Digital Projector Reviews
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 Ergotron 97 598 055 Teachwell MDW Projector Shelf  US $76.92
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 Panasonic RFF100 Projector Dust Filter US $74.84
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 Cables To Go 38049 6FT M1 VGA HD15 M M PROJECTOR Kit US $43.54
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 Cables To Go 38054 75FT M1 VGA HD15 M M PROJECTOR Kit US $108.32
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 Cables To Go 38049 6FT M1 VGA HD15 M M PROJECTOR US $36.28
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 Cables To Go 38054 75FT M1 VGA HD15 M M PROJECTOR US $98.47
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 Kensington 64530 Kensington MicroSaver 64530 Lock for Projector Kit US $61.73
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 Kensington 64530 Kensington MicroSaver 64530 Lock for Projector US $56.12
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 Ergotron 97 598 055 TEACHWELL MDW PROJECTOR SHELF Kit US $84.61
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EyeClops Mini Projector review
Book Review: Confessions of a Crack Head by Zach Samuels
I work with the homeless here in Calgary, addiction is a word that we hear a lot of, drugs, booze, and gambling are the big three. Often addicts are plagued by other mental health issues, depression, bi-polar, and a variety of other medical terms outside of my realm of knowledge.
There have been plenty of books written about addictions, but Confessions Of A Crack Head is different, it is written by the addict, and takes us through the torrid reality of the sickness.
Maybe the most disturbing aspect of this book is that there may well not be a happy ending. Zach's story is a sad one indeed. He is a well educated guy, had a beautiful wife, home, and baby. Then he discovers the demon Crack Cocaine, possibly one of the most addictive substances ever created.
Sure Zach is a compulsive, but few people regardless of their mental make up can resist this drug. In the space of an eight month time frame Zach hits detox and rehab 4 times. His, unfortunately is not a unique story, I see Zach on a daily basis, sometimes he is black, sometimes he is white, sometimes he is female, but always he is helpless.
As Zach explains, when you do Crack you rapidly become completely out of control, the only thing that matters is where that next hit is coming from. In a two day period he spent $2,500 on the drug. Was it for the 'high?' No is the simple answer, when using heavy you need to keep it in your system to merely maintain. The withdrawal symptoms are too grim to even contemplate.
It did not take long for Zach to crash hard, losing his family, and piece by piece his possessions, and even a place to live. From owning a $500,000 house to picking up butts from the pavement to smoke, in what seemed a blink of an eye.
One of the interesting aspects of this book is the peppering of Daily Journal entries. While these only come from the 'clean' phase, you get a real understanding of his heartbreak. Time and time again you get a real feel for the problem that an addict faces, he doesn't 'use' because he wants to, in fact often he doesn't want to, he wishes nothing better than to be able to drive right on by the dealer's house. But inevitably he does stop, inevitably he buys as much as he can, and inevitably he cannot stop at one or two hits.
After the money in the bank is gone, and all your possessions are just a memory where do you go next? You defraud the bank with fake ATM deposits, you steal money, you kite cheques, you steal, you do anything you can to get that next hit. Zach did all of these and more.
As I said earlier, I see Zach everyday, and it is sad. A couple of months ago he visited my Computer Lab, in the mornings I teach, and because I wanted to make some minor changes to a PowerPoint presentation I had left my Laptop and Digital Projector set up. In the blink of an eye, the laptop was gone, they (there were two of them) didn't even bother to take the power adapter. The machine was password protected, the serial number registered, so it had a very low street value, but enough to get that one more hit. Oh, and this was done under a CCTV system, they were arrested the next day!
Confessions Of A Crack Head should be on everyone's reading list, for the would-be user it should scare you into the next century, for any parent that is worried about son Johnny and drugs, this will give you sleepless nights.
Zach, I know that is not your real name, and I know you have moved the locations around to protect the guilty. But I also know your story is a very true and very frightening one.
Generally I like to grumble about spelling, grammar, and editing, (of course I hate it when I am on the receiving side) but this is a book written from the heart, and had it been over edited much of the 'core' would have been lost.
You can pick up your copy from Zach's website, confessionsofacrackhead dot net.
About the Author
Simon Barrett is an adult educator in Calgary, Alberta. With the 11 months a year of winter, he reads a lot of books! He is also a contributing editor for
Blogger News
and maintains a personal blog at
Simon B
.
DVD for Indie Film Compatability?
I'm having trouble finding the writable discs I need. I'm making an indie film in top 1080p high-def quality, and don't know what DVD to write it on. I need enough space for about 2 hours of 1080p HD film with DVD menu space and maybe Special Features space, though I could possibly use another disc if there's not enough left? Anyway, this DVD must be acceptable to be played by film festivals all around and shown on digital projectors, etc. So, a a review I need: 2 hours of 1080p HD space with menu space, too, and it must be a common DVD format to be played on a variety of DVD players, projectors, etc., by film festivals and home theater systems alike. Thank you!
1080p + 2 hour movie + DVD + readable everywhere = really impossible (I'm not lying, it's not possible).
DVD players use the MPEG-2 codec. All DVD players etc are designed to be able to read this codec. However they are not designed to support 1080p material (or 720p). So to start with, to put HD material on a DVD which everybody can play is impossible, because almost no DVD player supports it.
It is however possible to put HD material on a normal DVD. BUT, because HD is so much information it needs a lot of space. You wont be able to put your 2 hour movie on a dual layer DVD. There's not enough space. And the only players that can read these discs are macs (maybe also computers and some dvd players).
So what to do? First, I would ask a certain film festival how they play back. How do they want the file? Do they want it on mini DV, as a file, DVD or Blu-Ray? And when it is a file, in what format and codec?
If you really want to put your movie on a DVD it's possible ofcourse. But not in 1080p. You'll have to downscale your movie to SD material, not HD.
If you do want to keep the full resolution (and color and sound) and you want most people to be able to play the movie you could put your movie on Blu-Ray. This allows you to put the entire movie + extra's in Full HD on a single disc. And most people have Blu-Ray players, so they should be able to play it.
You need, ofcourse, a Blu-Ray burner to burn the disc. You could use Adobe Encore to design the Blu-Ray disc.
