Turning 50,000 stars into 87 galaxies - my spreadsheet surprised me

I've been processing my own astrophotography for about 3 years now, and last month I finally cataloged every object I've captured. The count came to 87 galaxies, 34 nebulas, and 12 star clusters from my backyard in Michigan. But here's what bugs me - should we count individual stars resolved in a photo as separate objects, or stick with deep sky objects only? I had 50,000 stars in one Milky Way shot alone, which feels like cheating to include. What do you all count when you tally up your image library?

My sauerkraut crock cracked after 3 years - is it worth fixing or time to toss?

The ceramic ring on my 5-liter crock split straight down the middle during a batch last week, and I'm stuck between trying to seal it with food-grade epoxy or just buying a new one for $45. Has anyone here successfully repaired a cracked fermentation crock, or do you always replace them?

My grandpa said to skip the expensive rain jacket and he was dead right

Back in 2018 my grandpa told me not to drop $300 on that Arc'teryx shell I was eyeing up. Said a basic Columbia with a good DWR treatment would do the same thing for me here in Seattle. Three years later and I've worn that $80 jacket through 40+ days of drizzle and it's still keeping me dry. Anyone else find that the cheap stuff sometimes works just as good as the fancy gear?

Vent: almost had a bad day on a bridge job because of my harness

Was working on a bridge repair in Portland last month, 40 feet down in murky water. Halfway through my shift I noticed my harness D-ring was twisted under my weight belt. I had been hooking up like that for YEARS without thinking. A guy on the surface crew yelled down to check my gear and THATS when I saw it. Anyone else ever catch a bad habit like that before it turned into something serious?

That Roman dodecahedron mystery finally clicked for me after seeing one in person at a museum in Belgium

Got a call at 3 AM about a sprinkler line we capped off in a Phoenix strip mall

We were finishing a tenant fit-out last month, working on the fire suppression system. The plan was to cap a 2-inch sprinkler line that serviced the old tenant space. My guy used a standard threaded cap, torqued it down, and we passed inspection. Two weeks later, I'm woken up by the property manager screaming about a flood in the shared hallway. Turns out, the pressure from the main riser, combined with the Arizona heat making the pipes expand, blew that cap right off. We had water pouring through the ceiling tiles into three other businesses. I had to call in a favor with a plumbing crew to get a welded cap on there by sunrise. The cleanup bill was over $8,000. Has anyone else had a threaded fitting fail under system pressure like that, or was it just bad luck?

PSA: My old boss told me to never top a live oak, and a job in Savannah last month proved him right.

The homeowner insisted on a 'round over' and now half the canopy is covered in epicormic sprouts... it looks awful. Anyone dealt with a client pushing for topping and how did you handle it?

I just realized I've been ordering the wrong thing at Taco Bell for like 15 years

I always get a Crunchwrap Supreme, thinking it's the best thing they have. Last week, my friend got a Cheesy Gordita Crunch and let me try a bite. It was so much better, the textures actually worked together and it wasn't a soggy mess. I've probably spent over a thousand dollars on the wrong item because I never tried anything else. What's a menu item you guys think is way better than the popular choice? I feel like I need to start over.

Had a client's skin react badly and finally realized my mistake

A regular client came in for a hydrafacial last month and her cheeks got super red and stayed that way for days. I was using the same Glymed Plus calming serum I always do, but I finally asked her what she used that morning and she said 'that apricot scrub from the drugstore'. I'd never been asking about at-home physical exfoliation before a treatment. Has anyone else run into this and how do you handle the intake questions now?

I've been using the wrong solvent on composite panels for years

A new guy at the hangar in Tampa asked why I was using acetone, and showed me the manual that specifically says not to. It was for a Cessna 172R composite wingtip repair. What's the best safe cleaner you all use for that kind of work?