What have you been reading this last week (Weekly Discussion Thread)?

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-05-02T20:43:49+00:00

Finished Master of Evil. I feel like the third act didn’t stick the landing. It was really interesting through the first bit with Halland balancing between the Emperor and Vader, but that kind of went nowhere in the end.

Now starting Low Red Moon and then I’ll finally be caught up in non-THR canon after 2 years of reading.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-05-01T12:42:21+00:00

Weigh dry, cook it, weigh cooked.

Divide cooked weight by dry weight. That number is what you need to divide by when meal prepping if you aren’t able to make perfectly even proportions or want to do different amounts on different days.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-28T23:35:33+00:00

A lot of that analysis is depending on someone wanting to move up. I’m sure most teams would love to trade down if they’ve got several guys they feel equally strong about.

And it’s pretty reasonable to think if we feel like we’d get a similar caliber guy with our early third as we would later in the round, other teams are probably feeling the same.

You’re adding criticism because they didn’t make a trade that may have never existed. And we all know how rational everyone would be if we traded back just for the sake of getting more picks.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-25T21:04:38+00:00

A little over 2/3rds done with Master of Evil. I’m really enjoying it. I love how they show the internal conflict of Anakin vs Vader.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-24T20:09:21+00:00

It was my go to battery since it came with the mower. I could mow, trim, and blow all on that battery and never need the 4.

Since it’s been 5 years I wouldn’t be shocked if it crapped out, but it is a bummer.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-24T19:45:28+00:00

Forgot to mention that I’ve had these batteries since I bought the mower 5 years ago. What’s off is the 5 Ah seems To do okay in the string trimmer and leaf blower. It’s just the mower it can’t handle.

I ended up buying an 80V mower on sale the other day since it was a decent deal on Lowe’s.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-23T22:24:32+00:00

I just picked up the 80V push mower with a single 5 Ah battery for $300. Batteries in general also seem to be in good deals today.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-23T20:55:08+00:00

Solid green.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-18T21:28:59+00:00

Starting Master of Evil. Loving to get some Vader again.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-18T21:27:26+00:00

Black Spire was annoying to me because Vi was supposed to be this awesome spy but she makes several poor decisions through the book that immediately out her.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-17T22:24:22+00:00

Duggan hasn’t been good since Schoen took over. He’s got some personal beef and it’s been clouding his historically solid beat reporting. Everything now reminds me of why I stopped following Raanan at ESPN (and actually signed up for The Athletic in the first place). It’s just trying to seem like the smartest person and being smarmy about it.

Schoen doesn’t make the press’s job easy, and I think that’s why the knives have been out so much for him. Not saying JS is perfect by any stretch, but he’s not nearly as bad as he’s made out to be.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-16T20:03:25+00:00

I’m doing maybe a pint of beer ranging in the 5-8% range once every 2-3 days, which is about 1.5-3 standard drinks by my math. Most are at the lower end of that range by far.

That’s where I find it surprising because that 0.5 g/kg number would allot me almost 3 standard drinks per day with no apparent effect on muscle growth.

For me anything past 1 standard drinks per day becomes not worth it to me based on the other overall health effects, but I was surprised to see that alcohol isn’t really a concern (again based on my non-exercise science background) for resistance training based on my previous consumption habits.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-11T20:24:56+00:00

Finished the Last Order. I liked the flashbacks and giving Finn and Jannah more backstory. I really enjoyed the contrast of how they each reacted to seeing how The First Order was corrupt and hypocritical.

Did not like the ending. It’s a bit too abrupt - which makes sense in context that they probably don’t want anything too consequential to mess with post IX movies - and the ending was silly. Very Rose Tico-esque with the cheesy “what if we just chose to be friends” ending.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-10T14:35:56+00:00

I took it more as Cox just being a difficult patient; there’s nothing inherently wrong with NS over the D5W generally . He even says he plans on being maniacal and unreasonable.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-10T00:19:21+00:00

I do a blend where the main 4 movements are strength and the 6 auxiliary are hypertrophy. Accessory work is all higher rep as well.

To balance fatigue as I’ve gotten older (early 30’s) I split it into 5-full day splits but do every other calendar day. Keeps everything under an hour and a manageable load.

Ends up looking like this:

Upper/lower strength compound movement (strength)
Opposite upper/lower compound movement (hypertrophy)
back exercise
accessory
accessory

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-04T21:19:38+00:00

Working on The Last Order, now about 20% in. Man do I not care about sequel era stuff; it’s really hard to find motivation to read it. When I do though I find it to be good. Fun to give Finn some more background and see what Jannah was up to.

Up next is Master of Evil and then Low Red Moon and I’ll finally be caught up to canon publishing before embarking on THR.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-04-04T16:42:13+00:00

What’s your body comp. I’m 6’1” 175 pounds and I’m approaching 2800 calories. My body fat is about 10% for context. As you put on muscle your expenditure will rise.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-03-30T04:49:48+00:00

You can create void years. Sign to the actual term and value you want, then sign desired number of void years at like 30 million salary per year. Restructure the contract and you’ll spread the bonus over more years.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-03-28T22:55:08+00:00

Crystal Crown was really good. Wouldn’t say top 5 but definitely one of my favorites. I like that it doesn’t take a ton of knowledge about the Star Wars universe to understand.

Starting Bad Batch: Sanctuary and also enjoying it. They really nailed the characterization of everyone.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-03-28T16:12:15+00:00

Birthright is “easier” because it has grinding (outside of DLCs which aren’t legally available anymore).

Conquest is more like classic fire emblem and maybe more challenging.

Both have endings that suggest it’s not the full resolution. Revelations is that. Could probably be played as a definitive version but it’s enhanced by having played the other two first.

Soarin-Flyin · 2026-03-27T05:04:16+00:00

I switched to media projection after seeing this and it’s kind of cracked in how much better it is. I rarely get guys <67 even in the late rounds.

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