The Brother MFC-8840DN Multifunction Laser Printer
I recently bought the Brother MFC-8840DN Multifunction Laser Printer from Staples online. I wanted an HP 2300DN, but what I needed was a duplexing, networkable, Mac OS X-compatible laser printer. Mike Kobb pointed out the Brother, and I decided that it was a much better deal.
It arrived the day after I ordered it (free shipping!), and I excitedly set it up. It’s very important to pay attention to the installation instructions–there are a great many pieces of stabilizing tape that need to be removed.
Of course, getting a Windows XP machine to work with it proved to be difficult, but the Mac OS X setup was a breeze (just copied the PPD, didn’t bother with the MFC ad-ons yet). The printer supports Rendezvous, which is very cool.
Now comes the bad part: Almost everything I’m going to print will go into a three-ring binder. So, I bought some Hammerhill 20 lb. 3-hole multipurpose paper, which claims to work well in any copier or laser printer. Unfortunately, my MFC-8840DN just couldn’t cope. It jammed 9 out of 10 times. My first attempt to get support from Brother was useless. My second attempt was better, in that I got a response, but they simply said that the printer is not advertised to work with 3-hole paper. Although the user manual mentions kinds of paper you should not use, it does not even mention 3-hole paper. Another exchange with the customer service rep produced nothing helpful. The manual did recommend Hammerhill 24 lb plain paper, so I decided to try a heavier stock.
The only way to get that was via Office Depot online, so I ordered a ream. Fortunately, using Hammerhill brand 24 lb 3-hole paper seems to work. If it starts to screw up again, I’ll post here and let you know.
Mars Direct on West Wing
I think the actors who play the staff on the television show The West Wing should all just play their characters and do the jobs for real. (Too bad the incredible wealth of knowledge the characters possess is probably not available to the actors.)
In the episode entitled “Ghengis Kahn,” Josh Lyman, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, gains new respect for NASA and space exploration. A character goes so far as to mention Mars Direct by name, and Josh is intrigued enough to listen. He doesn’t believe Congress would ever support it, but if someone like that was actually in the White House, Mars Direct could become a reality.
The argument hinged primarily on the incredible inspiration manned space exploration creates. At one point, Josh had to convince his assistant of it, and the dialogue was very nice.
All this from an episode not written by Aaron Sorkin.
I finished Halo
What an accomplishment. I played the entire game through on “Heroic” difficulty, and re-played the last level on “Legendary.” The alternate ending was cute. I wonder if there’s another ending for playing the entire game on Legendary.