I just finished reading CrazyBusy by Edward Hallowell, MD (2006). It hit many “AH-HA” buttons for me. I won’t presume to summarize, but I can tell you what I took away from it. We have never been more connected (to everyone and everything) in the history of the world. YET, even so – those very connections have created a disconnect – an isolationist, autonomous yet BUSY type of existence. We have succeeded in removing/shielding ourselves from the things that make us human and people-connected. Hallowell calls it social disconnectedness.

The CrazyBusy part, as I understand it, is due to the constant bombardment of garbage-in from these myriad connections (live and tech) which in turn become time/attention depleters. He gives many reasons we allow this to happen, but the end result is we lose our ability to function at maximum – or find “rhythm”. He purports there is a similarity to ADD (of which he is qualified to diagnose and has treated) and dispenses advice and exercises to increase attention span. Our goal should be to achieve what he terms “C-State” or what is elsewhere known as “Flow” – the state at which we operate/think at maximum.

This is important. Immediacy and reaction and short term thinking vs the big picture, outside the box – maximum thought. Just because we can act doesn’t mean we should. (Isn’t that from Jurassic Park?) I enjoyed the book. If you don’t hear from me soon, it’s because I am not answering my emails the second they come in and have achieved “Flow”………

In the June 6, 2010 issue of PARADE, I found an article very interesting.  Recently, a man and his three kids  attended a Microsoft gaming meet up, and they were able to demo the latest, soon-to-be-released device called “Project Natal”.  It features a high-tech sensor that sits next to your TV and tracks your every move.  When you jump, your avatar on screen jumps.  When you wiggle your rear end, well.. you get the picture.  This will be a new addition to the Xbox 360, expected to be released sometime this holiday season.  According to those in the “geek crowd”, this could be the next most important development next to the joy stick!!!  They will be partnering with Netflix to allow you to wave your hand and select a movie.  Future hopes for the application will allow for online shopping and more! 
 
WOWSER!!  Track my every move?  If I clap, my avatar claps?  Sounds pretty cool, and I know my sons would love something so interactive… but here are my questions:

1. If I teach my avatar to fold laundry, load or unload the dishwasher????- could it happen?  (I wish!)

I am truly amazed at how far technology has come.  To think that my first cell phone was the size of a briefcase, had a cord and big antenna.  Now they are small enough to hide in a pocket.  Do you ever wonder what technology will offer in 10 years from now?  20 years from now?  Will it ever be like the Jetson’s?

Will be interesting!!

We have all been guilty of hitting the Send button in our Emails and then saying “OH DARN”. You KNOW what I am talking about, or is it just me?

…Responding to an email too quickly…

…Hitting the “Reply All” button when the message was for only one of the recipients…

Hopefully you were not talking bad about anyone!!!

Or what about when the autofill pops a name in the “To” line and then you realize you just emailed the wrong person?     OMG!

I guess the moral of this story is to check every line in our email before we hit that “Send” button as it can save us a lot of embarrassment and make sure the email is intended for the person or persons we mean to send it to…
 

I wish we had a “Retract” button that actually worked, invisibly snatching back an email.

 Now that would be genius!!!!  Microsoft, can you do better please?

As I sit here I am wondering…Are you serious?!?  Is this for real?!?!  Just when I thought the Dow Jones was heading in the right direction, consumer confidence was getting better, the unemployment rate was dropping, homes are selling, companies are hiring (this is a big one!), we as a country get news that our allies overseas are in economic trouble.

And what happens?!?!

 The market has one of the biggest one day drops in history.  Sell Sell Sell!  “OH MY GOSH THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END” think many investors.  We are spending BILLIONS of dollars to fix the US and these countries, in my opinion, are looking at us to bail them out too.  Can you say “MORE billions”?!?  We had to change the way we are structuring this economy and our allies overseas need to do the same. 

Soon I hope we, as a planet, can get ourselves back to where we were just a few short years ago.  But I know these things take time and that Rome was not built in a day.  I anxiously await.

