Just realized how much the JMT permit system has changed since my first hike

Overheard a ranger in Yosemite say they get over 100 lottery entries for a single day now. Makes you wonder if the old walk-up system was better for spreading people out, or just a free-for-all?

The Sawtooths are getting loved to death and it's a real problem

Three years ago I hiked the Alice-Toxaway loop in Idaho and saw maybe three other groups. Went back last month and counted over twenty tents at Twin Lakes alone. The trail braiding off the main path is getting bad, especially near the creek crossings. I heard a ranger say they're thinking about a permit system for next summer. Has anyone else seen a spot they used to have to themselves get totally overrun?

Just saw a 7.5% cap rate on a strip mall deal, which felt way too low.

Some guys at my firm say it's the new normal for stable retail, but I think it's a sign we're pushing pricing too far. Where do you all stand on acceptable cap rates right now?

My uncle told me to never trust the 'no frost' setting on a freezer, and last month it cost me a $450 compressor job.

I thought those magnetic parts trays were a gimmick until I dropped a carb screw

I was working on a 1978 CB750 in my garage last week and had a small bolt roll off the bench. It went right into the drain grate. I got a cheap magnetic tray from Harbor Freight for like $8, put all the small parts in it, and it saved me three more times that afternoon. Now I keep one on every project. What other simple tools saved you from a headache?

Went to a job fair in Springfield and saw something that bugged me

They had a whole booth just for 'gig economy' apps, telling people to just drive for a delivery service or do online tasks instead of finding a real job with benefits. It felt like they were pushing a dead end as a real plan. Am I the only one who thinks that's bad advice for someone trying to get unstuck?

Our main coffee brewer gave up the ghost right at the start of the Saturday morning rush.

It happened about three weeks ago, right at 7:30 AM. The thing just stopped heating, so we were stuck with one small pour-over station for a line of about fifteen people. I had to start brewing big batches in the big tea urns we use for events, which was a mess (and the coffee tasted kinda weird from it, honestly). We got a repair guy out on Monday, but it cost the store over $400. Has anyone else had to MacGyver a hot drink setup when your main machine died? What did you do to keep things moving?

Got stuck on a weird bug in my Python script for a data sorting tool

I was building a tool to organize my old photos by date and location, but the script kept crashing on files from my 2012 trip to Seattle. The problem was a timezone offset in the EXIF data that my code didn't handle, and fixing it took me almost three full days of testing. Has anyone else run into timezone issues with photo metadata and found a good library to manage it?

My chicken waterer froze solid last night and I had to improvise

Went out this morning and the 5 gallon plastic base was a solid block of ice. It got down to 15 degrees here in Boise, colder than I expected. I brought the whole thing inside, thawed it in the sink, and then wrapped the base with an old towel and a bungee cord for some insulation. Anyone have a better winter hack that doesn't involve buying a heated base?

Hot take: I finally figured out why my suction line kept clogging on that muddy river job near Baton Rouge.

After watching a new guy on the crew run his cutter head at a steady 45 degrees instead of constantly adjusting it, I realized my own over-tinkering was packing the intake with silt.