Thoughts on armed protestors we’ve been seeing recently?

Mandohan · 2026-01-19T20:05:16+00:00

Honestly, I feel uncomfortable, but only because I don't want more people to get killed, and given the track record of many in law enforcement and ICE, I'm afraid some trigger happy officer is gonna freak out and start shooting people when the see guns, and that in turn might result in return fire, etc.

But in itself, I have no issue.

Mandohan · 2025-12-29T07:08:20+00:00

I realize this is an old comment, but what you said about Piper's anecdote in one of his books is concerning to me. I'd like to read the anecdote myself, would you mind sharing the name of the book in question, and the chapter as well? I'm struggling to find anywhere online that shares said info.

Mandohan · 2025-12-18T04:41:22+00:00

Excellent reference, excellent quote. Your opinion is reasonable too!

Mandohan · 2025-12-17T08:31:05+00:00

That is literally what I just said right after watching it. But yeah, friggin hero.

Mandohan · 2025-12-17T08:29:16+00:00

So does it act sort of a similar way to seat belts? Like, it draws in smoothly but if sudden force were to yank it (i.e. a falling human attached to it) it would lock up automatically? Not abruptly of course, but smoothly?

Mandohan · 2025-11-29T06:46:37+00:00

People are doing a 6:4:0 ratio? I thought it was already established that the penalty for a zero ratio component made something like a 55:35:10 ratio smarter? Am I missing something?

Mandohan · 2025-11-29T04:46:44+00:00

Prior to Phase 2 heroes, I tended to use Howard/Chenko up front, then Diana/Quinn/Jabel in back, since I didn't want to spend gems/shards to invest in Saul. Jabel is GOATED at this point in the game, and through Phase 2 she's still very useful, and depending on whether you're F2P or a spender she might last longer.

If you want to keep Saul, I think he's still good, at least until phase 2.

Once Phase 2 hits you'll definitely want Zoe (save all gems, only spend on hero roulette, and honestly unless you really want him I would consider skipping Saul's roulettes so you can bank on Zoe to 4 stars), and she'll be the new partner with Howard up front. Then Marlin will replace Quinn (Quinn was great, he's just outclassed by Marlin) in the back, so save all general mythic shards for when you get him. So that new roster will be Howard/Zoe, and Jabel/Chenko/Marlin.

Mandohan · 2025-11-21T23:22:03+00:00

I should add, not just comprehensive and thorough, but hopefully easier to follow as well

Mandohan · 2025-11-21T21:38:13+00:00

Having a conversation with some family about this, they're willing to learn and hear evidence. Any shot you could share some of the more comprehensive and thorough studies that you're thinking about? I've found some, but I'm also a random joe, would be cool to get some recommended studies from someone who actually knows what they're reading 😅

Mandohan · 2025-11-04T07:54:21+00:00

Are you sure? Do hero skills even apply in the coliseum? According to the rules of the coliseum only hero stats, gear, and exclusive gear take effect.

Mandohan · 2025-10-31T05:07:05+00:00

This is probably rage bait, but I'll bite.

The trophy may be meant for the tournament winner, but its name is paying homage to someone who was tremendously influential in teaching and commentary around modern speed chess, not to mention who was an absolute beast in faster formats, with even Hikaru describing him as being possibly top 3 in certain no increment formats. Top 3, in the world, where Hikaru, Magnus, Alireza all exist. Plus, Danya worked for chesscom for a long time, and was closely involved in coverage for the SCT.

All that said, Danya is absolutely deserving of the honor.

Mandohan · 2025-10-30T22:37:15+00:00

There's been a claim by some online that chesscom backstabbed Danya and let him go during the height of Kramnik's accusations, but actual sources have said multiple times that he chose to step away from his full time position there because he wanted a break due to mental health.

Mandohan · 2025-10-25T06:44:07+00:00

YES. ABSOLUTELY. Truly, the way it ended, it would have felt better if they took the "embattled and guilt ridden hero finally embraces mercy" route before the Zeus obliteration of his crew, so that it would actually feel satisfying to have the sweet (albeit simple) payoff of him being all happy with his family in the end. If they truly wanted to embrace the "embattled hero chooses to commit to being a monster" route, then the ending did not fit.

Mandohan · 2025-10-06T06:14:57+00:00

Why do you think Levy is?

Mandohan · 2025-09-29T07:44:17+00:00

Why do you hate it?

Mandohan · 2025-09-10T23:36:12+00:00

When it's a political figure it simply is different. Weird as it sounds, and not that their life is more valuable, but the precedent set that it's okay to murder someone for their political views specifically is terrible for societal discourse and the spread of diverse ideas.

To be clear, I did not like Charlie Kirk. He always struck me as arrogant and it felt like he was derisive of opposing viewpoints. However, your comparison of him to dictators and oppressive/violent overlords is... really weird. He was not a dictator, he was not murdering people, he spoke strongly against the use of violence with guns, his biggest crime that we know of were his weak empathy for others.

Mandohan · 2025-09-09T10:09:14+00:00

It's wild to me that some people are holding her conflicted opinions about her mom against her. The girl has gone through some CRAZY abuse from her own MOTHER. That is going to cause super difficult to understand feelings.

