I’m a mathematician and working as a programmer in Berlin, Germany. I read HPMOR after following a recommendation in a talk on Cognitive Psychology For Hackers and proceeded to read most of the sequences.
Reading LW has had several practical consequences for me: Spaced repetition and effective altruism were new to me. Things have also improved around social skills, exercise and nutrition.
I’m also part of a small Berlin LW meetup: spuckblase and me have met twice—and now we got contacted by two other Berlin based lurkers which prompted the creation of a wiki entry and a mailing list. We’re now planning the first meetup that will actually get a meetup post and be announced in advance.
English vocabulary. I’ve learned many new words and sometimes get an explanation for a word I had only inferred the meaning of from the context—and guessed wrongly.
Family facts, mostly birthdays. It’s a minor thing really, but I used to not know how old everyone is. And more than once I felt bad when someone asked about the age of a parent and I had to say ‘no idea’.
Random facts I’ve looked up several times before or that I don’t want to have to ever admit not knowing. Like the age of the solar system, the first few digits of Euler’s number, approximately when Newton lived. This kind of thing.
What I wish I had a deck for: Math. I really enjoyed doing math and am sad that I’ll forget most of the definitions and theorems now that I don’t use them regularly anymore. I’ve tried converting my lecture notes into flashcards, but it’s a lot of work that I’m not motivated enough to do.
Hello!
I’m a mathematician and working as a programmer in Berlin, Germany. I read HPMOR after following a recommendation in a talk on Cognitive Psychology For Hackers and proceeded to read most of the sequences.
Reading LW has had several practical consequences for me: Spaced repetition and effective altruism were new to me. Things have also improved around social skills, exercise and nutrition.
I’m also part of a small Berlin LW meetup: spuckblase and me have met twice—and now we got contacted by two other Berlin based lurkers which prompted the creation of a wiki entry and a mailing list. We’re now planning the first meetup that will actually get a meetup post and be announced in advance.
Such as?
I have decks for:
English vocabulary. I’ve learned many new words and sometimes get an explanation for a word I had only inferred the meaning of from the context—and guessed wrongly.
Family facts, mostly birthdays. It’s a minor thing really, but I used to not know how old everyone is. And more than once I felt bad when someone asked about the age of a parent and I had to say ‘no idea’.
Random facts I’ve looked up several times before or that I don’t want to have to ever admit not knowing. Like the age of the solar system, the first few digits of Euler’s number, approximately when Newton lived. This kind of thing.
What I wish I had a deck for: Math. I really enjoyed doing math and am sad that I’ll forget most of the definitions and theorems now that I don’t use them regularly anymore. I’ve tried converting my lecture notes into flashcards, but it’s a lot of work that I’m not motivated enough to do.