Is 'data' singular or plural?

In Collins Cobuild Dictionary, it tells us:

You can refer to information as data, especially when it is in the form of facts or statistics that you can analyse. In American English, data is usually a plural noun. In technical or formal British English, data is sometimes a plural noun, but at other times, it is an uncount noun.

On AskOxford.com (belongs to Oxford Dictionaries), the answer is (Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/data?view=uk):

Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, and should be used with a plural verb (like facts). However, there has been a growing tendency to use it as an equivalent to the uncountable noun information, followed by a singular verb. This is now regarded as generally acceptable in American use, and in the context of information technology. The traditional usage is still preferable, at least in Britain, but it may soon become a lost cause.

In the Merriam-webster Online Dictionary (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?data), the usage is

Data leads a life of its own quite independent of datum, of which it was originally the plural. It occurs in two constructions: as a plural noun (like earnings), taking a plural verb and plural modifiers (as these, many, a few) but not cardinal numbers, and serving as a referent for plural pronouns (as they, them); and as an abstract mass noun (like information), taking a singular verb and singular modifiers (as this, much, little), and being referred to by a singular pronoun (it). Both constructions are standard. The plural construction is more common in print, evidently because the house style of several publishers mandates it.

Related readings:

1. http://www.eisu2.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/revis006.htm
   
2. http://www.biostat.wustl.edu/archives/html/s-news/2000-11/msg00114.html
3. http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/data-is-singular
4. http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=172
   

Insert a quotation mark into a string in MATLAB

Another expression of inserting a quotation mark in a string is inserting a quotation mark in quotation marks. There are two solutions as far as I know.

1. A recommended solution is using char(39) to generate the quotation mark. Char is a MATLAB function. This approach makes it much easy to read in eval function.
2. There is another solution you can find in the Internet: using two quotation marks (without space between these two quotation marks) in a pair of quotation marks (this pair of quotation marks are used to indicate string) . It is possible to get lost with this approach if there are lots of quotation marks.

There is an example. Suppose we want to get a string here 'is' a dog.

1.  a =['here ' char(39) 'is' char(39) ' a dog']

2.  a ='here ''is'' a dog'

GetCurrentImage failed

With Media Player Classic, you can create a video screen capture like the one shown above. However, in the K-lite codec, the default setting of MPC prevents you saving thumbnails (an error GetCurrentImage failed will occur if you want to save thumbnails). To solve it, first run the Media Player Classic. Then go to View - Options. Next, click on Output under the Playback branch. The problem is in the DirectShow Video. Don't select the options with *, choose anyone else. Save it then restart the MPC. Now the thumbnail function should be working.

Chinese version: 时光: GetCurrentImage failed