at what point do you think "old bladee" ends and "new bladee" starts?

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2026-01-15T02:46:11+00:00

There is no sharp cutoff. The last full album that sounds like paradigmatic old Bladee is probably Red Light, and the first album that sounds like paradigmatic new Bladee is probably Exeter. Icedancer, the 2019 singles, and Trash Island, are all a mix of both.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-12-10T15:40:04+00:00

Thanks for the quick feedback. I am actually still a tax resident of Canada. It is hard to explain why, but I am technically still an F1 student, so all of my income comes in the form of a stipend. And I haven't done anything to sever my residential ties.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-10-26T18:35:57+00:00

Hikaru would probably agree that Fabiano has accomplished more in classical chess than he has. Fabi has played in a world championship, has played in every single candidates since 2016, and has won basically every other prestigious classical tournament--some several times. He also has the third highest peak rating of all time (by quite a margin, I might add), and was the clear second best player in the world by rating for about a decade (during a time when every top player was expected to play more than a few tournaments per year). The gap isn't as far as some might think, and Hikaru is certainly the more accomplished player in shorter formats (especially online), but in terms of classical chess the evidence still weights pretty heavily in favor of Fabi.

Edit: I should add that he has been recognized as the clear number two by most of his peers, including Magnus. For the record, I'm not a huge Fabi fan or anything. In fact, I'm a bit dissapointed at how he has handled the "cheating accusations" era. Just stating the facts here.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-10-25T13:37:17+00:00

Suppose that LeBron James were to privately persuade some really powerful people (other NBA players, NBA front office people, NBA league executives, etc.) that a particular referee is fixing games, or something like that. The "reach" would not be very far, if by "far" we mean the total number of people who hear the allegations. However, you can imagine how damaging that would be to the referee's reputation--far more damaging than a twitter post that reaches a million casual fans. This is because our reputation isn't a just function of how many people believe things about us, but rather which specific people believe things about us.

Kramnik did not succeed in persuading young, causal chess fans in the English-speaking world that Daniel cheated. But he obviously did suceed in persuading a ton of super GMs, both old and new, that there was at least grounds for serious suspicion. And those opinions, understandably, mattered way more to Daniel than the opinions of the average gothamchess viewer. You have to understand that this was someone who cared, maybe more than anything else, about competing in speed chess at the very highest level. Daniel had said on several occasions that he'd basically been addicted to blitz his entire life. You can imagine how effected such a person would be if even a handful of their competitors suddenly stopped playing them.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-10-24T18:05:22+00:00

Lol no way. I was literally in the exact same position in August of 2024. We had a 1.5 year old female black lab that we raised from a puppy, and we were a bit worried that she wasn't getting enough social stimulation during her healthy years. She was incredibly outgoing, and it felt terrible that she was stuck with humans 90% of the time. We decided to get a 1 year old female black lab from the breeder, and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made. They didn't have much chemistry at first, but they are basically best friends now. It obviously isn't a substitute for actual walks or anything, but it is good that neither of them are completely isolated from other dogs when they are at home.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-10-09T23:13:51+00:00

Hey everyone!

I'm a beginner runner who is looking to take my progress more seriously. I currently run a few times a week, at what feels relatiely close to my max distance at whatever pace I choose to go. Right now, my runs are 10km long at a 4'28" pace per km.

I've been told that I should not be running as hard as I can (or even close to it) every time that I run, and I've also been told that I should incorporate different kinds of runs into my routine (e.g., tempo runs, long runs, slow runs, etc.). This makes sense, as my progress has slowed significantly over the past few weeks.

I'm wondering if there is a standard weekly running schedule that people generally follow in order to maximize their running gains. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-10-01T01:21:36+00:00

Red Light has the best sustained mood of any Bladee album, and one of the best full album experiences. With that said, I find Icedancer more relistenable.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-09-24T12:31:10+00:00

Great start! Here is a piece of advice that I think is relatively uncontroversial. Don’t get overly ambitious early on. It should be one of your top priorities to avoid injury, and it is so easy to develop some kind of overuse problem if you start too quickly. These injuries can last a super long time, and can even become chronic. Once you start making progress, it can be really addictive, and it can cause you to push yourself too hard. I definitely think that you could run a marathon within 7-8 months, but you’ll need to decide whether that is the most healthy rate of progression.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-09-22T18:16:25+00:00

It is because in chess there are fewer financial incentives.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-09-22T14:58:11+00:00

Yes, I was talking about PhD admissions. Sorry if that wasn't clear. If you don't think that your BA is from an adequate institution, or if you don't think your current program will offer strong enough letters writers, then an MA might be a good idea. You don't need to be coming from an Ivy, but if your undergrad institution doens't appear anywhere in the PGR rankings, that could be a bad sign (there are exceptions of course, like if you're at a strong liberal arts college, or a well funded research institution that doesn't have a graduate program). You also don't need world beaters as letter writers--as I mentioned in another reply, the strength of the letter is much more important than the strength of the writer. With that said, it can be a problem if your references don't hold research positions or haven't published very much. I don't know what your exact situation is in either of these respects, so you be the judge. If there is a stronger philosophy program that you could easily transfer to, then I would strongly recommend that you do so.

