Just had the weirdest week of my 12 year career, found a whole family of raccoons in a flue in Cincinnati

Remember when you could just point a scope at the sky and find something?

Honestly, I spent like three months trying to get a decent polar alignment from my driveway in Phoenix. My old manual mount was fine, but I got a used motorized one and the instructions were useless. Tbh, it took watching a specific YouTube video from 2017 and using a literal carpenter's level to finally get it right last night. Ngl, I almost gave up and went back to just using binoculars. Has anyone else had a fight with an equatorial mount that just would not cooperate?

Finally saw the Andromeda galaxy with my own eyes

Had to choose between staying up past midnight or giving up for the night. I waited it out with a blanket and my old 10x50 binoculars, and it was just a faint smudge but I'm so stoked lol. Anyone else have a go-to spot in their yard for a specific target?

Just read an old trade journal about foundry safety gear

I was cleaning out our break room and found a 1978 issue of 'Metal Casting News'. It said back then, only about 15% of foundries required full face shields for pouring. I always figured safety gear was a given, but it seems like a lot of the rules we follow now are pretty new. Makes you wonder what stuff we do today will seem crazy in another 40 years. What's the oldest safety rule you guys still see people try to skip?

My neighbor in 4B told me to stop using those tiny plastic pots for my tomatoes

My cousin insisted I needed a specific airlock for my first batch of sauerkraut, and I should have listened.

He told me to get a water-seal airlock, not the cheap silicone one-way valve lids. I thought the lids were fine and saved $5. My first two quarts in Ball jars got moldy after about 10 days. The valve lids just didn't seal right in my cool basement. I switched to the airlocks he suggested for my next batch, and it fermented for a full month with zero issues. Has anyone else had problems with those silicone lids versus proper airlocks for long ferments?

My air fryer basket liner disaster cost me $12 and a good meal

I bought a set of those parchment paper liners from the store, the ones with the little holes. They said they were for air fryers. I put one in my basket to make some chicken tenders, and it just flew up and stuck to the heating element the second I turned it on. It burned up, smoked out my kitchen, and I had to throw the whole batch away. Has anyone found a liner that actually stays put, or should I just skip them and deal with the cleanup?

That old DSC PC1832 panel in the basement finally gave up the ghost

It was in a 1998 build over in the Westview neighborhood, and the main board just stopped talking to the keypads last Tuesday. Had to pull the whole thing and put in a new communicator and power supply to get the sensors back online. Anyone have a good source for those legacy DSC chips, or is it just time to push for a full panel swap on these?

Vent: I bought a $300 'professional' mandoline slicer that's been a total waste.

I was convinced I needed it for perfect, uniform cuts after seeing it in a kitchen supply catalog, but it's awkward to clean and the safety guard is useless. I've gone back to my $40 Benriner for everything from potatoes to cucumbers. Anyone have a mandoline they actually love that doesn't feel like a hazard?

My first boss told me to never use carnations in a wedding bouquet, but a bride in Tampa last month specifically asked for them