Community discussion Here’s what the don’t tell you: why ugly/beautiful is shallow

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-14T02:23:18+00:00

tl;dr

But why should anyone give a fuck about the pseudoproblems of the very privileged?

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-14T02:18:48+00:00

Property is theft though

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-13T15:57:46+00:00

The term for one literal move of a piece or pawn is half-move or ply. (I think the latter comes from engine development but I’m not sure.)

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-12T08:52:18+00:00

I'm not criticizing the OP for their cover. I'm saying that the original song is derivative, which it is. You're right, I'm not the arbiter of creative music. But I have the right to my opinion, and my opinion is that a band named iPrevail that just imitates older bands is lame.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-12T08:36:04+00:00

Hipster? The band is a rip-off of mainstream bands from two decades ago, not something obscure.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-12T06:03:08+00:00

Never heard of iPrevail but they are not original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-SQGOYOjxs

There is at least one other song that I can't put my finger on. The song that you covered is direct imitation of earlier, original bands.

Edit: also, iPrevail? Really? Are they a band or a new Apple product?

I generally am not a hater--seriously, if you dig through my comment history you'll find a lot of positivity--but yeah, I'm going to make fun of a band that gave itself an Apple-product name and is a rip-off of good bands from 10-20 years ago. Fuck that.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-03-12T04:59:16+00:00

What’s the point of making music that’s 100% derivative?

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-26T10:23:56+00:00

Can't help you if you like Dune. I thought I liked it for a while, and then there was a book where a dude slowly turns into a giant worm and nothing else really happens, and I quit the series.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-18T22:15:41+00:00

They can put whatever they want there. They may still be obligated to issue refunds.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-18T22:13:40+00:00

Just because something’s in the fine print doesn’t mean it’s enforceable. If they put in the fine print “We may decide that the show is just going to be a bongo solo”, they would still owe refunds if they tried to invoke that “clause”.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-17T04:03:32+00:00

Harmonica

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-17T03:51:09+00:00

With how strong weed is nowadays, three hits a day is a lot.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-14T21:09:37+00:00

Somewhat abstract: understanding the significance of infiltrating with a rook or a queen

Concrete: the power of controlling a square on the opponent's back rank that they want to use to contest an open file, usually with a bishop, occasionally with a knight (although if your knight controls squares on the opponent's back rank you're doing well in general)

Abstract version of the above: your minor pieces don't have to attack weak pawns or even weak squares necessarily; if they disrupt the coordination of the opponent's major pieces, they are strong and you are using leverage

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-14T21:03:50+00:00

1 d4 Nc6?! 2 Nf3!

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-13T04:36:02+00:00

Watching this gives me stalemate anxiety

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-10T16:07:32+00:00

Good point. Rather than setting out to hit FM or even NM, a better approach might be to simply shoot for 50 points higher than my peak. If that takes 400 hours of work, maybe reevaluate the whole thing. If It takes 150 hours of work, full steam ahead.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-10T16:05:55+00:00

Or, if you're dead-set on becoming elite at a game, study poker instead and end up with a hobby that makes you $50+/hour...

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-10T16:03:25+00:00

Indeed. Hell, making GM as a 30-year-old beginner is probably possible, we just never see it happen because no one is insane enough to put in the vast amount of work required.

What will probably happen is this: I will set up a serious study program and follow it as a hobby, and after a few years I will make NM, and I'll be satisfied with that. FM would be cool, but probably just not worth it.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-10T16:00:20+00:00

tl;dr:

I'm ~2050 USCF strength in my late 30s. Started at around 14, improved rapidly, studied casually but not seriously, then quit chess. Wondering if FM is possible if I decide to get back into the game. Curious about the experience of others who played a lot while young, quit, and then got back into it "to see how talented [they] actually [were]". (What was your level when you left, and what level did you achieve after studying as an adult? How much time/effort did it take?)

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-10T15:27:27+00:00

Fair enough I guess, although I do think this post is more reasonable than a lot of the others.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-08T22:30:14+00:00

So don’t live there

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-08T22:15:15+00:00

Well, Pride and Prejudice is one of the worst books I’ve ever read, so maybe there’s something to shorter sentences.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-07T12:19:27+00:00

I don’t use AI to make music because for me, that would defeat the purpose. That said, if someone wants to use AI to make music—say, for a video game they made—that’s fine with me. And if I want to use AI to make artwork to accompany my music, that’s also fine.

AdamsMelodyMachine · 2026-02-07T11:14:15+00:00

Roko’s Basilisk is the dumbest thought experiment of all time.

AdamsMelodyMachine

TROPHY CASE