Hi Less Wrong,

I'd like to draw on you for some advice.

I'm about to undertake studies, but will need some supplementary income to attain my desired standard of living while doing so.

Part-time work could be attained quite easily, but is likely to take the form of something fairly boring e.g. data entry/bar work.

I was thinking that there might be ways out there for me to learn a particular skill set that would enable me to work from home and at more flexible hours for a source of income, as well as providing me the opportunity to learn something new, given that so many people on here seem to do such things quite successfully. 

Given my circumstances below what would you recommend:

I'm fairly intelligent, enjoying learning, and have strong social skills

I live in Sydney Australia

I have musical talents

I have a car

I lack softward development/programming skills

I have decent office application skills.

I'm willing to put the hours in to level up a new ability.

Any suggestions/Tips/criticisms are welcome.

Hi Everyone,

Australia's ABC has recently broadcast a new series called 'Redesign my Brain' with Todd Sampson.

The series seeks to explore how much the brain can be improved in areas like memory and recognition. After just one month of training Todd found himself performing considerably better on tests then he had prior.
He also competed in the World Memorization Championships, and watched a bloke in Germany play 12 games of chess simultaneously without seeing any of the boards.
So other than being a fun show to watch, it got me thinking about the advantages of brain training. 
I've had a look at some stuff like dual-n-back, luminosity, and other brain training programs, but I've failed to really explore how much utility such training has.

One of the memory champions was able to remember the order of 25 decks of cards in one hour. But it didn't seem like his ability didn't do much to improve his life beyond providing a fun and enjoyable hobby.

So I'd like to ask:

Which areas of cognitive training do you think would have the best returns in terms of life optimization?

And what do you think would be the best way to go about that training?

Would love to hear some success stories.

sorry to add clutter, but I've recently returned to living in sydney and was wondering if there is a regular meetup in the area? I'd love to attend.

Hello fellow readers.

I've been enjoying LW for a while now, and I can confidently say that many of the ideas on in this community have done much to better my life.

However, I live in some isolation from like-minded individuals. I lack social groups that aspire to the same values of rationality that I have come to treasure. My nearest meet-up is Melbourne, but that takes approximately a hour and a half to get to, and would require more time and money than I can reasonably afford at the moment.
I find it difficult to immerse myself and live out many of these ideas when I do not have the social support to back me.

Anyone have any tips for managing rationalist isolation?

Does the LW community think it might be a good idea to approach Khan Academy about including a series on Rationality, based on some of the LW sequences?

Khan Academy already has a great reputation as a centre for learning, and has large amounts of traffic going through it. Perhaps we could take advantage of that?

What would be the pros and cons?

How would we go about doing it?

Has anyone made a video series of any of our sequences that we could offer?

13.12.11 update:

It sounds like this is a really good idea that just hasn't seen action yet. I'd actually really be interested in helping make this happen, and whilst I probably personally lack the skills to do it all, I'm sure that between the contributors here we have enough contacts/expertise to put something forward.

If you'd be interested in being a part of this please message me your email address, and I will look into making a team who can put some resources into making this happen.

And keep the comments/suggestions coming. They're providing me with great direction in terms of how to go about this.

Hey everyone I just read this, which in turn lead me to this and I'm curious as to what are some skills and fields of study that people think fit the category of 'rare and valuable'.

Not just in white collar environments either, but also considering the entertainment industry, hospitality, trades and so forth.

I've noticed anything that involves interfacing tends to have good dividends, especially if you can freelance.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Hey Everyone,

I was wondering if the LW community has a particular symbol or sign that would serve to act as a graphical representation of the community?
Something we could wear or include in things like business cards, that would act as an acknowledgement to others of our committment to rationality.
Any such thing exist, and if not, any good ideas?

I think the letters LW work pretty well if you could make them look more appealling.

Hi everyone,

currently temping at a job that's very autonomous and boring. good thing is i can listen to stuff on my phone while I do it.

Just wondering what people's favorite podcasts are? particularly education ones to do with neuroscience, psych and social studies.

However as long as it's interesting I'm keen give it a go.

Thanks in advance.

I'll cut to the chase:

Running a Less Wrong-like self development group tonight and have failed to prepare anything insofar. starts in 2 hours.

Any games that I could pull out that will interaction and critical thinking?

On steam for super cheap. I recommend checking  out.