Submitted by drew on

 

Just to document this for next time. For reference, my books are 8 x 10.75 inches and other dimension below work for this. For approximately 100 pages, It takes me about 45 minutes to scan, an hour to crop and rotate, and 30 minutes to organize and generate the PDF.

Scanning

Myscanner is an all-in-one type of printer with a 8.5 x 11 scanning bed (Epson Workforce 3640). When I replaced my previous printer, I considered getting one with a 11x17 scanning bed, but alas, did not. So anyway...

Scan at 200dpi using the "Text and images" setting.

Set the output format to TIFF. I would have used PNG, but that's not available on my scanner. Perhaps next time I will use the JPEG setting and see if that affects the final quality (perhaps not since we are reducing and compressing quite at bit by the end).

Image Processing

Using IrfanView for each image...

  • Rotate to the correct orientation (press R)
  • Do fine rotation if needed, usually in the range of .3 to .6 degrees, if the scans are fairly straight (CTRL-U).
  • Crop (select the region to keep and press CTRL-Y)

Batch process all images in the folder. Open one of them in IrfanView and press B. Use these settings...

  • Reduce size by 50%. This results in an image approx 750 by 1050 pixels.
  • Convert to JPEG using the highest quality setting.
  • Add all images to the batch.
  • Select the output folder.
  • Run the batch.

Organize and Generate the PDF

Using LibreOffice Impress...

  • Change the page size to 7.75 x 5.25 with 0 margins. This should allow drag'n'drop the images into Impress without having to resize all of them.
  • Each Impress slide is a full page spread (two facing images).
  • For each spread, you could link to the image by CTRL-SHIFT-dragging the file into Impress, but Impress seems to have some issues with linked images. So embedding seems to be the way to go.
  • Rename slides via right click or press F2. These slide names appear in the final PDF as bookmarks.
  • Export to PDF using my exporter script with "Export to PDF for Web" option on the File menu

Using PDF-XChange Editor (free version)...

  • Organize the bookmark hierarchy (i.e. into sections).

 

Traffic Question 15: Mailing a letter

Submitted by drew on

Traffic Question 15:

During a period of heavy traffic, you want to mail a letter and then head in the direction of the pink arrow. How do you do it?

  1. Stop at Mailbox A, then do a U turn
  2. Park in a spot near Mailbox A, then turn left out of the parking lot
  3. Use Mailbox A, then use the left turn lane at the intersection to do a legal U turn
  4. Turn right at the main street, turn left into the parking lot for Mailbox B, then go through the intersection in the desired direction

Traffic Question 14: A traffic light turns yellow and you’re not quite going to make it through before it turns red... what do you do?

Submitted by drew on

Traffic Question 14:

A traffic light turns yellow and you’re not quite going to make it through before it turns red... what do you do?

  1. Stomp on the gas pedal and zoom through
  2. Continue through the intersection without any change in speed
  3. Wait until the last second and then stomp on the brake
  4. Start coming to a gradual stop immediately
  5. None of the above

Traffic Question 9: If you get a phone call while you’re driving, what do you do?

Submitted by drew on

traffic-09q.pngTraffic Question 9: If you get a phone call while you’re driving, what do you do?

A. Answer it right away

B. Wait until you get to a stop light and call back.

C. Stop at a stop sign and call back.

D. See who it is. If you think it might be an emergency, park the car in a designated parking area and then call back.

(Yes, this is pretty similar to #2 If you get a text while you’re driving... The main difference is, texting on the phone is illegal whereas talking on the phone is legal. At least in Moline.)

Traffic Question 12: Which of the following are factors in whether or not a vehicle is going to be slower than normal?

Submitted by drew on

Traffic Question 12:

Which of the following are factors in whether or not a vehicle is going to be slower than normal?

* Car is Buick, Cadillac, or similar type

* One or more children are present

* Vehicle is a minivan

* Age of driver is over 60

* Handicapped license plates

* Driver is using cell phone

* Vehicle is a "sporty" color

* Driver is female

Traffic Quiz 6: Is it possible to back out of a driveway and use only one lane?

Submitted by drew on

traffic-06q.pngTraffic Question 6:

The blue dots indicate the path used to pull IN the driveway.

Is it possible to back out of a driveway and head in the direction indicated by the pink arrow, using only one lane of the road?

A. No, one lane is not enough room.

B. Yes, it can be done in one lane.