LESSWRONG
LW

All of Gimpness's Comments + Replies

Open thread, Nov. 17 - Nov. 23, 2014
Gimpness10

Have you tried using WolframAlpha? If you get the pro subscription (~$66 per year - ~$45 a year for students) you gain access to their step by step solutions and unlimited problem generator. I am currently studying a Masters of Biostatistics (which has a heavy calculus section) and found this service invaluable.

Examples http://i59.tinypic.com/2yuniv9.png http://i60.tinypic.com/c5i7n.png

Reply
Simulate and Defer To More Rational Selves
Gimpness160

Mine went "See if someone has already stated what you want then up-vote them, OP and be done with it"

Reply
What are some science mistakes you made in college?
Gimpness100

Wasting time fixing a problem rather then starting a fresh i.e. biology/genetics - rather then just ordering in new primers(oligos), reagents(Taq, nucleotides etc) wasted a few weeks trying to find out which specific component was faulty. All the components are not very expensive while time tends to be - especially for scholarships.

Reply
Academia as a career option, its social value, and alternatives
Gimpness00

I work at a University as a research assistant in the Biology Department and I am currently studying part-time in a masters of Biostatistics. One of the main reasons (apart from enjoying it) why I began to take statistics seriously was due to a) most of the PhD students lack of knowledge of statistics and b) complete and utter ugh-fieldness in having to do statistics.

I think your reasoning is good (though that just maybe cause it aligns with mine) just don't forget how many companies/corporate jobs there are for data-science now especially when the money s... (read more)

Reply
AALWA: Ask any LessWronger anything
Gimpness00

Could you go into a little more detail by what you mean by recovered from depression and what aspects of CBT assisted the most?

Reply
1eurg
I'm sorry to have not answered for so long, I had some busy weeks. Depression: I'd suffered many months from a depression bad enough that I was not able to work the hours of a part-time job, let alone achieve any acceptable performance. I was using alcohol as replacement for other diluted variants of H2O. This was also not the first time of being depressed, and needless to say, such things can fuck up your life, and are generally not very desirable. I recovered as well as I think possible: I feel well. I can work. I enjoy, and can concentrate on stuff that piques my interest. I feel secure enough to make plans spanning more than two days, and expect to be somewhere between OK and very good for the forseeable future. For most measures, I am now better functioning, healthier (physically and emotionally) than the average person. The sword of Damokles being that the next episode might break through my defenses so fast that I break down. Again. If I remember correctly, there is a four in five chance there will be one. I do not worry about that, though. Therapy: The most useful part of my therapy was the judicious choice of some small things to work on, and the frequent feedback from an outsider. Also, never underestimate by how much a therapist approaches problems differently than a damaged brain. On my own I would either not do anything, and hate myself for it, or try something, and hate myself for failing (again), or do something, and hate myself for spending energy on such a worthless, embarassingly tiny task. It was primarily option one. It took some months, but through repeated experience I came to accept slight progress as progress nevertheless, and many of the tasks I was given to do integrate very nicely into everday activities now. I learned about saying "Well done!" to myself. I also learned about building habits, not as in 'scientist', but but applied to my own life. I also made it through some setbacks, faster and better than in the past years, so there
Brain Training to maximize returns
Gimpness50

I am under the impression that a lot of those Brain Training games you may find won't work as claimed i.e. those (Luminosity etc) that claim working memory improvement --> intelligence improvement/cognitive improvement.

Here is a relevant meta-analysis of such (haven't been able to get an original copy have just read through this article

Tis a shame cause I watched the same program and got excited but decided to investigate before I paid up for it.

Reply
7gwern
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Is%20working%20memory%20training%20effective%3F%20A%20meta-analytic%20review Melby isn't the only relevant meta-analysis; you can find some more cited in my http://www.gwern.net/DNB%20meta-analysis
New Monthly Thread: Bragging
Gimpness40

You have also lead to me implementing Secret Weapon by mentioning it here.

EDIT:Having now done this for 6 months I can attest to sticking to it and it very much being helpful for both checking on what I have done that day and planning for future days. Will keep doing it

Reply
0Suryc11
Yay! I don't want to wax too positive about it this early on, but I really do feel like it will continue to work wonders for me, especially during the school year.
What are your rules of thumb?
Gimpness20

Thanks for putting it far more eloquently then I my brain had

Reply
What useful skills can be learned in three months?
Gimpness00

Fourthing the exercise habit. A good tracker I have found to stay at it and for confidence building is Fit-o-Cracy

Reply