originality; cold-fire

Friday, March 31, 2006

Continuous Partial Attention (CPA)

No matter how my GP teacher used to encourage us to read the Newsweek, I did not for once sit down for a few hours to read the magazine. However, some years after JC, I now do sit down to read the magazine... Once in a while, of course. The point is that I do read it and to some extent, I suppose I am capativated by the info. Why else would I read, if not? Anyway, I don't read a whole issue, only parts of it. I stumbled across the following article while reading the latest edition of Newsweek (Courtesy of Ma'am Tan) - (Some) Attention Must Be Paid.

The article was about a syndrome called Continuous Partial Attention (CPA). Linda Stone, a former Apple and Microsoft executive, noticed the syndrome in a group of test users. The syndrome is basically derived from our desire to be constantly connected to the rest of the world via emails, SMSes and instant messages - "a live node on the network". According to the writer, Steven Levy, "a live Black-Berry or even a switched-on mobile phone is an admission that your commitment to your current activity is as fickle as Renee Zellweger's wedding vows."

Simply put, "We're not ever in a place where we can make a commitment to anything" - Linda Stone.

I have always found it distracting or impolite for people to be constantly preoccupied with SMS-ing when they are out as a group or engaged in any form of interactions with people. Not that I am very polite myself, I do get preoccupied with SMS-ing while out too. However, if you think about it, this action says that you are not really that interested in or enjoying the company.

On this note, I once read about how some people use SMS-ing as a cover for the nervousness they are feeling at that point in time.

By the way, if you take some time off to read the whole article, you'll find the irony of the story.

---------------
Had this nice little conversation just before work ended today. I found it very funny at that time.

Caller: Hi, just to check, XXX is not in the office, right? So is the meeting still on?
Me: erm.. XXX is back in the office.
Caller: Is it?
Me: Yes, Ma'am.
Caller: Are you sure? Cuz my boss says that XXX is with him in another place.
Me: Yes, Ma'am. I am sure. He is sitting in the office right now.
Caller: Cannot be wat.
Me: Then do you want me to take a look again to confirm?
Caller: Yes, go n see.
Me: (I knew XXX was in cuz he just stepped in and spoke to me.) Yes, Ma'am. I am looking at him right now.
Caller: Hmm.. Then who is my boss with right now?

My first thought was: Kuo tio gui arh. (See ghost arh)......

The Origin. 3/31/2006 05:48:00 pm

quotes

"You know how when you were a little kid and you believed in fairy tales, that fantasy of what your life would be, white dress, prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill. You would lie in bed at night and close your eyes and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close you could taste them, but eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears. Most people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is its hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely cause almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true." - Dr. Meredith Grey from Grey's Anatomy

'How happy is the little Stone
That rambles in the Road alone,
And doesn't care about Careers
And Exigencies never fears-
Whose Coat of elemental Brown
A passing Universe put on,
And independent as the Sun
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute Decree
In casual simplicity-' - How happy is the little Stone by Emily Dickinson

'This is your last chance.
After this, there is no turning back.
You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.' - Morpheus, The Matrix

'The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Not because you'll get it, but because you're doomed not to want it if you do.' - Unknown

'There are plenty of people with good intentions who take the wrong actions in the end' - Gundam Seed Destiny

'Life is no straight and easy corridor along
which we must seek our way,
lost and confused, now and again
checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith,
a door will open for us,
not perhaps one that we ourselves
would ever have thought of,
but one that will ultimately
prove good for us.' - A.J.Cronin

"Every life has one true-love snapshot
Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know
No life is a waste.
The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone"

"A man can endure alot if he still has hope." - Clyde T. Ellis

" 'Appreciate It.' 2 simple words. A life span of gratitude." - Cinderella Man

"A boxer enters the ring alone. If knocked down, he alone could pick himself up and keep the fight going." - Cinderella Man

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Jame J. Braddock: I know this isn't what you wanted. But I can't win if you're not behind me.
Mae: I'm always behind you."

"People die in fairy tales all the time." - Max Baer, Cinderella Man

"Maybe sometimes people need to see someone do it so they can do it." - Father Rorick, Cinderella Man

"You always got ot figure you're not the best man in the world, there might be somebody better. That's the way it was. That's the way boxing is. The champion don't always stand up. There's always somebody coming up to take him. That's a part of life." - Jame J. Braddock

"If either man falls through weakness or otherwise, he must get up unassisted" - The Queensbury Rules, No. 4

"All men have fears, but the brave put down their fears and go forward, sometimes to death, but always to victory" - Motto of the King's Guard in Ancient Greece

"With each passing day in a good marriage, the love for your spouse grow stronger than the day before" - Cinderella Man

"I take responsibility" - President George W. Bush

"Sow a Thought, and you reap an Act;
Sow an Act, and you reap a Habit;
Sow a Habit, and you sow a Character;
Sow a Character, and you reap a Destiny." - Samuel Smiles

"Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt - Shakespeare in Measure of Measure

"What does your heart tell you?" - Aragorn, LOTR

"To an outstretched hand we shall respond with an olive branch, but we shall fight fire with the harshest fire ever." - Israeli PM Ariel Sharon

"To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human. " - The Matrix

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth, always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath." - Balian of Ibelin, Kingdom of Heaven

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." - Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird

"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are... it is our choices." - Dumbledore, Harry Potter

"Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends." - Gandalf, LOTR

"Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten." - Lilo & Stitch

"Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it." - Malcolm Wallace, Braveheart

"Every man dies, not every man really lives." - William Wallace, Braveheart

credits.
rebelHEART host blogskins Miss M brushes