All of purplerabbits's Comments + Replies

Will you be helping to coordinate crash space for the nights around the weekend again? It was very much appreciated last time, and would like to stay a bit longer in Berlin if possible...

0ChristianKl
I talked yesterday with one of the organizers and there's a plan to help with organizing space again.

I don't know how much of the reading I'll have done as I'm attempting to stay rational(ish) while moving, but I'll be there...

This is very interesting. When I was dieting I noticed that a taste of food (but not diet coke which I drink tons of) was often enough to give me more physical and mental energy, but that it also made me feel more hungry, possibly because it set off the stomach acids ready for digestion. I wondered at the time if it could be explained by glycogen. Glycogen as I understand it is how the body stores readily available sugars that are not in the blood but where they're a lot more easily broken down than in fat. (It's also heavier than fat per calorie so it exp... (read more)

I'm coming from Edinburgh

0scaphandre
PM'd :) Maybe get the 13:30 from Waverley? It's an easy trip on the Glasgow Underground from near Queen St to Hillhead / Byres Rd.

Any idea why not?

When I was reading the sequences in reruns I felt like a first student in a class in a glass box with ALL the graduates looking on and free to shoot down my ideas :-) Plus I am not a naturally prolific commenter...

0iarwain1
Should help if we specifically ask people to be nice to newbies, as I suggested.

I don't think it's unfair at all, but your comment made me rethink something that may be relevant. Quirrel set a surprise exam, and it was surprisingly easy and everyone (except Hermione) passed. I think probably the worst thing that you can do in the face of a surprise exam is not attempt to answer, and maybe that's part of the lesson EY is trying to convey here :-)

I also note that Quirrel failed Hermione in the knowledge that he would be resurrecting her, and this is either very mean, or a very good lesson for resurrected Hermione, or both.

I made it to this one and I'm Edinburgh based. If there's enough interest I'd be up for alternating Glasgow/Edinburgh

0WinterShaker
It's only a little less faff for me to get to Edinburgh than Glasgow, but I have far more people I can stay the night with there, so please keep me posted.

Thanks, there's most likely to be some kind of concession price if I can make the numbers add up.

1Benya
Thanks!

I totally agree about timing! The reason for August is that there's a good deal on the venue, but if that's not viable I'm happy to go later. And if it is viable and successful I will likely be doing a similar event again.

Yes, I would expect 2-3 hours work dealing with it plus a loss of utility for the holiday of around £200. If I cost my time at a tenner an hour that works out at under 50p for a luggage free bathroom break, which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Good point, it's what I would usually do and I shall remember to do that in future

4diegocaleiro
I have been leaving my stuff everywhere for years, most times in purpose and telling someone, but also sometimes being forgetful... I live in a country that used to be famous for people's lack of trust in other people. Nothing ever happened to my stuff. I've left laptops, cellphones, wallets. Sometimes even money in places. No one does anything. I always thought no one would, but eventually I noticed most people believe otherwise, and I would use it to amaze them by leaving my stuff. It's fun.

Sundays could well be doable. And I agree about a public place at first.

0SkrappyPanda
I'm at the festival until the 26th. Anybody meeting up between now and then?

When you come to move, and a thing you're planning to move is still in a box since the last move, throw it out.

If you are keeping a thing 'because it might come in handy' and the occasion arises when it WOULD have been handy except you forget you have it, throw it out.

On smaller purchases I note that I have a danger zone of between £3 and £8 where it's easy to just spend money without discernible benefit (it's no coincidence that this equals about a coffee and a bun in Starbucks). So I have a rule that unless it's something I actually need Right Now, I make a maximum of one such purchase per non-working day.

1David_Gerard
Hell yes.
8Xachariah
There's a neat little related lifehack regarding clothes that works similarly. Each year at a good landmark point (ie, spring cleaning or 1st week of the school year if you're a student), sort through your closet and organize/clean your stuff. Then, when you put your clothes back into the closet, put the hangars backwards, so that you have to reach around and hook them behind the bar. As you wear clothes, place the hangars in normally. The next time you organize your closet (ie, spring cleaning the year later or when the school year ends), note which clothes and still backwards and consider throwing them away or donating them. If you didn't wear them that year, chances are you won't wear them next year either.

Sadly I can't make this even though I am extremely keen to attend a regular local meetup. I think it could be worth organising a meeting outside normal working hours and avoiding talking about students in the announcement. What do you think?

I'd also love to meet somewhere quieter that doesn't require expenditure, but that may be asking a bit much to start with...

0scaphandre
I am glad to see there is interest, even if you can't make this one. I'm happy with outside 9-5, but I know some would-be regulars have other events on several weekday evenings. How about Sundays? Aspen is unlikely to be too crowded on a Friday lunchtime and I think will be happy to have any custom from our group. I am open to alternatives, but it has the advantages of: public place, free entry, big group tables, bright, cheap-ish food and coffee, (hopefully) uncrowded. I am happy to host in future, but I thought a public place is better to start with.

Yes. The obvious one to me is that it is totally irrational of me to want to eat pile of sweets that I know from previous experience will make me feel bad about myself ten minutes after eating it and which I rationally don't need nutritionally. I can make myself not do it, but to make myself not want to is like trying to not see an optical illusion...

0Richard_Kennaway
Wants are like pains: sometimes they're useful information that something should be attended to, and sometimes they're irrelevant distractions because there are more important things to do, and just have to be endured and otherwise ignored.
5TheOtherDave
In my experience, there's lots of ways to make myself not want to eat those sweets. For example, I can get out of the house and go for a brisk walk, or better yet go to the gym and work out. IME, while I'm exercising I rarely find myself craving food of any sort unless I'm genuinely hungry. Or I can make myself a large portion of something else to eat, and eat it until I'm stuffed. IME, I don't want to eat sweets when I'm actively full. Or I can go to sleep. IME, I don't want to eat sweets while I'm sleeping. Or I can douse the sweets with urine. IME, I don't want to eat sweets doused in urine. Or many other possibilities. The problem is I don't want to do any of those things, either. Which is a remarkable coincidence, when I stop to think about it. In fact, a neutral observer might conclude that I want to want to eat the sweets.

Hi, I'm Alison - I used to be a professional tarot reader and astrologer in spite of having a (fairly average) science degree. I recovered from that over 15 years ago and feel it would be valuable for more people to understand how I came to do it and how I changed my mind. I am also a 45 year old woman, which makes me feel in a tiny minority on LW.

I've been reading large chunks of the sequences for the last year, as well as books like Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear and a bunch of rationalist blogs (and been thoroughly sucked into HPMOR).

Topics I... (read more)

0Richard_Kennaway
Hi there (belatedly)! I believe we've met, way back when.
8daenerys
Hi Alison! Welcome to LessWrong! I'm always happy to see people who are interested in maintaining politeness on here. I have a friend who is a professional psychic/ magician/ tarot reader, and he is extremely rational (uses cold reading and builds technology stuff for tricks.). I don't think you necessarily have to give the profession up if it's something you enjoy. So long as you don't fall prey to the trap of believing your own schtick. I would love to hear your story of how you came to change your mind! Glad to have you here!
4juliawise
I'm with you! There's quite a culture divide between "win the argument" and "get along", and since I spend more time in the latter camp, Less Wrong was unpalatable for me at first.
4rlp10
May I ask, at that time did you thoroughly believe that you were actually able to predict the future? Also, with the benefit of hindsight, do you consider yourself to have used the dark arts?