Mass Media Law. Not only is it a class you take on your way to a degree in Motion Picture Production, but it's also something you have to consider when you make media.

Unfortunately, there are tons of lawyers who do nothing but tweak with mass media law, so it's a little difficult for someone like me to keep up. And some laws are just plain crazy, like many of the ones surrounding "intellectual property" rights.

When you go on vacation and you wander through a museum and snap some pictures, do you ever think, "Can I do this?" No, you probably don't because the only signs say that you can't use a flash--implying photos a totally cool.

When hiking through the forest filming your children running down the path, do you ever wonder, "What permit do I need for this?" No. Because, somehow, media law doesn't apply to you because you're an individual and you'll, at most, post it to YouTube (which has amazingly dodged many intellectual property issues. Guess that's what happens when you're backed by Google's money and lawyers).

But me, when I walk through a museum or forest, I do think about those kinds of things. Because I deal with those questions from time to time.

Like today.

What kind of permission do you need to shoot an educational clip in a national forest? Well, it looks like you need permits.

Fun.

We may end up in my back yard again <smile>.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Normally, we mean "a hat to help us better think" when we talk about thinking caps.

But all too often, I find that something in my assumptions or preconceptions limits my ability to really consider an idea. And thus, my thinking is capped by how much I'm willing to consider another perspective. So, no matter what hat I'm wearing, I find that a "thinking proof" cap is clamped down around me.

Thinking Cap

I think that's what my dad is referring to in his latest post on the biblical nature of "randomness". It appears that some thinkers have gotten themselves stuck on particular words and missed the actual ideas. In trying to debunk evolution, they have capped their thinking at "God's design" and never got any further. At the same time, as my dad points out, "the Christian evolutionary community" needs to consider some ideas they've never gotten to either.

Granted, our own biases will always blind us and we can't get ourselves to see more clearly by simply wanting it to be so. But, by truly listening to those who disagree with us, we have the opportunity to remove the thinking cap. And that's why I love homeschooling: Despite the labels of "brainwashing," we have the unique opportunity to explore the various sides of a debate. We can tackle tough issues with our families as they arise and our children are ready for them. And while we will never escape our assumptions, we can safely look at challenges to our presuppositions and consider...

So, are you ready for another discussion of something "biblical"? It's a video on "biblical marriage"--though, I would argue, is more an excellent summary of "biblical methods of procuring a wife" than "marriage" per se ...hence why it completely falls apart at the end. It's supposed to be funny. For some, it will be. For you, I'm guessing less so.

And it is not suitable for children.

But it is interesting and, I think, provides an excellent opportunity to shed your thinking cap and consider the ideas. If nothing else, it will challenge your biblical knowledge [smile].

Okay, you've been warned. Ready? Jump in. The water's not too hot yet. If you can't get beyond your own thinking cap--not sure I did--can you spot her assumptions that are limiting her thinking (besides the one I gave you for free)?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

One of the beauties of creating educational materials is that you get to relearn everything. And you get to learn it better than you did when you learned it the first time because this time you have to teach it.

So, sure, we all know--if we reach back in our minds far enough--that (1/2)² = 1/4 ...right? One half squared equals a quarter because the exponent is applied to both the numerator and the denominator.

But why? And how would you show that? I mean, when you square, say, a half meter to make a box it doesn't really feel right that it would only be a quarter of a meter squared inside.

My brain started hurting. We'd been thinking these kinds of things through for many hours already, and I was fried. So were Justin and Amber.

This was crazy.

Why couldn't I figure it out? I mean, I did well in math back in the day but I was suck on cubing a half meter into a box that would only be 1/8th meter cubed in size and couldn't, for the life of me figure out how to tell someone that was true.

Then Amber held up a quick sketch, and everything was okay.

We could do this.

Children would be safe trusting us to teach them math. We've got their backs and will be able to demonstrate why a fraction to an exponent is the way it is:

(1/2)²=1/4

And I had one of those light bulb/a-ha! moments myself.

Homeschooling: It's a beautiful thing.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Well, if you haven't watched the MathTacular3 Trailer recently--oh, it's also on YouTube--you really should. It's really good. And only 50 seconds long. And I made it. And stuff. So, please, check it out. <smile>

Why am I telling you about this?

Well, because we're gearing up to do another one.

Another one.

This means two things:

1. I'm not going to have as much time for the blogosphere for a while, and
2. I'm going to be posting about our adventures while making this thing

Today we had a meeting and discussed our plan of attack and started talking over some of the fun madness we're going to bring you. Nothing particularly exciting about a meeting, so there's nothing really to blog about in that regard.

