Admit it, you know you’ve done it, called that “special” someone after you’ve had too much to drink and said really stupid things. The only one I’ll actually admit to is calling my former boss, just to say hi, whilst in the middle of the Anderson Valley Beer Festival, and started weeping in front of everyone when his wife told me that he had just finished chemo and was cancer free. Okay so at least I had somewhat of an excuse but really, the call should have been made when I was sober.
Granted, Google’s new invention called “Mail Goggles” won’t prevent you from whipping out the cell phone and making stupid calls but it can help prevent you from making the equally touchy mistake of shooting off an email while drunk. At a time that you designate beforehand (i.e. when you’re likely to be drunk or at the very least when you’re likely to send an email you may later regret), Gmail will require that you solve a series of math problems before sending the email. If you can’t solve the math you might want to acknowledge that you shouldn’t send the email and wait until morning when things are a little clearer.
If you use Gmail, go to the “settings” tab and then the “labs” section to activate the Mail Goggles. (Actually, if you use Gmail go to “labs” anyway because there’s is a whole host of really cool stuff they’re trying out and you get to be the guinea pig.) Then you can go to the “general” tab and set the times you need “babysitting.” You can also set the level of difficulty for the math problems.
