I finally understood why my tongs kept slipping on round stock

I was working on a set of fireplace tools last week, trying to twist some 3/8 inch round bar. My go-to flat bit tongs just would not hold it, no matter how much I tightened them. After the third time it spun and almost hit my leg, I remembered an old video from a smith in Texas. He said, 'If your tool doesn't fit the work, you're fighting yourself.' I ground a shallow V into the jaws, and it was like night and day. What's your usual fix for a bad grip on round stock?

Pro tip: I think the 'always book the cheapest hostel' rule is a trap

I was in Prague last fall and booked a bed for $8 a night in a place that looked okay online. The room had 12 people and one broken window, so it was freezing. I ended up spending $40 on a thick sweater and a cheap sleeping bag just to get through two nights, which wiped out the savings. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather pay a bit more upfront for a decent spot. Has anyone else had a cheap stay actually cost them more in the end?

I finally canceled my cable package after realizing I was paying $120 a month for reruns.

Now I just use two streaming services and have way more to actually watch. Anyone else ditch cable and find a show they love because of it?

Fought with a sticky film advance on a Pentax Spotmatic for almost a week

Got this Spotmatic in last Tuesday, looked clean, but the film advance lever was totally stuck. I figured it was just old grease, a quick clean, maybe an hour tops. Opened it up, cleaned the old gunk out of the gear train, re-lubed the spots the service manual said, put it back together... still stuck. Spent the next three days going deeper, checking the shutter timing gears, the mirror box, everything. Finally, on Friday afternoon, I found it. A tiny, almost invisible sliver of metal from a broken spring had wedged itself between two gears in the bottom plate, something you'd never see unless you were looking right at it under a bright light. That one little shaving cost me about 15 hours of work. So, what's your take? Do you always do a full, deep strip-down on every 'simple' sticky advance, or do you start with the basics and hope for the best? I'm curious how others handle these time-sink jobs.

After 18 months of waiting... my flight price alert for Bali just came through.