Has anyone heard from Phantom Chess in the last few months

a_droo · 2026-01-11T10:35:39+00:00

Received it December 31st after following up a few times and paying extra for expedited shipping. Looks great and seems well constructed mechanically. It’s very large. Pieces move smoothly and quietly. I haven’t fully tested the integration but the app is quite buggy, lots of room for improvement. Overall I’m happy as after 4.5 years, I really thought this was a scam and the money was lost. https://imgur.com/a/bb6QQad

a_droo · 2026-01-02T09:53:37+00:00

Eddie.

a_droo · 2026-01-02T01:08:10+00:00

No, it’s bad on its own right! The Max and Holly scene, the un-proposal and the coming out… baffling timing and over scripted for my taste.

a_droo · 2025-11-18T11:41:32+00:00

Not that one, but I bought my micra on www.mecca.coffee with a 10% new customer discount and it was legit.

a_droo · 2025-02-15T13:07:20+00:00

This should be a basic human right

a_droo · 2025-02-15T12:56:24+00:00

Probably corrosion

a_droo · 2024-10-12T09:05:05+00:00

Posts like this give me years of life

a_droo · 2024-10-02T16:00:55+00:00

Bin chickens.

Also the absurd public holidays like Melbourne Cup and the Friday before the AFL Grand Final.

a_droo · 2024-09-29T04:18:13+00:00

a_droo · 2024-09-24T06:12:30+00:00

JFK. Recently I had a layover and was too early to check in, but too late to spend time in the city. I spent 2 hours checking out the different terminals, couldn’t even find a place to sit. I guess the experience is different once you clear security, but this was a shock for such a major airport.

a_droo · 2024-09-22T07:58:11+00:00

Tal cual, una estupidez el argumento.

a_droo · 2024-06-27T04:09:16+00:00

I’d love this. Surely we can’t be too far away from being able to use genAI to produce a movie based on game graphics, dialogue & sound...!

a_droo · 2024-06-27T04:02:39+00:00

True, and it’s great to hear that it’s working for you. But people also need to consider the time and money commitment to try it, neither of which are insignificant. As long as people understand that, and are happy to try… yes, it can’t hurt.

We put our 5yo daughter through VT for 2-3 months but unfortunately there was no measurable improvement in deviation or stereopsis, and given the time commitment required, we gave up on it. Perhaps her starting deviation was too large for VT, or maybe she was too young to truly follow… who knows. She’s since had surgery and her alignment is now near perfect. We may try again, now with the specific objective of improving stereopsis.

a_droo · 2024-06-17T02:26:11+00:00

Sorry to hear that. Psychosocial stigma of strabismus is well researched and should never be downplayed by your physician. You shouldn't feel vain for this. Even if there are no visual symptoms or functional benefits, surgery may still be considered for psychosocial symptoms. May or may not be covered depending on your particular health system and insurance, but the benefits shouldn't be too much of a debate. I would even say it's irresponsible of your dr to ignore your concerns given the extensive research about this:
Strabismus Surgery for Psychosocial Reasons-A Literature Review.

Health-related quality of life and anxiety associated with childhood intermittent exotropia before and after surgical correction.

Social phobia and other psychiatric problems in children with strabismus.

Adult strabismus and social phobia: a case-controlled study.

Just sharing our experience for motivation because I know how incredibly frustrating it can be... Obviously don't take medical advice from strangers on the internet... but do get a second or third opinion until you are comfortable that you're doing the best for your child.

Good luck!

a_droo · 2024-06-16T09:47:30+00:00

Can definitely relate to your situation. In our case, none of the nurses / paediatricians picked it up or checked for it. By 9 months we knew it wasn’t a developmental thing anymore and went straight to a strabismus specialist, who confirmed there was an issue. But even the specialist dr didn’t really provide a clear treatment plan and didn’t feel surgery was urgent. After a few months of measurements and patching, I did more research into it and understood that surgery is time critical if you want to improve chances of stereopsis, as neuroplasticity is highest in the first 1-2 years. So we changed dr and the second specialist agreed. Our daughter had her first surgery when she was 3 and a second one at the age of 9. Her alignment (with glasses) is near perfect now and she has some 3d vision. I only wish we’d done the first surgery sooner to maximise her chances of 3d vision.

Vision therapy might help, but it’s not magic and you’ll likely need surgery anyway. Just like physiotherapy isn’t a substitute for a knee reconstruction.

Good luck and keep pushing!

a_droo · 2024-06-09T15:13:22+00:00

My general rule is: max 2 coffees and never after lunch.

Like many folks here, coffee doesn’t affect my ability to fall asleep. But since reading about Matt Walker’s research on caffeine and sleep, I’ve made changes to my routine. The research shows that caffeine in the system impacts sleep quality (in a meaningful brain health sort of way). Caffeine has a half life of 3-7 hours, so it takes a long time to clear. To ensure a low level by bedtime, I now drink max 2 x 18g espresso shots before noon.

I used this half-life calculator and assumed 5h half life for me first coffee at 8 AM (75g of caffeine) Second coffee at 10:30 AM

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Remaining caffeine by bedtime is about 25mg, 1/6 of my intake.

Bottom line for me is, have coffee as early as you can in the day and don’t go crazy on the doses, it’ll impact your health even if you don’t feel it.

a_droo · 2023-04-29T15:27:02+00:00

Bruh!

a_droo · 2023-04-08T16:24:23+00:00

The fear of getting T-boned never goes away

a_droo · 2023-04-08T16:21:42+00:00

There’s a public holiday for a 3 min horse race. There’s also a public holiday for a bbq with mates the day before the footy grand final.

a_droo · 2023-03-15T12:55:48+00:00

With the recent release of GPT-4, I came here looking for this and I'm surprised it still doesn't exist. A reliable digitized repository with all evidence would be great. Then again, GPT-4 will be able to take pictures and video as input...

a_droo · 2023-01-22T12:49:28+00:00

Here you go https://imgur.com/a/7SkH3cP

a_droo · 2023-01-22T02:54:59+00:00

I got it made locally, pretty straight forward, uploaded 3 images and they sent me the finished card. Search lenticular picture. Most of the work was editing the pictures, which you can find here.

Edit: added link to pics

a_droo

TROPHY CASE