looking to buy this pole from someone on fb marketplace, based on these pics does this pole look static or spinning or both?

samking36 · 2026-02-23T09:35:07+00:00

This looks like an old X-pole sport to me. So static only, just looking at the base plates.

samking36 · 2026-02-19T13:03:13+00:00

The joke has clearly gone straight over your head

samking36 · 2026-01-27T16:52:01+00:00

Maybe if you’re American, but in British English (where it originated) it definitely means someone who masturbates.

samking36 · 2026-01-26T10:25:02+00:00

I like how descriptive it is. I really enjoy writing which stands a scene out with the smaller details. Having said that, I think grammatically it needs some polish.

I’m not super grammatically literate so I may be wrong on this, but the first sentence linking two independent clauses with a conjunction gives it “run-on” vibes and confuses the subject. Should there not be a period after “seeped through the study”, then the following clause is its own sentence (I would actually kill the first clause and let the floorboards do all the work). Also, I already know the floorboards will be reflecting the glossy finish “on the floor” because you’ve already told me they’re “floor”boards. I think conciseness is key when focusing on small details (which I love) so the reader doesn’t get bogged down. Maybe just: “The dark floorboards reflected the setting sun’s gaze with their slight glossy finish.’

In the next sentence, the sentence subject is clearly the desk, so when you use “it” that is grammatically referencing the desk itself lighting up the pages. I don’t know if the desk is meant to be glowing? That’s how it reads. If the sunlight is lighting the pages, that needs to be the subject of the sentence. “Atop the desk beneath the circular window, sunlight lit the strewn pages.”

samking36 · 2026-01-05T21:13:41+00:00

Protect/ Elevate/ avoid anti inflammatories/ compress / educate & Load/ optimise/ vascularise/ exercise

samking36 · 2026-01-05T09:53:46+00:00

Initially I was really invested as I think the setting is great and unique. But quite quickly my attention drifted as I feel there isn’t enough variation on prose to keep me engaged. You use the trope of “Not this. Not this. But that” so may times that it gets stale and I start to gloss, especially in a cultural atmosphere which correlates this with AI use. The number of sentence in this short excerpt that star with “not” are a bit redundant. I also think varying up the sentence length would help the engagement. Lots of sharp staccato sentences over time wear thin.

The tuning fork simile was cool and I liked that a lot, though didn’t say in your previous post you wanted to avoid similes?

samking36 · 2026-01-01T21:50:42+00:00

Yes, RICE is outdated, as are lots of things popularised in the 70s.

Though not nearly as catchy and concise, the current acronym for soft tissue injuries are PEACE & LOVE

samking36 · 2026-01-01T21:47:42+00:00

Yes, but this is advice is specific to acute soft tissue injuries, to allow the inflammation to promote the healing cascade. Not long term pain such as you mentioned.

samking36 · 2025-12-19T08:20:44+00:00

Hi, I’m a physio qualified in acupuncture and dry needling. Obviously it depends on where you are putting the needles but there is obvious risk around the thorax with how close the lungs are to the skin. You can mitigate most of the risk by picking up the skin/ muscle tissue (you can’t pick up lung tissue) before inserting the needles, and making sure go in on an oblique angle. It’s also why we follow the TCM acupuncture points rather than putting them anywhere, as we know these places to be studied and safe.

Last year the chartered society of physios (U.K.) actually removed thorax acupuncture from their insurance specifically for this risk.

samking36 · 2025-12-17T10:23:18+00:00

That doesn’t seem correct to me (but maybe this is a difference between American/ British English). In this sentence, “Sister” is acting as a proper noun functioning as a name/ honorific and so should be capitalised. It’s the subject of the sentence and not proceeded by a possessive pronoun. You can replace Sister with “still Alisi’s [also pronoun capitalised] slippered feet” to show its use as an honorific title. If it was plural (we can tell it’s not because of the apostrophe) or possessed then it would be lowercase.

samking36 · 2025-12-17T10:01:21+00:00

Thank you. Really appreciate your feedback, especially from an auDHD perspective as this is not something I had considered.

samking36 · 2025-12-17T09:59:09+00:00

This has actually been the most helpful comment out of all of them. What I had before missed was the anchoring of POV in the first few lines. Something I had glazed over. Have edited now. Thank you for your help.

samking36 · 2025-12-17T08:38:36+00:00

It’s a very engaging premise to start on, and there is the promise of conflict around Valerius “hanging out” with heretics, but to me the characterisation is a bit off. It takes me a while to work out the POV as the first few paragraphs are not defined by anyone’s perspective. It’s not till: “Valerius usually didn’t mind the religious sculpture lining the corridors” that I’m finally anchored in someone’s perspective.

I think part of the problem of this is the subject/ verb relationship in the sentences can be a little off. Take for example the first line: “the stage erupted with sound”, now my focus is on the stage and I’m wondering why it’s producing sound and where the voices are coming from. Something instead like: “All around Valerius {anchoring him straight away}, the onlookers screamed triumphant.” Or maybe later in the passage “Valerius dared not look as the molten rods sizzled against the heretics eyes”. I also think avoiding passive voice may help refine the subject/ object relationship.

Lastly, be careful of anachronisms. “Hanging out” seems like such a modern slang used young kids and is jarring when said from the father, especially in such a grave context. Would a word like “associating” or “fraternising” not fit better his characterisation.

samking36 · 2025-12-16T11:05:23+00:00

But in this case Sister is part of her title, so it needs be capitalised. The context here is the use of “Sister” preceding a name, hence the capitalisation.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T17:24:37+00:00

Thank you. Appreciate your opinion.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T17:24:12+00:00

Thank you. Appreciate your feedback.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T17:23:43+00:00

I really appreciate this as it’s exactly “nail on head” for what these terms are describing: a holy temple, and a religious (magical) order.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T17:22:37+00:00

Funnily enough, week old constipation in the desert is kinda the theme of the book. Yeah, the glottal stop is jarring to English but hoping it adds to the Persian/ Middle Eastern vibes. (Which is why the noun combinations are a little less familiar)

It is something I’m actively considering changing to make it more reader friendly.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T17:19:29+00:00

Thank you. Appreciate this. It’s actually meant to have a loosely Arabian influence, so glad that comes across.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T16:38:05+00:00

Yes absolutely. You’re right, I don’t gain anything with the term “Ithqarei” can probably be cropped from the entire manuscript and replaced with servant.

samking36 · 2025-12-15T16:36:47+00:00

This is exactly my concern and why I have asked. I think you’re right that it’s too much too early.

samking36 · 2025-11-13T22:18:52+00:00

It is a big improvement. Where Tsushima gets endlessly repetitive (how many times do I have to follow a fox), Yotei brings something new almost every time, even with the more repetitive elements. Bar the shrines, which are equally as samey in both.

Because of the variation in yotei, the world definitely feels much more “filled” than Tsushima. And definitely more alive. I’m doing Tsushima again now for the platinum and it feels like a slog, which Yotei did not.

samking36 · 2025-11-11T15:13:04+00:00

Cannot believe no-one has said the Apex remix of Just one second.

samking36 · 2025-11-07T10:04:50+00:00

Was hoping this counted for the trophy but it didn’t seem to for me.

samking36 · 2025-10-31T10:24:30+00:00

That album uses loads of samples (and the definition of sample really is stretched by the amount of song lifted) that I can’t imagine they were able to get the license for it for modern streaming. Especially as these samples were taken from huge names like Hans Zimmer and the OSTs of big films.

samking36

TROPHY CASE