Summer Nights, Flecks of Light

Summer nights are vanishing, even as I type. Before they're completely gone, I wanted to give a nod to fireflies, whose lovely show each year never fails to mesmerize.

This year it seemed like we had more fireflies than usual. In the picture above, I was able to capture several of the buggers while they were still in the lawn at twilight, before they started flying around.

Here's a much better image from someone who knows how to take this kind of picture:

I actually found this image on the website for the city of Kitakyushu,
Japan, which is using its firefly population as an indicator of environmental health. It hopes to become the "World's Best Firefly City."

However, it faces stiff competition from Malaysia, where tropical fireflies congregate on trees along a river and then, amazingly, synchronize their flashes:

You can take a boat tour to see this natural wonder, which is used as a navigation aid by local residents boating along the river.

As beautiful as fireflies are, there's something you need to know. Some (not all) species of firefly engage in deception. Males of one species will imitate the mating signal of males from another species to attract females of that species. Why? Because they're hungry. That's right. The unwitting female ends up as a meal. And female fireflies are not above this behavior either. I think that's a little more cleverness than I like in my insects.

One final insect-related phenomenon, which I like to call, "Turn off the porch light!" It's about all those poor nocturnal insects attracted to our electric lights, thinking they're the moon. There's not a lot we can do, except dash in and out of our houses to avoid them.

But here's a more positive take on the porch light issue, featuring a really lovely green luna moth. If you're especially squeamish about insects, you may want to skip this video and take comfort in the fact that they'll all be dead soon, at least in northern climates.



Enjoy what little is left of summer, try to be tolerant of our insect friends and have a great holiday weekend!

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Ulrich Schnauss

This week's lullaby features ambient music from German artist Ulrich Schnauss, paired with the "Cloudscapes" sequence from the film Koyaanisqatsi. The song is Nothing Happens in June. I have to say, I think this is some of the best electronica I've come across - bright and fresh, yet smooth and mellow, and fitting the images perfectly.

Diversions for Insomniacs

A sleepless night seems like the perfect time to survey the wonders of the internet, particularly the flotsam and jetsam that drifts by as we surf the web.

So here are some utterly pointless websites, presented for your amusement:

- Feeling sleepy? You couldn't ask for anything more.

- Kirby dances for you! Kirby just needs some music to go with the dancing.

- Golems of Light are on the move. Thanks to Cliff Pickover for this one, whose main website, Reality Carnival, has been the source for more than one Diversions for Insomniacs.

- Dancing Parabolas. Finally, an animation with music worthy of the dancing.

- Zombo.com. (Absolutely turn your speakers on for this one.) Zombo.com represents the pinnacle of useless websites, and is possibly the oldest such site, having been created in 1999.

Remember, for each of these sites, someone is paying for server space to keep it going.

To discover more websites like these, visit PointlessSites.com.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Zero 7

Time for some cool music for a hot summer's night. The song is Destiny, by Zero 7, featuring Sia Furler and Sophie Baker on vocals. So smooth, so gorgeous - it's music that washes over you, leaving you relaxed and refreshed.

Dreamscapes - Lucid Dreaming

© Leeloomultipass Dreamstime.com

As a child, I had a series of dreams in which I worked in a shop. I can't remember now what was being sold, but whatever the merchandise was, it was displayed in glass cases. My job was to keep the cases clean.

The boss, unfortunately, was a mean man. I didn't want to work in the shop anymore. Then a solution presented itself. There was a lantern, and if I held it up, I would awaken from the dream. Somehow I knew I was dreaming, and I knew what to do to come out of the dream.

Lucid dreaming, or the awareness that one is dreaming and can even control the dream, is pretty much the exact opposite of a nightmare. In fact, a 2006 study showed that people who suffer from nightmares benefit from lucid dreaming techniques.

Which implies, of course, that lucid dreaming can be learned. That sounds pretty cool, until you start to look at some of the methods. One procedure is to go to sleep normally, wake up six hours later, think very hard about lucid dreaming for an hour, then going back to sleep. It seems like a lot of work if you just want to experiment. Those with nightmares may find it worth their while, though.

Also interesting is the idea of reality testing. What if you think you might be dreaming, but aren't sure? According to the Wikipedia article on lucid dreaming, you could:

• Pinch your nose and see if you can breath without using your mouth.
• Stick your finger through the palm of your hand.
• Flip on a light switch (the light level shouldn't be affected).
• Look in a mirror. "(In) dreams, reflections from a mirror often appear to be blurred, distorted, incorrect or frightening."
  

