Ghostscript error?

I've been receiving the following error when attempting to compile (ps2pdf) my w5 outflows paper:

Error: /rangecheck in --get--
Operand stack:
   pdfmark   --dict:20/25(ro)(L)--   --nostringval--   50
Execution stack:
   %interp_exit   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   1878   1   3   %oparray_pop   1877   1   3   %oparray_pop   1861   1   3   %oparray_pop   1755   1   3   %oparray_pop   --nostringval--   %errorexec_pop   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   %finish_show   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   8   6   1   --nostringval--   (pdf_text_enum_t)   %op_show_continue   --nostringval--
Dictionary stack:
   --dict:1153/1684(ro)(G)--   --dict:0/20(G)--   --dict:71/200(L)--   --dict:125/300(L)--   --dict:44/200(L)--   --dict:138/224(L)--
Current allocation mode is local
Last OS error: 2
Current file position is 267478928
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1

I get the same error with Ghostscript 8.64, but on my laptop, using the fink version, it works. Similarly, there are errors with the postscript, so I'm led to believe it's an error in latex:

$ latex --version
pdfTeX 3.1415926-1.40.10-2.2 (TeX Live 2009)
kpathsea version 5.0.0
Copyright 2009 Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the pdfTeX copyright and
the Lesser GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file
named COPYING and the pdfTeX source.
Primary author of pdfTeX: Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
Compiled with libpng 1.2.39; using libpng 1.2.39
Compiled with zlib 1.2.3; using zlib 1.2.3
Compiled with xpdf version 3.02pl3

No idea what the cause is but it's time to start documenting steps and looking for a workaround. Compiling on the lappy isn't a good option.

usetex failure in latex documents

When I use matplotlib's internal tex (rcParams['text.useTex']=False), the postscript files generated cause errors that look like this when you try to ps2pdf them:


ps2pdf h2co_pilot.ps
Error: /rangecheck in --get--
Operand stack:
--dict:20/25(ro)(L)-- --nostringval-- 71
Execution stack:
%interp_exit .runexec2 --nostringval-- --nostringval-- --nostringval-- 2 %stopped_push --nostringval-- --nostringval-- --nostringval-- false 1 %stopped_push 1862 1 3 %oparray_pop 1861 1 3 %oparray_pop 1845 1 3 %oparray_pop 1739 1 3 %oparray_pop --nostringval-- %errorexec_pop .runexec2 --nostringval-- --nostringval-- --nostringval-- 2 %stopped_push --nostringval-- %finish_show --nostringval-- --nostringval-- 9 6 0 --nostringval-- (pdf_text_enum_t) %op_show_continue --nostringval--
Dictionary stack:
--dict:1147/1684(ro)(G)-- --dict:0/20(G)-- --dict:70/200(L)-- --dict:116/300(L)-- --dict:44/200(L)-- --dict:25/42(L)--
Current allocation mode is local
Last OS error: 2
Current file position is 791626
GPL Ghostscript 8.64: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
make: *** [h2co_pilot.pdf] Error 1


They will not open in MacOS's Preview.app either.

Solution: Make figures with rcParams['text.useTex'] = True

wrapping text around a figure in latex

An example from Devin:

%\begin{wrapfigure}{l}{0.5\textwidth}
% \vspace{-27pt}
% \begin{center}
% \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{nsf_fig3.ps}
% \end{center}
% \vspace{-27pt}
% \caption{\it{}}
% \vspace{-12pt}
%\end{wrapfigure}
1:16
\usepackage{wrapfig}

Detexify!

for when you can't remember how to draw an angstrom:
detexify

LaTeX: replace double quotes with tex quotes

People often make the mistake of putting " in place of `` in LaTeX documents. To repair this, the only easy solution is something like:
s/\(\s\)"/\1``/g
in VIM or sed.

I've seen alternate solutions posted but they're all too complicated. One recommendation was to switch to XeTeX, which sounds like overkill, and others all stated that a complicated perl script is required. The latter is technically true, but why isn't such a thing readily available?

Any other ideas?