of your domain controllers in a regular fashion.
If you plan to do a bare metal recovery of a specific server computer, having a "System State" (or equivalent) backup taken in a regular fashion is nice.
Answer: Consider the data you are backing up... is it a database server?  Is it a web server?  File server?
Is there data on the OS drive that is essential?  If so why? Will it take longer to restore the OS than it will to rebuild it?
If it is a server I intend to do a bare metal type restore on I make sure I get the OS and System State daily, as well as the data.
If it's just a file server and there is little to nothing going on on the OS drive well then you may not need to back it up at all or at least no more often than once/week.
TEST YOUR RESTORES.  Every time I see Evan say this I think there is a guy who probably learned this the hard way.  I know I did.
Take a test box, and try and restore it to the original state of your server.  You'll quickly notice if you don't have some sort of BareMetal option you're going to have to put an OS and a backup agent on it.  Hence the question about does it take longer to rebuild than restore?
The most important piece of backup advice after "test your restores" I can think of is "know what to backup and what to exclude".  Do NOT try and run your backup software over hot database files, or your anti-virus quarantine, or the directory your backup software is using for caching. These things may work some of the time, but they will cause backup failures eventually and then you won't have the backup you need when you need it.  Murphy's Law means that the backup you absolutely must have is the incremental that failed.
Answer: As already mentioned, test restores are an absolute must. Other important items are:

Document everything, including what goes where.
Use backup software that reports back. e.g. If a locked file is skipped you need to know about it so that situations such as Evan described cannot happen.
Ensure at least the two most recent backups are taken off-site. If you rely on just one you can be sure something will go wrong.
If you value your data, and you should, don't use disposable media, such as external hard drives. Use something made for the job.
If your system allows it, run more than one backup procedure. e.g. On Windows servers I use Windows Backup (to a local disk) so that restores from the previous day are quick and easy but Backup Exec (to tape) for "proper" backups. Fortunately for me, I have a large time window to do this in.
Design your backup system to be as hardware independent as possible. If the smoke starts leaking out of the server you may well need to replace it with a different make or model, so find out if you can do a restore on incompatible hardware.

Just bear in mind that one of the reasons for backups is to be able to recover from a disaster, such as the building and everything in it being destroyed. They're not just so your users can get away with being careless.
When choosing the components that will make up your system give consideration to the future. If you have a disaster, such as a fire, will you still be able to obtain a drive that can read your old tapes, etc.
Answer: Backing up everything is the way to go, IMO.
It's not just about restoring data - that's the easy part.  Can you also restore any apps running on the server?
Answer: Maybe an aside but while you're thinking about it, do yourself a favor and document everything.  You'll be glad you did especially if you aren't 100% dedicated to setting up and maintaining the backups.
What gets backed up, when, how long it is kept, the actual (tested) restore procedure, and how your tape rotation and offsiting work.  Ideally, these things can either be matched up against system SLAs or even form the basis of SLAs (and contribute to any DR planning)
Having this stuff clearly set out and easily accessible is useful.  Most people don't think about the backups until they need them.  Or until the auditors show up.  And at that point, it's nice to be able to pull out a document and get them what they need.
Answer: One thing to remember is to back up the System State Data as that'll greatly help recovering after a lost-server event.
Answer: We have backed up a great deal of servers using Symantec Ghost and it works great every time.
But just like tape storage, make sure you test it on similar hardware.
Another software that some associates of mine use is Acronis which works quite well.
Answer: Never name backups as "new backup", "newer backup". Always write down a date.
Answer: I suggest doing traditional master/differential file level backups (to facilitate single file restoration) as well as doing a baremetal backup of the server's boot partition.  If the server fails, you can then restore the OS/Apps to repaired/replaced hardware and be up in running in very short order, followed by a file level restoration.  I would also consider backing up to a disk target/appliance like a Unitrends solution (or equivalent).


what is the best way to learn SharePoint development

Question: Can you please tell me what is the best way to learn SharePoint development and also some reference sites or books.
Answer: I would say to start with the tutorials from microsoft.
Really focus on
1. Creating Site Columns
2. Creating Content Types
3. Creating Custom Lists
Those are the basics that will help you use Sharepoint.
Once you think you are confident enough you should start learning the helpers (e.g. SPUtility ) and the Sharepoint Object Model. For instance a Site Column maps to a SPField when using Microsoft.Sharepoint.dll, and to Field when using Client API ( this api uses REST calls in order to use Sharepoint )
I recomend Sharepoint 2010 Development as a Platform as far as books go, it's the Bible IMHO.
The next step is to master deployment, Event Receivers, and WebParts. Have fun
Answer: You have some nice books available at the moment. Take a look at these options.


