productivity blogs

I have been reading productivity blogs for some time. They provide nifty extensions to tweak my browser, awesome keyboard shortcuts, new and varied websites to visit (as I do the opposite of become more productive), or just some interesting ways to geek-out, which I happen to think is fun. Generally speaking, then, the things I like from these blogs have nothing to do with making me a more productive person at work (or anywhere else).

Reading some of the threads in these blogs often makes me feel tired imagining their authors wrestling every shred of possible work time from their days in their never satisfied attempts to get more things done.

One notable exception appeared in the form of a link to a New York Times article on how multitasking makes us less efficient. Trying to do more than one thing at a time slows down our performance, or worse reduces our level of accuracy. Apparently, these effects occur in young people as well; all that extra stimulation from video games and the constant juggling of new fangled digital devices hasn't helped us divide our brain power to multiple tasks more effectively. The take home message: do less to do more.

something funny I saw today

I walk past a church on my way to and from the train station every day. (Also, a funeral home and a fire station - a good day equals one when neither are busy.) One corner of the building at some point during this week was wrapped in fire retardant material, presumably in preparation for some renovations being done on the church. Today I saw a plain piece of white printer paper on the sidewalk in front of the church that read "PREPARE TO BURN", most likely written with a typical Bic ballpoint pen in nearly perfect capital letters.

So, who wrote the sign?

A member of the construction crew, who needed to inform the rest of the crew what area of the building to wrap in fire retardant material?
An arsonist who targets churches and announces his intent (also signaling the crew to provide flame retardant wrapping)?
An evangelical that believes we are all going to burn in hell, but who also wants us to have sufficient warning so that we can be ready for it?