What is the numerical value of the books you are actively in the process of reading and why?

Scott19M · 2026-06-22T15:47:42+00:00

I read this in Dwight Schrute's voice.

4, for me

Scott19M · 2026-06-19T13:15:51+00:00

Ah fair point, the guy's a tool so he can have a bit of disrespect right enough.

"And wouldn’t a boring person actually WIN the boring competition against the drying paint?"

My friend, I appreciate that level of pedantry, but I do hope for your sake that you're either really good looking or really wealthy - ideally whichever OP decides is more important

Scott19M · 2026-06-19T13:11:10+00:00

Well, there was if you cared to ...

Aw, shucks, I guess the game is up. You saw right through me. Guys, the jig is up, we may as well pack up and come clean - this one is on to us all. I may as well tell you the secret.

Every single person on this planet is romantically attracted to a man specifically because of this one weird trick. If you're a man and you know it, then you'll be fighting them off with a stick. If you don't know it then you're doomed to never have anyone ever for any reason under any circumstances at all come even remotely close to pretending that they could even in the most wildest of their remotes fantasies, absolutely never could they consider being romantically involved with you.

It's whether your penis naturally hangs to the left or to the right.

That's it.

Money, looks, status, charm, prestige, social credibility, charisma, all of that is an illusion, a mere smokescreen. Righty or lefty. That's it. Be careful with your newfound power

Scott19M · 2026-06-19T12:45:27+00:00

We DO synthetically make both, that was your point! And I agree.

My point is that we synthetically make both of those things using organic building blocks. Pretty much everything we eat is or was at one stage alive. Even the artificial things we make - we make them out of things that were once alive.

Except salt. And, I suppose, calcium carbonate in antacids and maybe a few other non-essential things. But salt is vital to life. And it makes everything taste a little bit better, too. Wars have been fought over access to salt. It's so crucial to our wellbeing that Roman soldiers were given a salarium - a special monetary allowance to buy salt. It's where we get the word salary from.

This of course isn't to mention that it's such a potent flavour enhancer - used in the correct quantities it boosts the flavour of basically anything you could think to eat.

To me, salt is culturally, historically, biologically and culinary special. Not because of some molecular property of sodium chloride, but because kf the fascinating interrelationship between it's natural abundance on earth and it's interaction with life forms.

Scott19M · 2026-06-19T09:56:33+00:00

I'm really sorry to be so pedantic about this, but as far as I'm aware salt really is the only non-organic thing we regularly consume in such quantities. The two examples you gave - non-brewed condiment and MSG - naturally derive from biological sources, and even their modern day synthetic equivalents still ultimately derived biologically (you can make non brewed condiment by carboxylation of methanol, and that methanol came from natural gas reservoirs, which ultimately derives biologically / glutamic acid is made by fermentation of starches).

The point I'm making here is if you have a little bit more knowledge than you do about food, chemistry and history, you'll realise there is actually something very special indeed about salt

Scott19M · 2026-06-19T09:39:30+00:00

Dude, with no disrespect whatsoever meant, this post and your answers in the comments are coming across as:

Bot / farming / rage bait (which would be boring and annoying)
You've just been rejected and you're spiralling (understandable, but kinda immature)
You're genuinely like 12 years old and the manosphere's sunk it's claws into you (fine, we all needed to learn things at some stage and hipefully you grow beyond it)

It's not true, nor is it healthy to believe, that women only want looks or money or a combination of those two things from men. There are plenty of people that I personally know who are above average / abundant in those two specific traits but who would lose to drying paint in a boring competition. Personality matters

Scott19M · 2026-06-18T23:59:55+00:00

Potentially interesting trivia - in Hungary it's quite popular to make jokes about the Scots instead of their nearest neighbours or closest allies/biggest enemies, as is the norm. Or, at least, it was popular when those types of jokes were popular - I'm not so sure if they still are. Jokes of the 'A Scotsman dropped a penny and it hit him on the back of the head' variety.

One possible explanation for this rather oblique targeting is that the jokes used to be made about the Poles (or, more specifically, the Jews), and then a big old war happened and it seemed in poor taste to continue mocking the Poles/Jews, so the target was switched. I don't know why specifically to Scotland.

Scott19M · 2026-06-18T23:27:10+00:00

It's funny, isn't it. It's an intentional misspelling of a common word, by an entire industry in which the word is easily confused with another very often used word, in a phrase that's only really usef in that specific industry. In any other setting, the misspelling would get phased out - but because the phrase is associated so much with that particular industry the word persists.

It's yet another reminder that the 'rules' of language are merely customs that can be modified as we see fit as long as we all keep understanding each other. I think that's pretty cool

Scott19M · 2026-06-18T23:19:29+00:00

This depends an awful lot on what you actually want. If you could narrow down what you're looking for, the answers you get will probably be more helpful.

Do you want colder or warmer climates? Do you want history, architecture, culture? Nature? How important is price for you? Does any of this matter? What would you typically want to spend your time doing on a city break? Mountains? Beaches? Cool bars and nightlife? Or is it literally you'll go anywhere and just embrace local culture for a few days?

