I know most of you are thrilled that it’s Friday. For me, every Friday, while always welcome, is always a bit of a shock – ‘Another week is gone? Where’d it go?’
I’m sure I’m not alone in not having enough hours in the day. So, I ask you, dear readers:
What’s your super awesome, never-fail time saving device?
I just don’t do anything.
The Wayback Machine.
A bottle.
— Jim Croce
Being married, dinner cooks itself and my socks magically find their way off the floor and back to my dresser.
Ha, just kidding, I do most of the cooking and any socks on the floor magically find there way to garbage.
Closing my email reader and browser and only bringing them up once every hour or two.
Doing a little grocery shopping on the way home from work most days. Less to haul on the bike per trip, and I can always use the self-scan lines.
thier way to the garbage, not there, right.
@Joshua: Hey, that’s my technique! Damn thief.
I call it studying. Time goes extremely slowly when you’re neck deep in physics problems :(
Headphone, ipod, shuffle songs, coffee. Go!
Perhaps the secret is to use gravitational time dilation to your advantage? It’s been shown that a clock on Earth runs slower than it would in Earth orbit. I believe that it’s related to the clock’s proximity to Earth’s center of mass, but then I’m not physicist, so I might have it wrong.
Sure, the difference is measured in nanoseconds… but as they say, “Time is money”. “They” never specify what the time to money exchange rate actually is. So, the point I’m trying to make is that the most effective way to save time is to dig a hole to the center of the Earth. :)
I believe that it’s related to the clock’s proximity to Earth’s center of mass
Sort of. The earth rotates once per day. The closer you are to the hub, the less distance you have to travel over the same period of time. Therefore, the higher your altitude, the faster you are traveling through space. According to relativity, the faster you travel, the slower time moves.
meth, you can work forever.
Except that the CLOSER you are to the center of gravity, the slower time goes. It’s separate from the speed of light-based time dilation.
Oh man. I’m always fretting about the time I’m losing. That’s why I bought this poster. It’s supposed to remind me to think about what I’m doing instead of how much time I have.
Thinking about how much time you have is the best way to waste it. (Unless of course you’re thinking about how long you have to wait for something good.)
driving cars instead of walking or horse driven carriage.
Staying the hell off the internet and away from skepchick.org. You guys are the succubi of my time.
On a totally unrelated note, while looking up the plural for succubus I found a magic amulet on ebay advertised as: HAUNTED FEMALE TWIN SUCCUBI SUCUBUS GIRLFRIEND ESCORT I’m not exactly sure what that means but I’ll take 10!
@tarrkid: Yeah. I remember reading that if person A were watching person B enter a black hole person A would never see the guy reach the event horizon. The reason being because the time dilation makes it appear that person B is moving slower and slower the closer he gets to the center of gravity.
Prioritize, excise, and euthanize.
Well, Friday seems to take forever…Does that count? ;-)
Mindmapping.
Concept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map
Software: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
@Gabrielbrawley: And you don’t have to brush your teeth!
I was flying to Ireland with a connecting flight in Philly. Plane delayed in Chicago, missed connecting flight in Philly… and it was the last flight out that night.
They forced me to check my carry-on and homeland security wouldn’t let me uncheck it because it was an international flight.
We were stuck there for 22 hours.
You want time slow down? Exchange vacation days in Ireland for vacation days in Philadelphia… and relinquish your underwear and toothbrush for the security of the country.
The internet.
Wait, you said time SAVING, nevermind.
@skepticalhippie:
Be careful around haunted girlfriend escorts. They’re only going to break your heart. Next thing you know, you’re looking at all your old pictures and you’ll see her, an orb, totally making out with her guy “just a friend” orb right over your head everywhere you went.
Stopping at stores I need to shop at as I pass them rather than making a separate trip. Not drinking until I finish the things I need to do (especially when working on the car).
@QuestionAuthority: Only before quitting time.
@PrimevilKneivel: Teeth? We don’t have no stinking teeth. We don’t need no stinking teeth!
Don’t have kids.
But more seriously (maybe), make a to do list. Then cross out everything except the 2 most important things and make sure you get those done today.
Oh, and never, ever fold underwear.
Mastrubation.
Take that as you like.
I know I do.
