The hot water trick for sticky shutters: real fix or luck?

I was working on a beaten-up Canon FTb last month with a shutter that kept dragging at 1/1000. Tried cleaning the blades with lighter fluid three times with no luck. A guy on a forum said to soak the shutter in hot distilled water for 10 minutes, then blow it dry with compressed air. It actually freed up the blades and the speeds are all within a half stop now. Does anyone know why this works mechanically, or did I just get lucky with this one camera?

Spent 3 hours on a logo that looked like a potato

I was working on a logo for a local coffee shop in Portland last month and somehow ended up with this shape that everyone kept saying looked like a baked potato instead of a coffee bean. My friend who runs the shop actually laughed when I showed him the first draft. I ended up scrapping the whole thing and starting over with simpler shapes. Has anyone else had a design totally miss the mark like that?

That talk with my barista in Portland flipped my whole morning routine

I always thought waking up at 5 AM to journal and meditate was the only way to be productive. But Sarah at the coffee shop on 23rd Ave told me she built her whole business by starting her day at 9 AM with a walk and a podcast. She said 'designing your life means fitting the structure to you, not the other way around' and that hit me because I was forcing a routine that made me miserable. Has anyone else ditched the 5 AM guru advice for something that actually matches their sleep schedule?

My neighbor Linda pointed out my spacing was inconsistent in a mockup I was proud of

I’ve been working on my graphic design portfolio for about 6 months now, trying to get it ready for freelance work. Last week I showed a mobile app mockup to my neighbor Linda, who runs a small print shop. She looked at it for about 10 seconds and said, “The gaps between those buttons are different sizes.” I zoomed in and she was right-one was 12 pixels and the others were 8 pixels. That small thing made me go back and check every spacing in my whole portfolio, and I fixed about 15 little errors. Has anyone else had a non-designer spot something that obvious that you just missed?

The old drafting table I learned on vs. a Wacom now

Back in 2004 at this studio in Austin I spent hours hunched over a vinyl clipboard with a rapidograph pen, fixing mistakes with whiteout. Now I just tap undo on my tablet and the line is gone in half a second. Does anyone else miss the feel of physical tools sometimes or am I just getting old?

Found a bent pin on a server motherboard that was causing random reboots for 3 months

Tried a $40 angle grinder from Northern Tool vs my old Milwaukee, night and day difference on a patio paver job

I was cutting some flagstone for a walkway last weekend and my old Milwaukee grinder started smoking after like 10 cuts. Ran to Northern Tool and grabbed their cheap house brand for $40 just to finish the job. That thing actually ran smoother and didnt vibrate my hands numb. Kinda shocked honestly. Anyone else had a cheap tool outwork a big brand name? Or did I just get lucky with this one?

The old timer who taught me about filler work in a dusty shop in Wichita

Back in 1987, an old guy named Ray showed me how to feather sand edges by feel instead of sight, saying 'your fingers know more than your eyes ever will' while he ran his thumb over a fender. Has anyone else had a mentor who taught them something that no modern tool can replace?

Figured those fuel injector cleaning machines were a gimmick until I did a before and after on a 2012 F-150 that picked up 4 mpg on the highway.

What convinced me was seeing the actual spray pattern on my test bench change from a solid stream to a fine mist after running 3 cycles of cleaner through it.

Just found out dark mode doesn't actually save battery on LCD screens

I saw this article from DisplayMate that said only OLED screens get a real battery bump from dark mode. My laptop has an IPS LCD panel so I'm just making things harder on my eyes for no reason apparently. Been designing dark themes for years thinking I was saving power but nope. Anyone else feel kinda stupid learning this late?