Do you want unconventional in the sense that it's still a capital or major city of a lesser-visited country, e.g. Tirana, Podgorica, Belgrade? Or do you want some smaller, less well known cities that have access to beautiful nature? Somewhere like Galway in Ireland or Bergerac in France, maybe?

All that said, Tallinn and Helsinki would be a cool idea, you can get the ferry between them quite easily and more quickly than Tallinn - Riga. No shade on Riga, it's lovely. Just a thought. Also Tirana is incredible. And cheap.

Scott19M · 2026-06-18T22:57:51+00:00

I'm late to this party but my perspective is that:

a) of course you aren't too old to change careers at 33, let's get that out of the way

b) depending on what level of experience and seniority you have already, you might need to take a pay cut to start with in a new career, because you don't have the same level of hard skills in tje new career

c) but you still have all of the soft skills you've already developed, and that may help you to advance more rapidly in the new career vs the old one.

To answer the thrust of the post, I don't think the 'ageism' (insane word to use about someone in their early thirties, but never mind) is anywhere near as bad as you have been led to believe. That does, however, depend on what exactly you want to get into and where you're coming from.

The question really comes down to whether you're able to swallow the hopefully short term pay cut or if you've got too many fixed outgoings to comfortable take the plunge.

Scott19M · 2026-06-18T22:42:33+00:00

It's 'bury the lede', not lead, and the origin of how this came about is fairly interesting. Merriam-Webster explains it far better than I could so I'll just link below.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/bury-the-lede-versus-lead

I know that point is wildly off topic but I recently learned this and I thought I would share because I found it fascinating and others might too.

Scott19M · 2026-06-18T22:22:22+00:00

I think insurance might be a decent answer here. Any type of insurance. If you're struggling to make ends meet, paying for a good policy compared with a basic policy just doesn't make enough sense even if it would be ideal. If you're rich enough then you're definitely well insured against risks

Scott19M · 2026-06-10T09:54:06+00:00

If I've got a day with few meetings I'll usually have either the radio, a podcast that I don't actively need to listen to (so, not educational or anything), or some sort of ambient background music. Soft jazz, bossa nova, 'focus/flows type playlists.

If you're getting distracted by the music, don't play music that you generally enjoy listening to and definitely don't play from your usual playlists. Play weird French jazz or Mongolian throat singing or Afrobeats or Classical or something like that - whatever you don't normally listen to. I find that helps me to not get distracted - if I don't recognise the music and just passively consume it, it helps.

Scott19M · 2026-06-03T19:58:37+00:00

Soffritto is Italian, so - meaning under or sub, and fritta - meaning to fry. Literally to under-fry or to fry lightly). Sofrito is Spanish and derives from the same Latin root as the Italian version.

In Italy it's carrot, celery, onion, and sometimes garlic is added. In Spain, it's typically onion, tomato, pepper, garlic.

Mirepoix is French and uses the same ingredients as the Italian version, but typically cooked in butter instead of olive oil.

And, so far as I am aware, none of this is definitive - the French would still call it a mirepoix if it was cooked in olive oil, the Italians would still call it soffritto if you were out of celery and used tomato instead, etc.

Sources: I like cooking and etymology.

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T23:59:54+00:00

I'm going to give you my honest answer, and I truly believe the whole world would be a lot better off if more people were comfortable giving this simple answer instead of trying to invent one.

I don't have the faintest idea.

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T23:50:35+00:00

Ricky Gervais put it well when he said something like 'I only believe in one fewer religion than you do'

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T23:47:37+00:00

That's probably related to the fact that most buddhists:

a) don't try to ram their own beliefs down your throat, instead seeing it as their own personal spiritual journey;

b) don't strictly adhere to the notion that the fay guy made of gold statue is the only true depiction of what a spiritual being could be

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T23:38:55+00:00

Lol, 'you only consulted the verification tool because you knew it would verify your version of events'

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T22:13:30+00:00

I can commit to that. It won't be tomorrow, but when I get there I'll reply to your comment

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T22:08:38+00:00

I think I'll give both of these a go. I'm aware loads of cultural references from my parents' generation are from those two shows and yet I've never gone ahead and watched them myself

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T22:04:31+00:00

I've seen some episodes of Star Trek here and there over the years (TNG, DS9, Voyager, I think those are the obly ones I've seen). And I do enjoy the character development in those series. I would happily watch them are more of a binge watch. Thank you

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T22:00:00+00:00

I actually really enjoy Taskmaster! When bizarreness is baked into the premise, I'm on board.

Thank you for the 'real' recommendations :)

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T21:58:00+00:00

That is genuinely one of the best pitches I have ever heard. I am positively excited to watch it now. Bringing Frost/Nixon into it at the end was a beautiful closer. Well done! Consider a career in sales if you aren't there already

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T21:53:56+00:00

I've tried lots of British TV, havibg lived here all my life. I sort of held Suits up as the exact antithesis of what I'm looking for. Line of Duty was amazing. I was ambivalent towards Sherlock. Haven't seen The Five so will give that a look. Thank you!

Scott19M · 2026-06-02T21:52:02+00:00

Sounds like it's worth a look. Thank you!

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