#chess sets usa

[ember-knights]

Btw since I am not over the 20 trucks thing. Did you know they are not allowed to go to the north? As in, the most heavily bombed area? And if a truck was spotted going north the IOF said they will bomb it?? Did you know that??? Did you did you??? I’m chewing walls, did you?!!

[royalchessmall]

Relive chess history with the Fischer Dubrovnik Chess Set, a masterpiece from the 1950s. Discover why Bobby Fischer called this set his favorite.

The 1950s Fischer Dubrovnik Chess Set is a highly regarded and sought-after chess set that was designed and manufactured in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (now Croatia). This set gained fame largely due to its use by the legendary chess player Bobby Fischer, who praised its design and functionality. While getting an original Jakopovic's set is almost impossible, we have brought to life a precise reproduction of the original Dubrovnik with increased ballast at the base. The Dubrovnik with its fat, chunky bases and a solid well proportioned design is a crown jewel for any chess player or collector.

Whether you're a chess enthusiast or a collector, this video will provide a deep appreciation for this iconic chess set. Don't forget to like, comment, and share it with fellow chess enthusiasts and collectors!

Shop Now at: https://royalchessmall.com/products/1950s-fischer-dubrovnik-chess-pieces-only-set-ebony-boxwood-3-8-king

[royalchessmall12]

royalchessmall | eBay Stores

Royal Chess Mall is a Chess Shop with offices in USA, India ,UK . We make premium handcrafted chess equipment in exotic woods, bone, brass metal, marble etc shipped worldwide. Our sets are hand carved by our master artisans with over 40+ years of experience in wood working, turning and hand carving. Our work has won acclaim and highly reviewed by chess players and collectors in over 100 + countries and counting.

[novy2sirius]

Vietnamese Astrology Traits

• Remember that enemy signs are still fatally attracted to one another but will not last in the long run and things between them could end badly. The matrix tries to set you up and leeches off your emotional energy which is why it sets you up for failure in some cases

• Your numerology is also important and may overpower some of your astrology traits. The negative traits will only apply if you’re at a lower vibration in life

Vietnamese Signs

The Rat: favored by the matrix, if anyone hurts them the matrix will come after them, intelligent when it comes to how they navigate life, adapts to surroundings quickly, most likely to gain wealth (second to the goat, pig, and cat trine), determined, lively, manipulative, will leave out parts of stories where they did something bad, greedy, stubborn, always nervous

The Ox/buffalo: grounded, often comedians, one of the least sexual signs unless they’re born under 1/5/9 energy, loyal, leaders, lots of willpower, strong, dependable, stubborn, blunt, gaslights a lot, can be violent, communicates poorly, too judgmental of others, petty

The Tiger: masculine, good health (unless numerology goes against this), sexiest sign, good fighters/strong, strong/muscular build/fitness model body, good at body building, go getters, smooth talkers, born leader, age gracefully, they have it the hardest in the usa (the usa was founded in their enemy sign year which is the year of the monkey), most likely to cheat (especially the men), childlike temper tantrums, know it alls, aggressive

The Cat: easily understands people/natural psychologist, observant, great designers, kind, creative, stealthy, quick witted, good chess players, third smartest sign, strong money maker, shouldn’t eat eggs or chicken, pessimistic, selfish, plays lots of mind games, often insecure

The Dragon: charismatic, adventurous, intelligent with the choices they make in life, sexy, energetic, powerful, confident, masculine, great fighters, bossy, rude, complicated at times, too demanding, arrogant

The Snake: wisest sign, intuitive, seductive, calm, second most influential/persuasive sign, observant, analytical, vengeful, best liars/manipulators, holds grudges, gets jealous easily

The Horse: very hard workers (workhorses), positive, animated, energetic, warm-hearted, has it the hardest in the matrix since its enemy sign is the rat (the sign the matrix favors), stubborn, superficial, self centered, impatient, impulsive, very delusional or in denial constantly

The Goat: most likely to gain wealth other than the rat (even more than its friend signs the cat and pig), the most good looking sign, most influential/persuasive sign, nurturing/caring, romantic/flirtatious, fun energy, go with the flow, usually into both spirituality and religion (they dabble into it all), funny, high maintenance, manipulative, lazy, has a hard life, lots of anxiety, gullible, emotionally sensitive/the softest sign, needs to constantly be pampered, shouldn’t be aggressive because it ends bad

