Thursday, December 6, 2007

Fruitful Blog Reading

I thought I'd share with you two good finds from Ryan's blog reading this week:
  1. Pixelwhimsy—This is a great program for kids. They can bang away on the computer without hurting anything. (Courtesy of Marginal Revolution)
  2. And a great tip on sleeping from Scott Adams creator of Dilbert. With a bit of editing, here's what he says:

Sleeping Skill

I can take a nap almost anywhere. When I travel, I’m often asleep before the flight takes off. I can even fall asleep in the dentist’s chair waiting for the Novacaine to kick in. At night, I’m asleep in about five minutes.

I wasn’t always that way. Falling asleep is a skill. I’ll tell you my method.

I always start by creating a simple story in my head where something good, and highly unlikely, happens to me. The trick is to focus on something that is more fascinating than your real life. Maybe you are winning a prestigious award, inventing something that changes the world... The images should be more attractive than whatever bothersome thoughts would float into your head if you weren’t so busy fantasizing.

After a minute or two of that, I release all controlled thoughts and simply watch what floats by. When my eyes are closed, the part of my brain that interprets vision is apparently still active, because I can see all sorts of random objects drifting by, as if a mall exploded in space. I try to identify and name them as I see them.

Toaster…car…pencil…couch…snow blower, mitten, etc.

The next thing I know, I wake up.

That’s my method. What do you think about when you are trying to sleep?

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