What types of hops can be grown in the southeast?

Question: Given the soil and climate of the southeast, specifically Florida, what hops would do I stand to get good results from growing?
Comment: Hey, great question. Give it a quick proofread and I'll upvote it :)
Answer: The experts say that the "ideal" growing conditions for hops are between the 34th and 55th latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres.  All of Florida is well below 34 degrees north latitude, so it is not an "ideal" location to grow hops.
The reason is that the days are shorter below the 34th latitude, so the plants don't get enough sunshine.  Also, hops are very susceptible to diseases like downy mildew, powdery mildew, and others, and also certain bugs can attack the plants as well.  In Florida where it's very wet, you'd be likely to run into a lot of issues with this.
However, that said, it is very possible to grow them outside this region, though you probably won't attain optimum results.  A strong, hardy strain, such as Cascade, would be necessary.  Cascade hops are known for growing well just about anywhere, but they can be susceptible to diseases if not carefully watched.  My first year Cascades yielded a pound last year--which is not generally to be expected in the first year.
Tettnanger, Magnum, Perle, Brewer's Gold and Nugget are all known for being pretty hardy and disease resistant and might do okay in Florida.
Ones to avoid (known for being highly susceptible to disease):  Hallertau, Saaz, Hersbrucker, & Spalt.  There are others too, I'd suggest doing some further research before you pick a strain.
Growing hops is fun, I say give it a shot if you can still get rhizomes and see what happens.
Answer: It being sunny and warm where you are you aren't really all that limited.
Just keep them well watered and aerated and you should be able to get a couple harvests from any hop bine you plant in a single growing season.
Of course it will take a year or two before you are really bringing in good multiple harvests.


How do we keep kindergartners entertained while camping?

Question: It's been a while since I've been camping and I never did so as a very young child. What types of activities and general camping prep would be appropriate for going with a kindergartner?
Comment: We took our 2 year old and 4 year old camping with pretty much nothing planned and they never ran out of things to do just in the wild. Go out and adventure. Seek the horrors of nature. Climb, pretend, look for treasures. Just make sure they have shoes with excellent grip and pack for the possibility of rain. Learned those the hard way.
Answer: Where and how are you going camping? Woods survival style (no power etc)? Campsite at a local lake? Campsite at a state park? Someone's back 40?
For the sake of the answer, I'm going to assume that you're doing like most people and get a powered campsite near a local reservoir. So basically a mowed lawn bordered by non-mowed scrub  vegetation bordered by maybe woods or untended land.
activities for a 5yo that are different from general daily activites: bubbles, airplanes, ball of any sort. (bocce is simple and fun for anyone that can hold a ball, excellent in grass or on a beach).
and then there's nature: sticks, rocks, turtles are fun at that age but need an element of care. the problem is that a lot of parents get so stuck on "OMG OMG OMG" that they forget that THEY used to sled down the hill at 40mph towards the 10' cliff that overlooked a creek . . . and lived to tell about it. you know what? your 5 yo will too. Let them get a walking stick and play in the mud. you're camping. who cares if they get covered. OH NO now you have to get in the water!
As far as prep, have plenty of Koolaid and snacks they like. get their fave blanket and plillow and 2ndary fave toys . . . something WILL get lost or left, and it'd best if it wasn't Bunnie.
Bottom line is this: they'll have just as much fun left to their own devices under your watchful eye as they would if you perseverated over every pixel of their activitiy in the name of safety. Don't forget that you're all there to have fun!