The Monkey: smartest sign, popular, funniest sign, sociable, intuitive, brave, very curious, plays games with people, selfish, liars, egotistical, untrustworthy at times, always trying to get in others business

The Rooster: confident, humorous, loyal, one track minded, passionate, independent, observant, outgoing, talkative, narcissistic, control freak, bad temper/overly aggressive at times, hypocritical, picky

The Dog: very hard working, loves attention, loyal, honest, protective of the people they love, committed to the people they love, reliable, witty, helpful, overly aggressive, exaggerates stories, stubborn at times, always paranoid

The Pig: humble, strong money maker, responsible, luckiest sign, creative, classy, foodie/food lover, they love sex, tolerant, intelligent, friendly, easily influenced by others, promiscuous, overly materialistic, laziest sign, second most likely sign to cheat, naive, overly emotional, flaky

Vietnamese Elements

Metal: always looks out for loved ones, perseverant, independent, must create their own success, enjoys their freedom, enjoys comfort, stubborn, wants a romantic partner that they can control, too demanding at times, stubborn

Water: creative, intuitive, sensitive, adaptive, empathetic, sympathetic, gains others trust easily, likable, talkative, everyone feels special around them, tries to hard to make everyone around them feel happy which can lead to sadness, people follow their lead, influences others minds easily, passive aggressive, emotionally manipulative

Wood: optimistic, open minded, good at socializing, active, confident, organized, family oriented, good marriage partner, good friends/colleagues, gets attached quickly, always improving as a person, overworks themselves, passive aggressive, gullible

Fire: ambitious, determined, leader, strong, seductive, attracts people to them easily, enthusiastic, very giving in relationships, inspires others easily, affectionate, adventurous, competitive, optimistic, always stresses, impatient, gets mad quick

Earth: wise, patient, loyal, trustworthy, perfectionist, stable, always makes challenging sacrifices for others, good at giving advice, serious, goes based on logic rather than emotions, controlling

[ineffableigh]

Thinking a lot about some memory parallels in season two...

About how everyone in Soho is dressed VERY ANACHRONISTICALLY, but not at all coordinated with each other. Clothes look pristine, brand new, unsullied, unworn. Caricatures of humans from the 40s, 70s, 90s, 2000s. Like an oversimplified idea of what Normal Humans look like.

Like uhhh excuse you white fur coat, leopard print skirt and platform shoes? Weird BRIGHT FUCKING YELLOW shirt, a flowy vest and leather pants? 70s crochet sweater with brown pants, crimped hair and chunky heels?

Rosie the Riveter This lady (Rosie is a different extra!) over here is either wearing big flowy skirts or actual mechanic's overalls like the war posters. She's EVERYWHERE throughout the season:

Rainbow tie dye, big hat, overcoat with pinback buttons? Like the guys in the cemetery?

Lady why are you fully lurking behind a pillar and staring at the Hamm Hams

What's my point? Point is... point is...

Gabriel's memories are the same.

RUSSIA - big hammer and sickle neon sign outside, two guys in back playing chess, one with a big bushy beard and the other a flat cap. Background music sounds like traditional/folk Russian music played on a balalaika, but playback on a ratty old stereo.

USA - Route 66 sign, hubcaps, money wallpaper, budweiser neon sign, bar/pool table/pool cues, American flags fluttering in the wind outside, 50s style radio on the shelf, SAME TWO GUYS IN BACK but now playing cards, and the one on the right has a baseball cap instead. And I don't wanna be like "what modern bar would be playing Buddy Holly on the radio" but... after hearing the background music in the Russian cafe, that is a CHOICE.

Hell, check out Not-Billie-Piper back here and her GIANT 50s up-do:

SAME THING AT THE RESURRECTIONIST, YEAH? ALL THE SONGS ON THE JUKEBOX ARE SCOTTISH OR PERTAINING TO SCOTLAND. "Letter from america" by the PRoclaimers starts playing but it was released in fucking 1987

And of course we know this pub is COVERED in Pressburger references, which we know carry way more meaning than simple fun cameos or whatever. Barring that, this is the Scottishest-Pub-est-looking-pub I've ever fucking seen, and it's SO CLEAN.

A fly IN the movie playing on the screen while we watch Gabriel's memories being returned to him from the fly he receives in this memory? More likely than you think (I can't find the movie name! Not in the X-Ray apparently)...

Anyway all that to say I think the show is trying to tell us SOMETHING is wrong the entire season. There's evidence shit's out of order, everything is WEIRD and high saturation, even people's makeup (Crowley's bloody orange half the time), and it all feels Extremely Set up...

