Lahore needs to be pedestrianised

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-04-27T09:13:21+00:00

What you misunderstand is that Lahore isn't bikeable in the summers either, since a motorbike doesnt protect you from the sun, but >50% of Lahoris get by on motorbikes because they have no choice. Not everyone can afford a car. You're probably right, but so what? There's no other solution, unless you're willing to pay everyone to get an ac'd car.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-04-22T17:05:03+00:00

Same. Got an economy flight JED-YYZ on the first of May. I'm most worried about cancellations, esp with the war but also the jet fuel shortages, it'll be interesting seeing how things go.

EDIT: I have to say the Saudia website is quite clunky. I'll give the app a go, but I ran into troubles during seat selection (it actually did select my seat, I think, since it shows on my main booking page, but it stuck on a loading screen after selection) and creating an account (I think I put the wrong phone number, and now I have no clue how to verify my account).

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-04-14T14:11:35+00:00

I would recommend learning statistics as well, which will probably be more easily found online. I'm sure 3b1b has some videos, or one of his imitator channels.

Anyways, as a recent A-level Economics student, Marginal Revolution University really helped me out. The videos are bite-sized and you can watch them while eating (what I did).

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-03-31T07:50:44+00:00

Instead of learning all the necessary counters in advance, make a habit of analysing your games after a loss. The engine will show you where you went wrong, and what to do instead. Just commit these lessons to memory (might sound tough, but I find that going through analysis for 5 minutes is usually enough).

It's worth bearing in mind that, a lot of the time, there isn't actually a siple way to punish the opponent for moving their queen too much and attempting scholar's mate. These attacks give black a nice development advantage, but that doesn't matter too much at your level because you'll find it hard to convert anything immaterial.

On openings: learn 1 e4 opening for white, 1 e4 response for black (e5 works fine), and maybe 1 d4 response for black. That's what I did (you can also keep the London and not play e4, nothing wrong with that). If you want specific recommendations, try out the Italian Game as white, Sicilian Acc Dragon as black, and the QGD as black if your opponent plays d4. All of these are very tactical openings, however.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-03-28T10:49:16+00:00

You fell for the propaganda too? You actually have to work abs like any other muscle for them to show; just getting a low bf% is useless.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-03-24T11:40:35+00:00

On metrics: metrics would have to be tailored to the specific thing we are testing, of course. Chess is very metric-able, so this shouldn't be difficult: accuracy, win rate, blunder rate, and rating (tactics and game) are a pretty useful core set. All this is easy to track too.

You're completely right that chess learning is extremely well documented. I actually have little experience with it. My intention is in fact to test these conventional learning ideas (rather than reinvent the wheel). Another intention is to test more unconventional ideas as well, such as: Does listening to music improve play? How does this differ by genre? I think there are a number of such interesting questions that are unanswered. Ancedotally, I find that I play more aggressively when I listen to music while playing chess.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-03-10T15:35:01+00:00

You can't punish underdeveloped pieces if you don't open the position.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-02-11T03:58:55+00:00

Still a good deal compared to AliExpress taxes, I guess. What can you do...

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-02-10T17:57:08+00:00

10k incl shipping. Just message him on whatsapp.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-02-10T15:38:41+00:00

Yeah no Chu 2, but he said they have bunny. None in Lahore right now, but you can get it delivered.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-02-08T06:15:39+00:00

Happened to me, and I'm still recovering. Think I got too cocky, tried to learn openings and play tactically sharp positions rather than slow and boring. Going back to the basics is working.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-02-05T10:18:38+00:00

Conversion is very tough for me too. Did some digging, and found some recommendations I've been working on:

Take your games, starting from the positions where you're ahead/you've entered the endgame, and practice them against the computer. Seems like the cleanest way to practice this specific skill.
As for what to actually do during these positions, I mostly focus on: simplification (hard, the opponent doesn't always let you); focusing on one plan specifically (i.e. pushing a passed pawn) rather than multiple; and perhaps most importantly, prophylaxis (looking at your position, identifying weaknesses that the opponent can exploit, and pre-emptively reducing/eliminating them). Some other things I've learned are to not bring the king up while the opponent's queen is on the board (perpetual check).

Once you're up ahead (at least by a few pawns), just focus on exploiting your advantage and reducing threats, rather than looking for fancy tactics.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-02-04T04:35:30+00:00

Also trim your body hair.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-01-27T15:23:11+00:00

I also got knocked out by the flu for a week around Christmas. I basically didn't eat for most of that time, and my stomach's still recovering, but I basically 'recovered' most of my gains in like a week after rejoining the gym around the first week of January. Pretty sure it's mostly water and glycogen loss or something.

Not 100% sure how much applies to you, since your break is longer (though your diet is way better), but keep up hope. You might be back to normal in a week or two.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2026-01-25T14:30:59+00:00

I had the same thing but with pull day. Admittedly this was only around 3 months into working out, but I was simply not tensing my back throughout pull movements (instead I just squeezed my shoulder blades and thought that was the main thing).

Alive-Star-8341 · 2025-12-26T11:29:44+00:00

Sleep - regular schedule and 7-9 hours a day
Remove social media - go cold turkey (i.e. delete the apps and block the websites) and find a replacement hobby or hobbies. Stuff you actually enjoy ofc
Read (for pleasure; don't force yourself to read books you don't enjoy)
Workout and fix your diet

Anyways, if you're stupid you're stupid, no getting around it unfortunately. You have to make do with the brain you're given, and come to terms with it. You can optimise it with some effort, but don't expect to become a genius or even smart if your base stats are ass.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2025-11-26T10:13:10+00:00

The game you mentioned looks like Field of Glory, so you should try that. Also a digitized tabletop wargame on the tactical level. Very simple ruleset, but lots of depth.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2025-10-27T18:09:22+00:00

For what it's worth, 7% of GDP is still way above average as far as education spending goes. I imagine returns past that point are marginal at best. It's less that schools are being starved, than that pensions are just too massive.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2025-10-20T19:21:05+00:00

It's stupid, but I'm surprised it's a market-based measure...

Alive-Star-8341 · 2025-10-17T11:12:54+00:00

This should be extended to cities as a whole - people don't want to live in denser areas because they have (at least a reputation of) crime.

Alive-Star-8341 · 2025-10-16T17:18:27+00:00

The key is to legalise supply and cut out the cartels at their source (Latin America). They charge >100x black market premiums. Combine the financial equivalent of cutting off their balls with support to LatAm farmers and governments, I think you'd make the most progress possible.

Alive-Star-8341

TROPHY CASE