My buddy Mike swore by thermometers for years, then his broke halfway through a bake and he just winged it. Said that random loaf was the BEST crust he ever made and now he never temp checks anymore.

Oh man, I feel that @rayc38. I had almost the same thing with my table saw fence last fall and it drove me nuts for weeks. Took me forever to figure out it was just a little burr on the rail that was throwing everything off by like a 32nd of an inch. I kept thinking I was going crazy, you know, adjusting and checking with the square over and over. Finally my buddy came over and spotted it in like two minutes, felt pretty dumb honestly. But hey, at least your jointer story makes me feel better about my own shop mishaps.

Brisket has less fat content so it dries out faster than chuck in a slow braise.

I read somewhere that watchmakers actually use a thin piece of plastic film from old CD cases for this same trick. It's flexible enough not to scratch anything but stiff enough to pop covers loose without cracking them. Something about the plastic being exactly the right thickness for most camera battery doors. Been meaning to try it myself on an old Minolta I've got sitting around.

Free pad thai" sounds like a steal to me, but yeah I get it.