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An ongoing theme/ability in my dreams is actually the ability to create swords from my own body. I’ll outline a few of the dreams (in chronological order) that illustrate this ability.
Another little bit of advice for college goers. Veggies will keep your brains alive! I am a big carnevore. I just love meat. I eat large amounts of meat at every meal. Protein keeps me from becoming anemic and it settles my stomach. Now, meat is good for you but you also need veggies. Yeah, I know, that green stuff. Trust me, it can be good. In fact, I have noticed that if I do not eat my veggies that there is a marked decline in my mental state. That is to say, that I am more stupid when I’m not eating my veggies. I have noticed simple things like the fact that my vocabulary will increase after eating plenty of veggies in comparison to eating none at all. I just recently noticed that I was having problems coding pieces of my new online community website only to figure out that a few simple misspellings where the culprit (which I only noticed several hours after eating a large salad… when the previous few days where mostly burgers, bacon, and pizza… yes those are the three main staples of my diet).
Now, I know that fat is good for your brain, or rather the right kind of fat… mostly the kind found in fish. However, there are plenty of vitamins and minerals found in plants that we need too. Perhaps these vitamins are the reason for my mental incline after consuming veggies. Who knows. All I know is that if you don’t eat your veggies, your brain will suffer.
On another note, for general health, eat a ton of garlic. No one will like you… because your breath will stink… but your body will love you for it. Whenever I start to feel the slightest bit ill, I start eating copious amounts of garlic. The good thing is that I usually don’t get sick because of this… the downside is that my wife won’t kiss me when I smell like garlic. My only consolation is that she wouldn’t kiss me if I where sick either, so it’s not like I’m missing out on anything. Garlic is actually a pureative, and an antibiotic. It kills germs. If you’re spiritual, it also wards off evil spirits (which isn’t to say that it won’t ward off evil spirits if you aren’t spiritual). Garlic is just plain good for you because its so bad for almost everything else. I suppose it helps that I like garlic, huh? It’s great for knocking out a cold or the flu. But works best if you start eating it in large amounts right after your first symptoms.
If you don’t like garlic, cinnamon also helps… although it’s not as strong as garlic and tends to have adverse effects if consumed in large amounts.
Figured that was worth knowing, and certainly worth sharing,
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
I just found a cool article about some crazy transgenic mice. These mice have been engineered to have their neurons display random amounts of certain pigments. The end result is what is called the “Brainbow” mouse. The images of these mouse brains captured are not only stunningly beautiful, but also reveal a great deal about how nerves interact. I must admit, the images produced are much cooler than any abstract artist I’ve ever seen.
With the creation of such transgenic animals it really makes me wonder about the connection between art and science. Obviously, science is producing greater technology every day. With this technology, we (artists) are able to create new, and perhaps better, forms of art. In this case, the reason behind the creation of this transgenic mouse was purely scientific but managed to create something very artistic.
It really is fascinating to see such a progression. I know that 100 years ago, computer generated art wasn’t even an option, let alone an idea. Now, a great deal of art is digital. I have always argued that our bodies are works of art created by nature. Nature itself is one large work of art, and a beautiful one at that. Now we’re taking control of nature and creating new and exciting pieces from it. I can’t wait to see what new technology will lead to the next big thing in art.
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
This amazing charity is devoted to providing games and consoles to children in hospitals. Games have been shown to not only make the kids happier but to make them healthier, increase their self esteem, and even increase their recovery rate. Games can give these kids the fun that they need without exposing them to situations that could worsen their conditions. In many cases, children are limited in their mobility and playing games makes them feel better about themselves, makes them feel more capable.
I don’t support any charities really. I just never have the money. But this one, I think I can spare a little bit. If you’re a gamer, or you just like kids, at least give it a look. If you aren’t able to make a donation, please, pass the word around and get this charity some much needed publicity.
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
Check this out:
Now, she goes into a little side rant about cigarrette ads and smoking that I don’t really agree with. But the most important message is fairly clear. Now, nicotene is an appetite suppressor… but I certainly wouldn’t suggest anyone smoke to loose weight.
To see my opinion on the matter of the idea of “thin=attractive” check out this article.
This isn’t so much a rant, as it is a simple statement… but I’ll put it under rants because well… this is my site and I can do whatever I want with it. so :P
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
Lucid dreaming is defined as a dream where the dreamer is aware of the fact that they are dreaming. Often, the dreamer can exert conscious control over the dream as well. If you have ever controlled your dreams before, then you may have experienced lucid dreaming.
