Interesting Links for 03-06-2013

[andrewducker]

• What's coming in the energy bill: Green jobs, cleaner energy, keeping the lights on and bills down
  (tags: politics uk energy )
• What is Happenning in Istanbul?
  (tags: police violence turkey democracy )
• Hulk Want You To Hit Hulk As Hard As You Can
  (tags: hulk FightClub )
• The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
  (tags: food )
• The 5 Ugly

Comments

[woodpijn]

That attention article is interesting and looks promising, but I'm not sure it generalises much beyond cricket. I don't know much about cricket but I don't think continuity is very important to it: you bat one ball as well as you can, and then that's history and you don't have to think about anything except the next one.
Whereas tasks like programming, writing, or even board gaming are all about continuity. If you get interrupted you almost have to start again, as if you were swapping in for someone else. You have to take time to figure out "OK, that's what (I/they) did, and that's what (I/they) intend to do next." As opposed to cricket where swapping someone else in would be a good thing because they're fresher and less tired. So I don't think it generalises to those kinds of tasks.
It might work for driving, though, because continuity doesn't matter there (assuming your subconscious, satnav, or passenger knows the route). The break times are rarer than in cricket, but if you can stop and de-focus briefly at each red light then re-focus again it might help you drive more safely and for longer, I guess.

[andrewducker]

I do find that taking regular breaks helps in coding, and also in meetings, where taking a few seconds off from paying intent attention is very helpful. Knowing when to take the breaks is a challenge, of course.