Tuesday Night Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 08:55:49 PM EST
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I've been stuck for two days trying to fix my Fujitsu "scansnap" scanner. A few weeks ago, it began scanning documents in 8.5 × 14 instead of 8.5 × 11, and the court told me they couldn't accept my attached filings that way. For some reason, the scanner software wouldn't open and I couldn't get into the program to change the setting. How do you even know who to call when these things happen?

After five uninstalls and reinstalls, I almost threw it out the window. The scanner still scans but the computer refused to recognize the software. Then I decided to use my HP all-in-one printer that has a scanner function but it wouldn't recognize my computer even though it's on the network. Since I wasn't about to throw two machines out the window, I went back to trying to uninstall and reinstall the Fujitsu software. About 4:00 this afternoon, after wasting about 8 hours on this, the scanner mysteriously reset itself to regular size pages. I still can't access the software but at least I can get my stuff scanned so I can file scanned documents with the court. What a waste of time.

Hope your Monday and Tuesday went better. Here's an open thread as I catch up on the news and watch Weeds and Nurse Jackie, both of which I missed last night. All topics welcome.

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Tuesday Night Open Thread | 40 comments (40 topical)

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Sorry your week started off so badly; (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Anne on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:22:04 PM EST

we are such prisoners to our technology, aren't we?

Our firm got hit with a virus a couple of months ago that pretty much brought us to our knees. We all managed to get a lot of filing and organizational stuff done - you know, the stuff you always say you'll do when you have time - but no e-mail, no programs - it was a mess.

Going to watch Nurse Jackie, too - such a good show.

: Also sorry your week started off so badly (none / 0) (#29)
by NMvoiceofreason on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 06:31:27 AM EST

And being a computer professional, I know what it is like when computers misbehave. A couple of suggestions: First, go to antivirus.com and run a free Housecall scan on the box with the problem. If all is clean, proceed on, if not, then buy a copy of Trend Micro Internet Security and install it. Second, go to ccleaner.com and download Ccleaner, fire it up, and scan the registry. Odds are you will have many instances of registry corruption.
Wish I was in Denver to help - but Albuquerque is only 45 min. by jet (and much cheaper now that Southwest has gates).

Here's a funny story (5.00 / 4) (#7)
by eric on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:50:41 PM EST

When I got home from work today, my wife and I decided to go get pizza at the local pizza place I like, Green Mill in Uptown, Minneapolis. And who do we see celebrating his victory? Al Franken! When he walked by, people applauded... nice.

I'm really happy that Al will be in the Senate (5.00 / 2) (#11)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:53:23 PM EST

You guys may soon have the best delegation (though Oregon and Wisconsin aren't bad either).


Whaa? (none / 0) (#20)
by Cream City on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 12:31:25 AM EST

Wisconsin has Kohl (Herb who? Richest member and most unheard-from member) in the Senate. And half of the House members, like Paul Ryan, are wingers and/or wackos.


I refer only to the Senate delegation (none / 0) (#24)
by andgarden on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 01:36:12 AM EST

And Kohl is harmless compared to many other Senators. Feingold is the Senator who gets your state a special mention.


Low standards (none / 0) (#27)
by Cream City on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 05:59:49 AM EST

are no comfort. And it is not comforting to us that he has caused no harm to Noo Yawkers. His sins of omission, doing nothing, have caused harm here . . . not to mention that we know who could have won that seat, but for Kohl's millions.

And his exorbitant expenditures have caused (there have been studies here charting this) the cost of other campaigns in this state to soar as well. Proxmire is turning over in his grave at that.


: I will never forgive Herb Kohl (5.00 / 1) (#30)
by Steve M on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 06:45:52 AM EST

for keeping Ben Masel out of Congress! Although I suppose it's possible your reference was to someone else.

Wyden is kind of iffy (none / 0) (#26)
by caseyOR on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 04:03:27 AM EST

His stance on health care reform is pretty bad. And he is not open to seeing another side.

I have great hopes for Jeff Merkley. I just hope he doesn't fall too much under Ron Wyden's influence.


I was pretty much offline today (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by nycstray on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 12:18:42 AM EST

so I was thrilled to hear this on the local news!

If you run into him again, send him a "hi-5" from me :)


did you take out your cell phone and (none / 0) (#10)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:52:35 PM EST

grab a pic for us?


: Didn't get it out fast (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by eric on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:58:45 PM EST

enough. One lady hugged him and he said that he really had to go. I was getting ready to shake his hand but he was really in a hurry.
The bartender told me that he and his group had rented the party room in the basement.

