Other

Installing a Canon Pixma iP2600 on Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)

Posted in Other on August 3rd, 2010 by Jorge – Be the first to comment

According to this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5337771: the drivers are available from the Canon Asia support site: http://support-asia.canon-asia.com/. Trouble is, those drivers are a bit outdated and require a dependency (libcupsys2) that has been renamed in Lucid. Luckily, a workaround is available here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1305248.

However, after modifying, repackaging and installing the drivers, the printer still wouldn’t work and returned an error that said something like “filter not owned by root” every time I attempted to print a test page. This is because the driver files were owned by me as user instead of root. I have no idea why this happened (makes no sense), but I found the solution here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1313291.

Basically, you just need to change the ownership of the drivers in:

  • /usr/lib/cups/filter/, and
  • /usr/lib/cups/backend/

in my case, these files where:

  • /usr/lib/cups/filter/pstocanonij, and
  • /usr/lib/cups/backend/cnij_usb

Looting? Seriously?

Posted in Other on January 19th, 2010 by Jorge – Be the first to comment

What better way to confirm our suspicions of “the poor”, “the underdeveloped”, “the savage”? What better opportunity to reaffirm our condition of “civilized” than to look at Haiti after the earthquake? Make no mistake, because according to the Associated Press, “looting” is what Haitians are doing. We, “the developed”, obviously know better, because when our houses are destroyed, food and water are scarce, and our families lie dead on the roads, we wait for someone to come, rebuild, and officially re-open the stores so we can go in and buy toothpaste to cover the smell of death.

There is looting in Haiti alright, and there has been for longer than history cares to remember. Looting is what France did to Haiti for over a century, looting is what the USA has done to Haiti since the early 1900s, looting is what the Inter-American Development Bank continues to do to Haiti.

So the lesson here is clear: the audacity of freedom, the gift of Haiti to the world, is the greatest offence a nation can ever commit, and those who dare to take their own path, will be despised, abused and ignored, as will be their children, and their children’s children.

From the archives: The Xaviercito Tortolero Ensemble 2006 World Tour, Mexico City (4/29/06)

Posted in Other on July 17th, 2007 by Jorge – Be the first to comment

This is just a taste of the successful one city, one song, 2006 world tour of the Xavier Torotolero Ensemble. As you can hear, the place was packed full with fans from all over the neighborhood. Some of them even came all the way from Avenida Revolución!

Never pay for napkins again!

Posted in Other on July 15th, 2007 by Jorge – Be the first to comment

It has been already about 2 years since the last time I bought napkins. This was only possible after I realized that I didn’t really have to. Every time you buy a coffee, a muffin or a sandwich, without exception, you get WAY more napkins than you need! So, I got into the healthy habit of folding them nicely and putting them in my back pocket. Then, when I get home, I introduce the good old napkins in the kitchen covert to their new warm friends. Some call it tacky, but I prefer just plain smart! It’s a win-win situation:

  1. You make THE MAN pay for you napkins,
  2. you take care of the environment by reducing a bit your ecological footprint, and
  3. you get a bit of padding in your butt!

Want a hug?

Posted in Other on July 15th, 2007 by Jorge – Be the first to comment

If you were wondering what to do with your life, this is probably a good way to start. In fact, it also works if you just want to feel like you were a good person. After all, as the free hugs campaign claims: “you get what you give”, so… beware!, because I’m coming after you!