OR poorly remembered.

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Summer Time Rendering

To attend the funeral of his best friend and part of the family that took him in after his parents died, Shinpei returns to his small island home for the first time in two years. Hearing whispers that her body showed bruises around her neck inconsistent with the story of a tragic drowning while rescuing a child in the ocean, Shinpei becomes suspicious. There may be something brewing under the surface of this warm summer...

This is the perfect show as the northern hemisphere heads into summer: atmospheric, intriguing, balancing action and mystery.

STR first piqued my interested when I saw it referred to repeatedly as a show that didn't get the attention it deserved (a reviewer for Anime News Network referred to it as "among the best anime of 2022") due to being locked in "the Disney+ jail."

And having watched it, I agree: if this had been on a bigger anime-watching platform and released (in the US, at least) close to when it came out in Japan, it absolutely would've made a bigger splash. For some inscrutable reason, Disney got the rights but didn't release this in the US until months after it finished its run in Japan, without fanfare as a Hulu exclusive.

The upside to this is that you can more easily go in blind, and this is a show that benefits from knowing as little as possible ahead of time. Watching it weekly would've been an experience, but it lends itself to bingeing, as each episode advances the story--and mystery--even more, leaving the viewer hooked and hungry for answers.

That does, of course, make it difficult to talk about specific things I liked! The mystery is suspenseful, but it keeps up a good pace, balancing revealing more of what's going on with introducing even more questions. There wasn't a single episode where I got frustrated because it felt like the show was just playing up the tension; you're right there with Shinpei piecing things together, even if the thing is just "I can affect this even if I don't know what the outcome is."

Shinpei is a good main character, intelligent but not overbearing, and balanced with a cast that can variously match or surpass him in strength, intelligence, and relevant skills; if it weren't for the Plot Reason he's the protagonist, this would have just as well worked as an equal-ensemble show. Even Ushio, whose death was the catalyst for Shinpei's return, plays an active role in the story, helping prevent this from just being about a boy doing stuff in sad service to the memory of a dead girl.

As Shinpei uncovers more information about what happened, and through judicious use of flashbacks, Ushio's character develops, and she is a great character. In a show where scenes are sometimes sorting through the equivalent of two simultaneous chess games, it's nice to have at least one character who, while not stupid, uses her scenes to be refreshingly straightforward.

Verdict

English dub? Yes!

Visuals: Very nice! The story takes place equally during the day and after dark, as well as in a variety of locations, and it does a good job setting the stage, as well as balancing darkness and the need for the viewers to actually see things.

Worth watching? Absolutely. It's 25 episodes and uses all of them, neither feeling like it's dragging things out nor moving too fast. And despite its length, you don't have to wait until the final episodes to get any answers--Shinpei starts working things out quickly, and so the viewer does too. It's a solid suspenseful action show, and it was quickly obvious to me why I'd seen so many people say Disney did it dirty with its bizarre release.

Where to watch (USA, May 2024): Hulu (sub and dub)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

No dammit

Uhhh

Why bioshock peak game

SPOILER FREE!

1: what even is bioshock

Bioshock is a narrative driven FPS horror adjacent shooter franchise with 3 games (1,2 and bioshock infinite) All exploring themes of different ideologies. The first two games, the dlc of the 3rd game, and the tie in prequel novel takes place in the same underwater city, Rapture, meanwhile the 3rd game takes place in the sky city of Columbia (no, not the capital of the USA), it explores mainly ideas of free choice, basically roasts Atlas Shrugged for the first game, 2 focuses more on collectivism, and infinite more on religious extremism.

2; setting

Not talking about bioshock’s settings is like talking about fire emblem and ignoring how it’s basically chess but with anime character. The first two games are in a dystopia. An art deco dystopia where the world has been turned upside. Meanwhile Columbia, unlike its previous counterpart is all bright and sunny, you can sense that something is wrong. Each part of Rapture showcases the minds of the great (medicine, botany, entertainment) but twisted, you’re shown the remains of what’s left. It’s even shown more in 2 because it’s 10 years after the original game.

3: gameplay

Now bioshock uses both “magic” called plasmids (and vigors in infinite) and regular weapons like a wrench, a machine gun, a chemical blower, and crossbow. It also got a hacking system in one you will either love or hate. Now one way you learn about the lore about bioshock is via audio tapes, which makes you want to explore the parts of the game more.

