Why can't we pay attention?

Here's a great Harvard study on inattentional blindness, the phenomenon where we don't notice objects because we're too intent on something else. I'm really relieved to know there's a name for it; I must be the reigning queen. I can't tell you how many times somebody's told me they blew their horn, waved at me, or tried to get my attention some other way and I never even noticed.

There's a video that gives a good illustration of the point. Read the directions below, then click on the green arrow to start the video. http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html
Several people emailed me a similar video that was perhaps less obvious and more fun, but I must have been to happy with the delete button this week.

Directions for video:
You will see 2 teams playing basketball. Count the number of times the white team passes the ball. Then click this button and answer the question.

Big Apology

The other day I updated my email client. I use Thunderbird -- if you aren't familiar with it, it works a lot like Outlook. Only to me it has more options.

Anyway, Thunderbird is supposed to do an automatic update, and apparently it did. Usually my Times News account downloads one or 5 or 6 letters. 10 if I'm lucky. Sometimes I don't even get one.

This time it went nearly to 2,000.

I had emails from early October. I had e-cards for the holidays. I had a request for piano lessons that I never answered, and an email from a former student asking whether I thought she should major in violin at college.

And, of course, I had reader emails. They responded to nearly every column I've written over the past 7 months.

So I owe everyone a big apology. We all know technology can fail, and stuff happens, but it is really sad when it does!

Gas Prices: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Whew. Looks like the motorcyclists get a break for awhile; this week's Times News column is about gas prices, and consumers' reactions to them.

For example, this Nielsen study shows that we're tightening our budgets in response to higher gas prices. And Fox News said that many travelers changed their Memorial Day plans because of the costs.

Many motorcyclists wrote over the past month to tell me what great gas mileage their bikes get. It's sounding better and better, isn't it?

Be careful out there!