Thompson Reviews

Family Friendly Reviews

Kodak Playsport Zx3 Battery Charge Issues

I thought it might be helpful to someone else to post the results of a recent CHAT session with Kodak “support.”  The issue is that the supposedly waterproof camera Kodak makes wasn’t charging the battery after being submerged in water.  While I have mixed feelings at this point about the camera and Kodak’s “support,” I must say that Best Buy was very easy to deal with on the returns.  Items marked in RED indicate an inordinate amount of wait time for a response from the Kodak “support” representative. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Draw and Write Through History

Carylee Gressman has developed some really neat books for homeschoolers or parents who wish to further their child’s art education. Her method uses the natural progression of history and includes simple step-by-step drawings which most children will find easy enough to follow. I hesitate to give an age limit on this, as some children’s motor skills are more advanced than others at various ages. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The Runaway Jury, Grisham

John Grisham is a well known fiction author whose specialty is riveting mysteries, usually involving some aspect of the legal profession.  The Runaway Jury has much to be said for the storytelling part, but there are issues as with most Grisham novels.  This review is written as a bit of an open letter to John Grisham as well as to our readers.

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Professional Xen Virtualization, von Hagen

For the computer professional who has considered consolidating server load using any of the popular server virtualization technologies available, William von Hagen’s book is a must read.  We give the book a solid review in the full article.

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A Review of Whitelisting Technology for Spam Prevention

As someone who has been involved in Internet technology for over a decade, I have seen a lot of different tools which are effective in making life online easier.  Everyone who has e-mail is aware that spam is a major problem.  How to control it is a question which industry heavyweights are grappling with daily.  There is, however, a simple and effective way to curb the spam in your inbox.  The cost can be free to inexpensive depending upon whether you run your own mail server or pay someone else to manage your e-mail.

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A Review of Oakley Thump 256MB MP3 Sunglasses

Oakley ThumpThe Oakley Thump is touted as a lightweight, durable set of sunglasses with a great added feature: the MP3 player.  After wearing these sunglasses with their polarized lenses, that flip up when not needed, I have several opinions.

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Dusty Mole Private Eye, Davoll

Barbara Davoll is an author best known for her Christopher Churchmouse series.  However, she has written other works.  One of the lesser known series is the Molehole Mysteries.  We review the first book in the collection, Dusty Mole Private Eye.

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Pyramid, Macaulay

David Macaulay is well known among educators for his books which educate the reader on the intricacies of subjects such as Medieval fortresses, New England mills and cathedrals.  One of his early works is his classic book on the pyramids.
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Jesus Camp Movie Review

What do Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Republicans, Air America Radio, anti-abortion protests and pre-teen children all have in common?  They are central to the focus of Jesus Camp, the new movie produced by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.  In early October, I was able to see Jesus Camp playing in Knoxville.  Here are my thoughts on the movie and its impact.

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mobiBLU DAH-1500i MP3 Player and Recorder

mobiBLU MP3 PlayerWhen a company makes a claim that they have the world’s smallest MP3 player, you begin to expect a lot from the total package.  We reviewed the mobiBLU DAH-1500i.  Its performance is impressive.  The drawbacks are based on user preferences.
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