Top 10 Things that I Learned Over the 4th of July Holiday Weekend

The 4^th of July weekend is always a time that I look forward to, because it brings up strong feelings of family and summer time. As I sit here thinking about the holiday weekend, there are 10 things that come to mind.

1. It is hotter than hell on July 4^th.

The heat can even bring the best man down when it comes to outdoor activities. Eating in 98 degrees while sweating profusely with both legs stuck to the chair does not bring about the happiest of thoughts. It is best to plan meals and outside activities around cooler times of the day.

2. Patriotism is great.

I really enjoy seeing the United States of America flags waving in the wind. It really does remind me of our democratic country and how despite some of the challenges that come up in life, we by far have the best lives by comparison.

3. Family members try to be on their best behavior.

I noticed that some of our family members that normally start trouble during ordinary family gatherings are on better behavior during the 4^th of July weekend. I think they might be operating on some 4^th of July code of conduct that was instilled in them from birth.

4. Fireworks look better up close.

When watching fireworks from far away, they look small and seem to barely make it up above the horizon. It is best to have the fireworks display take up your entire peripheral field of vision to get the maximum amount of excitement and enjoyment.

5. Public boat launches at lakes are out of control.

Expect overcrowding, no parking and long lines to put your boat in the water as well as taking it out. Also, there is lots of law enforcement on the lake on a holiday weekend, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective.

6. Grocery stores are an absolute riot the day before the 4^th of July.

As we were walking in to a local grocery an elderly man was walking out and he stopped us and said “Son, you don’t want to go in there.”

7. Do serve summer time food on a summer holiday weekend.

While most people will lap up roast beef and mashed potatoes any time of the day or night, it is better to serve food that is easier to eat in the heat and that can be served at room temperature.

8. Watch out for wayward, crazy dogs during peak fireworks hours.

I noticed several canine escapees running loose while fireworks were being shot off in the neighborhood. These dogs are scared and confused and might even show you their pearly whites. Also a good thing to think about before you leave the house and leave poochie in the backyard alone.

9. Parades end up being fun after all.

Even if you are dreading going to a parade, nine times out of ten you will find something fun and exciting to look at.

10. The freaks come out at night.

Enough said.

Tags: July 4th, outdoor, summer | Posted in General, Life and Learning | No Comments »

MindBite Insight #8 (Basic Lighting)

This information on basic lighting is for those out there who want to take your videos or MindBites to the next level. There are items you probably have around your house that can help the lighting in your video look better. If you don’t have these items around, a trip to the local hardware store will get you what you need for a reasonable price. Cheap is good. Even one 75 watt light from a hardware store can make a difference, especially, if you are showing a process or detail of an object. This is what you need:

• Extension cord, power strip,
• 1-3 Lights with Clips (3 lights if you want to try 3 point lighting, however, 1 light is better than nothing!). These lights need bulbs with wattage ranging from 75 watts-150 watts
• 300 watt dimmer
• hand clamp
• white card board, white foam board or white poster board, 3′x4′ in size or there abouts
• Colored gels-a transparent, colored sheet of think plastic-like material used to color light. This item is not at hardware stores, but can be purchased online for relatively cheap from any lighting manufacturer or equipment rental company.
• Clothes pins for clipping gels to lights

Mounting the lights will depend on your area, and what is near your subject. For example, if you are near a door way, then clip the light on the door or door frame. A table or window sill works too. If there are no ledges or surfaces on which to clip the lights, then the back of a chair or (my favorite) a 5′-6′ ladder works well. The ladder has many purposes, it can be used as a light stand or for clamping a white board/bounce card.

Where to position your lights?

If you follow this basic 3 point lighting scheme, your video will look more on the pro side than ever before. This diagram below can give you a basic idea. It’s a good practice to get your subject, or yourself far away from the background as possible. This is important because it helps to separate what you are filming from the background, giving the shot more depth. Do your best, I know this can sometimes be impossible due to the limitation of shooting space.

White Balance?

White Balance (WB) can get pretty complex and I won’t go too deep into it because most cameras have a built in white balance. However, doing it manually usually gets better results. Basically, White Balancing is setting the way the camera processes the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) or primary colors in your scene so that all the different color tones between RGB are accurate. So blue looks blue and red looks red and all the other colors are adjusted to their true tone as what the naked eye would see. I suggest that you play around it until you are comfortable with doing it and even compare it to the camera’s auto white balance.

How to set the WB?

After your lights and camera are set up:

• Turn off any light with a colored gel because the color will throw off your white balance and colors will not appear in their true value
• Take a blank white paper or poster board and place it in front of your subject
• Zoom in with the camera to where the white card fills up the entire frame, focus, then push your WB button (this may vary between cameras) usually, cameras have this WB icon that will flash then stop once it’s set:

Once the White Balance is set then you are ready to record!

Check out the new MindBites Insight video on Basic Lighting for more information on lighting materials and techniques.

Tags: Video Lighting Production Authoring | Posted in General, Video Production and Publishing | No Comments »

Spread the Craft Contest Update

Hello crafters! We have some exciting contest news…We are extending the deadline for the Spread the Craft Contest Due to several requests/complaints about the short amount of time left to shoot a video (seems like summer vacations have taken up lots of crafting time!), we have extended the deadline to July 21st! That is four additional weeks to register, upload, and Spread the Craft! The new date to announce the winner will be August 5th.

Second major announcement of the day: People’s Choice Voting Begins TODAY! That’s right! We’ve moved up the date for voting because, well, it just made sense. If you are entering the contest, you are excited and want to tell everyone to ‘vote for me!’ And they should be able to go view your video and vote. So, now they can. Anyone registered as a user on the MindBites website can login and vote for one video, once a day, everyday, until August 1st. So….tell your friends, family, the entirety of the crafting community to login and vote for you!

