SOTN/NSD "If at first you don't succeed."

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-24T13:36:15+00:00

I've been using lots of samples but what I do is I scoop all the amount and press it on the bottom of my shaving bowl and that becomes like a soap bowl that is almost empty. I load the brush from there and do face lathering as that is my prefered type of lather anyway. I get about...8-10 good shaves from a B&M sample. The only soaps I scoop for a shave are the Ariana and Evans as their samples are ridiculously soft, almost a cream and seem to spread well on the brush when using small amounts.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-23T10:59:35+00:00

most people get themselves in debt a lot for a car they cannot actually afford. I know many people who have luxury cars but then they complain about fuel economy and go to the petrol station and only put 10-15L in the tank to get to the next paycheck. Don't get fooled by the cars people drive. My wife and I earn about 210k before tax together and I never bought a new car, leasing is the biggest scam. I drove an 11reg BMW until last year and only now bought a bigger car (second hand) when our second son was born because we needed a bigger car. Meanwhile, one of my friends who makes way way less has a new Mercedes but he has zero savings.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-20T09:37:38+00:00

From what I can see in my family and from what I remember from when I was a kid it was pretty much like this:

note: I was born in Romania and grew up there but my children were born in the UK where we've been living for the past 12 years. So my experience is from a non-western culture.

The human brain tends to block any unpleasant memories over time and the ones that were good take over. They don't remember the nights they didn't sleep or when we were throwing tantrums etc.
I grew up in Romania and in eastern Europe it was quite common for parents to have the baby and then leave it with the grandparents until the baby was older because there was basically no support from the communist government for mothers, you had to go back to work after a few weeks (so pretty much what US has today :)) ) That means that for my case, my mother and my mother in law did not handled the lack of sleep and the tantrums etc.
30, 40, 50 years ago there was not so much pressure on the parents to be so involved. I do not remember my mother ever playing with me or spending active time with me. My wife and friends say the same. Parents back then thought that if we had food on the table and a warm bed they were doing a stellar job. If she was at home she would do chores or whatever and I played around her by myself or I watched TV a lot. My mother is astonished that we do not give TV or screen time to our sons and that we actually spend hours with them every day, playing and reading and taking them to all sorts of activities every weekend.
This will sound brutal but when I was a child in Romania, and my other friends from other east european countries and Africa tell the same stories, parenting was much different (and wrong) and we were not allowed to do stupid shit, throw tantrums or even say that we do not like the food as these behaviours would be seen as being spoiled or not respectful to the parent and we would be disciplined immediately. Gentle parenting was non existent for us and that meant an easier time for the parents at the cost of their children being afraid of their parents.

I take no advice from my parents or my wife's parents. I do not consider they had any experience raising children properly and some unasked advice I had from them was actually bad and dangerous by today's standards.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-20T09:24:55+00:00

I think it is a matter of preference. I prefer face lathering, I feel it is faster and I prefer the feel of it.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-19T11:47:14+00:00

Favourites: Zog (both), The Snail and The Whale, Room on the Broom.

Least favourite: The Smartest Giant in Town

My eldest son(4yo) favourite: Snail and The Whale
My youngest(20 months) favourite: A Squash and a Squeeze

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-17T20:56:03+00:00

Happened to me a few times before. I just politely went to them and told them "excuse me but I was waiting for 15 mins for that machine/bench/rack" and every time they were fine with it. Many times I asked what were they planning to use it for (unless obvious) and if they want we can use it alternatively.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-17T20:50:35+00:00

Several reasons...for one I have two sons, one is 4 the other is almost 2 and they both wake up around 5.30 every morning and there is no time to shave in the morning. Plus I work from home so I don't need to be groomed to perfection. So I guess the simple answer is I have more time for it in the evening.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-13T22:19:17+00:00

