Leopard Upgrade Report: The printers are working again!

Leopard on my Mac mini, Day 10: The HP LaserJet 1012 (since replaced by the even-cheaper 1020, but the smallest, lowest-priced monochrome laser printer on the market when I first bought it three years or so back) and the Konica Minolta Magicolor 2400W I bought a couple years later to do my color graphics work had both stopped working for some reason after installing Mac OS X Leopard. Printer Setup Utility, the app used in OS X since its inception to, well, set up printers for Macs and fix problems with same, was crashing on launch repeatedly, and Printer Setup Repair, my third-party app for fixing problems with PSU, didn't work either (FixAMac Software says a Leopard update is coming Real Soon Now, but isn't ready yet).

Finally did what I should have done days ago and Googled the problem on the many, many Mac user forum websites out there, and found out that in Leopard, Apple has rendered PSU obsolete and instead integrated its functionality into the Print & Fax pane of the System Preferences control panel. A right-click on the printers in queue allows you to reset the printers (warning: this deletes any and all jobs in each printer's queue, so be careful). A couple driver updates later, voila! Both printers worked again, even the KM which had to have GutenPrint drivers cobbled together for it to work on a Mac (silly me bought the thing second-hand off a craigslist user without checking to see that had I gone just one model up the line, Mac compatibility was built into the 2430DL; KM has since gotten a clue and made their entire color-laser line fully able to play nice with Mac, Windows and Linux boxen).

Hope this helps anyone else who finds their printer(s) suddenly being ignored by their shiny new Leopard-upgraded Macs.

A Blu-Ray Star Trek phaser? Yep, you heard it here first

Gizmodo.com reports here that someone has used the new Blu-Ray DVD technology to construct a replica of a phaser from the original Star Trek TV series that actually shoots a blue beam of light, similar to what was added onscreen as a post-production special effect. Probably doesn't actually stun anyone or disintegrate anything, more's the pity...but it's still pretty cool.

This Sunday, if you like living free, thank a veteran...and watch this video

Terry Kelly's "A Pittance of Time" video (via YouTube)
I was introduced to this extraordinarily moving song and video two years ago by my dear friend wcg (AKA the Marine at the End of the Bar from alt.callahans and callahanians), and spent the whole next few days watching it over and over...and bawling like a newborn each time. I still do. It's been said that Memorial Day is for the soldiers who died, and Veterans' Day (Remembrance Day in Canada) is for those who are still with us; I think this should be made the official international theme song for all military veterans, living and dead. The YouTube page contains an account of the real-life incident that caused Mr. Kelly to write it...or you can find out more at his own website. Not safe for anywhere, work or home, unless you've got a box of tissues handy. It's even more poignant when you realize Kelly has been blind since birth...but didn't need eyes to hear a fellow citizen being a selfish asshat.

And on November 11th, three days from now, in the name of my paternal uncle, Ewell Leger (U.S. Army, Korean War, deceased) and my older brother, Damian Leger (U.S. Army, Israel/Panama), and all their service brethren and sistren—living and dead, past and present—I will listen again and salute all those who wore their country's uniform and served, no matter the risk, in wartime or peacetime...and who keep on doing so today, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. Then I will take two minutes out of my day, at precisely 11:00 AM, to observe a moment of silence in their honor...and I hope you all will, too.

"In peacetime our best
Still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line...
It's a pittance of time."

YES!

Courtesy of Newsvine.com:
President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was too expensive. It was the first time in a decade that Congress has passed a bill over a presidential veto.
About frigging time, too. Those of us living in drought-stricken states can be especially grateful the 110th Congress finally got it together for once on this bill. Now if we can only get them to do the same with Iraq-war funding...

Caveat f*cking emptor, bidders

Cumming, GA man sold $1M of fake Cisco computers on eBay
Does Cisco Systems even make actual computers? I thought they only made routers...

An evil musical idea has just resurfaced...wanna help?

Some of you have, no doubt, heard of my all-time favorite musical artist, Alfred Matthew Yankovic, better known as "Weird Al" Yankovic. (And if by some remote chance you haven't, what in heaven's name have you been waiting for? Get thee at once to weirdal.com and discover for thyself the twisted genius that is Al.) You may also be familiar with his habit of performing and recording medleys of the most popular hits of the day, from pop, rock, rap/hip-hop and alternative genres...in polka style, complete with accordion and full-on beerhall-style arrangements. (See "Polka Power!," "Polka Your Eyes Out," "The Alternative Polka," etc., etc.) It's become more or less a tradition that every time he releases a new studio album on vinyl, CD or tape, at least one of these demented medleys is always included.

So, a few years ago, I wondered...What would such a medley sound like conflated from the most popular classics of the filk music world? Sadly, I lack the instrumental skills to make it happen by myself, so it kind of sank back into the muck of my brain for the nonce. Well, guess what? That nonce is long over, and the idea came bobbing back up to the surface again today like an insufficiently drowned zombie. (Just thought I'd show cadhla some love there.)

I can already hear two or three of filk's more serious hits in there: a verse or two each of "Horsetamer's Daughter" and "The Hand of God" by jecklar, "Hope Eyrie" by Leslie Fish, and "Harbors" by Anne Passovoy just for starters. What other songs from the past few decades of filk would you desecrate toss into the mix? C'mon, haven't you always wanted to know what Julia's "Phoenix" or Mary Jean Holmes' "Everyman" would sound like in polka time? "And my wings are made of tungsten / My flesh is made of steel..." Everybody sing along, now!