Measuring Distraction

I knew I would write this post right after I scanned this piece of paper. And yet, what did I do? I opened an email which led me to open another link before I reminded myself that since I had scanned the format, I should write this post.

If your mobile phone and laptop suck up your time and leave you tired without any feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day, you might just want to do this exercise for a few days and measure your DISTRACTION QUOTIENT.

If you look at the sheet, you'll see 4 columns. You'll also see some symbols and words highlighted in green.

The first 2 columns are sort of 'purposeful'. Obviously, we use mobile phones and laptops for purposeful activities. So the first 2 columns give you the space to record what you consciously decide to do using these gadgets. They are marked with 'right tick' on top. You can fill these columns well in advance.

The 3rd and 4th columns are meant to record the instances of 'unintentional' or 'undetermined' use of these gadgets. The kind of thing I did (narrated right at the start of this post) before I started writing this post. You would fill these columns only after you've distracted yourself and done something which wasn't quite consciously determined in advance.

The ratio of the number of items in the first two and the number of items in the last two should give your DISTRACTION QUOTIENT. I hope you would know how to interpret that ratio :).

Goddess of English

I just came across this interesting bit. And only now.

A Dalit writer called Chandra Bhan Prasad, along with the dalit community of a village called Banka in UP, has built a temple to worship the Goddess of English!

An excerpt from a write-up on the BBC site:

About two feet tall, the bronze statue of the goddess is modelled after the Statue of Liberty.

"She is the symbol of Dalit renaissance," says Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer who came up with the idea of the Goddess of English

"She holds a pen in her right hand which shows she is literate. She is dressed well and sports a huge hat - it's a symbol of defiance that she is rejecting the old traditional dress code.

"In her left hand, she holds a book which is the constitution of India which gave Dalits equal rights. She stands on top of a computer which means we will use English to rise up the ladder and become free for ever."

Incredible!

It's a sort of socio-cultural development but I gather quite a few marketing tips from this event.

If people are stuck up about religion, seed the change in the religion itself, instead of trying to generate an anti-religious sentiment. Am sure it must have been some work convincing at least some of the dogmatic people in the community.

And if God is the greatest and if God's word is the highest command, then make God command the change.

They've also announced that they'll celebrate Oct 25 every year as English Day. Of course, if you have Ram Navmi, Shivratri, Holi and so on, why not English Day for Goddess of English.

Still early days but this should yield interesting and positive results. Great initiative.

You can go through the BBC article here.

Pic courtesy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Stand Up Desk

Haven't quite gone into the science of 'how sitting can be detrimental to health', but quite some time back started feeling that sitting for long isn't the right thing for my body. Had asked for a stand-up desk at office but you know the vagaries of uniformity. Since everyone must be treated equally, 'equal treatment' percolated in the sitting infrastructure as well.

Anyhow, I am out of that office. And one of the first things I did once out of office was get myself a Stand-up Desk made.

A senior friend, Rohit Varma, shared a link to the article titled "Confirmed: He Who Sits the Most Dies the Soonest", so I felt I should share these pics:

A slightly closer look below:

 

Doesn't mean I don't sit and work. But it does mean that I give myself the space to alternate between the two modes.

I observe that sitting facilitates paunching. Nice rotund kind of paunches.

Afghani Nuskha, Sex, Nudity & Beer

Yes, these've garnered greatest eyeballs on my blog. I'm sure all who've landed on my blog searching for these were lured by the headlines and disappointed by the content ;). An experiment of sorts, it's got good result. Let me call this the short-term dynamics and the dominance of 'baser' instincts. Rest you can infer.

Have a great Monday!

Standing while working

I've ended that experiment for now. My shoulders started paining. I realized, something's still not sorted.

I think it's the position of my neck when I try to look at the laptop screen. That doesn't seem right. I can sense that if my neck doesn't have to bend at all and the screen is right in front, my 'standing while working' experiment might bear fruit.

I tried searching for a computer system with a laptop-like keyboard but couldn't find one. I searched for a laptop with detachable screen and found that Lenovo has just launched one. But the thing is that the screen becomes a tablet once detached; I presume then that the keyboard gets inactive. What I simply want is a laptop like key-board with a screen that can be placed/hung on the wall to keep my neck straight while 'working while standing'. :)

Just before the search, I thought it could be an opportunity to launch such a product - keyboard of a laptop with a detached screen. Like always I was presumptuous at the start. I realized that such products have been talked about ever since 2005. I also found that there are some technical issues; such an arrangement adversely affects the power output and the size might get bigger!

Anyway, am waiting for this product to resume my experiment ;).

Experiment with 'standing while working'

Have so very often felt that sitting is not a great posture while working. Guess it increases the waistline and makes one soporific and dulls the senses.

Earlier once, when I was in a job, I had asked for a 'standing desk' at office. But office being office, people fail to experiment with the smallest of things.

Today after checking out a couple of furniture stores, I realized I would have to make do on my own. So here's the arrangement :).