Wolpertinger's recent activity
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Comment on Recommendations for laid-back games in ~games
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Comment on Archaeologists discover world’s oldest wooden structure: dating back half a million years and predating the evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens in ~humanities.history
Wolpertinger Link ParentExactly. If it could be easily built, then it could have been used as a temporary shelter. It's entirely possible that many such structures were built all over the area, and the humans moved from...Exactly. If it could be easily built, then it could have been used as a temporary shelter. It's entirely possible that many such structures were built all over the area, and the humans moved from one structure to another as needed when following a particular herd or whatnot.
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Comment on Losing my patience with chess in ~games.tabletop
Wolpertinger LinkMy understanding is that, if you know opening principles, then pick an opening for white and two for black (one to respond to 1.e4 and one for 1.d4) and study the most common few moves for them....My understanding is that, if you know opening principles, then pick an opening for white and two for black (one to respond to 1.e4 and one for 1.d4) and study the most common few moves for them. After that, you should focus on endgame study and tactics puzzles to practice ideas (forks, pins, skewers, checkmate patterns, etc, this site was nice to learn motifs and this site has tactics although a good curated book is better), as well as to analyze your game afterwards to see what went wrong. When analyzing your game, try to step through it yourself first before using an engine, and when you decide to use an engine, only look for blunders and missed tactics. A good book to read at your level is Logical Chess: Move by Move by Chernev. However, when reading any books, have a physical board next to you to actually go through any games and do any tactics puzzles.
That being said, I rarely go over 1100 in chess.com in rapid. The outline above is nice, but pretty rigid and unfun once you get into heavy tactics study, although I typically don't have a ton of time to devote to tactics study to see major improvements in addition to playing and analyzing the game. The biggest tip I have is to be ok with your level of play. If you don't know the ratings, do you have fun playing? I found that chasing a given rating led me to burnout and generally not having fun, and I only started to have fun once I was ok with my level of play and how slow it could be to improve.
It's also easy to think that chess is a measure of intelligence. It's not. Someone who is good at chess is just someone who is good at chess. If anything, what separates grandmasters from more casual players (besides the time spent on focused study) is how good their memories are. If anything, chess is some sort of measure of memory recall/pattern recognition, but even that misses the forest for the trees.
If you're having fun, then out of the above, I would just learn a common line or two in a couple of openings (stay away from the sicilian and don't go too deep in theory), common endgames (ex. do you know how to mate if you have a king and rook against their king?), and what a fork, pin, and skewer are, and just play. Take some time after a game or two and analyze them yourself to look for your blunders and missed forks, pins, and skewers. If you're really feeling adventurous, take screenshots of your missed tactics and checkmates to make personalizes tactics puzzles and study those occasionally. Or ignore what you want and just play. If you're not having fun, then there's really no point.
Rereading your post, are you playing people around your rating? I wouldn't stray more than, say, 50 elo above or below your current rating, if possible. Chess.com says the following:
As a general rule of thumb, a player who is rated 100 points higher than their opponent is expected to win roughly five out of eight (64%) games. A player with a 200-point advantage will presumably win three out of four (75%) games.
If you're playing, say, 1000 rated players while you're only 700 - 900, then that could be why you're losing frequently.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Wolpertinger Link ParentJ-Space seems ok. When I first started playing eve (when wormholes were introduced to the game), my involvement was just day tripping in a drake to attack sleepers with a friend. After a while, I...J-Space seems ok. When I first started playing eve (when wormholes were introduced to the game), my involvement was just day tripping in a drake to attack sleepers with a friend. After a while, I abandoned them to join a null sec block for years, so my experience with J-space has been pretty small.
My experience these days are that there's periods of no activity besides our corp (and sometimes not even then) separated by periods of roaming gangs hopping into our hole to kill us and most of the people in the corp turtling in their stations. By and large, we're pretty laid back. Has that been your experience before Blood Union started kicking everyone out?
We seem to be very much an industry/pve corp that's based out of a wormhole. We're part of an alliance that's more pvp oriented, though, and have opportunities to participate in or defend against evictions and other types of pvp.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Wolpertinger LinkI'm bouncing between three games at the moment, while feeling guilty about not finishing a fourth: Diablo 4 (PC): I'm finding the story engaging but the playthrough tedious, if that makes sense. I...I'm bouncing between three games at the moment, while feeling guilty about not finishing a fourth:
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Diablo 4 (PC): I'm finding the story engaging but the playthrough tedious, if that makes sense. I feel like I can chalk it up to my build (the bone necro levelling hold on maxroll.gg). It seems to be a bit of a glass cannon with mana issues. With this build, I need to learn the bosses like I would the bosses for dark souls or elden ring. At first, I liked this idea, but after several hours, I feel like I should just pick elden ring back up for that gameplay.
