I just got a facebook account. I’ve been meaning to get one for the longest time. All I knew about it before signing up was: You could upload photos, and a lot of people where on it. THAT’S IT! Wow, I was a little surprised to find that it has a much as it does. I’m all ready using a few apps, slinging comments all over people’s walls, and trying to snag as many friends as I can (of course all people that I actually know/knew… for now).

Now, why the heck does this matter to anyone?

Well, I’m working on an experiment. I’ve heard that facebook is a great way to drive traffic to websites, if done properly. I’ve got little blurbs about this and my other two sites up there at the moment. I also uploaded several pieces of my artwork and posted a link to this in the gallery description saying that I’ve got more here. On top of that, the items that I sell on t-shirts, I’ve got links to their product pages.

Facebook Seems like it was
practically made for artists!

I knew facebook was popular but I had no idea. I can totally see how much potential it has for connecting people. Because of the way it works, it’s perfect for visual artists. I’ve said it once, and I’ll probably say it a thousand times: getting traffic to your site (and eyeballs on your art) is all about increasing your presence on the web. People can only view your work if they know you’re there! Facebook looks to me like a great way to get exposure. At the very least, it will keep you in touch with your friends, and your friends in touch with you… and your art. Some of my best customers (and by that I mean they buy a lot of stuff ^_^) are friends and family. Let’s face it, we could all use more friends.

Let’s recap

As an artist you can build your traffic very simply by getting a facebook account, staying in touch with friends and family, uploading samples of your artwork with links back to your website (for if they want to see more).

Question for the artistic masses:

“Do you use Facebook? Do you use it to build you traffic for your site and get eyeballs on your art? If so, how successful is it?”
I’m very interested to see how others are doing with this. I’ll keep everyone updated on my results with facebook advertising.

Hope that was helpful,
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel

You see, my wife often complains about the odor produced by my bowel movements. In fact, the restroom is generally off limits as a biohazard zone for quite some time afterwards. I understand this is also a problem for many other men. Generally speaking all the females I’ve known are completely repelled by the odor produced by male feces. They tend to avoid it like the plague, spray all manner of odor eliminators and scents in an effort to cover it up, and make funny faces while rebuking the source of the odor.

With this in mind, I sat down to think about what I could do to help ease my wife’s olfactory discomfort. Because it is often difficult for anyone to wait several hours for the stink to clear before they can use the toilet, I decided that it might be more considerate to wait until just after my wife uses the toilet to “take the browns to the super bowl”.

Judging by both common sense and anecdotal evidence, we can all agree that people tend to relieve themselves every few hours and are thusly unlikely to need to use the toilet within a few hours of relieving themselves. By waiting until my wife has just used the toilet to “drop the kids off at the pool” I can maximize the amount of time that the air has to clear before next she must visit the restroom, thusly sparing her from as much of my foul reek as possible. I find this to be the most considerate course of actions possible. It’s also very easy to do so long as there happens to be no immediate urgency to your situation.

As an additional benefit, because a woman must always sit in order to use the toilet, using the toilet right after her ensures that the seat is nice, warm, and ready for your posterior. The only exception is when your wife is a germ-aphobe who simply “hovers.” However, baring that one exception, this situation will likely be the same across the board. I must admit, I do not miss the cold seat, and although my wife thinks I’m a bit of a jerk to specifically wait for her to “warm up the seat” for me, she does appreciate the less frequent assault on her nostrils.

Someone once said that marriage is about compromise. I think this is a perfect example of this. There are obvious benefits for both parties and very little effort is required to reap these benefits. Because of this, I’ve got a new rule for toilet etiquette: if at all possible, wait until directly after my wife has used the toilet to “take a dump”. By sparing her of my noxious fumes, I am rewarded with a freshly warmed seat. Seems fair enough to me.

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.

I have been controlling my dreams for a while now but my subconscious does not seem to like being controlled. It used to tear control back by randomly activating portions of my brain that I do not have conscious control over… such as my sense of balance. Once I was thrashed around for a while, I would eventually relinquish control of the dream back to my subconscious. However, because I kept at it my mind has come to realize that I will do whatever I want in my dreams and I will continue to fight with it if it opposes me. So instead of fighting, my subconscious eventually decided to allow me to use every ability that I would normally need to be lucid dreaming in order to use… while maintaining control of the dream. By that I mean that I never realize that I am dreaming, but I can still do some rather fantastic stuff. For a relatively comprehensive list of my dream abilities, see this page.

