As someone who now finds himself in a position of having to create, as well as consume, somewhat interesting content on a daily basis, I certainly believe that downtime is KEY to preventing total burnout.

From the New York Times’ “Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime“…

The technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.

…“Almost certainly, downtime lets the brain go over experiences it’s had, solidify them and turn them into permanent long-term memories,” said Loren Frank, assistant professor in the department of physiology at the university, where he specializes in learning and memory. He said he believed that when the brain was constantly stimulated, “you prevent this learning process.”

I can certainly see how information CONSUMPTION burnout is more subversive – and thus perhaps more dangerous – than CREATION burnout, since when you’re writing and you burnout, you know because your writing sucks or is non-existent.   The symptoms of consumption burnout manifest more along the lines of yelling at the dog for no apparent reason or just giving up and going out to dinner AGAIN because that damn whole chicken in the fridge refuses to cut itself up.

And now that I’ve established myself as the arbiter of “having it all figured out”, I’ll gladly point out that I you really shouldn’t really listen to any of my advise, because my memory has been really terrible lately.

Alison Weissinger at the DeKalb Library writes in…

The Library unveiled the three designs from our design-a-card-contest last Saturday. The winner in the adult category is a City of Decatur resident. Her name is Deborah Hunter and she works at The Phoenix School. Her design features the City of Decatur logo. The cards will be available starting September 1, they are free to first time cardholders and $1.00 for those wishing to replace their old card with one of the limited-edition designs. Everyone who visits the library in September can also enter a drawing to win a prize, including a netbook computer, two mp3 players and other items.

A bit more info HERE.  View close ups of the winning cards after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

Kimberly at Blue Elephant just wrote in with this…

A heads-up for locals still needing tickets to the Decatur Book Festival’s free keynote speech by Jonathan Franzen: seating is limited and this is a popular event, so tickets are going FAST. Blue Elephant Book Shop, Agnes Scott College, and Little Shop of Stories are all completely out of tickets. Charis Books will be out within the hour. Bound to Be Read Books reports some tickets still available, but that number will dwindle quickly.

See y’all at the Festival!

From Emory University…

Internationally known humanitarian and award-winning actor Richard Gere will join Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker for “The Creative Journey: Artists in Conversation with the Dalai Lama on Spirituality and Creativity” at Emory University on Oct. 19. The event is part of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama’s return visit to the Emory campus Oct. 17-19 in his capacity as Presidential Distinguished Professor.

The “Creative Journey” takes place Tuesday, Oct. 19 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Woodruff P.E. Center on the Emory campus. Tickets are available for purchase at dalailama.emory.edu.

According to the website, tickets range in price from $40 for general admission bleacher seating to $65, $85 and $100 for reserved seating on the main level at the Woodruff Physical Education Center (capacity: 4,000).

Here’s a direct link to tickets for the event.

Juanchella Francis sent this note out to the Decatur community this morning…

Dear Decatur Colleagues and Community Members,

It has been a joy working in the capacity of Community Relations Specialist for the last 16 years. Though a tremendous amount of work was done; many lasting friendships were developed and I will miss all of you. With that said, it is time for me to move on. I have been blessed with an opportunity to work in an area I am most passionate about and “called” to do. So, though saddened to leave my colleagues and so many others, I’m excited about the new opportunity to explore all of the dimensions this next position will offer me.

Effective Sunday, August 29, 2010, please direct all community related issues or concerns to Deputy Chief Lee. He can be contacted via email at keith.lee@decaturga.com or by telephone at 678-553-6620.

Sincerely,

Juanchella G. Francis, PhD

All the best to Dr. Francis, who has always been enormously helpful in providing us with information on crimes in the city in a very timely manner.  We should never underestimate the value of an extremely communicative Police Department.