Well, if the reality test is scary, what good is that? I've had dreams where I looked in a mirror; the results were mixed. In one, my eyes changed color (nice!). In another, my one eye appeared to be corroding away (not so nice).

But of course, if that last dream had been lucid, I suppose I could have done something about my health issue. It does seem that, for whatever ability we have to control our dreams, even lucid dreaming has its strange aspects. It may yield more vivid imagery and a feeling of giddiness, but it's still part of the noctural dreamscape, a strange reality that will always contain mysterious aspects.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Moving Fractals

After that trip to Winkie's Diner last week, I managed to find what I think is an especially mellow, relaxing lullaby. Videographer David B. Davis created this lovely film, Moving Fractals, and also composed the music. Fractals are geometric shapes with parts that are similar to the whole. They make for beautiful art - in this case, wispy, ethereal colors that dance against the darkness.

Dreamscapes Bonus Post - Mulholland Drive

Well, I couldn't go completely reductionist on you when it comes to nightmares. So here's a scene from David Lynch's extraordinary film, Mulholland Drive. A man tells his friend about a nightmare he had, and suddenly he's in the dream, living it out. If you haven't seen this film, let me tell you, this is scary. Seriously. Proceed at your own risk. Because it's so scary. Maybe watch it during the day. That'd probably be best. Okay, I'll stop now.

(It's scary!)

Dreamscapes - Nightmares

Nightmares, the darkest manifestations that our psyches have to offer, seem to provide a kind of perfect storm for the experience of fear, even terror. Common themes include being chased or attacked, drowning and falling. Some nightmares tend toward the apocalyptic, featuring natural disasters, warfare or fire. They have been fodder for literature, paintings and film.

One in two adults suffers from an occasional nightmare. There seems to be some debate about whether nightmares have any value for the dreamer, as far as addressing some problem in waking life. Common causes for nightmares include anxiety, trauma or some sudden change, like the death of the loved one.

But there are other causes that might lead us to take a more reductionist view of nightmares. Some medications actually cause nightmares as a side effect; withdrawal from some substances (such as alcohol) can also trigger difficult dreams. And sleep disorders and sleep deprivation can make nightmares more frequent.

So where does this leave us? Perhaps at a point where we come up against the limits of the help we can receive from the unconscious mind. One of the tricks to introspection is knowing when to come up for air. If nightmares persist, despite an effort to understand them, determine their meaning and incorporate that meaning into daily life, it may be time to see a doctor for an evaluation.

Which is not to say that their imagery can't be useful for creative endeavors. It's just about getting a decent night's sleep on a regular basis.

For myself, I will sometimes have dreams from which I wake up frightened, but they don't generally rise to the level of a nightmare. The one dream I had like that was a long time ago. I finally got the interpretation, about 20 years later. The complexity of the situation prevents me from getting into it here. Was it worth the wait? Well, it was an explanation for an event I would not have otherwise understood. That's about it, though. I've gotten a lot more information from my regular dreams, so that's where I tend to focus. It sounds strange to say, given that we're talking about dream interpretation, but it's really about applying a little common sense.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Satie

This week's lullaby is an interpretation by classical guitarist John Williams of Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1, set to water images. The music seems to have the quality of a tune drifting by on the warm air of a summer's evening, the source of which is not immediately evident. To follow it is to enter into mystery, and possibly adventure, in and among the side streets of Paris.

Dreamscapes - Animals

Three Wolves, © D. Loren Champlin

It's not surprising that many people dream of animals. Humans have co-existed with animals for millenia, as both predator and prey, so it's only natural that they would make their way into the human dreamscape.

When an animal appears in a dream, its meaning depends on the dreamer and its association with that particular animal. Pet owners often dream of their pets; there might not be much more to such a dream, unless there is some anxiety about the pet's behavior or health.

A wild animal, on the other hand, can symbolize the dreamer's latent emotions that are too powerful to be dealt with by the conscious mind. How the dreamer interacts with the beast can be revealing. Is the dreamer chased by the animal? Some aspect of the dreamer's self is threatening. Or can the dreamer subdue or control the animal? This more positive outcome may indicate a willingness to deal with whatever is rattling around in the unconscious mind.

Not long ago I dreamt I was living in the upstairs flat of a home (there's that house theme again). I had a dog, which I don't in waking life. At first, I was worried that I wasn't taking good care of the dog - when was the last time I fed it? But it seemed perfectly happy.

