RT @jstrevino: Congratulations! Hours old, but big news for @ewerickson and @redstate: http://bit.ly/94z4Hy
Going Rogue - An American Life
Over the past weeks, I’ve read fantastic reviews of this book. Check out Bank of Kev and American Thinker’s review of Going Rogue, both are outstanding works in their own right. I’ve borrowed the question set from the Bank of Kev review in order to frame my thoughts on the book.
I want to take some time to speak on behalf of a good friend of mine who happens to be running for a seat on the West Chester Area (WCA) School Board. You can read about his candidacy and his fellow running mates at Vote 4 Great Schools. It has been my pleasure to work with Sean on various projects – American Sheepdogs, A Hero’s Welcome and Warriors Watch to name a few. This is a man who takes a keen interest in his local community, relishes being a father and is a trustworthy friend. Below are photos of Sean and his work that further illustrate his character:
Someone was kind enough to forward me an email sent to all students from the Office of the Provost at St. Joseph’s University. The Provost is carefully expressing community offense over literature distributed on campus with the famous image of Obama as the Joker. The letter informs students of a committee being put together to discuss the issue of race and the political process, including civility and democracy.
Perhaps during the panel discussion it will be revealed that the creator of the Joker image is neither white or Republican. I strongly suspect this committee will have only one word to discuss - RACISM! In this new post racial era, you can set an egg timer by how soon a liberal/democrat will pull out the race card – it will be no different with this planned discussion.
UPDATE: I was right..as always. It did not take long for the race card to be thrown down by liberals, in the form of an open letter to the editor signed by Jo Alyson Parker, Chair and Professor of English, Thomas Brennan, S.J., Assistant Professor of English,Richard Fusco, Professor of English, Ann Green, Associate Professor of English.
In particular was this statement:
Thus, despite the claims of its designer, when we see this particular poster, we see a black man covered in whiteface, his features distorted. We find this image as offensive as we would a flyer portraying a Jewish politician in the garb of an Hasidic Jew with exaggerated features or a Catholic politician wearing a miter and a hideous grin”
I wonder if hypocrisy is the new Catholic value embraced by the faculty of St. Joseph’s University? Where is their umbrage against Lady GaGa channeling her inner Al Jolsen in a interview with V magazine? Her shtick seems a bit Jim Crow-ish, don’t you think? No mention in this letter of Jane Hamsher’s 2006 Huffpo essay that featured a blackfaced Joe Lieberman. I’m sure the faculty meant to include in this letter the social injustice of President Bush depicted as the Joker in a Vanity Fair in 2008 or a white faced image of Michael Steele, Chairman of the GOP. Including these examples would have required honesty and attentiveness to the whole story, which was not the intent of this letter. In the end, this letter to the editor is another example of how race pimps, under the guise of social justice, are using group grievances to pit one racial group against another.
In all honesty, if the literature included a photo like this:
Bush Joker Image
or this:
"White Face" Steele
There wouldn’t be a letter from the Provost or a committee organized to discuss issues of democracy, race or civility at St. Joe’s University. Below the fold is a copy of the letter sent to St. Joe’s students regarding Joker-gate:
Over the past few months, I’ve been busy test driving two camcorders; the Creative Lab Vado HD camcorder and the Pure Digital Flip Mino HD. Both are powerful, inexpensive tools for bloggers, journalists or anyone interested in stepping into HD video recording – especially parents.
Released in 2008 by Pure Digital, the Flip Mino is the world smallest HD video recorder. The camera can record 720p high definition video for approximately one hour. It comes with 4 gigs of onboard memory. The image sensor is CMOS, with a frame rate of 30 fps. The camera has automatic white balance, automatic exposure control and dynamic exposure compensation and fixed focus lens.( To my photography friends you can equate that to a prime lens – more or less) A NTSC cable is included, and has joined the other NTSC cables I have collected over the years. There is also a port for an HDMI connection, but no cable is provided. The camera also comes with a velvety pouch for storage. The online Flip store allows for custom designs of its HD models. For a great example, check out Lord Matt’s design.
The Vado HD marketed by Creative Labs provides 720p high definition video for two hours. The software allows the user to select a standard definition video setting as well. There are 8 gigs of memory on board the camcorder, along with software to do basic video editing. A CMOS sensor shooting video at 30 fps. A wide angle lens and 2x digital zoom come standard. Like the Flip, I consider it to be a fixed lens as well. It comes with an HDMI cable and plastic protective cover, along with the unrestrained adulation of Chris Pirillo
Does this sound geek to you? This can seem a bit daunting if this tech is unfamiliar to you.
Let’s briefly review some definitions:
HD or high definition simply means you can see more detail in your video compared with SD or standard definition video. This quality is measured in the number of pixels. The textbook definition of high definition video would have a pixel count of 1080 x 1444. Standard Definition pixels are typically 720 x 480. In essence, the more pixels you have to work with, the more detail is captured in your video. The Mino and Vado shoot at 720p which converted to pixels would be 1280 x 720. Not quite textbook High Definition, but it is real close.
CMOS stands for Complimentary Metal Oxide Sensor. This is where light let in from the camera lens is converted into an electrical signal. A rather important component to your camera, as it is where the rubber meets the road for image processing.
NTSC cable connects the video camera to the television in order to play the video direct from your camera to the TV. I’ve got a growing collection of these cables which I never use.
HDMI stand for High Definition Multimedia Interface. On a single cable, it supports any type of TV or PC video format. This provides the best quality of video to your home entertainment system.
