Remember hearing about a similar thing with the old MD-80s in Vegas heat. Did you guys have any kind of moisture in the plug itself, or was it purely the metal shrinking from the temp swing overnight? I mean, that's a huge shift out there. Makes you wonder if a tiny bit of corrosion on the pins made it worse.

My first meteor shoot involved fifty blurry shots and zero patience. I basically became a human tripod with the shakes, which is as bad as it sounds. abbyk10 nailed it about the impatient method just wasting time. Waiting it out taught me to see the rhythm of the sky, and that one clean shot feels earned. Now I pack extra coffee and let the meteors come to me.

That .strip() method saving the day is so familiar. I've spent whole afternoons tracing loops that broke on a sneaky space or newline. It feels silly after you spot it, but in the moment it's pure agony. Your habit of cleaning input right away is the only way to stay sane.