Then I looked outside, down into the backyard, where I saw a shocking sight: the two dogs that belonged to the downstairs neighbors were lying in the yard, dead, having been severed in two. The neighbors knew about this, but didn't seem especially concerned.

This extraordinary image occupied me for quite a while the next morning. When I considered the idea of a dog representing loyalty ("man's best friend"), it began to make more sense. I had shared some positive information with an individual just the day before, then received an unwarranted and surprisingly negative response. It occurred to me that I might be better off taking that person out of the loop. Whatever hesitation I may have had was dispelled by the dream, which seemed to indicate that my loyalty to that person (and his loyalty to me) had been severed.

I don't want to come across as petty or as someone who demands unquestioning loyalty. Obviously there was some additional history there. Still, why such an extreme image? Dreams often exaggerate to make a point, which, in this case, seemed to be that enough is enough.

The animals that make their way into our dreams are there for our consideration, whether they are playful, baring their teeth or lying dead in the yard. Like the other dream symbols, they can offer both guidance for daily living and the opportunity to delve ever deeper into the pool of the unconscious.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Christina Lux

German singer/songwriter Christina Lux provides this week's lullaby with her song, Coming Home at Last. I really like this song for its intimacy, honesty and sense of a difficult road traveled, followed by a time of rest.

Diversions for Insomniacs #9

Credit: Hubble Heritage Team/ESA/NASA

Still sleepless? Why not make use of that time? You could even contribute to science. The folks over at Galaxy Zoo need your help. They use thousands of volunteers to categorize galaxies so astronomers can better understand the cosmos.

Their web site explains: "The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is taking images of a large portion of the sky and will eventually find a million galaxies. With such a large number of galaxies, astronomers can finally begin to understand how they form and evolve by comparing various populations to each other with large enough numbers to draw real conclusions about their origin.

"But out of these million galaxies, how do we know which are spirals and which are ellipticals? The answer is simple: look at them! Indeed, until now galaxies have been classified by visual inspection of their images. And in fact, technology is of little help here. It turns out that the human brain is far better than a computer at recognising the patterns that divide ellipticals from spirals. ... There are just too many galaxies for even the most dedicated of astronomers to look at. We need thousands of people to inspect galaxy images and to classify them as spiral or elliptical."

The first phase of Galaxy Zoo is completed, but they're gearing up for phase two, where volunteers will look at images of merging galaxies. So sign up and use your stargazing abilities for the good of science.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - The Dead Texan

Here's an engaging video creation from The Dead Texan, an artistic duo that features musician Adam Wiltzie and video artist Christina Vantzos. Curious images interplay with soothing ambient tones. The song is Aegina Airlines.

Dreamscapes - House

Van Gogh, The Parsonage at Nuenen by Moonlight

When I first started recording my dreams, the first pattern that emerged was the setting of a house. I found myself in a friend's house or a stranger's house, a childhood home or a boarding house, dormitory, condo or hotel. The action varied - there were people I knew or didn't know, various activities and conflicts. But the theme was undeniable.

The most common interpretation for this dream symbol is that the house represents ourselves. Different rooms in the house are different aspects of the dreamer. The basement is the unconscious, the most hidden part of a person, where we shove things to get them out of the way, then forget about them. Cleaning out the basement in a dream could indicate a time to sort through the past and its effects on the present. The upstairs may represent the rational mind, while persistent dreams about the bathroom might indicate a need for emotional cleansing.

To dream often of a childhood home may mean that there are unresolved issues, as is the case with other homes from the dreamer's more recent past.

For a long time, my dreams took me to so many different types of houses, it was hard to get a handle on what was going on. Sometimes I would be in a place, then realize that, for some reason, I could no longer live there. Then I would remember I had another home to go to. In the final dream like this, I was actually able to recall, in the dream, my current address (although not without some difficulty). I also had one dream where I found myself in a home that I clearly understood to be my own.

I still travel to different dream houses; but it's nice when the unconscious gives us a nod that we're headed in the right direction - slowly, gradually, eventually finding our way home.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Sam Clemann

This week's lullaby is an improvisation on the Navajo native flute by Sam Clemann, accompanied by images of the Grand Canyon. He writes, "I was inspired by the story of Kokopelli leading his people, the Hopi tribe, through the Grand Canyon. It is said that the sound of his flute could be heard reverberating in all the canyons." This is a lovely, meditative piece. I especially like it for its warmth and depth of spirit.