The number of calls for smart fridge repairs has tripled in my area since 2021

Last week alone, I had three jobs for fridges with dead control boards. It's always the same story, the fancy touchscreen goes dark but the compressor still runs. Anyone else seeing this wave and have a go-to supplier for those boards that doesn't cost a fortune?

A customer told me his 'fixed' laptop from a big box store died again in 3 days

He brought it to my shop, and I found a cold solder joint on the DC jack that they clearly just reflowed without cleaning. It got me thinking about the push for fast, cheap fixes versus doing it right the first time, even if it costs more. Where do you draw the line between a quick repair and a proper one for your customers?

That 3/8-inch gap on the old boiler in Toledo last month had me stumped

The foreman just laughed and said to check the flange bolts for a hairline crack. Anyone else run into a weird leak that wasn't where it looked like it was coming from?

Just read about the scale of the Cahokia mounds and my mind is blown

I was looking through a book on North American archaeology and found out the main mound at Cahokia (in Illinois) is over 100 feet tall. That's as big as a 10-story building, and they moved all that dirt with baskets. The city had a bigger population than London in 1250 AD, which is wild to think about for a place in the Midwest. It really makes you question the old idea that nothing 'big' happened here before Europeans showed up. Has anyone else visited the site and felt that same shock from seeing it in person?

Just read that the original 'The Office' writers' room had a rule against ever letting Jim and Pam break up after they got together

I found that fact in a deep dive article on Vulture, and it makes so much sense for why their relationship feels so solid and rewatchable, unlike other will-they-won't-they couples that get ruined by drama.

Tried a new way to break down pork shoulders and saved a full hour

I always used to follow the old school method my boss taught me, cutting against the seam and working around the bone. Last week, I watched a video from a shop in Kansas City that starts by removing the whole blade bone first before anything else. Tried it on six shoulders yesterday and it cut my time from about 25 minutes each down to 10. The meat came off cleaner too. Has anyone else tried flipping the order of their cuts like that?

The week my entire anime watch group fell apart over a filler arc

I always thought a standard rasp was fine for finishing, but a buddy in Kentucky had me try his 10-inch mill file last week and wow, what a difference on that final pass.

Pro tip: I scheduled a 'meeting with myself' on my work calendar to get through my personal to-do list.

It backfired when my boss saw the block and asked for a full report on what 'Project Homefront' was, forcing me to make up deliverables for cleaning my gutters. Anyone have a better system for protecting personal time from work creep?

PSA: I used to think the 'no phones' rule at the Austin library was just annoying, but getting lost in a book there for 3 hours last Tuesday changed my whole view.

I was stuck on a project and went there to escape my noisy apartment, and the forced quiet actually let me focus and finish a chapter I'd been putting off for months, so has anyone else had a place that unexpectedly helped them get something done?