yeah that's the thing nobody tells you about used laser cutters. you're basically buying somebody else's headache and paying for the privilege. i learned that the hard way with a cnc router a few years back. $3500 machine ended up costing me another $1500 in replacement parts and a whole lot of my time just to get it cutting straight. at that point you're better off just paying a service to do the work for you unless you really love troubleshooting. sounds like you got hosed but at least you got it running.

That kid saved you a ton of future heartache, honestly. I switched over to acid-free boards for all my keys last year after seeing a buddy's X-Men #94 practically crumbling at the edges. It's a pain to redo everything but way cheaper than replacing a collection.

Exactly. Had a lady request I "limb up" her oak so high it would look like an umbrella on a stick. She wanted to park her RV under the last remaining branch. Told her to get a shade sail instead. She got someone else to do the hack job and now that oak looks like a giant Q-tip. Bet her neighbor loves the view of a half-dead tree snapping in a stiff breeze. Did you ever manage to talk that guy down from the ledge?

Did that senior dev ever explain why he was so against ems, or was it more of a blanket rule he picked up somewhere? I've seen that kind of advice passed around like it's gospel, but it usually falls apart the second you need to build anything with real depth to it. Your card component is a perfect example where ems actually do what they're supposed to do, which is scale everything relative to the parent. The whole rems vs ems thing is less about one being better and more about knowing when each tool actually makes your life easier instead of harder.

Doesn't it seem like the stuff we depend on most always lets us down at the worst time? @milam42 hit the nail on the head, synthetic bags are the way to go when you're up against wet weather. It's just like how you always pop a tire on the day you're already running late, you know?