Taco Bell's $5 big box got smaller last spring and nobody talks about it

I picked one up about 3 months ago and the burrito was barely half the size it used to be. The chips were all broken dust too. Has anyone else noticed the portions shrink on those boxes or am I just getting unlucky at the one near me?

Remember when we used film cameras for astrophotography?

I was out at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania last weekend and it hit me how easy things are now. Back in 2005 I spent 4 hours trying to get a single good shot of the Andromeda Galaxy on Kodak film, only to mess up the development. Now with my DSLR I can take 50 shots and stack them in 20 minutes. Anyone else miss the challenge of film or am I just getting old?

Hot take: most expensive coffee beans are a complete waste of money

I was reading a coffee blog last night and found out blind taste tests show people can't tell the difference between $15 a pound beans and $50 ones 80% of the time. I've been dropping 30 bucks on bags thinking I was some kind of connoisseur. My buddy brought over some cheap store brand stuff last week and I honestly couldn't pick it out from my fancy roast. Who else has wasted cash on overpriced beans just because the label looked cool?

Cold brew concentrate went sour after 4 days in the fridge and I think I know why

Made a big batch of cold brew last Sunday with my French press. Used a 1:4 ratio like the internet says. Let it steep 20 hours at room temp. Drank some Monday and Tuesday. Thursday I pulled it out and it smelled like vinegar. Tossed the whole thing. I think the room temp steep made it go bad faster plus I didn't strain it right away. Anybody else had their cold brew turn on them after a few days?

Should I be honest about a repair time estimate or just pad it?

I had a bumper repair on a 2018 Civic last Tuesday that I thought would take 3 hours tops. It ended up taking me almost 8 hours because the paint match was way off and I had to blend into two adjacent panels. I quoted the customer a half day and they were ticked when I had to keep their car overnight. On one hand, I don't want to lose jobs by giving big estimates, but on the other, surprises like this make everyone mad. How do you guys handle the balance between being honest with time and not scaring people off? Has anyone else had a simple job balloon on them this bad?

Rigging guy on site 3 weeks ago told me I was chaining things wrong

I was setting a 12 ton HVAC unit on a roof downtown and this older fella walks up, says my choker hitch was gonna slip. I been doing it the same way for 5 years. He showed me where the eye was riding too close to the load edge, and I’ll be damned if he wasn’t right. Anyone else had some random spotter drop knowledge that changed your setup?

Ran into a retired Nikon repair tech at a diner and he changed how I think about shutter curtains

I was at a small diner in Lancaster, PA last Saturday and sat next to an older gentleman who saw my shirt with camera gears on it. Turns out he spent 40 years repairing Nikon F series bodies for a rental house in New York. He told me most shutter curtain problems aren't from wear, but from people storing cameras with the shutter cocked. Said he saw hundreds of cameras with stretched curtains that could have been avoided just by firing the shutter before putting them away. Has anyone else heard this rule or is it just an old timer thing?

Used to plan every mile on a topo map before a trip, now I just download a GPX file and go

What changed for you-did you ditch the paper maps for good or still pull one out when the trail gets sketchy?

Old band saw finally gave up the ghost on me yesterday

That 1950s Hobart I inherited from my uncle just seized up mid-cut on a pork shoulder. Had to hand-saw the rest of the order and it took me an extra hour. Anyone else running vintage gear that's hanging on by a thread?

A guy at the supply house said he uses a $3 harbor freight inspection mirror to check behind fridge compressors