Why Your Printer Never Works Properly

I think we can all relate to this:

Did you know that the cost of printer ink is approximately $8,000 per gallon?? Think about that the next time you're pumping gas at the gas station. One reason that the price is so ridiculously high is that large printer manufacturers pressure vendors to squeeze out third-party ink suppliers and refillers, and also create their printers in such a way that they will have "problems" (or simply reject) ink cartridges from other companies.

This amusing comic, titled "Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell to Make Us Miserable", points out that despite vast increases in computing power over the past decade, printers remain just as annoying and unreliable. Why, for example, do many printers refuse to print black-ink-only documents if the printer is low on color ink? Why do printer manufacturers insult consumers by selling printers for less than the cost of ink refills (making it more economical to simply buy new printers that include ink rather than buying ink refills)? Why are consumer "photo printers" so terrible at printing photos?

It seems that for some questions, the world is not ready for answers.

An Investment in Knowledge

~On Friday morning, I attended the grand opening of the new Orange County Main Library in Hillsborough:

^ It's a beautiful building adjacent to the main Orange County offices in downtown Hillsborough.

^ There was quite crowd in attendance for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Most of the Orange County commissioners were there, along with the State Librarian of North Carolina and State Senator Ellie Kinnaird.

^ I'm not sure who this guy was, but he wrote a poem about the library and read some inspirational quotes. My favorite was from Benjamin Franklin: "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."