Printer Jam!

Barely before Christmas, I composed my annual (almost-sent) Christmas letter and sent it to the laser printer. The annoying thing was that the paper took the opportunity to jam. I was just tired enough, and mad enough, and it was late enough, that I walked away and went directly to bed. Knowing how difficult the paper path is to clear, I simply avoided the issue until today.

Since I had something to print out today, and my friends Dave and Angeliq are staying the weekend, Dave said he'd take a look at the printer for me. He's had years of experience in computer lab situations and I knew if anybody could clear the paper path, it would be Dave.

Presto! Dave got the rest of the paper out, but when he tipped the machine to make sure he'd gotten it all, we heard a small clunk on the table. "I think your type is falling out of the printer," quipped Dave, as he retrieved not one, but two sorts of metal type.

Only another letterpress printer would have laughed like Dave and I did.




The type actually fell from a ledge in the outside back of the printer's case, in case you're wondering.

Euphonious, it is not

Boy, who knew!

In checking Wikipedia for something entirely different, I ran across an entry most odd.

But first! What does the name STOPLIGHT LOOSEJAW bring to mind? Shouldn't that be the name for the terminally selfish idiots whose cell phone habits are unreformed-- so much so that when the light turns green, THEY just sit there, chatting away? I mean. What a perfect name for such jerks. They are Stoplight Loosejaws!

Of course, better they don't try to actually drive while talking. That is finally illegal in California, as it should have been from the start. Almost without exception, the very worst drivers I see on the road are those with a phone plastered to their ear. I hope you, my reader, are not one of them. They are a threat to all our well-being and a danger to themselves as well as us.

But I digress. So Wikipedia has an article on the STOPLIGHT LOOSEJAW (no, I am not making this up!) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoplight_loosejaw

Enjoy! And try not to earn the name yourself! (grin)

==Marjorie