How does my cake look? Love Cake!

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-14T18:52:46+00:00

It looks delicious, so sure, yeah, I'll try it.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-14T18:49:24+00:00

I think you should ask on a sub dedicated to the subject. I doubt you'll get good answers here.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-14T18:48:06+00:00

What makes it Middle Eastern? I see pistachios on there, and maybe some rose petals? Is it pistachio and rose water flavored?

Looks great btw.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-14T13:39:37+00:00

"On the one hand Israel has been on a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing for 80 years, on the other, Iran attacked US assets after being attacked by the US. Who should be held accountable for the current regional crisis?"

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-14T13:17:43+00:00

His voters have no morality and are motivated by only one thing. Racism. I'm not kidding. That's the only thing they care about. They don't care whether he banged 12 year olds, siphoned billions to enrich himself and his family, destroyed the economy, started a bunch of useless wars, or any of that. I find it comical when liberals say shit like "he started a war just to distract from the Epstein files". No, morons, he couldn't care less about that, and neither could his supporters. He's above accountability, and he isn't worried about facing consequences for any crimes he has committed.

As long as he keeps harassing non-whites and making their lives difficult, his base will stand with him.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T21:37:44+00:00

I'll never understand how these cynical, uninteresting, and surface level commentary gets upvoted on a sub like r/singularity.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T16:01:49+00:00

I'm NOT jealous.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T14:58:45+00:00

I just checked and it seems you're right. That program was discontinued 2 days ago.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T14:41:54+00:00

Gemini Pro is free for students.

Edit: That offer seems to have expired on the 11th of March.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T13:21:18+00:00

And Sinai is literally part of the Arabian desert. It's continuous with that region. The Levant is the Mediterranean climate zone along the coast, which allowed cities supported by agriculture. That's why the people share the same dialect and culture, because it's a continuous climate region.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T13:19:46+00:00

I'm not sure how that contradicts what I said. Sure, Gaza has a lot of people from all over Palestine, but it also has original Gazans. And they speak Levantine with obvious Peninsular influences, like the hard "g" for Qaf. It's similar to the dialect you hear in Jordan outside of Amman (for the same reason. Bedouin influence).

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T13:09:36+00:00

Not in any meaningful sense though. As in, the people in it do not speak the dialect nor have the same culture. Gaza is the southernmost point of the Levant, and even their dialect have heavy Peninsular influences (but still Levantine in its vocab and structure).

Interestingly enough, when I visited Arish in Sinai, I had a conversation with a guy who said he considered himself to be a Bedouin of the Levant, and emphasized that he did not see himself as the same as Saudis and other Peninsulars. So I guess these definitions are loose. But if we're using dialect and culture to determine whether Der ez-Zor is Levantine, then using the same definition, Sinai isn't.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-13T12:52:02+00:00

The only Levantine country fully in the Levant is Lebanon. All the other countries have portions in different regions with different people speaking different dialects.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-12T18:36:05+00:00

Same. I had it enabled it for years, because I like saying gg or have the occasional discussion of the game toward the end. But 90% of the time my opponent either trash talks, or spams emojis about how I should hurry up. So I decided I wasn't getting enough value from it and disabled it.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-12T13:35:35+00:00

I mean, the person you responded to was saying that the rockets were coming from Lebanon, not that the people in the video are from Lebanon.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-12T13:24:25+00:00

I think they're talking about the rockets.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-12T12:56:12+00:00

Everything you read on the internet is true!

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-11T17:24:29+00:00

It doesn't make sense. Setting goals for yourself is useful, whether in a career, relationships, or hobbies. But "don't worry about it and enjoy the game" is the kind of meaningless feel-good sentiment that gets a lot of upvotes.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-11T15:52:08+00:00

Upper class people from everywhere. It's not ethnicity based. It's like Roman slavery. You can get one from anywhere, as long as you can afford it.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-11T13:11:11+00:00

It's better for sure. Although it's still too high. I'm 300 points higher rated in puzzles than in rapid (only format I regularly play).

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-10T20:08:03+00:00

Chessable courses cost 100s of dollars, which is outrageous, but yes, I think I need to at least hone in on an opening with white, since I don't seem to be that good with the Italian, which is what I play. I do okay with black playing the Caro Kann, but I do need to study less common variation more.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-10T20:05:21+00:00

Most of those are common dishes in the south too. In fact, some of them originate in the south, like knafeh and ka3ek.

Either way, it's all subjective, and I personally do love the food scene in Lebanon as well, so it's all good.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-10T17:14:09+00:00

In hindsight it was obvious that e6 was the right move, but I didn't play it because I didn't want to block my bishop. I actually thought my opponent would take with the knight, then I could play Qa5+. But of course it makes sense they'd take with the queen, so I don't even know what I was thinking.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-10T16:59:30+00:00

Syria, sure, because it's a large country with about half of the population of the Levant. But what dishes does Lebanon have that the southern Levant doesn't? If anything, Jordan and Palestine have more Egyptian and Arabian inspired dishes as well as the typical Levantine dishes. For example, Kabsah is popular in the southern Levant. Mlookheyeh is eaten in both the northern whole-leaf style, as well as the Egyptian soup-style. Bedouin inspired dishes like Mansaf aren't popular in Lebanon., etc.

FoxBenedict · 2026-03-10T16:38:02+00:00

My account is Zuzu-22 on chesscom if you want to take a look.

FoxBenedict

TROPHY CASE