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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   1661 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for August 27, 2025

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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-If you haven't been before do some of the touristy stuff. Much of it is overrated but it is still worth doing once (ex: Time Square).

-NYC is arguably the greatest city in the world. With the most selection in the world. This means shopping (for a partner maybe?). You ever wanted incredible Indian food but don't have it in your usual area? What about something more specific like Cambodian? Pull up some lists of stuff and go to town.

-You'll be there for a minute, depending on what your situation is it may be worth doing something like taking Amtrak to Philly for a day trip. If you are coming in from say Toronto or otherwise have limited access to the east coast you'd be surprised at how much you can do nearby. You'll never run out of things in NYC but it can be overwhelming and adding extra stuff can be paradoxically helpful.

-I've never been to an IRL Motte/SSC diaspora meet up but I've always figured you'd have a chance at getting some of the paranoid opsec types with an open invite to some location instead of a direct "lets meet up." Food for thought?

Philly sucks, do not visit.

Bruh the place has some pretty great food, for the history buffs it's one of if not the best choices in the U.S. and for men of culture it's got one of the most exquisite art collections in the world. Not a bad spot. Now Philadelphians......

If you're already in NYC, the food and cultural attractions of Philly are negligible. I guess you could go see independence hall, but is that really worth dealing with the Philadelphians and what they've turned Philadelphia into?

Food-wise that's fair unless you specifically want a Cheesesteak or something like that.

Independence Hall, Liberty Bell and so on are solid.

The Philadelphia Art Museum and The Barnes are both A++++++

I think I heard once that Philly has the second largest collection of impressionist art in the world that's something.

I'm just gonna say it. The liberty bell is basically a tourist trap.

The Barnes is a good museum, but it (even combined with the Philadelphia art museum) pales in comparison to the Met alone (and the Met is just one museum).

The liberty bell is basically a tourist trap.

I don't disagree but I feel like this is most America history items.

I think we might have different tastes, especially once you had the context...The Barnes is just an exquisite museum.

-I've never been to an IRL Motte/SSC diaspora meet up but I've always figured you'd have a chance at getting some of the paranoid opsec types with an open invite to some location instead of a direct "lets meet up." Food for thought?

Excellent idea. I will be at Gebhard's Beer Culture in the upper west side, this Saturday (8/30) at 5pm. Happy hour runs until 6. I will stay until at least 7. First round's on me.

I don't know NYC well, so if that's a terrible pick, suggestions are welcome.

I'll be in a black tshirt with shrodinger's cat on it.

Related question: are there any rationalist discords/meetups etc in NYC?

Are there any rationalist discords/meetups etc in NYC?

The semiannual Astral Codex Ten meetup list has just been posted. It indicates that there are meetups in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Newark.

@Southkraut: Are there any in southern Germany?

There are meetups in Erlangen, Freiburg, Mannheim, München, and Stuttgart.

are there any rationalist discords/meetups etc in NYC?

Just for a laugh: Are there any in southern Germany?

The Munich one is pretty well visited. Theres also a small one in Erlangen. Can DM you the group chat links.

Thanks. Fire away! But there's what's probably a <1% chance of me actually going to any of them. I'm not much of a social animal.

Hah, this is peak introvert energy. Not actually wanting to attend, but wanting the warm feeling of knowing there are groups nearby that you could attend if you wanted to.

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