The night my D&D campaign got derailed by a rogue bag of chips

I was running a big boss fight at my friend's basement in Minneapolis last Friday. Everything was going fine until someone crunched a tortilla chip way too loud during a dramatic monologue. The whole table burst out laughing and I totally lost my train of thought. My level 5 party ended up spending 20 minutes arguing about whether the goblin king would like nacho cheese. Has anyone else had their game completely derailed by snack noise?

Just found out my bank was charging me $12/month for "account maintenance"

I was looking at my statement from last month and noticed this random $12 fee. Called them up and they said it's been on there for 2 years. Nobody ever told me about it when I opened the account. Switched to a credit union this morning. Has anyone else caught fees like this that just sit there quietly?

Can we talk about how they still let tourists climb the pyramids at Teotihuacan?

I was down in Mexico last month and finally got to see the Pyramid of the Sun up close. It's amazing no doubt but what got me was watching people just walking all over it like it's a playground. I get that it's a big tourist thing but these structures are like 2,000 years old and we're letting thousands of people a day wear down the stone steps with their sneakers. I noticed sections where the original plaster coating is totally gone and you can see the rubble underneath. There's no ropes or barriers on most of the path just a free for all. Meanwhile they've closed off whole sections of other sites like Altun Ha in Belize for preservation. Why is Teotihuacan still so open? Has anyone else been there and seen the wear firsthand or am I just overthinking this?

That $80 rain jacket I bought was a total waste for commuting

I picked up this fancy waterproof jacket last fall thinking it'd keep me dry on my 20 minute ride to work. After three weeks the so-called breathable fabric just made me sweat like crazy, so I got to work wet anyway. Meanwhile my buddy just wears a cheap poncho over his regular clothes and says it works fine. He's been commuting in Seattle for two years with that five dollar setup. Did I just fall for marketing hype or are expensive cycling rain jackets worth it for someone else?

Tried using railroad spikes for my first forge-welded billet, ended up with a blade full of cracks

Grabbed a handful of spikes from the tracks near my shop in Ohio. Thought they'd be fine since they're just high carbon steel. After three heats and a ton of hammering, the welds looked good until I quenched it. Whole thing fractured into three pieces. Learned the hard way that those spikes have weird sulfur content and aren't consistent at all. Has anyone else had luck forging with railroad steel or is it just a trap for beginners?

TIL you can broom a wet stamp finish and it looks killer

Was at a job site in Toledo last month watching a guy do a stamped patio. He broomed the surface while it was still wet after the stamp and it gave this cool textured look. Has anyone else tried mixing broom and stamp finishes together?

Talking to a fleet manager last week made me rethink how I torque head bolts on 6.7 Powerstrokes

He said he never tightens them past 140 in the final pass because he's seen too many pulled threads at 160 and now I'm wondering if the manual is wrong for daily drivers, has anyone else backed off the spec on these motors?

The difference between bread flour and all-purpose showed up after 3 days on my counter

I baked two loaves of sourdough last Monday, one with bread flour and one with all-purpose, and by Thursday the bread flour loaf was still soft while the all-purpose one was crumbling like stale crackers. My kitchen stays around 70 degrees and I stored them both in the same paper bags, so the only variable was the flour. Has anyone else noticed how fast their all-purpose bread goes dry compared to bread flour?

Tried a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and shellac as a quick sealer on some oak

Honestly, it dried so fast it was almost impossible to brush out without leaving streaks. Anyone have a better trick for a fast-drying grain sealer that doesn't fight you?

Heard a homeowner in Denver tell his buddy that tempered glass is just a scam to charge more