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EAGx is happening the same weekend
This is a quite conflict :(.
There is only one LessWrong Community Weekend. But you might have the opportunity to attend another EAGx in Europe this year: EAGx Nordics on 26-28 April or EAGx Utrecht on 5-7 July.
I attended previous LWCW and EAGx events, and no, I guess it would be a really bad idea to attend both in the same weekend. Both are intense and extremely interesting, and 100 percent of EAGx overlaps with LWCW.
I used microcovid a lot but less so in recent months, because it is not useful for omicron and because it does not include rapid tests. Also I have become less careful after vaccination. I’ve also had the feeling microCOVID was a bit conservative. Does the risk estimate take into account that a part of infectious people deliberately stay at home and you are less likely to meet them?
Updates I would suggest (in addition to other update mentioned in other comments)
- adjustment of the risk for people who tested negative on a rapid test. Rapid tests are popular in my social circles. I would use this feature for 1-2 social activities per month for as long as the pandemic lasts.
- estimate the risk of catching long covid for vaccinated people. I don’t care about having symptoms of a breakthrough infection for a few days. I care about how it affects my wellbeing and productivity in the long run. Would be worth one time $20-$400 for me depending on how reliable it is and how much new information it provides me.
- (related) a suggested risk budget if you are vaccinated.
- (lower prio) Instead of filling in only one mask for “their mask“ specify how many people around you have which type of mask. Especially useful for public transportation where half of the people don’t wear their mask properly.
I have similar experiences as those described in the post and in the other comments.
I speak Dutch, English and German, all of them to an advanced level and all of them currently in use. I learned each language in a different way and use each language in a different situation. But they are closely related languages and the differences are subtile. My vocabularies in each language do not fully overlap, and knowing three languages gives me access to a wider range of words and phrases - which I unfortunately cannot share with most conversation partners.
Dutch is my native language but since I left the Netherlands I don’t use it in everyday work or life but do use it in personal notes and calls with my family. I can flow into a Dutch conversation with ease even if I haven’t been exposed to the language for weeks. Similar to Kaj, I do feel this emotional connection with words and phrases in Dutch that is lacking in any other language. Dutch phrases can come across as unusually friendly in some subtile way. I like to talk in Dutch whenever there is an opportunity, although not all native Dutch conversation partners I meet seem to share this.
Reading and writing in Dutch - somehow - feels awkward and unnatural. Discussing things like rationality, effective altruism, and software engineering in Dutch even more so. I spend a lot of effort finding my words, and once I got them, I want to throw them away because nothing quite fits.
My experiences with English and German are also different from each other. I learned the basics of both at school, but became advanced in English by reading university textbooks and I became advanced in German by socializing with native speakers. There are many everyday objects - household appliances, bike parts, tools, foods - that I know the name of in German but not in English. I have trouble understanding conversational English from native speakers.
I live in a multilingual area and it’s common that when you meet a person for the first time, you agree on which language to speak and stick with that, also if you have more than one language in common. And if there wasn’t a norm that conversations should be held in one language, I would mix much more so we could access our larger shared vocabulary.
Unfortunately, this meetup has been cancelled. I'm sorry for this.
Edit: this meetup is on 21 September and not on 20 September, because we decided to have our meetups on Sundays (biweekly) from then on.
We will put a more detailed description later at meetup.com: http://www.meetup.com/LWEANL/events/200065632/ You can also ask Sören. (LW username SoerenMind)
Ok, I'll do that.
Thank you for your reply. I hope I will have time to go through the sequences, there is now some ethics stuff on my reading list.
Our meetups will be announced on LW as well and I invite everyone to come! (If you live far away it might not be worth the travel cost, but you're welcome anyway)
Address
Filmcafé OSKAR Slachtstraat 5 (bij De Neude) 3512 BC UTRECHT
I'm Imma, recently graduated from university (mix of physics and chemistry) and I self-identify as effective altruist . I'm not very familiar with LW material but want to gradually improve my rationality. I consider attending the CFAR workshop but have to prioritize this to donating the money to effective charities.
I'm involved in a combined EA/LW meetup group in Utrecht (Netherlands). We have biweekly events which I'm planning to announce on LW as well.