I'm likely to come (70%) , and could present if desired :)

I'm using my built in camera on my mac, so can't turn it. Do you have the option to turn my video off and on? I figure its probably better to have on for the sense of socialness, but I certainly don't need to have it on.

Also, not really sure what to do about chatting on there or not. I got the sense that some people might get annoyed when there is a lot of chat, but others want to connect. I'm not sure what is optimal. I think one nice thing would be if we could have a set of guidelines/expectations.

It would be nice to have linked rooms, like a study room and a more chatty room that people can pop back and forth on.

Another potential useful feature would be if everyone was on the same pomodoro timer, so that the room is consistently quiet 25 mins then chat 5.

Shannon, this sounds really valuable! Thanks to you and Mqrius for kicking this off.

I just wanted to mention that if there's demand for more social features in Beeminder, we're definitely listening. (Outsiders often tell us we should have more social features but LessWrong (and similar communities like Quantified Self) are our bread and butter so if we hear it here we'll pay more attention.)

My comments: Seeing people was great, actual ritual was looong, and strongly triggered my ADHD. Which was mostly mitigated by me amusing myself with shiny led gloves.

I've switched to butter tea but it's not as obtainable on-the-go, and also has less caffeine.

I've noticed blending makes a huge difference, but is it really neccesary to preheat the blender? I'm not even sure how I would do that conveniently.

Aluminum foil. Use a gluestick to put it over your bedroom windows. Now there is darkness, and you can sleep. This made a huge quality-of-life difference to me, and I felt very silly for not doing it 10 years earlier. (A sleep mask, which I previously used, was not nearly as good a solution.)

That sounds disgusting to me. Is it a serious suggestion? :P

Using a pair of earplugs every night is a huge quality of life difference.

For you personally or for everyone?

I use Leight (laser lite, uncorded):

http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-Laser-Earplugs-Cords/dp/B0007XJOLG/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1341456079&sr=1-2&keywords=leight+laser+uncorded+200

These are definitely much cheaper, and I suspect feel softer, while offering the same alleged protection.

Using a pair of earplugs every night is a huge quality of life difference.