I imagine this may be the TDT post you were thinking of: http://lesswrong.com/lw/4sh/how_i_lost_100_pounds_using_tdt/
jam_brand
Robin Hanson’s “EquaTalk” seems relevant: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/equatalk.html
I don’t much like the taste alcohol; I wouldn’t say I have a strong dislike, but I’m pretty ambivalent and will usually abstain when my friends drink. When I do drink, it’s usually a single beer (amber ale’s usually a safe bet; I don’t generally enjoy IPA’s) and I’d say I end up drunk on average less than once a year, which typically has happened when a heavy-handed friend has hosted parties and mixed the drinks. Regardless of how much I drink, I never really experience any pro-social effects, though drinking more I do tend to feel mentally sluggish and others have noted I can seem withdrawn and/or somewhat oblivious to the happenings around me. I read a post on Yvain’s LiveJournal that suggested 3 drinks a week was probably good for one’s health (not that the following applies to me, but I feel I should also note that later JohnMaxwellIV posted a link to a paper saying the average health gains for women were cancelled out by increased breast cancer risk), so I bought a 6-pack of beer and set alarms on my phone to remind me 3 nights a week to drink one, but the beer just sat in my fridge for months as, even with the alarms, I was never motivated to drink them.
As for some other flavor preferences: I loved green olives as a kid and still quite like black olives on pizzas and submarine sandwiches. I don’t drink coffee, though it’s one of my favorite ice cream flavors. I also enjoy foods that are decently spicy (at asian restaurants, I’ve found that requesting the spiciness of dishes to be a 7 on a 10-point scale to usually be pretty safe bet).
I haven’t had this experience myself, but apparently it’s not difficult to induce: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134059271/creating-the-illusion-of-a-different-body
I have no direct experience with this myself, but have heard good things about http://zhealth.net. A quick search turns up Will Eden once recommending it here on LW and apparently a practitioner was brought in for a lecture at one of the first rationality camps so perhaps CFAR staff or one of the alums listed at http://rationalitybootcamp.blogspot.com could say more about it.
I second the Yvain recommendation, the linked post is excellent.
I don’t have anything to add to the discussion, but in the interest of being phatic I just want to say that this is a great introductory post—welcome to LessWrong!
Eliezer said it in http://lesswrong.com/lw/ul/my_bayesian_enlightenment : “That scream of horror and embarrassment is the sound that rationalists make when they level up.”
I commented in that thread myself and what you’ve said seems a worthy addition even without a disclaimer; it adds at least as much to the discussion as this post which nobody has downvoted. (of course, it might seem easy for me to say your comment should be posted if I’m not the once risking the karma punishment for doing so, so note that I’d be willing to copy/paste what you’ve said and take any punishment/reward for myself if you’d like)
Asking about people’s “preference on a 1 to 5 scale” (rather than, say, “their appreciation on a −2 to +2 scale” or “on a scale from strongly dislike to strongly like”), then seeing the next line begin “I like spicy things”, I nearly interpreted the far left to be “I like this only a little” and the far right to be “I like this a lot”.
I’m not sure if this is what you were thinking of (seeing as how it’s about a year old now), but “blog post summarizing the most useful bits of LW’s lore” makes me think of Yvain’s Five Years and One Week of Less Wrong.
In addition to talking to animal shelters, checking in with local veterinarians could be useful as well.
Here are some links I compiled on this topic recently when my cousin lost her cat. Best of luck!
TIPS
http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-tips/lost-cat-shelter-tip-sheet/ http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/recovery-tips/lost-cat-behavior/ http://www.catsinthebag.org/
(CONSULTING) DETECTIVES
http://www.missingpetpartnership.org/lost-pet-help/find-a-pet-detective/pet-detective-directory/ http://www.getmycat.com/pet-detective-database/ (not all consult via phone & email, but it seems many do, e.g. http://www.catprofiler.com/services.html)
eBOOKS
The following book apparently has an epilogue regarding finding missing pets: http://smile.amazon.com/Pet-Tracker-Amazing-Rachel-Detective-ebook/dp/B00UNPGD9Y/ (there’s also an older, dead-tree edition called The Lost Pet Chronicles—Adventures of a K-9 Cop Turned Pet Detective)
http://smile.amazon.com/Three-Retrievers-Guide-Finding-Your/dp/1489577874/ http://www.sherlockbones.com/ http://www.lostcatfinder.com/lost_cat_finder/search_tips.html
FORUM: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MissingCatAssistance/info
She did, yes. It took 9 days and predictably she lost some weight, but she’s otherwise ok. Anyway, I hope you can report similarly good news yourself soon.
On the last night while searching at the end of the road she lives on, my cousin noticed some movement by a mostly empty lot and when she approached she saw Lily (the cat) run into some weeds there. I wish I could say there was “one weird trick” that definitely helped, but it was actually more like a flurry of facebooking—as much for getting emotional support as for finding leads—and being vigilant enough to be in a position to get lucky.
While I’m sure you’ve thought of setting silent alarms on your phone, a slightly less obvious idea would be to get a watch that has a vibrating alarm capability.
Seeing as how you’re potentially willing to put money toward this, have you considering running a contest?
I’d be happy to take you up on this if it’s still available, my email is jam.br4nd@gmail.com. Many thanks for the kind offer either way!