The Mino and Vado have an impressive 4 second power up time. 4 seconds can make the difference between capturing the scene or watching it pass by while your camcorder is reading its hard drive.
Memory storage is on board and so is the video editing software. With the flick of a USB connector you can download your videos, and the editing software is automatically installed. The software allows you to perform basic editing on your video – you can trim the video, add titles, losing credits and music if you so chose . Directly from the software you can upload your video to YouTube, AOL, MySpace, Photobucket and box.
Both have sleek controls and combined with automatic everything leads to near perfect idiot proofing of the camera. I mean that in a good way. This is a grab and go camcorder that you don’t need to waste time fussing with numerous settings. This is a HD camcorder that you can put in your pocket, Hobo or your black hole of a tote bag and head out to a Tea Party or Birthday party.
It is not all sweetness and light with these camcorders. One hour battery life of the Flip Mino HD can throw a monkey wrench into your coverage of an event. In fact, I ran the battery down to empty on the Flip smack in the middle of an interview. Not cool at all. The software is simple and basic, yet I’ve been unsuccessful at adding titles to my Flip videos. Every attempt to do so has crashed the program. To date, I’ve been unsuccessful in troubleshooting this annoying problem.
The LCD (liquid crystal display) is substantially larger in the Vado in comparison to Flip.
Both camcorders do NOT have lens covers. After pulling the camcorders out of my purse or Lowpro slingback, I find the need to frequently clean off smudges off the lens before shooting video.
Both are roughly the same size and weight, both have a flippy USB connectors and tripod connections. If you want good video – get to know your inner tripod. This is important since both camcorders do not have image stabilization on board. Sudden movements produce nausea inducing video on both cameras.
For more advanced users, you can bypass the editing software and use your preferred video editing software with raw Flip videos. The Vado requires that you create a movie in .wmv format before using in another video editing system. This has been my experience using Sony Vegas 8 to edit Vado video.
For such small camcorders, they really pack a great video punch! I’ve included video samples in this post to illustrate the quality of video produced by Flip Mino HD and Creative Vado HD.
FLIP MINO HD:
Screen capture:
Screen Capture:
Side by side video comparison of the two camcorders – The Vado clip was shot in VGA and the Flip video was shot in 720p.
I will tell you it is tough to place one camera above the other as both have similar good points and manageable annoyances. If pushed, I’d place the Vado HD over the Flip Mino HD – just barely. It comes down to the more vibrant colors recorded on video and the software package – the Vado video editing software is slightly more robust than Flip Mino. Both pack a lot of tech into a small and inexpensive package, you would not go wrong with one or the other.
You can purchase a Flip Mino HD HERE
You can purchase a Creative Vado HD HERE
I’ve no conflict of interest to disclose. I’ve not received financial or material compensation from Creative Labs or Pure Digital in exchange for this review.
John Hawkins, a talented and charming blogger has recently posted an interview he conducted with several well-known conservative female bloggers on the topic of dating.
“I thought it might be fun to talk to some conservative women to find out some of their best and worst dating stories, to see if there’s a difference between dating conservative and liberal men, and just to get a little of the dating advice that seems to do so well on CG.“(Conservative Grapevine)
What a brilliant blog post! I’d like to add to this discussion with a selection of ‘relationship’ movies from my personal video collection. Below is a short list of flicks that should be required viewing by all men worldwide:
A heartless tycoon meets his match in the 1995 Sydney Pollack re-imaging of Sabrina. This version reworks Sabrina into an independent, stylish, and brilliantly tactful woman capable of holding her own when dealing with Linus Larrabee. She is no doormat and Linus is no pushover; yet these two driven individuals manage to discover a mutual respect and deep love for one another. Sometimes opposites attract – sometimes like attracts like.
Before Sunset
The 2004 sequel to the remarkable film Before Sunrise. This jewel of a film focuses on a conversation between two characters – Celine and Jesse – sharing a fleeting afternoon in Paris. The movie opens with Jesse wrapping up his European book signing tour in a Parisian bookstore when he encounters Celine. It has been nine years since they parted ways with fervent promises to meet again in 6 months time. Flash forward 9 years later to a bookstore in Paris and the spark is still there. The film was shot largely real time in order to heighten the immediacy of their conversation. It is the chemistry shared between the actors and the candid dialog between the two characters makes this film stand out. Over the course of 9 years, both characters have grown into functioning adults who, like all of us, have made mistakes along the way. In the following clip, they freely discuss personal relationship issues. In a rare display of on screen maturity, both manage to not blame anyone else for their relationship misfortunes – something that needs to be practiced in real life, off screen relationships.
A visual treat of a film, although the plot may be a bit weak. The story opens with Ben Holmes traveling to Savannah for his wedding. Due to an unexpected plane vs bird catastrophe, he finds himself sharing alternate travel arrangements with a free spirited woman named Sarah. Did I mention they are being stalked by a hurricane at they head south? Sometimes people need a personal hurricane to help them sort out what is truly important in their lives. In this movie, Sarah was Ben’s personal hurricane.
Note to guys worldwide: Sometimes breaking up with your girlfriend or divorcing your wife may be the the best thing you have ever done for her.
Closer
An incredibly warped perspective on modern relationships is presented in this film. This movie is the poster child for how NOT to have an adult relationship. In all fairness, it is well crafted movie with talented actors and actresses in the title roles. It is obvious they relished digging into the petty vindictiveness of these characters and I enjoyed their performance. However, I would RUN, not walk away from this type relationship.
The more cultured of women enjoy French cinema, so having knowledge of at least ONE movie in this genre can make a difference.
Elsewhere