My Frustration with Home Printing

I'm so frustrated with HP. A few years ago, I bought our HP Officejet 6210 All-in-One. It was missing ink cartridges, worth around $50. HP Support replaced them, but I had to buy cartridges in the mean time. On March 1, the printer quit working because the under-used color cartridge presumably dried up. I rarely print color documents on this printer, why should I have to have a color cartridge to print a 'black cartridge only' document? I replaced the cartridge and printing resumed. Today I got a message that the color cartridge is "not intended for use in this printer"; the same cartridge that has been installed since March, that I used last week to print two pages of business cards. Again, I cannot print black and white documents. After a little bit of research, I learned that the cartridge had a warranty, which expired in February of 2008. I don't think I even owned the printer cartridge in February of 2008, but even if I did, the receipt is long gone. With older printers, I used to buy aftermarket print cartridges, but I had problems with print heads clogging. So I bought two printers, one for photos and one for documents. I stuck to buying the overpriced name-brand cartridges and I had relatively few issues for quite awhile. What I've found though, is that if you don't use your printer frequently, and you don't store it in a temperature-controlled, humidity-controlled, dust-controlled environment, you end up throwing away money on these print cartridges. So I'm switching back to buying aftermarket cartridges. Gone are the days where I worried about fading photos, clogged print heads, or banding. I'm sending my photos to Target Photo, or Walgreens, or Shutterfly. Really important documents can be sent to FedEx Office^SM Print Online(formerly Kinko's).

This Woman's Work - SYTYCD 7/22/2009: Melissa and Ade #2

http://ww5.komen.org/

Visualization of Mathematics

I heard an interesting concept on the radio today:

Let's use visualization of mathematics and not just the obvious things like triangles and squares and the like. But actually we can describe all of mathematics in a visual way and then have the kids use these visual reasoning abilities to learn the math. Once they understand it visually, then we're going to add in the language and the abstract symbols.

I like this idea. I'm an object-oriented programmer so I see thinks tangibly. Often times I see a process that I difficult to verbalize. It took me two attempts to get through Algebra, and three attempts to get through Statistics because of language barriers.

What Is Citizen Journalism?

This month, Social Media Club Los Angeles (SMCLA) put together a panel to discuss the impact social media is having with citizen journalism. The panel was moderated by Alexia Tsotsis (@alexiatsotsis), with commentary coming from Chris Tolles (@tolles), David Sarno (@dsarno), Andy Sternberg (@andysternberg), and Christina Gagnier (@gagnier).  Each panel member brought a different interpretation to the table, resulting in a thought provoking discussion.

The panel started off by defining their view of what citizen journalism is. The opinions were varied, but the consensus was that it's anybody who is not a journalist by profession, who has access to publish with a free press.  In addition, citizen journalists should adhere to the same standards as professional journalists—reference two unbiased primary sources, etc.

My Perspective

In the United States, this is a privilege and a right afforded to every citizen by our forefathers in the 1st Amendment—in most instances, non-citizens have this same privilege.  Technology is opening access to free press in new and exciting ways.  Never before has so much of the world been able to voice perspective.

Citizen journalism has existed as long as the freedom of the press.  Until the advent of radio, freedom of the press largely belonged to those who owned or had access to a printing press.  The radio gave those with access to a transmitter the ability to broadcast at the push of a button; television engaged a larger audience. However, all of the mediums were influenced and dominated by capitalists. 

The telegraph made it possible for news to travel the world in a matter of hours, but it was the satellite that allowed it to travel the world in a matter of minutes.  Now, the Internet disseminates information in a matter of seconds, with fewer restraints.  Andy Armstrong (@saarmstrong) pointed out that, "the desktop publishing software of the '90s allowed us all to be publishers."  However, the ubiquity of the Internet has so few barriers to entry that it permits more people than ever to have a voice.

Related Posts

• Can Twitter Tell the Future? Ode to Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite
• Check Your Facts and Cut the Fat: SMCLA's Social Media's Effect on News Panel
• Social Media Club LA Looks at Guidelines for Citizen Journalists

• Citizen Journalism Panel Recap
  

When you drive, which car are you looking at?

"How does that affect our migration?", asked our director.

"We haven't really thought about the migration", responded a developer.

So I asked the question, "When you drive, which car are you looking at?"

One team member responded with, "the car in front."

Another replied, "all around." 

I answer with, "my right eye looks at the car in front of me, my left eye watches 4 cars ahead, and I use my peripheral vision to see either side, too."  I went on to draw an analogy with planning.

We have to be able to look at the big picture and the detail, the short-term and the long-term, the leaders and the followers.  That's how we grow.

In the end, all worked out. I'm glad to work with a great dev team.

Should I buy or borrow the next book I read?

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Do they follow me on Twitter?

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