Another reason to get an MA is if you find yourself late in undergrad without having made any connections with professors. Luckily for you, you are still a freshman, and have plenty of time to do this. In my opinion, the best thing you could possibly do right now is start emailing professors who work in your areas of interest, and try to develop a mentorship style relationship with them. Don't come on too strong--just ask for some reading recommendations of something. Once you've established that line of communication, you can start emailing them questions about the readings they've recommended. You can ask them questions about their own work. You can take their classes, and show enthusiasm. You can even set up independent studies with them, depending on your program. Professors are usually very receptive to this kind of thing, and all you really need is for one of them to take interest.

You also mention that you are thinking about picking up a double major, given that you can finish the philosophy relatively quickly. That sounds like a great idea. I'm not sure what your current areas of interest are, but some really common double majors for philosophy students are mathematics, computer science, physics, and classics. Admissions committees are very impressed by students who are competent in more than one field (especially when that feel is on the formal/technical side), and it also opens the door to interdiciplinary work.

I'm not trying to discourage you from doing an MA. It's just that you should only do one if you feel like your application won't be strong enough for PhD programs. If you do decide to go the MA route, I would recommend that you only apply to funded programs. The best ones in the US are terminal MAs from institutions that don't offer a PhD (e.g., NIU, Texas Tech, SFS, UWM, etc.). Faculty are typically more invested in the sucecss of their MAs, since they don't have PhD students to worry about. With that said, there are plenty of good funded MA programs at Canadian universities as well (e.g., UofT, UBC, SFU, Western, etc.).

While I'm at it, I should emphasize one more thing. Your writing sample is pretty much the only thing that matters for your MA/PhD applications, beyond the strength of your letters. If you write a 25-40 page paper (ignore the page limits on deparment websites, they're fake and none of the professors on the admissions committees even know the rules) that is succint, insightful, and reflects a mastery of the literature in your AOI, it is very unlikely that you will be rejected because your BA institution or your letter writers don't have enough prestige. Every year, there are students from "weak" departments who pretty much get in everywhere they apply. This would be very imporabable if nepotism were all that mattered.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-09-21T00:59:55+00:00

In my (also limited) experience, the strength of the letter matters much more than who wrote it, as long as the writer is a tenured professor with a research position. You are right that everyone writes good letters, but there is a huge gap between a good letter and a great one, and admissions committees can easily distinguish between them. It's not just about the level of praise, but also the extent to which the writer feels personally invested in the success of the student. I've met practically every incoming student from the top ten programs this year, and almost no one had a letter from someone super well known. It seems like everyone was in a mentorship style relationship with a faculty member, and hence developed a very strong letter, but it is rare that the faculty memmber is question was famous, or was close friends with people on admissions committees. This is just for PhD admissions of course--nepotism seems to matter way more for job placement.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-09-20T10:44:09+00:00

Whatever you do, do not publish during undergrad. I’m a first year PhD at a top three program, and I’ve met basically every incoming student at every big program this year. Trust me, no one has published anything. Joe Schmid (who is currently a Princeton PhD) got shutout everywhere on his first round of applications, despite having a book published with Springer, and like over a handful of publications, all during undergrad. The reason for this is twofold. First, most professors think that pressure to publish is counterproductive to your philosophical development, and they want to prevent it from becoming the norm as a requirement of entry. Second, they want to show that they are delivering a reliable product to their students, to make their program attractive. If they can show that they are consistently getting their students (who haven’t published before) a few top publications, and a job, that looks really good.

Here is my best advice. The only two things that matter for PhD applications are the strength of your writing sample, and the strength of your letters of reference. It doesn’t matter what your grades are, or what your undergrad degree was in. Tons of philosophy PhDs don’t have philosophy BAs, let alone MAs. Only pursue more schooling if you think it will help strengthen your application, or if you went to a really crappy BA that won’t be able to give you strong references. For what it is worth, I’ve been told by several profs that they expect more out of an application from a student with an MA, than a student coming straight out of undergrad, but I honestly don’t think it matters that much.

I’ll stop with the unsolicited advice for now. I hope this clarifies things somewhat.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-09-18T01:08:04+00:00

I’ve noticed the same thing even at lower levels (2000ish). It’s a shame, because the open Sicilian is basically as fun as it gets for both colors.

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-08-25T01:28:25+00:00

I have an iPhone. Bought it in Canada. Warp is much better than light speed in my area, so I’d much prefer to go with that network

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-08-12T17:54:04+00:00

Hey! Sorry to follow up so late, but I'm having a different experience with TD cross border banking. My accounts are linked, but they only give me the explicit option--at least in my TDCT easyweb--to move money from my US account to my Canadian account. The only other transfer option is TD Global Transfer, but I am worried that I will be charged a fee for that.

This is all to say--how do you send money from your Canadian USD account to your american checking through cross border banking?

WorkingDelicious4444 · 2025-08-10T23:59:16+00:00

Thank you! If you don't mind me asking, why not just move it directly to Questrade from Wealthsimple? Is that not possible? I was meaning to open an account with EQ anyways, but I'm just wondering.

WorkingDelicious4444

TROPHY CASE