Digital Blue Digital Movie Creator disassembly

The following is a well-documented disassembly of the Digital Blue Digital Movie Creator 2.0.

Fully assembled camera

After unscrewing a couple of screws, the case is easily pried apart with a screwdriver.

Case opened

Now we can get a good look at the actual camera unit. It turns out to be quite small. The smaller circle on top is the microphone.

Camera unit

Further disassembly reveals the CCD sensor.

Lens and CCD

Close-up CCD

Further disassembly:

Tiny microphone

Primitive speaker

Top button unit

Close-up of button

Logic board

Interestingly, the LCD is not in fact round, as demonstrated by removal of the black faceplate:

Square LCD

Disassembling some soldered aluminum casing (fun!) reveals the other side of the logic board.

Other side of logic board

Finally, a view of the fully disassembled camera.

All of the parts

Four Reasons Why Our Political System Sucks

Democracy sucks. Why?

1. Because we elect politicians rather than people who actually know what they’re doing. Our political process is designed for the smooth talker, the pretty face who can convince us that if we vote for them, our wildest dreams will come true. The leaders of our country are invariably more concerned about the next election than they are about the country.

2. Because people who are wrong can still vote. Result: W. Need I say more? I think not.

3. Because one president isn’t enough. In this age of mind-blowingly complicated economic problems, energy crises, and intricate geopolitical interactions, Obama isn’t enough. We need at the very least councils of experts (not politicians) to run different aspects of the country, with perhaps an additional executive council to coordinate them.

4. Because the Electoral College makes no sense. Why do we not have direct elections? Imagine where we would be had the Electoral College not been used to catapault W. into the White House in 2000. Again – need I say more? Nope.

What’s the solution?

I have no idea.

Why I am an atheist, part two

Having established in my previous post that we cannot know for sure whether or not god exists, the next step is fairly simple. The religious want to say something like this:

True, we cannot know for sure one way or the other; but that’s the point, isn’t it? Otherwise, belief in God wouldn’t be specifically based on faith. God’s ambiguity is in a sense almost part of the definition of God.

Sounds reasonable, right? Now:

What makes belief in unicorns, fairies, Harry Potter, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, witches, demons, spirits, ghosts, and so on any different?

