Quote From Thomas Szasz

Continuing my quote collecting, I have found the following.

If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; If you talk to the dead, you are a schizophrenic.

Thomas Szasz (born April 15, 1920 in Budapest, Hungary) was a Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. Szasz is a critic of the moral and scientific foundations of psychiatry.

Flip Ultra Video Camera Review

Last month I received a Flip Ultra digital camera as a birthday present from Hannah. There are two different models of the Flip video camera made by Pure Digital Technologies. The Flip Ultra and the Flip Mino. I have seen the Flip run for as high as $180.00, and as low as $120.00. Just depends one where you do your shopping.

Hannah got me the Flip Ultra because it takes 2 AA batteries and she knows I’m currently on a kick of any electronics that take batteries you can easily find in a store. The Ultra comes with a built in 2GB of flash memory that allows for an hour of recording of video in 640×480 resolution at 30 frames per second, using the MPEG-4 ASP video compression. In other words, it dose a damn good job for what it is.

The first thing I really love about this little digital video recorder is the size. It is so small and easy to take with you anywhere you go. I pretty much have it with me all the time now. It’s push button easy of use. Record, play, zoom in an out. That’s pretty much it.

The unit comes with a built-in USB plug that connects easily to any computer. It’s built in software that runs from the camera allows for basic video editing and uploading to youtube (weather you use Macintosh or Windows). However, I had no trouble copying the video of the Flip Ultra onto my computer and editing it with iMovie on my Apple Macintosh.

Since I have received the Flip, I have edited two movies with it. One that ended up on youtube and you can see that here. The other, I made and burned to DVD. They both look great. I can tell you from my experience that the quality of the video looks a lot better then what ends up on youtube. I am also impressed with the lack of shakiness I got from the camera. True, it dose not come close to handling hand shakes like my Cannon DV camera, but I was still impress nonetheless.

Pros:

  • Small size
  • Impressive video quality
  • Ease of use

Cons:

  • Horrible zoom
  • No steady cam, or anti-shake features

Buying Advice: I really think these little flash video cameras are going to be come more and more populer as time goes on. For a first time owner of a video camera this would be a great starting point. For someone who has video camera experince I think they will enjoy the flip because of it’s convinunt size, and simplicity from shoot to edit. Because of this, I feel like not only myself, but others will be makeing more personal videos then with a normal handy came or mini camcorder.

President Forever

Because election day is upon us and it has been imposable to avoid the topic, I have decided to post the following song “President Forever” from Local H. I find it somewhat fitting.

I’m president forever
I’m head of state and here to stay
The officer elect all of your life
I’m the leader till the end of your days

I’m president forever
Accountable to no one no more
Daddy look at me, I’m a big boy now
A brat to the manor born

Who wants to go back to war with Iraq
Who wants to shoot a sling shot full of rocks of crack
Who wants to go and give the french Their fuckin’ statue back
I want to take it all

I’m president forever
America, you found your man
If we can all agree on this one thing
You know you’ll never have to vote again

I’m president forever
I finally get to do it my way
I wanna take a ride in Airforce One now

Laugh in the face of the national debt
I wanna build the free world and make them pay back rent
I wanna take the statue back from the fuckin’ french
Dad, i’ll make you proud
I’m president forever

Piss up and down the walls of the Oval Office
Pal around with the boys in the Secret Service
Calling my connection for a party at Camp David
the first lady’s not invited
the first lady’s not invited

I’m president forever
I’m president forever

Who wants to go back to war with Iraq
Who wants to shoot a slingshot full of rocks of crack
Who wants to go and give the french their fuckin’ statue back
I wanna take it all

Laugh in the face of the national debt (take it all, take it all)
I wanna build the free world and make them pay back rent (take it all, take it all)
I wanna take the statue back from the fuckin’ french (take it all, take it all)
Dad, i’ll make you proud (take it all, take it all)
I’m president forever ”

Jack-O-Lanterns

Hannah and I went to carve some pumpkins tonight. She recently got me a Flip Camera for my birthday, so I thought this was a good chance to test it out. I would video tape the nights events and see how the thing works. Hannah made a really cool Autobot pumpkin!

When we took the Jack-o-lanterns outside it was so cold that you can see the hot air rising from the them.