If you’re like me, you’re often putting var_dump or $this->output->enable_profiler() in your source code while you’re debugging it.

I got tired of commenting and un-commenting these lines, so I came up with an easier system. Some of you may be familiar with the PHP XDEBUG extension. Whether or not you use it, the Firefox add-on Easy XDebug (any also, I believe, the Chrome add-on Xdebug Helper) provides a really nice way to turn our debugging messages on and off.

For all else they may do, the extensions do one interesting thing in particular: set or delete two special cookies (XDEBUG_SESSION and XDBUG_PROFILE) that we can use to let our app know if we’re in “debugging mode” or “profile mode”.

So here’s what I came up with:

In your application setup code (a config.php, for example), add the following block:

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| XDEBUG Debugger and Profiler setting (Added by PJB)
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| If the PHP extension XDEBUG is loaded and enabled with the Firefox Xdebug Helper add-on,
| the cookie 'XDEBUG_PROFILE' or "XDEBUG_SESSION" will be set. If so, indicate that we are
| the profiler or debugger has been turned on. Either constant can be used in whatever ways
| you deem within the program (e.g., testing, etc)
|
*/

// which IP's are allowed to debug?
$allowed_debugging_hosts = array('127.0.0.1');

// only allow specific IP's the ability to debug
$trusted = (in_array($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'],$allowed_debugging_hosts));

define('PROFILE', isset($_COOKIE['XDEBUG_PROFILE']) && $trusted);
define('DEBUG', isset($_COOKIE['XDEBUG_SESSION']) && $trusted);

Now you can do handy things like:

if (DEBUG) echo "<pre>" . print_r($this->session->userdata,true) . "</pre>";
// and
if (PROFILER) $this->output->enable_profiler();

Once you’ve installed the browser add-on, just click either of the tiny green buttons in the status bar to enable or disable either debugging or profiling.

(Note: If you’re behind a proxy, you might also want to check $_SERVER[‘HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR’] when checking for the trusted host ip, which I leave as an exercise for the reader.)

Thoughts?

Simple Guidelines

So you receive the dreaded “a disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart”. Multiple restarts result in the same error message.

If you put your drive into another computer, or connecting it as a slave on your own computer, it will typically work fine, and no data is missing.

Because this error is not usually associated with data loss, DO NOT RE-PARTITION THE DRIVE. Your data is likely safe and sound.

Here’s how we’ll recover your data. Try each step below, in order, and see if your drive becomes accessible after each step. In my experience, you won’t start seeing results until step 5 or so.

1. Run CHKDSK /R /P from the recovery console (it will typically find no error)
2. run FIXBOOT from recovery console (typically has no result)
3. run FIXMBR from recovery console (typically has no result)
4. Run the manufacturer’s diagnostic utility, downloaded from their website (it will typically find no error)
5. Changing the drives from cable select to Master/Slave may fix it.
6. Replacing the data cable may fix it, but usually not.
7. Setting the BIOS to use defaults may fix it, but usually not.
8. Changing the BIOS drive settings from auto to user-specified, ensuring that LBA is selected may fix it.
9. Pulling the CMOS battery to let the BIOS lose it settings may work.

At this point, you may be feeling some frustration. :-)

If all that fails, here’s what will usually work:

Ghost your data to a new drive, and use the original one as a slave. It will work. And all of your data will still be accessible. Your computer should boot normally. If it doesn’t, or it there are errors, run the Repair Installation option from your Windows boot CD.

But why does this happen? Nobody seems to know why. The problem typically evades all forms of analysis.

Here’s what I’ve learned: this error message likely has more to do with a hardware interaction between the drive and your system than any actual issues with the drive. To put it one way, your motherboard and drive are no longer on speaking terms.

I don’t know why the original disk has no problems being a slave. Perhaps it got tired of running the show. Perhaps it’s preparing for retirement.

UPDATE! Performing a low-level format on the drive may be able to restore it to fully working condition, including the ability to be the master drive. A low-level format is not the same as a regular format. Typically, you’ll need to download a utility for the drive manufacturer’s website. Beware, as a low-level format will definitely delete your data, so only do this after you have copied your data to a new drive.

Locate your MySQL data directory and and delete the files “ib_logfile0″ and “ib_logfile1″ contained therein. The files will be recreated after your restart the MySQL service (or simply reboot if you don’t know how to restart a service). You will NOT lose any data. It will very likely fix your error.

Your MySQL data directory is typically something like

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\Data

although it may be located in an entirely different place, such as

W:\wamp\bin\mysql\mysql5.1.36\data

If you can’t find it, search your drive for one of those two files.

If that doesn’t fix the problem for you, check to see if the directories exist for the environment variables TEMP and TMP.

If you want to stop Outlook from hijacking the default mail client settings, and keep YOUR choice as the default email program, we need to go over Outlook’s head and employ the operating system itself as a security guard.

Here is how we do that:

Step 1:

Click the Start Menu and select Run. Alternatively, you can press Windows-R on your keyboard.

The Run dialog box will pop up. Type in regedit and press enter.

