Comment author: curiousepic 15 March 2013 02:29:16PM 5 points [-]

If there will be effort put into actually building something, we might want to look into what other purposes it could serve, such as virtual (persistent?) meetups, remote CFAR sessions, etc. with features such as a "talking totem" that can be passed to enable audio from that person.

(Split from a previous comment for concept independence)

Comment author: fiddlemath 18 March 2013 11:09:38PM 8 points [-]

Later. Keep the project requirements small until it's working well. Get it to serve one desired purpose very well. Only then look at extending its use.

This is true for any coding project, but an order-of-magnitude more true for a volunteer project. If you want to get a programmer to actually volunteer for a project, convince them that the project will see great rewards while it's still small. In fact, you basically want to maximize intuitive value, while minimizing expected work. It feels so much better when your actual, original goal is achieved with a small amount of work than it feels when your tiny, first step is only the start of achieving your goal.

Meetup : South Bay Meetup: Be Specific

3 fiddlemath 18 March 2013 07:27AM

Discussion article for the meetup : South Bay Meetup: Be Specific

WHEN: 19 March 2013 07:30:00PM (-0700)

WHERE: 278 Castro St, Mountain View, CA

"Being specific" doesn't seem like a skill that we can say much about, in the abstract. (Though this post does anyway.) Nonetheless, we usually aren't all that specific. How might we practice to become more specific?

I have a few ideas, a couple of concrete exercises, and at least one moderately amusing game to try in this vein. You all get to try them!

If you're at the Quixey door and need to be let in, you can call me at 608.698.2959.

See you there!

If you're in the San Francisco Bay area and reading this, consider joining the Bay Area Less Wrong mailing list. Regular meetups in Mountain View are Berkeley are announced and discussed there, and other events of interest to the local community.

Discussion article for the meetup : South Bay Meetup: Be Specific

Comments (0)

Meetup : Mountain View: Rough Numbers

4 fiddlemath 04 March 2013 06:51PM

Discussion article for the meetup : Mountain View: Rough Numbers

WHEN: 05 March 2013 07:30:00PM (-0800)

WHERE: 278 Castro St, Mountain View, CA

Various techniques for performing estimation in your head, how you can actually practice this on a day-to-day basis, and why you should care. This is the first in a series of meetup topics on Actually Using Math -- a simple skill, really, that even this community rarely practices enough, given its utility. And I'll happily explain why I think this is, and what to do about it. Pure conjecture, of course, but it might be interesting.

Also, I'll start with another quick problem-solving game. :)

If you're at the Quixey door and need to be let in, you can call me at 608.698.2959.

If you're in the San Francisco Bay area and reading this, consider joining the Bay Area Less Wrong mailing list Regular meetups in Mountain View are Berkeley are announced and discussed there, and other events of interest to the local community.

Discussion article for the meetup : Mountain View: Rough Numbers

Comments (0)
Comment author: bramflakes 20 February 2013 07:23:29PM 2 points [-]

By the time I'll be teaching I'll have finished my Maths and Further Maths A-Levels and I would also have studied a fair amount of higher material.

Those are all good suggestions. One thing troubling me is that I want to help kids develop their problem-solving skills. Ideally I'd introduce some new puzzle and give them a few hints and they would work it out, but from my limited experience with my 9 year old cousin (who is fairly bright), it either ends up with me giving too little help (so he gets stuck and gives up in frustration) or too much help (so he's just following along with what I'm saying rather than discovering something for himself). How can I best strike the balance?

Comment author: fiddlemath 22 February 2013 11:12:16AM 0 points [-]

Have lots of problems prepared over a wide range of difficulty. Start with problems you're pretty sure the student can solve, and turn up the difficulty slowly.

Comment author: fiddlemath 27 January 2013 09:48:55PM 0 points [-]

I know it's old, now, but can you seed the latter again? The swarm's missing about 9% right now.

Comment author: fiddlemath 14 February 2013 06:41:56PM 0 points [-]

Actually, I have the whole thing now, and seed it when I can. My, the internet's a powerful thing when used properly. :)

In response to Memetic Tribalism
Comment author: fiddlemath 14 February 2013 04:03:27AM 7 points [-]

Well put! Have some internet status points!

Comment author: Pablo_Stafforini 29 November 2012 02:55:33AM *  5 points [-]

I've made a number of updates over the past weeks, so I thought I should write a brief new comment summarizing the material that is now available for download. There are two separate torrent files, both of which contain the entirety of my electronic library, comprising about 4,100 items mostly in pdf format.

One torrent contains all the files uncompressed. You can see the contents of the library and select specific files for downloading. Magnet URI:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:BEDDF7A5647B634C179EA68EBBBAAA80967D9D1D&dn=LessWrong&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.publicbt.com%3a80%2fannounce

The other torrent contains a single, compressed file, which is about 20% smaller in size. Choose this one if you want to download the entire library. Magnet URI:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:1D845DB543FFF3DE83B66FAA595F1A3D9F42ED42&dn=Library.zip&tr=udp%3a//tracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80/announce

Comment author: fiddlemath 27 January 2013 09:48:55PM 0 points [-]

I know it's old, now, but can you seed the latter again? The swarm's missing about 9% right now.

Comment author: fiddlemath 23 January 2013 04:19:06AM 1 point [-]

VFT appears primarily targeted at facilitators and contains much focused material not in VFT

er?

Comment author: Luke_A_Somers 22 January 2013 03:10:35PM 5 points [-]

... and then theres ¡>.<¡ , that special embarrassment that all of our new emotions have smilies for names.

Comment author: fiddlemath 23 January 2013 03:59:44AM 0 points [-]

._.

Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 19 January 2013 08:47:19AM *  3 points [-]

I think it'd be interesting to do some formal data collection on this idea even if there isn't going to be any control group. If you would, please PM me or comment in this thread if you're planning to try it out, and I will contact everyone who said they were trying it out in a few months and put together a short report.

Edit: Or put your email in this form.

Comment author: fiddlemath 23 January 2013 12:19:10AM 0 points [-]

Um - why not get a control group? I'd happily volunteer.

I mean, it might not be perfectly randomized, but you can at least watch for confounders from just being in this community, or introspecting for data collection, or whatnot.

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