Everyone hates receiving “those” emails. The emails that pull at your heart strings and put you on guard, for example: the emails about missing or very ill children, and the robbers in parking lots with ether-filled perfume bottles.  Cell phone users that must register their numbers with the national “Do Not Call” directory or their number is going to be released to telemarketers. Or get completely wound up that you may have a virus that will wipe your hard drive and melt the motherboard if you open the email. Forwarding “those” emails to family, friends, and co-workers just to find out it is Fiction, a Hoax, that you were Duped. Then there are “those” emails that provide half truths and include links to sites where they can check it out themselves, but the link doesn’t actually apply to the email being sent like the virus warning emails: Postcards, Invitation/Olympic Torch, Life is Beautiful, etc…

Of course there are the emails that are Fact, the Truth, and you would be Helping Out if you forwarded to your friends, family or co-workers. Like the newest email about Spokeo (Similar online services: pipl, ZoomInfo, ZabaSearch, Radaris, and Intelius. Spokeo compiles aggregates of information pertaining to individual names, email addresses, and phone numbers from public online sources such as phone books, real estate listings, and government records, plus profile entries from sites like Facebook, MySpace, Amazon.com, LinkedIn, Flickr, and multiple other sources.), or the UPS/FedEx/DHL Delivery Failure virus emails. But 9 times out of 10 it’s going to be one of “those” emails.

I am an IT specialist and part of my job is to check out “those” emails when a co-worker receives them so that I can alert everyone as to the validity of  the email, and whether or not  any action needs to be taken or the email just needs to be deleted. Nevertheless, when I have received “those” emails in my personal account I respond to the recipient with the facts and if it’s one I haven’t seen before, I check it out, and reply to the person letting them know if it is fact or fiction. In hopes that they will not spread the fiction and get anyone unnecessarily worked up about something that has most likely never happened or will ever happen.

There are SO many of our family, friends, co-workers that forward these emails on to everyone in their contacts or just to people they want to help protect because they would rather be safe then sorry. To what end! I recommend YOU debunk the latest urban legend or virus hoax by checking them out your self. It only takes a minute of your time, and not only will you be more informed, you will not spread the fiction and know the facts. Here are a couple of sites I use:

1.  Google- It’s easy, and you’re already online. Just type in the key words from the subject line of “those” emails. And viola Google will be provided with several sites that will prove or disprove the validity of the email. (I picked Google, but you can use your favorite search engine to investigate.)
2. Snopes- Their information is update and accurate. On occasion when proven wrong Snopes updates their site to reflect their findings. It’s become a little commercialized, but one of the more complete urban legend and virus hoax site.
3. TruthOrFiction.com- A different format than Snopes, but I really like it. Great up-to-date information on eRumors, viruses, and Internet hoaxes. And their “Here are the top 20 stories on TruthorFiction.com this hour:” can be entertaining reading.
4. About: Urban Legends- This about.com subsite is hosted by David Emery. He is ardent about finding and debunking rumors, myths, pranks and odd stories.  I like his format as it reads more like a newspaper.
5.  BreakTheChain.org- This site tries to educate you that e-mail is an unreliable medium for sharing information and the first step to reducing the amount of junk is to stop sending it yourself. This site if frequently cited by media sources when looking for authoritative resource on chain mails.
6. Sophos – This anti-virus company keeps a small list of hoaxes and urban legends.  Their focus is more on virus hoaxes.
7. Symantec- Their hoax list is pretty good but seems a little dated.  Maybe that’s because most hoaxes today are really recycled from earlier hoaxes. However it’s a great comprehensive site to check out the latest Threats, Risks, and Vulnerabilities.

I hope you have gotten something out of this and these are just few of the sites I use. I am very interested to know about your favorite urban legend, virus hoax sites.  Comment on this post, to share with me and our readers. AND hopefully I have helped a few people who were waiting for Bill Gates (or anyone else for that matter) to send them money, merchandise, or a free trip and they will stop forwarding “those” emails.