Digital Video

My interest in digital video is one of my most active today. I still work on video projects using Final Cut Pro and my beloved albiet aging Canon XL1 MiniDV camcorder.

I've been watching the trend towards high definition with a wary eye and frequent, stern glances at my wallet.

See the DV FAQ for an in-depth coverage of the promise and joy of digital video production.

For up to the minute discussions, see my Digital Video Production community here.

Political Activism

I'm really a Libertarian at heart, but I've became more mainstream in my political beliefs. I don't like war but I now realize there are plenty of bad people in the world, and we need to try and keep them at bay.

When I lived in California, I participated in a political activist group that was an outgrowth of the Free Republic web site.

The organization, headed by the infatiguable RonDog, would protest bravely against the often massive forces of the left. One of the more memorable experiences of my life was when we crashed an International ANSWER protest (12mb video). Things almost came to blows. It's certainly difficult to consider ANSWER a peaceful organization after checking that out!

Ted Hayes, homeless man and conservative political activist, tries to bring the two hostile sides together, in this video made right at the start of the war in Iraq.

International Adventures

The United States is a great country, and perhaps that's the problem. Over the last few years, it's gotten increasingly expensive to live here, especially if you want to avoid the bone-chilling winters of New England and the midwest.

So when I talk about moving to the Philippines or some other tropical location, I'm not doing it because I hate America or because I want to flee something. Instead, I want to explore something different and perhaps better, a world where a lavish lifestyle is available for around $2,000 a month, and you can live in delightful luxury for far less than what a middle-class life costs in America.

I've visited the Philippines, and so far this looks quite interesting to me, particularly since amazing.com can be run from anywhere in the world. To explore the pros and cons of this with me, visit my Philippines community, here on amazing.com

The Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is a curious organization, perhaps one of the most litigation-happy in history. In the late 1990s, I ran a computer bulletin board system that carried USENET. Someone only a few miles from me did the same thing, but he had the misfortune to have Dennis Erlich as a user.

Dennis posted "secret" Scientology stuff that the Church wanted taken down. So they took the BBS operator and his newsfeed to court.

When this happened, it really cut close to home since I ran a very similar creation to him. So I started to get involved in the movement against Scientology, which mainly consisted of disaffected ex-Scientologists.

I created a mammoth web site that excerpted the best material on the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup.

One day, I realized I was just as involved with this as though I'd been involved in a cult. It was taking me hours a day to put together and basically my whole life revolved around it. And then I pretty much quit cold turkey and moved on to bigger and better things, but the Scientology resources are still some of the most asked for on my site.

So here they are.

Internet Service Provider FAQ & Information

When the Internet was something brand new and wonderful, instead of something we take for granted, Internet Providers, or ISPs, sprung up to satisfy the burgoning demand for access. I had a dream of setting one up myself, but I never got the capital or the attention needed to do it. But I was always a good writer and a synthesizer of information, and so I put together a FAQ that many people used to start up their own businesses.

Nowadays, the glamour of this business is long gone, and most of it goes to giant telephone or cable companies. I shed a tear for the old business models and moved on in my life, but my ancient documents are still there for the curious of what it was like in those exciting days, and what it might take if for some reason you want to provide internet access yourself.

The "new" ISP FAQ. Ancient links and older copies of the FAQ are also available here. I give a shoutout to Avi Freedman, who very generously supplied me with free bandwidth and even paid for advertising on my site for a while. He eventually sold out and his corporate successors didn't keep the deal. But for a long time, thanks to his generosity, I had unlimited bandwidth and that was indeed a great thing.

Community Messages

Community Messages

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The old amazing.com lives!	David H Dennis

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The old amazing.com, just as it was

Want to see it? Visit amazing.amazing.com, and enjoy! But remember, most of the updates will be here from now on. Any major updates to our resources will be announced on this page, so stay tuned!