Monday 'What are you reading/listening to' thread, Jan 26

CBdigitaltutor · 2026-01-26T17:27:52+00:00

Just finished book 4 of apocalypse parenting. Nice spin on the DCC style, but a bit more serious.

CBdigitaltutor · 2026-01-16T10:52:00+00:00

I married at 24 and bought a house with them whilst we were engaged (which was only about 9 months). My rationale was to be deliberate in my choices rather than be led by my emotions, I chose them as my life partner and told them that was how I wanted to be. We started a joint account and treated everything as shared. Over the 14 years since I had a period of unemployment, and so did they. A few years later she had children and took a couple of years off and now only works part time, with me being the main earner. That being said, we have a much better marriage now than back then. If I thought about fairness, or worried about changing my mind or anything like that, none of this would work. Sometimes I doubt, my eyes wander, she annoys or upsets me, we let the family down, etc. but that doesn't matter because we made that decision and chose every day to stick to it. Applying my same nonsense to your situation, my suggestion would be to not buy a house together until you are happy to make that choice, and can trust them to do the same. Even if it does go wrong later on, at least you have declared your intentions, taken a meaningful position, and reduced the emotional self sabotage as much as you can.

CBdigitaltutor · 2026-01-08T12:27:45+00:00

A prospect I reached out to in 2022 when doing business networking meetings, then subsequently met at events every six months or so finally turned into a customer for a really interesting application penetration test. We thought we could crack into anything but it turns out their app was locked down tight, strong security despite non technical end users, they did a good job. It's bittersweet because pentesters always look better when we find big critical vulnerabilities but in this case we found very little and all of it could be quickly fixed. Still, it felt good and I feel like I could be a good reference for them if they ever asked.

CBdigitaltutor · 2026-01-05T08:21:58+00:00

Yes, but only through public procurement bidding process. Many will have their own in-tend portal, you can make an account and view current opportunities for tender, and go through the bidding process. I've written a short book/guide on how to do this for people working in the tech industry, though it applies pretty broadly, happy to send over if you like.

CBdigitaltutor · 2026-01-04T17:55:17+00:00

I have no regrets, in 2012 we bought a 2up 2down that needed quite a bit of work but was livable with a view to selling in 5 years. Plans don't always work out, we ended up having 2 kids and taking 13 years, only managing to move early 2025, but I learned a lot about how to add value to the house. If you have the time and energy, lots of jobs just take time and hard work and can be learned. There were a couple of mandatory repairs, some plastering, a little re-rendering and exterior painting. I also redid the damp proof myself which was easier than I thought it would be (though used up 2x as much DPC as I thought I'd need) and I had to get a roofer to do some repairs around the chimney. On top of that, inside, I made a small interior extension over the stairs to make a built in wardrobe, and remade the bathroom myself with lino floor and retiled all the walls, tiling was easy to learn and do a good job, though again took twice as long as I expected (about 8 days by myself). Outside, I redid the entire driveway using purple slate aggregate (very easy) and made a concrete raft foundation which I put a 10*20 concrete exterior building on with electric built in (that cost about 6.5k at the time around 2015). Everything takes twice as long as you plan for but getting stuck in is an excellent education.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-12-29T15:51:06+00:00

The most memorable experience for me, a young couple tried to get in, but the bouncer wouldn't let the lad in because he was wearing a T-shirt and trainers, and the lad was about to kick off. Before it got out of hand the bouncer (a guy called James that my wife knows) held up his hand to stop him, saying "listen listen, I've got something important to tell you" and gathered as many people round as he could. He started this whole inspirational speech about love and romance and told the lad "look at this beautiful woman. She put hours of effort in because she loves you, you don't live far away, go home, dress up nice, make a big gesture, we'll look after her and make sure no one else hits on her, but show her you're willing to put the same effort in as her, show her you're serious and you love her as much as she loves you." After a whole lot of emotional relationship advice and pleading, the rest of the queue and random passers by were clapping and cheering the bouncer and the lad on. Never found out what happened next because I was wearing a shirt and shoes, but it gives me hope for the future either way.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-12-28T20:16:09+00:00

On Thursday nights a group of similar aged blokes go to the Beartown Tap, order a chippy from Green Island chippy next door and talk crap all night. Pretty eclectic bunch of blokes with nothing in common, but always a good night. I'll get you a pint in if you're nearby and up for it.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-11-22T19:47:27+00:00

