Got banned from a genealogy forum for pointing out a family myth

I found a family tree online that claimed my great uncle was a war hero. Problem is, I had his draft card and enlistment records. He actually got discharged for a medical issue before shipping out. I posted his name and the document numbers to correct the record. The mods said I was harassing a deceased person and banned me permanently. Has anyone else had a relative's story turn out to be total fiction?

Found a weird grounding issue at a client's old house last week

I was troubleshooting a random reboot problem on a Dell Optiplex in this 1920s house. Turns out the outlet had no ground at all and the case was carrying a small AC voltage. Has anyone else run into funky electrical stuff in older buildings?

Client in Fort Worth kept asking for 'more pop' on every revision - what did he actually mean?

Appreciation post: picked a smaller cutterhead dredge over a big one for a tight creek job

Had to choose between our big 14-inch Ellicott and a compact 8-inch Mud Cat for cleaning out a narrow channel near the old mill pond. Went with the smaller rig because of the sharp bends and low bridges, and it saved me three days of rework on the bank slopes. Anyone else ever downsize equipment and have it work out better than you expected?

PSA: That free VPN app I used for 2 years was selling my browsing data the whole time

A security engineer at a meetup last month showed me the fine print in the terms of service and I finally saw how they made money off my traffic.

Talking to my neighbor Frank about his 30 year old water heater changed my mind on everything

I was over at Frank's place helping him move some furniture and noticed his water heater in the garage. It looked ancient, like from the 80s or something. I told him he was crazy for not replacing it before it floods his whole garage. He just laughed and said he replaced the anode rod twice and flushed it every spring like clockwork. Said that old tank will outlast any new plastic lined junk they sell at Lowes today. Drove me nuts hearing that because I just bought a new Rheem last fall and now I'm wondering if I got played. Frank's unit is still humming at 32 years and mine already has a weird rattle when it kicks on. Makes me think all those YouTube videos pushing brand new installs are just feeding the consumer machine. Has anyone else gone the route of nursing an old heater along instead of swapping it out?

Self checkout at the grocery store near me replaced 6 cashiers

I stopped by the Kroger on Elm Street yesterday and noticed they added 8 more self checkout machines. That means 6 regular checkout lanes are just sitting empty now. The thing is, the self checkout machines break down every 20 minutes and people get stuck waiting. You think they will ever bring the cashiers back?

Got schooled by an old timer on grain direction at a shop in Detroit

He watched me cut a cover the wrong way and just said 'you're fighting the paper, not using it.' Showed me how the spine cracked clean when he folded his test piece. Has anyone else had a pro correct a basic habit you thought you had down?

Had to pick between a password manager and a notebook for my crew's site passwords

Running a crew of 6 guys on job sites means sharing a lot of logins for building wifi, material orders, and security cameras. I was using a group text thread for passwords and it got messy fast. Last month I sat down and picked between a free password manager or just keeping a physical notebook in the truck. I went with the password manager because someone could grab the notebook. Set up a shared vault with individual logins for each guy. It took about an hour to get everyone on board but now we don't have passwords floating around in old texts. Has anyone else dealt with keeping a team on the same password system without someone locking themselves out?

Old timer at the guild meeting told me my hammer face was too polished, changed everything about my drifts

I was flattening drift punches left and right, like 3 in a month. Guy walked over, picked up a drift I was working, just said "you're burnishing the steel, not moving it." Turns out I was sanding my hammer faces smooth thinking it gave cleaner hits. He made me rough one up with 60 grit and a crosshatch pattern. Now my drifts last 6 months easy. Anyone else get told they were overfinishing their tools?