Also the themes of choice, this will go down into the next part

4. Enemies

This is mainly about the big daddies! Basically, they’re the icon of bioshock, even more than Ryan, Elizabeth, and Atlas. They’re 7ft tall men in a diving suit. In the second game you even play as one! Then there’s also other enemies like the splicers (aka the people who remain after rapture who isn’t a main character you can’t kill), the handymen (from infinite, are men “cured” of their illness only for them to be extremely sensitive to everything and stuck in a metal suit), and of course. The little sisters, present in bioshock 1&2, they’re What the big daddies protect.

That’s all I can say before I go so far.

Part 5: voice acting

Now for a game where most of the dialogue is via audio logs, bioshock sure has amazing voice acting. Everything from the speech at the start of the game to the speech at the end. Every characters voice is memorable. But I warn you, if you’re a persona fan, playing infinite is just “kanji is morally not as good and has a gun”

Part 6: characters

It has some really great characters, not like you will like them, rather that they’re just well written. Everyone from the main antagonist to the character with 3 audio logs. Even background characters in infinite. You get a sense that they were people.

Part 7: conclusion

It’s great! Just, have a strong graphics card if you’re playing on pc

[bluenpinkcastle]

20240513: the History of LEGO Castle day 134. 8800 Vladek's Siege Engine (2004, 193 pieces, 55 different parts) Vladek's Siege Engine is a black and dark red siege tower on four reddish brown 4x4 circle bricks with two large cardboard dark red scorpion pattern on a black background with a dark red border on either side. The two minifigures for this set are Vladek and a shadow knight. -Vladek has a black full face visor on a black helmet, a yellow minifigure head with black sideburns with white stripes, a small black forehead "v", black upside down "v" eyebrows, and black chin marks, a plain black torso with black arms and hands, black armor with a dark red geometric pattern, and black legs with a red belt. Vladek carries a red sword and a white rectangular shield with a black scorpion on a dark red background. This version of Vladek appears in 8777 Vladek Encounter, 8779 Grand Tournament, 8781 Castle of Morcia, 8800 Vladek's Siege Engine, and 851499 Chess and an updated version appears in 8802 Dark Fortress Landing, 8876 Scorpion Prison Cave, and 8877 Vladek's Dark Fortress. Lord Vladek also shows up in 8823 Mistlands Tower. -The shadow knight has a black angled cheek protection helmet, a yellow minifigure head with thick black "v" forehead print with space between the beard and sideburns, a black torso with a black scorpion on a dark red background, and black legs with a dark red belt. -The chrome gold dragon head was only found in 8800 Vladek's Siege Engine and 7419 Dragon Fortress. -The two-sided 2x2 black plastic flags with a black sideways lion head print on a gold background and red scorpion on a black background was only found in three sets, 8779 Grand Tournament, 8781 Castle of Morcia, and 8800 Vladek's Siege Engine. -The large cardboard black scorpion on a dark red background banners were only found in this set, though variations of these parts were found in 8779 Grand Tournament and in the large buildable characters of the three different versions of Vladek (8774 European without cards and 8786-1 and 8786-2 USA with three cards or six cards). Parts inventory for this set can be found on BrickLink or Rebrickable and a free download of the instructions is available under the "Instructions" tab on Rebrickable. This set was also part of 65527 Vladek's Attack or K8800 Vladek's Attack Kit, which came with 8799 Knights Castle Wall and 8800 Vladek's Siege Engine.

[caesarflickermans]

It's Reaping Day! May the odds be ever in your favor.

Do you think it’s significant that the Reaping is on USA's Independence Day?

Do you think Reaping of 74th Hunger Games is rigged? Yes/No? Why?

If the reaping could be rigged. Who do you think participate in this collaboration?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

collins didn't pick the date unintentionally and it's not a date that most americans would pick accidentally without knowing its significance.

the connection with the independence day sparks resemblance to the heightened patriotism the united states themselves have. the reaping day could be a similarly large festivity in the capitol, sparking patriotism and celebration. of course, not so much for those the capitol oppresses, and surely could be a link to people who (locally or abroad) feel resentment to the way that the united states is oppressing them (and/or has oppressed their ancestors).

outside of the literary connection, the intention could also be within the universe of panem. possibly, panem chooses the reaping day date as a means of acknowledging what came before them.

one theory might be that there was no true revolution nor a regime change, and the united states simply became an ever-more extreme version of itself, thus causing panem to set their reaping day date on their already existing national day.