[edit] OH OH I forgot... one year we went camping with a 5 and 3 yr old plus I guess 15 and 13 boys. There were probably >6 families and others. Total numbers something like 25-30 people. We made up a board game using the checkerboard pattern on a table cloth we bought, playing cards and a couple of dice. some kids pulled cards to move pieces (bottle caps, fingernail clippers, etc) while other kids were actors and had to act out "something" whenever either a face card was drawn or the player landed on a corner... in other words it happened a lot. If 2 players shared a space, their representative 'actors' had to do best-of-3 rock/paper/scissors... the guy that won moved ahead one space. The person that won got a twinkie... and yes we were all sitting there eating twinkies.
Etc. etc. etc. The point of this addon-edit is that board games are great, but making up your own games is even better. We played that game off-n-on the entire w'end. If there's a good number of people with a concentration of children (it was probably 50/50 for these campouts) then you can easily occupy several hours just chilling with your goofy game.
Answer:
bikes
sticks
mud
bugs
frogs
hot chocolate
marshmallows
frisbee/balls/bats/horseshoes
hiking
climbing
binoculars
board games
Comment: Excellent list. Try and avoid mixing items 4 and 5 with items 6 and 7 though...
Answer: What a fun question.  Take them for a hike, teach them to fish, try to capture fireflies, help them to make some scrammbled eggs, teach them to build a fire (with supervision), have them collect the sticks to make the fire.  Tell them a story about the woods, have them tell you a story about the woods (kids can be creative when you let them). hide and seek is fun, build a damn, if possible.  Play I spy, bring some books, play some cards, play yatzee, write a song, play fill in the blank, you make up a story and leave blanks in the story having them put words in, then read the story back to them. Collect crayfish, leaves or pine cones.  Hide something near the campsite and let them look for it.
Enjoy!
Answer: Do a photographic scavenger hunt, traveling journal, and an upside down hike (make sure to take a magnifying lens).  All of these activities are outlined on my website for details about "how to"
You can also make "Hobo Stew" (In the morning get a fire roaring and wrap potatoes in foil.  Peel the foil open a little and slit open the potato.  Now, allow your kids to add from a selction of pre-chopped veggies into the middle of the potato add canned beef stew to each and seal back up.  Reduce the fire and place the foil packets into the hot coals.  Allow to roast and eat.), and roast hot dogs and marshmallows (just teach them fire safety first)
First learn about staying away from poison ivy, nettles and other "dangerous plants" in the area where you will be and then do a leaf or flower collection with a plant press.
Wake up for the "Morning Chorus".  Wake up before sunrise and hike to a field or meadow away from other campers.  Sit and get cozy (bring blankets) and sit very still and quiet as the sun rises.  If you are quiet enough you'll get to hear the cacaphony of all the birds calling out their territories to each-other.  You'll see lots of the birds too so bring along a peterson's field guide to birds for your area as well as the blankets and water to drink.
If you'll be at a national park look up their "Junior Ranger Program" and they will have a packet of activities related to the specific park for your kids to choose amongst.  When they have completed a certain number they can show what they've done to a ranger adn get a patch.  It is a pretty cool program and most of the parks I've been to have pretty good activities with a range of levels so there is always something age-appropriate.
Volunteer.  Perhaps there is an invasive plant species that needs eradicating and you can spend part of a day helping with a group working in an area particularly effected.  Or perhaps they need a clean up crew and will give you tools to safely gather a bag of trash at your location.
Have FUN


How should I use extra summer squash?

