So when Derek and I crafted the schedule for CMEpalooza Fall, we purposely built in a break over lunch for several reasons.

First and foremost, it would give us a chance to take a breath and eat something. After all, a hungry Palooza co-producer is a grouchy Palooza co-producer.

Second, it would give our audience a break as well. We recognize that we’ve coordinated a very busy schedule and people are more likely going to pop in and out of the live sessions than sit through the whole day, so taking an hour off would be sensible from that standpoint as well.

Finally, we wanted to throw the carrot out there to anyone interested in a Gold Level Sponsorship that signing up would permit them to work with us to plan a Lunchtime Symposium that would fill in this open slot.

A pipe dream? Maybe. But, ah yes, sometimes Little Johnny, those pipe dreams come true…

And so it is that we are thrilled to announce that Genentech has signed on as the Gold Sponsor for CMEpalooza Fall. We are currently working on finalizing the panelists and specific details for this session, but the working title is “Incorporating Learning Systems and Quality Improvement Into Continuing Medical Education.” We’ll have further details on as plans solidify.

So now the question is, who wants to deliver us sandwiches at, say, 11:55 a.m.? We promise we’ll eat off camera. And wipe the mustard off our face.

Everyone has their time-sucking Web site, that page you visit when your brain needs a 5-minute break at work or home. For several years, mine has been Sporcle. It’s not quite the brainless entertainment as, say, People.com (apologies to the wife), so I don’t feel too guilty when I’m on there.

Sporcle is a repository of quizzes using a variety of different formats that focus on thousands of different topics and themes. You can find a quiz on just about anything. The “Featured” quizzes on the homepage are either written by staff or nominated from those developed by the public.

For about a year, I’ve been trying to think of ways to incorporate a Sporcle quiz into an educational activity (Can you put a post-test up on here? Hmm…) but haven’t actually tried it yet.

I did, however, create a Palooza quiz just for our upcoming event. So when your brain needs a break, check out this link. I’m guessing the average score will come in at around 50%. You’ll be able to see how others answered on each question when you’re done. Maybe you’ll even learn something.

Quite obviously, Derek and I are big proponents of Google Hangout On Air (GHOA). GHOA was used as the platform that for the inaugural CMEpalooza in the spring and will be used in for CMEpalooza Fall on October 15. And yet I don’t get the sense that many people have a very good sense of all that is offered that may be of both personal and professional interest on GHOA. That will hopefully soon be changing, as I am giving a talk about GHOA in October at the annual meeting of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA), with additional talks from Derek and I hopefully coming up soon as well.

At any given moment, there are dozens of different live broadcasts open to the world. Even without searching, I am quite sure you would be able to get amateur World Cup analysis from nearly every country in the world every day this week. But if that’s not your cup of tea…

• On Tuesday, June 24, at 1 p.m. ET, bestselling authors Malcolm Gladwell and Bishop T.D. Jakes get together to talk about obstacles in life and how they are best overcome.

• On Friday, June 27, at noon, you can learn what search engine optimization is and how to do it with the gang from GoDaddy.

• Here is a Hangout from April 10 on the use of social media in medicine that was moderated by Neil Mehta, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic.

And that is just scratching the surface. President Obama has been a Hangout guest several times, and there are often entertainment icons who regularly show up. I haven’t figured out an easy way to get a schedule of more than the 5-6 upcoming Hangouts that Google promotes, but I am sure there is a filter out there somewhere. As with everything new on the Internet, it just takes some figuring out.