We can go on ad nauseum. How about a nice list of obselete gods, just for good measure. We have, for instance, Acidalia, Aello, Aesculapius, Agathe, Agdistis, Ageleia, Aglauros, Agne, Agoraia, Agreia, Agreie, Agreiphontes, Agreus, Agrios, Agrotera, Aguieus, Aidoneus, Aigiokhos, Aigletes, Aigobolos, Ainia,Ainippe, Aithuia , Akesios, Akraia, Aktaios, Alalkomene, Alasiotas, Alcibie, Alcinoe, Alcippe, Alcis,Alea, Alexikakos, Aligena, Aliterios, Alkaia, Amaltheia, Ambidexter, Ambologera, Amynomene,Anaduomene, Anaea, Anax, Anaxilea, Androdameia,Andromache, Andromeda, Androphonos, Anosia, Antandre,Antania, Antheus, Anthroporraistes, Antianara, Antianeira, Antibrote, Antimache, Antimachos, Antiope,Antiopeia, Aoide, Apatouria, Aphneius, Aphrodite, Apollo, Apotropaios, Areia, Areia, Areion, Areopagite, Ares, Areto, Areximacha,Argus, Aridnus,Aristaios, Aristomache, Arkhegetes, Arktos, Arretos, Arsenothelys, Artemis, Asclepius, Asklepios, Aspheleios, Asteria, Astraeos , Athene, Auxites, Avaris, Axios, Axios Tauros,Bakcheios, Bakchos, Basileus, Basilis, Bassareus, Bauros, Boophis, Boreas , Botryophoros, Boukeros, Boulaia, Boulaios, Bremusa,Bromios, Byblis,Bythios, Caliope, Cedreatis, Celaneo, centaur, Cerberus, Charidotes, Charybdis, Chimera, Chloe, Chloris , Choreutes, Choroplekes, Chthonios, Clete, Clio, clotho,Clyemne, cockatrice, Crataeis, Custos, Cybebe, Cybele, Cyclops, Daphnaia, Daphnephoros, Deianeira, Deinomache, Delia, Delios, Delphic, Delphinios, Demeter, Dendrites, Derimacheia,Derinoe, Despoina, Dikerotes, Dimeter, Dimorphos, Dindymene, Dioktoros, Dionysos, Discordia, Dissotokos, Dithyrambos, Doris, Dryope,Echephyle,Echidna, Eiraphiotes, Ekstatophoros, Eleemon, Eleuthereus, Eleutherios, Ennosigaios, Enodia, Enodios, Enoplios, Enorches, Enualios, Eos , Epaine, Epidotes, Epikourios, Epipontia, Epitragidia, Epitumbidia, Erato, Ergane, Eribromios, Erigdoupos, Erinus, Eriobea, Eriounios, Eriphos, Eris, Eros,Euanthes, Euaster, Eubouleus, Euboulos, Euios, Eukhaitos, Eukleia, Eukles, Eumache, Eunemos, Euplois, Euros , Eurybe,Euryleia, Euterpe, Fates,Fortuna, Gaia, Gaieokhos, Galea, Gamelia, Gamelios, Gamostolos, Genetor, Genetullis, Geryon, Gethosynos, giants, Gigantophonos, Glaukopis, Gorgons, Gorgopis, Graiae, griffin, Gynaikothoinas, Gynnis, Hagisilaos, Hagnos, Haides, Harmothoe, harpy, Hegemone, Hegemonios, Hekate, Hekatos, Helios, Hellotis, Hephaistia, Hephaistos, Hera, Heraios, Herakles, Herkeios, Hermes, Heros Theos, Hersos, Hestia, Heteira, Hiksios, Hipp, Hippia, Hippios, Hippoi Athanatoi, Hippolyte, Hippolyte II,Hippomache,Hippothoe, Horkos, Hugieia, Hupatos, Hydra, Hypate, Hyperborean, Hypsipyle, Hypsistos, Iakchos, Iatros, Idaia, Invictus, Iphito,Ismenios, Ismenus,Itonia, Kabeiria, Kabeiroi, Kakia, Kallinikos, Kallipugos, Kallisti, Kappotas, Karneios, Karpophoros, Karytis, Kataibates, Katakhthonios, Kathatsios, Keladeine, Keraunos, Kerykes, Khalinitis, Khalkioikos, Kharmon, Khera, Khloe, Khlori,Khloris,Khruse, Khthonia, Khthonios, Kidaria, Kissobryos, Kissokomes, Kissos, Kitharodos, Kleidouchos, Kleoptoleme, Klymenos, Kore, Koruthalia, Korymbophoros, Kourotrophos, Kranaia, Kranaios, Krataiis, Kreousa, Kretogenes, Kriophoros, Kronides, Kronos,Kryphios, Ktesios, Kubebe, Kupris, Kuprogenes, Kurotrophos, Kuthereia, Kybele, Kydoime,Kynthia, Kyrios, Ladon, Lakinia, Lamia, Lampter, Laodoke, Laphria, Lenaios, Leukatas, Leukatas, Leukolenos, Leukophruene, Liknites, Limenia, Limnaios, Limnatis, Logios, Lokhia, Lousia, Loxias, Lukaios, Lukeios, Lyaios, Lygodesma, Lykopis, Lyseus, Lysippe, Maimaktes, Mainomenos, Majestas, Makar, Maleatas, Manikos, Mantis, Marpe, Marpesia, Medusa, Megale, Meilikhios, Melaina, Melainis, Melanaigis, Melanippe,Melete, Melousa, Melpomene, Melqart, Meses, Mimnousa, Minotaur, Mneme, Molpadia,Monogenes, Morpho, Morychos, Musagates, Musagetes, Nebrodes, Nephelegereta, Nereus,Nete, Nike, Nikephoros, Nomios, Nomius, Notos , Nyktelios, Nyktipolos, Nympheuomene, Nysios, Oiketor, Okyale, Okypous, Olumpios, Omadios, Ombrios, Orithia,Orius,Ortheia, Orthos, Ourania, Ourios, Paelemona, Paian, Pais, Palaios, Pallas, Pan Megas, Panakhais, Pandemos, Pandrosos, Pantariste, Parthenos, PAsianax, Pasiphaessa, Pater, Pater, Patroo s, Pegasus, Pelagia, Penthesilea, Perikionios, Persephone, Petraios, Phanes, Phanter, Phatria, Philios, Philippis, Philomeides, Phoebe, Phoebus, Phoenix, Phoibos, Phosphoros, Phratrios, Phutalmios, Physis, Pisto, Plouton, Polemusa,Poliakhos, Polias, Polieus, Polumetis, Polydektes, Polygethes, Polymnia, Polymorphos, Polyonomos, Porne, Poseidon, Potnia Khaos, Potnia Pheron, Promakhos, Pronoia, Propulaios, Propylaia, Proserpine, Prothoe, Protogonos, Prytaneia, Psychopompos, Puronia, Puthios, Pyrgomache, Python, Rhea, Sabazios, Salpinx, satyr, Saxanus, Scyleia,Scylla, sirens, Skeptouchos, Smintheus, Sophia, Sosipolis, Soter, Soteria, Sphinx, Staphylos, Sthenias, Sthenios, Strife, Summakhia, Sykites, Syzygia, Tallaios, Taureos, Taurokeros, Taurophagos, Tauropolos, Tauropon, Tecmessa, Teisipyte, Teleios, Telepyleia,Teletarches, Terpsichore, Thalestris, Thalia, The Dioskouroi, Theos, Theritas, Thermodosa, Thraso, Thyonidas, Thyrsophoros, Tmolene, Toxaris, Toxis, Toxophile,Trevia, Tricephalus, Trieterikos, Trigonos, Trismegestos, Tritogeneia, Tropaios, Trophonius,Tumborukhos, Tyche, Typhon, Urania, Valasca, Xanthippe, Xenios, Zagreus, Zathos, Zephryos , Zeus, Zeus Katakhthonios, and Zoophoros. And those are just the Greek ones. There are hundreds more listed here.