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Spiritfarer (Switch): this game's loop reminds me of stardew valley. However, the spirits you encounter early had sad stories, and were heartbreaking yet cathartic to send off. Some of the later spirits don't seem to have the same touch. And one, in particular, is annoying (although from the spoiler I read, I understand it's inclusion into the game). Interestingly, this game has been alot more engaging than diablo 4.
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EVE Online (PC): I picked this game up after a several year break a few months ago. I've since joined a wormhole Corp. However, I don't know if they could hold their own without their alliance's help if their system is seriously contested. So far, it's been fun, although I feel like I have 15 - 20 years on everyone else in the corp. I know my character is almost as old as one of the members...
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From the sidelines - Elden Ring (PC): this game is amazing, but I feel like it's too long. I only got up to Castle Sol before I dropped off the game again. I might wait for the DLC before I pick it back up again unless I can get some good invasions (which seems unlikely - I'm on PC).
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Comment on I, like many of you came from Reddit. But what brought you to Reddit? in ~tech
Wolpertinger Link ParentMe, too. When I first visited reddit I bounced off of it because it was pretty rough looking compared to digg. However, when digg v4 hit, I migrated to reddit, which seemed to have improved since...Me, too. When I first visited reddit I bounced off of it because it was pretty rough looking compared to digg. However, when digg v4 hit, I migrated to reddit, which seemed to have improved since I last visited.
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Comment on AMA with u/spez going on right now - "Addressing the community about changes to our API" in ~tech
Wolpertinger Link ParentWith how the api has been handled and with past experiences, I don't trust /u/spez when he says old.reddit.com isn't going away.With how the api has been handled and with past experiences, I don't trust /u/spez when he says old.reddit.com isn't going away.
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Comment on Neil Gaiman defends Sandman show casting nonbinary, Black actors in ~tv
Wolpertinger Link ParentI don't know ow where I heard of it, but there was a thought that conservatives loved how pervasive the military structure and hierarchy in general were in the federation (especially human)...I don't know ow where I heard of it, but there was a thought that conservatives loved how pervasive the military structure and hierarchy in general were in the federation (especially human) society. It was something to aspire to by many people in universe, and that sort of society was portrayed as a utopia.
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Comment on What common wisdom/advice do you disagree with? in ~talk
Wolpertinger Link ParentYour piano example isn't good. Sure, you're practicing every day, but you're physically doing different things in each practice session. You'll play slightly differently based on what you learned...Your piano example isn't good. Sure, you're practicing every day, but you're physically doing different things in each practice session. You'll play slightly differently based on what you learned the day before. You're not hitting the same keys in the exact same way - the situation changed.
This saying seems to apply to situations that don't change between attempts.
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Comment on Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda, id Software, Arkane Studios, and more in ~games
Wolpertinger Link ParentI don't know if they'll make it an xbox exclusive. With the Halo Master Chief Collection, they went out of their way to port it to PC, and even went as far as selling it on Steam in addition to...I don't know if they'll make it an xbox exclusive. With the Halo Master Chief Collection, they went out of their way to port it to PC, and even went as far as selling it on Steam in addition to the Microsoft Store.
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Comment on What are the oldest games you still regularly play? in ~games
Wolpertinger LinkEvery few years, I'll play the following games: X-COM: UFO Defense, Master of Orion 2, DOOM (although I typically play source ports these days, so maybe this doesn't count), and Minecraft. They...Every few years, I'll play the following games: X-COM: UFO Defense, Master of Orion 2, DOOM (although I typically play source ports these days, so maybe this doesn't count), and Minecraft. They all scratch different itches. I wouldn't mind playing a version with quality of life enhancements, but by and large, I like the gameplay and graphics as is, and wouldn't want to change a thing.
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Comment on Bernie Sanders drops out of American presidential race in ~news
Wolpertinger Link ParentI'm hoping it'll be a replay of the 2008 election where a president who was deeply unpopular by the time of the general election paved the way for protest vote against the Republican party. I...I'm hoping it'll be a replay of the 2008 election where a president who was deeply unpopular by the time of the general election paved the way for protest vote against the Republican party. I think 2016 was also a protest vote against the incrementalism and centrist policies of the Democratic president at the time.
In fact, I'm starting to come around to the idea that the candidate who outrages a majority of people enough to vote against them is the losing candidate. I don't know if it really matters who that candidate is, if they're even running in the next election, or who their opposition is. The person who outrages enough people to go vote against them and/or their party will lose. A corollary to this is that the opposition who can stoke the flames and increase this outrage will win.
