JCM 2/16/2026 9:21:24 AM

1

DHS government shutdown is underway. Here are the services affected.

Short version... everyone keeps working, but paychecks won't be issued. 

Which is weird because gov't payroll is handled by Treasury.

It's all sound and fury.

vxbush 2/16/2026 10:23:02 AM

2

In #1 JCM said: It's all sound and fury.

Because that's all the public is supposed to know. Can't have the news tell folks what is actually happening! 

In other news, I now hate HP, because their latest printer is giving me nothing but grief.

JCM 2/16/2026 11:24:22 AM

3

Reply to vxbush in 2:

I read somewhere HP is moving to a printer subscription, or ink / toner subscription. The whole chip cartridges so only "authorized" cartridges can be used is such a scam. I have a HP color laser. I've long since cut a hole in the cartridge so I can add toner. Such a freakin' scam. Margins on toner and ink have to be astronomical.

I am big on right to repair.

Occasional Reader 2/16/2026 11:37:53 AM

4

buzzsawmonkey 2/16/2026 11:47:47 AM

5

Reply to Occasional Reader in 4:

Back when I was attending UM in the mid-70s, South Beach still looked like one of the seedier sections of Los Angeles as described in a 1930s Raymond Chandler mystery.  The rediscovery/renovation was just beginning, in tiny fits and starts.  I haven't been back since then, but I hear it has really turned flossy.

Kosh's Shadow 2/16/2026 12:03:04 PM

6

Reply to vxbush in 2:

I get Canon printers. Harder to find, but they do have good support.

And HP offered ink subscriptions recently. If you canceled your subscription, the printer would stop working, even the scanner part.

Kosh's Shadow 2/16/2026 12:09:02 PM

7

Reply to JCM in 3:

See my #6

We have a Canon monochrome laser printer (had a Canon color one but it was very expensive to keep it in toner, and when it started leaving streaks of color, probably because most printing was grayscale, we replaced it with a monochrome one)

And a Canon inkjet for color; use very little color so the cost per page isn't worth getting a laser printer.

Both have scanners. The one on my wife's 460 is fast and has an "enhanced text" mode, but the scan software that comes with it stinks.

For my wife's business, I have PowerPDF Advanced which does scanning and OCR as well as other PDF functions

vxbush 2/16/2026 2:20:58 PM

8

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 6: Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 7: 

Oh, this isn't a simple desktop printer. No, gentlemen. This is a big honkin' bad boy that prints giant prints, up to 64" wide. And it has a lot of bells and whistles, but it has documentation written for fifth graders. 

I hate technical writers who don't treat their audience like intelligent beings, but then I guess the average person is at the a fifth grade reading level. Sigh. 

Kosh's Shadow 2/16/2026 2:37:43 PM

9

Reply to vxbush in 8:

Manuals> We don't need to steenking manuals!

Actually, too much doesn't come with one. Is this printed, online, or PDF?

When I worked at Digital, we had an LPS-40 - 40 page per minute laser printer. If it jammed, and you followed the directions on the door, you would break a part inside. It was a prototype, and that part had been changed because it was fragile. The instructions were for the production version.

JCM 2/16/2026 2:43:53 PM

10

Reply to vxbush in 8:

My favorite bit of tech writing came with a multimillion-dollar test machine. A whole bookshelf full of manuals. Since it ran on 3 phase 480V power doing any electrical work need care. The first page of the electrical manual was a warning. "Always us two person teams to work on this equipment. One should know CPR."

What if the person doing the work is also the one who knows CPR?

I just found it funny.