Warning: that $40 suet feeder from the big box store was a total scam

Bought a fancy metal suet cage with a tail prop last month at the Lowe's in Eugene and the latch bent after one day, so the woodpeckers just yank the whole block out and eat it on the ground. The starlings figured it out faster than I could even get a photo of the downy I was hoping for. Anyone else had luck with a specific brand that actually locks tight, or should I just stick to the plain wire frames from the feed store?

Spent 3 months using highlighters before I realized they were pointless

The 3 page pivot doc that killed our momentum in Lansing

We spent 6 weeks perfecting a pivot strategy for our failing app in Lansing, but by the time we finished the doc our users had already left and the market moved on. Has anyone else found that longer planning time actually hurt more than it helped?

Tucson cloud week turned me from galaxy guy to planet fan

I used to scroll right past Jupiter and Saturn shots, thought planets were boring next to galaxies. Then last month we had 6 straight nights of clouds here in Tucson, and the only clear patch was a tiny window over the eastern horizon. I aimed my 8 inch dob at Jupiter just to have something to do, and caught the Great Red Spot plus 3 moons in a single 90 second video. Stacking those frames and seeing the bands pop out, that was the moment I got it. Now I check the planetary forecast before the deep sky one, and I'm planning a trip to the Kitt Peak visitor center next new moon. Anyone else start with nebulae and end up hooked on the gas giants instead?

TIL my DIY phaser pedal fizzled out after 2 weeks of night jams

Built a phaser using the classic 4-stage circuit off a forum schematic, and it sounded killer at first. But after 14 straight nights of loud practice, the effect started cutting out and leaving this ugly static hiss. Turns out I used cheap electrolytic caps rated for 16V instead of 25V, and they cooked under the 18V supply I was running. Swapped in the higher rated ones and it's been solid for 3 weekends now. Has anyone else had cap voltage ratings sneak up on them with a boosted power rail?

Overheard a neighbor bragging about building a pergola in one weekend

Tbh, I was at a block party last Saturday and this guy Dave was going on about how he built a 12x16 foot pergola in just two days with no prior experience. I've been planning mine for weeks and still stressing over getting the posts perfectly level. Honestly, I think he's either lying or cutting corners on the foundation work. Has anyone else had a neighbor claim they pulled off something massive in a weekend?

Walked into a new shop downtown and walked right back out

I stopped by that new barbershop on 3rd street yesterday to see what the hype was about. Soon as I got in, the guy working on a client had his clippers going full blast without any guard, skin tight on the sides, and no sectioning clips or anything. Just hacking away at the top like he was trimming a hedge. I waited about 2 minutes and nobody even said hello or acknowledged me standing there. Has anyone else dealt with shops that feel more like a fast food joint than a real barber experience?

Had a guy tell me my control joints were too shallow on a driveway job last Tuesday

I was finishing up a 30x40 driveway in Decatur, IL and I cut my control joints at about 1 inch deep like I always do. This older finisher walks by, stops, and says those joints are gonna crack wrong in about 6 months. He said I need to go at least a third of the slab depth, so for a 4 inch slab that means closer to 1.5 inches. I was pretty annoyed at first because I thought my way was fine and I've been doing this for 7 years now. But I looked at a couple of my older jobs from last summer and sure enough, I noticed some hairline cracks that weren't following the joints. So I redid the cuts a bit deeper on that driveway and it actually made a cleaner line anyway. Has anyone else had their standard joint depth come back to bite them down the road?

That neighborhood climate action meetup gave me bad advice about solar panels

I went to a local climate group meeting in February and a guy named Dave told me to hold off on solar because "prices would drop 40 percent by summer." Well, summer came and went and prices barely budged maybe 5 percent. I lost out on 6 months of savings on my electric bill which was around $120 a month. Plus the federal tax credit got a little smaller in the new year. Has anyone else gotten bad timing advice from well-meaning people?

Discovery: painting trim with a foam brush instead of a regular one saves me an hour per room

I was painting baseboards in my 1950s house off Lomas and the bristle brush kept leaving those tiny hair lines no matter how careful I was. After three rooms of frustration I grabbed a pack of 2 inch foam brushes from the hardware store for $4. The paint went on smooth and I didn't have to go back and sand out brush marks after. It cut my trim time from 2 hours per room down to about an hour and the finish looks way cleaner. Has anyone else tried this trick for crown molding or does it not work on textured surfaces?