Andrew Lark

Kevin’s good ideas for dealing with email overload

I like Kevin’s ideas. While this one is a bit over the top it seemed pretty practical.

Step 1: Create a filter that auto-responds to all unopened emails > 14 days old w/the following message:

Your email (below) is now 14 days old and has not been opened.  To minimize email buildup your email has now been placed in the archive.  Should you still require a response simply respond back and you'll automatically be added to the priority queue.  Thank you.

Step 2: Setup another filter that looks for the text "Your email (below)", this will catch the email responses back to you from those still requiring your response.  Filter these into a special folder you check and respond to daily.

My other big one is to create a CC folder and a rule that places all email you are copied on in it.

Bob Dwyer has gone mad…

This guy was one of the Rugby greats. He’s now got a serious case of All Black paranoia and is generating conspiracy theories at an alarming rate. The latest - that the All Blacks are getting the benefit of referees decision -- is ridiculous.

First, he seems to forget that there is often not a direct correlation between penalties and yellow cards. A yellow card for violence, for instance, is an offense not predicted by penalties.

Second, the data is skewed by not associating penalties with repeated warnings - one of the Australian's yellow cards was for repeated warnings. If NZ had offended next it would have been theirs.

Third, if you want to play the data game, throw in post game suspensions and correlate that to yellow cards – what you discover is that both Sth Africa and Australia were the most egregious offenders in the game and the cards were warranted.

In short, the conclusion presented is woefully short on analysis, let along statistical relevance, and coupled with a fair degree of paranoia and sensationalism.

It ignores one simple fact. Both teams were beaten by the better side.