However, at some point very soon--not sure when--I'm not going to have time to go through my blog feed every day (for the next couple of months while we shoot). So, when that day comes, I would love it if you-all would alert me to the posts you think I should read. Please feel free to email me any links that you think would be particularly interesting/important to Sonlight/me... or any of yours you want to make sure I read (because, I will!).

In September, after principal photography is done, I'll be back to reading your posts every day. If I can somehow fit it into my schedule to go through my feed between when we start and when we end, I will, but I'm not holding my breath... there's a ton to do.

So, sorry, friends, but duty calls. And this is an excellent opportunity to remind you that you can email me from the little graphic link on the right there. ...timely, considering recent events, I say <smile>.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

I wanted to draw an image for you, but I don't has what it takes to do that. So, instead, imagine a bunch of dominoes toppling over into the distance so that it eventually looks like a tangled net.

I know, very M.C. Escher of me.

Through my wanderings around the blogosphere today, I was alerted to the fact that something was going down on the Forums. Curious, I started poking around. Now, I moderate my own little part of the Sonlight Student Forums, but I catch only snippets here and there from the "real" Forums.

It turns out that people were committing "infractions" on the Forums by not adhering to the guidelines. Once they had racked up enough "infraction points" (or whatever those are called) they were suspended for a few days. Unfortunately, one of the ways to get an infraction point is to bring up a post deleted for not adhering to the Forum guidelines (this was initially implemented to protect the original poster). Unfortunately, we homeschooler-types are a curious bunch, and so people started asking about why things were being deleted, which meant their posts were deleted, and that led to more questions, and...

Hence, the dominoes turning into a web.

Dominoes - I am no Escher

As an insider trying to look at things from outside the company--and really focus on the user experience--I can see why this whole situation is so frustrating and out of hand. Because, it many ways, it is. That's why that particular part of the Forums where everything was imploding has been shut down. The tourniquet had to be applied. The bleeding stopped.

But now, those who are involved in helping the Forums run are taking this time to reevaluate how we do things so this kind of thing doesn't happen in the future.

Wounds are never a pretty thing, but I am very thankful for the people who are doing their best to graciously stitch things back together. The scars will still exist, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people decided they didn't want to hang around those areas of our Forums in the future, but I am consistently impressed with everyone--both those who work for Sonlight and those who use the resources--who makes the effort to make things right.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

One of the cool things about my position is that I'm good friends with both those who are inside the company and you on "the outside" ...so please feel free to email me if you want me to do a little more digging for you about a particular issue. I may not be able to get you a satisfactory answer--sometimes there isn't one--but I love opportunities to help people get more information and insight.

...in plain English.

So, Friday I posted about how Internet Explorer has been giving Blogger some issues. And I've long be aware of the header image issue of this blog in IE (and I have not had time to try to figure out how to fix that yet).

If you'd rather not experience these issues, I suggested you get Firefox and start reading my blog via RSS. One of my friends asked that I explain these newfangled contraptions, and so I shall.

Firefox is a free web browser--much like Internet Explorer--only much, much nicer. Firefox works great, but it also lets you use AddOns like Adblock Plus--which makes it so you never have to see web banner ads ever again--and NoScript--which automatically turns off scripts from sites so you are more secure (don't worry, it's really easy to turn them back on for sites like YouTube when you want to watch a video).

In other words: Firefox replaces IE when you want to go somewhere on the web. If you need further proof, just watch this video. And then, go download Firefox. Or Google's Chrome, which is another option I really like.

RSS is a way of getting information, much like email subscriptions. The good part about RSS? You control it. You don't have to wait for someone else to subscribe or unsubscribe you.

Normally, while browsing the web and reading blogs, you have to open each page one by one. Maybe you have a Blog Bookmark folder that's filling up. Maybe you just remember your favorite URLs (like, sonlight.com/blog/). RSS readers let you go to one place and then it brings you all the new content from your favorite sites. It's much faster because it's only loading the content and not each page.

I use Google Reader because I log into my Google Account first thing every day. But my wife uses an RSS reader built into Firefox. So find one that works for you.

Basically, you go to a site you like and then either click on a subscribe button, or copy the URL (like http://feeds.sonlight.com) and paste it into the "Add New Subscription" box in your RSS reader. You will now get all the new content in your RSS reader. From there you can click on the post title you want to comment on and it will take you to the site. You can also unsubscribe really easily.

As a blogger who reads the posts of hundreds of blogs every day, I couldn't do my job without my RSS reader, and Firefox makes it much, much nicer. If you haven't tried it yet, please do. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I want your experience visiting blogs--especially this one--to be enjoyable. And if you need to get start using all these new gadgets to have a better experience, I'm all for it!

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

P.S. I'll be back Thursday and then off again on Friday. So see you in a couple of days.