another theory could be that panem wanted to establish a connection to specific eras within united states history that have separated people into two groups and pitied minorities against one another--not as a period that is considered bad in panem, but rather an appreciation from the capitol. people like dr. gaul surely would have enjoyed such a historic link when deciding the date.

as to the other part, i don't believe the 74th reaping was rigged. @erin-gilberts made a really good post about this:

Prim’s name wasn’t the only one in the reaping bowl because the entire point of Prim being chosen is to show that life in Panem is random and cruel. These kids truly are selected and die for nothing, based on nothing, most of the time. There is often no grand cosmic plan or 4D chess conspiracy at play in awful circumstances unfolding, just systems of oppression working as they were designed. And you can do everything right to the letter - be the youngest eligible tribute from an unknown family whose name is only in the bowl once, not take out any tesserae - but it still won’t save you.

[royalchessmallusa]

Pro Staunton Painted Wooden Chess Set | Royal Chess Mall

Pro Staunton Series is an ideal set for playing in Clubs and Tournaments alike. Its well figured knights and well proportioned chess pieces makes it one of the must have sets for a chess player. Chess Pieces: https://royalchessmall.com/products/4... Chess Board: https://royalchessmall.com/products/1... Chess Storage Box: https://royalchessmall.com/products/l... Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royalchessmall/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royalchessm... Twitter: https://twitter.com/royalchessmall

[wawek]

Could you write something about your dnd character/s? Love hearing about other people's ocs!

hehe i finally have a moment to answer >:3c this is gonna be long so im gonna get a read more involved

my only character thats actually from dnd (my online group plays other ttrpgs) and "active" (we played two sessions 3 months ago ;w; but! might play again) Is Yeshe :3

Its a mdzs inspired campaign... im pretty sure, i havent watched it... so i based her off of tibetan folk clothes and ofc off of a pallas cat. She hadnt had time to shine as a character yet and her backstory and motivations are bit murky =w= but the gist is that she takes care of her magically gifted little sibling (another player character, my sketch attached), they were raised in a remote commune and are now going to the big city.

Now, the character from a finished campaign of City Of Mist (really cool system!!!) thats been on my mind a lot recently is my beloved Theooooooo

He was originally an oc completely detached from any specific setting, then I put him with my beloved Rochelle (in the blue dress, she started out as a dnd character but got only like 2 sessions back in 2020 :'3) in my own version of feywild (ill get to it later).

And then!!! I decided to play him in that CoM game and it was the best decision everrrrrrrrrr he was so so so so sos ososoosososos fun :3. CoM is urban fantasy where people become "rifts" for mythical beings and are able to use their power.

Theo was a Detective and a Fey and i really enjoyed playing an absolutely devious, controlling and charming guy =w=. His main motivation was power, he thought most people (except for his wife rochelle altough they have a tomshiv thing going on) are beneath him and mostly there for him to order around like chess pieces. And something that made this campaign insanely fun for me was that in order to get more powerful he had to do a task for the fey queen - kidnap and deliver a singer to her. A singer which also happened to be the person we had to protect during our investigation... dm and me kept it secret.

It was so insanely fun to walk into every scene thinking of how to find an opportunity to do that... in the end I managed to, in a very tense scene (the greyscale sketch at the top, the girl smiling behind theo is one of the fey messangers). The other PCs didnt stop him because they had some trust in him... got away with it completely :3. Tho I agreed not to play him in the next campaign (even tho id love to >_<) bc his jig was kinda up. Great character tho, and thanks to my dm i finally get warlocks, i might play one sometime!

Now, still in the city of mist im playing Valerie :3

Her mythos is "Vampire" but she refuses to drink blood... she gets all sorts of issues bc of that, has trouble keeping down frineds and jobs ect... Still very early in the campaign but shes pretty fun :3 tho i prefer chracters who are a bit more commanding, i made her more of a follower to let my group breathe after theo but i kinda naturally fell back into organising the party again last session so i think i just need to stick to making charismatic characters next time sidugfsd. shes a nice change of pace tho, im excited for whats in store for her.

My feywild!!! It's a setting ive had in my head ever since i made Rochelle, Its sort of an early modern france mixed with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell which sounds pretty lame and ig it is isudgfsd.

Theres a lot of ideas and a lot of characters that i dont really have time to develop and am prolly gonna rework a million times =w= but its fun, and its fun to make plalists for random archfey.

Last character I'll mention =w= even tho i never got to play him because the campaign fell apart before the fist session, as they often do, I really love Byk and I wanna show you guys...

