How to avoid nightmares

Great attention is to be paid to regularity and choice of diet. Intemperance of every kind is hurtful, but nothing is more productive of this disease than drinking bad wine. Of eatables those which are most prejudicial are all fat and greasy meats and pastry. These ought to be avoided, or eaten with caution. The same may be said of salt meats, for which dyspeptic patients have frequently a remarkable predilection, but which are not on that account the less unsuitable.

Moderate exercise contributes in a superior degree to promote the digestion of food and prevent flatulence; those, however, who are necessarily confined to a sedentary occupation, should particularly avoid applying themselves to study or bodily labor immediately after eating. If a strong propensity to sleep should occur after dinner, it will be certainly bettor to indulge it a little, as the process of digestion frequently goes on much better during sleep than when awake.

Going to bed before the usual hour is a frequent cause of night-mare, as it either occasions the patient to sleep too long or to lie long awake in the night. Passing a whole night or part of a night without rest likewise gives birth to the disease, as it occasions the patient, on the succeeding night, to sleep too soundly. Indulging in sleep too late in the morning, is an almost certain method to bring on the paroxysm, and the more frequently it returns, the greater strength it acquires; the propensity to sleep at this time is almost irresistible. Those who are habitually subject to attacks of the night-mare ought never to sleep alone, but should have some person near them, so as to be immediately awakened by their groans and struggles, and the person to whom this office may be entrusted should be instructed to rouse the patient as early as possible, that the paroxysm may not have time to gain strength.

Intelligent Design

Images of delight

Images of delight

This morning Antoinette Ledzian of Stonington, CT wrote:
"Digital art has been my savior. Moments which might have been
blurred have turned into transformational pieces through my use
of Photoshop. I love the instant processing, the ability to
rework my images and go right onto another piece. I could never
do this when I practiced calligraphy or painted. Possibly I've
finally found my medium. What's happening?"

Thanks, Antoinette. It's an epidemic. Creative folks of all
stripes find the making of digital art to be almost
irresistible. Brilliant software--on a constant arc of
improvement--permits ever more speedy and imaginative
manipulation. Through portals like Flickr, images are posted
and feedback is immediate. Communities are born and people are
empowered. Instant gratification is the order of the day.
Worldwide, more than a thousand new images are currently being
posted every second. Like poetry in the last century, more is
being made than seen. And like poetry, the making of it is
absorbing, challenging, life enhancing, and full of beautiful
"aha" epiphanies. Digital manipulation is probably the fastest
way to cross-breed motifs and ideas. Everyone who tries it can
see that it's a creative tool like no other. To get an idea of
current and cutting edge digital art, I've asked Andrew to put
up a collection at the top of the current clickback. See URL
below.

And yep, digital has its problems. While holding out the hand
of democratization to all who would participate, like
photography itself, it also runs counter to the role of art as
commodity--digital is difficult to make rare. Its facile nature
and general proliferation tend to render it less valuable.
Those who would commercialize digital are faced with the
question of what to do with it. Posters, art-cards, gallery
sales, even pay-per-view on the Internet have so far shown only
faint success.

For us, digital is a celebration of looking and seeing, of
delight in what nature has given--and what the human creator
can do with what is seen. Its champions and masters are now
appearing. Digital is a welcome force for human exchange and
universal understanding--a sort of instant handshake that helps
to make real our essential brotherhood and sisterhood.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "A computer is an interface where the mind and body can
connect with the universe and move bits of it about." (Douglas
Adams, 1952-2001)

Esoterica: In Leonardo's time there were few artists and those
few made magic that the wise and privileged desired. Today the
wise and privileged make magic for themselves. We can still
make our mark with brush and canvas, or chisel and stone--but
we are also blessed with the grace of a higher technology. In
the words of Daniel Bell, "Technology, like art, is a soaring
exercise of the human imagination." Can it be that this
technology is a window to a brighter future? "The new
electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of
a global village." (Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980)