No Disconnect

This is actually a post for somebody else, since I had such a wretched time trying to find a solution online. Some of our CDs started having high-pitched static, and then all the CDs we tried gave a “No disc” error message, if if there were no disc in the player.

After a lot of searching, which resulted in reading a lot of frightening forum discussions of lasers, dust, grease, etc., the problem turned out to be dust.

First, I tried just taking off the cover and vacuuming out the dust. That turned out not to be enough. I needed to take off the cover, and take off a circuit board and plastic assembly that was on top of the CD player. Then I could get the compressed air where it needed to be.

There is a strong possibility that I could have achieved the same result by shooting the air in through the front when the CD tray was open, and then applying suction through the same hole.

I will probably try that next time, which is probably going to be about in ten months.

My wife and I love our Sony Readers (PRS-505′s). In addition to our free downloads from Sony, these are sites we have prospered from:

• ManyBooks.net
• Feedbooks.com

As for PC software to manage it, I know I don’t like Sony’s included software. These are two good options; I think I will end up preferring Adobe’s.

• Calibre
• Adobe Digital Editions

It irks me to pay $9 for a pair of passport photos, particularly since I have a family, and particularly since I seem to receive a lot of requests for passport photos. What’s worse, a photo costs 9 cents to print, and following the U.S. State Department’s guidelines is not rocket science. I’ve starting making my own with GIMP.

Passport photos are 2 inches square, so we’ll aim for an image 1200 pixels high by 1200 pixels wide. Then when we print it at 600 dpi it’ll look fine.

1. Take a picture against a white background, at high resolution. Transfer it to your computer. Open it in GIMP.
2. The head should be about 1.25″ (plus or minus 0.125″). Note the height of your original picture (ORIGINAL_HEIGHT) in pixels. Measure the size of the head in pixels using the rectangular selection tool (HEAD_SIZE_IN_PIXELS), and then scale the image so that the new height is ORIGINAL_HEIGHT * (750/HEAD_SIZE_IN_PIXELS).
3. Create a new image, 1200 x 1200 pixels, 600 dpi, with a transparent background.
4. Create a horizontal guide 450 pixels from the top.
5. Create a horizontal guide at 600 pixels from the left (the very middle of the image).
6. Copy the original image into the new image. Drag the head around until the bridge of the nose (between the lines) is at the intersection of the guides.
7. Tile the image. In GIMP, Filter > Map > Tile. Tile it to a new image, 3600 x 1200 wide.
8. Save the new image, and print it on a 4″ x 6″ paper.
9. Cut the photos out and enjoy.