This will open the registry editor.

Step 2:

Work your way through the tree list to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command

Your screen should look something like this:

Step 3:

Right-click on command and select Permissions…

This will open the Permissions dialog that allows us to specify who is allowed to use or modify this particular registry key.

Step 4:

Click on the Advanced button on the bottom-right.

This will open the Advanced Security Settings dialog box. It should look like this:

Now we’re going to set a new permission entry that will prevent Outlook or any other program from making itself the default choice.

Step 5:

Press the Add key. You’ll get the following dialog box:

In the Enter the object name to select area, type in everyone and then click OK. That will open the Permission Entry dialog box.

Step 6:

Under the Deny column, select Set Value and Delete. It should look just like the picture above. Preventing Outlook from setting the value is what we want, but it’s not enough. If Outlook can’t set the value, it will attempt to delete the key and recreate it. So we stop Outlook in it’s tracks by preventing it from deleting the key also.

So now click OK once to set the values and close the dialog box, and then click OK a second time to close the Advanced Security Settings for command dialog box. At this point, you’ll get a message popup:

Click Yes.

Now click OK to close the Permissions for command dialog box, and then exit the registry editor.

Done!

The problem is now solved! Outlook will try, but not be able to change the value of this key. That will generate a message in the event viewer, but it is safely ignored. It’s just Outlook being a whiny butt. Sometimes it’s okay to let children cry when they don’t get their way.

According to http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=847190 school officials “will not tolerate” kids walking or biking to school:

The 12-year-old and his mother, Janette Kaddo Marino, are defying Saratoga Springs school policy by biking to Maple Avenue Middle School

[...]

But on the night before classes started, school authorities called parents to say that walking and biking to school would not be tolerated.

[...]

When the pair stuck with their plan, they were met by school administrators and a state trooper

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=847190#ixzz0Sh8cZaN4

Socialized Medicine:

Somewhere in America Alone, I cite an example of the logical reduction of socialized health care: “the ten-month wait for the maternity ward.” I’ve been adding to the file ever since. Here’s the latest entry, from Hamilton, Ontario:

Hamilton’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was full when Ava Isabella Stinson was born 14 weeks premature at St. Joseph’s Hospital Thursday at 12:24 p.m. A provincewide search for an open NICU bed came up empty, leaving no choice but to send the two-pound, four-ounce preemie to Buffalo that evening.

Well, it would be unreasonable to expect Hamilton, a city of half-a-million people just down the road from Canada’s largest city (Greater Toronto Area, five-and-a-half million) in the most densely populated part of Canada’s most populous province (Ontario, 13 million people) to be able to offer the same level of neonatal care as Buffalo, a post-industrial ruin in steep population decline for half-a-century.

But wait! The fun and games are only just beginning. When a decrepit and incompetent Canadian health bureaucracy meets a boneheaded and inhuman American border “security” bureaucracy, you’ll be getting a birth experience you’ll treasure forever:

Her parents, Natalie Paquette and Richard Stinson, couldn’t follow their baby because as of June 1, a passport is required to cross the border into the United States. They’re having to approve medical procedures over the phone and are terrified something will happen to their baby before they get there.

Once Buffalo enjoys the benefits of Hamilton-level health care, I wonder where Ontario will be shipping the preemies to. Costa Rica?

We now return you to your 24/7 Michael Jackson coverage…

From Mark Steyn

I’ve quickly learned to dislike how Logitech engineers their software for their wireless keyboard and mouse systems.

Once again, this is a case of yet another software “suite” that does so much more than we want or need. Adding a mouse and keyboard apparently requires several services and background tasks running that do provide more clutter. It seems that everyone wants to jump on this bandwagon. I dare you to install a Logitech device, Roxio CD/DVD creator, Apple iTunes, and Norton Antivirus. You’ll have at least a dozen system processes running everywhere, slowing things down.

(Wait for it… can you hear it? The hoofbeats of several company men who work for one of the above-mentioned firms to pick apart every comma and period above to inform us all that their software is really great, despite all the crap it loads? Wait for it… they show up like a cloud of bees every time.)

It’s high time that software manufacturers STOP MAKING “SUITES” and begin putting together highly-focused, simple software that simply does the job well. Rather than several individual processes designed for every possible scenario (I’m talking to you, Apple) just give us a program that works only when it’s open, and unloads itself when we’re done. Please?

Okay, there’s my rant. Here’s the promised solution to removing that infernal “Easy Synchronization” program.

1. Copy this line:

RunDll32 C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\PROFES~1\RunTime\0701\Intel32\Ctor.dll,LaunchSetup “C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{AC134D03-97F1-45B9-B32A-52E885AFA895}\setup.exe” -l0x9

(make sure it copies all as one line, and not several individual lines.)

2. Now press Windows-R on your keyboard (or go to the start menu and click “Run”.

3. Paste the line you just copied into the Run box and hit enter.
The uninstall process will begin.

4. Yay!

A major problem for evolutionists is how could partially-evolved plant and animal species survive over, supposedly, millions of years if their vital organs and tissues were still in the process of evolving?