Question: My CSA delivers me a lot of summer squash, more than I can actually find the time to cook in a week. Can I freeze the remainder in some way? Is there a quick recipe I should be making that stores well? I'm not thinking primarily of meals here -- if I had the time to cook dinners more regularly I wouldn't be overwhelmed -- but of things I can store for a while.
Comment: find a recipe for zucchini bread, substitute squash, then freeze it?
Answer: I feel your pain. If only I liked summer squash better...
You definitely can freeze squash -- thick slice it, blanch it in salty water briefly until almost tender, transfer to an ice bath until it's chilled, bag it, and put in the freezer.
Later, thaw and use with recipes that don't require ultra-crisp squash.
Answer: I blanch it, run it under cold water or put into ice water to stop any further cooking.  Then I pat dry and store individual portions in the freezer.  I love to make fritters with them and this makes it easy to do, not to mention it is a great way to save the wonderful flavors of summer squash.
Hope this is helpful.
SORRY, I see somebody else already answered.  Still, now you know at least two of us agree that squash can be frozen.  :-)
Answer: If you have recipes that take shredded squash (or zucchini while you're at it), you can shred the squash and then place it in a freezer bag and then into the freezer.
This works really well for zucchini that's bound for bread, but squash for some soups, bread, or similar uses would work as well.
Answer: Have you tried Squash/Pumpkin Ravioli?
The filling is very easy to make
(Squash, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, Cream)
and freezes very well.
Answer: I slice it and cook 10 min in a little olive oil.  Sometimes I add peppers,onions,eggplant,or tomatoes. Freeze in bags and pop into recipes such as sauces,soups, or stews. The squash actually has a bit of crunch to it doing it this way.
Answer: I just made refrigerator pickles out of a couple.   Treat it just like you do cucumbers.

How should I use extra summer squash?


How much sodium after hard exercise?

Question: After (or during) an hour or three of hard, sweaty running and/or biking, how much salt do I need beyond my normal diet?
Answer: It really depends but you need other electrolytes beyond just sodium, more specifically potassium and magnesium. A serving or two of a electrolytes beverage like Ultima replenisher should be sufficient. Of course this greatly depends on the specific workout session so use your own judgement and definitely do more specific research. You also may need to supplement your exercise with carbs so that you replenish your glycogen levels.
Here's a recipe for a home made electrolytes beverage:
Measure all ingredients precisely. Small variations can make the drink less effective or even harmful. Mix the following:

1 quart (950 mL) water
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) table salt
¼ teaspoon (1.25 g) salt substitute (potassium-based), such as Lite Salt or Morton Salt
Substitute :2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar

Probably want to add more sugar if you are doing long intense exercise, unless you already use something else to replenish your glycogen levels.
Answer: Here is an excellent article on electrolytes and bicycling. If you sweat a liter per hour, a reasonable amount, a typical loss per hour is 1,300g for sodium (3.25g of table salt), and 230g for potassium. This is in the neighborhood of Mike's recipe.
For an estimate on how much you sweat, you can subtract your post-exercise weight from your pre-exercise weight and add the amount of liquids you drank in between.
Of course, everybody is different and "your performance may vary."

How much sodium after hard exercise?


Does the Urea Cycle exist in invertebrates?

Question: Do invertebrates (like Drosophila and C.elegans) have a urea cycle?
Comment: Questions that ask about "invertebrates" as if they were one group always make me uncomfortable. "Vertebrates" are a well-defined group, but "invertebrates" are just animals that aren't vertebrates. They are diverse, and it is nearly certain that the answer to your question is "some do, some don't".
Answer: Perhaps worth adding that the role of the urea cycle in terrestrial vertebrates is the disposal of excess N derived from protein metabolism. Such animals are ureotelic. Arthropods, in contrast, are uricotelic, using uric acid for N disposal, so it would make no sense for them to have a functional urea cycle. (Nematodes - I don't know.)
The importance of avoiding having a urea cycle when it is not needed is illustrated by the situation in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). In yeast some of the enzymes that would be part of the urea cycle are used in degrading arginine, while others are used in the biosynthesis of arginine. Yeast cells will carry out one or the other of these processes depending upon their metabolic status. If both processes were to be active at the same time this would result in a urea cycle that would waste ATP. This is avoided by having a multienzyme complex consisting of arginase and ornithine transcarbamoylase (in the degradative and biosynthetic pathways respectively), allowing reciprocal regulation so that only one of these is active at any time.
Answer: C. elegans is missing all of the urea cycle enzymes. Drosophila is missing just one enzyme, but there's a shortcut which may enable it to nonetheless complete the cycle. (For comparison, here's the pathway map for human with the complete cycle.)


Area of ellipse given foci?