The only prerequisite to being able to control your dreams is that you realize a few things:
1) that you realize that you are dreaming
2) that you realize that everything that occurs in this world occurs because your mind invents it
3) that you realize that you have control over this world because this world was built by your mind.
Essentially once you realize that its all in your head, you realize that you can do whatever you want. Often the only limitation is your ability to suspend your own mind’s concept of reality. For instance, we all know that walls are solid. If you run straight at a wall you brain will expect you to hit it and it will react on instinct. In the dream world, you must override that instinct in order to run through that wall.
First I’m going to start off with an anecdote, then I’ll give some tips.
Read the rest of this entry »
I remember back when I was going to college in Phoenix AZ that all of my friends and classmates had myspace accounts. I sat there thinking “This is some messed up fad, I can’t believe they all bought into this.” I promised myself that I would never get a myspace account.
However, I did eventually get an account simply to find an old friend (which I did). The cool thing was that I discovered how important social networking sites are for targeted traffic generation… at least for personal sites. This website is full of my artwork and opinions. Thusly, it is something that many of my friends may be interested in. Admitedly, I don’t have much of a social life and I find social networking sites like MySpace, Elftown, and Zaadz to be great ways to make friends online.
Now, that being said, don’t spam your friends. They don’t appreciate it. I post information in relevent forums and I also post bullitns/blog entries that my friends can see. That’s it. Still, it starts you off with a decent visitor base to work from.
For artists, I would definately suggest getting Elfwood and Deviantart accounts. These sites are ranked very highly in the search engines. Getting accounts with them and posting a few “teaser” pieces can only increase your traffic. However, you have to stay active. You have to get out there and comment on people’s artwork. You have to respond to comments on yours. Get out there and get involved, it’s fun and it is very rewarding.
For bloggers it is important that you visit other blogs and comment on them. Every comment you leave provides a link back to you. This is important because it not only increases search engine ranking but also, if your comment is provocative enough, will prompt people to come visit your blog. BlogRush is also useful in this capacity. Read this article to find out how.
My advice boils down to this:
Get out there and get involved. Make your presence known in the web community. At the same time, don’t spam. I happen to think Spam tastes good in person… but I hate it online. If you are an unknown on the web, your website will also remain unknown. I see far too many blogs with no comments in them. I try to make a point to try and comment on something.
If you have a blog and no comments, comment on this post here and I will be more than happy to drop you a line. Feel free to look around my site in the meantime. I’ve got ADD pretty bad, and if I could sit down long enough write out all of this stuff, you shouldn’t be too bored reading through it.
Get out there, mix it up, have some fun. That’s what this is all about anyway. Oh… and I wouldn’t mind selling a few T-shirts while I’m at it. :P
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
Another strange dream this morning. Let me start off by saying that I have crazy abilities in my dreams. One of which is the ability to teleport/time travel. In this particular dream I was trying to get somewhere else, anywhere else. So I went into my closet. There was a door at the back of it that was supposed to lead to another room. I turned my back to it, closed my eyes, opened the door and fell backwards through it. I fell like nothing was there to stop me. I fell through the floor and tumbled through space. I eventually landed on a smooth carpeted surface, very gently I might add. I stood up and looked through the door through which I had passed, I could see the closet and the room from which I came. However, turning around I realized that I was indeed somewhere else. I had created a portal that bridged two places by this doorway.
Read the rest of this entry »
I just found something funny. I was looking at my stats and I noticed that someone got to my site by searching for “We are all pink inside shirt”. I thought I was the only one with “We’re all Pink on the Inside” merchandise but as it turns out there is a gay pride ad campaign that uses a similar slogan. That doesn’t bother me one bit but I found it interesting that two people came up with similar concepts as solutions to two separate design challenges. They wanted to generate acceptance with a clever little truth about the color of our guts. I wanted to offend a few people and make them realize their vanity with a clever little truth about the color of our guts.
I do want to state that I have nothing to do with them, or the individual who came up with the slogan. My concept is legally distinct from theirs. Still, I think it’s awesome that two people would come up with something so similar and be so far removed from each other. Even if one promotes gay pride and the other seeks to offend the particularly vain skin goths!
I thought I was worth sharing.