There are a ton of other abilities but that list can give you the basic idea of what can be accomplished through lucid dreaming. These abilities grow and change every day and quite often I acquire a completely new ability that is added to my repertoire. In the world of our minds, we can possess all the power of a god because we have completely control over that world. In other words, there is no limit to what you can do in your dreams once you learn to control them.

Tips for realizing you’re dreaming:
The first hurdle you’ll encounter in lucid dreaming is the ability to realize that you are dreaming.

Dream Recall: First, if you can’t remember a dream, you won’t be able to tell whether or not you where able to control it. Keeping a dream diary can be extremely useful for this. When you wake up, do not move a muscle. Find your last memory from the dream and ask yourself “how did I get to that point?” This will trigger you memory to sift through the dream backwards. Run through the story several times, seeing if you can remember anything more. Then get out out bed and write it down immediately! If, like many, you take a shower immediately after waking, this is also a good time to think over the dream before committing it to paper (or in my case, a blog). I certainly suggest using a blog as a dream diary, it’s just easier than writing it down… and you can share it with everyone, which is even cooler.

Common themes: Often there are common themes in dreams. For me, I am lost and confused in many of my dreams. When I become extremely lost or find myself overly confused I stop and think about it for a while. Often I can realize that I’m dreaming simply by this theme. Lately, death, fighting, and conflict have become common themes. Since these things do not occur very often, or to the extreme degree that they do in my dreams, I can often realize I’m dreaming when I begin to fight.

Recognizing oddities: In your dreams you may experience odd things such as meeting Jesus Christ, or being chased by zombie turtles. If you realize that you are trying to find a magic kumquat for your gorgon employer… you might be dreaming.

Reading: For most people it is extremely difficult to read in your dreams. A simple dream test is to attempt to read a book. If the words make no sense… or the sentences read something like “monster pink turgid monkey mass flared my inner most quantum pizza”… you might be dreaming. This particular trick doesn’t work on me however… because for some odd reason, I can read just fine in my dreams… or at least the dream does well enough to convince me that I can. This particular technique was actually used by Batman in eppisode 26 “Perchance to Dream” It works well for many people.

Associations: You can also make mental associations. For instance in Star Trek Voyager “Waking Moments” the character Chakotay uses lucid dreaming techniques to combat an alien that has invaded the dreams of the crew. He uses the image of Earth’s moon to allow him to realize he is dreaming. Essentially with this technique you simply choose a common object and produce an idiosyncrasy associated with it. Every time you see this object, you ask yourself “am I dreaming?” once it becomes habit, you will begin to do the same thing in your dreams. The only difference is that you will realize you are dreaming in those cases.

Another tip is to constantly remind yourself as you are falling asleep that you want to control your dream. Repeat in your mind “I am going to lucid dream tonight. I will control my dreams.” and just keep thinking this over and over again. You will fall asleep with it fresh in your mind and hopefully this will aid in your remembering to attempt controlling the dream.

A search on the net for “reality tests” will also reveal quite a few other techniques for realizing that you are dreaming.

Tips for controlling the dream:
It is important to note that it is very difficult to override your natural instincts. We are all hard wired to understand certain things about the world. Most surfaces are solid. You cannot walk through walls. Bugs are icky. Fire burns. etc… You must find ways around this in order to get what you want.

For example, I have found that I cannot make items appear from thin air. My mind cannot seem to convince itself that items can materialize from nothing. So in order to accomplish the same effect, I will reach beyond my field of vision (like behind me, behind an object, or into my pocket) and pull out the item that I’m looking for. In this instance it is important not to think “I want to get this object.” or even “I will get this object”. You must be certain that the item is already there and when you close your hand, that it will be grasping the specific object you’re looking for. Another good example is that I cannot walk through walls in my dreams. If I can see it, then I know I can run into it. So if I walk backwards towards the wall, while concentrating on passing through it, I can do just that. When I want to teleport from one location to another or one time to another, I simply close my eyes, concentrate on where I want to be, and fall backwards… through the ground. I usually land on the ground in the place I was thinking of.

