Memory Lane
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Over the course of the past week or so, several things have come up through my blogging activity that constitute follow-ups to earlier blog entries or even to past episodes of my life. I might as well blog them!
Here they some of them are, in no particular order.....
Microsoft Again Shills for Environmentalism
I remember being very annoyed with Microsoft for pandering to environmentalism from the first time I saw that the company had decided to incorporate a "Recycle Bin" rather than a trash can as a desktop icon. Now, the company is sponsoring a competition to create a video game based on global warming hysteria.
(I even went so far as to change the Recycle Bin to a trash can and rename the icon on an old Windows 98 laptop I used in grad school. Since I prefer a default of zero icons on my computer screen anyway, I use a customized window manager vice a desktop in Linux.)
Buy Moxie
Back in my Navy days, I was stationed in Connecticut for the greater part of a year, for nuclear prototype training and submarine school. While there, I developed a taste for Moxie, but since America's first mass-produced soft drink is available only in New England, I didn't get to enjoy it once I left. A trip to bblog jogged my memory and caused me to discover that the Internet has solved the Moxie-nonavailability problem!
"Partly Free" Malaysia
I recently blogged the ruling by Malaysia's highest court that a Moslem woman could not leave her religion under Malaysian law. I found this NRO piece on the relationship between state and Islam in Malaysia illuminating and disappointing:
Although there is no overt persecution in Malaysia, non-Muslims face significant restrictions. The government officially promotes Islam; Muslim civil servants must attend religion courses. "Proselytizing of Muslims by members of other religions is strictly prohibited, although proselytizing of non-Muslims faces no similar obstacles," reports the U.S. State Department. Violators may be fined and imprisoned. Moreover, "belittling Islam" comes with the risk of imprisonment under the Sedition Act. [bold added]It would seem that the rating of Malaysia by Freedom House (and cited by Doug Bandow) was entirely de facto, given how all-encompassing Islam is and how easily-offended so many Moslems proved to be during the cartoon riots.
Crop Pollination
In the same post, I also linked to a story on the "Colony Collapse Disorder" that has our news media all abuzz (Sorry!) about our honeybee population. Monica, who tends her own bees, made some interesting comments on that subject and posted a link to an interesting article on crop pollination.
False Negatives
This reminds me of another agriculturally-relevant story I blogged awhile back. It turns out that a news report about the Bush administration's opposition to a company's wanting to test its beef was incorrect in one crucial respect: The method used would have produced false negatives, giving the illusion that the beef was safe. Follow the link for more details.
Thank you, again, Jim, for bringing that to my attention.
Stossel on Public Education
Pursuant to last night's post on government schools, commenter madmax posted a link to a YouTube video of a John Stossel report on public education that looks like it will be morbidly interesting. I couldn't get it to load this morning, so I haven't seen it yet.
A Blog by Leonard Peikoff?
Last year, Leonard Peikoff posted a lone Q&A about the upcoming elections on his web site. Diana Hsieh notes that this part of his site has expanded quite a bit of late into what is, in effect, a blog. He does not provide links to individual questions, but since they're all so interesting anyway, who cares? Reach it from my side bar.
-- CAV
2 comments:
There are actually now two versions of Moxie on the market.
The first version is the one you linked to and is exactly what one finds on supermarket shelves in New England. Like most mass market soda pops these days, the supermarket version uses corn syrup instead of sugar.
The other version which you can see and buy here is made by a company in California and is only sold in glass bottles. They market their version of Moxie under the name Moxie "Original Elixr." They also produce a line of cream sodas and a cherry cola under the Moxie name - but these products have NOTHING to do with the real Moxie other than the name. This "Original Elixr" version of Moxie is different than the supermarket versions in that it uses cane sugar as its sweetner. It is sort of the Moxie equivelent of Dublin Dr. Pepper and Mexican Cola-Cola which are also made from sugar cane.
Personally, I prefer drinks made from sugar cane over the corn syrup and find them to be a bit more refreshing - though the soft drink companies all say that there is no taste difference. I however, can certainly taste a difference between regular Dr. Pepper and Dublin Dr. Pepper side by side.
I have never had the opportunity to try the two Moxie varieties side by side. For a while, a large import retailer called Cost Plus World Markets carried the bottled "Original Elixr" variety of Moxie along with the line of so-called "Moxie" cream sodas. Whenever I saw that the Fort Worth location got in a new shipment of the "Original Elixir" I would buy out their entire stock. Then one January I went in and there was no more Moxie - and not even any of the pseudo-Moxies. I asked why and was told that they discontinued it. I explained that they were actually out of stock on the stuff more than they were in stock so it obviously sold well. The lady explained that it did sell well but that it was the chain's policy to switch out its merchandise line up once a year to keep the store "interesting." That was very sad.
About a year ago, I purchased a case of the supermarket variety over the Internet. Sadly, the shipping on that is a bit expensive as liquid is heavy. But it beats having to do without Moxie. My attempt to try and find a way to by Moxie syrup so that I can simply add my own carbonated water was not successful.
Moxie is my absolute favorite soda pop. It is something that people either love or hate - and it is very fun watching the reaction of people when they drink it for the very first time.
(1) Thank you for all the links to the cane sugar versions of DP, Coke, and Moxie.
(2) "[I]t was the chain's policy to switch out its merchandise line up once a year to keep the store 'interesting.'"
I really hate the notion that change is inherently good. People who believe that deserve the "interesting" experience of discovering that the oasis they were heading towards is actually a mirage.
(3) Your mention of the orange soda is interesting: It was actually this review of an orange cream Moxie over at bbrown which reminded me of Moxie. But since many people confuse Moxie for an orange cream soda and I didn't want to sound like I was accusing Bill of doing so (and was pressed for time), I left out the reference.
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