the 'net

Two sites which I've periodically enjoyed are Will it Blend? and Watch it Shred. The shredding one, in particular, is of interest, as the company, SSI, manufactures, tests (and films) their products right next door to where I work in Wilsonville.

A recent Shred of the Month (July 2007) is actually a repeat, but I'd not watched it before. It's pretty amazing the power and force these big machines can produce to shred some really big items.

Even if you're not a fan of Flickr, I bet you could get slightly addicted to watching Flickrvision. As new images are added to Flickr, Flickrvision pops them up onto a world map. You get a glimpse into what people are posting pictures of around the world, in pretty much real-time.

I was originally going to write to parents in this post, but really the Consumer Product Safety Commission is about a lot more than that. Sure, they do recall more children's products that any other, but that is because we need to be able to trust our kids with products as they're not as adept with dealing with unforseen circumstances around product failure.

The CPSC has a few different subscription options to keep us all informed. I originally started with email alerts years ago before I got all hopped up on XML/RSS and feed aggregators. If you don't already subscribe to a CPSC feed, give it a try. We've been affected by more than one recall in the last year, and have passed info on to friends who have been affected.

For those who want to work on the compy while they listen to other programs, the CPSC has a podcast/MP3 audio program published weekly. There seems to be more information in those than just the recalls feed. And there's a printed transcript of the same. For just the basic recall info, then their recall announcements feed is perfect.

I certainly appreciate the information the CPSC provides in their feeds, and I hope you will too, if you don't already.

The subject of fasting has come up at our meeting more than once, and as recently as January 21st (text and audio). I've been thinking some on various things to fast from since then. While I acted on nothing at first (and nothing appeared to act upon me), I have found as the weeks go by that I am slowly, almost unconsciously, moving towards removing some old bad habits and starting new, better ones. (Does replacing count as fasting? Hmmm... I think it's a step in the right direction at least.)

With my chosen career path, the internet, email and computers are a pretty integrated part of my life. And the same with many friends and family around me. I check email and blogs of friends and aquiantances before 6am most days. I love to see the new article count for RSS feeds go up, meaning there's more good stuff to read from Gregg, Aj, Jason, Robin, Liz, Andy, Sherry... Folks under Places to Visit and more. If you're up on the 'net stuff, there's been plenty of articles to read about how the thirtysomethings and younger are addicted to email, blogs, surfing, etc. The Wall Street Journal ran an article from Jennifer Saranow yesterday (Valentine's Day) about email junkies. AOL has a copy of it available to read titled Deleting the Habit: How Email Junkies Do in Withdrawal.

I don't think email is "like cocaine" for me, but I do hear that voice in my head wondering if there's a note waiting for me. Or if a blog post or comment has been (re-)commented on. It is a bit like getting hooked on a drug. Neural pathways like being reused. It's a comfort, regardless of whether the action itself is good, bad or evil.

Going cold-turkey is too drastic for me. I don't think it's the answer, and it certainly would not be sustainable. But a day of rest? A day away from click of the mouse, the sound of hard drives and fans with the high-pitch of a battery backup in the background? I think that's doable. And I think it will be a good thing. I imagine I'll have a good deal of time to take care of things left undone (sometimes called permanent delay), spend time with family, and time to spend in silence.