And a funny Bernie Madoff joke that (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:51:48 PM EST

made the rounds on a criminal defense list-serv today:

Judge: Mr. Madoff: I hereby sentence you to 150 years in the custody of the Attorney General.
Madoff: But Judge, I am 71 years old. I cannot do 150 years.
Judge: Well Mr. Madoff, do as much as you can.

: Here's one that was on the front sign of a local (none / 0) (#32)
by Angel on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 09:39:07 AM EST

eatery:
"Hey Mr. Madoff,
Stop by when you get out and we'll buy you a taco."

Adam Liptak (5.00 / 2) (#13)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 10:16:08 PM EST

steals my line:

The Constitution, it turns out, means what Justice Kennedy says it means.

The whole article makes a great case for packing the Court.

: I read your subject line (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 10:44:26 PM EST

really quickly and thought it said Adam Lambert, and I went, wow, who knew he was into the Constitution and Supreme Court? Ok, I'll go read Liptak now.

: Adam Liptak's article about the Ricci (none / 0) (#15)
by oculus on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 11:12:33 PM EST

opinions makes a lot more sense than the majority and concurring opinions do!

OY!!! (5.00 / 1) (#18)
by nycstray on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 12:14:59 AM EST

My sincere sympathies! My main computer went down Fri Am, so I spent Fri getting my backup up to speed. Which then crashed Sat afternoon. Got back up and running last night, but today was a day of computer not recognizing things. I think I have it going on now . . .

I must say, when calling for tech help on any electronic gadget/item, threatening to throw it out the window with the person on the other end works well! I learned I was always too polite when calling for help. Bad day had me threatening to throw my whole DSL set up out the window. Darn did I get treated well after that!

Currently, online is working for me as is my editing programs. I'm busy backing up all my recent camera cards to a drive and editing like crazy. Who knows when I'll go down again . . .

Fresh-picked broccoli (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by gyrfalcon on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 01:02:18 AM EST

Well, heck, it's an open thread!

I just had what I realize is the first fresh-picked, non-agribusiness broccoli of my life from a friend's garden and I'm totally blown away. I can hardly believe it's the same vegetable. I'm usually so sick of broccoli after having eaten it dutifully all winter that I haven't given a moment's consideration to getting it at a farmers market, never mind going to the trouble of growing it myself. What a mistake!

This was so fabulous, it's all I had for dinner, most of an entire enormous head, saving just a little to have as a side dish tomorrow night. This is sweet, which is not a word I'd ever have thought could be used with broccoli, more like a fresh pea than anything from the cabbage family.

Even if you think you don't like broccoli, more maybe particularly if you do, if you see it at a farmers market, get it!

: I have to agree with ya! (5.00 / 1) (#36)
by nycstray on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 10:39:37 AM EST

Properly grown and picked broccoli is da bomb! We've already had it once this year from our CSA. Cauliflower is also much better. The Dot stole a head from me last year and got two massive bites out of it before I could steal it back. I've always liked cauliflower, but never imagined I would want it enough to steal it back from a dog, lol!~
Enjoy your side dish!!

RE Fujitsu "scansnap" (5.00 / 1) (#23)
by convict on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 01:08:38 AM EST

turn Fujitsu OFF.

..try "chkdsk c: /f", ..then reboot.

...one can get that sort of fault with corruption on the internal Fujitsu 'spooler files.

ok, I'll try that soon (none / 0) (#25)
by Jeralyn on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 02:32:19 AM EST

Thanks, convict. Right now I'm so glad it's scanning I don't want to tempt fate. But I'm saving your comment for the next time it goes out.

I should add that I love this scanner because it's sheet-fed and has such a small footprint it sits right next to my monitor, in arm's reach for scanning anything. It's about 3 years old and still does a great job. It also comes with a free cd with Adobe Acrobat Standard, which alone costs $100.

I'm sure I did something to cause it to disappear, but it was just so frustrating not to be able to figure out what it was, despite having the disk and the manuals, and to spend 8 hours just to get it working. At one point the manuals had me going into windows hidden files which are gibberish to me and telling me to delete some and that always makes me apprehensive I'm going to crash the whole machine.


