Why does nobody talk about using a cheap infrared thermometer to find a dead cylinder before pulling injectors

Saved me 3 hours last week on a Cummins ISX by finding the cold exhaust port right away, anyone else use one of these for diagnosis?

Chatted with a 30 year sweep last week and it hit me different

I was swapping stories with this older guy at a supply shop in Portland. He said he still uses the same manual brush his dad handed down in 92. Told me he watched three shops close in the last 5 years because new guys buy all the fancy gear but skip the basic training. Made me think about how I've been leaning on my rotary kit way too much and forgetting the feel of a good hand rod. He asked me flat out when was the last time I actually looked at the flue before running a tool through it. Stung a bit because I couldn't remember. Any of you old timers still doing it the slow way?

Bought a 5 dollar timer switch at Home Depot and it fixed my porch light problem

For two years I was going outside every night to flip the porch light on and off. Spent 5 bucks on a basic timer switch, took 10 minutes to install, and now I haven't touched that light in 3 months. Anyone else put off buying a simple fix like that forever?

Found a hack that saved me $400 a month on co-working spaces in Chiang Mai

I started renting a quiet hotel lobby for $5 a day instead of a $20 desk and nobody ever bothered me for 6 months straight, has anyone else found cheap spots like that?

I used to think certifications were a scam until a hiring manager in Austin told me otherwise.

For years I skipped getting any certs because I figured real work experience was all that mattered. Then last month I was talking to a manager at a tech meetup and he flat out said they filter resumes by certs first. No cert, you don't even get looked at. That changed my mind fast. Anyone else had a similar wake up call?

Tbh, I always bought the cheap store brand canned beans

But last week I grabbed a bag of dried pinto beans for $1.79 and cooked a huge pot. The flavor was way better and it made like four times as much food for the same price. Anyone have other cheap dried bean recipes?

Showerthought: I see a lot of new coders skip the basic error messages.

I was helping my cousin learn Python last week, and he kept hitting run, seeing a red error, and instantly closing it to ask me for help. I made him read the error out loud. It literally said 'NameError: name 'prinnt' is not defined' on line 7. He just never looked. I think new people get scared by the red text and miss that it's the best help you can get. It tells you the problem and where to look. How do you get comfortable reading those messages instead of panicking?

Question about hydraulic line crimping methods

I was doing a repair on a 5-story bank building and tried using a hand-crimper on the new hose, but the fitting leaked after a week. Switched to a bench-mounted crimper from the shop and it's held perfect pressure for over a month now. Anyone else find the bench tool is the only way to get a reliable seal on those high-pressure lines?

My entire weekly spread got wrecked by a coffee spill yesterday.

I was trying to migrate tasks and my mug tipped right onto the open page. Anyone have a good fix for dried coffee stains on dotted paper?

Had a total meltdown at a signing in Austin when my mint copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 slipped out of its bag...