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
This morning, I had a rather messed up dream. Essentially we where in a plane and flying north when all of a sudden we where hit by a couple of missiles and two fighter jets swooped down on us. Somehow we had entered restricted airspace. I noticed what looked to be a missile base with a landing strip and figured we should try to land there. I remember being able to read something on one of the buildings, from the air: “CPAT” which I’m sure means nothing.
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Many children, and even adults, are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD(Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder… hereafter referred to as ADD) every year. Some would argue that there is an epidemic. While others, such as myself, debunk it as a load of bull. Yep, this rant is about the ADD excuse as I like to call it. Now, that being said, I have been diagnosed as having ADD and I have noticed odd difference between those with and those without this supposed disorder. The main difference is that stimulants and depressants work backwards on us. Most of the medications prescribed to those with ADD are actually amphetamines. I can’t imagine giving a hyper kid a stimulant would make them any easier to deal with… however, that is the case. For instance, drinking caffeine will make me lose consciousness fairly quickly whereas Benadryl will make me jittery and fidgety. So I recognize that there is a fundamental difference between those with and without this supposed disorder. Studies have actually shown that people with ADD actually have decrease levels of activity in the parts of their brain that govern impulse control. However, I don’t think it’s a disorder at all, nor do I think it’s a learning disability. However, the entire country is using it as an excuse. Students, teachers, and parents are all saying “it’s not their fault… they’ve got ADD”. It’s all garbage.
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Alright, so my traffic isn’t that great but I’ve come up with a fairly decent strategy for getting myself more exposure and visitors though the free link exchange program, BlogRush. First, lets go over how BlogRush works:
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Alright, what is up with women’s obsession with the size of their posteriors? Women now-a-days are obsessed with their weight. They’ve got it in their heads that if they don’t look like the anorexic drug addicts they see on television and in magazines that they’re not good looking. They’re torturing themselves and feeling self conscious for no good reason. Seriously, there is something wrong with this world if women think they need to starve themselves to look beautiful. It’s just not true.
Read the rest of this entry »
Blogging has become quite the emotional outlet for many a person. We use the relative anonymity of the net to somewhat obscure our identity and with that we become brave. Many people have come to realize that even if the blog is anonymous you should take personal responsibility for every word therein. That means, that you shouldn’t say anything on your blog that you wouldn’t say in real life.
Recently a Nintendo employee was fired for bad mouthing her boss on her personal blog. Although there was no reference to anyone’s name the company still deemed it “unprofessional”. Now, I personally believe that to be an invasion of privacy, the company whether or not someone acts unprofessional when they’re off the clock. I mean, I have a tendency to act unprofessional from time to time… especially if I’ve had a few drinks first. But I certainly wouldn’t do those things at work. At the same time, this woman did bad mouth her boss. If anyone gets caught bad mouthing their boss, anywhere, they’re going to get fired. That’s just the way it goes.
There is no shortage of people who have been fired by their employers for their personal blog or companies who have fired people because of them. A quick google search for fired blog reveals 9,560,000 results! Trust me, companies are doing it everywhere. I would urge anyone who has a blog to take personal responsibility for every word they say or type (on their blog or otherwise). That’s just being smart and responsible. I stand by everything that I say on this site. Some of my images may be unprofessional, some of my blog entries may be unprofessional, but I will not ever bad mouth my company or my boss. I could… but everyone has their gripes about their place of work. If you need someone to vent to… for the sake of your employment, talk to your friends/family/significant other… don’t post it for the world to see.
Be careful, Blog smart, Blog Responsibly,
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
One of the main reasons why I got myself a website ages and ages… ago was so that my old friends could find me. This mostly required that my web site was ranked very well for my name Nathaniel Summers. Lucky for me, Nathaniel is not a very common name. In fact, only one person shares the name Nathaniel Summers with me, the X-Men Character Cable. Which is totally awesome because I’m a big X-Men fan (I’ve considered naming one of my children Scott… which is the name of cyclopes for those of you who are not fans). In any case, a quick search for my name returns some nice results. The first is a wikipedia page for the X-Men character. The second is either my elfwood gallery or a link to some random Youtube video. The third is usually this website and my Zaadz profile/quotes pages usually show up after that. In any case, Should an old friend attempt to find me by randomly searching for my name, they can’t miss… since about 50% of the links of the first page are for me. That’s not too shabby. Especially considering that the search results in over 1,360,000 results. I just wanted to share that. It’s not really a very big deal, but I do get a kick out of it.
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel
