administrator's blog

The NCO Board and Committee volunteers would like to extend our deepest collective "thank you's" and our gratitude to Griff Wigley, for his incredible dedication, hard work, and civic service.

A little more than a year ago, I wrote an article entitled;
"Tired of Spyware On Your PC?" The intent of my article was to expose a very decent (and FREE) web browser, called Firefox, to folks who thought they were stuck with Internet Exploder Explorer as their only browser of choice.

The Northfield Public Library Board met on Tuesday. There was the introduction of a new member and much discussion of a future bonding referendum for the expansion/move of the library.

More information after the jump.

The Station Formerly Known as WCAL (89.3 FM) came back to life this morning, reincarnated as KCMP.

The format is mixed modern, with attention paid to 'local' artists.

More information can be had from a StarTribune article.

[UPDATED] As was reported here first, the US Federal Credit Union was robbed yesterday for the second time in two months.

More information available from the Northfield News.

Let's face it folks, no one really appreciates "spam" (junk e-mail) inundating and taking over their in-boxes. Unfortunately, it's incredibly difficult to avoid. Spammers and scammers are getting very tricky with making certain their junk mail reaches your in-box, and some spam e-mails can be outright dangerous.

The NPL Board met yesterday (Tues, Nov. 16). On the agenda was a visit from Samuel Demas, Carleton College librarian, a change in the 'late policies', reports from the various groups inside and outside the library, and talk of library donations.

If you are a Microsoft Windows ® user, chances are, you have been plagued with spyware - most likely more than once. Spyware is normally "transmitted" and caught via the World Wide Web - from those annoying pop-up ads we all abhor so dearly, as well as from sites we just didn't intend to land on when searching the 'net.

Most folks aren't aware they are not forced to use the default web browser shipped with Windows - Internet Explorer ®. Microsoft makes it easy to get on the 'net by integrating the browser right into Windows. Nice, isn't it? Not really. Internet Explorer is infamous to many for it's slew of known security vulnerabilities - some of which let spyware literally take over your PC? Well, what can you do?

There is another web browser - one that I like to call "The Better Browser". It's called Firefox. One of the most attractive features of Firefox - it's free. Yes - FREE. It does not cost you a single penny. Secondly, it has the most incredibly powerful pop-up and spyware-blocking facilities one could wish for. As a matter of fact - the moment you install Firefox, it automatically denies pop-ups and spyware right off the bat.

"Sounds fantastic! How can it be free, though? What's the catch"?, you ask. Firefox is free because there isn't a gargantuan monopolistic company driving the product. Firefox was/is created by normal everyday people on a volunteer basis who know how to program. They want freedom of choice in web browsers, spyware/pop-up blocking out of the box, and simply, a "better browser". They also want to share this amazing creation with the rest of the world. These folks aren't paid a single penny to create Firefox, and you aren't charged a penny to use it. Everyone wins.

Forbes magazine claims Firefox is "Better than Internet Explorer by leaps and bounds." I concur with that statement - and many other folks agree that Firefox is a true gem by helping make web browsing truly pleasurable. If you are sick and tired of spyware, pop-ups, other garbage you come across on the 'net, and need a change, download and install Firefox - it's incredibly simple and fun to make the switch!

About the author:
Chip Cuccio has been in the professional computer and systems industry for more than twelve years. He served as a two-term Vice President of the Northfield Linux Users' Group (NORLUG), a local computer club. Chip is currently serving NORLUG as the lead webmaster and systems engineer.

(This is the first entry for TechNorthfield, a semi-weekly blog examing the intersection of Today's technology and Northfield's residents)

The presidential elections of 2000 presented us with a whole new lexicon for "voting controversy". Can a debacle like this happen in Northfield?

Thankfully, the answer to that is "No."

Much of the trouble caused in Florida came from the type of system used to record votes - a "punched card" machine. Minnesota phased out all their punch machines over fifteen years ago; nowadays we use an 'optical scan' machine. The benefits of these are many:

1. It's simple to understand. Everyone is familiar with the 'pen and paper' interface.
2. There's a 'paper trail'. If there is a need for a recount, the original ballots can quickly and easily be manually recounted.
3. Pens don't 'crash'.

You would think that places like Florida have fixed their problems over the intervening four years. Unfortunately, their solutions may have as many, if not more problems. While this doesn't directly impact us, another botched election hurts us in the larger sense. Let's hope for the best.

We are being served well by Minnesota's voting infrastructure. Vote with confidence, Northfield!

Independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader came to St. Olaf on Tuesday and spoke to around 500 people at the Boe Memorial Chapel.

Ralph was an hour and fifteen minutes late, coming from another campaign stop in Wisconsin. He spoke for an hour and a half, focusing on the 'monopoly of power' by the Democrats and Republicans and exhorting the assembly to get involved in politics. There was a short QA session afterwards and then he signed books. More information from the StarTribune.