jley

• jley 28 Apr 2011 7:44 UTC

  0 points

  on: Non­mag­i­cal Powers

  Think about things you don’t know how to do. :)

• jley 28 Apr 2011 7:27 UTC

  4 points

  in reply to: khafra’s comment on: Avoid­ing Fac­tual Muggings

  In the case of finding yourself within a few paces and under threat of a predator:

  I have one personal experience with a man with malicious sexual intentions following, talking, making body contact, shying away, being told to fuck off, and continuing to follow me while unbuckling his belt (I am a male).

  The solution (while I could have ran, I was not content with the chance of being caught off balance or seeing where I live or anything like that) came in holding my ground, raising a clenched fist and very present-mindedly yet firmly agressive, stating “I will fucking hurt you”.

  It seems likely that making that kind of explicit statement triggers a cost-benefit analysis in a predatory mind who is looking for pleasure (maybe both sexual and sadistic) without physically engaging them: verbally letting them know that you are ready, capable, and that any attempt will involve YOU hurting THEM.

• jley 27 Apr 2011 6:00 UTC

  2 points

  on: Ad­vice needed for Less Wrong Dis­cus­sion Topic: Learn­ing Mastery

  Certainly some relevant information in these recent posts on learned blankness (comments are a goldmine) and building small skills in the right order.

  I’ve experienced a notable increase in acuity of focus, multi-tasking, list-making and avoiding unnecessary mental hiccups through a few things:

  • practicing mental math on the 3-4 digit arithmetic practice on Khan Academy (which interestingly enough, while I did not consciously define it, taught me to approach learning in a rather similar manner to that described in the two LW posts linked above)

  • sites like Lumosity, Cognitive Fun, and especially (Brain Workshop’s)[http://​​brainworkshop.sourceforge.net] Dual N-Back Game and another game which I have lost the link to involving visually tracking multiple objects (gems in this game’s case) - hopefully someone will come along with the link!

  • reading papers (articles, lectures, etc) as a group, out loud, slowly, and answering questions as they arise, allowing for as much as several hours over coffee in a quiet room to read even something that’s only a handful of pages long. It helps to encourage deep discussion but to have someone around to keep the conversation relevant, as it tends to stray too far off course.

  • going over a Bach piece as a group with someone who understands, even if vaguely, music theory and counterpoint and following the voices and how they interrelate.

  I suppose that’s what I’ve got to contribute for now. Possibly more later. YMMV, this is largely anecdotal aside from the flash games.