Hot take: you don't need a fancy starter setup to make good sourdough

Met a guy at a farmers market in Portland last fall who has been baking for 30 years with just flour, water, and a mason jar. He told me he's never bought a banneton or a lame in his life, just uses a butter knife and a bowl lined with a kitchen towel. Made me realize half the gear we obsess over is just marketing fluff. Has anyone else had a run-in with a baker who totally ignored the conventional tools?

I finally realized my home inspector missed a cracked sewer line after my basement flooded 3 weeks after closing

The plumber in Denver who came out to clear the backup said the pipe had visible tree roots and a 2 inch crack, so now I'm out $4,200 for a trenchless repair, has anyone else had luck getting their inspector to cover something they overlooked?

Saw an old DeviantArt watermark on a piece and it hit me different

I was scrolling through some digital art tonight and saw a piece with that classic DeviantArt watermark grid still on it. Made me think about how my friends and I used to post our stuff there around 2009 or so, trying to get noticed. Now it feels like everyone jumps straight to Instagram or ArtStation and we barely see those old watermarks anymore. That piece was from 2011 and it had like 400 comments which felt huge back then. Anyone else miss how that community felt before everything got so polished and algorithm driven?

Three years ago I blew $800 on a CVT rebuild that lasted two months in my Polaris

Back in 2021 I took my 2010 Sportsman to a shop in Billings for a new clutch setup. They charged me $800 for a full rebuild and new belt. Two months later I was stuck on a trail near Red Lodge with smoke pouring out. Took it back and they blamed me for riding too hard. Has anyone else had a shop just shrug off their own bad work like that?

Had a timing chain jump on a 2013 Chevy Cruze yesterday

Customer brought it in for a rough idle, figured it was just a coil pack. Pulled the valve cover and saw the timing chain had about 2 inches of slack. Ended up having to pull the whole engine to replace the guides and tensioner, which ran them $1,800 total. Anyone else seeing these Ecotec motors grenade chains way too early?

Found a beat-up copy of The Verve's 'A Storm in Heaven' at a thrift store for 50 cents - forgot how wild that album gets around track 4

That master esthetician at the Dermalogica event who told me to stop double cleansing every night

I went to a Dermalogica workshop in Portland last month and the instructor, this 20 year veteran named Jenna, said most people with dry skin don't need double cleansing at night. I tried it for 2 weeks and my redness calmed down a ton. Anyone else get conflicting advice on cleansing routines that actually worked better when you stripped it back?

Question about skipping the perm lotion step on tight curls

My old boss at the shop in Portland told me to always use perm lotion for texture cuts, but this new barber I follow online says it's a waste on tight curly hair. Tried skipping it on a 3C client last week and the fade came out uneven. Anyone else find perm lotion actually does make a difference or is it just extra work?

Got corrected on how I say 'Goku' at a con last month

I was at Anime Expo in LA and mentioned to this guy how I loved how Goku's voice actor changes in the dub. He stopped me mid sentence and said it's 'Go-ku' not 'Go-koo' with a hard pause. I've been saying it wrong for like 6 years since I started watching Dragon Ball Z in high school. Has anyone else had someone call them out on a pronunciation that you just never thought about?

Heard two writers argue about using real people in stories at a coffee shop in Austin

One said it's lazy and could hurt feelings, the other said all good fiction steals from life. They were pretty heated about it, quoting specific lines from books. Where do you stand on using someone you know as a character base?