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.

Over the years, I have probably written hundreds of emails to faculty inviting them to be part of CME programs. You know the ones — “Pretty please Dr. So and So, I know you are busy because you are so important, but will you please take the thousands of dollars we have set aside for you to help us with this CME program?”

And then you wait. And wait. And wait. The reminder email goes out a week later – “Dr. So and So. I know you are super duper busy, but we really want you to be part of this program and take the thousands of dollars we have set aside for you. Can you please read this email and respond in 5 words or less?”

When the day comes (if it comes) that Dr. So and So finally responds, it’s a sigh of relief. Well, as long as Dr. So and So says yes. If he/she says no, there is a lot of cursing for holding things up as you write up the next invitation.

Because Derek and I decided to utilize a “planning committee” to determine potential moderators and panelists for CMEpalooza Fall (here’s a little secret: the planning committee was Derek and I), that meant we had to craft those fun invitation emails. Except this time, we were inviting our colleagues – often, people we knew but sometimes those we didn’t – and we didn’t have any giant war chest of money to offer them. There wasn’t even a coveted free registration pass, being that almost everything about CMEpalooza is free anyway. I think we were both curious not only on how many people would say yes, but also how long it would take for people to respond.

I’m pleased to report that it took us a little more than 2 weeks to fill out all 23 slots in our programs (6 panels with 3-4 participants each). With only a few exceptions, people responded to us the same day as we sent out our invites, and almost everyone was excited to sign up. There was little harassing or cajoling necessary. Even those individuals who couldn’t participate were very gracious in declining our invitation and didn’t make us wait around for weeks before letting us know they couldn’t take part in CMEpalooza Fall.

Today, Derek and I are both extremely pleased to be able to present the full agenda for CMEpalooza Fall. We have diverse mix of panelists and topics that should offer something for everyone who is part of the CME enterprise. Our day (Wednesday, October 15, so mark your calendar!) will start off with an international panel of experts looking into their crystal ball to tell us where CME/CPD may be going in the next 5-10 years and wind up 7 hours later with the latest tips and tricks on publishing and presenting outcomes data from educational initiatives. The schedule in between is packed with lots of other intriguing content.

You’ll be hearing a lot more about our panels in the coming months. We’re always interested in your feedback regarding which sessions you are most looking forward to and the types of questions you’ll want them to address, so feel free to share your thoughts with Derek and I, as well as any of the panelists themselves. Palooza on everyone.