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Ecto Cooler Redux

Posted in humor, personal, pop culture, random with tags Ecto Cooler, Ghostbusters, Hi-C, pop culture on March 10, 2006 by Paxton

This will be a pop culture entry, not really having anything to do with Technology or Movies.

I was visiting one of my favorite websites, X-Entertainment. On this site, Matt, will review pop culture anomalies and fads from years past. He has some fascinating articles about Kool-Aid, old videos, discontinued snack foods, etc. One day I ran across a great article about a Hi-C flavor called Ecto Cooler (shown left). It was written in 2003. I remember this flavor very fondly. I never had it myself, but I remember kids at school having it. The article contends that Ecto Cooler, after the Ghostbusters fame died, was reborn as a flavor called Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen (shown right). I searched for months but as far as I could tell the flavor had been discontinued or it may be hard to find in this part of the country but can be seen everywhere else. I just didn’t know.

I didn’t know, that is, until I went to Enterprise, AL on the weekend of Mar 3, 2006 for a good friend’s wedding. In a small grocery called Southern, I found 12 packs of the Shoutin’ Orange Tangergreen juice boxes on the shelves. YAHTZEE!!!!! I bought two and commenced to drinking the liquidy goodness all weekend. Let me just say, that if this is what Ecto Cooler tasted like, I see why it was so popular. So fruity and tasty I’m ready to sacrifice small animals to the juice box Gods in my quest for more. Oh juice box Gods, bless me with more juice boxy love soon.

Technorati Tags – Pop Culture Humor Nostalgia

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Mozilla Firefox Review

Posted in Firefox, internet, reviews, technology with tags internet, Mozilla Firefox, technology on March 10, 2006 by Paxton

Being a fan of technology, I am also a fan of cool little pc desktop apps. Every once in a while I’ll highlight a particular favorite of mine. Today I’ll be discussing the Mozilla Firefox web browser.
Some of you may have heard of this, some of you not. It is an alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE). Microsoft, until recently, had stopped development on IE. It just sits there, stagnating on your desktop like a boil. Bugs that have been around forever are still there, not to mention that fact that spyware, malware and viruses are written mostly against IE because the most people use it. Back in 2001, I got sick of using IE and switched to a browser called Opera. This browser had a much faster rendering engine and incorporated tabbed browsing, the first I’d ever seen this feature. I never used IE again. Opera has since been replaced by Firefox.

Firefox is a nice alternative because it is highly customizable for every user. If you don’t want certain features, you don’t have to have them. When you download Firefox, the browser is a bare bones application that does the basic browser features. One of the basic features of Firefox that IE doesn’t do, just yet, is tabbed browsing. If you have multiple websites open, they are all kept within one browser window and tabs at the top let you quickly switch between your open pages. It’s a very nice feature that you immediately wonder how you lived without. If you want more advanced features you download what are called “extensions”. I’ll delve into extensions more deeply another time, but they include things like email checkers, weather forcasts, ad blocking, search bars, etc. You name it, someone has made an extension for it. You can also download themes which change the “look and feel” of Firefox to something more appealing to you. I currently use the Metal Lion theme which addes a brushed metal look to the entire browser. I love it.

If you would like to tryout Firefox, go to the Mozilla web site here. They just released Firefox 1.5.0.1 and should be releasing version 2 at the end of spring. Hope some of you discover the joys of alternate browsers with me.

Update 1/31/2007 – Version 2 has been released. Click on the Take Back the Web – Firefox button in the bottom right Links section of my sidebar to get the newest version.

If you want to check it out, Opera still has a browser, which is now free. Check it out here. They are up to version 8.5.

Technorati Tags – Technology Review Mozilla Firefox Internet Browsers

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Man Sued for Deleting Files Off Company Laptop

Posted in computers, technology with tags technology on March 10, 2006 by Paxton

This article concerns me greatly.

Apparently a man decides to leave his company. He deletes personal files off his company laptop. He knows, like everyone should (right?), that deleting files in most operating systems does not actually delete the file. It only removes the pointer to that file. So he uses a professional file scrubber to permanently delete the files making them impossible to recover.

I guess he must have left the company on bad terms (the company alleges he went into business for himself in the same industry which is a violation of employment contracts) because the company searches his laptop for incriminating files proving he was violating his employment agreement. When they discover that he used a file scrubber, they sue him for damaging a company owned laptop. What concerns me is several courts upheld the fact that deleting data off a hard drive constitutes “damaging” a computer. The company also said that the moment he decided to leave the company he no longer had implicit authority to delete data off the laptop. While I might agree with the latter, I have a serious problem with the former.

I worked as an IS consultant for over 8 years. I had a company laptop the entire time. I was careful not to put anything on it that would get me in trouble later, but I do not agree with the fact that deleting data on the hard drive constitutes damage to that computer. He turned the laptop into the company in the same condition that he received it, there should be no case against him. That is ridiculous. Hell hath no fury like a company scorned, I guess……………….

Technorati Tags – Technology Lawsuit

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Movie Review: North by Northwest

Posted in Alfred Hitchock, Cary Grant, movies, reviews with tags movie reviews, movies on March 10, 2006 by Paxton

The wife and I have been on a classic movie kick lately. We love old Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart movies. As we watch them, I’ll put up short reviews of them in case you might want to check them out. The last one we just watched was North By Northwest.

I had watched this movie many years ago before I had a full appreciation for Cary Grant. The wife hadn’t seen it so I agreed to rent it and watch it again. Much, MUCH better than I remember. I thought, originally, that it drug in the middle and I was completely uninterested by the end. This second time, I was riveted throughout. Cary Grant is phenomenal. His drunk driving scene is unbelievably funny, yet scary at the same time. It seems he can do pretty much anything he wants onscreen. I can’t wait to check out more of his work.

The female lead, Eve Marie Saint, is just flat-out sexy. Period. She practically melts the film she’s so hot. The club car scene on the train between her and Grant is the closest I’ve seen two people come to having sex without touching. Just awesome. She plays a character with a nice story arc, and she does it beautifully. Did I mention she was dead sexy?

So if you are looking for a good thriller, especially by the master, Alfred Hitchcock, you can’t do much better than North by Northwest. Also, check out a young Martin Landau as the villain’s right hand man. He plays menacing characters so well.

Technorati Tags – Movies Alfred Hitchcock Movie Reviews

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