weastie

Hi all,

I have the pretty classic backstory of playing lots of video games when I was young, plus being forced to read books I didn't want to read in school making me dislike reading.

Until about 2 years ago, I hadn't read a book for pleasure in quite a few years, probably before high school. And even before then, I didn't read that much.

I'm making this post because... when I first got back into reading (2 years ago), I don't think I really understood how fun reading could be. I viewed it as a healthy hobby (which it is of course), and don't get me wrong I did enjoy reading, but it always felt a bit like something I was doing for health reasons instead of really enjoying it. Sorta like a chore that I was forcing myself to do.

If you're in my position... Just keep trying different authors, different genres, different series. I think I accepted reading as being only a slightly enjoyable thing because that's just what I thought it was.

6 months ago I finally read a book series my brother had been recommending for a while, and it completely changed my relationship with reading. I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I could. I didn't have to convince myself to read anymore, it was the main thing I wanted to do. I think in one day I read about 250 pages. I was almost too obsessed with it, I nearly cancelled plans with friends because I wanted to read haha.

I'm not trying to advertise this specific book series or anything, but if you're curious it's Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

TL;DR - if you're newer to reading and feel like it's a chore, don't give up hope, keep trying new authors or genres and you might find something you really enjoy. there's almost certainly something out there that's made just for you, and you might have to sift through a couple "okay" books until you find it.

Just pick two of your absolute favorite bands that are quite different

I am the only one in my friend group who actually likes taking SEPTA, and it's really hard to explain why.

Objectively, I've had bad experiences on SEPTA. Every now and then, a train car smells awful. There's druggies everywhere. Some mentally ill folk will start yelling, etc. Train stations smell like piss and cigarette smoke. Objectively, I understand why a lot of people are scared of, hesitant of, or dislike SEPTA.

But for some reason... I just enjoy it. I'm fascinated by it. It brings people from all walks of life together. It gives you a sense of reality and community. It's got personality... It's got Philadelphia personality. It summarizes the city, in a way.

I grew up in a wealthier suburb where I very rarely encountered homelessness, severe mental illness, etc. I was sheltered. Being in Philadelphia and especially being on SEPTA, feels so much more authentic. Like I'm experiencing real life.

I'm sure it helps that I'm male too.

Does anyone else feel the same?

I know this is a really vague question, I'm hoping for some open discussion

For some background, I currently have 2.5 years of professional work experience, and I work for a large defense contractor doing devops.

My approach to ethicality so far was basically, I need to start somewhere before I can be picky. I got hired at a large defense contractor out of college, and now that I've hit the 2 year mark for work experience, I have some flexibility in my next job when I decide to do that.

If money wasn't a problem, I'd love to use my degree to do good for the world, or at least work for an industry I don't think is evil. And truthfully, even the lower end of CS jobs still pay better than the higher end of many other degrees.

But right now I'm looking at job offers, and it seems like if I move to a tech, medical, or financial company, I could likely see a salary increase of 30-50%, which would be huge for me as I'm young and have debts to pay off (though much less than others, I'm pretty privileged).

At the same time, if I took a tech job working for my city, I found a position that I am perfectly qualified for but it's a 10% cut from my current salary which I already believe to be a bit too low.

Just curious to see how everyone else has made these decisions. It's very tempting to follow the money and take the highest paying job, but I'd love to work somewhere I'm genuinely proud of.

Pre-note: When I mention "imitation products", I mean a food item that is trying to exactly replicate a non vegan item. Something like a black bean burger is not an imitation production, it's just an alternative.

I was bored so I started creating a tier list of vegan products and how closely they imitate non vegan products. I was trying to keep the list genericized with less emphasis on specific brands, but for some items the brand was really important.

What would you move around? What would you add? I only have a few items so far. I'll update the list as comments come in.

S tier - practically indistinguishable

• Beef burgers (impossible, beyond)
• Breakfast sausages (impossible, beyond)
• Chicken nuggets/patties
• Mayo

A tier - you can tell it's different but it's just as good

• Queso dip (cashew based)
• Ground beef (impossible, beyond)
• Egg (just egg)
• Butter
• Milk
• Ice cream

B tier - you can tell it's different and it's a slight downgrade

• Deli cheese slices (some brands are C or F)

C tier - you can tell it's different and it's okay but a significant downgrade

• Cream cheese (most brands)
• Pizza

F tier - you can tell it's different and it's not good

• Beef jerky

First off, I want to point out that I am totally on team /c/fuckcars. I highly believe in transit, walking, and biking.

That being said, I think it's fair to say that:

1. Cars aren't fully going away anytime soon
2. Even in our wildest dreams, it still makes sense for cars to be usable in some way, just that the other transport methods are highly prioritized.

So the discussion I want to have is about parking garages, and the hate I see towards them from the urbanist community.

I feel like parking garages vaguely align with urbanist views, because they are high density, and they allow someone to drive to a general area after which they can do the rest of their transportation via other methods.

To put it into perspective, I'd rather have 1-3 dense parking garages in a neighborhood than have street parking along all the roads plus wide open parking lots around grocery stores and whatnot.

I understand this is a lesser of the two evils discussion but it seems to me like parking garages are the clear winner.

I recently bought some multi grain cheerios (no honey in them) that I thought were vegan friendly. After finishing the box, I realized that they fortify it with vitamin D3, sourced from sheep wool.

Shame because they seemed like a healthy, plant based source of whole grains.