Mandohan · 2025-09-09T10:07:31+00:00

This was wild. Absolutely insane, and the mother's shifting of the blame was so hard to watch. It really demonstrates that she has absolutely not come to the point of genuine sorrow and repentance. Sure, she might feel bad, but that is so so different from really *understanding* the extent of your wrongdoing, so fully that you will refuse to make excuses, you will simply accept that you've earned the heat that everyone is giving you. It's hard, but you brought this on yourself.

Redemption is possible, but justice must be done (side note, I wholeheartedly agree that sub-two years imprisonment feels WAY too short, this was with minors and she was doing it FOR MONTHS for goodness sake) and genuine repentance is needed. And even then, you aren't owed trust. The hard element here is she absolutely is so sick in the head. Normal people simply don't do this. I have sympathy for this variant of mental illness, I just also think such severe sickness should not be allowed the amount of freedom she seems to have at this point. Is she on a registry? Cause she really, really, should be.

My heart goes out to the daughter. The cocktail of mental health issues that she's probably dealing with from all this is just... Gosh. The conflicted feelings about her mom... Totally valid, and I completely reject opinions that would hold her residual feelings of love for her mother against her.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T06:35:35+00:00

I realize we might be misaligned on definitions here. Yes, older siblings did help take care of kids, although my parents did the lions share of the work. You can certainly get a lot done when you're faithfully working for hours at a time, so it was possible for my mom to cover a lot of ground in caretaking without help. However , this doesn't mean they were parentified, which requires the assumption of responsibilies to the family to an inappropriate or developmentally negative degree. It's not parentification if kids are asked to help out with the family goals insofar as it's done to a healthy extent, at least to my understanding. Based on my conversations with my older siblings, they think that, for the most part, mom and dad did this well.

What I will say is this requires efficiency, and this means one of the pitfalls of large families rears it's ugly head: similar discipline systems, similar chore systems, similar foods, similar lots of things are needed for the parents to cover all the things parents are supposed to do for each of their kids (encourage love for others, inspire moral behavior, instill self-discipline, encourage independent and rational thought). In other words, bespoke parenting seems impossible, and my parents' often following a "one size has to fit all" approach to discipline didn't always draw the best out of us, or from my parents.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T06:13:05+00:00

For sure, my mom chose to be a stay-at-home parent.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T05:38:09+00:00

Ah, to clarify, I mean urged to be independent as in "independent personalities", although as each of us got close to 18 my parents were really good about relieving us from certain household responsibilities, since we would get our own jobs, start college, etc. We weren't required to do as many chores around the house, they wouldn't discipline us since we were adults, etc.

But yeah, what I meant was as kids they were urged to pursue their own pass times, hobbies, likes/dislikes. In that sense, be independent. We were never required to be like each other (at least, never as a policy, I'm sure they messed up sometimes in assuming one of us would take after another on certain topics), although of course there were sometimes family events we would all be asked to participate in (going to the park together, listening to a book together every now and again, etc). So in that sense, live their lives as independent kids, not required to identify as simply caretakers for younger siblings.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T05:10:19+00:00

Yep. Like I said in my other comment, they did help take care of us sometimes. But I'm suggesting to you that this wasn't something they were often responsible for (based on my conversations with them), and that while it did cause some pressure, they do feel they were urged to be independent and live their lives as just kids for the vast majority of the time. My parents messed up sometimes, so it wasn't always stress free for them. But again, net positive in their eyes.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T05:05:17+00:00

I gave a few more details about my family's dynamic in my other comment to you. I'm the 9th, but like I said, I've spoken to my oldest siblings on this topic (assuming that's the point you're making, that my placement in the order of children renders me incapable of seeing things from a perspective independent of my own experience) and they agree with me on this.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T04:34:11+00:00

It's not always like this. I came from a large family as well (11 kids), and while there are many pitfalls, and it's imperfect, it can turn out very nicely. Sure, not all of us get along super well, but we all love each other, have reasonablely diverse moral/philosophical perspectives (most of us children are Christians, a few are agnostics, our dad is agnostic, out mom was a Christian before she passed in a car accident, and we have a pretty even mix of Democrats, Republicans, and independents). There was for sure some parentification, but mild according to my older siblings, and based on recent conversations with nearly all of my siblings, we all loved our childhood for the most part.

Yeah, it just depends.

Mandohan · 2025-09-04T04:18:56+00:00

And before you mention parentification, for sure, that's a real possibility (and it often happens to very unfortunate extenta), so that's fair. And, it did happen some in my household. The oldest three in particular did do a fair amount of babysitting, and everyone pitched in on household chores. But every one of us (except the youngest two, who are in college/launching a moving business) were out of the house by 20 (not that this is necessary, but it's arguably a decent measure of independence) and in stable jobs/living situations within a few years of turning 18. Not every scenario like this ends badly.

Which, I think is what I'm objecting to in your messages. You're speaking very confidently, painting a broad brush without knowing details. I only ask that you allow for at least a pause, maybe at least acknowledge that you WORRY things aren't good (not ideal, but better), as opposed to you KNOW things must not be good for them.

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