FORUM COMMUNITY OMNIBUS AMA THREAD

[Хahar 🤔]

This is a trend on the forum now, so I figured this is a good place for you people to ask questions. I'll do my best to answer them.

[Хahar 🤔]

Let the record show that this thread was originally in the 2016 board, where it belongs. I protest its being moved.

Are you #ready4hillary?

Can one ever really be #ready4hillary?

In regards to Bangladesh are there any elements of the British Colonial heritage, other than perhaps Cricket, that you look favourably on?

I've come to the conclusion that imperialism didn't mean all that much in the larger scheme of things. The main effect was to replace the Persian-speaking Muslim oppressors with a new set of English-speaking Christian oppressors. Pakistan was under colonial rule and Afghanistan wasn't, for instance, but I don't think that that's had a significant effect on the modern histories of those two countries.

This is actually a fairly difficult question for me to answer because it's hard to identify specifically British influences on the country and its structure. Politically speaking, the largest effect of British rule is that the monarchy was abolished long ago, although it's hard to imagine the monarchy persisting to the current day in any case given that the sultans at Murshidabad were all Shia. There's also Bangladesh's occasional forays into parliamentarianism, but I don't think it really makes a difference that Sheikh Hasina's title is Prime Minister and not President. Her picture is still on the wall of every classroom at the University of Dhaka regardless.

The most positive effect of British rule for me personally is that Bangladesh is part of the anglosphere. It means that my parents are near-native speakers of English, which has been useful throughout my life, and it means that my half-English halting Bengali is universally understood when I'm in Bangladesh. Given that English is the world language and will continue to occupy that role, it's useful for Bangladesh to use it.

How is the food in Bangladesh?

To be honest, what I eat is a fairly small subset of Bengali food as a whole (I've never acquired a taste for shutki mach, the greatest Bengali delicacy of all), but it's the food of home, and I miss it when I'm at school. Unfortunately, a lot of what is eaten in Bangladesh is too spicy for me, although I have a fairly high tolerance for spiciness relative to Americans.

What was or is your personal favorite Update story arc?

There are a lot of great ones, but my favorite is the pregnancy scare. I tell all my friends when they start reading Update to at least read until they get to that point; they're invariably hooked by the end of the storyline.

At what age did you start following baseball? Did you ever collect baseball cards?

2001, when I was six years old. I started paying attention to the team early in the year, but it was really the home run chase and Barry Bonds hitting 73 that hooked me. The World Series the next year cemented my allegiance. I had some baseball cards growing up (and I probably still have them somewhere), but it was never something I pursued seriously.

Do you believe that rocket attacks on Israeli towns are justified?

If they are beyond the Green Line, yes.

Do you still think Jews living beyond the Green Line should be murdered?

I certainly think that you should calm down. Don't you have a thread in International General Discussion with an absurdly flippant title where you can yell into the void? Continue being angry there if you don't have anything more fulfilling to do with your time than dredge up quotes from six and a half years ago.

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What is your opinion of modern democratic party and its future? Is there any candidate you'd find palatable for 2016?

sawx talks a lot about the Party of Macklemore, and I think that's a legitimate concern. To the extent that the party is willing to ignore actual social issues for cultural concerns, it is a problem and needs to be stopped. That said, Republicans won't be occupying the left any time soon, so the Democrats will have to remain the part of the left whether they want to or not.

I'd be enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders, but really I'll vote for whoever the Democrats nominate, as long as it's not Andrew Cuomo. I would not vote for Andrew Cuomo.

Despite your strong opinions, you've never struck me as an activist, which I've always felt is similar to me. Are there any issues you feel strongly about to rally and be a "typical college liberal" for?

I think I would be more interested and involved if I were at, say, Berkeley. Where I am there's not really a whole lot of impetus to get involved unless you seek it out, which I haven't. The issue I care about the most at this point is probably immigration, but there's not a whole lot that can be done in that regard.

Bay Area sports are undergoing a renaissance, with every team except the Raiders being relevant in the playoff picture. What are your feelings on this, given the dark days of our adolescence when the only  consistently decent team was the Sharks?

Sometimes I complain about how much I care now, since it ruins my whole week when the 49ers lose nowadays, but if you had told me ten years ago that things would be like this, I don't think I would even have been able to comprehend my good fortune. It's amazing and I'm thrilled that things have turned out the way they have.

On the other hand, the corollary to that is that all the teams I hate are good, too. The Seahawks and Kings both won titles, the Dodgers are the favorites to win the National League, and I'm terrified of the Clippers. If that's what it takes to see my own teams be successful, I'll take it, but it does make things a little bit less fun.

Now, if the Warriors would just do the obvious and trade Klay Thompson for Kevin Love, we'd be set.

Have you met someone taller than me?

Last year I watched a Florida State team with three seven-footers lose at Maryland. Does that count? If not, no.

What's been going on with Russian gymnastics since, say, last fall? I completely stopped following.

It's been a mess. Romania won the team title at the European Championships this year. There's no particular shame in that, since Larisa Iordache is the best gymnast in Europe and the Romanians would be serious contenders for the best in the world if they could do anything on the uneven bars at all. The problem is that Russia finished third, behind not just Romania but also Great Britain.

Russia finished in third place with a team of Mustafina, Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya, Spiridonova, and Rodionova, which explains the issues at hand. Afanasyeva was injured, Komova was injured, Paseka was injured, Grishina was injured, and Shelgunova was injured. At this point Komova's had basically no competition for the last two years and it's hard to imagine her ever being one of the best gymnasts in the world again. Even Mustafina was dealing with ankle issues. Russia has had to deal with a lot of bad luck, but as long as the program continues to have no depth it'll be very susceptible to fits of bad luck.

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Well I have a question, too- what was being on the football team like? I still can't wrap my head around that. Not in a bad way, no, but I just can't see it.

It was fun! I'm very glad I did it. That said, it was a lot of work, and if at this stage in my life I had to go through that again I probably wouldn't. Being in the weight room from 2 to 3 and having practice from 3 to 6 every Monday through Thursday was exhausting (particularly during Ramadan) and it occupied a lot of my time, but Friday nights made it absolutely worthwhile. I've been telling my brother that he should do what I did, although I'd be surprised if he did.

I wasn't particularly good at football and I rarely saw the field except on special teams, but I was good enough to belong on the team so that wasn't an issue. It helped that probably half the team was composed of kids I had been playing baseball with since I was ten years old; it was an environment where I felt very comfortable. I miss being on a team. Things aren't the same now.

If The Obamanation was a Pokemon which one would he be?

The easy answer is Magikarp, but Magikarp evolves into Gyarados so that's not right. I'm going to go with Jynx, because his presence makes everyone uncomfortable.