A visiting professor working on the scheduling algorithms for the Horsefly and other semi-autonomous systems gave a talk on the challenges with things of this nature. The bottom line about Horsefly specifically is that, even though it seems like a good solution and the scheduling algorithm might find an optimal solution for delivering small parcels, the Horsefly a) has not yet landed on a moving truck, b) sometimes requires the truck sit and wait for it to return, wasting time and fuel, and c) has a very limited capacity for carrying multiple parcels.

I'll follow his lead and believe it when I see it.

I'm also a graduate student who has noticed a reduction in my (and my peers') ability to concentrate. It's a daily struggle to fight back against sources of distraction, but I've made some small changes that have helped me and might help you (and other Slashdotters) as well:
- I try to print really important papers and read them on paper. It is wasteful (recycle nonessential papers if desired), but pulp has no tabs;
- If I read analog media at my desk, I turn off my monitors to avoid notifications;
- I turn my phone on silent and flip it over on the desk for the same notification avoidance--works well with OS' that allow repeated callers to ring through while other notifications you designate keep the phone silent;
- I try to be a more "engaged" reader, taking notes on the paper (see my first point) to force my own engagement with the material. My mind wanders if I'm bored, which is entirely possible with academic material, so to stave off the boredom I'll do more to insert myself into the reading process.

Baby steps to change habits over time.

What about using this to make scientific-grade plutonium for ourselves? There has been some news lately that the US has only a few dozen kilograms of non-weapons-grade plutonium left, putting the future of NASA's deep-space exploration program. If we had access to a dependable supplies, we might be able to really think about missions to Europa, Enceladus, and other places in the solar system where life may exist.

Hmm, I think retail stores and supermarkets also contribute a substantial amount of waste. I've got a friend who, while living with her boyfriend, avoided paying grocery bills for over a year by dumpstering for her food. She knew what stores went through produce and perishable food inventories on which days (e.g., Wal-Mart on Tuesdays, Giant Eagle on Fridays, and so on), and she knew which stores were good about discarding certain foodstuffs to raid. She'd then pay a visit after they closed or once it got dark, loaded herself up with food that had been thrown out, and took it home to eat.

That's right, eat.

She could do this because the "Sell By" dates on food =! "Spoils on" dates. Food is often good after the "Sell By" date, but for one reason or another (liability? quality assurance?) the company recommends rotating in new produce. As I understand it, food banks aren't allowed to take food after "Sell By" dates for liability reasons as well.

To make a long story short, she lived healthily out of dumpsters and grew gardens out of their contents for quite a while and never got sick. As long as you're smart with what you pick up (take good-looking fruit that's still packaged in plastic, don't take eggs or meat or anything that needs refrigeration, et cetera), there's a low chance for food-borne illness. In fact, this article about dumpstering food is a decent guide to the practice. Information is out there, and I've met more than a handful of people who do this and live comfortably.

I glanced through the comments and didn't see it, so I thought I'd mention what I know. I just finished my junior year in college, and at my institution we took a pretty rigorous (read: I can't believe I survived) course in psychology. Though it was an intro course, we got a new prof and she felt the need to cover numerous parts of the brain and detail their functions / interactions with other parts (she was a cognitive scientist, so her affinity to detail in brain studies makes sense). To make a long story short, we learned that the part of the brain responsible for hoarding is called the "right mesial prefrontal cortex." This part of the brain is present in everyone; genetic factors and other reasons provide for its excessive activation in some people as opposed to others. This explains why some people hoard much more than others (even though almost everyone possesses the same basic circuitry). Furthermore, certain companies (we focused on advertising companies, but the gaming industry works in this case as well) intentionally focus on tapping this circuitry to make a buck. From this, we get the McDonald's Beanie Baby rush, the Furby craze, and a host of other collectible furors we all remember. It seems that with some collectibles (Pokemon, anyone?) we just can't help ourselves.