The tip here is that your mind works on a few basic principles. The thing to remember is that ALL reality is filtered through your perception. When you dream, it is a world built by pure perception. You must find ways to alter your perception to achieve the desired results. For instance, If I look through a hole in a fence I can see to the other side. Once am can “perceive” the other side of the fence, I can shift my perception so that I am actually on the other side of the fence. This is why I must reach out of my “perception” to pull something into my line of sight. It’s all about shifting your perception.

It is often quite useful to use skills you’ve seen on television in order to accomplish your goals. When watching television/movies your mind temporarily suspends reality and you learn to accept the rules and laws of that universe. It is then easier to copy, for instance, the energy blast techniques from Dragon Ball Z than to invent your own moves. Some of my favorites are taken from wrestling and kong fu movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Less is more:
When controlling your dreams it is important to realize that the more conscious you are of your state, the more awake you will become. If your consciousness becomes too strong you will not only be aware that you are dreaming, but that you are laying on a bed asleep. As a rule, if you can feel the bed underneath you, you should stop controlling the dream because it’s about to turn into a daydream. Daydreams, of course, are not as interesting because they seem less real. Also, dreams are usually your brain simply trying to sort out random activation of various parts of itself. Because of this, dreams are often quite random and this uncertainty makes them more interesting. A dream that is completely under the control of the dreamer can become boring and stale. The subconscious mind is much better at creative thought than our conscious mind.

Why Control a dream?
1) To adjust the outcome (escape from the monster, date the hot chick, heal a wounded friend)
2) Explore your own mind. Your subconscious hides quite a bit in there, it’s fun to poke around.
3) Experience things you couldn’t in waking life (I personally have killed myself several different ways just to find out what death might be like… Groundhog’s Day Style).
4) Act out your fantasies. If you always wanted to go to some tropical island and have a romantic fling with a well tanned local… by all means, go for it.
5) Overcome phobias. Fight back against those giant spiders, torch some zombie clowns, etc…

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Hopefully, this is of at least some help to someone out there. I have spent quite a bit of time learning how to do this on my own only to find out that there are tons of resources online for lucid dreaming techniques and the like. If you like to dream, this is definitely something worth checking out. If you’ve got any comments or questions on this article or on lucid dreaming, feel free to comment on this post. If I don’t know the answer, I can find it out.

Thanks for reading,
Type to you later,
~Nathaniel

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.

An invitation to all bloggers!

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

First it is important to know the method through which the vaccine is developed. Scientist track statistical data to guess at which strain of the flu will be the most common the the next year. They then take that strain and culture it inside chicken eggs to mass produce it. So when next year comes, they’ve got a whole store of the flu virus that has been growing exclusively inside chicken eggs. They then neutralize these viruses by boiling, freezing, acids, and/or bases. These dead viruses are then made into the final product, the flu vaccine.

Some facts about immunity:
1) Our immune system produces and releases antibodies that attach to the protein sheath that surrounds the viral DNA.
2) The genes responsible for that sheath mutate so quickly that we cannot remain immune to it… it’s always changing.
3) The virus that the doctors thought was going to be the big strain is always different from the wild type strain (since it developed in people instead of chicken eggs under the strain of different environmental factors as well as an actual immune system).
4) The process that they use to kill the viruses isn’t fool proof. Some survive and they can still make you sick.

Alright, so I’ve established a few things:
1) The flu vaccine cannot give you an immunity to the current flu because the viruses are so different (due to mutation and genetic drift) that an immunity to one does not mean immunity to the other.
2) You might just catch the flu from a vaccine because it contains small amounts of live virus.
3) If you do manage to catch the flu from such a vaccine it will be from a virus that was cultivated in a laboratory, inside chicken eggs, without the hindrance of an immune system, and that survived being boiled, frozen, and/or burned with acid/melted with bases. In other words, you just caught some nasty bug.

Now, I don’t know why they are trying to sell this stuff so much. It doesn’t work, it could get people sick, and they’re suggesting that all people with “weakened or compromised immune systems” get the shot. To me that sounds a bit fishy. I would argue that ANY evidence of the flu vaccine having a beneficial effect is rather the effect of “working out” the immune system and giving it some practice rather than any actual immunity. It would be much easier, and cheaper, if we just occasionally ate some dirt… or just use less sanitizing cleaning products and antibiotics.

If I where a conspiracy nut I would be all over this mess. However, I’ll leave such musing up to the rest of the overly paranoid population. I’m more than happy just to let everyone know that I am never going to have a flu shot and that everyone should think very long and hard about whether or not they will either. I have actually wanted to argue this point with a doctor for a while… (but I rarely go to the doctor) There’s no getting around it though. The logic and the science back me up. They are only backed up by hype and fear.