Tadeusz Byk born in 1880 in Poland, Emigrated to the usa (boston then moved near new york) with his mother and grandma when he was 13... Operates a temporary house for immigrants that his mother started. Now 40, works as a tailor and sells moonshine on the side. Depressed, repressed and with a big heart... hope i get to dust him off for something someday...

[paulgadzikowski]

There are two kinds of novels in the collection of M*A*S*H novels.

Richard Hooker alone (or, I've occasionally read, with a ghost writer) wrote M*A*S*H, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, and M*A*S*H Mania. These are episodic tales of madcap medical mayhem with quasi-technical surgery scenes. M*A*S*H is set in the Korean War, and was published in the sixties. The other two are set in Hooker's beloved rural Maine where Hawkeye and his three army bunkmates practice surgery together from the 50s through the mid-70s; Maine and Mania were published at either end of the 70s respectively.

Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth (a pseudonym for W.E.B. Griffin, or vice versa, I dunno) co-wrote about a dozen novels published and set in the mid-70s. Some readers question whether Hooker was really involved in them but at least the first has a quasi-technical surgery scene. They're all titled M*A*S*H Goes To [some exotic location, often overseas], and are all non-episodic farces featuring mistaken identities, intercontinental airliner chases, authorities including actual contemporary public figures made to look foolish, and blatant misogyny. Hawkeye and Trapper John appear in each of them, at least more prominently than Duke and Oliver Jones do, and all feature reunions with past personnel or patients of the 4077th: Hot Lips (now Reverend Mother Emeritus Margaret Houlihan Wauchauf Wilson, R.N., Lt. Col., USA Ret., of the God Is Love In All Forms Christian Church, Inc.) and Father Mulcahy (now an archbishop and the Pope's chess and beer buddy) appear in almost all the novels. The world's greatest opera singer, an insufferable egotist who unfortunately is pretty much correct and who hangs out with a portly Arab oil prince, and a Cajun swampdweller who discovered oil on his land are former 4077th patients who appear in most or all the novels. Henry Blake is a general and is C.O. of Walter Reed Army Hospital. The Painless Pole is a henpecked fat old dentist in Michigan. Radar is CEO of his own fast-food empire and marries an opera singer, the sister of the insufferable egotist. Frank Burns remains a small doctor in a small town.

Hooker didn't like the tv series because it offended his conservatism. Both the Hooker/Butterworth novels and the later Hooker novels took occasional jabs at the tv series, especially for killing off Henry Blake. On almost the final page of the final novel, M*A*S*H Mania, Hooker has General Blake pay a visit to Crabapple Cove on the date of the airing of Abyssinia, Henry.

[royalchessmall12]

Royal Chess Mall in Amritsar, Punjab, India - Company Profile

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[thaissa1918]

Dear Jeremy: For over six months now i Have some stalker hacking into and destroying everything I do on the computers. He also can shut off my two cell phones whenever he wants to and almost murdered me over this past weekend. He can hear very ell what I say. I was having chess pains from the stress this person is constantly terrorizing me daily He heard me say "I am having chest pains from his stress, and I need to call either an ambulance and/or doctor. When I went to pick up my phone to call my cardiologist the man shut off my cell phone service on both my phones and I had a heart attack right here in the apartment. Last week when I felt suicidal, I went to use my cell phone to call my psychologist. When I picked up the cell phone this bastard whomever he is stopped my cell phone service for over 8 hours to try to murder me by letting me have a heart attack and not being able to call anyone. I found him on my cell phone recording my voice to murder and having an album cover .He is trying to murder me using the same type of murder weapon's my father and the mafia uses as a regular hobby. He has all types of head and screen shots of me. He is putting in what he 2was in a file called my last words and DIE/ARY called "DIERY QUEEN<" he has recorded all the shit things I have said about the mafia and you and I being in danger from the mob etc etc and his album cover even has my photo a photo of my head. He calls it his furze "art work: He has files calling them "CL/ASS/WORK KILL ASSSASSINATION WORK. My father taught me the assassination contracting business since I was born and I have killed and assassinated everyo0ne from Africa President to being a child soldier in Africa and was also a soldier with Daddy in Vietnam etc.. so I know what I see and am saying is right. He plan's to murder you too #jeremypaxman Last night I threatened to take a hit out on him and I did with Al Qaeda. Then he started showing me unfinished album covers with your photos on it and songs with your voice on them meant that he was going to kill you too. Be careful AND IF YOU WANT TO TALK MORE JUST CALL ME love Jilly