@Some Canadian Skeptic: I can only assume that you misspelled that because you typed it with one hand :)
@Elyse:
At least you had some company. Last summer I was stuck at DFW airport for twelve hours all by my lonesome with nothing to keep me company but my ipod and CNN Headline news.
The worst part is DFW is just twenty minutes from my house so I could have gone home but they were absolutely certain five times that I was going to be able to get on the next flight.
@Elyse: Comedian Anthony Clarke had a great bit about his rural hometown: “If you find out that you’ve only got one day left to live, move there, because every day feels like a fucking eternity.”
And to the question: I have absolutely no good time-saving tips that I can recall off-hand. I am a disorganized MESS.
Oh, ok, this: sometimes I have to spend mornings working on Skepchick stuff, so instead of going to the gym, I ride my bike to work, which is faster than the T. Downside: it is really fucking cold out there.
@Masala Skeptic: Multitasking ??
@Rebecca “Downside: it is really fucking cold out there.”
Tell me about it. It was 10 in Colorado this morning and that ain’t celsius. A nice layer of ice over everything added to the wonderfulness.
@Augustus: Once I slept on the DFW airport floor for 6 hours. I had just gotten off the plane from Tokyo and my connection was delayed due to thunderstorms. I was so tired I dropped my carryon on the floor next to the boarding gate and slept for 6 straight hours.
@davew: I know what you mean its 46 f outside. I’m freezing to death.
@Masala Skeptic:
I don’t NEED to type with my hands anymore.
I live a lonely, depressing, talented life.
Put everything off until the last possible minute. The added pressure means that you work faster, and things take less time than they would have if you had been responsible.
Hiro Nakamura
@Gabrielbrawley: After watching for the fourth time the CNN anchors squeal in glee at things exploding during a fireworks display designed to show the dangers of fireworks my brain decided maybe it was just best to shut down and I slept for a couple of hours. I gotta admit, those chairs aren’t half bad.
@Gabrielbrawley: “I know what you mean its 46 f outside. I’m freezing to death.”
Nice. So how about we pick up this thread again in August? :-)
Do everything half-assed.
When working with a group, I tend to work as slow as possible. I figure, the slower I work, the less work I have to do.
I’m not invited to many group-projects.
@davew: That’s why when I had the chance to move from Buffalo to Phoenix I was off like a shot. It wasn’t generally as cold as the mid-west or The Rockies, but when everything is encrusted in mineral deposits the situation becomes extremely arduous.
@Kimbo Jones: That’s how most things seem to be done these days. You can also buy time that way.
@augustus: Sounds like you were nonrevving. Do you work for an airline?
I call my mother while sitting on the toilet. Saves five minutes per week.
I spent an eternity at O’Hare trying to get to get my family to Tampa to see my parents. It took us over 24 hours of waiting before we got the last four seats at midnight, scattered all over an A319. Have I ever told you how much I hate the center seat in the last row of an A319?
My knees still hurt.
What’s your super awesome, never-fail time saving device?
My fusion powered accu-jack. Hey, Im a single, desperate science geek. Whaddya want?
@QuestionAuthority:
No, I just missed my flight because of my horrid time management skills (which is why despite posting to this thread for now a third time I have yet to answer the AI question) and had to wait standby until a seat opened up.
@Knurl: That is, if you even do anything at all. :)
@Elyse: re: moving back to one’s hometown – I can attest to the accuracy of that sentiment. I’ve been in that situation the past fucking year.
My favorite time-saving (i.e. time-wasting) activity is to sing songs in the style of another singer.
For example, sing everything you know as Bob Dylan. Or Michael McDonald. Or Leonard Cohen. Or, even better, sing something in the style of an artist who would never sing the song.
My favorite is singing Nine Inch Nails songs (especially “Heresy” and “Closer”) as Neil Diamond and calling it, “Nine Inch Neil.”
Time is always infinitely relative when you’re doing stupid shit.
@Oakes:
Oh no. I thought I was the only one who did that. Somehow knowing I’m not alone makes it… Scarier…
Bob Dylan voice… Random Cockney Punk Rocker voice… Elvis… Pavoratti…
Pivot Tables. No foolin’.
What’s a time saving device? ’cause I need one!
JBS