Read somewhere that our eyes are pretty bad at seeing color in dim light anyway. So even without the filter, we'd never see those deep reds like the cameras do.

That idea about plants bouncing back on their own is so true. It reminds me of this sad little tomato plant I had last year that got totally fried in a heat wave. I gave up on it, but @william917, you're right, the weather changed and it got some rain. I came back from a weekend trip and it had a whole new set of leaves and tiny green tomatoes. It was a total surprise. Nature really does its own thing on its own schedule sometimes.

What makes you think that's a good general rule? My fries always get soggy without a preheat, and @julia843's onion ring trick probably only works for a few specific items. You should just follow your machine's manual, it's not that hard.

Saw a guy on a jobsite once drill a screw right into a water line inside a wall.

Yeah, that "shock absorption" point is exactly what my farrier was just telling me about.