PS: I am always on your side Paxo I WAS WRITING TO YOU MORE AND THE MAN SHUT OFF MY KEYBOARD PLEASE HELP ME JEREMY. JILLY He can stop my keyboard my cell phone and he plans t murder and I have no where to go and no help from law enforcement To hell with probation. I just want peace and the human right to life and in the USA I dont even have that right. Arnold A Stark told me and I used to have a recording of it saying "I have never seen more egregious human rights violations against any US citizen but you in America it is jus like you have been living for years in North Korea right here in Passaic County. TRUTH. I I took hits out everywhere

to remove as many La Cosa Nostra members as possible since i get mine for free they came to over 2000. Since my father is ready to drown all of Brooklyn with a 8,.0 Ramapo Fault line earthquake to "tie up all his loose ends (he kills all his contractors that is how he taught me he got to be the BIG SHOT HE IS by taking care of those old contractors before they get caught by the FBI and talk ," Now he is coming for all his old acquaintances in Brooklyn." How? He has two low grade atomic bombs in the Hudson River to go off and set off the Ramapo Fault Line which runs from NYC right down to nearly touching Langley and Fort Detrick biological Warfare base. When that goes off those two bomb's Irv Starr says "It will move the systematic plates of the Atlantic Ocean cause an 8.o earthquake (Ground Zero) United Nations NYC. He says every single President will drown on that day because all presidents will be in NYC at the UN for some special occasion on that particular day. I don't know the date and Irv Starr you can cook dinner and grind him to death, and he will never tell anyone that date no matter what torture anyone puts him through. I was little but I asked my father I asked "and we were standing in Bloomingdale NJ at the time. I said "Dad, how fast will the wave be when you make it?" Irv Starr said "It will be at least 5000 miles an hour and it will wipe out the entire Bloomingdale NJ Police Station...

I then asked Daddy," Daddy, how high will the waves be IM scared?" Dad replied "They will be as high as the lights by the Bloomingdale Police Station that light up at night." I then started shaking and said "DADDY! IF I AM STILL AROUNF BLOOMINDALE NJ AT THAT TIME HOW DO I KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME TO LEAVE?!" Daddy responded by saying this: "Jill when the first two systematic activities take place on the Ramapo Fault line one being a 3.2 and the other a 2.7 (to the best of my memory) run like hell away from Bloomingdale NJ and keep running from NYC all the way to Middletown NY where Aunt Joyce lives because that Tsunami is going to kill everyone in its path up to Middletown NY where your Aunt Joyce lives. ." I said "Why are you going to do that Daddy?" Irv Starr replied "Because I am retiring the richest man in the world Jill, and no one is going to have a chance to be arrested to start singing about me and the ICA and my contracting business to ruin that for me they all have to die and Treetop are where the majority of my contractors are in this area and the Tsunami will reach Nick and Dora Los Gatos in Syosset where the other majority of my contractors are Jill.," Then I have to take out Harry J Shortway from Nam (Vietnam) so the Tsunami has to take out Susses and it will end before my sister Joyces house in Middletown." Then I said What about Paxman are you going to kill him too?" Irv Starr said," He is one of the biggest lose ends I have besides you Jill. if I have to I will blow up all of Buckingham Palace, Mi6 and all the BBC just to murder Former Mi6 Director General Sir Howard Andrew Parker." We used to work at Babcock and Wilcox you remember him dont you Jill from there?" I had to tell him "Yes." It is true.

[minecraft-llama]

Chess Blog Day #38 - Chess and Its Family

Although there still remains some debate on whether chess originated in India or Persia, most historians believe chess to have originated in India.

The common ancestor of chess-like games would then be Chaturanga.

"Chaturanga" literally means "four divisions". The four divisions were infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariotry. These would later become the modern pawn, knight, bishop and rook.

Chaturanga was played on an 8x8 board but this board wasn't checkered like a chessboard.

Chaturanga was probably the earliest game to have two things that chess has that other board games like Go don't: Different pieces with different powers, and a single piece that the game centres around trapping (a "king").

Chaturanga was then introduced to Persia (modern Iran) and became Chatrang, which was eventually given the Arabic name Shatranj.

In Chaturanga the king could be captured. Persian players must have decided that this was no fun because at some point in the 700s the rules of Shatranj were changed so that you couldn't put yourself in check and had to move out of it.

Shatranj had the king, knight and rook equivalents move the way they do to this day; but the pawn, queen and bishop equivalents were much less powerful.

