That's a hell of a find. 3,500 bucks is a nice little bonus just for keeping your eyes open. Must've felt good knowing you spotted something a whole crew of other divers missed for 6 months. Did you get it all in one check or broken up across pay periods?

Did your cousin mention if those Phoenix birds ever figure out how to roost in weird places?

Oh man, that flag thing drives me nuts too. I got into a three hour argument with my uncle at a backyard barbecue about it once, and he kept pointing at a blurry YouTube video. I finally pulled out my phone and showed him the actual NASA press kit from 1969 that explains the flag design step by step. He just changed the subject to chemtrails instead. Why do people trust a random Facebook meme over actual engineers who built the stuff?

That bit about rocking the wrist back is so true. I read an article online recently from one of those old school trade magazines, they said the same thing about nail guns and how the angle of the nail changes the holding power by a lot. They had pictures showing how a nail driven even 5 degrees off can actually pull out of the wood way easier under stress. Your buddy's story about the older carpenter noticing it in 5 minutes is exactly how I've seen it play out on my own projects. Sometimes you don't even feel yourself doing it until someone watches you.

Trusting the gut comes from making enough mistakes" that really hit home for me. I had a similar thing years ago with a 30 year old MCE controller that kept throwing phantom faults. I must have spent two weeks chasing a short in the wiring that just didn't exist. Eventually I stepped back and just sat in the machine room for a while listening to it cycle. That's when I noticed the main contactor was chattering just barely during slow downs. Replaced the coil and it ran smooth as glass ever since. Sometimes your ears and your gut catch stuff the manual never teaches you. Your mileage may vary but I think Ray had the right idea about feeling the equipment first.