Unpopular opinion: Most people waste money on travel insurance for domestic trips

I noticed this last summer when my neighbor was planning a weekend drive to Nashville and bought full travel insurance for their $200 hotel. It got me thinking about my own habits. I used to buy insurance for every trip, even short ones under 500 miles. Then I realized my health insurance already covers me in the US and my credit card has rental car protection built in. For a 3 day trip to the Smoky Mountains last fall, I saved $65 by skipping the insurance and just putting the hotel on my card that offers cancellation coverage. The trick is reading your existing policies first before paying extra. Has anyone else found they can skip insurance on shorter trips without trouble?

Thought air layering was a waste of time until I tried it on a ficus last spring

I used to see people on here raving about air layering and I was totally convinced it was just a gimmick (you know, like those plant vitamins). But my neighbor had this old ficus that was getting too tall and leggy, and she dared me to try it. I wrapped up a section with some sphagnum moss and plastic wrap in March, and by June I had actual roots. It felt like magic honestly. Now I'm thinking about trying it on a bigger maple tree in my backyard. Anyone else have a method they swear by for getting the moss to stay damp longer?

An editor told me my Signal thread was 'too clean' and I changed how I talk about encryption

I was writing a guide for our local activist group about how to set up disappearing messages, and an editor said my examples sounded like a press release instead of real people talking. She said if I wanted people to actually use encryption, I needed to show the messy parts, not just the technical steps. So I rewrote it to include a story about a friend who panicked when her messages vanished mid-argument. Now I always include a concrete, flawed example of how encryption changes real conversations, not just the perfect privacy scenario. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made you totally rethink how you explain these tools?

Tried coworking in a WeWork vs a local cafe in Bangkok for a month and the cafe won by a landslide for focus.

At WeWork I spent $300 on a hot desk and got stuck next to a guy on sales calls all day, but at the cafe I paid $2 for iced coffee and knocked out 4 client projects in silence, has anyone else found cheaper spots way more productive?

Took me 6 weeks to find a leak in a 4-inch steam line that was just a bad weld bead

Drying herbs in the air fryer changed my seasoning game

I used to either dehydrate herbs in the oven for 6 hours or buy the expensive jars at the store. Last week I tossed fresh rosemary and thyme from my garden in the air fryer at 170F for 8 minutes and they came out perfect, still green and crumbly. Anyone else tried drying stuff besides the usual veggies?

Tried the 'fixer upper' strategy on a duplex in Cleveland and now I'm wondering if sweat equity is even real

Bought a run-down duplex for $85k, spent $30k on renovations over 6 months, and the appraisal came back at $110k, so did I actually make money or just break even when you figure in my time and stress, and has anyone else had that moment where the numbers on paper don't match reality?

I finally stopped following the 'learn Python first' advice for beginners

Last month at the public library in Austin, I met a guy who built his first website with just HTML and CSS in two weeks. Everyone online kept telling me to start with Python because it's 'easier', but I struggled for 3 years doing that and got nowhere. This approach actually made sense to me since I could see results right away in the browser. Has anyone else dumped the popular path and found something that clicked better for them?

The one Wednesday where everything went right at work

Had a day last month where every single appointment showed up on time and three of them tipped over 20% - that never happens in my shop. Plus a Bernese mountain dog I was nervous about sat perfectly still for the whole groom. Has anyone else had a day where the universe just seemed to cooperate?

Heard a guy at the Remax office downtown say 'Edmonton's a bargain basement' and it made me mad

He was on the phone telling some out of town buyer that you can get a full house in Mill Woods for under 400k and it's a steal. My takeaway is that kind of talk just brings in people who want to flip houses and don't care about the neighborhood. Does anyone else get tired of agents selling our city like it's some cheap commodity?