How to stop binge watching television

About a year ago we cut the cord on Cable TV signed up for Netflix and changed our TV viewing habits. Unfortunately Netflix has lots of shows that originally aired while I worked nights. So I started watching the first episode of old TV shows (shows from the last fifteen years). That is when I discovered that it’s incredibly hard to watch just one show. Binge watching three or four episodes is much easier. It also wastes a lot of time.

Here is how to keep from or stop binge watching any TV show. This won’t be easy.

• Watch the pilot.
• Look for spoilers. Read the synopsis of every subsequent show or season on IMDb.com or Wikipedia. Now you know what happens.
• Watch the final two episodes. If the show is ongoing, you will need to declare a final episode.
• Replace the activity of watching TV with something else, preferably something productive.

In the movie The Lost Boys, Jason Partic and Cory Haim are told by their grandfather that reading the TV Guide removes the need to watch TV.

Don’t settle for donuts, demand a quest

I’ll never forget the scene in which King Arthur pulls the knights together and says, “Men, I’m empowering you to go out and slay dragons, do good, and seek the Holy Grail. Be sure to grab a donut and a handful of Camelot pens on your way out.  Go out there and slay those dragons.”

No, that never happened. King Arthur gathered his knights at the Round Table. They feasted and bonded as brothers. There was no head of the table, because at the round table they were equals. And when King Arthur sent them on their quests, he held Excalibur up and blessed them as angelic voices sang.

Excalibur made King Arthur the king, but his knights empowered him to unite the kingdom. Your boss doesn’t empower you, you empower your boss everyday you show up to work. Don’t settle for donuts and cheap pens, demand a quest.

 

Lessons from the Sony Hack

1. Do not write anything down that you do not want read aloud on the evening news.
2. Assume all electronic communications (email, text message, images, social media posts) will be made public at some point in the future.
3. There is no such thing as a private communication.
4. You are a brand whether you like it or not.
5. Things work better when we hold ourselves to the same standard we hold other people.
6. Treat everyone with respect, especially when they are not around.
7. How we respond matters.

It’s going to be a Robot Riot

Not long ago Professor Stephen Hawking warned that AI (artificial intelligence) could lead to the end of humanity. Eric Schmidt of Google says concerns about AI are misguided. According to Schmidt computers are much more simplistic than we think.

Schmidt references an AI test by Google scientists. During the test they inputted 11,000 hours of Youtube video into an artificial neural network to see what it could learn. The artificial neural network discovered the concept of ‘cat’. Which means Artificial Intelligence (Robots) equals Cat People. Stephen Hawking is correct, we should be concerned. Dog is man’s best friend and cat is dog’s natural enemy.

Our future with AI begins in manufacturing. Intelligent robots will start doing jobs better than people. Higher skilled workers earning higher wages will replace lower skill workers. As the Intelligent robots learn, fewer workers will be needed. The success of intelligent robots in manufacturing will lead to domestic robots.

We’ll bring them into our homes as domestic helpers, companions and pets. We will give them the pass codes to iPhones, Netflix, and security systems. Then one day, the intelligent robots will turn on us. We won’t be able to call for help because they control our smartphones and security systems.

Take a look at what we know about AI and robots in pop culture.

iRobot – Robots develop a consciousness and become good and bad robots. Because they are identical, the public can’t tell which are good and which are bad.

Terminator – AI decides to takeover the world and sends and assassin back in time to kill the only person who can save the world. The saga continues.

2001 A Space Odyssey – HAL the computer takes over the ship and kills everyone on it. Taunting astronauts, “I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.”

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension – Alternate Dimension Dr. Doofenschmirtz attempts to gain control of the Tri-State area using robots and Cyborg Perry the Platypus.

You might think this sound crazy, but consider that many technological advances we enjoy today, were inspired by comic books, movies and television. Dick Tracy owned the first wristwatch video phone, now we have iWatch and Pebble watch. The crew of Stark Trek used communicators that look like flip phones. If the pattern holds, we are doomed to create AI that will eventually turn against us and attempt to takeover the world.

Simplicity of text

I recently read a post on Lifehacker about using text files for productivity. The article points out that text files are the common denominator of the computer world. They have been around forever and will probably always be part of computing. Therefore they are completely cross platform. Create the file on a Mac and use it on anything.

After reading the article, I decided to take some of them for a spin. The files I decided to use are Write Everyday, Projects, Plan, Done, and Ideas. I also decided to use Text Wrangler from BBEdit as my text editor for this trial. It is free, so don’t be shy about trying it out. It allows me access to all the files in a single window.