The next time someone tries to tell you that you should get a flu shot, stop, think, and remember that it makes no sense. If it’s your doctor, question their motives immediately. They may have been dazzled by numbers and charts, forgetting their basic biology lessons… or they may be getting money from the pharmaceutical companies that develop , distribute, and sell these vaccines.

I hope that I have opened some eyes. The flu vaccine is a scam, don’t be fooled, get all the information. Just because your doctor has a medical degree doesn’t mean they have your best interest in mind.

In case you’re interested, I’m no the only one that sees this mess for what it is. Check out this article for a bit more information.

Type to you later,
~Nathaniel

Ramen!
Yep, ramen is dirt cheap and fairly filling. It comes in several different flavors as well. If you get the off brand stuff, you can expect to spend 12-50 cents on each packet (not bad for a meal). However, in order to keep the anemia away you’ll need protein in your diet. My favorite source of protein (for ramen) is eggs, however, if you don’t like/eat eggs, beans are a good substitute.

Recipe:
Ingredients: 1 packet of ramen, 1 egg, choice of spices.

1. Get the water boiling, go ahead and put in the noodles now, before the boil (yes I know that’s not what the instructions on the packet say to do).
2. Once the noodles start to separate and get soft, put in your spices (or just the flavor packet if that’s all you want).
3. Once the water is at a high boil, break 1 or 2 eggs into the boiling ramen and mix with a fork vigorously (you want to scramble the eggs into everything and mix up the spices). The water should immediately stop boiling because of the temperature change, that’s fine, just let it keep cooking.
4. I don’t like the water, so I let it continue to boil down until it’s the consistency that I prefer (moist, not swimming)
5. Pour into a bowl and let set until cool

And that’s it. The egg is also a simple solution to the fact that all the spices tend to sit at the bottom of the ramen. In this case, the spices are actually suspended in the egg and the eggs stick to the noodles a little, keeping everything fairly evenly distributed. Another cool thing is that it only creates one dirty pot. If you w rinse it out immediately, it will be very easy to clean up. Even if you let it sit, the eggs don’t really stick… unless you burn them.

If you decide to go with the beans, cook both separately. I would suggest cooking the beans first and letting them cool while you cook the ramen. After you mix the two together the difference in heat should make them ready to eat fairly quickly.

All in all, these recipes only take 5-7 minuets, cost less than a buck. It’s fast, easy, doesn’t require that you eat fast food, it’s fairly healthy, filling, and with all the different flavors of ramen and the spices you could potentially use, you’ve got quite a bit of variety.

If the egg gets too boring for you, I would suggest chopping up hot dogs or spam and putting that in the ramen. These don’t even really need to be cooked (but they should be refrigerated after opening).

Vitamins:
Another bit of advice for the poor college goer is that because of the poor nutrition you should invest in a good multivitamin. This will make up for any gaps in your diet… and trust me, there will be gaps. My suggestion is This multivitamin mostly because it is all natural and is a higher quality than what you’ll find in the stores. It might be a little more expensive that the stuff you can buy at the drug store but it packs more punch. The only downside is that they really do taste terrible… every all natural vitamin does. It’s not really that important what vitamin you decide to get on. Just make sure that it has a lot of everything and that it is a general vitamin (nothing specifically for certain groups like women or athletes… unless you are fairly active and think you need it). This bit of advice is based mostly on the fact that your mental acuity will suffer if you are not getting proper nutrition. In order to keep those grades up, you’ll need your brain.

KoolAid!
For those of you who are used to drinking juices and soft drinks, but find that you can no longer afford them on your budget, Kooolaid is a great alternative. I lived in Phoenix AZ, where the water is actually recycled sewage. It is so heavily chlorinated that the tap water tasted like pool water. I couldn’t stomach it (perhaps I’m just a pansy… but I don’t really care). Koolaid is dirt cheap and comes in a variety of flavors… don’t try it without sugar, you will choke. Also, it is a good idea to put your sack of sugar in a large ziplock bag. The first time we had sugar rot on us… well… it wasn’t pretty. It needs to stay in a high, dry place. If you can’t find one of those, use the ziplock bag… use the ziplock bag anyway.