Question: Is it possible to get the area of an ellipse from the foci alone? Or do I need at least one point on the ellipse too?
Answer: If the sum of the distance to the foci is just the distance between the foci, the ellipse shrinks to a line. If it is bigger, then the area is strictly positive.
This tells you that the foci alone are not sufficient to know the area. A point on the ellipse will be sufficient, but of course other information will also be sufficient.
Answer: If the foci are points $p,q\in\mathbb{R}^{2}$ on a horizontal line
and a point on the ellipse is $c\in\mathbb{R}^{2}$, then the string
length $\ell=\left|p-c\right|+\left|q-c\right|$ (the distance from
the first focus to the point on the ellipse to the second focus) determines
the semi-axis lengths. Using the Pythagorean theorem, the vertical
semi-axis has length $\sqrt{\frac{\ell^{2}}{4}-\frac{\left|p-q\right|^{2}}{4}}$.
Using the fact that the horizontal semi-axis is along the line joining
$p$ to $q$, the horizontal semi-axis has length $\frac{\ell}{2}$.
Thus the area is $\pi\sqrt{\frac{\ell^{2}-\left|p-q\right|^{2}}{4}}\frac{\ell}{2}$
($\pi$ times each semi-major axis length, analogous to the circle
area formula $\pi r^{2}$).

Area of ellipse given foci?


Can I use Time Capsule as shared disk

Question: Can I use Time Capsule as shared disk (without any extra hardware)? I want to store my media there (e.g. photo)
Answer: Just to add to the first answer, yes you can use it as a shared drive (I do) It will also work with PC's not just Macs, so for example if someone came round your house with a Dell laptop you could give them access to it.
This is a great way to share photos with friends, and also a good way to back up a PC as you will not be able to use Time Machine.
To answer the hardware issue, you will not need any additional hardware providing your computers have WiFi cards if not then you will need a WiFi adapter, or you could connect via ETHERNET.
Answer: Yes you can. When you have the time Capsule connected to your home/office network, all other Mac's should be able to see that Time Capsule and with the right password should be able to access the data.
You can also use it as a Time Machine backup drive for various Mac's on the same network.

Can I use Time Capsule as shared disk


How do I switch to Condensed List view using Trello on iPad?

Question: Using Trello on an iPad.  Obviously "Q" is the shortcut to display the cards in Condensed List view, but how do I access "Q" on an iPad?  The only way to get the keyboard to display is if I am editing a card, and then (of course) "Q" is just typed in the text box.
Answer: There isn't currently a way to access the condensed mode, other than hitting q
Trello plans to have a card filtering UI, which includes the ability to show only cards assigned to you, or which have a specified combination of labels.  This UI will be iPad friendly.


How to prove the mathematical induction is true?

Question: I have no idea about the underlying theory from which the mathematical induction was derived.
How to prove the mathematical induction is true?
Comment: good question...
Comment: That should be "mathematical induction" not "mathematics induction"
Comment: How complex an answer are you looking for?
Comment: I think a good interpretation to this question is "Is there a more obvious set of principles upon which all of the induction propositions are based?"  It's a bit disingenuous to make something as not-obvious as induction into an axiom.
Answer: A "proof" in mathematics always means a proof in some system/theory. You have to specify the system/theory that you want a proof for the induction axiom. (You should also formally specify what you mean by the induction axiom since there are various axioms that are called induction axiom.)
The induction axiom in an arithmetical theory (like Peano arithmetic) is an axiom, i.e. it is one of the axioms of the theory, and therefore the proof is just a single line stating the axiom.
In a set theory like $ZFC$ we can prove the induction axiom for the set of natural numbers using the fact that the set of natural numbers is defined as the smallest inductive set that contains zero, and the proof is almost trivial. (An inductive set means a set that contains the successor of $x$ whenever it contains $x$).
In high school or undergraduate courses, when one is asked to prove induction axiom, they are usually asked to derive the induction axiom from some other axioms like the least number principle for natural numbers.
Another possible question is what are the justifications for believing that the induction axiom is true (or for accepting it as an axiom), which is a question in philosophy of mathematics and might be more suitable for MathOverflow.
Answer: The principle of induction (on the natural numbers) is equivalent to the axiom of well-foundedness of the natural numbers. Wikipedia gives (half of) a proof here.
Answer: The induction axiom in Peano Arithmetic says that for any predicate (statement about numbers) $\phi$, if you can prove $\phi(0)$ is true and you can also prove that for any number $n$, $\phi(n) \implies \phi(n+1)$ then $\phi(n)$ is true for all $n$.  So you have proven $\phi(0)$ and $\phi(0) \implies \phi(1)$ and $\dots$ $\phi(10) \implies \phi(11)$ and $\dots$.  Intuitively, if there is an $m$ such that $\phi(m)$ is not true, the base case of $\phi(0)$ or one of these implications must have broken down.
The usual structure of an inductive proof is designed to take advantage of this, so following one carefully may help.  Arturo Magidin gave an excellent discussion in his answer to this post
Answer: If you are having difficulties accepting mathematical induction and other of Peano's Axioms, I find it helps to visualize the natural numbers as directed graph (a network of nodes connected by one-way arrows) as follows:
There is a node (call it 0) that has no arrows going into it (Axioms 1 and 3, below). Every node has an arrow leaving it (Axiom 2, below). Every node has at most one arrow going into it (Axiom 4). You can get to any node by starting at 0 and following the arrows; that is, there are no isolated portions of the graph (Axiom 5). You may also require that every node have at most one arrow leaving it (not explicitly covered in the axioms as presented below).
(Peano's Axioms from from Wolfram MathWorld http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PeanosAxioms.html)

Zero is a number.
If x is a number, the successor of x is a number.
Zero is not the successor of a number.
Two numbers of which the successors are equal are themselves equal.
If a set  of numbers contains zero and also the successor of every number in , then every number is in .

Added:
The following is a better presentation of Peano's axioms (from http://www.ms.uky.edu/~lee/ma502/notes2/node7.html) It uses 1 instead of 0 as the first natural number. Unlike the above presentation, the fact that, graphically, there would be at most one arrow leaving each node is made explicit in Axiom 2, below.
Axiom 1: 1 is a natural number. That is, our set is not empty; it contains an object called 1 (read "one").
Axiom 2: For each x there exists exactly one natural number, called the successor of x, which will be denoted by x'.
Axiom 3: We always have ~x'=1. That is, there exists no number whose successor is 1. That is, there exists no number whose successor is 1.
Axiom 4: If x'=y' then x=y. That is, for any given number there exists either no number or exactly one number whose successor is the given number.
Axiom 5 (Axiom of Induction): Let there be given a set M of natural numbers, with the following properties:
I. 1 belongs to M.
II. If x belongs to M then so does x'.
Then M contains all the natural numbers.
Answer: Well, in principles induction is, having something holding for $0$, denoted as $h(0)$, and if $h(n)$ implies $h(n')$, where $n'$ is a successor of $n$, i.e. $n+1$, we have $h(n)$ for any natural number of $n$.
On the other hand, natural numbers are defined as the smallest set that contains 0 and closed to successor operation (i.e. if $n$ is natural so is $n'$).
The correctness of induction follows strictly from the fact the natural numbers are the the smallest set satisfying the same condition as induction.
Answer: Theorem: Suppose you have a set $P \subseteq \mathbb N$ where
$\mathbb N = \{1, 2, 3, \dots\}$, with the following two properties

$1 \in P$.
If $n \in P$, then $n+1 \in P$.

Then $P = \mathbb N$.
Mathematical induction goes like this. Suppose you have some property. $p(n)$ that you want to prove is true for all natural numbers, $n$.
Let $P = \{n \in \mathbb N : p(n)\; \text{is true}\}$
Then $P \subseteq \mathbb N$
If you can show that $1 \in P$ and $k \in P$ implies $k+1 \in P$
Then $P = \mathbb N$.
In other words, $p(n)$ is true for all natural numbers $n$.


How can I specifically improve my webdesign?