And now for a little MindBites fun…because we have been busy having lots of fun with this contest. We’ve got a few craft contest videos for you.

Tags: contest, crafting, spread the craft | Posted in General, MindBites News and Notes | No Comments »

Craft: Magazine Party and Cute As A Button Bracelet Project

On Sunday, June 1st Craft: Magazine threw an issue release party here in Austin at The Work*Shop. Brittanie and I, as resident crafty ladies, went and had an all-around good time! The party was hosted by Rachel Hobson, an Austin crafty blogger better known as Average Jane Crafter, and Leslie Bonnell of Stitch Lab. The party was great, with a few celebrity crafters (such as Jenny Hart, Vicki Howell, and other member of the Austin Craft Mafia), yummy treats, fantastic door prizes (Brittanie won a CUTE necklace from Naughty Secretary Club!), and a fun little project from Susan Beal’s new book, Bead Simple.

I didn’t win a door prize, but I did indulge myself in a subscription of Craft:. And I got to meet a lot of local crafters and take home a cute bracelet that I made myself! As an added bonus, we got to announce to a group of Austin crafters the Spread the Craft Contest! Remember to register and upload your crafting instructional video for a chance to win $1000!

Tags: contest, craft, spread the craft | Posted in General, Life and Learning | No Comments »

Learn Anywhere with the New MindBites iPhone Site

We’re pleased to announce the release of the iPhone/iPod version of the MindBites site, complete with on-demand remote access to all the lessons in the MindBites library. Now you can access innovative video instructional materials wherever and whenever you need them, including titles like Roadside Bike Flat Repair, Last Minute Toast Tips, or Emergency Beer Opening Techniques. iPhone/iPod users can check out this first of it’s kind instructional site simply by visiting mindbites.com on their device.

The iPhone version of the MindBites site highlights special Mobile Picks, offers easy site navigation, and enables the viewing of any videos available on the MindBites site, including those previously purchased. To celebrate the release of this iPhone site, as well as the one year anniversary of the iPhone, MindBites is making a special set of “Mobile Pick” lessons available for free viewing, including:

• Picking Better Produce
• Austin Video Guide
• How to Fillet a Fish
  
• Emergency Beer Opening
• Tying a Tie - 3 Knots
• Travel Japanese: Essential Phrases
  
• Last Minute Toast Tips
• Roadside Bike Flat Repair

Our mission has always been to help you learn what you need directly from those who know. Since we are often out-and-about when the urge or need to learn something arises, the ability to access instructional materials wherever and whenever you need them is key. Now by leveraging the iPhone/iPod mobile web platform, we are able to give authors the ability to publish lessons through the MindBites platform and make them available anywhere at any time.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the iPhone as well as the rumored launch of the new 3G iPhone, all of this week, we’ll be posting about our experiences with the iPhone, building our iPhone site, and why we think the iPhone web experience is revolutionary.

Note: iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. And we’re pretty sure Steve Jobs now owns the rights to any words that begin with the letter “i”.

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Go Green, Save Money, Get Fit. Go Dutch and Ride a Bike!

I just came back to Austin, Texas after a semester studying abroad in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I am convinced Amsterdam is the coolest city on the planet. Not because of the drugs, prostitution, canals, or tulips, but because of the bicycles! The Netherlands is below sea level so the entire country is mostly flat, which makes it the most bike friendly country in the world. It is an amazing sight to see. People young and old are cruisin’ through the city on their bikes. It doesn’t matter if you a have a dog and three kids, you can just attach a wagon to your bike and throw them all in.

Only the Dutch know how to use a bike to replace an SUV. They say you aren’t Dutch until you know how to take a child, groceries, and flowers all on your bike and ride it home. Everywhere you go in Amsterdam is bike friendly, there are bike lanes everywhere and even bike traffic lights. They even make bikes for physically handicapped people. Ah Utopia!

In America, however, bike riding can be more of a nightmare than a Utopia due to the lack of bike lanes, the excessive amount of humongo vehicles, and the lack of respect that drivers have for cyclists on the road. Because of this, most of the beautiful bicycles in America stay hidden in the corner of a garage and are never used. However riding a bike in the United States is possible! Here are some tips on how to ride a bike in a car infested city:

1. Use bike lanes whenever possible. Go to any local bike repair shop and you can usually buy a map that highlights where all the bike paths and lanes are located in the city.

2. Find alternate routes. You rarely have to ride your bike on a busy street. You can almost always find a more pleasant, scenic, and quiet street in surrounding residential areas. This way you don’t have to worry about being in the way of cars and fear losing your life. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bike Riding, green living | Posted in General | No Comments »

Groundswell of YouTube Support to Vote MindBites at SXSW!

Ok, so maybe it was our team who made and uploaded these videos about voting for MindBites for this year’s SXSW People’s Choice web award, but hey, they’re funny! Check them out and don’t forget to vote daily at: https://secure.sxsw.com/peoples_choice/

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Celebrating the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, we present the video of his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Given from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, this speech is often seen as a turning point in the American Civil Rights movement, as well as one of the most powerful oratories in modern times.

Upon watching this speech again, I was struck by the number of times Dr. King references the ideals of America as a country. From reverence to President Lincoln, to quoting the Declaration of Independence, Dr. King appeared in my eyes, not only as a great man, but as a great American patriot. Watching with eyes grounded in today’s America, regardless of where you stand on issues such as interrogation techniques, the death penalty, or our role in foreign conflicts, Dr. King’s words remind us that we should measure ourselves by the higher ideal that our founding fathers laid upon our shoulders. Today, we celebrate Dr. King - a great man and a great American.

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