The heavy and large (but inexpensive) HP Laserjet 4Si
Up to this point, our main computer printer has been a HP Photosmart D5360 inkjet. It is a very nice printer, but as you probably know, the price of ink is outrageous. I refill my own ink cartridges, which helps; but, that is a pain, and the whole deal is still expensive.
99 percent of what we print, does not need to be done with color. My boss bought an old laser printer from the state surplus, and it works great to print those everyday things that don’t have to be in color. Yesterday, I went to the monthly state surplus garage sale and picked up a huge behemoth old HP Laserjet 4Si laser printer for twenty bucks. It also included a new toner cartridge that was still in the box. I figured, if it happened to work, it was a steal with the extra cartridge included. I found prices for used Laserjet 4Si’s on the Internet for $400 to $550 dollars refurbished, depending on what accessories were included. This printer has the duplex module, and high speed parallel interface modules included, along with 8 megabytes of RAM.
I got some help putting it into my car. When I got home, I used a hand truck to haul it into the house, and into our “library” where our family compter is located. I dug around my junk box and found a centronics style parallel printer cable (since this computer interfaced with a parallel port), and plugged it in. The printer seemed to power up correctly, and my hope rose.
I do not run the Windows operating system on our home computers. They run on UbuntuLinux. I ran the printer configuration utility on Ubuntu, and it immediately recognized the printer as an HP Laserjet 4Si, and downloaded the proper driver for it. Wow, “it just worked”!
I ran some test pages, and the printer ran perfectly. Other than the paper cost, now my kids can print the stuff they want to print, and we have enough toner to last the life time of the printer.
I found the user manual on the Internet. This printer prints on both sides, has slots for two paper trays. I have two “letter” size trays and a “legal” size tray that will fit in it. It has a slot for hand fed items like envelopes. What a deal! We have a small table with a lamp on it next to our computer operating desk. The printer fit nicely on the floor under the table.
Our HP Laserjet 4Si in our Library
Now, we can print all the stuff we want to, and use the more expensive inkjet printer when we need a nice color report or photo. If you need an inexpensive printer for day to day printing, consider one of those old laser printers you see at that garage sale or auction. If you can get it working, it will be well worth it. John.
Click picture to see more photos of J.J.'s birthday.
We celebrated J.J.’s fifth birthday a couple of days ago. We had a small party for him with his Uncle Dave, Aunt Melodee, a friend named Andrew and Andrews mom Kathy. All he wanted was a screwdriver cake, so Carol made him a cake with screwdrivers on it. He got a tool set that was complete with a drill/screw gun, a tool belt, and a tool box. Click the picture to see more photos of his birthday.
I spent a couple of days on the roads in Eastern Montana. While out there, I spotted this old abandoned house with a tower attached to it. It is just begging to be put to good use once again. And, I would be willing to be the one to put it to good use. I’m not sure how I could find the owner, or how I would get it across the state; but it is something to keep my mind occupied for awhile anyway. Click on the picture to see a larger view. John
This is from Andy Raatz web site and thought that they were classic!
November 07, 2008
Quotations
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man; a debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O’Rourke,
Civil Libertarian Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it; If it keeps moving, regulate it…and if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Published November 4th, 2008 in Current Issues in the World, Thoughts and Things, Museum Updates
Proverbs 23: 7—For as he thinks in his heart, so is he
As a nation, I think everyone recognizes that America is in big trouble. It is in trouble economically. It is in trouble morally. It is in trouble with its enemies.
When Americans go to the polls today, many will think that the way they vote was determined by their reaction to the problems with the economy, Wall Street, the housing market, the war in Iraq, or numerous other issues. But regardless of who we are as Christians, we will ultimately be voting in accord with Proverbs 23:7: “as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
The problem with America is not ultimately the economy, the morality, Wall Street, the war or the housing market—the problem with America is that hearts and minds have changed over the decades years. Generations have been brought up in basically a God-less education system. The church has, on the whole, compromised God’s Word, particularly in this era, beginning in Genesis—and such compromise then affects how people view the rest of the Bible.
When people vote today, how they view God’s Word is ultimately how they will vote. If our hearts and minds were as they should be, we would be voting in accord with the principles God has laid out clearly in His Word.
And ultimately, the only way to change America is for hearts and minds of people to change in regard to the Word of God. And that change needs to start in the church—a church that has by and large compromised God’s Word in the same way the Israelites did—by adopting the pagan ideas and religions of the world and compromising with the Word of God. So much of the church has adopted the pagan religion of this age evolution/millions of years—a religion to explain life without God and compromised the Word of God. And the way God judged the Israelites for this sin, He will also be and is judging America.
For all of us, we need to take heed of 2 Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Make sure you are thinking biblically when you vote today.
Staged Dinosaurs
I encourage you to read the detailed article on AiG’s website today on the Walking With Dinosaurs stage production. I believe it will open your eyes in regard to the evolutionary secular humanist agenda to indoctrinate kids that this startling attraction has been set up to do. You can read the article at:
Saturday, October 25th, was a busy but good day. We started the day by all of us piling into the car, and heading off to Great Falls to see a movie. It was not an ordinary movie, but the movie “Fireproof”. “Fireproof” was made by Sherwood Baptist Church and starred Kirk Cameron. They are the same people that gave us “Flywheel“, and “Facing The Giants“. If you are married, or contemplating on getting married, you NEED to see “Fireproof”. It was an extremely good movie, and had us in tears for a good part of it.
On the way home, we took the Recreation Road along the Missouri River between Great Falls and Helena. We rounded a corner, and came face to face with seven mountain goats. What a beautiful site. We snapped a bunch of photos; click on them above, to see larger images.
Once back in Helena, we stopped off at the historic Kleffner Ranch where there was a fund raising benefit for Tressa, a friend of ours who is battling cancer. Visit their web site HERE for information on how YOU can help out. The turnout was great, and we are glad so many friends and relatives showed up to give support, both moral and financial. May God bless and heal you Tressa!
In a rather unusual move, both Google and Apple have publicly backed the fight against “Proposition 8″, both by words as well as by donation. Proposition 8 is an initiative measure in the state of California that would ban same-sex marriages in California by amending the Constitution of the state to include that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”. Both companies gave out their reasoning for supporting the fight against ‘Prop 8′.
Google, whose headquarters are located in California, was first to object to banning same-sex marriages. The company’s founders have donated USD 140000 to the ‘No On 8‘ campaign. Sergey Brin explained:
While we respect the strongly held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 - we should not eliminate anyone’s fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
Apple, also headquartered in California, joined Google by also supporting No On 8 by donating USD 100000. The company released an official statement in support of the fight against Proposition 8, with reasons along the lines of that of Google.
Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of USD 100000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights - including the right to marry - should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.
As Apple notes in the statement, it was among the first companies to offer equal rights and benefits to its employees’ same-sex partners, so this move should not come as a surprise from an ideological standpoint. However, for both these companies it is very unusual to speak out so openly on such a - in most countries, at least - controversial political issue.
Californians will be able to vote on Proposition 8 during the US Presidential Elections, held on 4th November 2008.
If you frequent McDougallsHome.net, you may have seen the widget displayed above. What is this “Ubuntu 8.10″ thing?
Your computer, that you are looking at right now, has an “operating system” that controls the computer and runs the programs you want to run. On your computer, the operating system is probably Windows XP or Windows Vista. Ten percent of computers have an operating system called OS X. Those computers are Macs. Besides Windows and OS X, there are many other operating systems out there. One such system is called Linux. A few percent of personal computers have Linux on them. Ubuntu is a type of Linux and the computers in our house all have Ubuntu on them.
A new version of Ubuntu Linux is about to be released. It is version 8.10, meaning 2008, and the 10th month. This version representation is very nice when trying to determine what version of Ubuntu one has.
The neat thing about Ubuntu and most other Linux version, is that it is FREE. And almost all the programs that run on it are FREE. It is also EXTREMELY EASY to install new programs and to delete old ones. With the help of a free program called Compiz, the Desktop environment (what you see on the screen) is WAY COOL, with multiple desktops, that rotate from one to another. It has many special effects that are just plain neat! Click the picture of my desktop above to see what it looks like.
Linux is also a safer operating system. Mostly because only a percentage of computer users use Linux, it is not a big target for virus’s and other bad stuff that happens so often on Windows computers. Our kids love it too.
So, I am excited about the new version of Ubuntu that is about to come out. If you are tired of expensive software, and bad malware, and want a cool looking desktop, try out Ubuntu.
Montana is a beautiful state. I have the opportunity to travel all across this wide state; and I always bring my camera. Here are a couple of pictures that I have recently taken. Click the photos above to see larger views, or click HERE to see pictures from all around the beautiful state of Montana.
In a rather unusual move, both Google and Apple have 
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