Question: My website is www.strongape.com and I'm looking to improve my design.  I don't know where to start.  Are there other forums I should visit for advice?
Comment: I'm gonna say this question is too localized, and it should be rephrased to how any webdesigner can improve their webdesign, not just _"how can I improve this specific website's design"_ --esp. since 2 of the answers are already worded in that vein.
Answer: EDIT: I see you're asking for specific advice about your OWN website...not "design" in general. My mistake. Regardless, my original answer should be of some use as well.
Just...look around! Monkey see, monkey learn, monkey do. When I'm not designing a website, I'm always on the lookout for sites that make me go "wow", or small little features that I really like.
Forums can help you learn a technique, but they can't help you actually get better. CrowdSPRING and 99Designs are both freelance websites where clients post projects and then designers basically battle it out to create a design for the client. In projects that are not "private", you'll be able to see all of the different entries. Even when I'm not participating in a project, I love looking at the galleries of projects to see how different designers approached creating a design solution for a specific need, be it a logo, poster, or and entire website. These will show you different techniques and give you some ideas for how to approach a design.
If, however, you want specific tutorials, Lynda boasts a fabulous and very comprehensive database of video tutorials for just about any piece of software you can imagine. I have found it to be extremely useful.
I urge you to use a combination of these things to get better. There's no right way to do it. Just practice, research, and practice some more. Oh, and have fun :)
Comment: Excellent, I haven't thought of looking at freelance websites for inspiration.
Answer: Seriously saying it is not looking very good you need to work on font size, design, color  everything, to make it appealing. Do not use yellow color as your button, make some soothing buttons which look good with your whole color scheme. Do remove that green background, you need a very good CSS because your background is repeating till the last edge and it is not at all looking good.
Also IE don't support the way you are using gradient. Get a good looking gradient image to work on all browsers.
As for advice you should see by yourself, look at different web sites and what makes them so appealing to try to cover all those things in your site.
Here are some sites for design inspiration :

30 sources to get your web design inspiration
Open web design
Template box
27 best web layout

As you are using spiral in your website it should be simple and effective check 5) and try to make some changes if possible and I bet you'll come with something very appealing all you have to look, catch and use and your done.
PS : I am also not good in design I always see and try to make them more appealing with some efforts . So don't be afraid of creating anything just do whatever you want to in your design.
Give a read to this : How to Drastically Improve Your Designs
Answer: Find inspiration
I would recommend looking over some gallery websites that feature some top web designs for inspiration:

Dribbble - http://dribbble.com/
Ads of the world: http://adsoftheworld.com/
CSS Beauty - http://cssbeauty.com/

Start Sketching
Improve your pre-visualization skills. After reviewing some other peoples work find what you like about them and start sketching out thumbs and do studies on figure out what works.
Keep a sketchbook around and sketch ideas.
Practice
Offer to design websites for pro-bono. There are many non-profit organizations that will be willing to work with you. Especially smaller organizations like churches, or local educational, etc.


How to model tea diffusion/osmosis?

Question: How should I model the tea concentration as a function of time after a tea bag has been submerged? Is there a simple way of measuring the tea concentration?
Answer: Concentration measurement would be done by colourimetry rather easy.
For "model" look for 1st and 2nd law of Fick.
Answer: You could use a first order differentian equation, a Laplacian. You can choose to use x/y/z coordinates, or r/theta/phi depending on the shape of the tea pot will determine which one is simpler to use. I say use a laplacian because I assume the amount of tea in the water spreads out uniformly from the bag, so a tea density gradient would be formed. The solution to this however would likely be fairly complex (or at least not very simple) unless the container was spherical with the tea bag in the middle, and but since a tea pot is a crude approximation of this, it could be used to model it.
Comment: A Laplacian is a second-order differential equation, not first-order.

How to model tea diffusion/osmosis?


Should I style my buttons?

Question: Are there any major advantages / disadvantages in styling ones buttons like Facebook, Twitter and StackExchange - vs. not styling them like Craigslist and 4chan?
Answer: Stylize buttons
Advantages:

Buttons are more consistant with other parts of your design (provided your ui has style)
The overall look and feel is improved (provided your buttons don't look stupid)
Buttons can have more meaning (express different contexts)
Users are very accustomed to styled buttons, as most of the major websites use them : google, facebook ect. So its not a jaring experience
Brand consistency and awareness
You look like a pro.

Disadvantages:

More effort on your part to have a full button ui, where the unstyled version is complete out of the box. (Mobile compatibility ect.)
If you are a bad designer, you buttons may not be as recognizable as hoped.
Styled buttons have an overhead in code and graphics.
Your styled buttons don't match that user's OS, which may be jaring for cavemen.