: Just to be sure (none / 0) (#31)
by NMvoiceofreason on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 07:02:43 AM EST

If you have XP, open a command prompt. If you have Vista, try Start->AllPrograms->Accessoriesk, then right clisk on "Command Prompt" and select "Run as Administrator". A black hole in a frame will appear. Get your original windows disk (XP CD, Vista DVD) and put it in. then type "sfc /scannow" in the command prompt window. This will check to be sure all your Windows pieces are there.
Odds are that you didn't do anything to change the setting (because you couldn't change it back). Odds are there are things wrong with your computer. Fix them before worse things break, please. But it is remotely possible you did it. If you use keyboard shortcuts alot (most lawyers do) then check to be sure the same ones work the same way in you scanning application. There may be one that you use that sent you to the legal paper bin. But that would be clearly marked on the menus next to the entry which would have easily reset page (or output) size.
If you would like to start a separate "Bit Monkey" thread to discuss this over the longer term, we'd all be happy to help.

I had (none / 0) (#1)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:19:29 PM EST

been debating getting a scanner to perform online banking deposits. Your post makes them sound like they're not worth the trouble. The expense is what had been holding me back but I can easily imagine I would have similiar problems with hardware due simply to the fact that I always seem to have hardware problems.

My son scans deposit checks (none / 0) (#21)
by Cream City on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 12:33:13 AM EST

to his account, set up for vets internationally (USAA), and it works wonderfully. We will all be doing so soon, I bet. . . .


USAA (none / 0) (#28)
by Ga6thDem on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 06:07:04 AM EST

is who I bank with and the company I contract for doesnt do direct deposit. It was taking a week or more to deposit them by mail. What happened with that? It used to not take that long. Maybe there's some new banking law....

Anyway, teh bank that the company uses is just a few miles down the road so i've been cashing them for now.


: My scanner is an HP (none / 0) (#40)
by Cream City on Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 05:50:28 AM EST

aka Hewlitt Packard, and it -- and its software installation -- performed flawlessly for months now. I also have a Hewlitt Packard printer that also has performed flawlessly for years now. And this has been amid several crashes of the computer (viruses from student emails, etc.). Hope that helps.

Sometimes you can solve (none / 0) (#3)
by The Addams Family on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:22:49 PM EST

this kind of problem if you check for and download the scanner driver, either the original version or a newer one, if available.

Ugh (none / 0) (#4)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:23:40 PM EST

Sorry Jeralyn--that's the worst kind of computer problem. And no, they sell these things for so cheap that there isn't really any support. And if there were, they couldn't help you anyway.

I would absolutely suggest scanning on your Mac. It's usually pretty close to plug and play.

I wish I still (none / 0) (#5)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:44:42 PM EST

had my Mac. It was among the items stolen in my "home invasion" (love that phrase) in Nov. I replaced the tv, Sony laptop and iPod, but haven't been able to get to the Mac (or cameras) yet. Hopefully, soon.


I love the Adobe program (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by magster on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 11:25:54 PM EST

that allows the creation of scanned documents directly into PDF files.

You can redact, Bates stamp discovery, create custom stickers (like "sign here" or "Exhibit A").
And, the scan takes up less memory than a jpeg file most scanners create.

Highly recommend for a lawyer.


you can redact? (none / 0) (#17)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 11:34:28 PM EST

I have Adobe 9.0 standard (not reader) and I didn't know you could redact. How?


: It's just an option in the advanced tool menu (none / 0) (#37)
by magster on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 11:08:08 AM EST

You go through your document highlighting information that you want to leave out (like attorney client conversation information on a bill when submitting an affidavit on attorney fees), then hit the redact button and save it as a new document.

: The program is Adobe 8 -- professional - FYI (none / 0) (#38)
by magster on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 11:09:21 AM EST

Sorry, (none / 0) (#8)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:51:02 PM EST

I completely forgot about that! Well, the good news is that you'll eventually get an even better model.


a cross-dressing clown (none / 0) (#6)
by Jeralyn on Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 09:46:00 PM EST

robbed a liquor store in Boulder this weekend. I can't even picture it.

: we definitely (none / 0) (#39)
by Capt Howdy on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 03:07:45 PM EST

move in different circles
:-)

Russian government... (none / 0) (#33)
by kdog on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 10:00:16 AM EST

has gone lost its mind...gambling prohibition back in a big way? In Russia? As if a) Russian gangsters need more revenue b) the government can afford the lost revenue c) the country can afford the lose of legit market jobs

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

That will probably work... (none / 0) (#34)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 10:11:27 AM EST

...about as well as their attempt to clamp down on vodka consumption.


: It's a shame.... (none / 0) (#35)
by kdog on Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 10:15:48 AM EST

the Russians are kickin' arse at this years WSOP. Too bad they won't have legal games to go home too...unless they wanna move to the designated gambling areas out in the boonies of Mother Russia.
Though I guess it is somewhat reassuring to know most every government in the world is at least as f*cked up as ours.