Brigid

Karma: 145

Brigid Jul 10, 2012, 9:56 PM
4 points
in reply to: TraderJoe’s comment on: Cultural norms in choice of mate
Maybe you could claim that men don’t look down on men who date bimbos...But then again as Laurie6 pointed out, theres that pesky other 50.6% of the population that you are in fact including when you say we.

And based on personal experience, many women look down on men who date bimbos just as much they look down on men who date teenagers.

Brigid Jul 6, 2012, 10:24 PM
4 points
in reply to: Risto_Saarelma’s comment on: What have you recently tried, and failed at?
Isn’t it also not “hot and sunny” in the evening? Couldn’t you run right before sundown, or in the dark with reflectors on streets with lights?

I am just asking because I had the same problem, until I realized that I just liked the idea of working out in the morning, not actually working out in the morning. I wanted to be one of those people who works out at the crack of dawn. By accepting that I am just not one of those people, and working out at lunch and in the evening, I am working out a lot more than when I kept telling myself that “tomorrow I will get up at 5 to workout.”

Also, telling yourself you are just going to run for ten or fifteen minutes can get you over the akrasia hump. And running a mile or two is better than none.

Brigid Jul 6, 2012, 9:30 PM
5 points
0
in reply to: Emile’s comment on: On the Care and Feeding of Young Rationalists—Revisited[Draft] [Request for Feedback]
The study you quoted only seems to address if signing helped the child learn spoken word labels about certain toys.

The (possible) benefit of signing is that the child can communicate with you about whether they are hungry, thirsty, cold, hot, have a wet diaper, etc.--not about whether the child can name different toys. The study doesn’t address whether or not sign language reduces frusteration in children or whether children can learn signs for how they feel faster or slower than they can learn the same spoken words.

Brigid Jul 6, 2012, 12:00 AM
2 points
on: Learn Power Searching with Google
Registered.

Brigid Jun 23, 2012, 6:54 AM
1 point
in reply to: Rain’s comment on: Minimum viable workout routine
I think that is a great setup for a home gym.

If you can afford it, I would also throw a kettlebell or some “under the door” pullup bars in there.

Or, on a separate note, a foam roller to help with muscle tightness and flexibility. I think its the best piece of athletic equipment I have ever bought. These are amazing and well worth it.

Brigid Jun 23, 2012, 6:28 AM
2 points
in reply to: Alex_Altair’s comment on: Minimum viable workout routine
There is a reason boxers jump rope.

If you can, I would learn to do double unders...and then do a tabata of double unders. That should be a good workout.

I would consider regular jumping rope it in the same category doing intervals in running/swimming/biking, so that is how I would treat the workouts (at least, until you can do 5 mins without stopping). So while you are learning to do double unders, I would maybe just do 5-6 sets of regular jumping to a certain number so that the last 3 sets are very challenging. One or two sets won’t cut it.

Brigid Jun 23, 2012, 4:36 AM
1 point
in reply to: jsteinhardt’s comment on: Minimum viable workout routine
From my experience as a female lifter who trains with other females, females do not need to progress more slowly to get long term gains. 5 lb increases per week on a deadlift and every other week on the other exercises is very, very reasonable (possibly too reasonable) in non-skill based moves like these. Even females should be able to experience a few months of lifting heavier each time if they follow the weight increase guidelines here.

However, smaller females (less than 110lbs) or those who have never really worked out might need to start with a lighter bar for rows and the incline bench press. Most gyms have mini-bars with weights permanently attached to the end, usually ranging from 10-80 lbs (how heavy they are should be listed on the side), so look around for those if you don’t think you can bench 45 lbs or you don’t have a spotter.

While I have never done a trap bar deadlift, I am going to assume its similar to a regular deadlift in terms of weight, but with less pressure on the back. So I would say that deadlifting just the bar (trap or not) shouldn’t be a problem even for smaller women.

Brigid May 25, 2012, 2:42 AM
9 points
on: Group rationality diary, 5/21/12
Long post—my apologies.

Background:

I have been trying for a while now to follow the paleo (or caveman) diet. I think the argument for the diet seems legitimate enough (or, I should say, I am not smart enough in those areas to disprove their argument). Additionally, there seems to be a lot of anecdotal evidence in favor of the diet, especially from people with auto-immune diseases, which I have. So for those two reasons, I have been trying to make it a permanent lifestyle change; what ends up happening is that I struggle through one week and rebound into massive cheating.

The Problem:

The problem that I have run in to—which I think is fairly common—is the diet is extremely difficult to maintain if you work a lot or don’t want to devote the majority of your free time to cooking. It takes a LOT of time to cook all your food from scratch. The paleo diet is: no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no sugar, nothing artificially made or with artificial ingredients, no potatoes, no peanuts, and very low added salt.

You are mostly supposed to eat meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and vegetables, with occasional nuts, fruits, and starchy vegetables like yams. These foods spoil easily, and require a decent amount of time to prepare, especially when you compare them with the typical American diet. So the problems I have run into are (1) it is a difficult lifestyle to maintain due to the time it takes to cook everything (2) the foods perish easily and I am stuck going to the supermarket 2+ times a week.

