This article is a classic, Eric.

"If you guys are anything like the readers of Slate.com, 38% of you are already gone."

Actually, I did manage to finish that article:

http://pandawhale.com/post/21232/why-you-wont-finish-this-article

i love the phrase "meditation is weight-lifting for your attention span."

Me too. Thank you for calling that to my attention -- I forgot it the first two times I read this article!

Clearly I need to work on REtention. :)

Want to ensure you can focus? 

Give whatever is most important your prime hours, when you have the most energy.

Read more: http://theweek.com/article/index/258925/5-ways-to-increase-your-attention-span

Here are my notes from an earlier version of this article:

http://pandawhale.com/post/27798/stay-focused-5-ways-to-increase-your-attention-span

That page contains a few "Squirrel" distractions as well as Rob's nutritional advice to combat that.