Hot take: The new park benches downtown are a social experiment

I was walking through Mill River Park this morning and noticed they replaced all the old benches with these single seat ones. They're just wide enough for one person, spaced about ten feet apart. It completely changes how people use the space. No one's sitting and talking anymore, everyone's just on their phone alone. Did the city plan this, or did they just get a deal on weird benches?

Question about people posting phone pics of the moon and calling it astrophotography

A guy at the Freightliner dealer told me I was over-torquing my valve cover bolts

He said 'you're crushing the gasket, just snug them.' I started using a torque wrench set to 18 ft-lbs like he said and my leaks stopped. Anyone else get a simple tip that fixed a dumb problem?

Overheard a guy in a Chiang Mai cafe say 'the work is the easy part'

He was telling his friend that after six months on the road, finding a quiet spot with good wifi and managing his own schedule is simple compared to the loneliness. It hit me because I just spent a whole weekend in my Airbnb in Medellin without talking to anyone. How do you all handle making real connections when you move every few weeks?