My Solution:

Change1: Optimize my cooking regimen by standardizing it. I now eat the exact same thing for breakfast and the exact same thing for lunch and dinner every day. At some point I expect this to get boring, but so far the results have been good.

This has the result of: -Food preparation time is shortened. I am no longer trying out new foods or recipes, which is a time waster.
-I purposely eat the same thing for lunch and dinner, thus I only have to cook one meal instead of two. -I cook said lunch and dinner for the next day while I am eating my dinner. -I purposely selected foods which do not require much attention to make, thus I can eat my dinner while I cook the next days food. I have been eating frozen organic stir fry vegetables and chicken cooked in coconut oil. I supplement it with a salad which takes about 1 minute to make if you buy your veggies cut up.

Change 2: After asking a clerk, I found out that all grocery stores (or at least the ones in Hawaii) get a resupply of foods on Tuesdays. So if you buy your foods on Sunday, like I was doing previously, you are getting vegetables and meat which are 5 days older than if you buy foods on Tuesdays. I have started grocery shopping on Tuesdays, which I expect to limit my grocery shopping trips to one time per week.

Change 3: Since food preparation is a time suck, I wash all the fruits and vegetables immediately upon returning from the store. I have not timed it, but it does appear that washing all the produce in one batch is faster than washing it in 7-21 separate batches. I also started packaging snacks in baggies directly after washing them, so I don’t have to spend time each night making snacks for work.

At this point (day 3 of strict diet) no health changes have occurred. Advocates say the health changes take 2-4 weeks to be noticeable.

Brigid May 25, 2012, 1:53 AM
2 points
in reply to: sixes_and_sevens’s comment on: Group rationality diary, 5/21/12
I have noticed the same thing about television, in particular with certain programs motivating me to go exercise.

I also noticed, however, that I had to be careful about when I watched TV, because the effect was so strong. Watching The Biggest Loser or youtube Crossfit videos (highly recommended) would get me so excited to workout that it started affecting my bedtime—namely that I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep because I was so excited.

I found that I need to watch those programs at least three hours prior to my bedtime in order to be able to fall asleep. The end result is that I now only watch them on weekends or my lunch break.

Brigid May 13, 2012, 12:39 AM
2 points
on: [Book Suggestions] Summer Reading for Younglings.
The Giver trilogy is age appropriate and well-written dystopian children’s novel. I remember very distinctly that this was my first exposure to what seemed like a plausible future world. (I read this in 4th grade so it might be too easy. )

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy would also be good; I read this in 6th grade and it was book that sparked my interest in sci-fi.

Brigid May 13, 2012, 12:13 AM
1 point
in reply to: Manfred’s comment on: [Book Suggestions] Summer Reading for Younglings.
Voted up for the Westing Game.

Brigid May 4, 2012, 11:45 PM
−5 points
on: Open Thread, May 1-15, 2012
Scientific American argues that using “negative words” (including skeptical, unclear, doubt, and shouldn’t) hurts your ability to “sell your science.” Instead, you need to be optimistic.

““If you have a method or idea and you believe it works, you have to be optimistic about it. Optimism is the number-one thing.” ~Anne Kinney, Director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

So supposedly, in order to sell your ideas, you need to hide evidence of the LessWrongian values that help you develop a solid method or idea in the first place.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/10/06/optimism-and-enthusiasm-lessons-for-scientists-from-steve-jobs/

Brigid May 4, 2012, 12:41 AM
3 points
on: Urgent: Subjects needed for rationality measure development
How do you click more than one sequence, if you have read more than one of them? Shift and alt don’t seem to be making a difference.

Brigid May 3, 2012, 2:07 AM
2 points
in reply to: RobertLumley’s comment on: May 2012 Media Thread
If you are concerned about time investment, let me state that most people can finish the book (and, in fact, do seem to finish the book) in 1-2 days.

Brigid May 2, 2012, 2:35 AM
0 points
on: Minicamps on Rationality and Awesomeness: May 11-13, June 22-24, and July 21-28
Is it too late to apply for this?

Brigid May 1, 2012, 11:01 PM
27 points
on: Welcome to Less Wrong! (2012)
Hi, I’m Brigid. I’ve been reading through the Sequences for a few weeks now, and am just about to start the Quantum Section (about which I am very excited). I found out about this site from an email the SIAI sent out. I’m an Signals Intelligence officer in the Marine Corps and am slated to get out of the military in a few months. I’m not too sure what I am going to do yet though; as gung-ho as I originally was about intel, I’m not sure I want to stay in that specific field. I was a physics and political science major in college, with a minor in women’s studies. I’ve been interested in rationality for a few years now and have thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve read so far here (including HPMOR) . Also, if there is anyone who is interested in starting a Meetup group in Hawaii (Oahu) let me know!

