Windows Update failed on my Windows 7 PC, and I got really stuck

Cannot Run Windows Update on a Windows 7 PC?

I tried to update an a Windows 7 PC, and I got this message:

windows update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. you may need to restart your computer.

I found the above article through an article resp. a comment on answers.microsoft.com . The official answers were not really helpful at all, a reinstallation was not a serious option for me.
I proceeded as suggested in the above article, basically:

• stopping the Windows Update services through services.msc,
• deleting everything below C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ (yes!),
• restarting the Windows Update services through services.msc,
• starting the Windows Update on the Control Panel again.

And everything was fine.

I had the Service Pack 1 ISO image downloaded and burnt on a DVD, but the setup.exe from the DVD pointed me to the same problem as above.

my Samsung CLP-315 showed the orange LED

It [link] started doing so a couple of months ago. That was rather unspecific. The printer is usually attached to my Internet router. Of course, there is no standard way to check that printer's status using Smart Panel. Smart Panel on my OS X computer already got set up with an SCX-4623F, and I found no way to make it take notice the CLP-315. Finally I had start a Windows PC (and not just a VM), attach the printer, and install Samsung's printer software. First Smart Panel showed a paper jam, and told me to use the Troubleshooting Guide. Alright, I opened the printer on the backside – as I had done already quite a couple of times. No jammed paper found. The status changed to something like "printer is open". Closed it again. Opened it again. Closed it again. Warm up… – a configuration status got printed successfully. I'm amazed. Works again. Also after I attached it again to my Internet router.

Avishai Cohen released 'Duende', his 13th album on 21st May, a beautiful duet piece with Nitai Hershkovits

Avishai Cohen - The Official Website - News Articles

Avishai Cohen with Nitai Hershkovits: new album "Duende" – get it at Amazon (.com, .co.uk, .de, ...)

Duende (with Nitai Hershkovits): Avishai Cohen: Amazon.de: MP3-Downloads

I downloaded MP3-files from Amazon.de last night.

The Pragmatic Bookshelf: Working with Unix Processes

The Pragmatic Bookshelf | Working with Unix Processes

O'Reilly Media book: Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide

Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide:
Every Mac user knows how to work with windows and icons, but there is a wonderful application behind the scenes—the Terminal—that provides tremendous additional power. With this handy guide, you’ll learn valuable commands that remove limits and open doors that many Mac users don’t know exist.

Microsoft Press book: Understanding IPv6, 3rd Edition

Understanding IPv6, 3rd Edition:
Get the in-depth technical information you need to put IPv6 technology into practice—and learn how the protocol relates to the next releases of Windows® and Windows Server®. Written by a networking expert, this reference details IPv6 from its features and benefits to its packet structure and protocol processes. You’ll learn how IPv6 works and how to use its built-in services in your network deployments.

upgraded to Adium 1.5.1b1

Adium - Download

Learn about Dart in Berlin on May 24

Learn about Dart in Berlin on May 24: Posted by Seth Ladd

Join Dart engineers in Berlin for a night of Dart on May 24th. The Berlin GTUG is hosting an Introduction to Dart, in partnership with Berlin JS and JUG BB.

From the original announcement:

The two fold event on Thursday, 24th of May, will take place at co-working space AHOY!Berlin in Charlottenburg near Stuttgarter Platz.

The first part of the event offers some hands-on Dart experience (from setting up the SDK, IDE, to some “hello world!” accomplishment) and will take place from 4pm to 6pm. Please register at meetup for the first part of the event.  All participants are expected and required to bring their own laptops and power cords. AHOY!Berlin will provide WiFi and 'some' power outlets.

The second part will be a presentation about Dart with Q&A (7pm to 9pm) followed by a get together in the Ahoy Lounge where we can continue with a laid-back general discussion about Dart. Please register at meetup for the second part of the event.

Thanks to all the organizers for this joint event to learn about Dart. This is a great chance to meet some of the Dart engineers, ask questions, and join in the conversation. Hope to see you there!

LyricWiki: we are a free wiki website where anyone can get reliable lyrics for any song by any artist

Lyrics by song, album, or music artist - LyricWiki

Interesting. Where do they get their information and the respective licenses from?

lyrics.wikia.com/LyricWiki:Copyrights :

Copyright Status of Song Lyrics:
Copyrights to lyrics are held by their respective owners and are licensed through Gracenote.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracenote :

Gracenote, Inc., formerly called CDDB (Compact Disc Data Base), is a company […] 

Back in the old days CD ripping software accessed CDDB for retrieving information later copied into MP3 tags. And that's what CDDB was really famous for.

Nowadays Gracenote is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

how to load SIM card contacts into an Android smartphone and also into my Google Mail Contacts

I was actually already quite able to load "my" SIM card contacts into my Android smartphone contacts, but apparently they get flagged in a way, so that these entries don't get synchronised with my Google Mail Contacts.