Based on this, Trump will have a hard time this year. He has a failed economy, a deadly pandemic with a disastrous response to match, and enough issues beforehand to spark enough outrage to cede the house to the Democrats in 2018 as well as getting impeached some time later. If Biden plays his cards right and throws fuel in the fire, he'll have the election in the bag in 2020.
The problem I see, according to this model, is that Biden's response to the pandemic hasn't been all that rousing so far. We need to see a more public Biden now (not before the DNC) not only point out Trump's ineptitude to the situation, but offer a comprehensive plan that'll help with economic and medical recovery. So far, I'm not seeing that.
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Comment on Daily coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - March 23 in ~health
Wolpertinger Link ParentThis makes me wonder if either Italy's virus mortality figures are inflated or Germany's are deflated...Incompatible calculations between countries, Italy counts someone who died from cancer while having Covid-19 as a C19 case, Germany does not.
This makes me wonder if either Italy's virus mortality figures are inflated or Germany's are deflated...
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Comment on Coronavirus (COVID-19) update and thorough guidance in ~health
Wolpertinger Link ParentThat's my point. If they could do it temporarily, then it's hard for either side to make an argument to not just make it permanent.It's hard to argue against temporary emergency measures though.
That's my point. If they could do it temporarily, then it's hard for either side to make an argument to not just make it permanent.
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Comment on Coronavirus (COVID-19) update and thorough guidance in ~health
Wolpertinger Link ParentIf Congress could pass a temporary measure, what's to stop them from passing a permanent one? Wouldn't the people the exact audience to promote single-payer healthcare to? After all, wouldn't it...I think there is a very good argument for making testing and treatment for infectious diseases free to patients and paid for by the government. It might be possible for Congress to pass a focused, temporary measure quickly, without seeing resistance due to the larger political debate.
If Congress could pass a temporary measure, what's to stop them from passing a permanent one?
Also, the audience for this article isn't members of Congress and it's not an exercise in "saying what you mean no matter what people think" either. It's about persuading as many people as possible to take the crisis seriously, even if they disagree on other things.
Wouldn't the people the exact audience to promote single-payer healthcare to? After all, wouldn't it be them that either pressure their representatives to adopt this policy or run for office on that platform? Also, there's a sizeable group of people in this country who will not take the crisis seriously no matter what you say. Global Warming is the perfect example of this, with some conservatives saying that it's not man-made and will blow over, while others outright deny that it exists at all. Even the Democrats are split on how much time we have before irreversible damage is done.
Toning down the message is not going to help more people take COVID-19 seriously.
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Comment on Elizabeth Warren is ending her US presidential campaign in ~news
Wolpertinger Link ParentWith her endorsement since we were talking about this, I'm starting to agree with you.With her endorsement since we were talking about this, I'm starting to agree with you.
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Comment on Coronavirus (COVID-19) update and thorough guidance in ~health
Wolpertinger Link ParentI feel like COVID-19 is a major argument for adopting single-payer healthcare. Not mentioning how much this would help in addition to the other points on her list would be neglectful on her part....I feel like COVID-19 is a major argument for adopting single-payer healthcare. Not mentioning how much this would help in addition to the other points on her list would be neglectful on her part.
Talking directly about the political fight - everything these days is a political fight for some group of people. Global Warming. Evolution. Immigration. Protecting the rights of women and minorities. There are so many lines in the sand these days that it's impossible to say something and not, as a person, be rejected outright by a large group with opposing viewpoints. Society is effectively fragmented with the different groups going so far as rejecting the reality of the others. However, that's not an argument for treading lightly to increase readership, but rather to say what you mean no matter what people think.
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Comment on Elizabeth Warren is ending her US presidential campaign in ~news
Wolpertinger Link ParentWith the interactions Harris had with Biden at some of the debates, I'm having a hard time seeing her being his VP pick without losing some support.With the interactions Harris had with Biden at some of the debates, I'm having a hard time seeing her being his VP pick without losing some support.
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Comment on The Mandalorian | S01E05: The Gunslinger in ~tv
Wolpertinger Link ParentThere's a theory that Boba Fett survived the Sarlaac.There's a theory that Boba Fett survived the Sarlaac.
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Comment on Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC - First screenshots, details about new features and updates, and system requirements in ~games
Wolpertinger Link ParentTell me about it. I have a 512GB m.2 on my gaming laptop, and I'm constantly juggling games.Tell me about it. I have a 512GB m.2 on my gaming laptop, and I'm constantly juggling games.
A different game in the same genre, but Valheim is pretty peaceful, at least in the early biomes. They just came out with settings to change your experience, like disabling raids and making monsters peaceful unless attacked. The music, atmosphere, and base building are pretty chill.