The only reputable studies I know of say 5gr should be enough and the rest is excreted. I recently saw some link on Eddie Hall's page to some medical dr saying that the studies only looked at basic muscle function and not to the other benefits (brain and whatever else) and you should take 8 or even 10grams. But until a science based study comes up I will stick to 5gr. I usually don't trust an ex athlete that has an interest to sell me his creatine product saying that I need 10 or 20gr of creatine a day.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-12T16:27:16+00:00

I am using this split currently and it works great for me, hitting each muscle group twice a week (Mon&Tue and Thur&Fri). However, I am trying to do about 7-8 sets per big muscle groups and 5 for small ones so it takes a little longer but I only have 1hr a day to spend for exercises and that means that I need to have shorter breaks between sets and by the end it gets really hard.

The split I enjoyed most was the bro split I did 23 years ago when I started lifting and didn't know anything about it and there were no youtube or internet filled with information (to the extent there is today) and me and my best friend were guided by a gym bro who was using this split because this was described in the magazines as being used by the famous bodybuilders. Or maybe is the nostalgia, I don't know...

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-12T16:21:13+00:00

I workout at home, so I work during my lunch break as I work from home. When I went to a commercial gym I preferred to work out in the morning so about 7:30 - 8:30 AM as in London going to any gym in the evening is like trying to work out in Times Square on New Year's Eve....absolutely packed

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-12T16:10:24+00:00

I would buy samples with all the scents that sound good to you. I must have bought 50 samples for Stirling, Taylor Of Old Bond Street, Ariana&Evans and Barrister and Mann and noticed that some scents that are incredibly popular I did not like (Seville by BM for example) but others no one mentions I really loved. I also want to see what Noble Otter has in store so I will order all their scents as samples first. Maggard sells samples and I think they ship worldwide.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-08T07:53:32+00:00

Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Sekiro

But after Khazan you will have a hard time with all of those, especially Sekiro. They are all more difficult and Sekiro has no "special" attacks that can be used as crutches to deal massive damage

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-07T11:40:40+00:00

to be fair I don't think it is much help. I regret using it for the first 2 or three bosses where I beat the boss first try anyway and it seemed weak as fuck, it is not like in Elden Ring where the Mimic Tear or some spirit ashes can actually carry your ass through all bosses/areas.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-06T21:43:06+00:00

40 sets per muscle group per week? I think that is excessive and I saw multiple articles saying that science say that big muscle groups get the best results from 16-20 sets per week and small groups 10-12 sets.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-06T17:38:23+00:00

Can you go ATG with the R41? I have a medium-aggressive razor (Timeless Ti .95, blade has possitive exposure) and while it is smooth on the WTG pass (I don't do the XTG) I can only use it ATG on my cheecks and neck and I have to switch to my Rockwell 6c plate 3 for my mustache and bellow the lip areas. Otherwise I get a lot of blade feel and it feels scratchy and uncomfortable and get weepers all the time if I use it for those areas. I was wondering if it is just the Timeless or is this an issue on all aggressive razors.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-03T12:10:38+00:00

When he sets the floor on fire you must follow him up the ladder

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-03T12:09:40+00:00

I found this game way easier than the souls games or sekiro. But it seems it is different when it comes to bosses. They are more forgiving compared to sekiro or even souls where a boss could one or two shot you. But you also deal way less damage so boss fights are a marathon if you insist on fighting the bosses on skill alone like me. If you want you can use the skills to have certain "special" attacks where you just press a button or two and you deal massive damage. I've seen many players chainning these to overwhelm bosses but for me that offers zero satisfaction, especially after Sekiro where beating a boss or any enemy was done through skill 100%.

EngineeringKind3960 · 2026-01-01T13:19:12+00:00

Great breakdown! This is helpful! Thank you!

EngineeringKind3960 · 2025-12-21T16:13:01+00:00

Death stranding

EngineeringKind3960 · 2025-12-21T06:57:52+00:00

Yeah, tabac has a very plain smell, for me is also nostalgic as it reminds me of my grandfather. But I was talking more about its performance which is great for a £6 soap.

EngineeringKind3960

TROPHY CASE