Used leftover pickle juice in my chicken brine and got a weirdly good crust

I had a jar of dill pickle juice from a catering gig and decided to use it as the base for a chicken brine overnight. The next day, the skin came out of the oven way crispier than usual, almost like it had been fried. Anyone know why the acidity might do that, or have other weird brine liquids that worked?

My epic battle between a rare orchid and my cat's favorite sunbeam spot

So I found this amazing Dendrobium spectabile at a plant show in Portland last month, a real weirdo with twisty petals. The only spot in my apartment with the right light was this one perfect window ledge. Problem is, that's also where my cat, Gizmo, has claimed his afternoon sunbeam for the past three years. I had to choose: upset the plant's needs or upset the furry overlord. I picked the plant, thinking I could just move his bed. Big mistake. For a solid week, Gizmo gave me the cold shoulder and then started 'pruning' the orchid with his teeth when I wasn't looking. I had to get creative and rig up a hanging shelf above his spot with some macrame I learned from a YouTube video. Now the plant gets light and the cat gets his sun, but I live in fear of the whole thing crashing down. Anyone else had to do some wild interior design to keep both their plants and pets happy?

Had a bad pour on a sloped driveway in Tacoma last Tuesday

We were finishing a steep driveway pour, maybe a 15% grade, and the concrete truck driver dumped way too much water into the mix before we could stop him. It was a hot day and he said it was to help it flow, but it turned the whole load into soup. Started running down the slope before we could even screed it properly. My partner grabbed some bags of sand-mix we had in the truck for patching and we dumped them in, mixing by hand right on the slab to try and stiffen it back up. It was a messy 20 minutes of panic shoveling. We got it to hold, but the finish was tougher to work and took longer to set. What's your go-to move when a load shows up way too wet?

I was hiking near Sedona last weekend and finally understood what 'desert varnish' actually is.

Warning: I saw a stylist in Nashville completely botch a balayage with a new 'fast-acting' lightener

The client's ends melted off after 45 minutes because they didn't do a proper test strand first. Has anyone else had a bad experience with these quick formulas?

Pro tip: don't cheap out on those 'universal' power supply testers

I grabbed a $15 one online thinking it would save me time, but it gave me a false positive on a laptop board and I ended up ordering a good DC jack for nothing, costing me about $40 total. It turns out those cheap testers don't put any real load on the circuit, so they'll light up even with a weak power rail. What's a better, budget-friendly way to actually test a power supply under load?

Am I the only one who sees folks over-tightening scope ring screws?

I watched a customer bring in a rifle last week where the guy had cranked the ring screws down to 45 inch-pounds trying to 'make sure it held zero'. He stripped the threads and warped the tube. I keep my torque wrench set to the maker's spec, usually around 15 to 20 in-lbs for most rings. How do you guys explain proper torque to new shooters without sounding like a know-it-all?

My friend in the shop told me he never pre-stretches new cables and I had to think about it.

We were building up a Trek Domane for a customer and he just ran the housing, cut it, and threaded the cable straight through. He said, 'If you set the barrel adjuster right, it's a waste of two minutes.' I've always done it as gospel, but his bikes never come back with shifting problems. Is pre-stretching just shop ritual at this point?