Fast Food:
Every-once-in-a-while fast food is OK. In fact, to keep you from getting entirely bored with your diet, you should splurge a little when you can afford it. Fast food is always more expensive than what you could make at home. It’s also not that great for you. If you’re not careful, fast food can take up a significant portion of your budget (especially if you eat out every day). Below is a list of fast food that isn’t that bad, or bad for you:

1. Subway: it’s cheap, fresh, and filling. Also, many subways offer student discounts after 4pm, ask your local subway for more details
2. supreme pizza: I only suggest supreme because it contains all the food groups, making it a theoretically healthy meal. Other kinds of pizza are OK too… but supreme is the best for you. Also, pizza delivers, so you only have to pause your studying (or video game) for a limited time, while you answer the door… or not at all if you can get your room mate/friend to do it for you.
3. BurgerKing: if you’re going to get a burger, this place has big burgers for fairly cheap. I personally prefer those local mom and pop greasy spoon type places. If you can find one of those, opt for them
4. Jack in the Box: Their drive-through is open 24hrs, great if you’re up late studying/playing games and need that extra boost to keep you going.

That pretty much covers everything I can think of. If you have any comments or suggestions on my suggestions, leave them below. I’m always glad to hear new thoughts on this subject.

Some will tell you to do all sorts of crazy things from drinking water from the wrong end of the glass, to standing on your head, getting hit between the shoulder blades, or holding your breath until you pass out. However, I’m going to tell you a two step cure for the hiccups that has been passed down through my family for generations.

Step 1: Take a spoon and get a spoonful of Peanut butter (creamy)
Step 2: Eat that spoonful of peanut butter
Result: Hiccups are gone.

yep, that’s all there is to it. Now if you happen to be allergic to peanuts… well, then it stinks to be you now doesn’t it? The next cure may not suit you either… in fact, it will suit very few.

Step 1: Light a cigarette
Step 2: Smoke the cigarette
Resut: No more Hiccups

Yep that works too. Nicotine actually helps to regulate the muscles of the digestive tract. I worked with a girl who had the hiccups for two weeks. After I suggested she smoke a cigarette (and she did so) the hiccups stopped. Believe it or not, nicotine has many benefits… but they don’t really talk about them too much. But that’s for another post… perhaps a rant.

Please note that smoking peanut butter or eating cigarettes does not cure the hiccups. The former is likely to cause a cough, and the later will actually cause all the symptoms of appendicitis (what you do with that information is none of my business).

Hope that helps, I know the Hiccups can be one of the most annoying bodily functions. Now perhaps it won’t be so bad for you anymore.

Type to you later,
~Nathaniel

My mother taught me a very important lesson about mortality when I was about seven years old. One of our dogs had just recently had puppies. One of the puppies had a larger head and smaller body than the rest and just generally didn’t act the same as the others. It died after being alive for only three days. I was a curious child and I wanted to know. So I asked my mother “Why did that puppy die?” She told me that she had seen the same thing before (she worked at an animal care clinic as a veterinary technician), the puppy had water on the brain.” I knew that couldn’t be too good and I accepted this as a reason for the puppy’s death. A few days later another puppy died, but this one had appeared to be perfectly healthy before. When I asked about this one my mother simply said “Sometimes… puppies just die.” This one phrase pretty much sums up my view on death. I learned in that instance that death can come at any time, to anyone, it is never fair, and rarely makes sense, and you will never be ready for it. I credit this conversation with my being able to handle my own mother’s death when I was nineteen. I cried, I was very upset, but I got to the point to where I could function again very quickly. I did not dwell on her death or ask questions like “why her?” because I already knew that there are no answers.

I honestly believe that excessive mourning is selfish. We mourn because we will no longer enjoy the person’s presence. We do not mourn what they lost, but rather what we lost. Soon after a death, this is expected. It is important to have a small degree of selfishness in order to survive. However, one day, we will be visited by death, and it is best not to spend our time suffering over the inevitable. In short, focus on life, not death. Don’t focus on your own death, or the deaths of those around you. Focus on your life, the lives of those around you, and the lives of those we’ve lost. Life is what is important, death is only a small part of it.

I will end this post with one of my own quotes:
“Fear not death. Fear that you never truly lived.”

~Nathaniel

Also, in celebration of our mortality, and in memory of my departed mother, I am now selling Dead Puppies Merchandise.