TIL About the High ISO NR Setting on a Nikon D90

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13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - Official Trailer

Every American needs to see this move when it's released on January 15, 2017.

80s Music

I came of age during the eighties. As such, I'm a fan of 80s music.

Calculating Elapsed Time with MySQL

These MySQL functions will calculate the difference between two date/time stamps.

SEC_TO_TIME(TIMESTAMPDIFF(SECOND,max(startDateTime),now()))
 as "Time Delta"

The inner function, TIMESTAMPDIFF, calculates the difference between the current date/time and the date/time field named, startDateTime, in seconds. The outer function, SEC_TO_TIME, converts seconds into hours, minutes, and seconds.

Problem Printer Fixed

I ran out of black ink for my HP Photosmart 5510 printer, so I replaced it. Nothing black printed. Hmmm... tried using the utilities to clean the heads and re-calibrate the printer, but no success. So thinking that the ink cartridge was bad, I bought a new one. Same result. Did some Googling and one guy posted a video about pulling the carts and cleaning head with a damp paper towel. Did that, but no joy. Did some more Internet searching and came across where someone said to disassemble the printer and pull the cart carrier to clean it. So I did this, but it wasn't easy. HP does not want you disassembling this printer. They'd rather you throw it away and buy a new one. Two screws where under the control panel that has to be popped out from behind its mount and another screw is under the name plate (label). To take the cart carrier out, you have to undo two high tension springs. Took a picture before I did it. Pulled it out and washed it. Let it dry overnight and luckily, I got it all put back together without ending up with an extra screw. Fired it up. Nothing shorted out despite a small circuit board getting wet when I washed the carrier. Put the ink in and ran some diagnostic tests. Voilà! It worked! Now I have extra black ink. Oh well, better to have extra than none. I thought I was going to buy a new printer today.

Last word, inkjet printers are so expensive to use, they (HP, Epson, anyone who makes printers) should just give away the printers. Black XL, Cyan XL, Magenta XL and Yellow XL cost about $91 with tax at Staples. That's about the price of a new printer. Oh well, I guess it is cheaper printing photos with inkjet than getting film and prints. Nothing is free.

To JayW on HP's Forum...

I would just add as prep, the lid to the scanner should be taped down so it doesn't fly back if you raise it to a verticle position. Other than that, thanks for the detailed steps. It made all the difference. I disassembled mine, cleaned the cart carrier and printheads last night, reassembled it this morning and it works again.

I thought I was going to Staples to buy a new printer today. This saved me about a $100 and a trip.

Boy, HP doesn't want you openning this printer. I say that because of 4 things:

Hidden screw under printer badge (label).

The difficulty of popping the control panel off. Luckily you described what to do. If it hadn't been for your instruction, I probably would have broken it.

The difficulty in unhinging the top scanner assembly. I tried hard not to break it, but a small plastic nib broke off the shaft that the hinge was hooked on. Oh well, it wasn't critical. Hinge still works.

Hiding 2 more screws under the control panel.

This printer could have been designed better.

Why didn't they just make the printer head like a supply item where it could easily be popped out and replaced? They could have charged $30 for a new printer head and I bet people would pay that rather than buy a new printer. As it is, I thought about switching from HP to Brother had this not worked. HP risked losing a customer just because they think a consumer would just replace the printer with another HP.

HP makes a lot of printers. To me, it creates confusion. I think they need to reduce the number of SKUs considerably and just focus on making a small number of models that last. The days of print are dying. (No pun intended.)

Texas Drivers License

So I got my new drivers license today and I noticed a real long number with a label of DD. Being the curious guy I am, I wanted to know what that meant. A Google search instantly showed a lot of wrong answers. Some people answered with authority that it was a Defensive Driving number. Hmmmm, I've taken defensive driving, but it as been more than 2 years. Looking further, others said it was a DPS audit/tracking number and is used to help you replace a DL that's lost or stolen. Hmmm, that didn't necessarily make sense to me.

I kept searching and searching, and I think I got the answer. It is a Document Discriminator. A what? Well, I looked for the definition of that and found this in relation to REAL ID.

Document Discriminator
Number must uniquely identify a particular document issued to that customer from others that may have been issued in the past. This number may serve multiple purposes of document discrimination, audit information number, and/or inventory control.

OK, I'm an IT guy who has worked with databases most of his career. In DB terms, this is a unique record ID. It is used for the drivers license. This is the record ID of the DL and if you look at an old DL, you'll see a long number printed along side your photo. That's the record ID of that DL.

So I guess as long as DPS has been computerized, everyone has had a DD for the DL. I wonder how long they keep this info. My old DL has an 11 digit DD. My new DL has 20 digits. In six years, if they stick to digits, I guess it might be 25 or 26 digits.

I wonder why they haven't mixed letters into the DD. It would help reduce the length. I guess they think it is better to 10 key, but that's not necessary since DLs have magnetic strips.

Another change I've noticed is they now have two bar codes on the back instead of just one like they had back in 2008. One looks like Code 3 of 9 and the other might be PDF417. Hmmm, I need to see if I can decode these and see what they represent.

Also, when I got my license renewed, they scanned my finger prints. I don't remember doing this the last time. Is it really necessary to have someone's fingerprints to get a DL?? So I guess the only way to stay annonymous and fly under the radar is to never get a SSN, which I think you are required to do for your child after they're born so you can claim them on your taxes, never work at a school where they require your fingerprints, never get arrested and booked, and never get a DL. I'm sure there are other situations where the gov gets your fingerprints, but those are the ones off the top of my head.

Anyway, if you've read this far, I hope this was interesting.