This didn't entirely solve the problem of instantly losing games via a silly mistake though, as any online blitz player will attest. Oh well.

Players also had to announce "shāh" (meaning "king", the origin of the modern "check") when they attacked their opponent's king. And of course they also had to declare "Shāh Māt!" ("the king is dead!"), the origin of the modern checkmate.

Later on they started to engrave half of the squares and the iconic checkerboard came into play.

Shatranj sets are typically more minimalist than Chaturanga sets, likely because of the Muslim ban on idolatry that we mentioned yesterday.

Here's a Chaturanga set (left) compared to a Shatranj set.

Before we continue down the descent of chess, we need to take a look at its cousins.

Chinese chess, xiangqi, is thought to be derived from Chaturanga. There are some niche historical theories that it was the other way around, but these aren't well supported. It has the two properties of a chess-like game that we mentioned before - a "king" and pieces with different moves. Xiangqi doesn't have squares though. Pieces are placed on intersections like in Go.

Shogi, or Japanese chess, is also thought to be derived from Chaturanga and may have been invented in India. Some historians even believe that it was originally played with 3D Chaturanga pieces and not the 2D set that it is today. Shogi has the interesting property of being able to use your opponent's pieces after you capture them, reflected in the western variant of bughouse chess.

One theory is that this rule was added at a time in Japanese history when there were a lot of mercenary fighters switching loyalties.

Makruk, or Thai chess, is another Chaturanga derivative. It's actually much more similar to Chaturanga than Chinese or Japanese chess, and is probably the closest thing to Chaturanga still played today aside from chess itself.

In fact Chaturanga derivatives spread so far east that they reached what is now the USA, as chess-like pieces have been found belonging to the Tlingit people of Alaska.

Back to chess.

Eventually Shatranj was introduced to Europe and became associated with violence, revelry and gambling (I know). The historical cultural impact of chess could be its own blog post.

Eventually chess became more prestigious and associated with knights and royalty, who played with ornate pieces. Christian cultures didn't have the same issues with idolatry at that point in history and began making the sort of elaborate sets we saw yesterday.

At this point the rules hadn't really changed from Shatranj.

There were a couple of early European rule changes though. Pawns were allowed to move two squares on their first move and en passant was added to balance this out. King and queens could jump on their first move (queens were still weak and king jumping eventually became castling).

People also experimented with the idea of setting up the pieces behind the pawns however they wanted, although this never caught on.

Then around 1500 AD the Spanish came along and decided that chess was just too slow. They decided that bishops and queens should have the move ability that they do today.

This was initially called "Mad Queen Chess" or "Chess with the madwoman".

This update spread like wildfire though because clearly everyone found it led to much more action.

Finally in the 1800s the modern rule around stalemate was added, castling was standardised, and all later rule changes like threefold repetition were more technical in nature.

We talked a little bit about the rule changes over history, but some of them are quite interesting so it's worth looking into them in more detail.

Tomorrow: The rules of chess's ancestors.

[theartofhamartia]

elizabeth harmon — the queen's gambit (2020)

❝ if i get hurt, i only have myself to blame. ❞

The Queen's Gambit (2020) is the story of Elizabeth "Beth" Harmon, an orphan who develops a prodigious capacity for chess alongside a drug dependency. She is catapulted through the hoops of success in the worldwide chess world as a young female novelty, but a few losses — both in chess and in her personal life — lead her down a downward spiral. However, with the support of other people, she gets back up and wins the worldwide chess championship for the USA, only to stay in Russia to play with those who share her love for chess, no longer facing the tragedy of loneliness.

The pill and alcohol bottles, cigarettes, and chess trophies next to each other and looking almost the same kind of objects in the attached video are all set design-related symbols that signify Beth conflating her sense of success as a source of empty dopamine just like her other addictions. The camera angle from above of Beth looking up with artistically distressed eyeliner expresses the true extent of her downward spiral of pressure and helplessness in the trap of being lonely at the top.

Today's tragic hero also manifests as lonely prodigies like Beth, who feel like their success peaked early. Society values and put on a pedestal those who achieve great things early, but discard them just as tragically when the next novelty comes along while the jaded hero, who has based their worth on success and ability, no longer have anything to hold on to and develop harmful coping mechanisms — however, modern society thankfully has been more proactive in advocating that redemption is still possible through ample support, as Beth's tragic heroism showed in her eventual recovery and pursuit of happiness.