Beyond the labor, design perception and professionally concerns the real UX motive to styling you buttons should be MEANING.
Unstyled buttons all look alike. By styling your buttons you can provide the user with more information about that button, and what it does.
Consider for example the buttons that come as a part of twitter bootstrap: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/base-css.html#buttons
They suggest using button color to indicate things like:

Grey : Standard action
Blue : Action with weight or importance
Green : Success or positive action
Yellow : An action to be taken with caution
Red : A dangerous or potentially negative action

Things to consider it styling your buttons:

Color
Size
Shape
Icon or Text or Both?
One line of text or Two? Different size lines of text?

Every aspect should be deliberate and provide value to the user.
Answer: The problem with customized buttons is that they risk not being recognized if they break key styles and metaphors. In particular, buttons that are not rectangular and do not provide hover states could be perceived as non-interactive.
Otherwise, custom buttons are a good way to give an interface strong branding and a sense of polish. Unstyled (or rather, OS-styled) buttons that don't reconcile with their surroundings can make a UI seem unfinished or sloppy, which is a bad impression to give if you're asking people to buy a product or give you money somehow.
Answer: A button should look like a button, but beyond that the important thing is that the style the buttons (and all the elements really) fit in with the style of the page/site as a whole. This is the area of visual design or graphic design and involves color theory, typography, principles of contrast, repetition, etc.
Craigslist.org is very utilitarian and unadorned. Someone or a group of people decided that was an appropriate design style for the site, that a more elaborate, colorful, whimsical or stylized design wouldn't fit the site, or possibly that the resources needed for that kind of visual elaboration were better spent elsewhere.
Contrast this with Apple.com, where it's very important to provide a modern, minimal, highly polished, stylistic yet friendly and usable experience.
These visual languages are in some ways just as important as the content of a site because it hits one immediately before any of the textual content is consumed.
So the style of the buttons is determined by the style of the page/site, which should be cohesive, well thought out and aligned with the purpose of the site.
Answer: There's no such thing as an unstyled button. You can go with the default browser button style, but your users will spend most of their time on other (read: competitor) sites, and the styling you use is a key element in attracting and keeping users. There are a LOT of good examples out there.
Answer: I'm assuming when you say unstyled, you mean the default buttons your browser uses.
Unstyled buttons are generally easy to recognize due to their familiarity to most users. However, it appears very unprofessional and leaves your site looking unfinished.
Styled buttons on the other hand would most likely follow the branding of where it is used. As a result, this can be done poorly or with great success depending on the circumstances.
I'm personally a fan of Google's button UI. I find it very clean with the matte colors, but has a slight gradient hover state. It follows their brand perfectly but still maintains their recognition as buttons.
Answer: It depends on the skill and imagination of the designer. A well-designed button with look and feel distinctive to the rest of the page would be easier to locate once your form is filled, for example have a look at Google's Sign-In button on its login page, while a bad designed button would get mixed up for example see this site's 'Post Your Answer' button at the bottom of this page. Try having only one theme for them and if there is a need for different styles of buttons on the same page, a bit of re-design is in order (again have a look at this page only 'Post Your Answer' at bottom and 'Ask a question' at top).

Should I style my buttons?


Why was the game designer actor replaced in the show "Level Up"?

Question: On the Cartoon Network show Level Up they changed the actor playing Max Ross, the creator of the Conqueror of All Worlds game. In the movie he was one guy and now for the series he is someone else.
It seemed that the network green lit the series early on because it's been getting announced ever since the movie was first aired. So why was this one actor replaced?
Answer: Eric Andre (who played Max in the movie) is a series regular on the upcoming show Don't Trust The B***h in Apartment 23. Sometimes when a TV movie is shot ahead of a series, actors only sign contracts for the one appearance. In the interim they'll get other jobs (which probably pay far better) that have contracts that are more strict and don't allow for the time to work on more than one series.
He also has his own Adult Swim show coming out this summer, so he's pretty busy. :D
Answer: Quite simply because Eric André's contract was not renewed. This might be due to various reasons, and I won't try to rely on gossip to answer why.
Eric André, who played Max Ross in the film, will not be returning for the series. Lonny Ross will be replacing Eric André's character in the series as well.