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Nobody is smart enough to be wrong all the time.
Ken Wilber
In response to
Rationality Quotes September 2012
This reminds me of an episode of QI, in which Johnny Vegas, who usually throws out random answers for the humor, actually managed to get a question (essentially) right.
In response to
The Best Textbooks on Every Subject
There's a brand new edition of Meaning and Argument. I'm gonna get it.
Living accommodations for my possibly deconverted Mormon friend
Hello. I need a bit of advice, and I'm not quite sure where to put this.
Ummm, well, here's the deal. I have a friend, my age, who recently prematurely ended his Mormon missionary trip (from Knoxville, TN to... uh... Eastern California?) for his own reasons, and has asked for my help. Seeing as this person is like a brother to me (the two of us have known each other for all of our twenty years), he has asked me for advice on living accommodations, as he does not want to return to his parent's home. I'm not even sure they would let him, as they were very serious about his mission.
He's perfectly welcome to stay with me, but getting him back on his feet is a must. And I don't think either of us know how to go about figuring this out.
His reasons are currently known only to himself, so I don't know if it is based on misgivings about his church, or personal problems. Er, assuming the two are even different. Apparently I'm going to be the recipient of some venting from him.
It might not have been a good idea to ask Less Wrong this (I guess), but if anyone could direct me to a more... appropriate... website or service for these matters, I would appreciate it.
In response to
Rationality Quotes September 2012
“Why do you read so much?”
Tyrion looked up at the sound of the voice. Jon Snow was standing a few feet away, regarding him curiously. He closed the book on a finger and said, “Look at me and tell me what you see.”
The boy looked at him suspiciously. “Is this some kind of trick? I see you. Tyrion Lannister.”
Tyrion sighed. “You are remarkably polite for a bastard, Snow. What you see is a dwarf. You are what, twelve?”
“Fourteen,” the boy said.
“Fourteen, and you’re taller than I will ever be. My legs are short and twisted, and I walk with difficulty. I require a special saddle to keep from falling off my horse. A saddle of my own design, you may be interested to know. It was either that or ride a pony. My arms are strong enough, but again, too short. I will never make a swordsman. Had I been born a peasant, they might have left me out to die, or sold me to some slaver’s grotesquerie. Alas, I was born a Lannister of Casterly Rock, and the grotesqueries are all the poorer. Things are expected of me. My father was the Hand of the King for twenty years. My brother later killed that very same king, as it turns out, but life is full of these little ironies. My sister married the new king and my repulsive nephew will be king after him. I must do my part for the honor of my House, wouldn’t you agree? Yet how? Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large enough for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind… and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. “That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.”
--George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
I'm surprised at how often I have to inform people of this... I have mild scoliosis, and so I usually prefer sitting down and kicking up my feet, usually with my work in hand. Coming from a family who appreciates backbreaking work is rough when the hard work is even harder and the pain longer-lasting... which would be slightly more bearable if the aforementioned family did not see reading MYSTERIOUS TEXTS on a Kindle and using computers for MYSTERIOUS PURPOSES as signs of laziness and devotion to silly frivolities.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not a very new situation.
In my high school health class, for weeks the teacher touted the upcoming event: "Breast and Testicle Day!"
When the anticipated day came, it was of course the day when all the boys go off to one room to learn about testicular self-examination, and all the girls go off to another to learn about breast self-examination. So, in fact, no student actually experienced Breast and Testicle Day.
Much to their chagrin, I'm assuming.
In response to
Welcome to Less Wrong! (2012)
Hello there. I am Plubbingworth. I am twenty, and I first caught wind of the delicious stench of Rationality all the way from where I was before, but only after I began to seek it. HILARIOUS COINCIDENCE: I read about the Less Wrong Community and read HPMOR completely separately without realizing the connection, how funny is that?!
Anyway. I was reading and absorbing and learning as much as I could from every facet of this wonderful website, when I realized, to my dismay, that there was not much of a concentration in the use of Rationality in this fine state of Tennessee. Which is a real shame. Maybe something should be done about that!
I can't say what I plan to learn from this. Time and effort will tell. But a sense of community is always nice. Also, I felt like a creeper.
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I'm going to adopt at different social strategy and not be the obnoxiously nosy guy with no boundaries. Some things I'm curious about really aren't my business and actively seeking to uncover information that people try to keep secret is usually a personal (and often legal) violation. The terms 'industrial espionage' and 'stalking' both spring to mind.
Curiosity didn't kill the cat. The redneck with the gun killed it for tresspassing.
As I was growing up around here, I discovered that there are certain curiosities which are always welcomed in this redneck sort of area. They include such lovely questions as;
"What church do you go to?"
1. "You root for the home sport team, right?" 2. "...Do you follow sport at all?" 3. "Why not?!" (They progress like this the more you answer "No")
"Politics? Politics? Politics? Politics? Politics? Politics? POLITICS?"
Any curiosity more complex than this is usually just there to serve these three topics.
But if you answer correctly (cough) these questions three, it's basically like using the Konami Code or something. Just in case you're ever in the South.