I did a Google search for this ("android sim contacts to gmail"), but the articles there seem to not consider that flag, that seems to prevent that synchronisation.

Note: It's actually not my SIM card contacts and my Google account, but it's easier to write "I" then "person X".

Update 2012-05-13: "Ice Cream Sandwich" Android on my own smartphone has a Contacts app option named "Merge with Google", that seems to cope with this problem.  It allows to select a specific Google account for this action. But the true owner of that SIM card doesn't want to have his SIM card contacts in my phone, and I actually don't want that as well.

O'Reilly Media book: Programming Grails

Programming Grails:
Responding to the demand for more in-depth Grails coverage that goes beyond the typical use cases, this book helps experienced web developers learn Grails best practices for building and deployment, debugging and problem solving, creating and using Grails plugins, as well as testing, security, performance, scaling, tuning, and monitoring.

O'Reilly Media book: Hadoop Operations

Hadoop Operations:
If you’ve been tasked with the job of maintaining large and complex Hadoop clusters, or are about to be, this book is a must. You’ll learn the particulars of Hadoop operations, from planning, installing, and configuring the system to providing ongoing maintenance.

O'Reilly Media book: Exploring Everyday Things with R and Ruby

Exploring Everyday Things with R and Ruby:
Programming is not just for geeks. If you’re curious about how things work, and want to get programmatic solutions to everyday problems, this intriguing book will help you find what you’re looking for. By using some fundamental math and simple Ruby and R constructs, you’ll learn how to model the problem and work toward a solution.

O'Reilly Media book: Python for Data Analysis

Python for Data Analysis:
Despite the explosive growth of data in industry after industry, learning and accessing data analysis tools has remained a challenge. This pragmatic guide demonstrates the nuts and bolts of manipulating, processing, cleaning, and crunching data with Python. It also serves as a modern introduction to scientific computing in Python for data-intensive applications.

Calibre ebook manager adds KF8 (Kindle Format 8) export function - The H Open Source: News and Features

Calibre ebook manager adds KF8 export function - The H Open Source: News and Features

npipe: A utility to read/write from: pipes, sockets, standard handles, files, block devices, etc

npipe | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net

Not just for UNIXoid platforms …

OpenCOBOL: an open-source COBOL compiler (SourceForge.net)

OpenCOBOL | Free Development software downloads at SourceForge.net

Where the Wild Things Are – a video adaptation of the Maurice Sendak classic - YouTube

Where the Wild Things Are - YouTube

Another variant:

And there are even more of them …

In memoriam Maurice Sendak.

Baden Powell de Aquino: his father, a scouting enthusiast, named him after Robert Baden-Powell

"Baden Powell" – so who is that?

• Baden Powell de Aquino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ("one of the greatest Brazilian guitarists")
• Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ("founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement")

the Dalai Lama on respect for others and sincere motivation

Dalai Lama - Google+ - The quality of everything we do: our physical actions, our…

Guylhem's article on "One Time Password" = OTP for telnetd on FRITZ!Box

Guylhem's most recent funny hacks & thoughts — Adding OTP to telnetd

my Android smartphone as FM radio "via speaker"

I have had mobile phones / smartphones with "FM radio" applications for quite a while now, and I had also learned, that they use earphones as antenna / aerial. Somehow I had implied, that would mean I would have to listen to the broadcast via earphones. I took me a while to let the idea grow, how nice it would be to be able to listen to the broadcast via speaker nevertheless. Well, the "FM radio" application on my Samsung Galaxy SII already has that feature. Nice. That way I don't need to waste bandwidth for streaming my favourite broadcasting stations over the Internet any longer. If I had only known that for a little longer! What a waste! I am so embarrassed.

automated home banking with Postbank.de using perl

• Finance::Bank::Postbank_de::Account - search.cpan.org
• Finance::Bank::Postbank_de - search.cpan.org

Both are by the same author, both provide sample code. I will give them a try rather soon, I guess.

how do I get the articles on my Blogger blogs fed automatically into my Google+ profile?

networkedblogs.com does this job for feeding my articles into my Facebook and my Twitter feed / stream.

I prefer my Blogger blogs as my primary "article lists" (or "bookmark lists") because of various reasons, e.g.

• the flexible way of adding / removing / changing labels / categories,
• the staged way of publishing articles (I can leave them in the Draft state for a while, until I am satisfied with them resp. their categories),
• …

O'Reilly Media book: Fitness for Geeks

Fitness for Geeks:
If you’re interested in how things work, this guide will help you experiment with one crucial system you usually ignore—your body and its health. Long hours focusing on code or circuits tends to stifle notions of nutrition, but with this educational and highly useful book you can approach fitness through science, whether it’s investigating your ancestral health or using the latest self-tracking apps and gear.

FreeFileSync – visual folder comparison and synchronization (SourceForge)

FreeFileSync | Free Security & Utilities software downloads at SourceForge.net