November Housekeeping Post

1. Ever read Less Wrong? Consider yourself part of the “rationality community”? You are eligible to take the new 2013 Less Wrong Census/Survey, now including a MONETARY REWARD (of course, this is from the website that brought you the Counterfactual Mugging, so the reward can’t be simple). Go to http://lesswrong.com/lw/j4y/2013_less_wrong_censussurvey/ for more information and a link.

2. By an unexpected positive conjunction of my work schedule and financial situation, contrary to my previous claims I will being going to Raemon’s solstice celebration in New York City this year. I look forward to meeting a lot of new people and catching up with the old ones. I’ll be arriving in NYC on the 13th and staying until the 16th. Does anyone have a quiet space in town I could stay in for that time? You can email me at scott [at] shireroth [dot] org. Also, grumble grumble what’s the point of having three girlfriends if none of them can make it to the biggest rationalist social event of the year grumble anyone want to be my date to the party?

3. There will be a second Detroit/Ann Arbor Less Wrong/Slate Star Codex meetup at my house. Tentative date is January 3rd or 4th. Special guests Alicorn, Mike Blume, and Ozymandias will probably be attending. I will post more about this closer to the date and once everything has been confirmed, but if you live in the area please save the date (well, combination of dates).

4. Since this is titled “housekeeping post”, maybe I can ask about actual housekeeping! Large patches of my lawn are turning brown. I figured this was because of Winter and It Being Below Freezing, but this doesn’t seem to be happening to other patches or to my neighbors’ lawns. I mow my lawn irregularly and don’t water it because it rains a lot. Is there anything I’m doing wrong, or should I just wait for the snow to bury my problem?

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18 Responses to November Housekeeping Post

  1. Michael Wiebe says:

    “There will be a second Detroit/Ann Arbor Less Wrong/Slate Star Codex meetup at my house. Tentative date is January 3rd or 4th.”

    Ooh, I could make this! What’s the best way to get from London to Detroit?

  2. Joe says:

    Wait for the snow. Theres probably nothing you can do about your lawn this time of the year anyway.

  3. suntzuanime says:

    Is that a past-tense or a present-tense “read”? I used to read Less Wrong but these days I’m only involved with the “Greater LW Community” (e.g. this blog).

  4. Harvey says:

    Guy that lived for 25 years where you live now sayz:

    Don’t worry about the brown grass thing. Grass has a natural dormancy cycle and it can’t be avoided, only delayed and irritated with chemicals. Grass that goes brown earlier in the winter is likely to become nicely deep green earlier next year.

  5. Eneasz says:

    I assume you don’t have any dogs? They can kill grass like that.

  6. Sniffnoy says:

    I am probably not going to be able to make the meetup; I’m going to be out of town, probably not returning till the 5th. Sorry!

  7. Adele_L says:

    Oh, I’m glad you’ll be at the NYC celebration. I’m a long time lurker here, and I would really like to be able to meet you. I’ll be there the same days as you too!

  8. I’ve been lurking on LW for a few years, so I took the survey. The end question amused me. I wonder if there’s going to be any correlation between the answers to that and the Newcomb’s Problem one? Trust seems to be a factor for both.

    • Anonymous says:

      Could you elaborate on that connection?

      • I look at Newcomb’s Problem as a question of whether you can trust the entity running the the game to be knowledgeable / competent / honest enough to execute it according to the stated rules. The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a question of whether you can trust your partner(s) to do what’s best for the group rather than individually.

  9. Michael Mouse says:

    On the brown lawn patches, several possibilities spring to mind, which all suggets different responses.

    – A fungus or other disease is attacking your grass. Action: Lay off the fertilizer (fungi often thrive on the N). Aerate the grass with one of those prongy things (you can get spiked shoes, or a handled aerator tool, or a spiked roller, or a ride-on thing that will cover acres). If that fails, you could consider an antifungal treatment.

    – Insects are attacking your grass, possibly beneath the surface. (A clue is if insectivorous birds are particularly interested in the brown patches.) Action: Wait for the predator/prey cycle to take care of it. Or consider an insecticide.

    – An animal (e.g. dog) has started pissing on the lawn, killing the grass in patches where the urine goes. Action: Stop it doing so. How to do that depends on the animal. Camera trap would yield useful information and be a fun project if you like that sort of thing. (If you have a spare computer lying about, you only need some free software and a webcam.)

    – The ground is bumpy and mowing the hilly bits cuts the grass too close. Action: Raise the mowing height when you mow.

    – Grass is dying because of lack of water. Seems unlikely in the circumstances, although it could be local compaction making the ground water-impervious. Action: If it’s compacted, try aerating it as above. Water it, or just wait until it rains again. Grass is pretty robust, unless you cut the sward very close. (This is why bowling greens and golf courses have to water a lot.)

    • Chris H says:

      Brown patches in a lawn at this time of year could also be due to die-off of an annual plant in the lawn, like crab grass, although I’d expect to see that happen a little earlier than the end of November. If that’s the case then the fix is reseeding in spring.

  10. Ialdabaoth says:

    > There will be a second Detroit/Ann Arbor Less Wrong/Slate Star Codex meetup at my house. Tentative date is January 3rd or 4th. Special guests Alicorn, Mike Blume, and Ozymandias will probably be attending. I will post more about this closer to the date and once everything has been confirmed, but if you live in the area please save the date (well, combination of dates).
     
    My SO and I will be in Ann Arbor from the 24th of December until the 1st. If we cannot make the date, can we at least meet you at some point during that time?