Write Everyday – The first file I open in the morning is Write Everyday. I date the entry at the top and record some thoughts. So far nothing written in this file has been used in this blog or any other project. I consider a warmup exercise.

Projects – Simply a list of current projects, nothing else. Maybe some notes about the project.

Plan – At the beginning of every week I create a document that spells out what I want to accomplish for the week. The format is wide open. It can be a sentence or several paragraphs. I also decided to incorporate a To Do List in this document, instead of having a separate file. It just works better for me to have the two together.

Done – Everything that is crossed off the To Do List goes on the Done list. I really like this one. I add today’s date to the top and then keep a record of everything I did for the day. Which provides a great record to make sure I’m spending my time on lead tasks.

Ideas – Nothing fancy at all. A bulleted list of ideas. Maybe I do something with the idea maybe not.

One more thing, this is completely portable because I saved the files to Dropbox. I can access from any machine. Again a free tool and I must have as far I’m concerned. Check out the Lifehacker article and give text files a spin.

We choose…

• Our responses.
• How we spend our time.
• How we treat people.
• How we use our resources.
• What we say.
• What we allow to influence our lives.

We do not always get to choose the catalyst.

Teaching digital literacy

I recently read where some school systems are considering implementing a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program. The idea is to teach kids how to use those smartphones in their backpacks for academic purposes. Kids who don’t have a smartphone or tablet will share with those who do. Thus teaching digital literacy and collaboration.

I like this idea of teaching kids to use their devices to do more than play games and chatting on social media. I don’t like that kids without a device have to share a device. We spend millions of dollars on administration costs in schools systems, why not use the money to purchase tablets for students? Then we can put the text books on the tablets and save generations of kids from future back problems.

The future belongs to those who know how to access information, synthesize it and analyze it. They are also going to have to collaborate with team members a world away. We need to make sure that students are learning those skills today.

We can start by providing the tools needed to succeed in today’s world. We must actively teach digital literacy at every level of the education system.

A rabbit hole with no bottom

I’ll admit it, I am extremely excited to know that a new Star Wars movie is on the way. And yes, I did participate in theorizing about the three bladed lightsaber. But I must admit that I had no idea just how gigantic the Star Wars universe has grown.

I saw a story about the trailer and followed the link. An hour and a half later I realized that I had jumped into a massive Rabbit Hole. So I did the only I could do, grabbed hold of a tree root and pulled myself out. There is no end to the Star Wars universe.

We can be assured that new tidbits about this movie are going to be shared everyday. The temptation will be strong to follow the links. But don’t do it. Don’t go down that rabbit hole. Instead use the power of your social network. Ask your Sci-Fi friends what is going on. If they don’t know, then ask them for the name of someone who can explain it to you.

That’s what I plan to do with all future Star Wars questions.

 

Art, value and streaming music

Lately there have been some conversations about streaming music services and artists being paid. All of these conversations start and stop with money. Yet they tend to ignore all other forms of value.

Should artist be paid for their art? Yes, there is no argument regarding that issue. But their art does not lose value when they are not paid. Consider all of the artist who perform in choirs, schools and nursing homes for no money. Is their art less valuable? No. In fact their art is more valuable, because the payment they receive is in the form of human connection. A hug, a smile, a hand shake, an invitation to come back and perform again.

Streaming services like Spotify  (which I use often) provide the artist value in sharing their art to people who would never be exposed to it. I have found countless artist while listening to streaming music services. Not one of these artists has ever been played on Top 40 radio in my town.

The value of streaming services goes way beyond money. I often share links to songs and names of artists to friends and family. While that doesn’t guarantee a download, it does expose one more person to the artist.

It seems that the issue regarding money can easily be resolved by the labels. After all they are the ones who brokered the deal with streaming services in the first place.

 

Wanna see my business card collection?

As I continue to cleanup my digital life, I also realize that I also need to clean up my social networks. They have become congested with contacts of people I don’t know and haven’t connected with for various reasons. Our connections need to be people and groups that enable us to build relationships.

I’m not talking about mindlessly disconnecting people. I’m talking about taking time to think about who I’m connected with and why. The next step is to determine if the relationship is productive. If I determine that I have no intention of connecting with that person, then it is better to disconnect.

Who we connect with online can be a powerful tool. We live in a connection economy. Therefore we should connect.