Belief (in any meaningful sense) in the existence of the members of the above list is simply not valid. It’s absurd; it’s incoherent; it doesn’t work. We should not believe in things for which we have no evidence, even if such evidence is contrary to the nature of the thing itself. God is no different.

… and that is why I am an atheist.

As a side note:

It seems to me there are two primary reasons why belief in gods or deities of any kind is still prevalent:

1. Profound flaws in the reasoning of everyday people.

2. The astoundingly, devastatingly effective indoctrination of children to believe obsolete, cult-like edicts.

Why I am an atheist, part one

I felt it would be a good idea to simply spell out why I don’t believe in god. After thinking about it, it was too long to compress into one post, so this is going to end up in at least 2 parts.

Let me first point out some avenues for belief that I have found to be unsound.

A1) Evidence of god in the world – intelligent design, miracles, etc.

Evidence of god simply doesn’t hold up. Nothing that we can observe in the world necessitates the existence of an infinite, all-powerful being. For example, how would an infinite being manifest itself in a finite form? It would be monumentally difficult, if not impossible. If god decided to show up one day as a 300 foot tall guy with a beard, how could we possibly know that it was god, and not just a 300 foot tall guy with a beard? (Example courtesy of Simon.) In other words, nothing in the world necessitates the existance of a divine being.

A1.1) Personal experience

“God spoke to me!” just isn’t going to cut it.

A1.2) The Bible

Similarly, “The Bible says so!” isn’t going to cut it either, because nothing gives the Bible any authority. Except the Bible. And then we start getting dizzy.

A2) Word tricks

God is perfect. Perfect things exist. God exists!!!

Hmmm.

I’m thinking of a perfect $100 bill. This bill would be more perfect if it existed in my pocket. Let’s see… Nope, didn’t work. Damn. Moving on…

First, I’ll start with those premises that my unbelief rests on.

1. God (by definition) is infinite.

Defense of this premise: God is necessarily infinite. If we make god finite, he ceases to be god.

2. God is wholly other.

Defense of this premise: By this, I mean that God is not limited in any way by reality as we perceive it. Again, obviously so: trying to make god fit into our human experience of the world is incoherent. God exists, if you will, on a different plane of reality. The implication here is that god is unable to interact with us, because by doing so, he would limit himself in some way, and no longer be god.

At this point, from these premises and our failed avenues for proving god’s existence, we can conclude the following: we cannot know one way or another whether god exists.

Now, at best, this might still lead to faith. After all, the notion of faith is based on our lack of certainty about god. At worst, we seem to be left only with agnosticism.

Next time, however, I will conclude that the only reasonable conclusion is not theism or agnosticism, but atheism.

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