Go online for mass hysteria and procrastination

By Keith Darnay

It's the first of March, and a few minutes on the Internet would tell you it's a day historically marked by task aversion and hysteria.

On March 1, 1692, in Salem Village, Mass., a West Indian slave named Tituba broke down under intense questioning and admitted she was a witch. This forced confession helped fuel a hysteria that, in June, led to the famous Salem Witchcraft trials and the ultimate executions and deaths of 24 people, including a child.

Over the years, researchers and psychologists have tried to understand why the people in and around Salem Village went temporarily crazy for most of the year. Causes suggested have included mass hysteria, mob mentality, supernatural fear, strict social divisions, stresses and pressures of 17th century life.

Not long ago, one researcher found evidence that "ergot poisoning" may have helped trigger the hysteria. It's a bacteria found in contaminated flour that produces hallucinations and a number of other physical ailments.

If you want to learn more about the Salem hysteria and the witch trials, try these links:

The Salem Witch Trials, 1692
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/salem.htm

Salem Witch Trials
http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml

Salem Witchcraft Trial 1692
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm

The Causes of The Salem Witch Trials
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/salemwitchcraft.html

Salem Witch Museum
http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com

Salem Witchcraft Papers
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/

Witchcraft Accusations
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/bcr/salem/salem.html
Well done interactive map, timeline, images, documents and more related to the accusations of witchcraft and interrogations of the accused.

Salem Witch Trials
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
Excellent resource for documents, records and more relating to the witch hysteria, trials and personal observations by eyewitnesses at the time.

March 1 also marks the start of National Procrastination Week, a time to put off until tomorrow what you could do today. After all, anything worth doing would have already been done by someone else.

Sponsored by the Procrastinators Club of America, it's a time to carefully not consider efficiency and productivity and simply wallow in the joy and freedom of deeferring action on projects and deadlines.

The club used to have a Web site, but Yahoo not long ago shut down the free GeoCities service that hosted the club's online home. To date, the group hasn't gotten around to getting back online with a different Web host.

There are, however, several other online resources for procrastinators at heart. Check them out -- at your leisure or never if it's too much of an effort this week:

Procrastination Central
http://webapps2.ucalgary.ca/~steel/Procrastinus/funsites.php
Home to a lot of links and information about putting it all off until later.

Procrastinate For Better Results
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/management/seven-ways-to-procrastinate-for-better-results.html
Postponing things can actually be productive. Here are seven ways in which this works.

Facebook: Procrastinators Club
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37724013253
A social gathering of people who procrastinate -- and love it.

Procrastinators.org
http://procrastinators.org
The site slogan: "Productivity Is Overrated." A running blog of sorts highlighting information, tidbits and research that seem to suppoort the benefits of putting things off.

Procrastination Test
http://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/2118
Are you a procrastinator? take this test and find out. Then again, if you're a procrastinator, you'll know the answer right away because you'll put off taking the test.

(Keith Darnay has worked in the online world for more than a decade, the traditional media world for a few decades more and manages the online department and Web site for the University of Mary. His own site, featuring this column going back to 1995, is at www.darnay.com.)