Got banned from a coupon forum for calling out a fake deal and lost $80

I was in a coupon sharing group on Reddit and saw this amazing deal on a vacuum. It said 80 bucks off retail and I jumped on it without checking the fine print. Turns out the store had jacked up the original price to make the discount look real and I ended up paying more than retail. When I called the poster out for shilling, the mods banned me for 'negative behavior' and now I'm out $80 with a crappy vacuum. Has anyone else been burned by fake coupon deals in those groups?

I finally figured out why my chimney crowns kept cracking after two years

For about three years I was mixing my crown mortar way too dry because I thought stiffer meant stronger. It wasn't until I had a job up in Portland last spring where the homeowner was watching me and said 'hey, that mix looks like it's gonna dust out in a season.' I blew him off at first (I've been doing this 12 years, you know?). But I went back and checked some of my older crowns and sure enough, they had these hairline spider cracks all over the top surface. So I tried a wetter mix on the next one, like almost soup consistency but still holding shape, and it cured out smooth as glass. Now I wet the brick edges too before I trowel on the crown, which helps with adhesion. Anyone else had trouble finding that sweet spot with mortar consistency for flat work?

Found out my VPN logs were being sold to advertisers

I paid $12 a month for a 'no log' VPN for two years before a tech-savvy buddy showed me a forum post proving they were selling anonymized data. Has anyone else dug into their VPN's fine print after buying?

Met a guy at a con who changed how I watch dubs vs subs

So I was at Anime Expo 2023 waiting in line for the Makoto Shinkai panel, and this guy next to me starts chatting about Weathering With You. He told me he actually prefers the English dub because the voice actor for Hodaka added a stutter in emotional scenes that wasn't in the original Japanese. I never noticed that before, and now I rewatch scenes in both versions to compare those little choices. Has anyone else caught a voice acting decision in a dub that totally changed how you saw a character?

Heard a realtor say new builds are a scam compared to buying a 70s bungalow. Is that actually true though?

Banned from a local gardening group for mentioning compost ratios

I got kicked out of the "Green Thumbs of Austin" Facebook group last Thursday. All I did was reply to a post about tomato plant problems saying they probably needed more nitrogen and less potassium in their compost. The admin messaged me saying I was "spreading misinformation" because their group only promotes bagged fertilizer from one specific brand they partner with. I told them I've been making my own compost for 6 years with a 3:1 brown to green ratio and it works fine. They banned me within 5 minutes and removed my comment. Has anyone else run into groups that push paid products over real gardening tips?

Just heard a wild stat about drywall dust at a safety meeting

Our site manager brought in a guy from the local union hall for a talk yesterday. He said the average drywall installer breathes in about 4 pounds of dust a year if they don't wear a proper mask. I always knew it was bad, but that number really hit me. He had a little jar with that much flour in it to show us. What kind of respirator do you guys actually wear all day that doesn't get in the way?

Shoutout to the Milwaukee cordless trim nailer for a tricky crown job

I had to choose between dragging a compressor up three flights or trying this new battery gun, and it saved me about 90 minutes of setup and teardown. Anyone else find a cordless tool that really paid off on a specific task?

Just noticed something interesting at the county fair in Springfield

I was checking out the draft horse pulls and saw a Belgian with a set of handmade, fullered front shoes... the work was so clean. Anyone know a farrier around there who still does that kind of detail by hand?

I used to think a sharp knife was just a sharp knife until my sous chef showed me his whetstone

For years, I'd just run my chef's knife through a pull-through sharpener I got at a kitchen supply store in Omaha. It worked, but my edges never lasted. Last month, my sous chef, Marco, saw me doing it and just shook his head. He sat me down with his 1000/6000 grit stone for 20 minutes and showed me the proper angle. The difference is crazy, like cutting through air. How many of you still use a pull-through, or have you all switched to stones?