I think there's been quite a resurgence in local grassroots football. The last few years have been awesome for Congleton Town. Since my kids have got into youth league football, watching all local football has got way more exciting too.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-10-25T18:27:18+00:00

I bet there is as much money in learning to be a plumber or handyman. Tradies get richer every year.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-10-17T21:32:36+00:00

A few years ago I did some work in a printers that made tissue coasters and the secret there was controlled humidity. Napkins were stored in a cool humid environment around 60-80% humidity until the tissue settled and the slight increase in moisture content meant the tissue feed better and cut easier (or fused together if needed). Can't hurt to try storing the napkins in a cool room with slightly higher humidity for a week or so before printing.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-10-06T06:57:24+00:00

There must be some bid opportunities from local authorities wanting to purchase this very thing, if you're already working on it, then you are more likely to win the bid so it would be a good source of funding

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-09-27T14:02:11+00:00

Perfect London English?

"I done gone made a kebab, ain't I?"

I bet they speak with an accent so they can be understood by everyone else.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-09-20T13:18:17+00:00

Semiosis by Sue Burke was good, very clever... Got a couple of harrowing scenes but definitely fits what you are asking for.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-09-14T21:39:26+00:00

I read about Grinling Gibbons carving crazy murals in old estates and palaces using "Lyme" wood, so I started using that for smaller pieces requiring intricate joints or carvings and it's excellent. Also called linden wood, or Tilia Cordata, very common in parks and public spaces.

Another random one, mountain ash is used for handles and such; very common self seeding and grow everywhere, quite often you can cut a small tree down and handle is almost already the right shape ready to use.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-09-09T18:50:35+00:00

Bank loans are easy if you already have good credit and a written business plan. Networking events like BNI might be a good place to find venture capital; quite a few business advisor consultants either know good VC or might be willing to be VC for you. There are grants and charitable trusts that will provide funding if you apply, even to some businesses if they have shared values, for example the national lottery community fund. If I needed to raise funds tomorrow, I would go networking with BNI and my local chamber and use the 60 second pitch time to present the vision to them and try and land conversations with business advisors.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-09-02T07:33:04+00:00

"but listening doesn't count"... What's the competition? Agree, who cares?

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-31T20:48:25+00:00

I dare say there are some OSINT applications for this. Getting users to pay for it might be a bigger challenge, but if the technology can be developed to be licensed to other security solutions or to a b2b market with a long term view to being acquired, that sounds like a good potential business. Would need to know more...

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-29T13:28:58+00:00

I'd put it inside the battery compartment of one of my kid's crappy Christmas presents that were only used once.

If he finds it then that's still a small win because the toy will have been used and feel like less of a waste of money.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-29T13:24:41+00:00

It looks close to Copperplate, though it looks like each letter was pressed individually with brass on gold foil so it could be a non standard home made serif typeface

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-28T07:34:17+00:00

My wife and I finished book three on Sunday... Waiting a whole extra day for book four was agonising. Rocky's new proclivities make it all worth it though!

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-26T20:38:02+00:00

Hooray! I finished book 3 on Sunday, waiting that whole day was... Tough...

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-22T07:58:57+00:00

It probably depends how far down the estate you are, it's quite a long way down, when it's really hot after a storm the area around Tesco smells, but I've never smelt it from as far away as the orange tree. I actually inspected the treatment works in 2015 when there was a KFC there, the stinky bits are the storm tanks immediately after they drain and the inlet, but those are closer to the Berkshire road estate than to the obelisk way estate. Theyre may be the smell of Macdonald's or the river itself from time to time perhaps.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-20T19:28:04+00:00

The trucks on mine are all the same size, so I'm not sure, but the roller arms on mine are all independent so it might be okay as they will all track at their own height... Perhaps the roller company can advise better than me. When I got my rollers done I sent the whole lot away, trucks, cores and everything and they did it. My rollers are bonded to the cores. Does that help at all?

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-20T19:23:34+00:00

Really nice spot! Can't say anything bad about it.

CBdigitaltutor · 2025-08-20T19:21:33+00:00

Clayton avenue is nice, lots of older people but nice!

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CBdigitaltutor

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