Print Head

1983 was the year when my tech job kicked into high gear, with a lot of traveling and mastering a slew of additional duties. I enjoyed all of it, except for the pay, which was equivalent to $40,000 today.*

One of those duties was evaluating and approving peripheral devices for use at hospitals. These included “dumb” terminals, printers and modems, about which I became something of an expert.

I didn’t see this installment of The Computer Chronicles in 1983. If I had I would have been very interested, because the discussion was about the changes in printer technology that I knew quite well were taking place. Most notably with laser and inkjet printing. There were also high-speed band printers that were later replaced with dot-matrix models.

Here in the present at home, I have my new Epson ET-2980/2985 multi-function inkjet printer. I’ve figured out how to optimize scanning so the results are as good as they were with the old Canon MP600.

The black ink clogs up the Epson’s printhead after not much idle time. I’m a bit concerned that a single cleaning hasn’t yet done the trick. This scan shows the first check, then after the first cleaning, and the second, deeper cleaning.

* Average salaries increased at the lowest rates in more than 10 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 1984 survey of pay for professional, administrative, technical, and clerical occupations in medium and large firms.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1984/10/rpt1full.pdf

The Review Amazon Won’t Let You See!

Amazon doesn’t allow reviews of orders that relate to anything about themselves. So I’ll have to post this here.

THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE BOOK! IT IS A REVIEW OF MY PRE-ORDER OF THE DITKO ARTIST'S EDITION FROM AMAZON!

I pre-ordered two copies of the Ditko Artist's Edition book in February, 2026 at the full price of nearly $400. They were supposed to be delivered yesterday, on 7/21. I waited all day, but its status didn't read as "shipping" until 9 PM, with delivery scheduled for today, 7/22.

In the past with delivery problems, I have sometimes received a message saying there has been a delay and, if I wished, I could cancel the order. Such was not the case yesterday.

Yesterday morning, while I was waiting, hours before the books had shipped, I saw that the price had been dropped by an incredible 22%! So, of course I tried to cancel my pre-order, but was told it couldn't be canceled, because the order was being prepared for shipping.

Before the books were delivered today, I received this message from Amazon:

You will receive a refund of $0.22 with Amazon.com Pre-order Price Guarantee! The price of the following item decreased after you ordered, and we gave you the lowest price.

The Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko Artist's Edition	
Price on order date:	$195.00
Price charged at shipping:	$195.00
Lowest price before release date:	$194.89
Amount to be refunded:	$0.11
Quantity:	2
Total Savings:	$0.22

As a 30-year Amazon customer, they added insult to injury with a 22-cent reduction in price vs. 22%. I called customer service, and although I was pleased to reach an actual person, the upshot of my complaint was, "we don't price match ourselves."

I am seriously considering returning the books, taking a credit as a gift card balance, and buying two copies at the new price. My Prime membership is coming up in a few weeks, and I'm not feeling inclined to renew.

In Search of Steve Ditko

Yesterday, I said the Steve Ditko Spider-Man Artist Edition book would be delivered today. I had pre-ordered it with Amazon in February. In fact, I ordered two copies, with one going to Denro as a birthday present.

Here it is, after 2 PM, and they haven’t shipped yet. Based on my past experience, I know that if something isn’t on its way by now, it won’t be arriving as expected.

Also based on past experience, I expected that canceling wouldn’t work; and, indeed, it didn’t, because the order was “being prepared.” Which is nothing more than a timed software action, not based on something actually happening.

Was the publisher unable to ship copies to Amazon in time? Were they sent to the wrong Amazon location? Is there an internal problem at Amazon? Doesn’t matter.

Canceling should be presented as an option once Amazon declares that delivery has been delayed. I’ll cancel and then take advantage of the now-discounted price for later delivery.

Follow-up: 7 PM – not yet shipped.

9 PM – Shipped, arriving tomorrow.

7/22/26 8:26 AM – Package being processed at carrier facility.

Oh boy! A total of 22-cents off!

The Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko Artist's Edition

Price on order date: $195.00

Price charged at shipping: $195.00

Lowest price before release date: $194.89

Amount to be refunded: $0.11

Quantity: 2

Total Savings: $0.22

Let’s compare that against the current price on Amazon. 22% off beats 22-cents.

-22%
$151.50
List Price: $195.00