Brigid May 1, 2012, 7:54 PM
−2 points
on: [Error communicating with LW2 server]
1) Being compared to a poet in a forum that emphasizes logic is not a compliment; rather, it seems to be polite critique that implies that you present your ideas in a purposefully (and needlessly) confusing manner. 2) Your actual argument appears to be “actually doing something is better than just wishing you did something.” If you have somewhere interesting to go with this, very well, I’d be interested to hear it. But so far, it’s appears to be a cliché thought hidden in superfluous verbiage. 3) I am also new here, and I can readily identify that your initial post was nowhere near the standards of the articles under the Discussion tab, let alone the standards of the Main tab.

Brigid Apr 25, 2012, 2:28 AM
8 points
on: Mindfulness Meditation Thread
I grew up a practicing Quaker. While some Friends “pray” during Meeting (what we call church), others practice mindful meditation. So while I regularly practice what I believe qualifies as mindful meditation, I haven’t been formerly trained. And also, what has worked for me in helping me learn how to focus, might not work for you; it has, however, worked for some of my friends, so it could at least help someone who reads this. In addition to daily meditation attempts, which are important even they are only for 5 minutes, it might be easier if you try some other ways to learn how gain focus.

So, lets say someone you dislike does something that annoys/angers you (jerk coworker, rude driver) or your are upset by a situation (quitting smoking). Most people, when angered, spend a good deal of mental energy dreaming up the perfect witty comeback, how horrible the other person is, or how they could “punish” the offender. They will do this for many hours throughout the day/week/month without even realizing they are doing it. They have a hard time stopping because they don’t think about their thinking. So for this drill, make a conscious decision that whenever your thoughts start to stray in that direction of thinking about that offending person/situation, you are going to stop those thoughts, acknowledge that you broke your promise to yourself by thinking them, and move on to a different, unrelated thought.

The first, uh, 50 times you do this, you will realize that you had been thinking about the triggering person or event for a few minutes—possibly more—before you noticed you were doing it. You will keep doing this. And then one time, it will click after only a minute or so. And then 40 seconds. And so on. Until you realize as you start the thought that you are breaking your personal promise. You have begun to think about thinking it while you are thinking it.

That drill will help you understand what it feels like to notice, acknowledge, and redirect your thoughts during meditation. It’s the same skill, except meditation tends to be a bit harder because it’s not just one kind of thought you are blocking, it’s all but one. So if you successfully meditating for 5 minutes, you wouldn’t have had to notice, acknowledge, or redirect your thoughts about anything—you would have just held on to that original thought for the 5 minutes. But its going to be really hard to notice if this is happening or not if you don’t know what it feels like to interrupt those unwanted thoughts. Because if you haven’t learned how to interrupt unwanted thoughts, you really haven’t learned how to identify that you are having unwanted thoughts.

Another drill which I have told people—which may or may not help as I use it mainly for falling asleep, not meditating, but it still focuses the mind—is to attempt to think random” images instead of thoughts. Obviously this is not possible, but that is the best I can do at putting words on the process. When you think of an object, it is easy to quickly move from that object into some sort of story surrounding the object.

Ex. I think of my dad, and then I think of the phone call we had today, and then i think how my dad mentioned this one thing, which I forgot to do, but that’s ok I’ll do it during my lunch break tomorrow, and oh, wouldn’t a PBJ be delicious for lunch tomorrow...and on and on.

Instead, try NOT connecting the story. Think of a thought, make that thought an image, and the second you think of something slightly else, make that thought an image but don’t think about the connection between the two. Just try to force yourself to make the thought jump without a connector. It makes it easier if you try to visualize an image of the word. If you think “gorilla,” you need to mentally see that gorilla. If you think of a word that has no direct image, like “happy,” just see the word written out in your mind.

So instead of the above mental conversation, you will visualize “dad...gorilla...banana..stem...seaweed..rainbow… telephone..cord...hair..dance..peculiar...baseball..” and on and on. The words must have a correlation somewhere in my mind or I wouldn’t have thought them in that order, but I refused to let my mind try to draw the connection while I thought them. I just accept them as random (even if this is incorrect) and force myself to make the thought jump to the next image. The second your mind starts to stray and think “oh a telephone uses a cord,” (which I realized as I type this, not while I was thinking it) and you notice yourself straying (like in the first example), correct yourself and try to start making “random” image jumps again. Try to jump from image to image as fast as possible; if you stay too long on one image, it’s easy for your mind to form related thoughts.

This drill also makes it easy for you to notice when your thought process strays, and self-correct. Honestly, I don’t think it matters if your thoughts during mindful meditation are on one object (saying “ohmmm,” staring at the flame of a candle, and so on) or on many objects like this mental images drill, as long you don’t actually give thoughts to those many objects.

Brigid Apr 22, 2012, 3:01 AM
1 point
in reply to: CasioTheSane’s comment on: Grad School?
While having a B.S. in physics will likely be sufficient to enter all those graduate fields, it doesn’t (as was stated above somewhere) qualify you for a whole lot outside of applying to graduate programs—or impressing people in fields of mostly liberal arts majors. So be absolutely sure you are comfortable with going directly into a gradate program after college. There are very few “cool” jobs you can get with just the bachelors. Out of my graduating physics class, all but one went on to graduate programs. That one individual took a job doing something for a patent office.