The car that drives you there...not quite a jetpack, but close

Somehow in the press of meeting deadlines on the 25th, this story escaped me:

California Legalizes Self-Driving Cars

Presumably, the real complications are yet to come. As noted in the linked story, insurance companies will need to use models to price the risks of automation (pun unavoidable). Surprisingly, the data show that driving ourselves is more likely to cost the insurer a mint than letting the car make the judgment calls. Raising the specter of a future in which driving your own car is a luxury that many of us can't afford. Because humans are just too unpredictable to be trusted with the awesome responsibility of steering, changing lanes and using turn signals.

Even E.B. White Felt Overwhelmed by His Inbox

The beloved author of <i>Charlotte's Web</i> suffered from inbox overload too.

Even E.B. White Felt Overwhelmed by His Inbox - The Atlantic

The best argument for using email management techniques? That email itself is not the problem.

These techniques that are policy at SJN Sales:

• Check email at scheduled times of day
• Reply immediately only to urgent items
• Sort incoming items into urgent, important and neither
• Emphasize transparency about the above with ALL clients, setting the expectation accurately for what you're going to deliver

 Does time management, which is really all we're doing with these techniques, solve all problems related to email? Of course not--there's volume and tone to contend with, too. This excellent little book can be digested into a set of policies, and the reasoning behind them, in about 2 hours. You won't regret the time it takes to grab the reins and stop email from running away with your business.

Science speaks: Googling yourself is normal

In the current issue of Archaeology mag, a report on how people in the past spent their time with media. Using the density of grime on the pages of surviving books, we learn that medieval Dutch readers indulged a similar impulse:

In one manuscript that had been enhanced with custom illuminations, the owner primarily looked at pictures—in particular one that depicted the owner himself.

 They all spent quite a bit of their prayer-book time asking for protection from disease or the consequences of sin.

While technology has come a long way, it would be interesting to compare those findings with the most common themes of status updates...